//------------------------------// // Twist // Story: Family // by FleetlordAvatar //------------------------------// ‘’So what makes you think this colt’s up to something, anyway?’’ Apple Bloom frowned at the question. ‘’Scootaloo, weren’t ya listenin’ to a word ah’ve been sayin’?’’ The orange Pegasus filly shrugged her shoulders. ‘’A little, but I zoned out after a few minutes. You have been going on about this for a few days.’’ Apple Bloom groaned in frustration. Since her meeting with Reiver, Apple Bloom had stored the lollipop in a safe place. Sugar or no sugar, she was not touching that thing until she knew what else was in it. The colt in question was still living in the guest room and she had heard Applejack mention that he wasn’t getting any better. Now that it was the weekend, she had enlisted her friends Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle to unravel the colt’s true intentions. The three fillies, known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders, were speeding through Ponyville with Scootaloo pulling the other two in a red wagon hitched to her scooter. Apple Bloom continued her explanation as they rounded a bend between two houses. ‘’He’s an EARTH pony, and he wanted a book on MAGIC. Ain’t that a bit odd to you?’’ ‘’Not really’’ replied Sweetie Belle. “Just because I’m a unicorn doesn’t mean all the books I read are about magic.’’ ‘’Ugh... that’s not the point’’ moaned Apple Bloom. ‘’So what is?’’ asked Scootaloo as she veered to the right. ‘’The point is that he has to be up to something. If he wasn’t, why would he give me this to keep quiet?’’ She finished, producing the lollipop. Sweetie Belle eyed the multi-coloured confection. ‘’What’s it got on the label?’’ she asked, noticing the strange writing. ‘’Ah dunno, but Ah want Twist to take a look. Ah think it could be some kind of trick.’’ ‘’Like what?’’ said Scootaloo as they sped through the marketplace. The group’s reputation caused several ponies to pre-emptively leap behind their stalls, only to sheepishly emerge a moment later when nothing happened. ‘’Ah dunno, maybe this is cursed or poisoned or maybe it’s not even a lollipop and it’ll transform into a hideous monster when we take off the wrapper.’’ The other two fillies shared a skeptical look. ‘’Apple Bloom,’’ said Sweetie Belle ‘’Don’t you think you’re letting the fact he accidentally threw your breakfast onto your head influence your opinion?’’ ‘’Ah am not!’’ she retorted. ‘’Just because Ah want him thrown out fer givin’ me the worst day of mah life is not havin’ an effect on mah actions.’’ Her friends shared another skeptical look, but any thoughts they might have had were going to have to wait as Twist’s house came into view. Screeching to a stop, the three fillies disembarked. Twist’s house was quite large, as the ground floor also doubled as a florist. The thatched building also had a balcony on the second floor that overlooked the square. Rapping her hoof on the door, the top half was opened by a bespectacled filly with a curly red mane. ‘’Hi, Twist.’’ ‘’Hi, whaths up Applebloom?’’ She lisped. ‘’Ah need ta ask ya a favour. Can we come in?’’ ‘’Thure thing, hi Thootaloo, hi Thweetie Belle.’’ ‘’Hi Twist.’’ Chorused the other fillies as their group passed through the door. The interior of the florist’s would usually have been bustling with ponies at this hour, the shelves stacked to the gunnels with seeds and flowers while gardening tools would be laid out under the glass countertop. Today, however, it was shut for a resupply so boxes of tools and supplies were stacked wall to wall while three mares - Daisy, Lily and Roseluck, collectively known as the ‘’Flower Trio’’ -  were unpacking them for the Monday rush. Although ‘’unpacking’’ might be a bit of a stretch. ‘’I told you Lily, the violets need to be next to the roses to get maximum attention.’’ argued Roseluck, the red maned mare clearly frustrated with the current arrangement. ‘’But Rosie, they look so much better next to my lilies!’’ whined Lily. ‘’The violets’ colour positively oozes into the white, at least here they don’t stick out like that dandelion in your own bed.’’ ‘’The horror! The horror!’’ Swooned Daisy dramatically. The three fillies waved a brief greeting to them as they passed, (although it was unknown if the arguing mares even noticed,) as they followed Twist upstairs to her room. Pushing open the door with her hoof, Twist led the group inside. Twist’s room was painted mint green which actually suited both the business downstairs and her special talent, namely making sweets. Her bed had red and white candy canes that matched her cutie mark decorating the headboard, while against the back wall was a table covered in what could have passed for a small laboratory, but in actuality was where she made her sweets. Sitting down the four filles faced each other. ‘’Would you like thome peppermint thticks?’’ asked Twist. ‘’We would love some.’’ Said Sweetie Belle brightly. Apple Bloom let out a small groan; she wanted to get to the business at hoof. Reaching inside a basket by her lab table, Twist pulled some of the red and white striped confections from inside and passed them out. Unwrapping them, the group sucked on the sweets for a moment before Apple Bloom spoke. ‘’Thanks fer the sweets Twist, but Ah was hoping you could help me with something.’’ ‘’Thure thing, Applebloom, what ith it?’’ she asked. ‘’Ah was, uh....given this lollipop, but Ah can’t read the label. It’s in some kinda freaky language.’’ As she spoke, she produced the confection in question. ‘’Ah thought that, since you’re so good at making sweets an all, y’all could help me figure out what’s in it?’’ Handing over the red and orange swirled confection, she watched as Twist scrutinised the writing on the label. ‘’Well thaths definitely not Equethtrian.’’ She mumbled, before getting up and moving towards her sweet-making laboratory. ‘’Well ah didn’t want ta eat it in case there was something bad inside.’’ replied Apple Bloom. Scootaloo rolled her eyes. Given that most things which tasted good were deemed ‘bad’ for them or their teeth by their respective caretakers. She felt it safe to assume the same about that lollipop, which she and Sweetie Belle had been eyeing since it had been brought out. Removing the wrapper, Twist was hit by the familiar smell of sugary, teeth rotting sweetness. Turning the lollipop over in her hooves a few times she sniffed the edges before pulling over a clamp and securing it in place. Pulling a surgical mask over her head she turned to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. ‘’Could you pleathe put on thome mathkths, I’m going to need thome help.’’ Crunching down the last few bits of their peppermint sticks the Crusaders donned some spare masks and crowded around Twist. Passing the wrapper to Applebloom for disposal (although she actually stored it in her saddlebags) Twist picked up a small toffee hammer and began gently tapping the lollipop. What followed was a series of methodical tests on the brightly coloured confection. She tapped it with a hammer, rubbed it with cotton swabs which she then ran over some litmus paper, chipped off small pieces and dissolved them in various fluids, noting any change in colour or consistency before cutting off a large chunk and analysing the patterns on the inside with a magnifying glass. She would have made Twilight Sparkle proud. It was a few hours later that she stopped and ran a hoof across her brow in satisfaction, behind her the Cutie Mark Crusaders flopped down onto some cushions in exhaustion. ‘’Well, thath’s every tetht I can think of’'' she declared. Lifting a clipboard, from the table she ran her eyes over the results. ‘’I didn’t think anything to do with candy could be so hard’’ moaned Scootaloo. ‘’Ith’s okay onth you underthtand it.’’ Twist chuckled. ‘’If I didn’t put in all thith hard work then you couldn’t enjoy my delithious thweets.’’ Scootaloo sighed; you couldn’t argue with that logic. Twist checked the clipboard once again before exchanging it for the chunk she had cut off earlier. Apple Bloom perked up, this was what she had been waiting for, something that proved Reiver was more than he appeared. ‘’Well, I can tell you thith’’ said Twist. The crusaders leaned in toward her in rapt attention. Suddenly she tossed the chunk into the air and caught it in her mouth with a satisfying crunch. ‘’Thath’s one of the thweetetht thingths I’ve ever eaten’’ she said to a gasp from Applebloom. ‘’Twist, have ya lost yer mind, we don’t know what that thing is?’’ she exclaimed. Twist pulled over the clipboard as she crunched happily on the chunk. ‘’Itth okay, Apple Bloom.” She showed her clipboard. ‘’Thee? My tethts show iths just like a pieth of rock from the beach.’’ From helping with the baking at Sweet Apple Acres, Apple Bloom was able to recognise the quantities of different ingredients on the list in front of her, but she was no expert on sweets so some items were unfamiliar and she had no choice but to defer to Twist on this occasion. ‘’Here, try it yourthelf.’’ Twist passed her another piece of the lollipop. Apple Bloom looked at it with suspicion as Twist handed more out to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, who immediately crunched down on their respective shares and released a simultaneous ‘’mmmm’’ of satisfaction. She observed her friends for a few moments as they enjoyed the sweet before she decided to try her piece. Taking it in her hoof, she bit off a small section. Twist had been right, the texture was similar to seaside rock candy but it felt a bit softer which made it easier to chew. The flavour was difficult to describe, definitely sweet, but with a small undercurrent of sour that didn’t overwhelm the original taste. Definitely a piece of candy. Buzzing with extra energy, the four filles quickly polished off the whole confection. ‘’Tho,’’ sighed Twist with satisfaction ‘’Who gave you thith thing anyway?’’ ‘’This colt that’s staying with her family’’ said Sweetie Belle. ‘’They found him hiding in the barn.’’ Apple Bloom shot her a brief glare; she had wanted to keep that fact a secret. ‘’He’s sick and lost, so we’re lookin’ after him till we find his folks.’’ Twist’s expression dropped a little. ‘’I hope you find them, because he’th got a really good tathte in thweets.’’ After a few minutes basking in the afterglow of their collective sugar high, the four filles made their way back downstairs, past the flower trio, who were now arguing over which watering cans would be best in the window display, and back outside. The clock struck three, they had been in there since eleven. ‘’Wow, that took longer than I thought.’’ Said Apple Bloom. ‘’You can’t ruth art’’ Twist replied with pride. Thanking her for her help, the Cutie Mark Crusaders said their goodbyes, hopped into their transport and sped off. ‘’So, the lollipop was actually a lollipop,’’ said Sweetie Belle. ‘’Do you think you were wrong about him?’’ ‘’Ah don’t know’’ replied Apple Bloom. ‘’But something still ain’t right about that colt, and ah aim to find out what it is.’’ Sweetie Belle sighed. ‘’Look, Apple Bloom, I think you really are overreacting just a little because of the whole breakfast thing.’’ ‘’Ah am not!’’ she replied defensively. ‘’You kinda are’’ said Scootaloo as they swung around a lamppost and headed towards Sweet Apple Acres. ‘’Seriously, you couldn’t be any more suspicious of this colt if you tried.’’ ‘’Well...maybe Ah am a mite suspicious’’ she huffed.  “But you have to admit, it’s strange he didn’t want anypony to know about that book’’ Apple Bloom countered. ‘’You’re not going to let this go, are you?’’ sighed Sweetie Belle. ‘’Sweetie Belle, how can Ah let this go? He’s given me a strange sweet to keep quiet about a book on magical travel. There’s something going on with him, an’ Ah mean to find out what.’’ Screeching to a stop just outside Sweet Apple Acres, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle turned to her. ‘’Well, if you’re going to do this then we’re going to help’’ said Scootaloo in resignation. ‘’But if we don’t find anything, will you admit you were wrong and let it go?’’ ‘’Ah promise’’ Said Apple Bloom with a smile. ‘’An’ ya never know, we might even get our cutie marks if we solve the mystery.’’ The statement caused the other two to brighten up immediately. ‘’CUTIE MARK CRUSADER MYSTERY SOLVERS YAY!!’’