Maya had other clients, but none were exactly as fascinating as the one that emoted the least. "Maud, I'm glad you came today." She pressed her hooves together. "I've been practicing what you showed me."
Maud nodded lightly. "Good. Grow a flower."
Maya hopped down and planted her hooves firmly. "Flower!" A sunflower erupted before her, growing tall and strong. It exceeded the height she had been limited to before, its base hardening with tree-like wood, stiff enough to press yet higher and higher as she focused on it. "And... That's... as tall as I can get."
Still, there it was, a flower growing along the roof, that had started on the floor. "How's that?"
Maud tapped at the floor. "Where does your flower get its food when you grow it inside?"
Maya blinked, stunned. "I never thought of that." She poked the tree-hard flower gently, but it didn't reveal its secrets. "The ground under the house?"
"You're guessing."
Maya wilted. "I am... It's the best guess I have."
"Maybe." Maud leaned back. "I would like a turn."
"Of course." Maya re-took her seat. "Please, tell me what's bothering you, or you just want to talk about." They traded turns like that, one seeing to the other back and forth smoothly. "I'm here to listen."
Maud settled back on the couch, gazing thoughtfully at some ferns Maya had manifested. "Listening is good. Most ponies think they listen by waiting for their next chance to talk."
Her tone remained neutral, but there was a weariness that came from a lifetime of friends and family talked over or dismissed. Still, something kindled behind her eyes as they trailed back to Maya that hinted the patient counselor really did hear her in a way that resonated.
"Ponies also think if you listen while doing other things, that counts." Maud tilted her head faintly, almost accusatory. "But it does not. Listening with all of you matters."
She idly tapped a hoof near the base of the towering sunflower sprouting impossibly from Maya's floor. "That is why your flower disturbs me. You made it listen with all of you, yet neither considered fully the how or why. Only the show of it."
It was the longest speech Maya had heard from Maud. But the words sliced cleanly - her stunt HAD ignored ecological responsibility in her zeal to perform magic augmented by Maud's guidance. Humility bowed Maya's head.
"You are right, Maud. That was thoughtless of me." She lifted her gaze back to Maud's. "But I hear you now. My gifts must serve more than my pride. This exchange goes both ways." She let the showy plant recede back to dormant seeds, resolving to only coax life with good purpose. "Now, I am listening to you." She turned her ears on Maud directly. "What do you want me to hear?"
Maud considered that with a crossed hoof. "That's a big question. I love Pinkie Pie, but I hate how she runs me over sometimes... Please don't tell her that. She is so eager... It's her best part, but it can be..." She took a slow breath, though her face remained neutral. "It's frustrating." Her tone, ever steady. "I want to love her unconditionally, but... sometimes I love her more than other times."
"She is overwhelming." Visions of that pink ball of energy danced in Maya's mind. "But you're also right, it's one of her better parts." She put a hoof to her chest. "But... She cares for you so... so much. My suggestion... When you feel she's--"
"Don't say that."
Maya blinked, cut off. "Don't say what?"
"Don't say to tell her to stop." Maud inclined her head away from Maya. "When she's excited, it's hard to say even that and have her hear me. She has the problem I mentioned. Sometimes, most of the time, she's waiting, impatiently, for her turn to talk. She doesn't give her all to listening, ever. That's not Pinkie."
Maya frowned with consideration. "Pinkie... is a special creature."
"Yes."
"And tricky." Maya gently smiled. "I've been run over by that pink train before."
Maud performed her subtle smile. "She does that to a lot of ponies. I don't think I can change her. It's her. That isn't a very rock way. I tried... standing still. I tried not changing. It's not working. What do I do?"
Maud took a slow breath. "This is a big question."
Maya smiled gently. Maud coming to her with such open vulnerability showed great courage and trust. Avoiding pat reassurances, she considered carefully.
"Change can be the only constant, the only thing immune," Maya said. "Pinkie is a force embodying joyful chaos. Rigidity shatters against that waterfall."
She turned a hoof up in demonstration. "The willow endures storms that fell oak and spruce by gracefully bending. Be water shaping around stone, not stone damming water."
Maud blinked slowly in thought, hoof sliding to the planted seeds. "So I should yield?"
"Yield strategically," Maya amended. "Discern when Pinkie's exuberance leaves space for you to redirect flow constructively. Meet her wavelength at times."
She smiled. "As willow, be the first to sway toward her, inviting her exuberance into your orbit before getting bowled over. Then sway together more harmoniously!"
Maud experimentally rocked side to side, considering. She was used to waiting immovable for her environment to change. But real change emerged within. "Dance with Pinkie and invitingly lead in directing us."
She nodded firmly to herself, eyes glinting with dawning revelation. "I'll try." She pointed at Maya. "Your turn. You are an earth pony. You mentioned you felt as if there was 'another layer', as if it were detached from you." Maud stepped down. "That is the earth, and you. You are together. That seperation holds you back." She put a hoof to her chest. "I can feel the earth when I am quiet. Be quiet."
Maya knew enough to do just that, stilling herself. Both were silent and still, and felt for that earthen power that stirred in them both.
She focused inward, searching beyond the glow suffusing her hooves to connect with the deeper wellspring feeding it. The world fell away as Maya listened for the earth's ancient pulse.
At first she sensed nothing but her own breath and rhythmic heartbeat. Yet gradually an echo thrummed through her core in sync with the grounding hoof rooted below. Reverberations shifted from her form to the foundations beneath the cushions, stabilizing her.
Maya nearly broke focus in revelation before catching herself. Of course - she was OF this land now, not merely ON it! Rather than casting magic arbitrarily, true earth ponies manifested a part that was integral inside them. Her gifts flowed not from some arcane source apart from Equestria but elemental harmony with nature itself. She only had to hear the song of soil and stone resonating within.
Buoyed by breakthrough, Maya almost vibrated with questions once she finally opened her eyes. Yet the contented glint in Maud's gaze brought her joyfully back to the moment at hoof. Their connection congealed richer having guided each other closer to respective truths. She sent a silent prayer of thanks into the earth swirling new possibilities between them.
Maud nodded softly, watching Maya quietly until she looked recovered. "You saw it. We are the earth." She tapped her hooves softly. "The earth is us. We are not 'earth' ponies because we are stuck to it, but because we are it."
"I understand." Maya tapped her chin gently. "But I don't think most earth ponies do."
"They don't." Maud slid back up into her seat. "My turn. I find myself growing jealous." Her expression revealed none of it. "Other ponies have such flashy abilities. Pegasi can soar overhead, and unicorns, it's difficult to even begin." Her tone remained steadfastly even. "You, a sister of the earth, have far flashier abilities. Other ponies can see your gift and applaud it. I am just me."
Maya's expression softened at the quiet confession beneath Maud's impassive veneer. She who intimately grasped the earth's stoic perseverance still silently yearned for wings spread gloriously through sunbeams or iridescent arcs of magic conjured on a whim.
"Your family loves you deeply as only you," Maya gently offered. "But I understand longing for that special wonder in another's eyes instead of polite expectation. Just reliable, steady Maud."
Idly swirling her hooves in a slow spiral, Maya summoned a few small pebbles to bob lazily in the sparkling aura. "I could use some of that steadiness myself. The pressures of performing novelty exhaust, make me neglect core duties."
The stones plunged abruptly back into the dissipating energy field. Maya shook her head, clearing showy distraction. "What good to dazzle eyes while leaving relationships eroded? I must nurture roots before chasing flash."
She took Maud's hoof between hers resolutely. "You are a lovely pony, Maud. I feel honored and privaleged to have met you, and each session we share, I feel happier. Now, there is something only somewhat related I wanted to bring up."
Maud inclined her head. "What is that?"
Maya took a step back from Maud. "Your boyfriend."
"Mudbriar? What about him?" Maud gazed at Maya evenly.
"I'd like you to bring him next time." Maya nodded with growing certainty. "I think you could make some progress with him. Does he understand what you go through?"
"He isn't understood very well, but it's different." Maud paused with thought. "Similar, but not the same. He does listen and wait for me. I appreciate that. He is very precise." She smiled with memories. "I appreciate that, except when I do not. They say 'all things in moderation'. He does not moderate."
Maya hummed gently. "I think I see, but I get the idea I won't really see until he's in front of me. Do you think he'd be alright with coming here?"
"If I ask him, he will come, even if he doesn't want to." She inclined her head. "I like that. He will tell me afterwards. If I ask him up front, I can learn, but I have to ask, or he might wait. He will irritate you. He irritates everypony else I've introduced him to. Please don't be mad at him." Maud took a step towards the door. "Are we done for today?"
"One last thing." Maya gently reached to draw Maud in a warm hug. "You've touched and inspired me with our talks. Remember the seed within all of us longing for nurture...even the smallest shoot can break through time's stone."
Releasing her slowly, Maya met Maud's eyes with quiet reverence. "As for next time, bringing Mudbriar will help expand my viewpoint immensely, irritating quirks and all." She chuckled softly to convey no judgment awaited the quirky stallion.
"We're fellow passengers just doing our best from inside our skins." She swished her tail towards the door. "The full picture builds only by blending unique viewpoints non-defensively, not demanding others bend to suit our notions."
Maud completed her subtle smile, the significance not lost on her. How relieving and rare for certain relationships to rest in such compassionate forehooves here. "I will ask him to visit with me soon then."
With a final grateful glance back, Maud touched the flowering plants fondly as she exited, contemplating all she might nurture going forth. She left quietly, not even a sound as she closed the door behind her.
Maya scurried to check the sign to see it was set to open. "Will another adorable pony visit?" She hopped up into her chair. "I hope so." She clapped her hooves, but the motion stopped as a scroll dropped onto her head. "What?" She grabbed it with a hoof and unfurled it.
It was a letter from Princess Celestia.
Hello, Doctor of the Mind and Spirit,
I have heard you have been providing succor to my little ponies, and I am delighted. But, I am also informed you have not been informed of how these things operate. Ponies of my realm do not pay for help, especially for that of the mind or body. Physician, please stop collecting from them, but know that we will never leave you wanting. Your care eases their suffering, and so I, Princess Celestia, feel indebted to ease yours.
When next convenient, bring this letter to Mayor Mare. The sight of it should make it quite clear how I wish things to be handled from here forward.
Thank You For Your Service,
Princess Celestia