Wysteria, Pinkie Pie, Razzaroo and Sunny Daze sat around a table on the edge of the Cotton Candy Cafe, happily chattering and giggling with eachother. Summer sunlight streamed in, lighting up their porcelain plates and cups, as well as the light pink walls around the room. Tralala, Zipzee and Tiddlywink hung around Lady Wysteria’s shoulders.
Banjo Blue and Lyra Shine stood in the corner of the large building, on a rustic, wooden stage two horseshoes high. They played loud and wonderful country music which Minty, on the building’s upper side, kept looking back at. Minty stood and sniffed around a small nook decorated with bookshelves, books and beanbag chairs.
She flicked her tail and looked at a book on amphibians. The small mule reached for it and lurched back in excitement. Her hindquarter bumped into something hard, prompting two small yips, one from each pony. Minty whirled around to find Storybelle, Ponyville’s local librarian, laying on a blue beanbag chair.
Minty rolled her heels, feeling the soft rug underhoof. “Oh! Hi, Storybelle,” she stated with an awkward, snorty laugh.
Storybelle nodded and shifted her legs, moving them under her torso so Minty wouldn’t touch them more. Without a word, she turned her muzzle back down to the simple, black-covered book that she read.
Minty smiled then and held up her book, pointing at a photo of a neon green frog on the cover, “Sorry for bumping into you, I just wanted to check if your frogs were really frogs. They could’ve been toads!”
Storybelle looked up from her book and gave a light chuckle, placing a hoof to her mouth. “Ohhh, Minty,” she sighed.
“Minty!” another voice chirped.
Minty set her book down and looked up over the beanbags to find Cotton Candy herself.
The store owner stood behind a light purple countertop, beside a wide pole and bordered by two glass cases of sweets. The equally as pink kitchen was behind her, with her employees milling about to make more.
The average-sized pink pony placed a tray of six muffins on the countertop. Minty pushed between the beanbags and trotted up to the counter, which she could just barely look over.
“Thanks, Cotton Candy!” she stated, “Will you push them on my head?”
Cotton Candy chuckled, but reached up to do just that. “Alright, Minty.” Minty shook her head a bit to settle the tray between her long ears, pressing them against it tightly. As she started to walk away from the counter, she turned her head and waved at Cotton Candy before ogling the other treats kept in one of the side display cases. Cotton Candy waved back before retreating back into a faraway part of the kitchen, but Minty didn’t notice and continued forward.
Minty then paused to listen to the two country pony’s song, thumping one of her hooves to the beat. Finally, though, her eyes rested on the sight of her giggling friends in front of the stage. Quickly, the mule trotted over, laughing herself.
“Look out!” she called as she neared, “I’m a sixacorn!”
Wysteria and Razzaroo let out fake screams while Pinkie Pie and Sunny Daze laughed some more. The breezies giggled like bells before the three of them flew up and grabbed the sides of the tray, settling it on the table. Each pony reached out one hoof to grab a muffin, except for Wysteria, who grabbed two.
Minty settled down beside Pinkie Pie. The horse turned to ask, “What flavor did you get, Mint?”
“Choco-coffee-mint!” Minty answered, then snorted a chuckle alongside everyone else.
“Of course,” Sunny Daze smiled with a roll of her eyes.
Wysteria cut up the sixth muffin into three equal parts and the conversation continued on. Words about the weather, foods, gardens, parties and travels were exchanged as Tralala and Tiddlywink sprinkled pollen on top of their muffin-bits. Some of Tralala’s pollen fell and spilt near Zipzee, who immediately raised her hoof to sneeze. The force still shoved the small creature back, though Pinkie quickly noticed and placed her hoof under the table to keep the breezie from falling.
Zipzee sniffled and fluttered up, sitting between the big horse and Minty. Wysteria pushed her third of the muffin in that direction with a kind smile and soft apology in Tralala’s place. Zipzee thanked Lady Wysteria first, then Pinkie Pie.
Sunny Daze noticed the pollen that the other two breezies had put on their muffins, and placed down the uneaten half of hers. “Can I have some of that?” she asked politely.
“Of course!” Tralala answered. She fluttered up to drizzle a heaping bit of bright yellow pollen onto the dark muffin. “Only the finest grass pollen in all of Breezie Blossom!” she stated.
Zipzee rubbed her nose and swallowed another bite of the muffin. She sighed, “It’s so hard being a breezie who’s allergic.”
“Don’t worry, Zipzee,” Minty stated, patting the breezie’s head with the tip of her hoof. “I think your allergy makes you pretty… um…” she put the hooftip to her mouth, trying to think of a rhyme. Unable to think of one, she finished, “...minty cool!”
The other ponies laughed for a while, before settling back down to finish their muffins. Minty finished hers the fastest and fidgeted on the blue mat she sat on. Her attention was soon caught by the jingling of bells, but it came from further away than the breezies were.
Minty’s head rushed up as he gazed upon two new ponies entering the shop. One was a light blue unicorn with a beautifully brushed, long, green mane, an ice-cream cone cutie mark, and a circular shawl across their withers and forelegs. The unicorn also stood with another, much smaller unicorn with a stumpier horn. This yearling was white with pink and purple hair, though their outfit and cutie mark were impossible to make out, as they stood on the adult unicorn’s further side. Briefly Minty and the yearling made eye contact; the yearling’s eyes shone a rainbow and she smiled up politely, prodding the adult. Walking out of the doorway, the adult looked down to the yearling, who pointed at the table.
The adult unicorn pricked their ears and smiled kindly at the group around the table. Minty waved back and immediately chirped, “Hi! I’m Minty!” Pinkie Pie, Wysteria, Sunny Daze and the breezies all looked up, too. The breezies formed a circle and happily argued about who should greet the yearling.
The adult unicorn’s smile turned awkward. “I’m, um, Ice Scoop. And this is my daughter, Sweetie Belle.” Sweetie Belle stalked forward, sniffing at the breezies as they neared. Ultimately, they decided to greet the yearling together. Zipzee prodded at Sweetie Belle’s oddly short horn.
“Ice Scoop?” Minty asked, smiling, “More like Precise Scoop!”
Ice Scoop shuffled her hooves awkwardly, pushing the breezies away and wrapping a leg around Sweetie Belle’s withers.
“We just moved here a few days ago,” Ice Scoop continued, glancing toward her daughter, and avoiding eye contact with Minty. “We heard that The Cotton Candy Cafe is… the best bakery there is. Come now, Sweetie.”
Minty could only stare blankly as the two unicorns trotted over to the counter. Her ears flattened. Ice Scoop hadn’t laughed. Ice Scoop quickly ordered and rolled her hooves. Sweetie Belle pointed at the mares on stage, but Ice Scoop shook her head at her. Soon Ice Scoop caught a brown paper bag in sparkling green magic, and shooed Sweetie Belle back toward the door.
“Your hair!” Minty chirped as Ice Scoop passed again, but this time, she didn’t answer. Minty jumped up and trotted to the door as the unicorn trotted quickly out. “I meant your hair! It’s very nice! Ohh…”
She put her ears back and her legs shook. Somebody in Ponyville didn’t like her! What did she do wrong? Was it her joke? It was a compliment! It --
Dark spots speckled the edges of her vision.
A hoof placed on Minty’s back snapped her back to reality. Pinkie Pie nuzzled and bit at her neck, and turned her back into the building. Sunny Daze and Wysteria stood nearby as well. Tralala sprinkled Minty’s head with her magic pollen before lighting up her antennae.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “I think… I should get home,” she stated simply. Minty then leaned up to nuzzle each of the ponies, and trotted out of the Cotton Candy Cafe’s door.
“What do you think of this dress?”
Winter Mint rolled on her hooves and looked her mother up and down. She wore a sparkling black dress with a short-sleeved bodice and even shorter skirt. The skirt was so short that there was no hole in it for the tail, and instead, Winter Snow’s white tail hung from under the fabric. A little bit of her cutie mark even hung out.
Winter Snow didn’t look at her daughter, and instead stared back into her reflection and the three mirrors in front of her. A pile of dresses that didn’t look as nice lay behind her, beside where Winter Mint sat.
“I thiiinkkk…” Winter Mint answered, swallowing back a giggle. “You look like a funeral director!”
Winter Snow whirled around and stomped her hoof, snorting. She got close to her daughter’s face and spoke through clenched teeth. “Be serious about this, Winter Mint. You know not to make jokes in public. How can I take you seriously when all you do is kid around?”
“Sorry, Mom,” Winter Mint answered, “But, hey, at least you can put the fun in funeral!”
“WINTER MINT!” Her mother scolded again, not much louder, but a lot more angry. Winter Mint whinnied, startled, and hung her head. Winter Snow pressed close again, nearly pressing their noses together. “Winter Mint, I just told you, we don’t kid around in public! Don’t you think all the other mares in the dressing stalls can hear you? Wouldn’t you be annoyed if you heard somebody say that?”
No, Winter Mint thought. She’d find it funny. But between the fury in her mother’s eyes and the mostly inclosed room they were in, she knew that would be the wrong answer. “Y-yeah,” she answered, rubbing at one of her front legs. Her mother backed up. “I guess so.”
Winter Snow smiled and leaned forward again. Winter Mint spooked, but her mother simply kissed her forehead. “Dear, you must understand, that we aren’t like other ponies. We are donkeys. Donkeys like us have been laughing stocks for years, and we still are. We have to be sophisticated, to prove that we are just as nice as ponies…”
Winter Snow continued to stare at herself in the mirror as she monologued, puffing out her chest and sweeping her mane in different directions. Winter Mint’s eyes caught on the sparkles of a discarded red dress. She only half-paid attention, and was only half-greatful when Winter Snow didn’t bring up anything about goats this scolding. She didn’t really want to listen, she had heard the same thing lots of times, and didn’t get why her mother didn’t want her to be herself so much. Winter Mint didn’t want to be a pony, she was a mule, and happy with that. Why couldn’t she be confident and funny on purpose? She certainly didn’t feel confident or funny after her mother’s scolding. Though… she figured that was probably the whole point.
“...anyway,” her mother’s voice changed tone from the sweetly sick droning to a more casual and monotoned one. It was what Winter Mint usually heard from her, and she figured she had changed the topic. “I’m not going to this meeting to have fun. It’s all business.”
Do they call it business because all you do is buzz like bees?, Winter Mint wanted to joke. But her mother would get onto her again - and making her mother mad three times never did anything good. Momentarily Winter Mint wondered what her mother did, but she had asked that question several times, to the same answer - she was too young to know.
“Okay, Mom,” she yearling finally stated as her white-haired mother turned to look at her. It was best to smile and nod for now. She could play around with Winter Blues when she got home…
...Minty woke with a jolt. Her dream was still on her mind. Ice Scoop’s avoidance of her joke reminded her of her mother, and awakened a new fear in Minty she never thought she had. She breathed heavily and bundled her legs even closer beneath her. What if Ice Scoop was her mother, in a disguise, and she was here to take Minty back to Unicornia? And force her into some high society life of whatever it was that Winter Snow did? Was Sweetie Belle just Winter Ice - and was she in on this??
“...Minty?”
Minty whipped her head around to look at the horse beside her with wide, wild eyes. Pinkie Pie shook cotton-fuzz from out of her mane and shifted to her stomach, looking at Minty blearily. “What are you doing up? The mail run isn’t this early…” Pinkie turned to a window near the back of the dark room. “...is it?”
“...um, yes!” Minty answered. She shuffled her hooves again and started to leave the bed.
“What were you muttering about?” Pinkie asked then.
Minty stopped in her tracks, one hoof extended off of the mattress. “Muttering about?” she answered quickly, “I wasn’t muttering about anything!” she chuckled.
“I thought you were,” Pinkie continued, then yawned. “You were saying stuff like, okay, okay, mom, I know, okay…” She paused momentarily to rub at sleepy eyes with her wrist. “Were you dreaming about Winter Snow?”
Minty slowly bundled her hoof back into the bed and turned to Pinkie sadly. “Y-yeah,” she admitted. “It’s dumb, but... that pony we saw at Cotton Candy’s Cafe - Ice Scoop - she… she didn’t laugh at my joke. It made me remember Winter Snow… because she always got mad at my jokes, too.”
“Oh, Minty, Minty…” Pinkie sighed. She shuffled on the mattress and wrapped her neck around Minty’s, nibbling at her mane. “You know you can’t make everyone laugh.” Minty hesitated. Pinkie continued, “And it’s okay if they don’t. You’ve got me, and Wysteria, and Sunny Daze, and Sparkleworks, and Razzaroo, and Cotton Candy, and the breezies, and --”
“Okay, okay!” Minty chuckled. Then sighed. Pinkie sniffed at the long fur on the mule’s neck. She smiled and snorted in laughter. “You’re right, Pinkie!”
“I know.”
“I do have you and - and all those other ponies you mentioned! And way more!” Minty’s ears perked up and her eyes shone in excitement. She snorted out a puff of air. “What am I all riled up over Winter Snow for? She’s not here anymore!”
Pinkie smiled herself and turned to her side with a groan. “Do you feel any better now?”
Minty nickered and nodded. “Yes, very much. Thanks, Pinkie! You always know just what to say,” he whinnied happily and rubbed her head beneath her wife’s. “Oh! Tomorrow, I think, I should do something nice for Ice Scoop, so she doesn’t feel bad either! Do you think she likes mint?”
Pinkie dozed off, and Minty droned on. The mail was soon enough anyway, wasn’t it?
Minty had been too excited to sleep much. The sky was still slightly red when Minty trotted up Daffodil Street, dropping letters and packages in and next to mailboxes. Eventually, she came to a house with a pony out front.
Ice Scoop was not facing the road. Instead, she was watering a bed of flowers that were suspended from her rooftop. The old house was in alright shape, the paint was chipping and a hoofful of weeds littered the flowerbeds on the ground; but there was a large window with a white swinging chair out front beneath an awning, and large pieces of ivy and moss grew up the sides. Though maybe Ice Scoop didn’t like those. Other, prettier creepers grew up the beams and fence suspending the awning. Minty couldn’t recall who last lived there, but she made a mental note to herself to tell Mayor Flitter Flutter or Scooter Sprite about the shape of the house sometime.
“Knock-knock!” she called out.
Ice Scoop whinnied and whirled around. She huffed and looked both surprised and scared. “Oh, it’s…” she sighed, “You. You startled me.”
Minty laughed awkwardly. “Oh, yeah,” she snorted a bit, “Sorry.” She happily trotted up a little closer and dug a hoof into her saddlebag. “I’m happy to present you with your first mail since moving!”
“Oh?” Ice Scoop tilted her head a little. Minty finally managed to find and pull out four white envelopes. Ice Scoop swooped them all up in a green magic and thumbed through them. “Let’s see. Lavender Lake, Lady Cheerilee, Rise A. Shine and… Flitter Flutter?”
Minty let out a little chirp. “Oh, that’s our mayor! Whenever someone new moves in she likes to have a little welcoming party at Celebration Castle. It’s right next to the hot air balloon dock - you probably saw it.”
Ice Scoop let out a little hum and shoved the envelopes into a pocket on her cloak. They stood making awkward eye contact for a few moments before Minty whinnied in surprise.
“Oh - yeah, you have a package, too!” she exclaimed, digging into the saddlebag on her other side. She pulled out a half-crumbled brown bag with a slightly darker bottom. Ice Scoop took it into her magic as soon as the mule brought it out. She quickly opened it as well and pulled out one of the treats inside.
They were moderately squished, but Minty had tried her best. The muffins were a deep brown and wrapped in a green paper littered with snowflakes. They were the only tins Minty owned or ever bought, just so she would never be out come Wishmas. The unicorn hesitantly sniffed the one she had pulled out.
“...oh, this is pepperminty.”
“Yeah!” Minty chuckled. “It’s, um. Kinda an apology gift? For yesterday at Cotton Candy’s. I think we got off on the wrong hoof.”
Ice Scoop hummed, still gazing at the muffin. “Well, apology accepted. I’m sorry as well - if I upset you.”
Minty flicked an ear and looked down to her hooves. She pushed away the memory of her whole breakdown and simply rolled on her heels, “Ohh, it’s not your fault. Not really,” Desperate to change the subject, Minty looked back up and started to ramble. Ice Scoop, done inspecting, removed the green paper and took a moderately sized bite from the muffin. A few crumbs fell to the stone path below. “They’re a mix of chocolate, coffee and mint! It’s my favorite flavor all together. I would’ve asked Cotton Candy what kind you ordered, but,” she chuckled, “That would be weird, wouldn’t it?”
“A little, yes,” Ice Scoop commented softly, to prevent any further crumbs from falling.
“And then I thought about your cutie mark,” Minty said, pointing slightly. “Your scoops are pink and green! Which are my and my wife’s colors, so I thought about her for a while, but then I got back to flavors! Obviously pink is strawberry and green, in ice cream, is probably pistachio, but I’ve never heard of a pistachio cupcake. Well, by then my wife had woken up and told me to just stick to what I knew so, coffee-choco-mint!” she chuckled. “So, uh, what do you think?”
Ice Scoop had been chewing on the same bite during Minty’s speech. She finally managed to swallow it and nodded slightly, “A little dry, and a lot of coffee grounds, but overall, not the worst muffin I’ve ever eaten.” She folded up the wrapper and placed both it and the half-eaten muffin into the brown bag. “Sweetie will like them with a bit of milk and honey. Thank you, um…” she cleared her throat. “...did I ever get your name?”
“I’m Minty!” she brayed.
Ice Scoop nodded and stuck one hoof out. Minty spooked a bit in surprised, but raised her own arm up to reach. The two ponies interlocked wrists for a moment before the unicorn spoke. “And I’m Ice Scoop. Can we pretend this is our first meeting?”
Minty chuckled and snorted, wagging her tail. “I’d like that!”