Synchrony

by Fangren

Chapter 13 - What Goes Up, Must Come Pie

“Are we there yet?”

“No.”

“Are we there yet?”

“No!”

“Are we there... yet?”

“For the last time, no!” Limestone growled, sending a glare over her shoulder. “Now stop asking that before I miss our exit,” she added at a lower grumble, putting her eyes back on the road.

Pinkie had been tragically exiled to the middle row of the family minivan because her eldest sister didn't want her messing with the radio, which was completely ridiculous because all Pinkie would want to do is find a good station to get them even more excited for their Pie Sisters Get-Together than they already all were, which would be super easy because she knew for a fact that there was a 'Geology of the World' program on CPXT in like five minutes, and what could remind them more of Maud than rocks?

But Limestone didn't want the radio on right now because it distracted her, and since she was driving it was her choice and Pinkie accepted that. Even if she did think they were missing a big opportunity. And it left her without much to do on the twenty minute trip to Canterlot International Airport. She'd already imagined a dozen different ways their reunion could go, all of them perfect, but while that was fun it wasn't really an 'I can do this all the way up to the moment what I'm imagining actually happens' sort of fun. Yet all the road trip games she knew couldn't distract her from the anticipation of it all.

Anticipation: it was a blessing and a curse. But she couldn't let it get her down, because nobody needed a mopey sister on the way to picking up their other sister. So she let out a big puff of air straight upwards so that it made her hair wobble, then shifted towards the driver's side window and pulled out her phone. It only took a few seconds to get back to the text she'd gotten from Twilight, and the really good picture of that girl they met that knew about the Sunset Shimmer from the human world. Aka their world.

“Let's see, Amethyst Shine...” Pinkie said to herself, putting on her best Detective face as she peered out of the van window and into the windows of the other cars on the freeway. “Where are you?”

“Do you honestly think you're gonna find her out here?” Limestone asked, looking back at her in the rearview mirror.

“Who knows?” Pinkie replied, shrugging. “Gotta check somewhere, right?” Having found nothing conclusive off the driver's side, Pinkie shifted as far as she could to the right to check the cars outside the passenger side. “Nope,” she said, seeing only a wall. “No Amethyst Shine here!”

Limestone made that half-grumble, half-sigh sound she made whenever she thought something was a waste of time, while Marble just covered her mouth and giggled. Pinkie shifted back to look out of the driver's side again.

She caught a flash of purple skin behind the driver's wheel of the sedan speeding up next to them, and perked up. “Ooh, is that her?” she asked excitedly before catching a better glimpse of the woman. Her face fell a little. “Nope. Unless Twilight was wrong and she's actually super old!”

“You're not gonna find her out here,” Limestone repeated.

“I won't know unless I try!” Pinkie sang with a wide smile, turning around to look out the back of the van even though there was another row of seats and the trunk between her and it, and it could honestly use a cleaning. There was definitely a car behind them, though! But even squinting she couldn't really tell who was inside it.

She could tell that they were at a bend in the road, though. Immediately getting her hopes up, Pinkie grinned and spun around in her seat to confirm that they were, in fact, on the off-ramp.

“Yes! We're almost there!” she squealed, shaking in delight. Even more so once she realized that even Limestone was smiling along with her! “Oooh, get ready Maud, cause here we come!”

Marble nodded, Limestone's grin became sharper, and the three drove on with the airport now in sight.

---

Ten minutes spent mostly trying to find a parking space later, the three Pie sisters found themselves rushing to the terminal their beloved fourth member was scheduled to land at.

“Marble! Find the schedule, see how much time we have!” Limestone barked as they made haste through the surprisingly crowded space. “Pinkie, scout out refreshments and restrooms! You know how Maud gets after long flights! I'll be waiting at the gate!”

“Mmhmm!” Marble nodded before splitting off for the nearest electronic display.

“On it!” Pinkie chorused, even snapping off a salute before dashing off in the opposite direction. She slipped through the crowd of businesspeople, tourists, and families like a ninja, only without all the dark colors. It was pretty easy to find all the things she was looking for – signs were great! - although she didn't have time for a full inspection of every facility with Maud potentially landing right that very moment.

She gasped when that thought occurred to her, and dashed out of the ladies room right as a nice-looking woman in a flowery shirt was about to come in. “Sorry! I might possibly be late to meet my sister right as she gets off her flight!” Pinkie offered as explanation before dashing away from the bewildered woman.

Hurrying back to the gates she located her sisters – only two of them, thankfully – waiting semi-patiently by, but not on, a bench. She approached them at a skid, then snapped a salute to Limestone that made her big sister face-palm. “All facilities accounted for!” she reported with military precision.

“Good,” Limestone said. “Maud's flight already landed, so she should be getting off it soon.”

“Yes!” Pinkie cheered, not especially concerned with the looks she received by the other people milling around for doing so.

---

'Soon' ended up being nearly fifteen minutes later, and at the end of a long and steady stream of other passengers. Pinkie had had to keep Limestone busy by asking her all sorts of questions about her plans for the quarry even though she already knew all of them (what kind of a sister would she be if she didn't?) just to keep Limestone from storming back to where the passengers were getting off just to see what was taking Maud!

Pinkie already knew that it was a one-way exit, and the last thing she wanted was to have her or any of her sisters cause trouble right before Maud arrived. Fortunately, she had Marble there to help.

“Umm... I think... that's her?” she said in her quiet, thoughtful voice, pointing towards the short hallway they'd been watching. Immediately Pinkie and Limestone stopped what they were doing and looked in that direction, and quickly spotted the unmistakeable grays and purples of their sister. She was pulling a pair of wheeled suitcases behind her, and Pinkie thought she looked tired, yet happy.

“It is!” Pinkie exclaimed, her grin growing wide enough that other people might think it was painful. “Good job, Marble!” she told her favorite twin, sharing a Marble High Five (which was like a regular high five but with less oomph behind it).

She turned and looked at Maud again, and saw her stopped at the edge of the waiting area, looking around. Pinkie did the natural thing in that situation, which was jumping up and down excitedly and waving her arms. “Maud! Over here! Maud! Hey! Yoohoo!”

Maud noticed her right away, and with a firm grip on the handles of her luggage made a beeline for the other Pie sisters. They met her halfway, Pinkie charging forward with the greatest enthusiasm but Limestone and Marble following closely and comfortably behind.

“Maud! You're here!” Pinkie greeted formally, arms held wide and soon wrapping around her dear sister.

“Yes,” Maud said as she was hugged. "I am."

“So, how were the Caprine Mountains?” Limestone asked.

“They were good,” Maud said, still being hugged. “I learned a lot about the orogenic forces that cause the exposure of porphyritic intrusive formations.”

“Cool,” Limestone said, actually smiling. “You can tell us all about it on the ride home.” With a brief glance at Pinkie, the second-youngest finally released her hug.

“Okay,” Maud said, readjusting her grip on her luggage handles. But before she could take a step forward, moved to either side of her.

“...we'll take these...,” Marble said with a soft smile.

“Yeah!” Pinkie chimed in, bending down to grab the suitcase on Maud's right. Except that when she tried to pull it along with her, she found it was a lot heavier than expected and had to really yank it to get the wheels rolling again. “Yeesh, what's in this, a bunch of rocks?” she half-joked once she'd caught up to her sisters in a few quick steps.

“Yes,” Maud answered.

“Oh,” Pinkie said, face going blank for a moment. Then she smacked her forehead. “Duh. Of course it's full of rocks!” She laughed, though none of her sisters joined in. That was okay, though.

“...what kind of rocks?” Marble asked softly on Maud's left.

Maud paused for a few moments, then said “I'll tell you on the ride home.” Then she stopped in her tracks and looked around, forcing the others to stop as well. “But first, I'd like to freshen up.”

Limestone looked at Pinkie, and Pinkie stepped forward with a grin. “Right this way!” she said, gleefully taking the lead with her sisters and at least one suitcase filled with heavy rocks trailing behind her.

---

Once Maud was suitably refreshed the quartet left the terminal of Canterlot International for the parking structure, and immediately got lost.

“Why can't they make signs that actually make sense?” Limestone griped as they stopped to get their bearings and failed. “How am I supposed to remember whether I parked in Section 3F76-167G, or 3F67-176G?”

“I'm preeeetty sure it was the first one,” Pinkie said. “Three eff seven six, one-six-seven gee~eee!” she sang, proving her point.

“Okay but where is the freaking place?” Limestone immediately retorted, never one to let a good stewing irritation go to waste. “Everywhere looks exactly the same in this whole stupid structure!”

Marble echoed the sentiment with a particularly worried “Mm-hmm.”

Pinkie put on her thinking face, and even crossed her arms for extra power. “Hmm, let's see. We went up, then down, then took a couple lefts, then went up again, took a right, doubled back and went straight, then took a right to get inside, right?” The arms-crossing hadn't lasted long as she began to gesticulate the directions, but Pinkie could tell she was right.

“So that means we should go... left, then straight, then down, a couple rights, up, and then down again, to find the van again!” Pinkie added, flawlessly reversing her gesticulations without getting her arms tangled up even once.

“...have we been doing that?” Limestone asked.

Pinkie shrugged. “Beats me! I thought you knew where you were going!”

Limestone face-palmed, and Marble gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder.

“I'm pretty sure you parked on the third floor, section G, row seventy-six, column one hundred and sixty-seven,” Maud said without warning. “But I might be wrong. I'm not familiar with airport parking structure labeling conventions.” She pointed at the nearest sign which read '4F02-42S', and then another further down the line which read '4F02-50S'. “The signs have a regular order, so we should be able to follow them.”

The other three shared a look. “Fine, we'll follow them,” Limestone grumbled, trudging off through a gap in the parked cars.

As it turned out, Maud had been completely right about the signs. It only took them a few more minutes to find the van, and most of that was just taking a detour to go down a level. Her bags were loaded into the trunk – and Pinkie learned that only one of them had any rocks in it – and the four piled in afterward, with Maud getting the place of honor in the front passenger seat. They were back on the road soon after.

---

“...so that's how I obtained my third sample of andesite,” Maud said as they drove down the freeway. “It's a common rock in the Caprine Mountains, but this one had an interesting quartz content in it so I decided to take a sample.”

“Ooh, sounds fun!” Pinkie gushed, now sitting behind Maud. “How did Boulder handle you taking so many samples?”

“He was fine with it,” Maud answered after a moment. “He's not really the jealous type.”

“Cool, cool,” Limestone said in a way that kinda suggested she wasn't that interested, her eyes firmly on the road. “So, uh, what kinda mining practices they got out there? Anything new or exciting?”

Once again, it took Maud a bit of time to answer. “Not really,” she said. “I didn't notice them doing anything different from standard mining procedures. If anything, their techniques and equipment are a few years out of date.”

Limestone barked out a laugh. “Knew it! Nobody is better than the Pies at digging up rocks!”

“Yeah!” Pinkie cheered; even if her sister was exaggerating a little bit, there was nothing wrong with taking pride in the family business. Especially when her family loved it! But she herself was excited for way more reasons than simply family pride. “Soooo,” she said slowly, leaning around the seat in front of her with a smile on her face, “now that you're back in Canterlot, what do you wanna do first Maud?”

“Go home,” Maud answered without missing more than one or two beats. “And then unpack.”

“Awesome!” Pinkie smiled. “You heard her Limey, to home we go!”

“I was already heading that way,” Limestone grumbled as she changed lanes.

“Still awesome!” said Pinkie, unperturbed. “Once we're back home—”

“—and unpacked,” Maud interjected.

“And unpacked,” Pinkie repeated with a nod, “then we can finally get the super-awesome spectacular fun started!”

---

“Welcome home, Maudalina,” said Cloudy Quartz, who had greeted her daughters at the front door. “It pleases me to see you well.”

She stepped aside to let Maud enter, Limestone and Pinkie right behind with the luggage and Marble trailing in at the end. Maud looked around at the Pie family homestead – quaint and gray and sparsely decorated aside from a few paintings of mountains or stern-looking ancestors. “I'm glad to be home,” Maud finally said.

She was promptly hugged from behind by Pinkie, who drew her mother and other sisters into the hug as well.

“Pinkie!” Limestone growled through gritted teeth, but to no immediate avail.

“I'm just... so excited that the whole family is back together!” Pinkie said, squeezing them all one last time before finally letting go. “I mean, aside from Dad,” she added with a bit of a giggle. “But he's only at the quarry, so it's no big deal.”

Limestone grumbled under her breath. “We're gonna get another family hug at dinner, aren't we?”

“Yes indeedily!” Pinkie replied with great enthusiasm.

“We appreciate your enthusiasm as always, Pinkamena,” said Cloudy Quartz, fixing her spectacles which had been made askew by the hug. “But I ask now that you and Limestone carry Maudalina's belongings to her room, so that she may come share her account of her travels with me in the kitchen.”

“You got it!” Pinkie happily answered, grabbing the nearest bag which by total complete coincidence just so happened to be the one with the rocks in it. She hauled it towards and up the stairway, leaving her older sister to carry the much lighter bag and grumble way less than if she'd been stuck with the rocks.

The two made relatively short work of carrying the two suitcases up to the second floor of the refurbished farmhouse, dropping them off in the bedroom they'd known since childhood as Maud's. Aside from regular dustings it was just as it had always been: drab-colored and filled with rocks, rock paraphernalia, and keepsakes from her family members.

“Ooooh,” Pinkie said, looking around the room in awe with the heavy luggage firmly in her hands. “Where do you think we should put these?”

“By her bed, where else?” Limestone replied gruffly, dropping her own load next to Maud's immaculately-made bed. “It's not that tough a choice, Pinkie.”

“Maybe to you,” Pinkie countered with a bit of defiance in her voice and stature, “but what if Maud wants to unpack in a specific spot and we end up putting her bags far away from the spot so she has to drag them over herself?”

“You're overthinking things,” was all Limestone gave as answer, turning and leaving the room.

Pinkie looked from her, to the bag she was carrying, to the bag Limestone had set down, to the bag she was carrying again, and rubbed her chin in thought. Then she looked around the room, from Maud's bed, to Maud's desk, to the complete lack of other places she could reasonably expect her sister to sit and unpack. Aside from the floor itself, but that struck Pinkie as silly because Maud wasn't the type to sit on the floor to unpack.

So with a shrug she left the suitcase of rocks next to Maud's desk, and skipped out of the room.

---

She found her sisters and mother sitting around their kitchen table, just like she thought she would. Also like she thought they would, they were still talking about everything Maud had seen and done on her trip to the Caprine Mountains. And even though Pinkie had already heard most of it, she still enjoyed listening to it a second time.

Especially because she could finally eat some of the cupcakes they'd baked this morning!

And about eight cupcakes later – four for Pinkie, one each for everyone else – Maud was finally wrapping up her tale.

“I'll tell you the rest later,” she said to her mother. She gave Pinkie a quick glance before adding “We've really been looking forward to this outing, and I think we'd all prefer it to be done during the day.”

Cloudy Quartz nodded. “I understand, Maudalina. I hope you all have a most enjoyable afternoon together.”

“We will!” Pinkie practically squealed, reeling her sisters in for another group hug.

---

“So where exactly are we going first?” Limestone asked as she pulled the van out of the driveway, windows down and the four sisters in the places they'd taken on the ride home.

“Ooh, how 'bout the mall?” Pinkie suggested, not even noticing Limestone's glance in the rearview mirror. “There's loads of things to do at the mall!”

“We always go to the mall,” Limestone countered. “How about something different for a change?”

“We could go to the beach,” Maud suggested. “I always like watching erosion in action.”

Limestone screwed up her face and made a sort of apathetic growl. “That's too far, and we don't have our swimsuits.”

“It's not that far,” Pinkie said. “And swimsuits so aren't a problem, we can totally just turn around and run inside and get them!” To prove her point she pointed out her window at the Pie family homestead, which was still well within view.

In response, Limestone slumped her shoulders, her cheeks turning a distinct shade of red. “We're not going to the beach, okay?” she said through gritted teeth. “I don't like feeling so exposed.”

“Aww, we understand Limey!” Pinkie cooed, reaching over to give her sister a pat on the shoulder. “We don't have to go to the beach if you're not comfortable.” She finished with a decisive nod.

Limestone somehow sank further into her seat and shoulders, grumbling all the way.

“How about the Canterlot Museum of Fine Art?” Maud said next.

“The art museum?” Limestone replied with a skeptical scowl, straightening up in her seat. “Why there?”

“It has several statues that I'd like to see up close,” Maud told her.

“Oo~ooh!” Pinkie squealed, grinning in delight. “That sounds super fantastic!”

Limestone shot her an annoyed look and grumbled. “Marble!” she barked, startling the youngest. “What do you think?”

“Oh, umm,” Marble murmured, looking around as she thought until finally, bashfully, she offered “I... like it?”

The eldest Pie promptly fell into a silent scowl that lasted nearly half a minute. “Fine,” she relented. “We'll go to the art museum. But I pick where we're going next, got it?”

“Got it,” echoed her sisters at various paces and volumes.

The minivan's tires squealed to a sudden halt, Limestone following it with a u-turn through sparse – yet annoyed – traffic.

---

The Pie sisters pulled up to the Canterlot Museum of Fine Art to find the associated parking lot closed off to the public by orange-striped barricades. The lot itself had its pavement torn up; several backhoes and bulldozers and such gave the impression of a reconstruction effort that was currently on hold. A handful of people in hard hats and orange vests were loitering around looking like they were on break.

“Uh-oh, looks like they're closed!” Limestone said with the most blatantly insincere disappointment that any of them had heard in years. “I guess we better find something else to do.”

“No they're not!” Pinkie said quickly, perking up and thrusting a finger out her window at a particular sign next to the barricade. “It says 'Museum Still Open! Parking Down the Street at Concordia and Manehattan'!”

“She's right,” Maud said, looking out her own window.

Limestone grumbled and growled, the van idling in front of the inaccessible Museum lot, before she finally relented. “Fine! I'll park down the street!”

---

Concordia and Manehattan, as they quickly realized, was three full blocks away from the Museum. But neither Maud, nor Pinkie, nor even Marble were dissuaded by the walk, so once again Limestone relented to her sisters' collective will.

“So, what made you think of the Art Museum, Maudie?” Pinkie asked as she skipped alongside her sister at the front of their little pack.

“Nothing in particular,” Maud answered. “I've been meaning to visit it for a few months now. I haven't been there since I was a tour guide at the History Museum.”

Pinkie sighed dreamily. “Those were the days... half-price tickets to see dinosaur bones and priceless artifacts wheneeeever we wanted...” She splayed her hands in front of her, then giggled and twirled into her next skipping step.

“Yeah,” Maud said. “It was fun.”

“You think your old employee discount will still be good?” Pinkie asked, hands clasped behind her back as she turned her whole body to face Maud while still walking backward.

“Why would it?” Limestone asked, still walking behind them with Marble. “We're going to the Art Museum, not the History Museum!”

“The discount applied to all museums within the greater Canterlot area,” Maud said. Then, after a moment, she added “But I don't think we can use it. I'm not an employee anymore.”

“Mmm...,” Pinkie murmured, looking up at the sky with a hand on her chin, and spinning back to face forwards. “Makes sense to me!” she said happily.

“Mm-hmm,” Marble echoed with a smile of her own.

Limestone just grumbled.

---

“Twenty bucks?!” Limestone growled at the admissions clerk, a boy that Pinkie and Marble recognized from school as the aptly-named Admission Fee. “For a single ticket?” She slammed her hand on the counter. “What kinda rip-off is this?”

“I assure you it isn't one,” said Admission Fee in a squeaky voice fitting of his lanky, slightly greasy appearance. Unperturbed by Limestone's aggression, he repeated “That'll be twenty dollars for an adult ticket.” Then he looked at Pinkie and Marble, adding “Or ten dollars for students with valid identification.”

Marble shrunk from the attention, but Pinkie put one arm around her shoulder and approached the counter anyway. “Here ya go, FeeFee!” she said cheerily after rooting around in her hair and withdrawing a wallet, and from that withdrawing both her student ID card and an extremely crumpled twenty.

“Please don't call me that,” Admission Fee replied, deadpan but still squeaking, as he took the cash and card. “And I still need ID for your sister,” he said, sliding Pinkie's ticket, card, and even her change across the counter.

Pinkie looked at Marble, who squeaked in her own way and turned around. Blushing furiously, she rooted around in her purse for a few moments before pulling out her own ID card. She turned around and meekly held it out in both hands, whispering “Here...”

Admission Fee took it without remark along with the unclaimed change, and soon passed Marble her card and ticket. Then he turned his gaze to Maud and Limestone, who were still standing by. “Twenty dollars for an adult ticket,” he repeated.

Maud handed him ten dollars and her own ID card. “I'm also a student,” she explained.

Admission Fee took it with an eyebrow raised, examining the front and back of it. “Central State University. I see. Can I interest you in the Canterlot Museum Association's membership program?”

Maud paused long enough to blink before answering. “I'll think about it.”

“Okay then,” said Admission Fee, processing her ticket. Once it was handed over, he looked expectantly at Limestone.

She groaned, shoved a fist into her pants pocket, and slammed a wad of smaller bills on the counter.

---

Tickets in hand, along with an audio guide they'd rented to enhance their experience, the Pie sisters began to wander the halls of the Canterlot Museum of Fine Art. Maud took point, leading them from one sculpture or statue to the next, mostly ignoring the information provided by their handheld tour in favor of describing to her sisters the full details of each work's mineral composition.

“Most people consider the degradation of its original paint to be a great loss,” she said as the sisters looked at a statue of a man throwing a discus, “but I disagree. The lack of pigment allows for a much better appreciation of the underlying marble.”

“Oh yeah, I'll say,” Limestone said with a genuine smile as she leaned in for a closer inspection. “Look at this purity, not a speck of swirling! Not even any signs of foliation!”

Maud nodded. “I suspect this was originally part of a larger dolomite protolith that was recrystallized as a result of volcanic activity along the Piscine-Marana faultline.”

“Yeah, probably,” Limestone said, nodding along. “Loads of marble in that area.”

Maud nodded. “And the majority of the bedrock outside the volcanic zone is composed of dolomite.” She blinked. “That's why I suspect the rock this statue is made of was originally dolomite.”

“Hold on, did you say the Piscine-Marana faultline?” Pinkie asked, pausing the audio guide that she and Marble were huddled close and listening to. “Is that around where, like, Mount Aris is?”

“That's right,” Maud said. “Mount Aris is near the Piscine-Marana faultline, as is the entire Hippotene archipelago.”

“Ooo~ooh!” Pinkie squealed, looking back at the audio guide. “I think you're on to something, Maud! The recording says this statue was totally made by the ancient Hippotenians!”

Maud and Limestone looked back at the statue. “Interesting,” Maud said.

Leaving that statue behind, the Pie sisters soon found themselves meandering about without real purpose. In fact, they'd begun to drift away from each other – Maud attracted back to the various stonework exhibits like a magnet to iron; Limestone hung up being vocally critical of several of the more abstract paintings; and Pinkie escorting Marble as she focused on listening to what the audio guide had to say about each and every piece.

And even that wasn't entirely coherent. As she skipped along a foot or so behind her younger twin, humming a proto-song inspired by the audio tour's narration of DuPalette's 'A Lonely Night', Pinkie's eyes were caught by a large pair of maroon doors. They were closed.

Stopping in place as she landed her skip, Pinkie scratched her head and gave the doors a puzzled look. The framework was ornate in a way that didn't match with the surrounding exhibits – primarily the greatest hits of the 16^th century – so Pinkie guessed it was the doors to another wing, but she couldn't quite place the aesthetic. Spying brass plates on either side of the doors, as well as a sign hanging from the knobs, she shrugged and skipped over.

“Hmmm...,” she murmured, squinting in a fun yet unnecessary manner as she read the brass plate. Her brow shot up as she finished processing it, and a smile formed as she craned her neck to look up at the tall doors. “Ooh, the Hall of the Phoenix Queen! Neat!”

She immediately tried the closest knob, but it didn't budge. Only then did she read the hanging sign, and her smile melted away. “Aww, closed for renovations? But I wanted to see her! In all her...,” she paused her a moment, gripping the air as she struggled with the words, “her all!”

Hanging her head and sighing, Pinkie turned her back on the closed door and began to trudge away. “Sorry, Marble, looks like it's closed!” she began to say as she looked up, realizing too late that her sister was no longer nearby. “Marble?” she repeated, looking around with growing concern. She screamed the next “Marble!” and was glowered at by a passing couple for it.

“Oops! Sorry,” she sheepishly told them, waving her fingers before zipping off in search of her shyest sister.

With the relatively open floor of the Museum and general lack of crowds thanks to the construction work outside, it didn't take long for Pinkie's keen sister-related senses to hone in on her lost twin. And to her surprise, she wasn't alone.

A boy around their age was standing next to her, looking up at the same portrait of some stuffy old duke. A boy that Marble hadn't seemed to notice, so enraptured was she by looking at the art and, Pinkie presumed, listening to the audio tour she still held. A wide grin slowly formed on Pinkie's face, and she resolved to sneak up to them as quiet as a mouse no matter how it made her look to the other patrons.

Getting Marble to actually hold a conversation with someone who wasn't a blood relative had been a personal goal of Pinkie's ever since she'd realized that Marble actually had trouble doing so. It still surprised her to think about how shy her twin was considering how friendly and outgoing the rest of her family was, but she knew in hindsight that Marble had been that way for years.

Of course, her efforts so far had yielded results she had decided to call 'inconclusive'. An average of 1.16 minutes of awkward silence and stubbornly averted gazes before the other party invariably gave up. She expected her friends would do better at drawing Marble out of her shell – no, she knew they would – but she simply had never found the time to actually introduce them. Not even at lunch! Though that was because Marble didn't really like being in the cafeteria, and Pinkie wasn't going to force her to eat with her and her friends even if it would be super convenient.

Just the fact that Marble was standing next to someone without trying to move away was practically a breakthrough! Especially someone that Pinkie hadn't introduced her to! Pinkie was not going to let the opportunity slip away.

As she crept closer, she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and looked back to see Limestone glowering at her. “What are you doing this time, Pinkie?” she hissed.

Eyes wide, Pinkie simply motioned for Limestone to stay silent and pointed in Marble's direction. It didn't take long for the elder Pie to catch her drift, and her brow shot up in surprise upon seeing what the youngest sister was doing.

Both of them nearly gasped when they saw Marble walk off without acknowledging the boy, only for the boy to follow her moments later. Pinkie and Limestone shared a look, nodded, and crept off in pursuit.

“Does she have a boyfriend we don't know about?” Limestone whispered as they ducked to hide behind a glass-enclosed display of several rare vases.

“If she did, how would I know?” Pinkie replied in turn. “I'm just hoping she actually knows he's there, and hasn't just been walking around obliviously this whole time!” Seeing her chance, she darted out from cover once more.

Limestone rejoined her at an information kiosk, crouched out of sight from the opposite side. “And if she is completely oblivious, that means the guy that's following her is some kinda stalker!” she said, voice rising with her anger. It quickly reached a boiling point that caused her to stand up despite Pinkie frantically pulling on her arm.

She turned, and found herself facing the attendant at the information desk. “Can I... help you?” the teenage girl asked, raising a brow.

“No!” Limestone answered through clenched teeth, and it was only then that Pinkie succeeded in pulling her back into cover.

“We have to stay hidden until we know what's going on!” Pinkie told her. “Otherwise we could totally mess with Marble's groove!”

Limestone stared at her, flabberghasted. “Her... her what?”

“Her groove!” Pinkie repeated, throwing up her hands while still crouched. “Her mojo! Her swing! For all we know she's trying to work up the courage to talk to him about art or something, and us just running up to them like a couple of guard dogs or avalanches or something could ruin the moment!”

“...okay, I get your point,” Limestone reluctantly conceded after a moment of staring. “Kinda. I don't get the whole 'guard dog' thing, but...” She shook her head. “Whatever. We'll do things your way.”

“What are we doing?”

Pinkie and Limestone paused, then looked to the side to see that Maud was now crouching down next to them.

“Oh. Hi Maud!” Pinkie greeted with a simple wave. “We're keeping an eye on Marble from a distance 'cause she may or may not be interacting with a stranger.” She pointed up over the counter in the direction of her twin, then paused, blinked, and scrunched up her face. “Wow, that sounded weird out loud.”

“Oh. Okay,” Maud said. Then she stood up and looked in the direction Pinkie had pointed in. Then, after a moment, she crouched back down. “Where is Marble?”

Pinkie blinked, shared a look with Limestone, and as one the three sisters stood and looked at where Marble had last been seen. She wasn't there, and neither was the boy that had been following her.

The information desk attendant glared at them. “Seriously, can I help you?” she asked, crossing her arms.

Pinkie answered with a wide grin and an awkward giggle, stepping away and dragging her sisters with her.

They found her in another wing of the museum entirely, and to their shock the same boy was with her.

Except now a second girl had joined them. Whereas the boy looked the picture of a prep, all button-down shirt and dress pants even in the summer heat, the girl looked decidedly gothic. Black hair, skin so pale it was impossible to tell what color it had originally been, and an elaborate black dress – once again in defiance of the heat.

She was standing on Marble's opposite side, so that the youngest Pie was sandwiched between what her sisters presumed to be two strangers. The three shared a look – Pinkie and Limestone did most of the work – and came to one unspoken conclusion: watch and see what happened when Marble finally noticed the other people.

“Who are they, Pinkie?” Limestone asked at a low hiss, the three sisters ducking behind what scant cover a mass of twisted metal beams could offer.

“I don't know!” Pinkie replied in whisper. “I'm pretty sure I recognize them from the Friendship Games, but all that means is they go to Crystal Prep!”

Limestone grit her teeth. “Some kinda rich kids, huh? They better not think they can take advantage of Marble!”

She was stopped by a hand on either of her shoulders before she could leave cover, courtesy of both her sisters. “We still don't know what any of them are thinking right now,” Maud told her. “We should let this play out.”

Once again, Limestone allowed herself to be restrained by her sisters. Though not without protestation. “I'm tired of just sitting and waiting. I don't want Marble to freak out because other people are standing next to her. I want her to enjoy this stupid outing.”

And now Pinkie sent an uncertain look towards Maud, who responded with an equal amount of concern on the inside. “I don't want her to have a bad time either,” Pinkie said, “but I also want to give her the chance to talk to people on her own. What should we do?”

“I don't think we have much choice in the matter,” Maud answered, staring dead at Marble and the other two. Limestone and Pinkie followed her gaze, just in time to see Marble apparently finish listening to whatever the audio tour had to say about the painting she'd been looking at and move on.

She promptly bumped into the goth girl, recoiled in horror, and ended up stumbling backwards into the boy. She whipped around to face him, and to the Pie sisters watching from afar he seemed to say something to her but it only caused her to retreat behind her hair and try to back away. Then the goth girl said something that caused Marble to whip around again, and suddenly she was whipping back and forth from one to the next, trying to back away but only hitting the wall.

“That's it, she's getting overwhelmed!” Limestone growled, standing up from behind the sculpture. “I'm gonna go bail her out.” She marched out of hiding with purpose in her stride and a scowl on her face. Maud wordlessly followed after her, and after a moment of worried dithering Pinkie scrambled out as well.

The moment Marble caught sight of them coming towards her, she gasped so hard she fumbled the audio guide. She failed utterly to catch it, and it hit the tiled museum floor with a clatter.

“Whoa, what's wrong now?” said the boy, the other Pies now close enough to hear him as he turned around and faced them.

The goth girl, meanwhile, simply bent down and picked up the audio guide. “Here. You dropped this,” she said to Marble in a husky, bored voice. She handed the device over, and Marble took it with a surprisingly swift motion considering how distracted she was – her gaze shifting constantly between the people around her.

“What's wrong,” Limestone said to the boy once she was finally close enough, “is that you two are bothering my little sister!”

“What?!” the boy replied, so taken aback he had to physically step back. “You're crazy! All I did was ask her what was wrong!”

“Same here,” said the goth girl.

“Yeah, well, Marble doesn't need a bunch of weirdos following her around when she's trying to enjoy the museum!” Limestone countered, thrusting a finger towards the boy and adding “Especially you!”

“H-hey!” the boy replied, flustered. “I... I just...” He gulped and clenched his fists, straightening his back and puffing himself up before Limestone's display. “It's a free country, isn't it?”

“Yeah, free to leave my sister alone!” Limestone countered, brandishing a fist.

“Whoa, whoa! Hold on now!” said Pinkie, squeezing herself between the two and forcing them apart as she stretched out her arms. “There's no reason to get so angry face about this! Right?”

“Yes,” Maud added. “If this escalates we might get kicked out of the museum. Which would be bad.”

“Exactly!” Pinkie said, looking between Limestone and the boy.

“I didn't want to cause any trouble,” said the goth girl. “I just wanted to talk to other art appreciators, and also listen to the audio tour. But I'll go now.” She turned to Marble. “Sorry for startling you. Have a nice day.” And then, without further comment or gesture, she turned and walked away.

All eyes but Marble's turned to the boy, who looked back with stubborn defiance. “What? I'm not gonna apologize for trying to talk to someone. But if you three are gonna be so overprotective that you don't let your sister do anything on her own, then I'm outta here.”

He left as well, in the opposite direction from the goth girl. The sisters watched him leave for a moment, then Limestone snorted. “Good riddance.”

She turned her gaze to Marble, who was looking down at the audio guide she was holding, and put a hand on her shoulder. “Hey,” she said gruffly, causing Marble to look up. “You alright?”

Marble bit her lip and looked back down at the audio guide. Then to her left, spotting the goth girl staring at a painting several yards down the line. Then to her right, spotting the boy still walking away with his hands in his pockets. Then finally, not quite meeting the eyes of Limestone or indeed any of her sisters, Marble said “Mm...”

The elder Pies were quiet for a moment. Pinkie was the first to respond, screwing up her face and saying “Are you sure? 'Cause—"

She was stopped from finishing the thought courtesy of Maud's hand over her mouth. “It's fine,” she told Pinkie before looking back at Marble. “But right now I think we should let Marble decide what to do next.”

That got Limestone and Pinkie looking back at the youngest Pie, who was once again looking down at the audio guide. She stared at it thoughtfully for what felt like ages but was really just a few seconds, before looking back up at Maud with a shy smile on her face. “I... wanna keep going with the tour. Together.”

“Okay,” was all Maud said, and the two turned to move on to the next painting in line. Pinkie and Limestone watched them with surprise in their eyes for a few moments before following after.

---

The rest of their self-guided tour of the museum proceeded without incident; for better or for worse none of the Pie sisters were so much as looked at by the preppy boy or gothic girl again. In fact, aside from the staff and a few meaningless passing glances from the other patrons, nobody interacted much with them at all.

They decided to wrap things up at five minutes to three, the four sisters having visited every rock-based or rock-themed work in the museum and their fill of the rest of it. They returned their audio guide to the kiosk they'd rented it from, and after briefly noting that Admission Fee was no longer working the front desk when Maud approached it to join the Association's membership program, they left the Canterlot Museum of Fine Art once and for all.

Though not before Pinkie declared, rather loudly, that she would return one day to scope out the Hall of the Phoenix Queen once it had reopened. That had given the other three Pies just a hint of hurried embarrassment as they pulled the pink sheep of the family out the door.

“Sssoooooo,” Pinkie said as they began the long walk back to where they'd parked, rolling her head dramatically and grinning. “Where to next?”

“We have time to catch a movie,” Maud said, looking at the time on her phone.

Limestone grimaced. “Is anything good even playing? I don't wanna waste money on something stupid.”

“Ooh! I know!” Pinkie said, smile becoming brighter. “We could watch the new Space Heroes movie!”

“That whole franchise is overrated,” Limestone scoffed. “It's just a bunch of staged explosions and crummy sets!”

“But the choreography!” Pinkie retorted in a singsong manner, leaning towards her surly sister. Limestone just grumbled and crossed her arms.

“What about Last Stop?” Maud suggested. “I know it's a horror movie, but it's gotten good reviews on my geology forum.”

And then Pinkie stopped in her tracks, as she was overtaken by a full-body shudder so strong it lifted her off her feet for a few seconds. Once it passed, she wiped her brow with the back of her arms. “Phew! Whatever that was, it was a doozy!”

“Wow,” Maud said. “I didn't realize my suggestion was that bad.”

“It wasn't that,” Pinkie told her, “it was my Pinkie sense!”

The shift in her sisters' posture was immediate. Limestone straightened her back and squared her shoulders; Marble retreated behind her hair, one visible eye darting back and forth in a surge of nervousness; and even Maud's brow shot up a millimeter.

“What does it mean?” Limestone asked. “I don't remember you shuddering like that before.”

“Me neither!” Pinkie said, eyes wide and face frowning. She looked around briefly, then motioned for her sisters to keep on moving down the sidewalk. “I don't think it's ever happened before!”

“Okay, but what does it mean?” Limestone repeated with a hint of anger as the four resumed their journey in a closer-knit group than before.

“I have no idea!” Pinkie told her, arms shooting up. “The best I can guess is that something completely unexpected is gonna happen, like something none of us would ever be able to guess in a million years!”

“That doesn't narrow down a lot of possibilities,” Maud said.

“Tell me about it,” Limestone growled. Then she grunted. “Whatever. Let's just get back to the van as quick as possible and hope it didn't blow up or something. And keep your senses open, all of you.”

She looked back over her shoulder as she said that, meeting her sisters' eyes. “You got it!” Pinkie replied, snapping off a quick salute. Marble nodded her agreement; Maud blinked hers.

With Limestone taking the lead the sisters hurried down the street at the fastest they could walk and still stay together. The two youngest stuck to the middle, with Marble protectively kept on the building side of things, and Maud brought up the rear. For two blocks they traveled without difficulty or interruption, aside from a pair of older men with cameras that gave them strange looks until Limestone forced them to move out of their way.

Then came the third block. Limestone stopped on the corner of it and looked back at Pinkie as though to ask if she was feeling anything, but Pinkie only gave her a helpless shrug. So, with a bitter eye on the numerous potential threats between them and the parking lot – cars, doors, other people – Limestone led them onward.

Whether it was because every previous one had been empty or simply a quirk of fate, all four Pie sisters overlooked the alleyway nestled between a bakery and a laundromat. In the shadow of the building they were briefly blinded by a single powerful light that turned on just as they stepped into the alley's view.

Paralyzed by the light as they were, they were unable to react to the sound of a revving engine in time. Their eyes adjusted enough to make out the form of a motorcycle and a helmeted rider just before it charged them; they screamed and tried to scatter, but Marble was too slow.

The rider – black leather gloves hiding their skin color – reached out and grabbed the youngest Pie's purse, knocking her down from the force of the drive-by theft. The bike sped away in the direction they'd come from before any of them could get a good look at its plates or its rider.

The sisters were struck speechless out of shock, though even in it they still found themselves acting. Limestone and Maud watched the bike go, the former's face twisting with hatred and anger while the latter's gaze simply grew harsher despite superficially remaining the same. Her gaze also drifted to the side, towards yet past the Museum of Fine Art. Pinkie, meanwhile, simply darted forward and helped her twin off the pavement as Marble began to tear up.

“I... guess that was the doozy, huh?” Pinkie said, trying to crack a smile. Marble looked up at her, sniffled, and tried to do the same.

Limestone swore. “Maud!” she barked, clenching her fists. “Where'd that piece of trash drive off to?”

Maud said nothing, merely extending an arm and pointing a single finger in the same direction as her stare.

The eldest grinned a dark grin. “Good. Marble,” she looked back at the youngest, now back on her feet, “you good to go after that punk or do you wanna stay here?”

Marble, with Pinkie still at her side giving her a concerned look, bit her lip and stared down at her wringing hands. Then, after a moment, she came to a decision and nodded to herself. Looking back up at Limestone, she quietly said “Let's go.”

Limestone's grin reasserted itself, and even Pinkie smiled before puffing herself up and putting her balled-up hands on her hips. “Alright ladies, let's show this punk why you don't mess with the Pie family!” Hollering a battlecry, she and Limestone and Marble ran off – in pursuit of Maud, who had taken off like a shot several seconds before.

Comments

[Flufux]

Not too sure what to say about this chapter to be honest...especially given that this particular storyline hasn't really been touched on all that much until now, and there weren't all that many run-ins with the other cast members until the end. Speaking of which, if there was one part that I did enjoy then it would be the sudden MC theft at the end. Even though I saw it coming, it still caught me off-guard.

One thing to note were the boy and goth girl who were with Marble. It feels like they should be relevant, but I just can't figure out who they're supposed to be. I honestly thought they were the ones that were going to rob her, but then that didn't happen, so now I'm even more curious as to what their part in the story was.

[Fangren]

9163266
Completely understandable. The Pie sisters chapter was meant to be something of a lighthearted break after what happened the chapter before. So its mostly just them messing around and having fun before the plot comes calling.

The boy and the goth girl who were with Marble are currently-unnamed OCs, sadly, created basically to add a bit of tension/drama to the museum trip. I may use them again in a future story, though.