"I WILL Come Back to You"
For Gallus, it was the happiest day of his life and the happiest he could recall himself being in a very long time. At very long last he had made it through royal guard training. He wasn't graduating at the top of his class, but considering he hadn't graduated at the top of his class at the School of Friendship he didn't particularly care. Just graduating and entering into the ranks of Equestria's royal guard was good enough for him. "Now I'm finally going to be able to give back to the country that's given so much to me!" He eagerly thought to himself.
The graduation ceremony was presided over by many important figures and attended by countless others. But none were important to Gallus than the very pony who had inspired him so much: Tempest Shadow. The broken horned unicorn was overseeing the ceremony at the behest of Captain Shining Armor, cutting quite the figure in her commander's attire.
Eventually, the very words Gallus had imagined himself hearing over and over again in his mind played out in real time. "Gallus," He heard the voice of Tempest call out to him. "Please step forward."
The young griffon did so without hesitation, proudly stepping before his superior and standing at attention. He was ready for anything.
Tempest cleared her throat and began to speak. "It gives me great pleasure to induct you officially into the ranks of Equestria's first and most important line of defense. I trust you will serve with honor, dignity and most of all courage."
Gallus gave a salute, pressing a wing up against his forehead. "I swear on my honor that I will not let you down, Commander Tempest." He sincerely promised.
The mare relaxed her facial features, adopting what looked almost like a smile. "Of that I have no doubt, Gallus. You and all of the recruits that I've had the honor of training have given me every reason to believe you will do your best in all that you do," She proceeded to give the griffon a gold plated helmet and a matching suit of armor. "Welcome to the Equestrian Royal Guard."
Gallus took the helmet and armor into his wings, and joined the rest of the newly anointed recruits off to Tempest's left side. As soon as he was properly clad in his new attire and stood alongside the others, the crowd went wild.
There was one creature in particular in the audience that Gallus found himself unable to take his eyes off of, only barely paying attention to the rest of the ceremony. It was an insanely recognizable hippogriff with the most beautiful coat of pink he had ever seen: Silverstream, Queen Novo's niece and second in line to the throne at Mount Aris.
Of course, Silverstream wasn't alone. She was accompanied by all of Gallus' friends and many of his old professors from the School of Friendship. But it was Silverstream who commanded all the attention for the griffon. He couldn't really explain it but he found himself drawn to her.
"And so, let's all give a big cheer for the newest generation of royal guards officially debuting here today." Tempest declared, snapping Gallus back to his senses for a brief moment. The crowd obeyed without hesitation, and Gallus saw that Silverstream seemed to be cheering especially long and loud for him.
It was possible to hear some of the other newly inducted guards talking about this detail behind Gallus' back, but assuming he heard anything he paid it little attention. Silverstream was all he could think about.
After the graduation ceremony had ended, a big party was held specifically for Gallus since it had been anything but a secret how much he'd longed to be part of the royal guard. And now his dream had become a reality.
Yet it was only after the party had broken up and everyone was ready to go their separate ways that Gallus found himself working up the courage to approach Silverstream. "Can we go somewhere for a bit so we can talk in private?" He asked her in a matter of fact tone of voice.
The young hippogriff agreed. "Of course, Gallus. For you, I always have time." It was possible to hear a dreamy sigh escape her lips when she spoke those words.
The griffon with feathers of blue was satisfied with that answer and led Silverstream away with one of her paws in one of his claws. He did his best to ignore the looks he was getting from others, he knew what they were probably thinking and he could care less.
Silverstream beamed a warm smile to Gallus once the two were alone. The ceremony and subsequent celebration had been held in Ponyville, and the self proclaimed friendship capital of Equestria was so lovely in the early evening light. The setting sun hung low on the horizon, casting its glow over buildings and pathways.
One could hardly have asked for a better place for what was about to be said next.
Clearing his throat, Gallus locked his eyes onto Silverstream's as he brought himself down to just his front legs. "Silverstream," His tone of voice sounding like an inquiry. "We've... well... known each other for some time now, haven't we?"
The hippogriff nodded and answered quite slowly. "Oh of course, Gallus. And I must say, you look so handsome in that royal guard stuff."
The griffon chuckled and blushed a bit despite his best efforts not to. "You... think so, huh?" He needn't have bothered asking since he got a confirming nod very quickly. "Well... good. Er, I mean..." He let out a groan and smacked himself in the face. "Gosh, this is so difficult! I swear I had this all rehearsed in my mind and everything. Why am I doing such a bad job at saying what needs to be said now?"
Silverstream just replied by taking one of Gallus' claws into one of her paws, looking back at him as her smile grew brighter. "Oh Gallus, you big, silly goose. I know what you're trying to say. You love me, don't you?"
Gallus immediately seized on his opportunity! "Yeah, of course I do! And it's because I love you so much that I wanted to ask you this. It's all I've been thinking about for months," He cleared his throat and took a deep breath. "Silverstream..." The griffon asked. "Will you marry me?"
Immediately, Silverstream let out a happy shriek and pulled Gallus close as she all but shouted! "Yes! You didn't even have to ask. Ever since you helped me overcome my fear of the Storm King, you've always been on my mind. I was just wondering when you were gonna propose."
The young griffon smiled as he felt his heart start to go pitter patter. Everything he'd dreamed of was finally coming true, and in all in the span of a single day to boot! "Well, I have now. So now it's just a matter of figuring out when we can officially tie the knot."
Word of Gallus' proposal to Silverstream traveled insanely fast, particularly because Silverstream couldn't help but blab about it to every creature she knew and then some. Soon, it was all most could talk about.
Yet within a week, the confession and wedding preparations would be eclipsed and forced to take a back seat to other matters.
Poor Gallus had to break the news to Silverstream the hard way. "Equestria's going to war." He somberly informed her when she visited him at the royal guards' barracks in Canterlot. He then held up a newspaper article depicting what looked to be some sort of mass hysteria and panic in Rainbow Falls. The headline attached to the article conveyed the story better than Gallus could've on his own:
"Supreme Ruler Twilight Sparkle Says Rainbow Falls Attack An Act of Terror, 'Grogar' Cited as Inspiration For Magic Blast Injuring Hundreds"
"Apparently, a bunch of these strange donkey creatures decided to show up and cause trouble," Gallus explained as he threw down the piece of paper. "They detonated some kind of magic bomb and claimed it was on behalf of the real emperor Grogar."
Silverstream blinked in confusion. "I thought Grogar was just an old pony's tale, aside from when Discord was posing as him for that period of time. But didn't even he say that the real Grogar was sealed away inside his bell long ago or something?"
Gallus could only shake his head. "I guess those donkeys either didn't get the message or they know something we don't," Then he began to dawn his helmet and matching suit of armor while declaring. "Those donkey warriors have made it clear they won't go down without a fight."
"But why call up the royal guard to deal with them?" The hippogriff questioned with concern.
Gallus firmly responded! "Any attack on Equestria or its citizens cannot go unpunished! We, the royal guards, agree that the aggressors must pay. They've already begun marching on Equestria, we have to be prepared to meet them on the battlefield before they can do any more harm."
Silverstream then found herself on the verge of bursting into tears. "But it isn't fair!" She complained aloud despite knowing she could do nothing about it. "Why did this all have to happen now?! We just got engaged for crying out loud! Now I have to watch the love of my life go off to battle?!"
The young griffon reluctantly sighed. He had expected such a display of resistance from his intended and had dreaded the very idea of having to tell her the news. But he knew he had to. He knew it would've hurt her even more to find out through other means. "That is a part of my responsibility and duty as a member of the royal guard," He said quite firmly. "I may not like it and you may not like it, but I will do what I must."
Silverstream could hold back the waterworks no longer, the tears flowed from her eyes without end. "This isn't right! I might never see you again!" She pounded the ground, kicking up dust but accomplishing very little else in the process. "Now I hate the royal guard! And those donkeys for launching the attack! And so many other things!"
"You don't really mean that, do you?" Gallus inquired. "At least not the 'hate the royal guard' part, right?"
The hippogriff slowly managed to slow down the crying, her eyes stained red as a result. "No, of course not. I could never hate them as long as you're a part of it, Gallus. I'm just so frustrated. Why must this all happen?"
Gallus could only shrug his claws in response. "It's just how the world is, Silverstream. Believe me, I wish more than anything that it didn't have to be this way. Alas, that's not the case. I'm powerless to stop these events from happening," Then he got an idea. "We could call off the whole thing you know, our marriage. I can release you from needing to wait for me. You could go and be happy with someone else."
Silverstream shook her head, she would hear nothing of such a proposal. "No way, Gallus! I love you too much to even think of letting you go, no matter how hard it's going to hurt to wait around for you. And no matter how much it'll hurt hoping that you make it out alive," But her lips began to quiver as she went on to add. "But... if anything should happen to you while you're off fighting the good fight, I'll... I'll..."
The griffon with feathers of blue that matched his golden colored armor nicely quickly sensed how troubled the love of his life was. He knew he needed to do something to cheer her up. Looking up towards the ceiling, he suddenly seemed to get an idea as something twinkled in his eyes and a faint spark crossed his mind. "Silverstream," He said quite firmly as he pulled her close. "Look at me and look at me good."
The young hippogriff obeyed, making sure her eyes were solely locked onto the one whom she loved more than anything else in the world.
Satisfied that he had Silverstream's full and undivided attention, Gallus cleared his throat and draped a wing around her as he said to her. "Promise me one thing."
"What, Gallus?" Silverstream asked. A thousand possibilities ran through her mind.
"No matter what happens, no matter where life may take us, promise me that you'll hold onto your love for me," Gallus instructed as he laid bare his request. "I know it'll be hard, almost impossible even. But you must promise me that you'll hold onto your love and not let it go, not give it away. If you can do that, then I promise you I will come back to you when this is all over! Somehow, someway I will."
Silverstream hopefully inquired. "You promise?"
Gallus nodded even as his expression and tone of voice didn't change in the slightest. "Today will seem like the longest day of our lives when we reflect back on this. Yet I will always remember what I promised to you and what you promised to me," He promptly gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Let this serve as a reminder to you of what lies in store for us both when this is over. Wait for me no matter how hard it might be or how high the cost may grow. Can do you that for me?"
Reluctantly, the heavy hearted hippogriff nodded in confirmation. "I'll try, Gallus. Believe me, I'll try!"
The fully armored griffon smiled, finally easing his tight wing embrace of Silverstream. "That's all I can ask for, Silverstream. But I know you won't let me down. It may be days, weeks, months or years but I'll keep my promise to you if you keep yours to me. And our love will be all the stronger for it. You'll see."
Just then, in the distance a familiar voice could be heard shouting! "Hey Gallus, get a move on will ya?! We're shipping out of here in five minutes, no ifs, ands or buts!"
"Be right there, Commander Tempest," Gallus called back before getting one last look at Silverstream. Something told him it would be a long time before he would again see her face. "Wish me luck, Silverstream." He told her as he tried to cheerfully project confidence. It was all he could do to keep his composure with all the uncertainty floating around.
Silverstream, for her part, just stood there while she watched the love of her life slowly depart from the barracks to join his fellow royal guards. Deep down, despite her promise and despite the reassurance Gallus had just given her, she already couldn't help but worry. "What if I never see him again?" She thought to herself, before promptly scolding herself for even entertaining such a thought. "He promised he'd come back! I promised to trust him! I can't break that promise, no matter the cost."
And so the waiting began for both. A wait of great uncertainty, anticipation and most of all concern.
Gallus and Silverstream did the best they could to stay in touch with one another as the war got underway. They wrote letters as often as they were allowed to under their circumstances, careful not to give away important details in case any of said letters got lost or intercepted.
Silverstream also kept herself informed via newspapers, film reels and even just word of mouth. She found it hard to think of anything but the war, yet somehow she willed herself to do so. She didn't want to forget about Gallus, but she also found that time seemed to pass slowly if all she thought about was the war.
But one day, the young hippogriff received news that filled her with dread. An announcement was made courtesy of none other than Twilight Sparkle herself, and when she addressed the nation of Equestria the expression on her face conveyed only one thing: Loss.
"It is with a heavy heart that I inform you all that we have suffered our first casualties in the war against Grogar and his forces," Twilight spoke in a somber tone when she spoke from the royal palace in Canterlot. "Our newest recruits serving under Commander Tempest were ambushed in a surprise attack last night out in the badlands. As of yet, we don't know how heavy the losses are or who has survived and who has perished. The attackers were eventually routed and defeated, and as we speak we are interrogating their leader for information. Equestria, together we will get through this. Evil will not prevail against us."
Silverstream knew at once that Gallus' unit had been the one that was attacked. Commander Tempest was the one he served under. Now that she thought about it, it would explain why she'd yet to receive a response from him in regards to her previous letter even though it had been almost a week since she sent it. He'd always been good at replying promptly before.
Was it possible Gallus was now one of the casualties that Supreme Ruler Twilight had mentioned?
"No, it can't be!" The hippogriff thought to herself despite being stricken at once with fear for the worst! "He promised me he'd come back. He wouldn't make a promise he couldn't keep. He wouldn't!"
Yet the days dragged on with no reply of any sort from Gallus. Updates on the ambush were slow to come out. Commander Tempest had survived (albeit badly injured) but it seemed like she was the only exception. Even a pony as tough as her was heard to say. "I don't know if anyone could've survived such an attack on such short notice. It was only a matter of luck I wasn't in the direct line of assault when I heard the battle cry."
Desperately, Silverstream wrote as many letters to Gallus and to those in the royal guard who knew him, hoping beyond hope that even just one of them would get through. One letter in particular conveyed more than any others how desperate she really was:
Dear Gallus,
Please, please tell me you're okay! I need to know you're okay! This isn't funny anymore!
I still remember your promise to me and my promise to you. I haven't forgotten about our love. But now waiting is becoming impossible.
If I don't hear back from you soon I... I don't know what I'll do! I can't break my promise, but I don't know how I can go on not knowing whether you're okay.
Please answer me soon, even just so you can tell me to stop worrying. I don't want to assume the worst. You can't be gone forever! You just can't!
Sincerely,
Your dearly loved (and still hopeful) Silverstream
The letter was sent out just like all the others. And then all Silverstream could do was wait, wait for a response or wait for acknowledgement that the worst had happened. Gallus had been more right than he knew when he'd told her waiting would be hard for her.
At long last, after what felt like an eternity of waiting in vain for answers, Silverstream finally got the confirmation she'd been both anticipating and yet dreading at the same time. A letter was found addressed to her that had gone unnoticed for some time, it had not been marked urgent and had thus been forgotten about. Yet now it was there for her to read in all its glory.
The hippogriff ripped open the letter, hoping beyond hope for the best but dreading the worst at the same time. What would the letter tell her?
She didn't have long to find out as Silverstream reluctantly brought the letter close to her and began to read over it. It read as follows:
Dearest Silverstream,
My sincerest apologies for the late response of this letter to your most recent one. As I'm sure you can imagine, the surprise attack by Grogar's forces in the badlands threw so many things out of whack. Among them was letter distribution.
If you are worrying about Gallus, you needn't worry any longer. You won't have long to wait before you can see him again. I'm afraid his tenure in the royal guard, at least in this effort, was sadly short lived. But he made the most of his time there, you would've been so proud to see him so strong and brave.
Don't worry, he's still alive. Gotta give the kid credit, he endured stuff that I don't know even I could've found the ability to endure. And I'm the one who lost my horn in an unfortunate accident as a child.
Throughout it all, Gallus has never stopped thinking about you. And I suspect it's that love for you that helped him power through. He not only survived the ambush, but he single clawdely managed to get me and at least half of the unit he was with to safety. He kept going back into the thick of the fray several times over to rescue more soldiers and beat down some donkeys. That's ultimately how he got himself beaten to within an inch of his life.
For his heroics, I've seen fit to give him an honorable discharge as soon as the doctors say he's ready to be released. After all he's been through, he could use a break to let his body recover. And I know that you as his special someone will be just the thing to restore his spirits.
It's not a decision I made lightly. But I'm not about to let the kid go back out there when he's not back to one hundred percent. Besides, with the way this war is going I don't anticipate these donkeys giving us much more trouble. We've learned not to underestimate them, and since we've yet to encounter any sign of Grogar I think it's safe to say that he's not gonna be showing up anytime soon to cause trouble.
I'll do my best to end the war in time for your big wedding. If you're lucky, I might even bring the donkey Gallus enabled me to capture as a wedding present. Guarantee that'll give the others something to think about the next time they decide to make trouble for Equestria or its allies.
Sincerely,
Commander Tempest Shadow of the Twenty First Division
Silverstream all but leapt for joy by the time she'd finished reading that letter! Yes, it was far from the happiest thing she could've received and chances were Gallus was going to be far from happy about the way he was coming back. But she had kept her promise, she'd remained faithful and held onto her love despite everything.
Already, the young hippogriff looked forward to sharing the good news with her friends and everyone else she knew. Gallus was coming home! Their wedding could now be planned. Everything was looking up for her!
Gallus was most definitely glad to see Silverstream waiting for him on the platform at the train station in Ponyville. His armor and helmet were covered with ominous looking scorch marks, a sling hung over his left wing and he now bore a scar just above his left eye. "Hey, Silverstream," He greeted as he slowly stumbled off the train car and onto the platform. "I'm not gonna bother asking if you missed me, 'cause I know you did."
Silverstream pulled Gallus close and hugged him tightly for what felt like the first time in ages, even though it had only really been probably a month or two at most. "Oh, Gallus. Never in all my life have I been so happy to see you!" She exclaimed! "Sorry your first big outing as a royal guard didn't pan out like you'd hoped."
The griffon only snorted and seemed to laugh. "You kidding me? I couldn't have asked for a better way to make my mark. Now everyone in Equestria knows I'm a hero. Heck, I did the impossible and earned Commander Tempest's respect. And she doesn't give that out lightly."
"Well, all that matters is that you're back," The hippogriff replied as she tightened the hug. "I can hardly wait for our wedding now."
"Yeah," Gallus commented even as he strained and groaned under the pain he was still enduring. "Compared to what I've been through, a wedding can't possibly be any harder. Can it?"
Now it was Silverstream's turn to laugh as she told her intended. "I guess we'll find out together, won't we? After all, it's not every day that Equestria's newest hero gets engaged to the love of his life all over again," And she chirped. "Ooh, I can't wait to start work on the invitations! Our wedding is going to be the bestest thing in the history of ever!"
Gallus only sighed, slowly freeing himself from the hug. "Just being with you, Silverstream, is the bestest thing in the history of ever," Then he added. "But we're gonna have to work on you toning down the hugs. And I need time to recover before I can even think of walking or flying down the altar with you."
"Don't worry, Gallus," Silverstream promised. "Whenever we do have our wedding, it'll be all the better because of how strong our love was."
Author's Note
This is the song that inspired this fanfiction.
What can I say? I'm always a sucker for GallusStream. And the idea of Gallus serving in the royal guard is an idea too good to pass up.
