Lunar Eclipse: The Rock Opera

by CrowMagnon

Part 3 - Celestia's Nightmare

Up in the catwalks high above the performance, a lone earth pony named Visible Spectrum worked the stage lights, ensuring that their tint and brightness was just right for each scene. The vantage point also allowed him the opportunity to look down at the lovely mares on stage. He let out a wistful sigh as he watched Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle take their places behind the curtain.

Working in theater gave Visible the opportunity to see many pretty young actresses, but never before had his services been required by national heroes, each of whom was a vision of equine beauty. The pegasus playing a young Celestia in particular carried herself with the confidence and grace of a supermodel with just a touch of mischief in her smile which set the mind aflame with possibilities.

"You look like you've taken a fancy to our sunny-flanked Princess," whispered a nearby stallion, who was apparently reading his thoughts. With a playful Trottish brogue, the other stallion laughed softly and mused, "Aye, she's a lovely one. Pity she's already spoken for, isn't it?"

Visible felt his face warm at the unexpected teasing, but chuckled and nodded. "Eh, no harm in enjoying the view," he replied. "How about you? You a Fluttershy fan, too?"

"Hmm... well, she's nice and all, but I've worked with the director before, and I find her much more fetching."

Visible looked down at Pinkamena, the moody mare who had put all this together. Rubbing his chin, he mused, "Her? Well, she's certainly easy enough on the eyes, but she'd really be pretty if she smiled more. Or... at all."

"Oh, I take a little time every day to look at her smile. Take my word for it, it is even more beautiful than you can imagine."

Visible blinked in surprise. Granted, he hadn't worked with Pinkamena Pie long, but from what he had heard from the other stagehoofs and the talent, nopony had even heard of the pink poet making a genuine smile. For that matter, nopony else was supposed to be up on the catwalk. The catwalk itself was rickety enough that he should have felt it move if somepony else was up there with him, but he had detected nopony's hoofsteps.

Sure enough, when he looked over his shoulder, nopony was standing right behind him with a mischievous smile on their face.

"Now, I think this show could stand to use a little livening up," nopony said. "So here's what you're going to do..."

When the curtains opened once again, it was on a brighter scene. The set depicted a pathway running through the royal gardens, the sun shining brightly overhead as Celestia and Sungleam walked along and enjoyed a moment of peace and quiet. Or rather, Celestia enjoyed such a moment while Sungleam attentively looked about, guarding her princess.

With a wry grin, Celestia looked to her bodyguard and asked, "Does thou see any threats to Our person among the shrubberies, Dame Sungleam?"

Sungleam set her jaw in response and replied in absolute seriousness, "Nay, your highness! Though I must remain vigilant so long as tensions are high between the griffon and minotaur ambassadors."

Celestia gave a warm chuckle and shook her head. "Oh, dear Sungleam, I will be an old grey mare long before diplomats cease bickering with one another. Though I would have turned grey all the sooner, had I remained in that room any longer."

"If that is so, then why did you not bring Princess Luna with you?" As Celestia turned toward her, Sungleam's eyes widened and she quickly stammered, "Forgive my presumption, your highness, I spoke out of turn!"

Celestia just laughed softly and smiled warmly at unicorn. "Not at all, Sungleam. Of all the ponies in Equestria, the only one who has earned the right to speak their candid thoughts more than you is my beloved sister. And while I am grateful that she is showing more of an interest in sharing the responsibilities of leadership, I can hardly throw her to the timberwolves the instant she does so."

The Princess of the Sun sat down and lifted her head to look up at the sun. "Dear Luna has such a clever mind and beautiful soul that I know she will be admired when she takes a more direct hoof in ruling. At the same time, however, she has always been such a shy, sensitive thing, I fear that she will need time to acclimate to the pressures of dealing with the... 'forceful' personalities of foreign dignitaries, or even our own nobility. Did you know that she held court last night?"

When Sungleam shook her head, Celestia sighed softly. "Indeed, she announced it in the middle of the night, when there was virtually nopony to hear of it. It is only natural that there would be few to plead their case before her under such circumstances, but I fear that she saw it as a personal affront. I do hope that she continues to do so, though. It would do her good to have more interactions with other ponies, and would afford me a little much-needed respite from the same."

Sungleam nodded in understanding. "I am sure that if you told her as much, she would be willing to--"

The unicorn was interrupted mid-sentence when Princess Celestia suddenly cried out, stumbling and nearly falling to the ground as if she had been struck in the head.

Sungleam gasped and quickly hurried to support the alicorn with her magic, giving the Princess a chance to keep her hooves under her. "Your highness! What is wrong?!"

As Celestia gasped and raised a hoof to her head. "A sudden... surge of magic, Sungleam. Dark and overwhelmingly malevolent, but it felt like... when my sister brings the night..." The Princess and Sungleam both looked up to the sky. The sun remained high above, keeping its steady course in the sky, but then they saw the pale sphere of the moon rise up over the horizon.

The distant murmurs of confused ponies could be heard, only growing louder as the moon swiftly arced across the sky. When the two celestial bodies met, Celestia winced but braced herself so that she could stand as the moon encroached on her sun. The murmurs rose up into panicked wails and screams of fright while the moon completely overlaid the bright orb, casting a shadow over the land.

Staring up at the dimmed sky, Celestia's voice turned as hard as diamond as she commanded, "Sungleam, the vault behind the throne. Fetch them."

Sungleam looked back and forth between her sovereign and the darkened sun. "But Princess, my place is here beside--"

"NOW," the Princess shouted with such force and volume that Sungleam staggered back. Bowing her head for a mere moment, the unicorn's horn glowed and she vanished from the spot in a violet flash of magic.

With a flash and a pop, Twilight re-materialized backstage and let out a nervous, ragged sigh. As her eyes quickly adjusted to not having the stage lights shining into them, she noticed several things. Vinyl Scratch and Octavia frowning slightly as they searched through the DJ's record collection. Apple Bloom trying her hoof at juggling the rubber balls which had been painted to resemble the Elements of Harmony as they appeared when they were stone, and the other two Crusaders urging her on.

In more immediate proximity, though, she found Applejack and Iron Will sitting nearby with a tea service and three cups on the floor between them. With a warm smile, Applejack asked, "Well done, darling! Would you care for a sip of tea before you go back on stage?"

Twilight glanced at the earth pony and minotaur before locking onto the tea as if it were a glass of ice water in the middle of the Saddle Arabian desert. "Yes. Thank you," she replied politely, picking up the teapot and an empty cup with her magic. She then judged the size of the cup and, finding it wanting, simply took the teapot between her hooves and started guzzling it straight from the source. When she was done, Applejack reached into a pocket and produced a silk handkerchief, which she offered to the jittery Ranger.

While Twilight anxiously took the handkerchief in her magic so as to wipe her mouth, Iron Will asked, "So, ah... are you sure that you're doing alright there, L.T.? You're looking a little twitchy there."

"Fine! Just fine," Twilight replied, her left eye spasming while her right seemed to be tracking from side to side as if reading an invisible report. "We're only putting on a stage production about the worst day of Princess Celestia's life! Heh heh... but it's okay. After all, Pinkamena went to them first to get approval for this show, right?"

Iron Will nodded, a frown expressing concern for the state of mind of his wife's best friend. "Of course. I mean, they're both here, so that means they're cool with it, right?"

Twilight replied, "Of course... of course... I've been going over the possible scenarios all evening, after all... To the best of my knowledge, there's only one chance in twenty-nine of Princess Celestia suffering from some form of post-traumatic stress as a result of the show, and only one chance in two-thousand-and-fifty-three of it being severe enough that she loses control and incinerates the entire theater!"

In a white blur of motion, Twilight was suddenly snout-to-snout with Applejack, her magically-tinted eyes looking somewhat bloodshot as she stared into the businessmare's increasingly concerned gaze. "Of course the far more likely outcome is that we'll simply be banished from Equestria! And at least that'll be bound to be somewhere on this planet... unless one of the actresses that triggers her traumatic episode happens to be the mare who stabbed her the last time Eclipse was free! Oh wait! ONE OF THEM IS! She's going to buck us into the sun, and it'll be my-!"

While Twilight was in the midst of her mounting panic attack, one of the stage lights suddenly tilted the wrong way. The bright beam flashed across Apple Bloom's eyes, causing her to throw the faux Elements of Harmony away as her hooves came up to cover her face.

The errant balls went off in different directions, but one of them arched toward the unicorn. She saw it coming out of the corner of her eye, but in her agitated state, Twilight's self-defense training kicked in. Rather that simply catching the ball, she reacted as if it were an incoming attack and suddenly whirled around, her horn glowing as she summoned a buckler-sized disc of violet magic. The rubber "Element" hit the shield, which was charged with a kinetic repulsion effect so that it didn't simply bounce off.

"There you are! What the hay were you doing back there? I know I got all my records set up before the show," Vinyl mused as she found the album she had been searching for. She pulled the record from its sleeve with her magic just as the rubber ball ''shot'' away from Twilight's shield.

As if targeting the vinyl disc, the false Element punched right through the record. Vinyl reached up with a hoof to push her trademark tinted shades up to her forehead. Her crimson eyes widened in horror as she stared at the record, cracks snaking up and down from the gaping hole in the middle until the disc simply snapped in half within her magical grasp.

"No no no no no NO NO NO!" The sound of Vinyl's panic overshadowed even Twilight's anxiety as she desperately tried to jam the broken pieces of the record together as though she could simply will them to fuse back into working condition. "No, this can't be happening! We can't do the next number without this song! You just can't have Eclipse gloating at the Princess without an ominous soundtrack! It'll be so lame, I'll be back to working birthday parties for foals! FOALS! Their sticky hooves getting all over my gear..."

Vinyl suddenly felt two hooves start shaking her as Octavia snapped, "Grab yourself, Winyl!" Startled more by the Stalliongrad mare's odd translation than the physical shaking, the magical aura holding the record shards faded, causing them to fall. Vinyl blinked and looked straight into the cellist's purple eyes as Octavia said, "This is not time for freakink it out. You are here to provide background music, and zat is exactly vhat you shall do!"

Hoofsteps approached, belonging to the magically bleached Ranger. "Oh no... oh no, I am so sorry, Vinyl," Twilight exclaimed as she followed the ball's trajectory and saw the shattered record on the floor. She gasped as she realized, "That one has songs for the second half, too! Nooooo, I've ruined the whole play!"

The blue-maned unicorn took a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself, pulling her shades back down over her eyes. The familiar feeling and tint of the glasses helped the DJ focus and recover her confidence. "No... no, Tavi's right. Right... right... yeah, I can do this. I know the tunes, so we just get my keyboards, and..."

"AH HA HA HA HAAAAA!!!"

"No time for the keyboards just yet, Winyl," Octavia replied as both musicians realized that the evil laughter meant that Eclipse was seconds away from taking the stage. She glanced at the record collection and immediately pulled out another record. "Here, we use this for next song, then get keyboards!"

Vinyl and Twilight both blinked at the music selection. With a look of worried confusion on her face, Twilight asked, "Um... Miss Philharmonica, doesn't the next scene call for something... darker?"

"Vill haff to do," Octavia replied, pulling the record out with her hooves and placing it on the spindle with more care and delicacy than the unicorn mares could have managed in their respective states of mind. "I used as basis for composing much of this song. Is similar enough, just vith faster tempo. Let us hope that Miss Rarity is good vith ze adaptink."

Twilight hesitated to answer as the needle of Vinyl's turntable was placed on the record. For a moment, she considered her rock-farming friend. On the one hoof, Rarity was clever, artistic, and had a talent for picking up on patterns that other ponies could easily miss. All traits which reflected on her role as the Element of Magic's bearer. On the other hoof, she could also be notoriously fussy about things being just right, and if she couldn't adjust to the altered song, things could get... messy.

The thought made even the Ranger gulp in fear as she replied, "Guess we'll find out..."

Moments ago, on the stage...

With Sungleam gone, Celestia planted her hooves beneath the dimmed rays of the eclipsed sun and looked from side to side before proclaiming, "Reveal thyself, cur!" She projected her words so forcefully with the Royal Canterlot Voice that the ponies in the first five rows felt their chairs vibrate. "We know that thou art near! We could sense thy foul presence the moment thou DARED to touch Our sister's moon! Release it this instant, and we may yet show mercy, but if thou hast harmed Luna in any way, then thou shall face the full fury of the sun!"

"AH HA HA HA HAAAAA!!!"

"That voice...!" Celestia gasped in shock as the laughter erupted from out of nowhere, echoing throughout the theater. "It sounded just like my sister... but I have never heard such malice from her before."

"Nor shall you again, 'dear sister'," replied the Eclipse-possessed Luna's dual voice. A puff of black smoke erupted from the floor, obscuring Rarity's rise from the trap door behind it. As the smoke started to dissipate, a single note rang out.

Fortunately, it remained thick enough to mask her look of surprise when, instead of the dark, pounding orchestral score that Rarity had been expecting, the tune which filled the theater was much more... swinging.

From her position out of the spotlight, Pinkamena raised an eyebrow as she heard the music play. Despite the unexpected change, it certainly could be argued that Fluttershy's stunned expression fit the scene perfectly.

After several seconds of standing stock-still while the smoke spread and the swinging music played, Eclipse lifted her legs and approached Celestia with a haughty, mocking gait.

Eclipse:
Hello, Celestia,
What's making you fret and pout?
Is it that your "dear sister"
Will no longer shut the world out?
It's time for deeds instead.

With a toss of her inky mane, Eclipse smirked at Celestia, who could only stare aghast at the creature wearing her sister's face. With a cruel, predatory grin, she advanced, accusingly taunting the Princess of the Sun.

No more crying in her bed.

Celestia stepped back, stumbling away from the abomination before her. She shook her head as if that would deny the shadowy demon that stood before her in Luna's form and return the moon to its rightful place.

"It's only natural" for her to be alone?
No, I could not just stand by
I came to her when she was weak,
and now the sun
shows everypony I have won!

"What hast thou done," Celestia wailed in anguish as Eclipse reared up, pointing a hoof at the moon-shrouded sun.

Eclipse fell back to all fours, then sniffed haughtily and replied, "Isn't it obvious? Just look at me..."

Luna and I are now one!

Eclipse circled around Celestia like a predator, her smile mocking the solar diarch as she smugly strutted to the swinging beat.

The light you shine down so brightly
upon those you stand above
casts a shadow more pitch black than the night.
Now with our union,
I'll show Luna my love!

Eclipse sauntered a few steps away from Celestia before pivoting on her back hoof and bracing herself. A sky-blue aura surrounded her horn as cords of magic shout out from Eclipse to bind Celestia. The white alicorn reared back and struggled to spread her wings, but her sister's magic held her fast. A golden glow surrounded her own horn, only for tendrils of darkness to follow the path of Luna's magic, crawling up Celestia's body to engulf her horn and extinguish its magic.

Now, both of us will claim the sun!

Before Eclipse could engulf Celestia in shadow any farther, however, a violet flash signaled the return of Sungleam, who came with a cloth pouch hanging from her neck. Seeing Celestia in danger, the knight aimed her horn at Eclipse and shot a bright beam of light at the monster.

Eclipse reacted almost as quickly, retracting its tendrils in order to form a dark barrier. Sungleam responded by shifting her aim to punch through a hole in Eclipse's shield before it could form completely.

As the shadow-possessed Princess staggered back, Sungleam hurried to Celestia's side. "Your highness, please lend your strength to mine! If we combine our might, we can easily dispatch this fiend!"

Instead of bringing her sovereign newfound hope and resolve, however, Celestia's face only grew even more pale as her eyes widened with horror. "No... no, NO! We cannot, Sungleam! We must not!"

Startled by Celestia's refusal, Sungleam stared at the white alicorn and found her trembling.

Quickly recovering from the knight's assault, Eclipse let out a dark, mocking laugh.

For every light there is a shadow,
and Luna dwelled in yours all her life.
The darkness that was building in her
summoned me to heal her strife.

"Liar!" Sungleam snapped. Eclipse smugly pointed a hoof at Celestia, though, and the Princess's stricken expression was all that it took to prove that the elder sister found it all too easy to believe the shadow's accusations.

Her loneliness called out to me,
and so I swiftly came.
She let me in and merged with me,
all the while cursing your name!

If you truly love your sister.
then surrender the throne.
Eclipse will now be the master
of all that you now claim to own.

If you try, then, to resist,
if you wish to stand and fight,
just remember it will be Luna
who is struck down by your light!

Sungleam tried in vain to rally her Princess, but Celestia just shook her head, unwilling to fight back against the thing that had stolen her sister's body.

Will you make that sacrifice?

Eclipse taunted Celestia as she stalked toward the white-coated mares.

You won't get the same chance twice!

Tendrils of darkness shot out from Eclipse's body, snaking out toward both Celestia and Sungleam. Before they could reach, however, Sungleam drew her legendary crystal blade from its scabbard. Despite the moon-dimmed sun, it still flashed in the light as she held it in her aura and slashed the tendrils to pieces before opening up her pouch.

"We only need one," the knight defiantly proclaimed as the Elements of Harmony floated in her aura. "Your highness! If you will not fight your sister, then use the Elements to free her from this... Eclipse's clutches!"

Celestia turned her gaze from Eclipse to the Elements, and courage returned to her demeanour. "Yes... quite right, Sungleam." Her horn glowed as she took the elements for herself, and they began to hover in a circle above her head.

Despite this, Eclipse scoffed. "And what makes you think that those rocks will have any effect on me? The Elements of Harmony cannot be wielded by any one pony alone!"

Celestia snapped back, "Not alone! We will not... can not believe that Our sister would willingly align herself with the likes of thou! LUNA! If you can hear me, then fight! Through our sisterly bond, help me unlock the power of the Elements and BANISH THIS FIEND TO THE DARKEST DEPTHS OF TARTAROS!

Eclipse smirked, but the smug grin melted from her face when she saw the Elements begin to glow with their own light. Each one shone with a different color, each one shining a brilliant beam of light which joined and blended with the others to strike Eclipse with a rainbow which forced her rearing back before she fell to the ground.

Celestia glared down at Eclipse as the rainbow beam burned away the darkness that had possessed her sister, patches of her natural coat and mane showing through the shadows.

"Sister..."

Celestia blinked, her concentration faltering as the creature on the ground whimpered that one word. As softly as it was spoken, it carried easily over the sound of the magics at work.

It was Luna's voice. There was no malice or second voice behind it. Nothing but her sister, whimpering in agony.

"Sister... it hurts! Why...? Why are you... doing this to me...?"

Celestia gasped in horror and screamed Luna's name as she immediately cut off the flow of magic through the Elements.

Seeing the beam die, the light collapsing back into the Elements, Sungleam cried out, "Your highness, don't listen! You have to finish--"

The knight was then interrupted when the power of the Elements overloaded, releasing several blinding flashes of light and a booming crash like thunder.