Harmonic Blue Skies

A large gray earth pony stallion stood at the doors of the Ivory Estate, flanked by two large Corinthian columns on either side. He had a short black mane, and wore a black suit and a pair of dark sunglasses. This was the estate’s security guard. “Guided tour?” he asked Sky and Emerald.

“Yes, please.” said Emerald. “How many bits for two ponies?”

“Twenty-four bits.” the security guard replied. Sky and Emerald each paid him twelve bits, and he allowed them through the estate’s tall wooden doors.

When Sky and Emerald stepped into the Ivory Estate’s front hall, they were amazed by the sheer scale of the mansion. The ceiling was very high, and each wall was made of ornately carved white marble. The entire ceiling itself was a large fresco painting of a young Celestia and Luna, presumably done by Ivory Brushstroke herself. And from what Sky and Emerald could see, the next rooms would be even grander.

“They sure don’t make places like this anymore.” Sky remarked with a smile.

“No, they do not.” Emerald agreed. “It’s a shame, really.”

“What’s even more of a shame is that a lot of these places were demolished, because they were considered overdone and not worth preserving.” Sky went on. “Those ponies were idiots. Neoclassical mansions are truly works of art.”

Emerald nodded. “I couldn’t agree more.”

There were two brass benches with velvet cushions in the hall. One was at the front near Sky and Emerald, and the other was at the back of the room. Since the tour wasn’t due to start for several minutes, Sky and Emerald flew over to the near bench and sat down. “The benches are comfy too.” said Emerald. Sky smiled and nodded in agreement.

While Sky and Emerald sat and admired the painting on the ceiling, a pair of mares came into the estate. One was a mint green unicorn with a turquoise and white mane, while the other was a cream-colored earth pony with a dark blue and pink mane. They sat down together on the other bench, talking and laughing together.

As soon as Sky laid eyes on the mint green unicorn, he felt his heart skip a beat and soar to the sky. She was absolutely gorgeous, the most beautiful mare Sky had ever seen in his life. From her brilliant golden eyes, to her stunning mint coat, to her adorable manestyle, she radiated pure beauty in every way possible. Sky soon found himself admiring her instead of the house.

Several minutes later, Emerald tapped him on the shoulder. “Um, Sky… the tour’s about to start.”

Sky was startled, and snapped out of his daydream. By now, there were eight ponies in the room, waiting for the tour guide to arrive. “Oh… right.” he stuttered. “Sorry, I just… drifted off for a while.”

“It’s all right.” Emerald chuckled. “We got here pretty early.”

Another unicorn mare walked into the room. She had a light purple coat, a two-tone indigo mane, and a cutie mark of two dolphins. “Hello, everypony!” she greeted the group. “Welcome to the Ivory Estate! I’m Sea Swirl and I’ll be your tour guide for today. I’m so glad you all decided to come here!”

“Well, it’s hard to not notice this place when you’re flying over the river.” said Sky. “I saw it and I just had to find out more about it.”

“That’s what pretty much all our visitors say.” Sea Swirl replied. “When Ivory Brushstroke commissioned this mansion 117 years ago, she wanted to make sure it was the biggest and grandest house in Ponyville.”

“Well, she definitely succeeded at that.” Sky remarked.

“Ivory must have been quite a character.” said Emerald.

Sea Swirl laughed. “Oh, she was! She’s got to be my single favorite historical figure. She was just… for the lack of a better term, just such an ass!”

“Oh jeez!” Sky snickered. “What did she do?”

“I’d better explain more about Ivory before we begin the tour.” Sea Swirl said to the whole group. “By the time she moved to this beautiful location on the river, she was by far the most famous and talented painter in Equestria. This made her more than a bit conceited. In addition to being an artist herself, she was also a well-known art critic, and when she saw a painting she didn’t like, she did not hold back! “YOU CALL THAT ART?” was her favorite catchphrase!”

“Sounds like a fun pony.” Sky said with a sarcastic smile.

“It doesn’t end there!” Sea Swirl went on. She pointed up to the ceiling. “The painting above us is one of three fresco paintings in the house. They were all painted by Ivory shortly after the mansion was completed. Anyway, one of the stallions who helped build the house wasn’t such a bad artist himself, and Ivory asked him to paint the front hall’s ceiling. Hoping to impress Ivory, he painted the ceiling as ornately as he could. It took him two whole weeks to finish. But Ivory hadn’t asked for that, and she wasn’t impressed. So she completely painted over his work, and replaced it with the image of the Royal Sisters that’s up there today.”

“Wow… that’s just mean!” the mint green unicorn exclaimed, in an adorable voice that made Sky feel warm all over. “All that hard work, and for nothing!”

“Oh, totally!” Sea Swirl agreed. “There’s a lot of stories about her, but we’d better get to the rest of the house first.” She began walking through the wide golden archway into the next room, and Sky, Emerald and the rest of the tour group followed.

The next room was a dining room that was at least twice the size of the front hall. In the middle was a large glass dining table with nine intricately carved wooden chairs. “This, of course, is the dining room.” Sea Swirl explained. “Ivory was never married, nor did she ever have a social gathering with nine ponies. She set up this room just to flaunt her wealth!”

Sky looked all around the room. Three of the walls had a large landscape painting, presumably done by Ivory. The remaining wall had a wide window that offered a beautiful view of the river. Sky walked over to that side of the room and stood there while Sea Swirl continued her talk.

“The three paintings you see here are, of course, by Ivory. She never displayed anypony else’s artwork in her home, no matter how many tried to sell their art to her.”

As nice as the ocean view was, Sky’s gaze inevitably shifted back to the beautiful mint green unicorn. She and her friend were smiling as they admired one of Ivory’s paintings. Sky wished he could walk over and talk to her, but she probably wasn’t interested in him, and he didn’t want to risk embarrassing himself in front of her.

As Sea Swirl led the group through the library and one of Ivory’s studies, Sky found it difficult to focus on the décor or the art. He was tantalizingly close to his new crush, and couldn’t stop gazing at her. Once she nearly bumped into him, causing him to blush bright red and giggle quietly.

Eventually, there was only one room left on the first floor. “This is the conservatory,” said Sea Swirl, “which is my personal favorite room. It’s right on the riverbank, and the glass windows allow the sun to shine in from all directions. We have a bunch of Ivory’s paintings on display here.”

Sky could definitely see why Sea Swirl liked this room the most. The river view here was even better than in the dining room, and the beams of sunlight reflecting off of the marble walls highlighted the paintings beautifully.

After looking around for a while, Sky settled on one particular painting that he really liked. It was a painting of the Canterlot skyline that looked like a photograph. Each and every building was depicted with great precision, and the lighting was just perfect. Sky walked over to take a closer look at it, and just as he did so, the mint green unicorn and her friend walked over as well.

When Sky saw her up close for the first time, he blushed and his heart started beating much faster. Her luminescent golden eyes glistened in the summer sun, and her turquoise mane looked amazingly soft and fluffy. She had a sweet spearmint aroma about her that made Sky want to be around her all day.

It was easy for Sky to admire her from afar, but now that she was right there next to him, he couldn’t just stand there awkwardly. So he stuttered the first thing that he thought of. “This painting is, um… really nice.”

To his surprise, she smiled and nodded in agreement. “Oh, it is! Ivory Brushstroke really was the best painter of her time.” She motioned to her friend, the cream-colored earth pony. “Bon Bon here suggested that we take a tour here today, and I’m so glad we did. My name’s Lyra Heartstrings, by the way.”

“Lyra Heartstrings… that’s a really pretty name.” said Sky. He blushed and wondered if he shouldn’t have said that.

Lyra then blushed a bit herself. “Thank you, um… what’s your name?”

“Sky Scraper. I just moved here from Manehattan last week. Ponyville’s quite a nice town.”

“It absolutely is!” Bon Bon agreed. “Lyra and I have lived here for a long time, and we’ve been best friends ever since we were fillies.”

“That’s nice!” said Sky. “I’ve never had that many friends myself, though.”

“What about that stallion you were with earlier?” Lyra asked.

Sky chuckled. “I actually just met him today. He’s my first friend in this town, since I didn’t leave my house during my first week here.”

“Why would you stay inside all week?” Lyra laughed. “It’s so nice outside!”

Sky blushed a bit. “I wasn’t inside all week. I was flying over the lake and sitting on my deck. I live in that modern house on the far side of the lake.”

“You live on the lake?” Lyra exclaimed. “That must be so nice. I go there all the time, just to sit by the water and play my lyre.”

“You play the lyre?” Sky asked. Then he looked down at the side of Lyra’s flank and blushed. “Well, I guess I should have known that from your cutie mark.”

Lyra grinned. “Yep! I’ve been playing it ever since I was a filly. Sometimes I perform at music shows in Ponyville and Canterlot.”

“That’s a great career to have.” said Sky. “I’ve always liked string instruments. They’re so relaxing.”

“They are!” Lyra agreed. “They blend together so nicely too. My friend Octavia plays the cello, and she and I have collaborated on a lot of songs.” She tilted her head to look at Sky’s cutie mark. “You have a cool cutie mark. Are you an architect?”

Sky smiled and blushed again. “Yes, actually, I am! I’ve designed several buildings in Manehattan. They’re not famous buildings that you’d know about, but they all came out pretty nicely. I’m between jobs at the moment, though, which was why I was able to move here.”

“Wow! It’s amazing that you’ve actually designed entire buildings!” said Lyra. “Most ponies could never do that.”

Sky grinned. He was getting more comfortable talking to Lyra. “Well, I went to the Canterlot School of Architecture, and I graduated at the top of my class. I’m not exactly most ponies, am I?” he chuckled.

Lyra giggled. “No, you’re not!”

Eventually, it was time to head up to the second floor. As Sky, Lyra and Bon Bon walked back into the foyer and up the stairs, Emerald joined up with Sky again. “Hey, Sky! Why’d you ditch me back there?” he laughed.

Sky blushed. “Sorry. I was talking to Lyra and Bon Bon here.”

“Yeah, Lyra and Sky really hit it off!” Bon Bon added.

“Sky’s a pretty interesting pony.” Lyra went on, causing Sky to smile and blush again. “Did you know he’s a famous architect?”

“Well, I’m not really famous, but thanks anyway.” said Sky.

“Of course I do!” said Emerald. “He told me all about it when we were walking through Ponyville this morning. He was the one who suggested we take a tour here, and I’m glad he did! This place is amazing!”

In the large hall at the top of the stairs, there was another fresco painting of Celestia and Luna. Compared to the one in the front hall, this one was larger and depicted the princesses as they appear today. “As you can see, Ivory greatly admired the royal sisters.” said Sea Swirl. “She completed this painting about ten years after the first one. This painting is a lot more detailed, which shows that no matter how vain Ivory was, she was always trying to improve herself as an artist. She was a perfectionist to the very end!”

“Sounds a lot like me, especially when I was younger.” Sky remarked. “Anything I drew was either perfect or garbage, there was no in-between.”

“I was like that too when I first started writing my own music.” said Lyra. “It’s important to have fun and not be so hard on yourself.” Sky nodded in agreement.

As the tour continued through the guest bedroom, two more of Ivory’s studies, and the door to the servant quarters on the inaccessible third floor, all four ponies bonded over their shared appreciation for classical art and architecture. Walking next to Lyra put Sky in a very happy place.

After a while, the tour group came to the last and largest room on the second floor. Ivory’s very spacious bedroom had art and decorations on every wall, and a giant map of Equestria painted on the ceiling. “Wow… the details on this map are amazing! How long did it take her to finish it?” Sky asked.

“About five years.” Sea Swirl explained. “By that time, she was getting old and her eyesight was beginning to fail, but painting a map of all of Equestria had been one of her lifetime goals. She was a stubborn mare who never left anything unfinished!”

“How old was she when she died?” Emerald asked.

“She lived to be a very old mare.” Sea Swirl replied. “There’s some debate over the year of her birth, but most sources say she was 95 when she passed on. By then she’d completed over 500 paintings in her lifetime, and her artwork was on display in every major city in Equestria. She was an insufferable genius, but she certainly lived a full life.”

Outside Ivory’s bedroom, there was a large balcony directly above the conservatory from earlier. Before Sea Swirl led the tour group out there, she shared the funniest Ivory story yet.

“Although Ivory was never married, she had relationships with several stallions during her life.” Sea Swirl recounted. “One of them was an earth pony named Penny Pincher, who was much younger than her. As you can tell by his name, he was only interested in Ivory because of her wealth, and didn’t truly find the old mare attractive at all. One day, Ivory caught him going out with a younger mare. He tried to explain, but it was no use. Using her unicorn magic, Ivory picked him up and threw him off this very balcony!”

This story elicited gasps and laughter from the entire tour group. “That’s, like, thirty feet!” Sky exclaimed. “Did he even survive that?”

“He broke his skull and both of his right legs when he hit the ground.” Sea Swirl replied. “He didn’t die, but he was in the hospital for a long time. He may not have ever walked again, either.”

“Okay, he had that coming to him!” Bon Bon laughed. “Ivory Brushstroke was not someone you messed with!”

“No, she was not!” Sea Swirl agreed. “If you go out onto the balcony, you can see the spot where Penny Pincher hit the ground. It’s marked with an orange X.” She opened the sliding glass door to the balcony. “The original wooden doors were damaged by weather, so we had to replace them with this glass door.” she explained.

When Sky stepped out onto the grand balcony, he was greeted by a gentle summer breeze from the clear blue river below. The view was absolutely perfect, as the balcony was high enough for him to see the full width of the river and the rolling hills and trees on the other side. He noticed Lyra and Bon Bon standing at the edge of the balcony, and walked over to be next to Lyra. “This is one incredible view, isn’t it?” he said softly.

Lyra smiled warmly and nodded. “You can see everything from up here… including the spot where Penny Pincher landed!” She giggled and pointed down to a big orange X marked on the ground below. It was some distance from the house, and only a few feet away from the edge of the river.

“He went pretty far!” Sky laughed. “If he’d gone a few feet further, he would have drowned for sure!”

“I just wish my magic was that good!” said Lyra. “I can’t levitate more than ten books at a time, let alone a pony!”

Sky simply beamed. He was happy to relax in the sun, enjoy the view, and be near Lyra. He was sad when Sea Swirl announced that the tour was over. He followed Emerald, Lyra and Bon Bon back indoors and down the rear stairs to the exit.

“We’d love to hang around here for a while, but we’re meeting some of our friends in Canterlot this afternoon.” said Bon Bon.

“It was nice meeting you both today!” Lyra said to Sky and Emerald.

Sky blushed and smiled. “You too, Lyra.” He waved to her as she and Bon Bon headed off.

When the two mares were gone, Emerald turned to Sky. “That tour was so good! Thanks so much for suggesting it!”

“No problem!” said Sky. “I thought it’d be really cool, and I was right! Amazing architecture, amazing location, amazing everything!”

“You got to meet a couple of mares too.” Emerald added. “Well, so did I, but you and Lyra talked quite a bit!”

Sky blushed again. “We sure did. Gosh, she’s so beautiful…”

Emerald winked at Sky. “Does somepony have a crush?”

Sky nodded. “Yep. I couldn’t hide it, could I?”

“I could tell just from the way you were always looking at her.” Emerald chuckled. “But I figured I wouldn’t say anything until we were alone again.”

“Well, thanks for that.” said Sky. “I just hope I get a chance to see her again at some point.”

“Oh, I’m sure you will.” Emerald said reassuringly. “You should visit town more often. You’re bound to run into her again.”

Sky nodded. “I’ll be sure to do that. But for now, we still have two more places to visit today. Which is closer, the bookstore or the flower shop?”

“I’m not sure.” said Emerald. “But I think they’re both that way.” He pointed to a road leading back into town.

“Perfect!” said Sky. “Let’s go!” He and Emerald spread their wings and continued on their way.