Restless in Hoofington

After a couple minutes of walking and pointing out any plants that should be avoided, Alloy arrives at the lake with her two friends. “Here it is.”

While nothing is overly notable about the lake, the fact is that as one of the largest bodies of water near town, it does have a certain majesty to it. Its shimmery surface has proved quite the siren call on summer days.

“Cool…” Nightshade says in awe.

Autumn looks over it. “Wow...I’ve never been out here before.”

“It’s not actually that hard to get to from the entrance to the forest. There’s another path branching off that leads directly to it, no plants in the way. The way we took is just a much shorter route from the campsite.” Alloy smiles. “Back when my father took me camping, sometimes I’d go swimming in it.”

“That actually brings up a question I had.” Night looks at both her friends seriously. “Are we doing one pieces, bikinis, or naked?”

Autumn instantly goes red and covers her face, groaning. Alloy just giggles. “Unless you brought either of the first two, we’re going with option three.” She glances at Autumn. “What’s with you?” The unicorn mumbles incoherently into her hooves.

“Huh? What did she say? I could only get a few words…” The batpony leans forward, her sensitive ears twitching.

Alloy smirks. “If I heard right, which I think I did, she said something about how now she can’t get the image of us in swimsuits out of her head.” The unicorn flops onto the ground in a lying position in response, face still covered.

“...and now I can’t get the image of us modeling them for her out of my head…” The thestral says seriously. “I’m strangely okay with this.”

“Stooooooooop!” Autumn cries, clear despite the hooves over her face.

“What’s the big deal?” Night crouches down in front of her friend, looking into where her eyes would be if she had clear line of sight. “We’re always naked; what would wearing clothes do?”

Alloy chuckles nervously as she steps closer towards the thestral, pulling her back a couple feet and leaning in towards her ear. “She...kind of has a thing for that...”

“Huh…” Still speaking at normal volume, the batpony responds. “Guess that’s why that got a bigger reaction than thoughts of us wet and naked in the lake.”

With a cry of desperation, Autumn goes from lying down to jumping through the air, flopping into the lake to shut out the thestral. Somehow, her glasses are left behind almost comically.

Snickering loudly, Night looks to Alloy to see how she fared. The pegasus has a much more subdued reaction, just rolling her eyes despite a hint of red on her cheeks. “Okay, now I have images in my head, and I don’t think I want them.”

“Well, when she comes up, you’ll have another one to… see…” As she says this, Night actually does see Autumn emerge from the water with a gasp, her mane hanging wetly down her neck. “...umm… definitely pulls off that look…” Her wings flap once as she keeps looking.

Autumn rubs her eyes to get the water out of them, brushing her mane out of her face. “Are...we done...talking about that?” She glances up at Night, squinting. “...why are you going flying?”

“I’m not, just, umm… debating if I want to jump in or walk in.” The gray mare nods to herself and the others.

Alloy giggles. “I’d say walk in, or jump if you’re not going very high. The water’s not as deep as it looks, and you might hurt yourself.” She sits at the edge of the lake and dips her front hooves in.

Nodding again, Night walks into the lake, the water splashing and shifting around her. “Heh, warmer than I thought…”

“Well, it’s summer,” Alloy points out.

Autumn, deciding to stay in the lake, treads water over to a part shallow enough for her to stand in. “Enjoying it, Night?”

“Uhuh…” The thestral paddles around, her wings spread slightly to give better control. “This is nice… and it seems to have cleared your head of dirty thoughts, or at least you accepted them.”

“...it was the former, but now they’re back.” The unicorn sighs and sits, rubbing her forehead. “Hopefully I can just ignore them. I don’t think taking another dive will help this time.”

“Maybe a nice swim then?” Night flips onto her back and floats over, looking at Autumn upside down with her mane and tail flowing around her in the water. “It may actually be starting to make me stop making those comments. No promises about when we get out, though.”

Autumn shrugs. “Maybe. I’m not too big on swimming, and we need to stick by Alloy.” She looks over to the pegasus, who is making little splashes in the lake with one hoof.

“Hey, Alloy!” The emerald maned mare calls out loudly, sitting up and waving her hoof. “Come join the wet and wild club!” She looks to Autumn sheepishly. “Whoops, guess there was one left.”

As Autumn facehoofs, Alloy shakes her head and calls back. “I can’t; my leg, remember? You two have fun, though!”

“Aww… come on, we can carry you or something once you take it off. You should enjoy this too!” Night pleads.

The pegasus shakes her head again, looking a little nervous. “I don’t think I’d be that easy to carry...and if I just sit somewhere, I might slip...I don’t want to risk it.”

“We could play in the shallows…” Still she insists.

“Well...” Alloy looks down, then sighs. “Fine. But I’m not going any deeper than I can stand up in.” Scooting back from the water, she lies on her side and curls up, pulling her prosthetic leg towards her with a hoof and biting down on the liner. She pulls that down and off, then rolls down the top of the limb. Slowly, she extracts the stump of her leg from the prosthetic replacement, then slowly gets up shakily onto her three good legs, moving carefully into the water.

Flipping back over, Night sinks down into the water until only her nose and above are in the air. She slowly paddles towards the pegasus.

Once her stomach touches the water, Alloy stops moving, sitting down nervously. “I-Is this okay?”

Slinking up to her, the thestral rises out of the water and grins. “Maybe.” Erupting in a huge splash, she soaks the pegasus and hugs her at the same time, giggling madly.

Yelping, Alloy clings desperately to the batpony, holding her tightly. “Night!”

“Wet hugs!” Night happily announces, still laughing.

The pegasus whimpers, her grasp not slipping. “D-Don’t do that! Ever!”

“What? I held onto you… do you not like water?” Her ears fold, wondering if she messed up again.

“You startled me!” Alloy replies, her voice calming down a bit. “If you didn’t grab me...” She buries her face in the thestral’s chest, trying to slow her breathing.

Yep, she messed up. Shooting a sad look to Autumn that asks for help, Night apologetically pats Alloy’s back.

Autumn starts swimming over, having trouble seeing what’s happening but able to tell something’s wrong from what she hears. Seeing the two apparently hugging, she just joins them, rubbing Alloy’s back to try and comfort her. “Night? What happened?”

“I scared her bad… I didn’t mean to…” She sniffs. “I just wanted her to have fun…”

The unicorn leans over and nuzzles the thestral. “Don’t worry...it’s not your fault. You just didn’t realize the problem.” She looks down at Alloy. “She’s just scared...I’m sure she doesn’t blame you.”

Night doesn’t say anything, just idly splashes a little water with her hoof.

Autumn sighs, rubbing her shoulder. “Night? Please, cheer up...”

“...are you two still my friends?” Her voice is low, as is the emotion behind it.

“What?” The unicorn’s eyes widen. “Of course we are! What...why would...” She gives up on trying to speak and just gives the thestral another nuzzle, hugging her tighter. Alloy, having lifted her head when she heard the question, does the same thing with a small smile.

Raising her wings out of the water, Night hugs them both. “I’m sorry…”

“It’s alright, Night...” Alloy tells her, cuddling against her. “I’m not mad at you, okay?”

“Okay…” Dipping one wing into the water, the thestral does a few little splashes at the both of them, a hopeful smile on her face.

Giggling, they both splash back at her with one of their hooves, keeping the other around her to keep the hug going. Laughing, she does a few bigger splashes, actually getting herself a bit too. Soon, the three are having fun splashing at one another, Autumn and Night circling around the shallow area where Alloy sits.

After a bit, Night flops down in the water onto her side, raising a hoof dramatically. “Ugh! You got me! I am defeated… you are the better splashers…”

Grinning, Autumn pounces onto her, holding her in what is partially a hug and partially an attempt to hold her down. “You have been conquered! You must obey our bidding now!”

Curious, the thestral nods. “I submit. What would you have me do?”

From her spot, Alloy laughs. “You have fun with her, Autumn. I’m going back to the camp to start dinner.” Slowly, she walks out of the water and shakes herself dry, steps back into her leg, and walks off to the campsite.

Autumn grins wickedly down at the batpony. “Your first task, new servant, is to give me a ride out of the water and back to camp.”

Giggling, Night stands up, Autumn on her back as she starts trudging out of the water. “Do I have to call you master now?”

“No, I don’t like that. Just stick to Autumn...or ‘Autty’.” She smirks, resting her chin on the thestral’s neck.

“Yes, Autty.” Ears flicking a bit of water off as she walks, Night mutters to herself. “This is kinda nice…”

Autumn giggles. “I heard that. It’s nice for me too.” She leans down and nuzzles her friend’s cheek, grabbing her glasses off the shore with magic as they pass them. “Can you fly while carrying me? Or would you rather walk?”

Shifting her back a bit, Night muses. “I could probably carry you; you don’t weigh a lot. I wouldn’t be able to fly too far, but to the camp is easily doable.”

“Then fly, my loyal servant!” Giggling, the unicorn sets her glasses onto her face. “The sun’s going down in a bit. We need to be back soon.”

“Right!” Spreading her leathery wings, Night takes flight, her flaps much bigger than those of a pegasus, but less frequent. Skimming over the treetops, she smiles as her mane is blown back.

Autumn smiles as well, enjoying the feeling of the wind blowing into her face. “Wow...you batponies and pegasi are lucky, getting to fly like this.”

“Hey, you get magic. I say things are pretty equal.” Banking a bit to avoid a tree, she straightens out once more. “Should be seeing camp in a moment…”

“Magic is nice, but flying is awesome.” Autumn pouts. “I order you to give me your wings.”

“One moment…” Flapping a bit faster but with less force, she lands easily in their little clearing. As soon as her hooves touch the ground, she holds her wings straight up on either side of Autumn. “That’s about as close as you’re going to get. Go ahead and admire your pretty new wings.”

The unicorn giggles, gently taking the wings in her magic and making them lightly flap. Alloy, who was sitting outside the tent, walks over when she sees them land. “Is she okay, Night?”

“S-Seems fine to m-me…” The thestral struggles not to giggle and squirm as her wings are played with.

Noticing her friend trying not to crack up, Autumn gets an idea. She lets the wings go and hops off, but once she hits the ground, she starts tickling the base of her left wing.

“Eek!” With a squeal, that wing springs upwards, fully extended as she giggles, trying to shy away from the unicorn.

Autumn refuses to let her escape, continuing her tickling and even leaning in to nuzzle it. “You can’t escape!”

Squealing again, the thestral awkwardly hops as she tries to get away, her balance thrown off by the stiff appendage. Her face goes a bit red as she finds her side against a tree while her other is nuzzled. “T-That tickles!” Her tail tries to swat at the unicorn even as she wears a small smile.

“That’s the point!” Autumn lets out through her own laughter. Glancing back, she sees that Alloy has left the two alone and returned to setting up the fire. Smirking, she looks back at the batpony. “I know about how sensitive wings are, you know...” She returns to nuzzling, even giving a small lick.

A small shriek actually results from this action as the thestral raises up on the tips of her hooves before collapsing on her other side, her wing still up in the air and her face red. Muttering quietly to herself, Night nonetheless looks up to see if Autumn will do it again.

The unicorn lies down beside her, smiling mischievously. “Did you like that?~” She goes on to just rubbing near the base of the wing with a hoof.

Covering her face with a hoof in embarrassment, Night slowly nods. She lets out another small squeak as she rubs.

“Hey, no need to hide like that, silly.” Autumn leans down and nuzzles her wing again. “Besides...consider this ‘payback’ for those comments earlier.” She licks again, dragging this one out for a good couple seconds.

For those few seconds and a few afterward, Night’s mouth just hangs open. Unbeknownst to Autumn, she is emitting a high-pitched noise outside the unicorn’s hearing range, face completely red once she stops licking. “Might… might have to make more comments like that if this is the result…”

Autumn’s mischievous smirk soon becomes a look of slight embarrassment, but the smile remains. She nuzzles the thestral’s neck. “You really like that, huh?” She grins. “Shall I go tell Alloy we’re gonna be busy for a while?”

Shyly, she nuzzles back, her wing still up. “She seems to be giving us plenty of time to… bond… so probably not necessary… didn’t you have ‘orders’ for me or something, though? Not that I’m not enjoying this…”

“Oh, believe me, I have plenty more orders for you.” The unicorn sticks her tongue out. “But I suppose now’s as good a time as any for my next one...remember that comment you made about modeling swimsuits?” She pokes the batpony in the chest, grinning. “After this camping trip, I order you to actually do that for me...maybe a few other outfits too.”

Gulping and blushing, Night nonetheless nods, a smile still on her face. “I’ve never done anything like that before… but, it sounds kinda fun… nopony else gets to see except you… and Alloy I guess.”

“I don’t know if Alloy would be into that sort of thing...but I’m glad you’re looking forward to it.” She smiles. “I know I am.” She licks again, even longer.

The batpony rolls completely onto her side, all of her limp except her neck and her wing. The lick leaves her panting, smiling goofily. “Wow… you’re really good at that…”

Autumn giggles. “Thank you. Hmm...I wonder how far I can go with this?” She leans in as though about to lick again, but this time, gently nibbles at the base instead.

“Yipe!” A yelp followed by a small whine comes from the thestral. “Y-You… ah…” Her words fade as she lays down, letting out a quiet groan. “Feels great…”

“Really?~” Autumn slowly uses her hooves to roll the batpony onto her stomach again, climbing onto her back. Using her magic, she extends the other wing, and begins to massage it with her hooves as she treats the already-stretched wing to further nibbling. “Any other sensitive areas on your body you want me to tease you with?”

“Nya... ma... ah~!” The words are little more than gibberish and sounds of happiness as Night lets Autumn play. Blinking rapidly, she tries to compose herself enough to speak. “You’re… really going all out with my wings…” She stops to pant a moment, her tail flicking back and forth. “Don’t know why the sudden interest… but I’m not gonna stop you…”

The unicorn pauses for a moment as she thinks about that. “...I don’t know either, actually...at first I was just messing with you, but...I’m actually really enjoying this too.” She blushes a bit. “W-We’ll think about it later...so, answer to my question?”

“I… umm…” Night blushes as she buries her face in the grass. “You’re pretty much at mid tier right now… the only better other ones are… umm…” She buries her face further, tail still flicking.

“Ah...well, maybe we should avoid those for now...” Autumn’s face reddens further, but she smirks as she gets an idea. “...maybe save them for later.” She goes right back to nibbling and massaging.

“Wha...what? But…” She actually lets out a moan as she tries to stretch out, loving what she’s feeling in her wings. “You make it hard to think…”

“Hmm...should I stop for a bit?” Autumn suggests. “Maybe let you...get back at me for a while?~”

An unreadable look on her face, the thestral turns her head and nods, eyes staring right into Autumn’s. The unicorn rolls off of her, lying on her back on the ground, sticking her tongue out playfully.

Night blushes, keeping her eyes on Autumn’s face as she shakily gets up, both her wings stiff. She slowly walks over, nuzzling the unicorn’s chest before moving upward and licking her neck.

Autumn hums in pleasure, nuzzling back as she comes close to her face. “Sorry I don’t have wings like you do...they’d make this a lot easier...”

“Well… you do have something else…” Hey eyes dart upward to the spiraled blue horn. “I wonder…” Stepping fully over Autumn, two hooves on either side of her, Night leans forward and gives a small lick to the base of it.

The unicorn squirms slightly, but makes little vocal reaction. “I-It’s only really sensitive when I’m using magic...like this...” Her horn glows slightly as she casts a basic light spell, just for the sake of casting magic.

Night gives it a much longer lick, from base to tip. Autumn’s whole body goes stiff for a second, her horn glowing brighter almost instantly, as she lets out a quiet moan and her breathing starts to pick up pace.

“Heh… glad you like it…” The thestral giggles, nuzzling the horn before gently nibbling on the tip, careful with her sharp teeth.

Autumn kicks her back legs a bit as she moans again, eyes going half-lidded. Her tongue slowly begins making its way out of her mouth, just hanging there limply like the rest of her body. Her mouth moves as though trying to speak, but no sound comes out.

Gaze moving down to her face, Night waits a moment before quietly asking. “Hey… mind if I try something else?”

The unicorn pulls her tongue into her mouth to speak. “G-Go ahead...” She smiles in anticipation. “What is it?”

Swallowing nervously, she says simply, “This.” Leaning down, she gently touches her lips to Autumn’s, closing her eyes. The blue unicorn’s eyes go wide, but she doesn’t struggle, nor does she reciprocate at first; she just lies there in shock, but after a second, wraps her front legs around the batpony and begins kissing back.

Beaming on the inside, Night lowers herself until their chests are touching, her forelegs wrapping around the filly as best they can. She doesn’t try to push anything, just laying there and enjoying the kiss.

For several seconds, they lie there in that position, enjoying the feeling of one another’s lips. Finally, Autumn slowly pulls back, a goofy smile on her face. “You know...I wish you tried that sooner...”

“I had to get up my nerve… and you weren’t giving me much chance earlier.” She wiggles her wings. “Driving me crazy…”

“Aww...sorry...” Autumn leans up and nuzzles her. “If I had known...honestly, I probably would’ve kept doing it.” She giggles. “You’re so cute...”

“You did keep doing it…” Giggling, she leans down and kisses her neck. “And you’re adorable… except when you’re wet, then you’re hot.”

The unicorn blushes. “H-Hot...that’s a new one...” Smiling, she nuzzles her again. “So...um...what does this mean for us?”

“Well, umm… what do you want it to mean?” Night nuzzles back. “I mean… I really like this, and I really like you, so… we could be… you know…”

“Girlfriends?” Autumn asks bluntly, smirking. “You can just say it, you know. And...” Her smirk becomes a softer smile. “I think I’d like to give that a try.”

“Me too…” The batpony gives her another quick kiss. “So, uh… wanna keep going? I do wanna make my special somepony happy.”

“Well...I do, but...food.” She glances over towards the campsite. A fire is now burning within a circle of rocks, and Alloy has vanished, presumably to inside the tent. “Later, maybe? I don’t want Alloy to worry and come look for us.”

“Oh, okay. That makes sense.” A sudden thought occurs and Night blushes. “Hope she didn’t hear any of the sounds we made…”

Autumn giggles. “If she did...we can just draw on her face again.”

“Yeah…” She goes to get up, only to pause and kiss Autumn once more, a bit longer this time. Once she breaks it, she climbs off, smiling. “Wanted to have something to think about while I wait.”

The unicorn smiles and stands up. “Good. It gives me something to think about too.” With another nuzzle, she begins leading the way back to the campsite.

A bit of time later finds the three fillies in front of a very good looking spread. On one end is a small pile of baked potatoes, freed from their foil they were cooked in. Beyond them are various chopped and lightly cooked veggies like onions, bell peppers, squash, and lettuce. There’s also a surprise fruit appearance by tomatoes. The entire thing is on a small foldable tabletop set on the ground and spread like a buffet.

“Thanks for taking care of the potatoes, Alloy. Those things take forever to cook.” Night nods, eyes glinting as she looks over everything.

“No problem!” the pegasus replies. Noticing the look in her friend’s eye, she smirks. “I take it you like vegetables just as much as fruits?”

“Well, not quite as much, but I do really like them.” She waits for Alloy to serve herself. “Veggies are more… rich, while fruits are sweet.”

Alloy nods, seeming to understand, as she begins stuffing her own potato with lettuce and onions. “Sorry there’s only one type of fruit. This is more of a veggie dish, so there weren’t many options.”

“It’s fine. Fruits are a big part of my diet, but I need other things too.” She smiles before adding as an afterthought, “Like snuggles.”

Autumn giggles. “I have no problem helping you fulfill that need.”

Alloy looks between the two of them, a little confused. “You two have been really giggly since dinner started...did something happen?”

“Umm…” Night only partially succeeds in repressing a blush as she looks over to Autumn. “Did something happen?”

Autumn opens her mouth to speak, then closes it, thinking. “Well...” Finally, she shrugs. “Just...some playing around. I’ll tell you about it later.”

The pegasus tilts her head, but the promise of getting some context later on seems to placate her, and she nods before starting to dig into her meal. Autumn glances at Night to see how she reacts.

The thestral relaxes, looking back at the unicorn and shrugging. She flutters her eyelashes for a quick moment before giggling and starting to make her own food. Autumn giggles as well, patiently waiting her turn. Night loads her potato with onions, bell peppers, and a nice slathering of tomatoes on top. Carrying it in her wings, she walks past Autumn, brushing her shoulder with her tail before she sits down.

Alloy snickers at the batpony’s selection. “I knew you’d go for the tomatoes pretty much right away. Are you sure you’re not secretly a vampire fruit bat or something?”

“Fruit part, yes; vampire… well,” She bares her fangs. “Maybe if you or Autumn volunteer your necks I could find out.”

Autumn, who has just arrived with her own potato filled entirely with lettuce and tomato, sits down with a confused yet intrigued look. “What’s this about our necks?”

“Night’s thinking of giving in to her secret vampiric bloodsucking desires,” Alloy replies with a smirk.

“You brought it up! I was just playing along… I wouldn’t actually bite your necks...hard.” She quickly takes a large bite of her potato before she says anything else.

The unicorn snickers. “Did you want to try a taste of mine or something?”

“No, blood would be gross.” She sticks out her tongue, shaking her head. Coincidentally enough, it’s actually stained a bit more red than normal from her food. “Maybe your neck though… Alloy didn’t seem to be into it.”

“Maybe later, then. Don’t want to ruin your appetite for real food.” Giggling, Autumn returns to devouring her potato. Alloy scoots a couple inches away from the two, looking slightly grossed out from either the discussion of sucking blood or Autumn’s table manners.

Noticing this, Night eats casually for a minute before turning to Alloy and raising her eyebrows repeatedly while flashing her teeth. The pegasus cringes. “Are you trying to give me nightmares?”

“Nah, just messing with you. I assure you I only cause good dreams.” Putting her hoof over her heart, one can almost see a halo appear above her. “Though I do charge in affection.” The halo dims a bit.

“And how much affection will it cost to get you to help remove the thought of getting the blood drained from my neck?” Alloy asks seriously.

“Hmm… I think one nuzzle with work.” Night shrugs, taking another bite of her food.

The pegasus leans in and nuzzles the thestral for a couple of seconds. “Done.”

Autumn, who has been watching all this, laughs at their antics. “You two are silly.”

The thestral turns to her. “You can be silly too, you know. We all just have fun, it’s good this way.”

“Yeah, but...nightmares? You couldn’t cause somepony to have nightmares even on Nightmare Night.” She giggles. “You’re just too adorable.”

Blushing, Night giggles. “Aww… thanks…”

“Especially when you blush like that.” She grins. “If I was more like my mom I’d pinch your cheeks.”

“Do you mean my face?” the batpony asks.

Autumn blushes. “W-Well, yeah! Did you think I meant...” She trails off.

Night just looks down, her tail wrapping around her shyly.

The unicorn looks away, then looks back once her blush is gone. Seeing Alloy focused on her food, she leans forward and whispers, “Wouldn’t mind doing it the other way too, though...”

Shivering, the thestral looks up at her marefriend. “I so want to kiss you right now…”

“Just have to wait until tomorrow...you can come over to my place, or I can go over to yours.” She smiles. “Trust me, it’ll be worth the wait.”

Licking her lips, Night whispers simply. “Your place.”

“My place it is.” She goes back to her regular sitting position, but scoots closer to the thestral. With another dive into her potato, she has cleaned it out and begun chewing away at the potato itself.

Turning back to her own food, Night quickly follows suit. Alloy is the last one to finish, and when she does, she stands up and stretches, yawning. “Think we should start getting ready for bed?”

Looking up and seeing the stars out, the thestral shrugs. “I have no idea what time it is, so it’s up to you guys.”

“I’m definitely in the mood for sleeping,” Autumn says, standing up as well. “We don’t want to wake up late.”

Nodding, Alloy slips into the tent. “I’ve got our sleeping bags set up already.”

Popping her head inside first, Night exclaims as she sees the sleeping arrangements. “Yay! We don’t have individual bags!” Indeed, instead of just laying three sleeping bags out, the pegasus instead has fully opened one, making a soft surface to lay on, while another bag is off to one side, possibly a blanket.

“You like it?” Alloy asks, giggling. She opens her bag and begins pulling out a set of light blue pajamas. “I had a feeling you two would rather sleep this way, and honestly, I prefer it too.”

“There will be snuggles, you both know this.” The batpony giggles, going over to her own bags and rummaging around for her sleepwear. “Hope you don’t mind that I don’t use real PJs. I usually just do the shirt thing or go natural.”

“Not a problem for me,” Alloy replies, starting to pull her own outfit on. “I don’t usually bother with them either, but I don’t want to get cold.”

The flap of the tent opens again and Autumn steps in, dragging her bag sheepishly. “Left it outside earlier...”

“I doubt Dizzy liked that.” Night giggles.

The unicorn blushes, dropping her bag off in the corner of the tent and unzipping it. “I think he’s fine...it’s not like I just left him on the ground without any cover.”

“He’s probably thinking how lucky he is to be able to sleep with three cute mares instead of one tonight.” The batpony pulls a green shirt over her head, putting her wings through the slits in the side.

“Niiiiight!” Autumn groans, her face going even redder. She pulls out a set of pink pajamas, quickly beginning to pull the shirt on to cover her face.

Just giggling more, the thestral takes advantage of the unicorn’s blindness for a moment as she darts forward and snatches her bottoms in her teeth. “Whatcha gonna do?” She waves the pink clothing back and forth teasingly as she waits for Autumn to see.

“Huh?” When the unicorn is able to see again, she glares. “Hey!” She pounces at the batpony, trying to retrieve the article of clothing.

Having nowhere to go in the small tent, Night unfortunately gets tackled, but still stretches her back to keep the fabric out of her friend’s reach. “Nope!” She giggles through the fabric.

“Night, give me those!” Autumn demands, trying to scoot closer to her pajama bottoms without letting the thestral stand back up. “I’m gonna be cold without them!”

Hooking the pants with a wingtip, Night just moves them further away as she pouts. “But I'm warm…”

Autumn finds herself growing less angry as she looks at the batpony’s pouty face. “Night...come on...please? I feel weird and exposed like this...”

“You know we never wear clothes anyway, right?” Alloy points out.

“I said it was weird, okay?” the unicorn retorts.

“Okay, since you asked nicely…” The wing folds up, dangling the pants in front of Autumn’s face. “I wouldn’t want you to feel exposed… yet.” The last word is in a barely audible whisper.

Blushing, Autumn takes the pants and starts pulling them on. She replies in a whisper of her own, “Honestly, I’d probably have done the same thing to you.” She sticks her tongue out.

“Good to know we’re both silly and flirty.” Night winks as she decides to just lay where she is, comfy.

Autumn smiles and lies down beside her, levitating her glasses off and resting them on her bag in the corner. “Guess we’re just sleeping like this, then?”

“I don’t see why not. I’m not sure any of us brought pillows.” The batpony giggles, pulling the unicorn to her and nuzzling her, a bit more sweetness to it than usual.

“Sleeping bags are usually padded enough to act as a pillow themselves,” Alloy says as she lies down on the other side of Night to join the cuddling. “So we don’t have to sleep with our heads on the ground.”

Shrugging, the thestral stretches her forelegs and wings under her friends, bringing them right up against her. “Doesn’t matter to me. All that matters is I got this cuddling you promised me.”

Alloy giggles. “Speaking of promises...” She nuzzles Night. “You promised you’d show Autumn and me your echolocation noise.”

Autumn blinks. “Huh?”

Shifting nervously, Night nods. “Okay… but try not to laugh.” She clears her throat before opening her mouth and letting out an echoing high-pitched chirp, her ears twitching.

The two other fillies are quiet for a moment before Alloy speaks up. “That...was adorable!” She hugs the thestral tighter, which Autumn immediately does as well, both giggling.

“You don’t think it’s weird?” The batpony snuggles into the embraces, nuzzling Alloy and giving Autumn a small lick on the cheek.

“I don’t see why you were so embarrassed about it,” Alloy continues, not noticing the lick. “Do all thestrals make that noise? Or just you?”

“Well, we can all do the echolocation, but each of our sounds is different.” Night smiles. “Some do little shrieks, some do chirps like me, my dad does this lower tone bark. It’s one way to tell who’s doing it if you know their sound.”

Autumn nods. “I’m guessing it’s easier for batponies to tell the difference between them? Because honestly, I don’t think I’d be able to recognize just different shrieking or chirping sounds from one another.”

“Maybe because we grew up with it.” The emerald-maned mare shrugs again. “I don’t know, all I know is it’s something we’d do a lot in dark caves to test ourselves.”

“Do you use it very often?” Alloy asks. “I know that regular bats need to use it because they can’t see very well, but you can see just fine, so...”

“Not really, mostly at night when I’m too lazy to turn on a light.” She lets out a small sigh. “Not much call for it around here.”

Autumn nuzzles her. “Hey, don’t get mopey. We all have some sort of skill that we realistically would never use in everyday life.”

“Oh?” She looks between the two of them. “Like what?”

“Well, I have my shield magic, which isn’t exactly useful around the house or for many jobs,” Autumn offers. “And Alloy can dislocate her wing, which...well, same thing.”

Night shivers. “I’d never be able to dislocate my wing… I don’t even like thinking about it.”

“I’ll try not to do it around you then.” Alloy smiles. “It’s really only good for freaking ponies out at school.”

“Bleh, less gross talk more snuggling.” She nestles deeper into their pony pile before a thought occurs. “Umm… hey, Autumn? Can you drag the other sleeping bag over with your magic so we don't get too cold?”

Nodding, Autumn lights her horn and picks up the second sleeping bag with her magic, slowly hovering it over to them and laying it across them like a large blanket. “There we go.”

“Let’s see then… warmth, softness, snuggles, friends… looks like we have everything for a good sleep.” She looks to the two of them. “Am I missing anything?”

“Nope!” Alloy chirps, snuggling in closer and closing her eyes. “Not that I can think of.”

“Same here,” Autumn agrees, before giggling and giving Night a quick goodnight kiss on the forehead. “See you two in the morning, then.”

Smiling and blushing slightly, Night nods. “Yeah, goodnight…”

Feeling warm and comfortable, the three fillies soon drift off to a peaceful sleep.