//------------------------------// // Uno // Story: Home Is Where The Mouth Is // by FoxxehSquirrel //------------------------------// Home is where the Mouth is A Fanfic by FoxxehSquirrel ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Chapter 1 Disclaimer stuff, and all that. - - - - - - It was a lazy day in Ponyville, just like any other. Colorful ponies walked calmly and with purpose, going about their usual business .The sun was shining, birds were chirping, it all felt very peaceful. Then suddenly, through the doors of Sugarcube Corner, a loud female voice yelled. "Stop, thief!" A light green pegasus pony with a shorter green mane of the same color flew through the doors. A pony with a puffy pink mane ran out right behind him. The look on her face was a mix between anger and sorrow. "Nnope," he replied. The sun reflected off of the grey streaks in his mane. It felt so warm and pleasant. He carried a small bag that had a picture of a brown cupcake with swirled pink frosting drawn on either side. The pegasus spotted a clearing at the edge of the Everfree Forest to rest and lay low for a bit. He pulled a thin sheet of paper off of where his cutie mark is, revealing a pair of green mint leaves. "Ah, that's better. Now, about my treat," the pony bent down and unwrapped the bag. Inside was a freshly baked blueberry muffin that was still steaming. His mouth was watering just thinking about it. He could only imagine what it would taste like. "Come to papa." Just as he raised the muffin to his mouth, he was rapidly surrounded by a blinding white light that spiraled around his body, completely enveloping him. Something was happening. Something magical. He tried to grab the muffin and take a bite for fear that he wouldn't ever be able to taste it, but he couldn't move his hooves. In fact, his whole body was paralyzed. He felt a warm tingle spread throughout his body to the tips of his wings. He imagined that's the feeling the muffin would have caused. After a moment more of being surrounded by the light, he appeared in a cloud of dust and sparkles inside a grand hallway lined with stained-glass windows. There was an open door at the end of the hallway. "Wha- Where am I?" he began. He noticed the door. "What's this?" Curiosity got the best of him, and he began walking towards it. It seemed to move away from him as he walked. He tried looking at the floor while he walked, but nothing changed. Then suddenly, another flash appeared in front of him. The site before him made him shiver. It was Celestia. "Princess Celestia? What are you doing here?" he began. "I mean, you live here and all, but what's going on?" the pegasus was very confused. "In due time, Minty Rush." It didn't come as a surprise to Minty that she knew his name. She was the omnipresent goddess pony who ruled over all of Equestria, after all. Minty hid the bag behind him, as Celestia turned away and walked towards the door. "Follow me." They walked towards the door together, except this time it didn't move away. Minty was glad. "You've heard of Discord, the lord of chaos and disharmony?" Minty nodded. "Well, turns out he's got another vessel." Minty was so very confused. He wondered why she was telling him all of this. "You're probably wondering why I'm telling you all of this." Woah. "Do you recall what happened earlier today at Sugarcube Corner?" Celestia asked, as she grabbed the bag with her magic. "Your bad behavior in stealing this muffin has caused Discord to be set free, but in a different form." Minty Rush blinked, not believing what she was saying. There is no way that he could have freed an evil deity by just innocently taking a muffin because he was hungry. Was there? "You must be thinking, how could this single small theft cause him to be set free," she continued. Damn. "Any negative act, no matter how well intended, could be enough of a spark to release his evil. Turns you yours was just enough," They had passed through the door, but Minty wasn't paying attention. "That is why I brought you here. I want you to fix this mess you've made." "Me? Why me? Why don't you just get your 'Helements of Armory', or whatever they're called? I'm sure they could do it easily." Minty didn't know what to think. He was so overwhelmed that THE Princess Celestia wanted HIM to save EQUESTRIA. "I will explain that in a bit. For now, follow me to the throne room. There is somepony waiting for us," Celestia smiled. "I think you two will have a lot in common." As they reached the throne room, they didn't see anypony waiting for them. Instead, they saw a very shiny and white floor. Minty looked down and saw his reflection. Just then, they heard a strange noise. It sounded almost like brushing. He cautiously advanced to where the noise was coming from, the throne itself, then saw what appeared to be a light-blue unicorn mare. She had a blue and grey streaked mane, not much unlike Minty's, except it was longer than his. She looked rather cute how she just sits and brushes the floor. "Uhm, hello," Minty began. The mare didn't show any signs of noticing him. "My name is Minty Rush. I take it you cleaned this place?" Still nothing. Minty stood there awkwardly for a minute until she finally looked up. "Hi. I'm Minuette, but everypony calls me Colgate for some reason. They say it's my mane." She extended a hoof. Her bright blue eyes sparkled from the light coming through the windows. Minty reached out, then that's when it happened. She smiled. Those perfectly maintained teeth, the way they shined, mesmerized Minty. He speechlessly stood there staring, hoof still raised. "Is something wrong?" she said. The movement of her mouth caused a ray of light to shine in Minty's eye. He could have sworn he was blind. His reaction worried her. "Oh, sorry, this doesn't usually happen." After blinking a bit and regaining his balance, Minty smiled and replied back. "Nah, it's alright. I'm used to seeing brimph-" He was cut off, when she suddenly shoved a hoof in his mouth. "Wow, I've never seen such an amazing mouth! Well, besides mine of course," she said as she began to giggle. Minty thought he heard a little snort. "You must really take care of it." He spit the clean hoof out of his mouth. "Yeah, I suppose. I brush them, floss, all the normal stuff. Nothing special, really." "Nothing special? Puh-leeze! Almost all of the ponies that I check don't even brush twice a day! It's all really scary to think about it." At that moment, Celestia walked up to them. "I see you two are getting well acquainted," she began. "Now, if you'll both follow me to the Fountain of Visions, I can explain why I called you here." Celestia led them over to a solid gold bowl sitting on a pedestal on the opposite side of the room. It was filled about three-quarters of the way with what appeared to be water, but upon closer inspection, was a bit more silvery and reflective. Like a liquid mirror. Celestia used her magic to take a small vial off of a nearby shelf, then dropped a single drop into the fountain. It rippled until a picture appeared. It was Ponyville, except there was something off about it. Not a single pony was trotting around. The streets were completely empty. "Minty, your releasing Discord caused something terrible to happen. He came back as another creature entirely. In his natural state, he is a draconiquus. But in his current state, he has traveled to Cavitopolis and become a plaquoniquus." Celestia had a grim look on her face. "There, he will be able to gain enough power to possibly enslave the entire world." "I still don't understand why you need me- I mean us, though." He gestured towards Colgate, who was rubbing one of her teeth with a hoof. "Take a look at this. Everypony has gotten terrible toothaches and cavities, and can't possibly hope to defeat Discord in their current state." she replied. "But what makes us so special that there's nothing wrong with us?" Minty thought about multiple possible answers. "You two are the most careful with your dental hygiene, so you aren't as prone to them," she began. “And besides, Minty, I want you to right the wrong you’ve done.” Duh. "I suppose that is a good enough reason," Minty said, now looking over towards Colgate who was now brushing her teeth for some reason. "What do you think?" "I think it's a GREAT idea! We get to explore the world, and take out a bad guy too!" She smiled again, revealing the whiteness. "Ooh, this is going to be so exciting!" She was hopping up and down, smiling even bigger than she was a second ago. "Very well, my little ponies. We will prepare you for the long journey, then you will leave first thing in the morning." Minty looked distressed at this. "First thing? Aw, but I was going to sleep in tomorrow," he complained. "This is the first time in weeks that I don't have any morning weather shifts." He had a very disappointed face. His lower lip came up into a pouty face. He imagined how sleeping in his small, but very cozy cloud house felt like. His bed would mold to the shape of his body and hold him softly, almost as if being cuddled. “This problem is way more important than a puffy bed. You need to resolve it as soon as possible.” How the hell was she doing that? “Aw, whatever,” Minty accepted. “I’m not all that tired anyways.” Minty and Colgate were surrounded by that familiar but strange white light again, except he didn’t have the muffin this time. As the light faded from around them, Minty noticed that he was alone on the front step of his cloud house. He figured he should pack some things for this upcoming ‘adventure’ he was about to embark on. When he reached his bedroom, he immediately walked over to the small dresser in the corner which was enchanted with cloud-walking magic. There was a picture of himself as a young colt, and an older Pegasus mare with the same colored green mane as him, except it had more strips of grey that showed age. “If this is really as dangerous as the Princess says, I just want you to know that I love you, mom. I always will.” He lifted the frame with a hoof, then nuzzled the picture. As a colt, Minty’s mother was caught in a terrible lightning storm and went missing. Nopony had ever heard from her again. Minty was then taken in by the local orphanage. He would always be teased about his flying. One of his wings didn’t grow correctly due to a flying accident, and some feathers hadn’t grown. Nevertheless, he was still a strong flier, and often outshone pegasi who were bigger than him. After a few moments of gathering stuff in small flight-friendly saddlebags, Minty decided he would get a few hours of shuteye. He plopped down on the cloud that was his bed, then quickly dozed off into a pleasant sleep. He began to dream. - - - - - - He was flying. There were clouds zooming past him. He could feel the moisture in the air beat against his body. He noticed something out of the corner of his eye. It looked like a lopsided mass of . . . something. He wasn’t sure. Minty flew a bit closer. At least, he tried. It didn’t seem to want to come closer, much like the door from earlier. He tried and tried, but nothing happened. He then took a deep breath, then thought about what it would be like to have that thing in his hooves. How heavy it would be, but probably not very much, considering it was floating. Right as the object started to float towards him, a whoosh of grey and yellow flew past him. He followed the new thing with his eyes, wondering what just happened. He then started following it, catching up quickly. He was only a few yards behind when he suddenly started slowing down. He tried flapping his wings, but it turned out there was nothing to flap. He eventually stopped in midair, then began falling. Quickly racing towards the ground. He began screaming, realizing that he couldn’t get out of this one. He passed through a grey cloud. Then another. Falling. He suddenly slowed to a stop now surrounded by a thin orb of energy. There were black storm clouds everywhere he looked. He noticed somepony flying around. It was a mare with a green mane. She was looking for a way to escape, but there was none. As soon as she approached a cloud, a bolt of lightning lashed out at her. She couldn’t fly up or down, because there were extremely heavy winds that would just blow her right back in. She then turned towards him. It was his mother. Minty tried screaming for her, but she didn’t appear to notice. There is no way she could have heard him over the loud blasts of thunder that grew in frequency. He began crying as he pounded his hooves on the force field that surrounded him. All he wanted was for her to see him, to acknowledge him in some way. But that wasn’t going to happen. It never would. He began falling again, except this time it felt slower and more controlled. As soon as he fell into the black cloud beneath him, there was a bright flash, then a shriek of pain and agony. Blackness. - - - - - - Minty woke up with a scream. He had fallen off of his cloud bed, and was rolling around on the floor. It was a good thing that cloud walking came naturally to pegasi. He began crying. After a few minutes of tears, he decided to grab his bag of things and he flew off towards Ponyville. He somehow knew to go to a newly developed part of town. He stopped in front of a fountain. There was a statue of a pegasus mare rearing back on her hind hooves. Water was squirting out of her mouth. An etching of a heart with an arrow through it showed on her flank. Just then, a blue head emerged from the water. It was Colgate. “Good morning Minty.” she said, as she continued swimming around. She dove underwater for a few seconds then emerged with a few bits in her mouth. She placed them on the edge of the fountain, then produced a brush from a nearby saddlebag that Minty hadn’t noticed. She levitated the brush and coins with her magic, then began cleaning them. “What are you doing?” Minty had a strange look on his face. She didn’t reply until she was finished. “Cleaning them, obviously. Did you SEE how dirty they were?” She dropped them back into the fountain. “We can’t just have dirty coins in fountains.” She climbed out of the fountain and shook the water off. She then produced a hair brush out of the bag, then began brushing her mane. “How long have you been out here?” Colgate looked drenched to the bone. She also appeared to be shivering. “It’s cold out.” Minty looked up to where the sun was rising. It had just fully appeared over the horizon, and was slowly climbing up higher. Colgate’s mane was dripping wet even as she continued to brush it. “About an hour. You wouldn’t BELIEVE how many bits were in that fountain.” With that, she gave a little shake of her head, and her mane poofed back up. It looked very cute. So much so that it caused Minty to blush a little, but only for a short second. She started shivering. Minty, feeling like he had to step in and do something, reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a blanket which he draped over Colgate to keep her warm. She had a surprised look on her face, then she smiled revealing those teeth of hers. “Wow, thanks!” she walked up next to him and nuzzled his neck a little. “This is one of the nicest things anypony has ever done for me.” Minty thought of how sad it was that she apparently hadn’t been getting much help from other ponies. Sure, everypony knows her, but nopony really notices when she has something to say. At that moment, Celestia appeared before them in a flash of light. “My prediction was correct. You two seem to be getting along well,” she observed. A sly smile came to her face when Minty jumped away from the mare that was nuzzling him. “It’s not what it looks like,” he began. “She was shivering, and I was concerned for her safety.” Celestia transitioned into a more natural smile. “Good, you’re starting to warm up to her. I was afraid you would try to act all ‘tough guy, too cool to care’.” “Have you ever been wrong?” Minty asked. He was very curious. “I thought so once, but it turns out I was wrong.” Minty blinked. “At any rate, you should get started. You will want to head south out of Ponyville. The native flora and fauna will begin to get more . . . exotic the farther south you get. You will eventually reach Cavitopolis and Discord’s fortress.” The smile on her face gave way to a more serious look. “I’ve also prepared a few items you may find useful on your journey.” Celestia magically produced four objects which then floated in front of Minty. He looked over them. There was a small toothbrush which Colgate quickly scooped out of the air, a pair of old aviator goggles, a short metal rod made out of what seemed to be pure gold, and a simple crystalline orb. “What are these for?” Minty inquired. There was a very apparent look of confusion on his face. “What good will a shiny stick and a ball do us if we’re going up against the lord of chaos?” Colgate stepped in front of him and grabbed hold of the two items with her own magic. “My horn can sense a magical aura around them.” She carefully put them in her saddlebag. As she did this, Minty noticed that she had strapped the toothbrush to her bags. “Very good, Colgate. You will know when the time is right to use these things. Only then will their true power be revealed.” “But how do we know what they are going to do?” Minty asked, even more confused now than he was before the explanation. “You won’t. All you need to know is that they are capable of great power, and you mustn’t let them fall into the wrong hooves.” After a while of getting situated, Celestia teleported them to the south edge of town. Minty still wasn’t used to the tingly feeling that accompanied the magic. “Good luck, and stay safe, My Little Ponies,” Celestia said as Colgate and Minty began walking off together towards the Everfree forest. Celestia spoke one more line under her breath. “You’ll need it . . .” - - - - - - This is what I've been working on since I cancelled my other fic due to its being sucky. If there was a word for how sucky and inexperienced it is, I wouldn't be able to think of it. Because I suck.