"That's it." Pinkie bounced towards me with a big smile. "You're meeting Maud!"

"Your sister?" I imagined the emotionless pony, then realized. She was kinda like me, though maybe with the dial turned up higher. Was she autistic? It fit the patterns I knew. "Does she live close to here?"

Pinkie inclined her head. "Wow, is this what ponies feel like? Yes, but how do you know her?" Pinkie raised a doubting brow, then looked to Twinkle. "Mini-Smart pony! Reveal the secrets!"

"I'm still studying." Twinkle crossed her arms as best she could while dangling off of me. "Give me time to properly investigate." She slid down to the ground, wings slowing her descent. "Why don't you visit this Maud then? Could be fun, and educational."

It felt like cheating a little. Meeting ponies was not like meeting new humans. Assuming Maud was like the Maud I knew, it was more like re-meeting someone I already knew. That lowered the tension considerably.

"Well, I suppose properly meeting more of Pies would be the nice thing to do," I finally acknowledged, shooting Pinkie a timid smile and an electronic woosh of agreement.

She responded by seizing me up in an exuberant hug. "Yay, new friend's gonna love my favoritest super special sister!" Releasing me from her crushing embrace, Pinkie proceeded to bounce around the yard in her excitement, rattling off details about Maud's many stellar qualities.

I shot Twinkle a helpless shrug and chuckle. "How could I say no after such a glowing intro?" Twinkle simply smirked back knowingly. Still, seeing Pinkie's childlike joy was just nice. I already wanted to meet Maud and it was growing by the moment.

Stepping closer, I gently touched Pinkie Pie's shoulder bringing her bounces to a pause. "Just lead the way to her, and I'll be happy meet her."

Pinkie loomed right up to my muzzle with a squeal. "Wow, she is gonna flip seeing a real live alien pony! C'mon c'mon!" Grabbing me by a foreleg, she took off at a gallop, enthusiasm dragging me stumbling behind towards whatever lay in store at Maud's cave!

It was not easy rushing along while one leg was held captive. I awkwardly staggered after her. Credit to her, she seemed to notice when I was toppling and caught me each time. She never got upset about having to do it, but she also refused to slow down. It was, somehow, endearing. She really wanted me somewhere, and was deadset on it.

We left Ponyville, but not very fair. We curled down a sharp embankment to where a door was implanted in the dirt itself. It smelled of earth, and a small lizard scuttled away, surprised by our arrival. Pinkie released me at last and giggled, rushing the door. "Maud!" She knocked on the door with firm clops. "I have somepony you have to meet."

"Or what?" The voice was even and female. The door opened, revealing Maud Pie. She looked to Pinkie, then me, no expression on her face. She stood there silently.

This didn't bother Pinkie at all. "Sis!" She grabbed Maud in a great big hug, much like she had given me. "So good to see you."

Maud smiled, just faintly. It was gone in a moment. "Or what?"

"Or... You'll miss meeting an alien pony!" Pinkie waved at me dramatically.

I waved a hoof awkwardly as Pinkie introduced me dramatically. Maud simply stared, face impassive.

"Nice meeting you," I finally said into the silence. "Pinkie speaks very highly of you."

I tried a friendly chuckle, hearing it echo hollowly back. Behind Maud I spotted geological equipment and rock samples - clearly I was interrupting work.

My ears pinned back, recognizing the invasive faux pas. "Apologies for disturbing. I can see you're busy-"

But Maud stepped forward, gently bumping her forehead to mine in traditional pony greeting, maintaining the contact a few beats longer before pulling back. "It's fine. Come in."

I smiled. It was brief, but I felt good. She had accepted me in her own way. She was... like me. What she said, she meant, so I followed her inside. If she wanted me to leave, she would have said so. "I admit, I don't know a lot about rocks, but they are pretty."

Pinkie bounced along behind me. "They're more than that. You should hear Maud go on and on and on about all the different rocks she's come across."

I had a hard time imagining Maud 'going on' about anything. I hastened to Maud's side. "Really nice to meet you. No pressure, seriously... You say what you want, when you want. I won't be mad if you don't."

She glanced aside at me, then forward, saying nothing.

I had just said she had that option, so I stomped down the initial annoyance and followed along to where the cramped tunnel opened up into a brilliant cavern. I stopped, amazed. "Wow." I had never been in an actual cave before, and the cartoon did not do it justice. The wet walls in places, the different colors, and the smell... I didn't know what I was smelling. It was all new. "Wow."

Maud looked over her shoulder. "Pretty."

"Yeah..." I turned away from it, resuming our trek into the earth. A smaller cavern ended up being our destination, where Maud sank onto a plain, but quite large, pillow.

Pinkie joined her an instant later, hopping over me to get there. "Ooo! Did you make some of your rock biscuits? David, you gotta try them! They're so good!"

I looked around the comfy little nook curiously as Pinkie enthusiastically extolled Maud's baking skills. I didn't see any biscuits. I assumed if she wanted me to have one, she'd offer it to me directly. I stood there, near them, but didn't sit on anything, even with the pillow right there.

"So...you mentioned collecting rare mineral samples? That sounds interesting," I began politely. "As a newbie 'round these parts, I'd love to learn what draws you to studying stones?"

Maud blinked slowly. For an uncomfortable moment the soft dripping of water into pools was the only response. But finally she spoke tonelessly. "Rocks are steady. Dependable. They endure...patiently allowing ponies to uncover their hidden truths."

She picked up a nondescript fragment and offered it my way. "This is gypsum - hundreds of shards fused by pressure over millennia leaving few traces of its origins." Running a gentle hoof across the subtle bands and ridges she continued softly. "But with care and the right tools, even shyest stories emerge in the end."

She met my gaze evenly and I sensed whatever remote emotional spectrum she possessed had just opened mysteriously to embrace another wayward soul. Behind her Pinkie beamed proudly through a mouthful of crumbs.

"That is legit cool." Fortunately, I liked learning things, even random things that didn't always align with my focus. "Oh! I learned an earth magic, my first."

Maud inclined her head. "Who taught you?"

Pinkie burst into fresh giggles. "That's the best part! He taught him! He has a real Pie spirit."

Maud hummed softly, staring, as if she could see through me. "Show me."

I imagined that icon, focusing on the rock throw--Maud was suddenly in my face, head to head, not in greeting, but she was staring at me intensely. "Sorry?"

"You did nothing wrong." Maud sat. "Why did you stop?"

I flushed, abashed by my instinctive hesitation. Of course the stoic scientist would pounce at a chance for direct empirical observation! I took a slow breath and nodded. "Sorry, you're absolutely right. Let's try that again!"

I inclined my head respectfully her way before closing my eyes, visualizing the stony spell symbol that was rapidly becoming second nature. The subtle surge of magic tingled down to my hooves as I manifested a loose stone from the cavern floor into my telekinetic grip.

I opened my eyes, meeting Maud's intense scrutiny. "It's a simple spell, I imagine," I explained, turning the levitating pebble between us. "But a handy little trick with room to grow I hope!"

I let the rock drop and dissipate before any wayward throws could damage anything, or one. "There now, that's the full trick - throwing rocks. I don't know exactly how it works, just that it does." I chuckled self-consciously with a helpless shrug her way. "Like I said, early stages yet!"

Maud blinked languidly. "In its infancy...but promising." She pointed to a shelf lined neatly with geological textbooks. "Have you consulted resources explaining underlying magical principles?"

Behind her Pinkie already energetically shoved an armload of dense manuals my startled way. "Ooh, Maud's super smart about all this science-y magic stuff! She'll have you spell slinging like a champ in no time!"

Maud simply inclined her head calmly. "We will...educate."

There was one pony I hadn't seen. "Forgive my changing topics, but do you know a Mudbriar?"

Pinkie inclined her head.

Maud went the other direction. "He lives in town. We don't get along."

That Maud wasn't with Mudbriar. Good to know. "Thank you, for the offer." I rubbed at the side of my head. "But I have a book, and I have no idea if it works with those books or not."

Pinkie bobbed her head. "It's in his head! How crazy is that?"

Maud tapped at her chin a quiet moment. "You are not making rocks from nothing."

"Nothing comes from nothing," I agreed. "Where are the rocks coming from?"

Maud studied me intently. "The stones start here, on the cavern floor. You loosen crystals with magic to grab and fling them."

I followed her gaze, considering. "I never thought about each piece. I just grab and throw without wondering too hard."

I met Maud's eyes. "But you understand magic better. If we break down each step, maybe I can control finer details?"

Maud nodded once. "Practice and try." She levitated a textbook over along with paper and pencil. "Basic principles first, then we test."

Settling onto a pillow, she opened the book for me. I joined her eagerly as Pinkie giggled, happy to see her sibling bonding over science and spells.

I realized she was using me. I did something useful for her, and I was alright with that. She showed me specific stone.

I'd examine it intently, its bumps and colors and even how it smelled. She encouraged me to taste it too, but licking rocks was a step too far. It was enough. I was conjuring those stones. The farther away they were, the harder it was.

If it was too far away, I just couldn't, like pulling against an iron wall, or a granite one, I supposed. She made notes on what I could find and what I couldn't, and kept all the rocks I made.

Pinkie tilted her head left and right. "I love that you two are getting along, but Twilight will be mad if I foalnap her alien for too long."

Maud turned to Pinkie. "Foalnap him again."

Pinkie giggled, pushing me towards the exit. "You got it!" Soon she had me outside. "She likes you! Aw, nice." She bounced right past me. "Back to the library!"

I allowed Pinkie to enthusiastically herd me from the cave, casting one last glance Maud's way. Her invitation to return stirred was a simple warmth. She wanted me around, it was as simple as that.

Perhaps those patient hours coaxing truths from stoic stones cemented unexpected rapport, or she just found my magic useful enough? For all her detached airs, flickers of warmth glimmered under that implacable surface.

Pinkie slowed, falling in beside me. "You're smiling! Maud didn't freak you out with all her technical jargon?"

"That was fun, seriously." I laughed, giving Pinkie an impulsive hug. "You Pie sisters balance each other wonderfully." I nodded back towards the cave. "She's really focused, I can understand that. Not my focus, but I get it."

Pinkie just shook her head, eyes softening. "Don't sell yourself short. Maud doesn't open up that quick without reason." She elbowed me lightly. "Maybe she... likes another pony that's a little shy, like her. Points for not pressing her."

Something in her bittersweet tone kept me thoughtful and quiet all the way back to Ponyville.

Author's Note

Hi Maud! The meeting of two autists can be a chancy thing. It helps if their focuses align.

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