The head priest entered with imperious motions. "You have emerged." His tone was serious and full of deadly weight. "You come before us successful, or your life ends now. Which will it be? We all hunger to know." He raised a taloned hand to clench it. "Show us. Burn with brilliance, or just burn. There is no room for anything else."

Giselle's eyes wandered over the thick crowd of curious griffons. "Alright." She took a slow breath, marshalling herself. "Alright. I'm still new at this, but I will do it." She folded her wings. "We are griffons. We are masters of air." Wind picked up around her, crackling as if with static electricity. "This is our birthright."

Several other griffons called in rough avian cries, cheering with solidarity in the claim that air belonged to them all.

"But for some of us, the greed is too powerful." Her talons wreathed in crackles of lightning, jumping from talon to talon. "We hunger for more, we reach for the fire. Some of us are burned, while others--" The electric field washed over the rest of her as she caught fire, bursting into full mystical fury as she ceased to be just a griffon, but a full phoenix. "--rise from the flames."

She flared her wings wide, bathing the entire room in the heat and light of her radiance. "This is the power of the flame, the power of the phoenix. We are griffons, and we can rise again and again. No matter what happens, we will rise."

The room exploded with cheers at her words, bidding them all to rise from their miserable state, but it was all cut off with a sharp motion from the priest. "You burn, little chick, in all the right ways." He smiled, a genuinely kind expression. "Today, you are more than you were yesterday. Prepare a feast!"

Griffons that were easy to miss struck great drums, beating on them with increasing fervor as the cheers returned. Some griffons pressed close to Giselle, complimenting her, or making awkward advances. She was the star of the show, and no secret was made of that.

Gallus sank next to me. "I go through all that effort and they don't even say thanks."

I patted his side. "Rough, but I'm glad to see you. You look beat."

"I just spent most of the week giving lessons." He raised a brow at me. "How did you teach me so quickly? I got it so fast. For a moment, I thought I wouldn't be able to get to her."

"Well, you did it." I smiled at him. "And you're the hero of the day. I'm just a friend."

"Yeah, I'm the hero." He looked around the room. "I'm the hero, and I'm the only one who cares right now." He turned his attention back to me. "You should be the hero. You did it, you taught me first. I just did it second."

"Don't be like that." I considered things. "I'm a kirin. I was already fire, and I shared that. You are a griffon first. Air. It took some getting used to not only burning, but sharing that fire, the way I see it. You had further to go, so my hat goes off to you."

"You're not wearing one." He flicked one of my long ears, but was giving a happy smirk of sorts. "I say we get some food and get some sleep."

"I'll stick around for you to get your share."

He started with surprise. "Not hungry?"

Twinkle snorted, announcing herself. "We just ate, I'm afraid. Bad timing. But we'll gladly stay with you before bed."

"Count me as three." Pinkie bounced to her hooves. "Food, then bed."

"Hey, David!" I turned to see Gabby waving from across the room. "They said I could come in tomorrow, so I'm going to try, okay?" She hurried over and bent over us with a big smile. "Oh, hey Gallus. Been a while."

Gallus huffed softly. "Right. I have to teach three." He pointed at Gabby as he rose to his feet. "And you're number two. You feeling ready to hug a fire and enjoy it?"

"That sounds intense." Not that she appeared at all discouraged. "Teach me, oh wise teacher." She clapped with building excitement. "I'm ready!"

"I hope you are." Gallus shook his head slowly. "Once I hit three, I'm done, and kinda looking forward to that. Oh, Gabby, you have friends?"

"Tons!" She began listing them, but they didn't sound like griffon names at all, none starting with the letter g.

Gallus stopped her. "Griffon friends, I mean. Any griffons you know?"

Gabby seemed confused a moment before she perked and pointed at Gallus. "Here's one right here!"

Gallus rubbed his face with a groan, but he did so with a smile as well, and turned to the door with a wave of his wing, taking Gabby with him to the next stage of her journey. I wondered a moment. "Wasn't he going to get something to eat?"

Pinkie shrugged. "Maybe he's too excited to get Gabby doing the fire griffon thing? That sounds pretty exciting to me." She bounced around Twinkle and I with a big smile. "I say we go visit Maud. She's been working really hard with almost nopony to keep her company."

"Oh, that sounds like a great idea." I stood up and stretched my legs a bit, feeling sore from all the sitting and the walking we had done the last few days. "We should probably find her and tell her what's going on. You know, the whole 'she's welcome to be part of the family' thing."

So we headed off, all three of us. Pinkie led the way to a hole and vanished into it without hesitation. "Maud! Maud! We're back."

"We can't be back." Maud turned calmly to face us where she had been mining a wall steadily. "Two of you were never here before."

"True." Pinkie pointed to me and waved to Twinkle. "These two have things to talk to you about, and I'm going to spy. Don't notice me." She sank to her haunches.

Twinkle advanced first. "Good evening, Maud. We wanted to talk, about you and David. Me and Twilight and Spike and you. The whole mess of us."

Maud raised a brow smoothly. "Have you made a decision?" She was looking at me directly. "I was waiting."

"I have." I nodded, feeling nervous butterflies in my stomach at the prospect of letting her down. "Maud, I love you. I love you, and I want to be with you. I don't want to lose you." I thought about the words I was saying and felt silly. "That sounds trite at best. I don't know how to say that better."

"Try."

The bluntness of the request surprised me. "Maud, you lovely stone-faced mare. I want to hug you forever. I want to be held by you. I want to work next to you, doing my thing as you do your thing, and know that we just care about each other, even if we don't say a thing. I want the things we do say to count."

Maud was still a moment. "Swoon." She did not swoon, despite her word.

"Maud." I stepped closer to her, lowering my head to be level with her own. "You are amazing. You are smart, and beautiful, and so very wonderful. I can't think of a single thing I don't like about you, except that you aren't closer."

Maud suddenly grabbed me and pulled me close with her tremendous strength, squeezing me close. She pressed her lips to mine and we kissed. As powerful as her hug was, the kiss was gentle and felt like it lasted forever.

Twinkle and Pinkie cheered the two of us on, pumping hooves and bouncing with collective joy.

Maud released me, stepping back and giving a nod. "I will accept your offer, and the terms. I will be with you." She smiled. "My stallion." She flicked her tail as she turned to Twinkle. "Speaking of that." She marched on Twinkle with several firm steps. "He's mine."

Twinkle folded her ears back with a squeak of concern. "Please don't hit me."

"I wouldn't do that." Maud inclined her head. "But he is mine. If you want to borrow him, you have to ask."

Twinkle's confusion was growing, as was mine. "He is a grown pony. He belongs to himself."

Maud backed up beside me and reached up underneath me to run a hoof over my dangling sheath. "This part belongs to me. Twilight and Spike already gave up their claim. They own the rest of him."

"I belong to myself." I moved away from her hoof, not that it was unpleasant, but it was a little sudden and I was still working through the situation with Maud and the others, and it felt a little odd to be doing this right in front of them both, not that I was going to complain, exactly, but I was a little lost, honestly, and needed some time to work out what was happening and how to react to it all, especially the more intimate touches.

Maud turned to me fully. "You said you wanted me. If I'm giving you me, you give me you. That is how romance works." She glanced aside at Twinkle and Pinkie. "Am I wrong?"

Pinkie shrugged, having no particular objections.

Twinkle scowled with a huff. "I was here first, besides, Maud, I'm here ready to share. Don't be so greedy I start to change my mind. We're all civil ponies, I hope."

"Well, I wouldn't call any of us civil." Pinkie giggled at her joke, even if it was a bad one, and bounced around Twinkle and Maud, settling next to me with a giggle and a friendly nuzzle. "But I'm not worried. I trust you three."

"Thanks." I smiled awkwardly. "Maud, how can I make this work?"

Maud tapped at her chin thoughtfully. "Pinkie told me what you did. I am furious." But her tone remained even, and she showed not a hint of those emotions. "I propose a spell."

Twinkle perked at that. "A spell? What kind?"

Maud pointed underneath me. "We tie him to us, so that 'little David' remains little until we both trust him entirely again. I will feel better if we do that, and I will share, with just you."

"Sounds reasonable." Twinkle smiled and came close, rubbing against me with a friendly bump of her shoulder, and a kiss to my cheek that made me flush deeply with a nervous flutter of butterflies in my stomach. "You know, I'm glad we're doing this."

That left me feeling nervous. "Don't I get a vote?"

"No." Maud inclined her head at me. "You already agreed to this. You have no reason you should want to get an erection around any other mares. If you don't agree, I will leave."

On one hoof, that felt harsh. On the other, she wasn't wrong. Being in a committed relationship was promising exactly that. "You have a point. If it means--yes. I agree."

"Good." Maud curled on herself, drawing a stone free. "Put this down there." It was a slender blue stone. "It will anchor the spell, once we cast it. Twinkle, you'll have to work with me to perform the spell."

"Eagerly!" She looked quite happy to be part of a spellcasting. I smiled at that eagerness, even if I was a little nervous about the rest.

I watched the two of them prepare, moving to stand opposite each other with the stone in the middle, facing me, and in front of the stone, with a horn glowing on one side of me as Maud focused intense earth energies at me, and a feeling like a cold breeze running over me as magic gathered, and then, the feeling of the spell taking hold and locking in place, and I could feel the presence of the stone, and the magic, and the connections between us, and how I could not, and would not, get an erection for anypony but Maud and Twinkle.

I was locked to them, but I could think of far worse ponies to be bound to.

Author's Note

Some trust was injured, but there are magical means to make sure a stallion doesn't wander off. Promises are made and a step is taken.

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