Cast-Iron Cast-Offs

by Cast-Iron Caryatid

【Schrödinger's Dawn】Prologue - Beaten to the Punch

Author's Note:

This was, at one point, going to be the story I wrote after Sharing the Night, but I never was quite happy with the presentation. There's an awful lot of telling instead of showing at the start of the story, but rewrites just weren't nearly as funny. The intent was to have Teenaged Twilight going on a Divine Mission across Equestria to convince everyone that Eternal Night was just the right way to go about things. Questions about whether I could actually follow through with her convincing the world to adopt Eternal Night while continually maintaining the uncertainty (as per the title) about whether or not she actually succeeded, plus the fact that I already have a story about a Young Twilight (if I ever get back to A Sparkle-ling Perfection) means that this is so far on the back burner that I might as well just post it for some fun.

Warning:

• Young Twilight is kind of crazy (And that's before her eyes are opened) (That will be funnier after you've read it)
• There was going to be a goth Rainbow Dash and a stalker Fluttershy (Not actually a warning) (Just wanted to say it)
• So very incomplete and unedited (Sorry) (Sorry)

❍

“So, the cat isn’t really undead?” Rainbow Dash asked. Her confusion clearly showed as she gestured with a cup of punch she was holding.

Twilight’s hoof met her face, knocking her glasses ajar as she groaned. “No, Rainbow, the entire point is that the idea is ridiculous. It’s supposed to point out the flaws and limitations in our accepted understanding of quantum magic.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and took another drink of punch. “Did I ever tell you you’re lousy at telling jokes?” she asked rhetorically.

“Yes, Rainbow Dash, many ti—” Twilight had begun to say, before stopping herself. “Hey! It was not a joke!”

“No kidding!” Rainbow Dash said with a cheerful laugh.

“Aw shush you two,” Applejack said as she approached, followed by Pinkie Pie. “Rares is still working on some last minute decorations, but I ain’t seen hide nor hair of Fluttershy. If she don’t hurry, she’s gonna miss the thousandth summer sun celebration.”

Rainbow Dash and Twilight looked at each other meaningfully for a moment. With a smirk, the former gave the the punch table she was leaning on a few knocks with her hoof, eliciting a small “Eep!” from it which jiggled the punch bowl on top. Twilight’s horn gave off a glow as she raised the tablecloth with her magic, revealing the butter-yellow pegasus.

In spite of her momentary startlement, Fluttershy looked perfectly calm. “Oh. Hi girls,” she said, waving one hoof in greeting as Rainbow Dash hoofed her a cup of punch with the other. There was a not-inconsiderable stack of the cups already empty beside her.

“Wow, Fluttershy!” Pinkie Pie chimed in. “You’re really hitting the punch hard tonight, aren’t you?”

Fluttershy looked down at the pile of cups, the motion coincidentally hiding more of her face behind her mane. “Um, not really…” she claimed.

Rainbow Dash saw fit to explain. “Shy’s been here since before anypony else arrived.”

“You camped out?” Pinkie Pie asked with a big grin. “You must be super duper excited!”

Rainbow Dash gave a snicker, and Twilight gave her an unhappy nudge with her elbow. “Don’t be mean. You know how she is. It makes perfect sense.”

“Yes, thank you for suggesting it, Twilight,” Fluttershy added helpfully.

Twilight’s face colored as Rainbow Dash tried to contain her laughter and failed spectacularly.

Taking the antics of her friends in stride, Applejack just shook her head. “Yer not gonna stay there the entire night, are ya shy?” she asked, raising one eyebrow.

Pinkie Pie gasped. “You’ll miss the whole thing!”

“Oh no, of course not,” Fluttershy answered, full of confidence and empty of actual explanation.

“So…” Applejack said, leading the shy mare on, expecting more.

“Oh, well,” Fluttershy said, thoughtful. “The lights will dim during the ceremony,” she offered.

“Swell,” Applejack said with a sigh.

---

❍

Far above Equestria, the night stirred in anticipation and stars began to align as they had been foretold for a thousand years.

A thousand years it had been, sealed away in her own moon by none other than her traitorous sister. More than anything it was that betrayal that had rankled her all these years, twisting the knife in her heart for all these years of formless imprisonment.

Soon, though, soon she would be free and her sister would regret ever denying her night its due. The moments ticked by and she strained against her invisible bonds. They were weakening, she could feel it.

Her formless essence contracted in on itself, collected its strength, and exploded outward in one glorious flash. Her prison of magic and moonlight fractured and broke. Pools of black essence that had seeped deep into the surface now exploded into the night, a fine, sparkling black dust invisible in the night.

She was free.

Slowly, though not as slow as it seemed to her, the dusting of midnight magic coalesced, tracing the form of a tall alicorn mare with a pitch black coat and ethereal blue mane. With a deep breath, she drew moonlight around herself, shaping it into the form of armored barding.

She was whole.

Nightmare Moon surveyed the Equestria that stretched out beneath her. Its face had changed. Large cities speckled the continent, themselves dotted with shining lights to keep her night at bay. It was a strange, foreign place to her now, but that did not matter.

The era of whatever her sister had built in her absence was over. She would find Celestia, and when she did, the sun would never rise again.

Finding the alicorn of the sun would be the easy part; the sisters could not hide from each other. Indeed, no sooner did she tap into her celestial awareness than… nothing happened?

Nightmare Moon frowned. This was highly irregular. She could not feel her sister at all. No—wait—there was a hint of power near the old castle in what appeared to be a small farming town. Her foolish sister must have been trying to hide. With a mad grin, the queen of the night drew her the night into herself and manifested where she had sensed the trace of solar magic.

Forming out of a nebulous mass of stars, Nightmare Moon heard gasps of awe all around and opened her eyes. The room was filled with little ponies, but no Celestia.

No matter! Her sister had clearly abdicated in fear and she had an audience. All eyes were on her now—as it should be! Like a showmare, she taunted them, told them who she was and why she had come. Eventually, she finished her speech, declaring “From this moment forth—the night—will last—forever!” and finishing off with a mad cackle.

It wasn’t for a few moments when she realized everypony in the room to a mare were all laughing with her.

“B-be still!” she shouted. “Cease your revelry!”

“Is this mare fer real?” an orange earth pony with a hat and a country drawl asked, dubious.

“I am most certainly real, you ungrateful whelp!” Nightmare Moon declared, unsure quite what was going on. “The era of the night is nigh!”

“Nigh?” the orange pony whispered to a unicorn nearby.

“Near, Applejack,” the purple unicorn explained. “It means near.”

“Seriously?” the pony apparently named Applejack asked her friend, getting a nod, she turned back to Nightmare Moon. “Hoowee,” she exclaimed. “I ain’t sure how t’tell y’all this, so I’ll just out and say it,” she declared, glancing back at her friends for support. “I’ve got good news and bad news fer yer highness. The bad news is, ‘taint ‘nigh’ at all.”

Nightmare Moon narrowed her eyes in anger, ready to smite the mortal for such words. The only thing that stayed her hoof was the question. “What is the good news?”

A blue pegasus was snickering behind Applejack while the unicorn attempted to shush her. Applejack ignored them and gave the queen of the night a helpless, yet somewhat amused look. “That eternal night thing? Hate t’say it, but ya’ll are a mite late t’the party. We switched over, shoot gotta be five years ago now.”

“What.”

---

❍

Whatever Nightmare Moon had expected to find upon her return to Equestria, a utopian society living under the light of the moon was not it. Now, that wasn’t to say that she necessarily believed everything she was being told, but in light of a complete lack of any opposition to speak of, what was she to do?

The answer, apparently, was to allow herself to be led to a the town’s cozy little library for a cup of tea and some explanation. She was not exactly sure how this conclusion had been come to, as her part in the decision-making process had been minimal.

As the six ponies had walked her to the library, Nightmare Moon had been stunned silent at what she saw. Though ponies looked disappointed at the cancellation of their event, there was no panic, no rioting in the streets. Admittedly, some ponies were yawning and looked to be making their way home for bed, but others were breaking open their salescarts to replace them. It was madness.

Beautiful, wonderful, heartwarming madness.

The library seemed to have entire shelves dedicated to nocturnal subjects, including astronomy, astrology and a bevy of instructional books on dealing with aspects of eternal night which Nightmare Moon refused to acknowledge—even to herself—that she had never so much as considered.

“The art and science of nocturnal beekeeping?” she read vacantly as she was ushered to a small table. It was all just too much to accept. “This must be some sort of trick,” she insisted. “Where is Celestia? She would never allow this!”

“Vacationing in the Marribean this year, I think,” the white unicorn who had been introduced as Rarity offered.

“Impossible! Do not think that you can deceive me so easily, foal. I felt my sister here,” she said, hackles rising. “And your banners declared your celebration of the sun!”

“Hoo boy,” Applejack said with a grimace. “Ain’t this awkward.”

Twilight Sparkle scratched the back of her neck with one hoof, looking rather guilty. “It’s true it’s not exactly eternal night,” she admitted.

“A ha!” Nightmare Moon shouted, pointing a hoof out at the traitorous, bespectacled unicorn. Out of nowhere, a small dragon placed a cup of tea in her outstretched hoof.

“The summer sun celebration used to be the a celebration of the longest day of the year. Now it’s a celebration of the only day of the year. It wasn’t part of my original plan, but it seemed like a reasonable holiday.”

“Your plan?” Nightmare Moon asked, twisting her face in doubt.

“Aww yeah,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed with excessive pride. “You are looking at the mares that made it happen.”

“It was really all thanks to Twilight though,” said a small, shy voice which she hadn’t heard yet. It turned out to be the yellow pegasus named Fluttershy who was hiding behind Applejack.

“Yeah, it was probably me you felt,” Twilight added, looking a little embarrassed, but not denying anything either. “I was in the middle of manipulating the sun when you appeared.”

Nightmare Moon’s eyes widened in surprise at the statement. “You lie!” she declared. “A single mortal unicorn could never dream of such a thing!”

“Well yeah,” Rainbow Dash answered with a snort as she hovered casually about the library. “If you do it the stupid way.”

“Rainbow!” Twilight said by way of reprimand.

“What? It’s true!” the rude pegasus insisted.

Rarity gave a disgusted sigh. “Yes, but you can’t just say that, dear.”

The queen of the night stared dumbfoundedly at the exchange. She did not appreciate being taken so lightly, and yet… the unicorn with the star mark did feel like she had touched the sun. She could have been the source of solar magic which Nightmare Moon had detected.

Her head swam with the implications, and she collapsed into a chair that had been conveniently placed behind her. Giving a bemused look at the tea cup that had appeared in her hoof at some point, she took a sip and set it down with a sigh.

“Will somepony please just explain what is going on?” she asked, looking in turn to each of the six mares arrayed before her.

Comments

[Reese]

"Questions about whether I could actually follow through with her convincing the world to adopt Eternal Night while continually maintaining the uncertainty (as per the title) about whether or not she actually succeeded"
...This line is confusing me quite a bit. What? If you follow through, as seems to be the case in this chapter, which is a prologue, doesn't that pretty thoroughly remove the uncertainty about whether she succeeds? Or is that the source of the questions?

[Cast-Iron Caryatid]

8629367
Well, technically there's no proof that the main six are telling Nightmare Moon the truth, even in the prologue, but regardless, it wasn't supposed to be a major thing. Just kinda vaguely possible as the story gets more and more incredible.