Circle of the Moon

by GJT_Productions

Circle Of The Moon

"MAKE WAY! MAKE WAY FOR THE PRINCESS!"

"We'll meet with the Lieutenant in the Temple itself. That way we can actually hear ourselves think in this hubbub."

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A box of four Royal Guards, one of them being Lieutenant Captain Shining Armor, surround a curious Princess Luna as she was escorted to her namesake temple, the guest of honor of the play that was to take place there in place of the formal Nightmare Night celebrations previously cancelled by Princess Celestia. Curiosity over the event, Luna's attendance there, and rumors that Celestia herself was involved in the batpony-crafted play all combined to keep cloud lifts and flying carriages quite busy that night. Expectations of record crowds - unicorn and pegasus and earth pony alike - seemed to have been met as curious members of the throng were stepping aside only reluctantly to let Luna and her escorts past. Some kept on staring at Luna as they went past, doubtless creating a very mixed feeling in Luna's mind over the kind of attention she was getting.

Inside the Temple of Luna was standing-room only crowd and the echoing buzz, although reduced, was still enough to require any conversation be done in close quarters if shouting was to be avoided. Hence why any curious bystanders would seem to see Lieutenant Vesper, the unoffical coordinator of the night's events, getting in very close quarters by the Princess and her escort.

"Ponies are staring at us, you know sir." a pegasus stallion posted as the opposite corner of the box from Shining comments uneasily.

"I know Guard, but the Princess and I need to check in with the Lieutenant first. At the very least for the seating arrangements." Shining comments back.

"Glad you didn't keep me waiting though, sir. Got enough on my plate as it is. The reserved front row center seats are waiting." Lieutenant Vesper now jumps in, his tone weary but relieved and joyful, pointing a forehoof toward a section at the front boxed off with rope and other Royal Guards holding "Section Reserved for Princess Luna" signs.

"Thank you Lieutenant. This way please Your Highness." Shining states, speaking first to Vesper and then to Princess Luna.

"Most appreciated Lieutenant Captain. 'Tis a pity Princess Cadenza could not come with us tonight." Luna answers as the group moves toward the designated seating area, the guards already there beginning to deploy a "privacy screen" behind where Luna would be sitting as a precaution against those ponies who thought ogling royal flanks would be more interesting than the main attraction.

"She said whatever that we had planned was trumped by what her other aunt asked her to do tonight. Whatever that was, she didn't go into specifics." Shining Armor replies with a shrug - he didn't let on to Luna he'd already had an idea what Cadance was actually doing with her Aunt Celestia.

"It must be very important, whatever it is." Luna replies flatly, giving a glance indicating her suspicions Shining wasn't telling her something as he sits down in the "consort seat" to her right. Meanwhile, the other Guards form a triangle around where Shining and Luna sit, providing at least an illusion of protection.

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It is not long before some torches illuminating the temple are blown out to dim the area, and the buzz settles down as it becomes clear the play will start. On an improvised stage, Lieutenant Vesper steps into its center as a crude lighting rig - torches surrounded by a reflective metal surface directing the light in a specific direction - focuses on him. Up there, he gives the introductory speech to the play:

"Greetings and salutations to my fellow Equestrians, those with wing, those with horn, and those with neither. My name is Lieutenant Vesper, long time leader and caretaker of this temple you all have been invited into. Until some months ago, I was the Keeper of the Compact Princess Celestia made with my ancestors after the exile of Princess Luna. For hundreds of years, the batponies waited and watched in undying hope for the return of the princess of the night we were supposed to serve, suffering misunderstanding and hatred and persecution all the while. It was prophesied in my lifetime as Keeper that our hopes would be fulfilled in either joy or terror, and when the Elements of Harmony were rediscovered in the Castle of the Two Sisters a spark of friendship ensured they were fulfilled in joy. It was thus decided on this, the first Nightmare Night since that triumph of friendship and hope, that we would open our expressions of hope to the public so that all may share in the joy of that triumph. We now present to you, a play in a manner similar to plays of old, 'Circle of the Moon'."

The lighting rig is shut off by a cover, and a quiet stamp of hooves as applause of sorts spreads across the crowd. All eyes and ears now focus on the stage, eager in anticipation of what is to come in the play.

While the area is dark, a different voice - which Shining Armor recognizes as Guard Upper Class Excelsior's - begins echoing in the space: "Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn; the younger brought out the moon to begin the night. I'm sure you've all heard this story before, and of how the younger sister was consumed by bitterness to become the wicked Nightmare Moon before being banished to the moon. It was prophesied that in the thousandth year of the banishment the stars would aid her escape from exile, and it is from the fulfillment of that prophecy we begin our play..."

The lighting rigs are uncovered, and the audience gasps at the scene now illuminated: a pitch-black alicorn wearing replicas of the accessories of "Nightmare Moon" as well as mane and tail flowing blue speckled with stars dominates the stage, looming over a group of six bat ponies wearing wraparound costumes and wigs resembling those of the current Element Bearers.

"... Is that sister up there?" Princess Luna asks Shining Armor with some degree of surprise, apparently having noticed "Nightmare Moon" had purple eyes. Shining gives a gentle shush in response to the question, but a smirk seems to indicated he had had the same thoughts as Luna had.

"I know who you are. You're the Mare in the Moon – Nightmare Moon!" the batpony playing Twilight Sparkle in the play was exclaiming on the stage to the black alicorn.

"Well well well, somepony who remembers me. Then you also know why I'm here." the black-coated alicorn playing "Nightmare Moon" replies. "Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last. From this moment forth, the night will last forever!"

As "Nightmare Moon" bursts out in cackling laughter, the lighting rigs are covered again to cut the lighting...

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The narrating voice of Excelsior speaks again while the stage is dark: "Determined to stop the eternal night 'Nightmare Moon' would bring to the land of Equestria, the student of Princess Celestia named Twilight Sparkle starts out to the last known location of the Elements of Harmony within the perilous Everfree Forest..."

The lights are uncovered again, and the stage shows the batponies playing Twilight Sparkle's soon-to-be fellow Element Bearers trying to persuade her not to go into the Everfree Forest alone. While this scene plays, Princess Luna makes an off-hoof comment about the quality of the costumes.

"Well, considering the time and material constraints they're not half bad. Rarity even got the striping right on my sister's mane, and the colors on Rainbow Dash..." Shining Armor rambles in a whisper, content to let things trail off as the play continued on.

The play continued through depictions of each of the trials of the future Element Bearers: Applejack and honesty (albeit with cheating by the actors flying in mid-air to simulate the perilous drop), Fluttershy and kindness (which Excelsior playing the manticore in a similar wrap-around costume to the main actors), Pinkie Pie and laughter (with the batpony stallions holding prop scary trees on the stage), Rarity and generosity (with the batpony stallions manipulating a prop head to represent the sea serpent), and finally Rainbow Dash and loyalty (the "Shadowbolts" played by three appropriately costumed pegasi). Although necessarily abridged, both the Element Bearers and Luna herself would later testify to their broad accuracy.

The next part of the play is not quite as accurate, and the changes seem to have been because of pacing and staging reasons. In the play, immediately after the loyalty test, Nightmare Moon casts a temporary paralyzing spell on all the group members except Twilight Sparkle and changes Twilight to a direct one-on-one race into the Castle of the Two Sisters to reach the Elements of Harmony. The next scene shows Nightmare Moon with the broken inert versions of the Elements ("at least they found one good use for the practice cannonballs" Shining Armor comments) having won the race and gloating about the night lasting forever to Twilight.

It was at that point that the others rush onto the stage in the rally, and as the actress playing Twilight gives her "enlightenment spark" speech the effects turn up a notch, rapid flashing of colored spotlights used to represent the reformation of the broken Elements as the now-familiar necklaces (for obvious security reasons, the actual Elements were represented by illuminated necklaces the actresses exposed by pulling open flaps on the costumes) and culminating in many different light colors focusing on Nightmare Moon to represent the magic blast she was hit with from the Elements.

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After all the flash, the stage lights abruptly cut, and stay down long enough for those watching to wonder what was going on, when Celestia's voice is heard in the darkness to some surprise: "Awake, my little ponies."

This triggers the lights to come up again, this time on the actresses playing the new Element Bearers laying with eyes closed on the stage floor on the left side. On the right side of the stage is a larger alicorn, wearing a light-blue wraparound costume and accessories designed to mimic the depowered Luna's appearance, also laying on the stage with eyes closed. The actress clearly has some mane tucked into the costume itself, and despite the color change the style of the tail gives away who is playing the depowered Luna.

"Now I know why Cadance was needed tonight..." Shining comments to himself, remaining as quiet as possible to avoid distracting the real Luna beside him, who seems to be overcome with emotion as the reconciliation with her sister is played back again on the stage.

The action freezes on Celestia (now playing herself) and the depowered Luna embracing as Excelsior's narration sounds out in the temple again: "It was thus the Elements of Harmony were rediscovered and how a group of six Element Bearers brought reconciliation between the two royal sisters. And that is why, on this Nightmare Night, we wish everypony watching to remember not the monsters but the friendship, that this may even for one year be a holiday of joy and triumph, not fear and uncertainty. We, as servants of the night, hope you will leave with new appreciation for friendship and forgiveness as the Circle of the Moon is closed in joyous celebration instead of terror and darkness."

The lights cut briefly, and when they come up again all the actors are facing the crowd on the stage, bowing to them. The bowing is answered by a riotous stamping of hooves - equivalent to a standing ovation in the human world - that Lieutenant Captain Shining Armor cannot help but be swept up in. Interestingly, the only one not involved seems to be Luna herself, still in her overwhelmed emotional state...

Comments

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

The next part of the play is not quite as accurate, and the changes seem to have been because of pacing and staging reasons. In the play, immediately after the loyalty test, Nightmare Moon casts a temporary paralyzing spell on all the group members except Twilight Sparkle and changes (Challenges) Twilight to a direct one-on-one race into the Castle of the Two Sisters to reach the Elements of Harmony. The next scene shows Nightmare Moon with the broken inert versions of the Elements ("at least they found one good use for the practice cannonballs" Shining Armor comments) having won the race and gloating about the night lasting forever to Twilight.