//------------------------------// // Chapter 65- Brush Of Colour // Story: Reformed Unicorn Group Podcast // by Quoterific //------------------------------// “It has been a while now since our little incident with Lyra and the whole mirror thing,” Starlight said at her seat, “So I think it’s best to start with some things you two have learnt together, according to the friendship reports.” She levitated a small box containing the letters and opened one, starting with Sunset, “And what have you learnt with spending time with Lyra, Sunset?” Sunset took a deep breath and began, “Lyra is a great musician. Even after her session with the harp, I was interested in it as well. She is a great music teacher, maybe rivalling Octavia Melody and her cello lessons. We even do things together with our harp and guitar,” Sunset told Starlight her story. Starlight smiled and nodded in contentment. Things are going good so far. She then turned to Lyra. “And what have you learnt by spending time with Sunset and doing her hobbies?” Starlight asked Lyra. “Sunset is a great artist as well,” Lyra complimented, “We continued our paintings together afterwards, and she showed me various techniques to improve brushstrokes and colour tones. It was a great experience and something I am willing to try again.” “Well, I’m glad you two are making such good progress,” Trixie clapped her hooves, “Speaking of artwork, we are outside today so that Sunset can teach us how to do some street art. Mayor Mare has given us permission to decorate this part of Ponyville that needs some tender loving care.” They looked at the area designated to them. The walls were in desperate need to a re-paint, crumbling into piles of dust on the ground. It had a dark sense to it, as if Pinkie Pie’s happiness hasn’t touched this side of the time. “As Scootaloo would say,” Starlight teased, “TLC, as in tender loving care or totally lost cause.” The others nodded in agreement. “So let’s get redecorating,” Tempest declared, “Sunset, why don’t you give us some street art tips?” “Absolutely,” Sunset answered, but paused, “But first, we better suit up. Spray paint is a nightmare to get out of your coat.” The others agreed and went to put on their protective gear for a street art workshop. Once everypony was suited up Sunset gave them the tricks of the trade. “The key is the distance between the wall and the spraycan and the pressure you apply to it. The further to are from the wall, the more sparse and spread out the paint will be on the wall. It is effective when you want to do shading with different colours. When you are doing it close to the wall, it becomes more concentrated and causing the dripping effect that you typically see when graffitiing names and letters, but can be a useful effect as well.” She gave them a quick demonstration with the spray can at different distances. “Interesting,” Starlight observed, “This will certainly be a different experience.” With that, they all turned to their individual section, selected their section on the wall and began to spray. Tempest started off with a dark purple background, wanting to show a lighting storm, similar to what the Storm brought down on Canterlot. She used quick bold movements with the spray cans, showing the turbulence of the clouds in the storm. Trixie went over to the stencils of hearts, clubs, aces, diamonds and spades that she would use on cards. She wanted to make a clear statement of how Great and Powerful she was. She also used trick sharp movements on the brighter colours to show fireworks coming out, with herself in the centre, doing an extravagant pose. Starlight wanted to show her love of kites, shading the show with various blues and adding whisps of clouds to show a windy day. She was also using stencils for the different shapes of kites in different colours and using a brush for add on the kite lines and ribbons for finer details. Lyra, wanting to remember her wedding with Bonbon, went with a romantic theme of pinks and yellows. She included some silver for wedding bells ringing and heart stencils. She included herself and Bonbon in the centre, dressed in their wedding robes, a sunset doing down in the background with confetti falling all around. They continued until they all agreed they were done. They stood back to admire theirs and each other’s works. The street was now alive with colour and emotions. Gone were the crumbly walls and rubbish, and now there was something to truly smile about in the area. It was as if Celestia’s sun has finally touched this forgotten allyway. “They all look wonderful!” Sunset praised, “Truly worth all the hard effort. Rarity would be proud! Reminds me of when I took a secret artist identity and called myself Flanksy.” “And you had some more bonding time with Lyra,” Starlight complimented, “Well, that is all for now, every creature. Thank you so much for listening for today and we will be back very soon for more chats and fun!”