Among students of any school, there was one universally accepted situation that nobody wanted to find themselves in. And that was being called to the Principal's office. Yet, that was exactly where Sandbar now found himself, sitting quietly and alone outside of Head-Mare Twilight's chambers at the school. A long sigh escaped the young stallion, and every once in a while, he would look to some of the other students who passed him by, offering them a friendly smile as they did so. But, he could not escape the gnawing sensation he felt as he waited out here. What had he done? Had he failed one of the exams? Why was he being made to wait as long as this? All these questions and more poured through the fellow's mind, and he did not look in the least bit happy about any of it. But, before long, he soon discovered that he was not entirely alone here, as the clearing of someone's throat alerted him to another. Turning, a smile touched his lips as he saw that it was none other than his girlfriend, Ocellus.

"Hey," he said to her.

"Hey," she said back with a blush.

Finally reaching him, the young Changeling cast a glance in the direction of the large doors nearby.

"Any idea why we were called here?"

That took Sandbar by surprise.

"Wait...you were called too?"

Ocellus gave a grim nod.

"I was...but I can't think of what I could have done to be called here. Did we miss a spot when we were cleaning up after Hearth's Warming?"

Sandbar chuckled to that.

"If that was the reason, all the others would be here too."

Ocellus giggled, though it was admittedly a nervous-sounding one. Then, before the two youths had a chance to say anything else to one another, they were interrupted by the sound of the doors opening up nearby. They took simultaneous gulps, then began to walk inside together. Princess Twilight was there, sitting at her desk and smiling warmly to the two of them as they entered.

"Thank you both for coming. Please, take a seat."

Sure enough, there were indeed two chairs just in front of her desk, clearly having been set up for the two of them. The young couple were still nervous, but they nevertheless did as instructed, with Sandbar closing the office door behind him as they entered in earnest. Choosing their respective chairs, the two got themselves comfortable, or at least as comfortable as they could be, given the circumstances. Twilight, for her part, could see that the two were unsettled about being here, and so offered them a calm and reassuring tone as she spoke.

"Don't worry...neither of you is in trouble. It's just...I wanted to talk to the two of you about something...well..."

She glanced around, making sure that both the doors and windows of her office were properly closed, before looking back to the two in front of her.

"...personal."

This was quite unlike how their Head-Mare usually acted, so Sandbar and Ocellus gave each other a justifiably confused look, before turning again to their elder.

"Um...personal?" Ocellus enquired.

Twilight nodded.

"Yes. You see...it's recently come to my attention that the relationship you two have has become somewhat...for lack of a better term...physical."

Instantly, the two erupted into blushes so prominent and so absurdly red that one could be mistaken for thinking that their heads had briefly been replaced with giant tomatoes. Now, these youngsters were by no means embarrassed about their relationship, quite the opposite in fact. But to sit here, having their Head-Mare actually talking about it to them, that was quite another matter entirely. They looked to one another, perhaps silently hoping the other would let them know that this was all a bad dream and that they would wake up at any moment. Sadly, this was not to be, and after shakily turning back to the older mare before them, Sandbar was the first to speak up.

"Well...er...we have sort of...kind of...kissed...if that's what you're referring to?"

Twilight gave a firm nod.

"Yes. And let me just first start things off by saying that I'm happy for the both of you that your bond with one another is growing like this."

Her smile widened.

"It warms my heart to know that ponies and Changelings have managed to become this close to one another in such a short span of time."

Then, she raised a hoof to her mouth, clearing her throat.

"However...as your Head-Mare, I feel that it's my responsibility to prepare you in case any further steps in your relationship start to happen."

The two stared at her blankly.

"Um...further steps?" Ocellus asked, very much terrified as to what would be said to her next.

Another nod from Twilight.

"Oh, certainly! After all, the two of you are young, healthy, and will undoubtedly be quite passionate about your first romance with another person. Feelings will swell, and you'll want to start doing things you never considered before."

With realisation coming to him, Sandbar hung his head lower, holding himself tightly.

"This...this isn't happening! This isn't happening! This isn't happening!"

And he just went on and on like that for some time, with Ocellus looking between him and Twilight, eventually settling on the latter.

"Prin...Princess Twilight. I appreciate that you want to help us, but..."

She looked away.

"Okay, how do I put this?"

She looked back to Twilight.

"Is this actually something you should be talking to us about? I mean no offense or anything, but..."

Twilight was not offended, thankfully, and instead continued to smile at the two of them.

"I realise it's not exactly conventional to think of such things at a friendship school, but I feel it's my responsibility to help the two of you through this new experience in your lives."

She gently placed her hooves upon her desk.

"Let's not forget, this is entirely new ground for all concerned. After all, no pony has ever entered into this kind of relationship with a Changeling before, much less one that actually went as far as kissing."

Here, Sandbar stopped sitting in a foetal position, looking to the Princess with some measure of curiosity.

"Wait...didn't your brother marry a Changeling once?"

Here, rather than the calm, measured and collected mare they were used to, Twilight instantly took on a look of rage, pointing in an accusing manner to the both of them.

"That ceremony was never finished, so it doesn't count!"

The two, naturally, were taken aback by this sudden outburst by the Princess, and Twilight herself, realising how she had just behaved in front of the two of them, immediately retreated back to leaning against the back of her chair, raising a hoof to her mouth and coughing in a very deliberate manner.

"Yes...what I meant to say...was that this is the first genuine relationship of this nature to get this far."

A smile returned to her.

"One day, perhaps we may even see relationships like a Hippogriff and a Griffon? Or a Yak and a Buffalo?"

She giggled, clapping her hooves together.

"Oh! I can just imagine it!"

Sandbar, ever so slowly, leaned closer to his girlfriend, keeping his voice to a whisper.

"And here I thought Silverstream was the worst shipper at this school!"

Ocellus giggled to that, but again, kept herself as quiet as possible while doing so. The two youths stifled their laughs as best they could, making sure to sit up straight and look attentive as Twilight finally looked back to them.

"In any case, we need to make sure that the two of you are properly prepared. After all, a day may soon come when you'll want to take things even further."

Her horn lit up, and out of a nearby drawer emerged a massive pile of pamphlets and fliers, which hovered over her desk before being unceremoniously dumped on it. After staring at this pile of papers in front of them for a time, Ocellus and Sandbar gave each other an uncertain look, before starting to take a few of those papers for themselves. As they'd expected, and even feared, they talked in detail about those sorts of things. Steps in relationships where things had become very intimate. And of course, the two, who had probably never even considered talking to each other about these kinds of topics, could not help but blush as they looked at paper after paper. After a while, however, it all proved too much, and Ocellus let out a sigh, leaning over slightly so as to be able to see Twilight from the other side of the pile.

"Princess...don't get me wrong, I appreciate everything you're doing. We both do."

Sandbar looked to her with a raised eyebrow.

"We do?"

An elbow into his side was his response from his girlfriend, and after nursing that spot for a few moments, the young stallion forced a smile of his own.

"Oh! Right! I mean...of course we appreciate this! I mean...how could we not?"

His acting was pretty terrible in that moment, but he was trying at least. Even so, Ocellus, after releasing another sigh, turned her gaze back to Twilight.

"It's just...I'm not sure if we're all that...comfortable talking about it."

To that, Twilight's smile faded a little.

"Oh...I see."

Ocellus wings drooped slightly at seeing her Head-Mare seeming a little bit down after that.

"I'm sorry, it's just..."

But she was halted by a raised hoof from Twilight.

"No, it's fine. Honesty is an important part of friendship after all and..."

After a quick sigh, she smiled.

"...and I appreciate you being honest with me, Ocellus."

The Changeling female smiled back, as indeed did Sandbar.

"Yeah...I don't know what's gonna happen between the two of us, but...I'm pretty sure we aren't at that level just yet," he added, gesturing to the many pamphlets that remained.

Looking to those papers herself, Twilight nodded.

"I can understand that. It's just..."

She paused, thinking on how best to say what she needed to.

"...I figured that, as your Head-Mare, it was my responsibility to help the two of you with what's been happening to you. Your wellbeing is part of my duties here after all. Although..."

Her eyes briefly darted again to the paper pile.

"...maaaaaaybe I went a little overboard."

"Yep," her two students replied simultaneously to her.

Twilight was a little surprised by that, but soon responded with a giggle.

"Well...I can certainly accept that the two of you want to do this at your own pace and in your own time. And I wish you the best of luck with it."

Sandbar and Ocellus, happy that this matter had been settled with, looked to one another, giving each other warm and loving smiles. It was a sweet moment that Twilight was definitely happy to see, and it made her want to give them some further encouragement with regards to their relationship. However, before she had the chance to do so, the doors of her office suddenly started to open. Turning, all three of them saw that it was Rarity, who entered with a few books being levitated by her magic alongside her.

"Twilight! I'm sorry I'm a bit early, but I was wondering if we could go over the lessons..."

She paused, having finally noticed that her royal friend was not alone here today. Sandbar and Ocellus, though pleased to see another of their teachers, gave her a somewhat nervous wave and joint smile, leading to a slightly unsure Rarity looking over to Twilight.

"Oh my! I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

Twilight shook her head, smiling back to her fashionista friend.

"Don't worry, Rarity. I was just offering some help to these two regarding their relationship."

Rarity, having heard that, started to smile herself, before giving a quick nod of understanding.

"I see...well, I can certainly understand wanting to help to nurture a young romance."

The two students winced, fearful that they would have to deal with yet another one of their teachers wanting to talk to them about their relationship. Instead, when Rarity finally spoke up again, what she talked about took the youths completely by surprise.

"Besides, I'm sure you can certainly speak to them from experience, given that your first crush wasn't a pony, Twilight."

The students blinked, confused, before looking back to their Head-Mare. Even though the alicorn was still smiling, she was showing all the tell-tale signs of being in the middle of grinding her teeth right now, and her left eye was twitching somewhat.

"Yes...thank you, Rarity. I'm sure these two don't want to be bothered by that story."

Her tone had very clearly stated "I don't want these two to know about that", but, sadly, Rarity had not picked up on it, and so walked further into the room with a proud smile on her face. When she reached the desk, she looked to Sandbar and Ocellus, completely oblivious to the irritation that her lavender colleague was experiencing.

"If there's anyone who can tell you about cross-species relationships, it's Twilight here."

She gestured to the aforementioned Princess.

"Why don't you tell them how the first male to catch your eye was a two-legged monkey person who lives on the other side of the magic mirror you keep in your castle."

Twilight was trying so hard to keep her annoyance pushed down deep inside of herself that a vein could be seen throbbing on the side of her head. As for the two students, they leaned in closer to one another, once more keeping their voices to whispers in case they were heard.

"Do...do you think Professor Rarity just made that up?" Ocellus asked.

Sandbar shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, look at it this way. If she didn't, then I guess we shouldn't think our relationship is all that strange anymore."

Giggling, Ocellus afforded him a quick and tender kiss on the cheek.

"I'll take it."

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