Under the Stars and Moon

My name is Nightlight. I was born in spring, twelve years ago. My mother is an Equestrian, a Day Pony. However, I, like my father, belong to our Mother. I sleep by day and hunt beneath her moonlight. I sleep on stone and see in darkness. I walk not in the day, for I am a Child of the Night.

I was born a pegasus, and this is how I was raised. I was taught to fly silently like an owl, that I may ambush my prey and bring food back for my family. I was taught to use my wings to shelter the weak during the bitter cold of winter. All of this time, I anticipate that one day I might lose my feathers entirely in Mother's ritual.

Mother's ritual is a gift to all pegasi who serve her faithfully. The priestess ordains and commences the ritual herself. The ritual allows one to shed their feathers and become a true hunter in the night: what many call a batpony. My father went through it before I was ever born, and I hoped that I might do the same.

I underwent the ritual a few months ago. It has taken adjustment to use my new body effectively, which I am told is normal. While I can still see, it is difficult to differentiate colors. I gained a new type of vision to compensate: echolocation. My teeth became those of a predator, and my fur as dark as night.

I did not know that my new abilities, and my lifestyle, would soon be put to the test.

I awoke one summer evening in my den, one of the many branching rooms connected by underground tunnels. My father, Owl Hunter, appeared anxious. He trotted back and forth at the entrance of my den, causing me to hold my head up to watch him. He noticed my movement and gave me a smile.

"Good evening, Nightlight," he greeted. "Are you ready to go hunting?"

"Of course," I answered.

He said nothing more, simply leading me through our home to the cave entrance. Though most of the world was asleep, I knew well that many creatures were nocturnal like we were. I flapped my leathery wings, and my father did the same. We ascended into the night sky to fly to our hunting grounds for the night.

He seemed more relaxed with me beside him, but at the same time, something was obviously nagging at him. I couldn't figure it out until I realized what time of the month it was.

"Mother didn't visit last night. Is that what's wrong?" I asked.

He seemed to be surprised by the sound of my voice. He stopped in midair and hovered, causing me to backtrack to come back to him. He nodded silently in response, but said nothing. His eyes were scanning the ground still.

He took a sharp dive towards the ground, descending on an unsuspecting rabbit below. It had no time to run before his teeth sank into its neck, killing it instantly. I took the unspoken command to attack another rabbit, which had already begun to flee. It wasn't hard to catch and kill it. The metallic taste of blood on my tongue was one I'd ceased to be disturbed by long ago.

I approached my father and dropped the rabbit in front of him.

"Why didn't she come by?" I asked, carrying on the conversation with missing a beat.

"I'm not sure, that's why I'm concerned. She's never missed a day before," he replied. "Perhaps she is simply late, though. Maybe she's waiting for us back at the Garden right now, I do not know."

"Perhaps she is sick and could not come this time," I suggested.

"I know, there are many possibilities... I suppose I am being just a tad ridiculous. Come, we have far more hunting to do before the night is through."

We hunted long into the night, returning many hours later with our not-insignificant catch. My mother was not waiting for us, but I didn't expect her to be. Father was a little disappointed, on the other hoof.

I often wondered just how it was that two ponies so radically different, who see each other so little, could possibly be in love. When asked, they would both answer the same: "Opposites attract" and "Distance makes the heart grow fonder". It seemed silly to me, but a lot of things about my parents did.

Mother never did come that moon. I was disappointed, but father seemed outright worried. When the next moon came, we both waited for her arrival at the entrance of the cavern with baited breath.

"Father, the sun has barely set, you can stop pacing," I said. He stopped in his tracks and nodded.

"Of course, I know. She's usually here about this time, but she might just be running a little late. Nothing to worry about," he agreed, anxiety still obvious in his voice.

His anxieties weren't helped when minutes turned into hours, with no sign of my mother. He took off from the cave despite my protests, promising to just do a quick scouting of the forest in case she was lost or in trouble. He didn't return, even as the moon began to set in the distance.

I had to pull back into the cavern as the first light of morning began to creep onto the horizon. I was worried that he might get caught outside, but I could not risk the same. Fortunately, those fears were relieved when he barreled into the cave behind me as I approached the first fork in the path. He crashed right into the stone wall and fell to the floor with a groan.

"Are you alright?" I exclaimed.

"Fine, fine. I lost track of time, I was almost out in the sun there..." he said, gasping for breath. "I didn't find your mother, I don't know what's wrong and why she isn't here."

"Maybe she's... still sick? Diseases can be very troublesome, I've heard..." I guessed, though I doubted myself.

"I don't think so. I need to find her," he said resolutely, as he stood back on his hooves.

I blinked. That was a crazy proposal. He wanted to search the land of the Day Ponies? Did he even realize how massive it was supposed to be? He'd never find her out there in a single night.

"You can't be serious, father?" I asked.

"100%. I will find a chance to speak with the priestess, perhaps she will give me leave," he answered firmly.

Dear Mother, help him not go after our mother.

This is how I began my crazy plan to stop my father from going through with his crazy plan. I was younger and more spritely than he, not to mention faster (though he'd deny that). More importantly, I knew as much about my mother's home as he did. If anypony was going to find mother, I was the best choice.

It had been many moons now since I went to the priestess's room. The first and last time I did it, I was there to undergo Mother's ritual. The caverns were just as confusing as the last time I did it, and this time, the directions were not fresh in my head as I did not, strictly speaking, have an invitation.

Four hours in the caverns is what it took to pick up a half-remembered trail, but after that, I was in the half I remembered. I squeezed through narrow rocks and glided down a steep rockslide, then took a few more turns and burst out of a cleft in the rocks.

The cavern was every bit as impressive as I remembered, with the high walls, long rock bridge, and massive waterfall roaring down into an underground lake. Unfortunately, this time, when I burst out into the room, I wasn't supposed to be there. Two guards, a pegasus and a unicorn, stood on the bridge with stone-tipped spears at the ready.

Time to put that amazing batpony charm to work.

"Hello, gentlecolts!" I greeted with a toothy smile. "I'm here to see the priestess!"

"Nightlight. Why are you here?" the unicorn said sternly. Oh, manure, he recognized me.

"Well, I just answered that for you, didn't I?" I asked. "I'm here to speak to the priestess, I need to-"

"You have no permission to come here tonight," the pegasus interrupted. "You need to go back to your den. Actually, I think you and your father are hunting tonight."

I sighed. Charm was out the window. Time for a new approach.

"Ok, listen, I really don't want to have to go around you, so just buck off and let me see her. I'm not a threat to her," I said, now showing my fangs for an entirely different reason.

At this, the pegasus unfurled his wings and bounced a few inches into the air, clearly ready to intercept me if I went above or around them. Sure, he had no fangs, but that spear would hurt just as much and with a lot more reach. Plus, two against one were some really bad odds, anyway. Clearly, intimidation was not working in the slightest. What to try next...?

My dignity flew out the window as I fell onto the ground and began sobbing loudly.

"Please just let me past!" I begged. "My father is going to do something really stupid and I need to see the priestess before he does so I can do something really stupid that will stop him from doing something really stupid and there's just so much stupidity here that it's ridiculous!"

At the very least, it seemed to disarm the two and de-escalate the situation my threat created. They blinked and looked at me, then each other, then back at me. A voice cut through the cavern behind the guards, that of a mare.

"Let Nightlight through, I trust that she is not here to do me harm... even if she is breaking a rule," the priestess commanded.

The stallions obeyed at once, standing to either side of the bridge. I stopped crying almost instantly. (I wasn't really crying in the first place, but I'm a wonderful actress.) At the far end of the bridge was a blue-coated unicorn mare, standing in front of the large cave paintings of our Mother and the Twelve Saints. She beckoned me forward without a word, and I was happy to comply.

"What is so urgent that it brought you here tonight?" she asked, as I stopped in front of her.

"My father is going to request leave, that he may search for my mother. She hasn't been here in two moons, and he's very worried," I explained.

"I see... and you are here, because...?" she asked, urging me on.

"Oh, right. Well, um, actually, I know this is silly, but I was going to ask that... I, well, go in his place."

I expected some mixture of surprise and anger at that, but I guess she's used to ponies coming before her with crazy requests. She didn't even blink at my suggestion. She just stared at me, sizing me up like the catch of the night. It was similar to what she did when I was going to undergo the ritual, except longer.

"Why should I say yes?" she asked.

Not a question I was expecting. Mostly, I was expecting an instant "no". I certainly wasn't prepared for the question, so I sputtered for a few seconds before regaining my composure. It probably didn't help my case, to be honest.

"Well, you see, I... I think I'm just a better choice overall, and I promise to keep to the moonlight, and stay away from the Day Ponies - except my mother, obviously - and stay with other Children when I find them, and I'll hunt every night until I give birth if you say yes, and-" I stammered.

She laughed. It was a hollow, old-mare laugh, but the three of us in that cave may have been the first to hear laughter from her in a long time. I wasn't sure whether to consider it a good thing or not.

"You want to go to the world of the sun? Is that truly what you want, to find just a single mare?" she asked, her laughter dying down quickly.

"Well, she is my mother, and better I than my father. So... yes. Yes, I want to try," I confirmed.

"Hm." She nodded once. "There will be rules, should you go on this foal's errand, but you've already spoken of several. You know that you may not stay out when the sun is in the sky, so find shelter wherever you can when dawn begins to break. You must stay away from the ponies' settlements. One of our kind will arouse suspicion, and some ponies are still out even at night.  You may take shelter with others of our kind, and I shall give you a letter to show that you are from the Garden of Shadows. Finally, you are to return within two moons, or we will have little choice but to consider that you may have perished in your task."

"I understand, priestess," I said with a nod.

"Then go back to your den and prepare. In two nights, you should be ready to depart," she ordered.

"As you command. Thank you very much." I bowed and flew out of the room.

I was in for a crazy trip.