The sounds of sizzling breakfast are the tune of the household in the mornings. Rhino and Gel's house is no exception to this rule. The stallion hums to himself as he slides the last bit of scrambled eggs onto the plates and sets them on the table for himself and the changeling. He looks over to make sure all the pets are eating, which they are, before setting the bottle of ketchup on the table. "There we are. Try not to drown it too much in the ketchup, love."

She smiles brightly, grabbing the ketchup in her magic. "No promises." She winks at him before drawing a smiley face on the eggs and digging in. Delicious! My compliments to the chef. She puts the bottle back down between them.

He smiles as he puts a swirl of ketchup on his own eggs. It's times like these where I am tempted to buy a 'Kiss the Cook' apron. He takes a swig of milk before digging into the food himself.

The white mare giggles, shaking her head. I enjoy these little insights I get to your mind. She takes another couple of bites before a thought occurs to her. ...oh, yeah...yesterday, while you were getting milk, the strangest thing happened...

He looks up from his plate. Oh? Did you see Applejack eating a pear?

No. She looks up as well, frowning slightly. ...one of the sergeants showed up...he didn't have a name, so I feel safe in assuming he's not one of the elite...

It takes Rhino a moment to process this newest information. Wait, there's another changeling in Ponyville and he knows you. What does he want?

She scratches her head, frowning slightly. ...he...he didn't say...

He frowns. Hmm... I don't like this... Half of me says find out what he wants so he'll leave, but the other half doesn't even want you talking to him for safety.

She quietly nods, looking down at her plate. She silently eats for a bit before sending another thought. I already told him to wait a couple of days...for all I know, he might take that seriously, as opposed to the dismissal I meant for it to be...

He sighs and leans back. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see... I just have a bad feeling about this... Like everything so far has been a nice dream and suddenly harsh reality is here... Or maybe my thoughts are just brooding right now.

Hey, no brooding. She narrows her eyes at him, holding up a hoof. Or do you want me to do something about it?

He looks at the ceiling for a few more seconds before looking at her with a sheepish face. Umm, I could actually use some reassuring... brooding is like a pit for me, easy to fall into and hard to climb out of.

Well, then... She slowly walks around the table, smiling coyly. ...let's see what I can do about that. As soon as she reaches him she places a hoof on his head and starts to rub, giggling softly. Gotcha.

He lets out a quiet growl as his body relaxes in the seat, slumping slightly. He closes his eyes as he sighs contently. Perfect... you're amazing, you know that?

She blushes, gently pecking his cheek as she continues rubbing. ...you tell me that quite often, love...

He sluggishly rotates his head and kisses her lips. I've only said the truth... He tries to get up but fails to get his forelegs to do more than flop around. Well... it appears it's up to you whether to let me up or not...

She puts a hoof to her chin, appearing to think for a bit before removing her hoof, smiling kindly at him. ...we do need to go to work, after all... She glances at the pets, tilting her head to one side. ...do you think we should bring them with us again?

He thinks for a moment. Well... we probably got lucky yesterday since it was so slow... If we get a few patients at once it might be difficult to keep track of them... He looks down at them and his face softens. I do hate to leave them alone though... especially at this young bonding age...

She shakes her head, her smile morphing into a small smirk. I guess we'll be taking them, again. I'll just take care of them at the front desk...simple, right?

He nods. That sounds good... I suppose I do need to focus when I'm working. It does mean I'm going to smother them with attention during the downtime though.

Gel laughs at this. I wouldn't expect anything less, love.

***

That evening, the couple is playing a game from the closet in the living room. They finish close, but it is Rhino who comes out victorious.

The changeling looks up from the game board almost immediately, her eyes shining with excitement. "So, when were you planning on showing me your special talent?" She looks at his cutie mark, as if it would make her question clearer.

As he starts to put away the board, he looks at her with a raised eyebrow. "Wow, you were barely holding in that question for a while now, huh?"

"Yeah!" She covers her mouth with a hoof, embarrassed. "...i-it was on my mind for most of the day..."

He chuckles as he puts the lid on the box and floats it to the closet. "Thinking about my flank most of the day? Well, I suppose you probably snuck quite a few glances too." He shakes his hindquarters twice as he heads towards the stairs.

"...um...y-yes..." She quickly buzzes above him, trying to keep herself from looking at his back end. "...y-you probably did, too..."

"What? Looked at my own flank?" He cranes his neck around to look at it. "It's not exactly one of those things that's comfortable on the neck if you look at it too long."

She lands in front of him, giving him a bemused look. "You know what I mean, Rhino." She turns around and shakes her rump at him, smirking at him over her shoulder.

He blushes as he directs his gaze to the floor. "Ok ok, point taken." They arrive in his room and he directs her to lie down on the bed. While she does that, he goes over to his closet and pulls a few small boxes out of the bottom, including the package from his parents, and sets them on his desk. "Here we are."

She looks over at them, raising an eyebrow slightly. "...so...what's with the other boxes?"

He points to the biggest one. "Well, this is sort of the 'everything' box." He pulls out some sheets of paper, a new quill to replace the worn one on the desk, and a pair of safety goggles. "These are just what I need out of it right now." He points to the package. "Of course you know what's in this one." He points to the last and smallest box. "This one though, this one... is the most important." He opens the box and pulls out the entirety of it's contents: two simple books.

She leans forward, eyes wide in interest. "What are those? Are they novels?" She puts a hoof to her chin, frowning slightly. "...wait, that wouldn't make any sense..."

He smiles at her. "Not quite." He holds up the green one with the rhombus on the front. "This... is my runic dictionary that I made myself." He flips it open and sets it down on the bed. "It has all the runes I've discovered by various means, as well as what names I call them and what they do."

"Really?" She leans over, trying to look at the contents of his book. "...so...if those are runes...how many have you found? How do you use them?"

"Hmm..." he flips through the book quickly, "...well, I'd say I have just short of a hundred runes in here right now. Some ponies collect stamps, I collect runes. You'd be surprised where you can find these. As for how I use them..." He holds up the other book, showing it to be a blue one with a circle on the cover. "That's where this one comes in." He sets it open on the bed. "This is my collection of completed arcane circles that I've made. There are about... 25 in here right now. These are just the ones complicated enough to warrant circles. The simple two runes combinations are noted in the dictionary."

She stares blankly at him for a few moments. "...so...what would you classify Res as? And that teleporting...thing?"

"Blink, I call it Blink." He flips to the first two pages of the book, each one dominated by a single circle. The first has a fair number of runes in a few layers and even has what looks like a shard coming out of the center of the circle. The second looks smoother, but has more layers. "These love, these are Res and Blink. The two spells I use the most, and are the most proud of."

She slowly nods, looking at them with clear confusion. "...can you...explain how you came up with them? Because they look custom-made...if that makes sense..."

He tilts his head. "Well, I did say I made them. So, yes, they are custom made. I'm not sure what you want to know when you ask how I came up with them though."

"...well...why did you make them in the first place?" She shrugs, looking down at the pages.

He shuffles his hooves before responding. "Well... it was sort of a necessity... with that way my magic works..."

She blinks, tilting her head to one side. "...not exactly what I meant, but you've caught my interest...care to elaborate, love?"

He rubs the back of his head with a hoof, unused to sharing the information. "Well, umm... how to put this... do changelings have unstable magic when they are very young?"

"...well...only the strongest do..." She tilts her head, putting a hoof to her chin. "...why do you ask?"

"Well," he continues, "young ponies, until they get a hold of their magic, are prone to fizzling, explosions, surges, and a few other negative side effects. I had these as well, but by the time we started general magic education, I still really couldn't get a hold of my magic. Luckily there weren't any explosions, but anything beyond basic levitation just sort of slipped away and usually gave me a splitting magic feedback headache. This was happening no matter the spell." He gestures to the two books. "I discovered runes by complete coincidence one day and it sent my mind into a rush as the possibility of an alternate way of casting was shown to me. I looked into it and found that the structure given by casting through arcane circles reigns in my magic and enables me to do other spells."

Gel blinks, trying to wrap her mind around this. "...so...to help with your magic, you discovered a new form of magic?" She grimaces, feeling embarrassed at her lack of knowledge.

He mulls this over before nodding. "Technically it's very old magic, but yes. Because the way everypony else uses magic wash possible for me, I adopted a new technique."

"Makes sense to me..." She glances at the boxes, curious. "...but how do the crystals come into this?"

He levitates over a few of the gems. "Well, a side effect of learning about arcane circles and runes is that I also unintentionally taught myself how to do enchantments. Gems are excellent catalysts for magical formulas and energies. That's why most enchanted items have jewels as part of them."

"...oh." She puts a hoof to her chin, thinking a bit. "...I'm surprised I didn't put it together, before..."

He rubs her mane fondly. "Well, enchanting itself isn't exactly a common thing anyway, so I wouldn't expect you to know everything about it." He levitates the necklace out of the package. "That's why they sent me this, it's a small enchanted necklace. I'm going to copy down the formula on it and add any new runes or combinations to my records. If I learn any new runes, I can use them in combinations later on to see if they produce any useful or interesting effects."

She pouts, looking away and muttering to herself. "...and here I thought it was an engagement present..." She sighs, looking up at him with a small smile. "...so you're going to copy the enchantment? Mind if I watch?"

He smiles. "I would be honored. Fair warning though, I'll probably be muttering a lot." He levitates up his dictionary and the necklace as he holds it up to see it better. "Let's see..." His horn lights up as symbols start appearing in the air next to him as he says them. "Basic dimming rune so it doesn't light up when in use... one time charge symbol, only lasts a year... rune for containing a magic sample... so this must be a tracking rune... not one I've seen before though..." His tongue sticks out of the corner of his mouth as he consults his book and a few more runes appear behind him. "Not the usual one where the item itself is drawn to the target... the rest of the runes help access the consciousness, so is it a mental pull then?" He slips the necklace briefly onto a hoof, his eye darting to one side of the room as he does so. "Yes... a definite mental pull... a bit strong, likely why it didn't sell well..." He takes it back off and looks at it again. "I think that should be everything... so... this one," The runes behind him float away from a particular one, leaving it on it's own. "This one is the key." He nods succinctly and sets the necklace down, going over to the sheets of paper and drawing a detailed sketch of the rune, making sure to get the shape perfect before letting his magical scribing of it disappear, leaving him with the paper one. "Looks like I got lucky, a new rune for the dictionary that I get to experiment with."

She blinks, too stunned to react for a moment. "...how...how did you do that? W-with all those symbols floating in the air? I-I mean, h-how did you get the precise..." She holds her head, groaning softly. "...I don't even know anymore..."

He walks over and kisses her forehead. "I believe I've made the language comparison before, but it still works well. If you have a large vocabulary, you can infer the meaning of new words through the context of those around them that you do know. It used to take me days to take apart enchantments when I was first starting. Now that I'm more experienced, it doesn't take as long if it's just one new symbol. Plus this is a fairly simple little trinket. It's the possibilities I'm interested in."

She sits in silence, considering this. "...that makes sense...but..." She tilts her head, looking at the paper. "...what if you made even a tiny error? I mean, I saw a symbol that looks almost exactly the same in there, but just one less line..."

He nods. "That's why I have the dictionary and arcane log. Some of the similar symbols are almost identical. I keep them noted down so I can check my work. To be honest, Res and Blink are the only two spells I have fully memorized, despite their complexity. They were the first two, and I have slowly perfected their design and use over the years. The others are spells that i have, but I need my book to ensure that I cast them correctly. As to what would happen, well..." He pulls over the dictionary and flips it to a page, pointing out to symbols. "Take these two, the basic fire and light elements. You'll notice that they are similar, well, if I used the fire element instead of light in say... a flashlight spell circle. Instead of a beam of light, I would get a stream of fire. Just as with any science, precision is key to avoid terrible mistakes."

Gel shudders, shaking her head. "...w-well, I'm glad you aren't the kind to make that type of mistake..." She returns her attention to the symbol, curious. "...so...what can you do with this one? And what is it called?"

He rubs his chin as he looks at the newly acquired symbol. "Hmm, well, I don't use official names unless I happen to find them. This appears similar to a tracking rune I found a few years back, but it's... different. It doesn't pull you to something, it's more of a rune to imbue your mind with this... sense of where something is. Sort of like an itch at the back of your mind. I think I'll call it... Link."

"Link?" She scratches her head, confused. "...you mean like...our psychic link?"

He nods, smiling. "Actually yes, it is sort of like that, though more subtle." He takes another look at the symbol, nodding to himself as he flips the dictionary to where the blank pages start. He begins scribing down the rune, it's name, and possible uses and combinations.

She watches over his shoulder, fascinated. As soon as it seems he's finished, she speaks up once more. "...so...what does the necklace do, other than look pretty?" She smiles at him, playfully bumping his shoulder.

He nudges the trinket with a hoof. "Well, as far as I can tell, it's just a simple piece designed to constantly let the wearer know where the matching accessory of the set is. You wouldn't notice it if you had both on, but this one makes sure you don't lose the other. Purely a utility enchantment."

"...then...who has the other half?" She grabs it in her magic, considering putting it on to find out.

He shrugs. "That's impossible to know. It really only gives you a direction, and by the strength of the itch, distance. All I know is that what it's connected to is in Canterlot. Odd, considering my mother is the one who purchased this part of the gift and she lives in Cloudsdale these days, which is where she bought it."

The changeling tilts her head, confused. "...are your parents separated? Or is there somepony else they might have given the other half to?”

He nods as he settles into a comfortable position lying next to her with the books in front of him. "They've been divorced since I was four. Like i said though, Mom probably bought this specifically so I could learn from it. She usually just picks stuff like this up when she sees it then sends them to me for holiday presents."

Gel blanches momentarily before realizing that he didn't seem upset by their separation. "...okay, then..." She scratches her head a bit, trying to figure out some more questions she could ask. "...have you ever...enchanted something, before?"

He eyes peruse the rune again as he floats over a few of the gems. "A number of times actually, usually only by request or when I'm experimenting. Although, funnily enough, most of them tend to be situational, so the one that's seen the most use was the night-light crystal I made for one of my little cousins. I hear they usually give it to whatever foal in the family needs it now, so it's good to know they appreciate it."

She quietly nods, thinking about this a bit. "...that makes sense...though I have to wonder..." She nuzzles his cheek, giggling softly. "...when do you think our little family could use that?"

He blushes heavily as he loses his breath a moment. "W-well, I umm, we, er..." He seems to zone out as he thinks on her question.

She smiles softly, tenderly kissing him to regain his attention. "...I was teasing, love..." She rests her head on her forehooves, closing her eyes. "...besides, I've yet to meet your parents...not to mention get married..."

His face starts to cool down as he looks down and fiddle with one of the blue gems. "Right... yeah... still those things to do..."

She watches him for a few seconds before she speaks up. "...Rhino, have you sent them a thank-you letter for these gifts?" She takes the necklace in her magic and puts it on top of his dictionary.

He blinks before responding. "Erm... no, I suppose I haven't... I guess I forgot..."

"Perfect!" She grins brightly. "You can write them to thank them for the gifts and invite them to come over!" She giggles, bumping his side with her own. "Does that sound like a plan, love?"

He rubs the back of his head and nervously chuckles. "Yeah... I guess it does..." He looks up at her. "You do realize if I even hint at the fact that I have a marefriend, let alone the fact that she is living with me, they'll be here within a week right?"

She shrugs, a small smile on her lips. "The way I see it, the sooner the better." She rests her head against his neck, trying to hide the look of concern growing there. "...do you think they'll like me? S-should I disguise myself?"

He tenses as he plans the delicate situation. "I think they'll love you when they get to know you... which is why I think maybe you should be 'Angel' at first until we get you and them talking for a bit. I do want them to see the real you while they are here though. I think Mom should be easy to convince, Dad's the wildcard."

She quietly nods, considering his plan. "...okay, Rhino. I'm sure you're right...I just have to make sure I don't do anything off..." She sighs, feeling herself relax. "...thank goodness Angel's not that different from me..."

He nuzzles her neck lovingly. "Yeah... I guess... in a way... this is sort of what your dad wanted, right?"

She smiles softly, nodding as she nuzzles him back. "...it is..."

***

As Luna's orb runs it's nightly course, the little family of five settle down for the night. Rhino gets in first, since everyone else seems to sleep relative to him. Gel gets in next, scooting close to her stallion and laying her head and foreleg on his chest. Specter climbs up onto Rhino pillow and settles into the valley between the top of the green pony's head and the pillow. Selena daintily steps her way over to Gel's back and snuggles against it. Finally, Mercury slinks upwards and burrows in between the two larger figures, enjoying the warmth of their bodies. The stallion, surprisingly, is the first to drift off to enter dreamland, falling asleep almost the instant he closes his eyes.

Rhino opens his eyes to find himself lying on an invisible surface floating in a void of shifting colors. Indistinct noises float through the air, bringing comfort by preventing total silence. He looks around, confused. "What... where am I?"

A distance to his left, a familiar form appears. She glances around in confusion, muttering to herself. "...that's odd...I could've sworn his mind had more structure..."

As he turns around in a circle, he sees Gel and quickly walks over to her. "Is something wrong, love? You're dreams seem a bit... different tonight."

She smiles, shaking her head. "This isn't my dream, Rhino..." She playfully taps his nose. "...it's yours."

His eyes cross momentarily. "Oh... I didn't know we could go into my dreams..." He looks around again. "I guess since I've never really lucid dreamed before... I don't exactly know how to, well, do anything in here."

"It's simple, love." She looks around before pointing to a spot in front of them. "You know we're in a dream, so that step is done. Now, just imagine something." She moves next to him and bumps his side. "You're good at that, aren't you?"

He chuckles as he lightly flicks her with his tail. "I suppose I am." He tries to think of something to imagine and a waterfall about as tall as their house appears a short distance away, pouring into a small, grass-lined pool.

She blinks, tilting her head to one side as she gazes at the scene. "...this...looks a lot like that pool we went to...the first weekend I was here..."

He nods. "It does look similar, though if it was that pool, a lot of details are missing." He sits near the edge of it and looks around again with a neutral look. He makes a rock appear and lazily tosses it into the water. "Umm... so... what now? I'm at a bit of a loss with... you know, the sudden control over reality."

She frowns slightly, tapping her chin a bit. "...well, that's the thing, isn't it? You get the chance to have anything, but end up wanting nothing..." She sighs, laying down in the grass. "...well...maybe you could ask some more questions...you seem to enjoy that..." She winks, smiling coyly at him.

"Well, I guess I do my best bouts of daydreaming when I don't think about it, maybe distracting me with question will help me sort of get the hang of this." He rolls onto his side and brings her into a hug with his forelegs. "Hmm... what little things do I do to you do you like best?" He nuzzles her neck as an example as the waterfall starts to give off a mist that floats around them.

She bites her lip, blushing brightly. "...I-I like when we cuddle...w-when you nibble my neck..." She wistfully sighs, wrapping her forelegs around his neck and pulling him closer. "...when you make feel like the most special nymph in the world...with just your words..."

He smiles softly at her, rubbing her nose with his own. "Speaking of your neck, how... sensitive, is that chitin of yours? I assume it's your exoskeleton, so it's hard, and yet you act like a pony would when I do things like nibble or nuzzle."

"...w-well..." She blushes a bit more. "...i-it's kind of sensitive...b-but more so, in certain areas..." She averts her eyes, embarrassed. "...i-it helps with blending in..."

He tilts his head, well, as much as one can tilt one's head when lying down. "Blending in? What would the sensitivity of your chitin have to do with blending in?"

"...well..." She sighs, turning onto her back and looking up at the white sky. "...most changelings have limits to how much they can change...so their chitin has to be properly sensitive, in case their concentration slips, or something like that..." She waves a hoof in the air, almost as if in demonstration. "...it would be bad if a pony tried to tease them and they didn't feel anything, you see...and, well, we elite inherited that trait..."

He flips over on his back as well, idly frowning at the sky before it turns to a normal shade of blue with a few clouds drifting by. There is a lack of an actual sun, but since the entire dream is lit up anyway, he makes no move to add one. "Well, there is a part of your statement I want to come back to, but what about the holes in your hooves or the fact that I could feel fur when you were Angel? That's changing your whole body right?"

"...yeah, it is changing my whole body...what I meant was that only a few of us have the ability to turn into something other than ponies, though...or change gender, for that matter..." She stares at her hole-filled leg, frowning slightly. "...the holes are there to keep us from being too heavy...the chitin in our lower legs is rather dense, after all..."

He grabs her hoof with his own. "I was wondering what these were for, I just hadn't asked" He squeezes lightly with his hoof before laying their hooves down between them. "So... what do you mean, 'elite'? and you're one of them?"

"...y-yes, I'm one of the elite..." She sighs, turning to look at him, a small frown on her face. "...they...we...are a number of changelings with...unique abilities..." She nervously giggles. "...i-in fact, we make up the highest ranks of our army..."

He stays silent as he absorbs this information, a red rose blooming in between them. "I see... is yours being a little pyro pony, or was that just Angel's thing?" He grows a blue rose next to the red one and rubs his chin as he looks between them.

She pokes the blue rose, uncertain. "...actually, I have a couple of talents...the fire magic is one..." She opens her mouth, showing her fangs right before enveloping them in a blue flame. As the fire disperses, the fangs are gone with them. "...I believe I'm the only one who can shift parts of my body separately..."

He frowns as he looks at her fangless state. "It just doesn't look right without them..." He turns back to the two roses. "I'm trying to figure which of these would look better on you, what do you think?"

She looks down at them before poking the blue rose once more. "...I like this one...it's much more...exotic..."

He smiles before he gently nips the stem and grabs the thornless rose in his teeth, placing it behind one of her ears. "There you go, pretty as a picture." He thinks a moment before the sparse area around them suddenly and literally blooms into life as they suddenly find themselves still near the pool, but now beyond that are surrounded by rolling hills of flowers of all types.

She stares at this in shock. "...I...y-you..." She shakes her head before turning to him, blushing softly. "...i-it's beautiful, love...t-thank you..."

He simply smiles and kisses her briefly before pulling back as he lies on his side, facing her. "Only complementing what was already there. Umm, stop me if you don't want to answer this, but... was there... anyone special in your life... before me?"

She stares blankly at him a second. "...you mean like...someone I had...romantic feelings for?"

He looks down sheepishly and nods.

She shakes her head as she reaches over and strokes his cheek, smiling softly. "...no...I can honestly say you are my first and only love..."

Once she stops, he reaches over and tucks a lock of her mane behind her flower. "Well... I'm honored." A sudden rustling makes him look down and realize the grass they had been laying on has turned into a dark green silk. "Umm..."

Gel sees this as well. She rubs a hoof across it, curious. "...Rhino, just what were you planning?"

He blinks as he shifts on the fabric. "I have no idea why my subconscious made this... it is very comfortable though..." He shifts around a bit more before he looks down the hill and starts chuckling to himself. The whole hill they are on and a good portion of the area around the base turns to silk. He looks over to her. "Feel like doing something silly?"

She props herself up and tilts her head, smiling kindly at him. "...sure...what do you have in mind?"

He shifts his position 90 degrees. "I was thinking a foalish roll down the hill. Care to join me, my lady?"

She says nothing for a moment, just looking at the hill. She turns to him, smirking a bit. "I'd like that. One two three go!" She quickly starts rolling down the hill, laughing brightly all the while.

"Oh it's on!" He quickly pushes himself down the hill with a hoof, closing his eyes and simply enjoying the feel of the hill. He hears the laughing mare getting closer as they roll. Suddenly, he feels himself hit her before they both do a quick tumble and land in the soft silk, none the worse for wear. He opens his eyes to find himself on his back and her with her eyes closed, sprawled across his stomach.

"...wow...it's been so long since I've just goofed off like this..." She giggles, peeking open an eye to look at him. "...thank you, Rhino..." She gently kisses him before leaning down and teasingly nipping his neck with her fangs. "...maybe I could return the favor...outside of a dream, of course..." She winks and moves to climb off him.

He looks to the side and sees the world starting to fade as they begin to wake. "Well then, I have one last thing to say." He suddenly flips them to where she is on her back with him on top of her. He leans down and gives her a peck on the lips. "Good morning."

Gel awakes with a start, gasping softly. She sits up and groans, looking around quietly. ...darn it...always wake up before it gets really good... She glances off to the side and sees something tenting the sheets. ...is...is that Specter? She quietly yawns, reaching out a hoof to stroke the lump. ...when did he get under the- She touches it and stops, blushing brightly. ...that...that's not our squirrel...