Simply Beautiful

by FinnPony

Epilogue

Six mares stood in front of the bakery that resembled something straight from a foals coloring book. It was Sugarcube Corner, and those six mares were the elements of harmony. The element of harmony was more excited than before, or like she herself described…

“I’m so super excited that I can barely stay in my skin!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed while trotting in circles. She hadn’t been able to stay on one place for the whole morning. It was the day Maud would be visiting Ponyville again. She had been looking forward to it ever since… Well, ever since Maud had left last time.

“Calm down Pinkie Pie,” Twilight Sparkle said as she made sure her wings were in perfect order. Applejack then joined her, “Yeah hold down yer horses. she will be here in a moment.”
Rainbow Dash seemed to take her words too seriously, and she tried to stop Pinkie Pie by biting her tail, only to be dragged along behind the pink mare. Pinkie Pie didn’t even notice her.
“But I haven’t been this excited since like, ever!” Pinkie Pie answered, still dragging Rainbow Dash behind her.
“You were this excited when you waited for the cupcakes to be done yesterday!” Rainbow Dash said annoyedly when she let go of her tail. Pinkie continued to trot in circle, but smiled sheepishly.

“Yeah… but I’m still pretty excited.”

The mares snickered at her and watched as she kept trotting in circles.
“I think it’s nice to see Maud again,” Fluttershy said, not wanting to be left out from the conversation. Others let out agreeing voices and then Rarity said, with slightly smug tone nopony noticed, “Oh yes. I have a feeling that she is very happy to see us too.”
“Of course she is!” Pinkie said happily. Fluttershy leaned closer to Rarity and poked her in the side gently. Rarity turned towards her and she said with voice just above a whisper, “I was just thinking… when we meet her, should I tell her that she… rocks? Get it?”
Rarity gave her a deadpan look, that made her back away with sheepish look on her face.

There was a short silence before Rainbow Dash sighed and said, “I don’t want to be a killjoy…”
Others turned towards her and Pinkie stopped pacing.
“...But I hope everything goes a bit less awkward than before,” she finished, rubbing her neck. Others changed some nervous glances.
“I hope she doesn’t read any of her poems,” Twilight said with a shudder. The memory of listening hundreds of her poems was still haunting her.
“They all were about rocks…” she mumbled silently, Fluttershy patting her on the back.
“Oh pish posh!” Rarity exclaimed. “I believe that everything will different.”
“Yeah!” Pinkie agreed loudly. “Besides Gummy’s been waiting to meet Boulder too! Lets not make this awkward to them too so you girls behave yourselves!”

The mares chuckled at her and agreed to follow her instructions. They didn’t want to hurt the feelings of the pony that always made them smile, no matter what.

And so the waiting went on for couple of minutes, Pinkie Pie continuing to pace while others patiently waited. It didn’t take long before Pinkie Pie stopped pacing, facing towards something in a pose that hound did when it spots a prey. Others turned towards the direction she was looking at and saw the pony they had been waiting for.

Maud slowly appeared from behind nearby building, walking down the road towards them. She hadn’t changed so much. She still had straightly cut and brushed mane and that same green dress she always wore wherever she went. There was still something different about her, something none of them could put their hooves on.

As she got closer, all the six mares gasped in shock when they realised what was the small detail that made her look different. She was smiling, and it wasn’t just a small grin, no. It was a broad, genuine smile. Something they hadn’t expected to see.

“Is she…” Twilight started, and Fluttershy ended, “...Smiling?”
They kept watching with their eyes wide as the mare trotted onwards. Rarity started to smile with a knowing smirk on her face. She had an idea of what might be behind that smile. Her doubts soon were proven right, as a brown stallion with slim build trotted next to her. He was wearing a green sweater and had white glasses on his muzzle.
“Is that…” Twilight started, but now it was Pinkie Pie who cut in, “Trenderhoof!?”
“I really hate when everypony cuts in when I’m talking!” Twilight hissed quickly, before turning back to watch the duo making their way towards them.
“If he starts to sweet talk to you, I will kick him in the shins,” Rainbow whispered to Applejack who pushed her away with annoyed groan.

The pair was almost in the talking range with the six mares, when they gave each other a sideways glance. What happened next was something that they didn’t see coming.

Maud and Trenderhoof leaned closer to each other, pressing their lips together into a affectionate kiss. All but Rarity’s jaws dropped, Pinkie Pie’s jaw literally hitting the ground.
“Whaaa…?” she asked, dragging the word a bit too far. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Meanwhile the pair ended their kiss with a quick peck and turned to face the elements.

“Hi Pinkie,” Maud said happily and closed her into a hug, smiling the whole time. Pinkie slowly returned the hug, still baffled by what she had seen. It took a moment before she had cleared her head enough to break the hug and turn to face her sister.
“Ouhuuhh…?” she said, making Maud giggle. That made Pinkie’s eyes go wide. She had never seen her sister giggling. She hadn’t seen her sister kissing a stallion either. All these things made her confused. Maud kept smiling at her, letting all sink in. Pinkie kept looking between Maud and the coyly smiling stallion behind her.
“Are… are you two… uh… dating?”, she finally managed to ask. “Because it looks an awfully lot like that.”
Maud chuckled. She had never seen Pinkie so lost for words. It was amusing.
“Yes. Yes we are,” she said happily.

It all happened so fast that Trenderhoof can’t quite understand what happened still to this day. All he knows was that he was suddenly pressed against two mares, one he loved, and one he just barely knew. He was also being almost squeezed to death. Maud didn’t seem to feel even the slightest amount of discomfort in the embrace of her sister, while he was almost passing out. Luckily Pinkie Pie’s hug got a bit gentle when she shouted, “This is like the best thing ever! I get to throw you two a party!”

The others had been quiet until that moment. Small smiles started to appear on their faces, while Rarity’s grin grew even bigger.
“I knew you two could work it out!” she exclaimed when Pinkie released from her hug.

Everypony turned to look at her. Maud and Trenderhoof smiled at her while others had confused frowns on their foreheads.
“You knew!?” Pinkie asked while stomping closer to her in a threatening pose. Rarity backed away with a nervous grin and muttered, “Uhh… Why yes! Yes I did…”
“And you didn’t tell me!?” Pinkie asked with more angry voice. Rarity gulped and quickly explained, “I pinkie promised not to!”

That made Pinkie’s expression change into a suspicious one. She gave a look at Maud, who nodded. Pinkie started to smile again and said, “Okie Dokie Lokie. Good that you didn’t break it!”
Rarity swept some sweat from her brow, sighing in relief. Maud gave her a wink. She had maybe just saved her hind, from which she was highly grateful.

“I have to ask…” Applejack said carefully. “Just… How in darnation did this all happen?”
“It’s a long story.” Trenderhoof said. "Lets just say that I like simple things."
He gave Applejack a friendly smile that made Rainbow snort angrily.

"And you if any should know that, Applejack."

Rainbow Dash almost did as she promised earlier, but Applejack managed to keep her under control.

Trenderhoof chuckled nervously at the angry mare. He then pulled smiling Maud closer to him and said, "Like said, it's a bit long story."
“Oooh! But I love stories!” Pinkie Pie shouted and pulled a box of popcorn seemingly out of nowhere. She sat in front of him and stared up at him with waiting look.

“But you have to tell me if it has a good ending. I don’t like stories with sad endings. They make me sad.”

Twilight was about to say something, but Applejack stopped her by placing a hoof on her shoulder and whispering, “Don’t. Just don’t.”
Twilight hung her head and let out a defeated sigh.

Maud snickered and looked at Trenderhoof with love in her eyes.
“It has a pretty good ending,” Trenderhoof said while gazing into those green eyes. There was a quiet second, and then they pushed their lips together with a wet sound that made Rainbow Dash gag. Others aaw’ed and Rarity sniffed, levitating a tissue to her face. Fluttershy clapped her hooves together happily while Twilight smiled an approving smile towards the pair. Rainbow kept making gagging sounds, until Applejack give her a quick kick in the leg. She stopped after that.

When the long kiss ended, they kept staring into each others eyes. There was a moment of some kind of perfection between them for a second. Everything being just right. It was just simply beautiful.

“Well…” Maud started with a big smile. “It began when I was walking towards the hotel in Canterlot one night, carrying a bag full of…”
“Sedimentary rocks!” Trenderhoof ended the sentence, earning an annoyed look from Maud and laughs from her friends.
“So anyway,” Maud continued, starting to draw small circles into his chest with her hoof. “I saw Trend in this café…”