A relaxing landscape

Blackberry sat out in Whitetail Woods, on the edge of a meadow, the flowers were blooming beautifully today. He So many flowers would be quite complex to paint-- but in the end would surely be a beautiful landscape when he was done.

He set up his easel and his horn began to glow as he set his palette next to the easel and looked out into the scenery again taking it in, a calm smile on his face as the sun trickled down through the tree tops he was sitting under.

His brush raised up and began to apply some base strokes as he looked between the landscape and the easel.

Mango Azalea trotted happily in the tall grass with a wicker basket swinging in her mouth. She would need quite a few flowers for her next order, and she knew that this was the perfect place to get healthy, beautiful plants. Spotting a cluster of tulips, she set her basket down and went to pick them.
In the corner of her eye, she saw a darkly-colored blob. Turning her head to inspect it, she saw that it was a unicorn, and they were... what... painting? Mango looked at the area they were painting. What a beautiful landscape!
Maybe I'll introduce myself? She thought. Mango trotted over to the pony.
"Hi! My name is Mango. What's yours?" Mango grinned. She hoped they were friendly; she didn't have many friends in Ponyville.

Blackberry looked up, there were some orange and pink flowers he had not seen previous-- he looked down and began marking where those flowers were going to be going now, he glanced up again and those flowers were gone-- but there was another patch a little closer to him he had not seen last time-- he looked down and began marking around the first bit and adding in the new flowers, biting his bottom lip a little as he concentrated on his work.

He looked up again and an orange unicorn with a pink mane was right next to his easel introducing herself. The shock of this sudden arrival caused him to stumble backwards and fall into a sit on his bottom with a kind of girlish yelp.

He brushed some of his mane out of his face and blinked at the orange unicorn, "You shouldn't sneak up on ponies like that" he said as he got to his hooves again looking for where his paintbrush had fallen. His horn glowed and the paint brush raised up and tucked up behind his ear, "I'm Blackberry," he said introducing himself to Mango.

"You look familiar..." he said looking Mango over raising an eyebrow, "don't you work in that candy shop just south of the marketplace?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to scare you, honest. I thought you saw me!" Mango paused for a second and thought. "Blackberry? You sound really familiar... wait, weren't you in my grade a couple years back? In sophomore year? You moved, didn't you?" The stallion everyone thought was a mare... She almost said it aloud, but thought twice, knowing it would probably offend him.
"Oh, the candy shop. Well, my mom retired last year, so I took over the shop. It's a flower shop now." She had a brief flicker of nostalgia, remembering the days when she would come home from school and her mom would be sitting at the counter. Nowadays, her mom would be the one coming home from the market and Mango would be sitting at the counter.
"Anyway, where did you go? You just disappeared one day, and never told anyone where you went! We were all confused for weeks." She was happy that their conversation was going in the right direction, despite her frightening him.

"I'm fine," Blackberry said dusting himself off a litte bit, "uh-- we may have been in school together-- I left shortly after graduation..." he said calmly as he walked back over to his easel and used his magic to set the palette up off of the ground some.

He glanced over to Mango when she asked about his departure, "I didn't figure my leaving would be much of a loss for the town," he said with a little bit of a frown, "I told Pirouette, shes my best friend, I thought that would be the best thing for me to do..." he explained.

He thought for a second debating on what to tell her about where he went-- whether to lie or be brutally honest. He shrugged. "I went to Manehatten--" he said matter-of-factly, "I thought I'd try to become a famous painter..." he told her.

Mango's orange ears perked up at the sound of the city. "Manehattan? Wow! I've always wanted to go there!" She finally noticed what Blackberry had been painting, and the raw beauty of it surprised her. The brush strokes were delicate and soft, yet they spoke volumes. She compared the painting to the actual landscape, and the attention to detail was incredible. Every flower, blade of grass, and weed had a place in the painting. It was absolutely gorgeous.
"You're an amazing painter! I bet you did really well in Manehattan, didn't you?" She suddenly became quiet, and her ears drooped slightly along with her head. "You're so much better than me..."

Blackberry sighed as Manehatten was brought up but glanced back over to Mango as she began to compliment his art. He began to smile a little bit but then once again the topic went back to Manehatten.

"Actually..." Blackberry said a little flatly, "They hated my art and I lived in poverty for a year and a half, barely able to afford ford and hoping that on the nights it rained the roof did not collapse on myself and the ponies I was staying with," he explained bluntly.

He gave a sigh and then raised his gaze back up to Mango, "We all have our own talents," he said sagely, "I paint, you gather flowers, Pirouette dances, the Apple family has their apples... everyone has a calling whether theyre ment to succeed in it or not." he explained.

Mango was slightly taken aback by his blunt explanation. "I... I'm really sorry. I had no idea... " Mango felt intensely guilty, like had brought something up that Blackberry preferred not to share with other ponies, much less ponies he had just met. She tilted her head downwards to allow some strands of her mane to fall like curtains over her face.
Mango needed to help him. I can't just hear a story like that and not do something about it! There was a long silence that felt like it went on for months as Mango thought. Suddenly, she broke the silence with a loud gasp.
"I know!" she exclaimed. "If you painted flowers for my shop, I would pay you, and sales for my shop would increase, too! Maybe, after people saw how nice your art is, they could hire you, too!" Her tail flicked in excitement, and her words started to become jumbled and hard to understand as she attempted to get her ideas out as quickly as possible.
"It would be the perfect thing! It would get you a job, andohmycelestiathisisthebestideaever!" She giggled softly in spite of herself.

//lol mango is so bipolar

Blackberry blinked a little bit in surprise as Mango offered him employment. He was a bit taken aback by it and it showed on his face. He had worked so hard to survive in Manehatten when no one wanted his art, and yet, here it was, an opportunity to paint an entire building in Ponyville. He'd get paid, he'd get attention-- it was what he had been trying for!

"No." he said flatly. He sighed and lowered his gaze as he began to walk back over to his easel.

Blackberry's response caught Mango by surprise. He was supposed to accept the offer, he was supposed to be excited, he was supposed to–
See, Mango? This is what happens when you think ahead, she thought to herself. She bit her lip as she tried to adjust to his answer.
"But why not?" She trotted a couple feet to keep up with him. " I mean, if it's for a personal reason, I totally understand... but declining just to be modest wouldn't be very fair to yourself."

Blackberry stared forward at his easel lost in his own thought. He had come back to ponyville to give up being a professional painter. Doing this job would be going right back to what he was giving up on-- but what else could he do? He did not know how to do anything else, painting is all he has ever done. Pirouette asked him to help at the dance studio-- but dancing was probably about the thing he was worst at.

"I just--" he started to say, trailing off as he realized even HE didn't know why he turned down Mango's offer. He also did not know why he should accept it though, "can't..." he said hanging his head a little bit with a sigh.

Mango decided to try one last time to convince him. If I keep trying after that, I could reveal something personal. She lowered her head so their eyes were on equal levels.
"Come on. If not a whole wall, maybe just a canvas? Isn't there SOMETHING you'd like a few extra bits for? New brushes? Paints? She smiled encouragingly. What would win him over?

Blackberry raised his gaze a little to meet Mango as she suggested something he'd like to use some bits for. Instantly thoughts of Shala popped into his head. She had been so helpful for him offering him a room and essentially paying for his meals-- And while she said she didnt need reimbursement, Blackberry still felt bad getting charity like that.

"I'll paint a mural on the side of your shop if you'd like," he agreed to her initial request. While painting an entire wall would be difficult, he felt he'd be able to do it. And he did want people to see his art-- he felt the ponies in Ponyville would appreciate his naturally beautiful art a lot more than those in Manehatten did. The art they wanted was bizarre and 'modern', but he thought it was ridiculous and would not sink himself to that level.

"It's been hard for me to even really think about an actual painting job since I got back home," he began to explain to Mango, looking away a little, "The feeling you have when you've completely failed at what you worked on your whole life is so demoralizing that you start to wonder if your whole life has been a waste."

"I'll paint a mural on the side of your shop if you'd like,"

Mango's calm, empathetic face quickly morphed into one of pure joy. Her ears perked up, and her tail flicked in one swift, quick motion.
"You'll do it?! Oh, fantastic!" She exclaimed. "And to think I was about to give up...!"

"The feeling you have when you've completely failed at what you worked on your whole life is so demoralizing that you start to wonder if your whole life has been a waste."

Mango stared at him, then to his painting, then back to him. She couldn't believe he didn't see how much talent he really had. "Are you kidding me? You haven't failed at anything! Those stupid critics in Manehattan–they're just looking for another stupid artist who paints like a five-year-old. You've got real talent, Blackberry, more than anyone else in Ponyville. Heck, more than anyone in Equestria! Just because a couple ponies with their heads up their rumps don't like it doesn't mean you're not completely amazing. Forget about them! They're not worth your time."

"Of course I have talent, I know that," Blackberry said a little arrogantly as he folded up his easel with his magic and put it across his back, "but when your talent fails to get you where you want to be, you wonder if that talent is worth anything," he explained as he turned back to Mango.

"Vincent Van Burrough lived his whole life in poverty," Blackberry began telling Mango, thinking to himself as he did so, "only years after his death did ponies began to realize that his art was some of the most beautiful pieces every done."

He sighed, "he is my idol."

Mango was becoming discouraged. Why couldn't he just... urgh! She had to cheer him up. No matter what how long it took, she would make him smile because he was happy.
"Don't you think he felt the same way you do right now? No one really appreciated his work until later."
There was a long silence as Mango thought of what to say.
"Do you want to change the subject? I can kinda tell this is a sensitive topic."

Blackberry nodded as he thought of Vincent Van Burrough's work, it must have been awful to never have acknowledgement for the beautiful work you did-- hopefully-- hopefully ponies will enjoy Blackberry's mural on the flower shop.

Blackberry closed his eyes for a second and raised his head smiling genuinely at Mango, it really was a lovely smile-- if not a bit-- feminine-- "Thank you for giving me the chance to do a mural at your shop," he said, sounding a bit more relaxed than he had previously.

Blackberry glanced down and to the side for a moment as Mango suggested a new topic, thinking for a moment on what else could be said, "Why did you change your shop from a candy shop into a flower shop?" He asked curiously, "We never got to talk much back in school-- have you always been in to flowers?"

Mango grinned like she had just won the lottery. Now we're talking about flowers! "Well, yeah, I've been into flowers since I was a filly!" She turned so he could see her cutie mark, an azalea, her favorite type of flower. "That's what this is for. My mom used to run the candy shop, but as soon as I turned 18 and was old enough to take over, my mom retired and I turned it into a flower shop. I love flowers! I like to arrange bouquets and I love how they smell and I know nearly every type of flower and–" Mango suspected she was overwhelming him, so she abruptly cut off her speech and spoke in a quieter tone. "Yeah, I like flowers. Painting, too. I'm not as good as you, of course, but I try." She absentmindedly scratched the inside of her leg with her hoof. "I like to think I'm okay at singing, too, but I'm probably not..." she laughed lightly.

Blackberry blinked a little as Mango began to thoroughly explain her history at the flower shop. He was a little taken aback by the sudden load of information she just gave him. He thought for a second then raised his gaze back to meet her, "What did your mother think of you changing it into a flower shop?" he asked curiously.

"You're lucky your passion was something you could just open up a shop for and ponies buy every day," he said with a small smile on his face, "opening up a gallery-- its almost impossible-- especially in a place like ponyville-- Manehatten or Canterlot maybe-- but Manehatten is all about modern art-- and Canterlot-- well-- their taste in art is awful--" he explained.

"Sadly the ponies with the money dont seem to realize the beauty of nature and the countryside..." he said looking back out at the meadow of flowers as a smile crossed his face, which made him look even more feminine and pretty.

Mango chuckled slightly. "My mother didn't think too much of it, actually. She appreciated the fact that I was chasing my dreams, and her special talent wasn't even related to candy, she was a dancer. But as she got older, she damaged her back, and couldn't really do that anymore. I mean, she liked the candy shop, but it wasn't her favorite, and she could do without it."
Mango noticed him looking longingly at the field, and remembered again why so many ponies confused him for a mare. His eyes sparkled in the light of the afternoon sun, his purple and pink mane carried on a slight breeze. He looked so much like a girl Mango had to hold back a giggle.
"You're really pretty, you know that?" As soon as she said the words, she wished she hadn't; it probably sounded like she was implying that he sounded like a girl, and she suspected that would offend him. Still, she desired to see his response.

Blackberry raised an eyebrow a little and looked back up towards Mango, "my best friend is a dancer, all the mares in her family have been" he explained thinking about her a little with a small smile, "Do you know Pirouette? She currently runs the little dance studio in the residential district," he asked of Mango.

Blackberry's eyes widened at the compliment Mango paid his. he then narrowed his brow and glanced over at Mango, "Don't call me that..." he mumbled, fighting the urge to bite her head off, knowing that she only ment well, "I just-- I dont want ponies to see me as pretty..." he growled a little.

He looked up at the sky, the sun was beginning to go down, "it's getting late." he said continuing to look out at the landscape.

The name sounded familiar to Mango. Pirouette, Pirouette... The name sounded familiar. Then she remembered.
"Hey, she went to high school with us, didn't she? You two were the best of friends, you went everywhere together! I didn't know she was a dancer, though."

Mango looked down. "I'm honestly really sorry. I... the words just popped out of my mouth," she blushed a cherry pink, ashamed of herself. Look, Mango. Now he's angry. Good job.

"It is getting pretty late." Looking over the sky, she saw orange and pink tints sweeping across it. "Where do you stay for the night?" the thought occurred to her.

Blackberry nodded as Mango recalled Pirouette, "yeah, Pirouette comes from a long line of dancers," he told Mango, "even her name is a dancing term, I've been told. She tried to get me to dance with her many times-- but I am quite bad at it," he explained.

"Its..." he trailed off, thinking for a moment, "Its alright... a lot of people tend to say that... its almost hard not to get used to it..." he said with a sigh.

"I am staying with a pony name Shala Woods," Blackberry told Mango, "She's a barkeep at the tavern, apparently moved here from Manehatten some months ago--" he told her.

"Shala Woods? Oh, I've heard of her. Some ponies bought some flowers to welcome her here when she first moved in. I've never met her, though. It's kind of her to let you stay with her." The conversation was lacking; Mango noticed that their words had been dull and tired.
"So! What's your family like? Do you have any brothers or sisters?" Mango had completely forgotten about the flowers she was supposed to collect, and started to casually walk in the direction of Ponyville.