Simply Beautiful

by FinnPony

Act 1

Simply beautiful
by FinnPony

Act 1

It was a beautiful day in the peaceful town of Ponyville. Weather was better than anypony could have wished for. Sun was shining brightly but a gentle breeze was constantly present, making the temperature just right.

There were couple of ponies in the town center, going on with their daily businesses. It seemed like that the only sound that was heard was birds singing their songs in the many trees of the park happily.

Suddenly their singing was interrupted harshly. Loud dance music blazed through once peaceful park of Ponyville. Bass made some of the leaves fall from the trees that were unfortunate enough to be near the large dance floor that stood in the middle of the park.

It was full of ponies who were dressed up formally. They were frozen on their places with surprised, amused, confused or even scared expressions on their faces. They clearly hadn’t expected the sudden explosion of loud music. In the middle of all them were a two ponies facing each other. Other was a Pink mare in a white wedding dress and other one was a blue unicorn stallion in a fine black suit. They spoke to each other and soon started to dance crazily. Soon other ponies around the dance floor joined them, leaving only couple of ponies standing outside the wild dancing frenzy.

Most of them were older ponies who didn’t have energy for that kind of dancing or who didn’t understand the music. Of course there was couple of younger ponies who didn’t start thrashing around like crazy.

They slowly moved towards the tables that were placed under some trees near the dance floor. There was also big table with lots of snacks and beverage placed neatly on it. One of the ponies who wasn’t dancing that exact moment was in front of the table, pouring punch into a plastic cup.

He was a brown coated unicorn named Trenderhoof. He owned a slender frame, but was a bit taller than most of the stallions. His mane and tail were well kept and blow-dried, he had violet eyes and white glasses sat on his muzzle. He too had dressed up for the occasion. He wore an expensive tailor made tuxedo with white shirt under it.

His violet magic aura lifted now filled cup to his lips and he took a long sip from it. The punch was pretty strong, enough to make him pout. He swallowed and walked back to his empty table where he slumped back to the chair. He rested his face into his hooves while the cup was still in his magical grasp. He took a quick look around himself and then sighed boredly.

He had arrived alone, he had spent the whole time there alone and it seemed like he was going to leave alone. He didn’t even know anypony from the wedding. Well, he knew the fiancee and some of her friends, but he hadn’t expected to be invited to her wedding, especially after so many years.

He took another sip from his drink and looked towards the dancing crowd. He could see glimpses of an orange mare with blonde mane between the dancing ponies. Seeing her made him smile. She was pretty much the only mare in the crowd that was interesting to him, but she was busy dancing with her fillyfriend.

Another sigh, another sip. He kept looking at that mare for a second, thinking how he used to have a crush on her. It was pretty silly now that he thought of it, but he couldn’t help to think what he had missed. He kept looking at the mare that now was dancing not so far away from him.

Trenderhoof had always been a stallion that likes simple things. He thought that even the most mundane things usually had so much more hidden under their simple appearance. He also thought that it was the same with ponies. That’s why the orange mare in a stetson hat had made his heart flutter when they first met. He had never seen such hard working, ‘authentic’ pony in his life.

Suddenly his eyes came across another lonely soul that was sitting in a shadow of a big tree. She was a grey coated earth pony mare with long, straight cut, purple mane. She was wearing the most simple dark green dress without any accessories. She had long, curvy eyelashes and her turquoise eyes were highlighted by purple eyeshadow. She kept looking at the crowd with a deadpan look on her face. In overall she looked really simple. That wasn’t everything. There was something that made her seem different from every other pony there, he just couldn’t put his hoof on what it was.

Trenderhoof took a slow sip while examining her. That bored look on her face made her look rather attractive. He thought for a second. She didn’t seem like she was waiting for anypony, so she probably wouldn’t mind socializing with him a bit.

He nodded to himself and downed the drink before leaving the table. He quickly walked past the table with the punch bowl on it and filled two more cups. Then he trotted towards the mare with confident smile on his lips. He stopped right next to the table and noticed that the mare was a bit older than that orange mare, maybe about the same age as he was.

The mare sat still without even blinking, she just kept looking at the crowd with expressionless look on her face. Trenderhoof stood there for a second before he cleared his throat. That got the mare’s attention and she turned her head towards him.

What troubled Trenderhoof was that she still didn’t seem to have any expression on her face. Usually pony would look confused, or at least have a asking look on her face if a stranger came to them out of nowhere.

He shook that feeling away and asked, “Mind if I sit?”
The mare shook her head slowly and he took that as a permission to sit. Trenderhoof sat to the opposite side of the table from her. He placed his own cup to the table and turned his attention towards the mare, only to realise that she wasn’t paying any attention to him. She was again just staring at the dancing mass of ponies. First thing that came into his mind was that she was really shy. It was kinda cute in his opinion.

“I brought you a drink,” he said and pushed the other cup towards the mare with his magic. The mare slowly turned her head towards him, giving a quick glance at the cup before asking with monotone voice, “Why?”
That got him a bit off guard. Usually there was a ‘thank you’ or a ‘no thank you’. He liked his lips, trying to quickly come up with an answer. After couple of seconds he answered, “Well… I thought you would like to have something to drink.”

“Why would you think like that?” she asked without any change in her tone. Again an unexpected question that took couple of seconds for him to answer, “Umm… It’s just a way to get the conversation going I guess?”
The mare looked at him with blank stare. He in turn looked away. Something in her stare made him feel rather nervous.

“So… you want it?” he asked, giving a careful glance towards her. Her eyes moved from him to the cup and then back at him.

“Sure,” was all she said before taking the cup into her hooves.

Trenderhoof stared at the mare with quizzical look on his face. She was either shy or just didn’t want him there. He went with the first opinion.

“So…” he started and waited for the mare to look at him again. “What might be your name?”

“Maud,” was her answer. She then took a small sip from her drink and looked at Trenderhoof. He realised that she was waiting for his reply, and he introduced himself, “My name is Trenderhoof, you might have heard of me.”

“No,” Maud replied immediately. “I haven’t.”
He frowned, but the frown disappeared quickly and a small smile appeared onto his lips as he said, “It’s okay, I don’t like to boast with my complications anyway.”

“Me neither,” Maud answered. Trenderhoof smiled a bit wider. Maybe she was starting to open up a bit more.

She didn’t. There was further questions or answers from her. She was staring at him though, which he took as a good sign. He decided that he wouldn’t give up that easily. There had to be something behind that simple armor she was wearing.

“So why are you here?” he asked.

“My sister’s wedding,” Maud answered, making Trenderhoof look at her with a bit suspecting look. Even he barely knew the pink mare that was getting married that day, he knew what she was like. Hyperactive. That couldn’t be said about this mare.

“So you’re Pinkie Pie’s sister?” he asked. Maud looked at him and said slowly, “Yes.”

Trenderhoof folded his ears to back of his head. It almost seemed like she was annoyed by him being there. He still didn’t give up. He had to get the conversation started.

“What do you do for a living Maud?” he asked and took a small sip from his cup. Maud too take a small sip and then answered, still not showing any interest towards him, “I am a rock researcher.”

That hit him like a train. He knew that there was something about this mare that made her to stand out from the crowd. Trenderhoof absolutely idolized ponies who had a down to earth job, where you got dirty and sweaty. Those ponies kept the world running, without them there wouldn’t be Equestria. It was fascinating to Trenderhoof.

“Really?” he asked with eyes sparkling from excitement. Maud expression didn’t change, she just nodded and said, “I just said so.”

“I-I have to say that I find your work absolutely fascinating!” he stammered while giving Maud the most genuine smile. She didn’t seem surprised, or even amused by his sudden outbusrt. She tasted her punch again and said, “Many find it boring.”

“Boring!?” Trenderhoof asked with shocked voice. He looked at Maud straight in the eyes and said, “Your job, like everypony else’s who works in such a down to earth job as you self, are the most important jobs in whole Equestria! Without farmers there wouldn’t be any corps! Without builders we wouldn’t have any houses, without your job we wouldn’t have… urh… any knowledge about rocks!”

Maud stared at him for a while. Trenderhoof was sure that his little speech would get some reaction from her, but instead she just said with her bored voice, “I just like rocks. A lot.”

Trenderhoof sighed and took off his glasses. She still didn’t seem to get any more interested from his company. There was a long silence between them, and he kept fiddling with his glasses in his hooves. Trenderhoof started to think that maybe he should leave Maud alone, even though she had just gotten a lot more interesting. He had once learned when a mare didn’t want his company, and the symptoms Maud had were all too familiar to him.

It was a hard decision but he put his glasses back to his muzzle and downed the rest of his drink. He then stood up with defeated expression on his face. Maud immediately turned towards him and asked with her monotone voice, “Where are you going?”

“I’m sorry if I was getting onto your nerves, I’ll leave you alone now,” he answered and gave Maud a last sad smile before turning around. He didn’t even take a first step when he heard Maud say behind him, “Don’t go.”

He spun around and looked at her with surprised look on his face. Maud stared at him with that deadpan look she always wore.

“What?” he asked from her, making her repeat, “Don’t go.”
Trenderhoof blinked his eyes confusedly before asking, “You don’t want me to go?”

“I said so two times already,” Maud said with a small nod. Trenderhoof kept staring at the emotionless mare for a good while, before slowly sitting down to the same chair as before. He leaned against his other hoof and examined the mare with quizzical look in his eyes. What was going on inside this mare’s head?

“I thought you didn’t want me here,” he said and stared at the mare over his glasses. She returned the stare and said calmly, “I like your company.”

That made Trenderhoof’s eyes go wide. Now he wasn’t sure if the mare was kidding him or not. Why would she act so coldly towards him if she liked his company? He just had to ask, “Why are you acting so cold then?”

Maud looked at her drink for a second, then she lifted the cup to her lips and finished it. She laid the empty cup to the table and said, “I present my feelings a little bit differently than others.”
Trenderhoof gave her a suspicious look, his mind filled with questions. He had met many ponies during his travels, each different from another, but that mare in front of him was something different, something new and ‘authentic’.

His frown slowly started to change into a smile. He took both of the cups into his magical grasp and asked with a grin, “More Punch?”

“Sure.”

Comments

[Panzertank]

No, comments at all? That's a bit sad... But at least i'm here!

The story seems really promising so far!

Keep it up xP

[Gamerpurpledog]

This looks like a really good story. I SHALL READ ON!

[Bluegrass Brooke]

Interesting setup. Though I can't say I agree with your Pinkie shipping. I'm a hardcore CheesePie fan myself. Glad to see at least one other author who writes TrenderMaud. I think they make an interesting couple.

Characterization seemed a little off with Tend, but spot on with Maud. I'll confess your writing style was a bit awkward to sift through. Just felt too description heavy for my taste. That aside, it was an interesting read. Earned my up-vote.

[Truthseeker]

Finally another Maud story that doesn't have to do with just clop. I love proper portrayals of Maud, like in The Weed. I shall continue on.