“And a good morning to you, O Sir Grumpy.” the mare named Marble Chip chimed right back. She noticed the tired expression that her friend wore and teasingly asked, “Oh, I’m sorry, did I come at a bad time?”
The way she enunciated the word “bad” made Cross Hatch cringe inside, as a painful reminder of the morning’s earlier stumble bit him in the flank. “Ugh, come on, Marble, give it a rest…been through a lot these past few days…” Cross replied as he let Marble into his house. Marble clicked her tongue as she looked around his house, nearly tripping over a few artistic instruments and kicking about balls of parchment.
“Mother of horse apples, haven’t you ever heard of good housekeeping, Cross? I knew you were horrible at simple chores, but I didn’t think it had gotten this bad…” Marble Chip sarcastically complained. Cross Hatch, not one to falter at this accusation, put on an overdramatic pose and responded, “Oh, but you simply MUST forgive me for my dreadful mess…after all, I was given no notice of your grand arrival, your Majesty! May I perhaps provide you with a blindfold so that such a sight should never blind your beautiful eyes?” Cross swooned as he said this, holding out a random piece of parchment to Marble to emphasize his point.
Marble giggled and lightly pushed the hoof away. “Haha, maybe another time, Cross. First we need to go for breakfast and-”
“-discuss the matter of the commissions, yes I know. Just let me freshen up and we’ll go, okay? Just don‘t touch that canvas over there while I‘m getting ready,” interrupted Cross Hatch, who was pointing toward the same canvas he had struggled with last night as he headed to the bathroom to resume his morning routine. Marble Chip looked at the canvas in question and tilted her head a bit.
Marble remarked, “But there’s hardly anything on this. Are you sure this is the one you’ve been working on for the past few-” She was interrupted by the bathroom door slamming shut. “….days?” Marble finished her question.
Cross Hatch let the cold water of the shower wash over him, since he wanted to be wide awake as soon as possible. Normally a shower should be refreshing to most ponies…but each drop of water just felt like a small icicle stabbing through him.
Fat lot of good this is doing me…Why can’t I do the commission…?
Marble’s words echoed throughout his head. While they weren’t meant to be demeaning, they definitely rang clear through his mind, disappointment cutting through his already waning confidence. Cross banged his head against the wall, trying to clear it so that he could focus on the discussion with Marble today.
You have a whole day of discussion with her to get through…Perhaps this can get rid of any clutter stuck in my head…Wait…I need to remember to stock up on food…And…there was something el-Aaaghh! Just forget about all that for now and think about it later, Cross Hatch!
Cross shut off the water to the shower, got out and dried himself off. He looked into his mirror to see if there were any loose strands of his fur and mane that needed plucking. What he saw was a tired unicorn who needed another day of sleep.
Eh…clean enough, I think. I wonder what Marble’s doing right now…
He got the answer to his musings as soon as he stepped outside his bathroom, only to be greeted by Marble going through his previous paintings and sketches, although her true interest was given away by her constant glancing over at the canvas Cross Hatch had been working on.
“I know that look in your eye…You’re jealous of my work, aren’t you?” Cross said teasingly. Marble was snapped out of her trance and saw that Cross was refreshed and ready to go. “What me? Nahhh…I mean, why would I be jealous of a canvas that’s practically half blank? I mean, it‘s not like a three year old colt or filly made this.” Marble replied, sticking her tongue out at him.
Those words cut through Cross’s pride like a hot knife through butter.
CRACK.
Marble looked around for the source of the sound. “What was that?” She asked. Cross, who seemed to be…no, was literally limping to the front door, despondently replied, “Oh nothing…just a small crack in my pride…”
Marble followed him out as he creaked the door open. For a second, she could have sworn she heard Cross Hatch…crying?
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Marble Chip and Cross Hatch went through the busy streets of Ponyville, which were abuzz with all sorts of chatter, ranging from the newest rumor about Royal Pony Sisters to whose crops were the freshest to even discussion over the new Daring Do book. If Cross Hatch’s comfort zone was a box, then it was getting beat up, spat on, and torn apart at this particular moment, as he and Marble jostled around in the massive crowds just to move forward, pushing away all sorts of merchandise to move sideways when that option wasn’t available, and sometimes, to his annoyance, moving back because everypony just happened to be blocking a particular path.
After approximately a half hour of maneuvering through the massive sea of ponies and merchant stands, the two finally managed to get to their destination, which was a small café just across the street from Sugarcube Corner. Cross Hatch looked cautiously at the gingerbread and cupcake themed bakery, knowing all too well about the strange occurrences that went on with one of their employees. Now sure, the pink mare was nice, but she also had a reputation of doing the strangest things, such as somehow being able to predict the most uncanny things, redecorate an entire landscape for a party in just a matter of seconds, and there was also the rumor that she can somehow “teleport” right in front of somepony in the blink of an eye. The last thing he needed was a sugar-high pony who spoke volumes in a second getting right up in his face.
Truth be told, he wanted to go home, so he could go back to trying to get his creativity flowing again…Too bad for him that doing so was easier said than done. After the waiter came up and took their orders of daisy sandwiches and tea, Marble and Cross began to discuss what had been going on with Cross’s recent “artist’s block.”
“All right, Cross. What’s been with you recently? You’ve been shut up in that house of yours for several days with hardly any progress on that commission. Is something eating at you?” Marble asked. Cross merely shook his head.
“Cross…c‘mon…” Marble pleaded with Cross to be honest with her.
“No, no, it’s…it’s…it isn’t anything like that, Marble. It’s just…ah, I can’t really describe it, y’know? I’ve been concentrating as hard as I can on this piece, but…I don’t know, something…just feels missing, yeah?” Cross responded again, as he tried to better explain.
Marble pondered this for a minute. “Uh…no, I’m not really getting what you mean, Cross.”
Cross sighed at this. “I…just can’t really explain that well. When’s the deadline on the commission again?” the unicorn asked.
“The client would like it on Sunday. And he’s already getting antsy about it…” Marble replied with a smirk.
Cross sighed again and massaged his temples with his hooves. “Ah, Faust how am I supposed to do this with this pony breathing down my neck…?”
Marble nearly tipped over the table in shock when she looked above Cross’s head to see Pinkie Pie right behind him. Cross looked up at her in confusion. “What’s wrong, Marble?” he asked. “What you need to do is go on an adventure filled with FUN!” Pinkie suddenly shouted.
“Huh?! Gah!“ Cross turned and saw Pinkie Pie right behind him, and just like Marble, he nearly tipped over the table in surprise. “Heheehee! Sorry about that! But you really should consider going someplace because that‘s the sort of thing that helps me clear my head when I‘m all down on the day except today because today is a super-terrifficer-duper day! But then so was the day before that and I bet the next day will be super duper too! Oh, did I scare you two? Heeheehee! Sorry about that! ” the pink party pony apologized. In a flash, Pinkie zipped back to the bakery.
“…Where in Celestia did she come from…?” Cross inquired, though the question was directed to nopony in particular. By this time, the waiter came back with their food, and the two decided to try to enjoy their meal without any further surprises.
As hungry as Cross Hatch had been the entire morning, he could only bring himself to take small nibbles of his sandwich. On the other hand, he’d been savoring the food for thought that Pinkie had left him.
Go on an adventure….