Good Intentions

The hinges of the door had made no noise as Ocellus's hoof pushed it open, the testament to magical perfection lost on her as she peeked past the entrance and into the room beyond. Despite a lack of any synthetic lights the room was lit well, the still drawn shut curtains at the end of the bed doing little to keep out the now fully risen sun, leaving little doubt in the utter emptiness of the space.

"G-gallus?" Her eyes lingered on the comfortable bed she had enjoyed last night's rest in. A deep yearning engulfing her heart as memories of her lover flashed before her. Her eyes closed and for a moment she felt the calm of a powerful gryphon embracing her, with a shudder she returned to reality. Likely he had only recently awoken and was still grabbing breakfast, Gallus had always been unapproachable till he had his morning meal.

This meant he would be in the school cafeteria, stuffing his face with one of Applejack's pies. Satisfied with her deduction and a twitch of her excited tail the changeling quickly closed the door to his room and began to stride toward her new destination. She was confident he would be quite receptive to her inquiries once he had his fill.

Due to the centralized layout of the school the trip was not long and after a quick trot across the sunsoaked central-courtyard Ocellus entered the main building of the school, her objective just down the hall. However, even this short trip through public grounds revealed to her a strange realization; every pony she so much as saw today was overflowing with emotions. She knew it was improbable to be their doing, and must have been a sign her own senses were extra sensitive today.

The influx of fascinating but ultimately unwanted feelings brought her step to a momentary halt as she quickly raised her mental defenses, dulling herself to the world around her. She was not going to let her self be steered off course by her over eager body. The last sensation that manage to slip past and into her was a tingling sensation, which quickly shot up her spine, and with the hint of a blush she realized it had emanated from the stallion who had just passed her. She was no longer too innocent to assume its meaning, but did not permit this to give her more than a momentary pause.

Despite the short distance to the double doors doors welcoming ponies into the cafeteria Ocellus felt immense relief as her eyes scanned over the large room and made out the easy to spot gryphon. Falling in love with the only gryphon in a school full of ponies did have its benefits, beyond the obvious ones.

She smirked to herself as she approached him, easily navigating through the sparsely populated room, with school break still ongoing many ponies were away and staying with family. As she closed in Ocellus had to take her eyes off Gallus to finally acknowledge the two obstacles that had thrown themselves before her. He was not sitting at their usual desk alone, but instead was flanked by two mares she only had vague recollection of seeing around school before.

This was not exactly uncommon, ever since the incident involving Cozy Glow they had become local celebrities. The days directly following the events had been strange for her, while the warm emotions seeping from everycreature had been a deeply gratifying experience, it had severely interfered with her schedule and study habits. Ultimately Twilight saw the issues arising and was quick to pull the group aside and permit them to eat and rest in the teacher's lounge when they so desired. However, months had passed since and most ponies had moved on to newer hobbies, world saving while appreciated was after-all not that uncommon a feat.

And yet, these two mare's seemingly had missed the memo and were actively obstructing her very important plans. With simmering annoyance she came to a halt behind one of them and voiced a noisy "Umhum", waiting just long enough to gain their attention before speaking in her usual innocent and unassuming tone.

"Excuse me, but you are sitting in my seat."

The three creatures had turned to face her and to her credit the mare greeted Ocellus with a warm smile and quickly scooted over to the next seat. Ocellus took her place next to Gallus, realizing that despite her success she still had two unwanted guests flanking both sides of them. Even as she turned to glare in the direction of the pony who had just made space for her, the same mare began to speak up in a shrill excited voice.

"Sorry! Me and Bublepop were just saying how much we admire what Gallus, and the others, did for all of us!" Despite her best attempts Ocellus could sense the bubbling excitement ebbing from the mare, an emotion she understood too well. Curiously she glanced toward her gryphon friend, who was simply chewing away at his meal with nought but a quietly smug expression. She suppressed a growl at his silent entertainment even as the other mare continued.

"Yea, and Gallus was so brave when he rushed forward to protect everycreature!" Ocellus had to bite her lip to stop herself from exploding into an interruption, there was something about the blatantly flattery that irked her. "And we just thought, 'They saved all of us from a horrible fate, the least we should do is let them know that we would gladly help with anything they need.'." As if the absurdly sugary tone of voice was not bad enough, Ocellus easily sensed the same underlying excitement in this mare.

Despite the deep growling in her mind Ocellus contented herself with rolling her eyes, of course these two had been so appreciative that they practically ambushed her gryphon alone during his morning meal, months after the event. She credited her relative calm at the equally reserved state of her companion, who seemed despite not voicing any vocal objections uninterested in the underlying offer. He had simply been too polite to tell them to leave, or enjoyed stringing them on. In either case that would have to come to an end, now. With a visibly unauthentic grin Ocellus met the eyes of the pony she had asked to move, and spoke.

"That is very nice of both of you, I'll be sure to let the rest know about your generous offer, I understand that Smolder plans to bring some fire-resistant targets from her trip to the dragon lands. She is going to need all the help she can get setting up her range, those things are heavy." Her tone was equally sugar coated as the speech of the two mares, and with a quick glance she met both of their pairs of eyes. She had no interest to mirror Silverstream's selfishness, but reasoned that these two had acted as underhanded thieves trying to snake their way into Gallus's busy schedule, rather than genuine lovers looking to make him happy.

The two ponies seemed to take the hint, whether from her words or tone, and with a set of awkward glances between each other gave a quick nod before muttering something about having a lot of studying to complete before the next school year began. The moment the two were out of earshot Gallus swallowed the whole muffin he had so far been ineffectively nibbling and turned toward the changeling with a raised eyebrow.

"Not that I don't appreciate the backup, but wasn't that a little harsh? Even I wouldn't want to spend a whole day dragging around big rocks for smolder to shoot fire at." Ocellus barely even recognized his words, the moment their eyes had met she had dropped all attempts at dulling her seven's sense and permitted herself to be tickled by the touch of Gallus's emotions. They spoke only of mundane playfulness and a sated belly, but to her his very presence was a warming blanket that drowned out the rest of the room. A blush crept onto her face and when she spoke Ocellus was sure to intone with her usual softspokeness that he was sure to find sympathetic.

"Sorry if I was rude." She let the words linger just long enough to be believable, "but I had something important I needed help with, preferably privately." Her last words was almost a hush and she could not help but feel a simple satisfaction when the next emotion she received was one of compassion. She leaned a little closer, almost touching his body with her own, yearning to continue as she stopped moving. "I need romance advice."

Gallus's perfect facade of cool crumbled in an instant, and his best attempt at coughing awkwardly to cover up his surprise was lost on the emotion sensing creature. As he stalled, their eyes lingering on one another with wordless questions, Ocellus could sense his embarrassment grow as a few stray looks took note of the display. Despite this, he huddled closer to her, using a voice quiet enough that non of the ponies could overhear them. "R..romance isn't really my strong suit, Silverstream knows much more about that kind of stuff. Besides, if Smolder heard I was giving out lovey dovey advice, you know I would never hear the end of it."

Despite his words it was obvious that Gallus's protests lacked conviction, a defeatist acceptance radiating from him that encouraged her to press onward. With a giggle Ocellus raised a hoof to his beak and replied in the same hushed tone. "Honesty is an element, and we both know everycreature is practically swooning over you." She let that statment hang for just a moment, enjoying the slightly conflicted and suspicious emotions she savored from him in reaction, then continued. "And you know my target a lot better than Silverstream, you two spend a lot of time together after all."

Ocellus could have sworn she could see the heat radiating from the gryphon's face, even through the covering of his facial fur. His eyes darted past her and toward the other ponies in the room and then he finally returned a nod. With a played up sigh he spoke with his usual apathetic tone. "Fine, but if you tell anycreature about this I am never going to live it down." The fact that he could not bring himself to threaten her, hollow as it would have been, only served to deepen her love for her perfect mate, strength honed in compassion and not aggression. After a short pause he continued, and it became evident he had already made peace with his new position as matchmaker, "Who is the lucky guy anyway, or are we keeping that till we get somewhere away from prying ears?"

She had noted but cared little for the rest of the creatures in the room, they were for the most part more concerned with each other than anything else, but she could not deny the nervous energy radiating from her gryphon companion. The big goof was such a sensitive thing, and just a hint insecure. She grinned slyly and fluttered her wings a little in quiet excitement before responding, "There is a secret hideout in the library I could show you, away from all interlopers and with plenty of reference material in reach." Her tone had ever the slightest hint of suggestion in it, but now she was content to leave him guessing rather than expecting.

She did not have to wait for his response, the open book he had become left little obscurity about his willingness to follow, and so she gracefully removed herself from the seat. Subconsciously she could not prevent herself from flicking her tail and moving with subtle emphasis to her sleek form. Though if the gryphon took note he did well at maintaining his mental composure, and before long he had followed her out into the hall.

As they walked down the hall Ocellus this time had little need for the mental barriers, her senses completely buried within the touch of Gallus's mind. She smirked at him, blushing softly through her blue chitin while speaking up once more. "Thankyou for helping me with this, it is really important to me." Her wings fluttered once more as she glanced toward the floor for a moment "I am still new to this whole idea of love and wouldn't want to do something wrong."

The moment she had finished her speech she could feel another wave of sympathy, and affection, emanating from him. Even as he spoke his voice sounded shaky, as if suddenly emotions had made themselves known he had not yet fully categorized, to her the tickling uncertainty he felt was just another point of evidence toward his true affection.
"He..hey, don't worry about it, alright? I don't think there is anycreature who would deny your charm and intellect. What kind of fool wouldn't give you a chance?" He half chuckled half coughed after his statement, awkwardly trying to avoid the implication even as her eyes met his and soft flickering green flame behind them brought his beak to a warm smirk.

The rest of the trip was mostly uneventful, Ocellus not inclined to start a public show for anycreature while Gallus mulled internally on the awkward tingling his body felt. Soon they slipped into the massive library of the school, clearly a symbol of the headmare's obsessions. The place was not packed, which was of little surprise due to the scale of the room requiring most of Ponyville's population to accomplish that, but at least a few study groups and individual students could be seen.

Often Ocellus would find a deep appreciation in any student who matched her interests and many here she had at least talked to in passing, usually about whatever newly released book had made the local circles. However, today she was focused on the big bird beside her, who needed not to read a single book to make her the happiest creature in the library. With a playful hush and a excited leap she finally took lead before him, letting his eyes linger on her rump if they so pleased.

Whether intentionally or not, he did so please, and she could feel the desired affect seep from the gryphon as his mind voice appreciation. Smirking proudly to herself and feeling a surge of reassurance she lead him deep into the library, past many rows of bookshelves until they finally slipped down one of the most empty sections of them all, "Husbandry".

Ocellus had originally found some fascination with the topic, subjugation and education of those creatures less fortunate of mind seemed like a reasonable topic, but sadly ponies seemed to be much more uncomfortable with the matters and many books here were either ancient or poorly researched. However, it had still been a worthwhile topic to get into, as she slipped into one of the bookshelves lowest rows, the books here so sparse they made a hole wide enough for her form.

After leaving the gryphon standing there dumbfounded and surprised at her swift motion she returned, facing him now and grasping one of his claws with a giggle. "Come now, there is enough room for both of us in here, promise." He wanted to voice his skepticism, but as his beak opened she simply made another hush and tugged on his claw. Reluctantly he gave in and awkwardly lowered himself to the ground and into the passageway.

It was tight, way too tight for him, and even his best efforts at pulling in his wings and feathers did not stop him from knocking down one or two more books and hearing them clatter to the ground. Still, he managed eventually to break through the passage into another realm, a final tug from the changeling leading him to bowl her over as he stumbled through. A dimly lit little nook of space between this final bookshelf and the walls of the library formed a surprisingly cozy triangle. His eyes darted across the area, making out a small table with a lamp, a pile of pillows big enough even for him, and a tower of books.

Finally his mind return to the physical sensations, primarily his smaller friend practically squished against his fluffy chest voicing a shy squeal as she wiggled against him in a fruitless attempt to escape his weight. Looking down he met eyes eyes, and despite the awkward position she was beaming with a wide grin and spoke in a proud voice. "Welcome to MY domain. I call it the book hive."

If she knew how cheesy the name was, she showed no sign of embarrassment in her exclamation. It made her only more adorable to him and a respectable portion of his mind wanted him to squeeze her silly form in response. But he was mated and he was loyal, and begrudgingly he rolled off her compromised form and gave her the space to stand up, while trying to shift his mind from the uncouth thoughts. With a genuinely impressed chuckle he spoke up.

"Did you bribe Twilight to set this up for you? And you are sure nocreature can hear us in here?" He leaned an ear against one of the bookshelves and found them to give surprisingly good insulation. Sure he could hear some hushed clacks of hooves when a pony made its way this far to the back of the library, but with how many shelves were lined between this corner and the front reading area, it was unlikely anycreature would mind their discussion.

Ocellus seemed to agree as she responded with no attempt to hush herself, her wings fluttering proudly. "No, I doubt even she is aware of this little outcove. This is the west corner of the library." She ran one hoof along the crystal wall that formed the hypotenuse of the triangular room, "I guess headmare Twilight wanted universal spacing between the bookshelves but it didn't quite fit, so they covered up this section with a bookshelf." She smirked proudly and then gave a shrug "Or she wanted one of her most dedicated students to find it and create a home away from home. And don't worry, there were never enough books to fully cover this section, I just moved some over to the next shelf to make my entrance, would never damage school property."

He glanced at the tower of books beside her pillow bed and rolled his eyes, unsure if any of those were officially checked out or she had simply taken to 'borrowing' them. It didn't really matter to him, once the curiosity of this place had begun to wear off he remembered why they had come here, and grew unsure what to say. She could tell the changing focus of his mind, and without attempt at reservation nuzzled his large chest reassuringly. "Don't worry, here you can teach me all about love without being disturbed by anycreature." She winked up at him, then slid past the gryphon and toward the hole that made the entrance, at the last second turning her head around to look into his eyes. "Even Silverstream wouldn't find us here. Let me grab some books on the topic that might help."

Gallus had simply stood still, frozen like an icicle as the changeling made her advances, then left him in this cave to stew with a final glance at her rump as she vanished back past the ever tight hole. As the seconds passed and his brain tried to recuperate he growled at himself. Time and time again his mind flashed before him images, images of her rear as it struggled to tuck itself through the tight entrance, images of her adorable eyes winking up at him. Images of Silverstream beneath him in his bed being eager to be taken by her lover. Why did he come here? Why didn't he shut Ocellus down yet? He had to, once she was back.

He sat down on his haunches and kept his eyes focused on the entrance, determined to make his position on the matter clear once the changeling returned. Despite his determination he felt the stirring in his loins, the frustration of having grown ever so slightly excited and now being made to wait endlessly in this hole.

The moment finally passed when his ears twitched in response to the shuffling outside, five books were pushed through the entrance, and followed by the head of his changeling friend. She smirked as they made eye contact, her eyes glinting with excitement even as she wiggled through the hole like an adorable snake. He opened his beak to speak, but was cut off by Ocellus whining out a plea. "Gallus! I am stuck...! Your big haunches messed with my hole."

He stared at her dumbfounded, unsure how to reply. He had expected her to burst into laughter at the inappropriate nature of her statement, but instead simply kept her eyes on his, and fruitlessly wiggled in place. She was being serious, and had simply stumbled into the most unfortunate of word choices. Coughing awkward the gryphon approached her and carefully grasp her forehooves with his claws. He tucked on her limbs and did his best to sound reassuring as he spoke.

"I was able to fit through there, whatever you did can't have made it much worse, books are flimsy things. Just stop moving and let me help you." He tucked again, and could see the changeling shift an inch forward, but it was difficult to acquire a hold on hooves, and soon he found himself crawling further up, embracing the changeling in full body hug with the platonic goal to pull her free. It worked, and with a gasp he suddenly felt himself shooting onto his back as Ocellus plopped free and snugly landed on his chest. As she nestled there in his still clasping hug the gryphon realized how petite she really was, he must must be twice her strength.

She did not make an obvious attempt to withdraw from him, instead seeming content to relax and catch her breath, still softly weighting on his chest. He wanted to object, to push her off, but his body would not move, he purred softly as his limbs simply contented themselves with holding her in a moment of peace. Then he slowly brought his head down, rested it on-top of hers and closed his eyes.

His next breath inhaled her scent, and the lingering taste became a strange allure that coaxed the gryphon into further breaths, subconsciously nuzzling her head affectionately. And then his moment of peace and rest was broken by a high pitched and shy squeak originating from the changeling he was still imprisoning in his grasp. "Sorry about that Gallus, I'll be more careful in future. But you may let go of me now, its not rest time yet."

His heart stopped and sank, he had not expected to be interrupted by her. Even as she withdrew from him, struggling against his molasses like limbs with each tug he felt his mind linger on thoughts of regret. But as she smiled up at him with no sign of judgment he blushed and set her free. Ocellus taking the chance to quickly crawl off his soft chest and into her equally welcoming pillow fort instead. Gallus for his part was occupied with pulling up his lower legs and attempting to hide any indecency he might have suffered from the pleasant contact.

He was glad to note that she did not seem to take note, instead engrossed with the first book she had grabbed herself, flipping through it to a specific page. When she found her target she pointed a hoof at it, clearly for show being he was not close enough to read the thing, and then looked up at him with a sideways tilted head. "This library has books on every topic Equestrian's research, and yet I find the sections talking about romance to be lacking. Many simply insist that ponies mate for life, one stallion, one mare, one family, and leave the rest as obvious." There was a sound of lingering uncertainty as she continued to explain to him.

"But for me that is so confusing. Changelings are not taught about constructs of family like that, or even romance locked to one partner. I know I am still a young-ling but we are raised to be free and loving." Despite her obvious attempt to look prideful there was ever the hint of a blush as she admitted this, as if she was concerned what Gallus might think of her for it. Her eyes met his and glimmered as she concluded. "What about gryphons? Do all other races treat this like ponies do? A..am I weird?"

Gallus was far from the most empathetic of his group, but even he could easily note the concerns and worries that dripped from the poor changeling's final words. And as his heart ached to sooth her fears he blurted out his responds before truly giving them thought. "Pff, ponies are just big softies. Most races don't believe in that crap, and certainly Gryphons don't tie themselves down for life." Despite his mind slowly catching up with his heart he held the gryph-grin he had afforded her, long enough to comfort her before finishing his reply. "Though.. some other races do, hippogryphs got more pony then Gryphon in them I guess. I think it comes with their concepts of heraldry or something."

He shrugged as he tried to recall exactly what Silverstream had told him about the importance to her society. He loved her and had been more then willing to discard his freedoms for her happiness, why had not really seemed that important at the time. As Ocellus continued to question him he wished he had taken the time to fully understand why it mattered to Silverstream so much.

"That is a relief, though, I guess if you took after Silverstream's demand, then that means creatures like us should restrict ourselves to the limitations ponies and hippogryphs put forward?" She pondered, and Gallus held his beak half open for a moment. He could not suppress the burning desire to correct her "I wouldn't call it a demand, I just wanted to make her as happy as possible and didn't mind. It was not like I gave up anything that I wanted." His words became unsteady as he finished, before his mind flashed memories of Smolder. Even as he tried to assure himself that mistake had been corrected he could feel his shaft twitch, and images of the adorable changeling before him held in his grasp took their place.

"But your culture has a preference, and so does her's, and you gave away the free flowing nature of a gryphon because she requested it." He was unsure if he was reading into it, but he felt the weight of judgment in her voice. "I know you want to make her happy, but your comfort should be her happiness. Didn't her way of doing things cause that fight you two had yesterday?"

Many strange things had happened to Gallus in the last day, but at no point had he expected to find himself interrogated and judged by his usually shy and reserved friend. His expression was that of a plucked chicken as the two met eyes and Ocellus innocently tilted her head. Then spoke once more, in a tone that rang with simple sympathy. "Of course that is non of my business to get hung up on, but its not like I don't sense how you feel around me." She blushed even as he felt he should be the one to be embarrassed, "When you were holding me earlier it was kinda obvious."

His body tensed up at the accusations, he wanted to shout back that it was her fault they had landed in such a position, but that would not deny his arousal. He gritted his beak and huffed out a short formal response.

"Natural response to a female plopping herself onto my chest, doesn't mean I actually want to do anything." He met her eyes again, and wished he could read her emotions half as well as she read his. "I love Silverstream and she is more important than my base instincts."

"So you admit to giving something up." She simply stated, getting up from her pillows and approached the gryphon. "Obviously your decision to make, but it is important to know what you want, and not blind yourself intentionally." Her petite form came to a halt just before him, looking up at him with a wordless question.

He could smell her arousal, or was it his? It did not matter, the aroma tingled his nostrils in either case, causing his tail to twitch and mind to slow down. Wordlessly his gaze lingered on hers, the full blue eyes mesmerizing as they twinkled with as a hint of green flame. His tail flicked and wings twitched subconsciously, she had awoken a desire within his body and it was beginning to take hold. But even as he contemplated to lean his head forward, nuzzle her petite head and lure himself deeper down this spiral, a flash of the most wonderful hyppogriff he knew steeled his mind. His beak shifted into a warm smile as recent memories seeped in, the comfort and peace he felt, the pride when they finally mated.

"I am sorry Ocellus, I know what I want. I already messed things up with her once, and she forgave me and trusts me not to repeat the mistake. I need no-one but her." Even as he spoke he felt a pang of guilt for rejecting her like this, Ocellus meant no ill, she was just asking to be embraced. A week ago he likely would have done so without question, what harm in sharing affection with those dear to you? However, he now understood how much it truly meant to Silverstream.

There was a hanging moment of silence, and as he had expected, the changeling's expression soon became one of bashfulness, as if embarrassed to have ever been so forward now that things slowed down. What he did not however expect was her suddenly glancing back up at him and responding as she did.

"What if I tell you that we already shared this 'mistake'?" As she spoke he saw a green flame envelope her rear, and within an instant leave behind the form of his true love. The pink flank covered by hues of a blue tail. "Last night, and in the morning, I know it was an accident at first, just a misunderstanding but..."

Her eyes shimmered, with hope, lust, fear. His mind reeled from the still sinking realization, even as his body reacted to the swishing of her tail and the alluring memories of recent conquests. He could not form a word, petrified even as she nuzzled his chest and whimpered out. "If you still don't don't want me, you don't have to, but you had to know that it was me who gave you what she wouldn't."

Shamelessly the usually innocent changeling turned around, and flagged her tail in a blatant display of her most private parts. No, not hers, Silverstreams, the perfect imitation he had not been able to tell apart half a day past. With a gulp he felt his cock stir, growing to occasion even as he opened his beak to reply. "T...that was you? But I apologized, Silverstream needed to hear that I was sorry, that I-"

Ocellus shook her flank, and lowered her body into a submissive posture, "Nocreature is stopping you from going to her right now, I just want you to be honest about what really makes you happy. You were such an eager and passionate lover, and she will just keep denying you." With a flash of flame her pink fur was shifted once more, leaving behind the much smaller but no less revealing changeling rump of Ocellus. "I don't want to steal you from her, but I don't want to see you caged by love, passion should set you free."

Gallus's heart raced, his cock hard and his wings unfurled in a visible display of arousal even as his mind tried to think clearly, tried to remind him of the value of restrain. And yet he heard the clack of claw against crystal floor, felt his body bring himself closer to the alluring form, his beak suck in the wonderful musk of two aroused creatures. She was small, smaller then Silverstream for sure, but showed no hint of fear, and he knew that if she couldn't take him she could always... well she could take on her form again.

It wasn't as thought this would be their first time, and if Silverstream had never actually received his apology he wasn't betraying her again. Just this once, to appease whatever he had awoken in her. He heard her purr, and realized his claw was already grasping her flank, giving the petite thing a soft squeeze and finding the chitin a strange but alluring contrast to warm hippogryph fur, not unlike Smolder's scales.

Ocellus felt his touch, and murmured, the euphoria of his lust and passion seeping into her once more. He had yet to mount her, to claim her, and already she was filled with satisfaction, she had proven Silverstream wrong. Gallus was a proud griffon, not a canary that could be locked up.

As he climbed ontop of her she relaxed and closed her eyes, knowing what he needed from her.