The Bonds of Love

by Summer Script

Chapter Two: Reprieve

“Can you seeeee! The sun is shining—” Smack!

“Yes. I can, and it’s blinding,” Gallus sneered at his alarm clock as he rolled back over.

…

…

…

“Cause today is gonna be a brighter—” SMACK!

“Yeah, I know. I know,” the bleary-eyed griffon growled while he forced himself to sit up. “Since when did that song get licensed for the radio?” he mused, rubbing the tiredness from his eyes.

Yawning widely, Gallus arose from his bed and stretched out his wings until they too were awake. After ditching a few preened feathers into his trash can, he turned to the massive heap of paper and sighed.

It had grown bigger in the night.

“Ohhh, what am I gonna do with this?”

“Burn it?”

“You’re still…? Oh come on!” Gallus grumbled. “Okay, fine! Why would I do that?”

“Well, it’s not like you’re gonna do anything else with it.”

“I could read it,” he countered simply.

“You’re too cowardly to do that though.”

“Oh really?”

“Yep.”

To spite the mental apparition, he thrust his talon into the mound and extracted one of the smaller letters, held it to his face, and read it aloud.

“‘Advice Number Two Hundred and Nineteen: When looking into future careers, you should consult with her since there are several various scenarios that can occur between you two during such a tumultuous period of your lives. I’ll be sending the full list in time. Current estimate is next weekend.’”

…

Gallus slowly placed the letter back into the pile, staring into the blank walls of his room with a confused-yet-haunted look etched upon his face.

…

“Maybe I should start from the beginning,” Gallus said to himself as he began fishing through the paper in search for the first one he had received.

…

“Find it yet?”

He sighed and decided to humor his ghost. “No,” he muttered.

“How about now?”

“No.”

“Now?”

“Either shut up or help me out.”

“I’m a mental apparition in your head; I can’t help you out with moving stuff!”

“So you can randomly show up whenever you want and yammer a bunch of insane nonsense into my ear until I have a breakdown, but you can’t help me sort through paper?”

“Yep.”

“Ughhh! Why am I even having this conversation first thing in the morning?”

“Because you’re mentally unstable?”

He rolled his eyes in annoyance.

“Well, you did ask. And honesty is a ‘core foundation of friendship’ after all. Speaking of which, how fun was it to finally succeed in driving away one of your friends?”

Gallus didn’t bother dignifying that with a reaction and chose to resume searching through Cadence’s letters.

“It must hurt, knowing you did exactly what you were afraid you would do. Drive away your friends… Make them not care about you… One down. Four to go.”

“Uh-huh.”

“…That’s it? That’s your response? Just an ‘uh-huh’?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Wow. You must really hate Smolder if that’s all the emotion you can express over her loss.”

“Oh?”

“Of course. A real friend would be feeling miserable after having lost one of their only friends. Especially when they were pitying enough to be friends with a pathetic coward like yourself. But you? No. Of course you wouldn’t feel a thing. You never really cared.”

“I care about Smolder!” he shot back.

“You’re doing a wonderful job showing it.”

“I don’t know if I’ve actually ‘lost’ her yet,” Gallus argued, a note of uncertainly slipping through his angered tone. “Forgive me for trying to be optimistic for a change.”

“‘Optimistic’? You? I don’t think so. How about: Denial. Then again, that’s your go-to response to anything even remotely horrible, so…”

“Yeah? Well, not anymore. I’m tired of all of this, including you.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that you made your friend stop caring about you. Nor does it change the fact that you don’t care that you did.”

“I care! What makes you think I don’t!?” he demanded hotly.

“‘If nothing else, heartache proves that we loved. If not to others, to ourselves.’ And you’re not feeling any heartache over Smolder’s loss, are you?”

Gallus looked down, unable to provide a response.

“See what I mean? Either you never really cared about Smolder, or you’re in denial.”

“Or!” he interjected, looking back up. “I’m simply focusing on everything else right now while remaining hopeful this will all blow over and that Smolder and I are still friends.”

“Hmm. In that case, I guess your friendship with Smolder isn’t a priority. Golly, I wonder why?”

Gallus ignored that thought.

A few minutes later, Gallus finally located the first page of Cadence’s advice at the bottom of the pile. He then remembered what the advice was for and panicked briefly before ultimately stuffing it into the depths of his notebook for later.

Afterward, Gallus slipped into his normal morning routine of gathering his school supplies for the day, taking a shower, and finishing his morning preening. Once that was done, he stopped to shoot one last gloomy glare at his barren room before he began his journey through the school’s halls.

Considering both how early it was and how exhausted everyone had been the previous day, it came as no surprise to Gallus that he made his journey alone. He took the opportunity to breathe a little easier and replace his current issues with thoughts of orange juice and pancakes.

Once Gallus reached the cafeteria, he found it devoid of the pink hurricane that had overtaken it for the past week, and in its place was a very sleepy Pinkie Pie and, much to his surprise, another student.

After having acquired a juice box and a plate of pancakes from his sleepwalking teacher, Gallus quickly took a seat at her table, raising a brow when his friend didn’t react to his presence whatsoever.

“Ocellus?” he tried. “Didn’t expect to see you here this early in the morning. You okay?”

“Hmm?” she groaned, blinking dazedly at him.

He took a closer look at her, noting that shadows had formed under her eyes. How long has she been up for this time? Gallus wistfully thought.

“Are you okay?” he repeated, giving her a gentle tap.

“Huh?” Her eyes finally focused on him, and she jumped back. “Gallus! O-Oh, uh, hi. S-Sorry, I didn’t see you there; how are you doing?”

“I’m fine,” he hesitantly answered. “Are you?”

“Huh? Oh! Yeah, yeah! I’m perfectly fine too. Heh-heh-heh…”

“You sure about that? You look about as wiped out as you did after last year’s midterms.”

“Do I? Sorry, I guess I am a little tired. Although, it’s mostly a migraine,” she elaborated, stifling a yawn. “And bit of a stomachache too, but that’s doing better for the most part.”

“Uh-oh. Did our friendly bug catch an unfriendly bug?” Gallus joked, biting into his pancakes.

“Okay, first of all, changelings may share anatomical similarities with insects, but that does not mean we are classed as such,” Ocellus argued, indignant. “And second, bugs are technically a type of insect as opposed to the entire classification.”

“Fair enough. But bad jokes aside, what’s up with you?”

“I… I had a bit of a busy night,” she said curtly.

“You don’t say,” he deadpanned. “What was it this time? No, wait! Let me guess, it was the teleportation project, wasn’t it? Spend your eight hours wasting away over magic math?” Gallus asked, smirking knowingly.

“‘Magic math’ is another over-simplification,” she said, gently itching at her eyes.

“Still a fair summation though, right?”

“A partly fair summation. But anyway…” she started only to immediately fall silent.

“But anyway…?” Gallus egged on after a minute.

She sucked in a breath, forcing out, “Full disclosure?”

“Is there any other kind? Rhetorical question, Ocellus,” he added before she answered.

“Okay. Okay… Honesty Lesson Eighty-five: Whenever uncomfortable situations occur between yourself and your friends or family, it is always best to express your thoughts and views truthfully and as early as possible in order to evade the situation possibly worsening.”

“Yes, I’m pretty sure that was Honesty Lesson Eighty-five, yes. What about it?”

“Just trying to remind myself of that lesson because… Well, this is kinda hard to say, but I spent the whole night worrying about you,” she confessed.

Gallus completely froze. “What?” was all he could get past his clenched beak.

“Oh dear! I’m sorry; I didn’t mean for you to take that the wrong way, o-or… S-Sorry, what I meant w-was, well… U-Um, er…?” Ocellus stammered, nervously shrinking back in her seat.

She was up all night worrying about me? But… Why!? There was nothing for her to worry about, so why did she waste her entire night worrying about me?

Because she cares about me, he realized uncomfortably. But… But…

“So you drove away Smolder, and now you’re harming Ocellus? You’re such a great friend.”

“Okay, you’re gonna have to explain this to me,” Gallus said, shutting down that train of thought before it grew more insidious. “Why exactly were you up all night worrying about me?”

“Um, well, um… I’m not entirely sure how to elaborate further on that.”

“Why?”

“I’m just not sure why my worrying about you requires elaboration,” she stated simply.

We’re friends; I’m bonkers; you’re scared. Oh no. No-no-no! She’s worried because of me! How badly did I screw this up!? What do I do; what do I do!? Gallus panicked behind a blank stare.

“Fix it,” answered his ghost.

“No, I mean…” He cleared his throat. “I totally get why you’d be worried, but I told you guys I’m fine. There’s no need to worry, especially if you’re staying up all night doing exactly that.”

Ocellus tilted her head and bit her lip.

Does she not believe me? But I’m not lying! I am perfectly— Wait! Back up! I know what I did wrong.

“Look,” Gallus resumed. “I’m doing well enough. I’m not on top of the world yet, but I will be fine soon. I just need to… Relax a little?” he offered hopefully. “Relax and put this whole week behind me. After that, I’ll be back to being my regular, snarky self. Promise.”

Okay, did that work?

Ocellus sighed and smiled. “Okay, Gallus. I definitely believe you.”

Phew.

“But I am still worried about you.”

Oh come on!

“Please, don’t be,” Gallus requested. “I have a pretty good hunch I’ve caused enough worry as it is. And I definitely don’t want to be accidentally messing with your sleep schedule…”

“No, it’s not that!” Ocellus frantically assured. “I mean, it technically is, but it’s not… I don’t know how best to explain this,” she admitted, frustrated.

“Take your time then. I’m not going anywhere.”

Please let me be able to fix this! Please let me be able to fix this! Please let me be able to fix this! he begged while she took the moment to think.

“Okay. So, I am worried about you, but I believe you and that you are doing better,” Ocellus began, carefully mulling over her every word. “Like you said, relaxing and spending some quality time in a healthy environment is probably the best thing for you. And in this case, that means maintaining stable relationships with those closest to you.”

“That sounds suspiciously like psychology; I thought you didn’t like psychology?” he instinctively teased.

“I’m entirely neutral to the subject; any disdain originates from its inherent unreliability. But that’s not the point. Gallus, the truth is I’m worried something like this might happen again.”

“But it won’t. Ocellus—”

“Oh, it ‘won’t’? It just ‘won’t’? So you’ve suddenly gotten over all of your trauma in a single night and two conversations?”

Gallus blinked as a horrified Ocellus slapped a hoof over her mouth.

“I-I-I-I— I’m s-so sorry! Gallus, I didn’t mean to—”

“No!” he yelped, cutting her off. “No. You’re good; no need to apologize, Ocellus. Besides, I didn’t know you had that level of sarcasm in you. Nice.” She’s also not wrong. Stupid subconscious psychological mumbo-jumbo…

“Ughhh,” she groaned, rubbing at the base of her horn.

“Oh. Migraine-induced irritability, eh?”

“…Something like that…”

Gallus caught the hesitation in her voice, once again asking, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“That’s the problem! I’m supposed to be asking you that, not the other way around!” Ocellus then looked away, quietly adding, “I should have been asking you that before all of this even began.”

“What do you mean?” he asked even though he already knew.

She took another breath and forlornly said, “Gallus, I believe you when you say you’re getting better. I believe you when you say you just need some time. And I believe you when you say you’re not going to have another… ‘Breakdown.’ I believe you.”

The sincerity in her voice practically slapped him in the face.

“You… You really do?”

“At first, I was a little worried you were going to start lying again, but not anymore. I’m your friend, and I trust you. So when you say you’re doing better, however little, I believe you.”

There was a tiny, nagging fear in the recesses of his mind that she was only saying that to appease him, but it was quashed under the weight of a single thought.

She trusts me. Even after learning about the whole thing, second-talon, she still…

Gallus smiled faintly. “Heh. That’s something I don’t hear every day. Thanks, Ocellus,” he said appreciatively.

“Of course,” she replied, smiling back. Said smile soon crumbled away once she continued, “But what I am worried about is that if any of this ever does start happening again… That if you start feeling afraid, alone, or sad again… I’m worried I won’t see it.”

Gallus gulped. Even though she trusts me, she’s still worried I’ll… Oh Grover, what have I done!?

“I should have remembered,” Ocellus rambled on. “I sh-should have remembered your situation, but I-I didn’t. And you spent the entire week feeling miserable because I didn’t remember…”

“Don’t worry about it, Ocellus,” he pleaded. “It was my fault for not telling you guys the truth. In fact, I was kind of avoiding you the most after Silver because of you’re, uh, thing.”

“What do you mean by… Oh. I keep telling you guys that’s not how it works!” she exclaimed angrily.

“Care to explain it more thoroughly then?” he challenged, trying to deflect the conversation.

“Maybe later,” she sighed. “But that doesn’t change the fact that I didn’t remember your situation even though I should have. … I’m so sorry, Gallus,” she ended, hanging her head.

“Ocellus?” Gallus spoke up softly. “These are my issues, and it was my stupid decision to not tell any of you about them. So, please… Do me a favor and don’t blame yourself.”

“I know I shouldn’t,” she mumbled. “Self-blame isn’t healthy, but I just can’t stop thinking that I should have remembered.”

“If it helps, everyone else forgot too,” he offered.

“Everyone else forgetting too is what led to all of this!” she snapped, more at herself than him. “I… I know I shouldn’t make excuses, but it’s been so long since we first found out. Then Cozy happened. And then Sombra happened. And then Cozy happened again. And then in all the excitement for Friends and Family Day, I just… Forgot! I. Forgot. Some friend I am…”

“You’re a better friend than me,” he admitted. “At least you’re being honest from the get-go. I needed Silver to drag me out to the Festival, kicking and screaming, and make me talk to her.”

“Don’t do that to yourself, Gallus; you’re a great friend!”

“Some ‘great friend’ I am, making all of you worry and panic. And why? Just because I—”

“Don’t!” Ocellus declared darkly. The glare she gave him silenced Gallus immediately, but it didn’t last long and was quickly replaced by a saddened frown. “Please don’t do that, Gallus.”

“Do what? Be honest about how stupid I was?”

“Find another reason to be angry at yourself,” she corrected.

“I’m not! I’m just trying to point out that everything that happened—”

“‘Was my fault’?” she guessed.

Gallus stopped himself just before he said exactly that. He then frowned and said, “Yes. Everything that happened was my fault. I was the one stupid enough to hide how I was feeling, and if I hadn’t done that then you wouldn’t be worried like crazy, I wouldn’t have had a breakdown, and—”Don’t bring up Smolder.“—everything would be fine right now.”

“Gallus, what you did wasn’t stupid. Let me finish!” she demanded, preemptively cutting his retort off. “Thank you. Gallus, yes, you hid how you were feeling from the rest of us. But you didn’t do it because you were stupid, you did it because you were afraid. Of telling us and spoiling our holiday,” she added morosely. “You said that was why you did it. So unless you were lying?”

“I wasn’t,” he affirmed, holding her gaze.

“I didn’t think so. But you see!? This is why I’m still worried! You’ve been in your situation for so long, and I don’t know what kind of…” She gulped. “For lack of a better word? What kind of ‘issues’ you’ve accrued as a result. I mean, look at yourself! I’m trying to apologize for not remembering your situation, and you’re trying to use it as an opportunity to demean yourself further! What the hay!?” she exclaimed, throwing her hooves into the air.

Gallus flinched. I’m such an idiot! Why couldn’t I just say it was okay and make her feel be—

“And you want to know what the worst part is?” she went on as her horn sparked. “The worst part is that what I just said could easily give you another reason to demean yourself! Not to mention be seen as selfish of me to place emphasis on my apology in the first place.”

How did she know I— Gallus shook his head clear and said, “You’re not selfish for apologizing to me. I’m grateful for the apology. If anything I should be—”

“That’s exactly the problem, Gallus!” she yelled.

Pinkie Pie suddenly snorted loudly, making them both turn to her. After a moment, her snoring resumed, and Ocellus took the chance to regain her breath.

“Gallus, you’re trying to go out of your way to find fault in yourself when you don’t need to,” she clarified. “Discounting my forgetfulness, there is no fault to even be had.”

“But—” Gallus started to protest before he stopped. Part of yesterday’s counseling began to replay in his head. So too did the ever-popular “There’s nothing wrong with you” line.

After taking his own moment to calm down, Gallus apologized, “Sorry, Ocellus. I…” Just say it; you know you have to. “I know I’m not at fault or whatever. Headmare Starlight also said I might have gotten used to some bad habits since… You know. Apparently, one of those is thinking I’m at fault when I’m really not. Heh-heh,” he chuckled awkwardly. “Sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize, Gallus,” Ocellus murmured. “I’m just worried about what else you’ve ‘gotten used to.’ What other ‘bad habits’ I didn’t notice because I…”

A solemn silence fell across the lunchroom, disturbed only by Pinkie’s soft snores.

“Ocellus?” Gallus eventually resumed. “You know I don’t blame you. Right?”

“I do. But that doesn’t make what I did—or rather, didn’t do—right,” she argued.

“It was our first Hearth’s Warming Eve together. Plus, I don’t exactly make it a point to remind you all about it, and we’re now, what? In our third year?”

“Mhmm. After the next one we’ll be able to graduate,” Ocellus acknowledged. “Unless of course, any of us decide to spend more time here for the added experience and knowledge. Something I evidently need to do,” she muttered dejectedly.

“You’re smarter than literally everyone else on campus,” he confidently praised.

“Having the highest grade average doesn’t make me smarter than anyone,” she countered, affronted.

“Everyone else would beg to differ.”

“But then they’d be wrong.”

“And you know better; thus, you’re smarter than everyone else.”

“That— That’s not— That’s not how that works!”

Gallus chuckled as Ocellus groaned again. “Ocellus, you’re a great friend,” he reaffirmed after some time. “You said I’m not at fault for what happened? Fine. But it wasn’t your fault either. I don’t blame you or any of the others, and I never would. So please don’t blame yourself, or be mad at yourself, or anything else! Please. Whatever it is I’m worth, I’m not worth that,” he stated resolutely.

“I’m just scared, Gallus,” Ocellus admitted with watery eyes. “Forgetting your situation aside, you were walking around all over campus as miserable as can be, and I didn’t notice at all. We watched the fireworks together, and I didn’t notice. We worked on my teleportation assignment together, and I didn’t notice. I’m scared that if you’re ever like this again I still won’t notice…”

“The reason neither you nor the others noticed was because I was hiding it. And I’ve gotten really good at hiding it. It’s because I slipped up that Silver and the rest of you even found out at all.”

“Exactly! A better friend would have known something was wrong right from the get-go! Unlike Silver, I was completely blind to it the whole time. That says a lot about me as a friend…”

“Don’t tell me you think Silver’s a better friend than you?” Gallus asked, confused.

“Wait.” She looked up from the table, meeting his gaze. “You don’t think that?”

“I think you’re both my friends. It doesn’t matter to me who’s ‘better’ or not. You’re all my friends, and I love all of you. That’s not changing so long as I can help it.” She still looked wary, so he continued, “Look. I promise—I! Promise!—I’m not going to lie to any of you about these issues again. I just want to move on, and I definitely don’t want to lie to or worry any of my friends while doing it.”

Ocellus took a slow breath and replied, “And I trust you won’t lie. I only wish I could trust myself to catch on if you ever were feeling as bad as you were again.”

“Well, knowing you, you’ve probably already checked three dozen books out of the library on the subject and plan to do another ‘self-improvement’ study session,” he half-joked.

“…Something like that…”

“See? That’s our Ocellus. Never one to let an opportunity to read half the library go to waste.”

“…Sure…”

“Yeah, heh-heh,” he laughed. I really hope I’m only imagining that hesitation in her voice. “You know what?” Gallus said after a brief silence. “It’s like we said earlier. All this drama and whatnot? We need a break from it all, you know? A few days to kick back, relax, and just…”

“Move on?” she completed.

“Yep,” he agreed, taking another bite of his pancakes.

“Yeah. That sounds like the best course of action from what I’ve read of the psychology section. ‘A stable environment and healthy relationships go a long way toward healing psychological trauma,’” she quoted. “At least, that seemed to be the most common answer to dealing with the issue.”

“I figured that. Luckily for us, we actually have those things. Go Equestria! Go Friendship! Ra! Ra! Ra!” he cheered dryly, raising his talons into the air.

“Go Equestria! Go Friendship! Ra! Ra! Ra!” she cheered back, giggling.

“Heh-heh-heh. … I suppose the important part now is to take everything one day at a time?”

“One day at a time,” she repeated. “That sounds good. Still, Gallus? I promise to be a better, more aware friend from now on.”

“I see your promise and meet it with one of my one: I promise to be a better, more honest friend from now on as well. Deal?”

“Deal.”

“Here’s to having a normal day,” he toasted, raising his juice box.

She giggled again as she too lifted up her empty box. “To a normal day.”

Several minutes later, the rest of the student body began entering the lunch room, each on their own breakfast quest.

Yona, Sandbar, and Silver soon appeared as well, spotting Gallus and Ocellus immediately.

“There you are! We were wondering where you two were,” Silver greeted, sitting beside Gallus.

“Well, Yona and I were wondering where you were; Silver was kind of panic—”

“Sandbar, quiet! Eh-heh-heh,” she nervously chuckled. “Don’t mind him. So! You two up doing that teleportation thingy Smolder mentioned or something?”

“Nope,” Gallus answered, fervently ignoring his paranoia concerning Silver’s deflection. “I’m just a firm believer in the early bird getting the pancakes.”

“And I just had a pretty lousy night,” Ocellus mumbled.

“Ocellus try working on project through night again?” Yona asked knowingly.

“A project, yes. My teleportation project, no,” she groaned, rubbing her horn yet again.

“Are you okay, Ocellus?” Silver asked, biting into her pancakes. “You look a little sick.”

“I definitely feel a little sick. … Okay, maybe a tad more than ‘a little.’”

“Are you sure you don’t want to go to our teachers or something?” Gallus asked one last time.

“It’s just a headache; I’ll feel better once I—Actually!” she interrupted herself. “I think I am going to need a minute! If I’m late, please apologize to Professor Fluttershy for me!”

And with that, the changeling sprinted out of the room faster than the blink of an eye.

“Yona know Ocellus likely want privacy, but should friends check on Ocellus anyway?”

“I don’t know,” Silver said, perplexed. “You were with her, Gallus. Was she like this earlier?”

“Ah, dude, you didn’t get sick, did you?”

Yona and Silver stared rebukingly at the blissfully ignorant Sandbar.

“No, I’m not sick,” Gallus responded, rolling his eyes when Sandbar let out a relieved sigh. “And all she said was that she had a migraine and a stomachache. … You guys don’t think she messed with anything dangerous when she was with Trixie the other day, do you?”

“I doubt it. She’d probably be dealing with some lung issues too,” Sandbar said casually.

“Lung issues?” Silverstream inquired hesitantly, slowly putting her juice back down.

“Well, fireworks are just colorful explosions. And it isn’t the healthiest thing to inhale explosive stuff. But knowing Ocellus, she was probably wearing a mask while inside a hazmat suit at the time.”

“I didn’t know you were so knowledgeable about fireworks, Sandy,” Gallus said, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m not. It’s just common sense,” he replied, taking a bite of his pancakes and not noticing the others’ stares. He soon swallowed and said, “But if you wanted to learn more about firework safety, the Town Hall has been hosting a seminar on it twice a week since Trixie’s Equestrian Apology Tour.”

Three voices all suddenly said, “Ohhh. That’s how.”

“Huh?” he uttered, confused.

Before any of them could reply, a newcomer joined the table, bringing with her a blanket of uncomfortable silence and drawing forth all of their stares.

“Oh, hey, Smolder. How are you doing?”

Yona and Silver practically glared at the, once again, blissfully unaware Sandbar.

“I’m tired and grumpy.” she answered snappishly. “You?”

“Just dandy,” he said normally.

Smolder nodded, biting into her breakfast.

Gallus exchanged looks with Silver and Yona; the latter awkwardly shrugged while the former frowned. He then looked back to Smolder and gulped upon noticing how bloodshot her eyes were.

Okay, I need to fix all of this, so let’s try not to bottle up the problem this time. “Rough night?” Gallus inquired politely.

Smolder scowled and continued to aggressively eat her pancakes.

“Okay then…”

“Look,” she said, suddenly glaring at him. “I haven’t figured out exactly what I want to say to you yet, so until then…? … … … Yeah.”

He flinched. He flinched again when he saw Yona and Silver both glower at Smolder.

“Why Smolder have hard time talking to friend?”

Smolder ignored Yona.

“What do you even need to say? Gallus has done nothing wrong, so what’s your problem?”

Smoke started spilling out of Smolder’s nostrils again.

“Uh, Smolder?”

Smolder’s fork snapped in her claw, releasing a sharp crack.

“Yes. Sandbar?” she asked in a carefully measured tone.

“Smoke’s coming out of your nose again.”

She huffed a cloud of it out and said, “Yeah?”

“I just thought you’d like to know.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Bless you, Sandbar. You have no idea what’s going on, do you?

Smolder rolled her eyes and resumed eating.

“Did you want me to get you a new fork?”

“I’m good, thanks.”

“Okay.”

Yep. Not a clue. I’m jealous.

Yona merely shook her head at her boyfriend’s pleasantries to which he tilted his head in confusion. Silver looked between everyone before proceeding to solemnly pick at her food.

“So,” Gallus began, not wanting the silence to go on. “Ocellus roped me into joining Chess Club.”

“So November did drop out?” Sandbar asked. “Dude’s been debating between Chess and Yearbook for a while, but we all thought he would quit Yearbook. Guess not.”

“Didn’t he also quit Drama?” Smolder inquired. “I heard from Shimmy Shake that it caused a ruckus.”

Silver and Yona both looked at each other, wearing the exact same grimace.

“Yona forgot about that. Vellum not happy after learning November done with Club.”

“Now that’s an understatement,” Silver bemoaned wearily.

“Vellum?”

“Vellum Codex,” she answered. “He’s quite, er, passionate about Drama Club.”

“Yona know passion. And what Vellum have not passion. What Vellum have is stick up—”

“Okay, Yona!” Silver interrupted. “Ha-ha, but you know that’s not true.”

“Silverstream shouldn’t sugarcoat issue,” Yona acknowledged sagely.

“And you shouldn’t try to exaggerate it either,” Silver smartly shot back.

“Fair enough,” she conceded. “But still. If Silverstream plan to finally…” Yona shot Gallus a coy smirk and said suspiciously, “Ask. She should be upfront with everything, good and bad.”

“Yona!” Silver snapped, her wings flaring and face glowing red.

“What?” Yona asked innocently. “Yona only trying to help.”

“Yeah, well… It’s appreciated, but please don’t. I’ve got it.”

“Yona sure Silver has it. Yona just know Silver won’t actually ask without convincing.”

Silver scowled at Yona, but she ultimately relented, sighing and returning to her food. Yona did the same as Sandbar sipped at his juice, giving his girlfriend a curious look but nothing more.

Gallus and Smolder met each other’s eyes, asking the exact same question. A split second later, Smolder realized what she was doing and hurriedly looked back down at her plate, leaving Gallus to stare questioningly at the yak and hippogriff.

…

Gallus took a small breath and decided against asking further. Of course, he still didn’t want to let the noticeably more uncomfortable silence continue, so he instead asked, “So, Yona?”

“Yes?” Yona responded, perking up instantly in contrast to Silver’s immediate panic.

“You’re in Drama Club?”

Yona processed the question for a moment as her face quickly fell in disappointment. Silver, by comparison, looked about ready to break into a musical number.

“Oh… Yona mean— Oh, yes!” she said, perking back up. “Yona part of Drama Club. Did Gallus not know?”

“Mmm,” he hummed, double-checking his memory. “Nope. Can’t say I recall ever seeing you in any of the plays.” Please, please, please! Tell me I didn’t fall asleep during one of them!

“Ohhh!” Yona exclaimed, chuckling. “That because Yona not main performer. Yona work more on backstage stuff like props and dresses.”

“Oh. That explains that then. Cool.”

Yona shot Silverstream a swift glance and smirked. “If Gallus wants, Gallus always welcome to stop by Drama Club after school day done. Yona can show him what Yona does, and maybe Gallus watch others practice for—”

“So!” Silver desperately interjected. “Chess Club, huh? That sounds fun. I’ve certainly heard a lot of good things. So, Gallus? Did you need help learning the game?”

“Hey!” Yona protested. “Yona was still—”

“I’m not exactly an expert, but I still know a few things at least,” she continued.

Something is definitely going on, Gallus thought, looking at Silver uncertainly. But what? Did I… Did I screw something else up? Does it involve Yona? O-Or Silver!? What did I— No. No, Gallus. Calm down. You can figure out what you need to fix later. Let’s deal with this first.

“Nah. I have an idea of how the game works,” Gallus answered, earning a relieved sigh from Silver. “Thanks for the offer though.”

“Hee-hee,” she chuckled, blushing faintly. “Anytime. Just let me know if you ever change your mind or need a practice partner.”

“I’ll hold you to that,” he replied, smirking.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she said, winking.

…

“You guys are so cute together,” Sandbar said happily.

“Sandbar!” Silverstream yelped, reddening again.

Gallus started screaming internally; whether in joy or terror, he didn’t know quite yet.

“What? You are,” Sandbar stated nonchalantly. “I guess you really did find that special somegriff, huh, Gallus? You old charmer, you,” he joked, grinning widely.

“Sandbar? Buddy, pal; friend,” Silver said with a deliberate calmness. “Stop talking.”

“…Okay,” he said, shrugging and returning to his breakfast.

Everyone stared at him for a moment, but they all quickly rolled with it and followed Sandbar’s example, none of them wanting to prolong the awkwardness any further.

Okay… Gallus thought to himself, sipping at the last bit of his drink. Okay! Everything is normal? Yeah? Aside from that and a bit of lingering awkwardness, everything is still normal.

“Pardon? ‘Normal’? Ha! You saw the tension they’re all filled with. You already chased off Smolder, and you saw what you did to Ocellus. And apparently, your little ‘girlfriend’ is next in line.”

No, he thought vehemently. I’m not going to do that.

“Admit to your own mess?”

Maybe I did screw things up, and that is my fault, yes. But I am not going to focus on that. I refuse to do that after what Ocellus and I just talked about earlier.

“So instead of owning up to how—”

Look! They all know, and they’re all still here! With me. I didn’t chase them away; I didn’t make them hate me; and I didn’t screw our friendship up. And… And I’m tired of dwelling on all of this junk. I want a break from it. So whether you like it or not, I’m going to ignore you now.

Gallus waited for a response, but to his surprise, none came. He let out another sigh of relief as he flipped open his notebook to review his recent notes.

Everything is fine, he assured himself.

“By the way,” Silver spoke up. “What was our first class today?”

“Kindness,” Smolder answered.

“Oh. … Thank you, Smolder.”

Smolder nodded, apparently not noticing the pause. Gallus looked between Yona and Sandbar, but they didn’t seem to notice it either, and Silver had already refocused on her food.

He shook his head and turned back down to his notes. Don’t be paranoid, Gallus. Everything is fine. If not? I can fix it. But I don’t need to fix it because everything is fine. … I hope.

***

“Oh no! What happened?” Fluttershy asked worriedly.

“We think she caught something, but she’s been in the bathroom since this morning, so…”

“Oh dear, did any of you check on her to see how she was doing?”

“We figured she’d like some privacy.”

“And she’s still in there? That’s not good. I better go check to see if—”

“I’M HERE!” Ocellus shouted, skidding into the room. “I’m here… I’m not late, am I?”

“Ocellus? Thank goodness, your friends were just telling me you were ill,” Fluttershy exclaimed, fretfully looking over the changeling.

“Y-Yeah, a little, but I’m feeling much better now.”

“Are you sure? I think Starlight knows some healing spells, but if it’s really serious, I can take you to the hospital. I’m sure Nurse Redheart wouldn’t mind giving you a quick check-up.”

“No! I-I mean… No thank you, Professor,” Ocellus decided, shaking her head. “I’m fine; I cast a few healing spells on myself and they did wonders.”

“Are you sure? If you’re worried about being counted absent, I can make an exception.”

“No-no. I’m good. Promise.”

“…Alright. But please don’t strain yourself if you’re still feeling uneasy later, okay?”

“I won’t. Sorry about the interruption.”

“It’s perfectly fine, Ocellus. Now, go on and take your seat; the bell will—”

RIIIIINNNNNGGGGG!

“—Do that. Okay, good morning, class!”

“Good morning, Professor Fluttershy!”

“Alright. If we’re all here now…” she began.

Once Ocellus sat in her seat, Gallus turned his attention away from Fluttershy and whispered, “Psst, Ocellus.”

“Yes, Gallus?” she whispered back, retrieving her books from her bags.

“You sure you’re okay? You were in the bathroom for a while.”

“Yes, I’m perfectly fine.”

“It wasn’t one of those athletic headaches you told me about yesterday, was it?”

“Aetheric headaches, Gallus,” she corrected reflexively. “And if I had one of those, I wouldn’t be able to levitate so much as a feather. Not to mention, I’d be—metaphorically speaking—dead to the world.”

“Then what’s up?”

“I’m just— It’s just— An unfriendly bug!” she proclaimed as if she had found the answer to the universe. “Yeah, an unfriendly bug. Like you said. Don’t worry, I’m fine. Promise.”

Yeah, like I promised? Gallus cynically thought, deadpanning.

“Seriously, please stop worrying; I’m fine. Just feeling under the weather,” she echoed.

What are you hiding, Ocellus?

“Can you feel the irony crawling along your back?”

It’s more crushing my back, thank you very much.

“Alright then,” he said slowly. “If you need anything though, just ask.”

“I will. Seriously! Don’t worry, Gallus. I’m woozy enough without that adding to it,” she whispered to herself.

“Sorry?”

“So was that ‘sorry’ preemptive to my pausing to listen in to your conversation, or was it a continuation of said conversation?”

Both Ocellus and Gallus jumped, much to everyone else’s giggles. “Sorry,” they said.

“It’s perfectly fine. Was there anything more that you two wish to share with the class?”

“You mean other than my fantastic wit and charm?” Gallus inquired.

“Yes,” Fluttershy said, unimpressed.

“Then nope.”

“Good. Now that everycreature is paying attention,” she resumed, sparing Gallus and Ocellus a tiny smirk. “I know we’re hot off the hooves of an entire week of relaxation and fun, so we should resume class as normal…”

About half of the class slumped in their seats; whereas, the other half perked up eagerly.

“But I also know we’re hot off the hooves of an entire week of relaxation and fun, and none of you likely want to return to the ordinary lessons just yet,” Fluttershy acknowledged. “That said, we still have over half an hour of class time, sooo… I thought it would be a great idea if we all shared what we did over the Friends and Family Day break as well as any important lessons we learned.”

About half of the class perked up eagerly; whereas, the other half slumped in their seats.

In the latter category was Gallus, who kept his head firmly planted in the palm of his talon so as to refrain from slamming it into the desk.

Grover’s Treasure, it never pecking ends!

The path of healing is long and arduous, but—

I know that, he said to himself. That doesn’t mean I can’t be annoyed by stupid things like—

Gallus turned to meet the five pairs of eyes staring at him and gave what he hoped was a confident grin and a talons-up.

Sandbar and Yona seemed consoled, and while Smolder held her stare a moment longer, she too slumped in her desk. Unfortunately, neither Silver and Ocellus looked convinced.

“Are you going to be okay?” the latter asked as the former was on the other half of the room.

Not if I have to deal with this pecking junk all week! But I know I can’t say that, so…

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

Ocellus reeled back in shock. That shock quickly melted into worry.

“It really is that easy…” she whispered again.

“Huh?”

“Gallus, are you sure you’re going to be fine? Please don’t lie,” she quietly begged.

Am I doing it again? “Yes, I’m a bit annoyed, but I’ll be fine. Promise.” Please stop worrying!

“…Genuine.”

“Ocellus, either speak up, or I’m going to start getting really cynical about whatever it is you’re muttering under your breath.”

“Eep! No, no! I wasn’t muttering anything!” Ocellus lied. “A-Anyway, if you’re sure you’ll be okay then I believe you. But if you need me to, I can cast a silencing spell so you don’t have to deal with… This.”

Now that’s appealing!

You do remember all those stories about how using magic just made everything worse, right?

That was the Princess; I like to think Ocellus is a tad bit more responsible than her.

Elsewhere, a lavender alicorn looked up and shot an annoyed glance in the direction of Ponyville. It quickly abated, so she returned to her notes, mildly miffed for an unknown reason.

After brushing off the sudden feeling of being stared at, Gallus admitted, But I guess I still shouldn’t risk it. “Nah, I’ll be fine,” he said to Ocellus. “If I get bored, I’ll just read or something.”

“Alright then. Let me know if you change your mind.”

“My-my, Ocellus! For feeling queasy all morning, you sure are chatty today.”

“Eep! S-Sorry, Professor Fl-Fluttershy,” she apologized, flushing scarlet.

“Hee-hee. Don’t worry about it. It’s actually nice to see you be so talkative for a change.”

“That’s teacher talk for ‘You’re one of the only students I won’t punish for being disruptive,’” November Rain not-so-subtly muttered to Ocellus.

“That’s assuming I do have students I’m selectively lenient on, which I’m not supposed to have. But if I did—and I’m not saying I do—what makes you think you’re one of them, November?”

“Uhhh…”

“In fact, since you’re feeling so chatty yourself, why don’t you come up here and talk about your Friends and Family Day first?” Fluttershy insisted.

“Ah geez! Uh, anycreature else want to go first instead?”

“If you can’t talk in class, maybe you shouldn’t talk during class,” Peppermint Goldylinks rebuked, holding back a giggle.

“You know, I quit to get away from Vellum…” the stallion grumbled, rising from his desk.

Peppermint’s smile instantly fell, and she weakly mumbled, “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” he assured, trotting to the front of the class. Once all eyes were on November, he swallowed nervously and stuttered, “Well, um, the first thing I d-did on Friends and F-Family Day was, uh…”

Gallus shut the stammering out and opened his notebook to where he had stuffed Cadence’s advice. After finding it, he gulped and turned back to the blue unicorn who had quickly gained some confidence.

“—After Mom and Dad finished hugging me, we decided we’d probably have the most fun just wandering around the Festival with no set destinations in mind. That way, every activity would be a surprise we would experience together. And of course, our first stop happened to be—”

Gallus opened the letter and began.

Dear Gallus…

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Sorry, I couldn’t help writing out my reaction to finding out about you and your friend! I’m so happy for you and Silver—I totally called it when I visited the school last Hearts and Hooves Day; ask Twilight and she’ll tell you! Then again, I also thought your other friends, Sandbar and Ocellus, would get together too, but it turned out the colt had a soft spot for the yak all this time! WHO KNEW!?

Sweet Hearth’s Warming, I love Love! It’s so unpredictable, erratic, and explosive, and yet is equally beautiful, majestic, and harmonious! Not to mention—

Whoops! Sorry, I shouldn’t be letting slip all of the amazing feelings a creature experiences when their heart has been entwined with another’s! You’re about to learn that for yourself soon enough, and far be it for me to spoil any of it!

Gallus looked up so quickly his neck cracked.

“—After that, the puppet started break-dancing and singing about wrecking balls. I had no idea what it was about, but my mom was in tears over how beautiful it was. On the other hoof, my dad thought it had something to do with normalizing radicalized thinking…? I don’t know. Anyway—”

Rubbing his neck, Gallus forced himself to look down once more.

I found out when Twily mailed to me about your situation, and I am so! So! SO! Happy for you! You totally deserve some love in your life!

Of course, it’s not just you that deserves anything out of a relationship. Silverstream does too. Luckily, you already seem to know this, considering you asked Twilight for advice on the matter—I would have mailed you anyway, but you asking for help definitely made me sigh in relief.

Sooo… You are about to enter into a relationship with another creature with their own thoughts, dreams, and emotions. And you wish to be more knowledgeable on the subject to ensure said relationship is as fulfilling and rewarding as you can possibly make it.

You my fine, feathery friend have come to the right pony.

Gallus slammed the notebook shut, trying to keep the growing panic in his chest from exploding outward into an alien abomination.

“—So anyway, we all just floated into the air, weightless as could be. She started yelling at the Crusaders to fix the situation while also apologizing profusely for the whole thing. Luckily, Mom was having too much fun swimming through zero gravity to be paying the slightest attention to Ms. Cheerilee, and Dad was too busy vomiting into his popcorn bag—”

Taking a deep breath, Gallus once again forced himself to resume reading Cadence’s letter.

Now, something to remember is that every creature in this world is unique; therefore, every relationship is unique as well. Different creatures have different expectations, and those differences can and will effect how the relationships between creatures operate.

However, you shouldn’t be intimidated by that fact. True, there are many nuances to relationships, and I fully intend to write to you about them, but for now—since you’re only just beginning—it’s best to give you some general information, most of which is obvious enough that you probably already know:

First off: Respect Silverstream. See? I told you most of this stuff would be obvious; you should already respect her since she’s your friend.

Don’t be paranoid you need to respect her “more” just because she’s now also something “more” to you. Just be as kind and considerate to her as you normally are and you’ll be fine. Don’t take that as discouragement from being more considerate if you see an opportunity to be so, however.

Second: Trust her. Again, obvious, but you’d be shocked at how often this issue crops up.

A relationship requires trust because everything else is built upon that trust. Without it, you can’t depend on one another or be emotionally open or vulnerable with each other.

Acts of Kindness and Generosity mean nothing if your bond is lacking Loyalty or Honesty, and moments of joy and Laughter become empty and lifeless.

Simply put: The Spark of Magic that fuels a bond of love is gone if there’s no trust to maintain.

See, Twilight!? I did the thing you wanted me to; now get off my back about it, would ya!

Finally: Be aware. Nothing more to it than that. Be aware of her thoughts and feelings. Be aware of your own. Too many times I’ve seen couples fail to work because one or both of them weren’t aware of each other’s feelings. Ignorance is innocent most of the time, but it’s never desired.

Fortunately, I’m certain you don’t struggle in this aspect. Wanna know why? Because you asked for my advice. It bears repeating: You asked for help so you could know more about how this whole thing works and do better as a result. You were aware of your shortcomings and cared enough about both Silverstream and your new relationship to ask for help concerning them.

That means a lot Gallus.

Anyway, now that we’ve got the basic stuff out of the way; it’s time to get into the hefty stuff. So! My first major piece of relationship advice is…

“—It sounds like you had a very interesting day, November,” Fluttershy complimented, clapping encouragingly once he had finished speaking. “I hope everything is alright now.”

“It is. Mom’s new cactus pet is doing fine, and Dad finally managed to get the polka dots out of his coat. All’s well that ends well, right?” he concluded, shrugging.

“I suppose. So, who’d like to go next? Gallus?” she suddenly called. “You looked pretty bored, sitting there and reading all through November’s turn. Why don’t you come up here and talk about what you did for Friends and Family Day? I bet that’ll cheer you right up.”

Gallus froze.

“Wait! He was— Oh come on, dude! You were reading when I was talking?”

“Uh, sorry?” Gallus reflexively apologized.

November averted his eyes, genuinely hurt.

“Hey, Professor, Yona’d like to come up and talk about holiday!”

“Aww, that’s very nice of you Yona; you can go after Gallus.”

“B-But—”

“After Gallus,” Fluttershy repeated, still smirking at him.

She doesn’t know; it makes no sense why she’d be singling me out like this otherwise, Gallus reasoned, panicking. I’m just a student not paying attention, nothing more.

“Well, uh, I had a day,” he tried. “There you go. That was my day. It was a day.”

“Funny. But I know you had a better day than that,” Fluttershy asserted, sparing Silverstream a glance. “Come on up here and tell us all about it.”

What does she— Ah peck! Silver and I stopped by and played her water pistol game; she probably thinks I had a good time like everycreature else did!

“No chance of getting out of it?” he nearly whimpered.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of, Gallus. Now, come on! Let’s hear all about what you got up to the other day. I’ll even make sure no one reads during your time up here.”

Translation: Peck you! Get over here and be humiliated, you idiot!

Gallus blinked at the thought that just ran through his head.

True translation: Come up here and talk about your holiday so you’ll know better than to read and ignore everyone else when they talk about theirs after you.

Gulping, Gallus casually trotted to the front of the classroom and smiled awkwardly at Fluttershy who stepped aside, giving him the room. He then faced his classmates.

Nope! Nope! Nope! No— Oh, for the love of Grover’s Treasure! STOP! PANICKING!

Then what do I do!?

Give them an abridged version of your stupid day.

Including the breakdown?

Peck no!

What about Silverstream?

…Uh-oh.

“Uh-oh”? What do you mean by “uh-oh”!?

You told the others you were feeling better, so if you stand up here and lie to the class…

Oh. But they’d understand, wouldn’t they?

Smolder probably wouldn’t.

Okay, but I can fix that. She’s already kind of mad at me anyway, so…

What about Ocellus? You just promised you wouldn’t lie to her either. You promised the same thing to Silver, and didn’t you read the advice Cadence gave you about trust?

That promise is a little hard to keep when you’ve got an innocently ignorant teacher breathing down your neck to tell two dozen others that you had a mental meltdown!

“My day really was pretty boring, all things considered,” Gallus finally began, trying to hide his unease. “I, uh… Well, the first thing I did was get out of bed.”

Half of the class slumped in their desks; whereas, the remaining half snickered.

“And the second thing I did was discover that Silver’s cockatrice friend, Edith, is apparently really fascinated with the idea of acting as an impromptu alarm clock.”

The slumpers slumped harder, and the snickerers snickered louder. Funnily enough, Fluttershy appeared to be taking the side of the latter.

“Anyway, after getting out of bed, I…”

Okay, do I be honest that I spent the day with Silverstream, or do I make something up?

What would you even say? “I took a train to Griffonstone and got roped into waxing all of Grandpa Gruff’s furniture while he sat in his throne of dead feathers and disappointment”?

Grover’s Treasure, why is it never easy!?

“Ooh, Professor, this is the part where I come in!” Silverstream excitedly announced. “May I help tell the story?”

Hallelujah! For once it’s easy! … Wait a minute.

“Hmm, I don’t see why not.”

“Yay!” Silver chirped, bounding up to Gallus as his heart beat a little faster. “So! Context: My family and I figured that since we spent the entire week leading up to Friends and Family Day hanging out, that for the Festival we’d all do our own thing and meet up later. Sadly, that meant whatever I was gonna do for the day, I had to do alone. Buuuuut!” she ended, looking at him expectantly.

“Buuuuut,” Gallus picked up more confidently. “I conveniently had no one to spend the day with either, so Silver took the chance to rope me into spending the day with her.”

“How come you were alone, Gallus?” Peppermint asked. “Where were your parents?”

Barely resisting the urge to slap a talon over his face, he deflected, “Eh, Gramps just couldn’t make it for some reason.”

“Aww. Sorry, Gallus.”

“Don’t worry about it, Patty. Besides, I had Silver to hang out with, so it wasn’t all bad.”

Silver’s smile brightened. However that was possible, Gallus didn’t know.

“Yeah! So do you want to tell them about all the amazing stuff we did, or do you?”

“Turns?” he suggested.

“Turns,” she agreed. “You first.”

“Okay. So, first thing we did was Professor Fluttershy’s water pistol game.”

“I tried it out, but I lost twice,” Silver lamented sadly.

“You didn’t lose; you managed to get those two Stripes,” Gallus defended comfortingly.

“Yeah, well, you did better than I did.”

“Hey, you wanted Horton, so I got you Horton.”

“And I love him so much! He’s so fluffy…”

“After that we did Sugar Belle’s Pie Toss—”

“We got a little messy, but those cherry pies were delicious,” Silver gleefully reminisced.

“I was partial to the blueberry, but the cherry was good too,” he agreed, nodding.

“Certainly better than the apple from what I’ve been hearing…” Fluttershy muttered. The two stared at her indignantly, so she yelped, “Oops! Sorry, don’t mind me.”

“Next up,” Silverstream resumed. “We tried out the hammer-puck thing.”

“High striker,” Gallus corrected.

“Yeah, that. And I managed to get fourth,” she bragged.

“I’m still annoyed I didn’t even get tenth,” he playfully grumbled.

“Sorry, Gallus.”

“Not a problem. Just evidence I need to finally look into a gym membership or something.”

“Let me know if you’re serious about that; I know a few of the good ones.”

“Thanks, Sandbar.” I wasn’t serious, but thanks anyway. “Hey, Silver? What did we do next?”

“Was it Matilda’s game or Professor Applejack’s?”

“I think it was Matilda’s,” he remembered.

“Right. Well, I don’t think either of us were good at that one, but it was still fun,” she said, smiling merrily.

“Yep, and then we did Applejack’s game.”

“Hey, that’s right! I almost forgot AJ had a game,” Fluttershy interrupted again. “What was it by the way? Nopony ever told me.”

Everyone looked at Fluttershy fearfully, Applejack’s warning echoing in all of their minds.

“Well, she did have a game. Not sure what it was called, but it, er, wasn’t all that interesting,” Gallus hurriedly covered.

“In any case,” Silver quickly followed. “After that was Lyra’s Laser Tag.”

“Oh yeah! We were in that place for over an hour, but it was so awesome!” he shouted happily.

“We managed to win our way to the top and got these really cool figurines of the Princesses.”

“Well, we only won because you were fantastic at having my back in there.”

“You were the one getting all the targets.”

“So did Mrs. Ditsy.”

“I know.” Silver gasped and yelped, “Oh my gosh! We still need to bake those muffins for her!”

“Uh, I still don’t know how to bake muffins. Remember?” he said, slightly embarrassed.

“And I told you I would show you, remember? Hey! You wanna do it during break?”

“You know what? Yeah. Why not?”

“Eee!” she squealed, hopping excitedly. “Get ready to see this muffin-baking master at work then!” Silverstream proclaimed eagerly.

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Gallus affirmed, grinning.

The two chuckled.

“Oh geez! They’re as bad as Sandbar and Yona.”

“Hey!” exclaimed said stallion and yak.

“Now, November, that wasn’t very nice.”

“We were all thinking it, Professor!”

“I wasn’t.”

“So what November should have said was, ‘We were all thinking it except you, Professor’?”

“Yes, Peppermint, that is what he… Wait. No!”

The class’s chuckling at Fluttershy’s expense gave Gallus and Silver a chance to recover their composure and hide their blushes.

“Okay, okay. Everycreature settle down. And please don’t do that, Ms. Goldylinks.”

“Yes, ma’am. Hee-hee-hee.”

“Anyway, sorry for that interruption. Do continue, you two.”

“Alright, Professor,” Silver said, nodding. “So, after having a blast at Laser Tag, we decided to stop and have some lunch, and then we— Ummm…” she trailed off, staring uncertainly at Gallus.

“…And then we just sat there for a while talking. We didn’t have a whole lot better to do since we were both exhausted from Laser Tag, so…” he finished with a shrug.

“Ooh! What did you two talk about?”

Was it the fourth talon or the third? Dang it, where’s Gilda when you need her?

“We, uh… Talked about, er… What did we talk about, Gallus?” Silverstream inquired, deferring to him.

“We mostly talked about random—” Don’t say that word in front of Fluttershy! “—stuff. The usual tangents that happen when you’re bored out of your mind.” Please relinquish us from this accursed torture!

Fluttershy smiled expectantly.

Oh, so it’s like that, is it? Okay, Professor, you asked for this.

“But I can tell you’re looking for specifics!” Gallus declared, smirking deviously. “And in that case, hey, guys! Who here thought Sandbar would hook up with Ocellus!?”

***

“Good morning, everycreature, and— WHA-HAH-AHH! O-Oh my stars! What happened to all of you? No offense, darlings, but you all look like you went through a warzone.”

“You could say that,” November groaned, rubbing his back.

“Goodness gracious, did Discord mess with the hallways again?”

“While it was certainly chaotic, it wasn’t that kind of warzone, Professor. It was the ‘shipper’ kind,” Peppermint clarified ominously.

“Should I even bother asking for an elaboration?”

“Well, it started out as Sandbar and Yona versus Sandbar and Ocellus—”

“Nope, nope, nope! Sorry, darling, but I’ve seen—and, er, been in—enough of those debates to know what kind of hysteria it devolved into. Everyone survived the carnage unscathed, I hope?” Rarity asked.

“Ocellus is in the bathroom, but she was sick earlier, so we’re not sure if she’s hiding out of embarrassment or queasiness.”

“My bet’s on both,” Smolder moaned, untangling tie-dyed toilet paper from her horn. “Where did this even come from?” she wondered, throwing the wrappings in the trash can.

“Shall I check on her, or is Fluttershy already doing so?”

“She’ll be fine, Professor. Ocellus will probably dash into her seat at the last second before the bell rings,” November supposed.

“Hmm. Alright then.” She then coughed into her hoof, announcing, “Good afternoon, class!”

Her response was a series of painful groans.

“Yes, that’s about what I expected. Now then…”

As Rarity went about inquiring the rest of the students as to their current state of mind and body, Gallus and Silver walked over to the farthest end of the classroom, sitting beside each other.

“Are you okay, Gallus?” she asked softly.

“Yep. Thanks for covering for me back there.”

“Of course! Sorry you got called on. Yona tried to help out too, but it, well, didn’t work.”

“I know; I plan to thank her later. Geez, how did I get caught reading in class? I never get caught. Must be slipping, eh?” Gallus joked.

“Well, you tend to pretend that you’re reading in class even when you really are listening, so…”

“What!? N-No, I don’t!”

“Hee-hee. Yes, you dooooo,” she sang. “We all know it, even the teachers.”

“Fiddlesticks,” he pouted.

“I guess that means you really weren’t listening this time. What were you reading then?”

Are you going to finally ask her?

“Just some other notes that I was… ‘Prioritizing’ for lack of a better word.”

“Oh, okay then. … Are you really okay, Gallus?”

“Of course I’m…” Nope, can’t say that word. “Yeah. I was a little caught off-guard, but other than that? Doing well enough. I’m still up for baking if that’s what you’re really wondering?”

“What I was really wondering was if you were genuinely alright,” Silver stated. “Glad to see that’s the case…”

Glad or not, Gallus could still hear her lingering worry.

“Are you alright?” he slowly asked, remembering the breakfast debacle.

“Um… W-Well, you see, I, er…”

Before he could inquire further, a pale blue fire roared to life in the front row and just as quickly disappeared, revealing a panting Ocellus and her smoking horn. The bell rang the second after.

“Phew, made it!” she cheered, pumping a hoof.

“That was a magnificent display, Ocellus!” Rarity praised.

“O-Oh! Um, th-thank you, Professor.”

“You’re quite welcome, darling. Now then, is everycreature settled down and ready to begin class?”

“Yes, Professor Rarity!” the class declared.

“Excellent! So, moving beyond the apparent ‘war’ that occurred last period—”

“I still think Princess Celestia and Discord should have hooked up, and you can’t change my mind!”

“Oh come on, Patty!” half the class roared.

“Ohp-up-up! We shall have no more of that! If you all wish to engage in this, er, ‘discussion,’ you may do so later in your own time. Right now, it is time for class, not shipping wars.”

“Yes, Professor,” Patty whined, defeated.

“Plus, we all know Discord has the hots for Professor Fluttershy,” November whispered.

“I said we will have none of that, please!” Rarity yelped, blushing.

“Yes, Professor,” November also whined, also defeated.

“Good. Now, I understand we have just come off the cusp of Friends and Family Day—”

OH! COME! ON! Gallus thought as he turned to give Silver another forced smile. She didn’t see it since her face was currently hidden behind a claw.

He instantly dropped the facetious grin and asked, “Are you okay?”

“‘Exasperated’ is the word I’d use,” Silver answered, dropping her talon. “More importantly, are you okay?”

I wish I’d stop making her ask me that. “‘Exasperated’ is the word I’d use,” he echoed back, winking.

“If you want, I can say something,” she proposed weakly.

“What? No. No, I’m good.” She stared at him, unflinching. “I promise, Silver. I’m—” Can’t say that word! “—doing okay. Don’t worry. Besides, I can always just fall asleep,” he suggested playfully.

She smiled, rolling her eyes. “You know you’re not supposed to do that.”

“I know. But it’s not like Rarity ever notices when I do.”

“Oh no, she does.”

“Wait. She does?” he asked, dumbfounded.

“Yep. She never says anything, but she always gives you the stink eye when you do it.”

Gallus gulped nervously. “I’d better start paying more attention then.”

They both chuckled, turning back to Rarity who hadn’t paid their conversation any mind.

“—And, of course, during that time I’m sure you all saw the amazing art and creations many of your fellow students made to celebrate the holiday?”

“If by ‘amazing art’ you mean Sandbar just buying a mirror and gluing macaroni to it.”

“Yona pretty sure Professor talking about November’s bottle fort.”

“Hey, that’s for my Science Fair project, not Friends and Family Day!”

“That’s enough, you two. Now, where was I? Oh, yes! I saw all of these projects myself, and first of all, I’d like to say to those of you who did these projects: Fantastic jobs, all of you; your projects were absolutely marvelous! And secondly, I was INSPIRRRED!” Rarity sang.

Here we go again, the entire class thought. Except Ocellus of course.

“Inspired to do what, Professor?” she asked excitedly.

“Well, after seeing so many students try their hoof—or claw—at crafting something to encapsulate their love for their friends and families, it occurred to me that an important lesson all creatures should learn is how to do exactly that.”

“Buy mirrors and glue macaroni to them?”

“Build water bottle play-castle?”

“Of course!”

“Huh?” both Yona and November exclaimed.

“Well, not those two things specifically; rather, embracing the mentality behind those actions. That being: Expressing yourself creatively.”

Phew! It’s not one of ‘those’ inspired lessons, the entire class thought. Except Ocellus of course.

“What exactly do you mean, Professor?”

“I mean exactly what I said, Ocellus. You see, there are many different ways we communicate to each other. Words, actions; thoughts… However, our ability to express ourselves is not limited to just these.”

“We can express ourselves in countless ways, our meanings and emotions limited only by our imagination and creation!” Rarity began explaining, her eyes shimmering with the passion she was so well-known for. “Sure, what may look like to you is a mirror with macaroni glued to it, to another is a representation of how much an individual loves that particular food. They love it so much they create something to symbolically represent themselves being surrounded by it.”

November looked away, ashamed of himself.

Yona smugly smiled, proud to have her boyfriend’s honor defended.

“Also, a large fort of bottles might seem wasteful to some, but others might see it as a way to stress the importance of recycling by suggesting that even homes are possible creations of the act.”

Yona winced apologetically, rubbing the back of her head.

November blinked and fell into a thoughtful daze.

“My point is this: Creative expression is one of the best ways we can interact with both others and the world around us. It allows us to transform our hopes and dreams into works of creation that touch the hearts of the world around us, speaking our words, thoughts, and feelings to them without ever speaking at all. And in turn, urging others to do the same.”

“So, the best way to talk to each other is to draw something and give it to them?”

“Not quite, Patty darling. Art is about more than simply drawing or painting; art is about creation! It is about taking what you feel in your heart and giving it physical form!” she exclaimed, flourishing her mane. “As such it can be anything. A song, a novel; a play… It matters not; art is merely an expression.”

“Uh, Professor?” Smolder began. “If that’s the case, I think I’ll stick to just telling my friends whatever I’m thinking. It’s easier.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Gallus noticed Silver shoot Smolder a glare.

“That’s fine, darling; just because you can express yourself that way doesn’t mean you have to.”

“But you just said it was the best way to communicate to others.”

“I said it was ‘one’ of the best ways, not ‘the’ best. While I’ve personally always found it easiest to express myself in such a manner, that doesn’t mean it’s the same for you.”

Smolder deadpanned.

“Of course, that doesn’t mean you should disregard the option entirely merely because it seems daunting at first. You never know if you’ll find yourself lost in the act of creation until you attempt it.”

For a split second, Smolder glanced at Gallus before dropping her gaze back to her desk.

“Professor? You said we could channel our emotions into our creations. What do you mean by that? Like, how can we put our hopes and dreams into something without using magic?”

“Excellent question, Sandbar. To clarify, I don’t necessarily mean that literally. What I mean is that when creating, we can draw upon our thoughts and feelings and use them to help guide our hooves—or claws—during the process.”

“How does that work?”

“There is no specific way it ‘works,’” she said. “Our creations are a medium through which we display the feelings in our hearts. As I said, the artwork I saw so many of you create for the holiday inspired me to dedicate this lesson to the concept. But what was it about all of them that inspired me? It was the love, affection, joy, and celebration they were crafted with!” Rarity answered, her voice rising a pitch in excitement.

“Everything from November’s bottle fort to Sandbar’s macaroni mirror were crafted with the desire—your desire—to create something for those you loved. To celebrate the bonds you had with your friends and family. This permeated each and every work of art created in the recent week.”

“That’s the whole point of creative expressions,” she explained. “It’s about putting forth all of your feelings and all of your passions, and using them to weave together something to share them with those you wish to behold it.”

Assuming it’s the things they want you to express, Gallus thought sourly, waiting for someone to say as such. Curiously, no one did. Likely because they were too busy taking notes to do so.

“Professor?”

“Yes, Smolder darling?”

“What… Well, what about… What about ‘negative’ feelings? Like anger, or… Or fear?” Smolder questioned, fidgeting uncomfortably.

“Ah, yes. Those,” Rarity said neutrally. “Well, just as love and joy can be woven into a creation of beauty and elegance, so too can sadness and heartache be forged into an artifice of melancholy and despair. However, that’s not a bad thing per se,” she quickly added.

“Many songs, paintings, and stories were created to communicate a sense of sorrow or tragedy—I highly recommend checking out the Shadow Spade series for those who haven’t already,” Rarity promoted shamelessly. “And that is perfectly fine. Happiness isn’t something everyone feels all the time, nor is it something that can be or should be expressed all the time.”

Gallus had to bite back his retort.

“Sometimes, sorrow is something that someone needs to show. Somberness is a perfectly acceptable expression, as is loneliness.”

Silver glanced at him, only to turn away the moment he glanced back.

“And fear?” Rarity continued. “That’s certainly something everycreature feels more often than we care to admit. But it too is something that deserves expression.”

“Well, duh! If it weren’t we wouldn’t have the Horror genre.”

“Only you would rejoice at the idea of Horror existing, Sandbar,” Peppermint accused.

“Hey, come on, Patty! Some of the best movies ever are Horror!”

“Yeah, and some of the best movies ever are Rom-Coms. And personally, I could do without sitting in a room for two hours watching crazy ponies hack each other to death, thank you very much.”

“‘Hack each other to death’? What do you—oh! I think you might have watched a Horror-Thriller. Yeah, those can get a little redundant.”

“‘Redundant’!? That’s the word you go with!?” she squealed disbelievingly.

“Yeah. That’s because a lot of them rely on gore and shock value way too much. Depends on the director and writing team. But if you’re looking for good ones, I can give you a list.”

“…Yona? Could you…?”

“Yona know. Sandbar?”

“What?” She whispered something into his ear to which he responded with, “Ohhh. Sorry.”

“It’s fine. … Did you have a list of Rom-Coms though? I’ve been looking for something new.”

“I’ve got you covered,” Sandbar answered confidently.

“If I may get back to what I was saying?” Both ponies quietly apologized. “Thank you. It is not just sadness and fear that can be expressed this way, but anger and irritation as well,” Rarity resumed. “I find myself alleviating frustration in this manner quite often, actually.”

“You do?”

“But of course! I may be your teacher, but I still occasionally face difficult or frustrating problems. And when that happens, I turn to my craft!” she declared energetically. “My anger weaves into the stitching as my grievance flows into the fabric. What blossoms forth is an object shining with said vented feelings. In fact, the dress I wear now is one such example.”

“So whenever Yona upset Yona should try sewing?” she asked eagerly.

“If you wish, darling. But remember that art is not limited to one specific activity. I express my emotions this way because that is how I best express my passions! But it might not be the same for you. The key is finding what is the best way that you can express your passions.”

“Seems kind of strange to only do that when you’re angry?”

“Well, I don’t, darling. You remember the dress that Twilight wore during her coronation?”

The class nodded.

“That was a work fueled by happiness, gratitude, a bit of apprehension, but above all else: Love. Whereas, this dress is one I crafted in frustration and doubt, but both are expressions nonetheless.”

“So, to make sure I have everything correct—”

“What are you talking about, Ocellus? Of course you have everything correct,” November accused.

“I don’t know that for sure!”

“Says the one who understands this lesson the best out of all of us.”

“Let me guess. Because I’m a changeling?” Ocellus asked tiredly.

“No…? It’s because you’re ten times smarter than the rest of us. Sorry for accidentally making you think otherwise,” he apologized, wincing.

“O-Oh! Oh… Sorry,” she said meekly.

“Meh, don’t worry about it.”

“Alright. Sorry,” she apologized again. “So, Professor? To ensure I have this right: Creative expression is a means of connecting with others by communicating the feelings that we put into our creations? And that all emotions can be expressed this way regardless if they’re positive or negative?”

“Exactly, Ocellus,” Rarity confirmed. “Joy, love, gratitude, hope, sorrow, anger, uncertainty, fear, and all manner of other emotions are best shown through creativity, integrity, passion, and inspiration.”

The class stared scribbling down some more notes.

“Having said all of that, this is today’s class assignment: I want each of you to create something that accurately portrays your present thoughts and feelings. It matters not what you do or if you finish. You have the remainder of class, and if you need any help simply ask me. You may begin,” she ended with a nod.

And thus, the class entered into a flurry of movements, withdrawing various materials and items from the nearby closet.

Some stole away papers and pens, aiming to etch into the papyrus the stories untold in all but their minds.

Others took those same papers, pencils, and brushes and sought to bring images into the world previously privy only to them.

A select few discovered an assortment of Professor Rarity’s leftover materials and began the beautifully painstaking process of creating an artifact of elegance.

However, while his classmates and friends had all sprang at the chance to embrace the activity, Gallus remained where he sat, his neutral face gazing downward at the notebook before him.

Aren’t you gonna finish? You didn’t even get to the actual advice.

That’s enough for today.

No, it isn’t! You asked for her help; she was even proud that you did! Are you seriously that terrified of knowing how to be a better griffon?

N-No!

Didn’t think so. After all, aren’t you trying to heal and be a better griffon in the process?

That’s a completely different issue than this!

Oh, like they aren’t intrinsically linked?

Exactly! One’s my current predicament with Silver being, um, potentially romantically interested in me, w-while the other is my, er, issues.

“If you want to talk about issues, there’s the remaining one of whether or not Silver is actually interested in you or is just humoring you so you won’t go crazy again.”

Nope, I’m not gonna think about that! Instead, I’m going to focus on—

“Ahem!”

Gallus jerked at the polite cough and awkwardly locked eyes with his teacher.

“I would be remiss to discourage reading, but unless you intend to provide a theatrical performance, you still have an assignment that needs doing, Gallus,” Rarity said, smiling comfortingly.

“Sorry, Professor. I’ll, uh, find something to do.”

“Indeed. What were you reading anyway? Out of curiosity.”

“N-Nothing. At least, not yet. I was thinking about it, but I’ll do it later. I have an assignment after all,” he said, happy to have a proper excuse to postpone reading Cadence’s letter. “Again, sorry.”

“Not to worry, dear; reading is a wonderful pastime, and we all find ourselves tempted to do that rather than perform our duties, mundane or not.”

“Yes, ma’am. Sorry again.”

“You already said that, darling.”

“Sorry.”

“That’s three times.”

“Sor—ughhh.”

She giggled, saying, “Don’t be so hard on yourself, Gallus. Happens to the best of us.”

“I know, I know.” Gallus turned to fully take in the plethora of activities before him and was immediately hit with an unfortunate realization. “So, Professor? What should I do?”

“Whatever you feel like, darling. This is an exercise in learning how you best channel your feelings into your passions and your thoughts into your creations.”

Gallus looked at her blankly.

“You still don’t know what you want to do, do you?”

He once again looked at all the activities and thought his choices over again. On one talon, he could just kill class-time messing around with literally anything there. On the other, he wanted to take the assignment seriously and do something he relatively enjoyed. The only problem was…

“Yeah,” he admitted. “I don’t know what I want to do.”

“Hmm. Well, what among the activities are you most interested in?”

Not sewing and definitely not writing. I can’t even write a stupid letter without it taking me half an hour, and that was without thinking of interesting characters and conflicts. And Ocellus has the only instrument, so even if I wanted to try violin I can’t. And no chess boards to practice with. Great. I guess that leaves…

“Drawing?” he concluded, shrugging.

“Ooh, alright then,” Rarity said, her eyes sparkling with fervor. “What exactly were you planning to draw? Did you want to simply sketch, or did you intend to color it too?”

Why does it even matter? Knowing me, I’ll just screw it up again. Gallus blinked and quietly sighed. And there I go again, being cynical and self-demeaning.

“Darling? Is something the matter? You seem perturbed.”

“Everything is—” Still can’t say that word! “—great! I’m just thinking,” he half-lied.

“Oh, my apologies. Take your time; I’m not going anywhere.”

Gallus wasn’t certain what he would have said next, but he thankfully didn’t need to say anything since a certain hippogriff had taken it upon herself to bail him out.

“Professor Rarity?” asked the newly arrived Silverstream.

“Oh, hello, Silver darling. Did you have a question?”

“Mhmm! May we work together on this assignment? I can help Gallus if he wants.”

“Hmm?” Rarity gave him a curious stare before saying, “I don’t see why not.”

“Yes! Thank you, Professor; c’mon, Gallus!”

Her talon wrapped around his before he could even blink, and Silver swiftly dragged him toward the back of the class where she had set up an easel and several paints. She then sat down on a bouncy, backless seat and patted the one beside her.

An annoying buzzing began blaring in the back of his mind as several panicked thoughts mixed together in an unintelligible haze of fearful anxiety.

Gallus then let out a small breath. Stop it, Gallus. She’s your friend, and everything is fine. Don’t worry, all that stuff can wait, he told himself as he took the offered seat.

“Hi,” she greeted kindly.

Just act normal. Just act normal… “Hi,” he responded normally.

“How are you doing?”

Oh, I don’t know? Terrified? Worried? Or at least, trying not to be… How about you?

What are you even worried about? You acted perfectly fine around her just a few minutes ago!

Yeah, well, now I have that issue currently on my brain!

You’d best get over it quickly.

I’m trying!

“Oh, I’m fine.” Aw peck. “No more exasperation. How about you?”

“I’m doing fine myself; no more exasperation either,” she giggled.

“That’s good,” he said, relieved his slip-up hadn’t triggered her panic.

“So, what did you really want to do for this assignment? I’m guessing it wasn’t drawing.”

“Heh-heh. I, uh… Honestly? I didn’t really have any ideas,” he admitted.

“Oh. That’s okay. Can’t decide what to do with all the different possibilities?”

“Yeah…” Gallus sighed, trying his hardest not to use that as a reason to demean himself.

“Well, what’s something you like to do that expresses yourself?” she asked innocently.

“Hang out with you and the others,” he answered.

“Awww!” she cooed, blushing. “Thanks, Gallus, you’re so sweet.”

That’s a compliment, Gallus; don’t panic over it. “Thanks, Silver,” he muttered, managing not to panic over it. “So, uh… What do you like to do that expresses yourself?” he asked in return.

“Ooh, I like to draw, read, bake, act, dance, fly, and all kinds of other things! But my personal favorite? Hee-hee, painting,” Silverstream revealed joyfully.

“Okay,” he said, remembering her tribute to the Tree of Harmony. “What is it about painting you like?”

“EVERYTHING!” Silver shrieked, flaring her wings excitedly. “The various colors I weave into a beautiful representation of my emotions! The gentle brushes I flow across the canvas, carving an intricate design of wonder and life! The abstract rivers of beauty and splendor I raise forth with every stroke and flourish!” Her smile drooped when she noticed his blank stare. “I guess it’s a little hard to put into words…” she murmured self-consciously.

“I hear that,” he said, struggling not to return to dwelling on his current fears. A light-bulb then lit in his mind as he asked, “In that case, why don’t you show me?”

“Hmm?”

“I don’t know the first thing about either drawing or painting, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen you paint before. Except for that one time,” he preemptively said, reading her mind and earning another giggle. “So, why not? Show me how it’s done, Madame Silverstream.”

“Alright then, Sir Gallus. Prepare to be amazed!” she declared, reaching for her brushes.

She stared at the blank sheet for barely half a second before setting into motion.

At first, she left only small strokes of green, some dark and some light. Then another brush was taken into talon and left behind a swirl of warm cream. Another streak soon followed, this one a brighter white. Thin lines of gold then traced through the snowy white, like sunlight through a window.

It was as mesmerizing as a trainwreck, only far more beautiful and graceful. Silverstream moved with a finesse that no other creature could hope to match; every stroke and touch were as gentle as an angel’s feather. Not a movement was wasted, and not a feeling was lost.

Gallus was almost lost in a trance, watching the image bloom forth into the empty blankness, but he quickly snapped out of it once Silver started talking again.

“Now, what do you see when you look at this?” she asked, gesturing to her creation.

“Huh? Oh, uh… A flower?”

“Yep, it is a flower, but what does it make you feel?”

Like I’m looking at a flower?

“I don’t know. What am I supposed to feel?”

“Whatever it is you do feel,” she said, watching him patiently.

That doesn’t answer my question, Silver.

“Uh, warmth?” he tried.

“Ooh, okay. And?”

Silver, I don’t know what you want me to tell you! Gallus wanted so much to lament but didn’t.

He looked closer at the flower, trying to see every last detail she had put into it. It wasn’t easy, considering how meticulous she had been in crafting the single item, but he had to at least try.

Okay, Gallus. Gabby would get this in a heartbeat, so try to think like her. What would she see?

…

Come on, Gallus, Silver put a lot of hard work into this thing! Try to see what it is she wants you to see, or do you want to upset her?

Would she even be mad?

She’d certainly be hurt.

Okay, yeah. Peck no! I can figure this out.

…

I’ve still got nothing, he realized, ashamed.

“Gallus, you’re kinda quiet. Is everything okay?” Silverstream asked, breaking him out of his thoughts.

“Huh?” There I go worrying her again. I’m such a— “Yeah, I’m just trying to figure this out.”

“Do you want me to explain it?”

Be honest, Gallus thought, conceding defeat. “Yeah, could you? I’ve got nothing. Sorry,” he added, wincing.

“That’s fine,” she assured. “You see, the singleness of the flower is meant to represent an isolation of self, while its colors communicate a purity of purpose and existence. However, see how it leans as if it’s caught in a breeze? That’s to symbolize both the fragility and endurance of life.”

As glad as I am I didn’t upset her, how the peck was I supposed to know that? Maybe I can read a book on art interpretation or something? … Grover’s Treasure, I sound like Ocellus.

“Oh. Sweet!” he praised. “What’s the rest of the blank canvas supposed to convey?”

“Nothing yet, I haven’t finished there. But see? Right now, the flower serves as a symbol of quiet tranquility and innocent fragility. However, if I take some black and add a bit to the top…”

She returned to imprinting her imagination upon the canvas, replacing the barren snowiness with a layer of swirling shadows. Soon, a blurry fog began to fall from the blackened sky, reaching down to press against the flower, turning what once was a symbol of fragility into the victim of a relentless downpour. In turn, the gentle leaning of the single stem transformed into a desperate struggle against the wild winds, and the field it grew from was hidden beneath a rippling river.

How is she so good at this!?

In no time, Silver finished and looked to Gallus with a smile.

“See? This why I love painting. You can say so much with so little,” she rejoiced. “Before, the flower was simply something that existed in an otherworldly void, enduring in a realm of nothing. But with a little rain and some clouds, it becomes a symbol of strength and determination! A marvel of nature in its ability to survive the most terrible of forces! Does that makes sense?” she inquired hopefully.

“I don’t know, does it?” Gallus asked jovially.

“I don’t know. That’s why I was asking you,” she playfully retorted.

“Heh-heh. Well? I think it does,” Gallus answered honestly. Seriously! How have I never noticed how good she is at this!? “This is really cool, Silver,” he complimented.

“Thanks,” Silver said, smiling warmly. “Of course, I still need to add some extra touches to make it truly work. In any case, did you want to try painting a flower?” she suggested. “Well, I guess it doesn’t matter if you paint a flower or not, but do you want to just try painting anything?”

“Sure?” he answered uncertainly.

“Okay then. We can share brushes and paints. If you need anything, just ask.”

“Right.”

She continued to engrave even more details into her painting, leaving him to pick up a brush and stare at his own blank canvas.

Now what? … No, seriously, what do I do?

Express yourself artistically, darling! he sarcastically chanted to himself.

Okay, so how do I do that? What is it that they want me to actually express?

You have both a teacher and a friend to ask these questions.

Gallus looked over his shoulder and saw Professor Rarity helping Sandbar and Yona with the dress they were making. He then turned his gaze to Silver and found her lost in a haze of pure bliss, weaving her brush across a stormy night sky.

I don’t want to disturb her.

She said that if you had a question you could ask her!

Yeah, but I don’t want to look like an idiot! Look at how good she is!

Now, you know she doesn’t think of you as an idiot.

Then what does she think of me!? Because I have no clue!

You could ask her that too, you know.

AGGGHHH!

“Are you sure you’re okay, Gallus?” Silverstream said again, sensing his dismay. “You look a little frustrated over there.”

“Huh? No, I’m fine.” Peck, I said it again! “Just thinking.”

“About what?”

What did you really mean when you asked me if Friends and Family Day was supposed to be—

“About what I should paint.”

That’s not building a foundation of trust! Gallus rebuked himself, remembering Cadence’s letter.

“Oh.” Silver breathed a quiet sigh of relief. “Did you want some ideas? I’ve got a lot of ‘em.”

“You know what? No,” he joked. “I’m going to give this thing to Rarity exactly as it is.”

“But it’s blank,” she stated, puzzled. “I’m pretty sure she’d want you to draw something on it.”

“Not so. For you see…!” He cleared his throat and declared, “This! This is a ‘Blank Canvas’! And there is nothing in this world more expressive than this here ‘Blank Canvas’!”

“Is that so? Then tell me, Gallus. Why is that?” she questioned, playing along.

“Excellent question, Madame Silverstream,” he said, slicking his headcrest back. “You see, a ‘Blank Canvas’ is not simply a piece of paper; it is a bed of endless possibility! It is a vessel that can carry within itself any number of thoughts, feelings, and passions! Do not mistake the snowy expanse of its visage as a mark of emptiness! For it is a symbol of infinity, of mystery, and of timelessness. For truly? What is more creative than that which can be anything?”

Silver giggled.

“Ah! I see you enjoy my words and agree with their message. Well, what if I told you that this glorious entity can also be yours? Yes, yours! Yours to carve an eternity upon, yours to unlock the secrets thereof; yours to embrace with loving soul! All yours! … For ten Bits.”

Silver tried and failed to stifle her laughter. “Gee, Gallus, I never thought about it that way before,” she eventually said.

“What can I say? I have a way with words.” When I’m trying to sell something anyway.

“You’re quite the generous griffon too. For ten Bits, I’d take twenty.”

“Seriously?” he asked, laughing.

“Yes, seriously! Do you know how much these things cost?”

“Nope. But now that I have an idea… Did I say it was only ten Bits? Because I meant thirty.”

“Oh, you dirty scammer, you!”

“Agh! Mine heart! Mine heart hath been wounded by yon words of injury most heinous!” he cried out dramatically.

“No! Sir Gallus, yon heart must endureth!” she protested, smiling.

“Nay, Fair Silverstream! Mine heart can’st endureth! Yon words doth be too vile!”

“Then forgiveth mine words, Sir Gallus! Mine words doth be spoken in jest, not villainy!”

“I doth be sorry, milady. But without reason, mine heart can’st continueth! And now! I feareth I! Must! Pass! Bleghhh!”

“Sir Gallus, thou can’st perish; I refuse the occurrence of such nonsensical drivel. For surely! If yon heart needeth reason to continueth then thee needeth only recollect that thee and mineself hath yet to baketh thou village’s letter carrier’s basket of goods of great gratitude.”

“Dear me, I had almost forgotten such pleasantries awaiteth mine day! For such, mine heart shall endureth, and I? I shall yet live evermore! For muffins shall be baked! And yon village’s letter carrier shall be rewarded for her courage and valor in the battle against Queens Lyre and Bonneth.”

“Doth not forget King Caramel. For our trusted comrade doth saved thee from him as well.”

“That indeed, Fair Silverstream. That indeed.”

The two broke down into a fit of laughter.

“That is enough, darlings; there’s very little time left in the period,” Rarity informed them. “And no, Sir Gallus, I shall not accepteth yon ‘Canvas of Blank.’”

Everyone in the class chuckled except for Smolder. Though it was understandable since she was a little busy cleaning up the ink her broken pen had left on her desk, paper, and claw.

Once Silver quieted down, she said, “C’mon, Gallus. I can help you figure out what to paint. What were you considering?”

A few minutes later the bell rang, ending the class.

“Alright, everycreature! There may be no homework tonight, but I still want you all to think about how best you can apply today’s lesson,” Rarity insisted. “And yes, we will be picking up where we left off today during our next class. Until then, you all have a good afternoon.”

“You too, Professor Rarity.”

“See ya Thursday.”

“Goodbye.”

As the other students made their way out of the room, Gallus and Silver remained where they sat, both still staring at the easel before them.

“Whelp! It’s something, I guess?” Gallus mumbled, trying to hide his disgust.

“For your first attempt, this is really good,” Silverstream complimented, grinning reassuringly. “Trust me. No one’s first painting is a masterpiece.”

“Except yours, I bet.”

“What!?” she yelped, shocked by his suggestion. “Oh! Oh please! When I first tried painting, I made a complete mess of myself. Literally. I had streaks of red in my mane for days.”

“No way! Look at how great your painting is. You’re telling me you can make something this beautiful, but your first attempt wasn’t just as good?” he inquired disbelievingly.

“…You really think this is beautiful?” she asked tentatively.

“Well, duh!”

Silver looked over her painting silently then turned back to Gallus, saying, “Thank you.”

“For what? Pointing out the obvious?”

“For the compliment, Gallus,” she clarified serenely.

“Well, you deserve it, so…”

Gallus blushed once the words left his beak; luckily, they seemed to be the right words to say because Silver immediately hugged him afterward. After a moment, he hugged her back.

“Oh my! Smolder, wait, darling! Darling!” Rarity shouted, shocking the two apart.

Gallus felt something stirring in his heart, and it felt scarily like disappointment.

“Is something wrong, Professor?” Silverstream inquired, drawing his attention back to Rarity.

Rarity looked at the crumpled paper she held then to them. “N-Not really, darlings. I was trying to give this back to Smolder. She wrote quite a… Nice poem. And I thought it would be a shame to leave it behind. Ah well, I’ll give it to her later. But as for you two, oh! I see you both decided to paint,” she observed, trotting over.

What is she… You know what? No. I’m having a good day so far, and I don’t need to screw it up by prying into something that’s not a big deal, Gallus resolved. Besides, Smolder said she needed some time, and I doubt snooping into whatever she wrote is going to win me any points.

“Yep! How do you like them?” Silver asked happily, bringing him out of his thoughts once again.

“Hmm, let me see here… My, what a lovely flower! I can feel the devastating strength of the storm, but the flower!” Rarity exclaimed excitedly. “Ooh, it holds fast despite the overwhelming odds, yet it retains that beautiful golden and white coloring! Truly an image of fragility versus endurance and determination versus omnipotence. Absolutely stellar, darling; although, I suspect you have yet to finish it?”

Silverstream spared Gallus a glance and confidently nodded. “Yes, ma’am. I have way more to do.”

That thing looks as amazing as it does, and she’s not even done yet!? How the peck!?

“I’d expect nothing less, Silverstream. And am I correct to assume this one is yours, Gallus?”

“Hot garbage, right?” he half-joked.

“Not so, darling.”

“Wait, what?” he let slip out.

“From your lack of confidence, I take it this is your first foray into the craft?” He nodded. “Well, for a first attempt it’s certainly one of the better ones I’ve seen. Good job, Gallus.”

“You mean, ‘Good job, Silverstream.’ She was the one doing most of the work,” he protested.

“Gallus!” Silver squawked. “Don’t believe him, Professor Rarity; he did all of it on his own!”

“Excuse me? You were the one who told me to do little strokes.”

“And you did little strokes. Key word being: You.’ Not me. You.”

“Yeah, well, I guess that makes you my teacher; thus, all my success is yours.”

“Oh, hush, Gallus.”

“Why? Don’t you want me to give you the credit and praise you deserve?”

Silver grumbled incoherently as he simply chuckled. All the while, Rarity’s smile grew.

“Silver is quite right, darling,” Rarity concurred, nodding approvingly. “Yes, she taught you, but the work you did was still your own, guidance or not. Make no mistake, Gallus; this is your success. And thus, you deserve all the credit and praise for it,” she said, patting him on the shoulder.

But— But she— But I— Silver did all the— I didn’t— I don’t deserve the— What!? he thought in confusion, despite the neutral look he ensured he was wearing.

“Eh. It’s still hot garbage though,” Gallus attempted to reassert.

“Absolutely not, darling! It’s not quite a masterpiece, but if it’s truly your first try, it may as well be,” Rarity protested. “Nonetheless, both are certainly fine jobs. I’m proud of you two. Now, both of you had better hurry on to class before you’re late,” she said, trotting back to her desk.

“On it, Professor,” Silver said, standing up. “Let’s go, Gallus!”

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” he responded on instinct, still trying to wrap his head around Rarity’s words. He quickly gathered his things and started for the door before Rarity cleared her throat, drawing his attention. “Yes, Professor?” he asked.

“Darling, I hope you understand that what you did today truly is something to be proud of,” she stressed, approaching him. “Is it perfect? No. Neither is Silverstream’s for the record, but that doesn’t matter. You’re only just beginning, and trust me! Even I struggled at my craft when I started out. But here’s the thing: When you begin something, you can only get better as you continue. So I hope you keep it up! After all, I did say we’d be returning to our projects next class,” she ended, winking.

Gallus stared at her for a solid minute before giving a small laugh. “Thanks, Professor Rarity,” he said, smiling.

“Anytime, darling. Now, run along, dear; you know how Applejack gets.”

“Right. See ya later.” Gallus then raced through the door and down the hall until he eventually caught up with Silverstream. “Hey,” he greeted.

“Hey,” Silver greeted back. “I was wondering where you were; did Professor Rarity want something?” she inquired as they continued trotting together.

“Yeah. She, uh… Wanted to make sure I got the message.”

“‘Message’?”

“That I…” He took a deep breath and said, “That I should be proud of my painting.”

“Well, of course you should. It was really good.”

“Not as good as yours though,” he replied bitterly.

“So?” she asked, making Gallus stop dead in his tracks.

“So?” That’s all she can say? That’s it? No comparisons, no arguments, no corrections; not even a pecking defense!? Just… “So?” Why is that all she can say? When her art is so beautiful and mine is so terrible, why is “so” the only word she can say about the issue?

Because it doesn’t matter to her; she cares about me regardless, he realized.

“Gallus?” Silver’s worried voice cracked through his stupor and pulled him back to reality. “A-Are you okay?” she asked yet again, clearly panicked.

“Silver?” he began quietly.

“Y-Yes?”

“Have I ever told you that you are just… So, so awesome!” Gallus extolled, smiling gratefully.

“Huh?” she deadpanned, dumbfounded.

“Because you are,” he continued. “You. Are. Awesome!”

Silver snorted and swept her mane over her cheeks to hide her blush. “Oh, Gallus, stop it,” she mumbled.

“No, I want to say it again. You’re awesome.”

“Awww,” she nervously murmured. “Thanks, Gallus. You’re awesome too, you know.”

“…Yeah. Yeah, I know.”

***

“Ack!” Gallus coughed. He carefully massaged his dry throat as he leaned back into the lime green sofa of Starlight’s office. In a turquoise flash, a bottle of water entered reality and hovered over to him which he gratefully took. After a few quick, sips he said, “Thanks. Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Starlight urged. “There’s a reason I went out of my way to learn Oration Continuation Beta, and it’s not because I like punishing myself. If anything, I’m sorry for not offering you water earlier.”

“Eh, I would have probably—” He greedily took another sip of water. “—I would have probably downed this thing by now had that been the case,” he finished.

Starlight chuckled lightly. After a few minutes, she eventually said, “Sooo, sounds like you had a pretty good day, all things considered.”

He gave his throat another second to rest before he clarified, “Yeahhh, no. I actually haven’t gotten to the rest of it yet.”

“…Oh.”

“Sorry. I know you probably have more important things to do; it’s just—”

“No, no. That’s not it, Gallus. I’m just surprised,” she went with. “If there was a more immediate issue, I would’ve thought that you’d talk about it first.”

“Well…” he began, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s weird.”

She leaned back in her chair, sipping at her cocoa in thought.

Gallus had arrived at her door roughly half an hour earlier, asking if he could talk to her. Although shocked that he hadn’t waited until the weekend to have another session, Starlight obviously wasn’t going to turn him away, so she had agreed and had been listening ever since.

She had also been taking in his appearance and mannerisms during the recollection and was happy to see a noticeable improvement.

The bags under his eyes were still there, but the eyes themselves were far less bloodshot. And the confidence he was well-known for was finally beginning to return to his voice.

Of course, there were still quite a few moments where he hesitated for a split second and clearly decided not to tell her something, particularly when she had asked what he had been reading during Fluttershy’s class. However, judging by how quick he had been to dodge the question, Starlight had no doubt it had either been something inappropriate or something from Cadence. Then again, the two weren’t exactly mutually exclusive.

“So,” she started again. “How are you doing now?”

He put down the bottle, mulling the question over before saying, “I’m doing well enough.”

She smiled, saying, “That’s good to hear.”

Gallus nodded and took another few sips of water, letting the cool fluid soothe his scratchy throat. “I think…” he began after some time. “I think it was a lot easier for me today.”

“I should hope so.”

“I mean… Yeah! Looking back? It was surprisingly easier. I still had some times where I didn’t feel good. But those kinda seemed… Smaller, I guess?” he suggested. “At least, it was definitely easier to shut those thoughts down.”

“That’s also good to hear.”

“…It’s funny, isn’t it?” he continued uncertainly. “Yesterday, I was barely keeping myself together, and then there’s the whole week before that… Yet, here I am today, and everything is easier.”

“That’s three-for-three for ‘good things to hear,’” Starlight quipped.

“So, it is a good thing?” Gallus asked.

“Well, you said today was easier for you and that you were feeling better. Maybe not perfect, but well enough, right? I’d say that’s a good thing.”

“I guess. You’re right; I’m probably overthinking things again.” Gallus was silent for a second before suddenly questioning, “Am I supposed to be doing okay? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I’m doing fine, but… Am I doing it right? You said healing took a long time, so… I-I don’t know; like I said, I’m probably just overthinking things.”

“There’s overthinking things, and there’s being self-aware of things,” Starlight said sagely.

“So I am doing something wrong then?”

“‘Something wrong’? No, you’re not doing anything wrong.”

“Yeah, but…” he started before falling silent again.

“It’s okay, Gallus,” she said. “What’s on your mind?”

…

“Why can’t I say, ‘I’m fine’?” Gallus asked warily.

“What do you mean?”

You idiot! Why did you ask that!? You know you’re not supposed to ask those kinds of things! he rebuked himself, trying to hide his wince. No use crying about it now, might as well go all-in.

“Today was easier,” Gallus hesitantly noted. “I know that for sure. But all day today, my friends kept asking if I was okay. I kept wanting to say that I was fine, but I kept having to say I was doing ‘well enough’ instead. I told Ocellus I was fine, but no. I told the others I was fine, but no! I kept telling Silver I was fine, but…”

“Are you doing fine?” Starlight inquired. “Genuinely fine?”

“YES!” he shouted, recoiling afterward. “Sorry. That’s, like, the fortieth time I’ve been asked that today, and it’s…” He kept his beak shut for a moment, once again debating whether or not to tell her something. Eventually, he relented, “It’s annoying.”

“That your friends are worried about you?”

“That I keep making them worry,” Gallus corrected grimly. “All day, I’ve been taking things in stride, trying to keep everything under control and not lose my cool. All-in-all, I’ve been trying to move on and heal. … Right? That is what I’m doing, right?”

“From what you’ve told me, it certainly sounds like you’re doing better,” Starlight agreed.

“You say that, and yet… Yet, everyone else…”

“You’re worried that you’re not healing even though you think you are?”

Gallus nodded. “I feel fine. I may still not be at my best, but I feel way better now than I was. But…? It’s a lot of little things, I guess. Ocellus not believing me when I said I was fine,” he said, counting them on his talon. “Silver asking me if I was okay half a dozen times, my near-panic attack in Kindness Class; Smolder… Drama Club…” he ended, wincing.

Starlight raised an eyebrow at the last point, but she remained quiet so he could continue.

“I know I was doing better today. At least, I think I was doing better today. But when I look back, and I remember that none of my friends seemed to believe that…? Or how I just kept worrying them…? It makes me wonder if I really was doing better today,” he finished, shooting a defeated look toward the saddlebags he had left in the corner.

Starlight hummed thoughtfully before saying, “I think I understand what you mean.”

“You do? Thank Gro— Oh. Sorry. Is it ‘Thank Celestia’? or is it ‘Thank Twilight’ now?”

She snorted, giggling into her hoof. “It’s still ‘Thank Celestia.’ As far as I’m aware anyway. Heh-heh-heh. ‘Thank Twilight’? Oh geez! Spike is gonna rip her a new one when I tell him.”

“In that case, thank Celestia!” he rejoiced dryly. “What do I do?”

“There’s not really a whole lot that you can do.”

“Say what?” Gallus whimpered.

“No-no-no! I didn’t mean it that way!” she hurriedly clarified. “Sorry. Let me think of how to properly explain this.”

Gallus nodded, waiting with bated breath.

Eventually, Starlight spoke up again, “Okay, what you’re worried about? It’s sort of a continuation of the transition issue we talked about last time.”

“Okay? What am I doing wrong then?”

“Nothing. Gallus, you’re not doing anything wrong.”

“I’m not?”

“Nope.”

“Okaaay,” Gallus groaned disbelievingly. “Then what is wrong with—” He stopped, took a small breath and corrected himself, “What is going on?”

“You’re healing,” she answered calmly.

“But…” he tried to begin only to pause and mutter, “Sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for, Gallus. I completely understand where you’re coming from. And to be honest, I probably should have expected this to be an issue when I talked to you yesterday.”

“So, what does this have to do with the whole ‘transition’ thing?”

“Remember,” she started. “You’re only beginning to move on. As a result, you’re caught between where you’re moving on to, and where you’re moving on from. Because of that you—”

“Have to deal with a bunch of stupid emotional problems?” he guessed sardonically.

“I wouldn’t exactly put it that way, but… Pretty much, yeah,” she bluntly stated. “Here’s the thing: Healing is not a one-and-done scenario. It takes a lot of time, and there’s a lot of different parts to it. The ‘issue’ here is that you’re simply experiencing a different part of the process.”

“I-I’m confused. This is part of the whole ‘moving on’ thing, but you said it was sort of like the ‘transition’ part, and now you’re saying it’s a different thing entirely? Isn’t that bad? Like, am I not supposed to be doing that ‘transition’ first?” he rattled off, slightly panicked.

“Hold on there, Gallus,” Starlight interjected, raising her hoof. He ceased, so she elaborated, “You are still doing the transition. What you’re worried about now is just a different part of it.”

“And that is?” he nervously asked as he finished his water.

“That would be the recovery period,” she answered, igniting her horn with a simple thought.

“What do you—oh! Thanks,” Gallus said in regards to his newly refilled bottle. “But, uh, ‘recovery period’? I’m guessing that doesn’t technically refer to me being better, does it?”

“In a sense, it does. Healing from trauma is an uphill battle, but that doesn’t mean it has to be one all the time,” she explained. “In fact, it shouldn’t be. Take yesterday for example. You had only just begun trying to move on, so yesterday was a lot harder. But today was far less challenging, correct?”

“Even including the parts I haven’t talked about? … Yeah. Today was a lot better.”

“And that’s a good thing. You can’t be expected to have to deal with all of the, er, ‘troublesome’ parts of healing every second of every day. And that’s where today comes into play.”

“Today was a reprieve from the troubles,” Starlight stated. She then frowned and added, “At least the first half was; I’m still in the dark about the second half. Speaking of which, should I wait to finish this until after you tell me about it, or…?”

“No, you’re good. Everything else is more of a… Different problem.”

A glimmer of concern twinkled in her eye, but after a quick breath, Starlight resumed, “The fact of the matter is this: Today was easier. That’s a very good thing.”

“It’s true that healing requires time and is by no means easy, but one can’t be expected to face the struggles of it all the time without at least some time devoted to resting. Even if it’s only a day, a respite from the ordeals is necessary for one to get better. After all, how can you move on if you’re always dealing with whatever it is you’re trying to move on from?”

“I guess you’re right about that,” Gallus slowly admitted. “But it’s only been a day! Is that… Is that normal? Is it normal for me to spend a day fighting off panic attacks every other hour to being able to stop them before they drag on? In just a day!?”

“Everyone heals differently, Gallus,” Starlight comforted. “But I feel I should point out that today wasn’t just the first day back after the break. It was also the first day after everything that happened before it. So now, rather than having it on your mind at all times, it’s all…” She took a second to think over her next words and settled on, “Behind you, in a way. Not quite in the sense you’ve fully healed from it, but rather, you’re able to finally focus on other things instead.”

“I suppose so. But my friends are still worried,” he lamented. “I may be doing better, but they… They’re scared that I’m not. They’re scared that I’m pretending to be better.” Gallus fell silent. After some time, he looked back up and anxiously asked, “Am I doing that? I don’t think I am, but I’m so used to saying I’m fine. And I meant it when I told Ocellus no one would have known if I hadn’t slipped up,” he swore. “And with what you said about my previous worldview bleeding into my current one… What if I think I’m healing, but I’m not? Am I really doing better, Headmare? Am I healing? Genuinely healing?”

Starlight was quiet as she thought over his every word. Soon, she sighed and said, “In my experience, Gallus? Genuine healing is making peace with your loss, accepting it, and moving on despite it. It’s about being able to see and appreciate all the things you have in this world now, rather than lose yourself to the longing of what could have been. Is that something you’re doing now?”

Gallus pondered that for a moment, shooting another furtive glance toward his bags before answering, “Yes. But I don’t think I’m doing it as much as I should be.”

Starlight smiled at him and replied, “Then yes. You are healing.”

“But I just said—”

Starlight held her hoof up again, earning his silence. “You. Are. Healing, Gallus. But you still have a long way to go. That’s why I called it a ‘reprieve.’ Today was merely a break from everything, but tomorrow might not be. You might have been feeling perfectly fine today, but tomorrow, you might wake up and feel everything flowing back,” she admitted, eliciting a gulp from the griffon.

“But don’t let that discourage you!” Starlight fervently continued. “Tomorrow is another day, and while it could be a bad day, it could just as easily be a better one. It’s about taking it one day at a time. Little-by-little. Step-by-step. With every day that passes, that burden lessens.”

“…Yeah,” Gallus sighed, a tinge of serenity back in his voice. “I hope so, Headmare Starlight. I’m just really worried I’m not doing it right. Or that I’ll… That I’ll screw up again.”

“Everyone makes mistakes. It’s a fact of life. And you most likely will make some mistakes along the way,” Starlight acknowledged. “But those mistakes don’t have to be enough to ruin everything if you don’t let them. You have your friends by your side, Gallus, and they’ll all be with you regardless,” she said, sparing a short glance at the pile of papers littering her desk.

Gallus focused his gaze downward, trying very hard not to dwell on one particular friend.

“Thanks,” he eventually said quietly. “But…? How do I do that? My friends are still worried about me, and I… I don’t know how to make them stop. Got any advice for that?”

“You can’t stop them from worrying about you for one thing. They’re your friends, and after what you went through, they want to make sure that their friend is doing alright. That you are doing alright. And you are! The only problems is, well…”

“I lied?” he guessed, wincing.

“That’s… Yes. That is part of it,” she forced herself to admit. “They know you lied, so now they’re worried you might be lying again. Ocellus is, at the very least. However,” she preemptively cut him off. “You talked to her and promised you wouldn’t lie to any of them again. Right?”

“Yeah, but—”

“And did she believe you?”

“I think so. But I’m worried that she didn’t or that she’s still worried even if she did. I know I’m not supposed to worry, and I am trying not to, but I can’t help it,” he said, hanging his head.

“I don’t blame you for being worried, Gallus. It’s not easy having others worry about you when you don’t want them to be. But your friends did only just find out you weren’t feeling well,” Starlight noted in a gentle voice. “It’s natural they’d be worried for a while. And you can’t simply wave your talons and wish them all to not be. The best thing you can do is give them some time too and reassure them that you are doing better whenever you can.”

“And how can I do that? There has to be something specific that I can do, right?”

“By healing. By showing them that you are doing better. Even if you’re not feeling as great as you once were, you’re at least doing better now. Show them that. Show them that by spending time with them, by having fun with them; by just being with them.”

“How do I do that if I still have everything else going on? I may be doing better now, but what if I really am back to square one tomorrow? What then?”

“I don’t know. But if I know anything, it’s that it is a lot easier to love the ones closest to you and celebrate your time with them when you have a break from everything else. And you have a lot of loved ones, and a lot of time to be happy with them,” she reminded him encouragingly.

Gallus tore his gaze from Starlight and shot it at his bags once again; the unfinished letter waiting within its depths practically beckoned for him to finally read it. He turned back to her, a more relaxed expression adorning his face, and he said, “Yeah. I guess I do, huh?”

“Yep,” she agreed, meeting his small grin with a smile of her own.

…

“You kinda caught me off-guard, you know,” Starlight soon said.

“I did?”

“Yeah. I thought I would have to talk to you about this myself, but nope. Here you are! Being all self-aware and introspective, heh-heh,” she laughed.

“Uh, still a little clueless here,” he said, sipping at his water again.

“Oh, sorry. You see? I had a similar issue to you when I had my own experience with moving on.”

She looked out the window, quietly observing Twilight’s old castle. “There was a time when I was worried I wasn’t improving nearly as much as I thought I was too. Gave myself a nightmare or two about it. There might be worse things than it, but… Being paranoid you’re not doing nearly as well as you want to be or think you are is not a happy experience,” Starlight confided morosely.

“How did you get over it?”

“I got some pretty good advice from Princess Luna. It went along the lines of—oh, I dunno—trusting in your friends?” she said smartly.

Gallus snorted, shaking his head. “I get it already, heh-heh-heh. What happened after that?”

Memories of stalking through a shape-shifting labyrinth and getting thrown around like a rag-doll by Chrysalis replayed in Starlight’s mind.

“…A lot happened after that, but that’s a completely different story,” she quickly brushed aside.

“Oh.” So that’s what that feels like…

“Sooo?” Starlight began after taking another sip from her cocoa. “What else happened today?”

The memories of both his chaotic experience with Drama Club and Silverstream’s terrified face replayed in his mind. The latter in particular practically burned itself into his eyes.

“Uh? I, uh, um…” he uselessly mumbled as his pacified worries roared back to life.

“Gallus…?” Starlight apprehensively began. “What else happened today?” she asked gently.

He gulped and started, “I may have—”

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Gallus and Starlight stared at the door as it visibly shook with how hard the pony on the other end was knocking.

“Hey, Starlight? It’s Trixie; are you in there?”

Starlight hung her head, letting out an irritated sigh. “I’m in the middle of something, Trix!”

“Oh good, you are in there. Listen! We need to talk to you.”

“Trixie, I’m serious,” Starlight warned. “Is it really that urgent?”

Trixie’s next few words were muffled, but it seemed she was talking to someone else rather than Starlight. Before either the pony or griffon could ponder it, a calmer, more practiced knocking occurred, followed by a different voice.

“Hello? Ms. Glimmer? This is Mayor Mare; something reached my attention today, and I was hoping to talk to you about it?” she said politely.

A trail of crimson smoke leaked out of Starlight’s horn as she placed her face into her hooves, groaning in frustration. After taking a deep breath, Starlight teleported to the door and opened it, huffing out, “Trixie, What did you do!?”

“Hello to you too, bestie,” Trixie deadpanned. “I did absolutely nothing wrong for the record.”

“Then would you kindly elaborate on why you’re knocking on my door with the Mayor standing behind you?”

“That would be due to my needing to ask you some questions concerning an incident that took place during your Friends and Family Day Festival,” the Mayor explained on Trixie’s behalf.

Starlight turned back to Trixie, raising an eyebrow while maintaining her grimace.

“What? I wasn’t the one who poisoned half of Sugar Belle’s pie rations,” the stage magician whined. “Do you really think I would be that petty? Besides, I have an alibi; ask Ocellus.”

“Wait, someone poisoned Sugar Belle’s what now?” Starlight asked, completely taken aback.

“I’d be happy to go over everything we know with you if you wish, Ms. Glimmer. Provided you’re not busy that is? Oh, hello, Mr. Gallus,” Mayor Mare greeted, waving at him from around Starlight.

“Uh, hi?” he said, waving back.

“Wait just a moment, what happened?” Starlight asked again, still a little too befuddled to have properly processed what Trixie said.

“Pie poisoning,” Mayor Mare repeated. “We’re currently investigating, and I asked Ms. Trixie as to you’re location.”

“Uh-huh. Pie poison—what?” Starlight mumbled more to herself than the others. She then looked back up and said, “Look, I’m sorry, but can this wait a little while? I am in the middle of something.”

“Yes, and I am in the middle of something too, Ms. Glimmer. It’s called finding out who poisoned over forty ponies and tie-dyed the Ponyville Hospital’s entire stock of toilet paper.”

Starlight didn’t know how to respond to that, so she turned back to Gallus, wincing a little. She then turned back to Trixie and the Mayor before turning back to Gallus once more.

“Um, Gallus? I’m sorry, but could we resume this in a bit? I’m sure it won’t take too long.”

Gallus hid another gulp as his eyes darted to his bags and then back to his Headmare before he confidently said, “I’ll be fine. Do you want me to wait here?”

“If you could, yes. I’ll be back soon. Now,” she said, turning to the other mares. “Do either of you want to finish explaining what happened with Sugar Belle’s pies?”

The door closed behind them, and their voices quickly faded away into the background.

…

…

…

Gallus looked at his bags.

You’ve got yourself a chance. Go finish it!

Not yet. Not until I talk to her about what happened.

You make it sound so dramatic; all you did was—

I know what I did, thank you very much!

…

Gallus leaned into the couch and sighed, closing his eyes and steadying his breathing.

Everything is fine, Gallus. You are healing, and you haven’t screwed everything up too badly yet, and you can still fix this! You can still fix everything. Just relax. Everything is going to be alright.

Everything. Is going to be. Alright.

…

…

…

Gallus flung himself at his bags and quickly hunted down Cadence’s letter.

Author's Note:

Hey, everyone! I'm back! Sooo, Chapter 2... Oof. This chapter was a trip. I had to overhaul a lot of what I originally intended for this chapter, and then! I had to split it up into Ch. 2 - 3 or else it would have reached over 40k words which...no.
That being said, think of this chapter as Part 1 and the next one as Part 2 of the same chapter. Sorta.

So, I don't know about the rest of you, but where I am, things are trying to return to normal a little. That's all well and good, but it might mean I'll have less writing time.

Luckily, as I said in the previous author's note, I want to be roughly two chapters ahead at all times, so if it takes too long to get Ch. 5 finished, Ch. 3 is ready to be released anyway.
I'll give myself around the 20th-23rd of June. Just in case.

Also, to those that were interested in that blog post about what writing A Day for Family was like(Maybe one?), I'll post that either later today or tomorrow!

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and are looking forward to the next one! As always, any thoughts or criticisms you possess are appreciated!
Stay safe, everyone!

Next time: You must stare into the abyss! It may gaze back at you, but for the good of the fallen, you must stare!

Comments

[Sunlight Rays]

“Yep.”

That almost gave me the creeps right there because I thought Cozy Glow had actually appeared for a second, but turns out it was just an italicization error.

“I’m entirely neutral to the subject; any disdain originates from its inherent unreliability. But that’s not the point. Gallus, the truth is that I’m worried something like this might happen again!”

And looks like Ocellus just denounced the entire field of psychology. As a student who studied AP Psychology, I am deeply offended. *dramatic feigning heartache movements*

“Mmm,” he hummed, double-checking his memory. “Nope. Can’t say I recall ever seeing you in any of the plays.” Please, please, please! Tell me I didn’t fall asleep during one of them!

Geez, Gallus is really used to having this fear, isn't he? Makes me want to tell him that it's okay to forget things once in a while. I always forget my friends' clubs, and yet we stay friends, even though they do get mad at me. And I mean 'mad at me in a friendly way'

Elsewhere, a lavender alicorn looked up and shot an annoyed glance in the direction of Ponyville. It quickly abated, so she returned to her notes, mildly miffed for an unknown reason.

Does Twily have the Pinkie Senses now as well?

I loved this chapter, especially the bit where Gallus and Silver have their little back and forth session! Gave me a good laugh!

[Summer Script]

10243200
I was worried I might have forgotten to italicize a line. Thank you for pointing out; it should be fixed now.

[Matthais Unidostres]

Twilight said,"Hey, Gallus. Starlight told me what you were going through, so I went throught the mirror portal, got some help from Sunset and the Principals, and picked this up for you."
Gallus took the bottle of pills and said, "Aripiprazole? What's that?"
"Something to keep you from loosing the progress you've made healing. It will also get rid of any... distractions. Just keep taking the medicine, meeting with Starlight, and interacting with your friends and you'll regain control over your life and emotions. I promise."

I expect hate comments for this, but let me make one thing clear. I'm NOT saying that you should just throw pills at mental illness. What I AM saying is that if mental illness is caused by a chemical/hormonal imbalance in the brain, OF COURSE a medicine that can restore that balance is the best course of action. You CAN'T fix mental illness with nice words and talking. Therapy is what builds up a person's confidence and improves their mood while their medicine stabilizes their brain. Unless Gallus gets some medicine, he's gonna relapse eventually. HARD. He is literally hearing the voices of multiple personalities in his brain, and the author has hammered it in that they are not being caused by magic or a curse. It's just something inside of him. Gallus either has Schizophrenia or some other type of Multiple Personality Disorder on top of his trauma over having no family.
And I know I had the medicine come from the human world in my little scenario, but we do know that Equestria has pills (A Bird in the Hoof), so antipsychotics/antidepressants could exist in Equestria as well.

[FanficReader920]

Dang. That conversation with Ocellus and Gallus was really well-crafted.

You really do a great job with these one-on-one conversations.

My only criticism is that Starlight’s sounding a bit too sage-y, becoming out of character from her usual quirky self.

[ShadowWriter2]

more of this when? soon I hope. This is just, yeah, hit the nail on the head,

[Summer Script]

10262097
Still plan on it being around the 20th-23rd of June, sorry! Things are returning back to normal where I am, and it's cutting my writing time in half. Nonetheless, I'm still writing with the time I do have, so don't worry!
Also, thank you for the compliment! I'm glad I haven't screwed anything up just yet!

[Kevin Lee]

Whoa, shit just took a turn off into the LONG road! AND a bit of mysterious hazards
The type of healing Gallus needs to go through will take years, since he has been thoroughly messed up for his entire life!
As for some of the mysterious crimes going on (at least as far as the tie died toilet paper), there’s a clue back in the first class where Gallus sparked the shipping fight when he threw Sandbar and Ocellus together. My money is on either November Rain, or Peppermint Goldylinks for the toilet paper, and maybe one of those two plus possibly Vellum Codex for the poisoned pies—although, if it had been Sweetie Belle’s pies, there would be no mystery

[Akeion98]

Gallus looked up so quickly his neck cracked.

I have done this at least twice and it was because I was either panicked or a teacher tried to get my attention while deep in my thoughts so this is a pretty accurate panicked response at least for me haha.

[Eternal Samson]

“I’m entirely neutral to the subject; any disdain originates from its inherent unreliability. But that’s not the point. Gallus, the truth is I’m worried something like this might happen again.”

In my opinion it’s perfectly reliable enough, especially for predicting behavior
Why I like it
Knowledge is power