Alexshy

We shall see, what the majority demandeth.

Vox ponpuli, vox dei!

@CypherHoof: I can see thy reasons, lief! But the well hidden spoiler is for the final chapters of the book, thou shan't corrupt thy impression of the upcoming chapter. That spoiler must be visible for those, who tend to analyze deeply and build theories based on that. Others can enjoy a cute episode of the new chapter though.

 

@TheRockARooster: *regally nods to rise*

*rises*

Your majesty.

So... mind two things please:

1. It's a rough pre-edit sample yet, so thither may be typos, hiccups and all along those lines (don't judge it technically yet); I'm in process of thinking out a name for one background character likewise.

2. As I said, the spoiler is subtle in nature, but it's huge at the same time in terms of the event importance for the further story. Those who don't want a distant sneak peek, may simply read it without thinking too deeply into the context

And one more thing: If 't be true thou thinkest, thou got what the spoiler is, dost not write publicly, ask me in PM instead whether thy guess is correct.

Hither goeth:

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“…so, we’re almost there,” said Pinkie, when they turned left into a short overgrown alley; the large trees of the opposite gardens almost shared their branch-shakes. However, despite the overgrown look the houses there were perfectly kept, just like everywhere in Ponyville, owners’ love looked through careful painting, accurate fences, flowerbeds free of weeds. Alex took a look over the house they approached, it sank in the foliage, the upper floor looked floating on the green waves, slightly tinted with yellow and red already and lit by the flaring up morning.

“I promised to walk you here,” his pink guide nudged him lightly, so they steeped on the paved path. “But then you’re on your own Alex, I have lots of work today. Well, you are a big colt,” Pinkie giggled. “Nopony’s going to bite you in that house. Actually, you won’t find a calmer, more reserved and punctual host in whole town… Lily’s cousin may probably compete Twilight in meticulousness. Probably…” she winked, picking the bell string in her mouth and pulling.

The simple yet cheerful bell sounded from the depth of the house, interrupted by quick determined hoofsteps. Alex heard a surprised huff of the light on hoof owner behind the front door.

 

"Good morning, Pinkie! Good morning… errrm… Alex, right?” the grey earth pony stallion with sandy mane and sealed envelope cutie mark welcomed them inside.

 

“Good morning, […]!” Pinkie Pie almost pranced forward impatiently, Alex barely greeted their host. “How’s it going?”

Alex let the stallion’s answer slip past his ears, observing the room; the furnishings were kept in exemplar order, every thing seemed to have its place, which it was placed right after use. Taking a look over the shining cleanness around he unwittingly glanced at his boots, bringing some dust into this kingdom of order and purity looked like a real crime. Alex thought that he could never upkeep that condition of his belongings, the amount of effort put into that must be quite impressive, unless it was a natural or professional habit of the owners.

“… we’re wanted to see Lily-Rose, if you don’t mind.”

Alex woke, catching the tail of Pinkie’s phrase touching the aim of his visit, and nodded.

“Of course, you did!” chuckled […]. “Normally we don’t have lots of guests everyday, so today it looks almost herded.”

Raising one brow Pinkie forgot about hurrying to attend her business, the curiosity took over for a while.

“I’m sorry, […],” Alex decided to test veracity of his guess. “Are you working at Ponyville post office? Mail sorting and delivery organizing, right?”

“Absolutely!” with a smile […] followed Alex’s another glance around the room. “And I do my best for the mail to be delivered to the addressee and in time always,” the stallion winked. “Well… unless Derpy mixes something up…” however, that was said warmly, without a shadow of vexation and Alex thought that those two must be good friends, despite all the shenanigans of the klutz mail-mare.

“Follow me, please,” the stallion headed upstairs. “I wonder what a… tech-head like you, forgive my bluntness, could need from the born artist like my cousin?” […] glanced over his shoulder, making sure Alex and Pinkie were right behind.

“The same as her other visitors and customers,” simply said Alex, “her art. I saw Lily drafting and wanted to see other works.”

“She drafted a portrait of Alex,” smirked Pinkie.

 “Yeah,” Alex flushed a bit. “In a few strokes, but with great semblance. Naturally I was impressed. But how...”

“It’s easy,” chuckled […]. “Most of the time I see your name near Canterlot Steam Company logo on the envelope and… you are the only human in Ponyville,” he shrugged, then stopped and turned to his visitors. “Errmmm… as you both came here… I wanted to ask anyway. What exactly happened at town school last week?”

“An unfortunate accident,” Pinkie quickly put in, alternating from hoof to hoof. “It’s really a miracle that princess Celestia was able to intervene fast and patch things up, really-really!”

“It was one of those creatures, the authorities warned about,” Alex met the attentive glance of […]’s eyes. “The school itself had nothing to do with it. And, as Pinkie said, thankfully the princess could fix everything perfectly.”

“My son goes to school next year,” explained Lily’s cousin. “And… You know…” he finally moved on. “It’s the first time on my memory when the school,” […] paused with emphasis, “in our quiet town is burnt down completely.”

“Not because of the school staff themselves!” said Alex and Pinkie simultaneously; Alex let out a small smile, adding soothingly. “The evacuation was done almost perfectly in the circumstances they got.”

“Hmm… I was told differently, but…” […] raised his glance at the human as they passed a couple of doors in the long, neat as the rest of the house, corridor and stopped at the last one. “They say, you put  your… hand to the rescue as well,” he took an evaluating look over Alex’s wings.

“A little bit,” Alex kept the poker face; Pinkie huffed quietly behind his back.

“You and Rainbow Dash… Well…” the stallion knocked the door, making two muffled voices in the room fade. “Lily! More guests coming to you, hun!”

“Then let them come in, bro!” the door opened, enveloped in azure aura and letting out the thin smells of paper, canvas and paints. The surprised look of Lily-Rose transformed into a smile. “Oh! You decided to come. Good morning, Alex, Pinkie!” she waved her mane energetically. Alex noticed Lyra behind her back, examining some papers in the sunlight coming through the large window; every free spot in the room, as he could judge, was occupied with paintings, drafts, graphics and different tools. Lily-Rose definitely was a productive artist.

“If you excuse me… Need to go, loads of work as usual and I don’t want to run late,” letting the guests forward […] nuzzled Lily-Rose tenderly. “Have a nice day, you all!”

“So, you wanted to take your portrait, Alex,” Lily-Rose turned to them, when her cousin left. “Or maybe you let me turn it into something… less schematic,” she chuckled with audible self-irony. “It won’t be a problem, especially now, when I need more practice.”

“And what do we have here?” before Alex could answer, Pinkie sang out, appearing behind Lyra’s shoulder and trying to peek into her papers. “Tell Lyra, what our history and naturalist mare is plotting.”

“It’s not ready yet,” Lyra quickly rolled the sheets with her aura, leaving Pinkie’s curiosity dissatisfied. “I asked Lily-Rose about a few illustrations for my work… a scientific project, if you want. But it’s a secret yet, while it’s not completed.”

“Scientific project?!” Pinkie snorted, staring at Lyra. “Let me guess…”

“Hi, Alex!” waving away from Pinkie, Lyra glanced at the human with bright smile, which slowly faded as her glance slid along his large black wings. “Woah… I heard about them,” she slowly squeezed out, “but the rumors don’t give you due…”

“Yeah,” Alex shrugged clumsily, his wings ruffled slightly. Trying his best to make less unnecessary moves not to knock something over, he noted inwardly that they definitely shrunk, when he entered the room. “I’m still in the process of telling them, who’s the boss, Lyra.”

At the word “boss” Pinkie’s sneering expression, she examined Lyra with, turned to concerned one, her eyes rounded.

“Oops!” cotton candy mane seemed to puff even more, while pink ears flattened. “I totally forgot… The Cakes will burn for sure! Sorry, mates!!!” the last phrase sounded, when Pinkie’s silhouette faded in the doorway.

Alex blinked a few times, driving away the impression that Pinkie simply teleported upon remembering about her own work at Sugarcube Corner. Both Lyra and Lily-Rose giggled.

“So… Hmpfff… Sorry. Back to your portrait,” Lily-Rose leaned to her table, when they stopped snorting. She seek through her papers, looking for the proper draft. “You can surely take it as it is… or  let me add some detail, if you don’t mind and have some time.”

“Thanks, Lily-Rose,” Alex watched her azure aura shuffling the papers. “I would like to see your other works, if you don’t mind of course…”

“Ahhh, here it is!” the unicorn artist straightened levitating Alex’s graphical portrait, making the prototype wonder the great level of detail and semblance again.

“Hmmm,” Lyra dived under his wing and threw a glance at the sketch. “You know, Alex, she is right. Why let it be the head only? Maybe you can turn it into the whole torso, Lily? Show the wings and maybe… hands!” Alex snickered. “What?!”

“Of course, you can, Alex. Feel free to take a look!” Lily-Rose let out a smile, levitating the paper to the easel and clipping on, going to invest some more work into the portrait.

“Won’t you need me to stay still though?” wondered Alex.

“It’s okay, if you move and look,” the girl swayed her mane, making the pendant swing and her glowing strands shimmer. “Let me throw myself a little challenge – let’s see how many details I can add out of the memory.”

Alex nodded and moved along the walls of her room, examining the drawings and paintings on them, while Lyra subtly took the place behind Lily, tilting her head and watching the work.

The collection was quite impressive: Alex even came across a couple of foal’s drawings, Lily didn’t scruple to exhibit; he wondered how accurate and vivid were the images, despite the foalish strokes. Some artworks were hanging on the walls, those obviously found their residence at Lily cousin’s house; the others stood leaned on the walls – current work of Alex’s new artistic acquaintance. He noticed that everything ponies said about Lily was true, the level of detail and realism stunned him, making walk from painting to painting slowly, admiring the quality. The portraits looked photo-like: there were foals caught at the peculiar natural moments, playing and laughing; a few young mares, light, ethereal and dreamy, some in their party dresses and hats, some at work, gardening, dragging carriages. Alex spotted a portrait of miss Cheerilee at the blackboard, explaining something to the class. Stallions caught at their work: delivery workers, builders, fisher with his rods, guards at their posts. A happy married couple, nuzzling each other. Alex couldn’t hold back a smile, seeing that collection of totally unknown ponies’ memories fixed on paper and canvas.

He was to admit that many older portraits, while being almost photorealistic, looked like vignette – their background, simple and pastel, blended out into the canvas. However, Lily-Rose worked on that diligently, newer samples offered complex backgrounds with visible effort and mastery invested. Alex examined a few landscapes for quite a while, recognizing one view from the lake they met at the first time. One more unfinished work depicted two mares on their walk through the park, still in draft they strongly reminded Alex of Luna and Fluttershy somehow; he let out a quiet sigh.

The table was hiding under the heap of drafts. Alex dug out a folder with graphics and dived in, one sheet caught his attention at once, making come closer to the large window, framed in juicy foliage from outside, and peer into the image under the brightening sunlight. It was a grayscale image of large ruined tower, peeking like a tooth from the remnants of the wall amidst the wild forest.

“Errmmm… Apologies, Lily-Rose…” Alex cleared his throat. “Is it the Sister’s Old Castle? Looketh very familiar to me,” he showed her the opened folder.

“This? Oh, no, it's not the Old Castle,” Lily-Rose interrupted her work, coming closer and picking the folder from his hands. “It seems I draw that ages ago,” a smile lit her muzzle. “I was sketching on the wooded hills, north-west to Canterlot. There is some fort ruins at the mountain foothills, so…”

“There is not only one ruin in Equestria, Alex,” sounded Lyra from her place near the easel, she glanced at him with mentor look. “Many old fortresses are scattered across the land, gnawed by time and falling apart. Those monuments of old, less peaceful age…” she fell silent for a minute. Lyra’s next phrase made Alex shudder from the memories. “Remember the Clock Tower, Alex? It’s a part of old bastion. Well, we don’t need buildings as large and fortified anymore!” Lyra let out a bright smile.

Willsmash and Sil stood in front of Alex’s inner view, then a blurred image of a Seeker, the unicorn stallion in Canterlot medical facility.

“That’s debatable methinks!”

Both girls stared at him in confusion…

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