The sudden appearance of the winged filly took him by surprise and even though she did her best not to gore him with her horn, he reared up with a squeal of surprise. Wheeling away, he landed on all fours again with a quake of the earth under the force of his hooves hitting the ground. White tresses fell into his eyes as he snorted and pawed at the ground, gouging a line in the dirt with his hoof. He had his ears pinned back, but not in a mean way- he was remembering the last time he had been attacked by a unicorn and the pain and fear of death that it had placed in him.

He calmed over time, especially as he saw the one he had been hoping to see trotted up to him. Her harsh words cut into him, even though he dared not show the truth on his face. "Y'all know who I am, Missy. I ain't got a need ter identify meself..." Her next words brought a smile to his face as she greeted him softly, speaking as if to a lover. He stretched his nose forwards and made to touch muzzles with her, a formal and yet intimate greeting.

"I... I waited, ma'am, but it's impossible ter tell how much time has passed withou' that dang sun doin it's dang duty. I grew a might worrisome about yer well-bein', an so I came here ter check if ya'll was alright. We haven' known each other long but I've already taken a shine ter ya, Missy." He said all this in a quiet voice so that the filly, who had approached them again, could not overhear.

He froze when the filly spoke- her first question was natural, but the second one... he backed several steps away from Artemis and looked at the filly. "Er... name's Tharos. An'... uh... no. We ain't in love. We're jus friends. Right Missy?" Suddenly he had the distinct feeling that he was digging himself into an awkward hole and despite his instinct to stop talking, he answered the filly anyways.

He wasn't a stallion to fall easily into love. He had an appreciation of beauty, and he was a nice enough guy if he was shown the same kindness. But love? No way. He seriously doubted whether a stag of his bloodline was even capable of such a thing. Then again, something unexplainable had driven him here, and as he gazed over at Artemis, dumbstruck, the stag thought he understood why the filly would think that- the two of them were meeting in the darkness on the border. He clearly didn't belong here, and the entire situation they had been caught in was rather compromising. He wondered how Artemis felt about this, and hoped she didn't hate him, either for making her appear as a traitor in front of a young member of her own herd, or for what he had said.