Spud was plagued by a growing sense of annoyance. The not-terribly-bright equine creatures sharing his room were in a less than pleasant mood. The little female with the squeaky voice and the voracious need to hug appeared as though she was on the verge of tears, as if somekitty had smacked her in the face with a mackerel, or perhaps a sturgeon. The Ratkiller, the smart one of the group, the one that understood the danger, he was brooding, but he was prone to brooding. The Ratkiller’s cold indifference and brooding nature almost made him a cat… almost. The soft one was laying in his bunk, staring up at the ceiling.
At least the soft one had some common sense. Laying down was smart, there was no sense in expending any energy unless one absolutely had to. The little female? She was pacing the room and it was driving him to distraction. He had tried tripping her, getting under her hooves, to make her lay down on the floor and save energy, but she had just lifted him up and out of the way with her magic.
Harrumph.
The hyper-intelligent feline figured out that it was up to him; he was going to have to give a rousing speech and inspire his foolish equine associates. He would have to lift their fragile spirits and return a spring to their steps. Sitting down on the table where the Ratkiller was reading a book, Spud yowled once to clear his throat, and then he began to orate in his fine feline voice:
“Hearken unto me, my boon companions, and listen well! The dreadful rodent menace down the dark depths grows ever stronger and we do not have the luxury of self-pity or self-doubt! We must be strong, we must resist their machinations, for they wish to injure our morale! We are not mice! We do not cower! We are not mewling kittens who cling to a teat, no, we are roaring lions! Well, technically, three of you are silly horse creatures, but my point still stands! The rodent invaders might have scored a victory, but we are noble! We are valiant! We have greatness! And for certain it is us who shall win the war!”
“Well said, Spud,” replied the Ratkiller, also known as Flicker.
“All he did was meow once,” the whining little female said as she shook her head. “I swear, sometimes, Flicker, I worry about you. I feel as though I am going stir crazy. How is that studying going along for your candle exam?”
Spud gave an impatient yowl and wondered how miniscule equines could be so stupid. They would be nothing without cats to rule them, guide them, and keep them civilised. No doubt, they would be standing out in some field someplace, eating grass, and getting rained on. Spud snorted in disgust and wondered why he bothered.
“I think I’m going to be okay, but I just need to practice a few times.”
Doctor Sterling seemed older somehow. His silvery grey mane somehow looked a little greyer, his eyes were bloodshot, and the crows feet in the corners of his eyes were far more pronounced than usual. In Flicker’s eyes, the doctor had aged by a decade or more. It looked as though Piper noticed it too, she was staring at him, and Flicker, with a turn of his head, studied her for a moment, so that he might gage her reaction.
“You’ve been requested for a job,” Doctor Sterling said to Flicker in a dry, somewhat raspy voice that sounded as though he had been shouting—or perhaps crying. “You’ve healed up a good bit and I think you’ll be able to do it. The harbourmaster needs another quarantined ship cleared. He has specifically asked that you do it and is willing to offer a little compensation.”
“Why me?” Flicker asked.
Doctor Sterling shuffled on his hooves for a time before he replied, “You cleaned up well and he appreciates that. You left behind a well cleaned ship after your last job when you took your test. A clean ship makes him look good, as it shows that he seeks out competent help. Alas, there have been those within our ranks that have disappointed him.”
Flicker thought of Sunfire Rondache, but said nothing about him. Instead, he had this to say, “The cleaning is just part of the job. I did my best and I am glad that my efforts are appreciated. I can clear out an infested ship tomorrow, that should be no trouble at all.”
“Miss Pie, Mister Walker, you’ll be coming with us. I want the two of you to meet the harbourmaster. It is vital that we maintain a good rapport with him. Having Flicker do this job is a step in the right direction in establishing a good working relationship with him.”
“Wait, Sunfire did he—”
“We do not speak ill of the dead,” the doctor said, making a gentle interruption.
Piper’s mouth opened to say more, but then she thought better of it. She stood there, no longer pacing, frozen and in silence. She shifted from one side to the other, left to right and then back again. Her mouth moved again, her eyes blinked, and then she asked, “How is the other apprentice?”
“Beryl… his life hangs by a thread. Princess Cadance is coming so that she might have a chance to practice her skill. Radiant Hope should arrive by the morn as well. His injuries are extensive and gruesome… and represent the sort of challenge that would test the skill of any healer.” Doctor Sterling hung his head and his eyes looked troubled. “I can detect trauma… I am so very skilled at that, I can even find hairline fractures that x-rays can miss… but alas, I do not have the ability to magically mend flesh. What I wouldn’t give for the ability to do so.”
At the mention of her name, Flicker’s mind recalled Radiant Hope. He had met her just once, her and her strange, quiet companion, whom she called her shadow. Her body guard perhaps? Friend? More than friend? Her companion had been covered in a grey cloak the entire time and was quite mysterious. Radiant Hope had the most miraculous ability to heal, and he had met her at the Weeping Sister Hospital.
She never stayed in one place long, she was always coming and going, and had to be. A healer, a rare gift, there were so many looking for a cure and so few capable of curing. Being in one spot for too long tended to cause mobs of angry ponies who demanded her skills as a healer, believing themselves entitled to her gift. She was a walking, talking, breathing, sometimes singing panacea.
Flicker couldn’t imagine being so hounded.
“Be well rested tomorrow. We’ll start early. I want all of you bright eyed and bushy tailed.” The doctor did not wait for a reply, but turned about and headed for the door. “I shall be in my personal quarters here at the guild if any of you need me. “I would suggest turning in early.”
And then, the doctor was gone.
The next morning…
It was a matter of going through the motions on difficult mornings like this one. This particular breakfast was a Canterlot favourite—savoury oatmeal; soy nuts with sautéd onions, mushrooms, rosemary, and thyme. Flicker had cracked two fresh eggs into his and stirred well. His companions hesitated, savoury oatmeal was unknown to them, and Canterlot cuisine in general made them both raise their eyebrows on occasion.
There was something in the air of the guild, something palpable, a feeling of grief and rage. Deaths were uncommon, but they did happen. More apprentices died from training accidents than rats though. Alchemical explosions were a common way to go, or suffering fatal equipment failure, which was typically the end result of being sloppy. Being careless would get you dead.
Piper, sighing, stirred two eggs into her oatmeal, doing as Flicker did, and she stared off into space as her spoon went round and round. Flicker broke two eggs into Hennessy’s oatmeal and gave it a quick stir with a spoon. Hennessy eyeballed the mess of strange oats in his bowl, and after shrugging, he tried some.
“Oh, that’s good… silky,” the colt murmured and then Hennessy began to eat in earnest.
“Flicker, I’m scared,” Piper blurted out. “I keep thinking about quitting and going home to my parents… but I don’t want to quit! I want to keep going! But I can’t stop thinking about it even though I want to and I feel so conflicted. It’s tearing me apart inside!”
Looking up from his oatmeal, Flicker saw tears in Piper’s eyes. He sat there, chewing, looking at Piper, and then he crammed another spoonful of breakfast into his mouth. “Piper, this is a hard life,” he said around a mouthful of savoury oatmeal, “and it isn’t for everypony.”
“I know.” Piper tried a bite of her breakfast, then nodded. “Hey, this is rather good.”
The filly hunched over the table and began to shovel in her breakfast, knowing that time was limited. As she gobbled it down, her cheeks bulged, and she had a thoughtful expression upon her face as she stared at Flicker. After swallowing, she paused her eating and said, “Last night I had a bad dream about the rats swarming me. It was really bad… in the dream, they crawled up my hind legs and then started gnawing their way inside of me just under my tail, if you get my meaning.” Grimacing, Piper returned to eating and stared down into her bowl.
Almost choking, Hennessy began to cough as he lifted his head away from his bowl. He sputtered, oatmeal and runny egg dribbled down his chin, and he turned to look at Piper. “Are you okay? Land sakes, why didn’t you wake one of us up after you went through that?”
Groaning, Piper swallowed, sucked in a deep breath, then replied, “Spud came and comforted me after I woke up. He slept with me and his purring made me feel better.” Having responded, she began eating again, scooping up great dripping spoonfuls of oatmeal, and making a mess on her chin.
Pushing aside his empty bowl, Flicker sat back in his seat and let out a stifled belch. He thought about the spider-hag, which he couldn’t talk about, and the rabid bear. Both had almost been the death of him. Things got a little exciting with those two. It dawned on Flicker that he was ten years old—a decade—and he had his whole life ahead of him. His eyes went vacant and he stared off into nothing.
He was okay with that, he realised after zoning out for almost a full minute. He wasn’t too keen on any spider-related encounters, no doubt he would run off screaming again, as much as it pained him to admit it, but that is why he had Piper and Hennessy around. Lifting his head, he looked at his companions, who were still eating, and he tried to think of what to say.
“I need both of you.” Flicker did not say why, or that he needed them to deal with spiders, no, saying that he needed them was enough. He could let them arrive at their own conclusions as to why he needed them, they could derive their own value from his words. It felt like he had more to say though, so he added, “I can’t do this without you.”
Which was true in a technical sense as well as a practical sense.
“I’m flattered,” Piper replied around a mouthful of oatmeal.
“I think I need you more.” Hennessy’s words were faint, breathed more than spoken, and he stared down into his oatmeal. “You’ve been just the sort of friend I’ve needed. When you took me to the Chapel of Night that night after my Ma arrived… I… well… I dunno.” The colt’s words trailed off and he stuck his muzzle back down into his bowl to finish off his breakfast.
Piper’s face reddened and she dropped her head as her ears also drooped. “I can talk to the two of you about anything, right?”
Not seeing the harm in doing so, Flicker nodded.
“Well, last night, when that dream happened, when the rats gnawed their way inside of me and started chewing on me between my legs, I climaxed—”
Hennessy choked on his oatmeal, and then snorted some up his nose when he tried to suck in some much needed air with his mouth being clogged with oatmeal. It was the primary danger of eating the earth pony way. Piper, still blushing, her face now purple, whacked Hennessy on the back with her telekinesis and he began coughing.
“It was a really scary dream,” Piper said, almost whining, “and it isn’t the sort of thing a filly my age should be… well, you know, it isn’t the sort of thing a filly my age should be aroused about. I’m really torn up about it, and I don’t have anypony to talk to. Even if I went home, I couldn’t talk to my mother about it, and I know it. She’d cover up her ears and start shouting ‘Tralalalalalala!’ until I shut up about it. I don’t know what’s normal for a filly my age to experience and I’m scared.”
Hennessy let out a whoop, coughed a bit more, and then managed to wheeze out a few words. “I’m over here ‘bout to cough up a lung or two, and Flicker looks fine, yes he does. He heard about a filly getting the shivers from a dream about rats eating her filly parts, and not one muscle twitched. How?”
Flicker shrugged, not knowing. He was bothered by it, but he was also disconnected from it. It would probably sink in later and he would be bothered by it then—but as for now—he didn’t know how to react. Stoicism or dull senses? He couldn’t decide.
“Well, my balls has done moved north and I think I can feel them in my throat now.” Hennessy coughed once more and then began to wipe his muzzle with his foreleg. He squirmed in his chair, avoiding looking at Piper, and not looking at Flicker either. The colt groaned and placed a front hoof between his legs to comfort himself.
“I’m really sorry I brought this up—”
“Don’t be sorry,” Flicker commanded, his voice now hard. He turned his head to look at Piper, his hard, blank stare made her squirm. “We are your brothers and your guildmates. I have been tasked with your wellbeing and protection. That includes helping you out if I can if you have a troubling dream. I don’t know what I could do for you, but I can listen, and if you wake up troubled in the night, I can sit with you until the fear subsides.”
“Thank you.” Piper looked Flicker in the eye for a second, then looked away. “That makes everything better, actually. I think I’ll be able to sort myself out now and if I need to talk to you… I will. Knick-Knack is a lucky filly to have you as a brother… and I feel pretty lucky to have you as a friend.”
Flicker nodded, his expression stony and hard. “Finish up, we have work to do. We’ve lollygagged long enough…”