Turn of Luck

by David Silver

10 - Stuck Between a Rock and a Maud Place

Maya looked up at a soft knocking at her door. "Come in," she sang out with a smile. "Ponyville heard about me so quickly."

"Hello." A grey earth pony stepped inside with a placid look. Maud rarely gave other sorts of look, and her looking at Maya was no exception. "My sister suggested I stop by. I'm not sure why."

Maya waved at the couch. "Come on in, Maud? Nice to meet you, Maud. I'm a pony that talks to other ponies. I try to help them with their problems, on the inside." She tapped a hoof on her chest. "Sometimes, just having a place to talk about things can really help."

Maud stepped up and sank onto the couch, tail curling behind her. "Huh. I'm Maud. Maud Pie. I am Pinkie's sister. I assume you know her?"

"Yup." Maya examined Maud with a soft hum of her own. "You two... Forgive me, but the family resemblence--"

"Pinkie is the pink wolf of the family." Maud smiled just faintly. "She only has two settings, and you probably only saw one, happy."

Maya scribbled a note quickly. "And what setting would you say you usually have?"

But Maud just looked at her, silent and flat.

"Maud?" The silence dragged on. "You're in a safe place. You're not here to be judged."

"This is my setting." Maud inclined her head faintly. "I could say it, but ponies never understand when I do." Her words carried a pain, but the tone was entirely flat, as if reading a weather report of some light rain.

Maya tensed, resisting the urge to hop to her hooves. "Be professional," she reminded herself in a soft whisper. "I'm very sorry you've felt that way before, but I want to help. Can you tell me, in your words, how you feel? I'm listening."

Maud gazed back levelly at Maya. "I feel fine. This is my normal."

She idly tapped a hoof on her chest in echo of Maya's prior gesture. "Ponies seem to think if you aren't loudly emoting or smiling all the time like my sister, something must be wrong inside. They project their own discomfort with stillness."

Maud slowly swept her eyes across Maya's office space. "Do the plants make ponies feel calmer when they visit you? Is that why you make them grow in here?"

She did not seem bothered, merely curious. But there was an unspoken vulnerability in Maud trusting Pinkie's insistence she meet this stranger. Perhaps she was as privately desperate for connection as anypony.

Maya chose her response carefully. "The plants help brighten the space, yes. But mainly I want visitors to feel comfortable opening up however suits them best."

She met Maud's eyes again warmly. "Joy takes many forms. Not all of us shout it from the rooftops. What matters is that you feel at peace inside." Maya extended a gentle hoof. "I hope being here brings some of that peace for you, Maud."

Something behind the barest flicker in Maud's eyes suggested that Maya's patience and eschewing of assumptions touched her. She completed the offered hoof bump ritual as hints of common ground took tentative root between two unlikely new friends.

"It's quiet." Maud inclined her head. "Peaceful. Sister mentioned you had a very earth-pony talent."

"Oh! Yes." Maya rubbed her hooves together, then pressed them to the ground, bidding a little peach tree to sprout, one big fat peach dangling towards Maud. "For you."

Maud gazed placidly at the peach. "I prefer rocks."

Maya sat up at that. "Do... you mean that literally? I... can't summon a rock. A rock is not a plant."

"You can do any plant?" Maud slid to her hooves and reached up, prodding the peach that dangled there. "At least you picked one with a stone." She pulled the peach free and chomped into it, casually biting into that pit and through it with a loud crunching sound with each placid chew.

Maya blinked, taken aback as Maud casually devoured fruit and stone alike. Had that pit been crushed like a nutshell or actually...swallowed? Surely digesting solid rock couldn't be good for any creature.

"I, uh...yes, manipulating plant life comes quite naturally it seems," Maya managed, diverting her eyes politely from Maud's consumption display. "As for rocks themselves, that exceeds my earth pony capabilities currently."

She tapped her hooves together thoughtfully. "But perhaps with time and practice. My talents are still blossoming in unexpected ways." Glancing at the placid pony thoughtfully, she wondered if nurturing barren stone might be possible one day.

Maud gave a subtle nod of acknowledgment, having neatly reduced the peach remnants to nothing but fibers dangling from her mouth that she drew in with her tongue. "You'll have to visit the rock farm then. Could be...inspiring."

Maya sensed the slightest shift in Maud's energy on that last line, as if she was intrigued to witness Maya's reactions to the unique geological terrain that enthralled one Pie sister and baffled most others. It echoed Maya's own hope she might come to understand Maud's world better.

"I would be delighted to see your farm whenever you'll have me." Maya's tone conveyed earnest enthusiasm. Where some perceived bleakness in Maud's stone sanctuary, she chose to expect hidden beauty awaiting one willing to search its depths without judging.

Maud nodded. "Good, you'll get to meet the rest of the Pie family." She raised a hoof, which did not glow. "We all have strong earth talents, but they are internal." She turned the hoof on herself. "I am strong compared to many other ponies, and tough. I'm not gloating." She went silent a moment. "I just am."

Maya leaned towards her curious patient. Was she a patient? Maya realized that hadn't been established. "Do you mean tough as in you could run a long time?"

"I could." Maud curled on herself, drawing out a needle one might sew with. "I meant this." She put the needle on the ground, then stepped on it. Maya cringed in sympathetic pain, but the needle just bent over and snapped, not injuring Maud in the slightest.

"Incredible..." Maya breathed. She had read earth ponies possessed greater physical power than the average race, but seeing Maud effortlessly snap solid metal was another matter!

"I can understand why you expected me to be unsurprised by such a display if this resilience runs in your family." Maya inclined her head respectfully. "Please know I meant no judgment at all saying rocks are just something I can't do, yet?. Your connection to stone is clearly profound."

She leaned in, eyes glinting with curiosity not unlike Twilight's scholar streak. "If I may, how did you discover such...gifts exactly? Did your parents and Pinkie also display similar affinities for objects aligning to their names from youth?"

"Maud isn't a kind of rock." Maud inclined her head with some mild confusion. "Marble is. Limestone is. Pinkie is not."

"True." Maya forced a smile. "Sorry, got excited a moment there. You all have earth pony magic, you said?"

"Yes." Maud inclined her head. "Pinkie's is less obvious, but she has it, a lot of it. It runs in the family. We are very earth ponies." She fixed Maya in her unblinking gaze. "So are you. Yours is very flashy. Not a bad flashy, but very flashy."

Maya stamped a glowing hoof, the verdant aura pulsing in tandem. "Maybe transformative magic awakened dormant energies when it changed me into a pony. Or something in the soil drew innate gifts to the surface."

She shook her head with a rueful smile. "Your family amazes, but what dwells inside me almost feels...separate. Not inherent earth power but another layer woven through me."

She met Maud's impassive gaze, hoping for a kindred spirit's insight. "Have you crossed other ponies touched by such unexpected forces?" Here she could share secrets and actually be heard.

"No." Maud advanced on Maya, almost nose to nose. "That is why I came. Are there limits?"

"Limits? Oh, yes, for sure." Maya nodded swiftly. "I can't make plants I don't already know, to start. I can't just... imagine a plant I don't know and expect it to show up. I tried!" She laughed tensely, remembering those failed attempts. "And only about... this tall." She raised her hoof over her head, about six feet in total. "Aiming for a plant bigger than that just stops about there and you have a young plant, if it was going to get bigger later."

Maud hummed thoughtfully. "What if it was not supposed to get that large? Try a small plant."

"A small plant?" Maya pressed her hooves to the ground. "Like a flower?" And a flower budded and grew rapidly up, but flowers were not meant to support themselves so large. The whole thing tipped over and flopped to the ground weakly. "Oops..."

"Hm. Still interesting." Maud poked the defeated flower. "it's still as large as you wanted, even if it's not standing."

"True!" Maya blinked with shock. "I didn't even think of that. You are very clever, Maud."

Maud smiled in that subtle way she had. "Thank you. You have earth magic, but no knowledge. If you had knowledge, your magic may get even flashier. I would like to teach you."

"Teach me?" Maya echoed in pleasant surprise. She had anticipated needing to gently coax Maud to open up, not receive such a considerate offer to help expand her skills right off the bat.

"That's remarkably generous of you, Maud," Maya said earnestly. "With all my counseling studies, I never pursued much botany or horticulture before, pop, I suddenly had that. Your expertise could be really handy."

Maud simply nodded. "It is practical. Your talents impact plants which impact my farm's crops and the local environment." Her tone remained neutral, but hints of altruism glimmered faintly in her eyes.

"We will start with soil composition and ideal growing conditions." As Maya listened intently, Maud launched into a detailed geological profile of the area, minerals that abounded, viability for certain fruits and vegetables over others, ideal watering and shade patterns based on topography...all factors the counselor hadn't even begun considering.

Maya scribbled notes eagerly, perceiving for the first time principles that had unconsciously guided local earth pony intuition for generations. "Is that why?" Maud looked at her curiously. "Some plants just grew well sometimes. It felt random... but now it doesn't. It was the dirt."

"It's always the dirt." Maud seemed self-pleased. "The dirt is where the plants live. It gives them strength and life. Even if you can't make dirt, and especially then, you are beholden to it."

"That makes so much sense," got out Maya breathlessly. "Wow, thank you so much!" She considered a moment. "Let's call today a trade."

"A trade?" Maud inclined her head. "What are we trading?"

"Your first session." Maya pointed at Maud, then herself. "For mine. We both got something out of it, I hope? I'd be glad to hear more from you, and maybe I can hear more dirt tricks?"

"I was going to teach you for free." She shrugged faintly. "But I do want to talk. I acccept your trade."

Maya felt a rush of gratitude for Maud's matter-of-fact generosity. In her own understated way, this supposedly emotionless pony overflowed with more unconditional kindness than most beings who smiled twice as wide.

"Well I appreciate that, but your time and wisdom are valuable too," Maya affirmed. "I don't give counseling freely because it's my livelihood...as farming is yours! So let this be an exchange between friends."

She smiled softly. "And one session was already worthwhile to better understand you. Not expressing feelings vividly doesn't mean you don't have them."

Maud blinked slowly. "Other ponies often assume so. I do have emotions though. More than they realize." She idly tapped a hoof, brow slightly furrowed in thought. "It can be...frustrating when they get overwhelmed by me being overwhelmed...and I wasn't overwhelmed at all."

Maya nodded in dawning comprehension. Maud's muted reactions didn't align with expectations. "You process internally while others emote externally. Neither better nor worse, but it causes mismatched assumptions."

Maud's subtle smile returned. "Yes. That is why I came to you. Pinkie claims you...listen differently. It seems she was right." She suddenly tilted her head sharply. "Sometimes it is the other way. When I feel overwhelmed but ponies around me don't seem to understand. I am always the same rock to them."

"Not to me." Maya took Maud in a gentle embrace. "Let's talk more. We have so much to go over."

"You are a good listener." Maud turned to leave for the day. "I will return in a week's time."

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Comments

[Poparakelis]

"Teach me?" Maya echoed in pleasant surprise. She had anticipated needing to gently coax Maud to open up, not receive such a considerate offer to help expand her skills right off the bat.

yes! Yes! YES!

[Chrome Masquerade]

"Pinkie is the pink wolf of the family." Maud smiled just faintly. "She only has two settings, and you probably only saw one, happy."

Maybe three; On, Sad... And Sleep.

[Chrome Masquerade]

Maya scribbled a note quickly. "And what setting would you say you usually have?"

"Meh"?

[Chrome Masquerade]

She met Maud's eyes again warmly. "Joy takes many forms. Not all of us shout it from the rooftops. What matters is that you feel at peace inside." Maya extended a gentle hoof. "I hope being here brings some of that peace for you, Maud."

Good attitude! I like it.

"You can do any plant?" Maud slid to her hooves and reached up, prodding the peach that dangled there. "At least you picked one with a stone." She pulled the peach free and chomped into it, casually biting into that pit and through it with a loud crunching sound with each placid chew.

She tapped her hooves together thoughtfully. "But perhaps with time and practice. My talents are still blossoming in unexpected ways."

Literally and metaphorically.

[Chrome Masquerade]

She smiled softly. "And one session was already worthwhile to better understand you. Not expressing feelings vividly doesn't mean you don't have them."

Maybe if she had some kind of a... Mood Pendant? Like it would change colour depending on her mood.

[Solar_Wolf]

I'm enjoying the story. Kinda wish the chapters are longer but that's jeast me I like long storys.

[David Silver]

11811895
2k words is my usual chapter length, alas. 2k carries me forward, millions of words at a time.

[Solar_Wolf]

11811934
I'm jeast complaining over nothing I can control in life. you keep up what you do

[Luckyfanisaac]

Maya scribbled notes eagerly, perceiving for the first time principles that had unconsciously guided local earth pony intuition for generations. "Is that why?" Maud looked at her curiously. "Some plants just grew well sometimes. It felt random... but now it doesn't. It was the dirt."