Night Pony and Pegasi Differences · 9:23pm May 16th, 2021
Quick lore dump about the differences in pegasi and nigh ponies, both in abilities and mindsets.
Night ponies and pegasi have a very similar wing structure. If you were to pluck a pegasus of all their feathers and look underneath, the wing would look very similar to the night pony's. The flesh of a night pony would be thinner, and there is a protruding finger that night ponies have on their wings that pegasi lack.
Night ponies are best suited for flying in close quarters at low altitudes. They are not endurance flyers and would have to stop and rest on a long flight long before a pegasus would. Night ponies excel at short sprints through the air, but cannot reach the same maximum sustained speeds a pegasus can.
While both night ponies and pegasi share the desire for company, pegasi have more need for big open spaces. A pegasus does not like cramped confined spaces or getting boxed in. Night ponies are the opposite, not liking to be out in large open spaces for too long and enjoying more enclosed quarters. The ancestors of night ponies grew up in caves and dense forests, and are still drawn to these types of locations which provide them shelter, shade, and cover.
Pegasi tend to be more brash and boastful while night ponies tend to be more short-tempered and aggressive.
Night ponies completely lack the ability to cloudwalk, unlike pegasi who all have the ability naturally.
Night ponies naturally have the ability to dreamwalk, something pegasi only gain with the assistance of a Dreamwarden.
Mind magic appears most frequently in the night pony tribe, but is a still rare ability to develop naturally. Other tribes can develop or have mind magic as well, but it is even rarer to develop naturally.
Night ponies have no weather magic and weather senses are no better than an earth pony or unicorn.
Pegasi have exceptional vision in daylight, seeing details at a distance far better than other tribes. Night ponies can see in low light or no visible light. Their vision in the dark is the equivalent of an average person looking around an area in daylight. Their eyes can be hurt by bright lights, and they tend to shade their eyes in the sunlight. They don't completely avoid light, and enjoy dim gentle lights in ther homes.
If forced to fight, pegasi tend to be very direct—in line with their brash personality. Night ponies prefer stealthy or surprise attacks, often striking an opponent and then immediately going for cover. Some night ponies have magic that can help camouflage them into dark areas, but this can vary greatly from night pony to night pony at how effective they are at this.
Pegasi can expend huge amounts of energy and then take frequent naps. Night ponies tend to be more conservative in their energy usage and don't nap as often unless they train themselves to do so—usually for the purpose of dreamwalking.
Pegasi need to fly for several hours a day to stay healthy, night ponies can go days without flying and stay healthy—although they still need to get in occasional flights.
Night ponies can grip surfaces to climb better than any other tribe. There is a magical element to this and is usually the first magic they develop, even before dreamwalking or flight. The strength of their magical climbing grip can vary wildly between night ponies and they tend to have climbing competitions with each other to show off their climbing skills. Some rarer night ponies can even keep a grip on ceilings. Night pony foals that are surging have been known to be caught walking on ceilings like they would the floor, but this does not normally translate out to them ever developing the ability properly as adults.
Both pegasi and night ponies are known to raid unguarded orchards for fruit. Pegasi tend to get caught and stopped more often because they are doing it in the day when the earth ponies are awake. Night ponies do it at night and tend to grab larger amounts of fruit as a result, which earns them a bad reputation. Night ponies are also more inclined to turn to alternative foods such as insects and cave mushrooms. Pegasi have a historical cooperative relationship with earth pony farmers, while night ponies tend to have historically more cooperative relationship with earth pony miners (night ponies make excellent aids in mines for scouting tunnels and getting into cramped areas to find new caverns, things earth pony miners value highly).
"I'm sorry, but when I see mangos, I can't stop myself!" -some night pony to an earth pony probably.
Two quick typos. "Pagasi" in the title and "high ponies" in the first sentence.
Well, isn't this a nice bit of lore.
sounds a lot like my night wings. i kinda stalled. every theme i do i usually find someone already did it. still don't want to be a copycat.