Curtain Call

by lunabrony


02 - Absence

Luna was kind, and was in the middle of explaining to the ticketmaster that he had no need to apologize, and would be more than happy to wait. She was not one to interrupt a performance. She prided him on doing his job well, and turned when the door opened. She had fallen into her own dialect, a bad habit which appeared every now and again.
"We hath not frequently recieved many invitations to many things," She said politely. "We are more than happy to come."
"And come with me you shall!" He said with gusto, and led her through the set of doors. A sign informed ponies that this was for actors only. There was a row of doors with various names on it. "Private quarters, where we actors get to sleep when not on the slanted boards... and here is the dressing room." With great subtly he held up a hoof and strode silently and nonchalantly into the dressing room. Two earth ponies, one a creamy yellow with a purple mane, the other a dark color, nodded to him. They were mixing some colors.
"Too much purple, he'll look like a dark Twilight..."
But I saw her, there was definitely some magenta in her coloring! Oh, Comet! You're too early, we're still fiddling with the coloooo... is that... she's here?! Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!" The first mare, upon seeing Luna, was reduced to bouncing and squealing.
The creamy mare had both hoofs to her mouth, in almost pure ecstacy. The dark one had her back to Luna.
"Gluon, don't have a fit, we'll figure out!"
*incoherent reply*
"Huh? More...what?"
"...hind you."
"Hind what?"
"Oh for..." She reached up and turned the other ponies head, the darker pony's eyes widened.
"Luuu… too... taa... haha… magenta.. yes too much magenta... your highness!"
Comet was greatly enjoying this entire spectacle, and it was all he could do to keep from bursting into laughter right there and then.
"Girls... her royal Highness of the Night, Princess Luna! Luna, meet the two greatest make up artists in Equestria, the talented sibling team of Gluon Wings and Painted Wings." If they could have died of joy and blushing they would have.
Luna smirked, and just to toy with them and show off her humorous side, her horn glowed. All three ponies coats instantly changed to an exactly dark bluish purple, the exact shade of her own coat. For a mare who controlled the moon, a simple pigmentation spell was nothing. "Use this for reference, it will help you." She said kindly, and placed a hoof on the shoulder of one, then the other. "Calm yourselves, I am no more important than you are."
They were floored, literally, and had to pick themselves up again. Holding onto each others hooves, almost squealing like little school fillies. The one who had been creamy presented herself as Gluon, and the other who had been dark as Painted, though she wasn't a pegasi. "Oh we'll get the coloring right now your highness, we'll get it just right... and your coat shines too, we can use the pearl dust for that." Comet smiled proudly.
"They're good, if I told them to dress that puppet in the corner as you, by tomorrow you'd be looking at your twin" He whispered it to her, since praise seemed to cause them all manners of new shades. "Right now they're working on a costume for the play we'll be performing."
Luna sat for a while, and asked them all sorts of questions. Why did they do it? What sort of plays were there? What was the purpose? Could there be plays about anything? So many things had changed. She was genuinely interested, and would have stayed and talked to the for hours if Comet hadn't cleared his throat politely as an indication to wrap things up.
"The pigmentation spell will last for six hours, that should be enough time to perfect your craft," Luna explained gently.
Both of the mares were talking over each other very fast, and it was fairly difficult to keep track of who was saying what.
"Oh, we're in charge of doing the make up of the main stars of the show, and we craft very specialized parts of the costumes. Horns and wings… oh Celestia your wings are huge… we'll have to rethink it all over again!"
"Maybe if we use the large feathers from pegasi, trim them..."
"Nonono, wouldn't work... we'll need gryphon feathers!"
"Oh yeah, that could work!"
"What sort of plays, well right now we're mainly working on the Eternal Love play since *excited giggle* since its based on you, and now you're here! I've loved that play since I was a filly! Its the saddest tragedy!"
"She has a thing for them."
"Oh yes, though this is the traditional theater, so there's a couple of classic comedies, but its mostly drama and some epics and tragedies."
"Oh, you totally have to come see our shows. We do big sets, and lots of scenery and special effects and the most amazing costumes… and great acting too! Comet you're the best, and you know it."
"Oh yes we'll definitely get the coloring right... better get started, pearl for the gloss, remember that, Gluon!"
"Getting it now!"
Luna couldn't help but tease. "Or I could just turn Comet into Prince Eclipse for a few hours," She quipped. "But that would rob the two of you of all your wonderful work, so I think I'll just let the two of you work it out." She couldn't help but interject, snickering a bit herself.
"They've got a near photographic memory," Comet smiled, seeing them rush off. "I think they'll be able to replicate your wings, just from memory alone. They're still working on getting the horn right, getting something like that to stick to you requires glue, and patience and a good form factor, hours in the make up chair. Dull... come I'll show you more... and oh...um... He blushed a bit. "I don't play prince Eclipse, that role is taken by one of the older actors. I play you, Princess Luna."
Luna seemed very confused by this. "Why is that? Is it common for males to play females? I have heard rumors of subcultures of ponies who enjoy it, but doing it for theater seems very... odd." She said curiously.
He wasn't nervous, it was obvious he had been prepared to explain this many times. Without mentioning her absence condescendingly, which ironically some ponies tended to do, especially dignitaries, he instead simply explained. "Theater a thousand years ago went through some changes after the wars had died down, larger cities and a new intellectual agenda. There was a period where mares were held in especially high esteem, and lowly jobs were considered improper for them. Acting being, even if very prestigious, lowly in that society's view. So stallions and colts suddenly had to learn the art of playing the role of mares. Which is what I trained to do. Its survived as a traditional art form because colts such as myself have very good singing voices. My great-great-grandfather was a gelding so he kept singing roles until he died… we don't do anything like that anymore."
Luna winced at the very thought. "Thank goodness for that."