“You SAW him?!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed when I told her about my encounter with Heartburn.
“Oh, Sweetie Belle, every mare in Ponyville saw him!” I chuckled to myself and poured myself a glass of apple juice that Apple Bloom had so generously given to me the day before.
“But he SAW you! He NEVER looked at any of the other mares in the audience! He just looked above us and at Super Star! You are a lucky pony!” Sweetie Belle sat on the ground, exhausted from her rant. She levitated a nearby piece of paper and fanned herself off. I took a sip of the juice, but then quickly spat it back out when Scootaloo burst into the room.
“Whoa! Oh, no!” I heard her shout as she and her scooter flew through the air above my head. With a loud crash, I turned around to see her pulling herself up from a pile of wood that had recently been split by her scooter’s impact with my living room wall. She glanced around her and gave a sheepish smile. “Oops, sorry, Perfect,” I trotted over to her and helped her get out of the wood pile.
“That’s OK, Scoots. What are you here for?” I shouldn’t have asked that question.
“Did you see that stallion yesterday?!” She pranced around the room like a love-struck filly. I gaped in shock at her rambunctious behavior. Why, of all ponies in Ponyville, would Scootaloo like this new stallion? She never took any notice of any colt, much like that of Rainbow Dash. The painful memories of her presumed death returned to me, but I quickly shook them aside as Scootaloo pressed herself into my face. “Wasn’t he a dream?” Her pupils went dilated as she gazed up at the ceiling with awe.
“I guess he was OK,” I replied. Both mares in the room stared at me with horror.
“OK?!” I had to cover my ears as they both screamed in different ones. Suddenly, Apple Bloom galloped into the room, panting and sweating beyond control.
“Heartburn is back on stage!” She whinnied with pleasure. All three of the girls squealed with joy and stampeded out of the room, leaving me stumped and unable to move. How could my three friends who have never shown an interest in boys… suddenly like one? Something wasn’t right. I know that I keep repeating that, but something truly wasn’t right! And I was going to find out what it was!
I followed the girls until I saw all of Ponyville, once again, fawning over the two ponies on stage. Super Star had started to sing a song with Heartburn singing the harmony which turned the adoring crowd into an uproar. I looked around at all of the ponies and gasped in horror when I saw Twilight Sparkle among them, reaching out her hooves to touch Heartburn. Her princess crown was nowhere in sight and she attempted to fly onto the stage, but was pushed down by Super Star’s magic.
“Twilight?” I called out to her, but she didn’t respond. Heartburn did, however. He turned from Super Star and made eye contact with me. He suddenly stopped singing and just stood there, staring. I stared back, now unaffected by his charming nature. He started to perspire after twenty seconds of looking at me and stumbled back stage much to Super Star’s disdain. The mares of the town complained loudly until Super Star gave them an embarrassed grin and also disappeared behind stage. Now the stallions were furious.
“Super Star, come back!”
“Heartburn, don’t go!”
I slowly trotted away from the scene, breathing heavily and frightened beyond all imagining. My pace started to quicken as all of the events I have seen flashed through my mind. Before I knew it, I was galloping towards the top of the hill where Fluttershy had caught me and I sat down heavily on the ground. I panted and wheezed, trying to get the air back in my lungs. I smoothed back my mane (to the best of my ability, anyway) and tried to remain calm.
“Super Star and Heartburn obviously have some sort of spell that they use to make the ponies in the town fall in love with them,” I pondered this. “I remember when Apple Bloom and her friends made a love poison for Big Mac and Cheerilee, but this is something different,” I remembered how Twilight had taken the book that taught them how to make the love potion away and had hidden it somewhere in the Everfree Forest where nopony could ever find it again! How could somepony, other than Twilight, know how to make a spell like this?
“Hey,” I quickly turned around when I heard somepony behind me. I sustained a gasp of shock when I saw that it was Heartburn. His wings were folded in and his ears pinned behind his head as if he was scared of me. “What’s your name?”
“Perfect,” I responded.
“That’s a nice name,” He replied.
“Someponies say that it doesn’t fit me very well,”
“Why not?”
“Just look at me!” He was silent for a moment as he looked at me. He tucked his tail between his legs and started to walk towards me as if I was a wild animal that could attack him. “What do you want?” I asked, a little too forcefully.
“I don’t know,”
“Is that all you can say?” I was becoming angry. “How are you and Super Star doing this to the ponies here? Do you have a spell or something? Who taught it to you?” His face turned red with embarrassment at all of my questions, but he still did not reply. “How are you able to do this without anyone finding out?”
“But somepony did find out,” He was looking at me.
“Yes, I did find out, didn’t I?” I approached him threateningly even though I knew that he could totally take me on! He didn’t budge, but I could tell that he was slightly intimidated by me. “Who exactly are you, Heartburn?”
“Just a guy who’s trying to make a living,” He said.
“Make a living on what?”
“Well, some of the mares throw bits at me here and there and Super Star pays me to stand on stage and sing with her,”
“That’s no excuse to hypnotize ponies and turn them into robots!” My nostrils were flaring in anger and my pulse was starting to climb.
“I don’t really have a choice, Perfect!” His tone shocked me and I sat on the ground at his volume. He took in a deep breath to calm himself and continue. “My talent is being charming!” He pointed to his cutie mark of a heart on fire. “You can’t really make a living on just being charming, so I panicked. I took the first job that was offered to me and haven’t questioned him- er- her since.” I was still confused as to why they were doing this, but I thought best not to ask him. I turned away from him and sighed. The night sky had already come out and Luna had made a special starry sky that illuminated the meadow that we were in. I gazed up at the stars and allowed a single tear to slide down my cheek. Heartburn walked up to me and sat down in the grass by my side. He gazed up at the stars too. Then he glanced down at my wings, but then quickly diverted his gaze when I looked over at him.
“I was born this way,” I said, trying to lighten the mood. All he did was nod.
“Did you ever wish that you could be up there?”
“Every day of my life,” He was surprised by my answer.
“Why can’t you be?” He asked. I looked over at him with an obvious look on my face and I gestured down to my wings.
“Because I’m crippled,” I stated bluntly.
“You sure it’s not because everypony else says you can’t?” He stood up and stretched out his wings which I then noticed were abnormally large for a pegasus. “Everypony where I came from told me that I would never get off the ground, but I kept trying,”
“But you have two wings! I only have one and it’s beyond repair,” He folded his wings back down and approached me silently.
“Who told you that?” I paused and thought.
“Everypony,” I answered. He then wrapped his right wing around my waist and pulled me to my hooves. I didn’t know what he was doing, but I could tell that I was in no danger. His grip tightened and he stretched out his other wing, preparing to take off.
“I can’t fly with only one wing either,” He said, glancing over to my crippled wing. I looked over at it and grimaced.
“I can’t move it, Heartburn,”
“Yes, you can, Perfect. Just do what I do,” He began to slowly flap his wing to a steady beat and he waited for me to do the same. I gingerly lifted it up and slowly brought it down, feeling a slight lifting sensation as I did so. I looked over at Heartburn and saw him give me an encouraging smile. I did it again, with more force this time and we slightly lifted off the ground. I flapped again and we gained even more air. I heard Heartburn laugh triumphantly as we slowly, but surely, were flying into the air!