Here's where we all can discuss dem Bat Ponies. As in, "What's their culture like? Where do they figure into Equestrian society? Are they mutants or their own race?" Questions that build upon the idea of Bat ponies. I believe the term is "fanon." Let's get some ideas and conjecture going here.

Okay, I see this is a really old thread... but it's on the first page so I don't feel bad about posting to it.

Anyway, I always kind of figured that batponies would be like fruit bats or something, or at most they might be insectivores where they would eat things like parasprites and the like. Having them be vampires would just be wrong on so many levels.

I had a brief idea for a story where a vampire batpony shows up near ponyville and plagues them with his insatiable hunger. Not for blood, he's just hungry for stuff like fruits and vegetables and he was able to control all the fruit bats (the fruit-shaped bats from Apple Family Reunion) to make them gather food for him. Then he'd just suck all the juices out and leave dry fruit jerky like husks behind. Technically, the dried fruit things might be edible (like prunes or raisins) but nopony wants to eat food that some inconsiderate batpony sunk his fangs into.

Overall, I think my headcanon is that bat ponies are kind of like a missing link between Earth Ponies and Pegasai. They are skilled at dealing with animals (particularly bats and birds) but fly around and take a more active role with training such animals. Earth Ponies are particularly good at growing plants while Pegasai control the weather. Bat Ponies meanwhile can hang out with the various species of animals to gain their trust and kind of control them.

Like, a Bat Pony could find a pack of wolves, learn to act like one, beat the alpha male, and basically convince the whole pack that they are the boss. Said Bat Pony can then control the wolf pack and make them go where where they want them to go and otherwise help ponykind bring control to the ecosystem. Said Bat Pony knows what the pack needs and can communicate that better to the other ponies so they can determine how to keep both the wolves and the rest of the ecosystem happy. The cool thing is that since Bat Ponies can fly, they are much better at observing or escaping from most predators. If a Bat Pony wants to take over a wolf pack, they can fly over the wolves to observe them and escape if the wolves get violent.

Bat Ponies are thus more or less at home in the less civilized areas and can live in caves or in cloud homes like Pegasai do. Generally, they can control or manipulate different types of animals and convince them to help out, so a Bat Pony family might not need to make much contact with other ponies. They just get their animal friends to help supply them with the basic necessities. There could be several examples of Bat Pony foals actually being raised by wolves or bats and surviving due to their natural talents and willingness to get protection from said animals.

Their overall roughness might make them difficult to work with in civilized pony society and they might not feel that they need it. However, they do appreciate the goods that society has to offer and work with others when needed.