The War in Equestria.

by BluesyTreble

18 Assault on Stonebrad Part Three

Ralf began to draw the bow, bring his string fingers the full yard journey past his ear. The broadhead slid back, the back of the arrowhead threatening to prick into the archer's finger. He narrowed his eyes and loosed, sending the arrow burying itself into the hulking crimson monster's thigh. The broad arrowhead peeped out from the back of his now bleeding thigh. The daemon fell to his knees, causing the cavern floor to quake. He turned his horned head towards Ralf, who now nocked another arrow. His flaming yellow eyes narrowed and he got up, marching toward the archer, batting and swatting off anypony that got in his way. Within a few stride he had reached Ralf, still at half-draw. The unfortunate English archer was snatched up from the ground and flung into a corner of the cavern where he lay, unconscious. His yew bow snapped back into position, sent its arrow spinning crazily into the musty cavern air and clattered onto the floor. The daemon roared and made his way to the archer, not finished with his torture. He swiveled in the direction of the archer.

Turning his back to the massed crossbow-ponies.

Bolts whistled through the air, making the fatally short twenty pace journey into the daemon's back. The bolts embedded themselves in the daemon's massive back with the meat-axe sound of the mini-arrows punching through flesh and bone. The daemon turned again, back bristling with fledged bolts. He looked like a gargantuan red porcupine. The daemon screamed at the crossbow-ponies, the noise like steel grinding against steel. By now most of the Orcish warlocks either lay bludgeoned to death or in pieces. A stallion-at-arms took the opportunity of the daemon's rage to run him through with his broadsword, ending the daemon's wretched life.

Ralf and a few other casualties were carried out by the later arriving medical units. Rainbow Dash watched as the human was carted out with his bow and arrows bouncing along inside the cart. She dismissed the worry and re-spanned her arbalest, laying her seventh bolt into the groove.

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While the other tunnels had entire balanced-out teams to clear them, Terence went with part of an 'Elite Equestrian Knights' unit. Unlike other heavy infantry units, which had sixty or more men, this unit had only twelve including Terence himself. Also unlike most heavy infantry-stallions, who were armoured mostly in mail and supplemented in plate, the Elite Knights were armoured in full gilded plate armour, impervious to pretty much anything. The Elite Knights had proven themselves deadly, fighting their way deep into Orc territory. In the time it took a normal stallion-at-arms to strike a blow, Terence and his Knights gave two. Although lacking the sheer brute strength of a longbowman, they were fast, agile and dispatched Orc warriors in less than ten seconds flat. Although the longbowman was the strongest man in an English army, his back was bent backwards, his spine resembling the bow he drew. His chest bulged, his arms were enormous and rock hard. But this made it hard, sometimes painful for archers to duck fully and move with the flexibility Terence and his Knights managed even in full plate. Terence dismissed the thought and moved forward, after fighting his way through nearly a hundred Orcs and four of what his Knights called "daemons", all there was left to do was to plant the quartered Equestrian and English banner and claim this Orc territory their own, driving the Orcs deeper into the forest and soon far away from Ponyville.

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Ralf awoke in the Ponyville hospital, surrounded by crisp white sheets. He lay on a weird metal-framed white bed. The metal felt light to touch. Definitely not steel nor iron, he thought. The bed was made of a springy material that wasn't as itchy as the straw pallets he was used to sleeping on. Recalling what happened, he immediately sat up and felt all over for injuries. So far nothing, except for serious bruising on his back and *ahem* posterior. He was no longer dressed in his mail and tunic, but was clothed in a drab green stiff cloth of an unfamiliar fiber. Rainbow Dash sat in a corner, clutching his bow. She quizzically cocked her head, looking at the simple weapon. She curled a hoof around the bowstring, and drew. The bowstring went back a hoof's breadth. Rainbow Dash's slender frame quivered with the effort, much to the bemusement of Ralf. She turned her rainbow-maned head at the archer, her face forming into a heart-meltingly adorable pout. She stood up and continued to draw the bow, grunting with the effort. Her bright purple eyes narrowed, her furry cyan cheeks puffing out. The bow quivered, and began to bend. The bowstring crept to half-draw, by this time the athlete's entire body was quivering. Her posture is wrong, Ralf thought to himself. Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth and invested one last ounce of strength. Still the length of yew and string refused to budge. Ralf resisted the urge to strangle her for butchering the use of a longbow and held his hand out for the bow. Rainbow thrust the weapon into his hand, clearly frustrated. She sat back down, panting.

"Watch, Rainbow, and learn." Ralf said. He nocked an arrow and began to draw the bow, still standing upright. He pulled the string, the tension in the bow increasing. The stave and string threatened to spring back into position. This would cause a premature release. Ralf leant into the bowstave like a teenage pony would a wall with one hoof. With his right hand he pulled the string back and sat into the draw, like a pony half-sitting in an attempt to pull a heavy load with his forehooves. The bow dipped slightly with the lean and rose back into position after Ralf sat into the draw. His chest widened with the action. A lifetime of doing this had given his the muscles and body stature required to pull a bow of such poundage. The bowstring fingers went all the way back a full yard past his right ear. Ralf couldn't loose an arrow in a hospital, so he slowly released his pull and let the bow creep back into position. It had taken twelve long years to accomplish that simple action.

"I-I'll just stick to the ah.. Crossbow." Was all Rainbow Dash could say.

Author's Note:

Helloooooo everypony! Long time since I posted a new chapter. I'm considering doing another story, like a 14-year-old goes to Equestria kind of story, in a modern setting this time round. And I wanna hear your opinions about this! Leave em' in the comments! Also, if you like what you see, also leave comments, like or maybe follow if you don't mind, and I will talk to you all later.