Faux Mark: The Purple Balloon

Faux Mark

The Purple Balloon

Chapter 5: The City Never Sleeps

By the time everypony had been dried off, the bits of balloon were all swept up, and the party was declared officially over, the sun had started to set. The dimming orange light somehow managed to make the Seaside Manor’s grounds look even more beautiful than they had that morning. The front yard, otherwise just a wide expanse of grass with a fountain in the middle, appeared to be a wondrous golden color. It was a little distracting for Peppermint, really, as she and Pinkie Pie saw every foal off with their parents. Except Spit Shine of course.

“Thank you,” he told them both. His mother stood over him with a warm smile.

Pinkie and Pepper both smiled back. “You’re a-welcome!” said Pinkie. “Happy Birthday! Again!”

“Sincerely, thank you both,” said Simple. “You were everything I had heard of and more.”

Peppermint smiled with pride. “You’re quite welcome, ma’am. Glad to help out!” Pinkie nudged her and winked.

“Are you sure you don’t like parties?” she whispered.

Pepper blushed. “Well, you know,” she whispered back, “it’s kinda hard not to.” Of course, Pepper didn’t have the heart to mention it might have something to do with the itch. Actually, she thought that this time it might have been fun for real.

“I’m sure you’re wondering about your payment,” Simple began.

That caught Pepper’s attention. “Oh, yes!” she blurted out. “I-I mean, uhh, the party’s done now, so—”

Simple held her hoof up and chuckled. “Don’t worry, Peppermint. The checks are in the mail already.”

“Oh,” said Pepper. “Seems like a waste of posta— I mean thank you! Thank you very much!” Pepper almost started to sweat in the following silence, until Pinkie broke it with a small giggle.

“Well you’re welcome,” said Simple. “Now unless you have any further questions, I think it’s about bedtime for us.”

“Mooom!” whined Spit Shine. “I wanna stay up late tonight, it’s my birthday!”

Peppermint groaned; she’d seen this a million times before. She knew how it went. “Uhh, let’s get going Pinkie,” she mumbled.

Pinkie shrugged and said, “Sure thing.”

“Now listen here, young man,” Simple started to say. Pepper winced at the start of the scolding, in particular at the look on Spit Shine’s face. It was no wonder that she almost pushed Pinkie Pie back out the front gate with her. Even the two guards on either side of the gate were trying not to listen.

Pinkie sighed once they were outside of the estate. “I hope she’s not too hard on him,” she mumbled. “I’d hate to think anypony would get yelled at on their birthday...”

After checking that they had walked far enough away from the gate’s guards, Pepper scoffed. “Pinkie, you and I both know worse things could happen.”

To Pepper’s surprise, Pinkie laughed at the joke. “Hah, you’re right,” she said. “Still, I kinda feel bad for him.”

“But what can you do?” Pepper asked just as the path took a bend downhill.

Pinkie only shook her head. “Good point,” she mumbled. Suddenly she gasped, almost shocking Peppermint off her hooves. “Oh no! What time is it?!” she exclaimed.

Peppermint squinted towards the town. There was a big clock tower somewhere near where she had left from. Somehow she hadn’t noticed it before, despite living in Coltport for months. “About six forty-five,” she read. “Why?”

Pinkie grabbed Peppermint and pressed their faces together. “When do the trains run?!” she yelled.

Pepper’s eyes widened. “I-I don’t know!”

“Exactly!” said Pinkie. She let go of Pepper and collapsed to the ground, sobbing. “I was supposed to get out of here an hour ago!”

Peppermint stared at Pinkie Pie for a moment. “Umm,” she muttered. “There there?” Pepper bit her lip and looked from side to side. Her and Pinkie were the only ones on the path, at least as far as she could see.

Pinkie just kept crying, sprawled out on the ground. “Why?!” she asked the sky. “I told the Cakes they could trust me!”

“You talked to the cakes?” Pepper asked, raising an eyebrow. All she got in response was a loud wail.

Pinkie flopped to the ground. “I don’t know what to do...” she moaned.

Pepper paused, then stepped up to Pinkie’s face. “You’re stuck here in Coltport tonight?” she asked to double-check. Pinkie nodded feebly. “Well, uhh, why not stay with me?”

Pinkie lifted her head off the ground and sniffed. “W-what?”

“Yeah!” said Peppermint. “I mean, you already know about me, so it’s not like there’s that to worry about. I mean, sure, sometimes I’ve caught myself sleep-puffing—”

Pinkie’s eyes widened.

“N-no, don’t worry!” Pepper stammered out quickly. “It’s usually just me. Or balloons in the room with me, if I really feel like it.”

Clearly, this didn’t help; Pinkie cowered against the ground.

“Trust me, Pinkie,” said Peppermint. “I can set you up a bed downstairs, and you’ll be fine. I mean that’s where I keep all the store’s stock of stuff, and nothing’s ever been messed up in the morning before.”

“A-and you wouldn’t mind?” Pinkie asked quietly.

Pepper smiled. “Of course not!” She snickered and clapped her hooves together. “It’d be kinda like a sleepover, right? Wow, I haven’t had one of those since I was like twel—”

She was quite violently cut off as Pinkie sprang on her, squeezing Pepper in the tightest hug of her life. “Oh thank you sooo, sooo much!” said Pinkie.

Peppermint barely managed to squeak out “You’re welcome!” while she was caught in the friendly deathgrip.

Pinkie let her go after a few more seconds, letting Pepper gasp for air. “That’s it,” said Pinkie. “Breathe, Pepper. Nice, biiig breaths.” Pepper shot her a glare, but Pinkie just giggled away.

“Oh yeah,” said Pepper. “Tonight’s gonna be fun.”

— — —

About twenty minutes later, the two had made it back into Coltport. The sun was barely able to shine on the rooftops, while the streets were either shady or dimly lit by the streetlamps that were just turning on. Very few ponies were out and about at this hour. Combined with the ocean breeze, this made for a rather relaxing walk for Pinkie and Peppermint on the way to Pepper’s store.

Pinkie glanced around. “This place is pretty nice,” she said. “Lots of ponies, breezy...”

“Oh, it’s not that much,” said Peppermint. “Plenty of cities have more ponies in them.”

“And the buildings are cool, too!” Pinkie added. She stopped and looked up the face of the nearest townhouse. It was made in an older style of brick and roof shingling, traditional for around the sea; if she looked hard enough, she could see seashells embedded in some of the walls.

Peppermint looked up too, if only to accidentally bump into somepony she didn't see. She smiled to apologize, but the other pony just shook their head. “Well, uhh,” Peppermint said, “I guess it is. I’m just sorta used to it after living here for so long, you know?”

Pinkie seemed to ignore the question. Rather, she was bouncing up and down, pointing towards the roofs. “Oooh! Oooh! Can we go home like that?”

“Like what?” Pepper asked. “Flying?”

“No, silly!” Pinkie insisted. “On the rooftops! I mean, if it’s safe of course.”

Pepper shook her head. “Huh?” she asked.

Pinkie groaned, then grabbed Pepper’s head and turned her to face what she was seeing. Pepper’s jaw dropped. A few others in the street pointed and muttered to themselves. Somepony in a cloak was hopping silently across the rooftops. It was impossible to make out any more detail than that due to how they were silhouetted by the sun behind them. Following the gentle curve of the street, eventually they disappeared over the edge of the roofs.

“Weeell?” asked Pinkie.

“Well what?” Pepper countered.

Pinkie rolled her eyes. “Can we take the rooftops home? I mean, nopony does that in Ponyville, but with all the roofs so close together—”

“Pinkie, that’s still not exactly normal around here,” Pepper replied. “And I don’t think it’s any safer. I mean, what are these, three-story buildings?”

“Aww...” Pinkie sighed. “Oh well.”

Pepper smiled sympathetically and pat Pinkie on the back. “Tell ya what,” she said. “If you’ve got time in the morning, I’ll take you to Moondance Cove.”

Pinkie’s eyes lit right back up. “Where’s that?” she blurted out. “And what can we do there?”

Pepper chuckled. “Well they say that pirates used to hide their ships there,” she began.

“Pirates? Like buried treasure and peg-legs and Arrrgh?”

“Yup!” Pepper rolled her eyes. “It’s probably just a myth though. I’ve been there plenty of times, no pirates or anything. Just a nice relaxing swimming spot.”

“Swimming’s fun, too!” said Pinkie with a bright smile. “So tomorrow morning it is, then!”

Pepper shook her head. She simply could not get over Pinkie's never-ending torrent of enthusiasm. “And you’re sure you can stick around?” she asked.

“Hey, I’m already getting home late. The least I can do is have a good excu—”

“There they are!” shouted some distant voice. “Stop! Thieves!”

Everypony in the street looked up at the same time. A pair of armored ponies galloped furiously down the street. Peppermint’s eyes widened as they got closer.

“Uhh, Pinkie?” she asked.

Pinkie stood at attention. “Any way we can help, officers?” she called out.

“Pinkie, umm, I really think—”

“What, that stealing’s bad? That the guards are our friends?”

Pepper groaned. “Pinkie, don’t those guards look familiar to you?”

Pinkie squinted towards them. “Sorta... but then again, they all look the same, right?”

“There’s only one place in town that has armored guards like that,” said Pepper.

The thundering of the stallions’ hooves slowly got louder. More and more, ponies jumped out of their way as they barreled down the road.

“The mansion?” asked Pinkie.

Pepper nervously stepped away from the direction the guards were coming from. “Yup. And who just came from there again?”

“Us?” Pinkie asked. Just then it dawned on her too. Both Pinkie and Pepper stared at the furious guards and trembled. “They’re after us aren’t they.”

“Yeah, uhh,” said Pepper. “We should probably—”

“Run!!” Pinkie shouted. Before Pepper could even lift a hoof, Pinkie took off down the street as fast as her hooves would let her. Peppermint frantically flailed her hooves to try to catch up.

Ponies dived out of the way of the two as they ran, probably mostly due to all their panicked screaming. Pepper spared a glance behind them every once in awhile, but she only ever had her fears realized; the guards stayed in hot pursuit no matter how many turns and side roads Pinkie and Pepper tried.

“Wait!” Pinkie yelled over Pepper’s panicked screams. “Why are we running?!”

“What?!” Pepper yelled back. “Those are big guards! And I don’t think they want to talk!”

Just as she said that, somepony pushing a cart full of oranges tried to cross the street in front of them. Pinkie screamed and winced, but Pepper had another plan.

“Count of three, jump!” she called.

“What?!”

“Just— three! Three!”

For a pair of ponies that had never hurdled anything in their lives, much less at breakneck speeds downhill, the jump was impressive. Both cleared it with little more than a few inches on their hooves, but that was enough to make the salespony grateful. This was short-lived, however, as the guards didn’t have the luxury of any jumping ability while they were in such heavy armor.

The crash even sounded spectacular to Peppermint and Pinkie Pie. It was enough to get them to stop and look at the damage. The salespony was lucky enough to get out of the way, but both guards were stuck in the remnants of the cart. The oranges slowly rolled down the street, much to the owner’s dismay.

But worst of all, the guards were barely dazed by the collision.

Pepperming grabbed Pinkie by the shoulders. “Pinkie, we have to split up.”

“B-but I’ll get lost!” Pinkie stammered.

“It’ll be harder to catch us if we do this,” said Pepper. “I-I think. Either way, I’d rather not get tackled like that poor cart.”

“But w-where do I go?” The guards were getting to their hooves.

“Go left!” Pepper blurted out. “Docks. Lose the guards, meet me there. Got it?”

She didn’t get a chance to answer. The two broke out running again just before the guards did, giving themselves a good bit of a head start. At the first fork, they split off, despite any reservations either still had.

Peppermint sighed. “I hope that was the right idea,” she said. “And not just panic talking.”

She turned right, then left, then right again. Despite all the twists and turns, she could still hear the thundering armored hooves against the pavement. She tried to pick it up, but her hooves were already getting sore, not to mention her eyesight a little hazy. “I-I can’t keep this up,” she muttered between panting.

One right turn later left her eating those words. She was a little lost by now, obviously, but she never counting on something as simple as a dead end alley.

“Uh-oh...” she mumbled.

“I think she went this way!” shouted one of the guards.

“Down the alley?” the other yelled.

That’s why they were still so loud, thought Peppermint. It took her a second to remember what the guards’ words meant. She gasped. “What do I do? What do I do?!” she asked herself.

Strangely enough, a shiver passed over her. Her eyes went wild for a moment as she glanced around the walls of the alley. She tried to shake it off, but this time it didn’t work. “Well that could work,” she said. “But it seems like a stretch...”

The sound of hooves got alarmingly close. Her eyes snapped back to normal, and Pepper winced. “Well I’m out of options,” she muttered. She glared at the wall, then shut her eyes and charged for it. “This is stupid, this is stupid, this is—” Pepper cut herself off; she jumped forward while casting her magic. Just before hitting the ground, her chest and belly puffed out wide, and what started as a random belly flop into the dirt turned into a reckless bounce into the air.

Pepper kept her eyes shut. There was no time to get scared now. She just needed to focus on her sense of balance...

Now!

The bounce by itself wasn’t that high. It only got her a few feet further into the air, but it did send her spinning. Once she was aimed at the right angle, slightly off of upside-down, she had her chance. In an instant, she blew out every bit of the air she had taken on, propelling herself upward and over the lip of the rooftop. She managed to flip herself so forcefully with this that she almost landed and tilted over onto her back. Instead, she regained her balance once her front hooves touched roof shingling, and slammed her back hooves down behind herself.

Peppermint shook violently until she lost the strength to stand. She collapsed to the roof and clung on for dear life. “What did I just do?!” she yelled. Frankly, she was so disoriented from everything that just happened that she could barely hear herself. Her vision still needed to come back into focus from the shock of the hard landing, and her hooves were a little numb. Still, it was nice to take a short breather.

“Peppermint?” a familiar voice called out faintly.

Curious, Pepper crawled over the crest of the roof and peered over the side. She could just barely see the tip of a fluffy pink mane bouncing in the street below. “Pinkie?” she called back as she crawled a little further forward.

Pinkie was in a narrow, empty street, bouncing off of a stack of barrels. “Down here!”

Pepper looked down from the edge of the roof and shuddered. “H-how do I get down?”

Pinkie snickered, or at least it looked like she did. Pepper’s hearing wasn’t all back yet. Pinkie hopped over toward the wall Pepper was hanging over and stepped under an awning. She tested it from below with her hoof, then said, “It’s safe! Don’t worry!”

“No way, that’s— No, I-I can’t, I—”

Pinkie tested the awning from above this time, standing on her tip-hooves. Still, it seemed pretty taut.

Pepper heard voices behind her, from the alley.

“Where did she go?” yelled one of the guards. He coughed sharply.

“Wait, is that— Look! Red tail, up on the roof!” Pepper pulled her tail over the crest of the roof and clung to it. “Around the corner, I saw a fire escape! Let’s go!”

Peppermint suddenly found the energy to stand up again. “Alright, Pinkie,” she muttered. “You win, I’m coming down.”

“Hurry!” Pinkie yelled. She looked up either side of the street, just in case.

“Okay, this time on three for real,” Pepper told herself. She lined herself up with the awning, then leaned over. The height was still daunting; the ground seemed to constantly move further and further away from her the more she looked. Pepper shut her eyes and counted, “One, two, three!”

Pepper more or less slipped her way off of the rooftop. The fall was only about one and a half stories, but it was long enough for her to scream on the way down.

Pinkie giggled and Pepper opened her eyes. Pepper was sprawled across the awning. Although it gave to her weight, it stayed strong. That is until she tried to put a hoof down on it. That’s when it tore through, letting Pepper collapse onto the boxes and barrels below.

“Ouch,” said Pinkie. “A-are you okay? Peppermint?”

Peppermint slowly lifted her cross-eyed head, mumbling some gibberish. She shook it off. “Huh? I-I made it?” she asked. Pepper laughed and shook her head. “Wow, Pinkie,” she said. “I owe you one. Or two. Or however many you want, really!”

“Maybe three,” said Pinkie, eyes fixed back on the rooftops.

“Huh?”

Pinkie dragged Pepper under an awning on the far side of the street and stood tight against the wall. Pepper glanced up and saw why; the guards had finally made it up onto the roof themselves. For an agonizingly long time, they stood in that one spot Pepper had rested.

“No idea how she got away so fast...” one mused.

“Probably teleported,” said the other. “Like how she got up here in the first place. We shoulda went for the pink one. The Earth Pony.”

“Does teleporting really stir up that much dust?”

“I don’t know, maybe? Have you ever seen somepony teleport?”

“Well no, but I—”

“Look, she can’t have gotten far. Let’s just keep looking.”

Finally, the two trudged off over the rooftops. Pepper waited until they were out of sight before daring to breathe again.

“Still wanna meet by the docks?” Pinkie asked.

“No, no,” Pepper muttered.

“Can we go home then?”

Pepper sighed and shook her head. “Pinkie, they know where I live. I hate to say it, but—” She stopped and sniffled. “I think home isn’t safe for us right now.”

“But we didn’t do anything!” Pinkie insisted. “Well I didn’t, did you?”

“No, I didn’t, but—”

“Sooo,” Pinkie continued, “all we gotta do is wait until those guards calm down, then we can explain that it was all a big misunderstanding!”

“Pinkie, I hope you’re right,” said Pepper. “I just don’t know what it’ll take for those two to be in a talking mood.”

Pinkie frowned. “If we can’t talk to them, what can we do?”

“We’d have to prove we’re innocent, I guess.”

“How do we do that?”

“I’m not sure,” said Pepper. “We might need to know more about what we’re being accused of first.” She shuddered and sobbed. “I’m not cut out for this kind of thing...”

Pinkie sighed and pat Peppermint on the back. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ve seen crazier.” She sat and thought for a moment. “Would it help if you got some sleep?” she asked.

Pepper nodded weakly. She wiped a tear off her nose and stood up. “Don’t worry about that. I think I can get us a bed for the night.”

“Hey Pepper?”

“Yes?”

Pinkie poked Pepper’s nose. “I bet you’ll feel better if you just smile.”

They both grinned at the same time.

“Peppermint? Are you okay?”

“Hey, Pepper. You don’t look so good...”

“Yo, Pepper, what’s shak— yikes, did you fall or something?”

It wasn’t until the barrage of questions that Peppermint had second thoughts about walking through the part of Coltport where everypony knew her. She had to just shrug off every one, however. There simply wasn’t enough time to explain the entire story to every single pony that cared to ask.

“Wow, you sure are popular,” said Pinkie Pie, just a few steps behind Pepper as they walked through the district. “Maybe that’s just a party pony thing.”

“Yeah, probably,” Pepper said in passing. She rolled her eyes and added, “It’d explain why I don’t really like it at least. Besides, its not that I really know everypony here. They just know me for my store.”

“What’s not to like about being friends with everypony?”

“You mean besides when you’re bad at conversation?” asked Pepper. She leaned towards Pinkie and whispered, “And its not so cool when I’m trying to keep a big secret all of the time, either.”

Pinkie nodded and zipped her lip again.

“Hey, Pepper, are y—”

“I’m fine! Sheesh!” Pepper exclaimed. The curious pony just backed away in the awkward silence. “Ugh,” Pepper groaned, “I need to hide myself for a bit.”

Pinkie glanced down a side alley. “If you’re hiding from those seeking guards, shouldn’t I hide too?”

“I guess so,” Pepper thought aloud. “Why?”

“Be right back!” Pinkie insisted as she took off into the alley.

“What?” Pepper asked. She didn’t get an answer. And sitting alone in the crowd, all she could think of was how many ways the guards could see her while she was vulnerable. “Uhh, wait up!”

— — —

“Now I feel ridiculous,” said Peppermint.

“More ridiculous than when I beaned you with that water balloon?” Pinkie mocked.

“Yes.”

The two walked out of the alley slowly so they wouldn’t trip over the pair of old sails or tarps or whatever they used to be that were now fashioned into hooded cloaks.

“I changed my mind,” said Pepper. “I’ll risk it. This is too much.”

“It’ll be fine!” Pinkie insisted. “Just watch your hooves.”

Pepper couldn’t decide which was harder: trying to push through a crowd of curious ponies trying to make small talk, or trying to walk with a dirty old piece of cloth wrapped around herself. Just the image of that dumpster these came from makes my skin crawl, she thought.

Either way, they managed to trudge onward through the nearby plaza without anypony stopping them, so it was a little better. Pinkie stopped for a moment to admire the fountain and the statue in the middle, but Peppermint pushed her onward.

But when they turned around, Pepper spotted the guards again.

Pinkie tried to yelp, but stopped herself with a hoof. “Whadowedo?” she whispered in a panic.

“Don’t move,” whispered Pepper. “Just act normal...”

“What’s normal for a pony with a cloak?”

“Shh!” Pepper whispered harshly back.

The guards slowly waded through the crowd. Their significant stature let them look over everypony else. “Remember,” said one, the clear leader from before. “Pink and red hair. They should be pretty easy to spot.”

Peppermint and Pinkie hung their heads, letting the hoods cover any part of their manes that were sticking out.

The guards passed within just a few inches of Pinkie Pie. She held her breath, trembling underneath the cloak. Pepper couldn’t watch.

“Oh, sorry.” One of the guards accidentally stepped on her hoof.

Pinkie bit her lip to keep from yelling out. That armored boot hurt! “I-It’s fine,” she mumbled in a faked deep voice. “Excuse us.”

The guard tipped his helmet. “It was my fault, sir. It won’t happen again,” he said. “You have a nice evening, and don’t mind us.”

“Thank you,” Pinkie responded.

Miraculously, the guards just moved on without another word. Pepper motioned forward with her hoof, and both her and Pinkie hustled their way toward the plaza exit.

“Peppermint?” asked a mare behind the two.

Pepper couldn’t have jumped in front of the mare’s mouth faster. “Shh!” she whispered in the mare’s face. “Don’t say my n— Sunny?”

Sunny raised an eyebrow. “Pepper, what are you wearing?”

Pepper glanced over at the guards. Neither seemed to have noticed the mention of her name, but she turned Sunny away just in case. “Sunny, we’ve been friends or something for a while now, right?” she asked at a hush.

“Well yes, but what—”

“I need to ask a pretty big favor of you.”

“Sure, Peppermint,” Sunny said, starting to quiet her voice as well. “What do you need?”

“Oh, it’s no big deal,” Pepper started. “Just a place to spend the night...”

“I guess you could sleep at my place,” said Sunny, “but why? What’s wrong with your house?”

“It’s a long story,” said Pepper. “We, uhh, well me and Pinkie, we’re kinda sorta—”

“We’re on the run and we need to hide,” Pinkie finished.

Sunny’s eyes widened. “On the run from what? Pepper, what did you do?” Her voice started to get loud again.

Pepper ducked down and whispered, “We didn’t do it! I swear! But those guards think we stole something from the mansion.”

Sunny sighed. “Oh dear...”

“Please, Sunny,” said Peppermint. “Just one night. Tomorrow we’ll get it all straightened out.”

“Do you promise?” Sunny asked. Her face still looked a bit skeptical.

Peppermint sat down and started moving her hoof. “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

Sunny stared at her, bewildered. “What?!”

Pinkie barely stifled her giggling. A few seconds later it struck Pepper what she just did. “Uhh, it means yes,” she stammered. “I-I’ll explain later.

Sunny shook her head and smiled. “Fine, fine,” she said. “Just not a word of why you’re there to Maple.”

“Her daughter,” Pepper explained to Pinkie. “Sure thing, Sunny. I really do owe you for this one.”

They started off down the road just as the sun finished setting over Coltport. Sunny thought for a moment while she walked. “How about that free party, eh?” she asked. She smirked and added, “That, or you tell me how it went with that cute colt the other day.”

“Party it is!” Pepper blurted out.

Pinkie and Sunny snickered on either side of Peppermint. Pepper eventually joined in, if only from knowing what Sunny didn’t.