AN: For my newest chapter of Adventures of the Smiling Critters, I'm going to be focusing on CraftyCorn and her passion for painting! This is a chapter I've been looking forward to writing for awhile since Crafty is my favorite character! I hope you enjoy this new chapter!
Chapter 4
An Artist's Passion
It was another peaceful morning as the sun rose over the homes of the Smiling Critters. In her castle tower, CraftyCorn slept peacefully in her bed until she was awoken by the light of the sun through her window. With a yawn, the unicorn gave a stretch before getting up from her bed. After wiping the sleep from her eyes with her hooves, Crafty gazed out the window with a smile, enjoying every moment of this beautiful day.
"What a beautiful day!" Crafty said to herself. "It's a wonderful morning like this that makes me feel inspired!"
Ready to begin her day, Crafty gathered her paintbrush and various colors of paint to work on her latest painting. She stepped outside her home before she began to paint her canvas. First, she started off with painting the green grass, followed by the trees, and finally the blue color of the sky.
"My painting is looking beautiful so far, but it is still missing something. Now what would that be?" Crafty wondered to herself as she gazed at her painting in silence. "Of course! You can't have the bright blue sky without the sun!" Crafty then dipped her paintbrush in yellow paint as she continued.
The unicorn was so entranced with her painting, she didn't notice someone approaching her from behind.
"Good morning, Crafty!" Crafty was surprised to hear DogDay's voice, so she turned around and greeted him with a smile.
"Oh, good morning, DogDay! It's good to see you this morning!"
"You too, Crafty!" DogDay replied before noticing Crafty's painting. "Hey, that's a pretty looking painting!"
"Thanks!" Crafty thanked with a shy smile. "It's still a work in progress, so it's not quite ready yet."
"Well, I'm looking forward to seeing the whole painting! Anyway, I came here to remind you about the meteor shower that would arrive later tonight and I wanted to ask if you still want to see it with me and the rest of the Smiling Critters!"
Crafty nodded. "Of course! I'm really looking forward to it!"
"Great! I'll see you later tonight!" DogDay waved goodbye.
Once DogDay left, Crafty got back to working on her painting. Throughout the rest of the day, Crafty focused on making her painting the best it could be. She came up with as many ideas as possible for her painting whether it was adding birds in the sky or rivers flowing across the ground. Once she painted one last river in the painting, Crafty put down her paintbrush before staring at her painting with a satisfied smile.
"Wow! My new painting is so pretty! I wonder if I should show it to the others!" Crafty wondered before letting her doubt get the better of her. "Hmm. Probably not. This painting is still missing something. I just don't know what."
Before Crafty could figure out how to make her drawing better, she took notice of the sunset in the distance. She had spent so much time focusing on her drawing, she ended up losing track of time.
"Oh, it's almost time for the meteor shower! I'd better hurry!" Crafty quickly packed up her art supplies before hurrying up to meet her friends.
It wasn't long before the sky turned dark, just in time for the meteor shower. All of the Smiling Critters met up with each other at a grassy field under the stars. As they all sat down, patiently waiting for the meteor shower, they noticed that one critter was still missing.
"Hey, is it just me, or are we missing someone?" Hoppy asked.
"I think you're right." Bobby noticed. "Who are we missing? Is it CatNap?"
"No, CatNap is right over here." DogDay gestured towards CatNap, who was sitting down, not making a sound. "I think we're missing Crafty. I hope she'll be here soon. She wouldn't want to miss this beautiful night!"
As if on cue, Crafty rushed through the fields before meeting up with her friends. By the time she arrived, Crafty was panting from exhaustion after her long run.
"S-Sorry I'm late, everyone! I hope I didn't miss anything!" Crafty panted.
"Not at all, Crafty! You're right on time! Take a seat!" DogDay scooted over to give Crafty room to sit down. "It shouldn't be long now! The meteor shower should be here any minute! If we're lucky, we might even see the Harmony Comet!"
"The Harmony Comet?" Crafty repeated. "What's that?"
"Well, legend says that it is an extremely rare comet that arrives once every century! On the rare occasion it shows up, a tiny piece of it might break apart, creating a wish stone that can grant any wish no matter how impossible!"
"A wish stone?" Bubba raised a confused eyebrow, not believing in it in the least. "No offense, DogDay, but that sounds more like a fairy tale than something that could actually happen."
"Well, I know what I would want if I could get any wish granted!" Picky exclaimed. "A lifetime supply of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!"
"Hey, enough about this talk of wishes! The meteor shower is here!" Kickin pointed up at the sky.
The Smiling Critters soon looked up in awe as countless meteors fell from the sky. Crafty had never seen anything so beautiful before. Seeing the meteors fall made the night sky look like the backdrop to a beautiful canvas. This suddenly gave Crafty an idea for a new painting. Once the night of the meteor shower ended, Crafty decided that she was going to make her most ambitious painting yet.
For the next few days, Crafty spent her time working on her latest painting. Since it was her toughest painting yet, Crafty had to spend a lot of time thinking about how she wanted it to turn out. There were even times when she made a few mistakes in the middle of painting and had to start all over again. Everyday, she got more and more frustrated, being unable to make the painting look exactly as she wanted. It got to a point when she just wanted to get it over with.
Thankfully, after all the work she had done, she was finally able to complete her painting. The unicorn held up the canvas in her hooves as she gazed at it with a smile.
"It's perfect! I have to show my friends!" Crafty exclaimed.
With that, Crafty took her painting and ran as fast as she could to meet up with her friends. It wasn't long before she found her friends, who were watching Kickin and Hoppy have a soccer match with each other.
"Everyone! You have to see this!" Crafty exclaimed, excited to show her new painting.
As Crafty got his attention, DogDay turned around and gave her a friendly wave. "Hey, Crafty! What do you have there?"
"It's my latest painting! I have been working on for the past few days, and I was wondering if you would maybe want to see it." Crafty offered.
"Eh, why not?" Hoppy shrugged before kicking the soccer ball to the side. "I'm sure Kickin would need a break from this soccer game, anyway!"
Kickin panted, exhausted from the game. "The only reason why you beat me was because you took the ball from me by surprise."
It was at that moment when the Smiling Critters gathered around to check out Crafty's painting. They all gasped in surprise at what they were looking at.
"Hey, isn't that us on the night of the meteor shower?" Picky asked, recognizing the painting as a drawing of that night.
Crafty nodded. "Yes, I've been feeling pretty inspired that night, and it led to me making this."
"Crafty, this painting is so beautiful! I love it!" Bobby exclaimed.
"I agree! This has to be your best painting yet!" Bubba complimented.
Hearing this surprised Crafty. She knew that she worked hard on it, but she never would have guessed it would be her best painting.
"My best? Thank you, Bubba, but I don't know if I would go that far." Crafty looked away with a shy smile.
"Don't be so modest! Your painting is amazing!" DogDay complimented. "I think you should make more paintings like it!"
Crafty blushed from all of the attention she was getting from her friends. "Y-You really mean it? Thank you for saying so! I promise my next drawing would be amazing like this one as well!"
Having newfound confidence in her drawings, Crafty decided that she was going to work harder than ever. This time, she decided to make a drawing of the time she and her friends went camping together. It was tougher to make than her last drawing, especially when trying to draw how intense Kickin and Hoppy got when competing with each other.
The more she worked on her painting, the more tired she got. Despite that, Crafty still pushed herself to work harder. A few hours had went by before Crafty finished her painting. At first, she was pretty happy with how it looked. However, upon thinking back to what her friends said about her last painting, she noticed a few mistakes like the trees being too far apart and the smiles of her friends looking a little crooked.
Upon noticing the various mistakes she made, Crafty let out a frustrated sigh. "No, no! It's not good enough! It needs to be better!"
Crafty then threw her painting away before replacing it with a plain white canvas. Suddenly, Crafty started to feel tired before noticing that it was dark outside.
"Wow, I've been working on my painting longer than I thought." Crafty noticed before letting out a yawn. "I guess I'll just try again tomorrow."
With that, Crafty pushed her canvas to the side before collapsing on her bed in exhaustion. As the sun rose the next morning, Crafty woke up early to make up for the lost time she wasted during her last attempt on the drawing. She ran outside with her canvas and paintbrush before immediately starting on it. Since she got up too early, she ended up feeling more tired than she expected. Dark circles appeared under her eyes and her mane was a mess. Crafty didn't care though as she wanted nothing more than to finish her painting.
The hours ticked by as Crafty slowly worked on her painting while humming along to Sleep Well. As she worked on more of her painting, she blocked out any noises that distracted her, including the noise of footsteps behind her. It was at that moment when she felt a paw tap her on the shoulder. Startled, Crafty turned around to see DogDay and CatNap.
"Oh, it's only you two." Crafty sighed.
"Sorry I scared you, Crafty." DogDay apologized. "CatNap and I were going to play a game of catch with a tennis ball and we were wondering if you would like to join us."
At that moment, Crafty took a look at her painting to see that she wasn't anywhere close to finishing it. As much as she wanted to do something else, she couldn't leave in the middle of her work, so she had to decline.
"Sorry, I can't. I'm in the middle of working on a pretty complicated drawing, and I need to make sure it's perfect." Crafty explained.
"You're working on a new drawing already? Can we see?" DogDay asked.
In response, Crafty blocked DogDay and CatNap's view of her painting. "No, it's not ready yet! Please, just let me get back to my painting." Crafty turned around to continue her painting."
This caused DogDay to get concerned for his friend. He didn't notice until now, but Crafty looked a little sleep deprived from working so hard.
"Are you sure you are feeling okay, Crafty?" DogDay asked, concerned.
"Yes, I'm fine, DogDay!" Crafty replied with a tired grin. "It's just one simple painting! Nothing I can't handle!"
As concerned as he was, DogDay decided to take her word for it. "If you say so. Just remember to take a break every once in awhile."
It was at that moment when DogDay walked away, but CatNap still stayed around, staring at Crafty in silence. He could tell that Crafty was lying about being okay, so he gazed at her with his creepy grin, as if he was reading her mind.
"Hey, are you coming, CatNap?" DogDay called out for CatNap.
CatNap gazed at Crafty for a few more moments before taking out a tennis ball. He then threw the tennis ball in the distance, to which DogDay excitedly chased after it just like a regular dog.
Once DogDay and CatNap left, Crafty pushed herself to finish her painting. It wasn't easy for her to do since she had to focus on painting herself and all seven of her friends. It only got more difficult for her to concentrate when Bobby, Bubba, and Picky showed up to greet her.
"Hi, Crafty!" Bobby greeted with a cheerful smile. "Bubba, Picky, and I were getting ready to have a picnic together! Would you like to join us?"
"That's a kind offer, Bobby, but I can't. I'm in the middle of my painting." Crafty replied.
"Are you sure? The food we are bringing is pretty delicious!" Picky pointed out.
Crafty simply nodded in response. "Yes, I'm sure."
Bubba couldn't help but feel concerned for Crafty. "Well, we can't really change your mind, but please remember to take a break from your painting, Crafty. It looks like you really need it."
With that, Crafty was left alone once more. Once she was sure that she was alone for real this time, she got back to work on her painting. Unfortunately, she barely even touched the canvas with her paintbrush before Kickin and Hoppy showed up, much to her frustration.
"Hey, Crafty! There you are! Hoppy and I could really use your help!" said Kickin.
"Yeah! Kickin and I are getting ready to have a race to the park, but we can't make a finish line." Hoppy explained. "We're thinking about having a finish line drawn in the concrete, and who better to make that drawing than you?"
It was at this point when Crafty was more frustrated than ever. "As fun as it sounds, I can't. I'm really busy with my painting and I can't stop."
"Oh, come on! Please? You have to help us! Besides, I just said please! You know I don't say it that often! You'll be missing out on a really fun race too!" Hoppy said.
"I said, I'm busy! I have more important things to focus on than your stupid game!" Crafty snapped, finally letting her frustrations get the better of her.
Hearing this surprised Kickin and Hoppy. They had both been Crafty's friends forever and neither of them had seen her get so frustrated before.
The moment she realized what she said, Crafty immediately started to feel guilty. Kickin and Hoppy only wanted her help, and here she was yelling at them and insulting their game.
"Kickin. Hoppy. I'm so sorry. I don't know what got into me." Crafty desperately tried to apologize for the way she acted.
"Don't worry about it, Crafty. Hoppy and I will just find another game to play." Kickin replied before he and Hoppy walked away.
At that moment, Crafty brought her attention away from her canvas and looked around to see that there was no one left around. She had never felt so alone in her life. With a depressed sigh, Crafty brought her attention back to her canvas before she continued her painting.
Before long, Crafty's painting was finally finished, but unlike her previous painting, she didn't find any satisfaction in finishing it. All she could think of was that her painting was not good enough.
For the past few days, Crafty worked on more paintings, getting more and more desperate to get better. However, her newer paintings only got worse than the last, which frustrated Crafty even more. It got to a point where Crafty stopped attending fun activities with her friends. This ended up worrying the Smiling Critters, so they all decided that they had to do something to help their friend.
The Smiling Critters paid Crafty a visit and were all shocked to see that Crafty was hastily painting her new canvas, desperate to get every minor detail of her painting right. DogDay couldn't stand to see his friend like this, so he tried to get her attention.
"Crafty!"
Upon hearing DogDay's voice, Crafty turned around and was surprised to see all of her friends.
"Huh? What are all of you doing here?" Crafty raised a confused eyebrow.
"Crafty, we are all starting to notice that you are taking your paintings a little too seriously." Bubba pointed out.
"We are all really worried about you." Bobby added. "You haven't spent time with us in days."
"And you're not looking too good either. When was the last time you ate?" Picky asked.
Crafty opened her mouth to answer only to pause as she couldn't even remember.
"Right, that's it! Crafty, you're taking a break right now! No ands, ifs, or buts about it!" Hoppy told Crafty, not taking no for an answer.
"Wh-What? No! I have to finish this!" Crafty told her friends.
"Look, I understand that painting is your passion, but you're taking this too far!" Kickin stepped forward. "Just put the paintbrush down."
Crafty shook her head in desperation. "No! Can't you see I'm so close? I'm close to perfecting my artwork! I-" Crafty paused as she started to feel lightheaded. "Wh-Why do I suddenly feel so sleepy?"
At that moment, Crafty fell unconscious on the grass as it was revealed that CatNap exhaled red smoke from his mouth to help Crafty fall asleep.
DogDay breathed a sigh of relief. "Whew. Thanks, CatNap! Hopefully Crafty would be able to calm down after getting the sleep she desperately needs."
Things started to calm down after Crafty got the sleep she needed. After recovering from all the stress she suffered from the past few days, Crafty felt well enough to work on another painting. She was thankfully able to finish her latest drawing with ease, so she rushed out of her castle tower to show everyone her latest drawing. Upon noticing her friends in the distance, she ran towards them as fast as she could.
"Everyone!" Crafty called out before the Smiling Critters turned to face her. "I just finished my latest drawing! Want to see?" Crafty showed her friends a drawing of the night sky.
Instead of being happy for her like Crafty hoped, the Smiling Critters simply glared at her, much to her discomfort. They all took a look at her painting for a brief moment before staring at her once again.
"Is that it?" Hoppy asked, being the first to break the silence.
Weirded out by the way her friends were acting, Crafty replied, "Um, yes?"
Kickin let out an annoyed sigh. "You're kidding, right? We have all waited for so long to see your new painting and this is the best you can do? That's just pathetic!"
"Now, Kickin! There is no reason to be like that!" Bobby stepped forward before bringing her attention to Crafty. "He's being too nice! Crafty, this is the worst painting you have ever made! Everyday, your paintings have gotten worse and worse! You should just stop and give up on your passion altogether!"
Crafty couldn't believe what she just heard. Bobby was one of the kindest critters she knew. There was no way that she would be this cruel to her.
"B-But, I worked so hard on it." Crafty stuttered, now on the verge of tears.
"Not nearly as hard as you worked to push us all away!" Picky yelled. "You care about your stupid paintings more than you care about your own friends!"
"Picky, no! That's not true!" Crafty defended.
"Oh, it's not?" Bubba retorted. "Then tell us, why is it that whenever we invite you to spend time with us, you always decline in favor of working on your paintings which went nowhere?"
As much as she wanted to come up with a good explanation, Crafty knew that everything Bubba said was true. She did push her friends away every single time they reached out for her.
Unable to hold back her tears any longer, Crafty turned to DogDay with a pleading look. "DogDay, please! You know that I would never push you guys away on purpose, right?"
Instead of replying right away, DogDay continued to glare at her in silence. He had a hurt expression on his face, as if he felt betrayed by his friend.
"You know Crafty, when I became the leader of the Smiling Critters, I wanted us all to be friends til the end. To always be there and help each other when we need it. You couldn't do the same for any of us. In choosing your paintings over your friends, you've really shown your true colors. You know what? We don't need you anymore! As of right now, you are no longer a Smiling Critter! In fact, you are no longer our friend!"
Hurt by DogDay's words, Crafty struggled to speak through her sobs. "N-No. Please, I-"
"Let's go, guys! Wouldn't want to distract her from her paintings she loves so much!" DogDay said before he and the rest of the Smiling Critters walked away.
"Wait!" Crafty reached a hoof out in desperation. "Please, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make things go this far! Please, don't leave me! I-I don't want to be alone."
Crafty's pleas fell on deaf ears since all of her friends were long gone by now. This caused Crafty to collapse on the ground as she sobbed loudly. If she just took a break from her paintings for once, none of this would have happened. She could have easily done a few fun activities and kept her friends, but now she had nothing.
Dark clouds formed in the sky before Crafty tearfully looked back at her canvas. What used to bring her joy and happiness now just brought her pain and sorrow. Crafty's sad expression slowly turned to a look of tear-filled rage. When she looked at the canvas now, all she saw was the thing that destroyed her friendship with the Smiling Critters.
With a scream of rage, Crafty grabbed the canvas and threw it to the ground before smashing it into a bunch of tiny pieces. As Crafty took a few deep breaths, she noticed that the paint from the shattered pieces began to flow into the grass, almost as if it was trying to escape from the canvas itself. The paint only expanded more and more until it started to rise. It was at that moment when Crafty's eyes widened in horror as the paint reached up to her knees.
Desperate to get away, Crafty tried to run as far away from the broken canvas as possible. Unfortunately, the paint made it hard for her to move and Crafty soon found herself stranded in the middle of an ocean of paint. The paint only began to rise higher as Crafty started to panic.
"No! I don't want to die!" Crafty screamed, desperate to swim out of the paint. "Bobby! Bubba! Picky! Hoppy! Kickin! DogDay! CatNap! Anyone, please help me!"
Despite her pleas, Crafty's cries for help were cut off when the paint rose above her head. The unicorn was now trapped in pitch black darkness, unable to breathe. Deep down, Crafty hoped that one of her friends would save her, but knew that none of them would care enough to save her after how she acted towards them. As she slowly ran out of air, Crafty eventually gave up on struggling as she knew that this was the end.
Just when Crafty thought she was going to give her final breath, she suddenly woke up from her bed, breathing heavily.
"Crafty, it's okay! We're here!" Crafty heard DogDay's voice.
Surprised, the unicorn looked around to see all of her friends surrounding her, each of them concerned. Crafty took a moment to calm down as she tried to process what was going on.
"Wh-What happened?"
"It's okay, Crafty. You really needed your sleep after you overwhelmed yourself with your paintings, but it seemed that you were having a bad dream." Bubba explained.
"I-It was all a nightmare?" Crafty realized that what she just went through wasn't even real.
"And a really bad one from the sound of it." Picky noticed. "Don't worry! You're safe here in your bedroom."
"How do you feel?" DogDay asked.
At that moment, Crafty looked down in sadness. "Terrible. I worked so hard on my paintings and I ended up taking all of the fun out of it."
"Yeah, you're technically not wrong about that. I mean look at this new painting of yours." Kickin took out a painting with a bunch of random scribbles. "I don't even know what I'm looking at. Ow!" Kickin winced in pain when Hoppy elbowed him in the ribs.
Crafty shook her head. "No, Kickin is right. I turned what should have been a simple fun hobby into a complete nightmare." Crafty sniffed as guilt overwhelmed her. "That's not even the worst part. I took painting over spending time with my own friends. You reached out for me and I pushed you all away! I've been so awful!" Crafty then burst into tears, unable to hold back her sorrow. "I'm so sorry! Please don't hate me!"
"What? Oh, Crafty we could never hate you! You're our best friend." Bobby said, offering Crafty a tissue. "We all love you! Don't you ever forget that!"
"Yeah, you just got a little overwhelmed, that's all." said Kickin.
Hoppy nodded in agreement. "Even I need breaks from sports every once in awhile."
"It's nice to have a hobby, but what's the point of being passionate about it if you're not even going to have fun with it?" Bubba asked.
Crafty wiped the tears from her eyes before she blew her nose. "You're right. It's just that, painting is the only thing I'm good at. If I'm not painting, who am I?"
"That's simple! You're our friend!" Bobby explained. "You're sweet and kind! Not to mention that you care about your friends and always come through for us when it matters the most!
Crafty took Bobby's words into consideration. "Thank you, Bobby! As fun as painting is, I really shouldn't let it take over my life."
"That's why we've been telling you to take a break. Maybe having a snack break would help you feel better." Picky suggested.
It was at that moment when Crafty began to smile. "I think I would really like that, Picky!"
"Don't worry, Crafty! I guarantee you'll get your passion for painting back soon! In the meantime, we'll all be right here by your side!" DogDay promised.
Once again, Crafty started to tear up. Unlike last time, they were tears of joy.
"Thank you everyone! You're all the best friends I could ever ask for!" Crafty smiled before she and the rest of her friends shared a group hug with each other.
With the drama of the past few days now behind her, Crafty decided it was time for her to take it easy. Now that she was finally taking a break from painting, she was able to spend time with her friends once again. They all had picnics and played games together. All of this helped Crafty finally relax.
Several days had went by before Crafty felt she was ready to paint once more. She promised herself that she was going to take it easy and not overwhelm herself like last time. As Crafty thought about what to paint next, she took notice of a painting in the corner of her room. Upon taking a closer look, she realized it was the same painting she worked on before the night of the meteor shower. She gazed at it for a few moments before inspiration struck as she finally realized what was missing from the painting.
With that, Crafty took her paintbrush and continued her work, while also remembering to take breaks every once in awhile. It wasn't long before Crafty was able to finish her painting. Unlike her last few paintings, Crafty was happy with how it turned out as she stared at the painting with a happy smile. Right in the middle of the canvas was a painting of Crafty and the rest of the Smiling Critters holding hands, along with a message at the top in rainbow colors that read, "Best Friends Forever."