The bell had rung, and the day had come to a close for the School of Friendship. With classes finished, doors swung open and students throughout the building began to pour into the hallways, gathering into their various groups to spend the rest of the afternoon with one another. The place was abuzz with excited chatter over whatever recent lesson they'd learned, or what they'd experienced from their respective Professors, and all-in-all, the whole mood of the School was good and happy. That is, except for one solitary colt. Sandbar, having left his classroom some time ago, was instead looking more than a little nervous. And this was surprising, given his reputation for being fairly laid-back and easy-going. Something was clearly on his mind, as evidenced by the way he muttered to himself as he walked down the hallway. It was little more than random ramblings, to be perfectly honest, and many of his fellow students gave him odd looks as he passed them by. But, as he neared one corner in particular, his words became slightly more coherent.
"Okay...okay...okay..."
And he just kept on saying that same word, over and over again, like a thing possessed. That is, until he reached that aforementioned corner, and slowly looked up to it, nerves taking centre stage in his expression. Taking a deep breath, he promptly exhaled, before poking his head around to see those who stood around in the next hallway. It was his friends, or, to be more specific, four of them. Yona the Yak, Smolder the dragon, Silverstream the Hippogriff and, finally, Ocellus the Changeling. Seeing that last female in particular caused Sandbar to suddenly erupt into a fierce blush, and he darted his head back around the corner before they could see him.
"I...no! This is crazy! I...I can't do this!"
He spun around, ready to leg it in the opposite direction, only to be stopped when he came face-to-face with the frowning visage of his other friend, Gallus the Griffon. For a time, neither male said anything to one another, with Sandbar starting to sweat a little at seeing his colleague like that. But, after a time, Gallus finally broke the silence.
"So...Sandbar...where are you going?"
Sandbar cleared his throat before replying.
"Oh, I was...erm...just...going...that way?"
Gallus raised an eyebrow.
"You wouldn't, by any chance, be trying to, you know...avoid her, would you?"
Sandbar shook his head frantically to that.
"What?! No! I was...just...going for a jog! Yeah! You know how I love my exercise!"
But Gallus simply sighed.
"Sandy...you really need to work on your excuses. Even Professor Applejack can lie better than that!"
Sandbar slapped his forehead in frustration.
"It's just...I...I can't just ask her!"
Gallus snorted.
"Of course you can! Just walk up to her and ask her to join you for lunch or something!"
Sandbar shook his head again.
"But...but...but...!"
Gallus frowned to him.
"None of that! You're going over there and asking Ocellus out, got it?"
Sandbar, in response, let out a long and tired-sounding sigh.
"You're never gonna leave me alone if I don't, are you?"
The answer to that was simply a scowl and a shake of the head from Gallus, prompting Sandbar to grimace slightly before looking over his shoulder to the corner once more. Hesitation was the order of the day for him, and when he finally did start moving, his steps were slow. Gallus rolled his eyes once more at this display, watching his friend move with almost painful levels of slowness. Then, just as he was approaching that corner, the Griffon finally got tired of waiting. He lunged forward, pushing Sandbar forward, right out into the other hallway. The moment this happened, the four females noticed him, with several smiling at his arrival.
"Hey, Sandy!" Silverstream called out.
Sandbar, naturally, was almost paralyzed right now, turning to give a quick frown of his own to Gallus, who simply snickered. Then, realising that it was far too late to hide again, Sandbar took in a deep breath, then began to march forward. The other four could soon pick up on the fact that something was bothering him, but for the time being they said nothing on it. Instead they simply watched as their pony colleague drew nearer. Once there, Sandbar said nothing, and appeared to be desperately avoiding Ocellus' gaze in particular, much to the latter's confusion. Then, after what seemed like ages, he finally started to speak.
"So...um...nice weather we're having, right?"
Even though Sandbar couldn't see him, he knew Gallus was banging his head against the wall after a remark like that. Meanwhile, Smolder raised an eyebrow to her friend.
"Er...Sandy? You okay?"
Sandbar cleared his throat in a clear display of nerves before, finally, looking over to Ocellus. The small Changeling had no idea why he was looking to her like that, but she remained silent as he began to speak, albeit with fumbled words.
"So...um...Ocellus? I was, erm...wondering...are you...you know...doing anything at lunchtime tomorrow?"
Though taken aback at the question, Ocellus started to furrow her brow as she considered it.
"Oh...well...I don't think so. Why do you ask?"
Sandbar gulped, realising the gaze of all the other females was upon him as he was speaking to her.
"Well...it's just...I was wondering if, maybe...you'd like to have lunch with...me?"
Again, Ocellus just looked to him with confusion.
"Um...sure. I mean, we have lunch together a lot, don't we?"
But Sandbar shook his head.
"No, I mean...would you like to have lunch with...with...just me."
Now, this might have been enough to clue most people on what it was that Sandbar was really trying to ask, but, sadly for him, Ocellus was instead one of those more oblivious people, and she just blinked a couple of times to his question. Realising that he'd have to be even more clear was a thought that did the poor colt no favours whatsoever, and so he opened his mouth to speak yet again. Unfortunately, it appeared as though their other friends were not so oblivious, and Silverstream especially began to react to this with a loud and happy-sounding squeal, clasping her claws together and looking from one to the other.
"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!"
Both of the other youths turned to her, all while Yona grinned widely and Smolder folded her arms with a knowing smirk on her face.
"W...what?" Ocellus asked.
Silverstream moved forward, grabbing both of Ocellus' cheeks and smiling with utter joy towards her.
"Ocellus! Don't you see it? Sandy's asking out out! You know...on a date!"
Immediately, understanding came for the Changeling, and a blush as prominent as the one on Sandbar's face now came for her. As for the colt himself, he was so taken aback by the intervention of his Hippogriff friend that he had suddenly found himself incapable of speaking.
"I...I...I...I...I..."
Ocellus, meanwhile, seemed to be similarly at a loss for words.
"Oh! Well...um...I...I mean....not that I don't...oh dear."
Sandbar opened his mouth to respond, only to be halted by Silverstream, who placed her claw to his lips.
"One moment, Sandy. Girl talk."
Then, before any of them could react, Ocellus was hoisted up by Silverstream and flown off, with Smolder and Yona close behind, leaving Sandbar alone with understandable confusion. The females all rushed around another corner close by, setting Ocellus down and crowding around her.
"You've got to accept!" Silverstream encouraged.
"What?!" Ocellus responded.
Smolder chuckled.
"Yeah, Ocellus! Go ahead! Claim your male! I mean he’s offering himself on a silver plate here!"
Ocellus' blush grew brighter.
"W...what?!"
Yona laughed.
"Take date! Dates is fun!"
Ocellus looked from one friend to the other and, perhaps on some level, she realised that she was never going to be able to dissuade them from what they were doing. So, after letting out a long sigh, she glanced to the side.
"Well...he is nice to me, and I like being around him, so...maybe a date...won’t be so bad?"
Silverstream squealed for joy once more.
"Yes! Argh! We've only been friends for less than a month and we already have a happy couple!"
Ocellus' head snapped in her direction.
"What?!"
But again, they said nothing, instead picking her up yet again and flying her back off to Sandbar, who, it turns out, had not moved from that one spot since the interruption earlier. Ocellus, after being lowered to the ground finally, was given further looks of encouragement by her other friends, and after giving them a brief frown, her expression softened as she turned to face Sandbar.
"Um...Sandbar?"
The colt stepped closer to her.
"Y...yes, Ocellus?"
The Changeling female's blush returned, and she awkwardly avoided looking to him, at least for a few moments, before glancing back up with a small and adorable smile.
"I...I think...I would like to have lunch with you tomorrow. It could be fun, having just the two of us there. You know if...if you like?"
Sandbar blinked, clearly not believing what he'd just heard. Then, after going through a second gulp, he took another deep breath, then started to give that warm and comforting smile of his.
"In that case, Ocellus...I'll meet you there."
The two smiled to one another, but, as time went on, smiling was the only thing they were doing. Minute after minute passed with them just standing there, much to the bored irritation of their colleagues. Then, after a while, Ocellus let out a brief giggle.
"We...um...we should probably get going."
Sandbar, realising what they'd been doing and what they must have looked like, let loose a nervous chortle.
"Yeah, um...so...see ya?"
Nodding, Ocellus started to walk off, followed shortly by Sandbar, who moved in the opposite direction. The latter, after turning that same old corner, started to lean against it and let out a long sigh, clearly exhausted from this. After catching his breath, however, he turned to see the smirking face of his friend, Gallus, to which he simply frowned.
"Well...I hope I entertained you out there, Gallus."
Chuckling, his Griffon friend slapped a claw down on his shoulder.
"Yes, friend...you did."
Meanwhile, over with the females, Ocellus found her colleagues all smiling or smirking to her, with Smolder very much in the latter category.
"Hehe, not bad, Ocellus. Bagged yourself a nice colt, eh?"
Ocellus' only response to that was one more blush, after which, Silverstream squealed again.
"Oh, this is so great you guys! Oh! Maybe we can set up more of our friends?"
She turned to Smolder.
"Say, Smolder? How do you feel about Gallu-OMPH!"
She was kept from saying anything further by a claw to her lips from that same dragon.
"Yeah...I think one match-up is enough for today, don't you, Silver?"
