A Friend For Boulder

by Autumnblazelover61

Asking For A Friend

"Last stop! We’ve reached the Peaks Of Peril! End of the line! Everypony out!" The tall grey train conductor barked.

Maud Pie gave the stallion her last remaining bits, and stepped out of the colourful train she had just been riding in, and onto the wooden platform in front of her, which creaked gently as her soft grey hooves touched it. She almost wasn’t expecting a platform at all, let alone anything that looked like a train station out here, as this specific area was said to be super quiet 24/7, with hardly any activity around it.

Maude glanced around at the new land she was in. Her two-hour long train ride had finally brought her to her destination: the Peaks Of Peril, the beautiful landscape sitting on the very edge of Equestria. In front of the Earth pony was a magnificent-looking group of tall grassy mountains, with some trees at the bottom bending away to form an entrance of sorts, as though it were beckoning Maud to enter it.

She craned her neck to look upwards as she thought she heard loud screeching coming from above, and sure enough, their were three large roc's, flying under the sweltering hot sun in search of some tasty dragon scales to munch on.

"Well, Boulder, this is the place." Maud said dully to nobody in particular. She then reached into a pouch on her side and pulled out a dirty grey rock. She blew away some of the dust as she began to walk towards the attractive mountains. "I hope you’re as excited as I am."

Maud had traveled far away to this land for one reason only: to find a new friend for her pet rock, Boulder. While Maud loved rocks, it was nearly impossible to find a good companion for her friend, as all the rocks she had found in places like Ponyville, the Ghastly Gorge, and even her own rock farm where she lived didn’t fit the description she was looking for. She wanted one that was special, one that she could talk to just like she could talk to Boulder. Not even Mudbriar's pet stick was very friendly to the rock, as it kept poking it and calling it names, though when Maud said this to anypony they just thought she was crazy.

After consulting Princess Twilight, Maud was allowed to look at the castle map to decide where she wanted to search next. Fluttershy happened to be in the room and pointed out some places like Mount Aris, which practically one giant rock, and Starlight's old village, with rocks that definitely didn’t contain any cutie marks.

The one that caught her eye was on the edge of the map: the Peaks of Peril, where there seemed to be lots of cool rocks for her to find. Twilight's only warning was that the mountains were home to a friendly species called Kirin, but also evil, destructive flaming monsters who looked like them, called Nirik (Maud got the name pun halfway through the train ride.)

So now, here Maud was, walking across the rocky path leading into the mountains. She kept her eye out for any rocks that Boulder might like, but he didn’t exactly seem to like any of them. "Poor Boulder." Maud droned as she held the rock up to her chest. "The conductor on the train told us this place has the perfect rocks, remember? I’m sure we’ll find someone for you."

Soon, Maud had entered the large looming forest and was immediacy met by a trio of small squirrels that scurried past her into the bright green bushes of the jungle. Maud continued moving on while looking downward at the rocks she came across. Most of them were too small, too big and mean-looking, or just too dirty. "I don’t want you playing rough and getting sick." Maud explained.

She was getting hungry, and was just about to stop and find some berries to eat when in her confusion she suddenly bumped into something. "Ugh." She mumbled as she sat up, saying it like a regular word. "Who put that sign there?"

Gathering her bearings, however, she realized it wasn’t just an object; it was, in fact, a pony. A tall, brown pony standing with its flank to her. Except she noticed it had dark brown fur on its tail and the back of its rear legs, and a green pattern on its rump that made it look kind of like a turtle. And it’s horn was jagged and red, and when it turned around quietly to look at the confused mare, she saw it had a ring of brown fur going around its neck like a scarf. It had dark black eyelashes and big red eyes that looked unfazed at her, and the same green pattern going up its head between its eyes.

"Oh, sorry." Maud said calmly as she stood up, trying to ignore the creature's funny-looking appearance. "I’m Maud. Pie." She said, pausing before saying her last name as usual. The... whatever it was didn’t respond. It just looked at Maud and blinked. "So... yeah." Maud said, becoming slightly weirded out by the pony's awkward silence. After a few seconds of just staring at each other and blinking, the creature simply turned around and trotted off, slapping Maud in the face with its long tail in the process.

"Ouch. Wait." She called out as she began to follow after, though her voice was so low the pony probably wouldn’t have heard it as it walked onward, leading her through the crazy forest and into a clearing. Maud was so light on her hooves, she wondered if the thing even knew she was following it.

But all her thoughts were soon brought to a complete stop. As she stepped into the area, Maud was surprised to see an entire village before her eyes. It wasn’t anywhere as big as Ponyville, just a small collection of brown and beige huts. When she looked around, though, she saw that some had built little houses into the trees. Right in the middle of the village was a giant sparkling fountain of water, surrounded by multiple stands of delicious-smelling fruits that made her stomach growl.

"Wow, this is nice." Maud said to the brown creature, but it had already skipped off to meet some of its friends that had just emerged from the darkness. She then noticed multiple others that had just left their homes, and most of them were staring awkwardly at Maud, not saying anything, not that she showed much emotion back. Then a tall, slim creature stepped up to the front of the pack.

She had a grey body and a red horn and green fur draped around her chest, and white patterns on her nose and rump, like the others. And of course, she was silent as she looked Maud up and down. "So... how's it going?" Maud finally decided to start some kind of conversation, but all the tall creature did was turn her head to look at the pony funny, and the others followed suit.

"I’m Maud. Pie." She introduced herself. "I’m looking for a friend for my pet." She held out Boulder, who she could tell was scared because he had been awfully quiet lately. "He’s a rock, by the way, in case you couldn’t tell." Maud said. The leader narrowed her eyes like Maud had just told a bad joke.

"Do you know where I can find any more rocks? I was told your village was full of them." She said, and muttered under her breath "I bet they’re louder than you."

The things must have heard her, somehow, because they all looked angry with their horns beginning to flicker and flames starting to form around their eyes. "Uh, are you guys okay? Do you all need some kind of time out?" Maud sassed. "I do stand up by the way." This seemed to have sealed her fate, as the leader stepped forward and pointed behind her to a spooky-looking entrance to a dangerous and creepy forest.

"Well, okay... if that’s where the rocks are." The gullible earth pony said. "Come on, Boulder. Let’s find you a friend." She put Boulder back into his pouch and began slowly walking into the forest. As far as the mysterious yet grumpy creatures watching her were concerned, Maud had nothing to fear now but wild animals, bad weather... and one particular cheery Kirin that would have exactly what she was looking for.

Author's Note:

You guys wanted more stories about AB so here you go. 😁

Comments

[Gelatino]

I love to see Maud starring in her own adventure! I'm excited to see what happens next

[Sozmioi]

First time I've seen Autumn Blaze abbreviated AB, which is usually Applebloom…