//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Make believe // Story: Warm Hearts // by Rhino //------------------------------// Friendship is an odd and wonderful thing. From youngest to oldest, any combination of two beings can experience it. Whether it be a mouse and a lion, or simply a pony with another pony, most all can agree that friendship just seems to make everything better. As the sun peeks through the window of a modest house located on one of the wooded areas just outside Canterlot, one would imagine the two small sleeping forms in the bed would agree with this sentiment wholeheartedly. The slightly larger form, an emerald green unicorn colt, adjusts slightly as the sun hits him. The arm lightly gripped around the smaller navy form beside him shifts for a moment before settling again into comfort. She sighs softly, shifting just enough for her smooth arm to lay on his cloth-covered chest. She nuzzles him gently, her ear twitching slightly. A small smile forms on the colt's face. His body acts reflexively, nuzzling the girl back. In another room of the house, the colt's father awakens. The sounds of his hoofsteps pass by the room the two sleeping forms, heading to the kitchen to fix his morning coffee, content to let his son sleep in, at least for a little while. After all, it's summer, so why not? Feeling the pony's nose on her head, she giggles softly, leaning up and gently nipping his snout with her tiny fangs. Not expecting something like that, and certainly not used to fangs, he lets out a huff of air. The navy girl squeaks, waking up immediately. She coughs lightly, grimacing and sticking her tongue out at the unwelcome morning sensation. She looks at her friend and, seeing his sleeping face, smiles warmly. She lays her head back down on his chest, waiting for him to wake up. With her head on his chest, she gets a small warning of his heart starting to pump a little faster just before his chocolate brown eyes crack open. They simply look at the ceiling with that thousand-yard stare of one trying to get their thoughts together. She grins in happiness, hugging him tightly, speaking to him in a half-whisper. "Morning, Rhino..." His eyes widen at the sudden tight hug, but he soon smiles, giving her a light one in return. "Morning Gel... Do you always start mornings with a hug?" "Not always..." She yawns softly, nuzzling him. "Mom or Dad usually wake me up before they leave for work... I barely have enough time to get in a nip on their nose..." "So that's what that weird feeling was..." He rubs his nose lightly with a hand. "Never really heard of doing that before..." "We do it all the time back in the hive..." She giggles, playfully tapping his nose. "I guess I should've thought before doing it to you?" His eyes cross as they try to look at the spot she touched. "It's fine, it was just new."Letting out a small yawn, he stretches. "Did you sleep well? Have good dreams?" "Yes, I did... the best in a while..." She sits up, running a hand through her sapphire mane. "And you?" "Yeah, can't even remember if I dreamed or not." He watches her play with her mane a bit before his ears flick at the familiar sound of his dad stirring his coffee. "I guess Dad's up." Gel squeaks, glancing at the door with wide eyes. "H-he won't... come in here, will he?" She glances at the mess of clothes below the window, clearly nervous. "Well, he likes to have his coffee first in the mornings, but since Mom's on her trip he's probably gonna peek in to make sure I'm awake in a bit." He looks to the clothes. "We could always just move those I guess." "P-probably a good idea..." She giggles, lifting the only non-ragged part of her original clothing, her small white cotton undergarment, in her magic. "Wouldn't want him thinking you wear these, right?" He grins. "Yeah... I definitely don't wear girl clothes." Looking around his room, he thinks. "Where do you think we should put them? Outside the window?" "Maybe the dress, but these are still good, if slightly muddy..." She taps her chin, thinking a bit. "Do you think we could put it in your mom's dirty clothes?" "Maybe... Their basket is in their room though, so I'll have to sneak it in once Dad goes outside with his third cup of coffee." He looks at her apologetically. "And it might be a few days before they do whites..." "It's fine, Rhino." She smiles, shrugging slightly. "I'll just use yours, until then." Her ear twitches, hearing the sound of approaching hoofsteps. "Um... s-should I hide, now?" He nods very quickly. Gel quickly glances around, and, spotting the closet door, hurries inside, silently yet quickly closing it behind her. As Rhino hears the hoofsteps closing in, his eyes widen as he sees two things that could blow the game for them. Well, one isn't as bad as the other, but fixing it could still prevent future problems. Lighting up his horn, the colt quickly yanks the blanket he had shoved under the door to prevent his father from seeing he had been up late last night. Putting it back on the shelf in a wad, he tosses the girl's dirty clothes with another flick of magic just in time for the door to crack open. A dark blue hand on the knob quietly opens the door as the rest of the unicorn peeks in. Seeing his son awake, the stallion smiles. "Nice to see you up this early when you don't have to be." He follows up this statement with a sip from the cup in his other hand. "Good morning, Dad." The emerald colt responds, keeping his body as relaxed as possible to avoid getting nervous about what he's hiding. Chuckling lightly, the mustached unicorn continues. "Good morning, Rhino. I'm making a bit of breakfast, what are you hungry for?" "Toast please." He responds simply. "Oh, with butter and jelly!" "Alright, should be done in a few minutes." He turns starting to close the door behind him. "And don't forget to change out of your pajamas before you go outside." "I won't!" The colt answers before the door clicks closed and the hoofsteps walk away. The closet door cracks open, revealing the changeling behind it. She scrunches up her face, looking at him in confusion. "Butter and jelly? How can that taste good?" "How can it not?" He reasons back. "Melted butter tastes good on toast, jelly tastes good on toast. Together, they still taste good on toast." He slips out of the bed, heading towards her. "I... can't really argue with that..." She shrugs, stepping out to meet him halfway. "Of course, I haven't had any of that..." He looks at her strangely. "Don't you eat breakfast?" "I do. Just... never had toast." She sheepishly smiles. "Does that make sense, Rhino?" "Yeah, you're just a cereal or eggs pony I guess." He shrugs, stepping around her and looking into his closet for something to wear. "I, um, never had those, either..." She frowns, scratching the side of her head. "I normally just drink my love, and I'm good..." The colt stops, looking at her with confusion. "What? Drink love? Nopony can drink love, it's a feeling." "I've done both..." Gel stares back, just as confused. "So you've never had love, before?" "Well... Mom and Dad love me, so I have love all the time." He scrunches his face. "But it's a feeling... you can't drink it... you can't even see it... right?" "When Mom gives me it, it's a white liquid." She moves over to the window, bending over the sill to look at her clothes. "I... don't know how else to describe it... maybe it'd be better to show you it?" "That sounds cool." He comments as he goes back to looking at his closet, after a moment he picks out a plain maroon shirt, taking it off the hanger and putting it on the bed. "So, I know it might be strange..." She shifts the clothes about, looking for something. "But I can borrow some pants, right? Or maybe some shorts?" "Well, yeah, if you want to. I guess that shirt isn't really long enough to be a dress." He goes over to his chest of drawers, looking in one of the bottom ones. "They might be a bit big on you though." "I don't mind. I'll just use some of my dress as a belt." She comes back up and turns, smiling brightly. "Found it!" She walks forward, a midnight-black container and a strip of her dress in her hands. Head still in the drawer, the colt replies. "Cool... hey, did you want shorts or pants?" "Um... either one would work, I think." She glances at his tail, curious. Reaching forward, she runs her hand through it, frowning slightly. "Aww... it's not that fluffy... still feels nice, though..." His tail flicks a few times as he comes up with one pair of shorts and one of pants. "Well, I did just sleep on it. Once I wash it, it gets softer. Here," he sets the shorts down near her, "I'm taller than you, so my pants would probably just trip you." He slips off his sleeping shirt easily, throwing it in the basket in the closet. "Good point." She picks up the shorts and slips them on, buttoning up the front and the part that goes around her tail. As soon as she lets go, they slide down slightly. "Yea, definitely need a belt." She sighs and, setting the container down on his bed, lifts up her shirt so she can start threading the strip of cloth through the loops. Rhino, meanwhile, puts on his shirt. After a moment, he repeats the process, except with his pants. Gel ties the cloth ends together into a knot, smiling brightly. "Done!" She walks over to the bookshelf, running a hand over the balled-up blanket there before moving to the books. "So, you like to read, too?" "Yep!" He chirps brightly. "I like reading fiction mostly. Adventure stories are usually fun." He finishes dressing and spots the container on the bed. "Is this the... love?" He taps the side gently. "Yep!" She glances over as it rolls a bit, the viewing window being revealed. "Please be careful with that... it's all I have on me..." He spots the liquid swishing about inside. "Hey, it looks like milk! Does it taste like it?" He looks to her. "I... I don't know." She frowns, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "I don't think I've tried milk, before... I've had apple juice, but it doesn't taste anything like that..." "I could bring you some milk when we go play." He looks at the container again. "Do you want to trade a taste of this for a glass of milk?" "I guess that's fair." She nodes, smiling softly. "You can go ahead and try some, right now, if you'd like." "Okay." He takes the thermos, unscrewing the cap and swishing the contents a moment before taking a mouthful and swallowing. The colt stands there as the taste lingers on his tongue, his lips smacking a few times. Gel takes the black cylinder from him, carefully closing it back up before looking up at him. "So? What do you think, Rhino?" "It tastes weird... like air and sugar and... I don't know..." He stares blankly at the wall before his hand goes to his stomach. "I feel funny... but, it feels good too..." "Are you okay?" She puts the thermos back on the bed, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Do you... need to lie down, for a bit?" His spacey gaze goes down to her hand, then follows her arm all the way to her face. "No... I feel... fine..." He suddenly steps toward her, bringing her into a warm, affectionate hug. She blinks, surprised by the action, before happily returning the embrace. "This is the first time... you started the hug..." She giggles, gently nuzzling his chest. "I like it..." "Me too... hugs are nice." He laughs quietly as he nuzzles her back, looking at the clock behind them. "Aww... I gotta go eat soon..." "Well, we can always continue later." She reluctantly pulls away, taking his hand and squeezing gently. "I know for a fact we can play a bit more, after you eat." He nods quickly. "Yeah, definitely." The smile he had turns into a small frown. "You gonna be okay while I'm eating?" "I'll be fine." She nods towards the bookcase, winking at him. "I have something to keep me busy while I wait." "Oh, right." He nods to booth himself and her. "Ok, well, I'm gonna go, but be sure to hide if you need to, okay?" He hugs her again. She giggles, gently nuzzling his cheek. "I will. Thank you for your concern..." "You're my friend right? I'm supposed to be worried about you." He nuzzles her back before breaking the hug and starting toward the door. As he puts a hand on it, he looks back at her again, feeling that odd feeling in his stomach again after he drank her stuff before suddenly going over and giving her one more hug. He ends it quickly, smiling at her before he quickly exits the room. Gel blinks, staring at the door blankly for a few seconds. She smiles softly and shakes her head, picking a book off the shelf and curling up on the bed to read. A short time later, the colt reenters the room. He shuts it quickly behind him as he sees the young changeling on the bed. "Enjoying the book?" She looks up at him, smiling and happily nodding. "Yep! I never heard of this series, before... but I'm really enjoying it!" Feeling another stomach twinge, which confuses him since he just ate, the colts walks over and nuzzle her. "Glad you like it. I guess we have something to do now at night or if we don't want to or can't play outside." She tilts her head to one side, feeling a slight tingle run through her body. "I guess so..." She smiles, sitting up and gently hugging him, returning the nuzzle. "So, what would you like to do today, Rhino?" "Umm... I dunno. But here, let me go sneak this in the laundry real quick, and maybe you can think of something." He gives her a squeeze hug quickly before grabbing her one remaining bit of clothing not borrowed from him and quietly sneaking out the door. She hugs her legs to her chest, waiting for him to return. He does so in a surprisingly short amount of time, a grin on his face. "Well, that was easy." He walks over and sits next to her. "Think of anything?" "I dunno..." She shrugs, resting her head on her knees. "There's one thing, but... have you ever played make-believe, before?" "Like what, pretend?" He asks. "Like daydreaming but acting it out?" "Yea, that." She smiles, gesturing to him. "So, have you, Rhino?" "Well... not really." He admits. "If you do something like that by yourself, you look silly. I mostly just daydream." "Then let's play it together!" She giggles, draping her arm around his shoulder, if awkwardly. "That way, we'll both have fun and look silly together." She sticks her tongue out at him. He laughs. "Yeah, that sounds good." He looks to the window. "I guess you have to go out that way... let's make sure we don't rip more clothes this time." "Good idea." She stands up and walks over to it. Carefully placing her hands on the sill, she starts to move out, glancing at him and the thermos next to him. "You'll, um, hide that... right?" A curious eyebrow raises as he slides off the bed. "Do you not want to bring it with you? It's what you eat, right?" "I'm not hungry, right now." She giggles, waving at him as she lowers herself to the ground outside. "See you out here, soon!" He waves goodbye, stowing the container in the back of a drawer and heading through the house to meet up with her. Spotting his dad reading the paper in the kitchen and getting a small twinge from his stomach again, the colt stops and hugs him from behind. "Love you Dad..." A deep chuckle comes from the older unicorn as he returns the hug as best he can. "Love you too son, never forget that." "I won't!" He grabs a small bag of pre-made sandwiches and heads out the door, waving as he does so. "See you later!" With a returned wave from his dad, Rhino leaves the house, rounding the corner away from the door. He finds Gel trying to stuff her ruined dress into the trash can. However, some of the fabric is content to wrap itself around her legs and not let go, causing her some minor frustration. The colt chuckles as he approaches her. "Want some help?" He crouches down, looking at her legs to see why it isn't letting go. She sighs, resting her hands on the rim of the trashcan. "If it wouldn't be too much trouble... yes, please..." As he starts tugging on small bits of the cloth to undo the knot, he looks up at her quizzically. "So... you fell yesterday, you knocked over this trashcan, then your dress got torn, now you get something wrapped around your leg... is this a thing with you?" She pouts, turning away to hide her flushed cheeks. "I'm a little clumsy... you aren't going to laugh, are you, Rhino?" "Well, I was going to laugh a little, but not at you, at the fact that all this happens. I won't if you don't want to me to though..." He yanks once more on the cloth, which comes free with a slight ripping sound before he stands up, giving her another hug, that weird feeling in his stomach getting smaller. "I don't want you to be sad." She leans into his embrace after pushing the rest of the dress into the container, sighing softly. "I'm not sad, silly... I don't think I can be, with you..." She pulls away from him, smiling warmly and tapping his nose. "Shall we start the game?" "Sure! But umm... let's go towards the woods so Dad doesn't see us if he comes out." He motions to the trees that border most of his yard. She takes his hand, giggling brightly. "Sure! Let's go!" She rushes towards the woods, pulling him behind her in her excitement to play. Although he struggles to get his hooting at first, the young colt soon finds himself wrapped up in the girl's contagious excitement. He laughs out loud as he follows her, leaves crunching under both their hooves as they go. After a few minutes of traveling between trees and under the lush branches, they find themselves in a small clearing. Gel stops in the middle of the field, looking around and nodding to herself. "Perfect!" Rhino looks around, thinking that it is a nice spot, but still wondering what she has in mind. "Ok... now what?" "Now?" She turns around, beaming at him. "Now we imagine what we want! Action, adventure, mystery... the choice is ours!" She turns to the mountainside nearby, tilting her head. "That's... a big cliff..." He nods, a slight waver in his voice. "Yeah... I don't go over there..." "Probably good..." The navy changeling quickly faces him once more, smiling warmly. "So, which would you want to do first?" The unicorn shrugs his shoulders. "I dunno. It doesn't matter to me, they all sound fun. Why don't you pick first, since it was your idea?" "Well... maybe we can play something simple, for now." She tilts her head, a hand on her temple as she tries to think of one. "How good are you at... acting like royalty?" "Well... I don't actually know how royalty would act." He admits. "I always liked the thought of being a knight more." "That should work." She giggles, sitting on the ground before him. "Can you show me how your knight looks?" "Umm... ok..." He looks around a moment before spotting a decent sized rock. Walking over to it, he props one hoof up on it, scoops a stick from the ground, and points it dramatically in the air. His eyes narrow slightly and his mouth creases into a stern look to the sky. "Great!" She claps her hands, smiling warmly all the while. "You'd make a wonderful knight to protect a princess!" "Yeah..." He bashfully rubs the back of his head with a hand. "So, are you the princess then?" The girl blinks, tilting her head to one side. "Did you want me to be? I was just going to be a knight. Your partner, maybe?" "Oh, well that works too." He chuckles. "We can always do the other idea another time anyway." "Yep!" She smiles, picking up a stick of her own and holding it up. "Call me Sir Gel!" She pauses, frowning slightly. "Wait... that doesn't sound right." "Yeah... I don't think 'Sir' fits well on a girl." He offers an alternative. "Knight Gel, maybe?" "Better." She giggles, swishing the branch a bit as if swinging a sword. "Knight Gel of the Lunar Court! Together with her partner, Knight Rhino of the Solar Court!" She stops, turning to him questioningly. "What do you think?" "Umm..." The colt thinks for a moment to come up with a knightly response. "Huzzah!" Gel rolls her eyes, placing a hand on her hip. "I meant, what do you think about the titles?" He looks at her blankly. "That's what I was 'huzzah'ing at..." "Oh." She blushes brightly, embarrassed. "M-maybe you should be the leader of our duo? You seem like the kind who'd fit into the role." "Ok, umm... are you the one making up the stuff around us then?" He asks. "Like... you're the narrator, and I'm a character, but you're also a character once you're done being a narrator." "That's the plan!" She smiles, turning towards the empty field behind her. "Off to save the Princess!" "Ah, umm... Verily!" He motions forward dramatically with his stick before he chuckles nervously. "I'm running out of knight words for 'yeah'..." "We don't have to speak like knights, silly." She playfully whacks him in the head with her branch, making sure not to hurt him. "We just have to act like them!" "Isn't speaking like them part of acting like them?" He asks. "I, um..." She blinks, thinking about his words for a moment before sighing. "Good point. Maybe we can just not talk like them? I don't think I'd be very good at being a knight, otherwise." "That's fine then." He stands there awkwardly a moment before he gestures vaguely with his stick. "Umm... to the princess?" "To the cave of wonders!" She giggles, marching forward. "That's where the Princess was last reported to be!" "Right!" The colt quickly follows and catches up to the changeling, walking beside her as they go. His walk changes as they go, going from the carefree walk to a sort of half-march as he gets into character. "Halt!" She suddenly stops, pointing up at the sky. "Be careful, Sir Rhino! It's a sphinx!" "On your guard, Knight Gel. They can be fearsome, but usually do not attack unless provoked." His eyes narrow at one of the solitary clouds in the sky. She tilts her head, angling her ear towards the imaginary creature. She stays like this for a moment before turning to her friend, frowning slightly. "She wishes to challenge your intelligence, and says 'answer my riddle, and you may pass'." Intrigued both in character and out, the colt nods eagerly. "Excellent, it has been a while since I was last challenged with a riddle. Ask away." "She says..." Gel pauses, her ear turning to the clouds once more. "'You heard me before, yet you hear me again. Then I die, ‘til you call me again. What am I?'" She turns to him, waiting to see his reaction. "Hmm..." Rhino puts a hoof to his chin in thought as he works through it. He eyes dart around as he literally works through the links in his thoughts until he suddenly smiles. "You are an echo!" The small girl takes a step back, nervous. "The sphinx said... you got lucky." She scratches her head, confused. "You were right, but... now she wants me to answer one." He leans toward her, whispering. "Umm, how exactly is that going to work? Are you going to ask yourself or do I need to make one?" "You'll make it, of course." She sticks her tongue out at him. "It'd be silly if I were asking myself, wouldn't it?" He sticks his tongue out right back at her, laughing. "I thought the point of this was for us to be silly and have fun. But yeah, I'll make one, one second..." He pricks his ear up and listens for a minute. "I can be heard, yet I can also be touched. I can be meant to protect or fright, but often I am compared to a bite." Gel blinks, confused. She crosses her arms and closes her eyes, frowning in concentration. "Are you... fire?" Rhino frowns sadly. "No... she says that wasn't the answer." She bows her head, groaning softly. "Then... I can't pass... I don't know the answer..." She turns to him, her eyes sharp and determined. "You have to go forth, Sir Rhino! Go rescue the Princess!" An obviously conflicted expression comes across his face. "I... I can't." The expression solidifies into defiance. "I will not go on without my partner! We go together." She looks up into the sky, her expression unreadable. "She says... you have to solve the riddle for me, then... since I'm clearly not-" She cuts herself off, scowling fiercely. "I am not slow!" "Watch it you." Rhino waves his 'sword' to the sky warningly. "The answer is 'bark'." "Bark?" Gel groans, holding her head in a hand. "That makes so much more sense than fire... the sphinx flew away and said we are free to pass." "Then come, my friend. We have a princess to rescue!" The colt once again points his stick forward in what he is starting to call his 'onward' pose in his mind. "Okay!" She grabs his hand and marches forward, though it's clearly a circle around the edge of the field. She turns to him, sheepishly smiling. "Is it bad that I thought bark before fire, but dismissed it?" He grins cheekily at her. "Are you sure you weren't just pretending to get it wrong? I know you're smart enough to get it." "I... honestly did make that mistake..." She rubs the back of her neck, embarrassed. "I just overlook the obvious, sometimes..." He squeezes her hand. "It's fine, we got through it right? We're on our way to the princess. But umm... something they always tell me in school: trust in your first instinct, because after that you start second guessing yourself and are more likely to get it wrong." "Oh... okay, then..." She nervously giggles, looking forward and drawing her 'sword'. "Goblins!" "Yarr!" Rhino draws his own sword before realizing his mistake. "Woops, that was pirate. Ahem... Yaah!" Gel laughs, patting his back. "Careful, Captain! Your days on the sea are showing!" "So it seems, but enough of that, we have foes to defeat!" He looks to her with a glint in his eye. "Ready?" "Ready!" She leaps forward, grinning widely. "Charge!" Thus the fight commences. Their numbers are great, but the skill of our two knights is greater. Cut. Parry. Slash. Block. One by one they are cut down. Eventually, the navy girl drives her sword through the last of the horde. She sighs, falling to one knee as she catches her breath. "That was... quite a workout..." "That it was... hopefully there are no more surprises guarding the princess." Imaginary and real sweat is wiped off his brow. "Are you good to walk?" "I... think so..." She carefully gets up, brushing a couple blades of grass off her knees. "So... would you like to choose the next obstacle, Rhino? It'll be the last before the big one..." "Umm..." He thinks for a moment before hesitantly offering his suggestion. "Maze?" She blinks, staring at him blankly. "I... I can try... but that's hard to do if we both don't see the same thing..." "Sorry, I was trying to think of something besides fighting and riddles since we already did those." He shuffles his hooves a bit. "Any ideas?" "Well, we've had wisdom and strength..." She taps her chin, thinking a bit. "How about courage? Or spirit?" "So... like what, ghosts or the whole 'you must face your greatest fear' thing?" He asks. "I think it's the second one. Spirit means 'strength of character or heart'." The girl sits on one of three stones situated in the field. "In a sense, being able to stand your ground and uphold your morals for someone else." "I think I understand..." He says slowly. "You seem to have an idea of what you want to do with it anyway." "I was going to go with someone saying that we have to go separate ways, one of us waiting for the other to go inside..." She shrugs, smiling playfully. "I think the sphinx took care of that, though." He winks at her. "I'm not leaving you so easily." Gel finds her cheeks heating up from the action. She nods, turning to look around. "Maybe... we can simply go straight to the Princess and her captor?" He shrugs. "If that's what you want to do." His hand sticks out, offering itself to her. "Shall we?" She takes his hand, giggling softly. "We shall." Thus, the adventure resumes. Deep into the dark forest our two heroes venture, until finally they reach their ultimate destination, and the reason for their quest. "There it is." Knight Gel points a shaky hand into the distance, at a large tree before them. "The fortress of the angry mage!" "Truly this is a den of evil for it to have grown this large. How do we get inside?" His hand goes back to his chin to think. "We don't." She points to the knot in the trunk. "The mage, herself, is coming out!" Rhino looks to Gel questioningly. "Should we attack her before or after her villain speech?" "During." She smirks, winking at him. "Then she'll be wide open for attack." "Got it." He nods, readying his blade. The smaller of them does the same, lowering her stance slightly. "Alright, so she's spotted us... and now she's starting on her undoubtedly lengthy rant." He lets out a small laugh. "I'm sure there will be many evil laughs in it." "She started off with one, and got mad when you laughed." She quirks an eyebrow. "She smacked you for your 'insolence'." "Hah, didn't even feel it." He gloats. She swings her blade, then presses it forward against the tree trunk. "Quick! I pinned her casting hand!" She looks at him, eyes wide in expectancy. "Do what needs to be done!" "Right." He charges forward and whips a mighty swing across the trunk, as if severing a head. Afterward, he slowly stands straight up, stowing his stick in his pocket. "Gotcha." Gel blinks, staring at him blankly. When she finally speaks, she makes sure her words are slow and clear. "I meant that you should knock her out. What... what did you do?" "Oh... I umm... Hit her in the side of the head?" He half-says half-questions hopefully. She quirks an eyebrow at him, unamused. "Then why didn't you use the pommel?" "I was... mad she slapped me and the sword is one-sided?" He tries again. She sighs, lowering her stick away from the tree. "I wonder how you earned the nickname 'The Earnest Knight' when you won't tell your partner the truth." His ears pin against his head. "Sorry... I... wait, what? Earnest doesn't have anything to do with honesty." "I know." She sticks her tongue out at him. "I just wanted you to admit you were lying." "You are tricky..." A green finger waggles at her before he rubs the back of his head. "Ok, I admit it, I sort of misunderstood what you were getting at when you said 'do what had to be done' so I just... you know, did what we did with the goblins, but in a different way." "And I understand that." She leans back against the trunk, gesturing to him. "But I prefer to not kill ponies. It just... feels wrong." She shakes her head and looks up at the branches, a small smile growing on her lips. "It seems the Princess is safe. She's waving to us from one of the windows overhead!" The colt gives a wave upwards to the branches of the tree. "You can come down now! We're here to escort you home!" "She rushes down to the doorway. I think I can play for her, real quick..." She giggles brightly and rushes into his arms, hugging him tightly. "Thank you!" She leans up and pecks his cheek. "There will be a feast in your honor when we return to the castle!" Rhino blushes lightly as nervous laughs escape him. "Well, I... couldn't have done it alone you know, my partner was there with me the whole time." "I know." She breaks character, sticking her tongue out at him. "But I can't kiss my own cheek, now can I?" He concedes. "I guess you have a point, continue then." "Now, if you would be willing," she hooks her arm in his, "I'd like to go back to the castle. Is that a fair request, Sir Rhino?" "Of course, my princess." He smiles down at her before they start to walk back to the center of the clearing, still arm-in-arm. As soon as they arrive, Gel giggles excitedly, turning to her friend. "You did great! Oh, that was so much fun!" She happily hugs him, nuzzling his chest as her tail wags behind her. He laughs at the entire cute display as he embraces her back. "Yeah, I had a lot of fun too, you really make up great stories. We definitely need to do this again sometime." She looks up at him, sapphire eyes shining in hope. "You really mean it?" "Sure! When you have a fun game, you play it a lot!" A small growl comes from his stomach. "Just like when you're hungry, you eat." "Hungry?" She touches her own stomach, thoughtful. "I guess I could eat... but I'm not that hungry, right now..." "Well, I brought two sandwiches." He motions over to the rock where he had set his bag earlier. "So you can have some if you want. It's lily and tomato." She slowly walks over to it, unsure. "I... I don't know... I haven't had much other than love and apple juice, before..." "Well, if you don't like it, you don't have to eat it." He walks all the way over, digging out the two wrapped sandwiches and offering her one. She hesitantly takes it from him, eyeing it for a second. With a deep breath, she closes her eyes and takes a bite, chewing it and letting the flavor settle on her tongue. The colt takes a bite of his own, chewing it as he watches her to see if she likes it. She swallows, shuddering slightly. "This is... really strange... definitely not as sweet as love, yet..." She looks down at her sandwich, curious. "I find myself wanting more..." He smiles, taking another bite before responding. "I think they say... it's meant to be more savory than sweet. It's a different taste, but yeah, definitely not bad. You can eat the rest of that if you want." She does just that, savoring each and every bit of it. She turns to look at him and, noticing a piece of lily on his cheek, plucks it off and eats it, giggling brightly. "I think I'm growing to like it, Rhino." Her giggling is infectious and soon he is chuckling along with her. "Cool, I'm glad you like it. I guess I'll have to bring two sandwiches from now on." "Yep!" She smiles warmly, embracing him with one arm. "What happened to all the hugging, though? I'm starting to miss it..." "I don't know... I was feeling some weird... fluttering sensation in my stomach when I was doing that earlier, but it went away." He shrugs before tilting his head at her. "You liked them that much? But we hug all the time, or at least you hug me." "I like it when you hug me, first..." She shrugs, leaning up against his shoulder. "I can't explain it... and I like feeling your soft fur..." "So... like this?" He puts both arms around her in a sort of sideways hug so they can remain in their current positions. Gel giggles, gently nuzzling his chest. "This will work, for now..." He raises an eyebrow. "For now? Are you planning something?" She smiles, winking playfully at him. "Just hoping for some more of this at bedtime..." Rhino laughs quietly. "Yeah, I think we can do that."