A few days later, Sandbar waited anxiously at the Ponyville railway station. He paced back and forth, looking up and down the rail line for any sign of the 2:45 train to arrive at any moment. Despite how cold it was, it didn’t stop the young stallion from being any less jittery. There were a few times where he had to adjust his sea blue scarf as the bitter wind kept untying the simple knot around his neck. The cold didn’t bother him much underneath his woolen hat and earmuffs, but being out in the open still tempted him to retreat into town.
Then, his ears perked up when he finally heard the sound he was waiting for. A steam whistle from the south, and there down the rail was the Friendship Express coming towards his direction. At once, Sandbar felt the excitement to finally see his parents for the first time since he came to the School of Friendship—and also icy dread for what was about to happen.
In a matter of minutes, the locomotive slowed to a halt and the rail cars were opened. Sandbar waited and watched as ponies got off. Then, he saw them.
“Mom! Dad!” Sandbar galloped straight towards them. With open hooves, he wrapped them around a middle-aged green stallion with blue dreadlocks and a yellow mare with a messy pink mane and a seashell necklace around her neck. Riding on the mare’s back was a small green filly. “I’ve missed you guys so much!”
“Hay Sandbar,” the older stallion said as he hugged him back.
“It’s so good to finally see you again,” his mother said as she did the same.
“Sand!” The filly leaped off her mother’s back and onto her brother’s face.
“Ugh! Aqua!” Sandbar broke the hug just so he could pry his baby sister off his muzzle like a facehugger.
“She just misses you,” his mother said, reaching her forelegs to pick the foal up. “We all do.”
“How’re studies going?” his father asked.
“I’d say things are going pretty well.” Sandbar told them, a gust of wind made a chill run down his spine. “But right now, let’s get to the school where it’s a good deal warmer.”
“Have you been waiting out here all this time?” his mother questioned as they began to follow their son.
“Not long, I promise. But I don’t wanna hang out in this weather for long.”
“I can see why,” the older stallion chuckled.
The family hastily made their way directly towards the School of Friendship. Along the way, Sandbar went through his head to try to think of how to break his plan to them. Once they passed through the school doors, Sandbar ushered them towards the student lounge where, thankfully, no one was in sight. After closing the double doors behind him, he took in a deep breath and turned to them.
“First of all, thank you guys so much for coming up here.”
“Well you did miss Hearth’s Warming,” his father, Autumn Wave, said as he took a seat on one of the couches. “You’ve missed quite a bit.”
Spring Tide, his mother, nodded, putting the filly down on the floor. “Like the time I almost spilled gravy on the tablecloth.”
“That was quite the doozy.” Sandbar sighed in relief. “I almost thought that it was going to stain it for a moment there. Still, good thing that didn’t happen.”
“Yes. But let’s not forget, Sandbar,” Spring turned to him, “your letter said that you have something important to tell us.”
Sandbar gulped. “Yeah… It’s uh… kinda hard to explain, actually.”
“Ooh, something really serious then.” Autumn nodded. “That probably explains why you didn’t just tell us through the letter. But don’t hold it in son, you need to let all of that flow. I promise we won’t judge. You have two pairs of ears listening—well three if you count Aqua here.” He waved a hoof at the foal who was nibbling on a throw pillow. “So let it out, what’s on your mind?”
“Well…” Sandbar shifted from one hoof to the other. “You guys know about my friends, right?”
“Totally!” Spring smiled. “And with other creatures too. I still think that it’s so awesome that you’ve finally come out of your shell to interact with others.”
“Uh-huh,” Autumn agreed, “we are so proud of all the leaps and bounds you’ve made in these pasts few months. Not only with good grades but being friends with such diverse creatures and sending us what they and their cultures that we didn’t know about—why you’re the talk of the town!”
Sandbar blinked. “Really?”
“You know our neighbor, Ms. Driftwood?” his mother asked, and he nodded. “She told me that she was impressed of all the things you’re able to do here at this school.”
“Wow…”
“But we’re getting off topic,” Autumn pointed out. “So, what were you saying?”
“Oh, right… Um… Anyway, as I was saying. You know about my friends, right? Well, do you remember me mentioning about Gallus? The griffon?” They told him that they did. “You see, on Hearth’s Warming Eve, Gallus pulled a prank that nearly got us into trouble, and after a while, we found out why.”
“What do you mean?” his mother inquired.
“For starters, Gallus has no family at all in Griffonstone. But more than that, I also found out that over there, he’s not considered a real adult or his own guardian because no one related to him took him through a coming of age ceremony. Over there, he has no freedom at all. He can’t even move here to Equestria because to them, they still see him as nothing but a kid.”
“You’re joking,” Both parents said in unison, equally disgusted.
“I know.” He nodded, “When I heard about this, I just felt so bad for him that… I wanna figure out a way to help him. To free him from all of that. He told me that he can’t be adopted because there’s no close relative to allow that. However…”
“Yes?” Autumn pressed on when his son trailed off.
“I, uh… I figured out a loophole. A way to set him free, which is where you guys come in. I’ve talked to my friends about it, and they said that through at least one of you, it can work.”
“Well what is it?” his mother asked.
Sandbar braced himself, cheeks turning a shade of pink. “Mom, dad… I need for you guys, to give us permission, to uh… marry, each other…”
Autumn’s mouth hung loosely while Spring put a hoof over hers, both wide-eyed. For a long, uncomfortable moment, neither said a word as they both shared a glance. Meanwhile, Sandbar’s little sister was wrestling with the throw pillow, rolling on the floor. Finally, his father raised a hoof. “You do know that you’re not twenty-one yet… right?”
He nodded. “Turns out, the law says that, yeah I can’t until then. However, I could get married sooner if I had your guys’ permission to do so. But I swear, this will only be—”
“Oh Sandy!” Before he could register what was happening, Spring rushed up, quick as lightning to embrace her son into a bearhug a couple of inches off the floor, “My baby has found love!” Sandbar would gladly interject if the air weren’t currently being squeezed out of his lungs. “This school is more incredible than I thought! I knew this was a good investment!”
“Hon!” Autumn called out, “Let him breathe.”
Mercifully, she let him slip through her iron grip to let him gasp on the floor. “You… what?” Sandbar wheezed.
“Just to clarify,” his dad said, “this Gallus, it’s a he, right?” Their son nodded and he smirked at his wife. “You owe me twenty bits.”
“Am I missing something here!?”
His mother rolled her eyes. “Sandbar, we sent you to this school so that you would expand your horizons to meet others. I mean, let’s face it, back home you didn’t have much room to let you come out of your shell. Baby, we’re proud of you for befriending those that not many ponies would call friends. Now, I will admit, there was a small hope that, maybe, you would have the means to find yourself. Of course, we didn’t think you would find a special someone this soon, but this is far better than what we could hope for.”
“That,” Autumn said, “and your mother and I made a playful bet of what you might be into. And by the looks of it, I won.”
Sandbar’s cheeks glow bright red. “W-Wait a minute! I-I’m not… I-I-I mean…” he let out a frustrated sigh. “The point is! If I have any hope of freeing Gallus, I would need at least one of you to say yes to marrying him long enough to perform that coming of age ritual thing and divorce him so he can be free.”
“Ooh…” His father acknowledged. “When you put it like that… not only does it make a little more sense. And this is something you came up on your own?”
“Yeah.”
His father got up from the couch to put a hoof on his shoulder. “Sandbar, this is the most selfless thing you’re willing to do for another, and for that, I’m the proudest father in the world. I mean, that you thought this up to liberate your friend is mind-blowing. You really are an incredible friend that he is very lucky to have.” He hugged him. “And for the record,” he added, “that either way, you have my blessing.”
“And mine too!” Spring put a hoof around her son. “Although, are you sure this is the only reason you want to marry him?” she asked with a smirk.
“Huh?”
“Don’t get me wrong, I agree with what your dad says. However, are you sure there are no other alternative motives for wanting to marry your friend? Like you might be dating him in secret or something?”
“Uh… no?”
“So where is Gallus?” His father asked.
“I think he’s in his room now, why?”
Autumn smiled and said to his wife, “How about we invite him to have dinner with us to discuss the details of the wedding.”
“I better start writing invitations.” Spring went over to pick up her daughter.
“Uh… What are you guys talking about?” Sandbar questioned. “I said that this marriage thing will only be temporary, we don’t have to make any grand plans or-”
“Sandy, baby,” Spring interrupted him, “it’s a wedding. This is an important milestone for all of us. I mean, did you really think that we’re gonna allow you to get married without any witnesses, or the atmosphere, or cake, or any of that stuff?”
“Well… yeah.”
She huffed. “I know we go with the flow, but I cannot have my baby colt get married without a celebration to go with it! And don’t you dare try to debate with me, it’s final!”
“But we won’t be married for long.”
“We know that,” Autumn told him. “But that’s no excuse to not making a big fuss over. Now come on, let’s go meet your fiancé.”
“But…” he sighed. “Fine…” He knew that there was no possible way out of it. Mentally he told himself that this was just part of the plan to free Gallus. “Although, if we’re seriously going to do this, I think I have somepony in mind to officiate the ceremony.”
“Who?” they both asked.
“My Headmare, Princess Twilight Sparkle.” As an afterthought, he added, “And I think we should probably talk to her too.”