Two weeks pass in relative normalcy. There has been no sign of the silver changeling foal, and for that, Rhino is thankful. On the subject of foals though, the little pink hybrid is doing quite well for herself. She's back to being a unicorn most of the time, and always toddles after either Rhino or Gel, usually the one that's doing something the filly doesn't know about. Story time has become a daily occurance, and the filly instantly lights up whenever one of her books is brought over, though they quickly exhausted their supply of new books and are now reading through them all again to sate the filly's appetite. Finally, along with her appetite, Ruby's size is quickly growing as well. At a month old now, she's a little over double the size she was when she was born, almost the size of a small regular pony newborn and growing a little more every day.
At the clinic today, Ruby entertains herself with one of her stuffed toys. Next to her is Mercury, who may as well be her familiar at this point with how much he hangs around her. Gel sits at her desk, absentmindedly petting Specter as Selena types away on her tiny typewriter.
Rhino comes in from the back, standing behind Gel and snaking his head around to give her a surprise kiss on the cheek. "Miss me?"
She smiles warmly at him, happily kissing him back. "Just a little." She giggles, sticking her tongue out at him before turning her attention back to Ruby. "It's almost hard to believe how fast she's growing..."
"Hey now, it's only been a month. Still plenty of time to go. And aren't I supposed to be the one worried about her growing up?"
He shakes his head. "You're free to, but we might be in trouble if we both worry. Next thing you know we'll be smothering her for fear of missing anything."
"...true..." She sighs, resting her head on the desk. "...too bad we don't have another appointment to distract us...I'd like a good diversion, at the moment..."
Ruby walks over while the two are talking, Mercury behind her bringing her stuffed toy. The foal rears up and places a hoof on one of each of her parents' legs. She looks up at them with her big green eyes. "Bah!"
Rhino chuckles. "That enough of a diversion for you?"
She smiles, leaning down and gently nuzzling their daughter. "Not a diversion. A cuteness indulgence."
"Good point." He leans down as well, nuzzle the other side of Ruby's face t the same time Gel is nuzzling her. The foal practically squeals in happiness.
The nymph pulls away, looking at the silver fox with a smile. "What do you have there, Mercury? Is it Bubbles?"
The young fox shakes his head, showing them the small stuffed pony Ruby had been playing with and setting it down next to her.
"Oh, I remember this!" She picks it up, turning it over in her magical aura. "Pinkie got this stuffed colt for her 'monthiversery'...whatever that means..." She looks up at Rhino, curious. "...do you think she has a name for him?"
He shrugs. "I don't know if Ruby has a name for anything, or if she even knows the concept of a name."
"I suppose that's fair." She puts the toy down and picks up a fish-shaped squeaky toy, smirking playfully. "Look, it's Bubbles!" She floats it in front of the fox, wiggling it to make it appear to be alive.
Mercury rears onto his hindlegs as his eyes lock onto the fish. A smile graces his foxy face as he yips once.
Gel giggles, bringing the toy down enough for him to grab, if he wanted to. "He missed you. Did you miss him?"
Judging by how the silver fox grabbed the toy in his mouth, instantly laying down and squeaking it multiple times, all observing agree that the answer is 'yes'.
As everyone laughs, the door to the clinic opens, and an unusual patient shuffles in.
For all intents and purposes, it appeared to be a regular changeling. As she came closer, however, numerous spiderweb cracks became visible along her body and legs, the one she was holding up to her chest leaking a teal fluid. She stops dead in her tracks, eyes widening in shock at the two of them. "Y-you two? Where are the other doctors?" She looks around, clearly nervous.
Rhino tilts his head. "Well, I'm the only one here, but why is that a problem? We are qualified to treat you, and you quite obviously need to be treated..." As his eyes wander over her, they widen and he walks around the desk as Gel picks up ruby. "What happened?"
"I, uh..." She tries to back away but grimaces, accidentally putting some weight on her injured leg in her haste. She shakes her head, quickly pulling it back up to her body. "I fell off a cliff."
Gel tilts her head, unconvinced. "Then why didn't you try and fly, or at least glide?"
The charcoal-black nymph turns her head away, trembling slightly. "I wasn't thinking. That's all."
Rhino looks back to Gel. "Let's focus on how this happened after we make sure she isn't going to keel over on us..." He turns back to the strange nymph. "Do you want to walk to the back or would you rather be levitated?"
"I-I'd like to be carried." She glances at him. "If that's alright with your wife, of course."
The stallion looks back to Gel as she holds their child, a questioning eyebrow raised to her.
"It's fine." She waves her free hoof before standing. "I'll be joining you two, however. I want to help any way I can."
He nods. "Fair enough. Is Ruby going to be helping too?" His horn lights up as his aura starts enveloping the injured nymph.
"I think Mercury can watch her...or he could join us, too." She looks at the fox, curious. "What do you say, my little one?"
The kit bounds over to her, leaving his toy for the time being. Over at the desk, Specter and Selena look at each other before settling themselves down and waving to show that they'll run the front desk while the rest are busy.
The stallion looks at the nymph in his grip. "Is this hurting you at all?"
She shakes her head, her gaze focused on the filly in Gel's embrace. "...no, not at all..." She takes a deep breath, visibly relaxing afterwards.
The navy nymph next to him tilts her head, thinking a bit. ...is she...no, she couldn't be...
As the group moves towards the back, Rhino thinks to Gel. What was that, love?
I may be mistaken... She pauses her thoughts as the other changeling takes another deep breath. ...but it seems as though she's feeding on your concern. Using it to dull the pain.
Oh, well, that's fine, I can understand that. They arrive at the examination room and Rhino hovers the injured nymph over the table. "I'm going to put you down now, sorry if it stings or if the table's cold."
She looks at him, almost looking regretful. "It's fine. The pain's starting to fade."
"That may be, but you're still injured so you need to be treated." He eases her onto the table in a comfortable prone position. "We'll just work one bit at a time until we get everything..." He walks over to the counter and starts grabbing a few things he's going to need.
She tilts her head at him before turning to the other nymph, confused. "Colonel, does he know how to treat our kind?"
She nervously laughs, waving a hoof at her. "Y-yes, he does. I taught him a few things." She pauses before holding a hoof up. "And please, just call me Gel. I gave up my rank a year ago."
Rhino remarks as he comes back with disinfectants, bandages, creams, and a bit of sealant they use specifically for exoskeleton or shelled patients. "Have you two met before?"
She looks at him, gesturing to the patient. "I don't think I'd be able to say without reading her aura." She starts to say more when the nymph covers her mouth.
"That won't be necessary." She looks up at Rhino, clearly upset. "I know both of you...in fact, you broke my leg last year, doctor..."
He looks at her, confused, before an image of a dark chitin tower flashes in his mind and the answer slaps him in the face. He flinches, looking down to see if it's the same leg hurt this time as it was last time.
She sighs, shaking her head. "At least it's the other leg, this time." She gingerly extends it, wincing in pain. "Chitin can only heal by itself so much..." Her ears twitch as a small whimper reaches them.
Gel sheepishly smiles, backing out of the room as she gently rocks their foal. "I-I'd better see to her needs. Be right back!" With that, she turns and leaves the room, the door closing behind her.
Rhino looks after his wife, mumbling. "Wonder what she needed..." He turns back to the nymph, looking down at her leg. "Alright, let's see what we can do here..." his voice trails off before picking up again, "...and, for the record... sorry for what I did before..."
She blinks, staring at him in shock. "Why are you apologizing? We were the ones trying to keep the Colonel from you."
"I know... believe me, I remember..." He looks carefully over the limb before picking up a damp cloth. "Still... I know I didn't exactly take it easy on you... does the one I hurt give you any trouble?"
"No, it doesn't." She waves her left foreleg with ease. "I'm lucky that the General left some medicine for me..."
"Well, I'm afraid I don't have any of that, but I'm fairly confident in what we have here." He takes the cloth and starts gently wiping away the teal blood.
She winces, leaning away from the pain. "I-if you say so." She glances at the door, taking another deep breath. "So...was that your filly, out there?"
A proud smile makes it's way onto Rhino's face. "Yes, that was our little Ruby. What I easily consider my greatest achievement."
"She's so small..." She stares off into space, lost in her thoughts. "I didn't know we could have foals...that's interesting..."
He looks up at her with a sly smile as he finishes wiping the limb down. "Why? Got your eye on somepony?"
"Maybe." She blushes, turning to one side. "I don't think you'd be interested, though."
"Nonsense, it gives us something to talk about to distract you while I work. Who knows, maybe I could even help." He holds her hoof as he levitates the disinfectant. "Now, this is probably going to sting a bit, but try not to yank your hoof away, alright?"
She looks down at where he's holding her. "...I suppose...it's not you, though, just so that's out there..."
He chuckles. "Good to know not every female changeling wants me, especially since I'm married now." He slathers a generous portion of the disinfectant onto the wound.
Her wings immediately flare and she cries out, clenching her eyes shut. "Damn it, that smarts!"
He winces at her reaction. "Yeah... I warned you. This stuff is potent, not pleasant. Still, better than infections." He blows lightly on the area to help.
She grits her teeth, trying to keep herself from focusing on the pain. "That's true...it was the suddenness that got me, though." She shakes her head, turning her gaze to his face. "...have you...done this before? Because I find it hard to believe you keep a sealant in your office just for kicks."
He grabs a bit of cream and starts dabbing it into the wider cracks. "Well, on a changeling, no. Gel tends to stay out of trouble. However, accounting for a few things that are changeling-specific, this isn't actually too far from treating a turtle who cracked it's shell."
She stares at him, bemused. "So you're saying I'm like a turtle? That I am slow?"
He rolls his eyes. "No... just that you're shelled." He undoes the cap on the sealant and levitates a small brush. "Alright, you need to stay perfectly still once I start applying this until it sets."
"I think I can do that..." She blinks, tilting her head to one side. "...wait, does that include breathing? I don't know how long I can hold my breath..."
Rhino chuckles as he paints the sealant on. "Mostly keep the leg still, wouldn't want you keeling over on me when I'm sitting her fixing you up."
She nods, looking at the brush. "Understandable." She stays silent as he works, speaking up once he's done applying it. "You...you met the General, correct? You know...M-Mimic?"
The stallion stays quiet for a bit as he checks how smooth the application is. When he responds, it's in a much quieter and emotionless voice. "I did."
She shivers, noticing the air around him actually feels colder. "W-what's with the animosity?"
He responds bluntly. "One doesn't exactly think of sunshine and rainbows when remembering the one that orchestrated your wife's abduction, controlled her, and forced her to do things against her will."
Her eyes widen in horror and she shakes her head. "No, no, he wouldn't do that. He's a good leader. H-he saved my life!" She turns away, whimpering softly. "H-he's a good leader..."
Biting back a retort, Rhino settles on a reminder. "Stay still please. We want the sealant to at least semi-harden without any holes." His mind observes the nymph before him with an honest sense of dread, both for what he knows hurting her, and what she knows hurting him.
She doesn't respond, simply staring down at her injured hoof. She appears almost listless, as if she's shut out the world around her.
"Well... while that's settling, let me look at the other injuries to see if any of them are bad or if they'll just need a small bit of care." He walks around to her side, noting that the cracks appear over various parts of her body, including some on her back legs and shoulders, the most clustered area seems to be barrel and the plates changeling's have where a pony's ribs would be. The web of cracks extends from her side and head under her chest and stomach. He grimaces as he looks at all this, wondering how much pain she was in and knowing he's going to need a lot of supplies.
She glances at him as he moves around her, but otherwise doesn't acknowledge him. She takes a sucker from the jar on the counter, popping it into her mouth. She then pulls it back out, unwraps it, and starts sucking on it once more.
He walks back to her front, nodding as he looks at the worst injury. He grabs the gauze bandages and starts to wrap the limb thickly so as to dissuade movement that could impede healing.
She doesn't respond at first, her leg hanging limp from his magic. Finally, as he gets near the end, she says something. "...it...it was a long fall...I hit the side of the cliff a few times..." She flexes her wings and squirms a bit, obviously uncomfortable.
"I guess you're lucky you didn't crack things any worse than you did then..." The tension in the room is practically tangible as he finishes. As he decides what to work on next, Rhino makes the choice to at least get one thing out of the way first. "Listen... about Mimic..."
She tenses, her voice shaky as she speaks. "He saved me. I know he did." She taps the edge of the table she's on. "He provided a diversion when I almost got caught. Still don't know how he did it, though..."
As he looks her over, he responds quietly. "What happened?"
She bites her lip and, pulling the sucker out of her mouth, responds. "I was outside the hive, training in an attempt to get better...I tried to plant myself in a backwater town..." She closes her eyes, sighing quietly. "...one of the farmers became suspicious...was keeping so close an eye on me, I couldn't even plan to leave without looking suspicious...and then..." She trails off, unsure whether or not she should continue.
Rhino tries to guess the rest. "Things went downhill?"
"...no, actually..." She looks up at him, a bittersweet smile on her lips. "...I hear somepony yell about a changeling in the fields...everyone ran off to check it out...all but one colt..." She absently runs her hoof along the bindings. "He told me to follow him, and I did...we ran into the forest and he...he changed into his true self..." She blushes slightly. "...he said I was special...that he would like my help, my trust...I immediately agreed..." She tilts her head, gesturing to him. "...wouldn't you do the same?"
"Maybe... it's just difficult to envision him in that light with what I saw of him..." He sighs. "I guess maybe it was too much to hope that he was all bad..."
"Not everything is in black and white..." She taps her chin, thinking a bit. "...he became General just a month afterwards, though...I found that a bit strange..." She shrugs. "...I mean, he skipped a large number of ranks, so I can only assume he beat the previous General..."
"Ah..." He nods as he decides what to do now. "Can you flip over onto your back for me?"
She nods and does as told.
"Alright..." He rears up, placing his forehooves on the table just so he can get a better view. "Just a small bit of disinfectant and sealant should do the trick..." He grabs the potent liquid.
"If you say so..." She puts her candy back in her mouth, hoping it would keep herself focused on something other than the pain.
He notices her looking away. "Hey, it's fine. These aren't open, so I'm just making sure nothing gets trapped in the sealant. If anything you'll probably just feel cold."
"That's good..." She goes silent once more, likely still feeling a little awkward around him.
He starts applying the sterile fluid, letting the silence persist for a minute. "So... you decided to live here, huh?"
She nods, her eyes focusing on the ceiling. "I...I wanted to start a new life...didn't think I'd run into you on the second day..."
"Second day?" He reaches for the sealant. "You aren't one of the changelings that's been here a while?"
"No, I'm not." She sighs, shaking her head. "I moved in yesterday afternoon..."
As he puts a thin layer on her stomach, he continues. "Well, aside from the cliff incident, how are you liking things?"
She blinks, looking at him in confusion. "...cliff..." Her eyes widen and she nods. "Oh, everything has been fine. I haven't met anyone else, yet, though...I did try to say hi to this one mint-green mare..." She rubs the side of her head. "...she ran away before I could say anything..."
"Lyra... not the worst choice, but not a great one. She's scared of changelings." He finishes the area and looks at her face. "Any injuries on the inside of your legs I need to look at before I ask you to stand up so I can wrap you and get the rest?"
"I don't think there is..." She rolls over and climbs off the table, muttering to herself. "...they didn't get that part..."
His ears flick. "Did you say something?"
"Nothing!" She bites her lip, nervous. "Nothing important, I mean."
"...if you say so..." He crouches down and brings the stuff over to himself as he starts working on one of the spots on the outside of her hindleg. "Try not to kick me if I tickle you or something."
"I'm not ticklish." She looks at him, smirking slightly. "You don't have to worry about that."
"Good to know." His horn lights up as the roll of bandages starts rolling around her torso, covering the injured plates. After he finishes her leg, he looks at her again. "Can you move your tail a bit? I need to be able to get the bandages all the way around your leg."
She quirks an eyebrow at him. "Is that the real reason?" She smirks but does as told, moving her tail to one side.
He chuckles as he starts wrapping. "Yes it is, thankfully for both our sakes as I'm not sure what Gel would do if I had alternate motives and you were complying anyway."
"Likely the same as any jealous mare - assault me and tell me to stay away from you." She sighs, shaking her head. "Frankly, I don't think I'd blame her..."
At the subject of jealousy, Rhino remembers something. "You know, you never did tell me who that crush of yours was."
She grimaces, lowering her head. "...I...I thought it was obvious..."
His ears fold back. "Oh... what... what ended up happening to him anyway?"
"I don't know..." She sighs dejectedly. "...Port took him to see the Queen and...he never returned..."
Rhino doesn't know how to respond to this, so he maintains his silence as he wraps. When he finishes, he looks at her. "Did I get all of them, Miss... I don't actually know what to call you..."
"My number is 314." She shrugs half-heartedly. "I don't really have a name..."
He comments. "You could always make one if you wanted to, Equestria has a very good alias system."
"I...I can?" She tilts her head to one side. "I wouldn't even know where to begin..."
He walks around her, trying to see if he missed anything. "Twilight has a book on it in the library. You could try there. I think I got everything... are there any other spots you want me to look at?"
She shakes her head. "I don't think so..." She shrugs slightly, heading towards the door. "I'll go pay your wife, now..."
A small slip of paper slips out from one of the nymph's wings, drawing the stallion's eye as it flutters to the ground. He picks it up, his eyes widening as he looks up after the injured changeling and quickly follows her.
Gel turns her attention from the nymph to her husband, smiling warmly at him. "She tells me you were very caring. I'm glad to hear that." She turns as the door jingles, the nymph hightailing it out of there. She looks at the bits on the counter, frowning slightly. "That's strange...she didn't even wait for her change..."
"I think I know why..." His voice trail off. "First though, what did Ruby end up needing?"
"She wanted her diaper changed." She giggles, shaking her head. "Then she wanted me to read her a story before she fell asleep." She gestures to where a certain silver fox has curled up around the pink filly.
Rhino smiles at the sight, leaning down and giving Ruby a kiss on the head, causing her to shift a bit in her sleep. His thought fall back to the paper he found, causing him to pull Gel off her seat and into a passionate kiss.
She happily kisses him back, giggling as it ends. "Not that I didn't enjoy it, but may I ask what brought that about, love?"
He doesn't answer, instead he closes his eyes and rests his forehead against her as he poses his own question. "You now I love you and Ruby, right? And that I'd never let anything hurt either of you?"
"Of course I do." She frowns slightly. "Rhino, what's the matter? You're starting to worry me..."
He brings the card out from his pocket and shows it to her, the small bit of teal on it shining in the light. "She dropped this..."
"She did?" She looks closely at it. "Why did you return...it..." Her eyes widen, her body trembling in unmasked fear. "...o-oh my..."
On the small card is a simple message. 'Ponies Against Love Suckers. Fighting to rid Equestria of the changeling parasites.'
She drops the card, shaking. "...I knew she didn't fall off a cliff...why didn't she tell us the truth?" She sniffs, rubbing her nose with a hoof. "We could've helped her...possibly told Twilight about it..."
“I don't know... maybe they told her not to... it looked like there was more than one of them that got her, judging by the injuries..." He sighs as he brings Gel closer to him. "It was bad enough when there were a few. Now that they're organized..."
"...who knows how bad it might get..." She groans, leaning against him for comfort. "...I guess it was too much to hope they'd eventually let us be..."
"Maybe we'll get lucky and it's still only a few ponies..." He looks at the card again before stowing it in his bag. "Of course, we have no idea who actually attacked her, until then... I don't know there;s much we can do."
"...you're right..." She glances at their daughter, her expression hardening almost imperceptibly. "...we can make sure Ruby's safe...and we can let Twilight know about them. That much we can do." She taps her chin, thinking out loud. "Maybe we can modify that detection system of hers. Use it to keep an eye on our kind..." Her voice trails off as she moves over to the desk, pulling out a clipboard to write everything down.
Rhino looks proudly at her. "Not quite sure how that would work, but I'm sure between the two of you, you could come up with something." His thoughts wander to the card again and he smirks. "Though, at least they chose a memorable acronym."
"Kind of ironic, if you ask me." She looks at him, twirling a pen in her magic. "PALS that use violent methods. Who needs enemies?"
"Yeah..." He looks down and smiles genuinely at Ruby kicking in her sleep. "Still, we'll do everything we can."
***
The day drags on, the slight dour mood caused by the simple piece of paper seeming to bleed and compound into the very weather itself. Past it's zenith on the horizon, the last of the sun's rays only serve to barely cast light through the layers of dark clouds overhead. The wind barely tilts the downpour of rain as it covers the land, interrupted sporadically by arcs of lightning to be always followed by it's thundering companion.
The Nexus household is locked tight, the shades down and curtains drawn in all rooms to counter the storm's efforts. The family itself is gathered in the living room, each riding out the storm in their own way.
Ruby snuggles up against the familiar form of Mercury. She babbles and coos as the fox entertains her with his tail, trying to catch it before he pulls it away, only to repeat the pattern seconds later.
A bolt of lightning illuminates a nearby window, the deep rumble of thunder soon following. The filly jumps in fear, whimpering softly, but the fox curls up and nuzzles her, calming her down like each time before.
Gel, instead of making sure Ruby is calm, squeaks with the flash, tightly clinging to Rhino's body. She does blush from this, but her need for comfort outweighs any embarrassment she might have felt.
Rhino doesn't say anything. He just looks over at Gel and gives her a quick kiss on the lips. As a hoof rises to stroke her mane comfortingly, his eyes return to his book.
She leans into his strokes, smiling warmly from the gesture. She glances to her left, pouting at the two pets sleeping there. Is it wrong to envy them for being able to sleep through this?
He shrugs, leaning and nuzzling her. Somethings can just sleep through this, some can't. I probably could too, but it's not nearly late enough yet. Plus... I have to keep an eye on my two favorite girls.
She smirks, playfully batting his nose. Flatterer. She sighs, shaking her head as the turns to the blinds. I wonder why they scheduled a storm this big, though...aren't they worried about the animals out there?
Might be getting in one of the last few storms of the season for the crops or something. At least they give warning, right? He leans the other direction and nuzzles Ruby, the filly cooing at him as he returns to Gel. I've got you , nothing to worry about.
I never doubted you for a second. She glances at the window behind them as the wind picks up, frowning slightly at the tree branch clicking against the glass. Still, I feel bad for anyone caught outside in this...
Fair enough...but I don't think anypony would be out in that... He shifts his hoof from stroking her mane to draping over her and suddenly bringing her close against him as he starts kissing her neck and nipping occasionally.
She gasps and coos, her eyes fluttering closed from the sensations. She pushes him away, playfully smiling. Naughty stallion. We should at least wait until Ruby's asleep... She nods towards their filly, who is currently in a pouncing position, crouched as she approaches her father's tail.
He smiles as he watches the foal creep closer. Fine fine, you're right... but I'm taking at least 30 minutes tonight to lay there with you, showing you how much I love you in all those small ways that drive you crazy.
She blushes brightly, smiling warmly at his words. I look forward to it, love.
As soon as she finishes that thought, the pink filly leaps at him. She successfully snags his tail, happily chewing on the tip.
Rhino chuckles as he looks at the filly. "Why do I feel like you pounce on me more than your mom?"
She doesn't answer, instead looking up at him as she continues to chew. She raises a hoof, reaching for him with a small whine.
His heart melts as it always does, and he picks her up, cradling her in his forelegs as he turns so that she is between her mother and him. He leans down and nuzzles her, even as she is still latched onto the tip of his tail which barely reaches around this far. "Don't worry, we're right here."
She laughs brightly, letting go of his tail to hug and nuzzle his snout. The fox walks over to her and curls up next to her. He appears to be sleeping but has one eye cracked open, keeping a watchful eye on her.
Suddenly, the silence is shattered, not by thunder as it had been before, but by a series of crashes against the front door.
As Gel squeaks and grabs onto him while Ruby whines and does the same, Rhino looks towards the door in confusion. "Who could that be, especially out in all this?" He starts getting up to answer the door.
Gel yelps as she's lifted up, quickly letting go and getting to her hooves. "Were you not expecting anypony?" She walks next to him as they near the door. "I know I wasn't..."
"No... I wouldn't invite somepony over without telling you..." He reaches the door as another series of loud knocks crash against it.
"Then who is it?" She pulls the door open slightly, trying to peek out.
As the door cracks, a voice from outside calls out. "Hey Rhino! You gonna let me in or do you want me to become a seapony?"
The stallion starts as he hears the statement. "It couldn't be..."
Gel tilts her head, confused. "...couldn't be...who?" She opens the door the rest of the way, wanting to know what caused him to react in such a way.
There, standing on the porch is a red earth pony just as tall as Rhino, though more muscular. His black mane and short tail are plastered to him from the rain. As soon as his orange eyes spot the green stallion, he quickly enters the house and shuts the door behind him with a swift kick, drowning out the sounds of the elements as he sighs in relief.
Rhino, meanwhile, looks at the pony in shock. "Hydro? What... what are you doing here?"
Hydro looks up at the unicorn. "What? Can't come visit my best friend in the middle of a storm now?"
The navy nymph looks from one stallion to the other, beyond confused. "...love? How do you know this pony?" She eyes the earth pony cautiously. ...did you go through a sexy phase, or something?
Rhino coughs as he faces Gel incredulously. What?! No! No no no no... He composes himself and turns to Gel. "Gel, this is Hydro Pump, my best friend throughout most of my life and my brother in all but blood."
...now I feel awkward. She sheepishly smiles, holding a hoof out to the red pony. "N-nice to meet you, Hydro. I-I'm Gel."
The earth pony reaches out a wet hoof and shakes the offered one. "So you're the Gel I heard about when i was finally able to get Rhino's letters? Nice to finally meet the one this guy decided to pick after all these years."
She giggles, brushing a lock of her mane behind her ear. "I'll take that as a compliment. Let me get you a towel." She turns to leave the room, throwing a thought to her stallion. You sent him a number of letters, but this is my first time hearing of him? Is that correct?
Umm.... yes? Heheh... Rhino thinks nervously to Gel as he looks to Hydro, who is occupied with trying to keep his dripping to a minimum.
Gel soon returns with a fluffy towel, levitating it over to the earth pony. "Here you go..." Her voice trails off as her gaze falls on his side. She holds up a shaky hoof. "...H-Hydro? W-what's that?"
"What?" The pony looks down at his side to see a fairly large patch of his side covered in abrasions. "Oh, that... had a bit of an incident on the way here. Really weird..."
Rhino tilts his head. "What do you mean? What happened?"
Hydro puts the towel over his head. "Let me dry off first, then I'll tell you..."
The nymph nods, turning to the hall closet. I'm glad Flick provided us with more of that medicine. She glances at Rhino, then a little further down. Also, Ruby is still clinging to your foreleg.
Rhino looks down and sure enough, their little filly is attached to his foreleg with all four of her limbs. She looks curiously at the newcomer, but mostly just nuzzles her father's leg as she sits there. Rhino chuckles and picks her up, holding her against his chest with one foreleg just the way she likes it so she can snuggle against him.
Hydro finishes drying himself off and offers the damp towel back to Gel. "Thanks very much for that. Wasn't looking forward to being a soggy pony for any length of time."
"Kind of strange, considering your name." She giggles as she takes the towel, holding the container of salve up for him to see. "Would you like to apply this, yourself, or would you prefer someone else to?"
"I'll just slap it on myself, thanks." Hydro takes the container in his mouth gratefully.
The unicorn stallion gestures to the living room. "Have a seat. You can tell us what happened there."
All of them retire to the living room, Rhino, Gel, and Ruby taking the couch as Hydro takes the chair. The earth pony starts rubbing the salve onto his side.
Mercury leaps up onto the arm of the chair, sniffing at the stallion curiously.
Hydro looks at the kit. "Right... this is...Mercury! That's the name. I bet you enjoy having free roam of a big house like this." He reaches a hoof up to scratch the fox's ears.
He twitches his ears, licking the hoof. He immediately gags, trying to wipe a green gel off his tongue.
Gel speaks up. "You probably should have used your clean one, Hydro."
The red stallion laughs as he uses his other hoof to pet Mercury. "Right, sorry about that. Right-hoofed, tend to use it for everything." He finishes applying the salve, looking at it with a small frown before looking over at Rhino with a smirk. "At least this stuff would partially blend into your coat. Stands out pretty well on mine."
The father waves a hoof, which causes Ruby to pounce on it when it comes down. "You can't be going green, Hydro. How would ponies ever tell us apart at a glance then?" The two friends laugh at the old joke that builds on their similar faces and manestyles.
Gel looks at the two of them, tilting her head to one side. "...wow...I'm surprised I didn't see that sooner..." She giggles, shaking her head playfully. "I'm glad I'm not colorblind...of course, that's pretty rare for us, but I digress."
Rhino chuckles. "Yeah, let's get back to the important thing. What happened to you, dude?" He gestures to the stallion's side.
Hydro looks up as he recalls. "Well, like I said, it was weird..."
***
Hydro grumbles a bit to himself as he looks overhead into the pouring clouds. It's easy enough to get the forecast for a local area, but getting the schedule for other towns is almost impossible due to the various factors that affect the planning. he just happened to be unlucky enough to arrive during a storm. At least his bags are waterproof.
He walks down the path towards his friend's house, looking forward to seeing him again after all this time.
Suddenly, he finds himself flying to the side from a large impact to his left side. He slams into a nearby tree and falls down to the ground.
"Ow... what the hay?" Hydro shakes his head and picks himself up, mud plastering one side of him, but quickly washing off from the rain. He looks to see what could have possibly hit him.
A small form stands in the middle of the dirt road, growling at him. Bright, glowing silver eyes glare at him, and a buzzing sound can be heard.
The earth pony frowns as he glares at the form. "I don't know what you are, but back off. You won't be making a meal out of me."
"Who says I want anything from you?"
As the sentence ends, lightning flashes. The sky becomes as bright as the day, if only for a brief second. Even so, that's long enough for the stallion to get a good view of his assailant.
An almost-white changeling, skinny to the point of looking starved. Her wings flap behind her, faltering every few seconds. Her face, while filled with anger, also holds a shade of exhaustion, of desperation.
She takes a step forward, stumbling slightly before catching herself, her teeth bared as menacingly as possible in her current state. "I will keep you...from hurting her. You hear me?"
"What the..." The eerie appearance of the changeling throwing him for a loop. If he were a more superstitious pony, he would say it almost looked like a ghost, but last he checked, ghosts can't tackle. "What are you talking about? Hurt who?"
"You know who!" She stomps the ground and cries out, her leg buckling beneath her. "Don't act so naive...you're not that innocent..." She looks up at him, her eyes glowing in the darkness. "...though I will say, your acting's gotten better..."
"Look kid... lady... whatever the heck you are, I have no idea what you're on about, but you already got your free shot in. Crazy or not, I will hit back if you do it again." He paws the ground to show he means business.
"...I guess that's fair...but the question is..." She tilts her head to one side eyes narrowing dangerously. "...can you?"
A pillar shoots out of the ground under his hoof. The rapid movement flips him onto his back, where she puts a heavy hoof on his forehead. "No cheap tricks from you, this time."
He swings one of his own hooves, hitting her in the head as he flips back onto his hooves. "I warned you. No matter how crazy you are, I'll hit back."
She staggers forward, groaning quietly. "I'm not crazy, asshole!" She quickly shakes her head, trying to focus on him. "And when did you learn cloning techniques? I swore earth ponies couldn't use magic..." She falls to the ground, holding her head. "Damn splitting headaches...hate them..." Her voices trails off into unintelligible mumbling.
Hydro looks at the changeling with a mixture of pity and annoyance. As she doesn't make another move to attack him, he shakes his head and get back on the path, starting to walk again.
His hoof sinks into the mud, stuck. "I'm not done." She stands up and wobbles over, grimacing in pain, one eye focused on him. "You should know that you always respect your elders." She stands next to him, sluggishly raising a hoof. "I'm not...going to lose again..." She lashes out, but ends up just patting his side. She falls down, groaning weakly. "...damn this...body..."
She looks up at him, breathing heavily. "...go ahead...do it...I know you want to..."
He looks down at her, his face unreadable. "No, I don't. I'm not going to care for someone that attacked me, but you aren't just going to lay down and die either. I don't know who you want, but it isn't me. Go back to where you came from." He frees his hoof with a yank and continues walking."
She stares after him, her horn lighting up once more. As soon as her aura grabs his tail, it disperses. She closes her eyes, groaning quietly. "...not him..."
***
"...so then I kept going and got here. Huge house by the way." Hydro remarks as he finishes the story.
Gel blinks, scratching the side of her head. "How strange...I'd almost say she sounds like..." She trails off and looks to her stallion, concerned. "...maybe she is...you know...color blind..."
"Maybe... I have to say though, I'm not happy to hear she's still around after the last time she came here..." He looks down at Ruby, who had switched her attention to her mother during the story and was now playing with the changeling's tail.
Her tail moves around to keep the filly entertained. The nymph attached to it solemnly nods, tapping her chin. "...but she sounds like she's in worse condition...didn't you say she looked like an ordinary young changeling?" She gestures to the red pony. "He described what would best be called a ghost..."
Rhino thinks. "Well actually, the one I saw was silver too, guess I just forgot to mention that part... sorry, wasn't in the best state of mind that day..."
Hydro tilts his head. "Wait, you've seen that thing before?"
The green stallion nods. "Unfortunately..."
Gel pales, her eye twitching slightly. "...s-silver?"
He looks at her. "Yeah... is that important? Did you know a silver foal before or something?"
She jolts, quickly shaking her head. "N-no, I don't know any silver foal..." She closes her eyes, as if trying to focus on something.
Ruby looks up at her mom, sensing something wrong. She rears up and whines to get her to look at her.
She smiles at the filly, tenderly nuzzling her. "Don't worry, sweetie. Mommy's just being silly." She turns her attention to Rhino. "It brought to mind another silver changeling...but it couldn't be her."
"If you say so..." Rhino turns to Hydro. "Still you got off better than I did."
The earth pony waves off his words. "I got her when she was weak, plus you know I was always the more durable between the two of us. Enough on that though, it's been five years since I've seen you! I only get your letters when we come back to Canterlot, so you can imagine how surprised I was when I came back about a year ago to get one saying you married a changeling and in the process, helped her start a social reform that hasn't been seen in decades! What happened to you wanting a quiet life?"
"We still do." She shrugs nonchalantly. "The social reform was a side-effect. A happy one, but still simply a side-effect."
Hydro chuckles. "Of course it was... I see you finally got started on that family too." He nods in Ruby's direction. "Did not see pink coming."
Rhino laughs too. "True, but I think it fits her perfectly." He looks to Gel. "Mind if I take her a moment?"^
She shakes her head, gently nudging the filly towards him. "It would be selfish of me if I did."
"Thanks, love." The father picks up the foal and takes her over to the other pony. He sits down in front of Hydro and points Ruby to him. "Ruby, this is you Uncle Hydro."
The filly looks at the stallion in front of her. "Bubul Babo."
Gel laughs brightly, getting up and walking over to them. "So close, sweetie." She turns to Rhino, wagging a hoof at him in mock-chastisement. "Silly daddy,
trying to teach her difficult words."
The silver fox drops down onto the floor, padding up and sniffing at the filly. He nuzzles her cheek, smiling warmly in his own way.
"Meh, I can't blame him for trying to get her to say my name..." the red stallion smirks at Rhino, "Although I'm fairly certain he knows I would never let him live it down if it worked."
The unicorn averts his eyes as he brings Ruby back to him, not saying a word.
"No offense, but, considering your name," she gestures to the kit as he touches noses with Ruby, "I think she'd have better luck saying 'Mercury'. I know he'd like that to bethe what happens." She smirks, stroking his head with a hoof.
"...five years..." She looks at him, confused. "...wait, why didn't you receive those letters sooner? What was going on that you couldn't go back to Canterlot? For that matter..." She leans forward, eyebrow quirked. "...why couldn't you come sooner, if you got his letters a year ago? I'm honestly confused."
The stallion smiles. "Well, Rhino knows, but in short: my job."
Rhino explains. "You see, Hydro here has actually been working as an engineer for hire for airships."
Hydro elaborates. "You can't just bring in an airship for repair, because as soon as it's not working right, you're heading towards whatever you were flying over. So, they hire ponies like me to stay on the airships during their trips to perform any and all maintenance. It pays well, but I have to go where the ship goes, and we can never stay in a town long enough for me to forward my mail there, so it all just waits for me in a pile in Canterlot."
"...that...sounds like an interesting job..." Gel taps her chin thoughtfully. "I feel like Luster would be able to help with that...of course, she'd prefer to do her music." She shrugs. "Still, I have to wonder...are you here on vacation, Hydro?"
He lets out a yawn as he curls up a bit in the chair. "Hmm... technically yes, I am on paid vacation right now. Luckily I don't take many days off so I've got plenty to use while I sort out some things."
"Some things?" She glances at Rhino, confused. "What does he mean by that?"
Her husband shrugs as he looks to his friend. "I have no idea... this is the first I've heard of this."
As Hydro yawns again, he smiles and gets up out of the chair. "And as much as I'd love to tell you, apparently this goop of yours makes me tired so I'm going to taunt both of you by not telling you. Don't worry though, I'll be around town for a bit. Just need to find a good inn..." He looks at the window where the rain can still be heard pelting it. "Hopefully close by."
"You don't have to do that." She elbows her husband's side, nodding toward the red pony. "We could lend him the guest room, right?"
Rhino nods. "Sure, as many times as I stayed over at his house during high school, he practically has to."
Hydro yawns again. "Well... alright then. I guess that's that." He smirks. "Mind pointing me to it before I decide to just take the chair?"
"It's right down the hall, past the staircase." She stands and stretches, yawning softly. "If you want, I could take you there, instead. Wouldn't want you wandering into a bathroom by mistake, would we?"
The green stallion looks off to the side. "Yeah... but what pony would ever do something silly like that?"
She smacks his side with her tail, quirking an eyebrow at him. "What was that, love?"
"I didn't say anything, I was playing with Ruby." He looks down at the foal. "Isn't that right?" Her retort is simply to blow a raspberry at him.
"I don't think she believes you." She shakes her head, turning back to the other stallion. "Anyways, would you like me to?"
Hydro nods. "Yes please."