Breaking Bad: Side C
Chapter 66 - Breaking Bad: Side C
I wake up in a soft bed, a warm body against mine, feeling well spent, very comfortable, well rested, refreshed. All around I feel amazing, best sleep I’ve gotten in a long while. I bury my face into Hyper Crasher’s mane, just enjoying his silky smooth mane against my face. “H-Hey?! What the hay do you think you’re doing!?” Oh dear god, please don’t tell me I woke up next to a -. “Get your grubby paws off of me, Creep-o!” Before I can even react, she spins around in my arms and bucking me in the chest, successfully breaking the embrace. The kick propels her off the bed and onto the floor while I’m laying there gasping for air. “Ohnoohnoohno! PPPlleasse don’t tell me we rutted! I promised myself I would never do that again! Oh Celestia please say it isn’t so!” In her panicked uproar she cries hysterically, examining herself for signs of last night’s event that aspired.
“Breakfast!” A voice outside the door peers in through the open slot before another tray of delicious slop slides in.
I stagger to recover from that cheap shot, I crawl out of bed and slam face first into the floor. With my bed sheet tangled up in myself, Tail has a hell of a time trying to get me to my feet. My body finally begins to cooperate with me. I walk close enough to the door for Tail to grab my so-called ‘breakfast’; just like last time, I down it in one go. It was bland and lukewarm; yum.
“Did you drug me last night!? Why would you do that?! What kind o -.” I am in no mood for her right now, she took that away when she decided to buck me.
“Be quiet.” I say in a low, dark tone. Rough pipes down, sits down, and thankfully keeps her trap shut. “We never did anything, why I woke up next to you is a mystery in itself.” Tail hands me my pants, I get dressed and immediately make a beeline for the tables.
“W-.”
“Not a single word from you, it would be in your best interest if you weren't here at all.” She’s treading on thin ice right now. I’m biting my tongue but if she continues to disobey my orders, I won’t hesitate on ripping into her.
“Sup’ stallion? You and I are going to have a little talk, you dig? You made my lil’ sis cry, that don’t fly right with me.” Phantom Shadow aye? It’s better than Rough Shadow. Him, I can at least have a decent conversation with. “Yo, stallion buddy, turn around when somepony is talkin’ to yahs’.” Oh boy, here we go.
“Look, buddy.” I emphasize on buddy. “Your sister bucked me, ruined the perfectly good mood I was in, and I rarely get those; even on a good day,” I begin laying out the tools that I’ll need to start distilling Ergot to its purest form. “Just a fair warning, I’m a little cranky. If you want to talk, that’s perfectly fine by me; just choose your words wisely.” Bunsen burner, check, sterile water, check, round-bottom flask and beakers, double check, Graham condenser, that’s a big ol’ fat check, Fractionating column, check-a-roony, last but not least, Ergot.
“What’s with the sudden agro buddy? I just wanted to have a little pow-wow.” He flies over to me, placing a hoof on my shoulder; wrong move buddy. “Stallion buddy, why so tense? It’s not like we c-.”
“Remove your hoof from me before I do.” I say in a dark, low tone. Phantom recalls his hoof as requested, wasting no time in putting my new toy together. the silver lining in my dark cloud of pissyness is the small rush I get from putting everything together.
“By the by, this alpha stallion act don’t fly with me.” I’ll act like I didn’t hear that, making sure everything is put together correctly takes presidents over mending wounds. “Look at me when I’m talking to you, show a little respect, would yah?” He grabs my shoulder again, trying to turn me around but utterly fails.
“One.” If they’re going to act like children, I’m going to treat them as such.
“What?”
“Two.” He ignored my warnings, its time to show them what happens when you do.
“One, two? What’s next, three?”
“No, this.” Tail moves everything to the side as I grab Phantom Shadow by his hoof, slamming him down into the table and pinning him to it with my pylons. “Lighting?!” Finally someone I can talk to without it leading to sex or childish behaviour.
“Do you mind?” Retracting my pylons from the wood table, I help Lighting Charmer up off his back and onto his hooves. He sits there on the table eye level with me. “An explanation is needed. My, ‘family’, has to be let out, they were merely testing the waters with you.”
“So, you were yanking my chain?” The corners of his mouth twitch, breaking his unphased looked from my assault.
“Me, no. Them, yes. Hyper literally. You two make a cute couple, I’m happy for Hyper to finally find somepony to share his... interests.”
“You’re the second person who’s said that. When you say you have to let your family out, what do you mean?”
“It is exactly as it sounds. We take turns, while one is in control, the others are either asleep or chatting amongst each other. If one is in control too long, the others become restless.” Multiple personality disorder, I know very little about this disorder; but this is a great opportunity to indulge my curiosity. “You have that look, again, I don’t exactly care for that look.” Look? What look? Oh. Oh... I didn’t realize I was grinning from ear to ear.
“Lighting, mind quenching my ever growing curiosity?” He cocks an eyebrow at my notion.
“No.” Well, that’s a needle bursting my small balloon.
“No? You didn’t even know what I was about to ask.”
“You want to dissect me, hypothetically. And the answer is no.” Crushed, utterly crushed, I was finally clawing my way out of the hole of anger and Lighting comes and forces me back down into the hole, then filled it with a cement made of depression.
“Oh. Okay. I guess I’ll get started on work then.” With this dark cloud turning into a supercell of depression, I let out a sigh before turning to my newly-assembled toy. I try to work, but I can’t concentrate, this cloud plagues my mind like a fog resting upon a lake’s surface. This depression throws me out of balance. I don’t feel like working, or doing anything; I just want to go have a pitty party under the blankets. Lighting places his tentacle on my hand, I look over to see Phantom sitting on the table.
“Yo, Phantom Shadow is the name, coping is the game. As the first born, I was born to help us cope with the mental anguish that the severing of the link brought.” In a blink of an eye he metamorphoses in front of me. “Yeah, you know me, who doesn’t? Rough Shadow, loveable party pony, third born. Now, with the boring stuff outta the way, I was born to help us integrate with pony society after recovering from the severing.” Without warning she changes. “Hey Demon baby, it’s just little ol’ me, Hyper Crasher, second born. I was born to help us connect with other ponies after our link was severed.” He gives me a quick peck on the cheek before changing back into Lighting. “I need your word that you won’t tell a single soul about what I’m going to tell you.”
“You have my word as a friend that I’ll take this to my grave.”
“In Chrysalis’s army, I was one of the lucky ones. My mental strength was strong enough that it gave me independent thought. Only those with independence in Chrysalis’s army were allowed to be officers. I was sent to infiltrate Celestia’s kingdom. My cell of ten changelings made it possible for Chrysalis to enter the kingdom without detection from Celestia or Luna.” He stops, a contemplative look plagues his face before he continues. “I disliked being under somepony’s control. After all, I was just another cog in Chrysalis’s war machine. I had no freedom, just another drone.” A grin makes its way across his muzzle. “I knew that Canterlot’s dungeons were shielded by powerful crystals that negated the effects of telepathy. During the raid on Canterlot, I was captured on purpose so I could defect. Thrown in the dungeons, shielded from Chrysalis’s grasp, I was finally free. My mind for the first time was quiet; no voices, no commands, nothing!” His voice filled with triumph as he says this, with a fire burning in his eyes. “I can remember it like it was yesterday. The sound of silence was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard. Chrysalis programmed it into all of her drones that severing the link would bring death, she lied.” The grin twists into a fusion of smugness and pain. “But it surely felt like I was dying when the link was finally severed following her defeat. The pain was unimaginable. Dying of starvation was just a minor inconvenience, trapped in the bowels of Canterlot for months before I saw anypony. It was the Black Talons who eventually rescued me. They said they needed somepony with my talents in their organization. Said I would be a free changeling, to do as I pleased, under no pony’s control. I jumped at the opportunity. We don’t like to change in front of any ponies, or any creature for that matter.” He replaces his tentacle with a hoof. “This virus you transmitted to me implanted an irresistible urge to comply. But not a single command has been issued by you. You are a creature who simply gave me a choice; to follow or not; a choice that no pony has ever given me before. Your kindness is what makes me follow you. For this, a portion of my power is now yours.” His horn glows a luminous green, he props himself on my shoulders and rests his horn against mine. My horns glow with his as the sensation of power flows through my body like a river, concentrating in Tail. Tail twitches about, slamming into a nearby stool. The stool is sent crashing into a wall, shattering on impact. Tail swipes my feet from out under me, I come tumbling down on top of the poor guy.
“T-Tail! Calm down boy!” He uncontrollably spasms, slapping me in the face before I can get a firm hold. Random spurts of blue frost-flames spit off of him, I feel his power artery pulse with power. Just as I let go Tail’s blades unsheath themselves, one of them grazing my cheek. Talk about a close shave. “Easy boy!” He slaps the leg of the table, knocking off my toy. My quick reflexes allows me to catch it before it hits the ground. “S-Stop it Tail! S-S-S-STOP!” The frost-flames around Tail explode, propelling me into the ceiling. Lighting Charmer catches the distiller and moves out of the way. I come crashing down on top one of the wooden tables, its legs can’t support almost three hundred and fifty pounds of muscle bashing against it. “T-That’s new...” Tail calms down, the blue flames are snuffed out from Tail’s scales returning to their resting positions. Tail clumsily removes splinters off of me, throwing caution to the wind, letting some splinters nick me. I look up to see Lighting hovering over me with a smirk. “What was that you just gave me?!”
“Power, as amusing as it was, I did not know that would be the outcome.” The sound of a lock disengaging grabs both of our attention. The door grinds against the floor as someone pushes it open.
“Livestock, four pigs.” A younger looking gryphon herds the livestock into the dungeon, Razor steps in behind him, he looks down at me and merely shakes his head. “Looks like you’re making... progress.” Lighting Charmer disappeared, he’s nowhere to be seen. The younger gryphon herds the pigs into a small pen in the corner of the dungeon.
“Experiment kinda sorta blew up in my face.” I have no idea where Lighting Charmer disappeared too, but I’m glad he did or things could’ve gotten complicated.
“How do you explain the scorch marks on the floor and ceiling?”
“When I said kinda sorta, I meant literally. Don’t fret, I’ll have your product done before the deadline.” Razor and the guard take their leave, locking the door behind them. Lighting Charmer materializes next to me, still holding the distiller. “Where did you run off to?” Lighting sets the distiller down on the table, I stagger back to my feet, brushing off splinters.
“Camouflage, novice ranking Parasitic spell.” I pat him on his head, which earns me an irritated look from Lighting. “Don’t do that.”
“Sorry, thought we were having a moment.”
“We did. It passed. Don’t press it.” Lighting takes a glancing look at the pigs, then back up to me. “Pigs? Elaborate for me.”
“To my knowledge, pigs are the only creatures on this planet that I know for certain that have similarities to humans. I plan on making a vaccine for the virus, it’s going to be hard with this primitive tech.” Tail fetches the Ergot for me, placing on the table next to the mortar and pestle.
“Why? You yourself said it was a gift, why would you create a cure?”
“Not all people who become infected keep their individuality like us. Those who don’t, become a beast that runs purely on primal instinct. If I don’t find a cure for it, the Horror virus will become a pandemic, sweeping across this planet like wildfire, claiming everything in its path.” Tail unsheath one of his blades, and begins cutting the uncontaminated rye plant from the Ergot. Tablespoon of water into the round-bottom flask, just enough to submerge the Ergot. Tail gently drops a portion of the Ergot into the flask and sets it on its stand above the bunsen burner. “While this is doing its thing, it’s time for the fun part; experimenting with unknown herbs!” Lighting silently sits there on the table, engrossed by my studies and the distillery.
Time lapses as I indulge myself in my guilty pleasures. The possible elixirs, salves, potions, and miscellaneous creations that can be made are limitless. While I wish I had more time to explore these possibilities, my main goal takes priority over my curiosity. With a helpful tug from Tail that pulls me out of my shell, he points at the finished Ergot glistening in the flask. Ah, wunderbar! Lighting, mind fetching me that large glass bowl, please?”
“Now what?”
“Fill the bowl with hot water and cornstarch, almost ten to one ratio. We want the mixture for the base to be runny. Mix well, after the cornstarch is completely dissolved is when we’ll add the flavoring.”
“Done, what’s next?”
“Let’s just go with a simple flavoring for now, add two cups of sugar. Then I want you to filter the ergot reduction to remove any remaining pieces of wheat that might still be left. Finally, add a tablespoon of the filtered ergot reduction to the base. Mix it up real nice like, then spread it thinly onto a cookie sheet, after that’s done; throw it into the oven on the lowest temperature possible.”
“How long will it need to cook before it’s done?”
“Not long at all, just long enough for the moisture in the mix to evaporate. We want the resulting residue to solidify and not be sticky.”
“We have a slight predicament. I’m sticky now, and there’s no shower.” Lighting Charmer did just bring up a pressing matter.
“That is a problem, in hindsight, messing around with you... Errr, Hyper Crasher last night might’ve not been the best idea. This is going to be a very long and stinky week for the both of us.” Lighting nods in agreement, no words need to be spoken between us.
“We have little water as is, we’re just going to have to bite the arrow and march through.”
“Sleeping in the same room as pigs, no shower, and to top it all off, we’re already covered in filth from previous activities. By the end of the week, I bet fifty bits that we’ll smell just as bad as these pigs.”
“Let’s make it interesting, two hundred bits, and I bet that we smell worse than those pigs.” Why not? If it makes him happy, I’ll accept his bet. What harm can come of it?
“Deal.” With that said, we shake on it.
“Eat up!” A less-full-than-usual tray of the delicate slop slides into the room.
“That’s their plan, aye?” Lighting looks to the slop, than to me with a puzzled look. “If they plan to starve me, they shouldn’t brought me pigs to test on. Keep an eye on the cookies, don’t want them to get burnt, do we?” Tail grabs the tray for me, I down it in one go like the others. “How’s it looking?” I asked, licking the tray clean.
“You tell me, you’re the alchemist.” Lighting Charmer wraps the tray in a faint green field and pulls it out of the oven. I walk over to inspect it, the film is thin and crystal clear, I poke at it with my claw to test if it’s sticky. It’s not.
“Perfect, good job Lighting.” I go to pat him on the head, but quickly withdrew my hand before it makes contact. “Huh, really don’t know how to praise you... but yeah. Good work.” I awkwardly stand there with Lighting staring at me.
“No praise is necessary. Your actions towards my family are satisfactory.” He sets the tray down onto the table, giving it one final look over before turning off the ovens.
“We’ll need to let this cool over night. I made good headway identifying the herbs, let’s call it a day and hit the hay.” I crawl into bed, circling around a few laps before plopping my head down onto the pillow. Lighting sits there awkwardly at the side of the bed, reluctant to climb into bed with me. “What’s the problem?” He shifts around, looking almost nervous.
“This... is more of Hyper’s territory. I’m not comfortable doing this...”
“Doing wh-? Oh, oh! Oh okay. I wasn't planning on doing anything tonight aside from sleeping. If you don’t feel comfortable with just sharing a bed with me, I’m more then willing to sleep on the floor.” Just the thought of it makes my back sore.
“You sure? Hyper is ready to go if you are.”
“Definitely not tonight. Just promise me that I won’t be rudely awakened to somebody bucking me.” He slowly climbs into bed, laying down far away with his back turned to me.
“Rough knows.”
“Goodnight Lighting Charmer. Don’t let the bedbugs bite.” With a clap of my hands, the crystals dim down to a faint glow.
“Bedbugs?”
“It’s just a saying from where I come from, nothing more.”
“Ah, good night then.” Mr. Sandman hastily wisps me away to memory-land.
“I thought this was suppose to be a high class research facility?” Ice asks, ripping open a new pack of cigarettes.
“This is the place my contacts said Warwick was working at.”
“Then why no security systems? Or guards? Just an open door, empty lobby and no one in sight.”
“Because he wants us to find him. Stay alert, he might’ve laid traps for us.” Before us are three wings, all leading in different directions. “We’ll cover more ground if we split up. Alex, take the western wing. Ice, take the eastern one. I’ll go north. If you find Warwick, call the others. Do not, I repeat, do not kill him!” Alex struts off down her hallway, Ice flicks the butt of his cigarette before taking his hallway and I warily walk down mine.
Walking through the bleak hallway, security cameras tracking my every movement, sure makes a guy feel welcomed. I dislike being in China, not because of the people, but the technology they have. It’s too advanced and far too complex for what it really needs to be. For example, this laser grid that blocks my path. If I try to step through it, it would slice me into pieces. If you want to keep someone out, why not just create a door with facial recognition scanners? Because that would be too simple! That’s why. Out of habit, I reach into my coat pocket to grab my PDA, nearly facepalming after realizing it’s been stolen. I tear off the faceplate on the keypad to expose its wiring.
“This is would be so much easier if I just had my PDA autohack this stupid thing.” Digging through the wires, until I reach the miniature motherboard. “And another thing, why do asians have an obsession with making everything miniature? Pain in the ass if you ask me.” I find what I’m looking for, a tiny black fuse like box attached to the motherboard labeled ‘M2K07’. Ripping that out, the touch screen turns black, before a dos screen appears. “Crap. I don’t remember the command to access security functions.” Banging my head against the wall doesn’t help either. The third bang dislodges something inside my head as the command comes flooding back to me. My fingers fly across the touch screen interface, making every keystroke hit home.
>Set Terminal/Inquire
RIT-V627
>Set File/Protection=Owner:Rwed Accounts.F
>Set Halt Restart/Command Prompt
Initializing Security gate sector V reboot-
Reboot complete -- Initializing command prompt-
>C:\<Chkntfs ([Cancel])
>C:\<Certreq
>C:\<Break Security protocol ([CancelAllRoutineFunctions])
>C:\<Break Security protocol ([CancelAllBackupFunctions])
>C:\<Del Security protocol ([>Deltree >Diskpart = true)]
The screen turns black, the grid powers down and I feel like the biggest thug. “I still got the special touch.” With a smug expression I walk with my head help in triumph. Feel sorry for the unfortunate bastard who has to repair this panel and reinstall the software. The metal door before me slides open, I step inside to see a horror mindlessly standing there inside a cage. It looks up at me with a deadpan expression on its face.
“Sorry about the lasers, Arkis. Can’t just let you waltz in, where would the fun be in that?” An intercom system buzzes to life and a familiar voice pours through it. “Before you is a drone, sub-species alpha. Nothing particularly unique about him; just a drone.” The horror’s face lights up, it stares up at the loud speakers with anticipation. “It’s been also very droll here, being cooped up in my lab, unable to go out to get any field research done. So, I planned out a gauntlet, if you will, just for you.”
“If you think I’ll play your silly little games, you’re wrong!” I barked.
“Oh, on the contrary. To find me, you’ll have to play my, and I quote, ‘silly little games.’ You’re adroit, both physically and mentally. These scenarios shouldn’t, and I use that word loosely, shouldn’t cause you too much anguish. Your first test is simple. In the cage is a door, leading to the next challenge obviously. But what stands in your way is one of my creations.” The horror in the cage incoherently makes what I assume are joyful noises. “Without drawing blood from the horror, you must enter the next room. See? Simple.”
“What’s stopping me from decapitating it?”
“If you break the rules of the game, then I shall break your little sweetheart. Come here Alex, come here! That’s a good girl, yes you are! Say ‘hi’ to your little loverboy for us?” All I can hear are Alex’s muffled screams coming from the speaker. “What abhorrent thoughts must be running through that insignificant brain of yours right now. Oh! I almost forgot. There’s a deadline you must meet, you have an hour to find me, if you don’t Alex is dead and you’ll never get to find me. This is your only chance on finally catching me Arkis. Don’t squander this precious opportunity and please, for Alex’s sake, don’t disappoint.” The speaker goes silent after that, the horror goes back to its gloomy look, hanging its head low.
I have no idea how to get around this. If I go in there, one of us will not be coming out. First impression I got from the horrors sure was a bad one, nearly killed me in that God-forsaken bunker. Putting me on a timer doesn’t help. Alex’s life hangs in the balance, and I don’t have a proverbial dog to kick, just this depressed horror in the cage. “I just want to obliterate you so badly, horror!” The caged horror’s eyes snap onto me, pressing it’s jutted jaw against the bars of the cage. “That’s right, I’m talking about you! I need to get past you without killing you, and I don’t see that happening.” The horror tilts his head, stepping away from the bars and in front of the gate of the cage. “You see that door behind you? Yeah that one. I need to get through it but you’re blocking my damn path!” He takes a few seconds to process what I just said before opening the door to his cage and the door leading out of the room. I ready myself, unsheathing the vorpal blades and taking a defensive stance.
The horror idly stands there, cocking its head, making random clicking noises and irritating me like a paper cut in the webbing between my fingers. “Would you just get out of my way!” I scream, the horror stops clicking and moves out of the cage, giving me a wide berth towards the door. “Horror. Sit?” He follows my orders to the letter like an obedient dog. I cautiously walk past the horror, it just sits there, clicking. “Horror, stay, stay. Good. Boy?” I slam the door close behind me, completing that nerve racking challenge just further fuels my triumphant high.Thinking to myself, that little scenario was a bit anti-climatic. Could’ve gone a lot differently, fight breaking out, ending up in a bloodbath. If conflict arises, I strive to avoid it.
“When was the last time I let you get close to me, Arkis? Oh, that’s right, when you blew my transport vehicle up! You destroyed years worth of data and didn’t finish the job!” He clears his throat before continuing. “Two times I’ve allowed you to get close, two times you’ve tried to kill me. You failed, miserably I might add. Every client that takes me in, grants me safe haven, endless resources to further progress my research, you kill, stealing my research and giving my life’s work to your ‘friends’. The Black Death, they like to go by. Cliche if you ask me. My lif-”.
“Will you just shut the fuck up already! I didn’t come here to listen to your little sob story. I came here to murder you and put your useless hunk-of-flesh-for-a-body in the goddamn dirt!” The intercom stays silent, only white noise coming from it.
“Third time's the charm I suppose. Good luck.” The light above the speaker turns off.
“About damn time he shut the hell up.” Before me stands a giant dome made of glass. Filled to the brim with a solid pink cloud. My guess is it’s the same gas from the bunker. The door to the air lock opens for me as I approach. After stepping inside it closes and the room starts to pressurize itself.
“Charging in blindly I see. You’l -.”
“Same poisonous gas from the bunker, yah-yah I know.”
“On the contrary. I’ve reformulated and enhanced the mist. Sadly enough it’s still nameless. You, of all people, should know the mist. Exposure causes hallucinations, suicidal urges, and prolonged exposure causes death. I, being the genius that I am, tweaked it. So, it does all that, tenfold. And causes... Wait for it. Give me a drum roll Bob!” Sounds like someone repeatedly smacking their hands against their stomach. “Mutations! My favorite! How your internal organs will look after this little endeavor gives me goosebumps just thinking about it!” The door leading to the solid wall of pink death opens, flooding the chamber I’m standing in. The mist washes over me, submerging me like a tidal wave, I fe-.
“OMGOMGOMGOMG! CANDY!” I’m rudely awaken by Rough Shadow, who’s jumping up and down on my back. I’m doubtful that she even uses the right side of her brain, because this is one of those poking a bear with a stick situations. “Is it done?! Can I have some now!? COMEON! WAKEY WAKEY!” The silver lining of this inconvenience that she’s extremely lightweight, but that doesn’t give her the right to wake me up in this manner.
“One.” I groan.
“I can have one piece? TH-”
“Two.” I mumble, forcing Tail to wake up.
“Two? Really?! AW -.” She never learns, does she?
“Three.” In one fluid motion, I spin around, grabbing Rough Shadow and pin her under me.
“Hey, stallion buddy, I don’t swing that way, ya’ mind?” God, I hate it when they do this to me.
Sighing, I roll off of Phantom and back onto my stomach, wanting to get a little more sleep in. “Tell your sister she can have some in a bit. My mind feels like an overheated piece of machinery; groggy, extremely hot, not wanting to process anything.” He rests a tentacle against my forehead, dragging my face across the pillow to see Hyper sitting there with a worried expression.
“You poor thing, you’re burning up!” He wipes away the sweat covering my scaly forehead. “You’re shivering, here let me tuck you in.” I’m on fire, my whole body just aches. I--. I need a bath, an ice bath, something to break this fever. “Is there anything I can do? You can walk me through the steps on how to make a healing potion. I’m a good listener, and I follow instructions to the letter.” He wraps me tightly in the covers, I try to push them off but he won’t allow me. “No no. Keep the covers on.” He insists.
“W-Whatever this is. I-It isn’t natural. P-Please, I need to be c-cold. I can’t think when I’m b-burning up.” I manage to pull the covers off, just for a brief moment before Tail pulls them right back over me. “You too Tail? Y-You’re betraying me.” Tail gently pats me on the head before retreating back under the covers.
“Even Mr. Tail thinks you need the covers, tell me what to do.” I just look at him with a pained expression.
“J-Just lay down, p-please?” I begged. He lays down next to me, I pull him under the covers and next to me. Burying my face in his mane and just closing my eyes, wanting this strange fever to break. “I--.. feel...” Sleep, that’s all I need is just more sleep.
I can’t sleep, I desperately want too, but I just can’t. For the life of me I can’t fall back asleep. If I close my eyes, it only brings more pain. Maybe I can just hide in the Darkness? Yeah, sanctuary in the one place I truly feel safe at, please just grant me this one small token. That’s all I ask for. The pain, it burns, but I need to ignore it, just long enough to flee. Jus-.
“Lad, oh Lad! There you are!’ Before I can even come too, Friend grabs my arm and pulls me close. “The Lass, she’s gone feral.” He whispers in a hushed tone. “She’s consumed one of my stockpiles of souls, now she prowls the Darkness like a predator.” We hide behind his throne, he peeks his head over before ducking back down. “I don’t know what’s gotten into the Lass. Lad, I’-.” Animalistic sounds echo out from deep within the Darkness, impossible to pinpoint it’s origin.
“What the hell did you do?!” More unreal sounds ring out, Friend and I continue to cower together behind his throne. “How long has Fade been acting so abnormal?” The sounds only draw closer. I fear for my safety, I’ve never seen Fade act as such.
“Three days, first it started off harmlessly enough. Then she started looking at me hungrily, me of all things! She’s hunting me, us Lad! We need to work together to defeat her, the hunted wil-.”
“Will never become the hunter!” Friend and I shriek like little girls. We take off running into the Darkness, Fade gives chase after us, but we lose her. Or so I thought. “One, two, I’m coming for you!” Not looking back, we keep on running. “Three, four, you’d better run, you whore!” There’s nowhere to hide. I just hope she gives up before we tire out. “Five, six, I’m gonna rip off your dick!” There! The door to the Abyss! We can seek shelter in there! “Seven, eight, won’t it be great?!” Almost there, just a little further! “Nine, ten, then we can do it all... Over... AGAIN!” She laughs maniacally before a ice wall blocks our path. In a split second, without even thinking we split up, Friend going left as I go right. The ice wall turns into an ice maze. “One, two, I’m coming for you!” This frozen maze has me all disoriented, I can’t tell where am. “Three, four, you’d better run, you whore!” Left, right, straight ahead, no matter what it all looks the same! “Five, six, I’m gonna rip off your dick!” A sound of ice rapidly freezing is almost deafening. Friend screams for a second before the ice snuffs his shrieks of terror. “Seven, eight, won’t it be great?!” I see it! The door to the Abyss! Just nee-. “Nine ten, then we can do it all... Over... AGAIN!” The door swings shut, revealing a Fade hiding behind it. “Got’cha!” Nope nope nope nope nope nope!
“Demon baby, wake up!” Yes! A way out! My escape!
“Shhh! It’s okay, it was just a terrible dream, that’s all!” I wake in a cold sweat, trembling in fear with Hyper holding me. “Shhh, don’t worry Demon baby. I’m here for you.” I can’t stop shaking. That... event struck a chord that resonates deep within me. “Demon baby, look at me.” My eyes fixate on him, he’s laying there with an expression that’s bordering between calm and worried. “Tell me what happened.”
“I-. We-. You wouldn’t understand.”
“Make me understand, please. Let me in.”
“Just a bad dream, like you said.” He cocks an eyebrow to my answer, not believing a word of it.
“You can’t dream, remember?” He cracks a smile. “You’re a terrible liar.” He says, nuzzling my throat tenderly. “Whatever is plaguing your mind, I want to help. Please, let me help you.” Tail pushes him away from me. I force myself out of the bed, struggling to do so. My body is shaking so badly that it’s taking a great deal of concentration to make myself move. “Nonono! You need to stay in bed!” Hyper flies around in front of me, In my state I can’t resist. I’m too weak and too tired. “You need rest Demon baby, don’t overexert yourself.” He sits on top of me, Tail won’t move him and I don’t have the strength to fight him off. “I’m not moving until you sleep.”
“N-No... I--. sleep--. Need to stay aw-.” I doze off before I have a chance to finish.
Holding my breath, I trudge into the unknown. I can’t see more than two feet in front of me. A potent scent fills my nose, a scent that lingers around, the name is right on the tip of my tongue, I can’t quite place it and it’s driving me mad. What is this scent? Where do I know it from? Jesus I know this smell, where do I-.
“Click, click, click.” I’m not alone, in this hellish pink nightmare.
“Oh, how I love that scent. The scent of a Green Winged Orchid. Do you remember them? They grew everywhere b-.”
“Don’t you dare go there! You lost that privilege!”
“Memories are what define us as who we are. Breath in deep, let the mist dredge up the past.” I can already feel the effects of mists, my internal organs feel like they're on fire, pink creeps in the corner of my eyes. The pink mists finds other ways to seep into my body. “You won’t find the exit until you open the floodgates. Sooner you do that, the better.” More pink creeps into my vision, all I see now is pink. I don’t want to remember, not now!
“Click click, click click.” That fucking horror, where is it?!
“Show yourself! You coward!” I swing my blades around aimlessly, slicing into the wall of pink. My head spins in circles, I fight to keep everything buried, to keep the gates closed. I must stay vigilant, I can’t let Warwick have this!
“Tick-tock goes the ticking clock. Tick-tock. Tick-tock.” It feels like there’s a vice around my brain, strangling it. “No human can withstand my miasma. Either die here, alone, scared, trapped for ever. Or shine a light on the deepest reaches of your mind. Let it all out.” I swing around, slicing everything thing in a circle before a black claw grabs my wrists. “Tick-tock, goes the clock.” The claw vanishes as quickly as it came, back into the unknown. “That’s it, be a good little human and breath it a-.”
“NO! I don’t want to remember! Never again!” My words fall on deaf ears. Ghosts from my past come flooding back to me. There’s no stopping it now, Warwick got what he wanted and I have to suffer because of it.
“Brother, why? Why brother, why?” Everything around me twists and turns into something I wish that should’ve stayed unearthed. “You were meant to protect us, but you f-.”
“Stop it! Just stop it!” I screamed, my eyes shut tight. Tighter than a chastity belt on a sixteen year old Catholic girl.
“You’ll always be my baby boy. No matter how big you get.” The warmth of someone’s hand rests upon my head. My eyes peel open to see my mom kneeling down before me with a warm, gentle smile.
“M-Mom?!” Reaching out to her, I notice my body feels different, smaller in fact. I quickly look down to see that I’ve reverted back to a time when I was a child.
“There’s my boy.” Her voice chases away the unnerving thoughts and feelings that being a child again brought with it, all I feel now is the ceaseless warmth, love and joy I feel radiating off of her. “What’s got my little man all upset, hmm?” She wipe away tears, tears that I didn’t know I was shedding.
“I-I’m. Just so happy t-.” She places a kiss on my forehead, leaving behind the warmth of her affection.
“What have I’ve told you before, hmm? Stiffen up that upper lip, no need for crying. Life’s too short for so much sorrow.” I bury my head into her chest, wrapping my small arms around her the best I could, hugging tight. “That’s my good boy, now run outside and go play with your younger sister and brother.”
“He’s not my real brother!” I protested.
“Hey, look at me. He may be your half brother, but he’s still your kin.” She pats me on the rump, ushering me towards the front door of our rundown house. “Your brother loves you, very much, Don’t you forget that.” She opens the door for me and I run out side.
“Hey bro! You want to get a game of HvZ going?” I’m a little older in this memory, not by much though.
“Human versus Zombies? I guess.” I remember this game, we use to play this all the time when we were little. I use to love playing this game, like tag but more evolved.
“Okay! Wanna see if sis wants to play it too?” She wasn’t that good at hiding or chasing, but more players means more fun.
“Why not.” These were simpler times, back when it was just the three of us, Mom and whatever boyfriend she had at the time. Mom worked her fingers to the bone, making sure we never went hungry. Put herself through nursing school with sis and I barely old enough to walk and little brother on the way.
“I also got the other kids to play too!” And so he did, bro always had a way of getting people to come around to his side. Never knew how he did it.
“Good work. These are the rules for HvZ. Basically it’s like tag but with a few extra rules. There’s ten of us? Okay, so I’ll choose an Original Zombie or OZ for short, no one will know who it is until it’s too late. Once a zombie tags you, you’ll be out of the game for five minutes until you turn. Last kid standing wins. To kill a zombie, you’ll have to shoot it with a Nerf gun or hit them with a balled up sock. Three minute respawn timer for zombies. Everyone got it? Good.” With that said, everyone takes off running. Brother volunteered to be the OZ; he always liked being OZ when we played.
I come to in a coughing fit, I claw at the ground, trying to pull myself anywhere but here; I’ve spent too much time inside the miasma, it’s already taken a toll on my body. My organs feel like they’ve been stuffed with red hot coals, head dizzy, difficult to breathe, stomach upside down, right side in. I can’t endure this any longer, I needed to get out, I needed to live! I will not die, not like this! I won’t allow it! Desperately, I crawled. Getting nowhere quick. My vision starts to blacken again. Coughing and wheezing, I kick and clawed my way across this death trap. The horror blocks my path, kneeling down in front of me with its head cocked to the side.
“Father named my subspecies as Freshener. Maybe for the scent my miasma gives off or purely for the cliche.” He wraps his claws ground my wrists and hoists me up onto his shoulders. “You’re impressive, for a human.” I can’t reach my blades, if I could I would end this abomination. “This trail weeds out the weak, unwillful, and the corrupted. You, you are strong.” The darkness creeps in, consuming the corners of my eyes before spreading into the rest of my vision. “Your time isn’t now. You still have an appointment with Father.” The next thing I know I’m laying on the ground, out of the pink miasma. My organs still feel like they’re stuffed with melting lava, pink still plagues the corners of my eyes and this horror is still standing over me, holding a syringe. “You wept with tears of joy during your vision. Father knew you were going to and has instructed me to bestow a gift upon you.” He bends over, sticking the syringe in my left arm.
“S-Stop...” I’m too weak to resist, to struggle against him. “Wh-.. are you injecting m-.. with?”
“Nanites programed to help your body heal after the trial.” I blacked out, succumbing to the pain that burns deep inside me.
“You okay, Demon baby?” Hyper runs his tentacles under my eyes, causing them to lazily open. “You were crying in your sleep.”
That’s a first, I thought to myself. “How long was I out?” He nuzzles the scales on my chest.
“This is day four of the week.” I was out for entire day? Jeez, I wasn’t feeling well but damn. “How do you feel?”
“A little better,” I lied. “On the brighter side, at least I’m not shaking so uncontrollably.” But my body feels even more feeble than it was yesterday. “What did you do while I was out? Did you just sit there watching me sleep?” I said jokingly.
“Oh honey, you know me all too well.” That’s not creepy in the slightest. “Little Rough wanted to wake you up, but we all strongly urged her that was a bad idea.” I’m glad she didn’t. “You want me to get off your chest?” He’s incredibly lightweight, it feels like he’s not even on me.
“In what way?” Hyper rolls off me, laughing his flanks off. “Yeah, yeah that got me there.” Work needs to be done. First off, I have to test the LSD. Then I can create an antidote for the virus, and if I have free time, I get to play around with the herbs, joy! “Hope you’re ready for some candy, Rough.” Instantly Rough Shadow comes out, beaming with a gleeful smile.
“Yah! Comecomecome!” She grabs me by the horns, desperately trying to get me off the bed. “WWWhy are you soooo heavy?!” She grunts. Tail throws her a bone, and helps her get me out of bed. “I’m sooooo excited!” She prances around me, flapping her wings with each bounce. “Ohhhh! Is it a upper? Ooooh! Is it a downer? W-Wait! Don’t tell me! I want to be surprised!” She lands on the table, right next to the pan of LSD.
“Oh, you’ll be surprised alright.” I cut out a small square, no bigger than a penny. “Stick out your tongue.” She does, without hesitation. “Don’t swallow it, just let it dissolve on your tongue.” Placing the small piece of sugary film on her tongue, does as told. She makes ‘mhmm’ sounds as its sweetness melts on her tongue. “Neither LSD nor acid sounds like an appetizing name for this. I’ll think of more appealing name before I present this to the Don.” Rough just sits there, digging her hoof into the wood of the table. “I might have something that will enhance the your first experience.” Mainly, I just want to experiment on them, and mess with them a little bit. Revenge is best served my way.
“This is a bummer, I’m literally getting nothing from this.” I bring out my PDA, enter the necessary codes to get to the music folder, search through that for some good old fashion trip music.
“The drug needs to get into your bloodstream before it will take effect.” Bingo, found the song I was looking for. Pink Floyd: On The Run - Rough’s eyes widen, her pupils grow, becoming the size of dinner plates.
“Woooo .Wwwwait for it. Alllllmmmost. There we go.” She just stares at my PDA, maw agape, eyes widen and slightly wobbly. “This. Is.” She just trails off, murmuring some incoherent mumble-jumbo.
“Hey Rough, you ‘aight?” She stumbles a bit, going off the edge of the table in a heap of tangled self. I catch her by the tail, not the most ladylike sight I see. She starts to swing back and forth, giving me a undeeded but better look at her... marehood.
“Come on, on the bed you go!” I place her on the bed, laying my PDA down next to her. “Here, watch this.” Looks like I’ll have to divide my attention between work and babysitting.
“What is it?”
“A movie.” Donny Darko. Enjoy this little number Rough, for it’s about to rip your mind asunder. I set it up for the movie to autoplay itself after the song finishes. Rough lays there on the bed, spacing out as the movie starts. I get to work on the vaccine, starting on the two rarer herbs, the black and white ones. I do what I normally do when testing unknown reagents, eat a sample. I cut off a small piece of the white stemmed plant, the taste of the leaf reminds me of a garnish. For the black one, it has a slight numbing agent to it, with a hint of sulfur-y taste to it. “Why would you two strange fellows be separated?” My curiosity gets the better of me, like a kid playing with matches next to a box of dynamite.
“How yah doing back there, Rough?” I look behind me to see Rough engrossed by the movie. “Yeah, you’re fine.” A high person, is a docile person. Most of the time. “Now, the question begs, should I or should I not combine you two lovelies together?” It only takes me a microsecond to start grinding, mixing,and brewing the two bad boys together. The end result wasn’t what I was expecting. It’s a bubbling, steaming, and quite chaotic mess. I’m afraid it’s going to blow up on me. “This...is interesting. I wonder what you will do if I add a pinch of blue.” No effect. “Smidge of yellow, will this do the trick?” The smoking stops, but the bubbles worsen. “A tiny iota of red, yes?” Thankfully the bubbles stop, but the elixir gives off a rather intoxicating aroma. “Do I dare explore the unknown? I dare.” I dip my index claw into the runny liquid and taste it. “You gotta be kidding me! Ha! This is fantastic!” I give it another taste to snuff out my disbelief. “Grind up one part white, half part black, brew it and add in a pinch of blue, smidge of yellow and just a spec of red and you’ll have yourself meat-flavored salad dressing! Tastes a lot like filet mignon! Hey Lightning! Get over here and taste this! It’s am-.” Oh, that’s right, PRHL is tripping. PRHL? I like that, simple, easy to remember; I’ll have to run this by them to see if they’re alright with it.
“What is it?” He lands on the table, leaving me baffled.
“Wait? What? How? But I tho-? But you we-? She was on acid! How?!” He cracks a smile as he watches me stammer for words.
“She still is.”
“Then why aren’t you?!” How is this physically possible?! He should be tripping balls right now! But he’s sober!
“Don’t worry about it.” He vaguely states. “Oh, that movie, she loved it. Phantom Shadow and Hyper Crasher are confused by it. They can’t make heads or tails of it.”
“Moving on.” This just baffles me. “Taste this.” I dip my claw into the meat flavored dressing and wait for Lighting to lick it off. He just looks at me with a puzzled look on his face. “Oh right, here.” Forgot that he’s extremely uncomfortable with physically contact. “Just dip a tentacle in it and taste it. It will knock your socks off.”
“Socks?”
“Phrase from where I’m from. Just taste this.” He dips the tip of his tentacle in it and tastes it.
“What is that? I’ve never tasted anything like that before.”
“Beef, from a good cut of the cow too.” He gives it another try, this time dipping more of his tentacle in it.
“What have I’ve been missing?”
“A lot my friend.”
“What about pigs? Do they taste the same as cows?”
“Oh no no no. Pork has a much different taste than beef. Beef is more savory, pork is sweeter, more fatty. It’s almost like night and day between the differences. Have you really never had meat before?” Lighting merely shakes his head. “Wow, that’s just. Wow.”
“What’s stopping us from cracking one of those pigs open? I count four, whatever you have planned I doubt you need all of them.” I like the way you think, I really do.
“I’ll need at least two pigs, one for a control and another to test on.” Lighting sways a little, he regains his composure quickly. “You alright buddy?”
“I’m fine. Rough is still under the influence. She wants out.”
“I was wondering about that. I was formulating a theory. If one of you was affected by something, would all be affected in the same way? Another theory I have is whether or not you all share experiences, be it good or bad; for example, if one took a damaging blow, would that one be the only one who’s hurt? Or wou-.” He sways again, this time not recovering as quickly.
“Stop dissecting us.” He snaps. Touchy subject I take it. “Boundaries, please.”
“I’m sorry. Go lay down, let Rough out, search through my PDA for other movies or songs. Pretty self explanatory on how to use it. Touch the screen, that’s how you control it. I’ll let you know when dinner is ready.” Lighting hovers off the table, he tries to fly over to the bed my almost takes goes into a nose dive. Tail catches him before he crash lands and sets him on the bed.
I make my way to the oddly quiet pigs. They’ll make some noise every once and awhile but they’re quite well-behaved for farm animals. They just lay there as I approach, I pick out one pig at random and position my pylons at the base of the skull. “I thank you for your sacrifice, your death will be swift and painless.” I shoot one of four of my pylons into the pig’s spinal cord, severing it so the pig will feel no pain. The other pigs just looked at their dead brethren, one of them squeals but that’s about it
Tail grabs a beaker, and a couple of cookie sheets. Slitting the pig’s throat, I drain its blood into the beaker, a treat for me. I gut, harvest and prepare the pig for cooking; pork chops, pork tenderloins, and thick cut bacon, the cherry on top. I lightly sprinkle salt onto the bacon, salt and pepper the chops, and finally, marinate the tenderloins in the homemade meat dressing. I throw the bacon into the oven, going to get ‘em nice and crispy. For the chops, I put a cast iron skillet over a few bunsen burners, letting it get hot before throwing the chops in it. Wish I had a crockpot to cook the tenderloins in, but a deep glass dish will suffice. As I throw that into the oven the bacon is ready to come out. I love the sound of bacon sizzling, and the salty and savory smell of it.
“Hey Lighting, dinner is almost ready. Come sit down at the table.” I look at the bed to see no one there. Turning around I see Rough sitting on the table, her eyes bloodshot and mostly closed.
“W-Why does it have to be so b-bright in here?” She moans. “My head is killing me...” Oh, you poor thing. Withdrawal sucks, doesn't it? “Gawd, I can hear my own heartbeat.” You’re so pathetic it’s almost adorable! “I think I’m goi-.” Before she can finish, I grab her and run her over to the toilet before she loses everything. “D-Don’t touch me!” She snaps.
“Just let it all out.” She tries to buck me, but only loses more of whatever she ate. “Huh, so that’s what ‘love’ looks like, kinda looks like chunky vomit.” She hurls some more, I stand there holding her mane back for her as she does.
“Gawd! You’re soo-.” False alarm. “Clingy!” Nope, there she goes. “M-Make the spinning stop...” Rough whines.
I clap my hands together, making the crystal lighting dim. “Withdrawal is a bitch, ain’t it?” She lays there with her head in the toilet, praying to the porcelain god. “Maybe you should stop? Go clean?”
“A-Are you kidding me?!” This time, she only dry heaves. “Sugar Glass. It was... awesome!”
“Sugar Glass?”
“That’s the name I’m giving it.” It fits, better than LCD or acid, that’s for sure.
“I approve, that’s an acceptable name. Still feeling dizzy?” With her head in the toilet, it’s hard to see if she’s nodding or not. “I might be able to make you something to take the edge off of withdrawal, give me a little bit.” Leaving her there, I finish cooking the chops and check on the tenderloins, boy do they smell great. I nibble on one of the chops as I dabble. I create a crude, but hopefully effective quick fix for Rough. Using blue as a the base compound, backed with green and boosted with two yellows. This should take the edge off for Rough. “I’ve made this to be a quick acting drug, errr medicine. I would like to make this into a pill form. easier to administer and distribute.” Rough pulls her head out of the toilet long enough to down the shot.
“That tastes awful!”
“It’s medicine. Its purpose is to cure ailments, not taste like cotton candy.” Rough sits there for a brief moment, her facial expression brightens up, slightly. She’s able to stand still and without her head in the toilet. “You look better. I’m impressed to see my crackpot idea is working.”
“I... guess I should thank you?”
“No need to, just promise not to buck me anymore.” She happily nods in agreement. “Good. Come, you must be famished. Let’s get some meat into you.” She shoots me a dirty look, not the best choice of words I’ve spoken. “You know what I meant.” I retake my seat at the table, Lighting joins me, taking a seat on the table. “Still not comfortable in changing in front of me?”
“Boundaries.” The tenderloins smell amazing, Tail pulls them out of the oven, they need to set before I can cut them up. “What’s first? These small strips off... pig fat I take it?” He points a tentacle at the big plate of bacon.
“It’s bacon, try a piece.” He takes a nibble, chewing it before inhaling four slices.
“It’s salty, but savory; crunchy, but savory; scary, but-.” He eats another slice, and so do I. “What’s that?” He points at the pork chops.
“Pork Chops.” I slide one onto his plate, he instantly sinks his fangs into it. “You have tiny little fangs!” Adorable.
“This crust gives an unexpected, but satisfying texture to it.” He sinks his fangs into the chop again. “Juicy. Incredibly juicy.” He finishes his before I can even get one bite into mine.
“That good, aye?” I see him eyeballing mine. “If you want more, take it out of the pan. Don’t be eyeballing mine.” I claim it, tearing it apart as I devour it. He was right, this bad boy is incredibly juicy. “Hope you’d save room for the the pièce de résistance. I marinated and roasted these tenderloins in the meat dressing.” Lighting waits impatiently as I cut the loins into a more inhalable size. I take one and leave the other in the pan with its juices for Lighting. He goes to town on it, making sure no scraps are left behind. He even licks the pan clean. “Jeez, that good?”
“Just. Too much.” He slouches, revealing his food baby. “Why are you looking at me like that?” I poke his belly, which doesn’t set well with him. “Stop that.”
“Awww! You have a little food baby! I did that, yes I did!” I poke at the food baby that I put in PRHL’s ‘oven’. “You have tiny wittle fangs, and now a tiny wittle food-baby!”
“Stop that.” I had my fun, I’m done ‘poking’ fun at PRHL.
“Fine, I’m done. So, what did you think?”
“I wish I knew meat was so...tasty. You are certainly a skilled cook. Do your cooking abilities arise from your alchemical skill?”
“You think I’m a skilled cook?” He nods. “Thank you, I really appreciate that.” I place a hand on his shoulder, which earns me a crooked look. “Too much PRHL?” That just kinda sorta slipped out.
“PRHL?”
“I meant to run this past you. It’s an acronym of all of your names.”
“If you think it suits me, then I see no problem with it.”
“I don’t want to do or say anything that would make you feel uncomfortable.”
“We’ve been called worse names in the past, this one is more pleasant. Rough and I are fine with the new name, Phantom and Hyper are on the fence. Give them some time, they’ll come around.” Lighting lets out a yawn, looks like my food-baby made the wittle guy sweepy. “I need to go sleep this off.” He states, flying over into the bed and taking his original spot on the edge.
“I need to experiment more, I’ll join you shortly.” With that said, I burn the midnight oil, studying late into the night. I rub my tired eyes and push forward, I feel a breakthrough coming from this test I’ve been doing with the black and white herbs. The connection bubbles fiercely, shaking the vial that houses it. I can feel the Sandman impatiently pulling me towards slumberland but I stave him off the best I can. I struggle to concentrate on what I’m doing, every blink draws me closer to sleep. I can’t sleep, not yet. I’m so close, I can feel it! All I need to do is ad--. I fall asleep for a brief second before waking back up. “Where was I? I added the concentrated red, did I? Yes, yes I do believe so.” I black out again, a little longer this time but I force myself to wake up. My brew churns and boils slowly, like magma spewing out of a volcano. “Let’s try Friend’s blood first.” Since his blood is more aggressive than mine with the virus. I prick my finger and let a drop of Friend’s black blood into the highly unstable brew. As the blood makes contact, the potion violently explodes, destroying the table and propelling me into the far wall. My horns save me from cracking my skull wide open as I make contact, they absorb the brunt of the blow. I hit the floor and I’m knocked unconscious.
When I came to, the Freshener horror is already gone. I get to my feet, dust myself off, collect my weapons and carry on. Another laser grid blocks my path, but it’s no match for my skilled hands. The door hidden behind the grid slides open, only for a horror to fly at me. I dodge it with ease, sinking one of my vorpal blades into it’s torso. I manage to make a clean slice as it flies past me. Stepping inside the room, a second horror is thrown into the wall next to me with a meaty thud. Before it can recover, I finish it off.
“Stupid thing!” The sound of a man’s voice catches my attention. I turn to see Tiny, the 7’5” african-american giant going hand to hand with a hulk-like horror. “Just go down!” He grunts, both of them seem equally matched.
“What a glorious opportunity to test my full might!” The horror grunts back, muscles bulging, sweat dripping. Just two giants going head to head, toe to toe, over-sized muscle to over-sized muscle. Makes a man feel inadequate in size. “It’s a shame th-.” Tiny leans back, forcing the horror to lurch forward. Using this towards his advantage, he throws him over his shoulder and across the room.
“Rex, we need yo-.” Glass breaks, Alex screams in protests. “Rex, get back here, asap!”
“Get your filthy claws off of me!” That’s my girl, give ‘em hell! “Get off!”
“Bob, restrain her!” Warwick orders are followed by a flurry of clicks. “Restrain, not harm!” The clicks become murmurs, like he was talking under his breath. “I heard tha-.” A heavy crash screams through the speakers of the intercoms. “That... was my laptop... it held lifetimes of research.” He says grimly.
“I’m sowwy, did I break your little l-.”
“E-Enough!” A woman’s voice shrieks, powerful enough that it blows out the speakers and makes my ears ring.
“That lady’s voice made my head hurt.” Mine too. “Where that horror go?” I look to where he was, but he’s gone.
“Give ‘em hell Alex.” Girl knows how to take of herself. Hell, she’s been able to get the upper hand on me a couple of times.
“Hey, you the little man from prison?” Look’s like the simpleton remembers me. “Yeah, yeah, I remember you little man. You stabbed yourself!” Damnit, I was hoping he didn’t remember that. “Why did you?”
“I wasn't myself that mission.” Tiny chuckles, slapping me in the back.
“You funny.” And that slap really hurt. “I like you, you funny.” Simple-minded, but could be useful. “Mouse alright?”
“Yeah, he’s been busy with the outbreak.” Mouse has some, handicaps if you will. He’s a dwarf, literally. 4’2 but extremely intelligent, that’s why my friends wanted him so badly, little guy has an IQ of 190.
“That’s good, he’s smart. Makes me feel useful.”
“Tiny, why are you here in China?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugs. “One moment I was in prison, next I was here.”
“We better keep on moving, I’m on a deadline.” Hopefully Alex’s little rampage bought me some extra time.
“What about me?” He asks as I push towards the other side of the room.
“Come on Tiny, we need to stick together.” I work better when I’m alone, but someone of his status I could use.
“Hey stallion buddy, you ‘ight?” I wake up with one mighty headache. “Talk about an ‘explosive’ result.” Dragging my horns across the stone flooring, I look up to see Phantom wearing aviator sunglasses. “Jeez stallion buddy, you look like shit.”
“Getting blown up does that to a person.” Phantom helps me to my feet, taking stock on the damage that the bomb did. The majority of the tables have been turned to splinters, only one is left standing. My distiller has been blown to kingdom come, but the herbs are fine. Thank you to whichever god is out there for not messing with me. I’m grateful that the blast was localized in such a small area. “Were you hurt?” I ask in concern for my friend, already knowing the answer anyways.
“Nah, we’re ‘ight.” He sets me down at the table. I wish I had a tub of ice water to submerge my head in to stop this headache. “Woo! Easy there stallion. You sure you’re ‘ight to work?”
“Time is crucial. I-I--.” This headache is killing me, I wish Fade would do something about it. “PRHL, I--.” He punches me in the head, not just an ordinary love tap but a full on punch.
“Don’t be doin’ me in like that!” I wish he really didn’t hit me.
“I’m sorry, Phantom.” Lighting wasn’t kidding about him being on the fence. “I’m going to need your help, if you wouldn’t mind.” He gives me just the weirdest look ever, the kinda look that someone gives you like you’re crazy. “If you don’t want to help, that’s fine. Please don’t distract me.”
“‘Ight, peace.” He waves me off before gliding over to the bed, he picks up my PDA and starts to paw through it. “Yo, stallion, this movie, Die Hard, any good?”
“You kidding me? The Die Hard series is phenomenal! You’ll love it.”
“‘Nuff said.” Phantom finds a comfortable position before turning on the movie. I begin to dabble with the white and black herbs. Through trial and error, this long and rigorous this long and vigorous process will yield fruit. Phantom finishes with the first movie, he hoots and hollers sporadically, he quickly starts the second movie and I go back to this brick wall I ran into and I can’t get past it. I need to something to clear my head, something distract me. I could work out, but I’m already stinky enough as is, a nap is out of the question, same with some fooling around with Fade; I don’t dare go back in there while she’s in predator mode. For fucks sake, this headache is killing me!
“You stallion bu-.”
“What?!” I snap.
“Wow, agro problems. Neva’ mind.”
“Look, my nerves are fried, I’m exhausted, I’m sorry I snapped at you, what is it?”
“You looked a lil’ butt-flustered. If you’re havin’ such an issue with this, why don’tcha tackle a different experiment?”
“A new experiment would be refreshing. Enjoying the movie I hope?”
“Fo’ sho! Back to it.” And for I as well.
Putting the vaccine on the back burners for now, I begin on a new potion. I focus on the white stemmed plants, I have this gut feeling that this plant might have some interesting properties. What if I had a tablespoon of concentrated extract of yellow, take the white stem and slow roast it over an open flame, mince it up and blend it into the concentrated yellow extract? No reaction. If I add a few slivers of green to the mix, will this get me there? No reaction, hmmm. Let’s fuse together yellow and just a hint of pink, reduce that down into a syrupy consistency and... Oh! A reaction, the brew turning into a slush, strange. Let’s see what happens if I put it over the bunsen burner, that’s... strange. It’s actually solidifying.
“Curious, very curious indeed.” I fill up a small metal bowl with water and ice. I stick the potion in it and watch as it un-solidifies, turning back into it’s original slushy form. “You, my icy friend, are quite strange indeed. What secrets dost thou hold in thine depths?” My fascination with this queer potion is unfathomable. My head is telling me not to test it on myself, but my gut is sending me a different message entirely. “Hey PRH-. Errr, Phantom Shadow. I’m about to do something risky and completely unorthodox. If I start to demonstrate symptoms of a seizure, heart attack, or anything fatal, inject me with two dosages of Quick Fix.” Phantom tears away from Die Hard 2 with a confused expression on his face.
“Wha’?”
“You have your instructions.” I down the slushy, the texture is what I would expect from an actual slushy. “Huh... kinda taste like watered-down raspberries.” Sitting there, I feel no immediate effect. “Well this is a bit of a downer...” Wait... wait a minute... I feel something opening inside my head. “Almost there... Just a little bit further...” There’s a door opening, not the Abyss door but something entirely different. “Open a little more for daddy, you can do it!” I want to pull this door open but it would be best if I allowed it to open naturally. “Good show. Cheers, cheers.” The door fully opens, bringing with it increased mental capacity with nearly limitless boundaries. Unknown knowledge overwhelms me. I can’t filter any of it, it’s too much!
“Stallion, you don’t look good. You ‘ight?” My head feels like it’s about to explode! “Yo, stall-.”
“I GOT IT!” I need to burn off this excess energy before my head literally explodes. In a rush, I grab a quill and parchment and began to jot down everything. But its not enough, I need to close that door! But I don’t know how, so many answers and not a single one helps me. What do I d-. “How can I be so stupid? Eureka!” I don’t need to close it, I only need to partially shut it.
“What are you blabbering about? I can’t understand a word you’re sayin’.” Why filter when all that’s needed is to funnel it. “Wooo! What are you doin’ stallion?” In a high induced frenzy I grab herbs and start to splice them together, I don’t even know what I’m doing but somehow I can just see the outcomes of what I’m doing. “Ahhh, you sure you even know what yer doin’?”
“Yes. Well no, but I do! Just start handing me everything!” He just looks at me like I’m stupid, still unable to understand me. I just point at the herb rack and he gets the idea. “IDEAS!” I shout, scampering to get everything together. Vats of unknown concoctions brewing, oven roasting plants and gazing over other solutions while I’m hard at work. “OHOHOH! Boom! I got it!” I push Phantom to the side, grabbing whatever I can get my claws on. Then the wall that has stopped me comes crashing down, I know what I must do for the vaccine. “PRHL! Get me my PDA!” Understanding the last part of what I said, he flies over to the bed to fetch my PDA and brings it back to me.
“I don’t know whatcha doin’ or how fast you’re thinkin’, but you’re obviously onto sumthin’.” My fingers dance across the screen of my PDA, typing in the passcodes needed to get me to Horror file.
“Look, right here, all along it’s been right here!” How the Horror virus actually works, I can’t believe I’ve ignored this file for so long! The mechanics of the Horror virus are ingenious. It attacks the immune system, eradicating it completely. Reprogramming white blood cells so the body can’t create antibodies for the virus. Once that’s done, it takes over, rebuilding the immune system to its liking and resetting the body to factory defaults! Truly a cure to all ailments! But such a thing comes with a price. I need to create something that introduces a dead virus to the body, giving it a chance to build antibodies against it. Only then will the body have a fighting chance against the Horror virus.
“You have that ‘mad alchemist’ look again, glad you’re not lookin’ at me with it.” I know what I must do, I have the equipment, I have the knowledge. It is time to get cooking. In my frenzy, I slice and dice, splice and weave herbs, plants, extracts, solutions, everything together. Three parts white, finely ground into a paste. Two parts black, minced, boiled and reduced down to a concentrate. Six different types of reds, I extracted their saps and infused four kinds of yellows to enhance their properties. After that, I heated the black concentrate to boiling point and added in the red mixture, blended in before adding in the white paste, stir together. Last step, a drop of my blood containing the virus.
“Lighting! It’s time to begin the testing! Get me a p--.” And then it all comes crashing down around me. The door slams shut, taking with it all the information that it brought. The withdrawal saps my brain, frying it like a faulty circuit board. “Ahhhhh.” A long strain of drool forms down the corner of my mouth, dripping onto the table. My cognitive functions shatter, leaving me no smarter than a potato. My arms giveaway, sending me toppling over to the floor. “Ahhh...” I feel like a zombie, hell, might as well be one in this state.
“Demon baby!” Hyper cries out as he rushes to my side. I lay there, drooling like a moron, unable to perform the simplest tasks. “You poor thing, what’s wrong?!” My mind feels like it’s just been blown to pieces before being thrown into a lava. “Can you hear me?” He struggles to roll me over onto my back, but eventually gets me there. “Let’s get you into bed.” He wraps his tentacles around my body, dragging me over and into the bed. “Here, drink this.” Hyper brings a bottle of Quick Fix to my lips, he tilts my head back and I drink it. “Whatever that potion did, it has some nasty side effect to it.” He lays me back down, making sure that I’m comfortable. Hyper merely sits there with a worried look. “What am I going to do with you?” He sighs. “We could have a little fun, but then again I guess not... It would only be half as fun with me doing all the work.” Hyper lets out another sigh, wiping away the drool from my chin. “Looks like I’ll be taking care of you.” Hyper fetches my PDA from the table and returns to my side. “Phantom has really been enjoying the movies on here, especially Die Hard 1 and 2.” Pawing through the list of movies, he eventually gives up and lays it on the bed.
“Since you can’t communicate Demon baby, I will. I’ll regale you with tales of our own.” Hyper morphs into Lighting Charmer. “I once had this mission with this spunky pegasus. She didn’t use a code name, but merely her actual name, Cloud. Clever girl, that one. Quick on her hooves, even quicker in the air. Never mentioned a word about her personal life, but she did have a way with words though. She was able to talk her way into or out of trouble.” A smile cracks itself onto Lighting’s muzzle. “This one time, our mission was to infiltrate this high risk building. And know what her plan was? Walk in the front door. I told her that plan would never work, not in a million years! Her crew swore up and down that her plans would always work. And I’ll be damned, it did. She walked in, flirted with this unicorn mare who was on guard at the front desk, those two trotted off into a different room and we strolled right in without a problem. Mission went off without a hitch.” Lighting shakes his head as he quietly chuckles to himself. “Another mission that went from bad to worse in a heartbeat. I don’t know how she pulled this one off, but she did.” He lays down next to my knees, still laughing to himself. “We broke into Canterlot’s dungeons to rescue some of our ‘co-workers’. Somepony tipped off the guards in advance. We ended up walking right into their trap. Cloud managed to pull them away, long enough for us to slip by and grab the package. We escaped and met back up at the hideout, but Cloud wasn’t there. They wanted to go back for her but I told them that was a bad idea, so we waited. Into the wee hours of the morning, she comes stumbling in. A little roughed up but alive and free. She never did tell us what happened, nor did I care enough to pry.”
Rough takes control as she phases into the spotlight. “Yah, Cloud is cool in all, but Silver though, damn that’s one hawt gryphon! Like, this one time I went to this bad party and somepony tried to take advantage of me, but then Silver totally flew in and kicked some tail! I don’t know if it was the party drugs I was on or what, but I’ve never been sooooo turned on by another mare!” Rough quickly jumps to her hooves, running over to make sure I was still listing. “Okay, cool you’re still awake!” She sees me drooling again, shying away from it but wipes it off with the bedsheet. “Grody.” Rough mutters as she takes a seat on my chest, leaning over so we have eye contact. “Ohohohoh! This one time, I was shopping in Trottingham and guess who I saw! Silver! In the same store! Like. Oh. My. Gawd! I thanked her for saving me, she was totally cool about it too! We had lunch, we talked about girly things and she started talking about this super duper secret mission she was about to go on to Unyasi!” A hint of red bursts into her cheeks as she sheepishly looks away. “I wanted to say... thanks... For you know? Helping me through the withdrawal...” Rough quickly vanishes and Hyper Crasher takes her place.
“Now that just leaves little ol’ me.” Hyper grabs my arm with his tentacle, nuzzling my open palm. “I once knew this creature that I won in a bet, I think we both know whom I’m talking about.” Hyper cracks a smaller as he chuckles to himself. “At the time, I had no idea what gem she was hoarding all to herself until that one magical night we had together. I can see how she has you tied around her talon, she’s gorgeous!” Letting out a long, drawn out sigh, Hyper wipes away another trail of drool streaking down my cheek. “I know this is selfish of me, but I want you all to myself. But I know it isn’t in your nature to be tied down by just one pony. I do hope Silver is open to sharing.” He finds a comfortable position next to me, wrapping my arm around himself. “Only one day is left that we have each other all to ourselves. And I know as soon as that day is up, you’ll be going back to Silver.” Hyper tenderly kisses me before resting his head on my throat. “Goodnight, Demon baby.” Hyper gives me one last nuzzle before drifting off to sleep.
“Ah... Look what we have here. An intruder. I bid you welcome. Care to join in our revelry?” Before me stands a frozen wasteland, a barren tundra with Fade sitting upon Friend’s iced over throne with him preserved in his own ice sculpture.
“F-Fade?! W-What’s gotten into you?!” My own voice usually echos off into the depths of the Darkness, but not this time, the snowflakes gracefully falling down around me absorb the sound. “This isn’t like you, Fade!” I screamed, but she merely sits there, perched on her throne slowly tapping her fingers against the armrest. “Answer me!” Nothing, nothing that I saw phases her. “Please! Talk to me Fa-.” With a breath from her cold lips, she freezes mine shut.
“I sat idly by, watching you fuck to your heart’s content.” Her fingernails dig into the ice coating on the armrest. “When you had a hard day, I was the one you came to, I was the one who held you while you cried. And what did I get in return? Meager scraps of your soul. Did I ever get a single word of thanks?” Waving her hand in the air, dismissing everything. “No!” Fade yells, causing the snow to stop. “I gave you everything, I let you inside, I let you get close! And the only thing I get in return was pain! Used up and tossed to the side like a wadded-up tissue!” She strolls down the icy path from her throne, tapping Friend’s cane as she walks. “Here you stand before me, trapped and frightened. The question still stands, what should I do with you? Hmmm?” As Fade nears, I free my mouth from it’s restraints. “Fighting are we? It wo-.”
“No thanks? Not a single moment goes by without me thinking to myself how lucky I am to have you! You said that you were going to stick by me until the bitter end. Well who says the end has to be bitter?! Fade! I love you with all my heart!” Then I see it, just for a brief second, I see a smile that vanishes as quickly as it came.
Fade vanishes, before I have a chance to turn around she is already doing her trademark awkward hug from behind. “And I love you too, 27.” She strengthens the embrace, pressing her lovelies up against my back before plunging her fangs into my neck, bringing with it that sweet, oh-so-very- sweet bliss. It feels like I’m melting. I never want this feeling to end, this indescribable feeling that dwarfs all others. A mixture of love, ecstasy and fear all wrapped up into one little bite. “I had my fun, I’m done playing now.” She licks the puncture wounds she left behind, lapping up everything. “I can make it feel even better, I just need a little more.” She whispers softly into my ear, her cold words set my ears on fire. Her hand wanders down my chest, past my stomach and into my nether regions. “I’ll keep you safe, straddling the line between life and death. I know how close you like to get, and how it turns you on.”
“D-Do it!” I give in to her temptations, giving myself completely over to her.
“Good boy.”
Laying in bed, Friend takes control. He wakes up laying next to who else? That’s right, Baby Swiss. Look at that, his back was turned to me. “Hey, hey you.” He whispers, causing Baby Swiss to stir from his slumber. “Yeah you.” Baby Swiss rolls over, only to see a empty bed.
“Am I dreaming?” He mumbles in a tired voice.
“Check under the bed!” Friend, being the clever fellow he is throws my voice, to where else? Under the bed.
“Okay?” Baby Swiss horn glows with a soft green, illuminating just enough for him to see well in the dark dungeon. He crawls to the edge of the bed, swinging down to peer underneath but doesn’t see anything.
“I’M ON THE CEILING!” Friend yells, startling poor Lighting Charmer.
“AHHHHHH!” Baby Swiss screams at the sight of me hanging from the ceiling with my head turned around at a 180 degree angle.
“AHHHH!!” Friend yells back, poking fun at Lighting Charmer before he sends a small green ball of magic at me. It hits, paralyzing my body, forcing me to detach from the ceiling and slam into the floor. “What fun!” Friend says, switching back to his thick scottish accent.
“Oh... It’s you.” Lighting says flatly, clapping his hooves to turn the lights back on. “I thought Horror was in a voided state of mind.”
“He was, or is, or was it both? What do I want for dinner?” Friend recovers quickly, jumping to his feet from a prone position and brushing himself off.
“You’r-.’
“I’m what? Making perfectly no sense?”
“What?”
“Exactly! That’s why I like you Baby Swiss, such fun to be had!” Friend pats Lighting Charmer on the back, hard enough for him to say ‘oomph’.
“Why are you here?”
“Straight to the point! I like it!” Friend takes a seat on the edge of the bed next to Lighting, he pats his knee, gesturing for Lighting to sit on it but only gets and irritated look. “You see Baby Swiss, when a horror, in this case the Lad, loves a... what is the Lass? She’s not a human, or spirit... I exactly don’t specifically know what she is... FANTASTIC!” Friend lets loose one of his mad laughs. It echoes off the empty walls of the dungeon, amplifying it.
“I already know about the birds and the bees. I asked you, what are you doing here?”
“As you can see Baby Swiss, I missed you! That’s why I decided to get off my throne and come and visit you down here!”
“What exactly are you? What are you to Horror?” Friend pats his knee again, gesturing for Lighting Charmer to take a seat.
“I’ll tell you, only if you take a seat on my knee and be a good little swiss.” Lighting gives in, sighing before taking seat on the edge of my knee. “As for ‘what I am’ and ‘what am I to the Lad?’, both questions can be answered with the same response. I’m his better half! His ball and chain!”
“You two are married?”
“A union is correct if you must put it that way.” Lighting tries to get up, but Friend quickly grabs him and resets him on my knee. “Where do you think your going? I’m not done with you yet.”
“Make it quick, this is a very uncomfortable and awkward position for me.” Friend leans in close, whispering something. “What was the point in telling me that? What spell? W-.” Friend forcibly shuts his muzzle.
“Ahahah! Not a single syllable will be uttered to the Lad.” Lighting nods in agreement, Friend releases him from his grasp and Lighting gets up and finds a spot on the bed far away from Friend. “There are two other meatbags I’ve told, each their own unique parts. Think of it as a riddle, I like riddles!”
“Does this ‘riddle’ have a point to it?”
“Everything has a point to it Baby Swiss! Even my random shenanigans!”
“And?”
“Yes.”
“Yes?”
“No.”
“No? No what?!” Lighting becoming flustered with Friend’s ways.
“Maybe?”
“You’ve lost me.”
“Yes, no, maybe so, here we go!” Friend jumps up, about to break out in dance but Lighting shoots another paralyzing ball of magic at him.
“I’m going back to bed, don’t wake me with your nonsense.” Friend just lays there on the cold, stone floor of the dungeon. Humming songs at random, just waiting until Fade and I are done with our unexpected, but very enjoyable fun.
I lay there, breathing heavily, my soul drained to the point of death and held in near-death state for several hours. “Y-You might be my angel, but you’re a god d-damn demon in the sack!” Fade lays there on top of me, gleefully purring. “T-That thing you d-did with your hand, w-where did you pick that up?” Fade gently kisses up my chest, traveling up my neck and then plants one on my lips with a smile. God I love that beautiful smile of hers.
“You have your secrets, I have mine.” Angry sex is one of the best kinds of sex to have, makeup sex comes pretty damn close to it. “What are you thinking about?”
“For once, absolutely nothing. I’m on cloud nine right... now...”
“You miss her, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I do... I hope she’s alright.”
“She means a lot to you, doesn’t she?”
“Yeah... First person I’ve met that didn’t try to kill me, first friend, many firsts with her.” I feel Fade’s slender fingers trace the crossroad of scars on my chest, right on the breastplate were most of them intertwined. Some old, others new, a few twisted and others rough and jagged. “That faded round scar right there, the one that looks like a flower.” She stops her finger on the one I’m describing. “That one was from two different bullets, one was at point blank range and the other from a smart bullet detonating just before impact. Stupid thing ended up lodging shrapnel in my ribs.”
“What are smart bullets? I’ve relived memories with them, just don’t exactly know what they are.” Stroking her silky smooth hair, I can’t help but grin.
“There are multiple types of smart bullets, this particular one was made with a built-in microcomputer pre-programmed to detonate at a specific point, thus maximising the damage in a small area. Needless to say, it hurt like hell.” In mid stroke, I stop. “This is terrible pillow talk.” This earns me a giggle.
“What about the smaller scars around your... member? They look like teeth marks.”
“You have your secrets, I have mine.” Fade scuffs, playfully biting my lower lip in retaliation. “Ow! I’ve told you that hurts!” Fade sticks her tongue out at me. “Well, you know my secrets, so I really can’t use that line.”
“I’ve been respectful of your memories, especially with the sealed ones.” Fade sets up, giving a great view of her naked body and her slightly swollen stomach. “I’m still hungry, may I?” Round three? At this rate, she’s literally going to kill me.
“This time, I’ll be doing the biting.” Turning the tables, I push her down onto the bed, biting her neck just hard enough to give her a little pinch.
“Oww!” Payback is a bitch.
I wake up lying with my back on the floor, lovely. But I do not, one hundred percent, care. I feel like a million bucks! I’m running on just pure awesome right now! “Lighting! Help me up would ya?” My back stiff as a board, Tail asleep, neck sore and I still feel fucking amazing! “Lighting?” I ask again, I try to move but I can’t.
“Yo boss, I think he’s been sampling the merchandise!” The same younger gryphon from the pig herding moves over me.
“Horror, up.” Razor issues a command, but I can’t execute it..
“Help me up, fledgling.” He looks at me, then Razor with a dazed look.
“Do it.” The younger gryphon grabs my arms, flapping his wings and helps me to my feet.
“Why are you here Razor? I still have time, I-.”
“Seven days were given, this is the seventh. Your time is up.”
“Jeez! You stink!” I take a sniff, the boy is right, I’m pretty ripe. “Yo boss, maybe we should give Horror a bath before presenting him to the Don?”
“That would be wise. But first, Horror, explain to me the damages you’ve done to the dungeon.”
“Experiments gone wrong.”
“And the finished product?”
“Tested, sample batch made, preparations complete. Plus, whomever is the manufacturer they c-.”
“Save it for the Don. Grunt, take Horror to the hotsprings and wash him up. Meet me back in the Don’s quarters when you’re finished.”
“You got it boss!” I drape my arm around the fledgling, he helps me to conquer my arch enemy, spiral staircases. I hate them more today than yesterday, but not nearly as much as tomorrow.
We make it into the hallway without incident. As we walk down the hallway, the help parts to either side, holding their noses. “What exactly did you do to make yourself smell so badly?!”
“Sharing a room with pigs for a week would do that to you.” That, and other activities.
“Let’s just get you to the hotsprings before I start to stink.” We make it outside where other gryphons and a handful of ponies spar against each other. At this point I’m able to walk on my own. I sent the fledgling on his way as I entered the building housing the hot springs. The girls running the hot springs spot me, one rushes to me but is blown back by the horrific stench radiating off of me.
“E-Excuse me, hmmmm, sir?”
“Working for the Don himself, just need to wash up.” Tail grabs a tail-full of towels from the shelves behind the counter, the girls just stand there in shock while covering their beaks.
“Sir, would you like us to brew you some tea while you bathe?” One of the gryphons asked, keeping her distance from me.
“That would be lovely, thank you.” I walk through the hallways eventually finding an open spring for my own use. In a blur of motions, I kick off my pants and boxers before jumping into the hot, soothing waters. “Ahhhhhh, that’s the stuff.” I moan, every knot and sore muscle just melts. “I soooo needed this.”
“Sorry for the wait, sir. Here’s your tea.” The young gryphon timidly sets down a wooden tray with a teapot and cups on it. “I-Is there anything else I may do to make y-your stay more enjoyable?” You, my feathery friend do look delicious.. No, just...no. I can not, will not feed upon another innocent soul.
“My mistress would have my head on a platter if she finds I was messing around behind her back. So no, you are excused.” The girl breathes a sigh of relief.
“Thank you!” I wave her off as she leaves.
Submerging myself in the springs, I open every scale on my body, making sure I get every nook and cranny on myself and Tail. I’m just thankful that Tail didn’t just straight up and attack me once I step foot into the springs, I know how he his when he wants to be cleaned. I finish cleaning the both of us before I need to resurface for oxygen, so I decide to just stay submerged just a little while longer. Eventually I do come back up for air, Tail pours me a cup of tea and I slowly sip on it.
“Enjoying ourselves, are we?” Lighting Charmer appears directly in front of me, nearly startling me to the point of voiding my bowels.
“Sweet baby Jesus! Don’t do that!” I shrieked.
“Revenge is best served my way.”
“What?!”
“You let ‘him’ out last night. He scared me, so I exacted my revenge.”
“Wait? What? Who? Friend?!”
“That’s your ‘better half’s’ name?”
“Yeah, but he’s harmless, in a way.”
“‘In a way’?”
“Yes, but that’s besides the point. Where have you been?”
“I heard Razor unlock the dungeon’s door so I used my camouflage and stayed hidden until now.” You scared me for something I didn’t do, it’s my turn. Tail slithers against the floor of the hot spring, right underneath the spot on where Lightning is hovering. Tail rockets out from the water, grabbing hold of Lighting’s hind leg and yanking him under. “Unfair!” He protests.
“You needed a bath just as badly as I do.”
“By the reaction of those service girls, it looks like I’m the winner of our bet. Pay up.” I push away his hoof, and sure enough, this buys me a most agitated look from him.
“I don’t have any type of currency on my person at the moment. But once I do, you’ll get paid, I promise.”
“Fine.” He bluntly says. “You’re the only creature, excuse me, only ‘friend’ that I’ll make an exception for.”
“Thanks for trusting me Lighting.”
“E-Excuse me, sir?” The hostess catches us off guard, Lighting vanishes before she has a chance to spot him. “W-Would you like it if I washed your clothing?” Her sudden appearance causes me to jump a little.
“For your own safety, don’t sneak up on me ever again. Last person who did, didn’t walk away.”
“F-Forgive me, sir. It will never happen again!” She frantically backs up away from the edge of the spring.
“Yes, I would appreciate it if you washed my clothing, thank you.” In a rush, the poor girl grabs my pants and collar, flies back into the building. “The coast is clear Lighting, you can come out now.”
“Can’t let anypony know that I’m here, to Uncle’s and Don’s knowledge, I’m still in Trottingham.”
“By the by, what did you do with my PDA? Last I saw of it, Hyper had it on the bed.” Lighting cracks a smile, jabbing at my chest with his hoof. “In your hide away? Please tell me you put it where it can’t get wet! I don’t have the necessary tools to repair any liquid damage to it.”
“Don’t fret, I made sure of that.”
“Good, good.” The both of us just lounge around in the springs, drinking the green tea the help brought us. Eventually we get out and dry off. “You mind getting my suit out for me? I doubt anyone would enjoy me walking around naked.”
“Do it yourself.”
“Can I?”
“With the portion of my power that I gave you, you can. It’s simple, put your claw against your chest and just think ‘infestation’.” I feel foolish doing this, but I put the palm of my hand against my chest and think ‘infestation’. My horns quietly hum as my claws sink right in.
“This is sooo weird.” It’s like sticking my hand into a freshly gutted pumpkin. “How much room did you create?!”
“Enough to fit a foal in there with ease.” That’s a scary thought. “Your internal organs are safe. With time, you can reprogram the code word to access your chest cache, but for now I made it simple. Be forewarned, anypony with the code and the right spell can access your cache. It will be best if you change the code to something only you would know.” Feeling around, I find my suit and PDA, pulling them both out. I’m relieved there’s no gaping hole in my chest.
“I feel violated.” I mutter in shock.
“Deal.” Is the only thing he says before jumping inside of me. “Get dressed, it’s a bad idea to keep the Don waiting.” And so I did. I got dressed, taking every precaution to make sure I didn’t wrinkle my suit, slipping my PDA into my pocket I strolled out of the bath house. Feeling like a new man running on pure awesome-sauce. I walk into the Don’s quarters to see Razor, Silver and a few other gryphons sitting next to the Don.
“Horror, Razor has informed me of the damages you’ve dealt in one of the dungeons, in suit of fulfilling your promise. Explain yourself.”
“Mistakes were made, but the product is finished. I strongly believe that one batch will easily be able to pay for the damages that occurred, with more than an adequate amount of money left over.” I see the Don’s wing twitch, just like before, only able to notice it if one’s looking for it. “My product is everything that I promised and more. Addictive, and extremely so. The manufacturer can change the flavoring of it, thus increasing or decreasing the value of the final product. Pretty self explanatory I assume. The materials needed to create Sugar Glass are fairly inexpensive to acquire. An average rye plant would yield roughly fifty percent of the main ingredient, ergot, if it is cultivated correctly. An unskilled alchemist would get two trays per plant, where I can get four, maybe five if I stretched the pre-cooked solution out.” The Don sits there with an un-amused expression. “One tray will yield one hundred forty four pieces of Sugar Glass. If you sell each hit for ten bits with the basic flavoring, that would net you one thousand four hundred and forty bits, plus a ten percent markup if someone wanted to buy an entire tray of Glass. which would be one thousand five hundred and eighty four bits per tray. Then subtract the cost of the materials, which roughly comes out to 20 bits per tray, and you’ll still be making at least seventy times more in profit.” Both wings twitch, this time Razor catches it. “One hit is all the customer needs to be addicted, once they have their first taste they’ll be crawling back for more. This is a-.”
“Everyone, leave. Now.” Everyone at the table looks at the Don with a surprised look.
“Sir?” Razor asks.
“Everyone besides Horror.” Thus, everyone left. Silver made sure to walk past me, giving me a wink as she leaves. “Let me clarify what you’ve just said.” The Don stands up, making his way around the table, giving me a complete size up of his massive form. “You’ve successfully created a cheap, renewable source of income that generates seventy times more in profits than it takes to create it?” I nod in agreement, watching his scarred eye as it shimmers with a new spark. “Rise to your feet, Horror.” As I do, he approaches me, stopping just out of Tail’s reach. His beak sits just below the height of my chin, I never did get an accurate measure on him until now. I’m actually intimidated by his sheer size. “With this, the ‘livestock’ will no longer the Family’s main source of income.” A grin creeps its way onto his scarred beak, something I didn’t think he was capable of. “You’ve brought great fortune to the Family. I’ll make the necessary arrangements to begin mass producing Sugar Glass right away. Horror, I had my doubts about you since the beginning. However, I can now say with utmost confidence that you’ll make a valuable addition to the Family.”
“I am honored to earn your respect, Don.” I graciously bow before him, hiding the grin on my face as I do.
“Reports came back from my scouts, not a trace of your species was found in Unyasi. What exactly are you?” You gotta be kidding me! As soon as I get relatively close to him, he brings this up! Think 27, think! What do I say?
“Take this fragment, use it.” A memory flashes before my eyes, very brief but enough for me to spin an elaborate lie.
“Chrysalis? I can work with that, thank you.”
“Don’t mention it. No really, don’t mention it.”
“My kind has been driven to the point of extinction by Chrysalis. We’ve fought for many lifetimes with her kind. Both sides took heavy casualties, but in the end it was futile. Forced from our homeland, we headed south, fleeing for our lives. Chrysalis hunted us down, slowly culling our numbers. Most of us didn’t make it through the great journey. The handful of us that survived her attempted genocide of our people crash landed on Unyasi, where the zebras let us live. But in the end, the second to last of us perished, making me the last of my kind.”
“I see. Horror, go find my daughter. She’s been a nuisance since day one of your experiments. She's been pestering Razor and myself nonstop to see you.” I bow one last time before making my way to the door. “Horror.” I stop with the door ajar.
“Yes?”
“I expect you to be ready to teach the scientists when they arrive. But for now, rest up.”
“Very well, thank you.” I take my leave, walking up the ungodly staircase to heaven, making my way to Silver’s room but she’s nowhere to be found. But I’m glad to smell her smoky incense-like scent again. “I was sure she’d be up here.” I shrug. “Another lazy day it is for me!” With a gleeful bounce to my step, I quickly get undressed, folding up my suit in fear of Gramps’ wrath, I neatly place it over on Silver’s dresser. I crawl into bed, spinning in circles before burying my face into the pillows, filling my nostrils with her scent as I drift off to sleep.
--“Keep calm and carry on, Katie! W-W-W-Wait! Put that down! That’s a very sensitive piece of machinery!” I yield as Katie shrieked in terror at sight of her second evolutionary step. “They’re just a handful of tentacles, nothing more! Please, put. That. Down!” Katie throws my mass-spectrometer in her fit-induced tantrum. Bob manages to catch it, just before it smashes to pieces against the ground.
“I. Have. TENTACLES! Get them OFF!”
“Restrain yourself Katie!” Katie looks straight at me with the most enraged-yet-horrified look I’ve ever seen. Not to mention all of her newly-grown limbs have targeted me as well. “You’re overreacting, just sit down and take a deep breath.”
“Y-You! You did this to me!” One of her tentacles fires off a needle, so fast that I can barley track it. The needle imbeds itself into my shoulder, a quick glance and I can see it’s a hypodermic needle. “S-Sorry..”
With haste, I rip off my clothing. “Bob! Type C-Nanites! Now!” Katie slinks back into a corner as Bob frantically searches for the nanites while I jump into the decontamination shower. “First Alex’s little fit and now this!” Removing the hollow needle, I notice the puncture wound already healing at an alarming rate. “Bob! Change of plans. I need S-729”
“Click, click click?”
“I know its highly experimental, I made it.”
“W-Warwick, I’m sorry.” Katie says, pressing her hand up against the glass of the shower door.
“Click click click, click.” Her hand vanishes when Bob pushes her away. He opens the door, stepping into the shower and plunges a syringe filled with S-729 into my chest.
I’m awoken by the sound of the door sliding open, I lay there in wait as I listen to them approach the bed. When they are just a few steps away and I strike. In one fluid movement I lept, pouncing at them and bringing my pylons to bear. “Horror, it’s me!” I’m filled with glee when I realize it’s Silver. “Easy boy, eas-!” Overzealous, I wrap myself around her, Tail in all, burying my face into her chest and nuzzling her fiercely. “Did you miss me that much?” I feel her tighten the embrace with her wings, pulling me closer to her, I look up to see Silver smiling. “I missed you too.” A suggestive push from her talons on the back of my head gives me the hint to move in. “Come here, Horror.” The push becomes a shove, I don’t resist as she plants her open beak on my mouth. Her long, warm tongue slithers into my mouth and down the back of my throat; mine massages hers during this passionate kiss. My right hand caress her body, the change in textures from the course feathers to soft, warm fur on her body is something I might never get used to. And that’s isn’t a bad thing at all. As my hand reaches her warmer than usual abdomen Silver breaks the embrace. “Not right now, Horror.” Cock-blocked?! You’ve got to be kidding me! “Let’s wait for tonight, I have something special in mind for us.”
“But, but...”
“For me?” How can I say ‘no’ to those big, beautiful, ruby eyes of her?
“I mean, I guess.” And I’m left with a raging hard-on, awesome-sauce. “I really missed you.” God, this hardon is killing me. I hate it when I’m left hanging like this.
“I can see that.” She giggles, peering down in between us, seeing my erect member peeking out from its prison. “I’m sorry little guy, but I promise you I’ll make it up to you later on tonight.” I don’t know if I should be agitated or hurt that she referred to my unit as ‘little’ or excited and a little antsy that she has something special in store for me tonight. “So, what did my father say to you in private?” Silver notices my inner turmoil, to drag me out of it, she digs her talons into my back, just hard enough to penetrate my scales.
“Oww! That really hurts!” I whine “Why did you do that?”
“You were ignoring me!”
“Sorryyyyy!” Her claws dig into my back just a little more. It’s not pain I’m feeling, more like extreme discomfort.
“Now, what was it that my father wanted to tell you in private?”
“Just asked where I came from. I spun a lie so tight that, well, I told an amazing lie and he bought it. He also smiled... Which didn’t fit him at all.”
“Wait! He smiled?!”
“Yeah, I take it that this is an anomaly?
“A-nom-a-ly?”
“An odd, peculiar, or strange condition.”
“Oh, yeah. The only time he smiled that I know of was after Razor was born.” I notice a pain expression as she says this, breaking eye contact.
“Did he not smile when you were born?” Silver cringes, looking more hurt than before. “Hey, look at me.” I nuzzle her, Silver’s gaze slowly focuses on me again. “No more of that, you hear me? I am your mate, your burdens are my burdens, w-.”
“S-Stop, just stop.” She pushes me away, I’m left sitting there on the floor. “My burdens are my mine, no one knows what he put me through and no one will understa-.”
“How can I understand when you won’t let me in? I want to help, but everytime I try, you push me away and put up your walls.”
“If you want to help? Fine! You can do so by stop trying to help me!” She screams, her wings flaring up with a ‘woomph’.
“You know the saying ‘keep your friends close and your enemies closer’? My enemies were my family, until now that is. You, Silver, my friend, mate, you are my family and I only wish to help.”
“Go...” I can see her body physically shake as she says this in a low tone.
“N-.”
“Leave! That’s an order!”
“No.” I say flatly. I move in closer, Silver tries to push me away, but it’s futile. “I’m not leaving you until you tell me.” Out of frustration, Silver strikes at my chest, ripping off some scales in the process.
“Leave! I don’t want your help-.” I move in to wrap my arms around her, but Silver retaliates by attacking me, a flurry of swipes tear off the scales on my chest, drawing blood but I ignore the little pain brought with it. “Nononono! I said g-.” Another swipe, this time her claws get lodged in my ribs and she stops with a look of utter shock.
“No matter what, I will always be here for you.” A solemn tear streaks down the feathers on her face as I wrap my arms around her, embracing her in a hug. Just one tear, but at least I’m getting somewhere with Silver.
“I’m sorry...” Her voice small and quite.
“It will heal.” With the help of Tail, we manage to dislodge her claws, my scales quickly regenerate over the bare spots but the wounds will take some time.
“Excuse me, Mistress Silver Wing.” A servant pulls the door ajar. “The Don has sent me to fetch Horror.” Silver looks up to me, giving me a nod before parting.
“I’m fine, go finish business. I need to clean up a little.” I give Silver one last kiss before following the servant back to the Don’s quarters.
“Sir, as requested, I summoned Horror for you.” She bows before leaving me alone with him.
“Horror, it is time. There’s a scientist waiting for you. Razor won’t be accompanying you, I sent him to summon the others.” I bow before him, about to walk out towards the dungeon but the Don stops me. “Horror.”
“Yes?”
“This pipeline of untold wealth you’ve opened; I decided to host a feast in celebration of this momentous event. I expect great things from you, but don’t let it all go to your head.”
“It won’t.”
“Good.” I take my leave, heading through the hallways and finding the open hole in the wall. I sigh before trekking down the stairs and into the dungeon where I find a young unicorn, white coat with a buzzcut mane, ragged yellow tail and a butt-tattoo of the periodic table with only two elements ‘Br and Ba’.
“Yo Mr. H!”
“Hello?” Slightly confused by this young unicorn.
“Come on Mr. H, the sooner you teach, the sooner I can get some phat payment.”
“Before we get started, who are you?”
“Oh right, yeah, ponies call me Jessie.”
“Okay, Jessie. What I’m about to teach you isn’t going to be a cakewalk, so pay attention.” I see the notes I wrote down during my mind blowing experiment, Tail grabs them before Jessie notices them and stuffs them in my boxers.
“Let’s get started Mr. H.” And so we did, I showed him what does what, how everything works, the steps, precautions one needs to take when cooking, but of course I kept a few things hidden from him; let him figure stuff out on his own. Time seemed to stop while I was teaching the young unicorn, but to my surprise he kept up with me. He asked a lot of questions, took things into his own hooves. Hell, he even took detailed notes.
“Alright, that’s just about it, you still with me Jessie?”
“Wow Mr. H... T-That’s a lot to take in.”
“Did I lose you anywhere? Anything that you'd like to go over one more time?”
“Nah stallion, nah, that ain’t me.”
“So, you think you’ll be alright by yourself? You think you’re ready?” Jessie nods eagerly, which is fine by me. The Don wanted me to teach, not make sure he knows exactly what he’s doing. “I’ll leave you to it then. Don’t go blowing yourself up now.” Waving him off as I walked out of the dungeon.
Making my back to Silver’s room, I watch as all the servants run around with haste; each one seeming to be preparing everything for tonight’s event. They ignore me as I walk past them in my boxers with the edges of paper sticking out over the lip. I see the girl that I used for a snack help bring in large amount of food, she doesn’t see me so I just walk on past. At the end of my journey I’m left with one obstacle in my way; the monolith.
“If I stay undercover for much longer, just to spite the designer of this place I’ll be installing a damn elevator.” Thinking to myself before running up them.
I find myself alone, again in Silver’s room. Another nap does sound lovely right now “Boy, I’ve become soft.” Laughing at the thought of taking two naps in one day. “Oh well, who am I to complain? Even I deserve some R&R.” Shrugging it off before crawling under the covers.
“Do you think he’s in here sis’?”
“I don’t know sis’, but this will be the first place I’ll check.” Those voices, I know those voices!
“What if he’s not here?”
“He’ll be here sis’, I know it!” I continue to hide under the cover as my two best of friends enter the room, I force Tail not to wag. “Shhh! Someone’s asleep sis’.”
“Do you think it’s him?”
“Let’s sneak up on him!”
“‘Kay!” I watch from under the covers as Lizz and Fizz quietly giggled to each other as they ‘sneak’ up on me. “On the count of three, ‘kay?”
“Got it!” I almost die of cuteness when I watch them flap their tiny little wings as they fly into the bed. “One.”
“Two.”
“Three!” They shriek in utter delight when I pounce them. Covering them both in the blanket with me. “Got’cha!”
“Get ‘em sis’!” They retaliate with a surprise tickle attack.
“Noooo! D-Don’t t-t-tickle me! M-mercy!”
“No mercy!” The both of them yell in unison.
Tail counter attacks, catching Fizz off guard as she flails about on the bed. Lizz has me pinned though, I’m helpless to her relentless attacks. “I-I c-can’t breath! M-Mercy!” Tail eases up on Fizz; she’s crying hysterically. Lizz collapses on my chest, Tail places a crying Fizz right next to her sister. “W-What are you girls doing here?”
“Uncle Don sent out invitations for a really big party he’s throwing-.”
“Tonight. Daddy didn’t want to leave us home so he took us-.”
“With him!” That’s just too adorable, I love how they finish each other’s sentences.
“So, you girls thought you could barged into Silver’s room without her permission, just to play?”
“Yep!”
“We missed you Horror!”
“I missed you too girls.” I give them both a big hug, which causes them to squeak.with sheer delight. “Dinner is not for a few hours, what do you girls want to do to pass the time?”
“I’ma little tired.” Fizz says, nuzzling her tiny beak into my chest.
“Is it nap time, Horror?” Lizz says already finding a comfortable spot next to Fizz.
“Yeah, it’s nap time girls.” Although I’m not in a napping mood anymore, if they want to then I don’t see any problems with it.
“‘Kay...” Is the last thing they say before they drift off to sleep in a ball of fledglings; too cute, way too cute. I can barely contain myself. Laying there watching the girls sleep in a cute, feathery ball of kawaii makes me smile. Doing nothing in particular, I let my mind roam aimlessly as I pet the girls. After some time passes, Silver walks in. I instantly put my finger to my lips and she gets the idea.
“Join us.” I whisper, scooting over without waking the girls.
“Well, this is a cute surprise.” Silver whispers back as she snuggles up next to me.
“What is?”
“This. Them sleeping on you. I never seen you so relaxed before.”
“It’s a nice change of pace. I kinda like it here.” Silver shoots up with a shocked look on her face but thankfully didn’t wake the girls. “I know that you and your father don’t have the best relationship, this is a given. But I’m talking about not fighting on a daily bases, I didn’t realize how exhausted I was until I had a few days to unwind.” Her expression softens before she lays back down on top of my left arm, resting her head next to mine. “I would like to enjoy this lifestyle, not having to worrying about everything at every waking moment.”
“You’re doing surprisingly well with fledglings and foals.”
“I don’t know why, but children love me. But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I love kids as well.” Tail wraps himself around us, Silver takes this as an opportunity to snuggle real close to me. “Silver.” I said, looking down at her with small smile.
“Yes?”
“I know I’ve never said this, but I lov-.” I’m cut off before I can finish by Fizz and Lizz stirring from their little catnap.
“S-Sis’... I don’t wanna wake up.”
“W-We have too sis’.”
“Awwww, but Horror is sooo comfy.”
“Dinner is about done.” I can smell it up here and it’s killing me. “We should better get going soon.” Both of them stretch out their little chicken wings and legs, making adorable squeaking noises as they do. “Yeah, no this, this is just too much for me Silver. I can’t take it any longer, they're just too adorable I might have to gobble them up.”
“Y-You’re not thinking about...”
“Oh God no! I would never feast upon one of my own’s soul! It was just a figure of speech.”
“But you are...”
“Very.” I doubt I’ll be able to ever quench this hunger I have for souls; but I would like something to tide over the beast within.
“You can feast on me...” I’m apalled to hear that coming from Silver.
“No! I’ll never snack on or devour a loved one’s soul.”
“What? Am I’m not good enough for you? Is that it?! You can eat a servant's soul, but not mine?!”
“You’re taking this the wrong way, Silver. It’s not that I don’t want to eat someone’s soul right now, but more of I won’t. If... If I do... it won’t only be my individuality I’ll be losing, but I'll be losing the most important thing in my life as well.”
“Horror, w-what are you talking about?” Fizz ask, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
“Nothing. Come on girls I have to get dressed for dinner, and then we can all go down together.” Lizz, Fizz, and Silver all protess my attempts to get up from bed, Tail intervenes by putting the girls on the bed next to their aunty Silver. “It’s only going to take me a few minutes to get dress, then we can join everyone downstairs.” As I make my way to the dresser, I remember the notes I have stuffed away in my boxers; laughing to myself I place them a dresser drawer before getting dressed in my suit.
“Silver, may I come in?” My ears perk up when I hear the familiar voice calling into the room.
“Come in Gramps.” Silver calls back.
The door slides open and in trots in the old man, he gives Silver a warm smiles before looking around the room to spot me in his ‘masterpieces’. “Ah, Horror! Splendid to see you!” And he’s looking sharp himself, wearing a slim black tie with a white vest, his mane and tail both combed. “I’m pleased to see that you haven't ruined my work.”
“Glad to see you’re doing well Gramps. And yes, I’ve heeded your threats... I took them to heart. So, you’re here for the feast I take it?”
“The feast is merely an excuse to get out of Cloudsdale.”
“So, you came to check up on the suit?” The old man only grins. “Silver, mind taking the girls and meeting us downstairs? Gramps and I’ll join you shortly.”
“Fizz, Lizz, come on, let’s go.” Gramps happily grins at them as they leave us alone, shutting the door behind them.
“Now that’s it’s just us, I had a few things I needed to say, Lunar Knight Subject 27.” Everything comes crashing down around me at the realization that my cover has been blown.
“You’re quite informed, for a tailor.” Not knowing how I should approach this matter, I could either end him right here, hopefully keeping my cover; but then there’s the backlash, or I could see who else knows. “And here I thought I was doing a damn good job on keeping undercover.”
“You still are. String-Bean still hasn't a clue, not yet at least.”
“What do you mean? Will you be informing the Don of who I am?”
“I found out by this.” He tosses me a rolled up newspaper. Opening it and reading the headline ‘Celestial Knight defeated by Lunar Knight!’. “This whole paper is one article going into great detail about you, who you are, the fight between you and the Celestial Knight Colt.”
“I’ve been able to tolerate that nuisance until this point, now all I want to do is murder him after he digs his own grave.”
“Only a hoof-full of ponies know your true identity. Anypony who read it in the surrounding cities or towns near Canterlot, myself, the ponies within the family who know are myself, Short-Stack, and Shrimp.”
“Short-Stack? Shrimp?”
“Pardon me. Uncle and Razor.” Well fuck me sideways! If both of them know then I’m good as screwed. “We conversed on the night your true identity was revealed to us; back when you were in Cloudsdale.”
“What do you plan on doing? Use me? String me out to dry? Or...do you plan on using me to get close to the Princesses?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“We debated our course of action long into the night; burning the ‘midnight oil’ if you will.” Gramps looks around the room, checking the window and everything, making sure that we were alone. “I suggested that we should allow certain events to run their natural course. Don’t you?”
“What do you mean?”
“By letting you be the end of String-Bean’s life.” The old man flatly states.
“You want me to kill the Don, why?”
“String-Bean no longer follows the Family’s path. He’s strayed from it, only lining his pockets with wealth.”
“And what makes you think I’m going to be his shepherd to the afterlife?”
“I've learned a great deal already just by watching you. You fight with the fervor of youth in addition to the experience of an old veteran. You've seen a lifetime of warfare, haven't you? Lunar Knight Subject 27.”
“From this paper you must know that I was once human; they’re an incredibly destructive and violent species; warfare is their nature.” Placing my chin in my hand I start to think out loud. “If humans are the most destructive creatures in the universe, then what does that make me?”
“I don’t know, what are you?” He asks, standing there with a curious expression masking his face.
“I’ll tell you what I am. I am Horror, I’m either your greatest ally or your worst nightmare. What am I to you old man?”
“String-Bean, Short-Stack, and I are on your side, Horror.”
“Very good, less blood on my claws then. But what’s got me curious is what you’ll do when the Don is out of the picture?”
“His son will take the throne, thus righting his father’s wrongs.”
“And Uncle is okay with this?”
“A death in the family will sting, but not as much as String-Bean’s actions.”
“I see... It’s only a matter of time until the Don figures out who I am, hopefully I can get to him before he gets to me.”
“We have faith in you, Horror. Now, let’s go before anypony starts to suspect anything.” With that said we made our way downstairs and join everyone else. As we walk in, I see a couple of familiar faces. One of them being Nyuel, who’s sitting right next to Doctor Helping Hoof who are sitting on an adjacent table of the Don’s filled with Fizz, Lizz, Stella, Lemon and two vacant spots next to him. Uncle who’s sitting next to the Don himself, including both Razor and Silver. The adjacent table is filled with gryphons and a handful of ponies. Gramps takes a seat at the Don’s table, I go to sit down on the floor but the Don stops me.
“Horror, no need for that. You’re family now, take a seat next to Silver at the end.” No argument here.
“Yes, of course.” Sitting down next to Silver, she gives me a wink and places her claw on my knee. Keeping my poise, I look at her in uncertainty. I follow her eyes as the point to the table cloth that’s draping over the table and onto the floor.
“I’ve summoned you all here to celebrate Horror’s new product. A product that will make us all wealthy. Now, let the feast begin.” The room is flooded by servants carrying trays of food and bottles of Equestrian version of sake. Everyone seems to be having a good time during dinner, talking amongst each other as they eat and drink. I indulge myself in a glass of sake but that’s it; I have to stay sober and alert. Nyuel, the good Doctor and I chat across the room, catching up with one another. They’ll start working in Uncle’s hospital that he and I are funding as soon as it’s built. As the dinner went on, Silver’s claw wanders up my leg, and onto my lap. I strive to keep a straight face during this wonderful turn of events. I almost break my poker face at the end. Tail steals someone’s napkin for me to shoot into, thus keeping my suit and Silver’s claw mess free.
The dinner comes to an end and I’ve managed to eat my own weight in delicious food. Everyone slowly disperses from the room, either stumbling out tipsy, drunk, or crawling out with a food baby of their own. Nyuel and I made plans to get together tomorrow for lunch. Uncle carries the three cutest girls in the world out on his back asleep. I stagger to get out of my seat, I bow before the Don just as I leave the room with Silver in tow. Reaching the stairs I stop, regretting eating so much.
“Horror, carry me up the stairs, would you?” Fuck me.
“Fine...” I take off my suit jacket, Silver hops on my back before I drede hauling Silver up these stairs with an overfilled tank. “S-So, what’s with the entertainment during dinner? Rather risky if you ask me.”
“The greater the chance of someone catching us just makes it that much hotter.”
“I-I can give you that I guess.”
“I know how you are with the first round; wanted to get that out of you before tonight’s main event.” Girl knows me all too well if you ask me.
“C-Can I at least take a small break before we get started? These damn stairs will be the death of me.” I reach the top, finally. Not even coming close to breaking my current record.
“You better not fall asleep on me, got it?”
“I won’t.” Tail throws Silver on the bed, I strip down, too tired to care about my suit so I just toss it to the side along with my boxers and hop into bed with Silver where I rested a little before we got started.
“This challenge is just for you, Arkis. Tiny may not help you in any way.” In a poorly lit large room with makeshift smaller rooms in them, almost looks like a practice course for the military or something. “I want to see who’s a better in hiding in the shadows, you or this Horror, subspecies Lurker.” A game of hide in seek? Fine, I’ll play. “First one to get the drop on the other wins, good luck.” I don’t know how many of these damn games Warwick wants to play, frankly I don’t care. He’s going to die here tonight, I’ll make sure of that.
“Tiny, just sit put while I deal with this ‘Lurker’, got it?”
“Okay.” I cautiously walk into the fake buildings, watching the shadows for any signs of life.
“So, you’re my prey?” The miasma must still be in my system, I can actually understand this walking corpse. “Hmm, smells like you’ve already had the pleasure of meeting Lully; you’re covered in his stench.” It’s hard for me to pinpoint his location, but if I can keep him talking I’ll find him. “Peek-a-boo, I see you!” Spinning around with blades in hand I only see more shadows. “Made you look!” He’s just messing with me, I have to concentrate, where is this little bugger at? “I'm over here!” Again, another shadow. “No, I’m over here!” Just more shadows. “What’s wrong little mouse? Cat got your tongue?” Running at one of the walls, I jump off and kick myself off of it to grab a ledge out of reach, pulling myself on top of the roof so I’ll have the higher ground. “Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. That’s a bad little mouse!” The next thing I know, I feel a sharp point driving itself into my left arm. looking down I see a needle the size of a baby carrot sticking out of my arm. “Tag, you’re it!” A hot searing pain spreads quickly through my arm. My whole arm spasms with pain causing me to drop my one of my vorpal blades; it clatters against the roof and bounces off to the shadows. “What’s wrong mouse? Can’t endure my toxin?” Jesus this hurts like hell! It feels as if electricity is coursing through every fiber in my arm. “Most humans can’t resist the urge to scream and cry in agony; you’re impressive mouse.” Another dart finds a home in my left knee, I topple off the roof into the depths below.
“Watch your step, I hear the first one is a real doozy!” I have a hard landing, so to speak. “Hope the fall doesn’t kill you! Because that pleasure is all mine! I can’t feel my right leg or my left arm any more, I need to find this damn Horror before he hits me with another one of those damn darts of his! “Awww, what’s the matter little mouse? Are you going back into your little mousy hole to hide?” I limp my way through the hallways, trying to find this goddamn bug so I can crush it. Then I see a figure in the dark, standing perfectly still. I ready my blade as I sneak up on it, just a little bit further and got him! “Nope!” What?! What the hell? “You found one of my exoskeletons!” A dart whizzes past my head, I roll out of the way before he can fire another one at me. “Mousy, looks like that cat is going to win, again!” Not on my watch you aren’t! I need to come up with a plan to lure him in close.... Got it.
“Y-You’re all talk and no bark, if you’re a real assassin, I’d be dead already!” Looks like I hit a sore spot as three more darts miss me. “What’s wrong little kitty? Afraid to show your ugly face?!” This earns me a low-pitched growl. “How about we play a little game, shall we?”
“What kind of game? Oh! I know! Let’s see how many darts it takes to kill you!” More fly out from the shadows, I narrowly dodge them and duck into a nearby room.
“I got a better game.”
“What is it mouse?”
“Let’s play a game of riddles, shall we? I’ll go first. How many ways are there to skin a cat?” I meld into the darkest shadow I can find and hide there.
“Hmm, gimme a second.” I see him step out from the shadows, sniffing for my scent. “I got this.”
“One.”
“Don’t rush me!” Just a little closer, and you’re all mine. “It’s on the tip of my tongue! I know it.” That’s it, you’re mine now.
“Marco!”
“Polo?” I leap at him, running him through with my vorpal blade. “Ah....” I twist the blade, causing him to cough up some blood. “T-Tell me mouse... W-What was the answer?”
“There’s more than one way to skin a cat.” I yank the blade upwards, slicing him up even more before pulling it out, he collapsed to his knees, holding the wound in his stomach. With one final slice I decapitate him, his head goes flying into the darkness and my leg gives way to the pain. I can’t bare the pain in my leg any longer and finally black out.
The morning comes all too soon as I roll over to find an empty bed. “Silver?” Nothing, I’m alone in the room. The sun outside peers through the open window, it’s light hits me right in the eyes. “Jeez, I’ve must’ve slept in later than I thought, I hope I’m not late for Nyuel’s lunch. Crap, Nyuel is going to have my hide for this!” I search for my suit, but its nowhere to be found, but in its absence there lies my camo pants and collar; neatly folded on top of the dresser. “Where in the hell are my boxers?” They’re gone too. “Forget ‘em, I’m going commando.” With haste I throw on my boxers and collar before bolting out the room and down the staircase.
“Where is he!” I hear the Don yelling from his quarters. “Bring him to me now!” I peek through the ajar door to see Razor and Silver standing before the Don.
“Sir, are you sure that’s wise?”
“Don’t disobey my orders, Razor! Now g-.” I step into the room hoping to assist anyway possible.
“What’s all commotion about?” The Don nearly flips over the table at my sudden appearance, Silver turns to me with a deadpan expression. “Is everything alright, Silver?”
“You brought him here, girl. You’re going to pay just as much as he.” She cringes at her father’s harsh words, slowly stepping towards me with each hateful word spewed from his mouth.
“Exc-.” The Don’s wings flare up in a fit of anger.
“Lunar Knight Subject 27.” The Don says in a low, dark tone. “You’re a spy!” Whelp, the cat is out of the bag now. “You betrayed me, but most of all, you’ve betrayed the Family!”
“Hold on sir, may-.”
“No! He must p-.”
“So, you’ve figured it all out, haven’t you? Well, let me properly introduce myself then. Subject 27, the famed Lunar Knight who bested the Celestial Knight, at your services.” I graciously bow before him, which only pisses him off even more. “Oh, it looks like I’ve pressed a button.”
“Horror, ple-.”
“Not a single damn word from you, girl!” The Don yells, his chest heaving heavily. “You’ve been nothing but a disgrace to the Family since the day you hatched!” Silver cringes again, this time shielding yourself from her father behind me. “I should’ve left you to die! You worthless piece of f-.”
“ENOUGH!” I roar, starting everyone in the room. “You’re her father for fucks sake! Act like it!”
“Boy, d-.”
“No! You shut up and listen!” My voice filled with rage, so low that it makes my chest vibrate fiercely. “You’re suppose to love and protect her unconditionally; but all you do is treat her worse than the servants!”
“Watch your tongue, b-.”
“No! Silver Wing is so much more than that! But you’re too Goddamn blind to notice how beautiful she really is!” Blue flames seep out from under my scales, my power arteries already churning with a fusion of Friend’s and Fade’s power. “I love her, with all my heart! And if I see one feather on her head out of place, I will disembowel you where you stand in a heartbeat!” Silver grabs hold of my hand, she’s not hesitant as before with the flames that now smolder beneath my scales.
“Father... At every possible moment you made it your goal to make sure I was never happy! You’ve sent me to Unyasi to die, but you weren't expecting me to come back and the look on your face when you saw me was priceless!”
“Shut your mouth, g-.”
“Shut your fucking trap before I rip off your beak!
“I was sparing you from this father, but no more! I banged his brains out; we had mad, insane, explosive sex almost every single time we put our claws on each other; and you want to know why? Because we could! Sometimes we had angry sex, sometimes we had happy sex, and sometimes we had mega-spell going off in the apartment sex! But one thing was always certain. That was, every single time Horror was inside of me, I never thought about my dead beat father. I just... Enjoyed the ride!”
“Y-You dishonored me with this...filth? How da-.”
“Oh I’m not done yet baby. Best of all, father. We did the one thing I knew was going to piss you off the most. That’s right, we did the gryphon mating ritual last night right after the feast!” Okay, glad to know what we did has a name, still clueless on what it entails.
“Y-You...” The Don slouches down onto his hindquarters. “Razor... Deal with them both.”
“Father, if I ma-.”
“No, be a man and deal with me yourself! What happen to your code of honor? What? Did you trade that for wealth too? You’re pathetic!”
“Horror... d-don’t. I don’t think you sh-.” Silver whispers, but I just give her a reassuring smile.
“I’m throwing down the gauntlet, and you know what? Let’s make things interesting, shall we? I can beat you in a duel with only using my tail.”
“You’re challenging me? You either must be incredibly brave or stupid. I accept, a fight to the death it shall be!” Or until someone yields... No need to get ourselves killed. “Razor, gather everybody and meet outside in the training grounds.”
“Sir!” Razor quickly flies out of the room with the guards in tow.
“When I’m done with you Horror, I’ll send your head on a silver platter to the Princess.”
“We will see.”
“I must go prepare for our battle, say your final goodbyes to your whore, Lunar Knight Subject 27.” The two guards behind the Don follow him as he leaves the room.
“W-What have you done, 27?” Silver says, tightening her hold on my hand.
“I know what I’m doing, don’t worry Silver I’ll be okay.”
“No you won’t! This isn’t Unyasi! My father is going to kill you!” Silver says with a stifled voice.
“You’re right, this isn’t Unyasi. I still have a few tricks up my sleeves that you’ve never seen before.”
“A few tricks? Tricks won’t save you 27! I-I... I don’t want to lose you 27...”
“Hey, look at me Silver.” Kneeling down to eye level with her. “You’re not going to lose me, I promise you. You hear me?” She slowly nods. “Everything I said, I meant Silver Wing. I love you, hell or high water, I won’t fail.” I kiss her, it starts off soft but turns to something almost desperate; Silver digs her claws into my scales, holding me as tight as she can.
“Everyone is ready, we’re waiting on you two.” Razor says, catching us at an awkward moment.
“Come on, time to get this over with.” I say, breaking the embrace. Following Razor out into the courtyard I see a large circle of people standing there, watching me as I approach. In the middle stands Don wearing a helm, armor covering the bone of his wings with a blade on it, the arms blades I’ve seen on those thugs when I first came to town and metal claws on his talons, all made of gold.
“I’ll be the judge of this duel.” Razor says standing between us. “Fight to the death, Lunar Knight Subject 27 has chosen his tail as his only weapon in the fight. May the better gryphon or Horror win!”
“Are you prepared to die in front of your beloved whore, Lunar Knight?” I really wish he would stop calling her that.
“Who said anything about dying?”
“Do you think you can best me without a weapon or armor? You’re more courageous than I thought for a Knight.”
“If it makes you feel better, I’ll put armor on.” I walk over to the koi pond, standing at the edge of it, I look up to see mixed expression from everyone. “Excuse me for one moment if you will.” Spreading my arms out, I fall in backwards into the pond. Calling on Fade’s power brings with it her icy armor and transforms me into a true Horror. My claws become long and sharp with ice. A second pair of horns freezes next to my own, starting near the base and traveling along the side of my head and finally slanting downwards as they near my ears. Thick sheets of ice layer themselves over my chest, protecting my vital organs but leaving my limbs bare for maximum mobility. Tail covers himself with sheets of ice, his three main spikes grow in length along with my claws, and at his tip grows a long scythe-like blade. Rising from the pond, I let out the most primal roar I can, freezing over the pond as I do. “Ready or not, here I come!” The crow only gasps at the severe metamorphosis I’ve undergone.
With Friend and Fade’s power fusing together, my power arteries have never been flooded with so much power before. His massive stature makes him an easy and slow target to hit. Barreling down at him on all fours, Tail swings round to strike as I pass him, he dodges it with ease, flying into the air and landing a counter attack with his talons into my back. Tail swoops from underneath him in mid flight, he doesn’t see it coming until it’s almost too late; Tail’s spikes manages to land a glancing blow on him. The Don dives at me, his speed is insane, I’m unable to dodge his attack, his wing slices into my chest armor; it cuts deep, slicing through the ice and down into the scales below. He tries to dislodge himself but fails, which leaves him wide out for Tail land a blow on his chest; cutting through his golden breastplate with ease.
The Don retaliates by clawing at my back, shredding my back armor like it was made of wet paper. I can’t dodge any of his while on all fours, I need to get his wing out of me before he can claw at me again. Tail swings in for another attack, but the Don anticipates this and grabs him near the tip. I see his free wing extending outwards. Before he tries to slice Tail off, I push myself off the ground, intercepting it with my chest; the blade tears through both layers of armor with ease, creating a gash in my chest.
“Lighting! Don’t worry about me! Focus on only healing yourself, got it?!”
“I understand.”
With both his wings lodged in me, Tail twists into a corkscrew, freeing himself from the Don’s grip. The Don furiously swipes at my chest with his claws, shredding my armor with each blow. Tail arches backwards before using his new powerful jets to add an extra punch to his blow, the Don moves his talons to block but I grab them with my own and Tail cleanly slices through his left wing. The crowd lets out another gasp as the Don stumbles backwards, clutching the stump where his wing once was.
“Looks like someone has just been grounded!” I mocked.
“Enough talk!” He screams, before charging me again. He pivots on his talons, rearing his hind legs and bucks my left side. I go to block but he hits my left elbow; the only thing I hear is a bone shattering crunch as he forces it in the opposite direction; my left arm freely dangles there, all I can feel is agonizing pain; I try to wiggle my fingers but no luck. Don takes this opportunity, his right wing slices my right knee, forcing me to collapse to the ground. He rears up again, this time kicking me in the face, which sends me toppling over with a mouth full of blood. He jumps on my back, grabbing my horns and slams my head repeatedly into the ground.
Tail’s jets fire up again, he slithers across the ground, bolting towards the Don’s neck, wrapping around it he strangles him before tossing him across the courtyard. Staggering to get to my feet, I spit out a mouth full of blood. I turn around to see the Don’s wing aiming for my neck; going for the final blow. Tail intervenes by blocking it, his wing slices straight through Tail and imbeds itself into my thick neck.
“TAIL?!” I cried, seeing him on the ground not moving. I try to wiggle what’s left of him but I can’t, I can’t even feel him anymore. “Tail... I-I’m sorry... I’m so sorry...” The Don pushes me down to my knees as a single tear rolls down my cheek.
“You die here, Lunar Knight Subject 27!” The shock of losing my best friend utterly destroys me, all I can do is sit here in denial as I stare at my dead friend.
“Tail... P-Please forgive me... P-Please forgive me...” I muttered.
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frieD195 - Tsujin Rilauco
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Sorry for taking me so long to post something. But here it is, the chapter I've promised.
Tail nooooooooo....
Release all restraints kill that mother bucker
I missed you man and amazing. Story as allways
Damn cliffhangers please update again soon
well... now I feel sad for Tail...
May Tail find piece in the Abyss.