Bats!

For the animal and the song within this episode, see Creatures#Vampire fruit bat and Bats (song).

Bats!
Season №:	4
Season episode №:	7
Overall episode №:	72
Original airdate:	December 28, 2013
Written by:	Merriwether Williams[1]
Storyboard:	John Young and Corey Toomey[2]
Song:	Bats
See also
credits • transcript • gallery • allusions animation errors • statistics • speculation
Episode guide
Previous Power Ponies	Next Rarity Takes Manehattan

Bats! is the seventh episode of the fourth season of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic and the seventy-second episode overall. When vampire fruit bats take over Sweet Apple Acres on Apple Bucking Day, Applejack and Fluttershy are at odds regarding how to deal with them, but disaster strikes when Fluttershy turns into a vampire bat-pony after one of Twilight's spells backfires. The title could be a pun on the common saying "Rats!" which is said when something wrong or unfortunate happens.

Production and development

On April 1, 2013, Meghan McCarthy wrote as part of an April Fools' Day joke that the eleventh episode of the fourth season would be titled "Bats" and that "It's just like the musical 'Cats', but with, you know, bats. And ponies. But mostly bats."^[3]

The episode's premise was originally pitched to be a musical episode by Amy Keating Rogers^[4] and its script was locked in October 2012.^[5] The original opening credits of the episode incorrectly credited Meghan McCarthy as the episode's writer instead of Merriwether Williams.^[1] This was corrected in reruns.

Summary

Apple Bucking Day

Applejack awaits the sunrise atop a hill at Sweet Apple Acres. As a rooster crows, Applejack declares it officially Apple Bucking Day. She trots past a few of the apple trees, bucks one, and watches the apples fall, only to find them rotten and mushy. Applejack looks up and sees a colony of bats flying overhead.

"They're back!"

— Applejack

Applejack summons her friends for a "Sweet Apple Acres code red" and tells them that vampire fruit bats are swarming the orchards. She's determined to keep the fruit-sucking bats away from her prized blue ribbon apple—a much larger apple that she plans to enter into a competition in Appleloosa. Fluttershy proposes asking the bats nicely to stay away from the apple, but Applejack is skeptical.

When Fluttershy tries talking with the vampire fruit bats, they spit apple seeds at her. Fluttershy admits that she is unsure of the bats' answer because she has never communicated with vampire bats before. Applejack is unwilling to let the vampire bats claim any more apples, calling them "nothing but a bunch of monsters".

"They've crossed the line, it's time that we attack!"

— Applejack in the song Bats

Stop the bats!

The rest of Applejack's friends, except Fluttershy, agree to round up the vampire fruit bats. When Fluttershy suggests letting the bats have part of the orchard, Applejack briefly snaps. Fluttershy elaborates that a sanctuary for the bats would give them their own apples to enjoy, and that the seeds they spit out would grow into more productive trees. Applejack is still very hesitant about the idea, as she recalls Granny Smith's stories of the last vampire fruit bat infestation. Thinking for a moment, Twilight formulates an idea to stop the bats from eating apples.

The friends regroup at the Golden Oak Library, and Twilight says she found a spell that will stop the bats from eating apples, but it requires the use of Fluttershy's Stare. While Fluttershy is reluctant to use it, her friends convince her once she realizes what's at stake.

Back at Sweet Apple Acres, the Mane Six round up the vampire fruit bats onto a single apple tree, where Fluttershy stares them into submission. When Twilight uses her spell on the bats, they refuse to eat apples afterward. With their mission accomplished, Applejack thanks her friends for their help. As they go to sweep up the rotten apple cores, Fluttershy looks over at an apple.

An orchard stakeout

The next day, Applejack is back on the hill for "take two" on Apple Bucking Day. A rooster crows, and she sets off to buck apple trees. However, she finds that the apples are still rotten, sucked dry of their juice.

Applejack rounds up her friends again, with Twilight surprised that the spell didn't work. The friends track down the vampire fruit bats and find that they're still not eating apples—the spell seems to still be working. Twilight asks Fluttershy if any other creature could have done this, but Fluttershy doesn't have an answer. Twilight thus proposes a stakeout to catch the true culprit in the act.

That evening, the seven friends walk through the orchards, with Fluttershy remarking of hunger and looking ravenously at the apples. When the ponies split up, they see a figure lurking in the shadows. Applejack signals the others to her location, and to their complete shock, they discover who's been eating the apples: Fluttershy, who's been turned into a vampire pony!

Enter Flutterbat!

The ponies try to talk with the transformed Fluttershy—or "Flutterbat", as Rarity calls her—but she only hisses at them in response. When they try to make sense of how this happened, Twilight theorizes that, when she cast her spell on the vampire fruit bats, it transferred their desire to be vampire fruit bats into Fluttershy through her Stare. When Flutterbat flies off, Twilight and her friends give chase, but she easily eludes them due to her heightened bat-like senses. Pinkie Pie makes a comment about Fluttershy's Stare, and Twilight comes up with an idea.

Applejack sacrifices her giant blue ribbon apple to lure Flutterbat into a trap. When she swoops down to eat the apple, Twilight and friends surround her with mirrors, causing her to use the Stare on herself and enter a trance. Twilight casts her spell again, and Fluttershy returns to normal.

Epilogue

In the end, Applejack decides to take Fluttershy's advice and sections off a part of the orchard for the vampire fruit bats. She apologizes to Fluttershy for not listening earlier, and Rainbow Dash expresses her excitement for the upcoming cider season.

Later in Fluttershy's cottage, Applejack and Fluttershy close off their latest journal entry, with Spike's help. Applejack gives Fluttershy an apple as a peace offering, but before she can respond, Pinkie Pie pounces on the apple, pretending to be a fruit-eating vampire-pony. As the friends share a laugh, the screen zooms in on Fluttershy's mouth and reveals a tiny fang.

Quotes

For more quotes, see the episode's transcript.

Applejack: Attention! This is a Sweet Apple Acres code red! I need all hooves – and claws – on deck!

Applejack: Well? What'd he say?

Fluttershy: Um... yes.

Applejack: Huh?!

Fluttershy: But... it could've been a no.

Applejack: Oh.

Pinkie Pie: [to the tune of Winter Wrap Up] Fruit bat round-up, fruit bat round-up!

Rainbow Dash: Think of the cider! Won't somepony please think of the cider?!

Applejack: Apple Bucking Day, take two!

Rarity: That's not Fluttershy... That's Flutterbat!

Rarity: Uh... Fluttershy, sweetness, please come down, and... do stop being a vampire bat.

Fluttershy: But... what happened to me?

Pinkie Pie: You turned into a vampire pony!

Fluttershy: [gasps] I tried to eat ponies?!

Pinkie Pie: Of course not!

Fluttershy: So I wasn't a vampire?

Pinkie Pie: Yes!

Fluttershy: Yes I was, or yes I wasn't?

Pinkie Pie: Yes, you were!

Fluttershy: But I didn't try and eat ponies?

Pinkie Pie: Yes!

Fluttershy: I did?!

Pinkie Pie: No!

Fluttershy: I'm confused...

Rarity: Me, too! And I was there!

Gallery

Bats! image gallery

References

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} That credit for BATS! is wrong.. Twitter (2013-12-28). Retrieved on 2013 December 28. Archived locally
2. ↑ Jim Miller (2013-12-28). @TheBiggestJim: Whoops, slept in! Today's.... Twitter. Retrieved on 2013 December 28.
3. ↑ MMeghanMcCarthy: Episode 411: "Bats" It's just.... Twitter (2013-04-01). Retrieved on 2013 November 25.
4. ↑ #MLPSeason4 Fun Fact! BATS.... Twitter (2013-12-28). Retrieved on 2013 December 28.
5. ↑ @MMeghanMcCarthy If BATS! had a Nightmare Night.... Twitter (2013-12-29). Retrieved on 2013 December 29.

v • e Episodes, films, and animated shorts

Season one
Episode 1 Friendship is Magic, part 1	Episode 2 Friendship is Magic, part 2	Episode 3 The Ticket Master	Episode 4 Applebuck Season
Episode 5 Griffon the Brush Off	Episode 6 Boast Busters	Episode 7 Dragonshy	Episode 8 Look Before You Sleep
Episode 9 Bridle Gossip	Episode 10 Swarm of the Century	Episode 11 Winter Wrap Up	Episode 12 Call of the Cutie
Episode 13 Fall Weather Friends	Episode 14 Suited For Success	Episode 15 Feeling Pinkie Keen	Episode 16 Sonic Rainboom
Episode 17 Stare Master	Episode 18 The Show Stoppers	Episode 19 A Dog and Pony Show	Episode 20 Green Isn't Your Color
Episode 21 Over a Barrel	Episode 22 A Bird in the Hoof	Episode 23 The Cutie Mark Chronicles	Episode 24 Owl's Well That Ends Well
	Episode 25 Party of One	Episode 26 The Best Night Ever

Season two
Episode 1 The Return of Harmony Part 1	Episode 2 The Return of Harmony Part 2	Episode 3 Lesson Zero	Episode 4 Luna Eclipsed
Episode 5 Sisterhooves Social	Episode 6 The Cutie Pox	Episode 7 May the Best Pet Win!	Episode 8 The Mysterious Mare Do Well
Episode 9 Sweet and Elite	Episode 10 Secret of My Excess	Episode 11 Hearth's Warming Eve	Episode 12 Family Appreciation Day
Episode 13 Baby Cakes	Episode 14 The Last Roundup	Episode 15 The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000	Episode 16 Read It and Weep
Episode 17 Hearts and Hooves Day	Episode 18 A Friend in Deed	Episode 19 Putting Your Hoof Down	Episode 20 It's About Time
Episode 21 Dragon Quest	Episode 22 Hurricane Fluttershy	Episode 23 Ponyville Confidential	Episode 24 MMMystery on the Friendship Express
	Episode 25 A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1	Episode 26 A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2

Season three
Episode 1 The Crystal Empire - Part 1	Episode 2 The Crystal Empire - Part 2	Episode 3 Too Many Pinkie Pies	Episode 4 One Bad Apple
Episode 5 Magic Duel	Episode 6 Sleepless in Ponyville	Episode 7 Wonderbolts Academy	Episode 8 Apple Family Reunion
Episode 9 Spike at Your Service	Episode 10 Keep Calm and Flutter On	Episode 11 Just for Sidekicks	Episode 12 Games Ponies Play
Episode 13 Magical Mystery Cure

Season four
Episode 1 Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 1	Episode 2 Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 2	Episode 3 Castle Mane-ia	Episode 4 Daring Don't
Episode 5 Flight to the Finish	Episode 6 Power Ponies	Episode 7 Bats!	Episode 8 Rarity Takes Manehattan
Episode 9 Pinkie Apple Pie	Episode 10 Rainbow Falls	Episode 11 Three's A Crowd	Episode 12 Pinkie Pride
Episode 13 Simple Ways	Episode 14 Filli Vanilli	Episode 15 Twilight Time	Episode 16 It Ain't Easy Being Breezies
Episode 17 Somepony to Watch Over Me	Episode 18 Maud Pie	Episode 19 For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils	Episode 20 Leap of Faith
Episode 21 Testing Testing 1, 2, 3	Episode 22 Trade Ya!	Episode 23 Inspiration Manifestation	Episode 24 Equestria Games
	Episode 25 Twilight's Kingdom - Part 1	Episode 26 Twilight's Kingdom - Part 2

Season five
Episode 1 The Cutie Map - Part 1	Episode 2 The Cutie Map - Part 2	Episode 3 Castle Sweet Castle	Episode 4 Bloom & Gloom
Episode 5 Tanks for the Memories	Episode 6 Appleoosa's Most Wanted	Episode 7 Make New Friends but Keep Discord	Episode 8 The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone
Episode 9 Slice of Life	Episode 10 Princess Spike	Episode 11 Party Pooped	Episode 12 Amending Fences
Episode 13 Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?	Episode 14 Canterlot Boutique	Episode 15 Rarity Investigates!	Episode 16 Made in Manehattan
Episode 17 Brotherhooves Social	Episode 18 Crusaders of the Lost Mark	Episode 19 The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows	Episode 20 Hearthbreakers
Episode 21 Scare Master	Episode 22 What About Discord?	Episode 23 The Hooffields and McColts	Episode 24 The Mane Attraction
	Episode 25 The Cutie Re-Mark - Part 1	Episode 26 The Cutie Re-Mark - Part 2

Season six
Episode 1 The Crystalling - Part 1	Episode 2 The Crystalling - Part 2	Episode 3 The Gift of the Maud Pie	Episode 4 On Your Marks
Episode 5 Gauntlet of Fire	Episode 6 No Second Prances	Episode 7 Newbie Dash	Episode 8 A Hearth's Warming Tail
Episode 9 The Saddle Row Review	Episode 10 Applejack's "Day" Off	Episode 11 Flutter Brutter	Episode 12 Spice Up Your Life
Episode 13 Stranger Than Fan Fiction	Episode 14 The Cart Before the Ponies	Episode 15 28 Pranks Later	Episode 16 The Times They Are A Changeling
Episode 17 Dungeons & Discords	Episode 18 Buckball Season	Episode 19 The Fault in Our Cutie Marks	Episode 20 Viva Las Pegasus
Episode 21 Every Little Thing She Does	Episode 22 P.P.O.V. (Pony Point of View)	Episode 23 Where the Apple Lies	Episode 24 Top Bolt
	Episode 25 To Where and Back Again - Part 1	Episode 26 To Where and Back Again - Part 2

Season seven
Episode 1 Celestial Advice	Episode 2 All Bottled Up	Episode 3 A Flurry of Emotions	Episode 4 Rock Solid Friendship
Episode 5 Fluttershy Leans In	Episode 6 Forever Filly	Episode 7 Parental Glideance	Episode 8 Hard to Say Anything
Episode 9 Honest Apple	Episode 10 A Royal Problem	Episode 11 Not Asking for Trouble	Episode 12 Discordant Harmony
Episode 13 The Perfect Pear	Episode 14 Fame and Misfortune	Episode 15 Triple Threat	Episode 16 Campfire Tales
Episode 17 To Change a Changeling	Episode 18 Daring Done?	Episode 19 It Isn't the Mane Thing About You	Episode 20 A Health of Information
Episode 21 Marks and Recreation	Episode 22 Once Upon a Zeppelin	Episode 23 Secrets and Pies	Episode 24 Uncommon Bond
	Episode 25 Shadow Play - Part 1	Episode 26 Shadow Play - Part 2

Season eight
Episode 1 School Daze - Part 1	Episode 2 School Daze - Part 2	Episode 3 The Maud Couple	Episode 4 Fake It 'Til You Make It
Episode 5 Grannies Gone Wild	Episode 6 Surf and/or Turf	Episode 7 Horse Play	Episode 8 The Parent Map
Episode 9 Non-Compete Clause	Episode 10 The Break Up Break Down	Episode 11 Molt Down	Episode 12 Marks for Effort
Episode 13 The Mean 6	Episode 14 A Matter of Principals	Episode 15 The Hearth's Warming Club	Episode 16 Friendship University
Episode 17 The End in Friend	Episode 18 Yakity-Sax	Episode 19 Road to Friendship	Episode 20 The Washouts
Episode 21 A Rockhoof and a Hard Place	Episode 22 What Lies Beneath	Episode 23 Sounds of Silence	Episode 24 Father Knows Beast
	Episode 25 School Raze - Part 1	Episode 26 School Raze - Part 2

Season nine
Episode 1 The Beginning of the End - Part 1	Episode 2 The Beginning of the End - Part 2	Episode 3 Uprooted	Episode 4 Sparkle's Seven
Episode 5 The Point of No Return	Episode 6 Common Ground	Episode 7 She's All Yak	Episode 8 Frenemies
Episode 9 Sweet and Smoky	Episode 10 Going to Seed	Episode 11 Student Counsel	Episode 12 The Last Crusade
Episode 13 Between Dark and Dawn	Episode 14 The Last Laugh	Episode 15 2, 4, 6, Greaaat	Episode 16 A Trivial Pursuit
Episode 17 The Summer Sun Setback	Episode 18 She Talks to Angel	Episode 19 Dragon Dropped	Episode 20 A Horse Shoe-In
Episode 21 Daring Doubt	Episode 22 Growing Up is Hard to Do	Episode 23 The Big Mac Question	Episode 24 The Ending of the End - Part 1
	Episode 25 The Ending of the End - Part 2	Episode 26 The Last Problem

Feature films
Equestria Girls	Rainbow Rocks	Friendship Games	Legend of Everfree
My Little Pony The Movie

Specials
Dance Magic	Movie Magic	Mirror Magic	Forgotten Friendship
Rollercoaster of Friendship	Best Gift Ever	Spring Breakdown	Rainbow Roadtrip
	Sunset's Backstage Pass	Holidays Unwrapped

Animated shorts
Rainbow Rocks shorts	Friendship Games shorts	Summertime Shorts	Equestria Girls: Better Together (season 1)
Equestria Girls: Better Together (season 2)	Equestria Girls: Choose Your Own Ending (season 1)	Equestria Girls: Choose Your Own Ending (season 2)	Equestria Girls Minis
Baby Flurry Heart's Heartfelt Scrapbook	Rarity's Peek Behind the Boutique	Fundamentals of Magic	My Little Pony Established 1983
	Friendship is Magic shorts	Hello Pinkie Pie