//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: What's Missing? // by Liaf112 //------------------------------// When we exited the University Gilda was still leading me. Upon stepping onto the stairs I fall forward onto Gilda making her fall as well. We tumble down the small flight of stairs with her ending up sitting on my chest. I let out a groan and say "Well that was a bit unpleasent." Gilda groans too and replies with "Yeah, are you good?" "Yeah I'm fine, are you alright?" I ask her. "Oh, yeah, sure I'm fine." She says. I hear what sounds like two somethings with wings. By how softly the sounds are the wings are smaller than Gildas. "Oh my are you two alright?" Says Fluttershy with more confidence but still softly. "Yes were fine Fluttershy. Although I have a feeling of deja vu." I say to them. "Deja who?" Asks Rainbow. "Deja vu, it means having the feeling that something happened already." "Like what?" Asks Gilda. I give a wide grin and say "How did we meet?" "Ehehehe, um...I got tossed out of the restaurant and landed on you." She replies a bit quietly. "Aaannnd what are you doing now?" I ask. "...Sitting on you...again." she says. "Hehe, Can we get up now?" I ask while starting to laugh. She quickly gets off of me and helps me up. Gilda grabs my walking stick again and starts leading me through the streets. We stop at a shop on the way that sells small trinkets and sculptures made of glass. The store smells kind of like lavender. I stay near the front of the store. Eventually someone with hooves comes up to me. "Hello there, can I help you find something?" Says a nervous mare. "Oh no, I'm fine. I'm just waiting for my girlfriend and our friends to finish looking around." I say to her. "Are you sure you don't want to look around?" She asks me. "I would if I could miss, but I would have to be able to see to be able to look." I say to her. "Oh my goodess...you're b-blind?" She asks me. "Yes I am miss..." "G-Glass Doll." She says. "Why don't you go get them fixed? Equestrian doctors are able to heal blindness." I frown a bit and say "I would Miss Doll, but that isn't an option. If there were anything left of them then maybe I could, but since there isn't I am just going to have to continue with no sight." I say back to her sadly sighing at the end. "I'm sorry I brought it up. Why don't I help you pick something out for your girlfriend to make it up to you?" I move my hand to my chin and start scratching it while thinking. Eh, why not. "Alright, but I am still paying for it." I state as a matter of fact. "So, who is your girlfriend?" She asks me. "Her name is Gilda, she's the gryphon I came in here with." I tell her. She goes off into the shop somewhere. After a few minutes she comes back. I hear a jingling sound that I know is unicorn magic. She approaches me slowly. "This should be something nice for her. Hold out your hand." She says to me. I hold out my hands. She places a small glass figurine in my hands. I can feel the tingling of the magic and then it disappears leaving only the small glass figurine in my hands. I start carefully feeling around it. It is obviously a small glass gryphon, but the amount of detail I can feel on it is amazing. I can feel individual feathers on the wings and head. The talons each have small segments. Plus it is still warm. The features on it are so small that they would break if you arent carefull. "This is amazing how do you get so much detail on something so small?" I ask. "I have a great attention to detail." She says. "I made it look as close to what she looks like as I could." I smile and say "How much is it?" "Hmm, about 20 bits, but I'm gift wraping it for free." She states as a matter of fact. I pull two coins out of the pocket that I keep the silver bits. I hand them over to her and she trots off to go and wrap it. After another few minutes she comes back and gives me a small wrapped box. "Thank you Miss Doll. I appreciate this a lot." I say to her while smiling. "You are very welcome. Mr..." "Brandon Cadaret." I say to her. "I hope to see you around sometime Mr. Cadaret." Says Glass Doll. "And I hope to 'hear' you sometime Miss Doll." I reply to her. She lets out a light chuckle and trots off. A few minutes later I hear the clicking and thiding of Gilda walking towards me. "Hey B...I see you bought something." She says to me. "Yes that is a gift for you, but you don't get to open it till after dinner." I say to her. "Aaww, fine. But you don't get desert then." She says to me in a joking way. "Heheh, alright but you may change your mind later and want to give me some sugar." I say to her joking right back. I hear two sets of hooves come towards me and Gilda. They stop a few feet away . "Hey G and Prof B. What's that you got? Did you get your girlfriend a present too?" says Rainbow. "Eyup, what did you get?" I ask her. "I got my fillyfriend a cu-uh...awesome little bunny sculpture..." She says. "Thank you so much Rainbow. I love it sooo much." says Fluttershy. "Oh um, I mean y-you didn't have to." "Heh, it's cool Flutters, I wanted to get it for you." Rainbow says to Fluttershy. "Aww." says Fluttershy. I hear a quick but quiet smack sound. They had probably just kissed. I cleared my throat to get everyones attention and said "Why don't we head out to the restaurant now?" The three of them agree. Gilda grabs my cane and leads me out of the shop. We walk for another few minutes and end up near the restaurant. It smells great. We all walk into the restaurant and the ambient noise stops.