Chapter XXVIII: Maud
After a chilling night of me worrying about the level of mayhem two Pies could create, I rolled out of bed early in the morning. As I was making my way down the stairs to give Silver the training plan for the week Pinkie noticed me and dragged me into helping her with some rock candy problem.. After seeing the sheer amount of rock candy in her room, I politely excused myself stating that I needed to talk to Silver about the week’s training so I could have free time to spend with Pinkie and her sister. Pinkie accepted my reasons with ease, since I was trying to be able to spend as much time as I could with her sister. While I’d rather not deal with the antics of two Pies, I didn't want to hurt Pinkie's feelings; hence why I was doing all this in the first place.
So after telling Silver to have the recruits set up a firing range and start practicing with the three prototypes the researchers left for us, along with telling Silver to have a tree to duck behind for any stray shots, I was waiting with the rest of the elements at some kind of picnic. While I would have been understandably nervous about meeting another hyperactive pony, I was instead distracted by the hat that Rarity chosen to wear today. Either ponies have some weird tastes in fashion, or Rarity is sometimes off in her taste of hat wear.
There was some idle chatter on what their expectations for Pinkie's sister would be like when Pinkie finally showed up. "We're heeeere!" All out heads jerked to see Pinkie happily waving to us from up the trail, as I braced myself for... nothing.
"Where's Maud?" Twilight asked, as I rubbed a hoof against the back of my head in confusion.
"She's coming!" Pinkie exclaimed, causing me to cock an eyebrow at her before I returned my attention to the trail.
After some more time waiting, Rainbow glanced questioningly at her pink friend., "Uh... you sure?"
"She's not quite as fast as me. I asked Gummy to stay with her in case she got lost!" Pinkie explained. To which I tilted my head as I wondered, how can Gummy help anypony find their way? That was when I finally saw Maud, as she slowly came over the hill. She was, really not what I expected, with her sedated pace and her flat mane. Even her expression was dull. Huh... maybe this won't turn out as bad as I thought. I guess Maud is normal like other pon—
My line of thinking halted when I saw Maud lower her head as she sniffed a rock, saying, "Hm. Sedimentary."
"Huh?" Rainbow voiced out her confusion, along with my own.
"This is a sedimentary rock," Maud answered with an emotionless voice. Okay... scratch that on Maud being normal... I guess every Pie is weird in their own way... maybe... still, better than two hyperactive ponies, I thought to myself, before realizing that everypony was looking at me. That's when I realized that we were doing introductions, and it was my turn.
"Oh, uh... sorry about that. I sort of blanked out... Anyways, it's finally good to meet you since your my... foster aunt as Pinkie put it," I said, putting on a smile as I blushed at bit at my awkwardness. The introductions moved onto Rarity, upon which, it started to get a bit more weird.
"Pinkie Pie tells me you share my love for fashion," Rarity mentioned, as she put on a smile.
"I'm really into expressing myself through my wardrobe," Maud replied, to which I only wondered how that simple clothing she has on is suppose to express anything.
"A-and what is the delightful frock you're wearing now saying?"
"It doesn't talk. It's a dress," Maud answered, causing me to suppress a mild chuckle as Rarity simply backed away flabbergasted.
"Oh, yes, of course, I-I just meant, the frock is, just..." Rarity sputtered out, upon which I decided that everypony's expectations were going to be ruined, to my amusement. This is turning out way better than I hoped, I thought with glee as I watched everypony else try to make small talk with her.
Aunt Maud was hilarious, in my point of view... when she was interacting with other ponies that didn't know a thing about her. I had to resist the urge to burst out laughing at the awkwardness of everypony trying to interact with her, though I was shocked when she ate a rock. I could even hear her chewing it, causing me to wonder just how hard earth pony teeth are. Anyways, unlike everypony else, I just sat there, quiet and smiling, avoiding being drawn into the conversation in preference of just observing Maud. Hopefully, when I made my own attempts at connecting with her, I wouldn't be doing it on false expectations.
After the picnic, we ended up playing a game Maud called 'Camouflage,' which was just finding Maud's 'pet' Boulder among a pile of other rocks. This led to the predictable result of the elements getting frustrated with the exception of Pinkie, ending with me actually laughing as Maud revealed that Boulder was in her pocket the entire time, to Rainbow's ire. That was when Pinkie, Maud, and I left to go home, with Pinkie doing most of the talking.
The next day, Twilight apparently had the idea for everypony to connect with Maud at a more one-on-one approach, which to my amusement, failed spectacularly. Rarity's attempts to connect to fashion fell apart when Maud displayed an interest in a dirty rag that she wanted to use as a scarf; Fluttershy's showing of Ponyville wildlife ended with Maud observing the rocks instead; Twilight's own attempt through poetry further showcased Maud's rock obsession; Applejack's cooking only got Maud to say it tastes like apples. Rainbow's own session with Maud was the most interesting. It involve a distance throwing game, to which Maud just hurled a rock off into the distance, producing some sort of nuclear explosion! My jaw dropped as low as it could as I watched the mushroom cloud her throw created; I was so shocked that I barely snapped to my senses to throw up a shield as the resulting shockwave created a massive wave that moved over the lake to drench everypony else.
After spending some time trying to figure out how a thrown rock could create a mushroom cloud, I learned that it was finally time for me to spend some alone time with Maud and Pinkie in my own 'session'. Thankfully, I had a better plan than everypony else.
"So... the three types of rocks are sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic?"
"Correct."
"Hmm... interesting to note," I said to myself as I looked at a book about geology with Maud at the library. This caused Twilight to shoot me some weird looks as Maud taught me a bit of her knowledge on rocks.
"I didn't knew you had an interest in rocks too Aether," Twilight finally said.
"Well, it's more of just something that involves my past," I dryly said, not revealing a single emotion. That caused Twilight to do a double take. Pinkie already informed Maud about my past, to which it seemed like it didn't matter to her. She didn't treat me any different from any other pony she had interacted with.
"And that would be?"
"Well, various things really. I had to extract minerals for some missions before, and I spent some missions stuck in a cave as I waited for the return portal. Gave me a lot of time to study the rocks," I replied, keeping up a neutral expression. "Hmm... if I end up having to go to another world, I'll make a note of picking up some rocks for you to study Maud. I know for certain that some worlds would have rocks that is never seen before on Equus."
"That would be nice," Maud simply said, before we moved onto the subgroups within the three main rock groups. All the while Pinkie sat nearby us, a wide smile on her face thanks to the bonding moment that Maud and I were having. Though I began to feel Maud and I were starting to disturb Twilight to some degree, since we both kept emotionless expressions throughout the lesson. Regardless, I was learning some new words and facts, and making Pinkie happy by actually connecting with Maud, which is a win in my book.
After the geology lesson, Maud and Pinkie went off to return to Sugarcube Corner, while I opted to remain in the library as I was making note of the various minerals that Equus possessed. Since Maud was out of the way, Twilight apparently took this as an opportunity to ask me something. "Do you really have an interest in rocks Aether? It seems... out of character for you."
"I wasn't making up what I said Twilight. I really did end up sitting at a cave where I either stared at rocks all day or made sure no predator came in to eat me," I dryly answered as I flipped a page. "Though, come to think about it, I really should have taken a look into this earlier."
"How come?"
"Well, knowing what minerals Equus has to offer would be a good idea to gauge some… ideas. With the apparent mass supply of gems to the point that Spike can eat away at them without you going into debt, it makes me wonder if there are other rare minerals that are... plentiful in this world."
"Wait, gems are rare?" Twilight asked with her head tilting in confusion.
"Yeah, for the most part in other worlds. This tends to put a high value on them as a result, though I’d rather not let other alien species know about Equus’ supply of gems. They would be more motivated to take this world just to get rich off the gems alone. Regardless, I might want to talk to Maud to see what she knows about the metals of this world if her studies included them."
That was when Twilight narrowed her eyes at me as she said, "So... you had an ulterior reason to talk to her about rocks. You wanted to use her knowledge for your plans to defend Equestria."
"Eh, not really," I replied, causing Twilight to be confused. "From what I saw from the demonstration two days ago, it seemed to me that gems is the way to go for Equestria in terms of warfare. It would take too long to try to actually use materials to recreate the alien weapons instead of making magic copies off them. At best, metals would be used to create physical armor, but I won't be surprise if the Royal Guard's armor is reinforced with enchants to make them stronger." Facing Twilight, I gave her a hard glare as I said, "You know, it's rude of you to accuse me of such a thing. I'm just trying to use my past as a means to connect with Maud, not to use her. Even if our interests in rocks is different in purpose, at least we can bond over something."
My scolding resulted in Twilight lowering her head and laying her ears back."I'm sorry Aether. I didn't mean to accuse you of anything... it's just th—"
"That due to my tendency to have something violent be related to all the things I talk about, you couldn't help but jump to that conclusion," I cut her off, causing Twilight to look at me in confusion as I dropped my glare. "I can't really blame you for thinking that way, but next time try not to jump to that conclusion when I do things for Pinkie. I really do care about her, so I don't want to mix anything that I do for her with my work."
"That's very thoughtful of you Aether," Twilight responded with a smile.
Shrugging, I simply returned to my studies before I asked, "Hey Twilight, there's something I'm wondering about that I can't find in this book. Are there any rocks that are naturally green or greenish yellow in coloration?"
Twilight tapped a hoof against her chin as she thought for a moment before saying, "Hmm... I don't think I’ve seen nor read about any green rocks before, why you asked?"
"Oh, nothing you need to worry about," I answered, as I made note of asking Maud that question the next chance I got.
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Moldavite. Peridot. Emeralds, of course...
Aether loves her family. That's what really matters.
6484851 I dunno why, but i'm more thinking about something among the lines of Uranium... X)
6484851 There's also torbernite and Autunite which both contain Uranium.
I see what you're trying to do there Ather.
4.bp.blogspot.com/-S1mxbY2Xjew/UhOu3p6vUZI/AAAAAAAAAoA/XArUdyk-CMg/s1600/RadioactiveSymbol.gif
Will Aether find uranium? find out in the next chapter
This chapter rocked.
Kryptonite.
Can you say "nukes"?
Called it, this chapter was awesome!
I guess you could say-
( •_•)...
....
One second.
(`-`)
(._. )
(· - ·)
( ._.)
( •_•)>⌐■-■
(⌐■_■)
-it rocked.
I wonder if Aether will test uranium's effects on Celestia? Give it to her as a necklace or something, then watch and laugh evilly.
6484905
She doesn't hate Celestia that much, she just gets annoyed from time to time on her arrogance putting the world in danger.
hmmm, uranium ore is green...
6484960
Or explosions, bombs, missiles wars, etc., etc. You know, normal stuff.
Is she wondering about radioactive rocks or something???
I loved Maud and Aether discussing geology, very well done!
6484905 Given the sun is powered by nuclear Fusion, Celestia might just react like she had an energy drink.
6484963
I try~
6484947 Isn't it orange?
Edit: Ah, no. It is green. Its refined uranium that is orange.
If you have magic, depending on the requirements, and especially after that throw by Maud, Making a tech nuke might be like building a Star Trek transporter, instead of Twilights teleportation spell, wormhole style.
You want total destruction? Either take the safeties off the light spell, or the zero range teleportation spell, as in dimentional rotation from mass to energy?
Im now thinking of Aether working with Maud, the same way Pinkie used Twilight as a machine gun.
Who needs nukes. Apparently Maud can just chuck boulders at any needed targets!
6484902 Yes
That is actually pretty funny to imagine.
Sounds like a job for Radioactive
ManMare!......Kryptonite......
stayclassy
6484888
6485717
Well, considering that this wa brought on by Maud kicking a rock and making a mushroom cloud out of it.... And Uranium is one of only three elements found in large enough quantities to naturally exist in an Earth-like planet... And of the three, Thorium ore is a dull gunmetal grey (and commonly with black, tarnish-like spots), Protactinium ore is a shiny, gold-like color, and Uranium Ore is a mossy green color (although refined U-235 and U-238 is generally an orange color), it leads me to wonder if she is thinking of making a Manhattan Project for Equestria.....
6485954 UT? Sorry, but I'm not THAT well verse in all the sci-fi worlds out there that i can understand from the initials.
6485717 I know sulphur is yellowish, but it might be copper.
I know sulphur has militaristic purposes, such as mixing it with charcoal/coal and potassium nitrate which gives you gun powder.
But copper is also useful in updating Equis.
6484947 I can come in many different colors but green and yellow is most common.
Sulfur and... Uhh that other substance and saltpeter to make gunpowder! Right?
Cool chapter! Heh, I had the same reactions as Aether when I saw the Maud episode
I know it's unedited and all, but found a typo:
chance
6486361 I think Aether is referring to uranium...
6486838 jade.
6486838 According to google, Uranium is a silver-white color.
6484947 If it's uranium, the smartest thing to do would be to bombard it with neutrons, converting U238 to Neptunium 239. Then let it undergo negative beta decay, producing Plutonium 239. A plutonium bomb is much more powerful than a uranium bomb.
6488500 In that case, she SHOULD fail once she encounters something outside her immediate experience. That tends to happen to the 'street smart' sort when they become overconfident.
And considering that this story takes place in an 'infinite realities' multiverse, coming across something totally foreign is a given.
6487925 Not to mention that it takes a buttload of infrastructure to purify uranium enough to use as a bomb.
Also, atomic bombs don't work very well for defense.
6487925
That's refined uranium. Uranium ore from which is extracted from is green-yellow color.
6488308
6489219
You do know that there are other uses for uranium other than making bombs? For instance making nuclear reactor.
6490876 It still takes the same infrastructure... it just takes allot less time. (You still need a hundred centrifuges... you just don't need to run them for years purifying the stuff)
6488308 Plutonium bombs are also VERY hard to get right, while the type of uranium used in bombs is incredibly rare and difficult to separate from the other stuff.
lol, shes after uranium.
6492493 I know that. I posses the book The Making of the Atomic Bomb, which, while the definitive history of the Manhatten Project, also covers the science behind the bombs.
6490876 Yes, I am aware of that.
6493844 emeralds r green
6484851 And now I'm thinking of steven universe
6492493 The difficulty with Plutonium bombs is that the Plutonium has to be surrounded with materials that are blended with other materials to spread out and delay the shock wave of the C4 going off so that if perfectly encapsulates the plutonium and compresses it extremely evenly. Celestia has already demonstrated a shield being forced outwards to save Aether. The reverse would be doable too. Just fix a enchanted gem to generate a spherical bubble around the fissile material and hook it up to a big mana battery and send a big compression pulse to the shield. A plutonium bomb would be easy for the ponies to make and since the stuff is easier to make than separating 2 isotopes of uranium that would be the way to go.
Combine this with teleporting and you have a viable way to teach the mega corps that they should stay away from exploiting Equestria.
It took me about 2 seconds to figure out that it was uranium ore Aether was after. (evil laughs)
Going Nuclear would backfire spectacularly.
6488308 Plutonium's far more toxic--like the second deadliest chemical agent known, and that's not even counting its radioactive properties.
Wait, wouldn't that mean that the inter-dimensional gem market would crash instead of making whoever conquered the planet rich?
6885462
Space is big.
Interdimensional space is much, much bigger.
I doubt the gems of one world would really crash that kind of market.
Ahh, so that's how Fallout Equestria came into being...
