//------------------------------// // 02 - Snacks & Bits // Story: A Very Minty Summer Sun Celebration // by Zobeid //------------------------------// “I’m hungry,” Minty said. “Let’s find something to eat first thing!” “That’s a great idea,” agreed Pinkie Pie. She and Minty wriggled into their saddlebags, and the three ponies together trotted off towards the fair grounds. Soon, however, their trot slowed to a walk as all three country ponies gawped shamelessly at the bustling city around them. “This is amazing,” Minty said. “Look at the streets! They’re all paved. There’s paving everywhere.” Pinkie Pie said, “I’ve never seen so many ponies wearing fancy clothes. I wish Rainbow Dash was here to see this. She’d love it. We’ve got to bring back something for her. We should bring back lots of souvenirs for everypony.” “Wow, yeah! As much as we can carry. What do you think, Star Catcher? Isn’t this amazing?” “I’ve never seen anything like it. Even Pegasopolis seems almost like a backwater compared to this,” Star Catcher admitted. Her gaze shifted to an outdoor cafe where some fashionable unicorns daintily sipped from teacups that levitated before them. In a softer tone, but still loud enough for her companions to hear, she added, “And I’ve never seen so many unicorns with their noses turned up.” Minty looked around and said, “I can see some other pegasus and earth ponies around. They must have come from all over Equestria for the festival, just like we did.” Pinkie Pie gasped and suddenly bounded forward. Her companions had to break into a gallop to catch up. She skidded to a stop in front of a fountain, and her friends moved to stand with her on either side. “Look! It’s beautiful!” she exclaimed. Streams of water jetted in all directions, arcing gracefully through the air and splashing down in the fountain pool. The fountain’s centerpiece was a bronze statue of a rather implausibly proportioned pony rearing up dramatically on its hind legs and flaring out its wings. Minty suddenly put her forelegs around Pinkie’s neck and said, “Pinkie! Don’t jump in the fountain!” “Huh? I wasn’t gonna jump in the fountain.” Minty locked eyes with Pinkie. “You were thinking it.” “I was not!” She held Minty’s gaze until the green pony turned her loose. Then Pinkie broke into a grin and leapt over the curb and into the water. “Woohooo!” she yelled as she jumped and splashed. With a hoof she scooped some water and splashed it in Minty’s direction. Minty flinched and then yelled accusingly, “Pinkie!” Pinkie Pie laughed and said, “Come on, you gave me the idea!” Minty glared for a moment longer, pretending to be angry, but then broke into a laugh and jumped into the pool to splash around with her friend. Star Catcher shielded herself from the splashing water with a wing, and waited patiently. Disapproving stares from passing unicorns compelled her to pretend she didn’t know the two earth ponies. After a while Minty and Pinkie Pie hopped out of the fountain, wet and disheveled, and shook vigorously to sling the excess water off in all directions. Looking altogether too pleased with themselves, they trotted back over to Star Catcher. They found her staring upward at the statue above the fountain. She asked, “Girls? Why does this statue have both wings and a unicorn’s horn?” The other two ponies followed Star Catcher’s gaze. “There aren’t really ponies like that, are there?” Minty asked. Star Catcher shook her head. “Not that I’ve ever heard of. It must be something symbolic to represent the pony races joining together. Although I don’t see anything that indicates an earth pony.” Both Minty and Pinkie Pie narrowed their eyes at Star Catcher. “Like what, for example?” Pinkie Pie wondered. “Err… Something like a harness collar, perhaps.” She’d actually been thinking of unshorn, mud-caked fetlocks, but she could hardly say that. “Riiight. Because earth ponies go around wearing horse collars all the time.” “Oh, I didn’t mean that! I was trying to imagine something artistically symbolic.” Pinkie Pie shrugged off the matter. “Okee dokey! So, which way do we go to the fair grounds?” Star Catcher glanced around the fountain, which rested at the intersection of several streets. “I didn’t get a good look when we were landing the balloon. Just a moment!” She spread her wings and launched herself upward above the fountain. There she hovered for a few moments and looked around. Then she darted a short distance to intercept another pegasus pony. From their viewpoint on the ground, Minty and Pinkie Pie could see the two pegasi conversing and pointing at something in the distance. Then Star Catcher descended and rejoined her friends and announced, “I’ve got it! This way, if you please?” She stretched out a wing to indicate a broad avenue. The walk was pleasant as they continued to notice the predominantly white store fronts of the city, the surprising number of streams, bridges and fountains, and a number of smaller alicorn statues, often perched like gargoyles on the rooftop corners of buildings. From time to time they had to move aside as a pony-drawn carriage came down the thoroughfare. The buildings thinned out as they came to the fair grounds. Near the entrance a fair number of carriages had been parked. The entrance itself featured a gateway with towers on either side, and many colorful banners waving lazily in the cool breeze. As the three ponies entered the fair grounds, their noses quickly drew them to the food vendors. “Look over there!” said Minty. “They have blueberry oat bars — on a stick!” “Look there!” said Pinkie Pie. “They have chocolate and caramel covered apples on a stick!” “Look! Chocolate strawberry waffles on a stick!” “Look at that! Fried ice cream on a stick!” Pinkie gasped as the implications sunk in. “Wait, how is that even possible?” “It’s maaaagic!” said Minty. Star Catcher said, “We have to try that. I adore ice cream.” Pinkie Pie glanced at Star Catcher’s ample flank and sniggered. “Really? I never would have guessed.” Star Catcher trotted over to the ice cream vendor’s stall, then paused and glanced over her shoulder. “I hope one of you dears remembered to bring some coin. I don’t have any.” “I’ve got some,” Minty said. “I even traded in a bunch of Ponyland farthings for the new Equestrian bits before we left. They shine like new money — because that’s what they are!” Star Catcher nodded with a smile. “Thank you dear!” She turned to the unicorn attending the stall and said, “Three ice creams, if you please!” The ice cream seller’s horn glowed as he levitated three thickly-breaded globes of ice cream into the fryer, briefly, then up to the counter — causing Pinkie and Minty to giggle and bounce. Even simple levitation seemed amazing to them, unaccustomed as they were to being around unicorns. The seller said, “That’ll be six bits.” Minty reached around with her muzzle into a side pocket of her bags and fished out her coin purse, then three bronze coins from it, gripped them with her lips and dropped them onto the counter. The vendor picked up the coins with his magic, but then peered at them and frowned. He said, “Ehh? I haven’t seen anything like these. They don’t have a sunburst. There’s only three horseshoes with the letters E, P and U.” “A what?” Minty asked, peering along with her friends as they tried to see what he meant. “I thought those were the new coins everypony’s gonna use now.” Star Catcher added, “And that’s the symbol of Equestria, isn’t it? E-P-U: Equestrian Ponies Unite!” The stallion bit his lip as he inspected the obverse side of the coins with even more puzzlement. Then he said, “I’m not sure what’s up with these coins. If you want to spend them, I’ll take them. But if you want my advice, I’d say take the rest to a moneychanger. You’ll get by with less hassles if you have the same coins that everybody here is familiar with.” “Thank you! That sounds like a good idea,” said Star Catcher. Then she took her ice cream by its stick and went to the wooden table nearby, followed closely by her two friends. They found the tables incorporated wooden blocks with holes in which the various food-on-a-stick items could be inserted, holding them for convenient hooves-free dining. Pinkie Pie was delighted to find the fried crust was hot and chewy, but the ice cream inside was still frozen — and nicely soft. Star Catcher broke open the crust on hers and lapped happily at the strawberry ice cream. All three ponies made short work of their treats, then Minty said, “That was great, but I’m thirsty.” She trotted over to another vendor with Pinkie Pie following, and they looked at the posted menu while another pony was being served. Minty whispered to Pinkie, “They have hard cherry lemonade. I wonder what a hard cherry tastes like?” “I dunno,” said Pinkie. “I never heard of that. But I like cherries, and I like lemonade. Let’s find out!” The unicorn ahead of them took his drink, carrying it away with his magic. Minty and Pinkie moved up to the counter and were surprised to find a magenta colored earth pony behind it. She blinked at them and said, “Hey Pinkie Pie! What are you doing here?” Pinkie gawped. “Huhh? Do I know you?” The magenta pony laughed. “It’s me, Berry Punch! What’s wrong? You get punch from me for your parties all the time, you silly pony.” Pinkie sat on her haunches and scratched the back of her head with a fore hoof. “I do? umm… Berry Punch? umm… Are you sure? I’m from Ponyville.” Berry Punch laughed again. “Well, of course you are. So am I. I brought my caravan to Canterlot this year because I thought maybe I could sell a lot more drinks here. Everypony back in Ponyville has gone nuts over apple cider these days.” She leaned to squint at Pinkie. “And of course you know me. This is some kind of prank, isn’t it? You’re such a joker, Pinkie! Hey, who’s this?” Pinkie said, “Oh this is Minty, she’s my bestest friend.” “Hii!” said Minty. “Pleased to meet you! So, what can I get you?” asked Berry Punch. “We want to try the hard cherry lemonade,” Pinkie said. “Three please!” “Oh, great choice! That’s my favorite.” Berry quickly poured three cups full of the purplescent brew. Minty fished more coins out of her coin purse and tossed them on the counter. Then they took the cups back to their table, with Pinkie setting one in front of Star Catcher. Minty sniffed curiously at her cup, then steadied it with her front hooves as she took a sip. Meanwhile Pinkie Pie remarked, “That was just weeeeird. What did she mean about getting punch for my parties from her? I don’t remember her, and I thought I knew everypony in Ponyville.” Minty said, “Yeah! But she didn’t even know me, and I was sure everpony in town knows who I am. Especially after that, um, thing that happened with the molasses.” Pinkie laughed! “Oh yeah, that was great! Ponyville smelled like molasses for months after that.” Star Catcher blinked, wondering what the story was behind that. Then she glanced down into her cup and said, “This lemonade has a peculiar whang, don’t you think?” “It does!” Pinkie said. “But it’s not bad. It really tastes punchy. It must have some kind of secret ingredient.” “I fink my tongue ith getting numb,” said Minty. “It’th cool!” While they were drinking the lemonade, a pony came around passing out schedules to the various events around the fairgrounds. Star Catcher snagged one and spread it out on the table so they could study it together. Pinkie oohed and pointed with a hoof. “That! That!” Then she read from the schedule: “The Great and Powerful Trixie performs amazing magic, classical pantomime and friendly audience abuse. C'est magnifique!” “Cooool!” agreed Minty. “Unicorn magic is what we made this trip for. But the next performance isn’t for a couple of hours yet.” They continued reading and then Pinkie said, “Hey! They have a parade after dark, even. We can party into the night!” Star Catcher seemed only mildly interested in the schedule at first, until something caught her eye. “I want to see the jousting competition!” Minty squinted at Star Catcher. “Jousting? Really?” “The stallions! Think of the stallions!” With her wing she pulled Minty closer, lowered her voice and said, “Big and strong, with barding and shining armor. Testing themselves against one another for our entertainment…. straining and sweating…” Pinkie said, “Whoa, Star Catcher, are you in heat or something?” “Pinkie! There’s no need to be crude. I merely have a romantic heart. It’s what my cutie mark stands for, after all.” Minty laughed her bubbly laugh. “Okay, okay! Maybe we should check it out.” “Hey!” said Pinkie. “If we have some time, I want to go on the rides. I could see them from the balloon, they looked like so much fun.” “Rides? I’m not sure I understand what that means,” said Star Catcher. Pinkie gasped. “You’ve never been on any carnival rides? We gotta take you right now! Come on!” They quickly quaffed the remainder of their lemonade and trotted off in search of the rides. A roller coaster was their first stop. After a brief but impatient wait in line, the three of them managed to get seated on a single bench with Star Catcher in the middle and Pinkie and Minty on either side. With mechanical sounds the car jolted into motion, then began its slow climb into the sky. Star Catcher hung her front hooves over the safety bar at the front of car, and looked outward, then looked down at the ground. “I don’t understand the purpose of this exercise,” she said. “You will when after clear the top of this hill,” giggled Pinkie Pie. The cars clanked and clattered almost to a stop at the highest point of the track, then gravity took over and the bottom fell out. Ponies screamed! Pinkie and Minty screamed too, and clutched at Star Catcher with their front legs. As for the pegasus, her sense of wide-eyed alarm was purely a response to the two earth ponies grabbing and screaming at her. As they went up the next hill, Pinkie yelled, “WOOHOO!! Isn’t this the greatest?” “That was scary!” added Minty. “But we were much higher up in the balloon…” Star Catcher started to say. Then the car plunged again. She sighed inwardly and put her wings around both of her screaming, giddy, exhilarated companions. After getting off the coaster, Minty and Pinkie Pie bounced around like rubber balls, gleefully telling each other how great it was and trying to decide which ride to get on next. “You two go on ahead and enjoy yourselves,” Star Catcher told them. “I’ll go the jousting field! I’ll meet you later back at Berry Punch’s stand, don’t you think?” “Okee dokey!” agreed Pinkie Pie. “We’ll catch up with you later, Star Catcher.” Back at the food courtyard, a pair of ponies stopped to buy ice cream: a unicorn stallion treating his mare-friend to a quick snack. Sitting down at the table, he started to levitate his change back into his coin purse, but first gave the coins a cursory glance, an ingrained habit of many years. Then he did a double-take. He floated one of the coins to eye level, his jaw slack in wonder as he inspected the piece closely. “What’s this?” he muttered. “Is something wrong, dear?” asked his companion. She had already begun to nibble, daintily, on the ice cream’s crust as it floated in the magical glow from her horn. Rather than answer at once, he floated a magnifying lens out of his purse and used it to peer even more intently at both sides of the coin. Then he exclaimed, “Inconceivable! This is a pre-classical two-bit coin. They were only minted for a brief period after Equestria was founded.” “Ooh, sounds like a lucky find. I guess some of your collector friends will envy you.” “What? No, you don’t understand… These coins are ancient and extraordinarily rare. Barely a few dozen are even known to have survived. But… This is in nearly uncirculated condition. It’s more than merely valuable. Finding such a coin would send shock waves through the numismatic community — if it’s genuine. Surely it can’t be genuine. How could it have gotten here?” Not waiting for an answer to his rhetorical question, he jumped up and trotted over to the ice cream vendor, and addressed him. “My good pony! Do you know where you got this coin? Have you seen any others like it?” “Oh, I’m sorry!” he answered. “I didn’t mean to give you that, but I accidentally got it mixed in with the regular change. A couple of ponies paid for their food with those coins just a while ago. I told them they should probably go to a moneychanger and get coins that are more familiar. I’ll exchange it for some regular bits if you like.” “No no! Actually, I’d love to get any more of them that you may have. It’s… a bit of a novelty, I daresay, and I have a little nephew who I’m sure would be tickled pink to add them to his coin collection.” “Why sure!” said the vendor. “Let me dig through the change drawer, I’m sure I got a couple more from those two earth ponies.”