Just as Psychedelic was a stallion who had always disliked the notion of leading a herd, it seemed there were mares who disliked the notion of being one number among a herd of others. Persephone was one, choosing to lead the herd herself, and Aurora had now proved him wrong too. Psychedelic glanced at her, briefly seeing the way she smiled and glanced down, and nearly frowned. No… surely… she didn’t… no. No. He was imagining things. He was a tired old stallion who hadn’t gotten to play around with a pretty girl in a while, the season was right, and his mind was just going places it didn’t need to go.

Still… some stress relief would be rather fun… wouldn’t it?

No. This wasn’t the time or the place to think about all the ways he’d once liked to have passed time with the pretty little nearly-blind golden mare.

“Pass that wisdom on to Talya, won’t you?” He said, giving her a casual smile and forcibly keeping the topic light to pull his thoughts from a far darker place. “I worry every day about her growing up and disappearing on me for the likes of some stallion who’ll just see her as another number.” The distaste for that way of life leaked onto his tongue, though it could easily be mistaken as an overprotective father worried about his daughter’s fate.

“Who knows,” he said, shifting his weight, “maybe Persephone will recruit some young, handsome stallion who’ll steal your heart away.” He winked and chuckled, ignoring the small twist of irritation at the thought of Aurora cuddling up to another stallion.