Heartwarming / Centaurworld

You're okay, you're alright, I'll never ever leave your side.

In Centaurworld even a warrior from a different world can find love so far from home.

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General

• Horse's goal in season one is to find her Rider and reunite with her. She makes it clear that she would do anything to find her human, even go into battle. From what we see of Rider, she is doing the same thing, given she tried her best to pull Horse up the cliff with sheer brute strength. Now that is friendship. 
• Wammawink as a child lost everything: her home, her herd, and her purpose. She gave up on shaman studies, learning enough magic to be awesome but not enough to receive shaman status, with it being hinted that her fears about losing Waterbaby. It's implied that she found centaurs that didn't have herds of their own, for various reasons, and took him in as part of her family. This protective instinct eventually spreads to Horse. While Horse suspects she was trapping the herd to keep them safe, Wammawink ended up being Good All Along,  
• Zulius and Splendib being an Official Couple. While slightly Played for Laughs, it's only because they're both divas and not because they're together.

Season One

"Hello Rainbow Road"

• Horse and Rider's Establishing Character Moment in Rider's song "Rider's Lullaby". It brings home that Horse and Rider are each other's Only Friend. Rider uses this song to calm her trusted steed as they travel through the remains of their village, giving Horse the courage to ride on. The beautiful swelling of the song drives home the very spirit of how deep the bond between man and beast can go.
• The Herd joins Horse's quest in reuniting her with Rider without a second thought shows how loyal they are to their new friend. And even though there are many dangers on the road and have to put up with Horse's battle-hardened personality, they are understanding towards her to the point they will do anything to help her out.

"What You Need"

• Awesome too, but Horse is angry at the Trees for not giving Baby Wammawink her village back, or at the very least offering comfort to a traumatized child. Especially meaningful since Horse herself didn't seem to realize she was ignoring Wammawink's feelings until seeing her traumatic past firsthand.
  Horse: Are you kidding!? She was suffering, and you could have helped her. Why would you just ignore her? She's selfless and kind. She barely knows me, and she brought me to the place where she lost everything! But she came here anyway because she doesn't want me to hurt this much. If you're not going to bring back her village, the least you could do is comfort her. (begins to walk off then turns around) Don't think we're done here. You haven't seen the last of me.
  • Horse attempts to comfort the orphaned, baby Wammawink even though the latter can't hear her. First Horse tells her about the herd she'll grow up to have. Then she sings a reprise of "Rider's Lullaby" to her and rests her head on top of hers, which seems to get a reaction as the young Wammawink falls asleep.
  • Horse hugging Wammawink when the latter finally wakes up and, because Wammawink is still exhausted, lets her ride on her back, echoing the Affectionate Nickname Wammawink's been using for Horse throughout the episode but Horse didn't take to.
    Wammawink: Oh, my brain feels lighter, but my hooves feel like they're made of million-pound rocks.
    Horse: Then let me lighten your burden, baby girl.

It's Hidin' Time

• Horse insists that they don't wake up Wammawink because the poor woman has been through enough already. She determines that she has to do the best she can to protect the herd in Wammawink's place. When the others bring up the legitimate worry that the cave may have beartaurs, Horse stops to consider. She concedes they have a point, and lets them scan the cave before entering.
• The others are filled with wonder when they see the cave paintings. One identifies what "a rider" is, and sees that Horse isn't the only type of creature around. 
• Without rousing, Wammawink knocks out the Beartaur when it threatens her herd. The others are quite amazed that her Mama Bear instinct is that strong. 
• The beartaur, once he regains consciousness and captures Horse, actually seems reasonable...at first. He calls out the herd for coming into his home unannounced and knocking him out. It doesn't work on Horse, who seeks answers. She brandishes the boots at him and asks if there are humans in this world. To his credit, the beartaur provides the answers, before he reveals that he wants to add Horse to his collection. 
• The others are in conflict about leaving Horse behind despite the fact that it was Horse's idea to pull a Heroic Sacrifice. They agree to wake up Wammawink, since this is a situation beyond their control.  Wammawink wakes up, feeds them, and asks where Horse is. Then she says she's going back to rescue Horse.
• Horse's childlike glee that she was able to outsmart the beartaur. She canters like a foal. 

"Johnny Teatime's Be Best Competition: A Quest for the Sash"

• Horse discards all the pretenses she thought she needed to win the competition and proudly proclaims her identity to the assembled cataurs in a show-stopping song. However, just as she's about to be awarded the sash, Comfortable Doug crashes the proceedings, passes out and farts, and somehow is given the sash from Johnny Teatime instead. Zulius, who's spent most of the episode wanting Horse to win solely to spite the reigning champ Splendib, is genuinely outraged at the injustice of all of her hard-work being passed over and just steals the sash for her because in his eyes she's earned it.

"Ride the Whaletaur Shaman!"

• After Horse allows herself to be eaten by the Whaletaur Shaman out of suicidal despair due to her new form and forgetting Rider's face, Wammawink ventures in through the blowhole to save her friend. When she finds her and all the other lost souls inside trapped in an existence without pain, but also without joy and love, she does a Triumphant Reprise of "Fragile Things".
  Wammawink: Even an orphaned baby girl can find a new herd of her own,
  And a warrior from a different world can find love so far from home.
  • The song is moving enough to remind all the lost centaurs the joys of life they're missing out on by giving into despair and triggers a My God, What Have I Done? moment from the Whaletaur Shaman who realizes her actions haven't helped the centaurs like she thought and immediately releases all of them.
  • Better: At the end of her song, Wammawink gently takes Horse's head in her hands and brings their foreheads together, which seems to be what finally breaks through to Horse specifically. We've only seen one other person offer that specific gesture of comfort to Horse: Rider.
• When the camera shows each member of the herd's reaction to Horse being eaten, one of the shots is of Ched, who's constantly been at odds with Horse, with tears in his eyes.
• After Horse is swallowed, Sunfish Merguy explains that he runs his theme park to give people something else to do when they come to seek out the Whaletaur - to give them a place to have fun as an alternative to being consumed, no pun intended, by their despair. He's not successful, as, true enough in real life, a trip to a fun place isn't going to be enough to lift someone out of abject depression, but the thought and the attempt is still rather sweet and endearing.

"The Rift: Part 1"

• After stalling as long as she could, Wammawink just admits that she's not ready for Horse to leave and tells her how much she'll miss her. Horse says she'll miss her too, and the rest of the herd, and thanks them for everything they did to get her this far. And she gives a special thanks to Wammawink.
• "Rider's Lullaby" comes back in a big way in this episode. When Horse runs excitedly to Rider after they see each other in the rift, Rider reacts with suspicion, not recognizing Horse since being in Centaurworld has drastically changed her appearance. Horse, not knowing what else to do to convince Rider it's her, starts singing Rider's song...and that's how Rider knows that this talking cartoon animal can only be her Horse.
  Horse: (tearing up while singing) I will stay...I will fight...
  Rider: (Struck with realization) With you...
• Horse being reunited with Rider is one of the sweetest moments in the series, with the two just being so utterly overjoyed at finding each other again. Rider affirms that despite all the changes Horse is exactly the same to her, Rider reveals she had all the same fears that Horse did about possibly forgetting her face, being replaced or just never seeing her again, but overall the reunion affirms the two's love for one another and their happiness at being with their closest family.
• Wammawink refuses to move from the spot until she knows Horse is okay. Instinct tells her that something is not right. Ched says the same thing.

"The Rift: Part 2"

• Waterbaby goes Mama Bear and protects the herd from the human sorceress. She says there are things worth fighting for, even against the greater good.
• Doubling as a moment of awesome, Glendale took advantage of the song to steal back the Key. Wammawink gasps, before reactivating the Key and reopening the portal.
• During the battle with the Nowhere King, the Herd (and Waterbaby) bravely enters the portal and fight since they all grown attached to her. Even Ched, who hates her with a burning passion, joins the fight.
  Herd: (singing) We came here from Centaurworld
  And we're here so we can save our baby girl!
• The human sorceress comes through the rift, to kill the Nowhere King. She can't do it, however, as he says, "I forgive you." Rider and Horse, however, can because they don't have a history and grab the Key-spear. Horse reassures Rider that she's still got it, and launches her in a perfect position.
• Rider has an awed, The World Is Just Awesome reaction to seeing Centaurworld. She takes it well, and Horse reminds her they're okay when the leaves start talking.
• Wammawink reassures Horse that she will always be part of the herd/
• Horse is about to leave through the portal with Rider, when she sees the herd worried about what they're going to do with the Nowhere King's return. Wammawink can make another dome, but she frets when considering if it can protect everyone. She makes a decision: she'll stay and train them to fight, while Rider goes to warn the General, and get reinforcements. Her personal feelings don't matter if both worlds are endangered.
• Rider and Horse hug while singing a Tear Jerker of a song that they'll reunite again, and they are family. When Rider opens her eyes, the herd is joining in the hug, making her one of them as well.
• Waterbaby volunteers to go to the other side and accompany Rider, while also checking on the Nowhere King.

Season Two

"Horsatia Wighair Beansz"

• While Durpleton's treatment of Stabby (the minotaur Rider stabbed in the rift) as his son is mostly played for laughs, him singing to him is actually played completely straight, especially with Arc Words "you're okay, you're alright".
• Ched doesn't want anything to do with the horsetaurs. He says they're a bunch of egotistical bullies. When Horse won't relent, Ched reluctantly goes to help her.
• While Horse's efforts to get the horsetaurs to join in the effort fall flat, it turns out her song reached the outcast centaurs, who come out of the woods. They offer to help in any way they can.

"All Herd All The Terd"

• Zulius gets mad when Horse does a rage-quit on the show, on her behalf. She aptly points out that they did what the influencer wanted, but the birdtaurs reneged on the deal. Realizing that the birdtaurs are being selfish and entitled, Zulius plays to their egos. He says they can insert themselves into the narrative because it's not over. They can join the fight against the Nowhere King and take him down. He makes it clear that he did it for Horse.
• As they're being escorted to regular ground, Horse asks Wammawink if she made the right choice to stay and help them rather than go with Rider to warn the General. Wammawink reassures Horse that the herd is grateful that Horse chose to protect a world that wasn't hers, and that she admires how Horse never gives up.
• A small one, but when they have to reenact what happened in the rift, Wammawink is playing Rider and Horse tells her that she makes a good Rider.
  • Especially with how Wammawink has been treated that episode, I’m sure the compliment means a lot to her.

"My Tummy, Your Hurts"

"Holes: Part 3"

• Durpleton and Stabby's version of "it's really you".

"Bunch O’ Scrunch"

• In Glendale's backstory, Wammawink is the first person to not find her portal tummy scary.
• After witnessing Ched's backstory, Horse sympathetically kisses him on the head. This being by far the most affectionate Horse is towards the finch-taur leaves Ched speechless.
• In Durpleton's backstory, Durpleton, after being abandoned as a child, first met teenaged Ched before the rest of the herd. Ched went out of his way to assure Durpleton that everything would be alright, and then (reluctantly at first) allows his new friend to hug him.

"The Ballad of Becky Apples"

"The Hootenanny"

• The last we saw of him, the Beartaur attemped to turn Horse into a part of his collection, and didn't exactly take kindly to the Herd's presence in his cave. Now however, we're treated to an unexpectedly wholesome side of him after it's revealed the Mysterious Woman now crashes at his place.
  • It's immediately apparent that the Woman isn't exactly the best house guest, and the Beartaur doesn't hesitate to address that. However, he doesn't fly off the handle at her and communicates these issues and his stance with her calmly and clearly. Likewise, the Woman, while politely asking if it's okay to discuss this later, isn't outright ignoring what she's hearing.
    • The Beartaur even concedes to discuss the mail issue later, in light of the Hootenanny taking precedence.
  • While it's not explicitly clear what exactly the Woman's relationship with the Beartaur is, it is clear that they both do care enough about the other to have one's best interests at heart and to consider the other's suggestions. The Beartaur offers that they attend the Hootenanny together and even playfully jests that the Woman might want to wear shoes again by the end of it. The Woman doesn't verbally respond, but her small smile and quirked eyebrow tells enough about what she thinks of the idea.
• Horse finally getting her army by singing a Triumphant Reprise mix of "Centaurworld", "Fragile Things" and "Rainbow Road".

"The Last Lullaby"

• In her reprise of the "Who is She" song, Horse comes to terms that whether she's a war horse or a cartoony steed, what matters most is that someone (Rider, Wammawink, and the entire Herd) loved her.
  • While inside the Nowhere King's backstory with her magic, Horse retains her previous form, as though reflecting that no matter how much her physical form has changed, Horse never truly lost her identity as Rider's horse: she's still the brave, noble steed she was from the start.
    • Even more heart-warming is Horse's devasted disappointment that she's lost her "wibbelwy, wobbelwy physique", as though reflecting that Horse's Toon Transformation had come to grow on her. She's really learned to accept herself, regardless of how she looks.
• After seeing the wedding memory, Horse empathizes with the Elk a bit, realizing he dearly loved the Woman and was pained to be separated from her the way she herself was separated from Rider.
• Horse playfully teasing Elk for his flirting with the Princess whilst he was the Elktaur. Given she knows at this point he's a part of the Nowhere King, this is rather nice.
  Horse: (elbows him) Smooth.
  Elk: (playfully) Who, me? Noooo.
• Though he's Beyond Redemption, the Nowhere King's conscience (in the form of the Elk) gives Horse a portal out of his mind, as a gesture that there's still some good left in him somehow.
• The entirety of "Battle Round". This is where everyone's songs and arcs come full circle to make one harmonious (if bittersweet) ballad about accepting themselves and each other.
  • Wammawink's song is about accepting that while she can't shelter her herd forever, her willingness to protect the fragile things in her life is her greatest strength.
  • Ched not only accomplishes his dream of being a Tulip Stepper, but is wordlessly given approval by another Tulip Stepper.
• A wounded Rider apologizing to Horse for not believing her, asking her forgiveness. To this, Horse gently says "There's nothing to forgive." In addition, Rider rescinds her previous statement about Horse being nothing more than a mere horse: she's her best friend.
• In a way, the fact that the Elktaur calmly accepts his death at the hands of the person he loved the most, the Mysterious Woman. He knows that he's done too much to her and countless others as both the General and the Nowhere King for their relationship to ever recover, so he allows her to do what she needs to do in order to be free from his influence: put him out of his misery.
  • The first half of "Last Lullaby" shares the same tune as "Nothing Good", to the lyrics: "What a pity to behold, rest now tormented soul, don't you know I would've have loved you the way you were: Whole". It's a lovely (if bittersweet) reprise to the song, reflecting that the Woman realizes there was never anything wrong with love, and it's time she had closure (if to a deadly extent) with the Elktaur.
• The Beartaur and the Mysterious woman returning home together, and him gifting her a new set of keys to the cave and a pair of shoes. It's comforting to know that after everything that she's been through, she still has someone who cares about her.
  • Fridge-Heartwarming: The fact that the Mysterious Woman found friends among Beartaur and Becky Apples fits in with the show's theme about how you can always find friends and new family in the midst of adversity. She's gone through so much (learning her husband was a fraud, losing her kingdom and throne to war), yet in the end, she managed to find companionship with fellow antagonists, just as Horse found friends in Wammawinks' herd.
• After her initial jealousy of Rider, Wammawink calls her "second babygirl", and it's clear from the end that they're both Horse's best friends.
• Ultimately, Horse and Rider being able to keep their promise to see one another once more. Against all odds, nothing, not distance, not war, not even a treacherous General, stopped a girl and her horse from a well-deserved reunion.
• Generally, the war ending. Although so many died before we reached here, both the human world and titular Centaurworld can once more live together in harmony, and many lives have already started to heal.
  • Horse being deemed the newest Shaman of Centaurworld.
  • Following the example with Stabby, Durpleton and the other centaurs use the magic of Centaurworld to actually rehabilitate the surviving minotaurs so that they can live happier lives.
  • Rider gaining purple hair in Centaurworld, strongly hinting she may gain magical powers as well. If anything, Horse won't have to be alone in these strange changes.
  • The final reprise of "Who Is She" featuring each of the members of the herd doing a call and response to express their admiration and love for Horse (ending in Ched kissing her on the head).