• Published 11th Mar 2014
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Writer's Training Ground Entries! - pertelote345



pertelote345's EQD Writer's Training Ground Entries

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Becoming Better

Maud smiled at her sister. She thought she had gotten quite skilled at it over the years. She bid Pinkie's friends farewell and walked back towards the farm. It had been a long day and she really needed to recharge.

It was energy well spent though. She'd made new friends. That didn't happen very often.

She made her way to the shed behind the house. Her father was there, hammering away at some new contraption... she couldn't tell which one. It always amazed Maud that he could come up with so many new things to work on. She wished she had that kind of creativity.

Her father looked up at her and smiled. It was that perfect, natural smile of a father that loved his daughter. Maud did her best to return it.

Her father put down his hammer and put a hoof on his daughter's shoulder. "Did everything go alright with Pinkie's friends?"

Maud nodded. "They are good ponies. They cared enough about Pinkie that they worked very hard to try to connect with me. I am happy that Pinkie has ponies that make her happy." She lay down on a long couch by the far wall and waited.

Her father rubbed his beard as he rummaged through his tools. "You know, it may not have just been Pinkie."

Maud raised an eyebrow ever so slightly. "I do not understand."

Her father clipped a pair of wires to a small metal box and checked it over for leaks. "I'm saying that those nice ponies might have seen something special in you as well."

"I am not good enough for that." Maud stated simply.

Her father put a grease stained hoof over his heart. "My dear child, you wound your creator."

Maud looked down. "I'm sorry. I did not mean to imply..."

He held up a hoof. "Maud, I know I'm not perfect. And as much as it pains any father to say it, I know that you are not perfect either. But simply because we have flaws does not mean that we are not incredible ponies. If a mare as amazing as your mother could see somepony she could love in an old fool like me, then there are definitely people out there who will see all of the things that make you special."

Maud raised her eyebrow slightly higher. "I thought we specifically wanted to avoid that."

Her father sighed. He slung himself over a standing bike and started pedaling. "That's not what I meant... and the only reason we want to avoid that particular bit of specialness is just because a lot of ponies would be horribly unfair to you." He wiped the sweat from his brow and pedaled faster. "What I mean to say... huff... Is that you shouldn't sell yourself short. And you shouldn't think that just because you're a little different that no one in Equestria would want to befriend you."

Maud felt at her pocket for Boulder, her first friend. When she was younger all she used to do was look for rocks like boulder and identify them. It was important work, but she couldn't say she remembered enjoying it until her father made her better. Then she started to enjoy things, just a little. When she found Boulder, an igneous rock in a field of sedimentary rocks, she at first just picked it up because it was out of place. There was a lot of other work to be done that day, so she didn't have time to put it in the igneous field until much later. When she left to go to the field it was already dark, so her father got worried and followed her out to ask what she was doing.

When she explained her situation and showed her father the rock, he smiled and said that it was so small it would hardly matter come the next harvest. He asked if she wanted to keep it.

At the time Maud did not understand wanting things very well, but when she thought about boulder, how it was out of place and she was out of place... She felt she did want to keep it. She told him so.

Her father was ecstatic. He even suggested naming it. At first Maud was confused, as it was already called an igneous rock, but her father pointed out that not only was that his name, which could get very confusing, but also that this specific rock was her rock and it deserved to have a name. "Something creative!" he said.

Maud had always been confused by creativity. It was very hard for her to do, but as this was one of the first times she had wanted something, she put a bit of extra processing power into it. She knew that the rock was small, and that creativity was sort of like doing something unexpected, so she decided to name it Boulder.

At first she just used it to test herself. When she had some free time she would throw it into a pile of rocks and scan through them until she found it again. Her sisters thought it was a game, so she let them join in. Though their presence messed with the test somewhat, she found that it made her sisters like her more. She asked her father to make her even better so she could enjoy playing the game with them. So he did, and she became friends with her sisters as well. Her father said she shouldn't pick favorites, but she liked Pinkie the best. It was so easy to tell what Pinkie was feeling, and she worked so hard to help Maud feel.

Over time her father made her better and better, and she started doing things like writing poetry and moving around just to see more of the world. She even went to school and learned so much there...

But she didn't make many more friends. And now she had done so well in college that she was going to grad school. Which meant she wouldn't be close to her friends for a very long time... She hoped to keep in contact though.

After a while, her father got off the bike and let out breath. He smiled at Maud. "I have something new for you. Something to make you better."

Maud turned to him, curious.

Her father walked over with the little metal box and Maud lifted up her dress. Her father pressed down on her back in just the right place and her access panel popped open with a hiss. He pulled out one of her old batteries and slipped in the new one he'd charged. Maud felt a slight surge of energy. She was getting more out of the new battery than the old one, and not just because it was freshly charged.

Still, she felt disappointed. She found herself lowering her head.

Her father gave her a concerned look. "Is there something wrong with the power cell?"

Maud shook her head. "It is performing better than my old one. I am grateful. It is just that when you said you had something to make me better, I thought it might be something that could help me care about my new friends... I care about them, but I want to care about them more."

Her father smiled. "My dear, after saying that I'm not sure you'd need it."