Fluff-Tuft.
Chapter 15
Fluff-Tuft.
Best. Tea. Ever. Those are the very thoughts that are running through my head as I watch Twilight head upstairs to find that easel she said she still had. And while this is great tea, I can’t help wonder if there is something a little extra in it. I can identify all but maybe two of the ingredients here. All of them working in a strange, vibrant harmony. I wonder if they are working a little too well. I take a sip of tea again. Some teas you drink in gulps, some in long drawn out slurps, and some in sips. Little miniscule sips. This is that kind of sipping tea. The kind of tea where you drink it almost drop by drop. Any more and you lose the flavor. And interestingly enough, with this tea there seems to be a different flavor stepping forward with every sip.
“Yup. Best tea ever.” I peer at the blank page of my open sketchbook. It kinda seems to be daring me to draw something on it. Anything.
“So, is it really good tea?” Spike asks me.
I quickly nod. “Very good tea. Best tea that I think I have had. And I have had quite a few teas in my time.”
He looks a bit disappointed. “Better than the tea I made you?”
I roll my eyes. “Spike, the mint tea was really good.” I take a bite out of another sandwich.
“But?” He asks, waiting for me to continue my thought.
“But what? Oh, yes. But, it was mint tea. It isn’t hard to make mint tea. It was good mint tea, but it wasn’t like you went out and picked the mint, dried the mint and then made tea out of that, with honey freshly collected from rather happy bees. I don’t mean to offend you or anything, but mint tea is one thing, this creativi-tea is quite another,” I explain. Spike frumps and kicks his foot a little. I stifle a snort as he is still wearing the apron.
“So you like this tea better than what I made you is what you are trying to say,” he says frowning a bit.
“Ugh. Been over this point and he’s still focusing on it,” “Spike, I would say that you put far more effort in making the sandwiches. And these are really good sandwiches.”
“Right, for just being cucumbers and white bread,” He replies, dropping to the floor and crossing his arms.
His angst is starting to annoy me. Seriously, I have enough angst for the both of us. However, something in that pose is making me want to draw him. Like right now. Or at least attempt to draw him. Maybe I should wait for Twilight. I walk over and awkwardly put a hoof on Spike’s shoulder. “And I can’t think of any better way to serve cucumbers on a sandwich. I mean, there are a few other things you can do with a cucumber and some things you should never do with a cucumber.”
Spike looks at me. “Huh?”
Removing my hoof, I blink and sip my tea again. “What I mean is that sliced cucumbers on plain white bread is the best way of making a sandwich with a cucumber. Adding anything would take away from the sandwich. I mean, how did you make the sandwich? How did you slice up the cucumbers?”
“With these babies!” Spike says holding up his razor sharp claws.
“You did wash before you made the sandwiches, right?” I ask.
“Well, Yes,” Spike replies. “As Twilight says, ‘Good hygiene is an important part of any pony’s well being!’”
“Right, but you took the time, effort and energy to think out what to make me for lunch and then slice up the cucumbers, lay them on the bread, and cut the sandwiches up,” I reply. “I appreciate that, Spike.” I try to make the situation a bit better by rubbing my hoof on his head in a mock noogie.
“Gah! Hey!” He smirks at me, shooting my hoof away. “If I can’t tickle you, you can’t noogie me.”
“Deal. And I am going to hold you to that, Spike,” I reply, smirking. Damnit, why can’t I be this way with Twilight? Is it because I know she’s expecting something of me? Because she wants to know much more than Spike wants to know? Or is it something else? I look back at my sketchbook. The blank page still asking to be drawn on. But until Twilight comes back with that easel, I am going to be stuck with it laying flat. Then an idea strikes me. Slipping the teacup off of my hoof, I pick up the sketchbook with my teeth and get off the couch.
“You going somewhere there, H.B.?” Spike asks me.
“No. Well yes. Well technically,” I reply, dropping the sketchbook and picking up some pencils. I then lay down on the floor. “The floor is somewhere, right?” I ask. “Alright, you can do this. Maybe if I...” I attempt to set the sketchbook on its edge, however, I am floundering.
Spike watches with a bit of interest. “Do you need help with that?” Spike asks.
“No, I almost have...it,” I reply, nearly there. I quickly place one hoof around the book, almost like I am hugging it.. The idea I have is that I use my hooves as a makeshift easel. If I really wanted to, I could just set it against the wall, but then my field of vision would be obscured by the wall. And for what I want to do, I kinda need a clear line of vision. The sketchbook falls over my ankles and thwaps me on the snout. I sigh loudly.
Spike smiles and picks up the sketchbook. “Really, it’s no trouble H.B.” He stands the sketchbook up and opens it up.
I wrap my hooves around the book and tilt it a bit. “I know, Spike,” I sigh. “It’s just...” I pick up one of the pencils in my mouth and look at the page. I feel almost a need to just put pencil to paper right there and then.
“You’re used to doing a lot on your own, aren’t you?” Spike asks me.
I eye him. “You know, I think I like you better when you are acting like a baby dragon rather than Doctor Phil.” I look back at the paper and then back at him. “But yes, it’s something that I had to learn when I was growing up.”
“You mean, Doctor Phillip.” Spike corrects me.
I roll my eyes. Phillip. That was a name of an unpleasant roommate I had in the military. I push the thought of him out of my head. “Yes, of course, Dr. Phillip. Thank you, Spike. Now hold still please,”
He blinks and freezes in place. “Why?”
“Because I am going to attempt to draw you is why,” I say out of the corner of my mouth.
Spike blinks and looks thoughtful. “Oh, neat!” he looks a bit excited. “I get to be the first drawing in your sketchbook? Should I make some sort of dramatic pose?”
“Yes, you get to be the first drawing in my new sketchbook, Spike. That is if you stay still. And no, I’d rather you actually sit back down with your arms crossed, that is if you don’t mind.” I blink. “Though before I draw you, mind getting my tea from off the couch over there?”
“Sure thing, H.B.” He says, grabbing the tea and setting it next to me. He nearly zips back to the pose he was in before and I begin my work.
=====================================================================
Twilight came back down from the attic with the artist’s easel floating in front of her. “I found it!” She said a bit excitedly. She was greeted by a completely different sight from when she first came back to the library. Spike was sitting in front of Heartbreak, in a rigid pose. Heartbreak appeared to be holding her sketchbook in an upright and slightly awkward position, her head bobbing back and forth to look over at Spike. “Well, isn’t this a pleasant surprise. What’s going on here now?”
Spike looked over at Twilight. “Heartbreak is drawing me!” He said.
“You’re drawing him?” Twilight asked.
“I’m trying to,” She peered over the book. “That is if he would hold still. And attempting to draw is more like it. This drawing compared to anything I have done is horrible. I have almost worn down two of the erasers you bought for me, Twilight...” She said forlornly.
Twilight blinked. “I guess we’ll have to see Ghost Writer again pretty soon.”
Heartbreak rolled her eyes. “Aren’t there any other shops selling art supplies?” She asked.
“Well, not here in Ponyville, Heartbreak.” Twilight said, frowning a bit. “I still say that you should give him another chance.”
“Another chance to do what?” Heartbreak asked, trying to glide the pencil on the paper. “Another chance to lecher
at my flank as we walk away?” She doesn’t take her eyes off the paper. “Yeah, thanks but no thanks.”
Twilight blinked and shook her head. “W-what? What makes you think that he was doing that?”
“It’s just a feeling I got off him. Alright?” She sighed. “Then again, you might be right, I have been out of the library, like what? One time in my time in Equestria? I have met what, how many ponies?” She looks thoughtful and puts her hoof up. Looking at it she rolls her eyes. “Let’s see there’s you six, Celestia, Luna, two ponies on the train, Earl Grey, Subtle Brew, High Hat, and of course,” She sighs again, “Ghost Writer. That makes like fourteen ponies. Wait. Derpy. How could I forget Derpy?”
“With how happy you were to see her, I would have thought that she would have been first on your list, Heartbreak,” Twilight said. “But why do you think he was lechering your flank? For all you know he could have been just looking at your cutie mark.”
Heartbreak rolled her eyes. “Sure he was. It just came off that way. Like I said, I could be poisoning my own well about this. It’s not like I am used to just looking at a p-p-p-pony and knowing everything about them with a glance at their flank.” She grimaced when she said the word ‘flank’.
“Why does that bother you?” Twilight asked. Heartbreak looked up at her. “What? Am I wrong in guessing that is why you were a bit...would embarrassed be the right word here?” Heartbreak shrugged. “Well, that’s what I am going to use. Embarrassed at Lah Tea Dah. You found yourself looking at Earl Grey and Subtle Brew’s cutie marks? What’s so wrong about that?”
“Where I am from, we don’t have cutie marks. And looking at an other’s ‘flank’ means something else.” She takes a sip of her tea. “It means that you are...’interested’ in them. That you might want to be somep-pony special to them.” She eyes Twilight over the book. “I do hope you catch my drift, ‘cause I am very uncomfortable explaining anything more.”
Twilight blinked. All the times that other ponies had casually eyed their cutie marks, now had a different light to it. “I hadn’t thought about it like that...I guess I can see why that could make you uncomfortable.”
“Don’t think anything about it, Twilight.” She started drawing some more. “I know that I’ve stopped thinking about it for the moment being. After all, I really want to finish this drawing of Spike. I have like a dozen other drawings in my head I want to finish.”
Twilight walked over to Heartbreak with the easel floating away. “Can I see what you have done thus far?” She asked.
Heartbreak almost instantly pulled the sketchbook close to her. “No!” she says, through a pencil in her teeth. “Uhm, I mean, I’m not done yet, and it is really, really, really awful.”
Twilight blinked at her. “H.B., this is your first drawing, with your mouth. Which is how most all other ponies are used to drawing or writing with, but how you are not. I am sure it is going to be awful. However, I’ll have something that I can use as an accurate comparison when you do get better. After all, you are going to keep practicing, right?”
Heartbreak sighed a bit. “Darn you and your logic, Twilight. Fine. But you have been warned.” Heartbreak let go of the sketch book and let it fall flat to the floor.
Twilight lifted it up with her magic. “Well,” the collection of lines and shapes were very sketchy on the paper. Heartbreak had attempted to use shapes and guidelines, but not knowing how to use her mouth properly seemed to be more of a handicap than Twilight thought. Spike unfroze from his stance and looked at the drawing.
“That’s a bit better than that ‘circle’ you were drawing earlier, Heartbreak. Not much better but still. I can kinda make out-” He was about to continue his commentary, when Twilight put a hoof in front of his mouth.
“What he means to say is that-” Twilight started.
But Heartbreak in turn interrupted her. “Didn’t you say that it was going to be awful, Twilight? It’s alright, Rome wasn’t built in a day. But if Spike says that it looks better than what I was drawing before, then I’ll take it.” She took a deep breath and snorted through her nose. Her eyes were fixed on her hoof for a moment. Her stomach then growled at her.
“How about I buy you lunch, Heartbreak?” Twilight asked. “I still feel pretty terrible for trying to force you to eat grass earlier.”
“Huh? You don’t have to do that Twilight,” She paused. “And before you say, ‘but I want to,’ I want to say, ‘It’s fine, I have my sandwiches and tea.”
Twilight paused and looked a bit confused. “Are you sure?” She asked.
Heartbreak got up and plucked the sketchbook from the air. “Yeah.” She placed it on the easel. “But I am sure you and Spike are getting rather hungry. Why don’t you two go out and eat? I’ll most likely still be here when you get back.”
Twilight gave her a questioning look and then smiled. “Alright, are you sure you don’t want to come?”
“I’ll be fine, Twilight, I just have a creative itch that needs scratching.” She lifted the pencil up to a fresh sheet of paper in her sketchbook.
Twilight smiled. “Well, alright.” She opened the door and began to walk out. Leaving Heartbreak alone with her creative muse could do some wonders. “Come on, Spike!”
“Oh, and Twilight?” Heartbreak said looking at the two leaving.
“Yes?”
“Thanks. I mean, for everything. The easel, helping me out, and especially for the tea! This tea is awesome.” She said. She slipped her hoof back into the handle of the cup and took a sip before trying to draw again.
Twilight smiled and nodded. “You’re welcome, H.B.” she replied before walking out the door with Spike in tow.
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Wow, the difference that a cup of tea makes... Caffine addict?
Edit: Woot first
544758 The best part of waking up, is Creativi-Tea in your CUP. I need a bigger cup now.
544834 I want some... maybe then my writing would improve
... Rome? Just out of curiosity, do they have a pony version of it? If she can say it, then Rome in Equestria = Rome on Earth
Jet, you are the master of chapter names
545892 Maybe, maybe not. There is always the chance of it... For that bit of mythology you'll have to wait for... Mean While, Back at the Farm.
707409 And he already had honey with it! ........ I think. Didnt he?
well looks like her tough shell cracked a bit
and about those that condemned heartbreak like they did they just made my glassing list.
Looks like the problem with Heartbreak is everyone trying to force her to change against her will, to force her to be someone other than herself. Given that she had her body AND name ripped from her, as well as nearly lost her mind entirely you'd think they'd be more sympathetic towards her.
4344256 I agree.
I can't help but think that what Twilight did with the grass would be the equivalent of shoving a juicy rare steak into Twilights mouth a attempting to force her to eat it.
...Way, Way, Way beyond "over the line". The line isn't even a distant memory at this point.
3921329 *boop boops your nose*
4344256 Precisely.
I know this isn't the type of fic that would do this in a million years, but I wonder if she entered into heat...
What sort of shenanigans would ensue as stallions approached her and she had to take a bath all the time to deal with the heat.
It should be:
Or something like that.