Leaves- An Anthology

by FrostTheWolf

Leaf 04- Does Maud Dream of Rock and Stone?

When it comes to illustrating things in a narrative way, nothing is more difficult than trying to describe the settings of a dream.

Now, this is in no way related to our last discussion on it. Dreams are not necessarily a bad thing. Depending on who it is, what’s on their mind and how much imagination courses through them, anything can happen.

Furthermore, much like every creature you might happen to meet on your journey, no two dreams are ever the same. Even if you’re related to another person by family or some other factors, the dreams that you have are always going to be different. Some are admittedly better than others, but being able to dream in itself is a wonderful experience.

Of course, out of all the creatures in Equestria, there is one particular exception.

Her name is Maud Pie, and compared to her sisters, her dreams are mostly the same each night. While her sisters thought of more complex, colorful and even sugary scenarios in their sleep, her dreams were more simple. Down to earth, some might call it. Hehe, get it?

However, there was one dream she had that was different from the others that she had on previous nights. All this, and yet she dreamed of the same thing she dreamed almost every other night.

Rock and Stone.

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When Maud closed her eyes for the night and started to drift off into sleep, the first thing she felt was that she was going down.

Not like falling, let’s make that very clear. What she was feeling was more like if you were going straight down through the ground. Whatever this was, it was rapidly digging its way through numerous layers of rock and earth. And it was going deeper than the farthest depths of caves that she would explore on her own.

When the earth pony tried to move, she realized that she couldn’t. Something was holding her down in place. To make matters even more strange, something was on her back. It felt like saddlebags, but a bit heavier than what she would carry on her own. Her hooves were on a small platform, though it was shaking like the rest of this enclosed space she was in.

Suddenly, and abruptly, everything stopped. Something slides to the side, letting light into the little chamber. Maud raises a hoof to shield her eyes for a brief moment, just as the platform starts to move towards it. If there was a sense of curiosity in her, then Maud wasn’t exactly showing it.

Then, something echoed in her brain. Not like thoughts, but more like… instructions. Something she felt like she had to follow.

Follow the Team. Carry the Payload. Bring them home.

As Maud began to process these instructions, she was let out of where she was being held and lowered into a place that was very unfamiliar to her. Compared to what she was used to seeing in the caves of Equestria, this… was vastly different. The colors down here, compared to what she was familiar with, were a lot more vibrant instead of dark and murky.

Once Maud was on solid ground, she looked to see what looked like an orange cylindrical cage. Some figures were coming out of it, short and bipedal in nature, covered in contraptions and armor. What she could recognize was that each one of them had pickaxes. Maybe these folks were miners?

For a moment, it looked as if each one of these mini-miners were listening to something as the case rose back up through the earth, leaving a deep hole where it once was. What they were listening to was something Maud couldn’t quite hear because of all the noise, but the rest of them can.

That also includes us, if that wasn’t already obvious.

Simply put, these miners have someone that’s… a handler of sorts. Their job is to survey the team, watch their progress, provide equipment when necessary and also warn them of threats. Thing is, the team doesn't really think too highly of them.

On the subject of what they want the team to do, it was relatively straightforward. There was something here that the company that the team worked for wanted… and was probably better not to ask why.

It’s eggs. Alien Eggs to be more precise.

Told you it was better not to ask why.

Regardless of what the job required, Maud could tell that this team wasn’t exactly the kind of people to question things. For as quickly as they arrived, the four of them immediately started to get to work. With strange tools in… what was it they were called?

I think the minotaurs and centaurs called them ‘hands’. Along with that one mint pony, but she’s not relevant to this story.

Right. With strange tools in hand, they started to work. Maud herself was wandering around, watching the four of them as they worked. Their pickaxes break different colored ores off of the walls as they collect them into retractable buckets.

Another important thing to note is that no matter who she looked at, it seemed that each one of these had a different role to play. The one that was dressed in yellow was able to use two churning cones of metal they held to quickly dig through loose dirt. Another one that was blue had something that helped illuminate the darker portions of deeper tunnels. We could go on, but you probably already have an idea of what we’re talking about.

If she were confused, Maud wasn’t showing it. If anything, she was… pretty much following along. Her sister Pinkie and the rest of her friends get themselves involved in weird and confusing things all the time. How was this any different?

Besides, the caves here are very nice to look at-

BZZT

“Molly!! Over here!”

Suddenly, almost as if Maud was no longer in control of her body, she found herself moving. One of the miners had planted some kind of… magnetic pull. Because no matter how much she tried to resist or push back, Maud cannot help but move towards it. Why exactly she was moving there was unclear still.

When she reached the pole, things started to get a little bit more confusing. The miners each took a turn to empty their canisters into the bags that she was carrying. Mounds of gold, minerals, ores and… flowers began to flood each one of the saddlebags. Wait, why would there be flowers this far underground-?

Yet, despite all the minerals they were offloading, everything felt weightless. Nothing seemed to be dragging her down at all and she could easily move everything without any problems. If this were any other pony, they would have some serious questions about all this.

Of course, Maud was not like any other pony. Where other equestrians might have questions, she just took things in stride.

Then, the cave they were in started to shake. The other miners in the room looked up to the ceiling to see that the one dressed in blue was up there next to a… fleshy growth?

It’s a nest, actually.

Right. The point being that the blue one flew upwards somehow, dug through the growth and took something from that nest. And the moment they did, something else did not like it at all.

Immediately, the rest of the team stopped what they were doing. The blue one quickly returned back to the others and stuffed the egg in the saddlebags, just as one of the others (dressed in red) began to pull out a device and start building something. The other two readied something in their hands, about the size of her sister Pinkie’s party cannon but not the same appearance as they huddled together and braced themselves.

It only took a moment to realize what was happening as numerous creatures began to burrow their way out of the walls. Their attention fixed on the team as they moved in. A swarm was on collision course.

One that they chose to fight.

“FOR KARL!!!”

If Maud were in any other position right now, she would try to help them. Yet, it looked like these miners seemed fine with it. Like, they had dealt with this before and that it was somehow part of the job. Which is honestly concerning-

-To some, probably? But for them, it’s all in a day's work.

Maud though hasn’t seen anything like this before. Everything here is all new to her. Normally, if somepony like her sister Pinkie were in trouble, she’d jump into the fray and help. However, because of… well everything, she was rather limited in what she could do. In fact, the only thing she could do at this moment was just move around.

And even though she didn’t want to, there were times where just moving ended up getting in the way of the team.

“Oi! Did R&D mess with Molly’s programming again?!”

“How should I know?! I don’t have bolts for brains!”

“Is now really the right time to be asking about that-?” the red one asked the green and blue miner, before feeling flames flicker around his shoulder, “Oi, that’s me you’re setting on fire, arsewipe!”

“Ain’t my fault the bastards are trying to kill us now! Less talking, more squashing!!”

That was something all of them quickly agreed on. Even did some sort of hearty salute, if Maud understood it correctly. Despite their bickering to one another, the onslaught of creatures was diminishing. For now, at least.

Still, it seemed that getting ambushed by murderous bugs all the way down in the unknown was part of the job. You know, hazardous work environment and all that. Nothing that Maud was not already familiar with. I mean, her family lives on a rock farm. Rocks and Stones are basically her craft and trade.

Minus the bugs.

Definitely minus the bugs.

For the next few moments, what she saw basically was a mixture of a few different tasks as the team descended deeper into the caves. Mostly, it consisted of collecting materials and dealing with any nasty pests that tried to be a nuisance. Though, there were… other oddities that happened. Many of them being by the team and some weird… customs, I think? A ritual?

More like they wanted to annoy the handler that was monitoring their progress. And, fellas, it’s working.

“WE’RE RICH!!!”

The Earth Pony watched them continue this chant for about… a few minutes. Probably more. From what it looked like, it was one part excitement, one part intentional annoyance. But, after they were done, they put the ore in the saddlebags and went back to work.

Finding the other eggs went along pretty easily and without issue. Though, once the team found another three, something new flashed in Maud’s mind.

Payload quota met. Objectives Complete. Prepare for recall at team’s convenience.

Maud only seemed to know a couple of these things. The first and second part sounded as if these miners found exactly what they were looking for. However, the last part confused her. She thought that there would be more to explore down here and other things to discover.

So, why do they have to leave?

“Oi, everyone? Is there anything else that needs doing, or should we call it in?”

“Can’t say I noticed anything else. No Kursite grinder, nothing with Ebonite. Thank Karl there isn’t a Korok Tyrant or a bloody OMEN down here.”

“Really? Damn. I can’t shake the fact that we’re bloody missing something though,” the one in red remarked, before looking at something they held in their hand, “What about rival tech? Any data cells we bring back would look good on our performance review.”

“If any of those were here, we’d already have bloody drones on us.” The yellow miner remarked, just as Maud moved over towards them and stood nearby. “Besides, I for one don’t want to wait around for any more creeps to rear their ugly heads.”

“Okay then,” One of the other miners remarked, before they walked over towards where Maud was, “I’ll call it in. But call in a resupply first. We’ll need all the ammo we can get if we want to get the hell out of here.”

The other miners nodded, before dropping something onto the ground as it locked in place. In a matter of seconds, a yellow holographic projection was seen. For Maud, she felt one of the saddlebags she was carrying felt not as heavy as it was originally, before she heard something new.

Nitra amount withdrawn. Resupply en-route to the called location. To avoid accidents, please stand back.

Mere seconds after this entered her mind, a canister that was similar to the giant orange cage they arrived in tore through the ground above and landed in the spot. Compartments on it began to open up as something else began to extend from them.

The sight of it had Maud puzzled. Not by what the contraption was, but more as to what exactly was it giving this team. The miners looked relieved to have it come in, but she couldn’t quite tell what they were receiving.

Best guess, it’s probably pretty damn important considering that they had to ‘pay’ for it in the minerals that they mined.

Though, there was also another question… Why was one of them coming over to her? Were they inspecting the bags or…?

No, in fact. For some reason, they were petting her on the head. Well, less like a petting motion and more like a touch. Like if you put a couple fingers to someone’s forehead. Yet, that itself had something new come up.

Drop Pod en-route. Calculating optimal path. Starting countdown.

Seconds later, Maud felt a very strong sensation. Similar to what she felt, but much stronger. Like if she was being pulled by a giant magnet, the earth pony trotted towards it. Not only that, but her vision was beginning to darken and tire.

Why was it now that during the most critical moments that it was the proper time to wake?

To make matters a bit worse, more of the self-same creatures from before dug up through the ground and chased. Not small ones, but bigger and nastier beasties.

Only one word can describe what was going on in the minds of the miners… as well as Maud as everything began to fade to black like the dark caves around her.

“RUN!!!”

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Author's Note:

One evening, Maud finds herself in the center of a peculiar dream. Underground in a giant luminescent cave, walking along with tiny two legged creatures that keep ordering her around. Who are these figures… and why do they keep calling her ‘Molly’?

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A loose crossover idea based on Deep Rock Galactic. This one involving Maud as the M.U.L.E... otherwise known as Molly.

Had several different ideas for this one, but decided to go this route in the long run. Thought that Maud was the best choice out of all the members of the Pie family for it and I've been having too much fun with DRG in the last few months.

Rock and Stone, brother. I'll see you on Hoxxes
-Frost

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Additional Tags: [Maud Pie][Crossover][Deep Rock Galactic][Violence (Against Glyphids)]