My Big Batty Not-Wedding

by Wise Cracker

Bonus Chapter: Family Outing

The Ponyville Cinema was made for days like these. Outside, the clouds were already dropping their rainy payload, making the ponies either dash indoors or grab for an umbrella.

Cheerilee waited in the main hall for the showing room to be opened. Today would be a day to relax, watch a movie on the big screen. Starship Trotters, the latest Verhooven film. Looking around, it seemed she hadn’t been the only pony with that idea.

That was one of the beautiful perks of having a good Weather Patrol: the rainshowers and the movie showings could be synchronised, so ponies never had to spend a sunny day in a dark theatre, nor cancel moviegoing plans because of an unexpected storm.

Her ears twitched when she heard a familiar voice. Before she even realised what was happening, a grey form dashed past her hooves.

“Rumble?” She asked.

He skidded to a halt and looked up. “Hmm? Oh, hi, Miss Cheerilee.”

She smiled at him. “Come to see the latest Verhooven film, I take it?”

“Umm, yes, Miss.”

“Aren’t you too young to see this? It’s quite violent.”

“N-no, Miss. Not with an adult there.”

“Uhuh.” She looked around. “So where is Thunderlane, then?”

“He is working above the clouds at the moment, Miss.”

“Gah!” She jumped and turned in mid-air. “Oh, I’m terribly sorry, you startled me there.”

Before her stood a pair of pegasus ponies, at least judging by the bulge under their long coats. Even their cutie marks were covered. The mare was a greenish grey, the stallion a uniform grey that Cheerilee recognised as being administered through magic on Royal Guards.

“Oh, that’s quite alright. Bad habit of mine, my mistake,” the stallion said.

Cheerilee’s eyes darted from the adults to the boy. “Rumble by any chance, are these…”

“We’re Rumble’s parents,” the stallion said. “And Thunderlane’s. I’m Blade, this is my darling wife, Gale.”

Professionalism and courtesy quickly took over from instinct. “Oh. Pleased to finally meet you. I’m Cheerilee, I’m his schoolteacher. I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for some time now.”

“Yes, we know, and we apologise for the inconvenience,” Gale said. “It’s just that with our jobs, it’s hard to go out in the open, you understand.”

Cheerilee thought for a second, before nodding. “You are both in the Royal Guard. The higher Royal Guard. Of course. I understand.”

“Well, this is certainly an unlikely place to meet, but… what is it you wanted to tell us, about our son’s performance, exactly?”

“Ah...”

Gale nodded towards her son and gave him some bits. “Go on, you know what we like.”

With a curt nod, he trotted off towards the concession stand.

Cheerilee waited until he was out of earshot. “Well, nothing I haven’t passed on through my notes, I should say. Rumble is a good student, his grades are slightly above the average, except when it comes to Equestrian history and his speaking skills. Those are very good for his age. I can only assume he gets that from his family?”

Gale nodded proudly. “Indeed he does. We try to make sure he keeps an open mind, but we do teach him the basics of debating. You know, besides what he’s taught in school, just to get a little edge.”

“Oh, yes, I understand that completely. And, err, with regards to him, you know…”

“Him... what?” Blade asked.

“What do you think about your son deciding to be part of rousette culture, instead of pony culture? If you don’t mind my asking?”

“I don’t mind,” Gale said. “We let our son choose. Both our sons.”

“I can only imagine you have close contact with rousettes, on the job, then? You know a lot of Night Guards, I mean? Enough for your children to come into contact with them?” At that point, the only thought going through Cheerilee’s mind was: Don’t look at the cloaks, don’t look at the cloaks, don’t look at the cloaks.

Which was an odd coincidence, because the only thought going through Blade and Gale’s minds was: Don’t show the fangs, don’t show the fangs, don’t show the fangs.

“Oh yes. Why, is that a problem?”

“No, Ma’am, not a problem for me. But I, err…” She turned to look back at Rumble then. “I do have two remarks on the matter. For one thing, Rumble is very quiet. He doesn’t speak unless spoken to, especially around girls. But he is a good speaker, he should learn to use his voice for his own sake sometime. Honestly, there are times when it’s like he just disappears when he’s sitting right there.”

A wave of pride washed over the pair of bats then.

“I understand rousettes have some kind of stealth magic that allows them to do something similar, and I think Rumble might be holding himself back on purpose.” She quirked an eyebrow at the boy, keeping track of how far he was from the conversation. “I’d appreciate it if you could get him to stop doing that in class. Besides which, your son has been falling asleep in class from time to time, it’s one of the few times he does make himself noticed. And I gather the reason for that is because he’s trying to fit in with rousettes who don’t have the same sleeping rhythm as him.”

“And what would you have us do about that, exactly?” Blade asked.

“At the very least, I’d consider some kind of adjustment to his sleeping rhythm, so he doesn’t need to nap during class, and not let him stay up on a school night. I’m all for being tolerant of other cultures, you understand, but if one of those cultures requires my students to sleep in the day, I’m not going to abide by that. You do realise that, don’t you?”

“Oh, of course. We’ve already made some arrangements to insulate his room from noise. It’s mostly our neighbours that keep him up, you see. A mere practicality, nothing more.”

“Glad to hear it.”

“I think they’re opening the halls, love,” Gale said.

“So they are. Miss Cheerilee, ‘twas a pleasure to meet you. If ever you have any concerns about our son, please don’t hesitate to tell us. You never know what might happen, in our line of work.” Blade extended his hoof for Cheerilee to shake, which she did.

“Will do, Mister Blade.”

Rumble galloped towards them with a load of nachos and soda on his back.

“Rumble?” Cheerilee said, quietly.

He froze while his parents walked ahead of him.

“You could have told me about your parents, you know.”

He winced. Busted. “I know. I didn’t want anyone to worry.”

She flashed him a comforting smile. “It’s okay. I understand. Your mother and father are in a precarious position, aren’t they?”

“Uhuh.”

“May I ask, how bad is it?”

He gulped. “How bad is what?”

“The scars they’re hiding underneath their cloaks. Do they ever talk about the things that did it?”

Scars. Right. She thinks they’re hiding scars. She thinks they’re with the monster squads. Nice glamour, mom. Why didn’t I ever think of that? “Oh. Umm, it’s getting better, but they’re still kinda… you know…”

“Painful-looking. Of course. It’s not a problem, Rumble, I understand. I’ll be discrete about it.”

“Thank you, Miss.” He scampered off to join his parents.

Cheerilee, for her part, decided to indulge in some snacks before going into the theatre herself.

She chuckled to herself. What a strange boy that Rumble was, joining a different culture and having to put up with his undoubtedly disfigured parents hiding away.

Still, when she found her seat, she was happy to know that Rumble was fine. The three of them sat a few rows in front of her, enjoying their day, watching a movie, like any normal pony family would.

Rumble let out a content sigh when the movie started. Just a simple afternoon off, enjoying some time with his parents, in the dark, where no one would see them.

Just like any normal bat family would.

Author's Note:

So here's the bonus chapter I promised, on time. Not as long as I'd like, but it gets the message across. Cinemas are dark places, thanks to the Weather Patrol it can be planned for, and no one remarks on ponies wearing cloaks that hide their wings.

To Cheerilee, Rumble's family looks like normal ponies. To Rumble, he feels part of a bat family. And it's something they can both enjoy. As for the choice of movie, I may have alluded to it before in the Flight Camp fic, but... that's inspired by real life, let's say.

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

Heh. Hiding in plain sight. It's nice to see a slice of life in this universe. (Heck, it's nice to see you write Rumble being happy in general. ) Thanks for the addendum.

[Wise Cracker]

7476891
I did promise, did I not? And I finally remembered my password on fanfiction.net, so the one fanfic I've left unfinished in my career is officially cancelled... it only took six years to remember.

Anyways, this was good practice, the whole story. Kind of a shame that I used up so many ideas, though; my novel features a bat pony, too, and coming up with names and a new culture and history is hard. Though I am ambiguously proud of coming up with the racial slur/name 'foamy'... because of the rabies. That's gonna be fun to use.

*ahem* Yes, Rumble has been getting it pretty rough lately. He deserves some relief, and he did come forward and ask, so... yeah, I'm okay with this.

Ramble aside: thanks for the feedback, you can look forward to the Cutie Mark Crusaders learning ninja fighting next

[Wise Cracker]

7795890
Thing is, the secrecy was functional, too. At least part of their magic and their function in society relies on their sense of 'other'-ness from ponies. If you have to go down to tribal identity: unicorns were wizards, pegasi were soldiers, Earth ponies were farmers and craftsponies, rousettes were spies and assassins.

There were plans for a sequel or an expanded world wherein Nectarine shows Twilight around a rousette facility, one that houses children who'd been abused in various ways. Twilight would go in, thinking she's just fine to help the kids out, but they'd be terrified of her, despite her being an alicorn. The rousettes make a point of being separate from ponies partly because in a land full of ponies, most of the crime would be committed by ponies, too. It's easier to help the victims open up after a trauma if they're not immediately faced with someone who looks like their abuser. I shelved the idea, though, because it got a bit preachy, and I can use it in original fiction much more effectively. It also got too grim when Twilight asked what rousettes do with criminals within their own ranks, or what they do when one of their children is taken hostage (hint: no pony ever wants a rousette to settle a pony hostage situation, for good reason.) Besides which, the wedlock rite is a source of power and protection. Knowledge about it provides a tactical advantage.

If you've ever seen Naruto, it's kind of like how the Byakugan is protected by tradition. And that was with child abuse.

Rousette culture is, and always was, supposed to be a grey area, rife with moral ambiguity. It all has its own causes and effects, but judging it as morally good or wrong is debatable at best.

Edit: I guess what I'm trying to say is, that rousette society does indeed have its problems. Just like pony society has its problems, with lax views on law enforcement, over-reliance on destiny, and whatnot. They're not supposed to be a perfect society, or even a parallel society to ponies, but one that's written to fit in with what we know of ponies. Because remember, they don't have their own legal system; they're subjects of Celestia, still.

At least until Twilight becomes a Princess and they all get fed up with her That was another currently scrapped idea.

[Seraphimus]

7795925 Oh of course, I never meant that that secrecy didn't have it's place. That much is obvious, it's a part of their identity, But again, it was frequently being taken too far. And of course ponies are not free of blame in the matter either, being skittish and prone to fear of the unknown (Like most things) does of course make a secretive society that much more reluctant to reveal themselves to you.

I guess what I am trying to get at is that I appreciate the Moral ambiguity of the situation. It's always nice when a writer understands that the world is not so black and white. Rousette society is flawed but so is pony society. Neither one is Right or wrong, as a whole, but they do definitely suffer issues that require work, and That was what this story was about, a small group working to help overcome those boundaries and flaws. I enjoyed it.

[Wise Cracker]

7796095
Glad you enjoyed it This story was a good preparation for some of the original fiction I've worked on since. Though in that one, it's reindeer who have the weird traditions and it's a bat pony who's looking at it with some trepidation.

Anyway, good to know that that part is okay, because I do intend to use it more elsewhere.

[FairyFun]

10260214
Ooohh that makes sense now

[ClockWorkBluebelle]

Really nice story.