The dark presence of Luna’s radiant night cast itself over the magical land of Equestria. The luminous light of the silvery moon, dim as it was, bestowed a sense of peace and serenity upon the grand city of Canterlot. Along with the twinkling masses of stars scattered above the pitch-black sky, many civilians found the tranquil evening perfect to attend the late-night events, especially the ballet orchestra many wealthy folks had anticipated.
The Canterlot Opera House was indeed the place to be if one found the beauty of ballet their cup of tea. The opera house was filled with many talented mares and stallions alike. From dancers, to singers, to musicians and many more, nopony could find a place more impressive and entertaining than the Canterlot Opera House. Only the best and most talented could ever take part in such an exclusive business and Fleur de Lis knew that. She knew that very well.
In fact, she was one of those talented ponies. Not only she had talent, but beauty and grace along with it. She had once been a former model, though not much of a famous one. She did acquire her ability of grace from it, thankfully. Her beauty? She was born with it, like many of the Canterlot ponies.
However, while many Canterlot mares tried imitating the allure of commonly famous stars and regal families instead of appreciating the natural beauty they were given, her good looks were very unique and distinct from what most of the sophisticated society she grew up in would expect.
Some would describe her as a young Princess Celestia or Luna, as depicted from the many arts painted of the sun and moon equines. She half-agreed. She did have the physique of Princess Luna and the hair, eyes and coat of Princess Celestia, but she was her own mare.
She was a tall unicorn, but not as quite as skilled with magic as them. She also had an entirely different cutie mark from that of the royal majesties. Therefore, even if ponies did notice the resemblance and made their assumptions, she would let them know that she would never be like them or try to.
She knew who she was and nothing would ever change that, no matter what anypony else said.
“We’re up in five, ladies! Get your act together! Allons-y!” Yelled a dark-blue coated stallion with a stylish, combed-back silver mane that went by the name of Nightly Grace. Knowing of his embarrassment for his birth name and his regularly short fuse, most of the dancers in Fleur’s group would take part in making up the most absurd names to spite him, which worked surprisingly well most of the time.
“Yes sir, Grisly, sir!” Said the ballerinas, mimicking the popular military gesture, which, as usual, stirred an angry reaction out of the old manager.
“It’s GRACE! Not Grisly, not Grisly Bear, not Gracey, not anything but GRACE!” He huffed angrily, facing them all with a furious expression, staring down on them intensely. “You girls have exactly five minutes to finish prepping and get your rotten flanks on stage! If you don’t, there will be severe consequences and you will be---”
“…TRULYYYY SORRYYYYYY!” Lavender Blossoms bellowed, doing an awful impression of Nightly’s voice and French accent, instead sounding like a cat shrieking madly while being run over by a car.
Fleur promptly face-hoofed. ‘Here it goes…’ She thought, rolling her eyes as Nightly went about lecturing them heatedly, and resumed to adjust her flats straps.
“…AND DO YOU LADIES DARE QUESTION WHO IT WAS THAT HIRED YOUR SORRY FLANKS INTO THIS ONE-OF-A-KIND OPERA HOUSE? ME! NOT YOU SORRY SACKS OF CRAP …”
Fleur had dealt with this many times, show after show. Luckily, it wasn’t one of the worst-case scenarios, but tonight she secretly hoped it would be. Sure, there had been more yelling, profanity and threats to fire their “ungrateful, lazy, gossiping plots” but at least it would make them shut up and get serious.
She looked in the mirror, doing an once-over and deemed herself ready with a small smile. Dressed in the slimming, classical ballerina tutu with matching flats gave her and the rest of the group a mysterious, yet elegant appearance, along with their silky, half-bun manes. They were perfect.
“You now have TWO MINUTES to get on stage! Hurry up already!” Nightly said, seeming finished with his vent.
Still, as his hooves carried him out the door, the resistance for another one of their antics could not be stopped.
“Bye GRACEY-LACEY!” The girls shouted, bursting into laughter soon after he left with an angered groan, the wooden door slamming behind them.
Fleur spun around in her chair and turned to them, expression un-amused and sighed. “Do you all really have to do that to him? Do you bother to even consider his feelings after all he’s done for us?”
Lavender Blossoms walked over to her dance partner with a wide smile. “But that’s what makes it hilarious, Fleur! He’s so boring and he doesn’t know how to take a good joke!” The others nodded in agreement.
Irritated, Fleur noted that the jokes were running ill and told them how they’ll all be the death of him someday.
The girls giggled, not really taking what she had said seriously and they went back to their dressing stalls, trying to make sure that everyone was prepared.
Fleur waited patiently by the door of the stage. She was ready to take on the night. The night would be perfect and everypony would leave knowing that their performance was the best out of the rest. They will be Equestria’s best classical dancers!
No. She will. She will be the best! The best of them all! She’ll show Nightly, the Opera and the world that Fleur De Lis is the greatest ballerina and nothing will stop her! Especially not at the award ceremony! She will become the Swan Princess. It had been her life’s dream. Being crowned the Swan Princess will make her top Equestria’s best ballerina, Velvet Prancer!
Oh, how she envisioned the velvet-red mare handing her the intricate, silver lavaliere with the pristine, sparkling white moon. Princess Luna will request the Swan Dance from her, which will gather much attention from all parts of the world. She will become one of the biggest stars known to Equestria and she will grab herself the perfect gentlecolt and swim in the millions of bits she will have earned!
It sounded ridiculously impossible, but not to Fleur. Fleur was an over-achiever and when she wanted something, she’d do anything to get it. She made sure of that.
“We’re ready in ten, ladies! Be like Fleur and line-up at the door! Let’s give them a show!” The announcer, Sweet Melody, said urgently at the door, loud enough for them to hear. The girls groaned, looking at Fleur bitterly.
One of the dancers muttered something rather inappropriate about Fleur, but Fleur pretended not to notice. As much as her posse admired her personality and talents, they also held bitterness against her, noticing that she seemed to be a little miss perfect when it came to authority and the opera in general.
They arranged themselves in an orderly fashion behind the white mare and waited, trying to calm the nervousness they always felt before the start of a show.
At the stage, Sweet Melody stood close to the microphone and cleared her throat and looked upon the hundreds of ponies in the audience. With a smile, she proceeded to announce the next act to perform.
“Now we present to you the final act of the night and the act you all have awaited for! We give to you the amazing and mystical Dance of the Moon! Enjoy, everypony!”
Rose Petals ushered the group out on stage and they got into position. The soft, classical melody of the instrumental piano had commenced, which hushed the audience immediately. As the misty fog that had shadowed their figures cleared away, right on cue, Fleur led her coterie into the act.
The choreography was captivating; with graceful spins and pirouetting as the unicorn ponies used their magic to weave the story of the Moon Princess with their magical illustrations.
Moonflower, a Pegasus pony, playing the young and jealous Princess Luna, demonstrated the elegant, yet dark, figurative movements of the night pony. She glided alluringly across the air, wings in flight as she surrounded the sun princess, who was played by Fleur.
She landed daintily onto the floor of the “throne room” and leaped towards the elder princess and her henchmen. With a wicked smile upon her face, she looked at the beautiful mare madly, trying to negotiate with her, using the magic of illusion given by the unicorn dancers to portray her sad tale and unbridled envy.
Shocked and saddened by the assumptions the younger princess had made, Fleur desperately tried to tell her that ponies did appreciate her beautiful night and that she did have worthy significance, but Moonflower refused to believe it, turning her head away from the sun equine.
The music of the orchestra soon integrated the rapid rhythms of violins as the piano’s harmonious melody intensified into a darker, more dramatic tune.
Refusing to face her sister, Moonflower averted her gaze to the night sky as she watched the dancers. Her eyes quickly turned into a dragon-like shape. Her mane was changing into more mystical, flowing waves. Her lovely blue coat had darkened into a pitch-black color. Fleur didn’t fail to notice these rapid changes.
Fear was taking over her usually calm demeanor and the sun princess demanded to know what was happening. Moonflower refused to answer. A low, but cackling laugh was the only response emitted from her.
Fleur’s eyes widened as her “sister” looked back at her and grinned evilly. The unicorns depicted Moonflower’s new identity as Night Mare Moon and her plans to dominate Equestria.
Night Mare Moon claimed to be unstoppable, but Fleur knew that wasn’t so. Angrily looking upon the monster that had once been her sister, she revealed that she would never allow such danger to her planet and immediately harnessed the power of the “Elements of Harmony”. Fleur used her own magic to craft a gold tiara similar to that of the original and used colorful gems to portray the six artifacts.
Fleur stood from her throne and used her powers to activate the Elements as five ballerinas surrounded her, twirling in swift motions as the magic of the ancient items summoned a powerful prism of light that directly captured in her sister as she uttered a non-existent scream. The rainbow then vanished with a pop! and Fleur ran towards the window, looking at the sky frantically until her eyes came in contact with the moon.
She saw the face of Night Mare Moon engraved into the surface of the gray crater and she froze in shock.
“One thousand years…” A voice echoed throughout the room. “…until her return…”
The sun princess snapped from her shock, trying to process in the words. Realization hit her quickly and saw that this was no dream. The song was slowly coming to an end as it played lighter notes, and the dancers movements began to slow down its majestic, fast pace.
The finale was at its end, with Fleur losing her composition and breaking down in tears, though not making a sound. The magic in the room ceased and the curtains went down as a standing ovation was given.
Backstage, everypony was relieved that it was over. Many were to the point of exhaustion and some fell right asleep on the floor as soon as they got in the room. Fleur smiled and removed her crown, feeling quite proud of her “little ponies” as a certain somepony would say.
