//------------------------------// // Good to the Last Drop // Story: My Little Heartbreak: Creativi-Tea // by Jet_Black1980 //------------------------------// Chapter 30 Good to the Last Drop. Twilight left the office with Bright-White waving at her and recommending that she get Heartbreak in for a monthly checkup. No sooner had she walked down the street did she feel something land and clamp down on her head. It was a purple fedora with a white plume sticking out of it. “What the hay?!” she tried to shake it off, but the hat stuck firmly to her head. High Hat came rushing up to her. “Oh Blast! And that was the last one too! Well...I think it was the last one.” he looked at Twilight. “Oh! Hello! It’s you! Miss Sparkle!” he said tiredly. He looked over the hat and tried to give it a tug. “Oh dear. This one seems to have taken a liking to you. Yup. Won’t come off until you have accepted it as your hat. And when that happens, well I can’t sell it to another pony. It’ll refuse to be worn by any pony but you now...” Twilight blinked. “Really?” “Yup...” his gaze followed something lurking behind Twilight, almost with cat like reflexes he jumped and pounced on something. “Ah-HA! Thought you could get away from me did you?” he announced, grasping a flattened top hat in his hooves. He stared at the hat. “So...tell me...Is Heartbreak doing well? I saw a yellow pegasus helping take her limp body back somewhere,” His eyes looked up at Twilight, there was a great deal of fear and worry. “She’s alright, just passed out for a while. She had all of us worried. I thought for a moment we’d lost her.” Twilight blinked at him. “You really care about how she’s doing? Even after everything that happened?” “Twilight Sparkle! I may have lived my life for a few years as a con-artist swindling ponies for their bits, but I am far from heartless!” he stuffed the flattened hat into a bag that he slung over his back. “Of course I care about how she is doing. It’s not everyday you meet a mare like that.” “Careful what you say, she might think that you’re flirting with her,” Twilight quipped. “With the way she was acting...” High Hat rolled his eyes. “Thanks but no thanks. My mother didn’t raise me to approach strange mares like that.” He threw the sack in the back of his cart. It was fully packed and looked like it was ready to go somewhere. “You’re leaving Ponyville? Not going back to your shady ways are you?” Twilight asked. “Heavens no. No...Not with all the hats I have now. So many hats. It’s strange how just half an hour ago I had nothing but ideas for hats, and now...I’m just drained creatively. That’s alright! Back to Los Pegasus to see if I can try my hoof at things again. I have a few friends there that can help me figure out how to tame the beasts I’ve created,” he replied, patting the sack. “You’re going back? Even after whatever happened there?” Twilight almost felt like fishing out the story, but she was met with a closed window the last time. “Yes. Even after what happened there.” He put a hoof over his chest. “I do believe that your little Heartbreak taught me something. Something important.” “Oh, what’s that?” Twilight asked. “I have a past, and I have been letting it get the better of me. I have been letting it block me from doing what I love, and letting it stop me from doing what I need to do. Heartbreak taught me to face that past. She reminded me of who I am, and why I am who I am. It was painful to be sure, reliving those moments...But I am better for it. Stronger for it.” He looked at Twilight. “Does your Heartbreak have a past?” Twilight looked to the side and thought about the question. Then she looked back. “Yes. I think she does,” Twilight said, nodding. She peered at the contents of the cart. There sat the emptied glass jar. “Oh dear..” “What is it Miss Sparkle?” High Hat asked. “It seems that you’ve lost all your marbles...” she said, pointing at the jar and trying not to giggle. “Miss Sparkle. I didn’t lose my marbles,” he replied digging around in a bag. “I took your friend’s advice and used my marbles!” he pulled out a fine sturdy hat that was peppered with dozens of marbles. ========================================================= I rub my temples. The corny nature of this story almost makes me want to gag. “I have a past, and I should face it instead of running away?” Twilight smiles. “That’s a good lesson to write to the Princess, and it sounds pretty profound, don’t you think?” “Perhaps. But I don’t think it fits what happened today.” Twilight gives me a serious glare. “I didn’t say it wasn’t a good lesson! Just one that doesn’t fit what happened today. If I am going to send letters...they might as well fit what happened...Call this a Rainy Day Lesson?” Twilight looks thoughtful. “Deal. As long as you write to her about this lesson, someday.” I breathe a sigh of relief. I do have a past. But I don’t want to talk about it, think about it, or relieve it. Not today anyway... Twilight continues her story. ============================================================ Twilight walked towards the clock shop. Just in Time looked a mess, most of the front of the story was missing, there were little watches, clocks and other mechanical bits here and there. Twilight felt a sense of foreboding when turning her head into the busted out shop. “H-hello? Anypony there?” she asked tentatively. In the back there was Pepper Pocket. He tiredly looked up at Twilight and smiled. “Oh! Hello! I’m terribly sorry, but if you can’t tell...um we’re kind of... well closed for repairs,” he replied. “Well, it’s a good thing that I am not here for any clocks. I’m actually here to see you.” Twilight replied. “My name is Twilight Sparkle.” Pepper Pocket blinked. “Wait, I think I recognize you. You were the pony that forced the teapot into Heartbreak’s mouth.” “I kind of had to do that. Or she would have-” Twilight started to explain. “Died. Yes, a zebra gave me the antidote as well.” He looked up at Twilight, there were still rainbow coloured tear stains going down his cheeks. “After I asked her why she did that and berated her, telling her that I still had so much work to do, and the like, she told me that I might have had enough tea to send me into a coma. Which was far worse a fate than that which awaited Heartbreak.” He shook his head and looked over his shop. “How are you doing?” Twilight asked. “All things considered? Surprisingly well. I mean, the front of the shop is a wreck, I am going to have to get somepony to come out here and repair that. But I have my health, several months of back work done, some of those side projects that I wanted to get done, done.” he pointed at an orange and a small mechanical griffon in front of him. “Watch this!” He pushed down on the top of the orange and it splayed out into twelve slices. Each slice with a number. The hands of the clock unfurled out and showed the time. He then tapped on the little griffon’s shoulder. “What do you want? The time is Five Thirty-One, Dweeb!” Twilight blinked at the two unusual clocks. “Interesting.” “Yes! This one I call ‘A Clockwork Orange!’, and this is my clockwork griffon. I haven’t a clue why I wanted to make this two clocks, but they have always been ideas just stuck in the back of my mind. Oh! And even better than that!” He picked up a book and some papers. “Some of my mentor’s old notes! Many of these tips and tricks will help me a great deal in the future. Did you know if there are several clocks with the same problem, you can cast a spell that fixes them all at the same time?” Twilight smirked. “That sounds like quite a time saver.” Pepper rolled his eyes and chuckled. “Yes and that’s actually its name. Time Saver.” he sighed and leaned on his desk tiredly. “Then there is the paperwork. But after what happened? I do not feel like making anything for a while.” he laughed a bit. “If somepony comes in with a clock to fix, I might actually welcome it!” “You’re doing a lot of this on your own, think of actually hiring some help?” Twilight asked looking around. “Funny you should mention that. Your friend H.B. said the same thing. At the time I didn’t think I could afford it. Now I think that I can’t afford not to. After getting all of the fixed clocks out and to their owners, I should have enough leftover to repair the shop.” Pepper sighed. Twilight looked at him with concern. “You can do a lot of things on your own Pepper Pocket, but it never hurts to ask for help.” Pepper pushed on the top of his clockwork orange again. The whole clock popped up back into its spherical shape. “You know, that’s why I think my mentor hired me on. When I first started here, the shop was a mess. He need an extra pair of hooves around.” he shook his head. “I think I miss him.” “Well, why don’t you go visit him? Didn’t he retire or something?” Twilight asked. “No, he didn’t retire. That’s just what I have been telling everypony. Telling myself really. No, he’s passed on, Miss Sparkle.” Pepper looked at a picture of him and an older stallion. “I’m sorry...” Twilight said sympathetically. “It’s alright, I just have never had the courage to face it myself.” Pepper looked off in the distance. “When they found him, he was at this very desk. Still working on some sort of clock. I had taken time out for my family. And he worked until his time ran out. I feel I have some blame for that.” Pepper sighed. “You can’t blame yourself for something like that,” Twilight said. “No, but I can take a lesson from it.” he chuckled sadly. “Like you said: I can still do many things on my own, but I should never stop asking for help.” =========================================================== I stare at Twilight blankly. “What? You don’t think that’s a profound or good lesson to send to the Princess?” She asks. I sniff a little. “It’s a fine lesson, it’s that whole situation with Pepper Pocket. The way I sounded when I was talking to him, what I did, what I had him do, then..” I shake my head. “I just didn’t expect that.” “Yeah, it’s hard to know what to say in a situation like that. You just have to show them that they’re not alone, and they have friends there to support them,” Twilight replies. I am still at a loss for words. “It’s not only that, Twilight, but I had a friend who told me that exact lesson. ‘Don’t stop doing things on your own, but never stop asking for help when you need it.’” I shake my head. “It’s a good lesson, but I don’t think it applies to what happened today either.” Twilight is about to give me that look again. “Hey! I will write it when it applies! ‘Course, that seems to be everyp-pony that I shared my tea with. So, one out of three isn’t bad, right?” “That’s not everypony.” she replies, the sound of magic hums in my ears and a book floats to me. “There was one last pony who just stopped by that wanted to see how you were doing. He left you this.” I blink at the gift being presented to me. The cover reads, “My Diary”, and there is a small lock on it. I sigh. “Ghost Writer left this, didn’t he?” I frown. “Darn it! I told him-” “No special treatment. It’s not any special treatment, Heartbreak. It’s his way of apologizing for what happened. He feels really sorry if he made you feel uncomfortable this morning, and he really wanted to make up for it.” Twilight looks thoughtful for a moment. “And while he was here, I think he shared something with me that was rather profound about you.” I take a deep breath. Calm yourself, HB. He isn’t out to get you. “Alright, and that was?” ============================================================= Twilight looked at Heartbreak. Bits of rainbow coloured streaks were still on her face. Fluttershy had done her best to make sure she was ok. She had said that she wanted to be there when she woke up, but had to take care of some other things. That was Fluttershy for you. She was always thinking about others. Twilight looked over the mess that was her library. A dizzy array of papers, drawings, sketches, little blurbs of stories, poems and many things more. A few things she recognized, almost like snapshots from her life. She paused over a few papers. The first time she came to Ponyville, the castle in the Everfree Forest, time with her friends, her reading on a sunny day...There were drawings of other random things: A dog like creature laying atop its dog house, a warped and twisted building near a bridge, a bent spoon with a cherry on it. It was all a very confused and twisted mess. There was so much so that she felt slightly light headed from looking at it. She shook her head and then heard a light rapping came from downstairs. Twilight opened the door. Standing outside was Ghost Writer. He looked as if he was caught in the middle of leaving. He stopped and turned. “Ah, Twilight, you’re here. I was afraid that I came too late or that I-” he started to stammer. He was looking over Twilight’s shoulder at the mess that lay behind her. A fluttering of papers caught his eye. “Actually, I wanted to see you.” she looked at him in a concerned manner. “And make sure that you were doing alright.” “With all things considered? Yes. I am well. A little flustered, a bit winded, and well, concerned.” he said, looking at the flittering pages on the ground. “For Heartbreak, that is...Is she doing better?” Twilight smiled. “Yes, she’s going to make a full recovery from her little ‘tea-scapade.’ Right now, she is upstairs sleeping.” Twilight looked upstairs and then noticed that Ghost Writer had picked up a few of the papers that were lying on the floor. “Wait, I-” Twilight began. “I don’t mean any harm, Twilight, I merely wish to see.” Ghost Writer explained. “It’s just, I mean, I’m not sure how she would feel about you looking at them,” Twilight replied. Ghost Writer peered into the library. “All of these were from her? She created all of...this?” He asked. Twilight nodded. “Yes. Apparently, all of these things were in her head. That is if I understood Zecora’s explanation of what creativi-tea does to a pony, correctly.” Ghost Writer looked at the sketches that he had picked up and then at the papers, drawings and stories that plastered the walls. “By my Princess Luna,” he whispered. “It was like there was an entire world, neigh, a universe inside her mind, and it all wanted out at once. It’s...amazing.” Twilight hadn’t thought of it that way. “Yeah, I guess it is.” “Well, I wanted to stop by and give her this; as an apology. Not as any special treatment or anything, but as a way to say ‘I’m Sorry.’” He gave Twilight the diary. “Everypony needs a place to put their thoughts, feelings, and ideas.” He paused. “It seems...with a pony like Heartbreak, she’s sure to fill it. After all, it would seem above all things, she is a creative pony.” He shook his head at the dizzying sight of the inside of the library. “That she is.” She looked around at the mess. “Well, thank you for your concern and stopping by,” Twilight replies. “Fare thee well, Twilight Sparkle,” Ghost Writer said, bowing slightly. Twilight sighed and looked at the diary. “Well, better her ideas be in here, rather scattered everywhere in the library!” Just then she heard some groaning from upstairs. “Better see how she’s doing,” Twilight thought to herself, walking up the stairs. ========================================================== “And that’s when I came up here to see how you were doing, and you moaned in pain. To which I replied-” “Whoa, Twilight! I was there for this part. Remember?” I put my hoof up. “Really, you aren’t Pinkie Pie. You should have just concluded with ‘and now you know the rest of the story.’” I sigh. “So what was the profound thing here, Twilight? Cause I think I am missing it.” Twilight smirks. “That, above all things, you are a creative pony.” I shake my head. “Because of all of this?” I reply, pointing out the papers. “That was the tea talking, Twilight.” Twilight sighs at me. “Remember what I said to Ghost Writer? The tea brought what was already there to the surface. Everything here?” turns her head and takes the self-portrait off of the mirror and lays it on the bed next to me. “Things like this? All this was up here.” Twilight points to my head. “And everything that you did for those ponies? All that came from here.” she points to where my heart is. Back on earth, I would have told her that I don’t think or feel with my heart, but with my brain. But those words trigger something. A sudden wave of emotion hits me out of nowhere. I feel...touched. I attempt to shake it off. It isn’t working too well. “If...if you say so, Twilight,” I reply quietly, looking at the picture on the bed. Deep down, there is a part of me that says that she is right. I just don’t want to accept it. “I do say so, H.B. And I know so. You might be crass, moody, jaded-” “Well, that killed that fluttery feeling,” I say, glowering at her. “Sorry,” she says, looking at me with sad eyes. “You’re lacking in discipline, but you’re not a bad pony.” She rubs my shoulder with her hoof. “And one step at a time, eventually we’ll bring you back to Harmony.” she looks at me. “Okay?” I sniff hard. “Right, one step at a time,” I reply, I blink hard and rub my eyes. “Okay! Letters don’t write themselves,” I bend my head down and pick up the saddle bag with my mouth. I hope that Twilight picks up on that. I then rummage through it, before plucking out the mechanical pencil. As I slip it into my hoof, I spy a look of disapproval from Twilight. She looks like she is about to speak. “Twi’, please, I don’t want to spoil everything that we just said with something horribly jaded.” I look at her pleadingly. “Just this one thing, I’m adapting to being a pony the best I can, but I need just this one thing.” I tap the pressure dial and it makes a soft *zzzt!* noise. “Please?” Twilight looks at the pencil in my hoof. There is a wary, fearful look on her face. She takes a deep breath. “Alright, H.B., this one thing.” I stifle a snicker. “Well, that and one other thing: A clean sheet of paper, please?” Twilight giggles a bit. “I’ll see if I can find any in this mess.” ============================================================ Ghost Writer had been staring at the window outside of the library for a good ten minutes. He could see the silhouette of Heartbreak and Twilight talking. He had no clue what they were talking about, but he didn’t care much. Twilight left for something. Ghost Writer shook his head. “This isn’t helping your image as a non-threatening pony, G.W.,” he commented to himself. “Standing outside of strange mare’s homes and looking through their windows is what creepy-stalker-lecher-ponies would do. You are not a creepy-stalker-lecher-pony. We need to stop doing this and just go home.” He paused again looked at the window. Why was this ordinary earth pony holding so much fascination for him? What did he sense from her? What worlds were hatching from that mind? He shook his head and snorted. He had said his peace in this matter. A parting gift as an apology. If he was lucky, she would use it. He took a deep breath through his nose. “That is if I am luck-” he sniffed the air. There was a slight smell of something wafting to his nostrils. He tried to find the source of this smell. It was something almost sickly sweet. He quickly found where it was coming from. It was coming from his hoof. There was a small droplet of something sticky spattered there. He sniffed it. “What is that smell?” It smelled much like- “The tea.” he looked at the dried tea in a bit of horror. It must have splattered on his hoof when that cup crashed to the ground! “I should go and wash this off immediate-” he stopped and looked at the window, then back at his hoof, and at the window again. “I,” he paused. “I shouldn’t.” He looked at his hoof. It was such a small droplet of tea, barely noticeable. He looked at the window and closed his eyes. “I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity. During these fits of absolute unconsciousness, I drank - Celestia only knows how often or how much. As a matter of course, my enemies referred the insanity to the drink, rather than the drink to the insanity.” he quoted. He then licked the dried tea off his hoof. A burst of flavor rolled over his tongue. The imagery of the darkness before a sunrise rolled through his mind. The black night was being chased away by the red, orange and yellow. It was in a green, grassy meadow that was peppered with flowers of blue, indigo, violet and white. It was delightful. He opened his eyes. Across them flickered the thinnest, most unnoticeable line of rainbow coloured static. A small spark. “My word, my dear Heartbreak,” he began. “That was indeed the best tea in all of Equestria. Later, I think I shall have some grass and hay tea. But right now, I think I shall do some writing. I haven’t done that in a great while.” he turned and walked away from the library. ============================================================= Twilight gives me some blank paper. “You found some clean sheets of paper? I’m shocked.” “Actually, I had to ask a neighbor pony for this,” Twilight replied, sheepishly. I look at the book and attempt to use my ankles to position it on my ‘lap’, or the closest thing I have to a lap right now. At first it looks like I am going to flip the damn thing all over the place, but then I get it to where I want it to be. I pick the paper up with my mouth and put it flat on the book. “You’re going to use the diary that Ghost Writer just gave you as a writing surface?” she asks me. “It is my -journal- and I will do with it as I like,” I reply. “Now, let’s begin this.” I click the ‘pencil’ button at the top. There is a mechanical sound that comes from the device and the end of a mechanical pencil juts out. I smile and attempt my hoof at writing. This is just a practice try, to see if I can actually draw like this. Amazingly, it works. It feels natural. My hoof is a bit wobbly but it works! “I’m doing it, Twilight!” I am almost squealing with excitement. Twilight still has an unsettled look on her face. “Right, letter to the Princess.” I take a deep breath and hold it. I can feel my hoof shaking. I’m scared. What if the Princess rejects my letter? What if my lessons don’t meet her approval? What if I’m not worthy? Twilight puts a hoof on my shoulder. I look at her. “You can do this HB. Remember: everything one step at a time. But in order to do that, you need to take that first step.” I close my eyes for a moment, and clear my mind. “Right, I can do this.” Dear Princess Celestia, This is my first letter to you, so I hope you can forgive any spelling mistakes, poor grammar or anything that sounds too sarcastic or snide. I really don’t mean to come off that way, it’s just something I do naturally. Anyway, Twilight is going to be writing an accompanying letter explaining the situation and what happened today. She feels responsible for everything. You see, I had my first brush with magic today, and while it didn’t end badly for everypony, I still feel that I put everypony at risk. To me, Twilight might have opened the door, but I was the one that stepped on through. You can read Twilight’s report in all this and decide for yourself. Something patters against the paper. Fuck, I’m crying. Stop it. You can do this. I look over at Twilight, she is silently reading as I write. “Wow, that is actually rather legible, H.B.” she says, blinking. “Please continue.” Today I learned about the element of Harmony known as Magic. It’s funny how it was the last element that Twilight learned about and the first one that I am learning about. Being from a world where magic seems to be nonexistent to those who don’t have it, it’s hard to know what to make of what is already an elusive element on this world. However, I have come to the following conclusions. A little magic can go a long way to produce many wondrous things. But at the same time, a little too much magic can be a dangerous thing in wrong hooves or in the wrong pony. I must be careful with myself and watch what I do. I learned many profound things about myself today. Only one of them really fits today’s situation however. And it was this: I am above all things, a creative pony. That might not seem like the greatest, or most profound of things. But like with magic, a little creativity can go a long way. I am going to be facing many problems, many trials and difficulties through this year. And if I am going to have any hope of overcoming them, I am going to have to remember that little lesson. However, luck is on my side, after all, somepony I called friend once, told me that I am an inkwell of creativity. Sincerely signed, A pony named Heartbreak I pause over the letter. “I wonder if I should add ‘P.S. I’m writing this with my hoof! Take that equine physiology!’” Twilight snorts and gives me a look of disapproval. I look away and slide the letter to her. “Right, I didn’t think I should either.” “I’ll get to work on my letter right away, H.B. It shouldn’t take me any more than ten minutes to write,” she tells me. Those ten minutes were the longest ten minutes of my life. Finally she comes back with the hourglass in tow. “We shouldn’t have a long wait to see her reply,” she says, placing it on a table. I don’t want to say anything. I am feeling conflicted, scared, and outright terrified. It was a good letter, right? I didn’t sound arrogant or snide or anything similar to it, right? I rub my hooves together nervously. If she likes my letter, a marble will fall white. If she doesn’t like it, a red one will fall. But what if my letter isn’t good enough? What if my words aren’t worthy? What if I’m not- My thoughts are interrupted by the glittering sound of magic emanating from the hour glass. There is a marble falling... My heart drops. It’s red. Only one thought is running through my head as it falls. “I’m not worthy, I’m not worthy, I’m not-” Before it touches the bottom of the hour glass, the red fizzles away like a firecracker. I gasp and cough. It hits the bottom of the hourglass a snowy white. I feel myself shaking and I am crying again. Twilight reaches over to me and gives me a pony hug. “Shhhhh, everything is alright. You’ve made your first step, H.B.,” she tells me. That doesn’t stop me from gasping and wetting her shoulder. My left arm reaches up and I hug her tightly. “I-I-I-I’m s-s-s-,” once again I try to say two simple words for an apology. But they refuse to come out. “I was so scared, Twilight.” I almost don’t want this hug to end, but Twilight breaks it off. “You’ve had a rough day, H.B., You should get some more sleep. Tomorrow, we will tackle cleaning up this mess and talk about what else is going to happen.” she smiled tiredly. I nod and smile back. “Good night, H.B.” “Good night, Twilight.” I reply. She leaves the room without turning off the light. How ‘un-Twilight.” Normally, she wouldn’t have done that. She would have shut off the light. She must be as tired and exhausted as I am. I take my pencil from out of my hoof and slip it into my saddle bag. My arm brushes up against the self-portrait I drew of myself. It’s quite the likeness, but then I notice something in the corner. The Japanese hiragana for ‘Yu’. “No way,” I whisper. I quickly turn over the paper, what greets me looks rather odd. The paper looks like it was blacked out and then something was erased into it. Like a negative image. I smirk and stare at the middle of this paper. Did I really come up with that clever of an idea? After about thirty seconds, I look away at a white section of wall. There’s a face. It’s a face I know, a human face. “Oh hey, there’s somepony I used to know...” I look around and then stuff the paper into my journal. No sense in Twilight or any other pony seeing this. It’s my little secret. I smile and close my eyes. As I drift to sleep, Mi’s image fades away. But he’s still there somewhere inside of me. I smile a bit. THE END