Chapter 6
“Mister Nicker, have you found your muse?” Doctor Sterling’s voice was quite amused and as he spoke, one of his eyebrows lifted in a gentle expression of hilarity. “You’ve been staring at young Mister Walker for a good five minutes.” Coming around, the doctor looked at what Flicker had been painting, and then clucked his tongue.
The assignment was to paint a bowl of fruit. Flicker had painted a crude red circle and a dab of brown paint served as a stem. As far as apples went, it wasn’t much to look at. Upon seeing it, Sterling Shoe shook his head and his mouth made a moue of disapproval beneath his mustache.
As the doctor peered out from beneath his bushy eyebrows, some tinny sounding music came forth from an antique phonautograph, accompanied by a warm, fuzzy crackle. Distraught, Flicker stood there, blinking, not quite knowing what to say. Try as he might, painting eluded him and music never made him feel much of anything. Opera bored him, modern music aggravated him into an irked state, and classical music did nothing for him.
“Tell me, Mister Nicker, when do you feel emotion? What makes you happy?” Doctor Sterling took a step back and waited for a response.
“I like killing things,” Flicker replied right away, “I like gassing things, setting things on fire, and watching rats die on the end of my sword.”
Clucking his tongue, the older unicorn turned a look of pure exasperation upon Hennessy, who shrugged in return, but kept painting. The doctor’s mustache quivered and his thoughtful gaze lingered upon Flicker as he tried to get inside of the colt’s head. His silvery mane slipped down over his forehead and a curl of his forelock tangled around his horn.
“You are too much like my niece, Silver Spoon.” Sterling made a sour face, like he was chewing a lemon. “She’s a lovely girl, she started off a little rough, but she straightened out for the most part… she’s a thickheaded boor when it comes to culture. She thinks that pulp nouveau romance novels are the height of literature. Oh, this is intolerable.”
Stewing, Flicker remained silent and he just stared at his attempt at an apple.
“Mister Walker, tell me, what awoke your sense of culture?” Sterling asked.
Startled, Hennessy almost dropped the paintbrush held in his mouth. He recovered, set down his brush, and then stood there, looking thoughtful. “I was about nine years old or so. It was a few years ago… I done heard it told that Princess Twilight Sparkle was coming to Baltimare Downs University to give a speech.” The colt with the magnificent reddish-brown pelt blinked a few times and looked the doctor in the eye.
“I walked almost fifty miles to hop a train and I made my way to Baltimare. I wasn’t allowed into the building where she was speaking, you had to pay to get in, it was some kind of charity or something… so I found an open window in the back and I sat down under it. I was able to hear everything just fine. And she talked about the importance of being yourself. About being true and honest about the sort of pony you were. Up to that point, I’d been trying to hide the sort of pony I was, on account that folk hated me.”
“I’m really very sorry,” Doctor Sterling said in a soft voice.
“After hearing Twilight talk, I had this new sense of courage. I started being the pony I was meant to be. I suffered for it, I got hurt a lot, and for a time, I was getting beat up almost every day, but at least I was true to myself. I think I done started to grow as a pony. Music sounded sweeter, paintings looked a whole lot prettier, and every chance I got, I hopped a train to go to Baltimare and visit the museum when I had a few bits.”
“I don’t feel like my real self unless I am wearing the mask,” Flicker blurted out, possessed with a sudden need to be honest and reveal his soul. He could never put it into words, but he felt inspired by Hennessy’s words, he felt emboldened, he felt as though he was one step closer to the truth about himself.
“I suspected as much.” The doctor’s words were gentle and sincere. He turned to look at Flicker with soulful grey eyes and let out a sigh. “You know, Flicker”—the doctor paused after using the colt’s first name—“perhaps an experiment is in order. Maybe someday we’ll have you try painting while wearing the mask, just to see what happens. There is no shame in being the pony you were meant to be. You would be wise to listen to Hennessy, I think he will be a good friend for you.”
Not knowing how to respond to the idea, Flicker offered a noncommittal shrug in return.
“Okay, boys, return to your painting. Discussion over. It’ll be lunch soon, let us be productive…”
Feeling nervous, Flicker whipped his sides with his tail, swatting at flies that didn’t exist. He stood in the lower entry office with Hennessy, waiting, worrying, and wondering. While Flicker stood in the corner like a soldier standing at attention, Hennessy sat on the floor and was drawing something with a charcoal pencil held in his mouth.
In a somewhat beat up looking chair, Doctor Sterling was reading the newspaper with an occasional harrumph. Flicker could make out the headline, but he didn’t understand much of what it meant. Prince Gosling had angered the bureaucracy, leading to some manner of revolt. Flicker, a simple, uncomplicated sort, understood how to deal with revolt against the ruling family of Canterlot, but he wasn’t supposed to say it aloud, or the good doctor and Wicked would take turns tanning his hide.
Neigh-sayers and shirkers were best put to the sword, just like rats, before they spread their disease. The ruling family was the ruling family for a reason. Princesses became princesses for a reason. The princes, few though they might be, had the job for a reason, and by extension, they knew best. Flicker lived in an uncomplicated black and white world, free from the burden of complicated thought and moral quandaries. Flicker couldn’t even begin to imagine why anypony would resist the desires of the ruling heads of Equestria. It would be like disobeying your parents, who knew best, and that was wrong.
Flicker knew the name of this disease—sedition—and he knew who carried the disease—rats—and he knew how to cure this disease, but he couldn’t understand why both Doctor Sterling and Mister Chandler became angry when he said something about it out loud. Like democracy, it remained a very confusing subject that Flicker didn’t know how to talk about.
The door opened and Flicker’s breath caught in his throat. He went rigid and didn’t move, while Hennessy just lifted his head, his charcoal pencil dangling from his lips. Mister Chandler entered, stepped aside, then a tall earth pony mare entered, looking fearful, and she was followed by a unicorn filly.
“Lads, this is Mrs. Cashew Pie and this ‘ere filly is yer new companion, Piper Pie.”
Peering out from behind her mother’s hind legs, the filly looked around the room and said, “My name is Piping Hot Pie, but after my cutie mark showed up and my talent manifested, ponies started calling me ‘Piper.’”
“Piper, these two are going to be yer guardians. Yer to be with them at all times. The starchy looking unicorn cuss, ‘e’s named Flicker Nicker, and on the floor over there, that’s ‘Ennessy Walker. I give ye my word that ye can trust those two.” As Chandler spoke, he cast a hard, flinty glare at Doctor Sterling. “And that over there, ‘e’s Doctor Sterling Shoe.”
With slow, almost jerky movement, Piper’s mother crossed the room, stepped past Chandler, and moved towards Flicker. She paused for a moment, as if sizing him up, and then she continued towards him. She stopped, lowered her head, and looked into his eyes.
“You there,” Mrs. Pie said to Flicker as he stood stock still. “You look like a mama’s colt.”
Hennessy began sniggering and covered his mouth with his fetlock.
“My daughter is very, very dear to me and I am very, very nervous about this whole venture—”
“Mama, don’t ‘barrass me!”
“—she is the most precious thing I have and you… you”—she reached out and touched Flicker on the neck with her hoof—“you would never let your mother down, would you?”
“There she goes again, ‘barrassing me.” Piper’s cheeks bulged as she held her breath in contempt of her mother’s actions.
Flicker looked into the mare’s eyes, and then looked over at Piper. He studied the filly, she had a pelt the colour of pie crust and her mane was the colour of lime meringue. Flicker had a thought that he had never had before. Every filly was some mother’s daughter. For him, it was mind blowing. He thought about his own mother, and his baby sister. He was jealous sometimes of how much his mother loved his sister, but he got over it.
“I have a baby sister,” Flicker said in a solemn whisper to the mare. “She is very dear to me. Ma’am, I will look after your daughter to the best of my abilities.”
“Thank you.” Mrs. Pie backed away, tears in her eyes and a smile upon her face.
“Mama, stop using your earth pony sense on other ponies.” Standing near the door, Piper squirmed. “It gives me magic tickles and I can’t hold still. I probably look like I have cooties!”
Whirling around, the mare faced her daughter, the corner of her mouth twitching as she fought to keep her smile. “Piping Hot, I still don’t agree with this, but I am not going to hold you back from an opportunity to have a better life. I would be a terrible mother if I did. I don’t have to like this, and I will take any piece of mind that I can get, young lady.”
“Oh, there we go with the young lady… Mama, please... I have to work with these ponies.” Piper turned her pleading eyes upon her mother.
“I’ll be staying in Canterlot with my cousin, Derby Pie overnight, just in case you change your mind.” The anxious mother cast a pleading, hopeful glance upon her daughter, and stood there, waiting, no doubt praying for Piper to change her mind. “I’ll be taking the morning train home. I could come by in the morning and say goodbye—”
“No!” Piper’s voice was a nasal whine. “‘Barrassing!”
“Okay, Piping Hot, I’ll go.” Ears drooping, Cashew Pie blinked a few times, let out some snuffles, and somehow managed to smile through the pain.
“Mama…” Piper’s voice was hesitant.
“Yes?” Cashew looked hopeful, but guarded.
“I love you, Mama. I wanted to leave home, but I didn’t want to leave you and Daddy. School is expensive and I want to be a wizard. I know that you and Daddy don’t understand, because you’re earth ponies…” Piper’s words trailed off and she was unable to finish what she had to say.
“No, Piping Hot, I don’t understand… but I do want you to be happy. I’m going to go now, so you can get to know your new friends and your boss. Do well, be well, and please write home regularly.”
“I will, Mama…”
“Mrs. Pie, if I may.” Folding his paper, Doctor Sterling stood up from his chair. “Your daughter will get the very best magical instruction here. I daresay it will be better than most schools, as we can work on a one to one basis here, face to face. In a classroom, students have to compete with their fellow students for a teacher’s attention.”
Cashew Pie looked thoughtful as the doctor said his words.
“This is a working apprenticeship. Everything she learns will be rooted in the job. She’ll get to practice on a daily basis. In some ways, our apprentices have more advantages than students in some overcrowded school. There is danger, yes, Mister Chandler’s wooden leg is a testament to that, but danger motivates a pony to be at their very best.” Doctor Sterling gestured over towards Flicker with his hoof. “He’s a fine example of what we do. A poor colt that lived on a farm in sore need of a fine education. He now makes more bits than his parents do in a year. He is meeting the movers and shakers in Canterlot. Mister Nicker is gaining wit, acumen, and the etiquette required to function at the highest rungs in society.”
Bowing her head, Cashew Pie blinked once. “That I understand. Thank you. Please, give my daughter what I cannot.”
Piper, with a nervous glance at the two colts in the room, hesitated for only a moment before she ran over to her mother, grabbed her mother’s foreleg, and gave it a fierce squeeze as tears trickled from her eyes…
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Ohohoh, so we have the Tactician, the Fighter and the Bard. Will there be anymore joining their party, I wonder?
Cashew? Was that Marble's husband's last name? I can't remember.
7739905
No.
Flicker is such a little gentlecolt... a sadistic, sociopathic little gentlecolt...*sigh*
Pied Piper, eh? Nice. One to find, one to call, and one to kill.
Also more Pie family!
Though with Silver Shoe being related to Silver Spoon, I can't help but picture her as a rat catcher. It's a jumbled image.
I feel like Flicker and Luna would watch the same movies and enjoy them for very different reasons.
Does the newspaper headline reference put this at the same time as Perilous Romance with the corporate shutdown?
7740054
This is spring, next spring, from the current fall in PTSSFF.
If Princess Luna introduced Flicker to her horror collection, we might hear him laughing. It would not be pleasant. You wouldn't like him if he was laughing.
Interesting more members of the Pie family
7740067
"Prince Gosling", of course. Duly noted.
I do worry a bit about what kinds of emotions Flicker would show intensely. And when. And to whom.
There are dangers to living in an uncomplicated world, for sure.
But now I wonder, what sort of pony is Flicker Nicker, really, when he's wearing his mask....
Anyone else hoping for a bit of romance between flicker and piper? I can honestly see that a bit
7740067
7740104
7740264
Oh gods that takes me back.
Also, replace rats with spiders and I feel like I can understand Flicker a bit better.
7740222
Flicker doesn't neigh that way.
7740222
I feel like it's still a bit too early to start shipping characters.
I'm loving this~ thanks Kudzu
“I like killing things,” Flicker replied right away, “I like gassing things, setting things on fire, and watching rats die on the end of my sword.”
That kid have some real issue. His parents won't recognize him if he is a sociopathic.
7739923 i have my old Bucky back...
7740067 proof again... new bucky
Well... i love him. People need him...
Next thing you know, the pony equivalent of HR Giger was unleashed upon the Equestrian art community...
Either that, or he'll just stick a charred, skewered rat on a pedestal and leave the critics to call it a modern art masterpiece.
7740288
Don't get me started on Spiders. If I had access to whatever materia let's Sephiroth use Supernova in the American versions of the game... well, let's just say It's be worth what would happen if I used it to kill one that caught me by surprise
7740451 HR Giger is one of the best for me. Morbid amazing art
Flicker is like Dexter and Rorschach had a baby....
7740480
Always been a fan of Mapplethorpe myself.
7740489
I can't stop laughing, it hurts, I can't write!
I'm comin' Elizabeth!
7740451
I was thinking more along the lines of Hieronymous Bosch frankly, The Garden of Earthly Delights seems right up his alley.
7740489
7740492 Found Spud's cousin once removed, take him with as well Flicker, ain't steam power great! (I see Lyra's hoofiwork in this!)
Look close at the bottom of his HUD!!
img05.deviantart.net/9207/i/2016/327/8/b/cat_robot_by_lynx318-dapbygg.jpg
Wait til you see the pony size version to face monster rats.
7739923 He is not a socipathic !
Unless you are a rat...then he is.
7740298 yeah it probably is but then again, it's usually never too early for shipping.
Right, I'm a little confused, who is Sterling and who is Silver?
7740751
The same person, I believe.
7740800 Typo targeted!! Should be Sterling!
phasegaming.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/typo-death.png
7740800 Well that's what I thought, but now I've seen him called Sterling Shoe and Silver, unless I'm getting totally mixed up. Is one a nickname, or something?
7740854
I thought his name was Sterling Silver?
7740945 Kudz was feeling crook last night, I forgive this one. It's Dr Sterling or Sterling Shoes every chapter so far but this once.
edit: hey look fixed now!!
...and just to confusicateous you more here's 3 more Pie family members, Cupcake, Peanut Butter & Jelly (last two, new twins)
img15.deviantart.net/bac2/i/2015/236/d/6/family_pie_by_lopoddity-d96y10o.png
Huh, no classical music, Flicker?
Not even this?
7740222 I'm sorry but she won't be his romantic interest. Now you may ask me how do I know this?
Well all you have to do is click this link to a blog that kudzu made. Then click the link in said blog. It will bring you to the forum of the Weed world group that kudzu made. The all you have to do is read his first coment. Hope I helped you.
Have a good day.
-BFBL
7741532
Never say never. Kudzu pretty clearly laid out what's in store for Flicker (unless he's mis-leading us readers again, which is how he gets his jollys, I think) but that DOESN'T mean other things may not happen along the way. So anything is possible.
But I'm not laying down bits to bet against what you said.
7740222 Even thought that won't happen, think about how fucked up that would be.
Are age differences an issue that often in kudzu's stories?
No.
Is a child with a not child an issue? That would be a yes.
This filly is cleary a filly.
What... He had bad breath? He whistled off-key while he worked?
7742704
His sense of interiour decoration was very, very demanding.
7740288 Rats are more vicious.
media.giphy.com/media/wPuy5poM8g2TC/giphy.gif
7742470 wait p. how old is flicker?..... Oh dear.
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7742470
Eh, don't make a big deal of this.
Piper is nine, Flicker is ten, and Hennessy is the oldest at twelve.
Everything is fine for what they are in their society.
7743295
People forget very easily that starting in a trade happened when modern kids would be in grade school.
Then again, you're also talking about an era where getting to 70 was considered quite exceptional, never mind the 80,90, and century+ seniors we have today. Long lives were not expected.
Oh my goodness, a unicorn Pie.
7744260
villagewestgallery.com/gallery/colorbox/content/simons04a.jpg
Oh wow. I suspected as much of Flicker, but to hear it directly stated...
Yeah, I don't see him or I ever being friends, at least like I am now. I'd constantly be pointing out potential fallacies in such methods of thinking only to come back and agree with him on something like the rule of the princesses, just that healthy doubt is required. His refusal or inability to thinkwould irritate me to no end. Kind of does just as a reader, but it's tolerable and doesn't take away from the story.
7740716 ...Nicker is gaining wit, acumen, and the etiquette required to function at the highest rungs in society....
True, he's what can be called a high functioning sociopath. They're useful to society, particularly when pointed in the right direction, just like a gun.
Flicker knew the name of this disease—sedition instantly thought of this voice
just checking at what point does this happen in the swan point of view (as in from the swan stories
From context, you probably mean "peace"?