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// 14 We're ready, you green-skinned bastards! 
// Story: The War in Equestria. 
// by BluesyTreble 
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  Two days of rest followed the funeral, to give the residents ample time for grieving. Ralf took the time to further acquaint himself with the ponies. He now shared Applebloom's room, much to the small filly's dismay and annoyance. Thankfully they stayed out of each other's way as often as possible. Terence, with his armour pieces and equipment, had the more spacious guest room to himself. He spent the second day shooting with the new sheaf of arrows the blacksmiths had given him. Meanwhile able colts and stallions spent the day pulling on mail and putting on helms and bascinets. Pegasi picked crossbows up, spanning them in mid air and practising on dead logs laid out as targets. Ralf ceased practice in the evening to help out.

Almost immediately after the short break however, a smaller skirmishing band of Orcs had come to harass the defiant town. They brought imps too, grotesque winged , red-skinned child-sized creatures. They resembled Orcs, but were much less bulky and a lot more agile. They darted and swooped through the air, wielding small shortswords that they flicked through the air. The flying bastards sped toward Ponyville, but this time the vigilant inhabitants were prepared. A luminescent green Pegasus spotted the invaders, rang the alarm bell before sliding a hoof into the stirrup of the crossbow and spanning it. He slapped a bolt into the groove and took aim. Several of his peers followed suit. The first imps to reach the city were cut down by a salvo of bolts. The surviving imps screeched a warning to their comrades, who flew in a zig-zag toward the Pegasi.

"It's got me!" Rainbow Dash yelled as an imp tackled her. They struggled in midair. The imp swung his shortsword, the weapon bouncing clumsily off Rainbow's mail. She rammed a hoof into the imp's guts, causing the imp to reel back and double over. Rainbow advanced,snatching the imp's left wing. With all the strength she could muster she swung the imp and smashed the red-skinned bastard into a nearby building. She released the imp and he groggily fell out of the air. Ralf watched, slack-jawed. What fascinated and awed him was all this had happened in midair. Rainbow looked down upon the archer and gave him a smirk that obviously told him to match the feat. The cyan mare was suddenly interrupted by a fledged  spear speeding through her mane, missing the top of her unhelmeted head by mere hairs. All around her the crossbow-pegasi dodged and shoved and shot at the still attacking imps. On the ground the orcs had come into the city once more, and were stopped in their tracks by a two-hundred strong combined unit of Royal stallions-at-arms and militia, led by Terence. They cut down the disorganised orcish advance and routed the main Orcish infantry in just eight minutes. Orc bodies were scattered all around the edge of town. Terence waved off his only casualty, a colt militia with a fractured left forehoof and two snapped ribs. Mare and filly nurses gingerly laid the soldier into a cart and took him off to the doctor's. Rainbow dash sped a bolt toward the spear-thrower, forcing him to duck for cover before swooping down and stabbing him through the chest with her dagger. Ralf joined the Earth Ponies levied into the miltia as crossbowmen, pouring missile upon missile upon the Orc infantry line which had regathered and now charged into the Pony again. This time the pitifully thin Orcish infantry line were mercilessly decimated by both Terence's infantry with the missile troops lending support from the flanks.

The spear-throwers, less tough than the infantry, routed at the sight of the Orcish warriors slaughtered to the last man. They sprinted back into the relative safety of the Everfree forest, with a handful of fatally wounded imps in tow, still pounded by insults and taunts from the victorious Ponies. Ralf had been told that the only casualty sustained was an adolescent militiaman, who escaped death at the price of a few broken bones. Wiping the sweat off his brow and face, he looked proudly at the small assembled army of levy troops and Royal Equestrians. He began to treasure this town, and made a silent vow to fight for it and its inhabitants or very well die trying.