"Morning."

I sat up sharply. Now, when asleep, I could slumber through much of anything. But near the time I was going to wake up anyway, I became more and more sensitive to being disturbed. I was caught in that state, so I woke right up. There was Maud, staring at me.

"Oh, hi." I slid down to my hooves. "Wow, I did not expect you. Here. In my room?" I glanced around, yep, my room, with Maud in it. "Maud, why are you in my room? Not mad, but why?"

"I wanted to visit. So I did." She came closer, nose almost to nose. "I heard you stopped being an earth pony. That made me sad." She didn't look sad, or anything else. "What are you?" Her eyes wandered over my features. "You have a horn, are you a unicorn? Your horn's odd-looking."

"That was a very Pinkie way to ask those questions." I smiled gently at Maud. "I'm a kirin, a fire pony." I lashed my tasseled tail behind me. "But I'm still David, first. I'm still your friend, and I love you."

Maud blinked softly. "I don't love you."

Wait. "Did, dang, um." I recoiled a step. "I said that wrong." That got me blushing pretty well, the flames in me threatening to come out.

She stomped a hoof, and stone snagged me, hugging me firmly around the middle. "Calm down. I'm not mad." She sat down, the ring crumbling away. "Do you love me?"

I hesitated, cheeks still flushed. Did I love Maud? She was certainly special - her stoic stability anchoring emotions when turbulence struck. And that subtle sparkle in her eyes when passions secretly ignited towards precious stones or new friends glimmering under placid exteriors.

But was that love or merely infatuation with lingering mystery not yet fully revealed? I stirred restlessly. Even close bonds between us flowed more from little moments unveiling hidden facets slowly, not some lightning strike of Cupid's arrows behind the barn.

Still, the possibility of deeper connection flickered, not yet ready to name outright but warming bit by bit like stalagmites forming patiently across centuries, drop by mineral drop.

I met Maud's expectant gaze. "I care about you a lot," I said finally. "Enough to say things that sound silly, clearly." I scuffed a hoof, abashed. "Maybe crazy talk, maybe not. I still have lots to figure out."

I stepped forward tentatively. "But I know my heart's glad whenever you're near, Maud Pie. However you'll have me - friend or anything more someday - that's enough." I smiled anxiously. "Is...is that okay for now?"

Maud looked into my eyes a long moment before nodding once. "Yes. You're still learning to love." She stood up and stepped closer. "I'm still learning too." She reached up with a hoof and gently booped my nose. "Thank you for trying with me."

She turned for the door without another word. "Are you attending school today?"

I blinked at the sharp turn of conversation. "No, actually... Why?"

Maud paused, looking over her shoulder. "I wanted company, but now it's wierd."

"Wierd?" I moved to her side. "Did I make it that way?"

"You did." She turned to me, eyes wandering to the window and some tweeting birds. "You are younger than me. I'm an adult, you are nearly there, but not there. You want to breed with me. I am unsure how to feel." She said it all with a straight face, no alteration in her voice. "Flattered, awkward. I am a whirlwind of emotions." Nope, not even a hint of those emotions placed on her face or her stoic body.

I offered a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, think some wires got crossed on intentions and stuff. My mistake - last thing I want is making you feel uncomfortable or obligated."

Maud nodded once. "I understand. We all go at our own pace."

She turned again for the exit. "Today offers gems and volcanos. Coming?"

I hurried after her. "Volcanoes?!"

Maud lifted an ear at me. "I heard you were becoming skilled with fire magic. Use it to protect me." Not even a question, really. She just assumed I'd do it.

On one level, that irritated me, on the other, I felt warmed and trailed right after her, only stopping to snatch a few leftovers from breakfast on my way past. "Acorns, neat." My pony tongue approved of them, so I munched them as we walked towards Maud's mine.

Maud glanced my way as I crunched the acorns. "You're more pony than you look now," she remarked in her usual deadpan tone. Yet I swore a ghost of a smile teased her stoic lips.

I had to chuckle. "I suppose these new taste buds make it easier blending in at least." I licked stray nut dust off my muzzle as we walked. "So you just want to observe my spell slinging up close today?"

Maud hummed tonelessly. "I have business at the volcano first. But your tricks interest me too..." She trailed a considering hoof along faintly glowing cracks veining the path ahead. "...Crystalline infusions from tectonic activity."

I perked up, trotting closer. "Oh yeah? Some sorta supercharged gems or the something down there?" Vague recollections about her fascinations with rocks and explosives surfaced. "Could be useful for focusing magical energies, maybe?"

"Potentially." Maud halted peering over the smoking rim. "With observation and experimentation."

She turned my way, deadpan but resolute. "I require an assistant."

"You have me." And I followed her into the depths of the earth, the temperature rising around us as we wound deeper and deeper. Being a kirin, the heat felt... comfortable. The dry heat, no problems there. Part of me wanted it to be even warmer. It was... comfortable. Was that what dragons felt?

Maud, on the other hoof, was sweating mildly. She didn't complain, or advance any faster or slower. She was a stoic pony, and the heat wasn't changing that. She sweat, and marched. "The next right." She turned at the fork ahead of us. "It's warm." A bit of her fur caught on fire, and she casually patted it out. "Very warm."

I winced sympathetically as Maud calmly smothered the errant tongue of flame licking her coat. Even her legendary composure had limits it would seem in volcanic environs.

Trotting quickly over I channeled my inner fire magic, flipping through my mental book until I found one of a pony in a bubble, fires all around. I manifested a protective aura that enveloped us both in a comforting bubble of perfect room temperature. "There, how's that? It doesn't feel too hard to keep this up."

Noticing her sweat-dotted brow I let out a nervous laugh as temperature regulations clearly still needed work. But the shimmering sphere at least buffered the external oven blast.

I smiled encouragingly through my protective efforts. "It's not elegant, but keeps the worst off our backs. Now your gem hunt shouldn't boil quite so bad at least?"

I inclined my head curiosly down the tunnel, fiery radiance revealing glittering mineral treasure ahead. "Shall we press on farther and see what other wonders await discovery together?"

Maud blinked slowly in the calmer air, eyes locking on the distant glimmer at the tunnel's end. "Yes. This is sufficient." She turned marching steadily into the mysteries ahead and I paced her glad I could lend elemental talents to safely satisfy Maud's stoic scholarly perseverance however blistering the depths. "This is what I was hoping you could do."

She advanced to a particular glint. "This." She pulled a pick from her side in her teeth. "This is very rare anywhere above here. This close to the magma..." She slammed the pick down, shattering the stone around the gem. "Keep that bubble up." Her tail gave a single sway, about as close as she came to an ecstatic gesture. Dutifully, she got to mining that treasure.

I got to wait, and watch. She worked like a machine, slowly working out bits of lustrous rock. But none of that seemed to compare to the rock in front of me. She was... I shook my head sharply. Being physically attracted to someone was a new feeling. I normally shoved such thoughts out, and moved to do just that. "She already said she isn't interested."

"What?" She glanced towards me. "I didn't say that." She went back to mining. "I said you made it awkward."

"Um." Wait... "So, are you interested, or not?"

"A little." She caught another free gem and tucked it away. "Most ponies aren't interested in me. Why are you? I don't smile." She resumed her work without pause. "I don't laugh. My jokes fall flat with most ponies. I..."

I set a hoof on her shoulder. "You are not a normal pony. Neither am I." I wagged my especially long and ornate ears. "That's okay."

"That's okay," she echoed, catching a new gem. "You're strange."

I chuckled self-consciously at Maud's blunt assessment. "Well, I figure turning from human to pony overnight counts as pretty strange."

I let her work, simply keeping protective temperatures modulated with a careful hoof. Odd gemstone glyphs glimmered on the cavern walls hinting this land held deeper mysteries still slumbering.

Maud's glinting pickaxe rang steadily through the contemplative quiet. This steadfast scholar sensed secrets subtly even stone itself whispered if you bowed close enough to hear.

I studied her absorbed motions as rubble fell away revealing yet more fractal treasures glimmering within. What did she glimpse sensing my strangeness that slipped past my senses still struggling Equestria's emotional lexicon?

"I know I've got awkward edges still..." I ventured carefully. "Heck, first friendships here started with a baby doll and fire lizard!" I risked a teasing nudge Maud's way. "But you all still took in this weirdo alien..."

I met her eyes searchingly. "I mean, you've got some insights on what almost fits or why I keep bumbling?"

Maud blinked slowly my way as our eyes met across glimmering gems half-freed from stoney cages. "You see differently..." she pronounced finally. "I like it."

She turned fully from her tools, dusting off hooves. "Like following faults ponies overlook...until they crack wide wonders underneath." Maud met my fascinated stare. "You notice. You accept. Like me with my rocks."

She shifted almost self-consciously. "Most think them...or me dull as the dirt itself. Yet patience reveals our shine in time." She glanced my way hesitantly. "Do you...see things in me as well?"

The spell wavered, and heat washed over us, blasting away her sweat abruptly into puffs of steam as I got the spell's icon firmly in my mind. "Yes," I got out, getting that under control. "Sorry."

"You are young." She snorted softly. "And a stallion. You're thinking with one part of you right now, and it's distracting the other part of you that thinks. Poor thing." She walked past me, towards the cooler caves. "I have enough to study for now. Follow me."

My cheeks flushed at Maud's blunt diagnosis of hormones hampering higher thought. She wasn't wrong - this adolescent body and its reactions still ambushed my maturity at the worst moments.

I grimaced apology trailing after her. "Yeah, that magic slip kinda emphasizes your point, doesn't it...?" At least the elevated heat masked my burning face for now. I took a calming breath re-centering my focus before hurrying to catch up.

"Anyhow, to actually answer you..." I followed Maud from the sweltering tunnels towards her mercifully cooler workshop carved deeper inside. "I do admire things in you many miss at first glance, for sure."

I counted off points on a hoof. "You see intricate beauty in seemingly simple stuff, your dedication to passions is... I can see myself in that, and well..." I smiled wryly her way. "Having someone functionally mute to bounce my own ramblings off ain't so bad either."

I let those reflections stand in the ensuing silence between us as equipment and extra clothing came blessedly into reach once more. Did she hear respect sincerely offered from another oddball still learning the steps, however clumsily my own fumbles continued? I could but hope...and wait patiently to see what insights her stoic nature unveiled in her own time.

Maud fetched a vest and wiped the sweat from her brow as I watched. "You think well. You just let... other things interrupt that thinking." She slowly got herself into the vest. "The air is hot."

I blinked at that. Oh, my spell... My spell had failed. "I'm sorry." I let the heat-resistant air go, watching her sweat slowly dry up in the present conditions.

She resecured her hat. "I can handle this. You forget I work regular trips down here." She looked to a massive crack nearby. "But it's good you're making progress. I heard what happened at school. No fire pony should be caught by surprise by their fire."

"You can help me with that." I smiled and pulled open my mental spellbook. "I just got access to some more spells."

Maud perked with interest and leaned in. "You haven't given up on earth spells?"

"No way." I touched noses with her. "I plan to collect, and earth is where I started."

Maud slid a hoof up between us, pushing me back easily. "Tease." She half turned from me. "If you want to try that, keep pushing. If you want to study, sit down."

Author's Note

Maud, what are you offering?

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