• Published 20th May 2014
  • 9,165 Views, 39 Comments

Simply Beautiful - FinnPony



Trenderhoof has always been a stallion that liked simple, down to earth things and Maud has always been a simple, down to earth pony. Guess what happens when these two meet?

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Act 3.2

Simply beautiful
by FinnPony

Act 3.2

Trenderhoof’s apartment hadn’t been what Maud Pie had expected it to be. Of course it was in the centre of Canterlot, and it was a penthouse apartment with rent about same amount of bits that Maud made in year, but it was rather simply decourished inside. Not that the furniture were cheap or anything, they were hoofmade and probably cost a fortune too, but their appearance was something that anypony could have in their homes. Also the color design was very simple. White colors everywhere. Not something that you expected to see in a home of a famous journalist. Well, Maud liked the simple design. Maybe not enough rock-themed furnitures but it could be arranged.

Maud and Trenderhoof were sitting in the kitchen, around a big dining table that was from a fine quality maple tree. The sun was just starting to rise up onto the sky, and it’s warm first rays of light poured into the kitchen. Trenderhoof had told her that it was one of the reasons he had rented the apartment.

Maud was eating cereal, without milk. She didn’t like to mix milk into her cereal. Trenderhoof was eating cereal too but his cereals were drowning in milk. Or that’s how Maud saw it. The morning went on like all the others that far. Maud ate in silence, offering some of her food to Boulder who rested on the table. Like always, Trenderhoof seemed like he couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

“I’ve been thinking...” he started and munched a spoonful of cereals. After his mouth was empty again, he continued, “Maybe I should make a visit to Rambling rock ridge?”
Maud stopped with the spoon still in her mouth when he mentioned her birthplace. She gulped down the cereal and asked “Why?”

“I realised that I haven’t done a single article about rock farming,” he said and leaned into his front hooves, eyeing Maud strangely.

“And I have recently found that profession quite interesting,” he continued. Maud lifted her front hooves to the table, leaned closer to him and asked without breaking her poker face, “Is there some reason for that?”

“Well,” he said and inched his hoof closer to hers. “I met a interesting mare couple of days back. And she’s quite a good looking too.”

Their hooves touched.

Their relationship had deepened greatly after the day in the square. They touched each other without problem, Maud not being so scared of it anymore. They had been holding hooves almost nonstop. Maud also had started to like Trenderhoof’s sweet talking and his constant flirting.

She thought that who knew how long it would take for them to see again after she would leave Canterlot, so she would get the most out of it.

“That’s…” Maud started, but didn’t know how to sweet talk. She looked at Trenderhoof for help. He chuckled and tried, “Sweet?”

“Yeah. That.”

Trenderhoof smiled and leaned even closer, pursing his lips slightly. He crossed Maud’s too close for comfort line. She pushed him gently backwards from his forehead, feeling almost bad for him when she saw his pitiful face. It wasn’t first time he had tried to kiss her, with same result. Maud liked him, and she really wanted to kiss back, but she had never found enough courage to actually do it.

“Sorry… again,” Trenderhoof said with apologetic smile. Maud lifted her hoof to brush his cheek gently as consolation. He smiled a bit more happily for a second, and they pressed their foreheads together. After a while they leaned backwards, staring into each other’s eyes. Then Trenderhoof’s expression changed into a shocked one, and Maud noticed him looking past her. She turned to look where he was looking at, and saw the kitchen clock. It was half past eight. Maud knew that he was supposed to be at the office at nine.

“Oh no,” he cried and rose up from the table. “I’m going to be late!”
Maud calmly looked from the chair as he dashed off and ran around his apartment, trying to find his saddlebag. Maud looked to the table and saw the lost saddlebag sitting right there, in the middle of it. She took it into her hooves and cleared her throat to get Trenderhoof’s attention. He stopped on his tracks and looked at her with sheepish grin.

“Oh how absent-minded I am,” he said and flipped the saddlebag onto his back before reaching his hoof towards Maud, who mimicked him. They shared a hug. Maud was still new in things like that, but she liked it. Trenderhoof was a really great hugger in her opinion, his hugs were warm and in the same time stern, making her feel comfortable. She especially liked the scent of his mane. It smelled clean. Nothing else.

“It’s pretty busy day today,” he said, still holding Maud. She nodded so that Trenderhoof could feel it. He slowly pulled away and said, “But you can come by at the office if you want.”

“Okay.”

Trenderhoof smiled and started to walk towards the door. He quickly glanced at the clock and muttered to himself, “Ohh… She’s going to kill me.”
That made Maud’s ears perk up. She knew that his boss was a stallion, not a mare.

“Bye then!” Trenderhoof exclaimed from the door. Maud waved at him, and he disappeared behind the door.

Maud kept thinking about the line he had muttered just mere seconds before. She jumped off from the table and walked to the nearby window. After couple of minutes she saw Trenderhoof trotting towards his office. Even she knew that what she had heard was nothing, something still kept bothering her. She was not sure why.

* * *

Trenderhoof trotted down the street with spring in his step. Even the fact that he was almost late from a very important meeting didn’t stop him from smiling. Maud Pie had that kind of effect on him.

He peeked over his shoulder. His apartment had disappeared from his sight long time ago, but he still felt an urge to look behind him, every time hoping to see that grey mare behind him.

She wasn’t there.

Trenderhoof sighed and looked forward again. He wanted to be home. Usually he was happy when going to the office, he liked his job unlike some of his co-workers. Maybe it was because he had almost triple pay rate compared to them, and he often met famous ponies during his travels. In a matter of fact he was supposed to meet one in fifteen minutes. It was reason to his hurrying. He knew that it was important meeting, and that it was also going to be the most interesting meeting he had had in months. Normally he could not have have even imagined to miss something like that, but now...

Now he wanted to be home.

For the past week there hadn’t been a single day when he hadn’t thought about staying home. Actually he had skipped work just the day earlier, spending the whole day with Maud. He felt bad in a way for not showing up on the most busiest time of the week, but didn’t regret it. Time with Maud had been invaluable.

Trenderhoof trotted past the café where they had seen each other for the first time in Canterlot. He chuckled to himself when he remembered how embarrassed Maud had looked, sitting there in her dust covered dress and tangled mane.

The memory of her appearance that night made Trenderhoof’s heart beat faster. He knew how other ponies probably didn’t know nothing about her because of her simple appearance and unintentional coldness in her voice drove most of them away from her. Like those mares that kept making Maud feel awkward when they met in the café he just passed. They saw just a dirty pony with dull look on her face. It still made him feel a bit angry, because he knew that Maud wasn’t like that.

Trenderhoof crossed a road, almost getting ran over by a chariot, but he didn’t even notice it. He was too deep in his thoughts. He thought what Maud really was. She was a strong, independent mare who had a hard work. Trenderhoof also knew that she was also an intelligent. She loved poems and fashion was also part of her… in some way at least.

Trenderhoof knew he shouldn’t have started thinking about her, because now it was almost impossible to not turn around and gallop right back to her. The more he thought about her, the more perfect she seemed.

Trenderhoof’s ears stated to feel warm and he smiled smugly to himself when he started to think about Maud’s more physical features. She was couple old years older than him, and years of hard work had clearly shaped her body to perfection...

Trenderhoof’s eyes had a glassy gaze in them when he trotted forward. not seeing or hearing anything that happened around him. His daydream had set him into some kind of a automated walk mode. He would surely had walked past the office, if a voice would not have called his name.

“Trenderhoof! There you are!” a feminine voice with sophisticated tone shouted, making him snap out of his fantasy, that had made his cheeks got redder shade on them. He turned around and realised that he had walked past the front doors of the office, and that his visitor was already there, waiting for him. Trenderhoof shook his head to clear it, and then started to walk back towards his visitor.

In front of him stood a white mare in her twenties. She had a big brimmed hat on top of her head, covering some of her curled royal purple mane. Under the brim of the hat, two big azure eyes stared at him while a happy smile spread on the mare’s lips. She stood in a pose, which Trenderhoof thought was almost like a reflex to her.

“Well hello Rarity. It’s been too long,” Trenderhoof said, returning the smile. It had been a long time since they had seen each other, during the Pinkie Pie’s wedding to be exact. Trenderhoof remembered how he had first tried to avoid meeting her during the wedding, thinking that their meeting would be rather awkward, considering the Applejack incident. Of course they met, but they both were adults so everything had gone well.

“Oh, too long my darling,” Rarity cooed. She then nudged her head towards him, showing off her hat that was probably one of her newest creations.

“How do you like it? It’s one of my newest creations.”

“It’s lovely,” Trenderhoof answered. In his opinion it was just a hat. Hat with lot of glitter. Surely it would have been much more charming if one certain earth pony wouldn’t be the only thing in his head.

“So Rarity. Are you ready to begin?” Trenderhoof asked, eager to get the meeting over with. “I have all the plans and alternatives ready just for you.”

“Ooh, I cant wait to get started,” Rarity exclaimed. “I have so many amazing ideas for this year’s Ponyville Days festival!”
There was a small pause, her eyes glimmering and lips curling into a excited smile.

“I is going to be magnificent!” she tittered. Trenderhoof smiled and opened door to her, before saying, “Without doubt, dearest Rarity.”

* * *

“That was absolutely exhausting!” Rarity whined and hung her head dramatically. “But also most rewarding!”

“Yes, indeed,” Trenderhoof said calmly. They slowly walked towards the door that lead towards the now crowded streets of Canterlot. Their meeting was over. It had been complete hell to Trenderhoof. Not because he didn’t like Rarity, or the meeting itself, but because he had a burning urge to get back to his place to see the mare of his dreams again.

“I can’t believe that boss of yours,” Rarity continued with disapproving tone. “How can’t he be interested in Ponyville Days Festival!? It’s the most important festival in whole Ponyville! He seems to think that Ponyville is just some backwater full of jockels! Glad I could get him to see the true charm of my hometown”
She ended her sentence with a loud ‘hmph’. Maybe it wasn’t Ponyville’s charm that made him bend to her will. Maybe it was her charm. She turned towards Trenderhoof, waiting for an reaction.

It took couple of seconds before he noticed Rarity staring at him.

“What?” he asked. They stopped in front of the front door and Rarity gave him a suspecting glare. She leaned closer to him and said, “You have been acting strangely today.”
He was about to say something about being in a hurry, but Rarity was faster.

“Is it mare trouble?”

Trenderhoof stared at her with surprised look.

“Is it that obvious?” he asked, making Rarity chuckle girlishly. She fluttered her eyelashes while speaking,”Oh you can’t keep those things away from Ponyville’s number one gossip queen.”
Trenderhoof chuckled and shook his head amusedly. Rarity let out a squee and asked, “Who is her? Some famous pony of course.”

“Actually she’s just a regular pony,” Trenderhoof said with smile. “Just like me and you.”

“That’s so sweet,” Rarity said with dreamy look in her eyes. “How is she?”
Trenderhoof lifted his gaze towards the ceiling, thinking how to describe Maud the best way.

“She’s much more than she lets other ponies think… She hides under her simple appearance,” he started, scratching his small beard. “She doesn’t speak too much, but she’s a great listener. She doesn’t want to be the center of attention, but that makes her even more interesting.”

“So it is Applejack incident all over again?” Rarity said with a raised brow. Trenderhoof scratched his neck awkwardly and said, “It’s different this time. I know it.”

Rarity smiled warmly at him and said, “So you really are head over hooves in love with her?”

“Yes. I think I am,” Trenderhoof said with a nod. “I wouldn’t want anypony else.”

“Not even me?” Rarity suddenly asked with a seductive tone and sultry gaze. Trenderhoof frowned and answered without hesitation, “Not even you.”

“Well that’s good to hear,” Rarity snickered. “Because otherwise my coltfriend would get real mad. And he’s pretty aggressive sometimes.”

Trenderhoof noticed a teasing grin appearing on Rarity’s lips. He returned it.

“Good to see that we both have gotten over that little accident and moved on,” Rarity said. Trenderhoof nodded knowingly. He then reached his hoof towards Rarity, inviting her into a friendly hug.

“It was good to see a old friend,” Rarity said when she returned the hug, closing him into a friendly embrace. She gave Trenderhoof a small kiss to a cheek while saying, “Come visit me and the girls in Ponyville someday.”

“I think I will...” Trenderhoof said, a bit taken back by the sudden peck on the cheek. He quickly decided that it was just a gesture to say ‘good bye’. He cleared his throat and a smug grin appeared onto his face. Rarity gave her a confused look in response.

“I bet that Pinkie Pie want’s to meet her older sister’s new coltfriend someday,” he said and liked the way how shock emerged onto Rarity’s face.

* * *

About five minutes earlier Maud Pie was briskly walking towards Trenderhoof’s workplace. She had struggled alone with her unsettling thoughts for many hours, before finally deciding to go and meet him. First she had been nervous about leaving the apartment, but had noticed that not too many ponies actually were staring at her. She thought that it was because she wasn’t moving around with famous pony like Trenderhoof, and because she wasn’t returning from work, covered in dust.

And even if somepony might have looked at her curiously, she didn’t care. She was feeling too troubled to notice them.

She trotted past the familiar café, not even glancing at it. Her mind was racing around the small, barely audible sentence mumbled by Trenderhoof that morning.

“Ohh… She’s going to kill me.”

Subconsciously she knew that he could have meant a co-worker or a customer, but rest of her didn’t listen to her subconscious. Later on she would realise that it was because she finally had a pony to care for as more than just a friend, wanting to keep him for herself and not let go. She would also realise that her jealousy was some kind of a defence mechanism that her mind had created while being disoriented by all those new, strange feelings Trenderhoof had caused in her.

On that moment however she didn’t even consider those opinions. Actually she didn’t know what to think, or why she was so worried. She didn’t think that Trenderhoof would have another mare. He wasn’t like that. She knew that.

She was snapped back to reality for couple of seconds when she almost hit two ponies walking slowly in front of her. Other one was a stallion and he was walking with mare glued to his side. Maud wouldn’t have paid any attention to them and would have just passed them, but they did something that made her stare at those two.

They kissed.

Maud slowed down to match the speed of those two lovers in front of her. She saw the dreamy gazes in those two unicorn’s eyes. They clearly were in love.

Maud fell back to her thoughts. She had showed clear signs of affection towards Trenderhoof. They held hooves, they leaned against each other while sitting side by side, they hugged each other… But they haven’t kissed. She felt a blush forming on her cheeks while thinking about the concept of kissing. It was an physical expression of affection or love between two ponies. Love. Did she love Trenderhoof. She didn’t know, but something in her made her feel warm while being with him, and jealous when somepony else was near him. She had never loved anypony, so she couldn’t tell if what she was feeling was love. But she knew that it was some kind of deep affection at least, and that she liked it.

She shook her head and speeded up her pace, walking past those two lovers. She had just gotten a new urge to get to Trenderhoof and prove her suspicions wrong. Suspicions? Was she suspecting that he was maybe doing something with other mare? She cursed mentally, still not knowing what she was doing.

She started to trot. It didn’t take long before she recognized the light brown colored building that had the logo of Trenderhoof’s magazine hanging over it’s front doors. She slowed down and walked towards it with mixed feelings. She felt good to see him, and in other hand she feared that she would see him with another mare. On that moment she realised that she was indeed afraid that he had somepony other.

She stopped just before the glass doors. She could see inside, but saw nopony in the lobby. She took a deep breath and was about to go in, when one of the doors to the lobby opened. She felt her heart jumping to her throat when she spotted Trenderhoof, in all his splendor. She felt relief for a second, but then she showed up.

Maud let out a small, just audible gasp when she saw somehow familiar white mare walking besides him, talking to him. Like said earlier, she should have realised that she was just a customer to Trenderhoof, but in her confused state she immediately felt her heart skipping a beat from pure horror.

She retreated towards the wall, so that she could peek behind the doorway. She could have just rushed in, but something stopped her. She decided to examine the situation.

They were talking about something, that white mare fluttering her eyelashes annoyingly while she spoke. Maud saw that Trenderhoof smiled at her, making her feel even more nervous. She remembered the mare suddenly. She was one of Pinkie Pie’s friends. That fact made her feel even more grim. She had thought that they were friends. Maybe she didn’t know about Trenderhoof and Maud? She shook her head, even if that white mare didn’t know, he did.

She saw that now Trenderhoof was looking nervous, speaking something she couldn’t hear through the thick glass. She kept watching with deep worry. The mare gave her a look that was clearly suggestive. By that point, Maud’s heart was almost coming through her chest. She had a bad feeling about that look, and she saw them exchanging some words, and Trenderhoof reached his hoof towards her.

They hugged.

Maud’s mouth opened. She stared at the stallion. She felt how her heart stopped beating, but knew that they could hug as just friends. She still had her hopes up.

The mare kissed him.

Maud’s world stopped. She stared at Trenderhoof and that white mare. For a second, nothing happened, but then she felt sharp pain in her chest. She felt how her heart shattered. She saw them backing away from each other, with smiles on their faces that hurt her even more. She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry, she wanted to run away. Her heart started beating fast, her breathing got harder, small sad voices escaping from her mouth. She started hyperventilating. She laid onto her stomach and hid behind her hooves, shuttering. She stayed in that pose for a second, until the shuttering stopped.

When Maud lifted her head again, her face was cold and emotionless. Not even single tear was shed. Maud didn’t look inside again, instead she turned around and started walking towards the same way she had came.

* * *

Trenderhoof twisted the key in the lock with his magic, opening the door with a quiet klick. He grinned happily and stepped in. It had been taken him a bit longer to get home, mainly due Rarity’s harsh lecture to not ever hurt Maud’s feelings, because otherwise he would have six very angry mares after him. He chuckled at the image of him being chased down by one princes and five elements of harmony.

“Maud? I’m home,” he announced as he stepped into his own apartment. It was quiet. He wasn’t suspecting anything though, Maud never responded. She always trotted to meet him and gave him a gentle hug, which he was waiting eagerly in the hallway. She never came.
Trenderhoof was a bit surprised, but thought that she was probably in bathroom or something. He trotted to the living room, not seeing a single soul.

“Maud?” he called again. No response. Trenderhoof trotted towards the bathroom next, knocking on the door gently. Again no response. Trenderhoof thought for a second. He then tried the handle. Unlocked. He took a peek in the bathroom and saw that Maud was not in there. In a way he felt relieved. It would have been awkward if he would have crashed on her while she was on a toilet. He didn’t feel too troubled at that point. He was sure that Maud was taking a nap in the bedroom.

He closed the bathroom door and trotted to the door of his bedroom, noticing that it was open.

“Maud?” he asked silently, not wanting her to get startled. “I’m home.”
He pushed the door, opening it just enough to see that the bed was made. Now he started to feel rather nervous. What if Maud had just left to see him at his workplace? They could have passed each other and now she was at his workplace, trying to look for him. She could get lost for Celestia’s sake!

It was clear that Maud wasn’t there, so his best guess was that she was out in the city tryin g to look for him. He sighed and hung her head for a moment. Trenderhoof would just need to calm down. He was sure that when Maud would find out that he wasn’t working any more, she would come back there.

He turned towards the door that led outside. He thought for a moment before starting to walk towards it. He knew that Maud could take care of herself, but something drove him towards the door. He passed the kitchen, but stopped suddenly. Trenderhoof turned around and stared at that fine quality maple tree table of his. Well, actually he stared at something that was resting on it.

Trenderhoof walked to the table and saw that the object that had caught his interest was a white piece of paper, pinned down by something he recognized as one of the rock samples Maud had brought along with her from the mine. He didn’t pay any attention to the rock though, he just flicked it away with his magic before lifting the paper into the air. he levitated the paper closer to his face, examining it carefully.

His jaw dropped and his eyes went wide, then his face grew a terrified expression on them. His lower lip quivered as he eyed the paper, not believing what was written on it.

“It wouldn’t work out. Please don’t follow me.”

That was all there was. He stared at the paper with same terrified look on his face for a long moment, before releasing it from his magical grasp and dashing towards the bedroom. He almost banged the door off from it’s hinges as he rushed into the bedroom. He let out a gasp as his suspicions came through. Her saddleback was gone.

He rushed back to the living room, skidding to a stop in front of the window. He tried to look out for her, but didn’t see her silhouette anywhere. Trenderhoof slumped down in front of the window, pressing his forehead against the window.

His body started to shut down. He fell limp against the window, all of his limbs paralyzed. Only his mind was racing. Maud wasn’t like that. She wouldn’t leave him without saying it face to face. She couldn’t do something so mean to anypony and Trenderhoof knew that. He had seen how she really was. He knew.

Or did he?

His limp body winced as that thought passed his mind. What about if he was wrong? No. He dismissed that thought with a shake of his head. He loved her. He knew Maud’s feelings better than anypony. It didn’t take long before that thought was again on his mind though.

Maud was a pony that you could not be read so easily. She didn’t show her feelings to almost anypony, and now Trenderhoof started to think if she had never even showed her feelings to him? No she hadn’t. She said that she liked him, but did not act like it. Of course they had been holding hooves, hugging and snuggling, but without emotion those actions were meaningless. Just some meaningless touching between two ponies.

“But she wanted to date me…” Trenderhoof said, arguing with himself. Sure she had said that, and maybe even meant that, but what if she had gotten some second thoughts?

“No,” Trenderhoof said with tearful voice, but his mind had already came up with a argument.

How could he explain the note that was now laying under the table?

He didn’t want to think about it.

“I know she loves me,” he whispered, but his mind immediately inquired if he could be wrong. Of course he could be wrong. Trenderhoof turned towards the paper with tears starting to form in the corner of his eyes. He gulped and levitated the paper towards him. He closed his eyes and levitated the paper with grim news in front of him, hoping that it would had different message in it when he would open his eyes.

It didn’t. It still said, “It wouldn’t work. Please don’t follow me.”

Big tears started to roll down Trenderhoof’s cheeks, and he felt a sudden urge to get intoxicated. He rose up and started to walk towards the door. He knew that there was a small shop that sold booze nearby his apartment. He opened the door, not bothering to close it behind him and started to walk down the stairs with big tears rolling down his cheeks.