Would Anybody Mind... · 4:29am Mar 27th, 2021
...if I did a small name change in DaD? It wouldn't affect the story at all.
This has kinda been bothering me for a while. You all know everyone's favorite bat ponies. I see them a lot, not only in my own writing, but a good deal recently since I've been editing a certain story that includes plenty of them (Title drop. You're welcome, Toast). Well, I've lately noticed that a widely accepted term for them has been 'thestrals.' I'm pretty sure I'm the ONLY author on this site that's ever referred to them as 'noctis ponies/noctii'. Crystal Moose coined that term when he first started this story, and I just kinda ran with it, but being the sole person calling bat ponies by a completely different term kinda bothers me, to be honest, so...
Would anybody object if I go through the chapters and change the terminology? Like I said, it would alter literally nothing in the entire story— just give me a little peace of mind.
...Meh, nevermind. Never hurts to be unique, eh? 
While I'm at it, if you're looking for a story update, I'm sorry to say I'm moving a little slowly. I'm flipping between writing the prequel and various chapters in the main story, but I've run into some block with both, unfortunately. I might step back for a little bit and write something for a recently announced contest, something that I actually could place in the DaD 'verse, also. Potentially the introduction of a certain yak...
Not at all, that seems like a pretty simple change to make.
I've certainly encountered far more egregious retcons on this site. Go for it.
I mean, the "official" name for bat ponies is unclear. Short Skirts calls them "Sarosians," I use "Thestrals," and others simply, "bat ponies."
Plus, it doens't affect the plot, so... you do you, my dude.
I may be an odd one. I know I have used thestral at certain times and I tend to default to bat pony in most cases, but I don't feel thestral is the right term for them. I know there was a discussion about it on one of the group forums over a year ago but I can't find it. That discussion mostly pinned the adoption of thestral on the Harry Potter franchise. Personally, I don't see my bat ponies as skeletal and so have moved away from it.
I've actually liked seeing what others call them (apart from thestrals and bat ponies), yet I have personally felt uncomfortable using their terms as I never wanted to feel like I was copying them. Probably why I default to bat pony now, even if I often feel it is a clumsy term (I feel the same about the term earth pony).
But, as Jake The Army Guy said:
Since 'You do you' seems to be the prevalent comment so far, looks like I'm in the clear. But I do understand some people's hesitance given the name's connection with Harry Potter and the fact that Bat ponies aren't like those at all.
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Maybe you're thinking of this discussion?
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I was under the impression that Skirts coined the term 'Sarosians' for his specific 'verses, not really as a universal usage, since his version of BP's have their own religion with the Book of Saros. (FYI I'm sooooo close to catching up— started Austraeoh at the tail end of May last year, now 19 chapters to go to current Ofolrodi update as of the time of this comment. So what if it's still 131k words? Only 19 chapters out of 2002)
Not really noctis means "of night" and thats what bat ponys are really beings of night
Sounds good to me, Dash!
actualy theres a story series called 'interviews with a bat pony' where 'thestral' is considered a slur, and they prefer to be called something else..i forget what
as for changeing the name ir eally wouldnt, just cause your not following the pack is not a bad thing
it makes you distinct, unique and thats a good thing.
Not my preferred term (that would be nox short for nocturnal ponies or nox ponies), but doesn't make a difference to me
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Noctral— 'night dweller'—is what you're looking for. I went over to read that story (really cool, I gotta say) and found the reasoning behind it being a slur in the first sequel— 'thestral' roughly translates to 'cave dweller,' essentially calling them primitives (cavemen for us). I don't know if the etymology is 'correct' per se, since I couldn't find it myself (I'm probably just not doing enough research), but that would make a ton of sense.
Huh... y'know... I did go over and change everything already. But it didn't take long, and I left the original documents unchanged. Maybe I'll go put 'em back...
*ahem* As a fellow bat pony. I like the thought of being unique over doing what most others do. I've never cared for the term Thestral, so I've always called Snow Heart a "baticorn" because she's a bat alicorn. But you do you. <3
5484508. That icon really deserves to be called an Adoreabat. Squeee!
I tend to go with a third option that I found out about from Wise Cracker's fics. I call the bat-winged ponies "rousettes".
Mind you, Wise Cracker's Rousettes have very good reasons for being offended by the term "bat-ponies", mostly because they don't really think of themselves as ponies, but rather a different "race/culture" than the peace-loving ponies.
The problem with coming up with new names for things is that fanon wikis don't do their job properly and catalogue common fan-terms, meaning that keeping up with what means what can be somewhat tiring. Just look at how "Filly Fooler" and "Filly Fiddler" get mixed up. The former means "A mare who prefers the company of other mares" while the latter is supposed to mean "A pony who is extremely kind to fillies". I tried to find out if there is a fan-consensus on what the Fausticorn is named if one wanted to reference her as a divinity (Bonnie Zacherle's Alicorn OC would be the Creator Entity. Madam Zacherle is the woman behind MLP in the first place. Madam Zacherle is in her elder years, so probably doesn't have an OC). Nowhere could I find an agreed upon name. That's probably why you see ponies swearing to Faust. I prefer the name "Sunflare Tau" for the Fausticorn.