The Veins Run Deeper

The Veins Run Deeper is an adventure-alternate universe story by Thunderblast, and takes place after the side-story known as An Old Friend's Return.

Plot
One late-summer afternoon, Night Shadow, a bat pony-pegasus hybrid and the only of his kind, despite being in a family of full-blooded bat ponies, returns from jogging through Canterlot with a new squadron of Lunar guards. He dismisses them, returning to his quarters where he discovers a letter from his sister, Dawn Blossom, from his home colony. She writes to him asking if he plans to visit and celebrate their father's upcoming birthday. Happily, Night begins planning a short trip to visit his family. He meets with the captain of the Lunar Guard where he informs him of his time off, but the captain mentions a thought Night prefers not to think about, running out, then bumping into his friend, Sharpblade, a Royal guard in the palace.

The next day, Night departs for his home colony, now recently added as a place for normal Equestrians to visit. Despite the city being build on clouds, a train station and a small village on the ground are constructed to welcome non-pegasi visitors. Night meets up with his sister at the station, and she explains how much has changed while he was gone for the last couple of years. They fly up to the town, finding much of it to be completely remodeled, including Night's former home. There, Night reconciles with his mother, Midnight Dusk, after learning his father made the rank of Major within Fang Legion, the military of the bat pony colonies across Equestria. Before he comes home, Night makes a quick run to purchase a gift for his father, and when he does walk in, Night presents Skywatcher with a personal sword, one not only to celebrate his birthday, but his newly-appointed rank. Eagerly, Skywatcher asks Night to spar him the next day to show each other their skills. He agrees, and the family head out for birthday dinner.

Overnight, Night Shadow is visited by Princess Luna in his sleep--who gives a rather eerie warning which Night cannot make out. Soon after, he is woken by his dad, and the two head out to a field to spar. Eventually, they grow tired and go home.

The days pass, and Night says goodbye to his family as he prepares to return to Canterlot. After returning to the train station and waiting for the train to arrive, he is confronted by three bat ponies, all excited when they realize who it was and calling Night a hero for his work. They follow him to Canterlot, and once arriving, Night races to get away, just hardly managing to do so.

The following morning, Night calls a meeting with the Zodiacs, reconciling with Lodestar--his sergeant, Zipline--corporal, Skye Racer and Shieldhunter--both lance corporals. Lodestar informs Night of the bat ponies he'd met the day before having requested Night sees them before they begin their training. Frustratedly, he does so, also coming across two others from Hollow Shades, named Duskbloom and Halfmoon. He orders Lodestar to bring them to their barrack, and Night heads out into the city to get lunch.

In a cafe, Night sits down to eat, and Sharpblade, his Royal guard friend, comes in as well and the two sit down and chat while eating. There, Sharp tells Night that he should go easy on the bat pony-fanatics, who wish to all be a part of the Zodiacs. Night, however, has other plans.

A day later, Night sits in his office, preparing for the interview appointments to fully determine who he will train. First came Midnight Blade, whom Night scolds for bringing along a valuable piece of jewelry. After her came Eventide, followed by Stellar Star, who informs Night of a slight mental issue he suffers from. Following him are Halfmoon and Duskbloom, being interviewed by Night together.

When the interviews finished, Night returned to his quarters, catching one of his fellow guards and the only thestral currently in his Zodiac squadron, Scarlet Iris, as she sneaks up on him. The two speak for a moment, her catching Night off guard before leaving. He enters his quarters, showering, then sitting down to relax, immediately finding himself in boredom. He goes out to his balcony, taking off and heading for a section of flat land on the mountain that overlooks the city. There, Princess Luna startles him, and the two sit down to talk, with her discussing how Night's friend, Sharpblade, is likely close to learning new powerful unicorn spells, such as teleportation. She trails off with a word of worry.

The first week of training passed, with Halfmoon and Duskbloom topping the class. The second week begins with Night taking over for Sergeant Lodestar, although keeping him by his side. They go out to the track, where the recruits begin running as rain starts to pour. When conditions become too dangerous, they pull them off of the track, waiting for the storm to pass.

After the rain quits, Night leads them back out, only to find the track too muddy to continue. Instead, he forces them to perform fifty push-ups, followed by twenty wing-ups, such an exercise being difficult to bat ponies with more frail wings than pegasus ponies.

Characters

 * Night Shadow: A pegasus-bat pony hybrid and the only of his kind, despite having all-bat pony parents and a sister. He is second-in-command of Princess Luna's personal guard, the Zodiacs.
 * Skywatcher: He is Night's father, a rough, but caring stallion as well as a lieutenant in Fang Legion, the military that protects the bat pony race across Equestria.
 * Midnight Dusk: She is Night's mother, a gentle, loving bat pony mare and formerly a stay-at-home parent.
 * Dawn Blossom: Night's younger sister, a spunky, energetic bat pony mare who tends to laugh a lot. While she had a crush on Night's friend, Thunderblast, the two never come to date.
 * Sharpblade: Night's royal guard unicorn friend, a sergeant in the Canterlot Guard.

Bat Ponies

 * Midnight Blade: The first of the three bat ponies from Batsburg and enlisted in the Lunar Guard. She is a purple mare, slightly different from the rest of the bat ponies with draconic wings rather than thestral ones.
 * Eventide: A dark blue bat pony mare and the second of three bat ponies from Batsburg.
 * Halfmoon: A bat pony mare from Hollow Shades hoping to be a part of the Zodiacs.
 * Duskbloom: A bat pony stallion from Hollow Shades, and Halfmoon's foalhood crush, who wishes to be a part of the Zodiacs.
 * Stellar Star: The third of the bat ponies from Batsburg. He is a dark grey stallion with a slight mental disorder.

The Zodiacs

 * Stormfire: ???
 * Lodestar: He is a stallion with the earth pony-ingenuity of building a modern Equestria, but also a strong sense of justice, which is why he joined the Lunar Guard and became a sergeant in the Zodiacs.
 * Zipline: Despite being a prankster around friends and co-workers, he takes his job very seriously. Zipline also has a slight fear of heights, despite being a pegasus. He is a corporal in the Zodiacs.
 * Shieldhunter: He is a lance corporal in the Zodiacs, assigned to Princess Luna's personal observatory.
 * Skye Racer: He is another lance corporal in the Zodiacs, assigned to Princess Luna's observatory.
 * Scarlet Iris: The only of the squadron to be a thestral, up until the new recruits' arrival. She is a bubbly mare whom constantly tricks Night and occasionally flirts with him, despite him lacking interest.

Royal/Lunar Guard

 * Red Knight: Royal guard sergeant and an earth pony.
 * Rescue Sunstreak: He is a former firefighter for the Ponyville Fire Department, having being transferred to the Lunar Guard as a Medic Specialist.
 * Valiant Charge: A corporal in the Royal Guard.

Other

 * Princess Luna
 * Paladin Redflare: A large, tall, muscular red pegasus and a Paladin of Celestia's Light, an elite group of ponies knighted by Princess Celestia herself. He is first assigned to work with Night Shadow to capture an escaped criminal.

Reception
The Veins Run Deep has received exceptionally positive criticism and views with 15 likes and 0 dislikes to date. The story also currently has over 250 views and over 2,000 total views.

Trivia

 * The Veins Run Deeper is a direct sequel to The Veins Run Deep in order.
 * The Veins Run Deeper takes place a couple of years after the side story An Old Friend's Return. Show-wise, the story takes place after the events of Twilight's Kingdom, which is where Thunderblast 's story universe diverges from the main series.
 * Although they are within the same universe, this story and Rise of Shadow Force come together, but the beginning of Rise actually takes place one month after chapter 10, which is where the two stories' plots converge.
 * This story will be 36 chapters rather than 30, and given its current word-count at only 11 chapters long, is expected to be significantly longer word-wise than the first story (around 100K words).
 * It was decided that this sequel would be made taking place after the side story when the original continued to receive exceptionally positive criticism.
 * The cover art is highly similar to The Veins Run Deep 's, but instead shows a picture of Night Shadow himself rather than an unknown bat pony.
 * The Veins Run Deeper was published on the 2-year anniversary of The Veins Run Deep 's release.
 * Thunderblast put out a blog post on his FIMFiction profile announcing he was accepting OCs to have roles in the story, although said characters will be altered for this story (depending on their previous backstories) to fit with the timeline. This later closed before midnight on May 31st.