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// 43 - Rebellious Muse 
// Story: Lost Muse 
// by David Silver 
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Libel's workflow resumed. As awkward as that situation had been, things calmed down and she dived back into things. Life had gotten better again.

It was a shame the same could not be said for Color. He groaned, throwing down his brush with a mental fling of his magic. "Getting this right..." He aborted his malformed thought, sighing as he flopped against the back of the couch.

Day poked his head up from the front of the couch. "You're all tangled up."

"Yeah..." He waved a hoof at the piece, however little of it existed. "I learned all there is to learn, really, but what should I focus on? He led two intense lives and they really don't get along." He tapped his hooves together. "On one hoof, he's the workahalic guard that worships the ground Celestia stands on and would do anything for her." He tapped them again. "On the other, he's an amazingly devoted father and husband with a happy wife and descendants that's leaving a great grandfoal behind. The only person he doesn't seem to have time for is himself. Any day off is with one of these two things, usually his wife."

He grunted at that. "And that only because Celestia forces him away. He's everything but himself! How do you make a good picture of that? Should I ignore it?"

"Nah."

Color frowned at Day. "I'm giving you a chance to qualify that 'nah'."

Day wobbled a hoof in the air. "Draw him good, but kinda small. Make all the things he does bigger. Put his, you know, his family on one side, and all the soldier stuff on the other. It's all bigger than him, make it, you know, subtle? Make it like you're showing off, but if people..."

"Think about it, they'll see it." He hopped on his hooves with a smile. "You're a damn genius sometimes."

"It's a bad habit," sighed out Day, flopped on the back of the couch, watching Color resume his work.

"I wonder sometimes if Libel gets stuck like that..."

"Sure." Day nodded softly. "But she has a friend too."

Color perked an ear at that as he willed his brush to make gentle motions, creating his art. "Who's that? Have I met them?"

"Sure," Day repeated with a smile. "Bottom Line."

Color came to a slow stop, drawing his brush away. "My #1 friend is involved with the #1 friend of my girlfriend?"

Day shrugged softly. "Sure. Is that bad?"

"No! I mean... nah, as you'd say." He brought his brush closer. "I guess we're all friends... Just some of us do... more... and some of us don't. I feel like I should get to know Bottom better, besides as a helpful business associate."

"Sure." He smiled gently at Color's back. "We should go do something fun, maybe all four of us? Nah. If you want to know Bottom, you should meet her away from Libel first."

"Once I get this properly... started."

Things quieted to just the gentle noises of the brush dabbing up colors and spreading them onto the canvas.






They all sat around a table. It was not a restaurant table. It was not Libel's table.

Color had somehow gotten dragged back to his hometown. He wasn't at his own table though.

With absolutely zero room, he was pressed between Bottom and Day. "It's been a while," Color noted, smiling across the table.

Day's mother, Sunny, smiled radiantly. "Why have you been hiding? It's great to have you back. You get one picture somewhere fancy and you think you're just too good for us?" She looked happy despite her potentially worrying words. "And you brought the angel back from on high. Today's a good day!"

Bump, Day's father, shrugged softly. "Welcome back." He was pressed in just as tightly, the small table really not made for so many ponies and overflowing with food for them all. "Let's eat."

Bottom inclined her hear towards Color. "I wanted to visit again. We'll have time for personal chit-chat afterwards, promise."

Day bobbed his head in agreement. "The carnival's all set up!" he gushed, displaying an unusual amount of excitement. "How long has it been, Bro, since we went there?"

Color thought back. "Wow... it really has been a while. Do you think our friends may be there?"

"Maybe." Day shrugged as he reached for some food. "That'd be nice. Even if they aren't, carnival."

Bottom laughed gently at Day. "He's been going on about it. Is this carnival half as good as he remembers it?"

Color rolled a hoof, his cheating unicorn horn easily able to secure food while he did so. "It's more about the ponies you spend time with there. Alone, it'd be passable. But we won't be alone."

"Nah," agreed Day. "It'll be all three of  us. We'll have fun." His ears perked. "Hey, this will be the first time our group visits with enough bits to do whatever we want."

Color blinked, trying to process that. "Woah... you're right. It was part of the tradition that we had to carefully measure out what we did and what we got with what little we had... I... Wow."

Sunny reached across the small table easily, setting a hoof on Color's shoulder. "You look almost pale. Don't get carried away.  I hear naughty little ponies that get too wild at the carnival end up making asses out of themselves."

Bottom quirked a brow. "Neither of them seem to be the sort that would make public scenes in that manner."

Sunny tilted her head in return. "No, not like that, literal ones. It's just an old mare's tale, but I'm the oldest mare at the table so I'll tell it." She cleared her throat dramatically. "They say that ponies that lose themself at a special carnival risk losing it all. Given to hedonism in drink, revelry, and fun times without end, they may find themselves not being ponies anymore."

Color nibbled at his food slowly. "Aren't donkeys, you know, still people? It's not nice saying being one of them is a punishment."

Sunny waved that away. "No regular donkey. Imagine being one and you can't talk, or think, or do much of anything. You become a big dumb brute of an animal." She raised a hoof over her mouth to hide a dramatic gasp. "Wouldn't that be terrible?"

Day shrugged softly. "Maybe."

Bottom looked the least impressed. "I doubt the validity of that tale..."

Sunny grinned on, undeterred. "Well, if you see any donkeys there, staring with dumb eyes, maybe pulling heavy things, then you'll know to be careful. I'm not saying to not go, or to not have fun, just be mindful not to get carried away with all those bits there."

Color nodded softly. "I'll accept that as the cautionary tale it is. We shouldn't go totally nuts. Maybe we should even have a budget, like the old days."

Day stuck out his tongue a little. "I wanted to try just one without a budget. Please?" He clopped his hooves together. "Do a brother a solid."

Bottom reached across Color to push down Day's hooves. "Don't beg, it's unbecoming. I presume you are speaking of Color's bits, which means it is entirely his discretion how they are used, or not, and we should respect that."

Bump suddenly snorted. "Stop throwing wet blankets on them. They're grown up, they kin waste their money if they want."

Sunny shrugged her shoulders. "That's not how it works. I am the mother, and so long as I keep on breathing, that is what I'll be. You'll accept my attempts to keep you safe."

Color burst into laughter. "You're making that sound like a threat. Sunny, uh... shoot, it feels odd calling you that."

"Mom works," she suggested with her bright smile. "You three are my wonderful foals, no matter how large and important you become."

Bottom pointed up at herself, peering at the other unicorn. "I understand you've known Color Splash for some time, but..."

"Do you not want to be my foal?" Sunny looked upset at the idea. "I promise, I'm not taking you away from your other parents, you can have more than one set. It's easy." Her smile returned. "While you are here, you're my foal, and will enjoy everything I can get for you."

Day shrugged softly from the other side of Color. "I wouldn't fight her. She'll mother you."

"How terrible," spoke Bottom without much conviction. "Very well, if you want to be my mother while I'm here, I'll accept that."

"Fantastic." She clopped her forehooves. "Now, about that horn."

Bottom blinked rapidly before looking up at the portion of her horn that was in her field of view. "What about it?"

"Do you have to have a ring in it?"

Color felt his worldview crack. He had never noticed it until pointed out. Bottom did have a little ring. He had thought it was just a part of the spiral of her horn and not even thought about it, but looking with fresh eyes, he could see that it was a band of metal the same color as her horn. "Didn't that hurt?" He couldn't  imagine letting someone punch a hole through his horn.

Bottom cleared her throat softly. "I made that choice a long time ago, as a younger filly. Perhaps, if I had you around, I might not have made it, but it's a bit late now. I'm very used to it."

Day suddenly leaned over across Color, planting his lips right on Bottom's horn, kissing her ring. "I think it looks nice."

"Well, too late to do much about it," agreed Sunny, eyeing it and seemingly ignoring Day's sudden affection. "What led you to it though? You have a perfectly lovely horn all on its own."

Bottom waved it away with one hoof as the other nudged Day back where he had come from. "I had a punk phase. I had an entire outfit to go with it." She smiled a little, an awkward little expression. "Spikes everywhere... I had more rings, back then." She swatted lightly at one of her twitching ears. "I took those out."

Color was gawking at her ringed horn. "Those don't... heal. I guess you're stuck with it." He was still struggling with the idea of letting someone do that to his horn. "Didn't it hurt?!" he repeated.

"Terribly," she finally answered with a sigh. "I cried for hours, alone, where none of my friends could see. I didn't dare show my parents until the ring was put in and it was too late for them to do much but yell at me for doing it."

Sunny's smile faded. "That's... awful... I'm so sorry you had to go through that... I'm... sure you had your reasons, and you're still my daughter, ring or not. Forget I even said a word about it. It's part of you now, and I love every bit of you."

Bottom laughed gently. "You've only just become my mother, and you're already forgiving my flaws? I feel like we're doing this too quickly." She nudged against Color beside her. "Your turn. Admit to something awkward to free me."

Color sat up straight. "Oh! Awkward, um..." He had led such a... mostly normal foalhood. "When I was a little colt, I had a period when I was sure I'd become an astronaut. I had a space suit and everything and I'd run around with a fish bowl on my head."

"Aw, Bro. I wish I could have seen that." Day was smiling gently, casting no judgments.

"That was before we met," explained Color with a returned little smile. "When I got my cutie mark, that was a bittersweet moment. I was good at art... and would never go to space. I really wasn't sure how to feel about that, so I drew some mopey pictures about it."

Day put a hoof on Color's shoulder. "You could still get to space. Don't write it off."