City Lights

Bathed in a sickly yellow light from old metal lamps dotting the worn road, the city streets seemed all but abandoned.  It was just after dusk, as the darkness of night fell on the city - but here, it was never truly dark.  There were too many ponies living there, too many apartments stacked upon one another, each lit up.  Here, there were no stars in the skies.  There was something wholly unnaturally about Manehattan.

In the basement of an old brick building, below a colorful neon side that sparkled eternally:  City Lights.  Here, only the ponies who knew where to come were gathered - the artists of the city, many of whom had come from all over Equestria to try to live out their dreams of life as an artist in Manehattan.  Most, however, barely made end's meet - including Bohemian Rhapsody.  But a true artist would not complain.  They were living an existence they loved regardless - true to themselves and their creativity above all else.

Bo had been at the venue for over an hour, chatting with old and new friends from the arts community.  Collecting payment at the door was the club's owner, City Lights: a bright purple unicorn whose mane and tail seemed to be every color imaginable - naturally, she claimed, never dyed.  Her cutie mark was a stage bathed in a prism of colors.  She wore an outfit that suited her persona: dark purple, covered it twinkling lights, and a wide smile as she welcomed patrons into the exhibit.

Dawn circled doubtfully over the street. Bo had said this was the area – and that it wasn't in the nicest part of town – but it took her a while to spot the colourful sign nestled in around the tightly packed residences. She'd never visited this part of the city, so she landed and approached with caution, but as she drew closer the dull murmur of noise began to entice her to walk towards it with more confidence. When the pony taking payment at the door came into better view, she smiled. Colourful, he'd said. You'll know her when you see her.Well, he wasn't wrong.

There wasn't a long line – only two ponies waited ahead of her, and City Lights waved both of them through quickly and with broad smiles. Dawn noticed that both of their cutie marks featured some kind of artistic flair before the vanished into the building and it was her turn to speak up.

"Hello," she said brightly, trying to seem as genuine as possible, "I'm..." An acquaintance? A Stranger? What was she to Bo, exactly? "You must be City Lights. Bo – Bohemian Rhapsody – invited me to come see the exhibition tonight. He's showcasing some of his paintings?" She finished the sentence hopefully, somewhat intimidated by the explosion of colour that seemed to radiate out from the mare.

City Lights smiled at the stranger waiting to enter the establishment, which was the purple unicorn's dream come to life.  It wasn't often new ponies came there, since it was an underground scene most were not privy to.  "Oh yeah, he mentioned you.  Dawn Star, right?" The bedazzled mare invited her inside with the dramatic wave of a polished hoof - free of charge, as Bohemian Rhapsody had promised.

The inside was something between a bar lounge and a museum.  Dozens of ponies wee gathered around a twinkling counter drinking colorful cocktails, while others were gathered around art pieces, discussing them in pensive voices.  Some wore hats or berets, others sported interesting fashion that made sense to many of the creative (strange) minds gathered.  They were undeniably an eccentric collection of ponies of every shape and color.

It was Bo who noticed Dawn first, since he had been keeping an eye on the door for the time he had been there, just in case the pegasus with the soft voice and delicate peach pelt decided to come.  He was rather surprised that she had - and pleased, smiling as he excused himself from the circle of ponies he had been conversing with, trotting over toward the entrance.

"Dawn Shard!  I'm glad you could make it.  I hope it was no trouble to find."

She was welcomed in with a flourish, and had to pause for a moment in the entry-way at the sight of the large room filled with ponies of all shades... and all fashion choices... Luckily, Bohemian Rhapsody caught sight of her a few moments before she saw him, and she watched with surprise as he excused himself from a group of artistic-looking group of ponies and trotted over to her.
"I wouldn't miss it," she replied with a smile. "City Lights is fairly eyecatching, as you warned me, so no, not too much trouble..." she looked around the room in wonder. "This place is a hidden treasure, isn't it?"

He couldn't suppress a grin.  It made him feel oddly happy to share this new world with Dawn Shard, who was quite different from the ponies he was accustomed to.  Though they had only met earlier that day, he found that her unexpected presence had made the night different for him - no longer just old familiar friends (and a couple of former lovers, though he wouldn't share that bit of information with his guest). "I've seen a lot of places, and this is undeniably a favourite.  Let me show you around, introduce you to a few ponies."

With a nod toward the right, Bo began to walk in the direction of the circle of ponies he had been talking to.  "These are some old friends.  This is Dawn Shard.  Meet Evanescence," he said, indicating a dark blue earth pony stallion with a festive rainbow scarf who gave a polite smile and nod.  "And this is Cutting Edge." A pale silver unicorn mare nodded in greeting.  "And, last but not lease, this is Surprise."  The third pony, a pale yellow pegasus mare wearing a blue beret, smiled cheerfully at Dawn Shard as she said "It's nice to meet you!"

With introductions complete, Bo nodded to a large painting displayed on the wall a few paces away before turning his attention back to the pretty pegasus he had invited. "Would you like to see some of my work now?"


((Don't feel like you have to write as much as I have - I'm mostly just trying set the scene and give you a better impression of Bo's life <3 ))

Dawn nodded with a smile at each introduction and offered a quiet "Likewise" to Surprise as she walked by Bo's side through the room. When they had passed Bo's crowd of friends and he indicated some of the artwork, he looked back at her.

"I'd love to," she said with a laugh, excited to see what kind of an artist Bohemian Rhapsody would turn out to be. There was little doubt in her mind that he would be a talented artist – ponies on the road had to be assured of their craft to survive – but his style already intrigued her. "How recent are these?" She asked, keen to gain more of an insight into the no doubt tumultuous life of the stallion who had invited her.

((I don't mind the big paragraphs – your attention to detail never ceases to impress me...))

In the circle of Bo's friends, it was the mare Cutting Edge, her face icy cold, that watched the pair as they walked off to admire some of the artwork that hung on the pearl white walls.  Bohemian Rhapsody caught a glimpse from the corner of his eye, but said nothing, merely smiling as he showed the way to his own creations.  Cutting Edge had always been a jealous pony, and mistrustful of strangers.  And that was Cutting Edge's problem. Secretly, Bo was glad to be in the company of someone so unlike his usual crowd that evening.

"I have two pieces on display tonight - they're for sale, technically, but the crowd here isn't likely to buy somepony else's art."  He chuckled quietly to himself.  It was easy to see why others might consider the artistic ponies as snobby or strange, but Bo wasn't like them, despite having known the majority for years.  "They're a few weeks old.  Nothing too spectacular," he offered modestly as they turned a corner and came face to face with a painting that was taller than the crimson stallion.  He had meticulously used his hooves to create a patterned rainbow of colors - from deep red to purple, and every shade in between, in vivid, almost unreal hues.  In sharp contrast, below the cheerful shades, he had used a brush to create long, sloping, haphazard stripes, in all shades from stone gray to ebony.  Bits of razor sharp barbed wire sliced through and across the lower canvas, creating a chaotic atmosphere in the lower half.

Below the artwork was a wooden plaque that simply read "Bohemian Rhapsody" in elaborate cursive ink.  "I don't like to name my paintings," he explained.  "I feel it limits the creativity of you, the viewer, to interpret what you see for yourself.  Then, naturally, it means different things to different ponies, and inspires different feelings.  At the core of it, for me, that is what it means to create."


((Thanks!  It's really pushing me creatively <3 ))

The painting had captured her attention immediately and held it for some time, but she looked slowly away from it and up to him. "I must confess... I don't know much about art." She laughed quietly. "But you... I think you definitely do. And you explain it very well. Sorry, that ramble was supposed to be a compliment." She looked back to the painting without a title. "Your definition of creativity is quite inspiring..." With some difficulty, she restrained herself from looking around and focused on the colours of the painting instead, it was quite masterful... but she had the irrational feeling that the silver pony from before – Cutting Edge? – was (to use a coincidental metaphor) staring daggers into the back of her head. She ignored it. If one of Bohemian's friends took a strange dislike to her, that was... unfortunate, but not her immediate focus.

With curiosity, he glanced over to see Dawn Shard's expression.  Normally, he didn't care if others sneered at one of his time-consuming creations.  It was impossible to please everyone at once while still holding true to one's own creativity.  He wasn't sure what to expect from Dawn, but felt a tinge of nerves.  The compliment she offered elicited a small smile from the stallion.  He didn't say anything further for a lingering moment, instead nodding toward the smaller piece hanging beside the hectic scene.  The style was distinctly different from the first.  It was a realistic portrait of two ponies, a mare and a stallion, painted with delicate strokes to look life-like.  They almost looked alive on the canvas.  "What about you?  Have you ever painted before?"  His voice lowered a touch as he spoke, violet eyes turned to focus on the pretty pegasus at his side again.  If Cutting Edge was still glowering from the circle, Bohemian Rhapsody didn't take notice.

She chuckled faintly to herself at the thought. "Oh, I'm no artist. I've tried my hoof at a few watercolours now and then, but it's been a long time since I tried anything like that..." She let her gaze drift to the much smaller painting beside the first. The difference in technique was, she thought, quite incredible. "Who are they?" she asked, nodding to the portrait of the two ponies. "It's a very different style, but you obviously enjoy both – I feel almost as if I should introduce myself to them."

One of the painted ponies was a petite mare with a dark pelt that was somewhere between the shades indigo and deep blue, with stunning aqua hued eyes and a short, sweeping mane that matched her brillian, lifelike stare. “The mare is Aqua Marine.  The stallion is Golden View.  Sister and brother, though they look so different.  I cut them off before their cutie marks to capture an air of mystery.  They could be anypony.”

As one who enjoyed art immensely, Bohemian Rhapsody found his hooves were restless that night - or rather, his wings were restless, and he turned his attention away from his art.  He was tired of looking at it, after spending so much time to make them.  “If you would like,” he began with a smile, “I would be more than happy to give you a lesson in painting.  Any time that you wish — tomorrow, next week.  Now,” he suggested with a broadening smile as he spoke.

She met his excited gaze with a little surprise but mostly anticipation, the stallion's excitement lifting her own mood. "I mean – if you're sure. I'd love to," she said, smile breaking out over her own face. "This is your exhibition, are you sure you wouldn't want to stay a little longer?" Secretly, she hoped his answer would be no, but it was important to ask anyway.

"To be perfectly honest," he replied, voice lowered so that any prying ears could not overhear his confession, "I would rather go for a fly with you, get away from the city lights." With a smirk, he gave a sweeping gesture with his right wing toward the entrance, the eccentric pony who stood there and all of the oddballs in between. "And City Lights, as it were." He would see all of his usual crowd another day, but tonight held the promise of something uniquely compelling.

Dawn Shard looked from him to the room, looking probably as excited as she felt. "Well then. Lead the way," she laughed, nervously keen to spend more time with the charismatic stallion. His company was leading to one unexpected turn after another, but adventure had always felt natural to her and this was no exception.

With a final nod offered to those who looked his direction as he departed, Bohemian Rhapsody lead the way out of the odd location and back onto the city streets.  City Lights, the colorful unicorn, was busy talking to other guests inside her club.  Once the pair were out in the open night air again, he looked over to Dawn with a broad smile.  "I know you enjoy flights in the early morning, but how do you feel about night flying?  I think I have had enough of the city," he suggested as his crimson colored wings stretched out.

Dawn Shard looked around at the streets, mostly visible here as walls of darkness with little pockets of lights gleaming determinedly through the gritty windows in the poorer part of the city. She flapped her own wings open and looked back to Bohemian Rhapsody with a smile. "I've been around the rush of Manehattan for a while now. Flying is a good idea."

The crimson stallion lifted from the cement sidewalk as his wings began to flap, carrying him as if he were weightless.  “My studio isn’t too far.  At least, for us pegasi, it’s not too far.”  With a grin, he started ascended above the old, tall buildings before flying at a leisurely pace.  He wouldn’t trade his wings for anything in the world.  How else would he have the luxury of traveling between cities, and everywhere in between?  Equestria was large.  By hoof, it would be a long, difficult journey from one end of the land to the next.

“Thanks for coming tonight, Dawn Shard.  I wasn’t sure if you would be interested,” he spoke after a moment of quiet flight.  “But I was happy to see you walk through those doors.”

As Bo took off, Dawn followed him into the sky with a short flutter of her peach wings. Like her, he was a quiet flyer – peaceful to travel with, unlike some boisterous pegasi, whose flashy flapping could often stifle a conversation almost entirely. She found it as easy to talk to Bohemian Rhapsody in the air as on the ground, and she was very happy for it. When he confessed that he had been glad she came to the exhibition, Dawn felt her smile widen a little more. Spending time with Bo truly seemed to be easy. It was as if his kindness, sideways smiles and flourishing comments gave her a little extra bouyancy and lightness to her step. She let her hoof clip the edge of a low-hanging cloud with a little skip before she replied.

"I was happy you asked me," she said honestly. "And I'm glad I came. Your art is beautiful. Do you start off with such big ideas for it, or do they come as you go?"

The stallion's bright violet eyes scanned the peaceful countryside below.  From such great heights, it looked as if the whole world had been put on pause around them, as if the serene, star-filled night was crafted solely for them.  He grinned at the sound of Dawn Shard's feminine vocals as the pair glided through the dark sky.  "It depends, really.  Sometimes, I wake in the morning with visions of what I should create next.  Perhaps something from a dream.  Other instances, I take inspiration from what I have seen throughout the day."

"Tonight, for instance, if I didn't have somepony along to teach, I might paint a vast rose garden, with a beautiful, pale peach mare in its midst." He flashed her a smile as he peered over briefly to see how his compliment would be received.  There were some sights that simply stayed with the stallion, long after the moment had vanished and gone, and the memory of certain ponies lingered.  Vaguely, he wondered if that would be the case with Dawn Shard, as he suspected. He appreciated her unpretentious nature and calming demeanor - quite a change from what he was accustomed to.

She couldn't help a surprised laugh when he complimented her again. The stallion was disarming in the best of ways – and for a reason she couldn't place, she had a strong inkling he was being genuine with his lavish, favourable phrases. She didn't mind the dramatics that seemed to be so commonplace in his life – didn't mind them at all. "My brother is an artist," She offered, filling the silence with a smile. "But he's always quite vague about his ideas. I haven't seen any of his work in quite a long time..." Dawn trailed off suddenly. She hadn't seen Dusk Heart in quite a while, actually... She would have to travel to Canterlot soon. "How close is your... studio?"

Glancing from the corner of an eye, Bo tried to guess how his newfound companion felt about her artist brother.  “Are you close to your family?”  As Dawn asked, Bohemian Rhapsody couldn’t keep from grinning as he nodded, gesturing to a tiny bright spot down below, standing out against the darkness of the night.  “Just down below, actually.” It was a small village, scantly lit with lanterns containing candles glowing a warm, welcoming hue.  Cobbled stones paved the main street, which was lined with quaint shops with wooden signs heralding what wares or services were offered during daylight.

As he came in for a landing, his hooves made a soft sound as he touched down gently in the empty road, currently devoid of any other ponies.  The town was humble, small.  “When the city and its citizens become too much to bear, it’s good to get away for a while.”  The crimson stallion led the pretty pegasus girl to a shop on the main street.  Through the shop’s glass window, it was clear the building was an art gallery. “It’s a friend’s place.  He lets me use some space for my own work.”  With a feathery wing, Bo pushed the door open for Dawn Shard, allowing her to step inside first.

He knew his friend was asleep in the loft above the gallery, along with the family he had started since settling down and opening up his shop - one of the very few ponies Bo was acquainted with that had made such a decision.