The Writing of The Bonds of Love (Epilogue: Love), part one · 12:30am Jul 16th, 2023
Here we are. It’s been a long time coming, but we’ve finally reached the end, and what a wild ride it was getting to this point! With no time to waste, let’s bring this commentary to a close and discuss the grand finale of The Bonds of Love!
~ To the Future! ~
Having reached the end of the story, it was only natural I considered what might lie beyond, where exactly I could take the story should I write a sequel. Soon enough, my focus turned to when the show itself ended: The future.
Not that cheap “Bad Ending” future I considered and loathed either; no, we were in the good, happy future! And that meant a few things…
First is referencing “Can You Feel the Sunshine” one final time because I couldn’t resist. 
Second is being initially vague as to when and where this takes place, hence we have no clear indicators of either until:
He then fell silent when a pink talon reached up and gently pressed against his chest, pushing him back down onto the bed. Gallus gazed a second longer at the beautiful ring adorning said talon before turning to its owner and joking, “Correction: Gotta lie down and go back to sleep.”
“And cuddle me,” Silverstream whispered giddily. “Don’t forget that part.”
Yep, Gallus-Stream is now officially married, and even better: They’re sleeping together without fear of Starlight bursting into the room to holler at them about school rule violations.
So there’s your answer for whenwe are. I considered postponing that reveal to keep ya’ll in suspense, but that would have been a waste of time. We’re at the end of the story, so why bother pretending otherwise? Especially when the Epilogue(Love) would be less than 8k+ words.
Yes, you heard that right. My initial estimate was for the Epilogue(Love) to be roughly 7-8k+ words.
Truth be told, I felt somewhat bitter toward the Epilogue(Love) when first writing it. The Mount Aris arc was meant to be T.B.O.L.’s finale, but because I just! Couldn’t! Shut! Up! I had to pull another ending out my a and write as fast as possible to meet the new deadline.
It felt remarkably similar to the Ch.6(Stagnation) situation—Writing this felt like an unnecessary burden born of my stubborn determination to grant the story a proper epilogue that wasn’t split into two. So, to spare myself the agony of wasting another month and a half of unintended work, I planned to keep the Epilogue(Love) as short as possible.
“Show Gallus-Stream is a happily married couple now and that they have a kid, then be done with this story and move onto other things. Don’t. Draw. It. Out.” – Is what I had told myself when beginning to write the Epilogue(Love).
…
Needless to say, these issues soon went out the window.
The overall frustration subsided with time, thanks in no small part to how much fun I was having writing Future Gallus-Stream and their family, especially Glory! In fact, it’s Glory herself that you’ve to thank for the word count expanding so exponentially.
I’ll explain why later, however; first, we have her parents to discuss!
Given the time-skip, it was necessary to “reintroduce” them as their adult/married selves, which meant determining what the logical continuation would be for them in the years since the Mount Aris arc.
Married for one thing, obviously. But as for their personalities specifically, not much work was needed. They’d naturally be happy and content with their lives, so I merely needed to write that, sprinkling in snippets of the newer elements of their lives brought about the time-skip.
But first, some elements that aren’t new but deserved callbacks:
“Good morning, milady.”
“Good morning, sweetie,”
Yep, they still call each other that. 
“One of these days, you’re going to have to come up with some original material.”
An evolution of how Gallus was always “out-sweeting” Silverstream, to the point she’s now literally copying him just to keep up. And because it was a funny joke.
“Besides, I doubt any of my material would hold a candle to yours, milord.”
“Doth thou truly believeth such nonsense, Fair Silverstream?” Gallus questioned, stroking her cheek lovingly. “I beseech thee! Grant unto me thine greatest material so I may proveth thee wrong.”
Silverstream smirked and responded with, “I love you.”
“Why, Fair Silverstream! ‘Tis nothing greater than those three most beautiful, splendorous words,” he praised. “Not one single line I hath spoken in these many years doth compare.”
“In that case, say it to me,” she insisted.
“I love you,” Gallus said without hesitation.
They both chuckled and shared a kiss.
Yep! They’re still doing the old-timey speech thing too! Why, though? You’d think they’d have eventually outgrown it, but therein lies the reason I had them do it again. Even if it seemsimmature for them to still be talking like this all these years later, they like doing so. It makes them happy. 
And that’s all the reason they need to continue the joke, even now.
Now, of course plenty of their old relationship elements would remain throughout the years; they’re the same creatures now as they were back then. But as mentioned, those same years afforded them plenty of new elements too…
“But seriously, we really do have to get up soon,” he bemoaned, staring into her twinkling eyes.
Our first implicit clue of a certain fledgling’s existence. You might first interpret the reason they have to get up is their jobs, but considering later information, you know the true reason they got up so early today.
It’s also a nice clue into Gallus’ present growth, given he’s the one mature enough to say “No time for cuddles, our daughter’s gotta go to school.” In direct contrast to Silverstream—who’s always been the more risque of the two—going:
“No, we don’t. All we have to do is lie here and cuddle,” Silverstream declared, nestling even deeper into his sky blue feathers.
And before I continue, I want to take the moment to express my relief at how happy Silverstream finally is! She was happy during the Mount Aris arc, yeah, but even then, she had her mother’s nonsense constantly weighing upon her, in addition to her overly risque behavior being an issue.
But now, there are no more problems, or at least, none that I acknowledged in this Epilogue(Love) and certainly nothing she and Gallus can’t work through together.
Everything I put her and Gallus through before has been thoroughly overcome, and they genuinely got their happy, fairy tale ending. And however gleeful I was to write that ending is nothing compared to how ecstatic Silver is to be living it, as evidenced by how much love she exudes for her family, especially Gallus.
Basically, Silverstream finally has her canon personality back in full. And it’s amazing. 
Not as amazing as the fact I have yet another new element of their relationship to portray! 
Ya’ll saw how excited I was to show more of Gallus-Stream being physically intimate after their first kiss and whatnot. But now? Now, they were husband and wife, with a kid. Which obviously meant that same physical intimacy had reached its natural apex. And what better way to show off that new element to their relationship than with another callback?
“Oh? You want to just cuddle, huh?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Well, if you’re offering…?” she cooed, displaying her neck.
Gallus smiled and softly kissed it, savoring the elated hum it drew out of her.
Yep, Gallus figured it out—that sly cat-bird! 
And it’s nice to see he’s so much more comfortable with the act than his teenage self was.
We all know Silver’s certainly happy about that, considering how she—ahem!—“responds” to the gesture.
Yeahhh, I was rather anxious about this section, and this is the tame version! The original concept for their little morning “cuddle” was far, far spicier. Spicier enough to risk the story needing the “Sex” tag. 
I mean, this version is still spicy enough to run that same risk, which is why I preemptively apologized to Daemon Wolf 22 about it, only to thankfully be reassured it was vague enough not to be a problem. But I was not about to have to slap on the “Sex” tag of all things onto T.B.O.L. solely because of one tiny scene at the very end of the story, especially when I had already compromised on my personal hangups regarding that other tag.
And even if I didn’t have that hangup where the tag was concerned, Glory was set to walk in on them in about two minutes. So, um? P E C K N O ! to the spicier version. 
Even with all that in mind, I still couldn’t help myself and decided to turn the issue into a minor plot point. 
Thus, Gallus brings their “cuddling” to a halt before it runs the risk of becoming the spicier version, much to his wife’s disappointment. And he does so with this line:
“Otherwise, I’d have asked you if we could do a bit more than just kiss.”
Note how he specifies he’d have asked Silver to do the spicier version.
I went back and forth with myself on that word choice. I mean, they’re married now. One wouldn’t think he’d need to ask permission to go further, considering it’d already be implicitly given, especially in light of Silverstream’s reaction to him stopping, and especially in light of how healthy and intimate their relationship ultimately is. But? I figured it’d be even healthier to show Gallus would rather have Silver’s explicit consent before doing more, rather than presume he already had it.
Naturally, he did already have it. Because it’s Silverstream, and she’s a horny birb, as evidenced by the Mount Aris arc. 
Though that’s not to say Gallus isn’t a horny birb himself…
Her smile widening—Silverstream inquired, “How much more?” in as sultry a voice as possible.
Gallus combed a talon through her mane, replying, “Oh, I think you already know the answer to that.”
“Hee-hee, yes, I do. And I certainly wouldn’t mind if we did that again.”
“Neither would I, but you know we can’t.”
“Aww, what’s the matter, sweetie?” Silverstream asked, stroking his headcrest again. “Don’t you wanna play with me?”
“I do. I really, really do,” Gallus hummed, his eyes fluttering closed at her touch.
“Then go ahead, Gallus. Let’s play.”
This exchange wasn’t originally going to happen. Instead, Silver would simply ask what’s wrong/why and he’d respond with his next line, acknowledging they only have five or so minutes before they legitimately do have to get up.
The dialogue didn’t remotely feel natural that way, but more importantly, it portrayed Gallus as so gung-ho about getting up and fulfilling [Currently un-clarified parental responsibility] to be completely apathetic/resistant to “cuddling” his wife.
That didn’t fit at all with Gallus’ long-established “King of all Things Sweet” shtick, nor did it seem fair Gallus wasn’t as eager to “cuddle” his wife as she was him. Thus, I extended the dialogue, deliberately showing him blatantly admit he’d love nothing more than to “cuddle” her too—brought about in-universe by Silverstream’s own teasing.
Ironic I acknowledge her “Don’t you want to play with me?” line when I considered cutting it regardless, worrying it was still too spicy to include. Ultimately included it for Gallus’ reaction, and also for realism. They’re married, alone—not counting you, the audience—and Silver’s pecking horny. The fact her line was subtle as it was is a downright miracle.
And if you need proof of that, look no further than Gallus’ counterargument to her “Five minute fun” proposal:
“And you would not let me go until you were satisfied.”
But to once more clarify Gallus is just as “cuddle”-happy as his wife:
“Well…?” She smiled. “You wouldn’t let me go either, would you?”
“Sea kelp no,” he swore, immediately planting his beak against hers.
Eyyy, he picked up her swears in his adult years! Nice continuation of that joke. Makes sense, considering they’d realistically pick up some of the other’s tendencies due to living together for so long(And were already doing so in their younger years).
Also, wow. Gonna need a glass of milk for all that spice. Luckily they settle down long enough to give our second major hint Glory exists:
“Nope. If Cheerilee could handle the Crusaders, she can handle anything,” she reasoned.
Revealing Glory was another thing I debated whether to draw out for as long as possible or cut straight to the chase and get it over with. This time, I didn’t mind extending it a little.
“Ooh, I can only imagine how they’d react to this line; I bet they’re all at the edge of their seat, wondering, ‘Wait, do they have a kid!?’ Hee-hee, I can’t wait to see their reaction!” – Literally the only thing I thought when writing both this particular exchange. Here’s hoping at least some of you caught the line and immediately got hyped. 
That said, I did consider completely cutting it too, fearing referencing Cheerilee would be too much of a giveaway toward Glory. What made me disregard that fear and include the line, however, was the fact Silverstream said it.
Silverstream.
At this point, I shouldn’t have to explain why it’s so beautiful how—on the day her and Gallus’ daughter first goes to school—she is entirely calm. No worries beyond the basic stomach butterflies, but certainly no panic or half-crazed paranoia. In fact, Gallus is the one fretting for once, and she’s the one reassuring him everything will be okay, 100% confident the universe will not sucker-punch them for daring to feel safe and secure in their happiness.
Doesn’t mean it’s all sunshine and daisies though. Case in point: The first not-so-great element of their future lives: They have JOBS! 
Gallus’ hectic work schedule and its impact on him, Silver, and Glory was another subject I pondered over when conceptualizing sequel ideas. However, it wasn’t something which warranted focus, both because we weren’t writing a proper sequel, merely an epilogue, and because I utterly loathed the idea of tainting Gallus-Stream’s happy ending with such paltry nonsense as Gallus not always being home when his wife and daughter want him to be.
Realism mandated at least some reference to it though, so I kept it minimal. Hence, when Silver double-checks Gallus will indeed be there to pick up Glory, I don’t add a dialogue tag implying how worried, terrified, paranoid, despondent, or just plain sad she’d be if he weren’t.
I did want to add a dialogue tag to add more emphasis, but no tag was better than one whichestablished a background subplot about Gallus having a terrible work-life balance thanks to Twilight somehow needing bodyguards despite being Twilight F:yay:ing Sparkle.
But again, realism had demands. So Gallus confirms he will get off in time to pick up Glory and explains he’d have taken the day off had someone been available to cover him.
Why Flash Magnus, Shining Armor, etc. couldn’t cover him is down to plot convenience and realism and yada-yada.
And as frustrating being an adult may be—Because of course Silverstream would whine about that, despite being an adult for years now; she’s way too bubbly not to pout about being unable to snuggle her sweetie 24/7—being one comes with some rather…spicy perks.
And to show Silverstream accepting her inevitable fate of having to get up without satisfying her Gallus craving, she nonchalantly vows to finish their “cuddling” later, once they both get home and have put Glory to bed. … Not to say they can’t get in at least a little more “cuddling” now, of course.
Shame it had to be so short-lived.
“—that wasn’t our alarm,” Gallus noted, wishing more than anything that it had been so they could have snoozed it again.
Here we go… If you didn’t catch onto them having a kid before, this is your biggest clue they do!
Silverstream winced, closed her eyes, and prayed.
The ringing stopped.
Sorry, Silver, you’re a parent now, so you must suffer all the consequences of being one, including having your spicy morning “cuddles” interrupted at random by a hyperactive bundle of joy.
“She’s up,” they both realized.
And if it still weren’t obvious they have a daughter, this’ll be your glowing neon sign.
“Hee-hee. Three,” she started counting.
“Two,” he joined in.
“One,” they both ended, snapping their talons before hastily pretending they were still asleep.
Gallus-Stream may not enjoy having their morning “cuddles” interrupted, but that doesn’t mean they love the interrupter any less for it. Gotta wonder how often Glory’s charged into their bedroom at the crack of dawn for them to be so used to the ordeal. 
Still cute how they have such a well-practiced routine for when it happens.
It’s remarkably similar to how Silver and Terry could do the same countdown routine when their father swooped Gallus into a hug back in Ch.14(Family, Part One). Almost as if I was directly referencing that moment here… 
But of course, all of this—the alarm hushing, the two ceasing their “cuddling” and pretending to be asleep—heralds the arrival of the true star of the Epilogue(Love).
~ Our Glorious Pearl ~
Alrighty, folks, I know you’ve been waiting for this one, so before we continue discussing the Epilogue(Love) itself, let’s discuss how our favorite fledgling came to be!
Although the Mount Aris chapter debacle compelled me to write a proper epilogue, the true reason I went through with it was Glory and her associated subplot. More specifically, the scene between her and Gallus toward the end.
Of course? Glory didn’t start out as the same “Glorious Pearl” we all know and love.
Before that, however, it’s worth noting she was the only proper OC I allowed into the story, so the last thing I wanted was to risk the same pitfalls that befall most badly written OCs.
So when designing her, I was adamantly against succumbing to that classic trope of going nonsensically overboard. Like, say…? Making Glory a hippogriff with a lion’s tail, or having her forelegs be hoofed and her hindlegs be clawed, or she had one paw, one griffon-styled claw, one hippogriff-styled claw, and one hoof, etc.
To those who either like those particular ideas, or have drawn them out yourselves, I apologize for being so blunt in my disregard for them. 
We all have our own tastes, and these were mine.
The result was “Glory” being a pointedly normal hippogriff. She would inherit Gallus’ color scheme, but she possessed no additional griffon traits beyond that; even her drew from hippogriff/seaponies’ naming conventions of pertaining to the Sky Beak or Ocean Flow.
Thus: Glory’s beta name was “River.” And for a while, I was satisfied with that.
She got one trait from her mother—species—and one from her father—colors. Except? 
That’s not entirely accurate, is it? 
No, she got two traits from Silver: Species and name.
Rectifying that seemed simple enough: Just throw in a first name before “River” that began with a “G.”
It, um, wasn’t simple.
Since “River” was the intended true name, when planning the dialogue, I kept having the characters default to calling her that, despite it no longer being her first name. But more importantly, finding a good enough adjective to be the new first name was darn near impossible!
The fact I can’t even remember what possible adjectives I considered should be evidence enough they were garbage, but I do remember one was “Glow.” Five seconds later I remembered why Gallus and Silver would rather die than consider naming their daughter that.
The best I could ultimately come up with was “Golden Wind River.”
So, not only does that sound far more like a location’s name rather than a creature’s name, let alone a hippogriff/griffon one, it also meant everyone would be calling her “Gold” or “Goldy” instead of “River” which was, again, the true name.
So yeah. That wasn’t working. “Glory” was a possibility, sure, but “Glorious River” wasn’t something I envisioned at the time. Because, while all this naming nonsense was going on, I realized something…
Throughout a sizable portion of T.B.O.L., Gallus had commonly been shown to dislike his own griffon-hood, be it through his hatred of Griffonstone, lack of magic, or the associated Bit-obsession stigma… Point is it was a part of himself he wasn’t fond of.
Because of this… I realized it would mean far, far more if Gallus’ daughter was a griffon.
Yep! The nixed “Identity” theme made one final comeback! Here Gallus was, low-key despising being a griffon, yet not only is his daughter one herself, but she’s also the most precious thing in the world—especially to him—and devoid of every single issue or stigma associated with griffons that made Gallus dislike being one to begin with!
It was far too fantastic for me to ignore; thus, “River” became a griffon, and every other aspect of her design wassubsequently overhauled. And good thing too—I had come to despise another part of her beta design: There was absolutely nothing unique about it.
I’m not talking about the mane or tail bow; I’m talking about how Glory’s design was literally just her mother’s species and father’s colors. As cute as it was picturing Gallus standing beside a miniature look-alike of himself, it meant screwing Glory herself over.
So when re-designing “River”, I made it a priority to give her attributes/colors entirely unique to her, while still incorporating colors from her parents as well.
This was where I became exceedingly glad the “Golden” adjective stuck around so long: It’s what inspired Glory’s primary color being yellow. The fact yellow is often associated with cheerfulness and exuberance was certainly a bonus.
Of course, “River” now being a griffon meant sacrificing all her hippogriff aspects, including the naming scheme. Not to mention I still needed to figure out where I could incorporate some of Silverstream’s colors into her design. This was when inspiration struck again and in a way which…kinda compromised on my desire for Glory to have her own unique traits.
You know who else has yellow as their dominant color? Ocean Flow. Which, as you can likely guess, led me to consider incorporating colors from her grandparents into her design too. Or more specifically, only Sky Beak and Ocean Flow because they actually stuck around. Because fk Gallus’ parents; they didn’t want to be a part of his life, so they sure as Tartarus don’t get to influence his daughter’s design!
And this is where the concept for Glory truly solidified.
Ocean’s yellow colors served as her avian half and were therefore her most dominant color.
Since Gilda exists, that meant “River’s” feline half could be completely different colors from her avian side, allowing Silverstream’s pink to be used there—Yellow front and blue half felt too much like it pulled from Gallus’ design specifically, thus sinking back into “River’s” original color scheme dilemma. Thus, pink was used instead.
Sky Beak, meanwhile, single-handedly inspired the existence of Glory’s mane. Yeah, I still wanted to avoid accidentally over-designing her, but I guess a griffon with a mane felt more natural to me than some nightmarish chimera playacting as a griff-griff.
But while Sky inspired the mane, it was more the style of the mane. Unlike Silver, Terramar, and even Skystar’s manes which were curled and wavy, “River’s” mane would be stylized like Sky’s mane, starting in the back and just swooping outward.
This particular fact, however, wasn’t stressed in-story since it would take up too much valuable time on an admittedly non-significant detail. Probably for the best since it afforded johneRose126 the freedom to depict Glory’s mane as more closely resembling her mother’s instead—which, I obviously prefer and will confirm as canon.
Speaking of, I drew artwork of Glory myself, to better help me grasp what she truly looked like, and I did so with her original Sky Beak-styled mane. Predictably, the drawing was terrible, and I didn’t hesitate to delete it. Apologies to those who wished to see the horror show.
The colors of the mane, however, weren’t Sky Beak’s silvery white. For one, I figured that’d make his influence on the design even more obvious, and for another, I low-key stressed white hair would feel too elderly for a child character to possess, and most importantly of all: Where the heck would Gallus’ colors be if not the mane?
Ocean’s yellow for the front, Silver’s pink for the back, and what then for the mane and tail? Sky’s for the mane, and Gallus’ for the tail? Oh-ho-ho, absolutely not! That many colors would definitely make her feel over-designed for sure!
Maybe purple? But that’s another of Ocean’s colors, and it wouldn’t feel fair for her to have inspired two of Glory’s main colors.
Meanwhile, Gallus’ headcrest got plenty of emphasis in the main story. And Glory’s mane was basically her equivalent of a standard griffon headcrest…
And thus, Glory’s design was born!
Gallus’ species, Ocean’s yellow for the feathers, Silver’s pink for the fur, and Sky Beak’s mane style, just with Gallus’ blue with yellow highlights as the colors instead.
Some cream highlights were thrown into the mix because that’s another trait of MLP griffons—cream colored because Gallus’ are, but predominantly because I felt cream went well with yellow.
Of course she gets a Pearl-piece—that was never in question.
But what about the tail bow? Why throw that in when I was coming dangerously close to over-designing her? Well, you see, Apple Bloom wore a bow, and it was the cutest thing ever about her design. So naturally, Glory got her own bow, but since it wouldn’t work well with her initially having Sky Beak’s mane style, nor could it be placed around her neck because of the Pearl-piece, that meant placing it upon her tail. And of course, it’s a reddish-pink color because Apple Bloom’s bow was reddish-pink too. Because I couldn’t help myself.
Same thing goes for the eyes. I couldn’t decide whether to give her Gallus’, Silver’s, or even one of her grandparents’ eye colors. I guess I could have given her a completely new eye color just for her, but that’s not how genetics works. I do, however, courtesy ofX-Men: First Class know Heterochromia is a thing, soooo…? Once again, I couldn’t help myself and skipped the issue entirely, giving Glory both her parents’ eye colors and laughing at myself for it in-story via the “Wondrous power of genetics” line.
Did all of this result in her being over-designed like I feared she would? Maybe. But I felt it was fine, and even if it weren’t, we were at the end of the story. If anyone wanted to complain “Eughh! Oh look! Another terrible, over-designed Mary Sue of an MLP OC; how laaaaame can this guy be!? 
” I’d have responded with:
Let Glory be cute, fluffy, and over-designed; you guys know I’d make her work, regardless.
Case in point, we luckily managed to avoid the inverse of the main issue “River” faced. Where “River’s” design felt like her hippogriff characteristics were prioritized to the sacrifice of her griffon heritage, Glory managed to be a griffon yet remain clearly half-hippogriff, thanks in no small part to the mane and Pearl-piece.
Another aspect of Glory’s design I envisioned but never explicitly stated in-story due to it being narratively irrelevant: Glory’s wings are hippogriff wings, not griffon wings. You wouldn’t think there’s much of a difference, but take a glance at Gallus’ wings compared to Silver’s:
Yeah. Quite the sizable difference, wouldn’t you say?
This doesn’t mean much—deliberately so since I hand-waved the issue away later by clarifying Glory couldn’t fly yet. Also later, however, I had Gallus and Silverstream gush over how they’ll get to teach their daughter how to fly too. And well…?
Let’s just say, because Glory’s wings are technically structured like a hippogriff’s, Gallus had a significantly harder time teaching her how to fly than he would have predicted.
Wings and mane aside—She’s very much a griffon now, not a hippogriff, meaning “River” no longer worked as her name. “Golden” did—if anything, it worked even better now! But the issue of everyone calling her “Goldy” still existed, and while it’d at least feel somewhat natural because of her coloring…? Naming her after her color specifically felt superficial, to say nothing of the rather uncomfortable connotation of naming an MLP griffon after literal gold, considering the aforementioned Bit-obssessed stigma regardingthem and T.B.O.L. Gallus’ issues regarding that same stigma…
So “Golden” was out.
And now we were back to the main problem “River’s” naming faced: How to naturally combine both griffon and hippogriff/seapony naming schemes.
And believe it not, I didn’t waste days on end having to ponder the issue! No roadblocks whatsoever; everything clicked relatively easily once I reconsidered the term “Glory.”
My first instinct was to then use “River” again, debating on calling her “River Glory” or “Glorious River.”
The first made no sense and sounded too much like a pony name, and the second reeked of desperation for “River” to be kept. “Glorious,” however, remained—no duh.
“Glorious” could easily be shortened to “Glory,” so griffon naming conventions were certainly upheld, while still allowing her a more conventional nickname. But how to incorporate the hippogriff/seapony side of the equation?
I knew I was acting too clingy to “River” by this point, so I resolved not to use that name. Sky-related terms were mostly out since I didn’t think of any good ones that genuinely reflected on her hippogriff nature. “Ocean” was already taken, and most other water-related words, when paired with “Glorious” specifically, would wrench the name back into feeling too much like a hippogriff/seapony name, despite starting with a “G.”
Well? Almost all water-related words…
“Pearl.”
It was almost scary how much sense it made.
I was initially hesitant to use it because, surely Silverstream wouldn’t want to name their daughter after THE Pearl—It held too much significance to their culture to be treated as a mere name; it’d be like a modern day parent literally naming their kid “God.”
I got over that issue, however. Mostly because it was an outlandish worry to feel, but more importantly:
#1) It was a better version of “Golden Treasure.” – a name I briefly considered but axed because of the same concerns I dropped “Golden.” But “Glorious Pearl” felt like it was embodying the same “Gallus and Silverstream treasure their daughter so much they literally name her as such” theme, but being a more refined version of it, one without the accidental monetary connotation(s).
#2) Yes, the Pearl was significant to the hippogriffs/seaponies. And that is exactly what ensured her name felt like a hippogriff/seapony name! If anything, it was the best possible outcome!
“River” blatantly prioritized the seapony side of her Mount Aris heritage, over even the hippogriff half, and while that too was another reason I chose it—Hippogriff body, griffon colors, seapony name—“Pearl” was greater than equal in this respect. “Pearl” embodied both the hippogriff and seapony naming conventions into one, so it was figuratively and literally, the best possible name to give her!
And thus, “Glorious Pearl” was born.
And thanks to johnerose126, you get to see her in all her—heh—glory:
Once again, thank you, johneRose126, for both enjoying T.B.O.L. and drawing Glorious Pearl!
Now… That’s all there is to say about Glory’s design. But what about her personality?
Honestly, not much changed where this is concerned; the biggest came in the context of her personality.
When conceptualizing her, most ideas I considered featured Glory when she was an infant and the ensuing hijinks—stuff like the “Glorious Pearl! And the Quest for the Cookie Jar” joke later.
Of course, there were several reasons I couldn’t exactly have Glory still be a baby here.
#1) Both the Cake Twins and Flurry Heart existed and already did the whole “Main characters have baby” premise, so Baby Glory wouldn’t exactly be breaking any new grounds.
#2) I wanted to actually give Glory a genuine personality beyond “Aww, cute babyyy!!! ”
#3) I needed a proper narrative reason why the Epilogue(Love) picked up where it did, so to solve that alongside Issue #2, that narrative reason became Glory’s first day of school.
Thus, Glory was no longer a baby; she was a proper—though still young—fledgling. Her personality, however, remained intact. Adorable, hyperactive, clever and curious… That all remained. And it was due to the one cardinal rule I had regarding her personality.
Remember how I wanted to incorporate elements from both her parents into her design? That applied to her personality too: Glory has Gallus’ intelligence and passion for learning, fueled by Silverstream’s near-limitless energy and enthusiasm.
But…? We couldn’t leave it at that, could we? Simply being the sum of Gallus-Stream’s greatest strengths would present Glory as yet another cheap, over-designed Mary Sue OC, to say nothing of how unrealistic it would be for Glory—a child, at that!—to be devoid of any shortcomings or fallacies.
So, unfortunately for her, Glory also inherited her parents’ worst traits too: Gallus’ tendency to bottle up his woes, alongside Silverstream’s overactive paranoia.
One strength from both her parents. One flaw from both her parents. And any additional wholly unique traits I could give Glory herself too.
And what exactly does this mean for Glory’s character and the story of the Epilogue(Love) going forward? Well? How about we continue along and see for ourselves who Glorious Pearl truly is?
Their daughter puffed her cheeks adorably and climbed onto Gallus, clamping her beak not-so-gently upon his ear feathers and giving them a sharp tug. “Stop sleeping and wake up,” she commanded.
Ahh. So she’s a biter. Yeah, that sounds about right.
I won’t deny it: I was totally tempted to troll all of you and end the Epilogue(Love) on her barging into their room, leaving you to stew in the horror of knowing Gallus-Stream are married with a kid, but unable to see any more than that—not even learning her name.
But the untapped potential was too much to bear! 
I H A D to do more, to show more of Glory, to write the Epilogue(Love) all the way to its natural end.
And this, dear readers, is the true reason I spent so long determining which of her parents’ flaws to afflict Glory with: So she’d actually be a proper character who’d grow and develop throughout the course of this micro-story.
And be cute. That was important too. 
Another important goal was Gallus-Stream being good parents. My intentions can be inferred from the text itself, but to summarize: I wanted their character development in the main story to reflect in their parenting style.
An endless abundance of unconditional love, plenty of patience for Glory’s antics, constant encouragement and validation, and of course, the “Second Rule.”
But love isn’t the only thing a child needs to grow into a mature individual, and Glory being a spoiled, over-pampered brat wouldn’t be cute at all. So Gallus and Silverstream exercise authority, but their strictness is always balanced by their efforts to compromise where need be.
We’ll discuss examples of this as we go on, and here’s our first one now!
“No,” Gallus deadpanned, gently batting her away. “We’re sleeping. See?” He then proceeded to make exaggerated snoring noises that caused Silver to let out a quiet snort.
I considered having Gallus react more indignantly about being bitten, but I didn’t feel it appropriate for what I was going for. So instead, he simply brushes her off while subtly telling Glory to be more patient and empathize with their faux exhaustion by letting them finish resting.
Equal parts a mature request for her to behave, and simply playing along with her impatience.
But Glory’s a child, so she doesn’t get any of that and keeps insisting her parents make her breakfast ‘cause that’s a responsibility they haven’t yet entrusted to her.
Gallus-Stream naturally insists back—still playful, but also refusing to back down and bow to the whims of their impatient child—and of course Gallus only shields him and Silver from view after Silver pipes up too.
This leaves Glory to admit defeat. Dragging out her pleas for food would have gotten old quickly, I was trying not to bloat the word count, and above both those issues: Giving up showed the more mature side of Glory’s personality.
No matter how much she whines and begs for what she wants, if her parents genuinely stand firm in saying no, she’ll back down rather than throw an even great tantrum or hold a grudge. At most, she’ll be sad she didn’t get her way. And the fact this is true for a child her age speaks volumes regarding her maturity, the respect she feels toward her parents, and Gallus-Stream’s overall parenting prowess.
But what to do next was the question. I couldn’t very well end the scene on Glory giving up; that wouldn’t be a natural conclusion to the scene. After some thought, I realized, “Oh yeah! She’s a kid, and a massive smarty-pants at that! Why wouldn’t she try making her own toast? 
”
Which is exactly what Silverstream realizes too, and whether or not Glory planned that reverse psychology move I’ll leave to your interpretations. 
With this, the parents-daughter scene begins proper with Gallus taking a moment to give her a smooch—like I said: Constant unconditional love—and “look her over” which is code for: Here you go, everyone, here’s the bare minimum character description needed to know what Glory looks like.
And yes, I do feel unsatisfied with that description. Paradoxically, I hate how little and how much time I put into it. “Bare minimum” is right, yet it took over three entire paragraphs!? Really!? What a waste of words…
It was serviceable—see johnerose126’s artwork for proof—but yeesh! Guess it’s only fitting my earlier lack of descriptiveness plagued us one last time, huh?
Ah well. Her appearance wasn’t the important part of the scene anyway—That would be her mere existence and character.
“Good morning, Daddy. Good morning, Mommy,”
Might as well mention this now: Another detail I incorporated into Glory’s character is how she always prefaces “Daddy” before “Mommy.” Not all that significant, right? Except, I’ve always found it more common for, when parents are addressed, “Mom” to supersede “Dad.”
Not so with Glory. She’s always addressing Gallus first, and there’s one standout example of this much, much later.
What was the point of this, though? Easy: To hint Gallus was Glory’s favorite parent. Not that Glory would ever admit that—within range of her mother, anyway—but yes, Gallus is absolutely her favorite. Sooorrryyy, Silveeerrr…
At least Silver gets her revenge with the tickle ambush which, truth be told, was something directly lifted from my own childhood.
My father used to swoop into my room at night and ambush me with his own aggressive tickling. And although he only did that to wind me up in order to peeve off my mom who had spent the past half hour trying to wind me down, I still look back on those memories fondly.
And well? I couldn’t resist sneaking it in here. 
Also couldn’t resist having Gallus participate in the fun, but at least he and Silver are both better than my own father in this regard. They actually bother to stop assaulting Glory before she gets too over-stimulated and starts bouncing around the walls.
With playtime over, ordinary family time begins with Gallus asking Glory how her night was, only for another callback to be made:
“I was swimming in an ocean of ice cream and chocolate syrup,” Glory recounted, licking her beak. “And there were sprinkles everywhere—”
Exactly the same dream Silverstream had during the Mount Aris arc, and because I was utterly terrified of you guys failing to catch that reference, I make sure to acknowledge it was one of Silver’s dreams in-universe.
But come on, you know we can’t talk about dreams without referencing their ruler! After playing such a pivotal role in Gallus’ development, of course Luna would keep an eye out for his and Silver’s daughter, ensuring the kiddo had a good night’s rest before her first day of school.
So yeah, Silver will definitely write a rather lengthy “Thank you!” note to Lulu for that.
She almost didn’t get referenced though since I didn’t think it was realistic Glory would be able to remember Luna appeared in her dream. I got over that once I realized the reference was worth it, and even if it weren’t, this was the end of the story, so screw holding myself back from having some fun with the characters and the magic. 
Silverstream then boasts about her own tallness with Glory happily agreeing—A nice bit of closure to when Gallus acknowledged how stupidly tall hippogriffs are back during the Mount Aris arc.
Also yes. T.B.O.L. Silverstream is indeed taller than Luna—not counting the latter’s horn, of course.
Gallus’ place as “King of all Sweets” also gets some closure; only this time, he’s finally got competition in his own offspring. The problem is he’s genuinely at risk of losing that title since Glory has not only his degree of sweetness coursing through her veins, but Silverstream’s too—something she makes darn sure her husband acknowledges.
And as often is the case with me, this entire section only exists in order to extend the conversation so it’d feel more natural and genuine. But hey, I ain’t complaining.
Glory might though; while she’s absolutely thrilled to be told she’s super-sweet, being super-sweet comes with one absolutely horrifying caveat:
“You are so sweet that everycreature is going to want to be your friend. Everycreature.”
Oops. Might not have been the best thing to say there, Gallus.
Funny I say that when neither he nor Silverwere originally going to say that or similar.
I didn’t think it’d be right if Glory’s parents were the ones who indirectly sparked her anxiety over making friends—Especially with how passionate I was to portray them as the most perfect parents possible, both fully aware they could accidentally instill the seeds of such anxieties in Glory and thoroughly determined to avoid doing so.
However, Glory’s fears needed to be kick-started somehow, so the burden fell upon Silver’s family, and then was reinforced by the rest of the Graduated Six.
However, that didn’t feel right either—making everyone else be to blame for Glory’s fears.
You’re telling me Sky Beak and Ocean Flow are somehow quantifiably worse parents than Gallus-Stream by sheer virtue of them putting pressure on Glory to make friends without realizing it? Ocean Flow—the former queen of paranoia—somehow didn’t fret over the possibility Glory might worry about making friends because of her and Sky’s encouragement?
This concern was only worsened by the Graduated Six—Poor Sandbar, especially; bro unknowingly made Gallus panic back in Ch.5(Normality), and here he was, doing the exact same thing to his best friends’ daughter and making her panic even worse!
To make things fair, I upheld the demands of realism.
Gallus-Stream are great parents, yes, and they know of many issues they need to actively avoid—recall, again, their “Second Rule.” But they’re not perfect. They can’t be, they don’t expect themselves to be, and they certainly wouldn’t want to be.
Plus, their Glory’s parents. She looks up to them for everything! So who better to bestow upon her the pressure of making friends and the presumed judgment for failure, than them?
But it wouldn’t be fair for Silver alone to cause the issue—even if I did consider doing that to her, as a means of further explaining why Glory loves Gallus more—so I have Gallus be the first of everyone to unknowingly pressure her.
But since this is only the beginning of this subplot, Glory’s reaction isn’t fear; it’s more neutrality than anything, hence the “Blinking owlishly” dialogue tag—showing she’s paying utmost attention to her father, but has yet to truly worry. But even if her fears did begin here, they’re waylaid by a much happier fact: Today’s her first day of school!
“Are you excited?”
“Yeah!” Glory cheered, her vibrant eyes brimming with adventurous curiosity. “I can’t wait to go to school and learn all kinds of cool things. Like… Like…? Ummm?” she hummed, tilting her head in puzzlement. “What kind of things will I learn in school again?”
As discussed, Glory got Gallus’ scholarly attitude, so instead of the stereotypical “Ugh, I don’t wanna go to school…!” mentality, Glory wants nothing more than to go and learn…stuff. What kind of stuff? Well, it’s her first day of school, so how would she know what she’d learn there? All she knows is she’ll learn, and that’s more than enough for her.
Her eyes weren’t “Brimming with adventurous curiosity” for nothing, after all. And yes, I am indeed proud of that particular dialogue tag.
But this scene must soon come to a close, so her parents lead us toward that via some classic parental snark:
“Well, one thing I certainly hope you learn is how to knock.”
“As opposed to bursting into our room while shouting, ‘feed me, feed me, feed me!’” Gallus joked, grinning despite his exasperation.
“I didn’t say that,” Glory protested.
“You did bite me though. And we’ve both told you not to do that.”
Nice to see Gallus respect Glory’s protest enough to relent asserting she did shout “Feed me!” ad nauseum, yet still gently reprimand her for biting his ear tufts despite repeatedly being told not to.
Even so, Glory’s argument remains valid too: She’s huuunnngggrrryyy!!! As proven by her stomach growling, which of course she acknowledges in-universe, because doing so was adorable!
Thankfully, her parents are hungry too, so after they both don their Pearl-pieces—
Speaking of, how many of you smiled upon noticing Gallus had his own Pearl-piece? That was another favorite detail of mine that went completely un-commented on
—Gallus slips from his wife’s grasp—
And she immediately launches after him, only to still miss him by a hair and pout subsequently…oh, wait, no she doesn’t. That was in the spicier version and was cut to save on word length. Never mind, then.
—and hurries off to go cook up Glory’s breakfast choice of pancakes—
Both blueberry and chocolate of course, since their daughter wants the former and his wife wants the latter. Why did Silver reportedly have a chocolate craving when she had never been established to earlier in T.B.O.L.? Why not have her crave apple/apple-cinnamon flavored pancakes or something since that’s the craving she was established to have back during the 2nd Date?
Simple: We weren’t referencing their 2nd Date food preferences, we were sneaking in a callback to which sides of the Princesses’ Great Pancake War Gallus-Stream supported, Gallus(And thus, Glory, because he’s her favorite) preferring blueberry, much to Silver’s utter horror, and Silverstream begging for chocolate chip.
Plus, Canon Silverstream totally has a thing for sweets; I think that’s frankly obvious from her personality, and since T.B.O.L. Silverstream had her Canon self’s attributes back in full-force, she regained that same candy/chocolate craving/compulsion.
…I might have put too much thought into this.
—to the glee of both his “Princesses.”
“Then I’ll just have to make both,” Gallus decreed, relishing the celebratory cheers of his family. Before he left for the kitchen, however, he gave Silverstream another kiss, saying, “I love you. And I love you,” he added, giving Glory one as well.
“And we love you too,” they both replied, kissing him back. “Now, go make us some pancakes, sweetie,” Silver ordered, smiling happily.
“As you wish, milady,” he said, smiling as well.
I love this exchange! Especially the “Relishing the celebratory cheers of his family.” tag. You know why.
The only thing I wish I had added here was Silverstream scooping Glory back into her talons and hugging her while Gallus went about baking up some breakfast. The only reason she didn’t was to save on word length, and boo to that I say! Let the mother hug the daughter!
Having said that, I’ll confirm that’s what canonically happened immediately after Gallus left the room: Silver spent another two minutes hugging and playing with Glory before helping her preen—as mentioned later. Don’t care if it’s a pseudo-ret-con—I’m the author, and I say that’s what happened, dialogue tag or no dialogue tag.
Shame we had to skip the actual breakfast, but we really did need to save on the word count, especially after last chapter. Not gonna stop me from sneaking in this little revelation:
academy award-winning actor, Vellum Codex.
Yep! Vellum made it big, baby!
But it’d be admittedly rather silly to say he was in another performance of The Epoch of Majesty Serendipity Daydream just to reference that thing one last time, so instead, he’s found his place in true cinema: The Power Ponies feature length movie.
And I’m especially glad I went through with that idea, considering a certain line of Glory’s later. I initially thought Vellum wouldn’t realistically star in that movie because “Comic book movies aren’t true theater!” or such nonsense, but I quickly overcame that fear.
He needed to star in somethingthat wasn’t the Majesty play but would still interest Glory. And what would interest a kid Glory’s age enough to watch the news of all things other than superheroes?
I considered having the report mention Scoop as well, implying she and Vellum were both part of the movie’s cast, but I realized that’d also imply they might have gotten together too. And since I was adamantly against hinting Scoop-Um became a thing, I nixed the idea. I also nixed having Scoop be the one who made it big instead of Vellum—Favoritism probably influenced that decision; after all his panic and hysteria, I didn’t feel it was fair to have mah boi, Vellum, ultimately fail to achieve his dream of being a world-class actor.
So that’s where Vellum Codex is in the future, content with and proud of the life he now leads.
One down, several more to go, but we’ll deal with them later. For now, it’s back to the main cast to see Silverstream being—of all things—the stern parent!
“Hey!” Glory groaned, frowning at her mother.
“Don’t you give me that look,” Silverstream lightly reprimanded.
Now, Glory might drop her annoyance for euphoria once her mom reminds her she’s going to school, but Silverstream’s fussiness merely continues throughout the rest of the scene, even being jokingly ribbed for it by her sweetie(Only for her to rib back, of course).
So. What made me go this route for Silver’s character? I had already gone into a wildly different direction for her with the paranoia arc, so why would bubbly, stair-obsessed Silverstream be the stern parent between her and Gallus?
#1) There had to be some reason why Gallus was Glory’s favorite, beyond them both being griffons. And of course a kid Glory’s age would instinctively gravitate toward the less stern parent.
And #2) I wanted there to be a clear difference between Gallus and Silverstream’s parenting styles.
Unconditional love, constant encouragement, emphasizing the necessity of understanding and expressing your emotions, etc. – Both Gallus and Silverstream prioritize these virtues above all else in how they parent Glory. And with this being the end of the story, it would’ve been easy to portray them both exuding these virtues exactly the same way. But while it would have felt realistic, given their character development, it would have also been boring.
As such, I wanted one of the two to clearly be more fussy and stern toward Glory, but obviously still as loving as the other.
Fortunately, Gallus was completely safe from being the stern one. He was Glory’s favorite, would have that “Dad talk” with her later, was the primary main character of the story and thus received the most character development, and if all that weren’t enough: I wanted to imply he took a great deal of inspiration in how to be a father from his own. And since Sky Beak was a bubbly, perpetually doting beacon of cheerfulness and love…? So too was Gallus.
This sorta meant Silverstream had to be the stern one by default, but I made it work.
Firstly, it’s not nearly as severe as other stern parent archetypes can often be presented. Yes, she’s fussy, but it’s treated more as comedy than anything, with both Glory and Gallus having a laugh at Silver’s fussiness and Silver herself recognizing she’s being a bit too fussy too.
Yet, despite it being more comedic in tone, a parent being fussy over their child isn’t exactly wrong, and I show as such with Silverstream’s concerns being justified through Glory legitimately forgetting both her own Pearl-piece and tail bow.
I did consider having Gallus be the one to reprimand Glory over forgetting her Pearl-piece, but I let Silver have the line instead, subsequently comforting Glory over the matter instead of continuing to reprimand her. And all of this through five lines of dialogue too!
“You really shouldn’t forget your Pearl-piece, Glory; you know how important it is.”
“I know… Sorry.”
Silver smiled and comforted, “It’s okay, honey. Just try to always remember it from now on, okay?”
“I will,” she promised.
“Thank you.”
No needless frustration with Glory’s forgetfulness, nor unnecessarily harsh rebuking. Glory needs to remember not to lose her Pearl-piece—lest she lose it out in the world as opposed to simply her home—and Silverstream urges her to do so, with Glory naturally taking the lesson to heart, and promising not to forget her Pearl-piece again.
But this was only a small matter, nothing worth getting too worked up or dramatic about, and I acknowledge as such in-universe via the “With that minor issue settled” phrase immediately following this exchange. Because even when I’m trying to be subtle, I’m not.
The tail bow matter, meanwhile, is the true justification for Silver’s fussiness since Gallus didn’t notice Glory wasn’t wearing it either, but since that too is a small concern, Gallus is the one to playfully tease Glory for forgetting it while Silver reassures Glory over it, promising to always remember for her.
Because despite Silverstream being the fussy one, she’s unquestionably as doting as Gallus is. Not to mention she’s not nearly as bad as her own mother was.
Speaking of which, that’s another reason Stern Silverstream worked so well: The ambiguity for why she’s noticeably sterner than Gallus.
Could be the paranoia arc development leaking through where, yeah, Silver still frets a lot, but it’s a far healthier form of it, directed more toward her daughter’s continued health and happiness than preparation for a sudden apocalypse.
Could be Silver taking parenting inspiration from Ocean Flow, paralleling Gallus taking his from Sky Beak. So even though Silver’s as loving as her mother, she’s also as concerned for her own daughter’s safety as Ocean was, just to a far lesser extreme.
Could even be Silver acting that way specifically because Gallus doesn’t, picking up the slack of keeping Glory’s antics in check, even if it means Glory loves Gallus a smidgen more.
Or it could just be boring, nebulous off-screen growth attained during the time-skip.
These are your reasons, alongside whatever additional ones you might formulate on your own time, and I’ll leave it to you what reason(s) influenced Silver’s sternness and by how much.
But I do have to acknowledge how adorable it is Silverstream calms down once Gallus enters the room.
“—You okay?” he asked his wife.
“I am now,” she answered, combing a talon through her slightly frazzled mane.
Eyyy, she did the mane-combing thing again!
As mentioned, this is to show how, even after all these years, Gallus merely being near her is enough to make Silverstream feel calm and safe. Goodness, it’s so cute!
Not to be outdone in that department, Glory makes sure her parents did the same things they made her do, double-checking if Gallus brushed his teeth simply “brushed”—because while griffons have teeth in the show, I’m not sure how widely accepted that fact is in fanfiction discourse, so I left it ambiguous myself.
Gallus naturally humors her and shows off his own smile—because doing so validated Glory’s inquiry and gave us that wholesome exchange between them all.
And because I didn’t want Stern Silverstream to overtake her entire character, she makes sure to get in on the action too, complimenting both their smiles and being complemented back by her sweetie. Because d’awww!!!
Glory then pipes up, reminding us all she’s super-sweet because she absolutely is, and although Gallus knows full-well Glory isn’t going to stop doing so, no matter how annoying it gets, as Silverstream makes sure he clarifies:
“—Our daughter is super sweet, and I want her to be proud of it,”
Because after everything he went through, the only thing Gallus will ever want is for their daughter to know she is loved and cherished, and be proud of herself.
This was another thing directly lifted from my own childhood, but I’ll spare you the full context. I’ll just say it was far more endearing when Glory applauded herself with her parents’ compliments than it was when 6-8 year old me did it.
Next we have more Silverstream-flavored fussiness, which Gallus jokes about to help Glory better understand and empathize with her mother’s antics. Said antics result in Glory’s tail bow being restored to its proper place, alongside Silverstream dropping this adorable line:
“All nice and pretty.”
With or without that bow, Glory’s adorable, but of course Silverstream is going to tack that compliment on too, just to give Glory that extra bit of a confidence boost.
Some snarky Gallus-Stream banter later, and we drag this scene on a wee bit longer because Glory forgot she needed to grant us closure on Silver’s stuffed animals from A.D.F.F.
You didn’t think I’d forget about Horton and the Stripes twins, did you? Nope, they’re still kicking, if a little banged up from time. Sadly, the Stripes twins get shafted againbecause Glory wouldn’t be able to fit them in her bags, and even if she could, she’s smart enough to know stuffing all of her talon-me-downed pals into them would get her caught in a heartbeat.
I mean? Glory does get caught in a heartbeat, but can you blame her for not realizing her parents knew exactly what she was planning the moment she went to her room?
Regarding the lines which prove this:
“You know what she’s getting, right?”
“Yep.”
I purposefully left devoid of dialogue tags, wanting to leave it up to your own interpretation who said which line.
Regardless, they both know their daughter and what she plans, wasting no time calling it out, much to Glory’s dismay.
A bit disappointing seeing Glory try lying to her parents about bringing Horton despite the morals they taught her, but well? She’s a kid, I don’t blame her. Especially considering Stern Silverstream returns, snatching Horton back and decreeing he cannot accompany Glory to school.
But to make sure we don’t accidentally make Silver too stern to the point of being OOC, I make sure to sneak in moments to clarify Stern Silverstream is little more than a parental facade:
“I can see that,” Silver said, hiding her amusement behind a stern frown.
“And you’ll make plenty of other friends when you go to school,” Silverstream contended, giving their daughter a reassuring nuzzle.
“No,” she refused, wincing at their daughter’s trembling beak but holding firm despite it.
Both of her parents’ resolves cracked
wanting nothing more than to give in and return the companion to their daughter.
“If it helps, honey? I couldn’t resist hugging Horton when I was younger either,” Silverstream confessed, winking. She then swept Glory into one last warm hug, saying, “Just like I can’t resist hugging you now.”
Yeah, pretty much all of this was retroactively added to ensure Silver didn’t come across as unnecessarily cold toward Glory’s shenanigans. Those last two lines in particular deserve special attention for how they prove beyond any doubt Silver would absolutely allow Glory to go crazy hugging Horton if she didn’t have to be the stern mom half the time.
I briefly considered flipping this entire section by having Gallus be who openly forbade Horton tagging along for school. But since I was still operating under the rule that Glory preferred Gallus because he was less stern than Silver—and because Silver was portrayed as the stern one until now—I nixed that idea and allowed Silver to continue her stern mom routine.
One change I did make later down the line was who playacted as Horton to cheer up Glory. For a good half of the Epilogue(Love)’s development, it was Gallus who spoke in Horton’s voice with Silver watching on the sidelines.
It was still adorable and yet another reason Glory favored him… But it came at Silverstream’s expense, perpetually relegating her to merely the stern mom archetype. And while she is fussy and stern, she’s also FING SILVERSTREAM! If anyone was going to play with Glory like that, it would be her.
Gallus doing it was cute since it showed how he matured throughout the years—Teenage Gallus wouldn’t be caught dead playing with a child like this—but Silverstream deserved this moment far, farmore. Not just because she was Horton’s original owner, and certainly not just because she deserved an opportunity to shelve her sternness and play with their daughter.
Gallus was going to have this massive, emotional “Dad talk” with Glory later, but if he had that and this Horton charade too…? Silverstream would have effectively no major interaction with their own daughter outside her fussiness nonsense which, while played for laughs, required portraying her as less constantly doting than Gallus.
It bears reemphasizing: Despite being T.B.O.L.’s secondary protagonist and Glory’s mother, Silver was almost as badly shafted as her brother and cousin almost were during the entire Mount Aris arc, and that was unquestionably despicable.
Plus? As mentioned, she’s Silverstream. The bubbly, cheerful, perpetually optimistic, stairs-obsessed, mini-Pinkie Pie, endlessly enthusiastic one. Why the heck would she not be the one to playact as a stuffed animal?
Thus, long after I had already finished this scene, I circled back to rectify the issue. “Horton’s” dialogue remained exactly the same, but one addition was the whispered exchange between Gallus and Silverstream before the moment.
It was more a means to naturally lead into Silverstream’s playacting, but it was also one last usage of the “Compromise!” element of their relationship. So there’s your closure on that issue. Even better, Silverstream gets to contribute to the compromise herself this time, being the one to suggest doing the playacting herself.
It’s rather funny how Silver asks Gallus for permission to do the gag, knowing he’d want to do it too and thus, turning him originally doing it into an in-universe plot point, while also paralleling how he specified he’d have asked her to go further beyond back during their morning “Cuddling.”
But this discussion has left out a rather important part of the scene: Glory herself.
Bringing Horton to school was obviously meant to play into her anxieties concerning making friends, and Silverstream insisting Glory didn’t need to bring Horton because she’d make more friends at school was to give Silver a turn to unknowingly fuel those anxieties—this all goes without saying.
Glory, however, has plenty to say. For instance:
“But Horton is my friend now—”
This is such a simple, childlike argument, but the fact Glory makes it is yet more proof of how intelligent she is for her age, being able to see “Yeah, I’ll make more friends, I guess, but I already have one now; can’t they come with me?”
Keep this argument in mind, we’ll be circling back to it momentarily.
She is still a kid though, so of course when appealing to one parent fails, she switches gears and pleads her case to the parent she knows will crack and give her what she wants. 
Unfortunately, she’s met with the immovable wall that is this banger line:
“Well, I would, honey, but I don’t lie to your mother,” Gallus stated calmly.
And of course he says so calmly—genuinely calmly by the way; get those Dumbledore memes out of here.
Gallus tries not to sound too stern, and risk losing his status as Glory’s favorite making Glory feel as if she’s being ganged up on. Yet simultaneously, he tries not to sound too sympathetic with Glory’s despair, lest he further reinforce to Glory that all she has to do is put on the cutesy act and he’ll automatically cave into her demands.
Nope, all Glory gets is a neutral “I don’t lie to your mother.” And as adorable as it is to hear Gallus say that since it only further solidifies how great his and Silver’s relationship is, it also confirms he too believes Glory won’t pay attention to Cheerilee so long as Horton remains within hugging distance.
And if Silverstream denying Glory access to who she currently believes to be her only legitimate friend made the fledgling darn near have a heart attack, hearing her father—her favorite!—subtly admit he doesn’t believe her when she promises to pay attention and be a good fledgling with all the gusto she can muster…?
It hurts.
It hurts Glory to hear her parents genuinely think so little of her. Sure, it’s a little comedic how important Horton is to Glory from an adult’s perspective—She’s just a kid crying over not being able to bring her favorite toy to school.
Except? That’s not the full story.
Yes, one reason Glory wants to bring Horton along is what her parents understand and state in-story: To hug the poor elephant to her heart’s content. However, with her anxieties in mind, another reason she wanted Horton with her is made clear: To cushion the possible blow of failing to make more friends. Even if the other kids genuinely didn’t like her no matter how nice Glory acted toward them, at least she’d still have Horton there, to be her friend, and comfort her.
Kid’s barely out of her toddler years and she’s already developing coping mechanisms, and as…admittedly rather sad as that is, it proves again how emotionally intelligent she is, thanks in no small part to Gallus-Stream teaching her the importance of her own emotions.
Of course, for Gallus-Stream to teach Glory to appreciate her own feelings, they need to appreciate and validate her feelings themselves. Hence, they give up once they recognize how brutal their sternness was perceived, thanks to Glory’s line:
“But— But— But I really will,” Glory whimpered, sniffling and dropping her gaze to the floor.
Showing they, in attempting to ensure Glory didn’t have any distractions which might get her in trouble on her first day of school, accidentally implied they didn’t believe their own daughter when she promised such wouldn’t be a risk. And for a kid as deeply empathetic and appreciative of their parents’ love and trust as Glory…? Yeah. Not good.
Thankfully, Gallus proves yet again why he’s Glory’s favorite, shelving his parental resolve and appealing to his wife to relinquish Horton unto their crying daughter. And while Silver resists at first—which is the closest you’ll ever get to seeing Adult Gallus-Stream having a proper argument—for the reasons we’ve discussed, the Horton playacting scene happens, and Glory is ultimately given what she wanted: Her friend.
“YAY!” the fledgling roared, taking the toy and hugging it so tightly she accidentally squeezed a bit of stuffing out of one of its stitches. Glory then breathed a sigh of relief, nuzzling her companion and whispering, “Thank you, Daddy. Thank you, Mommy.”
I love Glorious Pearl. I loved writing her, I love the design, personality, and story I gave her, and I especially love how I wrote her as a child character with the childish tendencies that naturally come as a result, but without overplaying them to the point of annoyance…
For the one and only genuine original character I wrote for T.B.O.L.—Drama Clubbers notwithstanding—I knocked it out of the park! Glory is absolutely amazing, and we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg of her subplot!
It’ll be some time before we get to the rest of why her story’s awesome though; for now, with the Horton matter addressed, Glory’s anxieties foreshadowed, and the family ready and raring to go… It was time to venture outside of the Gallus-Stream household and into the world of Future Ponyville…
Let’s see how much has changed, shall we?
…In the next part, sadly. Once again, the discussions went on too long, so I had to cut it into parts. Again.
Good to know I still haven’t learned my lesson about shutting up and sparing the word count.
~ Additional Tidbits ~
— 1) Some additional notes considering Gallus-Stream’s “Morning Cuddling Scene”:
Gallus, hush; you’re only saying that to reference Silver’s Mount Aris risque arc.
Rule of three mandated, well, three. Hence Gallus starts with her shoulder then moves to her neck before finally kissing her beak proper… But why the heck did I start with the shoulder of all things? Well…? I didn’t want to say he kissed her chest for…spicy version reasons. I think most of you can figure out what implications I was trying to avoid there.
Further proof Gallus was as much a horny birb as his wife.
More spicy version remnants with how they have absolutely no problems being able to switch who’s on top and who’s on bottom. But the “Thank you” is added to afford even more healthiness to their relationship. Gallus specified he’d have asked Silverstream before doing anything more earlier, so Silver thanks him for agreeing to continue their embrace here.
This moment was included purely for additional Gallus-Stream physical intimacy. Again, they’re married, they have a kid, and they’re pecking horny for each other… No possible way these two would be satisfied with only kissing, cupping cheeks, and stroking feathers.
Sadly, this little moment of wingplay was…admittedly the most I could with this that didn’t cross back into the realm of being too spicy for the rating.
Because horny birb is half-horse, and she’s already bucked once before; it was just hidden beneath the water. Now, however? Adults, married, kid, horny. Gallus knows she bucks, Silver is absolutely unashamed to buck, he absolutely adores it, and she knows it.
Get it? There was a spicier version of the scene, and now here’s Gallus commenting on how spicy their “cuddle” talk is getting? Get it? Get it!?
media.tenor.com/m-BxU4X42uEAAAAC/jacksepticeye-lovrothecoolest.gif
Remember how Catty Griffon directly inspired Silverstream and Skystar’s pounce antics? That story also inspired Gallus being able to purr.
From the beginning, I had wanted to emphasize Gallus’ avian characteristics over his feline ones, partially because of stories like Catty Griffon—At the time, I felt Gallus being part-cat was a far more common source of jokes/stories for other people, so I wanted to go the opposite route.
Then I actually read Catty Griffon, and well? There’s a reason Gallus’ cat-half is so commonly played for humor, and now I wanted to play it for humor too.
Sadly, by the time I had read Catty Griffon, it was far too late into T.B.O.L. to foreshadow/establish Gallus could purr here too, let alone do something with that fact.
Believe me! If Gallus purring for Silverstream had been an idea I concocted earlier, he would have absolutely done so for her prior to the Epilogue(Love). But that’s not the biggest reveal regarding this I have to share.
Alongside the Epilogue(Love), I contemplated various half-formed sequel concepts, and one was a micro-story detailing how Silverstream first discovered her sweetie could purr.
And if you think I’m going to share anything about it here, you’re crazy.
Let’s just say…? After returning from Mount Aris, Silver did a certain something with her Pearl-piece, and it resulted in a week’s worth of teasing from her friends, and Gallus being the secondgriffon she heard purr.
There. That’s the most you get for now. Deal with it.
One last moment to reinforce Gallus’ own horny birb-ness. Because I couldn’t help myself.
Awww, Silver and Gallus have assigned halves of the bed!
Just a little touch of realism I slipped in for fun. Same thing with how she uses Gallus’ swears too, just like he did hers.
I debated for some time whether Gallus actually preferred Silver hugging him, but eventually I figured he’d like it more if he were the one to hug her.
It also took fooorrreeevvveeerrr to get this line to read as smoothly as it did.
And there we go; finally done discussing this particular scene.
Why on earth did I have so much to say on this subject!?— 2)
Gallus wasn’t the only one snickering in response to Glory’s blunt response; I was and still do too.
— 3)
So this was naturally our introduction to Stern Silverstream but since it was merely the introduction, it was only right to break up the serious sternness with some levity:
Because of course Silver would say that!
And of course this isn’t the first time Glory’s barged into their room crying out in hunger.
That said, I do have grievances with how I broke up Silver’s line here:
The second half is far too long, I feel, and indeed, I tried splitting the line into three so it’d seem more natural, but I couldn’t think of another way to show Glory trying to escape that didn’t cause the joke to drag out too long.
— 4)
Oh look, Silver referring to Gallus as “Daddy.” That’s totally not another holdover of that spicier version of their morning “cuddling.”
Don’t start blushing with secondhand embarrassment just yet though; Silver absolutely does NOT call Gallus that outside of referring to him as “Your [Glory’s] father.” and that single, specific context. Why not? Because she still refers to her actual father as “Daddy,” that’s why!
So yeah. Far too weird for Silverstream to ever consider calling Gallus that when Sky Beak is still around. And for those who don’t think that’s weird at all…? You need a break from the Internet.
— 5)
There wasn’t originally a dialogue tag with this line, but since I feared the lack thereof would imply Gallus didn’t realize the dream pony was Luna, I made sure to clarify he was only pretending to be shocked, knowing exactly who it was, even if Glory herself didn’t.
Because I am not subtle, and I don’t trust myself when I try to be.
— 6) When Glory bit Gallus’ ears, I had intended to write it as her technically biting whatever the proper scientific term is for a bird’s ear feathers.
The answer is apparently “Auricular Feathers,” but since I didn’t want to confuse people by using terminology some might not know, I forewent the idea, simply saying Glory bit his ears specifically.
Why I didn’t write it as simply “Ear tufts” is a matter of Google not telling me such was an acceptable alternate term back when I looked it up initially, and only decided to inform me of that when I looked up the term again for this Tidbit.
— 7) When referencing Vellum, my first idea was to do so through a letter sent to Gallus-Stream, apologizing for being unable to visit and support Glory for her first day of school thanks to his own scheduling issues, but congratulating them and wishing Glory luck regardless. Sadly, it was impossible to include such a thing and make it feel natural, so he was relegated to the news report.
— 8)
Yet another example of Glory being far more mature, reasonable, and intelligent than you’d expect for her age. Despite nearly breaking down at almost having to go to the school without Horton, despite her promises to resist hugging him, and despite her parents blatantly not believing those same promises… When genuinely confronted with the accusation she can’t resist hugging Horton, Glory can’t argue, pretend, or promise otherwise. Even she knows she’d eventually crack, and in a remarkable display of maturity, completely accepts that, even if it might mean not being able to bring Horton to school.
— 9)
And there’s your closure on the “Fluffy and huggable” joke from the Mount Aris arc.
Also nice to see Silver get a dialogue tag emphasizing how much she cherishes the sound of her family’s laughter. Gallus got one earlier, so now she gets her own. Because narrative parallels, yay!
— 10) So most of the Horton scene is great, and I’ve gone in-depth why. But I really do love how I portrayed Gallus-Stream handling the situation. Seeing their daughter’s distress, while balancing their desire to rectify said distress with their concern for giving Glory what she wants and risking her having trouble at school resultantly.
Special attention has to go, however, to how they explain the compromise to Glory. Yes, she can take Horton to school, so long as he remains far out of hugging range, guaranteeing her focus 100% remains on the teacher instead of her personal hug elephant. But even then, they still go the extra mile:
It shows another level of Gallus-Stream’s maturity that they can so easily give their kid what they want, with the only condition being made for Glory’s benefit, yet still twist that condition into a positive in Glory’s own eyes: Yeah, she can’t hug Horton all day, but once the class is taking a break, she can go nuts. And that’s more than enough for Glory, if her reaction is any indication.
— 11) Throughout the whole of the Epilogue(Love), there exist two particular oddities in how I worded things.
The first is the one you most likely noticed: Every time Glory is referred to in a possessive tense, I made sure to specify she’s “Gallus and Silverstream’s” daughter, or some variant thereof(Usually “Their” daughter).
The reason for this should be frankly obvious: She is indeed daughter to both of them. Constantly acknowledging how they’re both equally her parents helped, I felt, emphasize that equality. Glory’s not just “Daddy’s little girl”—no, she’s “Daddy and Mommy’s little girl.”
Admittedly, it was a relatively minor thing, and I do understand that whole “You truly are your father’s son” kinda stuff is meant to be emotionally impactful and whatnot. But I couldn’t stomach it here. I adamantly refused to even implicitly place a greater importance on who parented Glory to the detriment of another.
Yeah, Gallus is Glory’s favorite, and I’ve acknowledged my distaste for how Silver’s motherly rolealmost got shafted in favor of Gallus’ “Dad talk” but nevertheless.
Gallus and Silverstream are both Glory’s parents, and I was determined to respect that fact throughout the text. Thus, Glory is always referred to as both their daughter. Their Glorious Pearl.
The other wording oddity is one you likely didn’t notice, but certainly one I cringe at whenever I remember I did it.
Variants of “Husband” and “Wife” are used in equal number throughout the Epilogue(Love). … Or at least? That was supposed to be true, and for the same reasons as the “Glory is both Gallus and Silver’s daughter” thing: To emphasize the equal value in the roles/words.
I don’t believe this is the case now. I think Yona’s “Hubby” dialogue threw off the count somewhere or another, and by the time I noticed, I had given up on caring about this particular detail. Especially since it forced me to mess up a few odd lines now and then. So if you ever read a line in the Epilogue(Love) where it seems I went out of my way to have the dialogue tag refer to a character as another character’s wife/husband, this is why. I did exactly that.