Simply Beautiful

by FinnPony

Act 2.1

Simply beautiful
by FinnPony

Act 2.1

It was getting dark as the Canterlot castle’s bell rang twelve times. Most of the capital city’s residents were already in their homes, vast asleep. Only sounds in the streets were the buzzing sound that the electrical streetlights kept and the seldon clatter of iron horseshoes when guards were on their patrols.

Besides guards in their flashy armor, there were only couple of evening types who roamed the empty streets. On of them was Maud Pie, the most discreet ponies in the whole city. She was coming back from a old ore mine near the city’s borders. Her grey coat was covered in dust and her normally straight mane was a mess. She wasn’t wearing a beautiful dresses and she didn’t like highly decorated hats everypony in Canterlot had. She was much more happier in her simple and practical green dress.

She moved near the buildings, away from the white light of the street lights. She was glad that it was already night when she trotted through the city. There were less curious ponies staring at her at that time.

She didn’t like walking on the crowded streets of Canterlot, she just couldn’t blend in to the mass and everypony kept staring at her, making her feel like there was something wrong in her. Maud had feelings too, even though she never showed them to anypony. She wasn’t an emotionless machine like someponies thought.

Her line of thought broke as her saddlebag slipped into an uncomfortable position. She nudged her rump so that the bag was once again in a bit comfortable on her back. The saddlebag she was carrying was full of rocks, each different, interesting species that she was going to examine more when she would get back to the hotel she was living.

Maud had been visiting Canterlot for couple of days. She was going to stay there for the rest of the week, going to that same abandoned mine every morning. Alone.

Of course she liked to work alone, but spending whole day by herself took its toll on her. While living on the rock farm, working days were tough and long, but after the day their family would spent the evening together. In Canterlot, she was alone twenty four seven. It was hard, even for Maud who wasn’t that social.

She sighed and looked around herself. She saw a familiar late night café she had never visited. It was still open and light peered out from it’s windows. Maud knew that she wasn’t far away from her hotel anymore. Only about five minutes of walking and she could climb to her bed and fall asleep. Maybe she would sleep a bit longer that night and spend the morning in the hotel, examining the rocks she had brought with her.

Again her thinking came to a sudden halt when she passed the café. This time it wasn’t due the discomfort from the heavy bag on her back, but because she spotted something in the café when she had passed it. Or somepony actually.

She stopped in the middle of a step and slowly turned around. She looked towards the nearest booth she saw through the the display window of the café. There was a awfully familiar looking stallion in a green sweater sitting there, with focused look in his purple eyes. In front of him, on the table rested his white glasses and a cup half full of coffee. He was reading a newspaper.

Maud took couple of steps closer to the window, almost pressing her muzzle against it. She had indeed recognized the pony. He was that same unicorn from Pinkie’s wedding. He kept flicking through the pages, not noticing Maud who stared at him.

She kept staring at the stallion, who seemed to be in his thoughts. Maud felt a strange urge to go and talk to him, which was totally not like her. She decided to keep looking at the stallion for a while. Something about him made it impossible for her to continue walking. Maybe it was because he had showed genuine interest in her job. She really liked that.

A sudden clattering of hooves distracted her. She turned her head towards the sound and saw a yellow mare walking past her. She didn’t pay any more attention to her.

Maud watched the mare walk away for a second. She then turned towards the window again, only to meet pair of purple eyes staring back at her. She almost winced. Almost. The unicorn was staring at her with confused smile on his lips. Maud liked that smile. It was strange to her, usually somepony smiling at her didn’t mean so much. Ponies were always smiling anyway.

That smile though, she was tempted to return it.

She didn’t.

Instead she walked towards the door and quickly shook her body so that most of the dust would fall off. She checked her from the reflection of the window. She was a bit more presentable looking, which was enough for her. She opened the door and stepped in.

It immediately felt like a bad idea.

Not because of the café itself, no. The building was classy looking place with warm colors everywhere. Maud actually liked the exterior of the place, and could see herself visiting the place during daytime.

Like said, it wasn’t the café that made her uncomfortable. It was the customers.

There were couple of ponies there besides her and that unicorn, and they all were looking at her weirdly. They probably were thinking that she was a beggar of some sort because of her shaggy appearance. She kept her poker face but felt embarrassed. What had she been thinking?

“Hey Maud!” she heard, snapping her away from her thoughts. She realized that she was facing that unicorn. He had a welcoming smile on his lips. His face was so close to Maud that she could see the small stubble on his chin.

For a second Maud couldn’t do anything else than just think how good that smile looked on him.

Maud stared at him for couple of seconds, trying to remember his name. It would be a bit embarrassing if she wouldn’t remember his name after he clearly remembered her’s. She eyed the still smiling unicorn for couple more seconds, before she remembered his name.

Trenderhoof.

She blinked before answering slowly, “Hi Trenderhoof.”

"Call me Trend," Trenderhoof said and smile grew wider. It seemed like the corners of his mouth would tear his head in half. Maud thought how amusing it would be, but then realized that it wouldn’t be amusing at all so she stopped thinking about it. Instead she said, “Nice to see you.”

“Nice to see you too!” Trenderhoof exclaimed. “I didn’t expect to see you again.”
Maud hadn’t expected to see him again either, but didn’t say it. She just stared at the stallion in front of her and then nudged her head towards the booth. Trenderhoof got the hint and said quickly, “Oh, where are my manners, please sit down.”

And so she did. Maud laid the heavy saddlebag to the chair next to her and sat down. The softness of the chair caressed her rump. It was then when she realized how much her body ached from the hard work she had been through that day.

Trenderhoof sat to the opposite side of the table, his purple eyes fixated to her with excited look in them. It actually made Maud feel a bit troubled. Trenderhoof could clearly not see it because he kept staring at her.

Maud heard somepony whispering behind her and slowly turned her head towards the sounds. There were two mares couple of booths behind her. They were looking at her but when she turned towards them the whispering stopped and they tried to look as casual as possible.

Maud realized that they were talking about her. She knew it had been a bad idea to come there. She looked at her dress that was still covered in quite a load of dust.

“Is something wrong?” Trenderhoof asked from her. She looked at him with stoic stare and said, “I look like a beggar.”

That made Trenderhoof laugh. Maud saw other ponies turning toward them, making her feel even more uncomfortable than before.

“Stop,” she said quietly. He did as she asked and gave her a funny look.

“What? It’s pretty funny,” he said. Maud looked at her dress for a while before saying, “I don’t find it funny.”
She held a small pause before continuing, “I think it’s embarrassign.”

Trenderhoof chuckled and said, “You don’t look like a beggar. You look like a hard working pony to me.”

“I’ve been working all day,” Maud confirmed with a calm nod. The look in Trenderhoof’s eyes made her stare at her hooves. His eyes were almost like sparkling.

Maud stared at her hooves and Trenderhoof said, “I find that really charming.”

That made Maud blink couple of times. She lifted her eyes from her hooves and her gaze met with his. Trenderhoof had a sly look on his face.

“Really?” she asked . Trenderhoof nodded eagerly and leaned a bit forward before saying, “Yes. I simply adore ponies who have such a physical job as you have.”
He held a small pause and gave her a slightly suggestive look. Was he trying to flirt with her?

“It also seems to keep the body in a good shape too.”

He was flirting. Even Maud who didn’t have any experience in things like that, knew that he was doing just that. It made her feel hot around her cheeks. She didn’t know what to feel, or actually she had mixed feelings. It made her uncomfortable, but on the other hand it made her think that somepony actually thought she was interesting enough to flirt at.

They were silent for a while. Trenderhoof kept staring at her with dreamy look and Maud stared at her front hooves with stoic stare again. She didn’t know what to say, or if she should say anything at all. She was feeling slightly uncomfortable, but still strangely excited at the same time.

“I have to ask Maud, where are you working here in Canterlot? I can’t imagine you as a office worker,” Trenderhoof said and took a sip from his now cold coffee. He probably had realized how awkward the situation had been for Maud and changed the subject.

“You know the abandoned mine nearby?” Maud asked. He shook his head. Maud then said, “Well, I work there.”

“Fascinating.” Trenderhoof said and leaned into his hooves. “What do you do there actually?”
Maud thought for a second, eyeing the ceiling. She then turned her stoic back to him and said, “I collect samples and study them. I’m leaving next Saturnday.”

“Is that full of those samples?” Trenderhoof asked and pointed his hoof towards the heavy looking saddlebag that laid next to her. She nodded and said, “Yes. Some of them are just ordinary rocks for boulder to play with.”

“Boulder?” Trenderhoof asked. “Is he your pet?”

“A friend too,” Maud answered.

“I didn’t know that you had a pet.”

“I do. He’s always with me,” Maud said, and with dug something out of the chest pocket of her dress. She looked at the small rock in her hoof and gently touched it. Like she said, Boulder was not only her pet. He was also one of her closest friends. He was a good listener, and they never fought. A perfect friend.

“Here he is,” she said and placed the rock on the table. Trenderhoof looked at the small rock in front of him confusedly. He then leaned forward and examined it over his glasses.

“Is he like a rock-beetle or something? I’ve never seen anything like that,” he said and gave Boulder a small poke.

“There is no such thing as rock-beetles.” Maud said and watched him poking the rock. He gave her a questioning look and asked, “Then what is he?”

“He’s a rock.”

“Oh...”

Trenderhoof leaned away from Boulder, clearly confused and in his thoughts. He gave a careful glance towards Maud, who noticed it.

“He’s really nice when you get to know him,” Maud said and lifted the small rock. She gave it a small nuzzle and put it back into her pocket.

“A pet rock… That’s interesting,” Trenderhoof said and gave her a small smile. She had started to like that smile even more.

She heard snickering from behind her. Probably the same mares that had been whispering about her earlier. Suddenly she remembered where she was again, and felt even more embarrassed than before. The snickering behind her continued, making her feel like shrinking on her place. She looked at stallion in front of her. He too seemed to have noticed the mares behind her, and had an annoyed frown on his face.

“I should go.” Maud said when the constant giggling didn’t stop. She managed to sound calm, even she wasn’t. She quickly rose from the table and took her saddleback. Before she could even say goodbyes, Trenderhoof grabbed her from her hoof. Maud who wasn’t used to being touched, jerked her hoof away from his quickly.

“Sorry,” she apologize after that. Trenderhoof had a sad pout on his face. Maud stared at him for a second, then she take a quick peek at the mares that were now trying to look busy reading their menus. She sighed and sat down. Trenderhoof examined her and then looked at the booth were the mares were sitting.

“Are they troubling you?” he asked. Maud quickly shook her head. She didn’t want him to be worried.

“Are you sure?”

Now Maud nodded. Trenderhoof didn’t seem to buy it. He leaned a bit forward, whispering just barely audibly, “Don’t take that from them.”

“It’s okay,” Maud answered, feeling troubled. She wasn’t one to take involvement in any kind of conflicts.

“No it’s not,” Trenderhoof whispered a bit louder. “Why won’t you stand out for yourself?”
That made Maud fall silent. Trenderhoof could see how she tensed up, showing clear signs of discomfort.

Maud stared past him, not wanting to talk anymore. She had her own reason why she didn’t want to talk about her abstinence of showing too much feelings. Something she didn’t want to talk with somepony she barely knew.

“You don’t need to talk about it if you don’t want to,” Trenderhoof said awkwardly, leaning backwards from her. She nodded and kept staring past her. She started to feel like leaving again. Just as she was about to rise up from the table, Trenderhoof spoke again.

“Maud,” he said, getting her attention. “I don’t know what you will think about this but…”
Maud herself didn’t know what she was going to think about it, or what he was going to say even.

“I was thinking…” he started and scratched the back of his head nervously. “I was thinking if we could… see again? Before you leave Canterlot?”

Maud blinked. He wanted to meet her again? Was he asking her out on date? Did she want to meet him again? Those were the questions running around her head. She had never been out with a stallion before. She actually never even had wanted to go out with anypony. And why should she have wanted? She had never felt a need for a very special somepony in her life. Now she was getting ahead of things. Maybe he wanted to see just as friends?

Maud looked at the stallion in front of her. He had formed nervous grin on his face when she hadn’t answered. She thought what to say for a long moment, before asking with her emotionless voice, “Like a date?”

Trenderhoof chuckled nervously and drew small invisible circles to the floor with his hoof. He looked at maud with a asking look on his face and said, “If you want.”

Maud felt a single drop of sweat running down her forehead. She was between a rock and a hard place there. She wanted to say yes, but she also wanted to say no. Those two opinions fought inside her head.

A small silence before Maud coughed. She had decided to just open her mouth and see which opinion had won the battle. She looked at him and found herself saying quietly, “Sure.”

Comments

[Quincydragon]

I was actually thinking about writing a fic with these two, and look at what I find!

[Yildun]

4425774
Please do write a story anyway! I agree with FinnPony. We need more Trend/Maud!

[Truthseeker]

I'm really liking your depiction of Maud. I always assumed she was a deep thinker, the quiet ones generally are. I'm really enjoying this one.