A trip to Canterlot (OPEN!)

[Shinygear]

Shinygear stepped off the train for the first time that month. He had just arrived in Canterlot as a day to relax and maybe pick up some supplies. If he cared enough to. He had closed his shop after no customers showed up for nearly two days. This would be his time to do what he wanted, what he needed and what he thought of as relaxing. He also hoped he be able to meet up with some new friends, as he had been especially cooped up in his house lately, making it very hard to socialize. Shiny took in the air, and smiled brightly. "This trip will most certainly be a good break! I'll make this the best vacation yet!" he said smiling as he began trotting out of the train station.

[P51Mustang]

The sound of bad, horrible, off key singing could be heard throughout the shop of a particular gray pony as she sang into her shower head, Chiselle ended the song with a high pitch finish as she levitated the device over her own head. Steam filled up the bathroom as she quickly scrubbed every inch of her small frame with a rag and a bar of soap. After five minutes in the shower, she quickly grabbed a towel from a nearby rack and hastily dried herself off.

Stepping out of the shower and in front of a sink and mirror, the pony quickly levitated a toothbrush, toothpaste, and mane brush and set to work grooming herself. "Eight, nine, and ten!" she quickly counted off before setting down the mane brush. 'I still don't see the point of 100 brush strokes.' the green eyed mare thought to herself. After she brushed her teeth, the most important decision soon arrived. Opening the cabinet that rested behind the mirror, she pulled out a blue box and opened it up. There, several earrings of various shapes, sizes, and style laid in front of her. "Hmm...what am I in the mood for today?" Her eyes quickly darted back and forth before she saw a small black earring with a spike on one end. "Ah ha! There we go!" she exclaimed.

The small mare placed the box back in the cabinet, closed the mirror and trotted down the hall towards the kitchen. With a quick will of her magic she opened up a cupboard above and to the right of the sink and pulled out a tin of grounded coffee and a mug. She placed the items down beside the coffee maker before pulling the pot out and giving it a quick inspection. "Clean, well that's good." she commented to herself as she ran the pot under the water tap and began pouring hot water into the pot. Within a few minutes she not only had coffee going, but french toast and eggs as well.

As far as mornings went, this was very typical and routine for the sculptress.

[Shinygear]

Shinygear left the station and took a sip from his canteen. "Hmmm, what should I do first?" he said to himself, as he searched around. "Oooh, a coffee shop, I'll have to head there later. I'm exhausted..." He said as his eyes came down upon what appeared to be some sort of workshop. "Intriguing...I wonder if it's open?" he said smiling, as he trotted towards the door.

[P51Mustang]

Plates of french toast, eggs, a mug full of coffee which was loaded down in sugar were floated from the kitchen's counter over to the nearby dining room table. Chiselle then walked over to the door which lead to the stairwell down to her shop. The small pony picked up the morning's edition of "The Artiste", a newspaper for Canterlot's artist. She then turned around, headed back to the table and plopped her haunch down at the table. The spread before her look so inviting and mouth watering, her pupils widen. "Well, no sense in waiting." she happily chirped to herself.

Just as the fork was about to stab the first piece of french toast, the doorbell rang. The gray mare dropped her fork and looked at the door. "Oh come on!" She exclaimed. "I'm not even opened for another thirty minutes!" With a huff, Chiselle used her magic to picked up her flannel shirt from the living room's couch and trotted to the door and down the stairs. By the time she reached the landing, her flannel shirt was buttoned up and the sculptress had a smile on her face.

The mare unlocked the deadbolt with her magic and opened up the door to reveal a red pony with light green eyes and light brown mane and tail. "Hello, welcome to 'Chip Off The Block', she began, "My name is Chiselle, the artist and owner of this fine establishment. How may I help you this morning?"

[Shinygear]

Shinygear smiled. "I was just wondering if this place was open. I just got off a long, boring train ride, and this place seemed to be the most ineresting shop to me. If you're not open yet, I'll be willing to come back." Shiny explained, as he realized it was still rather early. 'Heck, I haven't even had a REAL breakfast yet...'

[P51Mustang]

'Hmm...well it would be rude for me to ask this pony to come back later, plus I really could use a sale.' Chiselle opened up her door to let the new stallion in, "Well I don't open up for another thirty minutes and I was just about to eat breakfast when you rang my doorbell. However, I've always extended my hospitality to other ponies, so why don't you join me for breakfast and we can talk until it's time for me to open? I'm having french toast, eggs and coffee if that's okay."

The gray mare then looked intently at the new pony, "You're not the Hash Slinging Slasher are you?" Her eyes narrowed before a smirk grew on her face as she let a chuckle out.

[Shinygear]

Shinygear chuckled and smiled. "Thank you for yer hospitality, and sorry for interrupting your breakfast in the first place. And...not that I know of." he said quickly. 'I have no idea who that is...oh well...' Shiny thought to himself. "When you've only been eating train snacks for the past day, French toast and eggs sounds like music to your ears." he admitted.

[P51Mustang]

Chiselle led the young stallion up the stairs to her living quarters. "I already made breakfast for me, but give me a few minutes and I'll have a hot plate set up for you." The gray mare opened up a cabinet and pulled out a plate along with a mug and silverware. She then levitated the frying pan back into her stove, poured in some eggs, butter and cinnamon into the pan and waited for it to simmer. "I still have some coffee left in the pot, the sugar and cream is next to the coffee maker." She instructed while using one forehoof to point to the coffee maker.

"What's your name anyways? Mine is Chiselle."

[Shinygear]

Shinygear sat down. "I'm Shinygear. Nice to meetcha Chiselle." He said cheerfully as he poured some coffee into his now empty canteen. "So, from what I can tell of the shop, you make sculptures?" he said curiously.

[P51Mustang]

Flipping the piece of bread on the frying pan, "Yep, I can sculpt anything using wood, stone and clay. What about you? What's your special talent?"

[Shinygear]

Shinygear shrugged. "I mainly work with metals. I fix things, make things, stuff what you could call a mechanic does." he replied, smiling.

[P51Mustang]

"Well that must be a very useful talent." Chiselle commented as she slid four pieces of french toast onto the plate. She then used her magic to levitate a couple of eggs and cracked them into a skillet. "How do you want your eggs?" She asked. "Also, are you from Canterlot, or somewhere else?"

[Shinygear]

Shinygear took a drink from his coffee. "I came here from Hoofington. I've had no service with any pony in the past two days, so I closed up shop and decided to take a little vacation. "Oh, sunny side-up please."

[P51Mustang]

"Sunny side up it is then." Chiselle moved the egg around in the skillet. "Me, I've always lived in Canterlot. Once or twice I think about moving to a smaller, more intimate town, but Canterlot does have it's pluses. It has some of the most beautiful artwork, sculptures, and history. It also has a very vibrant art community. Although it does have it's downside, mainly the high class snooty ponies, which I don't really care to interact with."

After the last sentence, Chiselle slide the eggs onto the plate alongside the toast. The artist then levitated the entire plate over to the table and sat it in front of Shinygear. "Your breakfast, my good sir." She commented in a proper tone before sitting. The gray pony then sat down in front of her plate and was finally able to take a bite of her french toast.

[Shinygear]

Shinygear smiled and took a bit from the toast. After swallowing, he smiled again. "This is very delicious, thank you for this meal!" Shiny said, bowing his head slightly.

"I must agree, Canterlot does seem like a wonderful place to live. I'd like to visit one of these museums you speak of today, as I've never gotten to see much of the true art here. Just a few shops and the houses of friends."

[P51Mustang]

"You're quite welcome, it's always nice to meet new ponies." Chiselle took another bite of her toast, "So...what is Hoofington like?"

[Shinygear]

Shiny sat back slightly and grinned. "It's a great place, and I'm glad to call it home. Always smells like the sea: I love it. I got good friends living there, my sister lives with me right now. Yes, everything is pretty grand. It isn't the best place in the world, but I'm happy living there. Definitely not the 'amazing vacation' type place that Canterlot is, of course." he joked.

[P51Mustang]

Chiselle let out a soft chuckle before taking another bite of her toasts. The small mare then looked up and stared off into space before a grin appeared on her face, "Hey, since you're here on vacation, why don't I give you a tour of Canterlot? I can show you the art museum, history museum, we can go to this one spot where you can see all the way to Ponyville, and the Canterlot Castle has a tour that goes through it everyday, so we can go do that if you want to. What do you say?"

[Shinygear]

Shinygear got up, and smiled. "Sounds great! Let's do it!" he said, as he threw his saddlebag up and onto his back, grabbing his toast and finishing it off quickly. 'This'll be the vacation ever!' he thought to himself, as he threw his canteen in his saddlebag and zipped it closed. "Wait...what about your shop?" he said, realizing it would have to be closed because of him.

[P51Mustang]

"I work on commission for the most part, the shop is only here so that ponies can walk right in and meet the artist themselves." She paused and struck a pose with her forehooves pointed at her chest, "However, if they want anything new sculpted, they can always drop their commission request in the mailbox."

Chiselle walked over and opened up the door, "So what would you like to do first?"

[Shinygear]

"Where ever you take me will be good enough for me: as long as I'm having fun and relaxing, I'll be happy being here!" he replied, after a few short seconds of thought. He then chuckled to himself. 'I need to visit Canterlot more often...'

[P51Mustang]

Chiselle led Shinygear outside of her shop, she hung up a sign that instructed the clients to drop their request in her mailbox. After locking up the doors she turned to the young stallion. "We should go to the art museum first, I know that place like I know the back of my hooves."

[Shinygear]

Shinygear nodded. "Sounds good to me!" He said, as he looked about at the wondrous sights to take in.

[P51Mustang]

Within an hour or so, both ponies were within the halls of Canterlot's Art Museum. It was a beautiful sight to behold, granite lined the walls while the arched ceiling was glass framed in Limestone. Every few feet or so, there were columns made out of marble. On the walls were paintings and photographs while the middle of the hall held the statues and sculptures.

Chiselle levitated a small book titled 'Art History of Equestria' as she walked over to one of the paintings. "Now this one is very interesting, it's called Equestrian Gothic and it was painted when Ponyville was first founded. It's supposedly shows the traditional roles of stallions and mares during the early days of Ponyville. Of course, I think some ponies read too much into a piece of art and are missing the forest for the trees. What do you think Shinygear?"

[Shinygear]

Shinygear looked the painting over, then nodded. "I like the painting, but the little things are missing. Unfortunately, I've never really appreciated art like this, so I really don't know what else to say about this..." he said, smiling. Shinygear looked around at the rest of the art, and his eyes came across a section of items made of recycled metals and wire. "Wow..." he said to himself.