Through Crimson Eyes

by Level Dasher

Chapter 9: One Down

“…Dude…”

I was speechless. I slowly got out of bed, dragging my IV lines behind me, to go toward the window. Starry finally revealed his work, and it was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. I’m not saying that because he’s my friend; my Mom works at an arts center— there’s art all over the walls. This was just as good, if not better, than the things hung in the Center.

The painting showed Princess Luna and me sitting on a cliff, looking up at the night sky, while I held a portable telescope. One small, particular detail caught my eye.

“Hey, how come that star up there is red?”

Starry chuckled. “Oh, that’s just a little wordplay at work. Or, I guess I should say brush-play.”

“What?” I didn’t really get it.

“Well, you told me about red giants when you went on one of your astronomy rants a long time ago. What’s another shade of red that you know? I’ll give you a hint.” He pointed a hoof straight at me.

“What? You mean… crimson?”

He grinned and nodded, then pointed at the painting. “Yeah, so what’s that?”

Dad smiled and put a hoof over his mouth. “Starry, that’s clever. Very nice!”

I smirked and shook my head. “A crimson star. Gotta admit, that’s slick.”

“So, what do you think?” Starry sounded like he was ready for the official critique. He looked a bit nervous, as if I were a famous art critic or something.

I took in the entirety of the painting again. “Starry… you’re ten! How are you this good?”

Starry scratched behind his head. “Soooo… you like it?”

For some reason I wasn’t getting the point across. “Dude, this is amazing! You’ve seriously been holding out; I’ve never seen you do anything like this before! How did you know what Princess Luna looks like? Did you use a picture from one of our schoolbooks or something?”

“Actually, yeah,” he responded. “I used our history book on the Changeling invasion. It had the best pictures.”

Considering what I remembered about that from school, I couldn’t help but think, Well, that’s ironic.

My dad looked just as awestruck as me. “Starry, this is fantastic. How long did it take you to finish this?”

Starry thought for a second. “Well, counting Friday, a good amount of yesterday, and today, I’d say… between ten and eleven hours? Yeah, that sounds about right.”

Dad and I looked at each other. We seemed to be thinking on exactly the same wavelength. Both of our mouths went slightly agape, and we raised our eyebrows at each other. Then we turned back to look at the painting again.

“Wow.”

“Wow.”

After complimenting Starry multiple times, I couldn’t help but mess around with him a bit. “Dude, this is incredible, but you know my coat’s not that color.”

He stuck his tongue out at me with a smirk as I chuckled. We’ve known each other long enough to know when we aren’t being serious. “I know, smart aleck. I thought the darker red made for better contrast with the sky. And before you say anything about it, yes, I did paint the whole canvas. The outsides are white on purpose— it made the three-dimensional effect easier to paint.” I hadn’t even noticed that at first. “It also gave me a free spot to put my signature. I gotta work on that…”

At that moment, I heard the door open behind us. I turned around and saw Mom, Amethyst, and Rosebud trot in, followed by Tesla. Tess’s head was facing the floor, but I could see her glaring at my mother through the tops of her eyes. When she finally looked up and saw Starry’s painting, her face fell into the same expression as Mom and the girls’— wide eyes and open mouths. Nopony moved until I heard squeaking hinges and the faint click of the door shutting.

“Starry, is that what you were doing yesterday?” Tesla asked. Starry nodded sheepishly. “No wonder you said you were busy…”

“My word, Starry, that’s remarkable!” Mom appeared to be in as much awe as Dad and me. Aside from being a musician, she also takes a shine to physical art. Considering what I know about my mom’s experience at the Center, and other art galleries, a compliment from her was an achievement, to be sure.

Rose chimed in, “Wow, Starry, you’re really talented!”

“Yeah! How old are you, ten? That’s incredible!” Amy added.

Starry blushed and backed up to the window as Rose and Amy threw him their praises.

At that moment, I noticed something shining through the window. The glare stung my eyes, so I moved over, and that was when I realized that the light wasn’t coming from outside. My eyes went wide as I discovered the source of the light; it was right behind Starry…

Since he was facing everypony else in the room, Starry was the only one that didn’t see the light reflecting off the window. Tesla, my parents, the girls, and I all put our hooves over our eyes to shield them. When Starry saw all the hooves go up, he squinted and turned toward the window to see what everypony was looking at.

As Starry revealed his back to the room, and the light faded, there was a unanimous, yet quiet gasp from everypony other than myself. I smiled, realizing I had been the first to see the paintbrush and palette adorning Starry’s flank.

“What’s everypony looking at? The sun isn’t that bright.” He turned back around and looked at everypony in confusion.

I looked at Tesla and my parents and asked, “Can I tell him? Please?”

All three of them smiled and said in unison, “Do it.”

Even after what I had told my mother earlier, I decided to add a little drama to the moment. I took a second to think, then I sighed, shook my head, and looked at Starry with the most apologetic look I could muster. “I’m sorry, Starry, but you aren’t a Cutie Mark Crusader anymore.”

He cocked a brow at me. “Dude, what the hay are you talking about?”

I felt kinda bad leading Starry on like that, but then again, you only get to tell a friend something like this once, so I wanted it to be memorable. I instantly changed my expression to what I’m positive was the widest smile I have ever made, and patted my own flank with a hoof. “Congrats, mister artíste.”

Starry’s jaw dropped, and his eyes nearly bulged out of his skull before he whipped his head around so fast that I could hear his neck pop. Then, I’m pretty sure everypony on the entire fifth floor of the hospital must’ve put their hooves to their ears.

“SWEET CELESTIA, I DID IT!”

Author's Note:

I know I image-linked the painting in the chapter, but I'm leaving the link to its dA page as well. If you'd like, you can also see it slightly larger in my Google Drive.

I made sure to credit him in the link with the picture, but I want to thank Tsitra360 again for the awesome work he did on Starry's painting.

Update: Check out number 19!

Comments

[Dreams of Ponies]

This chapter was adorable, hooves down, the cheesiest smile I've ever had, and I know cheesy, gawd.

Also, shame on you, Crimson for leading him on like that... I totally would have done the same