Chapter 26
They Say That’s The First Sign
Zecora’s home wasn’t terribly far into the Everfree Forest, but being in such a hurry as they were, the run had nearly brought her to exhaustion.Twilight looked at the end of the path leading back to Ponyville. Ponyville was still there. Still in one piece. But the clock tower read 2:20! When did she leave Heartbreak alone in the library?! When did Heartbreak make her tea!?
Twilight looked at Zecora. Even the zebra was out of breath. “Everything seems alright..” Twilight said hopefully.
Zecora’s eye twitched. “Before a storm, it is always this quiet. So forgive me, if I do not buy it,” she replied as the two of them walked down the street. Lunch rush was about to begin, and there were ponies that were already seated at their favorite eateries.
“Oh no! After Lunch rush! If Heartbreak is out here, there’s no telling how many ponies she could infect!” Twilight shouted at Zecora. She frantically looked at the clock. It was 2:20. Had it taken that long to race through the forest? She tried to calm herself. “Right, Spike and I arrived back at the library at One O’Clock, I’m sure we left at-”
Zecora looked at Twilight frantically. “At this time, at this rate, there is no time to calculate! If you want to find your Heartbreak alive, we must give her the antidote before 2:45!”
Just then the tree next to the pair shook and out fell a dazed and confused Spike. “Ooooh.” he shook his head and gathered his bearings. “Heartbreak can sure buck pretty hard...” he looked up. “Twilight! Zecora! Heartbreak!” he started frantically waving his hands. “Tea! GHOST WRITER!”
Twilight’s ears drooped. With Heartbreak on insani-tea, there wasn’t any telling what she would do to Ghost Writer! “What did she do to him?!”
Spike shook his head again. “I got her out of the clock shop, Twi’, then we ran into Ghost Writer. She lifted up her hoof like she didn’t even know she was doing it and drank some more tea. Then she started talking in rhyme and insisted that Ghost Writer drink some of her tea to cure his problems! I tried to stop her, but she bucked me off her back and into this tree!”
The only thing that met Spike’s explanation was Twilight’s horrified expression. “Why was she even in the clock shop?!”
Zecora grabbed Twilight’s face. “Now is not the time for an explanation! Please, Twilight, focus on the situation! There can not be any waiting and not a single mistake! That is if you want to save your friend, Heartbreak! The task of capture is what you will have to endure, to La-Tea-Dah I go, for the antidote I must procure!” Zecora shouted, running towards the tea shop.
Twilight nodded and turned to Spike. “Did you see which way she went?”
Spike shook his head. “I was too busy being tossed into a tree.” he jumped up on Twilight’s back. “Oh, man, there isn’t any time to explain Twi’ but you aren’t going to be happy...”
Twilight’s ears perked up as she heard the panicked shouts of Ghost Writer. “How many times must it take, Before you believe what I say, Heartbreak!?”
“I’m not happy already, Spike.” pangs of guilt rushed through her as she ran. “Because of my careless judgement, there is a good chance that if we don’t find Heartbreak in time she could die!”
“Die!? Didn’t you say it would unleash something horrible if-” Spike began, before the two of them almost ran into Fluttershy.
“Eep! Oh, Twilight!” Fluttershy squeaked. “Oh thank goodness! I just saw Heartbreak! I think there might be something wrong with her...She was chasing after Ghost Writer and shouting at him!”
“And you would be definitely right!” Spike replied.
Twilight snorted at him. “We don’t have time to have a long conversation, Fluttershy. I need to know which way they went.”
“I think they raced off into the direction of the train station...” Fluttershy said, very concerned.
“Right, and Fluttershy,” Twilight grabbed the poor mare and looked at her in the eyes, “I know how you feel about hurting Heartbreak. But, if you see her, stop her, in anyway you can.”
“Twilight what’s-” Fluttershy began.
“Please, Fluttershy! If you see her!” Twilight shouted as she ran off.
Fluttershy was honestly worried now.
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Mi just doesn’t get it. Right now, we are in the state of a mental breakdown, and he’s trying to look on the bright, colourful, cheer-filled sugar fluff side of things. Can’t he be serious for once? Can’t he just get it through his head about what is going on?
“Well...At least we’re rhyming better, right?” he asks, trying to bring a positive spin to things.
I snort. “Rhyming won’t stop Heartbreak from spreading whatever is wrong with our tea all around Ponyville. And while a little madness every now again is relished by the wisest m-m-mares-”
“Men.” Mi corrects.
“I can’t say that word out loud, so I shouldn’t say it here.” I reply. “I think we can at least agree that Heartbreak has gone overboard on the Creativi-Tea. I almost dare say that she has dove head first into Insani-tea.”
“Wait, let me get something straight.” he looks thoughtful at me. It is a face that I miss really. Mi’s face that is. He has the same curly-wavy hair going, but he has a goatee and is dressed in that sweater that our grandmother gave us. It was a practical green sweater. “I thought that I was Heartbreak.”
“No. That wouldn’t make any sense with the current situation, Mi,” I reply. “We are Heartbreak. But I’m Yu and you’re Mi. We’re two halves of the same whole. I mean look at my cutie mark-slash-branding.” I point at my flank. He grimaces.
“Do I really have to look at your ass? I mean, how narcissistic is that?” he asks.
“It’s only narcissistic if you actually like looking at a horse's flank, Mi.” I reply. “Now look.” He looks and sees what I am talking about. Our branding or cutie mark is broken apart. I have one half of it.
“Where’s the other half?” he asks.
“On your sleeve, of course,” I reply. He looks and sees that, yes indeed, that is where he is wearing his heart.
“The metaphysical manifestations of all this are, of course unimportant to the situation at hoof, Mi. We need to focus. I seriously think that there is something wrong here,” I explain.
“What do you mean? We’re on magic tea,” he asks.
“Magic being the key word here. Caffeine is bad enough on its own. Add magic to the mix and we might have something that is not only dangerous to over imbibe, but maybe even deadly,” I tell him.
“Deadly? Twilight wouldn’t let us drink anything that was deadly,” Mi replies. “She would have taken any precautions that Zecora would have given her!”
I roll my eyes. “Seriously, Mi? Twilight hasn’t been in her right mind from the moment she saw Princess Celestia lose it on us. Her world has been ripped apart and we’re the cause of it. She has been second guessing herself and jumping on whatever solution sounds good at the moment.”
“Ugh, Celestia,” he shudders and hugs himself. “You won’t say men, fuck, or anything else we could say here, but you’ll say her name?” I glare at him. “Right, ‘Princess Celestia’.” he puts the words in quotes. “Don’t tell me that you are going to pull a Twilight and begin the hero worship with her.”
“No Mi, I am not going to paint myself white, get my mane done up and wear that much makeup. But that is all beside the point-” I begin.
“Our feelings in the matter of that mare are beside the point!?” He points at the screen. “I think they are very relevant to the point! We wouldn’t be in this mess if we could just get her out of our brain and have a nice night’s sleep for once!” he points at the monitor. “You said it yourself! This isn’t coping!”
A small, angry spark goes through me. “And guess who’s fault that is?” I ask getting close to the barrier that separates us.
He blinks as if he is thinking. “What? You’re blaming me? Really! Yu are blaming Mi! Oh that’s rich!”
“Hey! I said that there was something wrong with the tea in the first place! I mean come on! Zecora? Creativi-tea? Didn’t think that there was something up with that?” I shout.
Mi rolls his eyes and looks enraged. “Then why did you let us drink it!? Oh! I know why! Cause it’s the only thing that pacifies Yu! Yu needs her tea and she needs it now!” Mi replies getting close the barrier and shaking his finger at me.
“When I have to contend with somepony like Mi? Yeah! It’s not like I have much a choice! You’re always bouncing around barely constrained going from emotional state to the next! Happy and giddy one moment, depressed and angry the next! What’s worse is the insane dribble that comes out of your mouth! Really! What is up with shouting, ‘monkey brains’ at random ponies on the internet!?” I glare at him. He’s a reflection of what I used to be and almost everything I’m not.
“It’s funny! It’s meant to be random, silly and doesn’t have any meaning! Geeeze! No wonder Dave hated us. We were too much alike for him to stand!” Mi grasps his head and runs his fingers through his hair.
“You’re impossible! Ugh!” I angrily sigh, and turn away. “Whatever, Spike said that Twilight went to Zecora for help right? Knowing Twilight, she’ll try to do her best to fix the problem. Hopefully she should be back with either Zecora or whatever we need.”
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“I really did try to bring her back to the library like you asked me to, Twilight,” Spike told Twilight, clinging to her neck. “But the moment that she saw Ghost Writer...”
“I’m sure I can guess what happened, Spike, and I don’t blame you. This is my doing, I shouldn’t have left her alone. I shouldn’t haven’t given her the tea in the first place. I shou-”
“Twilight, stop beating yourself up,” Spike sighed. “I told you that everything would be fine. I have a little blame here too!”
Twilight shook her head. There would be time for the blame game later. Right now what was important was finding and containing Heartbreak. Locating her might be easy if Ghost Writer kept shouting, but getting to where he was, that was the hard part. She was tired and sweating from the race through the forest. “Heartbreak is racing on Insani-tea, Ghost Writer is being chased down by Heartbreak, and it’s what time?” Twilight couldn’t see the time from where she was. “Ugh! How could things get any worse!?” she thought to herself. Her mental question was to be answered with the sound of ticking. It was a soft ticking at first. A quiet sort of ticking like a clock at the end of a hall. As Twilight ran down the street towards where the train station was, it grew ever louder.
Spike looked around. “Hey Twilight, do you hear that? What’s that noise?”
Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock! Was it a reminder that Twilight only had so much time? No, it was-
“Twilight! Pepper Pocket’s Clock Shop!” shouted Spike. The doors to ‘Just in Time,’ burst open with an awful din of noise. Noise that ranged from ringing bells, shooting whistles, clangings, tickings, tockings and tiny voices shouting the time.
“THE TIME IS 2:29! THE TIME IS 2:29! THE TIME IS 2:29! THE TIME IS 2:29!” An army of walking, talking clocks repeated pouring out of the clock shop. As Twilight passed the shop dodging the little clanking things, the front store wall crumbled and crashed down. A huge, red mechanical clock being broke through.
“OH YEEEAH. THE TIME IS NOW 2:30!” it bellowed. Atop this monstrosity was Pepper Pocket. His eyes were almost flashing with colour and his mane and tale seemed to poof out a bit.
“Brilliant! Wonderful! Fan-tastic! Go my clockwork clanks! Give the time to everypony, that I may have some time for myself!” he cried out.
Twilight dared not look back, but already she could hear the screams of Ponyville residents as the sounds of mechanical voices were reminding them of the time. “How many ponies did she give Insani-tea to, Spike?!”
“Uhm, assuming you mean the tea she had with her? I know three ponies. Pepper Pocket was the last one!” he replied, swatting away a small clockwork looking bumble bee clock.
“The Time Is 2:31, Twilight-Sparkle!” it sang out.
“Who were the other two!?” Twilight shouted.
Almost as if on cue, she could see a black cloud forming down the street. As it grew, Twilight could tell that it wasn’t a cloud, but a massive swarm of something.From the epicenter she could see a rather familiar pony. High Hat.
“Hats... It’s all made of hats, Twilight!” Spike shouted.
And indeed it was. There were hats of all stripes and shapes, more hats than what Spike had seen before. Flying hats, rolling hats, crawling hats, red hats, blue hats, hats made of clouds, hats made of grass, there was even a hat made up of tiny hats. The hat that had been perched upon Spike’s head seemed to cling more tightly to his head upon this sight, as if to say “My head! All of you get your own!”
High Hat was laughing. “I have hats! More hats than ever! Now there can be a hat for everypony and everypony for a hat!”
712047 Chapter 25 just went up.
Every time I promise myself not to read more...
And every time I read more. I just have that feeling things are going to end badly for HB...
HATS FOR ALL
712105 Actually 26. Chapter 26 just went up.
Oh sweet Celestia...
So we have an army of chatting clocks , a swarm of head munching hats flying around , Heartbreak having a three part mental breakdown (I say three part cus there's Mi, Yu, and then their combined form of Heartbreak herself) and poor Ghost Writer getting his flank chased by the tea wielding, rhyming Mad Hatter Heartbreak.
Well this is going to be an interesting letter to the Princess... assuming we can save everypony from the Insani-tea.
[youtube=xPfMb50dsOk]
sorry, just wanna broadcast this awesome song
712197 It's a fitting song. But not the song I have chosen to end all this in. However perhaps you can help find one that you think works.
712239 I'm sorry, it's just what I wanted to put out because I just heard this song and it's very catchy.
712152 I would have to say that Titania did all this behind his back. When he was well... Let's just say that Titania ran back to Arcadia when the shattering happened, and Oberon stayed on earth to adopt the 'changeling way' (changeling the dreaming that is.) He goes through a cycle of being born human, discovering his fae nature, living as both a human and a fae, and then dying and being reborn again.
Just when I think the suspense can't stretch any more, it does! I'm on the edge of my seat.
712268 Even if he is in the body if a six year old currently.
t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSY-kqhUeNxqyHP1otORNI-mGwhdglbYN2vOPZ49vg-jr8tCn1K1w
712313 Something Awesome. Now embrace the Awesome.
Time for hats on every clock because every clock has the time for hats! Brilliant!
HB, go give some tea to Celestia!!!
Also, yay for wearing your heartbreak on your sleeve.
715153 I hope Squirrely is having fun with trixie. "Did some pony say teaaaaaaaaaa?"
715346
Yepppppp.
And squirrley is coming over to my house today ^^
720544 Good, I hear she's having a rough time. She could use some glamour cookies... and hugs. Heartbreak wants to give her hugs.
722008 Seriously? If it is who I think it is then no. That story would go like a so:
HB: Oh Daddy Discord! Help me Please!
DC: I'll help you. Just taint the elements of harmony for me.
HB: Yes Sir Daddy Discord Sir!
Later on, Discord gets out.
DC: I'm free!
HB: Yay! Now you can help me get back at the Councel of Nine! Help me!
DC: Oh yes... I can help you alright... Or... I could start up my pony collection! And I will start with Heartbreak!
HB: ..lol...wat? *poof now toy pony*
DC: YAY! *puts HB on the shelf to be forgotten about.*
Later the Mane Six Defeat Discord and then Twilight finds out about HB's involvment in this, sad toy HB is sorry, but Twilight just glares and says that this is a fitting fate. HB is left as a toy pony FOREVER.
The end.
722008 And Heartbreak knows that it would happen like that. Part of the reason she will avoid Canterlot for as LONG AS SHE CAN.
Is the large red Mechanical clock shouting OH YEAH after stating the time supposed to reference the Cool-aid guy from Family Guy?
This is just hillarious!
Koolaid man clock, rofl.
“Brilliant! Wonderful! Fan-tastic! Go my clockwork clanks! Give the time to everypony, that I may have some time for myself!” he cried out.
This story made me want to drink tea while reading it and that line means i need a new keyboard.
3224726 Boop! That comment is still funny!
This fix is an exercise in...futili-tea.
7821108 ... I don't know if I should upvote your comment or faceplant in my computer's screen...
8011430
Why not both!? *cackles*
I like the rhyming. Lol