A Blank Canvas

by Bardsworth Brony

Chapter Nine: In Which a Secret is Ousted

The gallery showing took place a mere two weeks after Sketch had commissioned Pinkie Pie to put it together. The boisterous pink pony had wanted to do it sooner than that, but Sketch had insisted that the invitations needed time to arrive at their destinations. Besides, he had needed the time to finish up a few more paintings. Between his duties on the farm, planning the event, and working on said paintings, he was exhausted by the time the showing took place. But he put on his game face and tried to enjoy himself.

It was held in the barn at Sweet Apple Acres, being the most logical choice. It was spacious enough to accommodate everypony, and Sketch's studio was right there, so he didn't have to worry about transporting his artwork. Most importantly, though, was that it was a space that Sketch didn't have to pay for; Applejack was more than willing to allow him to use it. They had gotten some help building freestanding walls to display the artwork, and hay bales served as benches for ponies to rest on. The Cakes catered the event, of course, and they outdid themselves on the spread, making it as colorful as the artwork.

"Ah can't believe you did all this," Applejack said, wandering about the room with Sketch and taking everything in.

"I had a lot of help from my friends," Sketch responded, munching on a cupcake.

"No, ah mean the paintings. With you workin' as hard as ya did on applebuckin', ah can't believe you had the time or energy to keep up with yer paintin'."

"Sometimes I couldn't believe it either. But when inspiration hits, you have to go with it."

They watched everypony studying the paintings, of which there was a wide variety. Sketch had done a handful of paintings of things around town – the library, Rarity's boutique, the apple orchard – as well as his usual fare of more abstract art. The one that he and Applejack came to rest in front of was one of the first he had done. It depicted a pony in splotchy shades of gray looking lost amidst a wash of bright colors.

"Ah guess art ain't so hard to figure out when ya' know the artist personally," Applejack said with a smile.

"Sketch, darling," came a voice from behind them. They turned to see Rarity, dressed in a gorgeous purple and silver gown. The dress code had been purposely left casual, but no one was surprised to see Rarity flaunting one of her creations. "Could I have a word with you?"

"Uh, sure," Sketch said, glancing at Applejack.

"Don't worry none, ah'll find somepony to entertain me," she said with a wink, and wandered off into the crowd.

"What's on your mind?" Sketch said, moving closer to the unicorn.

"I wanted to speak to you, artist to artist."

"All right."

"I've been looking at your work and it's outstanding. You do with a paintbrush what I do with needle and thread – create works of beauty."

"Well, thank you," Sketch said, trying not to blush.

"My concern is that you're undercharging for your work."

"Ah." He gave her a sheepish grin. "Somepony once told me that every artist undervalues his work at the beginning."

"I can't say I disagree with that," Rarity replied. "I used to undercharge for my dresses when I first started. But I learned that ponies will pay what something is worth if they want it badly enough. You would do well to remember that."

"I suppose you're right," Sketch sighed. "There's just such a fine line between being confident in your work and being pompous about it. I don't want to charge too much and come off as self-important."

"The ponies who know you will know that's not true and the ones who don't know you will at least see your work. And your work speaks for itself."

Sketch chuckled. "Is it too late to hire you as my manager?"

Rarity smiled and patted him on the cheek. "You can always have my advice for free, darling."

"Thanks, Rarity."

The unicorn walked off and Sketch found himself alone for the first time that night. He took the opportunity to wander around and check things out. In general, everyone seemed to be enjoying the artwork and atmosphere. Unlike the sterile gallery spaces Sketch had been privy to in the past, Pinkie Pie had decorated the barn to give it some color. There were the traditional multicolored streamers and banners, but what really gave the space life were the picture frames. Pinkie Pie had taken it upon herself to gather together picture frames of all sizes and shapes, and she had painted them in different colors and patterns. They hung around the barn in various spots, and there was even a spot where ponies could have their pictures taken while posing in some oversized frames. She had made the event interactive as well. In one of the corners of the barn was a space for the younger ponies to make their own paintings. As Sketch glanced in that direction, he saw Apple Bloom and her friends Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle laughing and splashing paint over a large sheet of paper. And themselves. Things were going so much better than Sketch could have hoped for.

"We came in from Canterlot for this?" Sketch stopped cold and snapped his attention to a well-dressed couple standing in front of one of his paintings. The black stallion said gave an exasperated huff and waved a hoof at the painting. It was one that Sketch was particularly proud of – a mixture of colors and shapes that represented the inner turmoil he had been going through before arriving in Ponyville.

"It's not that bad," the pink mare standing next to the stallion said. "It's very… colorful."

"Not just the painting, I mean the whole thing. Who has a showing in a filthy barn for crying out loud? Maybe if it was some kind of a themed event I could see it. Pictures of farm living or something. But what kind of a professional artist holds a gallery showing like this?"

Sketch didn't stick around to hear the rest. A mixture of anger and dejection washed through him. Could the stallion be right? Had the showing been a bad idea? Was he just embarrassing himself by trying to be different?

That was the moment that Pinkie Pie chose to yell out, "Let's get some music going in here!" And there was music. Loud, energetic music, followed by a loud "boom" and confetti falling over the crowd. Sketch turned back to the dour pony and his companion, and the two were frowning with their hooves over their ears as shiny pieces of confetti landed on them. Then Sketch looked at everyone else in the barn and saw that they were smiling and laughing, and in some cases even dancing. With a big smile of his own on his face, he decided that he needed to give Pinkie Pie a well-deserved hug later on. Of course, the return hug would be dangerous.

Somepony cleared his throat to get Sketch's attention. It was an older stallion with brown hair, a yellow mane, and a warm smile. "Excuse me," he said in a voice loud enough to be heard over the music. "Are you the artist?"

"I am," Sketch answered, a bit nervous. Somepony must have pointed him out; he had been trying to remain inconspicuous.

"I just wanted to say that I'm quite impressed!" the stallion said. "You have a style very reminiscent of Artsy Brushstroke himself."

"That's because Sketch was Artsy's protégé," a familiar voice spoke up from behind Sketch. He snapped around to see Twilight Sparkle smiling at the older pony.

"You don't say?" The pony's eyes got wider. Sketch gave a small smile and nodded. "Well, I happen to own an Artsy Brushstroke original, and I think I may have to leave tonight with one of yours to hang next to it."

"I'd be more than honored," Sketch said, flattered. The older pony shook Sketch's hoof and wandered off. Sketch turned to Twilight and said, "Aren't you supposed to be at the purchase table?"

"Rarity took over for me so I could come see you." She must have detected a tone in Sketch's voice because she asked, "did I do something wrong?"

Sketch pointed towards the doors and the two headed outside into the cold air, where the noise level was significantly less oppressive.

"I'm sorry, Sketch," Twilight began, "I was only trying to help."

"No, it's all right, Twilight. I'm not mad at you, I'm just… I don't know what I am." He paused and looked the unicorn. "Actually, I'm confused. How did you find out that I was Artsy's protégé?"

"I was trying to prepare for tonight by reading up on art. I figured that way I could actually converse about this stuff. And I remembered you mentioning that Artsy Brushstroke was your favorite artist, so I tried to collect some information on him. I managed to get some old newspapers talking about his death, and it mentioned him having a protégé named Waldorf." Sketch flinched. "My curiosity got the best of me, and I did some research on the name and traced it back to Whinnypeg. At that point I put two and two together."

"You're a regular Fetlock Holmes, Twilight," Sketch admitted, and then sighed. "You caught me. My real name is Waldorf, not Sketch. Artsy gave me my nickname based on all the drawings I sent him through the mail before he took me on as a protégé. He said it suited me better than my real name, and I tend to agree on that point."

"Why did you feel you needed to hide that from us?"

"I wasn't really trying to hide it. I just… never wanted to talk about it. I wanted to forget the past and start a new life."

"But why wouldn't you want anypony to know that you were Artsy's protégé?"

Sketch leaned against the wall of the barn and looked down at the dry autumn grass. "I idolized Artsy. It wasn't just for his talent, but it was also for his vision. An ordinary pony would look at his work and see it at face value, just colors and forms on a canvas. But there was always a deeper meaning, something poignant, beyond the surface. And I know I'll never reach that point. If only I had been able to study with him a little longer, I might have been able to."

"You don't know that you'll never reach that level, Sketch," Twilight said, placing a hoof on Sketch's foreleg. "There are lots of ponies in that barn who are impressed with your work."

"There are some who aren't, as well," Sketch mumbled, thinking about the frowning couple.

"You're never going to be able to please everyone. That's what makes a piece of art so interesting to discuss - you have ponies who like it and ponies who don't, those who get it and those who never will. What's important is that you do work that you're proud of."

"I guess you're right," Sketch said. He snorted and shook his head. "I hate moments like this, where something simple has to be pointed out by someone else."

"That's what friends are there for."

"To make you feel stupid?"

"Exactly." She gave Sketch a teasing grin and they both laughed.

"Thanks, Twilight," he said and hesitated a moment before giving her a hug. It felt just as good to be on the giving end of a hug as it was to be on the receiving end.

"Uh, sorry to interrupt y'all, but yer needed inside, Twilight." Applejack had appeared from nowhere, startling the two. "Derpy spilled her drink on Rarity's dress, and-"

"I get the idea," Twilight said, rolling her eyes. "Duty calls." She made her way back to the barn, leaving Sketch and Applejack alone outside.

"So," said Applejack, looking at nothing in particular. "You 'n Twilight have gotten pretty close."

"Yeah, I guess we have," Sketch replied. "It's nice because there's… a connection with her that I've only felt once before."

"Ah'm happy for you." Applejack's tone was a bit flat, and Sketch raised an eyebrow.

"Is everything all right?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah, ah'm fine." She gave Sketch a smile. "Ah'm just tired, is all. From all the decoratin' and settin' up."

"That's understandable." He paused, studying Applejack and then meeting her eyes. "I couldn't have done all this without you, Applejack. Everything, I mean. You helped me stay on my hooves, you supported me, you gave me a chance to do this showing. I'm really grateful to have met you."

"Same here, sugar cube." Her tone was still a little off, but there was a bit more emotion at that point. "C'mon, you still got lots'a ponies in there, and yer the star attraction."

Reluctant to escape the safety and quiet of the outdoors, Sketch nodded and the two walked back together.

***

At the end of the night, half of Sketch's paintings had been sold. It was more than he had expected, yet not as much as he had hoped for. Still, he had been able to make back the money he had spent on the showing and double what he had started with. But the profit had never been intended for him.

"Sketch, you can't be serious," Applejack said with a horrified look on her face. "This here money's yers! You earned it!"

"You're right, I did," Sketch nodded, pushing the lockbox of bits in front of Applejack. "Which means I can do what I want with it. And I want to give it to you." Applejack still didn't make a move to take it, and Sketch sighed. "Look, if I'm going to stay with you ponies at the farm, but I'm not going to have any work to do, I want to at least contribute something in advance."

After taking a moment to think it over, the orange pony placed a hoof on the lockbox. "You sure 'bout this, sugar cube?" she asked gently, looking Sketch in the eyes.

He nodded. "Very sure."

"So all this," she gestured with her head at the decorated interior of the barn which was being dismantled by their friends, "was just to make money for me 'n the family?" Sketch nodded again, and Applejack gave him a huge smile. "Sketch, yer just about the most thoughtful pony ah've ever met." She gave him a hug, which he found himself melting into.

"Hey, are you two gonna stop being all touchy-feely and actually help us?" Rainbow Dash called from a far end of the barn.

"Nope, yer doin' just fine on yer own, Rainbow Dash," Applejack yelled back, giving Sketch a wink.

Comments

[TheMyth]

Hmmmm... do I sense a AJ - Twi - Sketch Love triangle forming?

[Georg]

Good plot, good pacing, good setup, good characterization...darned good work. Keep it up!