The next hour passed by in a slow, dreadful blur for Minuette. Her mind couldn’t stop racing as a storm of emotions assaulted her poor, little heart. Sadness because of Bristle’s outburst, fear for Fangs, and whether or not he was okay after falling like that, and confusion about why her friends hadn’t been able to see him. But through it all, she at least had the comforting presence of her mother’s embrace to soothe her thoughts and quell the storm.
Now, Minuette was seated with her parents in the living room. They had adjourned to there shortly after Bristle’s departure, where Sunspot began to mercilessly grill First Aid and Split End for Answers about what had happened with Bristle and why. Minuette did her best to listen, but some of the discussion was lost on her as her emotions pulled her away again. Every time, Pearly was there to shush her whimpers and guide her gently back to an attentive state.
Eventually, Sunspot heaved a heavy sigh and rubbed the bridge of his snout with a hoof. “Okay… so let me see if I have this straight,” he said slowly, his tone leaving no room for interruption. “Split, you and Bristle have been getting picked on by other kids at school over a test you didn’t do too well on, in part because Minuette aced it when you didn’t. Is that right?”
Split looked down shamefully. “Er… yes, sir,” he answered in a meek, pitiful voice. “And Bristle’s parents have been pretty hard on him, too…”
“What about yours?” Sunspot asked, raising an eyebrow. “You’re from a noble family, too. Don’t they have high expectations of you?”
Split flinched as if struck. A moment later, though, he sighed and nodded. “Yeah… a little. But not as bad was Bristle’s. Mine don’t yell at me for bad grades. They just kinda’ chastise me a bit. It’s not fun, but they don’t yell at me.”
Pearly hummed quietly. “And so Bristle lashed out… He thought my little girl was the catalyst for all his problems and took the first chance he saw to take it out on her?”
“I guess…”
Sunspot groaned in frustration, burying his face in his hooves. A few moments later, he lifted his eyes to glare at Split. “And what about you, then?” he asked slowly.
First Aid was quick to leap to her friend’s defense. “H-hey, he tried to stop Bristle when things got bad!” she said.
Sunspot shook his head. “Yeah, and that’s the only reason I haven’t thrown him out of the house yet. But I want to hear it from him. Split, is this going to be a problem? Are you at all angry at my daughter for what’s been happening to you?”
Split looked down, mouthing uselessly like a fish for several seconds. Minuette observed him, every fiber of her being hoping and praying that he would say no and that this could all be over and done with.
“...A little, yeah,” Split admitted, shame evident in his voice. “But I wasn’t gonna bring it up. Minnie’s a good filly if a little dense and silly sometimes… she didn’t deserve this.”
Minuette whimpered, clutching closer to Pearly’s chest. “S-s-split… I’m sorry,” she managed to choke out. “I’m so sorry…”
Split looked up at her in surprise. “What? But, Minnie-”
“Don’t be sorry. You didn’t do anything wrong, Minnuette,” Sunspot gently interrupted with a shake of his head. He focused back on Split and gave him a long, meaningful stare. “...Split, I appreciate your candor here. It says a lot about you that you were willing to admit this to me. But for now, I think it’d be for the best if you go back home… and for a little while, at least, I want you to stay away from my daughter.”
Split’s eyes widened. “Huh? B-but-”
“I’m not asking you to stop being her friend,” Sunspot gently assured him. “But you have to understand… even after what you said, and how you conducted yourself when Bristle was acting out… after what happened upstairs, I can’t really say I trust you. And I need to make sure my daughter is going to be okay, and for that, I wanna make sure we can all leave this incident behind us. So please… give her some time and space. Can you do that for me?”
Split was quiet for a minute before nodding his head. “I can, sir. Thank you… and, uh, Minnie? I’m the one who should be sorry,” he said, turning to Minuette and making her heart skip a beat. “I should’ve known bringing Bristle here was a bad idea… he… he liked to rant at me when you weren’t around. I should’ve known that he wouldn’t be good for this… so… I’m sorry.”
Minuette stared at him for a moment, her brain taking a second to catch up. She put on a small, gentle smile, and nodded her head at him. “It’s… it’s okay, Split. Thanks for coming, anyway… and thanks for standing up for me…”
Split put on a small smile and nodded at her.
First Aid frowned in confusion. “He ranted at you? But he never did that with me.”
“I think it’s because of how close you and Minuette are,” Split guessed with a noncommittal shrug. “He didn’t want you to get on his case… since, you know, you’re his friend, too. Or, well…”
Split sighed and looked off to one side. “...You were his friend. Dunno if that’s gonna stick after this…”
First Aid opened her mouth to protest, but nothing came out. A few seconds passed in solemn silence before she looked down and closed her eyes. “Right...”
Minuette looked between them for a few seconds. She sniffled quietly before gently pulling herself out of her mother’s embrace. She slowly trotted forward, drawing the attention of both First Aid and Split. She paused when their eyes were on her, and for a moment, she felt the desire to rush back to Pearly’s hooves. She shoved the feeling down, though, and soon fell against First Aid, giving the other filly a warm hug.
First Aid blinked in surprise, but after a moment, she hummed and returned the embrace, burying her face into Minuette’s shoulder.
“Thank you,” Minuette whispered to her.
For a short time, the rest of the world faded out, and Minuette was able to finally calm herself down and relax her thoughts. She took a series of deep breaths, savoring the warmth of the embrace of her oldest friend. There was still the matter of Fangs she had to see to, and she would, but for the moment, she just couldn’t find the strength to pull away.
After what felt like an eternity of sharing a hug with First Aid, Minuette had to be pulled from the moment when Sunspot cleared his throat. “Pearl, look after Minnue, would you? I’m going to see the others home.”
Minuette winced, instinctively tightening her hold on First. She knew they had to go home, especially after what just happened upstairs, but she didn’t want First to go just yet.
“Alright,” Pearly replied, rendering Minuette’s thoughts on the matter meaningless for now. “Minnie, honey? Come on, they need to go home.”
A few moments passed before First Aid withdrew from the hug of her own accord. She gave Minuette a weak, reassuring smile, easing her anxiety and disappointment somewhat. “It’s okay, Minnie. I’ll see if I can talk to Bristle when I get a chance. He’s not a bad pony, I know he isn’t.”
Minuette sniffled and nodded. “Okay… thanks. Bye, First.”
With that, Minuette backed off, allowing her father to guide the visitors out of the room. Split sent her one last apologetic frown before vanishing out the front door, plunging the home into silence.
“Okay, let’s go,” Pearly urged gently, resting one hoof on Minuette’s back. “How about I get you some sweets? To take your mind off all this?”
Minuette managed to perk up at that, though not nearly as much as she usually would have. She looked up to her mother and gave a small smile of her own. “Sure… I’d like that a lot,” she said.
The candy did wonders to ease Minuette’s mind, though only for a little while. Her mind still routinely wandered back to Bristle’s outburst, making it difficult to keep her spirits up. Pearly left her in the kitchen for a short time once she was sure Minuette would be fine, presumably to go upstairs and tidy up anything that had been knocked over during Bristle’s outburst.
Minuette couldn’t help but shudder every time her mind wandered back to it, even with the help of the candy. The rage in his eyes, the volume of his voice… she had never seen that kind of look from him, never heard him yell like that before. It had disturbed her deep down for one of her friends to treat her like that… and somehow, she couldn’t help but feel like it was her fault.
The logical side of her brain knew that was a load of hot garbage, but that didn’t stop her from thinking it. Bristle and even Split had both said that the treatment they’d been receiving came about due to her doing better than them on that test with the illusion. She had ‘showed them up.’ And because of that, the other foals, and even their own families, began to beat up on them…
Maybe she should throw the next test? Take some of the pressure off them? She shook her head, banishing that idea. She couldn’t do that. She and First were still supposed to be a group for this project, even if Split and Bristle were probably not a part of theirs anymore. If she deliberately did poorly, that would hurt First, too, and then she’d really have done something wrong.
“Ugh… this all sucks,” she grumbled in her mind.
She was pulled from her depressing thoughts by the sound of Pearly stepping back into the room. Minuette looked up to find her mother smiling back at her. “Looks like your room didn’t get all that tousled, thankfully. Only thing out of place was the mirror.”
Minuette’s eyes widened, her heart skipping a beat. She still didn’t know if Fangs was alright! She leaned forward, placing her hooves on the table and all but standing up in her seat. “Is he okay?!” she asked emphatically.
Pearly frowned at her for a moment. “Do you… mean Fangs?” she asked after a moment.
Minuette nodded, inwardly remembering that Fangs was just her imaginary friend to her family. “Y-yeah. The mirror isn’t damaged is it?” she asked hopefully.
Pearly smiled and shook her head. “No. It’s not even scratched, actually. Color me surprised, it doesn’t look that durable.”
Minuette sighed heavily in relief, flopping back into her chair. “Oh, thank goodness… I was so worried when it fell over…”
Pearly’s smile faded. She looked away for a second before closing her eyes and nodding. “Right…”
A few seconds passed, and a sudden feeling of raw tiredness came over Minuette. The last couple of hours had been beyond exhausting, now that she thought about it. A long, unattractive yawn worked its way out of her before she finished off her candy and hopped down from the chair. “Well… I think I’m gonna go to my room for a while,” she said quietly.
Pearly stepped back to let her pass. “Okay, honey… do you want or need anything else? Anything at all?” she asked quietly.
Minuette paused in the door frame. She shook her head and looked up at her mother. “No. I think I’ll be okay, mom. I just wanna lay down and get some rest. I’m kinda tired…” she said.
Pearly nodded. She leaned down and planted a gentle kiss on Minuette’s forehead. “I’m not surprised… it’s been a hectic couple hours. Go get some rest, sweetie. I’ll come check on you a little later, okay?”
“Kay. Thanks, mom,” Minuette said, giving her mother a quick hug and nuzzle. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, Minnie,” Pearly replied in a gentle whisper.
The two parted shortly after, and Minuette continued on her way for her room. Her hooves felt heavy as she trudged up the stairs, but the promise of talking to Fangs was enough to keep her moving. She still didn’t understand why her friends hadn’t been able to see him, and she meant to see if he had any answers for her.
She stepped through the door to her room and closed it behind her. She took in a deep breath before turning her eyes to the mirror. Sure enough, just as her mother said, there wasn’t even a scratch on the reflective surface. Minuette couldn’t help but give another quiet sigh of relief at seeing it unharmed. She trusted her mother’s word, but to see it safe and intact with her own two eyes was calming in its own right.
She marched up to the mirror and sat down in front of it. Fangs wasn’t currently in her line of sight. So, after a moment, she cleared her throat. “Fangs? You in there?”
A few seconds passed. Then, sure enough, with his head held low and his ears drooping, Fangs stepped into view.