//------------------------------// // Chapter 52 // Story: The Mask Makes the Pony // by kudzuhaiku //------------------------------// It was difficult to study. Quite by accident, Flicker had noticed something about Hennessy, and now, he couldn’t unsee it. Hennessy had… curves. The colt was almost hourglass shaped when viewed from behind while he was sitting down. His barrel was wide, his waist narrowed, and his hips widened again. The part of Flicker’s brain that suggested reason and logic for why things were the way they were made a quiet mention that the narrowing of Hennessy’s waist was for reasons of grip with the forelegs—but Flicker’s brain could not complete that thought, because that would be inappropriate. The censorship division of his brain went on high alert and announced general quarters. But yes, Hennessy was very grippable, and his brain left it at that. With a little food, a little exercise, and a bit of care, Hennessy would fill out a bit more and no doubt, with his sleek and slender middle, there would be good grip to be had. For Flicker, this observation was new and he couldn’t unsee it, which caused the censorship division in his brain no end of worry. Even worse, Flicker was aware that he was staring and he did nothing to stop it, he just kept ogling Hennessy without a care in the world. Another part of his mind kicked in, the sorting aspect of his mind, which now had the task of figuring out where Hennessy fit in and where all feelings, thoughts, and observations involving Hennessy needed to be filed. As a new office formed in Flicker’s mind, the Ministry of Hennessy Related Affairs, the wheels of his brain turned just a little bit slower as this new section formed. When Hennessy giggled, Flicker’s ears perked, and the sound was sorted away in the new ministry under “Sounds of Happiness, Volume One.” There was a knock from the door—Flicker’s whole body tensed—for some reason it felt like he had been caught doing something wrong—and when the door opened, he saw Asterius the minotaur enter. She stood in the doorway, looking at Piper and Hennessy, and after a time, she came forward, one hand raised. When she was close to Hennessy, she bent over a bit, extended her hand, and Flicker heard her say, “Hold still, I have to check and see if your button works.” Then, without a further ado, her pointer finger extended, she pressed the tip of said finger into the soft, fleshy pad of Hennessy’s snoot, which caused Hennessy’s eyes to become crossed. “It works,” Asterius remarked, and she applied light pressure, poking Hennessy once more. “The three of you are needed in Wicked’s office at once. Do hurry.” Then, without warning, the minotaur grabbed Hennessy’s ear, pinched it between her thumb and forefinger, and then gave it a gentle tug, indulging herself in the soft velvetiness of it as she allowed it to slip from her grip in a slow, measured manner. Hennessy’s hind hoof began thumping against the floor, forming a staccato tattoo of sound as it clopped against the stone tile. Flicker found the sight endearing, but he had no visible outward reaction. Flicker’s mind filed this away under “Hennessy Being Adorable, Volume One.” Closing his book, he pulled himself out of his bunk. When Flicker pushed open the door to Wicked’s office, he saw a flash of white, a tall figure stood against the far wall, and Flicker was hardly even inside the door when he went prostrate against the floor. There she was, beautiful and perfect. She was smiling, she looked serene, and she was… pregnant. Lifting his head just a little, he looked at the graceful swell of her belly. He wasn’t worthy. Closing his eyes, he lay there as Piper and Hennessy stepped over him to come inside of the room. He heard a whooshy sigh from Wicked, a snort from Doctor Sterling, and then, he heard the perfect, flawless voice of the Goddess say, “Get up, faithful servant.” Flicker was torn. On one hoof, it was proper to bow—on the other hoof, he had been given an order. The need to obey was strong so Flicker got up onto his hooves, but assumed a very servile position—he knew his place—and he kept his head and his ears down in a submissive manner. “I seem to have a brave and devoted knight in my service,” Princess Celestia said, sounding very much amused, but not patronising in the slightest. No, she sounded sincere and warm. The big mare’s feathers fluffed out a bit and a look of discomfort crossed her face. It passed with the same suddenness as it had arrived with and she smiled once more as she drew in a deep breath through her nostrils. “I have come here this day to reward two very brave unicorns—” Hearing these words, Flicker felt his heart soar, he lived to serve. “—two very brave unicorns who took great risks to save a friend.” The princess paused for a moment, her horn glowed with golden light, and she pulled two small boxes from the saddlebags of a nearby guard. She put these down upon Wicked’s desk and opened up the lids on both of them. “I have two medals here, Clover’s Blessing, a reward for the exceptional use of magic under the most trying of circumstances, and usually given for saving a life when your own is at risk.” The big mare took a step forwards, then gestured at both Doctor Sterling and Piper. “Lord Sterling Shoe… Piping Hot Pie… what you did this day was perhaps one of the most difficult things to do with magic. Saving Flicker’s life”—the white alicorn’s eyes darted to glance over in Flicker’s direction—“with the use of your magic was an exceptional feat. The fact that you saved him, and did not crush him, it speaks volumes about your magical prowess and skill. I am impressed.” Piper tried to say something, but all that came out was a squeak. She stood still, so very still as Princess Celestia lifted out a small silver four leaf clover hung from a long green silken cord. With a majestic nod of her head, Princess Celestia slipped the green silken cord over Piper’s neck and allowed the medal to fall into place around the filly’s neck. She did the same for Doctor Sterling, and the good doctor bowed his head a little, bending his proud and noble neck for the princess as she slipped the medal over his head. Doctor Sterling, with tears in his eyes, nodded and went rigid as the medal fell into place around his neck. “It isn’t very often that I get to give these out.” Princess Celestia held her head high and she beamed, her smile lit up the room like the sun and her perfect white teeth were visible. “They require such dangerous circumstances to even qualify for… I fear with the war and Grogar’s rising power, I will be awarding quite a few of these in the days to come.” Again, Piper tried to speak, but all that came out was a squeak. “As for you, my brave and devoted servant”—Princess Celestia turned her whole body to face Flicker—“you did very well this day. You have shown exceptional valour and have shown courage in trying circumstances. I commend you!” And with that, Princess Celestia reached out one wing, extending it fully, and she patted Flicker on the head. Flicker, touched by the very object of his fanatical, overzealous devotion, went still as his brain tried to register what had just happened. Her feathers were warm like a ray of sunshine, downy soft, and perfect. In the depths of his mind, an alarm klaxon went off, blaring out “AWOOGA!” noises in his brain. All vital functions were suspended as his mind tried to comprehend that he had just been patted on the head by one of his beloved Goddesses. His eyes became glassy, almost tearful, and the most wonderful sensation of lightheadedness settled in. When faced with such a mind-blowing revelation, Flicker did the only thing a fanatical zealot who had forgotten how to breathe could do in this situation. He fainted. “You fainted,” Hennessy teased as he gave Flicker a grin. “I did not!” Flicker, feeling petulant and sulky, suffered quite a foalish reaction to everything that had just taken place. Unable to do much else and unable to muster up a murderous stare at Hennessy, he just sat there on the floor, next to the table, with his ears pinned back against his skull as he seethed. “You did,” Hennessy retorted, and then the colt began to chuckle. What made everything even worse was that Princess Celestia was gone. She had left while he was out. Eyes narrowing, Flicker let out a snort that sounded like a constipated locomotive flirting with a nearsighted minotaur and trying to get its attention. “At least she left you a lovely gift,” Piper said in a voice that was far too chirpy for Flicker’s mood. “Do you mind if I have a peek into your new spellbook?” Glowering, Flicker did not respond, but his eyes darted down to the book on the table. Dangerous Undead and how to Vapourise Them. Celestia the Burning One, Slayer, Saintfire, Bane of the Undead, She of the Righteous Fury, First Era to Present. It seemed that he was part of a prestigious club now, one that had very few living members. Doctor Fancy Fiasco… Princess Celestia… and himself. “I’m feeling very proud of myself at the moment,” Piper announced as she lifted her head a little higher. “I don’t know if I deserve it though. Doctor Sterling did the hard catch, the catch I made pales by comparison… but I could feel that I had almost turned you into Lord Death of Murder Mountain marmalade.” “Oh, shut up,” Flicker grumbled. “What?” Piper, fearless, leaned over the table and gave Flicker a good stare as her ears angled forwards in an aggressive manner. “Don’t sell yourself short. It disgusts me. What you did was impressive and for you to think that it is somehow less impressive than what Doctor Sterling did, that’s just pathetic and stupid.” Flicker’s ears stood up and pivoted forwards. “You did what you did without the years of experience that Doctor Sterling had and all of his extensive magical schooling. So shut up.” “Well, I… well, I hadn’t thought of it that way—” “Spend more time thinking, less time saying stupid stuff.” Piper did her best to try one of Flicker’s menacing, soul withering glowers, but failed. All she managed to do was look adorably angry, contentiously cute, and Hennessy began snickering. Reaching over, she gave Hennessy a light slap on the foreleg with her hoof, and then returned to trying to stare Flicker down, which wasn’t working out very well. “Oh, you are impossible!” Piper blurted out as her ears drooped in submission. “Even worse, I find that I can’t be angry with you, because you’re right. I’m hating you just a little bit right now, just so you know.” Flicker shrugged. “I wonder how my Ma is doing.” Hennessy’s smile vanished and the earth pony colt’s mood made an abrupt shift. Sitting on his haunches, the colt tapped his two front hooves together while staring down at them. “I’m gonna have her cured… I think… and if she comes out and messes up, I s’pose I’ll have her put right back in.” “You’d do that?” Piper asked, her voice a strained, tight whisper. “I dunno… if I had to… I thought I was okay with leaving my family behind, but I ain’t.” Hennessy’s eyes became troubled. “Today got me thinking. With everything exploding and such, I thought about Flicker’s family and how they might take the news of him dying. I sorta thought that it might be right for me to be the one that tells them. And that got me thinking, I want family. Just not the one I had. But if I can save my Ma, I think I might be happy with that.” “That… is quite a thought.” Piper’s ears perked up for a moment, then fell, then sort of half-rose. “If something was to happen to me… I’d appreciate it if it was one of you that told my parents. You both are starting to know me, to really know me, and you’d be able to talk to them about me… maybe comfort them.” After a few seconds she added, “It’s like Princess Celestia said. We’re at war and bad things happen in war.” “While you were out, Princess Celestia told Wicked that she wants Ponyville purged. I think we’ll be taking a trip soon.” Hennessy let out a sigh and rested his front hooves on the table. “I wonder what that will be like.” “Easier with Piper.” Flicker’s brows crinkled a bit and a few fine wrinkles appeared in the corners of his eyes as he began thinking. “There are spells for summoning rats, but those are nothing like what you are capable of, Piper. We’ll be able to draw the rats out of ponies’ houses and do full scale extermination. The guild’s cats will probably get involved. We’ll work under the cover of night and by dawn, we’ll be gone, and nopony will even know that we were there.” “Summoning spells?” Piper asked. “They’re not very strong… I’ve seen Doctor Sterling use them… the rats tend to resist a bit and it only affects a few at a time. Wicked’s candles are useful for drawing in rats, but the fumes have to be able to reach them. Your talent calls them out in droves. You were born to do this job.” Flicker’s confident assurance left no room for doubt in his mind. “Just like you,” Piper whispered as she nodded in agreement.