---

Over the past two weeks, Gregory’s life had changed even more. Not only was his house, or rather, his practical mansion, nearly completed to his complete surprise, but he’d given the council his idea for the manual gondola lift. Engineers were already busily at work crafting the plans and when those were done, they’d build three large gondolas that would lead from the bottom of the mountain up to Griffonstone. He’d be moving into his house in three days time where he’d hopefully gather all the fixings for a proper Thanksgiving feast. He’d already prepared for the move and had helped Gabby pack up all of her stuff. All the others who he’d invited to move in with him had said yes as well.

As for his offer at being Chancellor, he had still not decided, but had taken on less shifts at the post office so that he could see more of what the newly formed council would do on a regular basis. So far, the focus of the Council had been on restoration of as many towns as they could manage. One of those nights, the previous Wednesday, Gregory had gone out stargazing with Gabby and had vented his frustration at lack of funding. The very next day, the griffoness actually started a donation drive, the money of which would be used for food and supplies which would go to the worst affected towns. Ironically enough, she called it Salvation Army, which had amused him to no end.

His relationship with Gabby had grown stronger over the past month and a half. They worked the same shift times together, they spent a lot of their free time working together on rebuilding the city, and any time they got to relax was spent talking and watching the shows and movies Gregory had brought from Earth. He saw a side to her that he hadn’t seen in the show. Sure, she was excitable and full of energy and smiled nearly constantly, but there was more to her than her Pinkie Pie-like persona. She’d explained that there were days when she would go and scream into the Abyss, which was actually how he’d been found by her. Those days had been less and less since the Idol had been returned, but even she needed time to shout and vent. He’d also seen a more tender side, especially at times when Starlight was having night terrors. Apparently, what had happened in Our Town at the hooves of her former townsponies had really affected her. Gabby and Gregory had been there to help reassure her that nothing like that would ever happen to her again.

Some of that tenderness had been directed towards Gregory as well whenever he had a particularly rough day. Despite her talons being strong enough to cause harm, a few times where he’d been stressed, her claws running through his hair as he vented to her felt soothing and relaxing. He’d repaid said tenderness in kind whenever she had a bad day. The more time he spent with her, the more he felt like the distance between her, a formerly fictional character, and himself, a fan of the show that spawned her existence, lessened.

His relationship with the others had grown as well. He and Gilda had become close as well. She spared him more smiles than most, and they’d become good drinking buddies. He’d taught her a few drinking songs from Earth and even if she wasn’t the best singer she could still carry a tune and belted out the songs. She even wrote a few songs to some Earth tunes. It turned out that she was a pretty decent songwriter.

He and Gallus had more of a father and son relationship. The young griffon might have been eighteen, but he’d never had a family of his own. Gregory had taken him under his metaphorical wing and had actually helped him to get a date with Gia, who’d been decently receptive to Gallus’ advances, even if the poor griffon was nervous. Gregory had given him advice and had even taken him to one of the nicest clothing shops, Elegant Emporium run by a griffon named Garter, to have a suit made for this date. When Gallus had next seen Gregory, he had a warm smile on his face.

He enjoyed his time with Gracie, too, despite her being closed off from him on a lot of stuff, specifically her past. He respected the young woman’s privacy, of course, but did manage to learn that she was, indeed, eighteen much like Gallus. He knew she’d had some kind of trouble with ponies in the past, but never pushed to learn what it was. He put himself between her and Starlight if there was ever some kind of disagreement, which was rare. She apologized for any incidents between her and Starlight, and he noted that she was becoming more comfortable around the light purple unicorn mare.

Speaking of Starlight, Gregory had grown close with the young unicorn mare as well. She hadn’t wanted to talk much about her past, which was fine since he knew about some parts of it, but she’d been pretty excited when she learned that there were books about unicorn magic that had been found in the library. Even if he wasn’t able to use magic, he loved watching her use what she knew. And boy, did she love to show off her magical prowess. He kept his praise down so she didn’t get too proud and full of hubris. She was very talented, and he wondered to himself how powerful she might be if she, herself, ever managed to become an alicorn. If the Twilight from the show praised her abilities, then it wasn’t idle praise. He wondered just how the Twilight from this world would react to her since they’d never really met.

He'd only known Zecora for two weeks, but he’d been surprised by her coming to visit him at least a few times that first week. She’d been very interested in getting to know him, and since she’d been a favorite of his from the show, he welcomed the friendship. However, he couldn’t help but suspect that there was more to her actions than she was letting on. Even so, he knew better than to push. He’d been to her house at least once and had been surprised by how big it already had grown. She said she’d found the house abandoned and had moved in with the blessing of the Griffonville mayor and town hall. Her house was much larger than the one he’d seen in the show, and it had been recently renovated due to the actions of a few helpful griffons from the nearby town after she’d helped stave off a disease with her potion making.

That was the status of his relationships with those close in his life that drizzling November Saturday, the twenty fifth to be precise. Gregory, Zecora, Starlight Glimmer (who he noticed had begun styling her mane like her reformed self lately), Gabby, Gilda, Gracie and Gallus all stood in front of a corner lot of one of the busier sections of Griffonstone. Zecora was digging at the ground directly in the center of the now cleared out lot and was placing a large ripe acorn in the hole before burying it again. Starlight was holding a large scroll in her magic and protecting it from the drizzle with an umbrella. On said scroll were elaborate plans in the shape of a tree house.

“Okay, so to recap,” Gregory spoke up, “Zecora plants this seed in the ground, then you pour that concoction onto it while Starlight here puts the plans in her magic down then pours some raw magic into the floor plan and the seed, and the tree will grow on its own to fit said plans?”

“That’s pretty much the plan,” Starlight replied for Zecora, who was too focused to hear what had been said. “I’ve gotta say, though, these trees are pretty resilient according to this book.” She floated out an old brown leather bound book and opened it to a section depicting a hand drawn tree and some notes beneath it with a wall of text on the other page. “They can grow in pretty much any environment, they don’t need much water, they can live for centuries on end as long as you pour just the smallest amount of magic into it every year, and their interiors are able to be heated and cooled easily. Why haven’t griffons been using more of these?”

“Because they require magic to grow as fast as you say this one will,” Gregory replied, looking over the book. Taking it in his hand, he pointed to a passage. “Here, see? It says right here that if there’s no magic, it’ll still work, but you need to use the potion on it while it grows instead of watering it with normal water. And if these trees are native to Griffonia, well, I don’t see any other unicorns here other than you,” he finished, patting her on her head.

Starlight just smiled a little and nodded. “And the magic of this continent is definitely lower than back in Equestria. I’ll probably use a lot of magic during this.”

“That’s why we’re here, Glim Glam!” Gabby said, smiling as she walked over to where the two of us were.

Starlight groaned and rolled her eyes. “You’re just never gonna stop calling me that, are you?” she asked.

“Get used to it, Glim Glam,” Gregory chuckled. “She loves giving out nicknames to her friends. Except me, apparently,” he added, looking down at Gabby with a smirk.

“Whaat? I like the name Gregory!” she said with a shrug. “It’s strong. I can’t just go calling you Greg or Greggy! That’s silly!”

“I don’t mind it,” he said as he stroked her head gently. “I never really liked it when people back home called me some weird variation of my name. Guess I’m weird like that. But I’ll gladly call anyone here whatever they want.” Leaning down to Gabby, he whispered, “Even if Gabriella is a very beautiful name.”

He caught her blushing and giggling cutely at that as she slugged the side of his arm playfully. “Knock it off, you,” she giggled.

“The preparations are very much complete. Magic will grow the tree in a heartbeat,” Zecora said as she finally stepped back, careful not to disturb the interior of the vast magical circle standing in front of Starlight, the one which showed the intricately laid out plans for the interior of the tree itself. In truth, Gregory had a hand in the design. He and Gabby had looked over certain episodes of My Little Pony in private a few times, taking notes about the layout of Golden Oaks. He knew he had to be past Tirek’s destruction of the library, and while he’d wanted to see it for himself, he knew that was a long shot, so he decided to put forth a nearly identical design for the new Griffonstone Library, whatever it ended up being called.

“Okay, so how far back should we be?” Gregory asked.

“Just a few steps,” Starlight said.

“Why am I here again?” Gilda asked Gregory as the small group stepped back.

“You told me once you wanted to see magic in action, so here we are,” he replied.

“So, just out of curiosity’s sake, does it have to be unicorn pony magic that you use?” Gracie asked, looking more invested in this than either Gilda or Gallus.

“Um…lemme see,” Gregory said as he looked at the book. “Raw magic is required, but that’s all I’m seeing. I suppose someone like…a changeling could use it. Then again, I know next to nothing about them.”

“Really? You think a changeling could use this spell?” Gracie asked.

“I don’t see why not,” he said with a shrug. “Then again, we don’t know any we could ask.”

“A changeling’s magic would do in a tight pinch. Even for them, this spell would be a cinch,” Zecora said as she moved to stand beside us.

“There’s your answer,” Gregory said, smiling warmly down at Gracie.

Starlight 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 placed the piece of paper on the ground directly above the spot where the seed had been buried. Her horn lit up right away and a beam of misty magic shot out from her horn and connected with the paper. Gregory watched with fascination as the piece of paper began to turn transparent and melted into the ground. The ground began to rumble and shake, and everyone automatically moved back.

All except Zecora, who gave Gregory a reassuring smile as she said, “There’s no need to fear, my human friend. In just a few minutes, the shaking will end.”

Gregory nodded and watched as a small seedling began sprouting from the ground. Grabbing his phone, he opened the camera and began recording. Over the course of the next couple minutes, he watched and recorded the entire growth of the new library. Seeing a tree that looked nearly identical to the Golden Oaks brought back some nostalgia for Gregory. He’d been one of the earlier Bronies back on Earth, having started watching the show during the time when the second season was airing. At the time, he’d been embarrassed to admit to anyone else that he liked the show, so he kept it hidden from those he knew. However, by the time the ninth season had aired, he’d broken things off with his cheating ex-girlfriend and had even gone to a few Bronycons.

He’d been saddened when he saw the old library be destroyed in the show, so when he’d been told about trees that could be fashioned and lived in, he’d immediately thought about Golden Oaks.

Finally, the tree, which was surrounded by Starlight’s signature magical misty glow, stopped growing. Zecora quickly stepped over to Starlight. “There is enough magic that’s flowing within. Better cease before you cause a cave-in.”

Starlight’s magic stopped glowing and the light purple unicorn stumbled back, holding her head with one of her hooves as she collapsed on her haunches. Gregory rushed over and put his arm around her to steady her. “You okay, there?” he asked as Gabby came over with a large jug of some sweet smelling liquid and offered it to the mare.

Starlight took it in her hoof and took a long swig before responding. “Just a bit woozy,” she said. “Feels like I went ten rounds with a Timberwolf.”

“Thank God they don’t exist here,” Gregory chuckled as he took the jug from her and handed it back to Gabby, who slipped it back into her saddlebag. “That help?”

“Definitely,” Starlight said as she stood back up. “Yeah, I’m fine now. I probably won’t be able to cast another spell like that for a while, though.”

“It always amazes me just how weak the magic is here when compared to what you say it’s like in Equestria,” Gregory said as he stood and looked back at the large tree that now stood on the corner of two major streets. “Still, that tree looks really good. But the leaves aren’t there.”

“Well, it is late autumn,” Gabby said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Turning to Zecora, he asked, “Does the spell you showed us take that into account?”

“No matter what the season, near, the tree, when finished, will match the weather,” Zecora said by means of explanation.

“Really?” He opened the book once more and looked over the spell portion. “‘The magical spell, when cast properly, will match the seasons and fall into step with other trees and plants.’ Huh, well fuck me sideways. Alright, good to know.” He handed the book back to the zebra. “As a trial member of the Griffonstone Imperial Council, this city owes you a debt of gratitude.”

“My human friend, it’s quite alright, I merely did what I thought was right,” Zecora said. “A library is a necessity, for goodness sake. How else will any learn from their mistakes?”

Gregory noted a slight hint of bitterness in the zebra mare’s tone at the last sentence. He’d noticed that something serious had been eating away at the zebra for a while, and he was getting worried. He assumed something had happened back in Ponyville that had caused her to leave. He’d assumed it had something to do with Jason’s destruction of the town, but something about that reasoning didn’t quite add up. But, as he had done in the past, he never pushed. “I wholeheartedly agree,” Gregory said, bringing himself back to the present. “Well, why don’t we have a look inside?”

The first thing Gregory noticed was that the door wasn’t red. Instead, it perfectly matched the color of Starlight’s fur and mane, bright purple with dark purple and aquamarine stripes painted onto it. There was also no place where a sign could be hung, but that could easily be taken care of. The third thing he noticed was that there was a large key in a metal keyhole on one side of the door. He grabbed the key, turned it and opened the door. As he did so, he immediately smelled the scent of freshly cut wood along with a slight hint of maple. It was empty, but he saw plenty of shelves on the walls and a table sitting in the center of the room. He was surprised further, however, by the presence of actual glass windows in the sides of the tree itself as well as a large fireplace in one corner. “How did those appear?” he asked, pointing to the glass.

“I wondered why it felt like I was casting a transfiguration spell,” Starlight said as she, too, took in the interior of the library.

“Okay, I’ve seen a lot, but this is…well, to quote someone I used to know, this is about twenty percent cooler than anything I’ve seen. Minus the Idol,” Gilda said.

“Is anything gonna top the Idol for you, Gills?” Gregory asked with a teasing tone.

“Fuck you,” she snapped back at the human.

“Buy me a few drinks first, and maybe I will,” he quipped back.

“Bitch, please, you ain’t my type,” Gilda snarked. “Not enough feathers.”

“Um…you do realize we can all hear you, right?” Gallus asked, looking a bit uncomfortable at the way the conversation was going.

“Your point?” Gilda asked.

“Let’s cool it for now,” Gregory said. “Seriously, this place turned out perfectly. What about the upstairs?”

Just like it had been in the plans and the show, there was an upstairs loft for someone who could live there. In fact, there were at least three spare rooms, each with shelves for books and a fireplace. There was also a large area that could very well be used as a kitchen since there was a large dining table in one corner and, to his further surprise, a large fire stove for cooking. There was a third floor, too, with a spot where someone could read in private.

“Okay, I’d love to have a seed for this tree for my new place,” Gregory said as they all left the new library and locked it behind him. “It could really be useful just in case I need extra space. Plus, having a treehouse like that is pretty sick.”

“Why would it make you sick?” Gabby asked.

“Eh, don’t mind it,” Gracie said, “it just means he thinks it would be cool.”

“Really? How’d you know that?” Gregory asked. He had never heard anyone else use that phrase before.

“Oh! Yeah, I’ve heard it before,” Gracie explained. “I didn’t used to live here, you know?”

“Hmm, fair enough I suppose,” Gregory said.

“Well, this was pretty cool to watch and all, but I’ve got to go,” Gilda said, “Greta’s been saving my spot at my favorite corner so I can sell the most scones.”

“I don’t understand why you’re still selling them,” Gregory said. “Didn’t you say you were selling them so you could get out of this city?”

“Well, believe it or not, I actually don’t mind this city now,” she said, “and even though that Idol changed me, I still like having money.” She spread her wings and playfully flipped him off again. “Later, dick.”

“Later, bitch,” he laughed as he flipped her off while she flew away.

“Yeah, I should probably get going too,” Gallus said. “I’m meeting up with Gia again today.”

“Duuude, nice,” Gregory gave him two thumbs up. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, and if you do, name it after me.”

He blushed, spread his wings and flew away fast. Gracie was the next one to spread her wings. “I should get home, too. I need to make sure that patch in the roof is gonna hold when it rains harder.”

“Have a good flight home,” Gregory said to the young woman as she spread her wings and flew away.

Starlight chuckled. “Zecora was going to show me some of those potion books at her place,” she said. “I’ll be back home sometime this evening, so leave the door unlocked, please?”

“Will do,” Gabby said as Zecora and Starlight walked down the street towards the city entrance. This left the two alone. The rain was slowly going away, but the clouds in the west were dark and threatening to pour down rain later that day. Gabby looked up at Gregory. “So…what do you wanna do now?”

He shrugged. “Well…wanna get some tacos?” In one of his recipe books he’d downloaded onto one of his kindles, he’d found a recipe for quesadillas along with tacos from scratch. He’d shared this with a few of the chefs he’d met, and that, along with a few other human foods, were becoming popular throughout the city.

Gabby began drooling immediately before catching herself and wiping her mouth. “Ahaha, sorry. But that sounds great!”

“Great. I hear the best tacos right now are at the Taco Town.” Gregory had a hand in naming that small wagon, and he hoped that someday the creator, a young griffon cook named Gale, would eventually be able to open her own shop.

“Gale makes the best tacos around,” Gabby chuckled as she walked behind Gregory. Before he could object, she wrapped her arms around him, spread her wings, and lifted off. “Here we go!”

“Waaahooo!” Gregory shouted as they flew above the crowds of walking griffons. Ever since that first time, Gabby had taken to carrying Gregory if they had to go a long distance in a hurry. And judging by this action, he realized she was probably really hungry. She never complained and he noted that she was much stronger than she looked.

The city was busy as normal, but thanks to the weather, not as many were doing any kind of repairs outside. Instead, most seemed to be doing their version of spring cleaning as he noted the large wooden garbage barrels sitting outside the various houses and businesses. One of the changes that the council had made was to establish a garbage service. He didn’t know the specifics, only that he’d mentioned how it had worked on Earth and Gwendolyn mentioning that there could be a few better ways to dispose of garbage. Especially since Griffonstone had no plastics. He assumed that certain things were either recycled, burned or made into compost.

After a while of flying through the mist, they landed on another corner where the Taco Town cart was located. The line for her cart was pretty long, so the two got into line. The griffons who saw the two offered to let them go first, but Gregory insisted on letting the others go.

As they waited, Gregory looked around the street. He saw families going about their business, talking and laughing and generally having a good time. However, he noticed a particular group of griffons sitting at a nearby table. There was a male griffon with three female griffons sitting next to him. He kept on seeing the three griffonesses talking to the male with what could only be romantic interest.

“Is that your first time seeing a pride?” Gabby asked after a while.

Gregory turned back to his closest friend. “A pride?”

She nodded. “It’s an old tradition. A male can have multiple spouses or lovers. It’s still practiced, but not very much these days.”

“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. Leaning down, he whispered, “Isn’t a pride a lion thing? I thought you didn’t like being called lions? A racist thing, right?”

Gabby nodded. “We don’t like being called lions, but we do call having multiple wives a pride, though,” she whispered back. “Same if there’s a griffoness with multiple husbands or anything in between, but those are much rarer.”

“Huh, interesting,” Gregory said. “How rare is a husband having multiple wives?”

“It’s the most common, but I only know of about a clawful of griffon males who have that kind of relationship on my route,” Gabby said. “I don’t know anygriffon who has the other two kinds of pride.”

“Do you know why prides exist?” Gregory asked, now more curious about this bit of information.

“I don’t, really,” she admitted sheepishly. “It might be in those books from the old library. And speaking of the library, did you notice the door had all of Starlight’s colors?”

“I did notice,” Gregory said. “Makes me wonder if she should be the librarian there.”

“You think so?” Gabby asked.

“You saw how she organized your shelves last week,” Gregory said. “She’s been reading the books on my kindles and listening to my audiobooks like crazy. I don’t see why she wouldn’t want to be a librarian. It’ll give her something to do.”

“I just hope nogriffon gives her a hard time,” Gabby said.

“I haven’t heard her complaining,” Gregory said.

“Me neither,” Gabby replied, then lowered her voice, “but with the borders being shut after this attack by the changelings, I’ve heard some griffons complaining and calling ponies racist or xenophobic.”

“Well, maybe if they see me talking with her and giving her an important job as a librarian, they might stop,” Gregory said. “Xenophobic or not, we need to be better than that.”

Gabby smiled warmly up at him. “I know…I know. Oh! We’re next!”

---

Six tacos later, Gabby and Gregory were walking back to their house. They were planning on doing a little bit more packing that afternoon before just taking it easy the rest of the day. He’d charged up his laptop the night before so the two could watch some Earth shows together. And since nobody else would be home, they were planning on watching more of My Little Pony. Gabby had expressed an interest in seeing the depiction of their world much to Gregory’s surprise, but he’d agreed. They were currently on Season 4 of the show right smack dab in the middle.

“Hey Gregory? How come Discord only really messes with ponies?” she was asking as the two walked up to their house.

“Hmm…I’m not really sure,” he said. “If we ever meet him, maybe we could ask. But if I had to guess, I think it’s because ponies have this focus on controlling their surroundings. Pegasi manipulate the weather, unicorns use magic and earth ponies have this special connection to the ground. Although with that new generation, they do have the potential to grow plants with some kind of new magic.” He muttered that last part, since he wasn’t too big of a fan of the newest generation he’d left behind. He’d downloaded them but hadn’t found the time to watch them. “No other race controls the weather like ponies do. I mean, griffons don’t but you’re all doing just fine.”

Gabby chuckled. “Thanks to you.”

“I know that’s not true,” he said. “You just found the pride you lost.”

Gabby was about to reply when just then someone landed in front of the human and griffoness, panting heavily. When Gregory looked over, he saw a yellow and black striped griffon who looked out of breath, but with a determined look in his yellow eyes. The griffon locked eyes on Gregory and rushed over to him. “Mr. Graystone, sir…hah…sorry to bother you, but the council’s having an emergency meeting in a few minutes and they’re wanting to see you.”

“Really? Did they say why?” Gregory asked, standing up straighter and switching to his more serious side.

“Only that…we have visitors asking for you specifically.”

Gregory raised an eyebrow. That hadn’t been new. He’d had requests from plenty of griffons who wanted to meet him or have him bless their cubs or things like that. “Why are you in such a rush?” he asked. “It’s normal.”

The griffon looked up at him with a serious look in his eyes. “Sir…they’re not griffons.”

---

It took Gabby, who volunteered to fly Gregory to the Keep, only a few minutes to get from where they had been to the front doors. She also insisted on going in with him. As of late, she’d been spending more time with him one on one, something he enjoyed quite well. As they walked through the hallway towards the throne room, Gabby spoke up. “Why would anyone from outside Griffonia want to talk to you?”

“You’ve got me,” Gregory admitted with a shrug. “I’m not sure who heard about me from outside. Guess it could be anyone. It’s not like I asked to keep my presence a secret. Any idea who might have heard?”

“Can’t be ponies,” Gabby said, “especially with the borders closed. The only pony I know who’s in Griffonstone is Glim Glam.”

Gregory smirked. He’d told her about the fandom’s nickname for Starlight, and the happy-go-lucky griffoness had taken to calling the mare that. “True. I haven’t seen or heard of any other ponies in the city, or even in Griffonville. Are there ponies who live in Griffonia?”

“I’ve never heard of anypony living anywhere here,” she said, “or anywhere for that matter other than Equestria. I guess it’s possible, though.”

“Hmm…well I know that there was a griffon living in Equestria,” Gregory said. “I saw it in an episode of the show where there was some pastry competition in Canterlot.”

“It’s a lush country,” Gabby said.

“True, at least from what I’ve seen,” Gregory said as he reached the doors. He opened them and stepped through, with Gabby by his side. “Sorry I’m…late…”

He stopped in his tracks when he saw who was there. He wasn’t surprised that the other council members were there, of course, but he was surprised by the three other individuals who were also standing before him.

He was facing three dragons, but he recognized only one of them. The smallest one there, a blue female dragon with red eyes, downward facing horns, and holding a very familiar looking staff locked eyes with Gregory the moment he stepped into the room. Her eyes narrowed at him and she walked up to him. Gregory stayed perfectly still, but he felt Gabby moving closer to him, almost protectively. It helped, but not by much.

The dragon soon reached him, stopping a few steps away from him. She looked him up and down, taking in every part of him before once more looking him directly in the eyes. Her red eyes seemed to bore deep into his soul. Finally, she did the very last thing he’d expected from her, or even any dragon.

She knelt to him. “It’s been far too long since anydragon has seen a member of the dragonrider race. It’s indeed an honor to see one in person after all this time.”

The other dragons behind her also knelt, causing Gregory to step back. The griffons at the table were gaping at this display as well. Only one word came out of Gregory’s mouth, which perfectly summed up his shock.

“What…?”

Next Chapter: 14: A Singing And Dancing Chancellor Estimated time remaining: 17 Hours, 43 Minutes