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// I stopped quilting for this. 
// Story: Where's Boulder? 
// by Nailah 
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“Boulder! Boulder, where are you?” asked Maud, shouting out his name over the rock fields that were her family’s farm. There was no answer to her cries. She shrugged her shoulders as she let out a heavy sigh. She felt a slight shift in the air, it was always hot, too hot most days, but winter was coming. She had to find Boulder.

Maud didn’t know where to even start looking. She and Boulder were always so close. She never left him out of her sight, so the fact she didn’t know where he was now, aggravated her. She tilted her head to the left side, trying to look bored, as she stared endlessly up into the clouds in the sky.

“I have to find him. But where could he have gone…” spoke Maud, with a slight bitterness to her tone. She slumped in her stance, walking rather lazily. Boulder had to be out here somewhere, but where?

She remembered last night, she and Boulder had enjoyed a calm evening together. Just like they always did.
Now she felt alone. She wasn’t a social pony. She didn’t like being around other ponies, except her family. That was her exception, but Boulder was always the one creature she didn’t mind being around constantly, and without him, she felt her heart becoming heavy. She felt her breathing steadily increase to long sighs of boredom, and sadness. Maud wasn’t an emotional pony like her sister, but without Boulder she didn’t know what to do or how to move forward.

She began her search, the rock farm was mostly rocks. Finding a rock here wasn’t hard, but finding the right rock; that was the difficult part. She looked back and forth, angling her neck from side to side, surveying the field, and looking for any signs of her pet. Boulder had to be here somewhere. She wasn’t going to give up until she found him, even if it drove her insane looking for him, she was going to find him. She wasn’t going to stop or give up until she had him back.

She searched the east, west, north, and southern parts of the farm, lots of rocks, and there were even brief moments where she thought she saw Boulder in the distance, she went trotting quickly to where she thought he was, only to find emptiness. Boulder wasn’t there.

“Boulder…! Boulder? Boulder where are YOU?” She shouted from her lungs, as loud as she could muster, which for her wasn’t very loud or vocal at all. She wasn’t really a loud pony. She had considered asking her sisters for help, but this was her problem, not theirs. She was the one who had lost Boulder, not them. She was going to be the one to find him.

Maud had searched every acre of land they had on the rock farm, but she still hadn’t found him. Boulder was missing, and a part of her felt strangely void of feelings. She felt a drift. Boulder...Where was he? She slumped as she walked, and kicked at the dirt beneath her hooves as she walked back towards the house. She didn’t see her sisters or her parents around. 
They were probably working on moving the rocks from one side of the field to the other. No one really understood how hard their jobs were, moving rocks was hard. But finding a rock within a field of rocks was even harder, perhaps impossible even. Maud wouldn’t give up on him, Boulder would never give up on her. She felt her eyes twitching with frustration. She took a deep breath in, trying to find him was driving her crazy! 

No crazy wasn’t the right word. Insane. This was driving her insane. She recalled when Pinkie Pie went insane with the thought of nopony coming to her parties. Maud recalled her tale, and didn’t want to sink herself into a similar situation, but she knew the more and more it took her to find him, the more at risk she was putting herself. She HAD to find Boulder. He had to be here somewhere, but how does one pony find a rock within a field of nothing but rocks?

Maud sulked, as she reached into her pocket. Was it possible she had simply forgotten he was there? She reached into her coat pocket, and felt for her friend, and felt a lump within her pocket. She pulled it out and sure enough Boulder were there in her hooves.

“Boulder, why didn’t you tell me you were in my pocket this entire time? I almost went insane trying to find you.” she scolded the rock, giving him a stern stare down. 

Boulder said nothing. The rock just laid there within her hooves. It didn’t even move or wriggle from her grip. He was just a rock after all.

“Oh Boulder, I’m so glad to have you back. Now, we should get back to what we were doing. Moving rocks.” spoke Maud, as she pulled Boulder close to her, and nuzzled him affectionately, before putting him back in her pocket, safe and sound.


Maud slowly made her way back to the southern field of rocks, she could see her sister Limestone, angrily pushing at a big rock, and rolling it towards the west field. She went over towards her, to assist her. 

Maud felt strangely content. Boulder was safely within her pocket, where he belonged, and she didn’t need to worry for him anymore. Though even as she began to help her sister, she began to wonder, had Boulder stuck out of her pocket when she hadn’t noticed? And jumped back in. 

Surely he would at least have told her if he was going somewhere, but the rock was quiet. As quiet as the wind was today. It was always hot on the rock farm, even as the winter months were approaching. Some things never changed, and if there was one thing Maud knew, her connection with her pet rock was what kept her steady, and not crazy. She wasn’t insane. She wasn’t going to turn into anything other than who she was, she was Maud.