Studying and Relaxing

Wind swirled around Gallus as he flapped his wings through the air. He soared above the clouds, catching the rays of the sun that filtered down onto him and through the feathers of his blue wings. Below him stretched the wooded foothills that curved around the edge of mountains like a lush green carpet.

Pausing his recon for just a moment, he hovered in place as he breathed in the crisp mountain air that thinned this high up in the sky. He allowed a moment of respite, closing his eyes among the light turbulence that nudged his flapping wings in various directions. He finished the brief loll with another deep breath that he let out as a contended coo before drifting downwards. His wings glided off a weak thermal that guided him back to the ground.

He returned to a familiar spot, a part of the trail where the path widened a bit to allow more than one line of traffic to travel through. Sandbar, Silverstream, and the rest of their friends all sat bunched up near a giant boreal tree. Large travel bags and backpacks sat on the ground in front of them as they all lounged in various states of relaxation.

“We’re on the right path!” Gallus signaled to the group, “this way!”

A couple of groans and mildly enthusiastic cheers came from the group as they gathered up their things to once again set out on the trail. There might have been a point in their journey where those cheers were much more energetic, but that had to have been more than an hour ago by now.

It was week two into their summer vacation and Sandbar, Gallus, and their friends had decided to go camping in the foothills north of town. It was to be the last big trip the group would go on together before their summer plans forced them all apart until that coming autumn. One last “big big thing”, as Silverstream put it, that would ensure everyone got their fill of everyone else before summer hit its hottest and busiest.

Gallus gladly took command on the adventure, boasting that he knew the perfect camping spot for such a trip. There were few in the group that knew the mountain foothills as well as he did. He spent many an afternoon cruising over the woods, finding the cool air that swept off the mountains to be calming. He’d boast that he knew these alpine woods like the back of his wings...at least, he knew them from above. On the ground, things looked a bit different, which required a bit of scouting ahead. But at the very least this detour allowed the group of friends to really take in the sights.

By now, summer was in full swing down in Ponyville and the valley town was enjoying sunny weather and cloudless skies. The days were growing long, hotter, and more humid and everyone back home was basking in the warmth.

It was a shame that apparently no one told these foothills about it. Here the seasons seemed to work on a delay. Despite the warmer weather bearing down on Equestria, the higher altitude, surrounding mountains, and maybe perhaps the natural magicks around the area as well made the weather in the foothills resemble late spring rather than summer. On some of the higher peaks, Gallus could even spy some snow that still needed to melt. It all reminded him of home in a way.

He continued to guide the group farther down the deer trail, doing his best not to get everyone lost again. The rest of the group meanwhile passed the time the best way they knew they could.

Ocellus spent that time flexing her studious muscles by remembering all the things she read about Equestrian flora and fauna. She had a natural talent for academics, easily absorbing just about anything she read in a book. She happily shared each point of natural interest to the group when they appeared along the trail.

“Look! It’s a Canterlot Grosbeak” Ocellus explained as she pointed towards a round, purple snowbird that perched itself on a distant evergreen branch, “I read that the color in its plumage is so vibrant, it goes into the arcanum spectrum!”

"Wow!” Silverstream exclaimed.

The changeling then pointed towards a bushel of freshly blooming flowers where a yellow and white bird fluttered about. "Oh! And a Spark-Tailed Hummingbird!" she exclaimed, “they spend more than half their life gathering flower nectar for their young!”

"Wow!"

"Is there anything in this forest that doesn't make you go 'wow'?" Gallus grumbled from the head of the pack.

Silverstream fell silent, falling behind the group for a bit as she actually put thought to this. There certainly were a lot of ’wow-things’ in the forest. She didn’t explore the Equestrian forests all that much. Spending most of her life underwater until very recently, there was still so much of the world that the hippogriff wanted to see. She had hardly gotten through all the wonders that Ponyville had to offer, let alone the surrounding hills and forests.

“Well...seaweed would be pretty boring to see,” the hippogriff finally said.

“Seaweed?”

“Yeah, seaweed. Saw it all the time back home,” the hippogriff nodded, “but I guess seeing seaweed in the forest would be pretty unusual...”

"So how much farther is this 'perfect spot' of yours?!" Smolder interrupted with a groan.

"We're almost there! Trust me!" Gallus exclaimed.

“‘We’re almost there’, he says...” Smolder groaned, “my feet are killing me...”

When they finally got there, no one could deny that the camping spot was, in fact, perfect. The forest opened up to a clearing large enough to accommodate a group of tents as well as a communal cooking area. A rocky river rushed not a stone’s throw away from the site, providing the area fresh drinking water as well as some lovely white background noise.

"Made it," Sandbar sighed as he let his heavy saddle bags slide off his back, "time to set up camp! What's everyone gonna do?"

"Fishing!" Yona the yak exclaimed.

"Right, I guess I'll go with Ms. Loudmouth and do some fishing as well," Gallus added.

"I'll get to setting up everyone's tents!" Sandbar said.

"We got the firewood then," Ocellus answered, trotting off with Silverstream

“And I’ll get a fire going!” Smolder so proudly proclaimed.

It was common camping knowledge that every campsite needed a good fire to cook marshmallows over. The art of building a fire was a skill all its own, however, being a dragon, a roaring fire was an incredibly easy task. The safe bet was to assume Smolder took the chore so gladly because she could build a fire, light it, and then have nothing to do, but lazily lounge about the place as everyone else toiled around her. But certainly someone needed to make the fire.

Despite the long hike that was needed to get there and the hard work needed to set up camp, everyone in the group was in high spirits and clearly excited for the next few days. Even after all the firewood gathering and unpacking and firemaking, the group of friends found the energy to enjoy themselves among nature. They swam, fished, and even enjoyed just taking in the picturesque views that seemed to crowd closely around the campsite on every side.

Before they knew it, day one of their trip was over and everyone retired to their tents for a good night’s rest. The fresh air, exercise, and excitement from the day made sleep come easily for the group.

Gallus was one of the first to head to bed. Acting as the group’s scout for the day was exhausting work after all. He certainly felt like he had earned a good night’s rest. As he laid himself down, he could hear the crackle of the nearby fire and the chatter of Smolder and Sandbar who somehow managed to stay up longer than him. He did his best to tune it all out, focusing instead on drifting off to dreamland.

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“G-Gallus?” a quiet whisper stirred the dark silence inside the tent, ”you asleep yet?”

“Sandbar?” Gallus mumbled, half asleep.

“S-sorry to wake you,” the pony blushed, “I-It’s just getting kinda cold and I forgot to pack an extra blanket...”

Gallus deflated with a reluctant sigh. “Alright...scootch on in,” he mumbled.

Lifting up a wing, Gallus opened the side of the sleeping bag, beckoning the shivering pony into the warm bundle. Sandbar happily accepted and snuggled into the griffin’s side, rubbing his hooves together to shake off the cold.

“There, that should help,” Gallus mumbled.

Sandbar nodded in the darkness and did his best to make himself comfortable. The warmth of Gallus' body was a welcome reprieve from the chill of the night air. He was grateful for the griffin's kindness. As the two snuggled in close, Sandbar was enveloped by Gallus's scent. The toil of the day before made the griffin smell musky and his fur seemed to have acquired a faint alpine scent from the outdoors. It was a comforting aroma that helped to ease Sandbar's mind.

Without realizing it, Sandbar started to nuzzle his face deeper into Gallus’s chest fur, taking in deep, relaxed breaths along the way. The need to sleep was starting to fall to the wayside as he took the time to enjoy snuggling up against the griffin.

"Sandbar..." Gallus spoke up later in the night as the pair settled into their place among the bedding bundle.

"Hm?"

"That's not your leg I'm feelin', is it?"

"S-sorry, it's just so...intimate."

"Now who's being cute?" Gallus tsked, “do I need to give you some privacy or...”

“N-no no, i-it’ll go down on i-it’s own,” Sandbar replied. Even in the muffled moonlight, Gallus could tell the stallion’s face was beet red.

Silence fell back on the pair as they shuffled and shifted next to each other. Every couple of minutes one of them would try rolling over or inching to a different place among the bedsheets. All that moving around, however, made it impossible for Sandbar's..."intimacy detector" to soften.

Gallus tried to put it out of his mind. He was exhausted from the day’s walk and he wanted nothing more than to lay back and pass out. He tried just closing his eyes at first, hoping the warmth of Sandbar laying next to him would help loll him into a deep slumber. It quickly became apparent, however, that this would not be the case.

“Alright,” Gallus exclaimed softly with a huff, “if you’re not gonna take care of it, I might as well do it myself.”

"Wh-what?!" Sandbar squeaked, squirming, but not pushing out of the blanket bundle. "Wh-what are you doing?"

“Just pipe down and hand me that towel.”

The towel in question was a bundled up, mostly dry beach towel that Sandbar had used after a quick afternoon swim. Spending the better part of the evening drying near the campfire, the fabric was still a bit muggy and smelled faintly of river water and wood smoke.

Sandbar snatched the thing off the ground and threaded it down between the pair where Gallus's claws took hold of it. Working blindly in the dark, he wrapped the towel around the head of Sandbar's stiff horsecock, all while Sandbar twitched and shivered. Then, working completely by feel at this point, he began jacking the stallion off.

If Gallus had his way and if he wasn’t extremely tired from the day before, he might have very well made Sandbar earn what he was doing to him. He wasn’t sure what exactly the pony would have to do in order to earn a hand job from him, but he was certain in his tired haze that giving Sandbar a handjob would normally require the pony to do something.

Maybe he’d expect a hoofjob of his own before he even thought about tending to Sandbar’s needs. Maybe even a blowjob. Maybe he’d dress the stallion in a diaper and make him waddle around and squirm a bit before he’d grant him the honor of having his cock rubbed by him. Who could really say. Honestly, he was too tired to have an imagination right now.

This would have to do.

It was more of a maintenance wank anyway. Taking care of it was just a thing that needed to be done. The more he thought about it - or at least what qualified as thought this late at night - the less it mattered how Sandbar earned it. It didn't matter if he got a blowjob, or a handjob, or even if he got to sit on Gallus' face and got his dick sucked. The important thing was that Sandbar would keep him awake with his erection otherwise. That was the only reason he was doing this.

Sandbar continued to squeak and gasp. They were his best attempts at stifling his moans and guttural groans. He was cute like that, Gallus figured. Maybe that was why he looked so cute in a diaper. Waddling around in a big, poofy diaper. Completely helpless to stop himself when he has an accident and wets himself. Then that quiet sloshing he made when walking around in a soaked diaper...

Gallus had to shake his head and push that train of thought off its rails. Now wasn't the time. If he didn’t show some self restraint, he might have very well popped a boner himself. And he just knew he didn't have the energy for that.

“G-Gallus,” Sandbar murmured with a heated whisper.

The blue griffin just nodded and quickened his pace. That was the closest thing he was going to get from the pony as a signal. He was close. Gallus meanwhile did his best to feel around and ensure the stallion’s member was covered up so he didn’t end up having to clean much up.

Finally Sandbar started to make the cutest little squeaks as he rode out his orgasm. His body convulsed beside Gallus as his cock throbbed and flared inside the bundled up towel. His legs kicked and twitched and his breath shivered.

“Th-there," Gallus said at the end, clearing his throat as he blindly wiped the stallion's cock before balling up the towel and tossing the entire thing into a random corner, "n-now we can get some shut eye.”

Sandbar just silently nodded, which given the black darkness of the tent would seem kind of unnecessary in retrospect. Still, he wiggled himself into a comfortable position, rewrapping the bundle of blankets that draped around the pair to stave off the mountain cold.

"Sandbar..." Gallus spoke up once the two settled back into bed.

"Y-yeah?"

"You didn't actually forget your extra blanket, did you?"

"N-no..." the pony’s voice grew small, "sorry for not being honest."

"Eh, don't be. It wasn’t a very convincing lie anyway."

“And uhm, Gallus?”

“Yes, Sandbar...”

“...Thank you,”

“...You’re welcome, Bar,” Gallus added between yawns, “now go to sleep...”