Luna woke up in the sunlight. Somehow. Her wings were cramped and legs felt like jelly. She had pains in places she didn’t know she had. She stretched and a new level of pain was achieved.
She glanced at the bed that had held her sister, Celestia. It was empty. How the elder sister had the energy to still wake early and get out of bed Luna couldn’t fathom. Nor could she figure how that large body could fit in that tiny barrel the other day. She heard humming in the room of their ‘royal suite’. The kitchenette was being used by none other than the Princess of light herself. Luna was weary.
“Oh good morning, Luna,” Celestia said in her irritating perky voice. Voices like that shouldn’t be heard before coffee. “How did you sleep? Still getting used to being up during the day I see.”
“Mmmph,” grumbled the groggy sister. “How is it that you can be so cheerful? And so limber for that matter? We just went down a waterfall in a barrel and yet here you are making...waffles?”
“Waffles are my specialty,” reminded the energetic Celestia. “Besides, I know you didn’t have as much fun as I did so I thought you might appreciate a full breakfast.”
Luna looked at the smiling waffle with its blueberry eyes and strawberry tie. The rest was covered in a heavy layer of whipped cream.
“Full? Full of sugar, more like,” Luna shot back. She relented as soon as she saw her sister’s face. She remembered the lesson that Starlight had taught her and sighed. “Very well. Mayhaps my body could use the sugar to heal.”
“That’s the spirit!” grinned her sister. “Now, I thought of what I want to do with my turn tonight.”
“Does it involve more water and cramped spaces?”
“Not cramped, just kind of crowded. But no water.”
Luna looked into her sister’s beaming face. There was so much trouble in that noble look. She knew this was something that she would dread. But they had agreed to accompany one another on their activities. She knew she couldn’t escape it. Whatever it was. “Just tell me.”
“Well, after we finish that garden class you wanted to do, which I am very much looking forward to.” Her sister’s face said she wasn’t. “We are going to see a Rawr concert!”
“A concert?”
“Yup!”
“I do like music,” pondered the Princess of the Night. “What is the catch?”
“What catch? It’s a concert.”
“But I have nothing to wear,” explained Luna. She thought of all the fancy dresses that she had at home. She didn’t want to be seen at a fancy concert without the proper attire.
“Oh we won’t be going as Princesses,” Celestia declared with a dismissive wave of her hoof. “Do you remember that spell we came across that removes our alicorn powers and returns us to our pre-princess state?”
“We will not have our power?!” Luna's voice made it clear this was not a comfortable notion.
“Just temporarily,” explained Celestia. “The spell will wear off after the concert is over.”
“Why would we need to seal our powers? Normally we would be given seats in a fine viewing area. I can see no advantage in appearing different.”
“Well this isn’t the type of concert you’re used to. This is a Rawr concert!” declared the sun Princess triumphantly. She brought up the flyer that had been laying next to her on the table.
Luna peered at the hovering piece of paper hoping to understand this mystery. It read “RAWR: Death Concert! Watch the baddest band in all of Equestria as they play the most brutal metal in the land! Come and watch them play their competitors to death! An audience member is killed every show!” The strange creatures that held the instruments seemed to be made of foam. Their grotesque looking forms were dark and evil looking.
“Huh...this one looks like a skeletal Tirek!” cried Luna. What in Equestria was Celestia thinking? Why would she want to go to a concert like this?
“That is Thotor, destroyer of the weak minded,” Celestia in a low voice emphasising Thotor’s immense power. “Come on! It will be fun.”
“It says that a member of the audience gets killed every show!”
“If we can only be so lucky. That’s one of the major reasons I want to go in disguise. If we go as ourselves they will feel compelled to kill us or change the show for us in some way. But if we are normal unicorns then we have the same shot as everypony else. It will mean more.”
“So you do not wish to alter the show. I suppose it is a valid reason to go in disguise.” Luna said thoughtfully. “I still do not know why we have to give up our powers though.”
“Luna. We are exceptionally tall. It will cause us to stand out and besides I do not want to hurt any pony in the MOSH PIT,” Celestia said in a strange, unnerving manner.
“I do not think I will like this pit of mosh.”
“Luna. You have to loosen up,”said the sunny sister as she lightly shook Luna to emphasize her point. Every nerve in the night Princess’s body screamed at her that barrels were for pickles not ponies.
“We’re on vacation,” Celestia continued, unaware of the pain she caused. “Ponies have fun like this all the time. And we should know what moves our populace. We should be knowledgeable about their activities.”
“I suppose that is a way to look at it,” Luna said thoughtfully. “I would like to connect to more ponies. It feels as though I am always lagging in communication after my return.”
“This will help with that. If you let it. If you stand in the corner with a scowl on your face you’ll never really experience anything.”
“I will try, my sister. Though the customs of the ponies of this era are quite odd.”
“Come on. I think you will have fun,” Celestia said with an unsettling smile.
Luna didn’t really like the idea of jumping into things that she didn’t know. Especially when Celestia grinned like that. It was similar to the grin she wore before they were stuffed into a barrel. But the idea of connecting deeper with her subjects was hard to pass up. She stretched the kinks out again and prepared to do some gardening. She took solace in the fact that her choice was first.
***
The gardening was relaxing. She could feel her body unwinding as the careful clippers trimmed the rose bush she was tending. The delicate fragrance told her it was safe here. Nothing would hurt her or scare her. It was only her and the gentle clip of the shears. The mental focus allowed Luna to let all the aches of her body melt away. It took the worry of this evening with it. It was a very calm and serene spot.
“Shoot. Oh dear...”
Her sister however was having a rough time. The Princess of the light squirmed and wiggled. The shears were cutting far too much. The poor bush looked hacked and mangled. Each snip was sharp and echoed in its furiosity. Luna could feel her wings twitch each attempt.
“I don’t think that is quite what I am aiming for,” Celestia admitted with a sigh.
“You are aiming for what the bush is telling you,” the kirin teacher informed her. “The bush knows how it likes to grow. Look at its curvature. Feel it rising towards the sun. It’s telling you how it wants to be cut.”
“Mmm, is it telling me to cut it like this?” The flustered Princess indicated the deformed plant. She smiled a disarming smile.
“No.”
The smile fell from the Princess’s face. “Well I guess we can’t all speak to plants.”
“The problem isn’t speaking, it's listening. Your mind is not with the plant. It is someplace else. The plant is screaming at you but you can not hear it. I suggest, Princess, that if you can’t hear the plant then you should do nothing,” the curt kirin spoke, completely devoid of annoyance. “Sit with the plant until you can hear it. Be with the plant.”
Luna stifled a giggle while she watched Celestia being scolded. It reminded her of the days they had spent with Starswirl the Bearded. Celestia was so eager that the old colt would often make her sit in the corner until she had calmed down. Her sister seemed to be as erratic as the sun she was connected to. She returned to her bush and did one more quiet snip.
“The bush speaks with a soft and subdued voice to you. Do you understand it?” asked the garden master.
“Well, I just kind of felt the way the branches wanted to go and helped them grow that way.”
“It’s a simple answer but also not a right one,” informed the kirin. “You are letting the plant have its way. This is a conversation with the plant. You are part of it too. The talk between the garden and the gardener is shown in its care. Don’t let it rule you but do not over bear it. Allow the conversation to flow together. Some of you should be in this plant too.”
Luna heard a slight snicker behind her. She sighed. It was an interesting conversation that the plant communicated. She tried tuning into the subtle way the plant moved. The way the wind moved the brushy branches. The way that Celestia stood over her and breathed down her neck!
“Must you do that, sister?” asked the tranquil mare.
“I’m eavesdropping on your conversation. Or dare I say leavesdropping?” the elder sister said with a slight chuckle. “I think my bush has had enough of my ‘talk.’ Shall we go and get ready for tonight?”
Her excitement was palpable. Celesta’s aura agitated the very air around the calm bubble that Luna had placed herself in. Luna could not “hear” anything else that close to that energy.
“Very well,” sighed the younger alicorn. She looked at the spoiled bush. She knew that she would have many other conversations like this. She bowed and went to prepare for the concert.
***
Luna looked at the clothes Celestia had picked out for her. They sagged in an odd way and were full of holes. Some of those holes were in places that accentuated parts of her in ways she thought were...shameful.
Her body was strange too. She felt so close to the ground. It felt so tiny and frail. It was hard to believe that anypony could feel secure in a body like this. Her splendid mane hung limply over her eye. It’s midnight blue color had lightened to a brighter electric blue. Her coat was darker than her original. It wasn’t emanating moonlight any more. She looked over at her sister.
Celestia was dressed in a similar manner; only the clothes clung to her even more evocatively. She also wore fishnet stockings on her legs. Her coat had darkened without its light to a warm yellow. Her quadrachromic mane had become bicolored. All that remained was the cerulean and heliotrope streaks that stuck out in obtuse angles. Some sort of manestyle that she had insisted was ‘normal’ for these events.
The two unicorns found themselves in front of the venue and Luna’s nerves started to jiggle again. This was nothing like the type of concert she was used to. The ponies here looked more outrageous than Celestia did. Strange manes that stuck straight up like a zebra. Snouts with bits of metal sticking out of them. Many wore studded colors around their necks. With the ‘style’ of clothing Luna began to wonder if a stray breeze would shred half of the attendees’ garments off completely. Not that it would be that different she supposed but these ponies went out of their way to wear clothing. One would think they would take better care of it.
Celestia was dancing in excitement. She grabbed her sister’s hoof and dragged the poor disguised princess to the ticket booth. Luna was rushed past a myriad of strange characters and nearly had her mane burned off by a fire breathing pony. She doubted he had a permit for that. From the singes on his beard she doubted he was even a professional.
The excited princess wasted no time and entered the venue with her sister in tow. There Luna experienced a new level of claustrophobia. If the barrel felt cramped and tight, this was smothering. The ponies were packed together like...like..she couldn’t even think of a metaphor she was so cramped. And then a strange smell wafted into her snout. It was some sort of burning plant. Its pungency removed all traces of the delicate fragrance of roses she smelled earlier.
The lights cut out. Luna was completely disoriented. The crowd became deafening in excitement. She couldn’t see. She couldn’t hear. She leaned instinctively on her sister who was adding her voice to the cacophonous roar.
She could feel her head beginning to pound. Then she realized it was a bass drum. A screeching guitar joined it and lit up Luna’s mind with electricity. She felt every nerve in her body scream from just its force. A dark growling voice bellowed out in the darkness.
“Are you ready...TO DIE?!”
The singer didn’t wait for a customary response and assaulted the crowd with blinding light. The crowd yelled at the band in glee. Luna couldn’t understand the strange behavior of these ponies or her sister with them.
The band began playing with such force and speed that all the former alicorn could hear was the buzz of noise. The audience began to ungulate and move. They were bouncing and bumping into one another in what looked like a most painful manner. Luna herself was nearly struck in the ear. She backed up. She noted her sister eagerly jumped into the pile of thrashing fans. Celestia looked like a warrior goddess at that moment.
What sort of concert was this? The rhythms of the “music” was barely decipherable at this volume. Not that participants could appreciate it if it was. Luna moved through the battlefield of fans in a desperate bid to escape. She weaved her way to the safety of the back corner and finally caught breath. What had Celestia been thinking? This was chaos. Perhaps her sister had been replaced with the beast of chaos as a prank. No, she wouldn’t have needed the spell if she had. And Discord would not have been able to handle that long a ruse. This was Celestia.
Luna huffed and puffed in the corner but that strange smell followed her. The air was saturated with it. It made her feel a little dizzy. She took some large breaths and thought of the calming rose bush. It was there in her mind. Its branches reached to the heavens like the crowd reached toward the band. The leaves rubbed each other in the wind like the audience slammed into one another.
Then the princess of the night saw it. Or heard. She could see the “conversation” with the bush in the crowd. It moved and flowed like the bush had. Once again she wasn’t involved. She was aware of it but didn’t allow her own voice to be heard. She needed to be a part of it to truly understand the bush’s lesson and connect to the subjects of the land. She needed to interact.
Luna hesitated. The throng of brawling ponies increased and began striking one another. The hits weren’t full force but the recipients reacted in pain. In this frail form the disguised alicorn form she felt quite vulnerable.
It did not matter, she determined. She watched as her sister looked around for her. The disheveled unicorn had a black eye and her odd mane style looked even worse.
Luna took another large breath and plunged into the ocean of madness. Hooves lashed out right and left. Luna attempted to dodge them all. Finally a rump collided with her side. She was knocked off balance and into an unsuspecting pegasus. She was shoved back into the fray. The hooves and bodies were jostling each other this way and that. The princess could only see one course of action. Show them her true power. She wasn’t an alicorn right now. She wouldn’t hurt them like she was normally afraid of.
The inner frustration of constantly tightrope walking in court began to take over. The lust for battle overwhelmed her senses. This was why Celestia wanted to come. It was akin to the old times they shared. On the battle front. Well Luna was certainly no slouch. Her furocity was well known. It was time to remind them why.
The Princess’s muscles flexed in a way they hadn’t in millennia. She lashed out with her rage and bowled over a nearby earth pony. He collapsed into another group but quickly got up grinning. He returned in kind and the unicorn felt hard pressed to stand. It became a shoving match until the rest of the audience wanted to join. It started to become a free-for-all. Hooves, bodies, horns, all of them moving in a frantic hoard to the beat of the music. The music finally made sense. Its thrashing tempo and growling lyrics aided the feel of battle.
The music stopped and the combatants slowed. The large, horned singer bellowed into the microphone once again. “Minions! Tonight we dedicate this concert to the princess of darkness we follow. Princess Luuuunaaaa.”
Lune froze in surprise. Had she been discovered? She looked at the stage in confusion and watched a foam effigy of herself waddle onto the stage. It maintained a giant foam chainsaw.
“Watch as our warrior goddess dispatches all her competition!” the singer commanded.
A large group of prosthetic laden creatures appeared on stage and surrounded the “princess.” The foam alicorn whirled about in mock worry. Then suddenly leapt forth with her screaming chainsaw. Its “blade” found home in their soft latex prosthetics and ripped them open. The crowd was showered in fake blood and organs made of an unknown meat. The audience shrieked their adulation. A chant began by a large pegasus. “Luna! Luna! Luna!”
The crowd echoed the sentiment and Luna felt a tear whell up in her eye. These were her people after all. Though they showed it in strange ways. They truly did appreciate her.
“Oh no!” shouted the singer. “Her sister decided to put a stop to her battle!”
An overly large and ridiculous looking puppet of Celestia appeared on stage. Its eyes didn’t point in the same direction and looked shoddily made compared to the Luna one. It reared up and urinated on the Luna puppet. The crowd was showered with the alicorn fluid. They roared in glee while Luna searched the crowd for her real sister. She found Celestia close to the stage screaming in glee next to the other fans. The sun princess was coated in gore.
Luna took the opportunity to rejoin the sticky looking princess. She shifted through the crowd that was now transfixed on the epic fluid battle as the “Luna” returned the insult in kind. She found herself walking into her own character’s urine stream as it cheekily turned towards the crowd. There were ponies wildly basking in it like a holy fountain. As she closed the distance as the foam effigy attacked its younger sister. It clubbed the oversized chainsaw out of “Luna’s” hooves and grappled with the puppet furiously.
“Isn’t this great?!” screamed Celestia over the crowd as Luna approached. “It’s amazing! I have never had so much fun. Are you having fun?!”
“I am. It’s quite vigorous.”
She was about to say more when her body was showered with fake blood as one of the puppet Celestia’s “strikes” hit Luna in the face. The Luna retaliated with a large cylindrical tube it pulled from its back. The tube fired off a puff of smoke and the foam Celestia exploded in a cascade of blood. The real Celestia screamed in sheer elation along with the crowd. Once again Luna found herself coated along with her sister.
The band started playing a Glory to Luna song while the victorious puppet showboated around the stage. The crowd could not be sated. The loud music made Luna feel excited as well. It’s harshness caused her adrenaline to flow and she considered returning to the stomping and pushing foray.
The strange Luna puppet suddenly stopped its dance and pointed its oversized hoof at Luna herself. She sat there stunned. It pointed again and the crowd started to settle down. The band ceased its song. Had Luna been discovered for real this time? The crowd and band and gigantic Luna were all staring at her. She tried to find her sister when the spotlight illuminated her completely. She was blinded to everything around except the stage and that pointing puppet of herself.
“Ladies and gentlecolts, Luna has chosen!” the horned pony of doom cried in a fever pitch. The crowd exploded in sound. There were screams and cries from the shadowy audience and Luna felt like she was on trial.
“The sacrifice has been demanded! Luna has chosen her victim! Come up on stage little filly..and PREPARE..TO...DIIIE!”
Luna looked to her sister in confusion. “I’m to die?” she asked.
“Yes! Go!” insisted Celestia with a slight push.
“I’m to die!” the elated victim screamed. She hopped up on stage with her frail body. It was quite a large jump for legs so short. The foam Luna beckoned as a large oversized machine was wheeled out with deadly looking cogs. It was covered in blood colored paint and the bottom was a box made of rubber. Leather clad minions carefully placed the box upon taped x’s on the floor that were invisible to the crowd.
The giant horned singer approached her. “What is your name little pony?” his dark voice growled.
“Moondancer.” Luna answered. It was the only name she thought of quickly enough. Who wasn’t famous.
“Are you prepared to die for your Princess of Darkness?”
“Oh yes!”
“Your name shall be written in the annals of Death! Such is the way of the sacrifices! May the dark pony of dreams guide your way..to Die! Die! Die!”
The singer started his song with the band thrashing their guitars at the first mention of “Die.” The crowd chanted and the drums beat a funeral march. Luna was led by her own effigy to the multi geared contraption.
“I want you to really ham this up,” the stallion in the Luna suit whispered. “Try to scream in horror, not excitement. Remember you’re dying. Sell it. The crowd loves it. There is a trap door in the floor you’ll fall through so don’t be too surprised.”
Luna nodded in understanding. Then the puppet Princess gently pushed her to the awaiting minions. They lifted the filly up and began feeding her into the machine. The gears began turning far above Luna’s body but she guessed it looked closer to the audience. Then she was sprayed with gallons of fake blood as she was “mulched”.
“Aaaa, aaaa,” she screamed in unconvincing fashion. She had a hard time screaming as the blood splashed into her mouth. “I am slain!”
The crowd screamed as Luna fell through the floor. She could just make out the voice of the actor. “That was horrible.”
The mat under the stage was soft and the little unicorn landed with a floof. “Blood” still stained her clothes and dripped steadily from the trap door above. A pony showed up with a towel and thanked her for her sacrifice to Luna.
“Did you enjoy the show ma’am?” The stage hand asked.
“That was exhilarating! It was a most fine concert. Please continue the good work!” she cried beaming.
“Yeah. We’ll get right on that,” the stage pony said flatly, “Have this commemorative Rwar T Shirt and hat. Now write your name in this book. It will appear on our list of ‘victims’ for the next concert. Thanks for loving Rwar. And if we’re in your area come see us again.”`
***
“I haven’t felt a rush like that in ages!” screamed Luna when Celestia finally caught up to outside. “It was like defeating a dragon!”
“That is the power of Rwar,” Celestia explained. “You got to die. That looked like fun.”
“Well you also died in effigy.”
“That’s not the same. Still I probably wouldn’t have done as good a job dying as you did. I’m not the thespian you are.”
“No,” Luna admitted, trying to shake the actor’s comment from her mind. “But this was a truly memorable night! Perhaps we should partake of this concert again. In the future.”
“You have to let me die if they pick you again,”agreed Celestia with a wink.
The sisters giggled and returned to their hotel room dripping with “blood”.
