"I'm sorry." Gel spoke as he sat there, looking down at the food he had been offered.

"What for?" Twilight sat opposite him, starting on her own. Spike was serving up a nice pasta salad, one of the mare's favorites.

Gel tried eating some of the food, he absorbed it and felt it break down inside him. "For trying to drink from you." It had taken him a while but Gel had come to the conclusion that doing that wasn't a nice thing, particularly since at the time he planned to drink her to nothing.

"It's okay, you were still under Chrysalis' spell." Twilight pointed out the obvious. "You weren't really under full control of yourself." The meal was delicious and Twilight turned to the little dragon, who was still wearing an apron. "This is delicious, thanks Spike!"

"I still needed to say it. I… she made me do things I can't take back." Words failed the changeling, so he ate some more of the food. "So it is important I apologize for what I can."

"That's a very good attitude. What did you do-" Twilight cut off, her blush suddenly suffusing her face as she realized what she was asking.

"What did I do?" Gel smiled. He got the vibe from this mare that knowledge was always her target, even if it wasn't quite what she thought she wanted. "When I met my first pony, Pattern..." Gel stopped a moment, he looked down at the food, which only reminded him of her more. "I guess it was instinct, I wrapped around her, I felt how she breathed, how she saw, how she heard. I had to adjust myself so that she wasn't scared. But there was a lot more of me than was really comfortable to have around her so… I found places to put the excess."

A scroll and quill appeared, the still-blushing alicorn taking notes.

"I made sure there was a way to get air, but that blocked off where a pony is able to talk. It is a little complicated." Gel thought about what he did. It just felt right to be wrapped around a pony like that.

"So when you… pushed in… it was to store extra mass?" Twilight still struggled to describe the event, the feeling.

"Mostly. But I discovered that if I do things, particular things, it makes the pony very excited and happy. I can feed from that." Gel watched as Twilight ended up so red he was sure she would burst. "Are you okay?"

"I'malright!" The alicorn mare was panting a little, she was quite flustered. "Okay, sorry, that is a very personal place for a pony. Normally we wouldn't talk about such things."

The idea of social taboos was confusing to Gel but he shrugged it away. "There is another pony I need to apologize to, but I think he will be in Canterlot by now and, I am sure, reporting on me to the guard there."

"What did you do to him?" Twilight stepped back into the swamp of social embarrassment.

"You look like you can already imagine. But he should be fine with a day or two of rest." Gel grinned at the mare, he really wasn't trying to make her blush, but she was pretty when she did.

It was then that Applejack came trotting in. "Twilight, come quick, something happened to Rarity!"

The alicorn was on her hooves and moving, trotting to the front door with Gel only just behind. "What happened Applejack?" Twilight was galloping out into the dark evening with her friend at her side, heading toward the edge of town.

"We was exploring the forest when a critter attacked!" Applejack's hooves pounded, kicking up clods of dirt as they made their way quickly toward the imposing Everfree Forest.

Twilight stopped just before it, blinking and looking worried suddenly. "Wait, how did you get back here when you went to Canter-" The moment the princess expressed her confusion a green fire spread over her friend, revealing a changeling.

"Get her!" Their voice was completely different and, worse, there were more changelings coming from the woods.

Gel grunted and jumped in, taking a hit from one that was charging Twilight. "Go Twilight, get help!" He took a hit in his side from the horn-blast of another of his kin.

There was a moment of indecision as Twilight began to turn. She halted, wings flaring. "No, friends don't leave friends to fight alone!"

A lance of pure purple magic slammed one of the changelings away from Gel and giving him the chance to fall back beside the mare. "Come on, we aren't going to fight this many." Twilight reached a wing over Gel's withers and was about to blink when a green glow started in her eyes, her power draining from the spell.

"No…" Gel snarled, it was one of his mother's more trusted lieutenants. "Dark Gaze… Twilight, get this collar off me." He turned to the mare again, Twilight was struggling with the fire invading her mind. "Just break it, please trust me."

The last words rallied Twilight and she aimed her horn and a bright flash of power lanced out just past Gel's throat. The collar fell. Twilight's lips curled in a smile as her resolve began to crumble.

"Gel, you broke free of our queen's control, that isn't the only collar you have slipped. I have orders to drain you and bring you home." The bigger changeling stepped free of its fellows, eyes glowing as they forced more pressure onto the struggling alicorn.

The magic wouldn't affect Gel, not at the level that Dark used it. Gel stepped sideways, his body pressing against Twilight. "Sorry Twilight, but you need protection." He said the words even as his form melted against her, over her.

"Gel?" Twilight's voice sounded so distracted and lost, it tore at the liquid changeling's heart.

He rushed to wrap her head up, sealing her eyes away, hiding them from the corrupting gaze of the changeling. He flowed quickly down her, covering wings and flank. She was larger than a normal pony, but not by enough. Gel knew he would need to apologize more as he sank into her, stretching Twilight's passages as he worked the extra mass into both colon and womb. He adjusted her throat. "You won't get away with this, Dark, I will protect her."

"Like you protected Pattern?" The words stung, they hurt Gel every bit as much as a physical attack. But they also strengthened his resolve. Dark wasn't Chrysalis.

"Twilight, are you with me?" His voice whispered into the mare's ears, tendrils having snaked down and pressed gently against the insides of her ears. Gel felt his head nodding. "I can let you see, but try not to gaze at him too long, I can filter most of it, but he may still get your mind if we aren't careful." Gel relaxed the mare's throat.

"Ugh, thanks Gel, I guess you are my armor?" Twilight tried to make a joke, it was a good plan, since she wanted to ignore the full feeling coming from her rear and…

Gel felt the heat rush to Twilight's face. Even when he couldn't see her, she was cute when she blushed. Dark changeling flesh melted back from Twilight's horn as Gel adjusted himself to be more armor and less trap.

Twilight could see again, the world a little darker even than the night already was, she spread her wings and found them likewise free of Gel. The mass of each place he freed had to go somewhere, but it was worth it. "My turn." Twilight lowered her head at the changeling leading the assault and this time, instead of a single purple beam, it was like a rainbow played out through her magic.

Gel felt Twilight move them, she was a powerful mare and something in him made Gel get a thrill from this. She swept her magic like a scythe, blasting into the changelings and sending them flying, if Gel was a good judge of such, all the way back to the badlands.

Twilight flared her wings and stood triumphant and Gel almost jumped them for joy. "You did it." He whispered it into her ears, giving them a little rub of reward.

"No Gel, if it wasn't for you they would have had me." Twilight was stuck a little, she wanted to hug the stallion in thanks but that was a little hard right now. "Lets get back home and work out what to do… your collar." Her magic picked up the gem-crusted band. The magic in it was fizzing a little. "I can fix it if you like?" Gel felt his hooves push and then was in the air, Twilight's wings picking them both up and carrying them back toward the castle.

"Here, I can help." Gel had let her have her mouth, so kept to whispers, but he did start to study how her muscles moved, stroking her wings. He carefully extended himself up the limbs, thin as silk at first, but thickening as he discovered the patterns. He began to beat the wings with her, his body helping her muscles.

"Wow, that is amazing, how do you…" Twilight stopped beating her wings, spreading them wide to glide to a balcony and land. Gel felt her tuck them back and relaxed that grip around them. "You really are something." Twilight didn't want to say it but she was completely worn out. Normally when she used such magic, her friends were nearby and she felt strengthened by them. She barely stumbled the few steps toward her bed before she fell into it.

Gel was in a bind. He could try and slip off her, but that would probably wake her up and make things awkward. In the end the stallion wrapped back over the parts he had freed, moving slowly, vowing to himself to protect the mare, if only until morning.

Twilight woke up, inhaling deeply and yawning at the new day. Her brain hadn't fully kicked into gear yet, but she shifted and flopped out of bed onto her hooves. She stepped over to her dresser to get the things she would need for a long soak in the bath. Then her mind processed that she wasn't purple today, she was black. Like a changeling. Like Gel Pattern was still covering her. She opened her mouth to demand what was going on but no words could come out, she tried to say anything but it was like her vocal cords just weren't getting the air she was exhaling. "Oops, sorry, this sleeping thing is a little new for me." Gel's words were reassuring in her ears. She felt movement in her throat. "There, you can talk now."

"Thank you… Gel, what are you doing still on me?" Twilight lifted a hoof, but was staring in the mirror, it certainly was quite interesting to watch as the changeling moved with her. Then she felt something shift in her…

Twilight blushed hotly under Gel, her body wanting to do nothing so much as lean backwards. "Sorry, Twilight. I didn't want to wake you last night and you were asleep so fast…"

It was hard for the mare to focus on the words as a feeling of pressure seemed to come over her as Gel vacated her body. He was out in a moment and Twilight tried to hide the little whimper as some part of her felt… empty. "It's… it's okay Gel, I was a little surprised was all." It was a bad cover job.

The changeling flowed from Twilight, drawing from her throat where she had barely noticed him and soon he was standing beside her. "You are amazing…" Gel couldn't stop the sound of wonder in his voice. "I am not all that good at fighting, unless it is one on one. I can't even do a good horn blast."

Twilight had been fully ready to demand he leave her bedroom but the changeling looked up at her with unguarded admiration. "Just… I can't be mad, you saved me too." She leaned in and gave the stallion the hug she had wanted to the previous night. He felt solid against her, oddly so considering how fluid he really was. "Would you like some breakfast?"

Gel opened his mouth to say yes but the truth was the 'meal' the previous evening hadn't done anything for him. "I… I do, but…"

Ever clueless when it came to social cues, Twilight thought she had the answer to why Gel looked so glum suddenly. "It's okay, sometimes his cooking isn't the best."

The changeling was thankful he couldn't blush, or he would be lit up worse than Twilight. "It isn't that, I… I am a changeling, I need other food."

"What do you eat?" Twilight decided to leave her bath for a bit, getting a brush out to simply straighten her mane.

In answer, Gel reached out his instinctual magic to her, drinking the slight happiness Twilight had right then. "Oh…" She blinked in surprise, looking at the stallion. "OH! Okay, I get it now. Gel, you can drink from me once I have had something to eat, okay?"

Gel brightened and nodded. "Thank you, Princess." He felt an odd bond form between them, not just friendship. They had guarded one another in a desperate fight and it left a shared mark.

Author's Note

Gel has known Twilight about as intimately as anypony physically could, now he just wants to get to know her in other ways.

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