//------------------------------// // Chasing Shadows // Story: Farachan // by QTXAdsy //------------------------------// Chapter 9 Chasing Shadows A few days had past since Blue Arrow had awoken to find himself in the medical area and hear the news of their humiliating defeat. It was also bad news for him as the bones in his wings had been shattered (with some cracks along his back to add insult to injury.) Thankfully for him, the groups of medical ponies worked tirelessly for his wings to get seen to and for him to ultimately get back to full strength. Though it took slightly longer than what they had said to him before, his wings were finally repaired and he was able to leave the medical room, though was instructed not to be too forceful on his wings as they were not exactly strong, in which the bandage on his lower torso reminded him for that. By the time he was allowed to leave, the New Year had started and although many ponies across the world were probably still getting over the New Year hangover, the Red Hooves still had a job to do to protect Farachan and it's citizens just like with every other day they had been staying on the province state. Despite him being finally out of hospital wing, future encounters with Alaccan was far from being on his mind, what was though was trying to track down a certain stallion from Manehatten. Ever since he couldn't find Shadow's name in those log sheets from a few days ago, his suspicious had gathered momentum right to the point that he didn't even consider returning back to his dorm and reunite with his fellow Red Hooves. "Come on ya bastard where are ye?" Blue Arrow muttered through gritted teeth as he scouted up and down every corridor trying to find the elusive stallion. For the last half hour he couldn't find any trace of Shadow's whereabouts. It was during that moment as he turn around the corner that he suddenly found himself crashing into something or somepony. "Ow! Jeez watch it!" yelled the angry stallion that Blue Arrow had collided into. Blue Arrow rubbed his head and snorted back at the stallion. "Hey! It's no' my fault that—" His speech was abruptly paused when he saw whom it was he had met head on. There before him, was Macca. The grey Pegasus stallion also held a similar look of surprise when he gazed back at Blue Arrow. "Damn it's you!" Macca greeted as he extended his forehoof to shake Blue Arrow's. "Well, great to see you again, where were you heading anyway?" Blue Arrow paused as a he thought about what he was going to say. At first he was going to tell him the truth that he was going to find a fellow Red Hoof troop named Shadow or Tornado Peppercorn and question him. But in what felt like a millisecond, he quickly decided to say something else as he wasn't sure how to explain to Macca about the mysterious stallion. "Erm, I was…well, trying to find my way back to our room, just, got lost here…" It was a terrible delivery that Blue Arrow gave, but strangely, Macca smiled and placed his forehoof on his friend's shoulder. "Ah no worries!" Macca replied cheerfully. "I'll lead back to our room, the guys have been wondering how you've been." Macca soon lead Blue Arrow down the corridor all the way to the dorm. As Macca happily yammered on about the usual goings on, Blue Arrow on the other hoof had his mind elsewhere. He wasn't sure how long it was going to take, but he was going to track down Shadow if it killed him. Right now though, he had to meet up with old friends. XXX The journey from where they were to their dorm didn't take that long as they navigated through the various corridors, while meeting several motley Red Hooves scattered about the building, until they finally found their room. Macca opened the door for his friend to reveal both Dynamo and Sunstar either cleaning or sharpening their weapons. As soon as they saw the return of their fellow comrade, their faces lit up and trotted on over to him to welcome him back. "Ah thank Celestia your back!" Dynamo expressed happily. "Great to see you back, even though you still have that bandage on you," Flying Sunstar added while pointing out Blue Arrow's obvious bandage. Blue Arrow put on a small smile. "Aye, thanks lads. Even though I'm out of there, they say I cannae be too forceful on the wings. Bottom line, I'm not in full fightin' condition." A few groans from the other three followed. "Oh come on!" Macca moaned. "They let you out and yet they tell you not to fight?!" "Hey give him a break!" Sunstar interrupted. "Just be glad he's out and is with us again." The others muttered in agreement. "That's true," Blue Arrow replied with a nod. "They say give 'em a rest for about a week, then I'll be out there kicking ass like a good Red Hoof. I'm just glad that I don't have to eat anymore of that shitty hospital food they give us." The others chuckled at the blue pegasai's remark. Just then, Dynamo's eyes suddenly widen as it looked like from Blue Arrow's point of view that the brown stallion had remembered something. "Oh of course! I nearly forgot to tell you some news for what could be our next battle!" At upon hearing this, Blue Arrow swung round to face Dynamo. "Oh aye? Our next battle ye say? Those bloody idiots in that hospital wing tell us buck all…" Macca and Sunstar stared at their blue friend with surprised looks. "…They…didn't tell you?" Sunstar questioned. "Nothin'" Blue Arrow answered with a disappointed smirk on his lips. "Not a scrap of anything." Dynamo sighed and shook his head. "Good heavens…anyway dear chap, it appears that despite your defeat not long ago, our spies thankfully have cleverly managed to divert the Alaccan forces from what apparently was their main route onwards to Coltfast, right into the Pass of Malum." "The Pass of Malum?" Blue Arrow asked. "Yes," Dynamo nodded. "It is a very rocky and mountainous route that not even pegasus' can fly over it that easily in fear of they causing an avalanche from their wing power, it is that dangerous, so they are force to navigate over by hoof. Also, it seems that our spies have found another army of Alaccans coming over the border to rendezvous with the forces that would be in the pass." "Then what?" Blue Arrow asked raising an eyebrow, the news of yet more of the Alaccans were arriving. A smile appeared on Dynamo's face. "When they are in their together, we come in and give them an ambush of our own on them." "Revenge I see?" Blue Arrow remarked. "Well, it's nice get some payback on them and to stop them from getting through I guess. When will this battle take place then?" "Hopefully in time for when your wings are battle worthy," Sunstar said. "Right now though, this information is totally classified, so much so that not even in the higher ranks of the Equestrian military know about this, only the Princess knows." Blue Arrow stared at them stunned at what he was hearing. Not even the military service knew about what they were about to do? Then again, the Red Hooves were Equestria's secret service after all, so he quickly shook away the thought, then almost immediately, he remembered something from eariler. "Alright then. Excuse me, I…have some things I need to check up on," Blue Arrow stuttered. "I'll be back soon." And he quickly left them without giving them either a chance to reply or even process what he'd said to them. Though really, he was only leaving them as he had only one thing on his mind…Shadow. XXX Blue Arrow quickly left the Red Hooves' HQ and was soon exploring the streets of Coltfast. By this point at this time of the year, the snow that lay all over the country had now started to melt, but with it being the first month of the new year, it was still bitterly cold. Knowing the doubts about his wings, he didn't fly much and instead opted to walk in the streets, looking for any sign of that elusive black stallion. Even though there were few members of the public walking about the city, it didn't make Blue Arrow's mission easier for him with his not seeing any Red Hooves out on patrol. After what seemed like three hours of exploring every avenue of the city, Blue Arrow had found himself exhausted, walking all over the place was something he was not use too being a Pegasus. He had decided to call the whole thing off and began walking dejectedly back to their base, his only hope now was that he wasn't in trouble from his superior's for being out not under their orders. It was just then out of the corner of his eye on the right that he thought he heard the sound of plate armor… Looking up on top of a roof top, he thought he could see for a brief moment a flash of red, his heart started racing as he suddenly thought about what it might be, A Red Hoof troop! Without wasting a moment, he started to fly up gently knowing about his wings' problems. He quickly landed on top of the rooftop, and sure enough, it was a Red Hoof solider, and not just any Red Hoof, Shadow! The black stallion hadn't noticed Blue Arrow and instead was looking over the edge of the building and scanning the streets below. Blue Arrow had finally caught Shadow and now wanted to hear everything about that stallion's whereabouts. "Peppercorn Tornado," Blue Arrow uttered in a low voice, his eyes narrowing at the Red Hoof troop. He half expected Shadow to jump back in surprise at the sudden call of his name, though strangely, there was none of that. Instead, the black stallion paused from what he was doing, still with his back turned away from Blue Arrow, and didn't reply until what was a few long seconds later. "Calling me by my real name?" He replied bemused. "Only that could mean that something's up." His calmness didn't settle well with Blue Arrow as he began to feel uneasy, but quickly shook it off to retort back at him. "Oh ye damn right there that there's somethin' up wi' ye. Why aren't ye no' on the Red Hoof list of who's here?!" Shadow finally turned round slowly to face him, a small smirk clearly visible on his face. "The list, what list?" "Dinnae be tryin' tae get smart on me!" Blue Arrow growled as he started slowly walking up to the Black Pegasus stallion. "When I was stuck in that medical ward, I had a wee look at the list of every Red Hoof that is here out in Farachan, and ye know what surprised me when I was reading through that list? Yer name wasnae in it! Neither yer real name nor nick name ye call yerself, what's goin' on?!" Shadow stared blankly at Blue Arrow at his comrade's little rant. To Blue Arrow, he thought that he had gotten Shadow caught in a corner, and the long silence that followed seemed to make him think that. "Well then," Shadow responded. "All I can say is that I'm surprised to see you would act like that to your savior." Blue Arrow raised a confused eyebrow at Shadow's unexpected reply. "What? What ye on about?" "I saved you from that last battle," Shadow answered coolly. "I saw you fall from the air after you were hit from one of their magic attacks. When you hit the ground, I didn't know if you were even still alive or had just died. Whatever though, I didn't want lose another comrade's body to those bastards, as they were already starting to round up all the dead Red Hoof bodies and started roasting them on a bonfire. Is that how you want to thank me?" Another long stillness followed between the two Red Hooves. Blue Arrow's eyes had widened to the size of dinner plates as Shadow's reply had only just sunk into him. "…You…saved me?" Shadow nodded. "Looking out for others I was." For a moment, it felt like the tables had been turned on Blue Arrow. For a moment he did think about it, and it became slightly obvious that he had considered it was Shadow that saved him, but then he wasn't so sure, only now it had been confirmed that it was true. But then, he remembered why he had gone out to find him in the first place. "Never mind that smart ass!" Blue Arrow snapped. "Tell me why ye no' on the list of Red Hoof troops here?!" Shadow paused as his head glanced sideways in thought. There was only an uncomfortable silence between the two stallions as Shadow's face looked quite fearful. The first time that Blue Arrow had seen the rather cocky stallion in that state. Suddenly, Shadow turned round and bolted off flying away across the city leaving a shocked Blue Arrow behind. He intended to go after him, but he remember that he couldn't go fast with his wings being in a delicate condition so all he could do was watch the black Pegasus fly away into the distance and wonder about Shadow... "This isn't over yet, lad," Blue Arrow muttered to himself. "I'm gonna get to the bottom of this soon…"