We Are The Night.

“EEEeeeee!” Moon Lily could hear the faint echo of a fellow Bat Pony in the distance, her wild tufts upon the tips of her ears perking up softly.

At least somepony found a treasure tonight, she gazed a single red hue down to a muddy puddle of water at her hooves. Her reflection that of a pony she didn’t know, one swollen black eye on the side of her face.

Once clean and soft black coat, now tangled with twigs,mud and filth. Her white mane in a complete mess, a few chunks of it missing from the side after her rumble tonight.

A fight she never wanted, the droplets of crimson rolling down her chin splashing into the murky depths of the puddle below.

The Bat Mare sat alone on the side of the empty path, near the outskirts of Ponyville. The wind chill and icy, causing her body to shiver in place not of fear but sorrow.

Jumped because she was simply different, ponies around these parts play it safe and act all mature. But there are few, who when under the safety of night will show their true colors.

Not a color at all, but a shade.

One so dark, no light can escape.

The shade of hate.

The sound of hooves stamping upon the ground came near, Lily lifted her head slightly as she gazed down the path in silence. A group of six ponies dressed in various outfits came into view, laughing about the festivities of the night.

The laughter slowly dying down as they came closer, one by one walking past the mare. Never making eye contact with a fallen Bat Pony, why should they anyways, it would solve nothing.

A ponies heart is coated in thoughts of their own, not others.

“Keep going! Be Blind!” Lily snapped in a hiss, her voice carried across the night sky.

The group rushing off into the abyss, their mocking laughter filling the skies above or perhaps just echoing in her mind?

Limping home, Lily kept her one good eye ahead of her. Wings aching in pain from her thrashing, unable to even lift her off the ground. It would be a long walk home, one quiet enough to give her time to think about life.

“Help…” A weak voice wafted on the breeze.

Lily batted lashes gently, her tufts listening closer for another hint. The sound of whimpers coming from the nearby bank below, the small pond glistening in the beauty of the moon.

Weakly scooting off the beaten path, she slid down the nearby hill and came to the bank of the pond. Scoffing slightly at the sight of a dumb pony, trapped under a large fallen branch of a tall oak.

He was pinned tightly on the shallows of the pond, his neck bent upwards to keep himself from drowning in a few inches of water. Though from his soaked face, she would’ve thought he’d been struggling in that area.

“Please...help.” He moaned his ears pinned back in defeat, those pale blue eyes watching her closely.

“Hmmm. Perhaps one of your own, will be on their way…” Lily whispered in a barely audible tone, the stallion narrowing eyes in uncertainty.

“Hours...tired...weak.” The stallion sighed muzzle sinking at long last into the shallows, his face submerged into the dark waters.

Lily could see the bubbles slowly drift up to the surface, fading away into the calm of the night. The mare could feel the eyes of the passing ponies, never giving her the time of day. Her wings twitched at the pain of hooves smashing into her backside, the taste of blood staining her lips.

With a sudden surge of strength she swooped down, hooves burning with pain she lifted the large branch off the pony. Pushing it aside with a mighty thud, as it splashed into the depths in a loud crash.

Lily swiftly pulling the stallion onto dry land, both collapsing into the grass in defeat the sound of their gasps breaking the silence.

“Why did you help me?” He panted in a deep controlled pattern.

“I asked myself. What if it was me?” Lily replied a single tear rolling down her cheek, body shivering in a icy chill.

Yet the firm grasp of a hoof was felt, wrapping around her slender body. The stallion hugging her lovingly in a tender embrace, for the first time this night her heart calmed.

She finally felt warmth.