Sunlight streamed through the shifting waves above and danced along the sandy seafloor below, mixing with the beautiful beds of coral and flora stretched across it to form the iridescent masterpiece that was the bottom of the ocean.
Sadly, said beauty was rather marred by the icy silence between Silverstream and her mother.
Not wanting this silence to continue, Ocean Flow hesitantly began, “Sooo? How has everything been going?”
“Fine,” Silver answered curtly.
“That’s good; that’s good,” she murmured, biting her lip anxiously. “A-And what about school? You’ve been keeping your grades up and eating all your fruits and veggies, yes?”
“Mhmm.”
“That’s also good. … So, um, what about your friends?” Ocean asked politely. “Are they doing well? Did— Did you ever get that situation with Smolder figured out?”
Silverstream stopped swimming and faced her mother properly. “Yes. Everycreature is doing fine. As for Smolder…? She does still have some bad days, but she’s doing okay too,” she confirmed with a small smile. “Thanks for asking, Mom.”
“Of course, honey,” she said, relieved her daughter was no longer glaring at her. “I care about your friends too, so I’m glad to hear they’re doing fine.”
“You and me both.”
“Heh-heh. Now, what about you, Silverstream? How are you?”
“I… Need to talk to you,” she sighed, preparing for what was about to come.
“O-Okay,” she said, noticing Silver’s deflection but choosing not to comment on it. “Um? What did you wish to talk to me about, honey?”
Silver gulped, worked up her courage, and began, “You know how I haven’t been sending letters lately? To you or anycreature else?”
Ocean winced. “Yes. B-But if you just haven’t found the time to write back, that’s okay. I know you’re busy at school with exams and whatnot.”
“That’s, um, not the reason why I stopped writing back.”
“What?” Ocean muttered, feeling her heart thrash violently against her chest. “Silverstream, what do you mean? Why did you really stop writing back!? Who told you to stop writing me back!?” she cried out in a panic.
“Mom, stop!” Silver yelled, holding a flipper over her muzzle. “Now, will you please hold on so I can explain?” Once Ocean nodded, she retracted her flipper and clarified, “First of all? No one told me to stop writing you back; I chose to stop writing you back.”
“Wait, what?” she asked, completely blindsided by her statement. “You chose to stop responding to our letters?”
“Yes.”
“But— But, why?”
“…You.”
“M-Me?”
“Yes, you,” Silverstream repeated, rubbing her eyes tiredly. “You and all your stupid letters, always taking shots at Gallus and our relationship.”
“I don’t know what you mean, Silver,” Ocean protested, trying desperately to appear innocent. “What ‘shots’ are you talking about?”
“‘Just remember, honey, having a crush and being in love are two entirely different things,’” she recited in a scarily accurate imitation of her mother’s voice. “‘And you shouldn’t do anything you’ll regret unless you’re certain of the latter.’”
“I-I did say that, yes,” she admitted, nervously wringing her flippers together. “But it’s true.”
“Maybe. But that was just the first thing you said, and everything after it was even worse…”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Ocean inquired indignantly. “I was giving you advice.”
“Heh-heh. Yeah, no,” she deadpanned. “What you gave me wasn’t advice. ‘Advice’ would be telling me to talk to Gallus whenever I’m upset so we could work through it together.”
“Honey—”
“‘Advice’ would be telling me not to constantly worry about his well-being when I know he’s okay!” Silver rambled on, growing angrier with every word spoken.
“It’s because you were so afraid that—”
“‘Advice’! Would be telling me that true love is when two creatures are at their happiest when they are with each other!” she screeched over her.
After waiting for Silver to calm down a tad more, Ocean Flow ultimately agreed, “I suppose that all does sound like good advice.”
“Certainly better than what you were telling me.”
Her mother flinched yet again, but after recovering, she asked, “Is… Is that really why you stopped writing me back? You didn’t like the advice, er, things, I said?” she corrected.
“Bingo.”
“O-Okay. … But, um, why? What was wrong with the things I said?”
“Mom?” Silverstream began as calmly as she could. “Gallus is my boyfriend. But you wouldn’t stop haranguing me about him or how much you disapproved of him,” she groaned, massaging her aching temples. “And? I really didn’t like what you were saying. It— It freaked me out.”
“Freaked you out?” Ocean gasped, holding a flipper to her heart in horror.
“Yes! I… I was already dealing with a lot of stress and paranoia at the time,” she revealed, only terrifying her mother even more. “And the things you kept saying about Gallus only made it worse.”
“But I wasn’t saying anything about him!”
“You certainly made it clear you didn’t like me being with him. Or do you think I didn’t notice all those little hints of yours that I don’t have to ‘settle for less’?” She scoffed, ending, “As if Gallus is somehow not good enough for me…”
Ocean Flow said nothing and merely hung her head, unable to meet her daughter’s eye.
Silver let the silence go on a moment before saying, “Look, Mom, I had enough problems going on, and I didn’t need more. So…? I stopped writing you back,” she admitted.
“But if that’s true, why did you stop writing everycreature else back too?”
“Because somepony started sending me letters under all of their names,” she angrily answered. “Thanks to you, I couldn’t even trust Terramar’s letters were from him anymore.”
Once again, Ocean Flow had no words.
“All that said?” Silver resumed timidly. “I’m… I’m sorry. If you were upsetting me, I should have let you know. But I didn’t. Instead, I just cut you and everyone else off entirely, like an idiot,” she grumbled, face-flippering.
“Silverstream, you are not an idiot!” Ocean instantly defended, much to Silver’s surprise. “Why would you ever say that about yourself?”
“Because I know better than to bottle up my problems, but I did it anyway,” she explained, wincing ashamedly.
“Well, I don’t care! You are not an idiot; you are my daughter,” she comforted, pulling Silver into her warm embrace. “And you are the brightest, happiest, most splendorous creature in the world. Never, ever let anything or anyone convince you otherwise,” she commanded firmly-yet-kindly.
Silver smiled weakly, hugging her back and whispering, “Thanks, Mom.”
After a minute, they broke away, and Ocean resumed, “Furthermore, I am the one who should be sorry. I’m your mother, so I’m always going to worry about you… But I shouldn’t have bombarded you with my paranoid ramblings,” she lamented, holding a gentle flipper to Silver’s cheek. “And especially not when I knew you were having a hard time. For that, I am so, so sorry, honey.”
A pang of anger flared to life once Silver realized her mother wasn’t actually apologizing for what she said against Gallus, but it quickly died out as she replied truthfully, “It’s okay, Mom. I forgive you. … I am still mad at you though.”
“I don’t blame you. I really am sorry, Silverstream.”
“I just said I forgive you,” Silver chuckled. “But, uh? D-Do you forgive me for not writing you back?”
“Naturally,” Ocean chirped, tittering. “You don’t even need to apologize, honey.”
Silverstream’s smile widened as she said, “It’s really good to see you again, Mom.”
“It’s great to see you too,” Ocean Flow said, hugging her daughter once more. “Now then, with all of that out of the way? Let’s go,” she beckoned, taking Silver by the flippers and leading her forward. “If we hurry, we can catch the tail end of your cousin’s rehearsal.”
“I definitely don’t want to miss that,” Silver agreed, swimming alongside her mother. “But before we go, could I ask you something?”
“Of course. What did you want to ask?”
Silver hesitated for a moment before finally asking, “Why do you hate Gallus?”
Ocean Flow stammered wordlessly for a good minute, but she eventually found her voice and professed, “I don’t e-exactly ‘hate’ him, honey.”
“Mom, you wouldn’t even shake his talon,” she countered bluntly. “I had to make you do it.”
“Erm? A-A-Admittedly, that was rather rude of me. But I really don’t hate him.”
“Then what was with the ‘don’t settle for less’ line?”
“Because it’s true; you don’t have to settle for less, honey.” Upon seeing Silver’s previous glare make a comeback, Ocean hurriedly elaborated, “Th-That’s not to say that Gallus is ‘less,’ of course! It’s just… I want what’s best for you, Silverstream. I— I want you to be safe! And secure. And happy…”
“And I am those things with Gallus.”
“Er, that’s good then,” Ocean squeaked out, forcing a strained smile. “L-Like I said, I don’t hate Gallus; I-I-I just, er? Don’t…know…him,” she said slowly, praying it would suffice.
Silver suspected that answer wasn’t entirely the truth, but on the off-chance she was mistaken, she ignored her suspicion. However, that didn’t stop her from capitalizing on the answer she did get.
“I guess that’s true,” she conceded. “Lucky for you then, we’re both here for the rest of the week. Which means you have the rest of the week to get to know Gallus. You do want to get to know the griffon I love, right?” Silver asked, smirking.
Ocean’s eye twitched at the utterance of “love,” but she swiftly hid her discomfort and exclaimed, “Y-Yes! Of— Of course I do, honey.” She then blinked and smiled. “In fact? I have an idea…”
***
“I really can’t wrap my head around it,” Gallus said as he passed the last of the dishes to Silver.
“Neither can I, to be honest,” Silverstream concurred, putting the freshly cleaned plates away.
“Well, I can certainly believe it,” Sky Beak happily weighed in. “Ocean Flow is your mother, honey. There was absolutely no chance she wouldn’t want to get to know your sweetie,” he swore, turning off the kitchen faucet and drying his talons.
“Still though,” Gallus mumbled, apprehensively stroking his headcrest. “As glad as I am she wants to get to know me, I’m a little worried.”
“It’s just dinner, Gallus dear,” Sky began, patting the griffon’s shoulder reassuringly. “You’ve had it with Terramar and myself twice so far; what’s so different about having it with Ocean Flow?”
“The fact it’s underwater,” he muttered under his breath.
“Didn’t catch that, sorry?”
“N-Nothing,” Gallus reflexively blurted out. “There’s nothing really different about it, I guess.”
Silverstream was at his side in a heartbeat, taking his talon and comforting, “Don’t worry, sweetie. I’ll protect you from my big, bad mother.”
Gallus snorted and nuzzled her, saying, “Thanks. I’ll probably need you to.”
“Nonsense,” Sky Beak dismissed, bringing them both into a hug. After letting them go, he declared, “I’ve said it to both of you, and I’ll say it again: Once Ocean Flow gets to know you more, she’ll love you just as much as I do,” he promised, winking at Gallus.
Gallus smiled back.
“Well, of course she will,” Silver agreed, giving her boyfriend’s cheek a kiss. “You are incredibly lovable, after all.”
“Yeah, I know,” he boasted, kissing her back.
Sky Beak smiled at the display. “Whelp, now that dinner’s over, are either of you up for dessert?” he asked, moving toward the fridge. “Gallus and I made those apology cakes earlier. Or were you hankering for some ice cream instead?”
“Sorry, Daddy, Gallus and I will have to skip dessert,” Silver said before Gallus could accept the offer for cake. “We’re gonna go make out,” she nonchalantly announced.
“Wait, we are?” Gallus asked as she hastily pulled him along.
“Yep.”
After processing the sudden turn of events, Sky exited the kitchen behind them. “Er, try to keep it down,” he ordered, uncertain of how stern he should be. “You wouldn’t want to disturb Terramar.”
“Or else he’ll come banging on the door and interrupt us, I know,” she sighed, shooting her annoyed brother a glare while she led Gallus through the living room and up the staircase.
“And make sure to keep it appropriate!” Sky screeched after them.
“We will!”
“You better!” He then shook his head, pondering, “What am I going to do with her?”
“Ignore her,” Terramar suggested, keeping his gaze glued to his book. “That’s what I’m doing.”
Sky trotted over and ruffled his son’s mane, eliciting a small grin.
Silverstream and Gallus, meanwhile, finally reached the attic. After pushing him inside, Silver shut the door and leaned against it, sighing.
“‘We’re gonna go make out’?” Gallus repeated, raising an eyebrow. “Really, Silver? Really?”
“Oh hush,” she whined, trotting toward his bed and collapsing into it. She then patted the empty space beside her.
Gallus fluttered his wings and laid down beside her, staring at the ceiling while trying not to blush too vibrantly. “Sooo? You okay?” he eventually asked.
Silver stared upward as well, confirming, “Yep. I’m okay.”
“That’s good.”
…
…
…
“I thought it would be harder,” Silverstream suddenly stated.
“Talking to your mom?”
“Yeah. I mean?” Silver met his gaze and elaborated, “After all the nasty things she said and all that time I spent ignoring her letters… I didn’t think talking to her—much less forgiving her—would be so…easy,” she ended quietly.
“I know how that feels,” Gallus noted, chuckling. “Remember how scared I was of telling Ocellus I didn’t want to be a professor?”
“And then when you finally did, you realized you had just been overthinking things,” Silver happily reminisced.
“Yes, I had. And after I told you that, what was it you said to me?” He snapped his talons and said, “Oh, that’s right.”
“‘It’s not the examination that freezes your blood and shivers your spine; it’s the anticipation leading up to it,’” they both quoted, giggling at having spoken simultaneously.
“That said,” Gallus resumed. “Did you really forgive her?”
“…Yes. Yes, I did,” Silver said softly. “I am still mad at her. And she had better apologize to you too for everything she said! But other than that? Yeah. I forgave her.”
Gallus grinned and gave her cheek a warm nuzzle. Afterward, he leaned back and whispered, “I’m glad you did, Silverstream.”
“Me too,” she responded, giving him a nuzzle of her own. “Of course? It’s your turn now,” she grunted, rolling onto her side and smiling at him. “So, sweetie? Think you can charm my mother?”
“I don’t know; it’s gonna be pretty hard,” he playfully bemoaned, much to her amusement. “Doth thou believeth I can do so, Fair Silverstream?”
“I doth indeed, Sir Gallus. Thou art mine sweetie, after all,” Silverstream cooed, giving him a small kiss. “Everything will be fine, Gallus.”
“Yeah. Yeah, I guess it will,” he said, returning the kiss.
“Hee-hee-hee. Yeah. Plus, I get to finally show you Seaquestria tomorrow!” she celebrated. “Isn’t that great!?”
“Y-Yeah,” he murmured, his mood souring instantly. “Tomorrow. Great.”
“…Okay, Gallus,” she sighed, frowning. “I can hear it in your voice. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing is ‘wrong,’ per se.” After searching for the right words, he settled on, “I’m just a little nervous still.”
“About having dinner with Mom?”
“That. And going to Seaquestria.” Gallus fiddled with the sheets for a moment before explaining, “I mean…? I know you were going to show me Seaquestria at some point this week, and I do want to see it,” he assured, laying a gentle talon on her shoulder. “I really do. But…?”
“But you’re still nervous about going down there?” Silver guessed, laying her own talon over his and holding it tightly. “Right?”
“Yeah,” he whispered, thankful for her soothing touch. “I-I just thought I’d have more time to prepare myself, you know? But nope. I’m going to Seaquestria tomorrow…”
“Do you want me to call it off?”
“What!? No!” Gallus yelped, shaking his head fervently. “Absolutely not.”
“Gallus, you don’t need to do it if you don’t want to.”
“But I do want to. I want to see Seaquestria, and I want to have dinner with your mom.”
“I want both of those things too, Gallus, but if you’re uncomfortable coming underwater—”
“I’ll be fine,” he swore, cupping her cheek with his other talon. “Promise.”
Silver couldn’t help but smile. “Alrighty then. … Still though? Do you think maybe I should convince her to come and have dinner with us at the beach instead?”
“I don’t know, Silver. I wouldn’t want to inconvenience her when she already doesn’t like me.”
“You are my boyfriend. If you aren’t ready to visit Seaquestria yet, she should respect that.”
“True. But she wouldn’t agree to that anyway, would she?”
“Well…? She was pretty insistent we come to her house,” Silverstream recognized, frowning sternly. “Which makes me wonder if this is her attempt at intimidating you.”
“How so?”
“Dad had the Aris Guard; Mom has the ocean.”
“If that’s the case, she’s doing a much better job at intimidating me than your dad did,” Gallus admitted, drawing out a faint snicker from his girlfriend. “That said, I’m not gonna let a little water intimidate me for long! … And I’m definitely not gonna let anycreature else know I was intimidated.”
“Hee-hee. There’s the Gallus I know and love,” she tittered, kissing him again. “But are you sure you’ll be okay tomorrow?”
“I will. After all, you’ll be there with me, won’t you?”
“Always.”
They both simply smiled at each other for a minute, but Silver’s smile soon morphed into a sinister smirk. Before Gallus could question it, however, she rolled over on top of him.
“Um, Silver? What are you doing?” he inquired, already knowing the answer.
“Lying on top of you.”
“Why?”
“Well, I did tell Daddy we were gonna make out,” she addressed, still holding onto his one talon. She then took her other talon and stroked it through his headcrest, reminding him, “And you still have a few kisses you need to make up for.”
Gallus was eternally grateful his wings were pinned against the bed and, thus, couldn’t flare open. “Well, so do you,” he pointed out. “You left me all by myself to go make dinner with your dad, remember?”
“Oh, I remember. And I will most certainly make up for it tonight,” she vowed, leaning closer to him and giving him a sweet, sultry smile. “However, I only owe you one kiss. By my count, you owe me three.”
“‘Three’? Wasn’t it just two? The attic one, and the one Skystar interrupted?”
“Mhmm. But you also promised me an extra long kiss too.”
“D-Did I do that?” he wondered, turning a brilliant shade of scarlet. “I can’t quite recall…”
“Don’t you play that game with me, Gallus,” she said, stroking his headcrest again and giggling when she noticed his tail start to wag. “Don’t you want to go to Round Three too?”
“I do. I really do,” he confessed, too busy staring into her eyes to feel any semblance of shame. “But are you sure you want to try going to three rounds?” he double-checked.
“Oh, relax! I’m sure we can handle it,” Silverstream proclaimed, tapping her beak against his teasingly. “Come on, sweetie. Kiss me.”
Gallus smiled serenely. “As you wish, milady,” he whispered, happily fulfilling her request.
***
It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing; the ocean was roiling. And considering the sounds of merriment echoing from Hippogriffia, it seemed that Sky Beak’s parade was nearing completion.
The hippogriff in question had, of course, walked Silverstream, Terramar, and Gallus to the beach, but after wishing them good luck, he had flown off to help finish said parade.
Afterward, both of his children had entered the ocean without concern. Gallus, however…
“Are you sure about this, Silverstream?” the trembling griffon asked again.
“Of course, Gallus. It’s just a little water; it’s perfectly safe.”
“A-And you’re sure I won’t be a catfish, right?”
“For the eighth time, yes!” Terramar groaned, rolling his eyes. “I went to Auntie Novo after Silver hounded me about it, and she taught me how to prevent that from happening.”
Unfortunately, his words only further terrified Gallus. “You mean I really would have been a catfish!?”
Silverstream frowned at her brother who glared back.
“Gallus, look. Since I’m the one transforming you, you’ll be a seapony,” he swore.
“And what if I get stuck like that, huh!?”
“You won’t. I may be the only one who can turn you into a seapony, but anyone else can change you back into a griffon since it’s your default form, even Silverstream,” Terramar explained as reassuringly as he could. “Don’t worry.”
“Too late for that!” Gallus screeched, retreating even farther away from the water.
“Seriously, dude, it’s okay. Just think of it as a giant bath tub.”
“A bath tub?” he echoed, casting his gaze over the wide, open ocean. “Yeah. A giant bath tub. Where the water stretches on for miles and miles,” Gallus murmured to himself, spacing out. “And crashes down onto you from all sides, trapping you in an endless, crushing void of darkness. Trapped at the bottom of the ocean. Unable to move. Unable to breathe. Unable to call for help. All alone…”
Silverstream and Terramar shared a glance when Gallus suddenly went silent.
“But hey!” he resumed, scoffing as his wings twitched fearfully. “It’s totally like a giant bath tub. Absolutely nothing to worry about, no sirree. Heh-heh-hehhh…”
Silverstream swiftly swam back to shore. After approaching him, she took his talon into hers and said, “Gallus? Hey, Gallus?”
“H-Huh?” he gasped, snapping out of his daze. “Yeah, Silver?”
“Look at me, okay? Don’t look at the water; look at me. Just look at me,” Silver repeated slowly-yet-soothingly. Once she was certain he wouldn’t look away, she continued, “We’re both gonna take a deep breath. Can you do that for me?”
“Mhmm.”
“Thank you.” She then inhaled, and Gallus copied her. “Hold it. … And let it out slowly,” she said, sighing with him. “Deep breath in. Deep breath out. In. And out.”
Gallus nodded, shut his eyes, and continued the exercise. With each subsequent breath, he felt noticeably calmer, and a small smile soon returned to his beak.
Once Silver noticed this, she smiled herself and complimented, “That’s good, Gallus. You’re doing good. Now? We’re going to take this nice and slow…”
“Pl-Please don’t let go!” he begged, tightly clenching her talons.
“It’s okay, Gallus; I’m not gonna let go,” she promised. “We’ll take it one step at a time, okay?”
“O-O-Okay.”
“Alright. One step,” Silver announced, taking a step back toward the ocean and keeping a firm grip on his talons.
“One step,” Gallus echoed, keeping his eyes closed shut as he followed after her.
“Two steps.”
“Two steps.”
“Three steps.”
“Three steps.”
“There we go. You’re doing great, sweetie,” Silverstream encouraged. “You’re doing great.”
“Thank you. I-I think I’m—” Gallus let out a frightened squeak when a rush of water flowed over his talons and paws. “That— That was the water!”
“Mhmm. Are you okay?”
“I thought it’d be c-colder. But? It’s actually pretty warm,” he observed, shivering regardless.
“Yep. Terramar wasn’t wrong; it really is like a big, warm bath. Are you ready to keep going?”
“I don’t know, Silver. I’m— I’m really scared,” he confessed weakly.
“It’s okay, Gallus. I’m right here,” Silver comforted, her voice quickly calming him back down. “I know it’s hard, sweetie, but you just need to follow me for a few more steps. Can you do that?”
Gallus sighed happily, swearing, “I’d follow you anywhere.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, blushing. “Okay. Here we go.”
She led him even further into the brine, and Gallus had to hold in another squawk when he felt the ocean lick against his barrel. “S-Silverstream…?” he puled, feeling a wave jostle him slightly.
“Hold on, sweetie. We’re almost there, I promise.”
Gulping, Gallus continued following her, but after another few steps, he cried out, “Silver! I-I’m having trouble feeling the ground!” he screamed, barely clinging to the slippery sand below.
“But you still feel me, right?” Silver inquired, giving his talons another reassuring squeeze.
Gallus squeezed her talons back, nodding. “I do.”
“Good. Because we only have one more step.”
“J-Just one?”
“Just one. Are you ready?”
“…Go for it.”
Silverstream gave him a comforting nuzzle before using her wings to paddle back into the open ocean, pulling his whimpering form with her. Much to both her and Terramar’s relief, Gallus didn’t flail about wildly, but it certainly seemed as though he were considering it.
“Gallus?” Silverstream hummed softly. “You can open your eyes now.”
He tentatively peeked them open and beheld the soothing smile of his girlfriend.
“See? I’m right here, and I’m not letting go.”
Gallus surprised her with a quick, thankful kiss. “You’re so beautiful,” he praised.
Silver’s smile brightened as she looked away sheepishly. “A-Awww! Thank you, Gallus. You look very handsome too,” she cheered, kissing him back.
“You sure about that? He looks pretty sick to me,” Terramar acknowledged.
“Terramar!”
“I’m serious, Sis. Look at him,” he mumbled, gesturing to the griffon who legitimately did appear rather ill. “Gallus, are you sure you’re up for this?”
Keeping his eyes glued to Silverstream, Gallus asked, “You’re gonna be with me?”
“I’m gonna be with you,” she vowed.
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
Gallus took several more deep, calming breaths. “Mount Aris and Seaquestria are both your home,” he recognized. “And you are as much a seapony as you are a hippogriff.”
“I love you, Silverstream,” Gallus continued, smiling serenely. “And I want to be a part of your world. All of your world,” he emphasized, casting the water a wary glance before looking back at her.
Silver kissed him again, fluttering her wings in the water excitedly. After breaking away, she joyously sang, “I want you to be a part of my world too!”
“And I will be.” Gallus then turned toward Terramar, stating, “Alright, Terry. I’m ready.”
“You sure?”
“Just do it before I chicken out!” he squealed, extending his free talon to the hippogriff.
“Okay then,” he said, taking the offered talon. “But I’ll transform us above the water so you have a minute to adjust.”
“Sounds good; now, do it!” Gallus commanded, bracing himself.
Terramar glanced at Silverstream and received a small nod. He then grabbed his Pearl-piece, counting, “Three. Two. One!”
All three of them were enveloped in a flash of light.
Once the light vanished, Gallus was assaulted with an armada of clashing sensations, from the complete rearrangement of his jaw to the powerful tail that had replaced his back paws.
Oddly enough, the most powerful of these feelings was the one keeping him from screaming. That being the sudden rush of euphoria he now felt from being in the water.
Gallus himself was still absolutely terrified of the ocean, but his body wholeheartedly celebrated being swayed by the tide. And although he considered resisting this feeling, Gallus ultimately let it wash over him and gasped as his tail instinctively gave an eager flourish.
Though it frightened him down to his core, Gallus didn’t panic. In fact, he actually grinned weakly once he realized Silverstream was still holding his…well? They weren’t talons anymore, but she still held them, and that was good enough for him.
Gallus then opened his eyes once more to see Silverstream gaping at him in awe. Once she noticed he was looking at her, she clamped her muzzle shut and blushed. “H-Hi,” she greeted.
“Hi. I’m, uh… I’m a seapony now, right?”
“Uh-huh,” she confirmed, nodding fervently.
“Cool.”
“Yep. And I’m a seapony too. So? Do… Do you still think I’m beautiful?” she asked bashfully.
“As if you could ever not be,” he scoffed, winking. “Um, what about me?”
Silverstream just giggled madly and rushed forward, nuzzling him like her life depended on it. “You look amazing! Really, really amazing!”
As weird as the affectionate gesture felt without their usual feathers, Gallus still relished her embrace. “I’m glad to hear that,” he chortled. “Because I feel really weird right now.”
“That’s to be expected,” Terramar commented, acquiring their attention. He then appraised Gallus critically, noting, “Interesting. Your muzzle’s the same color as your beak.”
While Gallus crossed his eyes to stare at the indicated, golden-scaled muzzle, Silver acknowledged, “Same thing with his flippers. See?” she said, holding up the extremities in question.
“Whoa, they’re forked too? Awesome.”
“‘Forked’!?”
“Relax, sweetie. He means you’ve got a two-pronged flipper unlike us,” Silver explained, waving her own rounded one for comparison. “It shouldn’t make much of a difference.”
“Speaking of things you have that we don’t,” Terramar spoke up from behind Gallus. “You’ve got a dorsal fin, dude.”
“He does?” Silver gasped, keeping a hold of his flipper while she swam around to behold it. “Wow, Gallus, you totally do,” she said, running her other flipper down his spine and along the appendage.
Gallus reflexively seized up, screeching, “Please don’t do that!”
Silver gave him a sly smile, wondering, “Why? Does it tickle?”
“No, it freaks me out,” he said, trying not to hyperventilate.
“Okaaay! I won’t do that then,” she promised, swimming back in front of him. “Sorry.”
“No, no. It’s okay,” he assuaged, feeling calmer now that he could properly see her again. “It’s okay. I’m, uh, guessing it isn’t normal to have a dorsal fin then?” he asked Terramar.
“Nope. But you are, er, were a griffon, so I expected there would be some differences.”
“Yeah, even ponies have differences when they transform,” Silver added. “So don’t worry, Gallus. Dorsal fin or no, you’re a seapony through-and-through!” she declared, beaming jubilantly.
“I’m a seapony,” Gallus mumbled, staring at his forked flippers. “I… I’m a seapony.”
“Yep. Congratulations, Gallus, you’re a seapony,” Terramar celebrated, clapping. “Seems the transformation was a success. So, how do you feel?”
Gallus took a moment to look over his new form, taking in the rows of overlapping sky blue scales that had replaced his feathers and the twin indigo fins resting where his wings once were. He then tried swishing his tail a bit, feeling himself bob in the waves from the motion. It felt…
“Nice,” he finally answered. “The water feels nice now. I-I don’t know why, but it does.”
“It’s okay, Gallus,” Terramar said, patting his back comfortingly. “That’s perfectly natural. We get that a lot from the ponies who visit Seaquestria too.”
“Ooh, what else do you feel?” Silver asked, her eyes sparkling brightly.
“Not my legs that’s for sure,” Gallus half-joked, half-lamented. “O-Or my feathers. Or my beak. Or— Or my talons,” he maundered, voice cracking. He then flailed his flippers, wondering, “Like? How am I supposed to hold your cheeks with these things, Silver?”
“Hee-hee. Like this.” She then took his flippers and pressed them against her cheeks. “See? Easy-peasy.”
Although he could no longer feel her soft feathers, her cheeks felt as pleasantly warm as ever. And more importantly, his touch still drew out that giddy smile he loved so dearly.
“Yeah. I guess that works,” he said, smiling widely himself. It was this smile that cottoned him on to something else that had changed about his face.
Thankfully, Terramar took Silver’s attention off of him by reprimanding, “You two are gross.”
“Oh shut up, Terry.”
While they continued bickering, Gallus drew back his flippers and carefully felt around his face. He then swished his tongue around his jaw, confirming what he had feared. “I have new teeth?” he realized.
The siblings stopped and turned back to him. “Well? Yeah, you do,” Terramar stated.
“I-I-I didn’t expect to have new teeth too…”
“Gallus?” Silver began, concerned. “Are you okay?”
Gallus held a flipper to his chest, breathing sharply before he pushed it away, exhaling calmly. “I’m okay. I’m just… Shocked, I guess. This feel so strange.”
“Do you…like being a seapony?” she apprehensively asked.
“It’s going to take me a looooong time to get used to this, but…? Yeah. This is pretty cool,” he praised, grinning again despite his new, unnervingly squishy muzzle.
Silver hugged him, squealing elatedly.
Gallus happily reciprocated, adding, “I don’t know how Ocellus does this all the time. I feel weird enough in just one new form; she has hundreds!”
“Hee-hee, I guess we’ll have to ask her when we get back.”
“On that note, make sure I teach you the spell before you guys head back to Ponyville,” Terramar implored. “Otherwise…?”
“Catfish?” Silver guessed.
“Catfish,” he confirmed, nodding. “But, Gallus? You are okay with the new form, right?”
“Still wish I were a Ghost Leviathan,” he joked. “But yeah. I’m good.”
“Alrighty. Now, before we dive, remember you don’t have to worry about things like pressure or temperature down there. Your seapony body is naturally adapted to those issues.”
“Gotcha. Anything I do have to worry about then?”
“Dehydration. Seaponies can breathe on land and in water, but we kinda need the latter.”
Gallus looked around himself and deadpanned, “Something tells me that won’t be a problem.”
“Yeah, probably not.”
All three of them laughed.
“I do have one question though. How, uh, how do I swim?” Gallus asked anxiously. “I wasn’t exactly the best swimmer before, sooo…?”
Terramar shared a smirk with his sister, questioning, “You wanna tell him?”
“Let’s show him,” Silverstream suggested, letting go of Gallus, much to his dismay.
“S-Silver, what are you doing!?”
“You’ll see,” she deflected, swimming a fair distance away. Silver then waved her flipper toward herself, coaxing, “Come to me, sweetie.”
“What? But I don’t— I don’t know how.”
“Yes, you do,” Terramar claimed, ignoring the ex-griffon’s exasperation. “Trust your new body, Gallus. Just relax. Close your eyes. And go to her,” he instructed.
“I’ve got a kiss waiting for you when you do.”
Gallus didn’t have the heart to tell Silver he wasn’t encouraged by that at all, given he was still adjusting to his new form. That said, he did desperately want to go back to her, so he closed his eyes and breathed slowly, experimentally moving his tail and finding the feeling shockingly familiar.
“Okay… Here I go,” he announced.
On some previously unknown instinct, Gallus flexed his spine and gave his tail a powerful swing, blasting through the water and shooting straight into Silverstream’s awaiting flippers.
Gallus then shook his head dry, blinking in shock. “How— How the peck did I…?”
“Magic,” Silver giggled, hugging him and planting a kiss on his cheek.
“Specifically the magic of the Pearl,” Terramar clarified. “Basically, the Pearl makes it so you automatically know how to use whatever new form it gives you.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously. What? Did you think Princess Twilight and her friends already knew how to swim as seaponies when our cousin transformed them?” he asked, grinning coyly.
“I honestly never thought about that to be honest,” Gallus said, unsure how to feel about also having new instincts to go along with his new body. “It is pretty convenient, I suppose.”
“And a little freaky, right?” Gallus blinked at Terramar who just snorted and divulged, “We get that comment a lot too. Just think of it as a subconscious instruction booklet,” he advised. “You know how to swim as a seapony now, but you’re not suddenly some award-winning swimming champion.”
“They, uh… They’ll go away when I’m a griffon again, right?”
“Correct.”
Gallus let out a long sigh of relief that caused Silverstream to frown in worry. “Gallus, are you sure you’re okay with being a seapony?”
He nodded, answering, “Yeah. Yeah, I am.”
“Does that mean you’re ready to dive?” Terramar inquired.
Gallus glanced at his girlfriend, double-checking, “You’ll be with me?”
“Naturally.”
“Then, uh? Yeah,” he said, looking back at Terramar. “Yeah, Terry. I’m ready to go.”
“Alright then. Meet you two down below,” he said, disappearing beneath the waves.
“Shall we?” Silver hummed, giving her boyfriend a loving smile.
“Yes, let’s,” Gallus replied, grinning back.
They both then plunged into the water.
Immediately, Gallus felt his newfound seapony instincts roar to life, and he had to stop himself from laughing gleefully at how wonderful it felt to be underwater. Of course, his willpower didn’t last for long, and he soon found himself letting out a giggle as he practically danced in the current.
“Grover’s Treasure, this is awesome!” he exclaimed, twirling merrily. Gallus then stopped when a pair of flippers covered his eyes and a certain somepony chirped, “Guess who?”
“Don’t need to,” he said, moving his head out of her grasp and beaming as his upside-down girlfriend slowly lowered into his vision. “I always know it’s you.”
“Hee-hee-hee!” Silverstream giggled excitedly, flipping rightside-up. “Sooo? How do I look?” she wondered, posing gracefully and making sure to show off her tail proudly.
“Didn’t we already establish you’re beautiful?” Gallus laughed, eyeing said tail for an extra second longer before focusing on her eyes.
“We did. But I want to hear it again. Tell me, Gallus, what do you think of ‘Seapony Silverstream’?”
“Just as angelic as ‘Hippogriff Silverstream.’ Only without the feathers,” he added sadly.
“Yeah, I miss ‘em too,” she grumbled, staring longingly at his currently non-feathery headcrest. “Ah, well. I may not have feathers down here, but I can do this a lot easier.”
“Do wha—” Gallus hushed when, in less than a second, Silverstream flowed over his shoulder, twisted around, and nuzzled into his back with a happy hum. “That,” she answered.
His entire face burned red, and Gallus prayed with all his soul that Terramar hadn’t seen that.
Unfortunately, he had. “Sea kelp, Silverstream, could you be any weirder?” Terramar pondered, swimming back over to them and leveling a disgusted frown at her.
“Hush up, Terry. Gallus loves it when I do that; don’t you, sweetie?” When he didn’t answer, she snuggled his back again, repeating, “Don’t you, sweetie?”
To Silver’s surprise, Gallus pushed himself away from her, but before she could question it, he looked at Terramar and asked, “So, how am I doing down here? Am I doing anything wrong, or…?”
After sparing his stunned sister another grimace, Terramar told Gallus, “Eh, not as far as I can tell. Your swimming form’s a little off, so I highly recommend not doing any crazy stunts. I’m glad to see you’re enjoying the water now at least.”
“That ‘instruction booklet’ of yours is certainly helping,” Gallus snorted, rolling his eyes. “But it also helps that this feels a lot like flying.”
“You are not the first creature to say that to me, nor will you likely be the last,” he chuckled, making a mental note to send the Crusaders a letter later. “Other than that, you’re golden. You’re even breathing underwater just fine,” he acknowledged. “Most creatures try to hold their breath at first.”
Gallus blinked. “Grover’s Treasure, I am breathing underwater, aren’t I?”
“You just realized that?”
“Yep,” he confessed nonchalantly, focusing his attention on the act and blinking in surprise. “It kind of feels like breathing normally.”
“Duh, we’re seaponies,” Silverstream said as she lazily orbited her boyfriend, giddily beholding every inch of his seapony form. “Breathing water is sorta the norm.”
“No, I mean it feels like breathing regular air.”
“Uh-huh. And?” Terramar asked, not understanding why Gallus was so surprised.
“Yeah, but I thought—” Gallus froze upon running his flippers along his neck and discovering, “I don’t have gills! I— I didn’t even realize… Why don’t I have gills?”
“Because seaponies don’t have gills, Gallus,” he revealed bluntly.
“But— But then, how am I breathing right now?”
“We already told you, sweetie. Magic,” Silver answered, floating over to his side.
“Yeah, but physically speaking, shouldn’t I have gills or something?” he speculated, running his flippers along his featherless neck once more. “I thought that was how it worked? Like, you have gills, don’t you, Silverstream?” he asked, examining her neck as well.
“Gallus…? If you’re gonna keep looking at my neck like that, either massage it. Or kiss it!” she requested, causing him to flinch back in shock. “Preferably the latter,” she purred, closing the distance.
“Ew! Just, ew! No!” Terramar roared, putting himself between the two seaponies, much to Silver’s annoyance. “No, bad sister!” he rebuked, voice cracking. “Bad! We’re having none of that!”
“Oh, Terry,” she tittered, patting his muzzle condescendingly. “When you’re older and have your own special somecreature, you’ll understand just how good it feels to be bad.”
Terramar held a flipper to his muzzle, appearing as if he were about to be violently ill. Gallus didn’t look that much better as he yelped, “Silver, I keep telling you I don’t know how to do that with my beak!”
“You could always ask my dad how to do it,” she suggested, swimming around her shell-shocked brother and back to her boyfriend.
“I’m not gonna ask your dad for kissing advice!” he protested, batting his tail in a futile effort to escape his approaching girlfriend. “Much less when it’s about something other than your beak.”
“Why not? He and Mom used to do it all the time.”
“Wha— No, they didn’t!” Terramar shrieked.
“Ohhh, yes, they did,” Silver disclosed. “You were just too young to remember it.”
“Wh— Wh-Wha— What?” he stuttered, swimming farther and farther away from the duo. After giving his head a good shake, Terramar announced, “Okay, change of plans! I’m gonna go back up and hang out with Dad before this gets even creepier.”
“Ooh! Maybe you can ask him for neck kissing advice. You never know? Your special somecreature might want that too.”
“What!?” her brother shouted back, holding his flippers over his ear fins. “I can’t hear you on account of my not listening!”
“I said—”
“La-la-la! I still can’t here you! Good luck with Mom and goodbye!” Terramar screeched, breaking the surface of the water and disappearing onto the beach beyond.
“Hee-hee-hee. Ahhh, Dad’s gonna kill me for that one,” Silverstream sighed, shaking her head exasperatedly before turning back to Gallus and meeting an irritated frown. “What?”
“You know what,” Gallus accused, crossing his flippers.
“Oh come on, sweetie, it’s just a bit of teasing,” she chuckled, leaning closer only for him to lean back. Confused, she quietly asked, “Gallus, what’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong is that I have no intention of kissing you on the neck anytime soon.”
“Yeah, yeah. Because you don’t know how to do it with your beak, I know. Buuut? You don’t have a beak anymore,” she acknowledged hopefully.
“Yeah. I have this,” he said, pointing at his muzzle. “As well as these, this, and this,” Gallus listed off, indicating his flippers, tail, and dorsal fin respectively. “Not to mention, I’m still trying to adjust to being able to breathe underwater over here.” He frowned, concluding, “No offense, but I could really do without another crazy kiss request…”
Silverstream held a flipper to her heart, slightly hurt, but after thinking it over, she put it back down. “You’re right. If you’re not comfortable kissing me in your seapony form yet, then I won’t ask you too. I’m sorry, Gallus,” she apologized.
“Thank you,” Gallus said, smiling again. “I’m sorry too. I don’t mean to get snippy. It’s just that these past few days, you’ve been acting a little…” he trailed off, wincing.
“Risqué?”
“Yeah.”
“I-I know.” Seeing he desired an explanation, she began, “Gallus? After the crazy year, er, half a year we’ve had? After all the worry and paranoia…? Now that everything is back to normal and I know for a fact my family likes you…? I guess I just feel like I can finally be with you with nothing and no one stopping us!” she rejoiced with a joyful twirl. “If, uh, if that makes any sense,” she ended timidly.
“O-Oh,” he stammered, blinking in surprise. Gallus then blushed faintly and comforted, “Well, uh? No worries, that does make sense. I just didn’t realize that was how you felt.”
“Well, it is,” she reaffirmed with a nod. “Although, I am curious… Why did you think I was acting so risqué?”
“Honesty? I don’t know. I figured you wanted some extra snuggle time, but—”
“I do want that,” Silverstream suddenly said, startling him silent. “I want to snuggle you, and kiss you, and hold you and never let go!” she bellowed, her back fins flaring. She didn’t bother to fold them back in as she softly finished, “I want you to hold me and never let go.”
“Wait! S-Seriously?” Gallus questioned, unsure whether to explode in euphoria or pull her into his flippers and follow through on her request.
“Seriously,” she confirmed, eyes shining with glee. “Gallus, we’re finally together; all the drama is over; and my family loves you!” she celebrated once again. “Just like I love you. Oh, Gallus, I love you so much, and I want… I-I want…” Upon realizing what she had been about to say, Silver fell silent and blushed brilliantly.
“You want…what?”
Silverstream blinked at him for a second before smiling serenely and shyly answering, “I want you.”
Gallus gaped, his blush intensifying magnificently. He then hid a wide smile behind a flipper as he struggled to determine a response to that declaration. Eventually, Gallus cleared his throat and began, “Heh. U-Um, good news then: You already have me.”
“I know,” Silverstream said, finally returning her fins back to their proper position. “And I’m so happy I have you. I really love being with you.”
“I really love being with you too,” he sighed, caressing her cheek with a flipper and adoring her subsequent dreamy smile. “And, look? Silver, I don’t mind a bit of extra snuggle time if that’s really what you want.”
“It is,” she promised, holding his flippers. “It really is.”
“And I realize that. But, Silver…? I-I-I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea about us,” he worriedly whispered. “Especially your family! I mean…? We don’t love each other just because we snuggle and kiss all the time,” he grumbled.
“Well, obviously. We snuggle and kiss all the time because we love each other.”
“Exactly.” Gallus bit his lip, continuing, “So, when you do things like randomly tell your dad we’re gonna make out rather than have dessert with him… Or creep out your brother by asking me about the neck thing… Or—oh, I don’t know?—try to drag me into the water and ‘play’? All while in front of your mother who hates my guts…?” he finished, frowning sternly.
“Eh-heh-heh,” she awkwardly chortled. “Y-Yeah, I see what you mean. And even I have to admit that, er, that having three rounds last night was a bit much.”
“At least you didn’t fall asleep on me again.”
“True. And you soldiered on pretty well yourself,” she praised, playfully poking his chest.
“W-Well? Anything for milady,” he decreed, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
“Except for neck kisses?”
“Except for neck kisses.”
Silver laughed for a moment before ultimately falling silent, crestfallen. “I’m guessing you still want me to tone it down though, huh?”
“…No. Not ‘tone it down’ exactly,” Gallus said, trying to find the proper wording. “I really do enjoy the extra kisses and snuggles too,” he reassured, much to her relief. “But we should pace ourselves, I think. Don’t forget we’re both still new at this. And I can’t always keep up with you.”
“You do your best,” she complimented, giving him a warm smile.
“That’s because you deserve my best,” he said, returning the smile.
“Just like you deserve mine,” Silverstream chirped, struggling to not frantically snuggle him again. “I really am sorry though, Gallus. I didn’t mean to make you feel so uncomfortable.”
Gallus held her cheeks in his flippers once again and assuaged, “You don’t have to apologize, Silver. You know I forgive you. Besides?” He smirked and confided, “I want you too, you know.”
“Aughhh! Darn it, that’s not fair!” she wailed, her muzzle quivering. “How come you get to say something sweet like that, but I don’t!?”
“You’re the one who said it first.”
“…Fair point.” Once they both stopped laughing, Silver reassured, “And don’t you worry, sweetie. You already have me too.”
“I know. And I am so happy and lucky to have you.”
“Hee-hee. Still though… Going forward, I will make sure to pace myself, Gallus,” she promised. “It’s gonna be really hard though. Because, to put it bluntly, you’re really, really hot in this form!” she adulated unabashedly.
“I’m not hot all the time?” he asked, grinning.
“Oh, you absolutely are. But ‘Seapony Gallus’? Well…”
Silverstream leaned closer and whispered something so bombastically provocative that to write it down would be considered a crime against Equinity.
Afterward, she pulled back and gave him the most innocent smile she could muster.
Gallus, meanwhile, babbled incoherently as he worked to both fight off the flood of crimson blazing across his cheeks and get his back fins to fold back in.
“I-I-I don’t— I-I don’t know h-how to respond to that,” he eventually squeaked out.
“In that case,” Silverstream began, seizing her chance. “You can respond by promising me that when we get back home…” she whispered, softly stroking her flippers up his until they reached his neck. “We’ll go to Saddle Lake…” She then brought his face closer to hers and concluded, “And we’ll get some practice in. Sound good?”
Although startled at first, his muzzle soon widened into an excited smile as he contemplated, “W-Well? It would be another chance for some kissing time…”
“Yes?”
“And since it wouldn’t be on school grounds, our professors couldn’t exactly stop us…”
“Yeeesss?”
Gallus waited for just a second longer before agreeing, “It’s a date.”
“EEEEE!” Silverstream squeed, grabbing him in a tight hug as she spun them both around in the water. She then tucked her head under his chin and nuzzled him wildly, rapidly repeating, “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”
Before Gallus could say anything, Silverstream blinked and yelped, “Whoops! Heh-heh, sorry,” she apologized, pausing to let him recover from her onslaught. “I promised I’d pace myself, and I will.”
“…Darn it. That was nice too,” he lamented.
“Want me to do it again?”
“Let’s settle for some normal nuzzling, okay? At least until after I get more used to this form,” Gallus said, bringing her back into his loving embrace.
Silver tittered, hugging him back and calmly resting her neck against his. “This is really nice.”
“Even without the feathers?” he wondered, holding her close enough that she could hear his thundering heartbeat. “Those are your favorite part, aren’t they?”
“Yeah, they are,” she unashamedly admitted, running a flipper along the smooth scales of his neck. “And while this does feel a little weird without ‘em…? It’s still nice,” Silverstream said, smiling serenely.
“That’s reassuring.” Gallus then placed his muzzle against her cheek, trying his hardest to kiss her with the new appendage. “Because that feels weird too, and I don’t think I did it right.”
“Eh, you were close enough,” she said, giving him a far more skilled kiss back. “Don’t worry though. We’ll have lots of practice when we get home.”
“I’ll hold you to that.”
“You’d better,” Silver warned, pulling out of the hug but keeping a firm grip on his flippers. “But in all seriousness, I really am sorry I’ve been so risqué these past few days.”
“And I’m sorry for being so snippy about it.”
“I’d rather you be snippy than silent.”
“Why would I ever be silent? If I were, I wouldn’t be able to tell you how much I love you.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’d just write it down.”
“There’s not nearly enough paper in the world for me to write down just how much I love you,” Gallus declared, nuzzling her neck and relishing the delighted blush it drew out of her.
“Awww!” Silver cooed. “You’ll never stop out-sweeting me, will you?”
“Nope,” he chuckled. “I am your sweetie, after all.”
“Yes, you are,” she rejoiced, giving him another kiss on the cheek. “Now, come on,” Silver beckoned, drawing him farther away from the water’s surface. “As much as I love talking to you, I can’t wait to show you Seaquestria.”
“Lead the way, milady,” Gallus said, allowing her to guide him deeper into the ocean’s depths.
The couple swam side-by-side for a few minutes, passing by countless colorful fish and plant-life. But as they descended further, Gallus grew uneasy again by how dark the water soon became. Before he could voice this concern, however, he spotted a bright, shimmering light ahead.
“Almost there,” Silver spoke up, sparing him a soothing smile. “It’s just past the coral.”
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” he said, grateful she still held his flipper. He then followed her as she weaved through a naturally formed entrance in the reef and gaped at the sight awaiting him.
Light shone down from the dozens of shining structures suspended in the water, casting an ethereal curtain of light across the many surfaces of the massive undersea cavern.
All manner of sea life danced and billowed within this light, from the many beautiful gardens of aquatic flora to the prismatic beds of coral running along the seafloor.
Dozens of seaponies floated within this heavenly world of water. Some simply swam in the calm current; others could be seen tending to the sea-life; and many more roamed the open space, merrily chatting away without a care in the world.
All-in-all, Seaquestria was a positively gorgeous city that teemed with life and radiated a sense of warmth, love, and serenity. Just like it’s above-water counterpart.
“Hee-hee,” Silverstream tittered, reacquiring his attention. “Pretty amazing, huh?”
“You always said it was beautiful,” Gallus noted, turning back to Seaquestria. “But I never realized it would be this beautiful.”
“Still not as beautiful as me though, right?”
“I don’t know, Silver. This is pretty up there.”
“Hey!”
Gallus snickered. “Don’t worry, milady. You’re the most beautiful thing in the world to me,” he promised, stroking her cheek with a flipper. “Always have been. Always will be.”
She hummed happily, savoring his gentle touch. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he replied, trying again to kiss her cheek. “How was that one?”
“Ehhh, you really need more practice,” she criticized, smirking at his embarrassed blush. “But you’ll get it eventually.”
“I know. In the meantime, I suppose I could try… This.” Gallus then leaned forward and nuzzled the tip of his muzzle against hers, loving it far, far more than he expected to.
Once he pulled away, Silver giddily gasped, “You knew about the nose nuzzle!?”
“Well, I knew ponies do it,” Gallus explained, blushing. “And since I’m currently a ‘pony’ in a sense, I figured I’d try it.”
“I’m glad you did; I really liked it.”
“Did you want me to do it again?”
“If you want to…”
Luckily for her, Gallus did want to, so he immediately repeated the gesture. In response, Silverstream hooked her flippers around his back and hugged him closely, lovingly nuzzling him back.
“Alright, everypony!” Skystar’s voice soon echoed to them, startling them from the embrace. “Once more from the top!”
“What was that?” Gallus asked as a subdued chorus of cheers rang out a second later.
“Oh my gosh, I totally forgot!” Silverstream exclaimed, leading him toward the voice’s direction. “C’mon, sweetie, you won’t want to miss this.”
One swift swim later, they came up to another large reef of coral. They then peeked over it and gasped in awe at the display before them.
Several seaponies had gathered together to perform an extravagant, synchronized dance, and in the center of the magnificent ensemble was Skystar, performing as excellently as the rest while also singing the song they danced to.
Gallus was utterly mesmerized by the sight, but he managed to tear his eyes away from it once he noticed his girlfriend moving along with the rhythm. “So this is where you got your love of dancing from,” he deduced, grinning.
“Yep,” she confirmed, giving him a bright smile as she continued following along with the song. “We seaponies take our dancing very seriously.”
“As seriously as your parades?”
“Ohhh yeah.”
“Heh-heh. Sea kelp, it really is wonderful down here,” he said, gazing back at the performance.
Silverstream gasped. “Did you just—”
“Hey, I’m a seapony now, so I might as well use the lingo.”
“Yeah, well? Language, sweetie,” she jokingly reprimanded.
“Sorry.”
They both giggled.
Silver then extended her flipper invitingly, asking, “Shall we dance, milord?”
“Silverstream?”
“Yeah?”
“Seapony.”
“…Right. You don’t know how,” she groaned, disappointed. Her disappointment instantly turned into excitement once she realized, “Wait, you don’t know how to dance as a seapony! That means I get to teach you!”
“Yeah, you do,” he acknowledged, already eagerly anticipating when she would do so. Gallus then took her flippers into his, requesting, “But could you teach me another time? I want to watch this with you first,” he said, nodding back to Skystar’s troupe.
Silverstream gave him an ecstatic nuzzle, saying, “Of course. I wanna watch it with you too.”
The couple then turned back to the dancers, and soon, Silver rested her head on his shoulder, sighing appreciatively when he ran a comforting flipper along her back.
“I love you,” she whispered happily.
“And I love you,” Gallus hummed, smiling serenely.
***
“You were incredible, Skystar!”
“Aww, thanks, Cuz,” she thanked Silverstream as the two hugged. “I’m glad you enjoyed the show. Even if we could’ve done a bit better.”
“Oh, don’t be like that,” Gallus implored. “You guys were awesome.”
“I’m glad you think so, hot-stuff,” Skystar said, winking at the blushing ex-griffon. “But for as awesome as we were, we still could’ve been better. I noticed a few seaponies started slowing down around the four-hour mark,” she commented captiously.
“You guys were dancing for over four hours!?” he asked, gaping in shock. After Skystar nodded, he glanced at Silverstream and said, “Seaponies really do take dancing seriously.”
Silver merely giggled, so her cousin elaborated, “Of course we’re taking this seriously; we’re preparing for the Equestria Games.”
“You are?”
“Yep,” Silver confirmed. “That’s why Auntie Novo was so busy this week. She was getting everything sorted so we could participate this year.”
“Needless to say,” Skystar resumed. “We’re going for the synchronized swimming segment, and we cannot lose to Yakyakistan!” she declared determinedly. “Seriously, if I could get the others to agree to it, we’d be practicing for twelve hours a day rather than six.”
“Is this another seapony thing I don’t know about?” Gallus inquired openly. “You guys can just dance for twelve hours straight and not get tired?”
“No, sweetie, that’s not a seapony thing,” Silver clarified. “That’s a Skystar thing.”
“Hee-hee, yep. I can dance nonstop for forty-one hours and two minutes,” she bragged.
“How… How would you even know that without actually trying to dance for that long?”
Skystar smiled.
“No. No way.”
“Whaaat? I was bored,” she laughed, shrugging innocently. “Plus, Salina wagered I couldn’t do it, so I obviously had to prove her wrong.”
“The look on her face was priceless, not gonna lie,” Silver concurred, tittering.
“Yeah, but… For forty-one hours?”
“And two minutes. What? Do you not believe me?” Skystar sneered, grinning ominously. “Then I guess I’ll just have to prove it to you during Uncle Sky Beak’s parade. I do still owe you a pouncing, after all.”
“Heh-heh-heh, sorry,” Gallus said, swimming away from Skystar and back to Silver. “But the only girl I wanna be pounced by is Silverstream.”
Silver barely held herself back from doing exactly that, and instead, she hugged him tightly, praising, “You are so sweet, you know that?”
“So you tell me,” he murmured, hugging her back.
Skystar shook her head, cursing, “Dang it. Just… Dang it! I wish Mom had let me go to the Friendship School too.”
“Well, I’m glad I got to go,” Silverstream said, kissing Gallus. “If I hadn’t, I’d have never met my sweetie.”
“Yeah, I would’ve met him.”
…
Silver held Gallus protectively and pulled him away from Skystar, glaring at her. The action caused the princess to guffaw loudly, assuring, “Hey, don’t worry, Cuz, I know he’s yours.”
“Yes, he is.”
“Yeah, I know. That said? Sea kelp, Gallus, you are quite the looker as a seapony,” she praised.
“I’d say I’m quite the looker as a griffon too,” he boasted, shooting Silverstream a smirk.
“As would I,” she said, smirking back.
The couple then nuzzled noses once more while Skystar watched on enviously. A moment later, a new voice suddenly exclaimed, “Is that my favorite, little arsonist I see?”
They all turned around to behold a bright turquoise seapony mare with an orchid mane-fin that hung down both sides of her face. “Hey, Silver, long-time-no-see,” she greeted.
“Salina!” Silver cried out, rushing forward and pulling her into a bone-crushing hug. “Oooh, it’s so good to see you. I didn’t know you were one of the dancers,” she said, leaning back to beam happily at the seapony.
“She isn’t,” Skystar pouted, crossing her flippers indignantly. “She couldn’t keep up.”
“Eh-heh-heh,” Salina chuckled. “Yeah, sorry. I’m just here to support my ‘Little Sis,’” she clarified, winking. “But hey! I’m glad I’m here because I got to see you again, Silver.”
“I’m glad to see you too. How have you been?”
“Same old, same old. What about you? You’re not getting bored of Equestria yet, are you?”
“Nope. Never a dull moment in Ponyville.”
“Good to hear. I doubt the ponies would appreciate it if you tried setting fire to their favorite places.”
“Hey, I kicked the whole ‘arsonist’ thing a long time ago,” Silver protested, sparing her grinning boyfriend an embarrassed look.
“Shame I can’t say the same for Starry,” she groaned, staring judgmentally at the princess in question. “She found another new volcanic vent, and she’s been trying to explore into it between rehearsals.”
“Yeah, that sounds like you,” Silver deadpanned at her cousin.
“Well, duh! Volcanoes are totally awesome,” Skystar stated, her eyes twinkling with unbridled enthusiasm.
“True,” Gallus agreed, drawing everypony’s gazes. “What? They are.”
“See? Gallus gets it.”
Ignoring Skystar, Salina gave Gallus a grin and questioned, “So, Silver? Aren’t you gonna introduce me to the boy you were just nuzzling?”
“Ooh, right!” Silver then looked at Gallus and elaborated, “Gallus? This is Salina Blue. She used to babysit Skystar and I.”
“We even consider her an honorary big sister,” Skystar lauded.
“An honorary big sister that somepony never writes,” Salina lightly reprimanded.
“S-Sorry, Salina,” Silver apologized, smiling nervously. “I’ve, uh, had some mailing issues lately. But I promise I’ll start sending you more letters from now on.”
“Aww, thanks, Sis,” she thanked, sneaking Silver another hug.
“Hee-hee. Also, Salina? This is Gallus, my boyfriend.”
“You have a boyfriend?” Salina gasped, beaming widely at both seaponies. “There were rumors, but… You’re seriously Silverstream’s boyfriend?”
“Indeed I am,” Gallus confirmed with a nod.
“She even calls him ‘sweetie,’” Skystar confided conspiratorially.
“She does!? Aww, she must really love you.”
“Yes, I do,” Silverstream said cheerfully.
“And I love you too,” he said, nuzzling her. Afterward, Gallus extended a flipper out to Salina, greeting, “It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Salina Blue.”
“Nice to meet you too,” she said, shaking his flipper. “Although? I swear I’ve heard your name before…” She hummed quizzically. “Wait a minute? Isn’t Gallus that griffon friend of yours?”
Silverstream simply smiled and gestured to her boyfriend once more.
“Oh. Oh wow! You’re a griffon?”
“Technically, I’m a seapony now,” he acknowledged, waving his tail for emphasis. “But yes, I’m ordinarily a griffon.”
“A very cute griffon too,” Silver extolled.
Upon noticing Salina’s surprised look, Skystar teased, “Yeah, I didn’t know she had a thing for cats either.”
“I have a thing for him, Starry.”
“Hee-hee-hee. I know, I know.”
“Still,” Salina interjected, eyeing Gallus critically. “You must be a very special griffon to catch Silver’s eye. So, what are ya? Merchant’s son? A baron? Ooh! Are you a prince?” she inquired, grinning giddily. “Oh, please tell me you’re a prince!”
“Nope. I’m just a poor, little orphan boy,” Gallus admitted with a hint of pride.
“Sweet, little orphan boy,” Silverstream corrected, pulling him back into her warm embrace.
“Sweet, little orphan boy,” he echoed, happily reciprocating the hug.
“Hold on!” Salina interjected, her face falling. “A-Are you serious? You’re an…?”
“Orphan? Yeah.”
Salina gaped in shock, but she quickly closed her muzzle and barreled toward Gallus, scooping his flippers into hers. “Oh, Gallus, you poor dear! You must have been through such an ordeal!” she shouted, voice cracking.
“Uhhh?”
“Tell me! How can we help you feel better?” she asked, looking over Gallus in genuine worry. “Do you need a hug? Milk and kelp chips? A stress ball?” She then gasped and suggested, “W-What about counseling? We have at least five therapists here in Seaquestria and three more in Hippogriffia, all of whom would be more than willing to traverse down here to talk to you.”
After successfully holding back a laugh, Gallus shook his head. “N-No thanks. I’m good.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. I, uh, I was sure the last time I was asked this; I’m still sure now.”
“Wait, you were asked this before?”
“Word-for-word. Thank you for the concern though.”
“Oh, you don’t need to thank me, Mr. Gallus,” Salina protested kindly. “What’s important is that you’re okay.”
“Still. Thank you for asking and for caring,” Gallus thanked her again, smiling gratefully. “I really appreciate it.”
“Aww, you’re so sweet.” Salina then smirked at Silverstream, remarking, “I think you’ve got a real keeper on your flippers, Sis.”
“I know.”
“Heh-heh. So? Who was it that asked you if you were okay before? Wait! Was it Stratus Skyranger?” Salina guessed, blushing. “I bet it was him.”
“It was,” Silverstream affirmed, stifling a laugh of her own.
“Eeeee, I knew it! He’s so nice like that…”
“I keep saying you and he would make a good couple,” Skystar said pointedly.
“Oh hush, Starry! I-I-It would never work between us,” she argued, attempting to convince herself more than them. “He’s a hippogriff; I-I’m a seapony… It— It just wouldn’t work.”
“I don’t know,” Silver joined in. “Gallus and I are different creatures, but we work pretty well.”
“Only ‘pretty well’?” Gallus asked coyly.
“Very well,” she joyfully corrected. “Besides, Salina, all that matters is whether you and he are happy together.”
“Not to mention Uncle Sky Beak’s almost done setting up that parade of his,” Skystar acknowledged, smirking. “Perfect opportunity to ask Stratus out…”
“D-Do you really think we could work?” Salina mumbled, turning a magnificent shade of red.
“Yep,” Skystar and Silver both answered.
“Mmm, alright! I’ll ask him out.”
They both trapped Salina in hug, each celebrating, “Yaaay! Our Big Sis is going on a date!”
“Oh zip it, you two,” she barked, hugging them back. “I said I’ll ask him out, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be my sweetie.” She then looked back at Gallus and slyly began, “And speaking of sweeties…”
Gallus smirked. “If you’re about to quiz me, Terramar beat you to it.”
“I— I wasn’t about to quiz you; I was, er, going to compliment you,” she lied, attempting to save face. “It really is quite the feat that you managed to charm a member of the Royal Family.”
“I’m not a princess, Salina.” Silverstream then preemptively held a flipper over her boyfriend’s muzzle, warning, “Don’t you say it, Gallus.”
“Technically speaking—”
“Don’t you start either, Starry. You both know how I feel about that whole thing.”
Skystar and Salina shared a glance, muttering, “Sorry.”
“No, it’s fine. I just don’t want to be reminded that I’m kinda-sorta-but-not-really a noble. Especially not now,” she murmured, reminding herself once again that she had forgiven her mother.
“Is that because Mom’s gonna rip into him about it?”
“Rip into me?” Gallus questioned, rubbing his shoulder anxiously.
“Rip into him!?” Silverstream questioned as well, scowling.
“Well, yeah,” Skystar said, smiling innocently. “I mean, you are royalty, Cuz. And, Gallus, you’re…not,” she bluntly acknowledged. “And, uh? Mom’s not gonna like that.”
There hadn’t been a lick of judgment in her tone, but Gallus and Silverstream both flinched as if there had been.
“Starry, don’t say things like that,” Salina chastised, narrowing her eyes sternly. “It’s rude.”
“What? What’d I say?” she asked, oblivious to the tension she had accidentally created.
“Salina,” Silverstream began, face-flippering. “Could you…?”
“On it,” she said, pulling Skystar aside to explain matters.
Afterward, Gallus and Silver shared a knowing glance.
“Talk?” he guessed.
“Talk,” she confirmed somberly. “You first.”
Gallus tapped his flippers together timidly, mulling over his thoughts. After a minute, he took a deep breath and began, “Okay, look… I’m proud of myself. I’m proud of who I am, orphanhood and all. You’re not gonna hear me be all self-disparaging anytime soon,” he asserted calmly.
Silver let out a small sigh of relief, saying, “Oh good, you had me worried there for a moment.”
“Well, don’t worry, Silver. I’m not getting mopey on you.” He then looked away, whispering, “A-Although? I don’t exactly want to be berated by a bunch of stuffy nobles for being one…”
“Putting aside the fact you just called Auntie Novo a ‘stuffy noble,’ why exactly would you think anything like that would happen?”
“Worst case scenario.”
“Also an impossible scenario,” she insisted. “I mean? You remember how the other hippogriffs treated you; you really think the seaponies would act any different?”
Gallus blinked. “Well? Considering the first seapony I met offered me counseling just like everygriff else did?” He awkwardly chortled, conceding, “I guess not.”
“Exactly. We may have a few bad apples like everycreature else, but we hippogriffs and seaponies are the same in spirit,” Silverstream proclaimed, raising her head proudly. “And we take being kind to others very seriously! Even more so than our dancing and parades.”
“I can see that, and I’m beyond grateful for it. Sorry I doubted that for a second there.”
“Nah, I don’t blame you. But if it also helps?” Silver shrugged, elaborating, “I don’t know the other royal families. And the only thing they know about me is that I once tried to burn down the Harmonizing Heights. Er, allegedly,” she made sure to add, flushing faintly. “So, uh? Call it a hunch, but I’m pretty sure they couldn’t care less about my love life.”
“You are a princess though,” he pointed out warily.
“A princess to you and no one else,” she specified, giving his nose a happy nuzzle. “Seriously, sweetie, you really don’t need to be afraid of some stuffy nobles berating you,” she promised.
“Not even Queen Novo?”
“Firstly? We’ve already established you can charm her,” she reminded him. “And secondly? If she, Mom, or anycreature else tries to say I can’t love you because you’re not a noble? I’ll yell at them really, really loudly,” Silver nonchalantly vowed, giggling.
“You know? Whenever you’re angry, I can never tell whether you’re absolutely terrifying or just plain adorable.”
“I’m both.”
“Yeah, you are,” Gallus agreed, smiling at her adoringly. “Now then, what about you?”
“Well? I’m not paranoid, I promise you that,” Silverstream adamantly assured. “That said? I am a little concerned.”
“About?”
“Mom. I-I know you can charm her too,” she mumbled. “But Terry told me Mom’s still meeting that dumb prince guy. And now that Starry’s got my mind on the noble thing…”
“You’re what? Worried she’ll still try introducing him to you?”
“Yeah.”
Gallus tapped his chin in thought and commented, “I suppose that wouldn’t be so bad.”
“How so!?”
“Simple: I’m your boyfriend, so the only thing he can be is a friend,” he explained, snickering when Silver rolled her eyes exasperatedly. “And you like making new friends, don’t you?”
“Of course I do.” Silver huffed, creating a small stream of bubbles as a result. “But I like making friends because I want to make friends.”
“Are you saying you don’t want to be friends with somepony?” he asked, smirking slyly.
“Not if my mother shoves him onto me and says, ‘Here! Love this guy, not Gallus!’”
“Lucky for us, that’s an impossible scenario too,” Gallus said, cupping her cheeks in his flippers, much to her delight. “After all? How could you not love me? I’m your sweetie.”
“And I’m your milady,” she celebrated, holding her flippers over his.
“And I love you.”
“And I love you too.”
“And nothing will ever change that,” they both recited, sharing a jubilant giggle afterward. Gallus then leaned forward and nuzzled her nose, comforting, “Everything will be fine, Silver.”
“I know,” she said, reciprocating his nuzzle. “Besides! Like Daddy said, Mom just needs to get to know you properly. Once she does, she’ll be doting on you even more than him,” she cheered.
“Really?”
“Really.”
“In that case, let’s get a move on,” Gallus urged, leading her back toward Salina and Skystar. “I need to go charm your mom, like? Now!”
“Ooh, somepony’s eager for a mother-daughter’s boyfriend seashell-crafting circle!” Silver sang enthusiastically, taking the lead.
“That’s a thing?”
“Yep.”
“Huh. Sounds awesome.”
“Oh, it is. It is. Now, come on, sweetie, let’s go charm my mom.”
“Coming, milady.”
***
“So? How come you never told me you had an honorary big sister?” Gallus asked Silverstream as the group swam past a small school of fish.
Before she could answer, Salina Blue theorized, “Probably because she forgot I existed. Right?”
“No, I didn’t,” Silver grumbled, blushing. “You just never came up, okay? I, uh, don’t exactly go around telling everycreature about my—ahem!—‘arsonist days.’”
“Aww, but you used to be so proud of that title.”
“Well, I’m not proud of it anymore.”
Salina smiled. “That so, huh? Looks like my favorite, little arsonist is growing up.” She then glared at Skystar and added, “Really wish I could say the same about you, but…”
“Hey, I’m grown up too!”
“You still call yourself the ‘Princess of Pouncing.’”
Gallus snickered as Skystar explained, “Well, I am a princess. And all the pony princesses get to be the Princess of something, so I should be the Princess of something too.”
“You already are,” Salina contended. “You’re the princess of both Seaquestria and Hippogriffia.”
“Yeah, but I wanna be the Princess of Pouncing too. Or the Princess of Seashells. Ooh! Or maybe the Princess of Dancing!” Skystar proposed eagerly. “Yep. That’s it. From henceforth, I shall be known as the Princess of Dancing!” she decreed.
“All hail Skystar! All hail Skystar!” Gallus chanted, playing along.
“Bask in her glory!” Silverstream declared dramatically. “And perhaps, she may bless you with a display of her fabulous dancing prowess.”
“Yes, bask in my glory, everypony! Bask!” Skystar commanded smugly. Two seconds later, her resolve cracked, and Skystar burst out laughing with Gallus and Silverstream echoing her mirth.
After rolling her eyes at the display, Salina looked ahead and spotted the beautiful, floating abode of Ocean Flow. “Oh! We’re here, everypony,” she announced.
“Yay!” Skystar squealed, bolting ahead of the others and rapidly knocking on the door. “Hey, Auntie Ocean Flow! Guess who!”
“Just a minute, dear,” Ocean’s voice called back as the rest of them caught up.
As they waited, Silver reached out toward Gallus and took his flipper into hers, squeezing it tightly. She then smiled upon receiving a reassuring squeeze back.
The door then opened to reveal the yellow scales and purple mane-fin of Silverstream’s mother.
“Good afternoon, Starry,” Ocean Flow greeted. She then noticed the others and added, “Ooh! Silverstream you’re here too. And Salina. A-And who is…?” She hushed upon noticing Gallus.
“Yep. It’s Gallus, Mom,” Silver confirmed.
“O-Oh. Oh my!” she exclaimed, eyes widening fearfully as she hurriedly shut the door behind her. “So, you really are here?”
“Yes, ma’am, I am,” Gallus said, extending a flipper. “Hello again, Ms. Ocean Flow.”
“Um, yes, h-hello again,” she muttered, thankfully shaking his flipper without needing Silver to make her do it. “Er? Nice to see you’re down here a-and, uh, adjusting.”
“Also nice to not be a catfish,” he joked, eliciting a chuckle from all but Ocean Flow. “Not gonna lie, I was a little worried about that.”
“Thankfully, you were worried for nothing,” Silverstream said, touching his shoulder reassuringly. “You’re no catfish; you’re a seapony.”
“And a total hottie,” Skystar casually complimented.
“Starry!” Salina barked, frowning.
“Whaaat? He is.”
“Yeah, he is,” Silverstream agreed, playfully batting his tail with her own.
The action did not go unnoticed by Ocean Flow who quickly interjected, “Okay, hold on! You really are Gallus?” she double-checked. “And you actually became a seapony?”
Gallus nodded. “Yes, ma’am. I mean, I kinda had to. You invited me to dinner, after all.”
“Y-Yes, I did,” she said, shooting her door another nervous look. “Dinner. Right. I just didn’t expect you would actually— Um, I-I mean…” Ocean trailed off, still staring at Gallus in frightened disbelief.
“Accept the invitation and come down here?” Gallus guessed, sharing a glance with Silverstream. “Whelp? Happy to say I’m not going to let needing to transform into a seapony stop me from meeting my girlfriend’s amazing mother,” he proclaimed, giving Ocean Flow his best smile.
She didn’t smile back.
Upon noticing this, Silver smiled herself, saying, “Yeah, Mother. You didn’t think a little water would intimidate my boyfriend, did you?”
Ocean panicked, hurriedly professing, “No, no! That’s not it; I just, er, didn’t expect you two so early,” she went with, pursing her lip anxiously. “The seaweed loaf is still cooking, and, uh… You’re here. You’re both here. You’re— You’re all here,” she mumbled, blinking as if realizing something.
“And we’re not gonna be here for long,” Salina said, grabbing Skystar’s flipper and dragging her away. “C’mon, Starry, let’s let them have dinner.”
“Wait! Auntie Ocean Flow, could we have dinner with you guys too?” she pleaded as her stomach gave a weak gurgle. “All that dancing made me hungry.”
Before Salina could rebuke the princess, Ocean Flow darted in front of the duo. “Yes, actually!” she squealed, smiling ecstatically. “I’d be more than happy to have you two over for dinner as well.”
“Yes!” Skystar roared, giving her a hug. “Thanks, Auntie Ocean Flow.”
“Of course, Starry dear, of course,” Ocean laughed, hugging her niece back. “After all, a nice dinner is always made nicer when you have it with more family.”
“The more the merrier?” Gallus whispered to Silver.
“The more the merrier,” Silver whispered back. “Thanks again for inviting Gallus and I to dinner, Mom.”
“You’re welcome, honey,” Ocean said, swimming over and taking hold of her daughter’s flippers. “That said? The seaweed loaf really is still cooking, so dinner will be a while. In the meantime, I was hoping you and I could sit down and…talk.”
“Sounds good,” Silver said, her smile brightening. “Come on, Gallus.”
“No!” Ocean suddenly screamed. She then chortled awkwardly at the various confused—and in Silver’s case, hostile—looks she received. “S-Sorry, that came out wrong.”
“Yes, it did,” Silverstream concurred, pulling back from Ocean Flow and crossing her flippers.
“Well, um?” Ocean cleared her throat and elaborated, “I meant I simply, er, need to talk to you. About some…things. Adult things,” she stressed, aiming a look at Salina.
“Ah. Gotcha,” Salina said, winking. She then nodded at Gallus, asking, “You want us to keep him busy while you do that, Ms. Ocean Flow?”
“That would be lovely, Salina,” she said, visibly relaxing. “Thank you.”
“Right. Hey, Starry? You still wanna explore that volcanic vent?”
“Do I ever!” Skystar shrieked excitedly.
“Ummm?” Gallus hummed, shying away from the seaponies. “What?”
“Yes. What?” Silver snarled, glaring at Ocean Flow. “What are you going on about, Mother?”
“I just really, really need to talk to you, honey,” she responded aloofly. “Alone.”
“Whatever you have to say, you can say to me and Gallus,” she growled, swimming to her boyfriend’s side. “You invited both of us, so clearly you want to talk to both us… Right?”
“Not about the things I think she wants to talk to you about, Sis,” Salina vouched.
Skystar suddenly gasped. “Ohhh! That’s what she wants to talk to her about. Hee-hee, I get it.”
“Well, I don’t. Right now, it seems like you’re just trying to postpone meeting my boyfriend.”
“Silver honey, that’s not what I’m doing,” Ocean swore vehemently. “I legitimately just want to talk to you about something privately. Promise.”
Silver glanced at Gallus who shrugged uncertainly. “You promise?” she asked, a note of frustration still permeating her voice.
“Mhmm. I promise.”
“…Fine,” she conceded, reluctantly returning to her mother. “You gonna be okay, Gallus?”
“Uh, probably,” he answered, bewildered as to what was going on but giving her an encouraging smile nonetheless. “How about you? You okay?”
“Annoyed, but managing,” Silver said, sparing Ocean a frown before returning her sights to him. “I guess this is a thing that’s happening now.”
“I guess so.”
“Great!” Ocean Flow blurted out, clapping her flippers together. “Now that we’ve got all of that settled, come on, honey,” she beckoned fervently, opening the door and practically shoving Silverstream inside.
“Love you, Gallus,” she called back over her shoulder.
“Love you too, Silverstream.”
Ocean’s eye twitched again as she slammed the door shut.
“Sooo?” Skystar murmured, approaching the still-puzzled Gallus. “You like volcanoes, right?”
“Uh, yeah?”
“Wanna go explore one?” Salina inquired. “You know? While we wait for them to finish up?”
“…Sure?”
While they swiftly led Gallus away to distract him for a while, Ocean Flow locked her door and breathed out a long sigh of relief. She then turned around and flinched at the glare she was subjected to.
“Headmare Starlight is subtler than you,” Silver criticized coldly. “Headmare. Starlight.”
“Y-Yes, I know. I know… But,” Ocean said, perking back up. “For as tactless as I just was, I really did need to talk to you about something important.”
“Uh-huh, so you’ve said. Let me guess? The ‘Birds and the Bees’ speech, right?”
Ocean blinked. “U-Um…?”
“But for your information, I’ve already gotten this speech from all of my professors,” Silverstream divulged, shaking her head in exasperation. “And I’ve also reassured Dad that Gallus and I are responsible enough not to do anything like that,” she added indignantly.
“Eh-heh-heh, yes. Well? I am relieved to hear that, but I wasn’t going to talk to you about that,” Ocean said, swimming toward the kitchen.
“Wait, you weren’t?” Befuddled, Silver followed after her, asking, “Then what did you want to talk to me about?”
“Er, that’s a little tricky to explain,” she laughed, pausing at the kitchen entrance. Ocean then pushed Silver inside, saying, “You see? There’s somepony I want you to meet.”
Silverstream froze, feeling her heart practically explode at the sight of the seapony stallion currently sitting at the dining table. Said seapony saw her and quickly floated upright, straightening his bow tie and giving her a polite smile.
“Silverstream,” Ocean Flow began, grinning innocently. “I’d like you to meet Prince—”
Silver not-so-gently slapped a flipper over her mother’s muzzle. She then slowly turned and gave her a stare that could have put Fluttershy’s to shame. “Not. Another. Word.” After retracting her flipper from her terrified mother, Silver swam to the prince, greeting, “Hi, there. How ya doing?”
“O-Oh, um, I— I’m good,” the noble fumbled nervously, blushing as he extended a flipper. When she didn’t so much as glance at it, he rambled on, “It’s, uh, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Princess Silverstream. I’ve heard plenty of great things about you.”
“Oh, have you?” she replied, an icy edge to her tone.
After stifling a nervous gulp, he nodded. “Yes, I have. A-And, if I may be bold, I must say you look absolutely dazzling,” he complimented shyly. “F-Far more so than I could have ever imagined.”
For half a minute, Silver could only stare at him neutrally, but her expression soon morphed into a grimace. “Oh sea kelp, you’re nice?” she whined. “Aughhh, why did you have to be nice? This would have been so much easier if you were a stuffy noble, but nooo! You just had to be nice,” she grumbled, face-flippering.
Ocean Flow and the prince shared a confused glance, but the latter quickly returned his gaze to Silver, muttering, “I-I-I’m afraid I don’t understand…?”
“Okay, look… I am so sorry about this, but you see? I’m taken,” she revealed, forcing a sweet smile.
“You are?” he gasped, gobsmacked. “But Lady Ocean Flow said—”
“I. Don’t. Care. What she said,” Silver slowly snarled, making Ocean gawk in shock and the prince wince uncomfortably. “I have a boyfriend. Who I love. And who I don’t ever plan on leaving.”
“Now, honey—”
“Shut up!” she snapped, causing Ocean to immediately close her muzzle and stop talking. Silver then rounded back on the prince who held up his flippers defensively. “Now, as for you? I’m very, very sorry my mother lied to you and dragged you into this mess, but I am in a committed relationship, and I’d like you to leave now.”
“But—”
“I! AM! TAKEN!” Silverstream screamed, leering over his whimpering form. She then took a short breath and let it out slowly, willing herself to calm down. “I’m sorry for yelling, and I’m sure you really are a perfectly nice seapony. But if I may be bold myself? Get. Out,” she ordered, pointing toward the door.
The prince wasted no time fleeing through the aforementioned door, pausing only to let out a meek, “S-Sorry,” before disappearing into the water beyond.
Afterward, Ocean blinked, processed what had just happened, and angrily admonished, “Now, Silverstream, why did you act like that? He was an absolutely wonderful seapony. You would have been safe with him, honey, and furthermore—”
“Mother?” Silver whispered so venomously that Ocean flinched away fearfully. “You have one chance to explain yourself. And if I don’t like the explanation? I’m leaving. And you won’t see me again for the rest of the week,” she promised, eye twitching.
Ocean stammered for a moment before forcing a grin and beginning, “W-Well…?”
***
“Seriously? The ‘Birds and the Bees’ speech? That’s what that whole thing was about?”
“You and Silver are teenagers,” Salina addressed coolly.
“Responsible ones!”
“Maybe you, but Silverstream tried to burn down the Harmonizing Heights once.”
“Allegedly.”
“Hey, that’s what Cuz always counters with too,” Skystar recognized, tittering. “Even though we all know she did it.”
Gallus ignored Skystar and nervously rubbed his shoulder, murmuring, “Was Ms. Ocean Flow really worried we’d do that though? I-I mean, we would never— Silver and I know better— I—”
Picking up on his distress, Salina placed a flipper on his shoulder, comforting, “I believe you. And I highly doubt she’s that worried about it. That said? Ms. Ocean Flow is Silver’s mom,” she calmly remarked. “If you had a daughter, you’d be worried about the same thing, wouldn’t you?”
Gallus contemplated that notion for a minute before shaking his head clear and answering, “I… I guess I would.”
“Exactly.”
“Yeah, don’t worry, Gallus,” Skystar chirped, winking reassuringly. “Auntie Ocean Flow’s probably just telling Silverstream not to rock your world until after you’re married.”
“Starry!” Salina shrieked as Gallus hid his flushing face in his flippers.
“Whaaat? When Shelly and Sheldon started dating their sweeties, I had to give them the same spiel,” she said with not a trace of sarcasm. “They’ve never been the same since,” she acknowledged forlornly.
“Oh my gosh,” she groaned exasperatedly. “You are too much sometimes, Sis.”
“Eh. Whatever,” Skystar continued, waving a flipper dismissively. “Now, come on, you two! We need to go explore that volcano before—” She stopped, squinted, and sighed disappointedly. “Nevermind, Silver’s back. … Wait! Silver’s back!” she declared, perking back up.
“Oh thank Grover,” Gallus exclaimed, desperate for the conversation to end. He then turned toward his girlfriend, happily greeting, “Hey, Silverstream, how—” He stopped once he noticed how furious she seemed. “What’s wrong?”
“One minute, Gallus,” Silver requested, rushing past him and frowning at both Salina and Skystar. “Did you two know?”
“Huh? What do you mean, Cuz?” Skystar inquired.
“Did. You. Know!?”
“Did we know what, Silverstream?” Salina asked, nonplussed. “Did something happen? I thought your mom was just giving you the ‘Birds and the Bees’ speech.”
Silver held her glare for a second longer before recognizing, “Okay, so you didn’t know. Good.”
“Silverstream, seriously, what happened?” Gallus asked, swimming in front of her and taking her flippers into his.
“Silverstream!” Ocean Flow’s voice echoed to them. “Silver honey, wait! Let me finish explaining!”
Skystar glanced between both her enraged cousin and fast-approaching aunt. She then glowered at the latter, guessing, “Fleeing a crime scene, Cuz?”
“Yep.”
“Hers or yours?”
“Hers.”
“Want a distraction?”
“That would be lovely.”
“On it. Hey, Auntie Ocean Flow!” Skystar greeted, darting for the seapony and blocking her way. “You wanna go explore a volcano?”
“Starry, hold on!” Salina cried out, swimming after Skystar.
“Come on. We’re leaving,” Silver told Gallus, leading him toward the water’s surface. “Now!”
“O-Okay,” he said, following her after sparing Ocean Flow a questioning glance.
“Wait! Honey, stop; you don’t under— Starry get out of my— Silverstream, wait!”
Ignoring her mother’s frantic pleas, Silverstream beat her tail harder in an effort to outpace her. Luckily, Gallus kept up rather well, and soon, the couple broke the ocean’s surface.
“Bright, bright…” Gallus mumbled to himself, squinting at the sudden sunshine but still following Silver as she dragged him to shore. “Silver, are you—”
“No, I am not okay, and I will tell you why once we are back on dry land,” she barked.
Gallus clamped his muzzle shut and simply swam alongside her.
Meanwhile, on the sandy shore of Basalt Beach, Sky Beak and a host of other hippogriffs were in the midst of erecting a large, wooden dance stadium…
“Thank you again for all of your help, honey,” Sky Beak said, giving Terramar one last hug. “Your sister’s going to absolutely love this.”
“No problem, Dad. If you need any more help, I’ll be back home finishing my book.”
“Gotcha. Just make sure to be down here by five; you wouldn’t want to miss the start of the festival, after all.”
“I’ll remember.” Terramar then unfurled his wings and took to the sky, saying, “See you later, Dad.”
“See you later, Terramar,” Sky replied, waving goodbye as his son flew back home. He then turned to the proudly beaming Haven Bay and Stratus Skyranger that stood behind him, adding, “And thank you, you two. You were both a tremendous help.”
“We know,” Haven Bay boasted, smirking smugly.
“Yeah, Captain, we told you we had it,” Stratus said, winking confidently.
“I know, I know,” Sky chortled. “Still. Thank you again for all of your help.”
“We’re just happy we could help,” Stratus said cheerfully. “This parade is gonna be a blast!”
“Oh yeah,” Haven agreed, flapping her wings enthusiastically. “I can’t wait to get my own turn on…” She then hushed abruptly upon noticing a flash of light in her periphery. “Uh-oh. Captain?” she muttered, frowning fearfully and pointing toward the beach. “Your kid’s back.”
“What!?” Sky Beak squawked, swiveling around and panicking when he saw his daughter and her boyfriend clambering out of the ocean. “They were supposed to be with Ocean Flow! Why are they back!?” he screeched, spreading his wings and flying toward them while the others wisely stayed behind.
“Agh, w-wobbly legs! Wobbly legs!” Gallus yelped, holding onto Silverstream for support as he worked to readjust himself to having the appendages again.
“Sorry, Gallus,” Silver apologized, helping him trot back onto the beach. “You okay?”
“The water does not feel nice anymore,” he said, shaking saltwater out of and feeling back into his wings. “But other than that? N-No. No, I’m not; I have no idea what’s going on.”
“Like I said, I’ll explain when we get home,” she dodged. Silver then noticed her father approaching and curtly greeted, “Hey, Dad.”
“H-Hi, honey,” Sky Beak chuckled awkwardly. “I-I-I didn’t expect you back so soon. Er? Is this a bad time to say surprise?” he asked, gesturing toward the dance stadium.
“Yes, it is, but it looks nice. Thanks, Dad.” Silver then grunted as her boyfriend’s legs buckled and he collapsed onto the ground. “Sweetie, I don’t mean to sound pushy, but could you hurry up?”
“A little busy trying to remember how to stand here,” he shot back.
Silverstream groaned in frustration, but thankfully, Sky Beak rushed forward and helped her get Gallus back to his talons and paws.
Eventually, Gallus finally managed to stay standing and said, “O-Okay. I think I’ve got it.”
“Are you sure?” Sky and Silver both asked.
“Uh-huh.”
“Great. Now, let’s go,” Silver urged, gently nudging him farther away from the water. “We need to get out of here before she—”
As if on cue, Ocean Flow reached the shore, panting in exhaustion and yelling, “Silverstream!”
“Peck!” she loudly cursed.
“O-Ocean Flow?” Sky Beak murmured, gazing between his scowling daughter, her wincing boyfriend, and his panicking ex-wife. “What’s…going on?”
“She’s crazy, that’s what’s going on!”
“Would you please just let me explain—”
“No! I don’t want to hear it!” Silver cut her off, trotting away with Gallus.
“Honey, I am trying to help you!” Ocean argued, wanting to follow her daughter but meeting the rather insurmountable barrier that was dry land.
“HELP ME!?” Silver bellowed, whirling right back around and stomping toward her mother. “You think you were ‘helping’ me!?”
“Yes! Silverstream, I am trying to keep you from making a huge mistake with—”
“Oh, so it’s a ‘mistake’ that I love Gallus, huh?”
“I didn’t say that—”
“It sure sounds like you are. And that little friend of yours sure didn’t help your case!”
“‘Friend’? Oh no. Ocean, you didn’t…?”
She ignored Sky Beak, proclaiming, “Silverstream, this is your life we’re talking about! Your safety, your future; your happiness…!”
“News flash, Mom: I am happy with Gallus!”
“No, you’re not!”
Gallus flinched.
“Ocean Flow, that is enough—”
“Stay out of this, Sky Beak; this doesn’t concern you!” she snapped.
“Yes, it does concern me!” he protested. “That’s our daughter you’re yelling at!”
“And if you’re not going to protect our daughter, then I am!” Ocean shrieked venomously.
Sky Beak looked as if she had slapped him.
With him cowed, Ocean frowned at Silverstream, resuming, “Silverstream, you are not safe with that boy, and you darn-well know it.”
“What are you even talking about!?” Silver shouted, leaving trenches in the sand beneath her talons. “Why would you ever think I’m not safe with him!?”
Evidently not wanting to answer that, Ocean instead deflected, “Honey, you can’t just throw your life away on some passing fling!”
“Gallus is not some ‘passing fling’! I love him!”
“You said it yourself, honey; you can’t love somecreature if you’re not happy with them!”
“And I am happy with him! How many times do I have to tell you that!?”
“You can’t keep telling yourself that, Silverstream!” she countered, voice cracking. “Not when it’s your safety and your future riding on the line!”
“And I want Gallus to be a part of my future!” Silver roared, shocking Ocean into silence. “I love him, Mom. … Gal— Gallus is right here,” she whimpered, gesturing to him. “Just talk to him. Just— Just talk to him and give him a chance,” she begged weakly. “Please!”
“I— You can’t— I-I don’t—” she stuttered, not so much as glancing at the griffon.
Silverstream sniffled as her wings slumped sadly. “Gallus, we’re leaving,” she said, trotting back to him.
“No! Silver, you can’t leave!” Ocean called out frantically.
“Watch me!”
“Young lady, you get back here this instant!”
Silverstream bit down to keep herself from responding as she approached her boyfriend. Still taciturn, she grabbed his talon and led him forward once more.
“Silverstream! SILVERSTREAM!” Ocean Flow desperately screeched after her. “Silverstream, I am trying to look out for you!”
“Ocean, stop it,” Sky interjected.
“No, Sky Beak! We need to protect her! I need to protect her!”
“And all you’re doing is hurting me,” Silver mewled too quietly for her parents to hear.
“Silverstream…” Gallus whispered, resting a wing across her back.
The moment she saw him do so, Ocean growled in frustration and screamed, “Silverstream, do you really think you’ll be happy with that boy!? That he can provide for you!? Can keep a roof over your head!? Can keep you safe!?”
“Ocean—”
“Honey, Princess Twilight couldn’t even keep you safe!” she yelled over Sky Beak. “From a filly! Do you really think that— That— Outsider! Can!?” She then blinked and held a flipper to her muzzle, horrified by what she had just said.
“Ocean Flow!” Sky Beak gasped, gaping in shock.
Silverstream stopped, let go of Gallus, and wordlessly trotted back to her mother, stopping within talon’s reach of the seapony. “Outsider, huh?” she muttered, fiddling with her Pearl-piece. “Is that what you think of Gallus, Mom?”
“I-I…” Ocean gulped and forced herself to say, “It— It’s true…?”
Silver said nothing, but her silence was far more terrifying. Eventually, she took a small, shuddering breath and let it out, beginning, “Mom? I have been working so! Hard! To not be paranoid all the time. To not worry all the time. To— To not be afraid of the future—”
Ocean seized her chance, shrieking, “See!? You’re afraid; that’s what I’m trying to—”
“Shut up.”
“But you’re not—”
“No, Mother, this is where you zip it!” Silver hollered, instantly acquiring her silence. “I hate being afraid, Mom. I hate it. But you? Heh-heh,” she chuckled darkly. “You just won’t stop, will you?”
“Honey—”
“Not now, Dad,” she calmly cut Sky Beak off, grasping her necklace tightly. “Now, Mother? Let me make this abundantly clear to you…”
“I love Gallus,” Silverstream said, smiling serenely. “And Gallus loves me. We are happiest when we’re together. Nothing you say or do will ever change that,” she vowed, dropping the smile for a grim scowl. “So? If you’re never going to see him as anything more than an ‘outsider’?”
Silverstream ripped her necklace off, eliciting a shocked squawk from both of her parents.
“You can call me an ‘outsider’ too,” she declared, throwing her Pearl-piece into the sand. Silver then turned around and trotted away, striding right past Gallus without a word.
Hesitantly, Gallus stepped toward Silver’s necklace and picked it up. He then shot Ocean Flow a pained grimace before hurriedly flying after his girlfriend.
The moment he disappeared from view, Ocean Flow snapped out of her stupor. “S-Sky, you need to stop him! H-He has— He has her…” she trailed off, wincing under his steely gaze.
“I think. You’ve said. Enough,” Sky Beak mumbled coldly.
Hanging her head in shame, Ocean slowly turned around and retreated back beneath the waves.
***
A soft, musical hum echoed amid the gorgeous, sprawling planes of the Harmonizing Heights, spurring many a bird to add their song to the natural symphony and coaxing many other critters from their burrows to bask in the resulting ambiance.
One creature, however, found no enjoyment whatsoever in said ambiance.
A gentle gust blew across the tranquil land, stirring Silverstream’s mane as the hippogriff in question stared at the babbling brook she sat beside. She soon tentatively felt around her bare neck, biting back a sob as she did so.
Silver then turned when she heard somecreature approaching and winced when she saw exactly the creature she had expected to see.
Without a word, she reached out expectantly with her talon and smiled feebly when her necklace was dropped right into it. She immediately re-did the string around her neck and let out a relieved sigh upon feeling the treasure rest against her feathers once more.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“You’re welcome,” Gallus said, sitting down beside her. A few moments passed before he finally asked, “What happened?”
“Remember that prince she wanted me to meet?”
“Oh no…”
“He was right there in the kitchen waiting for me,” Silverstream confirmed, still glaring daggers at the rippling river. “Bow tie and all.”
“Grover’s Treasure,” Gallus cursed, massaging his temples and letting out a sigh.
“Yeah. He even called me dazzling.”
“Oh, he did, did he?” he asked, feeling a sudden surge of fury build in his chest. After momentarily quelling it, he tried to joke, “Well? It’s not like he was wrong.”
“First of all, I am not dazzling, I am beautiful,” she stressed, frowning angrily. “And secondly, you are the only one who gets to call me either.”
“Yes, I am. And—”
“Gallus, please don’t,” she preemptively interrupted. “I’m not in the mood for compliments.”
“Sorry.”
“You’re not the one who should be apologizing,” she countered, tearing up. “She is.”
Gallus placed a comforting talon upon her shoulder, eliciting only another sob.
“I forgave her, Gallus,” Silver said, beak quivering. “I thought— I thought she was sorry. I thought that she really wanted to— To get to know you. B-But… But she didn’t…” She sniffled. “Why doesn’t she want to know you? You’re— You’re my boyfriend! I love you!”
“It’s okay, Silver—”
“No, it’s not okay!” she snapped at him, flinching regretfully afterward. “It’s— It’s not okay. I forgave her, but she still hates you. She still— She still doesn’t want me to be with you…” Silver wiped her eyes, murmuring, “I shouldn’t have forgiven her.”
“I was just so tired of it, Gallus!” she rambled on before he could speak. “I was so tired of being angry at her. I-I didn’t want to be angry at Mom. I love Mom. I… I just wanted her to love you too,” Silver puled, shivering as a fresh wave of tears ran down her cheeks.
“Silver? Please look at me,” Gallus requested. Once she did so, he resolutely affirmed, “You did the right thing, forgiving her. Okay?”
“But she—”
“I don’t care. You did the right thing at the time; don’t tell yourself otherwise.”
“…I won’t. But still! G-Gallus, I’m… I-I’m so sorry. I— I’m just so sorry!”
“It’s okay, Silver,” he said, cupping her cheeks reassuringly. “You don’t have to apologize either.”
As grateful as Silver was for his gentle touch, it did little to comfort her as she argued, “Yes, I do. It’s not like she’s going to apologize! A-And after everything she said to you… To us… Sea kelp, Gallus, I-I-I can’t even imagine how upset you are right now.”
“I’m not.”
Silver blinked. “W-What? You— You’re not?”
“No. I’m not.” Gallus looked away, clarifying, “Look, what she said…? It hurt. It really hurt. But the only thing I care about right now is whether or not you’re okay.”
“I’m not,” she confessed, shaking her head fervently. “I’m not okay.”
“Then tell me what I can do that will help.”
“Just hold me,” Silverstream pleaded, burying her face into his shoulder.
Gallus swiftly wrapped both his talons and wings around her and pulled her into his warm embrace. He then rubbed her back soothingly and felt his feathers dampen from her tears.
“Everything will be okay, Silverstream,” Gallus whispered comfortingly.
“Everything will be okay?” she asked, somewhat muffled.
“Everything will be okay,” he promised.
Silver sobbed again and slowly placed her own talons around him, crying freely.
The couple remained entwined for another few minutes, and soon, a familiar hippogriff cantered up to them, frowning solemnly. Once he reached the duo, Sky Beak politely greeted, “Hello.”
“Hey,” Gallus greeted back. He then nodded in the direction of the beach, asking, “Is she…?”
“Gone.”
“Gotcha.”
“Is she…?” Sky asked, nodding at his daughter, relieved to see she wore her necklace once more.
Hearing this, Silver gave Gallus one more squeeze and surfaced from his feathers. “H-Hi, Dad,” she whimpered, staring at her father through red-tinged, glistening eyes. “I’m— I’m sorry for yelling.”
“Don’t apologize, honey,” he implored, sitting beside them and bringing them both into a hug of his own. “It’s okay.”
Silverstream instantly latched onto her father, and after a second of hesitation, Gallus hugged Sky Beak back as well.
The three sat like this for some time before Sky Beak spoke up once more. “Gallus dear? I’m sorry for what she said.”
“It’s okay, Mr. Sky Beak,” he responded wearily. “It’s not your fault.”
“Nonetheless, I am sorry,” he apologized, holding the griffon as closely as he did his daughter. “You shouldn’t have had to hear any of that.”
“Why did she do it, Dad?” Silver whined between sobs. “Why does she hate him?”
“Honey, she doesn’t—” Sky Beak stopped mid-sentence upon seeing the teary, disbelieving glare she shot him. He then shut his eyes, wincing, but after a round of intense internal debate, he requested, “Gallus? May I talk to my daughter? Alone?”
“No!” Silverstream blurted out, hastily unfurling her wing around Gallus. “Please don’t make him leave, Dad! I don’t want him to go!”
“Shhh, it’s okay, honey, it’s okay,” Sky soothed. “It’ll be okay. Gallus…?”
Gallus wanted nothing more than to keep hugging both of them, but he ultimately broke free of the embrace and stood up. “You, uh… You’ve got her?” he checked, avoiding Silverstream’s hurt gaze.
“I do. I-I’m sorry, I—”
“No, no. I get it. I get it…” Gallus looked in the direction of the beach, thinking; he then glanced back at Silver and felt his stomach churn at how despondent she appeared.
Gallus then turned his thoughts to the culprit for said despondency, and soon a rather reckless idea came to his mind. With a determined glimmer in his eyes, he slowly returned his gaze to the beach, beginning, “Hey? Mr. Sky Beak?”
“Yes, Gallus?”
“Where’s Terramar?”
Both hippogriffs instantly realized what Gallus was planning.
“Home,” Sky answered, eyeing him intently.
“Got it. Thanks,” he said, stepping away from the duo.
“Gallus?” Silver called out, giving him a panicked, pleading look. “Where are you going?”
“Don’t worry, Silverstream. You have fun with your dad; I’ll be fine.”
“Gallus, no!” she shrieked, trying to rush back to him only for Sky Beak to hold her back. “Let me go, Dad! Gallus, don’t you dare go talk to her!”
Gallus said nothing, merely marching back to Hippogriffia.
“Gallus!”
“Let him go, honey,” Sky said, giving Silver pause. “You’re sure of this, Gallus?”
“Yep,” he called back, sparing them both a confident smirk. “I’ve got this. Like you said, all she has to do is talk to me and get to know me a little more, right?”
Sky snorted, swearing, “That is indeed still true.”
Gallus breathed a sigh of relief and continued forward.
Silverstream, meanwhile, shouted, “Gallus, you don’t need to— Mom isn’t— Gallus, don’t go! Gallus!? GALLUS!”
“I love you, Silverstream; I’ll be back soon,” he promised, disappearing into the distance.
“Wh-Why did he…? Why did you…?” she stuttered, utterly dumbstruck that Gallus would go, let alone that her father would let him go. “What’s happening?”
“Silverstream?” Once Sky Beak had her attention, he let out a regretful sigh and began, “Honey, I think it’s time I tell you the truth…”
***
For the better part of half an hour, Ocean Flow had been resting her head against the kitchen table and staring forlornly at her finished-yet-untouched seaweed loaf. Eventually though, she turned her gaze onto one of the waterproofed pictures on her counter and bit back a sob.
It was a photo of her and her family back when they were hippogriffs and long before the Storm King’s assault.
They all looked happy.
Silverstream looked happy…
Ocean silently floated up and swam over to the photo, picking it up and hugging it to her chest. “Oh, Ocean… You idiot,” she groaned rebukingly.
She then put the picture down when she heard her front door unlock and open. “Novo,” she called out, turning toward the door. “If you’re here to yell at me too, just go away. I already know I screwed…” Ocean hushed when, rather than her sister, Terramar and Gallus swam into view. “Up.”
An awkward, tense silence fell across the three, but Gallus soon cleared his throat and waved politely. “Hi again, Ms. Ocean Flow. Sorry for the intrusion.”
“You’re not the one who needs to apologize, Gallus,” Terramar said, frowning coldly.
Though unable to meet either of their gazes, Ocean managed to quietly question, “Terramar honey? Why— Why is he here?”
Gallus held in a groan while Terramar’s frown deepened. “Gallus, are you sure about this?” he asked, pointedly ignoring his mother.
“Yes. Don’t worry, Terry, I’ll be fine.”
“Okay,” Terramar yielded, turning around. “I’ll be waiting outside for ya.” He then spared Ocean one last glare over his shoulder, adding, “Just in case she does something else monumentally stupid.”
Ocean Flow flinched as her son swam outside.
The silence returned with a vengeance as Gallus simply floated there, waiting for Ocean Flow to make the first move. And after a solid five minutes of being unable to look at him, she finally did.
“So? Have you come to gloat?” Ocean wondered cynically.
“‘Gloat’? Gloat about what?”
“Oh, I don’t know? About the fact I chased my own daughter away like a darn fool?”
“Why would I ever be happy my girlfriend had a fight with her mother?” he deadpanned. “Much less when that fight was over me?”
“Well, she obviously ran straight into your talons; you must surely be happy about that.”
Biting back an indignant retort, Gallus took a breath and calmly began, “Okay, look. Ms. Ocean Flow? You don’t like me. And you don’t like that I’m dating your daughter. And you know what?” He sighed, stating, “That’s okay.”
“Wait, what?” Ocean blurted out, finally looking at him properly.
“It’s okay you don’t like me,” he reassured. “Don’t get me wrong, I’d love it if you did. But if you don’t approve of me, that’s okay. I’m not here to ask you to— To bottle up your feelings and pretend you like me,” Gallus said, sickened by the notion. “That wouldn’t be fair; that’d be cruel. And I’m not cruel. That’s Cozy Glow’s job,” he sneered sardonically.
She stammered for a moment, having no response to that declaration. “That’s rather kind of you…?” she curiously noted once she had found her voice again.
“Yeah, well? I try.”
“O-Okay. Although, if that’s the case, why are you here?”
“To talk to you,” Gallus answered matter-of-factly. “To find out why you don’t like me, and if I can, work on whatever that issue is. Maybe be somecreature you could approve of,” he concluded, feeling his back fins twitch nervously.
Once again, Ocean Flow was at a loss for words, but she rapidly recovered and replied, “But why would you want to do that? After all the… Let’s be honest: Horrible! Things I said,” she mumbled regretfully. “Why would you care whether or not I approved of you?”
“Because you’re Silverstream’s mother. And you’re important to her,” he explained as if it were obvious.
“I somehow doubt that’s true at the moment…”
“No, it still is. She’s just mad at you. You know? For obvious reasons.”
“Very obvious reasons,” Ocean agreed, anxiously wringing her flippers. Eventually, she gestured to the table, requesting, “Um, pl-please sit.”
Relieved, Gallus let out the breath he had been holding and took the offered seat. Ocean Flow then sat opposite him and mouthed uselessly while she struggled to find a place to begin.
…
…
…
“Firstly,” Ocean finally started. “I’d like to apologize for all of the things I said to you and about you. Especially the ‘outsider’ line,” she emphasized, shuddering in disgust. “That was utterly uncalled for.”
“Well, thank you for the apology,” he said, nodding. “I forgive you.”
“I don’t know how you could,” she grumbled.
Gallus considered making a joke about having forgiven worse, but he thought better of it. Instead, he merely answered, “Because it’s the right thing to do.”
“Learn that at the Friendship School, did you?”
“Yep.”
Ocean smirked, but it sadly didn’t last long. “N-Now, about— About my not approving of you…?”
“I-Is it because I’m a griffon?” he guessed, dreading the answer. “Or because I’m not a noble?”
“What!? Oh, no-no-no!” she hastily protested. “No, it has nothing to do with that.”
“It doesn’t!?” he yelped, completely taken aback.
“No! No. No…” Ocean stroked a flipper along her mane-fin soothingly, saying, “I mean, yes, you’re a griffon. And, yes, you’re not a noble. But I care far more about who a creature is than what.”
Gallus felt an enormous weight suddenly lift off of his heart. “Heh. Silverstream is the same way, you know,” he said, smiling slightly.
“Of course she is. Sky Beak and I raised our children right,” she proclaimed proudly.
After a brief round of chuckling, he tentatively inquired, “So, why do you hate me then?”
“I don’t hate you!” she swore, aghast by the accusation. “Really, Mr. Gallus, I don’t. You’re her friend; I know you care for her.”
“Technically, I’m her boyfriend,” he acknowledged politely. “And, uh… To be blunt? If you know I care for her, why do you think she’s not safe with me?”
“Because she’s—” Ocean stopped herself from finishing that sentence. “I mean? It’s just that— You’re not— Silverstream isn’t— Aughhh,” she weakly groaned, hiding her face in her flippers.
“Hey, hey, hey. It’s okay, Ms. Ocean Flow,” he assuaged. “Take your time; I’m listening.”
Ocean gladly accepted that offer, carefully contemplating her explanation as she shot another glance at the photograph on her counter. “I didn’t want my daughter to go to the Friendship School,” she suddenly admitted, returning her gaze to him. “I… I didn’t want her to go to Equestria at all.”
“You didn’t?”
“No. I didn’t. A-After everything that— That— That wretched ape put us through!” she spat out virulently. “I didn’t want my family to leave Seaquestria. W-We’re safe down here, you see? We… We were safe,” Ocean repeated shakily.
“But… You guys are safe up there too,” Gallus argued, having no clue what this had to do with her not approving of him. “The Storm King is dead.”
“Yes, and he’s not the only monster in the world, now is he?”
“Okay, that’s a fair point.”
“Darn straight it’s a fair point. It’s also a point my sister and ex-husband resolutely ignored.”
“Alright…?” As uncertain as he was about where this conversation was going, Gallus took comfort in the fact Ocean Flow was actually talking to him at all. “So, you didn’t want Silver to go to the Friendship School, but Mr. Sky Beak and Queen Novo did?”
“Mhmm. You see? When we learned of that tyrant’s defeat, we were thrilled. For years we were trapped down here, but now? We were finally free. It was a very happy time for us all.”
“Bet you guys threw one peck of a parade,” he joked.
After stifling the sudden, bizarre urge to reprimand his language, Ocean laughed brightly. “Yes! Yes, we did. We even dedicated a holiday to it.”
“Three Days of Freedom?”
“Bingo.” Ocean rested her head in a flipper and let out a content sigh. “But then Princess Twilight built that school of hers,” she added icily. “And of course, she messaged my sister about it.”
“Ohhh boy. Here we go…”
“‘We are extending our hoof in invitation to all creatures so they may come and learn all about the value and importance of friendship,’” Ocean mockingly recited. “‘And we’d ever so love it if you could provide a student to act as a representative for your kingdom.’” She rolled her eyes, murmuring, “As if somehow ponies were the only creatures who knew how to be friendly to one another…”
After vowing to never discuss Griffonstone with Ocean Flow, Gallus divulged, “We got the same message. But I’m guessing you didn’t take it that well, huh?”
“You would be correct.”
“That because Silverstream came to the Friendship School even though you didn’t want her to?”
“Clever griff… Er? Clever seapony,” she corrected, drawing out a snicker from Gallus. “But yes. Once my niece learned of the letter, she wasted no time telling Silverstream, and she practically exploded in excitement over the chance of going to Equestria and meeting new creatures.”
“And she obviously did go…”
“Well, I didn’t want her to!” Ocean barked. “I didn’t want her to leave. Or— Or to get hurt… But since we all agreed Terry was too young, it was either Silverstream or Skystar.”
“Really? Just them? None of the other seaponies or hippogriffs were interested in the offer?”
“Oh, there were some. But Novo didn’t want to send anyone else until she knew for certain they’d be safe. Which was why she—like me—didn’t want her daughter to go either. And since my sister is the Queen, you can tell which of us got their way,” she sneered, voice dripping with spite.
Gallus winced sympathetically. “Sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing? It wasn’t your fault,” she mollified. Ocean Flow then looked away, recognizing, “It wasn’t anyone’s fault. I’d have done the same thing if I were the elder sister.”
“Still, I’m sorry you had to go through all of that.”
“Well? Thank you for your condolences,” she thanked, giving him a soft smile. “But what’s in the past is in the past. Silver was going to Equestria, and that was final. I-I just had to accept that.”
“It couldn’t have been easy,” he commented, stifling another reflexive apology.
“It wasn’t. So you can imagine how relieved I was to learn that Neighsay fellow closed the Friendship School not one day later.” Ocean hesitated a moment before adding, “And then you can also imagine how terrified I was when Silverstream didn’t immediately come home.”
“We went to the Everfree,” Gallus remembered, not meeting her gaze.
“Yep. Rather than come home to her family, my daughter ran off to spend the rest of her life living in a monster-filled forest with a bunch of creatures she had only just met,” she stated, keeping her expression neutral. “That, uh, that was not a fun day for Sky Beak and I.”
“Yeaaah. In hindsight, that was really dumb of us. But it wasn’t like we were gonna just leave each other! Not… Not when we just became friends.”
“Don’t worry, Mr. Gallus, I understand. I know how much you all love each other.” Ocean clicked her tongue and confessed, “That said? I didn’t exactly enjoy finding out my daughter almost got skewered by a bunch of glorified porcupines.”
“Ugh, I almost forgot about those stupid pukwudgies…”
“I certainly didn’t forget. In fact, I wanted to bring my daughter back home; I didn’t want her anywhere near that forest, that village, or that school! … But? Silver wanted to stay there,” she said weakly. “She wanted to stay in Ponyville. And most importantly, she wanted to stay with her friends.”
Gallus smiled.
“It was hard,” Ocean went on. “I had a lot of fights about it with Sky Beak and Novo. But…? In the end, I caved. I let my daughter stay.”
“As, um, as sorry as I am you went through all that junk?” Gallus spoke up, still smiling. “I’m really glad you let Silverstream stay.”
“Oh, I know you are,” she said, shooting him a sly smirk. “Thankfully, it became far easier as time went on. Silverstream was… Oh, Gallus, she was so happy over there!” she rejoiced.
“We’re all happy over there.”
“And Silverstream was especially so! My word, the letters she sent!” Ocean exclaimed blissfully. “She loved everything. Painting, singing in Drama Club; taking a shower…” she listed off.
“The plumbing manuals,” Gallus continued, sighing dreamily. “Cupcakes from Sugarcube Corner; Headmare Starlight’s Empathy Cocoa…”
“Fluttershy’s pet rabbit…”
“Edith…”
“Stairs,” Ocean Flow and Gallus both recounted simultaneously. They then shared a grin and burst out laughing. “Goodness gracious, Gallus!” she resumed after quieting down. “You absolutely must see the letter she sent us raving about stairs. I’m not exaggerating when I say it was physically half a mile in length,” she proclaimed, beaming.
“Seriously?”
“Seriously. Don’t ask me where she got a piece of parchment that long, but my daughter found it, and she filled the entire thing out, front and back.”
“She probably got it from the Crystal Empire,” he theorized, thinking back to some very similar letters he had received from Princess Cadence.
“As good a guess as any,” she tittered. “Speaking of her letters, did Sky Beak show you any? I assume he would since it was his turn to have them.”
“Nope. But I am definitely going to ask to see ‘em when I get a chance.”
“And you’re gonna love them. They’re so adorable, and sweet, and wonderful…”
“Like Silverstream herself,” he praised merrily.
“Like Silverstream herself,” she concurred.
They both fell silent, smiling fondly at the memory of the hippogriff in question.
“Those letters helped a lot,” Ocean whispered after some time. “For the first time in years, my daughter wasn’t just surviving. She was living!” she celebrated, shooting a joyful smile at her family picture once more. “She was learning about the world, making new friends; having fun…”
Ocean looked back at him, her smile drooping but not fading. “I couldn’t take her away from that. I’m her mother, so a part of me was always worried for her… But who cares? For once in far, far too long my daughter could explore the world, and she loved every second of it.” She shrugged. “So what if your teachers took you on that dumb field trip into the Everfree, or that draconequus threw a temper tantrum at Headmare Starlight? Silverstream was happy. And that was all I could ask for.”
There was very obviously a “but” coming, and Gallus bit his lip in anticipation of it.
Sure enough, mere seconds later, Ocean Flow glowered at nothing in particular and snarled, “But then the filly happened.”
“And there it is,” he mumbled, flinching.
“The saviors of Equestria, the slayers of the Storm King, and the ponies I trusted to keep my daughter safe and sound… And they were duped by a child,” she growled, flicking her tail angrily.
“To be fair, would you have thought the punk was a world-ending psychopath?”
Ocean Flow let out a loud, bubbly huff, reluctantly conceding, “No. I wouldn’t have.”
“Yeah. But hey! We stopped her,” he boasted, putting on an encouraging smile. “That had to be a relief, right?”
“Not when you all almost died in the process.”
Gallus blinked. “Oh.”
“Yes. ‘Oh.’ My daughter… My daughter had to save the world,” Ocean chirped in a cracked voice. “And she almost died doing it, along with you and your other friends.”
“But we didn’t—”
“You could have, and that’s all that matters,” she cut him off curtly. “For goodness’ sake, Gallus, the Tree of Harmony had to save you! An ancient, unknowable god-tree had to rescue all of you because no one else had been there to save you,” she acknowledged, suppressing a terrified shiver.
“Oh, but you see,” Ocean Flow rambled on before he could respond. “I was the one in the wrong. I was the one being a needless worry-wort. You and your friends had saved Equestria, so everything was okay in the end. Tch, as long as the day was saved, it didn’t matter how close you all came to dying! Nor did it matter I almost had to plan a funeral for my own daughter,” she whimpered, wiping her eyes despite her tears already mixing into the surrounding water.
“Oh Grover…” Gallus swore quietly. “Ms. Ocean Flow, I— I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, Gallus dear. E-Everything was fine after all,” she forced herself to say.
“No, it wasn’t,” he countered firmly, much to her astonishment. “You had every right to be worried. We did almost…” Not wanting to say the word, Gallus instead said, “Get hurt.”
“Yes. Yes, you did. … And yet,” Ocean Flow began again, grinning hollowly. “Even after all of that, Silverstream still wanted to stay in Equestria.”
“We all did. I mean? One stupid brat wasn’t gonna stop us from loving each other. We’re practically family…”
“And I am her family!” she snapped, flinching at the harshness penetrating her tone. “Not— Not to say you and the others aren’t also her family, but…”
“But it’s different,” he finished for her. “It’s okay, Ms. Ocean Flow. I get it.”
“Then congratulations. You’re officially the first creature who does,” she praised bitterly. Upon noticing his confused frown, she clarified, “Oh, Sky and Novo were obviously as peeved as I was over the whole ordeal, but they were far more accepting of Silver going back. I, on the other flipper, wanted to drag Silverstream back to Seaquestria and never let her leave.” Ocean Flow let out an irked snort and confided, “Which is what I did do when that red-horned freak-show returned as well.”
For the briefest of seconds, Gallus flashed back to Nightmare Night and the last creature he had talked to about Sombra. “Y-Yeah, even Grandpa Gruff was pretty freaked when we found out about it,” he disclosed after shoving that memory aside.
“I can’t fathom how anycreature wouldn’t be terrified out of their minds…” She then chortled sourly. “But of course, he was bested too, so you know what that means!” she squealed, eye twitching.
“Everything was fine again?”
“Everything was fine again!” she angrily echoed. “Even when Silver up and disappeared in the middle of the night because the Tree of Harmony spoke to her in a dream… Even when she forgot to let us know she was in the Everfree befriending a cockatrice…! Even when that demon child and her cohorts returned! AGAIN!” she screeched, slamming her flippers on the table in fury.
Ocean Flow panted harshly, taking a moment to calm herself. “I’m… I’m sorry for that outburst,” she apologized, still quivering with barely controlled rage.
“Don’t be sorry, Ms. Ocean Flow,” Gallus implored, causing her to blink in surprise. “It’s okay to feel angry and afraid. Those feelings are important too; you shouldn’t just bottle them up.”
“I-Is that something else you learned at the Friendship School?” she questioned, flabbergasted by the teenager’s wisdom. “I don’t remember Silverstream telling us about that lesson.”
“It was Magic Lesson One Hundred and Forty-five,” he elaborated. “I think Princess Twilight had a horn infection or something, so Headmare Starlight substituted for her that day.”
“Ah! It was that one. Yes, Silver told us more about Princess Twilight’s condition than her school day in that particular letter.”
“Eh, you weren’t missing much; it was honestly a pretty boring day. I, uh, may or may not have even fallen asleep in class.”
“Did you genuinely fall asleep, or just pretend to?”
“Genuinely,” Gallus sheepishly admitted, staring everywhere but at Ocean’s knowing grin.
“For shame, Gallus dear. For. Shame,” she remarked, shaking her head disapprovingly.
“Yeah, yeah… I know. If it helps, I don’t nap in class anymore.”
“You’d better not,” Ocean warned, chuckling along with him. “Having said all of that?” she soon said. “You’re likely wondering how I could have let Silver keep attending the School…?”
“Actually? I’m more curious as to why Silver never talked to me about this,” Gallus clarified as his tail swished uneasily. “We don’t hide things from each other, so the only reason I can think of…”
“Is that she didn’t know?” she guessed, receiving a nod. “Well, you’re correct. She didn’t.”
“You mean, you didn’t tell Silver about any of this?”
“Did you really think we would?” Ocean asked incredulously. “And what? Risk repeating the same mistake we made with Terramar? Make Silver feel like she had to choose between Ponyville or Mount Aris? O-Or worse! Make her feel worried and afraid as well!? Well, no!” she yelped, her back fins flaring in outrage. “There were many things Sky and I disagreed on, but we both fervently agreed upon not letting our daughter know about any of this,” she ended, folding her back fins back in.
“You mean you just pretended you weren’t worried out of your mind about Silverstream?” Gallus inquired, feeling a horrified pit form in his stomach. “How!?”
“Gallus dear? A parent’s—” Ocean Flow paused, looked him over, frowned, and corrected, “A proper parent’s greatest wish is their children’s happiness. And Silverstream…? She was happy in Equestria. So, yes. I bit my tongue, put on a smile, and told myself everything was fine.”
“Every time something terrible happened, I would just tell myself, ‘Oh, the day is saved now, and my daughter is still happy. Everything truly is fine.’ Over and over, I told myself this and dozens of other mantras just like it,” she explained, nervously tapping her flippers together.
“And you know what? For a while, I fell for it,” Ocean confessed. “I moved on. I went about my life, believing my daughter was okay. Believing she was safe. And even when I knew full-well she wasn’t, I just told myself that all the worry, fear, and murder attempts…!” She took a deep breath and concluded, “That it was all worth it. Because Silverstream. Was. Happy.”
Ocean Flow stopped talking and allowed an ominous silence to fall across the kitchen once again, and during that time, Gallus slowly perked up, coming to an assumption he prayed was incorrect.
Unfortunately, what she said next confirmed his fears.
“‘I was so worried about him, Mom, Dad,’” Ocean Flow began quoting in a meek, pained voice. “‘After everything that happened, I just couldn’t get it out of my head that he still wasn’t okay. Or worse, that even if he was okay, something bad would happen and hurt him all over again.’”
“Silverstream…” Gallus whispered to himself, slumping in his chair and fighting back the urge to vomit.
“‘I just wanted him to be okay again,’” Ocean continued, her bottom lip trembling. “‘I wanted to help him; I needed to help him. I didn’t want him to be upset again. I-I didn’t like seeing him that way. It—’” Her voice hitched for a second. “‘It scared me,’” she finished.
Not wanting to say anything more, Ocean Flow held her face in her flippers and worked to steady her breathing. Gallus, meanwhile, had grown increasingly paler with every word.
“Did Silverstream really say all of that?” he asked timidly.
“Yes,” she confirmed, lowering her flippers back onto the table. “A while back, she sent us a recording of your play. And with it was a letter telling us all about her paranoia.”
“B-But Silverstream talked to Headmare Starlight about that,” Gallus protested, his heart thundering violently. “She talked to me about it too. Didn’t— Didn’t she tell you?”
“Oh, she did. The rest of the letter was all about the advice she got from her and Yona, and how she was going to try not to be paranoid anymore. But while that may have been good enough for Sky Beak and Terramar, it wasn’t good enough for me,” she declared, scowling.
“I-I don’t follow…?”
“Silver said she was doing better, and Sky Beak believed her. Terramar and Novo both did too. But me?” Ocean Flow shook her head. “No. No, I had had enough. This was the last straw.”
“Ms. Ocean Flow—”
“My daughter has almost died half a dozen times,” she interrupted, struggling desperately to not raise her voice. “And all this time, I believed that all the worrying was worth it so long as she was happy. Except…? Silverstream wasn’t happy anymore. Sh-She was scared. My— My baby girl was scared!” she sobbed, dropping her gaze to the floor.
Realization quickly dawned on Gallus, and once it had, he scoffed exasperatedly. “And let me guess… It was my fault, right?”
The silence persisted for a full minute until Ocean Flow had the courage to look back up at him.
“There’s a very dark, very vile part of me that wants to say yes,” she admitted. “That wants to hold you accountable for my daughter being so afraid. … But I can’t do that. I-I won’t do that!” she vowed earnestly. “Silverstream told us about your situation, and I— I know you couldn’t have helped what happened. So, no, Gallus dear, it wasn’t your fault. And I don’t blame you.”
“That so? Well, there’s a ‘very dark, very vile’ part of me that thinks you’re lying,” he shot back wearily. “It’s pretty clear you do blame me.”
“But I—”
“You shoved Silverstream onto some random noble neither of us knew and basically said, ‘Here! Love this guy, not Gallus!’” he interrupted. “Say you don’t blame me all you want, but your actions sing a whole different tune.”
Ocean Flow flinched and hung her head, unable to meet the furious gaze of her daughter’s boyfriend. Said furious gaze lessened up not one second later.
“Whelp,” he resumed in a calmer voice. “At least now I know why you thought Silverstream wasn’t safe with me.”
“Gallus dear, I…” She sighed ruefully, questioning, “How could I think she was safe with you? I don’t know you. All I know is what Silverstream tells me about you, and…”
“And I’m her friend. You know that, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Yeah.” Gallus tapped the table distractedly, muttering, “When Silverstream told me about your letters, I… I didn’t know what to think. I mean, I don’t know you either,” he pointed out. “So, what was your problem with me? How could you— How could you ever think I’d hurt her?”
“I could understand you not liking me,” Gallus continued, hanging his head. “Maybe you just didn’t want Silver dating yet? Maybe you wanted her to date a hippogriff or seapony? Maybe… Maybe you didn’t want Silver to choose some ‘orphaned street rat,’” he suggested, wincing at his own words.
“Gallus dear, you are not some ‘orphaned street rat’!” Ocean Flow protested instantly.
“Huh?” he blurted out in befuddlement.
“Look, I don’t know you. I only know of you,” she began. “But what I know of you is that you…” Ocean struggled to find the words for a second until she laughed weakly and said, “That you love doing paperwork but don’t want to admit it. That you’re so kind-hearted you actually feel pity for those three monsters. That— That you love my daughter,” she whispered.
“And I also know my daughter loves you too,” she recognized, shivering at the memory of Silverstream throwing away her necklace. “I may be a fool, but I’m not a blind one.”
“And yet, you still don’t approve of us. Do you?”
“How can I?” she mewled somberly. “Y-You heard her at the beach, yes? She said she wanted you to be part of her future. Don’t you understand what that means?”
“It means we love each other and we both want a long-term relationship,” Gallus answered without skipping a beat. “Well? Yeah. We do want that.”
Ocean Flow dithered for a moment before saying, “And I want my daughter to be happy and safe. Th-That’s all I want. But how am I supposed to trust she’ll be those things with you when you…” she trailed off.
“Scared her?” he finished for her.
“…Yes.”
They both timidly looked away from each other, neither knowing what to say next, but after some time, Ocean Flow lamented, “But it’s not like I have any grounds to judge you, let alone disapprove of you. Seriously, Gallus dear, I-I-I must apologize again for the ‘outsider’ line,” she exclaimed, grimacing sorrowfully. “That was absolutely abhorrent of me.”
It took a lot of willpower for Gallus to not ardently agree with that statement. “Don’t worry, Ms. Ocean Flow. I really did mean it when I said I forgave you,” he assured.
“And I really don’t know how you could,” she whined, rubbing her eyes tiredly. “I’ve been acting like a complete and total fool.”
“You’re Silver’s mother. It’s not wrong to worry about her and want her to be safe.”
“But what is wrong, however, is freaking her out with my incessant, paranoid ramblings.”
“…Yeah. Yeah, you did freak her out,” he agreed, keeping his tone neutral.
“I know I did,” Ocean bemoaned. “And in light of that, I’m exceedingly glad Terramar stopped me from having Seaspray go check on her. Goodness, I cannot possibly imagine how terrible that would have been for Silverstream.”
Since Gallus had nothing nice to say to that, he opted to say nothing at all.
“Heh. Isn’t it ironic?” she soon resumed. “I wanted to protect my daughter, but all I did was hurt her more.” Ocean Flow harrumphed, snarling, “But apparently, I wasn’t satisfied with just that, and I had to go and hurt you too. Sea kelp, I owe you so many apology cakes,” she grumbled, face-flippering.
The corners of his muzzle twitched as Gallus inquired, “Are… Are you serious about that?”
“Of course. We seaponies and hippogriffs take our apologies very seriously!” she proclaimed, brimming with pride. She then noticed Gallus snickering faintly and asked, “What? What’s so funny?”
“Nothing. It’s just…? May I bake those apology cakes with you?” he requested, grinning widely.
Ocean Flow gaped. “Y-You want to bake apology cakes with me? Me!? After everything I said and did…? You want to spend more time with me?” she questioned, completely dumbfounded.
“Absolutely,” Gallus casually confirmed, bewildering her even more. “It’s like I said earlier, I want to be somegriff you can approve of. Because, to be frank? Ms. Ocean Flow, I love your daughter,” he confessed, smiling serenely. “I know you disapprove of me, and I know I scared Silverstream, but… I love her. And I don’t plan to stop loving her. Ever,” he concluded resolutely.
“…That was quite possibly one of the sweetest things I’ve ever heard,” she commented, holding a flipper to her heart and staring at him in disbelief.
“Well? I am her sweetie,” he bragged, winking. “Being sweet is sorta my job.”
“Oh my gosh, she calls you ‘sweetie’!?” Ocean Flow squealed, beaming excitedly.
“Yeah, why?”
Had it not been for the context behind their entire conversation, Ocean Flow would’ve swept Gallus into her flippers and hugged him tightly, celebrating her daughter having a sweetie. Rather than that, she bewailed, “As if I didn’t have enough reasons to think I’m an idiot…”
“Ms. Ocean Flow, you’re not an idiot,” Gallus comforted kindly.
“I’ve certainly been acting like one,” she said, figuring he wouldn’t be able to argue otherwise.
She figured wrong because he hastily countered, “Acting paranoid? Maybe. Acting idiotically? No. I mean, you’re not entirely wrong,” he noted gravely. “I did scare her.”
“Not intentionally,” Ocean Flow fired back. “And don’t you dare try to say it doesn’t matter,” she preemptively interjected. “It does, Gallus. I refuse to blame you whatsoever for what happened.”
“But—”
“No buts,” she interrupted again. “You were having such a hard time that you found solace in being in that psychopath’s bedroom. I— I can’t even begin to imagine how horrible you must have been feeling for that to be the case,” she said, looking over him pityingly.
“Yeah,” he murmured morosely. “Yeah, it… It was pretty bad.”
“And if you think I’d ever blame you for going through such an ordeal, you’re mistaken. To hold your—for lack of a subtler word—trauma against you…? That wouldn’t just be cruel. That would be sick,” she said, disgusted with the mere idea of doing so. “And as you said, that’s the brat’s job.”
Gallus snorted. That snort turned into a light chuckle, and that chuckle quickly turned into full-blown laughter. Ocean Flow didn’t hesitate to join in said laughter
…
…
…
Eventually, Ocean Flow stopped laughing and timidly said, “I… I’m sorry, Gallus.”
“You don’t have to apologize for anything, Ms. Ocean Flow,” he assuaged.
“Oh no. No, I have plenty of things I must apologize for,” she insisted, running a flipper along her mane-fin again. “And one of them is that I… I…”
“Still don’t approve of me?”
“…I want to approve of you,” Ocean Flow said, staring him directly in the eye. “Really, I do. I know you’re happy with each other, but I want my daughter to be happy and safe. And I… I just don’t know if she’ll be safe with you. I’m so sorry, Gallus,” she apologized.
Gallus said nothing, focusing his gaze on her seaweed loaf while he ruminated on everything she had said. After some time, he smiled solemnly, saying, “I want so badly to promise you that everything will be fine. That you have nothing to fear, and that Silverstream will never be afraid again.”
“But I can’t promise that,” he lamented, shaking his head plaintively. “I can’t expect perfection from myself, let alone the world. And as much as I hate to admit it, bad days are just a part of life.”
“Wise,” she placidly commented. “Still though? We may not be able to expect perfection, but we certainly do wish for it, don’t we?”
“That we do. But having said that?” Gallus continued, his eyes shining with determination. “Ms. Ocean Flow? I love Silverstream. Disapprove of me all you want, but I love her, and that’s never going to change.”
“I know. And I’m not going to tell you that you shouldn’t love her; it’s just… I’m afraid,” she admitted.
“And that’s okay. But while it may be okay to be scared or angry, I know Silver hates feelings those things. And I gather you do too.” Gallus paused to take a calm breath. “So? Although I can’t promise nothing bad will ever happen again… I can promise this: If Silverstream is scared, I will be there to protect her,” he swore without a hint of hesitation. “If she is sad, I’ll be there to comfort her. If she is upset, I will be there to help her. Always.”
Ocean Flow said nothing.
“I understand that’s not ideal. Frankly, I wish I could wave my talons—er?—flippers,” he corrected, grinning awkwardly. “And make all the world’s problems go away, especially hers. But I can’t. However, that will not stop me from being there for her, nor will it stop me from doing everything I can to help and protect her,” he pledged adamantly.
“I love your daughter, Ms. Ocean Flow,” Gallus repeated one final time. “And I want to be with her. I want to be part of her world, and I want to be part of her future. No matter where she is, or what she’s doing… I want to be right there with her. Right by her side,” he concluded, smiling serenely.
Following his proclamation, Ocean Flow simply stared at him with an unreadable expression. Before long, a tiny grin graced her muzzle. “You really mean all of that?”
“Yes, ma’am, I do,” Gallus confirmed, nodding firmly.
“You are at your happiest when you’re with my daughter?”
“Yes, ma’am, I am.”
“And do you promise you’ll protect her? You’ll— You’ll keep my daughter safe?”
“Yes. Yes, ma’am, I will,” he promised.
Ocean’s grin grew wider. “You promise you’ll protect her?” she asked again, though decidedly less worriedly. “And you’ll respect her, love her, and be there for her whenever she needs you most?”
“I already do all those things, Ms. Ocean Flow,” he confidently reassured.
“Yes, well? I want to hear you say it,” she said, winking.
“Then I promise I’ll protect her, respect her, love her, and be there for her whenever she needs me most.”
Ocean Flow waited for all of a second before letting out a quiet snicker. “Sea kelp, you’re so sweet,” she praised, causing him to perk up hopefully. Ocean then shrugged and said, “Alright then. If you truly mean all of that, if you truly will keep my daughter safe, and if you’ll both truly be happy with each other…? Who am I to say no?”
“Wait! You— You mean…?” He fell silent, unsure if he had heard right but praying he had.
“Yes, yes, yes. You have my approval,” she stated, rolling her eyes. “It’s not like you actually needed it though; Silverstream is free to love whoever she wants. Just be glad you’re the one she chose to love,” she teased slyly.
“Oh, I definitely am,” Gallus said, smiling rapturously. “Also, um? I know it’s a little inappropriate to ask this, but…? Can I hug you?”
Ocean Flow gasped, excitedly squealing, “You’re a hugger!? Silverstream never said you were a hugger!” She quickly floated up from her chair and held out her flippers, saying, “Well, come on then! You’re my daughter’s sweetie, and I wanna hug you too!”
Gallus wasted no time darting into her embrace. “Thank you,” he whispered happily.
“Nahhh, don’t thank me, Gallus dear,” she pleaded, hugging him back. Once they broke apart, Ocean gave him a rue frown, acknowledging, “I understand it was okay to worry for my daughter, but I shouldn’t have directed my frustrations onto you. That wasn’t fair; that was cruel.”
“And I already said I forgive you,” he laughed, beyond relieved to know he had finally earned her approval. “That is…? So long as you were serious about those apology cakes?”
“Obviously. And you were serious about baking them with me, weren’t you?”
“Obviously,” he echoed. “Besides, why wouldn’t I want to bake with my girlfriend’s awesome mother? Great chance for some mother-daughter’s boyfriend bonding time, wouldn’t you say?”
“…I am going to dote on you so much,” she nonchalantly swore, grinning almost maniacally.
“And I’m going to do everything I can to earn that doting.”
“You’d better.”
“Oh, I will.”
They both giggled for a moment.
“Although,” Ocean Flow began again, recoiling regretfully once more. “I-I must apologize yet again for this whole debacle, Gallus dear. Please don’t let my, er, ‘attitude’ color your perceptions of Seaquestria or Mount Aris as a whole,” she implored.
“As if I ever could,” Gallus scoffed at the idea. “I’ve only been here a few days, and I already want to move here.”
“Oh yes. I am definitely going to dote on you,” she tittered. “Goodness, I really was a fool if I couldn’t see how charming a boy you truly were.”
“Eh, you were afraid; I can’t fault you for that.”
“Well, I can certainly fault myself for that.”
“Don’t. You don’t have to be ashamed of being afraid, Ms. Ocean Flow.”
She smiled. “You really are just the sweetest creature ever, aren’t you?”
“I try.”
“And you’re certainly succeeding brilliantly as far as I’m concerned,” she complimented, happy to see his smile widen. “That said? I really should have talked to my daughter about my fears. If I had, perhaps all of this drama wouldn’t have gotten so…dramatic,” she ended shyly.
“Probably.”
“Probably. … On that note?” Ocean Flow swam toward one of her kitchen drawers and searched through it. Before Gallus could question it, she extracted her own Pearl-piece from the drawer’s depths. “Come on, Gallus dear. I’ve got a daughter I need to go apologize to.”
***
“Seriously!? That’s the reason she’s been so angry at Gallus!?” Silverstream asked, gawking in disbelief.
“Mhmm,” Sky Beak hummed, nodding.
“I— I knew she was worried, but I just thought it was because I stopped writing back. I-I didn’t think…” She fell silent.
“Yes, well? That certainly didn’t help matters.”
Silver flinched and asked, “But why couldn’t you guys have just asked me to visit more? You know I would have if you wanted me to.”
“Because Ocean wouldn’t have wanted you to just visit. She would’ve wanted you to stay,” he clarified.
“Oh. Geez, now I know how Smolder feels,” she grumbled to herself. “But come on, Daddy! Why couldn’t she have talked to me about this instead of harping on Gallus? Or better yet, why didn’t you tell me this was the real problem?” she inquired indignantly.
“Because neither of us wanted to put you through the same thing we accidentally put your brother through,” Sky explained sadly. “Mount Aris, Seaquestria, and Ponyville may all be your homes, but we all know where you’re currently happiest.”
Silverstream couldn’t exactly contest that, so she simply said, “I still would’ve visited more.”
“And we’d love it if you would,” he chirped, wrapping a wing around her and bringing her back into a warm hug. “Ocean Flow wasn’t the only one worried about you…”
“Yeah, I know,” she muttered, hugging him back. “I’m really sorry I stopped writing you guys.”
“Just promise to never do it again,” he pleaded, a note of desperation slipping into his voice.
“I won’t.”
“Thank you, Silverstream.” Sky then gave his daughter one last squeeze before pulling back and sternly adding, “Now, I expect you to keep that promise, you hear?”
“Don’t worry, I will. Besides, I promised Terramar I’d send more letters too.”
“Ooh! Will they come with those little doodles of yours?”
Silver snorted, swearing, “Yes, Daddy. I’ll make sure they all come with doodles.”
“Yay!” he cheered, clapping happily. “I love your doodles.”
“Hee-hee. Gallus loves them too.”
“How could he not? How could anycreature not? Your art is always fantastic.”
“Yeah, I am a pretty good artist, aren’t I?” she bragged.
“Yes, you are,” he praised, planting a kiss on her forehead and drawing out a giggle.
Afterward, Silver’s smile slowly drooped, and she mumbled, “Although…? I guess I can’t really be mad that you and Mom didn’t tell me you were so worried. Not after I stopped sending letters.”
“Honey, you can be mad at us all you want,” Sky Beak permitted, secretly hoping she wouldn’t be. “You may still be a teenager, but after everything you’ve done and been through…? It would have been far wiser to talk to you about our concerns rather than hide them.”
“Just like it would’ve been wiser to ask Mom to stop haranguing me about Gallus,” she conceded, shooting a frown at the flowing stream they still sat beside. Silverstream then looked back at her father, wondering, “What… What should I do now?”
“What would you like to do now?”
After giving it some thought, she answered, “Go and make up with Mom.”
“Whelp, in that case,” he grunted, standing up. Sky then helped Silverstream rise as well, adding, “Let’s go make up with your mom.”
“Can I yell at her some more too?” Silverstream asked as the two made their way back toward Hippogriffia. “Because I am still mad at her.”
“Er? W-We’ll see,” he responded with. He then looked ahead and spotted a group of creatures halfway up the pathway toward them. “Hold on…? Is that Gallus?”
“Yeah,” she confirmed, recognizing the familiar sky blue plumage of her boyfriend and the sandy white feathers of her brother. “Him and Terry. But who’s…?” She fell silent, squinting at the yellow hippogriff they were helping.
A split second later, both Sky Beak and Silverstream gasped in realization.
“Ocean Flow!?” Sky screeched, spreading his wings and soaring toward the trio.
“Mom!?” Silver cried out, racing after him.
“Agh, w-wobbly legs! Wobbly legs!” Ocean Flow yelped as said appendages gave out yet again.
“You know, Mom? You didn’t have to do this,” Terramar complained, straining to keep his mother from collapsing to the ground. “We could have just gotten Silver to come back to the beach,” he proposed.
“Terramar, please,” she wheezed, struggling in vain to get her hooves to function properly. “I’m okay; I just need a moment to catch my breath.”
While Terramar rolled his eyes at his mother’s stubbornness, Gallus asked for the fifth time, “Seriously, Ms. Ocean Flow, are you sure about this? You really don’t look so good.”
“Thank you for your concern, Gallus dear, but I am not going back until I see— Oh thank goodness! Sky Beak!” she shrieked, smiling weakly as her ex-husband rushed over to them. “Help.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve got you! I’ve got you,” he worriedly exclaimed, taking over for Gallus and Terramar in supporting her weight. Once they stepped aside, he asked, “Are you okay?”
“Um, I’ll get back to you on that,” Ocean Flow whimpered, holding onto him for dear life.
Silver, meanwhile, caught up to the group. “Mom, why are you out of the water!?” Not waiting for an answer, she rounded on her boyfriend and brother and screamed, “Why is she out of the water!?”
“Don’t blame us, Sis,” Terramar said coolly. “This was her idea.”
Silverstream was about to respond with a rather harsh retort, but before she could, Ocean Flow spoke up, “Yes. Yes, it was, honey.” She then glanced at Sky and requested, “Sky Beak dear? Could you let me sit down? Please?”
“U-Uh, sure. Sure,” he said, helping her gently sit down in the grass. “Ocean Flow, what are you doing here?”
“I am here to apologize to our daughter,” she answered, panting from all of the exertion.
“Apologize to me?” Silver questioned, torn on whether to still be angry at her mother or to hug her and apologize repeatedly herself. At the moment, she was leaning more toward the former.
“Yes,” Ocean affirmed, finally controlling her breathing. “I am here to apologize to you.”
“But why? Mom, you’re a seapony; you shouldn’t be out of the water,” she rebuked, shooting another glare at Gallus and Terramar. “C’mon, let’s get you back to the beach and—”
“No,” Ocean refused bluntly. “Silverstream, I wronged you, and I refuse to go another second without apologizing for it. So? Please pardon the, er, theatrics,” she went with, gesturing to her hippogriff form. “But I need to apologize to you.”
Utterly flummoxed by this sudden turn of events, Silverstream stammered and looked at Gallus questioningly.
“It’s okay, Silverstream,” he comforted, nodding. “Just hear her out.”
After sharing another uncertain glance with both her brother and father, she rolled her eyes and gave Ocean Flow her full attention, grumbling, “Okay, fine. I’m listening. Just hurry up so we can get you back to the water, okay?”
Ocean Flow nodded, eternally grateful her daughter wasn’t screaming at her again. Yet. “Okay. Silverstream? I am sorry,” she began.
“Yeah, I kinda got that.”
“No, look, I… What I did was wrong,” she declared firmly. “Unquestionably. Undeniably. Irrefutably. Wrong! A-And while I could sit here and explain why I did what I did…? I’m not going to.” Ocean paused to catch her breath again before adding, “Nothing I say will change or undo what I did, and what I did was absolutely deplorable.”
“On that, we agree.”
“Y-Yes, I know. Honey? I’m… I have no excuse for the things I said or did—”
“You really don’t.”
“Silverstream…?” Sky Beak murmured, receiving only a cold glare in response.
“It’s okay, Sky Beak,” Ocean soothed, hiding a wince. “Silver honey?” she resumed. “It— It doesn’t matter who or what your boyfriend is; he’s your boyfriend. He’s the one you love. A-And I should have respected that. I should have respected him,” she emphasized, sparing Gallus an apologetic glance. “And above all else? I should have respected you. But? I didn’t.” Ocean hung her head and concluded, “I didn’t trust you. I pushed you away and…hurt you.”
Silver looked away, pawing at the ground nervously. “You know what, Mom? Yeah,” she growled. “You did hurt me.”
“Come on, Sis—”
“Shut up, Terramar!” she shouted, quelling him instantly. She then glared back at Ocean Flow, snarling, “Did you think I liked reading all about how much you thought Gallus and I shouldn’t be together!? Or hearing you call him an ‘outsider’!? Or— Or finding out you were paranoid I wouldn’t be safe with him!?” she bellowed, flaring her wings in outrage.
Ocean Flow looked at Sky Beak and received a knowing nod. She then returned her gaze to her daughter, saying, “No. Honey, that was wrong of me—”
“You’re pecking right it was wrong of you!”
“Did you just—” Gallus clamped his beak shut when his girlfriend shot him an irate scowl as well. “Shutting up now,” he murmured hastily.
“Thank you,” Silverstream huffed, turning back to Ocean Flow. “Mom, I… Dad told me how worried about me you were. And, first of all? It’s okay you were worried,” she consoled. “Secondly, I’ll obviously visit more if you want me to. And thirdly, I’m not mad you were so worried about me. I’m…actually kinda glad,” she revealed, much to Ocean’s surprise.
“What I am mad about, however,” Silver went on, grimacing again. “Is that you treated my boyfriend like dirt. I forgave you!” she shrieked, her eyes watering. “I forgave you for sending me all of your stupid letters, but you still—but! You! STILL!—tried to screw up my relationship with him!”
“I love Gallus, Mom,” Silverstream proclaimed, fighting back a sob. “Not that prince guy. And Gallus loves me too. Like, I-I get you were worried about me, but… Wh-Why did you have to be so mean to him? Why— Why couldn’t you just talk to him?” she whimpered, instinctively reaching up and double-checking that her necklace was still there.
“Because I was a fool,” Ocean Flow admitted, having no further reason, nor excuse to provide.
A part of Silver wanted to furiously voice her agreement with that statement, but she couldn’t bring herself to do so. Instead, she sniffled and promised, “I really do love him, Mom.”
Sky Beak and Terramar both glanced at Gallus, glad to discover the griffon was smiling happily.
“I know,” Ocean replied, calmingly combing a talon through her mane. “I know, and I’m so, so sorry I tried to ruin that! I was wrong, and— And—” She shook her head, concluding, “I’m just so sorry, Silverstream.”
An awkward silence fell between the two as Ocean Flow worked on recovering her composure, and Silverstream sorted through her current thoughts and feelings.
“Do… Do you really mean all of that?” the latter soon began, though not without some hesitation.
“Yes. Yes, I do,” Ocean Flow adamantly averred.
Silver then turned to Gallus and asked, “And did she apologize to you too?”
“Yep,” Gallus answered immediately. “She did.”
“And you forgave her?”
“Naturally.”
Nodding slowly, Silverstream looked back at her mother and inquired, “Are you going to make any more derogatory remarks about Gallus?”
“Not unless he breaks your heart,” she swore, grinning hopefully. “But considering he’s head-over-fins, er, paws,” she corrected. “For you? I highly doubt that’ll happen anytime soon.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
“…Pinkie Promise it,” she demanded, remembering the last time her mother had promised her something.
Although initially baffled by what her daughter meant, Ocean soon recalled what she was referring to and asked, “Oh, do you mean that odd contract thing Professor Pinkie Pie does?”
“Yep. The Pinkie Promise,” Silver repeated bluntly. “I want you to Pinkie Promise it.”
“You ain’t getting out of it if you do, Mom,” Terramar warned, shaking his head emphatically.
“You really won’t, Ocean dear,” Sky Beak concurred.
“Like that matters where our daughter is concerned,” she shot back, smirking. “Now, how did it go again? Oh, that’s right! I, er, cross my heart? Hope to fly? Stick a cake—”
“Cupcake,” Silver and Gallus reflexively corrected.
“Oops! Sorry.” After clearing her throat, Ocean Flow vowed, “I Pinkie Promise not to make any derogatory remarks about you, your boyfriend, or your relationship from here on out. Cross my heart, hope to fly; stick a cupcake in my eye,” she recited, performing the motions well enough.
“Alright then. I forgive you,” Silverstream chirped, moving to hug her mother. She then stopped herself and added, “Buuut? Only if you also promise that you, Gallus, and I will all have a do-over dinner. You know? So you can actually get a chance to know him better?”
“Absolutely,” Ocean Flow said, nodding gleefully. She then cupped her beak with a talon and confided, “I’ve got a brand new seaweed loaf recipe that I’ve been meaning to try out for weeks.”
“In that case,” Gallus spoke up, significantly allayed to see everything had worked out. “Do you mind if I help you bake that too? I’m really curious to see how seaponies cook underwater.”
“It’s a lot easier than you think,” Ocean replied. “And the answer is obviously yes.”
“Yes,” he echoed, pumping a talon in victory.
“Wait a minute!” Silver yelped, shifting her gaze between her boyfriend and mother. “You want to bake with him?”
“Of course,” she confirmed, eyes twinkling with delight. “He’s your sweetie, after all; there’s no possible way I wouldn’t want to get to know him more.”
“Told you,” Sky sang smugly.
“You… You mean, you’re actually…?”
“Perfectly fine with you and he dating?” Ocean guessed. “Yep. You were right, honey. I just had to talk to him, and he charmed me in the first two minutes,” she confessed, snickering.
Silverstream’s first instinct was to squeal excitedly and pounce her mother, but she quickly quashed that idea upon remembering Ocean was still in her hippogriff form. Although, that didn’t stop her from grabbing her mother in a warm hug anyway.
“Thank you, Mom,” she murmured, feeling a massive wave of relief course through her every feather.
“Don’t thank me, honey. I shouldn’t have been such a paranoid, old coot.”
“True. But hey! I still forgive you.”
Ocean Flow’s eyes watered as she hugged her daughter even tighter, whispering, “Thank you.”
A gentle breeze blew over the Harmonizing Heights, causing a beautiful melody to play across the fields, almost as if in celebration of the mother and daughter finally having properly made amends.
In the meantime, Terramar breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of them hugging while Gallus and Sky Beak shared a happy, thankful smile.
After a while, the duo broke apart, and Ocean Flow noted, “Heh. It’s been so long since I last had feathers, I completely forgot how wonderful they could make a hug feel.”
“Speaking of which,” Sky Beak said, offering her a talon. “Let’s get you back home, shall we?”
“Yes. Please!” she begged, grabbing hold and yelping as he hoisted her onto his back. “Thank you, Sky Beak. As, uh, nostalgic as it is to be in this form? I reeeaaally need to get back to the water.”
“Could have just gotten my sister to come to the beach,” Terramar not-so-subtly remarked.
Ignoring their son’s snark, Sky kindly assured, “Don’t worry, Ocean Flow, I’m on it. Would you like me to fly you, or—”
“NO!” she screamed, gripping him fearfully. “No… Please just take me back to the water.”
“Understood. To the beach, we go,” he declared, trotting down the path as gently as he could for Ocean’s sake while the others all followed suite.
“Yes, thank you. And, uh, sorry again for all the theatrics,” Ocean Flow apologized, blushing. “I just couldn’t bear the thought of spending another minute without apologizing to you, honey.”
“No problem, Mom,” Silver assuaged. “Just make sure not to do something like this again, okay?”
“Absolutely not! If I ever wrong you or anycreature again, I am most assuredly going to apologize for it,” she contended passionately. “But? Admittedly, I’ll try to refrain from doing…this,” she said, giving her wings a feeble flap. “Again.”
“If you ever do need to do so, however?” Sky Beak interjected. “Please make sure I’m there to help,” he requested. “You know I will if I can.”
Ocean smiled softly. “I know. Thank you again, Sky Beak.”
“No thanks necessary, Ocean Flow,” he said, grinning at her over his shoulder. “You okay?”
“I’m okay,” she said, nodding. Ocean then giggled impishly. “In fact? I’m more than okay. Our daughter has a sweetie, Sky!”
“Oh no. Here we go,” Terramar groaned, grimacing in realization at was about to come.
“I know!” Sky Beak squeed as his wings gave an ecstatic flutter. “You should have seen them, Ocean Flow. The first day they were here, they never once stopped smiling at each other. Not! Once!”
“And did you see how excited Silver was when Gallus promised her that extra long kiss? Because I certainly saw how excited he was!” she sang innocently.
“Please stop,” Gallus quietly begged, feeling his cheeks burn scarlet.
Terramar was about to say something similar, but once he noticed how embarrassed the griffon was, he instead attested, “Well? He definitely followed through on his promise, that’s for sure.”
“And I’m very glad he did because it was a good kiss,” Silverstream complimented. “A really, really good kiss,” she purred, cozying up to Gallus.
“Oh, was it now?” Sky asked, shooting Gallus a sly smirk that only made the griffon blush more. “Aww, Gallus dear? Did you enjoy giving my baby girl a good, extra long kiss?”
“Oh, I bet he did,” Ocean Flow joined in the teasing. “And if I know our daughter, I bet she repaid his affection in kind.”
“Yes, I did,” Silver confirmed, raising her head proudly.
Gallus hid himself behind his wings, much to all of their amusement.
“Oh come on, Gallus,” Terramar said, barely holding back an evil laugh. “Don’t tell me you didn’t love snogging my sister for two hours straight?”
“‘Two hours straight’?” Ocean repeated, gaping at both her daughter and her boyfriend in shock. “You two kissed for that long?”
Since her boyfriend was a little busy contemplating how best to escape this situation, Silver answered on his behalf. “Yep. And it was a wonderful two hours,” she hummed happily.
“Oh my gosh, Sis!” Terramar exclaimed, face-clawing and snickering.
“Whaaat? It was.”
“Two hours,” Ocean muttered, dumbstruck. “My daughter and her boyfriend kissed for two hours. Frankly, I don’t know whether to be horrified or impressed.”
“Same,” Sky Beak concurred. “I really am curious as to how they could go on for that long though. I mean, we couldn’t even reach two hours when we were their age. Seriously, Gallus dear, where did you get all of that stamina?”
“Probably all those beats and celery sticks, eh, Gallus?” Terramar jeered.
“Please,” Gallus croaked. “Please stop. Have mercy,” he pleaded in a cracked voice.
All four hippogriffs laughed cheerfully.
“Oh, Gallus dear, we’re just teasing,” Sky Beak comforted, sparing the poor griffon a reassuring pat on the back.
“And trust me,” Ocean Flow chirped warmly. “We’ll dote on you far, far more than we’ll tease you.”
“Make no mistake, we’re totally going to keep teasing you,” Terramar pledged, playing along.
“Oh, absolutely! You charmed us all, remember? So expect us to fawn all over you in the years to come,” Ocean fervently forewarned.
“But don’t worry too much, Gallus dear,” Sky giggled. “No matter how much we may tease you or joke around… It will come from a place of sincerity.”
“You’re my sister’s sweetie, after all,” Terramar said, rolling his eyes but smiling all the same.
“And we are going to love, spoil, and dote on you accordingly,” Sky Beak and Ocean Flow both promised, winking.
“That’s what family’s for,” Silverstream whispered to Gallus, giving him a loving kiss.
A moment later, Gallus folded his wings back in, revealing his still-blushing face and glistening eyes. “Can I just say… I’ve been here for three days, and I don’t ever want to leave,” he proclaimed, sparking another round of laughter among the others. “I’m serious. I-I really love it here. I love all of you.”
“Awww,” Silver cooed, wrapping her wings and talons around him in a joyful hug. “We love you too, Gallus.”
Gallus happily hugged her back, unable to think of anything more to say as he tried not to cry.
All three other hippogriffs watched the couple with tranquil smiles, but after a few minutes, Ocean Flow turned to Sky Beak and commented, “They really are cute together, aren’t they?”
“Yes, they are,” he agreed, beaming excitedly. “Do you remember when we were like that with each other?”
“Ohhh, I don’t think we want to talk about those days,” she said, laughing sheepishly. “We wouldn’t want to give them any ideas, would we?”
“Eh? A little late for that, I’m afraid.”
“…What do you mean?” she asked grimly.
“Silver picked up that tail maneuver of yours,” he divulged, perplexing Terramar and causing both Gallus and Silverstream to freeze up in alarm.
“Dad, what are you doing!?” the latter squawked.
“‘Tail maneuver’?” Ocean repeated questioningly, raising an eyebrow.
“You know the one,” Sky hummed.
Ocean Flow gasped in realization and glared at her furiously blushing daughter, asking, “Did you thrust your tail in that poor boy’s face, Silverstream!?”
“…Maybe?” she mumbled, shying away from her mother’s glare.
“What!? Ewww!” Terramar shrieked, shivering in disgust. “What is wrong with you, Silver!?”
“I was flirting!”
“How exactly is shoving your tail under my beak flirting?” Gallus asked dryly.
“Hey, Mom did it to Dad; I was just copying them. But it’s apparently the type of flirting I can only do when we get married,” she explained, rolling her eyes. “Dad wouldn’t tell me why though.”
Gallus tilted his head in befuddlement, but just before he could figure it out, Sky Beak quoted, “‘When we get married’? Already considering that, are we?”
Wordlessly, Silver gave her parents a serene smile before planting another kiss on her boyfriend’s cheek.
Terramar, meanwhile, grinned wickedly upon remembering a certain factoid his sister had foolishly shared with him. “Well, duh. Smolder did—”
“Nothing!” Gallus and Silverstream both roared, each slapping their talons over his beak, much to his frustration and Sky and Ocean’s confusion.
“Smolder did nothing,” Silver said, giving her brother a pointed glare. “Absolutely. Nothing.”
Sky Beak and Ocean Flow shared an unamused glance, deciding to ask Terramar what he was going to say later. “Whelp,” the former resumed, looking back at their daughter. “In any case, Silver honey? I do not want you shoving your tail under his beak again, understand?”
“Nor do I want you flirting with him in any similar manner,” Ocean Flow added sternly. “Otherwise, you will be in a lot of trouble.”
“But, Mooooom! Daaaaad!” Silverstream whined, pouting. “Have you seen his face? Look at him!” she ordered, gesturing to her boyfriend excitedly. “Look at this face. Look at how cute he is!”
“He’s not as cute as you, honey,” Ocean fired back teasingly.
“He’s still too cute not to flirt with!”
“There are other ways to flirt with him that don’t involve shoving your tail into his face,” Sky Beak countered. “You know? Like when Gallus took pictures of you in the water?”
“Oh, he did, did he?” Ocean Flow asked, sparing Gallus a smirk.
“Yes, he did. He showed me the pictures, and I must say he’d make a good photographer,” he complimented, winking at the griffon.
“Hmm. You made sure to get our daughter’s good side though, didn’t you, Gallus dear?”
Gallus grinned and blissfully answered, “Wasn’t that hard when Silver’s beautiful from every angle.”
While both of his parents squealed in delight, Terramar scoffed at the corniness of the line. Silverstream, on the other talon, jokingly deadpanned, “You already used that line, sweetie.”
“So? It’s the truth, isn’t it?” he replied, giving her cheek a happy nuzzle.
“Hee-hee-hee. Yeah, it is,” she agreed, nuzzling him back.
Sky Beak and Ocean Flow smiled widely at the couple before meeting each other’s eye and simultaneously celebrating, “Our daughter has a sweetie!”
“Yes, I do!” Silverstream rejoiced, giving Gallus a short, joyful kiss. “You’re my sweetie,” she sang happily.
“And you’re my everything,” he said, smiling serenely.
Following his declaration, Silver hurriedly hooked her talons around him and pulled him back into her embrace, passionately kissing him again. She soon leaned back, panting harshly as she extolled, “You are so sweet!”
“I can still be sweeter,” he promised confidently, cupping her cheeks with his talons.
“Later. Right now, I want you to kiss me again.”
“As you wish, milady.”
As one, they both gleefully resumed kissing.
…
…
…
“Hey!” Terramar yelled, startling them from their snogging. “You two done yet?”
“No!” they both angrily barked at him.
“Can’t you guys kiss another time? We’ve still got to get Mom home.”
“If it helps?” Sky Beak spoke up. “Stratus and Haven should both be done with the last of the parade preparations by now.”
“Ooh! You’re throwing a parade?” Ocean Flow inquired.
“Yep. To commemorate our daughter having a sweetie.”
“Wonderful! Your parades are always the best,” she praised, grinning triumphantly when she noticed his faint blush.
“Speaking of which, you set up a kissing booth, right?” Silverstream asked desperately.
“No. But the dancing competition is still on.”
Silverstream gave Gallus an eager smile he returned in kind.
“Shall we, milady?”
“Let’s go, sweetie!”
They both then excitedly sprinted back to Hippogriffia, leaving the others in their wake.
“Hey! Hey, you guys…!” Terramar called after them only to sigh as they disappeared from view. “Of course. You need help getting Mom back home, Dad?”
“Nah, I’ve got her,” Sky Beak assured. “You go and have some fun too.”
“Who knows? Maybe you’ll finally find your own sweetie during the shindig?” Ocean Flow suggested pointedly.
“Mooooom!” he mewled, flushing crimson as both his parents laughed. “Ugh, why am I the only normal one in this family?” Terramar asked himself, spreading his wings and flying away.
“Hee-hee-hee,” Ocean continued chuckling as Sky resumed his trot. “We raised our children right, didn’t we?”
“Yes. Yes, we did,” he confirmed, smiling proudly.
“Mmm,” she hummed, letting out a peaceful sigh. “Hey, Sky Beak?”
“Yes, Ocean Flow?”
“Our daughter has a sweetie.”
“Yes, she does. Hee-hee! Our daughter has a sweetie!” Sky Beak celebrated once more, giggling joyously.
“Our daughter has a sweetie!” Ocean Flow echoed, flapping her wings jubilantly.
They both laughed merrily as they trotted back to the beach, gushing ecstatically over their daughter’s newfound love and the future that awaited the happy couple.
***
The sound of music and laughter echoed through the air of Mount Aris as Sky Beak’s parade finally launched into full swing.
Dozens of hippogriffs frolicked through the air and across the land, singing and dancing to their hearts’ content, and just as many seaponies had surfaced along the beach to do much the same, only in the crystal blue waves.
Gliding upon her uncle’s dance stadium was Princess Skystar, laughing gaily as she and many of her troupe gave Mount Aris a taste of what kind of competition Yakyakistan faced.
The hippogriff responsible for establishing such lively festivities was nowhere to be seen, having disappeared below the waves with his ex-wife to plot out how best to dote on their daughter’s sweetie throughout the coming years.
Speaking of Silverstream’s sweetie…
Gallus had laid a towel down in the sand and collapsed onto it, closing his eyes and working to catch his breath and rest his sore legs. Upon hearing somecreature approach, however, he reopened his eyes and smiled at the hippogriff standing over him.
“Got room on that towel for one more?” Silverstream asked, smiling excitedly.
Gallus extended his wing invitingly, and she swiftly laid down and nestled into his side, feeling his wing drape across her back.
“You okay, sweetie?” she inquired, nuzzling his neck happily.
“No,” he deadpanned, wincing as another ache shot through his paws. “One second, Silverstream. I turned my back for one second, and that crazy cousin of yours pounced me.”
“I know; I saw.”
“She made me dance with her for half an hour, Silver. Half. An. Hour.”
“Hey, you kept with her at least; not even I can do that.”
“I still would have preferred dancing with you.”
“Aww, I would have preferred dancing with you too. … That said? You still wanna do that?”
“Maybe when my legs stop burning.”
Silverstream giggled for a moment before sighing contently and resting her head against his shoulder. “Thank you again for coming with me to Mount Aris.”
“Thank you again for inviting me,” Gallus thanked, giving her a serene kiss. “I really do love it here, Silver. I’m glad I got to see your home.”
“And I’m glad you got to meet my family.”
“And let’s both be glad that they like me.”
“Oh, Gallus, they don’t just ‘like’ you. They love you.”
“Stop it, Silver, you’re gonna make me blush.”
“They love you, Gallus,” she repeated, leaning back and smirking slyly. “Just like I love you.”
“Silver…!” he groaned in protest, struggling valiantly to keep himself from blushing.
“You’re my sweeetieee,” Silver sang, running a talon through his headcrest. She then laughed victoriously at the rosy glow she brought to his cheeks. “Ha-ha! There it is!”
“Yeah, yeah…” Gallus grumbled, smiling nonetheless. “Happy now?”
“Yep,” she answered, kissing the aforementioned blushing cheek. “I love it when you blush.”
“And I love it when you make me blush,” he quietly confessed.
Silver gasped and playfully rebuked, “You are shameless, Gallus. Shameless.”
“Yeah, well? There’s no shame in loving you with all my heart.”
“…Dang it,” she cursed, shaking her head in defeat. “Every time. Every time… You really do try to make everything you say sound as sweet as possible, don’t you?”
“I am your boyfriend,” he boasted, snickering. “It’s my job.”
“No, Gallus, you’re not just my boyfriend. You’re my sweetie,” Silver purred, snuggling him.
“I’m your sweetie,” Gallus declared, snuggling her back. “And I’m so happy to be your sweetie.”
“And I’m happy to be your milady.”
…
“Geez, we really are as bad as Yona and Sandbar,” Gallus acknowledged bluntly.
“I don’t care; I love you,” Silver whispered, giving him a dreamy smile.
“And I love you too.”
They kissed.
After breaking apart, Gallus nodded toward the beach, saying, “Hey, check it out.”
Silverstream followed his gaze and beheld the sight of Stratus Skyranger and Salina Blue merrily chatting away. Both of them, Silver noticed, were blushing.
“They look happy,” she said, grinning widely. “I hope they work out.”
“You still need to tell me about their whole story too,” Gallus addressed, reacquiring Silver’s attention. “After all? A certain somegriff completely forgot she had an honorary big sister.”
“Oh hush up,” Silver griped, blushing herself. “I didn’t forget; I just…never mentioned it.”
“Mm. Sure. We’ll go with that.”
Silverstream rolled her eyes, already knowing this wouldn’t be the last time he would tease her for this. She then spotted a hippogriff trotting toward them with a bouquet of flowers in his talons.
“Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me,” she growled, scowling at the approaching noble.
“Hmm?” Gallus noticed the hippogriff as well and guessed, “That him?”
“Yep.”
Once the prince approached them, he awkwardly fidgeted under the furious frowns of the couple. After clearing his throat, he began, “H-Hello. My name is—”
“I don’t care what your name is,” Silver cut him off mercilessly. “What do you want?”
He froze and swallowed nervously, elaborating, “W-Well, I, um… I just wanted to say I’m sorry for everything that transpired. Earlier. At— At your mother’s residence.”
“You mean when you tried to hook up with me even though I already have a boyfriend?”
“Er? W-W-Well, I-I didn’t know you— You were taken at the time, so—”
“Well, I’m still taken now, so why are you here?”
“T-To apologize,” he answered, cowering under her glare. “And to— And to give you these as an apology gift,” he added, cautiously passing her the bouquet.
Gallus immediately seized the flowers from him, gasping. “For me!? Aww, thank you. You shouldn’t have, Mr. Prince Guy,” he ended, smirking.
The prince blinked in confusion, muttering, “Um, th-those technically weren’t for you, but—”
“They weren’t?” Gallus asked, dropping the smile in place of a fierce scowl. “Oh? So you’re not apologizing to me for hitting on my girlfriend while I wasn’t there?”
“N-No, that’s not what I meant!” he quickly protested. “It’s just— It’s just that the flowers were meant for her, and—”
“Oh, so now you’re trying to hit on my girlfriend while I am here, huh!?”
“Also no!” the prince squeaked, twitching his wings and barely resisting the urge to flee. “I— I wanted to apologize for the whole ordeal, a-a-and I didn’t have any apology cakes on talon. So I got her an apology bouquet instead…?” he ended weakly.
“In that case,” Silverstream spoke up icily. “Where’s my bouquet? You gave Gallus his, so where’s mine? I was the one you hit on, after all; don’t I deserve an apology bouquet too?”
“Um, th-that was supposed to be your bouquet,” he clarified, pointing to the flowers Gallus still held. “But, as you can see, h-he took them.”
“Are you saying I don’t deserve an apology bouquet?” Gallus snarled, whipping his tail angrily. “Even though it was my girlfriend you tried to hit on behind my back!?”
“I-I-I didn’t say that!”
“Then where’s his bouquet!?” Silver inquired, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah, you only brought one, even though you needed to apologize to both of us.”
“In, uh, in that case, I-I’ll go get another one for you, Mr. Gallus!” the prince swore, already stepping away from the enraged couple.
“Get two,” Gallus demanded, sneering coldly. “This one rings rather hollow now.”
“T-Two bouquets it is then, one for each of you! Is, uh, is that better?” When neither of them responded, the prince shuffled anxiously, apologizing, “I-I really am sorry for the whole…situation…that happened.”
“And we’ll forgive you once you get back with our apology bouquets,” Silverstream deadpanned, waving him onward. “Go on. Go get ‘em.”
“Y-Yes, ma’am,” he fearfully said, running away.
“Before you go though!” she suddenly called out.
The prince paused and turned around, apprehensively muttering, “Y-Y-Yes?”
“If you’re still looking for a girlfriend, go find my cousin, Skystar,” Silver commanded, smiling politely. “She’s been looking for a boyfriend herself, and…? Eh, you’ll do.”
“R-Really!? You think— You think so?”
“Hey, as long as you know how to dance. You do know how to dance, right?”
“I do.”
“Then bring us those apology bouquets, and I’ll introduce you two,” she offered.
The prince squeed and raced off to find said flowers.
Gallus and Silverstream then looked at each other, sharing a smirk. He then gifted her the flowers, saying, “For you, milady.”
She gasped excitedly, sniffing them and sighing happily. “Aww, thank you, Gallus. I love them.”
“And I love you,” Gallus crooned, kissing her. “It was pretty nice of you to offer to set the guy up with Starry.”
“Yeah, well… We were pretty rough on him for a minute there, so I wanted to throw him at least one bone.”
“You are too pure for this world.”
“And you are too sweet,” she praised, kissing him. Silverstream then smelled the flowers again and whispered, “I’m really happy, Gallus.”
“I’m really happy too,” Gallus said, holding her talon as he snuggled her even more. “I’m really, really happy with you.”
“I’m really, really happy with you too!” she sang, draping her own wing around him and nuzzling him ecstatically. “Thank you so much for being with me.”
“And thank you for being with me.”
They both laughed and kissed again. About five minutes passed before they stopped and broke away, each breathing a little heavier.
“So…?” Silver began, twirling her mane in her talon. “You wanna keep kissing, or do you feel up to dancing yet?”
“Ooh, that’s a hard choice,” Gallus said, feeling his tail wag enthusiastically. “But I think I’ll have to go with the first one.”
“Aughhh, I was hoping you’d ask me to dance,” she pouted adorably.
“Oh, we are definitely going to dance before the day ends,” he swore, sneaking her cheek a small kiss and relishing her subsequent giggle. “For now though, I wanna keep kissing you.”
“I wanna keep kissing you too.”
After sharing another laugh, they both leaned forward and blissfully kissed yet again.
Not ten seconds later, a snow white seapony with a lush violet mane-fin burst out of the water, transformed back into a hippogriff, and landed on the beach.
Many of the hippogriffs and seaponies immediately noticed her presence and bowed respectfully only to cringe when their Queen roared, “WHERE IS MY NIECE!?” louder than even Princesses Celestia and Luna’s Royal Canterlot Voice.
After being shocked apart, Gallus and Silverstream both grimaced at the newly arrived Queen Novo. “Uh-oh. Looks like she got done early,” the latter realized, sighing in exasperation. “Of course.”
“I guess it’s time to charm her…?” Gallus supposed, shrugging uncertainly.
Unfortunately, before he could actually go through with that idea, Queen Novo stamped a talon down and shouted, “I DEMAND TO SEE MY NIECE! I DEMAND TO SEE HER AND THE BOY SHE DARES CALL ‘SWEETIE’!”
“Yeah, I should have known Skystar would spill the beans on that one,” Silver commented, rolling her eyes but smiling all the same.
Gallus, on the other talon, gulped nervously and whimpered, “Uh? You know what? Silverstream, I changed my mind; I want to go dancing.”
“You don’t want to try charming her, huh?”
“I’ll charm her later; right now, I’d rather dance with you,” he assured, forcing a wide smile.
“Then let’s go,” she said, standing up and hurriedly helping him do the same. Silver then smirked daringly and said, “But first…? Hey, Auntie Novo!” she shouted, waving.
“Silver, what are you doing!?” he puled, feeling a shiver go down his spine once the Queen’s eyes locked onto them.
“Ah, Silverstream. There you are,” Queen Novo murmured neutrally. “Good to see you again.”
“Good to see you too,” Silver replied, smiling innocently. “How’s ruling?”
“Swell. How’s school?”
“Great.”
“Good, good. So!” She nodded at Gallus and asked, “Who’s he?”
“My boyfriend,” Silver answered cheerfully.
“Oh, is that right?” Novo growled, eye twitching.
“Yep. Now, watch this!”
Silverstream pulled Gallus into a deep, passionate kiss, and although he had been initially caught off-guard by it, he wasted no time in cupping her cheeks and returning the embrace.
While a collective “D’AWWW!” echoed among the surrounding hippogriffs and seaponies, Queen Novo shrieked, “THAT GRIFFON HAD BETTER BE A PRINCE!”
Upon breaking away, Silver shouted back, “He’s not, but I love him anyway! Deal with it!”
“Why you little…!” she snarled, snorting furiously and stomping toward them.
“Hee-hee, I knew that would get her. Come on, sweetie,” Silverstream beckoned eagerly, taking his talon. “Let’s see how well you remember those hippogriff dances I taught you.”
“Lead the way, milady,” Gallus said, hurrying after her.
“GET BACK HERE!” Queen Novo screamed, flaring her wings and giving chase.
Gallus and Silverstream both merely picked up the pace, laughing serenely as they happily fled back toward Mount Aris to dance the day away.