This story is a sequel to Blue Moon Bloom
(Note: Spoilers in the comment section)
Rumble was always a quiet kid. It's only recently, since he started hanging out with Scootaloo, that anypony's really paid attention to him.
Until he announces he's got a bat-winged girlfriend. Whom he's going to wedlock (which is totally not the same thing as a wedding).
That suddenly gets him a lot of attention.
Now the rousette community of Ponyville has to contend with ponies arguing over one boy's decision to partake in a bat rite, while ponies are trying to figure out if they're allowed to be offended by their bat-winged neighbours' behaviour.
And Scootaloo? Scootaloo has more pressing matters to worry about than cultural clashes and child marriages, even if the latter involves someone she likes. And hey, it's not like she could do anything about it even if she wanted to, right?
Author's Notes: the third and for now final part of the Quorum Sensing storyline, and as such follows canon up to and including Season 2. Also contains massive spoilers for the previous stories.
Trigger warning: may remind people of racial/cultural frictions, as well as gendered ones.
Wow. I know it's their culture and it makes perfect sense to them, but the third-person rousette perspective in that last section was just... wow. From the outside looking in, this seems nuts. I mean, it was already nuts for an entire racial group to subdivide themselves and consider themselves a different species than the rest of the country, but the amount of doublethink and blind trust in tradition and authority here is just completely opposed to my usual mode of thinking.
In any case, I do not envy Rumble or Scootaloo right now. And I suspect that Derpy may know more than she lets on... though I always suspect that.
Arranged marriages are always *so* much fun. Although technically this would seem to be a betrothal of sorts, which used to be a way to ensure that the female being married into the family was not carrying another man's child. The woman (or young girl, depending on just how sincere the families were to avoid random chance) would be placed within the household of the man (or boy, depending on how much the families cared about matching ages) and kept isolated during this period (since the firstborn would be the inheritor of the family, it was considered very important to make certain it was the firstborn of the husband, you see,)
If so, the relationship that follows may be more sister/brother than husband/wife (and disappointing many shippers). I for one am all in favor of a sister/brother relationship here, with Rumble having several "Mom! She moved all the stuff around in my room again!" moments. Now where is that tracking button... Ah, there.
And Celestia and Luna are fine with having a bunch of institutionalized bigots as their Lunar guard somehow?
Well... Shits fucked and it isn't my fault.
Looks like rumble is in for a good time.
Also...
Rareté
Rarity
...
...
...
...
...
...
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Not to spoil it too much, but it's going to be heavily implied later on, yes. Remember, Lord Nox is part of Princess Luna's family. They'd have to know about this.
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There are actually two major functions to wedlock, but I left out spelling them both out because the dialogues involving the subject were stretching on for too long. Since this is going to be part of the conflict, the actual implied answer to the main purpose is going to come fairly late.
What I will say, because it's not relevant to the overall plot, is that wedlock makes it so there's no conflict of loyalties. The rousettes have a more violent history than ponies do, and they don't get the magic of Harmony (since, you know, the whole curse thing that was mentioned in Blue Moon Bloom). Rousettes became mercenaries when pegasi became soldiers, basically. As a result, they needed to make sure that every bat in the line of duty could give it their all, even risk their lives without hesitating. Worrying about their children back home would cause doubt. In their line of work, they can't afford doubt. It's all or nothing, and the willingness to risk their lives actually boosts their survival rate. Wedlock means that if the family of one child should die, there is a second family that can immediately shelter them. No arguing over bloodlines or education, no need for a warrior family to lose valuable members to family life. It's life insurance before life insurance was invented, or rather, how an animal would set up life insurance.
The reason they don't want boys and girls mixing will be implied later on, I'll spell it out if people really don't get it. And why they live in their own section of Ponyville? That's a simple, forehead-slappingly practical reason that will get spelled out in the story itself.
I should also point out that I'm not the person who added this to the Foalcon group, and that whoever did do it, added it to the SFW section. There will be some public shows of affection, but no
sleeping togetherbreeding of kids.Thunderlane, Rumble don't take your sas!
DAME! These bats are strick, gezz ya think they would get with the times, like there lovely princess, just saying.
I ship it.
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Ship what? Rumble and Scootaloo (obvious), Rumble and Apple Bloom (maybe), Rumble and Chitter (eww), or Rumble and this new girl who hasn't had any screentime yet? You don't even know what she looks like... aside from the cover art, I mean.
Or Applejack and Lord Nox? That'd be all sorts of hilarious.
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The new girl. I like when effort is put into pairing an oc with somepony from the show, even if he doesn't have much of a canon personality.
I'm also a sucker for m/f shipping with applejack moreso than any other character, so yes. You really just know how to push my buttons.
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I wouldn't call it shipping, but there will be friendshipping with Applejack involved, then. Just not with Lord Nox, not exactly. As for Stella, the pairing is sort of a matter of convenience, it's not the usual sort of pairing, hence the lack of romance tag. You'll see, and thanks for the feedback, I am taking note of it.
Interesting. Stella has a lot of experience with foreign cultures and isn't big on tradition herself. Sounds like she'd be more than okay with using wedlock as a means of circumventing gender segregation... though I wouldn't be surprised if there did turn out to be some chemistry there. And I can't imagine that Loird Nox would be happy about this. A member of the nobility certainly can't be seen as shirking tradition.
As for the race, I don't see any way that this could end well. Well, not unless Rarity decides to take the initiative and discuss it with Thunderlane ahead of time. But otherwise? Yeah, this won't go well at all. Especially not if the Crusaders' assumption about the crowd keeping Rumble secure proves to be false. Thunderlane will see an enforced tradition. The spectators will see abducting a child against his will. (Maybe. It would be by his own brother...)
In all, the fireworks are definitely in place for the next chapter. I look forward to seeing how they'll explode, and what will follow suit.
6593698 Rarity and Truck?
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Don't tempt me.
do i need to have read this other story before hand? at first i felt confused how this story got so popular so fast yet there's no link to said story in the description
NVM, just saw the sequal tag, look forward to giving this a try
Huh. Stella's isn't quite how I imagined her, but I still like her.
Heh. I'm not sure why that made me smile, but it did.
Hmm. I'm not sure what to make of the alleged worsening wing thing. I thought it was just an excuse so no one would expect Truck and Scootaloo to race together, but that doesn't line up with how seriously Sweetie Belle is taking it.
And Thunderlane has pretty much crossed over from traditional to suffocating. Especially the "you barely know them" excuse. Seriously?
In any case, next chapter should be quite interesting, especially now that Sweetie has tempted fate.
I'm actually with AB on this one, though I think you're gonna have to show us Tavi's business with Scoots rather than actually show us two ponies in the same vicinity.
So hard to tell which parts are the red herrings and which ones aren't...and surprisingly enough, I'm loving it.
Hey: at the very least it seems like somebody out there cares enough to look for a proper match, rather than just parents daisy chaining each others.
Eeeeh... batpony Inqusitor? Under Luna, not NNM? Now, that calls for a sci-fi tag for the story, if you know what I mean!
Inqusitors and the nature of Luna don't mix too well. Also - Celestial Inqusition sounds much better than a Lunar one.
I think Stella is somehow a reflection of Diamond Tiara, like Rumble's mom is the reflection of Rarity. Unless the Riches are hiding among ponies in magical diguises brought from renegade unicorn mages!
EDIT: Her tiara could be the hiding trinket!
Stella is so ideal that I am tempted to say that it all can be a dream. A plus for the double protgonists (Rumble, Scoots) who aren't romancing each other. Kindda reminds of Tales from the Borderlands...
And we got this story's misdirection plot going on. Stella gets accused of beeing a changeling. I also hope she will appear in black glasses for the race.
The crazy customs of the story continue. At some point I thought Rumble will rebel against the tradition but the inpossibly compatible Stella. There's something not right with her - she's too perfect. Dare to say - Changeling Doppelganger?
Love to see more
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Expect updates every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of November. I'll be using the weekends to edit in batches of five, so there may be updates on Sunday, too, but I can't promise that just yet. Fourteen chapters in total, might get around to writing an epilogue, but it's kind of an overworked story as is, so... we'll see.
At any rate, thanks for the vote of appreciation, more will be coming soon.
I certainly hope bat traditions don't make this betrothal into a mandatory future wedding. Other than that, they seem well matched and I hope they at least make lasting friends.
And suck a lemon, Thunderlane!
She didn’t mean that them bein’ ponies wouldn’t be good enough, did she?
Oh ho ho.
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That question will be answered, literally, in a future chapter. It's one of the reasons I wrote in Nectarine in the first place: she's the only normal, average Jane rousette in this story, aside from maybe Chitter.
The answer to the question is no, by the way, for the obvious reason that they wedlock at an age that they're too young to really have developed their tastes, romantically. They might grow up finding that they're bound to someone they like, but not love. In particular, if one of the pair turns out to be gay, for example (and real life bats have a reputation for that, mind you), you can't expect to force a wedding. And the bats know this and respect it, because they consider their children sacred. So why they do the wedlock thing? I've covered one reason in an earlier comment, but the other is kind of plot-relevant, and will be left implied only.
It looks like you have an unclosed centering around the first break.
Wow. Just...wow.
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I noticed it while editing before the upload, but I guess it didn't save properly. Should be fixed now.
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Yeah, she really cares about Rumble, doesn't she?
Well, Scootaloo's issue seems to be size related. One possible explanation is that she is a queen. Wouldn't be too original though, so I wouldn't mind if it was something else.
The further I read into Rousette society, the more it makes me think about Amish communities, being kept carefully isolated by their leaders for no better reason than control. Also makes me think about military juntas that say that they want to restore democracy, but actually advance toward complete fascism.
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There is actually a good reason the rousettes live in their own part of town, and it's a practical one. I had considered leaving it implied, but I ended up spelling it out in a later chapter. Don't worry, the resemblances are taken from real life examples (the idea that anything born of a rousette mother is a rousette, for example, should sound familiar), but it's still ponified and belongs in its own universe.
Regarding the fascism, I hadn't considered that yet. Who'd be in charge of it, then, at the end of the day? The highest-ranking nobles are the ambassadors, and they're not around all the time.
You've given me something to think about there...
Your Scootaloo evolves in ...3 ...2 ...1
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I imagine that, after more than a thousand years, Rousette fascism has become completely self-perpetuating: children are raised to follow tradition without questioning it, then grow up to raise children under these same traditions. Also, one of the pillars of their education is to see ponies as the enemy. Now, as every kid Rousette grows up seeing themselves surrounded by the enemy, it is far too easy to manipulate them into thinking that the only possible pursuit of happiness is to remain inside their communities. Going by the pyramid of Maslow, they grow up believing that they can go no further than the first step in the outside world.
As to their political system, I'm imagining a somewhat loose caste system that, way in the past, was headed by a grand patriarch or a prime minister(answerable only to Luna), but nowadays needs not so. Bat communities nowadays would likely have a council of heads of family that acts as a juditial branch, and that a legislative branch only exists once or twice per century, when a national council meets and updates the Law of the Bat Nation.
Another subtle mean of self-perpetuating control would be how bat communities exist within pony communities: I can easily imagine that the only bat-only communities are adult-only military bases.
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You're right on a few counts, but wrong on a few others. Working from the info that's present as is, it's a reasonable assumption, though. You'll see. It's interesting to see what people come up with as more background is given.
So... no follow-up from the cliffhanger with Scootaloo last chapter?
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Nope. Whatever it is, she's hiding it.
Scoots sure needs to learn how to clone herself. Or Twi could fish out a captured drone from the Dungeon for her to Control and act as Truck. I can already picture It...
"But mom, it's just like getting a dog..."
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That's not a bad idea, actually. I might use that sometime: modern slavery vs animal husbandry with changeling drones. A similar thing comes up in the Changeling Blood sequels, but they're only at concept stage.
*scribbles it down*
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If you look for some intresting ideas or opinions - don't be afraid to ask me to make a joint brainstorm. I also can hold my tongue behind my teeth, so no worries. The only downside it thqt I sometimes can be a bit overzealous abaut my points but then just 't3ll me to 3ar 5n34ker5'. It generally makes me hungry and I would return later after the hype has passed.
I had a long post written out, theorizing about wedlocks. I'm sending it to you and not posting it in the comments because I might get things right and spoil it for the other readers.
Argleblarg. Sorry, kind of playing catch-up with a lot of stories.
In any case, there's a lot to take in, but it's all very interesting. It's nice to see some logical reasons for rousettes to have their own enclaves even as more and more of the justifications are shown to be self-perpetuating at best.
Of course, it seems like Pinkie's going to set back pony-rousette relationships by a century if she can't stop calling the latter ponies. And that's before taking the impending partillery barrage into account. Oh, this won't end well at all... unless Lord Nox has an excellent sense of humor.
And you still haven't resolved that cliffhanger with whatever's going on with Scootaloo. I have a guess, but I'm not going to say anything until I get confirmation.
Okay, so bats are out of the orchard. Let's see How It goes. Albo what's with Scootaloo? Why isn't she Here? And if Rumble tells Stella?
"Antek! Hit the Jew!" [historical quote] So we're At the heavy anti-semitism topic. Any chances for references of past century quotes in the story? They sure are climatic...
A new chapter so quickly! Splendid! Also: first hehehe
I also wonder if Scootaloo will slowly assend the path Chrysalis has walked before her. To become a monster and destroy a pefect loving couple. That would be a real plot twist!
I vote Scootaloo for the villian! 
[such obliqueness, such liez]
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I update every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so it's purely coincidental that it's so soon after your previous comment. As for Scootaloo becoming the villain... not a bad idea, but would turn the whole thing into a 'shoot the shaggy dog' story, which I'm not that fond of.
6638546 True.
Eeeh... I would like to see a re3play from the Canterlot Wedding. Foal Edition XD
The bats do have a point: Ponies don't understand them. In a community as open and interconnected as Ponyville, the idea of an entire group willingly isolating themselves doesn't compute, so they assume it's out of arrogance. At least the children are sufficiently open-minded to consider the other side, and to present their viewpoints to one another rather than just making assumptions. Breaking the cycle of isolation and misunderstanding is going to be all kinds of awkward, but it will be worth it.
Also, I always love seeing earth pony necromancy. The manipulation of life can weaken it as much as strengthen it.
Also also, it seems that whatever's going on with Scootaloo, it's not immediately obvious. Most curious.
And I'm very happy to see someone confront Thunderlane about his overprotectiveness. Hopefully, Nectarine has given him something to think about, not least because for all of his concern, he didn't even know that his brother had friends. Plus, the character building on Thunderlane himself is fantastic. Great job of showing his motivation and how he's projecting his own issues on Rumble.
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That's the thing, though: Thunderlane laughs when he says Rumble doesn't have any friends. It's obvious to him that Rumble doesn't have any bat friends and it hadn't even occurred to him that he'd make friends elsewhere.
There's sort of an 'It takes a village to raise a child' vibe coming up, and Thunderlane is involved in that, as well as Nectarine. She has a responsibility in these matters, too, after all. I'm glad you like Thunderlane; I was really worried I'd made him too antagonistic.
Next chapter's going to be mostly at night, and involve Rumble's parents' take on the whole thing. Will they let Rumble invite ponies to the ceremony?
New chapter of Bat feaver with some Quorum Sensing thrown into the mix! It's better than Cathurday! This is gon b gud!