//------------------------------// // Maud Meets Thorax // Story: The Life of Maud Pie // by DrakeyC //------------------------------// “Spike tells me you can turn into a rock.” Thorax nodded. “Changelings can turn into most anything that’s the same size as us. And isn’t too complex.” He chuckled and nodded at a table and chair nearby. “Like, I could probably turn into a table and chair, if they’re the same size as me folded up, but it would be really, really hard.” Maud blinked. “Show me.” “You want me to turn into a table and chair?” “No. I want you to turn into a rock.” “Oh…” Thorax stepped away. “Well, okay.” A ripple of green magic rushed up over him from the ground, and he vanished to reveal a large grey rock. Maud stepped up to the rock and peered closely at it. She circled it and leaned in to sniff it. “I can tell this is a fake rock.” Another flash of magic and Thorax returned to his true form. “Really? B-But, changelings are supposed to be masters of disguise!” “Not as rocks you’re not.” Thorax raised a hoof to his mouth and thought. “I admit, I’m a little bothered by that. How can I improve my disguise, then?” “Well for starters, your rock disguise is entirely foreign to the Crystal Empire.” Maud gestured a hoof over the room around them. “The Crystal Mountains are a large chain of mountains formed by the cooling of magma eruptions from primordial volcanos. For hundreds of miles in either direction, most rocks you find are igneous.” Thorax blinked slowly at Maud’s words. “And?” “You disguised yourself as a sedimentary rock. You might as well have not even bothered.” “Oh… Well, I guess that makes sense.” “Also, you didn’t smell like a rock.” “…I didn’t smell like a rock?” “You smelled like a changeling.” “Rocks don’t have a smell.” “Says the changeling who disguised himself as a sedimentary rock in a region of predominantly igneous formations.” Thorax sighed. “Fair point. I think I can mimic smells when I change, so I guess that’ll be helpful. What do rocks smell like?” “I’ll explain it to you, if you explain something to me.” “Um, sure.” “Can you show me how to turn into a rock like you do?” Thorax was taken aback. “I’m not sure ponies can transform like changelings, ours is a special kind of magic.” “Can you teach it to me?” “I don’t think so. I’ve never tried teaching a pony how to use our magic before.” “Then how do you know we can’t?” Thorax opened his mouth to respond, and stopped as he considered Maud’s words. Spike whistled as he knocked on the door of the guest room of the Crystal Empire’s castle. “So, Maud, Thorax, how’re you getting along?” He slowly opened the door. Maud, sitting perfectly still staring ahead at a wall, said nothing. Behind her, Thorax was sitting among a circle of different types of rocks, staring at them intently. He leaned down to one, sniffed it twice, and held it out to Maud. “Igneous?” “Sedimentary.” “You didn’t even look at it.” “I can smell it.” “Oh, right.” Thorax sighed and set the rock back down, and sniffed the next one. He then noticed Spike watching. “Oh. Hi, Spike!” “Thorax, what are you doing?” “Maud is teaching me what rocks smell like, so I can use a proper rock disguise.” “And Thorax is teaching me that turning into a rock is just a matter of concentration.” Spike slapped his forehead. “Maud, you are not going to turn into a rock just by thinking about it.” “You underestimate my power.”