One Last Chance

by thunderhawk7865

The Line of Duty

Chapter 4: The Line of Duty

"Celestia above..." Dynamo muttered as he landed next to Blue Arrow, whose head was hung low in despair.

More gasps and exclamations followed Dynamo's as the Hooves from Ponyville and Manehatten landed on the outskirts of Canterlot. Half of them couldn't believe the shape Canterlot was in, let alone the damage that had been done. What surprised them the most is the civilians lining up in the fields to their right in front of the main gate, drawing out the enemy and engaging them in combat.

"Bloody hell..." Blue Arrow whispered. "Celestia help us all..." He gazed up at the pillars of smoke rising from the Equestrian capital.

"We should assist, commander!" Sunstar said, extending his wings.

"No, wait!" Dynamo stopped Sunstar from flying up. "They already have their aerial support!"

"He's right." Shadow said, walking forward and pointing a hoof up at the sky. A group of Pegasai, made of up Royal Guards, civilian volunteers, and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were flying overhead at an incredibly fast rate. Leading the charge was a blue civilian Pegasai with a brown mane and tail with a bass clef as a cutie mark.

"Why the hay is a bloody civilian leading the charge?" Blue Arrow thought out loud.

"I don't know sir." Sunstar said, watching as the stallion engaged a group of small dragons in a fight and actually prevailing against one. "But he's good."

"I know who he is, sir!" The rookie Papyrus pushed forward through the Hoof units. "That's Ace, the new DJ! He played at the club that night!"

"That's Ace?" Blue Arrow looked up, watching Ace kick a dragon in the jaw and send it spiraling down. "What an amateur... Look at the way he fights."

"I'm given to understand he's leading the charge as well..." Dynamo curtly nodded, observing the Pegasai.

There started to be murmurings within the Hoof crowd, most of them about Ace and if he, a musician, was really fit to lead a rescue mission of their capital.

"Regardless of who he is, Blue Arrow..." Shadow walked up beside him. "We need to act now. While the singer and his units keeps the aerial enemies distracted, we can flank them by sneaking into the city..."

"Good plan, Shadow..." Blue Arrow nodded, not looking at his rival. "We can meet up with any fighters in the city and lend a hoof wherever we can."

"Sir!" A Red Hoof officer ran up from behind them. "Oh! My apologies! Sirs." He gave a quick salute before continuing. "My platoon and I did some scouting around and we've assesed the situation."

"Carry on, officer." Shadow said, earning a glare from Blue Arrow.

"The captain that came to Ponyville after this attack is coordinating the ground forces and a unicorn unit that entered the city with the ground-based elements of harmony in stealth mode. There is a very good chance that these ponies could be caught, sir." The officer said.

"We need to assist them!" Shadow turned to Blue Arrow, who nodded.

"Aye, lad!" Blue Arrow barked, looking towards the city. "Let's you and I go into the city and find them, then send for the rest of the Hooves."

Shadow cocked an eye, surprised that Blue Arrow had made such an offer of teamwork.

"Sir!" Dynamo ran forward and up to his commander. "Are you that's a good idea? I mean, that dragon..." He gestured up at the resting dragon on top of the castle. "Could attack at any moment."

"I hope it does..." Blue Arrow smirked. "There's a lot of honor in fighting a dragon, let alone killing it."

Shadow frowned slightly. "Not before I take it, old man."

Blue Arrow quickly glanced angrily at his rival, who sneered. "Are we really going back to this, lad?"

Shadow exhaled and relaxed, turning and gazing out at the town. "You're right, Arrow... But I agree with Dynamo now. We all need to go in, but we'll spread out. Blue Arrow and I will take the main street and scout it out. Dynamo, take my Hooves and flank left. Sunstar, take your Hooves and flank right."

"Good idea, Shadow." Blue Arrow agreed just as Blue Arrow's senior officers were about to protest about somepony else giving them orders. "YOU HEARD HIM, LADS! HOP TO IT!"

"SIR, YES SIR!" All the Hooves roared back in fashion before the large group of Hooves started moving, low, along the ground, towards the city, as to not draw unnecessary attention.

---

Blue Arrow and Shadow were alone in the cobblestoned main street of Canterlot, the enemies all drawn out to the Earth ponies or the flying Pegasai led by Ace. Their hoof clops echoed around the eerily empty streets as the trotted along, frowning in sadness whenever they came across a burned out house or a dead aristocrat.

"Never even made it out..." Shadow shook his head before putting a hoof down and closing the eyes of an impaled stallion. "It pains me to see this..."

"Aye..." Blue Arrow said, pushing aside some charred rubble and looking inside a house. "Such is the sacrifice of war..."

"Being?" Shadow looked over at his rival.

"The one point you've been missing all these bonny years ye've been holdin' this grudge, lad..." Blue Arrow narrowed his eyes. "Ye' can't save them all..."

Shadow was shocked. He had never heard this kind of wisdom from his rival before. "Guess you're right, old man..." He continued down the street as Blue Arrow caught up.

"Ye're damn right I am..." The grizzled commander said to Shadow. "Never forget that..."

Suddenly, there sounded a roar from their right flank. Sunstar was heard shouting out in surprise and yelling an order to attack. There was the screaming a Red Hoof private and a sickening crunch.

"Buck..." Shadow drew his sword. Blue Arrow followed suit and galloped over to the source of the noise.

What they behold made Shadow grit his teeth in disgust.

"RETREAT!" Sunstar roared, flying overhead his troops. "RETREAT!" They were being routed by a moderately sized dragon, about half the size of the big one on top of the castle, down the street. In his mouth was the body of a dead Red Hoof, the one who screamed. He flung the crippled body into the ruins of a house, causing the whole thing to come crashing down. The dragon followed up with a mighty, earth-shattering roar.

"We'll cover ye', Sunstar!" Blue Arrow yelled, charging towards the dragon. "Join up with the left flank and we'll meet ye' there!"

"Yessir!" Sunstar said, routing the troops away from the dragon.

Shadow charged closely behind Blue Arrow. They both let out their battle cries as the dragon lumbered down the street towards the unlikely duo.

"Flank left Shadow!" Blue Arrow barked as he flanked right.

Shadow nodded and did as told.

However, the dragon swiped at Shadow as he tried to flank. Shadow cleared the claw of the dragon and landed on the dragon's back, plunging his sword into the dragon's back.

The dragon roared in pain and tried to fling Shadow off, but Shadow held on to the hilt of the sword, being swung around fiercely.

"Hang on, lad!" Blue Arrow sliced at one of the feet of the dragon, after avoiding a stomp from it.

"Not! Funny! Whoa!" Shadow growled as he was flung around.

"Not a joke, lad!" Blue Arrow took to the air and sliced at the wing of the dragon, making it so it couldn't take off. "Though I'll admit, it was funny!"

"I'm serious, old ma-WHOA!" Shadow was finally flung off along with his sword. He hit the ground hard, and a crack was heard. Shadow screamed in pain and looked over at his wing while Blue Arrow landed in front of him, sword at the ready.

"Broken wing, lad?" Blue Arrow growled.

"No cud!" Shadow swore through gritted teeth, recovering his sword and standing at the ready.

"Don't use that language at me, lad!" Blue Arrow snarled. "Here he comes!"

Both stallions readied themselves as the dragon charged towards them again, this time unleashing a torrent of flames from it's mouth. Blue Arrow took off and avoided the attack, but Shadow didn't have that luxury. He dove behind a piece of rubble that had broken off from a house and covered his head and closing his eyes as the flames rushed around him.

"Hang on!" Blue Arrow shouted through the flames, swooping down and grabbing the cripple stallion in with his front two hooves.

They landed just outside the radius of the flames, and, once on the ground, both stallion whirled around and charged together.

Blue Arrow grunted as the dragon swatted him aside as he leaped up to attack, slamming him into some rubble.

Shadow, on the other hand, used this opportunity to slide underneath the dragon and slice his sword along the underbelly of the dragon, causing some of it's armored protective scales to fall off, leaving it's underbelly exposed.

"Yes!" Shadow barked as he slid out from the under the dragon from the rear.

However, this time he wasn't so lucky.

The dragon knew he was there after he had exposed the dragon's weak point and, knowing Shadow was coming out from under him from behind, slammed his spiked tail down on top of the Manehattenite commander.

"NOOOOOO!" Blue Arrow roared as he scrambled to his hooves.

His tail rose up, and Shadow was still alive, but barely, screaming in pain from the spikes impaling him.

Before Blue Arrow could fly to Shadow's rescue, the dragon added insult to injury, so to speak, using his tail once again to swat the already crippled Shadow away in Blue Arrow's direction.

The critically injured Hoof skidded to a halt right in front of Blue Arrow, blood drizzling from his mouth, ears, and nostrils, indicating extreme internal bleeding.

"Shadow!" Blue Arrow dropped his sword and knelt down on his hind legs, lifting up Shadow's head. "Shadow, lad! Can ye' move?"

"N-no..." He grumbled painfully. "I th-think m-most of...of my bones...were shattered...when that...damn...tail came...d-down..."

"Ye'll live, lad!" Blue Arrow looked up at the dragon, who seemed to be smirking at the grizzled commander. The dragon roared and readied for another attack, as if taunting the still standing Hoof. "I'll finish this, mate! Don't you dare die on me, ye' hear?"

"Not making...any...p-promises..." Blue Arrow dragged Shadow over to a piece of rubble and leaned his up against it. "Listen...to-to me, Arrow..." Shadow coughed before continuing. "I-I exposed his underbelly...finish him there..." Blue Arrow nodded, then stood up.

Blue Arrow then picked up Shadow's sword in one hoof and drew his own with another. He feigned a fighting stance as he took off and levitated above the ground.

"Let's dance, ye' bloody overgrown lizard!"

The dragon roared in response and the two combatants charged at each other. As Blue Arrow bolted through the air, time seemed to go by in slow motion. His fell on the exposed underbelly of the dragon, and then he looked up and saw a torrent of flame rushing at him.

Thinking quickly, he flanked to the right, narrowly dodging the barrage of firey death, only tpo be met by a claw from the dragon. Blue Arrow quickly slammed the hilt of his sword into the claw to slam it to the side, allowing him to get up close and personal to the dragon. Roaring, he hurled his sword at the dragon's eye.

The dragon roared in pain as the sword went in, the beast lifting up a claw at his face to try and pull it out. Blue Arrow used this time to dive down towards the ground, land, and using his velocity from flying, to slide underneath the dragon just as Shadow had done.

Roaring, Blue Arrow stuck Shadow's sword upwards, cutting deep into the dragon's underbelly as he slid. Blood exploded around the cut as Blue Arrow slid underneath the dragon. The dragon roared, stopped struggling to remove the sword, and then began to collapse. Blue Arrow came out of the slide and bolted out from underneath the dying dragon as it fell.

He barely made it.

The dragon toppled to the ground behind him, dead in a pool of it's own blood.

Blue Arrow sighed in relief and spit on the dragon's corpse as he pulled his sword out of the dead dragon's eye socket. "That's for Shadow and Celestia, cud for brains..." He ran over to Shadow, who did not look good at all.

"Shadow, lad..." He sheathed his sword and dropped Shadow's, kneeling down again, holding up Shadow's head. Shadow's gritted his teeth in pain as he struggled to get a view of the dead beast.

"Good...cough...good job, commander..." Shadow managed through his dying breaths. "Glad...I could see you take that...motherbucker down..."

"You'll live to see more, lad!" Blue Arrow leaned down and tried to pick him up, and Shadow just growled and arched his broken back in pain. "Celestia above, mate! Didja break everything?"

"I..." Shadow looked down at his bottom right leg, that had a bone sticking out of it. "I think so..."

The two sat in silence for a moment, a pool of blood slowly forming around Shadow as he sat there, dying.

Blue Arrow sighed and finally said, "I'm sorry, lad." He sniffed. "That's there's nothing I can do fer' ye'."

"And I'm sorry, Blue Arrow..." Shadow managed agin through his coughing. "For...for thinking of myself first...and our stupid rivalry we had..." He paused and coughed some more, leaning back. "And not of Equestria..." He looked up at the sun as it slowly started to get covered by storm clouds. "I...I can die knowing I did...did the right thing..."

Blue Arrow blinked away a single tear and smiled. "Celestia would be proud, Shadow. In fact, she'll know when we rescue her."

Shadow looked up at Blue Arrow with a doubtful look on his face.

Blue Arrow crossed a hoof over his chest guard and nodded. "I swear it. Hooves honor."

Shadow smiled slightly and leaned his head back against the piece of rubble. "Glad we knew each other...old...man..."

Shadow's head tilted off to the side. He was dead.

Blue Arrow wiped away a second tear that had fallen out of his left eye. "Aye...lad." He reached over and used his hooves to close both of Shadow's eyes before lifting his corpse up on his back. "And ye' as well..."

---

Back at the back entrance to the city, the routed Red Hoof troops rallied outside the wall. Sunstar and Dynamo watched intently down the street, as if looking for some sign that Blue Arrow and Shadow were still kicking.

"They could be dead..." Sunstar said sadly. "That dragon was one of the biggest I've ever seen..."

"What about..." Dynamo dryly pointed a hoof up at the castle roof. "That one?"

"Shut the buck up, Dynamo." Sunstar rolled his eyes. "Sometimes your know-it-all attitude can get on my nerves."

"So it would seem..." Dynamo scoffed as he turned his attention back to the city.

"I SEE THEM!" Papyrus, who was ontop of the wall, pointed outwards.

Everypony looked, and a lone figure flying low over the rooftops could be seen advancing towards them.

"It's Commander Arrow!" Dynamo gasped.

"Where's Shadow?" A Manehattenite Hoof questioned.

"I have a feeling you won't like the answer, kid..." Flying Sunstar muttered as Blue Arrow landed.

A wave of silence washed over the Hoof ranks as Blue Arrow looked around at all the assembled Hooves. He gently let Shadow's corpse slide off of his back and onto the ground.

"He died..." Blue Arrow said, loud enough for everypony to hear. "Fighting that dragon you all ran from!"

Still silence, out of respect for the fallen and fear of Blue Arrow's command.

"He died so that I could live another day..." Blue Arrow gestured at himself. "He died saving you, he died saving the city, he died saving the Princesses, and he died for EQUESTRIA!"

Silence still.

"Like a true Red Hoof would..." Blue Arrow gulped, his heart still heavy with emotion. "And now, we're not gonna let his sacrifice...or that private that got torn to shreds back there...be in vain!"

No silence this time. Cheers erupted from the Hoof ranks as Blue Arrow rose his hoof in the air. "Who are we?" He shouted.

"THE RED HOOVES!"

"WHO ARE WE!?"

"THE RED HOOVES!"

---

The unicorns and the ground-based Elements moved silently through the abandoned streets of Canterlot, cloaked by Skully's and the others' magic.

DJ Skully held up a hoof and the group stopped. A lone blue Pegasus with red hooves and a red and white mane and tail was walking down the street. He had on some cruddy looking leather armor. His cutie mark was a Red Hoof.

"Celestia above..." a unicorn Guard muttered. "It's Blue Arrow..."

"Blue Arrow!" Pinkie Pie bounced. "Oh oh! The war hero?"

AJ grabbed her hoof and pulled her down and hissed, "SHHH!"

"That's him alright..." DJ Skully muttered through his mask. "Good he survived...wait...what?"

More Pegasai joined him in the street, emerging from alleyways and burned out ruins as he walked towards the group. Blue Arrow, flanked by a yellow one, a brown one, and a younger looking red one, stopped in front of the group and blew part of his mane out of his eyes. "Get the elements up to the castle, lads. Allow the Red Hooves of Celestia to assist in this fight..."

With a furious roar, the whole battalion of Red-cutie marked stallions took off and rocketed out to the battlefield.

---

As Blue Arrow and the elite fighters of Celestia flanked the enemy and gave Dan and his forces the edge they needed, it began to rain, lightning flashing through the air.

On a hill outside the back walls of Canterlot, there was crude burial mound of dirt and rocks that to this day has since been turned into a memorial. A statue of the Red Hoof commander Shadow now stands proudly outside Canterlot for all citizens and visitors to see. As a reminder to everypony who Equestria's true defenders are and still are today. As a reminder to everypony that the Red Hooves were there to help defeat Discord and drive back his armies.

As a reminder that the Red Hooves will always be there to answer the call of duty.