Pinkie, Maud and Icy Iceland

by Elkia Deerling

Chapter eight

The evening had begun to set in. The light gray colors of the sky vanished into the distance and the cover of night took over. The distant mountains faded against the night sky and the air shimmered with the dazzling lights of Reinkjavík which could be seen for miles. Slowly but steadily, Reinkjavík’s nightlife started to live as bars and clubs opened their doors and many ponies in hip clothes strolled down the streets. They didn’t seem to worry much about the troll encounter in the city, as conversations were as casual as could be. The statue of the troll had been removed quickly—as it had blocked the main street, and the damage to the houses and infrastructure had been repaired as well. Things like this had happened before: blood-feuds with giant trolls. That was also one of the reasons Reinkjavík’s streetlights burned so bright—a reason many tourists didn’t know. The overall air and aura of Reinkjavík was joyful and teasing; ready for fun, action, loud music and strange nights nopony would remember.

But not everywhere in Reinkjavík ponies were looking to party. In one hotel, there was a lonely light burning behind a window. The rest of the hotel guests had either gone to sleep or were outside in the hubbub, but behind that one window there was much worry.

Pinkie Pie was lying on her bed after Miles and Maud had dragged her to their hotel room. They’d called a doctor immediately, but despite his advice, Maud and Miles were still worried. It had been many hours, and still Pinkie Pie wasn’t responding to anything or waking up. The doctor had looked at both Maud’s, Air Miles’ and Pinkie’s condition and after treating their injuries he had said that Pinkie needed rest—but resting was all she seemed to have done for the past hours. Besides, the doctor didn’t really know what else to do, for there hadn’t been a troll-attack for decades now and—although it was a part of the training—the doctor had never treated any victims of a real troll-feud before.

Maud Pie was sitting on a stool, buried in thought, although never leaving her eyes off her sister, resting on the pink bed. Air Miles was strolling around the room, deep in thought as well but occasionally muttering something incomprehensible and checking Pinkie’s breath. Every time he checked, she kept breathing. Air Miles and Maud didn’t feel the need to speak to each other. They both knew what was happening now: uncertainty. And although they had a thousand questions to ask each other about their battle with the troll, they still thought it best to share them with Pinkie Pie too, if she would ever wake up.

The silence and tension mixed with boredom and powerlessness stacked itself up in the small hotel room, until finally it became unbearable to both Miles and Maud. They looked at each other, and knew somehow that they were about to ask the same question at the same time.

“What happened back with—” Maud began.

“What happened back with—” Air Miles began.

But they were cut short. Pinkie Pie gasped and bolted upright with her eyes wide open.

Both ponies jumped in the air, more out of shock then out of joy. Then the joy overcame them, and before Pinkie knew it, she was sitting on a pink pillow getting hugged by the two ponies.

“Whoa!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“Pinkie!” You’re alive! Maud cried.

“Eh… Yeah,” Pinkie said. Then she looked at her friends and smiled with some effort. “Are you?”

Maud Pie looked at the ground. “We thought you were…”

“Say no more, Maud,” Air Miles said. “We’re just glad you’re here, Pinkie.”

Pinkie Pie shifted into a more comfortable position. “Yeah, although I have felt better before.” She tried to stretch her back, but a sharp pain put an end to that. Pinkie Pie felt as if a bugbear had been sitting on her like a pillow and had then mangled her to get the folds out. She tried to lift a fore hoof, but found it stiff and bruised, covered in some sticky goo of which she didn’t even want to know what it was. Then Pinkie Pie sniffed the air and gagged at the terrible smell which emanated from her—especially from her ooze-drenched mane and tail. Her head pounded and her mouth felt dry. “Can somepony get me some water… and a towel please?”

After drinking, eating and cleaning herself a bit, Pinkie Pie tried very carefully to stand up on her four legs again with a little help from the others. She looked from Air Miles to Maud; from Maud to Air Miles, wrinkled her nose at the lingering smell and then asked the question: “So… what happened back with that troll? Did we beat him?”

Then Air Miles and Maud—but mostly Air Miles—told her in detail about the conclusion of the fight: her getting eaten, the troll falling down unconscious, the activation of Reinkjavík’s lights (where Miles proudly told that he overcharged the lights all by himself), and the petrification of the monster right in the middle of the main street. Sometimes Maud added a little fact or observation which the pilot forgot, and Air Miles himself—although he didn’t realize it—told the whole story like it was an exciting fantasy novel: fast paced and full of action. Pinkie Pie was surprisingly silent; she nodded now and then but didn’t ask for any details or clarifications. Only when Miles began about the troll swallowing her did she shudder and ask him to skip that part. When Air Miles was done telling, there was a long, thoughtful silence.

Pinkie was the first to break it. “But… one thing doesn’t add up,” she said with a frown. “How did you guys managed to knock the troll unconscious? You didn’t tell that.”

Air Miles cleared his throat, as he received a questioning glare from Maud as well. “Well, remember the point where I gave out a whistle?”

“Yes?” Pinkie and Maud said simultaneously.

“I wasn’t just whistling; I was signaling.” He stepped back and leaned leisurely against a cupboard. “You see, pilots and ground personnel have their own ways of signaling each other when shouting is useless. I just signaled the hot air balloon which floated overhead at that moment and told them to drop some of their ballast.” Miles lowered his sunglasses. “And the rest is history.”

“Quite some luck we had, with a balloon up in the sky at those weather conditions,” Maud said.

“Yeah, sometimes there are some crazy diehard rock collectors who go to far-flung sites with air balloons,” Miles said. “Probably got surprised by the weather. It’s pretty weird how much those ponies will give for their rocks.”

Maud threw a frown at the pilot, but he either didn’t see or he just ignored it. After a pause, the pilot eyed both Pie sisters. “I have a question for you both,” he said, his voice growing in volume, “what happened with you back there?”

“What do you mean?” Pinkie asked.

“Well, why couldn’t Maud distract that stupid troll as she did with the other one? And why didn’t you do anything, Pinkie? You just stood there.”

Pinkie Pie looked down at the floor, “I… I don’t know. I just felt… eh… different.”

“But when you were in my air balloon you were all happy and skippy and weird and”—Air Miles coughed in his hoof—“annoying.”

Pinkie didn’t know what to say.

“And you, Miss Maud Pie; you were as silent as a rock—and as lively as one, too. But why were you so action-packed and doubtful when you tried to distract that monster?” Air Miles raised a brow. “I saw it from across the street, you know.”

Maud flattened her ears, confusion growing in her eyes. “I don’t know either, Air Miles,” she said slowly.

“It was like you weren’t yourselves,” Miles continued, flailing his forelegs. “I mean, when you have to spend four hours in a cramped air balloon basket you get a pretty good idea of what somepony is like, and I think you were both acting weird. But why?”

Both Pie sisters were silent, but Pinkie was in deep thought. Behind her blue eyes, a dilemma swirled through her head. She had a pretty good idea why they’d changed on their trip; and she knew it was her who made it happen, although she hadn’t really realized it—and Maud hadn’t either, apparently. Should I tell it? Pinkie thought, as she pursed her lips in thought. A part of her wanted to; to get all explanations out on the table so everypony could feel at ease. But if Pinkie would tell how she modified the PSSSD for her sister, then the magic would be gone, and Pinkie had no idea how her sister would react to that.

Air Miles stepped closer to the Pies. “You were on a PFFFD vacation, right? And isn’t vacation—”

“A PSSSD.”

“Whatever. Isn’t vacation a time where you do fun stuff together and get to know each other better?”

Suddenly Pinkie Pie sighed hard and laid down on her bed again; Maud and Miles stepped towards her in alarm.

“Don’t worry, I’m ok,” Pinkie said, then she sighed again. “It’s just… I’ve got something I want to tell you.” She looked up at her big sister.

“You can tell me anything, Pinkie,” said Maud.

Pinkie Pie cleared her throat. “I… I can see we’ve both changed, Maud. It’s because of me.”

“What? Why?”

“I…” Pinkie fumbled with the sheets, but then dropped them and continued in a clear voice. “I saw how happy you were back in the volcano with those rocks and stuff, and then realized I booked all kinds of non-rock things that you might not like.” Pinkie paused, but when she saw that Maud was going to let her finish, she continued. “I didn’t want to drag you into all the things I like just so you can be bored; I didn’t want to be selfish. So I changed all the activities into rock stuff that you like.” Pinkie swallowed and looked down at the pink sheets. “And then I got, well… bored. Honestly I’ve never been that bored in my entire life. I didn’t even know a pony could get that bored. But I saw how you were all happy and smiling, so I continued to arrange rock stuff to do together and… eh… I pretended to like it.” Pinkie didn’t know what to say anymore, and she started drawing circles on the bed with her front hoof.

Air Miles tilted his head in confusion. “That’s the silliest thing I’ve ever—”

But suddenly Maud leaned over and hugged her sister in a tight embrace. “Oh, my silly sister!” she said, but she sounded more worried than happy. “You didn’t have to do all of this for me. I do like your activities as well; and when I don’t, it doesn’t matter because it’s not about what I do, but with whom”—she looked Pinkie in the eyes—“you!”

Pinkie looked back at her sister, her eyes lost in hers. She could feel a few tears coming, and saw that Maud was struggling with tears too. “I should have asked if you liked stuff,” Pinkie said.

“And I should have told you how I feel about it.” Maud smiled. “You didn’t have to forget about yourself, Pinkie. A PSSSD is about the two of us.”

“That’s exactly what I thought too.” Pinkie sniffed. “I just didn’t want us to fight or split up.”

Maud let out a chuckle. “Why in Equestria would we fight about such things? And besides, we could easily have split up as well.”

“Really?”

“Certainly, we would see each other again at the hotel, right? It’s not a big deal.”

“I thought it was.”

Maud sighed deeply; a sight mingled with worried joy. She hugged her sister once again, a single silvery tear dripping down her cheek.

Behind the Pie sisters, even Air Miles couldn’t keep it dry. He quickly flung away a tear from his eyes, but then crossed his forelegs again. “And that change didn’t turn out so well,” he said, rudely interrupting the moment, “we almost became early dinner for a troll.”

The Pies let go of each other and both threw an angry stare at the pilot. But then they looked each other in the eyes again. “Is everything alright now?” Pinkie asked softly.

“Yes, everything is just fine,” Maud said, and nuzzled her sister warmly.

**

Another hour passed, and the moon crept to its highest point outside in the night sky. It was a perfectly clear night, as if it wanted to fit in well with Pinkie Pie’s revelation. Pinkie and Maud were talking and playing heartedly, enjoying each other’s company and the changes that had befallen them. Pinkie regained more and more of her energy and light-heartedness and after the first half hour, she was all back to how she used to be: happy and carefree. Her injuries healed quickly as well, and although she wasn’t entirely in mint condition yet, she felt much better in no time.

In the hour Maud settled down a bit, becoming more of a listener than a speaker, especially after the emotional shock of Pinkie’s truth. Though she was still smiling and nodding, some of her familiar calmness returned in her heart, and she was glad that it did, because it was who she was: calm, collected and thoughtful.

Meanwhile, Air Miles had gone to the lobby of the hotel, probably to get a coffee—because he really needed one after this whole changing-personality thing. Naturally, he was also checking the weather report for tomorrow, when he would be flying those two crazy mares out of this crazy land. Although he wanted to go to sleep badly, Miles decided to check on the two mares one last time. As he walked through the doorway, he could see them sitting at a table, playing chess. It was the last thing Miles expected them to do—especially Pinkie Pie.

“Ha! Checkmate!” Pinkie cried out, waving her forelegs in the air and giving out a whoop; it was the third time she beat her sister this evening.

“Well, I guess she’s all better now,” Miles said dryly.

Maud smiled. “She certainly is, and I feel much better as well.”

“Good to hear that,” Miles said, and he meant it.

As they both looked at Pinkie’s little victory dance, a random question popped up in Miles’ head. “Hey, Pinkie!”

Pinkie froze into an awkward dance pace. “Yes?”

“I’m just curious: what did you plan for your PFFFD anyway?”

“First of all its PSSSD,” Pinkie said with much emphasis, “and second of all: many things!”

“Like what?”

“A comedy show, a sleigh ride and a rave party,” Pinkie answered in delight. But then she unfroze and sat down on the chair, her ears lowering. “I guess we’ll have to do that on the next PSSSD, right Maud?”

“We’ll do that, Pinkie,” Maud said smiling.

“Yeah. Just a shame we’ll miss out on Vinyl Scratch’ party.”

Miles’ brow furrowed in thought. “Do you mean the PON-3 Progressive House Power Party in Canterklúbb?”

Pinkie veered up. “Yeah! That’s the one; are you a fan too?”

“You mares didn’t miss it, you know; that party’s tonight,” Air Miles said.

“Tonight?!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“Yeah, the organization changed the date because of a storm warning. The storm didn’t come though.” Miles grinned mockingly, “Icelandic weather is as unpredictable as, well… the weather.”

Pinkie’s eyes went wide. “How do you know that?”

“Well…”—Air Miles stuck his nose proudly in the air—“because I was in—eh, I mean led the lighting department of their technical staff, a few days before I flew you guys over. If you want, I can get free tickets for you both.”

Pinkie looked at Maud, who looked back at her. “What do you think, Maud? I know parties aren’t usually your thing but—”

“Let’s go, Pinkie,” Maud interrupted. “Let’s have some fun. Together!”

“Done and done,” Air Miles said. “I’ll go with you to settle the tickets and then I’m finally going to bed.” He yawned. “It’s been a long day, even for a seasoned pilot like me.”

“Aren’t you joining us?” Maud asked.

“Nah. I’m not into progressive house; I like rock way more.”

And to that, the Pie sisters broke out in laughter, loud enough to wake their sleeping neighbors; loud enough to let the night know it was still young, and that Pinkie and Maud could still have a nice ending to their PSSSD.