Maud Pie was looking for a new home in Ponyville. But nothing fit her preferences, despite how few they were.

How hard could it be to find a house with a rock theme? And why is it so hard for ponies to understand what a rock theme is? Most of the houses Maud was shown looked more like where Vinyl Scratch would live.

It was a shame she couldn’t find a place she liked. She could feel the presence of rocks nearby that she would love to study. Or for a simple snack.

Thankfully, Zecora had an idea of what to look for.

“If this cave is where you choose to reside, I must tell you of the secret it hides,” Zecora said as they stopped at the entrance to a cave that led underground, “What hides inside is for no fool. It’s an enchanted pond called the Mirror Pool.”

“My Granny Pie told me and my sisters about the legend of the Mirror Pool,” Maud said, “I can protect the pool from unwanted intruders.”

“Your knowledge means I can save my breath,” Zecora said, “Now follow me into the cave’s depths.”

The two of them traveled deeper into the cave. Gems in the walls refracted light, keeping the corridor well-lit. Maud could feel them coming closer to a collection of ley lines, perhaps the result of the magic of the Mirror Pool. But there was something off about the ley lines. It took her a moment to realize that she couldn’t sense any direction to them.

Finally, they reached a large cavern with a pool of glowing water in the center. The water's magical glow, combined with the multitude of refracting crystals in the walls, meant that the cavern was naturally lit. It was then that Maud realized why the ley lines seemed directionless and why the water had a magical glow to it. It wasn’t water at all. It was a pool of ley lines, so condensed that they’ve gathered and taken a corporeal, fluid form. Perhaps this had something to do with how the Mirror Pool created clones.

There was also a waterfall that provided actual water. The magical glow and moisture from the waterfall spray also allowed grass to grow in this cave without sunlight. It had light, running water, privacy, a decent yard next to a pond, and, best of all, rocks.

“It’s adequate,” Maud said simply.

“Because of your simple ways, I assume that is high praise,” Zecora assumed.

Maud wasn’t the best at expressing herself. And she was aware of this. But those who knew her well could pick up on certain context clues. So it pleased her to know that Zecora could understand her. In truth, she was impressed. And she couldn’t wait to study a few of the crystals to see exactly how they can refract light so efficiently.

But studying could wait until later. She had a specific friend that she wanted to tell about her new place.

“I think that cave is near one of my gem-hunting locations,” Rarity thought.

After dropping off Zecora’s bags back at her hut, they visited Rarity to tell her the news. This included the description of the cave that would become Maud’s new home.

“Yes,” Maud confirmed simply.

“Well, I’m glad it’s someplace where I can visit easily,” Rarity added, “And though I feel like living in a musty old cave surrounded by dirt and rock doesn’t sound inviting, as long as you’re happy with it, that’s all that matters I suppose.”

Maud gave a knowing smile. It didn’t look different than any other smile of hers. But the meaning behind it, and Rarity knowing how mischievous her rock farmer friend could be, was enough for the jeweler to question her assumption about the aesthetics of her friends new home.

“Her new home, to her, is quite a boon,” Zecora said, “I’m sure she hopes you’ll visit soon.”

“I suppose I should see it first before making a judgement on its appearance,” Rarity admitted. Maud could tell that this was her way of convincing herself to visit a cave, and not just for gem-hunting. But it was an honest effort, which Maud respected.

Rarity knew that she had been wrong about things like this before. It’s technically how she got her cutie mark.

DING

The trio looked towards the door to see Sweetie Belle and Rumble come in through the door. They were awkwardly trying to manouver with each other, seeing as they appeared to be stuck together.

“What is it about you three and tree sap?” Rarity asked, seeing the duo. She then sighed, “You two wait here. I’ll get a bath ready.”

From the position Rumble was in, with his right forehoof on Sweetie’s right shoulder, he had likely tried to push away to free them from each other, resulting in his hoof also getting stuck. But it wasn’t as awkward as Sweetie with her right hindhoof stuck to Rumble’s flank in her attempt to push away.

“It seems your attempts to pull away has only caused you two more dismay,” Zecora said.

“I thought you two had gone to the rock quarry,” Maud said.

“We were on our way there before we ran into Diamond Tiara and Apple Bloom,” Sweetie Belle said, “They said that I was looking a bit pudgy and could use some exercise.”

“That’s why they started chasing us around town,” Rumble said, continuing the story, “Trying to think fast, I grabbed Sweetie and flew into a tree. I was able to get us to the bottom branch. I couldn’t get us any higher because I was carrying Sweetie.”

“I’m not pudgy!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, tears forming in her eyes.

“I didn’t mean… I’ve never had to carry another pony while flying before!” Rumble tried to defend himself, “We started to climb higher in the tree. Instead of climbing after us, Apple Bloom just bucked the tree trunk, causing us to fall down. We didn’t get too hurt. But we did break some pretty big branches.”

“I’M NOT PUDGY!!!” Sweetie shouted, apparently having trouble letting go of that.

“I’m not…” Rumble was about to say, before thinking about how some of those branches should’ve stopped their fall, “Maybe those branch’s were rotting or something?”

“I guess Apple Bloom didn’t expect all of those branches to fall with us,” Sweetie Belle continued, “With us and the branches falling on them, I guess they were knocked out when we fell on them. When we got up to run, we found ourselves stuck together. We got a little bit away before we heard Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara getting up. But when they tried to chase after us, they were stuck in sap too.”

“I guess even Earth Pony strength is nothing against the power of tree sap,” Rumble finished.

“It’s seems time for you to take a bath to free you of the tree sap’s wrath,” Zecora said as she saw Rarity come downstairs.

The two foals tried to climb up the stairs. But their awkward situation made it difficult. They even fell back down several times before Maud helped by putting them on her back to carry them. It worked surprisingly well… up until they tried to get off and realized they were now stuck to Maud.

Realizing the conundrum they were in, Maud climbed into the bath with them.

Maud wasn’t the type to bathe with others. She was a loner most of the time anyway. And the only times she has been in a bath with someone else is usually when Rarity convinces her to go to the spa with her. But there was something about getting into a bathtub with other foals like this that reminded Maud of when she would take baths with her sisters. The thought brought a smile to her face. And not just any Maud-style smile. Though there wasn’t a big difference, it was evident that her smile was softer and more emotional. It was as if the memory was mixing with the water to soften her hard shell.

If Maud ever had foals, she decided that she would take baths with them like this.

It felt like the bath was over all too soon. But the intent was to unstick the foals after all. Since Maud was there, Rarity had gone back downstairs. So when Maud and the foals went down, they were surprised to see that not only was Zecora still there, but Celestia had arrived as well. The three ponies in the foyer were sipping tea.

“I see that you’ve gotten yourselves unstuck,” Celestia said. Apparently the other two had told her about what happened, “I’ve come to invite you to meet my other student. While Trixie is in Canterlot, I figured it’d be a good chance for each of the Element Bearers and their friends and family to meet the pony who was ruling in my place while I was… ehem… unavailable. And it’s most convenient so many of you are together at this moment. It means fewer trips for me to take.”

“We’re going to Canterlot?!” Rumble Exclaimed.

“Personally invited by Princess Celestia?!” Sweetie Belle added.

Celestia took one last sip of tea before setting down the teacup, “Though I do not wish to rush any of you, I do have other things I have to take care of,” Celestia said, “So if you don’t mind, I’ll teleport us all to our destination.”

They all gathered near Celestia before all of them became enveloped in a golden flash.

The six of them appeared in a golden flash in front of a house, startling four other ponies who were just arriving.

“Please forgive my rush, but I do have an appointment to keep before I can finish for the day,” Celestia said before disappearing abruptly.

“So, where are we exactly?” Rarity asked.

“This is where Twilight and Trixie live, apparently,” Vinyl said. That’s when they realized that the four other ponies were Vinyl, Octavia, Rainbow, and Flutters.

Author's Note

I was finally able to break through my writer's block! I've spent 4 months chiseling away at that block, and in one day, I added 1,000 words to this chapter to make it a satisfying word count. It's still short, but I just didn't have much for Maud. But the addition of 1/2 the CMCs and giving them a little story, which in turn gave Maud the bath scene that allowed her to reflect on her foalhood.

The next Chapter will not take nearly as long since it was actually one of the first chapters I've finished. What surprised me is that I didn't even start working on Chapter 6 yet. It's surprising because I swear I had worked on it before.