//------------------------------// // 194. Maud Pie - Part 3 // Story: Blaze the Pony Tale // by Wolven5 //------------------------------// Chili Spice was humming merrily as she cleaned her kitchen. With the tables freshly wiped, she turned around to grab the boxful of napkins so as to go around and put them into their dispensers, and turning around she almost had a stroke to see Cheese sitting down, looking troubled. “Cheese Sandwich! Oh… What’re you doing here? It’s not a work day!” Cheese Sandwich sighed a little, holding up his head with his hooves, the curly lock that hung above his eyes looked oddly droopy, and their was a look of confusion in his eyes. Normally, they were a bright and happy-go-lucky green. Now though, they seemed dull and uncertain. When he didn’t answer, Chili Spice tried again, “Cheese, whatever’s the matter, hon? Weren’t you with your friends, hosting Pinkie Pie’s sister? Did something go wrong?” When again Cheese didn’t answer, Chili Spice sat at the side of the table opposite him, “Cheese Sandwich, c’mon! Talk to ol’ Auntie Spice.” Cheese looked up at Chili Spice, and saw a motherly smile with eyes wishing to help. Sighing, he confessed. “Well, it’s not that something went wrong… I mean, I spent my one-on-one with Pinkie’s sister, Maud, doing what she wanted, and… it was boring. Like sooooo BORING. Like the most boringest boring ever to bore anypony who found it boring!” “And…?” Chili Spice asked, encouraging him to go on. “Well, I was honest with Maud, but not so… vocal on the borings,” Cheese explained, “but I made sure to say I was being nice and wanting Maud to have the best time in Ponyville while she was visiting her sister. “Pinkie was happy that I was being so thoughtful to Maud, and when we hugged… Maud called us a couple.” When Cheese stopped talking, and looked down as though he were some naughty colt admitting to mischief, Chili Spice said, “...That’s it?” Cheese looked up at his boss with a look of confusion but saw Chili Spice had a teasing smile. “‘That’s it’?! Mrs. Spice, Pinkie and I aren’t dating!” Cheese exclaimed. “Could’ve fooled me,” Chili Spice giggled, “the way you two always are around each other, wacky and bouncy, having fun together, enjoying each other’s company, planning parties or pranks-” “But I just said-” Cheese protested only for Chili Spice to raise a halting wing, making him stop talking, especially when she closed her feathers, mimicking the gesture of ‘shut your mouth’. “But you know what I can’t help noticing every single time I see the two of you together?” Chili Spice asked, getting a confused shrug from her employee. “The way the both of you look at each other… The way you smile when you see each other, how you make each other laugh, how happy the both of you are just by being together!” That one gave Cheese Sandwich food for thought, but Chili Spice wasn’t done. “Tell me again, Cheese, how you became a party pony.” “...Well, I grew up in an orphanage in Manehatten,” Cheese started off. “I never knew my mother or father, the closest thing I had to parents growing up in the orphanage was the matron and the doctor! All the other foals in the orphanage were the closest things I had to brothers and sisters growing up. “But I was really shy when I was little. A lot of ponies hardly remembered my name, barely noticed me at all - I could’ve screamed in the middle of the room and still nopony would notice me! ...It got to the point where I felt so lonely, even when I was surrounded by all these ponies, that I ran away…” Chili Spice remembered Cheese mentioning he’d grown up in an orphanage but that was it. She didn’t interrupt and continued to listen with rapt attention. “Somehow, I managed to travel halfway across Equestria, and I stumbled into Ponyville somehow, whether by chance or even fate, and I found myself in the first party I ever really experienced! Everywhere I looked, everypony had a smile on their face, there was laughing, dancing, and even though I’d just stumbled in, they all welcomed me as though I belonged!” Cheese Sandwich smiled fondly in nostalgia, which made Chili Spice smile as well. “I was so happy and inspired by that one party, I vowed to change and let go of my past, and the pony I had to thank for throwing that super-dee-tastic party….!” “Was Pinkie Pie?” Cheese looked at Chili Spice, who was smiling at him warmly, and he smile back as he nodded. “Yeah… I saw her there, surrounded by everypony as she did what she does best, what she was born to do,” Cheese sighed with a smile, “making everypony laugh and smile.” “So what happened then?” Chili Spice asked. “Oh, I was found, I had to `fess up that I’d run away from an orphanage in Manehatten, I was sent back, but it wasn’t the same as before,” Cheese Sandwich went on but with a more positive look this time. “It wasn’t all at once, of course, but I stuck to my vow to change and follow Pinkie’s example. Eventually, I was adopted by a traveling couple, who were performers. My adoptive dad taught me how to play the accordion and slapstick comedy, my mom taught me how to sing and dance, they taught me a lot of things really! They helped me when I started being a party pony until I was old enough to travel on my own.” “And where are they now?” “They eventually settled in Baltimare,” Cheese confirmed. “They’re still plenty spry an’ all but Dad was starting to get on a bit, so he and Mom decided to enjoy their middle-age and golden years in a nice burg, where they both became teachers at a performing arts school. I sent them postcards all the time I was traveling, but we’ve started writing each other more since I settled here in Ponyville.” “Well, Cheese, I’m glad your foalhood got better,” Chili Spice placed her hoof warmly on his, which he appreciated as he gave her hoof a gentle squeeze. “But it sounds like your life is better because of Pinkie!” “Well, yeah!” Cheese admitted. “I mean…. If I’d never been inspired by her, I’d never have become a party pony in my own right, I’d have never come out of my shell and maybe my adoptive folks wouldn’t have noticed me and made me their son. “I told Pinkie she was my inspiration, but… I didn’t tell her it’s because of that inspiration I owe her so much! Pinkie’s the most amazing mare I know! She always knows how to make you laugh and smile, she’s there when you need help, whether you want it or not, she’s smarter than a lot of ponies give her credit for, she’s a great baker and loves to share her treats with everypony, she can throw the most amazing parties, and… she’s just the sweetest mare I’ve ever met, and the most beautiful! Her coat pink like strawberry milk, her adorable curly mane with that cute little curl that hangs above her eyes, and… Oh her perfect blue eyes! I-” Cheese flinched as he realized what he was saying and saw the smirk on Chili Spice’s face. “Uh- Well- That is- Mrs. Spice, I-” Again, Chili Spice rose her wing, but didn’t make that ‘shut it’ gesture with her feathers again. This time, her manner was more gentle and understanding. “Cheese Sandwich…” she began, her tone made Cheese know it was time to listen. “I can’t tell you what to do with your life other than be here on time to do your job. But if you want one mare’s opinion, I have to be frank - You care for Pinkie. And I do mean, you care about her in a way that you have to decide for yourself whether or not to make it something more. “Even before you blurted those things out, hon, I always suspected there was something special between the two of you, and I’m not talking about the two of you being party ponies or the indirect history you two share. Cheese, lemme tell you, if I’d never found the courage to take that first step, I’d have never had Stuffed Crust as my special somepony or my husband! We shared some happy years together but that’s not to say it was perfect. We argued now and then, but every couple has times when they don’t get along. However, so long as they remember what the other means to them, they remember as well that it’s their love for each other that matters more. “Was my marriage hard? You bet your scrawny little ass it was, young stallion! Stuffed Crust and I never got the chance to be parents, we didn’t get to grow old together… But we were together, and that is something I never regretted.” Cheese Sandwich looked in awe at his employer and was a little surprised when she stood up, came over, and gave him a hug and kiss on the forehead. She looked at him warmly, and said, “Cheese Sandwich, if Stuff and I had had a child, I’d have wanted him to be just like you.” She then returned to her cleaning, as Cheese began to ponder all that they’d just shared between them. Somehow, Cheese Sandwich’s Cheesy Sense led him to the Golden Oaks Library, and upon walking in he heard Blueblood talking. “...hadn’t become the best of friends, I think Maud would have.” “Maud would have what?” Everypony looked to see Cheese at the door, looking confused, and e saw them all looking downhearted. “Did I miss something?” “Well, haystack,” Big Mac explained, “we all went t’ see Pinkie Pie an’ told her… we hadn’t exactly been bondin’ well with her sister, that…” “That what?” Cheese pressed. “That we felt it wouldn’t be right if we made those best friend rock candy necklaces with her when we are, in honesty, not best friends with Maud,” Rarity cleared things up. Hearing this, Cheese Sandwich understood, “...Oh. Then… I take it Pinkie…?” “Was hurt we hadn’t become friends with Maud, like she’d hoped,” Blueblood nodded sadly. “Well, what did she expect?!” Rainbow Dash interjected from her seat on a bay window above the bookshelves as she fiddled with a rock. “That sister of hers is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an igneous!” “Don’t you mean ‘inside an enigma’?” Rarity tried to correct. “Nope, I meant ‘igneous’. It’s a kind of rock,” Rainbow affirmed. “Ask me how I know that!” Cheese Sandwich was worried now. He knew things might be a little tough for the others in making friends with Maud, but apparently he’d underestimated the difficulty it would be. But before he could say any- *KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK* They all looked to the door and in bounced Pinkie, announcing, “ I’ve come up with just the thing to bring everypony closer together!” The group all followed their hyperactive friend until they spotted Maud waiting for them just passed the tree line of Whitetail Woods. The mare glanced at them for a moment before returning her blank gaze forwards again. Pinkie dashed passed everypony as they all lined up, curious about Pinkie’s idea. What they saw gave them all pause. A bizarre looking obstacle course greeted them. Rock piles were stacked, tubes and funnels looped about. Sparkly things and apple pies. Whatever this thing was that Pinkie had constructed, none could tell what its purpose was. As if sensing their confusion, Pinkie zoomed in front of them all, her wide smile plastered across her face. “I call it Pinkie-Rainbow-Rari-Bluey-Mackie-Cheesy-Maud Fun Time!!!” The group stared for a moment until Rainbow eloquently expressed what they were all thinking “Huh?” Ignoring their confusion, Pinkie popped up between Rarity and Blueblood and started to ramble. “It combines everypony’s interests into one giant activity that we can all enjoy together and that will totally bring all my bestest friends together as the bestest of friends!” The ponies all looked amongst each other deciphering Pinkie’s words, that she had rambled without pause. As such they didn’t notice Pinkie appear before a group of mannequins displaying different articles of protective clothing. “You’ll need these,” she added with a sly look upon her face. The bizarre coverings ranged from a soda-drinking cap, to a pointed helmet to odd bubble wrap knee guards. They frankly didn’t appear like they would work well to protect much of anything. It took a moment before Rainbow once again spoke for the whole group. “Like I said … huh?” The group turned back to Pinkie, now wearing a helmet, roller blading knee guards and a snorkel who gave them all a sly smile. “Probably better for me to show you. Watch this!” With that she dived into the odd construct from the starting tube filled with apple pies. “Apple Pie tunnel for Big Mac. Make sure the pie goes in your mouth, not your hooves.” She grinned, devouring several pies as she scurried through the tubing and into the next section of the obstacle course. The end of the tube aimed slightly up and Pinkie swooshed out of it and into a short pit filled with shining silk and sparkling cloth. “Pretty shiny stuff for Rarity.” She quickly exited the pile of materials and started to jolt across some of the open stretch of the course. “Mechanical doodads for Bluey.” She then hopped onto a pedal powered device with an odd assortment of wires and pipes that stretched from the device to a door in front of it (with no walls on either side, rendering it rather pointless). She quickly started to pedal (at a blinding speed that had Dash looking a little put out) which quickly sent jolts of electricity up the wires and into a winching mechanism that lifted up the door. With a Pinkie level leap, the mare zoomed from the pedal and under the door, which with no pedal powering it, immediately started to lower back to the ground. “Some instruments for Cheesy,” she snatched up a flugelhorn from a bunch of instruments of various different kinds that had been left in a pile on the ground. She gave it a quick toot, but it was plain that the horn was still one of the only instruments she couldn’t play (judging by the cringing and rapid covering of ears from the rest of the assembled ponies). The mare then turned and pressed a button on one of the courses walls, which immediately lowered a pink dome over her and a vacuum effect started up, hovering several cupcakes around her. “Cupcakes for yours truly.” She then started to chomp down on several of the baked goods before exiting from the dome out of a funnel and out onto a set of tight ropes. “And it’s a race for Rainbow Dash.” She declared proudly with a smile. However her pride was ignored once the other ponies all stared ahead at the next obstacle. The giant and rather unstable-looking pile of rocks, with a massive boulder teetering at the top. “Uh, Pinkie... what is the purpose of the, uh… huge pile of dangerous-looking rocks?” Blueblood asked, giving a very worried look at his pink friend, shared by everypony present (well except Maud, but Cheese could see in her eyes and posture she was just as worried). Pinkie just looked back at them filled with excitement. “A rock slide, of course! For Maud.” At the declaration, Maud just gave a surveying glance and blinked. Cheese could immediately tell that Pinkie’s big sister’s worry had increased at this declaration. Still Pinkie showed no concerns as she started down the final tube before the rock pile. “First you climb, then you slide!” as she scurried along, Big Mac gave a gulp and leaned over towards Cheese next to him. “Ah’ve got a bad feelin’ about this…” With all the worries and fears that had been going through his head earlier that day, Cheese was already not in a very good place. Seeing Pinkie start moving to the giant rock pile, sent a jolt of uncertainty through his system that had him start to sweat. Next to him, he could see Maud tense up and her jaw clench. She was clearly just as worried as he was about Pinkie’s antics. Pinkie herself just started giggling as she leap from rock to rock up the steep incline, until a bigger rock seemed to catch her back hoof and keep her in place. “Huh?” the pink mare gave a few tugs, but it seemed the rock had too much weight for the mare to pull herself free. That was when everything started falling apart. Quite literally, as a matter of fact. Her tugs sent a jolt through the unstable pile of rocks that got everything shaking. Worst of all, this made the teetering boulder at the top completely overbalance and start to fall, heading straight for the suddenly distressed Pinkie. Everypony gasped as the rock started sliding forwards rapidly. Pinkie continued to try and get loose, but the shifting of the rocks just made it worse for her. She tugged and tugged, but she couldn’t get free. She looked up, gasping in fear at the hurtling boulder, until finally she screamed. “HELP!!” As the rest of the group panicked, two ponies suddenly acted. Maud and Cheese Sandwich zoomed forward at ridiculous speeds, each donning a protective outfit on the way. They burst through the apple pie tunnel, sending pastry in all directions. They zipped through the material pile, sending it scattering in all directions. The rest of the assembled friends just stared wide eyed in disbelief as the two smashed through the pedal powered door, the instrument pile and the cupcake dome, hurtling through the air like rockets. Just as the huge boulder was about to slam into Pinkie and squish her flat, Cheese grasped her firmly and slammed his back hoof down on the rock pinning her leg, shattering it. As Pinkie just gasped wide-eyed, the stallion held her tight and leapt from the rock pile. Above them, Maud jackhammered her hooves through the giant rock, drilling through it until it was nothing but pebbles and dust. Once it was destroyed, she slid down the pile and landed next to Cheese, who had landed on his back legs so as to keep Pinkie safely within his hooves, as she had her own wrapped around his neck. While the rest of the ponies all gave sighs of joy and relief, Rainbow just spluttered in the air. “What! How! What!” Cheese Sandwich remained locked up for a moment briefly heavily, shocked and wide-eyed about the whole thing. Before he heard Maud gently clearing her throat next to him. He set Pinkie down on the ground before turning her and giving her a hug, letting the stress and fear fade, for the both of them. Pinkie gripped him tightly until she stopped shaking. Once she did so, she stepped back so she could look Cheese in the eyes. “Thank you Cheesy. You too Maud… I would have been a goner without you two.” Cheese just gave her a relieved smile and nodded his head. Maud however stepped up and gave her sister a strong hug, holding her protectively in her grasp. She was silent for a moment before releasing her sister and letting out a barely audible sigh. Then the grey mare turned to Cheese. “Thanking you for helping my sister, Cheese Sandwich. You are a good stallion and a good friend.” Then she surprised all the other friends, who were making their way towards the three, by wrapping Cheese in a hug of his own. Cheese blinked in surprise for a moment, before he smiled and returned the hug. He said nothing, knowing that Maud could see how relieved and thankful he was that Pinkie was okay. After Maud stepped back she turned back to Pinkie, this time with a stern big sister look. “Pinkie Pie, what were you thinking?” Pinkie sighed and lowered her head in with a little shame in her expression, “I guess I wasn’t...” She felt a hoof under her chin, and the pink mare felt her gaze raised to look her sister in the eye, “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 just be best if I head back to the rock farm and spend the rest of the week there.” Pinkie gave a sad look and removed her helmet, but she made no move to stop Maud as the mare gave a final grateful look to Cheese before turning to the rest of the group, whom had just reached them. “It was nice to meet you all. It makes me happy knowing Pinkie Pie has such good friends.” Then, without turning her head, the mare trotted passed them all and back along the path leading out of Whitetail Woods. The ponies looked sad at the announcement, especially as Pinkie Pie moved alongside them, staring at her retreating sister. “But… we never even got to make our rock candy necklaces...” Then Pinkie raised her hoof and shouted, “Wait, Maud! I’ll come with you!” and sprinted past them and after her big sister. As Cheese rejoined the others, Blueblood spoke up, guilt and sadness in his voice. “I… I can’t believe Maud chose to cut her trip short. Pinkie was so excited to have her here, and for all of how little we got along, I at least thought she was having a good time here.” Beside him, Rarity addressed the group. “I can’t believe we almost lost Pinkie to that ridiculous obstacle course!” “Eeyup, it shor was good Maud an’ Cheese sprang into action like that. Ah feel a little ashamed of mahself for not doin’ anythang! Ah just stood there in shock...” Big Mac said glumly, his head lowered in shame. Rainbow, trying to deal with her own shock and fear, turned to one of her coping mechanisms. Addressing the situations awesomeness. “Did you see how fast Maud and Cheese moved!? That was awesome!” Cheese still seemed a bit upset and confused, so Rarity, decided to get the spotlight off him a bit and address her own thoughts about Maud. “And the way she smashed that huge rock into dust, how in Equestria did she do that?” “Her sister was in trouble,” Big Mac pointed out, “With th’ bond those two share, Ah bett there ain’t nothin’ that mare would do for Pinkie Pie.” Hearing those words from Big Mac, Cheese GASPED in realization. While he had been able to understand and try to connect with Maud better than the rest of the group, a lack severe lack of shared interests had kept Maud a hoof leg from everypony. However it was now clear as day to him the one thing they all did share in common with Maud. “Guys, I can tell things didn’t go amazingly well with Maud. Her lack of expressions and her lack of shared interest made it really hard to connect with her,” Cheese spoke before bouncing like a schoolcolt, with a big smile on his face. “But I just realized what it is we do share! Something that will make everything just gouda between all of us! Something that will let us fulfill Pinkie’s super special family tradition!” “What is it, Cheese darling?” Rarity asked for everypony as they all stopped and turned to their now bouncing friend. “No time! Quick everypony follow me!” and with that, he burst into a run, with everypony in close pursuit.