Manehattan was now just a bright glow behind them as they drifted towards home in an airship kindly provided by Tree Hugger. They had left after a frantic call for help through the mirror by Twilight Sparkle. Pinkie Pie was in trouble, Twilight had not said what had happened, only that Pinkie Pie was returning to the rock farm and that Maud was needed right away.

Saying goodbye, Tree Hugger had returned to her air-headed mannerisms, which Tarnish now knew for certain was a public persona. The airship that Tree Hugger had provided for them was small, something like a yacht, and it had come with a crew.

This trip spent in Manehattan, short as it might have been, was a time that Tarnish knew he would treasure. He and Maud had made friends, had a wonderful time, and were now going to do their part to save the world.

Standing on deck, Tarnish wondered what was up with Pinkie Pie. Twilight had sounded quite upset and frantic. From what little that Tarnish knew, Pinkie Pie was a sobbing mess who really needed her sister. Twilight had called it a crisis. There was nothing that Tarnish could do at the moment but wait. He wondered how Maud was dealing with it. He supposed that the direct approach would be the only way he could find out how she was doing.

Standing next to Tarnish, Maud shivered in the chilly night air, the strong breeze rippling her smock. She scooted a little closer to Tarnish, thankful that he had asked how she was doing. He was getting good about that; just coming right out and asking, doing so unabashedly and without reservation.

“I wish I knew what had upset my sister Pinkie,” Maud said to Tarnish as the stars drifted on the horizon. “I can’t imagine what it might be. She was supposed to go back to Ponyville with Twilight and Applejack while we were in Manehattan. Maybe her pet died. I’d be devastated if something happened to Boulder.”

“I’m sure we’ll find out soon. We should be home by dawn if the wind holds right.” Tarnish, who felt cold, tried to keep his teeth from chattering. Being a much taller pony with much longer legs, he had far more surface area to lose body heat out of his extremities. His neck was also longer, which made the problem worse. Short, stocky ponies did better in the cold.

“You’re not doing very much reading,” Maud remarked in a soft voice that was barely audible over the wind.

“I’m worried about my sister.” Tarnish paused for a long moment, closed his eyes, and sighed. The truth had come out. There was no sense beating around the bush any longer. Opening his eyes, he turned his head and saw Maud looking up at him, her eyes reflecting the stars in the night sky. She was beautiful, perfect, so much so that for a moment, he lost track of his thoughts.

Maud was silent and Tarnish wondered what she was thinking. He watched her blink, her eyelids moved as slow as maple syrup in the dead of winter. He could see each breath she took, vapour steamed from her nostrils, and he could hear the faint, soft rippling rustle of her smock as the wind tugged upon it.

While he and Maud had enjoyed plenty of conversations, Tarnish understood that what defined their relationship were the quiet moments, those moments of silence when nothing needed to be said, like now. As difficult as it was to work up the courage to talk to a pony you liked, loved, or otherwise had an interest in, it was even harder being quiet with them. Silences could be awkward and uncomfortable. There was always a need to fill the air with sound to avoid those awkward silences.

Until of course you reached a point where you realised that the most important things about a relationship could only be communicated in the silence. An exchanged look. A loving glance. The sort of lingering eye contact that lasted for seconds, minutes, those precious moments stretching into what felt like hours and nopony minding that they did. A lot could be said with a raised eyebrow. A slow blink. An ear twitch. In the communications of silence, a kiss could serve as punctuation.

Tarnish took a moment to punctuate everything being said between him and Maud.

The Pie family rock farm was bathed in the rosy pink glow of dawn. Smoke curled up from the chimney. It wasn’t quite cold enough for frost, but it would be in perhaps another two months. Summer was definitely ending and fall would soon announce its arrival.

For Maud and Tarnish, it had been a sleepless night. Maud, worried for her sister, had been unable to sleep, and Tarnish, worried for both Maud and Pinkie, had found himself wide awake. The pair of them stood on the deck as the ship prepared to touch down.

When the landing gear had barely even touched the dry grey dirt of the rock farm, Maud lept over the deck rail, not waiting on the gang plank. She dropped and landed with ease, her hooves raising up a cloud of dust from the impact sight where she had thumped into the ground.

Wasting no time, she headed for the house as Tarnish, who was carrying their luggage, waited for the gang plank to be lowered. Tarnish, worried, watched as Maud disappeared through the door, and he was filled with an urgent need to follow, but was forced to keep waiting.

Loaded down with stuff, Tarnish pushed his way through the back door and into the kitchen, glad to be home, but worried about his family. He was hit by the smell of coffee and breakfast. There was no sign of Pinkie Pie. His ears perked as he heard Cloudy speaking.

“—she made it back on the train and Igneous was there to greet her. She’s in a frightful state. Won’t talk about what is wrong. Wasn’t even gone a day, she took the train back to Ponyville early in the morning, and came home on a late nighter. Came home crying her eyes out. She passed out last night sometime in the dark hours of morning, after midnight.”

Marble, whose hooves made no sound, crept into the kitchen, let out a sharp exhale, and threw herself at Maud. She hugged and squeezed as tight as she could, then kissed her sister several times, glad to see her. She only let go of Maud so she could go after Tarnish.

She almost bowled him over on impact, and Tarnish was still not quite used to the affection of solid, durable, enthusiastic earth ponies. To his credit, he recovered enough to get a foreleg around Marble’s neck and return her affection.

“I’m sorry, Maud,” Marble said while being held by Tarnish, “this isn’t the homecoming you deserve—”

“But one of us is in trouble,” Maud replied, cutting her sister off. “So this is the homecoming I get.”

Tarnish let go of Marble as she pulled away and he watched as Maud sat down at the kitchen table. She poured a pot of coffee from the percolator sitting on the table, pulled the mug close, hunched down over the mug, and began inhaling the fragrant, rich steam.

Sitting down at the table, Tarnished Teapot began to fix a pot of his special tea.

There was nothing quite as sorrowful as a blubbering Pinkie Pie. It was a sound so sad that it was impossible to feel good about anything and all one could do is also feel sad as they listened. Each of her sobs was like hearing the death of joy and carried with them the fear that one might never know happiness ever again.

Standing next to the wall, Tarnish watched as Maud held her sister. He felt awful, not knowing what to do. He loved Pinkie; she had never stopped being his friend, she had never given up on him, even when it was difficult to be his friend, back when his talent was still out of control. Of course, she was indirectly responsible for him being banished, but he didn’t blame her for that. She had inadvertently set him on the road for the greatest adventure in his life. A road that had lead him to Maud.

Blinking, Tarnish watched as Maud made one of the most expressive faces he had ever seen her make. Her eyes and her ears both darted towards Pinkie, as if she was gesturing at her sister. She did it again, and then again for a third time, and Tarnish made the connection that Maud wanted him to console Pinkie. He shuffled to the couch, his hooves dragging, and sat down on the other side of Pinkie Pie, sandwiching her in between him and Maud. He leaned in and—

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie had him in a death grip. His eyes bulged in their sockets as he struggled to breathe. He could hear the sound of blood roaring in his ears and the steady thudding of his own heart. Just as the embrace was starting to become unbearable, it eased up just enough to allow him to continue breathing and stay alive. Pinkie Pie had buried her soaked face against his neck and her whole body shook with sobs. He felt Maud wrap her forelegs around him and then Pinkie was crushed between them.

It seemed to help; either Pinkie took comfort from being smooshed between two ponies she trusted and loved, or she was squished to the point of being unable to draw in enough air to keep blubbering. Tarnished settled in for the long haul, wrapped one of his forelegs around Maud, and rested his chin on top of Pinkie’s head. He could feel her limp, lifeless mane plastered against his neck. She had lost her happiness, her joy, the limp, lifeless mane was a bad sign for sure. He knew how to fix Maud when she was down, but he didn’t know how to fix Pinkie. He felt an ear twitch against his cheek and Pinkie shuddered against him.

Limestone paced back and forth in the living room, there wasn’t a lot of room to pace, but somehow, Limestone managed. She snorted from time to time, looking a bit angry, a bit worried, and a bit sad all at once. Marble sat in a high backed chair, her father’s chair, she was teary eyed and kept sniffling.

Igneous would stand in the doorway, disappear into the kitchen for a time, and then reappear in the doorway, his face filled with the pain that only a father would know in this situation. One of his daughters was suffering and he couldn’t make it right. He didn’t even know what was wrong. Pinkie Pie hadn’t said anything.

In the kitchen, Cloudy worked to make comfort foods, dealing with the situation the only way she knew how, which was keeping busy and working hard. It was all she knew, all she understood, and working hard kept her from breaking down and crying. There was enough crying in this house at the moment, and Cloudy was determined not to start weeping.

But her precious, wonderful pink filly that she treasured was making it difficult.

Hitting the end of his endurance, Tarnished Teapot yawned. He didn’t mean to do it, it just sort of slipped out. It was now mid-morning. He was tired, sore from sitting in one place for so long, and he was emotionally exhausted.

Pinkie Pie was in an inbetween state, where she was crying, but not sobbing, tears spilled down her cheeks but she wasn’t bawling. She pulled her head away from Tarnish, looked up, blinked a few times, and in a voice bubbly with phlegm, she said, “You sound sleepy.”

It was the first words she had said all morning.

“We were both awake all night worrying about you,” Maud said to her sister.

“I’m sleepy too but I don’t want to sleep alone. I need my sister. Can I come to bed with you?” Pinkie Pie looked into Maud’s eyes and gave her sister a pleading stare.

Maud blinked. “Pinkie Pie, I—”

Giving Pinkie a squeeze, Tarnish cut in with a smooth interjection. “There is a quaint Trottingham tradition about sharing a bed.” Tarnish reached out and wiped away a few tears from Pinkie’s face with the soft touch of his fetlock. “I’ll sleep on one side, Maud will sleep in the middle, and you can sleep on the other side. You and Maud can cuddle together just like you did when you were both foals and then when we wake up, maybe you can tell us what happened.”

“That’d be nice,” Pinkie Pie said as she sniffled. “I’m so hurt right now. I don’t want to be alone.”

Maud Pie exhaled, look at her husband, and then looked at her sister. “Come on Pinkie, let’s take you to bed. Maybe when we all wake up, we’ll feel better.” Maud began to rub Pinkie’s neck as her sister began to pull away from Tarnish. She glanced at her husband once more. “As for you, thank you, Tarnish.”

“Eh, don’t mention it,” Tarnish replied, glad that he had learned something from his friendship with Octavia and Vinyl. Tarnish looked around the room, meeting each worried face with his eyes, trying to reassure them. “Good night, everypony, we are off to bed.”

It didn’t seem to matter that it was mid-morning.

Author's Notes:

Sad Pinkie.