//------------------------------// // CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:The Big Game // Story: The Bizarre Case Of Minty And Malty // by Speedy //------------------------------// \Exhausted, Minty stepped into her shower to wash away the day’s events. The warm water pouring against her face had never felt nicer, she stretched and held her mouth with a whimper. “Wish I could take these offs..” she grunted as the blue hue illuminated the water. “No, thank you Doc, waterproofing the bandages was a good idea..” Minty grabbed the bar of soap and proceed to wash herself, stepping out of the shower some ten minutes later. Grabbing a towel she wiped steam off of the mirror before tying it around her head, she smiled wide to her reflection before giving her teeth a once over in red cinnamon toothpaste. Swirling water mixed with mouthwash she spat them out into the sink and gave the mirror her biggest grin for the best view. “Hm..I don’t know how Pinkie does it, her teeth are always bright and shiny” Minty spoke as she washed off the tip of her toothbrush before placing it aside. Untying the towel from her head she began drying the rest of herself off with it. “Yep, Cutie Mark looks super shiny! At least I can beat Pinkie in that” she chuckled. In one throw she tossed the towel across the bathroom and into the basket used for dirty clothes, being a large room and the basket being at the other end it was an impressive goal. Minty kneeled down and gripped the tiny dresser which was under the sink and yanked it open. She took out a small cup filled with candy. She searched through them, pondering one to which to eat. “Bubblegum? No, jawbreaker? Nah just brushed” Minty spoke before dumping the contents into her hoof and placing them back one by one after she rejected them. “Already ate four candy canes today, no jellybeans, hello there..” Minty suddenly spotted something, a piece of candy that she hadn’t seen in two months. It was an small broken piece of peppermint that was mostly faded in color. Minty’s mouth clamped, her eyes darted back and forth with the memory of two months ago flooding back. “W-Well..it’s mostly white..” she spoke, looking it over. Drooling she slapped herself saying “No, I swore to burn thes--wwwwweeeelllllll I don’t see blue or green..maybe this is just normal?” she bit her lip, her body shivered in anticipation. She was certain there couldn’t be any harm in such a tiny piece. Throwing all wind to caution she made her decision and gulped it down in one quick move, along with half of her hoof in the progress. She choked, gagging inaudible words. She coughed yanking it free and took in a big inhale of air. “Oh yyyyeeeeaaaahhh….that’s good peppermint” she moaned savoring the flavor. She placed the cup back inside the dresser, taking the candy cane she had rejected with her out of the room. She hopped into bed, nibbling on the candy cane while sliding herself under the bright and lust purple covers. “Hm..tomorrow Whistle’s mom visits, wonder how much she had changed?” Minty asked herself. Resting her head against her puffy orange pillow she turned and stared out of her bedroom window and into the sky night. “I’m sure everything will be fine, nothing to look forward to but a fun future” she thought to herself. Taking one more suckle Minty leaned to her nightstand and laid the candy cane down, then she turned off her lamp. *** “Oh boy oh boy oh boy!” hopped Whistle. She was drawing attention from all the other ponies who were awaiting the morning train. “Is it here yet! Oh is that i-no that’s a bird...hey birdie!” “Whistle,” Sparkleworks spoke from the side of her mouth. She felt uncomfortable with all this attention that her friend was drawing. “calm down. Look, there’s the train now”. Her words had fallen on deaf ears, once she had saw the train Whistle’s behavior became much more hyper. She whistled loudly, doing barrel rolls and even flew around the platform, to most it seemed like she was putting on some sort of air show. Sparkleworks wanted to die on the spot, purposely stroking her mane over her face in an attempt to hide it from the crowd. The train engine steamed, followed by a loud horn. It slowed down as it rolled into the station, steam emitted from under the wheels as it came to a full stop. The doors opened, excited Whistle dived from the sky and hovered from door to door searching for her mother. Sparkleworks hadn’t even noticed the train had stopped, her thoughts were “Please let her stop..oh Celestia please..” and even the sound of passing ponies were unnoticeable to her. Whistle hovered from one end of the train to the other and frowned as the doors began to close. She flew all the way down to the front engine to ask “Are you sure everypony is off?” but the engineer was anything but friendly to her interruption. He had swung coal at her and she fell back to avoid it. She flew and landed on the center platform hoping the doors would reopen and more ponies exit. It didn’t, she heard the “All Aboard!!!!” and stepped backwards as steamed shot up into her face. “Ack! Stupid smoke!” coughing Whistle watched the train roll away and had stretched out a hoof but she couldn’t get any words out. She frowned, her head dropped along with her wings. “Boo” Whistle jumped, right smack down onto her belly. She looked back and ponies stared as she suddenly rocketed herself high into the sky, some even swore that there were fireworks underneath her. “Mom!!!” at hearing Whistle’s voice Sparkleworks blew her mane away and had spotted her after a few seconds of searching. “Pearl..!” Sparkleworks spoke in surprise. Pearl was a Pegasus, her fur white and as shiny as could be. Her lust and flowing mane dropped down to her legs and was such a dark shade of violet it would match the night sky just perfectly. Pearl broke the hug with her daughter and turned around to greet Sparkleworks who she smiled at. “Hello, Sparkleworks.” she spoke warmly. Sparkleworks’ body tingled as she felt a strange sensation rush through her system. “Y-Y-You...look like you hadn’t aged a day” Sparkleworks spoke, blushing as she trotted over. “As do you. I’m happy you took good care of my daughter, she looks as energetic as ever” Pearl again smiled and Sparkleworks’ blush grew double in size. “Are you and Star Catcher doing well?” Pearl asked. Sparkleworks cringed, eyes widened and her words stuttering. “S-She’s fine..where are your bags?” she asked in return. She looked around the immediate area but the only bags she saw were being carried by other ponies. Pearl chuckled and pointed to her sides. “I think you’re gonna love this, honey” she spoke turning back to Whistle. Using her wing Pearl took out two tickets, one of which Whistle immediately took from her. Her eyes scanned it and she whistled so loudly that her mother had laughed. “Front row seats! Where you get these?” she asked hovering into the air. “Your grandfather still had one favor the couch owed him, it pays having ties” Pearl answered. She was happy to see her daughter being so joyful. “But the game isn’t til a few hours, and I must hear about how your friends are doing. Most notable,” she paused to turn her attention onto their friend. “you and Star Catcher, Sparkleworks”. *** It was high noon and Whistle along with her mother were hovering down the many stands. “Our seats are right other there, by the fence” spoke Pearl. Her hooves being stuffed with popcorn and a large soda she had pointed the seats out with her tail. Whistle, who was carrying the same things but even larger, sped over and dropped into her seat. Pearl hovered overhead and rested in the seat on Whistle’s right. “These two seats are going to be empty, so it’s fine to set our food in them” she spoke while laying her popcorn in the seat by her right. Whistle did the same but instead of resting her drink in the seat, she reached inside the popcorn and pulled out a soda hat. Pearl shook her head with a smile as she watched Whistle screwing the soda in place and tying the scraps around her chin, extending the straw she began drinking away. “Ah...orange juice never gets old..” Whistle drooled. Pearl coughed and she blushingly wiped it away. “I thought you had given that away, honey?” Pearl asked. She was fully content with drinking her soda the normal way herself. Whistle spat the straw out, shook her head while saying “The first gift my that dad gave me? Are you crazy mom?” Pearl chuckled and turned her attention to the field. The teams were just beginning to come out, since the other team were trotting across the field she assumed Fillydelphia were up to bat first. Dispute being quite a distance away Pearl noticed the bat was the same color as their blue uniforms, which stood out an awful lot against Manehattan’s brown uniforms. She had also noticed the batter was a Unicorn but was using her teeth. “Why isn’t that mare using magic?” she asked while chewing some popcorn. Whistle spat out the straw again as she answered “Oh, you didn’t hear? It’s a new thing they started for the Equestria Games”. Pearl thought back to the last games and remembered a certain accident involving an spiked ice cloud. “Oh, those doors that disabled magic?” she sighed and took a sip of soda during her pause. “One pony is caught cheating, and next thing you know, every single sport has magic disablers.” “At least they don’t have doors to disable wings!” Whistle chuckled, sucking away on her soda. “Think we could catch a ball?” she asked hoping against hope that the batter would hit the ball their way. It didn’t, instead it was immediately caught by a Manehattan catcher who just so happened to be a Pegasus himself. “Aw! First hit, really?” Whistle sighed but kept her hopes high. The second batter, who was a tall dragon, had far better luck as he hit the ball so hard the catchers had decided to duck for cover rather than risk injury. Both mares cheered along with the crowd although Pearl only clapped, her daughter however gave a loud whistle. “So how’s Minty been?” Pearl asked after they had settled back down. “I was thrilled those two are back together, so had forgotten to ask about Minty earlier”. Whistle gagged a little on the soda and Pearl patted her back until she had burped. Feeling embarrassed Whistle took to her popcorn and stuffed her mouth. She could feel her mother’s eyes on the back of her head, she coughed, swallowing, but didn’t turn back. “She’s uh---fine, never been better” she spoke before immediately stuffing more popcorn into her mouth. “Even with her bandages?” Pearl asked and Whistle had choked a second time and ended up throwing up her popcorn as she gagged. “Whistle honey, is everything fine?” Pearl spoke as she rubbed her daughter’s back. Whistle took a sip from her soda hat, exhaled heavily, and gasped. Ponies nearby had started to stare and she felt even more embarrassed. “You...you know?” Whistle asked turning her back on the on lookers and faced her mother who had nodded. “Honey, the Fillydelphia Express isn’t only in Fillydelphia” Pearl giggled as she continued to rub her daughter’s back. Whistle stared at the floor, then jerked up as a batter had just hit a homerun. “Yeah! Way to go po---” she trailed off as her mother’s attention was still on her. She sat back down to sip more soda. “She’s fine, the bandages are healing her, no big deal” Whistle spoke. “No big deal?” Pearl repeated. “No big deal? Your best friend is recovering from being attacked, and it’s no big deal?” “Mom, it’s been two months. I think she’s safe” Whistle returned. Whistle tried to focus on the game but she felt bad about ignoring her mother. The teams had switched places, the Manehattan batter was a younger mare. Her fur was a pale, grayish pink and Whistle immediately recognized her from her school days back in Ponyville. “Hey, isn’t that Spoiled?” Whistle asked. Pearl took an uninterested glance, nodded, and then said “But aren’t you worried?” Whistle glanced at her mother, quite puzzled. “Of course not, it’s over” she answered. “Is it?” Pearl spoke giving her daughter an expression that had made her gulp. “From what I read, no pony was arrested”. “That’s because there’s no pony to arre-----st....” Whistle nervously trailed off from her sentence as she slammed her face into her popcorn bucket. Pearl raised an eyebrow, then she placed a hoof on Whistle’s. Her daughter lifted her head up and looked down at their hooves before facing her. “Whistle” Pearl spoke in a motherly, yet stern tone. Whistle just wanted to watch the game but if her mother was pressing for an answer then she had better luck flying to the moon and back before dinner. She sighed and rubbed between her eyes. “The bad pony is gone, we---made sure of it” she forced herself to say. “Trust me, she ain’t hurting anymore”. Surprised by the blunt reply Pearl smiled. Turning her attention at last to the game Whistle felt relieved. She started eating popcorn when she silently cursed, but was then intrigued as Pearl had said “Ever read Jekyll And Hyde?” “Jekyll and---” Whistle had started but her mother interrupted. “The k is silent, honey” Pearl whispered with a smile. “Oh..no, I haven’t” Whistle returned. She stared off onto the field, saw the Manehattan team was two points ahead and cursed under her breath. “Why you ask?” “Well, it’s a interesting book. Set in the eighteen hundreds, it’s about a guy trying to piece together his friend’s connection to a murderer” Pearl started explaining and Whistle stared at her with intense curiosity. “The twist was, his friend was the murderer, only he wasn’t”. Whistle’s focus became free as she blinked. “You lost me..” she spoke while rubbing her eyes. “Well, I don’t want to spoil too much” Pearl chuckled. “Let’s just say, his entire character changes at random”. “Changes at random..” Whistle repeated, only having it click when her thoughts shifted to Malty. Her mouth fell open as she stared at her mom who was now enjoying the game. “Does she know?” she asked herself. The thought had never left her mind even when trotting home two hours later. But how could Pearl possibly know? Amethyst knew and the two of them were friends, maybe they kept in touch and Amethyst confined in her? Whistle shook her head, could this be why her mother had visited, to check in on them? She couldn’t think property, her thoughts were so jumbled yet she had masked it quite well to stop Pearl from noticing. It was getting late and the two of them were trotting along a sidewalk due to the overbearing amount of clouds. “Great game, wasn’t it?” Pearl asked while looking up at the clouds. Whistle nodded in response but had kept her gaze downward. “I forgot how fun they were, though am happy you no longer fly to catch the ball” Pearl laughed as her daughter blushed. “Well, I was threaten to be banned if I did..” Whistle spoke as her body shivered. The thought of never seeing a baseball game again, it would be her worse nightmare come true. Whistle shook her head, looked up to ask her mom a question, but suddenly halted in her tracks. “Mints?” she asked. She rubbed her eyes and squinted them at a crowd gathered around a nightclub with flashing orange lights that were illuminating them as they waited entry. She was sure of it, that one silhouette, it was Minty, and it had turned at her voice. The silhouette turned and galloped, Whistle gave pursuit almost immediately. “Whistle?” called Pearl who had turned back at the silence and saw her daughter was missing. Whistle galloped and flew over the crowd who all stared and shook their heads as she landed the jump. She ignored the few curses thrown at her and sped off, just barely spotting the silhouette turning a corner. She followed into the alley but came to a point where there were two turns, luckily she had glimpsed the silhouette of a tail turning left. She followed, only to gallop into a wall of ponies trotting along a road intersect. She scanned the crowd and even took to the sky, but she had lost the silhouetted pony. “Thistle Whistle!” came Pearl’s stern voice. Whistle flinched as if she had been slapped. “Y-Yes..?” she asked turning around and became face to face with her mother whose face was a mixture of worry and anger. “Never run off like that!” Pearl spoke. Her face twitched like she was holding back an scolding with all her might. “What were you doing? Flying off like that!” Whistle stuttered and pointed in all sorts of directions, dropping her head low she apologized. ”Just thought I saw somepony, but I lost her.” she admitted as she could never lie to her mother. Pearl’s face changed into one of concern, although it was only after looking off into the crowd that she had expressed it. “Who was it?” Pearl asked. She didn’t see any familiar faces in the crowd but due to the overwhelming large number she couldn’t be certain. Whistle didn’t answer, she was scared of the reply and couldn’t bring herself to say she didn’t knew. Pearl sighed and clamped her mouth shut. “We’re going home” Pearl spoke as she took ahold of Whistle and the two flew off. Whistle didn’t complain or even resisted despite herself wanting to check on Minty right away. The two arrived home some minutes later, Pearl was a far faster flyer than Whistle was and the two had made great time. They entered the apartment, Pearl leading the way. “Sparkleworks?” Pearl had called out. “Are you awak---oh my..” Jumping Whistle rushed forward with her wings flapped open and had prepared herself for her worse fears. The living room was dark, the only source of light being that of the TV. Resting on the sofa embraced in an hug and fast asleep were Sparkleworks and Star Catcher. Whistle nervously shied away and had caught her mother in an head shake. “Tsk tsk tsk, they seem like children” Pearl had said as she left the room. Whistle took another glance at the two mares, blushing as they snored. Though it was a little uncomfortable she couldn’t help but find the scene was cute as well. The flickering TV light illuminated them, nuzzling each other in their sleep, it reminded her of a slumber party that their Rainbow Dash had invited them too when they were younger. Even back then she sorta knew the two had shown interest, but mostly because she had acted the same exact way Sparkleworks did. Pearl had returned some moments later with a blanket, being extremely careful not to wake them as she slowly wrapped it around them. Pearl flicked the TV off and Whistle wandered off into another room, blushing heavily as she shook her head. “Those two..it’ just like at our first slumber par---” Whistle had entered her room and immediately felt an icy shiver that had silenced her. Rubbing her hooves for warmth she followed it to her window and, after staring at it for about ten seconds, she slammed it shut. She kept her eyes on it, even as she turned around, “Did Sparkleworks opened it?” she asked but had shook her head as she brushed that theory off fairly quickly. “She had no reason to had even been in here”. Whistle jumped into bed, she heard movement in the nearby bathroom and after a quick hello she had gotten a reply from her mother. She rested on her pillow, sliding her fore hooves under it, then she felt what she thought was paper. She jumped over, lifting her pillow and saw what seemed to be an letter that was unevenly folded down the middle. She looked it over but saw no name, after unfolding it she held her tongue out in disgust. “Ew..wet ink!” she spoke holding it far away. “At least it was folded..” She motioned to her trashcan, which sat just between her bed and nightstand, but had suddenly stopped herself. She shrugged and took a second look, unintentionally ripping it as her hooves shook. Fear ran through her system and all she wanted to do was scream for her mother. She held the scream back and instead uttered an whine that was nearly inaudible. Itched on the letter and still dripping in black oily ink were the words “I know”