“Well, he sure chose not to come today even though I asked him to,” he countered, angrily clenching his bedsheets. “He sure chose to not come to our performance even though I asked him to! And he sure chose to send me away no matter how much I practically begged him not to!”
“Gallus—” Ocellus tried to begin but was unfortunately cut off.
“I’m still not even sure why I care,” he moaned weakly. “I mean, what do I care if he doesn’t care about me! He never has, and he never will…! So what!? So what if he doesn’t care about me! I don’t need him to care about me!” Gallus declared as his eyes watered.
“Gallus, stop,” she said gently.
“What do I care if he thinks I rocked that play!” Gallus continued on anyway. “What do I care if he thinks I’d make a good professor!? What do I care if he’s proud of me!? He isn’t, so I should just accept that, right!? I should just move on and accept that I’m just not good enough for
“Gallus! Stop!” Ocellus commanded, planting her hoof squarely against his beak.
They both sat there, staring into each other’s eyes until Ocellus slowly leaned in and kissed Gallus, holding him close before breaking the kiss, leaving him in a stunned stupor.
“You are good enough, Gallus,” she spoke in a soft tone. “You’re kind, smart, brave, and so caring! I know this was out of the blue, but working with you these past few months, I… I couldn’t help but fall for you, and I just couldn’t take you belittling and degrading yourself again not when I know how amazing you are.”
She held him close again, wiping the tears from his eyes as well as her own and whispered, “I love you, Gallus.”
“Wh-What!?” Gallus mumbled, barely able to process what just happened. “Why though!? Why me, Ocellus!? You know I’m with Silverstream, so why did you just…!? Y-You know I can’t hide this from her!”
“I know,” she said, hugging him gently.
OH, PECK! OH, PECK! OH, PECK! Gallus thought in a blind panic. HOW DO I FIX THIS!? SILVERSTREAM IS GOING TO BE SO UPSET! HOW COULD SHE TRUST ME OR OCELLUS AGAIN AFTER THIS!?
“It’s okay, Gallus. I’ll tell her myself it was my mistake that I made,” Ocellus offered looking rather pained as she said it. “But in the moment, I couldn’t think of anything that would get though to you! You’re good enough for anyone…”
Ocellus carefully stood up and broke the hug, sniffling and wiping her eyes once again. She then turned to leave, only to see a teary-eyed Silverstream standing in the doorway.
“Uhh…?” Ocellus groaned, taking a frightened step back. Gallus looked practically petrified. “Silver!? I know this looks bad, but—” she started to say.
“Save it,” Silver sobbed weakly. “I heard what you said.”
“H-How much of w-what I said?”
“Enough,” she answered, wings drooping. “…I trusted you. Both of you! A-And you kissed—” Silverstream took a deep, calming breath. “Tell me. How long has this been going on for!?”
"Silver, nothing's been going on. This is the first time anything has happened and it's my fault not Gallus' - I'm the one that kissed him.”
Ocellus tried to look Silverstream in the eyes but failed to do so out of shame.
“And if you heard what he was saying before, you would know why! so don't be upset with him over my actions he loves y—"
"Don't you dare try to lie to me!" Silverstream said, fury replacing the sadness in her eyes.
"I think I want to be alone just now."
After saying that, Silverstream ran away with tears in her eyes as she pushed past Smolder who had been hiding behind her door, listening in She then looked into the room and muttered under her breath, "Ocellus, what have you done?"1
"I-I-I'M so sor—"
Ocellus tries to apologize to Gallus, but he cut her off.
"Shut up! Just, shut up! You have done enough damage; just leave me alone! This one mistake just hurt the one that I love, and all-but took away her trust! So save your PECKING EXCUSES AND LEAVE ME ALONE!"
"GA—"
"JUST! GO! Please just go! I need some time alone; we all do."
"But, Gallus—" she said, reaching out to him worriedly.
"JUST GO please just go i need some time alone we all do."
Furious and ashamed at himself Gallus whimpers and moves back from Ocellus as Cozy Glow appears before him taunting him.
"Oh boohoohoo look at you a little screw up already hurting your friends again why don't you save them the trouble and just end it."
"JUST SHUT UP COZY AND LEAVE ME ALONE!"
Gallus lashes out at the apperation of cozy glow with a talon outstratched only for her to be replaced by Ocellus his talon cutting her cheek drawing a faint droplet of blood and a cry of pain from Ocellus as she flees the room bleeding green blood faintly onto the carpet.
"Ocellus, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you! WAIT! COME BACK! PLEASE DONT LEAVE ME ALONE! please i dont want to be alone anymore" Gallus pleaded, slumping down on the floor and crying.
STUPID! STUPID! STUPID! he berated himself in his head. OF COURSE I WOULD HURT TWO OF THOSE CLOSEST TO ME! I'M SUCH A PECKING MESS! MAYBE COZY GLOW WAS RIGHT ABOUT ME!
"Gee it sure took you long enough to realize i was right boy you are a slow bird."
The fake Cozy says as she looks at him smirking evily.
"I mean first you break your girlfrinds heart and now your last friend in the world to truly love you is scared of you becuase attacked her just look at your claws."
Gallus looked down at his sharp talons. Upon seeing the blood clinging to his claws he grew more distressed, loudly crying out, "I'M NOT WORTH IT! I'M NOT WORTH ANY OF THIS! ... M-MAYBE THE LAST CREATURE I HURT SHOULD BE ME!? A-AND THEN NO ONE ELSE WOULD BE HURT?"
Gallus hears cozy glows mockong voice again louder drowning out anyone elses
"Go on gallus you know its the right thing to do one brief moment of pain and it will all be over i just wish i coukd be there when they find your body"
Before he could do anything rash to himself an orange, scaled fist connected with his beak, knocking him down as a furious Smolder held him down, her eyes brimming with pain.
"I wanted to believe you was getting better, Gallus! I truly did," she said, ignoring the tears falling down her cheek and onto Gallus.
"But I heard what you said, and I won't let you do something like that!" Smolder declared, clenching her claws in anger. "You're wrong!
And if I have to drag you, unconscious, to Starlight's office just so you don't do anything when my back is turned, I will! But we are both going there, right now, and telling her what happened!"
"WHY DO YOU CARE!? YOU HAVE BEEN AVOIDING ME FOR MONTHS AND SUDDENLY, YOU WANT TO BE THERE FOR ME!? JUST PECK OFF AND LEAVE ME LIKE EVERYONE ELSE HAS!" Gallus shouted back, unable to keep his emotions in check any more. "LET ME GO SO NO ONE GETS HURT ANYMORE!"
Smolder said nothing, refusing to move.
"Why!?" he sobbed, openly crying. "Just why can't I do anything right!? All I end up doing is hurting the ones that care about me. O-Or I just drive them away! So why!?" Gallus continued crying while Smolder pulled him into a tight hug. "Why, after everything, did you stop me!? I'd be better off dead! Then I'd no longer be a burden...! Sure, it'd hurt for a while, but you would all forget about me!
"YOU'RE WRONG, GALLUS!"
Someone shouted from the doorway
The Healing of a broken griffin and restoring trust
Silverstream wildly charged down the hallway, far too busy crying than to bother looking where she was going. Eventually, however, her sprint came to an end when she crashed beak-first into a giant, fluffy mass of brown fur.
“Agh! Creature should watch where creature going!” said mass yelped. “Creature almost make Yona spill drink!”
After regaining her bearings, Silverstream hastily wiped her eyes dry and squawked, “Y-Yona?”
“Silverstream?” the yak-in-question murmured, squinting to see Silver through the darkness of the unlit hallway. “Why friend running down halls so late at—” Yona paused upon realizing just how distressed her friend seemed. “Why Silverstream crying?”
Silver made to answer, but all that came out was a strangled whimper as the image of Ocellus kissing Gallus flashed in her mind once more.
“O-Okay! Okay,” Yona quickly called out, pulling Silverstream into a tight hug and feeling the hippogriff quietly weep into her fur. “Yona make friend hot coco and, uh, Silverstream can tell Yona what’s wrong,” she said, even more glad that she hadn’t spilled her midnight cocoa in the collision.
Silver sniffled and nodded weakly.
Breathing a quiet sigh of relief, Yona swiftly guided Silverstream to her room before fetching a pair of cups and splitting the cocoa between them. Once she had passed Silver her cup, Yona sat down in front of her and gently pleaded, “Tell Yona what happened.”
“I… I…” Silverstream took a deep breath to calm herself, however slightly, and stated, “Ocellus kissed Gallus.”
Yona blinked. “What?” she asked, dumbfounded.
“I noticed Gallus seemed upset after the Fair, so I went to check on him,” Silver explained. “But when I did, I-I saw Ocellus kissing him. I… I heard her saying that she loved him,” she puled, holding her drink as best as she could despite the tremor in her talons.
“Oh. That not good…”
“No. It’s not.”
“When— How this even happen!?” Yona questioned, trying to wrap her head around this sudden turn of events only to give up once her head began to ache. “Since when Ocellus ever love Gallus that way?”
“I don’t know,” Silver groaned, wiping her eyes again “When I caught them, she claimed it was the only time it happened, but I-I-I don’t know if she was lying or not…” Her frown slowly morphed into a grimace as she shrieked, “How could she do that, Yona!? Ocellus knows that Gallus and I love each other! She’s our friend, and yet she just up and kissed my boyfriend—My boyfriend! Even with everything going on between all of us, she still kissed…” Silverstream sighed. “Why would she do that to us, Yona?”
“Yona not know,” was all she could respond with. A moment later, she asked, “What Gallus do when Silver caught friends?”
Silver shook her head, answering, “He didn’t say anything.”
“Gallus said nothing!?”
“No. Ocellus tried to do all the talking for them, but I-I just felt so angry and b-betrayed that I… I ran,” she confessed. She combed a talon through her mane and muttered, “I ran away. I just couldn’t stand be in the same room as them!” When Yona said nothing further, Silver grumbled, “Oh, sea kelp, I feel like such an idiot. All that time they spent working together… All that time they spent having fun together…” She let out an uncharacteristically bitter sigh and lamented, “I just don’t understand why. W-Why would any of this happen? What? Was— Was I not good enough for him? Did I not—”
“Yona gonna stop friend right there!” Yona declared with such fervor that Silverstream reflexively seized up and clamped her beak shut. “Silverstream must not think that way; friend more than good enough for Gallus.”
“Then why were they—”
“Does Silver trust Gallus?” Yona interrupted once more.
“Of course I trust him,” Silver confirmed, a touch affronted by the notion that she didn’t. A second later, she hung her head and mumbled, “At least… I did.”
“Is Silverstream saying that one bad thing happening suddenly mean she no longer trust her boyfriend?”
Silver flinched, whispering, “N-No. I’m not saying that; I just… What am I supposed to do, Yona? What am I supposed to think? Ocellus said it was only this once, but how am I supposed to trust that was the truth and that Gallus wasn’t in on it!?” She took a moment to calm down, greedily sipping at her cocoa despite the uncomfortable warmth it filled her throat with. “Am I— Am I supposed to just believe this was the only time they did something like this?”
“Yona not know,” she admitted, biting her lip. “But Yona do know that dwelling on paranoid thoughts like that not helping. So, rather than think of whether Ocellus lying or not, think of how Gallus reacted.”
In her heart, Silverstream knew that Yona was right, so despite the turmoil still racing around in her mind, she quashed her paranoia as best as she could and thought back to what Gallus said after she had caught them. Unfortunately, she drew a blank; Gallus had truly said nothing. And even if he had intended to say anything, Silver hadn’t given him the chance. She had run away.
That said, Gallus might not have said anything, but he certainly did react. And once she shifted past her feelings of anger and betrayal, Silver remembered his expression with a clarity that left her holding a talon over her beak in absolute horror.
“It was the same look…” she realized, dropping her cup of cocoa to the floor.
Yona recognized now was definitely not the best time to scold her friend for potentially staining her carpet, so she instead asked, “Silverstream, what look?”
“His eyes… It was the exact same fear, a-and confusion, and guilt…” Silverstream maundered, shaking her head in denial as her breathing started to quicken. She then looked Yona directly in the eye. “Yona it was the same look he had when I found him in Cozy’s room.”
Yona’s eyes widened in shock. “Uh-oh…”
“And… I ran away,” Silver acknowledged, her vision blurring immediately as a fresh wave of tears rushed to her eyes. “I ran away from him just like I ran away from Smolder…!”
Yona reached out and took Silver’s talon into her hoof. “Silverstream—”
Whatever words of wisdom or comfort Yona had been about to impart were left unsaid as somecreature else called that exact name.
“Silverstream!? Silverstream, where are you!?” Ocellus shouted. A second later, she skidded to a stop outside Yona’s open door, panting heavily and holding a hoof to her cheek. “Oh, thank goodness! Silverstream, Yona; I need—” She immediately hushed upon meeting her friends’ combined glowers.
“What. Do you. Want?” Silver inquired, struggling not raise her voice.
“I—” Ocellus gulped. “I need your help.”
“My help!?” Silverstream roared, leaping to her talons/hooves. Although Yona held her back from approaching Ocellus, she still shrieked, “You want my help!? After you kissed my boyfriend because you just happen to suddenly love him now!?”
Ocellus quailed under her friend’s fury, but she luckily worked up the courage to say, “Look, I-I know I screwed up.”
“That’s putting it mildly,” Yona deadpanned.
“I— I know! I know… And I’m sorry, Silver; I really didn’t mean to hurt you or Gallus—”
“Well, you did,” Silver barked. “You hurt me; how could you think you wouldn’t when you kissed! My! Boyfriend!?”
“I’m sorry, okay!” Ocellus yelled, clearly panicked about something. “And I promise it was just the one kiss; it was entirely my fault; Gallus had nothing to do with it; and I will make it up to you—to both of you,” she rapidly rambled off. “But right now, I really need your help!”
Before Silver could ask why, Yona noticed Ocellus still hadn’t moved her hoof away from her cheek and inquired, “Why Ocellus holding cheek like that?”
Ocellus froze and struggled to find a suitable excuse, but now that Silver’s attention was drawn to it too, she quickly caught sight of the emerald blood trailing down Ocellus’ hoof. “O-Ocellus, are you bleeding?” Silver questioned, her worry temporarily overtaking her outrage as she tentatively reached out to her injured friend.
Ocellus flinched back and frantically yelped, “I-It’s nothing! Just tripped and scraped myself on a— On a nail,” she randomly spat out. Before either Silver or Yona could question further, Ocellus disclosed, “Forget about me; Silverstream, please, you have to help Gallus! He’s… He’s upset,” was all she could bring herself to say.
Silverstream rushed past Ocellus without a word. “Come on, Silver, move!” she ordered herself as she raced back down the hallway, all lingering traces of anger, sorrow, and paranoia having faded away, replaced by her desire to find the griffon she loved and help him however she could. And in almost no time at all, she reached his room only to freeze up upon hearing him speak.
“—you stop me!? I’d be better off dead,” Gallus declared in a strangled voice, sounding far more broken and weary than he had even on the accursed holiday that had started all of their current drama. “No longer a burden…”
Silverstream rounded the corner and peered into the room, finding her crying boyfriend being held in Smolder’s unrelenting grasp. Having not yet noticed his girlfriend’s presence, he added, “Sure, it might hurt for a while, but you would all forget about me.”
“You’re wrong, Gallus!”
Gallus and Smolder barely had any time to look up before Silverstream tackled both of them and joined the hug. “You’re so, so wrong…” she cried, holding them both as closely as she could. Despite this, Smolder still managed to slink her way out of the embrace, granting the couple some personal space.
“S-Silverstream!?” Gallus squeaked out, panicking even more. “What— I-I mean, I—”
“Save it,” she preemptively cut him off, meeting his despondent gaze with her own tearful one. “I’m so sorry for yelling at you and running away,” she apologized, sniffling. “I should have stayed and heard you out, not leave you,” she said, sparing Smolder a short half-glance.
“You don’t have to apologize,” Gallus proclaimed, looking away and grimacing in shame. “I don’t blame you. After what Ocellus…” He couldn’t finish that thought, so instead, he wondered, “Why are you even here? You probably don’t want anything to do with me anymore after what you saw,” he supposed cynically.
“No, that’s not true,” Silver protested, gently pulling his face back to meet hers and noticing a bruise forming around his eye. Deciding to question that later, Silverstream held a gentle talon over his heart and assuaged, “You are not a burden. You are not worthless. And you are certainly not ‘better off dead’! Don’t think that way, Gallus,” she pleaded desperately. “We all love you, and we would not just forget you! You mean the world to us, Gallus. You mean the world to me…”
“W-What?” Gallus stammered, completely flabbergasted by her proclamation. “But Ocellus… And you saw… How— How can you still—”
“Love you?” she guessed. “Because you’re still my friend. And my boyfriend,” she answered, giving him a soft kiss.
“I… I am?” he asked as if unable to believe his own ears.
“Of course you are, silly!” Silver confirmed, managing a weak titter. “So what if Ocellus kissed you; it’s not like you wanted her to. Er, did you?” she whispered nervously.
Gallus fervently shook his head. “N-No! No, that was completely out of nowhere; I had no idea that she was going to do that,” he swore. “I promise!”
Silver released the breath she had been holding. “Okay, I believe you.”
“I don’t know how you can…”
“Because I trust you,” she answered, winking. Silverstream then brought him back into a hug, assuring, “I really mean it, Gallus. We could never forget you. You’re our friend, and none of us would forgive ourselves if you were gone.”
Gallus may have hugged her back, but he still croaked out a weak, “It’s kinda hard to believe that right now.”
“I know. But I promise that I am here for you. And we will work through this. We’ll figure everything out, okay? We’ll figure it out. Just— Just please, Gallus, please don’t think you’re unloved,” Silverstream begged, hugging him even closer. “That couldn’t be further from the truth.”
Gallus sniffled before burying his head into her shoulder and crying into her plumage. “I know,” he murmured. “I-I know… I’m sorry, Silver.”
“It’s okay, Gallus. It’s okay,” Silver comforted, nuzzling him softly. She then opened her eyes and looked at Smolder, wordlessly thanking her for being there for Gallus.
Smolder barely seemed to notice since she kept her rather unfocused gaze locked on the griffon, clearly processing…something. Whatever that was, Silver wasn’t privy to it.
A few muffled hoofsteps drew Silver’s attention away from the taciturn dragon and to the timid changeling now standing outside Gallus’ room. Silverstream’s gaze darkened somewhat as she coldly greeted, “Ocellus.”
Gallus went rigid and slowly looked up at the changeling as well.
“I… I’m sorry,” Ocellus said, stepping into the room but keeping her head held low in shame. “This is all my fault; I-I should never have put any of you in this situation to begin with, and…” She let out a quiet, pained sigh. “I’m sorry.”
“For what? Loving Gallus?” Silver wondered, raising an eyebrow. “Not exactly something you should apologize for; Gallus is extremely lovable,” she praised with a smirk.
Despite all the turmoil still raging in his mind, Gallus blushed faintly at the compliment, and even Smolder seemed to snap out of whatever daze she had been in to let out a small snort.
Ocellus, meanwhile, argued, “No, I mean… I shouldn’t have kissed you, Gallus,” she apologized to him. “That was completely uncalled for and unquestionably wrong of me. And I’m so, so sorry that I almost ruined your relationship with Silverstream.”
“It’s, uh…” Gallus shared a neutral glance with Silver before placating, “It’s okay, Ocellus. Well? Not okay okay, but…” He eyed her still-bleeding cheek and concluded, “I’m sorry too.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for, Gallus,” Silver protested. “You weren’t the one who kissed one of your friends without their permission,” she said, aiming her scowl squarely at Ocellus.
Having nothing more she could say, Ocellus merely repeated, “I really am sorry.”
“And I forgive you,” Silverstream said, her voice still icy but utterly devoid of hesitation.
“Y-You do?” Ocellus cried out, gaping in shock.
“Mhmm. Don’t get me wrong, I am downright furious with you!” Silver took a deep breath and calmly clarified, “But you’re still my friend. And I don’t like being mad at anyone, especially my friends. So? Even though I have every right to be mad at you… Even though you completely betrayed my trust… And even though you screwed with my relationship with this cutie-pie,” she said, sneaking her blushing boyfriend another quick nuzzle. “I still forgive you.”
Ocellus looked as if she were torn between sighing in relief and jumping for joy, but since neither were exactly appropriate responses given the circumstances, she simply settled for saying, “Thank you, Silverstream. I— I promise I’ll make it up to you however I can!”
“Start by promising to never kiss Gallus again without my permission,” Silverstream commanded.
Ocellus instantly nodded.
“Good. Now, everything else we’ll figure out later, but for right now? Can we all agree that we need some sleep?” Silver moaned, feeling her eyelids droop now that everything was settled and the adrenaline was fading.
“Sounds like a plan,” Ocellus quickly concurred, smiling nervously and equally ready to call it a night as Silver was.
Smolder said nothing for a moment, but she too agreed, “Y-Yeah. Sleep— Sleep sounds pretty good right now,” she ended, still eyeing Gallus suspiciously.
“You know what else sounds good?” came a sudden voice from the doorway. “An explanation.”
All of them turned and fearfully gawked at the newly arrived Starlight Glimmer. An apprehensive Yona then peered around her and smiled weakly at her friends.
“Yona got help,” she announced, gesturing halfheartedly to their Headmare who lightly tapped her hoof against the floor and didn’t remotely look pleased.
“So,” Starlight began, ending her hoof-tapping with an echoing stomp. “It has come to my attention that Ocellus kissed Gallus, and it resulted in quite the midnight stir, hmm?”
“That— That is correct, Headmare Starlight,” Ocellus confirmed, biting her lip in anticipation.
“And yet, it seems that all of you have apparently sorted out whatever was going on between you all,” Starlight observed. “You know? Aside from Gallus apparently having a black eye and your cheek being cut, Ocellus.”
“Uhhh,” Gallus hummed, sharing an anxious look with Silver. “Kinda?”
“Mhmm. I’m gonna need to see all five of you in my office,” Starlight said bluntly, ignoring the chorus of tired groans her students issued. “Right. Now.”
“Yes, Headmare Starlight,” they all grumbled, knowing full-well there was no getting out of this.
With a loud popping sound the group vanished from the school dormitories only to find themselves inside the Headmare’s office.
…
…
…
A slight creak echoed through empty hallway as Sandbar poked his head through his door. After letting out a loud yawn and readjusting his sleeping cap, he groggily called out, “Guys? Did you hear something?”
Silence was his response.
“Anycreature there?”
Once again, silence.
“…Must have just dreamed it,” Sandbar guessed as he closed his door and collapsed back into his bed, smiling blissfully at the prospect of getting a proper eight hours of sleep.