The Writing of The Bonds of Love (Chapter Twelve: Serenity, Part One) · 6:26pm Jun 4th, 2023
We’re in the final stretch now, and there’s no better way to begin bringing this story to a close than the event we’ve been hyping up since the very beginning: Gallus and Silverstream’s 2nd Date.
This has been a long time coming, and you better believe I relished every second I wrote this chapter, especially since I could finally write the lovebirds being actually happy!
For so, so long, I had to keep these two buried beneath a mountain of trauma and stress, so I fervently welcomed being done with it. Well? Almost done, but we’ll get to that.
I absolutely adore these chapters, needless to say! And for once I actuallyintended to split these chapters apart—I was even worried I wouldn’t be able to and would have to somehow squeeze them into one. Thank goodness for me not knowing how to stop writing because it saved my bacon for once.
Speaking of, let’s not stall this time and get straight into discussing what we love so much about Ch.12-13(Serenity).
~ Last Minute Preparations ~
Although I had Gallus give Silverstream the schedule and ask for her input, I wasn’t sure if I truly needed to show them working together on it. We’d spent so much time hyping up the 2nd Date, surely you’d all prefer skipping any schedule re-workings and getting straight to the actual dating, right?
I then realized how disappointing it would have been to establish they’d work on the schedule, only to never show them doing so; thus, I got over that minor misgiving. Besides, showing them working on it allowed for something I’d been wanting to do for some time: Show the two fighting.
I’ve discussed this previously, but I’ll say it again: Gallus and Silverstream barely argued over anything in the story, and while that does wonders to show how healthy their relationship is—When angry with each other, they voice their frustrations calmly and rationally, rather than engage in virulent shouting matches—it also portrays their relationship as somewhat too idealized.
And while I may have already had that restaurant talk planned, that came later. This was now, and they were working on the schedule together, so let’s first show that,then we can lead into the fight.
I genuinely wanted to show them going to the Ponyville Clock Tower, but the more I thought about it, the more superfluous the location seemed. Gallus may have spent half a year planning this thing, but there’s still only so much time in the day to do things.
So I took that concern and turned it into a plot point by having them cut the Clock Tower specifically because of that concern. Don’t worry, you weren’t missing out on anything; the Clock Tower’s segment would have likely been even shorter than the Gallery one, and I had never determined whether Silver would love the place or be bored out of her mind to “subvert expectations.”
We then get some time establishment with Gallus clarifying the 2nd Date will transpire a mere few days later. And of course, I make fun of myself againfor postponing these chapters so long via Silver acknowledging that, in-universe, it took them nearly half a year before they went on it.
And because we still had that Silver/Gruff conversation to lead up to, I thought it best to sprinkle much more…overt foreshadowing for Silverstream still being paranoid. Thus, she’s quick to wonder and worry over their date being interrupted or going awry.
Thankfully for her, Gallus has completed his main arc, so he has no problem accepting the date doesn’t have to go perfectly; so long as they can spend time together, that’s all they’ll need.
Sadly, that’s not all the concerns Silverstream has regarding the date—not even close! And the next concern she voices is the cost.
And now’s where I get to have fun having the lovebirds argue, and boy did I oversell their anger at first! 
The dialogue remained mostly the same, but the tone was far harsher originally. Namely, almost every line ended in an exclamation mark, so they really did come across like they were having a virulent shouting match. And although this particular line was included:
“Forgive me for not wanting to ask you for Bits on our second date!”
This part wasn’t:
“Oh, I do! That’s not even something you should feel guilty for in the first place.”
“Thank you.”
So it felt like Silverstream didn’t understand or empathize with Gallus’ point of view at all.
I obviously hated that andreworked the scene so they could still have their now less hostile-sounding argument.
As for the subject of the argument? Well, I know it’s a pretty common trope for couples to argue over money and whatnot, and since Gallus has already voiced issues with Bits in-universe, I decided to incorporate that particular idea.
As for why they would have this argument? Easy. Silverstream was present when Gallus admitted his Bit issues to Smolder, so I turned that detail into a proper plot point by having her frustrations stem from that exactly. As she says:
“What I don’t like is that you never told me about it at all,” Silverstream explained, frowning. “I mean, would you have ever talked to me about it?”
The answer is no, and they both know it. So Gallus recognizes that, yeah, it wasn’t right of him to never tell her the Bits were a problem. He may not need to feel guilty for not wanting to ask her for Bits, but they’re a couple now; neither of them should hide problems like that from the other. I even have them say as such in-universe.
And of course, Gallus’ “I just hate needing help” line is acknowledging that, although he’s completed his arc, some bad habits remain. Thankfully, he’s put in enough time and effort that said bad habits are far less frequent and far more easily overcome than before.
After Gallus’ apology for the Bit issue comes the two reconciling immediately and Silverstream swooping him into a hug and promising she won’t hide problems like that from him either. Good thing she does, all things considered…
Afterward, I poke fun at how this is their first major on-screen fight with Gallus taking it and its lack of “Traditional Griffonstone violence” as the ultimate cosmic sign they’re awesome together and Silverstream being paranoid uncomfortable having fought with him at all, even if only a little. Luckily, he promises no more fights, only hugs, snuggles, and kisses. 
That first part of the promise may have been broken, but the second part is certainly kept. Case in point:
“Yay,” Silverstream tittered, hugging him and resting her head against his neck with a sigh. “This is nice.”
“Hugging me?”
“Being with you,” she clarified, softly nuzzling him. “Planning out our date, making jokes, and yes! Hugging you too.”
“I think it’s nice too,” he crooned, returning the nuzzle.
More romantic physicality, yay! 
And because I both can’t stop having fun and have to set up the first scene of the next chapter, I slipped in a comedic snippet of Scoop and Patty spying on the lovebirds. It was originally going to be Scoop and Shimmy Shake, but I still wanted to do more with Patty, so I swapped the two.
Silverstream’s annoyed regardless—the shippers’ spying is mere fuel to her lingering fears—but Gallus promises she won’t have to worry; he’s taken precautions. Though suspicious at first for what that meant, Silver’s relieved to know her friends(Glim-Glamincluded) agreed to keep shippers away from their date.
One callback to the lovebirds’ “Thank you” muffins later, and Gallus and Silverstream reiterate one last time that the 2nd Date is finally, finally here! And they’re as excited to have it as I am to write it; we just have to wait a wee bit longer before we can actually do that.
~ Here’s the Plan ~
Let’s get this segment over with so we can talk about the date proper.
I called back to “Can You Feel the Sunshine” because of course I did.
Upon waking up, we see Gallus almostget jittery with nerves before calming himself down and instead getting jittery with excitement. And before he leaves his room, I even have him look into the mirror at himself and smile—A callback to when Starlight asked if he had ever done exactly that before, only this time, Gallus can definitively answer yes.
I still feel silly for having Gallus and Silverstream convenientlywake up to leave at the same time, but who cares? It let me get them together faster and sneak in this line:
“Ever the charmer, eh?”
“If you’ll let me?”
Which, yes, is a line inspired by Background Pony. And yes, it took plenty of willpower not to have Gallus reply, “I am only charmed” instead.
And then there’s this moment:
“Always,” she said, snuggling up to him as they continued down the hallway.
Yet more romantic physicality! Certainly does foreshadow how Silverstream thinks of Gallus as her snugglebird in the Mount Aris arc.
As for the following scene: We get some comedy with Sandbar, Smolder, and Ocellus teasing each other and some nice fluff with the two couples being lovey-dovey. But for the most part, this scene with all of the Student Six exists primarily to establish what everyone will be doing during the date.
But some stuff I wanted to bring attention to were:
“Ooh, Yona think that great idea!” Yona squealed, clapping energetically. “Yona gonna need extra time working on Silver’s mane,” she added so quietly only Smolder and Sandbar heard her.
That latter dialogue tag originally wasn’t there. I retroactively added it there to foreshadow Smolder deciding to help Yona get Silverstream ready for the date. Sandbar hearing it too was only to establish he was sitting next to Yona, nothing more.
“And after Gallus picks up his suit, I’ll stay behind so you can help me into my dress,” Silverstream finished explaining. “And with everything else,” she added, examining her talons.
You guys know what the “examining her talons” part is foreshadowing, but I wanted to acknowledge how she specifically avoids verbally elaborating her meaning. Why? Because Gallus is in earshot, and she wants the fact she plans to polish her talons to be a surprise. Yeah, it’s a little thing, but regardless. He knew about the dress and nothing more, and Silver wanted that “nothing more” to be a surprise.
“Nah, no way would he show up.”
Obviously foreshadowing Gruff’s appearance.
“No, I haven’t sent—I-I mean!”
A clear hint toward Silver’s letter drama.
“Took me long enough to get that through my head, but better late than never, right?”
Behold! Me making fun of myself againfor draggingout Gallus’ character arc!
Silver shivered and pleaded, “Please don’t put that thought in my head. The last thing I need to worry about right now is if he’ll finally try to get revenge on us for stuffing him inside that trunk.”
An understandable and natural response to the suggestion Discord would cameo this chapter—Which of course he does, why else would I bring him up if not to foreshadow that. But it’s also another hint at her lingering paranoia. Probably could have made that more clear, but this is one of the subtler lines I put in regarding that, so I’ll take it.
While we’re still discussing Silver’s lines:
I finally get to go on a second date with the sweetest creature in the school,” she bragged, grinning victoriously when she noticed him blush.
That particular dialogue tag was another retroactive addition. After I had Silver admit to Terramar how she loved Gallus’ blush, I came back to this chapter to sneak in some foreshadowing to that fact.
And lastly, Smolder’s line:
“It’s about time you two have some fun for once”
Is me, once again, having a laugh at how much drama I forced the lovebirds to endure before this point. Alas, if only they didn’t have yet more drama inbound…
But otherwise, that’s all I have to talk about here. A shame I don’t have more to say about the last major Student Six scene of the story.
After this comes one last conversation between Gallus-Stream, where they acknowledge how the 2nd Date may not live up to the hype. But why do they have this discussion?
Not to belittle my own writing—I’ve done that enough as is and will do it more later—but postponing the 2nd Date for so long did, I feel, hype up for when it would finally take place. And I most certainly relished in that hype if what I’ve discussed so far is any indication. But conversely? I am still a rookie, and I wanted to preemptively acknowledge I probably wouldn’t be able to write the 2nd Date well enough to live up to that hype.
As Gallus says himself: It’s a date. Nothing more. Nothing less. And certainly not whatever grand spectacle he’s hyped it up to be within his own mind.
Of course, I still have to address these concerns how the characters realistically would. Thus, the conversation is the result of their last-minute jitters, but they nevertheless comfort each other—Silver even asserting the date isspecial since it’s a date with Gallus, with Gallus mirroring the sentiment. Shame her paranoia briefly returns here:
“Oh. So then, you’re still scared everything won’t be perfect?” Silver inquired, wincing.
That said, they both acknowledge how they spent way too much time focusing on the “spectacle” of the date—for lack of a better word—than how the date is merely a way to spend more time with each other.
Thus, they both promise to keep their dates simpler from then on, and although Gallus offers calling this particular event off and plan a simpler 2nd Date, both Silverstream and you all have waited long enough to finally experience these chapters, so she instantly denies that offer, despite still finding it considerate of him. It’s as she said earlier:
“We both planned this. We both want this. And we both know we’re gonna have fun today.
And then says:
“But you and I are having this date! No amount of nerves is gonna stop me from having a good time with you.”
So, with all that last minute preamble out of the way? How about we finally discuss the first half of the 2nd Date?
~ The 2nd Date ~
When first figuring out how I wanted to write the date itself, I looked back to A.D.F.F. to see how I wrote their first one. There, however, I summarized everything they did in one paragraph per activity, and that didn’t feel appropriate to fully mimic here.
That said, I didn’t want to bloat the word count again, and it’d be extremely easy for me to do, given how long I usually go on for. So I settled instead for summarizing the activities slightly, then providing a brief snippet of their time during it.
And for our first activity…!
Bowling may have been initially proposed out of mere randomness, but I did have Silver confirm with Gallus that she’d like to do it, so obviously, we couldn’t skip it.
And not two minutes in, and already I wanted to drag this segment out needlessly. For the very beginning of the grand ole 2nd Date to be so brief felt underwhelming. Problem was I couldn’t think of how to extend it. It’s one of the reasons why I described it with the remark:
There wasn’t much else to say about it; they both simply had some good, clean fun.
I literally couldn’t think of anything else to say about it; honestly, we’re lucky we even got the conversation about whether Gallus was letting Silver win.
Speaking of which, why did we get that conversation? Because I thought it’d be funnier if Gallus’ bowling skill paled in comparison to Silverstream’s. I then had to write Silver’s reaction to it which naturally had to be gloating first.
This was clearly for humor’s sake, but I also had Silver act so unapologetically smug about winning to show she was in a good enough headspace that she didn’t feel guilty for her winning streak against Gallus. If this were Silver back in Ch.4(Optimism), you can bet she’dbe the one throwing the game just to keep him happy, but here? Nope. Here, she’s the bowling queen, and she has no qualms rubbing it in Gallus’ face. Though it isstill Silverstream, so she at least apologizes for whooping his flank, but you know full-well she’s still happy doing so.
Also, her line about knowing Gallus doesn’t like losing was inspired by Jack of a Few Trades’ criticisms. Yep, even now, their words are influencing the story; namely, I thought more about Gallus’ canon personality and realized that, yeah, Canon Gallus would probably be pretty peeved to be losing so spectacularly. Thus, I acknowledged as such. But since this is T.B.O.L. Gallus, he brushes it off, caring more for the fact he and Silver are spending time together.
Doesn’t stop me from also having Gallus throw it back on Silver that she can’t beat him in chess, though that was more to give Chess Club one last acknowledgment—I still wish that aspect didn’t go out on a whimper, but alas. At least it helped me call back to the “September Tempest” joke, showcasing the conclusion to that particular subject.
Of course, all this gloating and humor isn’t nearly enough for a compelling emotional story beat; thus, Silverstream subsequently suspects Gallus is letting her win on purpose.
I still don’t know whether or not that was the right call. I mean? It led to Gallus reaffirming how he doesn’t care if he’s getting his flank kicked as long as he gets to spend time with the love of his life—as well as Silver continuing to gloat because she couldn’t resist—and that was certainly good. I’m just not sure if it really made sense for Silverstream to suspect Gallus was doing that.
Yeah, it reinforces she’s still letting her “Keep Gallus happy at all costs” mentality affect her, but at the same time? Would she really be afraid of that in this moment, especially after her earlier declaration of having fun with him? You’d think Gallus deliberately throwing a game for her benefit would be the last thing to cross her mind. Still? It does, as mentioned, tie into Silver’s dilemma later, so it’s not bad. Just something I still get hung up on when I re-read this section.
We then conclude with Silver returning to her regularly scheduled cheer and the two returning to their game, with Gallus determined to win the next match and Silver equally determined to prevent that.
I’ll leave who did win up to your interpretation since even I can’t decide which outcome I’d prefer being canon.
Next up is Spearhead’s Art Gallery, and you’ve likely already predicted I wish I had done more with it.
Thing is? I had already done a Gallery scene back in Ch.4(Optimism), and I didn’t want to effectively Copy/Paste what I did there for here. Thus, we don’t get any proper descriptions for the art on display; instead, we basically just say, “Oh yeah, the art is cool.”
The only thing of note is I had Silverstream realize Gallus was lagging and slow down to match his pace, showing a newfound awareness of her surroundings. I mean, Canon Silverstream would be bouncing around the place like Pinkie, and though she does it here in the beginning, once she notices she’s going too fast for her sweetie, she turns it down and even apologizes. It’s yet another little thing, but like always, I love the little details.
Otherwise, this scene is merely a brief moment of Gallus-Stream being cute together, even calling each other as such. And since we’re in a sculpture exhibit, I took the chance to call back to Lighthoof’s kinetic sculpture and subsequently the blueberry rock candy mound.
Nothing else to say here, sadly. Plenty to say about the next part though!
Gallus opening the Hayburger dialogue by requesting to visit the Gallery again was to show him gaining an even greater appreciation for Silver’s art interest. Naturally, she wastes no time adamantly agreeing while also noting how many new exhibits said Gallery accumulated since she last visited it.
Now, this scene began as merely an intermission, if you will, from the 2ndDate. It’s been rather short in word count terms, but in-universe, the two had been out for a few hours by now. However, since I planned to have said lunch occur at the Hayburger—No way was I going to pass up referencing that place; plus, it was one of the only canonically named restaurants in Ponyville—it afforded me an opportunity to do some further characterization with Silver.
We’ve seen how T.B.O.L. Silver’s dating preferences are rather unconventional—deliberately so—but now was another chance to explore that. So she immediately praises Hayburger both for its food, and for how it’s so…simple. There’s nothing significantly special, gaudy, or formal about it; it’s merely a nice, quiet place to have food. And Silver appreciates that.
It’s a nice contrast that Silverstream prefers simple, more “grounded” or “intimate”—for lack of better terms—romantic activities than her extremely excitable, hyperactive demeanor would have you think. Also lets me further sow the seeds for how her quasi-royal status affected her growing up and how she low-key resents it.
But with her royal status being brought up comes two things. One: Gallus immediately complimenting her for being a princess, if to no one else, to him. And two: Silver’s past.
Since the show despised providing a concrete timeline for…anything! It’s left completely ambiguous how long the hippogriffs lived underwater. Could have been mere months to a couple decades for all we know. All we doknow is that Queen Novo was the one who made the decision to go underwater and she was still Queen when they returned, so it couldn’t have been too many years—certainly not the nebulous “One thousand years ago” the show threw about willy-nilly.
This becomes a slight annoyance when trying to determine how old Skystar, Silver, and Terramar were during this event. It’s made even more annoying that Ocean Flow canonically has baby pictures of Terramar’s seapony form as evidenced by Twilight geeking out over wanting to know more about early seapony development.
Since we were on that subject and gently leaning into the discussion of Gallus visiting Mount Aris, I decided to address this myself.
As far as T.B.O.L. goes and how I personally headcanon it: Skystar and Silverstream are roughly the same age, with Skystar being a touch older. Terramar, meanwhile, was born just barely before the Storm King attacked, so he was born on land but was predominantly raised in the sea and thus, has no memories of being a hippogriff prior to their freedom, further explaining why he was so torn between his two forms.
How this relates to the current conversation is Silver’s memories of the Royal Balls she had to attend due to being quasi-royalty are pretty fuzzy, but she consistently remembers hating them and messing around with Skystar to alleviate the boredom.
One such attempt included—allegedly, of course—burning down the Harmonizing Heights. Why? Because I thought it’d be a funny joke. Just like how I also thought it’d be funny to imply Skystar can out-chaos the very Lord of Chaos himself. Which, yes, she absolutely can.
Unfortunately for Silver, this discussion takes a turn she decidedly doesn’t want it to: Gallus suggesting visiting Mount Aris.
Now, he obviously does this because that’s where we’re going to in the next few chapters, but it’s also to show another element of his long-term plans for their relationship—Gallus wants to meet her side of the family and learn more about her home. Again, super sweet and mature of him, but also again, this is literally their 2nd Date. A little fast? Perhaps, perhaps not. Regardless, Silver isn’t happy aboutthe idea.
Luckily, rather than bottle it up and pretend she is a-okay talking about it, thus stalling out the scene longer than necessary, Silver instead, as calmly as she can, requests to drop the subject. And though confused, Gallus is relieved when Silver confirms he didn’t say anything wrong and that she does want them all to get to know each other; she just isn’t ready for the discussion yet. And thankfully, he does drop the subject, gather their trash and dump it, and the two resume their date, the Ocean Flow subject having been avoided. For now.
Quick two things:
#1) When Silver said:
And talk about Mom and Dad some other time?”
I was tempted to write the line as:
[quote[And talk about my mother some other time?”A slip-up to further set up when they’d finally talk about Ocean Flow and her letters. Ultimately decided against it, knowing I didn’t need to make that blatant a setup at this point; you all knew the discussion was coming. More importantly, if I had written the line like that, I would have been tempted to have Gallus catch the slip-up and be tipped off early as to what Silver was really worried about.
Alternatively, I considered writing her referencing just her father to show Silver’s desire to distance herself from Ocean as much as she reasonably can, but I didn’t think that’d be blatant enough to serve as setup for anything.
And #2) When Gallus left to dump their trash, I was tempted to have Silver talk to herself like how Gallus did back in A.D.F.F. when she walked off to get them some lunch. Reprimanding herself for getting so worked up over her mother, ordering herself to keep it together and to just have fun on the date. That sort of thing. This plan didn’t last long since I was still trying not to drag this scene on even longer than it did and deserved.
The lingering awkwardness from their conversation’s abrupt end doesn’t last long once they begin their last activity for the day before the restaurant: A simple walk through the park.
This was primarily a transitional scene between the lunch and restaurant preparation scenes—Wouldn’t want to have them just end the first half of the date on an awkward lunch, would we? Especially when we could give the two a scene to rest and relax before the preparations begin and drama resumes.
It was also going to be a half as long as it ended up being, but because that felt too short, I extended it. Thus, Silverstream spills the beans on Smolder being a snuggler, and Gallus has his little bragging spell, though the latter was also a result of me wanting to address those Gallus criticisms yet again. Still feel a little mixed on having Silverstream bring his bragging down rather than join in and keep hyping him up, but I still found the moment quite funny. After all, if he can keep her from going crazy in the Gallery, she can keep his ego in check here.
Only other thing to note is my attempt here at explaining when this chapter takes place in the year. I didn’t think they’d wait too much longer after Hearth’s Warming, but they’d still need some time to work together on the schedule.
I figured their date would take place in the latter half of winter, possibly just shy of spring, so I slipped in how there was still a chill in the air. After I did that, however, I realized they’d need something to stave off that chill, so I noted how Yona had knitted them matching scarves. So, if you were wondering what Yona got the two for Hearth’s Warming, now you know.
Their goodbye scene was also extended. Not by much, but a few lines like how they remind each other about when the reservation is and whatnot. Although, Silver asking Smolder and Yona to give ‘em privacy so she and Gallus could say goodbye was always part of this scene.
It’s been a long time coming, but the 2nd Date is here, and we’re even halfway done with it, so of course I couldn’t help but give Gallus and Silver a moment, no matter how brief, to just savor the fact they’re on it and having an absolutely amazing time. Makes for both a nice breath of fresh air from the somewhat rapid pace we’ve been on so far this chapter.
This is further aided by bits like this:
He then sighed in exasperation and moaned, “We are so doomed after tonight.”
“Oh, who cares? Spending time together is totally worth it!” Silver sang.
“Yeah. Yeah, it is,” he agreed, nodding happily.
Where despite everything, Silverstream—Silverstream!—is having such a good time, she’s the one to reassure Gallus there’s nothing to fear or be paranoid about concerning the craziness Scoop and the others will surely subject them to the following day.
She even openly celebrates how much of a good time she’s having! In her own words:
“I don’t know what it is, but it’s like everything just seems…better! When I experience it with you!”
Which is still one of my favorite lines I gave Silver. We’ve already seen time and again how much they love each other, but letting them have a chance to vocalize how great they feel by being with each other…? I’d say they earned that.
I’d also say Gallus earned that little kiss Silver sneaks him, and I’m sure she’d say the same. Why did I draw attention to that specific extra kiss? No reason beyond merely wanting to. After everything so far, I felt entitled to some self-indulgence regarding Gallus and Silver being happy. Although, this is way more apparent in the Mount Aris arc.
Unfortunately for everyone and Silver especially, this momentary reprieve may have been a great break from the chapter’s lightning fast pacing, but it’s also great for something else. It makes for afantastic calm before the storm that is Gruff’s abrupt appearance.
So, we quickly hurry this scene along after their parting kiss, and have Silver enter the Boutique before… Randomly getting a peak into her inner thoughts…?
Yeah, Silver suddenly getting some internal dialogue was purely because we were about to focus squarely on her P.O.V., so I wanted to briefly lean into that here, though it certainly is jarring to see internal dialogue return so abruptly when none was ever present before now.
Regardless, she staves off Smolder and Yona’s own desire for Gallus-Stream gossip—Because of course they’d want to know how everything’s going so far; it was only realistic—and conversely, they stave off Silver’s questions about whether or not they really have had to catch some shipper spies. Silver then confirms she needs a few minutes before she’s ready to begin getting ready. Why? To justify the time-skip between scenes.
And that’s all I have to say on that subject, so let’s go ahead into the scene we time-skipped to!
~ He’s Doing His Best; That’s a Plus at Least, Right? …Right? ~
Over a week. This one scene took over a WEEK to do—almost two! 
Two days to write the first part with Smolder, Yona, and Silver, another day to edit it into something remotely coherent, another day figuring out how to make the girls letting Gruff talk to Silver alone seem realistic, another three or so days actually writing Gruff and Silver’s conversation. Then I kept spending several more days—even long after I had started working on the next chapter—coming back to this one scene and making several, infinitesimal improvements.
But… It was worth it. Annoying. But worth it. Let’s discuss why.
Initially, Gallus and Silver were going to return to the school dormitories where they’d then retreat into their rooms and have their own panic attacks over everything. Their friends would then split up to comfort and help them get ready for the restaurant.
For Gallus, we had Smolder and Ocellus. Ocellus had interacted with Gallus the most after Silverstream, so it felt natural for her to help him. As for Smolder, since she spent most of the story avoiding him, it only felt right for her to go help Gallus.
For Silverstream, we had Yona and Sandbar. Yona for obvious reasons: Both her duties as group seamstress and Silver’s confidant. As for Sandbar, I wanted to include him helping Silver since he barely interacted with her in the story, and I wanted to rectify that; plus, I felt it’d be a nice element to add to his and Yona’s relationship that he’d spent enough time with her to pick up a few skills in the art of dress-making/fitting.
Each group would help calm down Gallus and Silver respectively, then the duo would head off for the restaurant unperturbed and ready to have a good night.
What resulted in this concept getting overhauled? Simple. Everything that came before.
At this point in Gallus’ development, it’d be completely out of character for him to be on the brink of a nervous breakdown midway through the date, even after having such a fun, relaxing time so far. The same went for Silver too; lingering paranoia or no, she wouldn’t be that afraid of the date crashing and burning to need Yona and Sandbar to play Team Therapy.
Plus? I wanted Silverstream’s dressed-up entrance to be a surprise for Gallus, and that wouldn’t have worked had she gone back to the dormitories too.
Upon reworking the context for this concept, I had Gallus return to the school and Silver retreat to the Carousel Boutique. As evident, I kept the idea of the Student Six pairing off to help the lovebirds, but I switched who Sandbar and Smolder helped.
I would have loved to give Silver and Sandbar some interactions, but it was more appropriate he help Gallus since the two had an entire chapter dedicated to them hanging out. And although I would have adored having Smolder help Gallus after everything, she was too great a focus of Silverstream’s side of the story to be on anyone else’s team. It also helped that the fire-breathing tea party queen had some dress knowledge which made her a better fit for that part than Sandbar who I’d have to go out of my way to explain why heof all creatures was helping Silver into her dress.
Some other elements of this rough draft remained of course. Gallus still briefly panicked earlier, only for his development to kick in and quell it immediately; he and Silver do express their own worries and fears over the date not going well; Gallus even worries the restaurant will be screwed up later—though I altered the context for this particular worry—and I made sure to emphasize Smolder’s desire to help the two’s date go over swimmingly. A shame that was the closest I could come to giving her and Gallus a scene of their own.
But those are the events we didn’t get. How about the one we did?
Since I was already planning to give Silver’s dress reveal a huge emphasis, it was only fair I also give her getting into it some prominence as well. More importantly, I needed to slowly lead into Gruff’s appearance in a way which felt natural.
Thus, we open with the girls applying the finishing touches to Silver’s mane and dress. And since I’m a total ignoramus when it comes to everything cosmetics-related, I threw caution to the wind and went with some generic stuff about “Oh, Silver’s mane needs to be braided; her normal look wouldn’t go with the dress!”
I was tempted to have Silver be more assertive in the matter—Either wanting her mane to stay free-flowing or wanting the girls to hurry up and braid it already, I wasn’t sure which—but I figured it’d make more sense if she didn’t particularly care either way.
Again, her quasi-noble status resulted in her being rather indifferent to how arbitrarily “pretty” she looked. Especially since, as she acknowledges, Gallus likely wouldn’t care.
After some thought, I realized this wasn’t exactly perfect. Silver not being absolutely crazy about how she looked was fine, but her being completely apathetic to it? Ehhh, not so much. So I compromised, with this line:
“I know I would look better with my mane braided, but if it’s giving you two trouble, you can leave it alone. I doubt Gallus would care.” I certainly don’t; I look beautiful either way!
Here we see Silver understands she’d look better with her mane braided but is neutral enough to the idea that she’s willing to forgo it if it’s causing Smolder and Yona so much grief. More importantly, she’s self-confident enough that regardless of her mane’s appearance, she still sees herself as beautiful—A sentiment which highlights her own character development much more strongly and one Gallus would agree with in a heartbeat.
And this line:
“Okay, okay,” Silverstream conceded, unable to hide her smile. “Thank you again, girls.”
Show Silver does appreciate the others’ mane-braiding efforts despite the pain and frustration it brought them all, and even subtly implying she’d prefer them to succeed.
And:
Whoa. Okay, I take back what I said before; I look way better now, she admired. “Wow!”
Again, showing Silver really did want her mane braided that entire time.
While we’re still on the topic of her mane, the reason it became such a joke to begin with is because, well? As Smolder says, Silver’s mane is humongous! Not counting the Princesses, I think Fluttershy is the only one of the main cast whose mane is larger than Silver’s, and that’s saying something. And I felt like poking fun at that fact. 
Plus, it also let me joke about Yona’s hair and how huge thatmass of fluff is, with Silver and Smolder both deciding to help the poor girl with fixing it up too. And after thanking them for the offer and assuring she’ll take them up on it, Yona keeps the scene progressing smoothly by turning our attention to what we’d hinted at earlier: Polishing Silver’s talons.
And although Silver was the one who established she was going to have her talons polished for the date, it didn’t feel right for her to have a generic “preference.” Surely, she’d, as I had her claim in-universe, love all colors equally since she’s an artist.
Also, this tiny part regarding the polish took me roughly two or so hours to fully write out and perfect. Yeah. I don’t know how I managed to finish every chapter of the story by their deadlines either.
Fun fact: All of the colors the girls suggested were colors I considered having Silver wear to the restaurant. And the reasons why they decided against them were the same reasons I decided not to have Silver wear them.
Why did I settle for lush orchid? No reason. I like the color, and by this point, I was perturbed with how long it took to write this scene, so I settled for that and called it a day.
As mentioned, I know nothing about makeup, dresses, etc. Kinda wish I did so I could have done more with this segment, but whatever.
Despite my ignorance on this subject and annoyance with how long this scene took, I’m glad I included it. It’s not toooutstanding, but it’s nice to have a scene where the girls get to relax and embrace their shared interest in something often seen as “Traditionally feminine.” You know? Instead of spending every scene, fretting over drama, Gallus, or Gallus’ drama.
Speaking of which, let’s get back to that drama.
By now, I knew exactly how I wanted the restaurant scene to go. Problem was I needed an explanation for why Silverstream’s paranoia would reignite so suddenly, enough to incite that restaurant conversation, even though she’s been nothing but joyful this whole chapter. A little nervous about the date being interrupted, but otherwise, Silver hasn’t had any reason to be anxious about her and Gallus’ relationship at all, let alone the notion they might not work out.
Of course, there weren’t many characters in the story who could get Silver to question this issue since most were either busy making sure she and Gallus had a nice date or wouldn’t even be willing to discuss the problem at all. Sure, Discord wouldn’t hesitate to criticize her and Gallus’ relationship, and Starlight and the Mane Six might have been mature enough to notice the problems Gruff did… But would they really have done this to Silverstream today of all days?
Luckily for me, there was one character I desperately wanted to have interact with Silverstream at least once in the story, who was more than equipped and blunt enough to do this, and who I already had planned to cameo in these two chapters.
Grandpa Gruff—Big shock, I know. 
To circle back to complaining about how long this scene took me, I think I spent a solid half hour or more trying to make Gruff merely entering the Carousel Boutique seem natural instead of incredibly forced. For instance, Smolder was going to open the door first, but if I let her do that, there’d be no conceivable way she wouldn’t have shut the door immediately before Gruff could even blink. Thus, Yona opened the door.
Then there was explaining why Gruff didn’t get caught by the others, so I clarified he did but escaped, and I had to explain that without it coming across as blatant exposition.
Next was getting the girls to leave so Gruff and Silver could have the room, but I just gave up there. Which you can definitely see with how Silver gives up herself and asks the girls to leave despite the fact Smolder would realistically have thrown Gruff out in the first ten seconds.
I hatehow I had Yona immediately accept Silver’s request and drag Smolder away. All because I couldn’t figure out how to get Gruff to convince them to leave naturally. Not the first blatant instance of the “Hand of the Author,” but still one of the ones I despise the most.
Then, when editing, I also realized I had to address why Gruff conveniently showed up today. First thought was to have him know it was the day of the date and arrive specifically so he could talk to Silver before the restaurant activity. I quickly realized that would make Gruff seem like even more of a douche, so I changed the reasoning to instead be that he wantedto talk to her sooner, but Gilda kept catching him and dragging his scrawny flank back home.
Good on Gilda for wanting to help keep Gallus and Silver’s date uninterrupted as well, even if from afar; it’s a shame she failed.
Furthermore, during another one of the dozen or so times I edited this scene, I thought it’d be a good touch to show Gruff’s own character development from last chapter throughout this conversation. Which is why we get this snippet:
“Ordinarily, Ah’d love to see you try, but Ah ain’t here to start anythin’ today,” Gruff clarified truthfully. “Ah’m just here to get to know a certain somegriff more.”
Where, even though he’d love to go toe-to-toe with Smolder just to pile-drive her, Gruff preemptively assures he won’t cause any trouble, that all he’s here for is to chat with Silver. Shame said chat causes trouble anyway.
But onto the real meat of this scene!
To continue showing Gruff’s development, he doesn’t immediately launch into a bunch of soul-crushing criticism; rather, he genuinely compliments her.
Despite her surprise, Silverstream was going to be even angrier with how she spoke to him. Far, far angrier than would be in-character for her. Which is why I toned it down significantly. Of course I wanted her to be mad at Gruff, but instead of immediately flying off the handle at him, I have Silver acknowledge to herself that:
Gallus and Gruff made up, Silver, so don’t pick a fight. That isn’t the right thing to do.
I even poked fun at this issue by having Gruff outright call Silver out on her sassy, little “We’re there for him…” line. Still, Silver did indeed have every reason to be furious with him, and since I already botched up getting Smolder and Yona out of the scene naturally, I decided to make amends by addressing that via Silver’s line:
“Why are you here? And not with Gallus?”
It is an obvious question; after all, if Gruff wanted to help the lovebirds’ relationship grow, he could have easily approached Gallus about this. Of course, that wouldn’t make for compelling drama since Gallus would make Gruff wait until after the 2nd Date to talk, and we’d miss out on an awesome Gruff/Silverstream scene.
Sadly, Gruff simply reiterates he’s not Gallus’ dad nor does Gallus need his advice.
And in another example of how I toned down Silver’s anger, she doesn’t explode at Gruff for the obvious deflection she knows is total bullst. Rather, she acknowledges again that the two made up and accepts—halfheartedly—Gruff simply won’t ever view himself as Gallus’ legitimate father, merely his guardian. And she even compliments Gruff for his choice in hats because obviously Silverstream would love that fez of his.
Nevertheless, she does stand up for Gallus, rebuking Gruff for how he treated him, and Gruff, in another display of his own development, fully agrees with her. However, Silverstream makes it clear she doesn’t hate Gruff whatsoever; if anything, she’s glad he’s trying.
That still wouldn’t make up for all the heartache, however, which is why I have Gruff ask her if she really means that to which she responds it “depends on the context.” However, we’re still in a story with characters possessing their own thoughts and opinions, and in Silver’s case, despite all the pain Gruff caused Gallus, the fact he’s trying to be a better father figure is enough for her to be optimistic and believe the best of Gruff, much to his shock and appreciation.
And now, with that out of the way, let’s get to the question Gruff’s been wanting to ask this entire time:
“Why do you love Gallus?”
Surprisingly, it didn’t take me too long to figure out this was how I wanted to introduce this conversation. I considered having him begin by just flat-out asking her about the “Where do you see yourself in forty years?” part, but that obviously wasn’t a natural way to begin the conversation, so I had him ask the other question and went from there.
And where we go is Silver being completely shell-shocked to be askedthat of all things. Her love of Gallus is just… Well? It’s just love, as far as she’s concerned. She is still a kid, and it wouldn’t be realistic she’d have pre-prepared some massive ten-page-long essay on the many reasons she loves Gallus. Which is why she can’t even comprehend the question at first, and when she finally thinks of an answer, all she can say is he’s sweet.
That isn’t anywhere near enough for Gruff, so Silver hastily adds other, arguably rather generic, things she loves about him, ending with her expressing how much she loves Gallus’ hugs. Which, at first, I didn’t want her to say since I felt, with the rest of the conversation in context, that would risk retroactively portraying her love of Gallus as superficial. I eventually realized I was overthinking things; of course Silverstream of all creatures would actively praise someone, especially her boyfriend, for their hugability; plus, the fact it did risk that superficial issuemight actually benefit the discussion, rather than taint the romance.
Case in point, I had Gruff immediately become furious with her, because for that one split second, he feared her love for Gallus was completely superficial. Thankfully, Silver noticed his fury and quickly explained she loves those things about him because they’re part of who Gallus is. And she obviously loves Gallus for who he is.
And fortunately, that brings pure relief to Gruff who even compliments Silverstream for thinking that way. Unfortunately, he also uses that answer to springboard into his true concern… That being Silver’s role in the relationship.
And to discuss that, we must explain why this particular issue even happened. After all, I’ve complained quite a lot already about how burnt out I was with constantly keeping her and Gallus so unhappy and miserable for half the story, so why would I ever want to keep that going?
The answer is Pop Culture Detective and their video on Belligerent Romance. More specifically, this line from it:
“Media stories frequently advance the dangerous myth that volatile or domineering men just need a special woman to soften their rough edges and temper their aggression.”
So, why of all things did thisline influence the story? Gallus isn’t remotelycruel to Silver whatsoever, and I’ve already discussed wanting to portray their relationship as healthily as possible. But it’s this last point in particular that caused me to focus so intently on the line.
Throughout the story, Silverstream has acted, or at least tried to act, as effectively Gallus’ therapist herself. Ch.4(Optimism) was where this was most prominent, and at the end, Silver realized how much she had been hurting herself constantly fretting over Gallus’ well-being and trying to keep him happy. Subsequently, she came to understand she couldn’t/shouldn’t run herself ragged doing that… But did she truly internalize that?
And what about Gallus? His character arc may have been completed by this chapter, but was the majority of his development solely the result of Silverstream “being there for him” and nothing more? Obviously not, given the roles the other Student Six and Starlight all played in his side of the story. But still, upon hearing that line from Pop Culture Detective and reflecting on how I presented Gallus’ arc so far, I decided to make that fact clearer.
Gallus doesn’t nor shouldn’t need, of all creatures, Silverstream to sit there and be his personal therapist 24/7, nor should he be the same for Silver. And while I addressed this entire thing in Ch.4(Optimism), I couldn’t quite say it was enough.
That chapter focused predominantly on how terribly Silver’s anxiety over Gallus was affectingher specifically. But not only would it be unrealistic for those problems to vanish after that single chapter, but said chapter didn’t actually discuss how those issues affected her relationship with Gallus.
Sure, she told Gallus about her paranoia which was certainly good, but did they ever properly discuss how and why Silver was putting herself through that crud? Certainly not on-screen, that’s for sure!
Gallus, meanwhile, may have been seeing Starlight throughout the story and he may have had some deep, emotionally therapeutic conversations with the rest of his friends and even Luna at one point… But who was it that convinced him to even talk to Starlight in the first place? Who was it that sought him out and pulled him out of his darkest point? Who was it that kept reinforcing how good of a creature he ultimately was and reassured him when he was terrified about his own future and career?
Silverstream.
Basically, despite having spent an entire chapter cramming it into Silver’s head that she couldn’t constantly fret over Gallus’ well-being, it was because she was constantly fretting over his well-being that she managed to save him when he was at his absolute worst and get him to start seeking help for his issues.
This worked back in A.D.F.F. since that was initially a standalone story where, thanks to that accursed word limit, I had to relegate her to being a plot device to make Gallus feel better. I didn’t like it back then either, but it worked for the story I had told.
But here? Where the core focus was making sure Gallus and Silver’s relationship was as emotionally healthy and fulfilling as I could possibly make it…? Needless to say, I had to address some things. Because until I watched that video and heard that line, I never realized this was a problem, meaning I unknowingly allowed this issue to continue into T.B.O.L.
The result? Even though Silver had come to understand she couldn’t be paranoid over whether or not Gallus was okay, she did still view it as her responsibility to help him(And later Smolder) however she could. And if she couldn’t help them? Well? Let her “I’m a terrible friend” line be an indication of what would happen…
And as for Gallus? Though Silverstream undeniably played a significant role in his development, the last thing I wanted was to let it seem she was the sole defining reason he got better at all, only further reaffirming Silver was somehow responsible for his happiness.
Simply put, Gallus and Silverstream are not each other’s therapists. They will absolutely be there for and help each other when they’re upset, but neither of them are equipped to deal with the other’s most deeply-rooted emotional and psychological baggage, nor should they feel responsible to help the other deal with said baggage regardless, subsequently hurting themselves in the process.
Sooo…? What better way to address all of this than by turning it into a continuation of Silver’s paranoia arc? It was the most natural way I could do that and, more importantly, let me oh so cleverly pretend I had intended this story arc from the very beginning.
Even better, it also meant I had an actual story beat for Gallus and Silver to discuss during the restaurant scene because even though I was dead-set on writing a scene of them having dinner together, I had no idea what to make them talk about. But now I did, so yay!
Silver’s certainly not happy about that though, and Gruff isn’t exactly making things better for her, opting to get straight to the point and bluntly remind her of Gallus’ flaws.
Bottling up his feelings and his need for Gruff’s validation were both easy choices to bring up; the part about Gallus’ stubbornness was what took me a hot minute to figure out.
Silverstream naturally argues that although Gallus did have those problems, he’s had character development now and has almost entirely overcome them. Gruff responds by blatantly referencing Ch.6(Stagnation) since that chapter single-handedly proves his point.
Silver has had her own character development though, so she simply continues reassuring her own optimism on the matter, confident that I’ll never make Gallus backslide that badly on his own development again Gallus will never be as bad off as he once was.
Unfortunately for her, Gallus spilled the beans on what Silverstream’s character arc was about, and Gruff is certainly glad for that since it means he can head off the issues he addresses. For as he asks, what will Silver do when the infamous “One bad day” inevitably comes and Gallus—or any of her friends, really; this problem isn’t exclusive to him—gets upset again, falling back into the emotionally tumultuous state Silver remembers all too well.
The answer is simple: She’d be there for him and help him however she can. It’s an answer practically everyone else in the story would have given, so surely it’s the right one?
Not as far as Gruff is concerned, unfortunately. Not because it’s wrong to want to help Gallus when he’s upset—Gruff would absolutelyhelp Gallus if he needed to—but because he knows Silver will try to help him regardless of the cost to her own well-being. And his concern is only further confirmed when it’s clear she doesn’t even recognize it as anything awful; if anything, she sees it as noble—Forever being there and never hesitating to do everything she can to help Gallus. And while—let’s be honest—that certainly isnoble to an extent, that doesn’t necessarily make it right. If anything, it’s only made more wrongby everything Gruff discusses.
This is the point when I stopped to think over what I was writing. I know full-well Gallus is never going to be as bad off as he once was; at this point, we all do. It’s realistic he does have some lingering issues that even all his therapy hasn’t resolved—another reason I have Gruff acknowledge as such—but for the purposes of the story, Gallus is better now, unquestionably, irrevocably—another reason I had Silver acknowledge as such.
Silver knows Gallus is better, and thanks to her development, knows she mustn’t fret over him constantly and instead trust he’ll be okay. And as Gruff recognizes, she’s done exactly that.
Here and now, Silverstream is truly, genuinely happy. Not afraid, paranoid, or anything else. I didn’t want her to be secretly paranoid this entire time or anything stupid like that, for obvious reasons. And while I didn’t want to make her miserable and paranoid all over again…? I still had a story to tell, so Gruff questions if Silver’s optimism is the result of genuine character growth or if it’s purely because nothing majorly awful has happened as of late.
Remember this particular line from last chapter?
“But as long as you’re happy? Then I guess everything is okay.”
Honestly, I don’t even need to say anything more; this line says it all.
Silver’s response to this is to accuse Gruff of trying to make her feel guilty and paranoid all over again just to be a dk. But as if I’d ever make Gruff so utterly one-dimensional; plus, again, he’s had some development of his own thanks to Gallus’ verbal beat-down.
Gruff is sincerely trying to help Silverstream here, wanting nothing more than for her and Gallus to both find true happiness and make their relationship properly work. But Gruff’s still kind of a douche, and he’s not about to choose subtlety and tact over raw bluntness.
So he brings up how distraught Silverstream was during the Smolder situation, how she spent all of Ch.4(Optimism) worrying over the possibility every little thing would hurt Gallus again, and how even now, they got their friends and even their Headmare to preemptively prevent anyone from interrupting their 2nd Date rather than take the risk and just deck Scoop in the jaw when she inevitably showed up with a camera.
By now, you get the point behind this story beat. Especially given how often I’ve repeated myself regarding it. Silverstream, however? Well, she certainly understands it, but the claws of denial are relentless, and Gruff even more so. Because before Silverstream can even process the realization her optimism is as flimsy as wet paper, Gruff hits her pointblank with the “Gallus’ Future” subplot.
For although he specifies it’s okay she hasn’t figured out her future either, he still wants to know if she intends Gallus to be part of it. Twenty, thirty, forty years from now…? Will Silver still be by Gallus’ side? Because everyone, including Gruff, knows Gallus plans to be by hers.
And just to really hammer that point home, I callback to Ch.5(Normality), where Scoop brings up the infamous marriage topic. The result? Silver’s petrified by the thought, especially once she catches up to everyone else and realizes what Gallus has been planning.
And since that callback took place in an internal monologue and I really didn’t want to have to write out Silverstream’s panic over that last revelation in particular, I just have Gruff interrupt her, acknowledge she’s been sitting there in silence for awhile, and demand her answer.
Shakily, Silver confirms she wants to be by Gallus’ side too.
Gruff, of course, sees right through that, confronting her with the fact Gallus can and possibly will backslide again; what would she do then?
Still be with him.
He still ain’t buying it and assures her that romance is completely different than friendship in one totally un-subtle story title drop, and asks one last time if Silverstream truly is willing to sacrifice her entire future, life, and happiness to forever chain herself to Gallus’ side just to be his glorified therapist until they day they die.
And what else could Silverstream say? No? Please! She loves Gallus far too much to not want to be by his side forevermore.
And here we get to my favorite part of the scene by far: Where Gruff just! Goes! Off! On Silverstream, about how she absolutely cannotdo that to herself. That no matter how much she may love Gallus and vice versa, if she fears she could never genuinely be happy with him, then she has no choice but to get out. No matter how painful it would be… She has to get out.
Funny that Gruff gets to be the one encouraging one of the lovebirds to do that this time.
Silver doesn’t find anything Gruff said remotely amusing, however, and now was the time to let her own fury free so she could finally rebuke Gruff for abandoning Gallus.
Gruff, irritatingly, was prepared for that and shuts it down by telling Silver not to compare herself to him. Not because it would make him look bad, but because if there’s anycreature Silver should never be compared to, it’s him. Not that he says that though; he just deflects back to proclaiming Gallus isn’t Silver’s responsibility. After all, if Gallus is anyone’s responsibility, it’s Gruff’s.
After a brief coughing fit interruption to slow the pacing back down, Gruff resumes with a monologue about what I he personally considers “True love” to be: Two people who are at their happiest when they’re together.
Why? Easy, to connect this entire conversation to the relationship dynamic proper. And also because I couldn’t resist a scene like this. It is called “The Bonds of Love” after all, and what story with that kind of title would be complete without someone monologuing about the nature of love and companionship?
Gruff then clarifies he knows as well as we do that Gallus is happiest when he’s with her. But he doesn’t know Silverstream. And what manner of self-respecting father figure would Gruff be if he didn’t confront the girl of his not-son’s dreams and ask the ultimate question.
“Do. You. Love. Gallus?”
And what response could Silver give but:
“Yes,” Silver immediately answered. “Yes, I do.”
Fun fact about that line though: There wasn’t originally a dialogue tag; in fact, when I decided it needed one, I considered having Silver hesitateat first to further prove Gruff somewhat right about everything. Then realized if she did hesitate, it would only be because Gruff rattled her so much, and would imply her love for Gallus wasn’t genuine. Thus, I threw that idea out the window and had Silver’s confirmation be “immediate” instead, to clarify there was neverany actual risk here. Gallus loves Silver; Silver loves Gallus. It’s as simple as that.
Well? Simple in theory. Gruff may accept Silver loves Gallus, but that doesn’t quell his worries. So he takes a moment to reassert she needs to think about what they talked about.
For Silverstream deserves as happy a life as Gallus. And if being with Gallus as she is now would mean Silver would end up spending her days endlessly anxious over every tiny thing going wrong and Gallus, her friends, or even herself getting upset…?
Gruff shrugged, finishing, “Ah speak for everycreature when Ah say not one single, livin’ bein’ in all of Equestria would want that for you. Least of all, Gallus.”
But this begs the questions: Why is Gruff so afraid of Silverstream succumbing to these issues, so afraid she’ll sacrifice her own happiness to be with Gallus? And more importantly, what the heck was the in-universe reason for why Gruff of all creatures come to that particular view of what “True love” meant? Silver pretty much asks exactly this, and… Well?
This was literally the only chance in the story where I could address it, and I adamantly refused to have Gallus be the one he spoke to about this…
After some hesitation, Gruff explained, “Silver? Ah’ve been around for a long time. Ah’ve seen plenty of creatures—griffons and otherwise—get all ‘twinkly-eyed’ for each other. And then some two decades later? They…fall apart.” He huffed angrily, whispering to himself, “And whenever that happens, it’s usually their kids that end up payin’ the price for it.”
You all know exactly who he was referring to in this line; Silverstream does too. But since this was the only clue I ever intended to give about who they were and why they abandoned Gallus, Silver doesn’t inquire further.
I will confirm she didtell Gallus about this line, however. They don’t keep secrets either.
How he reacted to it, and whether he chose to confront Gruff about it? Well, I’ll leave the specifics a mystery, but given how determined he was back in Ch.11(Closure) to stop caring about them and move on with his life, I’m sure you can make an educated guess what happened.
Either way, Silverstream reaffirms she is indeed genuinely happy with Gallus, despite what Gruff’s now put on her mind. And Gruff? Well, we’re nearing the end of the scene, so he finally relents, assuring if that’s true, if she is unquestionably happy with Gallus, then there is no reason to be afraid. She and he have a bright, wonderful future ahead of them. But again, if there’s a chance she’ll be afraid, then she needs to leave and blah-blah-blah, you get it.
I didn’t exactly want Gruff to leave after putting Silver through all of this though, so I make sure to show his own growth one last time by having him apologize for upsetting her. A little late for that, as Silver herself says, which seems to be a running trend for the vulture, as he himself says. But sadly, this is where the scene ends. So with little else to say and little reason to stay, Gruff abruptly leaves Silver to stew in her thoughts.
And stew she does. Not alone, necessarily; in fact, I wanted to have Yona and Smolder immediately rush back to her side the moment Gruff left and begin comforting her, but well? Didn’t fit with the pacing of the scene.
Besides! Silverstream standing there, alone, asking herself what on earth she’s going to do, all the while, both the mind-boggling fact Ocean Flow disapproves of their relationship and the newfound terrifying possibility they’ll break up now loom over the story and weigh upon Silver’s mind…? Makes for one heck of a cliffhanger, don’t it? 
~ One Last Wait ~
You can bet I wanted to end this chapter on that cliffhanger, but after checking the word count, nope; it would have been too short a chapter had I done that. Plus, next chapter would have started with this scene which would have made the pacing awkward.
So, we still get the cliffhanger but also see Gallus have that freak-out I considered giving him earlier and recycled here. Heck, Sandbar and Ocellus both snap him out of it just as I had originally planned.
Of course, Gallus makes it easy for them by both admitting to his worries over Gruff’s altercation with Silver and accepting that, despite it, everything will be okay. As he reminds himself: The day never had to go perfectly, he and Silver just had to have a good time which they certainly have had so far.
And I opt to slip in this line:
“I’m not letting him take that away from us,” he vowed.
To further show that, even if he’s made up with Gruff, Gallus is through letting the buzzard get to him.
Once that’s accomplished, we move the plot along with Smolder ringing them up on Sandy’s radio and letting them know they’re on their way.
From there we get some simple “Gallus has last minute jitters” comedic bits that quickly—by which I mean: Jarringly—transition into Gallus lamenting missing the restaurant’s dance day. Because I forgot to work it into the date naturally until it was(almost) too late in the writing process.
As for why they do that in front of Ocellus? Honestly, just to justify her going, “Open mic night!” next chapter. I’ll explain more thoroughly there, but suffice it to say, she’s ecstatic to learn Gallus learned how to dance for Silverstream.
Speak of the hippogriff and she shall appear, alongside her entourage.
Silverstream’s dress only got as much attention as it did because…? Well, just because this whole “Wow, what a glow up!” kind of scene is such a common trope, and I wanted to indulge it. Though, this is where my nonexistent descriptive skills return once more; I’ve never been particularly satisfied with how I described the dress.
I didn’t want to give it paragraphs on top of paragraphs worth of descriptions, and I always did think of her dress as beautiful yet still pleasantly simple, but nevertheless… Could have been better.
Gallus still thinks highly of it though, literally saying she looks like an angel. Curiously, referring to Silver as such is something he does quite often. Why? Don’t know. I think I merely liked the descriptor and used it frequently as a result.
And naturally, what else could or would Silverstream say of Gallus’ glow-up but to call him snazzy, dapper, and ten levels of suave? At least I made fun about that particular callback with Gallus jokingly lamenting not seeing it coming.
This entire portion is primarily to show the lovebirds still reeling from lingering anxiety but ultimately overcoming it now they’re together again, each other’s presence a source of comfort for the other.
Well? Almost. Silver’s obviously bottling up some major anxiety there, but that’ll be resolved at the restaurant. So rather than have her terrorbe supremely obvious like in Ch.4(Optimism), I had her show off her character development by managing her stress…er? “Decently.” It’s clear to Gallus something is amiss, but for now, Silver’s just ready to get the night over with and her mind off everything.
Thankfully, Smolder, Yona, Sandbar, and Ocellus are there to urge them to do exactly that, especially since we’re at the tail end of this particular chapter and I’d really rather not artificially inflate that word count any more than necessary.
Apparently I didn’t feel too strongly about that though, given the infamous turd noodle with horns makes one last cameo alongside Glim-Glam.
Why did Discordshow up? Same reason he says in-universe: This was his last chance for a cameo. And what else would I do with him but crack some “Fourth Wall” jokes, have him properly apologize for screwing with Gallus back in Ch.3(Expression), and sneak a dig in at that “Best of intentions” nonsense he used to justify his Grogar stint. Oh, and also to make Silverstream feel even worse. That too. Though he at least directly apologizes to her as best he can in this line:
“I didn’t mean to upset you so much that day. Either of you,” Discord said, looking directly at Silver.
Yep, that dialogue tag is meant to imply he knew about her and Gruff’s “Talk.” But because plot has to happen, he doesn’t say anything else in front of Gallus. At least he’s learning.
The lovebirds are both quick to forgive Discord, knowing he does indeed mean well, even if he’s a massive jerk, but they make it abundantly clear they don’t want him doing anything like that to either of them. Best they can really do in-universe, and best I can really do, given Discord’s nowhere near a main character.
Doesn’t stop him from doing his best Fairy Godmother impression, summoning a chariot for the duo, driven by none other than Screwball who I barely know anything about.
Silver then apologizes herself for the box debacle, not because Discord deserves an apology for that—something even he acknowledges by admitting he deserved being boxed—but because it was the closest I could get to giving Silver and Discord a scene together—something you’ll recall I considered and nixed back in Ch.4(Optimism).
Speaking of things I nixed, Discord brings up that stupid O&O scene again, partly because I was still certain I’d be able to do that, not in T.B.O.L., but perhaps as its own standalone story. Shame that passion died a long time ago. But what makes it especially egregious is how long I dragged it on for! 
Smolder gets in on it, Edith gets brought up, Discord gives a brief summary of the campaign, and Blackout Shade! Yeah-yeah, past me, I get it; you wanted to make fun of the dumb name your teenage self came up with for your first MLP OC, but come on! 
If the O&O scene actually did happen, maybe this brief interjection wouldn’t have been so bad, but ultimately, it’s little more than an annoyingly long delay from the actual romance drama. So, uh, sorry for that. I did consider nixing some of it during the re-edit, but decided against it. Bad scene or no, it’s a part of T.B.O.L., and I feel it’s important to preserve it accordingly.
That aside, after one last round of thanking everyone for their help in ensuring the 2nd Date went smoothly, Gallus and Silver vamoose into their newly presented carriage and vanish into the night to have their restaurant soiree.
In their absence, Discord admits he’s totally going to spy on their date from afar before teleporting away, leaving everyone else to gather toward Starlight, wish harm upon Gruff, and go prepare for Phase Two of “Operation: Stop the Spying Shippers.”
And that was the first half of Serenity! And this time, I’ll save my thoughts for when we finish discussing it’s second half next weekend, whenever my schedule permits.
~ Additional Tidbits ~
— 1)
Again, Gallus is still a teenager, and already he’s thinking of how he can monetarily provide for Silverstream. Certainly sweet of him, but at the same time…? More proof Gruff’s concerns weren’t entirely unfounded.
— 2) Regarding this line:
I had always envisioned this scene between Gallus-Stream taking place on a cloud, mostly to take advantage of the fact they can do that. But since I never got a chance in the beginning of the scene to establish that fact, I had to slip it in here. Kinda glad for that honestly, it let me provide an additional reason for why they were planning the schedule so high above the land other than “just ‘cause.”
— 3) About that “Perpetual awakeness” spell joke? That only came to be because I watched that Apple Sleep Experiment video on Youtube. Hence why Ocellus’ response is “I don’t really care for it. Creatures do need rest after all.”
— 4) Sandbar explaining his father and others donated to Spearhead’s Gallery was just to explain why an “Art show” became a full-fledged gallery in T.B.O.L. Also a nice way to call back to Sandbar’s dad being a Royal Guard in T.B.O.L.
— 5) I got into MLP after it blew over, but there was quite a kerfuffle over Twilight becoming an alicorn. One aspect of it was people being frustrated not many other creatures seemed to notice, let alone care, she was an alicorn Princess.
And it’s this situation that inspired this line:
Just to low-key acknowledge that issue.
— 6) Regarding the line:
Firstly, I wanted to preemptively acknowledge how Silver had no problems like her brother did regarding whether she wanted to live on land or underwater. She likes both sides of herself and her culture equally, and I wanted to put that out there before we reached the Mount Aris arc.
That said though, I always found it weird Silverstream was never included in “Surf and/or Turf”—despite Terramar being her, you know, brother, and his hippogriff-or-seapony crisis being something she’d have likely experienced too—which further contributed to me adding this subject to this scene.
— 7) I had been watching a lot of Jacksepticeye's Subnautica Playthrough when writing this story, both for fun and later for inspiration on how to portray Seaquestria. And since the subject of what Gallus would transform into came up, I couldn’t help but reference the Ghost Leviathan. So yeah. Subnautica exists in T.B.O.L., make of that what you will.
— 8) Regarding this line:
Gallus originally didn’t comb his headcrest whatsoever; however, after I had Silverstream confess she loved seeing him do that, I came back here to retroactively add him doing it.
— 9) You probably weren’t wondering why Smolder says this “Fine and dandy” once. No? Well, regardless, there’s a story behind Smolder saying that line specifically. More accurately, there’s a song behind it:
Discovered that series when writing T.B.O.L and like with DBZA, I couldn’t resist referencing it somehow, no matter how arbitrarily.
— 10) And here we have another retroactive change:
Gallus originally didn’t blush here, but after I had Silver explain to Terramar she called Gallus “Sweetie” specifically because he blushes when called that, I came back to add that detail here since this was the very first time she had ever called him that in-universe.
— 11) Another line during the dress-up scene I wanted to point out was:
Mostly because I still find the line funny and deliberately included it to show Silver did enjoy getting all dolled up, despite her earlier whining. It’s also nice to see Silver able to think that of Smolder and not feel unnecessarily guilty for it.
— 12) When Gruff knocks on the door, interrupting them, Silver was initially going to be far more indignant at said interruption. It didn’t fit her character though, so while I had her be irked, I made sure to add this part:
To make it clear that while she didn’t like being interrupted, she wasn’t all, “Ugh! Why does someone have to interrupt us now of all the times—The nerve of some creatures!”
— 13) Smolder casually stating they had locked Rarity in Applejack’s barn was a retroactive addition. I needed a reason why Rarity wasn’t helping Yona and Smolder get Silver read—one more concrete than her simply trusting Yona with the job—so next chapter I clarified she was being held at bay, lest she spy on the 2ndDate herself. Afterward, I felt it necessary to return here and foreshadow that fact.
— 14) While I may hate how I couldn’t think of a better reason for getting Smolder and Yona to let Gruff talk to Silver than “Because plot,” I do like how I got Silver to surrender to the whims of the aforementioned plot, that being this little moment between them:
I especially enjoy the last part where she basically goes, “Okay, Gruff, I can handle you; let’s see what you got!” After all her paranoia and dread, it’s nice to see her be so brazenly confident in the face of Gruff of all creatures. Her Auntie Novo would be proud.
— 15) This line:
Was originally:
The line was always meant to be unnerving, but I swiftly realized how creepyit sounded in light of their age difference, so I immediately changed the word choice to better convey Gruff was essentially “Critiquing” or “Studying” Silver rather than…whatever the original would convey.
Could have just used “Critiquing” and “Studying” but where’s the fun in that?
— 16) Silver’s “We deserve to be happy!” rant was going to be almost twice as long with both Chrysalis and Tirek getting a mention, and even Ocean Flow too, though Silver would choke up at her name. It didn’t take long to realize the line was too long and subsequently shorten it.
— 17) If Griselda ever found out Gallus said this:
I’m sure she’ll never let him live it down that he totally
called back tostole her line.— 18) I want to call attention to how Gallus and Ocellus collaboratively celebrate winning the Science Fair. Why? Because I love it! Gallus and Ocellus are totally science bros now, and it’s great. Plus, it also shows more of Gallus’ development with him being completely and truly proud to have won that Fair, no more of that “I’m not cut out to be a scientist after all” nonsense.
— 19) Alternate colors for Silver’s dress include:
A)Silver—for the wordplay.
B) Seafoam green—for both color variety and wordplay(Seafoam green, seapony; get it?
)
C) Purple/orchid—inspired the talon polish color, hence why it went unused.
And D)I think I considered blue/turquoise too? Though I might be mis-remembering that last one and thinking instead of the polish colors again.
Why’d I go with yellow? Color variety. And also because the color yellow traditionally represents warmth, happiness, and whatnot, and I figured that’d be a good fit for Silver, given her personality.
— 20)
I don’t even need to say anything; you already know why I slipped in that joke.