Simply Love

by Tavi n Scratch

Simplicity

Perfect. It's the only word I can use to describe her. She had a golden mane that was cut to be quite short and her coat was a deep silver. She was the first thing to catch my eye as I ventured into the streets of Canterlot for the first time.

I write romance novels, which is funny because I don't believe that I've ever been in love.

And yet, it isn't her beauty that captivates me. It is her voice. She sits there on the corner of the street, playing a violin and singing a solemn tune. In front of her lay a jar with a few bits in it. As a prestigious writer I've never really been hurting for money so I figure why not be a bit generous.

Love at first sight is always cliche, but I guess love works in mysterious ways.

I walk up to where she sits and pause a moment to listen. She doesn't notice my presence, her eyes shut in concentration. The music brings a tear to my eye. I reach into my saddle bag and procure ten bits which I drop into the jar. The clatter makes her lose concentration and she opens her eyes.

I must admit, music has power that the written word does not. It can convey more powerful emotions in less time.

"Oh," she stops playing and looks to me, "why thank you very much, that's very kind of..." her beautiful voice trails off. "Hold on, you're Spectair, the famous author. Oh, geez, I mean, wow. I'm a huge fan of your work.”

Even after a few years of being recognized as the writer I am I still have not become used to it. "Oh, yeah, thanks."

And there we stood, a couple of dopes too shy to speak but not wanting the conversation to end. "That piece was beautiful."

Beauty is always an interesting topic, nopony can really define true beauty. Is it skin deep or is it to the soul.

"Really? It's just something simple that I wrote." She rubs her head and blushes.

If I don't ask, what are the odds of ever seeing her again? I inhale sharply, "Do you wanna go grab something to drink, at the cafe, with me?" My face begins to warm as blood rushes to my cheeks, I’ve never really been smooth with the mares.

How humorous, my characters are always the most eloquent of speakers. Yet, in the face of infatuation, here I am, stumbling over my own words.

“Me?” she replies, sounding a bit shocked.

“No, your violin.” I chuckle “Of course you.”

“Oh, well I’d love to,” her face reddens even more.

When writing, it is important to remember the little things, a character with flush cheeks speaks volumes.

“Actually, I should have thought this out a bit. You see, I’ve never really visited Canterlot before and therefore have no idea where anything is. Could you kindly show me around a bit?”

“I’d be honored.” With her reply we took to the streets of the city.

It’s quite ironic. In my novels I always made a point to make romance seem to be immensely complicated, and I guess that has skewed my perspective a bit.

The two of us trot to the cafe. We both order the same kind of tea. A coincidence maybe, I shook off the feeling. We chat for a bit. I finally learn her name after a while. Her name is Vosare, and she is perfect.

I always thought love had to be convoluted, that there was no such thing as true love. Yet, as time passed, I realized it wasn’t so.

After discussing my works and her music, I muster up all the courage possible. “Do you have any plans for dinner tomorrow night?”

I think I caught her a bit off guard as she stammers, “Well, I, um...”

“Oh, it’s fine, I understand if you’re busy,” I try my hardest to not sound disappointed, but my facade is weak.

“No, I mean, yes, well no, err,” even the way she stumbles across words is adorable. “Okay, no I don’t have plans and yes I’d love to go out with you for dinner tomorrow.”

It’s always a case of love that shouldn’t be, a love that will be battled on every side. But this wasn’t that. We were just two fools in love.

We begin to see each other regularly, a few romantic dinners, a couple shows at the Royal Canterlot Theatre, an afternoon picnic or two. We are in love, simple as that.

I guess there’s a reason I never wrote about a love like this, it’s boring and straightforward. But it is pure and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The cold bite of winter surrounded us as we strolled through the palace gardens. I see her shiver out of the corner of my eye. I outstretch my wing and place it over her. She comes closer to me, resting her head against my neck.

Interesting how one person can change so much. I’ve always been objective about love. I’ve never really been close enough to love to be able to observe it.

We came upon a small bench. It was all quite picturesque. Snow lay softly over the ground, our hoofprints were the only disturbance. Yet in this serene, frozen world, a blazing lump of nervousness was lodged in my throat.

I'm never nervous about the outcome of my characters, I always have control of them. This being said, the anxiety of the next moment gave me a large dose of perspective.

She sat down and I kneeled before her. “Vosare, I truly love you, will you-” Before I can finish my proposal. she tackles me to the ground, giggling.

“I will.”

A happy ending, something I usually tried to avoid. So sickeningly sweet, like old candy. However, this time, I could deal with it.

This time, love could be just that: Love

Comments

[Dunsparce]

Wow. This tear-jerked Dunsparce, something that's not relatively easy to do!
encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTSa1C_5BggN9Vvnu8aLbxA25Gzlp2V0-9AL50QATrDz-VK2p8b

[Dunsparce]

Dunsparce thinks this deserves more views and thumbs up simply because of how thoughtful the author is.

[Dusty Sage]

I write romance novels, which is funny because I don't believe that I've ever been in love.

A hit, a palpable hit.

[Ice]

Wow, this is a new one. I've never seen a fic being done like this (Except maybe "Celestia") and it's a nice change of pace. Little to no errors when it comes to grammar just a bit short. 8/10

[Cereal]

Short and eloquent. I liked it. Well done.

[Base_Cannon]

Well written, take your time next time if you do something like this again.
Maybe even put some mor important events before the proposal, like a memorable night at a restaurant .

[ImperfectXIII]

So short. So simple. And dammit all to hell, so brilliant.

[Mr Good Cat]

Great little short story. I can only assume that this piece hits home for a few of my fellow authors as well

[wackedoutpet]

You just won everything, good job

[Featherprop]

Short, sweet, an enjoyable read!

"Sparse" is the first description that comes to mind for this- you've laid out the bare bones of a story and presented it with minimal dressing. It works quite well, but left me wanting more- in places it seems to hustle along, when it could have stopped and dallied and really tugged on the heartstrings. Several commenters have mentioned that the transitions are almost too fast, but I think that would be solved if there were more meat to the story- I see it as a bit of memoir, so it being episodic an only hitting a few points works.

Honestly? Stories that proceed like this one are the reason I like this fandom- things are SUPPOSED to work out in Equestria, so it's not jarring or boring when they do. Real life has enough disappointment, pain, betrayal, and losing, so to see something like this is refreshing.

Very nice!

[DUBMAR3000]

it's amazing

[spideremblembrony]

Wow... I have no idea what to think of this... I am literally staring at my computer screen wondering what to write. I don't think anyone has ever accomplished that.

Okay, let's just write something and hope it works. There was something about the style in this story... I was kind of thrown off on it. It's a very unique style and, don't get me wrong, I don't think it was bad. I just think it was weird. It was certainly something that I have not seen before. It was something that odd and definitely took some getting use to. Which was a bit of a distraction. I'm not saying you shouldn't do this, because I'm sure that most people are intrigued by this different style, but for me... It was weird. Not bad, but weird.

The romance, I felt could have used more time to develop. I liked the scene where he first talks to her. I did like how they got introduced, but I would have loved to explore more of their relationship. I would have loved to see more of what he writes, why she loves what he writes, why she is a big fan, how she deals with that, how he deals with that. I just would have liked to see more time spent with the two character to see their relationship grow and progress and change, for better and for worse. I would have just liked to have seen more development.

I loved the comparing and contrasting between the real world and the fictional world of romance. I thought that was very cleaver and unique. I loved the comparisons that to how a writer views love and how it creates drama and tension and is marketable. I love it how he compares it to real life where, yeah there is drama, but usually its not the stuff that you see on T. V or movies or read about in books, its very down to earth and I love how he calls it a "boring love" because it can be, but sometimes it can be entertaining. I would have loved to see him come to the realization that love in real life can be just as, if not more fascinating than what is in a story. I know that in the story, he mentions how he has control of the characters and the story and how only he knows how it will end, but I would have loved to have seen more depth into that.

Overall, I think the idea is good. I think a lot of the elements worked in the story. I just felt maybe there could have been more. I felt that there might have been more possibilities that could have been explored upon. Thank you for letting me read it and I will catch you later. Take care.

[Tavi n Scratch]

3979088 Ha, thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it. I think my style is weird because I like to write in first person present tense, which is indeed a weird choice. Also, I'm not trying to sound pretentious, but this was written for an hour fic contest, so the character's are far less fleshed out than they deserve to be. You are entirely correct on that point.

However, I did right a few more vignettes (very short fics) about these two. Here's the same story from Vosare's perspective: Fermata
Wedding from his perspective: A Simple Marriage
And hers: Coda
And they're first Hearth's Warming Eve from his perspective: A Simple Holiday

(Not trying to force these stories down your throat, just letting you know they exist)

Sadly, over time, it became harder and harder to get these fics past moderation due to the fact that they had little to do with the main MLP canon. After only having to rewrite all of A simple Holiday in order to get it posted, I got discouraged and stopped writing about these two. I may end up returning to these stories, but not anytime soon.

[spideremblembrony]

3980788 Thank you for posting these. I will definitely check them out and give them my thoughts.