The floor was gradually being painted by the splashes of brightly dyed sugar water dripping from the completed and very sticky candy necklaces Pinkie and Maud Pie had hung to dry. Maud took a washcloth between her teeth and set to scrubbing the viscous liquid before it permanently colored her kitchen floor. Meanwhile, Pinkie skipped around the room, licking the drips off the necklaces and giggling.
"Maud! I think this is the best batch we've ever made!" She licked another and moaned in delight. "Delicious!"
Her grey coated sister stretched out her legs and stood upright. Pinkie's hoof was instantly under Maud's muzzle, offering it a taste of one of the candy jewelries. She beamed up at her with her sparkling blue eyes.
Maud hesitated, took in a breath and said, mildly disappointed, "Pinkie, those necklaces were for your friends, too. Now you've gone and licked them all."
Pinkie realized her sister was upset, and for a brief moment felt ashamed. But she quickly livened up again as her cottony tail twitched, informing her that one of the candies was about to drip again. Maud watched as her energetic sister forgot her scolding and hopped over to taste more candy. Though her eyes maintained their glazed, blue aura of indifference, the folds of skin that created the outer edge of her eyelids began to crease as her cheeks rose, slowly moved by her spreading lips. It didn't really matter to her if Pinkie's friends didn't get a taste; it was just nice to have this time to spend with her sister.
Pinkie hardly ever visited home, and it's been an even rarer occurrence since that Princess Twilight moved to her new town and turned her into a celebrity. All the ponies in their small hometown knew about little Pinkamena Pie. Ever since she had first earned her cutie mark and started throwing parties and spreading joy, Pinkie had been a popular pony. But being known all across Equestria as the Element of Laughter had caused her fanbase to just explode. Maud was glad that Pinkie got all this attention. Nothing made the cheery pony cheerier than having lots and lots of friends.
That brought Maud's thoughts back to the situation at hand. Tomorrow, Maud was supposed to accompany Pinkie to Ponyville to meet the other elements - her sister's PFFs. Maud knew what to expect. She couldn't bring herself to be as excited about the occasion as Pinkie. From what she'd heard, Rainbow Dig was athletic, and Pinkie expected Maud to be able to relate to that because of her strength shown out in the rock fields. But Maud wasn't an athlete. She didn't compete, and she didn't really care for races. Or rainbows. Applerock was a good baker, apparently. With a name like that, Maud figured they might be able to find some common ground in a recipe, but she wasn't sure about the "Apple" part. Maud never really liked fruits. Then there was the quiet pegasus. Maud strained to remember her name. She knew Pinkie said she had a lot of pets. But Maud only had one pet. Fluttersoil probably wouldn't be interested for very long.
Maud scratched around her eyes as Pinkie continued to slurp up the candy. "Pinkie Pie, what was the name of that unicorn? The one who likes clothes?"
Pinkie was lying on the floor, rolling around from puddle to puddle. Maud saw no need to continue with the washcloth.
"You mean Rarity?" she squeaked between laps of her tongue. "Oh, Maud, you'll love her! You can make dresses together, and shiny things, and OHHH YOU'LL JUST BE SUCH GOOD FRIENDS!"
Maud turned her attention to her dull, dusty smock. It was true that she had somewhat more of an appreciation for clothing than other ponies. But really, that was only so that she would have a place to hold Boulder. The ashy colored pony sighed and let her mane fall in front of her tired eyes as she sank to the floor next to her giggling sister. Pinkie snorted and wiggled a little more before realizing that Maud was upset again. She suddenly stopped and squirmed over to her.
"Hey, what's wrong? I'm sorry. These necklaces are just so good! I can't help myself!" This caused her to break out in laughter again, and she rolled onto her back, holding her sides.
Maud watched her but she didn't smile again. She supposed she should confess. With a deep inhale, Maud opened her mouth to speak.
But Pinkie took this opportunity to shove a necklace between her teeth, and before Maud could chew it up and recover, she stood up straight and looked down at her gloomy sister.
"I think these candies are even better than the samples I had everypony try before I came here! Oh, you should've been there, Maud! We had this super fun sleepover - except we didn't sleep! We just ate and ate and ate! Can you believe it? And then I was worried that maybe we wouldn't be able to make any candy that was good enough for our friendship-" Maud looked up. "But Twilight said that it didn't matter. Because you and I are already the bestest friends! Just like me and the girls! I can't wait til we're all friends together!"
Suddenly, the dust in Maud's thoughts cleared. She understood. Even if she couldn't relate to all their hobbies, they certainly had at least one common interest. And that was Pinkie Pie. She was the joyful link that promised to connect them. Maud swallowed the rest of the rock candy, dashed over to the counter, where Pinkie was stirring more sugar and sediment, and she wrapped her hooves around her.
"I can't wait either, Pinkie. I'll be sure to try my best."
Pinkie's eyes grew wide and she adjusted herself so that she could better hug her sister.
"Come on! Let's make the best batch ever!"
"Okay!" she cheered, monotone as ever but clearly still enthused. No matter how the next few days played out, as long as she had the Element of Laughter as a sister, Maud knew she would be happy in the end.
