//------------------------------//
// The Griff and the Birdfish 
// Story: Live While we're Young 
// by The Blue EM2 
//------------------------------//

Gallus had to admit, he hadn't been planning on doing this tonight. But circumstance had rather forced his hand. The restaurant they'd been planning on going to had suddenly and without warning changed its operating hours owing to staff sickness, and this meant the original planned weekend date would now not work. Instead, they had been rebooked onto a Thursday evening. Not the most obvious of days on which to go out in the evening (in both senses of the phrase 'go out',) but it was that or nothing at all, and Gallus wasn't prepared to let all his planning go to waste.

He stood in the atrium, waiting for Silverstream. The sun, although still hanging high in the sky and therefore still a yellow colour, was starting to descend, and it wouldn't be long until the sky turned a spectacular crimson, and the sun orange as Celestia would start to lower the sun, and Luna raise the moon for what the citizens knew could well be the last time.

Truth be told, Gallus was as surprised as everycreature else when he heard that the Princesses were retiring. Seriously, they'd been around like forever, so why'd they suddenly off and leave? Oh well. It seemed even immortal Princesses have to throw in the towel someday, just like the rest of us. Gallus turned to look at a clock on the wall, studying it closely before suddenly jumping.

"HI GALLUS!"

"Ahhhh!" Gallus cried, and jumped across the room. "Seriously, Silvs, don't do that!"

"I've never seen you move so fast, Gally!" Silverstream replied, a mirthful smirk upon her face. She touched down and grinned. "So, are we eating underwater tonight?"

"No," Gallus replied. "If we were eating underwater, everything would float away. Not to mention I'd drown."

"Magical seapony amulet!" Silverstream replied in a sing song voice, and to demonstrate her point immediately switched forms to a seapony. This did not work as she had nothing to prop herself up on, and immediately fell over onto her back. Owing to her rather sudden change in direction and gravity, she flopped about on the ground for a few seconds before switching herself back. Now the correct form for land based locomotion (come on baby, do the), she rolled back over and got onto her hooves and claws. "Well, that didn't work as expected. That tends to work better with an object behind me."

Gallus glanced over in confusion. He'd known her for over a year now and still found her a bit weird. "Well, if you're done flopping about like a fish, shall we head out? Our evening meal awaits, and I haven't had anything to eat since lunch."

"Unless you'd been snacking," Silverstream continued, "but that's highly unlikely given that due to food quality control reasons the on campus shop is shut and the vending machines are turned off and the food served at the canteen is vetted by the Princess herself for quality!" Silverstream took a very deep breath at the end of her run on sentence. "Wow. That is rather a mouthful when you say it all at once."

"It sure is," Gallus replied, as they walked past the pond that surrounded the School of Friendship, noticing a diver emerge with a book.

"There's the EEA guidelines, Stan!" he called.

"Excellent," 'Stan' replied. "It may have been underwater for over a year, but it's in remarkably good nick. Now to find the pony who chucked it in. She's in a lot of trouble."





It took a few minutes of strolling through Ponyville's sublime streets before the duo reached their destination. In order to satisfy the demands of the growing numbers of carnivores in Ponyville, a local proprietor had taken the initiative to open a seafood restaurant, noting that made up the bulk of griffon and hippogriff diets on a day to day basis.

This establishment, called the Undersea World Bar and Restaurant, was built in the style of a coral reef, with an interior surrounded by glass fish tanks to simulate the experience of being underwater- minus the water, of course. The pair swung open the door, designed to look like a window on a ship, and waited in line.

An old salty sea dog with a giant beard was doing greeting that night. "Ahoy, me hearties!" he said, when he saw both Gallus and Silverstream in the line at the front. "Avast my words now! Do ye have a reservation?"

"Yes. Ours got moved to today from Saturday," Gallus explained, as he looked at a preliminary copy of the menu.

"Arrr! Well, table number 14 is yours. Let me guide ye across the raging seas, and may Novo herself carry you safe in her flippers."

As they went over, Gallus looked to Silverstream. "Having now met your family and family members, that old saying suddenly makes a lot more sense. Just how long were the seaponies underwater?"

"Clearly long enough for my aunt to become a mythological figure," Silverstream noted, as she took her seat. Gallus did the same as the server smiled.

"Something to drink?" he asked.

"I'll have lemonade," Gallus replied.

"I think I'll do the same," Silverstream added.

"I'll be back with yours in just a moment," the server smiled, as a loud foghorn blared from the serving hatch.

"Number 15 is ready to serve!" called a voice.

Both griffon and hippogriff studied their menus carefully. "There's certainly a lot of fish on here," Gallus noted.

Silverstream looked at the menu in surprise. "What's this? poney de mer etouffe?"

"It's not made from seapony, don't you worry," Gallus told her. "Until very recently, we had always thought that seaponies were mythological beings. Twilight's expedition was the first to prove they existed."

And now I find myself falling in love with one, he thought to himself.

Silverstream was suddenly distracted from her menu at a fish in the tank. "HIIIIIII! HOW ARE YOU?"

Gallus shook his head. "If she's the least crazy member of the family, I hate to imagine what Skystar is like."





Not long after, they ordered their food and were now waiting. Silverstream suddenly looked over and gasped. "LOOK! LOOK!"

"Can you please stop shouting?" asked Gallus. "You'll give everycreature tinitus at this rate."

"No, look who it is!" Silverstream said, and pointed. "It's Ocellus and Sandbar!"

Sure enough, the pony and changeling duo were sat at a nearby table, currently eating what looked to be seaweed. "Hey, this seaweed wrap is good," Sandbar said, inbetween bites.

"It's prepared according to Queen Novo's favourite recipe," Ocellus noted, before suddenly noticing Silverstream in the corner of her eye. "Hello!"

"Hi!" Silverstream replied. "Lovely evening, isn't it?"

"It sure is," Sandbar replied. "This seaweed wrap is delicious. Apparently it's-"

"Prepared according to Queen Novo's favourite recipe?" asked a regal, booming voice. Sandbar looked over his shoulder to suddenly see Queen Novo standing over his shoulder.

"Y- your Majesty!" Sandbar stamered as he attempted to bow, instead falling off his chair and landing on the floor.

Queen Novo laughed. "There's not need to be formal here tonight. I'm taking a bit of a rest from running an underwater kingdom. You have no idea how much work it is to run a mountain and an underwater place at the same time. No wonder our civil service is so bloated. You are correct. That is indeed my favourite recipe."

"Well, it's very nice," Sandbar continued, trying to get back up.

Novo picked him up and placed him back in his chair. "Glad to hear. Well, I need to see where Skystar's got to. If I know her, she'll be trying to work as a waitress. She's doing practically everything right now!"

And off the regal hippogriff went, whilst the others looked in confusion. "She's unusually jolly," Gallus noted.

"Well, pony and seapony relations didn't exactly get off to a good start," Silverstream replied.

As the siren (a sound recording of the Seaquestria 'pearl alarm') sounded, indicating their order was ready, Gallus saw his chance. "Silverstream, I just wanted to tell you that I like you."

"That's clear to see!" the hippogriff replied. "Otherwise we wouldn't be friends, would we?" Her gaze narrowed. "Or do you mean you like me in the other sense?"

"OK, maybe that wasn't the best choice of words," Gallus sighed. "To be absolutely clear and honest; I love you."

Silverstream's cheeks went pink as she looked amazed. "Y- you do?" she asked.

"Yes," Gallus replied. "You're energetic, seriously funny, and know exactly how to pull up when we're feeling down. This may sound like a cliche, but meeting you changed my live for the better, and meeting all of you. But you're special to me."

There was an awkward silence, before Silverstream leaped into the air, over the table, and hugged him incredibly tightly. "THIS IS AMAZING! YOU AND I ARE GOING TO BE SO HAPPY TOGETHER!"

"Perhaps at half the volume," Gallus asked.

"We can live underwater, and make necklaces out of shells, and make picture frames out of shells, and buckets out of shells, and-"

"Borrowing my speech, are we?" asked Skystar, who had suddenly appeared. "Oh, hey cousin!"

"Gallus and I are together!" Silverstream cried. "I can't wait to plan the wedding!"

"We're not of legal age," Gallus groaned, his neck being squeezed by the hippogriff's incredibly strong grip.

"Well, I wish you both the best. Have you seen mom anywhere?"

"She went that way?" Silverstream indicated with her claws.

But despite his grumpy mood, Gallus couldn't help but smile as he and Silverstream shared this special moment together.