//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 // Story: Old Records and Spray Paint // by Dunglord //------------------------------// I looked up at the wall in front of me as tried to figure out where to start. The owner of a local bakery had been kind enough to give us permission to create a mural on one of his unused walls. I looked back down at the parchment still trying to find out where exactly to start. "Ready to start?" Asked Luna, I turned my head towards her. She decided to forgo her normal regalia today. And her ethereal hair had been replaced with her normal, light blue hair. "Yeah, I'm still trying to figure out where to start, though." I said, looking back down at the parchment. "Wait, got it, let's start here." I said, pointing at a specific spot on the paper. I lowered the paper so that Luna would be able to see it. "That seems like an ideal spot." [Listening Material] Luna lowered the bag of paint related materials and the ladder she was levitating and pulled out a can of black spray paint. She levitated the can towards the wall and started to spray, I put on my bandana and walked over to the other end of the wall and started to spray as well. Since I did not have magic, I needed to use the ladder fairly early on. Even though I was working slower than Luna, I still did a substantial amount on my end. Ponies crowded around, just like the first day I painted in public. but because a princess and human were present, there were many more ponies than normal. Eventually, when the outlines for everything were created, Luna picked up multiple cans of spray paint with her magic and went to town. I climbed back down the ladder and picked up another can of spray paint. And after a few minutes of that, I went back down and picked up another can of spray paint. This happened repeatedly for the next twenty minutes until I felt satisfied with the end product. Eventually, I went back down and waited for Luna to finish up. "Ready to add the finishing touches?" I asked when she finally set down the spray paint cans she was using. "Yes, I think it is time." She replied. Pulling out many paintbrushes and small bottles of paint. She handed me a platter of paint and a brush, I walked back up the ladder and continued where I left off, painting in the fine details. She did the same. About two hours after that, we had finished painting the mural. I jumped off the ladder and tossed the paint platter to the side before removing the ladder from the wall. "Looks good." I said. "Agreed." she replied, it was a mural of Celestia looking down from her balcony out onto the city, With Celestia smiling down upon the city, the sun was setting and her horn was glowing at the same time. "Oh, I almost forgot." I said, picking up a brush and the discarded platter. I dipped the brush in white paint and walked over the bottom right corner of the mural. I wrote down 'M&L' in the corner before stepping back. "There we go." "M and L?" "Maxwell and Luna." I said, sticking out my fist. "That makes sense." She replied, hoof bumping my fist. I turned towards the crowd, which was three hundred ponies and growing, not including the various news ponies gathering around the mural, trying to get a glimpse of it. "Ready to head back?" "Yeah, let's go." I said, walking away from the mural, Luna levitated all of the painting materials into the bag before catching up with me. [End Music] [A Few Days Later] [Luna POV] Celestia and I sat down in front of a large TV, waiting for the evening news to start its eventual broadcast. "Are you sure that this was a good idea?" Celestia asked, her nervousness barely visible. A skill she had acquired over thousands of years. It was, however, something that she could never hide from me. "Sister, you need to relax, Maxwell is going to be alright." I said, turning back towards the TV. All of a sudden, loud music that one would find in news shows started blaring on the TV before fading out on a pony sitting at a desk. "Hello, and welcome to The Equestria News Network. I am your host, Clear Voice. Today's top story is not even a story, it's an interview. The interview in question is with the one, the only, human of the castle. Ever since Maxwell arrived in Equestria, he has been shrouded in mystery. However, for the first time ever, he has allowed us to conduct an interview with him." The anchor turned towards Maxwell. "Hello, Maxwell." "Hello, Clear Voice." "How are you today?" "I'm doing well, how about you?" "I'm doing good as well, Now let's start with a simple question. What do you like to do?" "Usually I like listening to my records that I came to Equestria with. Other than that, spray painting." "What made spray painting so appealing to you?" "It's honestly been something I've been doing for a long time, even before I came to Equestria. I did not grow up in a good neighborhood during my youth, I grew up in what you may call a ghetto, because of this I was exposed to crime and drugs on a daily basis. One type of crime that carried on with me into my adulthood was street art. Back home, during my youth, street art was almost always done illegally. I guess it may have been a combination of both creating art, and the allure of doing something illegal that pushed me towards spray painting as a hobby. Even after I became an adult, I continued spray painting. Despite the fact that I lived in an upper middle-class environment just prior to my arrival in Equestria." Maxwell said, visible choosing his words carefully. "That is very interesting," Clear Voice said before asking another question. "Now, there have been some rumors about your diet." Maxwell smiled slightly at that and started speaking. "Those rumors about being a carnivore are not that far off. In fact, I am an omnivore, meaning that I can eat both greens and meat, with meat making up most, if not all, of my protein intake. Thankfully my need to eat meat has not resulted in any problems, I have Princess Celestia to thank for that. I usually get most of my protein from either eggs, fish, and chicken, all of which is readily available at moments notice to accommodate for Griffin ambassadors. However, red meat will, unfortunately, be off-limits to me as long as I live in Equestria." "If you don't mind me asking, why is red meat off limits?" "For a multitude of reasons, cost, rarity, but most of all, ethical reasons." "Ethical reasons?" "How do I put this," Maxwell said while thinking. "Ah, almost all of the creatures which I would normally get red meat from back home, are sentient creatures here. So creatures such as cows, deer, and lamb are are unfortunately off limits seeing as how they are all sentient." "Do you miss red meat?" Clear Voice asked hesitantly. "Of course I miss it, can I do anything about it? Not particularly, thankfully I've come to terms with my current situation." Maxwell replied. I looked over at my sister, who seemed to be in deep thought. I looked back over at the TV when Clear Voice started speaking once more. "I would like to take a few moments to ask about your art style." Maxwell just nodded. "Many ponies describe your art to be... dark." "I tend to get that a lot." "Why do you make such art?" Clear Voice asked, his voice was absent of anger, instead it was replaced with curiosity, thankfully Maxwell was able to recognize that and responded. "I like to make thought-provoking artwork. At the end of it all, that is my goal. quite frankly, I don't care if anypony gets offended at my art. In fact, I get happy when it happens because it means that they looked at my artwork and thought about it before reaching a conclusion." "Well what about your art with Princess Luna, if you don't mind me asking?" Maxwell smiled a bit before responding. "Luna and I do our artwork with one end goal in mind, to have fun from start to finish. When I make art with her, I don't mind if the end product has no meaning, I just care that both of us had fun." "Following on with the topic of Princess Luna, it's common knowledge that you two spend at least one day a week with each other. This has led many ponies to assume that you are in a relationship with Princess Luna. Can you give us the truth about this matter?" "Ohhh, I knew this question was coming." Maxwell said while leaning back in his chair. He sat back up before continuing on. "I am not in a romantic relationship with Luna, and I currently have no plans to enter a relationship like that with her at all. As far as both of us are concerned, we are just really good friends with each other, and we prefer to leave it that way." Clear Voice nodded once more before speaking. "Well, those are all of the questions we have for today. Thank you for coming out to see us today." "Thank you for having me on the show." Clear voice smiled before turning back to the Camera. "Up next, we'll be talking about-" Celestia turned off the TV with her magic. "Honestly, I'm impressed. He handled it better than I expected him to." She said. "Have a little faith in him, Sister." I said while smiling. I stood up and trotted out of the room, Maxwell was to return soon and I would be there to greet him when he arrived.