//------------------------------// // 5th Movement: Allegro A piacere // Story: Color’s Spectrum’s Concerto // by CrackedInkWell //------------------------------// Twenty-four hours later, the newlywed couple was on a beach in the Bahamares. They still couldn’t believe that this magic train was able to take them across the sea overnight to a deserted yet tranquil place as this. However, in the morning hours, a cool breeze brushed against their coats and the warm water lapped up against their hooves. Harmonic and Color took advantage of their stroll up and down the coastline. “No matter how many times I get to see the ocean,” Harmonic commented, “It still amazes me how vast it all is with nothing but blue as far as the eye can see.” “You know,” his new husband said. “I’ve never been to a beach in Equestria where the water isn’t ice cold. I mean, it feels like bathwater, doesn’t it?” “Yeah,” the alicorn looked out over at the sea. “You know, we’ve got all day, so do you wanna take a swim?” he then gave a sly smile, “And maybe after lunch, since we’re secluded from the rest of the world on this beach, do you wanna continue where we’ve left off from last night?” Color’s muzzle went completely red, “Oh… Well… either way, maybe I need to head back to the train to get some towels. You know, for the sand, drying and…” His husband kissed him on the cheek. “Fair enough, if you wouldn’t mind I want to go hop into the sea for a bit.” “Be right with you,” with that, the tan unicorn galloped back to the train, leaping back into the car they’ve spent the night in. He picked up a couple of white towels from the bathroom; however, before he headed back out, he spotted the white suit that he had worn the other day. He picked through his pockets until he pulled out what he was looking for. The silver skeleton key that Discord had given him. Tucking it into one of the towels, Color returned to the sandy beach where he caught a glimpse of his husband in the waves. Setting the rolls of towels down, he unrolled two of them, all the while keeping an eye on Harmonic, waiting for the right moment. When his husband’s head was turned, he quickly took the key into his aura and tossed it as far as his magic would allow over the tumbling waters – letting the silver key fly until it disappeared beneath the waves. “Hey,” Harmonic called out to him, “Are you coming in?” Color trotted into the warm sea before he swam towards the alicorn that was bobbing up and down in the water. “You know,” the artist said as he drew close to his husband. “If the sea back home were this warm, then I probably would swim in it more often.” “Tell me about it, this is way better than being in a pool.” “Especially when Blueblood is nowhere around to lecture us about ‘proper swimming protocol,’ which means...” Color lifted his foreleg over the water and quickly brought it down to a splash. Harmonic flinched as the water hit his face, soaking his mane making it fall straight down past his eyes. With a frown, he glared at his husband before it turning it into a wicked grin. Opening both of his wings and raising them straight up, he said, “Of course you know, this means war!” before smacking them down to create tidal waves over them both. However, for Color, this was exactly what he wanted as they splashed in the sea. _*_ Several decades later, the Prince of Inspiration was galloping down the halls and gliding over staircases towards the Ball Room where Whole Note, their daughter, and several guards had gathered at the large but unusually flat crate that was leaning up against a few pillars. The huge wooden rectangle took up about the length of the room and about half of the wall. Facing them were the words that were painted on in a dull red color that read, “Fragile. This way up.” “Dad,” Joy asked as Harmonic entered the room, “what’s this?” “I’ve no idea,” said Harmonic as he approached the crate, “but I think I have a pretty good idea who it might be from.” Whole Note raised an eyebrow, “What do ou-you mean?” He didn’t answer as he turned to the guards who already had crowbars in their hooves, “Go ahead and open it up – but carefully.” So taking up the command, the guards set to work to loosen the rusty nails that were embedded along the edges. Cracks and groans from the lid were heard as it slowly came loose. Some of the old nails came falling out onto the marble floor before the lid opened up to give way to an avalanche of old straw. But when the lid was carefully put aside, did the alicorn gasped at the contents. In the crate, stuffed underneath and above a bed of straw was a huge oil painting that was encompassed in a golden frame. Yet, it was what was on the canvas that amazed everypony in the room. The picture was that of the Royal Gardens on a spring day where the flowers were bright and the grass, trees, and hedges were sprouting in rich greens that took up most of the space. Near the center was a red and white checkerboard blanket that held a picnic spread of a variety of food. But what was the most remarkable was the ponies that were depicted onto the canvas. It showed Harmonic, Note, Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Shining Armor, Blueblood, Script, and Page sitting on the blanket, watching their young children, Joy, Flurry Heart and Cloudy at play. But was the most extraordinary thing about this painting, was who else was sitting next to Note and Harmonic. It was Color Spectrum. A guard noticed something at the bottom of the painting, he walked up and brushed the hay aside, “Your Highness, there’s an envelope here.” Harmonic lit his horn to take the yellowed envelope into his aura. It was addressed to him so he opened it up. “Dad,” he heard what Joy asked, “What does it say?” “It says… My Dearest Harmonic, “I want to first say that I’m sorry for not giving you your wedding present earlier. This painting has taken me several years considering how much time, materials and brushes I’ve used to create this painting before you. Yet, with all this time that has taken me to get everything just right, I’m very pleased with the result. I’m sorry that out of all the artwork that I have created, that this would be the one that I have to keep it a secret from you when I was alive. “This painting is a never-ending labor of love, I have spent fifteen years refining and redoing to get it just the way I wanted it. Sometimes I had to sneak out of the palace to a warehouse where I had spent my precious time painting this mammoth of a composition. I carefully applied every single color known to ponykind in the right places to paint the resemblance of everypony here from both sketches and memory. This, I give to you Harmonic, is my greatest masterpiece that won’t see the light of day until after I see you one last time. “For this…” Harmonic paused as he reread something that made his voice sound hoarse. “For this is my vision of paradise when the day comes that I die. I hope that when the time comes, I would get to live what I have put on canvas. To spend eternity with you, and the families that will come after me and Whole Note. While I don’t know…” tears had formed in his eyes, “if I would get to see you on the other side, I’ve created this vision so that even in a painting… we’d get to be together for all time. “Thank you, for being a wonderful husband. And thank you, for being mine. Forever yours, now and for all eternity with undying love… Color.” Both Note and Joy went up to hug him as he wiped the tears away. “Dad, are you okay?” With a sniff, Harmonic replied, “Yeah… It’s just that… I didn’t think that Color would have done something so incredible. I’m… I’m at loss for words.” “I have one,” their daughter said as she looked at the painting, “Wow.” “You got that right,” Note nodded, “What are we going to do with this?” Harmonic looked at the painting again. “You know what I’ve just realized? The painting is mostly empty. I mean look at all the room with the grass. It seems odd that Color would have gone through all this trouble to paint all of this to make it so… vacant.” “What if it's not supposed to be finished?” one of the guards spoke up. “Did Color Spectrum ever come back on his paintings to add something to them?” “He…” the alicorn’s eyes widen, “He did. I know what this gift is for, it’s a never-ending family portrait! We’re supposed to add other ponies to the painting!” Harmonic held both of his hooves over his forehead laughing, “Oh that is clever!” “We’ve got to show Grandma this,” Joy suggested. “Yes, we should,” Note agreed. “Harm, where are we gonna put this thing? The painting is huge.” Harmonic thought it over for a moment, “I think for painting this special, we’re gonna need a new building.” _*_ The painting, which later came to be known as the “Royal Garden Portrait,” had found a permanent residence in a permanent building. Half carved out of the mountain that Canterlot was built on, along two-story building made out of marble, cast-iron and glass were constructed to house the Titanic painting. A building that was always be remained open to the public and kept under a watchful eye with guards by royal decree. A decade after decade went by, with every new member of the Royal family being married in, adopted, or born into was added into that painting of eternal spring. Painters who were the most skilled at coming close to creating from Color Spectrum’s original style were hired to add new portraits to the painting. Slowly but surely the empty space of the garden was being populated by mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, cousins, nieces and nephews. Each time another member was added in, the painting became richer among the green grass that dominated the painting. This was what the stallion, a charcoal black Pegasus with slick back indigo and blue mane was looking at as he leaned over the railings while an artist was at work adding him to the portrait. “You know, I thought that I might find you here,” his ears perked up. Turning around he found his tall fiancé walking up to him. “Can you blame me Harmonic?” the pegasus shrugged. “It isn’t every day that you get to see yourself immortalized on something like this.” “For me, it gets rather dull in just a couple of decades,” the Prince said as he sat on his haunches next to the stallion. “However, it’s good to come back to this every so often and just be amazed by how much this family has grown.” He looked down at the Pegasus with a smile, “I’m just glad that you’re going to be part of it, Gavel. Though, I have to say that this would be the first time that I’ve taken a Judge as my husband.” “Come on Harm, you know that I have to retire before the wedding,” the pegasus rolled his eyes. “You and I know that any minister or officer in the Justice Department can’t hold a position if they’re married to Royalty. It would make me look bias.” “Yes, I know, I was there when mom had written it.” Harmonic chuckled as he nuzzled his fiancé. “Still, I’m looking forward to the wedding.” “As am I,” Gavel gave a kind smile. “You know, sometimes I think that I must be the luckiest stallion in Equestria to have someone like yourself to be my special somepony. To think that I’m going to be you… I’m sorry but, how many husbands did you have again?” Looking up at the painting before them, Harmonic thought it over, “Including those that have divorced me, this would make you my eighteenth spouse in my life so far.” Gavel whistled, “Over these centuries, spanning so many lifetimes, it’s surprising that you and the Princesses still take on spouses and raising a family along with keeping up with Royal duties. Though, I have to ask, doesn’t it get rather depressing? I mean, you have to live forever to watch one husband die after another?” Harmonic’s ears folded back, “I won’t lie to you, even after all these years, with the relationships I’ve developed with, that it’s still very hard to have somepony that I love to go to a place where I cannot follow. I do grieve, and miss them from time to time. However, I’ve learned early on from my first and second husbands that it’s not healthy for me to be stuck in the past that I have to move on. I’ve learned to appreciate every love that comes by and to hold onto it when they’re still here.” He smiled, “And when we’re married, I will do the same with you too. I will wake up every morning, appreciating that I have you here with me to make marvelous memories with.” “Aw,” the Pegasus flew up to give him a quick kiss. “Then I guess I should put in the time to return the favor, Your Highness. Though, I can’t guarantee that I would be like all your other husbands in the past.” “I don’t expect you to.” Harmonic leaned on the railing, glancing at the massive painting. “Each and every husband you see here were unique. No two of them were alike, many of them had a different opinion on a wide variety of subjects, yet, I loved each one just the same.” The Pegasus Judge let his forelegs dangle on the railing. “You know, looking at this, it makes me wonder what the future holds for us. What sort of new foals that may become new additions to this never-ending art project.” “I guess that was the genius of Color,” Harmonic commented, “He lay so much of the groundwork here because he was looking far into the future. I mean, this had started about ten centuries ago and yet, the garden is still not full. For now, there’s plenty of room for our loved ones.” “Suppose there comes a day in which you can’t paint anymore? What would you do then?” The Prince softly smiles as he answered simply, “Then I would commission to have a second painting to begin. But I think that won’t happen for a very long time. For now,” he turned back to Gavel, “Let’s enjoy life while we have it. Come back to the palace, we’re having a curry tonight.” “You don’t have to tempt me with a free meal,” the Pegasus said as the two of them started to walk out of the building brushing against each other lovingly. “After all, you’ve already won me over.”