Raising Tempo

by Void Chicken

Foals' Ambitions

Tempo's brow was furrowed in concentration. There was a beautiful sculpture somewhere in that lump of clay, one that Dapple would love to see. Designs and poses flickered through her mind, all competing to be the one that would take physical form.

She sketched a few more candidates on the nearby sheet of paper. Some smudges marked where Tempo had changed her mind.

Looking back at the clay, some possibilities floated through her mind's eye. Most involved Feather Brush and a canvas. She wondered if adding a smock would be appropriate. A palette would be likely, but she was unsure where to put it.

The sound of her door opening interrupted her train of thought.

"Tempo?" Mom asked.

Tempo looked up and turned around to see Mom in the doorway. She wasn't holding herself as high as she usually did.

"Mom? Is something wrong?"

Mom's eyes went to the wall. "Oh, is that the painting your friend made? It looks lovely, I must say. The spitting image of you."

Tempo looked at the painted eye. "Uh-huh! Rainbow put the nail in the wall and hung it up for me."

"I can imagine. It's high up and you can't levitate things yet." Mom cleared her throat. "Are you, ah, busy with that?"

Glancing back at the clay, Tempo answered, "Yeah, but you're here so I can wait."

Mom grimaced and looked away.

Tempo shrunk in her chair. "Did—did I say something bad?"

"No!" Mom swept forward, grabbing Tempo and locking her into a hug. "You didn't do anything wrong, Tempo. You didn't do anything wrong. You're a wonderful, marvelous filly and I love you more than anything else in the world."

Tempo squirmed, but Mom's grasp was beyond her ability to break. Thankfully, the hold was released before Tempo ran out of air.

Mom lay on the floor and patted the ground next to her. Dutifully, Tempo lay at her side.

Looking over at her Mom said, "I know I've been terribly busy, and I haven't been able to spend much time with you recently. I am happy that Rainbow is there when I can't be. However, I have an idea. Tempo, you can say no, but if you wouldn't mind... may I... do some of my paperwork in here? With you, while you sculpt? I could bring in a table."

Tempo looked around. "Yeah, that's okay. There's room over there."

"Thank you so much. Tempo, I promise I'll change. I'll become the Mom you deserve." Tears swelled in her eyes.

Tempo looked up at her face. "But I don't want you to become a different Mom. Please don't turn into another pony. I want you to stay my Mom, no matter how busy you are. I love you, Mom."

"Y-you have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that!"

Mom's foreleg raised up and came down on Tempo's shoulders, pinning her to the floor. Tempo's hooves scrabbed against her bedroom floor to no avail. She felt wet spots on her neck. Tempo wiped it with her hoof to see a blue-gray mixture.

"Eww! Mom! Your makeup's coming off! You're getting me dirty! It's not bathtime yet! Moooom!"

---

"All done!" Tempo announced.

Mom looked up from her papers. "Let me see." Her magic levitated Tempo's homework over to her, where she looked the pages over. "Everything appears to be in order." She returned Tempo's homework to the desk.

"Can I go to Dapple's house now?"

"So long as you inform Rainbow and are home before dinner, you may."

Tempo cheered and galloped out of her room. On the way out of the Boutique, she called, "Rainbow, I'm going to Dapple's house!"

A faint "All right" from above answered.

She trotted all the way through Ponyville and to the large house at the edge of town. Tempo jumped at the doorbell chain, snapping her jaws at the handle. Unfortunately, despite her efforts, she was too short to reach.

Tempo raised her hoof and knocked on the door instead.

A moment later, Dapple's dad opened it.

"Hello, Mister Span! Is Dapple home?"

"Of course, he's in his room." Dapple's dad stepped aside.

Tempo galloped up the stairs. "Thanks, Mister Span!"

She rapped on the bedroom door. "Hey, Dapple! Can I come in?"

"Tempo?" he answered. "Just a second... all right."

She trotted inside. "Dapple, guess what?" she asked the curtain hanging across the corner of the room.

Not waiting for an answer, she said, "Mom and Rainbow loved the painting!"

"They did?" Dapple's face poked out around the curtain. Tempo made sure to look to the side.

"Yes!" She bounced in place. "Rainbow hung it in my room and everything!"

"That's good."

"You said you wanted to paint the rest of me, right? Can you? Please please please?" Tempo walked up to the black curtain hiding his body from view.

Dapple shifted his weight. "Well... I do really want to try it. But I noticed the lighting in here isn't very good. I'd have to paint you somewhere else."

Scratching her chin, Tempo said, "Um, the front hallway had a lot of light. Can you paint me there?"

"We should look." Dapple took a step towards the door, then hesitated.

Tempo walked ahead of him, leaving his room and going downstairs.

She heard Dapple walk up behind her. "It gets pretty bright in here when we light the chandelier. Here."

Dapple walked up to a small lever on the wall next to the front door. Out of the corner of her eye, Tempo saw him push it up. A flash of magic shot up the wall, across the ceiling, and down the chandelier. Seconds later, the dozens of candles on it were lit. Even with the sunlight outside, there were enough candles to noticeably add to the room.

"It's pretty bright after dark," Dapple explained. "But it's a lot of candles, and ever since I learned how to fly, Dad makes me replace them all when they get low. It takes forever."

Tempo looked up at it, trying to imagine replacing every single candle on it, even with what magic she'd someday have. Dapple pulled the lever down again. Another flash of magic extinguished the flames.

Dapple said, "But it is pretty good lighting. I think we could do it here."

Looking around, Tempo spotted a light couch, or as Mom called thiers, a camelback. "Here, Mom likes to lay on these." She hopped up, flopped onto her side, and stretched her hind hooves back as far as she could while her forehooves reached for the other end. She raised her snout to the ceiling.

"Like this. And then she talks about her dresses. 'Oh my beautiful designs are unappreciated! This is the worst thing ever, Tempo!'" She glanced down at Dapple before remembering herself and looking away.

Dapple walked up to her. "You want me to paint your stomach?"

"Well..." Tempo looked at her body. "I guess that'd be pretty boring. How about..."

Tempo rolled onto her belly. She crossed her forelegs and let her left hind leg dangle off the side. Looking back, she flicked her tail a few times until its tip hung next to her leg. She then set her head on her forelegs, facing it towards Dapple, keeping her eyes away.

"Here. I saw this in one of Mom's magazines and thought it was nice."

Dapple paced for a bit, looking at her from different angles. His eyes went from her face to her chest, then to her cutie mark, her tail, and finally to her hanging hoof.

"That's... a lot of detail." Dapple took a breath. "Let me get an easel."

After a few minutes' work, Dapple was mixing colors on the sizable palette propped up next to the large easel. As Tempo sat on the couch, she couldn't help but glance between the colors of the paint and her natural coloration. Although the sizable canvas blocked Tempo's view of him, spotted brown legs still walked to and fro beneath it. Occasionally his tail or rump appeared on one side.

Dapple's head poked out the side of the canvas. "I think I'm ready to start. Can you lay down?"

She eagerly laid down and put herself in the proper pose. Tempo was getting a great painting made of her and she was going to make Dapple a figurine of Feather Brush. She shivered in anticipation, kicking her loose leg.

"Are you okay?" Dapple asked.

"Sorry." Tempo held more still, pointing her eyes at the wall.

The motion of Dapple's legs caught her attention again. The spots running up his forelegs were obvious from her angle. She wondered if he knew she could see them. She wondered if she should say something. Tempo looked at the wall again. She busied her mind with the figurine she was making, a tiny pony and easel forming in her thoughts.

Dapple was going to love it.

---

"Tempo, slow down, you'll make yourself sick."

Tempo looked up at Mom. She set the cinnamon roll back on her plate and chewed the one still in her mouth.

"Srry, js wntd—"

She felt a wing tap her side. "And don't talk with your mouth full," Rainbow said.

Tempo swallowed, and gave Rainbow a sheepish smile.

Smiling back, Rainbow said, "You must be excited to start your weekend. Let me guess, Dapple's place?" She took a bite of her own roll.

Mom chimed in, "It is nice to know you two are getting along so well."

"Uh-huh," Rainbow said through her roll.

Tempo jabbed Rainbow's side with her hoof. "Don't talk with your mouth full."

Rainbow finished chewing before swallowing her bite. "You got me there, kid. But you should finish your breakfast before you go to Dapple's." She shoved the rest of the roll in her mouth.

"I'm going to paint his figurine first. He said he's going to finish the painting today so I gotta surprise him when he's done. We're gonna surprise his dad too when he gets home tomorrow. He's in Dodge Junction to help them figure out a new building. Dapple made him promise not to look at the painting until it's done."

"Ah, yes," Mom said, "the painting your friend's been working on with you all week. What did you say its subject was, again?"

"That's a surprise, too! I'll show you when it's done. You'll both think it's really great."

"I'm sure we will," Mom replied. "But until then, you should eat like Rainbow..." She looked at the mare whose mouth was overfilled. "You should eat like I am."

It took only two more rolls before Tempo's hunger was satisfied.

She set her forehooves on the table. "All full! Can I go paint now?"

Mom looked at her. "You may resume your craft when you have wiped your mouth clean."

Rainbow looked over and grabbed a napkin. "Or I'll do it for you."

"Oh, yeah?" Tempo stood up.

"C'mere and take what's coming to ya." Rainbow smiled.

Tempo ran away.

She darted to and fro in the Boutique, but Rainbow hovered in front of her at every turn, wielding the dreaded napkin.

The front door opened. Tempo turned to look. In an instant, Rainbow had her pinned to the ground. "Gotcha!"

"Nooo!" Tempo squirmed on her back as the horrible napkin swept across her face.

Rainbow stood up, her hind legs astride Tempo's body. Wings spread wide, she held the dirty napkin aloft like a trophy.

Then Rainbow turned around. "Sup, Twilight?" She dropped to all fours again, the napkin fluttering to the ground.

Looking up, Tempo saw Aunt Twilight in the doorway.

"Twilight?" Mom asked as she walked into the room. "What are you doing here this early?"

Aunt Twilight sighed. "I'm sorry, but I got another message from Princess Luna. The Nightgrasp is back. He's going to attack Dodge Junction."

Rainbow's groan filled the room. "Again? Has it even been a month?"

Tempo rolled onto her feet and stood up. "Mom? Rainbow? Is it time for you to fight the bad guy again?"

Aunt Twilight kneeled down in front of her. "I'm sorry, Tempo, but you know we have a duty to Equestria. We'll be just fine, I promise."

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, head to the next town, blast the Nightgrasp, come home. Why does he even bother?"

Aunt Twilight frowned. "Rainbow, despite how often we've had to defeat him, the Nightgrasp is still very dangerous and we need to take the utmost care in handling him."

With a wave of her hoof, Rainbow said, "Just like every other time. At least it's not on the other end of Equestria tonight."

"Tempo will still get to spend some time with you," Aunt Twilight said, "which I'm certain she'll enjoy."

Mom walked over. "Well, Tempo was planning on painting a figurine for her new friend before spending the afternoon at his house."

"Yup!" Tempo said.

Aunt Twilight's face lit up. "You made a friend? How wonderful! What's his name?"

"Dapple Coat!"

Aunt Twilight tilted her head.

"Who?"