The expanded group of four ponies and three pets arrives at the clinic. Gel is already wearing her scrubs as usual. Rhino fishes the key out of his bag and lets the collective group inside.
As he flicks on the lights, his parents look around. His mother nods approvingly. "Very nice. A little small, but probably the perfect size for this town. They really let you run the place by yourselves?"
Rhino nods. "Yep, only in the early mornings though."
Bio chuckles. "Ironic that you pick the early morning shift when you're such a night pony."
The green stallion smiles as he rolls his eyes. "Yes, who would have thought it. Let me go fetch my stuff from my office."
As he turns around, Mist grabs his shoulder. "Why don't we all come with you? I'd love to see your office!"
Rhino blinks for a moment before responding. "Umm... ok..."
They reach the office and he lets them all in, his mother almost instantly remarking as she looks around. "You really need to personalize this place... make it your own." She turns to Gel, who is carrying the pets. "Maybe you could help him with that?"
Gel blinks, confused by the pegasus's words. "...me? H-how could I help?" She puts the pets down, and they quickly scurry off to their usual spots.
All but Mercury, who looks up at the white mare with pleading eyes.
She smiles, playfully smiling. "...oh, alright, my little kit..." She giggles and leans down, nuzzling him as he does the same back, purring happily.
Rhino dons his usual work attire as Mist responds. "You know... pictures of you and him, maybe tiny gifts for each other, seems like every pony with an office has some kind of coffee mug they like... little things like that really help to make a place feel more homey. Though... I suppose since you essentially bring the entire population of your house with you to work... maybe that's enough for now..."
She nervously laughs as the kit climbs onto her back and curls up. "...I-I guess so..." She clears her throat, quietly backing out the door. "...I-I'll just head to my desk..." She turns tail and hurries off to the front.
Rhino fishes getting ready and turns around to show his parents his uniform. Both of the older ponies smile as Mist walks over and straightens his jacket. "Well, don't you look handsome..." She hugs him. "That's my colt..." She breaks the hug and the three of them head back towards the front, closer to the sound of Selena playing on the typewriter again.
Rhino looks to the desk where the critters and Gel are. "I miss anything interesting in the last few minutes while you were up here?"
She tries her hardest not to look at him, nodding to the typewriter. "...just that..."
The kitten isn't just hitting random keys on the machine. She is actually typing out a full sentence, apparently enjoying herself all the while.
Rhino walks closer as his dad asks the obvious question. "What does it say?"
Gel pulls her glasses out of her scrubs' pocket, reading it out loud. "'This is a rest.'" She blinks, scratching her head a bit. "...rest? Did she mean test?"
Rhino blinks, astonished. "Maybe... That's... very impressive... has anypony stopped to give an animal a typewriter before? Then again... I guess it could be just a coincidence..."
As he says this, the kitten continues pressing keys, eventually typing up another sentence.
The white mare giggles at it. "Daddy is the best letter." She shakes her head, trying to control her laughter. "I d-don't think it's a c-coincidence..."
Mist giggles. "I guess my little quirk about calling pets like foals was more accurate than I though." She grabs Bio by the hoof. "Why don't we go explore around town a bit? It'll be nice." She turns to Rhino. "You said your co-workers come in just before you get off at noon right?" When her son nods she smiles. "Alright, see you later! Be sure to tell us if the grandpets say anything about us!" With that, the two exit.
Rhino just looks after his parents a moment before turning to their apparently almost perfectly literate kitten. "I'm guessing that's supposed to say 'petter'." He starts to prove the sentence true by gently stroking the kitten. "Thank you Selena."
She purrs happily, leaning into his hoof.
Gel smiles at this scene, gently nuzzling Rhino's cheek. "...I wonder if they're all able to do something similar..." She glances at the squirrel on Rhino's head.
The stallion glances upward as well. "Well? Do you have some astonishing way of communicating with us that we haven't seen yet?"
The squirrel thinks for a moment before giving him a thumbs up.
Rhino chuckles. "Cheeky..."
Gel laughs, shaking her head at this. "Come on, you two. We should probably get to work." She playfully bumps Rhino's side, winking a bit.
He smiles cheekily at her. "What? You don't want to give Mercury a shot?" He motions to the kit.
"I know he's intelligent." She smiles at the fox. "How else could he use his cuteness to avoid getting in trouble?" She turns to Rhino, holding up a hoof. "Once or twice, I can see as a coincidence, but every single time?"
Rhino just shakes his head. "Fair enough." He looks down at the kitten stretched beneath his petting hoof. "Any words from you then before we get down to work?"
She looks up at him before pawing at the keys once more. She finishes quickly, looking up at him.
Gel reads it closely, giggling before reciting it to the stallion. "'Do you think of ne as your princess, like mom does?'"
He smiles as he leans down to nuzzle the kitten. "Of course I do. Your mom has the sole title of Queen though."
Gel flinches at this, momentarily tense before relaxing. "Thank you for that, love." She gently kisses him.
He simply smiles. "Anytime."
The workday proceeds smoothly. Patients proceed in and out with their usual frequency. Selena plays around on the typewriter some more, though none are direct messages, she seems to be trying, unsuccessfully, to work on her typoes. Mercury took to watching her and pawing at the keys as she played on them, but after she bopped him on the head, he went back to exploring the nooks and crannies of the desk fortress.
As noon looms in the near future, the door to the clinic opens and Rhino's parents troll in laden with bags of groceries and a few trinkets. It is evident where Rhino gets his common expression of looking pleasant while the mind is occupied elsewhere during mundane tasks by that same expression being seen on his father now. Mist is used to this though, and happily trotts in with the stallion tagging along behind her.
She waves to Gel. "Hello! We miss anything?"
The white mare shakes her head, smiling kindly. "Nothing of note." She glances at their bags, an eyebrow quirked. "...did you two have fun?"
Bio nods. "It was actually quite relaxing."
Mist motions to the bags. "I actually found some nice souvenirs, including a windchime I think will look lovely on my porch. The rest of this is really just food. I saw last night you were short on a few things so I figured I'd pick them up and while we were at it, I could pick up some things to whip up a little something."
Gel nods, a thoughtful expression on her face. "That sounds like a lovely idea. And I'm glad you found some trinkets to remind you of Ponyville."
The front door to the clinic opens again as two more ponies walk in. This time it's the Goodall sisters. Mane greets the two bag-laden ponies as she sees them. "Oh, good morning! Are you two being helped at the moment?"
The disguised changeling answers for them. "Oh, they aren't customers, Miss Goodall." She motions toward the other ponies, smiling softly. "They're Doctor Rhino's parents, Mist Scribe and Bio Blaze." She smiles brightly as she reaches out to her stallion with her mind. Rhino, you might want to head up front. Our coworkers are here.
Hmm? What? His answer was delayed from his focus on what he was doing, likely paperwork. Oh, umm... sure, I'll be right up. A few seconds later and his hoofsteps can be heard coming down the hall. As he comes into the main lobby, he stops and sees all the ponies in it. "Wow... everypony's here..."
Manila giggles at his words as she turns to his parents. "So you're the two responsible for this stallion?" She shakes both of their hooves. "Nice to meet you! I'm Manila and this is Mane!"
Bio smiles. "The pleasure ours. I'm glad you gave my colt a chance to work here doing something he loves."
Mane responds. "It's not trouble, between him and his marefriend, we've doubled our staff and have way more time off than we used to be able to have."
The two sets of ponies continue conversing about things of this nature as Rhino turns to Gel. "Well... seems like everypony's getting along."
She nods, sighing softly in relief. "That's always a good thing. On another note, Selena wrote something else." She holds the paper up for him to read.
He reads it out. "'My laws keel slipping.' Well, yes, I can see that." He turns to the kitten and pets her fondly. "I guess you either need to get used to that or get a proofreader."
She purrs softly, rubbing her body against his hooves. She then looks up the squirrel on his head, mewing in protest.
Gel giggles at this, lifting the kitten onto her own head. "There you go. Now you have no need to be jealous." She gets soft purrs in response.
Rhino chuckles as he reaches up to pet Specter. "Do you think Mercury ever wants to ride up there?"
The white mare shrugs a bit. "He seems content riding on my back. I guess I never thought about it before, though..."
As he opens his mouth to respond, Rhino notices how quiet it's gotten and looks over to see that the other four ponies have stopped talking and are now all looking at the couple with smiles on their faces. "What?"
They all look away. "Nothing."
He narrows his eyes at them. "Okay..." He looks to the clock. "Well... it looks like it's about that time." He raps on the desk. "Time to go, Mercury."
The fox pokes his head out of the top drawer, looking at them before leaping out and scrabbling up Gel's side, curling up contentedly.
The mare in question smiles at this, gently nuzzling him before heading to the front door. We should head off soon. From the looks of it, your mom is planning a feast for us, tonight.
She waves to the sisters, nodding respectfully. "I hope you two have a nice day!"
Rhino decides to just say 'hay with it' and wear his coat home. As his parents begin following them while he waves to the sisters, he remarks to Gel. If you think that's only going to happen tonight, you are mistaken.
Gel shifts in her seat, a little nervous. It's halfway through the meal and she is still surprised by the somewhat elaborate setup of the table. ...this meal is delicious...but I'm actually starting to get full...I didn't even know that could happen...
Rhino takes another bite of the smothered potatoes as he responds. You've gotten full on love before right? Same concept. At least Mom serves everything at once, unlike some high end places that keep bringing you more courses one at a time so you never know when it's going to end. He swallows and passes Gel the macaroni and cheese. "Get yourself a little of this and I have a way I think you'll enjoy eating it."
She forces a smile, shakily scooping herself a small portion of it. "I suppose you can..." ...but, honestly, her cooking's so good, already...what could possibly make it better?
Well... it's a little something I found out when I was little. If you like it to have a bit more tang to it... He slides a particular red bottle towards her with a wink. "Try this."
Her eyes widen at this. Before anything else could be said, she eagerly grabbed the bottle and doodled a smiley face on her mac and cheese with the tangy substance. She happily eats a forkful, a shiver going up her spine. Oh dear Luna, you made it better. She gladly eats the rest, a small blush on her cheeks.
He smirks as he watches her enjoying it. Heh, I'm starting to think you like that stuff almost as me as you like me.
Meanwhile his parents are watching with bemused expressions. His mother shakes her head. "Oh dear, he's teaching his habits to her."
Bio gives his input. "It figures he finds one who likes ketchup just as much, if not more, than he does."
She blushes in embarrassment, a wisp of steam coming off her head. "...um...t-thank you for the meal, Mist...I-I'm not sure I can eat another bite." Don't be silly. I could never love anything as much as you... She glances over at the pets, sitting off to the side to eat their own food. ...though the little ones do come close...
Mist nods understandingly as she finishes as well. "Thank you Angel, and don't worry, I understand you can't eat anymore. Rhino has always eaten more than any of us."
As the ponies start to wind down to the end of their meal, the pets wrap up theirs and turn their attentions to their owners' table.
Mercury hurries over to the pegasus, looking up at her with big eyes, hoping for a bite of their food. Selena does the same to Rhino, but for a different reason.
Gel carefully wipes her mouth with a napkin, putting it down before smiling coyly at her stallion. "Somehow, that doesn't come as a surprise..." She turns to the red mare, giggling softly. "After all, growing ponies need to eat - taller ones, more so, right?"
Bio holds up a cautionary hoof to Mist as the kit rears up onto her chair. "Don't feed him anything, otherwise he'll expect it every time."
She looks down at the kit. "I know... but he's so cute..." She tries to distract herself by commenting back to Gel. "Yes, we weren't really that surprised when Rhino ended up taller than either of us." She looks at the her son, who has pulled the kitten onto his lap and is petting her with a hoof while he finishes eating. "But he's a big softy really... in more ways than one."
"Oh, I know." She leans over, gently nuzzling her stallion's cheek. "And that's why I love him...or at least a big part of it..." She feels a paw on her leg, looking down to see her fox looking up at her pleadingly. "...I'm sorry, my little kit...you can't have this food..." She blinks as he runs out of the room, confused. ...I could swear he just pouted at me...
Rhino spots Specter running out after the kit. He probably was. He'll get over it.
Mist however, caught a particular word Gel said. "You 'love' him, hmm?"
The white mare turns to her, smiling kindly. "Of course I do. I love him with all my heart." She moves closer to the stallion in question, simply pressing her body against his, blushing softly.
Mist processes this before turning to the green stallion. "And... you feel the same way?"
Rhino nods as he puts a foreleg around Gel, his other one still occupying Selena. "I can't imagine my life without her."
Gel blushes even more, flattered by his words. She smiles and leans up, gently kissing him.
Mist thinks on this before smiling. "Well, Rhino did always say he would let things go at the pace that felt right. I'm glad both of you found each other."
The white mare nods, looking at her with a kind smile. "Thank you, Mist."
***
Night falls over Equestria, but there are always some who stay awake. One such example is the changeling known as 273. He has remained in his hiding place in Whitetail woods ever since, only venturing out once to spy on Rhino and Gel as they exited the Everfree forest. A presence in his mind causes him to exit the abandoned burrow within the roots of a large oak tree he had been using as a base. He looks up and sees a shape dive for him.
The shape morphs as it closes in, a pegasus mare turning into a changeling as it lands in front of him, saluting almost immediately. Nymph 314, Corporal. Are you Drone 273?
273 nods, saluting back in response. "Good to see you Corporal, I take it you are one of the squad sent to help deal with the... situation?"
"Yes, sir." She lowers her hoof. "I was ordered by the Sergeant Major to bring you back to camp."
He nods again, his wings stretching out. "Very well, lead the way."
She nods, quickly taking flight. They both travel for a while, taking a direct route over the forest. They arrive in a secluded clearing. On one side the last three changelings stand. Two don't make a move to acknowledge them, while the middle one salutes. "Sergeant. Glad you made it."
273 salutes his superior. "Thank you, sir!" As the two changelings lower their hooves, the drone continues. "Sir, do you require any more information on the situation in order to come to a decision on how it will be handled?"
"We already have a plan." He gestures to a letter on a nearby table. "Our orders are to free Colonel Gel from the control of her target. However," he slowly walks over to the table, a deep frown on his face, "if the situation turns out otherwise, supplementary orders have been given." He picks up the letter and gives it to the drone. "Any new information you have will be greatly appreciated, of course."
The Sergeant slits open the envelope with a fang and quickly reads the two plans. His eyes are unreadable as he nods. "Understood. Honestly sir, there isn't much else to report other than the newest possibility that the Colonel may be being controlled by a potion of some sort. I witnessed her and her target returning from a trip to the local zebra, laden with potions clinking in their bags."
He slowly nods, turning to look off in the distance. "For her sake, I hope that is the case."