Another week has passed since I got decked by my martial weapon instructor for trying to be helpful and take her to the infirmary after knocking her out. And another week of me nursing my injuries with good company and cheap, bad tasting ale but for the most part it isn't as bad as it used to be. Another week of me fighting a pint-sized hybrid in the training arena that always ends with me getting bruised and bloody but with each asskicking I was on the receiving end of, I began to get better and better with the sword and shield although I am still considered mediocre by my instructors standards.

And now here I am, back in the tavern after yet another long day of getting smacked with a wooden sword and beaten to the point that I want to die from embarrassment. And sitting across from me was Greta who took it upon herself to be my drinking buddy as Scrawny was sleeping back at the castle, as it turns out you can get a mental overload on education.

Drinking with Greta isn't so bad, sure she laughs at me whenever she see's my bruised face but she makes it better by draping a wing over my shoulder, telling me that it could always be worse (such as my face being split in half by a real sword or being ran through) and for the most part I agree with her.

But when I told her about what happened a week ago...

Well...

"You should have known that she doesn't like to be touched." Greta, my griffon friend for the past few weeks, says to me as I nurse a mug of ale and as she is laughing rather loudly. The brown colored drink lay motionless in my hands as I gazed deeply into its murky depths.

"How the fuck was I supposed to know that? All we ever did was beat the ever loving fuck out of each other with wooden swords and our fists! It's not like we ever took the time to tell one another what we hate! Hell, if I knew that she doesn't like to be held by a guy then I would have left her out-cold ass in the yard and got the infirmary nurses to take her!" I said as I looked up at my drinking buddy, the young hen was busy chugging down her beer while listening to what I had to say.

Putting down her now empty mug, my friend belched loudly which got a few cheers from a couple of griffons that were sitting around us. I even gave her a thumbs up for that belch as I took a sip from my mug.

"So..., how goes the training?" Greta finally asks me as she waves over for the barmaid to give her mug a refill.

The barmaid came around to our table after a few moments, this griffon looked almost like Gilda, but the exception was that this hen had red feathers and highlights in her fur and that she also had a little cherry red bow tied to the end of tail tuft and was wearing the stereotypical barmaid attire, just minus the big tits that usually match the job.

While I was watching her walk away I couldn't help but stare at her ass as she walks by. I know that I shouldn't be doing this, but come on now this girl got a nice ass and I wasn't going to be forgetting it anytime soon.

"Well it could be better, getting beaten black and blue from sun up to sun down for the past few weeks is just lovely. Its been going so well that the nurses in the infirmary even went so far as to put my name on a bed in the event I come in." pulling my gaze away from the barmaid I turned it back on Greta who was trying not to snicker under her beak, seeing that I got caught ogling I decided to get back on track to cover my tracks.

I would rather not have the barmaid find out I was catching a peek and get a mug full of ale or worse, piss, dunked on my head the moment I wasn't paying any attention to her.

"It could be worse, it isn't like she was trying to break any bones, right?"

"Oh she was trying alright, every time I went back to the infirmary to get checked for any injuries they would always find new bruises on my body. I am just waiting for the day where she actually manages to break my leg or dislocate my arm."

After a while of drinking this weak booze eventually Gilda showed up, she was a bit sooty this time around and it looks like she is in a 'Bother me and I'll gut you' mood. Waving over the agitated hen buddy over I saw that she noticed me and Greta and made her way over, flying over a table to get to us and when she landed she did so by landing on top of me.

Leaning to the right to look around Gilda's head I can see that Greta is glaring at her and that her talons are tightly clenching on her wooden mug and that it looks like those talons are digging into the wood.

Is there something about griffon females that I am missing? I know that Gilda and Greta see me as a friend, but why must they rub themselves against me as if I am some sort of rubbing post? Sure we shared drinks, some laughs, and even asked if I could help them with their wings which I find strange since I know next to nothing on birds other than they eat seeds, worms, and that they fly and tweet all the time and also shit on my car that I just washed.

Turns out when they asked for wing help they meant that they wanted me to help them take out the feathers in them that are loose and are on the verge of falling off. Seeing how that they are my friends and drinking buddies, I agreed to do it as soon as they teach me how to properly do it, I would rather not be yanking out feathers left, right and center only to get clawed in the face for causing them pain.

Looking at Gilda I can see that not only is she not in a good mood and covered in soot, but it would appear that quite a few of her feathers are burnt. Don't know what she was doing but I can take a stab in the dark and say her little scone making business has literally caught on fire and she had to put it out.

Extending her wings fully out I watched as Gilda turned her head to look at me, and before I could question her as to why she is sitting right on my crotch and why she has her wings spread open, she tells me to get to fixing her wings.

Now, normally I would have told her to get off of me and to explain to me who pissed in her cornflakes, but seeing her current mood and that angry stare made me withhold that question for the moment until she is in a slightly better mood.

Starting from the left wing I methodically went through each row of feathers, yanking out the broken/damaged feathers along with the ones that have been burnt. This went on for about fifteen, maybe twenty minutes of me going through every single row of feathers on her wings until finally I was done and that the griffon sitting on me was purring ever so slightly while her tail was whipping around, occasionally bopping me in the face with the little tail tuft.

"Seriously Gilda? Can't control your tail whenever I do this?" I asked my blonde-tipped friend and the look she gave me... oh my god it was so adorable.

It's like catching your niece/nephew with their hand in the cookie jar even though you told them they can't have any until after they finish the greens on their dinner plate.

Silly Gilda, you can't distract me with those adorably puffed-up cheeks, puffy body fluff and blushing cheeks!

Laughter can be heard and switching my attention to Greta I saw that it was coming from her as she was pounding her fist into the table while holding her gut, apparently what the griffon on my lap was doing was considered funny to her.

"Shut up!" At this point it just dissolved into a shouting match and I was in the middle of it, well, being sat on behind it, but it was still all the same for me.

The reason as to why they are fighting now?

Well it turns out that the so called favor that Greta asked for me to do for her when I first came to Griffonstone was to be called in soon and when I asked her what it was, Gilda just so happened to be walking behind us when I was told what it was.

I had to be Greta's 'boyfriend'.

The reason for this favor?

Apparently Greta's parents have been getting on her case to go get herself a boyfriend and to show her that she isn't some lonely hen that will grow old without grace and single. You see, Greta's family is fairly large by human standards, she is one of six children, her being the second oldest of the bunch and everyone but her and the youngest one are happily married or at the very least are dating someone.

Greta on the other hand, is still single, still lonely, and seeing this her parents decided that if she couldn't find someone on her own then they would go out to find someone for her. When I was told of this I just couldn't stop laughing that it got to the point where Greta had to slug me in the shoulder a few times, right where some bruises are, until I stopped laughing my ass off.

Now you may be wondering as to why they are fighting over me, or about this particular favor that Greta asked of me?

I had no idea, I didn't learn much about griffon culture or anything about griffons in general so I had to ask for some assistance on this matter by asking the nearest male griffon around.

Said male griffon was a large, burly old codger that looks like he has seen some shit in his life, he was perfect for the job.

Poking him in the wing I watched as said wing twitched before the burly griffon turned on his stool and looked at me, raising an eyebrow as he wondered why the hell I was disturbing him while he drank his liquor?

"Te hell do you want boy?" I can tell that this guy is going to be a riveting conversationalist in the future.

Mentally rolling my eyes I leaned back as to get away from Gilda for a bit to hopefully talk to this griffon without her hearing about what I have to say.

"Yeah I got a question, why the hell do you griffons get all cuddly and fluffy whenever you get your wings sorted out?" The exact moment those words left my lips, the griffons sitting at the table with the one I was talking to went silent as the graveyard. Whatever revelry was going on was now dead as they looked at me as if I said something very racist.

Looking at each other the male griffons who were enjoying their mugs of ale and mead turned to me and all was silent at that table for exactly five seconds, just five seconds, and when that time was up they all broke into hysterical laughter.

I didn't know why they were laughing at me for asking this question, thinking that I knew what was going on and just wanted to see their reaction perhaps, but I truly had no idea why helping my friends preen their wings was worthy of being laughed at.

"What? What's so funny?"

When they stopped laughing, the one I was talking to had to wipe a tear from his beak before addressing my question.

"Lad, do you even know what you were doing to yer henfriends over there?"

"Uhh… cleaning their wings of broken and fucked up feathers?"

"And do you know why they let you do it?"

"Cause I got hands? Its a bit more accurate than talons I take it."

"Boy, you are missin' the point here."

"And the point is...what exactly? I am just helping them fix their wings, whats wrong with that?"

"I see you know nothin' 'bout us griffons boy, so I'll clue in on what you 'ere doin' to 'em."

"You see, we griffons and most pegasi only let those that are in our family or our mates to touch. What you were doin' is something far more fun than doin' a feather checkin'."

It didn't take a genius for me to put two and two together to figure out what he was getting at.

"I was feeling them up...wasn't I?"

"Oh you were gettin' a right good feel alright! With the way that hen be lookin' now I am surprised that she hasn't turned 'round and pounced on you yet for us all to see!" When the male griffon cackled that out, I immediately began to think back to all of the times that Gilda and Greta asked me to preen their wings.

I probably should have seen this coming a mile or two away, but I didn't know griffon mating habits nor anything about what they considered to be flirting or showing interest in another griffon/human.

All I could do was look back at the two hens sitting at my small table, most importantly the one sitting on me, before staring back at the griffon who was busy trying to nurse his drink all the while wiping a tear from his eye.

'Huh...when did they develop such a keen interest in me?'

With that out of the way I slowly pushed myself back up, my chest soon coming into contact with Gilda's back, the top of my head now resting on the griffon's and I must say this actually feels nice.

Well, it would feel nice if it also didn't leave me confused and a bit worried.

Why should I be worried about falling in love with a griffon?

First off, I have to make sure that Rod A fits into Hole B, secondly how would this affect their lives cause from what I have seen so far, most griffons are not into the whole 'Griffon's hate interspecies couplings' even though they themselves are two different animals put together.

Another matter that worries me is that if I choose one what will the other do? In this situation I think there is only one thing I can say that just about sums it up.

"Well...shit."

Two Hours Later

"Okay Gilda, what was the strangest thing you have ever eaten?" I asked my griffon buddy as I took another sip from my sixth mug of ale, my body was just now telling me that I should have stopped after mug #4. My body was starting to feel just a tad bit sluggish and my vision was now going to shit but by god was I enjoying every minute of it.

My griffon buddy, Gilda, who was still sitting on top of me and was currently on mug #9 was drunk. She was swaying back and forth on top of me and was having a hard time staying there, her speech was slurred, her emotions were now out in the open and that she was rubbing herself against to the point that I was now sporting a half-chub from all of the rubbing.

It was like I was getting a lap dance of sorts, just that it sucked, the person doing it was drunk, and I am afraid that this griffon is one sway away from soiling themselves on top of me.

Greta on the other hand was strangely still sober as she was on mug #5 although she looked a tad bit tipsy and that she was leaning towards me with a talon under her head and was staring at me with heart-shaped beer goggles.

"Well the strangepst thing yi had eatean *hic* would haqve to bre Ranbow Dasjh" Gilda slurred out after several attempts of trying and failing, and I must say I even then I could still barely understand what the hell she was saying.

"I am sorry but what was that?" I asked the drunk griffon on top of me as I reached around and put my mug back down onto the table.

"I shaid *hic* Rainbow Dash!" Gilda shouted as loud as she could and for a moment all was silent not only between the three of us but also everyone in the bar was quiet.

Well, it was quiet for about ten seconds before a griffon behind me snickered and said something he shouldn't have said.

"Hehehe, looks we got ourselves a pony lover!" and that got a few of the griffogns from other tables to join in on the laughing and jeering, said action earned the immediate ire and hatred from the drunk griffon that is currently sitting on top of me.

Turning around on me to face the griffon in question I watched as Gilda was glaring rather intensely at the idiot that called her out and I must say that the way she turned around and planted herself down wasn't doing me any favors whatsoever.

"Wha'ja just sah?" Gilda slurred out as she tried to get closer to the idiot in question but seeing how I was in the way and holding her back, my face was pressed into her chest fur and fluff as I catch a whiff of soot, ale, her own somewhat pleasing scent and strangely enough something that lightly resembles sugar...

Sugar? I thought scones was just a biscuit? Is that why she was slightly burnt, she tried to make something with sugar?

Not gonna lie, I think that is sweet that she is trying to make something sweet but it would seem that it wasn't meant to be. Maybe she should just stick to baking loafs of bread and scones until she finds herself a baking teacher or something.

"I shiad that yousa pony lover!" the drunk griffon shouted but this time the idiot went as far as giving her the middle finger or talon in this case.

At that moment a few things happened.

Firstly, Gilda went ballistic, she leapt over me to attack the drunk idiot that insulted her.

Secondly, the guy that insulted her, one of his friends was dumb enough to splash her with his mug of ale, and by splashing her that idiot also got me covered in the stuff so now I am pissed. I sobered up almost immediately after getting splashed so this guy is already on my shit list.

Thirdly, with idiot #2 joining in the harassment, this prompted Greta to join in as well by climbing over the table and launching herself at idiot #2.

And lastly, when Gilda climbed over me to claw idiot #1, I got a face full of griffon pussy and ass and I am unsure on how I should feel about it.

On one hand I should be thrilled that I am finally getting my head between a pair of griffon thighs and enjoying myself, but on the other she isn't human and the downstairs is all animal...I really don't know how to think and feel about it. But on the plus side of things I managed to get a good seven seconds of having my face between smushed down there and I must say that I would make Captain Kirk proud if he could see me.

The negative side of things is that Gilda will probably kill me later when she finds out.

With Gilda no longer on me or climbing over my face and Greta now clawing the hell out of idiot #2, all I could do was stand up from my seat, turned around to face the growing brawl and shout at the top of my lungs.

"What in the absolute fuck is your problem!"

The tavern went silent as the griffons fighting it out and those that are cheering them on go quiet as the grave. They know that fighting like this is illegal and that if you want to fight it out to go straight to the fighting pit, but all of the griffons that weren't drunk recognized me as the newest Knight of Griffonstone, but also the savior of the princess and the retriever of the Idol, so they kept their beaks shut and their heads down. The drunken griffons on the other hand sort of stopped fighting, they were still shaking or punching each other but when they saw that I was glaring down at them with the intensity of a thousand suns and that I was not in the mood for their shit, they started to slow themselves down.

Right up until one of the drunk idiots came up to me and punched me right in the face.

Reeling back from the blow and taking a few steps away, I placed my left hand on the spot where I was struck before fixing my gaze on the fool who would dare do something so stupid as to attack me.

Said griffon in question realized a little too late that by attacking a griffon knight, he made his life forfeit and he immediately moved back a few paces before getting down and begging for me to spare his life.

As it turns out from the griffon laws and other things I have been reading and hearing from Eraclea, that by attacking a griffon knight, you have set yourself up for your own execution alongside with everything you possess to be forfeited over to the knight that you attacked.

Now, normally I would have not pressed for his head or his belongings, but I am a bit drunk so I am not so sound of mind.

Walking over to the begging griffon I picked up the little shit by the scruff of his neck, and then proceeded to beat the ever living shit out of him before throwing him over the table he was sitting at. The other griffons that were at the table who were not fighting Greta or Gilda looked to me and in their drunken state, thought it was wise to attack the guy who just beat the shit and threw their friend.

Gilda was clawing and punching her idiot and was winning while Greta was either trying to strangle or keep occupied her idiot, but the two that came off from them and towards me, I dispatched with somewhat equal distribution of pain.

The first fool that charged at me leapt over the table and spread her wings open only for me to duck underneath her, grab her by her hind legs and swing her around to idiot #4 who was knocked over from being smacked with a fully grown hen-shaped baseball bat. With the fourth griffon temporarily down for the count, the one in my hands that I am holding by the hindlegs, I decided for her that she will get a very special treat.

Throwing her into the air I watched as she tried to correct herself with how low the ceiling was her body bounced off the top before coming back down I grabbed her by the waist and slammed her top half down onto the table, knocking the wind out of her. The hen looked up at me, wheezing from the impact tried to get back up but I proceeded to give her a good kick to the ribs and she was out for the count.

Griffon #4 picked himself up at the time I kicked his friend in the ribs, he looked at me and decided that now would be a good time to bail so he did. Thinking that he was able to get away he failed to notice that standing behind him was the barmaid and she did not look very happy to see this guy or me for that matter.

With the griffon distracted I came up behind him and before he had a chance to react I donkey-punched him and he dropped like a sack of potatoes. Turning my attention to Gilda and Greta I saw that their respective opponent was also out cold, Gilda's was all cut up and scratched while Greta's was out cold from being choked out.

Wiping the sweat from my forehead I turned to look at the griffon that I was talking to earlier who was also sitting at the table with the idiots we just trashed, he raised his hands and said he just works with them and has nothing against us.

Letting out a sigh of somewhat relief I looked down to the four incapacitated griffons and shook my head at the mess we made.

'Man, this was not the way today was supposed to end! Now I have to drag these four idiots to the dungeons and let them cool off and get over the pain while I have to go upstairs and write a report on what happened, they made my day way worse than it already was, thanks assholes!'

Turning my attention to Gilda and Greta I told them to go get cleaned up and to go home, I will deal with the mess, I just hope they listen and not cause any more trouble than they already started!

Returning my attention to the four idiots I once again shook my head before going to the front door to look for some guards and just my luck, a group looked like they were coming in for a break and when they saw me flagging them down by waving, I told one of them to go find another group of guards to drag the four drunkards away so I can get a leap on the paperwork, and to my amazement the guard actually agreed to it and flew off towards the castle while I walked.

My clothes was a bit scuffed up in the fight and that I smelled of ale, just what I have always wanted in my life, to smell like my uncle, fucking great.

Upon my return to the castle I soon found the four idiots being dragged down to the dungeons as the guards I sent for saluted me and reported that they had no problems with them to which I nodded and thanked them for the assistance before returning to my room to write up and file the paperwork.

This was totally not how I imagined my day off would be.

Next Chapter: Understanding the Political Problem Estimated time remaining: 10 Hours, 31 Minutes