Sugarcube corner was as busy as ever for the day, Pinkie Pie busy going about in the kitchen, baking up sweets by the dozens on her latest order. For the moment, she was working by herself, with her little pet with her. Her small, toothless alligator, Gummy, just sat there with an eggbeater in his mouth while Pinkie got busy with, pretty much everything else. Gummy's contribution (Pinkie would consider it helping anyway) was to beat up some eggs in a bowl, which Gummy had the eggbeater put in correctly on the right end. However, the pet gator wasn't doing anything aside from standing there and doing nothing. As for the pink mare herself, Pinkie Pie was going at lightning speed only matched by Fulgurite in Beach City. Pinkie was all over the place, getting different items, mixing them up, and basically doing a day's work of cooking in just an hour or so. Still, Pinkie Pie was as happy as ever. Soon, getting the eggs (which were beat somehow) from Gummy, Pinkie got the mixture done, got it in the oven, and got it all set.
"Thank you, Gummy, I couldn't have done it without ya," Pinkie Pie said, kissing Gummy on the cheek, the reptile not reacting to any of it. As she waited for the yummy treats to bake up, she then heard something just outside her door, the distinct sound of the mailbox opening and closing. Seconds after the mail mare gave the mail over to the box, Pinkie was suddenly right at the door, swinging it wide open with a big grin as she got to her mailbox, getting out the mail inside. After thanking the mail mare and going back in, Pinkie began to rush on through each mail bit, leaving the un-interesting bits on the counter. Soon, however, the mare found a particular letter that piqued her interest. Quickly, the mare tore off the envelope, and quickly looked over the letter and what it had to say. After some quick skimming through, there was a bit of a pause.
Soon, Pinkie was grinning ear to ear at the news that was brought to her. The news was beyond happy for her, and then ...
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"
The joy-filled scream from Pinkie Pie, for the brief moment, went all around Ponyville, time stopping for a moment to hear the over-joyed screaming from the pink mare. Any louder and all of Equestria could've heard her! For those that did hear, their reaction was mainly of surprise. Of course, that kind of screech had gotten to her friends, as after a few minutes, Twilight was already through the door.
"Pinkie, you alri -" Twilight was quickly cut off when she saw the pink mare hopping around in circles out of pure joy. The second she noticed the alicorn at her door, Pinkie bolted right over to the startled friend, shoving the note right into her face, getting it stuck on her horn.
"Isn't this the best news ever?!?!" Pinkie beamed, as Twilight got the letter off her horn, and read it over.
"Dear Pinkie: coming over for a visit. Be there soon. Maud... Who's -"
Pinkie suddenly made a huge gasp before continuing.
"OH, everypony will love her! The Gems, I must get them!" Pinkie said, suddenly rushing out the door. Twilight barely had time to react, the letter being blown out of her hoof by Pinkie's own rush. Twilight needed a moment before she turned around, just to see Pinkie opening the special key portal, and jumping through it before Twilight could say or do anything. Oh well, if this was something from Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle could assume it'll be explained later...
~~~~~~
When it came to the state of everypony for the time being, things seemed to have calmed down a bit for both sides. The events back at the Kindergarten were a bit calmer than they hoped for, nothing bad happening while there and not too much punishment for Lapis and Steven for running off to such a place. Much of the Crystal Gem team hadn't had too much to do in terms of missions lately (aside from Pearl going off to get Lapis and Steven that is). Apart from that, the residents of Beach City were in a bit of trouble over one thing: Connie's disappearance. It'd hadn't been long enough to get everyone in Beach City aware of what happened, but Connie's parents were going all over town, trying to figure out where Connie had gone off to. While they did connect the key to the disappearance a little bit, they didn't connect exactly why she chose to run off entirely. To them, they thought that either A.) she was teleported somewhere against her will. Or B.) Connie decided to forget her parents and just run off. Both parents had chosen A.
That aside, the Gems had quickly got the message from the overly excited Pinkie Pie once she showed up in the Beach House. From what they were told, this Maud sounded like a fairly good mare, and somepony Pinkie really wanted all of her friends to meet. Amongst the many pals, Fluttershy seemed the most willing to not go. Reason being was that Rainbow Dash was still gone (in her mind), and as before, wasn't sure if she would handle it when it came to where Rainbow Dash actually was. Unlike before though, Pinkie Pie didn't bother with waiting around and letting her stay at her cottage. Instead, Fluttershy ended up coming along anyway, in spite of her worries.
The meeting place was going to be at a picnic in Equestria: a nice spot just outside of Ponyville. Pinkie Pie also mentioned that Maud also had a pet with her, so, the others brought along their own pets to see her. Steven brought Blue and Lion, Pinkie Pie brought Gummy, and other pets were brought around. Fluttershy brought her white rabbit, Angel. Rarity brought her small cat, named Opalescence. Applejack brought her pet collie, Winona, and Twilight brought along a young pet owl, named Owlowiscious. Many of the pets were playing around nearby as everybody/everypony waited for Maud to show up. Pinkie was gone for the moment, heading off to get her and bring her back. Amongst all the pets, Lion and Blue were the largest of them all, many of the Mane Six's pets pocket-sized versions of animals from Steven's world (proven when comparing Winona and Blue together). Rarity had on a peculiarly odd hat - something to show Maud about her fashion sense her arrival. Questionable to say the least on the exact kind of fashion she chose to wear: a huge hat with a bunch of glass rocks on it. She'd normally go and use actual crystal stones, but, for the sake of comfort for the Crystal Gems (even with Amethyst's opinion before), she went on and improvised. As she sat down, one of them ended up falling into the picnic basket they brought along. Though, none of them seemed to bother too much with that.
"I wonder if Maud is as great as Pinkie said," Lapis wondered, as Fluttershy settled down next to her.
"Yeah, me too. Sure, hope we give a good impression," Fluttershy added in. Of course, to her, being without Rainbow just left her even more quiet than usual. She hadn't uttered a word apart from that sentence since even remotely showing up at the spot. Then ...
"You okay, Fluttershy?" Pearl asked out of the blue. That was just the thing Fluttershy didn't want to be asked by anypony.
"Yeah, I'm fine, really," Fluttershy got out, trying to relax. However, with her ears tucked back, and mane over her face, it wasn't too convincing to her really. Lapis also noticed Fluttershy's timid reaction.
"Fluttershy, it's okay to be nervous for someone new is coming along, we all are," Lapis said.
"I'm not," Amethyst suddenly said, upon hearing her. Lapis didn't want anyone to say that, for Fluttershy's sake of being comfortable, but it wasn't Maud Fluttershy was so worried about. The yellow Pegasus looked back and forth at the others, shyly stroking her own mane with her hooves, yet, before she could say anything ...
"Hey, guys!"
Everyone there then took the moment to look up, seeing two figures fly in. One of the figures made Fluttershy feel a lot better, up on her hooves with a smile on her face: Rainbow Dash! The rainbow Pegasus had taken a day or two to settle back into her home after her nearly weeklong mission with Peridot (something nopony knew about yet). Alongside her was her pet: a tortoise named Tank. For him, he had a little suit to help him fly and keep up with the Pegesi, let along Rainbow Dash. Soon, the Pegasus settled down by Fluttershy, the yellow Pegasus much calmer and happier now. At least here she didn't have to come up with anymore fibs to keep Rainbow out of trouble with Peridot.
"Nice to see you," Fluttershy said, feeling much better.
"You too, same with the rest of ya."
"Where've you been? You been gone fer nearly a week," Applejack asked.
"Eh, just checking things out for Steven. Didn't find anything out of the ordinary," Rainbow said, helping herself to some of the goodies they brought. In this case, it was some good Apple Bettys again, and Rainbow happily took one. Throughout her trip, she'd had to go with mainly normal horse food: grass and the occasional scrub when she could, so, having some treats from Ponyville was a great relief for her. Before that subject could continue though, suddenly Pinkie popped up back after Rainbow was done explaining, not even giving her time to swallow.
"She's here!" Pinkie beamed. Rainbow coughed a little bit but swallowed before turning to the happy mare. Pinkie then got their attention towards the path she came from, where they did indeed notice somepony walking over. However, Pinkie was a lot faster apparently, and they just barely saw her far away.
"I kept Gummy with her in case she got lost," Pinkie added, eagerly waiting for her. However, she didn't seem to really be moving anywhere fast. In fact, her main speed was a calm walk, to say the least. In fact, at first, they weren't sure if she was even moving at all.
"We're over here, Maud!" Pinkie yelled as she got closer, o so slowly. Eventually, the pony in question stopped a few feet away, now a better sight. The pony looked pretty dull, with grey fur and a dull purple mane. Both her mane and tail were smoothed out, squared at the end. Maud also had on a dull blue vest, a dark belt around her waist. Her expression was lacking much emotion, a deadpan look in her blue eyes. Rather than saying hello at first, she looked down, and then saw one of the rocks on the ground. She leaned down and gave a sniff of it.
"Hm. Sedimentary," She stated, about as deadpan as it can get. Of course, this odd change of tone wasn't anything like Pinkie had stated. Maud picked up the rock on one hoof, the others a bit unsure how to react to her.
"You must be Maud. It's nice to meet you. I'm Twilight Sparkle, and this is Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy -" Twilight said, trying to get rid of the awkward moment. However, Maud went over to the Gems, looking them over a little bit. It was Steven's turn to talk.
"Uh. Right, I'm Steven. This is Pearl, Amethyst, Lapis, Fulgurite, and Garnet," Steven introduced. Yet, Maud didn't reply apart from a small nod ...
"Uh, so, Pinkie told us you have a pet, too?" Fulgurite said, trying to keep from any awkward pauses.
"He's in my pocket," Maud stated, again deadpan.
"Really? What is he, a baby bird? Or many a cute mouse?" Fluttershy asked, excited. Maud got her "pet" from her pocket, which turned out to be just a small pebble. The excitement was stopped dead on seeing it.
"His name is Boulder," Maud said. So much for that. Rarity than tried her luck with her.
"So, Pinkie also told us you have a love for fashion like I do?" Rarity asked, showing her the hat she was wearing.
"I like expressing myself through my wardrobe."
"I see. A-And what is the frock you're wearing now saying?"
"... It doesn't talk. It's a dress," Maud stated, walking past the speechless Rarity. When she asked that, she didn't mean literally. Placing the rock down next to her, Maud pie settled down nearby Applejack, ignoring the effect her blandness was doing to the rest of Pinkie's friends. Maud looked to the basket, noticing the crystal-like rock inside. As she went over and grabbed it.
"Oh, wait, Maud that's not -" Pearl tried to say. But Maud had already chewed it up in her mouth. Maud swallowed it, not showing much pain or stress from grinding up the item in her teeth. The surprise from many of the Gems and Ponies was easily shown, though Maud ignored them as Pinkie bounded up by Maud.
"Oh, this is gonna be the best week ever!" Pinkie beamed, hugging her otherwise, emotionless guest. Unfortunately, not everyone shared Pinkie's own enthusiasm to Maud. If she was going to stay for the week, then, who's to say what her visit will actually effect?
~~~~~~
As time went, Pinkie and Maud both went around Ponyville themselves. The other Gems and Ponies had their run about with her, and agreed to hang later on, giving Pinkie and Maud sometime to catch up. While Pinkie was extremely giddy about her being here, Maud just simply walked along as if she didn't even notice Pinkie was there. It wasn't that she was ignoring Pinkie, more or rather she was just acting the way she would normally. Occasionally, Maud would sniff the ground, checking for what kind of rocks were in the area, but that was about it.
"I'm so, so, so, happy you can visit me, Maud! Oh, we're gonna have so much fun together, I got so much stuff for us to do!" Pinkie went on and on about some of the stuff she had in mind, but Maud didn't react too much to everything. She kept observing Ponyville as they went, seeing other ponies doing whatever they do. As she continued to look, she noticed something else a bit different. Off across the way, Pinkie not noticing. To Maud, it didn't seem too odd, but not much of anything would change her expression. Off ahead, she saw two girls talking to each other, about the same age and even same appearance. Twins, perhaps? The grey mare started to move over to them, as Pinkie was going along about their plans. The two were both humans (on basic terms), though one of them was a bit new to everything while the other had been around for a while longer. Although it seemed alright, Maud had an odd suspicion when she saw one of them. However, Pinkie was already there, in between them both.
"Connie!" Pinkie beamed, startled them both.
"H-Hi," they both said, completely in unison. Maud only barely raised an eyebrow at seeing the mirror double in front of her, though Pinkie took it all in her stride.
"OOO, you have a double now? Magic Mirror Pond, right?" Pinkie jumped to, nudging the real Connie.
"Wait, what? How'd you know?" The doubleganger asked.
"My Nana Pinkie told me a story about it. "And into her own reflection she stared, yearning for one whose reflection she shared, and solemnly sweared not to be scared at the prospect of being doubly marred"!" Pinkie recited, much faster and enthusiastic than when Connie did it for her own double to show. Obviously, Pinkie had gone to that pond before if she remembered the rhyme so easily. However, both Connies were unfamiliar with Maud Pie standing nearby.
"And who's this?" The real Connie asked.
"She's Maud, she's staying here for this week! We're gonna have the best time ever!" Pinkie announced, hugging the guest. Maud wasn't really enthusiastic as much as Pinkie, something that was easily caught by the duo. When pinkie let her go, both Connies were ready to go, when Pinkie got another question for them:
"What brings you here?" She asked, hopping backwards as they were walking. Maud just hanged out behind them as the two Connies glanced at each other. They both knew why they were gone, though, they weren't sure if telling Pinkie Pie would either fix anything or cause anymore trouble. Eventually, the doppelganger decided to talk.
"We're taking a break."
"You mean I am," Connie corrected, Pinkie stopping her hops as Maud stopped behind them both.
"It's my parents, they ... well, they got mad at me, and ... Well, I had it!" Connie admitted, the exclamation at the end taking Pinkie off guard. While they weren't sure what happened, it was clear Connie herself had enough of her parents and didn't want to deal with them for now. The girl calmed down, some help from her doubleganger, before Maud came over to Pinkie again, reminding the pink mare what she was doing in the first place. Pinkie made a gasp, and immediately started to bound off again. Maud turned to them both as Pinkie left.
"They'd miss you by now," Maud stated, and she began moving away. That was one idea both Connies considered ...
~~~~~~
Meanwhile, Maud was basically doing a number of other things with the others as the days came and went. The Mane Six, which mostly delt with Maud since the Gems didn't live in Equestria, tried their best to go along with Maud, and try to make some friendship with her, though her own behavior was making the task more difficult. Pinkie didn't seem too bothered by this, still happy that her friends were liking Maud as much as they had ... which in her mind was a lot. However, just because the Gems didn't live in Ponyville, didn't mean they didn't delt with Maud time to time.
One example: Rainbow Dash, Maud, and Garnet were hanging out nearby the lake, Rainbow insisting to them to show off their strength in a game of rock toss. One rule: see who can throw/knock their rock the farthest. Garnet only agreed because of how insistent Rainbow was. As Rainbow got into position by the lakeshore, she got one large rock, almost as big as her, and gave it a good hard kick. The kick sent the large rock flying off, and landed all the way on the other side of the lake.
"Ha! Your turn. Now, don't be disappointed if you -" Rainbow was quickly cut off when Garnet did her turn, her rock making double the length with one arm. Rainbow was impressed with the throw ... But then Maud did her turn. Her rock flew past Rainbow, over the lake ...
over the nearly hill ...
And did an explosion resembling an A-bomb!
Rainbow hovered in midair, eyes wide, and even Garnet moved her shades away , showing some surprise in her three eyes. The explosion made the lake turn into a tidal wave, sweeping Rainbow into the lake. Garnet and Maud were still on the shore. Maud though, didn't seem to care all that much, and went to the lakeshore, kneeled down, and got a drink from the cool water. The two didn't say anything at first ...
"Well ... Guess you win this one, Maud," Rainbow said, a bit disappointed to end up last in her own game. But ...
"I'm not really into winning," Maud replied. Rainbow had her mouth agape, both her and Garnet unsure how to respond to such a pony ...
...
Next pony to try sometime later, was Twilight. For the time being, Twilight was busy going through her books at the library, with going through some of the books. Maud went into the library, Pinkie with her for this one. Twilight got one books out of the bookshelf, as Pinkie hanged out on the library latter. Maud still had the same expression looking around the place, browsing the bookshelves around her before Twilight spoke to her.
"Pinkie told me you love poetry, Maud. Have you heard of Quilland Ink? Or Flourish Prose?" Twilight asked, opening up the book in question.
"I prefer my own poetry," Maud replied, still deadpan. That got Twilight a bit interested.
"Oh! I'd love to hear some," Twilight insisted. The quiet pony cleared her throat before she began to recite one of her poems...
Rock.
You are a rock.
Gray.
You are gray.
Like a rock.
Which you are.
Rock.
Twilight didn't even bother to ask for anymore ...
...
Maud's next visit was away from Ponyville, and actually off to Beach City to check out the Gems, insisted by Pinkie Pie. While there, Fulgurite and Steven both were playing around with Blue, Maud on the sidelines as Pinkie joined in. While they were playing, Maud seemed more interested in the type of stone buried in the sand than to play with the dog. As she dug, suddenly Steven went over to her.
"Hey, Maud! Wanna play?" Steven asked, showing Maud the stick they were playing with. Maud moved out onto the sand, Steven assuming that was a yes, and went out to join her. Blue was ready for anything, and Steven threw the stick towards Maud. The mare simply moved her tail, and whiplashed the stick away as she looked through the sand. It happened a few more times until Maud's tailwhip launched the stick into the rock wall nearby the house. Seemed obvious she wasn't interested, as she found a smooth stone in the dirt.
"Sandstone."
Steven wasn't doing any better than the others did already ...
...
Next stop for Maud: Sweet Apple Acres. When they got there, Applejack was working on some home cooking, at the point being assisted by Pinkie and Maud for a bit. As they continued with the cooking, eventually Applejack got it all worked out for her batch. Her work was an apple pie, cooked to perfection. As for Maud ... A pie tin with a rock in it. Not her best quality really, and Applejack didn't want to have any of hers.
"Uh ... Fine treat you made, sugarcube. Y'all wanna try mine?" Applejack offered. Maud nodded, and then went on ahead to try a bite. She got a small bite of Applejack's apple pie, and took a bit to chew and swallow.
"Tastes like apples."
"Uh ... Thank you," Applejack said. As with everypony before, the visit couldn't happen without one long pause somewhere.
~~~~~~
This sort of trend continued on for the next couple of days since Maud first arrived. Ever since Maud showed, the others, be it Gem or Pony, tried to work out with the mare but it always seemed to end in some awkward silence. It was hard to befriend a pony without emotion to work with, or any common interest to bond to. In the end, Maud was simply too deadpan to actually make any sort of friendship with. Upon that note, some of Pinkie's friends then decided to visit Pinkie on the matter. Even if they act it out, they couldn't really hide it all too well, so, it was only necessary to tell her. Soon, a knock on the sugarcube corner door got Pinkie right outside to see them. Those there for the moment were both the Gems and the Mane Six altogether. Maud wasn't around for the moment, so, telling her the truth wouldn't be as hard to do.
"Hi guys! Wanna make some friendship rock candy necklaces?" Pinkie offered, holding out one of her own.
"Maybe later. Is Maud with you, might I ask?" Pearl asked.
"No, she's out rock collecting, but it'll give us a lot of time for everypony to make their necklace!" Pinkie replied. However, they all didn't seem to really be as happy as she was, the mood turning in a different direction for Pinkie.
"What's wrong?"
"Well ... It's uh ..." Amethyst tried to get the words right, but wasn't sure how.
"Uh, with all due respect, mind you, but ..." Rarity tried to help, but, her words weren't as good.
"It's nice that you're willing to let us in with your bonding ritual, yet ..." Pearl, although trying, couldn't get it out.
"Yet, what?" Pinkie asked. Eventually, Applejack and Garnet finally got it out.
"Look sugarcube. We've all tried real hard to get closer to Maud, but ... some ponies, maybe, don't click the way others do," Applejack said. However, the pink mare, although dulled down, still wasn't sure what she was getting at by the look on her face.
"Pinkie, we can't bond with your friend. Maud just doesn't have anything any of us can befriend with. I hope you understand," Garnet concluded. The news felt a bit rough to swallow for the pink mare, her mane deflating a bit. The news was out, and Pinkie could only let it sink in.
"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," Pinkie said, as she went back inside and closed the door. The news, again, was hard to swallow for the earth pony, but it had to be said. After all, Maud would've told Pinkie Pie anyway. As the others decided to go, Pinkie took a little bit of time to think over what to do, noticing Gummy standing nearby her.
"Oh, Gummy, if only I can show them all a good time, then they can all be friends," Pinkie sighed. Gummy looked up to her, flicking out his tongue, when Pinkie suddenly had an idea flash in her head, her mane poofing back up as happiness got back to her after such a short time. She had a plan.
(next day)
"I call it the "Pinkie-Rainbow-Rari-Twi-Stevie-Pearl-Ame-Garn-Fulgu-Lapis-Apple-Flutter-Maud fun time"!"
The pink mare had gotten everypony together for one more attempt at getting everyone to be best pals. However, her idea per say looked more like a obstacle course than a playhouse (which Pinkie planned). How she got everything and everything set in one night was anypony's guess, yet here was everything. It looked like a ton of tunnels, slides, areas, and other things that at first didn't seem to really fit in altogether. A rock pile here, a ton of applesauce there, an area with lots of bubbly soap water next, lots of mannequins, and other stuff that seemed out of place. So much of the group seemed a bit confused on what the hay Pinkie was trying to do, despite being told they couldn't work it out before, Garnet especially. Of course, the name was a bit perplexing too.
"Excuse me?" Pearl asked.
"It combines everypony'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! You'll need these," Pinkie said, standing by a mannequin with a costume. Pinkie got her own outfit on, but everyone else was still clueless as to how all of this really came down to it. For one thing, the Gems never seen something like this before, and the ponies were almost as clueless. Garnet sighed.
"Pinkie, I know you're meaning well, but -"
"No, no, no, I got it all figured out! Allow me to demonstrate," Pinkie said, as she quickly began her little obstacle course with everyone else watching. Pinkie raced through one of the tunnels first, which was full of Applesauce.
"Food tunnel for Applejack and Amethyst."
Soon, Pinkie jumped out, and landed into a pile of clean fabric and water soap.
"Shiny clean stuff for Rarity and Pearl."
Pinkie slid through, squeaky clean, and soon headed to a wall of books.
"Books for Twilight."
Next, Pinkie hopped off, and got to the next spot: which was with Fluttershy's animal friends, including a lot of fish.
"Critter time for Fluttershy and Lapis."
Next, she went right through a large pile of sweets.
"Cupcakes for yours truly."
Then, pinkie rushed on to the last tunnel, but didn't go down it just yet.
"And its a race for Fulgurite and Rainbow!"
Even when everything was explained through, the idea of everything simply put altogether like this wasn't really making much sense. Plus, they weren't sure if Pinkie had gotten everyone for this activity. However, one thing that had gotten them a bit concern, was the huge pile of rocks at the end of it, especially the conveniently large one right at the top. A bit obvious by that point on what could happen if Pinkie wasn't really careful. When she did get to the pile, she started to climb it.
"And a rock slide for Maud!" Pinkie said, starting to climb it. However, as she was, that large rock on top started to sway a little bit, a bit dangerously as Pinkie kept going. As she was, her hoof accidentally got itself stuck in between the rocky pile! Garnet was already rushing towards Pinkie's aid, the pink mare struggling in her bind. The huge rock on top of the pile started to tumble towards her, Garnet already in the way between Pinkie and the oncoming rock. All Garnet had to do was give one punch, and the rock was turned to rubble. Pinkie quickly got herself free after the demonstration. While that one moment wasn't planned, Pinkie was truly hoping that it'll be enough to get everybody/everypony together. However, when she looked, Maud then began heading over to her. After seeing everything, Maud could already guess what this was all about, and it could be time for her herself to set it straight.
"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," Maud revealed. The news was a bit bitter, even more so than when Garnet and Applejack told her their thoughts on the friendship idea. Soon, Maud then turned to everyone else standing nearby.
"It was nice to meet you all. Makes me happy knowing Pinkie Pie has such good friends," Maud finished. With that, the grey mare then began to walk away from the situation. The others there watched her go, as Garnet got Pinkie out of the rocks. It felt bittersweet, to say the least...
It wasn't the only unexpected surprise though.
The area Pinkie had chosen was a bit isolated from Ponyville, and closer to the wild forest nearby. The noise from all the work Pinkie had done, not to mention the rockslide from moments ago, had attracted some unwanted attention. Within the forest themselves, a group of creatures had arrived, starting to encircle the group. One of these creatures got on top of the rock pile, in full view of everybody/everypony present, including Maud. The creature looked like a dog, sounded like a dog, but it was entirely made up of bark, wood and logs. A Timber wolf. The Wooded creature snarled a bit, looking down at the group as more subordinates joined up, and revealed themselves to them.
"Where'd they come from?" Lapis asked, as the others got their weapons out. The beast stalked the group, looking about ten Timberwolves in total. However, a pack of ten compared to a group of twelve seemed like the wolves were more of an inconvenience than most. As each wolf tried to attack, one slash, punch, kick, or magic blast was all it took to shatter the wolves into a bunch of spare wood.
"That was easy," Garnet said.
"Don't count your chicken before they hatch, look," Applejack said, pointing to the wood. The wood began to come alive, and one by one, the Timberwolves reconstructed themselves! In no time at all, the Timerwolves were back in action, and even five more appeared from the forest! Seemed this fight wasn't gonna be as easy as they thought it was, the creatures circling them all. Some of the Timberwolves accidentally wrecked Pinkie's course, with Pinkie looking furious.
"You wrecked our fun time!" Pinkie yelled, charging at the wolves. The commotion got to Maud, the mare turning around to find the wolves all over the group! Even if they can easily beat up the Timberwolves, the fact they can regenerate made it a tiring battle for them. Be that as it may, no matter how many times they tried to pummel the beasts itself, they will simply regenerate and hop back into the Frey. Maud nearby turned around and saw the fight going on, Pinkie and her friends getting pummeled.
"UGH, what's with these things?!" Amethyst groaned, taking her whip and wrecking three Timberwolves, only to have them regenerate back to normal seconds later. Seeing this just made Amethyst more annoyed with the scenario. Garnet punched two more, though she knew it wasn't gonna do much as it began to regenerate.
"Twilight, get us out of here, that'll be great!" Fulgurite said, her hair electrocuting another five. Twilight tried to get the spell to work, but one of the Timberwolves landed on her, it's heavy paw slamming on her horn! Pearl blasted it off of Twilight with her spear, though the distraction gave the wolves sometime to get their act together. One wolf managed to pin down Lapis, ready to bite her head off, but that wolf was easily pummeled into twigs. However, it wasn't any of the Mane Six, or Crystal Gem who did that. No, the pony who got her was Maud!
Maud quickly went to action with all she got to face the Timberwolves. One by one, Maud made short work for the other nineteen, a lot quicker than what the others did as the Timberwolves targeted her. Seemed almost each movement took down a wolf when it came to Maud. Four wolves rushed at her at one point, but Maud made short work of them; slamming on in the dirt, kicking another's head off, whipping her tail to one in a turnaround as she jumped and landed on another. The sheer power and skill she used on every Timberwolf was enough to marvel at. Even if a few regenerated, Maud didn't even give the others the chance to; grabbing some large rocks and throwing them at the wood piles. For those that remained, the numbers were starting to dwindle a bit, to the point when the group outnumbered the pack. Seeing the odds, the wolves turned around and ran off.
With the fight over, while the other Gems helped the injured out, Maud looked back to the pony that got them there in the first place: Pinkie.
"You okay?" Maud asked, actually showing some worry over her. Pinkie got up, and nodded to her. Maud helped Pinkie up to her hooves, before turning to the rest of them.
"Thank you," Garnet said. Maud just nodded in response. Maud turned off, and began to go again...
~~~~~~
The effect from Maud's stay wasn't all too bad as it turned out. With that simple sentence, and a lot of thinking, Connie had come to her own decision on this running away deal. It did give Connie some time with herself, though her parents would probably end up worried sick about her by this point. She'd forgot to ask about Pearl, or if she was better, but those issues were pushed aside and Connie got to thinking on how her parents will react once she got back home. After getting the portal open (outside the house rather than inside), both Connies went through. However, the portal didn't close off just yet, the doubleganger keeping the portal open as Connie fully went through. The brunette looked on to her own home: the same place she disappeared from, as she turned to her double.
"Alright, Connie. I'll see you later," her double said. It was probably for the best for her double to stay in Equestria for the time being. Connie waved goodbye as the doubleganger then went back to Equestria, as the real Connie watched the portal close. Connie wasn't sure how her parents will react, but she knew she had to face them. So, with a sigh, Connie went to her home, and through her door ...
Back in Equestria, Maud was also readying to head home too, her saddlebag with her for the trip back. Over at the train station, the bland pony waited amongst the pony crowd as the train rolled in for her to go home. Before she could get onto the train though, somepony else then arrived: Pinkie Pie. The pink mare rushed over as fast as she could, and stopped right by Maud. She did feel a bit sad on trying to get her to be friends with her friends when they're not doing so well to begin with.
"Maud, wait! I'm sorry about everything, I just wanted to give everypony a good time with you," Pinkie said. Maud turned to her.
"Pinkie Pie, you did a good job, but not everypony can be friends with everypony else. It's good you have such special friends."
"Ok ... Before you go, I got something," Pinkie said, getting something from her mane: a rock candy friendship bracelet. It was the least Pinkie could do before Maud would go. Maud looked to the friendship bracelet, taking it in her own hoof with Pinkie standing there with a more comforting smile. Maud sighed in content, and got in her own saddlebag, pulling out something for the pink mare to have: her own friendship bracelet. Pinkie felt better and got the bracelet, which matched hers at first. However, when she looked, she noticed something else with the rock candy on it: the shape of the rock candy slightly matched the cutie marks on her and her friends! After that, she actually had a second friendship bracelet that Pinkie could bring back, only instead of cutie marks, it was of the six types of Gemstones the Gems possess: Rose Quarts, Garnet, Lapis, Fulgurite, Amethyst and Pearl. This was a surprise for Pinkie Pie, considering Maud herself said that she couldn't be friends with the Gems and Ponies as well as Pinkie would hope.
"I thought it would be fair. You know, they did save you," Maud said with a small smile. Pinkie, however, was more overwhelmed with the sweet gift, and gave Maud a big hug. However, it was short-lived, as the train whistle went off. Pinkie knew Maud had to go, and the grey mare went onto the train. Pinkie wasn't as sad as before, but at least she was satisfied that Maud started to like them in some way. Standing by the train station. Maud looked back from the train cart window, waving goodbye to Pinkie Pie. After a bit, Pinkie stayed put as she watched Maud Pie disappear over the next hill along the tracks. She looked to both bracelets made for both the Gems and for her pony group. While she can accept the fact that Maud and her friends might not be as close as she wanted, at least she was happy that Maud didn't dislike her trip because of it. So, Pinkie bounded off to show her other friends what Maud had for them.