Silver Streak sat in front of a large block of wood as he thought over Princess Celestia’s advice to him. When he visited Luna in Canterlot, Celestia had told him, “…Art cannot be an intellectual pursuit.” She had faith that if he just put his heart into his work, then he could become truly famous in the art world.
His sculptures had originally just been a test of his talents, an exercise to improve his magical endurance and focus, until Winter Gust decided that ponies would actually purchase his sculptures as proper artwork. Even when he made his sculptures to sell, he just continued carving geometric designs and patterns; it never occurred to him to create anything with emotional depth, or meaning beyond the visual appeal.
“But what should I sculpt?” he wondered. It was all well and good to want to create something emotionally significant, but he didn’t know just where to start. He thought back to his life up to that point, but the primary feelings he remembered were loneliness from his childhood, and fear after Tirek’s attack, and he frowned at the bad memories that were brought up.
Silver snorted bitterly and ran a hoof through his mane. “I really doubt anyone wants a sculpture of a lonely colt or a terrified stallion,” he mused. Nor was he willing to dig up those memories, either. Unfortunately, this put him back at square one; wondering what to sculpt. “It shouldn’t be this hard to think of something to sculpt!” he growled.
He took a deep, soothing breath, and closed his eyes, trying to relax and let his mind wander. He had to think beyond the pain of his past, and instead consider the things that were important to him, the things that brought him joy. A smile grew on his face as he thought of the beautiful mare in the shop downstairs, his beloved Sunshine, and an idea began to form.
He decided that his first step toward this new type of sculpting would be to make something dedicated to Sunny, something to show just how much he cared about her. With that thought in mind, his horn began to glow as he summoned his spell, and began to work on the wooden block. Slowly, the block began to chip and fall apart all around as he focused his thoughts on Sunny.
After some time, he was finally finished with it, and the glowing of his horn faded as he wiped sweat from his brow. In some ways, his old sculptures had been more complex, trying to work geometric patterns and shapes in interesting designs, and in other ways it was simpler because he wasn’t trying to imitate any existing thing. This had been something he’d never done before, and he desperately hoped that Sunny would like the results.
Sitting before him was a life-sized bust of Sunshine, the mare smiling warmly at him. The sculpture was smooth and quite close to life, except for her mane; he decided to keep some part of his old style in this sculpture, and so he made her mane angular and geometric, though made to imitate her normal manestyle.
As nice as the sculpture was, however, he wasn’t satisfied with it. “Needs some color,” he decided, getting up to leave the room and head down the stairs. He left through the kitchen door to head to the marketplace, looking for paint to finish the sculpture. He did some painting on his other sculptures, adding color here and there to make the whole thing stand out, but this would be his first time trying to do such fine detailing.
Not an hour after he left, Silver returned to the shop with everything he needed to finish his sculpture. He headed back inside through the kitchen door, and went upstairs to the spare room that Sunny gave him for his sculpting and studies. He laid out the paints, brushes, stain, and finish, and he looked over the sculpture as the stain and a brush levitated over to start the job.
= = = = = = = = = =
It took Silver a couple days to finish the sculpture, between the length of time it took for the stain and finish to dry, and painting the rest, but he felt confident in his work. He gave a satisfactory nod to the bust, before he left the room to head downstairs to retrieve Sunny. He smiled as he wandered into the shop from the hallway, and saw Sunny finishing up with a customer.
“Thank you, and have a nice day!” she said to the mare as she left.
Silver trotted over and smiled. “Hey Sunny,” he greeted her, giving her throat a tender kiss.
“Mmm, hey there Silver,” she murmured, exposing her throat to a few more loving kisses. “What’s going on?”
“I finished a new sculpture,” he told her. “I was hoping you could come on upstairs and tell me what you thought.”
“Oh, sure thing,” she replied. “Mind closing the shop for me?”
He nodded, his horn glowing as the sign was flipped around and the door locked, before he turned and led her up the stairs. His ears lowered as he worried what she’d think of the sculpture, hoping she wouldn’t be disturbed at being the inspiration for his first emotional piece. Maybe I should have asked for her permission…
It was too late to worry about that though, as they quickly reached the room. He was glad he had the foresight to close the door before he went downstairs, and he turned to the mare standing next to him. “Before I show you what I made, I need you to promise not to be upset.”
Sunny frowned, suddenly concerned. “Why would I be upset, sweetie?”
He winced, his ears folded as he said, “W-well, it’s, uh…” He sighed, and simply accepted his fate as the doorknob glowed green, and he opened the door to reveal the sculpture sitting in the middle of the room.
Sunny’s eyes widened as she took in the sight of it. “Silver, what…?” The finish sculpture had been painted and stained, her coat the same warm yellow, her eyes the same beautiful blue, but her geometric mane had been left unpainted; instead, Silver decided to use orange stain to color the mane, wanting to work the wood grains into the design, and a lightly glossy finish to protect it.
“I was trying to follow Princess Celestia’s advice,” he explained, “when she told me that I needed to put my heart into my artwork. I wanted to make a sculpture about something that brought me joy, and, well, you were the first thing to pop into my head.”
A flick of her ear showed that she had heard him as she slowly walked around the sculpture to get a better look at it. Silver continued on, telling her, “A-and that smile on her face, it’s the same one you give me whenever I’m worried, or feeling shy; it’s this special smile you save just for me, that makes me feel safe, and loved. When you smile at me like that, I… I feel like I could do anything.”
Sunny was silent for a moment, trembling as she brought a hoof to her mouth. “Silver…” She whispered before turning to him, tears in her eyes as she smiled at him. “This… this is the sweetest, most romantic thing anyone’s ever done for me!” She quickly pulled him into a tight hug, weeping softly into his shoulder. “I… I can’t believe I mean that much to you…”
He felt himself getting teary-eyed as he held her close. “You mean the world to me, Sunny. You’re the first mare to ever love me, the one who picks me up when I feel down, and the one who encourages me when I doubt myself.” He nuzzled her softly, and gave her a tender kiss which she lovingly returned. “If this bust can show even a fraction of how much I care about you, then I’ve done something right.”
She reached up to rub at her eyes, and she giggled softly, “It’s very flattering, to be sure, but I hope that you won’t be dedicating all your art to me from now on.”
He blushed and chuckled sheepishly. “Well, actually, I have a few more ideas based on our relationship… B-but I wouldn’t mind a few suggestions!” he quickly added.
She snorted and rolled her eyes, grinning at her sweet stallion. “Well, I’d be happy to help.”