Aftermath · 2:47am Mar 23rd, 2017
The hospital room was dim, but not dark. Flicker lay in the bed, groggy, with Spud curled up in a ball beside him. Some kind soul had stitched his cat back together and had allowed him to stay. At the foot of the bed was a table, and upon the table, two weapons rested. One was Heartfinder, the other was Doctor Sterling’s silver rapier. Both had somehow survived the explosion, but it wasn’t all that surprising, as they were magical weapons.
Flicker could now feel his back half, and wished that he couldn’t. Everything from the middle of his spine downward throbbed in the most unpleasant way imaginable, due to his bruised and swollen spinal cord. His injuries were extensive, and Flicker couldn’t remember them all. The only thing he knew was, he should be dead. Ponies weren’t supposed to survive in his state.
Worse than the pain, there had been no news. No nothing. Just a few doctors and nurses here and there, and nopony told him anything at all. There was no sign of his parents. Drugged as he was, he couldn’t sleep, and his keen sense of worry gnawed at his consciousness. Lifting a foreleg, he gave Spud a gentle nudge on a place that he hoped wasn’t too bad off.
“You look like you had a rough day, Spud.” Flicker’s voice was gritty and his damaged larynx ached.
“Meow.” Spud’s response sounded half-awake, and the mutant cat was clearly in considerable pain.
“I’m sorry, Spud, go back to sleep.”
Hearing a click from the door, Flicker’s magic wrapped around the two naked blades at the end of the bed, on the table. The scabbards were nowhere to be found. At the moment, Flicker was just a bit paranoid, and who could blame him? Both of the silver weapons glowed with a faint light, which reflected in Flicker’s glassy-eyed stare.
“Flicker… put those down. I really don’t want to get stabbed any more today.”
Squinting, Flicker’s blurry vision made out White Pepper, one of his teachers, his instructors, one of his trusted masters. The two weapons clattered back down to the table and clanged against one another. The colt watched as Mister Pepper approached his bed, and the stallion looked pretty bad off. His head was covered in bandages, obscuring one eye and one ear. Around his neck was a thick bandage, and all four of his legs were wrapped in gauze as well.
“I’m doing my rounds… checking on what’s left of my students,” Mister Pepper said, and his voice cracked from grief. “Most of ‘em aren’t expected to make it through the night.”
“Mister Pepper—”
“Call me White, Son.”
“White…” The familiarity was comforting for Flicker. He reached out his hoof as the older stallion approached his bed and it came to rest against Mister Pepper’s shoulder. “How bad was it? How many of us are left?”
“Son, you don’t want to know that right now,” Mister Pepper replied.
“I need to know,” Flicker begged, sounding very much like a colt requesting ice cream.
“As of right now, twenty six students, including you, survive, but like I said, most aren’t expected to make it through the night.” Mister Pepper’s voice became a weak, pained whisper. “Aren’t many of us left at the moment. Most of the masters have been killed. Wicked’s in a bad way, he’s gonna live, but he’s not gonna be the same. As for Mister Balister…” the words trailed off with an agonised gasp.
“What about him?”
“He refused Wicked’s order to give ground and instead chose to buy time for his students.” Mister White’s one visible eye blinked a few times. “The rats carved him apart and burned him with spellfire. The Rat Bastard… he got real smart and he led the attack inside our guild.”
“Is he dead?” Flicker asked.
“Mister Balister?” White Pepper winced. “No, but he should be. A long time ago, he donated his body to science so they could study long term effects of being exposed to disease and hardship. Right now, they’re rebuilding what’s left of him, the bloody scraps picked up off the floor. I don’t know how he lived.”
Flicker closed his eyes, went limp, and sunk down into his pillow. He didn’t know how to take this news, and so he changed the subject. “Any word on Piper and Hennessy?”
“Hennessy is back in surgery. He’s expected to live, but it’ll be a while before he recovers. If he hadn’t been rescued when he was… you might’ve lost your friend, Flicker.” White Pepper blinked a few times, then shook his head. “Piper is sleeping. They’re not sure about her odds of making it through the night. She’s been stabbed multiple times, and the poison did a lot of damage to her organs. Doctor told me her liver will never be the same, and she’ll lack some digestive enzymes she needs.”
“She’ll be fine.” Flicker’s words didn’t comfort him as much as he hoped and he gritted his teeth because how strong the throbbing was in the lower half of his body.
“I hope you are right, Flicker.” White Pepper let out a weary sigh. “I’d like to stay, but I must make my rounds. I must look after what few students I have left.”
Opening his eyes, Flicker looked at the white and grey-dappled stallion beside his bed. “You should be in bed, White.”
“No,” Mister Pepper replied. “No, I’m the only one who can get out of bed. I must do my rounds…”
It's still pretty raw. Yes, I know it isn't edited. That is why this is called a work in progress. But I thought I'd share what was available. Because. Reasons. Discuss. This might get posted later tonight, I don't know. Been writing for hours and I'm kinda tired, and my hands are real achy because of the weather change.
If you don't mind me asking, is Flicker in love with Piper?
4468569
No, but he loves Piper.
Deep they need more recruits and hlp.
Jeez.
4468588
Of course! This explains everything about Ballister!
He's a mummy!
Ratmageddon is soon upon us, rejoice for it will be glorious
by the way, say hello to my little rat
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4468569
Figured he views Piper as another sister. She may not be blood but she is family. She is a lot like him--a downright bloodthirsty pony who like him in his first year in the guild is trying to make herself harder. At the same time she is his responsibility as he was tasked on his first day to protect her and she also looks to him as a mentor figure. She is also a close friend who he trusts the opinion of who has been with him on more of his more defining moments in her few months with him than any pony else still living. She is as much family or more than his actual blood family.
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The story is all but over. The good guys lost.
So, I don't know why I keep reading these snippets, but they've basically convinced me to never read The Mask Makes the Pony. It is just way too dark for my tastes. Sorry, that's just how I feel. I'm sure the story is good, and I hope the people reading it really enjoyed it. I spoke with you about this sort of thing before. I just can't bring myself to get invested in characters only to have them torn apart by rats later on. Including minors, if I read it correctly. And adorable ponies, to boot. Just thinking about it is making me sick to my stomach.
This will be problematic as I'm sure super-important stuff happens here. Something about Grogar using rats. Meh, I'll browse the tvtropes page, see what I can piece together. I notice the CMC are tagged in this story. I don't suppose I can convince a passing commenter to give me a general gist of what they've been up to, can I? I've been curious about them, since they're basically absent from every story I've read, except maybe a passing cameo.
I look forward to the new Swans story. I'll see you there.
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For some reason, I was thinking about this today, and wanted to comment on it. As much as I love Twilight's development in The Quesadilla Conquest, I was slightly disappointed in that she and Seville would have something romantic between them. Only slightly, mind you, and only because I really like the idea of a male and female having a close friendship with no romance involved. Tarnish's relationship with Octavia and Vinyl is slightly more complicated than that, or at least that's how I read it. It's nice to know that such a relationship exists.
Mind you, I say this knowing next to nothing about Flicker or Piper. My apologies if I've misinterpreted something.