//------------------------------// // Glass Murals // Story: Being Brave Part II // by artman7391 //------------------------------// A week and a half had passed since Cory started his educational and physical training with Twilight and Rainbow. Though he had made very little progress, it was nice to know he had backup support for a change. Plus the setting and atmosphere proved most sufficient to his studies. Today, he found himself in an immense library of books and scrolls, rivaling that of most libraries in his world. Twilight had given him an assignment where he was to look for any grammatical errors in a paper she wrote when she was a filly. As expected, this proved exceedingly difficult, as he had never been tasked to proofread someone else's work. At that moment of frustration, there was a knock at the door. "Don't worry I'll get it." Said Twilight as she headed towards the door. "Just keep on thinking about your spelling and punctuation Cory. Remember, I before E except after C." Twilight opened the front door to reveal it was Mayor Mare, who had arrived with a few blueprints floating beside her. "Hello Mayor." Twilight greeted. "What brings you here?" "Well, I have the most fun and engaging assignment for your student." Mayor Mare replied gleefully. "Our town hall is in in need of few new stained glass windows to decorate the walls, and I've heard Cory here has a knack for visual storytelling. So I was just wondering if he would be willing to help us with designing a draft? " "That sounds like a wonderful assignment Mayor." Twilight replied. "Let me tell Cory the news." She rushed back into the library and told Cory the information. At first, he seemed a little unsure for a few reasons, one, he had never been given commissioned to design an entire room before. Second, the idea of a stained glass exhibition in the middle of the town seemed overwhelming. "Don't worry Cory." Twilight reassured him. "I will be right beside you if you have any trouble." Cory thought for a moment and nodded back in agreement. And with that, he set the paper aside and the two of them headed to town hall. The location was situated in the center of Ponyville. It's architecture had the combination style of a gazebo, and a merry-go-round, as seemed fitting for a town populated by small horses. Mayor Mare guided them up the steps and into the main hallway, which was a vast rotunda of railings, balconies and drape, each with with their own individual style. There were a few ladders and scaffolding tied around the room's edges. The floors we're covered with drapes and sheets, so as not to let any debris or fragments detriment the marble texture. "Well here we are." Said Mayor Mare. "I'll just give you these blue prints and you can get started at your own pace." As the mayor trotted away to a group of assistants in the back, Cory took a moment to stare at the prints he had just been given. Each was covered in different equations, geometrics, and algebra related problems, almost too mind boggling for him to comprehend. "Don't worry Cory." Twilight said as she rubbed his back. "Just remember our geometry courses and you'll do great. I'll be right behind you." "Ok." Cory replied with a sigh. "I'll do the best I can." He spread the prints onto the ground and taped each of the corners. Then he took a moment to examine the windows from above. He looked below to see buckets filled with shards of cut glass, each in a different, colorful hue. Next to each bucket was a pair of safety gloves, so the user couldn't cut themselves. With another sigh, Cory placed the gloves on his hands, which were actually only looked like thumb-less mittens, as the residents of this world didn't really evolve with fingers. Twilight chuckled as she magically fashioned the gloves to fit his human hands. Now he could begin to work. He decided to start by separating each piece of glass by color and value. Then he began to arrange each section by size, giving him an impression of which pieces were more or less important than the other. He took a moment now and then to look at the blueprints, giving him instructions as to how to get the job done. Apparently they wanted an abstract design on each window: One a star, another a sun, a moon, a leaf, a flower, etc. Cory could easily understand the subject matter now. He closed his eyes and envisioned how each mural should be. After a few moments and deep breaths, he came up with a plan. He would divide the pieces of glass like the color wheel on a spectrum. For instance, the moon mural would use blue and violet, the sun would have yellow and harvest orange, the leaf would use lime green and aqua, and the stars would implement purple and bright magenta, almost like Twilight's cutie mark. With each delicate handling of the shards, he placed them into the most beautiful patterns imaginable. They started off as simple shapes, then into forms, then figures, and finally mosaics that would make the most skilled of greek artists rage in envy. Sometimes he would stop along the way to look at the geometric instructions on the blueprint, reminding himself of what Twilight taught him at his after-school class. Before he knew it, the task was complete. He stood up and took a moment to look at the artwork he had put together, and for the first time in who knows how long, he felt a sense of pride and satisfaction in what he had accomplished. It was only when he turned around that he realized the mayor and the board were watching his every move, both intrigued and proud of the art, murmuring to each other their positive opinions. "My, now this is truly a spectacle to behold." Said one posh Pegusi. "Look at the hues and shadows he put together." A Unicorn added. "Our town hall is going to look marvelous now." Mayor mare concluded. "Really?" Cory asked. "I..I don't know what to say about that...No one's ever given me that kind of compliment before...thank you." "We understand Cory." Twilight reassured him. "You've gone through a lot, and you're not used to such flattery." "I guess so." Cory replied. "But I bet it feels really good doesn't it?" "It sure does Twilight...It sure does." The two of them took a step back as they watched the unicorn members of the board carefully erect the glass murals on the windows above. Cory just stood there, with his hands in his pockets, and a small smile on his face.