Night falls over Equestria, and everypony goes to sleep after a busy day. At the same time, the night is alive with activity. Nocturnal animals wake up and search for food in the dark. High up in the moonlit skies dark figures fly about, also awake from a long day of sleep and famished. They are small in size and yet they leave a legacy that everypony knows with fear or love. These are Bats! Besides Pegasus ponies, bats are the only mammals capable of true flight. Some mammals such as “flying” squirrels don’t actually fly, but glide from tree to tree. They are nocturnal, flying out in the night, when there are less predators and more prey. Many bat species feed on different types of food: insects, fruit, small animals (even other bats), nectar and pollen, and blood. In Equestria, most of the bat population feeds on insects, ranging from moths, beetles, gnats, and mosquitoes. They will even prey on the arachnid fly-ders. A single insectivorous bat will normally eat up to 1,200 mosquitoes per hour, and each bat usually eats up to 6,000 to 8,000 insects and fly-ders per night. This provides a great service as mosquitoes and fly-ders are infamous for being life-threatening pests; mosquitoes are carriers of lethal diseases and fly-ders, when gathered in a huge swarm, will feed on larger animals, like ponies. By feeding on these dangerous invertebrates they control their population and do great good for ponykind.

As mentioned before, some bats eat fruit. These include two of Equestria’s magical bat species: Fruit Bats and Vampire Fruit Bats. Despite their contrasting appearances, both species nurture the environment by eating fruits and dispersing their seeds. However, the two bats feed on fruit different. Fruit bats feed on fruits of all varieties, especially apples, while their vampiric cousins suck the fruits of their juice with their serrated incisors. Both species, however, spit out the fruits’ seeds, which would result in growing healthier, more productive fruit trees. Unlike insectivorous bats, fruit bats are usually seen as pests for fruit arborculturists, like Ponyville’s apple growers, the Apple Family. However, recommended by Ponyville’s animal caretaker, Fluttershy, the Apples built a sanctuary which would provide the vampire fruit bats their own personal orchard, and any seed to spit out would result in more apple trees for the family business.

Biologists, zoologists and mammalogists continue to study bats in Equestria and beyond, and the good they do for the ecosystem. While there are ponies who still fear them as terrifying beasts that could flying into their manes, disregard them as pests, or suffer from negative interpretations of them, there are those who love and appreciate them. There are usually bat walks, where ponies can enter forests at twilight and be on the look out for the Chiropterans just as they wake. To this day, bats continue to care for Equestria at night while all the diurnal ponies sleep. Equestria is in good “wings.”

Here’s a little something I made for the upcoming Bat Appreciation Day tomorrow. I remember seeing mosquitoes in My Little Pony, and I couldn’t help but create a pic featuring a bat hunting them. But I will say this, the mosquitoes were UGLY on that cartoon as well. I felt kind of disgusted making them. But I’m glad how this turned out. I then decided to include another bat hunting fly-ders. I feel like the would spend most of their diet on those eight-legged pests. The fly-ders were easier and less disgusting to make than the mozzies. And for the heck of it, I included a vampire fruit bat sucking an apple.

I planned on including some of the information in the description onto the pic, but I changed my mind after I decided to include other bats. You will also notice that the animals have been darkened. I worked on another project featuring a character in nighttime scene, and experimented with the shading. So this looks properly authentic.

Bats and their prey by me

Night Sky by Estories

There is another vector on the way, followed by my tribute to Bat Appreciation Day. So get yourselves ready. It’s gonna be the battiest day of the year. Happy Bat Appreciation Day Eve!