The Inky Hell of SplendidToons
Chapter 1: An Old Friend's Call to Return
I walked in my home and shut the door behind as I drew in a heavy breath and exhaled heavily.
"Fuuck, what a day", I walked over to my couch and collapsed face down. My job, working as a commercial artist was very demanding. Some days I get sleep, some days I don't, some days I get what would be humanly considered 'sleep'. Maybe just an hour if I was lucky on those days.
What was I thinking moving out here to Canterlot? I moved out here to get a less extremely demanding job. And what did I get? The exact opposite of what I was looking for! Absolute horseshit!
The thing that really pisses me off to this day is the fact that I left everyone who were the only ones who gave a shit about me back at Ponyville. None of that here in this humongous city. Not even a single sliver of common curtesy. The only one who did that was Rarity back at that small town.
Rarity and her friends founded the SplendidToons Studio, where I was hired as an animator to help come with ideas and to draw out cartoons for a child friendly audience. Of course like on Earth, there adults who like these types of shows, but sure enough, I had to make them appropriate for kids. It was a damn shame.
I drew all kinds of characters, from singing animals, to the main characters and backgrounds. Oh, it was so much fun, definitely was a good run while I was there. The main cast I helped to animate and create was the lovable trio.
There was Michael The Mutt, Karlos The Tiger, and probably my best creation, judging from all of the positive reviews and sales that she made with her toys. Lisa The Lioness, Karlos's love interest in the show we made. Her plushies and dolls sold like there was fire sale for antique goods or something,
I had the Tiger perform in all kinds of episodes with even bigger list of shenanigans that I won't be able to get into unless I talked about it for a solid few days. But those were the days, especially during the beginning, the animation business wasn't all that big as it is now. So we had a good start. Nearly filled shows at theatres and merchandise for all of the characters literally being stolen practically. (Practically, they still payed for them.)
The reviews were off the charts too. I'm talkin' people basically praising our show, saying that it's the toon that every child oughta see.
Of course the toons were in black in white, I mean, Equestria still doesn't have the means to have a proper colorized cartoon. But thanks to my extensive knowledge of how cartoons were made during the golden age of animation and the fact that I made them for fun. Even before I ended up in Equestria.
Though, it wasn't with nearly as much of a huge fan base as we had here. The fact that there weren't too many toons being made and not with as much quality as with the style I brought in, it blew up. Not in our faces mind you, but outwards.
However, no matter how fortunate you are, all good things eventually come to an end. We had a new competitor out in the animation business after we've been around for a good 5 years. This, 'humorstation studios' or whatever. 'How does a company with a silly name get the better of ours when we had so many good things going for us', you may be asking. Well I'll tell ya.
Color, these pricks pulled out the one thing that we haven't been able to put out as much. And that was color. These guys released cartoons and shows of their own with that sneaky trick that they had up their sleeves. That damn color. While I was able to make animations like those back at Earth, the technology for that just went really all that available here. There was just he technology to make ink drawn toons.
And by the time we were able to make colorized cartoons. The guys who came up the idea first was already banking big bucks. And they were way ahead of us as they drew most of our fans as they drew in new ones as well. Leaving us all at our studio in the dust.
I saw that we weren't doing so hot, I was getting paid my full wage due to us not making enough money as much as before. Not to mention we couldn't afford to keep the place to keep looking crystal clear brand new as we could before either. Paint started to peel and crack. The atmosphere was also depressing as well. People just seemed devoid of any positive emotions.
Though things were pretty drastic, I still had one of my closest friends to see that I smiled at least once every day I worked. Rarity, she was the practically the only person, or mare I'm sorry, that kept me from being all gloomy and sad like everyone else. I did the same for her too, I surprised her that she would the voice actress for Lisa The Lioness.
Oh man, I still remember that cute, adorable face she made and that cute squeak she made when she jumped at me and hugged me. We've always been friendly with each other and cheery whenever we were working together. But make no mistake, she wasn't just a blank-minded voice actress who owned an animation studio. She even animated too, but needed someone to be the main co-animator to help draw out the cartoons.
I of course, made the job, and right away we made good friends with each other as we made the company work as well as it did.
*KNOCK *KNOCK *KNOCK
"Who the hell could that be?", I muttered to myself. "It's the weekend".
I got up and walked over to the door, turned the knob and pulled the door open to find the local mailmare with a letter in her left hand, extending her arm out to me. She had cream colored fur and a blonde mane.
"Uh, hi there Gonzo, I have a letter for you", She stuttered as she handed it to me.
I took and examined the top left of the envelope, it was from Rarity. With her signature in beautiful cursive abbreviation.
I raised both eyebrows in a mixture of surprise and excitement, what could it be for?
"Thanks Sugary Cream", I said thanking her and pulled out a ten bit bill, a tip for her troubles.
"Oh, uh, Mister Castillo, it's not necessary. Yo-".
"Hush", I interrupted and put it in her hands and closed it for her. "Take it and have a good one".
I turned back around and gently closed my door as I walked down my hallway and turned right to my room and took a seat on my chair and reached for my knife and slit open the envelope with ease. I reached in and pulled out a small letter with my name at the top.
"Dear Gonzalo,
It seems like a lifetime since we worked on cartoons together. 20 years really slips out of your grasp, doesn't it darling? If your back in Ponyville, come visit the old workshop. I have something I need to show you. And besides, everypony misses you here.
XOXO-Rarity
Huh? Of all the times I wrote back to Rarity to keep in touch with her. Never did I think of going back. I guess I just, was more focused on my new job here that I must've of not thought about it.
But what the hell? Why not?
It has been a long time since I've even seen them all. I'm going to go ahead and get some train tickets for the next ride to Ponyville. What am I going to do here anyways. Not like I got anyone here to be with.
Author's Note
Well, this is my first horror story, I know, I know, it hasn't gotten to the good part yet, but I'll work to it. Just let me know if you want another chapter and I'll get to working.
