Back when I drew this NorthLight artdump I just gave North’s family a bunch of black-coated cousins and grandparents and such to embarrass him, since I hadn’t designed his closest family yet. I knew the general idea; big family, everyone a different color-theme etc, but I didn’t have any concrete designs yet.

Well, I felt like making some, so here we go; bat family! Actually started to draw this in autumn, but it was put a bit to the wayside until I’d finished …Stay? –something that will hold true for many things I’m going to post in the nearer future lol. Lot of things got paused there for a while. But finally got it done! :)

I decided to draw them at the ages they were when North left –i.e. when he’d just become an adult– to better show their age in comparison to North. At the time most of my nextgen stories take place, they’re all adults :)

-Bewitching Hour-
Mark/Talent: An instument of some kind (resembles both a compass and clock) surrounded by a moon. Represents his good memory; mainly when it comes to the time and place of events, but also just in general.
Nickname(s): Dad!

Bewitching Hour was born and raised in a large forest owned by his extended family; the ‘Vesperi’ family, living in Vesperi forest. But he quickly left for the Big City as soon as he became an adult, following his dream of being an actor! He dreamed of being on stage, of enchanting the audience with tales of faraway lands and myterious characters, of having adoring fans throwing themselves at him, and… uh, he means, of being able to send money back to his family, of course.

It went… not great, but not completely awful either. How to say this; Bewitching is very gorgeus by chiropterasus standards, but his acting leaves something to be desired. Chiropterasi really find being able to blend in with your surroundings attractive –theoretically, you’d make a great hunter, which is hot. And they value the night a lot, with star and moon motifs featuring everywhere and dark colors greatly valued. So Bewitching, with his black coat, black wings, black mane and moon cutie mark? It was enough that a lot of small productions hired him to just act as eye-candy for the audience.

To be honest, he would probably have fared better as a model –but he loved being on stage enough that he still picked it, despite the majority of his roles being akin to “X’s silent husband just standing there, being pretty”. He did have the fans he dreamed of though! It just… wasn’t fans of his acting, but of his appearence, which wasn’t quite what he was looking for.

That was, with the exception for one mare…

-Night Iris-
Mark/Talent: A stylized rainbow-colored iris in front of a dark area, with a star in the center. Shows her talent for growing and breeding plants, as well as making flower arrangements.
Nickname(s): Mom!

Iris was, to put it in a mean way (as many ponies did), the weirdo of the block. Running a flower shop, she specialized in as breeding night-blooming colorful flowers. She also liked to be out during the middle of the day to see said flowers in sunlight. She had a rainbow mane, the absolute furthest you could get from the beauty standards chiropterasi held –and rather than dye it or wear a hat, she frequently wove pretty flowers into it to make it even more colorful. She often sang loudly in the middle of the day? She didn’t like the taste of meat??

Oh, and she thought the hammiest acting ever seen on stage was unironically the greatest thing ever.

Their romance was a whirlwind of ponies being equally confused over why the hottest stallion in the city would date the local oddball, and why said oddball would seem to not even notice his looks, instead focusing her compliments on his (frankly awful) acting. The two of them didn’t much care though, and spent about a year of being way too cute with sunrise-watching picnics, dates at the local milkshake bar, visits to the closest botanical garden…

Once they were expecting Autumn, they got married and moved to Bewitching’s family home to raise a family. Iris still grows and breeds flowers and sells to various flower shops in nearby cities, while Bewitching works with his family and helps setting up shows as the local small theatre.

-Autumn Hunt-
Mark/Talent: The head of a moose silhouetted against an attacking brown chiropterasus. Represents her talent for hunting.
Nickname(s): Brownie

About three years older than North, she was very much a bossy older sister. She’s cheerful, to an annoying degree in North’s opinion, and keeps trying to tell him what to do, or ‘look out for him’ when he doesn’t need it. Once North grows up a bit mroe, he realises that while she was a bit pushy, about half of the things she did was normal stuff that his teenage anger turned into offences. So in the future they have a better relationship, but when he leaves they are very much in the midst of sibling squabbles and annoyances. The fact that they had the exact same talent, didn’t help much at all. Otherwise, she’s generally calm and acts as a mediator between the rest of her family.

Unlike most of her younger sisters and brother, she stayed at the family home and took over the care of the forest once the older generation got too old.

-Northern Skies-
Mark/Talent: A deer with antlers made from polar lights. Represents his talent for hunting.
Nickname(s): Greenie

The favourite bat!

-Polar Sun-
Mark/Talent: A very stylized sun with a blue star around it. Represents her talent for seeking knowledge and enlightenment.
Nickname(s): Bluey
It was after she was born that the color-themed nicknames were created; after one child with an orange-brown mane, then one with a green one, and now this one with a blue mane, Bewitching and Iris saw a pattern.

About a year after North, Polar came along. And when I say “about a year” I mean, she was born two days after his birthday. She was often mistaken for his twin growing up –which did not at all get better once she did well enough in school to skip ahead one grade. Her relationship with North was very much ‘bickering, until someone else picks on one of them, then all bets are off’. Noone hurts North except for her, and vise versa.

Once he left, she felt a bit lost for a few years. Until she decided to go to university (one of the few in the extended family who does; everyone is extremely proud and will loudly brag about it) where she dives headfirst into her studies. After she finished, she’ll apply and get a grant for studying the magic of the frozen north, leaving for several expeditions to the vast unknown and unexplored ice covered lands.

-Midnight Hush-
(Power Strike in the future)
Mark/Talent: A golden sphere trailed by a lightning bolt and golden rays, surrounded by blue circles. Shows her talent for sports, hoofball in particular.
Nickname(s): Two-ey
Okay, so that’s the second blue-maned child, albeit with a more purple-leaning hue than Polar’s aqua shades. But the “Bluey” nickname was already taken… “Two-ey” it is.

Born about three years after Polar, she is what we would call a tomboy. From the moment she could run, she loved sports and wasn’t afraid to get messy playing in the dirt. She joins several local youth sports teams, but one, hoofball, really caught her fancy and she eventually dropped the others. Though, she got her cutie mark surprisingly late, seeing as she’d loved the sport for so long, gaining it just a few months before North left. She was honestly very relieved; she’d known he’d leave soon, and was afraid he’d miss it. They used to be very close, with him often joining for (and getting beat at) hoofball practise. Though, once he left, they drifted apart. And then he moved even further away, to a different country… She sometimes misses how it were when they were kids.

In Equestria, many ponies change their names when they get their cutie marks to reflect it better, but not nearly all (or even the majority in most places). In the country this family is from (I really need to think of a name) almost everyone does. People look at you strangely if you don’t pick a new name. At the time of North’s departure, she still hadn’t decided though, and was still referred to as her birth name. She’s eventually going to settle on Power Strike –and then get very annoyed when she finally heard of North’s new coltfriend, Lightning Strike. Stars, first it was Two-ey, and now this? Why can’t she ever just have her own name?

She ends up playing on a professional hoofball team for several years. She lets it get to her head a little bit, and is very cocky and confident.

-Lavender Eve-
(Liliac Grove in the future)
Mark/Talent: A liliac flower. Shows her talent for growing ornamental plants.
Nickname(s): Lila
With baby Lavender’s purple mane, they really had a pattern going for them again. So when Iris got pregnant once more, they’d joke around wishing for red or pink this time. Come on, genetics, we almost have a full set here, all we need is some red hues to finish it off!

Liliac is the apple fo her mother’s eye, and helping her with breeding flowers is how Lila got her mark. She’s also very close with Strike, who is just two years older, and spends a lot of time playing hoofball with her as a kid. She has no special talent for it, but experience often trumps talent, so she was on a youth team for a long time, which often won regional competitions.

She’s also going to stay at the family home, taking over her mother’s flower business eventually.

-Rosy Dawn-
(Robinsong in the future)
Mark/Talent: A stylized robin’s head, with swirls coming from its beak. Represents her talent for singing.
Nickname(s): Pinkie (Not to be confused with the Pie variety)
…close enough!

Being a literal toddler, Robin didn’t really have much of a story at the time of North’s departure. And being a baby when he left, they never had much of a relationship. They get along, sure, but they’re not really close.

Robin is very close with most of the rest of her family though. Especially her dad; seeing as Robin’s talent is related to the show business, they spent a lot of time together and Bewitching invested much of his free time in her hobbies. To the point where Liliac and Strike got a bit jelous at some points. They got past it though.

In the future, she’s actually going to move to Equestria as well; though, to Manehattan rather than Canterlot. Bridleway was her goal, and she reached it, often starring in various minor roles in musicals. Bewitched is incredibly proud.