Where Did Sandbar Send The Flowers?

by LightOfTriumph

Rating: everyone
Tags: Drama, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Romance, Sandbar, Slice of Life, Gallus
Length: 5812

Gallus has noticed that Sandbar has been depressed lately. He's also been shopping for flowers and going somewhere. Gallus sets out to investigate whats going on.

Locking himself in his room, barely talking to his friends, sneaking out without him, Gallus has never seen Sandbar like this.

Despite every instinct his heritage gives him, he does care. He wants to help his friend, but he wants to give him the space he needs. It's not like Sandbar to shrug Gallus off like this. And all of these flowers he keeps buying. For a Marefriend?

For some reason, Gallus kind of hopes not...

Published 2019-06-30 22:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2019-06-30 22:40:01 UTC

Where Did Sandbar Send the Flowers?

Class had just gotten out, and Gallus was exhausted. Rainbow Dash's class did that to him on occasion. He didn't like to admit it, but that pony was tougher than he was. He had made the mistake of calling her an egghead on the first day of school, and Dash had done her best to make him pay for it every class after that. It was to her credit then, that she was, far and away Gallus's favorite teacher. As tough as she was, she was never unfair. And she made him realize who he was. He could always go to her for advice when he needed it.

That being said, she wasn't the first person he would go to for a little advice. That honor belonged to his friends. When he needed someone to vent to about his own little frustrations, Ocellus was always the kind of Changeling to hear him out. Yona was exactly the friend you chose to hang out with when you wanted to just... See what would happen. Take her to a place and just sit back and watch. Hanging out with Yona, Gallus would always come back with a story to tell. Then there was Silverstream, who Gallus went to when he needed someone to cheer him up. She was such a ball of sunshine it was hard not to smile around her... Unless she was driving you insane which was a distinct possibility. Smolder was the friend that he went to when he needed to plot and scheme. A partner in crime was always useful, especially when he was committing them all the time. And then... And then there was Sandbar.

Sandbar was the pony that he felt he could be the most open around. He felt comfortable in his own skin around him. It was odd. He felt fairly close to Sandbar in a way that he had never felt before. He wasn't sure why, though. He figured it was because they were the only two guys in their group of friends. That was it. When surrounded by four crazy females it was better to hold rank in case things got out of hand.

In fact, he felt like seeing what Sandbar was up to right now. He looked out over the sea of life to try to find his friend. It didn't take him long, he could always seem to pick Sandbar out of a crowd for some reason. "Dude," he called out to his friend. "Dude, hold up! Hang on a second!" Gallus cut his way through the students to make his way to Sandbar. "Was that as indecipherable to you as it was to me?"

"Nah, I got it," Sandbar said. Then he hesitated and looked up. "I think... Sorry. I wasn't really paying attention."

"I'm sorry, I think I had something impossible in my ear," Gallus said, cleaning out his ear with his talon. "Did I just hear you say that you weren't paying attention in class? You? You feeling alright man?"

"No," Sandbar sighed. "No, no, no... No. I'm feeling a little distracted today. Gotta be real."

"Distracted? What do you mean by--" It was at this point that Gallus really looked at Sandbar's eyes. He was sad. Profoundly sad. Something was seriously bothering him, and Gallus had never seen him like this before. He felt guilty not noticing before now. "Sandbar what's wrong? Something is seriously bugging you, I can tell. Come on, dude, you can talk to me."

"It's... It's nothing," Sandbar said, sighing a little bit. "I just get a bit down this time of year. Nothing huge."

Gallus's brain did backflips trying to.figure out what time of year he meant. It wasn't Hearthswarming, he was fine then. Ponies did get a little down around the holidays sometimes, but that didn't mean anything in this case because this wasn't the holiday season. Hearts and Hooves day had also passed without incident. Nightmare Night was coming up, so that may have been it. Gallus tried to think back to last year... No he was dressing up like everypony else. So what was it about this particular week that was bothering him? Gallup figured the best way to figure out was to ask him directly. That seemed to be the logical approach. "What about this time of year? What are you talking about?"

"It's nothing serious, Gallus, really," Sandbar said calmly, waving a hoof dismissively. "Just a thing with me. I'll get over it in a week, it's no big deal."

"Alright," Gallus said, still concerned for his friend. "You know that if you want to talk to me, I'm here, right? I'm willing to help in any way I can, so if you want to... Listen to me, I'm sounding more and more like a pony by the minute."

"We're in your brain now," Sandbar joked, a ghost of a very said smile appearing on his face for a fraction of a second. "And we'll never leave. Seriously, I'm okay. Or at least I will be. Don't worry about it. But thanks for caring."

"Yeah, well if you tell anyone I'll deny it, I have a reputation to keep up," Gallus said, trying to keep up the jovial mood. "Listen, me and the others were thinking about a study session tonight. You know, so we can understand what's going on in class... At all. Come and study with us. We'll help you catch up on the stuff you fazed out in class today... Well, you know, I won't, but I'm sure Ocellus paid attention."

"Can't tonight," Sandbar said, the smile struggling to stay present on his face. "I got some things I need to work on. Sorry. You have fun without me."

"Have fun? It's study group!" Gallus said, getting Sandbar to laugh which was a definite plus. "I'd have more fun... Okay right now I'm having trouble thinking of a metaphor... Doing literally anything else. Come on, dude, Yona and Smolder already backed out. At this point it's just going to be me and Silverstream listening to Ocellus ramble for an hour. It would help if I had you there to translate."

"Silverstream can translate, can't she?" Sandbar asked.

"At mach 5, with one pause for breath in between if I'm lucky," Gallus said, having bad flashbacks to when Silverstream had tried to tutor him before this. "I could really use your help, Sandbar. If you could possibly lend it."

"I really can't, I'm sorry," Sandbar sighed. "I promise I'll help you out later, but for tonight I've got something I need to work on, and I need to work on it alone. Rain check. We'll do this next week, okay?"

Gallus was about to protest, but then realized it was no use. "Alright, if you're sure," he sighed. "Listen dude, I meant what I said earlier. If you need to talk with somepony..."

"I'll remember that, thanks," Sandbar said, and then he turned and walked away. Obviously still quite upset about whatever was bothering him.

The ponies really were getting into Gallus's head. He was told everything was fine, he was told to let it go. But nothing was fine, and he couldn't let it go. This kind of thing was what he came to school for in the first place. So the best thing for him to do would be to find a professor. He turned around and found what he had hoped to see. Professor Dash was still working. "Hey, prof?" He walked back into the classroom and looked at his professor and looked her squarely in the eye. "Listen, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Gallus," Rainbow shrugged as she was packing up. "Just do me a favor and make it quick, I got a wonderbolt thing in like... Two hours. What's up?"

"It's Sandbar," Gallus said, looking back at the door and pondering the situation. "He's acting a little weird and he looks really down... Do you have any idea what's eating him?"

"Some," Dash admitted frankly.

Gallus sat in silence waiting for Rainbow dash to continue. When he finally realized that that wasn't going to happen he decided it would be best to prompt her. "Would you mind terribly telling me what that is?"

"Can't do that," Rainbow said, shaking her head.

Gallus heard that and went a little insane. He was wondering whether or not it would be a good idea to keep going down this rabbit hole, but for his friend, he felt he had no choice. "Why not, exactly?"

"Because he didn't tell you what it is," Rainbow stood and looked Gallus straight in the eye. "Look, I get it, alright. You want to help your friend, and you want to be there for him during a hard time. I get it. But what Sandbar is going through... Well, it's really up.to him to ask for help. And maybe help isn't even the thing he needs right now, maybe he just needs space. He told me and the faculty about what was going on because it would effect his schedule and off campus hours. I can't be the one to tell you what's going on, not my place."

Gallus rolled his eyes, and shrugged, frowning a little. He didn't want to admit it, but he knew Dash was right. He really shouldn't be prying, but he couldn't help it. Dash was doing her job by keeping Sandbar's secret.

"Listen, I'm proud of you," Dash said, giving a little sad smile. "You being this concerned means that this school is doing some good for my students. That's good to hear. But do me a favor, let Sandbar open up to you in his own time. And he will. I promise that he's going to need to talk somepony his own age. If you care, and you're there for him, he'll let you in. Just hang tight."

Gallus shrugged again. Rainbow Dash headed for the door, and as she did, Gallus called out to her. "Teach!" he called. Rainbow Dash turned to face her student. "This thing that's got Sandbar so bummed out... It's something serious isn't it?"

Dash closed her eyes. "Yeah," she said frankly.

"An emergency?" Gallus asked.

"No, I wouldn't say it's an emergency," Rainbow said reassuringly. "It isn't something urgent, or anything, it's just... Kind of tough. He'll be fine. Just... Just give him some space for now, okay?"

Gallus nodded. Rainbow Dash waved and jogged out the door. Gallus was left in the room alone with his thoughts. Now he was more worried than ever about Sandbar. Serious but not an emergency. That probably meant whatever the deal was, it was an unfixable problem. This wasn't something he could prevent from happening, this is something that has already happened.

Gallus resolved to put the issue out of his mind, and focus on the study group.

That notion only lasted about five minutes. The thought plagued him for the next four hours until the study group at five PM. He managed to make it to the desk in the library after hours, and he say down barely noticing when Ocellus and Silverstream arrived.

"Gallus?" SIlverstream said, with Gallus barely hearing her. "Uhh.... Are you alright, Gallus? You're kind of spacing out into the wall there..."

Gallus meant to respond, but then he completely forgot to and just continued to stare at the wall for another few moments.

"You think he's asleep?" Ocellus said quietly. "Apparently cats fell asleep with their eyes open all the time."

"And he is part lion," Silverstream said. "So that would make a certain amount of sense... That said, it's still super creepy to look at, huh? Like something out of a ghost movie."

Gallus finally heard and understood enough to let what they were saying sink in, and he finally answered them. "Will you guys sit down?" he sighed. "I'm fine, I'm just a little distracted about something."

Silverstream and Ocellus let out a little yelp, while Silverstream quickly wrapped Ocellus in a tight embrace. "It spoke to us!" she said with a tone of mock fear in her voice. "Can it see us?!"

Gallus chuckled but then went back to the troubles in his mind. "Will you sit down for a second?" he said, trying to organize his brain in such a way that he could have a conversation about what had been bothering him. "There's something I want to talk to you guys about."

Silverstream and Ocellus sat down and looked straight at Gallus, obviously now concerned for him. "What's wrong, Gallus?" Ocellus said, not breaking eye contact for a second. "Something is really bothering you, I can tell."

"Yeah," Silverstream added, also looking at Gallus with more than a little concern. "Are you sick? If so, this has got to be something going around because I felt the same vibe coming off of Sandbar earlier today."

Gallus's head perked up as he finally had an in to talk about the subject that had been plaguing his mind all afternoon. "So you guys noticed?" he said, hoping that they would have more information then he did. "Do you guys know what's been bugging him? I asked him myself, but he is being weirdly tight lipped about it."

Silverstream and Ocellus looked at each other and nodded. "We don't know what's been bothering him, but whatever it is, it's been bugging him all week," Ocellus said. "You should probably tell him what you heard, Silverstream."

Silverstream looked around, seeming a little guilty, but then she finally spoke up. "I was waiting outside for my appointment with councillor Glimmer when I heard Sandbar talking to her through the door," she explained quickly. "I wasn't eavesdropping, I swear I wasn't. I was just waiting for my appointment and the door happened to be open. Anyway, I couldn't hear what Sandbar said, but Starlight said she understood and she was sorry, but she couldn't give him any leave to go that far off campus, especially with finals coming up soon... And then... Okay, this is super weird, and I'm not sure I heard this right..."

"Come on, Sil, I need this information," Gallus said. Which was true but he wasn't sure why he needed it so badly. "What was so weird that you heard?"

"Well," Silverstream said, looking back and forth as if looking over text to commit it to memory. "Starlight gave him directions to a Ponyville flower shop. I have no idea why he was asking for them, but apparently he was, because Sandbar thanked him and that's when he walked out of the office. I'm not even sure if he saw me while he was going past, because he went back in. Then I heard Starlight say that they faculty would cover the postage cost of sending the flowers. Then Sandbar left. I still have no idea what the whole thing was even about."

"Flower shop?" Gallus said, at this point completely bewildered. "What would Sandbar want to go and but flowers for? And where would he want to send them?"

Ocellus gave a little shrug. "Well, there is one possibility," she said , thinking for a moment. "Maybe he's got a Marefriend back home. That would make all of that make sense."

"What?" Gallus said, getting offended at the idea for some reason. "No... He would have told me... Us... He would have told us, right?"

"Oh, yeah, that would make total sense!" Silverstream said, getting very excited in the way that only she could. "He wanted to get time off to see her, but then he couldn't get out on time! Now everything about why he's been so down lately adds up! He can't get back to see her so he's feeling really upset! Poor guy!"

"I'm telling you, that's impossible," Gallus said, desperately trying to shut down the idea. "If Sandbar was dating somepony I would know about it, trust me." Gallus stopped himself and thought for a moment. Why would he know about it? Why was he do sure that Sandbar was single and why did he care so much about it? Why was he so bothered about a friend of his dating somepony.

Why did the prospect of Sandbar being taken bother Gallus so much?

"Where would he send them? Back home?" Ocellus asked while Gallus was having his own little existential crisis. "I mean he doesn't live that far from here does he? So the mail charge shouldn't be that much should it? I mean just a few miles away."

"Not from the relief on Sandbar's face when he walked out of the office," Silverstream said, biting her talon in deep thought. "I mean it looked like he was able to send the flowers when he wouldn't be able to otherwise. I don't get it, he sends mail home all the time. Doesn't he?"

"He does, yeah," Gallus said, coming out of his funk for a little bit to weigh in on the situation. "A marefriend out of town that far? That doesn't make any sense... I'm sorry, I don't buy this there's something else going on, there's got to be..."

"You seem to care about this an awful lot," Silverstream raised an eyebrow and looked into Gallus's soul. "You really care about Sandbar, don't you?"

Gallus sort of wanted to act tough here, but with these two there was no use. "Yeah," he said, trying to sort through a few confusing emotions in his head. "I really do, apparently a lot more than I thought I did. I can't leave this alone. I know what Dash told me, and I know she's probably right, but I can't just let this thing drop. I've got to find out what's going on."

"Well, there is one way to find out," Ocellus pointed out, smiling a little.

"How's that?" Gallus asked, not quite understanding what Ocellus was driving at.

"Go to the flower shop and ask what he bought and where he sent it," Ocellus suggested. "We can easily find out where he sent it that way, and we can take a guess as to why. They'll tell you where they went if you ask, and the type of flowers will tell you the occasion. If it's red roses, it's probably a romantic occasion. Other than that... Well flowers can mean all sorts of things. Maybe there's a book the school can loan you that will tell you what the bouquet means. Maybe that would shed some light on whatever has been bothering Sandbar lately. At the very least it couldn't hurt to ask, right?"

"Are you sure they would even be allowed to tell me?" Gallus asked , not sure how he would go about doing this. "I mean that isn't privileged information or whatever? Is it legal to tell me anything about what he bought?"

"It's not like you're asking for his medical records or anything, he bought some flowers," Silverstream said, making a solid argument as far as Gallus was concerned. "There's no reason they shouldn't tell you if you ask. Besides, the worst they can do to you is not give you the information. What have you got to lose."

Gallus nodded. He had made up his mind. He was going to go to the flower shops tomorrow morning, and ask about what Sandbar was doing there. He might even pick up a book on what certain flowers meant and why. He decided to look around the library to find out where such a book would be kept where he noticed every single other thing in the library staring daggers through the three students.

"We just had that really loud conversation smack-dab in the middle of a library didn't we?" Gallus realized aloud , giving a very nervous smile.

"We're sorry!" Silverstream said as Ocellus sunk deeper into her chair looking very embarrassed. "Go back to whatever it is your working on... We'll just be over here studiying! Very very quietly... "

The rest of the study session was spent on total and complete silence.

It didn't take long for him to find the Flower Shop that Sandbar had apparently stopped at. That much information councillor Glimmer was willing to give out. She probably thought he was going to purchase some for himself or some girl. Otherwise, it's unlikely she would have given him any information at all.

He walked into the shop and was hit full in the face by the scent of flowers. It may have been pleasant for some, but for Gallus it was more than a little overpowering. It causes him to stagger as he entered the shop. His eyes watered and he became congested. He was apparently allergic to something in the shop. He needed to get the information and get the heck out of the shop as soon as possible.

"Ex... Excu... ACHOO!" Gallus sneezed loudly. The flowers were really making it hard for him to get the information he needed. Luckily fate intervened in the form of the owner of the store.

"Oh yeah," the pony said, coming out of the back room. " The pollen can get to ponies sometimes. Don't worry about it. How's it going? My name is Roseluck, how are you doing today? Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Yes," Gallus said, sniffing sharply in the vague hope of clearing his sinuses. "A friend of mine came in here a little while ago. If it isn't too much trouble, can you tell me where he was sending the flowers? And more than that, if it could be possible to tell me what flowers he bought, that would be awesome."

"What was your friend's name?" Roseluck asked, raising an eybrow. "Maybe you could describe what he looked like? Also, why do you want to know?"

Gallus ran through a few thousand excuses before deciding that the best thing for him to do would be to just tell the truth. He was a little proud of himself. And Applejack would be too, now that he thought of it. "He's seemed really distracted lately, and more than a little depressed," Gallus explained. "The only clue I really have is the fact that he came to this flower shop and sent an arrangement somewhere. I know it's kind of weird to ask, but I want to help him out, and he won't talk to me. His name is Sandbar, he's a short earth pony with a greenish yellow coat. He's got a teal mane, kind of similar to my feathers actually. His eyes are the same color, and he's got a cutie mark of three sea turtles. He's got a voice that sounds really spaced out and dumb when you first year it, but then he keeps talking and you realize that he's actually got a really good head on his shoulders. Has anypony like that walked in here recently."

Roseluck stared at Gallus, mouth agape. "You seem to know this pony really well," she said carefully. "Listen... I know it's not my place to ask this, but since you're asking me to do something weird... Are you sure you two are just friends?"

Gallus was about to make some sort of protest, but something in his brain stopped him. He realized that at this point, no, he wasn't sure whether he would consider Sandbar a friend, or something more.

"As it turns out, I do remember your friend," Roseluck said. "I even remember the funk he was in when he walked in here. When he made his order I understood why he was so down. He wanted to send three flowers to Fillydelphia. To a hotel that his family were staying at. And what he ordered were three lillies. I didn't pry any further than that, but I had kind of figured what happened. So I just left it there."

Gallus froze. He read that book about the language of flowers front to back. He knew what lilies meant. He knew at that very moment that Rainbow Dash was right. He never should have pried into Sandbar's private affairs. He should have just left it alone.

This has become something far more serious than just him sending flowers to some random mare.

"You see," Roseluck began to explain. "We ponies usually put lilies on--"

"You don't have to spell it out for me, trust me, I get it," Gallus interupted, somewhat rudely. "Sorry... Sorry, I didn't mean to act like a jerk just there... It's just... Sandbar didn't say anything... He didn't mention it to me or any of our friends. I don't get it."

"Maybe it's all.just too painful for him," Roseluck suggested. "Regardless, I'm afraid that's all I know. I'm sorry... And tell your friend that... Tell him that I'm sorry for him and his family too."

Gallus let the reality of what he had just learned hit him like a runaway gay cart. This wasn't some normal mope, Sandbar was going through something heavy. Something that he had never been through himself, and hoped that somehow he would never have to. He felt like the world's biggest jerk for even trying to pry into this. This was simply none of his business.

And yet for some reason, knowing what he knew now, he found himself hurting too.

Gallus went back to his room, flopped down on his bed and simply stared at the bottom of the bunk above. He didn't have a roommate, which on most occasions he would take as a blessing but now it was just leaving him alone with his thoughts. That wouldn't do at all. He felt very much like he needed some kind of distraction, otherwise this thing with Sandbar was going to drive him completely insane.

He did his best to think about anything else. School, sports, his home back in Griffonstone. He went through all.of these in a vain attempt to distract himself from his problem, but nothing seemed to work. His Mind kept wandering back to Sandbar and what he now knew was happening to him. He felt like suck a tool for even trying to pry into those affairs when they were this serious. He had spent the better part of the last hour beating himself up over it. He needed a distraction. Badly. Luckily for him one stepped through the door to the dorm to greet him.

Sandbar stormed into the hallway outside his room. Even though Gallus couldn't see him, he could hear and feel him fuming at everything around him. The last few time he had seen him he was merely depressed, now he was downright angry. Every footsteps he made echoed through the hall. Eventually he pounded into his room, throwing the door open. Gallus heard something crack and tinkle on the ground and for the first time he heard Sandbar speak. "You've got to be kidding me," he said, quietly at first. "Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me.... Of course! If course this freaking happens! Why wouldn't it happen?! And today was the perfect day for this to happen. The only problem is that I only broke one, the other one is mismatched now, so let me just fix it--" Gallus heard another loud smash come from Sandbar's room. "There you see? That's much better--" There were a few more loud thufs and then Gallus just heard Sandbar breathing heavily.

Gallus took this as a sign to finally look in on his friend and tell him what he had found out.

He walked in to find Sandbar in the middle of his now trashed dorm room. Taking deep breaths that looked as if he might pass out from hyperventilating at any moment. He was staring at a wall, and it seemed like he had just woken up to find that he had done this.

Gallus leaned in the doorway and sighed. "Hey buddy," he said casually. "How's it hanging?"

"Oh," Sandbar said, giving a little shrug. "Like a condemned outlaw. Why do you ask?"

"You want to talk about it?" Gallus asked. Not taking his eyes off of Sandbar.

"Academic studies can be written on how much I don't want to talk about it," Sandbar quickly replied.

"Well, that kind of sucks for you doesn't it?" Gallus said firmly. "Because you're going to talk about it, you're going to talk about it right now, and you're going to do it before you continue to wreck the dorm I live in. Start talking."

"Why do you care so much?" Sandbar asked, turning on Gallus. "No seriously, what the hell is your deal? What happened to the cold, haughty unfeeling griffon? I could use that guy right now. I don't think I can use the guy who investigates my shopping habits like the world's beakiest Private Eye. Oh yeah, Silverstream told me."

Gallus closed his eyes, more than a little ashamed of what he had done.

"This is going a little beyond friendship, isn't it?" Sandbar continued, making it clear that he wasn't going to be letting up any time soon. "I mean I know we're all here to learn about the Magic of Friendship et cetera, but for Celestia's sake, to go through what you did, you'd have to be either or my brother, or my shrink. So which one is it?"

"There's a third option you aren't considering," Gallus caught himself saying out loud.

There was a very long pause before Sandbar spoke up again. "You wanna run that by me again?" he said.

"Not particularly," Gallus said, not wanting to face the weird emotions he had been noticing over the past few days.

"No, no, that isn't fair!" Sandbar said, pointing directly at Gallus. "I'm apparently supposed to pour my heart out to you, so the least you can do is the same. What did you mean by that? What third option? Come on, spill it."

Gallus took a deep breath. He was going to have to face this sooner or later and now was as good a time as any. "Alright," he started slowly. "If I do this, and it's gonna be difficult for me, you tell me what's eating you. Deal?"

Sandbar hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Okay," he sighed. "Okay. You've got a deal."

Gallus sat down on Sandbar's bed and took a deep breath, trying to decide where the best place to start would be. "You make my day better,' he said quietly. "When I'm feeling low I come to you, and nothing seems so bad anymore... At first I thought it was because you were my best friend... Or maybe just that you were the only other guy I regularly talked to... Now... I don't know... I think it may be something more than that... You're hurting, dude, and for some reason that's hurting me... I don't know what I'm feeling."

After a few moments, Sandbar sat down heavily next to Gallus. "Well, neither do I anymore," Sandbar said, looking off into the middle distance. "I mean... Wow... Call me crazy, but it kind of sounded like-"

"I know what it sounded like," Gallus interrupted. If that was going to be said, he would have to be the one to say it, and now was far from the time. "I held up my end of the bargain, now it's your turn. Sandbar, who died and when?"

Sandbar looked at Gallus, then looked down at the floor, giving a sad and hollow laugh. "Wow, you do your homework, don't you?" he said with a bit of grim amusement. "What gave it away?"

"The flowers," Gallus answered. "Read a book that told me that Ponies traditionally put lilies on-"

"On graves, yeah," Sandbar sighed. "My Grandpa passed away about a year before I came to school here. It really screwed me up in a lot of ways... Like, I just shut down. I couldn't believe that had even happened. He had been such a constant presence in my life, and then he was just gone. It was impossible that he died, he was just so... alive all the time. My parents sent me to school here to get away from all that... But I wanted to get to Fillydelphia to put flowers on his grave. since yesterday would have been his birthday... And..."

"And you couldn't make it. They couldn't let you go," Gallus finished for Sandbar.

Sandbar nodded. "Yeah," he said quietly. "That's why I've been so screwed up lately... I should be seeing my Grandpa right now..."

Gallus thought hard, trying to figure out where to go from there. Eventually he came up with an answer. "Have you ever talked about your grandpa to anypony?" he asked. "Like... Just talked about him, to creatures who didn't know him?"

Sandbar thought for a moment. "No, I haven't," he sighed. "At least not since he died."

"Then that's what you need to do," Gallus said, standing up. "I'll get the others together and you can talk our ears off about him all night..."

Sandbar looked uncertain. "I don't know, Gallus."

"Come on, dude," Gallus said. "I will drag you if I have to."

Sandbar gave another sad smile, shrugged, and nodded. He stood up and prepared to walk out the door with Gallus. "For what it's worth," he said. "You make my day better too."

Gallus stopped and looked straight at Sandbar, not sure what to say.

"I'm not sure if it's in the same way, but it might be," Sandbar said frankly. "Either way, I think the two of us need to talk some things out. Alone."

Gallus didn't know what possessed him to say: "Over Dinner?"

To his relief, however, Gallus simply nodded and said "Sounds good to me."

The two of them smiled and walked out of the dormroom together.

Author's Note

So this was a commission for Parker. Thank you for the work, it was very much appreciated. And it was very VERY Challenging.

What he wanted from me was a Shipfic between Gallus and Sandbar. The problem is... I had never done an LGBT romance before. As a straight guy, I was worried it would be difficult to me to put myself in the headspace of being attracted to a man. I was worried That if I were to try, it would come off as insultingly corny, or incredibly weaksauce. I was afraid I would offend or disappoint people, which is NEVER what I set out to do.

That being said, when I granted my client early access he said I did a decent job. So... I guess I'm leaving it up to you.

I hope you enjoy, and I earnestly hope that if you are LGBT you enjoyed this and had a decent price month.

Please rate and comment.