Lunatic stopped walking. "We are here," she said.
I looked around. I could see nothing of interest in any direction. In front of us and behind us, the path continued to wind its way up and down the mountain. To my left was a downward slope that ran all the way to the bottom of the mountain. To my right was the base of a sheer cliff that rose up the mountainside.
"Are you sure?" I asked dubiously.
Lunatic simply smiled and walked to the base of the cliff.
And then she was gone.
"Lunatic?" I asked nervously. "Where'd you go?"
I heard her giggle. "Calm yourself, human. I'm still right here. Follow me."
I hesitantly walked towards the natural wall of rock. I reached out to touch the wall, only to realize it was further away than I thought. I took another step and tried to reach it, but I had the same problem. I took a third step-
And Lunatic suddenly appeared in front of me.
"Waugh!" I yelped.
Lunatic giggled again. "I apologize, dear human, but the look on your face was priceless."
I grumbled. "Yeah, yeah. So what now?"
"Now, we keep walking. In a short time this tunnel will become too dark to see. When this happens, place your hand on my side and I will guide you the rest of the way. You may also hear a voice. If you do, be aware that its offer is genuine."
"Offer? What offer?"
Lunatic shook her head. "With your immunity to magic I doubt you will even have to deal with it, but I wanted you to be prepared just in case. Now please, come along."
I hesitated, then followed Lunatic. We were in a canyon made of the same stone as the cliffside that Lunatic had walked into. Our path was dimly illuminated by the natural moonlight shining down on us, but as we walked I noticed a dark mist that slowly suffused the air around us. Soon it became too dark to see, as Lunatic had warned.
I reached out and placed a hand on Lunatic's side and we continued walking though the blackness. Completely blind, I could only trust my senses of touch and hearing. I felt Lunatic's body holding my hand up as she guided me forward. I heard my own breathing, loud in my ears. I heard the noise of rocks crunching underneath our feet and the soft clopping sound of Lunatic's footsteps, but I couldn't see anything.
I waved my free hand in front of my face. I saw nothing, even though the hand was only inches away from my face.
I stopped walking and took my hand off Lunatic's flank.
"Wait," I said.
"What is it?" Lunatic asked.
"Shh-shh-shh. Just... give me a second."
I closed my eyes and just listened. Silence, pure and profound.
After a minute of this I opened my eyes and placed my hand back on her flank.
"Thank you," I said.
"You're welcome," she replied, "but I'm not sure I understand what that was."
I smiled. "In Ponyville, even in the dead of night, there was always some creature making noise, and there was always something casting light; the chirping of crickets, the croak of the bullfrog, the light cast by a hundred different houses. Here, though..."
I trailed off. I couldn't put into words how I had just wanted to stop and experience the silence and the absolute darkness. Lunatic seemed to understand my thoughts, though.
We walked a few more steps before I added, "and the company didn't hurt much, either," and playfully bumped her in the side with my hip.
I could hear the smile in her voice as she said, "I am glad you feel that way, human."
"Please, call me Derrick."
We kept walking, and eventually I saw a glimmer of light in my vision. I shook my head, thinking it a trick of my eyes, but the tiny pinprick of light in front of us remained.
As time passed and we continued to walk, the pinprick grew larger. Without any reference points I didn't realize until we were almost on top of it that it was an exit, and that the light came from what lay beyond.
"Welcome..." Lunatic said, "to the Kingdom of Darkness."
Stepping outside, the first thing that caught my eye was a huge black spot that hung in the sky, surrounded by a brilliant white glow. It was many times larger than the sun or the moon, and it was this that illuminated the world in a dim light. The rest of the sky was a dark blue.
"Is that... a solar eclipse?" I asked.
Lunatic replied, "Appropriate, wouldn't you say? Celestia gets the sun, my dear sister Luna gets the moon, and I get something that is both and neither."
I stared, entranced by the giant solar eclipse in front of me.
"Would you like a minute to take this all in?" Lunatic asked.
"I'mma need a minute," I said weakly.
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Lunatic and I walked down the path, moving down the mountainside.
"So," I asked, "does that ever move in the sky?"
Lunatic replied, "No. There is neither morning nor night-time here."
"Really? So why do you call it 'Kingdom of Darkness'? It's really closer to twilight."
Lunatic grimaced. "There are some ponies who tend to be quite over-dramatic. They started calling this realm the Kingdom of Darkness and it caught on with the rest of the herd. That reminds me: if the ponies offer you a sacrifice to 'appease your dark malevolence', please don't be upset. That's just how they say hello."
I stared at her. "Really?" I asked her in a 'i'm totally judging you for this' tone of voice.
She didn't respond.
"So where will I be staying in The Dark Kingdom?" I asked, mockingly emphasizing the name.
"You'll be staying with me in nightmaretown."
"I'm sorry, what was that? I didn't quite catch it."
Lunatic sighed. "I said, you'll be staying with me in Nightmare Town."
I laughed. "Really? That's the name you chose?"
"No," she said, now annoyed. "I wanted to call it something more elegant, but once the ponies saw what happened to them on this side of the mountain one of them coined the name and every pony started using it."
"Wait, what do you mean, 'what happened to them on this side of the mountain'? Does this have anything to do with the offer you mentioned?"
Lunatic nodded. "While walking through the darkness, every pony that went through heard a voice offering to alter their form into whatever they desired. Most of the ponies took this voice up on the offer. I wish to point out that I had nothing to do with this magic. It was something older and deeper than anything I'm familiar with."
"Let me guess," I said. "This voice twisted their wishes and turned them into something horrible?"
Lunatic sighed. "Yes and no. All of the ponies that I rescued from Equestria were chosen because they didn't fit in there. I didn't realize until much later that the sort of ponies who would take me up on my offer tend to have certain... predispositions."
"And?"
"And every one of them desired a form that was 'dark' or 'gothic'. Some of them even became changelings. Although I still can't tell if they were already changeling infiltrators that just didn't like their job, or if they were ponies that wanted to be changelings. Whenever I ask I'm just told, 'This is how I always was on the inside.'"
I laughed. "So you're telling me that this Nightmare Town is populated by goths and freaks?"
"That is a rather uncharitable way to put it, but yes. Essentially."
I grinned. "Sounds like my kind of town."
We walked on in silence, then something else occurred to me.
"So, the changed ponies that live in Nightmare Town, what do they call themselves?"
Lunatic replied in dull frustration, "Nightmare Ponies."
"Hah!"