Many moons ago, Princess Luna established a colony of night-loving ponies. What happened to them when she was banished? Quite a bit, in fact.
Between the banishment of Nightmare Moon and her revival as Luna, Equestria was blessed with one thousand years of prosperity under Princess Celestia. There are some historians today who call it "The Dawn Age", though it ended only recently. And yet, for a small group of ponies hidden far from other civilizations, Celestia's golden age was anything but. Luna's Children of the Night were originally a group of twelve foals whom she rescued from poverty and starvation. She whisked them away in the night to serve as the founders of a new colony - one for which, eventually, she was punished. Still, even after her banishment, her Children lived on, tucked away in mountain ranges far beyond the sight of the sun. So, over the years, what became of these children?
Based on the MLP fan animation Children of the Night, which can be found here.
Officer's log. Day 28, Month 4, Year 89 in the Reign of our Princess Celestia. Reports have been filed by merchants going through the eastern mountain pass of raiders attacking caravans. Raiders are extremely hostile and will kill caravan guards to steal the supplies being carried. A group of scouts has been dispatched to investigate and judge necessary troops.
Officer's log. Day 2, Month 6, Year 89 R.P.C. Only two scouts have returned from the eastern mountain pass. They warn of large numbers of bat-like ponies, all armed and merciless. The rest of the patrol have been killed, captured, or succumbed to injuries while returning to Canterlot. They suspect that these "bat-pegasi" are operating from within the caverns in the mountains. The Wonderbolts have been dispatched, along with two unicorn patrols and an Earth-pony patrol. All have sufficient supplies for cavern-exploring, though our lack of charts of said caverns make such a mission risky. Runners are sent along in case reinforcements will be needed.
Officer's log. Day 23, Month 6, Year 89 R.P.C. Large resistance of raiders in the eastern mountain pass discovered. Reports indicate that they have a full-fledged civilization in the caverns, but no way out for supplies besides tunnel entrances. Reports also indicate that they have a preference for attacking at night or otherwise in darkness, indicating a sensitivity to bright light. Reports also indicate that they have a connection to Prisoner #003, A.K.A. Nightmare Moon. A two-month siege plan has been written up.
Officer's log. Day 12, Month 8, Year 89 R.P.C. Raiders in eastern mountain pass have launched an ill-fated assault to attempt to break the siege. All assailants subdued or killed. Reports indicate mass starvation as a result of the siege. Attempts at peaceful negotiations have failed, as our diplomats are turned away forcefully. Final assault strategy now being sent to the siege commander.
Officer's log. Day 27, Month 8, Year 89 R.P.C. Invasion of batpony raiders' camps successful. All hostiles subdued or killed. Foals have been taken to be rehomed in settlements across Equestria. Scoutings of the deep caverns have indicated no further batpony presence.
Commander's log. Day 11, Month 12, Year 227 R.P.C. Camp of batponies encountered near settlement of Manehattan. One legion sent to dispatch the camp.
Commander's log. Day 22, Month 12, Year 227 R.P.C. Reports indicate batpony camp also contains minority number of Earth-pony, pegasi, and unicorns. They have been designated as potentially allied raiders, and the extermination mission is to proceed as planned.
Commander's log. Day 1, Month 1, Year 228 R.P.C. Reports indicate that the raiders' camp has been exterminated in full. Accident or misidentification resulted in deaths of foals. I have elected to leave such information from the Princess's ears, as she has better things to fret about.
Commander's log. Day 18, Month 3, Year 499 R.P.C. Large enemy force has conducted a hostile takeover of a small settlement in the north of Equestria. All citizens and guards have been massacred, save for one. Citizen's report indicates that the enemy force is comprised of Earth-ponies, unicorns, pegasi, and batponies. (Damn those batponies to Tartarus, always springing up and causing trouble for the good ponies. Nightmare-worshiping cultists...) Furthermore, citizen was reportedly released with a message from the enemy, swearing revenge for a centuries-old slight. A full legion has been dispatched to retake the settlement. Orders have been given to take no prisoners. Citizen has been given temporary housing in Canterlot.
Commander's log. Day 24, Month 3, Year 449 R.P.C. Legion found settlement razed and deserted. Reports indicate a gruesome scene, the details of which are being sent to the Princess. Tracks indicate large number of hooves heading west, and the legion will be following in hopes of preventing another such disaster.
Commander's log. Day 27, Month 3, Year 449 R.P.C. Another settlement has been found burned, with its citizens killed and the raiders gone. Princess Celestia has given full authority for the extermination of the enemy. (It would have happened anyway, but it's nice to have the Crown backing you up. She's usually too soft-hearted for this.) Five extra legions have been dispatched to help search for the enemy. Guard in major cities has been doubled.
Commander's log. Day 30, Month 3, Year 449 R.P.C. Enemy camp discovered by two legions in the evening. Large-scale battle commenced. Enemy forces were unexpectedly well-trained and prepared for battle, but legions outnumbered and outflanked them. Third legion arrived and joined in the battle at 8:23 AM the next day, by which point the battle was nearly won regardless. Enemy forces were exterminated in their entirety and all supplies siezed or destroyed. Total casualties: 1/4 of Legion #8, #1/17 of Legion #3, two ponies in Legion #13.
Journal of Private Shining Armor. Day 1, Month 5, Year 993 R.P.C. The Commander issued new orders for our patrol this morning. They say there's some kind of cannibalistic night cult operating near Baltimare, and we're being dispatched to root them out. Apparently, this kind of thing has happened before, too. I have to question the whole "cannibalistic" part, though, since the reports apparently didn't mention any actual deaths. ---------- Ok, so apparently they're batponies, according to new information I was just given. Those are sure a rarity. Sure, they exist, but I've only seen one in my whole life, and that was a foal in an orphanage. I had no idea they existed in numbers large enough to form a cult. I suppose if anyone was going to worship the evil princess of an old mare's tale, it would be batponies, though.
Journal of Private Shining Armor. Day 3, Month 5, Year 993 R.P.C. We've set up camp outside the caves that the batponies are said to live in. I wonder what it's like, being part bat. Are they really part bat at all? Their tendency for nocturnal behaviors and apparently hiding out in caves implies that, but they're also obviously ponies. Come to think of it, they only ever seem to resemble pegasi, never Earth-ponies or unicorns. At least, that's what they tell us. I wonder if that implies true bat...ness? For another oddity, I don't think batponies can actually give birth to batponies, only normal pegasi. What does that imply?
Journal of Private Shining Armor. Day 4, Month 5, Year 993 R.P.C. A batpony came from the caves late in the evening last night. The watch aroused us, but the pony seemed to have no desire to fight. The captain opened parley, though the details cannot be written outside of official documents. While things started out peacefully enough, it seems that the captain was... unduly aggressive in negotiations. It ended in a call for attack, and the batpony was captured. We marched into the caves and captured what seems to be a whole tribe of ponies of all ages, from adults to children, without any warriors to speak of. It was certainly a majority of batponies, but there were also the primary three races present, albeit all with nocturnal characteristics to their coats and eyes. I do not think the attack was just, but "Buck what the private thinks. Let the ones with experience call the shots." I swear, when I am captain of the guard, I will not let such horrible judgement calls be made, nor violence inflicted on innocents. This is not how one protects the peace: this is how one makes enemies. I do not know what the captain intends to do with the captives. He says that everything from here on is beyond my rank. Bull.
Forget not our Mother, who dwells on the Moon and will one night guide us to the Stars.
Forget not the Twelve Saints, whose teachings guide us by Night.
Forget not the Great Tragedies. Forgive not the Day Ponies.
Bring not the Wrath of the Day Ponies upon us.
Walk always in the Night, and walk not in the Day.
Leave not the Children, for you will not return.
Deep in the caves across Equestria, a secret cabal of ponies has grown. Spread far across the land, they all share two traits: a love for the night, and a religious devotion to one they call Mother. Although spread far and wide, the largest cabal is found in a complex network of caves far to the south end of Equestria, where nopony else traverses. They call these caves the Garden of Shadows, and they call themselves the Children of the Night.
One does not become a Child of the Night, they are only born into it. Those who have allowed sunlight to touch their fur are denied any entry into the clan, though if born among the Children, the foal of a "Day Pony" might be allowed inside.
This is how Nightlight entered into the clan. A pegasus born of a Day Pony mother and a father who was a Child of the Night, she never once saw the brilliance of the daylight from her home inside the caves. Her mother would, when allowed to visit, tell her stories of how crops grew under the sun, and the world was aflutter with birds, beasts, and insects. Nightlight thought it was a bit silly. After all, there were all kinds of animals and insects out at night.
When she reached adulthood, she was to be taken before the priestess of the Mother for the first time. The priestess was a unicorn, though not all from the line were: her predecessor had been a batpony, and the priestess before that a normal pegasus. She was said to be the voice of their Mother, and the ruler of all Children, not just those in the Garden.
The way to the priestess was complicated. It took many turns and squeezes through narrow caves, in a maddening maze that few were allowed to map out. It was a very good system for keeping her safe, as the ponies allowed to do so would rather destroy their work and die than give away their leaders' location to enemies. As was custom, Nightlight had been made to find the way on her own, with only her own memorized instructions to guide her.
When at last she emerged in the correct cavern, she was struck with awe. The room was enormous. A long rock bridge ran over a deep underground lake, with a waterfall roaring overhead to keep the lake ever filled. At the other end of the bridge, a regal unicorn dressed in star-covered robes stood with two batpony guards. No other ponies could be seen in the room.
The most impressive thing, though, may have been what was behind the unicorn. Massive cave paintings, probably hundreds of years old, depicted thirteen heads.
The central figure was larger than the other twelve. It was a dark blue mare with wickedly sharp teeth and a crown upon her head. She had a horn far longer and sharper than any unicorn Nightlight had seen.
In a circle around the mare, twelve smaller heads also showed. There were six mares and six stallions, and from each of those, two Earth-ponies, two unicorns, and two pegasi. Nightlight hadn't seen any of the figures in the paintings before, but they must be important to be in the priestess's room.
Nightlight snapped out of her trance and walked across the long bridge to stand before the priestess. She was taught to neither bow, nod, or speak unless addressed directly. The address didn't come for a long time, as the unicorn seemed to be sizing her up with an almost predatory stare.
"You are Nightlight? Daughter of Owl Hunter?" the priestess finally asked.
"Yes, priestess," Nightlight responded, exactly as she had been taught.
"Your father has spoken highly of you and your hunting. He has recommended that you go through the ritual to accept our Mother's gift to pegasi. I have allowed it," the priestess said.
Nightlight's eyes widened. Her father had recommended that she go through the ritual? It was far beyond an honor to be recommended for it, as it not only displayed the Mother's favor, but made one a far better hunter. Seeing as her father had gone through the ritual himself even before siring her, she had always hoped for it.
"It would be a great honor, priestess. I will gladly go through the Mother's ritual and earn my wings."
The priestess nodded. She turned to the large paintings behind her and her horn began to glow. She began to pray loudly.
"Oh, holy Mother and Twelve Saints, look upon your faithful Child of the Night. See the loyalty and skill that she has blessed us with. Though born of a Day Pony, she has remained true to our family. Grant her now your blessing, and allow her to become a true hunter in the night."
A silver light descended upon Nightlight where she stood. Though a gentle light to anypony else, it was almost blinding to her as she stood inside it. She could look up and faintly notice now that a hole in the cavern high above opened to the night sky, and the light drowning her vision was the moon's.
The change began. She screamed in agony as her vision completely left her, and a metamorphosis altered her body right down to the bones. Her ears grew sharper, allowing her to hear more clearly the bones cracking inside of her. Her wings were the next and most major thing to change. The feathers fell off around her, leaving the flesh fully exposed to the cool night air. She could feel leathery folds growing between the individual bones where feathers once covered. Finally, they grew a few inches, giving her a larger wingspan. The third change was her teeth. Her old equine teeth painfully grew out of her gums and fell to the ground when she started coughing up blood. In their place, new teeth rapidly grew in, these ones more jagged and cruel, designed for tearing and devouring flesh as well as plants.
The change from that point on was still painful, but less so, and mostly cosmetic. Her fur took on a far darker tone, until it was almost as black as pitch - perfect for staying hidden in the darkness. Her hooves felt hardened, and her eyes turned into cat-like slits.
The light faded, and before the priestess lied a new batpony. Nightlight couldn't yet see, but she found when she opened her mouth to speak, the echo of the cavern was far more clear to her newly-sensitive ears. In fact, she could even faintly pick out where each of the other three ponies were in relation to herself by how the echo returned to her. Echolocation, she remembered her father mentioning - the ability to see with sound.
"Our Mother has smiled upon you, and found you worthy of her gift. Go now and rest. You shall hunt again tomorrow night," the priestess said, almost booming in Nightlight's ears.
"Thank you, priestess. May Mother guide your path," Nightlight said, finding her voice to be higher than it had been before.
Navigation back through the caves using echolocation was bizarre, and she hit her head many times before finding herself back in her own room. She fell into a deep sleep on the ground, exhausted from her ordeal.
Across Equestria, worried ponies could swear they saw the Mare on the Moon smile that night.
Over the ages, there were some from the generations of Children of the Night that grew weary of the lifestyle. Some chose to split off seeing the prosperity of the land of the sun, some chose to leave for love or wealth, some were simply tired of waiting eternally for a Mother who would never come home. In any case, the rules of the Children forbade one who left from ever returning nor divulging their secrets, and so these forbidden ponies would take on new lives and bury their old ones deep within their hearts.
Nopony today knows whether they might be descended from former Children of the Night, but there may be ways to find out.
"Arrr! Lower the starboard and fly the sails! There be booty aboard that pirate ship!"
A pinto colt, dressed in an eyepatch and with a wooden sword at his side, shouted nonsensical orders to his crew of significantly more experienced and older ponies. For their part, they oddly seemed to have as little a clue what they were doing as he was. There was, for starters, the bizarre circumstance that they were pirates preparing to plunder pirates.
Suddenly, a great storm rolled in out of nowhere. What was clear sailing turned into frantic rolling and torrential rain, as waves rocked the boat from side to side. The colt screamed in terror was a great wave built to their right, threatening to capsize their ship.
As quickly as the storm rolled in, it was gone, along with the colt's crew. Though it had been daytime a moment ago, now a full moon shined brightly overhead, with a silhouette of a regal alicorn against it.
"Princess Luna!"
"Pipsqueak..."
The figure descended, revealing herself to be Pipsqueak's favorite princess: Luna, the raiser of the moon and the guardian of dreams. He ran up to her and embraced her eagerly, which she returned with motherly affection.
"I'm dreaming, aren't I?" Pipsqueak asked, not yet letting go of the hug.
"Aha, you are indeed. You have imagined yourself a beautiful ship, though. What do you call her?" Luna asked.
"Oh, the, uh... E.S. Luna," Pipsqueak answered with a blush.
"You named your privateering ship after the ruler of your patron nation? Touching, but a bit suspicious on the high seas," Luna replied with a humored smile.
"I'm not very good at lucid dreaming yet," Pipsqueak said with a laugh. "Wait, what time is it outside?"
"Almost noon. You've slept in... again. It does mean I can stay a while, though, which I always appreciate," Luna said.
The alicorn laid down on the deck of the ship, and Pipsqueak happily accepted the unspoken offer to lay down in the curl of her body. Her body didn't have the warmth one might expect from another pony. It was more like a cool, wet towel draped over one's body in the blistering heat of the summer, though without the actual wetness. He had found it weird at first, but he had begun to grow accustomed to it, and loved it now.
"Can you tell me more about the Night Guard, now?" he asked.
This was a regular question for him. The silent and barely-seen Night Guard was comprised of what many called batponies, and they were never seen outside the presence of their Princess. Nopony knew their duties, their origins, or their numbers. It was considered by many the most secretive organization in Equestria - at least, that the common populace was aware of. Luna remained tight-lipped about the details, even to her favored child.
"I'm afraid not, Pipsqueak," Luna said. "But I believe, after all of this time, I can answer a different question of yours."
"You can? What question?" Pipsqueak asked, tilting his head.
"Why you're such a 'night owl', as the ponies say," Luna replied. Her warm smile shifted ever so slightly. Pipsqueak thought he saw sadness on her face. "Do you know the true story behind my Nightmare Night?"
"The true story? I know the legends. They say you tried to make eternal night, and ate fillies and colts. Why? What really happened?" Pipsqueak asked.
"Is that what they say? You don't believe it, then?" Luna said.
"Of course not, that's silly! You don't eat ponies."
"Hah, I know. However, it is true that I attempted to create eternal night. There even were a dozen foals who disappeared by my hooves. Neither intent was malicious, though," Luna explained.
"After Discord was defeated, the foundling nation of Equestria was weakened. Many foals had been left with neither father nor mother. I approached my sister with a proposal: taking the orphaned foals away to a new colony, where they could grow strong under my watch. Tia, though, refused my proposal. She thought it would divide the weak nation too much, and in hindsight, she may have been right."
"But you did it anyway, didn't you?" Pipsqueak asked.
"That's right. I took twelve orphaned foals - six of each gender, four of each race - to a colony many miles away. For years, I raised them as my own, but eventually, I grew too greedy. My Children of the Night loved my moon and stars, and lived under my watch rather than my sister's. I wanted all foals to adore my night as they did, and my envy turned me into... into a monster," Luna said sadly.
"Wow... but what does this have to do with me?" Pipsqueak asked.
"I suspect you may be descended from my Children, though many, many generations distant. This might be why you and your mother both sleep heavily during the day and are energized at night. It's just a theory, but... I hope it's true," Luna said.
"You hope?"
"Yes, because it would mean that my Children did not die without my guidance. And even more than that, it means that they live on... in you, my favorite colt." Luna smiled and nuzzled against the Earth-pony, who happily returned the gesture. "You should awake, Pipsqueak, but we can discuss this again tomorrow."
Luna's voice grew distant, and then the foal was awake, lying in his bed with sunlight filtering through his curtains. He turned away from the bright sun and looked up to a moon-shaped clock on his wall, telling him he was twenty minutes late for lunch already.