So...here’s what happened when we arrived at the little settlement of Erden, Griffins where everywhere flying, walking around and just doing everyday chores ,it’s just looked like a small normal medieval city only filled with fantasy creatures.

When we arrived all eyes fell on our little group, a bunch of bipedal hairless creatures just walking by and every now and then just making a small “hello” , “good morning” and “sup”. Awkward but I think we were glad we were not being chased down by the locals. Arriving at the garrison we were presented with a strange sight, the guards.... who looked more like a small group of militia, were all wearing some sort of minimalist uniform, random bits and pieces of metal here and there, they were set in a formation like the military of our world would look like if they were standing in attention. And at the front there was a proud elderly griffon just taking account of the numbers of what were supposed to be volunteers for something, a normal patrol? , a mission? I don’t know, I hoped it wasn’t because of our sudden arrival on this world, that disturbed the creatures of the forest or that we were being used like pawns in a game we didn’t chose to be a part of.

We waited at the side line until the bird with the big helmet decided to either give is nod of approval to his little army or throw a grandiose speech. the first thing happened and only a couple of griffins wearing painted cuirass began shouting orders, dividing the guards into squads of 5 and sending them to different locations. Mind you dear reader that we haven’t seen the rest of the city, and only when we looked around we began to assimilate that the constructions were designed in a functional way, the market and most of the housing were facing inward and a little bit in the far end we could see a fortification. Imagine a small castle were the Lord lives that is surrounded by a stone wall and the rest of the houses are built in a way to reduce spaces in between, like a 2nd wall built with only houses.

It reminded me when I used to build farms in Warcraft using them as a wall in case I got attacked, only that this was real life and the cruelty of the medieval casts was a reality in this world. it is why many of the reasons we didn’t want to be taken like a bunch of commoners, if a Lord wanted something from us they could just point at us and demand it, but if we were diplomats or maybe someone from a higher position, we could at least negotiate something, right? man I was a hopeful idiot.

As soon as the guards went flying we approached and presented the small badge to the elderly griffon, explained the whole situation, and introduced ourselves.
We were 14...at that moment 5 people were Americans other 5 Europeans and the other 4 were just a mix of other countries from the old Soviet Block, don’t ask me the names otherwise I’ll butcher the pronunciation.
So in order to make things easy for everyone we chose nicknames, short, easy to remember and it worked for all of us to preserves some sort of individuality and our privacy in the process.

In the US group we got Cali (California), Austin (Texas), Mickey (Me, I’m from Michigan and apparently I have no imagination when it came to present myself , then again I did appear with people training the guns on me so yeah sue me I guess), Lucy (Louisiana) and Mary (Maryland) apparently we all watched zombieland and took that idea.
Across the ocean, the Europeans, we got Otto (from Saxony), Maquis (from Lyons and I think she said something about the Blue Coast of France), Toledo (from Spain and because he seems to be proud to come from near the place I guess), Nap (from Napoli) and believe it or not Elsa (I have never seen a Swedish girl and let me tell you stereotypes are true, she looked like the disney princess only taller and more mature).
And finally but not less important the slavics, now i wish to tell you that in certain extreme situations group dynamic and chemistry just appear out of nowhere and makes us show sympathy and socialize among ourselves, this was not the case, aside from Wojtek ( a shy guy from Poland and World War 2 enthusiast I guess), the other 3 were well distrusting of everyone and everything, they gave me a bad feeling. But then again it’s not exactly normal to put all of your trust in complete strangers so I guessed they were playing it safe.

Anyway the Elder Griffon’s name was Iron Beak, former knight of the kings guard and now retired veteran in charge of tutoring and guiding the rest of the hatchlings knights as an advisor. He gave one of those auras of pride even though we knew nothing of him at the moment, like the way those cool World War 2 vet sometime give, the simple way he looked at us was enough to break the heavy weight of the situation we were all feeling at that moment.

“Greetings Ladies and Lords, I welcome you all to the city of Erden, would you happen to cross a group of knights on the road?” now one would expect that if someone refers to you with a title out of respect, specially referring to you as a Lord, one must respond with the same level in order to fit in and to show the same amount of respect.

“Sup’(said the Texan with the grace of an elephant walking through a china shop) yeah we’ve met them on the main road”

“Ah perfect and he sent you here? without an escort or somegriffin to guide you here? Hatchlings, I’ll have a word or two with them later, don’t worry.”

“Nah don’t need, a fella named Silver gave us this...this thing here told us to wait him when he returns from his patrol”

“He gave you his royal crest and trusted you to come here by yourselves? just like that? he must have seen something in you in order to do something so reckless”

“Didn’t do much really, we asked for directions, told him our little experience in the forest and that we needed help, I’m an honest man and if roles were reversed I would try to help them, specially if they were lost”

“Just like that? without compensation or reward? do you even know who you just met?”

“Yeah I’ll help anyone human or griffin if they needed it, don’t care if they’re the son of a noble or some poor bastard on the road”

“Silver Talon is the son of the proud family of Grindelwal, they are close to the king one may say he is even related to him by a few branches, there is no creature in all of Griffinstone, and some part of Equestria that doesn’t know about him.”

“And? He gave us a fancy badge and told us to come here and then he just flew off, and like I told you before we know nothing of this place, the few reasons we decided to follow his orders was to simply avoid any trouble and get a good look on exactly where we are standing ”.

Iron Beak looked at Austin hard, hoping to caught him on lie or just judging him for a simple moment, then he broke the silence.
“I like you Sir Austin, an honest heart and a good head on your shoulders, your kind did good on coming here, you are welcome to wait Silver inside the garrison, we can bring you something to eat while we clarify this whole mess.
Don’t worry we won’t put you in a cell but you must leave your belongings inside the armory, until all of this is over.”

We all agreed reluctantly about leaving our weapons and most of our stuff, but so far doing the right thing has played well for us. Getting something to eat while we figure out where were we and a way to go home was our priority at that moment.

Now I know many of you are dying to know how well armed were we and I know that I promised to tell my audience of some of the weapons that in the present day are part of my inventory...even though their owners aren't longer alive.
The US group was armed with 2 Ruger classical chambered in .300 blackout, those belonged to Cali and Mary, Austin being the texan was sporting a lever action in 45-70 don’t remember the brand but I recognized the iron or more like the polymer on his hip, a Glock one of the many numerical variants 17? I’m going with 17.
Lucy on the other hand had a copy of a 1911 in 45, but this one look more like it belonged in a shooting competition rather than a EDC still the belt she carry that thing out was one of those that allow you to carry up to 5 magazines.
Now before you criticize me like I know you would, I just came from moving out of one place to another and my “pieces” are a TPR chambered in 9mm brand new that I kept in a holster inside one of those big green ammo boxes you find in a gun show or a antique shop, and my father’s rifle that I had just nesting in a box close to my desk, along with all it’s bullets there, it’s a collector rifle with either little to no use in it’s life whatsoever, a Springfield model 1917 chambered in 30-06.

The Euros on the other hand were more or less armed like us, I guess they lived either in the country side or just straight said Fuck the Gov and never turned their guns. Specially Otto he sported a sig sauer in 9mm abut also a Ruger carbine chambered in 9mm, but it wasn’t his weapons that surprised me but his get up the guy looked like had a vest for all the gigs, he looked like a German STALKER.
Maquis on the other hand was carrying a FN HI-Power nothing that out of place if it wasn’t for the double barrel shotgun that looked a little to big for her, but she seems familiar with it.
Nap had a FGC, yeah made it like a carbine with a long barrel, I had a little of a apprehension towards 3d printed guns specially when people think they know what are they doing. Still something told me that this guy did his research and had experience because the gun looked cool it had a ported barrel and every thing, plus he carried a shorted Lupara on his back.
Toledo was more like us with a Glock full of accessories and a great holster that carried his mags, but also big difference he carry most of his spare ammo on a fanny-pack. on his waist.
Elsa on the other hand carried a Mosin a Finnish version I would guess and had a whole belt for her ammo. She also carried a huge bayonet on her side, like a big blonde gun Fairy.
Finally as for the slavs I don’t know they never showed anything but their knives if they had guns they just kept them out of sight, except wojtek who owned a simple civilian saiga shotgun and a 38. special revolver with long barrel, that guy was the living embodiment of gentle giant.

As we left our weapons in the armory, thoughts began to go in my mind, whether this was a good idea. I’m all for trusting and showing a good face, but if we ran into trouble we’re fucked, they may be civilized and in some places as big as a mountain cat, but Griffins have deadly claws if or when a fight could happen we were left defenseless.
Maybe this was their plan all along, the “click” of the interior barred door inside the armory cleared my thoughts and we went to the mess hall being guided by a guard. Once we were seated in a large table they gave us some sort of porridge with cups of water and some wooden spoons, it was better than nothing and only when they gave us the food and drink I’ve realized how hungry I really was.
The rest of the day was just waiting for the knights to return so we can move forward and plan things for our future, with the stress eating us up, we just fell into more comfortable positions some of us even just laying on the long benches while people from the group talked about.

I just lay myself on the bench, listening and from time to time chipping into the conversations, but with some food in my body and some sort of safety from the natural elements I slowly drifted away and felt asleep.

Usually when someone falls into the dreamland you aren’t supposed to remember everything, unless you are one of those people who can lucid dream, alas I wasn’t and yet I saw with clarity and remember some recollection of what happened, first I felt like I was swimming in the darkness.

That was until I hit the “floor” if touching solid nothingness count as floor stood up and began walking without direction, little by little voices began whispering into my hears, a bunch of nonsensical voices speaking at the same time and they got louder and louder to the point that putting my hands in them didn’t cancel the noise.
Opening my eyes for the 2nd time I was awarded with a long hall filled with wooden doors, I kept walking around and the idea of opening one of the doors was temptation I couldn’t ignore no more.
The door flashed white and then I was transported into a huge Library books filled the different stacks, different subjects and covers all written in a gibberish language that I couldn’t understand.

“Hello?” I asked to none in particular, as I went trying to find someone? a person? a nightmare? anything other than just getting out of being lost in my own subconsciousness. After a while I started hearing a conversation between two girls? the voices I heard talking felt feminine.

“But Princess Luna, the reports from the Griffins aren’t fully verified, they even said so, if new monsters have appeared in their forests we should investigate a little bit closer, “New Monsters” don’t just appear out of nowhere unless somecreature put them there, our friends on Griffonstone said that there have been sighting of Manticores, Hydras and other recorded monster that we know of, just because they have moved from their normal territories and began making a massive migration into other areas is a sign to investigate with our zoologists and professionals on the subject.”

“I know Twilight, but their behavior have began altering not only on certain parts of griffionstone but in some smallest part here in Equestria as well. And considering the very nature of this strange event, we must be aware of other dangers, the invasion of the Storm King left us vulnerable and my Sister believes as well that it is better to prepare for unforeseen consequences. Even Discord showed up at our palace warning us, saying something about having a bad feeling about it, normally I would not care for his shenanigans, but the way he said it. I think he’s actually afraid of what’s to come.”

Wow ominous, right? I thought, I tried to get a closer look but all I could managed to do was to trip with a small pile of books that was on the floor.
It didn't make that much noise but I let out a loud "Fuck" and that got their attention. Panic ran through my body and the idea of meeting the voices just flew out of the window.

“What was that noise?? WHO GOES THERE? SHOW YOURSELVES!!!”

A loud voice like someone yelling through a concert speaker began shoving the books into the floor, aaand I began running back to the door, hearing sounds of what looked like bolts of energy firing from behind.
Running and dodging through stacks that seems to expand instead of ending, but I kept running until I saw the wooden door from which I entered, I opened it fast and closed it behind me thinking I have escaped the danger and stumble on the ground panting trying to catch my breath, why was out of breath in my dream? don't know never happened to me before, but then again never had a dream like this, I opened my eyes I was greeted by a White Horse with huge magenta eyes and expanded wings on the sides and a huge horn just above on the forehead.

” Hello? may I ask who are you?” said the alicorn, yeah you read that right an alicorn, one of those apocalyptic mythological creatures that were supposed to be the harbingers of the End Times? or the first signs of the end?.
I read a lot okay? it took me 1 month to get internet into my home so my mother books collection kept me entertained, so I will puke that information from time to time to you readers.

Her hair was iridescent and ethereal the same as her tail, sporting two fairly shaped suns on her side, she would look like a beautiful angel if it wasn’t the fact that I was internally panicking through the whole ordeal.
Just like that me on the ground panting looking at every detail of her, seeing her glow like a nightlight. I was confused panicking all over and never responded to a word she said, I got up and looked her right back trying to keeping a distance while she followed my steps, getting closer every time I took a step back.
“can you understand me?” She said in a calm voice, she lighted her horn and said the same thing only that I heard her voice in my mind, with a soft smile on her face she kept talking “I am Princess Celest..” I didn't let her finish, I muster all of my courage and balled up my fist and punched her hard into her face, the whole thing just creeped me out and hearing her voice echoing in my head was the last thing I wanted to hear, that and the whole dream was scaring me out. I wanted to yell something cool like "yeah you won't take me alive bitch" but all I managed to say was a incomprehensible yell.

From the shock of the punch She vanished in a white flash, like she never got a chance to react she just vanished like the fairy godmother from Cinderella leaving small little sparks of light behind, and I got transported to the waking world by Louisiana poking my ribs gently, telling me to wake up.

"Come on Mickey we are leaving".

Author's Note

I hope you guys/gals like the story so far, I'll try to make the chapters longer.
I've been busy with a lot of work lately and can take time to write that much.