Flame awoke in the dead of night. He looked to the clock on his nightstand and noticed it was 2 in the morning, he sighed to himself as he rolled onto his back and looked up to the ceiling above him. He continued to stare at it. He began to think back during the 8 years he was gone, the trips he made around the planet of Gaia.

He started to think back to where he went to the griffon kingdom. He hated it, the cruelty they show to the less fortunate, the way they treat the lower class. In his opinion the only respectable griffons were the king and queen themselves. If he had said no other griffon deserved respect he may have been killed there on the spot by the the Crimson Talons, the most elite and deadliest guards in all of Gaia.

They started out as just a rag tag team of 10 griffons that enforced the laws when the bastard of a king they had before used his money for his own personal gain. The group of 10 evolved into 20, then to 30, and soon there were over a hundred griffons fighting to keep their once holy land cleansed of evil again. When King Lucifer rose to power he made the Crimson Talons the new royal guard of the Griffon Kingdom, it may have washed away the filth of the underground but the upper class was still as filthy as ever. Flame remembered attending a party as a waiter there, the females were complete sluts, throwing themselves to the waiters and guards. The males were no better as they showed their affection towards the…young ones.

“Ugha! How in all of Tartarus’s firey pits am I one of them?!” he yelled to himself as he sat up in his bed.

Flame looked to the clock and saw it was till 2, then it became 2:01 in the morning. He sighed and looked away from the clock thinking that he could go back to sleep. He couldn’t, he tried, there was no chance of him going to sleep so he decided to break the boredom and turned on the TV in his room.

“Hm…forgot how much cleaner PTV (Pony Television) is compared to GTV (Griffon Television). Then again I did stop watching for 6 years.” he said as he recalled being in Zebrica, Diamant Vallée, and Dragonkin as none of the three had TV. They’re most advanced piece of technology was a hot spring, though he wasn’t complaining that it was. He loved it, he did hate all the females constantly trying to get a piece of him.

Poor bastard had so much pent up pressure in his nether region he had to find a quiet place every few days to relieve himself. He shook his head at the memory was watching a late night news interview.

“Pfft…reruns are annoying, what else is on?” he was about to change it until he heard what the host had said.

“Hello everypony, this is Hoity Toity, yes, now I will like to welcome to the show a good friend of mine and also one of my BEST models of course, the magnificent and most of all beautiful Fleur de Lis!”

Flame stopped and stared at the screen as the crowd erupted in applause and cheers, some wolf whistles as well as the lovely model made her way to the stage and shared a hug with Hoity. She took a seat and blew some kisses to her fans as she looked to Hoity.

“You certainly know how to draw a crowd Fleur!”

“Well I thank them all for coming out here!”

She blew them all kisses again as they cheered and the males hooted for her.

Hoity adjusted his glasses a bit and smiled at her, “Fleur the question on everypony’s mind is this and it has been this since you sprung up in the modeling world, where did you come from?” he asked with a little smirk to her.

“Hoity I get this question everyday but…I think it’s time I let you all know after so long.”

The crowd cheered again as one pony in the audience yelled, “Finally!” as the cheering died down.

She let out a giggle and took a sip of the coffee in front of her then began to tell her tale. “Well I came from the little town of Ponyville just south of Canterlot really, I began my career as well…an erotic dancer is the best way to put it.”

The crowd answered back with some “oooooh’s” and hoots as they all began to imagine her dancing on a pole doing some very sexual movements with her body as she twirled around the pole. Fleur blushed a little bit and shook it off before continuing.

“Yes, I barely had enough bits to support myself after I left Detrot-”

“Detrot? You mean that crime ridden city that’s purely corrupt by the drug lords it harbors?!”

“Yes…” she said with a sigh, “That’s where I came from, when my father had enough bits he snuck me onto the train and sent me off to Manehattan where from there I used the bits to head to Ponyville. By then I wasn’t close to enough, I was less than half and had no other way to get there.”

“So you became a dancer then pay for a ticket correct?” Hoity said as he put all the pieces together.

“Yes, at first it was just to get enough money to pay for a ticket to get out, but soon the rent was due and I needed to get more bits to but another ticket after I paid and soon…well soon I was stuck in a rut and it just became a regular job for me and soon modeling became an unreachable goal to me after so long.” she lowered her head as she remembered when she gave up on her dream to become a model.

Hoity handed her a tissue box but she held her hoof out saying no but he left it in front of her just in case she would need it.

“It was horrible, every night after night, horrible disgusting pigs left and right, I was the youngest mare there to, I was…also underaged.” the crowd gasped at hearing this.

“Then how did you dance?”

“I lied Hoity, with my figure I appeared to be 18 but…I was 15.”

Flame who was watching already knew about this which made him older than her by those 3 years now. He sighed as he remembered how bad he reacted at that truth, he nearly smacked her for such a thing but, he could never harm a woman, he just lectured her about the dangers. Though that led to their FWB status of course, he didn’t mind it though. He shook his head and focused back on the interview.

“So, I continued with the lie, then, something amazing happened!”

“Fancy Pants came and swopped you off your hooves?” he said with a chuckle and a smirk as he pulled his glasses down a tiny bit with a little movement in his brow as well.

The crowd already started their “oooooh’s” before she quieted them down with a little laugh as well, “No no no, this was before him, a customer came in, he was a griffon, a real stud really.” She giggled a bit. Flame turned up the volume a bit when he heard a griffon was mentioned knowing it was him as he smiled and got more comfortable.

“Oooooooh? Somepony before Fancy Pants? Dish dish disssshhhh.” He continued his smirk as he crossed his hooves.

“Well his name was Flame, Flame Chaleur the Griffon, he was different. Just by looking at him I knew he was, he tip me generously, he wouldn’t try anything, when he ordered a private dance, which usually take 2 hours we talked. I dance for him for 30 minutes and then we just talked the time away.” she said with a happy sigh with a warm smile on her face and a tiny blush.

“Hm, he sounds like quite the gentlecolt.”

“Oh he was, he never did anything bad to me…unless we were alone.”

“Ooooooh my, is there some little ‘hmm hm’ that we don’t know about?”

She laughed at his response, “No no no, as I said we were only friends with benefits, nothing more, he actually had a marefiend.”

A “ooooh” that you would hear on a sitcom where the character did something wrong or discovered something wrong was heard from the audience.

“Oh! Was she okay with this?”

“Of course! If she wasn’t then she wouldn’t have joined us at times.” She said with a wink to the audience as the stallions went crazy from just the very thought of a threesome with Fleur.

“Hahahahaha! Oh my Fleur you seem to had quite the life when you lived in Ponyville.”

“That I did, and then around some months later he left on a journey, I don’t even know if he’s back on it that’s when Fancy came and found and saw me. He said I would be perfect for his new line of dresses and…the rest is beautiful history.”

“Yes, soon after you married him correct? How did you two keep your relationship a secret?” he said as he leaned in a bit wanting to know this.

“Sorry Hoity, but I cannot reveal such information to the public, it would ruin the mystery behind it.” She said with a giggle as she patted his head.

He frowned and sat back in his cushion, “Well all of you out there have it, Fleur de Lis, a lone mare from Detrot who pushed through the hardships of erotic dancing and troubling conditions and is now one of Canterlot’s most famous models! A round of applause for this wonderful mare everypony!”

Flame paused the TV as it stayed on her face and smiled at her, “I’m proud of you Fleur, you’ve really grown these last few years…too bad I wasn’t there to see any of those moments.” He sighed to himself as he laid back on the bed but instantly shot up when he heard a voice calling for an “Angel”, he went to the window and looked outside and saw a yellow pegasus running around frantically calling out for this “Angel”.

Flame flew outside the window, closing it with his tail as he flew to her and stopped her.

“Ma’am calm down, what’s the problem?”

“Oh my, my little Angel bunny has gone missing, he was with me when we went to bed but when I woke up he wasn’t there…o-oh I have to find him….!” her shout was practically like a normal calm tone. Flame looked to her and patted her head a bit.

“Look here, how about I help you look for him, hm?” he said as he smiled to the yellow mare.

“O-Oh no…I don’t want to trouble you.”

“No trouble at all my dear, happy to help.” he said with a warm smile.

She backed away a bit from the griffon, trembling a bit.

“What’s wrong?” he asked with a concern look on his face.

“Well...you’re a griffon and all and...and you…” she whined a bit as she hid behind her mane with a little tear in her eye.

He knew what she was talking about, griffons who help those who aren’t usually charge…well, most of them charge a sexual type of payment. This is a sexist law though, it only abides to males who if they help a female OR EVEN a male of another species, the one they help must help them in a sexual way meaning, they can give the griffon whatever he orders. Be it oral, vaginal, anal, male, female, even if it’s more than one they have to let the griffon fuck them or suck him off. Married, taken by another it didn’t matter, they had no choice in the matter or else the griffon would take something of great value from them, usually their life. Flame knew this is what the poor pegasus meant and simply sighed.

“Listen ma’am, I know most griffons would ask for such an indecent act from you but I assure you I am NOT like all those others! Please madam let me assist you in finding your friend, please?” Flame looked at her with a serious and pleading face wanting only to help and not a single thing in return.

Fluttershy looked at him for a while still from behind her mane but saw he was being honest with her and moved a bit, “O-..Okay…I’m…Fluttershy” she said in her usual quiet voice.

“I’m sorry? I didn’t quite catch that.”

“I said it’s…Fluttershy”

“Fluttershy eh? Cute name, it suits you.” He said with a smile.

“Um…I’m sorry but um…I’m a…” she said something inaudible right there before looking away blushing and trotting off. “W-We have to find him….!”

Flame ignored that last part and nodded to her but stopped as he stared at her. She had a white ear popping out of her mane that he knew wasn’t hers.

“Um...Ms. Fluttershy?” he reached into her mane and pulled out the bunny for her to see as she turned to face him.

Fluttershy looked and quickly noticed that the sleeping bunny in his claw and gasped quietly yet happily. “Angel!” she said as she took the bunny in her hooves and nuzzled it lovingly.

“He was caught in your mane Fluttershy, seems he found that more comforting than a bed.” He said with a chuckle.

Fluttershy let out a quiet giggle as she held the bunny close and hovered in the air a bit. “Thank you um…Mr. Flame right?”

“Please Fluttershy, just Flame will do.”

“Oh…I’m sorry…”

“No need to apologize. Now I’m off.”

Fluttershy stopped him, “W-Wait..! I have to repay you…for..for helping me..”

“No need, for any sort of payment, a) it’s unnecessary for a small problem and b) the “payment” of my kind is not forced upon filly foolers.” He said as he rose one talon up for each of the two reasons.

Fluttershy blushed immensely at him as she had just heard him say that out loud.

“Another thing, I can read lips, and secondly, I don’t care that you are one, it’s you and how you are, I can’t change it nor will I.”

As Flame was about to walk off for a second time she flew to him and gave him a tight hug, she had tears running down her cheeks as she closed her eyes tightly. “Th-…Thank you…every other pony out there…they…they hit me…bullied me for it because of it…” she said in between sobs and sniffles.

He patted her head and held her close with one of his forearms around her in a comforting hug. “Do your friends know? Like your rainbow maned friend?”

She shook her head meaning she hadn’t told a single one of the 5 girls about her sexual orientation despite the many times she could before when her friends tried to set her up with a stallion every now and again. She was too afraid of them hating her for her sexuality thinking they’d be like the others.

Flame tilted her head up to him and looked at her, moved himself so now they were eye to eye evenly, “Listen here Fly girl, your friends love you right? Protect you? Are there for you?” she nodded in response.

“Then they won’t care which gender you like, sure they’ll be a little steamed for you not being honest but that’s ok, you were only scared and that’s perfectly natural for other individuals that are in this same situation.”

“But-”

“No buts! Now in the morning I want you to tell them about it, and then find me and tell me the result, either way I’ll be there for you as a new friend, sound good?”

She stared at him for a bit but eventually smiled and nodded saying she’ll tell them then go to him. H smiled back and nodded as well.

“Good, now, we should both be getting back to bed.”

They gave each other one last goodbye and waved to one another as they went back to their respective homes. Flame smiled to himself as he walked up the stairs to his bedroom.

He began to think about these events and quickly found the results, “I helped out a new friend with a deep and emotional situation, either way she’ll come to me and we’ll talk about the results of her honesty, if her friends are indeed her friends they’ll accept her and she’ll be happier than before, I just know it!”

He plopped back onto the bed and instantly found sleep again. As he slept he was unaware of the bag containing the crystal began to grow a different color, it began to glow a mix of red and black as Flame began to stir once more in his sleep.

Author's Note

This is so far the longest chapter I have written, I want them longer each and every time

I also want more tragedy but it's still far too early for such a thing.

I also need to find a way to get him to Canterlot that isn't as cheesy as just flying there or overplayed as for using the Ponyville Express Train, I need some smarter and more...I don't know exciting way to do it! Maybe a sewer? Eh, wait and see nous verrons bientôt

nous verrons bientôt = we'll see soon