Chapter 7
Gilded Cage
I am really getting sick of being startled and confused. I should be expecting these things by now. Shouldn’t I?
The faces of my exes fill each one the squares before me. There is a moment of silence where I just can’t think of what to say.
“How are you enjoying your new cage Anthony?” Tatiania finally asks. “Are you comfortable? We hope that the trip there wasn’t terribly...unpleasant. But by the looks of it, you are lucky to have survived..” She looks over her folded hands. I can see her clearly now, she is dressed in delicate finery that is decorated with polished metals. Most likely silver, bronze, and gold. Iron is poison to the fae..
Kylie speaks up. “Awww! She looks so adorable! I just want to take her out of the box and play with her.” Her eyes light up. “Oh wait! I can!” She ducks off screen and pulls out a pony figurine that looks all too creepily like myself right now.
A few others on the screen haven’t said anything but they are barely holding back their laughter. I can’t take it any more.
“Y-YOU!” I shout at all of them.
“That’s all you can say then?” Doug asks. “I send you clear across inter-dimensional voids bending the very fabric of the universe and all you can say is “Y-YOU”? I would be insulted if not for the fact that you’re an anthropomorphic miniature horse.”
A girl with bright red hair and a sharp toothed grin speaks. I recognize her sweet southern accent as that of Amber’s. A girl who I proposed to...the one who actually took my virginity. In her spiked black leather biker jacket, I don’t even recognize her.. But her voice...
“A Filly at that Warp-Warp. How’s that treating ya sweetie? Looks like ya’ve been through a tenderizer.” She licks her lips. “If it weren’t for the fact that ya’re a universe away, ah could go for some horse meat right about now...”
I feel sickened as her eyes roam over me. I back away and turn only to find that the screens follow me.
“Awww what’s the matter? Ah’d just take a nibble. Ya used to love it when ah did that..” The screen zipped up close to me and Amber licked the other side. “Ah know Ah loved it when ya did it to Me...”
“Gah! Get away from me!” I shout turning again, only to be met by another glowing square. The figure on this one
is truly terrifying. A horrifying red wolf beast whose teeth look as if they are going to come out and strike me down.
The screen nearly flies at me and then stops just before reaching the end of my muzzle.
“Boo!” She says in a playful teasing manner. I jump back and fall on my butt while screaming. I sound like a little girl.
A gaggle of the screens burst into laughter. I can’t take this any more. I charge the nearest screen.
“You think this is Funny!?” I shout at them only to find that the screens just can zip out of my reach. “You Find This Funny?!” I kick, I punch, I scream, I shout, and finally I cry out exhausted.
They start to hover around me.
“How...” I begin.
“How what?” Tatiania asks.
“How could you do this to me?” I ask looking up at the...eight screens? Then I spot number nine off in the corner away from the rest.
“As easy as it was for you to lose interest in us.” She replies smiling a large smile. She then looks miffed for a moment. Her screen turns to the corner where the lone screen hides.
“Spiderfly! Thy Queen Commands that you join us for what is to come. The Final Preparations are still to be Had.”
The screen floats slowly but surely to join the others. Her face is so sad, her long black hair. Then I see the goggles. This does nothing to soften the blow of who this is.
“Yes my Queen.” She replies.
“S-Sabrina?” I quiver. My mind is light headed. We were best friends through out high school. She hung around me all the time, I never knew why until graduation. Then she told me that she had a strange crush on me. My only words that I could think to say was “Why me?” The weight of all this hurts.
“Now the time has come!” Tatiania commands. “Now we bring the Final Resolution to a close.”
I snap back to attention. I am feeling so many mixed emotions. I glare angrily at all of them.
“What more...” I begin. “What more do you want?! I’m already a Universe away, that-that Voice in the nothing stripped me of everything! What more could you possibly take!?”
I realize only too late the stupidity of my statement. I’m dealing with the Fae. The Fair Folk, the people from under the hills. There is always more that they can take. They are all silent.
And then Dave speaks. “While it is true that the void stripped you of a many great things. It could not take one thing...Your way back.” He said.
My heart jumped into my throat, there is a way back.
“There’s a way back?” I ask.
“Right now there is.. But that will change.. You see, I rather like you out of the picture. The Void took your Identity, and with it everything of you that was in this world. And I mean," His screen flies up at me. "Everything. My wife is now my own again. And she remembers you Not. It is as if you were long held in death's embrace, or at the very least, never were to begin with...not only to her, but to the world...”
“Come on...” I begin. “Dave...just let me come back. I’ll leave you and your family alone, I’ll move cross country! I’ll go to Canada!”
He glowers at me.
“If I did that then the memories of you and the feelings that she feels for you would return. Never. Again. My wife might prefer having more than one partner, but I find you repugnant, repulsive and deserving of the fate that you have garnered for yourself!” He holds up what looks like a black razor and holds it against his wrist. “And As such, I cut the cord that binds us. I cast you out!”
I can’t tell if the blade cuts him or not, but there is a squelching noise and then his screen blips out.
As it does so, I feel a cold shiver cross my spine.
Wisp’O’Willow dives at me next. She looks human again, her blood red finger nails still seem almost claw like.
“You wasted my time! Played with my Emotions. My Feelings, My passions! I cut friendships because of you! Missed Opportunities because of you! And then you called me Old.” Her screen moves in close upon me. I can almost feel her heated breath. “My Rage still burns from that Anthony...If Ever I see you again, You will not even live to hear another call you ‘old’...” She grows claws and slashes across her wrist. And her screen too blips away.
Sara...WindRunner...revolves around me.
“I neither felt too much loss or remorse when you left, when you were fired, I was disappointed to be sure. How I wanted you. The fact that you were so shy only made me want you the more. But then when you rejected me, I was hurt and pained. In time I moved on, or so I thought. I started gathering tales. And when I came across your name again and again the hurt came back.” She sighs. “I hold no ill will to you now, However my fellow court members are right. Let this be a lesson to you and the fragile nature of hearts..” Before I could say anything, as quick as the wind she has brandished a curved blade from her orange sash and already made the cut across her wrist. Seconds later her screen flickers off.
Titania screen expands and she dwarfs the other five screens. With every slice of the wrist, I can feel something growing colder inside of me. Like something is actually growing distant.
“What’s the matter?” She asks. “Winter chill in your bones? You feel the sharp tang of fear encroaching upon you?”
I look at her frightened. The glint of her crown, the yellow silk in her dress which is offset by black so black you’d swear that it was plucked from the night. Two small two-inch horns curl in her hair. For a being of great beauty, everything about her is now menacing..
“Don’t even try to bargain with me as you did Neckros. I am the Queen of the Fae. I know every trick in the book because I wrote nearly all of them.” She smirks. “You crossed half a country for me...You spoke of undying love and of many wondrous things. You promised the moon and stars, and then when the time came to give them, you gave me nothing.” Her eyes flicker in the direction of Doug’s screen. “He told you about my little plot, my little coup to get you to leave our game that you attended didn’t he? I tried to warn him of the dangers that you posed and what you could do to him. But he did not heed my warnings. Now look at you. A pathetic little mewling pony from a cartoon show meant for little girls.” She smiled a cruel smile in that. It hurt. Not because of the words she had said, but how she had said them. She lifted up a dagger. “May we not ever meet again as you are now. Or Else.” The dagger came down quickly and swift. Her screen dissipated away and my eyes adjusted back to the darkness.
Dougs’ screen replaced Titania's’...He wasn’t the nice, quiet boy that I had casually flirted with, or the one that I had a passionately made out with. He looked like a cross between a mad scientist and some insane wizard. His eyes were covered by small black goggles. He is wearing a leather lab coat that has a green trim. His hair frazzles in random directions.
“Experiment number 8472 successful. Test subject has been mostly transported cross dimensionally, all that needed is to sever the connecting cosmic filaments that keep “her” entangled with the Council of Nine.” He said. His words were cold and methodical.
“What...what happened to you Doug?” I asked. Part of me was genuinely concerned, the other part of me was trying to delay whatever it was they were doing.
“Test Subject appears to be attempting-”
“Please Doug! I didn’t mean what I said.” Gods. That sounded like a horrible line from some terrible teen drama. So overly emotional. Then again it might be from the fact that I sound like a twenty something college girl. “I...” The words are there why the hell can’t I bring myself to say them? “I wasn’t thinking clearly.”
His brow furrows and I swear his hair crackles.
“You Weren’t Thinking Clearly?” He begins, his hand is shaking, he too apparently is having trouble saying what is really on his mind. He takes a deep breath. And then the look on his face regains composure. “Test Subject is attempting to distract me, experimentation would continue but it appears that conditioning is no longer having any affect. Termination of the Experiment is in order.” He says as his hand picks up a scalpel. “This Will be rather messy. But it must be done.” The scalpel cuts into his wrist and there is a splattering of blood before the screen turns off.
The girl with the red hair and sharp teeth replaces it. She smiles a sharp sharp toothed smile.
“Feeling a bit down there ..ma precious?” She says looking at me with glittering yellowish eyes. Her southern accent is thicker and kinda reminds me of horror stories that are passed around the Appalachians.
“Ah would be if ah where were ya are. Ponies are herbivores.. and ah,” She picks something out of her teeth. “Ah likes ma meat. Ah hope ya can go without...”
She looks at me in a faux display of sympathy.
“Don’t let those others get ya down ma Precious...Ah’m sure that our love story wasn’t that tragic. Ah’m sure it was for the best.” She looks at her sharp claw like fingernails. “It’s not like ya left me for some married Tart.”
“A-a-mber..” I start out. I get the idea of where this is going. They are going to ditch me here. They are going to leave me here. Why am I analyzing this so? Why am I thinking about these things in such a cold detached manner? Am I really that horrible of a person? The sight of each of these people once brought a bubble of different emotions, now I am feeling horrified at the thought of just being abandoned here and am resorting to bargaining. “I just...I just want to go home...” I say pressing a hoof against the wall. Looking at it once again just reminds me. It’s always reminding me that I am no longer human and it’s putting me on the verge of tears, so again I look away.
“Awwww, Shhhh, don’t cry Ma Precious...See...Unlike all those others, Ah could take ya home. Just like that.” She snaps her fingers and then holds up her hand to show me a small thin blue cord tethered to her wrist. “See this? All Ah have to do is yank on this, and ya wake up from Oz, Dorothy. Then Ah can take ya home, hide ya away and no..pony would be, ta wizer.”
I blink, is she messing with me? The horrible face on the screen looks like it would be the kind of being that would do that. But she looks rather serious.
“Y-you would do that?” I ask half hoping.
“Ya bet yar sweet little pony ass ah would Ma Precious.” She says smiling sweetly. She really would, this isn’t some fae nightmare I am talking to. It’s Amber. Amber loved me, Amber.. still loves me.. I wait a little with bated breath.
“Ah Would, But Ah’m not guna. Ya done and gone and hurt me Ma Precious. An we ain’t gunna have any of that.” She says, her expression does not change a hair as she quickly bites down on her wrist.
The last thing I see before my hopes are shattered is blood and the thin blue cord being severed. The screen goes blank.
My face twitches involuntarily. She dangled the hope of being back home right in front of my eyes and bit its face off. But now I know how I could possibly get back home. There are three screens left. I still have a chance. Right, Ignore that feeling of just to bursting into tears and running off crying into a dark corner. Steel yourself Anthony. You can do this..
But then I see her face. She is as beautiful as I remember her in high school, even if she looks different. Perhaps this reflection adds a bit more beauty to her seeming. Her hair is raven black and a bit long, her face is pale and white like a flower, with rosy cheeks, there are little black streams of mascara marring her face and she seems to be dressed in some vintage Victorian dress that looks dark blue. Wait.. maybe not blue but another colour like blue...not quite purple.. indigo. Indigo velvet. But it’s her eyes that are hurting me the most. I can see the pain in them. Did I hurt her that badly that she would push vengeance on a high school grudge after this long?
“S-s-Sabrina...” I choke out. “Please...Y-y-you don’t have to do this!”
There is a moment of silence before she speaks. Like Dave, I can hardly hear her.
“Yes I do. I am oath bound to my queen. I have no choice.” She holds up what appears to be an envelope opener. She apparently just wants to get it out of the way.
“B-But you! You of all p-p-p-poooonii! I-I mean…but...you?” Damn it! What the hell? I am not stuttering because of my crying. I am stuttering because I am trying to use a word and something isn’t letting me. Why can’t I say something as simple as ‘people’?! “I thought you said that you put it behind you. We were just teenagers and I was emotionally immature!” I sigh and rub my face.
She pauses. She doesn’t look at me but for the moment she isn’t going to cut the cord.
“They needed nine for their council. I am connected to you but I am bound by My Queen as I have taken an oath to her. If I do not follow through it will mean my death and her wrath Anthony.” She finally looks at me. “However. You are clever. If there is a way to adapt to this world you are in now, a place where you can belong, or even away back to this world. You will find it. You can over come the challenges you will face with ingenuity and compassion. You are after all, an inkwell of creativity.”
After abusive jabs being thrown my way, I am left speechless at her words of encouragement.
“Good bye Anthony.” She says, her gaze and letter opener coming down.
“SABRINA!” I pound on the wall.. Two screens remain.
“For a Slaugh, she was quite the talker wasn’t she my sweet.” Chimes a musical voice.
A thin face takes her turn on the screen. I don’t recognize her thin face, her deep hazel eyes that lay behind wire frame glasses, her golden hair from which two pointed elfin ears peek out from. But her voice. I remember that voice trickling into my ears for months. I bought phone card after phone card just to talk with her. She looks at me casually.
“Hello Love.” She says. “You know, if you had just been able to get your arse over the pond, you wouldn’t be in this mess.”
I am looking down. I don’t know what to say. After Sabrina cut me off, I feel numb. Not that I could say anything to Bethany.
“What? No pleasant chat? No promises to see me ‘one of these days’? No trying to pull at my heart strings?”
I don’t reply. I know what is coming. I can’t stop her from doing anything, she’s over there and I am over here.
“Fine Then.” She picks up a knife. “I thought we could have a fling or at least a nice conversation one last time. But that’s not happening. Just like everything else you promised.”
“Bethany wa-” But everything is cut short as her screen turns black.
There is one screen left. On it is a twelve year old puppy dog girl. And right now I haven’t been more frightened of young girls or puppies. She is playing with that little pony figure still. She looks up and smiles at me.
“Oh hi! Sooooo how are you doing?” She asks.
“How do you think I’m doing Kylie?” I ask bitterly.
“I don’t know, let’s ask and see.” She has the little figure walk to the middle of the screen. “So A-N-T-H-O-N-Y, how are you doing?”
“Oh I’m just terrible Kylie! I can’t have any stable relationships, my love Life is ka-put, I got transported to an alternate universe where I am now not only a pony but a girl pony!” says the toy pony. “And I might be stuck here forever too! But what’s this!?”
Kylie has the pony pick up a silvery white cord that is attached to her wrist.
“Oh Kylie! All you have to do is pull it and I can go home! Will you do that even if I am an undeserving wretch of a human being?”
“Kylie...Please stop that...” I ask her trying to assert myself.
“Hmmm No, I will not stop that A-N-T-H-O-N.” She says.
“Come on K-Y-L-I-E, it’s not very nice to throw salt in pon-...in others wounds...” I say sadly.
“Kinda how it’s not nice to tell others what to do A-N-T-H-O?” She asks.
“I was an adult Kylie. I might not have been your father, but I was trying to help you out...really I was..” I try to explain, It doesn’t sound too genuine due to the fact that I am still sniffling.
“An Adult...and you solved your problems in an adult manner too, A-N-T-H, I should follow your example and run away from things.” She says a wide smile on her face. She proceeds to take out a candle and sets it upright.
“I didn’t run from your mother! I tried to help her!”
“Yes, our couch needed a lot of laying on. And our dishes needed a lot of not doing, and I think that my dad’s social anxiety skills and my mom’s stressing skills had room for improvement too, A-N-T..” She then takes out what looks like a metal stamp of some kind. I blink..something is wrong but I can’t place what it is.
“Kylie, didn’t we have fun?” I ask, the desperation apparent in my voice. “I taught you things! Fun things! What the planets were, what the stars were, even some math! I bought you lots of different snacks and even a computer!”
The puppy dog girl looks up twiddling the little metal stamp in her hands.
“Oh yes, we did have fun. A-N, like when you would push me around..”
“I never Pushed you around!” I protest.
“Or when you told me what to do...”
“It was for your own good! You had to do your homework and things like eat! How was it my fault you wouldn’t wake up when I got food for all of us?!” I shouted slamming my hooves on the ground in frustration.
“Or how you nearly destroyed my family. My mom going to the hospital, that was really helping, A?” She asks me.
I feel a wash of panic hit me. I’m not sure why but now I am more scared than I was a few seconds ago.
“P-p-please. Kylie...Just pull the string and send me home. I promise never to bother you, or push you around. I’ll do like I told your father Dave. I’ll go to Canada! You’ll never see me again.” I beg.
She looks up at me while lighting the candle.
“Tell you what...” She starts. “I’ll pull you back...If...”
“If?” I look at her hopefully.
She sticks the metal stamp in the candle flame. “If you can tell me your name.” She says. I look at her taken aghast.
“That’s all?” I ask. “I tell you my name and I can go home?”
She smiles a large puppy dog smile, smoke curls above the candle flame.
“Yup Yup!” She replies. “I mean come on, is this the face of a pooka that would lie to you?”
I take a deep breath. All will be well, I’ll go back home, and in a few moments I’ll have my hands and my gender back. Yes. All I have to do is tell her my name.
“Right.” I take a deep breath. “My name is …” I blink. I’m drawing a blank. “Um...My name is...”
She looks at me holding the red hot stamp. “Yes....?”
"That was j-j-just a practice..." I push myself and close my eyes. "My name is...
"What? Who?" Kylie says in a bemused manner.
“MY. NAME. IS....” What the hell...I should know my own name It wasn’t told to me but a few moments ago! Something is wrong!
“I’m waaaaaiting...” She says. Then it hits me like a ton of bricks.
“...Why were you dropping letters in my name?” I ask.
She puts the stamp under the flame again. “Oh, that little thing? You are just catching on to that little thing? Oh that was nothing, it’s not like I was stealing your name or anything...” I feel a hard panic grip me.
“Y-you stole my name?” I squeak. “You Stole My Name?!”
“Oh you wouldn’t have missed it any way...” She says pondering the candle flame. I charge at the screen, but it only zips away from me.
“ You Stole My Name! Give it back!” My name was the only thing left they could really take from me. Plus there is what a fae being could do with ones’ name. Legends tell that if you have a fairies name, you could command it to do three favors, but if the fairy has your name...You’re screwed. They could warp you to their will. They could enslave you for fifty years, dance like a puppet or even worse..
“Give what back?” She asks innocently, the screen retreating against a wall.
“The Name! MY Name!” I shout lividly.
“Pffffffft. You’re a pony without a name?” She giggles at my frustration.
“Give Me The Name!” I scream, pounding my hooves on the wall.
She looks amused..That is never a good sign. I cover my mouth. That is the worst possible thing ever. I said something wrong in that. Something that she can use. She picks up the little pony figurine.
“We can’t have a pony walking around the great land of Equestria without a name. Even the background ponies have names...” She starts.
“Wait...what are you...” I start to ask putting my hoof up in a failing attempt to stop whatever she is about to do.
“We better give you a name then..” She picks up the red hot metal stamp.
“That’s really hot, Kylie...somep-p-ony could hurt themselves...”
“And I got just the one too. Describes you perfectly, I’ll spell it out for you so that you will never forget it. H-E-A-R-T-B-R-E-A-K. Heartbreak. And don’t worry...Heart-Break. I’m not going to feel a thing..” And with that she presses it to the flank of the little pony.
I dive at the wall and at the screen. I don’t know what she is doing but quickly I find out. As the little bit of pony shaped plastic burns, I can feel a searing pain forming in the same place on my flank.
“AAAAAAAH!” Looking back I see twin curls of smoke rising off either side of my butt. And on the near center of my flank a symbol is forming. It starts as a darkened patch of fur, but quickly grows into a stylized heart shape with a large menacing crack down the middle.
“Please! Stop! It burns!” I plead. She plucks the brand away from the little figurine.
“All done Heartbreak.” She says giggling. I am breathing heavily, I feel like I have cried so much that I can’t cry any more, instead a steady stream of hiccups follows.
“M-my n-n-name isn’t H-h-heartbreak!” I say insistently.
“Of course your name isn’t H-h-heartbreak.” She picks up what looks like a bone white makeshift knife. “It’s Heartbreak.”
“My Name Isn’t Heartbreak.” I say quietly.
She runs the knife along the silvery white thread. “What’s that?” I push myself up, my anger is starting to rekindle itself.
“M-my. Name. I-it Isn’t Heartbreak.” I say trying to reaffirm what I said.
“I’m sorry Heartbreak. But dad says it’s time to put away my toys. Toys like my little ponies named Heartbreak.” She lifts the thread up with the knife and then has it follow back down the path to where it ties to her wrist. “So, I’m sorry Heartbreak, but it looks like I won’t be able to play with you anymore.” I pound my hoofs at the screen only to find that they pass harmlessly through it.
“MY Name Isn’t Heartbreak!” I scream as my vision clouds red.
“Bye Heartbreak. Have a nice life...” She grins widely and then flicks her knife against her wrist, cutting it and the white cord. “Heartbreak.”
“NO! My Name Isn’t Heartbreak!” I keep pounding on the wall. “MY Name Isn’t Heartbreak!” But the screen has dissipated away. “No! My Name isn’t Heartbreak!”
The lights flicker back on and suddenly the door behind me bursts open. A quartet of ponies are standing there.
“Ah hope that Twi’ can forgive me for wrecking her door...” Says an orange pony with blonde hair and green eyes.
Rarity enters the room. “So, Heartbreak is it? Well now that we have a name,we’ll have no more of this fuss Heartbreak!” Every mention of that name just stokes my anger, my frustration, the burning pain of the brand on my ass.
“AAAAARGH!” I bellow out rearing up, my nostrils flaring. “MY NAME ISN’T HEARTBREAK!” I charge at Rarity.
“Eeek!” She reacts and using her magic grabs a thin blanket. Quicker than I can react, she wraps me up in said blanket. I struggle and kick trying to free myself. She regains her composure.
“Right then Heartbreak. Please do calm down. I’ve promised Twilight that I wouldn’t take you to the hospital. Please don’t make me regret or break that promise.” She walks up to me. “Do you understand Heartbreak?”
I am infuriated. And she is close enough for me to headbutt. So I take a chance and do so. There is a light pain that happens when our heads make contact. But that’s alright, it’s enough to knock her off her concentration.
“MY. NAME. IS. NOT. HEARTBREAK!” I shout ripping and breaking out of the loosened confines. I rear up, I am seeing nothing but red right now.. They are about to come down on Rarity when I feel them bound back together.
“WhaaaAAA!?” There is a lasso binding my two front hooves together. I can’t break free, and before I can even try, I feel tugged down to my right side. I scream as bumps and bruises are re-awoken. There is a flash of orange and then I find myself fully hogtied. I can’t do anything now, well anything but scream.
“AAAAH! AHHHHHH!”
“Well Golly! She can raise quite the fuss there then now, can’t she?” Applejack looks back at Rarity. “Rarity hun are you alright?”
“Yes...thank you for taking care of that...Brute Heartbreak for me..” She replies.
“AAAH! My Name Isn’t Heartbreak!” I insist.
AJ looks back at Rarity.
“What?” She asks.
“If ya can’t tell, Ah don’t think she likes to be called that sugarcube.” Applejack explains while I struggle and scream. She walks over to me.
“Now, if you’re a good little filly, ah just might untie ya and we can git this whole mess sorted out, alright?” She asks me.
I try to bellow out once more, but all that comes out is a low groan. Then something happens. I realize that I am incredibly tired. Did I hit my head so hard on Rarity’s that I gave myself a concussion? No...there isn’t ...pain.. but I feel just...so sleepy.
“Apple...jack...” I start out. “My...n-n-name.. isn’t…isn’t...Heartbreak...” Darkness sweeps over me and I pass out.
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Applejack looked at the strange pony that she had just tied down.
“Oh my, Applejack did you knock her out?” Fluttershy asked.
“She isn’t...”Rarity saw the rise and fall of Heartbreaks’ rib cage. “Oh good. I was afraid that she was dead.”
“No...She just passed out like that. Doesn’t that beat all..” She looked at her friends adjusting her hat..
“So Applejack, do you know her? Cause if you do I can start planning the party for her arrival in Ponyville!” Pinkie said bouncing.
“What? Ah haven’t seen this pony in ma life.” She replied.
“Then how did she know your name?” Fluttershy asked.
“Ah figured that one of ya’ll made mention of me.” Applejack said. The three others shook their heads.
“However, you’re not the only pony whom she has recognized as soon as they walked into the door. Apparently she knew all our names, and even recalled the time Rainbow Dash won the Best Flyer competition. In startling Detail.” Rarity explained.
“Weird. And then she gone an passed out faster Rainbow Dash in Cider Season.” She said. “So … All our names?”
“Yeah! Even mine!” Spike said coming in from out of the hall.
“That there’s spooky..” Applejack said inspecting Heartbreaks head. “She don’t look like she got any bruises on her head. My guess is that she was just plum tired.”
“Hopefully when she wakes up she’ll be out of the Anger stage and into Bargaining.” Spike commented looking over the book Twilight had given him.
“Say what?” Applejack asked.
“Twilight believes that some traumatic event happened to our little .. Heartbreak here.” Rarity explained.
“And now she has to go through the five states of grief.” Fluttershy said.
Applejack looked confused. “Five stages?”
“Pleeeease, there are Six stages of grief!” Pinkie Pie beamed. “First there’s Denial, ‘This can’t possibly be happening!’ .” She raised a hoof, “Then Anger, ‘Grrrr! I am Really Mad that This is happening!” She raised another hoof. “Then Bargaining, ‘Somepony please stop this from happening!’” Another hoof went up. “Then Depression, ‘I’m sad that this happening....’” Another hoof went up. “And finally Acceptance! ‘Well...I guess I’m ok with this happening..’ But if you ask me they are forgetting the very last stage!”
Rarity rolled her eyes. “Right, and what would that be Pinkie Darling?”
Pinkie put all her hooves down. “Why a Party of Course!” She said throwing some colourful confetti and blowing on a party favor.
“Pinkie..” Fluttershy started. “Maybe we should be a bit quieter. If Heartbreak is angry, she might be even angrier if she’s woken up by a loud noise..”
Applejack sighed. She had chores to do, but when Fluttershy had zipped over to Sweet Apple Acres needing help busting down a door, she had no idea about all of this...
“Right.. So we know what her name Possibly is..” Applejack started.
“No, We know what her name is. Heartbreak.” Rarity corrected.
“Now Sugar, we don’t know that for sure. After all she did raise a fuss and fight when you started calling her that.” Applejack said glowering at Rarity.
“Hmph, I told you that was hearing voices from the other side of the door before you kicked it in Applejack. One of them clearly said that her name was Heartbreak.” Rarity insisted.
Applejack sided. “Right, ok, still, Her name for what we know now is Heartbreak. But no pony here knows her, where’s she’s from or anything about her?” The others shook their heads.
“The only thing that Twilight and I know is that she crashed through our window after falling from Cloudsdale.” Spike said looking up from the book.
“Now how in tarnation did she get all the way up there? Better yet, how in the name of Celestia did she even survive that fall?” Applejack asked.
Spike shrugged. “That’s what Twilight and Rainbow Dash are trying to find out right now...”