Ok, here we go again! Sorry for the long wait, college is now finished and it was crunch time there. But now with it out of the way, I can finally get working on this! So this is where the story really starts from, so let's begin! My god a short AN from me!

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 colt Pegasus had been chosen to be part of this new force. Despite this large number of them, only 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 from their homes to learn under Celestia's wing and would head out when they were eighteen. During the ten years they all spent with Celestia (as well as chosen commanders by Celestia herself) she had taught them the basics of fighting right up to more advance fight skills in their later years. Not only just fighting they were taught, but also great intelligence that would be needed in the many battles ahead. In a certain way, Celestia raised them 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.

And with the ten years up, it had shocked Equestria that the Alacann leader had now declared war and boasted that Farachan would be part of Alacann within two years. And to add more to the shock of it all, the leader 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. It seemed like the fate of Equestria lay in the hooves of these young colts.

Of course, it must be said that it was rather difficult for the parents to let their Pegasus blank flank son's head away simply to be taught by Celestia for whatever length of time it must've been. Many were reluctant to the idea of them never seeing their sons again, not to mention keeping secret for what their son's 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…just. When teachers at schools were asked where these colts where by students, the teachers had orders to keep the news secret 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 Equestria, what these colts had gotten themselves into.

Many of them when they first started out were quite skinny 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 like the classic solider pony that one would come to expect, but not only that, rather unexpectedly, they also developed a cutie mark during those ten years.

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 training.

It wasn't just a one off.

Soon, others began to have the same mark and it became know as a mark of absolute loyalty to Celestia and Equestria. They were then 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 for war. When the news did come out, news on it was incredible. The idea of this force was unlike anypony had seen or heard before and there was suddenly a great burst of confidence from all over Equestria, especially in Farachan, that they could take on Alacann and win. Though despite Equestrians milking the moment, the Red Hooves had to go out and prove themselves.

When the news broke out in Alacann, many were unsure what to make of this, though they themselves were quietly confident they would crush them whoever they were that the princess had here. Rather strangely to Red Hooves, everypony would be scared to head to war, but to them, this was like heading on a long vacation.

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 in the Alba's capital city, Maredinburgh, just moving through life like anypony would, despite being teased at school for being a blank flank. He was a dark blue colt with 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 perhaps all of Equestria, 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.

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 the years went by with his training and now looking back on it, he could only say it was a very strange time for him as the best way to describe it was just like a blur on his life.

While loosing 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 mullet blue mane (in the style of the times then) and tail and narrow green eyes, he also had a unshaven stubble that he was growing and it made him look like a low class sort 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.

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

Despite them 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. 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. It must be said to that despite Red Hooves already heading over to Farachan, the war wouldn't begin until the next batch of Red Hooves 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.

XXX

Just nearly under a year later, along with many other stallions, Blue Arrow was ready to arrive at the province state on the island. It was during when all the Red Hooves were lined up in their dark red armour in the large war room in Canterlot that Blue Arrow started to realise of how big this event on his life was going to be.

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

Blue Arrow looked down at his slightly over sized armour, but he just smiled at this. "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.

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 stepped up towards a podium on the make shift stage. She took one scan looking at the many stallions in the large hall that she had trained all for this moment, all of them looking 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 Saddlefast. Already the Red Hooves there have said that no attacks have been made, 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. 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, there you shall board the ships that will take you to 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, the light from outside. Blue Arrow had to squint his eyes a bit as he along with the others went outside. What happened next was something that he didn't expect.

From all directions, crowds of thousands of ponies from Canterlot and maybe even further afield from on the ground, balconies, rooftops and elsewhere were cheering them on as they were flying out of the capital city. The Alba 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.

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, they were 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. Other Red Hooves there may have had different ideas, but for now, getting to Glascolt was their main priority.

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

There we go for now! Who will be this pony that Blue Arrow will meet? Well I'm not telling you, R&R and keep me motivated to keep this going!