//------------------------------// // The Magic Paintbrush // Story: Finding Happiness // by Wildcard25 //------------------------------// After the Art Exhibition in Canterlot, Anton and his new friends and family were at Doughnut Joe's celebrating the boys triumphant victory in the exhibition. The group was enjoying some doughnuts or other sugary treats with hot chocolate to go with it. Anton was sipping some of his hot chocolate, until Rainbow pulled him closer, "So, Anton. Gonna brag about your victory to your friends when you get home?" "Well..." "I'm just saying I wouldn't blame ya if you did. I mean how many your age can compete in an art exhibition and come out on top?" Rainbow noogied him. "Rainbow Dash, bragging and gloating may be your thing, but it doesn't have to be Anton's." Twilight scolded her. "Ok-ok." Rainbow brushed her off, and continued to enjoy the party. Anton looked around seeing everyone having a good time, while thinking, 'I really never would've thought my artwork could have this much impact. And I wonder if I can really take it to the next level when I do attend Art's academy," Suddenly Anton felt as if something was trying to get his attention. He looked out the window and to his surprise saw across the street was an old unicorn stallion on the ground looking unable to get up. He had a light gray coat, white beard, and brilliant gold colored eyes. His article of clothing was a blue robe. Anton looked concerned and saw nobody outside was stopping by to help him. He wasn't sure what was going on, but a part of him was telling him he should help. He turned to the group, "Pardon me, everyone. I'll be right back," he hurried out of Joe's and went across the street, "Hey, are you ok?" "Please, help me up. I'm too old for this." the unicorn pleaded. "Hang on, I gotcha," Anton helped the old unicorn back on his hooves, "There you go." "Oh, thank you, young one. Oh!" he recoiled. "Are you hurt?" Anton asked in concern. "I'll be fine after I've rested. Could you please help me home?" Anton spoke, "I don't know. I mean I do have to get back to my family." "Not to worry, I don't live too far." the unicorn explained. Anton looked at the old unicorn knowing he probably wouldn't make it home without falling again. Thinking it'd be the right thing to do, andwered, "Ok. Lead the way." he helped the unicorn along. "Thank you. By the way, what is your name?" "I'm Anton. Anton MacLeod. And you, sir?" "Call me Gandore." he introduced himself, as Anton helped him along. Soon Anton helped Gandore to an old place, "Is this it?" the boy asked. "Yes, thank you again, Anton." "Well, I hope you'll be all right. I better get going." Anton said, as he was about to leave, until Gandore spoke. "Please, come in for a bit. I would like to show you something." Anton knowing all about stranger danger knew it wasn't safe to be with someone you don't know, but felt the old unicorn wouldn't be able to do anything to harm him. So he followed Gandore inside and saw the home was decorated in old ancient relics that looked like they came from all over Equestria, "Wow. Look at all this stuff. Are you a collector?" "Something like that." Gandore answered. "This stuff looks ancient?" Anton noticed some of the antiques looking dated back to a long time ago. "Indeed so. Even older than I am," Gandore admitted, "I've traveled all over Equestria during my younger years collecting all sorts of relics and antiques during my travels." "Awesome." Anton continued to marvel at his collection, until noticing Gandore observing him. "Forgive me, but your appearance is rather striking." "Well, I'm not from Equestria. Although I know that can be hard to believe." Gandore smiled, "Much easier to believe than you might imagine. I've seen enough of this world to expect the extraordinary, and you are quite the extraordinary one." "Well, thank you." "So what does bring one so native to Canterlot?" "Well, I participated in Canterlot's Art Exhibition, and I actually placed first." Anton explained, while trying not to sound too braggy. "Ah, so you are an artist?" "Well, inspiring to become one. But there's still so much to learn." "I happen to be an artist myself," Gandore stated, "I illustrate words. Secret words. And make them beautiful." "Sweet. The kind of artist I wish to be is one who can paint things so realistic they look practically alive." "So that is what you want?" Gandore inquired, "Well, in thanks for your kindness I can help you with that?" he began looking inside an old trunk. "Help me, how?" Anton asked in confusion. "With this," Gandore levitated a small case out and opened it to reveal a paintbrush with little paints inside, "This brush has been used to adorn the words of life. The power of life is in its touch. It will help you in creating your ideal type of works." "Wow, thanks, Mr. Gandore." "You're welcome. But remember its power mustn't be used carelessly. Cherish it as if were an extension of your very being." Anton was confused by Gandore's words, and thought, 'He's starting to sound like some wise old sage. But I better take his warning," he spoke, "I promise you, sir. I'll cherish this gracious gift." "Cherish it, and your works will cherish you in return." Gandore said, as his horn glowed with magic. The room was illuminated, which blinded Anton. Anton opened his eyes, and to his shock found himself back outside across the street from Joe's, "What happened? Did I imagine that?" he wondered, until he checked his pocket and saw he still had the paintbrush case, "Still here. I wonder if it does what he said it would?" he decided to test it out, but pulling out his sketchbook from his backpack. He opened it up to a page featuring a robin. And so he started using the paint to give the bird drawing color. When he was getting closer and closer to finishing it, the brush started glowing with a magical aura which surprised the boy, "What the?" he was shocked, but determined to finish painting. He added the final bit of paint to the drawing and like magic the robin flew off the page chirping, before flying away. Anton looked up in shock at what just happened, before looking back at the paintbrush. Suddenly a smile formed on his face and laughed, "Yes! Yes! All my fantasies of living artwork have become possible! Oh, wait till mom and the others hear..." he stopped and thought about the situation, "Wait a minute. This is a magical artifact, and it's magic must be powerful if it can bring artwork to life. If I showed this to them then they'd probably try to take it away from me. And I promised Gandore I'd cherish it. And I'm not about to break that promise. So perhaps they don't need to know about this.' he put his sketchbook and paintbrush case into his backpack. He hurried back inside. "Anton, there you are." Fluttershy said with worry. "Where'd ya go, Sugarcube?" Applejack asked. "I uh, thought I saw something outside, so I went to check it out." Anton covered up. Pinkie popped over, "Really, what'd ya see? Was it something neat?" "It was nothing. Come on, let's get this party back on." Anton suggested, and the party resumed. The very next day, after the group returned to Ponyville, Anton met up with the CMC, his pals, DT and SS at the CMC clubhouse. After explaining how the exhibition went he told them of the gift he got from Gandore. "Then there was this big flashing light of colors, and then the bird in my drawing came to life and flew off." Anton finished. "Are you serious?" Scootaloo asked. "I am." Anton confirmed. "I don't know, sounds kinda fishy if you ask me." Diamond Tiara said, not wanting to be rude again, but felt skeptical. "Why don't you show us?" Pipsqueak suggested. "Excellent suggestion," Anton agreed, "And I know what to draw," Anton pulled out his sketchbook and started drawing a top black hat. When he used his paints to paint it, they saw the brush glow before the top hat became real. Anton put the hat on and spoke, "Believe me now?" "Ok, that was cool." Silver Spoon said in amaze. "Amazing." Diamond Tiara said. "Do Fluttershy and the others know about this?" Sweetie Belle inquired. "Heck no!" Anton answered, "If they knew I had something this magical, they'd confiscate it from me." "So you're not going to tell them?" Applebloom asked. "No. Even I should have my secrets. Besides it's not like I'm going to use it to bring something dangerous to life." "He's got a point." Rumble agreed. "So what else can you bring to life with that brush?" Button Mash asked. "Hmm. Well, I haven't done too much aside from those two drawing. So maybe I should take it for a real test drive." Anton smirked. Within the hour the kids were enjoying some things Anton painted up for them and made them real. Applebloom was admiring her new shiny bow in her hair, Scootaloo was riding on a new scooter, Sweetie Belle was enjoying brownies on a platter, Button was playing a videogame on a new miniature control console, Featherweight was trying out his new camera, Pipsqueak and Rumble were bouncing around a soccer ball, Diamond Tiara was marveling at a pearl necklace she was wearing, and Silver Spoon was wearing a fancy hat drawn up for her. Anton was currently drinking a soda he drew up for himself, "Man I love this thing." "Thanks for this cool stuff, Anton." Button said. "No problem. I'm amazed to see just how much this paintbrush can really bring to life..." Suddenly an idea came to Anton, "Holy snap! Guys, I just got a new idea on what to create next." "What is it?" Applebloom wondered. "I know I brought a bird, and several inanimate objects to life. But how about I try something more living?" Anton asked, as he reached into his bag and pulled out a piece of paper with a drawing of a about about Anton's age. He appeared to have short hair and clothing wise included sneakers, cargo shorts, a short sleeved shirt covered by a short sleeved unbuttoned shirt. The pony kids looked at the drawing, as Rumble asked, "Neat character design, Anton." "But what's it supposed to be?" Scootaloo inquired. "Well, if I had a sibling this is how I'd want him to look. In fact this was the last thing I drew back in my own world." Anton explained. "It is?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Yeah. And my cousin Rodney took it away from me even though I told him it wasn't finished. That's what set things off leading me to leave home and my mom going to find me and..." Anton trailed off, much to his friends worry. Anton shaking it off continued, "But with my magic paint I can give him life." "Whoa, that'd be cool." Featherweight smiled. "You sure that's a good idea?" Applebloom asked. "Yeah. This way I won't be the only human here. Think you all can give me some opinion on what colors to use?" he requested. The group looked at each other before smiling, and Diamond Tiara spoke, "Sure thing, Anton." Anton felt happy, and spoke, "Thanks, everyone. Now let's give this boy some color." And so Anton started giving color to his character drawing. Soon he had managed to get his clothing colored with the shoes being blue, his shorts black, his under shirt white, and his unbuttoned shirt over it was colored gray. When he moved up to the hair he started debating before asking his friends for opinions, "What do you all think for hair color? Red hair or blonde?" The group started thinking until Diamond spoke, "I say go with red hair. The blonde look could clash with his clothing." "I agree." Applebloom nodded, as did the others. "Red hair it is." Anton applied red paint to his character's hair, and he gave its eyes the color brown,"Ok, this is it." he touched the drawing with his paintbrush activating the magic. They watched as the drawing started glowing and lifting off the paper. Suddenly they saw standing on top of the now blank paper was Anton's character brought to life, now appearing to be the size of Jiminy Cricket. The character looked at himself admiring his look, while moving his arms and legs around to get used to his new senses, and soon enough spoke, "Hey, nice look. And I dig this red hair, it's definitely me," he said, "You made me look perfect, Anton." Anton was taken aback, "Huh? You know my name?" "Well, of course I do. You created me, so I know all about you. And those around you. Nice to meet you guys." the character told the pony kids. "Nice to meet you too..." Sweetie Belle trailed off, "Uh, what's your name?" The character pondered, "Huh. I don't know. Guess I don't have one." "Yeah. I never got around to naming him back then." Anton remembered. "Well, better name him now." Rumble said. So Anton started pondering, while his character waited patiently. Finally Anton snapped his finger, "I got it!" he looked down at his character, "All right, listen. From now on your name will be Zayton." "Zayton?" the character asked before pondering on it, "Yeah. I like it. Zayton MacLeod. Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?" he asked the ponies. "It sure does." Silver Spoon nodded. "Listen, Zayton, for the time being I'm going to have to keep you a secret from mom and the others. You understand?" "Say no more. I understand the situation." Zayton answered. "Don't worry, I'll tell them eventually, but for now you'll have to remain a secret between all of us. Got it, brother?" he held his fist out to Zayton. "Got it, bro." Zayton did a small fist bump with Anton's big fist. Anton looked at Zayton feel so happy he finally had someone like him and nothing at all like his loser cousin.