Simplified

Slinging rocks, fire breathing, wrestling for physical dominance, those are the three things that consists of a dragon's favorite past time. Unfortunately for me, that isn't my idea of a good time. It just feels like an unending power show where one wants to show what they can do and call out the many ways they outclass you. And virtually no other dragon outclasses Ember, even on her worst day. Trench's blood runs deep in her, through and through, his aggression, his bruteness, his mannerisms, and his ego. She's not quite the level of bragging how she can take me down with her pinky claw, but she's undefeated in a rock flinging contest.

Honestly, it's not my cup of tea and it's never been. I have my strengths, but I don't like to show them off as often. But what I do have can show that I can be competitive with her in some arenas. However, displaying that would only make her even more competitive, probably into the idea of proposing a wrestling contest that can easily turn into a spar. And I've already experienced more than my fair share of sparring with Ember, no thanks.

So I let her win each and every contest. I kept it competitive enough to not seem like I was fully selling out, but I was definitely doing that. And it probably made her feel better when I had the few times that I actually managed to make that one throw longer than hers, just to rile up that competitive spirit in a direction that wouldn't lead to frustration or boredom.

It's funny, I went from going full-on try-hard with Gabby to stealthy sell-out artist with Ember in only a few hours.

Ember eventually grew satisfied with our time together and elected to put our day behind us. I couldn't agree more as she slapped me on the back and cheerfully said her goodbye. The only thing that was wrong with her departure was her saying that she hoped we would do this again sometime in the near future.

One night in the treehouse later, I fly back into town to get the confirmation that my new place was ready to be moved into, finally. So I grab all of my stuff and gather it outside of the castle, only to encounter a bit of a setback. There's no way I can move all of my stuff from here to the middle of town in one trip. It's a wagon's worth of personal belongings, including an obsidian scepter that Ember gifted me some time back.

But I do happen to know someone who has a wagon to haul a lot of shit.

I pay a visit to the boutique, hoping to run into Sandbar. He opens up the door and fills me in on his schedule for the day, seems he's pretty open to help. As we move along, Gallus flies overhead, he originally got off of his shift early to spend time with Silverstream. He offers to help as well, but only if we could take a tour of the new house. I'm not going to refuse an easy offer like that, so the three of us set out to the castle, load all of my things, and tote the wagon along the road to the new place.

It's my first time seeing it, but I'm left speechless by what I see. The treehouse library was already pretty big, given it's rather comfy accommodations. It was always built to handle a bit of a crowd, with the elements of being a home tucked away into various areas of the place. As of now, it's completely different. It's a three-story home with the appearance of a regular Ponyville chateau, the main difference being that the roof is sloped to one side. The top floor appears to open up to a glass covered patio. There's also a fair little garden leading up to the front door. It sticks out with how much glass is used, but it doesn't stand out like a bruised thumb. Much of the house is still with a wood and thatch roof, the exterior with the white wood linear siding, along with the areas with dark brown wood highlights. But coming up closer to the home, the third floor reveals a much more modern lighting scheme.

I rub on my key for good luck and quietly unlock the door, walking into a massive foyer with a second and third story balcony access. The stairs situated towards the right of the room circles around to the second floor, then completes it's rotation to join with the third. The foyer features a fairly large window reaching from the second story to the top of the third story ceiling and a skylight high above.

All of us express our shock over the entryway. "Yo, Spike, you wanna trade places for like a week?" Gallus asks.

"No way!" I call out excitedly. "Holy shit, this is me!"

"It's all you. Welcome to independence." Sandbar comments with a smile.

"Welcome to finally being able to walk around your place while being at mast." Gallus adds.

"Yeah, I kinda like the thought of that. It can be a bit uncomfortable going out in public and having to grab an ice drink just to 'cool off' if you know what I mean."

"We all do, Spike." Gallus gives a friendly nudge to the stallion beside him. "Especially Sandbar here."

"Yona gets overzealous if she sees me peeking out a bit." The stallion brags while blushing a bit about the subject.

"Now you get to have over whoever you want whenever you feel like it." States the griffon. "No need to worry about interrupting the neighbors either. It's gets pretty awkward when one of your bunkmates across the wall brings a girl over for the night."

While I'm still in the mind to explore some of the home, I also take into consideration all of my stuff just sitting out in the open. "Hey guys, let's move this stuff into the foyer here so we can have an accountability check, if you don't mind."

"All good." Sandbar says in agreement.

We take a few minutes to move everything to the foyer, seeing how spacious it is to even allow for that same space to also offer ample walking room as we get finished. We start to sort out what all we want to move and where. Meanwhile, Gallus brings up an inquiry. "So, you got your bedroom already planned out for what you want in it?"

"So yeah, all of my life I had like a bed that was either basket sized small or it was big enough for a pony but not big enough for me. So I asked Alex if he could fill a special order for me and have it ready by today. So he gave me these pretty big sizes, something about being named after states or something. I just said get me the biggest one he could. He sent me a picture of an Alaskan king-size mattresses from the human world, those things are huge!"

"Wait, how big are they?" Sandbar asks. "You don't think we'll have a problem moving that in, do you?"

I look back at the doorway and hum with uncertainty. "Well... It's a perfect 9x9 feet."

Both of the boys yelp out in shock over my preferred mattress size. "What do you need something that big for!?" Asks the griffon.

"Well, the bed might end being a bit too big for just me alone, but if things work out, I want to be able to accommodate as much company as possible."

Thoughts of both Ocellus and Smolder come to their mind as I stress my point as safely as possible. "Ah, I get where you're going." Sandbar nods.

I chuckle in thought over the dramatic difference in size I'll soon have compared to the past week. "Still, I didn't even think humans made beds that big. Shocked the hell out of me when I found out."

"Doesn't Princess Twilight sleep on a queen size mattress by their standards?" Gallus asks.

"Well, yeah." I answer.

"And your bed is going to be that much bigger than hers?" He questions once more.

"Unlike her, I have a good reason for wanting a bigger bed." I say before clearing my throat to imply our differences.

The griffon nods with understanding. "Say no more."

After some time of sorting out what goes where, we finally start on the main place that I want to get some sort of order to first. We take the stairs to the second level and walk down the hall to a set of double doors. Upon walking in, I start to realize how large of a space the library actually was, since this takes about a third of the floor plan. "Boys, welcome to the love arena, the master bedroom."

Sandbar walks in ahead of me, startled by the immense size and space that's offered. "Holy shit! This is the master bedroom? What does the bath look like?"

I walk over to a large wooden door, sliding it to the side to reveal an enormous room with a sink, a jacuzzi, and a walk-in shower. Attached to it is also a secondary access to a fairly large walk-in closet. "Yeah, it's pretty big."

Gallus lifts his head to the ceiling, seeing a rather large source of natural light flooding the room. "Huh. It even has a skylight, pretty bold."

Sandbar walks over to one corner of the room, seeing a flat spout hanging from the side of the wall. Beneath it are a few knobs, seemingly to adjust the mode. There's even a movable shower head to be used to reach around certain places with it's own adjustable sprays. He makes note of a missing feature. "So your shower doesn't even have a curtain, or even an enclosure. How does that work?"

"Apparently there's some sort of angle the bathroom floor takes to feed this one trough that serves as a drain. It's not supposed to be noticeable, but it's supposed to be effective enough to guide the water into it well enough that it doesn't leave a mess. I don't know exactly how it works, I know Ms. Royal's company was in charge of the planning and construction. Still, I didn't expect to have a miniature castle here in the middle of town."

"It's also the most modern looking building on the block. Just stepping in here tells me we're not in Ponyville anymore." Sandbar adds.

"Too bad there isn't much room for a yard." Gallus points out.

"Yeah, about that."

"Seriously!?" Lately, that seems to be the only word left in Gallus' dictionary to describe his disbelief at the amenities of the home. Frankly, I don't blame him. Much of this place is rather exorbitant for the location it's in. But then again, I've always had a thing for high-end and luxury. It also doesn't help that I've been brought up in such environments to begin with.

We're now on the third floor, where much of the entertainment area resides, as well as a lovely few other perks that could drive some of the locals up a wall if seen. "So yeah, they set me up with a swimming pool here on the third floor. Pretty weird, huh?" I open up a scrolled piece of laminated paper with all of the floor plans on it. "Three bed, two and a half bath, two stairwells, one to bypass the living space, the other to accommodate it, office space attached to an underground study for holding books, and then there's the den we just walked through that leads out to this swimming pool."

"This place is enormous." I feel that Gallus is getting a bit exhausted from trying to describe this behemoth of a place.

"And modern." Notes Sandbar, pointing out all of the modern lighting fixtures.

At the bottom of the home plans, I notice an arrow pointing to the bottom of the page saying 'flip here for more'. I turn the plans over to see a simple note with instructions. I blink with baffled eyes at the suggestion. "So this is telling me there's something with the windows that I can do."

"What does it say now?" The overwhelmed griffon asks.

"It says to shout out, 'Alexa, Dim windows'."

As I say the words, a voice pops up throughout the home. "OKAY, SETTING SMART WINDOWS TO PRIVACY MODE."

"NO FUCKING WAY!" I scream out as Sandbar frantically points to the windows, seeing how they gradually go from being completely transparent to slightly translucent. I hold my head and crouch down just out of shock as Gallus throws his claws up in defeat.

"Yeah, Ms. Royal really put her best hoof forward on this one." Comments Sandbar.

"All paid for by the royal treasury, huh?" Gallus adds. "Must be nice."

"Actually, from what I was told, Twilight dug into some of the excess of the recovered funds of that one necro-terrorist to foot the bill. So yeah, some dead asshole pretty much just bought my house, and at virtually none of the taxpayer's expense. Pretty wild."

The griffon taps me on the shoulder to get my attention. "You know your house is going to be a tourist attraction, right?"

"I hope not." I reply, not wanting to clean up after having a thousand visitors looking at my home for hours on end.

Sandbar chuckles through his comment. "Yeah, you may not want Mayor Mare to walk in here, she might try to talk you into turning your place to a tourist trap."

"That won't happen." At least I won't try to let it happen.

Gallus folds his arms as he makes a suggestion. "As big and expensive as this place is, you better make sure it stays insured."

"Absolutely." Considering Ms. Royal's expertise coupled by her pride, she's probably already have the claim holders in queue to cover the costs.

Sandbar does bring up an interesting question though. "You think this place, for all the windows it has, can stay insulated properly?"

"According to Ms. Royal, the windows are supposed to do that when they fog up, plus they're pretty thick. And apparently the walls are supposed to be insulated by some stuff called rock-wool, don't know what the hell that means, but apparently it's supposed to be some good stuff."

"Yeah, they did you an injustice." The griffon comments jokingly. "This place sucks ass."

All of us share a laugh momentarily before my mind shifts to another issue that needs to be addressed sometime soon. "The only injustice I have to deal with now is that I have to put some damn furniture in here."

"Well, guess you got tomorrow and Sunday to pull that off." Sandbar says with a shrug. Though I'd like to see if I can do just tomorrow instead, I have plans on Sunday.

Gallus extends his claw out to mine for a good shake. "Well, other than that, congrats on the new digs, my guy."

Actually, I like the idea of celebrating the new home. Maybe we should go out and get a few drinks to start us off. "Yeah... I'm actually fiending for a bit of hydration, if you know what I mean. Y'all thirsty for something?"

"Classy approach." Sandbar says with a hoof to his chin, visibly showing his approval of the idea.

"Can we drink in the pool?" Gallus asks.

"Don't see why not."

The two smirk with approval. "Sweet."

The house is an overwhelming gift. And our mode of christening it is to grab a few boxes of pizzas and a couple packs of beers. The sun is already falling out of favor with the hours Twilight has allocated towards it, she'll be lowering it any minute by now. Meanwhile, the three of us are completely relaxed and sitting in the pool like we own the world. It feels great to finally have my own place, somewhere I can actually scream out to the world and not a soul would hear much of it. The windows are back to being transparent and we're watching as the sky turns purple.

The three of us share a celebratory cheers, enjoying our Friday night before the hard work of tomorrow wears us down a bit. Gallus is floating on his back, just drifting idly by while I soak it all in. "Ain't a damn chair in this son of a bitch, but this is life."

"Who you telling?" He mutters in agreement. "I bet it's pretty wild to be able to look out there and see all of Ponyville beneath you. You still get to see the growing skyline from here."

"Yeah. Now can you imagine if this place was like Austin?" I ponder.

"Now that place is insane." The griffon answers.

"Let me guess, that's the place you guys went to when you visited the human world?" Sandbar asks.

"We're gonna get you there, I promise we will." I reply to the stallion. "But get this. Did you know that King Thorax had a huge issue with Ocellus being there with us? Apparently, the changelings think that the humans would probably go to war with us if they found out we all existed."

Gallus shouted out a laugh of disbelief. "Wouldn't be a war we'd win! Not a war I'd be willing to fight in either."

"I think they're just cautious because of the situation from all those years back." I briefly explain.

The griffon opens an eye over to me. "Can't believe the captain and his friends wiped an entire army by themselves. That's crazy."

"You'd think that way, but it's really true." I confirm.

Sandbar groans with a thought. "Scary. Can you imagine an army of them just invading?"

"I don't want to." I quickly reply. "I'd much rather try to do what I can to establish an official form of contact with them. Their government with our government, there would be nothing we can't do. Our entire economy would explode with wealth and opportunities."

"Not to mention the cities." Gallus adds. "Can you imagine everything looking like it does over in the Corrotto District?"

"I mean we wouldn't be sleeping ever!" Sandbar says with a bit more excitement, only to be interrupted by a chime sounding throughout the house. "What's that?"

"Doorbell." I answer, pulling up one of the apps that I was recommended to use in conjecture with the house. "Apparently it's one of the newer models from the human world, has a camera and everything. Check it out."

I pull up the screen to show the camera, showing it to the others. They also notice a familiar figure standing in wait. "Isn't that Ms. Blue?"

"Yeah, that's who it is." I answer before giving my attention to the mare at the front door. "Hello?"

She clops her hooves together with glee as she hears my voice. "Spike, you moved in!"

"Yeah, thanks for contracting this place, it's fucking huge!"

"I thought you wanted something that was a little more modern since your visit to the human world. So I tried my best to make sure that there was a solid blend between local architecture, and modern fittings, well modern by human standards."

I give the mare my stamp of approval. "Sure. Can I invite you in?"

"Don't see why not. I have your bed."

My night just got ten times better. "I'm on the way down!"

Gallus pops out of the pool, hovering to his wings while Sandbar climbs out and shakes himself dry. "Shit, I wanna see this motherfucker." The griffon announces.

"It can't possibly be that big." Sandbar still holds a measure of disbelief.

The three of us go down to the first floor and welcome the mare responsible for this architectural marvel. She walks into the foyer with a cheerful smile. "Hey there!"

"Good evening!" I answer back with a bit of a bow.

As soon as she steps in, I see her eyes darting back and forth with a fierce critique. "I assume they did everything I commissioned them to do, everything to the letter?"

"You got me living like a human in here, if that's the intent." I reply.

"Great, then nobody's getting fired today." Yikes, I didn't anticipate for this to be someone's surprise performance evaluation. Whoever's in charge of the worksite, I hope you're happy. "Oh, I almost forgot. This is your home now, can't just start barging my way through without a gentledrake's consent." She flutters her eyelids, appearing to beg politely.

This mare, I swear. "Alright, let's get to the bedroom."

"Yes sir." She coos suggestively before allowing me to take the lead. "So, everything in here is what you like?"

"Hell yeah. Couldn't have it any better."

She playfully stares at the other two guys walking with us. "Huh, I don't know how to feel about having such an eager audience, Spike. Are they the camera crew?"

Gallus starts to laugh while Sandbar straightaway answers her with his intent. "Actually, we were here to help Spike move his things in. Now we're just sticking around to see the bed."

As we enter the master bedroom. She closes her eyes and her horn begins to glow. "Now as much as I would love to, don't think I'm stirring up something kinky, boys. Just give me a sec to concentrate."

I wait quietly as she seems to focus a lot of her energy towards the center of the room. I start to see a growing glow appearing around her, a similar aura centers itself in the middle of the bedroom. A bright flash appears throughout the room, blinding all of us save the caster with their eyes already closed. The light dissipates, revealing an enormous bed in the center of the room. My jaw drops from the absurdity, while Gallus verbally shows his own shock and awe. "DAYYUMMMN!"

Sandbar shakes his head, deadpan from the the marvel. "That's a big ass bed. Me and Yona would be at it all day."

After casting the spell, Ms. Royal holds a hoof to her head for a little while. I can already imagine the headache she's going through after telekinetically relocating something so big from the warehouse in Canterlot to this very spot in Ponyville. The guys walk forward, looking to get their first touch of the mattress, only to find a blue aura holding both of them back. It seems that Ms. Royal still has some sense of environment after such a magic feat. "Boys, you know the rules. Only a king worthy of his throne may take the first dive."

"This thing is fucking crazy." I say as I walk even closer to it, startled by the sheer mass of it. "I could stretch out all my limbs and not be able to touch the edge at all."

"I'm willing to bet your ass will probably lay as close to the edge as possible when you sleep tonight." Gallus jokes.

"Man, fuck you!" I jab back at the griffon.

Ms. Royal stops rubbing her head for long enough to speak again. "Fun fact: If you lay all your pillows at the middle of the bed, there won't be a single pony able to reach an edge."

Gallus starts to get impatient and complains much like that of a child wanting to get a lay at the new bed. "Bro, just let me dive the damn thing already."

"Hold up a sec." I hover above the middle of the bed and arrange my pillows towards the center. As I finish building the small mountain of pillows, I call out to the others. "All aboard on three, that way we all dive at the same time. One. Two. Three!"

If there was a such thing as a slow motion moment, it would be the sight of us just flopping into the bed from a variety of angles, all hitting our own unique poses. But the moment my arm hits the mattress underneath, I feel like I'm sinking into a whole new dimension. It trips me out to feel how soft this mattress is. There's almost no resistance, it just hugs every bit of me without discrimination to the formation of springs or any other construct.

As everyone else lands around me, I barely feel their impacts. They too fall into the trap of being melded into the bed on their own. Our bodies fall restless as though we were born into a new plane of existence, to soar high above the clouds with only the air as our vessel of travel. "Holy shit, this thing just absorbs me."

"Memory foam, perfect for all types of sleepers, be they traditional, fetal, belly, side, or even wild." Ms. Royal explains without even moving the slightest bit, her head's buried soundly in the mattress itself.

Sandbar files a protest towards the idea of having to back home. "Ugghhhhhhh I don't wanna leeeeeave."

"Oh no, this is not a procreational bed, this is a 'take your ass to sleep' bed." Gallus lays on his side, staring into the unknown while the comfort consumes him. "That's it. I'm getting me a foam mattress."

"With your salary?" Sandbar jabs at the guard.

"They aren't that expensive." Ms. Royal calls out, her face still buried in the mattress.

"I'll pay you to get me one." The griffon pleads.

"Not a problem. Just send me an address." The unicorn remains unmoved, it seems the comfort is too much for even her.

Sandbar once more complains about having to leave. "I'm gonna have to go home and not be comfortable. Then I'm gonna have to explain to Yona why I'm not satisfied. This thing is literally putting my relationship in jeopardy, I hate this."

As I stare into the ceiling, my body melds even further into the zone of no return. My mind is already a bit numb with the alcohol still in my system, and with this adding on to it, I can't seem to break out of the trance. My eyelids start to grow heavy. "Guys, we need to get out of this bed now."

"Why?" Sandbar is extremely annoyed with that idea.

"I feel the sleep coming." Gallus states as he takes a deep breath.

"Oh that'll happen." Even Ms. Royal's voice is starting to taper off.

"Yeah, it's coming." Gallus says with a yawn.

The unicorn moves momentarily, but only to grab a pillow to nestle with. "Ain't nothing wrong with a quick nap anyways."

"What she said." Sandbar does the same.

My eyes close for a second, I'm starting to doze off, not able to remain lucid to the world for very long. I allow myself to sink under as I give one last concession. "Yeah, I'm gonna close my eyes for just a sec."

The unicorn tiredly moans a response before falling asleep. "Sounds like a plan."

My eyes are slow to flutter open, my limbs don't quite exude a mode of paralysis but they are too fond of the comfort they find in laying still. The room is dimly lit, just barely enough light to see and dark enough to comfortably nod off. The world is quiet. I don't think I've ever had a moment of this peace. No, I've never had a sleep like that, at least as far back as I can remember. I reach up to my face and realize that I'm not exactly drooling. I turn my head to find an unusual source of the compounded moisture, apparently Ms. Royal is too far gone to even be disturbed, not even caring that her mouth is open, or checking the stream of drool pouring from her mouth.

I'll give her a pass, it's five in the morning anyways.

When everyone else wakes up, we all stretch, have our turn in the showers, I find out how liberating it is to actually shower in an open space, and then we start getting our itinerary together. While Ms. Royal is persistent in coming along with, she gets a phone call telling her that her presence is wanted back in the city. She and our group part ways for the morning and we set out to do the shopping on our own.

Along our route, we start to talk about how things went for us throughout the week. And we we're in such a good mood that we don't even mind to talk about what pissed us off, what made us excited, all three of us were like open books to one another. It's fun being able to hang around guys within my age bracket, we relate to one another so much, despite living different lives.

But the main topic they want to talk about is the reason why the dragon lord started to frequent the town so often over the past week. And with the context of me coming back from the dragon lands almost a month ago, the stars can only align to one direction. "So, what happened with you and Ember?" Inquires the earthen stallion.

"A dragon lord coming across the way to see you should be something to look forward to." Gallus adds.

Of course they would tease me about it, I've already complained about how entitled she is. "You guys don't really know too much about dragon culture, do you?"

"Uh oh, it's that bad?" Asks the griffon.

I drop my head to show my disdain. "Horrendous. She flew all the way here to ask me to spar with her."

"Just for a spar? Why?" The stallion questions, unaware of the underlying intent of her request.

"Because if I win, I gain the prestigious honor of becoming her mate. But the thing about it is that the Bloodstone Scepter, the sapphire stick with the red dragonfire ruby at the top, she holds that for long enough and it amplifies strength and dragon's fire. Her fire used to be pink before the enchantment of the scepter started hitting her, now it's outright purple. It's crazy."

"And that means what exactly?" Inquires the griffon.

"If she holds the scepter, her strength is amplified. The longer one holds it, the more power one gains. And since she held it for such a long time, that makes her really strong. Really strong dragon vs relatively strong dragon, really strong dragon wins, really strong dragon gets upset, really strong dragon demands rematch, cycle repeats. I don't like getting my ass thrown into a mountain range on the regular."

The two look to one another before Sandbar offers his own assessment of me. "You know, you call yourself 'relatively strong', but you are pretty damn strong, especially for pony standards. Like I've watched you when you used to help Rarity with her errands, she'd always give you the largest loads to carry. I've never not seen you go around with her and not show off that crazy super strength. Where do you think that strength comes from?"

"It's only because I held the scepter for five minutes myself. I managed a taste of it's power and authority for just that long before forking it over to Ember."

The pair still appears stupefied over the circumstances. "I don't get it, why does she need to fight you to mate with you?"

"Traditional dragon show of strength, not that I give two fucks about it." I bluntly summarize.

"Wait, now I get it." Gallus sits on his hindquarters, folding his arms as he comes to the realization of what occurred when we were at the club two weeks ago. "I remember when you and Smolder finally hit it off, you two were really scrapping at each other. She cut you so deep in your chest, I thought you were gonna fucking die."

"Yeah, but you saw what happened, Smolder held back." I point out to him.

The earthen stallion tries to bring up another point. "So let's say she did all of that and you still kept with it. What if she knew at that moment that she couldn't beat you?"

"That's ridiculous." I rebut against the stallion's point. "You guys know we had a lot of contests between us when y'all first came around, and I lost a bunch of them. I mean sure I was smaller than her, and now I physically look down to talk to her. But I have to look down to even look Ember in the eye, and she can still put me through some random landmass."

"Have you two ever like competed just to see where you both are right now?" The griffon suggests.

I shake my head at his idea. "Why would I want her to prove her strength? That's just asking for trouble."

The griffon continues with his suggestion. "I'm just saying, maybe the two of you should do it just to see where you really are. You could lose, you could win, it could be close either way, I'm just saying you might be giving yourself too little credit, and by doing that you could also be insulting Smolder."

"But Smolder's never lost to anyone in the Dragon Lands." I bring up.

"Exactly!" Gallus' wings flare out as he emphasizes his point. "You're not in the Dragon Lands, you're not a Dragon Lands dragon! You're a dragon raised around other creatures with other viewpoints and strengths and powers, you've got the leg up here! Your strength comes from a different source, not some adrenaline-fueled contest where the strength might be temporary. If you want to prove me wrong, you two duke it out over a wrestling match and see how it goes."

"You guys do have a great practice ring to try it out on." Sandbar cosigns with the griffon, all while alluding to my new bed.

While I want to argue with the two over that idea, I start to lose myself in thought over the prospect of pinning Smolder to my new bed. I know it's not exactly furniture you can rough around on, but the idea starts to seed some fairly enticing thoughts. "...Actually, I might try that for later."

Gallus up's the ante even more. "Can you imagine what she's gonna let you do when you win?"

A bit of smoke starts to file out of my nostril from the sultry thoughts plaguing my head. "Don't give me ideas."

After a successful preliminary furniture run, we get everything back to the house and move everything in preparation for tomorrow. I even manage to get a few guest beds just in case my visitation may consist of the boys coming over. While they aren't nearly as comfortable as my own bed, they are still comfortable by most other standards. While I'm still waiting for my sheets to come in for the bed in my room, I manage to get enough sheets and blankets to complete the other two bedrooms, all while having one for my own use. Afterwards, we go out to eat to celebrate a hard day's work, pay the bill, and go about our separate ways. I come back home to a half-furnished abode, but I'm satisfied in the effort of what we've done. All in all, I take my shower and go right to sleep.

My phone wakes me up this morning, notifying me of today's meeting with Gabby. The early part of the day doesn't seem to go fast enough for me, so I head out to town in search of some things to keep me occupied. I do have a fairly nice fridge that's in need of stocking anyhow. Maybe a trip to the grocery will take my mind off of the time.

I make a few rounds to the local market, visiting various stalls of produce to pick up what might fancy my interest for the week. I'm pretty careful about the quality of my produce, looking for imperfections, signs of age, wrinkles, lack of firmness, even color. My bananas are always green, my bell peppers male regardless of color, my cheese local, my eggs brown, my apples firm, and my flour is carefully sifted before the bag is sealed.

My process is a bit tedious to some, but being that I'm a picky chef to my own work, I make sure that I have the best. I pride myself in my cooking. The several classes of home economics that Twilight had me sub in for her during her days back at school made me this way. And since it was Celestia who sometimes taught the class, I picked up a few things that made me Twilight's go-to during the early phases of her acquired title of royalty. So much of my process of going through market to furnish up the fridge at the castle could take me hours, and it still does to this day.

However, I still have but one conundrum that leaves me in the condiments stall for at least half-an-hour. Two identically labeled bottles, two identically colored items, and yet they have different spellings. "Ketchup, catsup... what's really the difference here?"

As I shake each bottle individually to listen for texture, a familiar voice chimes in from behind me. "There's virtually no difference in what they are."

My heart beats a little faster in seeing the griffon I'm scheduled to meet with later on. "You think so?"

She tosses the bottle of ketchup in my bag while she takes the bottle of catsup in hers. "They're both tomato based, they both taste the same, they both do the same thing, same texture, all that."

"Why is one priced higher than the other then?" I ask.

She immediately takes the bottle out of her bag, seeing the price tag for her product being a few bits more in cost. "Brand name?" She checks to see if the brands are different, they aren't. "Nevermind." She promptly places the bottle back and exchange it for a bottle of ketchup instead.

As she cheerfully goes back into her Sunday routine, I check in with her. "So, how's your day been?"

"It's been pretty good. You see I'm out here a little earlier than usual. Got tired of waiting around the house for our game session." Seems we think alike. "I'm almost done with my rounds. Seems like you're just about there with yours."

"Great!" I say with a bit of boisterous energy. "Uh, I know it's probably a little bit early but─"

She holds up a claw to stop me. "Um... can you wait up on me, I wanna just get this stuff dropped off at the house, check in with my significant other, and then we can hang out. I mean I'm down to start a little early, but our game will probably go all day anyways."

Maybe all night at this point, I haven't had a good session in years. "Fair enough."

The griffon takes off with her bags of groceries, it seems she has a bit more than her haul of last week. Perhaps she's looking to invite me over for the next one. I'm not going to refuse if she invites me over, in fact I wonder if we'll be at it all night, maybe even sleep over.

"Ayo!" Another voice hails at me from above, looking to get my attention. "Hey, what's good Spike!?" It's Strapping Lad who's holding on to what appears to be a pretty dark storm cloud.

"Nothing much, looks like another rain storm today, huh?"

"Not just any rain storm, these are thunderclouds we're putting out. That means there's a higher chance of lightening and high winds. Kinda wish we could do things like this back home." He says as he gives the cloud a few pats before a very volatile bolt of lightening juts upward into the sky. The stallion nervously shakes off his blunder and gives his warning. "So yeah, huge lighting advisory for this evening from around five to around three in the morn. No flying's permitted, you've seen why."

While I know that the storm activity is on schedule to go into overdrive because of the local produce, I still can't help but to think that the universe has set me up with a prime opportunity. Guess I'll do a little more shopping sometime during the course of the week. Either way, those blankets are coming in clutch today. "Oh man! That's bad."

"Yeah, just try to keep to the ground, also it's much better to just pack it in this evening." He says, giving me a wink before flying off. Something tells me that he's aware of what I'm trying to do.

I continue my stroll through the town market, making sure that I have everything I'll possibly need to make a good meal for the both of us this evening. Didn't anticipate this turning into a home dinner-date, but I guess this is where we are for the time being. I might as well take advantage of it.

Gabby comes by a bit sooner than expected, and with a sullen face. "Hey Spike..."

I guess she heard about the weather too. "Uh-oh, sounds like bad news."

She gives off a sigh of frustration. "Well... boyfriend and I had a bit of an argument. He and I don't really see things the same way sometimes, and it makes me feel like I'm pretty much on an island by myself most of the time. It's pretty crazy that we still work somehow."

Huh, I was beginning to think she was really about to call for a raincheck here. "Really? I thought you guys were pretty cool with each other."

"Yeah. It's happens." She sounds very annoyed.

"Bummer."

She takes a few of my bags, offering to walk beside me as I see the clouds in the distance being assembled for the weather change. "So we're still good to go today right?"

Just run with it, Spike. "Uh, yeah! I had some furniture and other appliances moved in yesterday. We're doing the food run now. I mean I'm headed back to the new spot now."

"Might as well hurry." She says as she leaps up to her wings. "I see the weather's scheduled to get a little rough, don't wanna get caught in the rain."

Oh she's fully aware of what she's doing. "Yup, let's get a move-on!"

We don't even walk back to the house, we fly there. I think the excitement of getting back into the grove of our game session is what's driving us to be like this. And with her, there's some added frustration of getting pestered by something her 'boyfriend' said. I still find it hard to believe that she's spending all this time to just one person outside of work, even Apple Bloom said that she's hardly partial to anyone these days. Still, I try to adhere to her boundaries, despite the fact that those same boundaries would often remain unchanged after a few interactions, and that's only if the relationship was actually something typical. But it seems we've already moved the goal post for each other a number of times. Today would be further moving the goal further away from regulated standard.

At this point, I've come to the conclusion that we're both just seeing where the ball lands.

The both of us finally put everything away in the kitchen. She's amazed by the size of the home, and I'm still getting used to being in a home by myself. The company is pretty great, but now there are certain ideas roaming through my head I'm trying to keep suppressed.

As promised, I show her the multitude of dice I've collected over the years, hoping that one day I'd get back in the habit of rolling them as opposed to letting them sit in a glass case and collect dust for days on end. She's mostly impressed by the variety and themes of the dice, but her mind is where I am now: I want to get a few rolls in.

And she makes it known that she's no different. "Wow, I'm just now realizing how long it's been since I've had a roll or two. Pretty crazy I've waited this long."

I chuckle at her eagerness, more than empathizing with her. "Your boyfriend must really not like Og's and Oub's."

She rolls her eyes, groaning in what appears to be annoyance. "He says it's too confusing. Even when I try to break it down, he doesn't see the fun of roleplaying too much. Something, something, real life ain't about dice and numbers."

If only he knew how wrong he really is. "But that's part of the fun!"

"I know!" She plops herself at the end of the table, unfolding the board and the many cards that come along with it. "I'm just glad I have another chance to play again. It's no fun to go at it by yourself."

While I would love to dominate her time with our common hobby, I have to still play as though she's spoken for. So I give her a few options if she ever wants to get out of the house. "You know there are plenty of local groups that you can get into if you want to break into a game."

She looks to the ceiling, conjuring a thought before coming to her final conclusion. "Nah, I think I'd much rather keep it simple for now." She looks directly at me as she says that.

Why do I have the sneaking sensation that she's just tempting me? Either way, I need to play it cool and keep to the game at hoof. And what better way to do that then to set a mood for immersion? "Alexa, dim the lights."

The lights lower to a low ambiance, giving the space a more primal atmosphere. She's very much impressed by the change in scenery. "I still can't believe your house is so high tech. It's insane."

"Just wait until I call out 'red alert' when we're in battle." I smirk back at her.

She claps her claws together much like that of a young impressionable hatchling. "Oooh! Total immersion! I love it!"

"So, still going with the red mage thing?"

"You bet I am." She says as she pulls out a title card for her character. "It's been a long time since I played, I think I should start over with a new character type. Ain't no better way to jump back in it than to start from square one."

I pick up a few cards from the deck, seeing my options. "I know Big Mac would always go with the barbarian route. Discord would always go with the archer class. I used to be a wizard myself..." As I spread out the five I've drawn, I see the five jobs that are offered to me by chance. Rogue, Archer, Barbarian, Paladin, and Bard. Three of the five have low magic stats to start with, bard being the one with the highest for support purposes. But I have no interest in writing a song for every encounter, and I don't like my character being in the backline for too long because their defensive numbers are abysmal. So I go the better of the three options remaining. "Paladin."

"Whaaaat?" She's astounded by my decision.

I slap down the paladin's card and fold the others to the side. "Yeah, I'll go with the paladin class this go around."

"A character build with no magic, Spike the Dragon, what in Equestria has happened to you?"

Other than being exposed to a number of highly magical beings who nearly rip my wings off for a bargaining chip, an overprotective princess who uses her magic to dictate every course of action I take, and live my life in constant subjugation to that power, I don't know what could possibly disenchant me from that class. "I just thought this would be an interesting route to go down. I mean it shouldn't be that much of a problem, right?"

She tilts her head as to warn me. "Your elemental resistance is virtually zero to start, you sure you want to go on this journey with that build?"

"I mean I can always find some enchanted armor." I reply, not really certain if this quest will even yield a favorable outcome to that bullet point.

She finally breaks out the dice for us to use, placing them at the center of the table. "Okay, if you say so."

Alright, enough chatting, let's get to it. "Roll for strength?"

She picks up the twenty-sided die and gives it a few shakes before casting it to the table. A favorable result shows. "Seventeen. Pretty solid starting off." She writes my stat down and adjusts it with the modifiers for my character. Afterwards, she picks up the die for her own build. "I'll roll for mine." She performs the same motion, only to come up with a not-as-favorable result. "Okay, ten."

I nod at her character's moderate strength number. "Ten isn't bad for a mage. It's pretty loaded if you ask me. Okay, so let's roll for vitality."

She cast the die to the table, another favorable result. "Eighteen. You're pretty tanky. Now let's do mine." She does the same for herself, a much less fortunate result. "Six. Okay, I am a glass cannon."

"I call it a fair trade. You did great by rolling what you had for your attack stat anyhow. Next up, magic."

As she writes down the stats for our characters, she looks at the modifier for my build and reminds me of my only setback. "You know paladins don't have a magic stat to start off with. You can upgrade it later with some ability points, but that's later. So I'll just roll for mine." She gains a favorable result. "Fourteen, okay."

"You're doing pretty great." I say as she jots down the results of her roll and calculate it with her character modifiers. "Magic defense."

Luck does not favor me on the outcome of this stat draw. "Ouch, three."

"Damn." Definitely going to make magic armor a huge priority of my build this go around.

"And I got a..." Her roll comes out favorable. "Twelve again."

Damn, it really feels like she's winning at life right now. "Guess we know who to look to survive the special moves."

"Okay, now on to intelligence. You roll for... one."

Yeah, I might as well been a barbarian at this point. "Ah! I'm a complete dumbass!"

"And I roll for... fourteen!"

I hold my head down in shame. "You're holding the map."

"Yeah, your character would probably hold it upside down." She jokes cheerfully, taking a moment to recover from her laughing fit. "So, let's do charm."

I roll my eyes at the possible result. "Can't wait to see how bad I roll this one."

"Fifteen."

So I can charm my way out of a bad situation, I'm dumb and apparently handsome. Am I sure I didn't pick barbarian on accident? "Casanova."

"And I roll... a six." Yeah, she might not be a favorable party member while in a tavern. Lots of barfights in our future.

"So you negotiate the prices down, I sweet talk us into some lucrative deals?"

"Just stick to the script, you big dummy." She says as she looks to complete my stat table. "Okay, now I roll you for luck."

The die lies to reveal a fairly modest outcome. "Thirteen, huh? Guess I'll put out some decent crits."

She gives herself a roll, coming up with an even better result. "Eighteen!"

I sigh over her luck giving her even more of that trait in this purely fictional circumstance. "Guess your luck was spared over from the mini-golf course."

"Shut up." Hey, I won at something. I'm gonna keep bring it it up until otherwise.

With our stats calculated and our modifiers active, I sit comfortably as I await the world she's imagined for the both of us to dive into. "Well, you're the dungeon master, start us off."

"If you insist." She begins with a bright smile, taking a deep breath as she reads from her notepad. "In the world of Blightia, a land of mystical creatures both known and unknown, there is an evil lord responsible for taking the dead of a recent war to build up his armies. Meanwhile, the nations of Darkvein and Luxia open their negotiations for peace. But an attack ensues on the nation of Luxia, many of the perpetrators donning the armor of the Darkvein fallen. Amist the confusion, the king of Darkvein sends for an intervention of the disavowed forces personally, but he suddenly fell under a surprise attack by members of the Luxia fallen. And with the attack observed by many of the Darkvein royal family, all responsibility is thrown to the Luxia high minister. As a result of the confusion, the war between the two nations begin anew, much to the delight of this evil lord puppeting the now-extended conflict from deep within the Blightian shadows."

A dark lord using the bodies of the dead to do his bidding, where does that sound familiar? "Ah, a necrolord."

She continues to narrate our world into it's humble introduction of protagonists. "Our journey begins with the tale of a young paladin named..." She points to me to create a name for my character.

"Praxis the Noble."

"Praxis the Noble, a fledgling squire who's thrusted upon the fields of battle along with his lord."

Wow, not even a backstory to my character to start off with, just in the throws of action. "Oh, I'm fighting already?"

"Not yet." She responds.

"Okay. I though I was gonna have to start getting some rolls in."

"Let me start you off, first." She continues with her narration of the scenario. "Amidst the chaos and carnage of the field, the brave lord hews down many of the Darkvein legion. But a stray spear finds itself lodged in the chest of your lord. He speaks upon you one last title, granting you the rank of paladin to finish the fight in his stead. He passes away in your arms, now you take up his sword and face the number of soldiers that barrel towards you." She looks to me now, coming out of her narration. "You face against three Darkvein soldiers. Each with 90 hit points. It's an easy encounter with an unlikely chance of failure."

Ah, story fodder. Guess we'll see how it goes. "Roll for damage."

The clatter of the die sounds in the room as she carefully weaves the outcome of my first encounter. "You roll a sixteen. Your damage stat is seventeen, your active modifier accounts for a multiple of two-point-five. You one-shot the first guard who falls over in an undignified groan. The other two attack you at once. Rolling for damage taken... six, the first guard hits you with a strike that you parry easily. The second misses and gives you a wide opening."

So far so good. "Roll for damage again."

The die clatters yet again, the results are different. "Eight. You still being relatively new to conflict, you feel the pressure of being thrown in a life-or-death situation. You swing at the off-balance soldier, but you damage for 39 of his 90 hp. The other guard attacks you for... rolled a four, so they completely miss you."

A no-hitter, okay. "Let's roll again for my fallen lord."

Gabby's eyes light up as she screams my result. "Nineteen! You swing your blade fiercely while remembering your training. Just as you hear his voice telling you to follow through, you hew down both of the soldiers for all their hit points. You win the first battle, winning a total of thirty-six sterlings."

Of course the fodder encounter yields some crappy rewards to start off. "Okay, pretty sweet so far."

She goes back into narration mode. "But as you start to get the hang of your sword, another figure flies in from above, taken interest by your show of confidence. 'Nice, very nice work. I see your fallen lord hasn't left you completely incompetent.' The figure is a red mage griffon by the name of Shade the Sable." She breaks out of her narration to inform me of my new encounter. "It's a fated battle, but not one you're likely to win."

Since this appears to be the first boss battle, and a surprisingly early one to boot, I might as well set the mood for it. "Alexa, red alert."

The lights around us flick on to red, giving the room a dark and ominous glow. Gabby looks around with a huge grin on her face. "Okay, that is awesome."

Game nights like this, I think I'm going to heavily enjoy just because of this new mechanic. "Okay, let's get our first roll for damage."

A cackle of the die and my roll is successful. "You roll eighteen, you burst out with a flurry of strokes, almost catching Sable off her guard. The Darkvein red mage is impressed by your skill. She takes on... I roll a five, so that's a critical 124 damage to my 660 point health pool. I roll for counter, six. I swipe at you, but you parry the blow fairly easily, but you get scratched by the blade, suffering... ten on roll, so you receive 73 to your health pool of 900."

So much for an unwinnable encounter. "It's a pretty close fight. Let's see what else I can do. Roll for limit break!"

The die reveals that luck isn't quite on my side as much as I would like. "You roll a one, you try to show off a fancy maneuver that doesn't impress the red mage very well. You get called out for your negligence, no damage given. I roll a nine, I hit you while you're unbalanced, your vitality modifiers are currently disabled due to having casted a limit. You receive a critical hit of 134 hp."

Steep penalty for a bad roll. Guess I'll have to not be as foolish as I was on the last go. "I'm more than 200 down. Let's try a basic attack this time."

The die hits the table and she sounds confident. "Seven, you hit me with a clumsy blow, dealing 58 damage." She rolls for herself, squeeing while pumping her fist to the air. "I roll for fifteen! My character says there's enough playing around. So she unleashes a special skill and hits you for massive damage."

Oh great, a special skill in a 'unwinnable' scenario, there's only one way this can end. "Damage check?"

"You roll a four, your lack of experience coupled by your low stat for magic defense results in 637 damage."

HOLY SHIT, I'M ONLY DOUBLE DIGITS!? "Yikes. I'm totally crit right now. My damn character's gonna end up dead before the story even begins."

Gabby smiles from behind her character card, clearing her throat to get my attention. "My character takes notice of your youth. Would you like to roll for charm? Maybe there's another way you can possibly get out of this fine mess you've gotten yourself into."

Given that I only have 56 hp left out of my original 800, I'm pretty low on alternatives. I'm sure to not have any significant healing items to keep the battle going at this rate. I suppose I'll play along with her mercy route. "I don't have a choice."

She rolls the die, and it lands on the best possible outcome by chance. "Solid twenty." She goes right back into her narration mode. "The Darkvein red mage is smitten by your young and attractive features. She places her sword under your chin with a smirk. She then teases you over your lack of experience, citing that she's feeling... merciful. She takes you as her prisoner of war, in exchange for your life. The other Darkvein soldiers surround you and bind you by your limbs. 'As cute as you are, you're just as inexperienced. Maybe you'll serve me well in due time, fair Luxian soldier. But for now, you are mine to control.' You are taken away by the Darkvein soldiers, but you are spared for yet another day."

Well I took my first loss of the campaign already, but at least it's a scripted affair instead of being a winnable battle horribly lost. The color of the room really helps with my immersion, so much that I almost forget that I'm still here playing a board game. Only a thunderclap reminds me of the weather that's going on outside. It shocks me back to the present. Yeah, I really missed being able to immerse myself on this level. "Hell of a way to start off the campaign, a thunderstorm to accent my first loss and the loss of my master. Pretty fun stuff to start off, I wonder how it's going to be with me being a prisoner of war." I call out to the room, changing the ambiance back to it's original state. "Alexa, cancel red alert."

The lights go back to a dim beige. Gabby claps her talons together with appreciation once more. "Okay, I'm gonna be nerding out over us being able to do that all night, aren't I?"

Yeah, I can tell we're going to be up for some time. "Maybe."

We spend hours playing through the campaign, going from me being a prisoner of war to a fugitive along with the disavowed red mage. And while the enemy forces plotted to simply have me executed for being a Luxian, Shade the Sable came through to save my life in exchange for me serving as her front line while going through the lands in search of treasures and adventure, all while avoiding the encroaching forces of our respective nations of course.

Sorry, it's hard for me to break out of character when the session concludes.

We spent a lot of time going through our scenario, so much time that we forget to eat. But as soon as we finally put a little something in our stomachs, Gabby shows signs of mental fatigue. Unfortunately, I can't send her home on the account of the rain, but I can lay her in one of the guest beds at least. She's not heavy to carry, and she's quite warm. I sometimes have to shake my inherent thoughts a bit just to be able to avoid any unexpected 'conflicts' that could occur. But I get her to a bed, tuck her in, and head over to mine to call it a night.

I stay up for a while thinking about our campaign. Just the fact that we're back to the groove of things has me more than excited to keep things going. All of a sudden, I'm tossing and turning in my bed, imagining various takes and directions we could go with our adventure. I'm so virtually consumed by the world we're building that I start to think of our next location, what would the next dungeon be like.

But a mind running at a million miles a second doesn't get much rest. Guess I'll have to keep myself busy for just a bit before heading back. I should probably write something down, maybe a letter or something. Better yet, I could write a scenario for my next session! I'll do more than be some dumb knight in rusting armor, I'll put together a few quests we could take for when it's my turn to be the dungeon master. I dart out of my room, wings flapping as I stay in the air. I make sure to stay quiet while I go down the hall...

But not all is quiet.

"Ahn~"

I hear a labored breath, it's weak but it sounds of a struggle. I turn my head to see the door to the bedroom I placed Gabby in slightly ajar, as is the bathroom door just across the hall. I follow my ears to the sound, trailing it back to the bedroom. I peek my eye to the crack, just to see if she's having a nightmare or otherwise.

She's far from sleeping.

While the sheets cover her body, the squirming of her body and the rapid motions of her arms give much away of her current endeavor. Her claws, concealed by the covers, are at work. Her eyes are closed as she stubbornly works against the one arm she has embedded between her haunches. Poor girl is working fast, and she's trying to get her reward as swiftly as possible.

I know it's wrong to stare, it's especially rude, but I can't take my eyes off of her. In fact, I'm cursing at myself for not throwing her in the bed with me. At least it wouldn't be like the last time we had a sleepover. I wouldn't be nearly as awkward, being scrunched up against her body with my nose buried so closely to her underbelly. I'd go even further, I'd probably put her on her back and have my way with her, if she's willing. I mean she has to be willing with the way she's going at it right now. I want to touch myself, stroke at the budding mound of my most intimate self. I can feel the scales around me wanting to give way, revealing myself in this very hallway.

Try to keep quiet, Spike. Don't pass yourself to be even more of a creep than you are right now. Dammit, I need to get back to my room. I need to work this off. I need to go now and get this over with so I can get some rest. I'll write the scenario in the morning.

She stifles a moan into her pillow, turning over as she arches her back under the sheets. The dark silhouette implies much, but her forward thrusts leave little to the imagination. She whimpers into the pillow her breathy squeaks. "~ike." Some semblance of a word leaves her lips. I wait to hear more, seeing if it was some sort of mistake or possibly... "Spike." Hardly an accident.

Her talons launch from under the covers, gripping the side of the mattress, her claws tear holes into my new sheets, ripping them to shreds as she mewls herself into a high pitched squeak that chokes itself out beyond her register. Her body seizes for a second before she's left with forceful huffs, riding out the frantically built climax. She tries her best to stay quiet, breathing into her pillow to hide her distress. Her face pops out from the pillow, her body relaxes as she pants in recovery. She slowly turns her head towards the cracked door, causing me to speed away back to my room. I close my door quietly, trying not to alert her to the fact that I'm wide awake.

I hop back in my bed, abandoning all cause and concern with a claw frantically freeing myself from my scales. "Shit." I'm working just as furiously as she was. Hell I couldn't ignore it, that was my name she called. "She wants me, she wants me." I can't deny myself, the thought consumes me.

I anchor myself, my feet planted to the mattress while my back locks to the soft foam. My dominant claw is ambitious, my breathing erratic, my body in complete and total surrender to pent-up lust and intent. I imagine myself abandoning all sense of morality, barging into that room and closing the door behind me. I could even hear her question me as I enter, but I don't care for that.

I just know that she called my name, and I'm here to answer her body in the way her so-called boyfriend never has.

I would peel back those fucking covers, see what a mess she made, the damage she's done to my sheets, I'd make her pay for that. I'd watch her squirm to wrestle me off, but gradually accept me as I align myself to her body. I'd unlock every ounce of her femininity with just one press into her, how I would revel in the moment of being over her in that bed. I'd make her fucking call my name again, and again, and again.

I want her soul with every thrust. "Oh my gosh... Gabby..." Every passion, every taboo broken. I want her. "Gabby... Gabby... I'm cumming..."

My whispers are a little loud, but I don't care. My feet dig into my mattress, my back arches with the impending throbbing from deep in my loins. I hold my breath for that one moment, seizing while my claw motions without ceasing. Instead of a climax, I reach a breaking point, one I haven't felt in such a time. I whimper loudly, my jaw agape as I collect on the self-imposed deficit of air. Stream after stream of my seed spurt from within me, spewing up my chest and gradually decreasing in distance covered. I continue at myself, even well beyond the last stream simply flows down and between each of my fingers.

That was heavenly. I've been holding that in for days now. Such relief at the imagination of a griffon calling my name in the midst of her passionate bout with self, much less within the walls of my home. I look down to measure the mess I've made, seeing a thick coat of my own seed enveloping my own claw. I'm amazed at the load I've put out. But past the mess on my hand, I see an unexpected sight that startles me.

A pair of blue eyes stare at me from the darkness of the hall, a beak left agape in watch. I jump back up to cover myself, all while hearing the scamper of claws against the hardwood floor of the hallway. It seems I've given quite the show to my guest, an inadvertent one at that.

Did I not close the door all the way? "I could've sworn..."