Chapter 3: 'Neigh'bour
The sun was starting to set.
My first day in town had gone pretty good. I was wandering around town, just passing time and finding cool new places. One of the places I had found was a library, and believe it or not, it was carved into a huge tree. I couldn't go inside since it was closed due to lacking a librarian. The irony of a library in a tree aside, a job as a librarian was interesting to me. I'd get to spend my time in a quiet place with many books, which would be a suitable substitute for the Internet, which, unfortunately, has not been invented yet in this world.
Another thing was the number of times someone told me I looked pretty. It was weird, but it... felt nice. I don't really think that anyone had called me pretty or complimented me in general when I was a male, but I figured it wouldn't last long once they got to know me better and realized that I'm dumb as shit.
As I turned a corner, I bumped into someone since I was too busy with my thoughts to hear them. We both fell backward, but it sounded like they dropped some stuff.
"Sorry 'bout that, didn't see where I was going," said the mare I bumped into. She was a light brown pegasus with dark brown hair. She had a talent mark of a rainbow-coloured wing. The most interesting part about her appearance was that her forelegs ended in paws like a cat and not hooves. She also had cat-like eyes and long whiskers. I got back up and offered a hoof to help her up but she was busy searching for something on the ground.
"Don't move; I dropped my glasses," she said as she felt around for them on the ground. I looked down and saw that her glasses were at my hooves. They were round, thin-framed, flimsy looking, and seemed too large for the head.
"I found them," I informed her as I picked them up and handed them to her. She quickly snatched them and put them on, then looked around her to see what she had dropped. I also looked and saw many art supplies and an open saddlebag. The pegasus got up and started gathering her stuff, or at least tried to. She was rather clumsy, dropping things she had just picked up.
"You need help with that?" I asked, feeling bad for causing this.
"Oh yes, I do, " she replied as she dropped a bunch of pens she had just picked up.
I focused my magic, lifted almost all the supplies off the ground, and put them in the bag as nearly as possible. It was tedious since I had to keep track of so many small items, but I managed to do it. The mare picked up the remaining stuff and stuffed it in the bag before putting it on her back.
"Thanks for that; I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going, but how can you when the sky is so beautiful." She said, looking towards the sunset. I looked where she was looking and saw that some clouds were in front of the sun in a really cool looking shape and were coloured golden by the sunlight. Indeed, it looked beautiful.
"You can't get views like this in Canterlot." She added, which prompted me to ask a question.
"You came here for the celebration?" I asked before realizing that it was rather dumb to ask who would come with art supplies for the celebration.
The mare, however, didn't think my question was dumb and answered, "Oh no, I came here searching for inspiration. You see, I'm uhh... umm, actually, never mind." She started explaining before cutting herself off. "I shouldn't waste your time or mine with my ramblings, sorry."
She turned to leave before turning back shyly and asking sheepishly, "Do you know which way is Evergreen Street?"
I thought about it and then remembered that my house was on that street.
"I can take you there." I offered since I was bad at giving directions and also because I wanted an excuse to continue talking to her.
"You don't need to; I know you probably have something to do, " she said, trying to politely decline my offer even though I sensed that she'd be happy if I led her there.
"Nah, I don't have anything going on, so I can take you there if you want me to," I said.
"Oh, then, thanks! I'll follow you." She said, happy to accept my offer.
"Okay, come with me," I said as I started walking. She stuck by my side as we walked.
"I'm Feather Brush, by the way, but you can call me Feather, or Brush." She said, giving me her name.
"I'm Anya; it's nice to meet you, Feather." I replied, "So, you were talking about trying to find inspiration earlier but stopped. What exactly were you trying to say?"
She seemed slightly surprised but answered, "As you can tell, I'm an artist. I'm pretty good at it, but I never really felt like my work was good."
"How exactly?"
"My work feels bland to me. It's just portraits, scenery, or something else that's unoriginal. I want to make something that's not the same old thing or unoriginal. I want to make something that I can feel good about." She explained to me. I couldn't really relate as I wasn't that much into art, but I understood that she wanted to do something new.
"So, you want to do something new?" I asked to make sure that I understood correctly while also sounding like I wanted to help.
"You could put it that way, yes, but it's not like I want to make a new style or something; I just want to make something that I'd like." She clarified, "Imagine this: you're a great artist, but you can only make portraits of nobility or a painting of some landscape when you really just want to do something else. I want to find out what that something else is."
I nodded in understanding. She knew that she wanted to do something other than what people told her, and I related to that somewhat. The difference was that she was a lot more determined to find out what she wanted to do.
In the time we were talking, we had come up to the street.
"Here we are," I announced looking at the empty street. I could see that one house and the path that lead to my home.
"This is... a lot more emptier than I imagined," Brush said as she looked around and saw we were by ourselves, "My uncle had told me that I'd have a neighbour but I see no other house here."
"That is because the other house is down that path," I said pointing to said path. "And I assume that's where you'll be staying." I added looking at the house.
"Yeah, that'll be my place," she said before turning to me, "I have a question though."
"Go ahead, ask."
"Do you happen to be my neighbour?" She asked a bit suspiciously.
"Yeah, I am." I answered, slightly confused by her sudden change in behaviour.
"And did you move in recently?" She asked even more suspicious.
"Yeah, I moved in today at like, the in the morning." I answered, a bit weirded out by Brush's tone.
"And we you paid by someone to move here and watch me?" She asked in a hostile tone.
"Umm... what?" I asked, totally confused.
"Answer me, yes or no?" She said ignoring my confusion.
"No, I moved here on my own, no one paid me to move here to stalk you," I answered truthfully. She scrutinised my expression for a moment before calming down and taking a deep breath.
"Sorry about that, I just wanted to be sure." She said calmly.
"Sure about what?" I asked, wanting to know what got her so worked up. She looked down at the ground in thought before answering.
"Let's just say that my parents don't really like me doing stuff without them knowing." She explained.
"So, your saying that you were scared that I might be hired by your parents to spy on you?"
"...yeah, they've done something similar before." She answered sadly.
"That's messed up," I noted, quite horrified, before asking, "What made you think that I'd be spying on you?"
"Well, you seemed a bit too friendly for a stranger." She answered before looking around and changing the topic, "It's getting dark, I should get this stuff to my house and then the rest of my stuff at the station."
I could see that she didn't want to continue that conversation and respected her wishes. I, however, decided that I wanted to help her.
"I could help you with getting that stuff from the station." I offered. Her mood improved at that.
"Thanks for that but I have to get this stuff home first," she said as she set off to her house at a brisk pace. I followed her till the entrance. The house was very similar to mine, the difference being that this one was painted white and had a brownish-red roof. I waited outside as Brush went in and dropped off the bag. She was back outside in a minute.
"That's done. Let's get the rest," she said. I nodded and we started making our way back to town.
"Anya, if you won't mind me asking, why did you come to ponyville?" Brush asked as we wanted, clearly not keen to have a silent walk.
"After I left home, I kinda just moved around from place to place and eventually I came to ponyville and found a cheap house that I liked." I answered, leaving it all the bad details that I thankfully didn't have to experience in real-time.
"Did you come from another country?" She continued.
"Yeah, I came from South Asia," I answered.
"That explains the accent," she said, pointing out my accent that I didn't realise I had. "What's was it like over there?"
"Well, the area I came from was pretty hot and humid all the time which kinda sucked, especially in the summer. Besides that, it was pretty normal," I summarised. "What about Canterlot, what is it like there?"
"Ugh, don't get me started. The population is mostly unicorns and a lot of them seen to think they're superior for some reason and since I'm a pegasus, they'd be mean to me. Besides that, it looks nice and the weather is also great but it's pretty bland in other aspects if you ask me," she answered in a mini rant. I was a bit taken aback by her saying that the people there are somewhat racist but didn't say anything about it.
We were pretty close to the station now and the sun was almost completely below the horizon. The station was deserted but had some lights on. There were two suitcases next to a bench and I figured that they belonged to Brush. One was almost as big as Brush while the other was half the first's size.
Brush went ahead to pick up the larger suitcase. She, however, could not. She tried grabbing it and flying but that didn't work either.
"I can get that for you if you're having trouble," I said. She didn't respond and kept trying to pick up the suitcase and fly. This, unfortunately, led to the handle breaking off which sent Brush flying upwards to the roof and hitting her head. I watched as she did so and then rushed to help her after she landed on the ground.
"You fine?" I asked knowing damn well that she probably wasn't fine. She was rubbing the spot where she hit her head as she got up.
"I don't think I can pick that up," she responded as she took a seat at one of the benches to recover from her physical exertion. I turned to the suitcase and thought how I'd pick it up. I tried with my magic and found that I barely moved it. I guess I had to be physical with it.
With a great amount of effort, and some help of my magic, I managed to pick it up and balance it on my back.
"Iss mey patthar bhare hua hai kya?(Is this filled with stones?)" I said under my breath as I struggled with the weight of the suitcase.
"What did you say?" Brush asked as she got hold of the other suitcase.
"I said let's go," I lied. Brush led the way as we both made the journey back to her house. It was harder on me since I carried the weight of the world(suitcase) on my back but we made it. By the time we reached her home, the sun had gone down entirely.
She opened the front door and held it open as I brought the large suitcase inside. I was ready to just drop it at this point. With some help from Brush, I got the suitcase off my back. I was really tired at this point and needed a breather.
Brush noticed this and said,"Why don't you stay for a bit? I could get some coffee in a bit."
"Sure," I replied, accepting the offer.
"Great! Why don't you head to the living room while I get something," she said as she went off to the kitchen. I went to the living room and plopped myself down on one of the sofas. It was tempting to lie down and rest but I stayed seated and looked around.
The layout of the house seemed the same to mine, or at least the ground floor did. There was, however, an overall different feel to this house for some reason. It felt more homely, like something a happy family of four or five would live in, while my house felt more uninviting like the house that an old weird man would live in. I guessed it was the proximity to the forest.
A minute later, Brush entered the room with two cups of coffee.
"I think I forgot to say this earlier but thanks a lot for helping me out today," she thanked me as she gave me one of the cups and took a seat next to me. The cup had milk coffee which I liked. I took a sip and found that the code was a bit too sweet for me but it was fine since I didn't really tell her what kind of coffee I wanted.
"Is it good?" Brush asked as she stopped on her own cup.
"Yeah, it's good," I answered.
We say in silence drinking or coffee when Brush started,"So, how is the town?"
"It's fine so far. Nothing out of the ordinary, except a pony named Pinkie throwing a party over me moving in. I guess that she'll throw you a party as well," I answered.
"Is the party a good one or a bad one?" Brush asked.
"Depends on you really. If you like snacks and music and lots of ponies then it'll be a good one. I can say that the food will be good for sure. Plus, Pinkie is pretty friendly."
I then asked her a question.
"So, what kind of art do you make? Like the uh style you go for when you make something."
"Well, I make realistic stuff almost all of the time. I could probably show you something later when I make something.
What about you, you ever made any art?"
"If doodles in a notebook during class count then yes, I have made art, but it wasn't anything great," I said remembering all the stickmen I'd draw during the long boring lessons of school when I was younger. I grew out of it though after my marks started going down. "Other than that, there was mostly stuff I made in art class."
"Ooh, you took an art class during school?"
"Well, art class was mandatory back where I came from until 10th grade so, I didn't really 'take' it and honestly, they sucked during middle school. For 11th and 12th, though, I did take art classes and they were pretty great. I made some cool drawings and paintings but couldn't really keep them," I answered, a bit sad towards the end.
"Why couldn't you keep them?"
"My parents didn't think they were great and got rid of them," I answered. Brush seemed annoyed and even a bit angry at that.
"Some ponies just can't appreciate art," she said. I nodded in agreement and continued sipping my coffee. My coffee was finished in a minute.
"I guess I'll be leaving now, it was nice talking to you," I said.
"It was nice talking to you too, Anya," Brush said as she took my empty cup and took it to the kitchen. I made my way to the front door and after bidding farewell to Brush, I left for my home.
It was still about 8'o clock and since I slept late, I had quite a lot of time on my hooves. I guess I could read one of the Daring Do books I had.
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Yay! I get to be third. Bronze to me!
Parents can be quite prudish, mothers especially, about dong stuff.
11814429
*minor spelling mistake will make me commit acts of violence on my phone
8 year old me was better at drawing then adult me T_T
Ooo a hybrid?
Neat! Speaking of
Watch for the wolf and unicorn hybrids
One is known to be stronger than a alicorn
...huh?
...alright so south asia exists here apparently
11887428
Is it howlite howler?
please give source if not
Lol my art is so bad but my parents keep it. I guess I have good parents.
Also I'm an art major so yeah. My art is still shit.