Chapter 59
Exhaustion was setting in and Flicker was dead on his hooves, even with his excellent conditioning. He wasn’t like Wicked, or Mister Balister, who seemed to be able to just keep going, and going, and it shamed him a great deal. There had been something of a shortage of sleep and now, Flicker was feeling it.
With the sun now setting, Canterlot faced the night, and what a strange night it would be. The protesters, who were a danger to the city just a few hours ago, were now cleaning up and helping out. There was a new sense of unity in the air as food and drink were being handed out. Ponies who might have clashed together and fought one another were now working side by side, putting everything back in order.
Flicker did not know what to make of the outcome and he did not know how he felt about the seditious dissidents—they needed to be brought to heel, and they had, but Flicker wasn’t certain if they were getting their due punishment. Of course, it wasn’t his place to punish them, but if it was… oh, if it was, what a glorious day that would be.
But that was neither here nor there and Flicker heaved a weary sigh. It was a wonder that nopony was killed, but there had been a few exceptional injuries, most of which had been caused by broken glass. Some had been chewed on by swarming rats and this day there had been a good reminder of the enemy that lurked below in the deep dark.
“You look tired,” Doctor Sterling said to Flicker and the doctor’s own voice sounded exhausted.
“I can keep going,” Flicker replied as he stood up and did his best to push past the slow, leaden feeling in his legs, which were more achy than he would ever admit.
“Good, I have a mission for you.” Doctor Sterling’s eyes glittered for a moment as a street lamp ignited and flooded the area with warm, yellow light. “Miss Pie is dead on her hooves. I need you to escort her back to headquarters. She’s inside the cafe right now, trying to recover from having multiple surges in the span of just a few days. She is having trouble even walking.”
“Oh.” Flicker’s reply was a tired gasp.
“She hasn’t had the sort of training that you’ve had to remain on your hooves even when you’re tired and she has hit the very end of what she is capable of this day.” Doctor Sterling’s ears splayed out sideways on his head and this caused his forelock to slip down over his left eyebrow. “When you return to headquarters, see that she is looked after. I am putting you in charge of her well being. Help her to recover, got it?”
“As you command,” Flicker replied, bowing his head, and not even realising that he had been duped into going home and staying there by Doctor Sterling. “I will escort Miss Pie safely home and see that she is looked after.”
Nodding, his motions slow and weary, the doctor added, “You know Mister Nicker, while you might not show much in the way of leadership qualities, there is something to be said for a pony that obeys orders. That is your strength and your weakness—”
“Weakness?” Flicker blurted out, his manners lapsing in his state of exhaustion.
“Yes, weakness,” Doctor Sterling continued, “not all orders are good ones and you’ll need to learn that some day. I suspect that it will be a very trying lesson for you. Your success hinges on taking orders from the right ponies.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I’m sure you don’t.” Doctor Sterling smiled and shook his head. “Take Miss Pie back to headquarters, Mister Nicker, and see that she is squared away. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to go look after Mister Waltz, I suspect that we are going to have a new field medic soon, which we have a desperate need for.”
With a nod, Flicker took off to do as he was told and headed for the cafe, which had become the impromptu base of operations for cleanup and recovery. Doctor Sterling watched him go, his silvery grey eyes flashing in the pale yellow glow of the streetlamps that pushed back the coming darkness.
The good doctor smiled and there was a look of unmistakable pride on his face as he did so.
Piper limped and dragged her hooves over the cobbles from her fatigue induced torpor. Her eyes were bloodshot and the base of her horn was visibly swollen. She was plucky though and determined to walk back to headquarters without being carried. Flicker found himself admiring her and her determination. She was soft now, but with time and training, she was going to be something special, he just knew it. It made him proud to know that he would have a part in helping her become the pony that she was meant to be.
In the back of Flicker’s mind, he found himself worrying over the troubling number of rats that had been called forth from below. It was something that was going to have to be dealt with sooner rather than later, and the sooner the better. It was Wicked’s problem to deal with though, as Wicked would know best.
Overhead, the first stars began to twinkle and it seemed that Princess Luna was eager to get the night started. Flicker saw the benefit in this, as many ponies went to bed the moment the sun went down and it was just one of many ways of clearing Canterlot so that the city could return to its relatively quiet, peaceful state.
Coming around the corner, Flicker saw a contingent of guards flocked around the Rat Catcher’s Guild. This surprised him a bit and he picked up his pace, concerned and worried that something might have happened. He felt a nagging sense of worry for Hennessy and his weary sense of exhaustion fled from him as he hurried to see what was going on.
As it turned out, his fears were unfounded. Hennessy was having an amicable conversation with a one Seville Orange, noteworthy reporter, friend of the royal family, and faithful companion of Prince Gosling… Prince Gosling, who was waiting for their return it seemed. Flicker was quite surprised to be greeted by the prince and his retinue, which included a nocturnal pegasus named Hush, a pegasus pony named Hotspur, and a dozen royal guard that weren’t introduced.
“A little birdy told me that you’d be coming back home,” Prince Gosling said as he waved one wing around. “That same little birdy tells me that I have you to thank for averting what was sure to be a nasty scene.”
“Oh, that was an accident,” Piper replied as she took a step backwards, her tail swaying from side to side. “It was his idea!” The filly pointed at Flicker.
“Kids, there is no accidents.” Prince Gosling’s Broncs accent was a bit thick and the pegasus prince looked worried. “No matter how it happened, or why it happened, a lot of good has come out of it.”
“Good?” Piper’s ears stood erect.
“Yeah, good.” Gosling nodded and waved both wings around as he gestured at the city around him. “I’ve already had an emissary from the bureaucrat’s union come and meet with me about an hour ago. The middle heads are going for a vote of no confidence for all of the upper-level leadership and then we’re going to work together.” The prince folded his wings to his sides, sighed, and looked Piper in the eye. “Today was a stunning reminder that we have a common enemy. I guess the exploding airships in the sky harbour wasn’t enough to get their attention, but today sure did. Today, it affected them. It left a lot of them quite shaken. Anyhoos, we’re going to try a little game of give and take.”
“Why work with the bureaucrats at all?” Flicker asked. “Why not just be rid of them?”
“‘Cause, we need them, kid, we need them. They keep the city running and they handle all of the administrative stuff… and provide a necessary system of checks and balances.” Gosling looked troubled for a moment. “A lot of the highest level leadership though, they was a bit too conservative, and they was keeping us in stasis. They didn’t feel that things were broken, so they didn’t see the point in trying to fix things.” Tossing his head from side to side, Gosling snorted. “The rep that came and spoke to me said that it was the sight of foals wearing riot armor that rattled her… she said the fact that those laws still existed was troubling, that times had most certainly changed, and hardly any of the laws had been changed to reflect that. See, the bureaucracy, when it’s working the way it is s’posed to, it changes the laws gradually over time according to the public need, but not too quick or too fast so that we don’t have civil unrest.”
“But at some point, they decided that what we have works, so why change it, right?” Wincing a little, Piper sat down on the grass on the edge of the sidewalk and looked at Prince Gosling with wide, curious eyes.
“Correct.” Gosling began tapping the edge of his hoof against the sidewalk, making soft little taps. “So, I am letting the bureaucrats go back to work and they’re going to be getting some new leadership. Today just sort of worked out, and I’m real thankful for that. I want all of yous, all threes of yous, to come and talk to me. Keep me informed of stuff. I don’t want to spy on your guild or anything, I just want your opinions and thoughts on stuff. I’m trying to give the youth of Equestria a voice so they don’t feel ignored.”
“We can keep you informed of stuff,” Flicker said to the prince, “and we would be honoured to do so.”
“Good, I’m glad to hear that.” Gosling let out a shrill, piercing whistle that made every ear around him perk. “Okay, pack up, yous mugs, we’ve gots to get going. I have other things to put back into order and other ponies I need to check on. Let’s go.”
“Calling me a mug, why, I oughta murderise ya, ya chowdahead!”
“Hotspur, so help me, I will buck your face into next Tuesday! Seville, get your sorry, no flying hiney into the chariot so we can go!”
“I feel like I’m luggage—”
“Yous is luggage, Mister Suitcase Face, now get in the chariot! and shuddup!”
Appalled, scandalised even, Flicker wondered how anything got done. This was not the behaviour he expected from the royal prince and his retinue. His ears drooped as the wisecracking and insults continued, and he was dismayed when he heard Piper giggling. This wasn’t funny, not at all, nothing about this held even a single iota of humour.
“Tellin’ me to ride in a chariot, your mother rides mustaches, Hotspur!”
“What? My mother is a saint! Yous dirty, no good, good for nothing—”
Squeezing his eyes shut, Flicker tried to block out the sounds of the vile words coming out of the mouth of Hotspur, and he was going to have a chat with Piper about this, explaining to her all of the different reasons of why this was wrong and nothing to laugh at. With the fluttering of wings and the hurling of a disparaging, awful tribalist slur that could only be described as preening the wings of your own mother, they were gone. Flicker listened to the sounds of the hooting and hollering as it grew faint and was glad for a return to decency.
“The prince is awesome! I had no idea! He’s amazing!” Piper let out a fillyish squeal and her head bobbed up and down.
Exasperated, Flicker let out an enervated, defeated sigh. There would be no reaching her on this issue, no getting her to see his way, no means to make her understand that this was wrong.
“I’m powerful relieved to see y’all again,” Hennessy said, his voice intruding upon Flicker’s thoughts. “I was scared, seeing all the smoke rising up in the distance. It’s been a long day for me, I helped to scrub the floors and clean the place up. Let’s get you inside, it looks like it’s been a long day for you two as well, Both of y’all stink like smoke and death… phew!”
“I can’t seem to smell myself,” Piper replied.
“You don’t want to.” Hennessy’s muzzle crinkled and he backed up a few steps. “I was gonna hug ya, but I done changed my mind… ugh!”
“Oh, come on, Hennessy, give me a hug!” Piper got up in on her hooves, wobbled for a moment, and then advanced on the earth pony colt.
“Naw, I’d rather not, you has a powerful stank!” And with that, Hennessy bolted, lept up the stairs, and vanished through the front door, his hooves clattering over the stone.
Flicker let out a grateful sigh, it was good to be home again after a long day.
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Hell yeh boii
No.
7879232
Mega-spoiler hidden below.
The next story in the series is called The Underwatch.
About time that enough of the Bureaucrats realized that their bosses have not been doing their actual jobs for a long ass time and need to replace them. Willing to bet whenever the higher ups stepped down to retire they chose those who would keep up the status quo to replace them for the last several hundred years and no one questioned it until they saw foals in the militia to help quell and angry mob.
No. I will not consider this story over until we see the climatic final battle against the white and furry abomination Fluttershy keeps in her cottage ironically named Angel Bunny.
I expect Flicker to bring a giant robot with a skyscraper sized chainsaw.
Or not.
In all honesty, while I can't say I've enjoyed all of the story and you've done some things with the characters and plot that I just don't quite agree with, it has been, overall, good.
7879242
In this instance, we see conservatism as a form of social decay.
This statement is not a crack at conservatives.
This effect has been happening long before America even became a country. With conservatism, there is an integrated element of austerity and a desire for stasis. Once you've achieved what works, there is no desire to change it at all, but to conserve societal resources. Game theory kicks in and you get fringe elements that will always try to make things a little leaner as a form of competition, such as the accountant that figures out how to save a fraction of a cent, which seems paltry, but adds up in a large enough budget. With these types, the end goal is to always trim, to cut away, to hold back, restrict, and withhold.
Eventually, this effect strangles society and the effect is actually known as social decay.
For an excellent case study on this effect, see Oliver Cromwell.
As an aside, we need conservatism. We just need it in small doses as part of a series of checks and balances. Like anything else, we cannot let it get out of control, or as history has shown, it will utterly destroy a society, once it strangles all form of growth to achieve stasis with the status quo.
7879261
It doesn't matter if the boot on your neck comes from the Right or the Left, you just want it off your neck.
7879294
This is true.
You are definitely getting better at ensuring that the stories have an end lately :P
7879236
Oh I thought you meant like the end end, and Flicker has far too much development for that.
7879335
People get scared if a hundred chapters are exceeded for some reason, and they freak out.
7879340 *freaks out*
All's well that ends in a cooperative, mass slaughter of rats. Or something like that. Certainly better than an uncooperative, mass slaughter of ponies, at least.
Oooo, an interview with Gosling and his company of stooges.
That ties in nicely with Gosling's ongoing storyline.
Neat.
7879377
See, like this guy here.
img02.deviantart.net/b744/i/2015/178/4/4/twilight_sparkle_freakout__by_soarinarts-d8z15nk.png
7879340
*This Jelly bean's longest novel is 2.3~ million words and 920+ chapters and incomplete*
I wonder why?
One set of mysteries raised, some seeds planted, and we'll see how they grow.
Bit of a typo there.
God I love Gosling. He was actually a bit boring for a bit in his initial story.
And then he jumped in a pong :quack:
7879433
She sells sea shells by the sea shore.
Hopefully not Piper's pong!?
7879384 img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121206092410/mlpfanart/images/a/ad/Bon_Bon_and_Lyra_%28shooting%29.gif
4.bp.blogspot.com/-lkE-ItZrQbE/UaWIa2FmtnI/AAAAAAAAJVk/JOncH6Ns80k/s400/MLPwordsstoppedworkinggif.gif
7879340
For the fandom's consideration: Kudzu's Paradox- While one almost always wants more in terms of story, and an end is desired for closure's sake. The reader simultaneously wants a grand finale and a continuation.
In other news, every ten chapters after 50 results in an order of magnitude more in a story remaining unfinished. The only known exception to this rule is PTSFFF, in which you've stated a near end for that leg of the journey.
7879525
20 to 30 chapters left on that one. That's a guess. But we rapidly approach the endgame there.
I grossly miscalculated how long it was at the beginning.
7879529
Well you did have: all those new/reimagined characters to introduce. Tie up a few things from previous stories, lay the ground work for the next section, and get us to fall in love with the adorkable dynamite that is Sumac.
7879232 you must be new to Kudz, soon = a lot more chapters then you might think, end = one ends the next begins... it's not the end of lord murder and his gang
7879340 i still wait for my 1K chase chapter....
My reaction in a nutshell;
Your weekly reminder that without good mentors and even better friends, Flicker could very well end up a villain.
7879950
And not just any villain, but a villain that believes down in his heart that he is doing right by restoring order and making things right.
He would do so much wrong out of a misguided sense to do good.
What?! The end? There is gonna be way more about Flicker, Piper and Hennessy right? I'm far too emotionally invested in these characters for the story to end. All this madness does raise a question though, has anyone checked on Rat Bastard?
This was delightful Kudzu. Thank you so much~
7880213 Sorta like Handsome Jack in Borderlands, who wants to bring Law and Order to Pandora, but goes about implementing it, by force. Squashing freedom, and thus causing more push back and chaos, in his efforts to suppress and control.
Plot twist, they were working for the rats the whole time.
vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/jjba/images/0/07/Pluck.png/revision/latest?cb=20131018234231
pfah. Gosling and d'ose mugs more like it
best mugs all around 
Thanks for the awesome chapter Kudzu, I missed this story
7887278 I just meant it as a joke. Like to say that everyone gets together with Flicker.
7888426
Oh.
See, I want to avoid people having the wrong ideas, as people can get bent out of shape when they think that something is going to happen that they don't like.
And there is a huge undercurrent on both sides of this issue with people who have demands.
It worries me and I try to deal with the issue when it pops up, so everything remains as clear as possible. The outcome was revealed before this story even started to make certain that people did not go into this with expectations, which would be crushed and then cause all sorts of needless drama.
I hope this makes sense.
From the 900 ch. and counting behemoth to all these split up monsters.
Ih how far we have have come.
7882259
a rubber ducky surrounded by coffee mugs on a mahogany table.
*see's another 20 chapters*
Hmmmmm......
9246080
"the tale grew in the telling"
J.R.R.Tolkein