1055 AD, November 11th

“Down there – second rock ridge just above the hot pools. Think you can make that shot?”

Matteo lined up his crossbow’s sight with his right eye and peeked over the edge of the cloud. Sure enough, there was a tri-prowler crouched on a rocky outcrop that overlooked the steaming hot pools a few dozen yards below.

It appeared to be sunbathing and Matteo almost felt bad that he was about to ruin the thing’s experience.

Click

Fwit

Almost.

“Niiice…” Nico nodded with an approving grin as the tri-prowler slumped to the side and tipped over the edge of the outcrop. If the bolt to the eye didn’t kill it, the fall would. “How do you do that? That’s, what, 100 metres with a strong, rising wind?”

“Most of it’s the crossbow,” Matteo admitted and sat back up to reload. “The mechanisms and the bolts I use. Still, it was a pretty good shot, eh?”

“Oh humble warrior – teach me thy technique…” Nico jested and raised a pair of binoculars to his eyes. “Tch, slim pickings today; I think the beasts are getting smart.”

“Or they don’t like the mountain ranges. You think they moved to the jungles?” Matteo asked and glanced over the cloud’s edge to squint down at the trees.

“Maybe. That’s good, right? It’s away from Nuvole Villaggio at least.”

“I’m worried they might start hunting our game.”

“They seem good in sticking to their own prey, but you’re right,” Unable to find any more tri-prowlers hidden amongst the mountains, Nico lowered his binoculars and placed them back into his rucksack. He turned to his hunting partner. “What do you reckon? Keep going or should we head back?”

Matteo patted the bandolier slung over his breast with one talon. “Still got three dozen bolts; might as well put them to good use.”

“Hah hah! That’s the spirit!” Nico spread his large wings and flapped them to hover above the cloud. “Mmm, think I’m in the mood for monkey tonight.”

“Monkey? Ugh…” Matteo rose into the air as well and trailed behind as his hunting partner swooped down towards the jungle. With the rush of wind, he had to shout to be heard. “How can you eat that crap?! It’s so stringy!”

“You never had them marinated with the wife’s special sauce!” Nico shouted back and gave a powerful flap to even out and glide above the thick vegetation. “That blend of spice and meat – your taste buds will wish they had taste buds!”

Matteo gave a doubtful frown and glided alongside Nico. “I dunno. Monkey just never did it for me,” He pulled his crossbow’s strap taut so the device didn’t bump against his ribs. “I’m a tapir-griffon.”

“Yeah, I looked inside your ice-storage the other day. Tapir, tapir, and more tapir. You know they say your feathers start falling out if you just keep eating that?”

“Pfft – what, you want me to fly back and take that tri-prowler home?”

Nico didn’t answer and the pupils of his eyes had dilated, so Matteo guessed he had settled into the hunting routine. Shrugging, he did the same.

Of all the creatures that came through the Violaziones, none were more of a nuisance than the tri-prowlers. Aggressive, lion-like predators with three eyes on a stump of a head, they quickly earned the ire of Nuvole Villaggio because of their tendency to kill the animals the population depended on for sustenance.

‘Kill’, not ‘hunt’ – they were ridiculously picky about what they actually ate, and never strayed from the pony-like prey that also came through.

Matteo could not imagine how a species with a diet that narrow could survive in any environment.

‘Wonder if I could train one…’

“What do you reckon they taste like?”

“What?” Matteo looked up and to the side at his partner questioningly. “You… What, the tri-prowlers?”

Nico nodded. “Yeah.”

“I don’t know. We might just get sick from it. I know I would; Equestrian food gives me the shits and these are from another world, so… ugh…”

“Maybe, but- oh, is…?!” Nico paused and his talons flexed in excitement. Just as quickly, he sagged with a groan of disappointment. “Nah, too skinny. But anyway, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it, right?”

“Hey, if we come across another one of them, you’re completely welcome to shove as much down your gullet as you want. Just don’t come screeching to me when you’re puking up tentacle-babies.”

Nico narrowed his eyes and his eyes danced from side to side with alarming frequency.

“You know what?”

“What?”

“I’m gonna do it.”

“Oh gods, you’ve gotta be shitting me…”

“If we find another one, I’m gonna take a bite out of it.”

“Nico, you’re…” Matteo sighed and slapped a hand over his eyes in exasperation. “Your wife is literally going to kill me if you die, so please, for my sake if not your-”

“Oh, there’s one! Hang back twenty!”

“Oh gods, you are actually retarded…” Matteo shook his head, but followed the other griffon’s lead and threw out his wings to catch the air and fly back twenty yards. “No wonder they don’t give you a crossbow.”

“Yeah, because I don’t need one to be a good hunter.”

“If you could actually aim, my pride would be wounded.”

He felt good about his comeback, but Matteo’s sense of victory was bitter, as he descended into the jungle, grimacing as he felt the humid air against his primaries. No matter how many times he went to ground level, the hot air was always uncomfortable for him.

Nico was, infuriatingly enough, completely fine with the change in temperature and humidity, and the instant his talons touched earth he started slinking towards where he spotted his prey.

Grumbling at the lowest volume he could register, Matteo crept alongside his friend. This was a pretty dumb thing Nico was planning to do – he didn’t even prepare by eating some clay! – but once that griffon set his mind to something, it was hard to dissuade him from it.

It was admirable at times, but mostly annoying.

‘Your wife has the patience of a saint…’

Eventually, they made their way back to where Nico had spotted his prey. They hid under the shadows of a large fern and watched as a tri-prowler pawed at the ground, scattering moist dirt and creeping vines everywhere.

It huffed and snuffled as it generally made a mess; both Matteo and Nico were not familiar with this behaviour, but it wasn’t aware of their presence, and that was all that really mattered.

“Bolt or talons?” Matteo whispered without looking at his partner.

“Talons.” Came the feather-soft reply.

Matteo nodded silently in acknowledgement and stayed prone against the ground as Nico rose and started moving forwards. The canopy was thick overhead and only allowed brief spots of sunlight through – a perfect cover for prowling.

‘Haven’t seen anyone take on a tri-prowler before. Well, we’re roughly the same size, and he’s got the drop on it, so it should be fine.’

Even so, he kept one hand on his crossbow as Nico inched closer.

Closer…

Closer…

The tri-prowler snorted and perked up as protective lens slid down over its eyes.

‘Damn it,’ Matteo quickly brought his crossbow to arm and took aim. ‘Must have caught wind or… Wait, the hell’s it doing?’

Instead of turning to where they were, the beast looked in the other direction and – like the aggressive predator it was – bounded off with nary a snarl, tearing down low-hanging vines and branches.

It disappeared from view within the next few moments and Nico looked back with an expression of utter confusion.

Matteo shrugged and lowered his crossbow. “Maybe it smelled prey?”

“Maybe, but it seemed a little-”

A harsh cry rang out from the direction the tri-prowler ran.

The two griffons immediately tensed up in alarm; Matteo hopped up and pounced over to his partner as the two spread their wings, each providing protection for one another’s blind spots.

“Is that a griffon?” Matteo asked.

“I… I can’t tell…” Nico narrowed his eyes and listened to the sounds of struggling and animalistic snarls. “Come on – it’s not that far.”

Nodding, Matteo jogged alongside his friend towards the source of the noises.

‘Yeah, that sounds like a griffon, but… then it doesn’t. There’s something weird about it…’

“Get down.”

He obeyed without hesitation, falling into ditch underneath a rotting log. He felt something with many legs burst beneath him, but ignored it to stare straight ahead, beak agape.

“The hell…?”

Blood that was several shades darker than a clear sky soaked into the dirt as a silver sword was yanked from the tri-prowler’s side; viscous fluid dripped for only a moment before a white cloth was dragged along the blade.

“Is the equipment damaged?”

“No. I’m still getting strong readings.”

“Anything bad?”

“Heh – the air is fresher here than back home."

“I noticed.”

Two of the three bipedal creatures were so completely covered in plate armor that they could have been mistaken for golems.

The armor was of a maroon shade around the cuirass, leggings, and helmet, but the shoulder pauldrons and gauntlets were black. A tabard hung across their front, black as well. Stitched onto it with gold fabric was a tree in full bloom – an oak, or something similar.

‘Is that their heraldry? I’ve never seen anything like that before…’

The creature that wasn’t encased in armor but instead donned a long, white coat gave Matteo a better idea of what they looked like.

His first thought was overgrown monkeys.

The one in the coat had a facial structure similar to the monkeys that swung amongst the canopy, but the features were soft and more refined, less surrounded by hair; what hair it did have seemed to be restricted to the very top of the scalp – a golden yellow hue that seemed to have been deliberately pulled back into a ponytail.

The creature opened its mouth and something small and pink – a tongue, he guessed – slipped out to run across its lips, wetting them. It looked down at its hands – hairless, pink skin, similar in shape to a griffon’s but without talons – and tweaked a small box-like device with an antenna.

“Still nothing…”

Matteo grimaced and his ears twitched – he could understand them, but the words seemed… ‘wrong’, somehow. It sent shivers up his spine.

“Team Valiant reporting in,” The same hairless monkey pressed two fingers against its left ear, apparently talking to the other two armored compatriots. “We had a minor encounter with one of the animals from our world, but emerged unscathed. We still have no confirmation of the energy our probes found. Awaiting further commands.”

Despite the unnaturalness of the voice, Matteo could at least guess that – judging by the pitch – the one talking was female.

‘She’ stood there after trailing off, as if awaiting the other two’s response. However, they simply stood there, staring at her, occasionally looking this way and that.

Finally, she nodded. “Understood – over and out,” Her fingers fell from her ear and she said, “We’re to keep searching for another hour, assuming there’s still light.”

“There’s still that mountain we saw from that huge tree,” One of the armored figures suggested. There was only a small visor in the helmet for the voice to filter through, rendering it muffled, but it sounded female as well. “We could try heading there.”

“Too far,” The unarmored female replied with a shake of her head. “We can’t stray too far from the portal.”

Matteo’s eyes widened. He turned his head to meet Nico’s eyes and mouthed, “Portal?”

“A Violazione…” Nico mouthed back.

These beings were outsiders like the creatures, but they were intelligent and capable of speech – Equestrian to be precise. Whether they spoke Gryphans as well remained to be seen.

This opened up all sorts of possibilities…

“Let’s just keep going west,” The other armored figure suggested in a deep baritone that marked it as male. “This… environment gives me the creeps.”

“I believe this type of ecosystem is called a ‘rainforest’.” The unarmoured female said.

The male shrugged and sheathed his sword. “It’s low visibility is what it is; we couldn’t see that thing until it was right on top of us. The sooner we get back, the better.”

The same female sighed, but trudged along in knee-high leather boots.

Right towards them.

‘Shit.’

“How can you not be amazed by this? We’re in a completely entire universe inhabited by talking horses and an environment which is more than capable of sustaining life. Can you imagine living here?”

“I can…” The armored female said with a wistful note.

The outsiders trekked closer towards their spot.

Matteo and Nico exchanged glances of worry; there was no way they wouldn’t be spotted if the outsiders came any closer than a few metres.

“What do we do?” Nico’s strained expression screamed.

“Shit, uh…” Matteo’s talons curled and dug furrows in the dirt as he watched metal-clad legs stomp closer. “Uh… gods damn it!”

He slid backwards, rose, and held up one hand.

“Wait!”

His instincts admonished him for making such sudden movements, but it couldn’t be helped; the outsiders caught him off-guard.

Startled by the sudden reveal, the female in the coat’s eyes widened and she stumbled backwards with a gasp. Immediately, the two armored figures rushed in front of her with astounding speed, each drawing a weapon and a shield.

“Get back!” The male ordered – his tone held authority but equal parts shock.

“Is that what I think it is?” The unarmoured female murmured, looking over her protectorates’ shoulders, mouth agape.

“There’re two of them!” The other female warned.

“Oh, this isn’t good…” Nico grumbled as he moved to Matteo’s side and watched the outsiders carefully. “Please tell me your plan goes beyond… this.”

“In a perfect world it does…” Matteo replied uneasily. His instincts told him to react in the face of weaponry, but the rational side of him won out, allowing him to remain calm. “Uh… greetings from Nuvole Villaggio, of the Griffon Kingdom. I am Matteo, of Clan Bronze-Wolf and this is Nico, of Clan Iron-Boar.”

“They talk! Knight Paladin, they talk!”

“Natalia, just…!” The male – Knight Paladin – turned his head to make a shushing noise to the coated female before redirecting his gaze on the griffons. “You’re… griffons?”

Matteo nodded slowly.

“And you speak English?”

“En… glish?” Matteo tested the unfamiliar word – it felt weird on his tongue. “No – I am speaking Equestrian, same as you.”

Through the helmet’s visor, he could see Knight Paladin’s small eyes narrow – whether in confusion or suspicion, he didn’t know.

“It’s just like the Old Tales describe them, Knight Paladin…” The armored female said with a soft air of reverence. “A hybrid of bird and lion.”

‘They know of us in their world? At least in their tales?’

For some reason, the prospect left a sinking feeling in Matteo’s gut.

Nico chuckled nervously and waved, drawing the outsiders’ attention. “So hey, how’s it going? We’ve kinda… been having some trouble with the creatures from your world, so if you could just… not let them through, that’d be great.”

“… How long?”

“What?”

‘Natalia’ ignored Knight Paladin’s grunt of disapproval and asked, “How long have you been having trouble with them?”

Nico glanced at Matteo briefly and scratched the side of his head. “Um… I can’t really say exactly, but… almost a year?”

“Is that the equivalent of what we constitute as a year? Twelve months?”

“Y-yes?”

“Fascinating,” Natalia – such a strange name – pressed her fingers against her ear again. “Team Valiant reporting in – we’ve encountered a sapient species capable of speech and independent thought. They… they call themselves griffons,” A pause. “Yes, as in ‘griffons’ from the Old Tales.”

“Who’s she talking to?” Nico asked, gesturing towards the female with a quizzical expression. “Is she crazy or something?”

“A picture? Uh, sure, hold on.”

“We’re communicating with home b-”

“Knight Bastion – fall in line!” Knight Paladin exclaimed, culling ‘Knight Bastion’ into silence. He inhaled deeply and turned back to them. “That’s classified information.”

“O-kay…”

Matteo frowned as his sensitive ears picked up a very faint click. The coated woman had taken out a very small, dark green rectangular object and held it vertically against her right eye, and her left index finger was pressing down on a small button.

‘Is that a camera? Wow, that’s small…’

“What are you guys?” Nico asked. “You sort of look like monkeys. That wasn’t offensive to say, was it?”

“… Humans.”

“Hew-mons…” He furrowed his brow. “Weird.”

“Why are you here?” Matteo watched the coated ‘human’ press her fingers to her again. “What do you want?”

“… speak English, but they refer to it as ‘Equestrian’ – over. Scan them? Hold on.”

“That’s classified information.”

“What’s she doing?” Matteo knew he should remain calm and level-headed, but when the coated female aimed that some electronic box at him, he couldn’t help but reach for his crossbow.

“Don’t move!” Knight Paladin shifted the tip of his sword towards Matteo in alarm.

“Sir, maybe you shouldn’t-”

“Hey, let’s all just calm down,” Nico lightly touched Matteo’s shoulder in a supportive gesture. “Look – your portals are making things difficult for our hunting parties, so the least you could do is tell us a little about yourselves.”

“I’m not in any position to tell you anything,” Knight Paladin explained in a somewhat calmer tone. “If HQ gives me the go-ahead, then I’ll tell you what I can, but until then my lips are sealed.”

“…” Nico sighed and swished his tail in frustration. “Y-you know what? Fine,” Turning to Matteo, he whispered, “Maybe we should just leave this to the Elder; we’re probably making things worse trying to do this diplomatic crap.”

“Do we even want to let these humans into the village?” Matteo whispered back, still keeping one eye on the outsiders. “They seem irritable and we don’t know what they want. And what’s that device the female’s pointing at us?”

“I don’t know!” Nico growled. “Gods, I… I’m just going off the top of my head here. What do you think we should do?”

“…”

“Well?”

“Give me a second!”

“… yes, we are. The readings aren’t what the probe sent us, but it’s definitely there. What? You want us to do what?”

Matteo’s mind raced as he carefully watched the unarmoured human lower her voice and turn away slightly.

An act to make sure whatever she was saying didn’t reach their ears.

The sinking feeling got worse.

“Natalia, what’s HQ saying?”

“Please tell us it’s something good.” Knight Bastion groaned.

“Wait for a moment, will you?”

The sounds of the rainforest died down, leaving a tense silence to hang between them. Matteo swallowed hard as he tried to think of something that could fill the quiet, defuse the charged atmosphere.

But he was a hunter, not a diplomat – he didn’t fight with words, but with tooth and claw.

‘Shit, why did they have to walk our way?’

“I… Yes… Yes, okay… I’ll tell them. Over and… and out.”

The coated female lowered her hand.

She turned with a pensive look on her face and walked over to Knight Paladin.

The taller human bent to the side so she could whisper into the side of his helmet.

Matteo’s ears perked and his stomach fell into a pit.

“Nico – fly back.”

“Wh-what?” Nico looked at him with wide eyes as Knight Paladin nodded to Knight Bastion. “Matteo-”

“Fly back now and warn the village!”

He drew his crossbow at the same time the knights dashed forwards.

With a single flap of his wings, he was airborne, and with a single tug of his talon, a bolt was loosed. It bounced harmlessly of Knight Paladin’s rust-red kite shield – almost as big as Matteo himself – and the human continued forwards without pause.

‘They can’t fly – use your advantages!’

Unfortunately, that advantage didn’t work too well when he backed into vines covered in small white flowers and hanging from the canopy.
Reacting to his presence, they ensnared his wings and started looping around his chest, holding him fast.

“Ah, shit!”

‘Stupid – be aware of your surroundings!’

“Hold on, buddy, I’ll get you outta there!”

Nico hovered in close and quickly started tearing the hungry vines to pieces with his talons and beak, grunting with the effort as Matteo simultaneously struggled and reloaded his crossbow.

‘Gods damn it!’

Shouting below caught his attention and when he looked down, the knights had dropped their weapons to start climbing the trees nearest to them. Though they weren’t as adept in it as actual monkeys, their speed and agility was far superior to what he expected from creatures of their size; the full body-armor did nothing to hinder their movement.

“Nico…”

“Working on-ungh!-it”

Cocking another bolt, Matteo aimed and fired.

The bolt pierced Knight Bastion’s swaying tabard and pinned it to the trunk of the tree she was climbing. It did little to slow her aside from eliciting a cursory glance down when she moved and created a long tear in the fabric.

“Damn it!” Matteo dug into one of the pouches of his bandolier, spilling several bolts down to the forest floor. “Nico!”

“Trying!”

“Get back to the village and warn everyone!”

“Fuck that! I’m getting you out of there! Argh, I swear you’re the worst flyer ever!”

“Nico!”

Matteo lashed out and grabbed his hunting partner by the plumage on his neck, forcing him to meet his steely gaze.

“Go. Warn. The. Village.”

‘You have a wife and a chick on the way. Don’t throw that away for someone who has none…’

Nico’s face creased into a look of utter misery, but he gripped Matteo’s shoulder firmly and gave a nod – an unspoken conversation passed between them – and then shot upwards, breaking through the thick canopy with a farewell screech.

‘Keep them safe.’

Without Nico’s efforts, the vines regenerated and continued wrapping him up like a present. They weren’t strong enough to crush larger creatures like him, but they could very well immobilize him, and Matteo cursed their simple intelligence as they pinned his arms, forcing him to drop the crossbow.

He picked up a noise to his side and turned to screech angrily at Knight Paladin reaching towards him.

‘If I’m going down, then I’m going down fighting!’

His powerful beak muscles strained as he bit down on the human’s hand. He didn’t penetrate, but Knight Paladin voiced his displeasure nonetheless, and shook his arm violently to try and get free.

The vines crawled across Matteo’s neck and onto the knight’s gauntlet, creeping up to his forearm and then his shoulder. They gave a firm tug that caused the branch the human was holding onto to break off.

“Goddamn it!”

The sudden weight pried open Matteo’s jaws and the world spun as the human’s added weight and momentum sent them both twisting and plunging amidst a shower of snapped vegetation.

Fortunately, Knight Paladin proved to be a sufficient enough – if not painful – cushion that saved Matteo from any broken bones and stunned the human long enough for him to scramble back up and launch forwards, wings flaring out to catch the air.

‘Holy shit, I’m gonna make-’

SKLUTCH

“Uh… ugh…”

Matteo’s wings drooped as he looked down at Natalia, both lying prone on the ground and both wearing expressions of utter shock. Looking even further down, he noticed a length of hard metal piercing his abdomen and hot crimson staining it, his feathers, and the human’s coat.

“Sh… Shit…”

A wave of nausea and fatigue overwhelmed him; he collapsed on top of Natalia, and couldn’t muster up any sort of strength to retaliate when she rolled him off to the side.

“Sir, are you alright?”

“Fine, fine – Natalia?”

“Uh, yeah, um… Just… Wow…”

Sunlight poured in through the hole Nico made in his escape. Matteo was thankful for that and sent out his gratitude as numbness started dulling his senses.

‘You better make it back, or I’ll kick your ass from the Hunting Grounds…’

“Sir… was this really necessary?”

“Of course it was! HQ wouldn’t tell us to do it if they weren’t-”

“I wasn’t asking you!”

“Hmph!”

“… Orders are orders, Bastion. You have a problem? Take it up with the Knight Enforcer.”

“I… Yes, sir.”

Matteo weakly turned his head a few inches and glared fearlessly up at Knight Paladin as the human loomed over him.

There was another sword in his hand.

“I’ll make it quick,” He raised it, catching the light. “Any last words?”

“… Here’s… a gesture…”

“Heh… fair enough.”

The sword slashed downwards and Matteo managed to pick up Natalia murmuring, “Odd that they have the same version of ‘flipping the-

And then, Matteo knew nothing.

“Team Valiant reporting in. We’ve successfully secured one of the griffons.”

“Understood. What happened to the other griffon?”

“It flew away; we couldn’t do anything to catch it.”

“Did you see the direction it went?”

“Um… north – towards a large mountain range. They mentioned they were from a place called ‘Nuvole Villaggio’.”

“A settlement?”

“I think so. What should we do?”

Removing the headphones from his head, the technician turned in his seat. “Knight Enforcer?”

“… Tell them to head back with the body. As soon as they’re here, close that portal before they can. We don’t need any more equipment damage.”

“Yes, sir,” The technician slid his headphones back on. “Team Valiant – you are to bring the body back for study.”

“Is that all?”

“Yes.”

“Okay then – will see you soon, HQ. Over and out.”

“… Scribe Penson.”

“Y-yes, Knight Enforcer?”

“I want a portal opened up in Zone Theta. If these studies prove successful, we’re going to need more ‘magic’…”

Author's Notes:

Note 1: Crossbows - though often shunned by both those who favor the traditional 'bow and arrow' strategy and those that prefer to hunt with what they were born with, this device has allowed many griffons to take down larger game from long distances.

A fairly recent contraption - first created by a mad griffon inventor named Stella in 950 AD - the crossbow is not without its cons; it is prone to jamming, takes a while to reload, and the telescopic sights give a select few migraines. Nevertheless, it has seen mass production in many of the Griffon Kingdom's Holds and has even found its way to neighboring countries such as Taurus - home of the minotaurs - and Equestria - home of the ponies.

Due to the nature of the weapon, the only ponies that could have some success in using it are pegasi and unicorns, so it is seldom seen.

I will not let my promise fade, Sybil. I swore that I would give these people a better life... and that is exactly what I will do. No matter the cost...