Music of the Night 9: Preparations for the Opera
“Cleff Scratches, the stallion with the golden voice.” Princess Celestia, goddess of the sun and of the day, said. She looked at him carefully, having only seen him from a distance before. He was a slender, frail looking thing with milky eyes and an electric blue mane. He stood before her, quivering with what looked like shame. “Why do you cry, Cleff?” her massive wingspan slowly extended outward, then lay folded again.
“I-It’s my fault all this happened.” Cleff whispered, lowering himself upon his belly to bow to her. Even in his blindness he knew to almost touch his muzzle to the floor before Celestia. The goddess tittered a little, coming down to rest in front of him a moment. She saw five of the mane six approaching. “I’m so, so sorry…” he whispered, his beautiful voice cracking. “If I hadn’t—”
“Oh no, it was nothing you did.” Celestia watched Rarity rush forward to nuzzle him, and the others gather in a small semi-circle. “If my sister had been less jealous, she would not have steered things this way.” She gestured around. The grand ballroom was in shambles. The food lay wasted, tables overturned, and ancient marble tiles were cracked from the heavy hoofsteps of the princess of the night.
“Cleff, are you alright?! I thought she might take you away or something, to some dark corner where I couldn’t find you!” Rarity wailed, throwing her hooves around his neck and crying into his mane. He smiled sadly, leaning his cheek upon her for comfort.
Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash looked on with visible discomfort. None of them had expected anything like this. They looked to their Princess for guidance, and she spoke. “Nightmare Moon has her sights set on you, Cleff. I do not think even I could deter her from what she plans.” He cocked his head fearfully, ears perked forward. She turned with an elegant gesture, and the stacks of papers that made up Night Mare, Triumphant slowly hovered into view. The papers rattled a little, and she flipped the folder open. Scanning through it, she saw pages of scripting, costume ideas, platform set-ups for the stage, and sheets of music. All of it was meticulously hoof-written, no doubt after many copies of trial and error to make it perfect. “Night Mare… Triumphant.” The sun goddess said like she was tasting the words. The pages flipped rapidly. “My sister wrote an entire opera. It takes talent to cover all the aspects so thoroughly.” She trailed off, peering at the extras, the way the ropes were meant to be laid to change the scenery, and every little detail in between.
“Nevermind the opera, we gotta stop her! If she’s turned into Nightmare Moon again we need to grab Twilight and get the Elements of Harmony to—” Rainbow Dash halted in her blaring mouth when her Princess looked up at her with a patient eye that told her to hush. The blue Pegasus lowered her head meekly, falling silent.
“Nightmare Moon is hiding from me.” Celestia said carefully. “I cannot sense her, especially on this night.” Her gaze lifted toward the shattered stain-glass window. Outside was a perfectly clear winter’s night, and a full moon. “She is at the height of her powers during the full moon, I am afraid.” She shook her head. “It takes a goddess to hide from another goddess.” Celestia sighed with a wispy sound. “She will only come out when she pleases. When she wants to be found.”
“What should we do?” Fluttershy asked, her face meekly half-hidden in her mane.
Celestia looked down at the piles and piles of organized papers for Night Mare, Triumphant. Rarity was the first to catch on. “You can’t mean—!” she looked at her goddess in horror, pulling Cleff’s head protectively to her breast. He cocked his head with an inquisitive face, then realization washed over him.
“We’ll have to perform her work.” Cleff said, pulling away from Rarity and hoofing gently at the folder jam-packed with details and perfectly-written notes. “If I appear on stage, she won’t be able to resist attending the opera. You’d be able to catch her, then.” He sounded sad when he said it aloud. Celestia made a little noise that confirmed this, nodding her head.
The five of the mane six present looked up at Princess Celestia, then it was Applejack who spoke. “Well we ought ‘ta go get Twilight outta Ponyville then. We’ll need all the elements again for this one.” Cleff shook his head, though. “What? We gotta stop her if she’s become Nightmare Moon again!”
“It’s not that, no.” Cleff said a little bashfully, running his hoof over the scores of pages and finding the ones written in raised bumps. The goddess of the night had made a personal copy for the blind stallion to read. “The estimated time of this opera is over two hours. It would take about a month to learn, rehearse, and perform even halfway properly.” He told them. "Doing it shoddily, she may not even bother to attend."
“Precisely.” Celestia confirmed. “It will take time to lay such a trap, much less prepare the opera itself.” She sounded pained to use the word trap against her own sister, but little could be done for it. She gave a slow nod, and all of them could see the carefully masked pain in her eyes. Princess Luna had returned from her exile for less than two years, and already she’d descended into darkness again. To those that knew the subtle facial twitches of Celestia’s muzzle, she may as well have been sobbing on the spot. Only her twin private guards could surmise such a thing, though, and they looked at each other with silent worry.
“We’ve gotta wait a month?!” Pinkie Pie piped, holding her head. “But that’s like— like— forever!” she moaned, swaying back and forth on her back hooves. “Can’t you learn it faster?”
Cleff shook his head, tracing his hoof over the notes and words laid out. “These songs and lyrics are complex, even Octavia’s orchestra will take serious practice to learn it all correctly.” He said with some resignation. “Even a month would be pushing it.” He sighed, and Rarity put her hoof around him again. “I’ll need to stay here in Canterlot to work closely with everyone.” He said to her softly.
Rarity was silent for a few moments, then coughed a little haughtily. “W-well then, I shall have to stay with you.” She heaved a rather uneven and distressed sigh. “Besides, you heard Princess Lu— Nightmare Moon,” she corrected. “Apparently I’ve been drafted to do costumes for her opera.” She pawed through the papers a bit, coming to the expertly-made drawings. “Good heavens!” she said, pulling one up under her muzzle. “These will take ages to complete as shown!” The other mares gathered around to see. The designs were intricate, complex, and perfectly suited to some of the ponies working in the Royal Opera House. Some of them even had specific names in the corners, telling whom the costume was for and what part they would play. The goddess of the night was nothing else if not thorough.
“Hey lookit this one!” Rainbow Dash said, lifting up a particular design. She read from the descriptive paragraph on the parchment. “The costume for the Night Mare should be tall, slender, and cloaked in black. The mare who plays her must be a Pegasus with a supreme sense of balance.” Rainbow Dash’s voice drolled into her rather flat reading-aloud voice. The picture of the costume showed a Pegasus mannequin with stilts, to represent the amazing height of an alicorn. The actress really was supposed to dress up like Nightmare Moon and, with the aid of the stilts and other implements, look exactly like her. “Recommended actress unknown, arial ace or similar required.” The blue mare regretted those words as soon as she spoke them aloud. She looked up at the gathering of ponies and saw them all staring at her. “Ohhhhh no no no no—” she began to defend.
“We’ll need someone up on the stage with Cleff.” Rarity said with a pout in her lip.
“Someone with good balance, an arial ace.” Fluttershy had taken the paper and was scanning it over. “That sounds like you, Rainbow Dash.”
“I can’t sing!” Rainbow Dash said, looking back and forth as she slowly backed away from the group. Even Celestia seemed to mildly like the idea, but said nothing.
“We sang together when you were choosing a pet…” said Fluttershy meekly. “I thought your voice was nice— I mean— eep!” she retreated into her pink mane when all eyes went to her while she was talking.
“Voices are like muscles.” Cleff interjected. “They just need a daily workout and before long they’re just as strong as the rest of you.” He gestured vaguely in Rainbow Dash’s direction. “I know you like to do a lot of physical competition. Opera’s no different. It would be nice to have one of the Elements of Harmony on the stage with me, in case…” he trailed off a little pathetically. It occurred to almost everypony in the room that the blind stallion was by far the most frail pony in the room. All he had was his voice. Beneath his suit and handsome face was a frail and maybe even sickly stallion. He would need protecting. Rainbow Dash moaned when she looked over at Rarity, who was begging with soft eyes and a pouty lip.
“Ugh!” she finally grunted her assent. “At least make sure the stupid thing fits me!” she slapped the costume design page back into the pile, folding her arms and levitating in the air with grouchy, flapping wings.
“It’s a brave thing you’re doing, Rainbow Dash.” Princess Celestia said gently. She watched the mare blush a little, and quickly added. “Not just anypony can get up in front of hundreds to perform. I’m sure your daily training to be a Wonderbolt will come in handy if anything happens. Just make sure you practice as Cleff asks.” Her servant bowed rather bashfully, nodding, and it was settled.
“A month may seem like a long time.” Cleff tried to make himself sound brave, but there was a quiver on the end of his voice that didn’t allow it. “But it’s really not. We’ll need to work hard to make this work.” Rarity put a hoof over his. Then Rainbow Dash’s appeared atop hers. Then Applejack. Then Fluttershy. The massive hoof of royalty reached gracefully atop them all, eclipsing the entire pile of hooves. Princess Celestia gave a serene smile of reassurance. “L-let’s do it.” Cleff said, nodding seriously.
And so one month went by, each one a serious and task-filled day…
Rarity toiled hard to complete the costumes on all of the design pages, and still made time to watch over Cleff. They stayed at the Royal Palace in Canterlot, and slept in the same bed each night. Rarity did not want Nightmare Moon snatching him away in the dead of night. Though the dark goddess had never made good on her royal voice lessons, the mare didn’t trust her not to suddenly grab her stallion in the dead of night.
Cleff practiced hard every day for the upcoming opera. Though he may have been soft-spoken, shy, and rather frail in day-to-day life— on the stage he was like a god. Though he occasionally ran into stage props or tripped on stairs, he was always on his hooves again before stagehooves could reach him, ready to try again. He gained more than a few bruises this way. Before long, it got around to others that things should be left in regular locations so that he could mentally map his surroundings and not run into anything. Before long he walked about the stage and scenery as though it were his own home, heedless of any obstacle as though it were supposed to be there.
Rainbow Dash was a hard case, practicing from day one on the stilts. She’d made fast friends with a small medical team that treated plenty of bloody muzzles and bruises on her path to stardom in the opera. She was resented by the staff for awhile, but when they learned her true identity and purpose they no longer disliked her. She was a mare with a mission, and if she was going to protect Cleff on the stage during the opera, she needed support and focus. Her voice coaches could tell she had no capacity for high opera, so they worked with what they had. She would not be the most amazing voice to ever grace the stage but there were few ponies that could walk, talk, fly, sing, and still stay graceful at the same time while on stilts. If anything the mare could multitask, and that was nothing to take lightly. By the end of the month she could hold a note like a fresh young filly taking to the stage for her first real play. Good enough to blend in with the veterans, according to the meek words of Fluttershy. If anything, Rainbow Dash felt very tall and the stilts had become a natural extension of her body. Sometimes she kept them on all day, just to practice and show off.
Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle practically tore her mane out when she heard what had happened. Of course the only one with black feathers was Princess Luna herself! (Or Nightmare Moon, rather) Of course alicorns were the only ones that could make such massive hoofprints! It took a lot of coaxing and fine chocolates from Sugar Cube Corner to even get a shadow of her confidence back, but when she heard of the confrontation to come, she turned just as serious as the others. If Nightmare Moon was going to pounce on Rarity’s fiancée, she and the other Elements of Harmony would need to be there to stop her.
There was little for Applejack, Pinkie Pie or Fluttershy to do for the opera so they returned home to finish reconstructing Ponyville. It had taken a long time to refit every single window and streetlamp in town, but they’d helped all the residents migrate back to their homes and get resettled. There was plenty of work to do in order to restore the town to its former glory, especially with snow still on the ground. Applejack was worried about eating into their food reserves, but with Winter Wrap-Up just around the corner, this was alleviated by food aid from a few other towns and even Canterlot itself. Pinkie Pie had to cut back on making cakes for awhile, and Sugar Cube Corner shifted into making more staple foods like bread and rolls to keep everypony fed and happy. It was tough, but doable. Fluttershy busied herself adjusting the local wildlife to the wild fluxes of pony presence in the area. First they were there, then gone, then strange ponies rebuilding, then gone, then the old residents back again— it was enough to make all the woodland creatures nervous with all the foreign smells and strange noises. But, slowly, Ponyville morphed back into its normal state and life could continue. Coming up on the final day of the fourth week, the town looked… well… normal again. Whatever blast that had struck the town and shattered everything glass was just a memory now, thankfully.
Then, before anyone could see it coming, the night was upon them. Night Mare, Triumphant sold out is tickets in less than an hour, and the opera house was going to be packed to the gills with ponies of all sorts. Celestia would make sure all the doors and exits were kept clear and open in case there was any sort of rush or panic. It was a very real threat in the back of her mind that Nightmare Moon might try something deadly in order to get the object of her obsession, Cleff. That meant keeping a much closer eye on his betrothed, Rarity.
That Evening…
Box number five had been carefully kept empty for Nightmare Moon, the same box she’d supposedly been in to see one of Cleff’s other plays. Celestia sat perched in the Royal Opera Box, Twilight Sparkle next to her. Her faithful student had been flattered when she got to sit in the special place next to her mentor, but the serious tone of the night allowed for little more than nervousness.
Twilight mumbled to herself, looking out over the packed opera house. She saw a few choice ponies looking up at them from the crowd below. Fluttershy and Applejack were seated in a box across the way, nervously look about. Rarity was in one of the front rows, looking over her shoulder to be sure Celestia was present and ready to… do whatever needed to be done, when Nightmare Moon showed her face. Rainbow Dash was of course backstage getting suited up for her role in the play, a little jittery but playing it cool (though her ten seconds flat boasting didn’t make much sense when the play was, in fact, over two hours long).
Suddenly the lights flared up a bit and Celestia stood ceremoniously. “Stand, Twilight.” She mumbled out of the side of her mouth. “You sit in Luna’s stead.” Twilight understandably turned scarlet, leaping to her hooves and standing beside her mentor. The eyes of hundreds of ponies looked up at Celestia for her silent blessing. She bent at the neck with her eyes closed, and Twilight emulated her as best she could. There was a murmur of approval from the crowd below. They did enjoy seeing their princess at these public events. When the lights went down again, it occurred to Twilight Sparkle that she really was sitting in the place of a goddess. She didn’t know whether to be honored or overwhelmed.
The orchestra struck up, startling the audience into applause. The curtain parted, and Night Mare, Triumphant began.
End of Part 9