"Um, Ocellus? Are you sure this is a good idea?" Sandbar asked.
His Changeling girlfriend smiled sweetly to him.
"Don't worry, Sandbar. Everything will be fine."
The colt nodded to that, trusting her yet still bearing clear nervousness over his presence here. While he was not against travel in general, Sandbar had never once gone as far as this from Ponyville. And yet, here he was, just entering the borders of the Changeling Empire. As he and Ocellus drew nearer to the towering sight of the Hive, they were greeted by many of the other Changelings who dotted the landscape. Calls of greeting, smiles and waves were all thrown their way, leading to a clear look of happiness on the part of Ocellus, all while Sandbar waved back, still looking more than a little uncertain. However, there came a time when they had arrived at the Hive in earnest, at which point Ocellus stopped and turned to her pony boyfriend.
"Well? What do you think?"
Looking around, Sandbar gave a slow nod to the place.
"It's pretty...well...pretty."
Giggling, Ocellus took a step closer to him.
"I know. It really has become a nice place to live. I was still pretty young when the big change happened, so I can't really speak with any authority on how bad things were. But even so..."
A warm smile came to her.
"...I can't deny it's good to be home."
Sandbar matched her smile, taking a step forward himself and gently placing his hoof upon her shoulder.
"Thanks for inviting me."
A blush came to the young female at that, and she laughed nervously, as indeed did Sandbar. But, when it was over, Ocellus cleared her throat, turning her attention away from him and towards the Hive.
"Well, we came here for a reason, remember? Chapter two of the relationship book Twilight gave me stated very clearly that one of the most important steps in helping a romantic connection grow is for a boyfriend to be introduced to his girlfriend's Father."
Sandbar nodded, scratching the back of his head.
"Yeah...didn't you say that wasn't going to be...um..."
Looking back to him, Ocellus let out a sigh.
"I did say it would be difficult, yes. Changelings don't really have child-parent relationships in the same way ponies do."
Her smile returned.
"However, there is a Changeling here who can fill the role of my Father for this. So...let's go!"
And with that, she started to run off, and Sandbar, though a little taken aback by this, soon started off after her. He caught up with her soon though, and before long, the two of them eventually turned a corner, coming upon a wide open area. Here, Ocellus stopped, shortly followed by Sandbar, where the latter looked on with wide eyes. For there, sitting upon his throne in the very centre of that open space, was none other than the leader of the Changelings himself, King Thorax. Seeing Ocellus start to walk ahead, Sandbar followed suit, and before long, they were close enough that the Changeling leader finally spotted them, bearing a wide grin as he did so.
"Ocellus! Hello! I wasn't expecting a visit today!"
Flying down from his throne, the King stood next to his favoured subject, giving her a friendly pat on the head, much to Ocellus' delight. When it was over, she cleared her throat, taking a step backwards and gesturing to Sandbar.
"King Thorax...I'd like to introduce you to Sandbar."
A fierce blush returned to her.
"He's...well...my boyfriend."
Hearing that, Thorax blinked a few times, as though uncertain that he'd heard that correctly. Then, he looked over to Sandbar himself, who forced a smile, even though it would have been obvious to anyone that he was pretty worried over the King's reaction. But, rather than be angry or dismayed at such news, Thorax instead broke out into an even wider grin than before, lunging forward and looking down to Sandbar with great enthusiasm.
"Your boyfriend?! Oh! Isn't this wonderful? Ponies and Changelings getting together! Forming emotional bonds with one another! Oooooh!"
Then, he danced in place, much to Sandbar's slight surprise, all while Ocellus, for some reason, simply planted her hoof into her forehead.
"No!" she exclaimed.
Immediately, both Thorax and Sandbar looked to her with confusion.
"Um...did I say something wrong?" Thorax asked.
Sighing again, Ocellus looked up to him, trying to sound as composed as possible.
"Your Majesty, with respect, it's apparently an important part of relationships in pony society that the boyfriend be introduced to..."
She paused, before speaking out as though reciting from that very book.
"...the girlfriend's stern and disapproving Father."
After pausing again, she looked once more to the tall Changeling.
"You can't just be happy that we're together! You've got to be sceptical, harsh, critical of who he is and what he does."
Slowly, Sandbar raised a hoof, as though trying to get the attention of a teacher in class.
"Um...for the record, I actually wouldn't mind if he wasn’t all those things, Ocellus."
Looking to him, Ocellus again gave him a sweet smile, reaching forward and giving him a quick pat on his shoulder.
"Don't worry, Sandy, this is all good for our relationship."
The earth pony blinked slowly.
"Oh...um...good?"
As for Thorax, he casually tapped the end of his chin with his hoof, thinking over what his subject had just told him.
"Hmmm...stern and critical."
Slowly, he nodded, smiling all the while.
"Yeah, I think I can do that."
Ocellus raised an eyebrow, prompting Thorax to chuckle nervously.
"Oh, right, no smiling. Got it."
Closing his eyes, the King took a few deep breaths.
"Okay...get into character...get into character..."
When he opened his eyes again, he started frowning towards Sandbar.
"Ocellus? Who is this you've brought before your King?"
Thorax was clearly trying to do a deep and imposing voice, but it just didn't suit him, so it pretty much just came off as being forced. Though a little disappointed by that, Ocellus could at least work with it, and so, as she stood beside Sandbar in earnest, she smiled as she pointed to him.
"This is Sandbar, Father. He's my boyfriend, and we like each other very much!"
Again, Sandbar forced a smile to all of this, while Thorax tried his best to glower angrily at him.
"A boyfriend you say?! Why, that is preposterous! No Changeling of mine is going to...to...to..."
Then, he let out a grunt of frustration.
"Oh, I can't do it! I'm just so excited!"
Again, he leaned forward.
"How did you two meet? Have you been on any dates yet? What do your friends say about this? Have you been having fun?"
Those and a great number of other questions were sent towards the young couple in a rapid-fire manner, much to Ocellus' irritation.
"No...this isn't going to work."
Stepping forward, she spoke to her King as respectfully as she could.
"King Thorax, I'm sorry...but I don't think we're going to be able to do this."
Sandbar, for his part, tried his uttermost best to avoid looking and sounding relieved at that notion, instead bringing himself closer to his girlfriend and attempting to sound sympathetic to her disappointment.
"It's okay, Ocellus. We can't always go by the book, remember?"
But, to his surprise, Ocellus merely regained her smile from earlier.
"Oh, don't worry, Sandbar. We can go by the book! We just need to follow the instruction from chapter three instead!"
Like she'd done before, she spoke as though she had that book right in front of her.
"In the event that a stern Father is unavailable, you may instead go to a stern uncle!"
Looking back to Sandbar, Ocellus' smile widened even further.
"And I know just who to go to for that!"
Then, before either Sandbar or Thorax could stop her, the young drone called out.
"Captain Pharynx! Are you here?"
Sandbar looked on with confusion, all while Thorax looked to him with some measure of concern.
"I am so, so sorry for this."
Sandbar looked to him, looking even more worried than the King now.
"Wait...what?"
But, before anything else could be said, they were interrupted by the distinct and loud sound of a Changeling's wings buzzing, prompting all of them to look upwards. Sure enough, Thorax's brother, Pharynx, now descended from his flight overhead, landing close by. Sandbar was somewhat taken aback by this newcomer, while Ocellus walked closer to him. And it was as the latter did this that Pharynx finally spoke.
"Ocellus. Good to see you back home again."
His tone certainly matched the idea of the "stern parent" that Ocellus was looking for, much to her delight, and as she got closer, she turned, once more gesturing to Sandbar.
"This is Sandbar. My boyfriend. We came here for the traditional pony relationship step of introducing him to the disapproving Father-figure of his girlfriend."
Despite only being given a very abridged summary of their reasons for being here, Pharynx, to his credit, apparently needed no more than that, and gave a short nod.
"Very well."
He stepped closer to the colt, much to the latter's dismay, but as he did this, Pharynx cast his brother a glance.
"Watch and learn, Thorax."
Naturally, Thorax was a little irritated by this, but said nothing as Pharynx finally arrived at the poor colt. He looked him over, all while maintaining a very critical look to him. Gulping, Sandbar suddenly found his legs shaking slightly, though he tried to hide it. After a while of just nothing but uncomfortable silence, Pharynx started to speak, his voice commanding and authoritative.
"Tell me, young stallion...do you truly care for our dear Ocellus?"
Sandbar nodded.
"Y...yes, Mr Pharynx."
Pharynx frowned.
"You will address me as Captain...or Sir."
Another gulp from Sandbar.
"Yes, Mist...er...Sir."
Pharynx nodded.
"Good. Do you believe you will be able to serve her faithfully as her companion?"
"Yes, Sir!" Sandbar replied.
"Good. Will you respect her Changeling heritage during your time together? And keep her safe, as per your role as her partner?"
"Yes, Sir!"
"...Do you believe that, when the two of you come of age, that you will be potent enough to be able to provide her with a large and healthy clutch of eggs?"
"Ye...wait, what?!"
Despite the rather unexpected turn the conversation had taken, Pharynx merely shrugged his shoulders.
"We must consider the future of the Hive as a whole after all. So, do you believe you will be able to help Ocellus to continue our people into future generations?"
As one would expect, Sandbar was as white as a sheet right now, and Ocellus immediately leapt to his side, pointing an accusing hoof to her "Uncle" for the day.
"Uncle Pharynx! You can't ask questions like that! I'm totally embarrassed right now!"
Shaking himself out of his shocked state, Sandbar looked to his girlfriend with a genuine smile.
"Thank you, Ocellus!"
Looking back to him, Ocellus giggled.
"Thanks. It said in chapter five of the book that I'm supposed to be embarrassed and indignant when the parent asks personal and probing question to my boyfriend. Pretty good performance, right?"
Sandbar's mouth was hanging open right now, and after blinking slowly, he sighed, letting his shoulders slump.
"Yeah...great performance, sweetie."
Meanwhile, Pharynx watched this with great amusement.
"Take your time, lad...I could do this all day."
