//------------------------------// // Spinning Vortex of Insani-Tea. // Story: My Little Heartbreak: Creativi-Tea // by Jet_Black1980 //------------------------------// Chapter 21 Spinning Vortex of Insani-Tea. Zecora sat upon her furskin rug. The shaman that gave her this gift meant well enough, and while Zebra culture had no taboos about wearing or using the skins of other animals, the ponies around her were more squeamish. However, the heavy fur had a silken texture to it, almost like rabbit fur. Thankfully, this wasn’t a rabbit. Otherwise, she’d have ponies chasing her out of town. Well, out of the Everfree Forest. She chuckled at this thought. Most were too scared to come near her hut, let alone the Everfree Forest that she called home. The smell of burning eastern incense filled the air, a gift from Subtle Brew. There was an interesting kinship that had formed between her and Zecora. Despite being accepted by the ponies in Ponyville, Zecora still felt like an outsider sometimes. A being to be approached with caution. An oddity among the four legged and hoofed. Watching the eastern unicorn with her magic and mannerisms somehow made her feel less out of place. Zecora centered herself. She began to meditate on the plains of her homelands. A dry arid place where one had to live off of their wits and cunning. Large tribes of different animals roamed and would bide for resources. The nearby jungle was home to many dangers, large cats and strange beasts. She refocused on the plains, the wide open spaces. The rolling thunder during the rainy season. The sound of hoofbeats on dirt. The smell of familiar places. The- “ZECORA!” came a shouting from a nearby window. There was a brilliant flash of light from the window. And within the span seconds, Twilight Sparkle appeared just inches away from Zecora’s face, startling and sending the zebra tumbling over. Zecora pushed herself up. “Twilight Sparkle! If you wanted to talk,” she pointed angrily at the door. “The reason for doors is so you can knock!” Twilight looked dizzy for more than a just a moment. “Uggggh,” she rubbed her head, “That is the last time I do more than one teleporting spell...” she blinked. Zecora stood up and frowned. This was meant to be her quiet time her relaxing time. “If it caused you so much pain, then maybe you should took the longer route and saved yourself the strain.” Zecora sighed, and tugged on her fur skin rug, signalling Twilight to get off. She picked the rug up and went back to the closet. “There’s no time for that!” Twilight replied as Zecora tossed the rug in. Zecora turned to face Twilight, opening her mouth to say something that try to calm her friend. She was used to Twilight’s little panic attacks, but whatever was stressing her right now was setting her to tears. Zecora gave her a nurturing look. “Twilight, please excuse my anger, and do not cry. You are here now, so explain why.” Twilight paced her hooves up and down. “Zecora...Let's just say that...well...just a hypothetical situation were to happen where a pony were to have more than two bags of creativi-tea, you said it would lead to insanity," Twilight says, trying to fight hyperventilation. "and when you say insane, I hate to ask, but how insane?" Zecora shook her head. “Well, you see, first of all, I said it would lead to Insani-” Zecora paused. “Tea.” “Oooooh. That’s what it is called when there are more than three bags of tea,” Twilight needed to make this less awkward somehow. “Let’s start over, one bag of Creativi-tea gets thoughts flowing to the surface much faster, two really gets them flowing and three leads to ‘insani-tea’, the effects of which are?” “The effects of creativi-tea tend to be very strange, from pony to pony they tend to change. However, the more that one tends to drink, the better any idea sounds and the harder it becomes to think.” Zecora looked thoughtful. “Passed this point, a pony’s thoughts are really flowing, and the pony in question may do things without them even knowing. A pony in this state is never to be left alone, but should be kept inside and not out to roam. Without inhibitions, their minds soon will not care, the real danger to insani-tea begins to shine when the drinker, with other ponies, begins to share.” Twilight looked even more frightened. The problematic mess back at her library now seemed much smaller if the Insani-tea that Heartbreak had was spread about. “Say that such a pony did get out of confinement. Would there be anyway of recapturing them, or talking them into going home?” Zecora shook her head. “You cannot cure insanity with such subtlety. The pony in question will seek to spread with other ponies as far as they can see.” She shook her head. Twilight was still looking a bit panicked and even more so after this whole explanation! “I am just curious as to why to this you did inquire, tell me now, why does your mood seem so dire?” “Well, one last question. Let’s say that a pony were to make tea using all five tea bags?” She asked. Zecora’s expression was a mix of shock and fear. “I do not like where these questions are starting to lead, but if a pony were to drink a full cup of that, their brain would begin to bleed!” “Well, five bags weren’t used.” Twilight replied. Her worried expression still not leaving her face. Zecora gave a sigh of relief. “Just four.” Zecora’s look of shock and horror returned and her left eye began to twitch. “Twilight Sparkle, are you trying to make me mad?! Four tea bags may not be five, but that’s just as bad!” she shouted. “How-” Twilight began. Zecora was racing to her front door. “There is no time to stay and talk, Twilight, lead me to your Heartbreak, we must run and not just walk!” Twilight ran after Zecora. She could try to teleport back to Ponyville, but with the number of jumps she had just made, her magic felt nearly exhausted. “I’m not even sure I can do short distance jumping!” Twilight galloped along with Zecora as they tried to take the quickest route out of the Everfree Forest. “How bad are we talking Zecora?!” Zecora didn’t look like she wanted to reply to that question. The mere fact that Heartbreak had a four bag tea was racing through her mind. How could Twilight have been so irresponsible?! Why would she even give her that much tea? “Zecora?!” Twilight shouted. Zecora looked back at Twilight. “The creative spark is racing inside your friend’s head. If the antidote is not given to her within at least two hours time of her drinking....” Zecora found herself unable to finish her sentence. She felt responsible in part for this. Why did she even think to give Twilight this tea?! What was going through her mind?! Twilight could feel tears welling in her eyes. “She’ll soon be dead?” Twilight squeaked out. Zecora didn’t answer. They needed to get to Ponyville and they needed to get there fast. ========================================================= "What do you have to lose?" Of all the things that High Hat had learned while watching other con-artists, that those were the famous last words of any con-artist to his latest pigeon. But, he wasn't a con-artist. He didn't want to be a con-artist. He wanted to make hats. He needed to make hats. The warm memory of his mother wearing his first hat was now fresh and new again. He hadn't thought of that moment where he earned his mark in years. But all of this was too good to be true. She was offering him a deal that was just too sweet. And with a name like Heartbreak, something was nagging him about it not ending well. "You'renota con-artist,HighHat. You'rean Artist. Andartistsneedtocreate. Iknowwhatitisliketohitthatwall, thedespratefeelingofnot beingableto comeupwithsomething, anything. ButIcouldn't. ThenIdiscoveredsomething wonderful, somethingmagical, somethinginspiring. Andthedrawings and thestories startedtoflowagain. Allyouneed is somethingtostartit up." She said. Despite all the slight twitches, pulses and glitches on her face, there was a sincerity in her voice. "I...I don't know, I have been on the road so long that I'm not sure I even know-" High Hat started. The mare snorted and looked at him. She took a longer than normal sip of her tea. Her eyes blinked open, and for a second, High Hat swore he saw them pulse with a light. She walked up to him. "Everyartistknowshowtocreate. Theyjustneedsomeremindingsometimes." She interrupted again. Just then, High Hat was aware of the sensation of something being slipped onto his hoof. He looking down, he saw the sipping cup that she had been drinking from. "I-" "Comeon Mr. High Hat!" She actually took a deep breath, and paused for more than a second before speaking again. "Hold your breath," she darted around him. "Make a wish," she then twirled around him. Her eye twitched about something, like she was fighting something, however there was still that wide smile over her face. Then, she did something that seemed totally out of character. Her voice turned...musical. "Drink my tea, then Come with me And you'll be In a world of Pure imagination Take a sip and you'll rip out of any stagnation." She pushed on his shoulder and turned him around to look at cart of bland blank and boring hats he had been selling low these many months. "We'll begin With a spin Traveling in a world of your creation What you'll see....won't need any explanation." Her hip bumped High Hat's cart and a hat toppled out, landing nicely on Heartbreak's head. She opened up her arms and raised them to the sky before spinning around. High Hat's mouth dropped open. This was not the mare that had just berated him and had forced him to face an event that happened several years back. He was feeling many mixed emotions all at once. Wonder was one of them, but fear and shock were the others. Something about this just wasn't right. Maybe if it were another pony, but not with a pony named Heartbreak! "If you want to view paradise Simply look around and view it Anything you want to, just do it Wanta change your world? Well, there's nothing to it." Ending on that note of this strange, whimsical and airy song, she somehow bent backwards and looked at him upside-down. Her hoof pushed the cup closer to his mouth. The smell of the tea carried within was reaching his nose. And it smelled actually delightful. She gracefully snapped forward and continued the song. "There is no life I know To compare with pure imagination Living there, you'll be free If, you truly wish to beeeeeeeee!" Heartbreak ended on the last note sourly. So much so that High Hat could feel the reverberations from her voice vibrate the sipping cup that had been placed on his right hoof. The cup almost drew itself to his mouth without his will acting on it. “Just..one or two sips..won’t hurt,” He said, dazed at what he had just witnessed. “That’sright,” She watched the tip of the cup touch his lips and then the cup tilt back. Her mane seemed to twitch and expand with her excited breathing. There was a flash of coloured arc across High Hat’s eyes. “Justoneortwosips won’thurt.” ============================================================= In a flash, Spike was left alone, wide-eyed and panicking in the library. The state of which was a flurry of drawings, stories, diagrams and the like. There was practically everything here. Drawings of all his friends, of him, of Ponyville, Equestria, and all of their adventures for the past four to five years maybe. There were other places too, places he didn’t recognize. He picked up a drawing of what looked like a bent spoon with a cherry on it and gave a confused look. The mess was frantic, over stimulating and a jarring mess, that was all too much for one dragon to take in. He backed away towards the open door. Pictures of things seemed to taunt him. He finally made it outside and slammed the door shut. “Wow. Just. Wow. That’s incredible but...there’s just too much! It’s almost like everything, how, it’s like she was there!” Spike’s mind was spinning. It hurt to think about it. Was this the spinning vortex of insanity Heartbreak kept talking about? He shook his head and continued to back away. He ran away from the library. He was on a mission from Twilight. “If it is, best not to think about it. And even if it isn’t, I have to find Heartbreak!” he said aloud before crashing into a table. “Hey! Watch it!” yelled a voice. Spike rubbed his head and gathered his bearings, “Huh?” looking up he saw an aquamarine unicorn with a white stripe in her mane looking down at him. “Lyra! Calm down, he wasn’t looking where he was going and accidentally ran-” the cream coloured pony with a blue and pink mane stopped mid-sentence. “Wait. Did you say, Heartbreak? Tan pony? Dark brown mane? Sparkling blue eyes? Broken heart?” She asked in rapid fire before pointing at her rump. “Yeah! Have you seen her?” Spike asked, in a near blind panic. “Yeah,” Lyra backed down and calmed herself. “She just kinda came out of nowhere earlier, seemed really...high strung I think the word for it would be. Talking really fast. Anyway, Me and Bon Bon here..” “Bon Bon and I,” Bon Bon corrected. Lyra rolled her eyes. “Bon Bon and I, were having a conversation, and then out’a nowhere she comes. Totally opposite of what she was this morning when we saw her. She apparently might have been in some tooth pain, ‘cause she was asking about a dentist. I gave her instructions on how to get to Dr. Colgate and Bright-White’s office.” “But...but she didn’t have any tooth problems this morning!” Spike said, worriedly. Lyra shrugged. “That’s where she wanted to go.” Spike paused. “Was she by chance also drinking some tea?” Bon Bon nodded. “Yeah, from one of those sippy cups made for foals. You know, the no-spill kind? And I think it was rather strong. I almost could smell it from here.” Spike nodded and raised a claw as if to say something, but turned and started to run in a direction. Lyra groaned “The office is the other way!” Spike rushed around in the actual direction of the office. “Iknewthat! Thanks!”