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// The Pony's Rest 
// Story: Your Better Half 
// by Jay Bear v2 
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Mom and Dad weren’t too surprised when I told them I’d started dating someone who wasn’t a young mare. They were surprised that he wasn’t a pony. And they really wanted to meet him.
We took Gallus to the beach. With autumn already started, strong breezes and cold water greeted us, but we all made it into the water to wade, swim, or surf. It turns out surfing is pretty good for impressing your new boyfriend. It also turns out seawater is pretty good for washing off cat dander. It’s not a cure, though, and neither is showering. There are days when my allergies get so bad that we have to be apart. We make up for it on the times we’re together, though.
One of my cousins visited Ponyville for the Running of the Leaves race a few weeks ago, so I got to introduce her to Gallus. She asked how we met, and we told her about our escapade in Cloudsdale, including going to Cirripalooza. It turns out she’s a huge fan of Freak with a Beak! If I’d only known, we could have been trading thunder albums this whole time. We’re all planning to go to Cirripalooza next year, although I have no idea how we’re going to save up the bits for it.
There’s something else from my cousin’s visit that I still think about. When I told Gallus that my cousin was coming to Ponyville, he looked at me like I’d started talking in Old Ponish. He didn’t know what a cousin was, or an aunt or uncle. After I finished explaining the whole concept of extended family, it occurred to me that he hadn’t told me anything about his family, except his “grandpa.”
Hearth’s Warming is coming coon. Gallus is going to spend the winter break with us, but he never said he had talked to his parents about it. I think there’s a reason why.
We share so much with each other now between our jokes, our passions, our shocks, our fears—his claustrophobia, my insecurity—and all of our comfortable silences. But he guards one final, enormous piece of himself.
There’s a darkness in him. It’s a cavern that’s vacant but menacing, a scar that’s callused but raw. It fuels his suspicions, sparks his anger, and nurses his sulks. The Everfree Forest may be scary, but all of its monsters would cower before whatever lurks in Gallus’s darkness.
I still want that piece of him. I want it because I want every piece of him, but I’ll wait until he’s ready to share it. When that day does come, we’ll confront it together.