//------------------------------//
// Act 3.3 
// Story: Simply Beautiful 
// by FinnPony 
//------------------------------//


Simply beautiful
by FinnPony

Act 3.3


How was she there again? Maud stood on the pier two of the Canterlot’s train station. She was surrounded by other ponies, but saw them just as a big blur around herself. Some of them bumped into her, but she stayed completely still, not even blinking. She had been like that ever since she had left from Trenderhoof’s apartment.

First she had decided that she would just leave, but her mind forced her to leave a note to him, so he wouldn’t come after her. She thought that the note might have been too long, but she hoped that Trenderhoof would get her point.

Maud kept staring in front of her, still seeing just a big blur of ponies in front of her. Where was that train? She wanted to get as far away from Canterlot as she could. She kept cursing to herself in her head, not really being mad. She was disappointed. She had let somepony other than her family member deep into her life for the first time, and look what happened? She had been immediately betrayed by the only stallion she had ever had any feelings for. She decided that she would be better living alone. That way she wouldn’t feel betrayed ever again. She would go back to her family’s rock farm and stay there, studying rocks. They will never do her any harm. They were grey and cold, just like she felt at the moment.

Her lower lip started to quiver a little while thinking about all that. She sighed deeply, still not moving. Where was that damn train?

She took a quick glances at the blur around herself, starting to spot individual ponies in the mass. Of course they were pairs. They reminded her about him. She groaned to herself. Now her overstimulated mind started to play tricks on her and she knew it. Everytime she looked at some smiling pair, all the warm and happy moments they had shared together emerged into his mind, but then the bitterness in her pushed them aside. She continued to sulk in silence.

Where was that that train?

As if on cue she heard the train arriving. She perked up and saw the locomotive slowly moving on the rails, pulling the rest of the cars with ease. Maud sighed in relief. Finally she could escape all the commotion of Canterlot… And the harm it had caused her.

Almost.

“Maud!? Is that you?” she heard a familiar female voice call. She slowly turned her head towards the voice, unpleasant shock and rage washed over her, but she managed to gulp it down. There in front of her stood nopony other than that white mare Maud recognized as Rarity. Somehow her name was much easier to remember now.

“It is you!” Rarity exclaimed and stepped closer to Maud, who stared at her coldly. Rarity didn’t notice that and continued, “You are looking absolutely charming. Have you done something with your mane?”
Maud would have wanted to stay silent, but forced herself to answer.
“No,” she said, a bit more bluntly than she had intended. Rarity seemed to have noticed her cold stare now, because she asked with worried look, “Are you alright darling?”
“Yes,” she hissed and looked over Rarity’s shoulder. It took Rarity a moment to compose herself. She opened and closed her mouth couple of times before clearing her throat and muttering, “Uhh… it was just that… you… looked so….”
She stopped when Maud turned around, giving her no further attention.

Rarity realised that something was wrong. Then she noticed that Maud was carrying her saddlebag. Soon she realised the fact that she was at the train station, looking like boarding the next train.

“Umm… Maud my darling?” she started carefully. The word ‘darling’ almost made Maud wince out of disgust. She started to walk towards the now stopped train, not even turning to give Rarity a glance. The doors opened in front of her and she stepped in, hoping that that way she could get rid of Rarity. She sat down to the nearest seat, only to notice that Rarity had followed her into the train.

“What are you doing Maud?” Rarity asked and sat down next to her. Maud looked at her and said with deadpan stare, “Going home.”
She noticed that her answer seemed to cause great deal of confusion in Rarity. Rarity stared at Maud for a second, before asking, “Already?”

What was that mare’s problem? She kept pushing her nose into Maud’s businesses, which she didn’t like. And what was that ‘already’ question?
“The train’s leaving,” Maud said, hoping for her to leave. Rarity smiled and chirped, “Oh but I’m going to Ponyville.”

Damn. Maud had forgotten that Ponyville was in same direction as Rambling rock ridge. Great. Now she would have to spend almost half of the train ride with the mare who stole her stallion. It was going to be a long ride.

“Soo…” Rarity dragged the word, wiggling her back legs a little. “What is wrong?”
Maud gave her a deadpan stare, before turning her head away from her. Rarity was starting to get really worried. She knew about Maud and Trenderhoof. Had something gone awry between them? She had promised not to tell anypony about them, which she had grudgingly promised. Maybe Maud had made him promise not to tell anypony? If so, she would make things worse for him if Rarity would tell Maud that he had told somepony about their relationship. Rarity squinted her eyes in thought. She would need to take it easily, making sure she wouldn’t slip anything. She sat more upright and cleared her throat.

“Is it stallion trouble?”

Maud’s eyes went wide and her left one twitched a little bit. She stayed like that for a second. Rarity didn’t know but she had just passed the final line. Maud couldn’t hold herself anymore. Maud suddenly turned around and pushed her muzzle against Rarity’s with an angry frown on her face, something  Rarity had ever seen before. It frightened her a bit.
“It is,” Maud said, ending the sentence with an angry snort. Rarity could almost see the smoke coming from Maud’s nostrils.  She backed away but Maud kept pushing forward. Rarity had her ears folded backwards and a nervous look on her face. Her back soon hit the wall and she couldn’t escape the angry mare in front of her.
“W-what’s the p-problem dear?” she stammered and started to inch downwards, trying to get some room, which Maud didn’t give her.

“You.”

“Me!?” Rarity whined in shock. What had she done to make Maud feel like that?
“Yes.” Maud said, snorting again. She leaned slightly backwards, but Rarity still stayed low, looking equally shocked and scared. She had seen Maud crush a ten by ten meters wide boulder with her bare hooves, and didn’t want to suffer the same fate.

“What have I ever done to you?” she asked quietly, lifting her hooves to protective stance. Maud glared at her with that same angry look and started, “I saw you with…”
She stopped and Rarity saw her lower lips starting to quiver. Maud turned to look away from her and sighed, “...with him.”

They both were silent after that. Maud sat perfectly still and Rarity kept staring at her with wide, confused eyes, blinking constantly.

With him? What was Maud talking about. Only stallion she had been with was… Oh. Ooh. Now everything started to become clear to her. If she meant Trenderhoof by ‘him’, there was only one conclusion she could come up with. Maud had seen her in the office with Trenderhoof, and had formed some hasty conclusions. Oh Celestia help those earthponies. Sometimes they didn’t seem to have any kind of logical reasoning in them.

Rarity chuckled to herself, which was a mistake. Maud immediately spinned around, hitting her hoof to the wall of the train car next to Rarity’s head, causing a big crack to appear where her hoof met the wall. Rarity let out a yelp and pushed backwards, deciding that for her own safety she should tell Maud something that would hopefully clear some things for her.

“Maud, dear! I have nothing going on with Trenderhoof!”

Maud’s eyes went wide again. She stared at Rarity with her mouth little open. Rarity eyed Maud’s hoof nervously, ready to defend her if she would get mad at her again. She sighed relievedly when Maud leaned back.

“H-how…” Maud started, looking at Rarity.
“Oh Trenderhoof told me about you my dear,” Rarity said and saw that Maud was now staring at her own hooves. “Don’t be mad at him. I made him tell.”
“I saw you kissing,” Maud admitted confusedly. Rarity immediately knew what she meant. She chuckled and said with a wave of her hoof, “That? Oh it was just a small peck on the cheek. I just had to know if it was how I had ima…”
She stopped when she noticed Maud’s angry sideways glance towards her. She chuckled nervously and said, with a bit less enthusiasm, “Heh… Just saying goodbye… You know… like in Prance right?”

Of course Maud knew Prance. She had been there couple of times. Enjoying her time in the Maressif central, working with a group of local geology hobbyists. Complete amateurs compared to her, but she didn’t have time to start remembering the past. Maybe she had been making wrong conclusions. Maybe Trenderhoof was freaking out about her letter right now? She felt a sharp tug in her chest when she realised that Trenderhoof was probably feeling the same way as she did when she saw him with Rarity.

They felt the train nudging a little and starting to move slowly. Rarity looked outside of the window, and realised that she would need to speed things up, otherwise it would soon be too late for maud to get off the train.

“He still likes me?” Maud asked quietly. Rarity sighed and placed her hoof onto Maud’s shoulder, giving her the most convincing smile.
“He adores you,” Rarity said to Maud, making a small blush appear onto Maud’s cheeks. She turned towards Rarity and asked, “Are you sure?”
“He said so himself,” Rarity said warmly and placed her hoof onto Maud’s shoulder. Maud winced and looked at her with uncertain look on her face.
“Rarity,” she said calmly, before asking, “What do I do?”
Rarity looked at her with a warm smile, and asked, “Do you like him?”

Maud nodded. Rarity smiled widely and then exclaimed, “Well go on then!”  
Rarity could have sworn that she saw a small smile appearing on Maud’s lips, but wasn’t sure. 

Then they remembered that the train was leaving. Maud looked past Rarity and saw that the pier’s end had just passed their car. She let out a groan and got up, saying in her monotone voice, “I got to get out.”
“~I’ll pull the emergency brake!~” Rarity sing-a-songed and was about to do so, but Maud stopped her by saying, “No need to.”

“What?” Rarity asked confusedly. “How are you going to get out?” 
“Bye Rarity,” Maud said and started to gallop towards the back of the train, dodging confused ponies in front of her. Rarity stared after her and soon she disappeared into the next train car. Rarity blinked couple of times, before she turned towards the window, opened it and pushed her head out. She looked towards the way where Maud had started to gallop, and soon she saw a heavy looking saddlebag flying from the very last train car, landing onto the pier. Soon a gray mare in green dress jumping after it, landing just barely on the pier. Maud balance on the edge of the pier for a second before gaining her balance. Rarity snickered when she saw ponies on the station getting scared by that. She saw Maud looking towards her, waving quickly before snatching her saddlebag into her teeth and dashing off.

“Oh those silly earthponies.” Rarity muttered as she pulled her head back inside the train. She closed the window, sighed deeply and slumped on her seat in very unladylike fashion. She then chuckled to herself and thought how she had just saved somepony’s relationship. 


* * *


Maud Pie dashed through the streets, dodging surprised ponies that were walking into her path. She was still carrying the heavy saddlebag in her teeth. At some point she started to wonder why she was even carrying it. She stopped for a moment and dug her notebook from the saddlebag, placing it into her pocket before kicking the bag away. It landed somewhere accompanied with a nasty sound of breaking glass, but Maud was already running and didn’t notice it.

Maud was feeling terrible. She also felt kinda happy at the same time. She knew that Trenderhoof hadn’t been messing with other mare like she had thought, but now she was in front of another problem. Trenderhoof was surely hurt and and it might be hard to win him back. But she was determined to do it.

She looked up and saw the familiar block of flats in front of her. Soon she would meet him. She returned her gaze back in front of her, only to see a obstacle in front of her. There was a cart in front of her, too close for her to go around. She gained more speed and slid under it, scraping her dress and messing her mane. She didn’t care. Only thing she cared was that probably miserable stallion waiting for her.

Maud noticed that she was getting funny looks from the ponies around her, but didn’t care. They could look all they wanted. She didn’t feel scared or troubled by them like she once did. They were ponies just like she was. One pony she cared for had taught her that.

As she got closer to her goal, her thoughts became clearer. She would march in and tell him that she was sorry for doing what she had done. She would tell him that she cared about him. It seemed so simple. 

She almost crashed through the door to the building she was headed. She managed to slow down enough to not break the door. She panted lightly and stared up the stairs. She started to trot upwards, sinking back to her thoughts. A slight fear started to creep into her mind. What if Trenderhoof was too hurt to even consider forgiving her. No. She was a thought pony. She wouldn’t give up until he would. He had made her feel wanted, she would do whatever to get that feeling back.

She was halfway up when she realised that she could have used the elevator. She decided that if she had already halfway there, she would push herself until the end, so she kept trotting up the stairs. She fastened her pace, almost running up the stairs. She felt her heartbeat getting faster, and not only from all the running she had done.

Soon she reached the penthouse floor, stopping on the end the stairs, staring towards the only door in the floor. It was open, first sign that something was wrong. She stared at the doorway. Suddenly everything seemed so much harder.

After who knows how long, Maud braced herself and started to walk towards the open door. She carefully poked the door, making it open with a loud creak that made a shudder crawl up her spine. She stepped into the apartment where she had had so many good times, but now the atmosphere was completely different.

Blinds had been shut, making the whole apartment dark. Second sign. When she walked past the kitchen, a new and strange smell reached her. She pouted at the smell. It was clearly cigarette smoke she was smelling. Third sign. Now Maud was getting worried. She walked silently towards the living room. She stopped just before the doorway to the living room. She had to take deep breath before she could brace herself to face what was going to happen in the living room. 

Maud stepped forward, seeing her goal on the sofa in front of her, facing away from her. Maud saw a big pile of stubbed cigarettes on a couch table, and under all them she saw a corner of paper. She could guess what paper it was. She turned back to look at the stallion in front of her, or his back to be precise. 

She was smoking, something Maud hadn’t seen him do before. It made her sad because she knew how Trenderhoof thought about smoking. Maud stood silently and watched. She wanted to speak but couldn’t. It wasn’t so easy as she had thought. She watched as Trenderhoof levitated the cigarette out of his mouth, placing it into the big pile of other of it’s kind. He then levitated another from the pack on the table, lighting it with his horn and slumping deeper to the couch with a loud sigh. 

That made Maud’s heart ache. She couldn’t stay quiet anymore.

“Trenderhoof.” she called quietly, making the stallion jump upright. He turned around on the couch and stared at Maud with his eyes wide. It was then when Maud really saw how bad shape he was. Trenderhoof’s mane was looking flatter than usually, his eyes had a sad gloss in them and he had lost his glasses somewhere. The cigarette hung in the corner of his mouth.

“Maud?” he asked confusedly, making the light cigarette fall from his mouth, landing on the fitted carpet. They stared at each other. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing, the gray mare that had left him alone with a letter was now standing on the doorway of his living room. Her face was in a shadow, so he couldn’t see her face clearly, and his lost glasses didn’t help at all. He could see that her dress was torn, showing her body at some points, and her mane was messy and tangled.

For a moment he felt like jumping over the couch and rushing to embrace her, but then remembered the reason to his current state. He frowned sadly and turned around, saying, “Did you forget something?” 
“Trend.” he heard Maud saying in her monotone voice. That made Trenderhoof snap harshly at her, “Again that tone! I should have started to feel worried when I first time realised that you don’t ever even change your tone.”
There was a deep silence between them. Trenderhoof levitated a new cigarette to his mouth and light it, taking a long drag from it.

He didn’t know it but behind him, Maud sat down, slowly slumping down to her stomach. Something stirring up inside her. She felt something emerge. Something that she had been holding down for years… 

“I realised that I should have known better,” Trenderhoof continued angrily. “You never even showed any feelings towards me. Whatever I did, you just stared at me with expressionless look. Can you even feel anything?”

A mental dam broke behind him.

Another long drag, yet more of heavy silence. Trenderhoof worked his cigarette halfway done before he started to turn around while saying, “Just take what you came for and…”

He stopped when he saw her. She was laying on the ground, her ears drooped and big sad eyes staring at him. Big tears rolled down her cheeks, dropping down on the carpet, forming a damp spot on it. Crying Maud stared at him for a long second, before burying her face into her hooves and starting to sob uncontrollably. The sobbing turned into a loud cry, and soon Maud was wailing helplessly on the floor. It made Trenderhoof feel like a monster. How could he ever had said those things to such a beautiful thing like her? On another hand he thought that crying made her look even more beautiful Not because she liked to see her cry, that would have been terrible. It was because she was finally showing her emotions, something she hadn’t been able to do for so long time.

It was beautiful.  

Trenderhoof kept staring at her for a moment, before he spat the cigarette out from his mouth and jumped over the couch, kicking it over in the progress. He dashed to her, falling onto his rump next to her. Trenderhoof hesitated for a second, afraid to touch the sobbing mare.
“Maud,” he muttered and placed his hoof onto her shoulder. She winced and he saw her giving a quick glance towards him before burying her face back into her hooves. Trenderhoof was now feeling too much guilt, and felt how tears started to form into the corner of his eyes too.
“Maud I’m sorry,” he said and gently lifted Maud’s head from under her chin. Her eyes were red and the fur on her face was damp from tears. She tried to turn her face away from him, but he forced her to look at him.

They stared at each other. Maud could smell the cigarettes from his breath, but didn’t really notice it. His eyes were taking all her attention. His violet eyes were full of something that made her feel like crying even more, which she maybe did. She didn’t know why she couldn’t stop the whimpers leaving her mouth. Maybe it was because she was finally releasing all the pent up emotions she had concealed for so long.

“I-I c-can feel!” she cried as tears continued to fall down her cheeks. Trenderhoof shed some too, and pulled her more upwards so she was now in half sitting, half lying pose.
“I know,” he said and pulled her into a tight embrace. Maud wrapped her hooves around Trenderhoof’s body, pressing her head against his chest. She felt how couple of tears dropped onto her head. Knowing that he was crying somehow made her feel better. It was a sign that she meant something for him.

“I didn’t mean it,” Trenderhoof said with teary voice. “Sorry… sorry… sorry…”
They laid there for time that felt like eternity. Trenderhoof petted Maud’s mane while she let the tears come. It seemed like she would never stop. Trenderhoof’s sweater was getting soaked in tears, but he loved it. He loved her.

“I love you,” he slipped, not regretting it afterwards. He felt how Maud stopped her sobbing, slowly lifting her head from his chest, staring at him with her eyes that were red from crying. A moment of complete silence. Both of them had same, expressionless look on their faces.
“Do you mean it?” she asked with shaky voice. Trenderhoof pressed his forehead against hers, saying, “From the bottom of my heart.”
Maud saw how the smile she loved so much appeared onto his lips. Loved? The smile she loved? She loved that smile. It was so clear now. She loved that smile, she loved him.

Corner of her mouth started to twitch. Trenderhoof’s eyes were fixated to those lips. Maud quickly licked her lips and closed her mouth. Then it happened. The corners of her mouth started to slowly, but surely turn upwards. Trenderhoof felt how another wave of tears came to him. Maud was smiling. It was just a small, simple smile everypony always wore, but it was the most beautiful smile he had ever seen on anypony. Maud almost started to cry again, but not from sorrow, but from happiness. She was finally showing her emotions to somepony else than her sister, and it was all because of him. 

“I love your smile,” Maud confessed, her green eyes fixated to his. There was tension in the air, but it was the best kind of tension there was. The tension that usually hung in the air when something inevitable and wonderful was about to happen.
“Your smile is the most beautiful I’ve ever seen,” Trenderhoof said and brushed some of her messy mane away of her face, tracing his hoof behind her ear, making it flicker. Maud followed his hoof with her muzzle, gently touching it with her snout.

“You’re simply beautiful,” Trenderhoof sighed.

Maud’s smile started widening on her face. Trenderhoof felt how his heart started to beat faster. Maud felt it too, embracing the feeling. She slowly lifted her hoof onto his shoulder, while he wrapped his hooves around her waist. Maud blushed, but kept the new smile she had found on her face.

“I love you…” she said and leaned towards him, feeling how Trenderhoof pulled her closer to himself from her hips. They kept looking each other in the eyes as the distance between their faces started to get smaller. Maud winced when the tip of their muzzles brushed against each other, but she didn’t stop. Instead she quickly pushed herself forward, closing her eyes.

Their lips met. Trenderhoof pulled even harder, making her press tightly against his chest. Maud was both in bliss and terrified. The kiss was her first ever, making it somewhat scary experience. In the same time she didn’t feel scared at all. She loved it. The feeling of his lips against hers was wonderful. She didn’t even mind the slight taste of cigarette from his lips. She was still smiling, not managing to stop even if she would have wanted. She slowly opened her eye, seeing that Trenderhoof’s eyes were staring back at her with love in them, couple of tears rolling down his cheeks. She blinked and gave him a loving look.

The kiss had to end. They had to breath sometime. Their lips separated with a loud smack, but both of them stayed in the pose they were, their snouts touching. Trenderhoof shed couple of tears again, smiling that smile. Maud returned it, rubbing her hoof against his cheek comfortably.

“Why did you buy cigarettes?” she asked after a while, nuzzling his cheek with her muzzle.
“Because they didn’t sell any booze,” Trenderhoof said with a sheepish grin. The reality started to come back at him. His apartment was a mess. There was cigarette stubs everywhere, and the smoke couldn’t be good for the furniture. The couch was flipped upside down, making the situation rather amusing. Then he saw that the stub he had threw earlier was still smoking, slowly burning the carpet. Trenderhoof let out a small hiss from between his teeth. It was going to be a tough job to start changing the fitted carpet.

“Well the carpet and the furniture are pretty much ruined.” Trenderhoof said, making Maud giggle. “I bet I can’t get the smell away from them.”
He thought for a moment and said in his thoughts, “I must get some new ones.”
There was a spark in Maud’s eyes when she heard that. She pulled him from under his chin, making their muzzles press against each other. She had a wide grin on her lips when she asked, sounding excited, “New furniture?”
“Uhh… yeah,” Trenderhoof said a bit confusedly, making Maud snicker.
“Maybe something a bit more…” she started giving him a strange look. “...rock themed?”
Trenderhoof started to laugh, Maud joining him.

They quickly kissed before Trenderhoof said with a sly grin, “Sure.”