Chapter 12
“This is a harmony problem.”
“Miss Pie?” Doctor Sterling paused as he looked at his eager student.
“Even one unicorn could make a difference.” Piper took a moment to look at her surroundings and then she ate another bite of lunch. “Look at this place. Look what the lack of magic has done. These earth ponies live the earth pony way all by themselves and just look at what it is doing to them.”
“Back home, where I’m from, it ain’t no better. We has us malaria ‘cause the swamp.” Hennessy said the word ‘malaria’ as ‘mah-leer-ee-aah’ and it caused Doctor Sterling’s ears to perk as the doctor tried to figure out what the colt was saying. “A group of unicorns showed up one day to help us with our skeeter problem. My father and a bunch of others, they done got together and they accused those ponies of creating the malaria, so that they could exploit us earth ponies and extort us for our bits.” Hennessy paused and an almost sleepy expression of calm was upon his face. “They never did ask us for money, of course. My father and the others, they done run them outta town. When another group came back, my father openly accused them of coming there to spread unicorn faggot disease.”
Doctor Sterling almost dropped his sandwich.
“So, these ponies here, they’re right nice. They’re letting us help. As bad as it is here, it could be worse.” Hennessy, who had already finished eating, let out a wistful sigh. “We earth ponies, we can be a stubborn, superstitious bunch. These ponies here, they’re good folk.”
“Ponyville has a unique harmonious ideal.” Flicker tore off a bite of his sandwich, chewed for but a second, and then gulped it down almost whole. “Twilight preserves all aspects of the cultures there. The earth ponies get to have their earth pony way for a number of festivals and celebrations. The unicorns get to celebrate their magic and their art there, and her school has many powerful unicorns attending, but you’ll find all types of ponies at her school. The pegasi rule the skies and do so without the earth ponies or unicorns telling them what to do. Everything works out and Ponyville flourishes.”
“Ponyville is indeed, a good place, but those thatched roofs are just asking for an outbreak.” Doctor Sterning nodded his head at his students. “Hurry up, daylight is burning, we have much I wish to do today before the sun goes down. Less talking, more eating.”
As Flicker was checking over the gear that they would need for an excursion into the countryside, another airship came into view. It drifted through the air, a craft much smaller than the doctor’s yacht, and it appeared to be little more than an open rowboat suspended beneath a gasbag. An airship, any airship, fascinated Flicker to no end, and he supposed that it had something to do with him being a unicorn.
Or maybe he just liked skyboats.
Already, the doctor was moving to greet the visitors, and Flicker continued his task. This gear wasn’t going to sort itself out or check itself off of a checklist. Stilts, gas bombs, candles, sticks of dynamite, Flicker had a warm spot in his heart for dynamite, and various first aid supplies just incase things went wrong. Things did go wrong. One only need to look at Wicked and his wooden leg to know that.
Flicker didn’t know it, but help had arrived.
Two strangers had come to town, an earth pony mare and a unicorn stallion. Flicker studied them, curious, he stood as still as a statue, wondering why they were here. Beside him, Hennessy had an easy going smile upon his face and he waved at the strangers. Piper looked excited, but Piper was an excitable sort.
“Greetings… Doctor Sterling, correct?” the earth pony mare said as she approached.
“Ma’am, you have me at a disadvantage.” Doctor Sterling bowed his head. “I am Doctor Sterling Shoe and these are my esteemed apprentices. And who might you be?”
“I am Doctor Flannel Nightgown”—the mare’s smile became infectious as she said her name—“and I am a Doctor of Alchemy in good standing from the Royal Academy of Science. I am also a druid, as is my young but able bodied companion, Phyllo Dough. The Heliophant gave us orders to come here and conduct a study. We are to stay for ninety days and see what we can do to help these ponies.”
“And you, Mister Dough, what is your background?” Doctor Sterling peered at the quiet unicorn behind the chipper earth pony mare.
“I am a servant to the Herald of Selene and wizard in training. It is my job to keep Miss Nightgown from all harm so that she might work in safety. My master, the head of my order, she made it clear in her letter that she would have the Heliophant turn me into a tree if one single hair upon Miss Nightgown’s body was harmed.”
“Mister Dough…”
“Yes, Doctor Sterling?”
“I have seen the Heliophant’s collection of trees in the grove.” Something that was almost a smile lurked beneath Doctor Sterling’s heavy mustache as Phyllo Dough gulped. “See that Miss Nightgown is kept safe.”
Flannel Nightgown began tittering as her companion stood there, flustered.
“Ah, such is the pleasures of tormenting the young, eh Miss Nightgown?” Doctor Sterling’s charm made the mare blush and she nodded, causing her forelock to bob up and down in a manner most fetching. “Now, if you will excuse me, I have some young, over-eager students of my own to have sport with. Perhaps we shall talk later, when we return from our excursion into the wilderness.”
Sitting on his haunches, Flicker secured his stilts to his legs. Getting them on and then standing up was the hard part, but he was getting pretty good at it. The stilts, in their current form, were about a yard long and could extend to about three yards. There was a disk near the hoof support to keep rats from climbing up and a curved spring at the bottom to aid propulsion. The stilts used the magic of geometry to increase movement. A pony’s hoof only moved so much during their forward gait, limiting speed, but a fully extended stilt traveled entire yards with each swing of the leg.
A skilled wearer could surpass sixty miles an hour.
Gritting his teeth together, Flicker braced his front stilts into the dirt, and then using his hind legs, he launched himself up into the air. He wobbled for a bit, his legs were now over a yard longer, and the curved springs at the bottom of the stilts bounced a bit as he tried to find his balance.
If the plague doctor mask made him look like a nightmarish boogeypony before, the effect was even stronger now. Flicker looked like a nightmarish black-clad scarecrow brought to life. He bounced and pronked around, getting a feel for the springs, and then, feeling secure in his skill, he extended his stilts, using his telekinesis to release the locking latches.
The stilts had three sections, two of which telescoped out of the first, each of them about a yard long. Flicker now stood tall and he bounced around to get a feel for his balance. With the stilts, he could wade through rivers, run through the countryside, and walk through mud without much hindrance, Flicker loved wearing his stilts.
But by the looks of it, Piper and Hennessy were going to have a hard go of it. Piper tried to heave herself up just as he had, but she went too far forwards and would have landed mask first in the dirt had the doctor not caught her. Hennessy did a little better, but now that he was standing, he couldn’t move and wobbled in a manner most unsteady.
“This is impossible!” Piper cried as the doctor set her upright and she began a crazy dance as she fought to keep her balance. “No no no!” She teetered about like a drunken scarecrow and squealed in alarm as she tried not to tip over.
Meanwhile, Hennessy almost looked like he was dancing a jig as he tried to remain upright. Flicker grabbed him a few times to keep him from falling over, all while showing off, standing on his two left legs, then his two right legs, then his front right leg and rear left leg.
“We’ll keep things short, for now,” Doctor Sterling announced. “Now, come on, all of you, let’s go for a walk. Mister Nicker, if you would please show them how it is done and lead the way…”
The four of them made for a macabre procession on their stilts. Flicker led the way, walking along the edge of an irrigation canal. Every now and then, he would pull a rat up out of the water, stab it, set it ablaze, and leave the ashes in the dirt beside the canal. Behind him, Piper and Hennessy struggled to keep moving, but were making a valiant effort. Bringing up the rear, Doctor Sterling kept Hennessy and Piper from falling into the water.
Ahead was an abandoned farmhouse that the earth had already started to reclaim. The roof had collapsed in, the walls were buckling, and the wood had turned grey. Creepers climbed the walls and would eventually pull down what remained.
“Who came up with this means of travel?” Piper asked.
“We learned it from watching circus ponies,” Flicker replied. “At least, that’s how Mister Chandler tells it. During the Plague of Weeping Autumn, when about a tenth of the population of Equestria died, the plague doctors and the rat catchers struggled to get from place to place. Transportation came to a grinding halt. Much of the country was paralysed. One of us watched the remains of a circus troupe that had holed up in some distant valley, and realised that stilts could allow for a greater stride. Soon, we were crossing the country again, moving from town to town on long wooden legs, able to travel vast distances with little effort.”
“It also allowed us to step over the piles of corpses piled outside of the villages, towns, and hamlets. Those were grim times.” Doctor Sterling gave Hennessy a sharp yank before the earth pony colt pitched into the river. “The Weeping Autumn Plague struck mostly foals. Adults got sick, but it was primarily a respiratory infection. They would cough for two weeks or so and many recovered. But the foals didn’t. They died by the score.”
“That’s awful.” Piper, mindful of her stilt-legs, stepped over a dangerous looking hole. “I suppose that learning history is a big part of our education.”
“Patterns repeat with time,” Doctor Sterling replied. “We had another pneumonic plague that was similar almost fifty years later. This time, we were better prepared. We knew the history, we knew the symptoms, we knew what to expect. When we faced it again, there were still many deaths, but nothing like the the Weeping Autumn Plague. Many, many lives were saved because each of us, from the lowly floor sweeps and apprentices to doctors and ponies of great learning, we all knew our history.”
With a mechanical sounding snarl, Flicker yanked a squirming rat out of the canal, skewered it on his sword, and set it on fire.
“The Rat Catcher’s Guild was born out of our first organised efforts to fight the plague.” Doctor Sterling kept his two students upright as Flicker lead the way. “We started with superstition and folk remedies. In time, through observation, we became ponies of science, of learning, we studied the disease, the cause, the symptoms, we created entire new schools of thought, of learning, we pushed the very boundaries of what science and magic were capable of. Our work refined the scientific method. In time, we harnessed science and technology in new ways. We looked at the disease through microscopes and for the first time, we saw the true face of our enemy.”
Cleaning off his sword, Flicker added, “And this the reason why Princess Luna now wants us to fight all diseases, right?”
“Correct,” Doctor Sterling replied. “We are the agency best equipped to do so. We study disease. We know patterns and history. No other group has pushed science and magic as far as we have. And now, we transition into a glorious new era, keeping Equestria safe from the unseen threats that could decimate us all.”
“We are the face of disease control.”
“Thank you, Mister Nicker, I could not have said it better myself.”
When Flicker stopped, the entire group stopped. Ahead was a seething mass of red buried in the ground. What had once been a warren for rabbits was now a den for rats. Mixed in with the red splotches were pinpricks of bright orange. This horde of rats would give birth to an army of invaders that would return to the village.
“Mister Nicker, I trust that you remembered the dynamite?” Doctor Sterling asked.
“Yes, Doctor Sterling, and I took the extra time to inspect the fuses as well.”
“Methodical as always, Mister Nicker. Good work. Now, Miss Pie, Mister Walker, pay attention, and watch what Mister Nicker and I do…”
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So the Guild is basically the CDC of equestria.
7749941
That is what they are becoming.
You can call them them the PDCG The Pest and Disease Control Guild
This story is gud.
Is it safe to say that the next chapter starts off... with a bang? Herherher
...
...
Okay, I'll take my leave...
Meep.
An important reminder that, despite having grown up incredibly fast, Flicker is still a child.
And, y'know, skyboats are cool.
At some point in the post-apocalyptic future, a pony will ask no one in particular "Why did we introduce Flicker Nicker to explosives?"
Thank you for making me search "stilt races" on youtube.
7749657 thanks.
Ten percent, mostly foals? Damn, that's grim.
7750233
Childrens Immune systems are less developed than an adults. Most sicknesses that may be more serious but generally non-life threatening for an adult. would be deadly for a child without the proper medicine or treatment early on.
7750091
Now I searched, too. Darn, that looks cool.
7750370
The fastest woman alive is a woman that lost both of her legs. She has stilted leaf springs to run with now. They will not allow her to run in the olympics because no human being with normal legs has a chance of keeping up with her.
She runs like a gazelle.
Tell me, have you read the works of the late great Sir Terry Pratchett, and if so what are your opinions on this little chap?
pre00.deviantart.net/442e/th/pre/i/2006/182/9/d/death_of_rats_by_happyhappyclem.jpg
7750398
Yes. I've read them, and I think said little chap is hilarious.
7750404
You do know he reincarnates rat catchers as rats as a form of karma? If they object, then well...
Frankly, I thought that when you introduced the Rat Bastard, it was going to be a Rat King, you know, one of these things:
ancient-origins.net/sites/default/files/field/image/rat-kings.jpg
The entangled tails was supposed to make them into a hive mind creature, greater than the sum of its parts, with power over other rats.
7750368
Aye, it makes sense biologically, just picturing that in a community of a hundred total individuals including thirty chidren, if ten ponies die from the disease and eight of them are foals, then the population of growing persons is cut by about a third. The sorrow of losing that many children is a tragedy by itself, and the ramifications to population growth over time a tragedy in the making.
7750481
Here in our world, some of the plague outbreaks had fatality rates that were fifty to sixty percent.
Ten percent is mercifully low.
7750429
this is more scary looking IMO.
http://baron-engel.deviantart.com/art/Rat-King-rough-sketch-01-622721462
...
*mind just exploded*
This is like the assassins brotherhood vs the templers (or the rats)
Reading this story, i realized their problem. They view rats as just the enemy. But they could be an ally.
Part of the reason why the black plague got pushed out is because the black rats got outcompeted by the stronger, healthier brown rts. True they can have theri own parasites and fleas, but they are resistant to the plague and do not spread it.
Someone should start breeding their own rats. Immune to the plague, bigger and stronger than the plague rats, and bred to be more docile round sapient beings and cooperative, but incredibly aggressive towards plague rats, especially grogar's servants.
....... on a secondary thought i had a random thoguht. What if the plague doctors and the rat hunters are actually descended from Mage MEAdowbrook?
Behold the birth of the Equestria CDC
8497126
Problem with this is that over time the plague would adapt and evolve for new rats too. Bacteria and disease change much faster then animals do.
Hmmm.... the Babadook??