It was early in the morning as the ten friends boarded the train to Canterlot. Neither of them were really happy at the moment since they got up at six to catch the train, but they were going to use that time to catch up. Marcus was sitting in one of the many empty chairs, slowly rubbing his head. He looked up to give Andrew a small glare since it was his idea to get on the early train. His real problem, besides the early rising sun, was the foals in the cart ahead of them.

“The next time you pick a day to see the princesses and get train tickets, make sure there isn’t a field trip to the Canterlot gardens,” Marcus said with slight irritation.

“Oh relax. It’s not that bad and you were able to greet Scootaloo at least,” Andrew said as he slumped back in his chair.

Their mares were already at the castle since last night as the princesses decided to make this a huge group event. The night was very lonely for them as they were getting used to having the mares around and it seemed out of place when they weren’t there. They all gave a huge sigh as they avoided thinking about a future conversation and focused on the one that was more to their liking.

“So how has everyone been?” Blake asked.

“Good,” everyone answered.

“How has been everyone’s jobs?” Callie asked.

“Mine’s been pretty good. Learned a few things from Lotus, but she has been acting a little strangely around me,” Drak started.

“Strange how?” Brandon asked.

“It started a couple of days after I had relations with both Ditzy and Trixie. I go to the spa and prepare for work when I see Ditzy walk from Lotus’ room. I asked what she had stopped by for and she just said that she was just checking a few things with Lotus. I couldn’t really get a feel for what she must have said since she left the building at a hurried pace.”

“The next thing I know, Lotus is being a little more flirtatious with me. It’s never anything much because of worker relations, but it’s subtle enough to notice. She has asked me to give her a few massages and I was happy to give them, but they always felt a little more sensual than what I give the clients. There’s also the fact that she had me massage her more intimate areas meant for lovers, like her ears and hands, but it was different.”

“Different in what way?” Andrew asked.

“I’ve gone over the main massage book I was to read before Lotus gave me another as she had me start massaging her. The differences between the two were locations of pressure points. The pressure points were located in different areas to show where it will be pleasurable or relaxing for a mare,” Drak explained.

“Is there a chance she might be wanting in with your herd?” Luke asked.

“Maybe, but I don’t have much time to figure it out. I know I told Ditzy that I wouldn’t mind having other mares with me, but I would at least like to talk it over. Have any of you talked about herding with your mares?” Drak asked.

“I spoke with Whooves briefly about it and he said on whatever I decided. He told me that he had been in both kinds of relationships and after asking if he would be okay with it being just me, he accepted. He didn’t show any hurt or sadness about not having other mares so I would like to think we will be just fine,” Callie said.

“Trying to get an answer out of Fluttershy was actually difficult. I brought it up and she was ready to start crying because she thought she wasn’t good enough for me. It took a few hours and a helpful bunny to calm her down before we could have the conversation. I told her that her decision was the final say and if she said no, I would drop it.”

“She later asked if she would remain the main mare if we were to herd and I told her that she would always be the main mare. We continued to discuss it over for a few more minutes before she allowed us the chance to herd, but we would have to talk about it,” Andrew explained.

“Twilight got really technical about the whole thing. She started pulling out books on the best way to go about before I finally pulled her away from all that. Once I sat her down in the couch and got her some tea, she was finally able to think a little more clearly. She was open to having a herd, but she was a little hesitant about sharing me. Knowing that it would help her a little, I started making a pro and con list.”

“We went at the list for a couple hours before coming to a final decision. Even after seeing how nice it would be to have other mares, we’re staying as we are. She still has some doubts about her choice, but I told her that if she ever wanted to give it a try, we can. Hearing the assurance from me helped to wash away her doubts and she was ready to stay the way we are,” Alex explained.

“I think Rose might be okay with it. She’s been kind of avoiding the topic since Bon-Bon moved in. Thanks for that, Marcus,” Brandon started as he glared at his friend.

“That was not my intention. If Bon-Bon wanted me to sleep in a tree then I would have. I’m sorry if that is causing you any problems,” Marcus apologized.

“It’s fine. I know you weren’t trying anything, but it seemed to actually give Rose something to think about. She’s told me that she will be okay with it, but she wants to be included if I have sex with them after they join,” Brandon explained.

“Didn’t think she would be that into it,” Jaeden joked.

“There’s a lot of things that she’s into. Her favorite thing to do is tease me every chance she has. I thought it was bad enough when she felt threatened by Nurse Redheart, but now she uses that as a way to get me flustered,” Brandon said.

“So I take it the relationship isn’t going to last long?” Marcus asked.

“Oh, I’m not complaining, but she could let up a bit. Even if she doesn’t I can’t find a reason to not stop loving that mare and everything she does,” Brandon explained with a small smile.

“Mine turned into an argument pretty quickly. Vinyl was completely open to the idea, but Tavi was quick to shut it down. I asked her why she was so against it since we have our small herd already. Her answer was that she didn’t want other mares taking me away from her and Vinyl. She also didn’t know how it would work since there wasn’t an actual lead mare that was picked,” Jaeden started.

“Couldn’t they both be the lead mare? I know it’s not common for two lead mares, but you could do that if she wasn’t entirely sure,” Drak offered as he recalled that particular information from his book.

“I did forget about it, but then I remembered when I was cleaning around the house and asked her about it. At first she didn’t understand because as you said it isn’t very common, but after a few minutes of thinking over she actually liked the idea. Seeing as they both had a say in how this relationship could turn out, Tavi finally agreed to try expanding the herd if we wanted to,” Jaeden said as he gave a light chuckle.

“I talked with Pinkie, Pinkamena, and Molly about it. All three were fine with expanding the herd, but it was an interesting conversation. Molly was completely thrilled at having new mares to play with and things kind of went perverted from there. Even with her perverted nature, she can be in control of her actions and isn’t completely sex crazed as we thought at first.”

“Pinkie was already creating banners and I tried to see the names she was writing, but Pinkamena stopped me. I was actually surprised to see her give a genuine smile at adding more mares, but she made it clear that bad things would happen to them if anything happened to Pinkie. I actually Pinkie Promised her that I would make sure any mares that would show up will be respectful.”

“She was happy that I was putting Pinkie before my feelings and told me she was glad when she gave me the chance. Before we left though, Pinkie had many kinds of banners made and I asked her who they were for and she told me they were for us. I asked what they were for specifically and she said that it was a surprise. Knowing I wasn’t going to get an answer from her and that Pinkamena was watching to make sure I didn’t look, I backed away,” Luke explained with a small shake of his head.

“Applejack was okay with it, but she wanted to at least meet them before allowing them to join. Rarity was actually nervous about having others since she really didn’t know what to say. She was even nervous to even begin a relationship with me when she saw how close AJ and I were getting. She felt that she would probably become the forgotten mare if others joined since she felt she never really stood out in our relationship.”

“I took the next couple hours explaining to her that she would never be forgotten and that was probably the one that stood out the most. I offered her chance to meet other potential mares if she wanted to try and that did seem to help. I even told her that if I ever neglected her at all, then AJ has every right to beat me into the next apple harvest,” Ryan explained.

“Celestia and Luna have been pushing for me to another mare join our herd. They seem to enjoy being treated as regular mares than those of royalty. They’ve been actually planning to have go on a date with a mare they believe that would enjoy my company. I tried to get information about who the mare was, but they said that it would be a surprise.”

“So as far as I know, I don’t know who the mystery mare is, but I know they like the idea of herding and will allow me to choose who I want to join as long as I introduced them to the princesses as well,” Blake explained.

“I would be lucky at all if I can expand my herd. Rainbow, Blood, Spitfire, and Lyra have told me that I could expand if I want to, but they would want to meet the mare first. Now I’m not so sure with everything that I’ve been dealing with. I don’t think they would want me to expand since I now became the babysitter to two of their former villains.”

“They seem ready to jump at a moment’s notice if a mare tries to court me. It’s bad enough now that Moon and Chrysalis tease me every chance they get and that only seems to irritate them even more. I would like to have the option to expand, but can’t really do that until I sit down with the mares and talk with them about what they think.”

“So for now, I’m pretty much with those four for the time being, but I couldn’t wish for less. Funny thing as well is that Rainbow, Spitfire, and Blood have been training to make themselves tougher because they don’t like that I can easily handle them. I actually encourage them to try and get tougher because I do enjoy a little competition,” Marcus explained as he gave a small laugh.

“I guess all our relationships have their own quirks,” Alex joked.

“But in the end we would never ask for less, would we?” Drak asked with a small smile.

“Never in a million years will that change,” Jaeden said as everyone gave a warm laugh.

Everyone was enjoying a little laugh as they found that they would never leave their mares. The laugh slowly died down though as they looked at their friend Marcus who had a depressed look. Blake was the first to get his attention by nudging his shoulder.

“Everything okay there, Marcus?” Blake asked as he sat next to his friend.

“Sort of, but I want to address something that has been slightly bugging me,” Marcus said.

“What’s been the problem?” Callie asked.

“It has to do with Blake’s relationship. I have nothing against it, but do the princesses know that we don’t live long?” Marcus asked as he looked over to his friend.

“It has been mentioned here and there, but we never held a conversation about it,” Blake explained.

“There is a difference between the three of us and you should explain this to them. The princesses are immortal, we are lucky to live to a hundred, and you’re the only one that can at least live his life ten times because of your powers. Your healing allows your organs to stay in top shape while also slowing down your aging,” Marcus started.

“So you’re wondering if they would be able to handle losing me after seeing you nine pass away with your loved ones and if I would be able to handle it as well?” Blake asked.

“To the point, yes,” Marcus confirmed.

“Isn’t that why we try to make the most out of every chance we have?” Ryan asked.

“That’s the idea, yes. I just don’t want this to be ruined because Blake will be alone with his mares until he finally passes and leaves them alone,” Marcus said as he looked around at his friends.

“Life happens and that is the only thing we can accept. Sure I’ll miss you and they will miss us, but as long as they have memories, I think they’ll be okay,” Blake said as he gave his friend a smile and a pat on a back.

“Sorry for bringing the mood down. I just wanted to get that off my chest,” Marcus explained.

“It’s fine. It’s something that has crossed my mind, but I felt that I should make the most out of every situation. So is there anything else that we should talk about?” Blake asked.

“Does anyone think that they may have gotten their mares pregnant or if Callie did?” Luke asked.

“I don’t think we have to worry about getting them pregnant since they weren’t in heat. There’s also the fact that we aren’t the same species so even in heat they can’t get pregnant. Same rule applies to Callie since Whooves is a pony,” Drak explained.

“But haven’t you thought about being a father to your own child?” Andrew asked.

“Aren’t you kind of jumping the gun there?” Jaeden asked in a joking manner.

“A little, but you can’t tell me you haven’t let it cross your mind.” Andrew said and watched as Alex walked out of the train door.

“Where’s he going?” Luke asked.

“I heard his phone vibrate so I guess he went to see who it was.” Brandon said.

“To answer your question though, it has crossed my mind, but I was kind of waiting to see what would happen in this relationship before I brought it up,” Jaeden answered.

Everyone continued to make small talk as they waited for their friend to return. They were only several minutes away from Canterlot when Alex finally returned. They watched as their friend took a seat and pinched the bridge of his nose as he let out a heavy sigh.

“Everything okay there, Alex?” Drak asked.

“Kind of. Twilight just called me and told me that she talked with everyone else at the castle and they’ve agreed to bring their parents over in a couple of weeks so they can meet us,” Alex explained.

Marcus grew a slight frown as he got up from his seat and walked over to one of the metal poles. All his friends watched him as he stood next to it for a few seconds before slightly beating his head on the pole. Drak gave a slight shake of his head as he watched his friend over-react to the situation. Marcus kept at it for the last several minutes as they finally arrived at Canterlot.

All the friends exited the train and started their long walk to the castle. Drak was slightly uncomfortable as they walked through the streets, still not used to all the eyes watching him. He was used to being seen in Ponyville after being there for the past while, but being in the huge city with the uptight ponies really didn’t help the situation. Everyone kept their sights forward, hoping the ponies would ignore them as they went on to their destination.

They were able to make it to the castle without any trouble. They greeted the day guards that were posted outside and were led to the throne room. The large golden doors were pushed open and when the humans were through the entryway, the guards closed the door. The friends walked down the carpeted path and noticed that the thrones were moved to the side. They also noticed five unfamiliar faces.

The first was a pale pink-white unicorn mare with a light pink mane and tail that each had a white streak. Her eyes were a pale violet, but she had a superb figure. She had an hour glass figure and her bust was pretty sizable. She wore and elegant dress with high heels that had a De Lis symbol on it. Next to her was another unicorn mare with light amber fur. Her mane and tail had crimson and yellow that swirled together to make it look like fire. Her eyes were cyan and she had a nice figure. Her bust was of decent size and she wore a black jeans with an orange tank top shirt and boots. Her shirt had a sun that was half yellow and crimson surrounded by fire that was cut in half of yellow and crimson.

The third was an arctic blue pegasus mare who was chatting with Spitfire. She had light gray mane and tail and her eyes were an elegant fuchsia color. Her figure was lithe like Spitfire’s, but her bust was pretty big for one that looked like she did a lot of flying. She wore jeans with a green short-sleeved shirt with tennis shoes. On the back of her shirt was a picture of a horseshoe with fire in front of it as it entered the atmosphere. Next to her was another unicorn mare with light magenta coat, her mane and tail being violet with light purple streaks running through them. Her eyes were purple and she wore black slacks with a white blouse that had three full diamonds on the upper left shoulder. Her figure was near an hour glass as her bust size stood close to Twilight’s own bust.

The final mare had everyone’s attention as she really stood out from the rest. Her fur was a dull gray while she had her mane and tail cut in half with dark blue and light blue running through them. Her wings were flesh like as they reminded everyone of bat wings. Her eyes were a dark amber and they could clearly see that she had fangs. She wore a cut off shirt, showing off her well-toned stomach as her jean shorts hugged around her waist. She was clearly well fit and her bust was the same as Rainbow’s own bust. Her shirt has a pale yellow moon on the front with two clouds on the top and bottom.

The friends could only conclude that she was probably a full-fledged thestral that Blood had explained. Blake cleared his throat and got everyone’s attention. All the ponies waved to them except for the bat pony. They saw as her eyes narrowed before she flew straight at Marcus and held him in the air by his throat.

“What did you do to Blood Rain?” The bat pony hissed.

“I’ve done nothing to her. Now you better let go before this gets ugly,” Marcus threatened as he struggled in her firm grip.

“If you didn’t do anything to her, then why do I smell her mark?” The bat pony continued to hiss as her grip tightened.

“Echo, let him go and we will explain everything,” Luna said.

The bat pony now called Echo gave one final glare at the human before letting him go. Marcus fell to his knees as he gave a few coughs as he tried to get his lost air back. After a few seconds of coughing, he was finally back on his feet as he stared down Echo. Celestia clapped her hands and got everyone’s attention again before the human and thestral started a fight.

“Allow me to introduce you to some ponies that you haven’t had a chance to meet. This is Fleur De Lis. She is my trusted ambassador for foreign relations and a supermodel. This is Amethyst Star and she is our secretary when we need an extra hand. This is Sunset Shimmer, an old student of mine that went off to study old artifacts.

“This is Fleetfoot and she is a member of the Wonderbolts and a trust friend of Spitfire. The final one you are now already aquatinted with is Echo. She is the current Captain of the night guard and as you can also see very protective of Blood Rain,” Celestia said as she pointed to each individual mare.

“My name’s Blake and these are Ryan, Brandon, Callie, Jaeden, Andrew, Luke, Drak, Alex, and Marcus,” Blake introduced as he pointed to each individual human.

“The reason being that you smell Blood Rain’s mark on him is because he is her coltfriend,” Luna explained.

“WHAT!?” Echo screamed as anger flowed through her.

“Yes, Captain Echo, he is my coltfriend and I have marked him as such,” Blood defended as she looked over the human.

“You understand what that means though, right?” Echo asked as she tried to calm herself.

“I do and I prepared to face any consequences if there are any,” Blood said.

“If you feel that way then I won’t stop you, but he on the other hand needs to know one thing,” Echo started.

“What’s that?” Marcus asked as he gave a slight glare at the night guard.

“You better take good care of her. She may not be a full blood thestral and have no relation to me, but I see her as my daughter. As such, I will make sure that anypony that does her any harm will be punished beyond their wildest imaginations,” Echo warned as she stood next to Luna.

“Very well. Now can we please get on to what we were called here for?” Marcus asked as he tried to keep himself awake.

“We can begin now,” Luna said as her horn flared to life.

The entire throne room became encased in darkness as the Lunar Princess focused her magic. Everyone watched as everything became black before figures started to appear in front of them. The figures were just light to begin with, but slowly turned into a being. Going from left to right, their gender could easily be made of female, female, male, male, male, male, female, female, male, male, female, male. The first three remained in a silhouette, bet everyone after that easily got their features.

Beginning from the left again, the fourth figure had taken shape. He wore a commando outfit that was decked out in every weapon imaginable. His hair was black and he had a scar along his left eye rendering it blind. He had small stubble under his chin and had a nuclear symbol tattooed on his neck. The next one wore a doctor’s mask as we wore a regular shirt and a pair of jeans along with tennis shoes. His eyes held no life as he had tally marks along each of his arms.

The next one was a man Nightmare Moon had remember from a nightmare Marcus had. She could see his thinning hair along with the white stubble under his chin. He wore the same blood soaked clothes like before and she could imagine the happy whistling tune he made as he prepared to cut someone open. Next was a female whose face was covered in stitches. Her eye color was green, but they didn’t seem like they were her real color. She had shoulder length red hair and a clipboard in her hand as she wore a scientist’s uniform.

The next female was hard to discern as she wore a burlap sack over her head. One eye hole was made and they could see the piercing red eye stare at them. She also wore a scientist’s uniform as she held many needles in her hands. The male that was next wore a face mask with tinted lens that allowed them to barely make out his blue eyes. His scientist uniform was torn on one side while the other was caked in blood.

The next male had a scar along his entire neck, making them believe that at one point he had his head cut off. He wore a long-sleeved shirt, but the sleeves were rolled up showing even more scars. He wore cargo shorts and they were now convinced that he was at one point cut apart from all the scars. The next female wore a black cloak that barely allowed them to see her brown eyes. Her figure was slick, making seem like she would be the perfect assassin.

The final person was man that was entirely burned. His upper left lip was missing, showing his rotting teeth as his skin was wrinkled like a prune. He had large canisters on his back as he held a large flamethrower in his hands. A few of the mares shuddered not from the sight of the figures in front of them, but the attitude change of the humans. Their once calm looks turned to that of murder and Ditzy was worried for Drak as she could see that he was calmly seething with anger.

Marcus gave a quick glance at the three silhouette figures before turning to the other nine. His glance didn’t go unnoticed as Whooves knew that the human knew who they were. He didn’t say anything as the humans turned around and addressed Luna about what they were seeing.

“What is this?” Blake growled as he tried to keep his anger in check.

“These are the beings that have been plaguing your deep dreams. I wish to know who they are so that I may help you,” Luna offered, worried that she may have caused them harm.

“Their names are Adam, Slaughter, Ned, Stitch, Scarecrow, Zed, Ripper, Hunter, and Flamer,” Marcus answered in a calm tone as he pointed to them from left to right.

“What about those three?” Celestia asked as she pointed to the dark figures.

“We don’t know who they are,” Ryan answered in a hurt tone.

“What are they to you?” Twilight asked as she slowly neared Alex.

“They’re known as the Council of Ten,” Brandon answered.

“There are twelve of them,” Rarity stated as she placed a hand on Ryan’s shoulder.

“The last three share the same seat since they’re in charge of the Blackwatch soldiers. Scarecrow and Zed are scientists that have found different uses for the viruses and created them. Slaughter and Ned are the doctors that created Blake, Luke, and Marcus. Adam was in charging of purging any place that didn’t show results,” Andrew explained.

“So these are the ones that have caused you so much pain?” Lyra asked as she wrapped her arms around Marcus.

“Yes. They’ve taken everything that we cared for and have done everything in their power to try and stop us,” Andrew said as Fluttershy wrapped a wing around him.

It wasn’t long before the humans finally broke down from the rush of memories. All the mares helped to comfort the humans while the newly arrived ones just kept their distance. It hurt them to see someone they heard were strong enough to stop an invasion to breakdown from a few memories. They noticed Celestia signal with her head to try and help them and they uncomfortably moved closer to the humans. The five mares took a different human as they tried to help comfort them.

“Everything will be alright. They can’t hurt you anymore and you’ll be safe here,” Molly assured as she held Luke close.

Everyone saw that Marcus, Rainbow, Blood, and Spitfire were having a tough time trying to comfort each other, but when they were sure that no one was looking, they wrapped their wings around the human. It took a few minutes for everyone to finally get themselves collected, but when they did, they gave a warm smile to each mare as they finally saw this as their chance to finally lead their normal lives.

Everyone slowly started to leave the room as they headed for the kitchen to get something to eat. As they left, they were unaware of something that was watching from the distance. Once they were gone, two figures came out of the shadows as they pondered about what they saw.

“So what are we going to do, dad?” A female voice asked.

“We’re still going to cause some chaos, but I would like you to pull away those humans so they won’t get hurt. I may enjoy chaos, but they need this time to heal so I can mess with some old ponies,” a male voice answered.

“Are you sure everything will work out though?” The female voice asked.

“I’m sure of it. At the end of this, we will have had our fun and will maybe get a chance to live our lives as well,” the male voice answered as the two figures followed after the group.