The Following by: Arbasyn
Good afternoon Dr. Gowge," greeted Antiflux curtly as he entered the doctor's grey stoned office. Removing his white cloak, he placed it on a small hook in the wall with his magic before he stepped further inside the office. Antiflux looked around the office, if you could call it that, Dr. Gouge's "office" was a perfectly square room built by grey stone and concrete without any feature whatsoever save for the entrance door and one small window overlooking a table; which doubled as an operating table and a secretaries' desk made complete with dried blood and several documents seemingly used as a cloth to absorb blood, a lot of blood. "It's GOUGE, Captain Flux, GOUGE," corrected Dr. Yank Gouge, a dark blue coated unicorn as he made his way to the young captain from a room in the back of the office. "Do you ever take that coat off?" questioned Antiflux sarcastically concerning the doctor's signature singed white lab coat, "it's starting to look like a roasted campfire marshmallow". The doctor's un-amused answer about "dressing for the job" didn't draw Antiflux's attention as much as his sky blue mane haphazardly cut short and his broken stethoscope of a Cutie Mark; and by the time he had finished staring the doctor was already beginning to rant. "You know, if everypony would just sit still during treatment and would cease changing the 'ou' to a 'w' in an attempt to...I don't know, be funny,?" with this complaint the doctor's anger and vocal pitch rose and his arms began flying about as they often did when he became upset. Antiflux looked around the office looking for any other patients or even a secretary to step in or at least help absorb Dr. Gouge's oncoming rage, but to no avail, he was left to face the temper tantrum alone. "If they just let me do my job I wouldn't have this name and wouldn't have lost my reputation!" With this last statement the doctor's arms flew up despairingly and his voice rose to an all new level unknown to the poor captain. Antiflux couldn't help to pity the doctor amidst his snickers and a suppressed smile; ten years ago to be treated by Dr. Yank Gouge was a promise for success, but combining a drinking problem and a harsher regime placed by the Duel General Leaders upon medical facilities, especially among The Final Hope Hospital, the largest hospital in the Midnight Kingdom, Dr. Gouge just couldn't handle it and cracked. Several botched surgeries and a public nervous breakdown while being interviewed by a reporter concerning the death of one patient after his failed operation; Dr. Gouge was relinquished of his governmental medical contract and lost his reputation forcing him to prematurely retire until deciding to open his own small medical practice under the name of SCAB, where only his most faithful patients and no one else visited, for good reason.
Antiflux allowed himself a slight smile while Dr. Gouge calmed himself down by punching a conveniently placed pillow a couple of times. Watching a pony get mad was always a secret entertainment for Antiflux, but watching Dr. Gouge after he lost his temper was just priceless. Dr. Gouge turned back towards Antiflux, instantly regaining his placid nature trying to retain the air as if nothing had happened and addressed the young captain, "now shall we get started?"
Dr. Gouge led Antiflux towards the back room from where he had first emerged, mockingly saluting an upside down framed medical certificate which looked as if to have been shredded then perfectly glued back together. Reaching the end of the dimly lit hallway Antiflux was pushed inside a small cubicle covered with mirrors on every side. Closing the double mirrored door behind him Dr. Gouge cast a Speaker Spell upon Antiflux letting his words be placed in his mind, "Antiflux can you hear me?" questioned the doctor from behind the door. "Yes doctor I can hear you loud and clear," answered Antiflux calmly. Taking deep breaths as the doctor instructed Antiflux could hear the doctor speaking in his mind once again, "do you have confidence in me and this procedure Antiflux?" Antiflux stared at the mirror incredulously hoping that on the other side of the wall the doctor could see the look of exasperation on his face, "sighhhhh of course doctor, how many times do I have to go over this, if you saved my life at birth and I have undergone numerous successful operations by your steady hand just like this one in the past why should this be any different?" The doctor could not help but to smile, even though Antiflux answered that same question with the same answer the way his annoyance crept into his voice after every session made him chuckle, "good answer," he stated flatly. "Same answer I give you every time Gouge," responded Antiflux with a rolling of his eyes. "I am ready to begin Seeker." Antiflux was very familiar with this procedure, basically the doctor would cast the Speaker and Seeker Spells consecutively allowing the doctor not only complete access to his mind, but the control over his memories and the ability to replay instances in his life through a third person view; an operation Antiflux only allowed Dr. Gouge to do. "This session will be no different from any other time so be prepared," stated Dr. Gouge. "Of course it is Dr. Gowge," sarcastically responded Antiflux with a smile, every session was different than the one before, each time an original part of his life made new again in an attempt to in the doctors words, "obtain Recall."
Waiting for the doctor to begin Antiflux looked at himself from every angle. A seemingly flawless colt at first glance, with your eyes closed. A long white scar stretched from his forehead, to the tip of nose before branching out into three parts before finally ending at the end of his chin. The scar curiously did not touch his horn as the path indicated but rather curved around it to the left making a semi-circle but did cause his mane to be slightly parted in the front. Despite all of his efforts and questionings of his friends and family, none could seem to explain how his scar go there, therefore he accepted it as a very very unfortunate birthmark "Some jewel of the Lunar Army I am," thought Antiflux.
Dr. Gouge concentrated deeply on Antiflux until he could see his body go rigid and his pupils retreat inside his eye. Muttering a prayer to Princess Luna underneath his breath Antiflux's every memory and thought of his entire was being opened and analyzed under the scrutinizing eye of Dr. Gouge, and an image began to coalesce before him. A blurry vision of a dark forest shimmered in front of him as if he was looking at it through a watery telescope. The only illumination came from a pale full moon which looked down upon an open glade sorrowfully, and as Antiflux's eyes began searching the scenery with his mind's eye for anything, he began to understand why the moon looked down with pity. A bloodbath had ensued. Several ponies lay on the ground covered with dismembered limbs from other ponies and drenched in blood, whether from their wounds or somepony else's the young captain couldn't tell. Antiflux began taking hesitant steps forward, fearing to witness further carnage from the gruesome scene around him, "who could have done this, what happened here," he asked between sobs, "what happened?" Submitting to his quaking knees Antiflux fell to the floor crying uncontrollably trying to clean his mind of what he had seen and to shut out the screams and cries of pain and anguish around him. Raising his hooves to his ears Antiflux screamed at the moon, "why have you taken me here, why are you doing this to me?! Make this stop, please, stop the screaming!" he hooves outstretched to the moon in utter despair he came to the realization, the screaming was not in his head, it was all around him. Lifting his head from the ground and drying his tears on his upper arm he looked with blurry eyes to a small opening in the trees near the maw of an enormous cave where a sliver of moonlight was shining on the armor of three ponies quivering behind a large black clad pony; with a glowing insignia on his neck, a crescent moon with a sword running through the middle giving it the image of smile being sliced in half. Suppressing his grief the young captain began walking to the fear stricken ponies to aid them before a booming roar struck him limp; "oh no.." whispered Antiflux, closing his eyes to offer a prayer to Princess Luna hoping that what he heard was not what his heart feared it was, but ground shaking steps of an enormous monster shook him out of his prayer and into reality, it was an Ursa Major.
Antiflux's ears and head were ringing after the Ursa Major appeared out of the shadows of the cave and unleashed another deafening roar upon the ponies making them cringe in terror. Amidst the chaos Antiflux was able to see the black pony unleash a rallying cry to his army of three remaining ponies making them momentarily stand to their feet before once again brought to their knees as the Ursa Major began moving closer and closer to them. The great blue bear made the earth underneath its monstrous steps tremble as much as the ponies cowering before it. Searching frantically for a weapon or some form of help around him, his eyes locked on one unusual looking pony in full armor who was sitting on its tail observing the rage of the rage of the Ursa Major and the fear of the ponies as if taking score. Shaking the disbelief from his eyes Antiflux barked orders at the placid pony, "what are you doing soldier?! Get up and help your comrades!" He began to take frustrated steps towards the pony but as he came within touching distance of the pony, it calmly turned its head and Antiflux beheld its completely black eyes striking him dumb on the spot. Silently commanded by something within the pony Antiflux redirected all of his attention away from the unusual pony and back towards the struggling ponies. "I must do something or these ponies will die!" yelled Antiflux as he tried running towards the ponies. The distance between him and the ponies looked like nothing beyond a few feet but every step he took increased the distance by two; while everything became muddled and blurry as his heart raced and sweat dripped down his forehead. The Ursa Major bared his teeth and raised his arm to strike the ponies before a black aura enveloped them in a shimmering shield-like mist. "Luna's Aura," thought Antiflux admiringly, a powerful Shield spell usually only granted to high-ranking officers or learned independently by magically potent unicorns. Facing the Ursa Major grimly, the lead black clad pony braced himself for impact and strengthened his shield with another wave of energy from his horn. The Ursa Major's fist slammed the shield resonating with a deep crack before raising it again to strike another blow on the already weakening shield. Another fist landed on the black aura causing a large crack to appear on the surface of the shield, the leader of the ponies looking up wearingly, horn dimly glowing in an attempt to re-strengthen the shield. "The Aura can't withstand another blow of that force," screamed Antiflux in desperation to the lead pony, "you have to release the..." Antiflux's commands were cut short by another deafening roar by the Ursa Major followed by a flurry of pounds and slashes from its menacing fists. The young captain seeing that the shield was the ponies only hope of survival stood still and released a Renewal Spell to heal the shield and the ponies, healing magic was a difficult art in and of itself and even weak spells like Renewal were no exception. Nearly exerted from the extended run to the ponies, the Renewal Spell and the carnage around him Antiflux collapsed having only enough energy to keep his eyes open long enough to see the horrific scene of the Ursa Major shattering the Aura spell sending shield shards and blood everywhere as claw collided with flesh. After that Antiflux saw no more.
"Hahahaha..." Antiflux's ears perked up when he heard with disbelief, laughter. He stood up and looked around the completely black landscape looking vainly for the source of the laughter. "Hahahaha.." the laughter seemed to come from all around him making him run to and fro, frantically searching for the mocking voice. "You should have called on the Great and Powerful..." His eyes rested on a blue unicorn poised for victory on a hill of some sort surrounded by an unholy white light, the unicorn paused for a moment as if to add effect to her scripted performance, "The Great and Powerful Trixie!" With the mention of her name small firework like explosions went off then cascaded to the ground in a sheet of glitter. "If you and your pathetic band of ponies would have just called on the awesome might of the Great and Powerful Trixie perhaps Trixie would have spared you your pathetic fate to the hand of the Ursa Major, you know Trixie herself vanquished one." Rearing on her hind legs another series of explosions and piercing popping sounds ensued after her last boastful claim. Ignoring the unicorns' consideration of him being the leader of the slaughtered ponies he released all of his grief and pain upon the self-glorifying unicorn who dared to boast over the corpses of fallen soldiers, "how can you stand here and shout insults at ponies that were defending you!" The grieved captain stared long and hard at the unicorn hoping to convey his own feelings of despair and agony to the unicorn. "You watched as your countries' own soldiers, your PEOPLE!" Anitflux raised his voice and his horn glowed a dark black, like a spear of night, "you could have intervened or called for help, but instead you just sat on your flank and watched as your brethren were slaughtered!" With a coma of darkness surrounding his form, Antiflux launched himself at Trixie in a fit of rage, his only thought, his only desire, all of his lust focused on the utter destruction of Trixie, his representation of everything he felt and all that had happened. After the tips of his front hooves reached the edge of Trixie's wizard hat, everything went completely back and he saw no more.
Outside of Antiflux's mind Dr. Gouge looked upon him worryingly. "He shouldn't be getting this angry," the doctor observed aloud, "the recalled memory must have been more violent than any other." Obtaining a notepad and quill from a small shelf using telekinesis, "finally we have a breakthrough." A small smile began forming on Dr. Gouge's expectant lips, every other of the Speaker and Seeker sessions with Antiflux had resulted in bouts of nostalgia with results such as sorrow, laughter, and placidity, never before had the doctor undergone a procedure leading the young captain to anger. "Perhaps now we are nearing the instance where the trauma took place," recorded Dr. Gouge, unlike most doctors, Dr. Gouge recorded things exactly how he would say it, leading to many recordings being nothing but a mix of "umms" and "I want to go on break"; nevertheless Dr. Gouge felt that for the first time since the beginning of his procedures that perhaps there was hope for the poor soldier. He couldn't have been more wrong. During the mental battle with the Ursa Major Antiflux began to kick and scream violently, shaking the walls and breaking the reinforced mirrors the made up the wall around him. Dr. Gouge was shaken out of his hopeful thinking and resorted to the extreme ways of suppressing the rampaging pony. Breaking the Speaker and Seeker Spells he focused his telekinetic magic upon several leather straps that were previously buckled tightly on the ceiling of the mirror room. Descending rapidly the straps began wrapping around the ponies' limbs and buckling firmly so that the pony would not end up strangling himself in all of his struggling.
With all of his limbs secured, Antiflux was left to resume his agony within his mind. Images were racing past his eyes almost as if his mind was draining itself of memories. Trying to remember anything at all his efforts were met with a deep burning pain stretching across his face like a river of fire. Releasing another round of angry floundering he was left to the mercy of his inane mind. He opened his eyes to see a blue pony staring back at him intently as if he were trying to decipher a difficult puzzle. The blue pony was smearing his forehead with what looked like a white sheet of paper before he saw it again as a blood soaked mess. "So the memories lead to bleeding, how peculiar," he could hear the doctor observe nonchalantly, "poor boy had more than what's good for him." Between flashing images and a searing pain Antiflux could see the blue pony's horn glow a deep blue, Antiflux saw no more.