The Night of the Moondancer

Moondancer was getting better at flying as she followed Echo through the air, and then they continued through the air and headed to a massive mountain in the distance. Moondancer was curious as she asked, “Hey, so um? What is this place?”

“This is the city of Thestral! Watch your head!”

Moondancer ducked her head as she went through the mouth of the massive cave. Moondancer was looking up and was surprised to see the massive city, unlike anything she’d seen before. The city was built out of stalagmites and stalactites, with hundreds of bat ponies fluttering about, most seeming to be in the midst of their business as it would be their Noon to Ponyville’s Midnight. Surprisingly, inside a damp cave, she spotted fields of orchards filled with all kinds of fruit: from Pineapples to mangos, oranges, peaches, Lychee, dragonfruit, pomegranates, lemons, and limes, all clustered together with bat ponies fluttering about the trees picking the fruit.

Moondancer looked around in wonder at the amount of variety, and she couldn’t help but ask, “How do you grow so much fruit and with so many varieties?”

“Well, moonlight, as you know, is just reflected sunlight. We magnify that with massive magical mirrors and shine it onto the orchards, and due to the dampness and humidity, we can grow all kinds of tropical fruits you daywalkers couldn’t normally grow. We actually sell a lot of it to you, Daywalkers.”

“That’s cool to know, so why can’t you reveal yourselves to us Daywalkers then?”

“Well, that’s a long story, but for now, let’s focus on turning you back to normal,” the mare replied. They then headed to a pillar near the middle of the city; it looked a lot like a factory with smokestacks jutting out while pumping out magical clouds into the air of various colors. As they trotted across the factory floor, they came upon a griffin. He was unlike any griffin Moondancer had seen before; he was a middle-aged griffin with a teal-colored coat and wings, an over his left eye scar, wearing a lab coat and going around the place monitoring various dials and knobs and making sure things were fluid. The griffin turned towards them and, with a smile, flew over, “Ah Echo, you returned! How was the evening’s festivities!”

“Oh, they were wonderful, but Doctor, I must confess I’m here visiting you as we have a major problem,” she then pointed a hoof at her friend, who waved a hoof, and the griffin’s eyes lit up and flew over, taking a measuring tape and taking measurements as he started asking a bunch of questions, “my word! I never saw a batpony with a horn before!? Are you a new species!? Who are your parents?! Did any of them have batpony ancestry!? How old are you!?”

Moondancer was starting to feel self-conscious about the doctor measuring her body and asking a bunch of personal questions. Echo flew over, spread her wings, and snapped, “Doctor! That's enough. Stop being so rude!”

“I'm sorry, my curiosity got the best of me,” the griffin replied as he adjusted a tie around his neck and held out a talon. “My name is Dr. Blitzenbolt!”

“Ok, Dr. Blitzenbolt, listen, I was not born like this! Something called “Blood Punch” may have turned me into a bay pony! Can you help me turn back to normal!?”

“Blood Punch, you say!?” the griffin cried. “That is my greatest concoction!”

“Wait, so you turned me into a batpony!” Moondancer snarled.

The griffin raised his head in disgust and scoffed, “Of course not! My Blood Punch does not turn ponies into bat ponies! I’ve been selling it for years. If that was the case, hundreds or thousands of ponies would have turned into bat ponies by now.”

Moondancer paused and tapped a hoof to her chin, seeing he wouldn’t have an incentive cursing his customers, and said, “Right, good point.”

“Do you still have the bottle the tainted drink came in?”

Moondancer shook her head, then he said, “Well, there’s another way to test what this could be…I will need a saliva and blood sample if I may.”

The newly transformed batpony stepped back and snapped, “What for?”

“For tests, of course! Whatever cursed you, if indeed, was in my punch, it may still be in your body. I will run various tests to see what it was.”

Moondancer was still reluctant, but Echo whispered, “Look, the doctor can be kind of crazy, but he has a point, and I’m sure he can figure out what turned you into a batpony.”

The mare then reluctantly took some saliva from her fangs and a prick of blood from her foreleg. He then popped corks on the vials and said, " These tests will take some time. I recommend you get used to your new body, as there is a lot to learn.”

Moondancer remembered the party and how much the music and lights irritated her, and she had to admit the doctor had a point. She gave a curt nod, and then the griffin went off as she asked Echo, " So, um, do you really trust this guy?”

“He’s odd, I admit, but he means well and wants to help. Dr. Blitzenbolt came to us as he was kicked out of Griffinstone as they thought his ideas were too weird, and he started helping us make all kinds of fun drinks with the fruit we harvested. If anyone can learn how this Blood Punch turned you into a batpony, it's him.”

“Even so, he could be the culprit we’ve been looking for.”

“Could be, but he’s never harmed anyone before, so I don’t understand why he would turn you into a batpony?”

Moondancer pointed a hoof toward him and then snapped, “Because he’s a mad scientist!”

“Don’t call Dr. Blitzenbolt a mad scientist! I've known him for years, and he would never use science to turn ponies into bat ponies!!”

Moondancer was still suspicious of this “Dr. Bliztenbolt” even if her new friend grumbled, “Fine, I’ll trust him for now.”

“Anyways, the doctor has a point. Even if you’ll be like this for one night, I need to help you learn how to deal with your new body while he runs his tests.”

Echo then helped remove Moondancer’s contacts and earplugs; the batpony then stepped back with her cheeks flushing red and said, “Now come on! Let’s get some food!” She then led her friend from the factory and into the streets towards a marketplace. There, Moondancer was amazed by the dozens of fruit stands, with the place being busy with bat ponies buying and taking baskets full of fruit to and fro. It was wonderful to see, and I am still amazed at how these bat ponies acted like "daywalkers," as Echo would put it. Moondancer's friend then held up a hoof and explained, “As a bat, our diet mainly consists of fruit! And we like all kinds of fruit, but we mostly have a craving for anything that’s citrus or tropical, which is our favorite!”

Upon seeing the fruit buffet before her, Moondancer’s senses began to tingle suddenly, and she couldn't resist the desire to sink her teeth into it, with drool coming out of the corner of her mouth. Echo then picked out many different tropical fruits from the stands and carried them over. She placed them down from her friend and said, " Now take your fangs and dig in!”

Moondancer then sunk her teeth into a mango and began to suck out the juice from her fruit with such ferocity. She remembered how the apple tasted at “bobbing apples,” but this was so much more intense and so much sweeter and juicer. After draining her first mango, she went to her second and third and then continually sucking down the juice of various different fruits laid out in front of her. Eventually, she was stuffed and laid back and rubbed her belly, feeling completely satisfied, and when she finished, the mare let out a relaxed sigh and squealed, “That was amazing!”

Echo then took her by the hoof and cried, “Come on, there’s so much more to see!” as Moondancer was carried her off through the city.

The two then started flying around the city as Echo showed her friend around for most of the evening as Moondancer learned to adjust to her night vision. As Moondancer was so much better now and saw how beautiful the canals that ran throughout the city were filled with all kinds of nocturnal creatures, with owls and bats flying about with raccoons and opossums scurrying amongst the lush fields and sparse trees that covered the walkways along with massive fountains within the city made almost entirely out of the stone of the mountain. There were tons of beautiful monuments and statues of bat ponies, and on top of the sights, Moondancer could hear all the beautiful noises as well, from the chittering of the nocturnal mammals securing about to the splashing of fish going through the canals, the flapping of bats fluttering about. It took some time to get used to, but she had to admit it was really cool to see and hear so many creatures she would normally never see locked up in her home, busy studying all day. As the two trotted around the canals, Echo asked, “So, how do you like being a batpony?”

“It's growing on me; thank you for showing me so much about how awesome it is being a batpony! I really am fascinated with everything here!”

A smile grew on Echo’s face as she chirped, “I’m so happy to hear you’re enjoying yourself!

Despite seeing the beauty of Thestral, Moondancer still had a lot of questions on her mind. She asked, “So, again, I have a few questions about bat ponies. You’ve been kind of avoiding them.”

Echo paused, still seeming reluctant, but then asked, “ok?”

“So why did you say you can’t let daywalkers know about you when you also said that you sell fruit to us?”

Echo paused for a minute, then explained, “So, long ago, well before you daywalkers came here to the land you call Equestria, we lived here mostly in the shadows of the forest you call the Everfree Forest. When you daywalkers started immigrating here, we were scared of you, and our old Queen wanted to get rid of your kind. So she and her council of elders came up with a plan. They kidnapped dozens of ponies as they tried to scare you "daywalkers" away, sending a declaration to your leaders saying they would return them if you all left the valley. But the plan backfired, and the “Founders of Equestria,” as you call them, were able to free the prisoners and, with some soldiers, forced the Queen to create a pact between the nightwalkers and daywalkers. Our Queen at the time then wrote a new law into being stating that it would be illegal for nightwalkers and bat ponies to have any dealings with you daywalkers. Of course, the law is outdated, and over time, many bat ponies started to have dealings in Equestria; the Queen eventually softened her stance and allowed some to be a part of Princess Luna's personal guard; even after she was banished, we continued the tradition of having bat ponies guard your castle at night, waiting for her return. At the same time, some merchants were allowed to sell fruit and other goods to the daywalkers. But they have to have a permit, and only a few daywalkers are permitted to know about them.”

“I'm assuming you don't have a permit.”

Echo shook her head sheepishly and admitted, “No, I sneak out. If I were caught, the old law would have me exiled…but now, most likely, the current Queen would make me pay a hefty fine that I probably couldn’t afford.”

“Right, but I'm sure we can arrange for you to visit. Maybe you can sell fruit?”

Echo gave a long-winded sigh and said, “I thought about that, but I want to do more than just meet you daywalkers to sell you fruit. I want to party, have sleepovers, play games, you know? I want to be friends and have fun.”

Moondancer saw how much Echo longed to be friends, and despite not knowing each other, she was doing a lot to help her. Then she said, “To help me turn back to normal, I promise I’ll help you find a way to get a permit so you can visit us at anytime.”

Echo’s face brightened up abit, but she added, “That would be awesome, but let’s not get our hopes up. Getting a permit while not being a merchant or a soldier will be very difficult.”

“I'm sure we can think of something, but I hate to break this conversation short, but we should get back to the doctor,” Moondancer suggested. As much as she was enjoying her time here, she was still concerned about Lemon Hearts worrying about her as well.

“Oh, no worries! Yeah, let’s get back. I’m sure he’s done!” Echo replied as the two bat ponies then headed back, finding the doctor looking rather pale as he saw them, and said, “Ah, you’ve returned! I was going to try looking for you!”

“Good thing we came back then, so what turned me into a batpony?”

Sweat began to form on the doctor’s forehead as he pulled at the collar of his lab coat, then said, “Well, um, I couldn’t find the source of Moondancer’s transformation, but it seems there's somepony else's DNA in her blood and saliva, and it's of a pony I work with.”

“Who!?”

“A batpony named Count Apple Blood he’s my main investor and helps distribute my product! If he’s involved, I had no idea, I swear!”

Moondancer got rather excited as she cried, “Well, we don’t have a choice; we need to investigate this Count Apple Blood and see if he’s the one who turned me into a batpony.”

“It seems as if we do! I’ll help you get into the castle, but from there, you two will be on your own. I, um… don’t want to be too involved.”

Echo nodded, “That sounds like a great idea. I’ve never heard of this guy before. What’s he like?”

The doctor seemed to actually look rather scared and said, “Well, um, uh…let’s just say he isn’t someone you want to get on his bad side. If he’s the one who turned you into a batpony, I would suggest we proceed cautiously.”

Moondancer was now getting abit worried, sensing the fear and tension on Dr. Blitzenbolt’s face, then asked, “So, is he dangerous?”’

“He could be.”

Echo tried reassuring her friend, saying, “Well, if he’s dangerous and we have evidence of him turning daywalkers into bat ponies, he needs to be brought to justice. We can just find the evidence and give it to the Queen and her council, and they can send an army of soldiers to arrest the guy. Easy peasy.”

“I guess…” Moondancer whispered, wondering if she should ask somepony for help like Twilight.

“Don't worry; I’ll make sure to find out what’s going on and get you back to normal!” Echo chirped and nudged Moondancer, who nervously nodded as the three flew out of the cave and into the night and headed across the Everfree Forest.