The barren Canterlot street was quiet and still. There were few that were out at this time of night, treading along the cracked pavement that had stopped its silent plea for repair long ago. Those who dared linger between the moonbeams that fell softly onto the empty road weren't of the usual type that strayed in the day, the ones who were content chatting quietly among friends and silently judging each other's outfits, which had been bought with twice the money that a normal earth pony could earn in her lifetime a few short centuries ago. No, these were the thieves, the dealers, the gamblers, and those who quietly slipped from the law's loose grip. Among them, tonight, was an astronomer.
The astronomer, in his faded trench coat, didn't much care for the street before him, but more for the sky above. His yellow and blue mane swept around his horn and forehead in the gentle breeze, as his faded blue coat shimmered slightly with what light the blinking streetlamps could give. His vibrant, blue eyes, though, looked to the stars, and yet...Night Fall's mind was elsewhere.
“And to think that I hadn’t thought of this sooner!” he called to nopony in particular. “All this time, and I hadn’t had a second thought as to the possibility of other constellation creatures. An Ursa Minor attacked Ponyville a while back, and it was on the bloody news! How did I not think of this then??” He groaned in frustration. “You know, Spark, I could’ve gotten a lot more done tonight if you hadn’t sent me home,” he said to the empty street. Night Fall knew that if he had this argument with the real First Spark, it would’ve been a pointless effort, but playing it out in his head gave him a better grip on the situation, so it went.
“I don’t need sleep, I’ve got my coffee. I’ve got my naps. I’ve got time…I don’t need…” he said, before yawning, “sleep…”
“And yet, you’re still going home.”
Night Fall snapped from his weary state immediately. He looked around, but saw nopony. In fact, he wasn’t even sure where the voice had come from in the first place. It just seemed far off, yet right in front of him at the same time.
“Who’s there?” he called.
“I’d answer, but the answer’s not important here. You are.”
The voice was soft, faded, and sad, a perfect match for the lone street. Night Fall scanned the skies to make sure it was no devious pegasus hovering above him. The skies were just as clear as the ground, if not more so. The stars seemed to glare down and mock Night Fall, a reminder that this time could’ve been used to watch and track them, so he looked back to the streets.
“First Spark, I swear, if this is another one of your ‘jokes’, I will not hesitate to-”
“Oh, it’s not a joke, Night Fall. Don’t doubt it,” the voice said, cutting him off. Night stopped. Did.. did it just…?
“I never mentioned my name,” Night Fall said uncertainly. He stood still, only his ears swiveling about to try and locate the source of the noise.
“Of course you didn’t,” came the voice, and this time, Night Fall was able to pin it to a location, to his left, on the other side of the street. He turned sharply and galloped towards the figure, standing still in the light of the streetlamp, and he could vaguely make out a purple cloak, covered in runes, before it disappeared as he approached.
“We’ve been watching you for a while now, you’d at least think we’d know your name?” taunted the voice, back on the other side of the street, inside a dress shop’s display window. She (Night Fall was assuming the voice was a she, for it sounded feminine) laughed a dark laugh as Night Fall sprinted to the other side of the street again, only to have her disappear. He stomped his hoof to the ground as he reached the voice’s would-be hiding spot.
“Coward! Seeker of shadows! Come out and face me if you wish to speak to me. I’ve no time for codswallop.”
“In due time, but first…” came the voice, as she continued to jump in and out of being around the astronomer (and as he tried again and again, in vain, to catch this shadow).
“An introduction. I’m here to represent the New Dawn and her leader, and to help imagine a world of change.” Night Fall skidded to a halt, in the middle of the street, at the word “change”. He turned around slowly, to where he could see the bundle of purple, woven fabric speak.
“Change, you say?” The response was an unmistakable smirk, he could tell from a mile away, even from under the bundles of cloth.
“Can you imagine for me, Night Fall, a world where ponies are happy? A world where innovators and idea-makers are the rulers, and everypony strives to press forward? To change? Can you imagine a world where there is no monarchy, no oppression, no rejection, where every idea is welcomes with open hearts? It’s the New Dawn’s purpose to realize that dream. It’s our leader’s purpose to realize that dream. We welcome innovators and boundary-breakers, like you.”
Night Fall took a step back.
“But there’s a catch, isn’t there? A trick I’m not getting?” A few more steps back. Working it out, stalling, until…it clicked.
“No monarchy? You’re going to overthrow the princesses!!” he yelled. Change or no change, conspiracy against royalty is high treason. This pony…er…thing…is done hiding beneath its cloak. Night Fall let himself a moment to build up his magic reservoir, overflowing its capacity to hold the mana needed to teleport. It would certainly drain him, yes. At best, he’d be too weary to stand up straight. At worst, though…the mana he would’ve built up wouldn’t be enough and the spell would take the magic from his own life, knocking a few years out of his life span.
The pony in the cloak stepped backwards at his renewed angry glare, and blinked to the top of a nearby storefront. Night Fall followed the pony’s movement with dots of eyes, and cast the spell, making the area around the roof top ripple with the displaced air and sudden movement of mass that simply could not go at that speed. Usually magic was there to lessen the voids and help air ease back into place, but from an inexperienced spell-caster, things going wrong took their toll.
Night Fall stood on the roof, shaken, and he collapsed to his knees soon after. The pony in the cloak stood before him, unshaken by the shift in the world around her. She looked down triumphantly and continued.
“Isn’t it time they were overthrown anyway? Our leader says they’re ancient. Set in their ways. Unwilling to accept the change that you and I have to offer,” she said. She noticed the skepticism on Night Fall’s face and chuckled. “Yes, you too. Your destiny is to change, Night Fall. Not just yourself, but the others around you. Why hide it in a dusty old trench coat? Are you not proud that you single hoofedly redefined the laws of astronomical science? Are you not proud of the way you stood up to others that tried to oppress your thoughts, to keep you and others from growing and learning?”
The unicorn stood slowly, still weary from the spell. He glared at the bundle of cloak, and spoke slowly.
“You…are bonkers. We haven’t been oppressed all of these years, we don’t need to be happy, we already are. I did change the system, so isn’t that proof enough that it can be done?” He shook his head. “Whatever you’re doing, no matter how intriguing it may seem to others, I won’t fall into this trap. This conversation is over.” Night Fall turned around to the ladder leading into the alleyway besides the store and was almost there before the figure spoke again.
“They thought you were wrong, you know.”
Night Fall stopped, cringing. Now there’s a nerve I never want to have struck again. He turned to see the pony, and there was a looseness, a genuine aspect to her image that was absent before. She took the smallest of steps forwards, and sighed.
“They thought you were wrong about everything you did purely out of love for science ans helping it to grow. The countless nights spent stargazing, scrolls and scrolls of scribbles and mathematical formulas, the bags under your eyes gained from straining them to get the exact location of a star down to fully understand its orbit, it was all turned down at a glance. Who was this colt, to come striding in thinking he knew better than his superiors? Who spent years studying what he must’ve spent a few off-hoofed glances at? They thought you were wrong, Night Fall. They didn’t even give you a chance. Is that accepting change with open arms?”
He hung his head slightly, and continued walking, much slower, though.
“Tell your leader that the effort was nice, but she’s not going to diddle me into joining the New Dawn. I’m not that daft,” he jabbed, reaching for the ladder.
“I wouldn’t be so blunt, Night Fall. She is your friend, after all.”
Night Fall stopped. Turned around. Looked at the cloaked pony, his disbelieving eyes staring into her cold, smug eyes.
It can’t be…can it? She wouldn’t…no…not Spark?
“Think, astronomer. Your brains got you your position, use them now. What is at the beginning of every great flame? What must be there to ignite change?”
When she was answered only by a slight drop of Night Fall’s jaw, she continued.
“She’s been waiting for you, you know. Waiting for the right amount of resources. The right talent. Enough emphasis and devotion put into this organization that you’d help her-” A nod from Night Fall. “-believe in her-” Another nod. “-and be willing to lead the New Dawn by her side.” Another nod, followed by hoofsteps. He walked away from the ladder, interest renewed.
This was Sparkie this whole time…she thought I’d think of her as bonkers? I wouldn’t, I’d follow her. She’s a sensible pony, and she knows what she’s doing. She didn’t have to go and get a bloody cloak to recruit me for her, though…I’m so sorry…
“It’s taken her months to build up her forces and get to a point where you wouldn’t think her mad, but she’s finally done. The last piece…is y-”
“NIGHT FALL!!!”
The unicorn broke away from the cloaked one’s gaze to look up and see a white pegasus with a blue mane hurdle into him, making them both crash into the already fractured store roof.
The world around Night Fall was dim and distorted. A blob of white and blue hung over his head, blocking his view of the stars. It was shouting, too, but it was hard to make out. A few words were getting through… “teleport”… “now”… “hurry”… but everything else was unintelligible gibberish. He raised his head slowly, and was vaguely aware of being dragged away from the cloaked agent, who seemed to be building black mana around her every second. It was as big as the length of the pony. He was being dragged away. It was half as much more as it was, and he felt his trench coat snag on a piece of roof cement. The blob was now twice as big as the length of the pony, and he heard a thud from behind him. The pegasus must’ve fallen when he’d caught.
The blob was gone, and two deadly bolts of shadow were hurled straight for the two. Night Fall’s eyes opened wide, and a shield spell was cast fasten than he’d ever cast any spell before. He shook out of his daze, stood up, and looked to he pegasus laying in the rubble next to him. The blur in his vision was gone, and he could make out the lightning streaks in her blue hair and the blue, mechanical wing in place of her left wing. She stood, searched confused for any clue as to what was going on, before her eyes rested on Night Fall. Her eyes widened, and she scrambled to her hooves.
“Night Fall! An agent got you too?? Did they say the leader was me? What happened? What did that thing do?” The bombardment of questions kept going, until Night Fall himself spoke.
“Spark, you’re NOT the leader? But I thought-”
“It was a trick, Nighty. A lie. She was using empathy to get you to join her ‘New Dawn’, and I almost did too. Until I saw that you weren’t where they promised you’d be, and then I kn-” She doubled over and hugged her chest as a flicker of black smoke-like magic escaped the spot where, evidently, Night Fall’s shield spell had been too late to catch it.
The magical shield bubble surrounding them flickered, and both ponies turned their heads to see the agent of the New Dawn growing a new blob of dark magic. The look in her eyes was deadly. Night Fall turned back to the pegasus and spoke slowly.
“First Spark, I need you to listen to me very carefully. You can’t protest, you can’t reason with me because my mind is already made up.” First Spark nodded. “I’m going to drop my shield right before the bolts shatter my shield and use what mana I have to teleport you back to my house, alright?” Spark’s ears went flat, and she began to shake her head vigorously. “Once you’re safe, I’ll fight her off until I can get myself back too.”
“You can’t Nighty, I can fight! A bolt of shadow won’t do nothing to me, but teleporting me… Nighty, even trying to teleport yourself could kill you!”
“I know,” Night Fall said softly. “But it’ll kill me more if you get hurt and I had the chance to stop it.”
“Nighty, no…” Spark began. Her eyes widened as Night Fall’s horn started to glow brighter than it had, until it reached a blinding state. “Night Fall! Stop! Stop it! I can fight, I can f-”
*BANG*
First Spark was gone, and the bubble shield burst around where she stood seconds before. A dark, arcane, concentrated bolt shot through the shards of broken mana residue and hit Night Fall right in the side, knocking him to the edge of the building.
To save himself from the fall, he would’ve had to scramble away as quickly as he could, but between the shadow bolt and his lack of energy from the spell, he couldn’t find the energy to open his eyes and watch the ground come ever nearer. He hit the ground with a sickening thud and laid there. The cloaked agent let out a dark chuckle and blinked to the ground, a few yards away, building up dark mana for one final blow.
But Night Fall twitched. His eyes opened. He rose, slowly. What mana he had left in his reservoir, he took out now and made a crude staff from it. As he walked towards the cloaked agent, a look of dedication and murder in his eyes, for how dare she hurt Spark…she looked back in disbelief.
One shadow bolt flew. There was agony in Night Fall’s side. He paid no mind, only broke into a run. The spear grew more defined. He was getting closer.
Another shadow bolt flew. There was agony in Night Fall’s left hind leg. He paid no mind, only went into a full on charge. The spear could’ve been solid. He was almost there.
A final shadow bolt flew. There was agony in Night Fall’s horn, and the black magic was clogging his brain and ability to weave magic. He almost lost control of his charge, but kept running towards the pony. The spear dropped when the bolt clogged the unicorns spell-weaving ability. He plowed through…
Nothing. There was nothing there. No pony, no master agent, no weaver of spells. When Night Fall ran through the cloak, what was inside escaped and left a pile of black dust to be taken with the wind.
Night Fall slowed down and shook his head free of the cloak that he’d just javelined. Wasn’t there…you know…supposed to be a pony in there? Before he could question any more, a light came from the skies to look down upon the scene with fresh eyes. Night Fall jumped and looked to the east to see the closest star rising to greet the world, and turning to the west would confirm that, yes, the white alicorn was performing her first duty of the day from her balcony.
Had it really been that long since he started hearing voices out in the streets? Since he sent Spark home? He gasped. Spark! She’d be worried sick about him, so he’d best be heading there as soon as possible.
Night Fall gathered what mana he could and cracked out of sight, leaving the barren Canterlot street quiet and still once more.
