//------------------------------//
// 09 - Ascension  
// Story: Curtain Call 
// by lunabrony 
//------------------------------//


Several Weeks Later...

Luna had gotten up early, and Celestia was staying up late. They had worked together to clear a hole in their schedules where they could both arrive at the premiere. Drawn carriages, photographers flashing wildly as they entered the theatre, with an entourage of high pony society trailing behind them. They were shown to a private booth. The scene was unrecognizable, all traces of sawdust and wild work was gone. A blood red curtain hung in its stead. Two sofas had been laid out in their booth. A little decadent, but Celestia took to hers with comfort stretching her neck out to see the ponies spill out into their own seats. The theater had sold out, especially since the royal sisters had announced their visit there.
An orchestra could be heard tuning up instruments somewhere. Eventually the doors were shut and the lights turned down. The show started, and a speaker came out presenting the show. A love drama, of something that might once have been and could never really be. The sets unfolded from the floor, well painted, entering the scene of a hard working earth pony, singing a song of how he wished he were wealthy so he didn't have to work so hard. So easily were you drawn into his tale that you forgot what the story was really about, this earth pony never measured up to anything so he told his son to set out and see if he could be what he hadn't himself. However it became apparent that his son had no high ambitions, and wanted simple to care for the cottage his father had left him, but felt anxious about this responsibility. So one night he wished upon the moon, that if it should be possible that he could be granted a favor just once.
Comet, looking as much as the imprint of Luna as he ever had, came sailing, drawn on invisible wires. Or was it a unicorns magic? It was impossible to tell, but it was flying. The drama unfolded, the fall, the broken wing. The theatrical Luna, was... Luna, a younger version if anything. Was she really so theatrical at times, herself? The earth pony made no advances to her, but tended her wounds, watched her raise the moon at times. Some feelings were growing, the dialogue between them was excellent, jokes but it was comedy, emotions were building. Eventually she got better and left him, though he beseeched her to stay, asking her why she wouldn't. 
"I have seen friends, what family I once had and their generations, march to their tombs inevitably, and I'd see the same with you." The story eventually brought her full circle again, deciding to take it. Celestia was only hinted at in the story, sometimes indicating that there was a spat between them and she had left the castle voluntarily. And so began their love story… the costume changes on Luna's character were fantastic.
It was all done by earth ponies who had to portray her many abilities. The shadow shifting, the dreams were handled with amazing scenery shifts. And of course the tragedy grew, she was barren, he would never sire children with her. He aged, grew greyer with each scene, magic was put in use to make him age slower. Jealousy grew, making them exiled to a small hut. Finally he was old and she was by his death bed. 
"I'll hold, I can sing your heart to beat, your blood to flow, I'll sing forever to keep you alive." A hoof came up and graced her cheek. The theatrical Luna was torn, begging to keep him alive.
"Let me go…" Were his only words. A desperate request of love.
And she did, tears streaming down as she gave out a mournful wail. 
"...I'd have given you it all, to lift your fillies up to you, to work, and be sick, and argue, and befriend you to the end, but this can never be." And she left, and the scene shifted outside, as she kept the moon up, about to prolong the night. A somber motherly voice came from the scene behind her. An argument between sister and sister ensued. They had no actor to play Celestia, but showed her presence as a light in the scenery. It climaxed as a fight escalated between the two sisters.
"The ponies will rise with the dawn, as always. Will they not know that I have suffered loss!"
"You kept thine day once, for a fortnight!" 
"For a war!" 
"And for the tragedy of lost love, ponies will not rise to know that this has occured! The sun should weep bitter tears for me!" 						
"And it would rise as always." 
The argument came to a head as Luna called down the moon, and she looked out defiantly to the audience. "Is it worth it to love what you can lose? Even if it hurts so? I tell you I would give the nights away for such a life, my burden has grown heavier, and yet I would have done it again if I had the chance." It ended a few more lines later. Bittersweet and darkly. Very moving, a far better rendition than the typical play. Celestia stood up, a little moved by the display, though the tears were dried so it was probably from some of the love songs. 
"They were all moved, Luna." Celestia said. She had been watching the ponies, not the show. Their reactions. Their emotions. Their tears.
Luna was not quite as composed, the play had touched her on a personal level. She had loved and lost many times, but this particular production had returned memories to her of every stallion that'd ever made her heart skip a beat. Although she was expected to maintain composure and set a good example for the other ponies, she was bawling her eyes out. Tears streamed down her eyes and dripped onto the floor, wings drooping at her sides. It was the first time the citizens of Canterlot had really seen Luna as anything other than perfectly calm.
Celestia nuzzled her "I'm glad you liked it, I've seen too many of these productions in my days to remember what an effect they can have." Their guards kept the journalists at bay though they snapped one or two embarrassing photos. They were going backstage, champagne was popped, Gluon Wings and Painted Wings were celebrating with most of the cast. Luna saw her own self, dewinged, two bare white spots of fur on the back indicating where they had been glued on; slipping out of the party going back to his private room.
Luna tried to compose herself, turning down several offers of champagne with a gesture of her hoof. She approached Painted Wings, and dipped her head in awe. She did something was normally only reserved for dignitaries of the highest ranking. "Would you tell Comet that Princess Luna requests an audience with him?"
It was nice to have her own voice back, as soon as the show had ended the spell had been cancelled. 
"Ooo! Of course" She was enamoured, and of course most ponies there were generally awed at her presence. She watched the silly earth pony rush off, as Celestia politely conversed, asking questions about the production and each persons role. A master at getting ponies to talk and feel generally at ease around her. Painted Wings and Gluon came back.
"He's ready for you." They smiled.
Luna bowed her head. Her voice was hoarse, as if she'd been using the Canterlot voice for a bit too long. Must have been all the singing. She wound her way into the back rooms, knocking upon the door at the end. "Comet?"
The door opened inwards, it wasn't locked or completely closed. She saw Comet sitting on a chair, still in full make up. Her double, leaning back against a chair, pouring himself two glasses of wine. 
"Luna." No formalities. He seemed, content, happy. "We did it... wanna drink up to that?"
Without words, she pushed forward, and unceremoniously pulled him into a tight hug that her guards would have frowned upon. 	
"I understand know why you kept so much of it from me, it was absolutely marvelous. I think Celestia cried." She smirked, her own fur still soaked.
They nuzzled each other, it was a performance, it had just been a show, but it had been done as close to perfection as you can get. "I was a great Luna wasn't I? Learned from the best." They shared a special connection from that. It was a bit fun hearing him sound like himself again. "I think we'll do three more shows and then we're done and I retire." And with that he emptied his wine glass.
Luna sipped at hers, she had never been much for alcohol. "I will be staying on at the theater," She admitted. "If for no other reason than to remain as producer or creative overseer, I love seeing all the ponies working and making ideas come to life. Even Celestia said how nice it was to see me out of my room and mingling for once." She said sheepishly. "This is my first show I've ever seen, I can't let it go away now."
He poured himself another glass. Luna frowned, but said nothing about her disapproval.
"You're welcome to do that, though I think you'll give Bitterweed quite a heart attack on that. He's got a lot of ideas. I can still do non-singing roles or perhaps comedy, and we'll see about trying to learn some fillies to fill in these shoes." His hooves still adorned the silver shoes. They were done well, proportionally his hooves were larger than hers, but because she was twice the regular pony size, they matched up pretty well.
Luna smiled a bit. "I want to give you something, Comet. Something I think you'v earned. Provided of course you promise you'll hang onto it and not go pawning it off at the nearest opportunity," She said dismissively.
"A gift? You've saved the show, my performance and the future of the theatre." He laughed a little, leaning back. "What is it Luna? If you're planning on giving me a longer lease on your voice I won't have it... its nice and it saved the show, but eventually pony would notice that I sound exactly like you."
Luna rolled her eyes. "My voice is my voice, and besides, I need it. There are several magical items in the Castle that Celestia and I need our voices to activate." She didn't go into any further detail as to what those were. "Come with me." In a flash, she had teleported him. He found himself in what was unmistakably her personal, inner bedroom, a place few stallions had ever seen. It was not an inappropriate encounter, however, for she seemed to have more interest in her closet than in him, and was already heading towards it.
Comet shook himself, a little disoriented by the teleport. "Your..." He looked around. 
"This is the castle! That's quite a teleport." Pish posh. "It's.. uh also my first time teleporting, never done before, it was very intense." Her double shook himself and followed her into the closet. It was almost as if Comet tried to carry himself with grace and dignity befitting his role, though without slipping quite into the character.
Luna just smiled. "Yes, it is." She said, and reached into a box on the bottom corner. She pulled out a large necklace, one with a flower in the center. It was inset with gold and sapphire, but appeared to have not been touched in decades. "I want you to have this, Comet." She said gently. "You've earned it."
He had her slip it on around his neck. Smiling, looking appreciative yet royally dignified. "I thank you for this gracious gift, it will be a good reminder in the years to come." He stated kindly with a raised hoof to his chest, then slipped out of his role and back to being Comet. His hoof raised to touch it. "Its beautiful Luna, thank you."
Luna just continued looking at him knowingly. He could not possibly know of its significance. "What you wear now was once the Element of Rejuvenation. Its wearers have long since left this world, and its power has long since faded, but it still an item of importance and sentimentality to me, please do be careful with it. I have never seen a cast so small bring such power and life to a room so large, it is fitting of you."
He was visibly impressed, and nodded. "Its not something you'll see me wear in my everyday life, but I'll keep it in my safe and remember it. Thankfully few ponies steal from the theatre, nothing really valuable, its all glitter and golden paint." The horse shoes were slipped off. "Would you believe that these aren't really silver, they just worked a thin, thin layer of silver on top of regular metal."
The Night Princess was cheerful, their relationship was a casual one, and he was able to call her a personal friend. "Is something wrong?" She had been around enough ponies to be able to sense when something wasn't quite right.
"Oh.. nothing, just got a little moved all of a sudden." He sniffed. 
"A couple of more years, and I won't act anymore, and all this dress up is going to happen to a lucky filly with the right talent, who can't stand my instruction. I could still be a mare in comedy, but I don't know if I'll do that. I'm a drama actor, not a comedian." Tears built in his eyes. The end was coming, and he started crying.
The Princess of the Night suddenly got an idea, and a mischievous grin crossed her features. She moved in to wrap her wings around him, hugging as if to console him. Her horn glowed brightly. Her change was extremely subtle and graceful, so it was hard at first to notice how long his mane had become, or how slim his build was, or even the extra grace to his legs.
Simple cosmetic spells at first. Those weren't the ones that would do the final change, a spell that would rework him through and through. Just little things to get the body into a more right shape. His cryings distracted him for a while, as he was comforted by her wings. Slowly though as the amount of magic increased gradually, he was starting to glow. He stepped back a few steps. 		
"Wha.. what are you doing?" He looked confused as he saw the magic buzzing around him.
"Ensuring your future," Luna said. He was the closest thing to a best friend that she had, and she had no reservations in showing him how much he meant to her. Her eyes glowed and took on a ghostly look, her hooves lifting slightly off the floor as powerful magic drained into him.
The more complex a spell, the more power needed to perform it. Thankfully the moon was at full, and she was good at what she did. Though even then this was taxing on her strength. They both lifted off the ground, he looked a little scared, and then calmed down and closed his eyes. She watched air around him ignite, as the spell finally locked together. Landing gently she saw the cocoon of light descend and slowly evaporate. Comet, stood shakily on her four graceful legs, all the make up having evaporated. She gasped and stood up suddenly, managing to say a few sounds before her hoofs flew up to her mouth. 
"I'm… I'm…" She was agasp, shocked, and her face spread in a smile. Her hinds lifted in turn.. she giggled a little in disbelief. 	
"You.. how…" Wordless for once.
Luna gestured towards her full size mirror, to give her friend her first look at her new body. "When you are personal friends with Princess Luna, anything is possible." She said casually.
Comet looked with disbelief at the mare in the mirror. "Will this wear off in the morning?" She asked wonderingly, her voice was very similar to Comet's when he was speaking more in character, but it was a natural voice, not something he put on.
"No." Luna shook her head. For a moment, she second guessed herself, wondered if she had done the right thing. But she had seen into Comets dreams, saw how much he desired it. "You look lovely."
When Luna said no, Comet was mollified and relaxed more, resting on the chair. "I can continue acting, I really can…" Rapture was what she was reading on Comet, utter joy. "I.. what are we going to explain to the others? Its going to sound strange that you gave this as a gift." Another voice joined them as a white alicorn entered the room. "Or maybe a certain Comet finally achieved perfection, and Luna was there to witness the transformation." She graciously offered as an explanation, looking at Luna with a mischievous smirk in her eyes. Looking proud as well.
"There is one last thing I'd like to ask you." She offered. "If ever you find yourself short of work, you will always find a job at the Castle as our personal drama advisor. There are many young fillies and colts just bursting with talent, who simply need a light to guide them. For now, however, the theater lives," Luna said.
"The theater lives," Comet agreed.