Blueberry POV

Onwards we were to a new place. A cave where an artifact called the Bewitching Bell was hidden. Something that was able to suck the magic out of you.

Would I give up my magic? For an alicorn and the potential I had, I barely used my magic. Since I had started traveling with Savage and Crystal, i had improved. My wings had grown strong again and I knew a good variety of spells. But even with such abilities, I barely used anything. And still, isn’t it that you see the value of something as soon as you don’t have it anymore?

So, I would say, giving up magic is not an easy step. Especially for an alicorn. You lost some very important abilities that were a big part of you. It would be like if you gave up the ability to jump. It was not essential but also not something you would like to give up.

But I would always give up my alicorn powers, if it was necessary. And here it was. At least for me.

Savage said that she would give up her magic to not only show how important we were to her, but also to keep the old Savage from taking over again.

Her alicorn powers were a very important part for Savage. So, if she really was willing to take such a step, I was willing to forgive her.

But until then, there still was the distance in our herd. It was not so bad anymore but still present. And to be honest, I was glad. I didn’t want to see these two wings split up.

The cave where the Bewitching Bell was hidden was not too far away. Zitrus had said something between eight and ten days. Now we were somewhere in the middle of this journey.

We were walking along a riverbank. To our right was a forest with some grey-green leaves and to our left the water was flowing by along a rock face. It was a warm, cloudless day. A beautiful place and moment in the wasteland. It gave me a calm feeling.

While we were walking, Crystal snuck up on zitrus and slapped his flank with her wing.

“Always nice to walk behind you, youngster”, Crystal smirked like it was the most normal thing.

Zitrus, for his part, blushed deeply. I had noticed that he often did it when Crystal flirted with him.

I watched as Crystal wrapped her wing over Zitrus' back and pulled him tight to her side. She nibbled on one of his ears and her horn was glowing, making me imagine that she used a spell to “tickle” him somewhere more sensitive.

“Crystal not now!”, Zitrus said and tried to fight a bit against the wing hug.

But I could see that he was only halfway resisting. The other half was enjoying it.

Was I jealous? No. In a herd was no room for jealousy. Besides, I knew that Crystal would never try to steal Zitrus, or any pony else, away.

Was I envious? Yes. Crystal was very good at seducing and pleasing others. She could make others (including me) come so many times. She was so skilled and her mind reading abilities gave her the advantage in telling what others liked and wanted. While I, whenever I got touched, fully lost myself in it and could do nothing more than take it. I just wanted to be more active during intimate time. To help others get pleased too and not only being the taker…

A rustle got me out of my thoughts. But not only me. Zitrus, Crystal and Savage also looked up.

Then, a short distance in front of us, two ponies came out of the forest. No wait, one of them was a kirin. They both looked at us and we starred back. An elongated moment of silence while both sides processed the sudden situation of coming face to face with another group out here.

Crystal then realised that she still had Zitrus' ear in her mouth and quickly let go of it. On the other side, the kirin looked at us with a mix of mistrust and anger and I could have sworn that his mane started to smoke a bit.

The kirin had turquoise fur and a spring green mane with some dark green hints. His back was dark blue. Next to him was a unicorn mare. She had white fur and a long golden mane that deepened to orange along its length.

“Greetings?”, Zitrus half asked.

The two newcomers didn’t say anything. The kirin was in a defensive posture. The mare looked calmer but also seemed reserved.

“We’re just passing by. No need to worry. We’re not looking for a fight”, Zitrus explained.

This caused the mare to relax and she approached us with a little smile. The kirin was right behind her but still tensed up.

“Thanks, Celestia. For a moment I was pretty worried there were suddenly three alicorns in front of us”, the mare said and halted in front of us. "I guess you're following the river downstream?”

“Indeed we are”, Zitrus said and gave a nod.

“Then you do not mind if we two keep you company?”, the mare asked, much to the disliking of the kirin.

Of course, we did not mind and soon there two more in our group while we made our way along the river bank.

“My name is Lava. And this is my colt friend, or better Kirin friend, Spring Frost”, the mare introduced.

The kirin, with the name of Spring, just gave a nod in our direction.

“You have to apologize him. He once had some bad encounters with alicorns. He has found it had d to trust your kind since then”, Lava explained.

“I see. Still nice to meet you. I am Zitrus and this is Crystal, Savage and Blueberry”, Zitrus said and pointed at each of us.

“I've only seen a kirin once before now, but this is the first time I've had a chance to talk to one”, I said and addressed myself directly to Spring.

He, for his part, looked at me and gave me something that was part nod and part bow.

“Spring barely talks. He follows an old kirin tradition of silence. But he guestured that he is pleased to make your acquaintance”, Lava came into.

Spring gave a nod. He then pointed at his mouth and shook his head.

I gave a confused look before I said: “But how are you able to understand him then?”

“Oh, I've known him for so long, I know what he tries to tell me. Besides, he is not mute. If there is something important, he has to tell me or if even I struggle to understand him, he will use words. He actually has a very beautiful voice”, Lava giggled and pressed her side against her kirin lover.

Spring looked away, a bit annoyed, but he also wrapped his tail around lava's with a slight blush on his face.

“Heh, that kind of reminds me of you, Blueberry. You also barely show your emotions or speak too much. It was very hard to know what you were thinking sometimes. Now, you very often still hide your feelings and still, we three learned to how to read you”, Zitrus pointed out.

It was true. I DID show more emotions when I was around Zitrus, Crystal or Savage but there still were many moments I wore my iron face. Outsiders had problems seeing behind my mask, but my herd, the ponies i had spent so much time together with, were able to read me.

Zitrus pressed his head under my chin, and just like Spring before, I also got a slight blush on my face.

“I’m sorry for my curiosity but I am a bit confused”, Lava said.

“You two look like you are together but, in the beginning, we saw Zitrus and Crystal in a very relationship like moment.”

“That’s because we are. We are all together in a relationship”, Crystal chirped and wrapped her right wing around Zitrus and her left around Savage.

Lava for her part looked only more perplexed and even Spring raised one eyebrow.

“We are a herd”, Savage explained.

A moment of silence.

“So, you four are all together? Like you all love each other? Not just some… friends with benefits. I mean a real relationship”, Lava asked in disbelief.

A happy nod from Crystal.

“And this works?”

“Well, we do have an argument at the moment but that is not because of our herd relationship. It was more about the action of some pony”, Zitrus said with a side glare to Savage.

“I never thought about having a relationship with more than one. Are you not afraid that this would split up in two two-pony relationships, like it is more common to have? Especially during arguments?”

We were silent for a short moment. Then it was Savage who spoke.

“We don’t want to split up. It would be like a breakup. We four belong together and we couldn’t be happy like before. Even if it means that we have to face such arguments.”

“Do you sometimes have arguments?”, I asked Lava and Spring.

“Oh yes. No relationship is exempt from arguments. You know what they say, “no stallion is perfect””, Lava began.

Spring rolled his eyes in annoyance.

“BUT”, she continued, “I would also add “no mare is perfect either”. There were also times I caused Spring to heat up. (I only later learned that kirins light up in fire when they get angry.) And yes, there are relationships that break apart after a fight. But I think I do get you. Because if a relationship holds through this rough time, the bond only gets stronger.

I might not get how it is to be in a herd. But I know how it is to love some pony. Or in my case, some kirin. It has ups and downs. But in the end, we know that we are happy with each other more than with without. So, I wish that this works out for you. For all four of you.”

Lava gave us all an encouraging smile but had to turn her head after Spring poked her side. He pointed at her, himself and the empty space beside him and gave Lava some wink wink eyes.

“Oh no mister! You belong to me and ONLY me!”, Lava said offended and softly slapped Spring’s cheek.

He made a fake hurt expression but then had to chuckle.

Author's Note

Well, not much to say about this chapter.
So, thanks to all reading it and to all who help me with the story.