The Nowhere King

Gallus had been awake for at least an hour since leaving the Lunar Court. He knew he should try and sleep, but the caffeine buzz from the coffee had him wired. The griffon sat in the dark, his haunches on the cushion in front of the large desk. He stared out the large window at the valley below, thinking about his newfound ability. He had a title and everything. Dream Strider. He shook his head in wonder. He was no longer Gallus the unwanted, the little blue orphan of Griffonstone’s tough streets. Not Gallus the unloved, either. He had friends and the best boyfriend a griffon could have. He turned his gaze for a moment to the dark mound laying in the middle of the bed. The pony snored quietly. A small smile split the griffon’s beak as he fiddled with the scroll of his latest drawing. Which made him think about Sandbar’s backside. Which made him think about rutting the earth pony earlier. Which made him hard.

“Heh,” the griffon laughed quietly, a claw lazily drifting down to his rapidly-emerging tip. “I guess that’s one way I could get some rest.”

He considered for a moment clawing off right where he was, but Sandbar tended to be a lighter sleeper, and he didn’t want to wake his pony. Well, Gallus admitted to himself, he really, really wanted to wake Sandbar up, roll around with him, and ride the pony’s thick shaft to glory. But he also knew his pony hated being woken up in the night, and it was late enough that it would probably be cruel. And he was learning to be a considerate griff. Also, they were out of olive oil. He sighed quietly and wandered off to the bathroom, hopeful that the bathroom door would provide enough sound proofing to let his pony sleep.

The air in the room was still damp and warm from the griffon’s earlier bath. That felt like a lifetime ago, now, instead of just two hours gone. Gallus sat himself on the lip of the bathtub and felt his remaining length push out of his sheath. The pleasant, familiar stretching of the sensitive skin brought a smile to his beak. One claw moved down, gently scooping up and fondling his balls as the other gripped his shaft. The griffon sighed contentedly. His left claw migrated from root to tip, the moderately tight grip squeezing his flesh delightfully. He dragged the claw back, letting one talon lightly scrape the fleshy ridge of the underside of his swelling erection. The touch made him shiver, and he felt his balls pull themselves closer to his body.

Sweet Winds, he loved his boyfriend, but there were some things to which claws were just better suited.

He stroked away again, his shaft now fully extended. He let his talons play at the tapered tip, teasing and lightly stroking the small hole for a few moments until a small dollop of wetness appeared. He pinched the drop between two talons and slid the wetness around his tip.

“Haa, yeah,” he murmured, gently massaging and toying with his orbs with his free claw.

He stroked himself quickly, lightly, and felt his shaft twitch with pleasure. Another bead of precum sprouted and he rubbed the palm of his claw into it.

He stroked himself with his slickened claw and moaned softly. He felt his loins tighten and he thrust his hips into his claw, the movement making a wonderful wet sound.

*Shlick shlick shlick*

Gallus loved that sound. He loved it more when it was accompanied by his pony moaning around the griffon’s shaft in his mouth.

Precum flowed from his tip at the thought.

“Aw fuck, aw!” the whimpered. Okay, he conceded, maybe his claw was pretty good, but it was nothing compared to being inside his pony’s muzzle.

*Shlick shlickshlick shlickshlickshlick* A small burst of clear fluid splashed onto the tile floor.

Or, Gallus thought, of being knot deep in the stallion’s rear.

His groin ached, and he felt his knot swell.

He was panting. His claw gripped the swollen shaft tightly. Gallus could feel his load gathering in his loins.

He thrust his hips into his wet claw as he moved his other claw away from his balls. He stuck a pair of talons in his mouth and sucked. It was a poor facsimile for Sandbar’s firm, juicy cock, but this close to the edge it made little difference. The last lucid part of the griffon’s brain thought back to the numerous times the stallion had come in his beak, the musky, intense earth pony cum filling his mouth as Sandbar’s flesh throbbed and pulsed and—

“Oh Gaw! Ohhh!” he moaned around the intruding talons.

—pulsed and throbbed like his own knotted cock.

His wings swept wide behind him and his tail tensed.

“Fuuuuuck!” he cried. He thrust forcefully into his claw.

A long line of cum fired from his tip, landing on the luxurious white bathmat below. The griffon whimpered, lost in ecstasy as he thrust wildly. Gallus watched another white strand land beside the first. Then another, and another in quick, thrusting succession. His claw gripped his swollen knot nearly to the point of pain. The last of his load dribbled messily from his tip and the griffon sat on the edge of the bathtub panting.

Gallus collapsed onto the hotel bed, finally exhausted enough to sleep. He dreaded how little time likely remained of the night, but he was determined to get as much rest as he could before they faced a train ride back to Ponyville in the morning. He shimmied under the smooth sheets and snuggled into his stallion’s backside. Usually, being in that position gave him an instant hard-on, but he was so recently spent, and otherwise so physically tired, that he stayed in his sheath for once. He yawned broadly and closed his eyes.

Gallus could hear voices. Angry voices. He looked around the classroom. He was the only student there. And the voices were getting closer in the hall outside. The griffon ruffled his feathers as he stood, letting the tension out of his wings. He stepped quietly toward the door and then slowly peeked out.

A horde of angry-looking ponies swarmed the hall. Each had a terrible black cloak that swirled with symbols. Gallus shivered.

“Where is he?” one pony shouted.

“We know you’re here!” Another voice taunted.

Gallus leapt away from the door, landing quietly on the soft pads of his back legs. He needed to hide. He scanned the classroom, but the door to the hall was the only exit, and the desks provided little cover. Wait, he thought, wasn’t there a supply closet in this room? He looked around again. There! He padded over to the closet quickly. Why hadn’t he seen it before?

He opened the closet door. It was dark inside, and the space was pretty small—large enough for one griffon to stand still, so long as he kept his wings to his sides and didn’t need to turn around. Gallus felt his heart racing . Any moment, the ponies in the hall would barge into the classroom. He had to hide. In this supply closet. This tiny, tight closet. In the dark.

Gallus swallowed nervously and backed into the closet. He pulled the door closed, and darkness surrounded him. It was fine. He had plenty of room. He shifted his weight and one wing bumped a shelf. He fought to keep the rising panic at the constricted space from consuming him.

“Plenty of room,” he whispered to himself. “Totally spacious.”

He bumped into the shelf on his other side. And felt the wall behind him. And his claw was on the door, his breathing coming in erratic gulps. His crest feathers brushed the ceiling. “No no nononono," he whimpered. He felt a desperate need to escape, and pushed against the door. It didn’t budge. He was stuck.

He felt tears burning in his eyes. “It’s impossible,” he whimpered. His heart felt like it would beat his chest apart. Some tiny bit of reason tickled his mostly-panicked brain. “Wait,” he said, his voice sounding desperate in his own ears. “Impossible.” He said the word with soft wonder. His wings snapped out, banging into shelves. “It’s a dream!” he crowed. “Okay, okay, let’s just… Ugh. Concentrate, Gallus!”

He closed his eyes, and cold washed over him. He shivered and opened his eyes, finding himself in his and Sandbar’s dorm. The increasingly familiar half-light of the Umbral Realm filled the space.

Gallus drew a shaky breath and sat down on his bed.

It had just been a crappy dream. And the cloaked ponies had been there. So maybe they were just figments of his imagination after all. That would be a relief.

He sighed. Luna had said that he wouldn’t get much rest in this place. “Okay,” he said to himself, “just focus. Smell worked before, so…” He sniffed the air.

Something shimmered in the corner of the griffon’s eye. He yelled and jumped, letting his wings carry him into the air.

A bubble glinted softly in the not-light. Inside it, a sea-green earth pony and a blue furred griffon nuzzled each other sweetly. He blinked slowly, realizing what he was seeing. He hovered closer to the bubble’s iridescent surface, peering inward.

“Thanks for helping me ace that test,” dream Gallus said. The real griffon shook his head. He was glad the dream bubble was causing a weird distortion in the sound. No way did he sound that nasal and whiny.

“Anything for my husband,” the earth pony replied.

“Wait, we’re married?!” Gallus squawked. His wingtip touched the bubble on accident, and the griffon gasped—a terrible inferno raged across his feathers as they brushed the bubble’s surface. The wing sank into the bubble and the griffon was dragged forward against his will. A terrible heat rushed across his body and Gallus screamed, as his body burned.

Gallus blinked tears from his eyes. And saw a strange reflection of himself glaring back at him.

“That’s not funny, Ocellus, we’ve talked about you impersonating Gallus,” Sandbar said. “How did you even get in here?”

Gallus gaped in confusion. “What?”

“Knock it off,” the doppelganger griffon complained. Gallus’ eye twitched. No way did his voice actually sound like that. “We’re kind of in the middle of a private moment.” The faux griffon stroked one claw lovingly down Sandbar’s face. Gallus blushed, jealous. Despite, he realized, the ridiculousness of being jealous of himself.

“I’m not a changeling,” Gallus replied gruffly. “And you’re not me.” He waved a claw dismissively at the other Gallus and the griffon disintegrated into the ether. Sandbar gasped. Gallus stepped up to him. “Shh,” he said, calming the earth pony. His stallion looked him in the eyes. “You know we’re not married yet, right?”

Something changed in Sandbar’s eyes. The pony shifted and he was suddenly… Gallus lacked the words for it, but Sandbar seemed more present. “Y-yeah,” he stammered. Gallus smiled. His pony had the worst time getting anything out his mouth when he was nervous. “How are you— this is a dream, right?”

Gallus nodded.

“Did Princess Luna do this? Was I having a nightmare?” he shook his head, his shaggy mane shifting as he moved. “I don’t remember anything too awful.”

Gallus grinned. “Would you believe that I did it?”

Sandbar blinked slowly. “You… entered my dream?”

Gallus nodded, feeling heat warm his cheeks.

“How?” the stallion asked simply.

Gallus shrugged. “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you in the morning?”

Sandbar frowned but nodded. The two were silent for a moment before the earth pony’s face split in a sudden grin. “You wanna do what we did last time?”

Gallus blushed. “Part of me does, yeah,” he admitted, “but I’m also kind of exhausted. Like, in every way.” He sighed. “I know it’s weird since I’m currently holding you in bed anyway, but can we just, like, cuddle for a minute?”

The earth pony lifted one hoof and wrapped it around the griffon.

“So you wanna marry me?” The two creatures were wrapped in blankets around a large, warmly-glowing fire. It had started as a bonfire, but Gallus had managed to shrink it to a reasonable size pretty quickly. Sandbar’s head rested on the griffon’s chest, their limbs intertwined. The pony basked in the warmth of the fire and the radiating warmth of the griffon below him.

“Well, yeah,” the pony mumbled. “I mean, I did ask in the griffon way, right?”

Gallus nodded, feeling the small jade turtle that constantly hung around his neck, even in his dreams. “Pretty much. It’s not really a promise, though. Plenty of griffons break it off after exchanging feathers, and they start seeing other griffs.”

The light green pony raised his head and fixed Gallus with an intense stare. “Do you want to see anyone else?”

The griffon snorted. “Hardly. You’re my pony, Sandbar.” The pony’s face flushed red. “And you’re cute when you blush.”

Sandbar buried his face in the griffon’s chest. “Shut up,” he complained. “And good,” he continued. The two were silent for several moments. The fire crackled and snapped, and the only other sound was the sound of the two creatures’ breathing.

Sandbar shifted his head, softly nuzzling the underside of the griffon’s beak. “You sure you don’t want to do what we did before here?”

Gallus laughed and shook his head. “It’s really, really late, and I’ve had a weird day.”

Sandbar shrugged, his shoulders moving under the griffon’s arms. “Fair enough. Okay if I top tomorrow when we get back home, then?”

Gallus felt himself get a little hard, despite his protests.

The earth pony grinned. “I can feel that, you know.”

“It’s just saying yes,” the griffon deadpanned. “Now, shush. I should try and get out of here so we can get some actual rest.”