Faux Mark: The Purple Balloon

Faux Mark

The Purple Balloon

Chapter 3: Good Colts are Hard to Find

Early in the morning of Coltport, a ferry, full of passengers, pulled up to the main docks. Among them, twenty ponies, about thirteen of them were Earth Ponies. Among those, about half were stallions. And of those, only one had the courage to ask, “Where are we?”

“Coltport!” called the Helmspony. “Gotta make a stop here to refuel!” This was met with a sea of groans.

The stallion who spoke up, a blue pony with slicked-back hair and a briefcase on his flank, sighed and leaned over the side of the boat. “Great,” he muttered. “ Late again.”

“Hey, Busy,” said one of the other stallions, “Don’t worry about it, a’right?”

“Yeah, yeah,” said another. “You deserve the break. Come on, let’s all take a little vacation while we’re here.”

Busy Buddy looked up from the water and smiled. “A vacation?” he asked.

“Yeah!” The others were already leaving the ferry. “You comin’ or what?”

Busy barely heard him; he was a little distracted by the clear blue sky. He took in a whiff of the sea breeze, then hopped over to the dock.

“Ugh,” said the Helmspony, rolling his eyes. “Just tell your friends to get back by tomorrow morning. We’re leavin’ with or without ya.”

“Why can’t you just tell them yours—” Busy began; with his back turned, all of his co-workers had disappeared. He sighed again. “Just like at home, I guess...”

When he looked back up, however, he immediately forgot his troubles. “Oooh, is that a whale fountain?” he asked as he excitedly trotted off towards it.

Expecting the worst, Peppermint slowly opened her eyes that morning. And to no surprise, it looked like the circus had passed by her in her sleep. Hundreds of balloons, every color imaginable, clouded up the entire bedroom.

Pepper stared at them, wide-eyed. “Oooh,” she muttered, giggling faintly. A shiver passed over her, and her laughter picked up. It graduated from giggling, to snickering, to outright roaring laughter.

"Haha, ha, oh this is just awful!” she yelled between laughs. Caught up in the giggles, she kicked out, bumping the balloons together and knocking them out of formation. Pepper focused just in time to notice the glorious, if slow, cascade.

“Alright, alright,” she said. “Everyone settle down, play time’s over.” She held up her horn, then every balloon in the room loosed its air at once.

Each one flew around at random, some hitting each other and falling to the ground, while others tried to hit Peppermint herself as if to say, “Why?”

Once the madness had settled down, Pepper sighed with satisfaction. “Alright, I think that’ll hold me over until I... I... what was I gonna do today?” All she could remember was something outside her window. Pepper hopped off her bed and walked up to one of her bedroom’s windows, peeking her head underneath the blind.

“Ohh, now I remember,” she groaned. Even with the thinner morning crowds on the streets, every single pony looked just the same as they always did when Pepper’s Mark got feisty.

She trudged over all the flat balloons back towards her bed for her bags. “Yeah, I just gotta do this,” she said. “Just once. And I hope never again.” Pepper sighed and shuddered. “No, me, it’s not gonna be ‘fun’.”

Peppermint threw her saddlebags on hastily, then skipped down the stairs. She brushed by the wall calendar so fast the pages rustled. She probably should’ve felt bad about closing the shop for the second day in a row, but she knew she’d feel even worse if she had to kidnap any of her regular customers. They were all such nice ponies. And they knew where Pepper lived.

“Remember: tourists,” she said. “Anypony that looks really out of place is fair game.”

“I am so lost...” Busy groaned. He sat by the fountain, with a statue of a walrus, not a whale as he had hoped, and fiddled with unfolding a map somepony had given him on his way in. Finally he managed to pull the folds loose, if only for the pamphlet to smack him on the nose. “Ow!” he yelped, dropping it.

As Busy Buddy spread the map across the ground, he was oblivious to the fact that he was being watched. Peppermint sat on a nearby corner to the plaza, holding just a single balloon on a string next to her. It was, of course, just an excuse.

“Ma’am, what are you—”

“Free balloon?” Pepper asked quickly. “I’m just givin’ em out today!”

She caught the questioning mare off guard. “What?”

“Hi, I’m Peppermint, I own a party store in town. And this is a free sample. Want it?” Pepper kept talking as fast as she could, trying to move on so she could keep one eye on the hapless stallion by the fountain.

“Oh, umm,” said the other mare. “No, thank you.” After a moment of silence, she walked off in a huff.

Busy looked back and forth a couple of times, then reached into the fountain and grabbed a few rocks. He used them to pin the corners of his map to the ground, despite the fact that he only grabbed three.

“He’s an idiot...” Pepper mumbled. She shook her head in disbelief. “It’s almost like he’s asking for it.”

Just when Busy was about to find where he was on the map, the hoof he had on the fourth corner slipped, and the map curled up over where he was looking. He frowned, then tried to fix it, only for the rocks to fall loose. He sighed and hung his head in defeat.

Peppermint sighed too. “I do feel kinda bad for the poor guy though.” She smiled as he picked himself right back up, starting from scratch with the map. “He’s got bad luck, but at least he’s stays positive.” Pepper snickered to herself. “Maybe I can ask him to teach me how he does it. That’ll be ironic.”

“Oh my, Pepper,” said a mare’s voice.

Peppermint jumped. “Gah!”

“Oh, calm down, it’s just me,” said the voice again. The mare put a hoof on Pepper’s shoulder. “It’s about time I saw you eye-ballin’ some stallion.”

Pepper rolled her eyes. “Sunny, please, it’s not what it looks like.”

“What?” Sunny retorted. “He’s cute! Probably from out o’ town, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a nice day together!”

Peppermint stared at Sunny’s face skeptically. “I’m not looking for a date,” she said.

“Sure you aren’t,” said Sunny. “And I’m sure you won’t mind that he’s getting up and leaving now.”

“What?!” Pepper exclaimed, snapping her gaze back toward the fountain. She couldn’t see that clueless stallion anywhere. “W-where’d he go?” she asked.

Sunny snickered to herself. “He went up Coral Street,” she said.

Peppermint started off, knocking Sunny off balance. “Oh, uhh, thanks Sunny!” she called back. “Your daughter’s next party’s on me, alright?”

“Oh, please!” Sunny called after Pepper. With a wink, she added, “Forget about it. Just go get him, lovergirl!”

“It’s not a love thing!!”

Busy Buddy stopped at the crest of a hill, at a bench sitting between a gap in the buildings. He sat next to it, looking over the top of the hill at the rest of the city in awe. “Vacations are great,” he sighed.

Busy heard a wild clamor of hoofsteps coming up the street behind him. “Just ignore it,” he said. “Probably somepony getting caught stealing from a fish stand or something...” The hoofsteps kept getting closer. Against his better judgment, Busy looked back at the street to see who it was. He saw nothing out of the ordinary, but now the hoofsteps sounded like they were going further away. “Am I hearing things?” he asked.

The hoofsteps got closer and closer. Finaly, out of curiosity, Busy turned around. He saw nothing, and heard the hoofsteps going further and further away. “Am I hearing things?” he asked.

Suddenly the noise stopped. He raised an ear to the wind, but all he could hear were ponies’ voices and the occasional seagull. His eyes widened. “Maybe the sea air’s getting to me. Am I going nuts?”

“Hi there!” said some mare’s voice. Busy gasped and clamped his hooves to his ears.

“La la la, I can’t hear you, voices, la la la la,” he yelled.

Peppermint rolled her eyes. She waved a hoof in front of the Busy’s eyes. He glanced up at her, then took his hooves down. “H-hello?” he asked.

“Hi there!” Pepper repeated. “I’m Peppermint, I live here in Coltport, and I was wondering—”

“Oh, good, a local!” said Busy. He unfolded the map and held it up in front of Pepper. “I was wondering how to get to that big mansion up on that hill outside of town.”

Pepper paused. “The Coltport Seaside Manor?” she asked. “That’s sorta private property...”

“Are you sure?” asked Busy. He frowned. “I guess that makes sense.”

“Listen,” Pepper interrupted. “I’d be happy to show you around, if you’d want.” She looked down and shifted her hoof in the dirt. “But uhh, you’ve gotta do something for—”

“Hey, I can pay for it,” Busy said. “I’ve got bits on me.”

“No, no,” said Pepper. “Nothing like that!” She froze. This wasn’t going at all like it had in her head.

Busy raised an eyebrow. “This isn’t some kinda native ritual thing, is it?”

“Uhh,” Pepper hesitated. She thought for a moment, leaving Busy confused, before an idea struck her. The only idea, really, as much as she knew she’d regret it. Pepper blushed, and shifted her hoof again. “W-would you mind, I mean, if you have the time that is, coming back to my place for dinner later?”

“Well, I— Wait, are you serious?!” Busy asked. He too started blushing. Except, of course, his reaction wasn’t an act.

“Y-yeah!” said Pepper. She faked a pout and added, “I understand if you don’t want to—”

“N-no! I-I’d love to, P-Pepper!” he stammered, beginning to sweat. “C-can I call you that?”

Pepper smiled and shook her head. “Yeah, sure,” she mumbled. A small breeze reminded her of the balloon she still had tied to her pack. Now she really did flush red. “Oh, uhhh, here!” she blurted out, grabbing the string and passing it to Busy.

Busy Buddy looked at it and smiled. “What’s this?” he asked, just before glancing at her Cutie Mark. “Oh! So you must work for the circus or something...”

“Actually— Uhh, I mean yes, sorta,” Pepper said. Now was not that time to argue semantics.

“N-not that there’s anything wrong with that!” Busy added. “I, uhh...”

Pepper snickered. “It’s okay, I’m used to it,” she said. A slight shudder passed over her. Yeah, yeah, I get it, she thought.

Busy packed up the map and stood up. “So, umm, should we get started?” he asked. “M-my name’s Busy Buddy, by the way.”

“Nice to meetcha, Busy,” Pepper said. She motioned for him to lead at the same time he motioned for her to.

“L-ladies first?” he tried to explain.

“No, I insist,” said Pepper.

“Okay, i-if you’re s-sure,” he stammered. He kept one eye on her as he started to walk down the street. She picked up just behind him on his right.

“I’ll tell you when we come to anything interesting,” she explained. He simply nodded, trying to hide his blushing, sweating face.

Pepper giggled silently behind him. There really was only one way she could keep this up; if she knew how much of a joke it was. So she had to give herself something silly to keep on the mind. In this case, the wobbling image of Busy’s not-yet-bloated belly trying to walk would have to do. “I don’t know whether to thank or smack Sunny next time I see her,” she muttered under her breath.

The two managed to wander around the streets of Coltport in circles for about an hour or two before Busy started to wonder where they were going. Up until then he was a little too focused on making sure Peppermint was real.

“So, uhh, this is gonna sound like a silly question, but were you down at that not-whale fount—” he began.

“Annnd on your right,” Pepper blurted out. “You’ll see, umm— The fine architecture of, umm—”

“Of Coltport?” Busy offered, suddenly intrigued by the rooftops.

Pepper stopped and looked where he was staring. All that was there was shingled roofs. “Oh, uhh, yes! Of the Coltport roofing!”

“Fascinating...” Busy muttered.

Peppermint rolled her eyes. “Done yet?” she mumbled under her breath.

“Is it true they make that out of coral and driftwood?” he asked innocently. Pepper did a double-take.

“Umm, sure?” she said. “I have no idea...”

“‘Ey! Buddy!!” somepony yelled across the street. Pepper turned to see another stallion walking up to Busy. Busy groaned.

“Hello, Boss,” he said.

The newcomer smirked. “Well, come on, Buddy!” he said. “Who’s the lady friend?” Peppermint shrank down, blushing and scowling while averting her eyes.

Busy suddenly snapped to attention. “Oh, uhh, this is Peppermint!” he explained. “She offered t-to show me around today!”

“Annnd?” his boss asked. “Come on, Buddy, I can see it in your eyes.”

“Oh, brother,” Pepper mumbled.

“Well she, uhh—” Busy started to sweat again. “She sorta offered me dinner.”

“Whoa, whoa, look at you!” Busy’s boss started again. “Goin’ ‘round town and pickin’ up the mares like nopony’s business. I’m proud o’ ya, Buddy!” He paused, looking back over his shoulder. “Say, me and the other guys were gonna head downtown later, you want in?”

Busy smiled. “Oh, I’d love—” He stopped, looking at Pepper. It took her second to see the opportunity; she looked back at his eyes and sighed, ears drooping. Busy turned firmly back to his boss and shook his head. “No thanks, I’ve got a date tonight,” he explained. Pepper groaned quietly.

“Heh, suit yourself,” his boss said. “Just remember to be back at the boat by mornin’, got it?”

“Yes sir,” Busy responded. His boss disappeared back into the crowd. Busy smiled at Peppermint. “Y-you ready to get going?” he asked. Pepper hesitated to respond, so Busy tried wrapping a hoof around her. She swatted it away.

“What’re you—” she started, before she saw the hurt look on his face. “I-I mean, its the first date, take it easy!”

Just like that, he was smiling again.

The rest of the day was filled with a bunch of other minor activities and sight-seeing. Busy seemed to find every little aspect of the city interesting, no matter how hard Pepper honestly tried to point out something boring. He even liked how the storm drains looked, and spent ten minutes talking about them.

But alas, when the sun began to set, Peppermint realized she was running out of time. She watched the orange sky out of the corner of her eye and bit her lip.

“Hey, uhh, Busy,” she said. “Mind if we get moving? I’d rather not hold ya too long with dinner.”

“Dinner?” he asked. His eyes widened. “Oh, yes! Dinner! Right! Y-yeah, sure thing, Pepper. Just l-lead the way!”

Peppermint turned around and shook her head. “Way to keep your eyes on the prize, clueless,” she mumbled. She didn’t even dare glance at those desperate puppy-dog eyes anymore until they got back to her home.

— — —

Busy Buddy stared up at the sign over Pepper’s front door. “Party store?” he asked as she went inside. “I thought you said—”

“You said circus,” she corrected. “Trust me, it can get like that some days.” She shuddered. Partly from the thought of the groups of kids that came in some days, like she was talking about, partly from the sight of the balloons hanging on the wall.

Busy slowly walked in, gazing in childish amazement around the walls. “You sell everything here,” he remarked.

“Not everything, just party stuff,” said Pepper, sitting by the back door.

“Like streamers?” he asked.

“And balloons,” she added. Immediately she winced, hoping he wouldn’t read too much into it. Not that he could possibly have any idea what she was thinking at that moment. “L-look, just head into the back room and have a seat anywhere,” she said. “I’ll be right back with something to—” Another shiver, and a wild look came over her eyes. “To fill ya right up...” she finished. A second later, as she came back to her senses, her eyes widened and she bit her lip.

“Oh that sounds great!” Busy said. “I’m parched!”

“G-good,” Pepper stammered. She pushed open the door and slinked through.

Busy Buddy took one last look around, then found something he was looking for: a purple balloon mounted on the wall. “Its not flowers,” he said, “but its at least its more personal.” He smiled, then trotted happily into the back room.

— — —

“Come on, Peppermint, any day now...” Pepper whispered to herself. She sat, tensed-up, in the silence of the stairwell. She had just enough of a line of sight to see Busy, sitting obliviously in the middle of the dark back room. And for some reason, as if to taunt her, he had taken one of the balloons from the storefront back with him.

“I gotta do it, I gotta do it, I gotta do it,” Pepper muttered.

“Oh, Pepper?” Busy called out. “What’s the matter?”

Pepper instantly pressed herself back against the stairs. “Nothing!” she called back quietly, as if to make it sound like she was behind a door. “The, uhh, cookies aren’t as ready as I’d hoped they’d be!”

“Oooh, cookies,” Busy said with a smile. “Well take your time!”

Pepper sighed. “I can’t hold out much longer, I just gotta—” She paused, shivering. “Just gotta start the fun,” she mumbled, horn starting to glow.

For the first time, she actually saw it happen on another pony. His belly puffed out a few inches. Just barely not enough to really feel different, apparently. He just sat there like nothing happened.

Peppermint’s eyes widened and she almost yelped. “No, I-I can’t do this, I—” Her horn started glowing on its own. Pepper found her vision just a little bit fuzzy when she looked to see it. When she turned back towards Busy, she knew why.

Right before his belly swelled up another step, she saw the image of it happening. Again, however, he didn’t notice anything other than a strange noise from his stomach. “Must be hungrier than I thought...” he told himself.

Pepper shook her head. “Okay, that’s enough, right?” she asked herself without thinking.

“That’s enough what?” Busy called, looking around the corner up the stairs. He tried to stand, but found it a little... different.

“Wait! Busy, I-I can—”

“What the?!” he yelled when he saw himself. “W-what is this, some kinda port town sickness?”

Pepper ran downstairs, then stopped cold. “Wait, what?” she asked. “What possibly does that?!”

“I don’t know,” he said. “But I’m like... I don’t know, maybe I shouldn’t have eaten those fries at the pier...”

Pepper’s horn started to glow again, and luckily she was the first to notice. She ducked to the ground, covering it with her hooves, but she couldn’t (or didn’t want to) stop the magic itself. Busy’s belly swelled up another several inches, almost to the floor. Now that, he noticed.

“There it goes again!” he said. His eyes widened in panic. “Pepper, d-do something!”

“I am doing something, you idiot,” she growled. She moved her hooves to show her horn. “How did you miss this?!” she yelled, pointing at the glow.

“P-Peppermint?” he asked. “W-what are you d-doing?”

She shivered, then giggled. “Oh, just having a little fun,” she said. Pepper nodded towards him, sending another pulse of air and pushing him off his front hooves. Busy gasped.

“Pepper, what are you doing?!” he yelled. “I thought we had something!”

Peppermint stopped. Her eyes were still wild and crazy, and another shiver ran through her whole body. She didn’t even seem to notice. “How thick are you?” she asked calmly. She shook her head and groaned in frustration. “And there was no pun intended there!”

Even still, she sent another pulse of air into Busy’s belly.

“I trusted you!” he said.

Pepper’s horn stopped glowing and she scowled at Busy. “Okay, ‘Buddy’,” she said. “I’ve got a little something to tell you.”

“W-what’s th—”

“I’ve been lying to you all day!!” Pepper yelled. “How in the world did you not know that?!”

Busy shook his head. “No, no, I refuse to believe that.”

“Refuse to believe what?!” Pepper hopped her front hooves onto his chest to look him closer in the eye. “I lied to get you back here to do this to you!” She prodded him for emphasis, making him wobble in place.

“But why?” he asked. His voice started to fade out at the end.

Pepper averted her eyes. “It’s a long story,” she said. “I just have to, okay?”

“No you don’t!” he said quickly. “Pepper, I-I can forgive you, I—”

“Yes, I do,” Pepper groaned. She shuddered, then added another inch in width. Busy looked down at himself and winced. “I’m sorry, that’s just how it is.”

After a moment of silence, Pepper hopped back down to get a better look from afar. And just as she did so, another shiver came to her. “And that’s not enough yet, it would seem.”

Busy sighed. “Okay, what did I do wrong?” he asked. “I-If I offended you—”

“It’s not like that!” Pepper shouted. “It’s like... I want to do this, really badly, and—”

Busy raised an eyebrow. “You like doing this to ponies?”

“No!” Pepper defended. “I-I mean, I don’t like that I want to, or something wants me to want to, or—”

Busy just gave her a blank stare.

Pepper sighed. “You ever get an itch, and you wanna scratch it but you can’t?” she asked. Busy nodded. “Now imagine that, but it keeps getting worse and worse until you scratch it,” she explained. “And it starts getting into your head, and all you can think about is scratching it.” Pepper showed him her Mark. “And imagine having that build up for years.”

Again, nothing more than a blank stare. “If you can’t reach an itch, I-I could scratch it for you...”

Peppermint groaned. “Wow, you’re impossible,” she said, sending him another pulse.

“Well yeah, I’m impossible,” he defended. “Impossible to move out of here now!”

“Oh, please,” Peppermint scoffed. “I can just let the air out whenever.”

His eyes widened. “Air? What, like a—”

“Yes. Like a balloon.”

He snickered. “Well if that isn’t the silliest thing I’ve ever—”

“Don’t remind me,” Pepper snapped. Her face flushed bright red.

“Uhh, sorry?” said Busy. He just kept snickering. “I just thought I was in pretty serious trouble for a minute there.”

Pepper rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I hear ya...” Suddenly it hit her: the shivers were gone. She smiled and squealed, running over to the store’s counter.

“Hey, uhh, Pepper? Pepper!” Busy called after her.

“Just a minute, airbag!” she called back. Under the counter were a few spare packs of balloons, for emergencies. Pepper tore into one and levitated the first one out. And after a few seconds... it just stayed flat.

“Yes, yes, yes!!” she cried. “Finally, I’m free! I’m—” She paused, and slowly turned with horror back to her flank. “But you’re still there...”

“Yes, I am,” Busy said impatiently. “Can you let me down yet?”

“I-I don’t understand,” said Pepper. “I let you have what you wanted, why can’t I—” Suddenly she groaned loudly and stomped on the floor. “Of course,” she said. “That’s why Ms. Rivers never changed either.”

“Uhh, hello?”

Pepper looked at him and her ears drooped. “That leaves me three questions,” she said. “‘Can I fix him?’, ‘What do I do about his memory?’, and ‘When will I have to do this again?’”

“I hope, I promise I won’t say anything, and hopefully sometime I’m not in-town?” Busy offered with a smile.

Peppermint shook her head. “I can’t let you just go,” she said. “How do I know you won’t rat me out?!”

Busy shifted his eyes. “Uhh,” he said. “I owe you for the special time we shared today?”

“You really are a moron, aren’t you,” Pepper snapped.

“And you really are a tease,” he muttered under his breath.

Pepper stopped. “What did you just call me?” she asked quietly.

Busy’s eyes widened. “No, no, I-I didn’t mean it!”

Pepper glared at Busy with fire in her eyes. “You honestly thought I was some kind of cheap, easy mare?!” she yelled. Her horn began to glow. “What kind of colt are you? Did you think that I’d just fall into your lap? That I’d just be yours after a stupid, lame tour?!”

With each question Busy’s belly swelled up another several inches. His hooves were long gone from the floor by now, and his panicked expression showed he at least realized why.

“I don’t care how alone I am,” Pepper screamed. “I’d never, and I mean never, really go out with such an idiotic, hapless, lame jerk!”

And on the last note, Busy shot up so quickly, and had gotten so high off the floor, that his head slammed into the ceiling. His eyes crossed, and then closed.

Peppermint calmed down at the sound of the collision. “Uh-oh,” she said.

But then she smiled. “Well that solves question number two, I guess,” she mumbled. “And if I can still do that, I should be able to bring him back down...”

From that day on, after a dazed and confused Busy Buddy was found just outside the docks, his reputation would never be the same.

Busy Buddy’s “night in Coltport” would become the stuff of legend, at least among the others in his office.