Subject 27

by Phyrexian

Big Trouble in Little China

Chapter 59 - Big Trouble in Little China

Stepping through the sickly looking green doorway was the just oddest feeling ever; like walking through a wall of cold, slimy, ooze; the ooze didn’t cling to my clothing, nor my hair, in fact, it didn’t cling to any part of me. This unreal feeling only lasted for a second, next thing I feel is the cold, smooth cobblestone road beneath my feet. I open my eyes to see I was in an entirely different place, I wasn't surrounded by buildings made out of clouds, no I was surrounded by good ol’ fashioned stone, wood, brick and other worldly material structures. Gryphons populated the busy streets, occasional pony walking amongst the highly gryphon populated town. I’m overwhelmed by the sheer joy of having my feet firmly planted back on hard, solid ground. I drop to my knees and kiss the cobblestone road.

The wind gently kicks up, bringing the scent of delicious charred meat. I get to my feet and before I can follow my nose after the scent, Lighting moves me in the opposite direction. Letting Lighting Charmer do all the legwork gives me the perfect opportunity to take in the strange, yet oddly familiar architecture of the buildings. As far as the eye can see, the buildings mimicked the architecture of the Samurai era; feels like I’ve traveled back in time to the 12th century and am now walking amongst ancient times of the Samurai era. The resemblance is uncanny, if I weren't so sure that I was still alive, I swear that I would either be dreaming, in a coma or dead.

---

“Your heart rate is unusually high, don’t strain yourself. I haven’t had time to reconstruct it yet, steady yourself.” Lighting’s voice snaps me out of my dream-like trance.

“This place... I-Is it Talonpolis?” I have to be dreaming, what else could explain the unbelievable resemblance of this place?

“That’s correct.”

“Are you sure your spell didn’t backfire at all? Magic and I never have gotten along.” I must be going crazy, that’s it! Is it?

“Parasitic magic isn’t like unicorn magic, I’ve told you this before. If my spell did backfire, you’d be inside out. So no, my spell did not backfire.”

“So, I’m not dreaming, nor in a coma, nor crazy; yet... Talonpolis is a deadringer for an old era back from my world.” I take a deep breath and put in very little effort to calm myself down.

“Just a coincidence then.” He simply stated, I guess I could accept that answer; even though I don’t want too.

“Off topic question, what exactly do you do while you’re inside something, or even me for that matter?” Out of pure curiosity, not knowing if he brought, I don’t know, a deck of cards and he’s playing poker with my kidneys or something.

“Normally the host that I’ve infested doesn’t know I’m even here, they go about their daily lives while I use them for nourishment or wait for the opportune time to make myself known or to kill them.” Nourishment? That makes sense, like a tapeworm, feasting upon it’s host’s intestine; the grim though of Lighting munching away at my intestine sends a pang of worry through me.

“What is ‘nourishment’ for Changelings?” Hoping he doesn’t reply with any of the names of my vital organs.

“Love.” Oh, love that’s not so ba-.... Love?

“I beg your pardon?” I’m just thrown for a loop by his response, how can one survive on love?

“Yes, all Changelings survive on love, but I’ve been getting this odd sensation for meat... I’ve never had this craving, or really any cravings before.”

“Heh, that’s the Horror inside you. Don’t worry, meat isn't so bad, you’ll get use to it.” I’m so engrossed by our conversation, I don’t notice the shady looking characters following me.

“As long as you don’t eat me, we won’t have any problems. So, I’m going to be taking a wild guess here, but by chance are gryphons typically honor-bound, prideful, and follow a strict code?” Since the architecture is almost identical to what would be seen in ancient China, I’m betting that their culture is similar too.

“That’s them in an eggshell.” The wind changes direction, carrying with it the scent of someone very dear to me. In excitement, I jerk-turn my entire body at breakneck speeds, only to see five shady looking gryphons tailing me.

---

“Nice threads you got there, buddy.” The middle gryphon says, his beak has a jagged scar on it and his voice, something about it I can just tell that he’s bad news.

“We’ve never seen a creature like you before in our town.” Another gryphon speaks up as two gryphons break off from the small gang, one flanking me on each sides.

“Tell us friend, what brings you here?” The first gryphon grins, he struts up to me, putting his beak right in my face.

I merely stay silent, carefully studying these gryphons, the last two flank the gryphon who decided to invade my personal space. The gryphon on my left grabs at my jacket’s arm, Tail intervenes and bats his grubby talon away. I look at the two gryphons flanking their leader and I notice that they have some kind of long blade strapped to their arms; the blades themselves jut out about an inch from their arms, the blade is thin, most likely lightweight so it doesn’t weigh them down during flight; which means they're probably fragile enough if I or Tail hits the blade on the center side, they’ll shatter. The aroma from before, Cloud’s aroma, wafts off of the scarred gryphon; it’s faint, she must’ve had prolong exposure with this guy a few days ago. I lock eyes with him, he now has my full attention.

“Hey boss, I think this guy needs protection, heh.” His dimwitted friend announces.

“Yeah. yeah! Protection, heh.” The other gryphon behind chimes in.

“That’s a good idea, I’m glad that I thought of it.” Scarred beak nods his head while he rubs the bottom of his beak.

“Wait, I thought I came up with that idea...”

“No stupid, didn’t you hear? The boss came up with it!” God, it’s like watching Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb argue.

“With such fancy looking threads, this creature must be loaded! It would cost a pretty bit just to make sure he arrived at said destination unharmed.” One of the flanking gryphons finally speaks up.

“There are a lot of dangerous ponies out there, don’t want our new friend getting hurt, do we?” The other flanker adds in.

“For you friend, I’ll give the full packaged with a discount. Let’s say, two hundred bits, hay, I’ll even throw in the sightseeing package for free!” Two hundred? That’s a little steep.

“Tell me something, ‘friend’. Do you know a young mare by the name of Cloud? About yay tall, snow white coat, sky blue mane and deep blue eyes?” Scar beak’s grin quickly widens

“Sure I do. Sure I do. But information out here costs, you dig it?” Scar beak rubs his talons together greedily.

“Okay, how about this? Information for information? I’ll tell you where and whom I got this suit from, only if you tell me what I want to know first.” He nods his head in agreement with a contemplative look on his face.

“Alright, I can dig that. This Cloud, we ran into her not too long ago, you see?” No, I don’t see...

“Yeah, fun, that’s it!” Tweedle Dee stupidly laughs.

“Like, four days ago, yeah, yeah, that’s it.” Tweedle Dum joins in with Tweedle Dee’s idiotic laughter.

“Alright, thanks guys. I got this suit before I came here from Cloudsdale, got it from an old Pegasus who insisted on being called Gramps.” Scar beak quickly back pedals away from me, the two flankers step away too.

“G-Gramps? We’re terribly sorry mister, w-we won’t cause you any more trouble.” The flankers move back behind Scar beak and they continue to move away from me; the Tweedle’s just stand there looking stupid.

“Let’s go boys!” He orders, the Tweedle’s look at each other and shrug.

Uncertain on what exactly just happened, I shake my head from it’s confused state and carried on. On the other hand, Cloud’s trail just became warm, I’m hopeful that she’s still here in Talonopolis; maybe the Don might know where she is at? With newfound vigor in my step, I turn on heel and kept on walking down the busy street; not knowing exactly where I was or where I was going, I just people-watched as the townsfolk bustled around from stall to store, some ordering food from a cart. I breath in the scent of fried rice and meat, god I love the scent of oriental food. The distant sounds of metal being pounded out by metal rings, the fried rice is quickly blinded in with the smell of smoke and heat. I see a blacksmith going about his busy day, working with metal. Just next door was a butcher shop, in the window was what appeared to be ducks, or maybe chickens defeathered and hanging from twine. Everyone seems to be going about their busy lives, filling the streets and stores or just standing around chattering amongst themselves; none have given me a second look as I stroll down the street aimlessly.

---

“There, do you see it?” Lighting finally speaks up after a long period of silence.

“Look straight ahead and up, you’ll see the Don’s place.” With that said, I cast my gaze upwards, I can see a fairly large building resting upon the cliff said, a wall guarding it blocks my view from being able to see the rest of the castle.

“Wow, what I can see of it from here is quite amazing, the place must be huge!” I continue to walk towards the castle, I can barely see pink poking out from up over the wall of the castle; I wish I could only enjoy the beauty of the scenery; everything is just different shades of grey to me.

“It’s too big for my taste, but yes, the Don’s palace is fairly sizeable and luxurious.”

“I’m the same way, I don’t like large empty homes, nor crowded places. Cities I’m okay in because I can just hide plain sight.” The conversation dies down with that, I eventually leave the busy city of Talonopolis and started to walk up a winding stone path leading to the castle.

---

Walking up the winding pass at a steady incline, the breeze gently blows; creating a comfortable atmosphere for me during my easy hike. The sun’s rays barely penetrate through the canopy of leaves; creating a large shadow, riddled with small holes. The surprisingly smooth stone road snakes through the mountain leading up to the castle, the hike only took maybe two hours on two legs walking at a slow pace; the large iron gates has two armed gryphons on guard out front. They grab the hilts of their katanas, with a quick glance up to see two more guards perched on top of gate house. I turn my attention back down to the two guards in front of me, they slowly approach me and I greet them with a wide smile; which might not be the best thing to do, showing off my sharp teeth.

“Do you have business with the Family? You’re not bringing in any live stock, nor do you look like any traveling merchant.” His talon still on the hilt of his katana, I slowly close the gap in between us trying to be as friendly as possible.

“What a beautiful day we’re having today, isn't it?” He tightens his grip around the hilt, pulling out the blade just enough to expose the metal.

“It is, now answer the question.” His voice still steady and even as he unsheathed his katana at a snail’s pace

“I’m just a weary traveler from Unyasi. I came to Equestria to satisfy my curiosity; I heard of great buildings such as this throughout Equestria and wanted to see them with my own two eyes.” Let’s see how far I can get with this lie, I could simply tell them that the Don has requested my presence; but where would the fun be in that?

“Unyasi? Could explain your... ‘uniqueness’. But if you’re not somebody with business with the Family, you’re not welcomed here.” His katana is almost completely out of it’s sheath, looks like my silver tongue is going to get a workout today.

“I could be of some ‘use’ for this Family you speak of. I’m able-bodied and willing, one can’t have too many servants now, can they?” He looks back to the other guard, she simply nods.

“We could always put it in the stables, somebody will most likely be interested in it. Or we could put his tail to good use, looks strong and flexible enough for some heavy lifting. Tell me traveler, where did you acquired that suit of your?” I pull on my jacket, straightening it out. Tail peaks his tip up of my shoulder and waves at the female gryphon; she tilts her head like bird.

“Oh, this old thing? I got it from a pegasus who insisted me on calling him Gramps while I was up in Cloudsdale doing some work for this other gryphon who went by the name of Uncle.” The male gryphon pushes his katana back into his sheath, the two guards above us put away their bows and went into a more passive stance.

“I see, come with me then.” The male gryphon orders, he turns around and leads me into the courtyard, tail waves goodbye to the female gryphon and she sheepishly waves back.

Although I’m a little disappointed that I couldn’t give my silver tongue the proper workout it desperately needs; maybe some other time I’ll get the chance. I’m blown away by the sheer size of the main building, towering at a whopping seven stories tall is the main building; the white tower effectively dwarfing the other white surrounded buildings. Of what I can see there is a small tower stationed in each corner of the wall, tall enough to act like a sniper’s nest. Along the eastern wall is a fairly wide buildings, only two stories tall with the black iron bars barding the windows and a handful of guards patrolling around it; my curiosity is nagging at me to go take a peek inside, but I push it away and take in the rest of the structures through the castle’s grounds. I can see two open walkways with roofing splitting off from the main building, one leading east and the other leading west. Each covered walkway leads to its own buildings, the western one is built over a large koi pond with cattails and lily pads included; fledglings and fillies are playing by the side of the pond, some of them playing with a ball, and a few just feeding the fish. The building at the end of the walkway has tall walls around it but no roofs; steam billows out from over the walls; most likely some sort of bath house. The eastern walkway acts like a island with zen gardens being tended to by a white mare, the buildings connected to the walkway has several folks entering and leaving it; probably housing for the servants. The main path has snow cherry trees, following the northern wall to the gate, following the main path and leading up to the main building.

We walk up just a couple of stained wood steps and onto the stained wooden platform. Two more guards push the main doorway open for us and we walk inside and into just the most magnificent decorations I’ve ever seen. Black marble pillars accented with white; almost looking like yin and yang; the pillars are evenly distributed throughout the main hallway. Vast paintings hang on the walls in between the pillars, the polished wood flooring feels slick yet comfortable underneath my bear feet. My guide pushes forward, not giving me the opportunity to stare in awe at any of the paintings. It takes us a few minutes to walk down the long hallway at a brisk pace, a pair of guards acknowledged us and pushed open two large red doors; we step inside and I’m struck speechless at what I see.

I enter a large room with flooring consisting of tatami mats, large white marble pillars with golden eastern style dragons traveling from bottom to top; the pillars travel alongside the walls themselves, rice paper walls hide behind the pillars with several doors leading to other areas of the castle. In the center of this is a long red table with gold-embossed emblems carved into it along with a gryphon sitting behind it. He’s much larger than any gryphon I’ve ever seen; his size is almost staggering. Snow white feathers with black fur, the contrast of his black wings to the golden armor that rests upon them really makes them stand out. Scarred beak and a jagged scar vertically going down his left side of his face, going over his left eye. His dark blue eyes fixate on me, he doesn’t even blink, feels as if he’s staring right through my very soul.

“Sir! We apologize for disturbing you, but your guest has arrived!” My escort bows, trying to act polite I follow suit, bowing before this large gryphon.

“Leave us!” He orders, his voice low but fierce, commanding almost.

“Sir!” The gryphon bows one last time before leaving me alone.

“Goo-.”

“You may only speak when spoken too!” He scolds.

I bite my tongue and close my mouth, I stand up straight with my arms behind my back; trying to look as respectful as I possible can. He continues to stare at me with the wall of face, never changing, not even showing the slightest emotion in it. I stand there for what seems like an eternity, my legs begin to stiffen and an itch plagues my nose; but I do not dare to scratch it. Tail becomes bored and tries to entertain himself, he slithers around the bamboo flooring like a snake for a while. After he gets bored with that he starts to do the worm, the itch on my nose worsen and if I can’t itch it soon, I’m going to scream. I start to wrinkle my nose, trying to scratch the impossible itch, but to no avail. Tail eventually becomes bored of doing the worm so he decides its a good idea to start poking me in the side; the gryphon is still behind his table emotionless, still holding the world’s best poker face. After a few dozen jabs into my side Tail moves behind me and up my back, he snakes his way ontop of my head and lays down, his tip resting in between my eyes and right above my nose. I silently pray that Tail would be kind enough to scratch this god forsaken itch for me, only just an inch away, come on boy, you can do it!

“What are you doing? Are you trying to make yourself look like a fool?!” His commanding voice finally breaks the still silence in the room.

“No, I-.”

“No what?” His eyes begins to dangerously narrow at me.

“Sir, no Sir! I can’t control my tail, he has a mind of his own! He’s become bored and thought it might be a good id-.”

“Enough!” Not even raising his voice at all, feels as if I’m being drilled by a drill sergeant all over again.

---

“Goddamnit Tail! Itch my nose well you?!” I mentally scream at him.

---

With that said, Tail finally lowers himself the last inch and scratches the itch that’s been plaguing my nose for what feels like a lifetime. He then pats me on the head and returns back to his shenanigans behind my back.

“Your name is Demon, is it not?”

“Sir, ye-.”

“But my daughter has renamed you Horror, correct?” Daughter? Wait... Don’t tell me that this is Silver’s father... She said he was high up on the food chain but never specified on how high he was.

“Sir, yes she did. You may call me whatever you wish though, Sir!” First sentence I was able to get out intact.

“Demon will suffice. Leave me, go find Razor.” Without asking who this Razor was, I bow before him and leave.

Credits

Editor

frieD195

Comments

[Phyrexian]

To my readers, I need you're help! I would greatly appreciate it if you read my blog and gave me good honest feed back on the story so I may better myself as a writer and make the sequel ten times better than Subject 27!

Yours Truly

Phyrexian

[Archmagejay]

awesome but he seemed a bit out of character this chapter oh well
hurray for new chapter and hopefully more soon

[garouken]

Cheese is my favorite color in the alphabet

[garouken]

Mission accomplished

[Dragaen]

holy shit, and not a single smirk from the griffin with the best poker face... he needs 12 doses of Pinkie Pie