The Moonlit Road

I felt the feeling of my bed beneath me and my blanket overtop. Morning already? I shifted, tired like I’d been up all night… and then I shot up. I’d been up all night! Well, the latter part of it anyway… I think? How much of that was real? Any of it? Did I actually meet the real Nightmare Moon? Swear myself to her service? Stay out all night? Was Light Etcher really…

I jumped out of bed with newfound energy and immediately started running to my door, slamming it open and closed again as my gallop to Light Etcher’s house began. He lived a good ways off from Mirrorside itself, though was technically still a resident of it. I ran and ran across Mirrorside, completely ignorant to the relative darkness of the early morning, the moon amulet I’d never taken off, and the bewildered stares of the few ponies out this early in the morning.

A few minutes of full-speed running and I stopped in front of the door to Light Etcher’s house. It was mostly stone, so it was easier to engrave new runes into it if he wanted to power some new thing that he built into his house, as he so often does. Gasping for breath, I started knocking at his door.

“Light!? You … you in there!? I need to… talk about something!” I heard the clopping of hooves on stone approaching the door, and then it opened, revealing the stallion I’d been looking for.

“Harmony! I’d been hoping I’d see you! Come, come, I have much to show you.” He excitedly beckoned me inside and I trotted inside, Light closing the door behind me as he followed. The inside of Light Etcher’s home was lit up with a combination of magically-powered lights and the glowing lines of the runes which powered them.

Unlike most runesmiths, he was more than capable of using and abusing runic matrices to their full potential due to his position on a magical ley line. It functioned as a virtually infinite source of power for his runes, using some ambient magic absorption runes to fuel the matrices.

Seeing the inside of his house was always very nice for me, it made me wish I could live on a ley line so my house could always be lit like this. But I wasn’t here for pretty glowing lines today.

“Light…” I needed to figure out how to phrase this, “...was last night real?” he chuckled a little bit.

“Ah, I can understand the confusion and disbelief, it was a big and sudden change after all, and it all had occurred during and directly after a dream,” he stated, matter-of-factly, “but to answer your question, yes. It was real. All of it.”

So it was real then. The rush of confidence and power I felt after defeating the monsters in my dream, the feeling of safety knowing that the queen of the night would protect me in darkness, and the beautiful tranquility of the night that I never knew before.

“Here, I wanna show you something,” Light Etcher said, as he pulled me along to his hallway to seemingly nothing, before lighting up his horn, causing the end of the floor to shift and fall into a set of stairs down into his workshop.

“Made something new?” I was still a little shell shocked from finally being able to process my current situation.

“No, it’s something rather old, but something you’ve not seen.” he started to walk down the stairs and into his workshop.

While the rest of his house had runic lining, the inside of his workshop was absolutely crawling with them, used to power various devices for inscribing runes, forging items, and so much more. I’ve seen it many times before, I was almost used to it, and jealous that he got to live with all this lighting I couldn’t have.

“Y’know I’m pretty sure you’ve shown me every single thing you’ve made down here… multiple times.” I stated, and he shook his head.

“It’s not in here, it’s in there,” he said, pointing at a wall.

“It’s a wall.”

“So you think. That’s the point.” he said, as he approached, pressing his hoof against the wall and lighting his horn, a few seemingly random runes across other walls having the magic flowing through them change from blue to the yellow of his eyes and horn, before the wall in front of him began to shake and shift, falling away into a new hallway and a new set of rooms. “Later I’ll set both this and the workshop entrance to be usable by you,” he said casually as he walked inside the secret hallway, and I ran to follow him, the door closing a few seconds after.

There were a few rooms connected to the stone hallway, which surprisingly only had one line of transport runes running along the top and into each room. It was the room at the end of the hallway that we entered, though, which was mostly empty, but at the edges of the room there were various tables and drawers, unlit candles and chalk sitting atop them, and more likely than not the drawers were filled with more of each.

“This is the ritual and meeting room,” Light Etcher suddenly said.

“Meeting room? Are there others here?” I inquired as I looked around the room. Light Etcher had picked up a few candles and started lighting them using the sole rune of the room, one which created fire.

“Oh, no no no. I thought that was established last night with the whole ‘I finally have someone who knows’ thing.” He placed the candles in various locations around the room as he spoke, “No, devotees of Nightmare Moon are rather scattered. Communication and coordination would be near impossible, were it not for this gift she had given us.” He moved to the center of the room and sat on his haunches, then tapped the spot next to him. “Come, sit. I’ll show you.” I hesitantly approached and joined him on the floor.

“Sooooo… what happens now, exactly?” Light Etcher closed his eyes and spoke something under his breath, and suddenly all the orange candle flames turned a cool blue, the sudden change startling me. “Light, what do I have to do?”

“Close your eyes, repeat after me,” he said, and I followed, closing my eyes. He took a deep breath. “My queen of the night…” he paused for me to follow.

“My queen of the night,” I mimicked.

“Allow me to dream the shared dream,”

“Allow me to dream the shared dream,”

“-and bring me into the night.”

“-and bring me into the night.”

As I finished that line, the floor seemingly fell out from under me. A few seconds passed where I felt like I was falling, and then suddenly I felt ground beneath my hooves. I opened my eyes and found myself gazing at a teal and magenta sky full of stars, the floor seemingly made of the same material.

“Hey Harmony,” I jumped, startled at the sudden voice of Light Etcher.

“Light… you almost gave me a heart attack, by Celes-” I was cut off by Light covering my mouth with his hoof. Right, probably not a good idea to use her name here… wherever “here” is. Light removed his hoof from my mouth and turned me around. What I now faced was a massive temple—more like a castle, really. Black stone and stained glass windows were positioned all across the outside. The massive stone doors at the front had silver linings that displayed iconography of the being the temple was dedicated to. I was stunned.

“Welcome to the Temple of the Night.” he said, breaking me out of my stupor, “this is where we devotees of Nightmare Moon come to meet. It’s a part of the Realm of Dreams that Nightmare Moon has sectioned off for us, keeping us safe from both Luna and dream demons.

“Dream demons?”

“You think that we’d worship our queen of the night if she still brought fear and nightmares? No, she doesn’t do that, she hasn’t in thousands of years. Nightmares are caused by dream demons, which Luna attempts to ward off as ponies sleep.” Light Etcher began walking towards the gates of the temple, which started to open automatically as he approached, and I swiftly followed.

We entered into the atrium of the building, which had hallways on either side to different sections of the massive building.

“Let me show you around,” he said, turning to the left and opening the door. The room was large… larger than it felt it should or could be. It was a library, filled with seemingly endless tomes, some ponies roaming throughout.

“The library, a collection of knowledge that Nightmare Moon has acquired over her thousands of years of existence, all assembled into one place,” he said as he approached one of the spruce shelves, pulling out a random book. “Honestly, I’m not entirely sure how big this library even is, and it’s for the reason that you should be able to find virtually anything nonfiction, even books that don’t exist elsewhere.”

I nodded, still trying to comprehend the immense size of the library. Each row was probably about as long as my entire shop before coming to a gap and shifting slightly. I couldn’t see how far it went. Light Etcher put his book back on the shelves and began to speak once more.

“Now then, the other side,” he said as I started walking back towards the atrium and over to the other room. It was mostly plain, except for racks of weapons and armor stands, a few areas sectioned off as arenas, and a group of ponies using one of said arenas. “Sparring ground, for testing your skills in combat, and while in reality one would have to hold back so as to not injure or kill their opponent, due to this being the realm of dreams, no risk of death exists. You are able and encouraged to go all-in; hold nothing back.” he approached one of the weapon racks, filled with just about everything you could imagine. Swords, spears, axes, they were all there.

“Am… am I going to need to fight?” I asked. I had never considered injuring someone, let alone killing them.

“Ideally not, but it’s better to be prepared just in case. You will probably end up fighting here, if nothing else.” I wilted a little bit at the idea that I’d be forced to fight and kill, but I can’t just pretend I’d never have to. I suddenly question why I’m here, what exactly is forcing me to serve her. Should I just back out now? Leave and pretend none of this happened? Do I owe her my continued-

“Harmony.”

I jumped as Light Etcher snapped me out of my thoughts. “You alright?” he asked with concern.

“I… I don’t know if I want this. To fight and maybe kill. Why am I here?” I started to tear up, and Light Etcher moved to my side, putting her hoof on my back.

“Hey, it’s okay, Harmony. Everything is gonna be fine. You’re here because you’re strong, and because I want to help you become stronger,” he reassured, “Nightmare Moon trusted that I would make the right choice in who to bring on board, and so far you’ve proven to her that I was right, that you’re someone destined for great things.” I sniffled a little.

“But why am I here? Why am I going to put myself through these things? Why am I going to train to fight and maybe kill ponies? Because I might need to? If I weren’t here, would I still need to? It was such a heat-of-the-moment thing I did in a dream.” I dropped to my haunches, and Light Etcher sat down next to me, stroking my back with his hoof.

“Harmony, if you don’t want to spar, nobody will force you. We encourage ponies to be ready to fight, but we aren’t tyrants. You are perfectly welcome to never enter this room again if you don’t want to.” He stood up, bringing me to my hooves as well and started walking us both out of the room and the temple, dropping us both down outside. “Harmony,” he lifted my face to look at his, “I’m here for you, to help you every step of the way. While Nightmare Moon encourages one to be strong for themselves-”

“But I’m not!” I interrupted, tears still filling my eyes, “I just broke down at the idea of… of fighting and now I need you to help me…”

“You didn’t let me finish.” I just stared at him, nodding for him to go on.

“While Nightmare Moon encourages ponies to be strong on their own, she fully acknowledges that even the strongest pony cannot weather every storm alone, and that sometimes the greatest show of personal strength is knowing when to ask others for help.” I sniffled again in response as I attempted to pull myself together. “Some of her most devoted disciples have had times where they had faltered, or questioned their own strength.”

He looked around for a moment. “I know someone personally who had a similar experience to you, who questioned themselves, why they were here, learning to do questionable things.”

“A-and who would that be?”

“Me. When I was first introduced to the idea that I’d have to do questionable things, like killing, in the name of my new mistress. I had someone else comfort me, like I am with you.”

“R-really? You’re not just saying that?” he shook his head.

“It’s true. Harmony, I really hope you can be like me, to learn from this moment and become stronger for it,” he gave me a pat on the head, “do you want to go back?” I nodded.

“Alright. All you have to do is close your eyes, and tell yourself to wake.” he sat down, closed his eyes, and disappeared a moment after. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and told myself to wake up.

Suddenly, the floor felt like stone, and upon opening my eyes, I was back in Light Etcher’s home. Light Etcher came around in front of me.

“Safe and sound at my house now. Nothing to worry about now.” my breathing becomes slow and shaky.

“I… I don’t know what’s happening anymore. I don’t know what I’m doing or why I’m doing it…” I looked up at Light Etcher. “Is… is everything going to be okay? Am I going to be okay?” My amulet started to glow with gentle, blue light. It was likely meant to be calming, but it ended up being more worrying. Was I being watched? Did Nightmare Moon see me break down? Would I be punished? My breathing sped up.

“Hey, hey, look at me, calm down…” I looked Light Etcher in his yellow eyes, “breathe. Breathe.” I slow my breathing again and swallow. “Do you want to go home, Harmony?” I shook my head.

“stay here with me.” I said, and Light Etcher nodded.

“Whatever you need. Do you want to stay here or go back to the workshop? Or maybe my bedroom?” I stood up.

“Anywhere but here…” I started walking to the end of the hallway, which Light Etcher opened for me. I sat down right outside, not wanting to move any further than needed. Light Etcher followed out and closed the secret door behind me. “I don’t know why I even accepted her offer.”

“Nightmare Moon promised you strength, and told you you’d do great things.” I nodded. “She told you that she’d make sure of it, and she will. Somewhere inside of you, you knew that. That’s why you accepted.” I was silent, just staring at Light Etcher. My tears were starting to disappear and I was slowly starting to stabilize. “If you think that you’re weak, Nightmare Moon is giving you the opportunity to prove otherwise, to others and to yourself. That is why you accepted.”

I nodded. Yesterday was one of the best days of my life. I finally felt strong, like I could do anything. That was why I joined. I blinked away the rest of my tears, took a deep breath in, then out, and then spoke.

“I… I think I get it now. I understand why. The feeling, of power, of confidence, of being in control. I wanted more of that. I wanted to be able to live strong, confident, afraid of nothing,” I swallowed, “today was the exact opposite of that. I looked at a challenge, at something that I’d have to overcome like I overcame the shadows, and instead of rising to the task, I broke down.”

I started to speak with purpose, “I can’t do that. Not anymore. That’s not the kind of mare I want to be. And it’s not the kind of mare I will be. I’m going to be strong, and strength starts with facing adversity.” I took yet another deep breath and felt all the tension that had built up in my body fade away. Light Etcher started clopping his hooves in applause.

“Bravo! You’re getting it! What you just did here is exactly what we preach!” heh. It was, wasn’t it? Maybe this whole thing was a test? Like the shadows in my dream last night? “Do… Do you want to head back to the temple?” he tentatively inquired.

“No, no I don’t think so. Right now I think I want to stay here. Tomorrow, though, after work.”

I shot up to my hooves

“Oh my Celestia I never opened up shop today! Light, I think I need to-” I was cut off by Light Etcher placing his hoof on my mouth again.

“Just rest. No need to stress yourself out again. You’ve had more than enough for the day.”

“I… you’re probably right. And I want to stay here with you for now anyway.”

“Oh, one other thing: I’d prefer we don’t use Celestia’s name here. I’ve not necessarily got anything against it, it’s just an expression, but it’s probably a good idea to phase it out of your vocabulary for others who may be a little more… fanatical about it. I’d say ‘by the moon’ is a good choice.”

“Oh, oh, Cele- I mean by the moon, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’m not offended, again, it’s mostly for the others.”

“Heh, right, right… sor-” I cut myself off. “Let’s just… relax a bit. Hey, where did you get your cloak from yesterday?”

“Oh, that? Made it here.” he walked over to one of his many runic devices, “this thing is quite nice. Takes wool, silk, whatever, and it waves it and dyes it to whatever prompt I give it. Do you want one?” I nodded. “Alright, let me just get some silk. Nice and smooth for someone like you.” he started over to the exit, calling the stairs down again. “Oh! Can you start up the metalworking machines over there?” he gestured to a set of three runic devices, “I’ll need them to set up the fastener.”

“Actually, I think I have a better idea, if you’ll bring down some silver for me.”

“Oh? I’m intrigued. Alright, I’ll be right back,” he said as he climbed the stairs, which closed up right after him. I went over to the metalworking devices and started them up, pressing the glowing runes on each of them, which caused each of their runic matrices to light up. As more glowing runes floated into the air and presented themselves as buttons, I realized I had no idea what I was doing, and decided to just wait for him to get back to walk me through it. Maybe then I could use these myself.

A few minutes later, Light Etcher returned downstairs, carrying a sheet of silk, a little bit of silver, and a crystal.

“Here we go, plus a little magical crystal so I can set up your access. Fill it, will you?” he levitated the crystal over to me and started with the machine to make my cloak. I took the crystal and did as he instructed, filling it up with my magic for his purposes. Afterwards I glanced over at what Light Etcher was doing, to see him placing the silk into the machine and pressing a variety of floating rune buttons. I had no clue what he was doing. When he was satisfied, he pressed a button and the whole runic matrix lit up, engulfing the silk in light.

As the first device started running, he turned to me with the silver, levitating it over to me.

“So, there’s the silver. Do with it as you will.” I took the silver in my magic and looked at him for a moment, before he realized, “oh, right, forgot. This is just so natural to me, y’know? Other ponies don’t usually come down here so I never have to explain it,” he said, taking the silver back. “So in that case, what did you want to do with this, exactly?

“Well… I was hoping I could add onto my amulet so it could be used as the fastener for the cloak. Y’know?” He considered for a few moments before placing the silver into one of the machines and playing with the runes a bit. When he turned the machine on, a few rune-carved stones floated around the silver chunk, then started projecting beams, cutting it into shapes for two sets of clasps.

“Amulet,” he said, and I floated over the amulet. He placed it on a different machine along with one of the sets of clasps, each facing to one side or the other, pressed a rune, and the device flashed brightly. Removing the amulet found the clasps fixed to it. At that moment, the light from the device making her cloak died down. He picked up the cloak in his magic—violet outside, black inside, just like what I saw in the lake. He took the free clasps and once again used the fusing device in order to fix the clasps to the cloak in another flash of light.

“Is… is it done?” I asked, and he responded by levitating the cloak and my amulet back over to me.

“Try them on.” and so I did, putting my amulet back on, wrapping the cloak around my body, and fastening it to the new additions to the amulet. The cloak was long enough to obscure my body and keep me from being identified, including covering my cutie mark. The cloak also had a hood, just like Light Etcher’s. Hiding my identity should be relatively easy like this.

“How do I look?” I asked, though given that they should look just like in the lake, I’m sure the answer was-

“Absolutely stunning! Crystal Springs has nothing on you!”

“Oh, shut up you,” I said with a small giggle. Today really turned around quite a bit, hadn’t it? Light Etcher seemed to share the sentiment.

“You seem to be feeling a lot better now. If you’d like, maybe I could show you how some of these things work, you could come and use them if you need,” he offered. Usually I would brush it off because I’d need to get home or I could just use my workshop equipment, but this time…

“Y’know what, I’ll take you up on that. It’s not like there’s much else to do, y’know?”

“I do indeed, but which to start with?” he pondered.

“Maybe the metal cutter?” I proposed.

“Sounds like a plan. Now then, you already know how to turn it on, so let’s figure out how to define a shape…”