My Little Pony: The Human Nine's Adventures In Equestria

Ren's POV

At first, it was a little hard to chew the candy Pinkie Pie recently made…literally. It was almost like a solid frozen piece of candy that was just soft enough to break through with teeth. After the candy was chewed, the remains sure were determined to stick on the teeth.

"Gummy and I are so happy you're already here to help us taste test this candy, Renny!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed in glee, mentioning her pet alligator whom held the entire piece of candy in his mouth and remained motionless. He only blinked his eyes every now and then and didn't seem to show any signs of swallowing it anytime soon.

"I'm glad to." I responded back, picking out another piece to struggle in chewing. "Well…to be honest, I'm a little tired. Why'd you make so much of this and why'd you wake me up so early?" I asked.

"I spent all night making this." Pinkie proceeded to explain as she messed with a few more rock candies in a bowl, appearing to want to mix multiple things that were too solid to do so. "You won't believe it, but one of my sisters - her name is Maud - is finally coming to Ponyville! You don't know how long it's been since I've actually seen her. This whole time, we've just been sending each other letters and our rock candy necklaces!"

"Rock candy necklaces?" I questioned.

"Yeah!" She replied. "Necklaces made of rock candy! Oh, I love her so much. That's why I need all this rock candy to be perfect for her! She's going to be here later on today, and I need as much help and time I can get!"

I looked at the piles of rock candy she had in her room. "I hope the help you're talking about is a lot more than just me…"

"Of course, silly!" Pinkie assured. "I just didn't go to you. I knocked on Your friends' Rarity's, Twilight's, Rainbow Dash's, Fluttershy's, and Applejack's door and left a note. It should only be a matter of time until they get here!"

"Well, seeing all the effort you put here, it seems you really want to surprise your sister in the best way you can. You must really love her a lot." I stated.

"You have no idea!" She dumped the candy she had been mixing into the large pile of rock candy. "Since we were raised in a rock farm, we didn't really have any other ponies to talk to! She was like my bestest friend and at the same time my sister! You know what that feels like, don't you?!"

That kind of hit me in my soft spot. "Actually…" I paused to be reminded of Starlight.

"Oh, no no no!" Pinkie quickly shook her hooves and her head. "I'm so sorry! Just forget that last part! I mean, it's not like I'm saying if you had a sister she would be like that to you, it's just that you didn't and I forgot and now I have no idea of what I'm trying to say!"

"Pinkie." I called her as she already seemed to be stressing out to the point of tears. "You don't have to worry about me. I really kind of do know what you mean." I tapped a hoof at my chin in thought. "It's just like Twilight…only the friend part comes first before the sister…" I shrugged. "But I guess not all of us can grow up with our sisters being our best friends, huh?"

"I guess." Pinkie slightly agreed a bit sadly.

Figuring I needed to get Pinkie back on track, I walked over to her and hugged her to get her mind off it.

Growing a grin, she turned her eyes towards me. "If it makes it any better, I know Maud will really like you, so that's another friend on your list!"

"I believe you." I confirmed with another smile.

There was a knock on a door, alarming Pinkie Pie. "Ooh! That must be them!" She dashed out for several seconds before she quickly came back and returned to her rock candy business. A group of hooves and shoes stepped on the ground before they came in sight, leading Pinkie to issue out a warning. "Careful!" She pointed towards the pieces of rock candy on the floor.

"What is all this?" Twilight asked after shaking the pieces of rock candy off her hoof. She was with the others as they had their first sight of the candy fiesta that stood before them.

"What's with all the flippin' candy?!" Jack exclaimed.

"My sister Maud's gonna be here soon, and I need your help taste-testing my rock candy recipes!" Pinkie Pie explained.

"Uh, we're happy to help you, Pinkie Pie, but this seems like an awful lot of candy." Applejack mentioned after noticing the entire piles of candy literally almost everywhere.

"Even for you!" Rarity added fearfully.

"I may have gone a teensy bit overboard." She sheepishly shared and revealed a large grin afterwards.

"There's so much of it…" I pushed away my bowl that still contained a mild amount of various pieces of rock candy. "I'm already full…"

"I can help you with that." Fluttershy lightly flew over to me with a soft smile, seeing the opportunity as a semi-date. She sat in front of the bowl I had and picked up a piece of candy. She brought it to her mouth and began to chew. However, she was surprised at first, seeing how the candy was pretty rocky and somewhat hard. Nevertheless, she managed to finish and swallow.

"It's good…" She commented. "But it's a little crunchy…"

"Welp. Better get started." Rainbow headed towards a pile, leading for the others to do the same.

"Eeh... no thanks.." Sarah said, looking at the rock candy.

"Why not, Sarah?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"I don't really like candy." Sarah stated, much to Pinkie's shock.

Pinkie let out a gasp, "Why not?!"

"Last time I accidentally ate candy, I kinda... almost blew up my bedroom... hehe..." Sarah admitted sheepishly.

"WHAT?!" Everyone exclaimed at Sarah.

"Hehehe... yeah... ever since then my papas had been er... watchful on what kind of candy I eat..." Sarah stated.

"That's alright, Sarah." Pinkie Pie smiled. "Alright everypony, let's get eating...!" she cheered.

"I think we've had plenty." Applejack answered for us as we, except for Sarah and Carrie, laid on the ground filled with rock candy. "You said Maud was going to be here soon a while back. Shouldn't you be on your way to pick her up from the train station?"

"Oh, but you've only tried half of the flavors, and we have to choose the perfect ones before she gets here so I have time to make more!" Pinkie Pie denied the need to go out and grabbed a hoofull of candy to stuff down her throat. She obviously seemed to have no problem swallowing it.

"Maud is your sister. I'm sure she'll love your rock candy." Twilight confronted Pinkie Pie and assured her. "And I'm pretty sure you've made enough." She glanced back at the unfinished stacks of rock candy. "She's only staying for the week, right?"

"Aw, it's not just for Maud, silly." Pinkie Pie responded, surprising Twilight. "I'm making candy for all of us!" Her correction led to another simultaneous group of moans from the girls. "It's part of a very important, super-duper special tradition that only the closest and bestest of friends can share!" She made her point clearly and seriously. "We're going to make rock candy necklaces together!" She held up an example of the necklace and squealed excitedly loud.

"About that…" I began as I soothed my ears after hearing that loud scream. "What's so important about the rock candy necklaces?"

Pinkie looked back in thought and appeared to begin drifting off into the days of her memories. "It all started when Maud and I were fillies on the rock farm." She then pointed a hoof upwards to reveal she had gotten an idea. She ran to retrieve a coloring book, placed it in front of us, and began using her crayons to draw colorful pictures to describe what she meant. "She taught me the Pie family rock candy recipe! It adds a secret ingredient."

She looked towards us and held a hoof near her mouth. She answered with a loud whisper. "It's rocks!" Afterwards, she continued normally. "And she showed me how to string the pieces to make them into a necklace! And once we were done, we'd trade!" She dropped her crayon and bounced back up to continue speaking.

"Maud and I have been trading necklaces back and forth since I moved to Ponyville. They're a sign that we'll always be best friends!" Pinkie ended with a bright beam.

"Aw, what a great tradition." Applejack expressed, seeing how adorable the relationship between Pinkie and her sister was.

The rest of the girls showed similar expressions except for one.

"Hold on. The secret ingredient is rocks?" Rainbow Dash questioned shockingly.

I just realized that specific part and held a hoof towards my stomach. "…we ate…rock?"

"Yes and no!" Pinkie Pie responded. "These are a special kind of rock that Maud discovered!"

"Oh, what kind of a rock are they?" Fluttershy asked intriguingly.

"Can't tell ya that, silly!" Pinkie then proceeded in a whisper. "It's a secret!" She whispered and patted Fluttershy's head. Figured that... you know... being Pinkie Pie and all.

"Now that Maud is heading out to get her rocktorate in rock science, this may be our last chance to trade them for a really long time."

After she mentioned that last part about her education, I actually grew pretty interested. "Wow. She must really be interested in rocks to pursue a learning in…rock science."

"Wait till you see her! She's all about rocks!" Pinkie Pie replied and then sighed lightly. "I can't wait for you all to meet her. I just know that my best Ponyville friends and my best sister friend are gonna become bestest friends! We can make bestest-est friend rock candy necklaces together!"

She galloped over to Rarity and wrapped a hoof around her. "She expresses herself through fashion just like Rarity, and she's really smart and loves reading just like Twilight!" She held Twilight as well.

"And she's honest, and loves forest things, and is good at games, and artsy, and..." Pinkie had grabbed ahold of all us and held us all closely bunched up together. "Well, oh, she's awesome!"

"She sounds amazing, but won't she start worrying if you aren't at the train station when she gets here?" Rarity strained the sound through her lips as she was being squeezed between Pinkie and Twilight.

"She sure will!" Pinkie Pie reacted casually before she realized how awful that really was with a loud gasp. "I gotta get out of here!" She accidentally threw all of us aside and ran out the door to do so.

"A-hem…" Rarity reacted as she recovered from the impact Pinkie gave us. She wiped her forelegs free of dirt as the others got back on their hooves. "Shall we get the picnic started then? If you all don't mind…" Rarity spoke as she stood in front of Pinkie's mirror to observe herself. "I would truly appreciate it if you can get the food and refreshments ready."

"What do you mean?" Applejack questioned.

"It's just that…I need to find and put together something to wear for Pinkie's sister." She paused and looked closely at her reflection, making several gestures. "Oh… This might be a bit hard… I need to find something that just speaks rock."

"I don't think you need to do that, Rarity." Applejack offered her thoughts.

"If I'm ever to befriend this Maud, I say I must!" She turned and faced Applejack dramatically serious.

"I think you can do just fine being yourself." I offered.

That kept Rarity silent for a moment as her eyes wandered around. Even though she seemed to take it to thought, she didn't really budge. "First impressions are important! I must go now." Afterwards, she trotted out.

"Don't forgot about Opal!" Rainbow Dash reminded.

"What?" I questioned. "You're bringing the pets too?"

"Course." Applejack answered. "I think it's a good thing to do. We want to be sure that we are as friendly as possible to Pinkie's sister. We sure don't want her getting any wrong ideas."

"Pinkie said Maud had a pet too." Fluttershy added.

"Ah." I certainly seemed to be the only one lost since I didn't exactly get a note. "Makes sense. Alright then."

After everypony decided on what they were going to bring for the picnic, I stuck with Fluttershy for her list until we headed to the area of the picnic. We weren't in a super rush or anything, but we couldn't exactly dilly dally either. Pinkie Pie had already gone to the train station to wait for/pick up Maud, and we had to be ready so Maud wouldn't have to wait to eat and enjoy herself.

We found Kaede, Carrie, Mason, Jack, Jamie, Rantaro, Nicole, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Applejack already having a nice set up as their pets roamed around. Fluttershy walked in with a smile and placed the basket of sandwiches and bowl of salad she brought. "I sure hope Maud has an appetite."

Angel had poked his head from Fluttershy's body and smelled something in the air. He focused his eyes on a certain basket and ran for it.

"Never met a pony or critter who didn't love Granny Smith's apple spiced muffins!" Applejack mentioned, noticing Angel heading for her basket full of muffins. However, she easily rejected him from digging in.

"Rarity's not here yet?" I asked, noticing she was the only one not around besides Pinkie Pie.

"Not that we know of…" Rainbow Dash answered.

"Oh, it's no use! I simply cannot find anything suitable to wear!" We finally heard her voice make its way towards us. Rarity took her seat as she revealed this out of the ordinary hat she was wearing. In fact, it looked more like she had thrown on a purple top hat and just glued what looked like glass rocks on them. Despite her efforts, one of the pieces of rocks fell off and landed inside the muffin basket.

"I doubt she'll notice what anypony's wearing, so what's the big deal?" Rainbow asked.

"The big deal is that it will be very difficult to show Maud what a strong fashion presence we have in Ponyville if the most fashion-forward pony here can't keep her hat from falling apart!" Rarity answered as pieces continued to fall off and ended with a scrunched face in distress.

"I thought you wanted to make a good first impression." Rainbow recalled.

"Well… That too!" Rarity replied.

"Can't blame anypony for being nervous." Twilight said. "Maud is Pinkie Pie's sister, and it's obvious Pinkie really wants us to hit it off. Being able to make those rock candy necklaces together is really important to her. I'm sure everything will be fine—"

"We're heeeere!" We heard Pinkie's voice from the distance. We looked to see her waving from the top of the hill. Then, she started to excitedly bounce back towards us.

I couldn't help but feel a little nervous for meeting this new pony, but I noticed that I didn't see anypony right behind Pinkie.

"Where's Maud?" Twilight asked when Pinkie Pie was back, noticing that Maud wasn't with her.

"She's coming!" Pinkie assured and looked back with a wide grin in anticipation.

However, as we all stared at the top of the hill to wait for her to come out in sight, it began to appear as if somehow Pinkie Pie had actually forgotten about her.

"Uh... you sure?" Rainbow questioned after the moment of silence.

"She's not quite as fast as me." Pinkie Pie explained, making some sense. "I asked Gummy to stay with her in case she got lost!" She turned back to the top of the hill, excitedly expecting Maud to show up while we all remained pretty clueless and lost with a hint of doubt.

After another moment with slight awkward silence, we finally noticed something appear. It was a head, but the body was slow to join in sight. After a little uncomfortable while, the body was now fully visible, but it was growing at a slow pace…very slow place.

"Is she even moving?" I heard Rainbow whisper.

Despite going downhill, Maud really took her time in joining us.

"We're over here, Maud!" Pinkie screamed energetically.

As far as I could tell, there was no change in Maud's facial expressions. She retained the same expression throughout the entire walk. There was no smile after hearing Pinkie Pie's scream. There was no worry that she might have been taking too long. There was not even any sign of nervousness coming from her end. It was just…blank.

Nevertheless, when she finally arrived, the others and I lifted up our smiles to begin our friendly approach. As Gummy remained attached to her tail with his gums, she only stared at us with no expression at all. In fact, it looked like she may have been irritated to be here with us today, or it was as if she had had a bad day. But then she faced her eyes towards the ground, seeming to notice a rock.

She lowered her head at the rock and closed her eyes, allowing me to notice eye shadow she wore like Rarity, only it was a purple color instead. She took a sniff at this rock and began to speak. "Hm. Sedimentary." She recorded with an absolute deadpan expression.

"Huh?" Rainbow Dash reacted, landing on her hooves and narrowing her eyes.

"This is a sedimentary rock." She picked it up and showed it to us in a very calm manner.

That's an…odd way to start a conversation with a group of ponies you've never met before…

After yet another short awkward moment, Twilight decided to be the first to break it. "That's... really fascinating, isn't it?" She commented. Then, she approached Maud to speak with her.

"We're just so thrilled you could come for a visit before your big trip. Pinkie Pie has told us so much about you. I'm Twilight and this is Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Ren, Jack, Jamie, Mason, Carrie, Rantaro, Nicole, Kaede and this is Sarah." Twilight introduced.

"Hey Maud, it's nice to meet you." Ren smiled.

"We're ever so glad to meet you." Fluttershy shared.

"We're just gonna have the best time!" Applejack included.

Even after the welcoming gesture, it looked to have no effect whatsoever on Maud. She only stood there and continued staring lifelessly at us. The girls were quick to notice this, but this seemed to be a completely normal thing for Pinkie Pie.

"Pinkie Pie tells me you share my love for fashion." Rarity advanced towards Maud, starting another topic to hopefully have a long-lasting conversation.

"I'm really into expressing myself through my wardrobe." Maud responded in an unchanging tone.

"A-and what is the delightful frock you're wearing now saying?" Rarity asked with a bit a nervousness in her eyes.

"It doesn't talk. It's a dress." Maud answered dryly, giving Rarity an odd look.

I honestly couldn't help but snicker at this comment. I know Rarity hadn't meant by the dress literally talking, but the way that Maud answered was just too funny.

Rarity appeared to not know how to handle or respond to that statement, so I joined in to help her out.

"What Rarity means is what does that dress you're wearing express about you?" I said.

"That I like this dress." Her response sounded more like it wanted to be a question, but her tone made it sound more of a statement.

I didn't exactly know how I could have made myself any clearer to what Rarity was asking about, so I remained silent. Winona seemed to prevent yet another awkward moment by running in and barking happily around Maud, to which Maud still showed no change of emotion to.

"Uh, so this here's Winona." Applejack began introducing the pets. "That's Owlowiscious, Tank, Opal, and Angel. Pinkie Pie told us you have a pet, too."

"He's in my pocket." Maud mentioned.

"Oh, you have a pocket pet?" Fluttershy's excitement rose at the thought of Maud's pet, which also led to a rise in Angel's jealousy. "Like a tiny mouse? Or a baby bird? Or a trained butterfly?"

"It's a rock." She answered and tossed out a little pebble towards the ground, surprising and deeply confusing Fluttershy. "His name is Boulder." then Maud looked at Sarah "Hey Sarah." Maud greeted.

"Hey Maud, I see you've still the same." Sarah smiled.

"You know my sister?!" Pinkie basically screamed in her face. Sarah gently pushed her back and said, "Yes, I ran into your family's farm during my travels." Sarah explained. "I helped her and her family dig up some rocks for a few days. I even found a few rare gems of my own."

"Rare gems?" Ren questioned.

"Yes. She discovered three silver diamonds and some gold, all of them are very rare in Equestria." Maud confirmed.

"Well, what do you know..." Applejack gasped in awe.

Before another awkward silence could ensue, Pinkie Pie screamed out in delight. "This is going to be the best, most awesome, funnest week ever! I can't wait for us all to become bestest friends!"

However, the rest of the girls and us, save for Sarah seemed to laugh rather uncomfortably.

Things seemed to lighten up when we all began eating though. Maud had been consuming one of Fluttershy's sandwiches until she placed it down on the ground and slid her pet rock right in front of it as if she was offering a bite. She wasn't even joking or anything. By the look on her face, she was dead serious. Even then…for some reason…it really intrigued me.

"Maud?" Applejack called, bringing her attention away from her rock. "Would you like to try one of Granny Smith's famous apple spiced muffins?" She pushed the basket towards Maud, kindly offering one of them.

Maud sniffed them for a while. Instead of grabbing a muffin, she had actually grabbed the piece of rock that had fallen from Rarity's hat earlier.

"Oh, uh, heh, that's not– Um..." Applejack tried to stop/warn her, but Maud continued chewing, which sounded more like crunching, the rock inside her mouth. It didn't even faze her. She was eating the rock like it was nothing to her!

After performing one big crunch, she faced Applejack to get her thoughts on what she just ate. "It's crunchy." She mentioned with her mouth full of rock.

Pinkie Pie decided to take a bite of one of the actual muffins in the basket to join her sister. "Maud's right! They are crunchy!" She slurped the pieces off her mouth. "Yum!"

"So, uh, Pinkie Pie tells us you like games." Rainbow Dash felt the need to change the topic.

"Boulder and I sometimes play a game called 'Camouflage'. It's kind of like hide and seek but way more intense." She actually emphasized without changing her tone at all other than just increasing her pitch by just a little.

"…Awesome?" Rainbow returned confusingly.

"Why don't you go ahead and show them how you play it, Maud? I'm sure they'd love to play along!" Pinkie encouraged.

"Okay." Maud stood up and placed Boulder back in her pocket. "I'm going to go find a bunch of rocks so Boulder can hide." She stood up, turned, and left.

"Wait a minute…" Rainbow began. "She's going to find a bunch of rocks…so Boulder can hide…?!" She turned to us in disbelief. "We have to find an itty bitty pebble in a bunch of rocks?!"

"Of course, silly!" Pinkie answered. "It wouldn't be fun if he had no chance in hiding!"

"It's a rock." Rainbow replied.

"Now, now." Twilight attempted to calm. "It's just a little game. Let's play it with Maud. It shouldn't be too bad."

"He's ready to be found now." Maud appeared nearby and spoke expressionless as usual.

Everypony but Pinkie Pie, whom looked too excited for the game, exchanged unsure looks with one another.

We searched at a sight not too far from the picnic area. There was weirdly a pile of rocks waiting for us to search through. Fortunately, there were a lot of us, so it wasn't as boring or slow as it could have been. Everypony calmly flipped and picked up numerous rocks until things began to become a little unsettling, especially with Rainbow Dash.

"Any luck?" Twilight asked us, despite none of us showing any sign of finding this rock.

"I truly wish I'd spent more time with Boulder, because I'm having a very hard time remembering what he looks like." Fluttershy held up a rock and observed it closely.

"He's a small pebble." I continued through my share of rocks.

"It's like looking for a pebble in a haystack." Applejack compared as she kicked a rock beside her.

"More like in a pile of pebbles." Rarity declared even further as yet another piece of rock on her hat fell to the ground.

"Well, you don't have to make it even harder!" Applejack mentioned to Rarity.

"Ugh! I give up! This is impossible!" Rarity submitted in frustration.

"It'll hurt Maud's feelings if we all stop playing." Twilight argued. "Besides, look how much fun Pinkie Pie's having."

"Is this him? Is this him? Is this him? Is this him?" Pinkie Pie continuously asked Maud, presenting various kinds of rocks and never seeming to lose an ounce of the energy inside her.

"To be honest……I'm not really sure if Maud even has any feelings. She's like a pony version of Nicole... except you know..." I pointed out.

"At least Nicole smiles... rarely..." Kaede stated.

"Of course she does." Twilight said. "Everypony does. She…probably needs a little more time with us to show us so. Just a little longer, okay?" She asked of everypony.

"Found him..." Sarah called.

HUH?

"How'd you find him?" Jack exclaimed.

"Easy, he was in her pocket." Sarah replied.

..... Are you serious?!

"Oh, come on!" Rainbow shouted out, pushing away the pile of rocks she had been searching in.

Angel hopped by and tapped Fluttershy, pointing her in the direction where the other animals were. They seemed to be bored out of their minds. "I don't mean to interrupt, but we really should get these little critters home." Fluttershy pointed out. "It's getting awfully late, and they've had a very busy day."

"Maud and I better get going too." Pinkie Pie immediately agreed. "I want her to taste the rock candy we're gonna use for our best friends necklaces! Aw, yeah!" She cheered and left with Maud, bringing Gummy along with her.

"She sure is... different from what I expected." Applejack commented after the two were gone.

"We spent all day digging in the dirt, and he was in her pocket the whole time?!" Rainbow complained furiously.

"On the bright side, Boulder seemed really sweet." Fluttershy presented politely.

"He's a rock!" Rainbow Dash screamed out after appearing to be highly in disbelief after Fluttershy's statement.

"Maud was probably just as nervous as we were in meeting her." Twilight offered.

"Maybe she was just acting a little 'off' because she was shy or somethin'." Applejack wondered.

"Good point." Twilight acknowledged. "It must be awfully intimidating to meet all of us at once, especially since we're already such good friends."

"Nah, there wasn't any intimidation in her face. In fact... I saw a slight sign of happiness in her face." Nicole said, looking up from her IPad.

"Happiness..? Seriously..?" Rainbow deadpanned.

"Yep, even though she looked emotionless, she actually showed emotions behind her eyes, which I'm guessing is how Pinkie can tell how she's feeling." Nicole deduced.

"Maybe...." I said. "But you have to admit.. she's kinda... creepy with that blank stare she always gives everyone. She's like a goth person from our world." I shivered. "Scary people."

"Okay, so either way, I don't think we're gonna as quick friends as Pinkie thinks we're gonna be with Maud.." Kaede said. "We should.. probably tell her that..."

Sugarcube Corner...

We approached Pinkie's home and she came out to greet us with a big smile on her face, "Great, you're all here! Maud is out looking for rocks, so this is the perfect time for us to set up everything we'll need to make our best friend rock candy necklaces!" Pinkie whirled her hooves around in front of her, but she soon found it odd when she saw our faces. "What's wrong?"

"Well, I'm not sure it's the best time to make best friend rock candy necklaces." Twilight took a moment to respond as she kicked her hoof in the dirt.

"Why not?" Pinkie Pie cluelessly asked.

"Uh..." Twilight struggled to speak.

"Well..." I stammered.

"The thing is Pinkie... uh..." Kaede added.

"Well, darling, you see..." Rarity tried continuing after Twilight glanced over to her but immediately paused. She turned her eyes towards Fluttershy and backed off nervously.

"You're ever so thoughtful to share your special bonding ritual with us, but, uh..." Fluttershy stopped, proving unable to explain either.

"But what?" Pinkie Pie pursued, seeming to not catch on to their nervous behavior.

Rainbow Dash buried her mouth in front of her hooves and she held on to the mailbox in front of the building, not sparing a single word. It was as if all of these girls accidentally hurt Maud badly or something…

It wasn't until the Element of Honestly finally sighed and spoke up. "The truth is, we've all been tryin' real hard to get closer to Maud, but, well... maybe some ponies just don't click the way others do." After hearing Applejack perform the most difficult part, the rest of them muttered in agreement. "We just wouldn't feel right makin' somethin' that means we're best friends if, well, we aren't."

After hearing those last brutal words, Pinkie's hair instantly deflated as her heart was shattered in pieces, almost just like when Cheese Sandwich came into town. "Oh. Okay." Despite the obvious reaction, she still tried to answer in a happy manner. "If anypony needs me, I'll be in here trying to figure out what to do with two hundred pounds of rock candy." She backed away, grabbed the door handle, and closed the door shut. I could only imagine what she was now doing inside.

The rest of us looked at each other, feeling a bit guilty, "Poor Pinkie Pie..." Kaede said.

"I should probably go and check on her..." Sarah said as she entered Sugarcube Corner.

Sarah's POV

As I entered inside, I already noticed Pinkie Pie wallowing in her piles of rock candy. She rolled around the pieces of rock candy and ate one every now and then.

"Hey, Pinkie Pie…" I began as I walked towards her. "If it makes you feel any better…I'd be glad to make rock candy necklaces with you and Maud."

Pinkie sighed as she rolled around another piece of rock candy. "That's sweet, Sarah." She threw it up into the air and caught it with her tongue to slip into her mouth. "…but I was really hoping for all of us to do it together… All of my best friends with my best sister friend." She groaned sadly as she rested her head on her forelegs. "But at least it's good to know you have a friendship with my sister.."

"Sorry, Pinkie…" I apologized. "I really am. The others just…can't really find anything that they can enjoy comfortably with Maud."

"What do you mean?" Pinkie raised her head.

"Well, Maud has very different interests and perspectives when it comes to things. Like while Twilight might like reading about rocks, Maud likes actually going out and exploring to find rocks. They all have different preservatives. You have to find one common perspective; one common thing that they all have in common."

"But what could that possibly be?" Pinkie asked.

"Well... they all have a friendship with you, Pinkie. They all love you and your crazy behavior." I smiled. "So... maybe if you help them realize that then maybe they can all share the same perspective..." I said.

Pinkie looked at me and thought for a moment, "Y-Yeah... you're right..."

That's when the door opened and Ren and the others came in with Maud, "Hey Pinkie... how are you feeling?" Ren asked gently.

"I-I'm alright.... Sarah helped me see that you guys just have different perspectives to things than Maud and with that I have to find one perspective that you all have in common."

"And what's that..?" Jack questioned.

"Your friendship with me..." Pinkie smiled.

Twilight and the others looked at each other, "Y-Yeah... that is one thing we have in common, we all have a friendship with Pinkie Pie. We all love Pinkie Pie." Twilight smiled.

"Yeah... and Maud must love her too.." Ren smiled.

Pinkie's mane fluffed up again and she smiled, "Yeah....!" she exclaimed. "Rock candy necklaces for everyone...!"

I smirked at her bubble behavior. That's Pinkie Pie... our Pinkie Pie.

We all stayed with her until it was time for her to head back. Pinkie was sure to take up as much time as she could in saying goodbye. Pinkie soon allowed us to wish Maud well.

"Maud, we'd like to give you something to take on your trip, so that you remember all your friends from Ponyville." Twilight said and pulled out the rock necklace she had made for Maud to place it around her neck. Each of the others brought up their own unique designed necklaces to share with Maud, especially Rainbow, whom seemed to use a rather large carved piece of multi-colored rock.

I was the last one before Pinkie to place my necklace over her head, leading her to thank all of us. "Thank you."

"Try not to eat all the candy before you leave!" Pinkie suggested as she held out her rock candy necklace towards Maud.

The two exchanged necklaces as tradition, and Pinkie Pie was already working her teeth to consume the candy. However, Maud pulled a box out of her saddlebag and opened it up to reveal a bunch of more necklaces. She dropped Pinkie's inside.

"Are those all the necklaces Pinkie Pie sent you?" Twilight questioned after seeing them.

"Mm-hm." Maud answered in a kind of exaggerated way.

"You haven't eaten any of them?" Jamie reacted in surprise.

"I don't really like candy." Maud paused to look back at Pinkie and smile for the first time ever! "But I do love Pinkie Pie."

To Be Continued....