The Artists:
March 3, Ponyville house #3, Floor 2, 7:23AM:
'And if you can’t see anything beautiful about yourself,
get a better mirror,
look a little closer,
stare a little longer,
because there’s something inside you,
that made you keep trying,
despite everyone who told you to quit...'
Was as far as Finn Contrast got into his favorite poem before he heard a knock on his bedroom door. The brown, tidy pegasus adjusted his glasses and black vest before slowly trotting towards his door. He opened it a fraction, only to have his eyes bombarded by the bright colors and frown of one of his room mates, Snap Shot.
The bright red unicorn just stood there with a scowl on his face,
"Can you please keep it down? I'm trying to make adjustments to my camera downstairs and it's hard to focus with you shouting that poem!" Snap Shot growled, poking Finn's chest with his hoof.
Finn was agitated, as Snap had been making those adjustments for weeks on end.
"Come on Snappy, you've been making those adjustments forever! I also have an audition tomorrow and I'm meeting up with a personal tutor to help today. I need all the practice I can get!" Finn grumbled, glaring at the brightly colored unicorn.
After a few more minutes of heated arguments, the two headed downstairs to have breakfast with their other room mate, Sonata, the writer. As Sonata roomed with Finn, the actor and Snap Shot, the photographer, the household was commonly known as 'The House of the Artists.'
Sonata handed the two stallions their breakfast before sitting down and starting to eat her own.
'Thanks, butterfly.' Finn said with a roguish wink as he received his breakfast.
Sonata sighed and blushed, the pink tinge showing up clearly on her light yellow cheeks.
"Finn, how many times do I have to tell you?! I've asked you to stop calling me that ever since we broke up." Sonata said hotly, tossing her short, spiky, hot pink hair out of her face in annoyance.
"Yeah, but the name suits you really well!" Finn laughed and continued eating his breakfast.
Sonata huffed, but knew that there was no reasoning with him and continued eating.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 3, Ponyville Streets,
7:49AM:
After Finn had eaten his breakfast, he said his goodbyes and headed off to meet his new acting tutor. She was new to teaching, however she was still good at what she did, despite her main talent being making dresses. He checked the address on the form he had been given, confirming his location, 'The Carousel Boutique.'
He knocked on the door, and was greeted quickly by a little filly with a wide smile.
"Hi, welcome to The Carousel Boutique. My name is Sweetie Belle. Unfortunately my big sister, Rarity, is a little occupied at the moment, however she told me to greet you kindly and invite you inside to relax." Sweetie Belle said in a somewhat uncomfortable tone.
Finn wiped his hooves on the doormat and entered the building. He gave a low whistle at the sight.
Mannequins were stationed everywhere, as were a wide array of fabrics and materials of all different sizes and colors. A small podium was positioned at the end of the room, which he guessed was for the exclusive fashion shows hosted at the boutique from time to time. However there had been some adjustments, and there was a curtain around it which had been wound back, and also some seats added in front of it. He took a seat and watched as Sweetie made her way up the stairs towards where he guessed Rarity was.
After a few minutes the white, elegant unicorn with a styled purple mane drifted down the stairs in a large, deep blue dress that she had made herself. Finn was astounded at the elegance and beauty of Rarity, but, however beautiful she was, his heart still belonged to Sonata, but Rarity was a close second to the amount of casual beauty that Sonata emitted every day.
"I'm terribly sorry I'm late. It was so hard to find the right fabric and color that did the job correctly." Rarity said, sighing dramatically.
"I'm afraid that while my little sisters friends are out of town she will have to stay with us, and as a result all of our rehearsals will have to be filly friendly."
Finn nodded and spoke, "I completely understand. Most of the things I normally do are filly friendly anyway." He smiled gently at the filly as the white unicorn sat down next to her little sister.
"Well, please show me what you can do so I can assess your skill level." Rarity said, levitating a clipboard and quill in front of herself.
She gestured towards the podium. Finn stood behind it, took a deep breath and started reciting:
'When I was a kid
I used to think that pork chops and karate chops
were the same thing.
I thought they were both pork chops,
and because my grandmother thought it was cute
and because they were my favourite,
she let me keep doing it'
The poem went for a few minutes and as he finished:
'But our lives will only ever always
continue to be
a balancing act,
that has less to do with pain,
and more to do with beauty.'
He noticed that both Sweetie Belle and Rarity were in tears. Rarity was holding Sweetie close and they were both crying softly.
Finn stepped down from the podium, and stood in front of Rarity.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, was that too sad for you? I sincerely apologize." Finn said, nervous he had spoiled his chances.
"No..." Sweetie whispered, as that was all she could muster.
After a few sniffles, Rarity gave a proper response.
"That was beautiful, you really have a talent in this field. There is nothing more I can teach you, if I'm honest. You will easily pass that audition tomorrow and they will beg you to be a part of the cast. From both Sweetie Belle and I, good luck."
Both mares applauded generously, and Sweetie trotted into the kitchen. After about another hour or so getting to know each other some more over some Jasmine tea and delicately iced cupcakes from Sugarcube Corners, Finn decided he should go home and rest. He had something of great importance on tonight. Sonata's first book was being published.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 3, Ponyville,
House #3, Floor 2
7:20 AM:
Snap Shot was focusing on adjusting his camera on the ground level of the house while Sonata was busy focusing on making breakfast. She blew her hair from her eyes and started plating up their meals. Starting slightly, she heard Snap Shot slam down his tools in the other room and jump up.
"Oh, come on! Can't he just keep quiet for one morning! I'm gonna tell him to shut the buck up before he gets any louder!" Snap Shot fumed, and without another word, he cantered up the stairs to give Finn a piece of his mind.
Sonata sighed; she had used to date Finn. He was so passionate, caring and kind, but unfortunately things got difficult and she had to break up with him. They were still close friends, barring the awkward memories of the past.
After a few minutes the two stallions trotted down the stairs in tense silence and seated themselves at the kitchen table. Finn looked neat, as always, but Snap Shot's mane was ruffled and his cheeks were flushed, giving his already crimson coat a glowing appearance. Sonata set the food down in front of Finn and Snap Shot.
Snap Shot wrinkled his nose.
"Look, Sonata, I get that you're on a health kick, but must all of us suffer through shredded wheat for breakfast every morning? I mean, apples aren't that bad, for buck's sake!" Snap Shot grumbled, pushing his bowl away.
"Feel free to make your own breakfast, Snap Shot, but I'm only making one type." Sonata shot back.
Snap Shot mumbled a few profanities under his breath, pulled his bowl back and began chewing glumly.
~*~
After Finn had left for his tutor lesson and Snap Shot went back to his camera, this left Sonata to do the dishes, again.
Sonata had asked Snap Shot to help her, but was met with a strained "Busy!" from the stallion in the other room.
When she was done with the boys dishes, she noticed the time. Cursing under her breath, she realized she was late to organize her book's publishing at the library. She rushed out of the house and galloped across town to Twilight Sparkle's expansive library treehouse.
She knocked on the door and was greeted by Spike, Twilight's baby dragon assistant. As he welcomed her in, Twilight flitting about, setting up the stand for signings and getting all the copies of the book ready for sale.
"Oh, thank Celestia! I've been absolutely swamped here, we're exactly 20 minutes behind schedule, if we get any more distractions then we won't be ready in time for the opening!" Twilight rambled, jumping this way and that as Owluicious dropped various bits and bobs next to her.
Sonata smirked, as she had heard of Twilight's somewhat neurotic approach to timing. Eager to help nonetheless, she started putting up the stand while Twilight got all the books from upstairs and put them in neat little piles behind the stand.
Spike decided to help, and put up two posters that had the cover of the book on them. The picture was of a starry night sky. Sonata beamed proudly as she admired the beautiful work Snap Shot had done.
The entire household had put some level of input towards the book. Snap Shot had thought of the locations and cover image, Finn had thought of the plot and characters, while Sonata had written it all down and fleshed it out to make it more entertaining for her readers.
After Twilight had put all the books in perfect piles, she got some quills and ink for the newly constructed stand. Next came the queue restraints. She had gotten some velvet ropes from Canterlot delivered to the library especially for the occasion.
"So how do you want the queue to fan out? I think it's important for you to have a say in how this is positioned." Twilight asked, turning to Sonata.
Sonata thought about this for a moment before Owluicious had started cooing, "Hoo." And flying laps around the tree in a pattern, Sonata realized he was trying to help and giggled, "I think he's already thought this through. Let's go with his idea." The two mares then placed the velvet ropes in the pattern Owluicious had prepared for them.
They finished 20 minutes before they were scheduled to, Twilight was still looking for things to do while Sonata on the other hand, had fallen asleep on the couch, smiling and excited about tonight, her book "Her only hope" was now being published.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 3, Ponyville house #3,
7:00 AM:
Snap Shot decided to get up nice and early so that he could get as many camera adjustments done as he could before his room mates started bugging him. His camera was his pride and joy. He was constantly making adjustments to it so he could take a wider array of photos.
He was almost finished with his adjustments when he was surprised by a very tired looking Sonata.
"Morning Snappy." She saud tiredly, placing a hoof on his shoulder. This caused him to slip and mess up the most vital part.
"Buck! Two steps forward one step back! Now I have to make the majority of these again!" Snap Shot fumed, brushing Sonata away.
He didn't even acknowledge Sonata in the slightest. Sighing slightly, she blew her messy mane out of her eyes and went to the bathroom to clean herself up.
As Snap Shot had almost finished editing again, he soon heard Finn wake up and start start reciting the poem again. He didn't mind the poem, it was the fact that he needed to focus. He secretly really liked the poem, each time it was spoken he thought about telling his room mates about his secret.
Eventually Finn got too loud and he slammed down his tools decided to end this. He rushed up the stairs and bashed on the door. After the two stallions little argument,Snap Shot wanted to apologize for over-reacting, but he knew it would fall on deaf ears.
After the disgusting breakfast Sonata had prepared, Snap Shot went back to finish his camera before his meeting. Sonata asked for some help with the dishes however he was almost finished with the camera so he responded with a hasty "Busy," completely ignoring the request.
He heard Sonata slam the door behind her just as he was about to finish. He put the last little bit of solder on the circuit and closed up his camera, slumping in his chair. He figured it was time to give his horn a much needed rest.
After a few minutes, he went to the bathroom so he could have his shower. Once he got out, he lay down on the couch, waiting for somepony.
He heard a knock on the front door and he rushed towards it, swinging it open and smiling at his special guest. His colt friend, Blank Canvas. Smiling broadly, the crimson unicorn wrapped his legs around the white earth pony with the rainbow dyed mane.
"Well, you seem happy to see me, Snappy." Blank said, chuckling slightly.
"You have no idea! Listen... I'm thinking of telling Finn and Sonata about us... They don't even know that I'm... Well..." Snap Shot whispered, blushing slightly.
This was treated by another, even tighter hug from Blank. The two stallions trotted to the couch and locked themselves in a tender embrace. The two spent some time just discussing things about the time they spent away from each other.
After a while they fell asleep together. Starting quickly, Snap Shot looked over at the door as Finn trotted in. He'd come home earlier than expected and surprised them both, as they fell over on top of each other right in front of the couch, in plain sight of Finn.
"Snap? What's going on?" Finn asked, a puzzled expression on his face.
Snap Shot's eyes started to tear up.
"Not like this!" He thought.
Blank stood up and calmly walked to the door.
"Um, I'll leave you two to discuss this. Bye Snappy." And with that he slowly left, but not without whispering something to Finn:
"Please be gentle with him, he's a lot more sensitive than you think."
Finn took this to heart and sat next to Snap Shot.
"Look, Snappy, I don't have anything against colt cuddlers, in fact, I actually support their decisions in life. But what I don't like is my friends keeping secrets from me."
Snap Shot sobbed quietly to himself.
"I do understand why you kept this from us, and I'm not mad at you. But you need to feel more comfortable with who you are. That's why I want you to tell Sonata tonight, if you don't, then I will. Your decision."
Snap looked up at Finn, and brushed the tears from his eyes.
"You don't hate me?" He asked softly.
Finn shook his head.
"And, I want to say sorry about this morning, I over reacted." Snap shot hung his head
Finn just wrapped his front legs around Snap in a light hug as a response.
"Thanks Finn." Snap Shot smiled.
Author's Note
Please, if you leave criticism, try and make it positive.
This is my first story so I understand if it is not very good.
These chapters are subject to change until the day is over.
As long as you read it all the way through and gave it a chance, I understand if you don't like it :)
I would like to thank my editor Yambo for reading my story beforehand and editors the story to make it more enjoyable.
Finn Contrast is based off of me, Sonata based off of Yambo and Snappy is based of of one of my closest friends.
Sorry if these notes take a while, first story and chapter and all, I just want to get all of this out of the way.
Thanks for reading!