I recall doing my NVMC rating in a C172RG many moons ago & even back then when I was fearless & brave & still thought "what if"
I know this feeling exactly and it hit pretty close to home recently when I ferried a large single at night. It was in a remote area and completely overcast above which gave me no moon & therefore from about 5 mins into the flight I had no ground features whatsoever. (The nearest light was a cattle station about 160km away.) The flight was uneventful but I still kissed the ground after landing and proceeded to the pub. All of 3 days later this same aircraft made a very quite landing in a paddock. It was pretty sobering to say the least and I'll be thinking very hard before I do that again.
As far as SE night IFR, I definitely have respect for the RFDS and others that do it!