The Herd
Cheerilee sighed as I continued to pet her; happily cooing when my fingers would scratch the right spot here and there. It had been a long day of catch up lessons and we decided to take a break. Watching and listening to her made me smile a bit. I was grateful to get to see the lighter side of the mare that the public didn’t know about.
I looked up at the clock knowing that Vesper was on her way back to Ponyville. Fang had left during the night with a note wishing me luck and providing some legal papers for relief I had to give to Twilight. The stallion had wished me well with my endeavor of trying to form a herd with mares that were literally separated by day and night.
With a sigh, I stopped petting Cheerilee and tried to get up off the couch. My movement prompted the mare to leave the comfort of my lap, and watch as I stretched a bit. I could hear the clip clop of hooves behind me as I went to the door.
“Where are you going?” Cheerilee asked.
“I think it’s getting close to time for Vesper to come back home,” I replied. “She’ll probably be tired and want help getting back to the castle.”
“Oh, I see,” Cheerilee sounded a little disappointed, but shook it off relatively quickly. “I don’t suppose I could join you?”
“I mean, if you want,” I shrugged, noting how close Cheerilee had been sticking to me for a while.
Cheerilee gave a small nod and followed me out the door. I wasn’t quite sure how well she would react to Vesper’s return, especially since that was her potential herd sister. I was afraid that I would just chase Cheerilee away again, or that she would be hurt worse than when Big Mac had left her. The first time the two had met, I could tell there was a bit of hostility between them.
I tried to stay optimistic as we walked through town to the train station. Cheerilee looked up at me occasionally, as if wanting to say something, but stopped herself before she could. Perhaps we were both afraid the smallest thing would scare the other away.
The sound of a whistle pulled me out of my thoughts, and I was a bit surprised at how fast we had reached the station, especially since the station from Cheerilee’s house was a decent distance away. Something that had been a trend throughout my life was that I seemed to reach destinations faster when I left myself on auto pilot as I sank deeper into whatever thought or daydream I was fixated on at the moment.
Cheerilee and I walked up the small set of stairs to the station dock and waited for the train to come to a complete stop. I was prepared to go in after Vesper, assuming she would be fast asleep somewhere in the train. She had recently been rebelling against her nocturnal nature, but nature is not easily denied its due.
We waited for Vesper to emerge from the train once the doors were opened. While I hadn’t expected a hasty appearance from the bat, I didn’t expect her to take this long. With permission from one of the workers, I boarded the train to look for her, but came up empty handed. The rational side of my mind concluded that she had missed her train…or perhaps there was a night train she was taking.
“Hey, is there another train on the way?” I asked one of the workers. “Like, later on today, possibly at night?”
“One will roll around a little later, yes,” the worker replied before resuming his inspection of the interior of the train cars.
I remained optimistic about Vesper’s return; it made sense for her to travel at night anyways. She was probably still home, resting before trying to make it back. Whatever the case, she couldn’t stay gone since Fang had already left, and she had volunteered herself to be my body guard, which was a commitment not to be taken or made lightly.
“I guess she’s catching the next one,” I said as I approached Cheerilee.
“Well, maybe it’s for the best,” Cheerilee replied. “I…don’t think we see eye to eye.”
“Why would you say that?” I asked as we left the station.
Cheerilee seemed to tense at the question, almost struggling to come up with a response. “It’s a long story really. A bully made life hard and when I moved I didn’t have to deal with bat ponies.”
“It sounds kind of interesting, actually,” I commented.
“I don’t share the same view point, I’m afraid,” her tone of voice seemed to as her eyes fell to the ground. “But, can’t dwell on the past forever.”
---
Vesper waited anxiously in Benjamin’s room at Twilight’s castle. She knew he would be looking for her today, but she wanted to surprise him. Her eyes no longer stung when she opened them in broad daylight. She didn’t feel sleepy at all, despite the sun shining brightly which emboldened her in approaching Benjamin.
Her heart skipped a beat when she heard the door knob turn. Vesper’s entire body tensed as the door opened to reveal the tall figure of the human she planned on making hers. Her smile grew as the two of them locked eyes for the first time in what felt like an eternity apart.
“V-Vesper?” Benjamin stammered. “What…happened?”
“Ben!” Vesper exclaimed, tackling the human, nuzzling him affectionately until Benjamin managed to hold her up.
“Vesper…your eyes-“
“Isn’t it great?” Vesper squeed. “Now I can be with you during the day, and we can do things together!”
“That’s…amazing…how did you do this?” Benjamin asked.
“I told Princess Luna about-uh, about a dream I had,” Vesper stopped herself before she said too much. “And so I went home after she found a way to help me…”
“You did all of this because of a dream?” Benjamin raised an eyebrow, still admiring her eyes.
“Well, m-my dream was…about somepony special, but I felt like it was hopeless until Luna told me about the fruit,” Vesper’s voice started to break slightly. “But, I’m still nervous…nervous about if it can come true…and I’m not sure how to go about it now.”
Vesper stared into Benjamin’s eyes. She felt her body heat up as she was pulled in two different directions as to how to tell the human how she felt. She had tried the normal way, but she realized that she couldn’t treat him like a normal stallion. She would have to make it known that she cared about him.
The mare felt his hand stroke and rub one of her tufted ears, sending shivers down her spine. Before her mind could catch up, her body had moved forward of its own accord, wrapping her forelegs around his neck, pressing her lips against his with a ferocity that surprised even herself.
Only after her brain had caught up with her body did she realize what she had done. Here she was, kissing Benjamin, straddling his chest after knocking him off his feet. Vesper braced herself for rejection, until she felt Benjamin press back against her lips as his arms coiled around her small form.
The mare whimpered as she felt her love interest return the passion she felt in her heart. Vesper’s tail swished happily as Benjamin’s tongue probe its way into her mouth, tracing her fangs as his hands rubbed her back and ears. A noticeable bulge began to press against the thestral’s stomach, which made Vesper sit upright.
Thin trails of saliva broke when their mouths separated as the two lovers caught their breath. Vesper surrendered to her body and instincts as she started to tear at Benjamin’s clothing. She wasn’t about to be denied her prize by annoying fabric, and had no qualms in making a large tear down the middle of his shirt.
Benjamin didn’t seem to mind, in fact he seemed to enjoy the sudden ferocity, stroking her wings, ears, any part of her that he could, earning moans of pleasure from the bat pony. Vesper felt triumphant pride swell within her as she came closer and closer to claiming what was hers.
Vesper paused upon reaching the human’s pants, struggling to get them off of her human. Benjamin chuckled softly as she became frustrated with the garments despite her best efforts to remove them. When Benjamin reached down to try and help her Vesper nipped his hand slightly, making it clear this was her task alone.
Vesper smiled as she finally worked the button free, and pulled the zipper down with her teeth. The needy mare pausing as Benjamin’s scent hit her nose. Benjamin’s smell was strong, masculine, and made her heart beat faster as she looked up at him lovingly.
Cautiously, Vesper peeled away the last layer of clothing between her and Benjamin. The bat pony licked her lips as she crawled up her human’s chest, letting her tail play with her prize while she tended to Benjamin’s upper body with teasing licks and light nips, stroking the flames of his arousal into a burning inferno.
The two lovers slowly fell deeper and deeper under love’s spell. For Vesper, the union of their bodies wasn’t the most important thing tonight as she stared into Benjamin’s eyes. Usually she would seem him in dull colors as her eyes utilized what light was around her. Now, she could see him fully, feeling sorry for her past self for never being able to see him as her present self could.
The fruit had given her what she wanted, her human’s heart. So what if she was an oddity to her tribe now? She had captured the heart of the most unique creature in Equestria, and that was all that really mattered. Vesper knew she had to have him the moment she saw him, holding fast to her tribal beliefs and convictions when it came to finding a mate.
Even after they had finished, and both of them lay limp in each other’s embrace, she still couldn’t rid herself of the rush she had when he held her, even if she had wanted to. She knew this is what love was supposed to be, and her trip had been well worth the effort and trials she had endured.
------------------------
Vesper sighed as she snuggled up against me, her tail gently brushing against my waist in slow, loving sweeps. The mare had draped a protective wing over me as she recuperated from our first time together. It was an awkward, and rather forward way to tell somepony you loved them, but I had already decided to give this a try.
“I was worried for a moment,” Vesper said before nipping my ear lobe playfully. “I didn’t know if you’d want me or not.”
“I don’t see how I could turn a pretty mare down,” I replied, surprised at how sappy I was starting to sound.
“I’m glad you’re mine,” Vesper mumbled as she drifted off to sleep.
He words tore me from the comfort of afterglow; reminding me that I now had two mares who were wanting to be with me. I had already talked to Cheerilee about a herd, but Vesper would be another story entirely. Now that she could walk about in broad daylight without being tired or loopy this changed how the two might feel about each other…or so I hoped.
---
Vesper received a multitude of strange glances as she walked about Ponyville, enjoying her new view on life, literally. Everything seemed to be going her way for once, which was a nice change of pace after enduring the trials of the forest. She had come out on top, and felt better now that she could walk unhindered with her human.
The mare had been told to meet him at Sugar Cube Corner, but had been unsure as to why he wouldn’t have joined her in walking to the pastry shop, now that she could do so without fear or pain. Vesper assumed it was some sort of surprise. If it was, that would be the icing on the cake for her return to Ponyville…at least it would have been, anyways.
Vesper saw Cheerilee walking into Sugar Cube Corner, and started to feel a bit uncomfortable. She knew the mare didn’t have the fondest of feelings for her, and the last thing she wanted was for her first daylight outing with her human to end on a sour note with that teacher around.
Taking in a deep breath, Vesper put on her most cheerful smile and walked through the door. She immediately zeroed in on Benjamin…waving to his teacher. Surely, this was a coincidence; there was nothing between those two, or was there?
The thestral was having a hard time controlling her instincts to cut the mare off and let her know that the human was spoken for. Still, she had been trained to snuff out her instinct to chase Cheerilee away from her prize. She knew that the mare was helping her human, and logic won out over her emotions.
“Vesper!” Benjamin said happily, lifting the bat pony’s spirits.
“I got your note,” Vesper said noticing the inquisitive look from the earth pony beside her. “Y’know, if you had wanted to take me out, you could have just waited for me~”
“Take you out?” Cheerilee spoke up. “Why would he take you out, and what note?”
Vesper was surprised when she picked up on how defensive she sounded. Her tone and stance actually made Vesper rethink her words. If push came to shove, there was a very realistic chance of Cheerilee doing some damage, crediting it to her earth pony heritage of superior strength.
“I got a note from my human to meet him here,” Vesper replied, dropping her normal mischievous personality when conversing with other ponies.
Cheerilee opened her mouth to speak before turning to Benjamin, who had been unusually quiet as they quarreled over his affection. Vesper studied him as well, noting that he seemed nervous now, something she hadn’t picked up on when she had first arrived.
“I think an explanation is in order,” Cheerilee dead panned.
“Cheerilee, remember when I talked about the herding thing?” Benjamin asked after a defeated sigh.
“Herding?” Vesper tilted her head in confusion.
“Yes…oh no…you can’t be serious…” Cheerilee backed away slightly as her eyes danced between Benjamin and Vesper. “This is some joke, right?”
“No, it’s not,” Benjamin replied.
Vesper connected the dots as to why both she and Cheerilee were present at the same time with her human. The mare felt as if her heart had just been torn away from her, by her human no less. Still, a string of hope lingered, that this was just some sort of bad joke.
“Cheerilee, this is her,” Benjamin pointed at the bat pony. “Did you not say you would try this?”
“I did, but…her?” Cheerilee whined.
“I thought I had you to myself…” Vesper hung her head. “Did you….with her?”
The bat pony’s grief was replaced by anger in a matter of seconds and she shot the earth pony a horrible glare. No, it wasn’t her human’s fault, it had to be the other mare. She must have done something to him.
Cheerilee turned towards the bat pony, matching her harsh stare with one of her own. Thestrals seemed to historically plague her with bad memories and experiences, and she’d be damned if one was about to screw up something else.
---
“Both of you stop it!” I exclaimed, bringing an end to what was escalating into a cat fight.
The idea that bringing the two mares to a public location would discourage any potential fights was lost now, no thanks to their clashing personalities. Both of them seemed to cast a sideways glance at the other as they stared at me. I could feel my heart wanting to leap out of my chest, unsure if I could reason with the two.
“I brought you both here today to try and talk this out as a civilized group, not have you two tear each other apart,” I said.
“The only thing torn apart is my trust,” Vesper huffed.
“Your trust?” Cheerilee glared at the bat pony. “He was going to try to bring you into the picture.”
“Well, I want to BE the picture,” Vesper retorted.
“Ugh, this is why it’s impossible to get anything done with thestrals,” Cheerilee rolled her eyes.
“We keep your fuzzy flanks safe at night, I’d consider that something,” Vesper said.
“Are you two done yet?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes, I’d love to hear some sort of explanation,” Cheerilee said, along with a nod from Vesper.
“Alright, so before I ever started having feelings for either of you, Vesper was there to keep me company, talk with me, encourage me to try and get involved with the outside world,” I explained which made Vesper smile. “Unfortunately, Vesper couldn’t be there for me all the time, even though now I know she wanted to, badly. That’s where Cheerilee took over, and taught me a lot about reading, writing, and was one of the few friends I had in a town full of strangers.”
Cheerilee’s expression softened a bit at the praise, which in turn made Vesper’s sink slightly. The situation had become a very delicate balancing game with the two mares now. If I couldn’t manage to make them establish some common ground, then I could lose one, or both of them.
“Vesper, I failed you because I was ignorant to how you really felt,” I confessed. “Fang is the one who told me about your customs; how you kind of “mark” those you care about.”
Vesper’s usually expressive muzzle was now uncharacteristically sphinx like. It was extremely hard to pick up on how she felt, save for the occasional twitch of her ear which indicated she was unsure of something. In all the time I had known her, she had held a neutral expression when something was very close to her heart as she spoke or listened.
“Cheerilee, I’ll admit I’ve enjoyed the time we’ve spent together,” Cheerilee’s ears drooped slightly as I spoke, perhaps bracing for disappointment. “All the jokes, teasing, helping me better myself so I could try to live like you guys…you made all of that fun. You told me yourself you would try this, to try and make things work. I don’t want to hurt the two of you, but I can’t leave one of you either.”
Cheerilee’s ears slowly started to become erect again as she closed her eyes. Her muzzle scrunched up slightly, as she presumably mulled over what had been said. Vesper looked down at the floor, her head occasionally rocking from side to side as she delved into her own internal debate.
“This is still strange and new to me too, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit worried,” I confessed. “But I’ve got two arms to hold both the ponies I love…can you give it a shot?”
“…does this really mean that much to you?” Vesper asked, surprisingly the first to speak up.
“It does, yes,” I replied.
“As long as I get to have you to myself sometime, I think…I think I can try,” Vesper said. “I’m already an oddity to my tribe anyways.”
“An oddity?” Cheerilee asked.
“Vesper found a fruit that allowed her to walk around during the day,” I explained. “It changed her eyes to match what you would consider “normal” by the other three tribes.”
Cheerilee looked Vesper in the eyes, confirming what we said was true. It was hard to tell what was going on inside her mind, but I could only assume it was an internal conflict with her promise and her feelings towards the mare I had brought before her as my choice for a herd member.
“You gave up the night…for him?” Cheerilee asked quietly.
“Wellll…I wouldn’t say gave up, just made some adjustments,” Vesper failed to hide a small smile that spread across her muzzle.
Cheerilee took in a deep breath before speaking. “Okay…I’ll try…”
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8080363
scitches was suggested to me by a reader over my shoulder -_- will change
8080531
Hmm... That went surprisingly well!
Now that a thestral character tag exists, perhaps you should get rid of the "other" tag and replace it with that...?
8080717 didnt know about the new tag, thank you kindly
8081732
Just her eyes, and sleep cycle
I DEMAND ANOTHER CHAPTER
.... I-I mean... if it's alright with you
8086694
yes, honestly I would just prefer bat pony as the only name they really go by.
8086799 yeah, it's kinda confusing, seeing as Thesral's are from a completely different branch of mythology. If memory serves me correctly, thestrals are a part of celtic mythology, where as unicorns, pegasi, Cerberus, centaurs and the like are from greek or roman mythology.
I missed something from you! ... I've been out too long...
Hmm... Rereading for reasons.
Well after rereading and a nap I have to say I like the story still.
It could use some definite improvement but not alot. I think it could use a bit more exposition even if it is just thought. Maybe a bit more detail on the world building like with the Griffons.
I think Twig would be a good candidate for that. He hasn't said much but as a source with its own sort of perspective on that interesting tidbit of history he seems like an interesting source.
Just my two bits.
neat i can't wait to read the next chapter
Is this story going to continue? And if so then when? Really loving the story so far BTW (by the way).
I really hope you continue this, as it is really good. Vesper sounds so adorable and cute. You are also making Cheerilee into a more flushed out character. Please keep up the awesome work.
9068711
I know I've been out of the game for a while, but I have spent the last few days re-reading my stuff to find out where I was. I plan on doing right by this story and finishing it.
9396715
Pls,j-just do it
the dates are killing me
9399715
No need to fear, the next chapter is about halfway done as we speak