The Pencil Pony

by MrMsSiren

Chapter Five: Epilogue

Sketch Pen lay silently in bed, covered with a large blanket. She silently woke up from the realm of sleep, murmuring to herself. She sighed happily when she found a comfortable spot on her bed, and began to drift away from the waking world.

Her eyes wearily blinked open when she remembered what she had planned that day. She sighed, before dragging her body out of the bed. She began to wearily lumber towards the large mirror on her wall.

Before her stood a complete drawing of a pony, complete with shading and full color. Sketch Pen happily sighed, her mind drifting to a time when she was a simple line drawing, a sketch.

She combed her mane and tail, as well as using a miniature colored pencil to brighten any color that had dulled. Once she was sure that everything was in its proper order and place, she began her day.

As she began work in her kitchen, Sketch Pen found herself thinking back on the time when this had all started. How long had it been, two, three years? She shook her head realizing that it didn’t matter.

She grabbed a small piece of graphite, using assorted utensils to grind it into a thin powder, before placing it in a pot, which was just then beginning to boil. After a few minutes of relative silence, a thick paste was produced, before being placed into a nearby oven.

Her mind drifted back in time, remembering how she had freaked out at the mere mention of anything she wasn’t able to do normally, which included eating. Surprisingly enough, twilight managed to figure out that Sketch needed something in her body that would prevent her from fading away. When she didn’t get enough of anything in her body, instead of getting hungry, she would simply start to dull in color and fade away.

Reality’s waves crashed on the shore of her mind at the sound of the oven finishing. She grabbed a towel in her mouth, before grabbing the tray. Inside was a gray loaf, which had become Sketch’s staple food when she needed something quick to eat.

Sketch Pen sliced off several bits of loaf, before a floating knife nearby spread a thick paste on the top. Graphite bread and colored pencil jam was surprisingly good when you happened to be an animated drawing.

Once she was done eating, she grabbed a small pair of saddlebags, which contained assorted art supplies in case inspiration randomly hit, as well as some additional food stuffs, just in case.

Sketch exited the small cottage where she had made her home, observing the room about her. It was the bedroom of her Manehattan apartment, with some slight modifications.

For one, literally every corner, wall, as well as the floor and ceiling was covered with paper, as well as assorted canvases, and blackboards. Secondly, the room had no furniture whatsoever, other than a small couch, sitting on the right side of the room.

Sketch grew in size until she matched the room’s dimensions. Her cottage was much smaller than the average home, considering the average pony could destroy it be simply stepping on the small structure. The only reason Sketch lived in the tiny home was simply due to the fact that it was the only way she felt she was in a 3D environment. Simply walking along the walls of her room was like attempting to go through a narrow alleyway.

She observed the rest of the apartment, with its papery walls and lack of furniture. The only furniture that was there was for guests if they decided to come around.

Sketch Pen blinked when she heard the doorbell ringing, before she changed direction to answer it. She then facehoofed when she remembered that she was invited to go to Canterlot with her parents as well as Golden’s family to attend the Summer’s sun celebration.

Her mind drifted to her parents rushing to Ponyville when they had heard of what happened. To say that they were surprised was an understatement. At the time, Sketch’s emotions were gushing like a river out of her, and she ended up telling them of everything that had happened in the past, including how terribly Sketch felt and why she left Canterlot in the first place.

Her parents stunned her by telling her that they had never been disappointed with her becoming an artist and were quite happy with her when she had gotten her cutie mark. The only time they had been disappointed was when they realized that all of that guard training was kind of a waste of time, when they could have been helping Sketch find her cutie mark.

Sketch mentally chuckled, wondering what her face looked like after being told that. She blinked and trotted when the doorbell rang again, snapping her out of her trance. She arrived at her door, as well as the odd contraption in front of it.

Another disadvantage of being in a 2D plain compared to 3D was simply that Sketch couldn’t answer a door to greet a guest. The first time she discovered this was when one of the doctors sent by Canterlot came by, only to be greeted by a door opening on its own and nopony to greet him.

So Sketch simply took some foam board, folding it so it stood up on its own, so that she could teleport into it and greet whoever happened to be at the door.

The door opened revealing Golden Chisel, her mane done up in a ponytail, as well as a pair of saddlebags upon her back.

Her smile widened at the sight of Sketch. “Hey Sketchie! Are ya ready to go?”

Sketch caught Golden’s contagious smile. “Guess so.”

Golden blinked, before looking at Sketch in confusion. “Umm, how should I carry you?”

It was Sketch’s turn to blink. “Oh! Right, this should do.” A large sketch pad floated into view. “I figured I would be in a large one so everyone could see me in a somewhat pony-sized manner.”

Sketch Pen’s horn began to glow, a brightness quite visible in the darkness that surrounded the two mares. Then, a bright flash and a popping sound arose from the now blank foam board. A slightly more subdued pop and flash later and Sketch was on the front page of the sketch pad.

“Eugh, I don’t think I will ever get used to that.”

Golden simply giggled. “Just try to think about what Twilight said: ‘It’s like teleporting, except INTO something rather than near it!’”

Golden looked down at a watch that wasn’t there a second ago. “Oh, we better get a move on! We might be late to our train!” Golden reached down picking up the sketch pad and putting it into her saddlebags, from which muffled protests could be heard.

Golden closed Sketch’s door, before rushing off to the train station.

***

Sketch Pen sighed. She knew Golden really didn’t know that she did it, it was just that this was getting pretty annoying quickly. Granted, being stuffed into a saddlebag for several hours wasn’t really that bad when you could create anything you wanted to stave off boredom.

She spent her time creating her own version of Ponyville, adding touches of different cities and even some more woody themes as well. By the time the town and its inhabitants were created however, she noticed that Golden wasn’t on the train anymore and began to erase.

Her mind drifted back to a time when she considered that murder. Granted, it was kind of a form of it, but those erased didn’t really die. When drawn back into a medium after being erased, they remembered everything, including being completely erased. They described it as a sort of hibernation, an elongated dreamless sleep.

She chuckled at the memory when she accidentally erased her first pony. She was doing a commission of Twilight and her friends, but had been incredibly drowsy and had forgotten to prevent the characters from becoming animated. As she was putting some details on Rarity, a half drawn Pinkie Pie had come up behind her to give her a hug, only for Sketch to scream and erase her.

She had spent the next several minutes hyperventilating, not sure what to do. She figured she could just get away with it, and just drew Pinkie Pie once more, only for her to shout ‘Again! Again!’

She still had a difficult time erasing any of her work, and if she drew something that just didn’t work out, she would take some time off to redraw it in a better style. She even took the time to bring back Stencil, just to see why she went as bonkers as she did. Sure enough, Stencil remembered everything and vowed to destroy everything and everyone Sketch loved, only for Sketch to erase her mouth as she tried to figure out how Stencil went crazy.

Sure enough, it was the charcoal as she predicted. Just thinking about the stuff and how messy it go everything was enough to put a frown on her muzzle.

When Stencil drew the building that was requested of her, she thought the building needed more color, that it simply needed to stand out. So when she discovered she could not only change her perspective, but that Sketch had art supplies nearby, she decided to experiment.
After giving it some thought, Sketch decided to give Stencil a small section of her apartment, somehow managing to convince her to experiment with other utensils. Nowadays, Stencil had made multiple commissions, and was known for her animated paintings.

Sketch chuckled at the memory, but was not given enough time to ponder on it more as she felt the sketch pad lift into the air. When the cover was lifted off of the front page, she got a good look of where she was, as well as WHO she was with.

Her parents sat upon the grass of a hillside that they often went to for training when she was a filly. The hill stood facing the east, nothing but endless woods could be seen beyond it. Upon the hill was Golden’s family as well, which included her parents and younger brother. Everyone looked at Sketch with smiles that seemed to brighten up the night around them, all except Golden’s younger brother, who simply looked at Sketch in wonder.

Golden Chisel placed the sketch pad close to Sketch’s parents, propping it up with a nearby rock. Sketch’s mother nuzzled the sketch pad, while her father simply smiled at Sketch.

“Hey Hun, how are you doing? How’s life in Manehattan working out for you?” Sketch’s mother sat back giving Sketch a suggestive eye wiggle. “Are we going to have any little doodles running around in there any time soon?”

Sketch looked horrified, while Sketch’s father simply chuckled. “Come now, we shouldn’t pester her with questions just yet. The sun is about to rise! We can ask questions after that.”

Sketch sighed in relief, while her mother pouted. Everypony got comfortable, turning towards the east to view the sunrise. Sketch’s mother turned the sketch pad towards the now approaching light from the horizon.

Everypony sat back, and watched as the beautiful colors of pink, blue, orange, and yellow danced across the sky, adding violet and red at several intervals in their dance of salutations. The first arc of the sun peaked across the horizon, a large brilliant glow of orange erupting from Canterlot making the sun speed up its pace. Soon enough, the sun was in the sky, the bright orb of light clinging to the sky like a flame on a torch.
Everypony cheered, while some simply sighed happily. Sketch remembered what she brought her art supplies for, and she began to dig them out. Sketch’s mother turned towards Sketch, mouth dilled with awaiting questions, only to pout at the sight of the sketch pad surrounded with different paints, tools, utensils, and canvases.

Sketch’s father chuckled at the sight, before noticing the unusual silence. He turned before his eyes widened and he bowed to the ground. His wife turned at the sound of him coughing before doing the same.

“Come on, where did I put that wide brush?! It has to be here somewhere!” She paused as she heard a light chuckle and her chest tightened. She looked up, only to regret doing so as she practically scraped her horn off with a drawn easel.

Before her stood not only Princess Celestia, the alicorn of the sun, but Princess Luna as well, the alicorn of the moon.

“Good morning Sketch Pen! I see you have come out to view the rising of the sun. Quite a beautiful view of the countryside is it not?”
Sketch simply nodded, quite literally scraping her horn off with the easel in front of her. Luna simply chuckled, before taking a nearby pencil and drawing it back on.

“There is no need to be afraid little one, we have met before, if you can recall. I am actually here for a similar matter. My sister here believes that the sun court is quite sterile looking, and wishes for some change. We wish to commission thou for thine- I mean, YOUR artwork.”
Sketch Pen looked up to the too immortal beings that wanted HER artwork in the court room. If she hadn’t met Luna in the past, she probably would have fainted right then and there.

Instead she looked to the small easel in front of her, and inspiration stuck her like an arrow.

Comments

[Zubric]

I love the concept most , haven't see. Something like this since the show did that thing in mending fences

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