Poetry
The Poetry Of The Layers
Maud Pie sorted the samples on her display table. She’d been doing it for quite a while, and she wasn’t getting any closer to being satisfied.
It was the annual Ponyville Trade Fair, and Maud was tending the Pie Family Rock Farm booth. She had offered to take over the booth so her younger sisters could tour the fair’s other exhibits, and get a bit of lunch. Limestone and Marble Pie had readily agreed, mainly because they knew the best way to make Maud happy was to leave her alone with the rocks.
A perfect display table would be a nice gift for her little sisters, but Maud just wasn’t going to get everything right before the girls returned. It was hard. So very hard.
The best samples needed to be at the front of the table where they could catch a passing pony’s eye. Unfortunately, this required Maud to pick her favorites. Every time she thought she had picked the best rocks for the front row she found fine, deserving samples shuffled to the back. This forced Maud to sort the samples again.
All of the rocks were wonderful. Picking favorites was hard. So very hard.
Maud looked up from her work and startled a customer.
“Oh...um...hello,” said the little grey filly. “I was hoping to find Miss Marble and Miss Limestone.”
“They’re not here.”
“Um...yes...I see.”
Maud had difficulty judging the unicorn filly’s age because the girl was so small. But even if she was just deceptively short and skinny Maud guessed she was still very young. Then again, Maud measured time on a geological scale, so all ponies seemed young to her.
“I met the Pie sisters at the Manehattan Fair last summer, and I hoped to see them again,” continued the filly. “To...say hello.”
“They’re not here,” Maud repeated.
“Um...yes. As you said.”
Maud stared.
“I beg your pardon, but are you Miss Maud Pie, Ma’am?”
Maud nodded.
“Miss Pinkie spoke of you. She seems to think we have much in common.”
Maud stared.
There was something familiar about her voice. Maud wasn’t a big fan of recording devices and had never heard her own voice, so it took Maud a moment to realize what it was. The Little unicorn sounded just like Maud. She wasn’t being mocking, this was genuinely the way she spoke.
Two other things were evident to Maud. Just holding up her side of the conversation, let alone her’s and Maud’s, made the little one very uncomfortable. Maud couldn’t help her with that.
But the filly also did not want to leave the booth.
“You like our rocks,” said Maud.
“Oh, yes, very much,” the filly answered, even though Maud hadn’t actually made it a question. “They are excellent specimens. It pleases me to see the Pie Farm continues to produce such outstanding wares.”
“We’re having a good season.”
The filly had relaxed considerably, and Maud believed she knew why. Maud recognized this as relief that the conversation had turned to geology. Maud certainly knew that feeling, though she didn’t experience it often.
“I appreciate how you have sorted your samples. It begins at one end with sedimentary rocks. Then the igneous, followed by the metamorphics. It reflects the rock cycle. I particularly like how you have another column of sedimentary rocks at the far end. Because after the rocks have formed wind and rain begin to erode them, creating new beds of sediments to one day become new rocks. The cycle goes on and on.”
Maud stared at her.
Maud blinked.
Finally, Maud stated, “You’re Quizzical Greystone.”
The filly started with surprise. She had probably never been recognized before. “Why, yes, I am.”
“Pinkie really likes you.”
“I...yes. And I have grown very fond of Miss Pinkie.”
“I’m a big fan of your poetry,” said Maud.
“I beg you pardon, Miss Maud?”
“Your poetry. I love it.”
“I do apologize, Ma’am, but at least one of us is terribly confused.”
Maud reached under the display table and brought out a magazine. Quiz recognized it, this was the latest issue of the Journal of the Royal Equestrian Geological Society. Maud set it on the table and it automatically fell open to an article on the formation of rocky outcrops - ‘Sedimentation and Uplift in the Everfree Forest’ by Quizzical Greystone.
“Poetry,” said Maud.
“But Ma’am, this is a scholarly article in a peer reviewed scientific journal.”
“Poetry,” Maud repeated.
“Most ponies find works such as this barely readable.”
“Poetry.” Something in Maud’s complete lack of expression or inflection made it clear that she would not be argued with.
“Um...well...thank you, Miss Maud.”
Maud learned over the table and whispered to Quiz. “You understand. You can look at a rock face and see more than the rocks. You see the ages it took for falling sediments to make each layer, and the ages it took for them to petrify. You see the forces that lifted, folded, and broke them. You can almost feel the heat and the pressure that metamorphosed the layers in their beds. You can see it all in your imagination.”
After a long silence, Quiz gave the only answer she could.
“Yes.”
“Poetry,” said Maud. “You are the youngest pony to get an article published in the Journal.”
“Well...not exactly,” said Quiz, evasively. “I know of one article by a filly who was younger than myself…”
“Yes. You,” said Maud. “Your first article. Three years ago.”
“Oh. Yes, of course, I should have expected you would know of that.” Quiz blushed at being found out.
“‘Metamorphosis of Limestone Beds - The Marble Formations Of Canterlot.’”
“I remember it well,” admitted Quiz. She went on, wistfully, “It was good fun. But my graphs were several percentage points out of proportion, and one of my tables was crooked. A reasonably good first effort, I suppose.”
“Poetry,” stated Maud. “And the crooked table was the printer’s fault. It was extraordinary work for a pony of any age. You were never honored for your achievement. That’s not fair.”
“Oh, I hardly think so,” said Quiz, dismissively. “The Journal does not keep records of author’s ages. It is not a contest.”
Maud stared at her. “Pinkie told me you were modest to a fault. That’s too bad.”
“Oh, dear, I do not believe I would call it a ‘fault’ as such…”
“Of course you wouldn’t,” said Maud. “That’s also too bad.”
Quiz could think of nothing to say, so she didn’t respond.
Maud found a quill and pushed it and the magazine towards Quiz. “Can I have your autograph?”
Quiz blushed an even brighter shade than before. “Oh, dear...I...well...if you really think you want it…”
Maud nodded.
Quiz took the quill. “Do I just sign my name, or should I write something? I have never done this before.”
“I don’t know. I’ve never asked for an autograph before.”
Quiz wrote, ‘Thank you for reading’ then signed her name under the article’s title.
“Boulder, come out and meet Miss Quizzical.” Maud drew something out of her pocket and set it on the table. It was a small, black stone. Quiz realized that it was to this stone that Maud had spoken. This realization did nothing to dispel her confusion.
“This is Boulder, he’s my pet rock,” said Maud.
“Oh, well...um...hello, Boulder?” Quiz squinted at the stone. “He...is quite handsome. The natural fracture line brings him to a nice point, yet he is not sharp. This is not wind or water erosion….”
“Wear, mostly from being in my pocket.”
“It does give him a nice polish,” noted Quiz. “I also have a pet named Boulder. He is now in the care of my little sister. When last I saw him he had hardly moved from the spot in our garden where I left him.”
“What is he? Igneous? Metamorphic?”
“He is a tortoise.”
“Oh.”
Maud gently stroked the top of her pet rock, then put him back in her pocket. “You aren’t the same as Pinkie described you, Quizzical. You’re very expressive.”
“Oh, dear. I do not believe I know a single pony who would agree with you.” Maud thought Quiz sounded amused by the idea. “However, this is something I have been working on.”
“Why?”
Quiz had to ponder this for a moment. “It is a fair question. Change is not for every pony, of course. But for myself...it came as a surprise, but I am discovering that there are things I know that I wish to share with others. This is easier to do when your voice is not an unpleasant drone. Oh, dear, that last might have sounded like an insult.”
“No offense meant, none taken,” said Maud. “Change isn’t something I need. But it might be the thing for you. I see what you mean by wanting to share. Pinkie says that you are a story-teller, and that you should become a teacher.”
“Does she, now? Your sister is given to exaggeration, Miss Maud. Frankly, this is something I continue to be uncertain of.”
“Don’t be. Pinkie is usually right. I already know you’re a poet.” Maud actually smirked. “Do you also like puns?”
Quiz reached out and tapped one of the metamorphic rocks. “I think they are gneiss.”
Maud tapped the sample next to the one Quiz had selected. “Shale we?”
“Of quartz.”
“I would hate to become an intrusion. You would find me in fault.”
“So it seams.”
This continued for some time.
Most ponies over hearing the exchange would think the two grey little ponies were just droning at each other about nothing. There faint smiles were only detectable in the best of lighting conditions. But if you truly knew this pair, if you were among their best friends, you might have an idea of what a wonderful time their were having.
"We may have to stop. The quality of the puns is eroding," said Maud.
“Are you saying ‘no Mohs’?”
“It’s hard.”
Both ponies grinned. As far as they were concerned, they might as well have been laughing out loud.
“Maud! Quizzical!” Pinkie Pie appeared out of apparently nowhere, and enveloped the two ponies in a crushing hug. “I just knew my BSBF and my newest little best friend would hit it off! Maud, isn't Quizzical the cutest thing?! Quizzical, don’t you just love Maud?!”
“Yes,” said Quiz and Maud together.
The youngest Pie sisters arrived just behind Pinkie. Marble whispered to Limestone, “I told you they would bond. Pay up.”
Limestone passed her sister a bit. “I thought it was opposites that attract. Maud, we’re sorry we’re late, we got side tracked at the Bon Bon’s Sweets booth. That’s all Pinkie’s fault. You’ll have to hurry to catch your train.”
Maud looked up and squinted at the clock tower. “I lost track of time.”
“That may happen when one is having fun,” said Quiz. “Or so I have been told.”
“I still have time, but I must leave now,” said Maud. “Quizzical, it has been good to meet you.”
“It has been a delight for me as well, Miss Maud. Will you visit Ponyville again, soon?”
Maud shook her head. “I’m heading out west to study the rock formations, and I will be away for a long time. Eutaw County has many fine buttes.”
“I do like buttes. They may be my favorite landform.” Quiz looked thoughtful. “I would like to send you away with a parting quip. Sadly, the word ‘buttes’ suggests nothing funny to me.”
“I prefer mesas,” said Maud. “They are the highest form of flattery.”
With that, the two new friends parted company.
Stats
Page generated in 0.145 seconds
Total duration
964 users online
1,295,300 hits today, 2,205,040 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
QuizMaude OTP!
I thought about Quiz as soon as I saw Maude! Of course they are different, but there are a lot of similarities in the stories.
I think Pinkie said "isn't" here, not "it's". Pinkie talks so quickly and energetically that she's hard to transcribe sometimes.
No lie, Quiz?
Later, after an explanation that included no small amount of giggling: "Oh dear."
Don't apologize, those puns rocked.
Best friends forever!
Haa, you actually did it!
Gonna read this ASAP
Well Maud and Quiz are pundits.
Don't think I missed that.
And if anyone gives you flak about the puns, chalk it up to bad taste. Metamorphically speaking, schist happens after all.
I have more.
Yes, yes, yes, oh HELL yes!
Perfect, without a single flaw.
I have been waiting for you to wright this story ever since the episode aired. You did not dissapoint.
It's great how you played on both the similarities and differences of Maud and Quizical. In my opinion, that is exactly how meetings like this should be handled. Also...
I see what you did there.
Right! Got around to reading it, and, it didn't disappoint
Hah!
This just gets funnier all the time
Quiz, as teacher?! Oh dear Celestia, no! She'll bore the entire school to sleep!
Some remarks and corrections:
> “Oh, dear...I...well...if you really think you want it…”
You should put a space after each ellipsis you use. Since text processors and HTML renderers don't split on a period, ellipses without a space connect words to one large unsplittable block, which looks rather odd if such a block ends up at the end of a line and, instead of being split, is integrally moved to the next one. For example, in the sentence above, the "dear...I...well...if" is seen as one big 'word'.
> Maud, it’s Quizzical the cutest thing?!
I think you mean "isn't".
There are also a number of double spaces:
> The Poetry Of The Layers
(before "The")
> the Journal of the Royal Equestrian Geological Society. Maud set it on the table
(triple space instead of double between the sentences)
> formation of rocky outcrops - ‘Sedimentation and Uplift in the Everfree Forest’
(after the "-")
> Oh, dear...
(after "Oh,")
Oh, and, all paragraph indentations of the first half are spaces. They should be tab characters to trigger the site's indent function.
Didn't know she had it in her.
Show, don't tell.
I love me some puns.
And those two are great together.
Eutaw county huh?
Poems
found something
And that's the honest truth. She is unable to prevaricate, and none of her siblings can contradict her.
. . .
All I can say to this story is "yes."
4159381
Is there a pun or reference here (other than butte/butt) that I'm missing?
4163705 Not a reference, no. The idea is that butte/butt jokes are so very, very obvious that you would have to be innocent to the point of cluelessness not to see it. So, of course, Quiz doesn't see it (note fferror's comment on the giggling and "Oh, dear"-ing when this is explained to Quiz). This is enhanced by the fact that I wrote an entire story around butte/butt jokes.
I hope I didn't just ruin the joke by explaining it.
4158267 This is Quiz, so when you say OTP you just mean penpals, right?
4160417 Quiz can teach - she's getting better.
4160547 What do you mean you didn't know she had it in her? She explained this herself on page one of Quizzical.
4163705 Hmmm, looks like JMac beat me to it.
4163982
I was referring to the volume of Maud's (normally terse) dialogue, actually.
So many words! She was right talkative.
When she opened her mouth, the first place my brain went was that the writers do indeed read the fanfic.
I loved Maud, and I loved Quiz too. I'd actually be interested in seeing Quiz-grown-up meeting Maud-years-later, but I'm a weirdo.
4164959 Oh, right, sorry. Yeah, Maud was moved by the beauty of Quiz's poetic soul.
Heeeeeeeeeeeeee.
This may be the most monotone piece of literature ever written. If you were to describe it to an English teacher, they would inform you that writing as such is boring and unlikeable.
Said English teacher would be terribly, utterly wrong. I loved this, puns and callbacks included. And, of course, we'll all be expecting any upcoming Eutaw County stories to feature Maud in some capacity!
Only Maud would think Quizzical is "expressive."
One other thing that Nyerguds missed:
Possessive pronouns -- his, hers, its, yours, theirs -- do not get apostrophes. This should be:
Miss Cheerilee says you have to stay after school and clean the erasers.
This is fucking hilarious.
Now I actually see what Bad Horse meant by Maude x Quizzical. They hit off with a rocky start, eh? It's awesome...
Sure, I have my fingers crossed for smut (by the Nine Spheres, how could something so blander than vanilla be so hot and spicy?), but I definitely want to see more interaction from these two. Romance, hell, even friendship is something I'm sure everybody would want to see.
It's just so fascinating how something so bland, monotone, and boring can hold up a story, let alone two things. You'd think it'd be a sort of negative factor or something XD
I had to crack up at the bit about Quiz's pet tortoise. Oh and the puns, which were as plentiful as sand on the beach.
Right. Faved this a while ago, but late night impulsiveness compels me to point out the coolest vague thing I like most about this little one shot.
Both Maude and Quiz are 'on paper' very similar. Quiet, monotone, and grey, and liking rocks. This story shows EXACTLY how different the characters are.
Maude, though quiet, has absolutely none of of Quizzical's confidence problems. She's a full grown mare, but more importantly, she is like a rock. Very solid, and very aware and content in who she is. She's also a great deal more blunt and direct than Quizzical, who is actually quite eloquent, despite her mono-tone voice. Quizzical is used to sidling around and deflecting attention away from herself. She does so instinctively, and is often quite blind to her strengths. It's why complements confuse her so.
Maude sees right through Quizzical, and says what she sees with simple, unarguable language. That she took the time to whisper a more eloquent description of what is in Quizzical's 'poetry' was surprising, and is a touching attempt to reach out to quizzical's more eloquent level. Maude is not able to really help Quiz change: Maude says herself that change is not for her. But Maude does see that change is good for Quiz, and helps in her own way: by being a rock, a solid viewpoint that quizzical can't deny, and can use for her own interpretations.
Their differences are what make them interact so well. I'd fave this five more times if I could.
4459744 Thank you. Yes, your analysis of the characters and what I was trying to show about them pretty much nailed it.
Hmm...
Hmmmmmm.......
Nope. I got nothing.
Very nice.
And I am still tempted to try to write a Quizverse version of the Maud Pie episode. Not that Quiz and Maud would directly encounter each other in it, but I still think that Quizverse Twilight and Rarity would be better prepared to meet an adult pony with such a dry, sedate personality that their canon counterparts. And this, in turn, may help the others relate to her as well.
I sense that you started to quickly run dry of rock puns.
I like buttes, they are truly butte-iful. Eh? Eh?
On to the next one.
5429423 Run out?! Oh, no, I could have gone on for pages and pages. This was the point where I was getting sick of them.
Some mention should perhaps be made of Maud intending to get, or already having Quizzical's current address so that they might correspond.
For some reason--and it must be me because everyone else seems to get it--I have absolutely no idea what the "mesa" pun is. I'm baffled. I adored the rest of the puns, though, although what really killed me was the discussion about buttes at the end
Loved it! You really nailed the characters, too. I mean, of course you nailed Quiz, she's yours, but I hope you know what I mean anyways. Great job.
One little edit to be made:
You want "Their" instead of "There" at the beginning of that sentence
5517315 Mesas are flat topped, and they are very high. Hence the play on "Highest form of flat-ery."
5517600
That really is good. I feel silly for needing it explained, but thank you for doing so!
Ha!
I have been waiting to read this since I realised Quizzical was a series and pre-dated Maud'd first appearance.
And this is as much WIN as I was hoping for!
5565416 Thank you. I thought this story would put to bed forever any speculation (mostly light hearted) that MLP staff stole my character, as I showcase how Maud and Quiz are are actually very different.
That didn't happen - as I also showed how they are actually very much alike. Oh, well. Anyway, this story is really just for Quiz fans.
It took me a bit to get the Mesas' one. Then I lol'd
If she can't think of anything funny about 'buttes' she's not trying hard enough.
I love geology puns. They rock.
Oh, wait, somepony beat me to that one...
I'm sure if I try hard enough I can come up with a... gem?
Ok, I quit.
5636198
Well, considering the word is pronounced "Beaut"...
i.redsnapperverytasty.com/graphics/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/vulcan-lol.jpg
I wonder what EQG!Quizzical'd be like. ... Not much story there? ... Have her investigate the mirror, or the statue?
How would Quizzical react to the info that Pinkie and Marble are twins? ... Then again, this is basically an AU, so that might not be true here...
Mirror Pool-ed Quizzical. "Stones Stones Stones Stones Stones..."?
No, I'm being too narrow. I think Quizzical's main interests are Stones and Magic, but... gonna refresh my memory tomorrow...
Capitalization error:
7145298 Do you really think the Quiz-verse counts as an AU? I haven't diverged that much from canon - Luna has never taken on a student and Sweetie Belle can't actually spell sing, but there isn't much else that can't be explained away by simply accepting that Quiz just never gets mentioned on the FIM show.
I'll probably never write it, but I can imagine Quiz in EQG. Picture Wednesday Addams, only shorter, skinnier, and less creepy. Oh, and with a worse haircut.
I think Quiz would like Miss Marble just fine. They would be off in a corner, whispering about their favorite hiding places.
A Mirror-pooled Quiz would not vocalize at all. All the Quiz doubles would creep up on you silently, and you wouldn't know they were there until they surrounded you.
7147039
Good point, it doesn't deviate enough to warrant the AU tag, I think. I was just throwing out a quick explanation of how Quiz doesn't mention Marble being Pinkie's twin, but it's not like it'd come up much, and Limestone being constantly irritable might be hard to for Quiz to notice, if it's dulled by the fact that she's a frequent customer or whatever.
It never really occured to me that Maud and Quiz are similar, but this story did a great job at highlighting their differences and similarities. The dialog was superb.
These puns, so to say... rock.
Very punny story
6722680
This image broke with the passage of time.
Here is a replacemnt (no idea on longevity). https://imgflip.com/i/1zx8ic