Hegira: Option Gamma

by Guardian_Gryphon

Chapter 34

Brigadier General. Hutch decided that, in the end, he liked the sound of it.
The newly minted member of the senior brass was on his way down to the Fort Hamilton armory.

General Lantry had bestowed Hutch's new rank in an unceremonious, brief, and to the point meeting that morning. The JRSF was receiving a large chunk of funds and assets to arm and provision itself properly, and Hutch was needed to oversee the final approval of the armor, weapon, and Equipment requisitions.

He discovered Sildinar, and one of the Royal Guards, had already arrived, and were waiting for him. The equipment had been cleared from a side room to make way for a Pony, a Gryphon, and a Human, each in matching sleek gray armor, with a dull red diagonal stripe on the right foreleg, arm, and hoof.

The letters 'JRSF' and a rank symbol were stenciled on each stripe in the same gray tone as the rest of the armor.

The Gryphon's suit was reminiscent of the prototype armor Kephic, Varan, and Sildinar had worn for so long, but it appeared to have been enhanced and refined. The Pony's armor resembled Royal Guard armor, as if re-imagined by ConSec, and the Human's armor was the latest advanced version of Special Forces Marine medium plating.

All three warriors sported helmets as well. The Human's covered his entire head, with a clear plexiglass visor infused with an energy diffusion matrix. The Gryphon and Pony wore half-helms, with slits cut for their ears.

Each carried a variety of equipment, the Human and Gryphon also bore a veritable arsenal of personal weapons. The Pony was laden down with something resembling kevlar saddle bags, filled with medical supplies.

Hutch raised an eyebrow, and leaned in closer to inspect the medic, "You're unarmed?"

The Pony, a female unicorn, shook her head, "Aside from my magic, I have other defensive armament." She stomped her back hooves, and vicious looking blades snapped out from hidden compartments. The unicorn blushed, and gestured with a hoof towards Sildinar, "He insisted."

Sildinar nodded, "Especially given the unreliability of magic here, and the untenability of stronger spells in this world. It seemed prudent."

Hutch grunted, "Necessary is more like it. The HLF aren't above attacking under-armed med techs just to get in a cheap shot."

The Brigadier General turned to the Human and Gryphon, then cast a glance at Sildinar, "Shall we review armaments?"

Sildinar nodded, "Human weaponry never ceases to impress."

The frigid wind bit into Fyrenn like so many icy fangs intent on sapping the heat and life from his body. The group had slept fitfully, except for IJ and Carradan, who were able to shelter under Varan and Fyrenn's wings.

The temperatures had dipped to dangerous levels, even for the Gryphons, with their fur and feather covering, and high speed metabolisms. It had even become impossible to make a fire; A major contributing factor being the wind, from which there was almost no shelter on the seemingly endless flat tundra.

The gusts were not yet strong enough to fully impede IJ's weather manipulation, but they were dozens of degrees colder than the surrounding air. Fyrenn wondered if they were a harbinger of further decline in the ambient temperature.

He gazed up at the opaque, cloud filled sky, and wondered if it was actually warmer above the clouds. As if she had read his mind, Neyla pointed up at a particularly menacing formation resembling a thunderhead, "It's too bad we're tracking prey. It's likely a great deal more comfortable up there, in the sun."

Kephic shivered involuntarily, sending up miniature clouds of white powder that the wind took the moment they were free of his feathers, "Here's a nice thought; It will make the trip home *significantly* easier."

Carradan stomped his hooves impatiently, when he spoke his teeth were chattering so hard it made it difficult to determine what he was saying, "Let's... Just... Get moving... So we can... Get this... *Over* with!"

Fyrenn nodded sharply, "Agreed!"

The group took to the air without further ado. Hunting was accomplished on-the-wing, and the kills were eaten raw. Carradan didn't even blanch when the leftover bones were tossed aside; A testament to how deeply the cold was affecting him.

The cutting wind was abated by putting IJ at the front of the formation, but overall the temperature was still abysmally low. For an hour after eating, Fyrenn felt slightly warmer, and from then on he made an effort to seize on every potential kill he could spot, even volunteering to take a spare haversack and lug leftovers himself.

He reasoned that, if a Gryphon's metabolism could produce so much heat and energy from food, then food was going to be everyone's life-line. It helped that the cold preserved any uneaten meat quite well, meaning there was no need to contemplate other methods of keeping the food fresh.

The price for the free refrigeration was that the food had to be eaten cold. Fyrenn would have traded his next month's stipend for a way to keep a camp fire alive, even for a few minutes.

Around midday, the sky darkened several more shades to an angry gunmetal hue.
Lightning was visible in the distance as non-distinct flashes of blueish white through the snow.

Fyrenn noticed a host of small signals that collaborated to form a single instinct.

A storm was coming.

A winter supercell, as the Earthgov Atmospheric Sciences department would have called it.

He voiced his concerns. IJ nodded, and called back over her shoulder, "The weather here changes unpredictably, and quickly, but I'm certain we're in for a bad evening."

Carradan groaned, "I don't like it, but I can feel it too."

Fyrenn knew his interpretation of the weather stemmed from his body; His lungs, sinuses, nostrils, feathers, fur, and skin were all receiving pressure, temperature, moisture, and wind signals that some incomprehensible aspect of his instincts could collate and meaningfully, accurately interpret.

But IJ and Carradan's predictions were more likely to be even more accurate. Their sense of the climate came from a direct magical connection to the sky itself.

Fyrenn shuddered to imagine the weather they were all in for.

He wondered how bad the windshear would have to get before it completely impeded flight for the whole group. The more he thought about it, the more he realized visibility would ground them far sooner than the crosswinds. If they couldn't see each other there was a very real risk of losing one or more members of the group.

A disaster they could ill afford in a frozen wasteland.

He cast a glance at Kephic, "What do you suppose our chances are of catching the Ruby Claws before the storm hits us?"

Kephic spent a few moments appraising the storm, then gauging their speed, and factoring in his own estimation of the Ruby Claws' over-land pace, before answering, "Fairly good. The storm is actually larger, and slower, than it looks from here. We didn't stop for a midday meal, and we didn't sleep for a full night."

Varan chimed in, "Combine that with the advantage IJ provides to our speed, and we should be quite significantly outpacing them."

Fyrenn found himself compulsively checking his bow. He disengaged it from its mounting point, and checked to ensure that snow had not clogged the workings and components.

The weapon was a symbol of comforting certainty. The Ruby Claws might be deadly mercenaries, but there was little to nothing they could do to defend against surprise aerial assault.

Conversation ceased once again. It was an effort to speak above the mournful cry of the wind, and the frigidity of the air would impact one's lungs like a bolt of cold lightning for daring to open muzzle or beak.

As the sun invisibly continued on its track towards the horizon, Fyrenn's concerns over the weather were gradually replaced by a nagging sensation of tension.

Try as he might, he couldn't lay a talon on the source of the bother, but his instincts were ever so slightly on edge, and it seemingly had nothing to do with the quickening storm.

He only had a few minutes to consider the subtle sensation of concern before something more relevant pre-empted it.

Kephic saw it first, but Fyrenn and Varan noticed it before he could even voice his observation; six dark forms loping north across the tundra on all fours, their heads angled into the wind.

Six Diamond Dogs.

Six *Lupine* Diamond Dogs.

"What are the odds?" Fyrenn mused aloud as he struggled to maintain steady flight without the benefit of IJ's weather magic.

Kephic snorted, "Honestly? Not as bad as you think. The Lupines have a generally reasonable standing with us, and a history of hunting Trolls when they cross the line."

Varan and Neyla were just barely visible several hundred yards away, all four Gryphons were hovering, as best they could, within the lowest levels of the clouds, maintaining a fuzzy yet solid sight picture on the pack below.

Fyrenn dipped his right wing to avoid a particularly bad wind gust, "And yet we're planning an introduction to our supposed allies by way of a covert ambush?"

Kephic chuckled, "The Lupines... Don't mistake their similar ethical stances for broad commonalities. Their culture is quite distinct from ours. Very pack-centric. They don't like the way we play fast and loose with rank, and they often expect us to honor their Alpha and Beta, as if we were members of an allied pack...."

"...Which isn't really something we can do?" Fyrenn finished.

Kephic nodded, "Following direct leadership from other races isn't in our nature. We're not entirely above respectfully reporting to someone else at a higher level, but its hard to follow someone not of our kind 'in the field' as you say."

"And some Lupines will kill over this, rather than just accepting our honest respect?"

"Try 'most.' The only way for us to have things both ways is to impress them sufficiently.
They have to understand, believe, and accept that we could and would kill them, or die trying, before submitting to their own dominance rules. That assuages them, because it places us on an equal level to their Alpha."

"Harsh."

Kephic nodded once more, "But necessary."

Fyrenn sighed, "It just seems like an odd way to win friends and influence people. Even for us."

"Admittedly it's not ideal. But you never know with Lupines. Some packs are progressive, and have no trouble working with us. Others are traditionalist, and refuse to treat us differently regardless, but most walk a line somewhere in the center that makes first meetings... Fraught."

Fyrenn squared his shoulders, as much as he could given his position. The maneuver turned into more of a wing stance adjustment than anything.

"Alright then. Let's make some 'friendship'."

"Greetings." Kephic said it more as a formality than anything.

The wind was blowing from the north, and thus provided the dual purpose of masking the Gryphons' scent, and any faint sound that might have resulted from a slip in concentration and stealthy wing-positioning.

But when he and Fyrenn touched down, the nearly inaudible crunching of the snow beneath their claws and paws was more than enough to get the Diamond Dogs' attention. The species had ears that were at least as attuned to sound as a Pony's, if not more so, and a nose of sufficient caliber to match or surpass any living thing in any world.

Judging by the speed with which the pack adopted an aggressive posture, Fyrenn decided that this was not what Kephic had referred to as a 'progressive' group of Lupines.

The six wolf-like creatures were of equal mass to a Gryphon, and likely weighed a great deal more due to their thicker bones and muscles. Counterintuitively, they appeared to be slightly smaller, given that they lacked wings, but they looked no less deadly for it.

Few members of the pack wore armor or clothing. Those that did were only equipped with light, flexible pads of leather. Most were armed. Their weapons ranged from iron spiked lances, to steel double-length 'claws' built into gauntlets on their front paws.

Not that they needed the weapons to be deadly.

Like a Gryphon, or a Dragon, Diamond Dogs were as good as walking weapons themselves; Razor sharp teeth, matching vicious claws, and a bony shock-absorbing skeleton that looked as if it could take and dish punishment in equal parts.

Fyrenn studied the cold, yellow eyes of the Lupine he presumed was pack 'Alpha.'

All the Diamond Dogs wore leather necklaces strung with the claws and teeth of dead opponents, and the male Fyrenn was staring down had by far the most trophies.

The Lupine's yellow eyes were nothing like Fyrenn's own golden ones. They were almost neon in color, and felt a touch less expressive in the moment; Hardened by a single fierce emotion.

Staring deeper into the lens, he guessed that what the eyes sacrificed in light tolerance, and telescopy versus his own, they counterbalanced with exceptional night vision beyond anything else with a pulse.

The Lupines' fur ranged in color from black, through several shades of gray, to a dirty off white.
He noted that two of the pack members possessed icy blue eyes, rather than yellow, and wondered if that was naturally in the Lupines' base genetics, or the result of cross-subspecies breeding.

If it was the latter, perhaps there was hope that the pack was more progressive than he had first guessed.

Silence reigned supreme for over a minute. Then the growling started; Each member of the pack began making the low throaty rumble in turn.

Kephic followed suit with an ear splitting, hackle raising hiss, and Fyrenn did the same.

The Alpha finally decided to make a move, and singled Fyrenn out, likely judging him to be the less experienced of the two. He held a large lance, and took a stab on an arc that would have intercepted Fyrenn's claw if he had gone for his sword. Instead, he snapped out his wrist, and caught the weapon on his gauntlet, the hidden sword-breaker blades whipping into place with a satisfying 'snick' and catching the Alpha's weapon in a friction hold.

The Lupine was now within inches of Fyrenn's beak, and emitted another low growl, "Foolish. Submit to your Alpha."

Fyrenn only hissed in response, presuming that would convey 'go to hell' just as elegantly as words.

The expression on his beak, and the tilt of his ears, were all the Alpha needed to see to know that his chances of killing, or even harming the Gryphon with his next move were roughly equal to Fyrenn's chances of doing the same to him.

Absolute zero.

The two stood locked in their deadly pose for another full minute, the wind whipping at their fur and feathers, snow piling onto their back paws.

Finally, some sort of barely perceptible signal passed between the Alpha, and pack.

Two of the remaining five began inching around to cover Fyrenn from the rear, the other three circled to prevent Kephic from coming to his aid.

Fyrenn knew Kephic could easily take to the air, and use his wings mercilessly as an advantage, but he was locked in too closely with the Alpha, and likely wouldn't last long enough against three aggressors for Kephic to be much help.

Despite all that, he offered the Alpha a smile.

A moment later his confidence was justified, as a smug female voice rang out over the wind, "Drop your weapons. I'm not a habitually patient person."

The Alpha spun to find Neyla and Varan, both a good seventy yards away, covering him with their Arbalests. Fyrenn doubted the Lupine, with his higher mass, could dodge both bolts at such a relatively short range, and even a thick skull was useless against a steel tipped half pound quarrel traveling at bullet speed.

It was a classic standoff. Neyla and Varan could easily kill the Alpha, and Kephic would not be hard pressed to escape in the confusion. The three of them could then wreak havoc on the fleeing pack with their bows. By the same token, none of them were in a position to spare Fyrenn a quick, bloody, lethal battle with the other two Lupines now covering him.

He was willing to take on one, despite the risk, but two would easily crush him before he could take to the air again, despite his lightning reflexes.

These Diamond Dogs were not as agile as a Gryphon by far, but in a straight line they could move just as fast, and both aggressors, infinitely more experienced than he, were pointed right at Fyrenn's jugular.

Varan jerked his head at Neyla, maintaining a sight down the stock of his own weapon,
"I'd be worried about her if I were you. She grew up with that weapon, and she loves a good kill."

The Alpha snarled, with a touch of his own smugness, "If you loose your bolts, we will kill the red one."

Fyrenn shrugged, and snapped out the blades in his other gauntlet, causing the Lupines on either side of him to take a menacing step forward. With more confidence than he actually felt, he calmly announced, "*I* have no qualms about taking my chances, on any day of the week. Neyla? She doesn't take prisoners. And she certainly won't bat an eyelash if you slice off my head, she'll just return the favor. Are *you* prepared to die today?"

The Alpha stood for a painfully long moment, then a low sound began to build in his throat. It took Fyrenn a moment to realize it was guttural laughter. "Spoken like a true *warrior*. You did well, keeping the nerves from your voice, but I can hear your heart racing."

Another invisible signal passed between Alpha and pack, and the Diamond Dogs lowered their weapons and adopted more defensive stances, though Fyrenn noted that they made a point of retaining a strong hold on their implements of battle.

The Alpha turned back to him, "Yes. I am prepared to die today, tomorrow, or any other day.
I have no love for those of your kind who will not respect the rules of nature," by that Fyrenn assumed he meant the pack structure, "...But neither am I keen to kill one who might otherwise be a friend. Were he to learn some respect."

Fyrenn snapped his gauntlet blades back into locked position, "That kind of respect is earned, a task to which you have not made the best of starts. And it still wouldn't give you the right to command me."

"Spoken like a true *Gryphon,*" Fyrenn noted the word carried less surprised respect, and more mild disdain, than 'warrior.'

"Tell me, how many battles are you a veteran of?"

Fyrenn raised an eyebrow, "Thirty three large engagements. Much more if you count live fire interdictions, feather's-breadth escapes, successful assasinations, and one-on-one scuffles."

"You do not carry yourself that way," The Alpha's voice betrayed subtle hints of surprise, and his ears reflexively flicked back a hair.

Fyrenn shrugged, and stepped over to join Kephic, glaring at the other Lupines, as if daring them to cross him, "I'm new to this body. Not to the battlefield."

The Alpha sucked in a breath, "So they are converting Humans into Gryphons now too?"
The statement betrayed no emotion, but Fyrenn wondered, with mild amusement, if it concerned the Alpha deep down.

Varan left to retrieve IJ and Carradan. Neyla continued to hold her Arbalest in a ready position as she approached. Kephic glared at the Alpha, "We're hunting a Troll pack. The Ruby Claws. You are here for the same reason."

The Alpha nodded, "They are being led by a defector."

Kephic looked deeply shocked, which in turn surprised Fyrenn, "Defector?"

The Alpha explained, before Kephic had a chance to respond, "A member of the pack who leaves without permission. It is incredibly difficult to summon the will to break the structure this way, and considered one of our ultimate sins. Much like disrespecting the Alpha." He glared pointedly at Fyrenn, who returned the expression with an iota of rebellion for every iota of disdain.

Kephic snorted, "Usually they're expected to turn their will to 'pack advancement' which is a nice way of saying they kill for dominance."

Fyrenn raised an eyebrow, "You consider a pack member departing a betrayal, but you *expect* them to challenge you to death duels?"

The Alpha grunted, "I hardly expect your kind to comprehend. A challenge is the way of courage; It forces one to act solely on convictions, without reservation, and not in a cheap fashion. Departure without my blessing is the act of a coward, disrespect, and in this case betrayal. For now the defector *leads* the Ruby Claws."

Fyrenn exchanged a glance with Kephic, then with Neyla. That was certainly a new complication.

Neyla stuck her Arbalest points first into the snow, and leaned on it. A casual display that seemed to upset several of the pack members, as if it galled them that she ostensibly no longer considered them a threat sufficient to keep her weapon trained on them as she spoke.

"How long have you been hunting this deserter?"

The Alpha fixed his gaze on her, "Fifteen cycles of the moon."

Fyrenn raised an eyebrow, "A year and three months is a long time to hold a vendetta."

"It is a serious offence. What is your business with the Ruby Claws?"

Varan arrived quietly with IJ and Carradan just then. Once the pack got a handle on the instinct to attack, Kephic jerked his head at Fyrenn. As the one with the most experience with Earth matters, it fell to him to explain.

"We're dealing with a group of dangerous terrorists on the other side of the barrier. The PER."

The Alpha nodded, "I've heard rumors, now and again. More information passes across the barrier than you might imagine."

"They've been using members of the Ruby Claws as enforcers to protect their interests and harm innocents. We've never been able to get a handle on the PER's leadership, but it seems likely the Ruby Claws can lead us to their main sympathizers here in Equestria, who can in turn lead us to the top rung leadership Earthside."

The Alpha nodded, "A sound strategy. An agreement must be reached on the Ruby Claws."

Varan shook his head, "No need to overcomplicate it. We seek information. We take several alive, get what we want, and then you may do with them as you will as long as you don't allow them to go free."

The Alpha snorted, "The latter goes without being said. Their leader, he is ours. Exclusively."

Fyrenn shook his head vehemently, "No. If he's the one in charge, he could be the one we need to interrogate the most. We get a pass at all of them."

The Alpha glared, but Fyrenn kept going, "In this weather? We can outpace you. Significantly. We certainly don't need your help to track our quarry. We could bypass you altogether, and leave you nothing but corpses to pick through, if that would suit you better."

"Mind your tongue, or I'll remove it"

Fyrenn leaned forward, "You get close enough to try it, and you'll be too busy trying to screw your brain-case back in to notice the pain from your missing paw."

The Alpha growled sharply at Kephic, "Teach your underling manners."

Kephic tilted his head nonchalantly, "First of all, he is my brother as much as my subordinate, and the former is more important than the latter. Second, he *is* exhibiting manners by not removing your limbs one by one for insulting him with your petty threat display. Lastly, if you touch him, it won't matter whether *he* kills you or not, because if he doesn't *I* will."

"If it were not for my 'understanding' you would all be dead."

Neyla chuckled and patted her Arbalest, "Don't make your bets till you've seen under all the shells."

The Alpha stared at each of them in turn, taking longer with Carradan and IJ, as if making up for the fact that they were newcomers, before speaking, "I am Shroud, Alpha of the Steel Moon clan. We will allow you to hunt with us in the interest of efficiency."

From the way the pack fully un-tensed and fell to making camp, Fyrenn realized that Shroud's words were a formal declaration. He watched, fascinated, as the pack dug furiously, hollowing out two windbreaks, one large enough to fit the pack cozily, the other with enough space for himself and the rest of the group.

It occurred to him that, as much as he intensely disliked Shroud, part of the problem was his own Gryphic nature. "For every advantage..." He didn't realize he'd mumbled the words aloud until Neyla placed a claw on his shoulder.

The contact startled him, but he found it oddly reassuring as a platonic gesture. She smiled, "You were right. And wrong."

"Oh?"

"I would have sliced off his head. But I also would have been very upset if he sliced off yours."

Fyrenn snorted, "Oh come on."

She locked eyes with him, her gaze mournful, "I'm being serious. You are one of the very few friends I have."

Fyrenn smiled, and proffered her a quick hug with his wing, which she accepted as he spoke.

"Thanks. I'll admit; It's nice to have friends who can take care of themselves."

He unconsciously brushed his right claw against his sword hilt, and the inlay of Skye's cutie mark.

Neyla caught the gesture and raised her eyebrow. Fyrenn sighed, and allowed himself a sad smile, "I'll tell you *that* story later. I've had enough emotional turmoil for one day."

The group huddled down in their windbreak. All the potential awkwardness of being pressed cheek to cheek with Neyla, left by Fyrenn's Human upbringing, was drowned in the desire for warmth and protection. Outside, the wind began to lash with hurricane force, and the snow began falling at such a colossal rate, that whomever was on watch also inherited the duty of keeping an exit tunnel clear.

Unlike the previous camp, however, there was no separate space to go in order to keep watch, so it was something of a mild struggle to stay awake, and resist the temptation to allow the warm feathers, and slow breathing of the group to lull oneself to sleep.

Eventually, Varan took over for Fyrenn, and he shifted himself back into the small dugout, content to fall asleep almost instantly.

The head of the PER was out of the headquarters building for the first time in weeks.
He strode along the floor of the parking deck, Veritas by his side, watching intently as white armored troopers, and the occasional Diamond Dog, lugged industrial components off several flatbed trucks.

"Look at it! The weapons of the future Veritas! No bloodshed, no conflict, no strife... We have had this atomization technology so long... To think we could have turned to such enlightenment *years* ago!"

Veritas smiled coyly, "Is that not why we do this? To bring about enlightenment? Humans continue to repeatedly demonstrate an inability to evolve on the whole, societally, towards harmony. The only way it will ever really come to pass is if we give it to them."

The head of the PER stroked one of the Atomizers, as if it were alive, staring across the top of the boxy metallic device, out the side of the parking deck, and across the cityscape, "And we will. We will gift it to them. Whether they wish it or not. And in the end? They'll thank us."

Comments

[Guardian_Gryphon]

Spitting contest incoming.
Fyrenn, like many Gryphons has an 'Alpha male' personality.
What happens when that mixes with a 'real' Alpha?

Sparks. Both sides have some serious flaws in their 'diplomacy,' and some deadly biology at their disposal.
And you get to watch.
This is the flipside to Gryphic loyalty. Every strength stems from a weakness, and every weakness from a strength.

Yeah the PER guy, by the way? He *is* totally extolling biological warfare as humane.
He is, afterall, nuttier than Grandma's leftover Christmas fruitcake at New Years.

[KeePony]

More a nutjob than Chancelor Puddinghead was rumored to be.

[terrycloth]

1021818 If I'm remembering it right... in this world, half of the ones he converts *will* thank him, right? With the other half going insane.

[The Rogue Wolf]

1021818 A spitting contest? I dunno, the term that came to MY mind involved a different expulsion of fluids.

It seems to me that Gryphons are somewhat xenophobic, especially when it comes to species that can be a direct physical challenge to them but don't hew to their mindset. Humans seem to get off that hook a bit because, without our weapons and technology, we're pretty squishy and weak; ponies are just adorable, and despite their considerable physical/magical prowess, their more passive nature does more to compliment Gryphon tendencies than challenge them.

But that's just my take on it, and I didn't exactly sleep well last night, so take from it what you will.

[Guardian_Gryphon]

1022114
Theres an extremely good reason for the Lupines' behavior.
Its not a real *justification* but it is a good *explanation.*
Theres some ineresting Diamond Dog worldbuilding incoming.

1022334
In this world you'd get a complex mixed bag of emotions.
Sure Conversion has some early adopters, sure its a beneficial thing, but there's also alternatives now, and nobody likes having their free will yanked away regardless of the result. Let's just hope those Atomizers don't end up 'in the wind', as the spy-talk goes.

1023078
That's a good way of thinking about it!
The Gryphons' distrust of outsiders doesn't preclude (carefully) befriending members of other species, it just tends to preclude being lead by them.
They certainly have a strong distaste for leadership being handed down in the field by someone else.
This is the flipside of their incredibly trusting nature towards other members of their own species; think about it, if you came from a species that was more or less born with a built-in homogenous moral code, would you trust others from outside, who aren't bound to that code, so easily?

Yes though, humans are less on the hook because they don't present nearly the credible threat Diamond Dogs or Dragons do.
Though keep in mind, not every Gryphon/Lupine path crossing becomes an angry altercation; more progressive members of both species tend to be able to strike up an uneasy but solid friendship right away.

1023511 1023859
Well thanks!
I'm always happy to know I'm striking a good chord!
Gotta love Gryphons indeed!

[KeePony]

Was talking abut PER leader. Diamanond dog lupines are just following pack instintcs with intelegence added.

[Steben]

1021818 That makes me a Snickers Bar. I see some semblance of humanity in it.

[amiamera]

I stopped reading after this chapter as real life has taken up my time but I needed to stop in here and expound and essentially just get out there my mind and things that are bothering me about this story.

The first thing that popped into my mind is that the Griffons seem too perfect. I feel it's somewhat ironic that there exists an organization that believes Ponies are the master race when in this story the Griffons seem to hit the cliche of "faster, stronger, better" in every way with a straight face. Maybe there's something that comes along later that knocks out that image without me having to truly reflect as I have done.

The only faults I find are the ones that the author argues against. I argue that the challenges are dangerously stupid. The old phrase "accidents happen" doesn't seem to be in griffon vocabulary when throwing a griffon in the water to escape or drown. The response is that griffons are designed to be able to hold their breaths for long times. Ok, let's roll with that but it's never established what safety precautions are taken. Let's say a griffon can hold their breath for 5 hours every quarter of their lungs are filled. One griffon gets pushed over the water on his out breath and only gets 1/8th of his lungs full. That means he can last 2 and a half hours underwater. Yet, the griffons can expect him to be down there for at least 5 if his lungs were only a quarter full. When do they check? Do they check after the hour when the griffons might still be looking for keys after finally controlling their potential panic? Do they go after 5 hours when our hypothetical griffon is over an hour dead?

Then we have the anger test. Let's say that our hypothetical griffon is using the uneven ground and wants to make a risky maneuver where he goes close in after the ax narrowly misses him and I mean very narrowly misses. Oops, our griffon slips and is unable to react and correct by using his wings as he falls into the ax blade with his head or his spine. He was a good recruit and passed the other challenges, oh well.

Now let's go to something else. If I remember correctly the potion also enhances the morals of the individual. Heck, according to the griffons, a bad griffon's conscious will drive it to suicide or suicide by other. My question is how does it define what is "moral". I'll use the 3 major western philosophies to make my point how their "morals" seem a bit questionable. Let's start with a Deontological approach. That's the idea that there are moral rules that cannot be broken. This one might work but some of the traditional rules we like in it are obviously out. A rule for nonviolence is obviously out and doesn't really bother me. The rule against lies is out, as there is plenty of dishonesty, which I will address in a moment when I approach Virtue theory. Honorable treatment of enemies? Ha, they'd easily violate the Geneva convention.

Now let's move onto virtue theory. For those not familiar with it, the idea is that one should do acts that promote a virtuous life and actually exhibiting virtues. Ya, it's vague and doesn't really help with the creation of law but there are common virtues we usually like as a society such as Honesty, Kindness, Loyalty, Generosity, Justice, Prudence, etc. Here's the example that bothers me in retrospect and shows a lack of truly appreciating honesty and it not being high enough in their "moral code" that it counts as a break. I point to what happened with Stanley. I find it ironic that the man who seems to let off scumbag early on gets in trouble when he wants to weigh the Truth against Wrenn. What happens when he wishes to expose the truth (sure his reasoning makes him the bad guy in the story which allows us to accept what happens but it doesn't mean it's right) or at his worst is planning to blackmail them? Stanley is threatened with violent torture until he dies. Bam, violation of Geneva convention. Also, say goodbye to any concept of Justice due to the simple concept of proportionality. Even if his aim was blackmail that does not rise to the level where any reasonable court would think that cruel and unusual punishment, followed by the death penalty is appropriate. Then, the believer in freedom of choice, Wrenn makes a contract with him. Wrenn, in the process, conceals and tricks Stanley into giving up his freedom of choice and becoming a pony before he is ready or willing. Maybe Stanley would decide to take one of the ships off planet later when they looked more viable. We can't know because his choice was taken through means of "cunning". No one can believe that not explaining the consequences of a choice so that a person makes an uninformed decision as "honest". Yet, no violation of those great morals that drive griffons to suicide. Hell, in no court of law would that "contract" be held valid due to duress. The immediate response is probably "griffons don't care about courts of law." Yet the principles that underlie the reason contracts under duress aren't considered valid are moral ones.

Let's go with the final western moral philosophy and one a lot of people are familiar with: Consequentialism. The simple idea of consequentialism is that the ends justify the means, always. In order to judge whether something is good, one looks at the consequences of the actions. People can see easy problems with this as ends justifying the means tends to be taken to extremes in villains of stories but let's use the mean old aunt example. Mean old Aunt Bertha is crotchety, unhappy, and insanely rich. Her nieces and nephews, who are her heirs, don't have much money. All of them would be happier if the mean old aunt were dead and they inherited all of her money. Obviously happy consequences: Aunt Bertha is murdered and lots of money that makes all the nieces and nephews happy. This is an extreme version but you can go much simpler with situations where it's 1 life for 2, no matter who the 1 is or who the 2 are. If the griffons have this moral system (which I highly doubt) then griffons can theoretically get away with a lot without going "suicidal" and causing their conscious to want them dead.

Well, now that I've written this, I'm going to go off and do the things I need to get done tonight.