As usual, Professor Applejack’s class was boring.
Not that Sandbar minded, of course. While most creatures weren’t the most interested in plants or farming, Sandbar found it interesting seeing just what Applejack’s earth pony magic, and by extension his own, could do to aid in plant growth. He usually ended up daydreaming his hopes that someday, perhaps in a millennia or two, earth pony magic could grow strong enough that one earth pony could grow an entire apple tree only using their magic.
Or beets. Sandbar quite liked beets.
But today was no day for daydreaming or tasty, crunchy beets. No, today Sandbar found himself distracted in a different way.
The seats in front of him and to his right, Smolder’s and Gallus’ seats respectfully, were dreadfully empty. And while they were always eager to cut class on occasion and spend some time at Ponyville’s arcade, they usually didn’t do so two days in a row.
Sandbar was confused and curious.
As such, after class, he decided to pay his favorite griffon a visit at his dorm. It wasn’t as if it was a long walk from his own, just across the hall. Smolder’s room was right next to his, of course, but Sandbar felt it best to leave her to Ocellus.
Sandbar knocked on Gallus’ door, then waited for a response. At first he received none, but after knocking again, louder this time, he could hear a bit of shuffling around the griffon’s room.
“I’m, uh, a little busy here.” Came Gallus’ voice through the door, strangely meek compared to his usual boisterous personality. "Tell whoever sent you I'm too sick for class.."
“Gallus, it’s just me.” Sandbar responded through the door. “I just wanted to check in on you, dude.“
There was a pause with more shuffling. Sandbar knocked again.
“I’m, uh… naked?” Gallus said noncommittally. “Just… just come back later. I’m fine.”
Sandbar rolled his eyes. “Gallus, you’re always naked.” He said with a soft giggle. “And it’s not like it’s not anything I haven’t seen before. Come on out and talk to me.”
Another long pause, more shuffling abound. As Sandbar reached to knock again, he could hear the sound of claws and paws tentatively approaching the door.
The door opened, though just a bit, and Gallus stuck his head out to look at Sandbar.
And it was Gallus. Just normal Gallus. Sandbar’s favorite bluebird.
Though this Gallus was, maybe, a bit off. His beak pulled into a nervous frown despite seeing Sandbar, a pony who usually always made him smile or smirk.
Also strange was the thick, bright blue beanie he wore on his head. A beanie that shifted strangely as Gallus stared at Sandbar.
But Sandbar paid it no mind, smiling as he saw his bestie’s head poke through the doorway. “Heyyy, you don’t look sick.”
“I, uh, got better.” Gallus explained quickly, then squinted. He looked away from Sandbar, craning his neck to peek around the hallway before his eyes returned to the only creature present. “No one followed you?”
“Nope!” Sandbar chirped, a soft smile on his face. “Celly is gonna check in on Smolder after cheerleading practice, and Silver and Yona are…” Sandbar paused, tapping a hoof to his chin. “I actually dunno what they’re doing after.”
“Probably their turn for a date.” Gallus snarked briefly before looking deeply at Sandbar, searching for any hint of a lie.
As Sandbar is a sweet cinnamon roll, one who would most likely have a heart attack if he had to lie to one of his friends, it didn’t take long to sus out that he was telling the truth.
“Come on in, I guess.” Gallus sighed, pulling back from the doorway but leaving the door open.
Eagerly, Sandbar entered and closed the door behind him. He was a courteous little pony.
Gallus’ room was as cozy as ever. Travel posters littered the walls alongside framed photos of landscapes around Equestria and friends, some captured by Gallus but others just momentos of the trips they’d taken together.
The furniture, however, was the usual academy fare. Just a bed, a studying desk, a wardrobe, and a potted plant.
Shaking one of the plant’s leaves, Sandbar smiled. “Good afternoon, Phyllis III.”
Despite usually being one to play along, offering a ventriloquized voice for his plant, Gallus simply sighed as he sat on the edge of his bed.
His beanie twitched with his nervousness.
A suddenly concerned look overtaking Sandbar’s face, he quickly approached Gallus. Sitting next to him, placing a hoof on his shoulder, he looked to Gallus with a frown. “Gally, something’s obviously wrong. Wanna just let me know what it is?”
Gallus thought on it for a few moments, one of his claws tensing and gripping sharply into his already pre-ripped sheets.
But he let out a sigh, nodding a bit as he looked at Sandbar. “A-alright, let’s just get it over with.” Gallus said. He hesitated before moving, his eyes continuing to hold on Sandbar’s face. “Promise not to laugh.”
A soft, comforting smirk taking Sandbar’s face, he nodded. “I’d never laugh at you, Gally. Not even your jokes are that funny.”
Gallus scoffed, finally a smirk brought to his face as he lightly punched Sandbar’s shoulder. “Hey! I’m plenty funny.” He chuckled.
But quickly his dour mood was brought back with another sigh. Slowly he reached up with a claw, carefully gripping at his thick beanie.
With a soft grumble in his throat, he tore it away to reveal…
Ears. Big ears covered in thick fluffy fur. Ones even bigger and floofier than Sandbar’s own.
They twitched and flicked with anxiety despite Gallus’ mostly level emotion as he stared at the wall in front of him. He couldn’t bring himself to look at Sandbar’s reaction just yet.
Sandbar’s reaction at first was wide-eyed shock, staring at the big fluffy ears in awe and bringing a hoof to his mouth.
Gallus’ ears trained in on the silence, pulling back with shame. He sighed, a blush crossing his face. “T-they’re pretty embarrassing, huh? Guess you know why I-”
Gallus was cut off by a sharp, piercing sound coming from Sandbar. He quickly covered his overly sensitive ears with his claws, whipping his head towards Sandbar to see what the problem was.
Sandbar was still staring at Gallus’ ears, though his wide eyes were full of love and adoration instead. His mouth was covered by both hooves, but it did nothing to hide his wide grin.
Sandbar was squeeing, and it was obvious to see why.
Still covering his ears, Gallus quickly pulled away from Sandbar and groaned. “Dude stop, these things are sensitive!”
The squeeing tapered off, Sandbar blushing slightly. “Oh, um, sorry.” He said softly before leaning in towards Gallus again. “They’re just… oh my Celestia they’re so cute!”
Gallus’ face remained flushed, the pink blush readily apparent on his face. His ears remained folded back in embarrassment, only twitching on occasion. “They’re not cute! They’re weird and annoying.”
“They’re adorable.” Sandbar grinned, sheepishly reaching a hoof up towards them. “Can I touch them? They look soooooft~”
“No.” Gallus said simply, pulling away slightly as his blush only grew brighter.
“Gally, please?” Sandbar asked sweetly.
“No!” Gallus exclaimed, covering his ears again. “Don’t make me put the beanie back on.”
“Gally~” Sandbar pleaded, poking his lip out in a way he knew Gallus couldn’t fight back against. “Gally-wally~ I’ve let you play with mine when you wanted.”
Gallus groaned, both at the continued request and the reminder, but quickly relented and freed his ears again. “F-fine, but be quick.”
Sandbar fought back another loud squee. Again, he was a very courteous pony.
Instead, he snickered and eagerly reached up to gently caress Gallus’ new fluffy appendages.
And he was right. They were soft. The fur on them was thicker and fluffier than even Gallus’ chest floof during the winter. And, much like said chest fluff, it took everything in Sandbar to not lean in and nuzzle deeply against them.
Slowly a soft rumbling began to build in Gallus' chest, to which Sandbar gave a very gleeful giggle.
"Awww, my little kitty is purring~" Sandbar teased. "I knew you'd love it."
Forcing a pout despite his clear enjoyment, Gallus looked away without a word. This left only his growing purr to show how he felt.
However, feeling like Gallus would probably die or kill him if he continued, he pulled his hoof back and giggled gleefully.
“They’re even softer than I thought." Sandbar crooned, smiling playfully as he leaned against Gallus a bit. “Why’d you go and hide them? I’m sure Silver would have loved them. They’re adorable.”
Flushing at yet again being called adorable, Gallus looked away. “Yeah, but then she’d do that weird ear wiggle thing she did to all the Thicket deer.”
Sandbar hummed softly in agreement. “It was cute, but not really worth King Aspen nearly executing us.”
A similar hum of agreement from Gallus, leading to a soft silence falling between the two. Sandbar took his chance to scoot closer to Gallus and wrap his hoof around the griffon’s waist. Something Gallus wasn't too eager to stop.
“So… how’d this even happen?” Sandbar finally decided to ask. “Did you piss off an old witch who decided to curse you for your hubris… again?”
“Nah, I try to avoid Princess Twilight on her bad days now.” Gallus said, shaking his head then leading into a shrug. “I dunno, I just woke up like this this morning. No idea how it happened.”
“And what happened yesterday?” Sandbar asked. “You and Smolder were on one of your dates, right?”
Gallus nodded, then shrugged again. “I mean, I wouldn’t call it a date, but she was helping me with my fly-fighting.” He paused, then cleared his throat. “We might have crash landed in a field of flowers and kissed a little… or a lot… But nothing too out of the ordinary.”
Sandbar nodded, accepting the scene and wishing he had been a part of it. But then his eyes narrowed, and he looked at Gallus semi-seriously. “You said… a field of flowers? Near the Everfree Forest?”
Gallus nodded to confirm. “Yeah! Some pretty blue ones. I almost grabbed some for you and Silver, but I decided not to.” He scratched absentmindedly at his shoulder with a claw. “They were, like, super itchy after a bit. Smolder and I decided to hop in the shower and call it a night after.”
Sandbar thought for a long, hard moment on how to approach this revelation.
And then he laughed, hard and loud, as he leaned against Gallus to keep himself upright. After a long bout of laughter, wiping a tear away with a hoof, he looked at a very confused Gallus with a bit of a smirk on his face.
“Dude, you really need to start paying more attention in Sunburst’s magic horticulture class.” He said, continuing to snicker a little. “You and Smolder just took a dip in Poison Joak! So you should be lucky you got something so… so…”
Gallus saw the glint in Sandbar’s eyes, the squee that was building in his throat. So he quickly lunged forward and covered his mouth with a claw.
“They are not cute!” Gallus exclaimed, his ears flicking with both anger and embarrassment. “They’re annoying and dumb and I just wanna be done with them.”
Sandbar looked confusedly at Gallus and, as his mouth was uncovered moments later, he frowned a bit. “They’re annoying?”
Gallus groaned, rolling his eyes. “They won’t stop moving! They just keep twitching and flicking and folding and ugh!” Gallus groaned again, crossing his arms as his ears quite pointedly flicked with annoyance. "It's even worse than my tail, and at least I can control that."
Sandbar stared for a moment, deciding to try and choose his words carefully. “Gallus, it’s because you’re…” He quickly trailed off, deciding the time was not for words.
Instead, he leaned back against the bed, scooting across it until his head lay on one of Gallus’ fluffy pillows. “C’mere.” He said simply, patting his chest and gesturing for Gallus to join him.
Gallus blinked, tilting his head at this strange transition. “Uh, what?”
“Come. Here.” Sandbar repeated, quite a bit more dominantly as he tapped his chest to punctuate.
Finding no other reason to not cuddle Sandbar, Gallus quickly followed orders. He lay himself along Sandbar’s side, instinctively wrapping an arm around him as his head brushed against the stallion’s chest. A very familiar and welcome pose for both boys.
“You’re so high-strung, you big dork.” Sandbar said softly as he brushed a hoof along Gallus’ headfeathers. “So just try and calm down and cuddle with me for a minute.”
Gallus tried for a moment to protest, but as Sandbar’s hoof strayed towards his big, fluffy ears all he could do was snap his beak shut as shivers of pleasure ran down his spine. He tensed against Sandbar, his grip around his chest growing tighter.
And then he relaxed, letting the lovely sensations overtake him. It was hard to not relax while snuggling his ponypal and occasional date mate, so why bother fighting it?
As he relaxed against Sandbar’s chest, nuzzling into it eagerly, his own chest once again grew alight with the happiest of purrs.
Sandbar smiled happily at this reaction, though pulled his hoof away to return to the headfeathers. “Feeling better?”
Lounging happily against Sandbar’s side, Gallus’ only action was to nestle deeper against his chest. “Mmm, maybe a li’l.” He crooned with a smirk.
Lifting his head a bit, he looked at Sandbar with eyes full of affection and adoration. Atop his head, his ears stood pointed, directed towards Sandbar.
And Sandbar’s face broke out into a soft grin. “You’re so adorable. Even without those big goofy ears of yours.”
Gallus scoffed, rolling his eyes but still giving a very appreciative smirk as he lay his head back down. “Am not.” He protested very weakly. “But… maybe I can keep these. At least for a little while.”
Sandbar had to fight back the loudest squee yet, clearing his throat and looking away. “Just wait until I show you how good nibbling feels on ‘em.”
Both boys giggled their way into a happy silence, each enjoying the other’s company with gleeful, tired grins.
“You know, if you got these fluffy things,” Sandbar asked as hoof scratched ever so lovingly behind one of Gallus’ ears, “What ever happened to Smolder?”
The next room over, Smolder had a bright blush across her orange cheeks. Before her sat Ocellus, a Changeling she really didn’t want to embarrass herself in front of right now.
And yet, behind her, a set of glittering, gossamer dragonfly wings buzzed behind her. They had replaced her own, self-admittedly very awesome pair of dragon wings ever since she’d woken up that morning.
“So…” She started, her eyes darting around the room but very much not focusing on her changeling friend. “You can probably see why I’m never leaving my room again.”
The squee of delight Ocellus let out could be heard across the entire academy.