Creating A Hive

by Authora97

It's Just Rocks

Raspberry was friends with Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and her husband, Shining Armor. Her daughter was friends with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. She heard that Fluttershy’s brother lived in Cloudsdale, though by Fluttershy’s carefully worded stories she was in no hurry to meet him. Rainbow Dash was an only child according to Scootaloo (though the filly herself could count as a baby sister). If you checked, Raspberry Stardust was friends with the siblings of everypony in the friend group.

All except for Pinkie Pie.

Also Fluttershy but we’re ignoring that for later.

Raspberry didn’t consider herself a social pony. There was a limited circle for ponies she interacted with in a given day, and Raspberry was okay with that. She had the kids, and her sister, and Thorax. The Mane Six were just bonuses. Discord was also great for a chat. Luna was fine once a week.

It was a toss up for if Raspberry wanted to be Maud’s friend too. While Raspberry knew that the mare wasn’t one for conversation, Raspberry was willing to bet she would find a way to fill the silence.

Not that everypony else in their friend group was content with that. Pinkie admitted that she wanted everypony to be best friends with Maud, so everypony tried to be best friends with Maud.

It went as well as all their plans did.

Honestly, why do they think Raspberry stuck around them so long?

They met up near a pond with their pets. No regard that Raspberry had no pet. Cookie didn’t count...well she used to be a cat, and she had trouble counting beyond eight, but she didn’t count as a pet. That’s the important bit here. Raspberry brought no pet.

And she argued with Killjoy all morning that Thorax didn’t count as a pet either.

Still. Sitting beside Maud, Raspberry kept herself quiet. Let the others be wild and rambunctious. She wanted to sit on a blanket, enjoy some tea and muffins in relative quiet. Her kids were out playing with friends or enjoying their hobbies in solitude. Thorax was having his Equestrian Games team over for practice. Killjoy decided to take the day to visit Lilac for a fishing trip. It felt like a chaotic mess of a day. Raspberry was happy for the distraction of things progressing in the show.

Raspberry wanted to stay distant during the game to find Boulder. She was too good at those games. Killjoy stopped playing with her sometime before middle school. Raspberry played Hidden Object video games instead of- what was that other thing people did?- making friends.

Twilight made her play.

She spotted Boulder in two seconds.

Maud came up to her side, after a while of Raspberry standing in one spot. “Are you giving up?”

“No.” Raspberry only gave up on herself. “You never took him out of your pocket.”

Maid blinked, slow and steady as always. She checked the pocket of her simple frock dress. “Found him!”

==CAH==

So the friendship picnic was a dud. Raspberry was content to head home, enjoy a good book in bed until dinner time. The rest of the group was less okay with that. They decided one on one time with Maud was the best way to go.

Pinkie told everypony what they would bond with Maud over. Twilight: books/poetry. Rarity: fashion. Fluttershy: nature. Rainbow Dash: games. Applejack: honest. Raspberry: rocks.

Just rocks.

Raspberry could work with that.

If she was going to go along with their insane plan to befriend a pony, she was going to find a way to benefit from it. She decided for her trip with Maud they would visit the Diamond Dogs.

Maud liked rocks. She knew various rock types. Raspberry figured the mare could help her find gemstones for Lilac’s next lunch. Not that Raspberry sent her gemstones on the downlow...nah that would go against the idea of Lilac doing this on her own.

(Except Raspberry did it on her own and she hated every second. She wanted people to help her. She was a little kid, she didn’t like feeling so alone. Why was everyone staying so far away-)

Raspberry just liked collecting gemstones. She Planned to use them. Stones like this in Equestria? They were bound to have incredible magic properties that normal ones back Home only hoped for.

She guided Maud to the tunnel. The Diamond Dogs gave Raspberry a wide berth. They were still terrified of her.

“Welcome to a tunnel full of gemstones.” Raspberry stated. She was in a rush. This needed to be done before dinner time. Since Thorax was working, Raspberry was in charge of making dinner for the kids. “Those are Diamond Dogs. You can ignore them- or not, do what you like. We’re gonna find gems beneath the dirt here. All we gotta do is give them 20% of whatever we find. Pinkie said you were good at rocks, so I’m literally using that expertise for this. Okay?”

Maud blinked.

“Okay.” Raspberry pulled out a rock picking kit from her Bag. She slapped a helmet onto her head. “I would’ve gotten you a pick, but from Pinkie’s stories about the rock farm I think the kit would slow you down.”

“It would.” Maud confirmed. “My hooves can dig through all kinds of rocks. Sedimentary...igneous...metamorphic-”

“There are plenty of igneous rocks here for you to crush.” Raspberry offered. She walked over to a rock wall. A Diamond Dog scuttled away from her. “Anything shiny goes in the Bag. Don’t worry about overfilling it, there’s plenty of room here.”

There was silence from behind Raspberry. She paid no mind to it, instead getting to work on the wall. She remembered this wall from the last time she came by. A Diamond Dog told her there were more gems here, but that Raspberry had been too tired to dig for them. They promised to leave this wall untouched for her next visit.

After a long quiet, Raspberry turned. Maud was standing beside her shoulder. Raspberry figured she approached. Good thing, Raspberry had a history of hitting people that stood this close to her.

Maud blinked again. “You know about rocks?”

Raspberry nodded. “My daughter is a dragon. I was a witch as a kid. You learn a lot about rocks and gems.” She lowered the rock pick. “You gonna gawk, or can we get to work? I’m not in a conversational mood today.”

Maud walked off without another word.

An hour later, between them sat a decent pile of gemstones and rocks. Raspberry sorted out the gems from the rock. Everything with color went into her Bag. Everything else she pushed towards Maud.

Maud watched it all silently.

Raspberry sat down, getting to cleaning her collection equipment. Maud sat beside her. “Hey. Are you the eldest, or is that another Pie?”

“Limestone is older than me.” Maud answered blandly. She began tucking rocks into her own bag. She eyed them for a moment before tucking them away. She muttered about the kind of rock they were, and even their ages.

Raspberry considered it for a moment. “Limestone is the purple one with a gray mane, yes?”

“Yes.” Maud glanced up at Raspberry. “You could tell?”

“Pinkie mentioned it once.” Raspberry answered. “She showed me a picture of her when she got her cutiemark, named all of you.” Raspberry put away her cleaning supplies. “Hey I got a weird one.” She held out a grayish rock towards Maud. “Do you know what it is?”

Maud accepted the rock. She watched it for a long moment. “It’s igneous in the chromite stage.”

“Yeah? Rocks come in stages?” Raspberry asked, surprised. She knew nothing about that.

“Yes.”

“Huh. Learned something today, that’s cool.” Raspberry hummed. Maud held up the rock. “No, it’s your’s. I wouldn’t know what to do with it, I only found out it existed today.”

Maud nodded in understanding. She stood up. She brought the rock back to the wall she was clearing. After eyeing it for a moment, Maud stuffed the rock back amongst the debris. She came back as Raspberry tucked the last gemstone into her Bag.

“It’s better to give it more time down here.” Maud stated. “Chromite grows better in this light.”

Raspberry nodded. “You know better than me. Let the warrior who holds the weapon fight the battle, and all that.”

Maud eyed Raspberry for a long moment.

“What?” Raspberry asked. “Did you want me to leave gemstones? I already gave Spot and Rover their share-”

“I don’t like Pinkie’s friends.” Maud stated. Raspberry paused. “They’re alright, just not as my friends. They’re trying but it’s not working.”

“I agree.” Raspberry replied. “They always try too hard. They’re trying to fit you into a space you don’t fit to make you a better friend. Like- like...I don’t know. Sticking that igneous with sedimentary. I’m no good at rock analogies.”

“It was alright.” Maud told her.

“Thanks.” Raspberry put her Bag on, tightening it to hold in place. She bobbed her head towards the exit. “I should warn you though. They all go too far. They’re planning on telling Pinkie that you’re not all becoming best friends, so Pinkie’s going to be upset.”

Maud frowned. It was a small thing. Raspberry almost missed it. There was this tiny twitch of Maud’s lips in the smallest way. A ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ sort of frown. Or one where you needed a magnifying glass to see it.

“She’ll be alright. Pinkie works through her feelings in her own way, you know that.” Raspberry tried to keep the rock pony from freaking out over this. As an elder sister herself, Raspberry knew how those protective feelings could act up. “You’ll have her back whatever she does.”

Maud’s frown stayed put.

Raspberry always made a mess of socializing. “Yeah. Okay. Let’s head back. Maybe we can stop them?”

“That sounds like a good idea.”

==CAH==

They showed up too late to stop Pinkie. Sure enough they arrived at Sugarcube Corner to find that Pinkie already left to build the obstacle course.

When they arrived at the obstacle course, the Mane 6 were gathered at the course. It looked like a death trap. Sure it had something for all of them- Raspberry was touched to see that Pinkie included a segment of riddle solving for her. That was nice.

Pinkie still tried the rock climbing wall- made by herself. Her hoof caught on a rock. Her shaking to remove it actually loosened a rock near the top. Maud was throwing herself towards them before the rock could bounce once.

She ran through the obstacle course without slipping even once. She leapt over Pinkie Pie, tearing the giant boulder apart to keep it from hitting Pinkie.

The Mane 6 watched in awe.

Raspberry was still trying to think about the riddles Pinkie made for her.

==CAH==

The next day by the train, everypony was giving Maud rock candy necklaces. They’d made them together after cleaning up the obstacle course. Not Raspberry though. She stopped by her house to feed her kids. After that (and one little stop) she’d come by to make necklaces.

Maud was headed out. Everypony gave her a necklace made of candy. Raspberry? She gave her one made of igneous. It was a pain getting the thread through actual rocks without breaking the rocks. Somehow, she managed it.

Maud seemed to like it. She gave Raspberry a necklace made of the pink rock candies.

They all waved Maud goodbye.

Twilight later asked how Raspberry managed it- to befriend a pony that none of them could. They all only got along because they loved Pinkie Pie. Raspberry seemed to be the only one that was a friend.

Raspberry couldn’t give a good answer. “We bonded over rocks. Come on, it’s not rocket science.”

“Can’t you build rockets?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Irrelevant.” Raspberry replied.

“No. You made one and showed us the pictures.” Rainbow Dash recalled.

“Again, irrelevant.” Raspberry dismissed. “She likes rocks and Pinkie. All I did was show her I acknowledged her interests, instead of trying to get her interested in my own.” She didn’t need to give them accusing glares. They would pick up on the message. “Hey Pinkie. Did you have a lot of candy left? The kids were asking.”

“I sure do!” Pinkie cheered. She threw an arm over Raspberry, dragging her off towards the bakery.

Raspberry needed to find an excuse to send the gemstones to Lilac. Having a lot of excess candy from Pinkie Pie would be a good idea.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

It’s been years since the events of DMLC.

You know, when I first saw this part I thought it was a Devil May Cry crossover! Please respond to this comment.

[Authora97]

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Okay but only because your comment was cool