• Published 17th Nov 2016
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The Mask Makes the Pony - kudzuhaiku



Flicker Nicker has joined the Rat Catcher's Guild. He's rather good at it, but wants to be better.

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Chapter 80

The session—Flicker did not know what else to call it—resumed with some new faces in the crowd. He recognised Prince Blueblood, but that was about it. Everypony seemed uncomfortable, and no wonder. Grief, shock, and loss were still fresh on the minds of everypony present. The Justice, known as Good Reason, had called everything back into order with a stern reminder that punching ponies in the face was frowned upon, even if you were one of the great and beloved heroes of Equestria.

Every eye seemed to be on him, and Flicker sat in the very center of the circular room. There was an enduring silence that hung over the room, all that could be heard was the rustle of bodies, the sound of breathing, and the faint electric drone of the sound system. Reporters clutched cameras, almost all of which were focused on Flicker.

“All of this because of my mark,” Flicker said, hesitant, unsure if he was allowed to speak or not. “I don’t know if I am the pony you think I am. Most of you really don’t know me. I’m terrible at leadership… but you want me to found a new order, a new division within the guard. I’m a foal—”

“But you are the right choice,” a mare sitting in the highest row said in a clarion voice. “You have to be. Why else would you have that mark? It has been proven that you are the Slayer, the hero meant to arise in time of need. Every pony has a purpose, and every purpose has a pony. We all bear our burdens, that is just how things are. Some of us sweep the streets, others govern our fair nation, and yet others fight to defend it.”

“That doesn’t make me fit to lead,” Flicker retorted, shaking his head while trying to stifle his anger. “You don’t know how screwed up I am.” He looked around the room, now sweating, and his ears pinned back against his skull.

Chomping on his cigar, the earth pony known as Chesty rose from his seat, causing quite a few ponies present to gasp. The old earth pony went to the stairs and made his way down, moving with a fluid grace that belied his age. Muscles rippled, drawing the attention of many spectators, and the green pony made his way to where Flicker was sitting.

Chesty sat down and his cigar went from one side of his mouth to the other, the side away from Flicker. In the bright, unrelenting lights, Chesty’s cutie mark was visible for all to see, a stick of dynamite. Reaching out, the old stallion patted Flicker on the withers, and then looked the young colt in the eye.

“Son, I would consider it a great equinal favour if you would hear me out, and I’d be in your debt.” With each word, faint blue cigar smoke curled out from between the old pony’s teeth. “Sometimes, our purpose comes to us before we are ready to take it on… before we’re done training for it. Sometimes… sometimes that annoying little mark shows up right as we’re trying to fix a crisis… but make no mistake, it always shows up on the right pony.”

These words inspired a little confidence in Flicker, and his ears stood up so that he might listen better.

“I blew up a beaver dam that threatened my Pa’s farm.” Chesty paused and his cigar bobbed in the corner of his mouth. “There’s lots of stories that go around about how it happened, but that’s the truth of it. I blew up a beaver dam and got my stick of dynamite. Wasn’t long after, this country went to war. It wasn’t pretty, and my Pa’s farm got threatened by things worse than beavers… separatists.” There were gasps in the room as this word was uttered, and the old stallion had himself a look around, looking from face to face.

“I won’t say they was bad, I won’t even say they was wrong.” This caused more gasps, and Chesty seemed to delight in the reactions he was getting. “They were ponies, just like me and you, and they interpreted the laws a little different. They too, had their marks, their destiny all laid out for them, and they picked a fight over what they believed was right. If only all of us was that brave.”

Jaw muscles clenching a bit, Flicker bit down on his anger, holding it back, and made himself listen.

“I was nine years old… I had just turned nine, actually. My ninth summer. I ran away from home and joined the guard. I lied to them, told them I was fourteen, the legal age. I don’t think they believed me for a second, but they was desperate for bodies… and I had just the right mark. It’s a rare thing to get a mark suited for violence. It’s more than a mark, it’s a warning, it’s a brand and ponies treat it as such. But I digress.”

Chesty inhaled some of his cigar, and then let the smoke out while he spoke. “By the age of ten, I was knee deep in blood and guts and bodies. I’d earned myself a position, a grenadier. I was just what was needed for that war… and the next one… and the next one… and the one that came after that.” The old stallion laughed, and smoke billowed from his muzzle while his cigar glowed cherry-red. “I wasn’t no leader either… who in their right mind follows a pony that has a stick of dynamite as a cutie mark?”

“Sir, I would,” Flicker replied.

“Son, I done heard about you and the bear.” Chesty continued to chuckle, a raspy sound, like logs burning and popping in a fireplace. “That’s how legends get started, boy. You go balls out just once, and ponies will remember you. There’s no going back from that.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Flicker sighed and his gaze dropped down to his front hooves.

“Good Reason over there, he’s ready to declare you as a legal adult, for the purposes of joining the E.U.P. Everypony is lining up, ready to shower you with compensation for taking on this duty, but I don’t think you care much about that, do ya, colt?”

Lifting his head, Flicker once more looked Chesty in the eye. “I can’t leave my friends,” he said while gesturing in Piper and Hennessy’s direction. “No, I won’t leave them. I know what’ll happen. I’ll bury myself in my work, in my purpose, and I’ll go back to being how I was. Just before all of this happened, I had a… had a… there was a life-changing experience. I woke up… and I can’t go back to how I was, I just can’t.” It was far, far easier to focus on Chesty than it was on the crowd, all of whom were staring at him.

“We’ll come with you!” Piper shouted.

“Miss, I must ask that you be quiet,” Justice Good Reason said.

Rising from his seat, Prince Gosling struck a commanding pose. “I for one would like to hear what she has to say. Twilight Sparkle started her rise to glory by defeating Nightmare Moon with her friends—”

“Twilight was an adult!”

“Who are you to interrupt me?” Prince Gosling demanded of the pony who had spoken. Glaring at the cameras now focused upon him, the regal pegasus’ face became a stern mask. “Every great thing that we accomplish, that we do, it begins and ends with the friendships we form. I am of the belief that, if we separate Mister Nicker from his friends, his companions, we shall take away from him what makes him special, the very reason why we are seeking him out in the first place. His mark makes him the Slayer, we can all agree on that, but his friends… his friends make him the pony that he is. The mark is nothing without the pony it rests upon.”

Thunderous applause filled the room, the stomping and clopping of hooves. Prince Gosling, his head high, waited for the sound to die down before he continued, “It is a tragic thing, to send a foal off to war. Yes, the Rat Catchers Guild trains up its apprentices as soldiers. Yes, these apprentices face danger. It is part of the job. But this… this goes far, far beyond the duty of a simple rat catcher. These are extraordinary circumstances. Trying times. To force him to join the guard would be awful enough, but to not give his friends the option to join him, to be with him, to support him, that would be a travesty.

The furious sound that filled the chamber was enough to make Flicker’s ears ring. Clapping, stomping, whistling, hooting, and hollering. The pall over the room had lifted and now there was something else present, something that had been missing—hope. Flicker felt it, it lifted his spirits, gave him courage, it ignited his will to fight.

Piper, her face contorted with grim determination, her yellowed eyes flashing, she jumped over the wooden enclosure where she sat, and taking brave strides, she moved to be with Flicker. Chesty watched the bold filly as she approached, and his head nodded, which caused his cigar to bob. Hennessy got up from where he was sitting, wobbled a bit, and Conk gave him a sturdy push to keep him upright.

Still recovering, Hennessy had trouble getting over the short wooden wall of the guest box. After a few thumps as well as a near stumble, he followed after Piper, looking shy and hesitant. The colt, reaching Flicker’s side, sat down beside him, looking wide-eyed and bewildered by the events taking place around him.

“The best of us give all we have to give,” Prince Gosling said, his words booming through the circular chamber. “Some of us give up our youth, others give up their very lives. We now live in a time of sacrifices. Surely, we all have something to offer to the cause, even something minor, like compromise.”

This time, rather than applause, there was deafening silence. Ponies turned to look at one another, some of them looked quite ashamed, or even guilty. Monarchists looked at members of the Liberty Party. Bureaucrats gave each other furtive glances. Flicker eyeballed his friends.

Taking a deep breath, Flicker summoned the courage to speak. “I will serve—”

No applause, only a collective gasp of relief filled the room.

“—I will do as you ask of me. I will found this new order that you seek.”

His cigar quivering, Chesty looked relieved. “Son, you got a name in mind?”

Flicker, put on the spot, said the only thing that sprang to his mind, but did so after a considerable delay. “The Underwatch.”

“The Underwatch?” Chesty’s eyes narrowed.

“Well,” Flicker began, “we have the Skywatch, the Daywatch, the Nightwatch, and it just makes sense to have an Underwatch.”

Nodding his head, Chesty smiled. “Son, I agree. That makes sense. Day or night, above or below, the guard has this city covered.”

Clearing his throat, Good Reason banged his hoof once on his podium. “Let the record clearly show the date and time of the creation of this new unit.” He banged his hoof again, and then peered around the room. “Much help is needed to get the Underwatch established. We will need sponsors, funding, resources, we still have much to discuss.”

“I have a motto,” Piper said as she looked around the room.

“Do you now, Miss?” Justice Good Reason looked surprised.

“I’m not sure how correct it is, I had to work it out from the indexes and glossaries in the back of my textbooks…” Piper’s ears drooped and she began chewing on her lips. “I didn’t have much else to do in the hospital, and I asked for my schoolbooks. They were a little burnt… well, one was a lot burnt, but I managed—”

“Miss, if you have something to say,” Good Reason said, tapping his hoof on his podium.

Clearing her throat, Piper held her head up high and did her best to dispel her timidness. “Pertinax mater irrumator praetores. I think it suits us.”

From where she sat, Princess Luna began picking over the words, and as she did so, her face turned a spectacular shade of royal purple. “Pertinax… unyielding, stubborn, obstinate… mater… mother? Irrumator praetores… that means… that’s a very, very vulgar term for coitus…” The princess gasped and shook her head. “We are not certain if this is apropos.”

“They’re gonna be down there wading through knee deep shit to keep the city safe.” Chesty puffed on his cigar, which was now a good bit shorter. “Tell me, what is appropriate? Shall we call them ‘The Canterlot Swim Team’ to somehow make this pleasant? Or maybe the ‘Brown Water Beat-down Brigade?’”

Eyes narrowing, Princess Luna replied, “Point taken. It shall be taken under consideration and We shall inform you of its approval.”

Rapping his hoof against his podium, Justice Good Reason said, “There is still much to discuss. Now, let us continue after that enlightening discussion about the stubborn motherfuckers who will serve beneath us in the smelliest Tartarus you can imagine…”

Author's Note:

:facehoof: - Piper.

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