//------------------------------// // 4 – Stories Over Sunset // Story: There She Goes! // by Miller Minus //------------------------------// She had to go and pick the last cloud Gallus checked, didn’t she? After twenty minutes of searching, he found her motionless and face-down, floating somewhere above Ponyville. He didn’t realize he’d been worried about her until he saw her, and the worry washed away. He landed on a cloud next to her, grabbed her cloud and pulled them together. “Hey, you,” Gallus said. Silverstream looked up, her face wet and her eyes big and puffy. “Whoa.” She started to blubber. “GALLUS I’m so sorry—The Wonderbolts—Oh, The Wonderbo—And I—And you—The DAY of The Good DEED—And I just WENT AHEAD AND—” Gallus waited for her to finish, but then, he might be waiting forever. So he reached out and pinched her beak with a talon. She tittered and blubbered out of the corners of her mouth a little, but eventually calmed down. Gallus let her go. “I’m sorry I was upset with you. That wasn’t right. But that’s not why I’m here. I’m here because—” “The cleanup.” “No—” Silverstream leapt up to standing. “Oh, no-no-no, I totally forgot! Rainbow Dash is gonna give me so much detention—!” “Streams!” Gallus reached out to grab her beak again, but she clamped it shut on her own. “I’m here because I wanted to talk,” Gallus said. “You told me I could. Remember?” Silverstream gave him a confused look. “Back at the café. You said if I ever wanted to talk… So, can I?” Turning her head to the side, Silverstream nodded. “About what, though?” Nothing, Gallus instinctively thought. He didn’t want to talk about anything. But maybe, just maybe, he should. “So,” he started. “I’ve never told anyone this, but… back when I was a cub…” Silverstream’s eyes went wide. “You don’t have to.” She shook her head. “Not for me. Not after what I did.” “I want to.” Silverstream waited for a moment, then sat back down. Gallus went on. “When I was a cub, I was… sad, sometimes.” That undersold it, but he hated to carry on. “It wasn’t all bad, though. There were even days when I would wake up in a really good mood. You know? Like I’d slept on the right side of the bed or something.” Silverstream gasped. “I’m good at waking up. I have a trick. I can teach you—” Gallus silenced her with a look. “Sorry.” With a huff, Gallus continued: “And on these good days, I would do everything I could to hold onto that feeling. I avoided anygriff who might try to ruin it—which was all of them—and I just kept it for myself.” Silverstream didn’t interrupt. A release of tension washed over Gallus’s whole body. “And when I went to bed after a good day, I would try so hard to wake up like that again. I would lie in bed and just clench my whole body as hard as I could. But I always lost it. I always woke up sad again. I thought I was having some bad dream every night that I couldn’t remember, that was taking my good mood away from me. Or maybe… griffons just weren’t allowed to stay happy.” Gallus gestured with his talons, holding them forward, as if that would save him having to say the next part. It didn’t. “I didn’t have anyone to share it with.” He shrugged. “That’s why it always went away.” On the horizon, a cloud shifted out of the way of the sun. The aviators protected his eyes from the sunbeams. He had kept them on on purpose, just in case he started to cry. But he didn’t feel anywhere near it. “There,” he said. He huffed out a breath. “Phew! That actually wasn’t so bad—” Silverstream was crying. “Streams, no! You’re gonna make me…” Gallus rubbed at his eyes. “But don’t worry! I’m good now! I have you guys, and I can… hold onto it a lot longer.” Silverstream wiped her eyes, and laughed. Gallus could tell she was squinting in the light. “Here,” he said. He took off the shades. “Put these on.” “…Are you sure?” Silverstream whispered. “Yeah. You look good in them.” Silerstream threw them on. Even behind the tinted lenses, Gallus saw the wink. “Question,” she said. “Can I talk again?” “Sure.” “Okay, um… Follow-up question.” “Shoot.” “I want to hug you, but I know you don’t like tight spaces, so if you don’t want—” Gallus put a talon on her beak again, and she stopped. “Hugs are cool,” he said. Silverstream nearly tackled him out of the sky. She squeezed so hard he almost regretted giving her permission. Almost. When she pulled away, she laughed, wiped her eyes again, and let out an exhausted laugh. She held up her talons and watched them shake. “What a day,” she said. “I’m so tired.” “Spitfire said anycreature who picks up more garbage than Rainbow Dash gets to be a Wonderbolt.” “She WHAT?!” Silverstream took flight so fast she burst the cloud they were sitting on, leaving Gallus to hover and watch her go. He wondered, then, why she was even called Silverstream. It didn’t fit her well enough. So he thought of a better name, and he said it out loud to make it official.