The night ponies living conditions are, in a word, meager. There are no earth ponies to put their magic into the crops and make them produce abundantly, There are no pegasi to control the weather and bring water to thirsty crops. There are no unicorns to craft necessities. Of every ten ponies I meet nine work in the fields to keep themselves fed.

To field the army that marched on Canterlot the night ponies must have emptied every cave and field in the Foal Mountains, leaving behind only the very old and very young.

Even after a thousand years my ponies stood ready to give everything for me. They constantly apologize, saying that their accommodations are unworthy of me. They are wrong; it is I that am unworthy of their faithfulness.
-L