“Where shall we start?” Rarity browsed her shelf of materials. She’d volunteered to spend time with Maud first and had invited her and Pinkie to her shop, where she hoped she and Maud could bond over fashion.

“I’ve chosen a few fabrics I think would be stunning with-” Rarity raised her brow as she noticed Maud didn’t appear to be paying attention as Pinkie bounced over to her sister’s side.

“Choices, choices, choices!”

“Of… course if you don’t see anything that speaks to you,” Rarity offered, “I would be happy to suggest-”

“I like this one,” Maud held up her choice, to Rarity’s bafflement before she giggled.

“Ha-ha-ha-ha, Pinkie didn’t tell us you were so funny.”

Maud blinked a couple times, “What do you mean?”

“Oh, it’s just…” Rarity levitated what Maud had chosen, “I believe that is… a dish towel.”

Maud’s expression remained as unchanged while Pinkie grinned, beginning a moment so awkward Rarity nipped it at the bud.
“B-but it does goes very well with you complexion! I’m sure I can… work my magic and turn it into something fabulous.”

“Rarity and my sister working together to design something amazing!” Pinkie cheered before she pulled Maud into a hug (which she didn’t appear to acknowledge other than looking at Pinkie out the corner of her eyes).
“This is the best day ever!!”

Rarity came back with more dish towels, “Perhaps I can sew all of these together and make you something you would like.”

“No, thanks, one is enough,” Maud turned her down as she grabbed the original dish towel she chose and threw it around her shoulders.

“Doesn’t Maud make the coolest scarves?!” Pinkie asked in her excitable way.

“...Quite,” Rarity forced a smile.

Pinkie hopped towards Blueblood’s warehouse, saying to her sister, “You’re gonna like Blueblood’s work, Maud! He’s super-smart and has made all kinds of airships! He even donated an airship to Ponyville so ponies can travel by air to where they wanna go, even though it’s a teeny bit more expensive than taking the train.”

She knocked on the warehouse door, and it soon opened, revealing Blueblood, wearing welding goggles and a protective faux-leather vest. There were a few smudges of oil on his coat but he’d gotten used to them due to their being inevitable in his line of work.
“Ah, Pinkie Pie, I see you’ve brought Maud to take in my work?”

“Yupper-doodles! Maud’s always interested in seeing new things, huh Maud?” Pinkie bounced excitably while looking at her sister.

Maud (again) expressed nothing even as she said, “It’s always good to experience new things to broaden one’s horizons.”

“Um, yes, I think the same thing,” Blueblood chuckled awkwardly as he pushed the door open further and levitated out a pair of safety-goggles. “I must insist you each wear a pair of these. The things in here can be dangerous.”

The Pie sisters did as Blueblood requested before entering the warehouse. They gazed up at the frame of yet another airship in production. Three ponies were working on it, an earth pony stallion pushing a cart with heavy materials, a pegasus mare hovering above, going over the work-in-progress while jotting things down on something she held in a clipboard, and a unicorn mare was wearing a welding mask while casting a cutting-torch spell on a large plate of metal.

“We are currently working on an order for a new airship from Manehatten!” Blueblood yelled over the loud noises. “So far, we are on schedule but this is an ambitious order, and we have to make sure it comes out ship-shape, if you’ll pardon the pun. Heh-heh.”

Pinkie laughed, “Good one, Bluey! This looks like it’s gonna be a BIG one!”

“It has to be,” Blueblood nodded in consideration. “The client who ordered it is a shipping company, and-”

Blueblood noticed Maud wasn’t standing next to Pinkie, and looked around before he saw her looking at a pile of coal next to a bin full of the stuff. He went over and saw her bending down to get a closer look at a large lump of the stuff, examining it in the same manner she had the sedimentary rock from the picnic earlier.

“Um, Maud? Is there… something you’re looking for?” Blueblood asked, already having a feeling.

“This coal,” Maud said. “It is a type of sedimentary rock, composed primarily of carbon while including trace amounts of nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur.”

“That’s very… interesting,” Blueblood nodded warily. “But all that coal’s for is just to provide fuel for my airships.”

Even though her expression did not change, Blueblood somehow felt a change in Maud’s mood as she looked at him.

“You use coal as fuel. Do you not realize the preservation of coal before crushing it produces diamonds, the hardest type of rock there is?”

“I- Uh, well- That is…” Blueblood was flabbergasted when Maud continued.

“Not to mention, burning coal creates pollution.”

“Well, um, that is true, but…” Blueblood stalled, trying to think of a reasonable argument only for Maud to turn around and start leaving.

“I think I’m done here.”

Blueblood gulped, as he realized he had unintentionally offended Maud, but her point of burning coal, that it produced pollution made him pause in consideration.

A rock zoomed through the air onto the other side of a pond, coming to a hard landing and digging itself deeply into the sand.

“YEAH!!”

Rainbow pumped her hoof in the air in triumph at her display of strength. Her strength was awesome and she knew it! There was no way that Maud was gonna beat her at rock tossing. Rainbow was actually rather proud of herself. She had thought of an activity to share with Maud that involved rocks, and sports. There was no way that the monotone mare wouldn’t be able to give a reaction to that!

Her grin as wide (and as smug) as ever, the rainbow maned mare turned to Maud standing on the ground just beside her hovering form.

“Let’s see ya beat that!” she challenged, closing her eyes to bask in the awesomeness. No way would she toss as hard as Rainbow Awesome Dash!

She opened them and gave a YELP as a rock, four times the size of the one she had just thrown went rocketing through the air, missing her by inches. The rock soared through the air at speeds she would be jealous of, disappearing into the distance behind the big hill that overlooked the pond. However before Rainbow could make a comment about that awesome toss (and question just how in the heck the mare had actually managed to pull it off), she heard the loud crash of the rock hitting the ground, and watched in shock as a huge explosion of dust and debris launched into the air in the form of a mushroom cloud.

A rippling affect whooshed through the air, carrying the force of the impact. As it hit the pond, the calm water was slammed forward into a miniature tidal wave. Rainbow gasped in shock and tried to cover her face as the massive wave of water slammed down upon her and suck her down.

As the water settled again, Pinkie Pie, her mane drenched and flat, burst from the water on a large log.

“That was amazing!” she cheered and started to roll herself forwards, walking backwards on her hind legs to get the log moving. Seconds later, Rainbow surfaced, spitting out water and shaking her head in disbelief.

“Whoa... How did you do that?!” she turned to Maud, her eyebrow raised in confusion.

How the heck had Maud just done something amazing! She barely even moved!

“I threw it.” Her deadpan hadn’t changed in the slightest. In fact, the water dripping from her mane seemed livelier than the mare.

Pinkie continued to play about in the water as Dash floated there looking half confused and half exasperated. However she was an athlete and she knew when she was beat. Maud won fair and square.

“I guess you won this one Maud.” Rainbow gave a smile and activated her competitive eyes that just screamed ‘you won this round, but I’ll beat you next time!’.

What Maud said next however was nothing short of blasphemy to Rainbow’s ears.

“I’m not really into... winning.” The grey mare said, looking as bored and unimpressed as ever.

Rainbow could do nothing but gasp in utter shock. Those words… Was it even possible to use them in a sentence like that?!

Big Mac kicked the apple tree with a stern hoof, letting his strength reverberate up the trunk and drop the delicious apples into his waiting baskets.

Beside him were the two Pie sisters, each engaged in a different activity. Pinkie seemed to be enjoying herself jumping through the branches of the trees holding a banana and pretending to be a monkey. Maud however just seemed to stare at Mac in silence.

Deciding to try and give socializing another chance, Big Mac cleared his throat.

“So Maud, Ah know yor’ more of a rock gal, but ya feel like givin’ apple bucking a try? It can be hard work, but Ah find doin’ farm work like this relaxin’. Maybe you might enjoy it.”

Maud just stared at him in silence for a moment. After a slow blink, Mac’s smile started to waver. However before he could offer up another choice of conversation, the mare spoke.

“Okay.”

She turned and slowly walked towards a tree just across from Mac. The stallion watched her with a smile. Maybe this could help Maud unwind a bit and open up some more.

“Glad t’ hear it, Maud. Now, if yer’ gonna do some buckin’, yer’ gonna wanna make sure you have th’ right posture or you can hurt yerself somthin’ fierce. Ya need t’ turn yer body away from th’ tree, keep yer back straight an’ throw yor strength into yer leg muscles, rather than from yor lower back. Now t’ get th’ best results wit’ apple bucking ya need to…”

Maud turned away from the tree, raised one leg and kicked the tree behind her. Her posture made it looks as though she’d barely touched the tree, and yet the moment her hoof touched it, there was a loud THWACK sound and a massive crack splintered up the tree’s trunk. Every apple in the tree, along with several trees around them, dropped their fruit in an instant.

Mac just stood there gobsmacked. He thought he was the only pony who could do that!

“Wow Maud, yer’ one tough gal. That was a mighty impressive sight. You ever thought about apple farmin’ for a living?”

Maud just stared at him. “No.”

Mac waited a moment but nothing followed. “Oh… shame…”

“Yeah, Maud here is really dedicated to her Rock-torate. Sorry Mackie but Maud’s a bit more interested in rocks than in trees.” Pinkie Pie chirped happily as she hung from a nearby tree with her tail.

Big Mac gave a nod at that. Maud did seem to love her rocks.

The group worked out in the orchard for a while before heading back to the farm house.

Maud said nothing the whole time.

“…so then as we were saying goodbye, Mac pulled me aside and asked me if he ever used to be as quiet as Maud and I said ‘oh yeah of course you were only ever saying Eeyup or Eenope all the time’ and then he just got this far away look in his eyes and whispered ‘Damn…’ and just stared off into nothing as Maud and I headed over here and then we met you!” Pinkie gave a gasped and sucked in a lungful of air after explain her and Maud’s entire day to Cheese Sandwich who now sat with her and Maud at a table in front of the Hay Bale.

Cheese had been thoughtful and decided to start off his time with the Pie sisters by taking them to lunch first after their busy morning with the others. Not a moment after the group had placed their orders, Pinkie and launched into the exciting tale of Maud’s exciting day with their friends and all the fun things they had done together.

Now Cheese Sandwich may have been just as flighty and random and bouncy as Pinkie, but his traveling days had given him a bit more understanding of pony behavior than Pinkie. While he could tell that Pinkie had thought the day was amazing, it was clear to him that the others had not enjoyed it quite as much and hadn’t been able to bond well with Maud.

Maud herself looked as stone faced as ever (No pun intended), but Cheese could read her better the then others. The slightly lowered eyelids, the ever slight drop of her head, her ears being a fracture lower. It seemed that Maud was a little upset she hadn’t been able to make a good impression of the rest of their friends, and maybe feeling a little put out at how unable the others were to read her.

Well, Cheese Sandwich was Ponyville’s party stallion and he would make sure Maud had a good time here if it was the last thing he did!

“Well you two seemed to have a very big day so far. Hopefully we can have ourselves one heck of an afternoon as well.”

The table was quiet for a moment as the café’s waiter delivered the three ponies meals, but as he left, Cheese was quick to jump into things.

“So Maud, it seems that the others did a lot of things with you today, but none of them actually asked you what you wanted to do. Your interests seem to be quite different from our friends in a lot of areas, so I think that this afternoon, we should have some fun doing things you like to do.”

Cheese was very pleased when he saw Maud’s ears slightly raise and the very tiny lift of the corners of her mouth. Maud was definitely happy about the idea of getting to have some fun on her terms.

Cheese was feeling very unsure of himself a little while later. After lunch, Maud had inquired whether Ponyville had a quarry or rocky fields. When Pinkie had replied in the negative, Cheese had pointed out Ghastly Gorge to both sisters’ joy.

They had walked down into the gorge and had just finished playing several of Maud’s favorite games. Camouflage with Boulder had taken up a good chunk of time (only to discover Boulder had ‘chosen’ to hide in Pinkie’s mane) followed by a game of ‘Guess the Rock Type’ in which Maud or Pinkie would start playing a Twenty Questions-type of game that was designed to have a certain type of rock as the answer. Cheese hadn’t done terribly well at that, but he had soldiered on through for Maud’s benefit.

They had finally decided to call it a day after sorting through several of the rocks in the gorge and putting them into different categories.

All in all, Maud appeared to be happy, and Pinkie had participated in every activity with a smile, but Cheese hadn’t found much joy in the activities.

Maud decided to point this out.

“Thank you for making me feel happy and relaxed. You don’t look happy or relaxed though. What is wrong, Cheese?”

Seeing that Maud could tell he wasn’t as hyped by their activities as he had hoped, the stallion gave a sigh and his mane drooped a little.

“I’m sorry, Maud. I am glad I got to spend time with you doing things you enjoyed, but... all these rock games aren’t to my usual tastes. But don’t worry, this afternoon wasn’t about doing things I love doing; it was about doing things you loved doing. You’re our guest in Ponyville and you’re here to visit your little sister. We owe it to you make sure you have the best time you can here. After all, you certainly did the same for Pinkie when you were younger.”

Pinkie stepped forward with a smile on her face. Not her excited cheerful smile, but her genuine happy smile that she only used in moments like these.

“Awe, Cheesy, that’s really sweet. Making sure Maud had a fun day even if you weren’t as excited as she was. You’re a good friend, Cheese, thank you.”

Cheese just smiled back with the same level of happiness and the two friends gave each other a hug.

“You two make a good couple.”

At Maud’s words, the two ponies eyes burst open wide and they peeled away from each other in shock.

“W-W-WHAT!!”

Both ponies turned to Maud in shock, who looked a little confused.

“You two seem to mesh really well. I thought you were dating. Was I wrong?”

“Uh well… that is… um…”

“W-w-we’re just friends Maud… w-we aren’t… you know… d-dating… or…”

“Y-yeah! W-what she said! Just friends… you know with the friendship and… uh… the friendship… and uh…”

“Y-yeah just friends… good friends who get along really well… just good friends right Cheesy?”

“R-right… absolutely…”

Both ponies faces were bright red and they continued to stutter out denials while avoiding looking each other in the eye.

Maud watched them both, feeling a little guilty about her mistake. It seemed she may have just made things weird between friends.

“W-w-well this has been great, but uh, I think I hear Mrs. Spice calling! Yep, she probably needs help with closing up, heh heh. Yep so uh, great meeting you, Maud, I’ll uh see you later!”

“Yeah, the Cakes probably need me too! Yep, the foals are probably being a hooful, so I’ll just make sure everything is good! You seem to be having fun here, Maud, so I’ll see you back at Sugarcube Corner later, okay bye now!”

With that, both party ponies zoomed off in opposite directions, leaving one confused mare behind.

Maud stood still for a moment before making up her mind. Her little sister was obviously upset. As a big sister, she wouldn’t let that happen.

Mrs. Cake gave a tired sigh, smiling over the scene before her. Pound and Pumpkin Cake were both tucked into their crib and fast asleep.

It had been a hectic afternoon with Pinkie out showing her sister around. She and her husband had had to alternate between watching the foals and running the store. They had managed, but it wasn’t easy. Pumpkin and Pound could be a real hassle when they wanted to be, and today they had been in a mood all right.

Still, seeing them all tuckered out now brought a smile to her face. As difficult as they could be, they were her foals and she loved them with all her heart.

She heard the door behind her opening and she turned to see Mr. Cake pop his head into the room.

“Everything go well, honeybun?”

The plump yet beautiful mare gave a smile and trotted over to give her husband a kiss.

“Perfectly, Carrot dear. The little sugar dumplings are fast asleep. Let’s hope they stay that way for a few hours until Pinkie gets home. Right now I think I’d love nothing more than a nap.”

It was at that exact moment that everything went to Tartarus.

Downstairs the two heard the front door slam open and a blur of pink zoomed up the stairs and into Pinkie’s upstairs loft. The loud noise immediately woke the twins up. This, of course, did not sit well with them after having been having wonderful dreams and so both burst out crying, their young wails screaming around the house like a siren.

Cup and Carrot both gave a sigh of despair.

“Sweetheart, can you take care of the twins? I’ll go have a word with Pinkie. She knows not to slam doors and race through the house when the foals are down for their nap.”

“Sure thing, honeybun.”

Cup Cake trotted out of the room, wincing as she heard Carrot Cake attempting to calm the foals down to little success. He was usually pretty good at it, but when the twins were woken up prematurely, just about nothing could get them to calm down for hours.

The swirly maned mare trotted up the stairs to Pinkie’s loft, where she could see the door had been left ajar in Pinkie’s haste. Mrs Cake crossed the doors threshold and was immediately greeted by tons and tons of rock candy.

“Pinkie, why is your room flooded with candy?! You promised me this would stop happening after Nightmare Night three years ago when you nearly destroyed the support beams with all the weight!”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Cake. I know I promised. I just got excited about my big sister visiting and went a little overboard,” the sad voice echoed from somewhere around the mountains of sugary sweets. This worried Cup Cake, as Pinkie being upset was a rare sight, and never seemed to end well for anypony.

“What’s the matter, dearie? You sound terrible. Is everything ok? Did something happen with your sister while you were out?” the older mare asked as she navigated the candy piles to find her pink charge.

It took a few moments, but she eventually came across her lying across her bed, as the sullen pink pony replied. “I’m not really sad. Just… really confused at the moment.”

Mrs. Cake approached the young baker and joined her on the bed. Pinkie sat up onto her haunches to make room for her employer but just stared at the floor, unsure of herself.

“What is that’s got you so confused, Pinkie? If you need some help, I’m always here for you, dearie.”

This got the younger mare to look up at her employer and see the motherly smile on her muzzle. It brought a tiny smile to Pinkie’s face and she sighed a little, leaning her body against the older mare, who loved her like a daughter

“It’s just… I was with Cheese earlier and we were spending some time with Maud, playing some of her rock games. Maud said something that has me really confused… she thought that Cheese and I were… a couple.”

Seeing that Pinkie was still a little distressed, Cup Cake wrapped a hoof around the young mare and pulled her tighter against herself.

“Okay, I think I can see Maud’s confusion. You and Cheese are very close and you're similar. From somepony who hadn’t met Cheese, I think I could see how she might make that mistake. But why does that have you so upset?”

It took a few minutes before Pinkie answered, turning her head back to the floor, unable to look at the older mare.

“It’s… I just… the thought of Cheese and I… it just… it felt kind of weird… but also kind of nice. Then I got scared and came here… Why do I feel scared, Mrs. Cake?”

Mrs Cake had to think about this for a moment before she realized the answer. She looked at the young mare beside her with wide eyes, before a gentle smile crossed her muzzle. Pinkie looked up at her, confused as to why her eyes looked so proud of her.

“Pinkie, I think I understand why. Up until now, you’ve had a lot of love for a lot of ponies. Your friends, your family, all the ponies of Ponyville. You love them all, some a little more than others, but all still loved by you dearly. But up until now, that love has always been platonic. It’s the only love you’ve experienced. With Cheese though, I’m guessing that the love you have for him feels different. Am I right?”

Pinkie looked scared and worried, but she gave a shaky nod to this. Mrs. Cake pulled her into a proper hug this time to calm her down. After a moment, she pulled back to look at the young mare she employed, whom she looked after like a daughter, and smiled with motherly pride.

“The reason you’re confused, Pinkie, is because the type of love you’re experiencing is different. It can be frightening and nerve-wracking. But it can also be wonderful and warm. It can be one of the most special feelings you can ever experience.”

Before she continued on, she made sure that Pinkie was looking right at her. What she was about to say was important, and she needed to know that Pinkie heard her.

“Now I want you to know right now, that having this type of love for Cheese does not have to change anything between you. You are still best friends and nothing will ever stop that. But it also means that if Cheese feels this same type of love for you, it can open the door to a lot of new things for you both. Things that can be a little scary or strange, but there are also things that fill you with happiness. A type of happiness that I have with my husband.”

At that declaration, it started to sink in for Pinkie what Mrs Cake was saying. Her eyes widened and she leaned back a little. “Do you mean…?”

“Pinkie, I think for the first time, you may have romantic feelings,” Cup Cake nodded in confirmation before adding, “and those feelings are for Cheese Sandwich.”

Pinkie GASPED as she realized Mrs. Cake was absolutely right!

Before they could discuss the matter further, a frantic knock at her door accompanied by some very familiar wailings made both mares look to see the door open, revealing a desperate Carrot Cake, holding the twins in both hooves.
“Cup Cake! A little help, please?!”

“Coming, dearie!” Cup Cake hurried over to her husband and took Pound Cake off his hooves when Carrot Cake looked to Pinkie.

“And Pinkie? Your sister is here, asking for you.”

“Thanks, Mr. Cake, I’ll go see her,” Pinkie bounced past them, but quickly came back to give Cup Cake a hug. “Thanks for the talk, Mrs. Cake.”

“Anytime, dearie,” Cup Cake smiled at Pinkie, when she waved in front of the twins’ faces, causing them to settle a bit but continue to snuffle and whimper.

Pinkie zoomed into her door, closing it but leaving it open a crack, and the Cakes knew what was coming.

“Wherrrrre’s Pinkie Pie…?” Pinkie called before bursting the door open with a big smile on her face. “HERE I AM!”

Almost at once, the twins finally settled down and started giggling, which made Pinkie Pie giggle too while the Cakes laughed as well as sigh in relief. Pinkie gave Pound and Pumpkin both a kiss before heading downstairs.

Maud was sitting at one of the booth tables and looked towards her younger sister as Pinkie bounced towards her.

“Hey Maud! Sorry for running off like that.”

“I’m glad to see you’re not upset,” Maud replied in her typical tone and expression. “I was afraid I said something to offend you and Cheese Sandwich.”

“Not at all,” Pinkie assured her big sister. “It was just… unexpected, is all. You didn’t say or do anything wrong, Maud.”

“Well, if you’re sure,” Maud accepted before standing up. “I’m going to go look around for some rock samples. I’d like to catalogue the types of rocks that can be found in Ponyville.”

“Okie-dokie-lokie! I’ll get everything ready and then go get everypony!” Pinkie waved her sister out the bakery, and went back upstairs to look at the different rock candies she’d made, and started sorting out the ones her friends had taste-tested from the ones they hadn’t.

It wasn’t a half-hour later when she heard the unmistakable sound of Rainbow whooshing overhead, and she quickly ran downstairs to the door, and saw Blueblood, Rarity, Big Macintosh, and Rainbow Dash.

“Great! You’re all- Wait, I don’t see Cheese,” Pinkie said, noticing her partner in the party pony business oddly absent.

“Uh, yeah, Cheese said Mrs. Spice needed him fer an errand,” Big Mac explained.

“Oh! Well, Maud is off looking for rocks, so this is the perfect time to set up everything we’ll need to make our best friend rock candy necklaces!” Pinkie happily declared but then noticed the looks of hesitation and discomfort on her friends’ faces.
“What’s wrong?”

Blueblood was pushed forward by Big Mac, and gave in with a sigh, “Pinkie Pie? I don’t think it’s… really a good time to make best friend rock candy necklaces…”

“Why not?” Pinkie was genuinely confused.

“Uh…” Blueblood hesitated when Rarity came to his rescue.

“Well, darling, you see…” but even she didn’t quite know how to break the ice.

“It’s cool of you to want us to be a part of something so special to you, Pinkie, but…” Rainbow tried.

“But what?” Pinkie asked with hopeful eyes.

Sighing, Big Mac finally came clean for them all, “The thing is, Pinkie Pie… We’ve all been tryin’ mighty hard t’ bond with Maud an’ all, but… y’see… Maybe some ponies aren’t, Ah dunno, on th’ same wavelength as others.”

When the others made murmurs of agreement, Big Mac cleared things up, “We just wouldn’ feel right makin’ sumpin’ tha’ says wer’ best friends when… we aren’t!”

As those words sunk into Pinkie’s brain, her friends felt their hearts hurt when they saw (and heard) her mane deflate like a balloon. Even more by the sadness on Pinkie’s face.
“Oh… Okay. If anypony needs me, I’ll… I’ll just be in here, trying to figure out… what to do with two-hundred pounds of rock candy…”

As Pinkie closed the door, her friends all shared crestfallen looks as they all knew what they’d just done.

I did the Maud one-on-ones with Blueblood and Rarity, Pontiac56 did the rest, I did the editing, and wrapped things up