The Wait for Something Good
The first strange thing I noticed about Norway was the warmth. It was like an early summer day in Canterlot City, with a slight rain-smelling breeze pushing past my hair. Despite that, the sky featured not a single blemish, and the sun beamed at me as I stepped out from the airport in Evenes. The streets were empty of piles of icy white fluff, instead filled with taxis and buses, and a clatter of Norwegian and English swirled together around us.
"I thought you said this was supposed to be like the Frozen North," I asked the empty air in front of me and cast a glance beside me with an eyebrow arched. The question was met with an eye-roll partially masked by thick black frames.
"I said nothing of the sort, Sunset," Twilight replied tiredly—a child was kicking the back of her seat in the flight overseas. She raised a hand to rub at her crusty eyes, and a sleeve of her oversized rose-colored hoodie fell from her wrist to her elbow. "I've never been to the Frozen North, or Equestria for that matter, so I cannot accurately make that comparison."
"But the Arctic's supposed to be frigid, right?"
"Yes, during the winter. We're still in the Northern Hemisphere; it's summer here too. Temperatures are milder than they are back home, but they're not freezing, not even close!" Her growing frustration forced the corners of my mouth to twitch. While Twi has never been a stranger to sleep deprivation, the jet lag and restless trip was taking its toll.
I slipped my hand into hers, giving the soft, albeit clammy hand a quick squeeze. "I'm sorry, Twilight. Do you want to take a nap when we reach Narvik?"
"No," she answered adamantly, "there's no time in the schedule for naps!" Twilight spun around, her hand deserting mine, and dug through her carry-on bag. She came back with a small leather-bound planner. "First," she licked her thumb and flipped through the pages in a blur, stopping somewhere in the middle, "we have to take the bus to Narvik. That's an hour and a half. If the bridge was actually finished—"
"Alright, Twi, I get it," I chuckled, clasping her hands and forcing them to shut the planner. "I just want to make sure you're going to be fine and won't pass out on me."
A smile broke out on Twilight's serious face. "Thank you, Sunset, but I'm fine! I swear! I've been looking forward to coming to Norway since you proposed it, and I don't want to miss out on anything."
"And I don't want to miss out on us." I pulled Twilight's hands up and laid a gentle kiss on them. Her face glowed, turning the same shade of mulberry she gets when she's sunburnt, and I allowed a smirk to grow on my face. Making Twilight blush was a long-time favorite pastime of mine.
"I think you've been spending too much time with Rarity…" she mumbled, ducking her head and obscurring her eyes with her bangs.
"Oh? And why's that?"
"You've gotten really lovey-dovey lately." Twilight lifted her head, and her glasses sat on the point of her nose. She retracted her right hand to readjust them and placed it atop my left. "I can only imagine that it's rubbed off from her."
"What? Are you saying I'm not allowed to be romantic?" I said in a voice feigning vulnerability, something I hadn't used in some time. Not since a time I had buried, when loved was batted away and regarded as a loss of willpower and strength. I grimaced inwardly, causing the smirk to fall.
"No, I'm just...surprised, is all. You normally have a very kindergarten way of showing affection. It's a pleasant surprise."
"I have only a week left with you; might as well make it pleasant for both of us," I said. Twilight directed a mournful stare at our hands intertwined around her planner. I rubbed her left palm with a thumb. "So how about we start on our vacation? We have a bus to catch." Reluctantly, I pulled back my hands and grabbed my bags as she did the same. I glided a hand over the left pocket in my pants, sighing in relief at the bump.
"That should be the bus to Narvik." I looked back at Twilight to see her pointing to a beautifully painted cerulean bus to our left. I held everything in one hand, throwing my free arm around Twilight, as we hurried over to the bus. Most of our bags were tucked away in the compartments—Twilight wanted to keep her carry-on bag—and we boarded the bus, with Twilight passing me and stepping on first.
The bus was brimming with a mixture of native Norwegians and tourists, a cacophony of unintelligible chatter, with the last purely empty seat in the thick of it. I followed close behind Twilight as we strode to the seat; she took the window seat, cradling her bag. As I sat, I saw a large grin beaming at me, blotting out the sunshine coming through our window.
"What?" I asked nervously.
"I'm sorry, I can't—it just dawned on me that I'm in Norway—we're in Norway! In Scandinavia! In Europe!" Her voice was the shout of a mouse; low for the benefit of the other passengers. I thought it fit her tiny nose and high cheeks.
"Yup, all very true things."
"There's so much history here! Norway's the birthplace of Erik the Red, a very… unpopular man and the father to Leif Erikson. There's…" She trailed off as she went to her bag and retrieved her planner. I rolled my eyes and settled in for an earful, propping my head up on the armrest, as the bus roared and popped into gear. We started heading south, or at least what felt like south.
"There's the German occupation of World War II. The ruins of a lot of old ships can still be found in the waters. In fact, we should see one on the way to Narvik. And of course, Norway is one of many homes to the Vikings throughout Scandinavia."
"Until they moved to Minnesota." Twilight slugged my shoulder, barely hard enough to penetrate my thick leather jacket. I laughed. "Sorry, Twilight, I couldn't resist making it fun for me."
"I know you hate history, Sunset, but if you're going to stay in this world, you need to learn about it."
"I guess, but maybe save it for later? Please?"
Twilight held a grimace on her face but nodded, stuffing the planner back into the bag. She looked out the window, watching parts of Evenes fly past us. And just like that, I saw the moment a lightbulb went off in her head.
"Oh! I do have something special for this trip, however…" A rush of heat filled my face. I smiled nervously.
"Uh, Twi, I know we're by ourselves on vacation, and your parents were surprisingly supportive of the trip, but we did agree to not do that until—"
"Oh! No, no, no!" She nearly choked trying to get the no's out. "Not that Sunset! I learned Norwegian, so we won't have to worry about a language barrier."
I knitted my brow. "Twilight, I know you're a genius, but you learned an entire language in three weeks?"
"Greit." The word was followed by a huge grin saying that she proud of herself. I heard a faint groan in the seat behind us.
"Okay, prove it. Find someone here who speaks it and speak to them."
The smile stretched as she stood on her knees in her seat, scanning the bus for someone to speak to. Her eyes fell onto the seat behind us; a lone, blonde man with an odd sweater, staring silently out the window. Twilight's eyes lit up as she fully turned in her seat. She cleared her throat and began to speak:
"Hei, jeg er Twilight Sparkle. Ditt Land er velig Vakker."
It was a strange sight, hearing a mouthful of messy and misshapen syllables come from a voice I could otherwise pick out of a crowd. She said it proudly and confidently, something rarely shown by her. The only thing I could make out was her own name.
The man tore his gaze from the window, eyeing Twi with an expression resembling reluctant amusement.
"It's 'veldig' and 'vakkert.'" His accent was distinct, so Twilight was at least right in picking a native speaker. "Very close though. Good try, young lady." And the man returned to his window.
I snickered; Twilight was speechless, with her mouth agape and her glasses lazily sliding down the bridge of her nose. She spun around and slumped in her seat. I took her left hand, kissed it and caressed it, pushing the roaring laughter bubbling within me down.
"So how did you know he was Norwegian?" I asked.
"Oh! Well, you see, Sunset, the majority of Norwegians are fair-haired with blue eyes. He is a little stocky, but here in the colder weather, it's a good thing. If you look at how his sweater is knitted, and the pattern, it's classic—"
"Lokk kukhøle ditt!" came from behind our seat.
Twilight went quiet, her mouth a thin line and her face glowing.
"What is it, Twi?"
"He…kindly asked me to shut up."
"I think that might be some smart advice for the moment." I let go of her hand and pulled her close, gazing out the window. The city had been left behind as the bus drives onto a two-lane road. Mountains to the left rose up from the side of the road, steeper than any could walk. And to our right, the fjords reflected the sunlight, glistening like a pool of white diamonds and sapphires. There was no end to them; where one stopped, the other began.
Off in the distance, Narvikfjellet rose above the fjords like an almighty giant sleeping peacefully in the sun. It was steep and craggy-looking, capped with a blanket of white visible even from across the water. Internally I smiled, despite the sensation of nervousness tugging at my heart, running my hand across the pocket in my jeans. For once, a scheme for the sake of good, and it was about to come to fruition.
I glanced down; Twilight had fallen asleep. The plane ride had taken quite a lot out of her, it seemed, if she was able to snooze in the middle of a rumbling, packed-to-capacity bus. Her head was pressed into the crook of my elbow, and my arm was starting to fall asleep too. I didn't want move it however.
I suppose it's for the best, I thought, since she would only pester me with more Norwegian and history facts. Of course, it was a lose-lose situation, since she would have the energy to focus.
As we started entering the town of Narvik, I poked at Twilight's side, between her ribcage and waist. It was one of her weakest points, where she was the most ticklish. Nothing occurred, so I tried one more poke. And then another. It took four in total before her body jerked away from my hand. I silently chuckled in satisfaction, as Twilight leaned forward, releasing my arm, and gave me a disapproving look.
"You could've just jostled me awake, you know."
"I know," I answered. I flexed my right hand, clenching it into a tight fist then stretching it, trying to get the blood flowing through my arm again. Twilight glanced out the window, seeing buildings pass by, and groaned.
"I wanted to talk about the fjords and mountains. Why did you let me sleep through that?"
"To spare myself." That earned a slap in the chest.
"I still have the trip back to Evenes, so you've only bought yourself a few days." I replied with nothing, only winking at Twilight.
Narvik was not a major tourist town; it was mostly regarded as a college town. Sandwiched between the ocean to the west and a large mountain to the east, it did lend a nice variety of attractions throughout the year: a ski lounge sat atop the mountain for the winter, boat rides and scuba diving tours were scattered around the bay and surrounding waters during the summer, and as Fluttershy had pointed out several times, there was the bear resort. It was a place that could provide entertainment for relatively mild summer days and for the winter wonderland.
The bus came and went from each scheduled stop—the man that Twilight had offended stepped off near a university—until we reached our hotel; it was not one that would make Rarity swoon, but it was pleasant enough. We retrieved our bags from the compartments under the bus and headed inside to check in.
* * *
"Alright." Twilight fell onto the bed, bouncing the entire thing as I put away clothes, having been saddled with most of the unpacking. She held her holy planner delicately in her hand, idly flipping through jotted notes and printed sheets of restaurants and places of interest. "What do you think we should do?"
I tucked a blouse into a drawer and shot her a curious look. "Don't you know? I thought you said you had all four days planned out ahead of time."
"For your information, I do not have everything planned. I'm learning to be spontaneous and romantic."
"Now who's the one that sounds like they've been hanging out with Rarity too much?" Twilight pulled a face and threw a nearby hiking boot at me—it flew lopsided and struck the floor with a thud. I laughed and she facepalmed. I scooped the boot off the ground and tossed it from hand to hand.
"How about a hike up Narvikf-jella?"
"Narvikfjellet. The 'j' makes a 'y' sound, Sunset."
"Narvikfjellet." The sounds clumsily fell from my mouth. I repeated it, this time slower so to pinpoint the pronunciations. And once more, but at a normal speed. Twilight smiled and gave me a thumbs-up. "Cool. What does it mean anyway?"
"The direct translation? 'Narvik Mountain.'"
"...Wow, that's depressingly lame."
"Sunset."
"Sorry! Sorry. It's a perfectly fine name. No confusion about what or where it is. So hike or no?"
Twi spun the idea around in her head, the motion looking like someone trying to massage a stiff neck, answering, "Sure. Sounds fun."
I finished up putting away our possessions, and we quickly changed into hiking boots, jeans, and warmer clothing. As much as I love my black leather jacket, and how great I look in it, it didn't do well in shielding the wind. I left it behind in favor of a teal windbreaker, and Twilight, a fuchsia one.
Twilight compiled a map of the area, a compass, and other tools of a paranoid pedant for a hiking trip. The fact that she had all of this on hand already started to scare me, and I began questioning how she managed to fit all of it in two bags. She even had two bags of trail-mix already made up, with a six-point star and sun doodled on the bags in permanent marker.
"Boy, I hope you're with me if I'm ever in a plane crash. We would be rescued in less than a week."
"Wow, thanks, Sunset. What a very you thing to say."
"Oh, you know what I mean!"
Yeah, I was definitely going to pay for that one.
The trail up Narvikfjellet could be easily followed by the eye for only a few yards, after which it was swallowed by the mountain greenery. It was as well-worn as it could be, easily traceable but with how steep and craggy it was made it difficult to climb. Evergreen trees and short bushes flanked most of the trail going up.
And it only took five minutes up the trail before I was being pleaded with to stop and take a break. Twilight collapsed onto a low, mossy boulder sticking out of the soil between two fir trees.
"It's a shame gym class was just a participation grade," I remarked. "Otherwise, I would have been valedictorian."
"And let more power go to your head? Not a chance." Twilight pulled a water bottle out of her bag and downed half of it in three gulps. She pulled it from her lips and held it up to me. I accepted, taking a mere sip.
After a couple minutes, Twilight had regained her breath and we continued up the mountain. We went considerably slower, for her sake, and I helped her whenever I could. On more than one occasion, climbing over a rock would cause it to dig into my leg through my pocket. I would wince, fearful of it breaking.
And ever the watchful eye, the sun followed us on our trip up the mountain.
At a certain point, around three-quarters through the trail, the greenery dwindled to just the moss of the rocks while the amount of stone gray tripled as the mountain flattened out. With the protection of the woods gone, the wind found its way to beat against us, and the temperature felt colder, like an October evening. It was closer to the kind of weather I had expected.
Ahead we could see a cozy log cabin, sitting pristine in the clearing, and a gondola offering rides down the mountain was only a short walk from there. Several people bustled about, coming and going out the restaurant. A fence ran from the cabin, along the edge of a cliff, rocking back and forth in the wind.
I spun around, looking behind us. The town was gone, as if it was washed away by the sea. Sunlight reflected from the rippling water; it was a gorgeous light show, dazzling like pictures of the northern lights.
"Whoa."
I turned to see Twilight was looking down at the glittering spectacle. I reached for her hand, intertwining my fingers around hers. It shook her from her stupor.
"Beautiful, huh?" I asked.
"Yeah." She soaked in another look and turned to me. "How about something to eat? That cabin over there is a restaurant."
"Really?" I examined the cabin; for the most part it looked like an ordinary cabin. The only odd thing about it was a green wooden panel hanging in the window, reading something illegible. "What's the place called?"
"Narvikfjelle Resturant," Twilight replied.
"Okay, what does that mean?"
"…Narvik Mountain Restaurant."
"Oh, come on! Why is everything here so uncreative with their name?" Twilight could only offer a shrug.
We entered, and we were assaulted by a unique combination of smells and odors: fish and smoked meats, a rainbow of alcohols, and a twinge of something sweet hidden between them. The interior was wall-to-wall bright birch wood, with oak tables and chairs strewn about. It felt comforting, like a home away from home. The closest I could compare it to was Applejack's place, and even then it didn't quite fit the bill. A waitress cantered past us, looking light on her feet, coming from a family at a table in the back. A lone man sat hunched over a plate of waffles.
The waitress, with two menus clutched to her chest, marched into front of us, saying, "Hei der, bor til to?" Her beaming smile was wide, stretching from ear to ear.
"Ja." I rolled my eyes; it seemed the man on the bus clearly didn't deter Twilight from flaunting her new language.
With an arm, the waitress directed us to a table by a window, sat us down, and handed each of us a menu. "Noe å drikke?"
"To vann, snill." Twi answered. The waitress at first hesitated before scribbling into a notepad and hurrying off. Twilight placed her backpack on the seat next to her and skimmed through her menu.
"Um, okay." I held my menu limply in my hand. "What did she say?"
"She asked what we wanted to drink. I told her two waters." Her eyes darted down to the menu, and she slumped a bit in her seat—if we were ponies, the face she gave would have been accompanied by wilted ears. "Sorry, did you want something else? I just assumed water—"
"It's okay, Twi. I just don't, you know, speak Norwegian."
"Right, sorry."
We returned to our menus, and I was immediately eternally grateful—nearly everything on it was in both Norwegian or English. I was surprised to see certain dishes: burgers, pizzas, nachos. I scanned for anything vegetarian and decided on the margarita pizza.
"Decided on what you want?" I heard. I peered over the menu to Twilight looking at me with expectation, her menu laid in front of her.
"Yeah, the margarita pizza."
Twilight nodded. The waitress returned with two tall glasses of water clinking with ice and sat them before us.
"Har dere bestemt dere?"
"Ja." Twilight gave our order, and the waitress jotted it all down, collected the menus and glided off again. I didn't bother trying to understand what she was saying; I left it drift into one ear and out the other.
"Alright, I have to use the restroom." Twilight unzipped her windbreaker and slid out of her chair. The jacket was thrown over the back of the chair, and she vanished into a door in the back. I was left alone with my thoughts.
Unzipping and shrugging off my windbreaker, I looked outside through the window and saw the sun again, casting shadows throughout the restaurant. Even if it wasn't the same world or same sun, it felt like Princess Celestia was watching me. Watching my every move. This isn't your Twilight, Princess, I thought.
My hand idly fell to the pocket. I slipped my hand into it until I felt cool metal brush against me. I let my index finger slide around the inside. Smooth. Polished. My mind started to slip away, thinking back to a few days prior:
"Do you think she'll like it?"
"Darling, I can assure you, if you presented it to me right now, your ears would be ringing with my resounding yes."
"...Aren't you straight, though?"
"I am. That's how wonderful that thing is."
Rarity was right; it was wonderful. And expensive. It was the most expensive thing I had ever bought; not only had it nearly left my wallet dry, combined with paying for everything on the trip, but it cost me my pride. I had been forced in showing my hand and admitting something.
I loved Twilight Sparkle, a girl—a woman I had pulled from the madness that could have led to the destruction of Equestria and Earth, and the doppelganger of the Princess that held out her hand to me in pity. The others loved to point out the irony, but maybe it wasn't? Maybe instead it's not a joke, but a premonition, a foreshadowing of what would be expected of me.
When I had the idea to do it in Norway, there was a scene in my head: both of us sitting on some rocks atop this very mountain, just watching the sun dip down underneath the shimmering blue blanket. And just as it starts tucking itself in, when the world is bathed gold, I would produce it from pocket and pour my heart out. Dump all of it at her feet. Leave myself vulnerable, open. And then I would kneel and present it to her. A shimmering band of gold. A sparkling diamond star.
And then there's the question.
What would she say? Would she even be able to say anything? Knowing Twi, she'd become catatonic, if not outright faint from the proposal. I would catch her before her head struck the rocks, hold her, laughing out of nervousness. She would come to and give me the answer I so desire. And then, as the sunset met the twilight, we would lean in—
"Sunset?"
"Hmm?" The hum was an absent-minded response. I turned from the window and saw that Twilight had appeared in her seat, looking concerned. "Oh, sorry."
She eyed me down. "Are you okay? Your face looks warm."
"I'm fine. Just a bit of daydreaming while you were gone."
Twi hummed in return; the kind of noncommittal affirmation letting you know they heard you, but believing your words is a different tale.
"Well, if you start feeling ill, we'll go back to the hotel."
"I'm fine, Twilight." I gave her a smile, and by the way she returned it, I guess it didn't quite reach my eyes.
Our food came soon after. The pizza I had ordered was a generous size, covered with a deep sea of melted cheese and tomato sauce. As the waitress slid my order in front of me, a savory-sweet blend blasted me and I couldn't resist breathing it in and treasuring it. I scooped a piece and bit into it. The cheese was the right amount of stringy, the sauce tangy, and the crust thin and crispy. I moaned into the second bite, ignoring the scorching feeling against the roof of my mouth. I spared a look at Twilight's order, a thick cheeseburger with the toppings spilling out onto the plate.
Dinner was held in silence for a while; we were both starving from the plane ride, the bus, and the hike up the mountain. We just wanted a bit of peace to stuff ourselves. As I moved to the last quarter of the pizza, I checked the time; quarter ‘til eight. And the sun remained high in the sky.
"You know," I spoke up, "I was thinking sitting up here and watching the sunset with you, but I guess it sits pretty late in Norway, huh?"
"The sunset?" Twilight laughed around a hand. "It won't be for another month."
I froze, right as I had bitten into the last piece of my pizza. The sun wouldn't set for another month?
"...What?" I mumbled around a mouthful of cheese and sauce.
"What? You didn't know? It's called the land of the midnight sun for a reason. Because of how Earth is tilted, during the summer a portion of the world around the axis experiences sunlight twenty-four hours a day for several days or even weeks."
I chewed lazily and swallowed. My appetite had abandoned me; the perfect scene crumbled into dust. I dropped the piece of pizza onto the plate and pushed it away, propping my head up with my hand and glaring at the sun.
"Are you okay, Sunset?"
"Yes, Twilight," I replied harshly.
She replied with nothing, and I felt like punching myself for the tone. Shortly after, she finished. I wordlessly paid for our meal and we departed. The wind had died down considerably, becoming a puff of the earth's breath. I left my jacket open, digging my hands into the pockets. Twilight wrapped her arm around one of mine.
"Do you want to take the gondola down?" she asked. "It'll be quicker and I don't feel like taking a hike down." I nodded and led her over. There wasn't a line for it, so as soon we stepped up we were boarding it. As I sat on the teal cushion, the first thing I noted was the song "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"—one of Pinkie's favorite songs—playing from a little gray speaker in the ceiling in the gondola. I never cared for the shrill pop of it. Twilight scooted in next to me, coiling her arm around mine again. The door slid shut with a metallic bang, and we were off.
"You know, I don't need empathy superpowers to tell that something's wrong." She rested her head onto my shoulders. "So spill. I won't stop harassing you until you do."
"I was just wanting to watch the sunset with you."
"We can do that at home. And the only sunset I care about is you." Her arm shuffled, and I felt it rub across the pocket and the ring. "What do you have in your pocket?"
"It's nothing important, Twilight." Even I couldn't believe the lie in my voice.
"That doesn't actually answer the question, Sunset."
I sighed in defeat and fished into my pocket. I clasped it in a fist as I brought it out. My fingers unceremoniously unfurled to reveal the band. Twilight's eyes grew, and she retreated to the edge of the seat, giving the ring something fierce of a stare. I moved the ring to my other hand, pinching it with my thumb and index finger. A new song on the radio played, "Faithfully" by Journey, and another one of Pinkie's favorites.
"I had wanted to do it right. Make it romantic. Make it special. I originally wanted to do it up here, on the mountain, at sunset. But with no sunset, that was kind of ruined." I tossed up my hands. "As is the surprise. I guess I should just ask now." I held the ring up, the diamond smiling in Twilight's direction. "So will you?"
"Sunset…" It was breathless, and she took the hand with the ring into hers, plucking the ring out, laying it into my palm, and closing my fingers. "I'm sorry, I can't."
My ears burned, spreading to my forehead, my cheeks. When it hit my eyes, they started to water. "Why not?" I asked indignantly.
"Sunset, I'm moving to Boston in a week!" There was a quiver in her voice; I guess my crying was starting to get to her. "I can't get married or engaged. I don't even want to think about that until after I get my Ph.D and know where for certain this road is taking me."
"I just don't want you to forget about me while you're gone."
"Sunset," a laugh was entertained despite the mood, "I have a photographic memory. It's going to take more than a couple months for me to forget about you. And well…" Her head tilted downward again; I knew she was going to say something flirty. "I have a mental scrapbook of all our moments together—every single one of them, from the time I first met you. I pull it out, figuratively, whenever I need a pick-me-up." She continued cupping my hand into hers. Her thumb rubbed over my knuckles—it was comforting.
"'Den som venter på noe godt venter ikke forgjeves.' It's a Norwegian proverb: 'The one who waits for something good, does not wait in vain.' And it won't be in vain, I promise. I'm...I'm not saying no entirely, just not right now." Twilight brought her hands up, cupping my face, and pulled herself up to meet my lips. When she pulled back, a tiny grin adorned her face. "Can you wait, for me?"
I sniffled and allowed a matching grin as I nodded. "Until the end of time."
"It won't be that long for sure." Twi licked her lips. "And I know you're probably tired of me speaking Norwegian already, but I know a phrase you might like: Jeg elsker deg."
I didn't speak Norwegian; not a phrase, not even a single word. But I could read people, even without the geode. On Twilight, I read about half-lidded eyes, blushing mulberry cheeks. I read the story of a heart pulsing to the marching beat of two. I read of familiar cold, clammy hands against my cheeks and the most beautiful view framed by locks of pink and purples. I read a declaration, subtly asking for one in return.
And I obliged:
"I love you too, Twi."
