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Brushed Away

by TheVClaw

Chapter 6: Chapter Six: Welcome to Ponyville

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Chapter Six: Welcome to Ponyville

After the bandages on his hooves came off, now being almost completely healed (but still rather soft and sensitive), Canvas was allowed to leave the hospital after only two days. Despite Stable's efforts to contact both Twilight and Troy about Canvas, he was unable to reach either one: Princess Twilight Sparkle was apparently in the Crystal Empire for some important job (although Stable was unsure of what, since the dragon he contacted wasn't sure either), and Troy was sent to help with water transport to Appleloosa due to a severe drought earlier that year.

After the first night, Canvas was a lot more quiet around Stable and the staff, but he did stay polite whenever they checked in on him. The only thing that he wouldn’t talk about was how he got his injuries.

Even though Canvas insisted that he couldn't remember how he ended up with a shattered eye socket or how he ran his hooves raw, Stable was certain he didn't have amnesia. He didn't want to think the pony was lying, but as time passed, he felt more strongly that Canvas was hiding something.

Something big.

Regardless, the stallion remained fairly silent by the time he was given the okay to leave the hospital. But since Stable knew that Canvas would have to come back to have the stitches removed, he was hopeful that spending some time in Ponyville would calm Canvas down enough to talk about what happened. Fortunately, Canvas seemed more than alright with staying around Ponyville for the time being, and was surprisingly optimistic after his checkup with Stable was completed.

"I really can't say enough how grateful I am for everything you've done for me,” said Canvas as he lifted his bag from the floor. "I mean, I was getting worried about whether or not I could even use my hooves again."

The doctor only nodded as he used his magic to readjust the bandages on Canvas' right eye. "Believe me, I’m just as grateful. But if I’m being honest, Twilight Sparkle and Troius are the ones you should be thanking. They're the ones who found you in time for me to help. Plus, Twilight was generous enough to pay off your medical bills."

With a heavy sigh, Canvas adjusted the shoulder strap of his bag so it hung only a few inches off the ground. "Yeah, I still can't believe she did that! I mean, I know she's royalty and all, but it’s still shocking to think about, you know?" After feeling comfortable with the adjustments, he looked back up to Stable and asked, "Do you know when she'll be back from the Crystal Empire?"

Stable only shook his head as he wiped his glasses clean. "I'm not sure, but I’ve heard that she might be back later today. And I'll be sure to try contacting Troius again as well. I’m not too familiar with Cloudsdale’s scheduling, but I'm certain he should've come back from Appleloosa by now."

"Alright,” said Canvas with a smile, before he held out his freshly healed hoof. "And thank you again, Doctor Stable."

"Not a problem. Just remember to come back in two days to get the stitches removed." As he shook Canvas' hoof, his expression became more serious while eyeing the young stallion. "Just so you know, though… within these walls, anything that you tell me will remain confidential. If you can tell me anything―and I mean anything―about what happened, please let me know. I promise you'll be alright."

Canvas nervously nodded before he pulled his hoof back. He knew that the doctor was sincere in his promise, but it was clear from his expression that he didn't even want to think about what happened, let alone talk about it out loud. He might’ve been able to tell him when he came back for his next appointment; but for right now, he just wanted to get out of the hospital and breathe some fresh air. He also had quite a bit to do, starting with giving some well-deserved thanks to the two who saved him.

After being given his medication and directions on how to change his bandages, Canvas finally stepped out from the hospital’s front entrance. After spending so long cooped up in a sterile room, it felt absolutely incredible for Canvas to be outside, and to take in the fresh air as it brushed past his long chestnut mane. The stallion saw nothing but luscious green fields with magnificently tall trees, all under a clear blue sky as he walked along the road with a content smile. Everything looked just… perfect, and it took everything in him to keep from constantly pausing his steps to savor the elation he felt in that moment. Nevertheless, after he made sure his bag was comfortable on his shoulder, Canvas started his trek into town.

Canvas reached the town limits of Ponyville around noon, just as the hamlet became vibrant from ponies going on with their daily routines and lunch hours. As Canvas walked over the bridge into town, he could see just how bright and colorful the community really was: houses and buildings were painted in appealing shades of every color he could’ve imagined. Banners and signs decorated the streets above with vivid colors and designs, and helped to provide an uplifting tone that could improve anypony's mood.

As he walked around the quaint streets, Canvas could see how happy and kind ponies were as they passed each other; townsfolk were giving their greetings and compliments to each other without a single shred of sarcasm, pessimism, or insincerity in their voices. For the aqua pony, it all felt like something out of a story book, something he would’ve never thought he’d see in real life.

This certainly feels a lot better than Gallop Creek.

Canvas trotted along the Ponyville streets as he tried to keep his uncovered eye occupied on anything other than the ponies staring at him. He knew that the bandages on his face and knees (a suggestion from Dr. Stable to ensure there wouldn't be much stress on his legs) would attract some attention; fortunately, most of the ponies he passed were courteous enough to not do anything more than look. Canvas held his bag closer to himself, and tried to keep his mind focused on finding the library. He learned from some of the hospital staff that Princess Twilight Sparkle was living there, instead of a castle for some weird reason. But just as he reached the large fountain at the center of town, a sharp burst of pain struck Canvas' right hindleg, almost knocking him down as he grimaced at his now-throbbing knee.

Knowing his other legs would give out just as soon as the first one, Canvas looked around and noticed an empty bench near the fountain. Canvas gritted his teeth as he tried limping towards the spot, even as his other hindleg started to give out as well. Only a few feet from the bench, Canvas felt a sharp stinging hit his left foreleg, which caused him to yelp and drop to the ground. Wincing from his aching joints, Canvas tried to raise himself up before he suddenly felt himself being lifted from the ground.

"Are you alright, sir?" As he was hoisted up to his hooves by his torso, Canvas noticed who it was helping him up: a mint-green unicorn mare with a matching green and white mane that was styled surprisingly short. Her amber eyes looked at Canvas with worry as she held him upright. "Do you need to see a doctor?"

"N-No,” he said with a shake of his head, “I… I just got back from a doctor. I was just trying to get to that bench ove―"

Before Canvas could finish, he was lifted up by the mare’s aura of green magic and placed gently on the bench. As he adjusted himself, making sure to move his joints as little as possible, the pony walked over to him with a look of concern on her face. "Are you sure you don't need to see a doctor? You look like you're in pretty bad shape."

Canvas put his good hoof up, and glanced up at her with a quick smile. "No, I'm fine, really. I just didn't think I had to walk that far from the hospital.” After sighing to himself, Canvas maintained his reassuring smile as he said, “Trust me, I've been through a lot worse."

Even though Canvas didn’t intend for that statement to sound too troubling, he was quick to notice the pony eyeing his bandages. The stallion’s smile lessened, but he tried his hardest not to let anything too damning show in his expression. Since he didn’t want to worry the unicorn more than he already had, Canvas rested his back on the back of the bench. "Thank you for helping me, though. My name is Canvas." He held out his hoof, which the mare shook gently, minding the bandages.

"Lyra. Pleasure to meet you." She gave a smile to Canvas which looked genuinely kind. "So what brings you to Ponyville?"

"I actually came into town to talk to Twilight Sparkle,” Canvas said. “She was actually the one who got me to a doctor in the first place."

Lyra's eyes widened in startling realization. "Wait a minute! Were you that pony she found in the storm a week ago?"

At the mention of the storm, Canvas' ears dropped down as his smile fell to one of embarrassment. "Ummm… yeah, I… I guess I am."

"Wow, everypony's been talking about that!” Lyra leaned in closer to Canvas, and asked curiously, “What exactly happened? I’ve heard bits and pieces, but it’s all been kinda hearsay, you know?"

"I'm… I-I’m not really sure of how I got to the hospital,” Canvas said as he looked away from her sheepishly. “I was unconscious at the time. I honestly don't want to talk about it right now..."

Lyra blinked a couple times. "Oh, um… Alright, I understand. I didn’t mean to freak you out or anything.” She glanced over her shoulder before adding, “I think Twilight is supposed to be back in town pretty soon. I'm sure you'll catch her when she comes in. She’s kind of hard to miss."

Canvas nodded as he got more comfortable. Lyra looked up at the clock tower, nearly jumping out of her skin. "Oh shoot, I gotta get to work! Nice to meet you, Canvas. Be careful on those hooves!" she said before hurriedly galloping off.

"You too," Canvas said, cringing the moment the words came out of his mouth.

Now alone on the bench, he turned his attention towards the fountain in front of him. Canvas' thoughts started to drift back to what he needed to do: aside from thanking Twilight and the gryphon for saving him, he realized he didn't have anything planned after that. In fact, he didn’t really have anything at all.

His heart sank in his chest, and Canvas knew that despite his luck and his miraculous recovery, he was still no better off than before his hospitalization. He had no money. No job. Nothing to his name, other than his art bag. And worst of all, Canvas had no place to live.

Canvas felt his throat close up at that last one, knowing that what happened was, in fact, real.

No matter how much he wanted it to not be real, he knew that wasn't going to change anything.

I'm… I'm all alone.

Canvas struggled to hold himself together as the reality of his situation began to sink in. He really didn't want to think about that night, but the events loomed over his head like a black omen he couldn’t shake. He knew that if he didn't do something soon, he was just going to break down right there in the middle of town, in front of everypony.

Canvas grew desperate for anything to keep his mind distracted, and he quickly looked to see what was in his art bag. Canvas knew he didn't have much inside, since he barely had any time to pack beforehoof. But as he rummaged around the inside, he found his art supplies among his remaining work―the various paintings and drawings he'd made in his hometown.

Or at least, what was left of them.

Attempting to clear his head of any dreadful reminders, Canvas dug into the bag before finding the supplies he needed: a piece of graphite, a thick rubber band, another piece of graphite covered in cloth, and a large notepad of paper. Canvas placed the rubber band around his right hoof like a tight bracelet, and stuck the graphite under the band so it protruded from his foreleg like an extension of his body. He then grabbed his pad of paper and opened it to the first empty sheet, which was thankfully clear of any mud or blood stains. Canvas used his free hoof to rub the cloth along the paper, covering the originally white sheet with a fine layer of gray. When the new shade looked evenly toned enough, Canvas looked around for something to draw.

He just needed something, anything to draw.

Canvas took notice of the statue of Princess Celestia nearby the fountain, staring confidently off into the sky, the very picture of grace and implacability. Canvas took a deep breath before looking down at the paper. As soon as he placed the end of the graphite on the sheet, he drew a quick framework to match the statue’s position, leaving his lines as faint as possible so they would be easy to remove later. Satisfied with the way the lines turned out, he looked at the statue again, and that’s when he truly began.

As ponies walked past the center of town, many took notice of the aqua stallion as he drew, his eyes burning with focus. The shape of Princess Celestia started to take form on the paper, with her figure and face flawlessly replicated beneath his hooves. Canvas kept his attention solely on his work, his mind only concerned with his art.

Of all the things that could calm a pony down, whether it be a massage or a relaxing bath, nothing seemed to ease Canvas' mind better than his art. Though his long mane kept falling into his face (which he just blew away every three seconds without caring), a weight was slowly being lifted from his shoulders as all his frustrations and worries were channeled into his hoof, expressing himself and his feelings into the lines and shades of graphite in front of him.

He wasn’t sure how long he was drawing, but as the drawing of Celestia in his hooves neared completion, the maelstrom within Canvas’ being had settled into a tranquil stream of smooth, flowing contours. By the time a confident smile spread across his face, Celestia's figure looked almost exactly like the statue. And even as he heard various hoofsteps around him, he added the final bits of shading to make his sketch complete.

As he glanced between the paper and the statue, Canvas failed to notice when a pink mare saw him from across the block. He also didn't notice that when the next time he looked at the statue from his paper, the mare was now at the fountain, seemingly snapping into existence in a movement too quick for the naked eye to follow. As he finished the final shading on Celestia's mane (which was a tricky thing to do with a monochromatic medium), Canvas looked up one last time to look at the statue, only to see the face of the bright-pink mare inches away from his own.

"HI THERE!"

AAAHHHH!!!” Canvas shrieked, and jolted off the bench suddenly enough to end up falling to the ground. "Ooooww…" Now his back and head were aching, along with his sore hooves now feeling even worse than before. As he struggled to lift himself, the pink pony was once again in his face, except now her cheery smile was replaced with a worried frown.

"Ohmigosh, I'm sooooooo sorry, mister! Here, let me help you!" Before Canvas could object, she lifted him up with her forehooves before plopping him back on the bench. Even though he was grateful, the stallion was left dumbfounded as to how she lifted him with so little effort. "You okay, Mister New Pony?"

Canvas wasn't sure how to respond, partially due to not being used to meeting a pony like this, but mostly because his head was still spinning a bit from the fall. "...Yeah, I think I'm fine."

"GREAT!"

Startled by her sudden, cheerful outburst, he could only stare in slightly unsettled silence as the mare started talking a mile a minute.

"My name is Pinkie Pie and I know you're a new pony because I know everypony and I mean everypony here in Ponyville, and I saw you sitting here drawing so I thought I should be the very first to welcome you because you looked kinda weird and upset like the first time I tried to eat fifty cupcakes in a row for breakfast and almost threw up everywhere but I still won fifty bits so it was totally worth it, and I wanted to make sure you were happy so what brings you here, what's with the thing over your eye, what's your name!"

Since her face was now only a few inches from his again, Canvas tried to move his head back before realizing she asked him a question (or twenty), and tried to answer. "M-My name is Canvas! I just got out of the hospital, and I was just waiting to see Twilight Sparkle ab―"

"OOOOOOHHHHH!!! I know who you are!” Pinkie beamed as she said, “You’re that pony Twilight found in the storm, right? I heard about that and I was like 'Whaaaat?' so I asked her what happened and she told me she found you and a gryphon and got you to a hospital and I was like 'Double-whaaaaaaat?’ so I wanted to throw you an ‘I’m super-duper glad you’re okay and not in a coma!’ party but she told me you were still in the hospital so I was all sad because I wanted to throw a party but now you're here and I know Twilight is gonna be here later today so I can finally throw a PARTYYYYY!!!"

Canvas wasn’t sure of how to react to this mare's borderline-insane manner of talking and moving around, and could only put his hoof up to get her to stand still. "Umm, thank you for the idea, but I just got out of the hospital! So I… I don't know if I would be up for a party right now."

Canvas' heart almost broke in half when Pinkie’s face fell. It was like he’d kicked a bunny right in front of her. "But… maybe some other time?” he quickly added as he shot her a sympathetic smile. “I was really just wanting to talk to Twilight to thank her for helping me out. I was actually drawing something to pass the time while waiting for her."

As he settled back on the bench, Canvas looked for his pad before he noticed Pinkie Pie was holding it. Her blue eyes were as wide as frisbees as she marveled at his sketch of Princess Celestia. "Wooooooow, this is really really, REALLY good!"

The stallion tried to snatch the paper back from Pinkie, since he was feeling slightly panicked at not having his artwork in his hooves. "C-Can you give that back please?” he asked with a flustered tone. Seeing that he was already looking a bit troubled, Pinkie was quick to hand the pad back; however, her face was also showing a new look of admiration after seeing his drawing skills.

"You’re a really good drawer, Canvas! I mean, I like drawing too but I can't draw nearly as good as that. How long did that take you to make?"

Canvas looked up at the clock tower to see how long it'd been since he started.

"Ten minutes?” be said to himself with his brows raised in surprise. “That can't be―"

"WHOOOOA! You did this in only ten minutes?!" As Pinkie looked at the sketch again (except this time sticking her head around Canvas to look from his angle), she looked at the artist with a huge smile. "What else can you draw?"

Surprised that Pinkie just asked one question this time, he stammered to think about what it was he usually drew, which was basically anything. "Umm… things in nature, random objects, maybe a pony―"

"OOH! Ooh, ooh! Draw me, draw me, draw me!"

Canvas looked at Pinkie, who was now raising her hoof like she was a foal asking the teacher to go to the bathroom. He didn’t say it out loud, but he was honestly surprised that she asked for something that would require her to stay still for more than two seconds. "I… I guess I could. Do… Do you want me to?"

"Abso-luppa-tivvy-dibbley!" shouted the pink mare as she threw her hooves up. "You can draw Celestia really well, so why not me? You were drawing stuff anyway, and I need something to do until Twilight arrives, too, so I figure we can both wait for her while you draw me!"

Even though he was unsure of whether or not he could keep this mare still enough to draw a good picture of her, she did make a good point: they were both waiting for the same pony, and he just finished his sketch of Celestia, so why not?

With a shrug and a slight smile, Canvas turned the Celestia sketch over to reveal a new sheet, using his cloth once more to make a new graphite layer. When he looked back up from the fresh pad, he saw Pinkie Pie in front of him, sitting on a small stool (which he was absolutely certain wasn't there before) and looking at him with a smile, like she was posing for a school photo. Chuckling under his breath, Canvas analyzed the basic shape of her face and fluffy mane, and began to draw.


Author's Note

Just so any newer readers are aware, I've recently been undergoing a big project to turn the Brushed Away series into physical books for individual sale. Because of that, I just wanted to make a quick note for which chapters have been revised so far, including this one.

I want to give my deepest thanks, as well as some well-deserved credit to the editors helping me out with this process: SirReal, and Double R. Forrest. And if anyone is interested in helping out with making this project a reality, I highly recommend checking out my Official Ko-Fi page dedicated to it.

Next Chapter: Chapter Seven: Drawing Attention Estimated time remaining: 11 Hours, 11 Minutes
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