Chapter 1: Hidden Feelings
Author's Note
There have so far been plenty of romance fics revolving around Sandbar and Gallus, as well as Gallus and Silverstream, and even a few revolving around Sandbar and Ocellus.
But none revolving around my favorite young six paring: Yona and Sandbar.
After the tackle hug scene from School Raze, not to mention other moments from other screencaps of other episodes I've seen makes me surprised no one has done a Yonabar fanfic yet.
Since I wanted to make the first one a good one, I knew it had to be me. If you have any spoiler-free questions, ask them in the comments below. Thank you and enjoy the story.
Edit 10/5/2019: Revised to include material from the season 9 episode, Uprooted, which was broadcast after initial publication, but the more shipping fuel the I have justify Yonabar, all the better I say.
Chapter 1: Hidden Feelings
Yona the Yak gazed lovingly into the teal eyes of Sandbar, and his eyes lovingly gazed back at her with a gentle smile. The time had finally come for Yona to tell the Earth Pony how she really felt about him. How she wants to be more than just friends, there will not be anything getting in the way this time. It's just the two soon-to-be lovers ready to finally take the first step into a romantic relationship.
“Sandbar...” Yona smiles and giggles nervously with a blush, “Yona... Yona loves you...”
At first, Sandbar only responds by expanding his smile from a closed-mouth smirk, into a toothy grin. Yona and Sandbar then briefly close their eyes and nuzzle each other. Yona's dream of being his significant other had finally come true... that is... until Sandbar spoke after they both opened their eyes. “I love you too... Ocellus.”
Yona's eyes widen in confusion, “What?” She suddenly looks down, and is alarmed to see the sea-foam green forelegs of a Changeling, instead of those of a yak with thick brown fur and cloven hooves. “What?!”
Much to Yona's horror, the forelegs start acting on their own, embracing Sandbar in a hug. Sandbar responds in kind, completely oblivious to the horror that Yona is experiencing. Then Yona is suddenly transported away from what is about to happen. She can now see perfectly that Sandbar and Ocellus are staring at each other with the same loving eyes from only a few seconds ago. Yona can not see her body, and she is slowly being pulled away from Sandbar and Ocellus, while the would-be lovers close their eyes and slowly advance their lips to each other.
Yona cannot help but scream as loud as she can, “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!”
Just before their lips can meet, the whole world inexplicably snaps to black and Yona bolts upright from her bed, hyperventilating, after she let out her scream.
Yona wipes the sweat from her brow, “Oooohhhhh... just dream.” She then frowns, “But another nightmare for Yona.”
This had been the fifth nightmare the young Yak had received in as many days. She looked outside her bedroom window to find that Luna's moon was still high in the sky, she then looks at the clock on her nightstand, everyone else won't wake up for another 5 hours... Yona reluctantly lies back down in her bed, trying to prevent herself from worrying so much that she would have another nightmare... hoping to hold out until morning...
Yona closes her eyes, as a few tears slowly shed from them. “Sandbar... if only Yona could tell you how she feels... Then nightmares leave Yona alone...”
When Yona first met Sandbar, she regarded him as interesting, but she extended that same feeling towards all the other ponies she had encountered in Equestria on her first day of school. Yona had of course heard of Ponies before through second-hoof sources back in Yakistan, but she had never met any face to face before. The most she had to go with was pictures, thinking they had the same lack of experience with Yaks, she was all too eager to correct that by telling every pony she could corner one on one, as much about Yaks and Yakistan that she could. At first, the only thing that made Sandbar stand out was that he happened to be in the same class as her. When class did not turn out to be as exciting as she expected, a Gryphon named Gallus, and a female dragon named Smolder made the suggestion of cutting class. Yona, Sandbar, Ocellus, and a female Hippogriff named Silverstream all agreed to do just that. During their session of hooky, the six of them bonded as friends via the antics they performed that day, which ironically... almost resulted in their school being shut down. But they quickly united in an effort to preserve the school, if only to allow all of them to see each other again.
The First time Yona felt gratitude towards Sandbar specifically was when he defended the love she expressed for her heritage against Smolder's mockery. Looking back on it now in hindsight, Yona supposed that maybe she had exaggerated a bit on some of the things that Yaks were supposedly best at... nevertheless, it was still nice for Sandbar to defend Yona when Smolder took her scolding too far. And had Gallus not started to jeer him immediately after said defense, Yona would have thanked Sandbar with a hug.
There were other moments as well, such as the time that she and Sandbar helped the other students build a shed under Applejack and Rainbow Dash's tutelage, and how their piece, the doorway was the only part still standing when the shed was accidentally destroyed; at least until Yona herself accidentally made it fall down around Sandbar, much to her embarrassment. Then there was the time when Yona and Sandbar were a team for the school's spell-venger hunt; they had so much fun together, even with Discord's tricks.
Another key moment was back when Cozy Glow tried to take over the school. Yona was heartbroken when it seemed that Sandbar had betrayed her and the other students to work with Chancellor Neighsay. One can only imagine the relief and elation she felt when she found out it had all been an act, that Sandbar was actually playing Neighsay for a fool, and revealing his true colors by being a hero, rescuing Yona and the others in their time of need.
His performance in the fake betrayal was a little too convincing though, as everyone except for Yona and Ocellus gave Sandbar weird looks behind his back for a few weeks afterward.
Yona did not know how the others felt about Sandbar during that time, but in the days that followed the reconciliation between the six of them, she likes to think that she was the first to fully trust him again.
And most recently, during the time when Yona and her friends were trying to honor the fallen Tree of Harmony, Sandbar tried to help by clearing away the tree's remains, giving them room for the memorial. Although the others harshly questioned his removal of the very object they were trying to honor, Yona knew what Sandbar was trying to do, even stating his heart was in the right place. Not to mention, she found it adorable how Sandbar rode atop her back.
Yona was hesitant to go back to sleep, certain that she would be plagued by yet another heartbreaking nightmare. However, Yona eventually falls asleep due to nothing more than sheer exhaustion. Fortunately the rest of her night is uneventful, when Yona wakes up a second time, she finds that she only has about half an hour to get herself ready for class.
“Uh oh! Only half hour? Yak better move fast.” She quickly got out of bed and started to get ready. “Yona thought too much about nightmare, and now Yak overslept!” She quickly put her school supplies in her bag, before neatening her mane in front of a mirror, to make herself look presentable, then quickly left her dorm room, closing the door behind her and began to hurry towards the classroom. It doesn't take long for Yona to get there, and even less time for her to find her seat.
Unfortunately being punctual is the least of Yona's worries, for when Sandbar walks into the room Yona can't help but gaze at him, in fact she pays more attention to Sandbar, than the instructor of the class, Rarity. When class wraps up, Rarity has a moment to compare the papers, and she is alarmed by Yona's results. “Hmm...Yona's grades have been slipping... I need to talk to Starlight about this.”
Later that day...
Rarity headed straight for Starlight's office once the other classes of the day were over. Thankfully, Starlight wasn't very busy at the moment; in fact, she was just in the middle of a coffee break.
“Ah Starlight darling, sorry to interrupt your break, but I was hoping to talk to you.”
Starlight looks up from her coffee mug. “Oh, hi Rarity. What can I do for you?”
“It's not really me you should be concerned about darling, it's Yona.”
Starlight raises an eyebrow, “Yona? Is she in trouble for something?”
“Not really. But I'm starting to notice a pattern.” Rarity uses her magic to retrieve Yona's 4 previous Pop Quizzes. “Her grades are slipping. At times in class she even seems troubled by something. She seems to be paying more attention to her surroundings than my lessons. I'm sure the other teachers might tell you similar stories if you ask them about it.”
Starlight takes a look at every pop quiz paper individually. Sure enough, as she checked from the oldest to the most recent, each subsequent paper seemed to yield poorer results than the previous one. “Oh dear...” She frowned in concern. “I see what you mean.”
“Indeed.” Rarity then looks out the window and notices Yona playing a game of Tennis with her friends. Yona seems to be distracted from the game and is stumbling quite a bit.
Starlight looks at the scene from beside Rarity, and it doesn't take Starlight long to notice the same posture problems and distraction that Yona seems to be facing on the field. “Oh my... that is far below the normal athletic performance of a Yak. I need to arrange a meeting with her, pronto.”
Rarity just nods without looking away from the window at the scene outside. “Yes Darling. You do... see if you can find out what's bothering her.”
Meanwhile in the courtyard....
Yona and Smolder are currently sitting on the side lines, since the last time Yona was on the field, the duo she was in with Gallus lost the game. She seemed to have an exceptionally hard time playing against both Sandbar and Ocellus whenever they were together on the opposing team.
Smolder walked over to Yona with crossed arms. “Yona, what happened out there? It was like your brain was somewhere else!”
Yona didn't seem to respond; actually, she wasn't even paying attention to Smolder, as she was still watching Sandbar and Ocellus, who were now playing together against Silverstream and Gallus. The two seemed to be enjoying each other's company immensely, and it was making Yona worry.
Smolder Snaps her fingers in front of Yona repeatedly. “Hello? Everyone else to Yona!” She keeps this up until Yona finally snaps out of it and pays attention to Smolder.
“H-Huh?!” Yona quickly turned to Smolder. “O-Oh! Yona is sorry, friend Smolder. Yak was distracted watching... the ball; is bouncing too fast, yes?” She gave off a nervous smile, and another worried glance at the two on the court.
Smolder merely crosses her arms, and raises an eyebrow. Clearly not buying Yona's explanation. “Oh really? Well if you were so focused on the ball... then why did you do better when you and Silverstream were playing against me and Gallus?”
Yona tensed up, not knowing how to answer that, “Uh...well... Y-Yona was just having...off day?” She smiled weakly.
As if to augment Yona's worries, Sandbar and Ocellus end up winning the second round. They cheer and dance together. Which seems to make Yona somewhat nervous.
She bit her lip nervously as she watched Sandbar and Ocellus perform their victory dance. Yona's mind immediately recreated scenes from her nightmares that gave her even greater worry, such as their cheering and dancing leading to a more-than-friendly-hug...which would in turn lead to Sandbar and Ocellus staring into each other's eyes...bringing their faces closer to one another...
Yona's mind is saved from her unpleasant day dream by a rather unlikely source. Counselor Starlight Glimmer. She had apparently walked up to them all from behind and coughed to draw the attention of all members of the young six. Who are more than eager to pay attention to her especially after recent events in which the 6 of them saved her life. “Yona...”
Yona became startled when she was unexpectedly addressed by Starlight, “Oh! C-Counselor Glimmer? What is wrong?”
“Yona, I need to speak with you, in private.” She then turns around to head back towards the main building of the school. “Meet me in my office as soon as you can.”
Yona looked worried for a different reason now. “Y-Yes, Miss Glimmer.”
Yona eventually trots over to Starlight's office after saying her daily goodbyes to her friends. She steps into the office with an air of trepidation, Starlight's expression seems to be one of concern.
Yona clears her throat. “Um...Counselor Glimmer wanted to see Yona?”
“Yes Yona, please have a seat.” Starlight gestures to a pair of nearby floor pillows.
Yona does as requested and sits down on the pillows.
Starlight reads a few of the papers in front of her, jostling them around with her magic, before focusing her full attention on the young Yak. “Frankly Yona, some of the teachers and I are concerned... your grades have been slipping in the last few days... not to mention your performance in sporting events has declined as well... a rather alarming development for a Yak... tell me... is there anything that's been troubling you lately?”
“N-No!” Yona tries to no avail to keep her composure. “N-Nothing is troubling, Yona!”
Starlight Glimmer just solemnly sighs at this pathetic attempt at lying. Even Yona herself can tell that the lie didn't work the moment it left her lips. “Yona... I can tell something is upsetting you... lying to me or anypo...” Starlight quickly coughs as if to check herself, “Anyone else, will only make it worse.”
Yona doesn't respond, too paralyzed with embarrassment.
Starlight notices Yona's Discomfort and decides to take this conversation at a slower pace. "Well... if you can't just flat out tell me, can you at least tell me the nature of the problem? Family Troubles? A bully? Feeling homesick? Nightmares?"
Yona flinched as soon as she heard the word, nightmares.
Starlight notices this, “Oh... okay... so it's nightmares...” she uses her magic to have a quill write that information down. “Tell me... how many nightmares have you been having lately?”
Yona bites her lip nervously. “Yona... Yak, has had 5 nightmares.”
Starlight writes down that information, and asked, “Have you been having them every night?”
Yona just sighs and nods in acknowledgment.
Starlight seems even more concerned than she did before, “Oh my... no wonder you've been struggling lately.”
Yona nodded with a downcast look; hoping that Starlight wouldn't ask what the nightmares were about.
Starlight notices Yona's mounting sadness, and verbally comforts her, “ I see... you're afraid of getting another one tonight...” She ponders for a moment before she seems to create an idea. “I think I might have a solution to your problem... but it's probably better if I don't tell you what it is.” Starlight then uses her magic to open the door to her office. “Feel free to go back to your friends, or return to the dorms... and try not to worry about tonight... I'm confident help will arrive before you have another nightmare.”
Yona looks at Starlight with a bit of uncertainty, “A-Alright... if Counselor Starlight is certain...”
“I am. Stay safe Yona.” Starlight doesn't need to wave goodbye, her worried eyes do that for her.
Yona solemnly steps out of Starlight's office.
Not long afterwards, Starlight leaves her office in the opposite direction Yona took. She is carrying a scroll she had spent several minutes writing her idea on, she finds Spike in the library with Twilight examining various books on a shelf. Starlight walks up to Spike to talk to him.“Hey Spike...”
Spike looks up from the book he is reading to greet Starlight, “Hmm? Oh, hello Starlight, what can I do for you?”
Starlight gives Spike the scroll she had spent the last few minutes carrying, “I need you to deliver this to Princess...”
Spike interrupts her having done this routine countless times before. “Princess Celestia? You got it.” He takes the letter and inhales, about to transport it via his pyro-transmission power.
To stop Spike from sending the letter to the wrong Princess, Starlight quickly puts her hoof into Spike's mouth, “No Spike. The letter is for Princess...” She looks up at the stained glass window of the princess in question, “... Luna.”
