Author's Note

Was originally going to be longer and with more content. Some things fell through, unfortunately. Next fic, you should see either more zebras or a femanon thing, unless I decide to throw my hands in the air and whip something else out real quick. Thank you. I hope despite this fic's over lack of lustre, some enjoyment is had.

Chapter 1

Griffons. Griffonstone. They didn’t possess as complex naming conventions as the ancient, lost nations of eons past or some remote tribe in the Further-than-South South, yet they captured Malayar’s curiosity all the same. His eyes could look in all directions and spot something new. On the streets, vendors called to passersby - himself included - flaunting their goods and wares in his face. When his attention wasn’t stolen by their mercantile theatrics, his eyes went to the sky. Up high, shadows would frequently pass overhead at breakneck speeds. Griffons flew circles around his head getting from A to Z, and Malayar pondered why - unless they were all simultaneously trying to reach the deathbed of a relative or the birth of their new chick - someone would need to go so fast? The question, although potentially one of contention, came from a place of wonderment and fascination, a place that prompted the blossoming of a large toothy smile upon the striped stallion’s face.

“Stop staring so much,” Daring chided the zebra quietly, his emerald eyes unable to focus on the path ahead. He looked at her, the mare dressed in conservative attire, a skirt clinging to her rump, hiding her 'affliction' from view.

“Sorry,” he replied, still enamoured with the locale to look upon the pegasus. “This is just all so new to me.”

Daring rolled her eyes at his enthusiasm but admittedly, the smile he wore was contagious. She wore one too, one which had remained there ever since they departed from the ship at the pier. He was hard to control before coming to the griffon heartland. Now? She constantly had to yank at the metaphorical chain just to keep him trotting along to their destination, his interest constantly captured by the foreign sights. Although, and she kept this to herself, she enjoyed his adventurous elation. They weren’t tourists however, they were here for business, yet she would be a hypocrite if she tried to snuff out the zebra’s jovial demeanour. She was like him once, eager and giddy. In some ways, she still was.

She smirked, looking at him sideways. “I tell you what. After we got what we came here for, I’ll treat you to some genuine griffon cuisine. What d’ya say?”

He spruced up at her offer. One of the things he enjoyed greatly about travelling the world with the pegasus was the smorgasbord of culinary delights… alongside the discoveries of course. He nodded enthusiastically, eyes closed. “I would like that very much.”

Daring found his beam blinding, letting out a chuckle. “Glad to hear. I think you’d like-

Daring was silenced suddenly by a face full of plumage. She recoiled backwards, looking up to come eye to eye with a mean-eyed griffon male. “Watch where yer goin’,” a griffon barked at her before sneering, continuing on, not offering the pair a second look.

“You should really watch where you’re going, Daring,” Malayar playfully scolded, wearing a grin.

Daring’s face was flushed with embarrassment. She shot him a dull look, before, once more, a smile graced her face; cheeks still red. “Yeah, yeah, keep walking. We’re almost there...”

The curio shop was… curious, to say the least. Malayar’s green eyes would not have looked out of place someplace on the store owner’s shelves, and the zebra was almost afraid that the wrong glance would end up with his precious oculars meeting such a fate. The lighting of the interior came mostly from a few, half-melted candles, only a few scarce rays of the warm griffon sun peaking through narrow cracks in curtained windows. Whilst Daring approached the counter and tapped the bell, Malayar secluded himself by the safest, non-creepy corner of the shop. Of course, he couldn’t restrain his curiosity and scanned the various curious with subtle, almost guilty glances.

Finally, there was a rattle of beads, and from a back room a large, stout griffon emerged into the lowlight. He looked almost twice the size of Daring, layered with as much muscle as he was feathered. He was immaculately well kept, despite the haggard appearance of the shop interior, his golden yellow feathered well preened and shiny; his dense grey plumage soft. However despite his groomed exterior, Malayar was unsettled by the smile fixed on his face, hiding something within. Malayar must have stared for too long, as his eyes for a brief flicker of a second, met with the griffon’s sapphire hues. Before the zebra could look away, the griffon chose to do so first, introducing himself to Daring’s warm simper with one of his own, leaning on his counter with his thick arms.

“Daring!” he greeted boisterously, giving a wide, welcoming gesture with one of his arms. His voice was a contrasting mixture of deep and flamboyant. “How long has it been?”

“Too long, Rupert. Too long,” she replied, leaning across the counter to meet the griffon in a half-hug, parting after a moment to plant her hooves back on the ground. “What have you been up to?”

“Oh, nothing much. Same old same old. Expanding my ever-growing size of trinkets and curios, turning chaste chicks into moaning harlots and rigidly straight guys into bendy strawed queers. But enough about me and my fantastic existence, what of you, my daring darling?”

Daring laughed at his candour, shrugging. “Same as always. Travelling the world, meeting all kinds of folks and ending up knee-deep in some bog someplace.”

“All in the name of procuring precious antiquity, preserving past relics, and saving the day. Oh, and how could I forget: to get material worth writing about, yes?” he spoke bored tone of voice yet still wore a playful smile.

“You read my work?” she asked, sceptical, brow full cocked.

“Hmm, maybe? I think I may have one of your books around here somewhere, propping up a shelf. Either that or I used it for kindling sometime back. They are awfully thick,” he spoke in partial jest, giving a humoured smile. Although, his attention was quickly grabbed by the zebra loitering in his shop’s corner, a smarmy smile coming to his beak. “Eh, and what of that fine specimen over there,” he inquired, pointing a subtle talon at the meek zebra, who was too preoccupied with looking anywhere but the griffon to notice. “He’s not simply another artefact to put in the museum, is he? Although I wouldn’t blame you. He’s quite a catch.”

“A friend and colleague,” she answered directly, her tone contrastingly firm to her previous cadence.

“Shame. He looks like a delicious morsel. I imagine he’d make for splendid company,” he replied, his gaze flickering to the zebra.

Daring rolled her eyes. If the griffon had less control he would be drooling by now. “Oh, what? Am I not enough, Rupety?” she bantered with a playful smirk.

“Hmm, as much as I enjoy having you around, Daring, your visits are never just cordial,” he said slyly, resting is head on the palm of his talons. “You always want something. So have to wonder: what it could be this time?”

“Oh, you know why I’m here, Rupert,” she spoke with a knowing smile.

He exhaled through his nostrils derisively. “Let’s say, hypothetically I did have in my possession such a valuable, rare and much sought after artefact. What could possibly offer me in return?”

Daring released a salacious smirk, leaning on the counter and getting rid of some of the space between them. “Bits. A lot of bits. The good feeling that comes naturally with being a samaritan, of course,” she wore an innocuous smile with that final remark, tracing circles on the counter.

“Hmm, tempting. But I know you can sweeten the deal,” he inched his beak towards her, his voice going to a seductive low.

Daring reciprocated the closeness, wearing a sultry smile. “I thought it went without saying, Rupert. Bits and a fuck with-”

“Deal,” he cut her off prematurely, outstretching his hand towards her with a limp grip, wearing a sly grin.

Daring smirked. The griffon was more akin to a rabbit than an avian, his libido insatiable. She stretched out her hoof, allowing it to be grabbed his talons and shook. “Deal.”

“Fantastic,” he said with a low tone, voice dripping with eagerness as he uncurled his talons from around her hoof. He couldn’t look any happier as he turned his lumbering frame, walking partway through the divider before looking back to Daring with a grin. “I will be back in but a moment.”

“And I’ll still be here,” she responded, giving the griffon’s form a once over as he disappeared. She swallowed down her apprehension, releasing a subtle exhale, not wanting to give Malayar any cause to worry...

Daring, more often than not, was dishonest about offering up her pussy for a relic. She had no problem lying to criminals, or to the faces of stallions and mares she was never going to see again. Unfortunately, Rupert was a necessity in her line of work and a face she had to become familiar with. She pursued artefacts just as he pursued money, and they were both relentless in their respective chases. It just so happened that relics and ancient treasures were worth a lot of money. So, as a result, they met rather frequently. How she ended up coming through with sharing a bed with the griffon was a story in of itself. The mare oft came across a lot of funds in her various lines of work. Museum bounties, book sales and temple gold. She frequently had a fat bank account at the end of every month. However, he acquired wealth evaporated rather quickly, going into preservation, charity and travel expenses. She didn't live in a secluded hut for the sake of humility after all...

She had to re-do her accounting after meeting Rupert, having to set aside a hefty sum just to make sure she could afford the steep prices he attached to the supposedly priceless relics. She had to compete with others, others who would utilise such treasures for... unsavoury things. There was an instance, about two years after she met the griffon, where she was engaged in a bidding war with a maniac minotaur on a crusade to destroy every last remnant of the Hoaxolotle as he possibly could. She threw out an offer of five hundred bits, he threw out a thousand. She countered with an offer with double that amount, he retorted with quadruple the number. With that she was out of options. She watched Rupert prepare to hand the decorative bust over, and when it was just shy of entering his meaty hands she spat out the most valuable thing she had left: herself. Why she didn't simply go back on the offer was simple. You can rarely lie to the same face twice. He accepted, of course, few would turn down such a once in the lifetime opportunity.

Rupert was a hardened sort of griffon. Although flaboyant and queer in his mannerisms, he was brutal at business. However, the same couldn't be said of his finances. He had a weakness, one Daring always kept close to her chest but had never utilised until then. One thing they had in common ironically was their quick expenditure of funds, although Rupert's weakness wasn't a lack of money, it was what he spent it on: himself. He was a decadent hedonist, self-indulgent with a libido of immeasurable size. Daring thought about utilising his weakness in the form of distracting him with prostitutes whilst swiping a valuable, or getting on his good side with a rare bottle of Equestrian Bat wine to procure an early chance at something particularly good. She could laugh at it now. In trying to screw him over, she ended up getting screwed herself.

Daring remembered her first time with him right then and there. She felt unclean at first, but he had a knack for making her not feel used. He did remind her that she wasn't a prostitute, almost as though he was reading her thoughts at that moment. He went down on her, and right there at the counter she squeezed together her thighs. He certainly knew how to work that tongue, and he knew pussies as intimately as she knew history. Although the next thoughts in her mind was that of the sex and she winced. He was a rough lay, his need to be in control wasn't limited to just his business transactions and he tried to remind her of that. His talons wrapped around her throat, his large heavier body atop hers. Even after so much foreplay he still struggled to fit, but the fact he jammed himself inside of her was to remind Daring that her cunt was being conquered, stretched. In fact, he was rather vocal about that. Conquering. However, unlike his other bedfellows, Daring fought for control in his bed. Competition is healthy, even in sex. He wrapped his talons around her neck, she smiled in defiance. He lay on top, she tried to roll him over. He pushed inside of her, and her hind legs pressed against his stomach, controlling his thrusts. With that in mind, she was almost bathed in an air of nostalgia, she recalled how she reacted upon seeing his appendage for the first time. She winced. Whilst the average stallion might have been larger than the average griffon, Rupert doubly subverted her expectations by shattering both the averages of his brethren and ponies. His was a cock as intimidating as his frame. It was heavy and pink, imperfect with plump blue veins going from hilt to tapered tip. His girth made her jaw ache at the thought, but her pussy ached at the thought of his knot, his insistence of hilting himself in whatever hole he could force himself into was certainly an annoyance. Although, with his cock in her head, she suddenly smiled. Her new ‘addition’ would give them another field to compete in. She would definitely have to take him for a spin... if she can get on 'top' that is.

"I'm back," Rupert announced, coming out from the back, a large red chest under his arm. "Already I see that you can't take your eyes off it," he grinned, placing it on the counter with an indelicate thud.

He was correct on that, and even after pointing it out the pegasus continued to stare at with a clamped jaw, her eyes wide. "If that's what you say it is, then I have all the reason to," she replied before looking up at him, her gaze deadly serious. "If you're lying or tried to pawn me a fake-"

"Come now, Daring. You offend me with such a claim. Of all the crooks you've met, have you known one who was as honest as I?" he chuckled, his talon flipping down the latch on the small chest. Daring watched closely as he raised the lid, and as it rose, her jaw made a slow continuous descent.

She was speechless. After a moment of allowing her brain to catch up, she manually closed her mouth with the aid of her hoof, summoning the will to speak. “T-the Seventh Emerald of Motetiani! You actually have it! How did you get this?” Daring inquired, unable to look away from the shiny green jewel. Flawlessly cut, the pegasus was staring upon a true treasure, one piece of seven to an ancient wonder. With this, her decade long search for the entire set was complete.

He gave a deep, mirthful chuckle, enjoying the look on her face. “I have my ways. I have my ways,” the stout griffon answered vaguely, wearing a smug smile on his dull yellow beak. “Now, about my paymen-”

“Check your safe,” she replied immediately, still peering over the impressive jewel.

Rupert blinked, wearing a gormless face as he shrugged. “What safe?”

“The one you keep behind a portrait of yourself in the bedroom,” she countered his feigned ignorance with a cocky grin and sideways look. “Sixty nine, forty two, double zero, ninety six.”

Rupert wore a blank expression, one he held for only a few moments before throwing his head back to release howling laughter from his beak. “Oh ho, Daring.. I don’t know if I should be mortified or impressed you manage to find it so often and crack it.”

“Count yourself lucky I don’t know where you hide the good stuff,” she chortled, before focusing back on the jewel. “Not I would be be able to find them under all that junk...” she added under her breath.

“Now, on the subject of sweetening the deal…”.

She finally tore her eyes away from the jewel, a lusty smile gracing her face. “I’ll meet you in back in ten minutes. I just need to-”

He silenced her with a raised palm, the grin he wore suddenly became predatory. “Oh, I don’t need you to go in back, Daring," he informed, pointing over her with a lecherous look in his eye. "I need him.”

She looked to Malayar, who remained oblivious to the proceedings, flipping through the pages of a thick dusty book. She shot a glare at Rupert, teeth bared. "Our deal-"

"Bits and a fuck," he reminded her. "Who I get to fuck wasn't exactly made clear."

She slapped a hoof down on the counter, growling. "Don't be facetious, Rupert. It has always been me. We fuck, and you shed a few bits off the price. It has always been that way."

“Precisely why I hunger for something else my sweet,” he still spoke to her affectionately despite the look on her face. "Do you know how few zebras come through this part of the world? At most, I am lucky to bed some corsair or sailor. They're always so rough and hardy. The one in your company looks... soft, delicate. Pleading for a real pounding," he elaborated, "Even from all the way over here I can tell his tastes are... particular. Not as much of a free spirit as I admittedly, but I can tell from his contours that he prefers a masculine touch to run down them. If not that, he might just prefer a nice hard cock, one which I'm eager to give him," as he spoke, Daring could see his certainty grow. He leant forward, his voice becoming quiet. "I can only imagine how pent up he is if he has been stuck travelling with you. Jungles, boats, one place to the next, no dicks within a hundred miles - unless you count bark dogs and manticores. And no, not even I am that debaucherous. I doubt he is either. So who knows, if you ask him, he might even look forward to it..."

Her grimace deepened as he spoke. Not because he was right but because he was wrong. Most nights, Malayar and she slept back to back, a long hard appendage well within reach of the zebra's hooves. She was more than capable of satisfying him. Oddly though, he didn't seem to be in need of such a thing. The same couldn't be said of herself however. The curse imbued her with a form of hyper fertility, her cum factories overproducing so much spunk that if she didn't 'release' at least twice a day her gonads would increase to the size of cantaloupes; her bludgenous cock refusing to go back into its sheath until the pressure was relieved. Whether or not the zebra suffered the same pressure was yet to be known to her. He did... look at her every so often. The kinds of glances and glimpses he always pretended never happened when she met her eyes with his. Sometimes it would just be herself out in public, in more private occasions however when she was actually bare he tried extra hard to make it look like he wasn't looking, which just made it all the more obvious. Daring Do knew he must have felt something. He wanted a cock, or he wanted her. Rupert's deal might give her an answer to that.

She looked to her stripy colleague, half-frowning. He was completely unaware. "Is there any other way?" she asked half-heartedly, already knowing the answer.

"I have one other client who is very interested in acquiring this piece. If you would rather see it in his hoo-"

"Wait," she interrupted, looking back to the griffon. She knew he was completely wrapped around his talon, and she could do nothing about it. "If I... manage to convince him, will you promise not to be so rough with him?"

"I can go soft for a time. But you know me, Daring. I prefer not to restrain myself if I can help it," he said, giving a humoured chuckle but from experience, the pegasus knew he was completely serious. "But don't worry. You'll get him back after I'm finished with him."

She huffed, sneering. "I want him back just as you got him."

"I can't promise that either... he might be plastered with a satisfied smile," he half-assured, leaning on the counter. "Now hurry, I can only keep my composure for so long. I'm not to blame if I throw myself on him."

"Yeah yeah," she exhaled, frustrated, and turned from the counter, heading towards the zebra...

Malayar glanced to Daring, the old tome he was reading, then Daring again, a smile coming to his features. "Oh, did you get it?" Malayar asked upon her approach. The half-hearted smile she wore somewhat worrying but the zebra remained optimistic.

"O-oh, I have it," she answered with uneasy conviction, awkwardly scratching the back of her head as she forced herself to maintain the smile. "There's just a teeny, tiny clause I have to fulfil to get it."

"Oh? What is it?" he inquired, stepping closer with some concern. "He doesn't want to... use you, does he?" he asked quietly, brows furrowed and frowning.

"If only..." she muttered under her breath, releasing a sigh. "He wants you," she told him directly, foregoing any more delays.

He stepped back from her, surprised. "W-what? Me? D-do what with me?" his voice resumed its regular volume, some of the white on his face erased, replaced with pink.

"Sex," she replied, trying to play it off casually yet still chose to wear her forced smile.

"S-sex?!" he exclaimed, now terrified. "With him, a complete s-stranger?"

"I don't have to be!" Rupert called back, cackling.

"It's the jewel, Malayar," Daring said, trying to bring the zebra's attention back to her. "The one I've been trying to get for almost ten years now. If we... if you don't do this, we might never see it again."

The zebra's attention was back on Daring. He didn't have a firm eye on her, torn between looking to the ground or the side. He fidgeted in place, flushed in the face. "I d-don't know. Isn't there any other way?"

She sighed, shaking her head. "I've been dealing with Rupert for almost as long as I've been looking at the emerald. If there was an alternative, I would have taken it."

Malayar's mouth tightened as he looked away from her. The next few minutes saw his face twitch numerous times and tighten as he thought on what to do. "Daring, I-"

He was silenced mid-sentence by a hoof on his shoulder, Daring's expression downcast. "What was I thinking?” I’m sorry. You don't have to do this, whoring yourself out for a stupid emerald. I was being selfish and-"

"I'll do it," he cut in, wearing an awkward smile.

Daring blinked. "You will?"

"I did help you get stuck with a penis. This is the least I can do. But after this? We're even," he beamed at her, and she smiled back. Still, under his happy veneer, he felt anxious, queasy. But it wouldn't be all that bad...

Right?