@OneOverTwo  
And that is what we call ‘boring’. REJECT! STAMPS IT WITH BIG LETTERS REJECT!

@Background Pony #454D  
I was mostly joking but you were talking about background characters having changing eyes so the example I gave still applies.

@Pagan  
We’re not talking about a background pony that gets about as much attention as it’s supposed to receive. We’re talking about one of the main characters. Backgrounders can get wings and horns added pretty much at the click of a button, but some animator had to deliberately alter Dash’s model with bat wings, a batpony tail, and slitted eyes. (Or edit the batpony model with Dash’s ears, eye color, coat color, and build. Either way.)
 
@Agent Orange  
I don’t argue that batponies don’t exist. Rainbow Dash is apparently the only normal pegasus who made the cut for Nightmare Moon’s personal guard, based on everyone else having ear tufts.

@Pagan  
This.
 
I don’t get why people argue so much over the existence of batponies. Until it’s stated otherwise, it’s safe to assume they exist in canon. We’ve seen them. I find it difficult to accept 2 seconds of footage from any episode as solid proof as there have been many, many, many animation errors since the beginning. Derpy was an animation error, that was only made canon because of fanon.

@Background Pony #454D  
Does that also mean ponies can randomly turn into alicorns as well?

@Twilatron217  
It’s not explicitly stated, no. But in “The Crystal Empire - Part 1” the guard in the intro who told Celestia “it” had returned had standard-issue blue eyes as he ran in with his helmet on. When he took it off, they turned yellow. Now we see Dash’s eyes switch from slitted to normal when SHE removes her helmet.  
Once could be an animation error. Twice is world-building.

@Twilatron217  
It hasn’t.
 
But maybe she hasn’t been using the armor as long as the others.

@Background Pony #454D  
But she lacks the ear tufts the other guards have, surely that would be part of the part of the enchantment too, has it been confirmed to be an enchantment?

@Twilatron217  
In the screenshot Background Pony #D479 posted, her eyes are clearly slit-pupiled when she has the helmet on. It’s enchanted.

And i notice she doesn’t have that velociraptor slit pupil thing with her eyes, which makes me think she’s still turning into a bat pony.

And dash isn’t the kind to wear…stupid ear pieces like that anyway, out of character

Had a story idea some two years back where after rebelling against Nightmare Moon, Rainbow was stripped of her wings and had to earn replacements
 
Stop stealing my ideas, Hasbro!

@OneOverTwo  
That’s correct, she’s the only non-batpony in the group. I’m just making the point that we’ve seen similar appearance-changing armor before on Celestia’s guards.

see again, easy to identify, it’s showing that the first thing you see is the different style  
of guard its the first one you look at, considering the whole episode(s) are about changing timelines and paradoxes

@DashieTheGreat  
She takes off her helmet & speaks, do you really think that adding tufted ears would make her any harder to identify than the haircut did?

@OneOverTwo  
It’s maybe so she is easy to identify

@Sr Pelusa  
damn! already with animation errors? you guys work fast.

she’s maybe in the process of change?

@Background Pony #454D  
However her ears are normal pony ears instead of tufted:  

 
_{(& this isn’t just a fluke, her ears are normal when they show her from the front too.)}
 
It seems to me that they were trying to show that Rainbow Dash was at least slightly different from the other guards.

Her eyes also change from slit-pupil to normal when she removes her helmet. The armor is enchanted to alters her appearance to fit, same as the royal guard uniforms. (Check out the eyes of the guard who brings news of the Crystal Empire’s reappearance before and after he takes off his helmet.)

@ED-SKaR  

 
Of course that implies that there probably others, and eternal night would bring them out.

@Background Pony #C9C0  
It is specifically stated in one of GM Berrows books that her two guards are the only known bat ponies.

@Background Pony #D479  
Rainbow Dash doesn’t have the ear tufts though. She consistently has different ears from all the other guards.

Meh. I just figured it was her armor creating an illusion to make her and any other normal pegasus that decided to side with NMM appear like one of her Night Guards.