Wow...just.....wow.

Better than I thought.

Very nice work so far.

I'll be keeping an eye on you.

...Interest gained

>_>

<_<

<tracking>

Good job sir.

Anthros, you say?

Tracking

...Welp, I must say I laughed heartily.  The apartment above me likely does not appreciate that, but I did.  

lol i so hope spike walks in on them again

Very nice work so far.  A lot of good humor in this. : D

Assimilate to the heard

I.. Uh just wow

Wow, did not expect this. Ego boost +10.

Thanks everyone, for the kind words. I'm glad people actually like this. Hopefully means I'll get the next part out soon.

Color me impressed! You have the characters and humor down perfectly. Without the mature themes and anthros, I'd swear you could probably write for the real show.

Keep it up! I'll look forward to whatever you do next.

>>141276141276

Thank you. I couldn't ask for higher praise than that.

I must say I love this story so far. A very nice and refreshing change in pace abd style then what we are always reading. This is something I've been unknowingly searching for. Not this herd thing (but that is ingénues), but this anthro style. And I love that Big Macintosh is in it since he is such an perfect character for people to use yet few really do.

Looking forward to more chapters to come, so keep up the great work.

INteresting.  Do keep up the good work.  I'm enjoying the concept so far.  You have been tracked, sir.

And it's kind of funny seeing my own story in the suggestion bar for this one.  :D

You're back!

Excellent work. I love how the focus is split between physical interaction, and emotional. The characters are all well-written and awesome. Can't wait to meet the rest of the herd.

Keep it up. And faster! This is too good to wait weeks for new chapters.

I enjoyed this

HORRAY!  The story continues!

you sir, are fucking awesome

>>140161140161

Image: http://ponibooru.413chan.net/_images/15dedd5e24b97d42502a47420ef36863/5958%20-%20assimilation%20borg%20crossover%20pinkie_pie%20startrek.jpg

>>229854229854

Thank you, and I'll see what I can do about getting the chapters out quicker.

*Looks at RL. RL scowls back*

I'll try anyway.

And thank you to everyone else, I'm glad people are enjoying this.

Awesome work I must say. I'm looking forward to seeing more chapters of this story. Keep up the great work mate.

Just found this. Tracking and remember everypony, Sharing is Caring.

>>235511235511 Am I allowed to go into a Bepony pain trance before said Borgification?

Hrmm...  interesting developments...

Good chapter, looking forward to what happens next.  Also guessing, much to Pinkie's disappointment that Mac will end up with Twi, Pinkie, and RD but Spike will end up with AJ, Flutters, and Rarity.  I might be wrong, I usually am.

.....I feel like spike could be Equestria's Barry White.

YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes

ALSO, Spike/Celestia/Rarity and possibly Twilight

>>270136270136

Ah ah ah, you're missing the obvious. Applejack's original complaint with Pinkie was that having a herd with two stallions would be shameful. This, dear friend, is what we call a loophole.

Awesome chapter mate! So looking forward to sewing what happens next! Also you wouldn't happen to have a picture of what anthro Spike looks like would you? And will Spike grow wings? I also love that it looks like it will be a Spike X Rarity love.

P.S. Here is a picture of Spike that I think looks close to what he looks like as an anthro.

http://crappyunicorn.deviantart.com/art/Spike-193450341?qo=14&catpath=&order=9&offset=14

>>271198271198

>>273659273659

Thanks, glad you're enjoying it. As for the picture, I sure don't. The one you provided there wouldn't have been a bad pre-transformation though. No comment on a winged Spike at this time.  

More pitfalls in Pinkie's master plan?

Clearly, the solution is to invite Spike. And then invite Applejack, because now there's a big hunky dragon-stud to look after her. Case closed!

First?

>>349568349568 Damn...

Looks like Rarity won't be joining the herd...unless of course Spike is that other male in the herd.

Also it looks like you'll have to give Spike wings since teenaged dragons grow wings...

I say Rarity, Applejack, and maybe Fluttershy wind up joining Spike's "herd," and the females of both herds have an understanding and enjoy semi-romantic relationships with each other. Or the herds just merge or something like that.

Wee, character development. Well done with both Spike and Rarity.

And I still say we'll end up with one large herd including Spike and Mac. Anything else would make Pinkie Pie sad, and that just can't happen.

>>349579349579 Really?  You can't even leave me alone here?  I don't care if you hated it, just keep it to yourself, because I am fucking sick of your goddamn whining.

>>349541349541

Welp, now I don't have to read the story.

Wait... not read the story. NOT READ THE STORY? WHAT THE HELL AM I THINKING?

Welp satsfaction at last (i skiped a lot of the none spike related stuff minus the first chapter cause frankly i don't think big mac makes a good fanfic charcter hes just not developed enough in the series but im glad i stuck to the hope spike wouldn't get fucked over as usual)

I can see 2 possible endings:

1. Spike gets Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity, goes off with them while Mac gets Rainbowdash, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight.

2. Spike gets added to the group that ends up consisting of everyone and its a giant harem.

But the story itself is amazingly well done, I'm loving the twists as well as the depth of each characters emotions.

Great work so far, extremely interesting twists, and a very well done characterization. Im on chapter 6 and I can't wait for another.

This story is funny as heck, and deserves to have more.

would love to see a picture of new spike, im kinda curious if he looks like I imagine XD, also great story sire, keep good at it

>>433960433960

I'd rather like to see a picture of new Spike myself. Sadly my artistic talent is limited to stick figures, so unless someone with real talent is feeling generous...

Sad news: Real life is picking on me right now, to the point that I haven't even started the next chapter. Being between jobs is bad for one's writing time. I'll get back to the story when I can though.

Thank you to everyone who has commented, it's a nice uplifting moment to be able to know people are enjoying something I've done.

Looks like Spike's gonna get lucky very soon.

Nice balance sexy hijinx, romance, characterization and humor. Looking forward to the next chapter when you eventually get to it.

I FUCKEN LOVE THAT YOU DID NOT JUST MAKE RARITY HOOK UP WITH HIM! I LOVE THE WHOLE SHALLOW THING AND GENESTIY OF BALANCE THING!!

Image: http://www.troll.me/images/victory-baby/yes.jpg

Y u no update me sad.

Crap, man, big hiatus right before the Spike/Rarity part!

ARRG!

I hope it continues.

Well, all in all, I'm gonna fave this one.

Hope to see more, but I gotta say certain people in this story should be more psychologically savvy. Namely:

* Celestia, Luna is not yet tires of these parties. You are a 1000+ year old politician, you should know better how ponies tick.

* Also, Spike is transforming only now because he's going through puberty, a mental part of it anyway. At the beginning, he was a baby dragon. Kids can have crushes, strong ones, and be infatuated, but they do not lust.

* Rarity, you've always been selfish, greedy and shallow. All that generosity and selflessness was always a visible conscious effort on your part to be better than that. Why are you acting like you forgot you've been working and fighting against those flaws for years.

Still, cool worldbuilding with the magical nature of dragons. Has a bit of nice fairy tale flavor to the otherwise somewhat mundane unicorn magic.

We all have emotional baggage, some more violent than others, as ilustrated by the book projectiles.

Good choice of chapstick therer twi i think pinkie likes raspberries

Hope this continues and your writing straits are over, I've enjoyed this story so far and would like to see where it goes.

Hope you find some time in your busy schedule to work more on this story. I really enjoy reading it.

IT LIVES!!!!!!!

Welcome back!!

If anything, I think your characterization has gotten better in your absence. Also, love the Pinkie/Discord chat. Those two make for such an interesting dynamic, I almost wanted Discord to start talking back.

Still, awesome job, glad to see you're back.

IT'S ALIVE, ALIVE!!!

What a surprise!

Welcome back, now just get us the next chapter soonish

So glad to see this story back up and running. I'm wondering if anything is actually going to happen with Luna.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Image: http://throughanewlens.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/yes_man01.jpg

yes a new chapter please don't take forever next time lol but we did miss you

OH SHIT NEW CHAPTER?!

very nice, I like how Pinkies seems to take everything in stride, both Discord and Rarity not joining the herd.

Was hoping for some / after Celestia's comments last chapter... maybe even some // but seeing Spike and Rarity as a happy couple is fine too.

P.S. MOAR LUNA

Doctor Frankenstein obviously had to work on this one himself.

Worth the wait.

Been meaning to respond, but man I'm terrible at putting aside a little time. But thank you everyone for the warm welcome back. I promise the next one won't be nearly so long coming, about half way through it now.

And yes, moar Luna.

I understand being bad about time allocation. Still, nice to see this updated.

Yeah!!! Great chapter amd now Luna is interested in being in a herd?! Gods I hope she's thrown into Big Macintosh's herd.

Bad ass exits

bite our royal backside this line made me think of Bender so much

Why is Chrysalis after the elements? Did she taste the rainbow in this AU? Why would she be after anypony but Twilight, Cadance and Shining?

>>10902881090288 Because she's not foolish. In her last attempt she put a ridiculous number of guards on the Elements on the off chance that the bearers would reach them (which paid off). Any action against Canterlot would need a contingency for dealing with the Elements.

This chapter had grand plans being made , characters being developed , and even a hint or two of comedy ...

BUT WHERE IS THE ROMANCE!!

>>10912291091229 I wasn't talking about the gems actually - why would she make such a deal out of them is she successfully prevented them from being used before is a separate question - but why does she hate Pinkie? None of the mane 6 except Twilight did jack shit to stop her except for getting into one fight with her soldiers which accomplished nothing. They are totally background ponies for her.

On a separate note, eagerly anticipating Chrissy, Discord & Princesses... involvement.

This is just plain awesome.

It is nice to read a fic were Pinkie is like the main heroin or at least close to it that those not involve cupcakes.

>>10912501091250  I don't get the feeling that she hates Pinkie personally, it's more like she's an obstacle that's getting away. What she hates is not getting her way.

>>10912501091250

It's not Pinkie specifically, it's Equestrians in general she has issue with. Equestria should have been a ripe and easy feeding ground, lots of love, very little in the way of defenses. Only it didn't really work out that way for her, and she let a stupid slip up ruin everything. She feels cheated out of what should have been an easy win, and is bitter about it. So this time around she's not holding back, hence Discord.

Plus she really, really disliked the time she had to spend listening to Pinkie's party suggestions while disguised as Cadence.

>>10912291091229

Romance be coming, never fear.

Hmm. Not sure I like this wrench being thrown into the story, but I definitely like the way you're writing it. Discord was pulled off beautifully.

HAHAHA!!! Looks like Spike cant control his swagger.

And wow Pinkie has done a lot is unbelievable things but to make Luna not refer to herself in a plural version in those last few paragraphs...wow  

That dissertation on the Element of Generosity...wow just wow I am impressed. Furthermore this is a story with mature bits not smut for smut's sake.

Characterization is very accurate. Good grammar and spelling and word use.

This is just very well written.

Okay that's just a fucking brilliant way to pull Discord into the story.

>>11001721100172

Well here's hoping I can convince you it's a good wrench.

>>11035281103528

Pinkie breaks many things, physics, 4th walls, princesses...

>>11190251119025

Thank ya kindly

Wow, this story went dark in a hurry... I'm curious if you were always intending this, or if you decided at a later point?

Plus, of course, cliff-hanger, but is he dead?

>>11905541190554 I was wondering the same thing.

I swear there are more cliffhangers on this site than in the grand canyon!!

Also I'm sending a very Dark Knight plot twist ahead somewhere.

Certainly keeping things flowing nicely. Personally I believe this story should be a 'featured' one on the front page, the story, pace, and characters well thought out.

That said, I am wondering what happened to , wondering when "Big Red" will return to the story; I can imagine him being quite angry when he finds out that the brother of one of his herd mates is severely injured *pictures in his mind Big Macintosh punching Discord in his smug, chaotic face and delivering a well deserved buck to the bitchy Changling Queen who brought this whole mess upon those he is coming to care about*.

Can't wait for the next chapter, so keep up the good work!

The cliffhanger has something to do with Shining docent it?

>>11926391192639 He seems to have died, or is in critical condition.

Honestly I had my doubts about this story, but it is really, really good. Love the herd aspect and I am unsure as to why no one else has explored this. Don't feel the anthro aspect adds anything though. I feel the story would be the same without it. Anyway added to the tracking list.

ERMAHGERD! Cliffhangers.

>>11905541190554

Half and half. I always intended to put some action and some more serious stuff in, though this chapter did go darker than I was expecting to take things.

>>11915411191541

Thank you. And Mac returns next chapter.

>>11930061193006

Glad you're enjoying it. I think the herd thing isn't really used because it's just not how (most) humans handle relationships. One on one is just such a hardwired norm for most people and the characters really do feel very humanish despite being brightly colored ponies. As for the anthro thing...well that's largely for my own peace of mind, as I don't yet feel all that comfortable writing sex scenes for ponies. By and large though, I've been trying to keep my descriptions general enough in most cases that you could imagine them as pony, or anthro, or total human, whatever your preference.  

And now I play the waiting game

damn you and your cliffhangers!

Q: if Luna is planning on joining Big Mac's herd, will Celestia be joining Spike's?

>>12109521210952

Sorry, no spoilers

Would make things nice and symmetrical though, wouldn't it?

You're writing two stories here. They're both very good, and I enjoy them both, but they're very different stories, and I can't help feeling I'd rather be reading them separately than seeing them shoe-horned together like this.

Every time I see a chapter update for this story, the first thing that I think of is the scene in Twilight's library where Dash provokes her, then pounces on her. That is the story I want to read when I read The Herd. I haven't gotten to read that story for quite a while.

If you had started writing a new story and marked it [Dark] [Adventure] I'd be happily reading and tracking that one in addition to The Herd. As it is, I really feel like this story is suffering due to the drastic shifts in tone with absolutely no thematic connection. What, at all, does Chrysalis and Discord's return have to do with Pinkie Pie forming a romantic herd around Big Mac? If the group's relationship was being in some way affected by the return of the villains, then I could see it, but there has been no overlap at all. The Villain section has only distracted from the Romance story. I hardly see how a happy, romantic story can continue progressing with two powerful villains on the loose, and Twilight's brother gravely wounded or dead. None of the characters can be happy or stable enough to think about love until this threat has been dealt with, and even then they will all have been changed by it, Twilight especially. If you're going to put the story of The Herd on hold until this villain arc is dealt with, then it seems better to put The Herd on hold and write the other story that you want to write before coming back to this one.

Just my opinion, but I really believe you're making two great stories worse by trying to make them one.

>>12227181222718

Admittedly, I probably could have found a cleaner way to mesh things. There is a point and purpose to throwing Discord and Chrysalis in, and it's not to kick the romance to the curb. I like the idea of love blossoming despite of hard times and strife, and of it being a source of strength in such times. I'm not one for endless happy warm fuzzies; sometimes things need to kick the story in the gut in order to make it pick itself back up, and hopefully seem stronger for being able to.

The villain arc isn't going to dominate the story. It got to steal the spotlight for the last two just because of the necessary of getting that ball rolling. It would likely flow better if it had been all put out in one whole piece, rather than chapter by chapter over a several week period, which probably does make it seem to drag longer than it really does. Something for me to keep in mind for future updates.

Things are shifting back towards the relationship driven plot line with the next chapter. D&C will get their moments, but the story I have in mind is more based on how the main characters manage to thrive despite the threat looming.

you sir  have officially made. my. day. i mean i feel like i actually know spike better  now and for this you deserve a.....

Image: https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS3yUO57dx-_W_fb_mTYT8ufuu42OpLsLxb3sGxao7Hjazf7YNvyt1vIuk

I can't even begin to describe the feels from this one chapter have created. They are as random as pinkie on crack. I can't wait to read more of this awesome tale you are weaving of love, romance and a touch of adventure. In my opinion i see something forming between the Queen of Changelings and the god of chaos. Technically though, opposites due attract at times. Another thing, If something happened to Shining Armor (and my guess is he has sadly passed while performing his duty ) Where is Mi Amore Cadenza? Another thing...

I believe you sir, have inspired me to write my own fimfic from this chapter alone. and without further a due, Mustachio for you:

Hm... I don't think I've seen any attempt at Chryscord that wasn't a literal joke. It'll be interesting to see where it goes (crosses fingers and starts muttering "draconelings" repeatedly)

Little late but I am really hoping for horribly disfigured over dead for Shining.

I'm really glad to see you're still writing this. It's a good story.