While it was true that Sandbar had become known throughout the school for being among the more relaxed and calm students there, there were nevertheless times when even he would appear nervous or apprehensive about stuff. And today, it appeared as though this was the mood that had taken him, as a great many of the other students of the Friendship School watched him rush past them, panting furiously. If they had to describe it, they'd say that he looked like somebody who just saw a fire and was trying to get away from it. But, this was, in fact, the opposite of what was going on. For the young stallion was not running from something, but rather to something. And that something was the dormitory of some of his closest friends. Speaking of whom, one of those friends, Silverstream, was pacing up and down the front of the door to that dormitory, looking up only when she heard her colleague approach.

"Sandbar!"

The green pony halted dead in his tracks as soon as he reached her, taking a moment to catch his breath before finally speaking up.

"Yona said there was an emergency. What's happened?"

Looking slightly nervous, Silverstream looked over to the nearby door, then back to her Equestrian friend.

"It's...it's Ocellus."

Immediately, fear took hold in Sandbar's eyes.

"W...what?! What happened?! Is she alright?!"

Silverstream shook her head a bit, speaking in a somewhat more reassuring tone.

"Oh no, she's fine! She's not hurt or anything! It's just...well..."

Again, she looked over to the door.

"...perhaps you should see for yourself."

Naturally, Sandbar tilted his head with confusion over this, leading to his young Hippogriff friend moving over and opening the aforementioned door. Peeking her head in, she spoke, sounding uncharacteristically nervous as she did so.

"Um...Ocellus? We're coming in now."

Slowly, she opened the door wider, and here, Sandbar was able to get a look inside the dormitory himself. Much like Gallus had discovered not so long ago, the one assigned to the girls was not all that dissimilar to the one the guys had. However, rather than dwell on this particular point, Sandbar soon took on a surprised look. For there, sitting at a desk at the end of the room, was what appeared to be his Head-Mare, Princess Twilight. She was hard at work, writing frantically on a parchment lying on the desk before her, with her expression one of pure focus. Sandbar, as one would expect, was a little taken aback by her presence here.

"Oh! Princess Twilight! I didn't know you'd be here!"

But Silverstream to his slight confusion, put a single claw to his lips, cutting him off from saying anything further.

"Just watch..."

Her tone had been ominous, but Sandbar nevertheless did as she'd instructed. Sure enough, something did happen, as Twilight soon became engulfed in what Sandbar recognised immediately as Changeling magic. Before long, Twilight was gone, replaced instead with one of his other Professors, Applejack.

"Ah tell ya! This work ain't gonna finish itself, now will it?"

Sandbar blinked a couple of times, then slowly glanced over to Silverstream, who sighed and shrugged her shoulders.

"Yeah...she's been like this for a while now."

Letting out a long sigh, Sandbar gave a slow nod, looking to Silverstream again briefly before starting to enter the dormitory in earnest. Silverstream, for her part, closed the door behind him, bearing a worried look as she did so. Now inside, the young pony looked around, and already he could see signs of just how long Ocellus had been at work here. There were piles and piles of notes and essays strewn about the place, each fully organized and arranged in that way only Ocellus seemed to know how to do. Turning back to her, he noted that she'd now taken on the form of Professor Rainbow Dash, and spoke in about the same way.

"Gotta keep going! Can't let up! One slip-up and boom, I'm done!"

Blinking, Sandbar raised a hoof to his mouth, clearing his throat.

"Um...Ocellus? Sweetie?"

Here, the still-disguised Changeling finally looked up from her work, and her eyes widened upon seeing her pony boyfriend.

"Oh...Sandbar!"

Again, she was engulfed in Changeling magic, but this time, when it was over, she had assumed her natural appearance. Taking a moment to rub some sleep out of her eyes, she chucked nervously before speaking up to him.

"I...I didn't hear you come in. How are you doing?"

A chuckle escaped the stallion at that.

"I was about to ask you that question."

Ocellus' smile faded somewhat, and after letting out a long sigh, she glanced back down to her current paper.

"I've just...well...I've been doing a lot of work lately."

Sandbar nodded.

"Yeah, I can see."

Walking over to one of the aforementioned piles of essays, he began to read off some of the titles he found there.

"Theories on the Effectiveness of Sharing...Discussions on the Consequences of Withholding Honesty...Thesis for the Practicality of Empathy."

Here, he frowned slightly.

"Pardon me, Ocellus...but I don't remember Princess Twilight ever assigning us stuff like this."

Smiling again, Ocellus shook her head.

"Oh, she didn't. I just wanted to do a little...you know...extra-credit work?"

Turning to face her, Sandbar raised an eyebrow.

"Um...don't you think you're overdoing it a bit? I mean, I'm sure Twilight would appreciate you going out of your way to do extra friendship assignments and stuff, but...this?"

Ocellus, upon hearing all that, yet again found herself changing shape, and this time took on the look of Professor Rarity.

"Why darling! One simply cannot settle for anything less than the best! To do anything else would be nothing short of atrocious!"

Sandbar looked on with uncertainty at his girlfriend's new persona, and Ocellus, upon gaining a look of realisation, immediately changed back to her original form, blushing slightly and letting out a small giggle.

"I...um...I sometimes change shape when I'm feeling nervous."

Sandbar's face softened, and he started to approach her.

"Ocellus...how long have you been in here doing this work?"

Ocellus considered that.

"What time is it?"

Sandbar turned, looking to the clock on the wall, before glancing back to her.

"About three?"

The young Changeling gave a nod.

"Then it's been about twelve hours."

The stallion's eyes widened immensely to that.

"What?! You've been doing all this work and haven't left the room in twelve hours?!"

Ocellus opened her mouth to create some excuse for herself, only to be met with the realisation that, quite frankly, she had none. So, again with a blush on her face, she sighed.

"Yeah...I guess I have."

Sandbar, calming down from the revelation about how long she'd been doing this, approached her further, reaching forward and placing his hoof gently upon her shoulder.

"Ocellus...why are you doing this? Everyone at this school knows how hard you work. Heck, you're probably Princess Twilight's best student."

Ocellus, despite the reassuring tone Sandbar was giving her, looked away from him.

"I...I know that's how everyone feels about me, but...it's just..."

Hearing the tone of her voice, and the stutter that was coming with it, Sandbar could tell that there was something else going on here.

"Whatever it is...you can tell me."

Ocellus, as ever, looked more than a little worried about simply blurting out what was on her mind. But, after a while, she looked to her boyfriend's face, and saw nothing but honesty there. He was there to help her, and she knew it. So, now feeling somewhat calmer than before, the young Changeling spoke, albeit with a rather hesitant manner.

"It's just....it's because I...I'm a Changeling."

Hearing that, Sandbar took on a confused look.

"What do you mean?"

Ocellus' expression now became one of stress and worry.

"Sandbar...I'm the only Changeling at the school! The one person here to represent them!"

She grimaced.

"Just me...representing my entire race!"

Silence fell between them, and Sandbar looked to her with both worry and surprise over what she was saying. Ocellus, looking away from him, slowly got down from her desk. She walked a few steps away from it and just stared out of the window for a moment, before speaking up again, but with a much quieter tone.

"Do you know what my King said to me? On the day I first came to this school?"

In a flash, she had assumed another form, and this time, it was that of the one she spoke of. King Thorax. The imitated form of the Changeling leader looked back to Sandbar, smiling in that gentle way Thorax was so known for.

"We know you'll do well here, Ocellus...make us proud."

Sandbar watched as Ocellus again returned to her natural state, and again, he saw her look away from him.

"So...that's what I've been doing. What I do here...it reflects on all my people. So I...I've felt that I have to do well..."

A frown came to her.

"...no...I need to do well! I can't let them down! I can't do anything less than...than..."

Sandbar, glancing over to the assorted papers nearby, then slowly looked back to her.

"Ocellus...have you told anybody else about this?"

With a look almost of shame, she shook her head.

"No. I...I didn't want them to think I was being silly for thinking that way."

Here, it was Sandbar's turn to frown, and he took a step closer to her.

"They wouldn't. They know how important it is for you to do well. They know how seriously you take all this stuff. And more importantly..."

Finally, he reached her.

"...they know how devoted you are to making your people proud."

His face softened.

"They wouldn't call what you're doing here silly, Ocellus."

Gradually, Ocellus looked to him, her eyes hopeful.

"You...you really think so?"

Sandbar gave her a gentle smile.

"I do..."

However, his face soon took on a somewhat sterner look to it.

"...but...what they would say...is that this..."

He gestured to all the essays she'd written.

"...this is pushing yourself too far for any student."

Ocellus, looking to the papers herself, struggled on how to respond to that.

"I...I just..."

Sighing, Sandbar nodded.

"I know. And believe me, Princess Twilight would be delighted that one of her students would show this much dedication to their work, both in class and outside of it."

Like before, he placed a hoof carefully onto her shoulder.

"But that work shouldn't come at the cost of you running yourself ragged."

He leaned in closer to her.

"I don't think I'll ever know what it's like to think that the expectations of my whole race is on my shoulders. And I also can't say that I know king Thorax as well as you do."

A pause, and the young stallion considered his words carefully.

"But...do you really think he'd want you to feel this overwhelmed? To feel that you were so afraid of letting your people down that you'd just close yourself up in your room all day and do nothing but write?"

Thoughtfulness came to Ocellus as she dwelt on her boyfriend's words, and after a few false starts, she started speaking.

"I...no...I don't suppose he would."

After a moment or two of thinking, she actually let out a short giggle.

"He'd probably get so nervous about seeing me this worked up that he'd spend all day stressing himself out. Might even fly all the way out here to offer me a blanket or a bowl of soup to calm me down."

The two, to their eternal gratitude, shared a laugh over that thought, and much of the discomfort of the previous moments began to lift away from their thoughts. In the calm that arrived after the laugh had died down, however, they started to stare at one another, with Sandbar speaking in a tone that made it clear that he was trying to reassure her a great deal.

"Ocellus...this school is very lucky to have a student like you. A student who puts this much energy into their studies and their work."

She smiled to that, which was a sight the young stallion was more than happy to see. But, that didn't stop him from saying everything else he needed to.

"But remember...there is such a thing...as too much work."

Quickly, he glanced over to one of the nearby piles of essays.

"And I'm no expert...but I think writing so much that your papers rise high enough to nearly count as a load-bearing column probably counts as too much."

Again, the young couple laughed, and again, it did a lot to help the mood of the room. When Ocellus at last felt calmer at the end of it, calmer than she'd probably felt all day, she looked to Sandbar with obvious appreciation. He smiled back to her, and without warning, he watched as the young Changeling moved forward, nuzzling him affectionately. Naturally, he couldn't help but develop a fierce blush to this, which he did his best to hide, coughing nervously.

"Yes...um...glad you're feeling better."

Giggling again, Ocellus withdrew from him, and after letting out a few calming breaths, she spoke, sounding far more relaxed than she had been before.

"You know...when I see Silverstream, Yona, Gallus and Smolder...I should have understood a long time ago that they're all representing their people too. They probably feel the same way as me every once in a while."

Slowly, she turned, looking to the open window, and the bright blue skies beyond.

"And none of them ever drove themselves to near-insanity trying to go overboard with their extracurricular activities."

Sandbar nodded in agreement.

"Well...you weren't there yet."

Ocellus smiled to him.

"No...and I thank you for that, Sandbar."

Sandbar stared at her for a time, then spoke.

"Look after yourself first...and your work can come after."

The stallion smiled to her, and the two of them blushed, clearly feeling more than just friendship in this private moment between them. The matter had been discussed, and thankfully, it was now behind them. Ocellus was relaxed, and Sandbar was happy that he was there to help her. So, after giving her another quick pat on the shoulder, the young Equestrian spoke to her with encouragement in his voice.

"Come on...I think our friends are getting together for lunch."

Hearing that, Ocellus chuckled.

"Yeah...after twelve hours of work...I think I could use some."

Next Chapter: Childhood Stories Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 34 Minutes