Author's Note

Hello one and all! The story lives!

I know many of you have been waiting, and I know most if not all of you are only interested in this story. So I will try my best to try and get this story out to you guys more.

My life has been busy, what with my new job and all. so thank you for waiting this long.

I'm still trying to grab hold of my writing spirit, but it will take time. So my chapters for this story may come in small doses.

Summit Pt 1

Tonight was the night, after much anticipation and preparation the summit was about to begin. Glenda and I were nervous beyond belief. This summit would determine so much, and the weight of that knowledge was almost too much to bear. Even with Zaya agreeing to help smooth things over with the dragon lord, it would only work if he felt like cooperating with us. The worst-case scenario would be that I would have to fight him if he decided to be hostile.

Then there was Zaya herself and her “playfulness” as me and Glenda would call it. We had well over a day to spend with her, and boy what a day that was. She had this sixth sense for knowing that there was something romantic going on between me and Glenda, and she didn’t hesitate to tease us about it.

At first it was just little playful jabs like how long we’d been together? How did we meet? Have we kissed before? Just slightly mild teasing that got me and Glenda to blush and fumble our words from time to time. However, the real curve ball came when we were all eating together in the dining hall.

(The day before)

My eyes fluttered open as my internal clock told me it was time to wake up. I had gotten used to waking up in the early hours of the day ever since I came to this world. Without the distractions of TV, video games or the internet there was no reason for me to stay up for an unreasonable hour. The rare time I ever got to enjoy the luxuries of home was whenever Luna invited me over to play games and watch shows together with the help of her magical portal.

In my past life I’d never wake up as early as 6 AM, and would call anyone who did, a psychopath. Yet here I lay in my comfortable king-size bed, slowly waking up getting ready to greet the day and to perform my duties. However, as I let my mind wake up, I noticed a feathered appendage draped over my body.

Craning my neck, I saw the wing belonged to Glenda, who was currently snuggled into my body with a happy smile on her face. The night before after making sure that Zaya and her zebra companions were tended to and given their own rooms, me and Glenda spent time going over the planning for the summit. We planned up till Glenda felt too exhausted to keep her eyes open. I had to carry her on my back and invited her to sleep in my room since it was closer and there would be plenty of room on my bed. She sleepily agreed and I carried her to my room.

When we got to my room, I had set her on one side of the bed, while I took the other end and fell asleep shortly after. But I guessed between then and now she had moved over to cuddle up with me while she slept. I felt my cheeks start to burn as the gravity of the situation started to sink in. My heart was racing, and I wasn’t sure what to do.

But the longer I watched her sleeping so peacefully and content next to me, the more I knew that I was in love. I know that we both expressed how we both felt for one another after our reunion, but to think I’d find love in a new world still had me baffled. The barrier in my mind about her being a different creature and that I was no longer human, was all but nonexistent.

Without hesitating I leaned down to nuzzle my nose into her cheek, and got a happy purr from her in return. Soon her eyes began to open as she let out a cute yawn. “Morning sleeping beauty.” I said in a warm tone.

She grumbled as she moved to nuzzle her head into my chest, and covered her head with her wing. “Mmnnoooo I don’t want to wake up, give me five more minutes.” She groaned in a winning plead.

I had a feeling she wasn’t awake enough to fully grasp where she was right now, or who she was talking to right now. Which gave me a rather playful idea, as I moved to nuzzle my muzzle into her neck and snort some air from my nostril onto her feathers. This got her to giggle, and her talon paw moved to playfully bat my head away.

She turned onto her back as she tried to move away, which exposed her belly to me. That’s when I darted my head in and began to blow raspberries on her belly. She burst out into a fit of laughter as her legs and arm kicked around, her wings fully extending. “HAHAH S-STOP!!”

I didn’t and kept blowing raspberries onto her belly, moving my head to her belly even when she tried to turn away. Eventually her arms moved to wrap around my head, pinning my head to her feathery chest as she woke up. “Gotcha!”

When she saw it was me and she was fully awake her face went bright red, her feathers puffed up like any griffon would when put into an embarrassing situation. There was a brief pause before her expression softened. She leaned her head in and nuzzled her face against my own, which is the griffin equivalent to a kiss. The idea of kissing with lips from my world didn’t apply at this moment, but the feeling you get when you share a kiss with someone you like is universal.

We stayed cuddled together like that for a few moments until we both decided to get out of bed, to greet the day and prepare for the summit. We had the prep work taken care of, we had the food, the decoration and the setting down, now all we must do is wait and see what will come of it all.

Both Glenda and I walked out of my room, and made our way to the dining hall, each eager to get something in our bellies. Glenda was craving Gilda’s chocolate filled scones, and as for me I was in the mood for some waffles with some blueberry syrup, my mouth was watering just thinking about it all.

Walking through a large double door, we entered the dining hall greeted by the scent of delicious food being cooked, and the chatting and murmurs of the citizens who had gotten there before us. Unlike your typical royal dining hall, any of the citizens were allowed to come and sit to have a meal.

The castle wasn’t just some fancy house for the ruling monarch to live in exclusively, rather it was a place open to the public to come and go as they pleased. Barring a few wings of the castle meant for official or royal duties.

When this was first announced, many found the idea rather odd and potentially dangerous. However, Glenda explained that she wanted to break down the walls between nobility and commoners, stating that at the end of it all we are the same.

Which is also why she made it that the food served in the dining hall was for anyone who needed it, and it wouldn’t cost them anything. But this rule only applied to those less fortunate, because despite the rising progress of Griffonstone, we still had those without homes, and others without families.

During the time before Glenda returned with the idol, Griffonstone had many issues, not just emotional wise. Because of the lack of trust or desire to spend their bits, this meant many fell to sickness and others to diseases. Not only this but with the poor conditions of housing, it would only take one nasty bump to topple a house over.

But now that Glenda was in charge everyone was hard at work building new homes for those without one, and the ones without families were either grouped together with fellow stragglers, or give the chance to join the royal arm to have a job that pays, and to have a place to sleep. This was a slow process, but it was an effective one.

The dining hall was set up like a school cafeteria in which griffins would get their food from the side of the room, and then long and short tables lined up in rows for others to sit on long benches. Taking our seats at a table near a trio of griffons, Glenda and I ordered our food and waited patiently till it arrived.

While I was waiting, I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see who it was. However, there was no one there. Then I felt another tap, this time on the opposite side, and again after turning I didn’t see anyone. When I felt the third tap and could see Glenda suppressing a giggle, I already knew what was going on.

I pretended to turn my head one way, and with a quick twist of my body, looked to the other side to catch a smirking Zaya. “I was wondering when you’d catch on.” She said in a cheeky tone, trotting around to sit next to Glenda who was sitting opposite me at the table. “I must say, I’m grateful that you have meal options for those who aren’t of the carnivorous nature.” Zaya had ordered a stack of pancakes, and as I learned when our breakfast arrived. “We had brought our own food, but mind you not out of disrespect.” She looked at Glenda with a polite bow of her head.

Glenda nodded, taking now offense. “Understandable, and no offense taken. We don’t necessarily need to eat meat to survive, but it does play a part in our diet. But regardless we made sure to have food prepared for any species who will be attending the summit.”

This seemed to pique Zaya’s interest. “I’ve been meaning to ask, I’m well aware that you’ve invited the dragon lord to the summit, but who else is likely to show?”

Glenda looked at me and I nodded my head. “Well, we sent an invitation to a prince in Saddle Arabia, but they sent a letter saying they can’t attend due to some circumstances. Noir here is a representative for the ponies, and as you stated the dragon lord was invited. There is one more potential guest who may be there. And of course, there are you, the zebras.”

When Glenda mentioned the “Potential” Guest, I was somewhat puzzled. Who was it that she had invited that I didn’t know about?

Zaya nodded her head and smiled. “Well regardless of who comes, you’ll be happy to know that I’ve already decided that we the zebras will happily enter a treaty with the griffons.” Both Glenda and I were happily surprised and felt like having Zaya as an alley was a big enough win as is.

However, Zaya’s friendly smile turns to one ready to push some buttons. “Since we are all friends now, I’ve been meaning to ask you two something.” Glenda and I looked at each other curious about her question. “Well, I wanted to know. Are you two lovers?”

I nearly choked on a piece of waffle I was eating, and Glenda had spit out the juice she was sipping on. We were coughing hard while Zaya was giggling. “So, is that a, yes?”

“W-what gave you that idea?” Glenda stuttered, wiping her beak of the spilled juice with a napkin. “Also don’t you think that’s a rather bold question to ask in public.”

Our reaction had indeed garnered some attention from those sitting around us, which made trying to answer the question rather difficult without looking suspicious. After a minute we slowly calmed down, whether out of our own choice or Zaya’s unique gift. “Seriously couldn’t you have phrased that better, or better yet not ask us into such a personal question?”

Zaya, still smiling, shrugged her shoulders, and didn’t see the least bit guilty for it. “Well, I thought it was common knowledge, given that you both went to the same bedroom last night, and when I was leaving my room this morning, I saw you both come out at the same time.” She now had her hooves on the table to prop up her head while giving us a shit eating grin.

At this point both of us were flabbergasted and couldn’t muster the words to try and defend ourselves. This made the zebra mare burst out laughing which didn’t help keep those around us from looking our way. “My my, the queen and a dragon, how scandalous. I wonder what the child would look like?” She said innocently while looking teasingly at Glenda.

At this point Glenda’s face turned crimson and she fainted at the last statement, flopping onto the ground, leaving Zaya a giggling mess, and me feeling like this was just the start of it all.

(Present Time)

Since that morning Zaya made it her mission to tease me and Glenda whenever she had the chance, asking heaps of inappropriate questions. Each time Glenda would turn a different shade of red before bolting away. There were also times when she would flirt with me.

Each time she did so as if it didn’t embrace her to ask such things. “I wonder, do dragons have better stamina than zebras?” Or “Do you have a knot at your base?” I felt my heart racing and had to fly away just to get away, hearing her giggling and laughing on the ground.

It got so bad that in order to avoid her lewd question Glenda and I would have to fly up to a spot where Zaya couldn’t reach us. To make matters worse, her questions often lingered in both our heads making some situation, each time we looked at each other and blushed before looking away. Despite all this, however we never once thought ill of Zaya, deep down we knew she was just being playful. However, that doesn’t mean we were gonna let her get away with this for long, oh there will be payback just not now.

Now though, we needed to focus on the summit. We were all down at the bottom of the mountain where we had set up the summit. So far it was only Zaya, Glenda and me as far as representatives go. Members of the griffin guard as well as some of Zaya’s guard were also here along with the staff. We thought it would be too awkward just for the delegates to be in attendance. This was also in case the dragon lord decided to bring any guests himself, though many of us were hoping that wouldn’t be the case, since we only had so many gemstones available, and that should a fight break out we wouldn’t need to worry about fire being thrown around.

Either out of respect or to represent her country properly, Zaya reframed from her teasing and lewd questions. She instead adopted an attitude befitting a member of royalty, and made polite small talk. Though both me and Glenda could see her smirking from time to time at us, making us both shiver wondering what was going on in her head.

The gathering had gone on for an hour now, and I was starting to get worried. We already had one guest cancel their appearance due to their own matters in their country, the one leader we had prepared for either the best- or worst-case scenario hasn't been seen yet. Then there was the one guest that Glenda hadn’t considered telling me about who would also be attending, who I still don’t know who that might be. The only thing we could take away from this whole gathering was that Zaya already gave her seal of approval to enter an alliance with us.

Suddenly without warning.

*GONG*

*DING*

*GONG*

*DING*

*GONG*

The bell that we used to alert us of a dragon arrival went off. Everyone including myself was now on high alert as we already knew who this warning was for.

The bell sequence was made so we would know where to look. Three gongs and two dings meant that we needed to look South-West. Turning my attention to the sky. My eyes scanned the clear sky for the dragon. Due to it being at night it was hard to see anything, even with the moon’s light. However, I noticed there was movement when some of the stars were blocked from view by a massive shadow.

Soon the sound of massive wings flapping could be heard along with a faint guest of wind. As the figure drew closer the lights began to reach the owner of the sound, before it landed a small distance away from the gathering. The ground shook for a moment, and there I could see him.

Towering over the ivory pillars looking down at us, was none other than the dragon lord. And upon further inspection I saw that he wasn’t alone.