Concept Art - Captured in Stone

by Georg

Chap.2 - Fold

—Georg
(with editing assistance by The Music Man and Bad Horse)

“Is he still out there?” asked a worried Rainbow Dash while getting out the chairs.

Spike pulled a chair up to the Carousel Boutique window so he could see out. “Yep. He’s just sitting there in the rain, glaring at Rarity’s boutique. Maybe he plans on using it in the sculpture. It’s really pretty. I’ve never spent much time looking at it during a storm; does it look different when wet?”

“Ah think them artist fellers are just plain weird, if’n they ain’t got ‘nuff sense to come in out of the rain,” said Applejack, pulling out a couple decks of cards and checking the cellophane seals. “Why doesn’t he just go up to the hotel?”

“Oh dear,” said Fluttershy, peeking out of a top window at the soggy sculptor. “I hope he is going to be okay out there. I mean, my frog friends like this weather, but he’s not a frog. Even if he is from Prance.”

The bell on the front door of Carousel Boutique rang as two dripping ponies hustled in and dried off. Pinkie bounded to the card table with an entire tray filled with snacks across her back and proceeded to hop around, depositing them one at a time around the table in violation of several laws of physics.

“Let’s get this party started! I brought snacks, and goodies, and cupcakes with little hearts and diamonds on them, and candies, and a whole loaf of zucchini bread, and Rainbow Dash said to wait on her but I see her over there so we don’t have to wait so we can start right away!”

Twilight Sparkle shucked out of her rain boots and levitated her umbrella over to the side to dry. “Sorry to be late everypony, but I got distracted by a book, and I had to go pick up Pinkie Pie and the snacks. What are you all looking at outside?”

Applejack broke the seal on a deck of cards and started shuffling. “Oh, that rude fancy pony that dropped by today is out there. Spike thinks he’s studying the architecture of this place for some reason.”

“Oh no! The letter from the Princess didn’t say anything about him sitting in the rain. Should we go out and ask him what’s wrong? Do you think it might break his concentration? I know he got awfully upset with me when he was in the library.”

“I don’t know, Twilight,” said Rainbow Dash as she peeked out the window again. “He still looks kind of mad. Angry too, since he missed his train. And you should have seen the way he left after trying to make a sketch of me. Threw his stuff all over the place.”

“Finally!” Rarity emerged from her dressing room, fully dressed in rain gear with a saddle umbrella. “This thing just takes forever to put on. If you all can setup the snacks and things, I’ll just nip out there in this dreadful rain and see what I can do for the poor stallion.”

“Pardon me. Excusez moi.” The rain stopped falling around Cold Chisel as an elegantly embroidered umbrella began to hover overhead, supported by a soft blue unicorn aura. “We noticed you sitting out here in the rain. Do you need any help?”

He looked up into the beautiful blue eyes of the first Element he had tried to capture on paper, his first failure in the chain that dogged his steps ever since he set hoof in this detestable town.

“No,” he said with resigned contempt.

“Really, I insist. You’ll catch your death of cold out here if we don’t get you inside right away.”

“No! I deserve this. Let me die of exposure in this filthy backwater little town without a bit to my name and see my artworks blossom in value upon my death. It will be glorious.” He waved a hoof in the direction of Canterlot and coughed.

“Absolutely not! Why, that would be horrid! You come with me right now, I insist.” A light-blue magical aura formed around him and he found himself being dragged forcibly back into the boutique. Once inside, he was shocked to see the subjects he had been attempting to draw all day, sitting around a table with cards and snacks in hoof.

“I... I know all of you. Except...” The most beautiful and delicate yellow pegasus sat demurely by the table, gently nibbling on a piece of cake. The light from the surrounding lanterns lit her with heart-stopping perfection. If he had a block of yellow marble and his tools he would have thrown himself into creating a statue that would capture her essence at this very moment, the way her pink mane gently cascaded from her perfect head and swept up in a delicate curve, the way her tail coiled into a perfect spiral by her hooves. His heart felt as if it were to burst out of his chest, and suddenly he doubled over with a mighty sneeze.

Somewhere between an hour later and an eternity of embarrassment, Cold Chisel found himself sitting to one side of the ongoing poker game. A bitter taste of irony filled his mouth, competing with a delicious jasmine tea and some of the most delightful pastries he had ever eaten, even in Prance. His dry flanks were wrapped in a soft and warm pink bathrobe (embroidered with a flowing R), a teapot was by one elbow, and a collection of the most tasty and delicious delicacies on his plate. He sighed in deep frustration. After spending all day trying to chase down the bearers of the Elements of Harmony to sketch their likeness, they were all finally stationary and in one place. Unfortunately, all he could think of was how his sketch would be duplicated on velvet and placed in the homes of tens of thousands of middle-class drones, immortalizing his name forever as the classic painter who captured Ponies playing Poker.

(Equestria Hold ‘em by Elenafreckle at Deviantart )

This poker game certainly did not compare to his own younger days of serious card playing among ponies who were most definitely not friends. These young mares chatted constantly as they played, about the weather teams, about the new books in the library, about how who was having financial problems in town, and all kinds of activities that would have normally bored him to tears but were living and breathing concerns to the group of friends. His old poker companions had been fully willing to break limbs if they could gain a temporary advantage from the act, while these young mares held themselves together with mutual affection and respect that made his heart warm.

Interspaced in their conversations were little phrases that struck him as considerably out of place. When a pony normally used the phrase, ‘The Princess says,’ it was only a rhetorical device used to indicate the awesome power of the Divine siding with that pony in an argument. At this table, it was used as casually as if Princess Celestia or Luna were going to walk right in the door and sit down for a few hoofs of cards. Or the phrase ‘something needs to be done,’ normally was a hoof-wringing argument about the inevitability of some needed action that was never actually going to get done, and instead was just going to be another tragic failure. But among these friends it actually turned into a ‘we can do this’ argument that eventually caused one or more of them to volunteer to... do it. It was a dizzying thought: solving a town’s problems by way of a monthly poker game.

“Mr. Chisel, is everything to your liking? Do you need some more tea?” The white unicorn raised one perfect eyebrow as she looked at him as if to say — exactly what it was she said. He had been living among the rich and powerful so long that an expression of generosity like this without some subtext was disconcerting. Rarity had been the perfect model of an unselfish host, giving up her own warm and fluffy bathroom robe and volunteering her spare bedroom for the night to a stallion she had never met before today. Even the richest estates of Canterlot had never treated him this well. He was quite positive that if he had turned up in exactly the same bedraggled penniless condition at any of his previous patrons’ expensive mansions, he would have been chased away or arrested.

“No, Mademoiselle. Everything is just perfect. Thank you.” He ran a hoof back through his drying golden mane and took another sip of tea, still pleasantly surprised at the warmth it brought to his chest.

“I’m sorry we run you off this afternoon, Mister Chisel,” said the pony-tailed blonde with a guilty look. “I didn’t realize this was so important to ya. I should’a stopped workin’ fer a bit and had Big Mac sit on Pinkie Pie so you could get that drawing you wanted so bad.”

Pinkie Pie giggled. “Oh, that’s always fun! Why didn’t you?”

“That’s fine, Miss Applejack. Perhaps tomorrow. I shall endeavor to work myself into your busy schedule.” That felt just — weird. For every other commission he had accepted, it was the client who came begging for a place on his busy schedule, or he was commanding a model to arrive at a specific place and time. Now, not only was he condescending to a simple farm laborer, he was looking forward to it.

“Well, I just hope we didn’t make any problems for you,” said Twilight Sparkle brightly. “Princess Celestia sounded like she was really looking forward to seeing what you came up with for a sculpture. Maybe the city can put it by the fountain? Or on it? Do you have any idea what it will look like yet?”

Twilight Sparkle was a most unusual young unicorn. While he was being dried and dressed, she had taken the time to compose a letter to both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna informing them of his unexpected stay, and sent the letters to Canterlot magically by way of her dragon’s fiery breath. An extremely brilliant young unicorn indeed with amazing political resources and magical power, although a little short in worldly knowledge if the ‘Card Rules for Eggheads’ book propped up beside her was any indication.

“No problem at all, Mademoiselle. You may assure the Princess— I mean both Princesses that I shall endeavor to complete their concept piece well within their schedule.” And that was another thing bothering him. Nearly every other commission he had accepted since he left Prance felt like a weight around his neck, a burden, a giant millstone that he chiseled away one chip at a time to turn into bits. Now as he sat here looking at the six beautiful young mares, he could feel his creativity flow like a long-dry streambed in a pouring rainstorm. While his horn itched for a block of pure alabaster stone and a chisel, all his eyes wanted to do was just sit here all evening, soaking in their beauty and charm.

“I hope you don’t think we were too forward dragging you in here,” whispered the soft, sweet voice of Fluttershy. “Are you feeling all cozy and dry now?”

Normally being given a straight line like that by a beautiful young thing would have encouraged him to reply with either a sarcastic retort designed to crush her ego, or a sensual invitation for later and more intimate moments. But the urge never came up while gazing into her exquisite turquoise eyes, and he contented himself with a quiet, “I’m fine.”

“Do you like the cupcakes, Mister Chisel? I baked ‘em myself although the sprinkles came from Bon-Bon, and the chocolate was mixed up by Mrs. Cake, but I baked ‘em up good and made sure they were extra scrumptiooous for all my friends, but I don’t mind sharing because a stranger is just a friend you haven’t met yet and I know everybody in town except you, but now I do know you because you came to our poker game, and oh I fold.” Some dark and secluded icy corner of his heart gave a little *ping* as another crystal of bitterness and cynicism he had built up over his career melted.

“They’re wonderful, Pinkie, but I don’t think I can eat another one. Well, after this one.” He took a nice solid bite of the divine pastry and washed it down with a bit more tea.

“Yeah, I’m sorry for letting you get soaked like that.” Rainbow Dash scowled and rearranged her cards in her holder. “Heck, if I had known you weren’t just doing some artist thing sitting there in front of the train station and getting all wet, I would have kicked a hole in the clouds over you. You could have yelled or something. I would have been right there.”

Rainbow Dash continued morosely rearranging her cards as if that would somehow make them change. She had taken a mighty blow to her starting pile of bits early in the game and had hoarded her dwindling supply with little luck. It was no wonder that she lost so quickly; she was marginally worse at concealing her emotions at the table than the blonde, and tended to lurch straight into a failed bluff with her wings fluffed up. Still, from what he could glean from the conversation, she was a regular at the monthly game despite her constant string of losses, if nothing else because of her loyalty to the group. Loyalty that he had never experienced himself. His clients were just that: Clients. They got exactly what they paid for and nothing more. Sometimes less. Most of the time, actually.

“Well, I’m out,” said Rainbow Dash, throwing in her cards. “I need to keep some bits back this month. I promised I’d loan Ditzy some money for Dinky’s school books.”

“Awww,” said Pinkie Pie with a gigantic frown. “We’ll be one short. Oh!” She sprang up into the air, cards flying. “I know! Mister Chisel can play, can’t you? Pleeeeeeeeeeseeeeeeeeeeeeeee?” The impact of her big, blue eyes was only muted slightly by distance, but multiplied by all six lovely young mares looking at him all at once, their gazes could have melted a stallion made of stone.

“Well,” he started apologetically. “I only have a few bits for pocket change. I can’t come up with fifty bits for the buy-in. So—”

“I’ll loan you fifty bits, if you want,” whispered Fluttershy in her gentle voice that made butterflies seem to tickle inside his heart. “You can pay me back whenever you get the bits. I can wait.”

“Well then, I suppose I could sit in for a hoof or two.” He sat down in the chair vacated by Rainbow Dash and tried not to rub his hooves together in glee. He had spent many years as a young colt learning the fine art of cards in the tiny towns and villages of Prance with a mare or two at his elbow. This was going to be easy, and with the bits in the pot he should be able to spend the rest of the rainy night in a proper hotel instead of in the spare bedroom of the lovely Rarity. Which still felt a bit odd to him. It had been many years since he had accepted an offer from a fine young thing to spend the night in her spare bedroom instead of sharing her own bed. Perhaps he was getting old. He levitated the deck of cards and ran through a few sample shuffles with his delicate magical touch. Well, not that old.

After the first few hoofs, the poker game settled into a much more serious vein. Applejack was the first to wipe out, throwing in her cards with such a disgusted shake of her head that her blonde ponytail nearly hit Rarity.

Next to go was Pinkie Pie, betting her remaining stack of bits on a pair of twos. “Because two twos is like twosome, and I just love that word!”

Rarity and Twilight were next to meet on the field of playing card combat, their hoof of cards evolved rapidly into an all-out bidding battle that left the white unicorn with three queens, against Twilight’s straight. After a few minutes of mutual leafing through the rulebook, Rarity finally surrendered with the aid of a fainting couch and tissues.

Cold Chisel sat out the discussion and watched the two other remaining players in the game. The young Twilight Sparkle had a studious face, but no sense of deceit at all. In a professional game, she would either wind up with all the bits, or find herself astutely calculating the odds of the play that wiped her out cold. Still, he got the feeling that she could calculate those odds extremely well and was not a player to underestimate.

Fluttershy was entirely different. At first he thought she would be as easy to read as a foal’s book, but it turned out that while playing, she not only got nervous over being dealt a bad hoof of cards, but also when dealt good cards, bluffing, raising, calling, or picking up a snack. Even trying to read her emotions like regular pegasi was a complete failure; her delicate feathered wings stayed constantly clutched tightly to her flanks with a force so great it would probably take a crowbar to pry them up.

On the next hoof of cards, Twilight went out in royal style with a flurry of raising that ended in her proudly producing a Tenance. This triggered a great deal of flipping frantically through ‘Card Rules for Eggheads,’ only to result in her crushing disappointment when she found out she had somehow wound up on the Whist page instead of the Poker page.

Leaving only Cold Chisel and Fluttershy in the game.

He gathered the cards together and pretended to be looking out the window at the darkness as he shuffled. “The hour is quite late. I think we should play just one more hoof and break for the night. Mademoiselle Fluttershy, do you have somepony to escort you home? It is quite dark now that the rain is concluding, yes?”

“Oh, I don’t mind.”

“But, is your house not next to the Everfree Forest? There could be all kinds of strange things out at night, no?”

“Oh yes, I love meeting new creatures. The nocturnal ones are always so... nice.”

He sighed and continued shuffling the cards, looking around the table at the tired, inattentive mares. Even the dragon had fallen asleep in a little cat-sized bed with a cute little heart-embroidered blanket.

“Very well then.” He dealt the cards with a series of magical flicks across the apparently well-shuffled deck and settled down to the game. Once this hoof was over, he would be able to take his winnings to the hotel, await the morning train, and be gone from this pestilent town. His experiences tonight with the six mares at the poker table could be easily turned into a few sketches from memory. And that could be used to turn out some blandly obsequious hunk of expensive rock with hidden meanings and mystery that would maintain him in the style to which he had become accustomed. For another few months. Until the money ran out. And he had to do it over again. And over. And over.

Suddenly the cards he had dealt himself felt like granite blocks in his magical field. He looked across the table at the beautiful yellow pegasus and tried to swallow the lump that filled his throat.

“I.... fold.” As he returned the cards to the deck, an orange hoof descended on them, pinning them to the table.

“Hold on there a minute mister. You fold, we gotta see your cards. Them’s the rules.”

“Applejack, darling. He’s a guest! This is most—”

“I don’t care. There’s been something fishy goin’ on here, and it ain’t Spike’s breath.”

Something shattered inside him at the accusation. In the taverns and cardhouses of Prance, it would have been the trigger for a rousing brawl, complete with broken furnishings and a shattered window for a rapid escape. His horn commanded a powerful magical field, both strong enough to levitate the stone of a heavy statue and delicate enough to peel cards off the bottom of a deck. Applejack fought with the rose-colored aura around the cards briefly until they flipped over on their own accord.

“Well I’ll be. Four tens. That’s a darned good hoof to be folding on there. Fluttershy, what do you have?”

With an almost inaudible sigh, she put her cards down, revealing three eights.

“You’ve been cheatin’!”

Fluttershy’s voice was a high squeak. “NoIhaven’t!”

“Not you! Fancy boy here.” The blonde placed one heavily muscled hoof on the table and leaned towards him. “Just what in tarnation do you have to say for yourself?”

Words could not squeeze themselves out of Cold Chisel’s throat. Instead, he gathered up the cards and shuffled several times, dealing a full hoof to each of the tense mares at the table.

“Full House,” said Applejack, flipping over her cards. “So, you was cheatin’ then.”

“Straight!” said Rainbow Dash as she flipped hers. “Very straight.”

“Straight flush,” said Rarity tensely. “All diamonds, Princess high. How pretty.”

“Royal Flush,” said Twilight Sparkle after a quick check in the book.

“Ooo, I hope mine are all marshmallows because I love marshmallows if we can get chocolate we can make smores and I know Rarity has chocolate in the refrigerator in the bag labeled ‘Brussel Sprouts’ so Sweetie Belle doesn’t get into it and hey! Why did you flip over my cards!”

“Two pair,” mumbled Cold Chisel.

“And a flush,” said Fluttershy. “All hearts.” She looked up at him with those deep blue eyes. “Why?”

“Because you made me realize money has become all I care about. I have been attaching myself to the rich and powerful like some sort of tick, sucking at their lifeblood and producing meaningless lumps of stone for their meaningless praise. I saw the money in the pot and… I just couldn’t help myself.”

“No, I didn’t mean that,” Fluttershy asked quietly. “I mean why did you fold?”

He slouched in his chair and stared at the cards. “I don’t know.” He carefully levitated them up and shuffled them all together before placing them in the middle of the table and staring at them morosely. “I was all set to betray your friendship. You extended your homes and hearts to me, and in return I was ready to take every bit you had and walk right out of here to the hotel.” He shoved the pile of bits in front of him to the center of the table and got up, gathered his saddlebags, and trudged slowly to the door.

“Wait!” The soft whisper from Fluttershy stopped him cold in his tracks. “You forgot your easel. And you never did a drawing of me.”

“Or me.”

“Or me! Oooo, we should have one with everypony! And we could have muummmph!”

“Mister Chisel, you did say you were going to make a sketch of all of us for your sculpture. And we’re all here.”

He turned around to look at the talented young unicorn with her hoof stuck in Pinkie Pie’s mouth. It seemed an awkward pose for the personal protégé of Princess Celestia, the most powerful ruler in the entire land, a ruler that could break him like a twig or reward him with a mountain of bits.

Walking out now would doom his career forever, but would it be easier to simply turn around and make a token effort? A few sketches. Another misshapen rock. Another lie. All of the accolades he had received from his previous works tasted like ashes in his mouth, but there was something else here. Somewhere deep in his heart. A tiny spark perhaps. Something — different.

“No. I — don’t feel in the mood. Keep the easel, I will never use it again.” The tiny spark flickered and faded as he trudged to the door, only to suddenly flare up like a torch as Rarity spoke.

“Oh, nonsense dear! A handsome stallion like you with six young mares willing to pose? And you were going to leave? I wouldn’t think of it.” Rarity hurried to his side and guided him back into the boutique. “You just stand right here, and I’ll bring you my own chalks and paints. This is my absolute favorite inspiration place. You’ll just love it! We can each stand over there one at a time, and I’ll put up a screen, so you are not distracted. And I‘ll give you all of the measurements from the Gala outfits, including mine. Well, I may have fudged just a tad on the waist measurements for mine—”

“Yeah, because of fudge!”

“Pinkie Pie! Well, perhaps a slice or two. And someponies can sit on Pinkie Pie when you are sketching anypony else, so she doesn’t get into the picture.”

It was probably only in Cold Chisel’s imagination that Rarity’s design room felt as if it were spinning below his hooves, even though the building was designed only to look like a carousel. On some other level he could see the six young mares, all battered and tired after fighting through a terrifying forest, trusting in each other as they fought to stop a deadly threat to the entire world. They had not faced their possible deaths attempting to be heroes, or for money, fame, or power. They had done it because it needed to be done. Perhaps that was what made real heroes.

Twilight Sparkle was not merely a student of Princess Celestia. She and her friends had been willing to risk their lives when they attempted to stop Nightmare Moon. And when the young mares had used the Elements to free Princess Luna from her imprisonment, Princess Celestia had immediately gone to her long-lost sister and opened her own heart in friendship. The Princesses and these six young mares had risked their lives for each other, and that experience of friendship had formed a bond between them far stronger than he had ever experienced. The spark in his heart seemed to catch fire at the thought, and burned with an unquenchable happy warmth.

“No. No, I cannot think of drawing you individually. You are friends! If I am to capture your true essence, your je ne sais quoi, then I must draw you as you are. Together.”

“Ooo!” squealed Pinkie. “We’re going to need more cupcakes!”

“I’ll start the coffee,” said Applejack as she headed for the kitchen.

“Let me just tidy up a bit,” said Rarity as the various crumbs and cupcake wrappers began to stuff themselves into the trash.

“This will be just like a sleepover!” exclaimed Twilight Sparkle. “I should go get my book!”

“No!” yelled everypony in response.

All six of them gathered to see Cold Chisel off on the morning train to Canterlot, including the slightly flatter looking Pinkie Pie. “I still say I should have been in more of the drawings.”

“Oh hush there Pinkie. He just about run Rarity out of paper anyway, and now she’s plum out of pink paint.”

Cold Chisel mused silently to himself as the train wheezed and coughed into the Ponyville station. It was amazing how a change in perspective altered exactly the same things into totally different experiences. The colors seemed brighter, the fresh country air tingled sharply on the back of his nose, and it was all he could do to keep from skipping like a school colt off the train when it finally stopped. All the colors of the rainbow and then some were represented in the crowd waiting for the train under a “Welcome Cold Chisel” banner, but his experienced eye was able to identify the six mares in a single glance. After all, he had spent nearly all of the last five weeks with the creation of their small-scale stone counterparts.

As much as he wanted to wade out into the crowd and greet each one personally, he had both a responsibility and a present to deliver first, and that required a certain sense of decorum expected from sculptors who had just spent many bits of taxpayer money. So he carefully hid his grin inside while the tarp-covered object was removed from the baggage car and transported to Town Hall. A small portion of the grin was permitted to emerge at the loudly cheering crowd, and he even permitted himself a few waves, particularly to a beautiful yellow pegasus hiding near the back of the crowd.

It took great effort to tuck that grin back inside as the Mayor stepped up to the podium. Still, he only had to appear formal for a little while, and the surprise was going to be well worth it.

“May I have your attention please!” began the Mayor at her podium, looking out across the crowd in front of Town Hall. “Please! Quiet! Thank you everypony.

“It has been a little more than a month since our fair town...”

His mind filtered out the speech without effort. Every politician had a speech for every occasion, but it seemed as if the words “proud” and “honored” now actually meant something. He felt the grin creep back onto his face, and decided to allow it to share in the occasion, but only if it were to keep itself under control.

Originally, all six of the Elements of Harmony were supposed to be up on stage with him, but they had decided this day was to be all his. That was quite nice of them, but that was not going to happen today. It seemed to take forever, but after the Mayor had reached the end of her speech, she finally gave him the signal to whisk up the covering tarp.

Instead of a statue, a low circular object a few hooves thick and with a peculiar pattern on the surface was revealed. Through the murmuring of the crowd, a number of voices could be heard.

“It’s a sundial?”

“What does ‘L'Amitié est Magique’ mean anyway?”

“No, it’s a big wheel, I think.”

“No! IT’S CAKE! Mine!!!” A pink blur launched itself into the air on a trajectory that would have put it square into the center of the giant frosted wheel of cake if not for the purple aura grabbing her tail and stopping her just short of her goal.

“But it’s cake! A huuuuuuuuuggge scrumptious cake! And I want it!”

“That’s right!” said Cold Chisel with a happy grin. He produced a pair of cake slicers, presenting one to the mayor and keeping one for himself.

“The concept art piece that I have been working upon is still back in Canterlot for now. I could have had it brought today, but there was something more important that I want to share with all of you. Thanks to your six friends, I was able to see that my statue will only be a representation of friendship; true friendship exists to be shared and enjoyed with everypony. What better way to do that, than a party! And there’s plenty of cake for everypony, so dig in!”

Forks and paper plates were produced, and slices of cake were loaded onto them as fast as possible to be distributed to the happy crowd. Cold Chisel even put one of the first pieces of cake on a plate and levitated it up to where Twilight was still holding Pinkie Pie still suspended in mid-leap. “And a special thanks to you, Mademoiselle Pie, for your wisdom and insight.”

“Mmmm. This is good!”

The cake cutting was still going on as Cold Chisel took a brief break, sitting back on the stage and soaking up the happy sounds from the crowd when he heard Twilight Sparkle slipping up behind him.

“So—”

“Before you say another word, young lady,” interrupted Cold Chisel with a mischievous grin. “I want you to know that when completed, your statues in the Royal Gardens will be the most beautiful creations present. I say that only because you six beautiful creatures will be here, in your beautiful town, with all of your friends. As a sculptor, I can only reflect the beauty of this world, not create it as you and your friends do all the time.”

She blushed an adorable shade of pink and smiled. “Why thank you. But I was wondering, whatever happened to the statue you were supposed to make as a concept piece. You did make one, right?”

He beamed with joy and took another bite of cake. “Of course! What do you think paid for this delicious cake? I completed the scale model statues last week, but the combined work was not delivered at that time so I could make the matching cakes to go with it, a large one for here and a somewhat smaller one for the Royal Sisters.”

“Well, that’s nice to hear. Will you present the completed piece to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna when you get back to Canterlot?”

His smile grew even broader. “Oh, no! I thought it best to have it delivered so the Princesses could open it privately. Combined, I think they are the best work I have ever created so far.”

Princess Celestia could not help but keep looking at the statues while trying to read the attached note. Cold Chisel had outdone himself far beyond her expectations and any of his previous works, and this was just the concept statue. There was a strange sort of symmetry in the sculpture’s lines that drew her eye back every time she looked away. Each pony seemed to mesh perfectly with the pony next to them in one harmonious group of friends.

All six of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony crafted in colorful stone stood perfectly in reduced scale and exact color, each with their respective Element worn proudly. Applejack and Pinkie Pie in the back, each seemingly glowing with power. Rainbow Dash with her chest out and wings outstretched, Rarity with her beautiful eyes closed in concentration, Fluttershy as delicate as a newborn foal but as strong as steel. And in the center, her faithful student Twilight Sparkle, looking straight ahead with such intensity it seemed as if she would transform her entire body into energy at any moment. The sculptor had done such a good job that when the tarp was removed, Princess Celestia had taken a step back, thinking that her faithful student and her friends were actually standing there. Only smaller.

But what intrigued her now was the circular foundation the statue was sitting on. It was, in a word, different than she had expected, and her nose clued her into the identity of the construction faster than her eyes could read the note. Chocolate. Vanilla. Apples. Nuts. Bananas. Frosting.

Cake!

It took only a moment to use the attached cake cutter on the freshly unwrapped sculpture base, delicately extracting a thick slice that undoubtedly had more calories than a bakery. “Oh, look little sister. Pecans.”

Luna gasped, “And chocolate!”

“And I love what he did with the sprinkles”

“and chocolate!”

“Ooo, is that a seam of strawberry under the icing there?”

“and chocolate!”

“Luna?”

“Yes, Chocolate... I mean Celly?”

A double-sized slice of cake floated over to Luna’s plate, and there was no need for words for many, many pieces.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Tonight I learned that when ponies try too hard to be something that other ponies want them to be, they can forget who they really are inside. And when that happens, it really helps to have friends so they can help you see what you did wrong and how to make it better.

Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle

PS: I have some new card tricks to show you on my next visit.