Mortality

by Aceofgods

Workday

Chapter 6: Workday

With a bandage over his head and a soft smile on his face, Ace absentmindedly cleaned the counter of the simple shop with a warm, wet cloth. A day had passed after he struck his head, the sudden blow doing more good than harm as it returned his memories.

After the unidentified filly had barreled into him, his memories had begun returning… Resulting in a long stint of unconsciousness beyond his control that lasted for the rest of the day and well into the night as his brain worked to process the overflow of information. So strong was the overflow, that it caused his brain to hemorrhage, blood flowing from not only the small cut caused by the bench, but also his eyes, nose and mouth.

Helping Hooves and Graceful Charity had thankfully called for a house call from a local doctor rather than taking him to a hospital. In addition, miraculously, the doctor that was sent had been one that had operated on Ace before and knew at least a small bit about his unusual circumstance… Fortunately, it was his age that the doctor knew.

“I am here. Where is the patient?” Doctor Heart Scan called as Graceful Charity opened the door to let him in, a medic bag that appeared hastily thrown together following behind him in the soft red glow of his magic.

The doctor looked around the room curtly. Beneath the winter jacket, Graceful could barely see the color of his walnut-brown coat, but the gray that was overtaking his muzzle as well as his light-gold mane and tail easily denoted his older age.

“In here, doctor!” Helping’s voice came from the living room, followed by coughing and gurgling. Heart Scan wasted no time as he hurried in that direction, the medical bag following swiftly behind him.

When Graceful came around the corner, she saw the doctor standing, staring, as if in shock. The look on his face made Grace’s heart sink in her chest.

Doctor Heart Scan nodded once, his resolve steeling his features once more. “What happened?” he asked Helping as he came alongside the couch where Ace rested. The cushion and pillow beneath his head were saturated, painted a crimson shade of red as his blood soaked deep into the material, nearly spilling over into the floor.

“We were coming home with a load of groceries when a young filly charged past us. She accidentally knocked him into the corner of a bench. He started bleeding from the side of his head and coughing up blood, but his face hadn’t started bleeding until after we got home.”

Doctor Heart Scan opened the bag as he continued, setting a number of tools aside on the table. “And his horn? Was it broken against the bench as well?”

Helping shook his head. “No. We’re not sure when it broke… He came into town with a case of amnesia… Grace and I have been telling him stories he told us before in the hopes to jog his memory, but it’s been a couple of days now.”

The doctor nodded in acknowledgement as he donned a pair of rubber gloves. “Amnesia?” he asked as he felt around Ace’s shoulders, throat and head carefully. “Then his horn was broken when he came into your care?”

“That’s right. As far as I know, it doesn’t cause him any distress, aside from when it is touched.” As if that was some sort of invitation to do exactly that, the doctor lightly touched the base of the horn.

Ace’s eyes flinched tighter, his body cringed into the fetal position as his hooves braced against his chest, nearly decompressing it even as he heaved, coughing up even more blood.

Grace and Helping watched in horror at the great deal of that came from so simple a contact, the doctor’s façade caving as he watched with dreadful concern.

“Ace has a few special… conditions, shall we say. The bleeding can be attributed to the amnesia; his memories are returning, which is causing a great strain on his mind,” Heart Scan said as he started to, very carefully, bandage the cut on the side of his head.

Grace and Helping shared a look of, very slight, relief for a moment before Helping turned back to the doctor. “Then he’s going to be okay, right? He’ll be better when he wakes up?”

The doctor shook his head as he cinched the bandage. “I’m not sure. He’ll have his memories back and his brain will stop hemorrhaging when he wakes up, but the unusual sensitivity is, well, unusual. I have never even heard of such a condition.

“You see, a Unicorn’s horn is a bone with no joints, like the long parts of your legs. That bone connects directly to the skull, so whatever caused Ace’s horn to break likely caused the cranial trauma that led to his amnesia, but… So little as a few hours after a horn is broken, it should no longer be sensitive.”

Worry again danced on the features of Helping and Graceful as they looked to one another while Doctor Heart Scan dug through his medical bag in search of some specific tool. “But you can help him, right? I mean, you’re a doctor…”

Doctor Heart Scan pulled a square, metallic frame from his bag before extending it to a moderate length. “I’m not sure, but I can try. As I said, I’ve never heard of such a condition before, even in Ace’s rare case.”

His horn glowing, Heart Scan held the frame over Ace’s head as it glowed in the soft-red glow of his magic. After a few moments, the glow filled the frame, turning it into a screen that cycled through a number of views.

Graceful Charity and Helping Hooves watched the screen devotedly, but could only make out a few of the settings. First was an image of Ace’s brain, which was pulsing and throbbing in his condition before the view changed to show what looked like veins and blood flow, revealing the blood flowing from his face and the cut – the cut slowing as the bandage allowed the wound to begin healing.

Next was a view of his skull and horn; his skull had a few, very small, cracks around where he struck the bench, but his horn was cracked in several places, nearly all the way down to the base of his skull. Whatever had happened, it had been deliberate.

The screen cycled through several other settings before the doctor finally settled on one. On this setting, the screen was almost entirely black, save for a few white channels that led to his horn and throughout all of his body. They looked like the veins in the previous setting, but were in different places and some were noticeably larger, with the channel to the horn being largest.

The doctor ran the screen over several places of Ace’s body, avoiding the chest at first, as he examined the white channels. None of them were more than half the size of the one that trailed to his horn, and that single channel was the only one a pure white, the others being anywhere from dull gray to almost unnoticeable against the black background.

“What is all of that?” Grace asked as they watched the screen almost breathlessly.

“These are magic channels. Most Unicorns live their whole life with only the primary channel – the large one that leads to the horn. A few others develop channels to other parts of their body, but Ace is one of very few who have trained their body to utilize their magic in its entirety. However, the color shows they have not been used for several days, and many of them have even been damaged... Here, have a look.”

As quick as he could utter the invitation, the two of them came up behind the doctor, now viewing the screen from directly over his shoulder. As he held it over Ace’s hoof, they could see that at least a fourth of the channels had terribly small cracks all throughout their length.

“Most concernedly is that of his primary channel,” he said as he moved the screen to his head, avoiding the chest once more. The largest channel had the small cracks as well, but it was far worse… There was a much larger crack running the center all the way through, as though someone had sliced it open with a scalpel.

Grace had to cover her muzzle as she let out a loud gasp at the sight. “What does it mean, doctor? Ace can never use magic again?!” Heart Scan only shook his head dejectedly.

“I don’t know, son. Whatever is happening to Ace, it has never happened to anypony else in all of Equestria’s documented history. This is either the first ever affliction, or Ace is the only one to ever live long enough to be examined... Knowing him, the chances of either are as good as fifty-fifty.”

“His chest…” Grace managed shakily from behind her hoof. “Why are you avoiding his chest? Is there something we shouldn’t see?”

Heart Scan rubbed the back of his neck hesitantly for a moment. “To be honest with you, I’m afraid. I’m not even sure it’s something I should see. The source of a Unicorn’s magic is near their heart, and whatever is happening to Ace is likely centered there…”

“Well we have to look!” Helping claimed, his gaze still fixated on the screen. “Ace could be in danger, we need to at least know if we can help somehow!”

Heart Scan contemplated his options, the situation, for several long moments before finally nodding his head. The screen moved steadily down Ace’s side, following the primary channel. The screen was perfectly steady, despite the doctor’s shaky hooves.

Many of the smaller channels met with the primary channel along the way, each sharing their own damage, but never once did the huge cut separate into the lesser channels. Only the primary channel was affected; it was as if whatever had been trying to destroy the channels had been cut short.

The place where Ace’s heart would be came to the edge of the screen, and the doctor froze with a gasp, his hooves shaking even more. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“Normally, a Unicorn’s magic is separate from the workings of our physical body… Sort of acting as a second nervous system, but this…”

Despite the setting that showed only magic channels, the right half of Ace’s heart appeared to show through the screen… It beat and pulsed just like a normal heart would under an X-ray. Helping and Grace only just now noticed the primary channel didn’t connect to the heart section, instead going past it.

“What- What does it mean, doctor? Is Ace going to be okay?”

“I don’t know. The only pony who would have any chance of telling you what any of this is presently rests on the couch in front of you.”

“Keep going, we need to know.”

Heart Scan nodded nervously, though it was several long moments before he found the courage to move his hooves and the screen any further.

Something that was neither black nor white, something that somehow mixed both magic and non-magic together, came across the screen for the span of a blink of an eye. Then, as quickly as it appeared, the screen disappeared. The metal frame it once was fell to the ground, followed by the doctor’s hooves as he gasped in breaths.

“What is it?! What was it?! Is it bad?!” Grace’s shrill voice shredded the silence before the doctor held a hoof out to her, begging she remain quiet as he composed himself.

“I’m not sure, child. But whatever it was, it is like nothing I have ever seen… It cut the flow of my magic as soon as the screen came over it.”

The couple shared a look of apprehension before Helping spoke for them. “Is it possible that somepony enchanted him to ward against your screening thing? Somepony who doesn’t want Ace to get better?”

Heart Scan shook his head as he shakily packed his medical bag once more. “I am the only doctor this side of Canterlot who knows that spell… I doubt anypony could have warded against it without knowing me personally, and I can think of nopony other than Ace or the Princesses who could do such a thing.”

Fear spread through their features before they looked at Ace worriedly once more, his mouth hanging open in his labored attempt to breathe through the blood. Then they saw something else unusual…

“D-D-D-Doctor… Doctor!” Graceful Charity stuttered as they both recoiled from the shock of the sight. “He has fangs! Ace has fangs!”

The doctor looked over for only a moment before he muttered a curse. “He’s lost a lot of blood… I’ll send for a transfusion immediately. Do not tell anypony about what you just saw. Not his teeth, not his horn, not his magic. Nothing. Understand?”

They nodded, fearfully. “Good. I’ll be back with the blood soon. Make sure nopony else sees him like this.” The doctor hastily crammed the rest of the equipment into the bag with his magic before closing it tight and running as quick as his old legs could carry him through the door.

Doctor Heart Scan was a friend of Ace’s since he was a young colt. He always put others before himself and showed great promise. When Ace heard he was looking to earn an education as a doctor, it came as no surprise. Ace had pulled some strings to have him put immediately into classes at Canterlot’s finest medical school, even footing half of the tuition.

Funny how the deeds of our past pave the way for our future…

Over the years, Ace had needed a doctor that wouldn’t ask any questions, a doctor he could trust with at least a few of his secrets. It came as no surprise that Heart Scan was his first choice.

Ace placed another rack of cupcakes into the oven, warming his hooves over the warm air that escaped at the brief opportunity when the bell above the door chimed in the front room.

“Welcome to Mr. Frosting’s Frosted Foods!” he called with a smile as he walked into the room. “Is there something I can get for you? A custom order, perhaps?”

Ace looked around for a moment, but couldn’t seem to see anypony in the empty shop. “Down here,” came a little voice beyond the counter.

Looking through the display shelf, Ace could see the source was as little as the voice, a dark-chocolate colored earth colt. Accompanying him was a Unicorn foal and a Pegasus filly of varying colors, their winter clothing attempting to hide their variety.

“Where? All I see are a bunch of cupcakes!”

The little ponies laughed as they waved their hooves around in front of the glass. “We’re right here, mister!”

“Wait a minute, cupcakes don’t move!” he said as he came around the counter to greet the customers. “Why, it’s a bunch of little ponies! I mistook you for cupcakes!” The children laughed as they looked up at him. “Well, little cupcakes, what can I help you with today?”

The little ponies looked amongst themselves for a moment, their smiles fading away before looking back up at him. “We were kinda sorta hoping that you would maybe let us stay in the shop for a while so we could get warm, mister…” the filly asked shyly.

Ace held a hoof to his chin as he thought for a moment with a loud ‘hmmm.’ “We can pay for it!” said the Unicorn foal, his horn lighting for a moment as he turned out his coat pocket, a couple of copper bits falling to the floor.

The young foals worked to pick up the coins, holding them up as if an offering to some mighty being. Ace shifted his stance for a moment, another loud ‘hmmm’ escaping his muzzle before the corner of his mouth turned up.

“I’m sorry, little cupcakes, but we don’t sell hot air here…” The three ponies turned their gazes down dejectedly as they worked to put the few copper pieces back in the Unicorn’s pocket, the whole of them unable to buy so much as a cupcake at Mr. Frosting’s exuberant prices.

“Well, since we don’t sell hot air, I can’t really charge you for it…” The foals started to look up at him again with renewed hope. “Just don’t make a mess and don’t let Mr. Frosting know you’re here, okay?” Ace said with a soft smile.

The foals and filly would have nearly jumped through the roof if they had the strength, the little filly flapping her wings excitedly. “Thank you, mister! Mr. Frosting never lets us in here unless we buy something…”

Ace only nodded, grateful that he wouldn’t be working the Frosted Foods store for too long. “Which is why we’re going to play the Secret Game and make sure nobody tells him you’re here, right?”

The little ponies nodded excitedly before pantomiming zipping their lips and throwing away the zipper. “Very good. I have to get back to work, so just don’t knock anything over and don’t go behind the counter, okay?” The zipped-up ponies nodded some more before poking around the shop quietly.

Ace watched the young ones for a little bit, not wanting to go back into the kitchen until he could be certain they weren’t going to play a game meant for outside-only, fearful that they may indeed make too much noise for the little shop.

When the ponies started playing some make-believe game, Ace felt satisfied that the shop would be safe in his absence as he returned to the kitchen to pull the cupcakes from the oven.

Ace didn’t much like Mr. Frosting – not his attitude nor his work ethic. Nevertheless, Ace needed the money and the work was simple enough.

“Well, Mr. Frosting, I have a proposition for you,” Ace said as he came into Mr. Frosting’s office just the other night, the bandage over his head still soaking in blood, already saturated in the short walk from Helping’s home.

“I’ve heard tell that you recently fired your dayshift staff, so that means you need a worker. I need to travel to Ponyville as soon as possible, preferably by hot air balloon, so that means I need money – 80 bits to be precise.”

Mr. Frosting, a light blue traditional Earth Pony with a darker blue mane with lineage tracing back into the town’s rich history sat across the desk, his hooves poised in front of him as he considered the offer.

“Well you see, jobs are fairly difficult to find these days… You’re not the only pony who needs money, you understand. A pure, thoroughbred business such as mine has no trouble finding new workers. Being a foreigner-“

Ace pushed the desk against him casually, but with enough force to silence him with shock.

“I know you like to think you’re a rare breed, Mr. Frosting, but I have heritage in the city as well. My forefathers worked in the mines alongside yours, as well as funding the development of the trade routes. They also went to the frontlines during the Magic Wars while yours cowered behind the forges.”

“B-B-Be that as it may, Mr. Fenrir, your proposition hinges on the idea that my shop is lacking in willing employees, yet it is not.” Ace pressed the desk a little harder.

“My offer hinges on your willingness to accept it, Mr. Frosting. Should you choose to decline my humble offer, there will be consequences.”

“Are you threatening me, in my own office, Mr. Fenrir?”

“I am making you an offer you cannot refuse. The way that you receive that offer is up for interpretation. Should you choose to view the offer as a threat, it is no fault of my own.”

Frosting was selfish and egotistical, but he wasn’t a complete fool. He would have researched each of the founding forefathers of the city before digging through the old laws and requesting a ‘Thoroughbred License of Authenticity’ plaque to hang outside of his shop.

Ace and his ‘forefathers,’ or rather previous reincarnations of himself from the Ritual of New Life that he said were his relatives so as not to raise suspicion to his age, had been using the same name for millennia. Even Mr. Frosting flinched when he heard Ace’s full name.

Ace released the desk to allow Mr. Frosting some thinking room, who immediately took a deep breath of relief before clearing his throat and deciding it would be better that he stood for their meeting.

It didn’t take Frosting long to realize that the deal was even more one-sided than he thought, just not in the direction he believed. Still, his head was bowed as he tried to think of a way to weasel out of this, or to extort it beyond its fair value.

Business and politics… Two foes that I despise above all others…

“Twelve hours,” he said below his breath, only just loud enough that Ace wasn’t sure he heard it.

“Beg your pardon?”

“Twelve hours. You said you needed 80 bits; they’re yours for twelve hours of quality work. I’ll charge you for any dissatisfied customers, wasted materials, or burnt goods.”

“Twelve hours? Minimum wage laws in Frost Valley dictate twelve hours of work to be worth 120 bits at least,” Ace refuted in a calm, level voice.

“This work is being done under the table since you’re not going through the board of work applications. I can pay you what I say you’re worth. Twelve hours, 80 bits; that’s the deal, take it or leave it.”

Sadly, he was right. The Board was a system in place to regulate work to the ponies fairly, and working under the table was a misdemeanor. Reported offenses could get as severe as expulsion from the city.

“Twelve hours, it’s a deal then,” Ace said as he extended a hoof to seal the deal. Mr. Frosting, who clearly had more enemies than friends, nearly flinched at the motion before looking puzzled.

“A hoofshake? How very… rural,” he said before taking the proffered hoof hesitantly.

Ace had finished frosting each of the treats that had finished baking, taking them into the front room where the kids were playing.

“And then the big dragon takes the princess up into the castle!” one of the foals called excitedly as the Pegasus filly flew onto a chair before climbing up onto the table with a red dragon toy in her hooves.

“Save me, Shadow Sentinels! Save me!” she called, feigning distress that was betrayed by her laughter as Ace laid the tray above the display shelf so he could replace the few remaining baked goods.

“We are coming, my princess!” the earth pony foal called way up the tower. “You must not lose hope!”

“But how are we going to best the dragon, Captain?” the Unicorn foal posed. “We have no weapons and neither of us can fly!”

Taking some of the older goods out of the display shelf, Ace set them onto the tray to take them outside to the dumpster, where Mr. Frosting insists all ‘spoiled goods’ were to be disposed of without question.

“You know, I’ve heard stories of Red Dragons being weak against snow. Mayhap the brave Sentinels would stand a better chance outside?”

The three little ponies turned with frowns on their faces. “Aww, can’t we stay just a little longer, mister?”

“Sorry little cupcakes, but I’ll be in big trouble if Mr. Frosting sees you. We have to play the Secret game, remember?”

“I hate Mr. Frosting…” the young filly said as she hopped from the table, her little wings beating as she landed.

Seeing the sad looks on the little ponies faces, a mischievous smile came to Ace’s features as his head ‘accidentally’ pushed the tray of cupcakes to the floor, a ‘smoosh’ sound coming just before a loud clatter of the tray against the tile.

For a moment, the sad looks were replaced with a worry. “Oh darn, I appear to have made a mess… Tell you what, if you all keep this a secret and help me clean it up, you can each have a cupcake. Sound good?”

Realizing what had actually happened, the three ponies lit up with smiles as Ace handed them each a cloth rag to clean up the frosting while Ace righted the tray and moved the food off the floor.

After the mess was gone, Ace let the excited ponies each pick something from the tray before hurrying them out the door with a smile.

Sanctis was waiting outside of the dessert shop, which should have cleared the display shelf 10 minutes ago. Sanctis had showed up early, so she was certain she hadn’t missed it.

Did everything sell?... No, there’s always been at least one thing to throw out…

Sanctis came out from behind the dumpster slowly, being careful as to not let the snow make too much noise as she approached the door.

She leaned her ear against the door hesitantly, the metal a burning cold as it touched against her.

The fans for the oven are running, so the new batch is finished, but I can’t hear anypony inside the shop… Mr. Frosting wouldn’t leave the shop untended during open hours, so he must be in the front-

Sanctis froze, but not because of the cold; the locking mechanism in the door clicked in its release before the handle started to turn, the springs stretching and compacting as the knob twisted before the hinges creaked open as the door moved inward.

That’s not Mr. Frosting!

Sanctis stared up at the dark stallion with a dual-red mane as his gaze immediately fell on her, the long awaited tray of food held aloft in one hoof. Even with the wide-rimmed black glasses setting on his muzzle, the broken horn and bandages over his head carved an incredibly imposing image.

His image, posture and demeanor, combined with the silent way he had approached the door chilled the blood in Sanctis’ veins much more than the snow all around her.

Mr. Frosting must have hired a guard after that ‘break-in…’ I’m so dead!

Sanctis tried to run, but her fear froze her in place. As she stared into the face of what she was certain would be the end of her life, his lethal demeanor melted into a smile just before the bell over the front door chimed.

The stallion’s smile shifted, becoming wider as he seemed to have thought of something unusual.

“Oh, well I certainly couldn’t leave a customer alone in the shop to dispose of these treats…” he said before dropping the entire tray flat onto the snow, each of the delectable morsels toppling over, but remaining on the tray nonetheless. “I’ll just have to finish taking out the trash after they have gone.”

Just like that, the stallion closed the door behind him as he wandered back into the shop.

Sanctis still hadn’t moved from her spot in the snow, her eyes roving over the tray and the scattered treats it held. Sanctis blinked several times, just waiting either for her dream to end, or for the stallion to come back and end whatever cruel joke he was playing out.

When neither happened, Sanctis hastily took one of the cookies and bit into it. At first, she had thought it was a trick, like they were rocks with frosting on them, but the cookie crumbled down her chin, the frosting danced on her tongue, and her eyes rolled with the flavor.

It’s just too good to be true!

Sanctis had thought she had seen the Unicorn somewhere before, but the smell of the nearly-fresh treats, not to mention their flavor, melted any form of thought that wasn’t focused on the tray in front of her.

After she had eaten her fill, she took one of the larger sweetbreads in her mouth as she took off towards the stream.

Whoever that was, better to be gone when they come back, just in case…

Whoever that was, she knew she owed them a debt as well. That had been the best, and likely the only, worry-free meal she had ate in weeks, if not months. Thanks to his theatric generosity, she would sleep well on a full stomach that night.

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