A Change in Darkness

by David Silver

23 - Making Friends

Skyline watched over the many children. Most were not hers, but she felt almost as protective over them all, as if she had somehow become their mom, at least for the moment. Most of the foals didn't return that feeling, too busy meeting one another, playing, or trying to get into trouble. Often varying mixtures of the three.

Still, one pony was worth her notice. A little white filly with a blonde mane. She was skipping through the grass with a smile, a ball held in her magic, bouncing it in the air. She had her eyes on Night Wind, approaching in wide circles. "You want to play? Play? Play?"

Night Wind, and Sure Arrow, were having a fine time just rolling in the dirt, wrestling and growling at one another. They turned their eyes to the filly and bounced to their hooves. "Yeah!"

Skyline watched with a smile as the filly led the other two in a game of catch, tossing the ball between each as they jumped for it. She looked around and went over to the proud father of that filly, also watching. "They're getting along so well."

The father nodded with a happy sigh. "You love to see it." He nudged against Skyline. "When are you returning to active duty, by the way? I imagine you're going to be back before too long."

She shrugged. "Whenever the Princess tells me. I will miss them, but... I'll still see them. My captain is giving me light duty first, to make the transition easier, on everyone." Skyline was quiet a moment, watching her foals play joyfully. "Part of me wants to sit on them until they're done growing. Another part wants to put it down and get back to 'real' work."

He put a wing over her. "I've been through that. The only cure is time." He glanced over. "Your two look to be having fun though."

She nodded. "Yes." Her eyes followed them as a second foal joined in and the game shifted almost without prompting. They were tagging one another, racing around wildly with big smiles and squeals of feigned terror or monstrous appetite, depending on who was it at the moment. "I didn't even teach them how to play. Is it instinct for little ones?"

"Some say it is, or very close to that." He nudged her gently. "Don't worry about them. I'll bet they're even going to do great in school. They'll learn what they can and be happy as anything." He stroked his chin gently. "First Bat Ponies, uh, the first natural ones, you know what I mean. You and me are bat ponies, but we weren't born that, right? They are that, all the way down."

Skyline smiled at the little foals chasing each other. "I think we made some cute little ones." Her ears perked up as Night Wind and Sure Arrow's ran into a new friend, asking if they could go fishing. "Fishing? Yeah, I guess so. That sounds fun." The new foal was a bit older, old enough to know what fishing was and old enough to want to go do it. "But I'm coming along." She rose to her hooves and started a light walk after the cloud of excited foals, most of whom had never fished before. "Get all together! Let's go fishing!"

Night Wind and Sure Arrow took the lead, bringing their new friend up front as well. They raced into the pond, and they tumbled and played there for several moments. But the older foal wanted to fish, and wouldn't be denied for too long. He gently pinned those who were running and began explaining how to do it.

Skyline knelt down at the side of the pond, resting her head on folded forehooves to watch the children happily. For a moment she lost herself to daydreaming, imagining them splashing together, exploring, flying. But when they actually tried to fish she returned to focus. The children were dipping their faces into the water and attempting to bite down on the prey within.

But the biggest foal didn't like that. He grabbed the others by their tails and pulled them all out of the water, holding them in place. "Use the rods," he explained, shaking the one he held in his mouth. "Not your body, silly."

But Sure Arrow wasn't having that, sneaking up along the edge of the pony, eyes on a particular fish. Bat Ponies had sharp teeth and slit eyes for a reason, focused squarely on his prey, that colorful little fish.

"No! No!" The filly squeaked, but was quickly dragged back, Night Wind with his teeth firmly sunk on her tail, dragging her back. "Naughty!"

Sure Arrow dived into the water with a great splash, scattering the other fish. The foal that had wanted to fish squeaked in horror, but that changed when Sure Arrow popped free, a fish caught in their snout. "Look! Look!" She dropped it. "Catch and eat."

The foal with the rod snorted. "Uh huh. But the real way to fish." He looked over at Skyline. "Your foals fish funny."

Skyline laughed gently at that. "They do. But it's new, not bad." She waved that colt closer. "They're not trying to be mean." She put her ears forward. "But your way is the most efficient and kind way to catch your food."

He stuck out his chest. "That's what I'm trying to show them."

Skyline reached into the bag she had brought, and pulled out a little bag of food. "Poke these on your hooks. If we're lucky, we'll lure the fish in."

The foals cheered as the ponies gave them some worms. Skyline watched with a smile, but it faded a moment when she heard one of them sniffle. She was going to intervene, but Sure Arrow was already there, scurrying up to the sad little foal. "It's okay."

"I-I just wanted to bite them..." the colt stuttered.

Sure Arrow crawled into the little pony's lap. "I did too. I did, I did!" Sure Arrow hugged the foal they didn't even know yet. "But we're different."

Night Wind flashed his sharp teeth. "We have fishing teeth. Good for chomping." He bit on the air a couple of times. "Like this. Grrrr. Raaaaa. I'm a dragon."

The colt sniffled, but was already feeling better. "Can... I be a dragon?"

Sure Arrow giggled at the idea. "You can be anything! But." She pointed at the colt's head, where a horn resided. "You are mostly a unicob." They had mispronounced a unicorn, but seemed unbothered. "They're special too!"

Night Wind bounced to the colt's side, holding his hoof. "They're cool too!" He held a worm in front of the colt's face. "Try it with the rod!"

The colt winced a moment, then grabbed it, and held the worm near his hook, but not on it. "I can't stick it in. I don't like it."

Sure Arrow patted the colt's cheek. "Maybe it'll be okay. But, um..." She looked around a bit, and then rushed over to the bait bucket, reaching in. "No worms!"

She grabbed a juicy grub, and scurried over, offering it to the colt. The colt peered at the strange wriggly thing a moment before shaking his head. "I don't want to hurt."

Night Wind perked. "Oh!" As if it all made sense. "Give." They snatched the colt's rod and dashed off with it, returning with a lure attached, metal instead of something alive. "No hurt, ta da!"

The colt perked, grinning. "No pain."

The three of them grabbed the three remaining rods and lined up.

"No pain, no pain!" Arrow and Wind sang out.

The parents gently guided their foals away when their pile of caught fish seemed tall enough. The next game was decided by them all as they led the foals to the fire pits and they soon had little flames going, the smell of roasting fish filling the air.

The oldest colt put a hoof over his own. "My mom told me that... fish have feelings too."

Night Wind stared at the fish they'd caught. "Do you think so?"

Sure Arrow licked her lips. "I don't want to be mean..." She sighed, eyes on the cooked fish. "I'll be mean tomorrow."

Skyline stepped in with a little grin. "Many things have feelings, but everything gets hungry." She leaned in. "All we can do is try to respect our prey, and make their end as gentle as we can. Mmm, I'm so proud of you all today." She lashed her tail behind her with an almost purr. "Such a big topic for such little foals."

They all squirmed with the praise, enjoying the heat of the cooking. But once they were all cooked, Skyline leaned in to sniff. "How does it taste?"

Sure Arrow put it in her muzzle, and then spat it out. "Ow..."

Skyline took the fish. "See, it's hot." She used a wing to block any escape, and then blew on it, cooling it swiftly. "Eat."

Sure Arrow shoved it in and munched down with delight. "Good!"

Night Wind stuffed his own into his mouth, coughing out little clouds of smoke. But that didn't stop him, resuming happy chomps into the new food with happy noises.

The other foals were in shock. They couldn't just chomp into fish like that. They all had the flatter teeth of an herbivore, and just mashing the fish didn't work nearly as well. One of them, a little filly, pointed at the two bat ponies. "How are you doing that?!"

Skyline tilted her head at the exclamation. "Ah. You know they have sharp teeth?" She displayed her own.

"Uh huh." They pointed to their father, a stallion with a small horn on his head. "But I don't, and he doesn't. How do I get sharp teeth?"

Skyline held up a finger. "Two ways, and you only get the first. Be born with them, like me, and my two. The other..." She pointed to the earth. "Find yourself a rock." She smirked faintly. "Forks and knives are rocks, I remind. Use them and the fish won't stand a chance."

Skyline saw one of them looking back, the child of an earth pony. "And, a reminder. Even if you're an earth pony, you're a pony, and you have magic."

They perked, their parent leaning in. "You know what? Earth pony magic is very special." This prompted a little conversation on the subtle magic of earth ponies, and how they helped the rest of Equestria feed themselves.

Skyline ruffled her wings. "Now, Bat ponies, that's another story." She reached a wing out to ruffle the back of each of her two. "We're still learning what they can do, but I already know they have some amazing tricks."

Sure Arrow pointed at her greasy snout, stained with the fish she devoured. "We have teef!"

Night Wind took a deep breath and let out a high pitched squeak. "We can squeak!"

The other foals, all looking eager, all made their own attempts. A few let out similar squeaks, if far less sharp and penetrating. But the colt with a horn grinned, pointing it at the sky. "I can do something cooler!"

Attention was diverted as the colt began to paint the sky with bright fireworks. They had no bangs or booms, which was perhaps for the best, but the bright colors and effects had their attention for the time.

Skyline looked left and right at her fellow parents. "This was a great idea, I think. I hope some of these friendships last forever."

"Friends and family are the best sort." The unicorn beside her smiled. "Now let's get them cleaned up, please."

"Of course." Skyline moved to collect the two dirty bat ponies, tucking them under her wings as she walked off towards the castle with all of them in tow.

Though that magic day of meeting and play was coming to an end, she could imagine many future days of discovering the world alongside their new friends.

Author's Note:

So dang cute, little ones.

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Comments

[Lord BLACKHUNTER]

Happy bat pony noises... EEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

[redmar]

The day was clearly a success.

[Bloody_Tofu]

Awwwwww!!

[tsaukpaetra]

Silly foals, doing silly things while learning lessons of life.