Part 6 - The Shadow Over Equestria
Lunar Eclipse: The Rock-Opera
by CrowMagnon
As the lights dimmed and the curtains closed on the possessed minotaur, a slower, almost mournful strain of violin and cello accompanied Pinkamena while she once again took center stage and looked out to the audience.
"Once again, Eclipse slipped from Celestia's grasp and manipulated all around it, turning former friends against her by speaking to the doubts and fears that lurked in the shadows of their hearts. And just like a shadow, Eclipse could not be captured. Whenever it was found possessing a new body, it would abandon its host, leaving behind nothing but soulless husks in its wake. All the while, it continued to spread poisonous slander against Celestia and Equestria.
"And so the curtain sets on Equestria's darkest hour, but this is not the end of the story. We will be taking a brief intermission, so please take the opportunity to stretch your legs or visit the concessions stand. We will be starting again in twenty minutes."
-----
With that, the house lights brightened up the theater one more, and ponies began milling about and conversing with one another. In the far back of the theater, surrounded by large, stern-looking stallions in golden armor, a trio of alicorns sat in the balcony above the crowds. Those who looked up at the princesses could see them leaning in to talk, but a privacy spell surrounding the balcony kept their voices from carrying beyond their immediate vicinity.
Taking the middle seat, Princess Luna stared in the direction of the stage. Celestia and Cadance both looked at her with concern. Reaching out with her wing, the pink alicorn placed it across Luna's shoulders. "It's quite a show, isn't it, Luna? ... What do you think?"
Celestia did the same from the other side. Her face wrinkled with worry as Luna showed no outward sign of being aware of them. "Luna? Sister...? Oh, I should have known that it was too soon. I'm so sorry, we can--" Her apology trailed off as she saw Luna's lips move, forming words too softly for her to hear. "Luna?"
The Princess of the Night turned and looked to the other two alicorns, suddenly becoming aware of their wing-embrace. "Oh! Yes, I would very much like to partake of the 'popped corn' for sale downstairs! May we purchase some?" She smiled to her sister and 'niece', letting out a hopeful squeak.
Celestia blinked a few times, but then laughed and nodded her head. "Of course, sister. Shining Armor, would you be so kind?"
Princess Cadance leaned over to get a better look at the handsome unicorn guard that Celestia was addressing. "And could you please get me a bag of jellybeans while you're down there?"
Shining Armor saluted, a grin breaking through the stone-faced expression typical of the Royal Guard. "It would be my pleasure. Should I get anything for you, Princess Celestia?"
Celestia sighed softly and settled back into her seat. "Thank you, Shining, but I don't need any snacks. Oh, but if you happen to make a small detour to visit the actors, be sure to tell them that they are doing a fine job."
Shining's grin widened. "I'll be sure to do that, Princess," he replied gratefully. Having served Celestia closely for several years, he picked up on her unspoken suggestion, Go see your sister and give her my regards, fairly easily. With that, he cast a fond glance past Celestia to the Princess beside her and said, "I won't take long," before leaving the balcony.
Cadance giggled softly into her hoof as Shining Armor left. While the Princess of the Night was being relatively lucid, she asked, "So, aunt Luna... what do you think of the show?"
After a moment of thought, Luna pushed herself up from underneath the other alicorns' wings so that she could rear up and spread her own wide. "I VERY MUCH WISH TO SEE THIS THROUGH TO ITS CONCLUSION," she shouted, her voice testing the limits of the privacy spell. "I feel myself swept away by the passion of the actors! The quality of their guises! The desire to HOOF-PUNCH ECLIPSE INTO PASTE! And the music!" Setting her hooves back down, she turned to the pink alicorn and pointed at her, "Cadance, you are of this modern generation! I need you to teach me the ways of rock!"
-----
Twilight peeked out from behind the curtains and whimpered as she saw Princess Luna rearing up, screaming at the top of her lungs. She couldn't hear exactly what the Princess of the Night was saying, but she didn't feel she had to.
Pulling back, Twilight fretfully danced around on the tips of her hooves, whimpering with fear as Pinkamena came back to join the others. "Oh this is bad... this is so, so, so, so bad! Princess Luna is furious!"
Pinkamena tilted her head and took a peek, herself. "Are you sure? Maybe she's just enthusiastic. You know how she can be since she came back," the poet/narrator calmly assured her friend.
Twilight shook her head. "I don't think so. She looked like she was screaming." Just to be sure, she peeked out again and gasped. "And now she's yelling at Princess Cadenza!"
"Who's yelling at Cadance?" A stallion's voice asked, causing Twilight to freeze.
Pinkamena turned to see the golden-armored unicorn coming up to join them. "Oh, you're one of the Guard accompanying the princesses?"
Behind her, Twilight reflexively stood at attention and saluted. "Shi-... Major Armor! I... I'm sorry for whatever you were sent here to deal with, and I take full responsibility!"
Shining Armor tilted his head and looked at Twilight with a bemused grin. He walked up to the trembling, Sungleam-colored unicorn, then nuzzled her to the shock of everypony looking, causing a few of the stagehooves to drop whatever they were carrying.
Chuckling softly, Shining Armor told her, "At ease, Twiley. You don't work for me anymore, remember? I'm just here to see my little sister."
"Oh... oh, of course," Twilight stammered, letting out a tense laugh. "Of course, my big brother's just here to show his support! And not to drag us all off to be banished from Equestria! ...Right?"
As Shining Armor shook his head, Pinkamena said, "Well, I have to go check on everypony else, so I'll let you two chat for a bit. Just remember the curtains go up again in twenty." She took a step, but then turned back and pulled Shining Armor away from Twilight. "Actually, just one moment first."
The stallion blinked in surprise, but went along with the poet as she took him a few steps away from his sister, then stopped and looked him straight in the eye. Despite himself, Shining Armor felt a chill from the piercing gaze of one of her pale blue eyes, the other momentarily hidden behind a waterfall of long, pink hair.
As the one visible eye widened, fixing him with a stare so intense that it felt like it was pinning him in place, the poet quietly asked, "Twilight has spoken of you, Shining Armor..."
Shining Armor tried to blink, but found that he couldn't. Shining Armor tried to swallow, but found that his throat had gone dry. Beads of nervous perspiration started forming on his forehead as a feeling of undefinable dread transfixed him like the gaze of a cockatrice. The poet's stare... that single, baleful eye seemed to grow as the rest of the world vanished.
"I see how much you mean to her," Pinkamena whispered in a voice that crawled against his bones. "I know exactly how much she looks up to you. She is my friend, and I care about her very... very much."
Shining Armor's lips parted slightly as he felt himself struggling to breathe. There was so little air... so little of everything but the eye. He felt like a prisoner, even if he didn't know what his crime was. It didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was doing whatever it took to breathe freely again, but he was powerless and insignificant beneath that gaze. Pushing what little breath he had out, he asked, "Wha... what do you want from me...?"
There was a pause of seconds. Hours. Weeks. Years. Time was meaningless. All was meaningless. For a moment, Shining Armor realized that he was staring into the very face of existence's futility. There was no world, only the eye. The eye was everything that had been or ever would be. Everything else was an illusion. The pony that thought of itself as Shining Armor was nothing but--
"Pinkamena! What the hay do you think you're doing?"
The eye was yanked away, and for a moment it felt as though Shining Armor was falling, tumbling through an endless void without form or substance. It took him a second to realize that no, he was still standing on all four hooves, which were themselves resting on solid matter as conventional reality seemed to re-assemble itself. It was a few seconds more before he realized that his body was shaking in a cold sweat while, just a few feet away, his sister was talking to the pink poet.
"Pinkamena, what do you think you're doing to my brother?"
Pinkamena blinked. "I was just going to say that since you won't be returning to Canterlot for your birthday, he and your parents should come to Ponyville to celebrate. Is that too presumptuous?"
Twilight sighed, but smiled a little as she shook her head. "Really? Wow, that's really sweet of you..." Her expression turned stern again as she told her friend, "But dial down the intensity, okay? You were doing the eye thing again."
Pinkamena hesitated a moment before asking, "I was?" When Twilight nodded, she turned back to Shining Armor, who reflexively flinched before she could make eye contact again. "Oh... I sincerely apologize, Shining Armor. We've had a few issues, and I allowed the stress to get the better of me."
The stallion still felt the lingering effects of the existential dread that had consumed him, and Pinkamena's voice carried none of the intonations that usually accompanied an apology, but he struggled to turn his head back to her and meet her eyes again. Once he did, though, he found that while her facial expression hadn't changed in the slightest, her eyes looked softer and sadder. "Umm... a-apology accepted," he stammered, still in a state of lingering shock. "I will make sure that we can attend Twiley's birthday..."
Twilight smiled and nuzzled her brother. "Thanks, Shining... And don't worry, it wears off eventually."
A small twinkle lit up Pinkamena's eyes, but went unnoticed by the siblings as she turned around. "Well, I'd better check on a few things," she said, leaving them to chat a little longer while she walked over toward the musicians.
-----
"Be the wall, Vinyl... be the wall," the DJ whispered to herself, keeping anypony from getting too close to Fiddlesticks and Octavia while the earth ponies played their signature instruments to make up for the loss of the soundtrack record. The two string performers were playing into a microphone, so Vinyl had to do her best to keep out other ambient noises.
She saw Pinkamena coming and felt her blood chill in her veins. Pinkamena looked straight at her, then at the music equipment and the remains of the record on the floor next to it. Vinyl gulped and prepared herself to have to explain...
Pinkamena paused in front of Vinyl and whispered, "Can you handle the second half?"
Vinyl blinked behind her purple-tinted glasses and nodded.
Pinkamena gave a nod in return and simply whispered, "Thank you," before continuing on.
As Pinkamena walked by, Vinyl lifted up her glasses and watched her go. "Huh... I was expecting the eye thing..." she mused to herself once the poet was out of sight.
-----
Farther backstage, away from the trials of the musicians, a loud argument was taking place. At its center was Dewdrop Decimal, who was surrounded by Rainbow Dash, Derpy, Iron Will and Fluttershy. At the librarian's side, her friend Spot Light was trying to shout an irate Rainbow Dash down in Dewdrop's defense while the shadow-shrouded pegasus rattled off accusations. The rest of the participants on both sides mostly just stood on the sidelines, intimidated by the heated ferocity of the arguing mares.
Pinkamena couldn't make out what either of the mares were screaming as she approached, so she simply stepped in between them. Surprisingly, Spot Light and Rainbow Dash continued to shout at each other around her until she turned her head and gave each of them a Look. The Look, similar to the effect it had on Shining Armor, was consciously focused this time. As a result, each of them were shaken enough to stop their argument and notice her presence. "Now, then..." Pinkamena said once she had their attention. "What is this all about?"
Spot Light looked like she was about to start up again, but Dewdrop put a hoof on her earth pony friend's shoulder and cleared her throat. "Rainbow Dash wasn't satisfied with the griffon illusion I made for her."
"You sabotaged me," Rainbow retorted angrily, but she stopped when Pinkamena turned toward her again. Not with a Look, but the threat of one remained present, so she restrained herself somewhat as she concluded, "I would've been a laughingstock in front of everypony..."
"It was pretty silly," Derpy giggled.
Pinkamena raised an eyebrow slightly and turned to Dewdrop. "Can you show me?"
The librarian sighed. "I don't know, it took a lot out of me just putting it on over the Eclipse illusion the first time. Trying to do it again could wipe me out to the point all the disguises would drop."
"Just a small one," Pinkamena urged. "And not over Rainbow Dash. Just something to show me what you did."
Dewdrop nodded a little and took a deep breath. As her horn lit up with a golden glow, she formed a small disc of light in the air, and began 'drawing' on it with her magic. It was simple and stylized like a cartoon, but clearly took on the image of a griffon with the same garish, spotted coloration that she had put on Rainbow Dash. Spot Light's jaw dropped open as her friend said, "See? It looks fine."
The gathered ponies and minotaur stared in stunned silence, more by Dewdrop's casual assertion that the colors were normal than by the image itself. The silence was finally broken by Fluttershy snorting before breaking out into uncontrollable laughter, which Derpy soon joined in on.
Dewdrop frowned slightly, furrowing her brow at the giggly pegasi. "What? What?"
"Dewy... you mean you actually did do that?" Spot Light asked, taking the librarian by surprise. "What were you think--"
Spot Light was cut off by Pinkamena raising a hoof. "Dewdrop... please describe this for us."
Dewdrop looked slightly confused, but did as she was asked. "Well, it's a griffon. Part eagle, part lion, with a green coat, and... I mean, a brown coat, but... it's... green... with... spots...?" Her face scrunched up in confusion that grew into worry as she looked at the image she had created. "It looks fine, but... it's... supposed to be brown...? I... I don't understand..."
The librarian's golden eyes clenched shut, then opened again and looked at the magical doodle in front of her. As if seeing it clearly for the first time, she gasped. "Sweet Luna... is that what I made you look like, Rainbow? I don't... I didn't mean to..."
Rainbow blinked in surprise. Hearing the distress in Dewdrop's voice, her voice and expression softened. "You really didn't realize it?"
When Dewdrop shook her head, Pinkamena assured her, "You've been working very hard. Sometimes our minds play tricks on us. Make us miss things that are right in front of our faces. Nopony is to blame. The important thing is that, despite anything that's gone wrong, everypony's been pulling together and thinking fast to keep the show running. If we can just get through the second half, everything will be fine. Okay?"
There were some murmurs of agreement, some of apology, and a general nodding of heads as the tense mood lifted.
Pinkamena said, "Alright. Fluttershy, I'll need you on the throne for the next little scene. Rainbow Dash, your next scenes aren't for a little while, so take some time to relax. I'll see you all later. Now if you'll excuse me, I just want to check in on Nocturne and the Crusaders before the curtains go back up."
With that, she left the group and made her way through the back of the theater. Instead of going straight to where Nocturne and her young charges would be waiting, however, she ducked into a little side-corridor and looked around. Finding nopony there, she said, "As I was walking up the stair, I met someone who wasn't there."
She waited for several seconds, but when nothing happened, she simply turned and went back on her way.
Once she was gone, nopony wondered aloud, "Well... what was that about?"
-----
Several minutes later...
Shining Armor returned to the balcony, a tub of popcorn and bag of jellybeans held in his magic. He offered each to the princess who had asked for them, but did so with a faraway look in his eyes as he took his place and simply stared straight ahead at the stage.
Seeing her soldier's stunned look, Celestia blinked and asked, "Shining Armor...? Are you alright?"
"Twiley will be holding her birthday party in Ponyville," Shining Armor replied in a somewhat distant voice. "I would like it if my parents and I could attend."
Celestia furrowed her brow in concern. "Of course... I'll see to it that you have that day off, but..."
Cadance opened her bag of candy with her magic while leaning over to get a better look at the stricken stallion. "Shining, are you... feeling well?"
"All shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well," he replied.
Princess Luna, who had taken the popcorn tub into her own magic and started experimentally licking the cardboard, perked her ears up when she heard this. "Verily? I am glad to hear it! I had been wondering. Now, by any chance can you help expand on what Cadance has been telling me of this 'rock music?' She was telling me of his majesty, the King, and how despite his title, he did not in fact rule over any nations?"
"No, Luna," Cadance explained patiently. "He didn't have a formal noble title of any kind, though aunt Celestia did knight him at one point. In fact, weren't there rumors of something between the two of you?"
Celestia grinned, a touch of pink on her ivory white cheeks. "What can I say? He made me feel young."
"Ahh, I see," Luna replied, nodding sagely. "And then, as your champion, he slew many foes in the battle between bands?"
"N-no, aunt Luna, a 'battle of the bands' is when-- Oh! The show is starting again," Cadance observed as the house lights dimmed once again, and everypony who wasn't in their seats hurriedly shuffled back into place.
-----
Pinkamena once again took her place in the center of the stage, a spotlight shining down on her while the string music that had been playing slowly transitioned into an electronic sound.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Shadow Over Equestria
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Based on "How the World Fell Under Darkness" by The Protomen)
"Many months passed, though time began to lose meaning with the sun and moon both permanently affixed in the sky. With the moon's shadow eternally cast over the land, Princess Celestia dared not allow the sun to set, for fear that it would bring about a winter not seen since the days of the Windigoes. The griffons and minotaurs, driven to arm themselves by Eclipse's manipulations, cast another shadow over the borders of our nation, and Equestria was forced to ready itself for war.
"Under Sungleam's command, able-bodied ponies were conscripted and armed to guard the borders. Those who could not be made ready to fight became refugees in their own country, forced to uproot from their homes and congregate far away from the regions where battle was most likely. To further bolster their numbers, Sungleam sought out the elusive fourth tribe, the thestrals who made their home in caves and mountains far apart from other ponies."
Behind Pinkamena, the curtains opened to reveal Celestia sitting upon her throne while Sungleam bowed before her. Celestia's lips moved, asking a silent question of her Captain of the Guard, and the similarly silent reply left Celestia drooping her head in sorrow.
"Sadly, rumor had traveled much faster than Sungleam's swiftest pegasi. The thestrals, being creatures of the night, had long revered and honored Princess Luna. Debates raged in their colonies about whether or not it was true that Princess Luna had been struck down by her own sister, or if it was the work of a spirit of shadow. In the end, unable to determine friend from foe, the thestrals agreed to remain neutral, neither helping nor directly hindering the other three tribes.
"But even though it was the will of the thestrals as a whole to remain hidden away in their colonies, not all were content to sit idly by. A few, fearing that inaction would lead to their ruin as well as the rest of Equestria's, left their homes to join Celestia's forces. Some others, believing that Celestia was the villain Eclipse had made her out to be, defected to take up arms alongside the griffons.
"And then there was one thestral, who answered a different call. A lone dreamer who was tasked with a mission of her own to restore the night sky.
"Her name... was Nyx."
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I shall rule this blank comments field with a iron fist.
Great
Yikes, Pinkamena and her eye ability is fairly terrifying.
THIS LUNA DOTH PLEASE US!!! MORE!!!
If only you knew...
... Except maybe you do.
I've always preferred Warren Hutch's term "Negasi" myself.
Anyway, nice breather, so let's get on with the show!