//------------------------------// // CHAPTER ONE:Just Another Normal Day // Story: The Bizarre Case Of Minty And Malty // by Speedy //------------------------------// It was the annual Farmer’s Market in Fillydelphia, one of the few times both ponies and dragons can come together without the fear of a feud. Wandering around the market were two mares of similar age, one was between a shade of light and dark blue while her friend was undoubtedly light brown. “So which stand do you want to go to first Sparkleworks?” asked the blue mare who kept running in place as she was itching to get moving. “Anything that isn’t over our limit, remember last year Thistle Whistle?” replied the mare Sparkleworks. She was looking over a list she had made in hopes of keeping track of their spendings. The mare Thistle Whistle, just Whistle to her friends, had started to trot towards the first stand she saw. Looking over the bright red apples had made her stomach growl. The stallion running the stand took notice but was ignored as Whistle’s eyes were drawn to the next stand over, the mare running the stand saw her eyes wide with sparkles and asked if she wanted one. Whistle loved oranges but she was also craving an apple, mouth drooling she asked herself “Oh which to buy first?” and unable to decide she kept looking from one stand to the other. “Whistle?” Sparkleworks had asked when her friend hadn’t replied. She peered to her left and felt her heart skip as Whistle was no longer there, panicking she spun around to see if she was on her right but Whistle wasn’t there either. She looked from behind and off in front and felt her heart race as Whistle wasn’t anywhere to be seen, she darted to one side of the dirt road where some ponies were huddled together but Whistle wasn’t among them. Galloping to the other side she spotted a stand full of oranges and thinking Whistle could never resist them she went straight to it. She felt her heart start to beat normal as she spotted a blue mare, but with an closer look she saw that it wasn’t Whistle. Feeling irritated she grunted  “Oh Thistle Whistle, where are yo---” “Wow!” interrupted a familiar voice. Sparkleworks felt herself jump but her legs didn’t move,  turning to her right she gave a big sigh of relief and trotted over to a stand ran by a rather tall and thin green dragon. Whistle was looking at the food he had on show, Sparkleworks gave a slight cough and it was then that Whistle noticed her. “Sparkleworks, did you know there were purple apples?” Whistle asked as her tail gave a joyful rag. Sparkleworks shook her head while giving another sigh. “What did we talk about you running off like that?” she asked her friend. Whistle frowned as she glanced back at the stand, she mumbled “O-Oh...I forgot” and as Sparkleworks trotted over she cringed, protecting her ears from the expected shouting. “I heard dragons use special fertilizer to make them purple” Whistle had heard Sparkleworks say. Thinking it was a trick to lower her guard she was slow in removing her hooves from her ears, but when she saw Sparkleworks pick up an purple apple she started to feel that her ears were indeed safe. Sparkleworks asked how much the strangely shaped apples were and the green dragon gave a wide grin. “Twenty bits! Can you believe that dragon would think of such a price for one apple!” Sparkleworks had said, outraged at the ridiculous high price. “Then he went to thirty! Celestia never in my life---” “Happy Pinkie Pie taught me how to be more assertive?” Whistle asked as she stuck her tongue out at her friend in a playful tease. Sparkleworks blushed as she angrily stared in the opposite direction. “Yes, although I still think ten was too high for one apple” she replied.   “Wonder why they’re called Dragon’s Eye?” Whistle asked herself. “Well, hope they taste like Zap Apples!” As the two mares went on about the fair Sparkleworks tried to stay within the pony ran stands, she knew these dragons weren’t greedy but couldn’t help but utter a heated sniff at their prices. She was talking to a pony about purchasing a pie when Whistle had pulled her away mid sentence. “What are you doing!?” she asked trying to pull her leg free of Whistle’s surprisingly strong grip. “I was just talking to her about---” she broke off her sentence as Whistle pointed to a stand with unusually shaped peppers. She gave an annoyed grunt but quickly found the shape of the peppers interesting, her eyes looked them over and were soon drawn to a sign that read: Warning, the Blaze Peppers are among the hottest peppers known to dragons, ponies be advised to have milk on stand by---water makes it worse so do not drink it as you eat “Well, that turned me awa---” Sparkleworks trailed off as she stared at Whistle. “Put that down!” she shouted as Whistle was just about to bite into one of the peppers but she had snatched it and dragged her away. Despite Whistle’s child-like whimpers she wasn’t going to give in to this demand as she knew better from personal experience. As the two trotted on Sparkleworks’ attention was drawn to an stand which had unique bananas that were shaped like palmtrees, she peered over her shoulder at Whistle who gave her a pretty please type of face. Rolling her eyes she took out her list and checked how much they had already spent. “Hm, alright, you can buy one” Sparkleworks told Whistle who gave a very happy whistle that had drew more attention than Sparkleworks would had liked. Whistle dug through her saddlebag for two bits and dropped at least four in the progress. As she galloped over to the stand Sparkleworks shook her head but couldn’t help a smile, suddenly she saw an dragon eyeing the four dropped bits so quickly she dived down and snatched them up. “Sorry, my friend dropped these” Sparkleworks told the dragon. The dragon gave an gruffy cough and walked off, Sparkleworks was sure he had called her a liar. Blowing the mane out of her eyes Sparkleworks saw a stand containing what Whistle had robbed her of earlier, pies. Smiling she trotted over and lowered her head for a better view, she noticed a sign nailed to the stand which read: Two bits for one pie, or four shillings for one “Shillings..” Sparkleworks whispered as she looked through her saddlebag which was filled to the brim with golden bits, but at the very bottom she could make out at most five silver shillings. Smiling she turned her attention back to the pies. Usually she could tell which flavor the pies were by simply looking at them, it was like a second special talent she had but at seeing these particular pies she became perplexed. She held a hoof to her chin, the pies were coated in different colors and she felt odd by not recognizing the flavors at first glance. Blowing her mane out of her eyes again she picked one up for a closer inspection and it was then she saw the shape of the crust, she turned the pie upside down, looked at it from different angles and yet she just couldn’t make out the strange shape. “Is everything alright, miss?” asked the female dragon who had noticed Sparkleworks’ strange expression. “What is this shap---” Sparkleworks broke off when she had caught a glimpse of her scales. As the dragon stretched over the stand to hand a shorter pony a pie Sparkleworks squinted her eyes. “Are you going to buy that?” asked another dragon. He looked exactly like the other but stood slightly taller and his snout was thinner. Sparkleworks shook her head to straighten her eyesight and gasped at the dragon’s size, she looked down at the pie and then back at the two dragons’ uniquely colorful scales. It finally clicked and she knew what the crust was modeled after. Then a thought hit her, maybe the reason she couldn’t guess the flavor was because she had never tasted a pie made by dragons before. She gulped to swallow what little drool she had and then blew her mane for a third time, fumbling for bits she slammed enough down for as many pies that she could carry. “Fifteen bits? And you said you had a strong will!” Whistle had said after catching Sparkleworks who became frozen at her voice. “W-Well...” Sparkleworks fumbled to find her wording. She was a little embarrassed that she was caught breaking her own rule but she really wanted the pies. “Hey is that mare selling orange juice!” Whistle gave a big grin as she stared off in the direction that Sparkleworks had pointed in, she galloped off without question. Sparkleworks laughed, she found it quite adorable how easily Whistle was tricked by the mere mention of orange juice. “Hey wait---Whistle hold up!!” Sparkleworks shouted. She rushed to hand over the bits, grabbed the bag which her pies were placed in and galloped after her friend at top speed. “Aren’t you going to talk to me?” Sparkleworks asked five minutes later. Whistle hadn’t found her lie very funny and was insulted that Sparkleworks had tricked her. This wasn’t uncommon as despite being an full grown mare Whistle tended to act more childish when she was upset. “Oh come on, I said I was sorry!” Sparkleworks said irritated. Getting just a tad bit frustrated at her friend’s silence Sparkleworks trotted over in front of Whistle, trotting backwards she asked “Isn’t there anything I can do to make it up---” when suddenly her hooves tripped over something and she was sent stumbling down. There was a loud clash and then she was getting yelled at by an enraged stallion. Whistle for a fraction of a second looked to be totally uninterested, resembling a still photo, the very next second she had bursted out laughing so much her chest started to hurt. “Hahaha!!! Wow Sparkleworks, you sure do work that watermelon! I could almost mistake you for an clown” Whistle laughed, and laughed, and soon a big crowd had formed. As bits of watermelon dripped down her face Sparkleworks had never felt so embarrassed in her entire life, in fact she felt like dying right on the spot. “Hehehehe, wow Sparkleworks, if I didn’t know any better I’d say you were copying me” came another familiar voice. Sparkleworks had looked straight up at the voice and thought her eyes were going to pop out of her skull. “M-Minty..!?” she gasped. Whistle looked to her right and recognized the light green fur and pink mane almost immediately,  “Minty!!!” she happily whistled as she galloped to hug her. “I missed you too Whistle,” smiled their friend Minty. “now let me go before I run out of air---!” Sparkleworks had made such a mess that for the next three minutes she had to clean it up, luckily Whistle had released Minty long enough to help her. “I noticed you aren’t wearing your glasses,” spoke Minty as they had just finished resetting the stand. “did you forget them again?” “I don’t wear those ugly things anymore. I wear contacts now,” Sparkleworks paused as she glared at Whistle. “but Whistle didn’t want to wait..” “Do what my grandma did, carry backups” replied Minty. After about another minute and some bits later the three mares were off, “They sure outdid  themselves this year, didn’t they?” asked Whistle. She had spotted a large crowd around a stand that she was certain they had built out of a volcano. “Eh that fire’s fake,” spoke Minty after she had followed Whistle’s gaze. “I know that dragon. He’s a big show off---” “So Mints, where have you been the last few weeks?” asked Sparkleworks who was less than interested in the volcano stand. Minty came to a sudden halt and gave Whistle an raised eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you didn’t tell her!” she started, sounding upset. “I told you to tell everypony I was leaving on a business trip!” “O-Oh...I forgot, sorry Minty” Whistle nervously whistled and dug at the ground. Minty’s nostrils flared and she was about to tell her off when Sparkleworks had said “Wait, what business trip?” “Well, I got a letter from the biggest candy company in all of Equestria. They got word of my candy and wanted to arrange a meeting, long story short---they want to invest and make my store a whole chain of stores!” Minty explained. The look of joy on Minty’s face had reminded Sparkleworks of an certain Hearth Warming Eve that, when she remembered it, brought a smile to her face equally as big. “Wow Mints, that’s wonderful news!” Sparkleworks started to laugh as Minty began hopping in place. She couldn’t help but think Minty was literally ripping off Pinkie Pie’s hop of joy. “Though I gotta tell ya,” Minty started as she came to an stop. “that trip was so stressful that I couldn’t even keep my mane clean!” “Oooooohhhhh, that’s why it’s messier than usual” spoke Whistle. Minty took one blushing look at her mane, began straightening it, and blushed more as her friend gave a teasing whistle. As they trotted on they were suddenly stopped by a voice which had broken out over the crowd, “Oh! Hello over there Minty!” immediately they recognized the voice. They saw a stand decorated in bright and shiny balloons, it had many sweets on show which many ponies awed at. The sweets ranged from cupcakes to large and colorful cakes, to lust and steaming pies and chocolate cookies in the shape of six different Cutie Marks. “Hello Pinkie!” greeted Minty. As the three mares trotted over her eyes travelled amongst the cookies, she noticed a few resembled Pinkie Pie’s own Cutie Mark and could easily guess the other five owners. For the next couple of minutes they talked with Pinkie Pie who, without any sort of struggle whatsoever, managed to sell her sweets and kept their conversion going in one long single breath. Finally, after taking a moment to allow air into her lungs and waving the last customers off, went over to her safebox. “Boy the Cakes should be happy with this year’s earnings,” Pinkie Pie spoke as she counted the money. “only been here for ten minutes and already I made hundreds!” she gave a big grin that was so cute it could rival Whistle’s very own got ya face. “Say Pinkie, is it true your parents found a diamond mine?” Whistle asked after she had spotted an diamond shaped cake and remembered the paper she had read weeks ago. “Well Limestone was credited for finding it but she wanted them to take it, finally all three of them just agreed to---” Pinkie Pie was suddenly cut off as Minty poked her, she found it was the fastest way to get Pinkie Pie’s attention. “Say, do you by any chance..” Minty paused to lean in closer to whisper something in her friend’s ear, Pinkie Pie gave her a wink and whispered something back. Whistle hated being left out and as Minty was handed a small box she badly wanted to know what was in it, she was just starting to ask Minty about it when Sparkleworks suddenly tugged on her tail. She gently shook her head, Whistle nodded and sighed. “Hey, what ya got there Minty?” Pinkie Pie asked after noticing Minty was suddenly teething on something and she became curious. As the other two turned to stare she popped it out of her mouth, “Oh this? It’s a Mint On A Stick as I call it, used to be Minty Stick but that felt too silly” Minty laughed at herself. “A peppermint on a stuck?” Whistle asked taking a closer look. She was going to ask what was wrong with candy canes but then noticed something odd about the peppermint. “What’s with the green and blue X and circle?” Minty stared between the peppermint and Whistle and was unusually quick to give her answer. “It’s a secret, no I won’t tell. Stop asking! Oh alright you three...well, you know peppermints are my favorite?” Minty paused for a quick moment to show her Cutie Mark. “The reason part of this one is green and blue instead of the usual red and white, is because I added something to help it taste better” she explained right before stuffing her treat back into her mouth. “Taste better? What do you mean Mints?” asked Sparkleworks. Minty popped her peppermint stick back out as she said “Well Sparkleworks, as you know my biggest goal is to make the perfect candy, a candy that never tastes bad nor becomes bad. However, I had quite a few set backs---no that fire was not one of them, will you ever let that go Pinkie?” Pinkie Pie shook her head and Minty gave a very annoyed sigh. “Anyways---I can’t say how I got the color to change, mostly because it’s still imperfect, I been tasting these to see how long before they go bad”. Minty paused as she popped the peppermint back into her mouth and for nearly twelve seconds sucked on it, noticing her friends’ awkward stares she popped it out while giving a nervous sigh as well as a blush. “But what’s with the green and blue? That didn’t really answered her question” Sparkleworks pointed out which had made Minty utter another sigh as she had hoped to avoid further questions on this subject. “I’m not sure how to explain and make it understandable, just know the change in color affects not just the taste. The original test with my sauce turned out---very, very, very messy” Minty shivered. She could still remember the sticky mishap her co-worker had stumbled upon as if it was yesterday. Pinkie Pie was nodding along but at the mention of adding sauce to candy she was about to question her on it, however Sparkleworks had managed to say “Hey, what are those ponies talking about?” and she immediately forgot as she turned her ears to listen. At the third stand down from where they stood was another group of three who were talking about something, at first Minty was happy at the change of subject but soon wished it had remained uninterrupted. “It’s true, Sweetberry’s sister saw the whole thing!” spoke one of them who looked as if she was upset about something. “She caused a traffic jam due to a prank?” asked another of the three. “I heard about that, but was she sure it was her?” “No doubt about it! She was laughing so hard at the pony there were tears in her eyes!” stated the other. The last of the three gasped. “But...that’s just cruel! Ponies could’ve been badly injured!” “Their talking about her..” Minty sighed as she was getting tired of all this gossip. After taking a lick from her peppermint she said “Big mare of the town” while stroking her mane as a proper mare would just before she had the look of complete disgust.  “A pony saved a foal from a fire yet did she get months of gossip?” Minty had turned her back on the gossiping mares and sucked away on her peppermint, to her dismay however she saw she was the only one out of the four who was uninterested in listening. “She isn’t a normal pony, I heard she’s a mixed breed” Minty could still hear the ponies even after covering her ears. “What makes you say that Cotton Candy?” Minty heard before she took a few steps to be further away. “Because…” the mare named Cotton Candy looked for a brief moment to be sure she wasn’t being overheard, probably in case whoever they were talking about was nearby as she didn’t even bat an eye at Minty’s friends. “I heard her mane is---unnatural---almost looks like a octopus!” One of her two friends suddenly gasped. “A Octopus Pony? I heard of Sea Ponies but---” “Who are they talking about?” Whistle asked. She turned her attention on Minty who she had caught trying to gallop off. Minty was reluctant at first and sucked away at her peppermint stick, but the persistent questions from Whistle had soon made the other two wanted to know as well. “...Malty” she finally spoke before popping the peppermint back into her mouth with such force that she gagged. “Malty?” Pinkie Pie asked herself while looking as if she was thinking super hard. “Never heard of her”. “I have,” Sparkleworks said as she patted Minty’s back. “I even met her”. Out of the corner of her eye Minty was certain Sparkleworks was angry but she was trying to hide it from the others. “Then you---have my---apologizes---ack!” Minty coughed as her peppermint stick became dislodged and she gasped for air as she rubbed her throat. Whistle trotted over and patted Minty on the back with such force she collapsed, “What’s she like?” Whistle asked while overlooking what she just did. Sparkworks just shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. “Besides the mane, nothing really special” she answered. “Oh..” Whistle looked down and seemed almost disappointed, she spotted Minty trying to pick herself up and as she helped she asked “Minty, are you sure you should keep eating tha---” “Although---” Whistle broke her concerned sentence off as she turned back to Sparkleworks, causing Minty to fall again in the progress. “Not sure how I could have forgotten this, but she does have a certain---vibe---about her” Sparkleworks started to explain. “You just feel uneasy, like there’s something about her that’s dreading...must be the look in her eyes, I swear she’s looking straight into your soul...” Whistle wanted to ask further questions but Minty had interrupted saying “She’s a pony that deserves neither praise nor gossip, she’s uncaring---cruel---as well as bad mannered, I never had the misfortune of meeting her nor do I ever instead too” and gritted her teeth until her peppermint had broke in two, she cursed herself in a silent whisper. “Wow Minty...you seem to really dislike her” returned Sparkleworks. She felt a little uneasy by her friend’s sudden anger that to her felt as if it came out of nowhere. “Yeah,” began Pinkie Pie. “you need to turn that frown upside dow---” “Pinkie Pie,” interrupted Minty. “if you ever met my mom you would also frown---” “Your mom?” interrupted Whistle. Minty froze mid sentence and her eyes darted to her side, she wasn’t aware of what she was saying and almost got carried away with herself. Shaking it off she said “U-Um...nevermind” and quickly changed the subject back to the parents of their pink friend.