A Very Short Guide to Batponies as seen by Georg (with bonus footage of “Letters From a Little Princess Monster”) · 1:20am Sep 23rd, 2013
History: A thousand years ago, Luna wanted to create her own three races of ponies who would be awake at night and sleep during the day, so her beautiful night would be properly appreciated. Celestia disagreed, due to the plan taking away the ponies right to free will about which time of day or night they would be awake. Unable to force the transformation without Celestia’s help, Luna used the Element of Magic on herself to boost her power, and then transformed her followers of all three races into Nocturne. The resulting insanity caused the sisters to fight after Luna would not lower the moon. Eventually Celestia left, and returned with all six of the Elements of Harmony as a desperation move, not knowing what they would do. Nightmare Moon drew on the life force of the Nocturne to fight the Elements, and lost, but in the battle every Nocturne who had been created was destroyed except a few infant ponies who had been dragged away from the battle by a single heroic/cowardly Night Pegasus/Nocturne, who died in the process.
Celestia extended her protection over the orphan Nocturne, as they were her only connection to her lost sister. Eventually as they grew over the years, they formed families and clans, voluntarily adopting any Nocturne who was born into other ‘Normal’ pony families due to their rather loose morals. (Hey, some mares like bad stallions.) Over the centuries, the birth of a ‘bat pony’ in a regular family is met almost immediately by a clan member who explains the situation and volunteers to raise the newborn, frequently setting the new parents up with an adoption of one of their own who was born as a ‘normal’ pony. Over the centuries, the Nocturne have developed a Tradition that rules their family behavior. No Nocturne has ever failed their application to become a Royal Guard, or betrayed Equestria, and they all believe in the return of their Princess of the Night with a fierceness that tends on scary at times.
Diet: The same as normal ponies, although they are more able to tolerate easily digestible meat, such as fish. Although they don’t, as a rule. Ick!
Habitat: Houses, for the vast majority, although the Night Pegasi prefer to sleep together in one large family group in a big ‘huddle’ which also applies to Night Guards on duty. No idea if Princess Luna joins the daytime huddle while on trips away from Canterlot, and nopony has asked.
Physical Characteristics: Vision at night the same as normal ponies during the day, although daylight hurts their eyes enough to cause headaches. Sunglasses are popular for the ‘daytripper’ Nocturne. Their dragon-like wings allow for better flight in wet weather, although they still have Uropygial glands for preening, because the oils keep their membranous wings from getting white patches and flaking. When settling in for the day, a clan of Night Pegasi tend to engage in a mutual preening before sleeping, because there are some spots it’s just too much of a pain to preen yourself. (so if you wind up on a sleepover, be warned)
Mating: Takes place on clouds in the night sky underneath Luna’s beautiful stars, although due to noise ordinances in Canterlot and other cities, the clouds are placed fairly high. In order to prevent inbreeding, the early Nocturne clans encouraged the males to… be promiscuous among other the races of ponies, a Tradition which continues to the current day, although once married, a stallion’s number of nighttime “Window Shopping” trips tends to rapidly decrease to zero. They also are expected to keep track of their visits so if something does happen eleven months later, the correct clan can take responsibility for the resulting foal.
History of Nocturne in my Stories:
I got started (as we all did) on the Nightmare Night episode, and the idea took root in my fertile skull until I had to write To Sleep, Perchance to Dream, where Luna is confronting her guilt over her crimes, and having the living embodiment of her thousand-year old murder spree standing guard outside her door every night is not helping. Pumpernickel was introduced as a POV character because otherwise Luna would be talking to herself, and trying to convince the reader that she isn’t crazy is easier that way. Laminia got started as a background pony/plot hook on this story, and they only talked once, but there was chemistry there (Nitro and Glycerine) that I could not ignore.
This made me write Genealogy (or the Mating Habits of nocturnes pegasi in which Luna tries her hoof at matchmaking the two broken Nocturne and succeeds. Kind-of. It’s a little violent and abusive (Ok, in modern days, Laminia would be behind bars) but it let me flesh out the background of the Nocturne race and write one of the best flowing sentences I think I’ve ever done. (Chapter 8 where Pumpernickel meets Slipstream, Laminia’s father, and Slipstream meets the library wall. Hard.)
This followed with Pumpernickel having bit parts in The Traveling Tutor and the Librarian, as well as his 200 year old namesake in the Veterans Day tribute from EqD submitted as Diplomatic Security, which gives some more background on the Nocturne.
They both got some screen time in the Alternate Universe fic The Monster in the Twilight, some of the best writing I think I’ve done with those two. Also The Traveling Tutor and the Diplomat’s Daughter where they get to show some of the normalcy that can slip into the insanity of taking care of a Lunar Princess. There's also a nice pair of Hearth's Warming stories in Escort Flight and Yes, Twilight Sparkle, There Is a Santa Hooves, as well as The Empty Crib about childbirth.
I loaned them out to Peter for his interesting HiE fic Jake and the Kid, where a young girl around the target MLP age and her huge horse are dragged into Equestria. Or should I say back into Equestria. (fiy: I’m helping edit. It’s a lot of fun.) Also Peter is the one who convinced me to call them Nocturne instead of Night Pegasi all the time. It is more compact and rolls off the tongue better.
Plus there is a series of shorts titled Foals Tales from the Book of Tradition - History of the Night Pegasi in which some of the fairy tales of the Nocturne are detailed. It’s a work in progress.
And nearly last but not least, I have Diplomacy by Other Means, in which four ponies are sent on a diplomatic mission to the griffon Misty Mountains aerie in hopes of preventing a war. Or considering Pumpernickel and Lamina are along for the ride, perhaps starting one. It’s still in the development stage, although I have ten chapters done. It has more combat scenes than I have ever tried before, and two on-camera deaths, so it’s going to take a lot of work to make it flow well.
Last, we have The Traveling Tutor and the Royal Exam in which Pumpernickel and Laminia feature as side-characters, and Lumpy's trip up the food chain continues.
After the last one (I told you this is a work in progress), I have Who Will Guard The Dreamers, about a mother who lost her only daughter to Nightmare Moon, and attempts to visit the moon in the Dreaming in order to free Princess Luna.
As a bonus, I have a nearly completed chapter out of “Letters From a Little Princess Monster” which is an extension of the story Nightfall - Luna's Reunion
Attached below. Enjoy
Letters from a Little Princess Monster
Family Appreciation Day
It all began after the first defeat of Discord, just after my sister and I entombed him in stone forever, or so we thought. Our ponies celebrated the entire day with feasting and dancing, and there was a parade as the resulting statue was carried to Canterlot and placed in the gardens. Celestia had eaten so much cake she was about to burst, and once she laid the sun down to rest and I raised the moon, she departed for her bedchambers. In anticipation of the remaining celebration, I lifted my moon high and spread the stars across the sky in a magnificent display, only to find when I returned to the place of our celibration there was naught but used confetti and trash. Our ponies had exhausted themselves in their praise of my sister and returned to their beds, leaving me alone with naught but my stars for company.
It was then I felt the first touch of Nightmare. I had given so much to them, and in return, nothing.
The feeling grew over the years, a dull ache of jealousy and envy that flared to life whenever my sister was praised while I was ignored, left to sulk in the shadows. Beasts beyond the scope of ponykind were vanquished with our touch upon the Elements of Harmony, and Equestria thrived. Certainly there was credit given to us both, but my eyes could only see that which was bestowed upon Celestia, and the darkness in my soul blossomed.
Then, while watching my beloved sister raise the sun, the idea struck. A horrible, terrible idea forged in the darkness of my soul which was to drag the entire world near the precipice of disaster. If my beloved ponies were not able to appreciate my beautiful Night, I could reform them, shape them as clay into a new form, one who would enjoy my Night and sleep throughout the day. They would become my children, and it would be they who would sing my praises while watching over Celestia’s precious ponies in my beautiful night. I bent to my task with fervent zeal, crafting a spell which would transform any pony, unicorn, pegasi or earth pony into my image.
It was with great joy that I brought my plans to my sister, for the transformation spell was far too powerful for me to attempt on my own, but she scorned them. The Nocturne would be forced to choose the Night instead of her Day, and she considered that wrong.
My attempt to bring joy to my subjects had been crushed by my sister. The darkness grew in my soul.
Long did I brood upon the injustice of it all while I considered my spell. It was complicated, but I was the bearer of Magic, and had centuries of skill at my disposal. There was no challenge I could not defeat. All that I lacked was power.
Power such as the Elements of Harmony possessed.
In secrecy, I laid my plans, for Celestia would certainly object. Using my three Elements of Harmony, I focused my dark emotions, my hatred, my scorn, all of the lies and envy that consumed me into my spell. I would remake myself much as I planned on remaking my followers. I would become as a goddess.
A fool, more likely.
The spell could not be completed. As I fed my power through the Elements, they fought me, even though I bent my will to them and forced their compliance. It was too much for me to bear, but even a partial success was enough for me to revel at my newfound power. The Element of Magic escaped my grasp during the casting, but I considered it to be inconsequential now that I had what seemed to be a greater power.
A year passed in which I hid my new powers from my sister and gathered my forces. If she would not agree to my plans beforehoof, she would be forced to agree with them after the fact. The Winter Castle sat within the Everfree, a garden palace surrounded by the most peaceful place in Equestria. At one time, we traveled to it together every year, to grieve over our parent’s graves and to make our plans. Little things that we would do as sisters, away from the cares of rulership and power, just the two of us. They called it the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters at one time, but no more.
It would be there I would travel, and I would create my new children in the beautiful city we would build on that spot. A city in which no child would experience grief, or sorrow, or want. A city raised to the glory of the Night where all of my Nocturne children would praise my wisdom and power. A city so magnificent that my sister would be envious, looking down from her towers and spires of Canterlot.
A city of false dreams and deceit.
When the time came, I gave the order. Thousands of my followers left from every city and town in Equestria, all converging on the Winter Palace. Only then did I begin to suspect the power that dwelt within my own breast was subverting my will, for the orders that were given caused many who were not of my followers to be dragged from their families. Blood was shed that night, innocent blood, and it was only the beginning.
The remaining Elements no longer resonated to my touch, and their rejection burned at my soul. In a fit of pique, I threw them from me. I did not need them. There were other sources of power.
I gathered my followers at the site and spoke with them, of glory and power, vain and foolish words that I see now but was so blind to then. The Everfree had the power I needed to complete the spell, and I drew from it in great abundance. Not singularly, but in tens and hundreds I did transform them, with eyes and wings and horns more suited for my glorious night.
Their love was like a wave, sweeping over me, blinding me to what I had done. The Everfree writhed in agony, unnoticed in my triumph. The power it yielded flowed through my children as we set to our task. A city rose up, in foundations and walls created through limitless magic and channeled through the bodies of my new children.
The Everfree raged with madness, the peaceful creatures within turned to fury and insanity at my touch.
My sister appeared in the sky, crying out words to me. Begging me. We mocked her, throwing stones until she retreated. The Night would stand in eternity, and our city would rise, even if the rest of the world burned.
She returned, and the sky darkened with her forces as they attacked. I was little more than a terrified passenger in my own body by then, watching as my own magic lashed out at her. My sister, who had held me tenderly when I was born and cried when I got my cutie mark. My magical lash laid across her flank in lines of blackened fire, her blood splattered on my face as we fought. She never returned a single blow, never ceased to plead with me, never in anger, only in sorrow. My magic was the world, drawn from the limitless reservoir underneath the Everfree and filtered to me by the bodies of my children. It filled my body with such power that I could have cracked the world and laughed as it crumbled.
When she left, dragging her defeated ponies with her, we rejoiced. The dead lay scattered around our shattered city, broken stones and broken bones intermixed, and we cheered. The blood of my sister was on my face, and I was filled with joy.
Then she returned a third time. This time she wore around her neck the Elements of Harmony, but not only the three that she deserved, but my three also. She said nothing, for nothing else needed to be said. I had felt the touch of the Elements before, and knew of their limitless power.
To fight her, I reclaimed the power that I had given to my children. I drew upon the magic that had been used to build the city. Every spark and speck I drew into myself to fight that touch of rainbows. On some level, I wanted to lose. Somewhere within my soul was a hidden fragment, untouched by the Nightmare. It tempered my reach as I reclaimed the power I had placed within my creations, allowing a scant few to escape my grasp, but only those few lived to bear witness to the horror I visited upon their kind. I could feel my children die as my magic was ripped from them, their bodies falling to the ground like ashes as they burned.
I knew it was not enough. When the light engulfed me, I knew I was going to die too. I felt no remorse for my actions, for the deaths and pain I had caused, no guilt, no shame. The only thing I felt was sorrow for my sister, for I had loved her beyond words, and I could not tell her of my regret.
In that infinite moment, magic touched my heart. The Elements of Harmony are more ancient than this world, and are not merely weapons, but tools of creation made by the Titans themselves. Somehow they saw deep within my soul, and revealed that small fragment worthy of being saved, so small that I had not seen it myself.
They placed my immaterial form within the moon, wrapped in mystic runes and sigils not even an alicorn could break. As time passed much like a dream, the portion of my soul which was consumed by hatred and rage struggled fiercely with our bonds while I retreated to consider my crimes. After centuries had passed, I could feel a difference between us and I realized that even the Elements could not have separated me from my hatred until I had done it myself. A thousand times I lost hope in my redemption, and a thousand times I regained it as I felt the touch of my sister upon my celestial orb. When the time the Elements had predicted arrived, the Nightmare took my body back to Equestria while I remained hiding within. I owe my life to the bearer’s of the Elements, for their actions purged me of the transformation I placed upon myself so many years ago, and returned me to the embrace of my sister.
I only hope my service to Equestria as your Princess of the Night can make restitution for the death and pain I have caused. Did you have any other questions?
Miss Cheerilee blinked, the schoolhouse interior slowing coming back into focus as the clouds outside vanished and sunshine once again began to stream in the classroom windows. Her students all bore looks of stunned fascination as they remained immobile at their desks, watching Princess Luna stand calmly at the front of their classroom as if she were just another parent dropping by for Family Appreciation Day. The rest of the adult parents and relatives who had given their presentations before Luna arrived remained petrified against the far wall of the classroom, although a faint whiff of something indicated she probably should have granted them a bathroom break before Luna started her presentation.
“Well,” said Miss Cheerilee, blinking a few more times. “Well. Thank you, Princess Luna for answering that question about how you became…Yes. That was very… educational. I think we have perhaps run a bit long on your presentation, but I’ll allow time for one more question and answer, if it is short. Yes, in the back there.”
“How does your mane get all sparkly that way?” asked Sweetie Belle.
“Conditioner,” said Luna, before excusing herself to depart for Canterlot, returning what little control of her class remained back to Cheerilee.
I guess the moral is, be careful which ponies you ask which question?
After all, Ponyville will likely not survive the CMC++ and sparkly mane conditioner.
So, who's the kid that brought Luna?
Or did she come in a "all of you are my little ponies" aspect?
Also:1369313
inb4: Tree Sap, the Sparkling
Very nice backstory, and have always enjoyed batponies.
...never mind that, given ponies' diurnal biology, such a transformation would actually enable that free will, so long as the transformation was voluntary.
Also, most awesome presentation by Luna.
I guess Pip asked that question...
Very nicely done, there. There is nothing more I enjoy seeing than some solid world building and back story, and your skill certainly puts my meager skill to shame. Can't wait for more.
1369378 In context, it will be Monster. Setting it up so the "hook" in the previous chapter of "Letters From a Little Princess Monster" will be something of the effect of "I'm frightened, I really don't know any of my blood relatives, and Miss Cheerilee said it should not be a parent, so I thought..."
Dope As Fuck!!
:Translation:
I eagerly await more from "Letters from a Little Princess Monster"
I love the creating you've done around the Nocturne; it's become some of my favorite reading in ponyfic. There's nobility, sacrifice, and flaws in them, and it makes them interesting characters.
Your little asides on some subjects are a lot of fun, too, without getting too detailed or salacious. I'm about to go through all of them again, so I can read Monster and Letters properly.
Cheers!
1369448 You will note that there was never discussed any method of changing a batpony back to a pegasus. So the decision of a pony to become a Nocturne was irreversible (at the time) plus it would eliminate the free will of any of their similar descendants to choose. (Which doesn't seem to be that big of a deal in practice as it would in theory. I wonder if since regular ponies use electric lights to stay up at night, if batponies have electric darks so they can stay awake during the day :)
1525722
Or just really thick blinds. Darkness, like cold, is easy. Slightly less so when orbiting a natural fusion reactor, but still fairly easy.
1525722
<goes cross eyed as smoke billows out his ears, a similar look on his face as one who tries to imagine the sound of one hand clapping>
1525722
Well, Hard Reset has Luna doing that... though I suspect it was magical, not electric
1983600
the sound of one hand clapping is usually the sound of a smack
I don't know if it was you or someone else, but I seem to recall something like this where they actually took the foal from their parents to raise. If it was, its nice to see you changed to merely paying for it because aside from that being a monstrous position to take (and entirely uneccesary since they could merely train them if they so wanted) its also one I sincerely doubt a mare would go for.
... Be kind of fun to watch them try though.
....
"No. My tiny bat pony."
"Now Tulip, be reasonable."
"I have been ye bloody reprobate. I only told you I'd rip your teets of with me teef if you pulled that shite."
"Tulip, we must insist..."
"ALL RIGHT, LISTEN HERE YE RAGGED BONY FLANKED MANGY COATED MONSTROSITY FROM THE MOST RANCID END OF THE FURTHEST BOIL ON THE ASS END OF CREATION, YE SO MUCH AS TWITCH A LIP IN ME BAIRNS DIRECTION I'LL DROP KICK YE SO HARD ACROSS THE BREADTH OF PONYDOM YOU'LL BE TASTING HOOVES FOR A MONTH YA TWAT!"
"... Would you like your foals support payments delivered here or deposit them in the bank?"
"Have the one who slung the little biter up in there bring it. He got stuck, so ya know 'es a keeper."