The Little Pony Legend: Tales of Equestria

by MaggiesHeartLove

Chapter 16–Maud Pie

Korra let out a yawn as she and the Mane Six approached Sugar Cube Corner. The young Avatar rubbed her sleepy eyes, which still carried a hint of bangs. She had practically dragged herself out of bed, which she only ever did if it was important, and in this case, she hoped it was that. Her, along with Mako, Bolin and Asami. The four human members of the team were all extremely tired, Mako had to literally drag Bolin off of bed.

"Has anypony heard from Pinkie Pie since yesterday?" Applejack asked the group, sounding more concern and not as sleepy. Being a hard-working country pony she was used to waking up at the crack of dawn. If only the same could be said for Korra.

The rest of the group shook their heads in response to Applejack's question. Rainbow Dash yawned and stretched herself, mirroring Korra's current state. "I don't see what's so important we had to meet her here this early. Celestia hasn't even raised the sun yet!"

The sky itself was a beautiful shade of Twilight, the sky was hued with light purples and faint pinks over the horizon behind the hilltops. This was before during when the royal sisters still had possession over their celestial orbs in the sky, and the oldest sister was taking her time to raise hers due to the time. Both royals had a precise schedule for when they moved the sun and moon, and Celestia was anything if not punctual. Even the animals agreed with Rainbow Dash's statement, one rooster was still snoring.

"If the sun's not up why should I?" Mako said.

"Don't firebenders rise with the sun?" Korra asked him while arching an eyebrow.

"What's your point?"

"I hope everything's okay." Twilight said with concern. It was a tad odd for Pinkie Pie to ask them all to come over at this hour. She was in such a hurry the last time they spoke. The alicorn's nerve grew as she knocked on the door. "Pinkie Pie?" she asked, her voice shaking with concern. Both Twilight and Korra were startled by the sound of a muffled crash inside before the door itself opened to reveal Pinkie PIe, wearing transparent safety googles, like the ones one would use in a science lab, and a chef's hat.

"Thank goodness you're all here! There's no time to lose!" One by one, Pinkie Pie shoved each of her friends inside, without so much as asking permission to do so, the exception being the who simply walked right inside. "So, what's so important you…." Korra loss track of her train of thought upon seeing the assortment of colorful rocks pilled up into individual mountains all around the store.

The Avatar entered the store, only to hear the sound of crushing rocks underneath her boots. "Careful!" Pinkie Pie said as Korra looked down at her boot and shook the pieces of colorful rocks off.

"That is a whole lot of rocks." Bolin said, finally fully awake.

"What is all this?" Asami asked, while Pinkie Pie was strung a bunch of the brightly colorful rocks in a bowl with an eggbeater she held with her mouth. She dropped it in order to speak.

"My sister Maud's gonna be here soon, and I need your help taste-testing my rock candy recipes!"

"Uh, we're happy to help you, Pinkie Pie, but this seems like an awful lot of candy." Applejack said, arching an eyebrow.

"Even for you." Rarity said, agreeing with her friend.

"I may have gone a teensy bit overboard." Pinkie said with a 'slue' smile.

"A bit?" Korra emphasized sarcastically with an amused smile. Only Pinkie Pie would have this much candy for even one occasion. Her thoughts then drifted from the rock candies to the real purpose for them coming here. "Wait, your sister?"

"Yeah, you remember when I told you about her, right?"

"I think so. You started talking about your family one day then you smelled Pema's cooking and the rest is a blur."

"Oh, yeah. Man, that was some good steam buns!" the pony said with a sigh, sticking out her tongue as she licked her lips before rapidly shaking her head. "Can't! Gotta stay focused! Come on!" the pony quickly zipped on over to a pile of rock candies, dug down deep into them like a gofer before popping right out of another pile, opposite the one she was currently in only two seconds ago (typical Pinkie physics) and pulled out a wagon filled with a variety of rock candies.

"Give em a taste and tell me what you think!"

Korra was more than happy to help. Just like her pony friend, the Avatar herself had a bit of a sweet tooth of her own. Not as much Pinkie mind you, but she couldn't turn out either candy or the chance to help out her best friend. Even the rest of the group were happy to help out. Mako, on the other hand was a tad hesitant.

"Uh, I'm not much of a candy rock person--Ow!" he said, only to receive a double elbow to the ribcage curtesy of both Korra and Twilight. Why were the majority of the women he knew were so incredibly strong.

"Do it for Pinkie Pie." Korra said through her teeth, making the firebender groan, "She'd do it for you."

"Fine."

"We'd be more than happy to help, Pinkie." the Avatar said with a kind smile.

Rainbow Dash was the first to take a hooffull of candies, ready to dig in. "Yeah! If it's got sugar, I'm in!"

After a while, the group of friends were all groaning in exhaustion. They had taken their share of taste testing the rock candy recipes. By this time, the sun was already up and high in the center of the sky, the hands on the clock already pointing to nine in the morning. For most of the ponies, this was their first time eating rock candy, and just like its namesake…it was rather hard to chew on. For Korra, Bolin and Applejack, however, it was a tad easier, being earthbenders and all, they easily broke the pieces into smaller ones for them to chew on, and did so for the rest. Twilight's teeth were most likely the strongest of all, being an alicorn gave her much endurability after all, but for the others it was a tad hard, though the smaller broken parts were easier to chew on. After a while, the candy just became too much for them. Their stomachs were full they couldn't eat anymore. Korra made a mental note to eat a good meal before taste teasing anything with candy.

Pinkie Pie came by pushing the wagon with yet another assortment of candies. "Everypony ready for more?"

"Ugh. My teeth hurt." Rainbow Dash groaned, rubbing her full tummy, which had increased in size due to the many candies she had eaten. This was a common occurrence for ponies. If they eat too much their stomachs become bloated for a while before returning back to normal after digestion.

"I think we've had plenty, Pinkie." Korra said while wiping away the traces of candy still around Fluttershy's mouth with her arm warmer. "I'm sure your sister will live them."

"Speaking of which, shouldn't you be on your way to pick up Maud from the train station?" Bolin said while also wiping away some of the traces of rock candy in his mouth.

"Oh, but you've only tried half of the flavors, and we have to choose the perfect ones before she gets here so I have time to make more!" Pinkie began to frantically take all the candies into her hooves and shoved them into her mouth before lifting up the wagon and dropping the rest of the rock candies into her mouth, chewing them once her cheeks were filled like a chipmunks. In a matter of moments, she ate and swallowed them all.

"Maud is your sister." Twilight said with compassion, "I'm sure she'll love your rock candy. And I'm pretty sure you've made enough. She's only staying for the week."

"Aw, it's not just for Maud, silly. I'm making candy for all of us!" Pinkie said, which only made the rest of the group groan. As nice as the gesture was, they couldn't eat another bite, not even a tiny pebble of a bite.

"It's part of a very important, super-duper special tradition that only the closest and bestest of friends can share." Pinkie continued to described, "We're going to make rock candy necklaces together!" she squealed with much excitement while holding one of the necklaces herself, "It all started when Maud and I were fillies on the rock farm. She taught me the Pie family rock candy recipe! It adds a secret ingredient –" she looked both left and right before whispering, "It's rocks!–" she said before speaking normally again, "And she showed me how to string the pieces to make them into a necklace! And once we were done, we'd trade! Maud and I have been trading necklaces back and forth since I moved to Ponyville. They're a sign that we'll always be best friends!"

"Aw, what a great tradition." said Applejack with a smile.

Mako shook his head in disbelief, "Hold on. The secret ingredient is rocks?" suddenly, he felt queazier than before.

"Yeah. But these are a special kind of rock that Maud discovered." Pinkie said.

"Oh, what kind of a rock are they?" Fluttershy asked curiously.

"Can't tell ya that, silly! It's a secret!" she whispered the last word before tapping Fluttershy's head. "Now that Maud is heading out to get her rocktorate in rock science, this may be our last chance to trade them for a really long time. I can't wait for you all to meet her. I just know that my best Ponyville and Republic City friends and my best sister friend are gonna become bestest friends! We can make bestest-est friend rock candy necklaces together!"

One by one, Pinkie began pulling several of her friends into a hug, "She expresses herself through fashion just like Rarity, and she's really smart and loves reading just like Twilight and Asami!" she embraced the two magical ponies and heiress before pulling in Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow, Korra, Bolin and finally Mako. "And she's honest, and loves forest things, and is good at games, is supper athletic, has an eye for detail and... Well, oh, she's awesome!"

"She sounds amazing," Rarity said, while feeling strained within the hug, "but won't she start worrying if you aren't at the train station when she gets here?"

"She sure will…" after a very brief moment of silence, Pinkie PIe gasped, "I gotta get out of here!" using her airbending, Pinkie Pie released herself from the hug, gently blasting everyone off of her and onto various piles of rock candy before galloping straight out of the building, tossing her goggles and chef's hat in the process.

"So, we just wait here or what?" Asami asked as she dusted the pieces of candy off of her skirt and hair.

"No way!" Korra stated with a smile, "Pinkie wants us all to give Maud a warm welcome. So, why don't we invite her to our picnic at the park for our scheduled pet playmate?"

"That's a great idea, Korra!" Twilight said with a smile.

"I agree!" said Rarity, "A picnic by the lake would be the perfect way to welcome Pinkie's relative into our circle of friends."

Bolin jumped upwards, smiling in excitement to be meeting a new friend. However, both Asami and Mako were feeling a tad…out of place. They were not against meeting Pinkie's sister, and by the way she described, Maud must be quite the interesting pony to be around. Still, they didn't express their enthusiasm as openly as the others did. Mako was more than willing to at least meet the pony, even if it were only for a moment, but Asami…

She was still feeling out of place in the group enough as it is.

By the lake, the group had already neatly prepared the picnic for their new future friend. Tank's gyrocopter buzzed as he raced Applejack's dog Winona across the grassy fields. The day was bright and beautiful just like a picture frame and the pets frolicked and played with one another. Naga splashed in the waters with Pabu swimming beside her while Korra assisted Twilight with arranging the plates and cups.

Asami sat on the corner of the lake, watching the pets play until Angel Bunny hopped on by and rubbed her leg. Asami smiled and petty the rabbits fluffy head, which made her smile. Bolin spotted Asami sitting a fair share of distance away and walked on over, sitting beside her.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked.

The heiress had become more comfortable with sharing her feelings with the charismatic earthbender, and so was far less hesitant to speak to him about her problems. "Yeah. I guess I'm just feeling uncomfortable with meeting Maud."

"Why? She'd going to love you!"

"Why?"

"Because you're awesome! You're smart, pretty, kind and brave. You know, just because you're not with Mako anymore doesn't mean we think any less of you, and neither does he. Him or Korra. You're a part of Team Avatar so that means you're just as much Pinkie's friend as any of us. Don't forget that."

Asami's heart filled with joy upon hearing his words. He was always one she could count on no matter what. He really was a good friend. Loyal to the end.

"Thanks, Bolin."

Meanwhile, Korra noticed Mako standing by a tree, looking at the picnic setting with a frown. But not one of sadness, one of insecurity. Standing up, she approached the firebender. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just…well…"

"You're nervous about meeting Maud, aren't you?"

"Am I that obvious?"

"For me, yes."

"It's just…I'm still getting used to being a part of this family stuff. Plus, I'm not as good at making friends with ponies as you are."

"What are you tailing about? You made friends with the CMC pretty easily."

"Yeah, after I lost them in the city and nearly gave myself a heart attack trying to find them!"

"You're lucky they were smart enough to stay in the park." Korra placed a hand on his shoulder in sympathy, "What about when you went with Applejack and her family to visit Golden Delicious? You had fun, remember."

"Yeah, after we almost drifted out to sea because of me!"

"You were on a lake."

"There was a waterfall, we could have died."

"Waterfalls in Equestria aren't lethal, at least not in this region."

"Still."

Korra chuckled, "My point is, it's okay to feel nervous. But Pinkie's our friend. I think it's sweet she want's to include us into her family. Isn't that what we did for you and Bolin, or what Asami did for you guys after the arena was destroyed?"

A smile appeared on Mako's face along with a faint blush on his cheeks. "Yeah. You make a good point."

"I usually do."

"You had to ruin it, didn't you?"

"I'm kidding!" the two teens laughed while playfully nudging each other before Fluttershy called out.

"Everything's ready!" she said as Korra and Mako walked on over to see the display, and Asami and Bolin approached next, smiling at the scenery. "I sure hope Maud has an appetite."

Applejack placed a basket of muffin onto the blanket, "Never met a pony or critter who didn't love Granny Smith's apple spiced muffins!"

"Oh, apple spiced!" Bolin exclaimed with glee as he reached on over to take on, only to be slapped by Applejack's hoof. "Ow!"

"Bolin, where are your manners? We have to wait until Maud gets here."

"Sorry."

"Oh, it's no use!" the group turned their heads over to Rarity, who walked on over looking terribly irritated and…wearing a big purple hat with pale rocks attacked to it and a ribbon tied underneath her chin. "I simply cannot find anything suitable to wear!" she said after one of the rocks on her hat became unstuck and rolled down into the basket of muffins Applejack had brought.

Bolin and Mako had to try hard to suppress their laughter at the sight of Rarity's new getup. They knew she was a pony who aimed to please, and no doubt she chose this strange choice as her own way to welcome Maud into the group. Since she was a rock farmer and they were to make rock candy necklaces she wanted to look the part. Normally, this wasn't something she would make out of her own free choice, this was her contribute to the visitor's stay.

"I doubt she'll notice what anypony's wearing, so what's the big deal?" Rainbow said with a roll of her eyes.

Naturally, Rarity scoffed, "The big deal is that it will be very difficult to show Maud what a strong fashion presence we have in Ponyville if the most fashion-forward pony here can't keep her hat from falling apart!"

"It's…still a valiant effort on your behalf, Rarity." Korra said, "Trying to make Maud feel at home with your rock-inspired look was very sweet."

The unicorn smiled and blushed, "Awww, only you would understand my vision, Korra."

"I think we're all a little nervous about Maud's visit." Twilight said, "She's Pinkie Pie's sister, and it's obvious Pinkie really wants us to hit it off. Being able to make those rock candy necklaces together is really important to her. I'm sure everything will be fine–"

"We're heeeere!" a familiar happy-go-lucky voice called out from a few feet away from the picnic area. Pinkie Pie waved happily to her friends before creating an air scooter and zoomed on over in a matter of seconds.

Korra looked behind Pinkie, but saw no other signs of another pony being with her. "Where's Maud?" she asked.

"She's coming!" Pinkie said with glee as she turned her head around, her big blue eyes increasing in size as well as her smile. The others looked onwards in the direction from where Pinkie had arrived from, but saw no other pony approaching. Not even the top half of a mane.

"Uh… you sure?" Rainbow asked with uncertainty.

"She's not quite as fast as me." Pinkie said, "I asked Gummy to stay with her in case she got lost!"

After a few more moments, some members of the group squinting their eyes to get a better look, a figure finally emerged from the other side of the hill road. It was indeed a female pony, but she was in no way colored pink like her sister. In fact, they couldn't pinpoint any sight of a bright color at all on her. As she got closer, albeit at her own paste, they saw her mane was a grayish blue violet and her coat was a bluish gray. As she got closer they could see her wearing a plain simple gray blue dress with a black belt around her waist. Her mane was styled downwards and straight with evenly cut bangs over her light turquoise eyes. From behind, they could see Gummy snapping his toothless jaws on her tail. The rest of the group only looked at one another with uncertainty. This new pony was most certainly taking her time. She should have been beside them at this point.

Rainbow Dash flew beside Asami and leaned closer, whispering, "Is she even moving?"

Pinkie Pie jumped up and shouted, "We're over here, Maud!"

After what felt like an eternity, Maud finally arrived and faced the group. She did bare a resemblance to Pinkie Pie, aside from the dull coloring and clothing…and the fact she didn't even smile. Needless to say, this was not what they expected Pinkie's sister to look like. At least they didn't have to deal with two Pinkie Pie. As much as they loved her, one was enough.

Maud only blinked, revealing she had long slender eyelashes and light gray purple eyeshadow. She looked down and saw a rock on the ground. She bended her head down and sniffed it.

"Hm. Sedimentary."

Rainbow Dash arched an eyebrow, "Huh?"

"This is a sedimentary rock." Maud said, speaking in…deadpan tone. This was definitely a surprise in behalf of the others. For a moment, Korra grew a bit concerned. This pony reminded her a lot of her cousins from the south pole. Her twin cousins, Eska and Desna always creeped her out. They smelled like a grandma's attic and spoke not only in matching deadpan tones, but also freakishly finished each other's thoughts and sentences, were rude and looked beneath anyone who wasn't a royal, even Korra despite being the Avatar, and believed he couldn't understand their sophisticated vocabulary, for which she did. Just because Korra didn't use those words often didn't mean she didn't understand them.

Nonetheless, she couldn't judge Maud in that regards. One of the many things she learned from her pony friends is that you can't judge somebody by their cover. Or the tone in their voice in this case. Besides, Pinkie Pie loved her, and as clueless as she can get, Pinkie was far from stupid. She knew this pony her entire life, so she couldn't be as bad as her cousins. At least, she hoped she wasn't.

"That's… really fascinating." Twilight said in regards to Maud's trivia. "Isn't it, guys?" the princess smiled an approached the pony, "We're just so thrilled you could come for a visit before your big trip. Pinkie Pie has told us so much about you. I'm Twilight, and this is Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity. And these are our human friends from Republic City. That's Asami, Bolin, his brother Mako and Avatar Korra."

The four humans waved and smiled at the pony. "It's very nice to meet you Maud." Korra said, placing her hands on her knees and squatting a bit down to the pony's level. "Pinkie Pie tells me you're into rock science, right?"

"Yes." the pony replied, not changing her tone or expression, which remained emotionless and stoic. At least she didn't appear rude. "Pinkie also tells me you can manipulate rocks."

"Yeah. It's called earthbending."

"Can I see it?"

"Oh, well, sure. Of course." using her hand, Korra lifted a rock from the ground along with several others and used them to spell out Maud's initials in her native language. The Avatar smiled hopefully, since the pony didn't appear impressed by the display whatsoever.

"That's amazing." Maud said, her deadpan tone still present and she didn't even crack a smile. All she did was blink. "You're really good."

"Um…thanks. I think."

"I wish I had powers like that."

Pinkie Pie jumped in between, wrapping a hoof around Korra's neck, taking her by surprise. "If you think that's cool, wait until you see her and Bolin in action! They can move an entire boulder up into the air!"

"We're ever so glad to meet you." said Fluttershy.

"We're just gonna have the best time!" said Applejack, being her hospitable country self. But even with their kindness and welcoming demeanor, Maud still remained unfazed. All she did was blink, it was as if this was the only expression she knew how to show. Or have for that matter.

Rarity cleared her throat and approached the pony, "Pinkie Pie tells me you share my love for fashion."

"I'm really into expressing myself through my wardrobe." Maud said.

"A-and what is the delightful frock you're wearing now saying?"

"…It doesn't talk. It's a dress."

Rarity could feel her cheeks burning with embarrassment as she tried to gently walk away to spare the embarrassment, "Oh, yes, of course, I, I just meant, the frock is, just…" she spluttered out.

Both Winona and Naga came barking at the pony, happily panting around her. Naga never acted this happy around Eska and Desna, so maybe Maud wasn't like them after all. Despite the obvious similarities.

"Uh, so this here's Winona and Naga." said Applejack and introduced the pets one by one, "That's Owlowiscious, Tank, Opal, Pabu and Angel." at the mention of his name, Angel popped out of the basket and taking a bite out of a muffin. "Pinkie Pie told us you have a pet, too."

"He's in my pocket." Maud said.

Fluttershy's eyes widened with interest. "Oh, you have a pocket pet? Like a tiny mouse? Or a baby bird? Or a trained butterfly?" she smiled with excitement.

Maud Pie reached into her pocket and pulled out her 'pet' before placing him onto the ground. "It's a rock. His name is Boulder."

Fluttershy was…rather surprised by this reveal. A rock, naturally, wasn't a pet. It wasn't even an animal. But, she didn't want to hurt Maud's feelings so she said nothing in regards to the obvious.

Bolin looked at the pony as if she were from another planet, which she might as well be. Asami shared his thoughts. She simply kept her hands neatly placed on her back, not saying a word. Even Mako, while having met his own share of unusual family members, Maud was by far the strangest. She made the rest of the Apple Family seem normal.

But, of course, Pinkie Pie was oblivious to their reactions and simply smiled. "This is going to be the best, most awesome, funnest week ever! I can't wait for us all to become bestest friends!"

The rest of the group gave a nervous group laugh. They had really stuck themselves into a corner this time. They didn't want to disappoint Pinkie Pie, and maybe Maud just needed some time to come out of her shell. After all, not everybody gets into the sync of things right away, who where they to judge otherwise.

"Well, I hope your hungry!" Bolin said, doing his best to sound enthusiastic as they all gathered around the picnic, ready to eat. The earthbender offered the pony the basket of muffins Applejack had brought. "Applejack brought her granny's famous apple spiced muffins. Try one."

Maud Pie sniffed the basket, which still also contained one of the pale rocks that fell off of Rarity's hat. She opened her mouth to take a bite, completely missing the muffin and taking the rock instead.

"Oh, uh, heh, that's not– Um…"

To him and everyone's surprise, Maud didn't phase at all at chewing actual rock. In fact, she appeared to enjoy it. They thought, they still couldn't tell, the pony was harder to read than a wet page from a book.

"It's crunchy." Maud said while chewing.

Pinkie Pie took a bite from one of the actual muffins and chewed with delight. "Maud's right! They are crunchy! Yum!" she said with her mouth full.

Seeing the two sisters now side by side made their contrasting personalities all the more obvious. Pinkie was loud and hyperactive, always talking and always on the move, while Maud was…anything but. She didn't smile, she didn't speak unless spoken to, she didn't express any emotion other than 'meh', they just didn't understand what they were doing wrong. Did they say something that was offensive? Did they look strange to her? They couldn't tell.

Rainbow Dash broke more of the awkward silence, which happened nearly overtime after Maud spoke because everyone else hardly knew what else to say. "So, uh, Pinkie Pie tells us you like games." said the pegasus.

"Boulder and I sometimes play a game called 'Camouflage'. It's kind of like hide and seek but way more intense."

Another awkward silence before Rainbow said, "Awesome?"

"You guys want to play?"

When nobody else said anything right away, Twilight began clearing her throat to give the others the hint. But when they didn't, Korra gave her two cents and attempted it herself, which came out as if she were coughing because they wouldn't speak.

"Do you need some water, Korra?" Bolin asked, offering her a drink, only to have the Avatar dart her eyes inconspicuously towards Maud, and Bolin finally got the memo. "Oooooooh. Sure, we'd love to!"

Twilight levitated several more rocks from the ground, still searching for Maud's 'pet'. They had been playing this game of 'Camouflage' for several minutes. The rules were whoever found Boulder first would be the winner. But trying to find a rock in a collection of rocks really was a hassle. It wasn't even fun, but felt more like an impossible chore.

"Any luck?" Twilight asked the others, who were already looking bored enough as it is. Mako had already stopped trying and only sat on the ground tossing a few pebbles around.

"I truly wish I'd spent more time with Boulder, because I'm having a very hard time remembering what he looks like." Fluttershy said right before tossing away the rock she already held on her hoof.

"It's like looking for a pebble in a haystack." said Applejack

"More like in a pile of pebbles." Mako said with deadpan tone, though his carried more emotion than Maud's, his carried a hint of annoyance and impatience.

"Well, you don't have to make it even harder." Korra said as she sat down on the ground.

"Hey, you're the one who got Bolin to say yes!"

"Wait, that's why she was coughing?" Bolin said in realization, "I thought you were chocking on a muffin."

"Subtlety's a foreign language for you, isn't it?" said the Avatar with crossed arms and an arched eyebrow.

"This comin' from the least subtle person we know?" Applejack said, also arching an eyebrow.

Korra opened her mouth to protest, but quickly stopped herself, slowly half clenching her fist and lowered it down. She did make a good point, Korra wasn't always the mosts subtle person in the world. She most certainly wasn't earlier, she was never subtle with her emotions and she most certainly wasn't subtle with her words. Not to mention, she never really did like being subtle. She liked being straightforward and direct.

"Point taken." she finally said through her teeth.

Rarity grunted in annoyance after one more rock fell from her hat, "Ugh! I give up! this is impossible!"

"It'll hurt Maud's feelings if we all stop playing." Twilight said, "Besides, look how much fun Pinkie Pie's having."

Pinkie Pie began popping from place to place, showing her sister an assortment of rocks, each one of a different size and shape, even one big one from the ground for which she lifted up once she popped out from the ground in a matter of seconds. All the while she asked; "Is this him? Is this him? Is this him? Is this him?"

The group had to agree, the pink pony was having a lot of fun, even if her sister's feelings didn't appear mutual to say the least. No matter what they did or said, Maud remained completely unfazed.

Korra sighed. Nothing made her happier than to see Pinkie Pie happy. The Avatar would do anything for these ponies, even lay down her own life if it meant protecting them. She was willing to give up her bending so Twilight would come out unharmed. Even if Amon did double cross them, she still would have done it either way. She loved these ponies and wanted their happiness.

"Twilight's right." the Avatar said, "Just a little bit longer, okay?"

The rest of the group exchanged hesitantly complied and continued searching for Maud's pet. As boring as this was, they would do it for Pinkie Pie. Mako even got up and continued searching for the rock as well, standing beside Korra as he did. Though, this was done on purpose.

"You really want Pinkie to be happy, don't you?" he said softly, keeping the conversation mostly between the two of them.

"I'd give anything for these ponies, you know that." Korra replied as she searched for the rock, still feeling Mako's gaze upon her. From the corner of her eye she could see him smile.

"Yeah. I do." he said before continuing his search. Korra had not intended for them to have a moment just now, she was only being honest, which was one of her known character traits, still she wasn't entirely complaining. She always liked seeing this side of Mako. There was no denying he could be stoic and hard to come out of his shell at times, but deep down there was a good heart, even if it was shown in small ways. She may not be such a master at subtlety, but sometimes neither was he. At least, not to her.

"Found him." said a deadpan voice, causing all heads to jerk upwards and look at the dull colored pony holding Boulder in her hoof.

"Oh! Where was he?" Pinkie asked with a smile.

"He was hiding in my pocket."

Asami's eyes were frozen wide as she dropped the rock she was holding in her hand and Rainbow Dash exclaimed in annoyance, "Oh, come on!"

Bolin then felt Pabu crawl up to his shoulder and tapped his master's cheek with his little red paw. Bolin looked to his left seeing all of their pets in a row, laying on the ground and looking at their masters with tired eyes, the same eyes Pabu carried as well. "I don't mean to interrupt, but we really should get these guys home." Bolin said as he held Pabu in his arms, allowing to rest in them like a bed'

"Bolin's right." Fluttershy said politely, "It's getting awfully late, and they've had a very busy day."

"Maud and I had better get going too." said Pinkie Pie while Gummy climbed up on her sister's head, for which her response remained deadpan. "I want her to taste the rock candy we're gonna use for our best friends necklaces! Aw, yeah!"

The two Pie sisters walked away from the group, leaving the others to finally breath out a sigh of relief. They never felt this tired after spending time with a pony that, quite literally, hardly did anything. Trying to make a good impression was emotionally exhausting enough.

"Well, she's very… different from what I expected." Asami said, scratching the back of her neck with uncertainty.

"We spent all day digging in the dirt, and he was in her pocket the whole time?!" Rainbow exclaimed as she hovered over them.

"On the bright side, Boulder seemed really sweet." Fluttershy said, which made Rainbow want to pull her mane out.

"He's a rock!"

"Come on, guys. I'm sure Maud was just nervous about meeting all of us." Twilight said, trying to maintain the peace between the group.

"Maybe she was just acting a little 'off' because she was shy or somethin'." Applejack said.

"Exactly. It must be awfully intimidating to meet all of us at once, especially since we're already such good friends."

It was then that Korra got an idea. "Maybe if we spend some time with her one-on-one to try to get to know her better. That way she'll feel more comfortable."

Bolin then got an idea, "Oh, we can take her to see my next pro-bending match! She'll get a kick out of seeing earthbenders in action! I think. I hope. Maybe."

"I think it's a great idea." said Twilight. "I'm sure we'll be making those best friend rock candy necklaces in no time."

And so, the group of friend set their plan into motion. They would each take turns in spending time with Maud Pie. Rarity was the first to volunteer, wanting to make up for not being able to showcase her talents and share them with Pinkie's sister. She was hoping she could make the pony something nice to wear. Not that her outfit wasn't…nice, but maybe splash of color could give it a little boost.

"Where shall we start?" Rarity said as she showcased the two Pie sisters her shelves of fabric choices. "I've chosen a few fabrics that I think will be stunning with y–" the unicorn stopped on her tracks when Maud had her dull eyes set on something on the table, not even looking at her brightly colorful fabrics.

Pinkie Pie hoped on by before stopping beside her sister. "Choices, choices, choices!"

Rarity really didn't want to ruin this and offend Maud, so she tried to make the most out of the situation. After all, her natural element was water, which was the element of change, she should be able to handle this. "…Of course, if you don't see anything that speaks to you, I would be happy to suggest–"

"I like this one." Maud showed Rarity the gray colored towel she was looking at just now, which was stained with splashes of brown, indicating it had not been washed.

Rarity gave a laugh, "Pinkie Pie didn't tell us you were so funny!"

Maud Pie blinked before asking, "What do you mean?"

Rarity's eyes slightly widened, realizing the pony wasn't kidding and was actually being serious. "Oh, well, it's just... I believe that is a dishtowel." she said as she levitated the said dish towel with her magic. Maud remained completely unfazed upon her reply, but upon seeing Pinkie Pie's smiling face the unicorn attempted to reconcile the situation. "B-b-but it does go very well with your complexion. I'm sure I could work my magic and turn it into something fabulous."

"Rarity and my sister working together to design something amazing! This is the best day ever!" Pinkie squealed happily as she hugged Maud, who still remained as deadpan as ever.

Rarity levitated a few more options aside from the dish towel. She picked up a few other pieces of fabric, some with several patterns that looked like splashes of a deeper color in order to hide the dirt of the rag. She could clearly see that Maud was a pony who liked things simple, but she didn't want the pony to wear a dirty rag. It just wound't be right. "Perhaps I could sew all of these together and make you something you'd like."

"No thanks. One is enough." Maud took the dish towel and placed it around her neck like a scarf. The gray color did suit well with the rest of her appearance, but the dirt on it…it was just too hard for Rarity to ignore.

"Doesn't Maud make the coolest scarves?" Pinkie said, looking as excited as always. Which really wasn't helping Rarity right now. She had suppress her disappointment by complying.

"Quite…"

Rarity had failed in trying to get through to Maud. The pony just wouldn't respond positively at all. Fluttershy tried her crack at it by inviting the sisters on a nature hike through the woods, with Angel bunny beside them as well. A green colored hummingbird flew by the yellow pegasus, twittering happily.

"Hello there, Hummingway." the pony greeted him, "I'm ever so happy to see you."

"What's he saying?" Pinkie asked.

"He says hello, and he's happy to see us too."

"I wish I could speak hummingbird. Humm! Hum-m-m-m-m, hum!"

Fluttershy saw Maid looking down at a nearby rock, from which a spider was crawling on top of. The pegasus approached the pony, smiling sweetly in hopes of gaining her friendship. She looked down at the spider, not showing any signs of fear. After all, animals were Fluttershy's specialty.

"These spiders only live in Ponyville, and even though they may look a teeny bit scary, they're actually very sweet and help keep other, more dangerous insects away!" as Fluttershy explained, the little spider actually gave her a small flower. He really was a sweetheart.

"I was looking at the rock." Maud said before walking ahead, leaving Fluttershy to blush in embarrassment.

"Oh."

After the hike was over, Pinkie PIe waved happily waved goodbye as she and aAud headed back home. "Thanks again, Fluttershy! Start thinking about which flavors you want to put on your best friend rock candy necklace!" the pink pony galloped her front hooves happily before she and her sister disappeared from view.

"Oh gosh. I'm not sure we're even friends yet." Fluttershy said to Angel Bunny. They had spent all day together and Fluttershy tried her best to be as kind and friendly as she could but also not so pushy. Still, Maud just didn't respond. She didn't even looked like she was having fun but only said things just to be polite.

"I sure hope Twilight has better luck."

The following day Twilight took her turn in spending the day with Maud. Pinkie Pie slide on the rolling stair ladder of the Golden Oak Library, "Maud is a total bookworm. She loves poetry!"

"I've got lots of poetry." Twilight said as she levitated said books. "Do you read anything by Quilland Ink? Or Flourish Prose?"

"Who's this?" Maud asked after finding something within the books from which she was looking into. The piece of paper was really a photograph, mainly of a straight line of the royal Canterlot Royal guards, the new recruits. It was that one time the princesses were to attend the ceremony where the new guards would be introduced. Photographs were taken, ones of Twilight with the princess and her brother, and one in particular she might have kept for…other reasons.

The picture was circled surrounded a certain yellow and orange pegasus stallion who stood tall and proud with his shinning golden armor and his helmet off, revealing his spiky blue hair.

"Is he your boyfriend?"

"What?!" Twilight quickly dropped the books she was levitating and snatched the photo away from Maud and hid it away, trying to dismiss her question while her face flustered with red. "So, anyway, about poetry!"

"I prefer to read my own poetry." Maud replied.

"Oh, I'd love to hear some of it!" she said with interest. Poetry was one of the many ways for one to express themselves, next to music that is.

Maud cleared throat before she began. As always, her voice remained deadpan.

"Rock.

You are a rock.

Gray.

You are gray.

Like a rock.

Which you are.

Rock."

Twilight blinked without saying a word. What more could she say? The poem wasn't really bad but it…well, it really didn't have much going for it. Pinkie Pie, on the other hands, appeared to love it for she clapped her hooves as she slide back and forth on the ladder.

"I've written thousands."

"She's so prolific!" said Pinkie Pie as she slide on by once more.

"This next one is about rocks. They're all about rocks."

Twilight bit her bottom lip, silencing herself for Maud to say more of her poetry. If she could even call it that.

"Rocks; these are my rocks.

Sediments: make me sedimental.

Smooth and round, asleep in the ground.

Shades of brown and gray…"

This was going to be a long day.

Pinkie Pie speeded around a tree, gusts of air streaming behind her as she zoomed quickly around the tree, picking an apple from the branches before speeding back into the farmhouse. Her airbending made Pinkie Pie even faster than she ever was before. The pink pony placed the apple on the table alongside various others, both green and bright shinny red. Applejack was stirring the pot with the spoon in her mouth. She lowered the spoon down and approached the older Pie sister.

"You 'bout done peelin' them apples for the cider, Maud?" Applejack asked as she approached.

"I think this one is done." Maud replied. She moved aside and revealed to Applejack her work. The country pony cringed at the sight of an apple completely splattered on the table, and a large rock resting over the remains. Maud didn't even use the peeler for the apple, no she down upright smashed the thing with a rock. The sight of it really made Applejack's skin scrawl. WHo knew Maud could be so…well, she couldn't think of a nicer way of describing it.

"Oh, uh, yep. That's a very interestin' method you got there." she nervously laughed as she walked backwards back to the stove.

"Should I peel another?" Maud asked as she lifted up the rock and hovered it over another beautiful apple.

"No! I mean, nah. I'm sure there's plenty apples in it already."

Pinkie Pie sniffed the steaming cider, while sitting onto of the stove. "Can we taste it now?"

"Sure, why not?"

Using a ladle, Applejack poured the cider into wooden cups for the girls. Pinkie Pie placed her entire mouth onto the hole and started chunking the cider down her throat while Maud took her time to stir the liquids by moving her cup. Once Pinkie was done, which only took like three seconds at best, she wiped away the remaining liquids from her mouth with her hoof and smiled.

"Wow! That's the best apple cider I've ever had!"

"What do you think, Maud?" Applejack asked. She knew nopony could resist her home made apple cider. She just hoped she didn't go as crazy as Asami did that last time. Maud took a single sip, her deadpan expression unchanging. She paused before replying;

"It tastes like apples."

"Told you she was super honest, just like you!" Pinkie PIe said with delight as she hugged Applejack, their cheeks colliding.

Applejack gave a nervous chuckle, "Yeah. We're practically twins, heh." normally, Applejack wouldn't lie, and when she did she was terrible at it. Today was no exception.

Rainbow Dash smiled with great pride at seeing the rock fly right over the lake. She, Pinkie and Maud were playing a game to see who could throw the farthest. So far, Rainbow Dash was winning, but she also reminded herself to go easy on Maud, seeing she wanted her to feel at home.

"Yeah! Let's see you beat that!" Rainbow said, only to quickly back away when a rock came flying past her. "Whooaa!" she watched the rock Maud had just thrown fly not only over the lake, but all the way towards the mountains far off, several miles away from the lake itself. Rainbow's eyes widened in awe upon seeing such strength. Once the rock landed, an explosion was heard in the distance, followed by the formation of a gray mushroom cloud. The impact also caused a powerful gust of wind that blew towards them, causing the waters of the lake to rise up in the form of a little tsunami which swiped up the girls and a couple of trees on the process.

Once the waters had settled, Pinkie emerged, her mane soaked an wet, while ridding on a log, which she began rolling with her hooves, cheering happily. "That was amazing!"

Rainbow Dash popped her head out of the water, spitting some of the liquids out of her mouth before turning her head over to Maud, who was just as wet as the two other ponies, but her deadpan expression didn't move a muscle. "Whoa. How'd you do that?"

"I threw it." Maud replied, her mane, tail and dress dripping wet.

"I guess you won this one, Maud." Rainbow said, though she tried to hide the stinging disappointment that came with the confession.

"I'm not really into... 'winning'." Maud said. This made Rainbow Dash gasp in shock. How can anypony not like winning?

Korra was so sure Maud would have some reaction to the roaring crowd of the pro-bending arena, but so far she didn't even show the slightest bit of interest. The Avatar was half tempted to address the issue, but with Pinkie Pie here she couldn't even get herself to even consider it. She really didn't want to hurt her friend.

Speaking of Pinkie Pie, the pony couldn't contain herself. She was jumping excitedly, overlooking the arena down bellow from their special VIP seats. "Thanks for getting us these great seats, Asami!" Pinkie said with a squee.

Mako, Asami and Korra had invited the pony to see Bolin and his new team compete in a match. They all agreed to go last, hoping Maud's personal time with each pony would make her feel more comfortable around the humans. Asami played with a strand of her hair while Mako just sat straight with his arms crossed and Korra fiddled with her fingers on her lap. Neither one unsure on what to say next. Korra amped up the courage to speak first.

"So, Maud, are you having fun?" she asked, already mentally slapping herself. What kind of silly, desperate question was that?

The deadpan pony kept her eyes locked on the match bellow, primarily the earthbending. Her turquoise eyes were locked on both Bolin and his earthbending opponent. "It's amazing how they can control earth like that." she said, still speaking in her deadpan tone. The three teens looked at one another with uncertainty. That did sound like a compliment…right?

However, as for the match itself, Bolin wasn't doing so good. His new teammates were…well, still pretty new at the game. They placed Korra's debut to shame. At least she managed to recollect herself in time, but these guys were hopeless. Bolin was the only one carrying the game, amazingly, being able to knock down his earthbending opponent, which in turn knocked down the waterbender, leaving behind only the firebender, whom Bolin also knocked down with a single earth disk to the stomach. The Fire Ferrets, through good luck, had won the game.

The three humans and Pinkie Pie rose from their seats, cheering loudly for their friend. Maud, on the other hand, remained unfazed.

"What did you think Maud?" Mako asked, a big proud smile on his face, "Pretty cool, right?"

"Are the earth disks they use made of fine grained or medium grained?" Maud asked, "It's hard to tell from up here."

Korra and Mako looked at one another, being former pro-bending stars they should know, but neither of them had an answer. "Um….we're not sure." Mako replied, scratching the back of his neck. "I guess I could ask Bolin."

"My best guess is fine grained."

Korra cleared her throat, "Okay, so what did you think about the actual game? Pretty epic, right?"

"The game was good. Thanks for inviting me."

"I've never seen Maud so excited about anything this much since her last rock convention!" Pinkie said, making the three teens chuckle nervously, with Mako scratching his neck, Asami pulling her hair and Korra rubbing her arm. Pinkie did say Maud was happy…but she didn't look happy.

"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow!" Bolin straightened is back as he walked beside his brother. "Wow, last night's game really took a lot out of me."

"Probably because you were carrying the weight of your team." Mako replied, "No offense but you probably shoal consider finding better teammates, bro."

"Oh, come on, Mako! They're just a little rough around the edges is all. Besides, we still won in the end."

"Probably the only win one of us have managed to gain this week." Rarity said. She and the rest of the team had gathered outside of Sugar Cube Corner to discuss with Pinkie Pie about her sister.

"We've tried everything we could to be friends with Maud, but I don't think she even likes us." Fluttershy said, her ears lowering in sadness. "Do you think we accidentally hurt her feelings?"

"Depends, does she even have feelings?" Mako said, right before earning another elbow to the stomach by Korra.

"Mako!"

"What? The only emotions we've seen from her are bored, miserable, doesn't care, and practically dead!"

"He's got a point." Rainbow Dash said, making Korra sigh in dismay. Just then, the door of the building opened and Pinkie Pie stepped outside.

"Great, you're all here! Maud is out looking for rocks, so this is the perfect time for us to set up everything we'll need to make our best friend rock candy necklaces!"

Pinkie Pie looked so happy and excited, twiddling her hooves and her big blue eyes sparkling like pretty sky-blue diamonds. It made the group feel even worse knowing they couldn't share that same feeling. Even Mako placed aside his assumptions about the gray pony upon seeing how excited Pinkie was. None of them could even look at Pinkie in the eye, instead looking at each other or down to the ground in dismay and uncertainty. Pinkie's smile faded, her hooves stopped twiddling as she looked at them all with concern and worry.

"What's wrong?" her eyes darted up at Korra, she could sense she was troubled. She was hiding something, she could tell. "Korra?"

The Avatar couldn't even open her mouth to speak. She was hoping somebody or somepony else would speak up first. When all eyes fell on her, she knew she was the one who had to deliver the bad news. No matter how much she hatted it.

"Pinkie, honey, the truth is…well, I'm not sure it's the best time to make best friend rock candy necklaces."

"Why not?"

"Uh…"

"Well, darling, you see…" Rarity began, but then hesitated, silencing herself and so Fluttershy continued for her.

"You're ever so thoughtful to share your special bonding ritual with us, but, uh…"

"But what?" Pinkie asked.

Mako sighed and decided to bring down the hammer. "Pinkie, the truth is we…" he tried to find the right words to say, but the moment he looked into those big innocent blue eyes he just couldn't. "We…we….Applejack, you tell her." he shoved the country pony forward, making her glare at him in annoyance before turning back to Pinkie Pie. She was the Element of Honesty, now it was time to show it.

"What Mako is saying is that, we've all been tryin' real hard to get closer to Maud, but, well... maybe some ponies just don't click the way others do."

Korra squatted down to her friend's level. "We know you love your sister, and we really do feel touched you want us to be a part of your bond but…we just wouldn't feel right making something that means we're best friends if, well, we aren't."

Pinkie's puffy curly pink mane started to deflate, which often happened whenever she was feeling deeply depressed or hurt. She felt a grave sting in her heart, a sting Korra herself could feel as well. She immediately regretted saying those words. How could she hurt the poor pony like that?

Pinkie looked up, forcing a sweet smile to mask her breaking heart and stepped away from the others, stepping deeper inside the building. "Oh. Okay. If anypony needs me, I'll be in here trying to figure out what to do with two hundred pounds of rock candy." she grabbed the door knob with her mouth and closed the door.

Korra placed her hands over her heart, still feeling the sting she had brought upon the pony. The others felt just as awful, even the Mane Six could tell how terrible Pinkie felt by looking at Korra, who wiped away a few of the tears that escaped her eye.

They wanted to set things right by being honest, but instead they only made things worse.

"I can't believe we just did that." Korra said in dismay, hugging her legs as she sat on the floor of the Golden Oak Library. "We really hurt Pinkie Pie."

"I feel awful! Just awful…" Rarity said sadly as she paced inside the library.

"Maybe we should have just pretended we were friends with Maud." Bolin said, leaning his back against the wall with his hands in his pockets.

"If we didn't tell Pinkie Pie that we hadn't all become the best of friends, I think Maud would have." Twilight said.

Rainbow Dash rested on a shelf, playing with a rock, "Maybe, but who really knows? That pony is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an igneous."

"Don't you mean "inside an enigma"?" Mako said.

"Nope. I mean igneous. It's a kind of rock. Ask me how I know that."

"It doesn't matter!" Korra spoke up, her voice slowly starting to rise. "This visit meant the world to Pinkie, and now we ruined it." the Avatar buried her head into her arms and Mako sat down beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Technically, you were the one who brought down the hammer." Bolin said, only to receive various angry glares from the rest of the group. "You know what, I'll just stop talking now."

A knock on the door was heard and Twilight opened it, using her magic. To everybody's surprise, Pinkie Pie came hopping in, seemingly back as her happy go lucky self.

"I've come up with just the thing to bring everybody closer together!"

Curious to what it was she was talking about, the group followed their now more excitable friend to a clearing near the forest, where Maud Pie was waiting patiently. Once they arrived, the entire group were both intrigued and confused as to what they were seeing. It appeared to be some form of obstacle course complete with hoops, tightropes tied to the end of a long sliding tube that was sustained by a wooden ladder. A small pool was placed after the single hoop. An elevated tower-like structure with a transparent pink dome over it and a spiraled slide tube with several stacks of books at the end followed by a couple of go-carts. Another tube stood at the starting line, also with a ladder, the interior was apparently filled with some kind of splattered substance where at the end of the tube was a small crater filled with sparkly fabric. As the finishing touch there stood an incredibly tall rock hill with one boulder which appeared to serve as the top piece of the hill. Everybody else, minus Maud, had their mouths hung open and their eyebrows arched in confusion, while Pinkie Pie stood before them, proudly showcasing her work.

"I call it "Pinkie-Rainbow-Rari-Twi-Apple-Flutter-Ma-Korra-Bo-Sami-Maud Fun Time"!"

"Huh?" Rainbow asked, speaking for everybody.

"It combines everybody's interests into one giant activity that we can all enjoy together and that will totally bring all of my bestest friends together as bestestest friends!" Pinkie was now standing beside several mannequins, each wearing a variety of helmets, hats, glasses and so called "protection" like bubble rap, pillows and buckets as helmets. "You'll need these."

Mako blinked, "Like Rainbow said: Huh?"

"Probably better for me to show you." Pinkie Pie placed on a snorkel over a helmet and knee pads for her legs and began demonstrating her obstacle course by going into the first tube, filled with the splattered substance. "Watch this! Applesauce tunnel for Applejack…" she slid down the tube, tunneling through the apple sauce until landing on the crater filled with the sparkly fabrics, "Pretty shiny stuff for Rarity…" she then leaped out and galloped ahead, colliding with a pile of books, "Reading material for Twilight…" next, she drove a go-cart to the next activity, "Car racing for Asami…" she then sat on a table player poker with a few animals, "Critter time for Fluttershy…" next, she then popped out from the swimming pool, which had two torches of fire beside it, along with a stack of earth disks and a excise mat, painted to look like the pro-bending arena, "Bending battles for Korra, Mako and Bolin…" she went into the pink dome, pressed a button starting the inside fan, which caused a few cupcakes to float all around her. "Cupcakes for yours truly…" she said, taking a bite out of one of the cupcakes, and then began walking on the tightrope, "And it's a race for Rainbow Dash!"

"Pinkie Pie, what is that?!" Twilight pointed to the rock hill, which still had the ginormous boulder on top. It looked awfully unstable.

"A rock slide, of course! For Maud! First you climb, then you slide!" Pinkie said and began hopping along the hilltop.

"I've got a bad feeling about this…" Bolin said, his shoulder rising and his hands clenching close to his chest as he nervously watched the pony jump from rock to rock, each one falling from its place.

"Pinkie Pie, that's not stable!" Korra exclaimed, her tone came out sounding incredibly authoritative, "Get down from there right now!"

"Don't' worry, Korra!" the pony replied, keeping her eyes up on the very tip of the hill, "The rocks are perfectly--Ow!"

"Pinkie!!"

In all of her excitement, Pinkie Pie's front hoof hit against a rock, which then fell from its place, landing on her lower back hoof, trapping it against the other rocks. In her struggle to break free, the hill itself began to shake as more rocks began to roll out of tier respected places, and another rock came rolling at top speed and hit Pinkie's front hoof, also trapping it. Now she had one back hoof trapped and another front hoof trapped as well.

"Oh, goodness!" Fluttershy exclaimed as the hill continued to shake and more and more rocks began to fall, the hill itself lost its balance and began to crumble. The gigantic boulder at the top began to slide down….directly at Pinkie Pie, who still couldn't break free or use her airbending to blast herself out of there due to her hooves not only being stuck, but also being shaved by the hardness of the rocks, she could already feel blood coming out as she strained to break free.

"Help!"

Acting fast, Korra and Bolin rushed over to save their friend, but they weren't the only ones. A blur of gray, purple and blue zoomed past them, moving all across the obstacle course while wearing a bicker's helmet. It was Maud Pie herself. For the first time, she no longer wore her usual deadpan expression, but instead carried a look of pure determination. She was faster than the two humans, who were both shocked to see her zoom so quickly by them. Maud came leaping forward to the gigantic boulder and, to the amazement of everyone, began hitting against the rock with her hooves, breaking the gigantic rock into tinny pieces. The rest of the group watched in awe upon seeing this incredibly emotionless pony leap into action and break a boulder at the speed of a cheetah. But, they were not completely out of danger. The rocks beneath Maud began to crumble and both Bolin and Asami used their bending to stable the hilltop before it could harm anyone else. The rocks were hard enough to crack a skull, it was amazing Maud could break one with such ease.

Maud began to slip, but Korra quickly earthbender a rock beneath the pony, stabling her and allowing her to break the rocks that had trapped Pinkie Pie. The two humans grunted as they managed to stable the hilltop just as it was before, only without the giant boulder. Maud took the injured Pinkie Pie onto the rock Korra had levitated for them and gently lowered them down to safety.

The rest of the group immediately sighed in relief. Pinkie was safe and so was Maud. However, both Mako and Rainbow Dash were beyond baffled by this new revelation. "What– how– what?!" they both exclaimed, unable to fully explain what had just happened.

"Pinkie!" Korra immediately rushed to the pony, wrapping her in a tight embrace and inspecting her hooves, which were still bleeding. "Don't worry, you're going to be alright."

Maud then wrapped her hoof around her little sister, hugging her tightly, relieved to see she was still alive. Injured, but nothing too serious. She had gained a few rock cuts herself so she knew her sister could handle them as well. She would rather have Pinkie gain a few cuts than a million crushed bones.

"Pinkie Pie, what were you thinking?" Maud said, her voice sounding incredibly concerned, nothing like her usual deadpan tone. This was the first time the pony displayed any actual emotion, and all it took was seeing her little sister in danger.

"Maud's right." Korra said, "What were you thinking?"

Pinkie Pie hung her head in shame, "I guess I wasn't."

Korra began bending the water from the pool and started healing Pinkie's hooves. The waters glowing brightly as Maud watched the human heal her sister's cuts. "Thank you." she said.

"Me? We should be thanking you." Korra replied, "What you did to that boulder was incredible!"

"Yes, but if you hadn't balanced the hill I would have fallen. So thank you. I'm glad there is someone who can watch over Pinkie Pie when I'm not around."

Korra was beyond speechless. That was the first, genuinely nice, not so deadpan, thing Maud had ever said to her. They may not have had that much in common, but they both deeply loved Pinkie Pie. Or maybe, they did have something in common after all.

Once Korra was done healing, Pinkie's cuts were dried up and she could walk easily with them. They would disappear in time, but at least she could still move. Korra removed Pinkie's helmet and snorkel, allowing for Maud to touch her younger sister's chin with her hoof. "I know how important it is to you that your friends become my friends, but I just don't think it's going to happen. I think it would be best if I just go back to the rock farm and spend the rest of the week there."

"You don't have to." Bolin said rather sadly as the rest of the group approached, agreeing with his notion. Maud didn't have to leave. They now knew they had misjudged her and wanted to start over. Sadly, Maud had made up her mind. Just like a rock, she was strong.

"It was nice to meet you all. Makes me happy knowing Pinkie Pie has such good friends." Maud gave them all a grateful nod before leaving. Pinkie Pie's heart broke once again as she observe her big sister leave so early before they could do their sisterly ritual again.

"But… we never even got to make our rock candy necklaces... Wait, Maud! I'll come with you!" Pinkie Pie shouted as she galloped off after Maud, leaving the others behind.

"I can't believe Maud cut her trip short." Twilight said sadly.

"I can't believe we nearly lost Pinkie Pie to that ridiculous obstacle course." Rarity said, still feeling shaken from the experience.

"Thank goodness Maud was able to reach her in time." Fluttershy said in relief.

"I'll say!" said Rainbow Dash, "Did you see how fast Maud moved?"

"She moved faster than me and Korra!" Bolin said, still amazed by what he had witnessed the pony do. "And the way she smashed that huge rock into dust? I mean, how in Equestria did she do that?"

"Pinkie Pie was in trouble." Korra said, "Maud would move mountains for her if she had to. I would do the same for you girls."

"And I would have done the same for Bolin." Mako said, making his younger brother smile.

It was then, Twilight Sparkle had an epiphany, "That's it! I think I finally realized what we all have in common with Maud! Something that just might be worthy of a very important super-duper special tradition that only the closest and bestest of friends can share!"

Pinkie Pie traced her good hoof over her cuts. She realized now how foolish she had been to try and force everybody to become fast friends. She loved Maud with all of her heart, but she also should have remembered Maud was not as easily sociable as Pinkie Pie. Deep down, Maud was kind and loving, she just had her own way of expressing it. She didn't want to let her go alone, or to cut the time spent with her short, so she went with her on the train. Besides, she didn't know if she could face her friends after what happened.

"Thank you for coming with me." Maud said, her voice reverting back to its deadpan tone as she petted Boulder, "I don't know how long I'll be gone on my rock research trip. I'm glad I still get to spend some time with you before I go."

"Me too. I'm sorry I put so much pressure on everybody to bond. I only wanted my friends to get to know my amazing older sister." Pinkie said before hugging her sister. "Besides, who knows how angry they must be with me for scarring them like that.

"Don't feel bad." Maud said, "Your friends love you just as much as I do."

"I know."

After a while, the sisters arrived at their family's rock farm, which as the name suggested, was filled with rocks. The area appeared more like a barren wasteland with very few leaves on the trees. It didn't appear like the ideal place for Pinkie PIe to have been born and raised in, but she was, and she still loved it despite its dreary appearance. Maud suddenly stopped Pinkie in her tracks and pointed her hoof forward. The pink pony's eyes widened in surprise upon seeing all of her friends standing before them, with several bags filled with rock candy.

"What are you all doing here?" Pinkie asked.

"Pinkie Pie, we're so sorry we hurt your feelings by not bonding with Maud right away. And Maud, we're sorry that you felt the only way to spare Pinkie Pie's feelings was to leave Ponyville early."

"And we're sorry we thought you were just a walking pile of blood with no real feelings whatsoev--Omph!" Bolin was nearly out of oxygen once both Korra and Mako elbowed him in the stomach. "I deserve that!"

"But we've seen how much you care about Pinkie Pie firsthoof." Mako said, catching Korra and the rest of the ponies by surprise. "What?"

"Did you just use a horse pun?" Korra asked in amusement, making him blush. He didn't even realize he said it until it was addressed. The Avatar only giggled before addressing back to Maud. "Anyway. Pinkie Pie's happiness means as much to us as it does to you, and we're sorry we couldn't see it sooner. The thing that makes us click and creates a special bond between us is how much we all love Pinkie Pie!"

The notion itself made the pink pony blush. "Aw, shucks!"

"That's a pretty great thing to have in common, if you ask me." Twilight said with a smile, "What do you think, Maud?"

Maud was silent before replying, "Sure."

Once again, the rest of the group felt the same uncertainty as they all did before during their time with Maud.

"What's wrong?" Pinkie asked.

"Sorry, darling. I think we all just thought she'd be a bit more excited about this." Rarity said.

"Are you kidding me? I've never seen her more excited in my entire life!" Pinkie said smiled widely and began doing summersaults, followed by a victory dance and finally throwing confetti everywhere.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but I don't show my enthusiasm for things quite in the same way my sister does." Maud explained. Suddenly, all of her dull responses, dull reactions and overall dull demeanor…somehow made perfect sense now. She was different. But, it wasn't so bad.

"Uh, we noticed." Rainbow Dash said, "And we're totally cool with it."

Bolin struggled to lift up one bag of the rock candied before flinging it over hid back. "Okay, so who's ready to make those rock candy best friend necklaces? Because I am!"

The whole group spent the rest of the weekend with Maud and Pinkie, making the rock candy necklaces. They were actually a lot of fun, and being a part of Pinkie and Maud's tradition made them feel like they were a part of something. Even Mako and Asami felt more at home with the ponies and the group day by day. However, deep down a side of Asami was still struggling, but seeing Bolin laugh with the ponies in eating more than actually making the necklaces, she remembered what he had said to her before about being a part of the team. Maybe, one day, she would feel like she was and no longer feel as if she were only a spare.

The train stopped and Maud Pie prepared to leave. Each friend had their own self made candy necklaces, personalized and made special just for her to remember them by.

"Maud, we'd like to give you something to take on your trip, so that you remember all your new friends." Twilight said as she levitated her necklace and placed it around Maud's neck. One by one, the ponies placed the necklaces around their new friend's neck, with the humans being last. Applejack's was designed with apple symbols (naturally), Fluttershy's with flowers, Rarity like an elegant princess necklace, Rainbow Dash with a lightning bolt, Bolin with a few rocks, he wasn't that good at it but it was the thought that counts. Mako's was mostly simple with reds, oranges and yellows, and Korra's was made with pink and gray stones, representing Maud and Pinkie themselves. It was definitely Maud's favorite.

"Thank you." Maud said, but despite her deadpan tone, they knew she was being sincere.

"Try not to eat all the candy before you leave!" Pinkie said as she and her sister exchanged the necklaces they made for one another. Pinkie held hers on the curved top of her mane and began licking the rock candies.

Maud then pulled out a box from her saddle bag and placed her the necklace Pinkie had given her into it…which was already filled with many other rock candy necklaces that Pinkie had given her over the years. Twilight, Korra and Mako were surprised to see this.

"Are those all the necklaces Pinkie Pie sent you?" Twilight asked, looking at the pony on confusion, who then nodded.

"Mm-hm."

"You mean you haven't eaten any of them?" Korra asked in surprise.

"I don't really like candy." Maud said…right before smiling sweetly as they watched the happy pink pony devour the very last rock on the necklace in mere seconds. "But I do love Pinkie Pie."

Korra, Mako and Twilight could only laugh. Maud certainly had her own way of showing she cared, and by the end of the day, she really wasn't such a bad pony. Mako stopped laughing once he realized both Twilight and Korra placed a couple of necklaces around his neck also, followed by Bolin who placed one around his neck two, one with a green and red stone to represent them both. In all honesty, Mako wasn't that big of a fan of jewelry, especially the kind made out of candy.

But, he most certainly loved the one who made them for him.