The Gift of the Maud Pie

by Sonicsuns

Chapter 2: A Gift for Maud

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU ALREADY SOLD IT?! DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!"

The shop's clerk adjusted his glasses and sighed. "I'm guessing you're-"

"THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE!"

Starlight Glimmer awkwardly tried to calm her friend. "Trixie, I understand you're upset, but this-"

"The Great and Powerful Trixie needs a Hearthswarming gift for her beautiful wife!"

Starlight butted in, addressing the clerk with an apologetic smile. "I think what my friend is trying to say is that she needs a rock compass."

Trixie was pacing back and forth now. "Maud needs a rock compass, and Trixie reserved it!"

The clerk looked through his book again. "I'm afraid we have no record of that."

"Don't try to trick a magician, pal! I know all the tricks!"

"Can you make a rock compass appear out of thin air?"

Trixie launched herself at the clerk, restrained only by Starlight.

"Thank you for your time!" shouted Starlight quickly, as she used her magic to push a furious Trixie out the door.

A few minutes later, the pair found themselves pacing the snowy streets of Ponyville.

"Trixie had it reserved!" Trixie said for the hundredth time.

"Can't you just get her something else?"

"I can NOT! The Great and Powerful Trixie does not give Meager and Commonplace gifts! Especially not now! It's our first Hearthswarming as a couple..."

Her anger seemed to drain out of her, replaced with a sudden sorrow.

Starlight looked at her with sympathy. It was hard to see her friend in so much pain. "You really need it?"

Trixie nodded and wiped a tear from her eye. "Yes."

"Why?"

"Because it's the most romantic gift you've ever heard of! It's the only way to find the other half of Maud's Meteroite."

"What's that?"

Trixie sighed. "It's how she got her cutie mark. You know how Pinkie saw that Sonic Rainboom?"

Starlight nodded.

"Well, Maud had something else," Trixie continued. "She was just a filly. One night she couldn't sleep, so she took a walk, right? And she saw this huge light in the sky" —Trixie gestured for emphasis—"this incredible blue meteor! It split into two parts. One part crashed in a forest near the rock farm, and the other one sailed away to parts unknown. She didn't even think about going home again; she had to find that rock. She searched the forest all night. When her parents got up they couldn't find her. They were worried sick! But she kept searching. And just before dawn, she found it."

Trixie acted it out as she narrated. "She crept down into the impact crater. She saw the glistening stone that had fallen from a star. Gently, she held it up, and as the first rays of dawn crept over the horizon, the sun's light shone through the stone, entrancing my beloved Maud. The beauty of it. The cosmic history. The unknown wonders of the world..."

Trixie sighed and slumped. "And that's how she got her cutie mark."

"Wow," breathed Starlight. "She still has it?"

"Of course she still has it. She's written poetry about it!"

"And...what does this have to do with a rock compass?"

"Rock compasses are very rare, Starlight! Very magical."

"What do they do?"

"If you put it next to a rock, it points the way to other rocks of the same kind. If you've got a lump of gold, it'll help you find more gold. And if you've got half of a meteorite..."

"...it'll help you find the other half."

"Which is me!"

Starlight blinked. Trixie waved her hooves. "I mean, symbolically! Like, I'm her other half? Two halves of a rock, two ponies in a marriage??"

She jumped up. "It's romantic!"

Starlight ran a hoof through her own mane. "It...really sounds like it."

Trixie sighed again and began to walk, her head held low. "Maybe...maybe I'll get her a rock compass next year. If I can find one."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"No, " said Trixie, getting further away now, "I've taken up too much of your time anyway. You should go see Sunburst like you planned. Trixie will...I'll figure something out."

"Well...ok. Happy Hearthswarming."

"Happy Hearthswarming" said Trixie.

As she turned the corner, a low voice emanated from an alleyway. "Pardon me," said the voice.

Trixie turned to look, and saw a pony's silhouette approaching her. "Did I hear you say that you're in dire need...of a rock compass?"

Comments

[SoloBrony]

"The Great and Powerful Trixie does not give Meager and Commonplace gifts!"

Perfect. No notes.