The Sun Shines Brightest at Night

by PresentPerfect

Rating: everyone
Tags: Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Bat Pony, Romance
Length: 5629

Nightmare Moon's defeat meant more to Equestria than just the return of the sun and their Princess. Witness the conclusion of a story one thousand years in the making, through the eyes of a Hoofington nurse.

Nightmare Moon's defeat meant more to Equestria than just the return of the sun and their Princess. Witness the conclusion of a story one thousand years in the making, through the eyes of a Hoofington nurse.

Written for Equestria Daily's 2013 Batpony Writeoff.

Published 2013-10-31 19:20:03 UTC
Last updated 2013-10-31 19:20:03 UTC

The Sun Shines Brightest at Night

The Sun Shines Brightest at Night
by Present Perfect

She trots into my clinic, mane askew, left wing dragging on the ground, and I love her.

"Not again, Primrose." There's worry in my voice, but I smile. If laughter is medicine, smiles are the bandages.

Her head falls forward and she chews on her lower lip. After slouching the last few steps to my desk, she stops there, breathing like she's come straight here from wherever it happened. I stand and move for the folded wheelchairs leaning against the wall, and she waits.

"You know the drill, sweetie." I bring the chair to her. "Have a seat and we'll see about getting you fixed up."

She hisses and flinches as she sits. I watch closely and catalogue her injuries by each individual twitch. Sprained rear pastern. Pulled right fore common digital extensor. Left wing humerus dislocation. Possible concussion. At least nothing's broken this time.

"Thank you, Nurse Sunshine," she murmurs, and turns her head just enough for me to see her wonderful, soft smile. Concussion maybe not as likely. The wheels hush against the carpeting as I push her into observation room two.

"We really need to stop seeing each other like this."

Doctor Ivy says Evening Primrose does not have a concussion. She also says I have a crush on her, which could not be further from the truth. There are grades of severity for love, just as there are grades to concussions. In her teasing, she confuses stage three for stage one. At least the Doctor is better versed in medicine than romance.

I let Primrose bite down on my hoof as Ivy resets the joint with a magical shove. The other injuries, which Ivy agrees I diagnosed correctly, will heal in time. As Primrose herself puts it, panting through the pain once her wing is set, "I've had worse." I understand her meaning: I've seen her medical records. She has to have been made stronger after all of that.

I bandage her scrapes and wrap an icepack around her back right. Ivy goes to fill a prescription for more painkillers, Primrose's supply having run low since last time. In that moment, I ask the same question I always do.

"Why do you do it to yourself, sweetie?"

She takes a deep breath and lies back on the observation table.

"It's peaceful, flying at night."

I frown. "But it's so dangerous. I shouldn't always have to tell you that."

A moment of silence passes between us, then she smiles and gives a small laugh. "It never feels dangerous." She looks to her right wing, the one not currently in a sling, and spreads it to full flexion. "The Mare in the Moon is always watching over me."

Piety? That's new. Like her namesake, she keeps blooming every night, and I yearn to watch each petal unfold. So surprised am I at hearing a twist to this tale that I say the first thing that comes to mind.

"You believe in that?"

Primrose turns her head away from me and my world grows a little colder. "Do you?"

"I asked you first." She can't see the smile playing at the corner of my mouth, but I'm not sure it would ease the sting if she could.

"I know she's just an old mare's tale," she says, in a voice like drawing taffy. "But I really have always felt safest when I can see her. I like to think the moonlight is her guiding me through the night sky." She laughs and turns back to me, her lip between her teeth. "It sounds silly, but I've always believed that."

I nod and press my hoof gently against hers. "There's nothing wrong with believing in stories, sweetie. But I think, if she were really looking out for you, you wouldn't end up here so often."

"But then I wouldn't get to see you." She smiles at me and pushes at my hoof, and hope like liquid fire surges down my throat. Just being near her fills me, but with that touch, that... flirtation? I don't know what to call it. I can't breathe.

"All right," Ivy says as she reenters. The warmth slides from my belly. I withdraw my hoof.

"You know the drill for these, dear." She hands Primrose an orange bottle. "You might want to put in for a few days' sick leave. Keep off the hoof as much as you can, and no flying until you can move the wing without pain, all right?"

Primrose nods and looks over the bottle's label. "Thank you, Doctor."

"My pleasure, dear." Ivy smiles. "You're free to go if you don't have any questions. Sunshine, I'm going to check on the Mayor and then I'm headed out myself. You need anything?"

I shake my head. "I'm fine. Come on, sweetie, I'll discharge you."

I let Primrose take the lead, limping and wincing, and follow her to the front desk. She's probably worn her own groove in that carpeting, with as many of these walks as we've taken. Not the sort of thing two ponies usually do together.

"What did you mean," she asks as I'm filling out the paperwork for her to sign, "about the Mare in the Moon not really looking out for me?"

She asks the question the way a foal would. I regret my earlier deference to logical thinking.

"Don't worry about it, sweetie," I say, hoping to brush the subject off, but my motormouth can't stop. "I just thought the story went that she was a wicked mare who was sent to the moon as punishment for her crimes. Do you think that sort of mare would look out for other ponies?"

She chews on her lip for a long moment as she signs. "Maybe she's been up there for so long she's learned her lesson. After all, isn't that why we put ponies in jail when they break the law? So they can think about what they did wrong and become better ponies when they're let out?"

I smile at her, not having expected the philosophical turn. "I suppose you're right. Maybe she is looking out for you."

She turns her eyes to the window, smiling. The Mare's face is visible in the half of the moon that's lit tonight.

"Maybe I just need to listen more closely to what she's saying."

I don't know how to respond to that. "You're all set, sweetie," I say, and give her a copy of the form. "Take care now, all right?"

"I will."

I know she won't.

"Thank you, Nurse Sunshine. Good night." She tucks the form under her good wing, turns, and makes for the door.

"Good night, Primrose."

I love everything about her, but I think it was her cutie mark that first caught my attention.

Long ago, the three tribes of Equestria were represented by three symbols: the sun for pegasi, the moon for unicorns, and the world for earth ponies. I think unicorns chose the moon because it was mysterious, always changing, like the flow of magical energy from our horns. For pegasi, though, the choice was obvious: flying during the day is a lot safer than flying at night, especially back when light sources were limited to fires. I've been told it's hard to build a fire on a cloud, after all.

I had heard this story when I was young, shortly after I got my smiling sun cutie mark. My mother thought it was funny, though she assured me there was nothing wrong with my mark. Her confidence in me was enough to put any self-doubt out of my mind, and I never let it bother me again.

But that idea of tribal symbols stayed with me as I grew. I must admit, I was just fascinated with the concept more than anything else. A single image, meant to represent a whole race: there was a magic to it. So it was no wonder I noticed a pegasus whose mark was the moon obscured by a feather. Like two halves of a coin, it seemed that Primrose and I were meant to be together.

Not that I've done anything about it.

I've decided it's enough to simply be near her. The ease I show around her is thanks to a lifetime's training in how to maintain a professional demeanor, but I'm not sure I could confess my feelings to her if I wanted to. Those little moments of intimacy sometimes happen when we're together, and I try not to read more into them than is really there. But they give me a little hope, a little wellspring of joy that I keep with me.

There's plenty of opportunity for those moments to happen, after all. Her love of night flying isn't exactly in high demand as a trade, so she works a nice job with the Hoofington post office instead, carrying packages. She's confided to me that after long enough, she gets pent up, just dying for a night flight. Then, every once in a while, she has a little crash, usually when the moon is newest, but sometimes on a night like tonight, when no amount of light can dispel the darkness enough to see by.

That's the reason I became the night nurse here, a fact that neither Ivy nor the day nurse, Soft Touch, ever let me live down. A pony named Sunshine, working at night? Too funny! Whoever heard of the sun shining at night, after all? That would be like the moon rising in the morning.

The next time I see her, all the beds are full.

Ponyville and Hoofington are both small enough to get by with just one pegasus postal carrier each, but they have a hospital while we make do with a small free clinic in a converted two-story. Perhaps it's due to Ponyville's proximity to Canterlot; I've never really figured it out. Ivy never passes up an opportunity to grouse about the disparity, though, so it tends to stick in one's mind.

"Tingling in your wings?" she asks, interrupting me as I'm checking Primrose in. Primrose takes a step back, her wings rustling and twitching.

"H-how did you know, Doctor?"

Ivy shoots me a wry glance. "Just that you're the fourth pegasus to show up tonight, and all the rest were complaining of just that. That's literally one in five pegasi in town now." She shakes her head. "And I have to tell you what I told the other three: I've got no idea what's going on. The Mayor's husband was the first one to report it, and none of the tests I've run on him have come up with anything. I've sent a message to Ponyville General for assistance, but I'm not expecting much." She snorts. "And since two of our fastest flyers are here, well..." She gives Primrose a pointed look. "Unless there's a breakthrough, it's just going to be a waiting game."

Her glasses float off of her face, and she rubs a hoof over it. "So you can either stick around for observation, or head home and hope it doesn't get worse. But let me just warn you, if you stay here, you're going to be sharing a room with Spiro Gyra, and I can't guarantee he'll be good company."

"His mane's growing back already," I offer.

"No thanks to that crazy unicorn." Ivy rolls her eyes. "It still smells like burnt pony in there. Anyway, dear," she says, turning back to Primrose, "I don't want to force you one way or the other, but even if you stay here, there's not much I can do but try the same muscle relaxants and painkillers that aren't working for the others."

Primrose frowns and shuffles her hooves. For a moment, I wonder if I should feel bad about hoping she'll stay. Then she says, "I don't mind having to share a room. I'll just feel better if I'm here, is all."

Ivy nods, and I finish the entrance paperwork.

The house the clinic was converted from is thankfully a rather large one. The wall between the living and dining rooms was knocked out, giving us a nice big reception area. The downstairs side rooms and den are for inpatient observation, and the kitchen and bathroom still serve their purpose. The upstairs is Ivy's office, and we use the basement for storage.

Right now, the largest observation room, the den, has been made into a maternity ward, a nice private suite for our mayor, Actuarial Cost, her husband, Budget Bill, and their son, born just two days ago. The other two pegasi who've come in tonight are sharing obs one, leaving old Spiro, the town botanist, as the sole occupant of obs two.

"Sorry, Spiro, hun," I say as I grab the last of our spare cots out of closet. "It looks like you're getting a roommate after all."

He pulls the covers up over his nose and shies back. "She don't got any germs, does she?"

"No, hun, she doesn't." I give him my biggest smile and pull out the blankets and pillow that go with the cot. "Just a little twinge in her wings. You don't have wings, so there's nothing to worry about."

"Right, right..." He glares first at me, then at her, but the blanket comes down and reveals his mouth. "Right."

"Okay, Primrose, sweetie, go ahead and make yourself comfortable." I give her one of my biggest smiles as I add, "Better hope no more pegasi come down with whatever you've got, or you're gonna be getting really cozy with somepony soon."

She gives me a nervous laugh, but bundles herself into the cot, sitting up and chewing her lip as she watches Spiro watch her. I spend the rest of the night checking on them, as well as our other two pegasi, Thunderstreak and Windy Petals, but there isn't any change as the evening progresses. Thunderstreak complains about a toothache, and Windy a headache, but the worst that happens to Primrose is a declaration of war from her roommate that I have to defuse with a roll of tape.

"There," I tell him, ripping off the end of the tape I've stretched across the room. I laid the line slightly to one side, to make sure he can see it from his bed. "That's her side of the room, this is yours, and now you don't have to worry about her getting too close to you."

His eyes scan the tape and then me with equal suspicion.

"My side's bigger."

"Yes it is, hun. I thought you might like a little more space to yourself."

His eyes turn to her, but she's discovered by this point the best tactic is to ignore him. She's lying with her face toward the wall, reading a book. I can see her wings twitch every few seconds under the sheet.

"Just so long as she don't try to take no more for herself."

"I'm good," Primrose says, sticking her hoof up in the air.

"Hmph." Spiro likewise turns his back to her, then looks back up at me. His expression softens from calculating to fearful. "You're sure I don't got the croup croupe, nurse? I'm not sure that doctor mare believes me. About the aching."

"I'm sure, hun." I pat him on the shoulder and he flinches. "Fireworks aren't known to be disease vectors."

I move over to Primrose and touch her gently.

"Are you sure you're okay, sweetie? You look like you're in some pain."

"I'm fine," she says, but I can see the muscles in her jaw clenching. "Just a little cold."

Frowning, I grab another, thicker blanket, and lay it over top of her.

"That should help. Don't hesitate to holler if you need anything."

The night is quiet. Ivy and I stay after hours to keep watch over our sizable number of patients, especially for the foal's sake. Ivy dozes off and I'm catching up on my read when we hear Windy scream.

Ivy is hot on my heels as we arrive in obs one. Thunderstreak huddles, shaking, in the corner, his cot overturned in front of him.

"Celestia, she's freakin' me out! It's worse than my freakin' teeth, man!"

"Windy, calm down," Ivy says, moving to her bedside. "What's..."

I've never heard Ivy at a loss for words before, and I snap my head up to see what's made her speechless. Windy is clutching her head in her hooves, her body shaking enough to rock the mattress in the bed frame. Her wings are outstretched, but the feathers have been replaced by a thin membrane, like a bat's wing. That's when I notice her coloring has darkened from pastel pink to a deep wine.

"Her feathers started fallin' out, man," Thunderstreak says, clutching at my leg, "and she just went nuts and started screamin'! What's happenin' to her, man?"

Windy lets out another scream and rocks forward. Her eyelids snap open, revealing bright yellow sclera and vertical slit pupils. Ivy regains her senses and tries to hold Windy down as she starts thrashing again, but she's obviously not strong enough to keep her still for long. I move to help, but Thunderstreak clings to my leg, holding me back. Just as Ivy is bucked to the floor, a third pony rushes in behind me and throws itself on the bed. I recognize the pillow cutie mark instantly.

"Soft Touch?"

"Thought I might be needed here," he grunts, fighting Windy Petals hoof to hoof and managing to hold all four of her limbs down with his. He shoots us a look that sends a shiver down my spine as Ivy races to a cabinet and withdraws a syringe. "The whole town's freaking out."

"I'm freakin' out!" Thunderstreak shouts, and his clinging grows more desperate. "Why's it gotta hurt so much?"

I try to untangle my leg from his and gasp as his ears elongate right before my eyes. More than that, he's grown fangs! He turns pleading eyes up to me. They're the same yellow as Windy's.

"Oh, my Celestia," I whisper, my body growing tense.

There's a shout from across the room and Soft Touch lands on the ground. Ivy's syringe hits the wall behind my head and the glass shatters. Windy Petals takes to the air, soaring out of the room and out the open front door.

Thunderstreak releases his grip on me. He backs up against the wall, scattering feathers everywhere, and screams as that same membrane starts to form behind them. He gives me a predatory look, and I scramble backward. As Thunderstreak steps toward me, Soft Touch is there in an instant, wrestling him to the floor.

Ivy staggers to her hooves. Strands of mane are coming loose from her bun and there's a small gash above her eye. "Soft, what in the name of Tartauros is going on out there?"

"Have either of you noticed what time it is?" he says, grunting as Thunderstreak struggles against him. "And the moon's still up?"

"The moon," hisses Thunderstreak. Like Windy, his coat has grown darker in just the last minute.

Panic rises in my throat like an icy knife, and I turn my eyes to the door. The nighttime should be leaving as the sun rises to start the day, but it's still dark. The reception clock reads just past five thirty.

I look back down at Soft and Thunderstreak. Then I realize something and shoot Ivy a frightened look.

"Primrose!"

"Budget Bill! The baby!"

Soft grunts again. "Go take care of them, I've got this one!"

I rush the ten paces through the door to obs one. Spiro Gyra is sitting on his bed, wielding a broom in his teeth, using it to smack something large, dark and winged. I fight back the panic that's been telling me to run for my life since I saw what happened to Windy and tackle Primrose from behind, wrapping my legs around her as tightly as I can.

"You said she didn't have no germs!" Spiro shrieks.

"Not now, Spiro, please!"

The pony in my grasp is strong. I surprised her, but I'm not sure I'll be able to hold on much longer. I reach deep within myself, to that wellspring of hope, joy and love, and it helps me keep my grip.

"Primrose," I whisper in her ear, "Primrose, calm down, please! It's me, Nurse Sunshine!"

I feel the tension in her body soften, though she continues to struggle.

"What's happening?" she croaks. Her voice, normally soft and husky, has a metallic tinge to it. "What's h-happening to me, Nurse? I can't stop, I can't help..."

"Shhh, please, it's okay, please, just calm down." I clutch her tighter to my chest. "Just relax, please."

I look to the room's medical cabinet, across Spiro's bed from me.

"Spiro, can you help me?"

He recoils, dropping the broom. "Are you crazy? I'm not getting near that... that thing!"

Primrose bucks against my back right and I hear a crack. I bite down on my tongue to keep from screaming or letting go.

After a few seconds, through clenched teeth I say, "Spiro, just go to the cabinet and get me a syringe and the bottle of ketamine. I can't see from here or I'd do it myself."

"I ain't no medical pony!" he grumbles, but I hear him climb out of bed and move to the cabinet. As he rummages through it, Primrose squirms under me. My grip has loosened enough for her to turn sideways. Rather than resist, I let her complete the action until we're face to face.

She has the same wild, rolling yellow eyes as Thunderstreak and Windy Petals. Her ears are long and fringed at the tips. She's breathing heavily through her nostrils, and her fangs glisten in the room's light. She was always a dark-coated pony, but she may as well be black now.

Fear wells up inside me, but I realize I'm not afraid of her. I'm afraid for her. So far I've relied on my training to help cope with the crisis, but as I look into those wild, yellow eyes, I can only think that I have no idea what's happening, and neither does she. There's no medical precedent for sudden full-body transformation!

Something hard impacts the side of my head.

"That whatcha need? I ain't touchin' no more. There's germs here, I can smell 'em!"

I reach out blindly with my magic and after a few gropes pick up a syringe and a small glass bottle. Looking to the side, I see the letter K on the label.

"Yes, Spiro, this is--AAHHHHH!"

Fangs sink into my left shoulder. My eyes blur with tears and it's all I can do not to release her then and there. But I hold on despite the sharp throbbing, focus on my feelings: love, hope, even the fear. She shakes her head, tearing my flesh, and my magic falters. I have to stay strong. I'm not going to give up on her. I prime the syringe, drive it into her trapezius cervicalis, and depress the plunger.

She reacts by pulling her teeth out of my shoulder. I cringe and clamp down with all four legs as best I can. I can feel my blood flowing, but finally she stops struggling.

"You're gettin' blood everywhere!" Spiro says, his voice going up two octaves. "It's got germs in it!"

I ignore him. She's my only concern right now. Her eyes roll in her head. With the dose I gave her, she should be half asleep now, but whatever's happened to her, it must have altered her physiology enough to resist. Maybe it's just adrenaline; who knows?

"Primrose." I gasp and my breathing sends pain through my side. "Sweetie, are you with me?"

"N-Nurse," she says weakly. "I'm sorry, please..."

"It's okay."

"Please let me go." Her words are slurring. "Please, the moon. She needs me..."

"No, sweetie," I say, relaxing atop her and closing my eyes. "You're gonna stay right here, okay?"

"But the moon..."

"No, you're staying here." I force my eyes open, swallowing as I remember the blood loss.

There's a screech from outside and I hear a large form fly out the door. A few moments later, Ivy appears next to me, even more bedraggled than before.

"The baby?" I ask, turning my head as far as I can.

"Is fine, but you're bleeding!" She moves across the room in three strides, shouting, "Get out of my way!" I feel a soft, damp cloth press over my wound, then pull away. "There's some tearing around the edges, moderate bleeding. You'll be okay, just stay with me, nurse."

"Yeah," I say, and feel my head start to swim. "You're staying here. I'm staying right here with you. I'm not going anywhere."

She trots up to my bedside, her head held high, a light smile on her lips, and I love her.

"Sorry I didn't come see you sooner," she says quietly. "I just got back from Canterlot. I brought you these." She lays a bouquet on my stomach. "Call it an 'I'm sorry I bit you, thank you for helping me' present, I guess."

I smile and hold them up. They aren't open yet, but I can tell they're yellow.

"Evening primroses." I glance at her. "That's wonderful, sweetie, thank you."

"You are gonna be okay, right?" She goes to chew on her lip and winces as it contacts her fang. Her tongue runs over the tip of it twice. "I really do feel awful about what happened."

"It's not your fault, Primrose, you know that." I set the flowers on my bedside table. "Truth is, I don't really even need to be here right now." I chuckle. "I'm just being dramatic since my heroics the other night weren't really needed."

"Still, I'm glad you were there." Her wings and shoulders relax. "I just spent the last couple days at a 'Congratulations, You're a Batpony Now' conference, if you can call it that, finding out what it means to be me now, but... What did they tell you?"

Letting out a breath, I lay back. "Not much."

I hear a chair scoot over. It creaks as she sits in it.

"Well, uh... The story goes, one thousand years ago, Princess Celestia had a younger sister, Princess Luna. One day, she was overcome by jealousy for her older sister and turned into Nightmare Moon. She refused to lower the moon, so she was banished to it." She pauses. "So, you were right about the Mare in the Moon."

I smile just a little, and she continues.

"The bat ponies had always been loyal to her, and they -- we, were sealed away too, becoming normal pegasi. They hadn't all supported Nightmare Moon, but the moon held sway over them, and..." She grunts. "I dunno, it's complicated. Side effects of what they used to banish her or something? I only just learned all this."

"Go on."

Her tongue flicks over that fang again. "And, well, the other day, when all this happened, Nightmare Moon came back to Equestria and was defeated by a group of ponies, and she turned back into Princess Luna."

"And when Princess Luna was freed," I continue, "the spell was lifted and their descendants were unsealed, right?"

A pause. Her wings flex outward and back, like she's still getting used to them. "Yeah. That's me and the others. I think they said twenty-five or thirty percent of the pegasus population are now bat ponies."

"So what happens now?" I turn to look at her. She's watching her hooves fidget in her lap.

"I dunno." She glances up at me. "The ponies overseeing the whole thing were talking about recruiting a Night Guard for Princess Luna, but..." She takes a deep breath and recites, "It's not gonna be mandatory, and it's all pretty sudden and they don't know what to do, and there's a lot of royal stuff that needs sorting out. Like, how Celestia and Luna are gonna continue ruling Equestria, I guess. Stuff like that."

I nod. "It must be a lot to take in."

"It is!" She laughs, but it's dry, like paper.

"How are the others doing?"

She lifts her head, giving me a smile that warms my wellspring. "Oh, they're great! We've gotten to know each other pretty well over the past couple days. I mean, I already knew Windy Petals, kind of, but now it's more so. Oh, and there's a fifth bat pony in Hoofington, Thunderstreak's little brother. He was on an overnight class trip when it happened and he... changed in Canterlot."

She stresses the word like it's unpleasant to say.

"We're kind of like a little club now, I guess." Instead of chewing her lip, she flips it up over her lower teeth, between her fangs, letting it go after a moment. "It's weird, 'cause their mom's still a regular pegasus."

I nod. "Well, a unicorn and a pegasus can sometimes have an earth pony foal."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

After a protracted silence, she says, "It's not so bad, really. Like, I can see in the dark really, really good now. I need to wear sunglasses, or at least a hat, in the middle of the day, but... I won't be crashing anymore." She swallows. "Well, and it's kind of hard getting used to these." She leans forward, her wings extending fully behind her. She flutters them a little bit and I can't help but giggle. "Flying feels a little different now. Canterlot's working on helping us with that, too."

"They look good on you," I say softly, and she ducks her head.

"Thanks." After a moment, she speaks like an old pony telling stories from her youth. "In a way, I finally feel like I know who I am. I always had a little trouble fitting in, when I was younger. Because I liked flying at night and all, but... Now it's like my whole life makes sense." Her gaze drifts to the ceiling. "And I guess I was right, too. The Mare in the Moon was watching me this whole time. It makes me feel kind of special."

"I'm happy for you, Primrose. I'm glad this all worked out for the best."

We lock eyes and smile at one another for a while. Something urges me to say more but is choked off as her smile slowly falls, followed by her eyes, and then her head.

"It's not completely for the best," she murmurs. "Everypony's still freaked out about what happened, and... Even ponies I know have been... staring. Like they're afraid of me."

"Oh, sweetie..."

She straightens, wiping a hoof across her face, and shakes her head a little. "I'm sure everything will get back to normal eventually. I just gotta get through this."

I reach out, hesitating with a hiss of pain from my bad shoulder, and keep on anyway so I can touch her.

"You don't have to get through it by yourself, you know."

She places her hoof against mine, but there's no emotion to it. "Well, the others are helping. I mean, we're helping each other deal with the change..."

"Do you remember what I said to you that night, sweetie?"

She shakes her head, mouth closed.

"I said I wasn't gonna leave you." I take a breath. "And I still won't, okay?"

A nod. A smile. And then her eyes widen.

I look down, a smile of my own on my lips.

She swallows. "So... You really don't think I'm weird-looking? Or ugly?"

"Sweetie, how could I?"

"I..." She yawns. Not exactly the reaction I'd hoped for.

"Sorry," she murmurs. "I'm still trying to get used to the new sleep schedule."

"I understand."

"So--"

My hoof drops from her. I look up and see her standing, facing away from me and fidgeting.

"So I guess I'm not gonna see you here anymore." A smile flits over her face. "Because I can see at night and stuff. Do you think... M-maybe, some morning, when it's not too light, at the end of your shift or whatever, we could maybe get breakfast or something?" Eyes wide, she hastens to add, "J-just so I can say 'thank you' with something a little better than flowers that don't open. And, like, talk. Y'know, just as friends, I mean."

"Sweetie, look at me," I say, and wait until her gaze meets mine. "You've opened beautifully. You're what you were always meant to be." I sit back. "And I'd love to."

Her lip does that over-the-bottom thing again, and I can see a flush through the dark fur of her cheeks.

"O-okay. Once you're better, let me know, all right?"

"I will."

The sun sets as she leaves my room, but inside me, something warm shines brightly.

Author's Note

I'm not really a big fan of bat ponies. Yes, they're cute, but I was actually kind of irritated by the revelation that they were meant to be a fourth race. (And no sea ponies? I mean, priorities!) But it just so happened that I had not one but two ideas that fit the Batpony Writeoff, and this story was born.

The ideas were a pegasus who likes flying at night but crashes, and the worldbuilding stuff about the batponies being sealed away with Nightmare Moon. The rest of it -- the setting, the nurse, the side characters -- all came to me as I was writing, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. :)

Thanks to Pascoite for some input.