Curtain Call

by lunabrony

01 - Return

It was almost sunrise. A time which should have been joyous, for it was one of the few times when Princess Celestia got quality time with her sister. One of two short periods each day when, technically, they were both off duty. Luna had only returned several weeks earlier, but there had been significant tension between them. Tension that Celestia desperately wanted to remove.

"I wonder if its this coffee," Celestia floated a cup of the bitter brew away from her sister. Coffee was fairly new to Canterlot, and most of its residents absolutely hated the stuff. The sun was rising slowly, and Luna was still not really exhausted. It was just one of those days. "Princess Novaria sent it to me from Evodia, her daughter found it in a distant land. Wouldn't say where she got it from, though. It's effective, but you have to get used to the taste." Hesitantly she gave the half empty cup a sip and grimaced, nearly spitting it out. "That's... certainly an interesting aroma." She put it down and looked to Luna, feeling disconnected with her sister.

The princess of the night had indeed, had a few cups of the new import, but it wasn't what kept her up. She felt out of time again. New accents and dialects, foreign behavior, a thousand years of history she had missed. And Celestia, though always her bigger sister and still recognizable, was not the same. Feeling more like a mother than her sister. Luna was co ruler, she kept the night, but her sister was still the true ruler of Equestria. Ponies feared her, dignitaries asked for Celestia, and councils went to her for advice. A blue mood if any, and she was dark blue so it fit her like a velvet glove. The coffee had been fittingly bitter. "Aren't you going to read the letter that has arrived for you?" Celestia asked.

Luna was not jealous of her sister, at least not in the way she once had been. Celestia ruled Equestria better than she ever could, and Luna still had hundreds of books to read. Perhaps thousands. Occasionally when Celestia wasn't looking she would sent a book to Twilight and request a summarized report to save her the trouble. Of course then she'd get back hundreds of pages with color coded notations and alphabetized sources that was even harder to read than reading the book itself in the first place. But what Luna did miss was companionship, she always got excited when she saw someone enter the Royal Chambers, but it was always the same. Aurora Wave requesting an audience with Princess Celestia. Flowing River requesting an audience with Princess Celestia. Luna looked up, brought out of her loneliness.

"What? Oh. Of course." She slit it open with her horn, and the contents floated in front of her.

It was a deceptively plain letter, though the envelope had been fairly stylishly decorated with a silver trim. The paper itself was fairly dark and the letters done in silver. They looked typed, but they weren't, she could recognize brush strokes. Each letter delicately painted in. "Princess of the night, drawer of the moon, her royal highness Luna, is invited to the Canterlot Theatre Mask, on the humble request of its actor Tragic Comet, in order to seek her approval for the upcoming Eternal Love tragedy play in which he'll be starring as in the portrayal of your highness." There were further details about when the show was to air, several months in the future it seemed. Celestia was already up, slipping the golden yoke around her neck and slipping on her crown and shoes. She seemed almost oblivious to Luna's discomfort.

"Good letter? Oh, I'm off, it's getting late!" She quickly downed the rest of the coffee with a disgusted grunt and with a bolt she set off out of one of the tower windows.

Luna was not easily surprised, but this caught her completely off guard. She'd expected Celestia to stick around a bit longer, and sighed. She mumbled a goodnight to her sister, her eyes on the letter. It took her less than a few moments to decide she was interested. She summoned a small number of her loyal guards, and politely requested her chariot be prepared for immediate departure. It was sunrise, she could be there within the hour.

The vast army that Nightmare Moon had commanded wasn't hers anymore, disbanded long since. However getting loyal recruits had been no issue. Some from Celestia's squadrons, others voluntarily. They needed some modifications to do the job, they seemed to take that with pride. They always had. Flying on your own for long was hard work, and working up a sweat was not princess like. And riding a chariot never got dull, though she'd had to requisite it back from the Canterlot museum of ancient relics. Spikey, angular, and a ton of iron work held aloft by magic mostly. And magic mostly was what kept it from falling apart now. However it looked the part, though still as terrifying as it had always been.

There was no need to clear a landing area for her. Ponies moved away from her in a large circle. Not all screams this time, things had changed. Especially since the Nightmare Night incident.They weren't cowering, but they didn't have the look of anticipation they had when Celestia was coming. Some genuflected, others bowed, some still stood a bit paralyzed with fear. Before her was the theater named Mask. Vertical columns marked the entrance. Two pony shaped masks adorned the top of the entrance, one sad, one happy. In her time there had been performances, but they had been centered around an outdoor amphitheater, this closed building was something different.

Luna never felt necessarily ignored, but she did sometimes feel unwanted. Her own birthday had been a very minor event, much to the annoyance of Pinkie Pie. It would have been too dangerous to host a large event. Luna gave a routine smile at the ponies, instructed her guards to wait outside, and entered. She wasn't surprised by too many things anymore, living for thousands of years did that.

Daily doses of the unfamiliar had gotten familiar, paradoxically. The lobby was pleasantly decorated. Not the gaudy royal unicorn style that the Canterlot castly had turned into. Yet it was not familiar to Luna either. In a city that was half marble, and full of large open windows, and burning street lights at night, this theater was different. The lighting was subdued, the windows were closed and drawn. There was silence, but then that was of course because when she had entered ponies had stopped speaking to each other. A young pegasi colt suddenly rushed away and flew through a quick latch in a wall. Currently a comedy play was going on inside called Midsummer's Mule.

"Uh... uhm... excuse me your highness." The well dressed ticketmaster said. "But I...uh... am afraid the show is already half done." They hadn't been informed of her arrival. They should have known better. Thankfully she was saved the embarrassment of having to ask about the invitation, because a side door burst open revealing a white earth pony colt, growing, almost not a colt anymore. His mane was a golden color. He genuflected correctly, a short graceful bow on one leg, short, the kind of genuflection you'd make when apologizing. He stood again, his pose suggested confidence. "Princess Luna, I apologize for this, I'm Tragic Comet, we didn't expect you to respond so quickly." A controlled enthusiasm.