It all happened so long ago... we were young, different, dumb then. Besides, I've moved on from that part of my life.
Loneliness is a scary thing. It can gnaw away at the back of your mind, with your instinct being to try to push it down, when you can't figure out how to deal with it. Just ask Gallus how he knows that. He has foresworn relationships, after being unable to sustain them, instead focusing on his duties as Equestria's Royal Guard Captain. He has accomplished so much and yet... there's still that emptiness, gnawing at the edge of his mind.
Meanwhile, Silverstream is more sure than ever that it was a horrible mistake - her and Gallus breaking up. Can she win back the one for her? Will succeed in opening Gallus's eyes to the truth?
As scary as it can be to look for a part of yourself that you feel is gone forever, broken beyond repair, is it ever truly gone if you gather the courage to cast your eyes upon it?
Inspired by the short animation Gallus's Gift by TheAnonymator. Cover art is stills taken from the animation.
Written for The Discovery - A Young Six Writing Contest.
Despite the "Sex" tag, there is nothing explicit contained within. The tag is merely there for strongly implied sexual conduct.
That would explain a lot
Alrighty
You got me hooked. Good start.
Totally worth the read.
This was deep bro. That monologue on that Glenda griffin & when they were remembering the moments they had together. A very deep and emotional chapter.
Great story!
These two are very articulate
This was a cute story. Well done.
10083825
Well yeah. They're adults in this story.
Alright, replying to comments
which I really should have done a while ago10077479
Yeah, right around the time this was written, Faust essentially confirmed that it was Celestia moving the stars like that to free Nightmare Moon.
10077534
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed your trip through the story!
10078216
Thank you for both your comments! Yeah, that was by far both the easiest and most satisfying part of the story to write.
10083825
I certainly hope that's meant in a good way (and looking at your followup, I'm going to guess it was - either way, thank you very much!)
10099080
Indeed - I figured it would make sense, what with Silverstream sticking around and becoming a professor (I feel like, being around academia, even academia of a specialized sort, will inevitably expand your vocabulary and vernacular), and Gallus - well, like I say in the story, Twilight appears to be rubbing off on him.
Hi! You asked for a review to go with your submission, and as one of the judges for the contest, I'm here to give you one!
So I like that first flashback/dream that you open up with. The way that Gallus and Silverstream are very clearly lying to each other hurts in the best way. I would have really loved to know more about why Gallus was breaking up with her, though. I understand that it was because they didn't have enough time together, but the way that Gallus talked about it didn't really give me the impression that he was unhappy enough to be doing this.
You overexplain things at certain points—this might be something that you want to watch out for in the future. For example,
The first two sentences here are enough to get the point. It's always better to be efficient with that sort of thing and move on to the next interesting beat instead of lingering on the idea that Gallus is lonely for too long.
There would be a lot more emotional impact if it the reason for Gallus and Silverstream's breakup were either more intense or just more clear. The way that I see it, A) we don't get to see the good times where they were happy as a couple other than that kiss before Gallus leaves for the guard, so we don't have a good idea of what the two have lost and B) because they seemed to have broken up amicably, so there isn't a particular reason (past awkwardness) that they can't get back together amicably. The emotional stakes here aren't very high, and because of that it doesn't feel very surprising when Gallus and Silverstream end up together in the end. It's a comfy story for sure, but the catharsis that you were going for with the third chapter doesn't hit very hard when the ending is already so telegraphed.
It is interesting that they have different memories of why exactly they broke up, but in both it doesn't feel like they broke up for much reason. If they really loved each other, wouldn't it be exactly in both of their characters to try and make long distance work? Did they try at all? If they didn't know that they loved each other and figured that it would be the logical decision to make, I feel like I'm not getting enough of that, because it seems like they had really strong feelings either way and did not want to be doing this.
Here would have been a perfect place to either flashback or have Silver monologue a little bit—as a reader, I only have her word to go on that being apart was a strain, but if I had been shown here or earlier just how much of a strain it was, then my heart would be breaking a whole lot more.
Long distance sucks. I think this story could have been a lot tighter and heartwarming if we had been shown just how much it sucked for them being apart.
So this is definitely a nice story—you execute on what's promised in the cover art—and there are cute parts to this, but in the end a lot of the drama doesn't feel very dramatic and that's what prevented the emotional arc in this story from really feeling like the characters' past decisions had terrible consequences.
Don't get me wrong though, that third chapter is cute. There's a little bit too much exposition for my liking, but having the two of them fondly reminisce on their past while sitting inside the box is a cute thing. I can totally see where you're coming from with Gallus's revelation towards the end as well—I can feel my heart soaring as I read his dialogue and when they embrace, it feels great.
I'm glad you entered this contest, because I enjoyed myself reading this. Thanks for submitting and if you have any questions or anything was unclear or confusing please don't hesitate to PM me.
Quick question: was Silver's family and Queen Novo at the wedding?
she may be ruler of Equestria now but she'll always be our nerdy book horse we met in season 1 <3
Dang what a way to start out the story of a very sad moment here so it looks like gallus and silverstream broke up a long time ago but that really breaks my heart to see that and he's trying to go through his life as one of the Royal Guards and she was doing a pretty good job which I am glad he made a difference but still he still felt a little lonely ever since The Break-Up even though he still have friends sometimes it's just not enough and not only that this is during the holidays and his relationship was never last with the other creatures he went but it looks like one of the guards told him to leave early today and when he got home there was a big huge present there and pops out it was silverstream inside again how long she was waiting there?
Well it looks like gallus is not the only creature who's having a miserable time with relationship silverstream love her job as a teacher but lately she's been kind of very distracted and thinking about Gallus so much and she's haven't any luck with any creature when she goes on a date so she talked to smolder and Ocellus about this which they told her that maybe she should confront this once and for all and laid this to rest and so she does she did visit Twilight and ask her to let Gallus of early for the holidays which it looks like she did and she was waiting for him and expect it from the last chapter she surprised him
Wow the way how both of them really pour out their emotion to each other that how much they still care for each other even though they said they were broke up they still felt like they can't live without each other and it took them this long that they still love each other and silverstream still feel like how the relationship will work if they're in the separate City but Gallus still can work this out know how much they do care for each other and he still is not comfortable in closed spaces lol this was still pretty nice and very emotional too
Awww this was a really nice story and yes I can't believe they got married they do make a great couple and yeah that explain how Twilight does have the ability and everything good job Twilight this was a pretty good story keep up the good work
Did you mean to say “as” instead of “was”?