What had been a long week long excavation and adventure into the bowels of the earth version of Atlantis left me and my herd a bit surprised. It had been the same day since we had left only the sun was barely going down. The clock tower out in the distance read as three p.m. give or take a couple minutes. Octavia and Vinyl looked around noticing that somepony had left a newspaper on my front porch and it was actually the same date as well. I didn’t really look at it as confirmation or anything. As soon as I landed in Equestria I merely figured out from the knowledge locked up in my brain about events and went by those problems. If I was correct in guessing after some incident with a giant bear made of stars then there would be a dragon causing smoke problems.
For some reason the save point had changed from inside the house to outside the house. When I peered around I noticed that there were no ponies around us luckily enough and by sheer luck the weather patrol wasn’t around.
“Is it really the same day…?” Spitfire breathed out as she looked around before quickly hiding her mane and cutie mark.
“Seems so. Looks like Merlin did have something very powerful in his possession since it pretty much bent space/time in a way that shouldn’t be possible… though with magic acting as a force it might be. It would be too complicated to think about… Maybe we should be inside before Spitfire gets caught by rabid fanponies or something.”
I opened the door of my home as Spitfire immediately zoomed in bowling over all of us. I landed on my back as Vinyl, Fresh and Redheart landed on top of me knocking the wind out of my chest. It wasn’t painful per say but I now had an appreciation for air and all it does for me. After a few seconds of fussing over me we all managed to get inside the house. The furniture from Atlantis was already inside thanks to the Gummi Ship and I couldn’t hold my apprehension.
As the ladies sat on the couch unwinding and chatting with each other I equipped the tomahawk and picked up the stone dresser. It was useful for doubling my strength and increasing it exponentially. I managed to get it in place where I wanted it making sure that it didn’t break in the process… to the shocked look of all the other ponies.
“What?”
“How did you lift that?” Vinyl wheezed out when she tried to lift it in her magic and struggled to lift one end. “It’s heavier than every piece of equipment that I own.”
“Like that’s an accomplishment…” Octavia snarkily muttered.
“Shut it… Anyways how’d you do it.” Vinyl poked me with her hoof.
“Oh. Well I hold more weapons on me but due to certain limitations I have to earn wielding them. Each of those are tied in to my keyblade in a sense but are separate weapons all together. The reason I could lift this is due to this weapon,” I summoned the tomahawk to my hoof. “This particular weapon has the attributes of earth like dirt and such allowing me some manipulations of the ground. It also has an extra effect of increasing my strength exponentially as I wield it.”
“Um… right… exponentially… Um…” Vinyl rolled her hoof as me while a few of the other mares chuckled slightly.
“It’s a strength booster. It makes me stronger the longer I hold it. It also can control the ground to a certain extent.”
“Right… I knew that. Thanks for the explanation though. I needed a reminder.” Vinyl haughtily acted which I went along with.
“Yup. No problem. I need to practice with them later but for now I’ll just keep them on the back burner. They kind of make a lot of noise and damage.”
“What about those daggers and that book?” Spitfire spoke up causing me to pivot around to face her.
“Those also have attributes to them. The daggers all represent lightning. It’s what let me have the clouds in from the Everfree to remain in my control for two hours, “ Sunshower gasped at that realizing now how I did that. “While the attribute of the book is illusion. It lets me create illusions whenever I exercise its power. I don’t really use it though for more than keeping track of our adventures and every being that I meet. That includes the heartless we fought.”
“So… how detailed are these illusions?” Spitfire pushed a bit more as she sauntered up to me.
“Well… from what I could tell it depends on how much magic is placed in them. I think I can have these creations last for an hour or so if they have physical mass. If I didn’t probably four hours at best maybe. Like I said I haven’t tested them.”
“Interesting…” Spitfire’s voice trailed off as she looked more closely at the book. I handed it to her as she looked at all the ponies I met… she got really red when she started fiddling with the ponies I’ve seen noticing how… correct they were.
“And no I haven’t really looked through the ponies in the book before you jump on that point.”
Spitfire instantly closed the book and fanned herself off to the confusion of everypony. I unsummoned the book switching it mentally to my keyblade. I still hadn’t used the scythe and I doubted that I would at any point in time due to its unwieldy nature… and the power over flowers was just confusing.
“So what was so shocking Spitfire…?” Octavia bumped her hip against the overly red mare… which was quite the sight since she was usually more orange and yellow most of the time.
“Nothing. I saw nothing and that’s all that is. Look we apparently still have a week off. What should we do now?” Spitfire quickly changed the subject.
“We should go get mangoes.” Sunshower immediately brought up.
“Mangoes? Why mangoes?” Fresh Coat quirked an ear up tilting her head slightly.
“I don’t know. I felt like getting mangoes. For some reason it resonates with me… heavily. I want some for some reason.”
“Maybe it’s cause you’re a batpony now. Didn’t you look up more about yourself?” Redheart brought up though from her posture she was too tired to get off the couch.
“Somewhat. I only know about minor history of being a thestral and basic workings on my body. I never looked closer into it… though that was more because of the lack of content on Thestrals in the two libraries I’ve checked.”
“Well tomorrow I know that there is one stand that sells mangoes so you don’t have to hop all the way over to Hollow Shades.” Redheart pointed out as she leaned back and started to snore slightly.
It was then that I noticed that except for Octavia, Vinyl and Spitfire the other three had fallen asleep from exhaustion. I wasn’t tired yet due to the long nap we took after Rourke’s fall. Spitfire rolled her eyes but also flipped onto the couch laying back and passing out as well. Vinyl followed suit if for no reason but to be one of the herd. That left me and Octavia alone. Instead of making awkward small talk I trotted up to her and pulled her onto my back.
“Eep!” Octavia sharply inhaled managing to keep her voice down enough not to wake anypony up.
“Let’s set up the other drawer and the treasure we got from Atlantis.”
Octavia nodded slightly before nuzzling into my neck burying herself. She was breathing really heavily now… I wondered if this was an Alpha mare thing. As we left the snoring I slowly stepped down the stairs into the basement which made Octavia hold on a bit tighter.
“I kind of expected that you would also fall asleep. It had been a long journey throughout the universe in a sense. We have been gone almost ten days yet somehow it’s been only a few hours here on Equestria.”
“I need to take my Alpha status a bit seriously here Gray. While it’s not very obvious right now there are a few traditions that we need to discuss since we’re making this herd official. Do you know anything about herds at all Gray?” Octavia lectured slightly as she nuzzled deeper into my neck.
‘Did she just shudder…?’ I quietly pushed that out of my mind because there wasn’t much I could actually do about it. When we stepped down into the basement I noticed something completely wrong… all the treasure we got was in the center of the room while the large dresser was against the far wall.
“Hm… We need to sort this out…”
“Where should we put it…?” Octavia questioned as she reluctantly slid off my back...I felt something wet… Not thinking about it.
“Let’s put most of it in the drawers while we keep maybe one piece out in the open. So… what did you want to discuss about herds?”
“Well as you know already herds are around mostly because male populations are kind of low. Most of the males you see are either taken or in the Royal Guard. Right now the male population is taking up around thirty percent of the total population. So… most of the time herds are made to protect the male but we’re not exactly acting like a normal one.” Octavia started.
“Is there such thing as a normal herd?”
“Well… normal is relatively speaking that one male, three mares. We’re a bit more ambitious with one male and six mares. In laypony’s terms we’re the exception for a herd structure. We did kind of skip the important part as well. See when we were suppose to deal with dates we were supposed to give you something to officialize it. See we have a custom of giving somepony a flower to symbolize that we are a herd but since flowers aren’t long lasting I’m thinking maybe we should use those crystals we got from our adventure as a sign.” Octavia explained as she fiddled with her necklace.
“So we keep these on at all times. That’s a good idea. So… were there other concerns you had?”
Octavia didn’t answer at first as she messed with one of the more extravagant pieces on the dresser that was shaped like one of the lizard birds from Atlantis. Her tail was swishing around slightly apparently in agitation. For some reason there was also a certain smell in the room that I couldn’t exactly place anywhere though it was making my head swim slightly.
“Well… as our stallion there is a certain… thing that comes to all herds after a certain time that requires… intimacy. I know you have said you wanted to be patient but certain mares need to have that particular need filled.” Octavia gestured with her hoof while her tail lashed out wildly though she had turned to face me.
“Ah… yes. Um… First time as a pony doing that. Hm… You’ll have to walk me through these things ok?”
“Lovely.” Octavia gave a warm smile as her tail finally stopped lashing around.
I didn’t know what happened. Well I knew what happened I just didn’t expect that to happen that particular day. Octavia went through the finer points of intimacy between ponies though I didn’t exactly follow convention.
“How did you do that thing with your wing…?” Octavia dreamily muttered as I placed her on my back.
I finally figured out what that wetness I was feeling was. We had finished up in the basement with decorating a small section with the souvenirs from Atlantis. Of course outside of my knowledge and uncertainty I was flung into what ponies did for their relationship status. My head was still swimming slightly and I didn’t exactly know what I should do now. So I slipped into the shadow and managed to find the bathroom. It was a modest affair with a tub and luckily thanks to some dealing with the mayor when I bought the house they had managed to make a heating system for the water aquifer that led to the shower. It wouldn’t exactly be as advanced as I was used to but… the stickiness needed to be dealt with.
“I experimented… that’s all.” I mumbled under my breath as I turned on the water.
“Do more… next time…” Octavia sighed in relief as I slowly slipped her off my back.
She got on her hooves though a part of her was shaky and I helped her meander into the tub. She had some trouble getting her back hooves into the tub but I pushed her in slowly. I think she flipped her tail under my muzzle giving me a very… detailed view to get me into the tub as well. I bit my cheek hard to keep myself level. As much fun as that was we still had to handle the rest of the group.
“So you think she got him to buck her yet?” Vinyl bluntly asked the others causing a few to wince.
“Probably. If I didn’t know any better he probably got the basement soundproofed though. So why was it so important to give her first dibs?” Spitfire groaned as she stretched out her body.
“Technically she’s a virgin so I thought she would deserve the first kick.” Vinyl mentioned offhoof causing a few of the ponies to act surprised.
“Are any other of us virgins?” Redheart motioned with her hoof. Only Fresh Coat raised hers.
“What!? I never found the right pony. Oh… does that mean I get second dibs?” Fresh Coat squealed slightly in glee.
“Yeah yeah… keep your tail down Fresh.” Vinyl waved her hoof while Fresh blushed heavily.
The sound of water brought all of them out of their revelry. Spitfire had to look outside at the clock tower just to check the time. She blinked and shook her head before checking again.
“Jeez… an hour. I thought the rumors of the thestrals were just that… rumors.” Spitfire gasped slightly.
I am so glad that I used my wings and mouth for the most part. Octavia was so relaxed though it made it hard for her to bathe. She was still weak in the knees so to speak and could barely stand. Luckily she washed off well and I took her out of the tub placing a towel around her so she could dry off… somewhat. A pony coat was torture to dry as was the mane and tail. I jumped in as well washing a lot of the stickiness away and jumping out just as quickly.
“Octavia…? Octavia? Wake up.”
As I stepped out of the tub I saw Octavia… lounging on her back on the floor completely asleep snoring softly as she giggled every couple of seconds. I managed to get her on my back and dove back into the shadows into the basement once again. I stepped up the stairs back into the living room where I saw everypony awake… I feel like this was planned.
“So… how was everypony’s nap?”
I heard plenty of fine’s good’s, and one five more minutes from on my back. I hefted her onto the couch with everypony and waited till any one of them asked me about that. When they didn’t I figured that this was planned in some way for some reason. I really need to finish that book to find out how fast relationships actually go on average. I know how fast mine went when I was still human but those were flings or more extreme measures for companionship. I didn’t actually want to use the term anymore but it kept coming back to me.
“Was that planned?”
I looked to them all and none of them could actually meet my eyes for more than a few seconds before fiddling with something on their body. Vinyl merely put her shades down; though the sweat drops trickling down her face, which I thought were impossible, gave away the clue.
“So… quick question. What’s considered fast for a pony relationship to ‘sleeping’ with somepony?”
I used my wings to emphasize my point which made a few ponies chuckle at. I’m finding my wings very very flexible at this point.
“I’d say a week…?” Redheart pondered out loud as she looked at the other ponies.
“Really? I thought fast is three days.” Vinyl muttered and Spitfire nodded as well in confusion.
“Pretty sure it’s a week.” Sunshower clarified to the other two. Octavia just giggled under her breath
“Don’t worry too much… but we are going to take a little initiative with things now that we have something to show us as a herd.” Redheart explained as Fresh Coat got up and glomped me.
I grunted in surprise as I felt the new weight on my back. Fresh Coat nuzzled into my neck as Octavia did. I was slowly surrounded by the other mares one after another. I felt very… very nervous at this point.
“I’m guessing that you already have an order ready then… Since Octavia was first… I’m guessing Fresh is next…”
“Yup. Since Octavia was the Alpha of the herd, we let her go first. So let’s finally finish painting this picture in full.” Fresh Coat giggled as I was led away for the night.
‘Ow… Ow… Back hurts… why one after another. Thank God I figured out that trick with my wing otherwise this would be impossible. What time is it?’
I managed to roll out of the bed easily enough and managed to look out one of the windows. The clock tower had finally struck midnight. When we came back it was about three in the afternoon and I didn’t start working on things in the basement until six. Was that supposed to happen… I need to finish reading that book on herds damn it all.
I slipped into the shadows and looked down on the bed from the ceiling. Every pony was splayed out on the bed in varying shades of afterglow except for Octavia who was still resting on the couch. I suppose this is a bonding activity but I’m not exactly sure how often we should do something to this size again. If only because my back can’t take it and the fact that some of them prefer to ride the pony is the only saving grace for my back. I really hope Vinyl isn’t serious about trying to bring in more mares. God… I’d never survive in the long run.
I dove into the shadows to check on Octavia who was still sleeping soundly on the couch. She shivered slightly forcing me to dive back up to the bedroom. While I didn’t have much I did get a few blankets free for buying such a large bed. I took one and went back to Octavia covering her.
“Thanks Gray.” Octavia sleepily muttered as she snuggled into the blanket looking adorable.
“Feeling better?”
“Yes… I’m sorry we sprung this up on you so suddenly.” Octavia frowned as her eyes opened slightly. They were downcast for some reason.
“It was bound to happen eventually. I’m just surprised it lasted this long. We’ve been working on this for a month thanks in part to the trips out there amongst the stars. Were you scared that I wasn’t going to reciprocate or something.”
“No… It’s not that. It’s more that we were worried that you would think that we were pressuring you.” Octavia groused as she yawned deeply.
“Pressuring me?”
“Yeah. Pressuring you. Forcing you to sleep with us. We don’t want to come across as tail lifters. Remember, we’re a matriarchal society so our colts are important since that divide on how ponies are born. There are fewer stallions than mares in Ponyville and that is the deepest gender divide. Unlike other places this place is really mare centric.” Octavia lecture me in this lethargic tone.
“I was planning on making this herd more official I just didn't really think much about it. Also you couldn't pressure me no matter how hard you would have tried.”
“Really? You'd think somepony like you who knows next to nothing of Equestria would go along with anything just to fit in.” Octavia motioned to me in a mock accusatory tone.
“Well if you caught me within the first few days you might have. Sorry to say I've got my bearings straight now.”
I had no idea what I was talking about. I knew absolutely nothing about pony society in the long run. I had rudimentary knowledge about ponies and the show did absolutely nothing to teach me anything other than that it was a vegetarian society with large herd structures to handle families. Even the things I learned from the knowledge God stuck in my head was pointless because it only told me about thestrals in the Badlands. They were pretty much gone from existence if my brain was telling me anything right.
Apparently after the loss of Luna those that lived in the Badlands emigrated to Hollow Shades before any zealots that thought them pawns of Nightmare Moon killed them. The ones who did stay fought against the Changeling Hordes to the last fighter but loss through sheer numbers. The Badlands Thestrals have been gone for many years now though the odd rumor of some still living out there surfaces from time to time. That meant my story was very suspect… unless I mention the dead family thing. Crap… I really don't want to and now Octavia was giving me this weird stare.
“Gray are you okay?” Octavia gently tapped me on the head poking me slightly.
“Yes. Yes I'm fine. Sorry spaced out for a second from over thinking things once again.”
“I wanted to know if you thought us too pushy in our needs? I mean I could twist it into justifications for why you needed to show us that you actually desire us or something to that effect but I didn't want to do that to you. You do show it a lot albeit more subdued than most stallions I've seen. Also you still don't show emotions so readily with even the errant twitch of your ears are so controlled that we can't always figure out what your thinking.” Octavia mumbled through yawns and groans of feeling sleep take over.
“Wait… I control those? I actually never thought about controlling those motions.”
“Really? So you just ignored those muscles and focused on taking as your only means of communication when sophisticated ponies, such as myself, speak through more than just the common word.” Octavia dictated with flair that was marred by her yawn breaking her chain of thought.
“Yeah you were really sophisticated when my wing-”
“Hush you. I was on a roll.” Octavia hissed as a furious blush covered her entire face.
“I got it. I got it. Don't worry too much about it for now. It's late and you should get back to sleep.”
“Fine.” Octavia pouted though she held her hooves out for me.
I edged over and placed my neck in between her hooves but instead of the crushing hug she curled me into her and soothingly nuzzled against me. She never spoke as she did. It was comfortably calming while she offered her ministrations of nuzzles and cuddles. When she finally let go that same tires look took over and she fell asleep wrapped up in that fluffy blanket calmly gone into the world of dreams. I took that moment to leave the room. I had too much to think about.
Twilight was still up studying. It was still one of her extreme passions. Unfortunately, as Spike informed her, nopony knew anything about Gray and the only ones who did weren't around. She had tried stopping in on Vinyl and Octavia in the morning but since neither were home she struck out there. When she tried Redheart she found that she had taken some vacation time for some reason even though she was the one who treated the thestral that was covered head to hoof in blood. Rainbow Dash had even checked on Sunshower for her but she was gone for a bit on her own vacation.
She was flabbergasted groaning in frustration that she couldn't figure out this mystery. So she decided to relax with a little stargazing session to make sure she remembered all the stars as Luna had barely gotten enough power to move the moon once again albeit slowly.
Peering through her telescope she felt her world shrink until an errant groan from Spike startled her.
“Spike?!” Twilight hissed and quieted herself when she noticed that Spike was out like a light and curled in his bed. “Is it really that late?”
Sure enough as she looked at the small cuckoo clock on her bedroom wall that it indeed was already one in the morning. Certainly not a record but a decent time for all scholarly types to finally sleep. Taking a quick peek into the telescope before she packed away everything got her to bring her eyes wide open. There on the front porch of the house that the telescope was pointing at was a very familiar pony hanging upside down from it. Twilight smirked as she realized something she should have done hours ago.
“When Spike gets up I'm going to need him to take a letter.” Twilight yawned as she put away her things and got ready for bed.
“Why does it always feel like somebody’s watching me. Do I get no privacy?”
I groaned as I felt my body finally work out all the kinks. As it turned out being flexible is really hard in a pony body. There are limitations to my back legs though if I flare out my wings I could probably walk like a bipedal using them as a focus.
I smacked myself before I got too lost in thought. There were other important things to think about.
‘What has it been? Almost a month since I started being a pony already in truth it's barely been two weeks on Equestria while I spent another fourteen days up in space and this relationship as I am hesitant to call it got serious finally. Seriously, all at once is a bit of a killer isn't it? I mean I survived and tried all flavors of the pony race but that nearly killed my back. I feel sore all over and I still don't know what it all means to me. I certainly care for all of them and even lov- no don't say it. I'm not ready for that…’
I was lost at that moment. They have my trust already. I know they got my heart on their side but the words won't come out. If I say it and something happens then what would I do.
‘I have to say it. There's no getting around it and I can't live in abject denial of this for the rest of my time here. There is always a risk, always someway to tear apart those feelings and cast them away like snowflakes on the northern winds. I love them. And there's no shame in that.’