Brushstroke

by WonderShy101

Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Box

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A few hours after the girls had finished helping Tooly clean her grandfather's shed, and after taking a nice break by having some of Sweetie Belle's cookies, Tooly takes out the box and places it onto the table. Everyone is eager to know what is in the box, and each come up with ideas as to what could be in it.

"What if your grandfather was into fine jewelry, or expensive clothing, like a nice scarf or a necklace?" Rainbow Dash adds her 2 cents into the jar.

"What if it is more cookies?!" Sweetie Belle asks.

"That's disgusting, Sweetie Belle." Scootaloo laughs at the thought of old, spoiled cookies. "But what if it's a game inside? Like the entire box was a board game? How awesome would that be!?"

"That's not a bad idea Scoots..." Starsong adds in, hovering in the air at the box. "What if it's a time capsule? I know those are fun to do."

Cheerilee agrees, "That's a great idea! What if he has like a journal or other papers in there? Maybe he told his story and wants us to know..."

Pinkie Pie raises her hoof. "Oh! Oh! What if it's...--"

"No, Pinkie, It's not confetti." Tooly chuckles at her giddiness. "Everyone has such great ideas, but we can't find out unless we find the exact key that goes to the box."

"Tooly's right, and I can't wait either! Here. Try this key!" Scootaloo takes out a key from the satchel and hands it to Tooly.

Tooly observes the key, trying to match it up with the lock on the box. "Hmmmm, this one is a little too big for the lock." Tooly says. Disappointed, Scootaloo places the dud key on the side.

"Not to worry, we have other keys to try out! What about this one?" Sweetie Belle hands Tooly a smaller key.

Tooly examines the key, "Hmm, sadly, the key is small enough, but it's a different shape, so it won't fit... Sorry Sweetie Belle. Let's try another one.."

They go over most of the keys that are within the satchel. After a few minutes, they come down to the final key, which was much rustier than the other keys. In fact, in looked older than the box itself.

"Well, this is the last key..." Tooly says. "This key doesn't look like it belongs to this box, but it won't hurt to try."

"Ugh, the suspense is killing me!" Scootaloo blurts out.

"What if it doesn't fit at all? Then we'll be stumped for sure." Sweetie Belle adds.

"Hey, c'mon guys, she hasn't even put the key in the lock yet!" Pinkie laughs.

After Tooly examines the key for a few seconds, she finally decides to place the key within the keyhole.

It fits perfectly.

Everyone gasps, the tension palpable as Tooly slowly turns the key. A small but subtle 'clank' is heard, signaling that the small box is indeed opened.

"It worked! Hurry, hurry and open it!" Scootaloo rushes her.

Tooly slowly opens the it as her friends move closer around her, wanting to get a glance at what is in the mysterious box. Opening it fully, Tooly gasps at the sight as everyone else sighs in defeat. Within the box, is exactly what everyone had thought.

"There's no confetti in there after all!" Pinkie shrugs.

"There was never going to be confetti in the first place, Pinkie." Rainbow Dash says, but is also disappointed too that it's not something to her liking as much.

Tooly looks at the intricate colors of the dried paint that is neatly sitting within the box. Paint of all colors adorn the inside with a colorful array of memories from being used back in the day. Tooly glides her hoof over the inside of the box to feel the paint stains to get a feel of a time long gone...

"Well, I wasn't that far off from it being a sort of a time capsule." Starsong smiles at the thought.

"Yea, but strangely enough, I figured that it was going to be paint, after all." Cheerilee chuckles, also staring at the beautiful colors in the box.

"What do you mean?" Tooly asks.

"Well, isn't your grandfather a painter too? I'm sure something as precious as this would be left for you to find, so really, I guess you did find that special something, because now you can use the paint that he used when he was younger! It's magical if you think about it, bittersweet almost..."

"Yea, Cheerilee's right. It may not be exactly what we all thought, but that's not really what matters, isn't it?" Pinkie adds in.

"Yes, what matters is that he left his precious gift for you, Tooly. So, in the end, it made this entire build-up worth it." Rainbow Dash also responds, giving Tooly a fond smile.

"That's true, but I was still hoping it was gonna be cookies..." Sweetie Belle droops her head.

"Would you really eat spoiled cookies? Anyways, I'm sad it's not a game or anything, but it's something that you love, which matter to me the most, right Tooly?" Scootaloo says, but she gets no response. She spots Tooly just staring at the paint within the box, almost like a trance. "Hello? Tooly? You there?" Scoots waves her hoof over Tooly's face, and the rest of the girls start to worry as well.

They sigh in relief as Tooly blinks and smiles at the box. "You're right guys... This is the best gift I could find. I-I don't even want to use it, as to honor my grandfather, but that would be a waste, wouldn't it? I'm sure he would want me to use it as much as he did..." Tooly flashes a smile at her friends. "But still, I get a feeling from the paint, like it's calling out to me, as if... As if it's tugging at a nerve..."

"That's a sign that you should use it! At least test the paint first, since they're super old and dry..." Starsong suggests.

"Oh! Oh! Draw me! I call dibs!" Scootaloo raises her hand.

"Maybe we should have Tooly decide who she wants to draw." Cheerilee adds in.

"No, that's a good idea! You're gonna love the painting so much, Scootaloo, I can't wait to start!

Sweetie Belle hops around. "I wanna watch! It's so peaceful seeing you paint."

"Then first thing tomorrow morning, I'll set up my easel at Scoot's place, I won't start without any of you guys...." Tooly gently closes the box with the paint inside, a subtle but unknowing aura emits from the box as she closes it, and darkness consumes the paint once more...

To be continued...

Author's Note:

This one is pretty short too, and I kinda rushed in making this chapter, but this one is pretty straight forward, so if there's any mistakes, please let me know. Thanks!