//------------------------------// // Ep 3 - Home is Where the Art is // Story: My Little Pony: Small Town Life // by Mythic Night //------------------------------// Silver Streak heard screams of terror as he ran through the streets of Ponyville. The town was under attack, but all he could do at that moment was find his friends and try to keep them safe. He passed by a few ponies along the main road, their eyes glazed over and their cutie marks gone, and he felt his blood run cold. He stood there for a moment, trembling in fear as he saw them laying there and groaning weakly. He shook his head and continued running down the road, calling out for his friends. “Sunny! Frosty! Where are you?!” His lungs were starting to burn between his running and constant shouting. “Mystic! Jewel! Where are you guys?!” He didn’t know where they were, but he was determined to find them in this chaos. He hoped he could protect them, but he didn’t know if he was strong enough. At the very least, he didn’t want to face this horror alone. “Silver!” he heard Sunny call out to him. Silver gasped and stopped, looking around, trying to figure out where the voice came from. “Sunny?!” “SILVER, HELP!” he heard her scream, and he ran toward the sound of her voice. He quickly reached the town square, and the first thing he noticed was the demented laughter of the lord of chaos, Discord, as he enjoyed the suffering of ponies around him. The next thing he noticed was a shriek of terror from Sunny, and when he turned to look he felt his heart stop. Standing before the cowering mare was a tall, powerful centaur, the monster known as Lord Tirek. He could only watch as Sunny became surrounded by an orange aura when Tirek opened his mouth and drew in her magic, taking every bit until the poor mare collapsed, sluggish and weak. He felt tears streaming down his cheeks, the unicorn filled with fear and guilt, before he looked to Tirek with an angry glare. His horn glowed, and he gave an angry roar as he fired several bolts of energy at Tirek’s back, which did nothing to the powerful centaur. “LEAVE HER ALONE!” he shouted, firing a few more shots at the centaur as he turned around to look upon the foolish unicorn attacking him. Silver was surrounded by an orange aura as Tirek reached out, his hand clenching as he raised his arm and magically lifted the unicorn. He was drawn close as Tirek chuckled, and all he could do was writhe and whimper as the mighty centaur held him tight in his magical embrace. Tirek looked over to Discord with a cruel grin, and said, “Look, Discord, it appears one of the ponies has volunteered his magic!” “No! Please don’t!” Silver pleaded, tears streaming down his cheeks as he watched the centaur opening his mouth to draw out his magic. He could only shut his eyes and wait for the inevitable, until he heard a familiar voice call out. “Release him, monster!” A dark blue alicorn mare flew down from the sky, fixing an angry glare at Tirek, her horn glowing with a blue aura as she readied her magic. Tirek dropped Silver and chuckled, the poor unicorn grunting as he hit the ground. He grinned at the powerful alicorn before him, telling her, “Ah, Princess Luna. You’ve saved me the trip to Canterlot. I suppose if you’re so eager then I’ll take your magic here and now!” Princess Luna grinned at Tirek as her horn flared with magic. “Come and get it, Tirek!” She aimed her horn and fired a mighty blast of magic at the powerful centaur, and he screamed in pain as he dissolved into black smoke. “Well, would you look at the time!” said Discord, looking to a watch that appeared on his wrist. “I better get going now!” He started to run off before Princess Luna turned and fired a bolt of magic at him, causing the Draconequus to shatter like glass and fade into nothingness. While this had been going on, Silver stood up, realizing where he was and what was going on. He had hoped he was done with all this, thought that maybe the move to Ponyville might stop this, and yet here he was. Luna walked over to Silver with a gentle smile. “Be at peace, Silver Streak, your dreams are safe once more.” He sighed, and nodded, looking up to the Princess of the Night. “Thank you, Luna…” She frowned as she looked down at the unicorn. “You don’t seem happy to see me, Silver.” He winced and shook his head. “I-I am happy to see you, Luna,” he said, his gaze drifting down to his hooves. “It’s just, well…” Luna smiled in understanding, and reached a hoof under Silver’s chin to lift his head up. “You wish we weren’t meeting under these circumstances.” Silver nodded, his ears folded as he said, “Yeah, I mean, I’m honored to call you my friend, and it is nice to see you again. I just wish that you came by to talk, not because I needed you to help me with my nightmares again.” He remembered the first time Princess Luna had entered his dreams to save him from his nightmares. They were always the same; Tirek would attack, Silver would be helpless, and he would quickly be drained of his magic. “Silver,” Luna said as she brought her hoof over to pat his shoulder, “I know you wish to be free of these nightmares, but to do so you need to confront your fear and talk to somepony about all this.” She sighed when she saw him grimace at the idea. “I have been more than happy to talk with you about what you’ve gone through, but you need a professional.” He gave a shrug, rubbing the back of his head as he gave her a sheepish smile. “Well, since you started helping me with my nightmares I’ve been feeling better.” He winced and looked away as he added, “A little bit, anyway…” It was true; Luna had decided to stick around and talk with him after saving him from a few of those nightmares, and through their talks a friendship blossomed while he felt his fear and shame ease. Even with their talks though, he still felt afraid, and ashamed of his own weakness. Luna sat on her haunches and wrapped her forelegs around Silver, pulling him into a gentle hug, much to the surprise of the unicorn. “Silver, there is no shame in getting help for this. Tirek attacked all of Equestria, and even my sister and I were unable to stop him.” She smiled as she felt him return the hug, and continued, “You were not the only pony to be traumatized by that, I promise you.” He pulled away from the hug, feeling a bit better. “It certainly feels like I’m the only one who was affected by the attacks. Everypony else acts like nothing happened…” He saw how so many other ponies had just bounced back after they got their magic returned by Princess Twilight and the other Element Bearers. “Why am I the only one who’s still suffering?” he wondered, his eyes glistening with tears. “Because everyone else had something to live for,” Luna answered. “Silver, your entire life has been dedicated to the study and practice of magic, and once your magic was taken, you had nothing left to fill the void. It makes sense that Tirek’s attack left you traumatized.” He gave a hollow chuckle as he rubbed the tears from his eyes. “I guess it’s a good thing I followed Princess Twilight’s orders and made some friends then.” She perked up at that. “You met Twilight Sparkle?” It was then that she looked around and really took in the scenery, noticing the architecture of the buildings surrounding them. “Wait a moment, this is Ponyville…” She looked to Silver with confusion. “Silver, why are we standing in the middle of Ponyville? “Ah, you noticed that, huh?” he said, looking around. “I moved into Ponyville a few days ago. It was the only place in all of Equestria that I knew I’d be safe.” He smiled up at her. “I’m still unpacking, but so far things have been going well.” “Ponyville, home of Princess Twilight Sparkle and the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony,” Luna said, looking thoughtfully at the unicorn before her. “I suppose Ponyville is indeed the safest place in all of Equestria. I certainly hope the change in scenery has helped you.” “It has,” Silver replied. “I’ve felt less stressed, and this has been my first nightmare since I’ve been here. On top of that, the friends I’ve made here have taken my mind off my troubles.” He looked thoughtfully over to where Sunny had been, and said, “In fact, they’ve been opening me up to new experiences. In the short time I’ve been here I’ve had a huge party in my honor, went bowling, and Saturday we’re actually going to go dancing at a club.” She gave a bright smile at that news. “I am most pleased to hear that things are going so well for you in Ponyville. It’s good to know that the ponies you’ve befriended are showing you that there’s more to life than studying magic.” Her ears perked up as she realized something. “In fact, in all your other nightmares you simply cowered from Tirek as he attacked you and your loved ones. This has been the first time I’ve seen you actually take the fight to him. It appears to me that your new friends are already doing you a world of good.” “Lot of good that did,” Silver said with a shrug. “I still couldn’t do anything against him.” Just as his magic was ineffective against Tirek in the real world when he attacked, so too was it ineffective here in the dreamscape. “Be that as it may, it appears that your new friends are giving you courage to face your fears,” said Luna with a proud smile. “Perhaps I won’t need to help you with these nightmares for much longer, though I do hope that we may still keep in touch.” She gave him a sly wink as she added, “Ponyville is rather close to Canterlot, after all.” Silver chuckled and nodded. “Yes, yes, I’ll be sure to come visit sometime soon, and thank you properly for helping me out.” Luna’s ear flicked at something, and she turned to look away. “Speaking of which, it appears there are other ponies who need my assistance. I must go.” She unfurled her wings and began to fly up and away. “Farewell, Silver Streak!” “Goodbye Luna! Thanks again!” he called up to the Princess of the Night as she left to aid other ponies. The world around him began to shift as he entered a new dream, one far more peaceful than an attack by Tirek. = = = = = = = = = = Silver had spent a lot of the day unpacking his boxes, arranging his few pieces of furniture and generally getting settled in his new home. He made a mental note to go looking for a furniture store in town, seeing as his collection of furniture consisted only of a dining table, a pair of chairs, a small dresser in his bedroom, a few bookshelves, and a desk. When he finished up the rest of the house, he went up to the room he intended to be his private library, where he would spend much of his time studying the many spellbooks he had. His collection included both old books he had owned for years, as well as many, many new books he had purchased before his move, knowing he wouldn’t have access to the extensive Fillydelphia Public Library in Ponyville. The aforementioned bookshelves were in the private library, surrounding the short desk in the center of the room. He had made the effort to get them arranged properly against the walls, and they laid bare just waiting for books to be organized and placed on them. Those books were located in many, many boxes lining the hallway, needing to be unboxed and sorted, and then organized on the shelves. He looked at all the boxes in the hallway, with dozens upon dozens of books in them that he had to work through. He knew that once he got his library ready he would be able to find any book he wanted for research and practice, but first he needed to put the work in getting it set up. At that moment though, he just couldn’t push himself to go through the effort. Silver decided that he should go ahead and spend some time with his new arcade cabinets, making sure they worked considering the amount of bits he spent on them. It may have also had to do him just procrastinating over the amount of work he still had to do getting his house set up, as well as the need to get materials for his sculpting. In either case, he spent a few hours playing his video games, just taking a break from his responsibilities. It was early in the evening when Silver heard a knocking on his door. He had just gotten a game over when he heard the sound, so he went into the entryway and opened the door to find Mystic Spiral standing there. “Uh, hey there Mystic,” Silver greeted him, an eyebrow raised. “What brings you here? In fact, how’d you know where I live?” “Hey Silver,” he said. “I asked Pinkie Pie when I spotted her around town, and she told me where to find you. Are you busy with anything this evening?” “Well, no,” Silver replied with a shrug. “I was just relaxing. Why? I thought we were going to the club tomorrow night.” “The thing is, my parents saw the article that Frosty wrote about you,” Mystic explained, rubbing the back of his neck. “They’re both artists who would like to meet you, and they’d like to have you over for dinner.” “They want to talk with me about my sculptures?” Silver asked. “Yeah,” Mystic replied. “If you don’t mind, that is.” Silver thought about it, then shrugged. “Well, how can I say no to a free meal?” he asked with a smirk. Mystic chuckled at that. “Yeah, I figured as much. Come on, I’ll lead the way.” Silver left his house, closing the door behind him before the two began walking to Mystic’s childhood home. For a short while it was quiet, neither one saying anything to the other. Silver still didn’t feel very close to Mystic, so he wasn’t sure what to talk about with the stallion. Still, he decided to try some small-talk. “What can you tell me about your family?” Silver asked. “You said that they’re artists?” “Yeah, my whole family is involved in art in one way or another,” Mystic explained. “My dad is a photographer, my mom is a clay sculptor, and my sister’s a painter. My parents are moderately successful with their art, but they have day jobs for a steady income.” “I see,” Silver said with a nod. “So your sister, is she successful with her art?” Mystic shook his head, and responded, “Not yet, but she will be. She’s got a unique style, and I know she’s going to rock the art world when she finally shows off her work.” Silver nodded, and they continued on for a short while in silence before they reached the house. It was two stories tall, and fairly large, and upon their approach he could see cellar doors on one side, revealing that the house had a basement. It was obviously built for a family, with lots of space for several studios, perfect for an artistic family like Mystic’s. “Well, here we are,” Mystic said before he knocked on the door. Silver noticed that he didn’t look very excited to be visiting his parents; if anything, he looked somewhat annoyed. He could only wonder why that was before the door opened a moment later. The mare at the door had a smile on her face as she looked at the two visitors, and she wrapped her forelegs around Mystic as she pulled him into a hug. “Welcome home, dear,” she said. Mystic returned the hug with a small smile. “Thanks, Mom,” he replied. He broke off the hug, and raised a hoof to motion to Silver. “Mom, I want to introduce you to Silver Streak.” The mare looked to Silver with a wide smile. “Hi there! I’m Jade Blossom, Mystic Spiral’s mother. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She was an earth pony with a green coat and a long orange mane and tail. She had orange eyes, just like Mystic, and her cutie mark consisted of a clay vase. “You can just call me Jade,” she added, reaching a hoof out to shake his. Silver shook her hoof and smiled. “It’s nice to meet you too. “ He released her hoof and she stepped aside to let the two in, closing the door behind them. “I didn’t realize that Ponyville had any other artists besides myself.” She nodded, and motioned the pair to relax in the family room nearby. “Yep! There’s not too many of us, but we are around.” She watched as the two sat down, then asked, “Are either of you thirsty? I could get you something to drink.” Silver perked up at that, “Oh, sure, can I get a soda?” She nodded and looked to Mystic next. “How about you, sweetie?” Mystic frowned at the name. “Do you have to call me that?” Jade rolled her eyes and gave Mystic a smirk. “I’m your mother, I can call you whatever I want. So, drink? Yes, no?” He gave an exasperated sigh, and replied, “Soda, please.” “Coming right up.” She left to get their drinks, stopping at the nearby stairway to call up, “Snapshot, Ava, we’ve got company!” The sound of hoofsteps could be heard from above as the other two ponies living there made their way down the stairs and into the family room to greet their guests. The first one was a unicorn stallion, while the second was an earth pony mare. They both looked upon Silver with welcoming smiles. The stallion spoke up first, looking to Silver. “Well hi there! I’m glad you decided to drop by.” He looked over to Mystic and smiled. “Hey son, good to see you again,” he added, before he shook his head and looked to Silver again. “I’m sorry, I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Snapshot.” He was a unicorn with a deep blue coat, a short black mane and tail, and light blue eyes. His cutie mark depicted a camera. “Hello,” Silver replied. “It’s good to meet you. I’m Silver Streak, but you can just call me Silver.” He glanced over to Mystic, then back to Snapshot. “You’re Mystic’s father, huh?” Snapshot chuckled and nodded, going over to sit on a nearby chair. “Yep! He gets those good looks from me.” He looked over to the young mare standing at the doorway. “Go ahead and introduce yourself, sweetie.” Before she could speak up, Jade came back with the bottles of soda for Silver and Mystic, and she took requests from her husband and daughter before she left for the kitchen once more. It was after she left that the young mare introduced herself. “I’m Avant Garde, but most everyone calls me Ava,” she said. She was an earth pony mare with a blue coat and an orange mid-length mane and tail. Her eyes were the same light blue as her father’s, and her cutie mark was of a palette and paintbrush. “So, you’re the new pony in town, huh?” “Yeah, I am,” Silver responded as Ava went and sat down on a cushion. He cocked an eyebrow as he looked upon the two curiously. “In fact, how’d you guys know I’m friends with Mystic? I know the interview I had with Frosty mentioned my sculpting, but I haven’t been around long enough for ponies to know my group of friends.” “That’s because of me,” Ava replied, raising a hoof. “I usually hang out with Mystic and his band, just listening to them practice while I sketch out ideas.” She gave a shrug, and continued, “He told me about hanging out with you, I told my folks, and then they had me tell Mystic to invite you to dinner.” “Ah, that explains it,” Silver said with a nod. He saw Jade return with drinks for her husband and daughter, and afterwards she sat down next to him. “Now that everyone’s here, maybe you could all tell me about yourselves?” He motioned over to Mystic, and added, “Mystic told me a little about your talents, but I’d like to hear more from you directly.” Jade smiled and raised a hoof. “I suppose I’ll start first. From a young age I knew I had a talent with clay sculpting. Not just pots, mind you, but full sculptures using wire frames and tools.” She motioned her hoof over to the corner, which was filled with a display of artwork. “In fact, we have that corner set up to display our family’s art. You can see some of my sculptures there on the table.” Silver got up and went over to the corner, looking over the display. One side had some photographs hanging, the other side had some paintings hanging, and there were a few small sculptures on a table sitting at the corner. The largest of the sculptures depicted a mare playing with her foal, and Silver couldn’t help but think about his own childhood and times spent playing with his mother. He shook his head a bit to clear the memories, and he turned around to look at Jade. “You do lovely work, Jade. You must be quite successful selling your sculptures.” She gave a proud smile. “Well thank you, Silver. Admittedly, Ponyville isn’t quite the place to sell fine art, but I’ve been able to make due with trips to nearby Canterlot.” She gave a shrug as she added, “The pay isn’t very consistent though, so I teach pottery classes here in town to make a living.” Silver nodded at that as he said, “Yeah, can’t raise a family on an inconsistent income.” He looked over to Snapshot. “So, Mystic tells me your talent is with photography.” Snapshot grinned. “That’s right! I take my camera and just go out into Equestria, capturing photos of places, ponies, and events throughout the land,” he said as he made a sweeping motion with his foreleg. “I try to get photos of unique and interesting things, photos that bring out emotions in the ponies viewing them.” He pointed a hoof to one of the photographs on the wall. “See that photo there?” Silver turned to look at the photograph that Snapshot was pointing to. It was a photo of a full moon, and while it was a nice photo he didn’t see anything special about it. He looked over to Snapshot curiously, and asked, “The photo of the moon?” Snapshot gave him a knowing smirk. “Yep. That photo is only a couple years old. What do you see missing from it?” Silver turned back to the photo, looking at it, trying to figure out what could possibly be missing from the image. He soon realized what was missing from the pale surface of the moon. “The Mare in the Moon…” he whispered. He remembered the shadowy face of a mare that was always seen on the moon, a face that the ponies of Equestria had learned a couple years ago belonged to Nightmare Moon, banished a thousand years prior. Her image disappeared from the moon the moment she escaped, leaving the moon clear and bright from then on. “That’s right!” Snapshot said with a grin. “The morning of that Summer Sun Celebration, when Nightmare Moon returned, I noticed that the Mare in the Moon was missing. It’s been there for centuries, and to suddenly see it gone, I knew I had to get a photo of it.” He looked thoughtfully to the photo, and added, “Who’d have thought that the Mare in the Moon was actually Princess Celestia’s long-lost sister?” “Indeed,” Silver said, thinking about the talk he had with Princess Luna just the night before in his dreams. She had come a long way from that day so long ago, going from a monster seeking to bring eternal night to taking her place alongside Princess Celestia to rule over Equestria. He looked to the paintings displayed at the corner, all made with thick lines and solid colors. One piece depicted a pony running from a Timberwolf, while another painting depicted a house floating above the ground. He turned to look curiously at Ava. “Rather unusual paintings you’ve got here,” he said, motioning a hoof to the paintings in question. Ava nodded, glancing over to her paintings. “I get inspiration from the monsters of the Everfree Forest, and I also got inspired by the chaos that came from Discord’s return.” She looked thoughtful as she took a sip of her drink. “I suppose there’s something thrilling for me in the images of monsters and chaos, being so used to the peaceful life here in Ponyville.” “I suppose I can understand that,” Silver said. He took another look at the paintings, noticing one being a self-portrait, and the last one being a landscape, both in the same bold, abstract style as the first two. He looked to Ava and told her, “You’ve got a very interesting style, very bold, and it seems to work well on all kinds of subject matter.” She smiled in response. “Thanks, it’s nice to hear that. I’m actually self-taught, and I know my technique isn’t the best…” “Looks fine to me,” he replied. Ava chuckled softly and shook her head. “Maybe to you, but not to high-end art collectors.” Her smile fell as she admitted, “I know I need to go to art school to get a proper education, and I’ve been looking, but… I can’t help but worry what that education will do to my art.” Silver’s brow furrowed as he looked at the young mare curiously. “What do you mean? Don’t you want it to change for the better?” She looked sheepish as she nodded. “Yeah, I do, but… This style is mine, flaws and all. Maybe I could learn more about perspectives, or shading, but what if they tell me that my style is bad, that I need to completely change how I paint?” She looked to her paintings, thinking about all the effort she poured into them throughout the years, all the progress she’d made since she began painting all those years ago. “My style is a reflection of my true self, and I’m afraid that they’ll beat it out of me and make me paint in some prim, proper way like the artists of old. If that happens, then my paintings won’t be me anymore; they’ll be my teachers’ vision, not my own, and they won’t reflect what I feel inside.” Silver’s ears folded as he took in what she’d said. “I… I never thought of it that way before,” he admitted. He hadn’t gone to school to learn about art, never thought about sculpting except to exercise his magical talents, and so it hadn’t occurred to him that a place of learning could in fact do harm to their students. “It’s going to be tough,” she said, “taking in their lessons without completely changing the way I paint. I want to improve, but I don’t want to abandon what makes my paintings unique.” “I promise you won’t have to worry about that, sweetheart,” said Jade, looking to her daughter. “The teachers at whatever art school you attend will do everything they can to improve your technique, and help you become the best artist that you can be, but they won’t do anything to change your style to fit their vision.” She smiled as she added, “After all, art wouldn’t be special if everypony painted and sculpted the exact same way.” Ava smiled, feeling a little better after hearing her mother’s comforting words. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Jade chuckled. “Of course I’m right; I’m your mother.” She lifted her head to sniff at the air, smiling at the delicious smell of home-cooked food. “Mmm, I do believe that the vegetable stew is done. Snapshot, why don’t you help me in the kitchen while the kids get settled in the dining room?” “Sure thing dear,” Snapshot said, smiling wide as Jade gave him a kiss on the cheek before she got up to attend the food. He followed close behind while Mystic and Ava showed Silver the way to the dining room. The trio sat down, and while they got comfortable Snapshot came by levitating some plates, forks, and spoons, getting the table set up. He smiled at Silver as he told him, “You’re going to love my wife’s vegetable stew. I swear she must put some kind of magic into it every time she makes it.” “It’s called love, darling,” Jade said with a giggle, walking into the dining room with a large bowl of salad. “The stew is quite hot, so I thought we could all start off with a salad to give it time to cool.” She placed the salad bowl in the center of the table, and walked off to the kitchen to also retrieve a plate of dinner rolls. When everyone had a helping of salad and a dinner roll, they began to chow down in earnest. After a comfortable period of silence where everypony focused on their meal, Jade spoke up. “So, Silver, I noticed that your cutie mark wasn’t earned for a talent with sculpting, so how did you become an artist?” Silver washed his salad down with a long drink of soda before he answered, “It’s actually because of my real talent that I became an artist. I’m very skilled with magic, and that’s what I’ve focused my life on.” Ava looked to Silver, her brow furrowed in curiosity. “How does a talent with magic make one a sculptor?” “I suppose it started when I got my cutie mark,” he replied. “Even before I learned that my special talent was magic, I have been driven to learn all the spells I could find, and I mean all the spells. Unfortunately, mistakes happen, and more than a few miscast spells caused me to become VERY familiar with the repair spell that earned me my cutie mark!” They all laughed, and he added, “Needless to say, Mom and Dad didn’t appreciate all the property damage I caused by attempting all those spells…” “So where does the sculpting come into play?” asked Jade, who had finished her salad. “I was just about get to that,” said Silver. He took another bite of his salad before he continued, “While I eventually set up a spot in the backyard to cast new spells, I wanted to have another way to practice my skills and build my magic, and so I came upon an idea.” He took a sip of his soda, and explained, “When I used that repair spell, everything got fixed up like new, and I got to thinking ‘if I could use that spell to fix things, why couldn’t I use it to break something down?’” “You modified a spell?” Snapshot asked, his interest piqued. “I hear that’s quite difficult.” “Yeah, it wasn’t easy,” Silver admitted. “It took time, effort, and all my rhyming skills before I finally managed to modify the spell exactly how I needed it. When it was ready, I tested the spell on some wood I bought from a hardware store, and it worked perfectly.” “How does the spell work, exactly?” Jade asked. “Well essentially, I focus my magic on an object, a block of wood or a large stone, and I slowly break it down into a shape of my choosing,” Silver explained. “In fact,” he added, levitating a dinner roll over to himself, “I could give you a demonstration right now.” “Oooh!” Jade clapped her hooves together excitedly. “I’m sure we’d all love to see your magic at work.” Silver saw Snapshot and Ava nodding at that, looking at him expectantly. He glanced over to Mystic, who had been surprisingly quiet this whole time, and saw the unicorn looking at him curiously. He mentally shrugged at the persistent silence from Mystic and turned his attention on the dinner roll. Silver looked to the dinner roll, his horn glowing while the roll was enveloped in a green aura as he started working his magic. He summoned the power of the sculpting spell, and focused his will on the roll, which began to tremble a bit before the outer crust slowly began to crumble. Everyone watched the dinner roll fall into crumbs as he worked to shape it into something. His eyes seemed to glaze over a bit as he focused on the task at hand, and soon enough he was finished. The crumbs were moved aside with his magic before he levitated the end result, a bread cube, over to Jade. She looked it over in her hooves and chuckled, “Wow! That was really something. And so quick too!” She hoofed it over to Snapshot so he could look it over as well. “Yeah, it’s a unique way of sculpting to be sure,” said Silver. “Normally this sort of thing can take a while depending on the material I’m using and the shapes I’m trying to make. Bread is soft and a cube is simple, so it was quick and easy.” “What kinds of sculptures do you make with your spell?” Snapshot asked, looking over the cube before levitating it over to Ava. “Mostly geometric forms, sometimes with patterns carved into them,” Silver answered. “As I started doing this sculpting to work on strengthening my focus and endurance, I didn’t focus so much on making pretty things.” By this time Snapshot noticed that everyone had finished with their salads, and so he gathered up the plates and salad bowl and headed off to the kitchen. Jade also got up with her husband to fetch more drinks for everyone. Jade returned quickly with the various drinks, passing them out while her husband came by with several bowls of hearty vegetable stew levitating above him. Snapshot served everypony a bowl, then he sat back down at the table next to his wife. The stew itself was made from a tomato base, and it was filled with chopped celery, onions, carrots, and potatoes, as well as a selection of seasonings. Silver took a deep whiff of the savory smell coming from his bowl of stew, and gave a happy sigh. “This smells wonderful…” “Well it tastes even better,” Snapshot said with a grin. “Dig in, everyone!” Everypony was happy to follow those orders, and they all eagerly chowed down on the hearty stew. Just like with the salad, there was a period of comfortable silence as everyone enjoyed their meal. Silver gave his compliments to Jade for the wonderful food, and made a mental note to get the recipe from her later. It was Ava who broke the silence, looking to Silver as she pointed out, “You’ve told us about how you sculpt, but you haven’t told us how it is you became an artist selling your work.” “That’s true,” Snapshot said. “It’s one thing to practice your magic, but what made you decide to sell your creations?” Silver chuckled at the memory. “That’s an interesting story, actually. At first I never thought of my creations as being anything more than practice, though as I kept up with it the designs got more intricate. Eventually I made one I thought looked particularly nice, so I decided to give it to my parents.” Silver took a sip of his soda before he continued, “They liked it, and decided to place it on the coffee table as a centerpiece. It was just sitting there for a few days before my mother’s friend, a stallion named Winter Gust, came to visit.” “What does he have to do with this?” Jade wondered. “Well Winter Gust happens to be an art dealer in Fillydelphia, who runs his own art gallery,” Silver explained. “He saw the piece I made laying there on the coffee table, and thought it was fantastic. When my parents told him that I gave them the sculpture they said he broke pegasus speed records rushing up the stairs to knock on my door.” He waited for the chuckling to die down before he continued the tale. “So he asked me where I got the sculpture, and I told him that I made it. At first he didn’t believe me, until I showed him the box of sculptures I had just sitting in the corner. I swear, the way his eyes bulged I thought they were going to fall out of his head!” Silver chuckled as he remembered the look on Winter Gust’s face. “So at this point my sculptures were all just plain wood carved into various geometric shapes. He demanded that I get the sculptures painted and finished for sale, telling me that I could make a lot of money selling them.” He gave a shrug and continued, “I didn’t think anyone would really be interested in what I had made, considering it wasn’t meant to be anything but practice, but my parents encouraged me to go ahead and get them ready for sale. They thought my sculptures were nice, and didn’t see any harm in trying to make money off my work.” “So you got the sculptures painted and ready for sale,” Mystic said, finally breaking his silence. “What happened then?” “Well, after they were all ready, Winter Gust brought the sculptures to his art gallery for this big premiere,” Silver explained. “I tell you, when I saw the prices he was asking for those sculptures, I thought he was nuts. It seemed to me that he was asking way too much for them, but once the first piece sold I realized he knew what he was doing.” “How many sculptures did you have at the gallery?” Jade asked. “How many of them sold?” “I had twelve sculptures on display at the time, and nine of them sold,” Silver answered. “I admit, I was pretty excited to realize I could make so much money just from practicing my magic. So I kept on sculpting, working on more intricate pieces as I went along, selling them here and there through Winter Gust’s art gallery.” “It sounds like you had a pretty good thing going on there in Fillydelphia,” Ava said. “Why did you leave the city to move all the way out here to Ponyville?” Silver couldn’t help but wince at the memory of Discord standing over him, laughing at his pathetic attempt to fight against the powerful centaur. For a moment he relived the sorrow and weakness he felt at having his magic drained from him, though he quickly shook it off. “I had a few reasons,” he said, just looking at his stew absentmindedly. He didn’t notice the others all looking at him with concern, having noticed the pained expression on his face as he remembered the events of that day. It was Jade who spoke up, “Silver? Are you okay?” Silver winced, and quickly nodded, looking to Jade with a half-smile. “Yeah, I’m fine, sorry.” He cleared his throat, and then answered, “Anyway, one of the reasons I moved here to Ponyville was so that I had more space to study and practice magic.” Silver gave a shrug and added, “And I suppose if something were to go wrong, Princess Twilight is nearby to fix things.” “Yeah, that’s true,” Ava agreed. “If anypony can help with magic stuff, it’s definitely Princess Twilight.” “You said you had a few reasons,” Mystic spoke up. “I remember you telling us the same thing at your welcome party. What else besides magical practice brought you here?” Well, there was another reason he came to Ponyville, but he didn’t feel comfortable revealing that to them or anypony else. He thought for a moment, before he answered, “I suppose I also enjoy the peace and quiet here in Ponyville. Compared to the hustle and bustle of a major city, filled with strangers, Ponyville feels like a town filled with friends and neighbors.” Jade smiled and nodded at that, “Yes, indeed. Ponyville is a lovely town, filled with so many good ponies.” She looked thoughtful as she added, “Just wait until you get to experience some of the fall traditions around here, like the Running of the Leaves and Apple family cider.” “Well I’m certainly looking forward to that,” Silver replied. He didn’t notice Mystic looking at him suspiciously, having heard both reasons for the move before he saw the gray unicorn flinch like that.  He could tell that something happened to Silver back in Fillydelphia, but he didn’t know quite what. He decided not to force the issue, least of all around his family; if Silver didn’t want to talk about it, he wasn’t going to ask. = = = = = = = = = = The rest of the evening went smoothly, filled with peaceful small talk as they finished their delicious meal with fresh cupcakes from Sugarcube Corner. Mystic spoke up from time to time, but he was generally content to stay quiet and let everypony else talk. Silver enjoyed the conversation, which focused on art and life in Ponyville. Eventually though, Silver decided it was getting late and that he had taken up enough of their time. He left with Mystic after getting the recipe for Jade’s delicious vegetable stew, promising to come visit again. It had been fun talking about art with Mystic’s family, even if he himself wasn’t as knowledgeable about the subject as the rest of them. When the door closed, Mystic spoke up, “Well, I don’t know about you, but I need a drink. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.” He began walking off toward what Silver assumed was the local pub, and the gray unicorn turned toward home, before he stopped himself. He was quiet the whole time, Silver thought to himself, and now he needs a drink? Something doesn’t add up… He sighed and turned toward Mystic. He didn’t know too much about friendship yet, but he could see that Mystic didn’t need to be alone right now. “Mystic, wait,” he called out. Mystic stopped, and turned to look back at Silver as he walked up. “What’s up?” “Well, do you want some company?” Silver asked. Mystic’s brow furrowed in confusion, but then he shrugged. “Uh, sure I guess. Come on, I’ll show you the way.” The two walked to the pub together in silence, Silver not wanting to push a conversation yet and Mystic not willing to volunteer anything in return. Soon enough they reached the pub, a lively locale on a Friday night like that, where ponies of all kinds enjoyed ending the week with friends and drinks. The pair went to the bar, where they both ordered hard ciders, and after they paid for and got their drinks they found a table to relax at. Mystic was quick to start chugging his drink, while Silver looked upon his own mug with concern before taking a slow sip. Silver smiled and nodded at the flavor, licking his lips. “Not bad…” “Yeah, Ponyville has some really good cider,” Mystic said. “Better than any cider you’ve had before, right?” “Well, I’ve never actually drank hard cider before,” Silver admitted. “Oh?” Mystic asked. “You’re used to harder stuff?” “What? No…” Silver shook his head. “What I meant was that I’ve never actually drank anything before now,” he admitted with a sheepish smile. Mystic looked at Silver, surprised and confused. “So, you’re telling me you don’t drink at all? Why’d you come with me to the pub then?” Silver gave a shrug. “Well I knew something was bothering you, and I didn’t want to you leave you all by yourself.” He took another sip of his cider, before he continued, “So tell me Mystic, why were you so quiet tonight? What’s bugging you?” Mystic frowned, looking thoughtfully at his cider before he took a long sip to finish off his mug. “Hold that thought,” he said as he got up to head to the bar for another drink. Silver watched as Mystic ordered another hard cider, as well as a shot of whiskey, the latter of which he downed immediately before he went back to the table with his cider. “Alright, where were we?” he asked as he sat down. “You were going to tell me what was bothering you tonight,” Silver answered. “Ah, yeah, that…” Mystic sighed. “Did I ever tell you where I came from?” “No,” Silver answered. “I just assumed you were born in Ponyville like all the others,” he added with a shrug. “Nope. My family started out in Manehattan,” said Mystic. “I was born there, and so was my sister. We spent several years there, until my folks decided to move out of the city and into this sleepy little town.” Silver’s brow raised in surprise. “Really? How old were you when your family moved here?” Mystic grimaced as he answered, “Old enough to have close friends and regular hangouts. Life was great; so full of excitement, things to do, places to go…” He took another long sip of his cider, then added, “Until they decided to pull me away from all that to come to Ponyville.” Silver took a sip of his cider, and looked thoughtfully at his friend. “So, you’re still upset with your parents for having to leave all that behind?” Mystic nodded. “Yes, I am. I had friends, Silver, friends I grew up with there in Manehattan. We did so much together, and they were as much part of my life as my parents.” He looked to his cider sadly, and sighed. “I left them behind, along with all our favorite hangouts, when we moved out here.” He gave a snort, adding, “And what did I get in return? Loneliness and boredom, that’s what.” Silver frowned at that. “Did they ever tell you why they moved you to Ponyville?” Mystic gave a shrug. “Something about a better life here I guess, I dunno. At the time I was too angry at the move to really listen to their excuses, and later on I just didn’t care to ask.” Silver pondered upon things as he drank his cider. “You know, I don’t think moving here was all that bad.” Mystic snorted, and looked at Silver incredulously. “How do you figure that?” “Well, you made new friends, didn’t you?” said Silver. “Friends like Strawberry Jewel, who have been there for you all this time.” Mystic smiled and nodded slowly. “Yeah, I suppose that’s true. Jewel’s always been there for me since that very first day.” “Sunny told me that Jewel was your oldest friend,” Silver said. “How did that start?” “Well it all started on my first day of school here in Ponyville,” Mystic explained. “I was still hurting from leaving my friends behind, so I wasn’t very sociable. A few of my classmates asked me about life in Manehattan, but otherwise they left me alone when it was obvious I didn’t feel like talking. Only Strawberry Jewel persisted in talking with me, trying to get me to open up.” Mystic drank down the rest of his cider and put the mug down, looking at it absentmindedly. “All I wanted to do was mope, and yet she kept trying to talk with me. When class let out, I asked her, ‘why do you want to talk with me? Why can’t you just leave me alone?’” Mystic gave a small smile. “You know what she told me? She said ‘because you’re sad, and you need a friend.’” Mystic gave a soft chuckle. “That part about needing a friend is what got me to start talking to her. I told her that I already had friends back in Manehattan, and that I wanted them back.” He had a distant look on his face as he gave a half-hearted shrug. “I guess that’s when the sadness and loneliness hit me. At that moment I truly realized that I was alone in this new town, that I would probably never see any of my friends or visit my favorite places ever again.” Silver saw Mystic just staring at his empty mug, eyes glistening with tears from remembered emotion as he continued his story, “I… I started crying, and I told Jewel to go away and leave me alone, but she wouldn’t. She hugged me and just held me for a while. She never judged me, or made fun of me; she just held me and let me get it all out.” He sniffed and rubbed at his eyes, before he looked up at Silver. “After a while, when I finally stopped crying, I asked her why she was being so nice.” He had a small smile on his face as he said, “And you know what? She told me it was because she knew how much loneliness could hurt, and how valuable it was to have friends.” Silver looked to Mystic with a furrowed brow, curious about something he said. “She was a loner in school? I’d think a kind, pretty mare like her would have been quite popular.” “Jewel’s always been timid, and on top of that she was one of the last in her class to get her cutie mark, so she was also teased for being a blank flank,” Mystic explained. “She had her parents, and her big sister of course, but she didn’t have much in the way of friends. So when she saw how I was acting, she knew how I felt and just what I needed.” “So what happened after that?” Silver asked, finishing his cider. Mystic chuckled softly. “I accepted her friendship, of course. I told her about my friends, the places I went, the things I enjoyed doing, and in turn she told me about herself, the town, and all the things we could have fun doing in Ponyville.” He had a bright smile on his face as he added, “We’ve been pretty much inseparable since then.” “So it sounds like things worked out pretty well for you,” Silver said. His brow furrowed in confusion as he added, “Seeing as it’s been years since you moved here, I don’t understand why you’re still upset with your parents.” “Well,” Mystic began as he ran a hoof through his mane, “I still miss my old friends, even though I have good friends here in Ponyville. I still miss the places I went to, and the things I could do in Manehattan that I can’t do here.” He gave a frustrated growl before he admitted, “And as close as the band is to hitting it big, I can’t help but feel restless here. I mean, I’m so close to the sweet life in Manehattan, Silver!” “I can appreciate that,” Silver began with a concerned look, “but has life in Ponyville really been so bad?” “What do you mean?” Mystic asked. “What I mean is that you’re so eager to leave, but what about everything you gained here in Ponyville?” Silver asked. “You gained good friends here, including me, who you wouldn’t have met if you had stayed in Manehattan. From what I’ve been told, there are events and traditions here that you can’t find in Manehattan either.” He looked thoughtful for a moment, then added, “And you know what? You wouldn’t have met your bandmates if you hadn’t moved to Ponyville.” Mystic looked at Silver for a while, his mind full of thoughts and his eyes flickering here and there as he took in Silver’s words. He always thought about the things he left behind in Manehattan, but he never gave much thought to what he had gained in Ponyville. Silver took this time to continue his speech. “You said your parents moved you here for a better life; maybe there were things about life in Manehattan that weren’t all glitz and glamour. You were young when you left for Ponyville, maybe too young to see what it was really like back there.” “I… I never thought about it like that,” Mystic replied, looking distant as he worked through his memories of life in Manehattan, and of life in Ponyville and all he had gained there. He couldn’t argue with Silver’s logic, couldn’t argue with the friendships he made and the annual events he enjoyed in Ponyville. “If you hit it big with the band, you’re obviously free to go wherever you want,” Silver said. “But please, think it through before you abandon Ponyville. Think before you leave your friends behind.” Mystic sighed and nodded. “You’ve given me a lot to think about, Silver. Thank you.” He looked to the clock on the wall, and chuckled. “Unfortunately it’s getting to be far too late tonight to worry about such things right now.” Mystic got up alongside Silver, and told him, “I promise I’ll think about what you said.” Silver nodded, and the two of them headed out of the pub, starting on their separate ways. Before either could get too far, Mystic stopped, thinking about the way Silver reacted earlier at the topic of his move from Fillydelphia. He turned around, calling out to the other stallion, “Hey, Silver!” Silver paused and turned around to face Mystic. “Yeah?” Mystic walked up to him, placing a hoof on his shoulder. “I just want you to know that I’m here for you if you ever need to talk about anything, okay?” He gave Silver’s shoulder a gentle pat. Silver gave a slow nod at that, and replied, “Okay, thanks Mystic.” He felt Mystic’s hoof leave his shoulder, and while he appreciated the sentiment he just didn’t know if he felt comfortable telling Mystic the main reason he had moved there to Ponyville. “Have a good night,” he told Mystic, who gave a smile and nod at that before the two split off to go back to their homes. Silver walked slowly, he himself thinking about everything he had left behind back in Fillydelphia. He wondered if maybe he would end up feeling homesick, and what he would do if he ever did. Mystic was right about one thing though; it was too late in the evening to worry about such things, so he put those thoughts aside for the time as he headed home. There would be time to worry about that later.