So, enclosing, annual rocktorate in rock studies
from the Equestrian institute of rockology
is no easy feat.
I'm proud of each and every one of you.
Each of…
No. Just you, actually.
Go Maud!
Number one! Number one!
Fillies and gentlecolts,
and is that magnesium-rich basalt?
It is my honor to present our valerocktorian Maud Pie.
Excuse me, doctor Pie.
Doctor Pie! Doctor Pie!
Ro-ocktor Pie?
I'm Maud.
Yea, you are!
Brilliant speech!
Encore! Encore!
There's more, Pinkie.
I'm Maud.
Pie.
Thank you.
You are so welcome!
Brilliant speech!
Encore! Encore! Encore!
You're moving to Ponyville!
We'll live together, and get bunk beds and I'll make us fuzzy slippers that say "best sister friends forever".
Although I probably can't fit all these words on the slippers so maybe just BSFF?
But we don't have to decide right now because we will be together all the time since when you come to Ponyville…
The doctor is in!
Slow down, Pinkie Pie.
You're
mo-o-oving
to
Po-o-onyvi-i-ille
I'm not definitely moving to Ponyville.
Of course you are, silly.
You said:
"There's nothing left to study back home on the rock farm.
So I might move to Ponyville".
I'm also considering Ghastly Gorge.
Classic Maud sense of humor.
You should do stand-up.
I do. But that wasn't a joke.
Ghastly Gorge?!
That terrible, awful, no-fun, all alone canyon in the middle of nowhere?
There. Or Ponyville.
But… Ponyville is so…
And Ghastly Gorge is so…
It's a rock based decision.
But… What about BSFFs?
That's why I'm giving Ponyville a chance.
So, all I have to do, is prove Ponyville has better rocks than Ghastly Gorge?
Challenge accepted!
We will drop your stuff off at my place, and then hold on to your world,
'cause it's about…
to…
get…
ROCKED!
Okay.
Ghastly Gorge may have rocks, but our gem cave rocks!
And look! You'll never know who you'll see!
Maud, darling! It's lovely to see you again.
Oh, congratulations on your rocktorate.
What are you doing now?
Talking to you.
Right.
Well, if your trained eye happens to see a chartreuse gem.
I'm desperate to find one.
I found one.
You're an absolute darling.
This will surely make my gowns stand out
at Countess Coloratura's album release party.
Do you know how rare this is?
Just another day in Ponyville!
That's actually a really common gem.
These are all really common gems.
They are?
I mean…
Come on!
Of course they are!
That's why I didn't bring you here to impress you.
I wanted to make sure you had a chance to…
Say hello to your old pal… Spike!
Hello, Spike.
Way to go, Maud.
Cross that off the to-do list.
You know what I'm saying?
Check!
Now let's get moving.
Cause I'm about to show you something that makes you yell:
"All right!"
All right.
See?
Ta-da! It's a castle!
Made of rocks!
What?
Did I just blow your mind?
I think I just blew your mind.
A lot of structures are made from rocks, Pinkie.
They are very stable building material.
But this place is grew out of nowhere
after a magical key-build gem followed a rainbow and buried itself in the ground!
I mean, have you ever seen rocks like this?!
Yes.
No, you haven't!
We literally just saw hundreds of them in the gem cave.
But… but… oh…
Look at those rocks!
These are sting-bush seed pods.
So they are.
But…
Look at that rock.
It's even got four smaller rocks around it like legs!
That's a tortoise.
Whose side are you on, Tank?!
Oh, wait a minute.
What's that?
It's a rock shaped like Lyra Heartstrings!
Total rock!
I guess you won't be moving to Ponyville after all.
Those rocks at Ghastly Gorge don't know how lucky they are to have you.
Actually, rocks aren't the only reason I'm considering Ponyville.
You said, it's a rock based decision.
I'm obviously passionate about exotic rocks.
But I've always studied them…
Alone.
I could handle some less exciting rocks
if it meant I'd have somepony to talk to besides Boulder.
Are you saying you want
a friend?
I wouldn't mind one.
Maudalina Daisy Pie.
This will be easy!
What are you looking for in a friend?
Give me six qualities assigning each one a numerical importance rating between one and seven.
Seven being essential and one being "ehh".
It isn't hard to meet somepony I like.
It's finding somepony who gets me.
I get you.
You're my sister.
It's different.
Maud, you are the best!
You never know when the lightning of friendship will strike!
Somepony could come barrel in through that door at this very moment
and become your best friend!
You know, I really thought somepony was gonna come barrel in through that…
My fault.
Totally my fault.
Are you okay?
I should have been watching where I was going…
You look really familiar.
Have we met before?
Yes.
I knew it!
Whaaaat?
I know.
Don't tell me.
Yeah. See, I was really hoping you tell me while I pretended to remember.
How is this possible?
I traveled Equestria for my roctorate dissertation.
Do you know a lot about rocks?
Yes.
Have you ever come across some kind of
super powerful stone that can store the cutie mark magic of (the)…
I don't know… entire village?
Yep.
In the big cave.
Hey, I got an idea.
Let's not tell anypony that part where you maybe,
for sure accidentally, helped Starlight enslave a town!
Tell. Nopony.
It's not like she has enslaved anypony lately.
Well, great seeing you again.
I got to run a few errands.
Offer to help.
What?
Offer to help!
You wanna help?
Do I?
Of course you do! Go!
Okay.
They're totally gonna be best friends and then Maud will choose Ponyville
and will get her BSFF slippers!
Rocks take on different properties when interacting with magic.
With the right stone,
you could rule all the Equestria if you wanted to.
You're messing with me.
Am I?
So, other than rocks, what else you are into?
Minerals, plate tectonics.
Oh, and stand-up comedy of course.
I like kites.
Kites are cool.
The trick with an SLK is not to make the spars too heavy.
But, if they are too light, you got no ballast
and then good luck tucking against the AOI.
I really like kites.
They're starting to grow on me.
Pizza delivery!
Maud and Starlight?
You're here too?
What a coincidence!
'Cause I was just, you know,
delivering this pizza to…
You!
So, how's it going?
Just hanging out…
Hey, you can use this time to bond and talk about feelings!
For example, do you feel like you're becoming friends?
I feel
like I don't wanna talk about feelings.
Great! I'll go next.
I feel like I love that you two are becoming best friends!
I mean, your friendship could be the friendship that makes Maud move to Ponyville!
No pressure, Starlight.
Hello?
Where did you two go?
Sorry about my sister.
There's no half-excited with her.
Oh, I know.
But she always calms down.
Eventually.
Why do you find rocks so fascinating?
Each one has a different story to tell.
Like Boulder here.
This tells me he's over two thousand years old.
You don't look a day over six hundred.
Wow, you can tell that from a line?
I didn't get a rocktorate because I can shred on guitar like nopony else.
Another reason I like rocks
they don't exclude you if you're…
different than other ponies.
They're beautiful and strong,
but they don't judge you or make you feel less then in any way.
Think I'm starting to like rocks too.
It's hollow?
It's granite.
Hollow granite is highly unusual.
Wow!
Have you ever seen anything like this?
No.
And that's unusual.
For me.
Here you are!
I thought you went your separate ways, but
you can't imagine how happy I am to find you both together
and to witness one of your firsts as friends.
Your first time discovering an underground cavern!
I can't wait till you're old and eating pistachios together
and telling your grandfoals about this.
Oh no!
They're not bonding!
I got an idea!
I'm tripping on a rock at this very moment,
and now I'm falling do-own…
Oh no, my accidental clumsiness has trapped us here!
Where you'll be forced to bond until a rescue.
Oh, you don't have to wait for that, there's gotta be a spell that…
Get us out of here, boy.
Boulder,
that was awesome!
No.
That was sandstone.
More sand than stone apparently.
I'm thinking you wear these around your neck at all times,
so I don't lose you again, you sillies,
that way I can track your progress as friends!
And tomorrow we can have a friendship brunch!
What's your favorite kind of omelet cupcake?
Mine's jalapeno red velvet.
Yeah…
I… I don't know if I can make it.
You'll change your minds when you smell the yummy bit.
Come on!
Oops.
Tomorrow's brunch is gonna be the scrunchiest-brunchiest-munchiest brunch ever!
Yeah. About that…
The problem is, when you two were alone,
I couldn't get data points on your friendship probabilities.
Were you making Starlight smile?
How was Starlight's smile-to-frown ratio?
Anything over five to one is great.
And how many time did you smile like this?
Zero times.
Oh, Maud, don't be so hard on yourself.
You've got the best friendship-maker in Ponyville on the case!
I'll be by your side the whole time!
And speaking of which, your bell fell off, silly.
Pinkie Pie,
I appreciate what you're trying to do. But…
Bu-u-u-ut…
Nevermind.
Don't worry, Maud.
When you see this brunch, you'll realize everything's gonna be OK.
And then, I have amazing bonding activities plan for the next seventeen days!
You and Starlight will be besties in no time!
Good night!
I can find a new…
Friendship brunch!
Pinkie Pie,
thank you for trying so hard to help me make friends,
but my decision has to be rock based.
And Ghastly Gorge has such great rocks.
I won't even have time for friends.
It's better this way.
Sorry it didn't work out.
Maud.
Maud!
Wait!
Maud!
Maud…
Starlight, wake up!
If this is about brunch, I…
You know what, jalapeno red velvet omelet sounds gross, I just can't.
Maud left in the middle of the night!
I guess Ghastly Gorge really does have the best rocks.
Why couldn't you two just be friends?..
Pinkie Pie,
I like Maud.
You do?
Yeah.
She's weird.
Hey!
No, in a good way!
She sees the world in a totally different way than anypony I've ever met.
She accepts me for who I am.
She taught me that a rock is never just a rock.
She can make anything funny.
We never had to say it, but…
We got each other.
You really were becoming friends?
I think so.
But you kinda, sorta…
Got in a way.
You're right, too harsh.
Let's go with…
You ruined everything all the time?
That's worse.
What I'm trying to say is…
I have to go.
Friendship lesson… learned?
Sigh.
Emerald jasper.
This must be my lucky day.
Maud tracks!
Hello, Pinkie Pie.
I found emerald jasper.
Are you okay, Maud?
That eel almost ate you!
What eel?
You didn't need no come.
I am having a great time on my own.
I even made a new friend.
Is it a rock?
Yes.
Maud!
I don't belong in Ponyville.
It only proved I am better off all by myself.
Like i always have been.
Don't say that!
It was all my fault, I…
I thought i knew everything about making friends.
But I didn't even know my own sister.
I forced you to do things my way, but my way isn't your way.
This way.
Exactly.
No. This way.
Maud, I thought you couldn't make a friend without my help,
but it turns out you couldn't make a friend with my help.
I underestimated you.
I'm sorry.
I know you did it out of love.
You're my best sister friend forever.
Oh, Maud!
I love you bigger than all Equestria!
And you melt my heart more easily than sodium-rich plagioclase feldspar.
I don't know what that means,
but please-please-please-please-please,
give Ponyville another chance.
Or more importantly,
give me another chance…
To leave you alone.
What do you think, Boulder?
You're back.
For good?
This doesn't mean we need to start talking about feelings, does it?
No way.
Maybe after this we could decorate my new place.
Totally.
Where is it?
Well,
it's not in Ponyville.
More like Ponyville-adjacent.
Its perfect.
Yes!
My is sister totally staying in Ponyville!
I mean Ponyville-adjacent.
Sorry, sorry, I'm leaving.
I promise, I'm not even here
Aaah, you wearing the slippers!
OK, now I'm really leaving.
Bye-bye!
He-he, wrong way.
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