A Renewed Ending

Friday, November 26, 1007 A.L., Gryphonia

The day was a surprisingly sunny one, and that was thanks to Amira and some of her pegasi guards moving a number of rainclouds away from Gryphonstone for that day only. The air had the smell of damp from the rains the day before. The day before, Gregory had celebrated the American Thanksgiving holiday with not just his gryphon friends, but with Starlight, Sunset, Trixie, Zecora, and Ladybug. Since his current living situation wasn’t big enough, they’d gathered at Gilda’s place, which was the largest one in Gryphonstone. Gabby and Gallus had helped Zecora and Ladybug come up for the day. They had eaten a lot, talked, and Gregory had even brought a projector, his laptop, and a power source so they could watch a movie. He’d chosen the movie Atlantis: The Lost Empire. To his delight, everyone loved it and it sparked a discussion of Gaia’s own lost and/or mythical civilizations which went on long into the night until Gregory realized how late it was.

That was why he was yawning the next morning as he looked down at Gwendolyn and said, “I really don’t think we need to do this for me. Surely there’s someone else worthy of something like this?”

“This was decided by the Convocation already,” Gwendolyn replied, then gave him a small smirk as she added, “and don’t’ call me Shirley.”

Gregory almost facepalmed as he looked back at the number of creatures setting things down at the future site of the new houseoak. Around him, Haakim, Amira, Ember, Rhyo, Scoria, Silica, Garble, Smolder, the other members of the Convocation, Gabby, Gilda, Gallus, and a large number of other gryphons watched as Zecora directed a few other gryphons along with Ladybug, Starlight Glimmer (who he noticed had begun styling her mane like her reformed self lately), Sunset Shimmer, and Trixie, to place various objects down in the proper areas. He saw a number of pieces of copper that Silica had brought from her own mine, a large number of rocks and iron from a quarry and iron mine respectfully, a couple pieces of hastily carved lumber from the nearby forest, portions of soda ash, limestone, and sand, something that looked like a pile of sheep wool, and a number of other small materials he couldn’t identify. They were all being placed inside a circle made of élanite around where Gregory’s apparently new houseoak home would be grown.

When he’d asked, Zecora said that all of these materials would be necessary for the house structure. Heating, plumbing, and even a form of magically induced electricity would be included in the houseoak, and each of the materials was needed for the spell. He had plenty of questions, but he had grown to trust Zecora’s judgement, so he sat back in his lawn chair while others around watched from chairs of their own.

Gabby was sitting on the other side of him, watching with bated breath as was everyone else. From behind him, a hoof tapped his shoulder. Looking back, he found himself looking into Amira’s light blue eyes. “Can you explain this to me again?” the tall pegasus asked.

Gregory almost sighed. They had been over this a number of times, but he knew better than to say anything about it. This was a demonstration not only for the gryphons, but for the representatives from Saddle Arabia and the Dragon Lands. “This is how I understand it,” Gregory replied. “Zecora places the houseoak seed in a hole in the ground, then she will pour a certain potion into the hole, covering the seed in the potion. Next, she will place a stone covering over the hole that has some runic carvings on it. Then, either one or more of the unicorns will begin casting a specific spell on not just the seed, but the potion itself and the material around it. The élanite will act as an amplifier for their magic. Once each piece of material has absorbed enough magic, the élanite will take over and continue to build the houseoak until it’s finished in a very short amount of time. With the élanite being involved, not even Zecora knows just how fast it might grow.”

“But why do you need the other materials?” Amira asked.

“Well, for things like glass windows, plumbing, built in appliances in the kitchen, furniture, and insulation,” Gregory repeated what Zecora had said, minus the rhyming scheme. “From what she told me, a permanent transfiguration spell will be applied to the materials. That’s what the stone tablet is for, to direct the magic to do what they want.” He shrugged. “Where I come from, humans have no wings or magic, so I don’t know anything about what real magic is like.”

Amira gave him a soft, genuine smile, and placed a wing on his back. “There’s no need to apologize,” she replied. “Your explanation was simple and easy to understand. I can’t use magic like my brother can, and I have struggled to understand how our magic works.”

“We’re almost ready, everyone!” Sunset announced as she stepped forward to face the gathered crowd.

Gregory and the others faced her as Ladybug now joined Sunset. She looked nervous, but seemed to steel herself before announcing, “W-We’re about to cast the spell that will grow a houseoak. Please keep your eyes and ears open.”

“Trust the awesomeness,” Trixie announced with a flourish as she stepped to the other side of Sunset. “One of Trixie’s best friends will be casting the spell on her own to prove that one pony can do it.” She then gave a nod to Haakim.

Sunset nodded in agreement. “The spell required is actually one that doesn’t require that much magic to begin,” she explained as she pulled out a piece of paper and floated it over to Haakim. “Almost all unicorns can cast a telekinesis spell, and the amount of magic needed takes about the same amount of magic. It is a lot trickier, though, so please be silent while Starlight prepares herself.”

Zecora then came up and stood next to Ladybug as she faced the gathered group of miscellaneous creatures. “The preparations are very much complete. Magic will grow the tree in a heartbeat,” she said.

“Are we far enough away?” Ember asked.

“You’re good, yes,” Sunset replied. She then turned back to Starlight. “Are you ready over there, Starry?”

Starlight scowled at that nickname, but nodded. “Yeah!”

“Then let’s all be quiet, everyone,” Sunset said.

With that, the crowd went silent as Starlight stepped towards the gathering of miscellaneous objects in the élanite circle. She stepped forward now, taking a deep breath and exhaling. Gregory could hear the nervousness in that breath as she lowered her horn towards the ground. “Well…here goes nothing.” She aimed her horn at the stone over the hole and began casting a spell.

This wasn’t the first time Gregory had seen how unicorn magic actually looked. Unlike in the show, there was a small glowing string of magic between the more brightly glowing horn and the target. That was how it looked for any sort of spell it seemed. Of course, there were times when blasts of magic could come from a pony, but he hadn’t seen that sort of thing happening yet. Still, he watched as the glow surrounded the stone.

It rose off of the ground slowly, the sound of magic being cast the only sound aside from some slight winds in the nearby trees. Everyone watched in anticipation as the stone reached about three feet into the air then stopped. Starlight had her eyes closed, her lips moving but no words coming out of them. More beams of magic came out of the stone tablet and struck the élanite ore. When that happened, she stopped casting her own magic and stepped back to stand next to her pony friends to watch.

The sound of magic being cast only increased and the beams of magic grew brighter. The runic lettering on the stone began glowing a bright white, like some sort of glowing liquid was filling it up. A larger beam shot out from the glowing stone down into the hole where the seed was located. At first, nothing else happened. Then, the ground began to rumble and shake slightly. Everyone looked nervous, but Zecora shouted, “Everyone, withhold your fear. This is expected and will soon clear.”

Gregory, who had been gripping the armrests of his chair, relaxed when a familiar claw laid on his own. Looking down, he saw Gabby giving him a reassuring smile. Then, he was surprised when another claw touched his other hand. Looking back, he saw that Gilda had done the same thing. She wasn’t smiling, but she gave him a reassuring nod. Smiling at his two close friends, he looked out at the circle.

The objects that had been placed there, aside from the élanite ore, was now sinking into the ground, which itself was slowly beginning to form into a sinkhole. The dirt seemed to be boiling like one of those sand pools. Everyone watched in quiet anticipation for something to happen. The sound of boiling could be heard for the next few minutes.

Then, something began to stick out of the boiling hole: a small branch. Everyone’s eyes focused on it as it began to move upwards, slowly at first, but then faster as the magic élanite ore brightened with an inner red glow. This, in turn, caused the glow of the magic to increase which increased the speed of the growth of the now apparent tree. When the tip of the tree touched the stone, said stone shattered into dust and began swirling around the tree like some sort of dust devil. Everyone continued observing as the ground began to rise up, eventually pushing the élanite ore away as the trunk of the tree expanded beyond the circle boundaries. The ore lifted up and continued providing magic to the tree’s growth.

Everyone could hear the sound of wood creaking, but what stunned them more was the fact that windows were starting to form along with a large door. Gregory was briefly reminded of the scene from an old 90s movie called Dark City where the aliens were creating the buildings for the city itself. In a way, this looked similar.

When Gregory saw that the tree was growing taller than he’d expected, he said, “Um…Zecora? Is it supposed to be this tall?”

“Fret not, my friend, nothing’s in error,” Zecora said, “there is no need for your terror.”

Gregory nodded, and watched as the tree continued growing. The trunk began expanding wider and more windows appeared. Near the front door, a table with benches appeared, seeming to grow out of the ground. Gregory had seen the plans long before this operation, and had been confused as to why there was a table in the plans, but as he watched, a second tree shot out of the center of the table, spreading boughs of empty branches. That was another thing he’d learned. The spell needed had to take into account the weather conditions, seasons, temperature, and other things before being cast.

The smaller tree stopped growing when the table reached its proper size, and Gregory finally realized that the smaller tree was to be used for shade for the table. There were even metal lanterns hanging from the trunk, which somehow turned on after it stopped growing. Parts of the ground around them were still rumbling, and Gregory could almost sense the roots beneath the ground.

Eventually, the élanite ore moved down, landing on the ground and starting to dim. The tree then began slowing down until the rumbling stopped. With a final groan, the tree shuddered, came to a halt, a metal key appeared in the door’s lock, and the door then slowly and silently opened. Everyone was standing and looking at the massive tree. Gregory had to crane his neck to see the top of the tree. Slowly, he looked over at Zecora. “That…was some seriously awesome shit,” he said without holding back.

To her credit, she actually chuckled. “The surprises have yet to end,” she said as she walked over, grabbed the key, and brought it over to him. Placing it in his hand, she finished, “go in and see your new home, my friend.”

The houseoak’s first floor was massive. The door led into a large living room with several windows. There were several large couches, a coffee table, empty shelves built right into the walls, and several light fixtures that, to Gregory’s complete shock despite knowing otherwise, were plugged into plugs. There were even some empty plug fixtures that Gregory knew he’d have to test just in case the power requirements didn’t match with any of his electronics. He had no problem continuing to use his own power sources for his electronics, but it would be nice to see if things were compatible.

The living room also had a stone fireplace with a lit fire inside. A metal grate protected the living room from sparks. The ceiling was arched without any sort of right angle to it. And it was of course made of wood, wood so smooth that the danger of a splinter was practically nonexistent. It also had a very pleasant lumber smell that Gregory enjoyed.

Through a nearby door, the group found the first bathroom, which to Gregory’s astonishment looked remarkably like a slightly older bathroom from the turn of the 20th century, only cleaner. There was a sink, mirror, a light fixture above the sink, racks for towels, a fabric shower curtain hanging from a wooden pole, a toilet, and a bathtub and shower combination, the two latter looking like they were made of actual porcelain. Directly next to the bathroom was another door, only this one had room with an appliance inside which Zecora later explained was a magical washing machine that didn’t even require water.

In another room was a fully functional kitchen, also looking like it came from the turn of the 20th century. It had a stovetop with four burners and an oven underneath, an actual refrigerator, cabinets for kitchen supplies, a sink, two lamps hanging from the ceiling, a breakfast nook with views of the landscape, another lamp hanging off the wall, and a table in said nook with four wooden chairs. In another room was what looked like a formal dining room with an old styled chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

Past that room was a small hallway with two doors on either side. One door led into a room which was pretty bare. It had a couch, desk, a ceiling lamp, a smaller table lamp on the desk, and shelves built into the side of the walls. Gregory noted that this could very well be useful for a study.

Just past that room were the first and second bedrooms of the house, and while both may have been a bit bare, each one having only a large king-sized bed, closet, dresser, shelves built into the walls, a ceiling light and a pair of lamps on nightstands on either side of the bed, both were still lovely rooms. Each bed actually had sheets and a comforter.

The group continued looking around, quickly finding a wide but winding set of stairs that led up to the second floor. There, they found themselves standing in a round area with six doors on the walls and one set of double doors at the opposite end of the staircase. Four led to other bedrooms along with a fifth and sixth between the bedrooms on either side of the double door that were both full sized bathrooms. The bathrooms were of similar designs to the one on the first floor, although they were a bit bigger, having two sinks instead of one and a slightly bigger bathtub. The four bedrooms were pretty much cookie cutter copies of the one on the first floor only with a balcony overlooking the property below.

The double doors led to a master bedroom which had a king-sized bed with actual balcony style bed with simple fabric for the curtains. The bedroom’s ceiling was dome shaped with a large chandelier hanging from it, a number of standing lamps around the room, three floor to ceiling windows with shades, and lamps on either side of the bed on nightstands. There was a sliding glass door that led to a large balcony outside. The bedroom also had a second stone fireplace with a grate system as well.

On the third floor, they discovered three more bedrooms which were once more carbon copies of the others along with another full bathroom that looked similar to the ones on the second floor.

The fourth floor seemed to serve as an attic of sorts with plenty of space, a large round window, a lamp hanging from the ceiling, and a small sink of all things. There was also a small fireplace in one corner as well, so Gregory suspected that this attic could be used as a bedroom or a reading room or something of that nature.

Back on the main floor, Smolder called Gregory over to show that she had discovered a door in the living room that led down to a basement. In a way, it reminded Gregory of how the Golden Oaks basement looked like, only without the science equipment Twilight had. It too, was empty, only having plenty of shelves for storage and cabinets along with yet another larger sink. There were a few lamps on the walls and one hanging from the ceiling along with a few small windows near the ceiling.

When Gregory came out of the basement, the Convocation, the delegates, and his friends were all standing in the living room looking at him with expectant looks on their faces. Looking at each of them, he took a deep breath, and said, “So…that’s what growing a houseoak is like. And I absolutely am floored by how amazing and spacious this place is.” He turned to Zecora and the others who had helped. “Thank you for this. I…I’m speechless, to be honest.”

Zecora walked over to Gregory, stood on her back legs and wrapped her forelegs around him in a surprising hug. “Your kind in this world have suffered enough,” she whispered softly, “I don’t wish your life to be tough.”

He hugged her back and patted her back before they broke the hug. He then turned to the delegates who had helped bring supplies for the houseoak. “Delegates, thank you for bringing supplies for this.”

“You’re very welcome!” Silica said with a warm smile.

“Think of this as an investment in the future of our future alliance,” Haakim said, “but yes, you’re welcome for the materials.” He looked around the room, then back at Zecora. “Miss…Zecora, was it? Can these homes be shaped to some other form? Maybe to match our architecture? And what about size? Can trees like this become bigger than this house?”

Zecora nodded. “While there may be design constraints, I do not think you’ll have complaints.”

Amira giggled. “Thinking of having a new home built, dear brother?”

Haakim chuckled, then shook his head. “No. I’m thinking about rebuilding that orphanage in Ridad.”

Amira’s smile grew softer. “Good idea.” He turned to the Convocation. “My sister and I are very much interested in future discussions of trade negotiations.”

Geoffrey looked at the others, then stepped forward. “I’m glad to hear it, and we’d be more than happy to discuss options with you.”

Ember, looking at the walls, tapped a talon on them, then looked back at Zecora. “These houses are fireproof, right?”

Zecora shook her head. “Believe me, of that, do not have fear. No flame can ever start in here.”

Before anyone could do anything, Ember breathed out some fire onto a nearby wall. Rhyo quickly rushed forward and pulled her away. “Dragon Lord! That was so incredibly rude!” He turned to Gregory and gave an apologetic look. “I’m so sorry!”

“It doesn’t look like her flames even left a mark,” Gregory replied, indicating the spot on the wall where Ember had tried to burn it, “so don’t worry about it.”

Rhyo looked down at Ember, who had a look like a scolded child. She stepped forward and mumbled, “Sorry about that.”

“It’s alright, but don’t do it again,” Gregory warned, not wanting to look too weak in front of her.

Ember straightened and nodded. “In that case, as Dragon Lord, I too would like to continue our talks. Even if they’re soooo boring.”

That got a chuckle out of many in the room. Geoffrey then walked over to Ember. “We welcome it,” he said to her. He then turned back to the other delegates “Would you all be willing to begin our talks tomorrow?”

“I don’t mind,” Haakim said, “but why not today?”

Geoffrey gestured to Gregory. “I suspect one of our members will be busy, and I think it would be best if every member was present for these talks.”

Amira chuckled. “We’re willing to wait another day,” she said.

“Eh, sure,” Ember said.

Gregory looked around the room. “Well then, thank you all for coming to watch this,” he said to everyone, “it was certainly an experience. If you’ll excuse me, though, I have some moving to do.”

“These taco things are super delicious!” Silica was saying a few hours later after Gregory had fully moved into his new home. She had eagerly volunteered to help him move in, although she’d done just as much questioning about his belongings.

Gregory was sitting in a large and new Gryphonstone restaurant called Taco Town which had opened only two weeks prior. He sat at the largest table in the restaurant with Gabby, Gilda, Gallus, Starlight, Sunset, Trixie, and Silica. Zecora and Ladybug had gone back down to their home after helping with the move. He had decided to treat those who remained to food after they’d helped him move in. The restaurant itself was packed full of gryphons. He lifted his glass of bliss and inclined it towards Silica. “It’s a great meal,” he replied.

“This bean burrito is delicious too,” Trixie said, lifting her burrito up with a smile as she took a bite.

“You’re sleeping away from us tonight,” Starlight warned as she took a bite of her cheesy black bean crunchwrap, something that Gregory had introduced to the restaurant.

Trixie blushed as the others around her laughed at her expense. Sunset patted the embarrassed blue unicorn on her back. “We’re just teasing you, Trix,” she said.

Gregory took a bite of his extra meat and cheese taco. “The hospital is letting you stay there still?” he asked.

“We actually moved into the Eyrie,” Sunset explained as she took a bite of her beans and rice.

“We’re sleeping in that big hall with a bunch of other gryphons,” Starlight added.

Gregory leaned back and stroked his chin. He was thinking of an idea that he’d been mulling over ever since he’d first seen how many bedrooms he had in his new place. There were a complete total of nine bedrooms, eight if he didn’t count whichever room he chose which would likely be the master on the second floor. It went up to nine again if he included using that study as a temporary bedroom. Looking around at the table once more, he saw his six friends still talking among themselves, along with Silica joining in the discussion. Six places…six extra bedrooms…

His new house was plenty big and could definitely accommodate them, he knew. The bigger things he had to consider was the food budget, locations of where they could place their items, and other such things. He mused that if they did move in, their old houses, which were in better shape now than they had been, could be used by other gryphons during the winter and beyond. He already planned on asking Gallus, who was pretty much a couch surfer, to permanently move in. Having Gilda and Gabby move in would be nice, too. He also thought that the three ponies might like their own rooms where they could have some semblance of privacy.

“Gregory? You okay?” Gabby, who was sitting next to him on his right, asked as she gently nudged him.

“Wake up, dipstick,” Gilda added, and as she was sitting to him on his left, gave him a harsher nudge.

“Ah, sorry, was just lost in thought,” Gregory said as he grabbed a tater tot.

“What about?” Gilda asked.

“About asking you six if you wanted to move in with me,” he replied, gesturing to his six friends.

The table went silent. Even Silica had stopped eating and was watching this go down, a curious expression on her face. Sunset spoke up after about a minute. “Um, are you sure about that?” she asked.

“We’re grateful that you’d think of us,” Starlight added, “but wouldn’t we be in your way?”

“Guys,” Gregory said, “that house is massive. I’d love to have people around. Besides,” he added, “Winter is coming.”

“Okay, Gregory Stark,” Gilda teased, but she also had an actual happy smile on her face. “But seriously, the pony’s right. Wouldn’t we be imposing?”

“Not at all,” he replied. “You’re my friends. I want you to live well. Besides, you three,” and here he gestured to his gryphon friends with a teasing smirk, “have been spending more time at my place than at yours. This way, we cut out the middleman.”

“Hah!” Gallus laughed.

“Well…I mean, I’d be down,” Gilda said. “I don’t own much, and having actual running water that works all the time would be nice. Ah, what the tartarus? Count me in.”

Gregory chuckled and nodded in agreement. He was definitely looking forward to a long hot bath later that night. Zecora had assured them that the water would come from their well and from the tree absorbing excess precipitation. There were spigots on the outside of the house that could be connected to water pipes, however, and he anticipated that when the plumbing situation in town was under control, he would be getting plumbing installations. “You’re more than welcome to move in, Gilda.”

Gallus waved a claw at him. “It’d be nice to have an actual bed, so count me in too.”

Gabby was still thinking, and she said, “I mean…I guess that would be fine, but I just want to be sure that-”

“Gabby, he’s giving us a gift,” Gilda interrupted.

“I just want to be sure we won’t be getting in his way,” Gabby replied quickly before looking up at Gregory. “Will we?”

“No, of course not,” Gregory replied.

“Well, then if you’re sure, then…yes.” She looked up at him with a smile. “Now I can give my old home to somegryphon who needs it.”

Gregory nodded and then looked over at the ponies. The three unicorns were talking quietly among themselves. When they were finished, they looked back at him. “If you’re serious about this,” Sunset said, “we have one request: we would like to claim the bedrooms on the third floor for ourselves.”

“I wouldn’t have an issue with that,” he said, “but can I ask why?”

“When we were up there earlier, our magic felt a bit stronger,” Starlight explained. “We think that the higher we are, the more connected with our magic we can become and the faster we can recover from daily use.”

Gregory was a bit surprised by this revelation, but nodded. “Huh…well if that’s the case, then yes. You can have that floor to yourselves.”

“Then we accept,” Sunset said, smiling.

After lunch, the group went to work on moving everyone into Gregory’s new house. This mostly involved moving Gilda’s and Gabby’s belongings into the new place, as Gallus and the three ponies really didn’t have much to begin with. That took until dinner, which they had at the Groggery. Silica had stayed and helped as well, having been extra helpful in carrying larger things as she was probably the strongest of the bunch there.

When they had all moved in, Gabby and Gilda temporarily left to find needing families who could live in their old homes. They were back at their new places only a half hour later, having found some gryphons who were grateful for their generosity. They then all spent some time familiarizing themselves with their new home, with Silica spending time with Gregory asking him about humans and his old home. She’d been helping him with organizing his things when he was setting things up in his new bedroom, of course, but had also been talking with him. In turn, she had answered his questions about dragons. That had been the deal he’d made with her: a question for a question.

Now that he had all the space he could ever want, he fully unpacked the back of his truck with Silica’s help. Soon, the new fridge, which looked like an old fridge, was full of his remaining refrigerated food from Earth along with several bottles of water, a couple cases of sodas and sports drinks. The cabinets all had dishes, pots, and pans from Gabby and Gilda, which both had agreed could be used until more could be bought. Gregory had some of his own, but with the addition of four others who didn’t own anything, he knew he’d have to go out soon to buy some more very soon.

He'd tested his plugs with an HVAC tool he’d brought with him in order to test anything that might be compatible with his tech, and was surprised that the plugs would, in essence, work with his technology, so he set up his flatscreen and his speakers in the living room while placing one of the laptops that he’d brought in the study area. He then tested it by gathering Silica and his new roommates for a celebratory dinner and movie night. That night, in honor of the upcoming human Christmas season, he showed them the George C. Scott version of A Christmas Carol. Everyone enjoyed it, and the ponies remarked how similar Christmas was to Hearth’s Warming in the discussion of winter holidays after the movie ended.

After Silica went back to the Eyrie where she was staying with her family for the duration of their visit, everyone got ready for their first night in the houseoak. Gregory was standing on the balcony overlooking the property. He was wearing one of his warmer bathrobes, a Star Wars themed one that made him look like a Jedi. He’d just enjoyed a late night soak in his brand new bathtub. It was heavenly and he’d nearly fallen asleep in said tub.

The day had been a fantastic one, full of surprises and a healthy amount of hard work, but he was glad that it had happened. He felt extremely lucky to have been given this large houseoak and friends to share it with. He took another sip of his bliss, then went back into his room. The rain was beginning to pick up, and he even felt a few flakes of snow on his cheeks.

Closing the door behind him, he walked out of his room to put the dishes in the sink to be washed later. One thing the house didn’t have, which was unfortunate, was a dishwasher, but he knew that wouldn’t be a problem. If everyone cleaned their own dishes after use, things would be fine. That made him realize that they would need to discuss household jobs very soon.

When he got to the kitchen, he saw Gilda and Gabby there already. Both were at the sink washing and drying a couple of dishes. Both were wearing their own bathrobes and judging by how their plumage looked, they had taken either a shower or bath earlier. “Oh, hey you two,” he said as he walked over to them. “Shouldn’t you gals be in bed by now?”

Gilda looked over and shrugged. “It takes a bit of getting used to for us gryphons when we move to a new place,” she explained before extending a claw in his direction, looking at the dirty glass.

“Don’t worry, I got it,” he said as the other two began drying their dishes. He began washing his glass while the others finished. A question then came to his mind as he turned to the two gryphons. “Hey, speaking of your old homes, who did you guys give your old places to?”

“I gave mine to a newlywed couple,” Gabby explained.

“I gave mine to a small pride family,” Gilda said.

That caused him to pause and he looked back at them. “Pride family?” he asked. “What’s that?”

“It’s a family or relationship where a male can have multiple spouses or lovers,” Gabby explained. “It’s still practiced, but since the fall of the empire, not as much.”

“Wait, like a harem?” Gregory asked. He knew that in many My Little Pony fanfictions, herds were a thing, but he’d never heard of a pride before. He put the glass down in the sink and looked at them. “I don’t mean to sound insensitive, but isn’t a pride a lion thing? I thought gryphons didn’t like being called lions? A racist thing, right?”

“We don’t,” Gilda said with a scowl, “but we do call having multiple wives a pride, though. Think about it, dumbass. Gryphons pride ourselves on our…what?” She gestured towards him expectantly.

He got the hint immediately and nodded. “Right, got it. Sorry.”

“The name pride can also apply to a gryphon female with multiple husbands or anything in between, but those are much rarer,” Gabby added.

“Hmm, gotcha,” he said. He rinsed out the glass then began drying it with the towel the others had been using. “What are your thoughts on prides?”

Gilda shrugged. “Whatever floats their boats. If I ever found the right gryphons who I felt like I could spend my life with, I wouldn’t mind.”

“I feel the same,” Gabby said. “I’d have to both really love the male and get along very well with the other females.”

“Yeah, I can understand that,” Gregory said. There was silence for a bit, then he yawned. “Well, I think we should get to sleep.”

Gilda actually scratched the back of her neck and nodded in agreement. “Yeah. I think I’m tired enough now,” she said with a yawn of her own. “See you two dweebs in the morning and sleep well.” With that, she went to the stairs and went up to her new room.

“Yeah, same here.” Gabby gave Gregory a smile. “Thank you for letting us live here with you. We all appreciate it.”

He gave her a smile back. “I’m glad to have you here. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” She turned and went up the stairs as well.

After putting the glass away, he went up and got into some pajamas before climbing into the very comfortable bed. To the noise of the crackling of the fire, he fell asleep.