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// Par Two: Sent Her A Gift 
// Story: Gift Givers 
// by Art Inspired 
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	Yesterday’s incident had came to pass, and things were certainly starting to seem out of place the following day. It wasn’t because of the landslide, however. Rather, it was Maud. After sifting through so many gemstones, Marble would feel saddened after finding out that her sister was unable to accept anything she found during her rummage as a potential gift for her distanced friend, Rarity. Ruby after gemstone was tossed, one after another, and when it was finally time to end the day, Maud would hardly eat her dinner and went straight to bed the second she had the chance. This just wasn’t right to anypony living in the house with her, because she almost always finished every bite on her plate, and she even stayed up a bit later than anypony else within the household. More than once, she had been spotted still working in the living room downstairs, studying for her research involving rocks.

The other day ago, Maud and Marble had only spend a few moments together while sifting, but just off observation alone, Marble was able to deduce just what kind of present Maud wanted to send to Rarity. It had to be the purest diamond of them all. It also had to be big enough, but not too large, and expensive looking as well. So, that morning, when everyone else would be distracted with whatever they were doing, Marble spent the better portion of her day trudging through the moistened mud in search.

Upon stepping on something jagged, but clearly more noticeable than anything else around her, Marble leaned down for a closer look. Her smile widened nicely as it rose in her hooves, trickles of water and clay sliding off the gift slowly, but were wiped away after a moment of looking at its sheer beauty. “Perfect,” Marble told the diamond. “You’ll do just fine. Come with me…”

She made sure not to waste any time, and quickly returned to the upstairs rooms. Marble hid the diamond from Igneous as she passed him by, and headed upstairs to her sister’s room where Maud could be found still asleep, or at least lying there without much motion save for her breathing. Once Marble was inside and standing over her, though, Maud would come to her senses, and bring herself up to face Marble.

When Maud looked down at what her sister held, she’d gasp. “That’s… perfect for Rarity,” Maud said while taking it into her own hooves. “You found it outside?”

Marble breathed, and gave a shy smile. “Mmhmm.”

All Maud could do was hug her, and mumble, “Thank you… so much, Marble.” Then, she said with enthusiasm, “I guess I have no choice but to send this on its way, then.”

Marble had never seen her sister act this way, but didn't give it much else thought. She simply looked over at a white box her sister had gotten out sitting on the dressed, and the note Maud had written for Rarity, and nodded. “I think this is really sweet of you, Maud.”

Maud looked down, knowing good and well her sibling was probably clueless as to just how attracted she really was towards Rarity, but nevertheless, why tell her? This was Maud’s way of thinking. Without hesitation, she put the gift in its box with the note on the bottom, and then held onto it for a minute. Marble was about to say something when Maud spoke first. “Am I really going to do this?”

Marble stared at Maud with a bit of worry now in her eyes, but she was able to settle herself down once Maud breathed with closed eyes. Still, Marble mention, “Rarity will appreciate it. Plus, you’ve got everything you needed to do it. If she really means this much to you, then go for it.” She blushed, and loosely commented, “I’m tempted to send Big Mac a few… come to think of it.”

Maud smiled, and that’s really all there was to it. Shortly thereafter, Maud left her room with the box, heading down the stairs, and once Igneous had been informed that she was simply going out to deliver something to the post office, she left the house. She didn't say exactly what it was she was delivering, but luckily for her, Igneous was far too busy to question it. The post office was still a good couple of miles for her to walk, but that time seemed to go by fast for her thanks to the support of her sister, Marble. Some of that time was of course spent on worrying about the future, and what might happen if she truly goes through with this. By the time the building she had been traveling to came into view, Maud would be asking herself, “What if Rarity doesn’t like me back at the end of all this?”

She stopped, all alone in the middle of a dirt road, and opened the box. She wanted to pull out the note she’d written in order to read it back to herself one last time, but when it was unfolded, a gust of wind caught her off guard. The note she had been holding onto went flying right out of her grasp. She stumbled, and watched it without much else of a reaction as it danced in the air. Meanwhile, she became rooted to the ground. Then, everything caught up with her, and she was already chasing the note down, the diamond left in its box back where she’d taken off. She was already way passed the mailing establishment by the time she caught up to the loose, fleeing paper.

Maud was out of breath, but still held her note down on the gravel edging the actual road itself, and this time more carefully, she brought it up with a hoof. As she brought it back to the box, she couldn’t help but to feel shaken by all of this. On her way back, she read it aloud with a hopeful tone of voice not one pony had ever heard her using. “Dear Rarity… I believe it’s possible that you probably don’t think I really, truly appreciate the time spent with you especially when we were in Manehatten. So, I wanted to show you how much you mean to me. This gift is due to a landslide we recently got, and with it came a random delivery of assorted gems and more, and this Diamond. I think of you anytime I see something shiny these days, so I thought I’d send this to you as a special gift. Thanks for everything, and I wouldn’t mind visiting you sometime… From Maud Pie.”

As she came up to the box, she lifted it up, and safely put the note back in with the diamond while saying, “Close call…” Then, she said in a more quiet, although moodless tone, “I doubt Rarity likes me back. Not the way I like her. Still, I should at least do this because of how great of a friend she is. It’s just, she likes diamonds, not rocks… I might as well be a rock, and she... a diamond. How could a pony like her ever love somepony like me?”

She brought a hoof up to her lip once she heard an approaching caravan just up the road. Without much else time to waste, she hurried along, and mailed her gift along with about as much ease as she was going to get that day. Afterwards, Maud would make her way back home. Besides nervously awaiting Rarity’s response if any response at all, Maud also still had work to attend to on the farm. There still remained a lot of gems and shards to scavenge from the muck, and even then, there were still the daily chores, and things that needed tending to as well, all of which had been piling up. All this just from a simple, little landslide.