Heartache

by Starlight Gaze

Break Up

“Oh crap, oh crap, I’m gonna be late!”

A teenaged orange unicorn frantically ran about his room in panic. It was nearly 6 o’ clock and, due to poor time management; he was wasting time because of last minute preparations. Heartache had a date with the mayor’s daughter and he was going to be late.

“Where did I put those arm warmers?”

Books and articles of clothing were flung across the room as Heartache searched for his favorite accessories. Glancing across the room, he spotted his pet snake, Fangloom, curled up in a pile of dirty laundry. Beneath its black and white striped coils, Fangloom camouflaged a pair of arm warmers, matched to its own scales in pattern.

“There they are! Sorry, Fang, but I need those.”

Fangloom jolted awake and gave an inquisitive flick of its tongue as Heartache gently pulled the arm warmers, with his telekinesis magic, from underneath the little kingsnake. Disturbed from its nap, the snake slithered further into the recesses of the laundry pile, where it could continue sleeping in peace. Heartache quickly slipped on his favorite arm warmers, straightened his messy black mane, and made way for the door.

It was 10 past the hour when Heartache reached the town square. A beige earth pony with a black mane, striped with tacky neon highlights, was waiting impatiently on a bench in front of the town hall. She looked utterly miserable at first glance, but with all the eye make-up she had on and her cutie-mark of a crying eye to match, this appeared to be her usual demeanor. It was no wonder her name was Misery Tears.

“You’re late,” she uttered, one lavender eye glaring disdainfully at Heartache through her long straight mane. The other side of her face was completely obscured by hair. She eyed the large clock face that adorned the town hall.

“Sorry,” Heartache huffed, learning on the bench to catch his breath. “I misplaced something, so it took me a bit longer to get here.”

“Whatever.” Misery Tears gave an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes.

Heartache coughed nervously and continued. “So, um, do you want to go to The Feedbag, or do something else first?”

“Yeah, about that…” Misery Tears looked Heartache in the eye, her expression completely deadpan. “Heartache, I’m breaking up with you.”

“W-wha?”

He could hardly believe the words coming from his girlfriend. Heartache suddenly felt light-headed as his mouth began to go dry. His knees went weak as a hundred dreadful thoughts suddenly rushed to his head.

“Yeah, I’m sorry to say,” she began, but her face abruptly turned sour as she quickly thought it over. “Actually, I’m not sorry—you’re pathetic and make a terrible boyfriend. Goodbye, Heartache.”

It was like being hit by a ton of bricks and stabbed in the back at the same time. “I…” Heartache dropped to his knees, watching his ex-girlfriend walk towards the town hall’s front doors. She muttered something as she left, but all he could hear was a muffled tinny voice; his head felt as if it was about to explode.

“Not again,” he rasped.

---

Heartache sat on the bank of the Bale River and stared into the rushing waters. The river bent through the middle of Hayshire, splitting half of the small town from the forest, where it emptied into Coronet Bay not far to the west. It was a relatively tame river, gently draining into the ocean, and was easy enough to swim up with little effort. It was even easier for a hippocamp to swim right up from the bay.

Ponies with the back ends of dolphins or sharks were known as hippocamps. They were an uncommon sight in Equestria, mainly because they lived in the sea and had little reason to visit the shore. Some swam up rivers from the ocean, but few rarely left far from their homes at the bottom of the sea. But at the bottom of Coronet Bay was a home to many seaponies and hippocamps, called Corral Reef. Because Hayshire was so close to the sea, the hippocamps and seaponies did not mind visiting the river, and made friends with the land ponies.

A purple hippocamp with a fuchsia mane was leaning against the earthen levee, looking up with concern at her land pony friend. A pink scallop seashell cutiemark adorned her flank, given by her name Sushi Seashells.
“What’s wrong, Heartache?”

Heartache took in a deep breath and let out a ragged sigh. “…I can’t believe it keeps happening,” he mumbled.
It wasn’t difficult for Sushi to guess what he meant. “You got dumped, didn’t you.”

Heartache let out another big sigh and nodded slowly. It wasn’t too surprising, really, as it seemed he was fated to stay forever alone. The day he got his cutiemark—a fractured heart with one side black and the other red—he knew he was going to have difficulty with romantic relationships. Not many ponies got cutiemarks for being BAD at something. He often wondered how being lovesick or heartbroken could be useful in any application.

“What am I doing wrong? Why do they all leave me?” Heartache rolled over in the grass and stared up at the sky. The sun was setting, melting the sky into an orange glow.

“Maybe you just need to give relationships a rest for a bit,” offered Sushi. “Sometimes trying too hard can be counterproductive. I know I’ve never actually been in a relationship myself, but it seems pretty taxing. You just need to put your mind on something else for a while.”

“Yeah, maybe you’re right… I still feel really awful about it though.”

“Well, no offense, but she’s kind of mean! I don’t think I’ve ever seen Misery Tears smile even once. It’s not good to be around ponies like that, they just drag you down.”

“Yeah but…”

Sushi propped herself up closer to the ledge, splashing Heartache a little. “It’s not your fault, Heartache! Honestly, you’re better off without her. I don’t want to see you alone, but sometimes you can be just as miserable with a person you aren’t happy with. Just give it some time and try to focus on some other things, okay?”

Heartache sighed. “Okay, I’ll try…”

The two pony friends watched the sky as the sun set below the sea’s horizon. Dusk crept up, enwrapping the landscape in a lonely melancholy. The absence of the sun’s warm embrace only added to Heartache’s gloomy mood.

“Well, I think I’ll just go to the Triple P. Drink away my sorrows,” said Heartache, slowly getting up.

Sushi Seashells’s usual happy smile went lopsided. “Aww, don’t do that. It’s not good for you.”

Heartache shook his head. “Don’t care. I just want to be numb.” He began to walk up along the riverside. Sushi followed, swimming alongside him.

“I really wish I could do something. Being confined to the water kind of makes it difficult though, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay… Maybe I’ll see some other ponies I know there. Somepony to talk to.”

Sushi bobbed her head in acknowledgement. “Okay, but just don’t overdo it with the drinking.”

“Mm, no promises.”

Comments

[Hyper-Insomniac]

This guy sounds exactly like me. So damn relatable. Keep up the good work bro.