Pony Variants: Lunar Ponies

In my prior blog, I talked about how my story-canon has Natural Ponies (i.e. Earth Ponies, Pegasi, Unicorns, and Alicorns to an extent) and Pony Variants. Well, now I shall explain them in as much detail as I can. I shall explain the Variants one by one on this blog and I shall welcome any questions or PMs for further discussion.

PLZ keep in mind these Variants are portrayed as I imagine them in my story-canon and thus are not show-canon; they were inspired by other sources while some facts regarding them I made up myself. So, I’ll begin with...

Lunar Ponies

Known also as the Children of the Night, Lunar Ponies came to be by the workings of Princess Luna. After a tragic accident and a heartbreaking realization that she was infertile, along with other circumstances, Princess Luna, during her initial rule alongside Princess Celestia in the Castle of the Two Sisters, periodically spirited away colts and fillies from the nearby village; foals that were orphans, abused, lost, and had no one to love them, to guide them, to care for them.

Once a week, for an entire month, she spirited away large groups of foals to the Shetland Isles located in the Eastern Sea, where after amassing about 50 foals (including six teenagers) she performed a miracle - Using a magic circle and the light of the full moon, Luna infused her own moon-empowered essence into these fifty foals while they slept, transforming them in the first generation of what she would call the Lunar Ponies.

Making sure they had everything they needed, Luna entrusted her teenaged adoptive children to look after all their new brothers and sisters and returned to Equestria, promising to visit for a week every month during the full moon. Using what their dear mother had given them (supplies, houses, food, books, tools, etc.), the Lunar Ponies grew up, embracing the fundamental changes to their very beings, discovering special powers and enjoying their mother’s visits and she guided them in their dreams so they would grow into a society all their own.

Alas came the terrible day when Princess Luna fell to darkness and became Nightmare Moon. Sensing something was not right about their mother, the Lunar Ponies shrouded their Isles with magic to hide themselves from her although some foolishly went to find her and fell under her thrall, becoming warriors for Nightmare Moon’s attempt to destroy her sister and usher in Nighttime Eternal. This went on for months, subjecting the world to months of darkness, until at last, Princess Celestia tried one more time to get through to her sister, only to find herself fighting for her life, that she came to that heartbreaking decision to use the Elements of Harmony to stop Nightmare Moon and bring back the sun.

Nightmare Moon was banished to the moon, and her absence in the world was felt by every lunar pony, that they isolated themselves in the Shetland Isles. Ten years after Nightmare Moon was banished, Princess Celestia found the Lunar Ponies and it took time and effort to win their trust before their Matriarch allowed Celestia to enter their village. She explained to the Princess of the Sun of the Lunar Ponies’ origins tied to their Mother of the Night, showin her books and scrolls regarding the magic Luna used to transform their forbearers. Celestia did not reveal to them what had become of Nightmare Moon but expressed her hope that one day Luna would return.

The Lunar Ponies remained on their isles, continuing to thrive as a community and a culture, and came to be protected by their own honored order of covert warriors called the Lunobi, masters of stealth, infiltration, and assassination. One of these Lunobi warriors, Red Ryder, would leave his home at Princess Celestia’s request to lead what would become the Brotherhood of the Evening Hoods.

Finally, after the thousand year-long wait, Princess Luna was returned to the world and she spent some time with her Lunar Ponies before coming back to Equestria to ease back into ruling alongside her sister, and several Lunar Pony stallions accompanied her, becoming her own personal guard, the Lunar Guard. After centuries, the Lunar Ponies began integrating with Equestrian society but found this difficult as they suffered social stigma from the mainland ponies due to the Lunar Ponies’ diet including meat. It is still a work in progress but the Lunar Ponies are finally becoming a part of a much larger family.

Lunar Ponies are very similar to Natural Ponies and at the same time very different, their diet including meat, for a start. They are omnivorous, and can eat vegetation but their diets make eating meat necessary for the protein. Lunar Ponies are generally somewhat physically superior to most Natural Ponies; they are typically stronger in body, have superior senses of sight (they can see even in total darkness), hearing (they can hear frequencies and sounds Natural Ponies cannot), and smell (their noses are superior to any bloodhound), possess echolocation regardless of their type, and they have the ability to absorb energy from exposure to moonlight, which restores their stamina and speeds up their natural healing. Lunar Unicorns can use their ability to absorb moonlight as a means to boost their own magical power and cast stronger spells.

Besides these abilities, Lunar Ponies can possess certain magical powers, including:

Nighttime Physical Empowerment
Every Lunar Pony is stronger at night, doubling in strength, senses, stamina, and agility whether the moon shines or not. In addition, during the night, Lunar Ponies don’t age, and instead only age during the day. In other words, Lunar Ponies age half the age rate of natural ponies (and non-Lunar Ponies) though the delayed ageing only comes into effect once a lunar pony reaches adulthood.

In addition, all Lunar Ponies possess the ability of Echolocation.

Shadow Powers
This is perhaps the most common magical power among Lunar Ponies; the primary Shadow Power of Lunar Ponies is Shadow Morphing, which allows them to give a semi-physical shape to any shadows and shape them into a variety of forms, such as tendrils to grasp, blades to attack, shields, and so on. This is primarily done with the Lunar Pony's own shadow, and any shadow cast by the Lunar Pony's body can be manipulated and morphed into a tangible shape. It is described as akin to squashing and stretching rubber, with more shadow providing more substance for their Shadow Morphing to work.

Another common Shadow Power is Shadow-Diving; this allows Lunar Ponies to "dive" into shadow, their own or otherwise, allowing them to occupy an alternate space that is only accessible through shadows. To those who experience Shadow Diving, it's very similar as to swimming underwater while seeing the real world right above, below, or beside them (depending on whether the lunar pony shadow-dove into a shadow on the floor, the walls or the ceiling) and the "shadow space" is trying to push them back into the real world, similar to air rising to the surface of water. The lunar pony can still breathe but cannot clearly hear what's going on outside the shadow space, sounds becoming slightly muted.

While one is shadow-diving, their presence is seen as a two-dimensional shadow that gives off a vaporous haze, though this can be hidden by the lunar pony hiding in an actual shadow while continuing to Shadow-Dive; it is likewise undetectable if the shadow-diving occurs at night. Either way, Shadow-Diving allows lunar ponies unmatched capabilities in stealth and infiltration.

One of the strongest applications of Shadow Powers is Overshadowing; a Lunar Pony can enter the shadow of another being and in doing so take over their body. However this process replaces the host’s shadow with the shadow of the lunar pony possessing them, which is the glaring weakness of identifying someone who is possessed. Furthermore, the longer a lunar pony overshadows a host, the more they lose control until the host is able to muster enough willpower to force the lunar pony out.

An advanced technique of Lunar Pony Shadow Powers is the Shadow Twin: The Lunar Pony turns his own Shadow into a Twin, a mirror image and physical entity with whom the Lunar Pony can tag-team with and coordinate strategies without needing to speak to each other. Furthermore, the Lunar Pony and the Shadow Twin can almost instantly switch places, allowing the Lunar Pony to trick his opponent into attacking the Twin instead of the Lunar Pony. The Shadow Twin can take a few hits before it vanishes in a puff of shadowy vapor and reverts to being a normal shadow, but after a brief moment the Lunar Pony can manifest his Shadow Twin again. The technique is so advanced that not every Lunar Pony with Shadow Powers masters the technique.

Power over Gravity
Some Lunar Ponies possess the power to bend Gravity to their will. This enables them to mimic walking on the moon aka Moonwalking, control the effect Gravity has on a target or even in the immediate environment, and they can shift their center of gravity, allowing them to walk on walls or ceilings.

Skilled users of this power could create a shield of repelling gravity, control water, or even emit direct pulses of gravity to topple large structures, and they could even emit a gravity field that allows them to sense the physical movements of anything within the area of effect. With the right amount of skill, Lunar Ponies could use their gravity powers to walk on water (Water Striding) without breaking the surface tension; doing so, they describe it as walking on a soaked mattress.

Sonic Screaming
This power is regarded as an “upgrade” of the Lunar Ponies’ natural Echolocation. It allows the Lunar Pony to unleash a powerful scream of concussive sound that can literally blow ponies off their hooves and even cause temporary deafness (if they were too close).

A controlled application of the ability can be used to harmlessly render a target(s) unconscious.

Dreamwalking
The rarest and potentially the most powerful of the Lunar Ponies’ gifts, Dreamwalking is the power to go to enter somepony’s dream. As simple as this sounds, the potential is actually considerable, as it is violating someone’s mind, allowing a Dreamwalker access to one’s most private thoughts, their memories, their deepest secrets, and the potential for harm is great. A skilled Dreamwalker can not only enter someone's dream but take varying levels of control over it, and cause harm to the dreamer’s psyche, distort manipulate, or even erase memories, or worst of all, render a victim insane.

It is for this reason Luna made Dreamwalking the rarest of her children’s gifts, as she gave only ten out of the original fifty the power of Dreamwalking, and any Lunar Pony who exhibits the power of Dreamwalking is given mandatory training, disciplined to respect the responsibility of such power so that they do not abuse it. They are charged to assist their Mother of the Night in helping the ponies of Equestria with troubling dreams.

No Lunar Pony has all of these powers, typically having one or two. As mentioned, Dreamwalking is the rarest, with less than one out of every ten lunar ponies developing the power.

That’s all I have; if you have any questions or suggestion, please feel free to PM me. More Pony Variants will appear so be on the lookout.