Ch 15 - My Forgotten Romance

----------(CASTLE OF FRIENDSHIP, PONYVILLE, TUESDAY 8:00 P.M.)----------

It was a very late evening at the Castle of Friendship, a monumental self-built wonder that was once given via magical lockbox to the Elements of Harmony. Once a luxurious home headquarters for the Princess of Friendship and her friends for over five years since its "growth", its glistening and sparkling abode was passed down from the Princess of Friendship to her protege Starlight Glimmer after the Princess' departure for Canterlot Castle as the ruler of Equestria. Just like the Princess of Friendship before her, Starlight Glimmer was no stranger to allowing entry into her home to only homeless students (or trusted traveling vagrants) that were considered a good friend to her, so long as they kept the place clean, refrain from stealing important valuables and no hosting messy parties without her permission while she was out working, shopping or hanging out with her friends.

Gallus, who had been suspended for a week for unruly behavior, was no different. Though he was allowed to stay in the castle (since he had not rent out any other home outside the School of friendship), he was allowed, under new Headmare Trixie's orders, to stay at Starlight's castle home, as long as he perform his afternoon duties of running the crystal library, preparing dinner meals in the late evening, vacuuming all the floors and balconies clean, polishing the walls, making the beds and several other chores listed on the new Headmare's paper schedule. Though it was hard work, it helped build new character of responsibility for Gallus and it taught him the necessary life skills he needed to become independent some day when he buys himself a brand new home in the real world. Though he at first only did it in the hopes of appealing his previous punishments out of necessity, he started to appreciate looking after the amnesiac Starlight as his dedicated caretaker. Every late afternoon when school was over, Gallus would take a friendship journal from the castle library and picked off the events where Starlight had left off from her time as a counselor, back when the School of Friendship was in its younger years. However, today was a bit different today, as Starlight Glimmer had invited a few of his own school friends to the castle, both to check up on his well-being and to discuss about the significant events he had missed during his suspension (though he was not allowed to know about upcoming homework assignments nor new summative projects as part of his punishment). Sandbar, on the other hand, could not be here for the sleepover, since he had to stay over to take care of his baby sister while his parents were on their honeymoon.

As many minutes went by, Gallus was having a whale of a time with his friends, sharing a variety of stories the Student Six had with Master Zhi, from how the political rally held by Firelight to winning the whole soccer match against a group of thugs in spite of a tie game!

"Awwww MAN, you're joshing me, right??! A soccer match with street thugs?! And he let you WON?!", Gallus shouted as he gazed in awe at his smiling friends.

"Even though he was a school dropout, he was honestly kind enough to admit that his henchman was the first to strike at our ex-substitute teacher...", said Ocellus.

"The same jerk who kicked Yona in the nose?!!", cawed Gallus in anger.

"YEP! Stallion try to protect Yona, but big yak girl does protect Headmare much better!", happily boasted the big chubby nak girl.

"YAH! You should've seen him get side-swiped by that yak thug like a ragdoll! It was SO AWESOME to watch!", cackled Smolder as she fell on the floor laughing.

"HA HA HA HA HA!" laughed Silverstream, Yona and Gallus too, as they hung around on their circle of colorful cushions in the royal crystal library.

"AH, yes yes yes! We ALL know about that hilarious time I bravely stood in front of a charging yak that was about to attack your dear official Headmare!", interrupted Master Zhi, who was now wearing an eyepatch over his left black eye. He had overheard their conversation as eh was entering the crystal library room. Though Starlight Glimmer was hesitant at first, Master Zhi did tried to save her from the brutish yak thug (and failed miserably in the process after getting his comeuppance) and Mr Tang did offer a very fair judgement on the gameplay over the soccer field (even though he came off as snarky and rude). Plus, they wanted to make sure their Tiny Turnip Head was doing okay during his sleepover hang out with Gallus at Starlight's castle. More significantly, Yona had already forgiven Master Zhi and had high hopes that she could become a best friend and a student of Master Zhi and Mr Tang, alongside her new white pegasus friend. Reluctantly, Starlight did invite Master Zhi and Mr Tang over for the sleepover, though he was told that if he done any major disorderly conduct in her household, he and Mr Tang would have to leave immediately.

"You had it coming a long time ago, sir! You should've known better than to treat your students like that! I've done WAY worse stupider things than what Yona did, and yet my counselor and headmare never would've laid a finger OR a toe on me!", shouted Gallus as he turned his attention to the bruised stallion man.

"You should be so lucky that Yona decided to not press charges against you and your old friend! I hope you won't take advantage of her leniency towards you!", yelled Ocellus with an angered expression.

"HEY, I'm not getting away THAT easily, you know?! Your new Headmare Trixie did suspended me for a whole week after that apology over the intercom, didn't she??!", mentioned Master Zhi as he browsed through the bookshelves fro a decent book to read at night.

"YEAH, welcome to the club, pal! Don't get too comfortable with me, even though Yona told me to take it easy on you! The same goes for your old geezer friend too!", forewarned Gallus as he kept an eye on Master Zhi, in case he does something sinister.

"Relax, blue griffon! Please, treat the Master as our friend.....just like how Headmare was treated kindly by Friendship Princess....", calmed Yona as she stroked Gallus' back feathers.

"I dunnooo, I still don't trust him....I mean, didn't he also roll you in a trash can, shoved a crossbow into your mouth and shoved a sword into your throat during your weekend break?!", questioned Silverstream.

"Well, SORRY we had to improvise in order to get ourselves out a lick of trouble!!", shouted Mr Tang as he barged into the library room. He was just minding his own business in the crystal hallway when he overheard the young kids talking nonsense about his friend. He later continued with his argument.

"We did what we had to do, in order to escape the kirin gang, avoid prison time and stop ourselves from spreading propaganda from a shady politician! Sure, our methods may sound unconventional, but at least some of them got ourselves outta the mess, right?"

"You mean like how your 'Master-of-all' friend's physical abuse 'helped' Yona become a better player??", snarked Smolder as she brought up the whole incident again. Unamused by Smolder's comment, Mr Tang lashed out on the back-talking dragon

"NOW LISTEN HERE, you little shit lizard---!!"

"ENOOUGGGHH!! I will NOT have that language in my household, especially not in front of the kids! If you want to swear, do so at your own apartment complex...", interrupted Starlight as she sat alone by herself on the round table. As she laid her tired head on the table surface with her bum on the cushion seat, she was playing around with the mysterious key with the sunny acrylic decal attached to it. She had it dangling in front of her eyes by hanging it over an arc table lamp on her personal table.

As the shiny key was being rocked back and forth in front of Starlight's eyes, every other creature was starting to get very hungry as their tummies were growling like an Ursa Major. Gallus became the first creature to break the awkward silence.

"Oooooh, boy....it's getting pretty late, Starlight. We should get ready for---"

Suddenly, Gallus had a short moment of realization and shouted

"DARN IT, I got SO caught up on telling stories, that I completely forgot about making dinner for all of us!"

Instead of berating Gallus for his lack of laborious initiative, Starlight Glimmer instead gave out a heavy sigh and told him, "It's all right, Gallus....I'm not feeling very hungry today....I'm not in a good mood for a nice dinner...."

"Well---if it's not too much trouble for you...", Gallus muttered nervously as he approached Starlight at the table, "would it be all right if we order pizza instead?"

"SURE, fine! Whatever! Just DON'T bother me...", blurted the annoyed Starlight Glimmer as she continued to stare at her key.

"C'mon, Gallus! Where's your sense of good mannerisms?! We're not gonna eat until Starlight is willing to eat with us too!", criticized Ocellus as she also approached Gallus by the round desk.

"Well, you BETTER hurry up and convince her to eat soon! Because I feel like eating a 24-karate diamond today!", boasted Smolder as she joined Ocellus and Gallus at the round table.

"YEAH, Miss Starlight! What's bugging you?? Are you still mad about what happened to Yona today??", asked Silverstream as she flew over to join her friends. Both Master Zhi and Mr Tang gave out very disappointing grunts in response to that unnecessary question.

Starlight Glimmer gave out another sigh and said to her faithful students, "SIGH, no...it's not that....I truly appreciate you trying your best to bring back most of my memories, but----for some reason---I can't seem to remember about this key...I really don't know how it got there in my pocket in the first place......all I can deduce that it must've been given to somepony who was really close to me"

Gallus, Silverstream and Ocellus all looked at the key and noticed the decal attached to it. The decal did look somewhat familiar to them, as they had seen it on some of their school brochures, formal letters and pamphlets. Unfortunately, they did not even bother to read most of the lettered media as they were either too busy doing homework or goofing off to even care what the school had to offer.

"Siiiggghhh, it's too bad that I no longer had any memory of that special somepony anymore...", moaned Starlight as she placed her hand against her soft cheek.

"C'mon, guys! Let's just order pizza now and leave the leftovers for her at her desk, okay?", whispered Gallus as he softly spoke to the two girls beside her.

"Yona getting tired of Headmare being sad! If Headmare no eat food, you no happy all the time!", Yona cried as she later joined the rest of her friends.

"GAAAAHH, this is getting nowhere!! OOH, I know what'll cheer you up!", shouted Master Zhi as he and his friend Mr Tang ran into view of Starlight's vision with a tall long steel dao (刀)1. "A LIVE Canternese stunt performance!!"

"WAIT, you don't mean---??!", Gallus gulped in horror at the giant blade.

"Sword swallow?!!!", yelled Yona in shock.

"Wait, WHAT?!", shouted both Ocelles and Silverstream.

"CHAW, this is gonna be good! I can't WAIT to see you bleed on the floor!", mocked Smolder as she took a cushion seat to enjoy seeing Master Zhi and Mr Tang bungle up their performance.

After Mr Tang turned on his phonograph for it to play Canternese cymbals and gongs, Mr Tang opened his mouth as wide as possible and tilted his head back as far as he can. Master Zhi proceeded to shove the tall dao into his mouth at only half its length, before Mr Tang was able to clench the sword tight with his teeth.

"WOAH!! Doesn't that hurt??!", questioned Ocellus as her eyes stood frozen at the amazing feat.

"Yona tried it once! It not hurt! But it be scary!", replied the astounded nak girl.

"But WAIT, there's MORE!", shouted Master Zhi before he shoved in ANOTHER dao sword into Mr Tang's mouth! Just like with the last sword, it was only shoved halfway and Mr Tang was able to hold the second one with his clenched teeth.

"HOLY SEASHELLS!! Two swords??!! Are you kidding me??!", shouted Silverstream as she gazed in horror at the spectacle.

"YAWN! You call that a performance?! I seen much better entertainment from chicken fights at the pen!", heckled the unimpressed Smolder.

"YOU ain't seen nothing yet, lizzy!!", shouted Master Zhi as he suddenly sprouted 10 dao swords from his back like a metal peacock!!

Suddenly, only a pair of his hands to hold five swords each, Master Zhi launched ALL his swords high up towards the tall ceiling, before all the swords landed tip down towards Mr Tang's muzzle! Using his nifty magical knowledge and most of his magic reserves, he cast a small warp gate in his stomach, so that every sword that went into his gullet will be magically relocated to another dimension entirely!

"TADAAAA!!!!", hollered both Master Zhi and Mr Tang as they took their bows.

The sight of seeing the swords being literally swallowed by Mr Tang without being impaled in the process was too much for Silverstream and Ocellus, causing them to faint and fall onto the floor! Gallus, on the other hand, only went so far as becoming too speechless to react at the amazing feat with his wide-open gape!

"SERIOUSLY??! No blood in sight and THAT'S what cause your blood to run cold?", scorned Smolder as she stared at the two fainted feminine creatures.

"YONA love to learn about swallowing like champ!!", shouted the excited nak girl as she raised her fists into the air.

"And NOW for the GRAAANNDD finale!!", shouted Master Zhi brought out a very long broad yanyuedao (偃月刀)2 and attempted to shove the curved blade into Mr Tang's throat!

"WOAH WOAH WOAH!! Now you're taking this WAY too far, man!! I don't think that's gonna fit into his mouth!", squawked Gallus as he continued to panic at the sight of the huge spear blade.

"OOH, now THAT I gotta see!", shouted Smolder as she suddenly became interested in the new twist in the performance.

"WAAH! Giant spear swallow!! That unpossible!!", yelled Yona with her terrible Equestrian grammar.

"C'MOOONN, Mr TANG!! TIME TO EEEAATT!!!", snickered Master Zhi as he creepily called out for Mr Tang with a grimdark tone.

"NO NO NO NO NO NO!!! I You promised we wouldn't pull something like that ever again!!", protested Mr Tang. It had seem like Mr Tang had reached his limit in participating in Master Zhi's eccentric shenanigans.

"STOP moving and open your dang mouth already!!", shouted Master Zhi as he tried to thrust his spear into Mr Tang's gullet, but the old man refused to swallow such a huge thick blade! He did everything in his power to dodge and weave his head, while shutting his mouth as tight as possible, hoping to not get impaled by Master Zhi's powerful thrusts!

"That's ENOUGH from you two!! NO MORE!! Don't MAKE me kick you outta the castle in an instant!", yelled Miss Starlight Glimmer as she was ready to cast her teleportation spell against the two nutjobs. Her loud voice suddenly woke Silverstream and Ocellus from their fainting naps.

"BOOOO!! I wanna see blood!", hooted Smolder before being slapped in the head by Ocellus.

As soon as the two were done with their act and Mr Tang lifted the needle from his cymbal-bashing phonograph, Starlight Glimmer resumed her peaceful stare at the mysterious key...

"Tell me something, my dear students and friends...", Starlight requested as she played with his dangling key.

"....Have you ever fell in love before? Do you even know what it even feels like to be in love with someone you never met before?"

As Starlight was asking that question, all the girls started shaking their heads side to side and waving their hands, signalling Starlight to NOT mention anything about romance.

As soon as Gallus heard that question, his astounded expression from the performance slowly transformed into a weeping sad-eyed frown. Suddenly, Gallus was now holding back any tears he had in his eyes and suppressing thoughts of depression that were apparently buried deep inside his head...

"*SNIFF!*, I'm sorry to bother you at a time like this....I'll leave you to it!", sniffled Gallus before he turned around and head out into the hallways through the green-glassed multi-diamond panel door, before he immediately slammed it hard against the large door frame, much to every other creature's surprise.

"OH BOY, now you've done it, lady! Who's the one hurting some creature NOW?!", taunted Mr Tang.

"Shut up, you old ingrate! That's nothing compared to how you traumatized Yona!", snapped Smolder as she pointed the finger at Mr Tang.

"I'm sorry...", apologized Miss Starlight Glimmer as she lifted her head from the table surface. "Was it...something I said?". After a short pause of silence, Ocellus turned her attention to Miss Starlight Glimmer and told her

"Well, the matter of the fact is----last summer---Gallus fell in love with one of the candidates for Vice Headmare....."

"It was the same candidate who hosted a Classical Music Rave performance in the Ponyville theater...", added Silverstream.

"Octavia Melody? Ponyville's town violinist?", questioned Miss Starlight Glimmer.

"YEAH! That lovebird really thought he could win her heart if he played a classic musical instrument as well as Miss Octavia Melody", explained Smolder.

"Gallus room fill with Octavia pictures and photos before! Blue griffon huge follower of gray cello mare! Big heart of love for famous music performer!", cried out Yona as she expanded her arms.

"Through her promotional posters and fan letters, Gallus had managed to stalk his crush all the way from Ponyville to Manehattan, hoping he would get a chance to show off his newfound skills before Miss Octavia's Bridleway performance", elaborated the pitying sad Ocellus.

"That is, until one sad summer night at her hotel...."

----------(10 MONTHS AGO IN MANEHATTAN, SUMMER MIDNIGHT IN JULY)----------

It was a very starry and bright full-moon night on the empty streets of the Iron Sea Horse Hotel of Manehattan. Standing close to the frontal face of the six-story red-bricked hotel was a single working iron lampost that was shining a single downward-facing yellow spotlight. Reveling in that spotlight was the musical Gallus, who was wearing his light sea-blue tuxedo vest over his white shirt, a red bowtie and a pair of black cashmere pants. In addition to his sharply dressed demeanor, Gallus was also holding a traditional Griffonstone musical instrument known as the kemençe3 onto his right shoulder, while simultaneously tuning the three strings with his right talon and stroking the kemençe with his bow on his left talon. Standing on the sidewalk right beside Gallus on his left was a phonograph playing a simple soft piano harmony. As the melodious emotional tunes were being played out from its megaphone, Gallus graciously stroke his elaborately carved kemençe like a classical violinist, bringing out all the saddest tones he could muster from his mind, after his two months of intense musical training back in his homeland.

Kemençe Duygusal Karadeniz Şarkı Gün Gelir Enstrümantal
🎻🎶🎶🎶https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u85icmAYeWg🎶🎶🎶🎻

As Gallus played his kemençe under the urban spotlight, the lovely grey-coated Miss Octavia was out on her balcony in her beautiful dark-violet velvet shoulder-baring dress. Her outfit was able to snug very tightly around her luscious JJJ-cupped bosoms, barely covering her round supple nipples and exposing most of her cleavage. To top it all off, she was also wearing her trademarked pink bowtie with the white starched cotton choker, as well as a pair of her dark-violet sleeved gloves that covered most of her arms. She was going to wear that outfit for her upcoming performance at that Bridleway theater and everypony was going to enjoy what she had in store in her large thick wooden cello.

As Miss Octavia Melody closed her eyes and grasped her hands to enjoy the serenade of traditional Griffonstone music being played with the recorded soft piano chords, her silver-gray eye-shadow and her darkie-brown mane glistened under the whitened moonlight as she leaned over the balcony just a little to hear those gracious tunes with better high-definition clarity.

It was everything the orphaned small-town blue griffon had hoped for. A chance to impress his love-of-his-life with his newfound skill in a new instrument, with the hopes that her celebrity crush would become entranced in his music as much as he was entranced into hers. Ever since that performance at the Ponyville theater, Gallus became more infatuated with Miss Octavia's musical performances, but it was actually her hourglass figure and seductive stare that entranced Gallus the most. It was this moment here in Manehatten that Gallus was going to ask the biggest question of all time.

As soon as Gallus was done with his kemençe serenade, Octavia opened up her dark-violet eyes and looked down at the balcony to see her biggest fan smiling at him. From her second-floor white-plastered balcony, she called out to Gallus.

"Very excellent, Gallus! You played that kemençe like a classical Western violinist! It must've taken many hours of practice to reach that master level of skill. I am very very proud of you that you took such inspirations from me..."

"Thank you, Miss Octavia", called out Gallus as he looked up towards the balcony to see his musical love.

"You are my most favorite musical teacher AND potential headmare that I could had ever hoped for! I'm glad you were able to read my letter and come out on this very special starry night...."

After Gallus was done packing his kemençe in his elongated satchel bag, he later called out to her

"Hang on, I got a very special gift I wanna show you!"

With bated breath, Gallus flapped his large hawkish wings and flew upwards into the second floor balcony to meet the beautifully-dressed Miss Octavia in close person. Staring at her hourglass busty figure, Gallus was a bit squeamish over what he had in store in his tuxedo pocket. However, this was no time for Gallus to delay and he needed to show her how he truly felt for Octavia. He immediately pulled out a pink velvet-covered open box that presented an amethyst gemstone ring on the soft red padding from within.

As soon as Miss Octavia Melody grabbed the box and saw that special ring, she was astonished by Gallus' exquisite grand gesture and shouted,

"OH?? For me??! How very thoughtful of you, Gallus!"

Gallus nodded in agreement, before grabbing onto the outer ledge of the balcony and leaned his right feathery cheek into the balcony space for Octavia's soft wet kiss---

"Wooowww, I really love it SO much! This is definitely one of the best wedding gifts I had received!", complimented Miss Octavia as she stared at the sparkling amethyst ring.

"WAIT---WEDDING??!!!!", Gallus suddenly squawked as soon as he heard that dreaded word in her right ear!

"Uhh, YEAH! Of course! OH, uhhhhh, hehehe! I guess I kinda forgot about sending invitations about my upcoming marriage ceremony with Bulk Biceps next week! Thank you SO much for reminding me about that, Gallus!", nervously chuckled Miss Octavia Melody before she patted Gallus onto his feathery head.

"BULK BICEPS??!!", cawed the dismayed Gallus!

😭NNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!😭

As Gallus' virtual fantasy reality was suddenly shattered into a million pieces, his talons slipped from the balcony and he suddenly found himself plunging into the deep bottomless dark abyss below...

As soon as he landed very hard on the concrete sidewalk, his motionless body was now under the dimming yellowish-brown streetlight. No longer a single theater spotlight that brightened up the young amateur musical star, the urban lampost has now become a symbol of cursed mockery at his highlighted life failures. As he wallowed under the fading streetlight with his belly on the cold concrete, Gallus, who was in trembling tears, mumbled loudly into the heavens, hoping Princess Twilight Sparkle would heed his weeping pleads for help, before the darkness finally enveloped around his drooping skin of feathers....

😭"Whhyyyy------whhyyyy-----why does she have to marry Bulk Biceps???"😭

----------(PRESENT DAY IN PONYVILLE)----------

"ALL RIGHT, that's enough sappiness for tonight! I'm going out there to apologize to him!", said Miss Starlight as she got up from her seat to head out into the green-paneled door.

"UHH NO no no no no no no! There's no need for that, Miss Starlight! Gallus will be back to his ol' jolly self soon enough! I know it!", assured the gleeful Silverstream as she grabbed Starlight's arm with her right talon.

"WELL, in case he still doesn't wanna come out, I'm gonna go do what's best for him!", said Starlight as she used her levitation magic to free herself from SIlverstream's grasp.

"And what are you gonna do that's best for him, Missy?", asked the curious Mr Tang.

"Cook up some delicious muffins, cupcakes and pies for dinner!", shouted the re-energized Miss Starlight Glimmer. As she went out into the hallway, she was immediately being followed by her fellow students.

"OOOH, while you do the cooking, I'll do the dishes!", hollered Silverstream.

"I'll do the ingredient sorting!", hollered Ocellus.

"I'll start up the cooking fires!", hollered Smolder.

"Me start carry heavy flour bags!", hollered Yona.

"And I'LL do the taste testing later on!!", cried the cheerful Gallus as he popped out of the hallway doors with his left talon pointing up and his right talon placed over his fluffy chest!

"GLAD you're up and at'em, Gally-LEO!", screeched Silverstream as she flew up to Gallus with jazzy talons waving below her face.

"I KNEW you'll come around pretty soon!", shouted Ocellus as she quickly flew up to Gallus to see his peckish smiling face.

"HEHE, yeah! Just lemme know when dinner's already done, all right??", requested Gallus as he returned back to his sleeping bedroom.

Meanwhile, inside the crystal library, Master Zhi asked Mr Tang something to break the silence

"Sooo uhhh, wanna go help out in the kitchen, Tang??"

"NAH, I'm watching out for my diet!", replied the starving Mr Tang. "Let's just head out into Ponyville to see if there's any decent dim-sum restaurants nearby!"

"Will you be paying this time?", questioned Master Zhi.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA, of course I'm not!", yelled Mr Tang after laughing so sarcastically at Master Zhi's silly question, before Master Zhi responded

"FIGURES! All right, I'll see if we can salvage anything from the dumpsters tonight..."

And so, the young celebratory night for all the creatures in the castle (and outside the dim-sum dumpsters) went on until it grew old into the darkest midnight and every creature was soon fast asleep, as they would need their re-vitalized energy later in the next morning to start the day in school anew...

---END

Author's Note

1. Dao: a traditional Chinese single-edged sabre used primarily for chopping and slashing
   

2. Yanyuedao: Literally translates to "reclining moon blade", it is a special Chinese pole weapon with a very broad crescent-curved blade and a single barbed spike
   

3. Kemençe (or Kemenche): A traditional three-stringed Turkish instrument (lit. means "small bow" in Persian) that is similar to a violin