The Cute Bat and their Kind of Cute Conundrum
Hiya! My name’s Moonlight… I’m a bat!
Not just any bat though! No, I’m a happy bat, a happy bat that loves delicious juicy fruit, cute socks, and most of all, my best friend, Cumulus! You probably knew that though, well, at least I think you would. A lot of people seem to know me nowadays, and not for the bad reasons anymore! You see, I used to be the big scary maniacal mango munching fruit bat when I first moved to Ponyville, or at least that’s what people called me. It sounds like a long time ago now, and even feels like it sometimes, but it’s only been a few weeks, which is just so crazy to me! So how’d I get that reputation? Well it’s a long story… but when I first got here I might have gone off on some fruit fueled frenzy and scared half the village to death, but then I showed everypony that I was just a nice cute and cuddly bat pony that likes headpats and fruit… Or rather, my best friend Cumulus did.
Not to say I didn’t do some of the hard work as well, but having another pony to stand up for you and help convince the other ponies that you were just some adorably soft bat and not some crazy monster helped a ton. Cumulus and I became really good friends after that. She was the first pony to accept me here, and one of the first ponies I think I’ve ever been super close to. I was always alone and by myself, but not anymore, and today was no different! You could say it was a dinner date, or just two friends hanging out together— whatever you want, but that’s what we had planned today.
It was one of those normal, “I can’t wait to go see my best friend after work” kind of days, and I had just finished my shift at the Apples’ orchard. Ironic that that’s the job I picked up, I know right? But hey, it turns out that Applejack had some long lost bat pony family or something, so she’s been a lot friendlier towards me lately, especially after Cumulus helped explain that I wasn’t going to eat up her entire orchard. It was all smiles and laughs after that, and she even lets me have some of the extra apples from the harvest! That’s a pretty good perk, right? I guess that’s getting off topic though. I had just finished my shift at the orchard, and had excitedly made my way over to Sugarcube Corner, (making sure that I was in my cutest set of socks of course, Cumulus loved those and it made me feel even comfier!). I stepped in and asked for our regular booth and my regular order, and eagerly waited… and waited, and waited and waited.
Something felt off of course, because my best friend wasn’t anywhere to be seen, and believe me, Cumulus was never late! The two of us, we were like clockwork, always punctual and on time, and never even a minute late to something. I nervously looked around and adjusted myself in my seat, craning my head around to try and get a good read on the time. Much to my own worry, time had seemed to fly on by and I found myself sitting there for more than half an hour, which wasn’t normally long, but it was an eternity for a pony like Cumulus that was never late. Still though, I was being impatient, and starting to get some weird looks. Can you blame me though? I might not have been the town monster anymore, but that still didn’t mean I had befriended everypony yet. Granted, I think Pinkie Pie is the only pony that’s really befriended everypony, but you get the idea.
“Heya Moonlight, you want another regular?!”
Speak of the mare, there she was, as cheerful as ever.
I smiled at the pink pony and gave a small nod, “Heya Pinkie, I’d love that!”
“Okie Dokie! Another super special cherry berry surprise shake coming right up!”
She happily pronked off, leaving me alone again— alone with my own thoughts, which could be a good or bad thing. I glanced over at the clock again, feeling a little more worried. Had I scared off Cumulus or something? Or was she in trouble? There were a lot of big scary actual monsters down by her neck of the everfree, where she worked, but she never had trouble with them before. The sound of a glass sliding across the wooden table pulled me back to reality.
“Here ya go!” Pinkie cheerfully replied, bringing a small smile to my face again. If there was one thing that was always true in Ponyville, it was that you could always count on Pinkie to cheer up any sour mood.
“Thanks Pinkie,” I replied, taking a few greedy gulps of the delicious shake, “Say, have you seen Cumulus around? She’s never late and I haven’t seen her at all today.”
The pink mare shook her head, “Nope! Just you and all the other regulars!”
I slowly nodded, “I see…”
She seemed to take notice of my somber tone, but to be fair I didn’t really hide it. My ears were all droopy and I had a nervous look on my face that just shouted, “I hope I didn’t mess up!”
“You hope what?” she replied.
My face flushed red in embarrassment as I realized that I had just loudly shouted that out for the entire room to hear. The murmurs around me seemed to grow a little louder, but I didn’t pay attention to them, I just looked her in the eyes and frowned.
“I said I hope I didn’t mess anything up. Cumulus helped me fit in so much, and I’m just afraid that maybe I did something wrong, or scared her away… I’ve never had a friend as close as her, and I just can’t imagine being around without her.”
Pinked nodded in understanding and slid closer in the booth, “Hey, you don’t need to be all sad and blue, I’m sure she’s just late. A lot of ponies have been caught up after work lately. It’s almost Nightmare Night after all, you know how excited they all get for that!”
I gave a weak smile, “I know, but it’s just not like her… I’m just worried about her, that’s all.”
“Well don’t be,” came a familiar voice, making me squee with excitement.
“Cumulus!” I jumped up, tackling her into a tight hug, “I was worried when you were late!”
She leaned into the bearhug and smiled, “I’m so sorry about that, I wanted to get you something special for Nightmare Night, but the store was so busy and I didn’t want to just leave my spot in line.” She waved over toward a couple of bags that had sparkly spider web designs on them.
“You… you didn’t have to get me anything!” I cheered back, excitement and gratitude clearly carrying in my voice.
“Sure I did, you’re always such a sweetheart and go out of your way to get our usual after work shakes, I thought it was only fair to repay the kindness.”
“What’d you get us?!”
A sly smirk slowly spread across her face, “Why don’t you go take a look for yourself?”
That was all the permission I needed, and in a flash I hopped over to the bag and dug into it, fishing out a pair of werewolf costumes with adorable matching collars.
I let out another excited squee, and pulled Cumulus into another tight hug, “Oh my gosh, they’re perfect! Just what I wanted to go as for Nightmare Night!”
Cumulus gave me a head pat and laughed, “We’ll be the cutest werewolves in all of Ponyville! Happy early Nightmare Night, Moonlight.”