Night Light was sitting at his desk in the library just as he usually did around this time of day. He’d already finished up his lunch and was back at it, going over the checkout orders, logging the charges and adding to the mailing list of those that were overdue.
It was a peaceful afternoon, the sun had just crested its apex over Canterlot and the only sounds around was the occasional smacking of his stamps on pages and the scritch-a-scratch of his quill on paper. However, his relative silence was soon broken by the light ring of the bell above the entrance door. Night Light paused, placing the stamp upon it’s pad and slipping the quill into it’s well before looking up.
As the tip-taps of hooves came closer, his ear twitched as he noticed a few dissimilarities between it and a standard pony’s hoof falls. Firstly, the gate was larger, which would indicate the oncoming pony was perhaps a large stallion; however, the steps were light and echoed with the sound of metal on stone. It was a very distinct noise that any member of the castle staff could recognize immediately as Princess Celestia came strolling around the corner in all her glory.
Immediately, Night Light sprang up from his seat, bending to the floor for a bow. While this may have been a proper sign of respect to the princess, it became rather awkward when all he ended up doing was bow behind a desk, largely obscuring himself from her vision. Seeing this display, Celestia let out a small chime of laughter.
“You may rise, Mr. Light.” Celestia said calmly. Without a second thought Night Light did so, looking up to the Princess expectantly.
“It’s an honor to have you here your highness. Is there anything that I could help you find today?” The stallion asked respectfully. Celestia smiled and shook her head.
“Actually, I have come down here today to make a different request of you, one that I believe you would be excited to help with.” Night Light gave the Princess a curious look.
“What might this request be, if I may ask?” At his words, the princess lit her horn and in a small flash a large brass key appeared before him.
“As you know, there are a number of vaults within this castle, constructed for the high security storage of various magical objects among other things that could prove dangerous to the general public. Within one of these is a large store of unread books, I recently found that these were placed within the vault by… mistake.” The Princess stopped to clear her throat. “These books have been hidden away since my sister’s fall, for all we know they could contain a wealth of information entirely lost to modern pony society. I personally do not have time to go through all of these texts myself, so I needed a pony that could read through them and report to me on what information they contain. As well, you may publish any information you find that I deem safe for the public and take all credit which is due.” Celestia paused.
“That is, of course, if you’re willing to accept this offer…” The princess looked to Night Light with a knowing smile. The stallion, who was previously dumbfounded, began to nod his head rapidly.
“Of course Princess! I would be more than happy to do this for you… When should I start?” Excitement glistened in the old stallion’s eyes as he imagined the vast possibilities of what could be hidden in those books.
“You may start right now if you so wish. Come, I will direct you to the vault.” Just as the princess spoke her last word she froze in place, her muscles tensing up until she was as stiff as a statue. Seconds passed, Night Light's face quickly adopted a look of worry.
“Princess?” Night asked, tilting his head. Celestia locked eyes with him, slowly leaning her head down to within inches of his own. Night leaned back in his chair slightly. The Princess’s lower jaw suddenly snapped open as though it were on a spring mechanism. Not a moment later, a voice permeated the air from her gullet, loud and broad.
“AH! NIGHT LIGHT, JUST THE PONY I WAS LOOKING FOR!”
“GAH!” The blue stallion shouted bolting up from his chair, adrenaline pumping through his system. His eyes flicked about frantically, locking onto the lone human in the dark as he stood there quietly with a small smile on his face.
“Anthony? Is that you?” Night Light asked blearily. Realizing that he’d dropped his glasses, the blue pony began tapping his hooves around on the desk trying to find them. Anthony bend down, picking them up off the floor.
“Missing these?” Anthony said holding out the pair, thankfully undamaged. Seeing the outline of his familiar spectacles. Night Light picked them up with his magic and gingerly set them back upon his nose, blinking a few times as his eyes readjusted.
“Thank you Anthony.” Night took a moment to adjust his position, sitting up in his chair more properly. “Now, what was all that yelling about, can’t you see I was trying to work?” the pony said, brain apparently still not functioning fully. Anthony raised an eyebrow.
“What’re you talking about, I didn’t yell.” Anthony said, leveling his voice and feigning confusion for the lie.
“Well it certainly sounded like you did!” Night Light huffed. Anthony worked to keep the dupers delight off his face.
“Sorry about that, but what are you even doing here? It’s night.”
“I work here! I thought you’d remember after nearly a year of coming down here!” Night Light said indignantly. Anthony groaned, placing a hand to his forehead.
“Mr. Light, you work the day shift!” Night Light stared at Anthony for a moment before looking out the window, fully comprehending reality upon seeing the darkened Equestrian skies.
“Oh… Right.” He swallowed. “Velvet’s not going to be happy about this.” Turning to the table Night Light quickly began moving around his work space, putting quills into drawers, stacking papers, and cleaning up other odds and ends. Coming upon the book that had been his makeshift pillow for the night, Night Light frowned.
“Oh dear me…” He said upon seeing the large saliva puddle that had seeped into the pages, ruining the ink. “I can fix this.” With a look of concentration, Night lit his horn. His light blue magical aura surrounded the splotched part of the page. Anthony watched as the liquid was slowly drawn from it, forming a small floating glob of stallion saliva that hung in the air. Pulling over a nearby trashcan Night Light quickly disposed of the substance. Looking down at the page of the book that had been cleansed, Anthony noticed that the letters seemed almost good as new, slightly faded and morphed, but altogether an impressive quick fix. Anthony hummed to himself.
“Too engrossed in a book to remember to go home, I presume?” Anthony asked. Night Light slammed the book closed and moved it into one of the drawers with his magic.
“Yes, yes. It’s not that big of a deal, to me at least. Now Velvet, well, let’s just say I’m already preparing myself for a stern talking to in the morning.” He said, slightly distracted as he pulled out a saddle bag and began haphazardly shoving papers into it.
“You’re wife?” Anthony asked, not having heard the name before. Night Light paused in his scrambling.
“Yes. Did I never mention?” The stallion asked, Anthony shook his head. “Oh, then yes, she is indeed my wife.” He went back to filling his bag.
“Any other immediate family members that I should be concerned about?” Anthony asked curiously. Night Light didn’t stop this time as he spoke.
“Besides my wife I also have a wonderful son and daughter. Seriously, have I never once mentioned them to you?” Anthony shook his head again. Night Light frowned, still somewhat in disbelief.
“You’ll have to tell me more about them sometime. But for now might I ask a favor of you before you head out?” This time, Night Light stopped completely, turning to Anthony with a small frown on his face.
“I’m sorry Anthony, but I really must be getting back home. I mean, Velvet’s been there alone all day, and I didn’t even have the right sense to go back on time and~” Anthony motioned for him to stop with a hand.
“Listen, it’s late, I’m sure your wife’s already asleep by now, and this will only take a minute. If I could please have your time, it’s pretty important to me.” Anthony said sincerely. Night light stood there silently before letting out a long sigh.
“Alright, what was it that you needed Anthony?” The stallion asked kindly. Pulling the letter out of his back pocket, Anthony flipped it open.
“I just need some general directions to a certain address. I’m pretty sure it’s somewhere in the lower districts here in Canterlot, but I haven't heard of this street before.” Night Light nodded as Anthony spoke.
“Sounds easy enough. What’s the address?” Anthony looked down and began reading off the page.
“1504 Moonlight Lane.” As the words left his lips, a small flash of recognition sparked in Night Light’s eyes. He frowned.
“I mean no offence Anthony but what would you want to go there for?”
“You know the place?” Anthony asked, genuinely surprised. Night Light shook his head.
“Not of the place, but the street.” Night Light cleared his throat.
Oh god, is it that time again? Anthony thought to himself.
“You see, after the first defeat of Nightmare Moon over a thousand years ago the old castle of the royal pony sisters was left in tatters. Princess Celestia, not wanting to spend the coming years in a place of such tragedy, decided to have the decrepit castle abandoned and went in search of a location for a new one, eventually deciding upon the ground where we stand today.” Night Light paused for a breath. “It was about this time that the Thestrals were forced out of pony society due to the growing distrust among the pony populace, though no historical records show that they had any part in Princess Luna’s uprising. They then went off to found the Lunar Republic deep within the Hollow Shades, named as a sign of remembrance to the pre-Nightmare Moon princess. This sadly lead to even more distrust and anger.”
“Racism…” Anthony drawled, snapping Night Light out of lecture mode.
“What?”
“Nothing, what’s this have to do with Moonlight lane?” Anthony asked, becoming slightly perturbed at the extended history lesson.
“Ah! I was about to get to that. You see, as the place for Canterlot to be constructed was chosen, Princess Celestia had to oversee it. This, as well as dealing with huge political backlash from her sister’s banishment, prevented the princess from being able to devote time to the construction of the surrounding city. Naturally, she handed over the responsibility to the next set of ponies in power, the old noble ponies. Her only request being that they make an area named after her sister’s night. Sadly, most of the nobles held favor for Princess Celestia alone. The project was postponed, and shoved from one area to another until finally they decided where to put it. The name Moonlight lane was slapped on an old, misplanned, dead end road. For the longest time anypony that attempted to live on it was ostracized because of it’s association, leading to anything that had been built on it becoming abandoned soon after. To my knowledge, there’s nothing useful on that street, nopony builds businesses on it because nopony goes there, and nopony lives there because they’d have to spend time and bits tearing down the old one just to build up another.” Upon finishing, Night Light sat there silently for a moment before standing up and starting to rifle through the drawers of his desk. Anthony stood in front of him, mouth slightly agape.
“How in the world, do you know so much about a no-name road that has been abandoned and ignored for hundreds of years!” Night Light pulled a map out of a drawer and set it on the desk in front of him.
“I read a lot.” Night Light said. Anthony felt that those words meant far more than what they seemed on the surface. “Also, it is the only place in Canterlot named after Princess Luna. So, even if it is ignored and abandoned, it still holds some historical significance.” With a few quick flips the map was unfolded and spread neatly across the desk. The thing was brightly and accurately colored and included the castle at the edge of the mountain with the city extending down eastward. Dawn water park was visible, covered in a series of topographic lines that ended at the lake bed itself, lastly he noticed the Canterlot gardens extending from the side of the castle, a place which Anthony had yet to traverse. Within the city, street names and places covered the map, some familiar but most not. Once Night Light was satisfied with his smoothing out the creases he quickly grabbed a dipped quill and began searching for his quarry.
“So here’s the path to the lower districts… and if we just follow this around here, down that road, away from there. Aha! Here it is!” He said spotting the street name near the edge of the city. Studying the map for a moment he put the quill down on the paper, marking a circle around the street name. Immediately after, the quill began to zip across the page, turning down street after street leaving a perfect black path, in seconds the stallion had marked the shortest route all the way across town.
“There we are.” Night Light said, seemingly satisfied with his work. Magicing the map once more, he folded it back into it’s small square shape and slid it across the desk to him. “If that is all, I’ll be heading home then.” Night Light lifted and slid his saddle back onto his back before stopping.
“Wait one moment… Aren’t you not allowed outside the castle Anthony?” Night Light gave the man a condemning stare, one that Anthony shook off with a shrug.
“True. But let’s say that I was going out anyways. No, sense in me getting lost now is there?” Anthony asked knowingly. Night Light bit the inside of his cheek lightly.
“I suppose… But should anypony come around asking, I will tell them that I did not encourage you to do this.” Anthony smiled and nodded.
“As you should. Anyways, thank you for this it means a lot to me right now. But, if for whatever reason someone comes asking you about where I am, could you please not tell them.”
“I’ve already forgotten.”
“Thanks.”
“No seriously, I’m that tired. I’m going home”
“Oh…”