Religion
Magic
Culture
Politics
Technology

You know, the usual. We may have had only thirty seconds to look at these guys, but how glorious they were.

I tried my hand at these guys, once. I still plan on including them in a story at some point.

Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na,Batponies!

A lot people say they are just normal pegasi wearing enchanted armor that makes them look like that. (I believe Pen Stroke popularized this.) But I think that really detracts from some cool world-building opportunities.

I agree with Scoot. It would make sense for them to just be Pegasi wearing armor, but where is the fun in that!? What if they are Pegasai spliced with bat DNA instead!? Think of all the possibilities of which I current have none!

Hmmm, well they obviously serve Princess Luna (duh!) IMO the best Princess. They look kind of like something she came up with in her NMM days to better alienate herself from her sister. Damn i think i now have my next story idea.

Religion: Would most likely involve worship of night, defending their mistress from any affront to her royalty or attack from assassins.

Magic: Some kind of dream control thingy, a lesser version of Luna's ability. Similar magic to pegasi, such as ability to walk on clouds and what have you. And lastly the ability to shapeshift into creatures of night, wolves, cats, bats... kinda like Dracula XD

Culture: Let's say... Gothic architecture, similar to late medieval. Think Notre Dame, cathedrals, abbeys...all that jazz. They enjoy nightly celebrations on the eve of Nightmare Night, involving stories of Nightmares brief rule,stage plays of battles between the Lunar and Solar armies and other festivities.

Politics: Princess Luna's word is law, everypony must pledge fealty to her command once they reach adulthood. Though she is more laid back after her return, none can forget her terrible anger brought forth from treachery and crimes against the Night. Beneath her are several Night Lords that govern each individual settlement in Transylponia.

Technology: Similar to other ponykind but still unique in a lot of ways. Such as their buildings being powered by the common lightning storms around their city (Frankenpony, anyone?) and the reliance on dark magic that can only be used when the sun sets.

And that is my two cents worth... i am definitely writing a story now!

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I say offshoot of pegasi

777079 No offense, but if they have excellent night vision doesn't that sorta make echolocation pointless? Its a good idea just seems odd with that in mind.

777195 Ah ok, an inherent trait that still continues. Kinda like having an appendix, at least echolocation does something

I figured that they were probably nocturnal, so I had this idea that a lot of the ones who aren't guards, work other night jobs and that there was a high population of them in Los Pegasus, running the casinos after nightfall.

776945 I still love that explanation the best.

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Hooray for Moonstuck (and Egophiliac)!

777104 They could use the ability to hear and produce incredibly high frequencies as a means of communication. They could squeak out Morse Horse code or specialized modulations, or possibly even speak normally, just in the ultrasonic.
Just because an ability won't see its original use doesn't mean it isn't useful. You know, like hands. They were originally designed to assist brachiation, which is why monkeys have four of them.

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Horse code

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Bat-ponies. Hah.

Those aren't actually bat wings, no. Those're dragon wings.

Origins
The 'batponies' (properly pterripi, lit. "with wings"; also known as 'night pegasi') are the most successful crossover experiment of the mad dragon, Crazy Ivan. Why he did it, or what he was trying to acomplish, nopony knows, because nopony has had the guts and the interest to ask him. They are a more recent development though, having first been spotted a mere two centuries after Discord's original defeat by Celestia and Luna.

Beliefs
The batponies don't have an 'origins myth'. They know. It's been fewer than 1300 years, after all.

I'm inverting what seems to be a usual here, Princess Luna had nothing to do with their origins, and wouldn't have stood for it if she did. But now that they're here, she's adopted them, and vice versa, the nickname 'children of Luna' seems to have stuck despite its inaccuracy.

Politics
Batponies are, fundamentally, ponies. They share a lot of the same interspecies politics, and are under the same political/national authority as other ponies. The Night Guard was even established by Princess Celestia, albeit 150 years after the banishment. But they've always had a tradition of swearing loyalty to Luna over Celestia, and though the reasons may be confusing they are well-founded.

For a long while, batponies were regarded with suspicion (or worse, including being seen as sub-pony) by the general pony populace -- still are, in fact, though not nearly to the same degree. Luna was one of the first to recognize them as equals, and stood up for batpony intergration more violently than anypony else (even Princess Celestia). This inspired some fierce loyalty.

Magic
Mostly just the usual pegasi stuff -- flying, clouds, weather. Batponies also have extremely sensitive eyes, which gives them great night vision. They can also see just outside the part of the spectrum regular ponies can, which they can use to leave messages that only other batponies can receive. It's not enough that they can use it for invisible ink, though.

My headcanon on Bat Ponies, or Thestrals, is fairly tame compared to many others. Most bronys think of them as fanatical half dragon/half pony hybrids with a vampiric twist resolutely loyal to Princess Luna and no other.

I view thestrals as bat ponies. While I really have no origin story for them, I think they lived in what became Equestria long before the ponies discovered it. Their society is colony based, meaning generations of bat ponies share the same living arrangement. Large family groups live together in a series of caves either their ancestors found or carved out from a rock wall. When families group together, they form a colony run by a council of elders. Kind of like a community council in a local town.

As for their physical traits, my bat ponies are based off of fruit bats than dragons or vampires. They can go out in the sun, but they function much better at night where their slit pupils can focus on faint light sources easier. They also have a peculiar sensitivity to smells as well, not the kind that can sense others, but a strong reaction to dust and smoke which provides them with an early cave in warning. Their wings are stronger than pegasus wings so they can fly faster, but with no feathers they have more difficulty turning quickly and are much more noisy.

I liked the darker colors of the bat ponies, but I would assume they could be earthy colors like dark red/orange or brownish black. Their eye colors can be anything, like regular ponies, but their pelts and manes very rarely deviate from the darker colors.

Their diet consists of fruits and more fruits with nuts and grains thrown in. They have a high metabolism which keeps the sugar from the fruits from making them hyperactive or fat. They will eat grass and plants when forced to, but they prefer fruit to anything else, preferably juicy fruits like apples and oranges.

They have much the same personalities as ponies in general, but the mares are ingrained to breed as much as possible since about 80% of them cannot successfully carry foals 9 out of 10 times, usually making them shy or very pushy. With the low live birth rate, most bat ponies don't show themselves to others, which is why they only appear around Luna and they're only stallions. Mares are a rare sight to see outside of colonies.

So, in short, they don't like direct sunlight or dust, powders or smoke. They are faster than pegasi, but louder and harder to turn. They live off of fruits, nuts and grains, but can eat like normal ponies as a last resort. They come in all sorts of earthy colors and their eyes can be any color. They see much better in dim light than bright light and are loyal to both Celestia and Luna, but they're better suited for working with Luna than Celestia.

The batponies, in my head canon they lived in the lands and caves surrounding Canterlot before the arrival of the three tribes. They lived mostly in caves, but slowly began building exterior towns and even trading with the Crystal empire to the north. They lived in a series of colonies scattered about, but each colony would send small delegation, lead by a pony given the title of 'Defender of the Colony', to a large council. This council would help resolve disputes and would be lead by an elected member called the Mother/Father of the batponies. They thrived until the arrival of the three tribes and they formed the new nation of Equestria, which rapidly expanded. The settlers saw the batponies as possible threats and the colonies were slowly pushed back, until there were only a few colonies left living inside the everfree.

They remained in the forest, knowing the Equestrians wouldn't dare enter, until a small group of batpony colts got lost, their home believe to have been destoryed, and ended up outside a small earth pony village. They were found by the newly coronated Princess Luna and she was told of their plight. She took them in and trained them and they would become the first Lunar Guards, also called the 'Foals of Luna'. She would takes over positon as their protector and relations with the three tribes slowly improved to where they could move their colonies outside of Everfree forest.

Then, Nightmare Moon came and a few batponies followed her, but there strong connection to Luna made them to be linked in the mind of ordinary ponies. Many no longer trusted them, even though they were never loyal to Nightmare. Eventual Celestia intervened and let them rebuild in the mountain, where Canterlot is. The made one colony and began building new caves in the existing system.

Religion: In the early years they worshiped Princess Luna as a goddess and savior to their kind, but over time that worship turned into just loyalty to the Princess. They hold Celestia in high esteem as well.

Magic: They have strong wings for faster flying and they have a great night vision.

Culture: They value service and family. They have a long tradition of ceremonial Guard units. Many batponies either go off and join the Lunar Guard, but ones that don't serve in local militias, they takes turns doing patrols around the orchards and colony at night. After losing much of the land to Equstria they also lost a much of their population, family and foal bearing is valued, as well as adoption. They also are known for the fruit growing, being the staple of their diet. The colonies are surrounded by large orchards.

Politics: Over time they have spread so a few colonies exist. Each colony sends a delegation of elected ponies, lead by the 'Defender of the Colony' to an assembly in Canterlot. Princess Luna is the head of this body, but appoints a batpony to serve as a Prime Minister. They make laws for the colonies and help resolve problems between colonies and with Equestria.

I still think they're just pegasi with enchanted armor, to go along with the nightmare night theme. However I read a story where they were Equestria's version of thestrals. Those bat like horses from Harry Potter.

The batponies in my headcanon were created by Celestia in the waning days of the first Diarchy, in an attempt to address Luna's sense of loneliness and isolation by giving her devoted servants who would love the night. Obviously they were less than successful at this task, and after Luna's banishment they swore to love and serve the moon in penance for their failure.

The only thing I can't decide is whether the current crop are the descendants of those original batponies bound by their forefather's oath, or whether they are the original batponies who went into suspended animation until Luna's return.

Any thoughts?

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I think there's a lot of potential for showing bat pony politics if you wanted to write a fic about it. For instance, have the oath be passed down from generation to generation, but have schisms and disputes arise when they argue over the terms or over whether it applies to descendants or not.

It may be the X-Men fan in me, but I say Bat-Ponies or Batwings as they would typically be called are in fact mutant pegasi. Generally ostracized by other pegasi, they have built a small society in caves and other dark places on the outskirts of the rest of pony-kind. The only one they completely trust is Luna, who they are ever thankful for giving them the night so that they can hide.