Chapter 3: A New Purpose
"I just can't believe it..." Blue Arrow said, pacing his office in the compound, with Dynamo and Flying Sunstar standing at attention in front of his desk. "Canterlot... Under attack by Discord, and all the Red Hooves there, the elite of the elite, Celestia's own bloody protectors!" He slammed a hoof down on his table and shook his head, "Dead..."
Dynamo and Sunstar exchanged looked before Dynamo gulped and said, "Perhaps the guard was exaggerating sir. Maybe his injury is giving him some kind of hallucination."
"I know Sixer, Dynamo." Blue Arrow growled, turning and looking out his window at the smoke rising from Canterlot. "He's not lyin'. He's an honest pony through and through."
"Then...then what do we do, sir?" Sunstar asked, stepping forward slightly.
Blue Arrow turned and was about to speak when suddenly, the rookie Papyrus burst through the door. "Commander!"
Blue Arrow gasped and leaned on the table, putting a hoof on his chest. "Bloody hay, mate! You almost gave me a bonny heart attack, rookie!"
Papyrus squeezed through Dynamo and Sunstar before saluting and saying, "Sorry sir, but I have news! The Elements of Harmony and Sixer have gathered together a small volunteer army of soldiers from the 2nd Ponyville Division and civilian volunteers of all three kinds of pony to stage a rescue slash take-back mission at Canterlot!"
Blue Arrow was silent. He slowly turned towards his window and again and said quietly, "Civilians?"
Papyrus nodded furiously, "Yessir!"
All three Red Hooves watched their commander silently staring out the window for what seemed like an eternity, before the commander turned around, a stern, even more serious look on his face.
"Dynamo. Sunstar." He said.
"Yessir?" Both stallions responded.
"Call the Hooves to the assembly hall. Now."
"Yessir!"
After a short number of minutes, the Ponyville Division of Red Hooves were all assembled in the compound's spacious briefing room. In the briefing room was a map of the known Equestria on the wall, and a podium in which Blue Arrow was standing on his hind legs at. Flanking him were Flying Sunstar and Dynamo. Papyrus was down with the raffle, being a rookie and all.
"Genlecolts." Blue Arrow spoke to the crowd of Red Hoof soldiers. "I know that life has been very slow around here, but that does not change our task. To protect the citizens of Equestria, no matter what."
He took a moment to gaze around the room. He saw rookies screwing around here and there, having their own conversations, but mostly they were paying attention, as Blue Arrow hadn't called an assembly for some time.
"Canterlot has fallen, lads." he said sternly. "And the Red Hooves there are dead."
Then there was silence. The colts who were screwing around now gave their attention to their commander.
"No doubt other Red Hoof divisions across Equestria are rushing to Canterlot in response to Discord." Blue Arrow continued over the gasps of shock that it was Discord that broke out of prison. "So, now we must go as well and prove to Equestria that we still remain defenders of their fair nation."
"Against Discord?" A private near the back yelled. "We'll be torn apart!"
"Literally!" Another one agreed.
This sparked off much talking and arguing amongst the Red Hooves. Blue Arrow sighed and shook his head, while Dynamo stepped forward and tried to restore order.
"ORDER!" He barked. "ORDER, RED HOOVES!"
The Red Hooves silent again, shocked at the usual quiet pony's new loud disposition.
"Thank ye', Dynamo." Blue Arrow nodded at the 2nd in Command.
Dynamo nodded and stepped back, and Sunstar smiled and shook his head, in disbelief himself.
"True, we may get torn apart..." Blue Arrow said. "We may get swallowed by dragons! We may even get blown to pieces, but isn't that what all you of you lads signed on for?"
He pointed out at all the colts in the room. "Every one of you stallions signed on to protect Equestria. To protect her citizens. Not to lazy around some bloody compound in scenic Ponyville!"
He stepped out from behind the podium and stood in front of it, a determined look on his face. "True, our main task was done 30 years ago, but have ye' ever wondered why Celestia didn't just bloody disband us?"
There was a murmur of agreement from the troops.
He rose a hoof in the air. "We stayed banded together, Celestia kept training new Red Hooves, and we are still here because of situations like the one in Canterlot!" He paused and roared, raising his hoof even higher into the air. "BY CELESTIA'S WILL, WE WILL NEVER SURRENDER! NO MATTER WHAT THE ODDS!"
A loud cheer of approval erupted from the Red Hooves in the room as Blue Arrow shouted his words of confidence. Papyrus in the back was one of the ponies to jump and hoof-pump the hardest.
"The Elements are on their way to Canterlot as we speak!" Blue Arrow shouted. "And we will be there to help! We will be there to flank the enemy and hit 'um right in the bonny kisser! We are the Red Hooves!"
"WE ARE THE RED HOOVES!" The soldiers roared and cheered in response.
Behind Blue Arrow, Dynamo and Sunstar exchanged happy looks as Blue Arrow issued orders to each group of soldiers and where to go.
"Whatdya think, Dynamo?" The veteren Red Hoof asked.
Dynamo gazed out at the crowd of ponies and smiled. "I think we're back, old friend." he turned his head to look at Sunstar. "Back for good."
Next thing everypony in Ponyville knew, Red Hooves were swarming the skies in all different directions, clad in their customary light-leather armor and bearing all kind of weapons from swords to daggers to maces to battle-axes. They set off in all different kinds of directions towards major cities such as Fillydelphia, Trottingham, and Manehatten to see if the Red Hooves there were mobilizing or even aware of the Canterlot threat.
It was Blue Arrow, Dynamo, and Flying Sunstar that led the group flying towards Manehatten. Their mission was to go rally the Red Hooves there and then regroup with the other groups at Canterlot. Papyrus was in their group too, again towards the back, being just a rookie.
"Sir!" Dynamo flew up beside Blue Arrow as they soared through the air above the Everfree Forest. "The Fillydelphia dispatch reports that the Red Hooves there have already set off for Canterlot."
"The same from Trottingham, sir." Sunstar flew up on the other side.
"Blast..." Blue Arrow looked down off to the side, "I wish they would've bloody waited. It seems attacking in a large group would work better than in our separate divisions."
"Well, commander..." Dynamo swerved around a tree. "Maybe the Manehatten lot haven't left yet and we can group up with them."
"I hope your right, Dynamo." Blue Arrow said, squinting up ahead as the metropolis known as Manehatten came into view.
"Wait a bloody minute..." Blue Arrow squinted a little more as he saw several dots rise from the city and fly up into the sky. Slowly, the dots got bigger and more defined. Eventually, they looked like Pegasai.
"HOOVES!" Blue Arrow roared suddenly so that everypony could hear. "COMPANY HALT!"
The whole detachment of Hooves under Blue Arrow stopped flying and hovered in the air behind Blue Arrow and his senior officers.
"What sir?" Dynamo asked.
"The Manehatten division..." Blue Arrow pointed a hoof ahead towards the rapidly approaching group of Pegasai that was significantly larger than Blue Arrow's Ponyville division.
Sure enough, a similarly clad, larger group of Red Hoof Pegasai were rocketing through the air towards them.
"Cool it, hooves!" A rough and tumble Brooklyn accent barked from the front of the group as they stopped in front of Blue Arrow and his group.
"That voice..." Blue Arrow's eyes widened. "It...it can't be..."
"What are you talking about, Arrow?" Sunstar cocked an eye, looking at him strangely.
"Well, well, well...look at what the ol' cat dragged in..." A black Pegasai with a red tail and mane from the front of the group flew forward, a scowl on his face. "Blue Arrow..."
"Shadow..." Blue Arrow straightened up. "It's been far too long, mate..."
"Don't you call me mate, now!" The black Pegasus shouted. "What are you doing out here, Arrow? This is my town!"
"We're not here to stage a bloody invasion, mate!" Blue Arrow shouted back, scowling. "We were coming to check up on your bonny division, which I had no idea you were now leading..." he leaned over to the side to see Shadow's troops. Their faces were stone-cold with no emotion showing, though Blue Arrow could see the fear in their eyes as they knew about Canterlot and what was happening.
"To go to Canterlot?" Shadow floated forward slightly. "You know?"
Blue Arrow nodded, "Sixer came gravely wounded to Ponyville and warned us... You remember Sixer, don't ya'?"
"Of course I do..." Shadow scowled again. "He's the royal Guard Pegasus who was our supervisor. The same one that declared you the superior soldier to me!"
Papyrus, near the back, winced. "Oh...that's why he's pissed..."
"Ya' think?" Another private scoffed near him.
"That's in the bloody past, Shadow!" Blue Arrow rushed up to the black pony suddenly. "What's important is not the past, but the here and now! And what's happening here and now is threatening Equestria's very existence!"
Shadow pushed the veteran away roughly, a hoof straying to his sword hilt. "Back off, old man."
"Old man?" Blue Arrow scoffed. "Please, you're 2 years younger than me!"
"I swear, I'll cut you open!" Shadow drew his sword.
"Shadow..." Blue Arrow backed away slowly, holding up his hooves. "Put the bonny thing away...and let's join up, and take on Discord together..."
Shadow's eye twitched. "Why? So you can outshine me again?" he shook his head. "I don't think so, man!"
"Shadow..." Blue Arrow frowned. "It's out job as Red Hooves to protect the princess, Equestria, and it's citizens..." he floated forward again. "Have you already forgotten that?"
"I...I..." Shadow sniffed awkwardly, looking around as if trying to find an excuse for his behavior.
"Shadow..." Blue Arrow extended a hoof. "Let's leave our petty rivalry behind, and go save the bloody world."
Blue Arrow's and Shadow's eyes met as Shadow slowly looked up. Shadow gasped. He saw a glint in Blue Arrow's aged eyes that showed that he was sincere. Shadow gulped, and shook his head, exhaling and laughing at the same time. He sheathed his sword and placed his hoof in Blue Arrow's and shook it.
Looking Blue Arrow in the eye, he said, "Truce..."
They released their grips and Shadow turned back towards his troops while saying, "But don't think I like the idea..."
"That'ds what I like to hear, lad!" Blue Arrow laughed victoriously and then turned to face his division of Hooves.
"HOOVES!" Blue Arrow roared. "FALL IN WITH THE MANEHATTEN LOT! WE SET A COURSE FOR CANTERLOT!"
"AND TO VICTORY!" Shadow added in, flying up beside Blue Arrow.
All the Hooves of both divisions cheered, lined up accordingly, and before everypony knew it, the combined group of Hooves was soaring through the sky towards the smoke billowing from Equestria's capital.
"I hope the don't stab each other in the back..." Flying Sunstar muttered.
Dynamo agreed solemnly with a curt nod and a grunt as they flew off.