//------------------------------// // Conflicted Colors // Story: Artsy Colors and The Magic Paint Brush // by AstraPony //------------------------------// "W-what?" I gapped. "I-I thought only Elements could be summoned." "So did I!" Twilight exclaimed. But there it was, my cutie mark, a paint palette with a paint brush as well. It was hovering somewhere in Ponyville. "Huh, it's in Ponyville." Rainbow Dash said. "Oh, wow! Thank you Captain Obvious!" Pinkie said with extreme sarcasm. " I would have NEVER figured that out with out you! I am forever in you debt. You are my he- "Shut up Anti-Pinkie!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "Is there a way to zoom this in?" I asked. Just as Twilight was going to comment, the map obliged by zoomed in on... my house? Sure enough, my cutie mark was hovering over my house. "Wow, fascinating." Twilight exclaimed in awe at my action. "Well the map is calling you!" Rainbow exclaimed. "Go get em'!" "Yipee" Pinkie said sarcastically. In a flash I was off to my house. As I looked around, I noticed something bad. Not only was all the red gone, but all the ORANGE was just starting to fade too! (although it wasn't too noticeable to everypony else yet, but I know my colors and their shades!) I ran inside my house, wheezing for breath. "Now why would the map call me HERE?" Asked to nopony. I looked around frantically, trying to figure it out. I striped down my living room, kitchen, even my entire bed, but to no avail. The last room to look was my art studio. Honestly, I had no idea why I was needed in my house, what was needed, or why this whole phenomenon was happening in the first place. But I felt as though I needed something from my house. What that something was, I wasn't sure. 'What if this is the end of the world? I thought. And thought of not knowing if this was the end scared me. I was on the brink of crying from all the weight I was bearing on my shoulders (although there wasn't much weight, I crack like a sidewalk when I'm under pressure). Then I saw it. It was like a holy light was surrounding the object. A paint brush. Though it made sense, given the current situation. Plus the paint brush really WAS bathed in a holy light. I picked it up and held it in my hood, in awe of its glory. I pondered what to do with the paint brush when my eyes fell upon my paints. Paint! Yes! I can fix the color with my paints! I then, promptly, opened the red paint and dipped my brush into the liquid. But as my paint brush streaked across my canvas, it left a gray color in it's wake, not red. What?!? Why didn't it work? I thought frantically. But a thought came to my mind. If I painted on things that were, er, was red, then maybe the color would return! I grabbed my saddlebags and threw my supplies inside. I ran outside to the nearest red object I could think of, which was the apples at Applejack's apple stand. Without saying a word, I pulled out the red paint, my paint strap,—it's a strap I wrap around the back of my neck so it can hold up my paints—and the paint brush and started painting... or not. All it did was coat the apple in a different shade of gray. But that was the least of my worries. Now I had an angry Applejack on my hooves. "What in tarnation is goin' on here?!?" Applejack said with a flare of the nostrils. "I'm sorry AJ, but it was important. You see, I'm trying to fix the color problem that's going on around here and-" "What color problem?" A bead of sweat rolled down Applejack's fading orange coat. FADING ORANGE COAT!!! "Applejack! Your coat, your mane, your... everything, it's fading!" "Huh, what? Uh, no it ain't!" Applejack snapped with a lie obviously on her teeth. "Come on AJ! We don't have time for this! I know your lieing." "NO! YOUR THE ONE THAT IS LIEIN'!" As Applejack yelled her nonsense at me, my cutie mark glowed, the sign that I was to return to the cutie map. Speaking of cutie mark, I glanced over at Applejack's cutie mark and saw that it was disappearing just like Pinkie's was. "Come ON AJ!" I shouted. I then, swiftly, grabbed Applejack's ponytail with my teeth and began to drag her towards Twilight's castle. Although it wouldn't be that easy. She was attempting to escape my grasp by bucking and kick her hooves, but my grip on her mane would not let up. After a slow and tedious trip, I finally got the stubborn mare to Twilight's castle. By that point, Applejack was all gray and her cutie mark was entirely gone. As we trotted into the map room, Twilight ran up to me in anticipation. "So, why were yo-" But Twilight was unable to finish her sentence before she saw Applejack and the condition she was in. "Applejack! You faded too?" "Uh, no I didn't!" Applejack said with a nervous look on her face. "Her cutie mark it gone too!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Well, since we have no other choice, we can deal with Applejack later. For now, we need to address Artsy and why she was called on the map." Twilight took a breath before continuing. "So, Artsy, why WERE you called? Do you know?" "Yes I do!" I said with a joyous tone. I reached into my saddlebags to pull something out. "This!" In my teeth was the paint brush. Suddenly, a pony began to burst with laughter, that pony being none other than Rainbow Dash. "Bwahahahaha!!" She cackled. "It-" she began laughing again for a brief moment, "It's just a paint brush!" "Well I'll have you know it's no ordinary paint brush. It's a... MAGIC PAINT BRUSH!" I corrected. Even that statement earned a stifled chuckle from Twilight. "Do you even HEAR yourself? You sound like some nutjob on some wacked out stuff!" Rainbow Dash retorted. A smile spread across my face. "Yeah, it did sound a little crazy. But in all seriousness it is a magic paint brush." I said. "But how do YOU know?!" Anti-Pie asked with a trace of sarcasm in her voice. "Well..." Then I began to tell them all about my experiences in my house and outside it with Applejack. "Well then, it sounds like we have a world to save!" Rainbow Dash cheered. "But the question is: how?" Twilight asked. After that, there was a dead silence. How AM I going to do this? I asked myself. After all, my plan with painting the faded objects didn't work. So how was I supposed to stop the others from fading too?