Credit to u/Aneelta on the MLP subreddit
If the School of Friendship hadn't been deserted in these waning evening hours, the blinding flash of Sandbar's re-appearance in the main campus courtyard might've scared someone. Ditto for his yelp of distress as he splashed down into the cold, slimy water of the unoccupied goose pond.
Pharynx had remarkable teleporting range, but apparently not very good aim. Or maybe the old drone actually had perfect aim and Sandbar's soggy slog to dry land was something being distantly laughed at right now. Whatever. Sandbar gave a full-body shake as he tried to discern which direction the dorms were. His heart rate was up, and it wouldn't be going back down until he found and talked to Ocellus.
Several minutes later, Sandbar was pushing as hard as he could on the door to the female dorms, and when it didn't budge he wrapped his hoof around the handle and began pulling instead.
"A sweaty colt struggling to get into the girls' building after hours? Not a good look, ya know."
Sandbar spun around to see Principal Glimmer, her lips pursed in an attempt to hide her obvious amusement.
"I'm trying to find Ocellus,” he insisted.
"Oh? How come?"
Sandbar tilted his head in confusion. "How come? To... to apologize. For what I told you about earlier today. How do you not remember?"
Starlight started to stammer something, then looked away in bashful defeat. "Drat," she murmured in a voice that wasn't her own. "Guess I shoulda gone with Trixie instead, huh?" A hoop of blue flame swept over Ocellus, her expression somehow even more morose now that it was on her actual face. To say Sandbar was caught off-guard would be an understatement, but he tried to push on anyway.
"Look Ocellus, I'm super sorr-"
"No, I'm sorry!" Ocellus's apology came out as a shrill squeak, she was so unaccustomed to yelling. Her posture carried traces of the flailing, helpless anger that had compelled her to shove Sandbar down and hiss at him earlier, but now it was directed inwards, at herself. "You didn't do anything wrong," the Changedling insisted. "But I... I did."
"Oh jeez, don't be-"
"Lemme finish!" Ocellus's breathing was haggard and heavy. She wasn't a brave bug, but she had to be right now. Just for as long as it took to do what Starlight had encouraged of her. "You asked about me Sandbar, and I owe it to you to deliver. So... here you go."
Bowing her head, Ocellus prompted another hoop, this one green instead of blue, to ignite and sweep over her. And after its job was done, she stood with her eyes scrunched shut for a moment, letting half-forgotten discomforts come back one by one. Her dried tongue raked reflexively over the shameful incisors jutting brutishly out from her jaw once again. She felt phantom numbness in a dozen re-opened leg holes and an even emptier cramp deep down in her stomach. 'Old Hunger' was what the hive had termed the chronic ache that none of them ever hoped to feel again. It was a cold, gnawing knot whose gravity pulled in stray scraps of emotion from anypony near, whether its carrier wanted to or not. And the loose threads now spooling off of Sandbar tasted like...
Polite embarrassment?
Ocellus opened her eyes and through their aching lenses saw Sandbar sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.
“The big reveal doesn't have as much oomph the second time ya see it," he confessed.
"W-what?"
"Oh jeez, Pharynx even got your old voice right too."
Several expressions took turns occupying Ocellus's regressed features. First befuddlement, then realization, then finally feeble, girlish pouting. "Principal Glimmer dropped a line to lieutenant Pharynx?!" she sputtered. "That's so uncool!" Sandbar bit back laughter at how mismatched that raspy drawl was with its owner's impotent complaints. He eventually managed to nod, still not trusting himself to open his mouth. With a defeated sigh, Ocellus ditched her shame and returned to her regular ladybug body. "Well, I hope you at least appreciate what I was trying to do by showing you that."
"I do." Sandbar reached up and laid a conciliatory hoof on Ocellus's shoulder. "Believe me, I know how bad you wanna leave the past where it belongs. Pharynx told me everything."
"Everything?" Ocellus looked more guilty than offended, which was at least back in character for her. "Drat," she said for the second time. "You... won't tell anycreature about the Crying Place, right?"
"The what?"
"You know, the hovel Pharynx used to tuck me away in after each day of boot camp so no one... would see... Oh. Maybe he didn't tell you everything." The Changedling looked away in obvious embarrassment.
"Uh, never mind that, Ocellus. I'm down with forgetting that you even brought that up. Because listen, what you used to look like... that wasn't what I was curious about."
Ocellus cocked her head. "No? Then what was?"
"Well, the whole point of Professor Pie's assignment was for us to find a classmate we didn't know too well and try to fix that. Since you're the one always getting talked over whenever we're in a room with the rest of our friends, I just... I dunno. I wanted to try being your listener for a little while. You seem like a nice nymph, but I really don't know a thing about you. Not your favorite color, or what stuffed animals you had when you were- oh shoot, well maybe not stuffed animals because you probably didn't have any, but maybe some other things like..." Sandbar was floundering. "Buck me, I bet this all sounds really lame now that I'm saying out loud, huh?"
Ocellus shifted from one hoof to another, something similar to a flattered smile teasing the sides of her mouth.
"Purple," she said shyly. "My favorite color is purple. You're the first one who's ever asked."
"Aha, there we go!" Sandbar made an exaggerated display of puffing out his chest fluff. "There's that bark peeling away!"
Ocellus giggled, then frowned. "Bark?"
"Oh. Just something that Pharynx said. Not really important. But that reminds me of something else: he told me to tell you that he and Tempest are almost at their first ann-nay, whatever that means."
Ocellus made a squeeing noise and bounced in place excitedly. "Oh-ho-ho! So he did end up writing to her. I just knew they would get along. I mean wow. A whole twelve moons in a row as mates. Warms me up to just think about it."
"I didn't know you were such a mushy romantic, Ocellus."
"Hmph. You said yourself that you don't know anything about me, buster!" To Sandbar's surprise, the Changedling opted to lean forward and nuzzle him affectionately. "But I'm happy to hear you wanna learn.”
Credit to u/Aneelta on the MLP subreddit
"Whoa, whoa!" Sandbar frantically pushed Ocellus back and looked up at her and Yona's room. With his horrible luck, the latter had just seen that exchange and was barreling down the stairs this very moment, Tartarus-bent on reclaiming her man. "I'm taken!" Sandbar announced, as much to Ocellus as to the imaginary stampeding Yona.
"Yeah yeah," Ocellus sighed. "I know. I can taste that you’re not into me like that. For the record, I'm not into you like that either. I was just hungry. Spent a lot of energy crying into Starlight's lap this afternoon."
Sandbar wasn't sure what to say to that, so he decided to pull the plug on this talk while it still felt like he was ahead.
"Well, it’s been a long day for me too," he declared, not exactly lying. "And my bed's definitely calling me."
"Not as loud as your shower is, I hope. No offense, but you smell like pond water."
Sandbar harrumphed at something or someone Ocellus suspected wasn't her, then turned to trot away. She strained her empath sense to hold onto the colt’s presence as long as possible before he turned the corner and was out of sight.
Ocellus felt full and light at the same time. It was a new feeling, one that made her relaxed and sleepy in a way that was different than simple exhaustion. She hoped the odd emotion stuck around. And if it didn't, she hoped it at least came back the next time she sat down next to Sandbar in social studies class.
"Good night Sandbar," the Changedling whispered. "...friend." Then she slid the dormitory door to the side, stepped in, and let it ease shut behind her.