With a final swipe of her quill, Ocellus finished her last homework sheet of the afternoon, and slipped it back into her saddlebags, ready for class tomorrow. It would be about another hour before the cafeteria was going to begin serving dinner, so she had a little time to herself. She could always read ahead, staying one step ahead of the class, something she had grown lax in for the past few weeks, ever since Gallus had run off.

She glanced to the far end of her bed, where a single package of adult flower-patterned diapers barely poked out from under the bed frame. Gallus and Sandbar had given her those for when they couldn't get together and she was still in the mood for some playtime. It was also something she had faded from in the wake of the last few weeks. But if she did want to indulge, it would most likely mean skipping dinner, or settling for a small snack here in her room; the diapers were the only ageplay items she had, she didn't have half of her room transformed like Sandbar did.

Before her mind began to focus too hard on making a decision, there was a soft knock on her door. She got up from her desk, went over, and opened the door to meet her visitor, which turned out to be a familiar sea green earth pony.

"Sandbar, hi!" Ocellus greeted, an open smile forming on her face. Sandbar managed a faint smile in return.

"Hi, Ocellus. Sorry I was so quiet during lunch today. I was wondering if we could talk?" Sandbar asked.

"Of course. Come in, come in." Ocellus replied, stepping aside and ushering her friend into her dorm room. The pony stepped inside, and the changeling offered him her desk chair while she sat on the bed across from him.

"It was really nice having you back in class today." She immediately told him, still smiling at him.

"It was nice to be back. I wanted... Well, I wanted to come to apologize for being so distant lately."

The changeling's eyes widened at Sandbar's confession. After what he had been through... He was actually apologizing?

"Sandbar... You don't have to apologize for anything. With how you were feeling, it was probably best you stayed away. I tried visiting you a couple weeks ago and..."

Sandbar held up a hoof to stop her. He had heard how she had spent the next couple days in bed feeling sick. It honestly made him feel even worse.

"I know, but still, I shouldn't have forgotten that you were going through something very similar after Gallus left. He left you too."

Ocellus swallowed as her eyes teared up for a moment, but was determined to remain composed as her close friend was finally opening up.

"Well, if you feel you have to, then apology accepted. You're here now, and we're finally talking." She replied.

"Listen, Ocellus. I've been doing a lot of thinking these last few weeks, and after Cadance came to visit, I did considerably more organized thinking. I've come to the conclusion that there is absolutely nothing I could have done to save my relationship with Gallus, even if I did realize something was wrong. The choices were all his; he chose to refuse treatment, he chose to run away, and he chose to deceive his friends and abandon everything he had built here."

Ocellus slowly nodded with a determined smile. She was glad Sandbar wasn't continuing to think that he had done something wrong to the detriment of his relationship. She had also gone through that; she had felt that the emotions and love coming from Gallus had changed somewhat, and by the time she was ready to bring her concerns to light, it was too late. But even before Cadance had come to talk to her, she had decided that she wasn't going to burden herself with any blame that was not hers to bear.

"I'm glad you've come to that conclusion." Ocellus told him with a smile.

"And, also... That just because he was willing to abandon you, and the relationship he had built with us, it doesn't mean I want to. I don't want to walk away from what we had developed with you. What I had developed with you."

Again, Ocellus' eyes widened, and her mouth parted just a bit, as her mind processed what Sandbar was saying. Was he... Was he willing to...?

"Ocellus, would you like to go to dinner with me tonight?"

The tears returned to the corners of the changeling's eyes, but now she couldn't blink them away, and when she tried, they trickled down both of her cheeks, as the sweet, tingly taste of love returned to her tongue. With a smile and a sniffle, she nodded.

"Yes. Yes, Sandbar, I'd love to."

Author's Note