Chapter 6: “The Second Battle of Ponyville”
The War for the Ring...Enters Equestria
Boromir's Point of View
Time After Arrival: 6 hours
Location: Town Hall, Ponyville
I saw the Commander– what was his name? Thunder Mask?– enter the Town Hall, say something the Ponies within, and walk out. He shot over his shoulder to one of the Ponies, “Armor? I need no armor.”
I kind of like this guy, I thought to myself. Then, I remembered my behavior to him and his fellows. I will, of course, deny I ever said this, but I felt ashamed at my attitude and behavior. Maybe I can make this right, I thought, and ran over to the Commander.
“Sir, can I speak to you?” I started.
He turned to me and said, “Well, you just did. But yes, you can speak. What do you want?”
“Sir–”
“Please, call me Thunder Mask. Now, quickly. I have a position to reinforce.”
“Okay, Thunder Mask. I just wanted to apologize for my behavior earlier this afternoon. I was not myself.”
He did not respond for the a long moment, then said, very quietly, “Have you ever been in battle, Boromir?”
I hesitated, then said, “Yes, many times. Our nation, Gondor, borders Morder. As a result, we are constantly fighting raiding Orcs.”
“Then I forgive you. I have seen many battles myself, and I can imagine what it is like to awaken in a strange land with no idea where you are or what is going on. Then, you see an army of the natives marching to the location, and you do not know if they are coming to get you or what...Any soldier would have done the same thing. Maybe even myself.”
I nodded, feeling a sense of relief. “So, is it time to fight these miserable wrenches called Orcs?”
“It is indeed,” he agreed. Together, we ran – or in his case, flew – to the scene of the fighting.
(A minute or two later...)
I ran into the combat, yelling war cries. With one swift move, I pulled my sword from its sheath and ran it through the nearest Orc. Quickly, I pulled it back out just in time to block another Orc from cutting my head off. I dueled quickly with him, slicing open his chest. I whirled around, looking for a new target. I saw the yellow pegasus – Fluttershy is her name? – dueling an Orc. She was having a rough time, so I ran over to try to assist her. When I arrived, I used two crushing blows to beat in the Orc's armor, distracting him so Fluttershy could cut his neck.
“Are you alright?” I asked Fluttershy. She had several small cuts and bruises, but they did not seem to be bothering her.
She nodded.
“Good. Let's keep going!”
I ran with her to the next Orc. This one was taller than the rest, snarling, and carried two wicked battleaxes, dripping with a liquid I could not identify. Poison, I thought. “Don't let him cut you!” I yelled to Fluttershy. With that, I attacked the Orc. He was quite good, making fast attacks and reacting quickly. The axes were heavy enough that I could not afford to parry, else my sword would probably shatter in my hand. Watching his right battleax carefully, I sidestepped as he tried to cut me in half with it. Moving fast, I cut at the handle.
My maneuver worked, but it was not a complete success. The wood was too thick and too hard to simply slice through. Instead, it split part of the wood with a resounding CRACK. The head of the ax remained on.
The Orc smiled at me, then swing with the ax again. With another loud CRACK, the ax head broke off and hit the ground with a thud. It was my turn to smile as the Orc looked dumbly at his useless stick. He looked up just in time to catch the point of my sword with his face.
“Sucker,” I muttered. Moving on, I saw Rainbow Dash and two other soldiers I haven't seen before fighting an entire squadron of Orcs. They seemed to be holding their own, but looked like they needed help.
I joined the fight, slicing and dicing enemy Orcs. Before they could react, five Orcs were down. They rallied quickly, however, and one of the Pony soldiers- an Earth Pony, I believe- went down, a huge cut across his front left leg. I wanted to stop and help the soldier, but there was too many Orcs.
“Help us!” I yelled. Like lightning, five soldiers and Commander Thunder Mask appeared and fought furiously. They formed a perimeter around the fallen soldier and fought hordes of Orcs. I stopped fighting and knelt to care for the fallen warrior.
“Who...who are you?” he asked. I saw he was barely still conscious and losing blood fast.
“I am Boromir,” I responded, looking over the wound. It looked really bad, a cut just above the knee. It was likely, based off of the odd bulge in near his thigh, that the muscle had been severed. “What is your name, soldier?”
“Iron Armor,” he answered. I could barely make out his voice.
“Well, Iron Armor, you need to stay awake. If you fall asleep, I don't know if you will ever wake up.”
“I'll try,” he responded, wincing as if speaking was painful for him.
“Conserve your strength, soldier. You will need it. And do not go dying on me,” I said. With that, I snatched my sword up from the ground and charged the nearest Orc, determined to get vengeance for the pain that Orcs have inflicted on everybody.
Time entered fight speed, that is, very fast-paced and, at the same time, agonizingly slow. Gradually, I noticed that our forces seemed to be retreating. The combat was slowly moving back to a nearby street.
“Commander!” I yelled over the battle.
He dispatched his opponent and turned to look at me.
“We can't let the battle reach the civilians! It will be a massacre!”
He nodded, and yelled something I could not make out to a nearby Unicorn. The Unicorn brought a trumpet to his lips and blew a series of long and short notes.
I was confused by its meaning until I heard a series of war-cries. I quickly scanned the battlefield, looking for the source. I saw a flurry of movement near the streets as what I estimated to be four hundred fresh soldiers joined the battle. They quickly routed the Orcs. Bellowing, I attacked with them. Under the pressure of the new and fresh soldiers, the Orcs slowly started to panic. I watched, amazed. Orcs have never fled the field of battle for years, decades, even. They are violent and ruthless. However, the Orcs were fleeing, running as fast as they could from the fight. Orcs were forcing their way into the library, each one thinking only for themselves.
I stood, in a daze, as Commander Thunder Mask trotted up to me. “I think we won,” he said. I turned and faced him.
“We didn't just win, we crushed them! I can't believe it! Just how many soldiers did you have?”
“Five hundred,” he responded.
“Well, I'll say! Never in my several years of war have I ever seen such a victory.” He, unlike me, was not excited. “What's wrong?” I asked.
He wasn't looking at me. Instead, he was staring past me to the sight of the battlefield. I turned and looked as well.
“Oh. That.”