• Published 3rd Mar 2013
  • 4,873 Views, 1,866 Comments

House that Heartbreak Rebuilt - Jet_Black1980



This month Heartbreak and Rarity go head to head while trying to get her a house. A surprise visitor or two or three will show up along the way.

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Mixed Messages

Chapter 19

Mixed Messages

As I take a seat in a booth in the cart that Rarity has selected for us, I feel queasy as the train starts rolling out of the Ponyville station. The buildings, trees and semi-familiar Ponyville icons start moving past the window. I set my head down on the table and sigh.

Here you are, H.B. Going off into the big, dangerous, wide, wide world of Equestria, with Spike the dragon and Rarity the unicorn. What time is it? Depression time!” Ugh, getting depressed over stupid shit is getting old fast. But every time I open my mouth and protest something I don’t like, all I get are snide comments right back at me. “Of course you are going to get those right back, you were being a bit self centered in that moment. Rarity was doing what she thought was nice. You don’t think it was nice, but she wants to do something that she thinks is nice for you.” I would like it better if she would ask what I thought was nice instead of jumping ahead and perfuming me up whilst styling my mane and tail in some over the top cute way. Ugh! I sniff at myself. “Lavender?! Why the fuck, lavender!? I hate lavender! Of all the fucking fragrances that she could have chosen, why that?!

Spike sits down next to me while placing my saddlebag on the table. “Here ya go, H.B. and I must say that Rarity did a most excellent job you’re looking very l-”

I practically snarl at Spike in a silent dare to finish that sentence. “Thank you for bringing me my saddlebags, Spike. But please kindly refrain from commenting about my appearance or smell, please and thank you.” Spike gives me a frightened and hurt look.

“Geez, I was just giving you a compliment there. No need to get offended,” He says, taken aback.

I let out a long sigh. “No offense to either you or Rarity, but I don’t want to be prettied up and I don’t want to look, ‘lovely.’ Looks aren’t everything. Yes, I understand that I need to be more, ‘presentable,’ for where we are going as it will all potentially affect her business. But the perfume was an unneeded touch.” Spike frowns at me. “Hey, I’m just being honest with my feelings here, Spike. And besides. I did let her brush me over. Doesn’t that count for something?”

Spike rolls his eyes a little and taps his claws. “I guess...”

Fuck, half of me wants to say something snide and biting. The other half? I seriously don’t want to wreck any sort of communication I have going with Spike over something as stupid as this. As difficult as it is for me to admit... I think I need some actual ear to hear my whining. I rest my head down on the table. “I let her do something, Spike. And I haven’t purposely mussed her work up.” I put a silent, ‘yet,’ in the air. My mind wanders to the idea of what would happen if I were to share my secret with Spike... “Bad idea, H.B. Spike is the direct line to Twilight and all of them combined. Sure he can, if he really tries to, keep a secret. But not something like this. Just going to have to keep this thing to myself. If I’m lucky? None of them will find out. Maybe after I’m ‘in harmony’ - assuming that I still remember at that fetting point.” “I just don’t want to draw attention to myself, Spike. Because right now? I’m not in the right mindset for any form of attention from p-p-ponies, outside our little circle.”

“What do you mean by that?” Spike asks. “Cause if you’re going to adapt to being a pon-”

I quickly turn my head and put a hoof to Spike’s mouth. “Spike!” I quickly look around. The cart that we are in has one or two passengers. There’s a mother with her kids, some pegasus who looks like she’s asleep, and a gryphon wearing a top hat and monocle... A really nice top hat. "Not to be rude, but," I look around and motion to all the others on the train.

The gryphon kind of quirks an eye but then takes a newspaper out. It’s rather odd to see an actual gryphon this close without being any closer. A streak of envy goes through me as he, ‘hurumphs!’, opens the paper and holds it up with his hands. Or claws. Whatever, they work the same way and serve the same function. I shrug it off and go back to the conversation.

"I don't mean to be rude, but let's leave that sort of conversation for elsewhere, alright?” I ask worriedly. Calm down. Don’t come off as upset or angry. Just concerned.

Spike rolls his eyes again and looks at me with a scowl before pushing my hoof down. Fuck... I must have failed. “Bleh! That’s no reason to put your hoof in my mouth.”

I pull my hoof away. “I didn’t mean to put it in your mouth, Spike. It’s just... I’m being overly cautious and freaking out aren’t I?” I lean forward and lay my upper hooves on the table out in front of me. I turn my head away from him and stare out the window.

Spike sighs. “Maybe just a little bit, like I’ve said before, you just need to relax and take things one step at a time.” he pats my shoulder. “Besides, the more you overreact, the more others are going to pay attention to you.”

I blink and roll my eyes a bit. “You know, although it shouldn’t, sometimes it surprises me how simplistically insightful you are, Spike.”

“Hey, you don’t think Twilight keeps me around just to take letters?” He brushes his claws against his belly and looks at them smugly. “I have insight, charm and good looks!” He strikes a pose. I fail fighting off a snicker. He looks at me his pride slightly bruised. “What?”

“Sure thing, Eduardo,” I need to find a way to slip the idea of speaking in code to Spike. “I know I need to adapt as an,” I raise my hooves and give air quotes. “‘Equestrian’, because being from, ‘Mineighsota,’ is different. Sometimes I don’t make it easy for all of you... Fet, sometimes I don’t make it easy for me... But...” Bringing this home with a bit of honesty about my feelings here. “I’m glad to have you seven to help me along the way.”

“Anytime there, H.B.” He looks at me, confused. “Uhm, who’s Eduardo?”

“That was just me trying to amuse myself,” I reply.

He scratches his head. “Oh... I don’t get it.”

I smirk. “Just think Casanova when I say Eduardo and you should be fine.”

Spike smirks and rolls his eyes. “Sure thing, H.B.” It’s times like this I feel... normal again. I don’t feel like a human male trapped in a mare’s body with an evil branding that has a list of FDA warnings a mile long on their butt. And I’m not going to continue mulling over my new internal anatomy. I’ve done enough of that for today.

Right in this moment? I just feel normal. The little slices of life pie that I need to get from one averted crisis to the next. Alright, most of these aren’t crises. And I am making more of a deal out of them than I should. For the moment I’m content with somethings, even if they are few and far in between.

Then when the cart door opens and Rarity walks through, some of that content feeling evaporates and gives way to a small feeling of panic. Fuck. What the fuck? Come on! You were calmed down, like five seconds ago and now you want to do this to me?

Rarity is giggling at some random conversation that she is having behind her. “Why thank you, darling! And you take care too!”

As she turns and sees me, her ears fall a bit and her smile grows a bit bigger. She walks over and takes a seat opposite to me. “H.B. darling, laying on the table like that is terrible for your posture...”

==============================================================

As Rarity slid into her seat directly across from Spike, a service pony pushing an odd looking beverage cart came through offering refreshments. It seemed to be part icebox and part mixing station, with an array of small buttons and pull levers that had various names marked in a dizzying array of colours. Cups and a fountain sat next to this station along with a sliding metal door.

“Good morning,” the orange maned mare announced. “My name is Popfizz and I will be your service pony for the hour. If any of you fine...” She paused and looked over at the gryphon still reading his paper. “Gentle beings require any nice cold beverages, just let me know and will be happy to be of service!”

Heartbreak looked up at Rarity and stretched out even farther. “I’m just stretching my...” she paused and looked like she was either stretching more or trying to think of a word. “front legs some. I had to wake up earlier than I am used to and I’m still tired. Normally I would be sleeping at this time. But we have ponies to do, things to see.”

Spike lifted a claw and flagged Popfizz just before she passed their booth. “Why, hello there little dragon. Can I get you anything to drink, hun?”

“Do you have any Ruby Crush?” Spike eagerly asked.

“Let me see,” she replied looking over the line of coloured knobs. “Yes, I have that. I also have Emerald Mist if you are so inclined.”

Spike shook his head. “Ruby Crush is just fine,” he replied.

“Coming right up! Would you ladies like anything to drink as well?” Popfizz asked with a wide smile on her face.

“I will take a glass of sparkling white grape with a splash of peach, please.” Rarity blinked and looked perturbed. “Don’t you mean, ‘ponies to see, things to do,’ darling?”

“It was meant as a joke, Rarity,” Heartbreak clip-clopped her hooves on the table as her eyes rolled a bit. She chewed on her lip thoughtfully. “Uhm... I don’t know... Do you have any colas?”

Popfizz blinked. “Cola?”

Heartbreak sighed. “Right, never mind. Just a mix of everything.”

Popfizz blinked and eyed her cart. “Everything? Are you sure?”

“Uhm... everything that is non-magical, and not mineral based,” Heartbreak replied realizing what she had just said. “And isn’t grass. Or hay. Or...” Heartbreak winced, “fet... just give me what you think is best...”

Popfizz looked at the confused tan pony before her and smiled. “How about a little something I call a ‘dark cherry swirl?’”

“Does it have caffeine in it?” Heartbreak asked.

“Well, it does have a bit of a pep to it,” Popfizz replied.

“But nothing magical, right?”

Popfizz quirked an eye. “The only magic involved is the magic of beverage making, hun!”

Heartbreak rolled her eyes. “Please don’t call me, hun.”

“Uhm-” Popfizz started.

“Heartbreak. But please call me H.B.,”

“Alright, H.B.! One Ruby Crush, a sparkling white grape with a splash of peach and one dark cherry swirl coming right up!” Popfizz said evervestently.

Heartbreak took a deep breath while Popfizz did her thing. “So! Do I get to know where we’re going now?”

Spike looked at Rarity. “She doesn’t know where we’re going?”

“No, and now she isn’t going to know until we arrive,” Rarity replied, pulling out a keychain with a number of colour swatches on it. She floated it up in the air and looked at them. Her eyes darting back and forth between the swatches and Heartbreak.

Spike quirked an eye. “Any reason why?”

Rarity eyed Heartbreak and held up a patch that was a dark burgundy. She shook her head. “Yes, H.B. darling, is there any reason as to why you wouldn’t know about where we’re going?” She asked in a musical tone.

Heartbreak only glared back and snorted. Spike looked at the two mares. Whatever was going on this time, he had a funny feeling that, for the time being, he shouldn’t interfere.

“Rarity, what are you doing?” Heartbreak asked concern rising in her voice.

“Well darling,” Rarity started, plucking a few choice colours from the swatch. “I have been attending these auctions for several years now, and there tends to be a rather formal gathering prior to the main event. The occasion is somewhat a formal thing, and well, I just wanted to be prepared.”

Popfizz placed the three drinks down on the table. The glasses tinkled from the ice contained within while peals of condensation were already collecting on the side. “Anything else you’d three like?”

“A straw please,” Heartbreak replied. Not a moment later, the orange mare with a bowtie tossed a straw right into the fizzy cherry concoction set before Heartbreak.

“Us too, please?” Spike asked politely. Just as quickly as he asked, two more straws fell right into their respective drinks.

Heartbreak looked up at Rarity. “Prepared for what?”

Spike took a long gulp off his sparkling red drink. “Mmmm! Thanks!”

“You’re quite welcome,” Popfizz replied smiling as she went along to the next set of thirsty customers seated kitty-corner from where the three were sat.

Rarity set down a pink, blue and brown colour patch on the table. “Well, we will have at least an hour before the actual auction, and while you are adamant about not wearing a dress... It wouldn’t hurt to have something nice to wear?” She fluttered her eyes at Heartbreak.

Heartbreak frowned and inspected the straw. “You’re going to have to define what you consider, ‘nice to wear,’ Rarity.” She said nabbing the straw in her mouth and taking a sip. Almost instantly her eyes lit up and she took another much longer sip. “Mmmmm.”

“So I take it that you like it, hu- I mean H.B.?” Popfizz said almost popping out of nowhere.

Heartbreak coughed and wiped her mouth. “Cherry vanilla with what I would call cola. Yes. I really like it. Thank you.”

“And everypony enjoying their drinks? Don’t need anything else before I move to the next cart?” Popfizz asked, pulling her cart a little bit back with her.

Rarity took a sip of her drink and smiled. “No, but thank you, darling.”

Spike slurped up the last of his Ruby Crush. “Aaah! Uhm... could I have a refill? Emerald Mist this time please.” He asked, picking up the emptied glass and shaking it a bit.

“Of course, hun!” She replied taking the glass from Spike. She then proceeded to make a little show about refilling the drink, switching it from hoof to hoof, filling it up with a sparkling light green fizzy drink and then slipping it back and forth over her hooves till it reached the table. Spike smiled and slipped his straw back into the drink before sipping on it and giving his thumbs up.

Rarity looked back at Heartbreak. “Something you know... nice! Maybe a blouse, a gown or a skirt-”

Heartbreak stopped drinking on her soda. “Skirts and gowns are the same thing as dresses, Rarity. I don’t care how long they are, a dress is a dress.” She closed her eyes and continued drinking her drink.

“Fair enough...” Rarity sighed. “Keep calm, Rarity. She obviously knows nothing about fashion or dressmaking. Still, ‘a dress is a dress!’? Humph! And after I modeled for her. Calm. Rarity. Calm. It’s alright. Oh, she’s looking at my swatches.

“And besides, I wouldn’t wear anything in those colours,” Heartbreak said disapprovingly. “They’re too... bright.”

“Too bright? You mean too happy?” Rarity asked.

“No...” Heartbreak rolled her eyes and sipped on the straw some more. She looked like she was trying to choose her words wisely. “I mean, bright colours don’t look good on me. If you want to choose anything,” her voice moving to a quiet mutter. “Darker colours are better. At least that’s what my grandmother said I look best in.”

Rarity blinked at Spike who merely shrugged. “Darker colours?”

“Dark greens and reds, Rarity,” She tapped her hoof on the table again. “And black. Everything goes with black.”

Rarity frowned. Dark colours for a dark pony. A dark and mysterious pony at that. “But that’s more information about her tastes than I was able to gleen while brushing her mane!” A small sparkle went through her eyes. “What about a dark green-” Rarity stopped herself. She almost said, ‘dress.’ Heartbreak was a broken record when it came to this. “Something or another? Darling, please work with me here, what sorts of clothing did you wear where you where from?”

“Well, all of you enjoy your drinks! I’ll be back in half an hour!” Popfizz said heading to the next cart. As the door slid open, a handsome grey stallion with a black mane and fancy blazer tried to slip past the unwieldy, whimsical soda dispenser that Popfizz was pushing.

“Oh, good heavens...” He said worriedly.

“Oh, sorry about that, hun.” Popfizz said apologetically, the glasses and other odd bobbles and babbles clanking awkwardly on her soda mobile soda fountain. “I’ll just move past you really quickly... if you don’t mind that is.”

“Oh, it’s quite alright,” He quipped waiting for her to pass before walking on by.

Heartbreak coughed and choked a little on her soda. “Nothing interesting.”

“Not even hats?” Rarity inquired, desperately seeking a hoof-hold in her attempts to climb the ever stubborn, ‘Mount Heartbreak.’

“Rarity, I have two hats and I’m wearing this hat,” She said tapping it clumsily. Just then it fell off and onto the floor. “Uuugh, now look what you made me do...”

“I can-” Rarity began.

“No! It’s fine! I’ll get it!” Heartbreak said leaning over to pick it up with her mouth.

“Are you sure, darling?” Rarity asked once again.

“No, I got it, Rarity...” Heartbreak said attempting to pick it up, only find pinned to the ground by a hoof. Looking up, she saw the grey stallion’s hoof standing on it.

He looked down. “Oh, terribly sorry, I didn’t mean to-” He began.

He was only met with a harsh scowl on Heartbreak’s face. “It’s alright, but do you mind?” She asked through her teeth.

“Oh, no, uhm, sorry once again!” He replied removing his hoof.

Heartbreak placed the hat on the table. It looked a bit crumpled. “It’s fine. It’s only a hat...” She replied sighing.

“Oh, well, uhm... Still sorry about that...” The well chiseled pony said awkwardly, walking away.

Rarity rolled her eyes and tsked. “See? If you had just let me help-” She paused and watched something most curious. As the stallion walked away from the three, Heartbreak’s ears started to follow him and gave a small flick as the door closed behind him.

“I told you, Rarity. It’s alright. Twilight has wanted me to do more on my own, and I guess if I want to blend in with the... Equestrians... I’m going to pick up more on things that they do.” Heartbreak sighed and tried to get her hat to fluff up more. “But can we please talk about something other than clothing, what would look good on me, or where I’m from?”

Rarity looked over the stallion as he was leaving. “Very well... How are you finding the other ponies?”

Heartbreak blinked. “Uhm...” She pushed the straw through the hole in her hoof and looked thoughtful. “I’m finding them alright, I guess? I’m not sure what you mean by this question.”

“Well,” Rarity began as she twirled her straw. “Is there anypony that you noticed right away?”

“That I noticed right away?” Heartbreak asked, her eyes darted back and forth nervously. “Well... Don’t tell any of the other p-ponies, but-” she took a long sip of her drink.

Ha! I knew she had some sort of preference. Oh, I can’t wait to see Twilight’s face when she finds out that-

Heartbreak let out a satisfied gasp and finished her sentence. “There was that one time I spotted Ditzy Doo... Or Derpy Hooves... one of those two names. She signed my sketchbook and flew off. I noticed her pretty quick.”

Rarity paused and shook her head. “Not quite what I was meaning, darling. Allow me to clarify. That stallion who just passed by: Clean withers, a strong shoulder, well groomed coat, handsome mane and tail, not to mention a strong healthy looking croup. Overall I would give them an eight? Eight point nine? What about you?”

Heartbreak’s eyes closed tightly and she shook her head. “Bwah?” she asked with her drinking straw dangling from her lower lip. “I would give him a zero. As in, ‘zero interest.’ Seriously, Rarity. W.T.F?”

“Pardon?” Rarity asked frowning.

“What. The. Fet?” Heartbreak said, clarifying herself.

“H.B., darling. Please refrain from using that word in front of other ponies foals...” Rarity’s eye quirked slightly. “And don’t pretend like you didn’t at least have a slight passing interest in that stud who just walked by... I mean why else would your ears have followed him so attentively?”

Author's Note:

Art for this one will come later. I need to buy a new sketch book.