//------------------------------//
// Between a Rock and a Heart's Placement 
// Story: Between a Rock and a Heart's Placement 
// by Chrysalesbian 
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I was out at the beach, the sun was rising and nopony was accompanying me, I trotted by the sea, letting my hooves touch the course, yet soothing ground. If you’re wondering why I was doing this, it’s because I read somewhere that a rock formation can be found underneath the sand at beaches, I was just waiting to feel it as I trotted. I kept walking through, my hooves pushing the rough surface underneath me, I stared at the sand while walking, until I bumped into something. I could assume it was a pole, but it didn’t feel like one, so I rubbed my forehead with a hoof and opened my eyes, to see a grey Pegasus in a mailmare uniform.

“Oh! Hello!” She chirped those words like this was a regular situation. “Do you know where this house is?” She asked me, then shoving a note in my face with an address written in messy handwriting and what seemed to be a yellow crayon.

I tried reading the words on the crumpled paper, squinting a little and barely being able to read it. “It’s over there.” I pointed to the left, towards a suburban neighborhood.

She nodded and crumpled up the paper into a ball, putting it in her shirt pocket. “Thank you-“ It seemed she stopped speaking to process something. “Oh wow! I never asked for your name miss!” She said, sounding astonished.

Do I look old enough to be called miss? “I’m Maud, Maud Pie.” I said.

“Oh! That’s a pretty name!” That felt nice to hear. “Are you related to Pinkie Pie?” She asked in an enthusiastic tone. I nodded in response, and she smiled. “Well, I’m a good friend of Pinkie! That probably means we’ll be friends! I’m Muffins by the way!” She smiled at me again, I almost felt my mouth curl up into a smile, like this mare’s joy is infectious. “Bye! See you later!” She cheered those words as if they were for certain, flying off in the direction I pointed her to.

“You too.” I muttered, probably not audible by this point. I felt strange, but I kept trotting along the beach, almost forgetting about the formation I was thinking about just a few minutes ago. I kept trotting across the beach, my hoof touching a rock sticking out of the sand, I looked down and started digging it up. The rock wasn’t the formation I wasn’t looking for, but it looked peculiar. It was in the shape of a heart; I held it up and stared at it.
It felt strange, but I put it in the rock pouch on my back and trotted to the bakery, since Pinkie is letting me stay there while I’m in Ponyville.

“Hey Maud sissy!” Pinkie squealed in her voice, jumping around the bakery like she usually does. “How are ya? What were you doing? Oooohh!” She swiftly grabbed the rock from my pouch and held it up to her face. “What’s this? Looks pretty! Did you get it at the beach?” I nodded. “Looks neat-o! Looks like a heart too! Does my sister have a special somepony in her life?” She cheered those words like with every word she speaks.
I stopped my heart from skipping a beat and my cheeks from turning red. “No, this was just a coincidence Pinkie, it’s a rock formation I don’t see often, at least I don’t see it at this scale.” I groaned those words in a monotonous tone.

“Maybe it’s a sign from Princess Cadence! Oooh! Maybe you encountered the pony of your dreams! Did you see any special pony that made your heart skip a beat, made you click your feet, did you see somepony that turned your cheeks so red you looked like a beet?” She said that while jumping around me.

“No Pinkie, I just encountered a mailmare who needed directions.” I muttered.
“Oooh! What if Princess Cadence sent that rock your way to tell you she’s your special somepony! I know things didn’t work out with Mudbriar, bu-“ I cut her off.

“I don’t need to be reminded of him, Pinkie.” I mumbled, my voice quivering ever so slightly.

“Oh.” Pinkie’s tone turned upside down. “Sorry, I forgot to not talk about him.” She mumbled in the opposite tone that she spoke the words before in.

“It’s okay… I just… Really don’t need him in my life right now. Don’t apologize Pinkie.” I sighed and walked up the stairs, putting the rock I found next to boulder. “Say Hi to your new bedmate, Boulder.” I said, adjusting the heart-shaped stone so that it doesn’t hit the tiny bed Boulder’s in. “You haven’t gotten any less sick, huh Boulder. Well now I need to give you your medicine.” Boulder’s been sick for the past week, so I’ve just been giving him the standard medicine for a common cold, I poured the medicine on top of him. “Tell me when you feel better boulder, I miss taking you with me.” I patted his head and laid on the bed, but even with boulder on my mind, there was somepony else occupying that space as well.

That grey Pegasus from earlier, she was so bubbly even when she couldn’t do her job right. She wasn’t nervous at all though, she just asked another pony for directions. I enjoyed her presence, but I don’t know why. It was something about her, the way she flew by me instead of walking, the way she spoke, her messy handwriting, I don’t know, it was just something about her that… That was stuck in my mind. I walked downstairs and poked Pinkie’s shoulder. “Hey… Uhm… Pinkie, do you know a grey mailmare, I… I wanna know her name.” I shuddered those words out of my mouth like I was telling her something horrible.

Her eyes widened and she jumped up and down. “Oooh! You wanna meet my friend Muffins? Or Bubbles, Or Ditzy Do! She has so many names, it’s so fun!” She jumped around me in circles and gushed those words out of her mouth like she’s been planning to say them for years. Pinkie got a sticky note and a crayon, putting the crayon in her mouth and writing the address to somewhere in it, spitting the crayon out and sticking it on my head. “There you go sister! Now you can go meet your future special somepony!” She made the last word linger.

“Pinkie, it’s not anything like that, you of all ponies should know you can just be friends with somepony.” A faint smirk creeped across my face, and I looked off to the side. “It’s nothing important, I swear it’s really nothing. I just wanted to have another word with her, since she was so nice. I’ve never met anypony like that besides you.” I chuckled after muttering those words. My voice trembled like earlier, I felt strange. “Well, thank you for telling me where she usually is. I appreciate it, Pinkie. Thank you.” I smiled back at her and trotted off out of the bakery.

I felt the grass graze my hooves once again, muffling the clicking that would usually be produced if I was going on stone. I took the note off my head and looked at it, it read with an address. I trotted to where I believed it was located, going around town and going up to the wooden door. I checked the note and looked at the address on the side of the door, it was it. I raised my hoof up and took a deep breath, closing my eyes. My hoof was shaking, I don’t know why but something within me wanted to stop this from happening, what was this exactly? I don’t know, but there was some part of me that didn’t want it to happen. As soon as my hoof was going to click against the pretty wooden door, the door slammed open, and I saw the grey pegasus again. She waved her hoof. “Woah! Hi…” She paused, looking like she was deep in thought, eventually she sprang up again and her bubbly voice came out. “Hi Maud! Is that your name? Sorry, I forgot…” She rubbed the back of her head with her hoof, a little chuckle escaping her mouth. She dug through the bag she was wearing, for some reason she still had her work uniform on. She took a little drawing made with a crumpled paper and what looked like a variety of crayons. “Here! I was thinking of you, so I wanted to make something for you!” I smiled.

“Thank you, you didn’t need to. This is a cute drawing.” I said that sincerely, I don’t know if it sounded like that though. I sighed. “To be honest, I was thinking about you too.” I blurted, not even thinking of my words before they came out of my mouth. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t really mean to say that.” I sputtered, a bit worried that my words came across worse to her, making her think I didn’t like her or something. I mean I like her, forget it. 

“It’s okay! Don’t worry! Do you wanna come in? I can microwave something!” She chatted, a smile beaming across her face, it almost seemed… Infectious. I smiled and nodded, walking in with her. I looked around, it was a mess, but it felt endearing, the uniforms all over the floor, a bunch of cutesy plates on her coffee table, and a rock with a small plate of food next to it.

I walked up to the rock and inspected it. “if you don’t mind me asking… Where’d you find this?” I asked, turning to look at her.

“Oh! While I was flying across the beach I landed for a bit, and I felt her on my hoof! So, I picked her up and put her in my bag! Made everything in my bag a bit dirty though…” She looked a bit embarrassed about the fact. “Oh! I’m gonna go make our food now!” She trotted off and looked in her freezer. I sat on the couch and looked at the messy table in front of me. I looked over and heard the light ‘bzzzzz’ of the microwave, seeing Muffins stare at the rotating plate in the yellow light. Until the microwave started beeping loudly, making her jump back and hit her head on the wall.

I ran up to her and rubbed the bump on her head. “Are you okay…? That bump sounded pretty bad.” She rubbed the bump with her hoof as well, our hooves bumping together.
“Oh! I’m okay!” She cheered like nothing happened.

“You sure?” I asked her.

“Yeah! I am!” She stood back up and took the plate out of the microwave, holding it with her wing. I looked down at the plate and it had nuggets shaped like sirens, draconequi [ꘘ𖦪ꛎꛘ𖢉ꚳꚲ, 𖢧ꛅꛎ𖢧'ꕷ 𖤀ꛈꕷ𖦪𖤢ꕷꛤ𖤢ꛕ𖢧ꘘꚶꚳ!], windigos, cerberi, and even a few centaurs, she put a lot of ketchup on the plate and pushed some stuff on the coffee table over, making space so she could put the plate down. Then she picked a nugget up and took a bite out of it. “I eat these all the time! Wanna try one?” She said with her mouth full.

“Sure, I’ll take one.” I took one of the nuggets and took a bite out of it, so I get why she eats these, but I wouldn’t eat them all the time.

“Woah! Did it taste that good that you had to stay quiet to process it? That’s so cool! You won’t believe how good they taste with ketchup!” She dipped a nugget into the ketchup on the plate, hoofing it over to me. “Try it!” She cheered.

I sighed and took a bite out of the nugget covered in ketchup, putting the whole thing into my mouth afterwards, then I saw her licking her hoof, so I swallowed the food and looked confused. “Why are you licking your hoof?” I said.

“Cause, there’s still ketchup on it! Why would I waste it all?” She said happily.

“Well, I guess that’s a good point.” I muttered. She licked her hoof clean and turned around, smiling at me. I couldn’t help but give a slight smile back. Something about those yellow eyes and her grey coat comforted me, but I couldn’t really tell what that something was. “So, it seemed like you were waiting for me before I even came.” I muttered. “Why is that?” I said.

“Oh! Pinkie told me!” She said happily, like there was nothing strange about it.

“Pinkie told you, when?” I asked her.

“She told me like an hour ago!” She crowed those words. “She’s so nice! Did you tell her you were coming here?” She noted while eating another nugget.

“I did, but I don’t know how she’d tell you, considering the walk here wasn’t very long, and I didn’t see her while I was walking, but I shouldn’t really question her I guess.” I sighed and took a nugget, holding it in my hoof. 

“You’re not really like her… But I still like that!” She cheered, sounding enthusiastic as always. “So why were you so interested in the rock I brought home?” She asked me.

“I just like rocks. They’re everywhere, and the sheer simplicity but the abundance and complexity is intriguing, I was raised on a rock farm, but so was the rest of my family.” I said, trying to put a little enthusiasm into my voice.
“That’s cool! I always liked rocks! That’s why I picked her up!” She pointed at the rock on the table I looked at earlier. “But you take rock liking to another level!” She sounded… Really excited. A smile crept across my face. “But why were you interested in my rock specifically?” She questioned me.

“Well, I was looking for it when we ran into each other for the first time, turns out you found it though. Even if I love rocks, I couldn’t get there early enough to find the one I was looking for.” I said, smiling and looking Muffins in the eyes.

“Oh! Do you want the rock?” She asked me. “I’m fine if you take her!” She smiled brightly at me.

“You’d… Do that? Usually, I have to pay a few bits for a rock like that, they’re not very common, you know.” I fretted. “You really don’t have to…” I said.

“Why would I make you pay for a rock? If you really want it you can have it!” She stood up and carried the rock on her back, putting it into my rock pouch. “Here!” She said.
“Thank you.” I took another nugget and finished it. “These are good, thank you.” I muttered.

“It’s okay! No need to thank me!” She giggled and ate 2 of the nuggets. The plate was empty now, just the pile of ketchup sitting on the corner of the plate. “Thank you!” She said while putting the dirty plate in the sink.

“Why are you thanking me…?” I asked, looking a bit confused.
She turned over to face me, smiling at me like she didn’t say anything strange. “Because we had fun!” She cheered casually, smiling as bright as ever.
I hesitated, looking to the side.
“Who says we can’t keep… Having this fun?” I muttered, looking at Muffins expectedly. “We don’t really have to stop, I…” My mouth quivered; I looked down at the dirty floor. “You know what, nevermind. I’ll leave.” I turned and my hooves rubbed against the soft carpet. Until I felt a hoof tapping my back, then I turn and see Muffins.

“Maud!” Muffins uttered. “No.” She smiled at me and held my hoof in her own. “You’re not doing anything wrong! You’re fine! I… I like that you want to keep talking!” Tears welt up in my eyes.

“I- What?” My voice’s volume increased. “You… Want me to keep talking to you? But…” Muffins cut me off and just smiled at me.

“Maudsie, it’s okay, its good even. Stay here.” She smiled and wrapped her wings around me and closed her eyes.

Maudsie? Did she just call me that, I hate nicknames… Why do I appreciate that one? I started crying, tears falling down my face, yet I was smiling the entire time.  “Thank… Thank you…” I muttered, Muffins nodded and held me in her embrace.