The World and all its Splendor
The night was cool and crisp as ponies entered through the large double doors of the Cantorlot Theater house. The annual Charity Ball for the Arts had begun and everypony who was anypony was there. This included the Princess of the sun herself who always thought herself an avid lover of theater to say the least. She usually loved this time of year. Hearing what grand stories the actors and actresses told. Tales of their comradely both on and behind stage. Oh how she loved the rush of it all. But this year her feelings toward the stage life were being numbed by another feeling. Loneliness. Of course she had the love of her adoring public, she had her close friends within her royal court, and the love of most faithful and reliable student. But still she felt alone. Even among the hordes of ponies in the room with her. This was normal from time to time these days.
She took her usual post in front of the thrust of the stage so everypony could see her and she would welcome them. She had little time to enjoy herself due to her need of keeping appearances. Appearances that were getting harder and harder to keep up as more and more lovely couples came up to her arm in arm. She tried to distract herself from this by noting how beautiful a night it was. 'Luna has out done herself tonight.' she thought to herself, glancing out the window. Closing her eyes for a moment. 'How I wish I could sit under the stars and just be at piece.' A clanging on a class snapped her back to reality. "Ladies and Gentlecolts," the voice began, "Thank you for coming to this years charity ball. I and my troupe would be honored if you would give us your undivided attention as we perform the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet by Fillyiam Shakespeare as a sign our great gratitude for all of your generous donations." Celestia couldn't help but roll her eyes as she took a sip of her wine. 'Of course out of all the scenes from all the plays in history, they choose one of the most romantic one.'
The lights began to dim as the ponies working for the ball brought out and set up chairs for the guests. The princess didn't think she was physical capable of tolerating the scene so she decided to, for a lack of a better term, sneak away. She found a staircase leading up towards the floor above. Trying every single door but to no avail, all of them were locked. All save for one, the balcony with a table and two chairs leading outside the theater. She shivered due to the change in temperature. A cool and crisp night indeed. She gazed out onto the city as she heard the play beginning. She sighed to herself finishing the rest of the wine in her class. Suddenly the door opened again, the princess whipped her head around to see who it was. A lone unicorn caring a wine bottle and a glass exited the building. The who made eye contact. There was a pregnant silence. Celestia, due to her unstable emotions at the time, was caught off guard and remained silent.
"Let me guess." The unicorn said. "Not a fan of Shakespeare?" He poured himself a glass of wine and took a sip as he walked up next to her. He put the bottle on the ledge between them.
"No, I just came out here to get some air." She slowly replied. The unicorn leaned on the ledge looking outward.
"Well nopony is supposed to be out here." He said a flat tone. Celestia cocked an eye at him.
"They I suppose your not allowed out here ether." She said coldly. He gave a sly smile and he used his magic to tip some of the wine into her cup.
"I wont tell if you wont." Celestia took a sip as the colt stuck out his hoof. "My name is Astral Night its a pleasure to meet you miss..." He looked her dead in the eyes. A mixture of confusion and uneasiness swirled with in her. Could he not know who she was? How? Sure her mane was in an up do unlike how it normally was. And she tried a different style of make up then what she was used to. Plus the fact that her dress, while revealing in some places, covered up her wings quite nicely. 'On second thought maybe it is possible he doesn't recognize me.' She thought. Taking his hoof she replied.
"Sun...beam." She she said with a confused look on her face. "Yes that's it, Sunbeam, nice to meet you." She said regaining her confidence. Her companion looked worried.
"As... long as your sure." He gave her a sideways look.
"So what brings you out here Mr. Night?" she was desperate to change subjects. A heavy sigh escaped his mouth.
"Oh I just got fired." He took another sip of his wine. "Came out here to celebrate."
"Oh I'm terribly sorry. I should leave you be then." 'Sunbeam' began to walk back inside when his voice stopped her.
"If its all the same to you Id rather not drink alone at the moment." He walked up to her pulling out a chair from the table. "And besides you WERE here first. No need to think we cant share a balcony in our time woe."
"I'm not woeful." She said a bit too defensively to not go unnoticed. Placing the bottle of wine in the center of the table he stood by the unoccupied chair.
"You look rather upset to me." He kept looking directly into her eyes as if he could see inside her very soul. Due to her status nopony had ever looked her in the eyes for more than a few moment. His gaze was entirely directed at her. She was the one who looked away this time.
"Is it that obvious?" She asked aloud as she went over to sit. Pushing her chair in he sat in the one opposite. She looked up to see him raising his glass.
"Its alright, woe looks good on you." He said playfully.
"A toast, to the sweet sadness that engulfs us all from time to time." She smiled at this. "May it always be welcomed as a friend and depart when it is no longer needed." Celestia moved her towards his.
"And to new found friends whom give us comfort in these times." The glasses clanged together as the sipped there drinks.
"New friends huh?" She said. Giving him a sideways look. "And here I thought we were just strangers." The unicorn put a hoof to his chest and feigned being offended.
"Why we just shared a heartfelt moment over wine!" He gasp. "On a balcony no less! If that doesn't make some kind of bond between us, than I'm not sure what will." He took another sip. A slight chuckle came from Sunbeam.
"My apologies, but that makes us seem like something a tad bit 'more' than friends." A light blush came over Astral's face as he swirled his glass. he cleared his throat before replying.
"Well, lets see where we stand after this bottle shall we?" He lifted the bottle with his magic gesturing it towards her glass. As he poured they began to hear the orchestra below them. The scene had started. "Well at least we'll have beautiful music to match this beautiful night." He took a moment to admire the moon. "The princess really has outdone herself hasn't she?" A smile crept from Sunbeam's face. She was glad that ponies were no longer taking her sisters night for granted and instead admiring it like it deserves.
"I couldn't agree more." She said softly. Letting the music fill the air the two gazed out from the balcony onto the city. The stars sparkling in contrast to the bright lights below them. Ponies walking arm in arm on the streets below. A soft breeze blew around them rustling Sunbeams hair. As she brushed the hair out from in front of her face she swore she caught Astral staring at her. Another breeze hit and a sent a shiver through her body. Astral stood up and draped his coat around her shoulders. "Why thank you . What a gentlecolt." He waved a hoof in front of his face as he sat down.
"Were a dime a dozen." He said jokingly, but Sunbeam's face was stern.
"I do not think so." She said warmly. "I would say your one of a kind." Another rush of blood went to his cheeks.
"So what do you do, if you don't mind me asking." He stammered out quickly. "Let me guess, you'er a wealthy entrepreneur. No! Your brother is apart of the orchestra!" She laughed at his attempts to guess who she was.
"How about this. You guess something about me and if your right Ill take a drink. If not, I'll guess about you." She leaned back in her chair wrapping his coat around her. He leaned back as well and nodded.
"Ladies first." He offered. She nodded back and smiled.
"You never wanted to be waiter when you were small." She said quickly. He lifted his glass and took a drink. As he set it back down she spook again. "You'er not from here originally. You moved here with in 5 years?" He clapped his hooves as he picked up his glass again. "You moved here because you wanted to be a movie star." She crossed her arms and smiled. A hardy laugh came from Astral which confused her.
"No way, I cannot act!" He said through the laughing. A sour look shown on her face. "Alright, my turn." He looked at her for a moment. "You..." He paused for a moment. A puzzled look shown on his face. "Ah You are not an only child?" He guessed. Sunbeam smiled and nodded as she picked up her glass. As she set it down she blinked at him here light purple eyes shown in the dark. Astral had a quick thought and panicked for a moment. "Your married." He said flatly. A small laugh came from the mare.
"No I dont believe I am." A sigh of relief came from Astral. "Well aren't we relieved by this news." She said teasing him. He stammered for a rebuttal but was silenced by a hoof. "Tut tut tut. I believe it is my turn." She said. She put her chin under her hooves as looked at him. Making him visibly uncomfortable. "Your single." He rolled his eyes as he reached for his glass.
"Its by choice." He said in his defense. He put the glass down. "Just not my choice." He said softly. A pleasing sounded hum came from the other end of the table as she continued her turn.
"You." She smiled devilishly. "You find me attractive don't you." Expecting more blushing she was pleasantly surprised as he finished the rest of his glass. With more than half still being in it. He spoke as he began to pour himself another.
"Now your just playing dirty." He smiled refusing to meet her eyes. "I think i might be loosing this game." He poured more into her glass as well emptying the bottle.
"I may be inclined into calling it a tie if you tell me a bit more about yourself." She said swirling here drink. "Of course Ill answer any questions you have as well." She took a sip. "As long as there not 'too' personnel." she added.
"Alright. May I go first?" He asked.
"What about ladies first?" She said feigning being offended.
"You went first last time and it was almost my downfall." His tone was serious but his eyes were playful.
"Oh fine." She said pouting a little. "Ask away." There was a long silence. Unlike the ones before.
"Why are you so sad?" The question took her by such surprise that she choked on her wine.
"I thought we said no 'too' personal questions." She cleared her throat. Astral shrugged his shoulders.
"How about I let you ask a personal question as well? Make it even?" She pondered this for a moment. And relented.
"Fine." Her shoulders slumped as she let out a sigh. "Everywhere I go I am surrounded by love and affection. she began. But it always comes at some price. Others see me for who I am and admire me. Not for what I am." She looked out towards the balcony.
"And 'what' exactly are you?" He asked softly.
"I dont know." She said sadly. "But I know its not what I want. I don't want to be wanted like that. I want to be wanted-"
"Unconditional? Completely and utterly altruistically?" He interrupted. She looked stunned. gazing into his eyes she knew he understood. His eyes looked melancholy. For her. Some mare on the balcony that he had just met roughly hours ago. She took a breath to compose herself.
"Something like that." She said smiling. "Now for my question." she took another long deep breath and looked out from the balcony. "Do you think true love actually exists."
"No. I don't." Astral said. A not surprised Sunbeam cast her gaze downward letting an arm fall onto the table. A moment of silence shared between them. Suddenly a hoof was placed on top of hers. "But I think I'm starting to come around." Still looking out at the cityscape she smiled gently.
"I think I am too."
Author's Note
Here's a little thing i whipped together when I couldn't sleep! Let me know what you think!
And yes I DID steal the game that they played from Game of Thrones. It just moved everything along so well when I was writing it!
