//------------------------------// // Maud Pie -- Rock 'n' Roll // Story: The Album // by Peregrine Caged //------------------------------// Written by: Pascoite Rated Everyone Maud Pie glanced around her room, the walls lined with tiny little shelves, and the shelves full of even tinier boxes. And every box with a carefully printed label on it. She’d finally categorized and obtained a sample of every known mineral from the mines around the rock farm. Not every mineral in Equestria. That would take thousands of boxes. Thousands of boxes wouldn’t fit in her room. The thought was so silly that she opened her eyes a little wider. Good thing Pinkie Pie wasn’t there to see her lose control like that. She actually had two collections in her room, and she’d attend to the second in a minute. A pun. She cracked herself up sometimes. Yes, very droll. So, the first collection, from the local mines. She needed to recite them all in alphabetical order to prove that she knew them all. No way she could be caught off guard if a question came up at the mineral convention and she didn’t have the list memorized, especially for some of the more unusual specimens she’d discovered lately. Starting with “A,” then. Aegirine. She had some of that in her second collection, too. But no reason to run wild. Back to the list. Agrellite, Aikinite… And now all the “Alumino-” ones. This could get tricky. Still, Maud persevered, and she only had to start over twenty-three times before she finally reached that finish line of Zircon. She had Zircon in her second collection as well. But no time for that yet. In another hour, she’d treat herself. But she had to get everything in order before she could afford to indulge. She’d need to look good at the convention, too, so she ambled over to her closet. Something in a nice gray. The first was far too dark, closer to a Graphite. The next, more of an elephant shade. She flipped through a hoofful at a time. Raincloud, concrete, pigeon, oak bark… nothing quite the shade that might liven things up a bit. Ah, the next one. Gray. She’d forgotten all about it. That would do perfectly. Upon seeing the brown dresses in the back, she even breathed out a little harder. Maybe she could get away with those out west, but to wear brown at an eastern convention? She’d never live it down. The last thing she needed was a reputation as a wild mare. Best to stick to gray. Wriggling into the dress, Maud let her thoughts drift to Boulder. Would he behave himself? She trusted him not to run off, but he might take an attitude with the other pet rocks there, and she couldn’t have him getting territorial. She might be able to convince him to play camouflage and hide in her pocket again during her keynote address. Yes, her keynote address. She checked the clock—still almost three hours until she had to catch her train. She could practice her speech again. It’d only take about twenty minutes. “Aegirine, Agrellite, Aikinite,” she began, staring at the wall. Plaster walls. Gypsum in the plaster. No, gypsum started with a “G.” She’d have to begin again. And so on through Zircon. She glanced in the mirror and blinked. She just couldn’t help herself, but if she put on a display like that, everypony would think she was showing off. “Keep it together, Maud,” she said. “Remember Fillydelphia.” One of the delegates had gotten all uppity about reclassifying a polytype, and the panel had frowned at him. The entire panel. She couldn’t deal with becoming an outcast like that. She just needed to relieve some stress. Over to her second collection, then. They weren’t in any sort of order. Really, they shouldn’t be. They had a purpose, and it had nothing to do with organization—quite the opposite. A little randomness once in a while did her good. One by one, she looked over her second collection, her special one. Aegirine, Zircon, Hedyphane, Quartz, Hauyne, Orpiment, Rutile, Anatase, Litharge… Dozens of them. These were her inspiration, her muses. So many minerals ended in “-ite.” Why? Well, she knew why. From the Peloponysian root “lith” for stone, but most dropped the “L.” Thousands and thousands of them. That was the surest way to write boring poetry. Amateurs peppered their verses with night and light and bright. And the rest who knew real poetry would squint a little bit at them. Pretenders. It was like that dumb game kids would play, where they take turns naming places that start with the same letter the previous one ended on, and it quickly degraded into listing places that began with an “A” until they ran out. It was a dead end, a black hole where art went to die. Of course, poetry didn’t have to rhyme, but when it did, those were the go-to minerals. She’d just let them lead her where they wanted to go. No need to interfere with their natural creativity. Really, she only gave a voice to what could speak so eloquently already. “Corundum,” she blurted out. “Crunchier than gum I’d like to eat some Digesting Acid etching Alimentary, not sedimentary.” The comedic undertones almost had her weak in the knees. She might even have to write that one down, though she preferred to record only her serious efforts. Lighthearted verse had its place, after all, but not among her real works of literary art. She closed her eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, and found a blank sheet of paper. Inspiration was almost upon her, then the emotion crashed over her like a wave. She almost flinched. “Euchlorine You are green Around scoria cones and fumaroles Roles A rolling stone gathers no moss But moss is green, and so are you Even when you don’t roll Two things at once Paradox Pair of rocks.” She nodded. That one would go in the book. But she’d have to meditate on the deeper meaning later. It sometimes took her a few days to understand the wisdom that the rocks taught her. She could contemplate it on the train ride, though. Time to leave for her convention. What a risk to try and write something at the last minute, but she’d needed some time to find her center. That effort was never wasted. She stretched her pocket open. “Now, don’t act up, Boulder. I don’t want a repeat of last time, when you almost got us kicked off the train.” He stared back. Whenever he stayed quiet like this, she knew he was too ashamed to speak. He wouldn’t cause any trouble today. “Aegirine, Agrellite, Aikinite…” Maud said on her way out the door.