The Veins Run Deep

The Veins Run Deep
Writer(s)	Thunderblast
Date published	6/1/14
Words	73,951
Status	Completed
Type/genre	Dark, adventure, AU
Featuring	Bloodvein/Night Shadow, Skywatcher, Midnight
Story link(s)
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Summary

Bloodvein is a pegasus born into a bat pony family. To the rest of his colony, he is considered different, and most are forced to accept him. Though he shares the same blood and fangs as his parents, his outward appearance is nothing anypony has ever seen before. Beginning from his birth and through colthood, Blood grows more attracted to the thought of meeting an Equestrian--something everypony in his colony is told not to do.

Eventually, his colony is forced to leave their home in search of a new one. At the same time, he's found himself in an Equestrian city where he is temporarily homeless. His journey later takes him from the skies above Equestria, and to the streets and eventually, the palace of Canterlot while training to be a Lunar guard. Along the way, he takes on a new name, and he makes new friends, one being somepony many wouldn't dare to approach. His friends being the only ones that understand everything about him.

It isn't long before Night Shadow, as he and everypony else now calls him, discovers dark intentions of his colony. And he isn't just going to let them get away with it.

In the end, he may just be a happier stallion than ever before.

Characters

• Bloodvein/Night Shadow: The main protagonist of the story. He is a dark grey pegasus with normal bright, gold eyes, a two-shaded purple toned styled mane and tail. Despite his outward appearance, he is a full-blooded bat pony with the fangs, night-enhanced eyes and hearing. Later on in the story, he changes his name from Bloodvein to Night Shadow to sound less intimidating.

• Skywatcher: Bloodvein/Night Shadow's father. He is a tall, muscular dark grey bat pony with a purple, wind-blown messy mane, and dark blue eyes. Skywatcher is the lieutenant in the colony's guardians, known as Fang Legion, a combined military created by the Governor of their colony that defends all bat pony colonies across the land. He plays a major role in the story.

• Midnight: Bloodvein/Night Shadow's mother. She is a shorter dark grey bat pony mare with a dark silver mane, orange eyes. Not much else is known about her, and in the story, she seems to be a stay-at-home mother.
• Dawn Blossom: Bloodvein/Night Shadow's younger sister. She is another full-blooded bat pony and is very close to Night. In the story, she does not play much of a role.

• Thunderblast: A grey pegasus royal guard living in the city of Canterlot. He was assigned to train Night Shadow when he enlisted in the guard. Thunder has a jet-black mane and blue eyes and is known to be just a couple of inches taller than Night. They quickly bond over time and become the best of friends, and later, they team up to thwart a threat to Equestria. Like Skywatcher, Thunderblast plays a major role in the story, despite coming in towards the end.

Reception

The Veins Run Deep has received outstandingly positive criticism and is currently the author's most popular and well-received story, beating a one-shot he released after the first few chapters of this one by a large number of views and likes. According to the author, the great reception it received was not expected at all, and due to it, he decided to continue with a short side story that takes place just after the final events of The Veins Run Deep and soon to be a full-length sequel.

To date, The Veins Run Deep has 52 likes and 6 dislikes on FIMFiction. The story currently has 939 views and over 12,300 total views.

Sequels

The Veins Run Deep currently has one side story with the name of An Old Friend's Return. The author has also announced an official long-length sequel following the events of the side story that will come on June 1st, 2016. The sequel's name will be The Veins Run Deeper and is expected to be as long as it's successor if not longer.

Trivia

• The backstory of the bat pony race in the story is a headcanon developed by Thunderblast that is meant to depict why bat ponies are not seen in the show, despite the story being alternate universe.
• Since completion, the story has undergone major revision.
• An eight-chapter side story named An Old Friend's Return was released just under two months afterwards after the author saw just how well-received the story was.
  • A direct sequel named The Veins Run Deeper is said to be coming in June of 2016, the two-year anniversary of The Veins Run Deep's release.