Dancing and playing as he was through the waves, Apollo was oblivious to the arrival of the one he had been waiting for. Rearing into the air once more, the stallion snorted roughly, forelegs coming down to crash into the churning waves of the ocean. The water sprayed back up around him and he chuckled, tossing his head to and fro in a childish display. All thoughts of Phaedra, the Grey, or any uncertainties that he may have held slipped away like the tide… At least until he heard a certain mare’s familiar, beautiful voice call his name.

‘Apollo!’

Immediately the overo stallion ceased in his childish antics, head snapping up and looking left and right for the said Pegasus. His honey-brown eyes looked confused, however, as he couldn’t spot her, but the sudden beating of wings caused his head to look up into the sky. Phaedra’s brilliant, sooty coat seemed to glisten in the sunlight, her mane tousled from her flight, and the Unicorn was sure he hadn’t seen anything so beautiful in his life. A bright, handsome smile crossed his innocent face and he let out a whinny of greeting, looking positively thrilled.

“Phaedra!” He called, dragging himself from the knee-high water and shaking the sand and water from his nimble legs, “It’s so good to see you!” Where he had once expected to feel humility upon seeing her, Apollo felt nothing of the sort. The next time that he had seen her, he had expected to be overcome with embarrassment from their time in the Forest, when he had been high on those cursed mushrooms… Nothing had happened between the two of them, he was sure of it, but the stag couldn’t help but feel ashamed of his actions. He should have known better, letting their peer pressure gain control of him like it had…

It was only after she had landed, in a brilliant display of palomino hues and cream highlights, that he took notice of the bird that fluttered around, trilling it’s beautiful song. Head tilting slightly, Apollo’s smile turned somewhat unsure, clearly curious. The bird then darted from Phaedra’s side and danced before him, her colors that of a tropical sunset, and he couldn’t help but laugh in good nature as the small creature retreated to rest upon the Pegasus’ back.

Apollo then took a step towards the mare, his ears swiveling forward and head held high. She looked radiant standing there, the humidity of the water causing her ivory mane and tail to crimp and curl… Was it just the light reflecting from the ocean’s surface that caused her beautiful green eyes to shimmer like that? Allowing his head to drop, somewhat, he regarded the bird once more with that same smile.

“It’s great to meet you, Stella,” he said in response to the sooty palomino’s proper introduction, unsure if the avian would even understand what he was saying to it. Looking back to Phaedra, he then spoke to her. “Her colors are beautiful… Where did you get her?” He hoped that it wouldn’t seem like he was prying, for he was just truly curious. If he could, there would be a lot of questions that he wished to ask Phaedra, for he simply wanted to get to know her better.

“I, um… I’m glad that you could meet me here, Phae. How have you been since, well… Since we last saw each other?” Inwardly he cringed at his choice of less-than-eloquent words. Oh, how graceful, stuttering over himself like a love-sick colt with a speech impediment.

I can never fight for myself, but, for others, I can kill."