//------------------------------// // Welcome to Mount Aris // Story: Too Many Pinkie Trips // by RCharge //------------------------------// "Hu-wha?" Pinkie's eyes shot open as she bolted upright from the bed. The last thing she remembered was some sort of announcement that the airship was coming to their first stop, but not much else after that. "Guess I fell asleep… What time is it?" Pinkie raised a hoof to her chin. As she attempted to recollect what happened after the announcement, another squeal of the speaker broke the silence of the room. Pinkie's head turned to the cone, and she listened intently. After the announcement was over, Pinkie rose from the bed and made her way over to the curtains. "A storm? I didn’t hear anything." Pinkie slid the curtains open just as the airship lurched to the left.  The sudden motion caused Pinkie to wobble unsteadily on her hooves. Thinking quickly, she gripped the curtains to keep herself from toppling over. She dared not move until she felt the airship level out. “Whoa! What’s going on out there?” she asked as rain began beating against the window and the low rumble of thunder made her jump. Glancing down, she saw ponies on the deck staring up into the sky and starting to panic. She followed their gazes to the storm looming overhead.  Lightning crackled in the sky as several dots were zipping around the edges of the cloud, trying to find purchase where none was available. A bolt arced down towards the airship and disappeared out of sight. Soon, she heard the dulled stomping of hooves. As she glanced down, it was just in time to see that the ponies were already gone, including Luna and the others. She hurriedly shut the blinds and stormed out of the room to find them. Meanwhile, down below in the main foyer area of the ship, startled ponies stampeded the hallways in an effort to return to their cabins and gather their belongings. The attendants attempted to calm the crowd, however their words fell on deaf ears as each passenger tried to shove past the next in order to get through the small doorway to the hallway that housed the cabins. Eventually, the throng managed to free itself from the small doorway and clogged the hall.  As the first clone made her way down to the lower level, a sea of bodies met her. She knew that trying to push her way through would be more trouble than it was worth. Turning around, she returned the way she came to find another way down to the main area. At this time, Sunburst, Luna, and the second Pinkie appeared in the foyer as the panicked crowd died down enough to be manageable. “Out of all the bumbling, idiotic decisions, this one has got to be the worst!” Sunburst exclaimed over the commotion as the sharp peal of thunder caused him to jump slightly. “I mean, who leaves a storm out in the ocean of all places?” he grumbled.  The rain outside turned into a downpour. The patter of rain against the roof of the building attempted, yet utterly failed, to drown out the panicked cries of the startled passengers. Meanwhile, the first Pinkie made a loop around the upstairs hallway to the left side of the ship. When she arrived at the staircase, she barreled down the stairs towards the ground floor. Once at the bottom, she was grateful to find the crowd of ponies thinned out considerably on this side of the ship. As she got closer to the foyer, she caught the tail end of the conversation between Luna and Sunburst.    Pinkie peeked her head in just in time to see Luna’s face contort into a scowl. “We can agree on this, Sunburst. This is something that we need to speak with the weather team captain about,” she declared before her expression softened into one of concern. “However, that can wait until after our trip. For now, we must adjourn to our cabins and hopefully ride out the storm.” Before either Sunburst or the second Pinkie could comment further, Luna already distanced herself from them.  The first Pinkie quickly ducked her head out and around the lip of the doorway right before Luna disappeared into the hallway. Satisfied that the others were safe, Pinkie quickly made her way back to her room before Luna could notice she was gone. “I don’t exactly have high hopes right now, Sunny,” the second Pinkie admitted ruefully as she watched Luna disappear around the doorframe. “I mean, you saw it, I saw it, even Princess Luna saw it!” she exclaimed as she turned to face Sunburst. Before he could blink, Pinkie was suddenly muzzle to muzzle with him. “This storm is dangerous!” she exclaimed, her forelegs waving dramatically for emphasis.  Outside of the building, a bolt of lightning pierced the air and made its way towards the airship. At the last moment, the bolt forked as if the ship sliced straight through it. One part grazed the top of the balloon, the other part angled itself downward towards the ground. In the distance, the stray bolt found purchase on the mainland of Equestria, hitting one of the trees in the Everfree Forest. Sparks flew as the bolt ignited the wood of the aforementioned tree and started a small fire. Before the fire could spread to the surrounding areas, it was rapidly extinguished by the torrent of rain outside.  “I know, Pinkie.” This time, it was Sunburst who rested a hoof on Pinkie’s back. “All we can do is trust the judgement of the captain to pilot us through this storm. I’m sure that they’re more than capable of handling it. After all, I’m sure that this isn’t the first time they flew an airship. Let’s just head back to our cabin until this passes, alright?” Pinkie shrugged and followed Sunburst out of the foyer. As they struggled to return to their rooms, the intercom crackled to life. “Attention, passengers, this is your captain speaking.” Panic was momentarily replaced with curiosity, and the crowd skidded to a halt to listen. “I have just received word that the weather team has finally started to get control of the situation.” Cheers erupted from the passengers as they began to slowly file into their cabins. “We were advised that we should make an emergency landing until the storm has passed overhead, which will delay our next stop by a few hours as previously stated. We thank you for your patience while we work through this trying situation, and as always, thank you for flying Canterlot Air.” The moon was high in the sky by the time the weather team was finally able to corral the storm and move it further inland. Crew members climbed up onto the deck to mop up the excess water and to assess the damage to the hull and balloon. Eventually, the airship lurched as it slowly ascended back into the sky and continued onward. Luna and the first clone were asleep in their cabin. Throughout the entire ship, most of the other passengers were as well. No sooner than they were back in the air, the intercom squealed to life as a familiar voice could be heard. "Attention, passengers, this is your captain speaking." Most of his words fell on deaf ears, however he continued on regardless. "We are approaching our first destination, Mount Aris, in a little under thirty minutes. All passengers looking to disembark should pack their luggage and begin to congregate on the main deck. Once again, we are approaching our first destination, Mount Aris, in a little under thirty minutes. All passengers looking to disembark should pack their luggage and begin to congregate on the main deck. As always, thank you for flying Canterlot Air.” At this time, the second clone had already packed her luggage and joined Sunburst, who was standing on the deck with a small group of other ponies in various states of exhaustion. He was staring out to sea as the airship began to approach their destination. In the distance, a large rock formation could be seen bathing in the silver light given off by Luna’s moon.  The formation, which looked more and more like a mountain the closer they got, was being split down the middle by what looked to be a verdant hill. Small pinpricks of light dotted the hillside at random intervals; when the airship got a bit closer, the source of the lights appeared to be a rough outline of houses that could be seen along the hillside. Sandy beaches and grass enveloped the base of the formation. “Finally, we’re almost there,” Sunburst muttered to nopony in particular. “And it only took us the better part of a day!” Pinkie chirped, which caused Sunburst to jump. “P-Pinkie?” he blurted out as he spun around to face her. "When did you get here?” “Right around the same time as you, Sunny!” she exclaimed as she stood next to him. “I’m equal parts nervous and excited! This feeling is so strange, it needs a word to describe it! Hmm, how about... nercited!"  Sunburst simply glanced over and raised an eyebrow. Pinkie rubbed her chin with her hoof. "No, that won’t do. Ooh-ooh! How about excervous?" When Sunburst rolled his eyes and glanced away, Pinkie decided that she was free to continue. "Excervous it is, then! Hmm… excervous. That’s a funny word to say. Excervous, excervous, exceeeeervous!” Sunburst toned her out in favor of his own thoughts. The fact that they were going to be investigating sacred ruins held his attention more than Pinkie and her antics. As the duo stood there, the rough outline of a wooden platform came into view. A support consisting of steel beams that jutted out from the rocks could also be seen as the ship lurched to the left. Eventually, they saw a large stone disk which appeared to grow from the top of the wooden pier, with several layers of stone underneath to create a natural stairway down to the wooden platform below. As the ship descended, they noticed a single building which sat off to the left, along with a hippogryph who was positioned at a small table behind a ticket window. Her head rested on her forelegs, and she appeared to not be moving. ‘Must’ve drawn the short straw. Can’t say I haven’t been in that position before...’  Pinkie thought as the airship slowly approached the platform, landing on the stone disk with a creak of protest before silencing itself with begrudged acceptance.  This act startled the hippogryph, who shot her head up and quickly rubbed the sleep from her eyes. “Hu-who what? I-I’m awake, boss! I’m not sleeping on the job!” After a few blinks to banish the mist from her eyes and take a few calming breaths, the hippogryph noticed the airship and quickly left the booth to make herself presentable as well as notify someone to take her place. Eventually, Pinkie and Sunburst saw her raising a makeshift ramp on the side of the airship.  “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! I guess I must’ve dozed off because not many airships usually come in at this time of night over here, so I figured it was going to be a slow night. I guess I was just proven wrong! Anyway, welcome to Mount Aris!” She apologized a few more times before she led Pinkie and Sunburst off of the airship. Behind them, the small crowd of ponies took this opportunity to follow them. Taking a moment to get their bearings, the familiar sight of the ticket kiosk started drawing the crowd in. A second gryph could be seen behind the window to assist the ones who disembarked. Pinkie was drawn from her stupor when she realized the hippogryph beside her was still speaking. “Are you two here for a visit, a vacation, or?” “Actually, we’re here to talk with Queen Novo!” Pinkie interjected with her usual smile. “We’re here to go spelunking! Isn’t that right, Sunny?” she asked as her hoof lightly jabbed Sunburst’s side. “Ow--Y-yes, that’s right. I’m here on a, uh, archeological study of Seaquestria. I was hoping to meet with the queen today, but our airship got delayed,” he explained as the hippogryph nodded lightly. “Of course, of course! I can show you to a roost--that’s what we call a home, an inn, basically anywhere we can rest--and you can stay there until we can inform our queen of your arrival and prepare you for your trip down below. Isn’t that exciting?” she eagerly babbled while she fluttered her wings.  Without waiting for a reply, she started flying away. When she looked back and noticed they weren’t following her, she stopped for a moment and was about to call out to them. That was when she noticed that neither of them had wings. She quickly flew back and landed, awkwardly rubbing a foreleg with one of her claws. “Whoops, eheh, sorry… I’m just used to flying everywhere. Come on, follow me!” she stated as she began walking away at a leisurely pace. Sunburst and Pinkie grabbed their belongings and followed after her. After they stepped off of the pier, they continued down the street in companionable silence. As they walked, they noticed that this particular street of Hippogriffia was quiet at this time of night. Since no street lamps were posted along the street, they had to depend on moonlight to illuminate their path. Eventually they reached the center of town, where a single building was fully lit. Hippogryphs flitted to and fro inside, and the front door was wide open. "You can head in and talk to the hippogryph behind the bar. I'm afraid this is where we part ways; gotta get back to the pier now. I still got a job to do, after all! Good luck!" With a light wave, the hippogryph accompanying them flew off back to the port. Pinkie and Sunburst waved goodbye and entered the building.  The sounds and sights assaulted them all at once. Hippogryphs darted around the slightly cramped room, placing mugs down on tables as several others were talking about a rather nasty storm they saw earlier. In the corner, one of them was playing a piano, and a small group of obviously inebriated patrons raucously sang along. On the other side of the room, a single gryph was polishing a long oak bar. Pinkie and Sunburst approached him. The former reared up to rest her forelegs on the bar and bluntly asked, “Hey! Do you have any rooms available?”  As the airship made its way to their next destination, Luna was awake at this time to help her moon start its slow descent in the sky. No sooner than she lit up her horn, a groggy voice pierced the silence of the room. “Princess?” Pinkie was rubbing her eyes with a foreleg as she propped herself up on the bed with the other. “You’re awake a little early to lower the moon. Is everything okay?” Luna froze. She slowly turned her head to look at her, with an uneasy expression on her face as she dimmed her horn. “To tell thee the truth, Ms. Pie, everything is not okay. We are… unsure if we are the right pony for the job.” She swirled her head back out to sea, to gaze upon her moon once more. “Maybe we should have let our sister undertake this trip. She is more, as the young ponies say, in the know about these things.” “Aw... What's the matter, Princess?” Pinkie pronked over to Luna’s side. “Where’s that ‘can-do’ attitude you showed at the start of this trip?” she asked with her usual cheerful smile and a harmless hook of a foreleg. “I thought you wanted to prove you were capable of handling yourself?” Pinkie’s head tilted slightly as she looked up at Luna with a curious expression. “Yes, thou are correct in assuming this, Ms. Pie. However, that was only our wounded pride speaking at the time. Now that we have had time to think over our previous actions, we can see that it was foolish of us to undertake such a venture. We know next to nothing ab--” Pinkie lightly jabbed her hoof onto Luna’s mouth, silencing her. “Nonsense, Princess! You’re going to go out there and do a super-de-duper job!” Pinkie paused as she slowly lowered her hoof. “If you have doubts, you don’t have to worry. After all, you got me! You got this… no, we got this. Together,” she added. The conversation died, and an awkward silence grew between them. Eventually, Luna let out a soft sigh and lit her horn, guiding her moon towards its slow descent to the horizon. “We do hope thou are correct, Ms. Pie. We do not wish to make a faux pas, there might be more at stake than just losing out on bits and opportunities here,” she stated as she unsuccessfully stifled a yawn. “However, we shall attempt it, if for nothing more than our sister’s and yours sake.”  Satisfied, Pinkie returned to her bed and slipped back under the covers. “That’s the spirit! Good night, Princess,” she said as she flopped onto her back and fell asleep nearly instantly. With some lingering doubts, but a much clearer mind, Luna climbed back into bed and went back to sleep.