Meet Tobias’ parents! I fell in love with some of the concepts I doodled out and I figured Tobias deserved a more fleshed out backstory, so here it is  
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Name: Artemis  
”he’s gone, and nothing will bring him back…”  
Nickname(s): Arte (only by Penumbra)  
Age around mid 40ish  
Gender: female  
Species: bat pony  
Build: slender, tall for a mare  
Occupation: waitress/bartender  
Personality:Artemis used to be a very relaxed, laid back mare, with a snarky side that would show through at her job often. That side of Artemis has long since vanished an has been replaced with anger and despair, ever since her husband died.  
After her husband’s death, Artemis became a husk of once she once was, and turned to alcohol to drown out her sorrows, ignoring the child she had. She became a rather neglectful parent and grew distant from her son Tobias, not even fighting when he was finally taken away by child services.  
Background:Artemis met Penumbra at her bar, when him and a few of his guard buddies showed up for a drink after work. Penumbra completely forgot about his friends and went to drunkenly flirt with the bat pony waitress who he described as a “fanged goddess” after she had snarled at him for trying to caress her face. Eventually after multiple visits at the bar from Penumbra, Artemis began to feel oddly happy to see the stallion more and more with each visit and eventually developed a little crush, not one that she’d ever admit though. After about a year or so they developed a friendship, which later turned into a relationship, which later led to marriage. Their love was like no other, seeing that they followed bat pony tradition by both swearing their love to one another till death, “Til death do us part” was taken quite literally in bat pony tradition.  
When they were finally able to settle down, Penumbra told her that he wanted to start a family, only to find out that she was already six weeks pregnant. Things went well during the pregnancy and together Artemis and Penumbra were able to bring a teeny tiny little foal into the world, they named him Tobias. Artemis had the perfect life, she was so happy with Penumbra, and together they had brought this beautiful child into the world, and everything was so simple yet so perfect. For the first time in her life, Artemis was truly happy.  
That perfect world came crashing down when she received the news, Penumbra had been killed.  
Rumors began to spread and eventually many came to the conclusion that it was by Queen Celestia’s blade after word from her personal troop began to spread, although no one knew for sure seeing that all the public had to go on was strictly rumors. Artemis found out from a letter, stating that her husband was dead and that she’d be receiving his payments soon. Artemis broke down right there on the porch after reading the first few sentences written on the paper, and suddenly her whole world changed. Tobias had grown up to resemble his father uncannily, which didn’t help Artemis with her fragile state of mind at the time. Eventually Artemis’ sadness turned into anger and in a drunken rage she hit her son, not long after which he was taken by child services upon some worried neighbor’s request to have the house checked for the child’s safety.  
When Tobias was taken away Artemis couldn’t have cared less as she selfishly burrowed further into her own grief, ignoring the child screaming “Mama! Don’t let them take me!” as they dragged him away. Artemis didn’t see her son for a very long time after that, but it was for the best, seeing that she was in such a bad place mentally at the time that he was taken.  
Other:  
~ a little headcanon of mine:It’s bat pony tradition to stay with the mate you picked for the rest of your life, taking “til death do us part” quite literally. Most bat ponies do not follow this custom seeing that it’s rather old fashioned and many don’t think it’s logical, despite this Artemis was raised in a very traditional family and grew up being taught that picking a mate was special and should not be taken lightly.  
~ Artemis eventually did forgive Queen Celestia, upon finding out the truth about her husband’s death, and they later became close friends.
 
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Name: Penumbra  
”I have sworn my service to Queen Celestia herself, and I will defend her no matter what.”  
Nickname(s): Umbra (by Artemis, occasionally by Celestia), Sergeant (by Celestia)  
Age would have been around his mid 40’s but passed away at 27  
Gender: male  
Species: bat pony  
Build: tall, stocky, muscular  
Occupation: royal guard  
Personality:Penumbra was a very friendly stallion, he’d make anyone he talked to feel like a close friend as if he’d known them for years and they were just catching up over a beer or two. He was honest, and ponies could talk to him about anything, even if he barely knew them, and he’d listen and make anyone feel wanted.  
Because of his welcoming nature, Penumbra had many close friends and many were devastated upon the news of his death. Many ponies remember him as a hero because of the time he served in the guard before he was killed.  
Background:Penumbra met his wife Artemis at a bar, she was the prettiest waitress he’d ever seen and he very drunkenly let her know that. After enough visits to her bar, Artemis gained a soft spot for the guard and eventually they formed a friendship. Over the years they became a couple and eventually got married. Once they were married they had a child whom they named Tobias, and Penumbra couldn’t have been happier.  
Soon after Tobias turned 8, Penumbra was sent out on a mission with Queen Celestia herself along with a small troop of guards. They were fighting against the remains of King Sombra himself, who had somehow managed to partially regain his smoke form. No one knows exactly what happened, but rumors spread that Celestia had to kill a rogue guard during the fight, her personal sergeant Penumbra.  
After his death, Penumbra’s family had a funeral service for him, they had no physical body to mourn over though, not even ashes, because Penumbra’s body had never been found. Because the body had never been found, Artemis had hope that maybe, just maybe, her husband would show up one day, but he never did… sadly enough.  
Other:  
~ Penumbra was Celestia’s favorite guard, and she loved him as if they were related by blood. The rumors never seemed to affect her much, but she didn’t like to talk about the situation and would often be moved to tears upon hearing Penumbra’s name.  
Celestia could never bring herself to face Penumbra’s family, no one knew why exactly but most who believed the rumors assumed it was out of guilt.  
~ When Tobias joined the royal guard, Celestia knew immediately who he was he looked so much like his father, there was barely a difference. She recruited him to guard her child without a second doubt, knowing how protective Penumbra was of her, she figured protectiveness ran in their blood.  
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some other head-canons I had:
 
~ bat ponies come in variations just like any other race, an example of said variations in bat ponies include their wings, eyes, ears etc..
 
an example of this is shown above: Artemis has solid color wings and slit pupils, whereas Penumbra has two toned wings and rounded pupils.
 
~ all bat ponies have fangs, but some have larger fangs than others. Between Penumbra and Artemis, Artemis has the biggest fangs by a bit. theres not a huge difference but she teases Penumbra, lovingly calling him “Tiny Teeth” or “Tiny T”