Two Background Ponies Revisit Season Four

by Piccolo Sky

Maud Pie

Maud Pie

Sam tapped his hoof against the ground and sighed. He looked up, past the cookie cafe he and Carl normally ate at, and to the clock tower in Ponyville. Carl was now fifteen minutes late. That was never a good sign.

As he looked back down...he froze. He saw Carl approaching a moment later, dressed in a yellow full-body covering with a respirator humming from a backpack and a goggled hood with lead-lined visors.

At once, Sam facepalmed.

Oh Luna...he's wearing a radiation suit...

A minute later, Carl managed to ease into the chair across from Sam. Not an easy feat considering the gear he was wearing. Sam watched him ineffectively try to shove a cookie through the tiny holes over his mouthpiece for a few moments, before he clapped his hooves on the table and leaned up.

"Alright, Carl...you know full well what I'm going to ask, so why not just explain it?"

"Just doing something everypony should be doing, Sam. And I'll be wearing this until the tests come back."

"...What 'tests'?"

"The tests from the Royal Equestrian Society of Geologists and Chemists, Sam. What else? I've got a sinking suspicion all of the rocks around this town are loaded with enriched Uranium."

The blue stallion groaned. "Carl..."

"Oh, you don't believe me? How else do you explain someone tossing a rock hard enough causing a nuclear explosion, Sam? Don't tell me you didn't see that mushroom cloud. I'm pretty sure everyone in Appleloosa saw it..."

"I don't know...maybe it was a magic rock or something..."

"...Sam, did you just say 'magic rock'? What is this, an M. Night Stallionmalan movie?"

"Oh, come off it, Carl! We're surrounded by magic! We have to clean up after it between bouts of friendship! Here..." He leaned over and picked up a newspaper from nearby and tossed it in front of him. "Why don't you try worrying about something somepony else is worried about for a change?"

The green stallion looked down to the paper. He stared a moment, before sighing and removing his headpiece, and then looked over it a bit more. He raised an eyebrow.

"Now that is weird."

"What is?"

"There's a new finding by psychologists they've nicknamed the 'Sixth Nonsense'. Check it..." He pointed a hoof to the paper and traced it. "It says that ponies have a strange psychological reaction in a situation where five friends are paired with one non-friend and they watch a pony who has a good relation with all six of them get into danger."

"Yeah? What happens?"

"Well, apparently the five will only be able to stand there and stare rather than try and help. The only one who will be able to do anything is the non-friend." He paused. "...That's weird, Sam. How did they come up with that? And what are the odds it would ever happen?"

Before Sam could answer, they both heard a loud sigh as something slumped into a chair nearby. They turned...and were just in time to see a familiar baby purple dragon slump on the table.

"...One hundred and ninety-four extra pounds of rock candy...that had real rocks in it...and not so much as a pebble for ol' Spike..." He moaned. "At least I get the next week off since Twilight's leaving town."

Both Sam and Carl looked to him at that. "Huh? Where's Princess Twilight off to?"

"Beats me." He answered with a shrug. "She just packed up and got on the first train out of town along with Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash as soon as I spat up this message."

He passed a small slip of paper over to the two stallions, who saw it was written on party stationary in crayon.

Guess what? My other two sisters visit this week!

---

It turned out that was a bad move. Her two other sisters weren’t as bad.

Oh? What were their special talents?

Rocks, but they weren’t as good at it as Maud.

…

…I said “as bad”.