Applejack and Bruce Mane staggered out into the cool night air, still gasping from the antics of some of the ponies trying their hoof at the DDR-Karaoke-DJ machine. After seeing the Duke of Trotshire desperately flailing away on the dance pads as his wife mangled "Can't Stop Til You Get Enough," they'd both fled for the balcony, laughing so hard they could barely breathe, let alone walk. Bruce leaned on the railing, his scalloped cape draping around his shoulders as he chuckled, eyes wet. "Oh mercy, that belly jouncing away as he tried to dance," he chortled.

Applejack leaned against the stone railing next to him, laughing herself. "Ah he was bad enough, but his wife, I think she set back the music industry twenty years."

Bruce chuckled. "It's been quite a night, hasn't it."

"To quote my brother, Eeeyup. Ah hahahahahahaha hahahah I saw the wings, Bruce." Applejack's laughter shut off like turning off a tap. She leveled an armor piercing glare at the pony in the BatStallion costume and waited.

He sort of grinned and let his head drop. "So you've been waiting all this time--"

"To get a straight answer from y'all," Applejack finished. "I figure I'd wait till we had a private moment, but I'm gettin' an answer."

Bruce Mane sighed and straightened up. He pulled off his cape and cowl and set them aside. "Fair enough." He reached up to his throat and unsnapped a small choker. There was a faint shimmer. His coat turned dark; his dark mane turned snowy white. His ears grew longer and pointier, with tufts on the end; his eyes turned emerald green with slit, catlike pupils. He grew two sharp long canines, and two webbed batlike wings that somehow she'd been unable to see a moment ago fluttered briefly.

Applejack's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Y-you're a--"

"A thestral," the transformed apparition before her said. "Also called negasi, or batponies." he shrugged. "I hide it with an illusion spell. Usually in a tie tack, though," he said, holding up the choker in his hoof.

Applejack frowned, puzzled. "But why would you have to hide that?" her eyes went wide. "Hokey smokes, you really are Batstallion---"

Bruce Mane laughed. "No, no I-- well..." he paused and grinned. "Yes, and no."

"Come again?"

Bruce chuckled and led her over to a stone bench to take a seat. "It's a bit of a long story, actually."

"Well, I got all night," Applejack said, taking a seat next to him on the bench. She shivered a bit at the chill night air; Bruce gallantly draped his discarded cape over her shoulders and furled wings. "Thank y' kindly." She couldn't help staring at him. It was still him, but the changes in his appearance were both subtle and dramatic at the same time. They took an enigmatic businesspony and made him into a creature of the night.

"Not a mare to be put off with light words, eh?" Bruce asked.

"Not when there's a truth to be bucked loose from the tree, no," Applejack said. "Go on, you were sayin'?"

Bruce Mane took a deep breath and let it out. "You have to understand something; Thestrals aren't... very... accepted. It's different nowadays. Especially with Luna's return, and so many of us serving in her Royal Guard. And I suspect that it wasn't ever as bad out here in the country as it was in the cities,but--- ponies are afraid of us. We're dark, sinister, frightening." His fangs glittered in the dark as he grinned. "Heck, even the gryphons and minotaurs get the heebie-jeebies around us."

"There are a few thestral families. But we're born from time to time into otherwise ordinary pony families." Applejack nodded. The Cakes were both earth ponies yet they had a pegasus and a unicorn baby. It happened rather frequently that way, especially out in the country where there were fewer folks to bunch up in groups, and marrying 'across the divide' was more common. "But many ponies regarded a colt or filly born a thestral to be 'cursed with Nightmare Moon's mark," Bruce went on."Back twenty or so years ago, thestrals were second class citizens. Abused, mistreated, harassed."

"Really?"

Bruce nodded. "In Manehattan, back when I was a colt, it was especially bad. So bad that abandoning such children for adoption was common. That was my fate. I was dumped on the steps of a Manehattan orphanage, abandoned by my own parents."

"What??" Applejack was shocked. She'd heard of such things-- as rumor or gossip. But to know it was real was another thing entirely. "Now that's downright terrible!" Applejack burst out, scowling. To someone for whom family meant so much, it was unbelievable sacrilege.

"I won't disagree with you on that," Bruce said, his mouth a flat line. "I was one of the lucky ones. A successful businesspony and his wife adopted me, raised me as their own. But they hid what I was; gave me an enchanted button to wear to disguise me as an earth pony. Don't think badly of them for that," he said hastily. "They loved me as dearly as if I were their own foal; they did it to spare me the racist bullying and ostracism I would have gone through. Yes, even the son of wealthy businessponies would be treated like second-class citizens, right in one of Celestia's cities, if they'd known what I was."

"I'd think you'd have had more pride than that," Applejack said.

"You can't eat pride, Applejack. And it won't mend missing teeth and blackened eyes--- or broken wingbones or slashed wing-webbing." Applejack put her hoof to her mouth. "Yes, all that and more happened to thestrals in Manehattan back then. And pride won't stop racist bigots from running your father out of his business for raising a 'Nightmare tainted' son. "

"So, I passed as an Earth Pony. And kept right on passing as one, through my whole childhood.

"Eventually my parents passed on.They were fairly well on in age when they adopted me. They left the family business to me. I kept their business going, made it prosper, went corporate, branched out into all sorts of little side-businesses, made a little empire-- all the while passing as an earth pony.

"Well, time went by and late one evening, I was taking a late night stroll when I saw a young fellow getting thrashed on by two other ponies. I've always hated bullies, for obvious reasons, and seeing those two laying into a helpless victim got me riled up. I've been a martial arts student since I was young-- my parents had insisted, so that I could defend myself-- and I rushed right over and foolishly put myself in harm's way.

"I got a few good licks in. But in the struggle, the tie tack with my disguise spell got torn away, and lo and behold, the muggers ran screaming for their lives.  Fangs, glowing eyes, bat wings...They thought a minion of Tartarus had sprung up out of the ground and come after them.  Shortest heroic battle ever." He chuckled at the memory. "I was worried the poor fellow I was trying to rescue would go into screaming fits too, but instead he starts gushing about how that was 'the coolest thing he ever saw.' " Bruce laughed aloud.

"I helped him gather up his art supplies and we introduced ourselves. It turns out he was an aspiring comic book writer, who was struggling to come up with a new and riveting superhero character. We got to know each other. He was fascinated by my story, and it inspired him---"

"And he came up with BatStallion," Applejack finished. She recalled the familiar story; about a millionaire's son "cursed with the mark of the Thestrals" who witnessed his parents' murder at the hands of a street thug, and who was only spared because his unveiled visage terrified the villain into fleeing--- and who went on to battle crime as BatStallion, swearing to use his frightening natural form to strike terror in the heart of evildoers everywhere.

Bruce nodded. "The pegasi had WonderPony; he sold me on the idea of giving thestrals everywhere a hero of their own. I bought out a little printing company-- and I do mean little! It was scarcely more than a shopfront-- and put him in charge. And, within a month, the first issues of BatStallion rolled off the presses." He smiled and flexed his wings. "I even modeled for the first few issues."

"So that's what you're gettin' at when you said you were BatStallion-- an' you weren't." Applejack chuckled and pulled his cape closer around her shoulders. "You're an interesting feller, Mr. Mane."

"Seeing as it's coming from a pretty interesting lady, I'll take that as a compliment."He looked at her. "Tonight has been most enjoyable, Miss Apple. I hope that we can repeat it some time in the future?" His green cat-slit eyes were earnest.

Applejack regarded him from the corner of her eye. She'd always been a blunt and straightforward mare, from a clan of blunt and straightforward ponies; even before becoming the Bearer of the Element of Honesty, she'd always found other ponies to be an easy read-- or at least took them as such, she reflected.

But there was something about this Bruce Mane... he was as honest and forthright as any mare could ask, and yet at the same time she saw new surprising layers to him every time she looked. It was a refreshing change of pace from all the stallions she could read like a book. And it seemed to bring out something a bit coy in herself.

"Ah think that might be possible," she said with a smile.

The palace's infirmary was spacious, comfortable, well staffed and well equipped. At the moment it was also happily seeing very little use. Despite the rumpus unleashed by the conspirators, few actual injuries had occurred-- just a few bruises and sprains and scraped knees from ponies who had lost their footing when the mage-bubbles had popped. A few bandages or liniment and they'd been swiftly sent on their way.

There was however one visitor who was receiving more thorough care. Buzz the Changeling had taken a pretty painful beatdown from the conspirators; he had a great number of bruises and cuts, and his barrel was bandaged for at least three broken ribs. He was resting on one of the cots, munching on some cheap sugar-stick candy to build his strength, while his wife and daughter stayed at his bedside.

The nurses and doctor on duty were a tad hesitant to approach any of them. They weren't well-versed on Changeling medicine, for one thing, and it was hard to overcome the jitters that the alien-looking ponies gave them. They were professionals, though, and did their best.

The door to the infirmary opened. A poufy red mane appeared, attached to a bespectacled cream pony.  "Hi," Twist asked. "Ith it okay if I come in?" Without waiting for an answer the peppermint pony backed into the room, dragging a familiar trick or treat bag behind her.

Flitter brightened up considerably at the sight of her. "Hi, Twist!" She hopped forward to greet her friend-- then hesitated. Things had changed....

Twist  didn't hesitate. She dropped the bag next to the bed and gave Flitter a warm hug. "Hi Flitter! I'm glad you're okay. Everypony wath worried after all that thtuff that happened." She looked up shyly at the adult Changelings. "Hi," she said. "I'm Twitht. You mutht be Flitter'th Mom and Dad." She scuffed a hoof.  "I'm thorry you got hurt, thir..."  

"...It happens," Buzz finally said with an awkward shrug. He was no better versed at talking openly with ponies than ponies were with talking to Changelings. He cast about for a new topic of conversation. "So, what's in the bag?"

"Oh, that'th Flitter'th Trick or Treat bag," Twist said, to Flitter's squeal of delight as she dove into the bag. "She lefth her whole bag of candy at the Nightmare Moon ThTatue," she said, her voice implying just how unthinkable this was.

"You we'd bag a'd god ib for be?" Flitter said, resurfacing with a mouthful of candy and several canes in the crook of her hoof.

"No, it wath Nyx," Twist explained. "She would have brought it herthelf, but her Mom won't let her out of her thight right now--" The door creaked open again. This time a small black alicorn stuck her head in. "Hello?"

"Come on in, Nyx!" Nyx stepped inside-- closely followed by her mother and Ink Spot. The alicorn filly stepped over to the bunk where Buzz lay. She clapped eyes on the bandages. "Oh gosh, you're hurt!" she blurted out.

"It's okay, it... looks worse than it is," Buzz said.

Nyx kicked one hoof shyly. "I wanted to thank you and Flitter personally," she said. "You two... saved my life."

Buzz grunted. "From what I hear, it was you being a real pony that saved your life," he said.

Twilight interjected. "In the end, maybe...." she said. "But if Flitter hadn't caught them in the act--- if you hadn't delayed them--- they would have gotten away with it before anypony figured out what was going on. They would have had all the time in the world to do whatever they want... to let themselves be talked into trying it again. Or trying something worse." She shivered. She'd found out from the Guards that Sundae Sprinkles had been carrying a ceremonial knife under his robes. If the dissolution spell hadn't killed Nyx, he might have decided to try more pragmatic means of getting rid of the little filly.

He'd been carrying a knife....

She shivered again. Ink Spot pressed his side against hers, trying to comfort her. She leaned into his side, solid and reassuring. "So what will you do now?" She asked the changeling family. "Luna has given you amnesty; will you be moving into Ponyville?"

Trill shook her head. "No," she said. "Ponies are grateful now, and understanding. But we're still too... unusual for them to be comfortable living near us."

"We have a cottage in the Everfree," Buzz added. "The Princesses have told us it will be registered as a homestead now. We'll just continue as we have. Though... we... won't be strangers." He smiled weakly. "Now that we can come into town openly, without fear."

"Hey, maybe you can come to school with us now!" Nyx beamed at Flitter.

"Really?" Flitter looked up at her father. "Can I?"

Buzz hemmed and hawwed. "Well--"

"Oooh, and she can join the Cutie Mark Cruthaderth!" Twist said eagerly. She paused. "Um, do Changelingth get cutie markth?"

"Umm...well..."

There was a chuckle. A familiar black-and-white figure stepped around the divider curtain. "With all this said I think I should/ Welcome you to the neighborhood," Zecora said. She was holding a mortar and pestle in one hoof.

"Oh hello Zecora," Twilight said. "This is Zecora. She's a friend of ours who lives in the Everfree. You really should get to know each other."

"We've met," Buzz said, eyeing the bowl in Zecora's hoof distastefully. "I've tasted her medicine."

"The injuries suffered were proof/ That I should lend a helping hoof," Zecora replied. "Truth to the letter; did my potion not make you feel better?"

Buzz sighed and said "Yes..." He sniffed at the bowl and pulled a face. "Oh gak..." He puckered his lips up.

Zecora laughed. "Do not fret, it is only liniment. This, for your outside is meant." Buzz sighed in relief and started to say something-- only to be interrupted by a large spoonful of the bowl's contents jammed into his mouth. His expression as it went down had the fillies in hysterics. "Gotcha," the zebra medic grinned.

Twilight grinned at the zebra's antics. She looked around; there were nurses in attendance and guards at the door. "If you'll excuse me, I need to step out for a moment.  Nyx, you stay here, okay?" At the filly's nod, she hastily made her way out the door.

Puzzled at her sudden exit, Ink Spot followed.

As the door closed behind them, Nyx's attention was drawn back to the Changelings. Flitter had started plying her parents with candy canes from her bag. The three of them were gobbling them down at an alarming rate. "Dees ar dlishous!" Buzz exclaimed, munching them down almost frantically. He had bits of candy sticking out of the corners of his mouth.

"I know, right?" Flitter said happily, gnawing on her own.

"Yes, they're so good!" Trill said, almost astonished. She was being slightly neater than her husband or daughter, but not by much. "And it's so filling! Almost like, almost like..." she paused, carefully savoring the flavor. Her eyes went wide. "Like Changeling nectar!"

Buzz heard her and chewed thoughtfully. "My word, I think you're right," he said wonderingly. "No, I know you're right! I can feel the--" he made a chirping noise-- " running through my veins. These candy canes have Changeling nectar in them, I'd bet my wings on it." He looked at his daughter. "Where in Equestria did you get these, Flitter?"

"At tricks or treats," Flitter said. She pointed to Twist. "But Twist made them, originally."

"Please, child," Trill said fervently to Twist. "Please tell us, how did you make these? Where did you get Changeling Nectar to put in these candies?"

Twist looked apprehensive. "I-- I dunno, I don't know what Changeling Nectar ith," she said.

"What's Changeling Nectar?" Nyx asked.

"It's stuff Changelings make for food," Flitter said. "Like bees make honey. Except instead of flower stuff, it's made with love energy."

"Changelings make liquid love?" Nyx said, baffled. "No, wait--- Twist can make Changeling Nectar??"

Twist bit her lip. "There ith a thpecial thecret to how people in my family make candy," she said finally.

"Can you show us?" Trill said.

Zecora was looking keenly interested as well. "Indeed, I too / Would like to see this exotic brew," she said.

Twist hesitated. This was an old family secret, and it was pretty important. "Okay, but you have to promithe never to tell anyone," she said finally.

"Indeed. What do you need?" Zecora asked. "There is a small kitchen in the back/ For when the nurse or doctor might want a snack."

"Juth a pot, a thpoon, an' thome powdered thugar and water," Twist said. "oh, and thome Thweet Leaf if you have it. That maketh it better."

The group moved to the kitchen. In moments the earth filly had her utensils and ingredients. She mixed the sugar and water and a few drops of Sweet Leaf (from Zecora's personal supply) in the pot and began stirring it over a low burner flame. Once the sugar melted, her whole demeanor changed. She began stirring in a very particular pattern, humming a strange old tune over and over again as she stirred. Her brows were creased behind her horn rimmed glasses as she concentrated.

It was obvious when it happened. Nyx could feel it, a sort of subtle tingling in the air. Earth pony magic, and lots of it, all centered on the little pot under Twist's hooves. The mixture began to thicken, and change color.... Twist hummed louder, stirring steadily, as the thick glassy-clear liquid began to glow. With a faint piff! the mixture turned a bright lime green. "There," Twist said. "Done. Now we could add the other ingredienth and turn it into taffy or gumdropth--- or candy caneth," she smirked.

Trill's jaw was hanging open. "I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it," she said.  "Changeling Nectar from earth pony magic!" She dipped in a hoof and tasted a tiny drop. "ooh, and concentrated, too. You'd have to mix it into candy to keep from getting sick."

"Hokey smokes," Nyx said reverently. Earth Pony magic was almost never very showy. But when it was, it never failed to impress. One of her best friends could literally make the nectar of life with her own hooves!

"Aunt Bon Bon thayth you thould alwayth add love to anything you make," Twist said. "It uthed to happen by accident. Great Grammaw would be mixing thweet thtuff up and it'd get funny green thtreakth in it. It made the candy look weird, but everybody liked it better."

Trill shook her head. "And you say everything you and your family makes has it in it?" she said.

"Yup, pretty much," Twist said.

Trill clapped her hooves with glee. "Yes! No more hungry winters!---Child, I think your store has some new customers!"

Flitter frowned. "But you're just one pony," she said. "How can you make so much Changeling nectar?"

Twist tipped her nose up and grinned impishly. "Thilly," she said. "The Candy Mare Can, cauthe she mixeth it with love an' maketh the world tathte good...."

Ink Spot found Twilight out in the hallway, sitting by an arched window, limned in moonlight. He could hear her crying, softly.

He stepped closer, awkwardly. "Twilight?" he said softly.

Twilight sniffed and looked over her shoulder at him. "I don't know if I can do this," she said, her voice breaking.

"Do what?" he asked, edging closer.

She waved her hoof in the air, frustrated. "This! All this! Raising Nyx, caring for her, being her mother--" she scrubbed fiercely at her eyes. "Protecting her..."

Ink Spot sat down next to her. He procured a handkerchief and whisked it over to magically dry her eyes. She took it and blew her nose mightily. "I'm a terrible mother," she said, her voice muffled by the linen over her face.

"No you're not," Ink Spot said gently.

She shook her head. "I am, I am! Look at the facts. Look at all the times I failed her! All the times I wasn't there for her, that I didn't protect her!" She counted them off. "When those bullies tricked her into the Everfree, right under my nose. When Celestia took her away from me, and I just stood there and let her do it. When Spell Nexus poured Nightmare Moon's powers into her. When I thought Luna and Celestia were going to banish her, and I left her alone with them anyway--" Twilight was working herself into a fit of despair now. "And now, a bunch of madponies take her right out of my hooves and all I can do is stand there and watch while they... while they..." tears gushed down her cheeks. She buried her face in Ink Spot's collar and sobbed.

Awkward and helpless and not knowing what to do to make it right, he just stood there and let the distraught mare cry herself out. He stroked her mane until her sobs subsided. "You're not a bad mother, Twilight," he said gently. "You're the best mother. You've just had more challenges than most mothers even think of facing." He looked down at her. "You know what makes a good mother? It isn't being able to take on a whole cult singlehanded or buck monsters in the face, that's for sure." Twilight gave a half-laugh, half sob at that."I mean, come on, how many moms in a million could really do that?"

"A good mother is someone who's there when her foal is sick, or sad, or scared. A good mother is one who teaches her foal right from wrong, and how to be brave and good when being selfish and bad would be easier. It's all the ten thousand little things; warm hugs and wiping runny noses and giving chores and teaching them to wipe their hooves at the door being there at the end of the school day and-- and cuddles after bad dreams and---" he shrugged. "And life. That's what's important, that's what makes a good Mom. And you, Miss Sparkle, are a very good Mom."

She smiled up at him through watery eyes. Then her smile faded. She sighed and pushed him away, turning her back on him. Bewildered, he tried to move closer but she held him off. "No," she said firmly, suddenly angry. "No. You're too perfect. And you're not who you say you are."

He backed off, his mouth working like a stranded fish. "I..." he said desperately.

"Did you think I wouldn't figure it out--" she said, then laughed bitterly, interrupting herself. "Of course you did, and who am I kidding? I probably never would have, either, If I hadn't recognized those two Day Guards. Or should I say 'bird watcher magazine reporters? Equestrian Aviary Society??' " She rolled her eyes. "Good grief, how dense could I possibly be to fall for that?"

"I...."

She turned on him. "It's obvious. You're one of Celestia's secret undercover.... whatevers. Sent by the Princesses to keep a close eye on me and Nyx." Her voice got more and more bitter. "Pumped and primed by Princess Celestia on all my likes and dislikes, on all the right things to do and the right things to say to look like the most perfect stallion in the world so you could--- finagle your way into my life...." New tears, hot and fresh and bitter, welled up in her eyes. "Well, all right, now that everything's out in the open, let's hear it." Her voice was scathing.

"All right, Mister Ink Spot, editor for Informative Publishing---- who are you really?"

He looked at her sheepishly, his pith helmet tipped back on his head. "Um.... Mister Ink Spot, editor for Informative Publishing," he said meekly.

"Oh don't give me that!" She snapped.

"I'm not making it up. That's really who I am. Mister Ink Spot, editor for Informative Publishing."

Twilight did a double take. "Wait. What?"

"Um, well, associate editor," he said, scratching the back of his head. "It's a big publishing company and we have a lot of editors. I'm one of twenty."

Twilight paused. Sat down. "What."

Ink Spot took off his pith helmet and fiddled with it. "It's true, Princess Celestia did assign undercover guards to watch over you and Nyx," he said. "And the other bearers of the Elements too, to a lesser degree... She didn't tell you because she didn't want to disturb your lives, or your relationships." He shrugged. "But when Lightning Blitz and Sundiver's cover got blown--"

"With a twenty apple volley to the face?" Twilight ventured wryly.

Ink Spot nodded, the corner of his mouth quirking just a bit. "I was sent in to provide them with a cover story." He sighed. "I don't know how or why Celestia selected me. I suppose she read my profile from when I applied to join the Royal Secret Service, back when I was barely a colt. Silly thing I was back then...

" Anyway, she sent a scroll right to my office requesting that I come to her aid, for Crown and Country, all that.  I guess I still had a few of those silly fantasies from when I was younger, because I snapped it up." He looked at her, obviously embarrassed. "Would you believe I actually went out and bought a tuxedo and a Super Secret Spy Decoder signal watch?"

Twilight couldn't help snickering at that.

"But.... all I was supposed to do was come in, babble something about birdwatching to explain two ponies in a cloud full of cameras and binoculars, linger a few days, and then be on my merry way." He looked her in the eye. "But... after I met you..."

Her breath caught in her throat.

"I kept finding excuses to linger on," he confessed. "After the first day or so I 'suggested' to the Princess that I might be of use as a, um, close agent, that I could help protect you. She seemed surprisingly enthusiastic about the suggestion."

"She would be," Twilight said, her voice flat as a table. She had a brief vision of Celestia gleefully dancing along the rooftop overhead with marionette strings in her hooves: High on a hill stood a lonely goat-herd lay-de-odel-a-de-odel-ay-de-oh....

Ink Spot shrugged, eyes downcast. "Well, you can see what came of it," he said. "For a suave, daring undercover secret agent bodyguard, I make a pretty spectacular associate editor." He looked away. "When you needed me most, I failed you. I failed Nyx. I failed to protect you. No, you never needed me. What you needed was an actual agent with skills and training and hooves like lethal weapons. What you got was me. Ink Spot, associate editor, bench warmer and pencil pusher."

Twilight's hoof was suddenly on his cheek. "I was fine with that when it was all I thought I had anyway," she said.

Ink Spot felt his tongue fumbling. Her eyes were warm and forgiving and an inch away. "Twilight, I..."

"Maybe the measure of a stallion isn't how many damsels in distress he saves or evil cultists he bucks in the face," Twilight said, smiling awkwardly. "Maybe its how kind, and honest, and generous he is. How he makes you laugh,  how he tries to mend your heart when you're crying. How his heart is always yours. How he tries to be a hero for you, even when he is 'just a pencil pusher.' " Her eyelids fluttered. "Me, I don't think I could ask anything more in one."

Ink Spot swallowed hopefully. "Does that mean-- can we start over and---" his words were cut off when Twilight leaned into him and pressed her lips over his.

Best. Moment. Ever.

"Hurrrraaayy!"

Startled, the two broke their liplock and turned around. Nyx, Twist and Flitter were leaning out of the infirmary door, whistling and applauding. "About TIME already," Nyx giggled.

Face flaming, Twilight started to scold the three about eavesdropping on people, when they interrupted her by squealing with laughter and falling to the floor. Baffled, she looked at Ink Spot.

Then she realized that his outlandish fake mustache was gone. It had taken up new residence on her own upper lip. The stallion was struggling hard not to laugh himself. "Oh good grief," Twilight said.

"Oh I dunno, I think it actually looks better on you, dear," Ink Spot snickered.  She bristled at him. Literally.

He made up for it a moment later by peeling the offending mustache off and giving her another, less furry kiss.