A bat pony shows Twilight a hidden world - she only needs to listen.
This story was written in just over an hour, and took first place in a Quills and Sofas speedwriting competition.
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- Member Since 6th Feb, 2013
- offline last seen Oct 17th, 2023
CommissarVulpin
Formerly known as bananachips; sorry for any confusion. You can message me on Discord if you like: CommissarVulpin#8472
CommissarVulpin
Joined 6th Feb, 2013 ·
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So the Universal sound is a bit like The Force?
I was not expecting a story about bat pony spirituality, but there you go.
Congrats on the win! Keep writing!
Just as beautiful as the first time reading it in the speedwrite. The imagery here is absolutely gorgeous and your descriptions really do the concept here justice. I also love that, despite Twilight being an alicorn and having the school and everything at this point, even she can learn something new.
Just, great story
You touched on one of the oft overlooked beauties hidden all around us, and so very few ever stop to listen and consider.
This is something almost directly out of the Bible.
For all the ephemeral material we call matter all around us vibrates with the hidden Life of God.
It wasn't until recent decades that science caught up to the Bible pointing out that even the very stars themselves produce sound.
1The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
3They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
4Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
5It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
6It rises at one end of the heavens
and makes its circuit to the other;
nothing is deprived of its warmth.
~Psalm 19:1-6 (NIV)
11361827
To be fair most of the Bible is not recommended to be taken literally.
Totally stealing this idea (not literally the same universe. But the idea itself is too good not to use). Have a fav and upvote.
You know, this makes me realize not enough writers just go all in on the sound capabilities of bat ponies, and how that could be used to define their character, nature, and society. This has given me both ideas of possibly exploring bat ponies that are effectively mute (as their own voices are too "loud" and drown out the more important sounds to be heard around them) and navigate much more by sound than they would sight. Dunno how I'd go about implementing either idea as yet, but it's given me something to think about, which I take to be a good thing.
As for the fic itself, it's a wonderful bit of world-building and character study.
11361903
Not going to get into it, but do need to make the note:
That only holds up for those that have not actually studied.
It is far more than that.
11362145
*raise hand* I've studied the Bible. I can confirm that most of it is not to be taken literally, and wasn't ever meant to be. Most of it really is metaphors and symbolism so to help better teach complex moral lessons to readers by breaking it into principles the people of the day it was written for could more easily wrap their heads around. Basically the same reasons why Jesus taught in parables so often in the New Testament.
But, you know, a subject well outside the purposes of this fic. In fact, howabout that fic, eh?
Is this a Tyler Childers Reference?
11362135
I agree, and this concept was one of the first things to come to mind when thinking about bat ponies. And with such an absence of canon material (they've shown up, what, twice?), they're ripe for fleshing out culture.
One of the other stories submitted in this contest, "Per Umbram Ascendere Volo", gives a fascinating take on their origins as a race.
I will be keeping THIS Batpony Headcanon in my back pocket! I love it!
At peace with Sound.
11362206
The Bible is very literal; although it should be understood that many parts are intended to discuss multiple time periods at the same time. Certainly it's heavy on symbolism, but that doesn't mean it should be taken any less literally than the road signs that stop you driving into a freshly dug hole. It's like saying that Jesus was a nice bloke with some good ideas: there's no space for that. Either He's the Son of God, or He's a liar (and that's what the Pharisees thought). Either the Bible is literal or it's worthless.
If you took away the Bible, you'd realise that actually everything our western societies are based on would disappear. The foundations of our morality, laws and social structure are all based on the Judeo-Christian ethos, to the extent that it's so entrenched that we just don't see it any more.
In that way, this thought fits this story perfectly. The idea of the Universal Sound is that the universe has an underlying tone that is so ubiquitous, having been heard by us since our ear-drums first formed, that we would only notice it if the sound ever stopped. It forms the underlying foundation of our existence, written into the very fabric of the universe.
The Bible, and its message of Christ, is the same.
11364152
I feel I should clarify--I wasn't trying to insinuate that what the Bible teaches isn't true, nor that all the things it describes didn't transpire as recorded. Far from it, in fact, for I am religious myself (hence why I've studied the Bible to begin with) and know full well there are teachings in it meant to be taken as literal truth.
No, my real point is that one should be careful to not interpret everything in the Bible as literal, because while the teachings it conveys may still be true, it's still presented in a symbolic way to teach that lesson that's not meant to be taken literally as what happened. For example, the story of the creation, not because the events it described didn't happen (assuming one is religious of course, I apologize to anyone reading this who is not for acting as if assuming otherwise) but rather the events were in reality probably far FAR more complex...but it's watered down into simpler, more symbolic terms, so to better convey the lessons to be learned to readers, because it was those lessons that are ultimately more important to the story's end goals. Additionally, books of scripture such as Job or Isaiah were written as poetry and thus use extensive symbolism and imagery to convey their lessons, and as is the case with all poetry, not every line of imagery used to convey a concept is meant to be interpreted literally as written, e.g. if Isaiah mentions a "fiery flying serpent," he probably doesn't mean a literal flying serpent of fire.
Same for Psalms, which the quoting thereof at the start of this chain of comments was what started this altogether, because Psalms are simply songs written and collected by the devout of the day through which to proclaim their faith, and, like with Job or Isaiah, not every word is meant to be taken literally...but the original poster of that quote was talking as if it should be when I don't think that was the intent.
That all aside, I otherwise agree with you fully on your comments.
YES yes YES, this is so very much my thing, Le follow.
This is a nice story. I wonder what Maud's opinion is on the sound of rocks.
11364367
Ah I see. We were looking at the word 'literal' differently. Fair enough.
So much said in just under 2000 words, amazing work! You managed to give the Bat's such a convincing sense of Spirituality ^^