Chapter 12
A Worthless Duel
Following the verdict of the trail, Blue Arrow had been order to lead Shadow back to his cell, only for Shadow suddenly to lay down a duel for Blue Arrow at nightfall in an act of revenge for not supporting him. However, when Blue Arrow thought about it, Shadow seemed like he had gone insane from the verdcit and that Blue Arrow now seemed like the only one who could stop him.
When Blue Arrow did return to his dorm to the shock of his roommates whom were expected him to be deported, he understandably had to endure a barrage of questions about how he managed to survive and not be sent back to Equestria, needless to say that no matter how he told them the whole story including about what happened to Shadow's fate, they still felt sceptical about Blue Arrow's tale.
Even though he had told them all of the events that had happened during the trial, he never though said anything about the night time duel he had to undertake, had he let on about that, Dynamo, Sunstar and Macca would've no doubt gone on to try and help him out to stop Shadow, but this whole situation was simply between Blue Arrow and Shadow…no one else.
For the rest of the day, he sat outside on top of the Red Hooves' HQ and looked out over the city of Coltfast. All around him, the daily routine of life, working, eating and sleeping seem to carry on like normal regardless that they were in the middle of a war. Blue Arrow always admired that of Farachanians, always willing to carry on life as normal as possible regardless of their situation. Looking up at three tall flagpoles that flew the flags of Equestria, Alba and the Red Hoof flag flapping in the breeze at sunset.
One interesting piece of news in recent days was that the Farachan population had adopted the Red Hoof flag as the flag of Farachan due to the fact that for all of Farachan's life, it had never had a national flag. Then again, it also made Blue Arrow bemused at the fact that flying that flag in front of the Alaccans was a sure sign that they wanted to remain under Equestria control.
He paused and looked down at his sword as he pulled it out of its scabbard. "Damn it Shadow," He growled quietly staring at the newly forged sword. "I dinae want it tae come down like this." The thought of the duel seemed to make him feel sick. Though Shadow seemed to now act like a spoiled foal wanting a fight by thinking that he had betrayed him, the sad truth was, Blue Arrow did feel a tinge of guilt that he didn't really stuck up for him.
Yes he had caught him, but should've done something at least to show some support for otherwise he wouldn't in this state…then again who knows how things might had turned out if he done that. Sharing the same fate at Shadow no less. It made him feel like he was only out to protect himself and not others.
After taking a deep breath, he placed on his red helmet, checked to see if his sword was placed back in it's scabbard before flying away from the roof top. The sun had now set below the horizon. As he flew away from the top of the building, Blue Arrow still felt apprehensive about how the duel would end up. He was hopefully that none of them would be killed, though judging Shadow's hatred of Blue Arrow back at the barracks made him think that this wasn't going to be the case. Noticing that he still had some money left in a pocket area in his armor and that he still had some time to kill, he decided to make a brief detour and buy himself something quick to eat for some energy.
He stopped by at a small grocery store and bought himself a bar of chocolate for some energy, a small nagging thought persisted in his mind that his may his last meal in the case if he was killed. Once inside, he came face to face with the store owner, a male green earth pony who looked to be about ten years older than he was.
"Alight then Red Hoof?" The storeowner asked as Blue Arrow grabbed one of the chocolate bars from a shelve.
"Aye fine," Blue Arrow duly replied as he handed over the chocolate bar and the bits to pay with. "Just night patrol."
It was a lie of course, but the storeowner thankfully bought it. "Oh yeah? Where about you headin' too?"
"Up ta' mountains," Blue Arrow answered.
"Yes…hopefully you won't get any Alaccans up there," The green earth pony said cheerfully. "Since that last battle, you sent them all off scared, war will be over soon thanks to you and those Red Hooves, anyway, here's your change."
The blue Pegasus grabbed both his change and the chocolate bar and gave the green pony a farewell before leaving the store. Though the store owner was right about there not being any Alaccans sighted, Blue Arrow did indeed have an enemy of a different type up there in those mountains.
While assessing this thought, he flew away from the store eating his bar of chocolate and headed straight for the mountains that overlooked the city, the mountains of Proelio.
The mountains themselves were nothing sort of spectacular; they completely dominated the landscape of the city. It did look familiar to Canterlot of how it was built into a mountainside, only here was that the city wasn't exactly built into it as it was at near ground level, but that the mountains were part of the city's protection for keeping an eye out on enemy forces from a distance. Blue Arrow had only been up in once during one of his patrols and witnessed some astonishing views from the top, literally all of Farachan could be seen from there.
This time however, this wasn't going to be a day off for him to admire the view or even head out here as part of his patrol, but of a duel that he didn't want to do. As Celestia lowered the Sun and raised the Moon, Blue Arrow felt his stomach tie itself in knots as he flew closer to the mountain as somewhere in those mountains was were Blue Arrow's rival was awaiting him. Now, there was no turning back.
XXX
The journey itself was surprisingly quite long as by the time he flew near to the top, it was all nearly pitch black up there and the only things that illuminated the landscape was the bright full moon and the lights in the city or Coltfast below.
Soon after he gently touched down on a grassy verge and looked around for any signs of life. He shivered slightly in the midnight air, the temperature on top of the mountain was certainly much colder than down below in the city.
"Shadow! I'm here for ye!" Blue Arrow called out loudly hoping that his opponent would appear.
All he got was silence from the surrounding rocky outcrops around him. He kept turning round trying to catch a glimpse of anyone about these hills. A cold sweat went down Blue Arrow's back as he gingerly pulled out his sword fearing for a sudden ambush attack from Shadow.
His eyes kept glancing round, his grip on his sword tightened, something on his mind was telling him that this was going to be his most toughest battle yet, never mind the battles against the Alaccans, they were foals play compared to battling a Red Hoof in a duel.
"So you finally brought your sorry ass up here then," said a familiar tough Manehatten accent that Blue Arrow only knew too well who it could be.
He spun round looking around from where that voice came from. Looking up, hovering bi-pedal style and dressed in red armor was his rival and opponent… Shadow. Even though it was nearly impossible to see him in the dark, Blue Arrow could see Shadow's dark blue eyes seemed to burn with anger in them and could quite easily lit up the site.
"Had to give myself a wash before comin' up 'ere," Blue Arrow said sarcastically as Shadow lowered himself to the ground.
"Stupid answer," Shadow replied coldly as he pulled out his sword. "Let's see if your fighting is better than your damn jokes."
And without given Blue Arrow the time to reply, Shadow suddenly lunged forward knocking Blue Arrow back some feet away tumbling backwards before he quickly regained himself landing back on his hooves still gripping his sword. He quickly looked up and saw Shadow charging down on him again, but this time, Blue Arrow dodged him and got out of the way.
"That's the best you can do?" Shadow taunted Blue Arrow as he hovered in the air following Blue Arrow's move.
"Nope," Blue Arrow replied as he started hovering similar to his rival. "I was only just wakin' up."
And with that, Shadow lunged forward yet again as both his and Blue Arrow's sword clashed with one another. The sound of metal clashing almost every second could be heard in the mountain range and the fighting itself was so intense between the two Red Hooves that sparks were flying from their swords.
Blue Arrow was playing defensive, as he didn't want to harm Shadow, complete contrast to Shadow who seemed to want Blue Arrow dead by constantly striking his sword down on the older Red Hoof. Then suddenly, Blue Arrow kicked Shadow back using his hind legs causing Shadow to fall out of the air and hit the rocky ground.
Blue Arrow didn't decide to fly down and finish off Shadow, his idea was to try and tire out Shadow to point of surrender, and there he would hope the battle wouldn't end in such bloodshed. The blue Pegasus hovered in the air bi-pedal style staring down at Shadow as he pulled himself back up on his hooves before dusting himself off.
"Look Shadow, I don't want tae dae this!" Blue Arrow exclaimed. "Can ye no' accept ya fate?"
"Really? Accept my fate just like that?!" Shadow snapped back as he started hovering some feet away from Blue Arrow. "During the trial you could've helped me!"
"The hell you talkin' about?" Blue Arrow asked with a skeptical look. "Ye had already broken Celestia knows how many rules just tae get out here!"
"I wanted to be part of it!" Shadow yelled, causing Blue Arrow to be silent. "Don't you get it? Think about us guys about my age still be trained up? What if by the time I had reach eighteen and had been training since then only to discover that the war was over and there was no need for my type and all our efforts would be all for nothing! Sometimes, even if it's illegal to do so, you have to take matters into your own hooves."
Silence hung in the air, as Blue Arrow remained speechless by that speech. Shadow may have been crazy by this point, but the blue stallion did have to admit that he felt quite bad for leaving the younger Red Hooves finishing the war without them. However, it was those words that Shadow has said that really made him think.
Sometimes, even if it's illegal to do so, you have to take matters into your own hooves
Now when he thought about it, Shadow was only doing what he thought was right, fighting for his country despite his age and the situation he had gotten himself in to. "Look, lad…" Blue Arrow uttered as he lowered his head sadly. "We don't need tae fight, let's just put this behind us and head back tae HQ."
"WRONG ANSWER!" Roared Shadow as he abruptly stormed through the air towards Blue Arrow with his sword held high.
"Buck!" Blue Arrow cursed as he found himself raising his own sword preparing to defend himself from the oncoming Red Hoof troop. From what looked like a moment when Blue Arrow thought would give in, Shadow had gone on the attack again, now it seemed like fighting was the only way to stop the crazed Red Hoof solider.
Like Shadow, Blue Arrow found himself flying through the air onwards to Shadow preparing to make contact with their blades. With a second 'till impact, Blue Arrow shut his eyes and braced for contact. He felt his weapon smashing against his rival's blade, but it was hit at such force that Blue Arrow felt a surge of pain up from his fore hoof.
He backed away from Shadow growling in pain while holding his injured forehoof close to him and dropping his sword to the ground. And when he glanced down at his sword, he was stunned to see that because of the impact with the two blades, half of the sword had snapped in two rendering it useless, but that wasn't all. Looking up at Shadow, he could see that Shadow's blade had also snapped and was holding his own forehoof close to him similarly to Blue Arrow.
Shadow moaned in pain while casting a deadly stare at Blue Arrow, but this time, it was Blue Arrow who looked the more angered. In what seemed like a flared up moment of madness for Blue Arrow, he found himself lunging forward at Shadow, this time, in furious hoof fight. Shadow quickly joined in and the two stallions were laying blows to one another in the air, both knocking their helmets off in the process.
Shadow served up a punch to the face of Blue Arrow causing some blood to be spat out of the blue stallion's mouth, before Blue Arrow laid one punch of his own on Shadow's stomach. As Shadow's defensive stanch went down after that punch, Blue Arrow saw his chance and began forcing Shadow to the ground in a attempt to crash him down on his back.
A sickening crack of bones snapping could be heard as Shadow felt his back break on impact. "You bastard!" He yelled in pain as he gave Blue Arrow a huge blow to the jaw knocking him backwards and onto his back. Even with his back broken, Shadow wasn't that easy to stop, his mind on a blind fury as he pulled himself up and starting attacking Blue Arrow, while just getting himself up, and started pinning him down and beating the blue stallion to pulp...and to death.
Blue Arrow was now losing the battle and couldn't find the strength to stop this from happening, it seemed like only Celestia suddenly appearing was the only way to stop the rampaging black stallion.
"No!" Blue Arrow suddenly thought as his now bruised and battered eyes shot open. "I can't let this damn idiot win like this! I want…to win, the war, the love of the people, respect and this damn bucking duel!"
Blue Arrow let out a major roar and kicked Shadow off with his hind legs. Blue Arrow staggered himself up and winced in pain from his bloody and bruised face. He saw Shadow pulling himself up again, and this time, Blue Arrow decided to finish this for good.
He quickly flew over to Shadow, grappled him by the neck and threw him down near the edge of a cliff. Blue Arrow didn't know how deep the cliff was, he didn't care, he just wanted to stop Shadow from causing any more damage between them.
Now it was Blue Arrow's turn to pin Shadow down as he began laying punches across Shadow's face. "Stop it! Stop it this damn duel, give up!" The blue stallion repeated again and again in the hope Shadow would finally give in. Even as he was beating Shadow to the point of hopeful Surrender, he felt a great deal of regret doing this, it was know the way for Red Hooves to behave, had Celestia seen this, who knows how things would've turned out for them.
Then without warning, Blue Arrow found himself pushed off the top of Shadow and now found himself closer to the edge of the cliff.
"Ye never give up, dae ye!" Blue Arrow remarked loudly, then Shadow leapt forward on top of Blue Arrow, but the blue stallion was not going to give in so easily.
Just as Shadow was about to pin down Blue Arrow once more, the Albian stallion used his hind legs and pushed Shadow forward away from him and off the cliff. Blue Arrow expected at least Shadow flying back up again…but he never came back. Instead there were several thuds to be heard and an equal amount of yells of pain from Shadow.
Blue Arrow slowly turned round to see what had happened and was stunned to see Shadow tumbling down the mountainside until his body came to a stop on a flat grassy verge. He then realized that when Shadow's back had broke it must've broke the bones in his wings resulting him to lose his flight and resulting him to end up crashing to the bottom.
More a few brief anxious moments, Shadow didn't move and Blue Arrow had a horrible thought that he might've killed him. "For Celestia's sake don't be dead now!" Blue Arrow whispered to himself as he felt sweat come down his face in fear for what he possibly had done.
Then incredibly, Shadow's body started twitching, he was alive! The black stallion slowly got up, he body staggering in pain. Surely Shadow couldn't be asking for more fighting? For a moment, Shadow turned to try and fly back up again, but his wings were now useless and he suddenly collapsed in pain once more.
Blue Arrow sighed sadly as he could only watch Shadow struggle to get himself up again while baring his teeth. Then, the black stallion looked up at Blue Arrow with a grudge filled face before finally turning round and leaving the blue stallion behind. He had given up! At this point, Blue Arrow should've been celebrating that he had come out on top, but he hated that fact that it had to come down to this, he really didn't want to use all of his strength on another comrade, especially on a person he could once call a friend.
For a moment, he was torn at the thought if he should help Shadow back to the base or not, but quickly decided not to incase he flew down only for the fight to spark off again.
"Oh Peppercorn Tornado," Blue Arrow muttered to himself the real name of his rival. "Ye didn't have tae dae this…I'm sorry." Then he fell on his back exhausted by the pain from the brutal fight. All he could do was look up at the moon and wonder what the future would hold for Peppercorn Tornado….