//------------------------------// // I Am Night Shadow // Story: The Veins Run Deep // by Thunderblast //------------------------------// "What do you mean they're on their way to Equestria?" "The Governor saw this coming, they might be on their way. But wait, you said you had to deal with some guards at the front gate, right?" "Yeah?" "They might be back in town preparing, or at the valley base!" Skywatcher said. Thunderblast and Night Shadow looked to each other briefly, then back to Sky. "Think we should check it out?" "It would be a good idea. If they're not at either, then we'd better start scanning the area. They couldn't have gone far in such little time." "I wouldn't say that," Sky started. "Everyone on my squad is a fast flyer. Most bat ponies are. For all we know, they could already be in Vanhoover." "Oh perfect," Night lifted a hoof and rubbed at his head. "This is just great." Skywatcher lifted a hoof to Night's chin and brought his eyes up. "Son, you are our leader. Give us orders, we follow you on this mission." "Dad ... what am I supposed to say? We don't know where they are..." "Then tell us where to go, and we'll search for them." Night stopped for a few moments, then inhaled. "We search the town and the Legion base. If they are not there, we advance on to the coast. If they're fast flyers, we have to keep up with them. We have to contain them in one area, and not let them spread across the country. We're Equestria's only chance at this point, our job is to hold things off until either the Royal Guard comes, or something else..." "Something else?" Thunder's eyes widened. "I don't know, but do you get the idea?" Thunderblast nodded. "I do." "Good. Now, let's go." Minutes later, the four closed in on Batsburg, their wings taking them as fast as they could fly. They kept a slight formation, with Night Shadow in the center and the others off to the side and slightly behind. They began their descent towards the residential side of town, soon landing on one of the streets. Night peered around at their surroundings, his ears lightly twitching at how quiet the town was. "Think they're here?" Lancer whispered. "I'm not sure, I don't hear anything," Night perked his ears, trying his best to listen for any strange commotion, when suddenly the sound of sobbing caught his attention. "Over there!" He began galloping towards a path intersection, and around the corner before stopping in shock. "Mom?" The dark grey bat pony mare sat on the ground, bawling her eyes. Night galloped up to her, hugging his mother tightly. "Mom, what happened?" Midnight simply sobbed, taking multiple attempts to speak. "Th-they ... they ... t-took ... Dawn...!" The words hit Night like a dart to the chest, his pupils shrunk to pinpricks and his ears pinned down. "W-what? They ... took her?" Midnight sobbed even more, but stopped and sniffled to speak. "They ... came and ... took her from her own room! They smashed her window and...took...her!" Night Shadow held his mother tighter, beginning to lightly tremble and shed tears. "N-no ... damn it, no! Why did they take her?!" Thunderblast, Lancer and Skywatcher soon rounded the corner, spotting the two with widened eyes. Midnight turned her head, catching Sky in the corner of her eye. She gasped and stood up, Night releasing her. "Sky!" She ran into his hooves, Skywatcher clenching her in a tight hug. "Oh sweetie, are you okay?" Sky kissed her forehead and stroked her mane with a hoof. "N-no ... th-they took our daughter!" Midnight sniffled, then buried her face in his chest and sobbed. "W...what?" Skywatcher's eyes opened wide. "How?!" "They smashed her bedroom window ... and took her ... I-I couldn't stop them, I-I'm so sorry!" Midnight sobbed harder. "I'm a horrible mother!" "N-no, sweetie, you're not. You did everything you could," Sky kissed her forehead once more. "I promise you, we will get our daughter back. I promise you." "Pleaaaase, Sky," Midnight sniffled more. "Please, get our daughter back f-from them..." "I promise, sweetie...we will. We won't do anything until we get her back," Sky grasped his wife tighter. Night Shadow walked up, joining in on the tight embrace. Behind them, Thunder heard the faint sound of a hiss, glancing all around to see where it came from, before he looked up at the sky with shrunk pupils. "Uh, Night?" Thunderblast tapped Night's shoulder. The three broke the hug, and Night turned to Thunder. "What is it?" He wiped at his eye. Thunder pointed a hoof upwards, and everypony turned to face the direction he pointed to. In the distance, a squad of Legion soldiers were flying in, armed to the teeth. "Honey..." Midnight hugged Skywatcher from the side. "Go, get inside, now!" Sky ordered. "Home is a few blocks down, I won't make it!" "Then I'll go with you," Night stepped up to Midnight, staring at her with a serious look on his face. "Come on mom, I'll get you home. You three, stay here and fight them off until I get back!" He grabbed Midnight's hoof and began galloping with her around the corner, their house in sight down the street. Halfway down, they were stopped by the hard landing of an armored Legion soldier, who hissed with his spear drawn. "Hand the mare over this instant!" The soldier barked. "Over my dead body," Night stood in front of Midnight, gripping his sword tightly in a hoof. "Mom, get over there and stay in those bushes." "But-" "NOW!" The soldier brushed his hooves on the ground like a bull, hissing some more. "You're making a big mistake, little colt," he laughed, then lunged at Night. Night stood his ground, the soldier's spear crashing against each other and sparking. Night grunted as he took the force of the soldier, but managed to stay standing despite the larger stallion's momentum. "I won't ... let you ... hurt my mother!" Night clenched his teeth and pushed back with all of his might against his opponent. "Here they come, prepare yourself!" Skywatcher yelled to Lancer and Thunderblast, watching as the Legion soldiers closed in on them, stopping and floating just in front of them. "Oh look, the old lieutenant is free. Let's teach them all a lesson, shall we boys?" The squad commander chuckled, unsheathing a sword from his armor, the rest of the soldiers following suit with their own weapons. Thunder then gripped his own sword and glared coldly at the squad commander. "I will deal with this traitor boys, you take care of these two runts by his side," the squad commander tackled Skywatcher backwards. Before he could do anything else, Sky kicked him off in the stomach and into the air, before jumping to his hooves and taking hold of a sword he stole from the dungeon guards and gripping it in his hoof. "Back on opposite sides, I see," Skywatcher hissed at the stallion. "You know it's better this way," the squad commander smirked, lunging at Sky. Their swords collided, Sky forced the stallion to tumble past him in a swift dodge, clearing him of any injury his opponent's sword might have caused. The squad commander slid to a stop after hitting the ground on his back, just barely keeping his sword in his hoof. As he moved to stand, Sky quickly tackled him, knocking both of their swords away, and the two then began throwing punches at each other, no longer worried about their weapons. Meanwhile, Lancer and Thunderblast kept a defensive stance a few feet away, before each taking on a soldier. The sounds of swords screeching against one another filled the streets, and those in their comes came to their windows to see what was going on. Behind them, Skywatcher struck the squad commander, punch by punch until he was too stunned to move. His eyes spun around dizzily, before he fell unconscious with a blood-covered muzzle. Sky grumbled, then grabbed the two swords and went to help Thunder and Lancer. He ran up beside them, all huddling up back to back as Legion soldiers surrounded them. "Let's show them what we're made of," Skywatcher eyed the soldiers, and all three took on the surrounding soldiers in even more sword to sword combat. Around the corner and down the street, Night Shadow was thrown into the ground, his head bouncing twice as he hit the hard cloud and grunting. His nose bled some, and his arms and chest were covered in minor cuts. He panted, struggling to stand up before the other stallion crashed down hooves first over him, his sword clenched in his teeth. The soldier held Night down by his arms, smirking under the hold of his sword. Night squirmed, trying his best to free himself from the weight of the stallion. "Say goodnight!" He hissed, slightly muffled by the sword in his mouth, then he grabbed it in a hoof and prepared to swing. "No!!" Midnight screamed in fear from the nearby bushes. Night Shadow watched the sword swing upwards, and then shut his eyes tightly, knowing the soldier was too heavy to push off even if he could. CLANK! Night's ears perked at the sound, even more at a heavy thud beside him. He opened his eyes, turning and staring at the soldier formerly standing over and pinning him down, who was now unconscious on the ground with his sword dropped, and a dent in his navy blue helmet. He then looked forward, his eyes meeting Lancer's. He held a metal pan in his hoof, panting a little. "I got you," he smiled and pulled Night up. Night stumbled a little, but regained his stance and rubbed at his head. "Thanks," Night smiled. Midnight galloped over, hugging Night tightly. Night hugged back. "I-I'm okay mom, don't worry about me. Lancer, get her home. It's just down the street." Lancer nodded and took Midnight's hoof. "Let's get you home," he said. Night took off into the sky, flying back towards his father and Thunder, hearing the sounds of heavy fighting coming from their location. Thunderblast grunted, holding his sword up in both hooves in an attempt to keep the other soldier off of him. "We could...rrgh! Really use Lancer or Night's help right about now!" "Just shut up and keep him off of you!" Skywatcher ordered, standing atop a pinned soldier and assaulting him with numerous punches to the face. "Hang on guys!" Night swooped down, tackling the soldier off of Thunderblast and slamming him into the ground, sliding on top of him. The soldier fell limp, having being knocked unconscious by Night's momentum. He hopped off of the limp pony, galloping back to Thunderblast and Skywatcher. Sky threw one last, devastating punch to the pinned soldier's face, watching as he also fell limp beneath him. He panted softly, wiping the blood on his hooves on the ground to get it off. Night pulled Thunder up, then wiped at his own muzzle which still bled. "Is that all of them?" Sky nodded and panted still, looking around at what they had done. "I believe so..." Thunder also looked around. "Where's Lancer at?" Before anyone could reply, Lancer galloped around the corner, stopping at them and trying to catch his breath. "Right...here." "Is my mom home?" "She is...she is," Lancer panted hard, his chest expanding and contracting. "Are you alright?" Skywatcher raised an eyebrow. "Yes ... I just ran two blocks to get here," he panted still. "Are they gone?" "For now, yes. But, we still need to find the Governor," Thunderblast replied. "And my sister!" "Right, and his sister." "I may have an idea of where they are!" Skywatcher said, now standing over the squad commander's unconscious body. The three walked over. "What do you have?" Night looked down at the ground in front of Sky, spotting a map with red marks on different parts of it. "Wait a second ... that's a map of Equestria." "It is," Sky said. "It looks like they have a pattern. Not very smart of them to mark what cities they'll go to first and next." "What does it say?" "Hmm ... well, all it really shows is what cities they'll go to in a row. I'm not sure how well this plan will work, because they're a much smaller army than the Royal Guard. They would be well overwhelmed. But, I assume they would be in Vanhoover right now. It's a big city, I can't imagine it would be a quick takeover." "True, true. Should we check it out?" Thunder asked. "Might be a good idea. But if they aren't there yet ... well, I don't know where they could be!" "Calm down, Lancer. We'll find them," Skywatcher glanced over. "Well, I suggest we get going if we want to be in Vanhoover before sundown," Thunderblast said. Minutes later, Night Shadow, his father, Thunderblast, and Lancer were airborne and flying westward towards Vanhoover. While flying, they kept an eye below them in case the bat ponies were still in the area. But, with the dense forest, it was hard to see anything. As time quickly passed, the skyline of Vanhoover became clearer over the tops of smaller mountains just east of the city. As they approached, nothing seemed to be out of sort. "Huh. Where is everypony?" Night looked around as he floated above the city with the others. "Think they went elsewhere?" Lancer asked. "I don't think so, the Governor sticks to his plans pretty well. They could still be on their-" Before Skywatcher could finish speaking, the sounds of ponies screaming and panicking down below caught their attention. Night quickly looked below them, spotting numerous ponies running away and into buildings. Behind them, numerous Legion soldiers marched down the street in squads, weapons drawn. "That's them, let's go!" Thunderblast began flying downwards towards the city. "Thunder, wait!" Night Shadow dove after him, soon followed by Skywatcher and Lancer. "Ah, yes. Vanhoover," the Governor chuckled darkly, investigating the now cleared streets as more Legion soldiers marched in in larger groups and splitting up. "The first city in our takeover." One legion soldier trotted up to him and saluted. "Sir, squad one and two have confirmed the Royal Guard station has been taken over. It can be used as our temporary base." "Excellent," the Governor smirked and chuckled some more, then turned around, pulling the cover off of a cage being carried by four soldiers. Inside, Dawn Blossom was chained by her hooves to the bars. "We have found new home for you, Dawn." Dawn hissed and pulled at the chains holding her back. "You won't get away with this, my brother will take down you and all of your cronies!" The Governor burst out into a menacing laugh, resting a hoof on the cage and smirking at the younger mare. "Says who?" "I-I..." "Says us." The Governor quickly turned around, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks. "What?!" "Let my sister go, and I will spare you with your life," Night Shadow gripped his sword close to his chest, baring his fangs in anger and he stared down the navy blue bat pony. He stood alone in the center of the street, with the others watching from a nearby rooftop. "Night!" Dawn squealed in surprise. The Governor hissed. "Take her to the guard station, I will deal with this bug." "Is that supposed to be insulting?" Night smirked a little. "You're a cocky one, aren't you?" The Governor pulled a dagger from his own armor and held it in his hoof. "You'll be the first to die." "We shall see about that, Governor." "Graaaah!" The Governor yelled, galloping towards Night with his dagger drawn forward. Night held his sword to his chest, waiting until the right moment, when the Governor attempted to lunge at him to tackle, he leapt up into the air and above, just barely dodging the dark blue stallion as he slid on the cobble street. Night landed on all fours, his hooves making loud clops as they struck the cobble under him. The Governor let out a faint grunt as he impacted the ground, but quickly stood up and brushed the dirt off of his armor and hooves. "Hmm, you're quick," the Governor picked up his dagger and bared his fangs. "But you can't stop me." "Think we should help him?" Thunder asked, turning and staring at Skywatcher and Lancer. "Hang on, I want to see how he handles this," Sky watched, his eyes opening in awe as Night continued to dodge many different lunges from his opponent. After more dodges, Night finally ran at the Governor, catching him off guard and slamming into him with all of his force, throwing the dark blue pony a few feet back. The Governor grunted, completely surprised by the attack and stood wobbly. "Oh, it's like that, is it?" The Governor picked up his dagger again, rubbing a hoof on it, then threw it in the way of a shuriken. Night saw the dagger flying towards him, and held his sword directly vertical in front of him. The dagger struck his sword, bouncing off to the side but also lightly cutting his cheek. Night yelped, putting a hoof to his cheek as blood dripped from it and onto his hoof, soaking the bottom of it completely red. The Governor grit his teeth, angered that the dagger mostly missed. "Argh, do you ever die?!" He hissed. "Not ... ever!" Night flicked his hoof, drops of blood flying off of it and onto the ground, leaving a red mark on his injured cheek. He scraped his sword on the cobble, then ran at the Governor angrily. The Governor smirked, then slowly ran towards him as well. "You know, Night Shadow," he stopped. Just before they collided, the Governor grabbed Night by his neck and swung him around three times, before finally throwing him upwards and leaping into the air after him. Once high in the air, Night opened his wings to stabilize himself, before being struck downwards by the other pony. He failed to regain control over himself, and soon fell back first into the ground, a small crater forming around him and sending cobble rocks flying through windows in surrounding buildings. Night's eyes opened wide, and he hissed out in pain. "Aaaaagh!" On the rooftops, Thunderblast, Skywatcher and Lancer watched in horror. "Night!!" Sky yelled. The Governor landed a few feet away, chuckling. "I should have mentioned, I took some advanced lessons in the Legion a few years ago for self defense. It looks like it all paid off," he grinned, then reached for Night's sword, which fell beside him. "It's a shame this battle did not last longer, I was looking forward to a worthy opponent such as yourself." "A-aagh..." Night groaned, his vision blurring out a few times as he tried to look towards the Governor. "But, you know what they say. A good death, is it's own reward," he raised the sword. Night flinched, his ears drooping at the sight of the sword, but then he glared up at the dark blue bat pony. Before he could swing, he was forced through the window of a nearby shop, the sword dropping with a couple of loud clanks. Night peered over, seeing an angry Thunderblast setting his hind legs down on the ground, then turning around and pulling Night up onto his hooves. "W-wha...?" "You're hurt. Stay to the side, I'll take care of the Governor," Thunder stared with a serious look. "N-no way, I can handle him!" "Night, you're hurt!" "I-I..." "Night, please. Let me han-" Thunderblast was suddenly tackled to the ground by the Governor, being quickly assaulted by numerous hard punches to the jaw. Thunder screamed in surprise, but then threw his own hooves at the stallion's face. Night backed away a few steps, watching as Thunder rolled them over, shoving the Governor into the ground and continuing to deliver devastating blows to the jaw and forehead. The blue bat pony hissed, managing to stop Thunder's hoof with his own and sinking his fangs deep into it. "Aaaaagh!" Thunder screamed in pain, trying to pull it out of the Governor's tight grip. He continued to sink his fangs, then finally ripped them away, his fangs completely red from the bite. Thunder fell back, holding his hoof in pain as a heavy burning sensation flowed through his bones. The Governor stood, wiping blood from his mouth and spitting. "Blech, you Equestrians have terrible tasting blood!" Thunderblast groaned, clenching his teeth and attempting to fight off the stinging pain emanating from his arm. He tried to stand up, but found his limbs unable to move. "W-what ... is this? Argh!" He struggled, his body falling limp on the ground. "Paralyzing venom," the Governor chuckled. "Perfect for disabling opponents. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere to be," he began to walk away, down the street. "Oh no you don't!" Skywatcher hissed, landing on top of the Governor with all of his weight, forcing him into the ground. "Lancer, get down here!" Lancer quickly flew down, stripping the stallion of any weapons he had stored in his armor and tossing them to the side. "Gruh...you may have me pinned down, but my forces still have control over the city!" Night's eyes opened up wide. "The Legion troops, we forgot!" The Governor chuckled darkly. "Your ignorance is my bliss, Night Shadow. You've made many mistakes today, and for that, many Equestrians shall burn under my rule for everything they've done to our race." Night's ears drooped, but then stood up again as a deep growl came from his throat. "Dad, let me deal with him. I want you two to go get my sister and handle whatever Legion troops interfere." "But son, you're injured!" Skywatcher continued to hold the Governor down. "No, I won't lose you to this maniac!" "Dad, for once, will you just trust me on this one? Please ... I can take care of him." Skywatcher stared Night down, his ears pinning back, but then he gulped a little. "We will get your sister." Night nodded once. "Go get her." Thunder laid on the ground, eyes widened as Skywatcher and Lancer flew off. "Night, what are you doing?!" "Finishing off this psycho stallion," Night weakly grabbed his sword and growled at the dark blue bat pony as he stood up slowly. "Stay back and stay down." Thunderblast rolled his eyes. "Like I have a choice." The Governor chuckled. "Up for a second round of pain, are you, Night Shadow?" "I'm a guard, pain doesn't hurt me," Night gripped his sword tighter. "Oh, of course you are," the Governor grinned. "Let this fight last longer than the first," "Indeed!" Night lunged towards the other pony. The Governor quickly picked up his dagger, holding it just in front of him and allowing their weapons to clash and spark as the polished steel rubbed against each other. Night tumbled past the stallion, immediately after standing up on all fours and brushing a hoof on the ground a couple of times, gesturing his imminent attack. But, instead of attacking, he waited for the Governor to lunge, jumping out of the way as he did and catching him mid air with a clothesline punch which flipped him backwards. The stallion lay stunned on the ground, his dagger sliding a few feet further and coming to a rest by some broken glass and light debris of cobble. "Is that all?" Night smirked. The Governor slowly stood, stumbling once and relocating his jaw with his hooves. "You think you can mock me and get away with no further injury? You are very much mistaken, Night Shadow, if that's even your real name," he stopped and panted softly. "From what I know about you, your real name is Bloodvein, which is by far a better name. What ever gave you the idea of renaming yourself?" "Reasons somepony like you wouldn't understand." "Ah, but your father did not like your sudden change either. He wanted to skin you alive for your decisions to leave and become a royal guard hundreds of miles from home." Night's eyes opened wide, and his ears lowered a little. "How ... how do you know all of that?" "Oh, please, Blood. You think I didn't have eyes on you from the start? A pony like yourself, coming up in my colony is considered a threat to our safety. For all we both know, your real parents might be elsewhere, or dead. You are not a bat pony." Night took the hits of his words, but perked his ears and glared coldly. "Yes I am." The Governor chuckled. "Then tell me, who are you?" Night narrowed his eyes on the navy blue bat pony. "I am Night Shadow, and I am more of a bat pony than you will ever be." As he finished, Night galloped towards the Governor angrily, letting out an angered cry as he did. The Governor smirked, grabbing Night once again by the neck and tossing him upwards and leaping after him. Night flew high upwards, higher than before. As the Governor swooped up, Night flipped around, grabbing the Governor by the neck and slamming his hooves into both sides of his jaw one by one. The blue bat pony was surprised once again by Night's attack, and struggled to fight back. Both exchanged punches, each taking hits to their eye, Night taking the worst of it and receiving a black eye shortly after. "You...idiot..." The Governor hissed, weakened by the hits. "You...cannot...stop us!" "Yes...I can!" Night grabbed the stallion's wing and yanking it out, before snapping it in a direction it is not meant to go, then his neck again and swings him around as fast as he could, before moving upwards, and then down at high speeds. A moment after, Night pushed down on the Governor, both rapidly approaching the ground. "Graaaah!" The street exploded into dust and flying rocks from the impact of the two ponies. Windows shattered on both sides of the street, and glass flew everywhere with the debris. Minutes later, the dust cleared, and a large impact crater had consumed the one created when Night hit the ground, with the debris of broken cobble laying all over. Night stood a few feet away, half covered in light grey dust and tiny rocks, staring coldly down at the dark blue bat pony, who laid motionless on the ground. He growled, then stomped with one hoof. The Governor woke up, his pupils shrunk to pinpricks with small tears sitting in his eyes. "I-I..." He stuttered. "H-...h-how..." "I told you, Governor, or whatever your name is ... I am a guard. I told you, you could not beat me, even with degrading words. As I said before, pain does not hurt me, mental or physical. And I will not say this again, I am more of a bat pony than you will ever be."