Just a Bat... a Bat on the Hunt for Headpats!
Just a Misunderstood Mango Munching Menace
Author's Note
This was just a fun little story that wasn't meant to be anything too serious. Going to be updating my main passion project (Do Ponies on Earth Have Magic Dreams?) pretty regularly (please feel free to give that a read and maybe even a comment if you like it, I'm trying really hard to get regular feedback on that and I'm definitely struggling with it.), and I'll probably have another new story out sooner than later.
Thanks for reading!
Just a Misunderstood Mango Munching Menace
Scary
Menacing
Frightening
...Mango crazed
— All words I’ve heard used to describe me in the small handful of days that I had lived in Ponyville. Can you believe it? Mango crazed? I mean really, what a common cliche am I right? Sure, mangos are like some of the best fruits in existence, and just the thought of them makes my mouth water in anticipation, but if I’m going to be honest, pineapple and citrus are the far superior fruit. Still though, the first three couldn’t be any further from the truth. Sure, the sharp fangs and scary bat wings probably don’t help, but on the inside all we really want is some cuddles and head pats. You wouldn’t believe how hard that is to get sometimes, especially when everypony just runs away from you like you’re some kind of scary monster. So what’s going on here? Why am I telling you this? Well that’s easy! I’m telling you this because today’s the day that all changes, today’s the day I finally prove that we’re not just a bunch of big scary bats that only come out at night! Well, that was the idea at least… I guess some things are easier said than done, but that didn’t stop me from trying.
So there I sat, on top of Ponyville’s town hall at the break of dawn, waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting market and show the world that I wasn’t a scary monster! As the sun slowly started to rise, my attention was pulled back down to the market below. Already I could see a hoof full of ponies trotting about, unaware of the adorable attack they were about to witness! I had taken extra care to look as fluffy as I could possibly be that morning and had picked out my best pair of socks— apparel that was statistically proven to make even the scariest looking pony a hundred and fifty times cuter! It was go time, and I was ready to strike.
Giving myself one last look over, I gracefully leapt from the top of the tower and glided down to the market below, taking care to swoop around the towering town hall, finally coming down to an almost impossibly soft landing. Already an assortment of the assembled ponies took notice of me, greeting me with a strange look that almost seemed to convey a sense of confusion and curiosity. No doubt they were all primed and ready to flee at the sight of such a scary looking creature, so I’d need to plan my next move carefully. I fluffed up my chest and started to cheerfully trot forward, meeting their confused stares with a toothy grin, putting my scary fangs on display for the whole village to see.
In retrospect this was probably a terrible idea, but none of them had run away in fear yet, giving me a small burst of confidence that my plan was working so far.
“Good morning!” I cheerfully shouted out at one of the nearby pegasi, who gave a short, almost hesitant nod in return.
“Morning…” She slowly greeted me, “You’re awfully cheerful today, aren’t you?”
I excitedly nodded, “You bet! Just having a perfectly fun and not scary day!”
She hadn’t run off yet, but she still flashed me a look that screamed something’s not quite right. I couldn’t tell if she was afraid of me and merely waiting to see what would happen, or if my plan was starting to work.
“Everything… okay?”
“Of course!” I cheerfully replied back, “So how are you doing today?!”
“I’m uhhh… fine, I guess. Just getting some running around done. What about you?”
“Just enjoying this wonderful morning, trying to show ponies what a nice and not scary pony I am.”
She paused for a moment, her face softening, “You’ve had problems with that in the past or something?”
Here’s the part where things got a little surprising. I didn’t expect her to actually hold a conversation like this. I mean ever since I moved here ponies had run away at the sight of me, so this was definitely an unexpected twist. Had my plan actually worked? It sure seemed like it!
“I… well, I guess yeah. I’ve been here for a week and ponies all seem to just run away from me whenever I try and say hello. You’re actually one of the first ponies that’s stopped and just chatted away.”
“Mhmm,” she replied, “Well why do you think they did that?”
I actually didn’t know how to reply. As far as I could tell, I hadn’t done anything too frightening, “I don’t really know, they all just kind of ran off after my first night here.”
“That doesn’t sound right, what happened on that first night?”
I started to comb my brain, thinking back to that, “Well, I guess I got a little hungry and went out to find some fruit to eat, and my memory’s a little fuzzy after that.”
Her eyes flashed in realization for a moment, “You’re that fruit bat aren’t you?”
My heart sank for a moment, and I started to think that I had blown it, “Fruit bat? Nahhh, I’m just a nice fluffy bat, not some scary monster.”
“No, that’s right, you’re the bat that went off on that rampage, eating up all the fruit you could manage to find,” she replied.
I hesitated for a moment, letting out a small sigh, “Right, I guess you heard about that…”
“The whole town has. So what’s up with the act? Why are you acting so… odd?”
I finally let my cheerful facade down, “To tell you the truth, it’s because I’m trying to show everypony that I’m not just some big scary monster. I guess I gave a bad first impression or something.”
“So you’re acting overly cheerful instead?”
“Yes,” I replied, “To show everypony that I’m not scary.”
“Uh huh… So what do you want from this?”
I paused, not sure what the actual answer was, “Uhhh… some headpats I guess? I mean I didn’t think I’d get this far. I kind of expected ponies to run away from me like they did the other night.”
She let out another laugh, “You just want headpats? That’s really what this is all about?”
I nodded, “Sure is. I guess just to prove that I’m not scary.”
She rolled her eyes and shook her head, raising up her hoof and gently patting me on the head, “Does that help?”
A big goofy grin spread across my face, “Actually, it does!”
“Good. Name’s Cumulus by the way, guess we never had a chance to make a proper introduction.”
“Cumulus… nice to meet you, I’m Moonlight.”
“Well Moonlight, just a heads up, ponies probably ran off from you because you were frantically running through town eating fruit like a bat outta tartarus. Trust me when I say that they’re definitely not afraid of you.”
My eyes shot open, “They’re… not? For real?”
She laughed again, giving me another headpat, “Trust me, they’re not.”
