Lunar Eclipse: The Rock Opera

by CrowMagnon


Part 4 - Sister Dear

Lunar Eclipse: The Rock-Opera
by CrowMagnon

After the blinding explosions of light that had erupted from the Elements of Harmony, the audience was plunged into total darkness as the last echoes of the thunderous booms which had filled the theater faded away.

"Sister?" Celestia's voice broke the silence which filled the building. Her voice was soft, yet carried to everypony in the audience. "Sister? Luna!"

Slowly, the lights returned. The gardens were once again illuminated by the moon-shadowed sun, but more dimly as twin spotlights shone down upon the royal sisters. Celestia lay on the ground, the Elements of Harmony scattered around her as she lifted her head to look at Luna.

In the other spotlight, the Princess of the Night lay prone and unmoving. Gone was the pitch black coloration that had enveloped her, leaving Luna untainted by shadow. Seeing this, Celestia pushed herself up to her hooves and staggered toward her sister. Once she was beside Luna, the Princess smiled and leaned down to nuzzle her sister.

"Thank goodness... thank goodness, the Elements of Harmony worked, sister. That horrible dark presence is gone." When the younger alicorn failed to respond, Celestia's voice cracked. "Luna? Luna, wake up! Wake up, sister!"

When she received no answer, Celestia held her sister in her forelegs and began shaking her. "No! NO! The Elements of Harmony saved you, Luna! They must have saved you!"

"Foolish pony... you didn't even know the nature of the forces you were so clumsily trying to wield."

Celestia, her voice already quavering in her panic and grief, choked when she heard the raspy voice of Eclipse. Once again, the creature crept out of the shadows. Though it stumbled slightly as if it too were weakened, it slowly made its way across the stage toward the alicorn sisters. "No... no, the Elements of Harmony should have banished thou, fiend," she protested.

Eclipse practically spat out the words as it bitterly laughed. "Ha! What made you think that a heart as weak and timid as yours could truly wield the Elements?" Eclipse's voice turned mocking and sarcastic as it whined, "'It hurts, sister! Why are you doing this to me?' The Elements did exactly what they were meant to do. It was you who faltered, Celestia! You refused to allow the Elements to follow through! You rejected them! The Elements may have succeeded in ejecting me from your sister's body, but I still have her soul!"

Celestia clenched her eyes shut and shook her head in a futile attempt to deny Eclipse's lingering presence. "No... no, thou lies! Luna, please, wake up!"

Eclipse scoffed as it drew close, sneering down at the Princess of the Day. "Pathetic. To think that Luna envied you. You were the jealous one, weren't you? You encouraged her to cloister herself away in her tower, to keep her from getting close to any of your precious subjects. Keeping your little ponies dependant on you and you alone for leadership, so that they would never realize what a simpering, insecure diva you really are!"

Celestia flinched at each accusation, either unable or simply unwilling to argue with the dark apparition.

"Still, despite all that, she does love you," Eclipse added as she stood no more than a few hooves away from Celestia. "So I will give you the chance to be reunited with your darling sister once more. The two of you can be happy together for all eternity... THROUGH ME!"

Black, crooked wings flared open from Eclipse's back, and it reached out for Celestia only to be stopped inches from the Princess by a shimmering disc of magic. Touching the shield caused Eclipse to be pushed back enough for Sungleam to teleport between the monster and her Princess, sword drawn and pointed at Eclipse in the unicorn's magical aura.

"Nay, fiend! It is thou who must first go through me! If thou truly possesses Princess Luna's soul, then in her highness Celestia's name, I shall carve her free of thee!"

With a twist of her head, Sungleam swung the crystal blade in an arc toward Eclipse, only for the monster to jump back out of range and hiss venomously at the knight. "Have it your way for now... but know that you have sealed your doom!" Pointing up at the sky, Eclipse proclaimed, "From this day forth, the moon will shadow the sun forever!"

With that, Eclipse swiftly escaped back into the shadows. Sungleam called out after it, but remained by the Princess's side as the lights dimmed and the curtains closed. Though not before the audience saw Celestia throw her head back and let out a heartbreaking wail of despair which echoed through the theater over the thunderous sound of thousands of stomping hooves.

-----

Once the curtains were closed and the stagehooves started moving the set around, Rarity opened her eyes and picked herself up. Rubbing her forehead, she muttered to her friends, "Fluttershy... Twilight... when this show is over, I could really use your help finding a good place to hide whatever's left of Vinyl's corpse."

Twilight coughed nervously, her face flushed deeply, and it was particularly visible through her magically bleached coat. "Ah... heh, yeah. Maybe you shouldn't do anything too hasty, I mean... it might not have been her fault..."

This made the rock farmer arch an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that, Twilight?"

Before Twilight could stammer out a reply, Fluttershy's grief-stricken expression flipped to a bright smile. "Oh, don't worry about it, Rarity. These things happen in show business. Take it from a showmare, being able to improvise when something goes hinky is crucial, and you nailed it!" The faux alicorn let out a giggle and added, "Besides, I liked that version of the song better."

"You would," Rainbow Dash replied, stepping onto the stage while the bed prop was brought back. "I could barely keep up. My singing was all over the place."

"Oh, don't worry about that, Dashie," Fluttershy assured the shadow-shrouded pegasus, putting a wing across her friend's back. "Everypony's attention was on Rarity, so whenever you sang out of synch, it just made it seem more creepy and ominous. Just think of it as a harmless prank that everypony enjoyed.

Twilight's eye twitched. "Y-yeah... and if we're lucky, the Princesses won't think we were making fun of them... Maybe they'll let us pack before we get banished to the sun!"

The other three mares gave Twilight a look of concern. "Twi, sweetie, you shouldn't be worrying yourself about things like that," Rarity said.

"Yeah," Rainbow Dash piped up. "I mean, if they didn't banish the guy who draws those Princess Milflestia & Loony Luna cartoons, I think we're good."

Fluttershy nodded with a chipper smile. "That's right. Besides, you aren't supposed to be Lieutenant Twilight tonight, remember? You've been doing a great job when you're supposed to be Sungleam, Captain of the Guard. Would Sungleam ever let herself get stuck being worried about every little thing?"

Twilight fidgeted a bit, but dared to return a small smile. "Well... no, historically Sungleam was never known for forethought. When she was given a task, she just... did it."

With another encouraging nod, Fluttershy said, "Right! We all love Twilight Sparkle, but tonight is about being the best Sungleam you can be!" Then she overheard bits of Pinkamena's narration from the other side of the curtain and let out a squeak. "And start quickly, because we need to take our places right now!"

As realization suddenly dawned on the mares, they quickly scrambled to their positions, just barely avoiding being caught as the curtain began to open once again.

-----
Moments earlier...

As the last echoes of Celestia's mournful wail faded from everypony's ears, a spotlight shone on the center stage where Pinkamena was waiting to address the audience.

"Though Eclipse was driven away by the brave Sungleam, Luna did not wake. Celestia attempted to restore Luna with the Elements of Harmony, but by refusing to use them to purge her sister of Eclipse's influence completely, she had unwittingly cut off her own connection to them. The Elements, the most powerful magic known to ponykind, were nothing but inert balls of stone to her.

"For hours, Celestia waited by her sister's side for any sign that Luna would return to the waking realm. Hours became days. Days became weeks. Months passed where the Princess did not eat, and only slept when exhaustion overcame her completely. Only her nature as an alicorn whose life force was bound to the sun itself allowed her to survive her grieving fast.

"In the months that followed Luna's fall, the sun never set. Eclipse still controlled the moon, and ensured that no matter where Celestia moved the sun, the moon would forever cast its shadow upon the earth. Without the sun's life-giving rays shining directly upon Equestria, the land could not afford to be deprived of any amount of light, lest it fall into a premature winter.

"In the halls of government, the nobility clashed with the ministers Celestia had hired on to oversee the day-to-day tasks of governance. Under Captain Sungleam's leadership, the Royal Guard were spread thin, split between protection of the castle and the continuing search for Eclipse. Ambassadors from every nation in the world swarmed upon Canterlot to demand that Celestia return the cycle of day and night to its proper schedule.

"The mourning Princess heard of their complaints, but she was paralyzed with grief and guilt. In her absence and inaction, the seeds of rumor and doubt were planted among the populace. Without celestia to quash these rumors, they grew like weeds and choked the halls of Canterlot with whispered accusations."

The spotlight turned off, allowing Pinkamena to leave the stage unseen as the curtains opened once more on the scene of Luna's bedroom. The Princess of the Night lay so peacefully on the bed that she could easily be mistaken for taking a simple nap if not for how Celestia, distraught and haggard, sat in vigil beside the bed.

Most of the audience were focused on the royal sisters, though a few ponies noticed that in the reflection of Luna's mirror, the wall-eyed mare who had poked her head out before the show could be seen looking out at them. She was quickly pulled out of view, however, as Celestia looked down over Princess Luna and the voices of other ponies could be heard.

"Have you heard? The Princesses have both fallen prey to the same sleeping sickness."

"Princess Celestia was stricken by Eclipse's curse, and her body is slowly rotting away."

"The griffons are going to descend upon us while we are weak."

"I don't think there is any 'Eclipse'. Luna tried to usurp the throne, and Princess Celestia struck her down for it."

As the rumors faded away, the soft, lonely tone of a piano sounded out.

~~~~~~~~~~~
Sister Dear
~~~~~~~~~~~

(Based on "The State Vs. Thomas Light" by The Protomen)

Sister dear, a shadow hangs o'er me,
and the whole world is growing dim.
Sister dear, I didn't know your loneliness,
but now I'm lost here in my own.
If I could have only known how it made you feel.

Sister dear, they talk about you now,
but it is not how you would want.
I can only hope that you felt nothing
when that monster ripped you away.
Will I ever see your smile once again?
Will I ever see you frown?
I would take either one if you wake, dear sister
just for the chance to hold you now.

Celestia's mournful voice spread across the audience like a wave of despair. Though they knew that it was only a show, the weight of the Princess of the Day's loss rolled over them from the actress's singing. In the midst of Celestia's lament, however, a hint of movement from behind Luna's mirror caught their eye.

In the mirror's reflection, they could see a second Luna looking through the glass at her elder sister. She placed a hoof against the glass, but could do nothing to push through its surface into the real world, or make herself noticed by Celestia.

Sister dear, I'm left all alone.
Perhaps that's how it's meant to be.

In the mirror, Luna shook her head in denial at her sister's words, but this gesture went completely unseen and unheeded by the elder alicorn.

The words they say now hurt so very badly,
but far less than those I spoke.
What I said opened up your heart to shadow
and I would take them back, but words cannot be unsaid!
Not even for a Princess!

Luna: You are not alone!
Celestia: All of our friends have left before us, dear sister.
Luna: You are not alone!
Celestia: Now I linger here on my own.

Tears flowed down Celestia's face, her shoulders trembling as the Princess visibly struggled to find the will to simply hold herself together. The Luna in the mirror leaned against the glass, her voice carrying throughout the theater, but going unheard by Celestia. Instead, she only lifted her head, and then only slightly, when she heard a knock at the door.

What is that sound?
Who dares to intrude upon us now?
Who dares to try to take me from the side
of my sleeping sister? Go take thy leave!

(Luna: Don't) Together: Leave me!
(Don't) Leave me!
(Don't) Leave me!

Instead of leaving, however, there was a violet flash as Sungleam appeared inside the room. Celestia all but snarled at her Captain of the Guard, glaring at the unicorn with such fury that it seemed as though she would be reduced to ashes on the spot.

"How DARE you, Sungleam? What gives you the right-"

"Forgive me, your highness!" Sungleam bowed as she interrupted her Princess. The simple fact that the famously loyal Guard did so was shocking enough to stop Celestia before she could say another word. "Equestria needs you, your highness. We have just discovered that Eclipse has been rallying and manipulating other nations into moving against us. As we speak, their armies gather at our borders."

There was a pause as Celestia looked down at the sleeping Luna before she glanced back up at Sungleam and asked, "Which borders?"

When Sungleam hesitated to answer, Celestia asked again. "Which borders, Dame Sungleam? Which nations rally against us?"

The unicorn swallowed and replied, "All of them, your highness."