Slowly, step by step, he approached his destination. He only had to be quiet now so the guards in the stairwell wouldn’t notice him. No, such a beginner's error, breaking into the palace was too difficult. The harem full of willing women was only a few meters away, and nothing would stop him from entering. Quietly, he pushed the curtain away. It revealed the corridor, and he was lucky. Just a single guard, sabre in his belt with his back turned to him. If he could approach the guard unnoticed, he could take him out, and nobody would notice anything. He made a cautious first step and avoided making any noise. Then a second one. A loud chink sounded and made him flinch.

Quickly, he looked around but couldn’t find the source of the noise. The guard seemed to have heard it as well, but disregarded it. Just like Thiemo, he believed it was a one-time abnormality, so he quietly proceeded. But there it was again, and this time, the guard also got curious and grabbed his sabre. Without making a sound, he looked under his shoes but they were made of simple fabric; they were more sandals than anything else. But now he had to hurry. He took another step, and as before, there was the noise.

The guard turned around. “Who dares sneak into the royal harem?” At first he didn’t see the intruder, but then he looked to the ground. “Intruder!”

“Listen now! I am the prince of Persia and—” He was interrupted by the sabre which separated his head from his shoulders.

Thiemo jumped awake. Just as he realized he didn’t just die, something hit him in the back of his head. “Hey! What the hell?” Still slightly sleepy, he looked around in the small room he was in. “Ah right, in a cell.” He rubbed his hurting head and took a deep breath. “What a strange dream.” But there it was yet again, the weird chink. Scared, he looked around and found several small stones lying around on the wooden floor. He looked to the barred window and concluded that someone wanted his attention. With both legs on the bench, he stood up and peered through the tiny window. “Ouch!” he cried when another stone hit him right on the nose and fell into the sand beneath the window. With one hand, he held his nose and looked for the one that had interrupted his beauty sleep. Unfortunately, it wasn’t just one; it was three. Much to his displeasure, it was three very annoying chickens.

“You again? What do you vultures want this time?” he yelled to the gryphons. The high-standing moon allowed him to see that the grey one, the one he knocked out, was wearing a bandage around his head, causing him to chuckle.

“Well look at that; he`s awake. I hope we are not interrupting.” In one of his claws, the mutated chicken played around with another stone. “We are only here to let you know that we’ll get our revenge.” He threw the stone at Thiemo, who was still too sleepy to avoid. To his unbelievable luck, it bounced off the bars and made that well-known clinching noise.

“And how are you going to do that? I am in here, and you are out there. Or do you plan to take revenge by depriving me of my beauty sleep?” He put his hands on his cheeks. “Oh, I am so scared.” The gryphons just grinned maliciously. “Dear ladies and gentlemen - actually just ladies - Macaulay Culkin!” he added and his mouth formed an oval.

“Stop with your stupid games! We’ll take your little foal,” the grey one snapped and drilled his claw into the wood to lift himself up so that his face reached just beneath the window. "We’ll take her out of her small bed in the saloon, fly her to our hideout, and then we'll devour her with pleasure." The two looked each other deep in the eyes. Not even a single muscle twitched.

"Really? Have fun." And with that said, Thiemo turned away and stepped off the bench. It took the gryphons some time to understand what was happening, but the leader of the group finally threw another stone after the human.

"Don't you understand? We will kill your friend and eat her!" he shouted through the bars he now was holding with his claws. His wings were slowly flapping to hold him at the height of the window. Thiemo only stretched and laid himself back on the bench.

"And I said to go have fun." The gryphon was speechless and slowly lowered himself to the ground. "Send her my kind regards," he said as the gryphon reached the ground.

"You'll see soon enough what you have, human!" was the response Thiemo got, soon followed by the flailing wings of chickens disappearing into the night. He covered himself with the sheet since the night was uncomfortably cold even in the building. At first, he thought about Aura. The gryphons would have to get past the barkeeper which, when considering his age, surely wouldn't be a problem for them. The filly herself was tough and strong, unbelievably strong for her young age. Well, she was an earth pony, who were said to have immense strength, but since he had no comparison, he perceived it as unnatural strength. She could even pull him in his full outfit all over the place without him being able to do much against it. She had also shown that strength on several other occasions. Surely she would give a good fight and break one or two bones. How the gryphons knew of her was no mystery to him either. One of them must have followed the loyal servant of the law and had eavesdropped on the conversation.

Although he played it cool, he didn't want her with the three alone, meaning he had to get out of here. With a sigh, he stood up, put the sheet as a provisional cape around his body, and inspected the thick bars before he just squeezed himself through. "That always looked so difficult in those western movies. I really don't know what the fuss was about," he mumbled into his patchy beard and walked towards the wooden door segregating him from the office. He reached out his hand, grabbed the knob, and got the shock of his life. It was as if he had placed his hand into a power socket, and he was instantly flung back and fell to ground. "Whoa! Holy shit! Damn! Fuck!" he yelled as his extremities twitched uncontrollably. "Unicorns and their shitty magic." At least he now knew why Dusk Star didn't open the door with his hoof.

It took a few minutes, but he had his hands somewhat under control again by then. "Good thing I sweated out all the cider in bed." The old blue jeans were the last one he had, after all. But now he had a different problem: getting past the door. If he had his staff in hand, it would have been no problem, but now he had to be creative. He came to the solution that he was too tired to think and decided to go the way of the brute. He would kick it in. One step back, weight on his left leg, the other one bent, and he now stood in front of the door and took a deep breath. "On three. Three!" And he kicked.

Aura would never describe herself as a pony who slept deeply. But she was one. She wouldn't say that she snored either, but she did, although only a bit. Those factors stopped her from noticing the tumult. Three dark beings, covered by the night, entered the saloon and were busy locking the old barkeeper in the closet. The barkeeper had been polishing the mirror in his glass case when they had knocked him into unconsciousness. They were not aware that if they had waited ten minutes longer, the barkeeper would have gone to bed by himself.

"So now we only have to find the room of the little one," said the grey griffon to the other two. They were looking more towards the closet than to their leader though.

"But Olgeir, why don't we just eat the barkeeper too? The foal will hardly be enough for all of us," one of them asked and immediately got his answer. The boss, whose name was obviously Olgeir, hit the whiner with his claw.

"You are a fool, Ganti. They will look for the old pony but not an unknown foal which belongs to a human." He turned to the other one who was staring at the ground, shamefaced. "Furthermore, do you think his flesh is still juicy and tender?" He pointed his claw towards the gryphon.

"No, boss." As he got approval of his second companion, he smiled contentedly.

"See Ganti, your brother Hagall here still has at least some sense in his tiny head." Ganti, though, was busy rubbing his wounded face and only nodded halfheartedly. "So let's go upstairs." Both brothers went back into the main room of the saloon and awaited their boss, who slowly stalked past them and set feet on the stairs. He was the leader; the prey belonged to him. If they were lucky, they'd get a flank or a rib when he was finished.

"Stop right there!" demanded a familiar voice from the entrance. In front of the still swinging door stood or rather crouched the human. His arms rested on his knees while he breathed heavily. Some sort of wooden leftovers were hanging around his right leg which jerked from time to time. "You featherbrains have a problem with me, so take this out on me." The brothers looked to their leader who was smiling confidently. He rather looked forward to the sweet flesh of the foal, but the human had more to offer. Years later, he could still brag about killing one of the feared humans and tasting their flesh.

"So you wanted meat?!" he shouted towards him. "Get him, boys!" The two spread their wings and jumped in a glided flight over the few tables in the room, talons extended and ready to shred their opponent. Olgeir could see how the two touched the ground, the human most likely burrowed beneath them. He turned around on the first step of the stair and slowly walked over to them. "And? Is he dead?"

"Nope, here I am." All three looked at the right corner of the room in surprise, where the human, still in the same position, gasping for air. The only difference was that he held his claw towards them, a fleshy talon raised.

"One second, guys, let me just catch my breath." The two gryphons looked to their boss again, not exactly sure how to react.

"Don't just stand there... Attack!" Immediately, the two readied themselves for another spring. The human saw the attempt and now stuck out the longest talon. That this was also an insult wasn't known by the gryphons.

"Fuck you! Do you even know how hard this is without my–” They jumped and once again glided through the air. Olgeir could already taste the meat when the brothers crashed into the wall.

"Can't you even let me finish my sentence? Did your mommy forget to teach you some manners before she threw you out of her nest?" The grey gryphon spun round. The human was standing right behind him, not in the cowering position but upright and staring down at him. He quickly remembered what he had learned in training. He turned around to get an angle with his claws while trying to hit the opponent with his tail. It wouldn't hurt but was enough to confuse unprepared enemies. To his displeasure, he felt that he missed and jumped forward with his beak, only to hit air where the head of the human had just been. Said human didn't disappear again, but had only moved his head slightly. A wide smile showed several teeth, and before he could react, he felt wood being rammed into his chest. He felt a short pinch of pain but no real damage to his body.

"Is that all you can do, human? Evade?" The smile remained, and the human held a hand with three dull talons stretched out. "Oh, am I supposed to be afraid of your talons or what?" The human lowered one.

"Not really..." He lowered another. "And they're called fingers." And with that said, the last one fell, and a terrible pain, reminding the gryphon of how he had been struck by lightning a few years ago, surged through his body. His wings quivered and pressed against his body as did his other extremities before he hit the ground. With his mind dimming and his whole body jerking without control, he lost consciousness.

As Thiemo saw the gryphon go down, the second time in the last twenty four hours, he took a relieved breath. Maybe a bit too soon. The others, who had crashed into the wall, were far from joining their boss in the land of unconsciousness. He barely saw the creature jump before he felt the claw pierced his left shoulder and caused him to scream in pain. At least no neighbour would complain about being awoken by poor music. He forced himself to open his eyes despite the pain and saw that talon was sticking into the joint. "Now we’ve got you!" yelled the gryphon in front of him, so close that he could smell its foul breath.

"What’s going on here?" The gryphon looked towards the source of the voice just as Thiemo did, even though he knew who it belonged to. Up on the stairs stood Aura with a very messy mane, rubbing her eyes with a hoof.

"Nothing, I'm just having a nice talk with my new friends." To fortify his point further, he petted the gryphon’s head, only to be rewarded with the claw being thrust in deeper, causing another scream. He faced his opponent again and used the fact that his hand was already on the head of the gryphon. With force, he used the combination from earlier today. His hand pressed the head of the attacker down while he kicked his knee upwards. It had the appropriate effect on the gryphon as well as his knee. The gryphon withdrew, pulling his claw out of the shoulder as it stumbled back while at the same time, the remaining wooden leftovers of the door crumbled off his leg. "Shitty poultry!" he shouted at the large bird while kicking him in the chest so that he now fell on his boss, also out of the game.

"Do you need help or can I go back to sleep?" asked the very tired foal, who watched the entire scene from the highest step of the staircase. Thiemo checked how the last gryphon was doing. He was busy recovering from the crash into the wall and was using one of the tables for support. Judging by his calmness, he hadn't exactly realized that he was the last one standing.

"Only one is left anyway." He pointed at the gryphon who now realized he was in focused. "But my staff would be nice." The sleepy filly nodded and vanished in direction of her room. Thiemo, on the other hand, concentrated his remaining attention on the final gryphon. The wound in his left shoulder was screaming in agony, and he was sure his attacker hadn’t washed his claw before drilling the additional hole. He had to disinfect the wound and dress it as soon as possible.

"What have you done with my brother and my boss?" Deciphering the obvious was apparently not his strength.

"Put them to sleep, and I'll do the same to you." Immediately, the gryphon went into an attacking stance. His front legs crouched, claws drilled into the ground to get a better start, wings spread, and tail raised to help balance the massive body. Gryphons were not tall, at least not on all fours, but some even were taller than Thiemo when upright. This particular gryphon wasn't one of them though; upright, he maybe reached his chin. Expecting his weapon, Thiemo held his hand towards the stairs and was not disappointed.

"Here, catch!" the voice of his daughter sounded, and his fingers gripped the metal staff at the next moment. At the start of his journey, the deer had given it to him since they had found it with him. In the middle, there was a grip, with the vertical length on either side being around a meter. On each side of the staff were carvings etched into it. The staff itself proved handy on many occasions and had a myriad of uses, but he only needed one at the moment. The gryphon jumped as he received the staff, and with a skilled turn, he exhaled and banged the side of the staff against the large bird's head. The bird in question fell against the bar and slumped downwards, motionless. His head was decorated by an open flesh wound.

"Homerun!" Thiemo rejoiced and did a little winning dance. "Game, set, and match to the master. And what is his name?" He put a hand behind his ear while facing Aura to get the fitting answer.

"I'm going back to bed," she said and waved off the nonsense that she knew came from the human all too often. The arm of the man fell disappointedly.

"Oh come on. Look, no table is worse than before," he declared, but the only answer was the forcefully shut door. "You are a crabber, do you know that?" he yelled after her before he once again gazed at his work. At his feet, two gryphons laid over each other, one a bit roasted and with a fractured skull, the other one only with the latter. The third probably had a crack in his skull, so all in all, a productive day. "Then let’s see where the old barkeeper got to," he said more or less to himself, an old habit. Carefully, he stepped over the two gryphons and went behind the bar and grabbed a bottle of cider while aiming for the back door. Surely the barkeeper wouldn't mind a single bottle too much.

With the bottle in one hand and the staff in another, he used his feet to push open the door and found what one could perceive as a normal flat. A couch stood in the small living room, a cooking niche with an old wooden stove which stood in the corner, and two more doors that probably led into the bath and bedroom. "So where would three idiots hide an old pony?" He took a few more steps into the small living room and saw, on the other side of the couch, a closet probably used for mantles and similar junk. "Bingo." Sure of his detective skills, he turned the tiny key which locked said closet. The door sprang open, and the barkeeper rolled out, sighing.

"I thought I'd have to spend the whole night in there," he explained and looked up to see who had freed him. Judging by his face, he didn't expect the human. "Boy, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be sleeping in your cell?"

"I can lock you back into the closet and go there if you prefer that." He pointed with his thumb towards the door of the closet and grinned. The barkeeper only waved a hoof.

"Help an old pony to get back on its hooves, will you?" Thiemo did as asked and helped the old one get back on his legs. As he began stretching his whole body, one could hear the cracking of several bones.

"So who let you out?"

"I did it myself. Your prisons aren't exactly made for my kind." Bronze Mug nodded and looked at his saviour more closely. First he noticed the bottle and got a bit grumpy, but then he saw the wound.

Immediately, he went into the kitchen. "Sit down on the couch. I'll get the dressing." He waved with his hoof roughly to where the couch was while his head disappeared in a cupboard. Once again and with pleasure, he did what the old pony said and fell on the couch. "I suppose the gryphons did that to you?" It was rather a rhetorical question, and he didn’t wait for an answer. "I suppose they are gone now?" Thiemo had put the staff aside and was scratching his chin. He should shave from time to time.

"Well actually, they're still lying in the bar; had no time to get them out of the saloon yet." The sound of the barkeeper’s head bumping into the ceiling of the cupboard was unmistakable.

"You didn't kill them, did you?" Thiemo chuckled and shook his head, ignoring the fact that nobody could see.

"No, but I can guarantee that the hospital bill won't come cheap." The relief of Bronze was obvious by the air he exhaled. Then he pulled his head back, and between his teeth, he held the grip of a red emergency kit. Quickly, he rushed over to the couch and laid the kit down.

"So then, show me." Thiemo took another large gulp before he placed the bottle on the ground and stripped himself of his provisional cape and t-shirt. The old brown thing was made of a material similar to a potato sack, but the leftovers of several escapades formed a nice pattern. "Doesn't look that bad." The old stallion took out a bottle with a clear liquid inside and opened it before grabbing the forceps and a pad. He said something impossible to understand. If Thiemo had to guess, it would be something along the lines of, "This is going to hurt a bit." The pad was dipped into the liquid and pressed on the wound. He dabbed it a few more times then held it on the wound before laying the forceps on the couch. "So, now a bandage and you are good." He pulled a roll of gauze, but Thiemo took it from his hooves.

"No offense but I'd rather do this myself." Not that he was afraid of contact or hooves in particular. It was only that ponies walked on them all day long, and using them now to get the band aid into position would make the whole disinfection useless.

"Bronze Mug?" someone yelled from out of the saloon. "Bronze Mug, where are you? Are you alright? What’s going on?" It was the voice of the sheriff. Meaning that somebody had to have heard the screams he'd made a few minutes earlier and called the police. As usual, however, he came too late when everything was already done. Some things never change, no matter which world you were in.

"I’m back here, Dusk!" the old stallion replied while Thiemo aided himself. Not easy, but his arms were agile enough for the task. A couple of seconds later, a very pissed-off looking sheriff stood in the doorway, first looking at the barkeeper then at the human.

"Didn't I lock you into a cell?" Thiemo bit his lip.

"Well, concerning that..." Somehow he had the feeling that he wouldn't get his his desired sleep time anymore.

Author's Notes:

Big thanks to faktopus for acting as proofreader /)
A second time edited by JBL. Thanks buddy!

I don't know how often I will be able to update this story, but goal is something between 2-3 times a month.
I would be happy about comments, suggestions for improvement and if you like the story, rate it too.

Till next time,
tio aka truekry