Chapter 74
Stars danced in Flicker’s vision, which was now fading. Try as he might, he could not draw in any air and he felt his body growing heavy. There was a lot of screaming from down below, and as Flicker’s consciousness began to slip, he wondered if Doctor Sterling and Piper could even see what they were fighting.
“In the end, you weren’t much of a threat at all… I don’t understand why my Master was even worried about you.” The pale rat made a dismissive gesture with his sword, and then with his other hand, he acted as though he was flinging something way. “His instructions were very clear though, I was to be the one that killed you.”
A thousand knives pierced through Flicker’s flesh and every nerve in his body sang in a choir of agony. He didn’t know what the rat was doing to him, but it hurt like nothing else had ever hurt. For a brief second, Flicker worried that every cell in his body was about to explode like popcorn. Mister Balister had tried to teach him how to manage pain, but this was too much pain, far too much pain.
This kind of pain gave Flicker a wicked case of the angries, the most terrible case of the angries ever, the sort of angries that drove a pony berserk.
The sclera of his eyes turned a sickening shade of green and his pupils burned a bright, vivid crimson. Vile purple mist rose from his eyes and Flicker’s horn was a conflagration of black fire. Never in his whole life had he ever been angrier, the colt didn’t think that this level of fury was even possible, and as the pain reached its crescendo, Flicker broke.
Given strength from dark magic, his flick spell struck the pale white rat in its right elbow and the arm disintegrated from thousands of pounds of force being applied in an area the size of a pinprick. When the arm turned into a cloud of foul mist, Flicker fell to the floor with a thump and sucked in a lungful of much needed air. The pale rat screamed, and as it wailed in agony, its arm began regrowing, a wriggling lump of diseased, putrucent flesh squirting out of the gaping wound that was his shoulder.
Not giving his body time to get air, Flicker forced himself into motion, once more owing Mister Balister a sincere thank you. Swords out, he chopped at the rats around him as reinforcements spilled in through the doors and came down the stairs from the floor above. Some of the rats were trying to extinguish the flames using magic, because it was such a terrible danger to them.
Fire purged the undead and vampiric entities like nothing else.
Rage made Flicker’s blood boil with so much heat that it seemed to be purging the poison in his body. With a violent scissoring, he beheaded a rat before it stabbed him and then sliced another in half with a quick sweep. Shifting tactics he kept one sword on his right side and the other sword on the left, meeting his enemies as he came. He wasn’t skilled in this form of combat, but he had rage and strength, which covered a multitude of sins.
The dark magic burned away from Flicker and something in the back of his mind told him he would need to atone himself with Princess Cadance. The same something told him that the rat’s name was Contagion; he didn’t know how he knew, but the knowledge was just there in his mind.
As for Contagion himself, he was recovering and retreating.
Flicker followed, slicing and cutting, carving his way forwards. Beyond the door, he found a small, cosy sitting room that also doubled as a library. In a chair by the fireplace was a dried out, shriveled, desiccated corpse of a unicorn. He was just a husk, it was like seeing a bug sucked dry by spiders… or a pony sucked dry by vampires.
Snarling, he drew Heartfinder, and it glowed with a brilliant silvery light. Now armed with three blades, Flicker found it difficult to concentrate on the movement required to keep them all useful as weapons. When this was over, Flicker knew that he needed to learn the Dimachaerus fighting style from Mister Balister.
More rats rushed into the room and Flicker pushed them away, releasing another psychokinetic nova, a much improved version of his flick spell. Now that he had some breathing room, he began chopping away, hacking and slashing, but far too enraged to notice that some of the rats were healing up and recovering from his blows.
Contagion was backed into a corner now and Flicker bore down on him with murderous intent. The colt brought one sword forward, stabbing at the hominoid rat in front of him, and Contagion parried with his longsword. There was a clang of steel on steel and sparks flew from the blades. The rat was strong, but Flicker knew that he was stronger.
Again, their swords crossed and there was a deafening clang. Flicker’s brain felt the force of the blow and his vision fuzzed over. Contagion was quick, too quick, and Flicker found himself on the defensive. Behind him, rats were recovering and coming to flank him. He parried another blow, this one a powerful downward chop, and much to Flicker’s shock and surprise, one of his swords was cleaved in twain. The sheared off blade tumbled to the floor and bounced on the wooden planks.
Growling, Flicker tossed away the broken half of the sword that he still held. Contagion’s longsword was magical and Flicker knew that if he parried the blade again, his second blade might suffer the same fate, as his blades were just common well-made steel. He found himself in trouble and he knew it.
Hearing the ring of steel on steel behind him, Flicker backed away from Contagion and turned his head just in time to see Doctor Sterling entering the door. Piper was behind him, her sword had a broken off tip, but she was still fighting. Both were bloodied and their protective gear was shredded. Neither was wearing a mask.
Contagion hissed upon seeing Doctor Sterling and drew into a defensive crouch. Some of the smaller rats were fleeing now, running away to save their own hides. One rat rushed Piper with a rat-sized sword, and a glowing shield bubble appeared around her. It popped on contact, but Piper was able to ram the broken tip of her sword into the rat’s neck.
Taking advantage of the confusion and the chaos, Flicker struck. He moved with almost supernatural alacrity, surprising even himself, and he rammed the Heartfinder right into Contagions’ chest. The pale rat looked surprised for a moment, then threw back his head and began laughing, filling the room with inane, maniacal cackling.
“Fool!” he spat. “I have no heart!”
Grinding his teeth together, Flicker ripped Heartfinder free, leaving behind a gaping, ragged hole in the rat’s chest that began to close, but the regeneration was slow. Doctor Sterling bore down upon Contagion, swinging his silver rapier, and Flicker felt the warm tingle of magic all around his body. He didn’t know what spell Doctor Sterling had cast, but he felt better.
Contagion’s longsword and Doctor Sterling’s rapier came together with a violent, ear-ringing clang. The rat, still swift on his feet, scampered out of the corner he was in, his back sliding along a bookshelf. The good doctor turned with his foe, trying to keep himself from being flanked. Piper moved into the fray, still armed with her broken training rapier.
Moving out of the corner was a bad idea, because Flicker began to maneuver towards Contagion, hoping to get the rat surrounded. Doctor Sterling took a swift swipe at the rat and landed a blow. A cluster of tumours was shaved away by Doctor Sterling’s supernaturally sharp blade; they bounced to the floor with a wet squelch, and then much to everypony’s horror, some of the tumours became tiny, tiny rats, which scurried away.
With a yell, Flicker skewered a rat that got too close to Piper and then lopped off the head of another. The floor was now slick with blood and great care had to be taken not to slip and fall. Piper, in a stabhappy frenzy, managed to sink the broken tip of her rapier right into Contagion’s eye as the rat was parrying another blow by Doctor Sterling.
The eye popped like a diseased cyst, spewing out jelly, and then more little rats came squirting out, little tiny rats in miniature. Some of them poured down Contagion’s face like tears and fell to the floor with soft, wet splats. Disgusted, Piper began stomping on them with her hooves, all while squealing in horror.
Then, in a sequence of events that Flicker was unable to keep up with, the tables turned. Doctor Sterling staggered backwards, and the hilt of Contagion’s sword protruded from just below his neck. The entire length of the blade had been buried in his body. Piper shrieked, her shrill cry was piercing in the small room, and Flicker let out a wordless roar of rage.
With a look of grim determination, Doctor Sterling rammed his rapier blade into Contagion’s chest and pinned him against the wall. Several inches of the doctor’s blade had gone into the wall, leaving the diseased rat-creature locked in place and unable to move. Flicker felt the Heartfinder torn from his magical grasp, and then it too, was rammed through Contagion’s head.
Like a butterfly pinned to cardboard, the rat struggled but was unable to get free. One arm was still growing and even now, his wounds were closing as he thrashed about. His one remaining eye glittered with hatred, and he snarled at Doctor Sterling, who was still somehow upright and standing.
“Flicker…” Blood dribbled from Doctor Sterling’s lips as he said the word. “Flicker, obey me… get Piper to safety. I’ve slowed the poison in you both, but I could not cure it. I was too drained from disarming the traps.”
“Yes, Doctor Sterling.”
As Flicker spoke, Doctor Sterling used his magic to rip the gas pipes from the walls and then he tore off the valves that fed the lamps. The room began to fill with gas and the doctor yanked the incendiary grenade that Piper had secured to what was left of her tattered protective gear. Scowling, the doctor began to pull out his own supply of grenades, and he had quite a few. He wobbled on his legs, almost falling, and was forced to lean up against the wall beside Contagion.
Pulling Piper with him, Flicker began backing out of the room, wary of attack, his retreat leaving a trail of scarlet drops on the floor. Piper let out a shriek of protest, but Flicker just overpowered her and kept dragging her towards the door, determined to obey Doctor Sterling’s final orders. The colt gave his mentor a nod and hoped that Doctor Sterling wouldn’t feel anything.
“We’re going to Tartarus together, you and I,” Doctor Sterling said to the skewered rat as he began pulling out the pins from his incendiary grenades. The doctor’s words were punctuated by the hiss of the now ruptured gas pipes. A grim chuckle escaped the doctor’s lips as he forced one of the incendiary grenades down Contagion’s throat, and then he crammed another into the still healing wound in the rat’s chest. A third grenade was shoved into Contagion’s ruined eye socket. The rat wiggled in protest, but could do nothing to stop the violent grenade insertion.
Backing out of the room, Flicker began to shut the door when the doctor said his final words:
“Be there for Hennessy… he won’t take this well. I love you both like sons. Piper, take care of them both. They’re going to need a responsible pony to look after them.”
Tears blurring his vision, Flicker nodded. The rats were fleeing now, or trying to. The colt shut the door with a click while Piper began to sob, and he dragged her over the landing towards the stairs. There were many squeaks of terror all around him, but Flicker ignored them to obey the doctor’s final orders. Staggering, he began to pull Piper down the stairs.
At the bottom of the stairs was the maid, who lay in a contorted heap, dead.
Flicker was almost certain that he was dying. A long trail of blood followed him down the lane as he pulled Piper along. She was bawling her eyes out and still trying to drag him back, no doubt with the hopes of rescuing Doctor Sterling. Rats ran through the streets, seeking shelter, some dove down into drains, while others scurried up gutter pipes.
When Flicker stumbled, his adrenaline finally giving out, the tower at the end of the lane exploded. The front door blew out, windows shattered, and the ground trembled. A shockwave of heat and sound hit Flicker, knocking him over, and sending him sprawling to the pavement. Piper fell on top of him while it began to rain flaming chunks of stone and shards of glass all around them both.
The tower transformed into a pillar of smoke and fire that reached skyward. Piper threw her forelegs around Flicker’s neck and squeezed him, sobbing. The moment of shared grief was interrupted by an enormous chunk of falling stone; Flicker rolled over Piper, pushing her down beneath him, and the falling piece of fireplace mantle struck him on his spine, causing the entire back half his body to go numb.
Fighting to keep himself awake, alert, and aware, Flicker knew it was over, but he did not know how he knew. Some part of his mind told him that Contagion was no more, and neither was Doctor Sterling. Unable to feel his hind legs or his back half, Flicker hugged Piper to him while she continued to bawl, her body wracked with sobs of grief.
It was over.
Okay, I think I'm done for the day. 
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That was an incredibly tumultuous set of chapters. I knew Flicker would choose Sterling, but still. Damn...
And there goes Obi Wan...
Oh, hey, Princess Cadance, um... one of your recent followers just had a really bad day. A "blood and dark magic" kinda bad day. Goes by the name of Flicker Nicker. Probably could use some princess-y assistance. Just thought I'd pass that along.
Let's hope his Spine wasn't Snapped, or the sacrifices he made to turn time back will have been for nothing.
Things sure have escalated quickly.
This is the climax, the tipping point, the point of no return.
Of course, this story of Flicker Nicker and his brave, crazy compatriots will decline, come to an end, and it shall signal the end to months of hard work and sleepless nights. However, for this universe to endure, these trials must be repeated until the final story, the final battle, the final chapter. For that future to blossom I have only one thing to request: Fight, Persevere, and Grow.
Flicker, buddy... please go see Cadence. Please. You have a fronking Princess now, go talk to her about all this shiet.
An explosion of that magnitude is not going to go unnoticed. Especially not with all the collateral damage that likely resulted.
Let it be known forever more than Dr Sterling Shoe died the way he lived: Harder than steel, with a pithy quip and a stiff upper lip, a true gentlestallion to the end.
8028547
Talk to her about what, exactly?
R.I.P. Doctor Sterling.
ok so three chapters in a day I think it's time for you to rest and think of happy thoughts and maybe some Chase-verse maybe
Seems we get a good helping of Flicker's Chance #2: Flicker's Pissed! This does make me wonder though, what exactly is dark magic? Presumably it's not the same as what Grogar wields and has done. A twisting of the unicorn filter?
Atonement with Princess Cadance could mean a lot of things. Maybe his penance will be to take Hennessy out on a spectacular date, to spend a whole day with Piper helping her feel special, to act as the bodyguard for a group of artists for a long period of time, or maybe she'll really lay it on thick and have him learn ballroom dancing.
A haiku for Doctor Sterling:
Who's gonna tell Silver Spoon?
Also I hope the Guild Hall wasn't actually burning, but at this point who knows.
8028792
Contagion wasn't lying. The guild was invaded. Many of the teachers and students are dead. The Canterlot guild is officially lost. The Manehattan guild has been gutted. At this point in the timeline, major ground has been gained by the forces of evil.
Where is Hennessy?
8028613
Ah, the perils of unreliable memory.
Contagion is surely award-winning in some horrible category of unparalleled grossness.
Now that's an exit. Farewell Sterling, Contagion, and in spite of what the good Doctor said I suspect you'll end up in very different afterlives.
8028804
Indeed. =( One of the reasons the Underwatch gets formed, I'm sure.
8028804 The thing is, those who have read Quesadilla and Flurry vs the Mud Monsters already know that things are not so bad in the future, and it undermines the tension in this story greatly.
Chronos gave Flicker no choice in who died.
Doctor Sterling would have had it no other way. Had he ever learned that Flicker had a choice to make and had not chosen him, there would have been no forgiveness.
Goodbye, Dr. Sterling. May you find peace and those whom you have lost.
8029247
I am one with the force and the force is with me.
8029366 Oh OK haven't seen it yet.
8028470 This is what happens when you see a comment, feel mischievous and do sumtin' stoopid!
8029394 Madness!!
8029438 No just can't be bothered getting into cinemas with a wheelchair if avoidable. Rather wait for DVD release and buy it, April 4th is release date.
8029471
You don't... actually have to have a reason.
3 chapters in one day. Now THIS is classic Kudzu!
Pale : "Look, the colt has plot armor.."
Flicker : "What about my plot?"
Lima : "Behold, my champion." *sighs*
Chronos snickers.
8029586 They be hard to separate...Arrrg☠
(I'm not mad just crazy
)
8029617
Lima: "It's alright, Flicker, he said plot amore...in other words he loves your plot!"
Pale:
Chronos: ROFL
RIP Dr. Sterling.
Hot.
Edit: I like badass horse violence a lot. Doctor Sterling could show the entire cast of Rouge One a thing or two about dying with supreme violence.
8033453 damn apple autocorrect *facepalm*
8033709
A 32ga is far more useful than a 12ga in some applications and is the recognised load for vermin. In this instance, it is used to keep alchemical loads small and manageable for tight spaces. Firing off a 12ga in a tight, confined space would cause all kinds of mayhem, including hearing loss.
Firing off a 32ga in a tight space is no louder than popping a cork on a champaign bottle.
Bigger is not always better.
Also, 12ga is weak and whimpy. Get a 10ga or an 8ga, you pansy!
8034419 I figured as much about the vermin thing, didn't think about the tight spaces.
I want this
8034765
Punt guns. Lots of bang, not much else.
Those guns are great for taking out crowds of birds, but aren't very practical as far as shotguns go. If you want an actual cannon, get an 8ga or a 10ga and be done with it. You actually have more power with these two guns, both of which can be loaded with slugs, and both are proven to take down elephants, rhinos, and other large, dangerous game, like lions.
People just don't know how unbelievably powerful a 10ga is. The difference between a 10ga and a 12ga is difficult to explain. It's like trying to compare a bicycle and an 1100cc Ducati superbike. You really can't compare the two, because they are meant for different purposes.
I've fired off a lot of guns in my life. Big guns. Guns like 80 calibre black powder rifles. 50 calibre weapons. A .475 Linebaugh... things like that. The 10ga is the only gun I still hesitate before pulling the trigger, because Holy Eris, Mother of Monkeys... and a 10ga with a full Magnum load? My best advice is, lean into it and prepare for pain. They make special padded jackets for 10ga hunters for a reason.
And don't get me started on the sound. John Connor from Terminator 2 would have permanent hearing loss from that lever action cannon. The Winchester Model 1887/1901 lever action cannon was removed from law enforcement and military use because everybody who fired it or stood near it went deaf.
And no, calling it a cannon was not a mistake. It was referred to as a lever action cannon, not a rifle. Punt guns are technically called cannons as well.
8034825 I mainly want it for the novelty really, very impractical.
The biggest gun I fired was a twin mounted M2 .50 cal, but with the way it was mounted to a ship, I didn't feel recoil and it was real easy to control.
Though I'm much less experienced with shooting guns, m4 carbine, m9 berrete, mossberg 590, m240 and a few .22 rifles are all I've shot. I'd love a chance to shoot all those!
I did get to see these 2 beasts fire in person, so awesome!
CWIS: when you absolutely have to shred something to oblivion!
and I'm actually behind the camera man on this 5 inch shoot. You can feel it in your chest
the shooting comes a bit later, and it surprised me a bit on how fast it can fire the first time I saw it
8034969
I grew up with woodsy folk, hunters, etc. Also crazily armed minorities. Guns were a huge part of my childhood. The bigger guns weren't there to impress folk, they were there because of a need for defense, plus actually having to deal with bears and mountain lions.
I myself tend to favour a smaller, more practical sidearm. I champion the .357, typically in a revolver.
Big weapons have a place though.
8034985 I was thinking of getting a revolver for my first gun, specifically the revolver that can shoot 410 shells. It's a bit of a novelty I know, but I think it's perfect for my small apartment, short range, lower risk of hitting my neighbors if I ever need to defend myself.
8035034
Getting a masher is a good idea.
Get a revolver that can fire both 410 shells and 45 shells.
It is the same reason I champion the .357 Magnum. I can load it with .38 rounds, which are cheap as the dickens for target practice, and good for certain situations. I can also load in .357 rounds.
The Taurus Judge is a very good gun if you can find one. Lots of people poopoo it, and that's fine, people have a right to be stupid, but it can fire quite a selection of rounds ranging from .45 rounds and .410 rounds in a variety of loads. In close range, (Apartment defense) it will fuck up somebody's face and blind them--for this, you'll want buckshot.
Shotgun revolvers; serious business.
8035051 I've heard of the judge but not the tracker, I'll have to look into it, thank you for that
8035068
I derped.
The Tracker a series of revolvers chambered in different rounds. The Judge is the specific model you want. Judges carry them in court because it is pretty much the ultimate handgun for personal defense.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taurus_Judge
I'm getting old. My memory isn't always what it should be.
8035086 hell, I'm almost 27 and mine's not the best, I'll forget what i'm saying in the middle of saying it, doing better then me so far
8035103
It's the express train to hell...
I'm....... speechless. How do you come up with these things?
8035127
Oooh my dad has a judge, it’s fun as all Tartarus to use !!!
wow just wow.
Great chapter, but man that was dark...