Still here, with some updates and a Payne sneak peak · 1:22am Oct 22nd, 2012
In case anyone was wondering, yes I am in fact still here. And I'm still toiling away at the latest chapter of Payne, however it's taking a lot longer then I hoped. This is supposed to be the big meeting with the Griffin's and some insight into what the hell is actually going on. I'm 8 pages in and I'm still not at that point...
So, this is going to be a long chapter. My random episodes of writers block doesn't help. Write a paragraph and a half and wall, next day another paragraph or two and wall. It's very irritating quite honestly. So know that progress is being made, but don't expect it in the next week...and because of this I'll give you guys a preview of what I've got down so far without giving too much away. Keep you interested, maybe get some insight...who knows.
Do keep in mind this is unfiltered, unrefined, and has not been looked at by my pre-reader. So whatever typos and mistakes you see don't worry as they're not going to make it in the final cut.
Enough of my rambling. Here's a sneak peak:
....Here I was sitting at a table with the contents of the folder the Princesses gave me spread out for my scrutiny while I held a glass of scotch in my right hand and a lit cigarette in the other. They haven’t seen me doing both; hopefully they won’t see some of my other skills at multitasking.
We were in this room for at least fifteen minutes at this point, which meant there was about another forty-five before these Griffin Ambassadors show up and cover-up their own militaries actions. I wasn’t positive that’s what they were going to do, but you don’t go through the motions without some form of covering your ass.
For not knowing what was going on, the Princesses guards sure knew how to document evidence. I was having flashbacks to my NYPD days, only the writing was more clearly written. How a group of ponies can manage to have better penmanship than half the NYPD force takes some talent, then again maybe not.
The reports and the pictures they provided painted an ugly picture. Over a month ago there was some odd reports of something big happening in the wooded area around a place known as ‘Smokey Mountain’ , due south of a place called Tall Tale…I swear the puns I could connect…
Besides the ridiculous names the residents of Tall Tale said some sort of freak lightning storm appeared around Smokey Mountain at least two weeks before the Griffin Squadron was due to show up, so whatever it was the common consensus was whatever turned the Squadron arrived during that storm.
The details of how or why the storm showed up, or what exactly it brought from my world besides a shit load of crated guns is still unknown. All that is known is these crates showed up roughly with the light show the locals got that night. From that point till the time the Griffin’s showed up there were inconsistent reports of strange or unusual noises coming from the woods, occasionally a few heard several explosions as they described. For the most part they were correct.
Most of the noises were passed off as the wind playing tricks with them or just the forest being a forest. Truth is no one actually went and investigated till a few days before the Squadron was scheduled for their drill, which was where the first crate was found in a clearing, along with something else the Princess didn’t mention.
Besides the crate, there were also 3 dead animal carcasses. The report says they were mutilated and killed by some magical means they couldn’t identify, but they didn’t have me here at the time. They weren’t mutilated, they were gutted and cleaned, and it wasn’t magic but a bullet to the head. Whatever or whoever came through with these crates knew how to survive in the wild, and knew how to operate a gun. Dangerous combinations, especially in a land like this where as I’ve found out not everything is intelligent cutesy and cuddly like these ponies.
Eight crates were found all together, contents ranged from assault rifles to bullet proof vests and everything in-between. I even found several different bottles of the aspirin I take…the irony were lost on my company. The crates themselves didn’t answer any questions, one crate full of guns was just like every other crate full of guns, it tells me and apparently the locals absolutely nothing.
Things didn’t get real interesting till after the Squadron showed up for their drills.
Before being allowed in Equestrian lands the Princesses requested some background on what this squadron was actually going to be doing, and who will be there. The numbers didn’t seem inviting, counting the three levels of commanders there were now apparently one hundred and sixty-five rouge Griffins in the woods under the command of someone who was clearly out of their mind and loved to kill things.
If I didn’t already know they were dead I had a few names come to mind.
After their arrival they made it about two or so weeks before contact with the ‘Griffin Nation’ was lost, and wasn’t long after that said Nation requested the Princess to look into it. That was when two more crates were found, along with the commander’s body.
That’s also when the first gunfight started.
The reports from the guards indicated that whoever attacked stayed within the woods and at the time they thought they were under a magical barrage going off the flashes they saw in the woods. The Unicorn guards with them put up a magical barrier to protect them but were shocked when it did nothing to stop whatever was coming at them. No guards were lost, but a few were wounded in the attack.
I knew they were under fire, and it told me whoever fired on them couldn’t operate a firearm to save their life. The hits they got were mostly superficial, a graze here, a nick there…nothing much worse than a scratch. All those facts pointed to the Griffins having the guns, and their aim was lousy.
The griffin commander’s body was autopsied when it was brought back with the crates. Reports indicate he was in a fight with possibly the creature that took over the squadron; he was made an example of. The pictures didn’t paint a pretty scene, torture never is pretty. Come to think of it I’m rather glad the girls weren’t near me now, who knows how they’d take looking at the pictures of this poor bastard. One of his wings was actually ripped off his body, one of the front limbs was twisted roughly into a pretzel, and then there were the bullet wounds in what I’d assume were its rear knee caps. Whatever he went against was sadistic, I could imagine whoever it was doing this right in front of the squadron as well, showing them what the price for not following will be.
The guards in the coming two weeks made 4 more incursions into the wooded area to find the squadron; instead they found only crates and a hail of gunfire heading their way. The last incursion was six days ago, and that was the bloodiest.
It appeared the griffins were getting better with their guns, wounds weren’t frequent on the previous three incursions, just some nicks and scrapes, and they wouldn’t be so lucky this time. Three guards gunned down, five more seriously injured and at least eight with superficial wounds like the last few times. Two of the eight seriously wounded were in coma’s and the prognosis wasn’t looking good, the rest were still in the hospital on the grounds. The ones who were still able to talk said they saw their attackers as they were retreating and carrying their wounded and dead out of the killing field. They didn’t even have a chance to address them, just cut down by automatic gun fire and some shouting from someone they couldn’t see but assumed was the new leader of them.
No one was able to get a clear view or hear what was being said, but the one thing that came across the board from those who did hear it, said it was laughter. Yeah, laughter, because ordering the deaths of a bunch of ponies who are just checking to see what’s going on is completely hilarious to watch. Whatever doubts I had of someone from my world coming over here were wiped away with that little tidbit, laughing in the face of slaughter…I could swear I’ve run into far too many people who would do that.
There wasn’t much else in the file. The reports of the individuals in the squadron were never included, probably because the griffins were bringing it with them right now to further themselves from the mess they apparently created. The last part of the file I didn’t read was the basic information on the guards themselves, and I wasn’t going to further burden myself with finding out how many children or a wife who’s now left to mourn, I have my own crosses to bear on that front...
That's about 2 pages if anyone want's to know the exact number. And at least 6 more pages left in mystery...and that numbers gonna get bigger. :)
Now I want more! Looking forward to more of your awesome story! 
