The Bizarre Case Of Minty And Malty

by Speedy

CHAPTER THREE:Talking To Minty

It was early in the morning, Whistle and Sparkleworks were eating breakfast at a diner they frequent. Sparkleworks had caught Whistle sneaking back in after dawn and scolded her for sneaking out.

“How was I supposed to know you were at the door?” spoke Whistle just as a waitress handed them their food.

“Well do you ever get the morning mail? I’m going to have a bruise for weeks..” Sparkleworks barely looked at Whistle as she said this. Instead she was nose deep into her plate of eggs.

The usual breakfast they had was quite heated this time as Sparkleworks wouldn’t drop the subject of where Whistle had been. It wasn’t until she threatened to no longer buy orange juice that Whistle finally cracked.

“You what!?” shouted Sparkleworks right before gagging. She had gulped down a mouth full of eggs prior to her outburst and had to pound her chest before she could breathe. “Let me get this straight…” Sparkleworks started in between gasps. “You left home in the middle of the night, not only without a coat---oh you know you’d freeze to death in the cold---but tried tracking down a pony you never even met? I should ground you for weeks Thistle Whistle!!!”

“I didn’t want to wake you and the nightmares stopped me from sleeping!” Whistle returned a little bit defensively.

“You know you can wake me if you have a nightmare” Sparkleworks replied. Taking a deep sigh she relaxed herself, she knew yelling would only make Whistle close herself off more. Sitting down the fork she had gripped to the point her hooves bent it just an inch, she breathed in slowly before continuing to speak. “Well, what was she like?”

Whistle was caught off guard as she stared at Sparkleworks a bit puzzled, slowly sitting back down herself she stared at Sparkleworks as if expecting a got ya outburst. “Well, her mane isn’t octopus-like. It’s just messy, probably the messiest mane I ever saw” she answered.

Whistle was keeping her guard up as she paused to draw her plate closer, eyes burning into Sparkleworks for no more than two seconds before she dived right into her food as if she hadn’t eaten in days.

Sparkleworks shook her head, “How can a pony eat a tower of pancakes so fast?” she asked herself.

“She was friendly too, well, not counting the outburst after running her over..” spoke Whistle, spitting out small crumbs with every word.

Brushing her friends’ terrible table manners aside Sparkleworks said “That doesn’t sound like the Malty I know, her mane was even neater than Mintys and you know how she keeps her mane. Also, she was completely rude for no reason! Just because I said her dresses wasn’t shiny enough, ugh I hate rich ponies..”

Whistle, after taking a sip of what she felt was very refreshing water, had said “I think she’s just sensitive” before diving into a second but slightly smaller tower of blueberry pancakes.

“Sensitive? Sensitive ho--” Sparkleworks trailed off as she looked at her friend.

She knew Whistle had a big appetite but stuffing her face was still jarring to watch. Not to mention the slight theory she had of Whistle and Pinkie Pie being related didn't seem so far fetched.

“Well,” Whistle paused to swallow and to take another sip of water. “when I mentioned the traffic jam she yelled at me. But she apologized saying she was touchy about that, maybe the gossiping really hurts her and that’s why she’s so rude?”

“You said she was a novelist?” asked Sparkleworks. “To be honest I never got that from her back then, she seems more like---a self centered rich mare who cares for nothing but her own ends”.

“How can you say that!” Whistle gasped at what her friend had just assumed. She held her mouth in a gasp but saw no pony had heard her. “Sparkleworks, I’m surprised at you! I assure you the pony I met was nothing like those rich jerks from the high and fancy part of town”.

Sparkleworks just shrugged her shoulders as she replied “Just what I got, does she still wear that large business overcoat? Who else but a rich pony would go around wearing that outside parties? Only pony I know who does is Edward Horseluck, and you know how crude he is. He makes Blueblood look like a saint”.

“Don’t remind me of Horseluck, my dress still has grape juice stains….” Whistle said as she crossed her fore legs angrily and gave her unhappy face.

Even though Whistle didn’t want to relive that party her mind couldn’t help it, she remembered very clearly hanging with her friends and dancing along to a tune with Minty. She remembered it was a fun party and she was really into the music, she was attempting her special spin move which she now knew was a mistake. She turned and spun around for only a brief second before a stallion had trotted right into her, she remembered everypony staring as the stallion yelled at her and threw his juice into her face before a group of had friends pulled him aside.

“Stupid rich jerk..” she said before whispering a slight curse. She stared at Sparkleworks and sighed in relief that she hadn’t heard her. “Malty is so nothing like him,” Whistle reassured Sparkleworks and tried to push that terrible party out of her mind.

Whistling she wanted to change the subject when she remembered something else. “When me and Malty were talking she acted----a bit weird”.

“Weird how?” Sparkleworks asked. She gulped down a sip of coffee and immediately broke into tears. “H-HOT!” gasping she took what remained of Whistle’s water and drank it all in one gulp.

Whistle was laughing her tail off so hard she held her chest in pain, “You---you are---” she had trouble getting her words out as her eyes started tearing up. “--oh that was too much!”

The water did little to douse the burning in Sparkleworks’ throat so in between gasping she had ordered the coldest water the waitress could bring, nearby ponies stared as she gulped the contents of the glass down some minutes later and Sparkleworks was surprised to taste the flavor of milk instead of water.

“Water just makes it burn more, even a foal would know that” the waitress spoke as she hovered off behind the counter.

As the waitress started a conversion with the chef, who just happened to be the greedy dragon from yesterday, Sparkleworks shook her head angrily and had half a mind to report the mare.

“So I heard Sunny Daze is coming to the picnic, oh and Skywishes is too!” Sparkleworks spoke while holding a ice cube to her throat and moaned at the relief.

“Oh I hadn’t seen Skywishes in months! How’s her foal doing? Heard it’s a colt!” Whistle asked while giving a very happy whistle.

Sparkleworks, after throwing the half melted ice cube into her mouth, nodded while returning to her eggs which now had went cold. “Say is Star Catcher still coming? Hope her duties as mayor and guard captain won’t make her miss another get together..” she had asked.

Whistle stared at her and wondered why she was eating cold eggs, which she usually hated, but as Sparkleworks caught her staring she gave a nervous whistle while saying the first thing that came out. “I hope she can come, it’ll be nice to see her and Malty together and see if---”

“You invited Malty to the picnic?” interrupted Sparkleworks. As small crumbs spat out onto the table a waitress that was trotting by their table gave her a death glare and Sparkleworks apologized with a deep blush.

“Well, yeah.” answered Whistle. “I wanted to see her again as she left so---”

“You best tell Minty then” Sparkleworks again interrupted, she was cutting more of her eggs up when she noticed Whistle had gave her a puzzled stare.

Sighing she laid her knife and fork down as she went on to say “You saw how she reacted yesterday when ponies were gossiping about Malty, how you do think she’d react if she just ran into her? It’s been years since they even spoke” and as Whistle pictured that scene being played inside her mind Sparkleworks nodded.

***

Whistle knew she had to tell Minty that she had invited Malty so after finishing up breakfast she set off, she had asked Sparkleworks to come with but she declined.

“Sorry, I have to meet Surprise for---something” Sparkleworks had said before leaving Whistle who couldn’t help but wonder what she was nervous about that she had paused mid sentence.

Being on her own Whistle took to the skies as she pictured her upcoming conversion with Minty, she replayed it over and over until she felt confident her words were perfect, or at the very least good enough to tell her and run off for some errand. As the next five minutes went by Whistle kept an eye on the ground as she flew over and around the towering buildings, she flew around some billboards as well and once she had to fly backwards to take a double take at one.

Her mouth fell open as she read the words aloud. “Minty’s Candy Store Of Oddies, soon to open it’s sister building...when in Equestria did Minty set this up!?”

As Whistle went back to flying she couldn’t help but notice how perfect the morning sky was, not only weren’t there any clouds but it was a beautiful mixture of orange and purple as the sun rose higher into the sky. Smiling she began whistling and found the next three minutes had went by surprisingly fast as she spotted Minty’s home, going into a backflip she landed next to the front window which had many sweets on show.

Peering through the window Whistle’s eyes lit up as she saw the colorful interior, the walls were purple while the ceiling was green, the part where the two connected as well as the corners were painted white. The floor tiles, which were shaped like diamonds, was a shade of orange that just popped out all to well. At the tables, which were either a dark but shiny blue or a darker shade of purple, Whistle saw many sweets that just made her mouth water and her wings flapped with joy.

There were colorful cupcakes with a slice of apple and over at the pink counter she could see caramel apples that she badly wanted to sink her teeth into, however her eyes were quickly drawn to other and unusual sweets that her friend Minty was more known for. She saw straws in a glass of chocolate milk and knew by the designs they were edible, she saw cakes in the shape of a palm tree as well as a few chocolate animals that were dancing underneath them.

She could see on one table a small pink carnival ride made of licorice with a spinning top with candy bears attached to it, Whistle smiled as she waved back at them. She kept looking around and soon her eyes were drawn to one of Minty’s more well known creations, a large jawbreaker that when spotting Whistle pressed her face against the glass. It was colorful as a rainbow and her mouth watered as she remembered the first time had she tested it and how surprised she was when a bird made completely out of chocolate flew out of her mouth.

She never did get a answer from Minty as how she managed to create that illusion, at noticing her drool in the window’s reflection Whistle shook her head and wiped it away. Looking back inside she saw a mare with orange fur had suddenly appeared, she was sweeping the floor while using her magic to set strings of cotton candy about the ceiling along with colorful socks. Whistle never got why Minty had made socks out of candy or why they had became her trademark, but they were so tasty nopony never really asked her about it.

Tapping on the window Whistle got the mare’s attention, she gave a soft smile as she trotted over and unlocked the deadbolt but had left the chain alone.

“Good day Thistle Whistle,” spoke the mare who had such a sweet voice it melted Whistle’s ears. “here to see Minty?”

“Yep! Is she in?” Whistle asked as she tried to peek over the mare’s shoulders. Instinctively the mare moved in the same motion to stop her from peering inside.

“She is but I’m afraid she’s in the back, working on her, top secret, candy” replied the mare who attempted to close the door but Whistle had managed to poke her nose through it.

“O-Oh but if you could tell her I’m here?” she asked while hoping the mare wouldn’t slam her nose in the door.

Rolling her eyes the mare took something like a motherly sigh, with a nod she told Whistle to wait outside as she went and asked. Whistle watched through the window as the mare disappeared behind a door, whistling as she hoped Minty would see her. Coming to a hallway that was painted in a dull grey the mare trotted up to a double locked door which on the other side contained Minty’s secret lab as she calls the room where she does all of her research. The room itself was as big as the kitchen itself if not just an inch or two smaller.

It was painted silver and had a few tables and desks, most of which were littered with notebooks and beakers that were arranged so messily a pony like Rarity or even Twilight Sparkle would faint at the mere sight. Sitting at the biggest table which was centered in the middle of the room was Minty herself who was scribbling away in a notebook, every now and again she would look up at an elaborate chemical set that ran half the table’s length.

After adjusting a tube or two that was connected to the set she returned to her scribbling, after about a couple seconds or so she laid the pencil down and watched as a blue substance had dripped into a tiny and thin beaker. She leaned forward to pick it up and she sniffed it for a second before she stretched herself across the table, she had to move a few empty beakers aside for her to get the one she wanted which held a red substance that bubbled slightly.

“If my calculations are correct, this should make a type of grape juice with a hint of apples and blueberries” Minty spoke aloud as she pulled the beaker closer.

As Minty was starting to pour the blue liquid in with the red she heard *Knock* *Knock* from the door and she had almost dropped the two beakers in shock.

“Sorry to disturb you Minty, Thistle Whistle wishes to see you” spoke the orange mare.

“Oh Tropical Dream,” Minty sighed and counted herself lucky that she hadn’t dropped hours of hard work. “you can let her in a minute” after she had said this she took a deep breath and attempted to pour the substances together again.

She was careful not to drop even the tiniest drip as half of the tiny beaker was emptied into the bigger one, slowly she twirled the beaker and watched as it turned from red to a bright purple and the bubbling ceased. Eyes sparkling at the thought of creating a brand new flavor she wrote in her notebook a short paragraph, looking the new purple liquid over she went to take a small sip.

“Hiya Mints!” came Whistle’s voice that had startled Minty enough to gulp more than intended and she began gagging.

“Ack! Thistle Whistle, don’t scare me like that!” Minty gasped in between breaths. She looked at how much she had accidentally drunk and sighed at failing to note what the taste was like.

“What ya working on?” asked Whistle as she trotted over to see what she assumed was grape juice.

Most ponies would be very surprised or even laugh at the thought of using chemical sets in creating candy but Whistle remembered it was a joke she had made that gave Minty the idea in the first place.

“It’s my new experiment, grape juice with the taste of apples and blueberries” Minty replied as she was very quick to pull her friend away from the bubbling beakers.

“That doesn’t sound like it would taste very good…” Whistle stuck her tongue out as the idea of those three tastes together sounded, well, quite odd to her.

“Typical” Minty sighed. She loved Whistle as a friend but wished she knew somepony who she wouldn’t have to explain everything to.

As she picked up a rag to wipe her mouth clean she says “Well I’m still tasting it. If all goes well I’ll make candy sticks in their sha---” she broke off mid sentence as she noticed Whistle had took to one of her many colorful beakers arranged in a corner.

Quickly Minty rushed over shouting “No don’t drink that!!!” and yanked from her hooves one beaker she was attempting to drink. “This isn’t orange juice Whistle, it’s a rejected patch from my---um, private juice. It could be dangerous if you didn’t drink the minted water that heightens your immune system!” Minty explained and right after putting the beaker away she dragged her friend to the one corner with nothing but her journals and the like piled up on a desk.

“Oh...sorry Mints..” Whistle gave a sad whistle as she looked down like a kid who had just gotten into trouble.

Minty took a deep sigh to calm herself and then apologized to her friend, she’s so touchy about her work even her best friends had to be on their tiptoes while in this room, lest they trip and break everything like Minty had did herself some years ago.

“So, what brings you by? And why so early?” Minty asked while trotting to and digging through one of her cabinets which laid about one of the four the walls. As Whistle wondered what she was searching for she was tossed a green carton. “That is orange juice, see I remembered to keep them around for you” spoke Minty.

“Gees, thank you Minty!” Whistle replied happily. She was fast in ripping the tiny straw free of the plastic that attached it to the carton and poked it through the tiny hole on top, after sipping away for a few seconds she answered Minty’s question by asking her own. “Are you still attending the picnic this weekend?”

“If all goes well, got nothing plan---which day is it? Oh Saturday? Yeah, nothing planned so I’ll be free for it” returned Minty as she trotted back over to her notebook and wrote down Whistle came to visit, be sure to buy more orange juice and closed it with the pencil as a bookmark.

“I can’t wait! It’ll be like old times before we got--I mean, before you got a job”. Whistle blushed and Minty laughed.

“My door is always open!” Minty smiled.

“Thanks Minty but, nah, think I worked enough for my life” Whistle declined but was thankful Minty still offered to hire her but she isn’t interested in working anymore, not after that party mishap anyways. “Say, Mints?” Whistle started nervously. “I was wondering about---well I kinda without thinking invite---”

“Tropical Dream?” interrupted Minty who was tidying up her large table, mainly to keep Whistle from letting her curiosity get the better of her.

“No no, somepony you----dislike..” Whistle nervously gulped down her juice as Minty gave her a what do you mean type of stare.

“Who is it?” Minty asked as she snatched up a few notes that she had caught Whistle eyeing with interest.

Whistle sipped more juice and thought out her words. “...Why do you dislike Malty?” she asked.

“That crude mare?” Minty returned with an heated sniff. “Why are you ask--is she who you want to invite?” Minty’s face went into a shocked and bewildered look.

At seeing her face Whistle gave a nervous whistle as she avoided eye contact. She started “I met her last night and already invite---”

“You met her?” Minty interrupted. “OH don’t tell me you went looking for her Whistle!” Minty shouted, her jaw clenching which did little to soften her volume. “Don’t you remember the last time you went looking for a pony you recently heard of?”

“But this is different!” Whistle had shouted back defensively. “She wasn’t freaked out or rude, not at all!”

“How long did you talk?” after Minty had asked this Whistle told her it was only for a few minutes and Minty just shook her head. “Then you don’t really know her, for all you know she was putting up a front!” immediately Whistle could feel Minty was getting angry and she had to say her next words very carefully otherwise she could risk straining their friendship.

Whistle’s eyes went all over the room as she started to sweat and her body was shaking slightly. “I just wanted to see her for myself, how couldn’t I when I heard her mane was an octopus?” she answered shyly.

“And that short meeting makes you want to invite her to the picnic?” Minty asked.

“Well, I already invited her..” Whistle returned and as Minty’s face turned red like it was about to blow Whistle shielded herself with the tiny carton. “S-She told me she didn’t cause the traffic jam and---”

“OH and you believed her!?” Minty snapped.

As Whistle fell on her back whimpering Minty immediately took a step back, she turned away for a moment and tried to calm herself down by self controlling her breathing which had begun to get out of control.

“Why are you so angry?” Whistled asked as Minty slowed her breathing down and she stared blankly at the wall. “You said you never met her, where is this coming from?” Whistle asked as she picked herself off of the floor and sadly stared at her spilled orange juice.

Minty took another sigh and stared at the floor, then at her bubbling beakers and back at the wall where a tiny mirror showed both mare’s reflections. Seeing Whistle’s sad expression had made her feel really terrible so after a rather deep sigh she turned around.

“You remember my mom?” Minty finally spoke.

Whistle didn’t want to cause anymore trouble so she simply nodded to the question, in truth she didn’t know her as Minty spoke very little of her mother and would get upset whenever pushed on the subject. Minty went to speak but stopped herself, she raised a hoof but it stopped short of her mouth as she stared blankly away. Whistle could tell whatever Minty wanted to say was very hard to get out as her eyes closed and her mouth had clutched tightly shut as if expecting something painful.

Whistle had begun trotting over when Minty had suddenly said “Malty is---my mom”.

Whistle froze in her tracks, “Say what now?” she asked as she really doubted she had heard Minty correctly and she dug into her ears to see if they were clogged up.

Sighing once more Minty went on, now that she told Whistle the truth she might as well get it all over with. “Well Malty is just a nickname, my mom is the type of pony that makes Edward look like a hero among rich ponies. We never had a good relationship as I was growing up, I just couldn’t be the daughter she wanted as I wasn’t into her line of work. Kicking me out couldn’t have come sooner for her...” she explained with an sad expression.

Minty lowered her head and had shed a tear, Whistle galloped over and embraced her in a comforting hug. While wiping another tear away Whistle said “But...the Malty I met couldn’t be your mother, she’s basically your exact age. Give or take a year, or two, or three”.

Whistle just couldn’t wrap her head around this, Malty was the mother Minty had avoided talking about for so many years? She couldn’t believe the two were related, but then again she could say the same about Blueblood being related to the Royal Sisters which many were beginning to doubt that it was even true.

As Whistle was patting her friend’s back in a comforting way Minty said “You know we look young for our ages” before she broke away and trotted towards the mirror.

As she stared into it she could see her childhood being played inside it on an endless loop. At the memory she thought was the absolute worse she shook her head furiously and tried forcing the memories out of her mind.

“I really don’t want to talk about her anymore” spoke Minty as she stared at her own reflection, picturing her mother in its place. “So please---”

“But what if she isn’t the same Malty?” Whistle interrupted without meaning too and immediately apologized, hoping her friend wouldn’t outburst again.

“Oh come now, how many Maltys can there be?” Minty asked turning back around. Seeing Whistle was frightened again Minty had to assure her that she wouldn’t yell anymore before Whistle was comfortable enough to talk again.

“We know three different Rainbows, four if you count our Rainbow Dash’s daughter. So, how unlikely can it be?” Whistle asked with an awkward smile.

Minty grunted for a minute or two, then turned away to stare into her beakers and seemed lost in thought for seemingly twenty minutes before she spoke again. “...Fine, alright you can bring her” she spoke almost through gritted teeth. “But if she is my mom then I will----”

“Oh thank you Mints!” Whistle spoke loudly as she couldn’t help but hug Minty. She felt like they had just took a huge step in their friendship.

“Don’t mention it. You're my best friend, and I trust you more than anypo---” Minty trailed off as Whistle tightened her hug to the point Minty felt her lungs were about to burst.

She gasped and tried telling Whistle the hug was too tight but she couldn’t get a single word out, then Whistle just dropped her and hopped off. Minty had to gasp for air before her lungs allowed her to speak.

“H-Hey that’s it!? You're leaving just after I--ugh Celestia.....” Minty sighed and shook her head at her friends’ sudden departure during what she hoped was the only talk about her mother she would have to go through.

“Don’t worry, I’m pretty confident it isn’t the same Malty!” Whistle called back as she floated the rest of the way out.

Minty stared blankly at the door, unable to believe what had just happen. “Only Whistle…” she again sighed but this time she smiled.

Picking herself up she trotted over to her large table but found her mind was anything but focused on continuing. The very thought of meeting her mother after years of not talking was so unsettling she rather face King Sombra one on one, it almost terrified her as she could only imagine her mother’s words. As Minty started to clean up in hopes that it’ll take that nightmare off of her mind Tropical Dream had trotted into the room, usually she would be upset and growl but found she was thankful for being interrupted.

“Thistle Whistle just invited me to the picnic, did I hear right that she’s inviting your mother as well?” Tropical Dream asked. She was at a lost for words that Whistle even knew of Minty’s mother.

“She believes it’s a different Malty” answered Minty who, after about a minute, decided to heck with it and needed some flesh air to calm her mind and senses.

As Tropical Dream trotted with her through the hallway she asked “How many Maltys can there be?” which had made Minty utter a slight chuckle.

“That, is exactly what I told her” Minty replied. “Let’s just hope for Celestia’s sake, she’s right”.