River to the Rescue

River paced as he waited for his wife to come home from a long-distance meeting. Because it was on Mewni, she opted to take a carriage there, and forewent using dimensional scissors. Lately, a band of thugs had been robbing travelers along the route she was taking, and he couldn't help but worry. She was royalty, and therefore, the perfect target. Sure she had magic, but if someone rendered her unconscious, it did little to help her. To make matters worse, a storm was expected as black clouds hung heavy over the land.

The king waited for hours until the sun had gone down, but still there was no reply. She didn't take her portable mirror or her scissors, allowing dark thoughts to enter the young man's mind. They were married now, why couldn't she have taken him with her! The blonde had guards listen for any news of the bandits and nervously waited. His thoughts began to give an uneasy feeling. She's pregnant for corn's sake, he thought as he stared into the fireplace, I should have insisted I accompany her to the dumb meeting! What if she's hurt? The door opened as a frantic Manfred rushed to the short king. River gasped, fearing his darkest nightmares had come true.

"Speak man, have you any news?"

"The bandits have taken a royal carriage hostage. However, no one has been able to say whether it is Queen Moon's," Manfred yelled with teary eyes. "The ruffians won't let anyone close enough to see. They've taken refuge in a thick part of a wooded area. We've sent a small army of our best soldiers to capture them."

"I'll not standby and wait for her to be saved. I'm leaving at once to get her myself," River declared. He grabbed a sword and a helmet from his closet and marched over to Manfred. "My wife and child's life is at stake, I'll not leave them on their own. Notify the Commission to watch over the kingdom for us."

River ran to the stables and grabbed the fastest warnicorn, quickly mounting. He set off at once to save his beloved family, completely prepared to fight all of Mewni if he had to. He continued riding even after the sun came up and had to abandon his steed in a nearby village. The warnicorn was completely worn out from the trip, prompting River to run the rest of the way. He finally found the army Manfred spoke of and demanded information from the leader.

"Where are they, where's the queen at?" He was not in the mood for small talk and the commander quickly explained the situation. The man said that the Mewmans had restrained the passengers and were demanding money as well as immunity in exchange for the hostages.

"The problem is, Your Majesty, they've done this before and lied about their end of the deal. People were seriously injured last time and we don't want a repeat of that," the man explained. "We've decided to battle it out with them while another team sneaks over to the passengers and frees them." Knowing how delicate the situation was, River decided not to rush into battle.

"I shall help fight the bandits while you free the hostages. We should surround the area and create a pathway to the carriage and back," the king said.

"Excellent idea! I'll explain this to the others and then we'll strike." Overhead, loud claps of thunder began to shake the heavens as a light rain began to fall.

Meanwhile

Moon thanked the stars as she reached the castle grounds before the storm had hit. They had to take a detour and ended up severely behind schedule. As a result, Moon wished she had taken her mirror like River had suggested. She sighed as she rubbed her slightly swollen stomach. Her ankles and back were aching, and she couldn't wait to have her darling husband massage them once she saw him. Manfred ran up to the carriage with a look of absolute terror and shock on his face, almost as if he were seeing a ghost. The driver and him were saying something frantically, causing Moon's heart to sink. Had something happened to River while she was away?

"Your Majesty, I regret to inform you that River is away," Manfred said with a deep frown. Moon inwardly panicked.

"What!?"

"We were under the impression that your carriage had been taken hostage by those bandits where you were at. As a result, King River left at once to free you." Moon gasped. River was most likely fighting a group of dangerous bandits thinking that she was over there. River! No, he mustn't get hurt, I can't go through that all again! She stood quickly and immediately felt light headed. Manfred caught her and began to shout for a guard and a medic. The last thing she heard was a peal of thunder as the storm began to wreak havoc upon the area.

At the Battle

River fought two men as he helped create a tunnel for the hostages. He was too preoccupied with beating his enemies to see if they had escaped or not. His body felt bruised and heavy, but that was the least of his worries. He used his fists to pummel one of the men before returning to fight his companion. A swift kick to the king's chest knocked the wind out of him as he dropped to the ground. He had lost his sword in the first few seconds of battle and couldn't find it now, go figure!

Resorting to old tactics, River bit down on one of his attacker's legs and pulled back, causing the man to fall. He released the foul-tasting appendage and punched the other fighter as hard as he could. Tired of their wounds and fighting, all three stopped struggling as guards came to shackle the two bandits. Limping over to the hostages, River was surprised to see that none of them were Moon. The freed royals thanked him for his brave deed, even though he wasn't really fighting for them. Of course, no one said that aloud and the group made their way back to the castle. Minutes after entering one of the carriages, the king fell asleep and didn't wake until he reached the castle. While he rested, the storm caused the caravan to stop many times, not reaching their destination until the late hours of the morning.

Later

Moon awoke in time to hear the buzz of an excited staff. Manfred entered and informed her that her husband had returned, but the look on his face worried the young woman. She moved as quickly as her heavy body would allow her and made her way to her darling husband. She almost cried out in alarm when she saw the bruises and scratches all over his body. He instantly perked up once he saw her face, quickly hobbling over to hug her. The two waited to speak until they were safely back in their room and River's injuries had been tended to.

"Oh, love, I was afraid this would happen," she said as she held his hand. The doctors had told him he was on bed rest for a couple of days, much to his displeasure.

"I was so worried about you, I didn't want to take a risk and wait to hear if it was your carriage or not. I don't regret running off like that because, even if it wasn't you, I still saved a family from those evildoers," he said and kissed her hand. She laid out next to him and rested his hand on her stomach.

"I know, but, I was so afraid that you would be…," she fought back tears as River looked at her with knowing eyes. "I didn't want to go through with that again, or for our child to grow up without knowing their wonderful father."

"It'll take a lot more to stop me, but I promise I'll be more careful next time. I would never dream of leaving you or our child alone," he said and gave her soothing kiss. She nodded and rested her head next to his as he began to fall asleep again. She sighed, happy that the worst was over, and they could finally relax. Within the warm confines of her mother's womb, their growing child gave a soft kick, happy to feel her father's presence.

MRMRMRM

Author's Note: I had written this week's before SDCC, so I laughed when I saw the promo. I had a feeling River liked to bite his opponents. As for my question concerning future chapters, I will be leaving these drabbles T. I have quite a bit of underage readers, so it doesn't seem like a good idea to combine them. Worry not, readers who asked for M, I will create an entirely separate set of M-rated drabbles. I haven't been able to work on them, so expect the M drabbles to appear somewhere near the middle of August. Hope you enjoyed!