Special Chapter: And Ocellus Was Watching
The sky had been clear all day. Gallus welcomed the change. After weeks of on and off snow and rain, Ponyville’s streets would have disappeared if not for the lamp posts that still marked them. Snow washed away from last night’s rain, but that hardly helped. The water gathered and formed sheets of ice that covered the pavement and collected more snow when the pegasi changed their storm. Fillies and colts made snow ponies, forts, and fought snowball wars, a charming reminder of the life that went on beneath the frozen layers of winter.
Chimneys still smoked, and houses breathed warm life as their windows opened, trading warmth for a quick taste of snow-scented air. The earthen smell that tickled noses every time it rained danced on the breeze, following the winds of winter through the town. Life returned to the streets as the morning sun warmed tired bodies through their windows. As the day passed by, one could almost forget how barren Ponyville had been in the dead of winter.
It had been almost a week since Silverstream’s sudden family trip. Gallus kept himself busy, hopping between studying and his part-time job. Deliveries took up the bulk of it. Since the icy roads were risky to walk on, the Sugar Cube Corner came to rely entirely on his help. It took up a lot of time, cutting into lessons on baking so that he could start helping in the kitchen as well as with deliveries, however, Gallus didn’t mind. Getting out and flying around town gave him some much-needed exercise after hours of classes.
He was just on his way back into the Sugar Cube Corner when Silverstream returned, gliding through a wispy cloud from the corner of his eye. Stuffed into a light mail-carrying bag were pre-orders from ponies around town, which all scattered as Silverstream crashed into Gallus. He fell and felt his chest tighten as she squeezed him in a vice-like hug, pinning him on the roof of the bakery.
“Ach! Silverstream! You’re finally back!” He choked with a half-smile as she squeezed him, relieved to see his girlfriend but desperate to survive the encounter. “Please let me go so I can live to ask you about your trip.”
She laughed, letting him go. He immediately dove down and picked up the orders dropped in the snow. “Ah, shoot,” he clicked his tongue, inspecting the receipts.
“Something wrong?” she asked, landing beside him. “Are those… cake requests?” Suddenly, Silverstream gasped with excitement. “Are you working here now?”
“Yep.” Gallus tucked the receipts back in his bag. “I started the same day you left for Cloudsdale. How was that, by the way? You didn’t have the chance to tell me about it before.”
“Oh, right.” Silverstream bounced up and down. “This is perfect. There’s so much to talk about!” She grabbed his talon and pulled him with her. “Let’s get some doughnuts first. Oh, and maybe some coffee.”
Frost turned to water and wiped clean off from Gallus’s mailbag. He hung it to dry by the door and grabbed a spare apron folded up on the counter. While he got ready to start baking, Silverstream did her best to recount everything that happened to her a Cloudsdale.
“And then Luna showed up, which was weird because she’s not doing princess stuff anymore but I guess this was the exception so that’s why she was there, but even then even she couldn’t get the delegates to agree and that’s why I decided I should ask her for help with my idea because I couldn’t tell General Seaspray. So then I did. And then she did.”
Gallus knitted his brow as he squinted at the soaked order slips. “And then she did… what exactly?”
“Sorry,” Silverstream paused her story to breathe. “Should I come back? I don’t want to interrupt your work.”
“No, it’s fine. Really!” Gallus insisted. He picked a box of doughnuts out from the display case and set it on the counter. “Help yourself. I just need to help Mrs Cake whip up some brownies and then leave them to bake.”
“I don’t mind waiting,” Silverstream said. “I mostly just wanted to talk to you, so if you’re busy right now we can catch up back at school.”
“It’s almost the end of my shift, don’t worry. I want to fly back with you. We haven’t talked all week.”
He walked over to the front window and flipped the sign over so that the side that read “closed” faced out. The end of the day for the shop didn’t mean work was done. Each shifted ended with him baking with Mrs Cake, or Sugar Belle when she was around. Pinkie Pie stopped by once, but it seemed writing exams and grading homework took a lot more time out of her day than he expected. She still worked with Mrs Cake, but their shifts never seemed to line up.
“Gallus, sweetie.” Mrs Cake came out of the kitchen, her apron already coated in a layer of powdered sugar and flour. “Sorry, I couldn’t help but overhear you two. I’m just a sucker for romance.” She laughed, and then took a look at the orders on the counter.
Gallus looked down. “They kind of slipped out of the bag.”
“Oh, it’s no big deal. You’ve done more than enough work for today. These orders aren’t too much, I can handle them. You just go on and enjoy the rest of your day, okay?”
“Really?” His feathers stood up. “Are you sure?”
Mrs Cake nodded. “You know, you two kind of remind me of my friend Buttercup. She taught that nothing’s more important than life and love. You never know how much you’ll get. You’re young, Gallus. Don’t let this old bakery take up your time.”
He smiled and quickly gave Mrs Cake a grateful hug before taking off his apron and taking Silverstream by the talon.
“Have a nice evening Mrs Cake,” they both chimed on their way out.
This time around, as they glided across the length of Ponyville, Silverstream took her time explaining everything to Gallus. And not just what happened in Cloudsdale, but why. She told him about her parents, how Queen Novo had urged them to become more involved with Mount Aris’s reconstruction. And, in a way, the Queen had pushed that responsibility onto her as well.
Silverstream described what her parents normally did for Mount Aris. They were both prominent in Mount Aris, not just for being the extended royal family, but for managing the internal and cultural affairs of the kingdom. It was busywork, most of the time. Since some hippogriffs elected to live as seaponies instead, everything doubled. And despite how skilled they were at handling their jobs, they simply weren’t familiar with creatures and places outside Mount Aris.
“They made you go to Cloudsdale just because they didn’t know a lot about Equestria?” Gallus tried to clarify. “Shouldn’t that be their job?”
“Well,” Silverstream said, stretching out her neck and looking bashfully away, “it’s not like I could say no. They’re my parents. Plus, studying friendship has to be useful for something, right?”
“But it sounds like you couldn’t even do anything when you were there.”
She shrugged. “My parents said it’s all about experience, that I need to learn more about being a royal representative. My aunt can be pretty strict when she wants, so they wanted to be sure I could handle the responsibility.”
As the school came into view, Gallus caught Silverstream up on what had happened in class. None of it sounded as interesting, however. Silverstream had all the notes and assignments for the week given to her ahead of time, so she was already caught up with classwork. He mostly talked about the stuff their friends did whenever they got distracted while studying.
Silverstream glided down to the window of her dorm, and Gallus followed close behind. Once they climbed in, they saw books stacked up in a tower teetered precariously against the wall. Yona’s desk was covered in papers, many of them crumpled up and with titles scratched out. But, Gallus knew the young yak herself had left the room empty for quite some time. By now, she and the rest of the group would be reviewing their lecture notes, trying to come up with questions that could appear on a test, or answers to questions they didn’t understand.
Gallus felt bad for showing up late to their study group every evening, but it couldn’t be helped now that he had a part-time job. Smolder said it was fine, and Ocellus’s notes were always so neat that could catch up by the end of the day.
Silverstream quickly shuffled the stack of books into a more stable pyramid, pouting when one of the books Rarity had assigned, Biography of Giorgio Aromatic, slipped off the top of the pile and fell in her talons. “I just wish I didn’t have to miss out on all the fun.”
“We just studied.” Gallus gawked at his girlfriend. “You just came back from a conference that directed the future of multiple kingdoms.”
“Yeah, but my family does all the time,” she sighed. “Oh well. At least there are a few weeks before midterms.”
Gallus gave her a funny look. Sitting at her desk, he crossed his talons and laughed. “Is this what you wanted to talk about? Studying?”
It sounded like the responsible thing to do. They could grab their books, join their friends, and do what they always did when tests started to get too close. But Gallus wanted to be a little selfish and keep their time private. Silverstream had only just gotten back in town, after all. Unlike Yona’s, her desk wasn’t covered in notes and books. There was one quill beside a thin stack of scratch paper. Silverstream had left in such a hurry last week that she had to drop what she was doing. Even the inkwell waited patiently by the quill, although its contents had completely dried out.
On the top page, a few lines had been written. They were song lyrics. Gallus picked them up and scanned over the short pieces that had been written.
“Oh please, no,” Silverstream said, blushing. “I picked the songwriting option for Professor Pinkie’s class.”
“We had a songwriting option?” Gallus paused, trying to think back to their classes. “Was I asleep for that part?”
She shrugged. “Maybe you just forgot. Everyone else seemed to pick the essay prompt.”
Gallus pressed his temple, trying to remember the prompts they were given for their winter assignments. He could recall there being other options, but every time he played his memory in his head, he could only clearly see the essay prompt. The others just seemed like too much work.
“So, what was the music prompt about?”
“Professor Pinkie wanted us to combine laughter with the elements of music that Octavia talked about in her guest lectures. I think that just means we have to write a song that’s good for parties.”
“Oh shoot, that sounds better than an essay,” Gallus said. “But do you have to record an original song yourself?”
“No,” Silverstream laughed, “I don’t even know how to play an instrument. Woodwinds and strings don’t work that well underwater.” She opened her desk’s drawer and rummaged out a CD case. “That’s why I’m making a mixtape. Well,” she waggled the case around, “not exactly a tape. I just have to record short pieces of instrumentals and edit them together.”
“Woah, that’s so cool.” Gallus reached out and took the disc, looking closer with interest. “Got anything on here? I’d like to hear it.”
“It’s just the songs I’ve been sampling,” she said, her talons fiddling with the ends of her mane. “You really want to hear it? Because that’d be great! I’m not sure if I picked the right songs.”
He smiled. “I’m all ears.”
Silverstream had the top bunk, it was easier for her to reach it than Yona, and the young griffs dangled their feet off the edge and shared a pair of earbuds from her CD player.
A few passing minutes turned to hours. They started listening to just the songs Silverstream had picked out, mostly the popular works from albums by Songbird Serenade, Sapphire Shores and Countess Coloratura. But, there were songs by new up-and-coming bands as well, including a band of griffons called “Griff City” and a seapony band, “Marine Five.”
After they were through with the selected songs, Silverstream brought out the rest of her CDs, which had the full original albums. Gallus suggested that listening to the rest could give her new ideas, and they did. But eventually, when the music finished, they just laid in the bed and talked.
“I guess it wasn’t all bad.” Gallus stared up at the ceiling as he thought about Griffonstone. Though it was a blank white canvas, he stretched his talons out and traced the shapes of stars. “I didn’t have to share a room with any griff, and when I climbed on my roof and looked up, I felt like I owned the whole sky.”
“For most of my life, I had never even seen the stars,” Silverstream whispered in awe. “I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of them.”
“You never even poked your head out of the water? Not even once?”
“Sometimes, but only during the day. It was easier to spot the Storm King’s ships and dive back. Like I said, my aunt can be strict. Queen Novo barely let her daughter go to the surface. So, my childhood was mostly filled with underwater caverns.”
A memory of the tunnels beneath the school, the space in which the roots of the Tree of Harmony had once trapped Gallus in a test of friendship, surfaced for a moment. “So, what does everything taste like when you’re underwater?” he quickly asked. “Soggy?”
“Not really,” Silverstream shook her head. “Fish and kelp are already wet no matter where you eat them, so it doesn’t matter that much. Although, drinking water wasn’t a concept until we returned to the surface.”
“Makes sense, since water’s also wet.”
Silverstream suddenly turned to face her boyfriend. She looked at him wryly, trying to read his face under the moonlight shining through the window.
“What?” he asked.
She cracked a funny grin at him. “Gallus. Water isn’t wet. It makes other things wet.”
“But…” he paused and gave himself a moment to follow her logic. “But water feels wet when you touch it. That makes it wet.”
“That’s your talons being wet, not the water.”
Gallus puffed out his lungs in a meandering sigh, combing the feathers on his head back. “I see your point, but it just doesn’t feel right.”
Silverstream shuffled closer to him, lowering her head until the crest of her beak fit into the bend of Gallus’s neck. “You’re when you’re stubborn.”
“I’m not—” his chest heaved with a sharp gasp, but deflated just as quickly. He leaned into Silverstream, his cheek hugging the top of her head. Hippogriffs were, on average, slightly taller than griffons. Silverstream herself had a solid inch or so over him. Not that size mattered to him, but there was a certain comfort in being able to caress her.
He traced his talon gently along her beak. Although it was hard, a bird’s beak could be sensitive, like a unicorn’s horn or how ponies felt cold though their teeth. Running gentle taps along her beak made Silverstream giggle, but she made no protest.
“Don’t fall asleep, okay?” Silverstream mumbled, her words already melting together.
“Mhm,” Gallus murmured back. “Don’t worry about it.”
Smolder stretched. After two hours of studying, the bean bags and pillows lying around the school library felt more tempting than walking back to her room. Exams wait for them less than a month away, which would have been enough time if it weren’t for the other homework assignments they had to keep track of. Reading quizzes and small group projects were the professors’ way of keeping the students on top of their lessons, but it was such a hassle to finish everything each week.
She stuffed her papers into her textbooks and stacked them into her bag. It was late, and she was the last one to leave the library. Ocellus had just left, but long before that Yona already dozed off in the middle of the assigned readings and Sandbar had to walk her back to the dorms.
Must be nice, she thought to herself. Being escorted late at night sounded like something out of a fairy tale book, ones about fancy ladies who wore dresses and went to tea parties every day. Smolder stopped packing up her books for a moment when she realized what she was thinking.
“Ugh, I sound so alone,” she mocked herself.
Even in the middle of the night, the school’s halls were well lit. The moon showed its full face tonight, the curtains were left open to let the white light shine in, and candles filled out the shadowed corners the moon could not touch.
In such an atmospheric dark, Smolder didn’t expect to see anyone awake. But in the dorm hallways, she found Ocellus standing outside one of the doors, staring inside.
“What are you doing?”
Ocellus tensed and whipped her head around, grabbing Smolder and pulling her away from the door. “Don’t scare me like that!” she said in a sharpened whisper.
Smolder looked at Ocellus, then to the door, and then back to her again. “Why were you staring at Yona’s room?”
Ocellus shook her head. “Yona went with Sandbar I think.” She pointed carefully through the cracked door. They could see only a sliver of the bunk, but it was enough to spot two pairs of legs, cat paws and hooves, hanging off the edge.
“When did Silverstream get back?”
“Today, I guess,” Ocellus said.
“She could’ve at least said ‘Hi.’” Smolder frowned and then pulled Ocellus away. “Why are you spying on them?” She looked back in through the door. “Wait, you don’t think they’re doing it, do you?”
“I’m not spying, the door was open and I happened to see through it.” Ocellus backed up, taking Smolder with her. “Besides, I don’t think they would. It’s too soon, isn’t it?”
“Maybe, but that’s not our business.”
“Sure, but,” Ocellus twiddled a hoof on the carpet. “They’re just so cute together. Gallus x Silverstream is my OTP.”
Smolder blinked, and then placed the back of her claw on Ocellus’s forehead. No fever. “Are you feeling alright?” she asked.
Ocellus moved her arm away. “I just want my friends to be happy.”
“Sure, but no more spying, alright?”
“I wasn’t!” Ocellus hissed. “If they’re gonna do… whatever, they should close the door.”
Smolder threw her claws up in surrender. “Alright, fine,” she whispered. “Let’s just go to sleep before they catch us.”
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Aww butter cup 😭 but that's a pretty good saying here
Maybe you should get rid of the I there just a little heads up
Oh I see what you there that's funny and awesome I love their songs owl city and Maroon 5
Oh heck yeah Ocellus mine too lol 😆 yes I am guilty for shipping them
It looks like silverstream got back from her trip and she met up with gallus who is still working at the sugarcube corner and it looks like she just found out that he has a job so they were just talking about how her trip going and he how he just basically they were just studying for the test or something like that and how he got the job so after mrs. Cake let gallus for the night they both were just talking to each other even solo stream was telling him about some stuff and Gallus took a notice of the music lyrics so basically they were just listening to music with each other and having little moments together which I think that's the most adorable thing ever but it looks like lol Ocellus was spying on them and smolder just caught her that was a pretty funny ending right there so I wonder what's going to happen next I guess we'll find out next time
10710162
Indeed. Fixed.