The museum curator turned his head at my call.
"Splatter Paint! What are you doing here at this hour? I was just closing up."
"Sir, I'm done with my painting!" I panted, still catching my breath a bit.
"You are, are you? Well then, by Starswirl's beard, let's see it!"
I brought out the painting gently from my saddlebag, gingerly placing it on the large mahogany front desk we stood before. Braeburn puffed out his chest with pride while I cringed, expecting the worst. Artsy looked it over from every angle for quite some time before uttering a single sound other than "hmm."
"Well, Ms. Paint, I-"
"Artsy!" Somepony cried in a sing-song tone. "I'm done with my piece!" Sassy Sculptings strutted haughtily into the building, her bag heavy with a sculpture. However, her jaw dropped as she saw me and Braeburn standing by the curator.
"Well, Sassy, I'm afraid-" before he could finish, the curator was interrupted by a violent smash. Sassy's piece hit the floor with the fury of Nightmare Moon as she began to pitch a fit. She kicked and stomped and uttered no limit of obscenities regarding me, Braeburn, and the curator, and most of the time I found myself wishing I had a camera to record her temper tantrum.
Her fit lasted a full five minutes, at the end of which the curator promptly kicked her out, proclaiming, "Anypony who acts so immaturely does not deserve to let their art stay in this museum." I didn't quite realize what that meant to me until it was smacking me in the face.
"Miss Splatter Paint, will you allow me the honor of hanging your art in my museum?" Artsy asked after closing the door on an extremely pissed Sassy.
I stood there, stunned, for a few moments. After all that I had been through, I was finally here-in this museum, being asked to put my art in a prestigious museum. Wow. Like, WOW!
I snapped out of my trance. "Yes! Yes, Please, yes!"
Both Braeburn and the curator smiled. "Great!" Cried Artsy. "Now, let me grab my checkbook-one moment, please-" he dug around in his coat pocket for a second before pulling it out and levitating a pen over the paper. After scribbling a few figures on the check, he ripped it off and showed me. "How's this sound for all six pieces?"
That's a lot of zeros. I stumbled to sound intelligent in the face of all that money.
"Um, yes, that will do fine, thank you."
"Excellent!" Exclaimed Artsy, levitating the check into my bag. "Now, I'll expect the other pieces on my desk tomorrow. It was a pleasure doing business with you, miss Paint. You are truly a magnificent artist."
***
After side-stepping broken pieces of marble on the way out of the museum, Braeburn and I whooped and hollered in joy.
"You did it!" He yelled, excited for me.
"I know, I know! I can't believe it!" I exclaimed. "I couldn't have done it without you." He gave me a funny little half-smile, like you could have done it without me, but I won't correct you, because you're so happy. We shared a quick kiss and continued towards the hotel. When we realized the sun was completely set and the only light came from the moon and the street lights, our energy faded to a solemn haste to get back to the safety of the hotel.
The trek back was no fun. It involved a lot of paranoid running, nervous giggling, and reassuring chatting. A few blocks from the hotel, however, we heard a clattering noise, making me stiffen up like a board. "What was that?" I whispered nervously.
Braeburn seemed nervous too, but was quick to say "Probably just a cat. Nothing to worry about."
We were about to continue walking when we heard a gruff voice with a city accent say "Yeah, just a cat." We both jumped in surprise. The voice belonged to... One of the thugs rapidly closing in on us! I began to hyperventilate. The five large stallions gave us no time to run as they each blocked our path from every angle.
"Listen up, yous two, 'cuz I ain't sayin' it twice. Give us the good stuff in the bag and no one gets hurt. But, if you try to pull any funny business, me and my pals here are gonna show ya why that ain't such a good idea. Capiche?"
I nodded shakily, tears in my eyes. I hated to give my money that I had earned to these horrible ponies, but if it meant Braeburn and I would get out of it safe, I was willing to do anything. I was just turning my head to unlatch my bag when I heard a sickening crack one of the big stallions went down. Braeburn had kicked him right in the jaw!