//------------------------------// // A Pegasus with Fangs // Story: The Veins Run Deep // by Thunderblast //------------------------------// "Wait a minute... his wings, look at them!" "I know..." "So... He's a pegasus?" A dark grey bat pony stallion, donning dark blue sharp-edged armor was speaking quietly to his wife, a smaller, but also dark grey thestral mare, who had just given birth to a young colt mere minutes prior. They were full blooded bat ponies, but their son... "He is a pegasus..." "He's still beautiful, Sky." "He is..." The stallion and mare both smiled warmly and tiredly at their newborn foal, who slept soundly in his mother’s hooves, and had not cried once during birth. He was a colt, fur matching their own identically in color, with a multi-shaded purple mane, with lighter on the bottom and darker towards the top. "What should we name him, dear?" "Oh... um... I do not know, Midnight." "I think..." "...What?" "What about... Pegafangs?" "P-Pegafangs?" the stallion chuckled at that. "Okay, I'm not the best at deciding names," the mare responded, chuckling with evident exhaustion. "Hmm..." "What about... No, not that." "Bloodvein?" "H-how did you know?" The mare giggled softly. "I could guess you were about to say it. I say it sounds wonderful." "You... think so?" "Yes, Sky." The stallion let off a sigh. "Okay then. Bloodvein it is," he said, smiling again down to the foal. "Would you like to hold him?" "Would I? Of course." The mare giggled, and gently set the baby colt in the stallion's hooves. The stallion held the colt, rocking him slightly, and keeping him calm and sound asleep. "Hey there... Bloodvein..." the stallion said quietly, smile growing and eyes glassing at the sight of his newborn son. The colt snored quietly in his hooves, almost too quiet to be heard. A couple of times, his wings opened and fluttered. "Haha..." The stallion chuckled lightly. "I-I have a son," he started to cry for joy, then gently handed the foal back to his wife, then trotted out of the room and shut the door, out of the sight of his wife. Out in the hall, he clutched another unsuspecting bat pony and hugged him tight, sobbing into his shoulder for joy. "I have a son!" he shouted, just before letting the poor pony go, and fainting on the floor, hooves straight in the air, maw open, and eyes rolled back, his hind leg twitching a couple of times. "DAAAAAD! Do I have to go to school?" "Yes, son. You do," the father responded evenly, setting a small saddlebag onto the young pegasus' back. "But, why?" "Because, Bloodvein, it is to help you learn, so you work towards a job like mine in the future." "But, dad—" "Butts are for sitting on, son," the stallion let off a sigh, crouching down to meet his son’s eye level. "I didn't want to go to school when I was your age, either. But, you have no choice. It's required for all young colts and fillies to go to school," he explained. "But... what if..." "What if what?" "What if I hate it there?" the colt whimpered, glancing up at his dad, teary-eyed. The stallion sighed again. "You won't, son. It's a nuisance to go five days of the week, yes, but it will really help make your future better," he wiped the tear free of his son's cheek and nuzzled him. The colt nuzzled his father back. "Dad... I want to be like you." "You will in time, Bloodvein," the stallion smiled. "No, dad. Not your size, I mean..." "Mean what?" "I want to be a soldier like you." "Y-you do?" "Yes, dad." His father really didn't know what to say then. "Dad, you're my hero. You protect everypony in our colony. I want to be somepony like you when I grow up." "But, son, don't you want to be something else?" "No, dad. I want to join the Legion." Again, the stallion was speechless. A few moments later, he sighed. "It's a very tough job, son. I am not too sure you would enjoy it." "Dad, if you made it in, I'm pretty sure I can, too. I am your son after all... right?" For a third time, the stallion was speechless, but was thinking of things to say quickly. "Of course you are, Bloodvein. Why wouldn't you be?" the stallion smiled, bringing his little colt into a hug, holding back tears. "Because... I'm not like you, or mommy," the colt replied, peeking back to his wings. "You're still our son, no matter how you may look. You have fangs like us, right?" "I do, but—" "You have no trouble seeing through the dark, right?" "Yeah, but—" "You can hear good, right?" "Yes. dad, but..." "Then you are just like everypony else, and you're my son, and I am proud of you regardless." "Eh, um... th-thanks, dad..." "Come on, I better bring you to school before your mom has a fit." "Er... okay." The colt pounced onto his father’s back and settled down as he trotted off out of their home carved into a wall in an enormous cave system, with many houses also carved into the sides of the cave. "So, children, what is two plus two?" "Fooour!" "Very good!" A bat pony mare, the teacher at the school, said as she clapped her hooves. "You kids are so smart! Now, what is five times the square root of sixty-three?" The colts and fillies in the class' jaws dropped, as they all stared at their teacher in absolute horror. "Oh," the mare giggled, cheeks heating in a bit of embarrassment. "Whoopsie! Oh dear, silly me, I almost forgot! We have a new student today, class! Bloodvein, come on up!" The entire class shifted their slit-pupil gazes to the stone-grey pegasus at the rear of the class. He nervously rose from his chair and strolled up beside the teacher to begin introducing himself. "Uh... umm..." The young colt gulped. "H-hi there... I'm... B-Bloodvein..." he attempted to continue, terrified out of his mind as every pony in the class narrowed in on him. "Don't be shy, Bloodvein. We don't bite." Small laughs emanated from the students, then ceasing when Bloodvein cleared his throat. "S-so, uh... as all of you have probably guessed by now, I'm..." "You're what?" one filly cut in. "I'm... different from everypony else." "You don't look very different!" Bloodvein then sighed and reluctantly spread wide his little pegasus wings. The class seemed to stare in bewilderment. It took a good few seconds for somepony to point it out. “What’s with your wings?” a colt questioned, head cocking sideways. “I... they—” A sharp gasp from another colt startled Blood, him standing by his forehooves on his desk with one pointed directly at Blood. "Pegasus wings! My parents told me about them! You're an Equestrian?!" The whole room gasped collectively, minus the teacher and Blood himself. "N-no, I'm not!" he protested. "Equestrian!" the whole class shouted menacingly, and in seconds, Bloodvein raced out of the classroom sobbing. "No, Bloodvein, wait!" the teacher called, slowly trotting behind him. Stopping at the doorway, she snapped a glare at the class, and everypony instantly went silent. "He's an Equestrian," one colt whispered to another, and the whole class soon started exchanging quiet conversations between each other about the new student, who now hurried to hide.