There was once a pegasus mare named Ruby Dazzle who had been traveling far and wide, exploring caves in search of valuable gems. She was, you see, a gem-cutter by profession, and the ruby on her flanks marked her as such. Today, she had entered an as-of-yet unvisited cave alone, not expecting any resistance inside besides, perhaps, annoyed bats. She was, therefore, terrified when two cat-like eyes appeared hanging above her, before a terrifying bat-like stallion descended upon her and pinned her to the ground.
"You trespass here, Day Pony," the stallion hissed. "Who are you?"
Ruby's eyes had not yet adjusted to the darkness, and she still couldn't see the batpony very clearly. She had heard stories, though. Civilized ponies called the batponies cannibalistic barbarians. She began to shake with fear beneath his grasp, and tears welled in her eyes.
"I'm sorry! Please don't eat me!" she begged.
The stallion blinked at that. He looked confused by something she had said, and he released the pressure on her chest. She took sharp, terrified gasps of breath, still looking up at him with fear in her eyes.
"Eat you?" he repeated, and Ruby saw rows of shimmering, terribly sharp teeth. "Is that what you think I'm going to do? That sounds disgusting."
"It... does? I mean, of course it does," Ruby said nervously.
"Pony muscle would be awful to bite into, not to mention it would be cannibalism," the stallion said. He took back on his firm tone and pressed his hoof against her chest again, though more gently this time. "But you didn't answer my question. Who are you? And why are you here?"
"O-oh, I'm... I'm Ruby Dazzle, from, um, Cloudsdale. I-I was just coming here to look for gems, I had no idea that you lived here..." Ruby answered.
"Gems. Hmph. Typical Day Pony." The stallion finally stood off of her to let her move, though she dared not. "You won't find anything to satisfy your greed here. I suggest you go home."
"Oh, of course... But, um, may I ask a question?" Ruby answered, still on the ground.
"That depends on the question," the batpony replied with a harsh glare.
"Well, just... what's your name?" Ruby asked hopefully. The stallion blinked again, clearly not expecting that question. It seemed harmless enough, though...
"Owl Hunter," he answered. "Now go."
"Ok. Thank you. For not eating me. And your name."
Ruby scrambled to her hooves as she spoke and smiled nervously at him. Then she flew as fast as her wings would carry her out of that cave. Good Celestia, that was a scary encounter. And yet, she found herself wanting more.
This was mad. This was going to get her killed. This was thrilling.
One month to the day that she met Owl Hunter, she was walking right into the exact same cave, once again alone. This time, however, she brought along a set of enchanted glasses to allow her to see in the darkness as well as she could if it was daylight. She just hoped to get a better look at the guard pony...
Though her ears were strained for any sound of movement, she was still caught off-guard when a pair of silent wings descended from above and knocked her to the ground. Her glasses stayed on, though, and as she was rolled over to face her assailant, she smiled.
It was him. She hadn't gotten a good look at him last time, but she knew it was him. And he was handsome. Powerful muscles filled out his chest and hooves, and black leathery wings extended from his sides. His mane and tail were cut very short. His face bore the same sharp teeth and cat-like eyes that she remembered, filling out a head just a little larger than hers. Finally, he had a Cutie Mark like she did, though rather than a large red jewel it was an owl's wing.
"You!" he hissed.
"Hello, Owl Hunter," Ruby said demurely. "It's nice to meet you again."
He stood off of her, his teeth bared and wings raised to make himself appear larger. It was typical pegasus intimidation. Interesting, they seemed to have that in common. She made no such threatening pose, though she did stand up to face him on her own four hooves.
"What do you want, Day Pony?" he snapped.
"Well, I was... hoping to see you, actually," she answered honestly, adjusting her glasses. "I never got a good-"
"You trespass here!" he shouted, cutting her off. "Are you a spy? Are you leading somepony here? Your army? Give me one reason not to kill you right now!"
Ok, she had been expecting something like this, though admittedly not the bit about working for the army. Apparently, his kind had something of a rift with the Equestria military, then. It also implied that there were more of his kind within this cave. He was a guard, nothing more.
"I'm not a spy, and I didn't lead anypony here. I come here in peace. I just want to learn more about you," she said, her tone as calm as the situation would allow.
"Then you should leave now, because you will get nothing out of me!" he ordered.
"Please, Owl Hunter, I'm just a mare from Cloudsdale. I mean you no harm, but you're... you're fascinating to me. I've never seen a batpony before, I only know what the rumors are. You've defied those rumors twice now," Ruby pleaded. "Please, can't we... I don't know, go outside and talk?"
What seemed a reasonable offer to her caused him to recoil in disgust and anger.
"You dare ask me to go out into the sunlight?" he hissed. "Leave, Ruby Dazzle, and never return!"
Seeing as there was no way around it, she sighed dejectedly and nodded. She turned back to the entrance of the cave and walked out, her face to the ground. That had not gone as smoothly as she wanted.
A third month, and a third trip to the cave. This time, Ruby made sure to come at night. If the studies she'd been conducting were accurate (and she hoped they were) batponies were by nature nocturnal, just like the bats they imitated. Of course, the studies also labeled them cannibalistic moon-worshiping monsters, so she took them with a grain of salt.
This time, she was ready for the assault. She kept her eyes to the ceiling, and when two cat eyes opened, she had time to roll out of the way of the rapid descent. Owl Hunter tried to stop his drop, but instead crashed onto the floor of the cave and rolled onto his side. His right wing limped at a painful-looking angle, and he breathed heavily from the crash.
"Y...you," he gasped, seeing his opponent still standing. "Ruby?"
"That's right," she said confidently. This time, there wasn't a hint of fear in her voice. "How are you this evening, Owl Hunter?"
He groaned and rolled over onto his chest, unwilling to try and stand. He folded his limping wing next to his body, wincing when he moved it.
"I've been better," he answered truthfully. "I thought I was clear... to never return."
"You were, but then you said something else that got my attention. You said my name," Ruby replied. He raised an eyebrow, clearly wondering the significance. "I'd only mentioned my name in passing to you, but you remembered it a whole month later. You also recognized me on sight. Two months later, that's still accurate. I wanted to know why."
"You're the... the only Day Pony I've ever seen," he answered. "Nopony else has ever come here on my watch."
"I see... What are you guarding, Owl Hunter?" she asked, kneeling to be on his eye level.
"I thought I told you I can't tell you," he responded.
"That's what I thought you'd say, though I seem to recall the word 'won't', not 'can't'."
She reached a wing into her saddlebags and pulled out a juicy red tomato. He stared at it with confusion, having never seen such a fruit before. She rolled it across the ground to him with a smile, and gestured for him to try it. He gazed at it suspiciously, rolling it beneath his hoof, before taking a bite of the soft fruit and feeling the insides gush into his mouth.
"It's sweet," he said. "What is it?"
"It's a tomato. We 'Day Ponies' grow them in our cities. Not Cloudsdale, though. It's in the sky, we have no soil. We produce weather there," Ruby said happily. He'd accepted her gift, things were going well this time. While he ate the rest of the fruit, she talked. "I mean you and your ward no harm, Owl Hunter. I just want to learn. I'm sure you have a fascinating life down here, separated from all of the other ponies of Equestria. I want to know what it's like to live in the darkness. I-I want to live with you, study you."
He almost choked on the last bite of tomato, instead spitting out the green stem and shaking his head violently.
"Impossible. Even if you aren't here to hurt us, you can never live with us. You belong to the sun, you cannot lurk here now," he answered firmly. His eyes fell soft, for the first time she'd seen them do so. "But perhaps you can learn. I'll speak with my leader. I suppose you plan on coming back in thirty nights?"
"Yes!" she said, her eyes lighting up. "I'll take anything, however small you can give me. I'll definitely be back."
"Very well. You should leave before you get me in trouble, I've already surpassed our usual hospitality for your kind. I will see you soon, Ruby," Owl said.
Ruby was positively shaking with excitement. The summer she met Owl Hunter had come to a close, giving way to a cool, crisp autumn - some of the weatherponies' best work yet, she thought. However, this was not what excited her. No, what excited her were the three male batponies standing in front of her at the entrance of the cave. She recognized Owl Hunter, but not his companions.
"How many of you are there?" she asked eagerly.
"We don't know," Owl Hunter answered. "Come, Ruby. You have been deemed worthy to enter the Garden of Shadows, on the condition that you never, ever divulge the location nor anything you witness within."
"Complete secrecy, promise," she said solemnly. She tried to be solemn, anyway, but she was shaking like a schoolfilly who just found her first crush.
The three batponies seemed not to mind. They lead her deep into the caves, guided by their own nightvision. For her part, Ruby still had those glasses, which were so worth the three weeks' wages she had to pay for them. They continued to walk for a good ten minutes before coming upon a division into three separate caverns. Not breaking pace, the stallions lead her down the left tunnel, then the right tunnel at another fork.
Another five minutes of walking, and they finally came out into a small den of sorts. Well, it was actually quite large, compared to the tunnels they'd been traveling. Green, flourescent moss illuminated the room with a shallow light. Around the den were many ponies, and not all of them batponies. Ruby noticed all three of the major pony races present, and among them both adults and foals. Most of them had very dark-colored coats, whether grey, blue, purple, or black. One grey unicorn filly approached the mare cautiously, looking at her with wide eyes.
"Welcome to the Garden of Shadows. These... are the Children of the Night," Owl Hunter said.
In two days spent with the Children (being unusually hospitable to the Day Pony), Ruby Dazzle learned much of their way of life. They were an ancient family of ponies who had lived in the darkness since time immemorial, and over the years had quite a few horrible encounters with the kingdom of Equestria, leading them to completely shun Day Ponies... except for her, apparently.
As it turned out, the rumor about moon worship was true in a way: what Ruby called the Mare in the Moon, they called Mother, and they worshiped her unanimously. It was supposedly their Mother who lead them to the Garden of Shadows, their home in an enormous set of caves running deep within the mountains and under the ground. They also worshiped figures that they called the Twelve Saints, though nopony remembered their real names anymore.
In the day, most ponies would go to sleep. There was always a guard stationed at every tunnel entrance, and as it turned out, there were a lot of those. None of the Children were actually allowed to go outside during the day, however, as to have the sun so much as touch one's fur caused the Mother to reject them. This was why they emphasized that she could not stay with them, much less become one.
At night, hunters would go out. The Children of the Night had apparently adapted to an omnivorous diet, eating meat as well as plants. It was the first real culture shock to Ruby, when Owl Hunter offered a slain rabbit to her for dinner (breakfast for him). She decided to just eat minimally, and only from the plants the hunters brought in.
Though she passed out the first night, she slept in late in the morning so as to stay awake with the Children the second night. She shadowed her friend (well, she liked to consider him a friend) on his hunting mission, although she was quite bad at staying hidden. She ruined two kills for him with her noise before she learned to stay a good distance away and let him do his thing. He was actually quite gracious about the whole thing.
The third morning, he approached her with a basket of berries when she awoke in the den. She was surprised he'd stayed up until she awoke.
"Is this a parting gift?" she guessed.
"I'm afraid so. Our priestess considers your time here over," he said apologetically. "But, well, if you want to return in twenty-eight nights... I will be on guard duty, as usual."
Ruby smiled. She took the basket and then did something completely unexpected: she gave him a kiss on the cheek. If his fur wasn't so dark, he probably would have blushed. Having wings did come with another unfortunate and obvious effect of attraction, though, and Ruby had to stifle a giggle when she noticed it.
"I'll be back then," she promised. "Thank you, Owl Hunter."
Her monthly visits continued like this for a long time. By her third "official" visit, she took the initiative to confess her love to Owl Hunter, which he returned the next month. Many months later, she had begun to show the signs of their awkward relationship, as her belly had begun a bulge a bit with a foal.
She was allowed to stay during the final months of her pregnancy, being treated almost like one of their own mares. This was because she'd agreed to allow their filly to be born a Child of the Night, which meant that she had to be born among them. It pained her to know that she wouldn't be allowed to live with her own filly, but she was assured that her monthly, one-night visits would be allowed to continue, and she could see the filly then.
The foal was born in the spring of the year 690 R.P.C. (Reign of our Princess Celestia). She was named Nightlight, and accepted as one of the Mother's own. It was with a tearful smile that Ruby left the Garden the next week, swearing to return every month until she died.
This is not Ruby Dazzle's story. This is Nightlight's.
The Case of the Missing Mare
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.