> Warm Hearts
>  by Rhino
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1: Make believe
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

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."


> Chapter 2: Bedtime reading
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A day and a half pass for the two younglings. This doesn't particularly phase either of them though, seeing as the sun and moon really only determine what they will be doing together. Having eaten dinner and made the excuse to his father about 'going to bed early' the emerald colt turns out his lights and covers the bottom of his door frame in preparation for letting in his friend. With a quick ear to the door and the relative silence heard, he nods happily, quickly walking over to the window and opening it, waving a green hand out to show it's him. 

A pair of sapphire eyes soon peer over the window sill, glancing around before the girl they belong to stands up fully. She holds out her own smooth hand to him, smiling warmly up at him. "So, what are we going to do tonight, Rhino?" 

"Well," he begins as he takes her hand in his own, bracing himself against the wall, "I though later we could maybe read together if you want." 

"Reading sounds nice." She brings one leg over the edge, helping him pull her inside. "But I was talking about now..." 

He brings his other hand into play to wrap around her waist as he both lifts and pulls. Unfortunately, he still isn't quite used to this, so they both end up falling in when he can't balance on the one hoof he has on the ground. Luckily the pillow he tossed onto the floor makes an excellent landing cushion. 

She giggles, carefully rolling off him. "Nice to see you're planning ahead." She stretches her arms over her head, quietly groaning as she does. "I'd ask you if you're alright, but we both know how durable you are." She playfully sticks her tongue out at him. 

"Heheh, yeah..." A low glow from his horn clicks on his lantern, illuminating the two of them. He gets a good look at her as she stretches, more specifically, the various bits of grass, leaves, and dirt stains on the outfit she has on. "Hey, did you want something new to wear? It's been a few days so we could always put those in the laundry to be washed." 

She blinks, looking down at herself. "I wouldn't want to bother you for more clothes. This is good enough, for me." She smiles and brushes a couple leaves off, shaking her head at his offer. "I would like these cleaned, though... if that's fine with you, of course." 

He sits up, moving off the pillow and tossing it back onto the bed. "Well, Mom will probably wash all the clothes tomorrow when she gets home from her trip. It's good to have two sets of clothes though so you can wear one when the other is dirty. Plus, you don't want all that stuff to get in the bed." 

She tilts her head, confused. "But... I only like to sleep in underwear... you know that, Rhino..." She slides her jeans off, sighing softly. "You're right, though... I guess another shirt and shorts would be fine..." She gestures to him. "I mean, since you're offering, and all..." 

"Yep." He nods affirmatively as he gets up and heads to get her the clothes. "Umm... I think I have another pair of the same shorts, and does a purple shirt work?"

"That sounds great, Rhino." She kicks the jeans off her leg and to one side of the room. "So... what's your mom like? Is she nice?" She starts to remove her shirt, but the cloth gets caught around her head. She squirms in her spot on the floor, struggling to free herself from the self-imposed trap. 

Head still in the drawer, he doesn't notice her plight. "Yeah, she's actually a pegasus with a pretty red coat. She's really nice, like you, but different..." 

She stops, whimpering softly. "Rhino? H-help, please?" 

"Huh?" He turns around with the clothes in hand. He sees her stuck with her arms in the air and the cloth of the shirt covering her face and chest. "Now how did that happen?" He comes over, going behind her. As he does this, he notices that instead of the blue skin her belly has, her back is all chitin, with two odd sections starting at her shoulder blades on going down. Shaking his head, he reasons to deal with that after he frees her. He moves her arms a little bit before helping her successfully get the shirt over her head. "There we go. Feel better?" 

She gasps softly as her head is freed, shuddering slightly, a bit of blue peeking out from under the sections as she does this. "Y-yes, much better. That wasn't fun at all..." She crosses her arms over her chest, shivering a bit. "S-still cold..." 

The colt tilts his head. "Hey Gel... what's with your back? It's like you've got some things under it." 

She looks over her shoulder at him, confused. "What... do you mean my wings?" 

"Wings?" He looks down at her relatively smooth back, seeing no signs of feathers. "Since when do you have wings?" 

"Since... as far as I can remember?" She scratches her head, thinking a bit. "Don't you have wings, too, Rhino?" 

"Umm... no, I'm not an alicorn." He takes off his shirt and walks around so she can see his back. "See? Nothing but fur, no feathers of any kind. I asked Mom why I didn't have wings like hers and she said it's because only the princess gets both wings and a horn." 

"I... don't understand that..." She tilts her head to one side, letting her wings slowly extend behind her. "Do her wings... look like mine?" 

The two membranous wings spread out fully, the dim light of the lantern going through them and being tinted blue on the wall. Rhino blinks quietly as he takes them in. "Not even close... Mom has feathers... you don't. How were you hiding those?" 

"I, um, have a cover..." She turns around, pointing to the two navy items between her shoulder blades, her magic holding her hair out of the way so he can see. 

"Huh..." He peers curiously at the slots in her back. "That's really neat! They kinda look like bug wings actually, but you know... better!" 

"T-thank you." She smiles softly at him, her wings slipping back inside their casing. "I think everyone back home have them, too... mine are just too weak to lift me, right now..." 

"Is that normal?" He asks. "I know some pegasi have problems flying until they grow big enough, but I thought around our age is when they actually manage to do it. Is it different for changelings?" 

"No, I'm just... not experienced enough." She taps her chin thoughtfully. "I think I have another year before they're ready..." She shrugs, standing up to flop back on the bed. "It also differs between nymphs and drones, but... I don't know how big it is..." 

"Still, that's cool that you're gonna be able to fly one day. Plus it's like your wings are secret since you don't actually show them unless you're using them." He points to the clothes she just flopped onto before slipping on his own shirt. "Those are your clothes by the way, if you want to put them on." 

She looks up at him, giggling brightly. "Why would I put these on if I'm going to sleep in a few minutes?" She props herself up with one arm, her free hand tapping his nose as she speaks to him in a sing-song voice. "Silly Rhino." 

He laughs lightly as he rubs his nose. "Yeah, that makes sense." He looks back up at her tilting his head after a moment. "Actually, I meant to ask you: How is it, sleeping without a shirt? Is it comfortable? I mean, I've only ever slept in my shirt and pajama pants since I was little, so I was just wondering what it's like and if you sleep well." 

"I find it comfortable, but it might just be me..." She shrugs, examining his clothes. "I never had the luxury of an extra set of clothes to sleep in... besides, recently they've started to chafe..." She turns her gaze to her chest, frowning slightly. "I don't understand why, though..." 

The colt shrugs, his own experience with clothes doing that being fairly limited. "Maybe you're just growing out of them? I mean, that's why I gave you those shirts, because they were too small for me, but are they too small for you too?" 

"Maybe..." She sighs, laying back on the bed, her hands behind her head. "But I've hardly grown this past year, and it's still happening..." She absently places a hand on her stomach, nervous. "Am... am I getting fat?" 

He looks at her stomach, noting the blue flesh doesn't actually protrude out at all past where it becomes chitin again. "You're not fat, you're nowhere near fat." 

"That's good..." She groans, turning onto her side. "Sorry for moping. We're supposed to do something together, right?" 

"Talking is something." He looks down at his own shirt a moment, debating before he shrugs and takes it off, tossing it into the dirty clothes basket in his closet. He climbs up onto the bed next to her. "Besides, I like talking with you. It's interesting." 

She smiles softly, gently hugging him. "I enjoy our talks, too... and wow, your chest is fluffy." She pulls away slightly, one hand running through the emerald green fur. "Much softer than any shirt I've had..." 

He lets out a few laughs as he shivers. "Yeah... hehe, that tickles a bit. Not bad though, otherwise I'd be worried about Dad hearing us." 

She giggles, nuzzling his chest. "That'd definitely be troublesome..." She closes her eyes and rests her head against him, absently holding his hand. "I wonder how soft you'll get... though it'd be hard to imagine anything softer than this..." 

"I don't know..." His other hand comes up and lightly strokes her mane. "I can barely tell how soft I am since I'm covered with it. I still like how smooth you are though, it feels nice." 

"Thank you..." The two of them stay like that, neither knowing just how long, before the navy girl peeks an eye open, looking at him with an innocent curiosity. "Rhino?" 

"Hmm?" The colt rouses himself from the slight meditative state he had put himself into as he had stayed there concentrating on the repetitive action of stroking her mane. 

"When we are older..." She squeezes his hand, which she was still holding. "Would you be my... what did the book call it..." The last part is muttered to herself as she tries to recall a certain phrase. "My 'special somepony'? I mean... that's like a best friend, right? Someone you care deeply for?" 

"I think so..." He recalls the words from the times he has heard them. "Mom and Dad are each other's special someponies and they said they're each other's friend... and I know Hearts and Hooves day is about your special someponies. I always see ponies hanging out in pairs that day, adults mostly but they seem to be happy." 

Gel nuzzles his cheek, smiling warmly up at him. "So... would you be mine, Rhino? My special somepony?" 

He laughs quietly, nuzzling her back. "I'd like that. I don't really see what the difference is between special someponies now and when we're older though. Why can't we be special someponies now?" 

She tilts her head to one side, curious. "Well... I don't see why that wouldn't be alright..." She giggles, taking his hand and gently squeezing it. "I'd be happy to be your special somepony." 

He smiles, squeezing back. "Me too, to be yours, I mean. Though... I don't really know what special someponies do besides hang out a lot and have fun. Is that okay?" 

"That's definitely fine with me." The girl sighs, resting her head on his shoulder. "Can you read another story for me, Rhino? Like you did last night?" 

The colt nods. "Sure I can. Same book?" He looks toward the pillows on the bed, wondering if he should move up there or continue to just lay across it like they both are. 

She nods, pulling a little closer to him. "Yes, please." 

He smiles, looking down at her as his horn light up and the particular book floats over from the shelf. "Did you want to move up to the pillows and under the covers or just stay like this?" 

"I think pillows sound better... I'd like to be more comfortable while snuggling with you." She playfully sticks her tongue out at him. 

He sticks his tongue out in response. "Sounds good to me. You're gonna have to let go of me so we can move though." 

Gel pouts, reluctantly letting go of him. "But you feel so fluffy..." 

He gives her a quick nuzzle as he moves up on the bed. "I'll still be just as fluffy in a moment when we're more comfortable." 

She sighs, smirking teasingly as she watches him. "Fine... I expect you to come up with our first activity tomorrow, though." 

Folding the covers back halfway, he looks back at her. "Alright, if you want me to, I will." He slips himself under the covers and waits for her. 

She happily joins him, wrapping her arms around his chest as she settles herself in place. She presses her body up against his side, gently sighing. "I really would like you to..." 

"I'll try to think of something." He smiles as he feels her cool touch on him as he floats the book over. "Any comments or requests before we start?" 

"I don't know..." She frowns slightly, tapping her chin before resting her hand on his fluffy belly. "What was the mouse trying to do, again?"

"He was traveling to have his sword fixed and get reinforcements so he could save the others from the evil overlord." He reminds her, having read the book before himself but still enjoying going back through it.

"I see..." She smiles softly, nuzzling his chest gently. "Well, then... please continue..." 

He holds the book, flipping through until he finds the page they were on. Clearing his throat a moment, he begins to read. 

***

A while into the story, Gel jumps slightly, her eyes and ears trained on the door. She slowly turns to the colt, whispering softly to him. "D-did you... hear something, Rhino?" 

Cutting himself off in mid-sentence, he looks at her. "What did you say?"

As he speaks the knob on the door rattles as it is twisted, the door barely opening before it's movement is stopped by the towel. The voice from beyond it is heard. "What the? Rhino?"

The colt's eyes widen as he turns to Gel, mouthing one word to her. 'Hide!' 

She quickly slides over him, almost kneeing him in the stomach as she hurries under the bed.

The shuffling noises are clearly heard by Rhino's father as he moves the blanket blocking the door with a bit of magic. Setting it off to the side, he enters to see his son sitting up in bed, reading a book by the light of his lantern.

The colt struggles and fails to not have a guilt-ridden face. "Umm... hey Dad."

The older unicorn crosses his arms. "Didn't your mother and I tell you that reading by dim light is bad for your eyes, especially when you're tired?"

His little green ears fold back. "Yes sir... I wasn't trying to stay up reading, I just got to a good part and I couldn't stop."

The room is silent for a moment before small chuckles are heard from his father. "Just like your mother... you love reading before bed but you can't put it down." He takes a few steps towards the bed, picking up the lantern a moment. "We really need to get you a better one of these... One second." He exits the room, leaving the colt and his guest in semi-darkness for a moment before he returns, holding something extra alongside the toy lantern. "Here, your old one is an okay light source, but why don't you use this one instead?" He sets down the full-sized lantern, clicking it on and bathing the room in a light at least two or three times as bright as the toy one produces. "Try not to stay up reading too much longer, okay?"

"Alright, Dad." Rhino says, smiling.

"Goodnight, Rhino." His father says as he heads back to the door.

"Goodnight!" With that final word, the door clicks shut and a few hoofsteps can be heard before the door across the hall shuts as well. The colt holds his breath a little longer before he sighs heavily. "Phew..." 

The navy changeling peers over the edge of the bed, whispering with a noticeably nervous tone. "T-that was close, wasn't it?" 

He flops back onto his pillow. "Yeah it was..." He closes his eyes as the tension drains out of him. "You okay?" 

"Aside from bumping my elbow on the way down?" She carefully gets up, making sure her hooves don't make a sound, and sits on the edge of the bed, facing him. "I think I'm okay..."

"Good..." He replies, eyes still closed. "How is your elbow?" 

"Fine... it wasn't a big thing..." She crawls her way over to him, laying down by his side on his arm. "So... should we continue, or should we just sleep?" 

He peeks at her. "I think we should finish the chapter, but maybe we can talk a little more before we sleep once we turn the light out?" 

Gel giggles, leaning over and happily nuzzling his cheek. "I think I'd like that very much..." 

One of his arms snakes around her, bringing her in for a hug. "Good. Comfy?" 

"Very." She smiles, running her hand through the fur of his chest. "Because I have the fluffiest colt as my pillow..." She sticks her tongue out at him and rests her head on his chest, snuggling up as close as she can to him. "So... where were we, again?" 

He cracks open the book. "Well... our heroes had just been rescued from the waterfall by bats..."

***

Rhino closes the book. "And that I think, is where we can stop tonight." He looks to Gel. "That okay with you?" 

She pouts, though she can't hold it long before smirking slightly. "I suppose it's fine... I'd like to see how the story ends, but it is getting late..." 

"Yeah..." He set the book on the shelf and lights up his horn, taking a moment to look at the new lantern to figure out how to turn it off. He finds the switch and flicks it off, plunging the room into darkness. Feeling the nymph still next to him, he snuggles further down into the sheets to get comfortable. 

Gel smiles in the darkness, playfully nipping the tip of his ear. "Still feel like talking a bit more, before we sleep?" 

His ears flicks a few times, but a few escaped chuckles show he liked it. "Yeah, though... not sure what about right now... I just like talking to you." 

"So do I..." She scoots down in the bed, laying up against him and nuzzling his chest. "Just out of curiosity... why does your mom read at night? I mean, you dad said that, so, you know..." 

"She said it's because she enjoys reading and it helps her relax before bed so she can sleep." He rests his head on top of hers, lightly nuzzling. "I started doing the same thing after a while because I wanted to try it. It works." 

"I agree..." She sighs blissfully, gently stroking his chest. "I'm glad he gave you that lantern... you look kinda cute when focused like that..." 

He smirks. "What, you just like the new lantern so you can see me better?" 

"It's definitely a plus to having it..." She sticks her tongue out, playfully winking at him. 

Grinning he lightly touches her nose with a finger, though it takes him a few tries to find it. "You're silly." He laughs as he hugs her tightly to him. "But part of the reason I like you." 

She gently nips his finger, giggling brightly. "You're just as silly as me, Rhino." 

"Maybe... being silly is fun though." He moves his hand to her back. "How come you play bite so much? I don't mind, I'm just wondering." 

"I do it to show affection..." She closes her eyes to the darkness, hugging him close to her. "It's something my mom and dad do with each other... and mom said I did it with her when I was younger..." 

"Aww..." He coos. "That's cute..." 

"That's what mom said..." She yawns softly, relaxing against him. "Can you... stroke my mane, please? Mom... she always does that... to help me sleep..." 

"Sure, I can do that." One of his hands moves upwards, petting her mane from the top of her head all the way down her neck and repeating. "Like this?" 

The small girl coos softly, pressing back against his hand with each pass. "Yes... just like that..." 

"Goodnight, Rhino..." She sighs happily, drifting off into a blissful sleep in the arms of her friend.

> Chapter 3: Mother
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another day dawns for the two close friends, and by their own limited definitions 'special someponies', the two of them snuggled up warmly in the bed. Shadows move across the window as weather ponies perform their duties up high, adjusting the clouds to just the right positions. As one bit of light finds the colt's eyes, his heads rolls a bit to get out of the light, his muzzle bumping into the chitinous ear of his friend. Still asleep, the emerald colt acts out a meal in his dream, opening his mouth and starting to nibble lightly on the ear. 

The young girl giggles softly, her ear flicking out of his grasp. She nuzzles his chest, nipping it affectionately on instinct. 

Rhino shivers as he feels the fangs, but doesn't move otherwise. Apparently determined to eat whatever food he sees in his dream, his mouth darts forward and manages to find her ear again by sheer luck. 

She yelps as he actually bites her, pushing herself away from him and off the bed. She grunts as she hits the floor, whimpering quietly. 

The combination of her push, the weight shifting, and covers being moved, and the whimpering sound all serve to wake up the colt so fast it actually takes his brain a moment to catch up as his body moves to the edge of the bed. His expression is one of clear concern as he slides off, crouching next to the navy nymph. "Oh my gosh, are you okay? Are you hurt?" 

She grabs her side, wincing slightly. "I-I'm fine... just a little sore..." Her hand slowly moves up to her ear, tracing the tip tenderly. "I don't know what that was..." 

He tilts his head. "What what was? Did something make you fall out of the bed?" 

"Yea..." She touches one of the faint marks, and her hand immediately jerks away. "It feels a little... painful..." 

"Oh..." He looks at the ear in question. "Do you... want me to go get the first aid it or something?" 

"I don't know..." She tilts her head down, angling her ear towards him. "Is... is it bad?" 

He scrutinizes it closely. "It doesn't look too bad... just a few little dents..." His eyes meet hers. "I could go get some painkiller ointment if you want. Dad shouldn't be awake yet." 

She nods, sheepishly smiling. "That might be best..." 

"Okay, it's in the bathroom, I'll be right back." He walks over to the door and turns the knob quietly before slipping out. 

She raises herself onto the bed, sitting on the edge of the mattress. She slowly extends the wing on the side she fell on, carefully bending it forward to inspect it. The sunlight filters through it, creating a chromatic pattern that plays across her face. 

Rhino sees this as he reenters the room with a white box decorated with  red cross. "Wow... that looks really pretty." 

She squeaks, turning to him before relaxing. "Oh, um... thank you." She flaps her wing a couple times, smiling softly. "Thankfully, I didn't injure it with my little fall... all I did was hurt my shoulder a bit..."

"Well," he starts as he sets down the box, popping it open and revealing various ointments, disinfectants, and bandages inside, "I could put some of the same stuff on you shoulder that I'm gonna put on your ear. Oh,  I could even wrap it a little if you want." He points to the roll of bandages. "It would make you look like one of those cool mares after a big battle. 'Wearing your wounds proudly' and all that." 

Her nose scrunches for a second as she thinks about this. After a moment she nods, giggling quietly. "That sounds nice, Rhino..." She turns away, letting her wing fold back into its casing. "Please be gentle?" 

He chuckles quietly. "Why wouldn't I be? The point is to make it so you don't get hurt more." He puts a bit of ointment on his fingers and reaches up, starting to rub it onto her ear softly. "This stuff kinda feels weird at first, but you forget about it soon once it starts absorbing." 

She sighs softly, closing her eyes at the touch. "I suppose that makes sense..." Her ear flicks out of his fingers, as if teasing him. 

"Hey!" He says, surprised but amused as shown by the smile on his face. "Give me that back!" He starts trying to rub the ointment in with his fingers again. 

This time it moves away and taps his hand, getting the medicine on the back of it. Gel turns her head, sheepishly shrugging. "Sorry, Rhino... i-it's a ticklish spot for me..." 

"Sorry, if you can just hold it for a few seconds I'll be done." He uses the back of his other hand to wipe the clear ointment onto into his own skin. After, he takes his free wrap and wrap two fingers around the base of the ear, loose enough to where it doesn't grip it at all, but prevents it from moving too much. For the third time, he starts applying the medicine. 

She squirms in front of him, giggling quietly. "R-Rhino!" Her hand grips his knee, squeezing in an attempt to find something else to focus on. 

"Almost done... there we go." He releases her ear. "It starts working after a few minutes. I don't suppose your shoulder is ticklish too?" 

"My left is..." She rolls her injured shoulder, a small, strained smile on her lips. "My right, not so much..." She turns sideways, positioning herself properly. 

He puts a little more ointment on one hand and starts to rub it in small circles on her shoulder. "Just tell me when I get to a spot that doesn't hurt." 

She grits her teeth, her small fangs glistening in the morning light. She speaks despite this, her tone a little strained from the ache. "I think you'll know when..." 

"Sorry... am I hurting you too much?" He stops his movement. 

She takes a moment to get a steadying breath, shaking her head. "No... I don't think you could ever hurt me..." She giggles, playfully bumping his side with an elbow. "I'm just a bit more sore there than I thought. That's all." 

"If you're sure..." He continues rubbing the stuff in for a bit longer before he finishes. "Okay now we just wrap it..." He picks up the roll before he turns to her and something occurs to him. "As soon as I figure out how anyway... umm... I guess just around your chest or something? Is there another way I'm not seeing?" 

She blinks, looking down at her arm and chest, unsure. "I... I thought it went around the shoulder." She lifts her arm slightly, pointing with her left hand. "Between my arm and side?" 

He tilts his head, imagining how it would go in his mind. "I think... yeah, that should work easier. Good idea." He holds up the roll. "Try not to move too much though so we can make sure to get this flat." 

Gel nods, smiling softly at him. "Okay... I trust you..." She turns her arm slightly, placing her hand on his chest to keep it steady. She stares at his exposed chest, her thumb gently stroking the emerald fur there. "Your, um, fluffiness might make it a bit hard to stay still, though..." 

He just chuckles as he holds one end of the roll to her shoulder while passing the roll from hand to hand as he starts to wind it over her shoulder and under her arm. "You know... it really seems like sometimes you've never gotten to touch a coat before..." 

"I haven't... not that much, at least..." She taps her chin, thoughtful. "The ones I did touch were rather... smooth, not fluffy..." 

"Everypony's different I guess." He comments as he wraps. "Though it's kinda funny, you calling something else smooth." 

"Because of my chitin?" She shakes her head. "Everyone in the hive has chitin like me... if a different color." 

"Do they come in as many colors as ponies seem to?" He asks curiously as he snips off the cloth with a pair of scissors and begins tucking the loose end into the folds. 

"Mostly a sea green... I've met a yellow and purple one though." She giggles, moving her arm experimentally. "My mom's silver." 

"Neat!" He responds as he watches her move her arm. "How's it feel?" 

"Much better, actually!" She swiftly hugs him, happily nuzzling his cheek. "Thank you!" 

He laughs quietly and hugs her back. "That was one way to start the morning, huh?" 

"I suppose." She smirks, playfully nipping his nose. "I'm just glad I got to start it with you." 

Chuckling, he nuzzles her. "Me too, hopefully you don't get hurt next time though." 

"That'd definitely be better..." She reluctantly pulls away from him and stretches, groaning softly. "I would like to cuddle a bit more, later on, though... it's really relaxing..." 

"You sure do like cuddling, don't you?" He smiles. "Good thing I got the same thing from my mom. Speaking of her..." He turns around, looking at the clock. "She should actually be getting home from her trip in a bit." 

Gel blinks, her brow furrowing and the corner of her lips pulling down in a frown. "Should... should we be concerned? I mean... that's two parents who might discover me, right?" 

"Well..." he rubs the back of his head, "Mom does tend to come in or call me a lot... and I think after a while they'll both want me to do something other than just leave and play in the yard everyday by myself, since that's what they think I do. There might be some days when I have to leave to do some stuff with them..." 

"Aw..." She pouts, her ears flattening to her head. "What am I supposed to do while you're gone?" 

The colt shrugs. "I don't know... we've just played and stuff for the last three days. I mean, I guess you could hide in my room, but I don't know if my parents would need to come in or not..." 

"Well... maybe I could hide in your closet and read?" She nods towards the lantern his dad gave him. "After all, that seems to work pretty well..." 

"I guess..." he starts, "I'll have to make sure to take the dirty clothes basket out of there so he doesn't have to go in to get it, but I guess that would work..." 

"Good!" She giggles, leaping over to embrace him, humming happily as she nuzzles his chest. "I can read some more books! Of course," she pulls back slightly, looking up at him playfully, "I won't read the books about the mouse. I want to read those with you." 

"I like that idea." The emerald colt agrees. "You'll half to avoid that whole shelf then, it's all books about him. Oh, and you container of love is under my bed when you need it, so you can maybe bring it in there with you or something." 

"Good idea." She closes her eyes and rests her head against his chest once more, sighing softly. 

Rhino just smiles, stroking her mane a bit since he knows she likes it. "Are you going to sleep again?" 

"No..." She smiles as well, her ear flicking as his fingers faintly brush against it. "Just enjoying this moment..." 

"Oh, okay." He leans back against the bed and closes his eyes as she leans on him. 

They stay like this for a while before soft breathing reaches his ears. It turns out that the young girl underestimated how tired she was, and fell asleep against him despite her wishes. 

Unfortunately, the prospect of staying like this for a bit becomes impossible due to the colt's father's voice making itself heard through the door. "Rhino? Your mom should be getting home very soon, don't you want to be out in the yard to meet her when she lands?"

Looking down at his friend and flinching, the colt tries to make his voice sort of quiet as he calls back. "Yes sir! I'll be out in a minute!" Hoofsteps signal that his father has gone ahead. 

Despite the other two speaking around her, the changeling doesn't wake up. If anything, she snuggles even further against her friend, humming contentedly. 

Shocked she didn't wake up, Rhino now finds himself with the task of still getting out of her grip to go greet his mother. He starts with the obvious tactic of trying to both loosen her grip on him with his hands while also trying to slide out of it. 

This ends up making her slide down his body, embracing his abdomen. Muttering quietly, she nuzzles his belly and gently nips him. 

Flinching slightly and huffing quietly, the colt slowly stands, trying to get to a point where he can just step out of her grip. 

After a long process of this, he's almost free. Unfortunately for him, Gel doesn't seem to want him to go. With a soft whine, she tries to hug him again, but, instead, grabs his sleeping pants around his hooves. 

Rolling his eyes, Rhino lets her win in a way, as he slips out of his sleeping pants, leaving Gel holding them and him in his briefs. A quick trip over to the dresser remedies the latter a he grabs a pants of pants and a shirt. Heading towards the door, the colt takes one last look at the nymph, going over and giving her a pillow from the bed to cuddle along with the pants before heading out the door and quietly shutting it. 

She happily hugs the items to herself, humming quietly and nuzzling the pillow. A few seconds pass before this action slows, a look of confusion forming on the girl's face. "Rhino... what happened to fluffy?" She blinks her eyes open, recoiling slightly at the unexpected sea of white in her face. She sits up, hastily glancing around. "Rhino? Where is..." 

A rhythmic and steadily growing sound draws her attention to the window. As she peeks out to investigate, the source becomes evident as a red pegasus mare with neck-length brown mane lands in the yard with a travel bag strapped to her back. Her presence is immediately greeted by the younger male of the household approaching her. She kneels down and they hug, her giving him a kiss afterward as she nuzzles him. 

Gel blinks, curious and a little miffed, and mutters to herself. "What was that gesture she just gave him?" She stores that thought in the back of her mind and lowers her stance, ready to duck back out of view if either of them were to glance her way. "I wonder what she's going to say..." After a brief moment, she cracks the window open, hoping that their voices might filter inside. 

"There's my little colt." The mare says as she ruffles his mane affectionately and getting a smile for her efforts. "I missed you, you know. Did you miss me?"

"Of course I did, Mom!" Rhino replies, mussing up her mane much like she did his. Of course, his efforts are met with an exasperated look from the mare as her now messy mane flops in front of her face. This makes him smile nonetheless though, as he well knows she doesn't like it when he does that.

"How was your trip?" Asks the blue unicorn stallion in front of the two as he closes the gap between the two and himself.

The pegasus stands back up, giving him a kiss on the lips and a littler longer than the one she gave Rhino. "Just fine, Bio. I didn't expect it to be anything too exciting given that it was for work, but when you get a bunch of librarians together to discuss things, some of them tend to get ideas on how to liven things up. You wouldn't believe how many goodies I came back with."

"Why, Mist," the stallion says, a hand on his chest, "are you telling me it's not all grey-haired mares with their manes in buns sitting around chatting about various ways to categorize the books?"

A little taller than her or not, Mist still taps a finger warningly on her husband's nose, her tone stern yet teasing at the same time. "Bio Blaze, are you insinuating that I have grey hairs?"

He holds his hands up defensively. "Nothing of the sort, I meant everypony else who was there of course."

She raises one skeptical eyebrow above the other a moment before giggling and giving him another kiss. "That's what I thought."

Their son just stands next to them, watching the exchange with a smile on his face. 

Their hidden guest, on the other hand, watches in a mix of curiosity and confusion. "So... if they're each other's special someponies, then... special someponies touch their lips together?" She brings her fingers up to trace her cerulean lips, lingering momentarily on one of her fangs, unsure. "I... I don't think Rhino and I can do that..." She sighs, her shoulders slumping slightly as she directs her attention back to the family before her. 

The red mare turns to her emerald son as Bio takes her bag off her. "So, what did you do in the few days I was away?"

The colt shrugs answering vaguely. "Oh, you know, hung out, played around. Stuff."

Bio clarifies. "He's actually been spending his days outside, almost all day in fact. He even packs a lunch."

"Really?" Mist looks at the stallion. "And you didn't have to give him yardwork, or tell him to go outside or anything? He just did it on his own?"

Again, he nods. "Yep, simple as that."

Smiling, the mother speaks to her son. "Very good, Rhino! I've been telling you that you'd feel better if you spent more time outside instead of in your room. Was I right?"

Reluctantly, as if he had made arguments otherwise and was a little hesitant to admit himself wrong, Rhino nods. "Yes Mom..." 

Gel quirks an eyebrow at this, curious. "Was he really that against the outdoors?" She opens the window a bit more, hoping to hear them better. "I better ask him, later..." 

Mist laughs and musses the colt's mane again. "Come on then you two, let me get inside and change into something more comfortable. Once I finish unpacking, I can spend some time with my two favorite stallions." She starts heading inside, still talking. "Rhino, I'm thinking we play a board game, it's been a while since we've done that and you always enjoyed it..."

Their voices fade and become muffled as they enter the house. 

The girl, hearing this, deflates slightly, her ears flattening against her head. "What? But I wanted to play with him..." She glances at the bookshelf, eyeing the novels contained within. "I... I did say I'd read while I waited..." She sighs and, grabbing the lamp and a couple of the thicker books, carefully steps inside the closet, closing the door behind her. She sits down near the back, turning the portable light on and opening the smaller of the two. 

A couple of hours pass, various muffled noises heard through the house but nothing distinct or worrying. Eventually, the sound of the bedroom door opening and shutting occurs, after a moment it is accompanied by light tapping on the closet door. "Gel?" 

The door is flung open as the navy changeling tackles him to the floor, cuddling him and whining softly. She bites her lip to stop the noises, pulling away to look down at him sheepishly. "Um, s-sorry about that, Rhino... I didn't hurt you, did I?" 

"No..." he answers, blinking from the suddenness of her actions. "That just wasn't what I expected to be greeted with... and why were you whining?" 

"I... I was lonely..." She lowers her head, blushing brightly. "Your books were nice, but... I enjoy spending time with you, more..." 

He nods understandingly. "That makes sense... and I guess it explains you tackling me and cuddling me like you're not going to let me go for a while." 

"That's the plan." She giggles, leaning down and carefully pecking him on the cheek, mindful of her fangs. "I just wanna cuddle a bit with you, right now... is that alright with you?" 

"Umm... sure, I guess." His eyes are directed downward at the cheek she had kissed, his mind trying to figure out how one should react to this. He settles on a smile. 

"Great!" She pauses, looking down at herself and how she's straddling his stomach. "Though... it might be best to help you get more comfortable..." 

"Yeah... although I admit I'm getting used to being the cushion when one of us falls." He remarks matter-of-factly. 

"Is that a good thing?" She gets off, placing a hand on his shoulder to help him sit up. "Personally, I don't want you to be hurt..." 

Shifting his body weight, the colt sits up. "Eh, I haven't got hurt yet, it's just getting comfortable. Besides, it seem like the one time I wasn't the cushion, you got hurt." 

"That's just me being clumsy." She waves a hand at his words. "Besides, I was caught off-guard by that... whatever it was." She sits down on the bed, shivering slightly. "D-did it get cold in here?" 

Rhino looks around. "Not that I can feel... oh, the window's open" He gets up and shuts it. "Plus you're still in your sleeping outfit." 

"I didn't think I'd need to get clothes on..." She pouts, her cheeks swiftly turning the same shade of blue as her lips. "I thought you were going to be back in about... ten minutes, or something..."

"At least you put on my sleeping pants I left, so that helped a little I guess. Still though... sorry..." His ears droop as he looks down. "I didn't think it would take that long..." 

She opens her mouth to respond when her body unexpectedly starts aching. She grimaces, knowing fairly well what this means. "Rhino..." She slowly stands, walking over and hugging him tenderly, her head nestling against his chest. "It's alright... you're here, now, and that's what matters..." 

Noticing the change in her demeanor, he hugs her lightly and speaks softly. "Gel, are you okay? You looked like you were in pain a moment..." 

"I... I want you to be happy... please..." She sniffles, leaning further against him. "I'm fine, as long as we're still friends..." 

"Wait, what?" Rhino's ears are straight up in alarm as he tries to pat her back to comfort her. "Gel... what's wrong? Please tell me..." 

She nervously smiles, averting her gaze. "I, um... I can feel other's emotions..." Her hand moves up, gently stroking the top of his head. "I could feel your sadness, and... it hurt me, a bit... I don't want you to feel sad..." 

"I... hurt you by being sad?" He asks slowly, trying to make sure he understands. 

"Well... yes..." She hugs him a little tighter, unsure how he'll react to this news. 

He stays silent for a bit before he speaks again. "I guess... I'll just have to try to not be sad, right?" 

She nods, the side of her curved horn rubbing along his chest. "Please do... I don't want you to ever be sad..." 

"Ok..." He nods firmly. "I won't be sad. I don't want to hurt you." 

She giggles quietly, pulling away to smile up at him and playfully tap his nose. "That's not what I'm worried about, silly. I just don't want my friend to be all mopey!" 

He smiles back. "I know, there's just more than one reason to not be sad now. So... you missed me, huh?" 

"Yea." She leans up and, after a second of hesitation, touches noses with him. "So... that was your mom out there, right?" 

Eyes crossing as he looks down at their touching noses in curiosity, he responds. "Yeah, that was Mom. You saw us through the window?" 

"Yep!" Gel pulls away, tilting her head to one side. "She really doesn't look much like you... and why did your dad have a mane growing on his face?" 

"What, you mean his mustache?" The colt asks. "That's just something he has. I might be able to grow one one day too. What do you mean my mom doesn't look like me though?" 

She points at her forehead. "No horn, for one thing. And... her wings were covered in feathers." Her wings extend, and she looks at one of them over her shoulder for a second. "Was that what you expected these to look like?" 

He nods. "Well, yeah. She's a pegasus, and all pegasi have wings like that. Yours were actually the only ones I'd seen like that, which is why I was confused at first when I saw them. It's okay though, because yours are cool too." 

Gel giggles, flapping her wings a couple times. "Thank you. I think hers are prettier, though..." 

"If you say so..." He looks around. "So... what did you want to do today? Or do you want to just sit here hugging me all day?" 

"Hugging now." She smiles warmly, leaning against his side and resting her head on his shoulder. "Playing after lunch. If that's alright with you, of course." 

Rhino just laughs. "If it makes you happy, it works for me."

> Chapter 4: Camping
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following day goes back to normal for the two children as they leave in the morning to have another delightful time of making believe. Sticks are swung, reality enhanced, and imaginations run wild all morning to the sound of their laughter. Eventually though, the sun sits straight overhead as they both finish lunch, Rhino having brought three sandwiches this time, one for her and two for him.

With their backs against a fallen log, the two of them let their food settle while they read a few more chapters of their book. After some time, the colt eases the pages closed. "I think that's a good stopping point, with them going to sleep for the night." 

"I suppose..." She turns her gaze up to the sky, absently moving her hand to hold his. "Hey, Rhino?"

"Hmm?" He replies as he stows the book in his bag before turning his full attention to her. "What is it?" 

"I was wondering..." She glances at him, visible only because she tilted her head his direction. "What is camping like? I mean, is it fun?" 

"Umm..." He blinks, tilting his head. "I don't really know... I've never been camping before. I mean, you hear about it, but I've never done it." 

"Then... would you like to, tonight?" She smiles at him, clearly hoping he'll say yes. 

His brow furrows, behind it, his mind trying to double check what he's interpreting she means. "Just like that? Just go somewhere and camp?"

"Well... yea!" She giggles brightly, squeezing his hand gently. "I've never done it, before, and I wanted to try it out with you!" Her smile falters slightly before she gestures to him. "Of course, you don't have to if you don't want to." 

"Wait..." One facet of her sentence makes him pause. "Weren't you lost for a week before I met you? How did you get along then if it wasn't camping?" 

"That doesn't count." She turns away, pouting with a small blush on her cheeks. "I didn't even have a, um..." She frowns, tapping her forehead as though it'd jog her memory. "Sleeping bag, I think it was? What kind of bag is that, anyways?"

Nodding the colt replies. "Yes, usually sleeping bags are involved, tents too to keep bugs and rain on you when you're sleeping. Campfires are nice though... especially when you make smores." His head slowly begins to nod. "That does sound fun, but... do we have to go far away from the house?" 

She shrugs, sheepishly smiling. "Um... as long as your parents won't see me, I don't think we have to... why?" 

His eyes avert to the ground as he twiddles his thumbs, his voice quiet. "I just... don't want to be too far away..." 

"That's fine, Rhino." She moves over and sits on his lap side-saddle, hugging him gently. "I want it to be fun for both of us. Can't be fun if you're worrying, right?" 

"Heh, yeah I guess." His arms embrace her. "We can camp just inside the woods I think. "There's enough space in some spots for a campfire and tent, but it's still close enough so we can go back to the house if we need to." 

"Perfect!" She giggles, nuzzling his cheek. "Of course, I'd have to sneak in, but still!" She smirks, appearing to playfully roll her eyes. 

"Yep!" He  laughs as she nuzzles him. "Now I just need to ask my parents if they have camping stuff..." 

"Later, right?" She shyly smiles, bringing a hoof up to gently cup one cheek as she pecks the other. "For now, I was hoping we could, well... sit here and watch nature for a bit..."

Biting his tongue when he almost makes another comment on how touchy she is, he nods. "Sure, that sounds nice. Maybe in a bit we can look for a good spot for us to camp in later." 

She sighs softly, turning and sitting right next to him, leaning up against his side. "I think that's a good plan..." 

Later that day, Gel watches from just inside the borders of the woods as her friend goes inside to ask his parents. Unfortunately, she can't really tell much from here other than seeing the occasional shape pass in front of windows. The only exception to this is when his mother comes outside and flies off, only to return about fifteen minutes later with a small grocery bag in hand. Things go quiet again for a time before the sound of the door opening makes her ears perk up and she looks to see him coming towards her, now laden a box, a thick roll of some kind of fabric thing, and a bag on top of those. All of this is held in both of the colt's arms, forcing him to crane his neck around them to see where he is going. 

As soon as he gets close, she grabs the fabric roll and bag from him. "I got these..." Holding one in each arm, she starts walking, talking over her shoulder to him. "What's in the box?" 

"A tent." He replies simply at first. "I mentioned the idea of camping outside for the night to them and they were all for it. It was kind of weird actually. They said it was just something a lot of little ponies do at least once, so they just gave me some of dad's old Colt Scout stuff while Mom went and got food." 

She glances at the bag in her hand, an eyebrow raising curiously. "I suppose that explains this..." She carefully steps over an exposed root, pausing so he'd stop walking a moment. "Watch your step." 

Lifting his leg high, he steps over. "Got it. There's also some matches in the bag too, for when we make the fire." 

"Don't need them." The girl carefully pushes a branch to the side, gesturing with her less-burdened arm to the clearing beyond. "Here we are. Not too far, not too close." 

"Yeah, it is..." Setting down the box and sitting next to it, he looks to her with an eyebrow raised. "What do you mean we don't need the matches though?" 

"Simply put, we don't need them." She shrugs, placing a few stones in a small circle. 

"That doesn't really answer the question though..." He mutters as he opens the box and slides the contents out, fabric and poles hitting the forest floor as the colt's face goes blank. "I just remembered... I have no idea how to put up a tent..." 

Gel stares at him blankly, pointing at a pamphlet still at the bottom of the box. "Aren't those the directions, Rhino?" 

"Huh?" He peeks into the box, reaching in and pulling out the paper, unfolding it. "Oh, they are. Ok... doesn't look too bad..." 

"Thought so." She shakes her head, carefully laying a few sticks down. "Let me just get this started, and I'll help you with that." She touches the tip of one of the dry branches, closing her eyes and scrunching her face in concentration. 

He watches, curious as to what exactly she is doing. 

After a few seconds, a wisp of smoke forms from the center of the pit, the herald for a small blue flame. Gel opens an eye and instantly squeals in excitement, hands up to her mouth. "It worked!" 

The colt's mouth falls open for a brief moment as he looks at her incredulously. "You know fire magic?" 

"Yep!" She turns to him, gesturing to the slowly-growing fire proudly. "Mom said it was my element!" She pauses, tapping her chin in confusion. "Not sure how, exactly, she meant that, though..." 

He shrugs. "No idea, but I guess that makes that part easy. Now we just have to deal with this." He gestures to the pile of items from the box. "Doesn't look too bad though... we just set this up, put the sleeping bag inside, keep the food out here with us and we're done. Huh... easier than I thought." 

"Got it!" She opens the fabric, tilting her head to one side. She stares in silence at the contents before turning to him, blushing softly. "I have no idea what these are..." 

"Let's see..." His eyes dart around the instruction paper for a moment before his horn lights up, covering the items in magic. These... are pieces of the poles..." he moves the majority of the pieces of the stack to one side, "and these are the stakes..." the rest go to a different spot. "Everything else is the tent. We just... lay it out flat, put the poles together, slide them in the correct spots, and stake it down once we're done." 

She shuffles her hooves awkwardly, her gaze focused on a leaf on the ground before her. "I, um... I think I understand..." 

He looks over the instructions a bit more before nodding and laying them out on the ground so she can see them. His horn lights up again as he brings the poles over to himself, beginning to fit them together. "Take a look, the pictures are very self-explanatory." 

She takes a step forward, carefully examining the directions and accompanying diagrams. She slowly nods, picking up the stakes in her own magic as she spreads out the tent. "Seems simple enough..." She carefully positions one of the pieces of metal and stomps it into the ground with a hoof, flinching and whimpering softly before moving on to the next one. 

Rhino's ears flick as he hears the high-pitched sound. He looks over to her, seeing her raise her hoof for the next one. "Hey!" He zips to her side, holding one of her arms. "Don't hurt yourself... there are other ways to put those down you know..." 

She yelps as her balance is completely thrown off, and she falls against his chest. "S-sorry!" She quickly straightens back up and looks at him, nervously rubbing her arm. "W-what other way is there?" 

He wordlessly floats over one of the rocks she had thought of using for the firepit, but didn't. 

She blushes brightly, a small wisp of steam trailing off the top of her head. "O-oh... right..." She grabs it in her hand and kneels down, swiftly anchoring down the tent with that stake and a few strong, well-placed blows. 

"Alright then... just don't hit your other hand with it or something, or at least hit soft when that hand is close." With that warning, he goes back to putting together one of the two long poles, standing it up and seeing how high it is out of pure curiosity once it is complete. 

Gel decides to be more careful, like he said. She walks in a circle around the tent, hammering in each stake in turn. As she nears the last one, she glances up at him, wanting to see how he's doing. 

The colt is entertaining himself, the two completed poles held in each hand as he stares upward, just tapping their ends together as he sways them. 

The navy girl, seeing how he's distracted, smirks slightly, slowly extending her wings as to not get his attention. Then, quietly sneaking behind him, she flaps them as fast as she can, making a buzzing sound fill the air. 

The colt jumps, the fur along his spine standing straight up. Letting the poles fall to the ground with a thump, he whirls around wide-eyed only to see the girl standing there with a mischievous smile on her face. He deflates as he lets out a breath and a chuckle. "Phew, it's just you... you got me good there." 

"Yep!" She giggles, pulling him into a quick hug. "You're kinda silly when startled... I like it." She playfully sticks her tongue out at him. 

He laughs as he presses lightly on her nose with the tip of a finger. "Ok... just don't go doing it too big or too often, alright?"

"Wouldn't dream of it." She winks at him, slowly pulling away. "Doing it too often would make it not work, anyways... and less special." 

"I guess that's true..." he thinks out loud as he picks up the poles again. "Come on, let's slide these in and get the tent set up, the sun's starting to go down." As if in response, his horn lights up and a few more sticks are flicked onto the fire. 

The girl's attention is drawn to the fire as she slowly threads the pole into its guide, a thoughtful look on her face. She secures her side and glances over at him, tilting her head to one side. "Rhino? Do you think we should try to make it a bit bigger?" 

He shakes his head as he threads his pole. "No, Dad being a firepony means he's told me a lot about fires. He says that you always start small and you just slowly add bigger and bigger sticks, it'll get hotter and hotter even if it's the same size." 

She blinks, confused. "I... I don't get it..." 

"Umm..." He scratches his head a moment. "We start small, so it can get hot. When it's hot, it can burn bigger things. It burns bigger things longer and slightly hotter. That's why you can’t hold a match to like... a tree and do anything. It's too big and the fire's not hot enough." 

"Oh." She sits on the ground, glancing at the fire. "I guess that makes sense... should I move the rocks a bit further out, then?" 

"If you want to." He shrugs. "We just have to makes sure the fire stays inside." He finishes sliding his pole in. "Ok, now we just bend these up and put them in the sleeve at the bottom of the tent." He peeks over at the instructions, smiling that he remembered correctly. 

She looks down at the end of the pole she's sitting at, seeing it's already in. "Um... I think I already did my side..." 

He blinks. "Oh... ok, I'll just do this side and then we'll do the other pole." He starts trying to fit the pole in, soon realizing that he has to bend it to do so. Bracing himself, he pushes the pole so that the bend goes up, forming half the frame of the tent as his slightly shaky hand gets the end of the pole where it needs to go, the other pole just hanging in the air now with it's ends sticking out. "Not so bad at all..." 

"Yep." She moves to the next one, carefully slipping it into the right spot. "Can't wait to see the fully-complete version, though." 

"The pictures say it's just a green dome, but still, I know what you mean." Bracing himself again, he gets his side set, the first half of the tent already up making it easier. As it is complete, the fabric of the tent goes taut, as if signifying it is complete. 

She squeals in delight, clapping her hands together. "Last one in's a moldy carrot!" She dashes inside the tent before he can even comprehend what she's saying, zipping it closed. After a moment, it opens back up partially, the bag of food and sleeping bag slipping in through the opening before it's reclosed. 

Smirking, he walks around to the front, tapping on the door. "I know the box said it's a one pony tent, but that's adults! I'm sure we could both fit in there..." 

Her voice comes from inside, slightly muffled from the fabric. "What's the password?" 

This causes him pause as he thinks a moment. "Umm... hugs?" 

There is silence for a couple seconds before she speaks up again. "What's the second password?" 

Wondering whether he got the first one right, he tries another shot in the dark. "Book?" 

She laughs brightly, shaking her head as she lays out the sleeping bag. "You got that one wrong, silly!" 

The pony remains outside the tent, tapping his hoof in thought. "Hmm... fluffy?" 

"Nope!" She slips the zipper open slightly, smiling warmly at him. "It's green." She points at herself. "Gel." Then turns the finger to him. "And Rhino Nexus." 

It takes a moment for this to click for him. "Oh, our initials! That's really cool. I hadn't thought of that..." 

"It was a spur of the moment thing." She reaches out, gently taking his hand. "Originally, it's because of my new favorite color..." She opens the tent and pulls him inside, the two of them landing on the soft sleeping bag and causing the girl to momentarily lose her breath as he lands on top of her.

Planting his hands in the cushy material, Rhino raises himself up so that his weight is off her. Looking down, his brow furrows in worry. "You okay?" 

She nods quickly, placing her hands on his shoulders. "Yes... b-but what about you?" 

He tilts his head. "What about me? I had a soft landing." 

"Yes. Me." She sticks her tongue out and pushes up against him. "I'd like to see what your mom got. Kinda hard to do when pinned..." 

"Oh, right..." He moves to one side, sitting down because there's no way he can stand up in the small space. He brings the bag over and offers it to her. 

She graciously takes it and opens it up, angling it so he could also see the contents. "So... what all is in here?" 

He looks upwards as he recalls what his mom said she packed for him. "Should be... chocolate, graham crackers, marshmallows, some thin rods to roast the marshmallows with, and some bug candles if we need them." 

She tilts her head, picking up a metal container and a thermos from the bag. "What about these?" 

"Oh right, that's dinner." He points to the container. "Mom made some sliced carrots and twice-baked potatoes. Dad said we just set this near the fire and it should get warm. The thermos is milk." 

She scrunches up her nose, confused. "Twice-baked potatoes? How does that work?" 

"I saw Dad do it once," he begins, "He baked them like normal baked potatoes, then he took them out, chopped them up and mixed them in a pan with butter, cheese, green onions, diced tomatoes, salt, and pepper. Then he just baked it again." He shrugs. "Not sure why anypony would think of doing that, but it tastes good." 

"Um... okay?" She scratches the side of her head, unsure what to think. She grabs up the metal container, slowly opening the tent's zipper. "So... put it by the fire, right?" 

"Yep! The forks are in that extra part on the side though, so you probably want to take them out and put them by the thermos or something so they don't get hot." He peeks out as she opens the zipper, seeing the sky colored a blazing orange as Celestia lowers the sun. 

She pulls the extra compartment off and tosses it onto the sleeping bag. Then, glancing at him, she follows his gaze, her eyes widening in surprise. "Wow... that's so beautiful..." 

He nods along. "Yeah... someponies at school once said they saw Princess Celestia on her balcony when she put the sun down, but I think she would just do it from the comfort of her own room." 

She doesn't say a word, moving forward and sitting down on a fallen log near the fire. She puts the tin down and turns to him, smiling softly and patting the spot next to her. "Would you... l-like to watch it with me?" 

The colt nods, walking over and sitting down next to her, turning to the horizon. "You know, I don't think I've ever just sat down and watched the sun go down before." 

"Neither have I..." She leans against his shoulder and takes his hand, sighing softly. "Seeing it, now... I can't imagine why..." 

He casts a glance down at her before looking back at the orb in the sky. "Probably too busy doing other things I guess... Still, we're watching now." 

"True..." They sit there for a while longer, enjoying the scene and each other's company until it vanishes beyond the horizon. She opts to stay like they are, bringing a few more branches over in the soft blue of her magic. She adds them to the fire before sitting back upright, turning to look at him. "That was... really nice..." She pecks his cheek, giggling quietly. "Thank you..." 

He smiles widely at her, giving her a quick nuzzle. "You're welcome, that was nice." He looks around them. "This has all been very nice so far, just quiet and relaxing." 

"Yes, it has..." She glances at the container before looking back at him, curious. "Should we eat now, or later?" 

Shrugging, the colt bends down, poking the container with a finger to see the temperature. "That's up to you, though I would like to eat early enough to have room for the fun dessert." 

She blinks, scrunching up her nose slightly. "How can dessert be fun?" 

"Have you ever had s'mores before?" He asks simply, 

She stares blankly at him. "No. I've never heard of that, before." 

"Oh, you'll like them when we make them for dessert. Trust me on that." He winks as he brings the container towards them with magic. 

She grabs a fork from the separated side compartment, twirling it in her fingers. "I guess I'll have to wait, then..." 

"It's not like you don't have something else to eat in the meantime." He lifts the lid off the container, letting out a puff of steam as the contents are revealed, the potatoes taking up the majority of the room while the carrots are about a quarter of it. The orange vegetables glisten with juices as they lay stacked on top of each other. The potatoes are a more random assortment of colors, but the scent is delicious as it wafts off their fluffy forms. 

She glances at the tin and pokes one of the carrots. She brings it up to look at it before turning to Rhino with a small smile, holding it out for him. 

He tilts his head for a moment, wondering why she's feeding him like a foal, but the smell of the food makes him shrug before biting down on the veggy. Sliding his mouth off the fork, he chews with a smile on his face before swallowing. "Yep, still good." 

"Good to hear." She picks a forkful of potatoes up and pops it into her mouth. "I... wow, that tastes really good..." She loses her train of thought, lost in the taste as she is. 

"Heh, yeah. I never go for normal baked potatoes when they can make some of these." He grabs the other fork, taking a bite of them himself and humming happily. 

She quickly takes a few more bites before a 'hurk' escapes her. She slams a fist against her chest, gasping after a few moments. "T-too much..." 

Seeing this, Rhino floats the thermos over, taking a swig himself before offering it to her. "Here." 

She gratefully takes it, gulping a large mouthful down and signing in relief. "Thank you..." 

"No problem." He takes the thermos back, weighing it for a moment before setting it back down and resuming eating. 

"You're right, by the way." She picks a couple carrots up, smiling softly. "Milk is delicious, too. Not as much as apple juice, though." She playfully sticks her tongue out at him. 

"Nah, milk's better." He replies as he sticks his own out at her. "To me, anyway." More eating ensues. 

Soon enough, the two younglings finish eat and the colt comes up with the obvious question. "Now what?" 

"Well..." She shrugs, sheepishly smiling. "I was hoping you'd know... um..." She taps her chin, trying to think of something. "Maybe we could... tell stories?" 

Easing one of their larger logs into the blazing fire with a bit of magic, he tilts his head at her. "What kind of stories?" 

"I guess it depends." She leans slightly away, propping herself up with an arm. "Do you want to tell ghost stories, or do you want to tell family stories?" 

He answers immediately. "Family stories. I don't really like ghost stories... being scared isn't fun." 

"Point taken." She gestures to him, smiling softly as she brings the bag out of the tent in her magical aura. "Would you like to go first?"

"Okay." His hand goes to his chin as he looks upward at the few stars one can see this close to the city. "Umm... oh! Mom told me that was I was a little foal and I wouldn't go to sleep, she would always take me flying and I would be out in a few minutes." He winces a bit. "I don't really like flying now... but whenever I do something like that, or ride a train I always seem to fall asleep really quick, even if I'm not tired." 

"How sweet." She giggles, clapping her hands together. "Okay! So, where I came from, I had two friends... at least, until they had to leave." She shakes her head. "Anyways, they were like complete opposites. One would act silly, and his sister would berate him and apologize to whoever he was talking to." She pauses, frowning slightly. "That was more of a friend story than a family story, wasn't it? Sorry..." 

He waves her off. "I think it still counts. Were they like you then, blue changelings?" 

"No, actually." She smirks, holding up a finger as if pointing at something overhead. "The drone, Flick, was goldenrod. The nymph, Luster, was indigo." She blinks. "Or, hopefully, is, not was... it's been a while since they left my old school..." 

The colt raises an eyebrow at her. "Would they really change color?" 

"No, I mean..." She trails off, shaking her head. "N-never mind. Y-your turn, right?" 

"Oh, alright. Umm..." It takes him a little longer to think of another one. When I was little, I would sometimes hide in Mom's plants when she was gardening, and because of my coat, she wouldn’t see me until I reached out and scared her." He laughs at the memory. "She screamed really loud one time." 

Gel laughs, almost tumbling off the log. "R-really? Wow!" 

"Yeah..." He just sits there with a big smile on his face. "It's kind of like what you did to me earlier, but that's the only way i scare her. Doesn't mean it's not fun though." 

"So true." She sighs softly, fighting to get her giggles under control. "D-did you know... my mom met my dad as his... i-instructor?" 

"Really?" Rhino's face clearly expresses curiosity. "What does she teach?" 

"She says she teaches self-defense..." She shrugs, turning to lay on the log and, coincidentally, her head on his lap. "I ask her to teach me, but she says something about how I need to be older before then..." 

His hands start playing with her mane as it splays out beneath her. "Cool... she sounds like a tough lady then." 

"You're more accurate than you think..." She sighs softly and closes her eyes, the tips of her hair curling slightly from his ministrations. 

He notices this. "Huh? Hey... your mane moved... does it do that a lot?" 

"Sometimes..." She peeks an eye open, curious. "Does that not happen to ponies?" 

He shakes his head, but stops and tilts it to one side. "Well... I think earth ponies can move their tails a bit... but other than that, no." 

"Huh." She smirks, her mane gently wrapping around his hand. "I guess that this is a unique talent of mine, then?" 

"Is it a changeling thing?" He asks, unsure. 

"I... I guess?" She scratches her cheek, thoughtful. "I haven't seen many others do it, myself..." 

He shrugs, stroking her mane a bit more. "Still neat either way. Not really sure what you would do with it besides keep it from getting tangled though..." 

She sighs, relaxing as his hand brushes over her cerulean hair, an ear twitching slightly. "I guess that's true... it's really sensitive, though..." 

"Is it?" His voice takes on a playful tone. "So, like, is it... Ticklish?" He starts wiggling his fingers in her mane. 

She squeaks, her body tensing up at the motion. "Um... m-maybe?" 

"It's either yes or no..." He continues the action with a smirk on his face. 

She bites her lip, squirming and nodding shyly at him. 

The colt just chuckles and continues. "Come on, you know you want to laugh..." 

"N-no I d-don't..." She clasps her hands over her mouth, struggling to keep it in. 

"Are you sure?" His voice and fingers are teasing as the digits move faster. 

Finally, she can't hold it in any longer. She bursts out laughing, holding her sides tightly. She tries to scold him, but she can't get enough air to do so. 

His face is beaming as he gets the reward of her laughter. Stopping his tickling actions after a moment so she can breathe, he wears a look on his face clearly stating 'I win'. 

She pants softly, her body finally relaxing since he began. "T-thank you for... s-stopping..." 

"Hey, it's not like I wanted to hurt you, just tickle you." He smiles sincerely down at her. "Should I let you do something to get me back?" 

"M-maybe later..." She gulps a few more lungfuls of air down before shakily pointing to the bag by her legs. "F-for now... how about that dessert?" 

"Sounds good to me. Let me show you how s'mores work..." Staying where he is, he starts unpacking the chocolate, crackers, and marshmallows, laying them in a row on the log with magic. He brings out the two rods as well, offering one to her. 

She takes it in her hand, staring at it blankly before looking up at him, confused. "S'mores? What are those?" 

"Watch." He spears one of the sugar fluffs on the rod and moves it toward the fire. As they watch, the white pillow appears to shimmer before suddenly turning golden the. Starting to turn brown all in the span of a few seconds. The colt quickly retracts the warm treat, bringing it back and squishing it between two halves of a graham cracker, one with a square of chocolate on it. He offers the complete desert to the nymph. "Taste it." 

She takes it, unsure, and carefully bites into it. Almost immediately, her eyes light up and she beams brightly, her attention now on the treat. "Delicious!" She looks up at her friend, smiling warmly. "Here, you should try it!" As he opens his mouth to respond, she pushes the half of it left into his mouth, eager for him to taste it. 

The sweet flavored explode into his mouth, robbing him of thought for a few seconds as he chews. Once he swallows he looks at her with a goofy smile. "Wow... I heard they were good and I knew how to make them... but that was great!" 

"I know, right?" She giggles, wiping a bit of marshmallow from his cheek. She sucks her finger clean as her magic brings a marshmallow over, pushing it onto the metal rod and holding it over the fire. "That was tasty, too." 

"Yeah..." He watches as Gel holds the treat a little too low in the fire, causing it to catch fire itself. "Woah!" 

She brings it up closer, puffing it out. Seeing it look half-black, she pouts, her ears flattening against her head. "Aw... I messed it up..." 

"No you didn't. Mom and Dad said that would probably happen." He fixes up the s'more again. "See? Still white on the inside, it's just crunchier now I bet." 

She picks it up and takes a bite just like before, swallowing before giving a small sigh. "Not... bad. Not as good as yours, but I suppose it could be worse..." 

"Well..." He motions to the rest of the supplies. "We've got plenty to practice with." He floats his own marshmallow into the fire, pulling it out a few seconds later to reveal a dark brown version, which he promptly eats as a s'more.

She sticks another one over the flames, looking up at him from his lap. "So... do you have any other friends?" She nonchalantly waves at him. "Just for curiosity's sake." 

He shrugs a bit. "Not sure really... I mean, I talk to some of the ponies at school a little, but I think mostly it's just being nice to each other. I don't really hang out with them much, just sort of talk to a few of them regularly. Mom's worried about me not bringing anypony home for some reason, I wish I could show her you." 

"I do, too..." She pauses, tapping her chin in thought. "Actually... I think there might be a way for that to happen..." Meanwhile, as her mind is currently occupied, her marshmallow has caught fire and melted off the rod, falling into the fire below. 

Smiling, Rhino lights up his horn and replaces her ruined marshmallow with a new one. "What's this idea?" 

"Now, keep in mind, this is a shot in the dark..." She slowly sits up, lodging the rod and its perfectly golden pillow in a knot of the log. "But I can disguise myself as another pony, and introduce myself that way." She gestures to him, shyly smiling. "What do you think?" 

He puts on a thoughtful expression. "But... How would we ever disguise... well, a lot of things? Your teeth, wings, eyes, lack of a coat..." 

"Well, I-" She looks about ready to do something, but pauses, glancing down at the clothes currently on her. She squirms slightly, nervous. "I-I'd show you, but I'm worried it might ruin the clothes you leant me..." 

"Huh?" He tilts his head. "Aren't clothes usually part of disguises?" 

"Yes," she holds up a hand, "but the way I put on my disguise could possibly mess them up... here, one sec." She peels off the shirt, tossing it into the tent behind them. She stands and places a hand on her pant's tail button, fumbling it slightly for a second. She sighs and turns away, looking at him over her shoulder shyly. "Could you undo that for me, please?" 

Eager to see her disguise idea, he walks over. "Is that the tricky pair? I know one of the ones I own is a pain to get off... Maybe you got them." He bends down, struggling with the button a moment before it finally comes loose. "Yep, this is them." 

"Thanks." She quickly removes both shorts and underwear, putting them to the side as she turns to him, smiling warmly. "Now you see me." She is briefly engulfed in flames, posing with her hands on her hips. "Now who do you see?" 

Now before Rhino stands the very strange sight of a pony who is like him in every way except for one key difference: she is still female. Everything else from the fluffy fur to the eye color is spot on. The colt can really only stare in shock. "Wow... That's some good magic..." 

"Thanks!" She giggles, moving to sit down next to him on the clothes she'd just been wearing. "It's not entirely perfect, though... I mean, your parents would be really confused if there's suddenly two of you," she glances down along her body, "and one is a filly... and the other me." She playfully sticks her tongue out at him. 

His eyes roll. "Oh hah hah." Sitting down next to her, he looks her over again. "This still seems so weird... And yet cool. How did you do that?" 

Gel opens her mouth to respond, but stops, looking down at her hands. "I... I just did what my mom said... picture a pony, and imagine I was them..." 

"Wait so... She can do it too? All of you can do it?" His mind races as he tries to comprehend an entire race of shapeshifters. 

"Yep!" She pauses, faltering slightly at his expression. "That's not a bad thing... is it?" 

"Are you kidding? That's awesome! I didn't think you could get cooler than you were already, but you did!" His hands are waving up in his excitement. 

The girl lets out a sigh of relief, smiling softly at him. "Thank goodness... I was worried I shocked you too much, for a moment, there..." She glances down at her slender hands, flexing them as she thought out loud. "I need a different form, though... maybe I could make one up..." She looks to him, apprehensive. "What do you think?" 

One hand scratches the back of his head. "I guess... Just pick a tribe, colors, and name, right?" 

"You don't understand." She sighs, resting her head on her hand. "I have to envision what the pony looks like... and 'Gel' doesn't really sound like a pony's name, does it?" She scrunches her nose up, muttering to herself. "I certainly don't want to be called 'Gelatin'..." 

"Just use your imagination and make one like I said." He insists. "Like umm... Unicorn, pegasus, or earth pony?" 

She replies almost immediately. "Unicorn." 

"Ok, then you just think of colors and manestyle, easy." He nods succinctly. 

She taps him on the nose. "And personality." 

He frowns. "You're not going to act like you?" 

She blinks, tilting her head to one side. "I... I guess I don't have to make one... if you really don't want me to..." 

The colt hesitates a moment to try and find the right words. "I just... don't feel it would be you anymore, you know? I like you, so... I don't want you to be anypony else." 

She stays silent for a moment, staring at her hands folded in her lap. She slowly stands, nodding to herself. "I... I guess that makes sense... here I go..." The azure fire engulfs her once more, dispersing to reveal, instead of a female Rhino, a blonde, white-furred unicorn. She opens her eyes, now more like his aside from the lashes and cerulean color, and looks at him, giving a small twirl. "What do you think?" 

Rhino gives a round of applause. "Wow... You look like you would fit right in anywhere in Canterlot. Nice job!" 

"Thanks!" She giggles, sitting back down on the log next to him. "So..." She takes the golden marshmallow off her stick, pressing it into his mouth. "What name do you think would fit me? Don't talk with your mouth full, though." 

Having to chew the sugary substance gives him time to think, so he at least has something ready when he swallows. "Something to do with 'Grace' maybe? It seems like it would fit." 

"Grace... I like it..." She taps her chin. "How about... Angelic Grace? You know, since my fur's white, like their clothes?" 

His head bobs approvingly. "I like it! Have a s'more for your success." He offers her the one he had just made. 

She happily squeals, taking the treat and eagerly eating it. Her tail wags behind her in her excitement. 

"So... this is the disguise you meant, right? You make yourself look like this and we introduce you to my parents that way?" He pauses a moment before continuing. "Although... I think we'll still have to sneak you in at night..." 

"I know..." She sighs, leaning against his side once more. "Still, it'll be nice to finally meet your parents..." 

"Yeah..." The last word sparks a question in his mind. "Umm... what are you going to say if they ask you where you live and where your parents are and stuff?" 

She blinks at this, frowning slightly after a moment. "I... I guess I'll have to think about that, for a bit..." 

Frowning himself and putting an arm around her, he speaks softly. "Hey, I didn't mean to make you sad by making you think about all that stuff... it's just something I thought my parents might say." 

"I know..." She looks up at him, smiling softly. "I'm glad you brought it up, too... I just don't know what I'd say, yet..."

"Oh... I guess we can't show them 'Angel' yet then, huh?" After a moment he smiles, despite that thought, giving her a quick nuzzle. "At least I can still have Gel in the meantime." 

"True." She giggles, nuzzling him back a moment before pulling away slightly. She touches her now-fangless mouth and then looks into his eyes, softly blushing. "Can I... try something, Rhino?" 

His eyes betraying his curiosity for another of her ideas, he nods. "Umm... sure. You've had plenty of good ideas so far today, so this is probably just another one." 

She gently cups his cheek, smiling warmly as she leans in closer. She closes her eyes and gently brushes her lips against his, sending a small tingle through her body. She quickly pulls away, her cheeks a vibrant pink, and touches her face, confused by the sudden warmth there. 

The colt's eyes are wide as he blinks, stunned by what he believes easily counts as his first kiss. His own cheeks feel warm and flushed, but he has no idea why. His now cloudy mind takes a minute to form words as it tries to recover from the brand new experience. "Why... why did you... kiss me?" 

"I..." She gulps, her mouth suddenly feeling dry. "I saw your mom give one to your dad... and my mom and dad do that, too... s-so I just thought..." Her gaze falls to her hands, and her ears flatten against her head. "I mean... i-isn't that what special someponies do?" 

Her logic does seem sound to the colt. "I... guess that makes sense." His brow furrows after a bit more thinking. "Does it still count if you look like this, though? Since this isn't you, I mean." 

"It's still me, silly." She giggles, tucking a lock of her golden mane behind her ear. "I just... have makeup on. That's all. Besides..." Her smile falters slightly. "I don't want my fangs to hurt you..." 

"Hmm... I don't really think your fangs would hurt me," he says, his logic correct in his mind. "I mean, your mouth would have to be open or something for that to be an issue." 

She blinks blankly, rubbing the back of her neck. "I guess that's true..." She laughs, her hand covering her mouth. "Who'd kiss with their mouth open, anyways? That just sounds silly!"

He laughs with her. "Yeah, that'd be really weird! It'd look like they were trying to eat each other's face!" 

She laughs even more, almost falling off the log if it weren't for his arm around her. After forcing herself to calm back down, she nuzzles his cheek, still trembling slightly with the aftershocks of her mirth. 

The colt lets out a few more chuckles as he calms down. His fingers drawing his attention as they lay in the filly's coat.  "Hey, can you change back to normal now? I still like that look best." 

She blushes and quickly stands, nodding briefly. "Of course." A burst of fire later, she's back to her normal form, slowly extending her wings as she stretches lazily, groaning in relief. "Much better... don't you think?" She turns to him and leans a little forward, her hands clasped together behind her back. 

Rhino nods, agreeing. "Yeah, I like blue better than white or yellow anyway. Plus you're more special this way." 

Gel giggles, tilting his chin up and leaning down a little further. "Personally, I prefer green... and thank you." She kisses him once more before turning and heading towards the tent, clothes in hand. "N-now if you'll excuse me, I'm starting to get a little cold..." 

He looks to the source of their light and warmth. "Isn't that what the fire is for?" 

"Maybe..." She looks up at the moon, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "I suppose a little longer shouldn't hurt..." She places the shorts back down on the log and sits once more, taking his hand in hers like she normally does. 

He squeezes her hand lightly as he looks to her curiously. "Oh wait, were you wanting to go to bed? I thought you were cold, not tired." 

"Honestly, I was hoping to cuddle a bit..." She blushes softly, fidgeting slightly in her seat. "I like feeling how fluffy your fur is against me..."

A sly smirk forms while he raises an eyebrow at her. "Is that why you haven't put your clothes 1back on? So I could be your warm blanket or something?" 

She shyly nods, averting her gaze. "I-if it's alright with you, of course..." 

"Sounds good to me. I like cuddling, remember?" He chuckles as he hugs her to himself. "Good thing we only have one sleeping bag, huh?"

She laughs as well, putting her hand over his. "I think we'd be sharing one, regardless... speaking of, did you bring your sleep clothes?" She looks up at him, her blush lessening as her curiosity grows. 

He nods toward the tent. "Yeah, my sleeping pants should have been rolled up in the sleeping bag." 

"Oh." She sits there a moment in silence before looking up at him, shyly smiling. "Is it alright if I want to sleep like this?" She gently strokes the fur of his forearm, giggling a bit. "I just... want to feel your warmth... and fluffiness..." 

The colt seems to puff himself up a bit at the praise to his fluffiness be he shrugs. "Doesn't really matter to me how you sleep. I'm fine with whatever." 

"Good..." She relaxes slightly, playfully nipping his jawline. "I think this calls for another s'more." The navy girl takes a marshmallow and spears it on a rod, easing it into his hand. She then gently holds his, tilting the sweet pillow just over the flames and humming softly to herself. 

The feeling of both their hands guiding some is... odd, but he likes it. Her cool chitin is always enjoyable and in this case, a direct contrast to the golden sugar fluff they withdraw from the flames. 

She squeals in delight, her wings excitedly buzzing behind her. "Perfect!" She leans across him and grabs a graham cracker and chocolate, placing the marshmallow on top of that. She stares at it, tapping her chin. "I think it's missing something." She turns to him, smiling teasingly at him. "What about you?" 

Looking at the treat with an analyzing glance, he replies slowly. "I don't see anything wrong with it... I mean it's the same as all the others..." 

She sighs, breaking the dessert cleanly in half. "I think I know." She puts one of them in his hand, lifting the other up to her lips. "Someone special to share it with..." 

"Oh... right. That does make it better." He gives her a sheepish smile before eating his half.

She giggles, resting her head on his shoulder as she eats her own. She looks up at the sky, smiling softly at the stars shining there. 

He speaks after a moment. "This was a good idea you had, this whole camping thing. It's been fun." 

"Agreed..." She hums brightly, nuzzling at his neck. "More so since I'm with you..." 

He feels a small bit of warmth in his cheeks again as he smiles. "Heh... yeah, wouldn't be as fun if both of us weren't here." His rolls his tongue around in his mouth a moment before bringing the milk over, offering it to her. "Do you... want any more of this before I drink the rest?" 

"Maybe a little..." She gratefully grabs it and takes a gulp, squeaking as a drop escapes the corner of her mouth. She quickly swipes it up with a couple fingers, blushing brightly. "S-sorry... I guess I was a little too eager, there..." 

Laughing, he takes the thermos, not saying a word as he drinks down the entirety of what's left, an amount even greater than both of them had drank out of it already. With a lick of the small bit of white liquid on his lips after, he gives her a smile. "Nothing wrong with liking milk, especially after chocolate." 

She smirks, playfully tapping his nose. "Whatever you say, silly..." She trails off as her eyes grow wide, staring right at the tip of his snout. 

His eyes cross as they look down, seeing the small bit of white on his nose now. "Hey..." He sticks his tongue out, trying to lick the liquid off, but failing to reach it and instead only succeeds in looking silly with his eyes crossed and tongue out. 

She laughs brightly, reaching over and cupping his cheek. "Hold still, silly..." She brushes her free hand over his nose, frowning slightly when this only spreads the liquid through his fur. She tries a few more times, stopping with a pout, his whole muzzle now slightly matted. "I thought that would work... sorry, Rhino..." 

His muzzle twitches as the feeling of fur going the wrong way makes it feel off. "No big deal, just a drop or two..." He brushes his fur all back the right way, the only differences now is a barely noticeable dampness. "There, see? All better." 

She sheepishly smiles, licking her fingers clean before responding. "Are you sure? I mean, it wo-" She cuts herself off with a small burp, her cheeks swiftly turning electric blue afterwards. "Um... p-pardon me?" 

What starts as a sort of rumbling chuckle from the colt, soon evolves into full out laughter as he slips off the log onto the earth, holding his stomach as his laughs echo around the woods. 

"It's not that funny..." She pouts, placing a hoof on his chest. "I have half a mind to not help you up after that..." She hesitates and turns away, blushing softly. "Okay, an eighth of a mind... but still!" 

His guffaws calm down after a moment, at least enough so he can speak. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry... it's just the timing, and it's always so funny when a girl burps." 

She blinks, staring down at him in confusion. "How is a girl burping different from a boy doing the same?" 

He lets out a few more chuckles. "Because you never expect them from girls, they're so small and quiet, and the girl is always so embarrassed." 

She frowns at this, promptly standing only to move over and plop herself down on his chest. "Small, are we?" She smiles teasingly, tapping his nose with the tip of her tail. "What about now, Rhino?" 

"I meant the burps you know, heh." He smiles up at her a thought flicking through his head even as he shakes his muzzle from the small tickle she gave him. 

She blushes, turning her head away in embarrassment. "M-maybe you should make that clear, next time..." 

"You are smaller than me you know." He comments as he reaches up and places his hands on her sides. He starts sitting up. 

She squeaks in surprise as she's moved from her spot. She immediately hugs his head, the closest part of him, to herself, not used to being lifted like this. 

The colt pushes his young body, constantly changing and growing, to do something he had never attempted before, to most it was small, but to him it was still an accomplishment. Shifting, his arms go around her as he stands, her still clinging to him as he rises to his full height. A wide smile dons his face in victory, only to become more of a smirk as he realizes something. "Ok... I can pick you up, but I can't really walk while doing that." 

She nervously laughs, her body trembling. "G-good to know... c-could you not breathe so heavily, though? I-it feels weird against my c-chest..." 

"Sorry," the colts mutters, realized he is breathing hard from the exertion of lifting a body, "here, let me put you down..." He shakily bends down, trying to maintain his center of gravity so that he doesn't fall over. 

She lowers her legs, her hooves soon touching the ground beneath them. She doesn't move away, however, leaning up and tenderly kissing him once more. "Thank you... I was worried, for a second, there..." 

He feels his face becoming warm once more and some part of him tells him that this will not be the last time she causes that. "About what?" 

"Falling down." She smiles, nodding at him. "You know... your lips are really soft..." 

"Heh... so are yours. That's not a weird thing to say, right?" He looks a little concerned. 

"I don't think so." She sticks her tongue out at him. "Just stating facts, right?" 

"Yeah," he nods, "another fact: I think it's getting later and colder." 

She nods, a large shudder running through her body. "W-we should get inside the t-tent, huh?" 

Another entry into the nodding contest follows her statement. The two walk over to the shelter, Rhino unzipping it and motioning inside. "Ladies first." 

She nearly bolts inside, only taking enough time to grab her shorts and underwear. "Thank you!" She dives into the sleeping bag, shivering from how cold she'd gotten. 

The colt is about to step inside as well when he notices the dirt on the back of his pant legs and can only guess there is more on his short from his roll on the ground. "Umm, can you toss me my sleeping pants please? I need to change out here since my clothes are dirty." 

She looks at him, smirking teasingly and putting the clothes in question on her head. "And if I don't want to?" 

"Well... I can't get dirt in the bag..." He looks down and tries to dust off his clothes, but the effort is mostly ineffective. "Guess I'd have to leave mine out here and come in anyway." 

"Then do that. These aren't as fluffy as you, anyways." She playfully sticks her tongue out at him and disappears back into the sleeping bag, taking the pants with her. 

A small growl comes from the colt, but he resigns himself to his fate, stripping down to his underwear and leaving the rest in a pile outside. Stepping into the shelter he ips the door closed behind him, already making the room noticeably warmer without the chilling effect of the wind. Able to see a lump in the sleeping bag from the flickering light of the fire, he crouches down and starts crawling over to it. 

She peeks out, smiling warmly at him. "There you are..." She folds the edge back, patting the spot it reveals. 

"Aww... I was kinda hoping to sneak up on you. Oh well." He crawls over to the spot, sliding next to her inside the bag and immediately liking the sort of light grip the bag has that makes it feel like one is constantly tucked in. 

She pulls herself up against his side, nuzzling his cheek as her hand plays with the fur of his chest. "Still want your sleep pants?" Her leg moves up against one of his, cooing softly at the feel of his fur against more of her body. 

"I don't think you'd actually let me put them on if I said yes." He comments as he shifts a little lower into the bag. "Hey... are you poking my side with one of your fingers?" 

She blinks, staring at him in confusion. "No... my hands are here..." She wiggled her fingers, mussing his mane and tapping his chest. 

He shifts a little more. "Then what's in my side?" 

She squeaks, pulling away and blushing brightly. "C-careful... those are tender..." 

"What are you talking about?" He cranes his neck to see what she could possibly be talking about. 

He sees her with an arm between him and her chest, unsuccessfully covering herself. "I-it was cold out there... t-they're sensitive when cold..." 

He tilts his head upon seeing the two small spots of lighter blue on her chest. "Those... whatevers... are what were poking me?" 

She nods, her body still trembling slightly from the lack of warmth. "S-sorry about that..." 

"It's fine... I was just wondering what was doing it, and why. Still not quite sure on specific answers to either question, but I guess I know more than I did..." The last part is muttered, but still audible. 

She quirks an eyebrow, tapping his forehead. "I thought it was perfectly clear. My nipples, and because it's cold." She glances at his chest, curious. "Though I wonder whether or not you have them, too... I certainly can't see any..." She runs her hand along his chest, seeing if she could find any sign of something similar. 

Underneath his fur however, proves t be perfectly smooth. Further more, his quizzical expression also serves as an answer. "Is that just a part girls have that guys don't? I've never really heard of it before." 

"I guess it is... huh..." She sheepishly giggles, bowing her head. "Learn something new every day?" 

"I guess so..." Seeing her shiver again, he extends his arm and brings her up against his side once more. "Well, odd poking things or not, we still need to sleep." 

She smiles softly, resting her head on his shoulder and her leg across his hips. Her horn lights up and the bag zips closed, further insulating them from the cold. She yawns and hums brightly, her eyes slowly drifting shut. "Good night, Rhino..." 

The warmth of another body quickly lulling him to sleep, the colt replies beerily. "Good night, Gel..." 

***

As the two children fly off to the land of dreams, inside the nearby house a certain red pegasus hums to herself as she cleans the room of her growing boy. As she tugs a blanket out from where it sits on the floor, halfway under the bed, she receives a small bonus for the effort.

Picking up the black container, she peers at it curiously. "Now what's this?" A small shake and a peek inside seems to confirm her suspicions. "Of course, milk. It must have rolled under his bed when he was packing for his little camping night." Giggling softly to herself,s he calls out across the house. "Bio, could you come here a moment?""

The unicorn stallion appears a few moments later in the doorway, his expression curious. "Yes dear?"

She holds out the container to him. "Could you do me a favor and put this is the fridge? It looks like Rhino forgot it and he's probably asleep by now."

"Sure thing, Mist." Her husband responds, taking the thermos from her and making his way to the kitchen. As he opens the cooling appliance though, he smacks his dry lips, taking a look down at the thermos. Knowing very well that his son got his love of milk from him, even if the boy's seems a bit stronger, Bio decides a quick drink is in order.

His drinking is stopped after a few sips though, as he puts the cap back on and looks at the black canister strangely. "Huh... taste is a bit off. Must be a new brand. Gotta remember to get the old one next time." Putting the drink in the fridge and shutting it, the unicorn writes off the strange feeling in his stomach as the organ simply getting used to the abnormalities in the drink.

Still, he finds himself distracted as he passes by the open door of his son's room. The view of his wife bending over and swishing her tail as she cleans sends another strange feeling through his stomach as he quickly approaches.

Mist lets out a squeak, her wings flaring in surprise as she finds herself embraced from behind before her neck is graced with loving kisses. "Bio, you scared me!" Another squeak escapes her, this time accompanied by a blush as she feels her flank grabbed by her husband's strong hand. "Well, somepony's feeling frisky tonight." Her next sound is a coo as she feels his other hand rub her belly.

"What can I say, honey?" His voice whispers huskily into her ear. "Sometimes I just can't help but think about how much I love you... and you know, Rhino not being in the house tonight does give us plenty of time to ourselves."

The last part of his statement is like a growl that sends shivers down her spine. She smirks and whirls around, throwing her arms around him and planting her lips on his.

> Chapter 5: Alone
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Overnight showers are not exactly an uncommon occurrence in the weather workings of Equestria. While some ponies enjoy watching the rain or feeling it on their coats, most would agree that a quick shower in the middle of the night is considered less overall hassle for all involved. Of course, this assumption is based off your average pony who sleep in a house, not say... two younglings who decided to camp out during that night.

Rhino's chocolate brown eyes barely crack open as his body tells him it's time to wake up. As his brain goes about getting the essential processes up and running, touch is the first thing to come online as he feels the snuggly comfort of the sleeping bag as well as the body he is sharing it with. A small content smile comes across the colt's face as he nuzzles the small navy form that hugs him. 

She hums softly, tenderly returning the nuzzle as her own eyes slowly open. She looks up at him, blushing softly. "M-morning, Rhino... do you know you have a large cowlick on your head?" She points to her own head as if to clarify her meaning. 

"Huh?" He sleepily raises a hand and tries to press his mane down, one spot deciding that it would rather not listen today. "Oh... heh, does it look silly?" 

"Honestly?" She giggles, leaning forward to peck his cheek. "I think it looks kinda cute..." 

He chuckles, leaning back on the pillow part of the bag. "Heh, I'll take cute..." He looks over to her, his eyes roaming her mane. "How come you don't have any cowlicks? Do you just move them down or something?" 

She quirks an eyebrow at him. "Why don't you have nipples?" She shrugs, slowly sitting up and stretching luxuriously. "I don't know, Rhino..." 

The colt stretches as well, but does so by snuggling deeper into the sleeping bag. "Eh, not really important I guess..." 

"Probably not..." She smiles playfully, poking his belly with a finger. "Falling back to sleep, are we?" She throws the cover part of the bag open, laughing brightly. "No time for that, silly!" 

Letting out a slight growl from his blanket being taken away, the colt sits up. "Yeah... I guess you're right. We probably need to get all this packed before I bring it all back to the house." 

Gel nods, gently nipping his nose. "Exactly. You get the tent, and I'll get the sleeping bag?" She nervously smiles, hopeful. 

"Sure, sounds good to me." He partially unzips the tent door and pokes his head out, blinking. After a moment he calls back to her. "You're gonna wanna go ahead and put the sleeping bag away while it's still in the tent... I don't think there's any dry spots to do it out here." 

She blinks, confused. "What... what do you mean, Rhino?" 

Opening the door a little wider so she can join him at it if she wishes, he continues. "I think it rained." 

She carefully crawls forward, poking her head out under his arm. Her mouth pops open in shock, eyes widening at the sight before her. 

While not flooded, their campsite shows obvious signs of being the victim of a summer night's shower. The ground, bare and dusty in a few patches where there wasn't grass, is now swollen with water to create mud spots of unknown stability, and the grass is now slicked with moisture. To rest one's bottom or belongings anywhere is a sure fire way to get them cold and dirty. 

The girl quietly gulps, slowly pulling back from the entrance. "I'm just... gonna hide in here, for a bit..." She practically leaps back into the sleeping bag, zipping it closed around her. 

The colt looks at the lump in the bag in confusion. Taking one last look at the campsite, one detail draws his attention that had escaped it before. His clothes that he had left outside due to their dirty state are now soaked through as well as if they had been left in a river. Touching them with a hand, he instantly yanks it away and rubs it on the side of the tent, getting the cold liquid off him. Zipping the tent back shut for the moment, he crawls over to the covered changeling, rubbing the lump with a hand. "Hey... why are you hiding?" 

It squirms as she answers, her voice muffled. "Don't like mud..." 

He tilts his head at the statement. "Well... I don't think anypony but pigs like mud, but they just don't step in it, why are you hiding from it?" He grabs the zipper to the bag and starts to undo it. 

"Because it makes me feel cold... a-and alone..." Her hand pokes out of the hole he made, gently grabbing his. "I-I don't like that feeling..." 

"Mud makes you feel alone?" He repeats, trying to see the logic in the statement. "What do you mean?" 

"I-I can't explain it..." She whimpers softly, squeezing his hand for comfort. "I just... I-I don't like it..." 

"Okay, I see that..." He casts a look at the closed door, frowning before turning back to the lump and starting to unzip the bag more with his other hand. "So... how are we gonna get packed so I can get home then? I mean we can stay in here and pack most of the stuff, but the tent still has to come down..." 

"I-I guess that's true..." She groans, peeking out at him. "I guess I could just... stay by one of the trees until you're done?" 

"That could work. I'm probably gonna put the tent away half using magic anyway." He smiles at her. "Umm... hey, question: are my sleeping pants still in there or did you put them somewhere?" 

"I don't know..." She unzips the bag enough to poke her head out, giving her best smile as she holds out a pair of blue pajama bottoms. "Are these them?" 

He nods and reaches for them. "Yep, and they're the only dry clothes I have right now." 

"Not true!" She pulls them away, pointedly staring at his underwear. "You still have those, don't you?" 

He looks down at them as well. "Well, yeah, but I don't really wanna go walking around in just my underwear... sleeping in just them is different." 

"You really should try sleeping without them." She sits up and rests her arms on her knees, shrugging slightly. "It's surprisingly comfortable." 

"Well... maybe." He reaches for the pants again. "I guess you were right about shirtless being more comfortable..." 

"Yep!" She giggles, jumping into his arms and happily nuzzling him. "So, you can get started taking the stakes out of the ground, I'll start putting away the sleeping bag!" She pulls away, places his pants on top of his head and turns around, zipping and rolling the bag back up.

Shaking his head at the girl, the colt dons his only dry clothing and heads out of the tent. His hooves squish on the ground with every step he takes, and he looks skeptically at the ground around the stakes. His horn lights up and soon the pointed item wiggles and pops out of the ground, and his hands are still clean. Walking slowly around the tent, he repeats the process and lets the ones he completes float behind him as he retrieves the others. 

As he nears the front of the tent once more, he sees a navy hoof carefully poke out of the flap, followed by the clothed changeling. She clutches the sleeping bag to her chest, and the bag of food floats in the air behind her. She places her hoof down, shivering at the feeling of the wet ground. "S-so far, so good..." She follows with the other leg, intensely focusing on her steps. 

He smiles at her. "It shouldn't take too long to take down the tent, so you won't have to deal with all this very long." 

She nods, her gaze turning to him. "Not a pro-" She yelps as her lack of focus causes her to slip, landing flat on her back in the mud. 

He quickly moves to her side, bending down next to her. "Woah, that was a bad slip, you okay?" 

She quickly latches onto him, whimpering softly. 

He frowns, hearing her distress. His arms wrap around her as he goes into 'comfort mode'. "It's ok, I'm right here. Did you get hurt anywhere?" 

She shakes her head before resting it against his chest. "P-please hurry..." 

Feeling the mud on her back squishing under his arms, he makes a suggestion. "Hold on... maybe we can get some of this off you." Looking around, he spots his wet shirt and levitates it over. Rubbing the mud off his arms first, he then begins rubbing the shirt over her back, getting the majority of the mud off, but still leaving a layer of it on her clothes and chitin. "Well... its better at least, right?" he asks, having had to do all this while she still held him. 

Gel sniffles, slowly pulling away and nodding jerkily. "B-better..." 

"Good..." He looks at her slightly sadly. "I'll be done with the tent as soon as I can, okay?" 

She smiles softly, wiping her eyes with a hand and pecking him on the lips. "O-okay, Rhino... I-I'll wait by the fire pit..." 

He smiles and nods before turning to his task as she waits. With his magic, it actually takes no time at all to remove and disassemble the poles, put them in the box, fold up the tent, then put that in the box. He looks back over to her. "Alright, we're done. Ready to head home?" 

She nods from where she sits on a log, her legs hugged to her chest. "Yes, I'm ready..." She holds her arms up to him, her eyes wide and pleading. "Carry me?" 

"I... I can try..." He looks to the camping items they're both holding. "Can you carry this stuff in your magic while I carry you?" 

"I can." She smiles, her horn lighting up as the items float into the air around them. 

"Ok then," he thinks of exactly how to do this. "Do we... want to do this piggyback or some other way?" 

She turns her head away, shyly tapping her fingers together. "W-whichever way works for you. I-I don't have a preference..." 

"Well... piggyback is probably easier so I can see and stuff." He nods to himself for his decision before turning his back to her and crouching. "Hop on, princess." 

Her cheeks burning with her blush, she wraps her arms around his shoulders. She gently nuzzles his cheek as she rests her chin on his shoulder, smiling warmly. "Are you ready, Noble Rhino?" 

"Yes, ma'am." He replies with a grin, taking a step forward and finding it to actually possible as opposed to how he was unable to walk the way he lifted her last night. The two set off towards the nearby house, reaching it within a few minutes. 

She groans as they near it, pouting. "I guess I'll be waiting by your window, huh?" 

He nods. "Yeah, oh and we need to try not to get mud everywhere. So umm... you know, wipe your hooves off on the leaves or something and don't sit on anything when I get you in, okay?" 

The girl huffs, her breath brushing against the fur of his shoulder. "Okay... maybe you could bring me a towel or two, just in case?" 

More nodding. "I'll see what I can do without my parents knowing." He stops around the corner from the front door. "I'll see you soon, okay?" 

Gel sighs and drops to the ground, tenderly kissing him once more. "See you soon..." She turns and heads to the window, carefully moving from one patch of grass to another, removing some more mud from her hooves with each one.

The colt enters the home with his gear in tow. From her position by the window, it seems to take longer than normal for the colt to come let her in. Muffled voices can be heard, but only the sounds of her friend and his mother, his father's voice strangely absent. Back and forth the exchanges seem to go until finally they calm. Around the corner, the sound of the door opening, closing, and locking can be heard before Gel spots the red form of Mist flying off. The window opens a few moments later as Rhino peeks his head out. "So... guess what?" 

She turns her attention back to him, tilting her head in confusion. "Um... not a clue..." She sheepishly smiles. "Please tell me?" 

He smiles wide as he reaches out to her. "We have the house to ourselves! Dad and Mom both work today and they finally said I'm big enough to stay home by myself!" His smiles grows wider. "Well, as far as they know, it's by myself." 

"Really?" She beams, jumping up and happily hugging him. "That's wonderful!" She pauses, pulling away just enough to look into his eyes. "Does this mean I can come in through the front door?" 

He tilts his head at her. "Well... I'm not really supposed to open it for anypony... but I think I can let you in. Did you want to come in that way?" 

She gestures to the window sill. "I think it's better than possibly leaving a trail of mud on the side of your house..." 

"Oh, good idea!" He nods approvingly. "I'll meet you at the door." He gently closes the window. 

She hurries to the front of the house, jumping at points to avoid the puddles surrounding the house. She stops on the stoop, scraping her hooves against the welcome mat in the hopes it'll get any residual residue off. 

The clicking of locks being undone is heard moments before the door opens to reveal the emerald colt. He holds open the door and waves a hand inside. "Come on in!" 

Gel smiles softly and walks inside, glancing over her shoulder before the door closes. She shakes her head and turns back to him, looking around curiously. "Never saw this part of your house, before... what is this room called?" She gestures to the area with the couch and recliners. 

"This is the living room." He explains, gesturing with a hand as his magic reseals and relocks the door. "It's pretty much where you can play or relax. Usually I prefer my room, but this is more for the family to do stuff." He gestures to the doorway into the rest of the house. "The kitchen is right across the hall, and down the hall on the left is my bedroom, then the guest bedroom slash storage room, on the right is the bathroom then my parents room, which has its own bathroom. Nothing too exciting, but I like it." 

"Bathroom..." She tilts her head, brow furrowing and arms crossing. "You have two different rooms for sponge baths? Why?" 

"Sponge baths? What?" He shakes his head. "No, just... here, I'll show you." He walks to the first door on the right and opens it.

The room revealed beyond is your standard large bathroom. A nice big counter takes up part of the room with a large mirror that runs the length of it on the wall above. The sink is in the middle of the counter while the toilet sits a few feet away from one end. Finally, the white tub, one of the ones that looks like a divot was scooped out of a block instead of some fancy porcelain thing with legs, sits across from the toilet. A small window can be seen at one end of the bathroom, higher up on the wall than most windows would be.

"See?" He says. "A bathroom. You know, for baths and other things." 

She looks around the room, her expression completely unreadable. "Rhino..." She turns to him, frowning slightly. "I only know what two of these things are..."

He blinks, wondering how she is still confused. "Ok... umm... which ones do you know?" 

"Well..." She points to the large sheet of glass. "That's a mirror..." She then indicates the sink beneath it. "And that would be a scrubbing basin..." A navy finger pokes at the faucet, and she frowns a bit more. "Don't know what these are for, though..." 

He reaches over to one, twisting the knob slightly so that water comes out. "That's a faucet. It's where the water comes in. You're home must be really different from mine, huh?" 

Her jaw drops in shock, eyes glued to the stream flowing from it. "You... you don't have to collect your water?" She notices it going down a hole near the bottom and panics, lunging forward to catch as much in her hands as possible. "Stop slipping through my fingers!" She splashes some as she gulps down the crystalline flow, not realizing this in her haste. 

The colt jumps as she lunges, quickly shutting off the flow and grabbing the hand towel from next to the sink. "Careful! You're getting it everywhere." He dabs it up quickly before putting the cloth back. 

She gasps softly, carefully wiping off her lips. "S-sorry... I just saw all that water going to waste..." She blushes brightly, bowing her head in embarrassment. "And... w-well..." 

"It's ok... you didn't know. But umm, it's also not being wasted." He points to the drain. "It just goes down the pipes and all flows back into the city to be purified and used again. It gets mixed in with the fresh stuff from the waterfalls." 

She squeaks, shrinking a bit more at his words. "I-I didn't know that was possible... s-sorry for startling you like that..." She glances at the toilet for a moment before turning to the tub, running a hand along the smooth surface. "S-so what is this, Rhino?" 

"It's the bathtub." He answers simply, walking over and pointing to the faucets similar to the others. "I think it's pretty much just a big sink so it's easier for ponies to get clean." The tub appears to be a fairly deep model, looking as though the water level would come up to the base of the girl's shoulders if she were to sit in it. 

She tilts her head, leaning over the edge and poking at the semi-covered hole near the bottom. "Why does it have the option to cover this up?" 

He smiles at her naivety. "So the water won't drain out when you're trying to fill the tub up and get clean." 

She frowns, scratching her cheek as she looks around the edge of the tub. "Then... where do you keep the sponges?"

"Well..." He points to the shelf just above the tub where a variety of soap bars, gels, and shampoos can be seen. "There's a sponge and a stick up there that I like to use so I can reach my back and stuff, but some ponies use washcloths instead." 

She looks up at it and frowns a bit more, her ears drooping slightly as she mutters to herself. "That's not what mom uses... and what are those bottles for?" She turns to him, nervously smiling as she motions to the toilet. "So, um, what's that for? C-cleaning your tail and mane?" 

He cringes. "With the toilet? Eww, no!" Shaking his head rapidly, he gets that thought from his mind. "That's where you do... you know, your business. Number one and number two." 

She blinks at him, confusion clear on her face. "Number... what? What are you talking about?" 

The colt averts his eyes, unsure of how to say this. "Umm... you know, when you eat or drink how not all of it is used and the rest comes back out... lower? That's where you let it come out." 

She tilts her head to one side, processing his answer for a moment before slowly nodding. "Okay... so, what about that?" She points to the metal head above the tub, hoping he wouldn't mind the change of subject. 

Turns out he appreciates the change, latching onto the new train of thoughts immediately. "Oh, that's the shower head, it's another way ponies get clean, but I think the bath is more relaxing, even if the shower is faster." 

She nods once more, sitting on the edge of the tub. "Interesting... so you don't use sponge baths to clean your ch-" She stops mid-sentence, slowly raising a hand to her face. "Right... ponies don't have chitin..." 

"Nope!" He says brightly. "Fluffy." 

She smiles softly, grabbing his hand and pulling him forward, gently kissing his cheek once more. "I certainly don't mind the fluffy..."

Chuckling sheepishly, he looks around, noticing there's nothing left of note to speak of in the bathroom. "Yeah... once I get done showing you the house, I actually need to come back in here and get cleaned up. Mom said she'd leave me on my own but I had to take a bath and brush my teeth and stuff as soon as possible." 

She tilts her head, curious. "Then why don't you clean yourself, now?" She gestures to him. "I don't mind waiting a little bit for a tour of the place..." 

"Well... I like to take my time with baths, relax while I get clean, you know?" He blinks as he spots the brown on her. "Speaking of getting clean, we both need to get clean clothes... Hey, actually, did you want to take a bath first? I mean you feel down and all... I could get your clothes and stuff while you get clean." 

Gel turns away, shyly tapping her fingers together. "I-I've never cleaned myself, before... my parents always insisted on doing it for me..." She shrugs, a small smile on her lips. "I don't mind, though... it was time they spent with me, so it's special..." 

Yet again, the colt finds himself tilting his head at the differences between this girl's upbringing and his own. "It's just soaking and scrubbing you know. Well, and the mane and tail, but still, you just use the right bottle on each one." 

She blinks, looking at the items in question. "Oh, so that's what those are for..." 

He nods. "Yep, they smell different too." 

She rubs the back of her neck, grimacing and pulling away her now-muddy hand. "I, um... I think I'll need a bit more than that..." She sheepishly smiles at him. "C-could you possibly... take one with me? You seem to know how it works, and all..." 

"What, a bath?" He looks to the tub for a moment. "I guess it's big enough... and Mom did say she used to take baths with me when I was little..." After a moment's contemplation, he nods. "Yeah, I guess we could do that. Plus, it saves water." 

"Great!" She beams, standing up and glancing at the slightly muddy spot left from her jeans. "Um... I guess I should clean that, first?" 

"Hmm..." Walking over to the nearby closet, Rhino opens the door and digs a moment before coming out with a brown towel and a white one. "Here," he tosses the brown one to her, "that can be the muddy towel," he sets the white one on the towel rack, "and this can be the clean one." 

She catches the tossed towel and nods, carefully lowering herself onto her knees. She starts scrubbing the mess off the lip of the tub, talking to him over her shoulder. "Maybe you could get the clothes for us, real quick? I mean, it seems like a good time, right now..." 

"Sure thing!" Walking out of the room, a stray thought causes him to make a slight detour to his parents' room. He returns a few minutes later, arms laden with clothing. "Here we go, green shirt and regular shorts for you, blue shirt and pants for me. Oh, also these got clean and I managed to grab them from the laundry before they got folded." He motions to the small bit of white in the pile. 

She puts the towel off to the side, smiling softly at him. "You grabbed my panties for me? Thank you!" She carefully peels her muddy shirt off, staring at it in her hands for a moment before turning to him, nervous. "So... w-where do I put these clothes?" 

He opens the towel closet again, pointing to the basket at the bottom. "In there." Seeing her without her shirt on, he starts to laugh. "Hehe, you look silly."

Indeed, almost every bit of the nymph's back half is covered in mud except when you get to where her clothes were, then it's suddenly clean. The vision of blue core and brown limbs leads to the almost comical impression of a reverse tan. 

She pouts at him, pulling her jeans off and tossing them both into the basket. "I can't help how I look... mud isn't very flattering on anyone..." She turns away from him, pulls off the borrowed briefs and tosses them over her shoulder, not watching to see where they'd land. 

A raspberry from the colt who intercepted the clothing reveals his opinion of his horn's new status as a clothing hanger. "Were you aiming for me?" 

"Aiming for... what?" She looks at him and stops, eyes wide in surprise. "Oh my gosh!" She hurries over to him, carefully extracting it from his face. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for that to happen!" She quickly tosses it into the basket, blushing brightly. 

Another raspberry is her answer. "I know, I just felt silly. At least those were cleaner than the shirt and pants, right?" 

"True..." She kneels down, picking up a pair of brown boxers. "Are these yours? They're different from what you normally wear..." 

"Huh?" He sees the clothing in question as he sets down the ones in his arms. "Oh, those looks like dad's. Just throw them in the basket." 

"Are you sure?" She stretches them in her hands. "They don't look dirty..." She trails off as she realizes her hand got mud on the outside of one side. "Um... n-never mind..." She tosses them into the basket, embarrassed. "S-so, um... would you like help with that?" She indicates his sleep pants, the only visible article of clothing he has on. 

"Nah, I got it." He quickly strips and tosses his clothes in the basket as well. "Now we just need to get the bath ready." Walking over, he checks to see the drain is open and twists the knob on the left, water soon gushing out. "We have to wait for it to get hot, it's not fun bathing in cold water." 

Gel nods, sitting on the edge of the counter opposite the side with the clothes. She tilts her head a bit, looking at his body with mild curiosity. "You know... I have to wonder something..." 

His own curiosity awoken, he asks, "What do you wonder about?" 

"For one thing..." She smiles, playfully running a hoof along his outer thigh. "Whether you're ticklish... but for another..." She pulls her hoof away, giggling softly. "How you'd look if your fur was wet." 

Testing the water with a hand and quickly pulling it away, he makes adjustments to both knobs as he answers. "Well... I guess I look wet when I'm wet. I know I'm very ticklish though, what about you?" 

"Not sure." She smirks softly, sneaking up behind him. "So... ticklish, hmm?" She quickly hugs him, her arms wrapping around his waist. She teasingly nips his neck right before her fingers begin dancing along his sides. 

The effect is instantaneous as the colt starts laughing. His whole body squirms as it tries to get away from the playful nymph, thrashing around every which way. 

"Nuh uh!" She holds him tighter, not affording him any chance to get away from her hands. She takes the time to nuzzle and nip his shoulders, enjoying his fluffiness, yet doesn't let up.

His laughing is uncontrollable as he continues fighting her. As he staggers into the center of the room, he even tries bending his arms so that his hands are on her sides, trying to tickle her back. 

She pauses in her actions, tilting her head in confusion. "Huh... I guess I'm not that ticklish..." She giggles, moving her body up and running her hands across his chest, humming softly into his ear. "You know, I'll stop if you want me to... all you have to do is say the word..." 

Between laughs, he manages to actually speak a single word. "Please." 

She pouts softly but pulls away, albeit reluctantly. She sits on the edge of the tub and crosses her arms, her tail wrapping up around her hip and across her lap. "H-hate the cold... w-why is it so cold in here?" 

He shrugs, checking the water temperature again before nodding and closing the drain so that the tub start to fill up. "I dunno, I don't actually feel anything at all." He looks at the girl clearly, her partially see-through shoulder-length mane and tail are interesting to him in that she has so much control over them. The small points of her longest fangs can be barely seen poking over her lips just under her pure sapphire eyes. Noting how her navy chitin fades to light blue skin at her chest and down to where her thighs meet her legs, he rubs his chin with a hand. "Maybe it's because you don't have a coat?" 

Gel glances up at him, shivering slightly. "I-I guess..." She eyes his body curiously, starting at the blue stripe in his black mane. She looks into his brown eyes, blushing slightly at the warmth she sees within them before tearing her gaze away. She sees his tail, matching his mane in style, if a little less messy. "So... those stripes... are they natural?" She trails her eyes back up his emerald body, briefly meeting his eyes before flickering back down. She finds herself admiring his lean chest, raising a hand to run through the soft fur there. 

He looks down at her hand, but since it feels good, he lets her continue. "Yep, natural as me being green." He smiles. "I actually really like my stripes, it's part of the reason I like blue." 

She blinks, looking up at him in surprise. "Is that so?" She smiles softly, placing a hand on his hip and pulling herself back up to her hooves. "Well, I find green to be a wonderful color." She playfully winks and sticks her tongue out at him. 

He laughs before sticking his tongue right back out at her. "I wonder why..." Peeking behind her at the tub, he continues. "Looks like that water's almost at the level we need." 

She smiles sweetly, embracing him gently and nuzzling his cheek. "Then I'd better make this hug a good one..." She rests her chin on his shoulder, enjoying the feeling of his fluffiness against her body. 

Chuckling he hugs her back. "You know we can hug just as much after, right?" His horn lights up as he cuts off the water, a small bit of steam coming off the amount in the tub. 

"Yes, but you might not be as fluffy..." She glances at the counter, pouting cutely. "Or have as much fluffiness available..." She sighs and turns to the tub, instantly stiffening at the sight before her. 

"What? It's just a tub of water." He sticks his hand in and swirls it around. "Nice and hot too."

She shakily nods, slowly backing away only to press against him. "I-I can see that... b-but mom and dad only ever used a small amount while washing me..." She squirms, uncomfortable but not knowing why. 

"Well, now there's more." He moves around her, approaching the tub. Lifting up a leg, he eases it in, letting out a sigh. "Ah... see? it feels good." 

The poor girl looks from the bathtub to her friend and back, torn. After a few seconds she gulps, holding onto him for security. "O-okay, Rhino... I-I trust you..." She closes her eyes and pushes her hoof in, flinching at the sensation of water on her body but trying to brave through it for him. 

"There you go, see? It's not so bad." He moves his other leg in so that he is standing fully above the water. 

Being forced to follow him or possibly fall, she opts for the former, quickly bringing her other leg into the water. She hugs him tightly, uneasy and hoping for some comfort. 

Feeling her squeeze him tighter, he pats her back. "Hey, you know we're almost there, right? Next we just sit down, then we get clean. Easy." 

She looks up at him, whining softly. "D-do I... have to let go?" 

"Umm, well, I guess not." He admits. "You will have to sit down when I do though." He partially bends his knees for emphasis. 

Hastily making to mirror him, she loses her footing and falls into the water, her frantically clinging hands pulling him with her. The resulting splash knocks a fair amount of water onto the floor, and leaves the nymph stunned from the sudden plunge. 

He blinks, slightly stunned as well. "That's... one way to get down into the water." He nudges her head with his own. "Hey, you okay?" 

She whimpers, holding him tightly to her body. "S-so cold..." 

"Cold?" He can feel the temperature of the water around them as they sit. "But the water is hot..." 

She shakes her head, trying to hold as much of her body against his as possible. "N-not talking about... t-the water..." 

"Then what?" He asks, bracing himself as she pushes herself against him. 

"I just... feel alone..." She sniffles, looking up at him with concern in her eyes. "I-I don't like this feeling, Rhino..." 

He frowns at her expression, adjusting his balance before wrapping his arms around her. "Hey... you're not alone, I'm right here." 

"B-but..." She leans up against him, quietly whimpering. "W-why can't I... f-feel your affection? The warmth, it's just... g-gone..." 

"No, it's not." He argues. "It's still there." He hugs her tighter, wondering why she's reacting like this. 

She gasps as his palms press against her back, feeling the emotion flooding through those two points of contact. She shudders at this, confused before something occurs to her. "T-the water... i-it's keeping your affection from reaching me, but... w-why?" 

"I... I have no idea. It's just water... I mean, nothing weird about it." He rubs her back with his hands. "Are you feeling a little better?" 

She sniffles, smiling shyly. "A little? I mean... y-your hands are helping a bit..." 

"Good." He nuzzles her, trying to put his affection behind it, but unsure exactly how to do that. "I don't like seeing you upset..." 

She giggles, returning the gesture in kind. "And I don't like seeing you upset..." She leans up and gently pecks his lips, tensing as a jolt of emotions runs through her. The navy nymph collapses against the upper end of the tub, holding a hand to her head. "W-wow... that was odd..." 

"What happened?" He asks, gliding through the water to her side. 

"It was like... a sudden rush of energy..." Gel blushes, tapping her fingers together nervously. "Can I... k-kiss you some more?" 

"If it makes you feel better, yeah, do it." He nods, a smile forming since he knows a way that seems to make her more comfortable... plus it feels nice for him too. 

She smiles sweetly, gently cupping his cheeks and catching his lips with her own, happily humming into it. Her eyes drift closed, and she simply enjoys the contact and the warmth it brings. 

Rhino blinks at first, unsure how to react to such a long kiss. After a few seconds though, he finds himself relaxing as a strange warmth fills him, and not from the water. His arms pull her closer against him as he sits there, feeling the touch of her blue lips on his green ones. 

She slowly pulls away, giggling quietly as she traces his lips with a finger. "You know... your lips are really soft... I like it..." She slowly scoots up in the water, laying back against the small slant and resting her head against the wall. "You're right, by the way... this water's rather warm..." 

"Yeah..." He says quietly, putting a finger to his own lips and wondering what all that was he felt. Whatever it was, he certainly wouldn't mind feeling it again. "Your umm... your lips are nice too... Are you feeling better then?" 

"I think so, yes..." She sighs softly, bringing her arms up out of the water. "Though, honestly, it's my legs that are numb, now... is it possible to just... wash without being submerged?" She rubs the back of her neck, embarrassed. "I mean, if that's not a silly request... I... n-never mind..." 

Swishing his arms about in the water as he thinks, the colt responds. "Well, that's what the shower does actually. It's standing under the water instead of sitting down in it. Would that work better for you?" 

"Maybe..." She sits up fully, tenderly pecking his lips and blushing a bit. "Can we still do this while in the shower?" 

A warmth coming to his own cheeks along with a smile, he nods. "Yeah... definitely..." 

"Then I'd like that..." She giggles, hugging him as she pulls him into another kiss. She pulls away soon enough and moves to stand, her hand on his shoulder to keep herself steady. 

He smiles as he follows her face up, looking back down as he prepares to stand up out of the water himself. As he is about to though, his eyes is caught by the part of her that is right in front of his face. Tilting his head to get a better angle, the colt shakes his head. "Still weird that girls don't have anything down here..." 

"There isn't nothing down there..." She widens her stance, keeping her hands braced on his shoulders so she wouldn't fall. "See?" 

He blinks, looking closer. "Ok... there's a... crease, but I mean... that's it." 

She huffs, pulling away and stepping out of the tub, her tail flicking in mild irritation. "That's more than 'nothing', Rhino." She sits on the edge of the tub, smirking slightly as her mass of blue hair splashes his face. "So you were still wrong, and I get to request something of you." 

"I don't remember agreeing to that." He mutters as he pulls out the plug in the tub, letting the water drain out. Speaking more clearly, he continues. "Umm... ok, what do you want?"

Gel wags a finger at him. "I want two things. One, I want you to wear as much as I will until your parents come home." She pauses, waiting to gauge his reaction. 

He nods quickly. "Okay, seems simple enough. Umm, though, could you not wear too much? I get hot easily in a lot of clothes..." 

"Honestly?" She smirks, sticking out her tongue out at him. "I'm planning on wearing nothing." 

He raises a finger to object, but lowers it after a few seconds. "I feel like I walked into that one..." 

"You kinda did." The girl stretches a moment before continuing. "Two... I would like to get a better look at your body. Specifically, your lower half... if that's alright with you." 

"Seems fair to me." He shrugs, looking down and seeing the last of the water drain away, leaving him wet and his fur thoroughly saturated. "Did you mean like... now or once we're clean and dry?" 

"Both." She turns and moves in front of him, running her hands over his drenched arms. She squeezes and turns it over, tracing some muscles that prevail under the fur with a finger. "I... I didn't expect this kind of build under all that fluffiness..." Her hands move to his chest and rub along him there, giggling softly. "Still hard to believe you don't have nipples..." 

"Well, to me it's weird you do, so..." He sticks his tongue out at her playfully. 

She shakes her head and continues down, playfully dancing her fingers along his side before she's staring at his pelvis. She tilts her head to one side, frowning softly, and looks up at him in confusion. "Is it me, or did it get... smaller?" 

"Did what get smaller?" He asks, unsure what she's talking about. 

"Your thingy." She gestures to the area in question. "It looks smaller than the first time I saw it..." 

"Oh..." He nods, understanding now. "That's just because it's a bit cold right now... it get smaller when it's cold." 

"Oh." She looks down at it one more time before moving on, rubbing her hands against his hips. "You know... your legs seem like they could be really strong..." She winks at him as her hands move to his legs, simply stroking the soaked fur and watching to see his reactions. 

"Mom says I get their shape from my dad." He watches as she strokes, whatever part of his leg she touches tensing as the muscles become hard at that spot. 

Gel pouts, removing her hands and crossing her arms at him. "How am I supposed to get a good sense of your body if you keep flexing like that?" She sighs, placing her hands on his knees and running them along the front of his legs. "Granted, your muscles are nicely defined, but still..." 

It appears the front of his legs are not as sensitive as the back, as they stay completely still now when she touches them. The colt is also now bracing himself so he doesn't flex, not wanting to make her pout again. 

She finally reaches his hooves, lifting one up and tracing the blade of it. "What is this ring here for?" 

He shivers, resisting the urge to move his leg at the light touch. "That's the edge of my hoof. It's the hardest part of it." 

Her finger moves to the concave section, tapping it experimentally. "And this part?" 

"That's my frog," he says, remembering him asking the same thing of his parents one day, "it's supposed to... reduce the force on the hoof when landing or stepping hard. I never understood why they called it that." 

"I see..." She lets go and moves closer, sitting on his waist and smiling down at him as he leans back. "You know, I kind of like how cute your blush is..." She leans down, gently nipping his nose. "May I see it again, Rhino?" 

He smiles, his blush coming naturally from her actions as he doesn't even have to say a word. 

"There we go..." She giggles, cupping his cheeks and tenderly kissing him. "Thank you..."

Instead of simply sitting there and letting it happen like he has done all the other times, Rhino decides to take a chance as he lightly pushes back with the kiss. All the time, that strange warm feeling within him from the last kiss re-emerges. 

She squeaks in surprise at first when he pushes back, but soon melts into it, deepening it slightly. She moves closer to his body, pressing herself up against him as their display of affection continues. 

His arms snake around her again, the action becoming all too familiar nowadays. However, as he does this, he forgoes propping himself with them, so with a small squeak from the tub, the colt slides down the wall and to the side, finding himself quickly and easily on his back, now with Gel squarely on top of him. 

She doesn't seem to mind this at all, simply kissing him for another couple moments before pulling away, softly panting for air. She smiles warmly at him, her cheeks bright blue. "T-that was... really nice, Rhino..." Gel gently nuzzles his cheek, giggling quietly. 

"I think so too..." He nuzzles her back as he answers. "You know... I really like doing that with you..." 

"I do, too..." She winks as she sits up, crouched on top of him as she is. She tilts her head, looking down at him before shrugging slightly. "We should see how it feels with you on top, next time... for now," she carefully stands and takes his hand, "let's take that shower, shall we?" 
> Chapter 6: Curiosity
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Yeah... yeah, we should do that." With her help, he gets up while still in the water. "Ok, just give me a second to get this working, oh, and can you pull the curtain around us?" He points to where it is bunched up on the wall, hanging off the rail above them. 

She nods, maneuvering around him and grabbing the plastic sheet. With a little difficulty, she manages to pull it all the way across, sighing in relief once she does. 

Meanwhile, Rhino has the water running again and is making sure it is the right temperature. "There we go, umm... you may want to hide behind me or brace yourself before I do this..." 

She turns to him, brow furrowed in confusion. "Brace myself... for what?" 

"For when the water suddenly comes from there." He points up at the head. 

She realizes that it's pointed straight at her, gulping quietly and blindly grabbing for him. "Um... b-behind you sounds good..." 

He nods, standing up and backing against her, instantly getting grabbed for his action. As she hides behind him, he pops up the switch and suddenly the water starts shooting down onto them from the shower head. 

Her arms tense as the spray hits them, the girl gripping him even tighter. "C-cold! Cold water!" 

Feeling the warm water hitting his coat, the colt is a bit confused by her reaction. Even stranger to him is that, as opposed to her cool chitin, her skin seems to actually be hot. "The water isn't cold..." he corrects slowly, looking down at her. "Are you sick or something? Your skin is really hot..." 

"N-no, I feel fine..." She shivers slightly against his back. "J-just... t-trying to warm my hands back up... that's all..." 

Unsure how this relates to him, he decides to ask. "Ok... umm... do you want me to just wait here then?" 

"No, I-I'll be fine..." She carefully lets go of him, her heated hands running along his sides, steam forming as they pass. She turns away from the spray and closes her eyes, bracing herself for what might come. 

Rotating around so he is facing her, and rinsing at the same time, he looks at her curiously. "Why are you flinching so much? It's the same temperature the bath was... and you do still need to rinse first before we clean." 

She slowly nods, rolling her slightly-muddy shoulders. "I-I know... I just have to get used to it..." She looks back at him. "B-besides, I'm mostly dirty on my back..." 

"I know. Do you want me to move then so more hits you?" he offers. 

She gulps and shakily nods, reaching back to hold his hand. "D-don't go too far... okay?" 

"There's not really anywhere to go." He chuckles at his joke before asking again. "So... ready?" He squeezes her hand. 

She smiles softly, nodding. "I'm ready..." 

Still holding her hand and wondering why he felt a sense of suspense for such a simple action, the colt turns sideways and leans towards the wall, clearing the way for the spray. 

She tenses as the water hits her, gritting her teeth as the water rolls off her shoulders, dragging the dried-on soil with it. After a while, she slowly starts to relax, releasing the breath she didn't realize she was holding. She leans against the wall, trying to get her breathing back under control, glad the moment of fear had passed. 

Rhino reaches for her with his other hand, rubbing her back a bit hoping to both calm her down and help get dirt off. 

She coos softly as the smooth skin of his palm brushes along her chitin. Her tail almost acts on its own, wrapping around his hip to bring him closer. 

The colt stifles a sound as he finds himself being pulled toward her. Obeying her tail's wishes, he does so, getting the last bits of dirt off her back. "Looks good back here for the first rinse." 

She sighs in relief, leaning back against him and resting her head on his shoulder. "Thank goodness... so that's everything, right?" She smiles up at him, nervous. 

"Umm... no." He reaches upwards and grabs a bottle of body wash. "We still have to use soap then do our manes and tails." The sponge on a stick floats down a moment later. 

She groans quietly, her ears flattening against her head. "I guess it was a bit too much to hope for that..." 

"What's wrong?" He looks at her with a hopeful smile. "Getting clean feels good, and it feels even better afterwards." 

"True..." She shrugs, pressing herself back against his chest as she pecks his lips. "I was hoping we'd be able to cuddle soon... that's all..." 

"Don't worry, this shouldn't take too long." He squirts some of the gel onto the sponge and offers it to her. "Do you want to clean yourself first?" 

She stares at it like it was a sword pointed at her, eyes wide in panic. "Oh, n-no. I don't know how to clean myself... s-sorry..." She bows her head, ashamed. 

"Oh..." He looks to the sponge curiously. "Well, do you want to just watch me or something?" 

"Actually, I was kinda hoping..." She looks up at him, shyly blushing. "C-could you please clean my body, Rhino?" 

"Umm... well, I don't really know if changelings clean differently, but I can try my best." He brandishes the sponge again. "Ok, so... did you want me to start with front or back?" 

"Well... my back's already towards you..." She steps forward, bracing her palms against the wall in front of her. "Maybe that'd be a good place to start?" 

"Ok." He steps forward and sets the brush on her shoulders, immediately starting to draw it back and forth across her chitin in the typical scrubbing motion. He glides it back and forth across the upper part of her back, getting everything fairly quickly. 

She shivers at the sensation, unsure what to think. She decides to simply rest her cheek against the cool tile, closing her eyes. 

The colts start working on her lower back now, still at his same pace. He has a small smile as he works. "I wonder if this is why Mom always said she liked washing me when I was little..." 

She coos wistfully, pushing her hips back at him. "I don't know... but this is just wonderful..." Her tail slowly swishes back and forth every few seconds as the girl gets lost in the rhythmic motions. 

Systematically, the colts moves lower down, now washing the girl's flanks. 

She squeaks, jumping slightly at the touch. She looks back at him, nervously laughing. "B-be careful, Rhino... I'm a little sensitive, there..." 

"Oh, right, I'll be softer then." He does so, cleaning with less pressure as he does soapy circling motions.

She almost melts against the wall, groaning in a strange mix of relief and tension. Inexplicably, her tail flicks up, rising in the air without her permission or knowledge. 

The colts doesn't pay this any mind at first, seeing as she had been flicking it not too long ago. However, as it just keeps getting higher, he looks at it quizzically. "Umm... Gel, why are you doing that with your tail?" He continues scrubbing as he asks that question. 

"Hmm... doing what, now?" She blinks from her daze, staring at her tail in confusion. "Um... I-I'm not doing it on purpose, Rhino..." She furrows her brow in concentration, her body tensing as she tries to get it to obey. "I-it's not going back down... t-that's never happened, before..." 

"Huh... weird." As he gets done washing her flanks, he plays with the tip of her tail and moment, flicking it back and forth. "Well, it'll be easier to clean when we get to it, I guess. Can you really not move it though?" He lightly presses a finger against the side of the base. 

"N-not an inch." She squirms slightly, her cheeks flushing with color. "T-that feels weird, Rhino... like, a tingly weird..." 

"I'll stop then." He regroups the scrubbing tool and moves lower. 

She sighs, muttering quietly to herself. "It's not like I didn't like it..." 

Not hearing this, the colt begins scrubbing up and down the back of one of her legs. "Just this one and the other one and we're halfway done." 

Gel hums, smiling softly as she feels his free hand rest on her thigh. "Feel free to take your time..." 

"Well... it's not like I'm rushing." He continues scrubbing all the way from her thigh to hoof. 

She squeaks as he rubs along the inside of her thigh, body tensing at the sensation. "T-there's that tingling, again..." 

"Huh, weird what seems to make you feel like that." He rubs over the spot again. "Is it like a good tingly or a bad tingly?" 

She groans softly, her eyes slowly drifting closed. "Good... definitely good..." 

"Good, I don't want more things that make you feel bad." He switches to the other leg. 

She immediately laughs, pulling away from his hand. "S-stop! I'm t-ticklish, there!"

He stops, looking at the spot curiously. "You're not ticklish in the normal spots but you're ticklish in this random one? Strange..." He gently presses the sponge slightly below the spot. 

She pants quietly, trying to catch her breath. "S-sorry... I-I can't help it..."

"It's alright, it's funny. I'll just have to remember that spot the next time you tickle me." He scrubs the rest of her legs, the suds slowly dripping down it. 

The girl slumps slightly, her ears now flat to her head. "Aw... I liked tickling you without worry..." She sighs, shaking her head. "I guess I'll have to find something else to make you act cute, then..." 

"I'm sure you'll find something." He stands back up fully. "Ok, I think that's everything back here, want to turn around?" 

She nods and slowly faces, him, her cheeks flushed with color. "L-like this?" 

"Yep!" He raises the sponge and starts working on her upper chest. "Gotta get you squeaky clean." 

She hums softly, relaxing under his hands as he cleans her chest. "I understand... m-maybe y-" She yelps as he brushes across the blue peaks, covering them protectively with her hands. "C-careful! T-those are sensitive!" 

He protests, having been careful. "But I barely touched them! How sensitive can they be?" 

"I-I don't know, but they're sensitive!" She bites her lip, turning away. "I-I can't explain it..." 

"Ok... I guess I'll just not touch them then..." He starts scrubbing again below her arms, rubbing the sponge on her belly. 

She sighs softly, cautiously pulling her arms away. "G-good enough, I guess... I hope we can cuddle a bit more, to make up for it..." 

He nods. "Of course we can." As he gets to her waist, he stands up, taking one of her hand in his own and starting to scrub her arm. "Plus you still have those two requests you asked me to do, so you should be happy. Unless you want another one anyway." 

She tilts her head at him, frowning softly. "I don't want to request anything else, Rhino... I feel like that'd be selfish..." She smiles, tilting his head up and tenderly kissing him. "What about you, though? Any requests... that don't contradict mine?" She winks, playfully sticking her tongue out at him. 

He shrugs noncommittally. "I dunno..." He switches to cleaning the other arm. 

Gel blinks, brow furrowing slightly. "You... don't know if you want anything?" 

He nods, explaining. "Yeah, I mean... I just can't think of anything I want right now. I'm happy like this."

She pouts, her mood falling at his words. "Now I feel even more selfish..." 

"Wait, I thought of something I want!" He says quickly. 

She blinks, looking at him in confusion. "Really? Well... what is your request, Rhino?" 

As he finishes her arms, he looks to her seriously. "I want you to be happy." 

She stares at him blankly for a moment before smiling, gently hugging him. "Oh, Rhino... I'm always happy, when I'm with you..." 

That warm feeling returns as he reciprocates the hug. "Good... just let me know if there's anything else you want me to do to make you happy, and you're not selfish if you ask." 

"I'll be sure to remember that..." She nuzzles his cheek, her hands rubbing along his hips. "But I want you to feel free to do the same... okay?" 

"Okay..." He rubs her back a moment before crouching down. "Okay, let's get the rest of you." He starts scrubbing her waist and below. 

She gasps as he passes over the tiny line between her legs, her cheeks burning brightly at the strong tingling sensation. She does her best to keep this to herself, despite her legs trembling, as she doesn't want to worry her friend. 

The colt doesn't notice her reaction as he goes on, moving to the front of her legs now without much incident. "At least you don't seem to have any more tingly or tickly spots up here." 

"Y-yea, good thing..." She sighs, relaxing as his hands run over her thighs and shins. "That's really nice... maybe I should ask for a massage, later... you know, like from that one story?" 

"What, when that one guy hurt his back in the fall?" He asks as he stands up, setting the sponge stick to one side for now and levitating down another bottle. 

"Yea. I'm not gonna hurt myself for it, though." She giggles and looks at the bottle, tilting her head. "What's that, Rhino?" 

"Mane and tail shampoo." He answers simply. "Just lather it in and rinse it out. Which one did you want me to start with?" 

"I... I don't really have a preference..." She shrugs, rubbing the back of her neck. "You can choose..." 

"Well, if your tail is still up, let's start with that since it makes it easier to get to." He pours a bit of the gel into his hands. 

She nods and turns around, her tail flicking his leg as she does so. 

He chuckles, bending down slightly to be on level with the bundle of strands. He wraps his hands around the base, threading his fingers through the strands as he pulls them down all the way through her tail. 

She shivers and coos softly, pressing herself back against his hands. 

As he alternates hands repeating the motion, the colt tilts his head at her pushing against him. "Does that feel good or something?" 

"V-very good..." She smiles back at him, her whole face as blue as her tail. 

"Huh... I always thought my tail getting pulled felt uncomfortable..." He continues washing her tail, even pressing experimentally against the base again to see if it would move now.

"You're not pulling on it, though..." She giggles, the soft strands gently wrapping around his hand. "You're actually being very gentle with it..." 

"I guess..." He looks down at the strands around his hand, smiling and holding them as if they were her hand. 

Gel sighs happily, letting her eyes drift closed as he works, enjoying every second of it. 

Soon enough, he stops and pats her flank. "Ok, it's time for me to work on your mane, think you can let me go?" 

She squeaks at his pat before she sighs, playfully squeezing a bit tighter before her strands slide off him. "I guess I can..." She turns and hugs him close, teasingly nipping his neck. 

Laughing, he hugs her back. "Hey, that's not letting me go..." Getting an idea, he playfully and gently nips one of her ears as she did to his neck. 

She gasps, pulling away with a small blush. "Fine... I guess we can continue, later, anyways..." 

"Heh, yeah, you did say you wanted to look and play with me more when we're clean." He puts a bit more gel in his hands before raising them and setting them in her mane, starting to run them back and forth through it much like he did her tail. 

She rests her head against his chest, her eyes closed once more as she focuses on the feeling of his fingers playing through her mane. 

Back and forth he washes. He even plays a little bit with her ears as he goes around them, wanting to see what her reaction is. 

She leans into his hands, a lazy little smile on her face. 

He smiles at this, finishing up quickly and letting her know with a nuzzle. "All done. Time to rinse off." 

She blinks blearily, looking up at him and slowly nodding. "O-okay, Rhino..." She steps forward into the spray, flinching at first before quickly getting used to it. She sighs in relief as she feels the tension in her body almost be washed away. 

Rhino watches as the suds are washed off her mane, tail, and body at once, leaving behind the changeling he knows, now grime free. "There we go, all clean."

She smiles, turning to him and nodding, her shoulder-length mane sticking to her cheeks but not bothering her in the slightest. "Thank you, Rhino... I feel a whole lot better, now..." 

"Glad to hear it!" He reaches a hand forward and unsticks her mane, tucking it so it doesn't cover her face. "There we go, just need to get me clean now..." He grabs the sponge stick again. 

She takes a hold of it as he moves it, smiling shyly. "Um... m-may I try? I-I mean... it felt good for me, so..." Her voice trails off and she averts her gaze, embarrassed that she can't clearly speak what she wants to say. 

He tilts his head. "You want to... practice washing on me? I guess that's fine..." 

She gently pecks his cheek, smiling shyly. "T-thanks, Rhino..." She nuzzles him before carefully taking the brush, stepping around him and doing as he did, scrubbing his back with the brush. She may be using a bit too much pressure, however. 

The colt doesn't seem to mind too much though, as he leans into the sponge. "Heh, not quite as gentle as I was, but that does feel good... like a back rub sort of." 

She giggles, teasingly nipping his neck before brushing there, as well. "Glad I'm not doing that bad, my first time..." She trails down further, crouching then kneeling to get the best angle at which to clean his back. She pauses at his sides, momentarily considering tickling him before moving on, rubbing and squeezing his flanks. 

A small yelp escapes him as he looks back at her. "Hey, why are you squeezing back there?" 

"Because they're so firm... it's kind of hard to imagine since you're normally so... um, fluffy..." She sheepishly smiles, quickly moving on. 

"Ok..." His tail flicks once before he lets her get back to what she was doing. 

She scrubs along his legs, using her magic to manipulate the brush as she takes this opportunity to run her hands through his tail. She giggles at the almost-velvety texture, making sure not to tug. 

Unlike most males, Rhino's tail is not of the short style and is instead more of the length one might expect on a mare. Still, it is obvious that he takes care of it by how soft and untangled it is. 

She indulges herself in the feeling a moment longer before she grabs the brush, cleaning his calves as well as possible. Done with his back, she stands up, rubbing his shoulders once more. "Turn, please?" 

He obliges, smiling at her when he can see her. "You're doing good for your first time." 

"R-really?" She blushes softly, taking his hand as she moves up his arm. "I-I was just following your lead..." 

"You still learned well." He comments as she suds him up. 

She cheeks turn a brighter shade of blue and she smiles, leaning up for a peck. "I had a good teacher..." She works down his other arm and shifts to his chest, one hand feeling his muscles while the other scrubs with the sponge. 

Feeling her fingers spread throughout his fur, he smiles. "You really do like just feeling my coat, don't you?" 

"That, and I'm still trying to get a clear feeling for your build..." She pulls away, scratching her head in confusion. "You're... not that bulky... but I like this lean muscle..." She giggles, lowering herself to get at his legs, glancing at his pelvis for just a second before skipping it entirely. "It's like you have the potential to be a big, brave knight..." She starts scrubbing at his legs, running a hand along his inner thigh to keep him from moving. "I wonder how you'll look, then..." 

He stiffens as his muscles in his inner thighs twitch slightly from her touching. "I dunno... I mean, yeah being strong would be nice, but I don't want to be one of those huge guys who look weird because  of how many muscles they have. I want a balance." 

"My mom's plenty strong, and she doesn't have huge muscles..." She puts the sponge stick to the side, picking up a small cloth and applying some body wash to it. "So you don't have to give up one for the other... right?" 

"I guess not..." He shrugs. "I'm not really sure how to get strong though..." 

"If my parents are right..." She carefully moves herself up, a hand on his thigh to keep herself steady. "You have to exercise... lift weights... jog... stuff like that..." She takes a soothing breath as she lays the wash cloth across her hand. She considers him for a moment, recalling how it felt when he ran the brush across the same area on her. She nods and reaches forward, gingerly touching the last dirty patch of fur on his body. 

The barest hint of tensing can be felt through her other hand as she touches him. A small blush also comes to his face as he feels her make contact. 

She slowly moves across him, gently cleaning from the thick fur to the surprisingly fine layer of hair in the middle of it. She looks up and, noticing the pink tint to his cheeks, smiles softly. "You really do look cute like that..." 

Feeling a small odd tingling sensation, he just smiles and nods, wondering what this is he's feeling since it's different from the warmth earlier. 

She turns her attention back to the soft flesh before her, tenderly stroking it as she steadily goes lower. She reaches the tiny pouch under it, carefully cupping and cleaning, brow furrowing slightly at the strange masses she feels inside it. 

Rhino winces as the tingling sensation he felt now intensifies and focuses so he can tell it's coming from around the region she's cleaning. As she starts rolling the pouch in her hand though, he can't help but squirm his hooves and flex his hands as his eyes widen while the feeling gets even stronger. It just feels really weird down there right now and he has no idea why. 

"Rhino..." She gently scrubs the backside of the sack, doing her best to not dwell on the area. "Did you know you ha-" She looks up and stops mid-sentence, blinking at the sight before her. "Well," she mutters to herself, scratching her head, "if cold makes it smaller... I guess it makes sense warmth would make it larger..." Shrugging slightly, she moves up and starts to rub the newly-exposed part, wanting to make sure he's completely clean. 

As that tingling he felt hits and all new high, now with warmth. The colt tries to focus on her words to take a small break from trying to find out what the heck his body is doing and why it only feels odd, not bad. "What... what was that? Did I know what?" He can feels the muscles in his inner thighs clenching and unclenching for some reason. 

Obviously not hearing him, she works a little faster. She frowns more and more as it gets bigger and bigger, increasing the force in her hands as he somehow gets more firm. Finally, she flings the cloth down, staring up at him in mild annoyance. "Why in the world is your body acting all weird, Rhino?" 

He throws his hands up. "I don't know! I have no idea why it's doing this and it feels weird while it's happening, but I can't stop it and... I don't know!" He looks down at his drastically different appearance. "It's never looked like that before..." 

"Really?" She stares at it, backing away slightly. "Um... if you're sure... m-maybe your parents might know?" She puts a finger on the tip, giggling at the way it bounces in response. "It looks kinda silly... not in a bad way, of course..." 

"Yeah... that's pretty much how it feels, weird, but not bad." He shakes his head. "I don't know... if it stays like that, I'll talk to them. Did you get done cleaning with the soap?" 

"Well... not really..." She sheepishly smiles at him, picking the cloth back up. "It kinda... grew a little fast for me to catch up..." She turns her attention back to it, slowly brushing the cloth along the side toward his belly. "So, um... try to hold still, okay?" 

"Ok..." He braces himself, feeling how sensitive it's become. 

She carefully scrubs the top of it, her hand bracing the underside so it wouldn't move and mess her circular pattern up. "Just... let me know if I'm too rough, okay? I don't want to hurt you... even the parts that are acting strangely..." 

Pulling a strange face as he feels the muscles around it, he responds. "It's fine... the way you're doing it actually feels good." 

She blinks, staring up at him in mild confusion. "Um... good, how?" She pauses at the ring in the middle, tilting her head as she traces and pushes on it with a finger. "Spongy... okay, then..." 

"I... don't know how to say it..." Recalling some of her earlier words, he tries them. "It's just... tingly and warm..." 

She nods, tenderly caressing the smooth surface as she cleans, moving to the sides of it. "So... like butterflies in your belly?" She slows down as she feels it twitch in her hands, startled by the movement. "You, uh... you feel that?" 

He nods. "I felt that twitch, yeah... as for the butterflies, yeah, in a way, though they're also lower..." 

She gulps quietly, wondering if this is a bit too much for her to handle. Shaking that thought off, she moves on, firmly yet lovingly scrubbing the underside of it, pressing it against his belly as she does so, determined to do her best for him. 

Slowly getting more used to the sensations, he doesn't react as much now, still feeling weird, but able to get his mind on other things as well now. "Thanks for cleaning me by the way, it's been nice." 

She blushes softly, smiling up at him. "It's the least I could do..." With a quick swipe along the tip she stands, sighing in relief. "Done... thank goodness..." 

"Yeah." He looks up to the other bottle. "Do you want me to rinse before you do my mane and tail?" 

Her smile falters slightly, and she scratches her cheek. "You, uh... you want me to clean your mane and tail?" 

"Well... I thought you were since you said you wanted to try, but if you don't want to, I can do it." He shrugs and goes to grab the bottle himself. 

She grabs his hand. "N-no, I just... your tail feels alright, to me..." She taps her fingers together, bowing her head slightly. "I-I'd like to try cleaning your mane... i-if you don't mind, of course..." 

"Oh, ok then." With his horn lighting up green, he floats the container down to her. "Here you go." 

She takes it, looking up at him for a moment. "Could you... kneel for me, please?" She taps his nose, giggling softly. "I'd like to see what I'm doing..." 

"Oh, right." The colt sinks to his knees, now looking up at the girl. "Better?" 

The navy girl cups his cheeks, kissing him gently before pressing her forehead to his. "Much. Thank you." She lets go of him and applies some of the gel to her hands, rubbing them together as she gets ready. 

His ears are pricked as he looks downward, waiting for her to start. 

Nodding to herself, she starts at the back of his neck, running her fingers through his crest as she lathers it. "Your hair's really smooth, Rhino..." She giggles, pecking the tip of his horn. "I guess you take great care of it, huh?" She slowly works her way up, pressing his head closer to her belly with each peak of the small circles she makes. 

"I like to keep it soft, it feels better that way." He is unable to say anymore before his face is in her stomach. Still though, it's not bad as he starts nuzzling the bleu skin in front of him. 

She giggles brightly, patting the top of his head as she reaches it. "I'm glad you're feeling so affectionate, Rhino..." She presses firmly into his scalp, wanting to keep the black and blue hair as comfortable as before. "I hope you're just as affectionate later..." 

"Don't see why I wouldn't be," he mutters as his whole body seems to relax as she works, a low humming coming from his chest. 

She works this for a bit longer before she stops, leaning down and tilting his chin up. She smiles sweetly at him, touching noses with him. "I'd also like to see how it'd feel with you starting the kiss." She moves out of the way, letting the spray hit him unimpeded. 

He snorts and shakes his head, the rush force of the water surprising him. Getting used to it after a moment, the colt's hands come up and run over his mane and coat, getting all the suds out. Once done, he looks to her as his wet mane hangs partially over his face. "Ready to turn off the water and get out then?" 

She brushes his mane away, tucking it so she can see his eyes clearly. "I'd like it, Rhino... but I thought you were going to get your tail?" She smirks as she traces tiny circles on his chest. "Or do you not need to do that?" 

He shakes his head. "Nah, you said my tail felt fine. I can skip it for now." He looks down and smiles at what she is doing to his chest, not sure why he likes when she does this, but he does. 

She shrugs, pulling her hands away just to hug him, tenderly nuzzling his cheek. "Then I think we're done... how do we stop the shower?" 

"Same way we started it." Hugging her back, his horn lights up, flicking the switch on the faucet so that the shower head cuts off and the water starts coming out the faucet again for a moment before he twists the knobs off as well, halting the flow. His horn stays lit up as he brings in the white towel and offers it to her. 

She grabs it and starts to dry off her body, letting him do his own. She pauses with the towel pressed to her mouth, gaze fixed on the once-more small area. "Still can't believe that happened..." She shakes her head, drying off her ear before giving him the towel and stepping out of the tub. 

"Yeah, still have no idea what that was about..." He takes the towel gratefully, starting to dry himself all over, making sure none of his fur is damp. The process takes a bit longer than drying chitin. "So... what do you want to do once we're dry?" 

"I'm not sure... one thing I do know, however," she flicks her hair back over her shoulder and scoops the clean clothes up, "is we don't need these, right now." She steps out into the hall, her tail waving to him as she leaves the room. 

The colt watches her go, still drying himself. "She's gonna hide them or something I bet..." Shrugging himself to his fate, the unicorn continues drying, eventually getting rid of all traces of dampness on himself. 

She soon returns, stepping in front of him and rocking on her hooves. "I thought of something we could do..." 

His eyes go up and down her, evaluating her stance. "I'm guessing it's something good?" 

"I hope so!" She giggles, playfully tapping his nose. "You suggested it, after all!" 

"Huh?" He blinks, looking down at his nose. "What did I say?" 

Her smile slowly fades, confusion taking its place. "You don't remember offering to show me around your house?" 

"Oh, that I remember." He smiles and nods at her, hoping to get her spirits back up. "I just wasn't sure what exactly you were talking about at first." 

She giggles, happily hugging him. "Yay! Thank you, Rhino!" She pulls away enough to nip his chin, a twinkle of excitement in her eyes. "So what are we going to see first, Rhino?"
> Chapter 7: Tour and explore
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

He finds himself grinning wider in response to her smile as he speaks. "Well... there's really only three rooms to show you. I'm not really sure what we would see in the storage room though... well, besides boxes and piles of stuff we really don't have a place for but Dad or Mom used enough to keep around." 

"Hey, you never know!" She sticks her tongue out at him. "One of those boxes might have stuff we could use for make believe!" She shrugs, sitting on the counter. "Either way, I want you to choose." 

"Well... I'm kind of thirsty so how about the kitchen?" He motions down the hall. 

She holds her arms out to him, smiling sweetly. "Carry me?" 

He has no defense against that. "Alright." He turns and crouches down just like they did this morning. 

Gel eagerly moves forward and hugs him, wrapping her legs around his waist. She nuzzles his cheek, sighing happily. "Much better... I missed this fluffiness of yours..." 

"Well good news then, I'm usually even fluffier right after I get clean." He laughs as he heads down the hall. 

"Good to know..." She rests her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes. "This may be strange, but... why do you like milk so much?" 

"Umm... I dunno. Cause it tastes good?" They enter the kitchen. It's a fair sized room, with plenty of walking space that also doubles as the dining room, as shown by the large four pony table. The floor is tile with a seemingly random pattern of red, black, brown and every color in between, matching well with the wooden cabinets and white counters. 

"So just the flavor?" She giggles, shaking her head and nuzzling closer to his shoulder. "I suppose that's fair... you seemed to like that sip of love you had the other day, though..."

"That tasted pretty good, but it made my stomach feel weird. Milk is good for you, it tastes good, it cools spiciness, and pretty much everypony has it." He opens the fridge and grabs the gallon with magic, a dark container catching his eye. "Huh? What's that doing in there?" 

She blinks, staring at the thermos of white. "I... I don't know... I thought I hid it under your bed..." 

"I guess they found it but didn't realize what it was..." He takes that container out too, closing the fridge and heading over to the counter. He pulls out two plastic glasses, setting the two drinks next to them. "You want me to pour you some love?" 

She smiles, gently nipping his neck. "I'd like that... would you like some, too?" 

The colt waves a hand as the fur along his spine sticks up from the nip. "Nah, you only have so much, plus I'm really in the mood for milk." He pours half a glass of love and a full glass of milk. "That enough?" 

She nods, lifting the glass in her magic and sipping at it. "Honestly, I'm not sure I need this, right now... I'm feeling content, at the moment..." 

"Well... maybe it's just something to sip on? I mean I guess we can always pour it back." He, on the other hand, takes the glass of milk and promptly drains half of it. 

"So..." She teasingly smirks, bringing her glass up over his. "If I were to put a drop in your milk... would you still drink it?" 

"Sure, I don't see why I wouldn't." He shrugs. "I like the taste of both, I was just making sure you had enough." 

"Good to know." She promptly tilts her cup, a single drop pouring out and splashing into his cup. She puts her cup back on the counter, looking at him expectantly. 

He just smirks at her before taking a generous sip of his drink. "Huh... can't even taste it." 

"Good." She nuzzles his cheek, smiling sweetly. "So... where to, next, Rhino?" 

"How about... Mom and Dad's room?" His glass floats next to him, ready to accompany them wherever they go. 

"Sounds good to me!" She giggles, bringing up her own glass and clinking it against his. "I hope it's as nice as this one." 

Down the hall a few doors, Rhino strolls into their next room on the tour. And here we are." The room is about twice the size of the colt's, as is the bed in both width and height with the it in the middle of a wall instead of having one side up against one. Quite a few pieces of furniture are in here, including a bookshelf, armoire, vanity, and large chest of drawers with a mirror. all of the same dark wood. 

She looks around, eyes wide in awe, before her nose scrunches up. "Do you... smell that?" 

"Smell what?" He looks at her, confused.

"I... I don't know... the air just feels heavier, in here..." She shakes her head, rubbing an eye. "And I just got... really dizzy, all of a sudden... c-can I lay on that bed?" 

"Sure, if you want." He walks over, having to back up to the bed so she can get on it, since the top of the bed comes to his chest. 

She hoists herself up onto the covers, sighing softly. "Wow, this is comfortable..." She holds her hand out to him, smiling sweetly. "Would you like to come up here with me?" 

"Sure!" He doesn't take her hand yet though. Looking up and down the side of the bed, the colt bends his knees and jumps onto it, having to scrabble to get some of his back half on, but still getting there. 

She pulls him close, giggling brightly. "This may be soft, but I still prefer you..." She sticks her tongue out at him playfully. 

He laughs, nuzzling her. "Yeah... their bed has always been really cushy. You feel better from your dizziness?"

"A little..." She looks at the bookshelf, smiling softly and pulling one of them over. "Maybe a story could help? Pretty please?" She moves to lay on top of him, giving her best doe eyes. 

He tries to look away, but he cannot resist the eyes. "Okay okay okay, just stop with the eyes. They're too cute!" 

She squeals in excitement, moving to lean against the headboard. She pats the spot next to her in an invitation. 

He lays down next to her, holding the arm closest to her up for what he knows is coming. 

She hugs him tightly, resting her head on his shoulder. She lays the book on his chest, waiting eagerly for him to pick it up and read to her. 

He does so, and the two begin to delve into the book... only to dive out fifteen minutes later as the colt sticks out his tongue and sets it to the side. "Bleh, I don't get that book. It was just some mare talking about how she wanted a guy that another mare already had and insulting her for it."

"That wasn't the best book in any sense of the word..." She sighs, sitting up and stretching luxuriously. "I prefer the story with the mouse..." 

"Me too." He agrees wholeheartedly, his horn lighting up and putting the book back where it goes. "Do you want to move on to the last room before mine?" 

She nods, smiling softly and scooting to the foot of the bed. "Whenever you're ready, my loyal knight." 

"Right!" He slides off first, going over to the side she is on and offering his back once more. 

The girl happily jumps on, nuzzling his cheek and hugging him as close as possible. "Sorry for the dud of a book, by the way... I thought for sure 'Secret of a Sorceress' would've been an adventure story..." 

"You and me both, I thought there would at least be cool magic." He trudges out of the room, shutting the door with magic behind them as he heads to the end of the hall, opening the door and walking in. The spare bedroom, as it was officially, does actually sport an older bed in the center, not nearly as nice as the other two in the house, but what draws the eyes the most is the secondary use of the room: storage. Boxes are stacked one or two high throughout the room, some looking like they are opened quite frequently while other bear dust of non-usage. 

She blinks, staring at the boxes for a moment before pulling a long stick out of one nearby. She turns it curiously in her hands before them, looking to him in confusion. "So... who was interested in hockey?" 

He looks to the stick, but just shrugs, as harder as that action is with somepony on your back. "I think my dad at one point... he's more into golf now."

She slips off him and starts nosing through one of the boxes by the door. She shifts a few of the items around, pulling a statuette out at one point, but eventually shakes her head. "All there are in this one is trinkets... nothing really useful..." 

"I don't even know half of what's in here. Could be anything really." He starts slowly digging around as well, pulling out a book with a strange symbol on the cover. "Huh? What's this?" Cracking it open, he sees more symbols he doesn't know, and sketches of what appear to be circles that have these runes in them. He blinks at this, looking at it curiously before shaking his head and setting it to the side. "Some kind of magic, but I have no idea what that is." 

Gel, curious, walks over to where he is, picking it up and skimming through the few pages with writing on them. "It seems... familiar... I think mom showed me something like this, once..." She shrugs and puts it on the bed, moving around to the far corner, careful to avoid getting dust on her body. She grabs out what appears to be a photo album, flipping it open and laughing almost immediately. "O-oh my gosh! R-Rhino, are these y-your parents?" 

"Hmm?" He walks over, seeing that she's looking at a young pegasus and unicorn couple. The mare has a wide smile and frizzy hair while the stallion sports a large thick mustache. The colt laughs. "Yeah, that's them. They looked really different when they were younger, huh?" 

"From what little I saw of them? Definitely." She chuckles softly, turning the page and seeing what appears to be an almost-all-white photo. She blinks, staring blankly for a moment before turning to him. "I... I don't know what to make of this one..." 

He peeks closely before recognition dawns in his face. "Oh, that's when they got married!" 

She tilts her head, scratching her cheek as she thinks silently. She shakes her head, sighing softly. "I... I don't really know what that means..." 

"That's, umm..." Again, the colt finds himself trying to explain what is usually common knowledge to someone who doesn't know it. "It's when... two ponies who love each other, go through this ceremony to sort of... announce it. They promise that they'll only ever be with that pony for the rest of their lives. They usually wear a lot of white." 

She blinks, considering his a moment before slowly nodding. "I... I think I understand..." She smiles, disappearing in a burst of blue flame to be replaced with the form from the previous night. She looks down at her ivory hands, flexing them experimentally. "Does white fur work?" 

"For what?" He asks, unsure of where she is going with this. 

"Getting married, silly!" She giggles, playfully sticking her tongue out at him. 

"Well..." He looks back at the photo. "I mean, I guess it could... I think they usually wear a white dress but if the fur is white, I don't know how they account for that." 

She blinks, thinking on his words and groaning softly. "Oh... I guess it was a little silly to want to marry you without the clothes, huh?" She bows her head, her golden mane falling in front of her face. "Sorry..." 

"Wait, what? Marry me?" He scratches his head, unsure of how to react to that. 

"Well... we're special someponies, aren't we?" She shyly smiles, shrinking in on herself. "I just... felt it was a natural step... s-sorry..." 

"Hey, it's okay. I just thought that was usual something grownups did." He hugs her, nuzzle her comfortingly. "But umm, I think if I did marry you, you'd have to be blue, not white." 

"I... what?" She looks up at him, frowning in confusion. "I would? Why?" 

He smiles knowingly at her. "Because Angel is the white one, Gel is the blue one."

She quirks an eyebrow at him. "Are... are you sure you want to be with oddball Gel? I mean... I'm not welcomed by most ponies... remember?" 

He just keeps smiling. "From what I know, you don't marry most ponies. You marry your special somepony, and your special somepony likes Gel better." 

She blushes softly, her eyes flicking to the side before she nods. "O-okay... um, you might want to step back... j-just in case..." 

He does so, yet still smiles. 

In a quick flash of blue, she turns back to her normal self, shivering as the air hits her now-furless hide. She turns to the scrapbook and turns the page, giggling brightly at the picture before her. "Aw, Rhino! You looked so cute!" 

He once again leans over her shoulder, now peering at what is obviously a baby him, tucked into a blanket being held in his mother's arms. The colt smiles warmly at the picture. "Heh, yeah... weird how little we all start out, huh?"

"You were still bigger than I was..." She elbows his side, winking at him before turning the page, staring at the new picture blankly. "Um... where's your diaper?" 

Rhino feels a small bit of warmth come to his face at the sight of the typical 'naked baby on their stomach on a rug' picture. "Apparently I somehow got away without it for a moment..." 

She rolls her eyes, tenderly nuzzling his cheek. "It's still cute, Rhino..." She closes the book, putting it off to the side and laying back on the bed. She turns this way and that, trying to get comfortable before giving up, covering her face and groaning. "This is so painful... I didn't realize anything could feel like this..." She sits up, rubbing the small of her back. 

“Huh?" He walks around her, trying to see what the problem is. A small lump in the mattress appears to be the culprit and after a small poke resulting in a 'twang', it becomes clear. "Oh, right... the reason this bed is back here is because a few of the springs are loose and stick into your back... You okay?" 

She gawks at the spring, stunned. "That was what was poking me?" She shakes her head, standing up and turning away from him. "Is anything damaged back there?" 

He runs a hand an eye over her back closely. "It looks like... just one scratch here, nothing bad." 

"Oh, good..." She sighs softly, the tension leaving her body like air from a balloon. "I was worried it hurt my wings..." She carefully extends them, flicking them once or twice for him. "They're alright, right?" 

He nods, gently touching one. "Yep! Still cool, still pretty." 

She squeaks, the clear wings extending fully at his touch. "Um... g-glad you like looking at them..." 

He laughs. "They're just neat. I bet they'll be even cooler when you can fly with them." 

"I guess so..." She smiles softly, flapping them a couple times before turning to him. "Maybe I'll take you on a flight, sometime." She winks, playfully booping his nose and turning to a box of toys.

He cringes slightly behind her back. "Maybe..." Clearing his throat, he continues. "Did you want to look through more boxes in here?" 

"I think that sounds good. I mean, look at this!" She turns around, holding a plastic crown. She puts it on her head and giggles, holding a baton she found earlier like a scepter. "Call me Princess Gel!" 

"Yes, your Highness!" Rhino does a salute, beaming all the while. 

"As your Princess," she leans forward, blushing softly, "I request a kiss from my valiant knight." 

The colts blinks at the request, but after a moments nods. "Ok..." He gulps, leaning forward and softly pressing his lips to hers. 

She presses against him briefly before pulling away, playing with her tail shyly. "I liked it... though it was a bit timid..." She shrugs and pulls a wooden sword from the box, smiling warmly. "Look what I found, though!" 

His eyes go wide. "Woah, cool! That'll be great when we're playing knights! Way to go!" 

"Yep!" She gives it to him and starts rooting through another box. "There's no telling what else we can find in here! Maybe we could even find a makeshift shield for you!" She pauses, her tail flicking as she thinks to herself. "Or maybe we could find another photo album of your baby pictures..." 

"Eheh..." He chuckles nervously. "Maybe we just look for the shield? I mean we wanted to do more today than just look through boxes, right?" 

"Yea." She giggles, tossing a plastic tray onto the bed. "I was hoping I'd be able to get a massage from you..." She pulls out a whisk, mulling it for a moment before shrugging and throwing it onto the mattress as well. 

"A massage?" He tilts his head at her. "Well... I don't really know how to do a massage... I guess I can try though." 

She smiles as she turns and embraces him, happily kissing him. She breaks it to nuzzle his cheek, blushing softly. "Thank you, Rhino..." 

He blushes as well, hugging her back. "Heh... no problem. Just let me know when you want it I guess." 

"Sure thing!" She holds points to the bed, where she'd tossed a few items. "So... which of these is most like a shield?" 

He picks up the most obvious one, a plastic tub lid. "This might work... if we get some rope or vines or somethign to where we can actually wear it..." 

"Maybe..." She nods, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Don't you have some of that behind your house?" 

"I think so, yeah..." He smiles, determined. "Looks like our next pretend session is gonna be a lot more fun." 

"Oh, definitely!" She grins, patting the pile of items on the bed. "All of this could be turned into something amazing with a little imagination!" 

"Awesome!" He looks at the loot pile with a thoughtful gaze. "But... where do we put it all until we need it?" 

She pulls out the complement to his 'shield', smiling proudly. "In this tub, of course! We decide on what we want to do, grab what we need, and then head on out! Great idea, right?" 

"Yeah, but where do we put the tub?" He persists. "In my closet or something?" 

"Exactly!" She giggles, tapping his nose. "It's like you're reading my mind!" 

"Heh, yeah, that would be neat." His horn lights up and envelops everything in his green aura, putting it in the tub before sealing it. "Alright then, shall we return to our castle with the loot?" 

"We shall!" She leaps onto his back, laughing playfully. "Lead the way, Sir Rhino!"