Author's Note

Hello there and welcome back again to yet another new chapter of Alumni After All, the one story out of many of my craft to go above and beyond the oneshots I've given you since the inception; suffice to say, the past chapter from before were by far a strong note for you all yet on the bright side, we're nearing the end of it completely.

Aside from disclaimers and thanks, I have a little confession to make: seeing that you've noticed a new character joining into the story recently, you'd be right for expressing anger that he's now appearing since the whole romance debacle of Equestria Girls; of course, you need to be reminded that this is no romance story whatsoever and that his role in it will be to serve as a replacement for their posthumous classmate Swain.

Speaking of new characters, I have brought forth two nurses needing more exposure than Redheart whom hasn't made an appearance at the story at all since Ocular Spectral Therapy, Snowheart and Sweetheart; in addition, I also happen to include canon character Claude and an original character name Tristan, aka Trissie from the fan artist, mustlovefrogs: she makes an physical appearance in the story not only as the long–suffering divorced single mother of the young Twist–a–loo but the sister of Claude as well.

Firered

A sky full of silver linings were soon etched about, swirling over the earth in its broken patterns as patches of some blue were breaking dawn without a care. A flock of birds in various sizes and shades soon soared so serenely, not even gravity dared to pull any of them down towards the solid plane of existence. A small civilization was started to carry on with its own lives and times, living and breathing around their happy little abodes topped off with so much hay. All pedestrians were being greeted with an abundance of some calm gentle breezes currently surfing across from the grassy knolls and to parts unknown. Aside from the town itself were a nearby forestry with a road as its guide and smoky mountains raging with growth and erosion from the trying times therein. As far as any lifeform was concerned, the smell of moisture was more enough to provide a sigh of relief and reprieve, courtesy of the brilliant green beneath.

Out of many traversing about in this here environment, a lone man was standing out and about as he’d sniffed the dense atmosphere before themselves. His skin was shining brightly like clean sand from the supersaturated beachheads, sparkling about as it was already being reflected by the sunlight. The man’s hair was spiky and matched his weary eyes, bearing the dyed deep blue of the ocean floor where tales of untold riches had been concluded. Adorning his body was his simplistic attire: a black hoodie with a blue shield of thunderbolt on the shoulders, ruby red jeans and some silver sneakers.

Standing before the lonely man himself was an enormous building residing in the very outskirts of the town he was already at. It’d stood up as high as at least three stories tall with a pair of stone chimneys stretching upward as they’d remained separated. The very roofing had style similar to the likes of many residences with the adjacent town, albeit composed of uniformed wood. Residing above from the very entrance was but a big red circle with several pink hearts; all were sequestered by a white cross. Surrounding it already were such countless windowsills made of the same material and shape but otherwise in such various sizes. All which had remained out there were a pair of olive doors resting underneath an awning up in front of a dirt trail he was on.

“Okay, Flash, you can do this: just walk inside the hospital, ask for the young lady’s name, and go see her; it’s that simple, so much so that even your grandmother can do it…” the aforementioned man had cerebrated after taking in a long drag of oxygen from his very surrounding.

It wasn’t long until he’d traversed through the partition up in front, greeted by a sight cuts above than whatever stones could’ve been thrown. The ceilings were in a brownish shading style, many all separated into intersecting but otherwise equal lines with domed lanterns in the mix. All the walls within the room Flash had entered were but a lighter hue than the brilliant green left behind in the outside world he’d came from. The beige flooring was interspersed with some set of teal carpeting that had looked like it’d been purchased at a bargain before being cleaned. Every geometric corner nearby the entrance was occupied by a potted plant with an abundance of leaves so spacious to cover the man’s shoes. He could also see that many other individuals already sitting on olive colored chairs were either being the well–adjusted or under the weather.

Flash looked around to find three women standing out and about a few yards away from his line of eyesight, already nearby a desk at this very moment in time. Defined amongst themselves were likenesses in fair dignity, possessing commonalities between the very threesome: darker complexions and somber emotions. Nevertheless, they still had some significant differences between each other that even the man in question was quick on the uptake to acknowledge so instantly.

Speaking of which, these particular feminine individuals had a sense of fashion more subdued than the common folk themselves in attendance in the very environment, let alone his very attire alone. For starters, only two of the triumvirate was nurses in uniform, hence their very insignias: one wore a purple dress while the other donned a yellow ensemble; the remainder was just a lonely visitor. Secondly, the employees’ hairs were coldly colored, save for accessories: the corpulent one was purple and white in a bun while the thin one wore blue in a caul; the loner was a frizzy brunette anyway. Even their eyes overall were cool like Flash’s hair, albeit with some differences: of course, both the dark nurse and visitor had brighter irises themselves; as for the lighter nurse, there was some green. The skins they’d worn on their bodies beneath their textiles even showed some variations: the heavyweight bore freckles, the lightweight was closer to the man’s tone, and the loner was in the middle. To even show how much the visitor was no different from him, she’d donned some mismatched attire which was fitting for the occasion: a red sweater matching her eyeglasses, black jeans, and sandals.

Flash watched as the harlequin nurse held up a clipboard with the left hand while stating calmly, “Peppermint Twist–a–loo, nineteen–years–old and a hundred sixty–nine centimeters tall: her father is a scientist whose whereabouts currently unknown; her mother a mail carrier from the countryside…”

“Yes, that is correct: Briar and I used to be a married couple about two decades ago and the year after our honeymoon is when we’d been blessed with our own baby girl…” the frizzy brunette replied without hesitation yet the moisture within her bright blue eyes was about to be unleashed at once, “I was so naive to think we would be together forever, the perfect family no less…”

“And look how it’d turned out, though if it’s any consolation, then at least you’d held out the longest; not that many parents could handle the strain…” the freckled nurse had sighed softly, infected by the visitor’s melancholy already.

The lonely man moved forward quietly as the lightweight in yellow spoke, “it seems to me that dear old dad had the audacity to jump ship the second she’d nearly suffered and died from that stroke, and all because of the investors pulling out; what a fucking pain…!”

“Snowy, have some respect please…!” the heavyweight counterpart snapped crossly upon hearing a sniffle from the mother, “this is a child we’re talking about…”

“I know, and if anything, she’s blessed to be alive long enough to make it past childhood’s end, let alone the war: creatures these days don’t care who they hurt until someone stabs them in the dark or takes a shot at them right back at ‘em; that being said, not all kids are innocent though…” the harlequin nurse wheezed before setting her eyes onto him.

Flash was unnerved by the lightweight’s grimace but found the strength to speak up, “sorry if I happen to be interrupting anything; I'd just overhead you three talking about Twist and I was hoping to see her again like before…”

“So you’re the boy whose been sending all those get–well cards, even after what happened…” the frizzy brunette had sobbed as the lonely man backed away from the threesome afore himself, “it’s a miracle that you did the right thing in saving her, despite the lives my daughter had taken…”

“It was the least I could do, soldier or civilian: considering what had happened to her, no one deserved to see these kinds of things at a young age, especially when these damnable demons disgraced the Crown and Country this way; they deserved to rot for what they did to her and those farmers…!” he’d said calmly, looking down at the flooring underneath their feet directly.

Snowy had laughed mirthlessly, much to the detriment of both women already in attendance, “at least that’s something we can agree with…”

“Anyways, her uncle Claude is currently using the bathroom as we speak; on a similar note, her former classmate, Apple Bloom showed up with her own mentor yesterday: they’d brought her some Zap Apple jam…” the freckled nurse said, defaulting back to normal, “you should’ve been there though, Twist was finally starting to open up lately, or at least more often than the others. We had some other patients who had opened up during the weekly sessions: most of them were attempted and failed suicide bombers much younger than herself; as a matter of fact, one of the surviving Guides confessed to attempting a murder–suicide. It’s just depressing, seeing and hearing stories about children being violated, tortured, killed, assaulted, and the like these days and ages and here in the homeland no less; as a matter of fact, Rarity ended up here for trying to drown herself and her sister: she was ranting and raving about how some punk destroyed everything her family had made for themselves. Turns out she was developing a tumor in her brain that made her act this way: it’s nothing serious for the most part, but it had me worried nonetheless; of course, as much as it’s horrifying to lose one home and livelihood in the war, murderous, suicidal, and antisocial is no way to go through life.”

“I know… I just want to know… HOW’S MY BABY GIRL?!” the motherly visitor had finally wailed, catching the people off–guard.

The heavyweight comforted the frizzy brunette and cooed, “easy, Tristan, your daughter is still doing fine: she’s just been having some nightmares about seeing some soldiers she’d killed doing unspeakable things to her and the like; other than that, Twist is being well–behaved like the other patients…”

“At least, that’s a start… I still can’t believe the war has created so many monsters in people’s clothing: the military was supposed to be free of them but it seems that it’s not the case…” Flash had sighed looking away from the feminine individuals, “it makes me wonder if my parents had ever dealt with them…”

“Things could’ve been a whole lot worse with her: my niece could’ve been collared and dragged out to some schoolhouse to be gang–raped until she'd died from the exhaustion and/or snapped into some disease–ridden cackling sex slave of the Cavern; then, the poor bastards got me to worry ‘bout!” another masculine voice was heard piercing their ears.

The identity in question belonged to another individual, sharing the same gender as the male visitor albeit with some significant differences. For starters, the new arrival was portly, just like freckled nurse herself yet had been bearing some musculature deeply within his lipid form. Secondment, the heavyweight man was also brightly skinned like Flash, albeit being more in tune with the peachy bleachy tones of said fruits. Third of all, the second man wore short puffed up tresses as black as the nighttime sky and not just over his head; anyway, he was clean–shaven. Like many of the people in particular, this heavyweight’s eyes were coldly colored but with a moderate orchid poisoned with such indignation. Donned upon the clashing form were an enormous orange shirt, some long gray pants, and lavender boots with a slender turquoise accent.

The initial male was uneased by another yet asked, “and you must be…?”

“Claude… Claude Reins… I’m a performance artist and puppeteer or at least I used to be; in addition, I’d also ran a restaurant years ago, at least until the war…” the masculine heavyweight introduced himself, “I’m just glad my wife wasn’t around to see this happen or what these bastards did to our kids…!”

“You could say the same thing with my parents, although it’s left me with bigger shoes to fill…” Flash had said with a sad frown.

Claude lightened up a bit and replied, “don’t take it too personally, words can’t express how upsetting this is for us single parents, especially considering that Tristan and I are siblings. I’m angry at the fact our kids had been targeted just because, but disgusted would be the better term: we were raised better than this fuck shit; besides, Fluttershy was the Bearer of Kindness and even she got crapped on with these accusations. Back when we were young and in love, we had hope and faith that everything we do would be for the good of our friends and family, one hundred percent: Briar was a hard case alright… but he’s not the worst of the worst; I’ve read plenty of times where people have caused harm to others in manners far too beyond the pale. The Smiths and the Pies were one of their victims; not even Rarity was safe: tried to strangle her only sister just because some libertine had his way with her after killing their parents and the family cat too. Truffle kept waking up screaming and crying in the middle of the night sometimes thanks to these bastards and my girlfriend, we never spoke to each other again, not that she did anything to either of us though. I’m not sure what Shake could’ve done had she lived but she would’ve fought all the powers of Tartarus and the like to protect our son, if not avenge him; Briar would’ve gone on the warpath too but I suppose that would mean Twist–––”

“Please don’t start that again; it’s bad enough that we had to learn of what she’d done, but don’t take me back to that day…!” Tristan cried aloud.

The raven–haired onlooker went over to the brunette’s side and soothed her, “there, there, dear sister… it’s over now: Twist is safe…”

“I know that but for how long…?” Tristan had wept, struggling to maintain control but to no avail whatsoever, “everyday is the same since the war’s over: some of the soldiers’ families spat on me at least once a month, and the graffiti at the flower home still hasn’t been washed off…! ‘MOMMY’S LITTLE KILLER'?! It’s like the whole damn world has comeback from lunch to shit on me for letting Twist pick up a firearm and shoot some soldier in the face; I understand that Princess Luna exposed the rottenness at the roots but why go after me of all citizens?! I’ve been a good mother throughout her own life: I’m kind, caring, and helpful; I even stood by her side when she'd suffered a stroke, even after that bastard Briar dumped me over some pet project of his that fell through the cracks…! OH, WHY ARE YOU TESTING ME THIS WAY; WHAT HAVE I DONE?!”

“Please, you’re bothering the others…” the thin nurse had snapped, even as the makeup upon the visage started to melt.

The frizzy brunette sobbed softly, “I’m sorry…”

“Anyways, we should go and see her; it’s the least we can do, for her sake…” the lightweight visitor had said to the others, “besides, I still can’t get over the thought of being the guy to bring her down…”

“Agreed, come on sister… let’s find her…!” Claude said, scurrying off to guide the frizzy brunette by the hand as the two nurses followed them; afterwards, Flash was now dead last, finding the strength to trail after them.

Needless to say, the straggling sightseer was currently at a loss of vocabularies approximately altogether.