Soft Pencil is young filly with a passion for her penciled art with bad luck at making friends.
You are cordially invited to the 11th Birthday party of Miss. Bow Trim.
The social gathering of the season shall take place on the 11th of April at 1pm sharp, located at the Trim family Manor.
Our magnanimous host, Miss. Ribbon, would like to inform you that the theme of this social affair will be the Equestrian's Royalty, mostly concerned with the popular Princess Twilight Sparkle, whom will be in attendance.
Soft Pencil is a young filly with a passion for her pencilled and sketched art; and bad luck at making friends. Out of the blue, she is invited to a party for perhaps the most popular and wealthy filly in school; Bow Trim. While everypony else is excited about this party, Soft Pencil only feels dread.
‘What do you buy a filly that has everything?’ Whilst the other guests go out to buy expensive gifts, Soft Pencil hopes find something that means more.
Sunlight spilled across the page she was drawing one, but she didn’t mind. Class had started well over an hour ago, and Soft Pencil was already finished with the assignment on the board. It was going to be a slow day in class, made worse by the fact that tomorrow started the extra-long weekend. Something about an impending holiday just makes the days leading up to it drag on. At this point, most of the class was babbling away with the other foals nearby, or catching up on homework that would be due by the end of the day. The teacher sat behind his desk, looking over the sports section of the Canterlot Press.
Pencil was doodling away, a simple yet detailed drawing of an old maple tree, one that she could see outside the window next to her. The wind was making the leaves move around a little, making the light on her picture dance, almost as if there were real fireflies with her. Smiling at her work, she set her number two pencil down in front of her. The drawing was mainly showing the upper half of the tree, due to her limited view from the window. She turned around in her chair, reaching into her saddlebags to dig out her coloring pencils, when she suddenly heard a throat being cleared loudly. Turning around, she found none other than Bronze Ribbon and her best friend Bow Trim. Bronze was holding a large stack of pink envelopes. She cleared her throat one more time.
“As you all may already know, Bow Trim’s 11th Birthday party is on Monday. As her best friend is my job to throw the biggest and most extravagant party in the history of partying. With that said,” Bronze Ribbon looked over the envelopes, “a party such as the one that I’m going to throw needs a large amount of guests. All the other classes, including the upper grades,” Bronze’s voice began to get unnecessarily loud, “have already been invited.” Gasps ran around the other foals in the room.
Bronze walked over the front row before continuing, “This is the last of the invites that are going out, and they are all for you!” She smiled triumphantly as each foal smiled and cheered in delight.
Soft pencil’s face dropped a little, and she looked down at her drawing. Soft pencil didn’t have very good luck at making friends. It was just so hard. The idea of even speaking to somepony for any reason that didn’t involve school work made her stomach churn a little. So the idea of going to a large and extravagant party like the one that Bronze Ribbon just described just made her stomach do flip flops. Yet, even if she wasn’t so shy, she really didn’t have the money right now to spend on birthday present good enough to make an impression. Her dad was having trouble at work; his store was suffering from a lack of ponies showing interest. It was a fairly simple small shop after all. Most Canterlot’s citizens would rather shop in larger, more well-known stores; at least that’s what her dad told her.
She was snapped out of her deep thoughts when she saw a pink envelope adorned with a yellow heart sticker was set on top of her drawing. She picked it up. There was no name on the front, so she opened it.
You are cordially invited to the 11th Birthday party of Miss. Bow Trim.
The social gathering of the season shall take place on the 11th of April at 1pm sharp, located at the Trim family Manor.
Our magnanimous host, Miss. Ribbon, would like to inform you that the theme of this social affair will be the Equestrian's Royalty, mostly concerned with the popular Princess Twilight Sparkle, whom will be in attendance.
Soft Pencil looked over the invite one more time before looking around the class; other ponies were gasping and gushing over the theme. They started to aimlessly chat about the party, what they would wear, and other trivial things. Pencil looked to the front of class to see Bow Trim. She was looking around, her face set in a small smile, casting glance at her friend who had finally finished passing out the invitations.
Soft Pencil returned to staring at her invite, before losing focus and slipping her eyes back down at her sketchpad. She swallowed, making a big gulp.
When she finally arrived home at a quarter past three, her black school saddlebags were weighing her down; full of Tuesday’s assigned homework. She walked up to her room and shut the door, taking her saddlebags off and setting them down at the end of her bed. She trotted over to her desk, took out a blank sheet of note book paper, and sat down. She grabbed a pencil with her mouth and began to think.
Unlike most of the guests that were going to Bow Trim’s party, she didn’t know what to get Bow Trim. All of the other fillies and colts were likely to have similar ideas, probably something Princess Twilight related based on the theme of the party. She knew this because she had overheard at least three groups of pupils in the hallways, each one talking about the Trim party that Bronze Ribbon was hosting. She really looked at the paper in front of her. She was really drawing to a blank…
Drawing….
At that moment, it began to click. A drawing for a present may seem cheap to some, but Soft Pencil just knew that getting a personal art piece was not only something she loved, but something that wealthy ponies loved as well. The art museums at Canterlot held the strangest pieces that she ever seen. Some of them were even really simple; like a small child drew them. She went there when she was little, having been taking by her grandpa, and she had seen a lot of wealthy ponies just eating it up.
She looked down at the page once more with a much more positive outlook. Inspired, she started to draft up some ideas.
Late that very evening, on the opposite side of the district, a young filly was outside, sitting on her balcony and looking up at the night sky. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, feeling the wind move around her, ruffling her mane and tail. For just the briefest of moments, the filly could almost feel her hooves around her once again. But then the sensation past; and she opened her eyes. Still looking up into the night sky, clouds had begun to obscure the stars. Then, with a small sad smile, she got up and walked back inside.
It was a clear afternoon, with nothing but a few dozen clouds to mar the sky, as they flowed by slowly. The local park was not really crowded on this particular Saturday, unlike most. Taking advantage of this, Soft Pencil was able to find herself empty picnic table to settle down and draw on. Around here, there lay several dozen roughly drawn sketches; each held a different picture, and each at varying levels of completion. One drawing was one of nothing but cats, whilst another was one full of flowers. There are even random pictures of Princess Twilight doing different things; from saving Equestria to eating a Hay Burger.
She looked at the first drawing that was on top of the closest pile; it was a collection of gem stones. She took a deep breath and let it out in a huff. She had been working practically nonstop, and yet she was stuck in the idea stage of drawing. She turned around to face her bag that was lying on the warm grass, before jumping down from her seat and trotting over to it. Opening it up and looking inside, she confirmed her fears. Most of the notebook paper she brought with her has been used up already. Her hoof brushed against her pad of good quality clean drawing paper, but that was out of the question. There was no way should would even think about touching the good paper, at least not yet. She took a moment to search for her other quarry; any more number two pencils. Most of the ones on the table are down to the nub, with a giant bag full of pencil shavings. Looking around for another minute, she shook her head, unable to find any.
Taking another deep breath in, Soft Pencil turned back around and trotted over to the table. She retook her former seat on the bench, a forlorn look on her face as she scanned her work. She glared down at her last good long pencil. Looking to her left, she glared down at the last blank notebook pages. ‘There’s only six of them left – I have to make them count!’ Grabbing the paper with one hoof and the pencil with another, she stuck the pencil in her mouth, giving the page a look that told it she meant business.
….After two more minutes, she dropped the pencil and got up. She could feel the full few hours of frustration come straight back, and she jumped down, launching into running laps around the table. She let out grunts of annoyance, and kicked her legs out randomly, before she soon ran out of steam. She stopped running, plopping down on the grass, letting the greenish-yellow grass tickle her stomach, before rolling over and releasing a sigh into the open sky.
Letting her eyes wander, she spotted a water fountain with a sliver mirror base. Rolling back over, she looked herself over. She stared back at her own tired expression. Her usually straight and lengthy brown mane was now in long knot like curls, and her blue coat was covered in bits of dirt from running around earlier. Her glasses were also a bit smudged in places, streaks running across the lenses. Looking further, she could see red in the whites of her light brown eyes. She gave her messy self another look over before just letting her head fall down into the soft grass. She could smell how sweet it was.
Suddenly, she heard the sound of a cart pull out from a few yards behind her. She slowly got up and walked over to the bushes, spreading them apart so she could to peer through them. Even with her tired eyes and hazy mind she could clearly see that it was none other than Bow Trim; with two of her servants pulling the cart. It was a very ravishing jewel encrusted carriage, with an open top showing off red valent seats. One of the well-dressed drivers stopped the carriage, and the other moved around to open Bow Trim’s door. Bow Trim thanked the driver before walking down the carriage’s built in steps.
Bow Trim’s light pink and orange curly mane was tied up in a loose orange bow; which was slightly flowing in the light wind. She was wearing a brown saddlebag with a decal of a cutie mark, a pink and purple sun. She slowly trotted off as the carriage stayed where it sat. She walked off to the far left of the clearing, moving behind a large oak tree. Soft Pencil moved quickly and quietly, sneaking up behind another bush closer to the water fountain. She looked out to see Bow Trim walk over to a small but bare part of the park, about ten or so feet away from herself. Bow Trim lay her saddlebags down, shortly lying down beside them. Due to the tall grass surrounding the bare patch, Soft Pencil couldn’t see too much of what Bow Trim was doing; so she crept a little closer - but not to close as to be spotted too easily. She hid behind the long grass, now able to see Bow Trim’s white coat ahead.
Bow Trim had her head looking up at the clouds above. She watched them pass for a moment before turning to her saddlebag. She opened it, and using her pink magic, took out what appears to be an old purple book. Looking a little closer, Soft Pencil can see that the cover has the same cutie mark on as the bags do. Concluding that the book was an old journal, she watched Bow Trim open it. She started to read it for a few minutes, before looking up at the clouds once more. From Soft Pencil’s position, she could see a little bit of Bow Trim’s expression. She seemed to be a little sad as she watched the clouds go by. But, she had a small smile on her face as well.
Suddenly, an idea popped into Soft Pencil’s head. She quickly and quietly walked back to the table. She grabbed a piece of paper and her pencil. Sneaking back to her spot behind the bush, she began to draw.
Ten minutes into her sketching, Soft Pencil is forced to stop as Bow Trim finally got up. Bow Trim put the journal back into the bag and trotted off. Soft Pencil added a few more details, stood up, and quickly walked back her table. She heard the carriage get underway as she sat back down at the table.
Soft Pencil looked down at her new sketch; it was pretty good, but there was something missing. She thought about it for moment longer before another idea entered her head. She grabbed the pencil one more time to add in the final missing piece. When she was done, she set the worn out pencil down and looked down. It looked perfect now. She picked up all her things and put them back into her bag. Smiling, she trotted home to draw the final piece.
The afternoon sun made the Trim Manor seem to shine as brilliant as a freshly cut diamond; and basking in its glory was a crowd of ponies, waiting to enter into it. Inside, it was actually grander; the polished Ivory walls stood with drapes of gold and deep maroon adorning them. The crowds were guided by a number of very well groomed servants; down the extended hallways. The younger ponies of the groups each carried a large box, wrapped in wrapping paper bearing the face of the young Princess Twilight Sparkle; each box topped with a pink or purple bow.
The groups were each led to a massive ballroom. This room as also adorned with drapes; but with ones of pink and purple. There were matching color streamers running around the ballrooms’ giant columns, and crisscrossing with the chandeliers. Several Pink and Purple balloons were tied down at each corner of the room, and there was a stage in the far back that was being used by a large orchestral band, which played soft compositions as the guests arrived. Opposite to the open doors from which the guests were being led in, there was another set of doors; but they were closed.
Fillies and colts of different ages were told to leave the gifts on the large table that was standing to the right side of the entrance. After what seemed like hours, the last of the invited guests entered the ballroom.
As the party got underway, the music got louder. Grown Adults went to speak with neighbors and friends, as the children either danced or played one of the multiple games that had been set up. Several children were either playing ‘Pin the Tail on the Pony’, or playing with the giant bounce house, when a choir of trumpets were blasted forth. Herds of heads turned to the large closed doors, where many servants now stood at each side. One of them stepped forward and began to shout to the crowd.
“Announcing her royal highness…The Princess of Friendship…Princess Twilight Sparkle.” The doors opened up wide to reveal the Princess. She wore a golden gown with pink sapphires patterned around the edges. Her royal crown glimmered brightly as the crowds bowed down to her. The Princess, however, gave a bit of a sheepish smile as she looked around the grand party. She gulped a little as she started to walk forward. She advanced into the room, and over to the dining tables.
She approached the largest table, the one with a bright pink table cloth covering it. She eyed her seat, realizing she would be sat right next to…a filly with a plastic gold crown, embossed with small pink jewels. Twilight’s eyes widened at the seemingly crestfallen filly. The filly looked up and saw her. Her eyes widened, and she quietly got up from her chair. She opened her mouth, but before she could say anything another voice booms throughout the room.
“Fillies and gentlecolts, please welcome our hostess…Miss Bronze Ribbon!”
Twilight turned to see a light brown unicorn filly walk onto the stage. The young pony was wearing a dress that is quite similar to Twilight’s own gown, only with orange Gems and a light orange feathered collar. The filly named Bronze Ribbon grabbed the mic from the side and began to speak.
“Welcome one and all to this magnanimous party hosted by myself,” several foals cheered loudly for a minute before Bronze Ribbon waved her hoof to quiet them down, and with a grin, she carried on; “I know, I know, you all love me; but this day isn’t about me. This party is also about our one…our only…Bow Trim!” She waved a hoof over and a spotlight flashed down on both Twilight and the filly next to her. The light was only on them for a belief moment, before it was suddenly shut off. Then, a larger brighter spot light shined down on the party’s hostess. Twilight rolled her eyes as she continued to watch the boastful filly; it reminded her of a certain blue unicorn mare who used to boast as well. But she was doing much better these days, especially since her student had befriended her. Speaking of Starlight, she really needed to work out a better system for letter delivery; Spike was still a baby, and could only send so many letters before he gets worn out.
Twilight ceased her daydreaming as she heard the sound of several hooves run over to the large table of presents by one of the door. They each grabbed a present and walked up, and they each looked around for a seat. At almost all siting placements there was a folded piece of paper and a pencil. Sitting themselves down, they began writing what appeared to be their names. When they were done, they set the newly made name tags in front of them. In fact, all but three sitting placements were like this. Twilight turned to face the three, which were already marked, with three names written in a dark gold exuberant cursive.
Princess Twilight Sparkle Bow Trim Bronze Ribbon
She looked for a brief moment longer before taking her seat; the one that was on the right side of Bow Trim. With her back to the wall, she faced the whole ballroom. Most of the other adult ponies where on the other side of the room, eating off of what appeared to be a buffet table, and they had their backs turned to face each other. As soon as the last of the foals had finished writing their names tags, Bronze Ribbon, who was directly across from her, clapped her hooves together. One by one, a servant walked next to each foal that had a present in front of them, and picked them up. They walked over and stood directly behind Bronze Ribbon. Bronze Ribbon suddenly, without looking behind her, lifted up one of the presents and floated it over to Bow Trim. All with her eyes closed with a giant closed smile upon her face. She set the wrapped box in front of Bow Trim and then opened her eyes. Bow Trim looked at the tag, and then carefully opened the gift.
For the next thirty minutes, it was the same thing on a loop. Bow Trim would open a present, and find something that was in one form or another, a Twilight Sparkle related. Twilight glared a little at each one. For the first few presents, she found it a little cute; but as it went on, her enthusiasm waned. She took a deep breath as she surveyed her unauthorized branding. She already knew that all the other Princesses had to deal with this as well, but it still annoyed her. They looked so cheap in her eyes; from the tiny tea set with only a few cups to the vanity that was too big to be opened on the table. Each and every one of them had the same lifeless smile expression on them. They must have found an old picture of her from the paper and just slapped it on each of their products.
She looked over to Bow Trim who, if anything, looked even more crestfallen then when she first saw her. Her gaze turned to sympathy for the poor filly. She had no idea why she was upset at the beginning of the party, but now it was all too clear in her eyes as she watch Bronze Ribbon float over what seemed to be the last branded present. Bow Trim looked for a second at the tag then unwrapped to reveal another Princess Twilight Sparkle mane brush with a gold handle.
Bronze Ribbon sat up and was about to speak before a servant tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around to glare when she noticed something. She used her magic and floated the last present over; a peculiar look on her face. It was clear to see why; as she passed the present over to Bow Trim. Several eyes widened in surprise, Twilight’s included. For one thing, it was not another brand wrapped box. It wasn’t even wrapped up in wrapping paper. The gift that was in front of her was flat, wrapped in what appeared to be newspaper comics, with a notebook paper bow on top. There was no tied on tag, no name was written anywhere. Bow Trim, with a look of surprise still on her face, started to unwrapped this unusual gift.
Fields of green and yellow grass danced in a soft wind. There in the field lay a young filly with a cream like coat. Orange strands of hair highlighted the tips of her otherwise light pink mane. The filly’s face was blocked, her back facing the canvas, but it was clear to see her head looking up at the light purple and blue sky. Cotton white clouds floated across the skyline in small packs. At the highest point of the picture, in the very middle, stood a sun. However, this sun looked vastly different from the sun that Princess Celestia raised and lowered. The sun in this picture was drawn as purple with pink rays and, in the middle of the sun, there was a solid pink heart.
….. ….. …..
The ponies at the table held their breath. Those who had a clear view of the picture had equally stunned expressions, yet all for different reasons. After a moment of staring down at the framed drawing, she blinked and looked up at the filly across from her. Bow Trim’s expression never wavered from the picture till a loud angry filly’s voice filled the room.
“This is a disgrace!” Twilight looked up to see a bitter angry Bronze Ribbon with her teeth clenched together as she glares down at the modest and, in Twilight’s mind, quite beautiful gift. Bronze Ribbon continued her rant, “Why in all of Equestria would anypony think this would be an acceptable present. Look at it! It’s so cheap, and poorly drawn! What fool in their right mind would bring this distasteful so called ‘present’ to my party!?”
Twilight had never felt so outraged. It true she knew, and frankly could not stand, that most of the elite of Canterlot held this high self-esteem about themselves. However, she only expected that from the adults, especially from some of the parents that she recognized from some events like the gala. But she never would have believed that fillies like this could be so rude at a birthday party for their ‘friend’.
She looked over to see Bow Trim only to find that her expression had changed from shocked to…sad. No… Twilight looked a little closer to find that it wasn’t sadness that was showing on the filly’s face, but it was…something else. She couldn’t put her hoof on it, but it was something different.
Bow Trim’s head lowered, her eyes scanning to the bottom of the picture to find a scratched in name on the bottom right corner.
Soft Pencil
Suddenly Bow Trim sprung from her chair, with the picture held within her magic. Her head turned side to side, looking at each of the foals sitting at the table. She began to walk down the table, looking up at each foal, at each name, she passed. Twilight then got up to get a better view as she watch Bow Trim.
All of a sudden, the filly stopped at the end of the table. There at the end sat another filly with a bright blue coat with a brown mane, wearing a pair of thin black glasses in front of what appeared to be brown eyes. She walked over to see the name that stood in front of her. It was Soft Pencil. Bow Trim, with small tears now forming in her eyes, slowly took Soft Pencil’s hoof. She guided the confused filly off her chair and passed the other, quite confused, foals, who were still seated at the table. Twilight walked behind them as she notice they were leaving the room. She glanced at the other guests at the table. As confused as the rest of foals, Bronze Ribbon looked down at the table with a frown. Twilight, not bothering with sticking around to wait, walked out to continue to follow both Soft Pencil and Bow Trim.
Bow Trim led Soft Pencil up a flight of stairs and into hallway after hallway until they finally stopped in front of a large door. She then took the door knob in her magic and flung it open. It revealed a grand bedroom, one that featured an orange and pink theme throughout. Twilight stopped at the door way to see Bow Trim walk up to a large painting. The painting was of a unicorn that looked almost identical to Bow Trim, only instead it was of a full grown mare, and with purple in place of the orange all tied up in a purple bow. She wore a large smile. Twilight eyes widened as she had a clear view of this pony’s cutie mark. The cutie mark was the same as the one presented in the drawing.
Both Twilight and Soft Pencil walked up to each side of her looking up at the painting. Looking down, Twilight spotted Bow Trim, with the drawing still floating before her. She moved up to the wall, and hung the picture next to the painting. The filly turned around to face Soft Pencil, who by now had a look of utter astonishment on her face. Bow Trim suddenly grabbed Soft Pencil, pulling her into a hug. In a whisper that Twilight could barely make out Bow Trim said, “Thank You.” Soft Pencil, unsure of what is happening, slowly returned the hug as well. Princess Twilight Sparkle, with small tears forming in her own eyes, looked down at the fillies as they continued to hug with a sound of soft ballroom music still audible in the background.
Dear Princess Celestia, It has been quite a long time since I’ve written one of theses but I just had to tell you about it. It was at a recent event here in Canterlot that I have discovered another lesson about true friendship. A pony with great wealth will make many possible friendships in her life; however it is only with the kindness and care can one see where a true friendship lies. Even in the most simple of gifts they share. A familiar lesson to be sure, but completely different when brought into a new light. Forever you’re most faithful student and friend, Twilight Sparkle - - -
On the far side of the great city of Canterlot, two fillies laughed in the cool night air. They are both on a baloney, sitting atop of sleeping bags. The filly with a cream coat was holding a collection of different colored ribbons. On one side of her lay a dozen different designs of colored bows. In her mane is a newly made dark pink bow. The filly continues to make her bows and she looks over to her friend. The other filly, with new rainbow colored bow in her otherwise brown mane, is drawing a picture with a couple dozen colored pencils.
On an almost pure white background, stood two fillies. The blue filly had her left foreleg over the other, staring strange. Each filly bore a cutie mark. The filly with an orange and pink mane, has a cutie mark of a bright orange bow tied together with a pink diamond. The other filly has a cutie mark as well. Hers is that of a sun. But the middle is pure, with rainbow colored rays.
