In a house on the south side of a town called Ponyville, a winged pony slowly started to wake up. His fur was a light grey, his mane and tail an almost dark brown that looked kinda messy, and he had white hooves. Printed on his flank could be seen what appeared to be two strings of multicoloured putty intertwining.
"Urgh..." he groaned as he woke up placing a hoof on his head rubbing at his dishevelled mane.
"Note to self... don't ever, ever drink one of Pinkie Pie's concoctions if I ever want to have a good night's sleep." He grumbled as he slowly got out of his bed and looked around for something.
"Now...where'd they go... aha! There you are." He said as he picked up a pair of glasses from the floor next to his bed and placed them upon his face. He rubbed the top of his head again as he looked around his room. It was a medium sized bedroom, with a single bed for himself and two chests of drawers, and a bookshelf that looked like it could use a seriously good clean after relieving it from the weight of all the books and scrolls on its shelves. There was a single round window that looked big enough to stick your head through if the pony felt inclined to do so. There were two doors in the room, one leading to the rest of the house, the other to the guest room if he ever had to foalsit or had a guest.
"Well... least I managed to get home alright." The Pegasus said to himself as he stretched his wings and smacked his lips. "Better get breakfast and check the mail. Maybe today there'll be some work."
The Pegasus opened the bedroom door and stumbled down the stairs occasionally groaning from his headache. "Definitely not going to have another Pinkie Pie Surprise. Seriously, what does that pony put in that stuff?"
The main room of his shop was a large circular one, with a podium in the centre of the room which was vacant of anything at the moment with a medium sized table next to it. Dotted around the sides were alcoves, each with their own vacant podiums as well. Along with the podiums there were also a cupboard in each alcove, some of them open and showing lumps of clay inside them lining the shelves.
He opened his front door and winced at the sunlight streaming into his face. "Urgh... where's the mail?" he asked as he looked for his mailbox in the glare of the sun.
"Oh! Hello there mister Tempest!" said a voice from above. The grey Pegasus looked up to see a deeper grey Pegasus, with a yellow mane and slightly misaligned eyes. She was carrying a saddle bag stuffed with letters and parcels.
"Morning Derpy... least I'm assuming its morning. Got any mail for me today?" Tempest asked of the floating Pegasus. Derpy nodded and rummaged around in the bag before pulling out a letter and plopping it into the mailbox. "Derpy... I was standing right here. You didn't have to put it in the mailbox..." he sighed as he collected his letter.
"Oh! Sorry mister Tempest..." she replied a little crestfallen.
"It's quite alright Derpy... and please, I'm sure I've said this before, there's no need to call me "mister" Tempest. Just Tempest or Storm will do fine." He said trying to console the mailpony. She seemed to brighten up to her usual self.
Derpy nodded before getting a vacant expression and then flying off to continue her rounds. Tempest sighed as he watched her fly off before heading back inside.
"Sometimes I wonder how that pony manages to even remember where she's going....now then let's see what's in this let- hold on... is that?" he asked looking down at the seal on the letter.
It looked like a sun flanked by a pair of wings.
"This is... oh by Celestia..." he stammered as he opened the letter as carefully as he could before pulling out its contents. He slowly read the letter, his eyes widening as he continued down the page. When he finished he stared at it before reading it twice over, flipping the page over several times as he did so before finally putting the letter down on the table next to the central podium.
"This is... this is... This has to be some mistake...I mean... me?! They want me to..." Tempest said just staring at the letter then around his studio then back at the letter before grabbing the letter and rushing out the door flying as fast as he could towards the centre of town, and the library.
"Now then Spike, let's go over our list of things to do today." A purple unicorn said to a small purple dragon with green spikes. They were standing in the main hall of the library, books all around them. The little dragon was grumbling as he stood at the table looking at the scrolls on the table next to the wooden unicorn bust.
"Urgh, do we have to have a list every day Twilight?" the little dragon groaned as he picked up a scroll of paper that tumbled down the length of the table.
"Of course. How else would we get anything done Spike?" she asked as if it was obvious.
Before Spike could reply there was an urgent knocking on the door. "Saved by the door." He muttered as he went over to answer it before the door slammed open and he got squished on the wall. Tempest flew into the room and hovered over Twilight, holding the letter in his mouth.
"Ish thish real?!" he asked trying to speak past the letter.
"Tempest, what brings you over?" Twilight asked arching an eyebrow at the Pegasus then at the letter in his mouth. Her horn glowed as she levitated the letter over to herself reading it aloud.
"To Tempest Storm, Sculptor residing in Ponyville. We would like to commission your skills in creating a sculpture of the Royal Sisters and the Six Elements of Harmony to be displayed in the Royal Gardens of Canterlot in time for this year's Summer Sun Celebration. You will be paid the sum of thirty-thousand bits for your services should you accept the commission. We look forward to hearing your reply. Signed Princess Celestia and Princess Luna." Twilight finished, floating the letter down onto the table as Tempest landed folding his wings to his side.
Spike grumbled, rubbing his nose as he stepped out from behind the door. "What happened?" he asked.
"Twilight, you send letters to the Princess and get some back in return all the time right? Is this real or am I being pranked?" the Pegasus asked the Unicorn.
Twilight looked over the letter again before smiling and nodding.
"Yes Tempest, it is a genuine letter from the Princess asking you to make a statue of herself, Luna and the Elements."
Tempest and Spikes mouths both dropped open. "But, but, but... me?! Why would they want me? When have they ever seen my work.... When have they ever even heard of my work?" Tempest asked rubbing a hoof on the back of his head.
"Well you did say you did some work for some unicorns up in Canterlot didn't you Tempest?" Spike asked. "Maybe they heard about it from there." he said with a shrug.
"Spike, my work for the unicorns there are busts of the clients... the occasional chess set that for some reason Fancypants wanted made... maybe a table ornament or two... This is a full on statue, horse-feathers sake! What am I saying statue, it's pretty much eight statues rolled into one!" Tempest exclaimed before putting a hoof over his mouth as he looked around.
Twilight chuckled. "She's out playing with her friends." She replied. Tempest breathed out a sigh of relief.
"Sorry Lady Sparkle... but this has just got me so confused and stunned and... and... well, you get the idea." The Pegasus said fixing his glasses. "Of course I'll take the commission, I'd be a complete foal not to! But I'd still like to know why me? I mean, I'm pretty sure that there must be some other, some better sculptors running around Canterlot, let alone in Equestria than me."
"Why not just ask her?" Twilight asked. Tempest snorted and looked at the pony.
"Just ask her? Lady Sparkle, I have never met the Princess in pony, let alone spoken with her like you have. I can't "just ask her" why she picked me... least not till after this is done. Um... you don't happen to have a calendar in here do you? I kinda forgot to look at mine in the rush to get over here...;" he asked looking around sheepishly.
Spike brought out a calendar from under some books and held it up to Tempest. "Okay so here's today...and the Summer Sun Celebration is... three months away... Three months?!" he exclaimed, his glasses slipping down his nose as his jaw slackened.