Farachan

by QTXAdsy

Leaving Home

Chapter 1

Leaving Home

Ten years have passed since Celestia decided to form her secret service and in that time, over two hundred thousand blank flank Pegasus colts had been chosen to be part of this new secret force. Despite this large number, less than half of them would be heading to Farachan. The reason for this was as these young colts were only eight to ten when they were sent away from their homes to be taught under Celestia's wing. Eventually when the time came when they reached the age of eighteen, they were to be sent to Farachan. During the ten years they all spent training with Celestia (as well as commanders chosen by Celestia herself to train them) she had taught them the basics of fighting when they were new, then right up to more advance fight skills in their teenage years. Not only fighting skills were they were taught, but also great knowledge that would be needed in the many battles ahead. In a certain way, Celestia raised them like her own sons and the relationship between her and the many young colts developed into a mother/son relationship with each of them, and the family-like bond they all shared with each other really helped them get along.

And with the ten years up that Ares, the leader of Alacann, had decided to wait, it had shocked Equestria that the people of Alacann had now declared war on Equestria and were boasting that Farachan would be part of the rest of Alacann within two years. And to add more to the shock of it all, Ares had even sent out trained assassins to try and assassinate Celestia to prove their point. Exactly how they could kill a goddess like Celestia was beyond anypony's thoughts, though the population of Alacann weren't ones to take anything for granted, especially with their deadly magic which could potentially do harm to the Princess herself. With all this tension going on, it seemed like the entire fate of Equestria lay in the hooves of these young Pegasus colts.

Of course, it must be said that it was rather difficult for the parents to let their blank flank Pegasus sons head away from wherever they came from to be taught by Celestia for whatever length of time it must've been. Unsurprisingly, many parents were reluctant to the idea of them never seeing their sons again, not to mention keeping secret for what their sons were being part of, but the promise that they would see them again and that they were going to be part of history did help a little bit…only a little bit. When teachers at schools were asked where these colts where by their once fellow students, the teachers had orders to keep the news secret of their whereabouts and had to say that they were heading on a special trip by Celestia and would be away for a long time. Though many years later they would see, along with the rest of Equestria, what these colts had gotten themselves into and what they had become.

Many of them when they first started out were quite skinny and weak and indeed the last sort of pony that anypony would be thinking that'd be suitable for an elite force, but by the time they were either seventeen or eighteen, they were barely recognisable. All of them now look strong, tall and muscular, like the classic solider pony that one would come to expect, but not only that, rather unexpectedly, they also developed a strange cutie mark during those ten years training.

Among the commanding officers with Celestia, there had been a debate for what they should be called, their answer came one day when two young colts suddenly turned up with a red hoof cutie mark on their flanks during one day of training.

It wasn't just a one off.

Soon, the rest began to have the same mark over time and it became know as a mark of absolute loyalty to Celestia and Equestria. They were to be named, 'The Red Hooves of Celestia.'

The name, and the service, was kept secret until many of the now young stallions were ready to head out to war. When the news did come out, the news on it was incredible. The idea of this force was so unlike anypony had seen or heard before and there was suddenly a great burst of confidence from all over Equestria, Alba and especially in Farachan, that they could take on Alacann's might and win. Though despite Equestrians milking the thought that they could do it, the Red Hooves still had to go out and prove themselves.

When the news broke out in Alacann, many of the population were unsure of what to make of this, though they themselves were quietly confident they would crush them whoever they were that the princess had trained for this task. Rather strangely in the mind of the Red Hooves, the average pony would be scared to head to war, but to these highly trained stallions, this was like heading on a long vacation and many were raring to go.

And for one Red Hoof in practically during the course of this war, would become a war hero.

Blue Arrow.

XXX

Born and raised for the early part of his life in Alba, Blue Arrow lived a rather normal life with his parents (a Pegasus stallion and a Unicorn mother) in the Alba's capital city, Maredinburgh, just moving through life like anypony would, despite being teased at school for being a blank flank. His colour was that of a dark blue colt with a red and white mane and tail and dark red eyes and hooves (rather strangely fitting to be a Red Hoof!) Apart from that, there was nothing terribly exciting about his life. Then it would all change when he was only eight years old. Unknown to him and all of Equestria at the time, Celestia's then unnamed secret service had been around for the past 3 years when he was suddenly chosen by a officer from Canterlot to be part of this new force. Like many parents who had to deal with the sudden departure of their sons to become part of this new force, his parents, especially his mother mostly strongly apposed for him to leave them. Alas, he had to leave them to join Celestia.

Once he was part of the soon to be named Red Hooves, he should have felt traumatic about being separated from his parents and friends, but as the years went by with his training and now looking back on his life, all he could only say was that it was a very strange time for him as the best way to describe it was just like a blur on his life.

While losing friends where he came from, during his time with the Red Hooves, he developed new ones in his time, and one in practical in the form of a brown stallion named Dynamo.

Dynamo was a complete contrast to the rugged Blue Arrow; this stallion came from the outskirts of Canterlot and spoke with a posh English like accent, while Blue Arrow had a rough Scottish one. Dynamo had a blue mullet mane (in the style of the times then) and tail and narrow green eyes. He also had a unshaven stubble that he was growing on the lower part of his muzzle and it made him look like a low class sort, rather than a high class sort with his background being with him living near Canterlot. It almost seemed strange that a pony like him was part of this service, however, he wasn't the only one of a unique background there.

There were all sorts of stallions from all over Equestria and Alba. Some came from Alba like Blue Arrow, some spoke like Dynamo and there were even some that spoke with southern accents, just showing how diverse the Red Hooves were for where each of the stallions came from.

Despite the two friends being from two very different backgrounds, Blue Arrow and Dynamo formed a strong friendship with each other for all the time they were training with each other with others. Sadly, there was only one problem. Dynamo was a year older than Blue Arrow and was to be part of the first Red Hooves that were to travel to Farachan; Blue Arrow along with others of his age would follow a year later.

Nonetheless, the Caledonian blue stallion kept training for the best part of a year in preparation for his eventual departure from these shores. It must be said to that despite many Red Hooves already heading over to Farachan, the war itself wouldn't officially begin until the next batch of Red Hooves (those with Blue Arrow) would head over as they would be up to full strength, but those there, including Dynamo, would stand guard over Farachan to make sure no armed forces from the south would turn up and attempt to make a move. Later on, Blue Arrow would find out many stories about what went on there before he turned up...

XXX

Just nearly under a year later, along with many other stallions, Blue Arrow was ready to leave Equestria and head on his way to Farachan. It was during that time when all the Red Hooves were lined up in their dark red armour in the large war room in Canterlot, chatting to each other, that Blue Arrow started to realise of how big this event would be on his life this was going to be.

"The armour's too big for you!" Said a taller green Pegasus stallion to Blue Arrow smirking.

Blue Arrow looked down at his slightly over sized armour, but he just smiled at this fact. "Say's you," chuckled the blue stallion. "That amour's too tight on you!"

"Knock it off Albian!" The green stallion laughed, giving him a little punch on his armour, which the two chuckled at the little piece of banter between them.

Suddenly, there was a chorus of hushes and ponies standing to attention. Blue Arrow peered over the lines of fellow Red Hooves at what was going on, and he saw what was going on, he immediately stood to attention.

Celestia had arrived.

Not a pin drop was heard as the alicorn princess stepped up towards a podium on the make shift stage in the room. She took one gaze looking at the many stallions in the large hall, all of which that she had trained for this moment, all of them looking into blank space in front of them expressionless.

"My dear Red Hooves," Celestia began as she kept looking over the stallions. Instead of using her royal Canterlot voice, she spoke gently to them, making the situation rather gentle. "Today is the day when you shall leave these shores and begin your journey to Farachan. Once you are there you shall rendezvous with the other Red Hooves who landed there last year in Farachan's capital city of Coltfast. Already the Red Hooves there have said that no attacks have been made officially, though I do suspect the forces of Alacann will only attack once you are there."

Though it was hard to read their expressions, deep down, Celestia could feel that even the bravest stallion did have to think about what could happen, especially that she had said 'officially' like that, it was almost a small guessing game to some Red Hooves at what she meant by that. In that large five rows of Red Hooves, Blue Arrow himself felt quite uneasy, all of his training with Celestia had been built up on this point, there was no way back now.

"No matter where you are out there," Celestia continued. "Anything can happen out there. It won't be brute force that the Alacann forces will try and win by, but their magic can cause disastrous consequences for any of you here." She paused for a moment as a royal guard entered the room to join Celestia on the podium. This certain stallion was none other than Sky Rider, one of the few stallions that Celestia had sent out to the four corners of Equestria to find these then young Red Hoof troops years ago.

"Red Hooves," Celestia said to the red warriors. "Some of you will know of Sky Rider, he will be one of the four commanders out there that shall be your leaders through the conflict for however long it maybe."

Oddly, Blue Arrow raised an eyebrow behind his helmet. The once stout grey stallion Pegasus that seemed agile now looked liked he had aged badly in the years he had seen him. "Is she sure he's fit to go out there to lead us?" He thought to himself, though at this point he couldn't say anything.

Celestia looked down at Sky Rider before concluding her speech. "From here, you shall head to docks of Glascolt in Alba, there you shall board the ships that will take you to Coltfast in Farachan…all I can say now my dear Red Hooves, all of Equestria is counting on you to win. So take care…and good luck."

Almost just after she finished, Sky Rider started floating over the Red Hooves barking them their orders. "All right boys, you heard her, follow on!"

And he flew towards the giant doors that were just opening up for them. Soon enough, every Red Hoof followed suit flying towards the door. After standing in a rather dimly lit hall for quite sometime, the light from outside was quite blinding. Blue Arrow had to squint his eyes a bit as he, along with the others, went outside. What happened next was something that he and the rest didn't expect at all.

From all directions around them, crowds of thousands of ponies from Canterlot and maybe even further afield, were on the ground, balconies, rooftops and elsewhere cheering them on as they went flying out of the capital city. The Albian pony could see a giant banner hanging from a balcony in red text saying 'GOOD LUCK! And another from a rooftop saying 'TAKE CARE OF THOSE ALACCAN SCUMBAGS!' Cleary, the relations between Equestria and Alaccan had reached to an all time low, not quite a surprise that the two nations were already at war with each other.

The whole feeling of ponies cheering them on was a whole different ball game than what they were expecting. After many years in training in secret from public eyes, they were all suddenly heroes, and they hadn't even lifted a sword yet for battle. As they flew away from Canterlot, Blue Arrow started to think over why they were suddenly heroes in the eyes of the Equestrian public, maybe it was just that they were a strong force that everypony could rally behind or something that they were stallions that ponies could look up to. Other Red Hooves there flying alongside Blue Arrow may have had different ideas, but for now, getting to Glascolt was their main priority.

From there, their great adventure would begin. But on the ship, Blue Arrow would later meet a fellow Red Hoof who at first would seem like any other troop he'd seen. But one that later on that he would find out something strange about this certain pony…