//------------------------------// // CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:The Good News // Story: The Bizarre Case Of Minty And Malty // by Speedy //------------------------------//  --FILLYDELPHIA EXPRESS-- Our town was shaken by gruesome murders, this upcoming twenty fifth will mark the two month anniversary. Families and friends of the victims will be holding a memorial in the town’s centre, all is welcome to pray and wish for their souls, may they find peace in the afterlife. Murderer still unknown but since it’s been two months, rumors of him (or her) are saying he left town, or was caught and killed and a cover up was put into place. The murderer, dubbed by many as ‘The Red Apron’, as of today, is being investigated by neighboring towns. Where is he now? Until that question is answered, the families of the victims may never find peace. If anypony has information regarding this case, please do not be afraid, the princess herself personally ask that we share anything that we can. In other news, famed candy maker Minty, being the only known survivor of ‘The Red Apron’, is recovering well. Latest interviews revealed her back, which was broken in three separate pieces by her attacker, is healing quite well. Quote from her doctor, ‘Our new and enhanced back brace, imbued with magical healing that’ll guaranteed fast recovery!’ “Yeah, and I’m Dr.Hyde, famed healer of the medieval times” laughed Minty as she placed an empty cake tray atop the display stand. “Well, it seems to be working” spoke Tropical Dream. After laying the morning paper down she stood from the table and trotted over to her friend. Minty casted a stare behind her. Underneath a purple hoodie were bandages leading up to her neck, “I look ridiculous” she said with a sigh. “Yeah, well at least you’re healing” smiled Tropical Dream. She levitated a cupcake which was smaller compared to the rest, and placed about two bits on the display stand as she trotted off with it. Minty chuckled. “Hey, just because you work here doesn’t mean you can take food”. “Whmt?” Tropical Dream coughed and swallowed. “I gave two bits for it!” Minty bursted out laughing, Tropical Dream gave a stern stare but fell into laughter as well. “You never change, seem to be acting like your old self again, Joker” “H-Hey that’s Pinkie and Celestia’s thing--ow..” Minty yelped suddenly. “Are you fine?” Tropical Dream asked. Suddenly a blue hue emitted from inside Minty’s hoodie and she knew why her friend had yelped. “Ah, that time of the hour is it?” “At least it’s not on my eye...say Tropical, can I ask something?” Minty asked as she trotted over to the table Tropical Dream was seated in. She turned an empty seat backwards and sat down across from her. “Always” Tropical Dream smiled. She offered some of her cupcake but was declined. Minty took a inhale to make her thoughts steady. “Was Malty really----that bad?” she asked. Tropical Dream raised an eyebrow so Minty hastily added “B-Before she went psycho crazy”. “You mean was she still you?” Tropical Dream asked in return. Minty blushingly nodded. “Well, she was always prone to anger, so Amethyst made sure that she kept it in check”. “Still can’t believe you two knew,” Minty said in a loud whisper. “must’ve been hard to keep it a secret”. “Well Amethyst believed that if Malty kept her life separate from yours, then she’d be fine” returned Tropical Dream as she crossed her fore legs atop the table and seemed distracted suddenly. “Yeah, that’s exactly why..” Minty trailed off as she rested her head in her forelegs which were centered on the table as well. Minty thought back to the very last words she had said to her mother and then seeing all the mentos she had in that box, it made her feel really odd. Should she feel happy that her mother was still watching over her? Or angry that she never told her? Or both? For the longest time Minty had thought very little of her mother, yet had never forgotten her. She had loved her mother every single day that had passed, despite showing sheer anger every time she was mentioned. Minty sniffed slightly and tried to hide it from her friend who knew something was up. “She must had felt terrible when she learnt what I had done” Minty spoke. She sounded quite calm but inside her mind she cried at her words. “Minty, stop saying it was you” spoke Tropical Dream as she lifted her friend’s head by use of levitation and then used her magic to straighten her mane. “It was still me, deep down inside..me and Malty are the sam---” Minty trailed off as she heard the sound of a door opening. “HI Lily!” she awkwardly grinned as their co-worker Lily had just entered the room. “Dishes are done?” she asked with her grin growing even more awkward across her face. Lily, untying her mane and letting it flow, nodded and said “Yep, so what was that about you and Malty?” Minty and Tropical Dream awkwardly started at the other in concern, then they started laughing. “Oh, you know----we look like twins!” Minty answered. She felt so awkward that she bet she looked a tad bit out of it to her friends. “But that’s just a rumor as well, it’s the fur” Tropical Dream added fastly. In a nervous reflex she had offered a piece of her cupcake, she frowned when Lily had natched the whole thing from her magical grip. Lily sat down and ate the cupcake in one giant bite. She spoke, spitting out crumbs in the progress. “It’s odd ain’t it?” she held her mouth, swallowed, and continued. “Amethyst is gone---please forgive me didn’t mean anything by it---and Malty just dropped off the face of the Earth?” “Well, maybe she moved?” Minty asked while sliding the crumbs off of the table and just shrugged as Tropical Dream gave her a death glare. “Around the same time the murderer disappeared..” spoke Lily. Both mares exchanged more nervous looks and hid their lips from their friend as they mouthed words. “Well!” Tropical Dream spoke up with a wide smile. “That’s quite a claim, but I sure hope you're not suggesting anything”. “Well Tropical,” started Lily as she finally sat down at their table. “I’m just thinking. Why would she just disapp---” “Well, why did you disappear!” Minty slammed her hooves down in interruption. “I thought you were probably dead somewhere, you should tell us when you go off someplace!” The other two mares stared at Minty, they were quite speechless. Lily turned to Tropical Dream who had offered a shrug, which had such little effort her forelegs barely moved. “I’m sorry, I had a family issue and had to leave on short notice” Lily offered in an quick answer. “Yeah, uh huh” Minty said squinting her eyes. She slowly released her anger by breathing in and out slowly, her hoof folding and outstretching with each breath that she took. “The princess’ technique?” Lily asked. Minty shook her head. “My mom’s, if you can believe that” she answered. “Speaking of that..” Lily spoke as she turned her attention to the display case which held all sorts of normal candy and had nothing of Minty’s usual creativity. “Why did you stop your---um---candy creation or whatever you called it?” Minty turned herself around to look at the display case and rubbed the back of her neck. “They...weren’t working out, is all” she spoke flicking the hood over her face. The blue hue came back and she looked quite ghostly under the hood. “That and her chemical sets were all destroyed in the attack” Tropical Dream spoke as she gave Minty a slight wink in support. “Say, did you ever tell the guards who your attacker was?” Lily asked. Chuckling as she pulled down Minty’s hood. “You know I don’t like magic being used on me!” Minty spoke in a heated breath. “And I never saw her face, it was---masked”. “Her? So you knew the gender, how?” Lily asked as she leaned in closer and crossed her hooves which had made Minty feel quite uneasy. Minty reached inside a pocket on the hoodie’s front, pulled out a candy cane and began gnawing on it. She caught Tropical Dream giving a surprised stare and carefully hiding her lips she mouthed “It’s clean, you see blue or green?” then she turned to Lily. After sucking quite hard on the cane she spoke “I heard her voice, and no, she was speaking in a deep hoarse voice. Clearly faking”. “Hm, interesting” replied Lily. “Well, hopefully she won’t be returning” she stood up and trotted to the display case. “Can I get another cupcake?” Minty chuckled as she grinned at Tropical Dream. “See? She asked!” “And I paid, Minty” Tropical Dream sighed with a bit of a facehoove. “Say Lily?” Lily had just levitated herself a large cupcake with red icing when she had heard her friend. “Why did you ask so many questions?” “Oh? No reason” Lily answered trotting back to the table. “A friend has the right to be worried”. Tropical Dream stared as Lily dug into her cupcake and Minty had forgotten how messy an eater she was. “So, your family issue is doing fine, then?” Tropical Dream asked her. “Oh sure! Mom had a bit of a wreck, her wing is banged up, but a blue pegasus saved her from having a robotic replacement” Lily explained while licking the icing off of her teeth. The other two simply could not hold back their laughter at how funny her face looked. “Robotic replacements..” Minty spoke softly. Staring down at her own hooves  she added “Wonder what they would be like?” Tropical Dream shook her head and replied “A robotic horn, how could they be magical?” Both Lily and Minty went to answer but just then the front door bursted open. “My mom’s visiting!!!!” spoke Whistle who had zoomed in so fast that the other three mares took cover under the table as if their friend was a loud sonic boom. “Whistle!” came Sparkleworks’ voice which sounded out of breath. “What did I tell you about entering like that?” Whistle didn’t answer as she flew in circles above. The three mares emerged out from under the table, at seeing Minty Whistle had dived and rolled just before landing atop the table. “My mom is visiting!” she whistled and handed Minty a letter she had rolled up inside her tail. Minty read it and looked up at her friend with a wide smile. “This is great!” “Yeah! It is!” Whistle smiled hopping off of the table. “I got out my old catcher’s mitt, can’t believe she bought tickets for the big game!” Whistle felt so much joy that she just couldn’t stand still, she went to hover but a hard tug on her tail had landed her just as quickly as she lifted. “No more flying indoors” Sparkleworks spoke spatting her tail out. “Good evening Sparkleworks, how’s Star Catcher?” asked Tropical Dream. Sparkleworks turned and at noticing Lily she clamped her mouth shut. From the corner of her eye she caught Whistle throwing and catching a baseball, “Stop that at once” she snapped and Whistle froze in mid catch as the ball fell to the floor. “She’s doing fine, we’re due to see a film next week”. Minty clamped her hooves together in a friendly manner. “Oh, so you’re back to---” “No Minty, of course not” Sparkleworks interrupted with an blush. “We’re just going as friends” Sparkleworks darted her eyes back and forth, she coughed while simultaneously tilting her head towards Lily. Minty stared at Lily before she noticed that Sparkleworks had a nervous impression. “O-Oh! Yeah, maybe me and Whistle can go too!” she replied wagging her tail. “Can’t” spoke Whistle who was about to resume catching the ball but had halted when she caught Sparkleworks’ glare. “....Fine” her nose steamed as she spoke. “I can’t go because that’s the last day before mom heads home, and I wanna spend every possible minute with her”. “Oh? Well maybe we should take her then!” Minty grinned. Suddenly she leapt and natched the ball from Whistle’s mitt. “Bet you can’t catch me!” she shouted back with joy as she bolted out the doors. “H-Hey! Oh---I’m gonna get you Mints!” Whistle grinned as she followed her friend outside. Sparkleworks shook her head, “At least their going outside to play” she sighed with a grin. Sparkleworks sat at the table and immediately inched herself away as Lily took a huge bite out of her cupcake and had made a mess with the icing. As Lily used a napkin to clean it up Sparkleworks said “I met your mom the other day, she wanted me to ask if you would take time off and visit her in Ponyville?” Tropical Dream tore her attention from the two mares outside and looked suspiciously at Lily. “You told us you family moved to Griffonstone?” Sparkleworks too gave a stare, though her’s was more curious than suspicious. Laughing Lily said “Y-Yeah...well, about that..after her wreck she moved to a safer, and closer spot”. Sparkleworks’ stare became more centered and Tropical Dream, even though she was sure she saw nothing, had thought there was a red line burning into Lily’s forehead. She rubbed her eyes, shook her head, and took off to the kitchen. Outside Minty and Whistle were playing a game of catch when they weren’t trying to dogpile the other. “I’m glad your mom is visiting,” Minty started as she threw the ball back as soon as she caught it. “how long since she moved? Three, five years?” “Three and a half” Whistle answered. “I can’t wait!” she swirled the ball on the tip of her hoof and then tossed it so hard that Minty had cringed gripping her shoulder, from under her hoodie came the blue hue again. “Oops..” Minty stretched and flexed her shoulder. “It’s fine” she reassumed her friend. “So, thought on what you’re going to say?” “I‘m gonna hug her the first chance I get!” Whistle smiled, then she frowned at her friend’s face. “Minty, what’s up?” she asked hovering over to her friend who was looking quite down suddenly. “Oh, it’s n-nothing..” Minty replied. She saw Whistle shake her head with such a smirk that it took her back many years ago to an harsh snowy night. Whistle’s smirk grew as she crossed her fore legs, it was just too much, Minty cracked. “Oh fine, just---treasure this time with her”. Whistle’s smirk turned into a frown as she landed on her hooves. Minty turned her eyes away as Whistle said “O-Oh..I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be---” “N-No, it’s fine!” Minty interrupted fastly. “Honest, I had many chances to talk with my mom, but never took them up..” Minty sniffed and rubbed her eyes. Whistle hugged her, nuzzling their heads together as she said “Minty...I promise”. The two tightened their hug but had almost immediately broke off as Minty gave a slight yelp. “Ugh, don’t go breaking her back too you hear?” Minty said with a sigh. Minty reached behind her and scratched her back while using the ball for extra reach. She went to toss it to resume their game when she suddenly noticed something written on it. “Bayhoove..when did you get this??” she asked. Whistle trotted back over and natched the ball from Minty’s grip. “Oh, Malty gave me this as a gift” she answered. Minty suddenly gave her a are you crazy type of stare which had made her giggle. “Hey, just because Malty went psycho crazy, doesn’t mean I’d give up an awesome gift!” Whistle grinned, whistling as she furiously rubbed the top of Minty’s head before flying off. “H-Hey! Oh! I’m gonna get you for that Thistle Whistle!” Minty shouted as she laughed.