//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Maud and Cheese // by rhony //------------------------------// Maud pie pushed her straight, violet bangs out of her eyes as she stared through the train window at the Ponyville station platform. She had just finished a visit with her favorite sister Pinkie, and true to character, her sister was on the platform making a major scene. Luckily her friends were there with her and were bodily dragging the visibly sobbing pony away from the train. As her seat began to vibrate below her and the sights outside of her window faded away, she heard the last plaintive cries from her little sister. “Goodbye Maud – Goodbye – GOODBYE MAAAAUUUUDDDD!!!!!” Maud was happy she had taken the time to visit with Pinkie before heading to her graduate studies at the University of Mareland in Baltimare; she had learned that Pinkie had made wonderful friends in Ponyville that would be there for her through thick and thin. This was essential to Maud, as everypony knows graduate studies take up all of a mare’s time. With Pinkie being – well, Pinkie – Maud had worried that her sister might find herself in some type of trouble while Maud was away at school and unable to help her. Now, nothing stood in the way of Maud’s dream – to study and someday become a Rock Professor herself. Ever since she had been a little filly, Maud had been fascinated by rocks. On her parent’s rock farm her fascination had grown into something of an obsession. The other foals at school had laughed at her, unable to understand why she was so smitten with something so… gray. But Maud has always understood that it was her gifts that allowed her to see the beauty in the rocks, gifts that the other fillies and colts simply did not possess. The ponies around her saw a uniform greyness where she saw mottles and flashes of color that told her the very history of the ground below her. In art class, she would try to show others the beauty that she found in rocks, but they would snicker at the variations of grey she had crayoned across the paper. In contrast, the garish colors of the other ponies’ drawings hurt her eyes and her sensibilities. Her writing was much the same; her words each conveyed so much meaning to her, yet others did not seem to understand the delicate layers of meaning wound through her descriptions of her favorite topic. In turn, she found their words overly emotive and therefore close to meaningless. Over time, Maud learned to keep to herself. The ponies around her seemed so loud, both visually and aurally. Her tendencies became more like the rocks she so dearly loved; one had to observe her very carefully to see any changes in her expressions, listen attentively to notice the minute variations in her voice. It wasn’t that Maud felt things any less than others, simply that she expressed herself in the same way she sensed the world around her – minutely. Maud smiled to herself as the scenery rushed by her train window and she thought of her sister Pinkie. From the moment Pinkie was born, she had been different to Maud; the one pony that could never be, well, too much. Maud had been fascinated with that little pink bundle from moment one. As Pinkie’s natural tendencies evolved, and she became the party animal she is today, Maud stuck with her through thick and thin. It was as if Maud had a special filter when it came to Pinkie which allowed her to experience Pinkie in all her glory without feeling overwhelmed by it. A filter built of love, Maud mused, as the train continued on its way to Baltimare. The entire trip might have continued in pleasant monotony for Maud if not for a sudden slam of the train car door behind her, followed by a loud humming. Maud first fought the urge to hide under her seat, and then the urge to turn around to see what (or who) was making all that racket. Instead, she took the wisest course she could by continuing to stare out the window, even as the humming turned into singing…. “The super-duper party pony–that pony is me….You'll never meet another party pony quite like CHEESE!” At this point the singing was clearly right behind her… and then right next to her… Please keep going, please keep going… thought Maud as she fought to continue staring out the window. Please… “Hello! Anyone sitting here?” Maud sighed. At this point, she had to turn around; to do otherwise would be rude. But she wasn’t quite prepared for what she saw. Well, she knew it had to be an earth pony, but this earth pony was a bright orange color she didn’t know pony genetics could produce. His mane and tail were chocolate brown and as wild as pinkie’s, and his cutie mark… was that a toasted cheese sandwich? A bright yellow shirt completed the picture. But his eyes – his eyes were what caused Maud to stare, mouth agape. His eyes seemed to shimmer with a bright green energy, almost pulsating with light. It overwhelmed her, but for some reason she couldn’t turn away. The strange pony’s voice cut through her reverie. “Well, of COURSE no one is sitting there!” With that he plopped himself down in the seat next to hers and smiled, somehow never breaking eye contact. "So I've been on this train for a while and then it pulled into Ponyville and everyone on my train car got off which is SOOOO boring so once the train got moving again I thought I'd take a look at this train car and see if there was anything interesting going on and so here I am and there you were so I thought I should find out more about you. So tell me all about you!" Maud managed to look away, and closed her eyes. It was going to be a long trip.