Pinkie, Maud and Icy Iceland

by Elkia Deerling

First published 2nd of November, 2016

Pinkie and Maud celebrate their PSSSD in Iceland, which goes much differently than they'd expected.

Pinkie and Maud Pie decide to go to Iceland as their next PSSSD destination. Upon arrival, Pinkie discovers that Iceland is a little different than she expected. She tries her best to make the PSSSD as awesome as possible, but soon discovers that Maud has very different interests...

This story is inspired by my own trip to wonderful Iceland.

Thanks to Simon Lewis Lanz for prereading. Check out his website on: http://simonlanzart.de/ (in German)

Chapter one

“What do you think, Maud, are we there yet?”

Maud looked at her sister, then peeked her head over the rim of the basket. “I don’t know.”

“We should be close, girls, hold on!” their pilot, Air Miles, said. He opened the valve and with a loud sizzle, a bright flame jumped out of the burner into the hot-air balloon above.

“Oh! I’m sure this is gonna be the best PSSSD EVER!” Pinkie Pie said, and jumped up and down in excitement—the basket bouncing along.

Air Miles turned his gaze from his altimeter to the Pink pony in front of him. “What’s a PFFFD?”

“It’s not PFFFD, silly, it’s PSSSD, like a balloon deflating; you should know that sound, right?”

“Yeah, sure,” the pilot answered casually. “But what does it mean?”

“Pie Sisters Surprise Swap Day. It’s when we go to another place to do loads of fun stuff together. We do it once a year, and this time we’re even going to another continent! I can’t believe it; and that’s weird, because I organized the trip myself!” She skipped cheerfully again and bounced on her curly tail, making the whole basket rock in all directions.

Pinkie and Maud had chosen Iceland as their next PSSSD destination. They had been travelling for many hours over land, ocean and clouds in a large, motorized hot-air balloon. The enormous, bright red balloon was strung above a basket made of wicker and wood, which had the shape of a ship’s hull, and painted a sparkling yellow. It looked more like a small airship than a hot-air balloon, floating above a thick sea of clouds which prevented the ponies from seeing anything of the land below. It was as if the clouds themselves tried to keep their destination a surprise.

“Have you ever even been to Iceland before?” Air Miles asked.

“No,” Pinkie said, “I just closed my eyes and threw a dart at the map; you know, the way everypony plans their holidays, right?

Air Miles grinned and swished his bright-orange tail. “I guess so. You know, I’ve flown to Iceland a few dozen times already. It’s actually not a very popular vacation destination. Usually I fly to more southern destinations like Los Pegasus or Appleloosa, where it’s, you know… warmer! Oh, and easier to fly, of course.”

“So, what’s it like?”

“Flying is awesome! Especially with my little Sunstrike over here.” Miles tapped the basket gently with an orange hoof. “Winner of the Equestria balloon contest thrice in a row, the fastest of her kind, and of course”—he lowered his sunglasses—“designed, invented and built by me.”

“Wow.”

Air Miles chuckled. “Who said that earth-ponies would never fly? I may be an earth-pony, but I do have my balloonist’s license right here.” His eyes beamed down to a golden insignia, pinned high on his flight jacket. “World class pilot, world class aircraft. My Sunstrike is way faster than the fastest pegasus—hay! I’m pretty sure my aircraft could outfly even princess Celestia! Actually, now that I think of it, I should—”

“She meant Iceland, not flying,” Maud interjected, and then turned her head at the sea of clouds below her again.

Air Miles frowned. “Oh.”

An awkward silence followed, filled only by the soft whooshing of the wind and the creaking of the wicker basket. Fortunately, Pinkie Pie was immune to awkward silences, so she stared at the pilot and opened her mouth again. “So… are you going to use that thing again when we’re close? It looks so cool!”

“Certainly. The propeller will push us in the direction we want to go.” Air Miles looked over his shoulder at the steel construction behind him. “Yep, it’s pretty awesome. It runs on some kind of special fuel Dr. Whooves invented for me; same fuel I use for the burner. I don’t exactly know what’s in it, but it’s amazing stuff—although very flammable.”

“But… I thought you said you invented this whole thing yourself, didn’t you?”

“Well, eh…”—Miles loosened his scarf, despite the cold wind—“I-I meant the balloon, not the fuel.” He looked up uneasily at the orange-red canvas over his head, then he quickly continued, “So what do you mares already know of Iceland?”

“Well…” Pinkie raised a hoof to her chin, “I guess Icy Iceland’s got to be full of ice-cream. I mean, it has to be called Iceland for some reason…”

To that, the pilot’s cool smile suddenly widened to an enormous grin, and he broke into a roaring laugh. “I’m sorry! I-, I-,“ he tried to cram out of his mouth as he staggered back, reaching for his stomach. ”You actually think…! Think that Iceland is—that’s hilarious!” Tears streamed across his cheeks and he stumbled about, looking for a handhold as his knees were buckling. “And I guess your sister also thinks— HAHAHA!” Finally his hands found a secure object: the throttle control of the propeller. With a final gasp, Air Miles leaned over. “Yeah well, I hate to disappoint you, Pinkie, but—”

A loud crack resounded, and the motorized propeller rumbled to life. It immediately started blowing at its maximum capacity, filling the thin air with a horrible roar. The balloon jolted forward, faster and faster, until it reached the speed of a pegasus—or maybe even faster. Pinkie, Maud and Air Miles hold on to the basket quickly, trying their best to withstand the g-forces. An icy-cold airstream whipped across their eyes and ears. “WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DISAPPOINT ME!” Pinkie yelled above the thundering engine. Air Miles didn’t answer—He was too busy holding on to the basket with both his hooves and his mouth; his eyes wide with panic.

After covering a distance which felt like half of Equestria, the engine started smoking, spitting yellow sparks, and then exploded spectacularly, sending a shower of nuts, bolts, scrap metal and other parts flying around the basket. One of those parts was half of the propeller-blade, which shot upwards with a high, whizzing sound, cutting into the fabric of the balloon with a loud rip which gave all of the ponies goosebumps.

Maud was the first to scramble back up. “Is everypony ok?”

“Sort of,” Pinkie Pie said as she rubbed her cold ears and sore limbs. Then she turned to Air Miles, who let go of the basket shakily. “What happened?”

“The motor has overheated… eh… somehow,” the pilot answered, trying to fake the most innocent smile he could fake.

“Right,” Pinkie Pie said, but her eyes narrowed as she investigated his smile. Luckily for Air Miles, however, she continued. “Well, it isn’t that bad; we can fly without the engine, right?”

Miles adjusted his sunglasses and looked over to the heap of rubble, his innocent smile fading to a sad counterpart; his ears drooped. “Yes, but it’s still a shame. That engine was a custom design, you know?” He sighed.

“Oh, come on, Air Miles! I’m sure a gearhead like you could easily— yes, what’s that, Maud?”

Her sister, standing a hoofstep away, tilted her head. “What?”

“Oh, never mind,” Pinkie said, “I thought you were whispering to me.”

Air Miles’ ears twitched, and then his head shot up at the bright red balloon above; his sadness gave way to fear. “No! My beautiful balloon!” he screamed desperately.

Now Pinkie looked as well and saw the tear in the brightly-colored canvas. “Don’t panic; it’s only a teeny-tiny tear, right? No problemo.”

Then, as if on cue, the tear yielded under the remaining pressure of the hot air inside the balloon and tore across half of it with a sickening sound.

“Eh… yes problemo.”

The hot-air balloon lost altitude rapidly and tumbled down the skies faster and faster. Air Miles jumped up and raised his hoofs above his head. “We’re going down!” He yelled. “Why—why did I ever want to become a balloonist? There’s nothing we can do! This is the end!”

The basket shook and rattled, the air balloon flapped uselessly in the wind, it’s canvas whipping the cold winds around. Once more the icy airstream greeted them, accompanied by the loud flutter and creaking of the flying machine. In the chaos of the descent, Maud somehow managed to nudge her sister and say something to her. When Maud’s lips stopped moving, Pinkie Pie grabbed Air Miles by the shoulders and didn’t hesitate to smack him twice across the cheek, bringing him back to his senses. “It’s your cutie mark!” she screamed.

“What?”

“That’s why you wanted to become a balloonist!”

Miles still gave her a quizzical look.

“Oh, and as for your other question: USE THE BURNER!”

Air Miles shook his head, let go of his hoofhold, and dived underneath the valve. He turned it all open, and an enormous flame erupted from the burner. It shot inside the balloon—or what was left of it. Perspiration of both fear and heat washed over the pilot’s face as he watched the balloon regaining some of its roundness again, if only a little bit.

Pinkie looked up and gave a whoop. “It’s working!”

But Air Miles didn’t hear a thing, didn’t notice the balloon descending slower and slower, farther and farther away from deadly speed. He clung to the valve hopelessly; his sunglasses fell to the ground and shattered.

Then the balloon dove through the clouds. A stray gust of wind made it rock hard to one side. Land was in sight, and the basket crashed right into it. Because of the wind, however, it scraped many yards further. Everypony hold on for dear life as the hot-air balloon transformed from an airship to a crazed earthship, grinding its way through the soil. Showers of dirt flew here and there as they slid further, shaking and bumping violently. Suddenly, the hull-shaped basket started tilting to the side, capsized, and tossed the ponies onto the Icelandic ground. Both them and the basket continued for a few more yards, then everything and everypony came to a halt.

When the dust settled down, Maud was once again the first to rise, robust as she was. She quickly trotted over to Pinkie Pie and helped her on her hooves again. It was a miracle she wasn’t that hurt, just a few bruises and scratches, but no dents to her good mood. “Phew! Quite a start of a PSSSD, right?”

Maud nodded, Air Miles groaned, and then the big, red balloon drooped over all of them—apparently, even the aircraft agreed.

Chapter two

After a while, the ponies scrambled from underneath the heavy canvas back into the fresh air. Pinkie looked back at the wrecked balloon and the landscape behind it. The balloon had landed at the edge of a large, pale green field, with here and there some shrubs which waved stiffly in the frosty winds. There were a few small hills in the distance, which explained the bumpy ride when they touched down, and a wide trail of ruined grass and naked earth ran over a few of those hills.

“But… there’s no ice-cream,” Pinkie said, her lips quavering. “There’s not even ice...”

Pinkie Pie looked quickly in front of her, but she didn’t find any ice-cream or ice there too. In front of Pinkie lay only an enormous, green, rocky landscape, dotted occasionally with tints of black and grey. When she looked up, Pinkie noticed the sun; a watery bulb in the sky, barely strong enough to cast a faint haze upon the landscape. A chilly wind pushed against her back, and she trotted on ahead. When she reached the mysterious landscape, Pinkie noticed the black lines and dots being black rocks, overgrown with moss. She bent down, and licked the biggest of the rocks, hoping to get a nice chocolate taste in her mouth.

“It’s basalt, Pinkie,” Maud said, who had trotted behind her.

Pinkie’s face wrinkled in disgust and she turned around. “It wouldn’t make good ice-cream!”

“It’s a volcanic rock which originates from lava cooling down when it reaches the surface.” Maud crouched and examined the rocks, scraping away some of the moss with a grey hoof. “It’s a Pleistocene formation.” She blinked her eyes slowly. “Interglacial basalt layers, my favorite facies.”

Pinkie Pie gasped loudly; she had never seen Maud so excited before. She herself didn’t really know much about minerals and rocks, but Pinkie knew it was her sister’s great interest. And because Maud didn’t express her emotions that often, Pinkie never expected her to be that enthusiastic.

“Hey girls, come on over here! I got it!”

Pinkie and Maud turned around at the sound of Air Miles’ cry, and galloped back to the crashed balloon, where they saw his orange tail sticking out of a storage compartment like a flag. “Got what?” Pinkie asked.

“My Iceland map,” the pilot said. He jumped out of the overturned basket and quickly unfolded the large piece of paper in front of their noses. “Thank Celestia it’s undamaged.”

“So… where are we?”

Miles gazed at the map for several seconds, his brows narrowed in concentration and his tongue sticking out. “First we flew over there,” he said, pointing at the south. “And then the motor ran at its maximum speed, which is pegasus-speed—or actually way more than that—for about… five minutes or so?”

“Ten minutes and thirty-three seconds,” Maud said dryly, “then the motor exploded.”

The pilot looked at Maud, raised an eyebrow, and then continued: “Alright, with that speed and that time, we should have travelled this course and this distance…” He drew an orange line on the map.

“Oh! And then the balloon ripped and we crashed, so we should be somewhere over here!” Pinkie Pie said with a smile, and drew a pink circle on the map.

“That’s right,” said Miles, and then his face brightened up a bit. “We’re actually not that far from Reinkjavík, the capital city.” He let out a sudden gasp. “But that means—”

“That means we can still have a super-amazingly-awesome PSSSD, Maud!” Pinkie yelled, and hugged her sister tightly.

“It means I can go there, get spare parts and a carriage, and fix my balloon! Air Miles let out a whoop, “YES! Balloonist-ponies never despair!”

Maud Pie rolled her eyes.

“So where on the map is Reinkjavík actually?” Pinkie asked.

“It’s right over there, in the west. I’ll just make a small list of the things I need and then we’ll be on our way.” Miles eyed the map closely. “Judging by the distance, I think we’ll reach the city in— Pinkie Pie, could you please stand out of the light?”

“Oops, sorry Miles,” she said, and took a few steps back. But then she bumped against someone behind her. “Oops, sorry Maud—” she began, but when she turned around she froze. A giant roar cut through the air and the troll, which had been standing behind them for who knows how long, jumped to his feet.

Air Miles and Pinkie Pie jumped up in the air and gave a horrified yell, then they galloped away as fast as they could. The enormous troll bellowed again, and chased after them, his crass feet thundering on the grass. The troll was giant; towering above the two tiny ponies desperately running in front of him. His skin was covered with brown hairs on his chubby belly and with grey, rock-like stubs and wards on his back, giving him a perfect camouflage. Pinkie and Miles ran towards the basalt field, trying their best to outrun the awful creature behind them. They soon realized their mistake, as the cracks and pits in the porous rock made them stumble over and over again. The troll had no problem with that at all; he simply crushed the stones underneath his giant toes. Each time the ponies stumbled, they could hear the troll coming nearer.

“WHAT DO WE DO, WHAT DO WE DO, WHAT DO WE DO!” Miles screamed desperately in Pinkie’s right ear.

Pinkie winched at the volume. “I DON’T KNOW!”

Air Miles peeked over his shoulder. “HE’S ALMOST CAUGHT UP!”

“I KNOW!”

The cracking of rock came closer and closer, and the fleeing ponies lost ground rapidly. They tried to go faster, jumping over the cracks and holes, but suddenly they both tripped over a piece of slick moss and fell to the ground.

In no time the troll had caught up with Pinkie and Miles. He placed his feet right on top of their colorful tails and pinned them down—they had nowhere to run. The monster looked down; his hideous head blocking the sunlight once more. A droplet of saliva ran from the corner of his lips as he bowed over the two trembling ponies, grinning maliciously. “I’ve heard horses taste nice,” he began in a heavy, rumbling voice.

Pinkie and Miles looked at him shakily.

“We don’t really get them a lot here, because”—the troll lowered his head—“these are troll-lands. Smart horses don’t go to troll lands. You horses aren’t smart.”

He lifted his feet, but before the poor ponies could run away, the troll grabbed them both by their tails and held them in front of his big, yellow eyes so he could see them better. Pinkie and Air Miles could now clearly smell his awful breath, laden with the stench of rot. They could see his jagged teeth and his grey skin, covered in dust and flakes of basalt. The troll grinned once more and opened his mouth wide; Pinkie and Miles screamed in panic, tears raining down their upside-down faces.

But then the troll halted suddenly upon seeing the two desperate animals. He wanted to just have a little more fun for his hard work, so he closed his mouth again and snickered loudly. “HAHAHA, I haven’t had so much fun in YEARS!” He yelled. “Especially with YOU, ugly orange thing!” He poked Air Miles with a stumpy index finger. “You are such a COWARD!” Air Miles reached for his stomach and cried again, dangling by his tail; his flight jacket slid off and flopped to the ground. Pinkie Pie tried her best to concentrate, as a thought shot through her mind: where’s Maud?

After the troll was done enjoying the fruits of his labor, a small, monotonous voice broke through the silence, “Hey!”

“What is THAT!” The troll boomed, squatting down and priming his pointy ears to find the source of the sound.

“It’s me. Here,” Maud Pie said. She stood straight opposite of the giant monster, but just out of reaching distance.

“OH! Another tiny little horse for me?” the troll said. “Come closer, you are so hard to see!”

Maud didn’t move a muscle. “Crouch deeper, than you can see me.”

The troll crouched down even further, but—clumsy as he was—he wobbled and lost his balance. Quickly, he thrust his knee and his hands to the ground to regain his poise, but took care not to squash his midday meal. “THERE you are!” the troll yelled, and gave a loud roar at the top of his lungs. The hills themselves shook, and a rain of spittle came down on the land below—and Maud.

But Maud ignored the troll’s hungry look, his ear-wrecking scream and the sticky saliva she was now covered in. She merely blinked once, slowly.

“Huh?” The troll said, scratching his bald head with his free hand, “why are you not scared?”

“Why should I be scared?” Maud countered.

“Well, eh…” the troll began. He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate.

But Pinkie Pie wasn’t going to wait for the troll’s answer. She felt his big muscles relax a little as he was lost in thought. Pinkie threw her body forwards, then backwards, then forwards again, until she was swinging rapidly. Once she became level with the troll’s fist, she grabbed it with her front hooves and bit as hard as she could in his grey index finger. Ugh! Tastes like basalt, Pinkie thought.

The troll gave a winch, and let go of both ponies’ tails. Pinkie still had to slap Air Miles a few times across the cheeks, but then they bolted off.

Strangely enough, the hungry troll didn’t even look at his fleeing lunch, for he was too concentrated on Maud’s question. He finally figured out the answer, “Because YOU are a little weak horse and I am a big, smart, mighty, strong, sneaky, smart troll!”

“You said smart twice.”

“I knew that!”

“So why do you scare other creatures?”

“HAH! Because it’s FUN!” the troll said, chuckling as he did.

“But why is it fun?” Maud asked.

To that, the troll had to think hard once more. Maud could see her friends running away and Pinkie Pie looking at her. She gave a wink and a small gesture to her sister, hoping she would understand; because she and her sister both liked to read fantasy books from time to time—especially when they were about rocks.

**

“Pinkie! Where’re you going!” Air Miles yelled at her, when Pinkie galloped the other way.

Pinkie nodded with her head; first to Maud, then to the place of the balloon wreck. “Follow me, gearhead,” she said, “I’ve got an idea.”

**

“Because it makes me laugh!”

“But why does it make you laugh?”

“Because it’s fun.”

“But why is it fun?”

“Because it makes me— hey! I know what you’re doing!” the troll shouted, and stood up slowly and unsteadily.

Maud Pie still stood her ground. “Then what am I doing?”

But the troll didn’t answer, instead he stomped his feet. “NO, NO, NO! Not again!”

With every stomp, Maud bounced in the air, but she remained stoic and silent— not a trace of fear or worry in her light-blue eyes. Because of the trolls earth-shattering feet, the ground behind her had risen dramatically into a slope, crowned with a large basalt column; and with every stomp it grew higher.

“I want my LUNCH! I want my FUN! And I want to scare you NOW!” the troll yelled, and bent down to roar right into Maud’s face.

The sheer force of the sound-waves made the basalt rock underneath her hooves crack. The troll continued screaming while the crack grew into a small crevice, the two sides of it expanding slowly. Dust and stones tumbled into the crevice, but Maud merely blinked once and then casually stepped on one of the two sides. She looked the troll straight in the eyes and blinked once again slowly.

There was a pause. Only the loud gasping of the exhausted troll and a faint, indistinguishable scraping sound filled the still Icelandic air. Once the troll had regained his breath, he said, “I don’t understand! Why aren’t you scared?”

Maud said nothing but blinked.

“Please stop blinking! Please just say something! You’re freaking me out!” the troll said, his voice slowly filling with desperation. “Please just react normally!”

Maud said nothing but blinked.

The troll now fell to his knees with a thump, and started begging her, “Please! At least show some resistance.”

“Alright,” Maud said and stepped aside, revealing Pinkie, Air Miles, and the giant propeller-engine standing right on top of the massive basalt-Column far behind her.

“Hit it, Miles,” Pinkie yelled.

Air Miles hit the throttle and the propeller—or actually half of it—started circling around faster and faster, until it was at its maximum speed again. Pinkie and Miles stood behind it and tried their best to keep the thundering metal engine at an angle—aiming directly for the obscured sun. The powerful airstream gathered much dust and even some small rocks, which made the powerful air-column spectacularly visible. After just a few seconds, a tiny gap appeared between the slithering clouds and the sun shone through, bright and warm, pointed directly at the troll.

The troll didn’t know what to do. He was petrified—literally. In a spectacular cloud of dust and smoke, his whole body started to turn to stone. His feet were rooted to the ground by the white rock; then the color spread upwards to his hairy belly, his neck and finally his giant head, freezing his hopeless expression forever.

Air Miles and Pinkie cheered loudly, bumped their hooves, and then turned off the rickety engine. They jumped off the column and trotted down the slope. Pinkie Pie immediately ran towards her sister and embraced her tightly, feeling utterly relieved—Maud sighed and stroke her sister’s curly mane. However, the moment Air Miles’ hooves touched level ground, his engine exploded once more, making half of the tall column crumble and rain down. He jumped; but the Pie sisters ignored all of it.

After seeing his hard work really going up in flames this time, Miles turned to the Pies, “How did you mares know that would work?” He asked, rudely interrupting their moment. Then he narrowed his eyes. “And why did that nasty thing chase us and not you, Miss Maud Pie?”

Pinkie let go of her sister. “Well… everypony knows trolls turn to stone in the sunlight, right? It’s basic fantasy knowledge.”

“Oh, yes, of course… I knew that,” Miles said, trying his best to sound as casual as he could. “But how did you mares communicate with each other?”

“Pinkie sense,” Pinkie said.

“Maud sense,” Maud said.

“And as for your other question,” Pinkie continued matter-of-factly, “Maud is super-duper camouflaged with her pale dress and grey coat, so the troll couldn’t see her against the basalt rock.”

Air Miles walked towards the troll statue, but then quickly turned his head to the Pie sisters again, hiding an expression of fear. “I guess you two are a really good team.” He paused, and his features softened. “We are a really good team! Together we can overcome anything. Let’s stay together on this journey and don’t split up.”

Pinkie jumped in the air. “Great idea!” she said happily, but then she saw Maud turn the other way. “Eh… Maud, where are you going?”

“Chalkstone. A soft, sedimentary rock,” Maud said. She tapped the troll’s shin with her hoof and a few crumbles of white stone trickled down. “I guess he wasn’t as tough as he thought.”

Chapter three

The ponies were on their way again; to Reinkjavík this time. They were trotting next to each other in a line—there was more than enough space in the vast Icelandic landscape. Maud Pie was left, Air Miles to the right, and Pinkie Pie in the middle. The Pink pony was skipping gaily, although not as high as she used to do back in Ponyville, where the earth was flatter and more even—and maybe also because of the heavy, oppressing clouds above her and the rest. They were still walking on moss-overgrown basalt rocks, which filled every corner of their eyes, and the wind was still chilly and rubbing their ears. A lonely bird was bravely riding the freezing airstream. Everypony was silent; just as silent as the land around them.

Pinkie and Miles were staring blankly ahead, hoping to catch a glimpse of the capitol city already. But Maud gazed around in all directions, watching the surroundings with an inner interest. The dense clouds and endless stony landscape didn’t seem to bother her—to the contrary. It felt a little bit like her home on the rock farm, but with even more rocks. Maud closed her eyes, sighed, and let a wave of tranquility wash over her.

After a while, Pinkie and Air Miles got bored, so they started telling Maud all about how they pulled off their little stunt with the engine. Miles told her in detail how he had fixed the engine block in a new record time and dragged the thing all the way up on the slope to the top of the column, complementing both his technical knowledge and strength—but in the end he credited Pinkie as well. He pointed out how lucky they were with the clouds—as there had been only a thin, silvery, shallow layer during the battle. If the cloud cover would have been heavier, like the thick, dark soup which now floated above their heads, they would have been troll-lunch. When they asked Maud for her side of the encounter, she told them, although briefly, about how she had distracted the troll. For her it was nothing special.

“That’s amazing!” Pinkie said. “I totally didn’t know you were so philo—” but she was cut short by Maud’s outstretched hoof. They all stopped. “What’s wrong?” Pinkie asked.

“A troll. I saw one over there.” Maud pointed to the right.

Everypony looked to the right. “What do you mean?” Air Miles said. “I don’t see anything; just some rocks.”

After watching for a minute, the bird, who was flying majestically just a few moments ago, suddenly came into view again. It circled around a rock formation a few hundred yards from the ponies, and then landed right on top of it. For a second it sat there, then the rock stirred, and a vibration went through the earth—even the ponies could feel it. The bird took off unsteadily, no doubt very confused about its moving perch, which had looked so comfortable from a distance.

Air Miles cleared his throat and swallowed. “Eh… shall we get moving again?”

“Good idea,” Pinkie answered, her voice quavering. She trotted on ahead, but didn’t skip anymore.

Suddenly the terrain became more friendly. The basalt rock gradually yielded to short, stocky grass and at some places even bodies of grey water—the sky lightened up a bit, too. The ponies could even see a trail running across their route; it was made of black gravel. They had no idea how many miles they had gone, but suddenly, Reinkjavík emerged in the distance. It looked not as high or spectacular as Manehattan, and not as rustic or droll as Ponyville, but still it was there: civilization.

“That’s it, girls: Reinkjavík,” Air Miles called out, and waved a hoof ahead; he sighed in relief.

Is that it? Pinkie Pie caught herself thinking, but then she quickly regained her cheerful mood again. “Looks… different,” she said, “doesn’t it, Maud?”

Maud nodded slowly. Her expression, as always, unreadable.

**

“This is where we part ways, girls. I’m gonna buy some parts and fix my balloon for the return journey. I guess it’s going to take a few days, considering the state of the engine, and the canvas, and the basket… and actually everything else. Bye!” Air Miles said, and trotted off.

“But I thought you said we would always stick together!” Pinkie Pie yelled after him, but it was too late; he had already gone to another street.

“Well, that leaves us together, right Maud?”

Maud nodded and then looked around at downtown Reinkjavík. From the outside it had looked quite grim, but here, in the center of the city, it was more colorful than she thought. The main street was narrow, and reminded her of Ponyville, although this street was neatly asphalted. It had only two sidewalks and a one-way carriage road, sloping gently down towards the direction of the harbor. Many houses weren’t made of wood or stone, but of corrugated metal sheets, sometimes painted in bright colors. There were many stores and shops, small and exclusive, and also restaurants ranging from simple bars to fancy, Manehattan-style diners. Surprisingly many tourists cantered about, seeming to be from all over Equestria, judging by their accents. Most were from Manehattan and Vanhoover, because those two cities were on the same latitude as Iceland. The city felt vibrant, but not too busy; just right.

After having tasted from some of the Icelandic nature and the calm energy of Reinkjavík, Maud Pie said, “So… what do we do?”

Pinkie’s eyes became wide with surprise again, but then they sacked down. “Well, let’s go find our hotel. I’m pretty tired”—she looked at the sky—“and it’s pretty late. But… we can plan our activities for tomorrow; I’ve got some cool idea’s, you know…” she said mysteriously.

Maud nodded, and then they turned right, searching for their hotel as the sun sank down behind them.

Chapter four

“Stand back everypony,” Pinkie announced—but the guide saw what she was going to do.

“Miss, you’re not allowed to— please don’t— NO!”

But it was too late, and Pinkie Pie jumped off the elevator into the lava chamber of the volcano. “WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!” The wind surged through her ears and she flattened them, sticking out her forelegs in a point to achieve maximum speed. Her eyes were narrowed, and her lips quavered because of the air resistance. The G-forces stretched her body out. Pinkie was all in for the thrill. She could see the cold lava floor coming in closer, and closer, and closer.

But then there was a twanging sound, and the bungee cord pulled tight. Pinkie Pie slowed down and then jolted to a halt, before bouncing into the air once more. Despite feeling as if her stomach had moved to an entirely different place, Pinkie Pie was still able to laugh. She giggled loudly as she bounced up and down on her elastic bungee jumping rope. “Haha! I knew this was gonna be way more fun than waiting for that silly elevator.” Pinkie turned her head. “Right Maud?”

But her sister wasn’t dangling right beside her, as Pinkie Pie expected. In fact, she hadn’t jumped at all. When Pinkie Pie stopped bouncing and came to a halt, she looked up—or down, actually—and saw that the elevator was only halfway down, with her sister standing on it. Maud seemed to be looking in an entirely different direction: at the walls. Maud Pie knew her sister well, and knew about Pinkie’s bungee jumping skills—she wasn’t all too worried. Pinkie had often performed bungee jumps on top of their rock-silo when they were little fillies.

Pinkie’s adrenaline-filled smile faded to a thin one, which almost looked like a grin as she was dangling upside-down. “I guess she isn’t up for bungee jumping today,” Pinkie said to herself. She started swinging back and forth until she could reach a rocky ridge, sticking out from the volcano wall. Then she used her tail to cut the rope and scrambled up the dusty rocks.

Pinkie Pie was standing alone to the far right side of the magma chamber of Fillyfjall, a dormant volcano now open for tourism. The ridge she was standing on led back and spiraled up against the uneven wall behind her; all the way to a large plateau where the elevator would arrive. Pinkie gazed around the enormous, empty magma chamber and breathed in deeply. “ECHO! CHO! HO! O!” Bouncing from the cavern walls, her echo faded away; but to Pinkie’s surprise, it returned: O! No! No! NO!”

“Huh? That’s not how echo’s work,” Pinkie said, then she turned her ears around, trying to pinpoint where the other cry had come from—which was hard to do in such a vast space. She listened to the right, to the left, straight ahead, but she had no idea. Suddenly it resounded again, but different this time: “Enough! Nough! Ough! Ugh!” It came from straight ahead, so Pinkie stopped tweaking her ears and instead primed her eyes, which were still adjusting to the gloomily-lit volcano.

About a hundred yards further stood two ponies, their colored outlines faintly visible in the dim light. One had a yellow coat with a long, orange mane and the other was light-brown with a bit of a bowl cut. They were standing opposite of each other, clearly in conversation—probably tourists of the group before Pinkie Pie’s.

Pinkie jumped off her ridge and trotted in the direction of the two ponies to say hi—because why not? The clip-clop of her hoofsteps reverberated through the magma chamber, and when she came in closer, she could see that one of the ponies was a roughly-built pegasus mare and the other an earth-pony stallion, both with a frown on their faces. They were talking to each other.

“… done with these trips of you!” The mare said. “It’s not my thing and you know that!”

The stallion eyed her and adjusted his glasses. “But, honey, volcanoes are amazing, why can’t you just see that?”

“Because the only thing I see are stones, stones and stones! Why can’t we just do something exciting? Something adventurous!”

“But… you know… adventurous things are so, well… dangerous,” the stallion said shakily, making his glasses tremble to the tip of his nose.

“That’s why they’re called adventures!” The mare countered.

“P-please, can’t we just visit one more volcano? I promise I will treat you on dinner after that, my little gemstone.”

“No! No! No! No more stones!” the mare cried out, stomping her booted front hoof on the ground.

“But I didn’t mean eating gemstones, I—”

“I know what you mean, and I mean to have some fun! For the both of us. You know, that’s how vacations work!”

Pinkie Pie, meanwhile, decided very tactically not to interfere with this little fight. She did a few steps back until she was sure they couldn’t see her and kept on listening. Later she would find a way to fix this and make them smile again, she thought.

The stallion slid his glasses up on his nose and continued, “B-but I am having fun, and you can have some fun too, if you would just open your eyes for this.” He crouched down and picked up a large black rock in his mouth. “These wolcanic wocks whave a vewy intewesting chemical composition and—” but the stallion didn’t get an opportunity to finish his sentence, as his love smacked him hard across the cheek. Pinkie Pie winched and looked around uneasily as the slapping sound echoed awkwardly through the chamber. When she looked at the couple again she could see that the stone was gone, and instead there was a big lump in the brown stallion’s throat.

“You know what I think, Soot Rain?” the mare said, “I think that I’m done with this vacation, done with volcanoes and done with YOU!”

The stallion said nothing back as he was struggling to breathe with the rock in his throat.

The mare continued in a softer voice, “You know, why don’t you go and find somepony who does like volcanoes and stuff like that. Then you can both have some fun on vacation.”

Only a panicky gurgle came from Soot Rain; his tail flew around spastically.

“We’ve been to three volcanoes already, not including this one. I’ve tried your stuff now, but you have never tried mine. I had planned to go parasailing, skiing, doing a balloon ride, but you wouldn’t even look at the things I organized for us two.”

The stallion’s brown head started coloring purple.

The mare sighed and looked at the ground. “I know you love me, and I love you, but it’s just that you’re forgetting to look at somepony else, when you’re together.” She sighed again. “Well, I guess this is goodbye. I hope you understand,” she said softly.

Soot Rain wobbled on his knees.

Then the mare stepped closer and, just before the stallion would fall down, caught him in a bear hug. Soot Rain’s bones cracked, and the lump of rock flew out of his mouth with a gargle. When the mare let him go he fell down on the ground, face first. The swish of wings echoed through the volcano as the mare took off; up towards the vent, into the daylight.

Pinkie Pie followed her circle through the volcano until she was just a tiny yellow dot against the gray sky, then she quickly trotted over to the stallion, who was still lying on the ground. “Are you ok?” Pinkie asked.

Soot Rain coughed a few times, spitting black dust in the air. “Yes, I’m fine… I think,” he said, as he got up unsteadily. He looked slowly at Pinkie Pie. “Did you just heard all of that?”

“Eh…” Pinkie didn’t know what to say.

“Never mind,” Soot Rain said. He picked up his glasses from the ground and started cleaning them with his tail. He sighed. “I guess she wasn’t my type anyway.”

Pinkie felt a bit sorry for him and stepped next to Soot Rain to put a hoof on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, Mister, I’m sure you’ll find another special somepony someday.”

But then Soot Rain jolted at the sudden touch of yet another embrace and he dropped his glasses; they fell down on the ground with a loud tinkle.

“Oops, sorry,” Pinkie said.

“Ach… it doesn’t matter,” Soot Rainl murmured sadly. “Eh, would you be so kind as to put me in the direction of the elevator, Miss?”

“It’s right there—oh! It’s finally down!” Pinkie forgot about Soot Rain, dropped to all fours and zipped in the direction of the elevator to go and greet her sister.

“W-where?” Soot Rain’s voice echoed behind her, but Pinkie Pie was too caught up in her excitement to hear it.

Maud Pie had stepped out of the elevator and was looking around the lava chamber, while the other tourists were way ahead. Pinkie Pie rushed to a halt beside her. “Maud! Why didn’t you jump? It was so much fun!”

“I was looking at the volcano,” Maud said. “The plutonic rock is composed of magma, solidified against the inside of the magma chamber. I think it’s interesting.”

Pinkie Pie smiled broadly, and once again her heart jumped in delight at seeing her sister enjoy their first PSSSD excursion so much. She couldn’t wait at the rest of the activities she had planned, as she guessed their PSSSD would be more than just one day—with the crashed hot air balloon and all. They would visit a comedy show tomorrow, go on an exciting sleigh ride the day after tomorrow, and on the last day they would go to Canterklúbb, one of Iceland’s hottest nightclubs. Especially the last one made Pinkie really excited, and she already got goosebumps at the thought—she’d heard that Vinyl Scratch would be spinning that evening, of whom Pinkie was a big fan.

Suddenly another thought crossed Pinkie’s mind, Would Maud have noticed that fight a few minutes ago? she wondered. But just before Pinkie had the opportunity to ask her, the face of the guide popped up from behind Maud’s shoulder. He held up Pinkie’s bungee cord and looked straight at her—he was not amused.

“Eh… let’s go and explore the big cave, Maud,” Pinkie said, grinning uneasily, “there is way more to see there.” Then she pushed her sister forward, down the slope as fast as she could.

At last they both stood in the middle of the vast magma chamber; the heart of the volcano. Above them, four hundred feet higher, a pale, blue-gray light slid through the volcanic vent. The long-stretched crack allowed only a little light through, but it was enough to illuminate most of the conduit and magma chamber of the volcano with a dim beam. Pinkie and Maud gazed around and were awestruck by the vibrant colors, flowing against the walls and ceiling of the cave. There was red, green, yellow, orange and black all interweaved with each other; remnants of the cooled-down magma long ago. The colors glinted with small silvery drops of water, which made them look even more magical. It was like looking at the aurora of the Crystal Empire, floating in the air. The longer the ponies looked, the more the colors seemed to shift and move before their eyes. The air around them smelled dusty and damp, and despite being in a vast underground space, they felt like they were in a tiny and cozy room. Softly, the sound of dripping water filled their ears, only adding more to the surreal landscape. They both breathed timidly, trying their best not to disturb the serenity of the moment.

“Pretty…” Pinkie Pie said slowly. Maud said nothing, but her eyes gleamed.

After a few minutes, Pinkie had seen enough of the volcano, and turned her attention to the rest of the tourists around them, of whom there were none left. The Pie sisters were the only ones left in the volcano; the rest of their group had already departed with the elevator. It seemed that the guide, unsurprisingly, hadn’t waited for them, so now they had to wait for the next elevator down.

“Hey Maud, the rest is already gone, do you see—”

“Rocks. Black and soulless. Children of the violent earth.
Cool. Once blazing. A far cry from their distant past.
Colors. Unexpected. Each rock another character.
Shining. Moving. The Sulphur shimmering.
Different. Yet all the same. Rocks.”

“WHOA!” Pinkie Pie yelled, filling the cave with sound. “I never heard that poem before!” She jumped up and down in excitement. “When did you make it?”

Maud turned her gaze level, staring in the distance. “I just composed it.”

“Wow! This volcano is really doing something to you, huh?” Pinkie said, and nudged her sister playfully.

“It speaks to me.” Maud bent down and placed an ear on the ground, listening intently. “I think I… like it.”

Never before had Pinkie Pie heard such an extensive opinion from the heart of her closest sister. She jumped with delight. “Haha! Just wait after we’re done with this! We’re still going to do the comedy show tomorrow and the sleigh ride after that, and of course don’t forget the party! I’m sure we’ll have just as much fun with those as with the volcano.”

Maud Pie stood up slowly, but kept her gaze at the ground; there was some dust waving in the air. Her expression was unreadable and she blinked once. Then she breathed out. “Uh-huh,” Maud hummed softly, then turned her head to Pinkie.

Pinkie Pie looked back and smiled heartily. They stood like that for a moment, seemingly idle, but Pinkie’s head was actually full of thoughts. She hadn’t really expected a full-blown ‘yeah!’ or even a timid ‘yes’ from Maud. But still, there was something strange about her reaction and Pinkie saw it, because she knew her sister through and through. That’s weird… Maud never says ‘uh-huh,’ Pinkie thought to herself, that’s what Marble Pie always says. And that breath—was it… a sigh? But why would she sigh? Was that because of the dust—Pinkie Pie frowned—or is she... not looking forward to my PSSSD planning?’

“Pinkie, are you ok?” Maud said suddenly, interrupting her sister’s thoughts.

Pinkie Pie shook her head. “Eh, yeah, I’m fine. Fit as a fiddling filly, hehe.”

Another silence fell. A heavy one, for they were still the only ponies in the cave. Maud blinked.

See, Pinkie thought, you’re just imagining things, Pinkamena. Maud is as normal as Maud can be. Of course she’ll like my activities. If she would be disappointed she would say so—Pinkie furrowed her brown once more—or actually, she wouldn’t…

A heavy, metallic clang echoed through the cave. Pinkie jumped, and turned her head at the source of it; it was the elevator.

“Oh! It seems the guide won’t leave us here after all,” Pinkie said. She grinned, “I should probably say sorry to him for giving him such a scare. Shall we go, Maud?”

Maud nodded and together they walked out of the magma chamber, up the spiraling ridge and to the elevator platform. There the guide stood, and his smile faded to a frown as he noticed the pink pony walking towards him. “You nearly gave me a heart attack back there!” he said. “Why did you do such an insane thing?!”

“Because it’s fun!” Pinkie said with a smile, but then continued more seriously, “but I’m really very sorry to have scared you, sir. I promise, next time I’ll warn you before I jump.”

The guide slapped his hoof against his head. “B-but that’s not… that’s not what it’s about, it’s about—” but upon seeing Pinkie’s childish smile he stopped and sighed heavily. “You know, never mind; just DON’T jump this time, alright?”

Pinkie nodded.

“Good. Now come on in—the rest is already here. We’re going up.”

Pinkie skipped inside the elevator, but noticed that Maud was still behind her, facing the opposite way. “Hey Maud! Are you coming, or do you want to live in this volcano?” Pinkie called.

Maud sighed, barely audible, and stepped slowly next to her sister in the metal elevator.

As the machine slowly crept towards the surface again, everypony inside huddled together at the railing and looked down in awe. Everypony, except Pinkie Pie, who was thinking about just one thing: I knew it! Maud IS disappointed…

Chapter five

“So let us summarize the lecture in a small overview: minerals occur naturally on the Equestrian surface and have a unique chemical composition, whilst rocks are impure and composed of those very minerals. As minerals are usually adorned with crystals of various shapes and sizes, with rocks that is not the case, for these are all bare of such embellishments. Furthermore, most minerals bear only a single color, but rocks can have a broad arrangement of colors, determined by their mineral and chemical composition. And, of course, let us not forget about the identification and classification methods for these wonders of nature…”

And so the lecture had been going on for two and a half hours already. The two Pie sisters had a lofty spot right in the middle of the hall, surrounded by a hundred attentive listeners. But actually there were ninety-nine attentive listeners, as Pinkie Pie sat next to her sister, yawing and occasionally falling asleep.

Pinkie had cancelled the comedy show today, and had instead bought tickets for ‘Minerals And Rocks,’ a reading by Prof. Dr. Steinnheart, which just so happened to be at the exact same evening in the exact same building: Reinkjavík’s concert hall Hestur Harp. Pinkie knew Maud would love it, and she was as right as could be.

Maud Pie was sitting at the edge of her seat, bowed down and with her fore hooves supporting her chin. Her light-blue eyes were wide with interest as she watched the tiny figure of Prof. Dr. Steinnheart sharing his passion for everything geological. She had never really heard of the professor before, for he was a local authority on the subject. Wisdom poured from his words, free for Maud and for everypony willing to listen—and to stay awake.

Pinkie yawned once more and looked at the enormous main hall of Hestur Harp, as she had done countless times already. She blinked slowly and looked behind her at the giant, multicolored crowd of rock and mineral enthusiasts. It was a shame, Pinkie thought, that she wasn’t able to talk to anypony just to stave off boredom, as everypony was as silent as a rock, their eyes fixed on the center of the hall.

Pinkie turned around again, and followed the stream of gazes to the professor. He looks like a smarty-pants, Pinkie thought, I just wish he’d talk about something else, like, well—Pinkie’s pensive face for once matched the ones of the listeners—a party… or something… Pinkie’s thoughts were a little slow, and she yawned again. I guess this hall would make a nice party-room… Pinkie looked up and around her again, seeing the deep-red walls, perfectly designed for the most sublime acoustic; and the dark-red chairs and balconies, from where every visitor could have a clear view of the stage below. They reminded her of the volcano the previous day.

Pinkie Pie felt her ears droop down and blinked slowly. Even though she tried to think lightly and link the building to her own trade, Pinkie actually didn’t care that much. There were only two things she really cared about. I wonder when this is all over… she thought. Anyway, I hope Maud’s having a good time. She looked to her left. “Hey Maud, do you like the—” but a sudden, irritated hush erupted from everypony in a two-chair radius around her, so Pinkie shut up.

“Minerals can be classified by their color, texture, shape, hardness, streak, luster and/or cleavage,” Prof. Dr. Steinnheart continued in his deep, soothing voice. “But minerals, on the other hand, have a wholly different classification system. They are classified by their mineral and chemical composition, their texture—oh, that’s actually the same as with minerals; excuse me there—and their process of formation, which I will explain in a minute.”

Pinkie’s head nodded and she slid into a half-sleeping-half-sitting position; it was as comfortable as she would be. Her brows furrowed, and she could feel her eyelids becoming as heavy as stone again. Slowly the deep-red hall changed color; deeper and deeper the red became, until everything was black; and Pinkie departed towards dreamland, where things were probably much more exciting.

Prof. Dr. Steinnheart took a sip of water from a glass beside him and cleared his throat; the audience leaned back, as if sharing his small break. “So… as I said, the process of formation determines the type of rock we’re dealing with…”

Everypony in the hall bent forward again.

“…Which are: igneous rock, metamorphic rock, or sedimentary rock. Now igneous rocks are quite common here in Iceland; this is a volcanic island, after all.”

The audience grinned, and rarely enough, even Maud grinned along; her neutral lips curling into a shallow curve for a few magical seconds. It was a shame Pinkie Pie wasn’t awake to see it; to see the fruits of her sacrifice.

Quickly the laughter subsided again as the professor continued, ”In fact, there are twenty-five different types of igneous rocks. The different types are: tholeiite, rhyolite, gabbro, olivine…”

But Pinkie Pie didn’t hear any of this; for she was dwelling in unknown lands, brighter and more cheerful, for the rest of the long lecture.

**

Finally Prof. Dr. Steinnheart put down his papers next to his glass of water. After another long, academic hour, the lecture had come to an end. “Thank you all very much for attending my lecture,” the professor said. “If you have any questions, feel free to ask me anything; I will be here for another two hours.”

Everypony in the hall stood up to give the professor a heartedly applause. It reverberated through the room as a rolling thunder and Pinkie Pie jolted awake— she landed on her hooves and instinctively joined the applause, although her face had contorted in shock.

Down below, the professor made a couple of formal bows and then trotted off the stage to the right, where everypony could come to him with questions if they wanted. Not many did so, for the hall gradually grew less crowded and ponies walked to the exits on either side. The lecture had been so extensive and in-depth that only a few of the attendees walked down the stairs to where the professor was already conversing with some.

Pinkie Pie cracked her back and stretched her legs. She could feel—and even hear—them popping with a weird sound. “Geez,” she said, daring now to speak again in the hubbub-filled hall, “I feel like I slept on a rock—think I dreamt about them too.” Then she turned her neck around with a crack, and saw Maud standing next to her, still applauding. “So… what did you think of it?” Pinkie asked her.

“It was… absolutely inspiring,” Maud said, to her own surprise.

Phew! Pinkie thought silently, but then it dawned to her. “WHAT did you say?”

Maud looked back at her sister, her normally half-closed eyes now all open; it looked like her stoic expression had been mingled with… excitement. “It was absolutely inspiring,” Maud said again.

“Good. Shall we, well… go now?”

Maud turned her gaze at the ground. “I actually… wanted to ask the professor something, if that’s ok with you,” she said timidly.

“Eh… sure.” Pinkie smiled a bit forcedly, “I’ll just wait at the exit, ok?”

“Ok, thanks.” And with that, Maud Pie turned around and trotted down the stairs.

Pinkie Pie watched her go. Of course she was very happy to see her sister having a good time, and even open up like that. Usually Maud would never start a conversation by herself; if she hadn’t been absolutely exhausted, Pinkie would have made a jump-o-joy. Pinkie Pie could see her sister trotting down the stairs—not the usual slow steps, but actually trotting. Now that she watched closely, Pinkie noticed the change in Maud’s pace. It looked just slightly lighter, faster maybe. And when Pinkie had looked in Maud’s eyes before she started walking down, Pinkie swore she had seen a faint sparkle in them; something she had never seen with her sister before.

However satisfying all of this was, Pinkie still felt tired and a bit slow. Her joints continued aching a bit from her uncomfortable sleep, so she decided to go and walk around the building a bit, just to stretch her legs. Maybe I can get a quick snack, Pinkie thought.

After a few stairs, corners and hallways filled with ponies, Pinkie Pie discovered that the building was enormous, as she passed many conference rooms, theater halls and music stages . At one hall she stopped at the sound of laughter flowing through its half-open door. Inside was the comedy show, and it was still going on. Pinkie peeked through the slit with one eye, but it suddenly slammed shut; she shrugged and continued her way.

After half-an-hour of aimless wandering, Pinkie Pie found a small movie theater on the second floor, with next to it a small bar. There was a jazz sextet playing on a narrow stage at the right, and the bar itself was dimly lit by red-shaded lamps hanging above some wooden stools. Pinkie Pie slumped down on one of them, ordered a coffee, and let her head fall right on top of the bar; she really needed that coffee.

“Hey, are you alright?”

Pinkie turned her head and, with a little effort, pulled herself straight to look at the pony sitting next to her. Pinkie’s tired eyes shot open when she saw who it was: the pegasus mare she eavesdropped on in the Fillyfjall volcano.

“You look a little bewildered, Miss,” the pegasus said, “you ok, there?”

Pinkie Pie tried to calm down a little. “Yeah.. I’m fine.”

“Ok.”

A silence followed, and Pinkie’s coffee arrived. She picked up the steaming cup and sipped it slowly. Then she looked again at the pegasus, who continued reading a newspaper in a strange language and occasionally sipping her drink. Pinkie was somehow not really in the mood to talk, much unlike her. On the stage, the jazz band started playing a soothing melody, followed by a smooth contrabass improvisation, only adding to the laid-back ambiance. Pinkie Pie looked ahead with dreamy eyes.

Suddenly the pegasus closed her newspaper and threw back her snappy, orange mane. She eyed Pinkie Pie once more. “Hey, you know, I’ve got the funny feeling of déjà vu. Have I seen you before?”

“I don’t think so,” Pinkie said, sounding as casual as she could.

“Oh. Ok.”

Another silence followed, but a wild piano improvisation quickly filled it up. Finally, the mare turned her stool to Pinkie, swung her spiky tail to the other side and leaned on the bar. “So… which show did you see here?”

“Minerals And Rocks, by Professor Doctor Steinnheart,” Pinkie answered.

The mare leaned back. “Seriously? Wasn’t that, like, extremely boring?”

“A little bit.”

“I can imagine.” The pegasus called the barcolt and ordered another drink; her glass was empty. “You want anything, Miss?”

“Another coffee would be nice, thanks.”

“Don’t mention it; it’s nice to have some company,” the pegasus said and stuck out a rough hoof. “Name’s Wild Sky, but please just call me Sky.”

“Pinkie Pie,” Pinkie Pie said, and shook her hoof slowly.

Wild Sky took a large swig of her drink and grinned. “Yeah, I know what it’s like to get dragged into the lamest of things. You know, I once had a friend who was totally into rocks and minerals and stuff like that. In one week, we visited three or four volcanoes AND a rock museum together. But in the end, I broke up with him.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“What?!” Sky cried out, and wobbled on her chair.

“Oh, eh… I mean… is that so?” Pinkie hastily added, realizing her mistake.

Wild Sky quickly recomposed herself and shifted on her stool a bit. “Yeah. He was sweet and all, but just… not my type.”

Pinkie Pie sipped her cup. The jazz band played a moody piano solo.

Wild Sky grinned mockingly. “You know, it’s funny because we had actually planned to go to that same lecture as well, my friend and I.” Suddenly her grin faded and she looked at the ground. “I don’t really know why I came here, to be honest. I mean, I wasn’t going to the lecture, that’s for sure.” She turned her gaze to the roof. ”I guess I just hoped… you know… to find him here again. Love can make a pony do crazy stuff, huh?”

“Yeah..” Pinkie said, lost in thought.

Sky sighed, “But I didn’t catch him; I guess he left the country altogether.” Then she smiled vaguely, and leaned back, her stool creaking under the weight. “So here I am, sitting in a bar, waiting out a show I don’t like, hoping to find a stallion I don’t love”—she shook her head—“and talking only about myself.” Giggled playfully, she said, “So why did you come to the lecture, if you didn’t like it too?”

“I came with a friend.”

“I see,” Sky said, “so I guess we’re in this together!” She suddenly stood up from her stool and laid a heavy, booted hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder. “You know what we need, Pinkie Pie?”

“Eh… fewer drinks?” Pinkie guessed.

“No! Adventure! The icy wind blowing through our manes, the hard rocks crushing beneath our hooves, the clouds drifting beneath our wings!” Wild sky waved her hoof in the air, as to add some dramatic effect to her speech. Behind the bar, the barcolt eyed her suspiciously. “I say we go together and do something really awesome! Maybe we could do a wild sleigh ride, or some paragliding, or maybe go to a party. We can have the time of our lives, Pinkie, you and me! What do you think?”

But Pinkie Pie didn’t need to think. “What about my friend?”

“He can come along, if he wants,” Sky said, while letting go of Pinkie and sitting down on her own stool again. She hung over the bar, took a swig of her glass and furrowed her brow in thought. “But… if he is also a stone-lover, we should probably get rid of him”—she smirked—“because those kinds of ponies tend to get boring, as we’ve both seen.”

To that, Pinkie Pie stood up abruptly. “I won’t do that, Sky,” she said, a tiny bit angry at the pegasus’ loose attitude. “Friends have to stay together; that’s how friendship works. Me and Maud can amuse ourselves just fine on our PSSSD.”

Wild Sky wobbled on her chair, and looked at Pinkie with hazy eyes. “What?”

Pinkie sighed. “I don’t think you would understand the deep, inner meaning of a PSSSD, Sky.” She gulped up the remains of her coffee and started walking towards the main hallway again.

Wild Sky stood up and took a few wobbly steps in Pinkie’s direction. “But-but… you know… you look like a f-funny pony and”—but then she stumbled to the ground before she could finish.

Both Pinkie, the barcolt and a few other ponies looked at Sky; the jazz band paused. “Are you ok?” Pinkie asked.

“N-no-no, I’m f-fine,” Sky babbled, as she managed to turn around and lean with her back against the counter. “I-I just gotta lay down for a while. Huh… s-see you later, Pinkie!”

Pinkie Pie waved a hoof and continued her way to the lecture hall, knowing better than ever what to do: giving her sister Maud the best time of her life.

**

After walking out of the main hallway, getting lost for a moment in the maze of corridors, and then finding her way again, Pinkie eventually entered the cloakroom before the lecture hall. Maud Pie was standing right in the middle of it, looking around for her sister amongst many other ponies who gathered and put on their coats and hats.

“Hey, Maud,” Pinkie said, as she trotted towards her.

“Hey.”

Pinkie smiled. “So… what was the professor like? Did he answer your questions?”

“Yes,” Maud said, her eyes trailing off. “He was a very interesting person. Very intelligent and respectable.”

“What did you ask him?” Pinkie asked, although she knew she would probably not understand the answer.

“I asked him to what extent one can use color to identify different kinds of minerals. As color can change when the mineral is weathered by wind or water.”

“Sounds… interesting,” Pinkie said, trying her best to actually look interested.

“It was.”

Then, the faint sparkle that Pinkie saw before lighted up in her sister’s eyes. Maud blinked, and opened her eyes full, as she continued by herself, “The professor actually had all the time for my question,” she said. “He had already answered all of the other attendees’ questions, and thought mine very interesting.” She paused. “He even took the time to show me some pieces of his own collection, which he had brought along.” Slowly, the sparkle in Maud’s eyes grew to a shine, and even her voice seemed to grow in strength. “Look what he gave to me.”

She searched the pockets of her olive-green dress and revealed a mineral. It was a small, crystal shaped one, shining a dozen different shades of purple and pink and glimmering in the moonlight through the windows. When Maud looked at it, the shine reflected in her blue eyes. “An amethyst,” Maud said reverently. Then she reached in her other pocket and pulled out another stone. This one was not as pretty and shiny like the amethyst; it was just an ordinary rock: gray and devoid of crystals. “Boulder liked her so much, that the professor gave her to me. Her name is Amy.”

Maud put both stones on the ground and watched them for a moment. Her eyes glittered now, and were half-closed again. Not in her standard, stoic expression, however; now they really showed enjoyment, as she was utterly happy her pet rock had found the love of his life.

Pinkie Pie blinked slowly and showed a smile. “That’s nice.”

They stood like that for a while, staring at the rocks. The last of the attendees streamed out of the cloakroom, but not before casting more than a few odd glances at the two ponies and the two stones. A cloud slid in front of the moon outside; the moonlight faded, and the amethyst’s purple glow was extinguished.

One more minute passed, then finally Maud picked up both stones and put them back in her pocket.

Pinkie Pie looked out through the high window outside. “Wow, It’s pretty late.” Then she turned her head to her sister and smiled. “Do you want to go, Maud? I bet we’ve got another exciting day of our PSSSD tomorrow, if Air Miles hasn’t finished with his balloon yet.”

Maud nodded, and together, the Pie sisters followed the last of the ponies to the exit of Hestur Harp and stepped outside into the dark night.

Chapter six

The late-afternoon sky was gray as the day was ageing. It was lined with dark clouds, foreboding a heavy rain which would definitely fall later that day and accompanied itself with a fresh, streaming wind; icy cold to the touch. Pinkie and Maud stood outside, underneath a marble arch leading to the threshold of a small house. The wind blew through their manes and tails, but the ponies looked ahead at the curious building. The house was made of corrugated sheets of steel, painted a light, harmonic blue and topped with a pointy roof. It was surrounded by a pale white fence leading all the way to the back of the house, but neither of the ponies could see the backside. Slowly they stepped on the gray marble path leading to the front door.

“So… why are we here again?” Maud asked her sister.

“To go inside,” Pinkie answered.

“And what is inside?”

Pinkie grinned mysteriously. “A surprise; you’ll see.”

As they reached the front door, Pinkie knocked three times with the marble knocker—a minute later, the door opened.

“Well hello there,” the mare in the doorway said. She had a very dark-gray coat; almost as black as the clouds outside. Her mane and tail were totally white however, streaked with gray and black lines, and bound together in a neat braid. “You must be Pinkie Pie, and is that your sister Maud? Please do come in; of course we’ve been expecting you.”

Pinkie stepped inside, followed by her sister with a puzzled expression on her face.

“Welcome, Maud Pie, my name is Anthracite,” the mare said, and shook Maud’s hoof. Maud looked at her, still very confused.

“Pinkie had sent me a telegram telling of your arrival this afternoon.” Anthracite gleamed with delight. “It is truly marvelous to have two more foreign rock enthusiasts here in Iceland. Not everypony is able to appreciate the calmness and serenity of rocks, stones and minerals nowadays. Especially now with all those outdoor frivolities those young mares and colts like to do—dangerous business, if you ask me.” Anthracite paused and shook her head. “But of course I won’t bore you with my old mare’s chatter. You can go and watch the living room, and I’ll go to the study and be back in a few moments, alright?”

Pinkie nodded; Maud didn’t know what to say.

Then Anthracite walked across the corridor and opened the door to the living room. “Behold.”

Pinkie pushed Maud ahead of her, and together they walked inside. There, Maud froze.

The living room was enormous, much bigger than the outside had suggested. On the wooden floor stood many glass cabinets, showcases, tables, stands and pillars, which housed rocks and minerals of all shapes and sizes. There were hundreds of them, probably even more than Maud was able to count. The chandeliers, floating beneath the ceiling, cast a warm candlelight on the enormous collection below, making them shine and sparkle like a lightshow. A serene silence reigned, broken only by the ponies’ warm breaths.

Maud was bewildered; her mouth open in surprise and her eyes shimmering as bright as the rocks she was gazing at. She was unable to speak, even though she wanted to. She felt a warm glow from the inside, something she had rarely felt before, and never as intense like right now. Slowly, her mouth curved into a smile, growing broader with every stand she looked at, until finally her gaze landed on Pinkie Pie, standing next to her with a cheeky grin.

“Thank you so much!” Maud said surprisingly loud, and gave her sister a kiss on the cheek.

“Hehe, the best has yet to come, you know…” Pinkie whispered.

Then Maud stepped further into the rock museum, unable to restrain her curiosity any longer. She started trotting from stand to stand, from cabinet to cabinet and from table to table; her eyes growing larger with every assortment she saw. “Oh, Pinkie, it’s marvelous!” Maud said from the other side of the room, creating a small echo. “There’s obsidian, calcite, basalt, Heulandite, stilbite, rhyolite, dacite and even… Icelandite!”

“There’s a rock called Icelandite?” Pinkie asked, and trotted towards her sister at table which showcased a dull, gray rock; cut in two to reveal a white streak.

“Yes,” Maud said passionately. “It got its name because it’s unique to Iceland; I read about it in my mineralogy books. You see, normally in continental, cogenetic series of volcanic rocks, the concentration of iron decreases with increasing silica content, but—”

“For Icelandite, it is quite the opposite,” a deep voice coming from the doorway finished for her. “It is very rich in iron.”

“Professor Steinnheart!” Maud exclaimed.

She turned around and trotted towards the sharply-dressed stallion. She made a small, formal bow before him—which she knew was a custom with Icelandic horses—and he bowed back with a smile. “Welcome to my humble home,” the professor said, “and to my humble collection, of course.”

Maud once more didn’t know what to say. She turned around at Pinkie, who had caught up with her by now. “How did you know all of this?”

“You want the long or the short version?”

“The short version, please,” Professor Steinnheart said, “for I am dying to show you both my whole collection.”

To that, Pinkie Pie swallowed hard. This is gonna be a long day, she thought. But then she quickly recomposed herself and looked both ponies in the eyes. “Well, I met someone in Hestur Harp who mentioned a rock museum. Then I asked around Reinkjavík in the morning and discovered that the Reinkjavík Rock Museum is owned by you, Professor Steinnheart, and that it’s right here. So I sent a telegram to your wife Anthracite and asked—” But then Pinkie Pie stopped suddenly and sniffed a few times; she got distracted by a strange scent in the air. “Hey, what’s that smell?”

Professor Steinnheart clopped his front hooves together in delight. “Ah, my lovely Anthracite has made some tea for us. Shall we have some before I show you my collection?”

“I’d love to,” Maud said.

“Splendid! I hope you like rock-tea. It is an Icelandic specialty, and nopony makes better rock-tea than my Anthracite.”

“That sounds wonderful,” Maud said, and followed the professor out the living room. Behind them, Pinkie Pie made a face; as she thought of a thousand confectionary goods which would taste better than rock-tea.

**

After the tea, Professor Doctor Steinnheart showed the Pie sisters around the living room, presenting his collection with fiery enthusiasm. He went from stand to stand, standing still at each one and explaining a few dozen facts and details about the rocks lying on them—which usually took him about fifteen minutes per stand. Maud Pie hung at the professor’s lips whenever he spoke, taking in everything he said, asking many questions and discussing several theories extensively.

This went on and on and after two hours, they had covered about a quarter of the professor’s collection. In those two hours, Maud Pie had probably talked more than she had ever done in her entire life, because she never really had somepony to talk to about her greatest passion: rocks and minerals. Although there were a few other ponies at her university where she studied mineralogy, those were by far not as intelligent, well-read or known as Professor Doctor Steinnheart. The Professor even surpassed all of Maud’s own university teachers in his grace and speech.

Pinkie Pie sauntered behind them, slower and slower as time and boredom went by. She wasn’t really listening to the overload of information Professor Steinnheart shared so extensively. It was a good thing the professor didn’t seem to spend much attention to Pinkie Pie, because she didn’t want to be rude yawning and looking in other directions all the time. Despite having slept like a pink rose, Pinkie Pie still felt sapped and exhausted somehow. A drastic lack of energy and motivation felt like a hole in Pinkie’s spirit, and even thinking was a challenge for her—therefore, she didn’t bother to think. Pinkie shut down her mind and saved just enough energy to remain standing and pretending to be interested in Professor Doctor Steinnheart and his rock museum.

“And this here, my dear visitors, is one of my most prized possessions: a piece of Iceland spar—or optical calcite, as it is often called. Although I prefer the name Iceland spar, because ponies only call it ‘optical calcite’ for its use in microscopes as lenses and such,” Professor Steinnheart said with a sour face. Before him on the table was a small, square rock, almost wholly transparent and colorless. “Iceland spar is a calcite, like the rock we saw before, and the one before that”—Steinnheart laughed—“and actually the one before that, and the one before that too.”

Pinkie Pie suppressed a sigh. Here we go again, she thought. Is it just me, or is every rock ‘one of his prized possessions.’ Pinkie pretended to look at the stone before her, but she actually gazed out the window. Outside, the black clouds had caught up with the house, and rain poured down from them, dripping loudly on the ground and against the roof. There was no wind, though, which was a bit unusual in Iceland. Suddenly Pinkie noticed a few irregular shapes, which were hard to discern in the cloudy gloom. Probably plants, she thought indifferently, although she couldn’t imagine any plant strong enough to survive in this harsh climate. Now that Pinkie had looked at the drenching rain outside, she thought about Professor Steinnheart’s speech and hoped, oddly enough, that it would continue for still a while, right to the point where the rain would stop and she and Maud wouldn’t have to traverse the bad weather.

“Oh, I see you are looking at our garden, Miss Pinkie Pie,” Professor Steinnheart suddenly said to her.

Pinkie jolted and looked quickly at the professor. “Y-y-yes,” she stuttered, “I-I-I… was just… eh… wondering what those things are outside.”

The Professor closed his eyes and smiled. “That is our delightful sculpture garden, made by my lovely Anthracite.” Then his eyes shot open and put his hoof to his forehead. “Of course, how could I forget our beautiful sculpture garden! I have spent so much time showing you my collection, and left my beautiful wife’s work out cold, literally. Let’s take a look, I bet Anthracite would love to tell you all about her creations.” And with that, Professor Steinnheart turned abruptly around, and started walking back to the doorway.

“B-but it’s raining cats and rocks—I mean cats and dogs outside,” Pinkie said.

The Professor turned around. “There is no such thing as bad weather, Miss Pinkie Pie, there’s only bad temper,” he said, smiling as enthusiastically as Pinkie Pie once did.

**

After a minute they were all outside; four little ponies standing in the streaming rain, gazing at the various rock sculptures scattered around them. Anthracite stopped with every sculpture and explained in detail the meaning of the shapes, sizes, colors, holes, twists, bends and emotions incorporated in her pieces of art. She had just as much to tell about her rocks and minerals as the professor had done about his; probably even more. With every new sculpture, Maud’s interest and enthusiasm grew, as she listened to Anthracite’s beautiful, poetic illustrations of her art.

“This one is called: ‘Fegurð,’ which means ‘beauty’ in Icelandic,” Anthracite said, standing still at a boring, grey, oval shaped rock. “It is made of—”

“Granodiorite!” Maud exclaimed, and made a small jump.

“Indeed,” Anthracite said, “you have a good eye, Miss Maud Pie.” She looked at the rock and stroked it gently. “This sculpture represents the beauty in the simple and unadorned; the sober and the selfless. As you can see, I’ve chosen not to make any holes of cracks or other frivolities in it; just an oval shape. For me, the shape and color radiates tranquility and beauty in the heart; such beauty as Iceland radiates in my heart.”

“That sounds… wonderful,” Maud said with watery eyes.” I can feel its serenity too. I feel what you feel, Mrs. Anthracite.”

They continued to the next sculpture, a few hoofsteps away, but Pinkie Pie didn’t immediately follow along. She stood still and looked at ‘Fegurð’ for a while longer; not because she thought it very interesting, but because she had to try her best to summon some willpower. The rain was still falling down rapidly, and had already drenched her funky, curly mane into a straight mess drooping down her left cheek. Her tail was soaked as well, and drops of cold rainwater dribbled down on the pebble strewn path below. Pinkie Pie lowered her head and blinked slowly—she could hardly collect enough energy to open her eyes. She was soaking wet, chilled to the bone, and bored to the point of exhaustion. Very slowly, she turned her head towards the others. They were already looking at another sculpture, this one looking even plainer and grayer then the one before. But Pinkie wasn’t looking at the sculpture, she was looking at her sister. Pinkie saw that Maud was standing next to Professor Steinnheart as they both listened to Anthracite’s story behind this next piece of art. “Hey Pinkie, are you coming?” Maud called back to her. “This one’s amazing!”

“Coming!” Pinkie managed to yell back through the sound of the splattering rain on the path. Then she saw them resuming appreciating the art and listening to Anthracite’s story. Suddenly, Pinkie noticed Maud close her eyes, smile and skip into the air three times; just as she used to do. Seeing this, an emotional and physical boost ran through Pinkie’s body, from her head to her hooves. She saw the fruits of her labor: an extroverted Maud; a Maud who had completely come out of her shell during this PSSSD; a Maud who was—and more importantly, looked—intensely happy and totally in her element. That was what Pinkie did it for; that was her goal. She could feel some warmth and energy seep back into her head and limbs. Then Pinkie lifted her head and slowly walked over to the rest of the ponies, putting up a smile with some effort. She genuinely hoped for Maud that she would be smiling forever on the tour, but hoped for herself that either that—or the rain—would end soon.

**

“Thank you both so much for your visit,” Professor Steinnheart said, standing together with Anthracite on the threshold of his home.

“No, thank you for your hospitality,” Maud said back, “it was the most educational and inspiring thing I’ve ever done.”

The professor laughed heartedly. “You are very welcome, Miss Maud Pie, and you too, Miss Pinkie Pie.” He looked at both ponies, and then back to Maud. “And remember, if you ever need any material or reference for your mineralogy studies, you can always write me or send me a telegram.”

“I will,” Maud said, “we’ll keep in touch for sure.”

“And if you ever find yourself here in Iceland again, you are always welcome in our home,” Anthracite said.

“Thank you,” Maud said, but then she remembered something she wanted to ask the dark mare. “Can I ask you one more thing, Mrs. Anthracite?”

“But of course.”

”I would love to have your recipe for the rock-tea, if that’s alright with you, ” Maud said.

Anthracite grinned. “I’m afraid that is a family secret, Miss Maud Pie, but I’ll let you in on a secret: it contains only the finest Icelandic granite.”

Maud smiled, and made a formal bow to the two Icelandic ponies—Pinkie did the same.

“Farewell! May good weather find you wherever you venture!” Anthracite said, and together with her husband, she waved the Pie sisters goodbye.

Chapter seven

Slowly, careful enough not to drop it, Pinkie Pie moved through the hotel café, balancing a steaming cup of coffee on her nose like it was nothing. There was extra sugar, extra milk and even extra caffeine in it, as Pinkie hoped it would help her whisk away her lingering numbness. Maud was skipping cheerfully beside her, talking nonstop about the many activities they could do on this next day of their Pie Sisters Surprise Swap Day (which was beginning to look like a Pie Sisters Surprise Swap Week). But Pinkie wasn’t really listening, as she was too busy waking up.

As they reached the hotel lobby, a familiar voice greeted them. “Hey Pies, how are you doing?”

“Hello there, Air Miles,” Maud said back at the pilot, “we’re doing fine. How’s your balloon doing?”

The pilot smiled broadly. “I fixed it, all by myself.” But then he realized who he was talking to: the mare who had said next to nothing on the long flight to Iceland. Air Miles looked over the rim of his new sunglasses to Maud and noticed the change in her tone and posture. Then he looked over to Pinkie Pie, who clumsily put her cup of coffee on a nearby table and looked at him with hazy eyes. “Hey, is she alright?”

As Pinkie Pie felt the gazes of her friends on her, she quickly jumped up and stood as straight as she could. “Yup, I’m fine, frivol, funny, fantastic and fit as a fiddling filly,” she said, shaking her head wildly with every word she uttered, “and of course many more words which begin with an f.” She picked up her cup of caffeine and emptied it in one big gulp. “Yup, yup, yup, all ready for a new PSSSD and a new… adventure,” she continued, although that last word came out a bit timid. Then Pinkie scooted closer to Air Miles until their noses bumped together. “Why did you ask, Miles?”

Air Miles pushed the weird pink mare slowly away from him. “Well… you just look different—the both of you, actually.”

“Different, hahaha, different,” Pinkie said with a frantic giggle; her pupils grew tiny. “We’re not different at all, I’m just the same old, cheerful, funny, happy Pinkie Pie and”—she paused—“Maud Pie, hihihi.”

“Alright… I guess,” Air Miles said, a bit unsettled by that last squeaky giggle of her. ”I guess you just got a new mane-style.”

Pinkie looked up and to her left, where her mane still hung over the side of her face. “YES, that’s it! A new mane-style! Do you like it?” she asked the pilot quickly.

“Eh… it’s nice.”

“Oh thank you!”

An awkward silence followed, but an escape popped up in Pinkie’s head. “Maud, why don’t you tell Air Miles about our amazing adventures so far, while I go and get another coffee. Would you guys like some too? It’s good stuff!”

But Pinkie didn’t wait for an answer and she zipped through the lobby towards the hotel café.

Air Miles and Maud looked at each other for a second or two. “She’s acting weird, don’t you think?” Air Miles said.

“No, she’s just Pinkie Pie,” Maud answered, “just the way she always is.”

**

Phew, Pinkie thought, that almost went wrong. She rubbed her temples with her hooves. That pilot needs to know when to stop talking. Maud is so cheerful now, and I don’t want anypony to ruin that. The barmare came and placed a cup of coffee on the bar. “Enjoy.”

“Thanks,” Pinkie said, although she knew she didn’t even like coffee.

But had she enjoyed this PSSSD in icy Iceland? That was the question she asked herself as she gazed through the window—outside, it was raining again.

Well, she had given Maud a good time, wasn’t that what she liked to do: giving other ponies a good time with parties and such? Yes, Pinkie concluded, making Maud happy makes me happy. She thought about all the crazy stuff she had done with Maud: visiting a volcano, attending a rock lecture, visiting a rock museum… Not as crazy as she had expected, actually.

So Air Miles has repaired his balloon, Pinkie thought, that means we can go home whenever we want. She took a sip of her coffee and frowned. I wonder what’s gonna happen once we get back to Ponyville. Would Maud become silent again when we reach home? Pinkie sighed. I hope not.

Then she thought about the things she wanted to do at first: a comedy show, a crazy sleigh ride, and Canterklúbb; they had missed out on all of those things. Pinkie sighed again and looked down, she actually didn’t even care anymore.

Suddenly, a terrifying roar cut through the air—it came from outside. The glass in the windows shook and Pinkie Pie fell off her barstool. However, she quickly stood up and scooted on top of it again, pretending as if nothing happened. The other ponies in the café got up with fear on their faces and gathered at the window with a loud hubbub. Moments later, Maud and Air Miles came galloping inside the café. “Pinkie!” Maud called, “there’s a troll raging through Reinkjavík!”

“Oh.”

“We have to do something, or he’ll sack the whole city,” Maud said.

“Can’t think of anything.”

“Me neither,” Air Miles added with a shaky voice, “let’s get out of town and to my balloon, quickly!”

Maud shot him a glance. “What?! We can’t do that!”

“Why not?” Miles said.

“Because he’s looking for us.”

“How do you know that?”

Right at that moment, a lamppost flew through the window of the café; everypony ducked just in time.

“I WILL AVENGE MY BROTHER! WHERE ARE THOSE PONIES!” a booming voice echoed through the shattered window, together with the streaming rain.

“WHAT?! That troll had a brother?” Air Miles asked in shock.

“So it seems,” Maud said, getting up and shaking the dust out of her mane. “Trolls will hold grudges forever. And I’m sure this one won’t stop wrecking the place until he finds us.”

Miles’ panicky eyes shot from side to side. “B-b-but how does he know that we are the ones who petrified his brother?”

“Trolls have a very good sense of smell,” Maud explained. “We lingered at that spot for too long.”

“But—”

“No more buts,” Maud interrupted. “Let’s go!” She grabbed Air Miles and Pinkie by their fore hooves and jumped through the shattered window.

**

“WHERE ARE THOSE PONIES!” the troll boomed at the top of his lungs. He snatched a wooden bench and threw it towards a souvenir shop in blind rage. Downtown Reinkjavík was filled with ponies screaming in panic and running to cover; trying their best to get out of the troll’s way and out of his throwing range. The troll flailed his arms, knocking holes into small buildings and ruining gardens with his big footsteps. “WHY DID THEY TURN MY BROTHER INTO STONE?” he yelled, scooping up a wagon full of dirt and throwing it at a small stallion. “MY BROTHER NEVER DID ANYTHING WRONG!” The stallion dodged the clump of earth only barely and ran to cover. “HE JUST DID WHAT TROLLS ALWAYS DO,” he said as he ran straight into a wall, scattering bricks all over the place. “EATING MEAT AND SCARING OTHERS THINGS!” He picked up big pieces of the wall and threw them into various buildings, the sheer force of the projectiles shredding the metal plates. “COME OUT, PONIES, OR I’LL WRECK ALL OF REINKJAVÍK SINGLE-HANDEDLY.”

Then he saw three little horses fly from one of the buildings and land on the road: a grey mare with spirit sparkling in her eyes, a pink mare with her head low to the ground and a terrified orange stallion, wobbling on his knees. The troll dropped his bricks and narrowed his eyes. He sniffed the air three times and grinned darkly, rage priming in his eyes. “THERE you are!”

“So… what’s the plan?” Maud said, looking left and right.

“Eh… I thought you had a plan,” Miles answered with a quavering voice.

“Actually not, I kinda… jumped right in.”

“Why is there no army or something?” Miles asked desperately. “Where are the authorities?”

“Iceland doesn’t have an army, Miles,” Maud answered.

Pinkie said nothing and blinked slowly.

The troll stopped grinning and ducked low to the ground. He grabbed the concrete road, braced himself, and with all his might pulled a big chunk from it. Then he spun around and hurled the heavy projectile at the three ponies in a terrifying display of strength.

“WATCH OUT!” Maud yelled, and rolled quickly to the side. Air Miles did the same, but Pinkie just kept standing in place. “Pinkie! duck!”

But it was too late, and the concrete chunk landed right on top of the pink pony.

“NO!”

“HAHA!” the troll laughed between heavy breaths.

Maud ran back to the chunk that had squashed her sister. Fueled by sorrow and anger, she started using her hooves to drill through it. In the back of her head, she knew it would be in vain; nopony could survive a hit from such a big chunk of concrete. Nevertheless, she kept drilling, pounding at the stone with her bare hooves, sweat mingled with rainwater dripping from her forehead.

“Pinkie?!”

There she was, sitting in a hole in the middle of the chunk.

Maud hugged her quickly, but then looked her in the eyes, “Why didn’t you run?”

Pinkie shrugged. “Dunno. Not in the mood.”

“What?!”

But Maud didn’t have any opportunity to talk, as a rapid barrage of smaller rocks and fragments of concrete rained down on her and Pinkie. Luckily they all missed or shattered on the concrete chunk, which gave them some cover. Maud crouched and bowed over her sister—she flinched as a few fragments of rock scraped her hide. When the violent barrage ended suddenly, Maud heard the galloping of hooves and saw Air Miles running towards them and joining their fortress. “We gotta do something! He has gone to gather more rocks,” he said, breathing heavily in the dusty air. Then he closed his eyes in panicked concentration, digging through his stressed out mind for a strategy.

“Can’t we blow away the clouds, as we did with the other troll?” Maud asked.

Air Miles flinched. “No! I left the balloon at the crash site; the wind was in the wrong direction to fly it here. Besides”—he looked up at the sky—“those heavy rainclouds would have been too big to blow away; even with my super powerful motor.”

Suddenly another rock shattered on their hideout; dust sprinkled down on the ponies.

“Can’t you just knock the bastard out cold?” Air Miles grumbled. “I saw what you did with that rock we’re in.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“Because Troll skulls are extremely hard; much harder than I can punch. Don’t you ever read fantasy books?”

Miles frowned. “Of course I never read fantasy books! I don’t even read. Well… maybe Mechanic Monthly, but that doesn’t have any trolls in it!”

They could hear a metallic clang in the distance. Quickly the ponies hugged the ground and closed their eyes. A split-second later, the top half of a heavy lamppost ricocheted off their hideout and bounced away.

Suddenly Air Miles’ eyes shot open. “That’s it! The streetlights!”

“What do you mean?”

“Reinkjavík’s streetlights are designed to burn extra bright at night, because it gets super dark here or something—I forgot the reason. Maybe the light is strong enough to chase off the troll or at least daze it.”

“But it isn’t night, Air Miles.”

“That’s why you have to distract that troll, so I can rig the streetlights.” Air Miles stood up and grinned. “I can manipulate everything technical. Ha, I’m so—” but then a chip of rock hit him in the face and stopped his bragging; the troll had continued the assault.

Maud’s eyes became wide with fear. “B-but I can’t.. not now… I feel—”

“No time for feelings, Maud!” Air Miles growled with a pain-stricken face. “Go!”

Maud Pie slowly sidled out of the cover and started walking towards the troll. As she came in closer and closer, a thousand options ran through her mind. “Let’s try to reason with him, just as I did with his brother,” Maud said to herself softly, “now how did I do that again? Eh… hello there, mister troll,” she began, doing her best to sound cheerful instead of terrified.

But the troll didn’t even listen and threw a rock the size of large desk at her.

Maud quickly ducked, and the rock flew over her head, scraping her forelock. But she continued walking. “N-nice day today, isn’t it?”

“IT’S BLOODY RAINING!” the troll yelled as he pulled a young tree out of the ground and hurled it at Maud.

She jumped over the trunk, but caught herself in the leaf-crown and slammed to the ground. Slowly she got up, her mane full of leaves and her head spinning at the impact. Maud tried her best to remember her approach with the first troll, but found it hard to concentrate through the dizziness. Just when the troll started to grab a chunk of sheet metal from one of the houses, something came back to her. “So… why are you doing this, scaring us like that?”

With an ear-wrecking screech, the metal ripped loose. “BECAUSE YOU PETRIFIED MY BROTHER!” the troll screamed over the sound.

“Eh… fair point,” Maud said. Then the troll threw the metal plate at her like a discus. It whizzed through the air. She had barely enough time to see it coming.

“What are you doing! Distract him!” Air Miles yelled from the other side of the street.

Maud lost concentration, slid over a pool of rainwater, and made an awkward jump over the projectile. The razor-sharp metal flashed underneath her. Maud could see her own reflection for a split-second, then winched at a sharp cutting sound behind her. She landed and turned around—luckily, only her tail was severed.

“ENOUGH!” The troll yelled, as he dropped his projectiles. “It was a fun little game, but now it’s OVER!” He walked towards Maud with big, thundering steps and grabbed her in his hand. With his other hand, he reached all the way to the other side of the street to snatch Air Miles. Finally, he cracked open the concrete chunk a little further ahead and lifted Pinkie Pie in the air too. The troll brought both his hands close to his face and sniffed loudly. Pinkie and Air Miles were dangling by their tails in his left hand, while the troll almost squeezed Maud’s belly in his right—she didn’t have much of a tail anymore. “HAH!” the troll boomed, why didn’t I just grab you first? Would’ve saved me a lot of energy! And now I can finish what my brother started, but it’s a shame I can’t tell him how TASTY you will be!”

The ponies looked at the troll’s face, deformed with rage. It looked even bigger and angrier than his brother’s, as Pinkie and Miles could tell from experience. Two sharp, gnarly horns stuck out of his balding head, casting a two long shadows across his face.

The troll blinked his dirty yellow eyes. “Now I’ll get my REVENGE!”

Air Miles started crying. “Why! WHY! I was almost done! Just two more wires! Two more!”

“I-I’m sorry Miles, I just couldn’t make it work,” Maud said softly. “I don’t know why. I felt different than during the first encounter with that troll.”

“Well, not for the best,” Air Miles sneered, then continued crying, “and now we’re all gonna die!”

Maud started sobbing slowly. “I’m sorry… to all of you.”

Pinkie said nothing but blinked.

Suddenly the troll’s eyes shot at his left hand and his pupils narrowed. “WAIT a minute! Why aren’t YOU crying?” he yelled at Pinkie Pie.

“Dunno. Not in the mood,” Pinkie answered.

“WHAT?! But I’m going to eat YOU! Do you think I’m joking?”

“I don’t joke. Not anymore”

“GOOD! Because I’ll munch you first!”

Then something strange happened. A shadow loomed overhead; Air Miles looked up through tear-soaked eyes, whistled a sharp tune, and made some odd gestures.

The troll winched at the sound. “SHUT UP, annoying little horse; I’m eating here!”

“Eat THIS first!” Air Miles cried. But it was too late— the troll tossed poor Pinkie Pie in his mouth and swallowed.

Maud yelled in shock, then felt a jolt go through the troll’s body. The behemoth wobbled on his knees, rocked back and forth, and then slammed onto the ground, head first.

Maud didn’t waste a second and freed herself and Air Miles from the troll’s limp hands. Filled up with adrenaline, she rushed over to its head, ducked underneath, and opened its enormous jaws. “Pinkie!” she yelled inside the dark mouth, “are you alive?”

No answer came.

“Pinkie Pie!”

Still no sound.

“Pinkie, please!”

Maud’s fore hooves began to tremble as her muscles lost strength—even her vision shook as her eyes filled up with desperate tears. Maud blinked hard. Suddenly the slick teeth slipped from her grasp and the troll’s heavy jaws slammed shut with a clang. She wiped her eyes with a hoof, and then turned her head over to the place where she had seen Miles working. There was rusty fuse box with a few loose wires sticking out of it. “Miles!” she yelled with a croaked voice.

“Yes.”

“Let’s petrify this monster!”

She grabbed the pilot by a fore hoof and rushed over to the box. There was a big panel with many wires and switches. Two wires were sticking out: red and blue. Air Miles stripped the insulation off both, twisted them together and flicked a big switch.

Nothing happened. But after a minute, the lanterns of northern Reinkjavík woke up with a jolt—but so did the troll.

“HEY! Where are my ponies!” he bellowed as he rubbed his throbbing head. He started sniffing the air and turning in every direction.

Then the lanterns of eastern Reinkjavík started shining.

“I know you are here…”

Southern Reinkjavík was next.

“AH! There you are!”

Western Reinkjavík was lighted up.

“GOTCHA!”

Then central Reinkjavík exploded with light. The lanterns flared up on every street corner, shining incredibly bright—maybe even brighter than Celestia’s sun. There was also an intense warmth radiating from them, which felt like a thousand cozy campfires, or a hundred active volcanoes.

The troll staggered back, covering his eyes with his hands. He yelled in agony and kneeled down on the ground. Smoke started protruding from his body and he shuddered like baked potato. It was like the troll itself became blazing hot, and the falling raindrops sizzled to vapors on his bulky back. Slowly, his skin turned black and gave off a piping sound. A black color started spreading slowly from his toes to his knees. The troll stood up in his full length and gave a last, deafening roar as the stone crept to his belly and his neck until it finally enveloped his ugly head, making it look even more menacing than it already was.

The rain stopped, the black smoke subsided and the two ponies dared to walk towards the hideous statue. They stopped a few hoofsteps away from it.

After a minute of silence, Maud started crying softly. “She was my sister,” she sobbed. “My little sister.” Maud dropped to the ground and covered her eyes with her hooves. “She saved us all. What would I… What would her friends… What would Ponyville be without her?” Her shoulders twitched up and down a few more times, and tears streamed down the corners of her eyes. She continued crying for many minutes, lost in dark thoughts and memories of her sister. Hopelessness enveloped her, but still Maud tried her best to fight against it, mournful, though, as she was. Slowly she reclaimed her will and energy, and used it to scramble back up without taking her eyes off the statue. Maud breathed in deeply, then breathed out again. “She saved us all… and all of Reinkjavík.” She sobbed one more time. “Now cast in stone forever; a statue forever unseen; a heroine forever unknown.”

Air Miles shifted closer to Maud and put a hoof on her shoulder. He too felt intensely sad, although he did his best to stay strong. Miles was searching hard in his mind for positive things; things that would lessen the burden of the loss. “Stay strong, Maud,” he said after a while. “Pinkie Pie was a unique pony; I could see that outright, even though I haven’t been that long with her and you.” He sighed, fighting back tears. “You know,” he said in a shaky voice, “we can still remember Pinkie, and tell the city of Reinkjavík about her, so they can remember her too.” He wiped his eyes with his hoof as he lost the battle against the tears—still he found some strength to continue, “The fact that she has been turned into obsidian doesn’t have to mean that nopony will ever know her.”

Maud lowered her head and sniffed. “It’s black basalt, not obsidian,” she said, although she knew it didn’t matter. But suddenly, her head shot up. “Basalt!” she exclaimed.

“Whatever,” Air Miles said sadly.

“Basalt sometimes has geodes,” Maud said, her voice swelling.

“What’s a geode?”

“When air gets trapped inside basalt, it can create a cavity filled with crystals from groundwater or hydrothermal solutions!”

“Huh?”

But Maud wasn’t going to clarify her explanation. She braced herself, swung her front hoof and hit the troll’s basalt belly with all her might, smashing it to pieces. Pink dolomite crystals mingled with basalt flew through the air. Maud looked at the crystals. “Calcite with magnesium and a trace of manganese,” she muttered, but then she turned around, focused and peeked inside the hollow belly, straining her eyes. There, barely visible against the pink crystals, was Pinkie Pie.

“Pinkie!” Maud yelled, but her sister didn’t stir.

The statue of the troll started leaning dangerously far towards the front—there was a sound of cracking stone.

Maud jumped inside the troll, snatched Pinkie out of it and jumped out again, faster than the eye could follow. As soon as her hooves touched the street again, the petrified behemoth broke in two and crashed to the ground behind her in a cloud of gray dust.

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.

Chapter nine

The mild rumble of the engine drowned out the sound of the flowing airstream. A sea of clouds stretched beneath; friendly, white clouds telling of a cheerful new day below. Above them there was an endless sky of light-blue, growing darker the higher they looked, and topped with a perfectly round sun, trying its best to spread its warmth to the hot air-balloon.

“You did a good job fixing that balloon, Miles,” Pinkie said. “Even the basket doesn’t creak anymore”; and if to prove it, she bounced up and down rapidly.

“Thanks,” the pilot said, but didn’t take his eyes off a large map he was studying. After a minute he rolled it up awkwardly and flashed a content smile. “We’re going the right way. If we stay at this height, the airstream will carry us all the way back to Equestria.”

“Great. Finally everything goes the way we want it,” Maud said, then knocked her hoof three times on the wooden railing of the basket.

As they progressed on their home journey, everypony settled down. Maud found a nice viewpoint at the front of the basket and looked down at the clouds, silently reflecting on the bygone days. Pinkie Pie was looking intently at Air Miles, who was fidgeting again with maps, compasses, altimeters, windsocks, barometers and many other aerial equipment of which Pinkie didn’t know the name, making sure they would stay on course. Between calculations and predictions, the pilot tried to think about what had happened too. After some minutes, and with a reluctant face, he pulled out a risk assessment form and started jotting down words on it and checking some boxes. When he was done, he folded it neatly, sighed and drew two conclusions: that the past few days were the craziest in his career as a balloonist, and that the travel company had to pay him more—much more. He sighed again and threw an irritated look at Pinkie, who was hanging right above him now, dangling upside-down by her tail and staring at his papers. “Can you please just go and tease your sister instead of me, so I can get you two home again?” Miles snarled.

“Oki-doki-loki,” Pinkie said cheerfully and swung to the other side of the basket.

“And try not to fall down,” Miles called after her. “I don’t want to fill in another one of those forms.”

But Pinkie didn’t hear it and bounced over to her sister, who looked lost in thought. “Hey Maud,” she said, scooting beside her, “how’re you doing? Feeling alright after that crazy party yesterday?”

“Quite well,” Maud said. “Honestly I can’t really remember much of it.”

“Me neither,” Pinkie said, and chuckled. “That means it was a good party.”

Maud gave a thin smile and continued staring in the distance.

“So… what are you thinking about?” Pinkie asked.

Maud turned to her sister; her smile hadn’t faded. “I was actually thinking about a new poem.”

Pinkie smiled teasingly and leaned on the railing. “Let me guess: it’s about rocks.”

Maud grinned. “Yes.”

“I knew it!”

“But it I also want it to be about friendship, and about our special bond together.” She looked up at the blue sky. “I just can’t get to the right words… Do you want to help me?”

“You betcha!” Pinkie let go of the railing and put up a serious face, but her sparkling blue eyes betrayed some playfulness. “What are the first words?”

Maud cleared her throat and closed her eyes solemnly, like she always did when reciting her work. “Rocks. Beautiful and rare—”

“oh,oh,oh.” Pinkie jumped in excitement. “And for ever and ever there!”

“I can work with that,” Maud said smiling. “And what about… different in strength and size…”

“Which can only be seen by the wise.”

Maud chuckled. “You’re making this look easy! Now let’s see”—she tapped her chin with her hoof—“born together, without a mother…”

“But they can’t pretend to be one another.”

“Hey, that’s what I was thinking!”

Pinkie shrugged. “Great minds think alike,” she said teasingly.

Maud continued with a smile, “Because then strange things might come about…”

“And put them into super-duper doubt.”

“But in the end they will have fun…”

To that, Pinkie tilted her head in confusion. “Fun? How can rocks have fun? Or doubt?”

“I don’t know,” Maud said, “be creative.”

“Alright, well,—Pinkie thought hard—“enjoying a little… rock pun?”

Maud’s laugh rolled through the balloon basket. “Yes, that’s it. You’re really getting the hang of it! Now down to the last line: “and both will have their way…”

“On their Pie Sisters Surprise Swap Day.”

They looked at each other for a few seconds, each one of them with sparkling eyes and warm hearts, despite the cold wind. They threw a long embrace, with the glaring sun smiling behind them.

“Yeah, about that Pie Sisters Surprise Swap Day…” Air Miles interrupted, standing suddenly very close to them, “why do you mares call it that?”

Maud flashed her eyes at the pilot. “Don’t you have a balloon to fly?”

“It flies itself now, I made all the adjustments.”

Pinkie turned her gaze at the pilot, although the warmth didn’t leave her heart. “I told you about the PSSSD when we arrived, right?”

“Yes, I remember, and I understand some of it. Like the ‘Pie Sisters’ part; that’s you two, obviously. Of course it was a hay of a ‘surprise’ too.” he grinned sarcastically. “And I understand that it was supposed to be a ‘day’. I just don’t understand the ‘swap.’”

To that, both Pinkie’s and Maud’s eyes widened in shock. “Oh no! totally forgot!” Pinkie cried out.

“Me too!” Maud said.

“What’s a PSSSD without a swap?”

Air Miles stared in confusion from one Pie to the other.

“It’s ok, Pinkie,” Maud said. “We’ll just swap twice as many gifts at our next PSSSD, alright?”

But Pinkie laid down her ears and slumped to the ground. She started gazing in front of her into the empty air, disappointed as she was. Pondering whether or not he’d said something wrong, Miles returned to his instruments, even more confused than he was at first.

But then an idea flashed into Maud’s mind and she started fumbling in her pockets. A second later she pulled out both Boulder and Amy and put them down on the wooden railing, although with a leg distance between rock and mineral. The pink amethyst shimmered in the intense sunlight, unfiltered by any clouds or windows. Pinkie Pie couldn’t help but turn her gaze to the beautiful mineral, the sparkle reflecting in her blue eyes. Slowly Maud slid the mineral towards her, careful enough not to tip it over the edge. “I want you to have her, Pinkie.”

With great effort, Pinkie Pie ripped her gaze off Amy and shook her head. “What?”

“I want you to keep Amy as a memory of our trip,” Maud said, “as a Pie Sisters Swap Gift.”

Pinkie looked from the amethyst to Boulder to Maud. “But what about Boulder? Isn’t he gonna miss his loved one?”

“Unfortunately Boulder and Amy broke up.” Maud saw Pinkie giggle at her choice of words. “Boulder said she wasn’t his type, and so did Amy. I think they made the right choice.”

“Well, they are pretty different…”

Maud grabbed Pinkie’s hoof, and carefully placed the amethyst in it; then she put her own hoof on top, extinguishing the fiery shimmer. “Take good care of her, alright?”

“Pinkie promise,” Pinkie Pie said solemnly. “I don’t think she’ll be alone for long anyway. I bet Gummy and her will be as close as you and me in no time.” She winked. “He can be quite a gentlegator, you know?” Then her voice grew soft. “It’s just a shame I don’t have anything for you...”

“You know what I think, Pinkie?” Maud said, as she put her foreleg on Pinkie’s shoulder.

“What?”

“You gave me the greatest gift any sister could have.” She turned her gaze to the beautiful sun. “You gave me a wonderful PSSSD with my little sister.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Then Pinkie Pie laid her foreleg on her big sister’s shoulder, and together they looked at the blazing sun, basking in the light of their reignited friendship, as solid as rock.

The end.

Author's Notes:

Thank you very much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. Would you like to give me a thumbs up and leave a comment? (especially if you're from Iceland) That would really help me. Thank you :)