//------------------------------// // 8: Keep your friends close. // Story: The Ponies and the Ninth // by Comrade_Derpy //------------------------------// Marianus stood below the looming gate he had been escorted to; flanked on both sides by large almost endless black walls, that seemed to almost change and move with every blink of the eye. It had been five days since he had awoken, but he'd lost track of days, day and night hell he had lost track of everything when they had found him and his men. His men. He glanced back, catching sight of line of men that stretched into the horizon to the point that the only sign of life with the echoing footsteps and the large dust clouds they had kicked up whilst marching steadfast though the same repetitive sea of sand and lifeless dirt. It was here that this. Fortress stood, almost like a sore of the face of the desert, or an oasis, Manius was yet to find that out. His sight then fell onto the two creatures escorting himself at the front, they had decided to make themselves known to him the latter part of a day or so ago. drifting down from a rock face. Although communication was hard due to the nature of there tongue they soon realized that they were simple leading them away from death and starvation in the dunes and towards this bastion of strength he now stood below. They still stood beside him, looking up above the gate to an armored one it leaned over and began talking in clicks and a strange tone that he himself failed to grasp. soon however he guessed what exchange of words were shared as slowly the large defensive gates groaned, coming into life as the gate in-front of him began to slowly open outwards reveling the interior of the extensive network of black, almost alien looking fortifications. "Octavius!" He roared. causing one of the creature to snap his head only to rolls its pulpiness eyes and return back to its front. From within the ranks of men came running a short, rather plump man, a scroll in one hand he continued forward like a comical drama actors in a Greek theater. Panting he keeled over for a moment catching his breath as he tried to speak "Dam it you blabbering fool, out with it i have not got all day" Eventually though Octavius nodded and brought himself to face the Legate. "Aye, you asked of me Legate Marianus?" He sighed rolling his eyes "No Octavius i wanted to see to your breast jiggle as you ran..." He brought a hand down and lightly tapped his head "No, send word to the Auxiliary to detach from the rest of the unit and head south into the more fertile lands" normally he would have to lean down as his horse would support his weight. however since arriving in this new territory they had seemed to have lost all of them. As far as he knew. They had vanished along with the first cohort, and there centurion, witch what on his mind as he proceeded to detach the supporting auxillarys "Have them scout around. look for possible supply chains. villages, populations, you know the drill" Octavius head nodded with each task taking a mental note of each "And lastly...find my first cohort...and there Centurion." He said coldly finishing with a sharp cough, certainly all these events had taken a told on the forty four year old Commanding General. "Varius?" Octavius asked confused "I thought you disliked him?" "I do...Oh i do, but i don't hate the eight hundred or so meant he's should have with him" Little did he know it was far from that now. With a grumbled sigh he turned "anyway be off with you and hurry, for i shall need you again" With tired nod Octavius turned, gulped in a large amount of air and relocated himself as fast as his tired limbs were able to carry him towards the rear of the marching Column to relay the command to the auxiliaries, who swiftly spread out and retraced there steps back into the dry landscape towards the temperate climate of Equestria. Whilst looking at his men as the slowed to a stop, and to the rear where the green tunic clad auxiliary were moving away he felt a sudden tug on his tunic himself, looking down quickly to notice one of the creatures looking back up at him. Its large bulging green pupil-less eyes staring back with a sense of cuteness to it, nibbling contently on his yellow tunic. It let go and grinned, casually flicking its head to the now open gate, a signal to walk inside, glancing one more time to his rear he watched as his legionaries set about placing the pre-construction equipment for a small fort, to protect them from the harsh and unrelenting assault from Celestas sun, as he himself entered into the gate, and into the darkness of the hive like interior. Walking though its many corridors presented its own problem he was not accustomed to the darkness and would constantly trip and slam into the walls, much to the enjoyment of the creatures around him. Taking several minutes for his vision to adjust, although the slick black liquid that coated the floors almost everywhere didnt seem to help, further helping him to slip and stumble around in the darkness. They broke out into a large chamber with several spiral, rib like columns supporting the mangled black roof that housed more of the creatures, there ability to cling to any place was indeed impressive even to the grizzled and aged commanding officer. To his front lay a large widened step with and equally large and impressive throne sitting int he middle, seemingly made out of the same material as the rest of the citadel, only it was lined with a large amount of gold and other emeralds. On it sat a larger version of the previous monstrosities, black much like them with a rib like green armour surrounding it as its face curled into a smile, lying on its side and eventually opining its mouth to talk to the Roman. "Ah so we finally found our intruders" She started, speaking in a clear feminine voice, that seemed to echo authority in every word that echoed around the hall, what was more surprising was unlike the other "lesser" ones, she...or what he assumed to be a "she" spoke in his tongue, fascinating. The escorting creatures trotted forward and bowed clicking in there own tongue before she nodded again "Ah and the rest are outside...i assume guarded" a nod confirmed this "Ah good". She sat up and flicked her hoof with a certain casualness, her grin still plastered onto her face. "So. To what do i owe the pleasure" it continued, this time aiming her question towards Marianus who looked back with a strange and new uneasiness. He looked on; h was not willing to falter to this "thing" no matter how well it had already intimidated him. "Marianus" he stated "Marianus Juliana, Legate of the Ninth Leg-" Before he could finish his grand introduction he found himself being talked down to by the creature as it stood, towering over him by a foot and a half, revealing its much larger size, narrow body and almost texture less mane and tail. "Frankly ape, i don't give a tartarus if you excuse my foul tongue..." It smirked circling him, eyeing him up and giggling in her feminine voice. "Tell me, do you know why i saved you and your pathetic excuse of a military force you hairless ape?" She hissed. Marianus smirked though "Really?" he began "I was unaware i was actually needing saved ma'am" He then rose his head up looking straight into the green eyes of the creature. "And for what i assume is a king your rather feminine" She stood back turning around and hissing her fangs out and at the ready "Fool! I am female you pathetic excuse of evolution!" He was slightly taken back; it was rare for females to rule as queens or empresses, although there had be two he knew of, one was ginger and he'd rather not recall the events. While the other was a slut and rather enjoyed Ceaser salad...not to mention a thing for asp's. "Really" though was the only word he stated in replay, a childlike smirk supporting it The creature turned with a cold stare "Would you care for an up close demonstration?" He simply twisted his head, shaking it; frankly he was not willing to see what that thing had...perhaps not yet anyway... Equestria, Unknown 2 hours later Varius woke painfully to the sound of a crackling fire, his vision blurred he could make out the flickering of the light on the ridged rocked that formed over the millions of years above him, and the dripping of the water from the many limestone stalagmites stuck to the roof like a set of horrific and ghastly teeth. Leaning up he felt a pain emerge, and shoot up into the upper part of his body, looking down he noticed not only was he armour-less but that his once shining segmented lorica lay shattered near him; battered and buckled and the leather straps cracked and soaked. letting out a small grunt he moved a hand down to reveal the soft feeling of cotton bandages and the crimson red stains of blood on them, and judging by the amount of red that was quite a large amount of blood. "Don't move to fast, its still fresh, let it heal." He paused; not turning to the voice that was familiar. But unfortunately nothing he would like to have heard at the moment of time whilst lost and alone, well partly alone if it was not for the white stallion behind him, poking gently into the fire with a stick and looking over at him with a tired expression. "Tell me why i shouldn't gut you where you stand...horse" "Pony" Shining began raising a hoof to correct the Romans sentence "Secondly the fact your still breathing is due to yours truly." he said finishing with a horCHECKe cough. "And besides. i threw your sword and dagger into the river..." Varius rolled his eyes turning to face the smart-assed stallion. Only to snap his eyes shut and groan in pain as he realized he had moved to fact, ignoring the advice of the Captains suggestion. "Told you" Shining added with a smirk "Move. Slowly" "Shut up, im not a child hor..." he opened his eyes wincing "Pony." "You're certainly acting like one." "Cut the crap. Why did you safe me" "Well its because....Well....because" Shining stopped. Why had he saved the Roman, the same roman that had semi-burned down his sister's home town -thankfully nopony harmed-, attacked Canterlot, mocked him and would had certainly killed him giving the chance. Not to mention already killed several of his own stallions? As these questions ran though his guard head he could almost visualize "Twily" standing with him and what she would say to all this. She would of course tap him on the head and say "Shiny, remember what would be going though his head, he's fighting for his own causes and country and that's countries own ponies" replacing the ponies with what ever they were of course... Meanwhile Cadence would probably kiss him and remind him that she was the element of love, and although he had caused pain he still had feelings and other mumble jumbo that would normally be droned out over the sound of celebrating and drinking with "the guys" And twilight would then finish her "lesson" off with a small peck on the cheek before trotting of to her friends or the library to finish reading "Daring do and the Treasures of the Sunken Armada" or "The tomb of the Griffon king" or some other adventure book, most likely with her rainbow colored friend. Varius on the other hand looked at Shining with a content chuckle, Although the white stallion had been thinking a reason over he had failed to notice had been repeating "Because..." several times for the past ten minutes "Hey" Varius began, snapping his fingers in front of Shining's face "Snap outta it, your losing it" Coming back into reality with a slight blush he sighed "Ugh...because. It's...It's what Twily would want...And probably Candace to." "Twily? Cadence?, I'm sorry if I'm slightly confused at these names being bombarded into my skull" Varius cut in quickly, aggravation and tiredness rife throughout his sentence. "It.. Doesn't matter, what should matter is that your alive. Right?" "What? No, am I not a prisoner to you and your race?" Varius said looking down with a sigh Shining chuckled but replied by shaking his head slowly, not to mention with a a sense of elegance. "Your not a prisoner, were both lost and unless we work together and put our differences aside were going to die together." "Fat chance" huffed Varius, "Work with the enemy, I'd rather die, even better that you die with me" Shining was surprised, and just as pissed off with his constant negativity he turned around, glaring at the soldier "Are you insane?! Listen to yourself; tell me, what are you fighting for hmm?" "For Rome of course, and the eagle." "The Eagle...The Eagle? as in that shiny bird that makes a good coat rack back in Canterlot" Varius unsure of what he meant nodded only because he heard the word Eagle and shiny. and he assumed that was close enough "You're fighting for a shiny metal bird! this is what this is all about. a piece of metal?" "The eagle is not that, it is Rome and much more" Varius retaliated repeating the words he had been taught as a child "No, No wrong! the Eagle is a piece of iron plated with gold...All this death for that...What kind of monster are you?" Shining spat at the Centurion turning his back Varius looked over, ready to roar at the white stallion for grand display of disrespect Rome so greatly, a death sentence in itself!. But he didint, nothing came out, "Where they monsters?" slowly he recapped everything he and his cohort had done in the past few days, Raze a village, besiege a settlement with no evidence of possession and murder the defenders. "They had done nothing wrong Varius!" the voice of the young yet mature voice of Sextus called from within his own mind. shattering what sense of reality he had left like a sharpened Gladius. Even though the now deceased Sextus tried to convince him that these ponies did not want war nor misery and was constantly spoken down to on the subject by Varius. He help that position on the matter up to his final brave seconds in battle. He sighed, there was no honor here for what they had done, no spoils of war, glorious marchers or victory parades, no. Just a few hundred men that were scared and confused, as we he as he now faced his opposite of this land, His villain to his hero, his antagonist to his protagonist, this pony who had caused him men suffering and problems. As he had done the same do them. Slowly the war weary soldier looked up a cold expression in his eyes as he began shaking his head in disbelief. "Why was this stallion right, why was he a monster?" He simply remained silent, looking into the fire as it crackled away. This continued for some time as the two males remained silent, it was however the white stallion the broke the silence "Do you play cards? or eye spy?" He asked with childlike attitude. Yes...indeed tonight was going to be long and painful Badlands, Equestria An hour later Marianus was surprised; the creature he had been introduced to was how could he say it... "Inspiring?" Yes! Inspiring" was the perfect word,she was stout, viscous in her policies and beliefs and very very manipulative; something he found great pleasure in leaning. Octavius on the other hand didn't experience anything enjoyable like that at all. Frankly she was strange, creepy, disturbing and stuck so far up her own rear end that she lost sight of Mithra's sun. Oh and she smelled.she smelled bad. Burned, that was score one to himself. "I tell you Octavius ,this is the kind of person, or pony we need back in Rome! She could easily become Emperor or more!" "Marianus, might i remind you that if correct you fight for the said Emperor and Rome?" Marianus chuckled; of course he did...so long as the old bloated corpse of a leader had enough gold to pay him, he was happy. Better offer comes around? then screw the Emperor, it was as simple as that. "Money. Octavius, money makes the world go round, and she can provide that and...more" Octavius shivered "And by more you mean sex, a good night right?" You are aware she's some form of horse right..a strange sickly looking one, none the less" Marianus nodded "Hey! if the Greeks brought Homosexuality, we can certainly bring horse screwing to the table no?" He chuckled at the joke nudging Octavius "Besides, its just as the gods would intend..or they would have done something long ago!" Octavius simply rolled his eyes "I hate your gods Marianus sometimes" Giving him a unaproving look he sighed and began smiling again "Anyway Octavius as I was saying, she could really help us in ach-" "You mean help yourself gain power?" He tilted his head left and right "Gain power, Octavius that sounds far too...Negative" Sighing again he looked over "Achieve power then sir?" "That's my boy! Achieve power. I like it, yes!" He ran a hand under his chin rubbing the forming beard that grew un-kept and scruffy. "Now tell me. What words have the Auxiliaries spoke?" He asked leaning back on a pillar in the room they were giving for accommodation, a room fit for a king. "They report that the first cohort's been captured by another faction sir." "Ah, well that's a problem, and Varius?" "Dead, along with the captain of a defense force they call the royal guards?" "Dead eh?" Suddenly Marianus burst out laughing, as he stood up "About time that man bit the dirt, he was proving to be problematic to my ideas and plans, and such" "And pray, what ideas where these?" Hissed a feminine voice from the side of them, both men snapped there heads over and looked back in surprise. "Nothing to important your majesty, just a thorn in the metaphorical backside" The larger mare trotted forward smirking as she circled the Legate, fangs slipping out of her mouth. "Good. Because i don't like it when I'm not involved in the important talk. As you could understand." She paused facing both of them, fangs bared still and hissing slightly "Now..Explain" Octavius decided this was a good time for his queue. "Varius Casca, Son of Rufus Casca, born and raised in norther Iberia his father was the Legate of the tenth legion and he became an Optio at the game of twenty, and eventually Centurion of the ninth legi-" She sighed looking painfully board as she turned away "I asked for the problem. Not a life story, now be quick with you" "Supported to become Legate though political means, Marianus here blocked him. He's been reportedly killed with a Captain of a Royal guard or something?" Her head suddenly snapped over to him "A captain you say..Oh dear" She giggled mischievously "Well. I guess Shinning Armour was not as...Hard as first thought that night" there was a clear innuendo from her sentence that caused a stifled snicker from Marianus. "Shining Armour your majesty?" Octavius asked confused. "Oh just an..old flame. I guess you could say he was, lost in my gaze" Marianus nodded turning around "Well either way, both are dead, my problems solved. Was he a problem?" "Oh he was far from it. rather a pleasure to have around. His sister and bitchy wife on the other hand. Were both quite pains" She turned to leave before stopping her ears perked up. "Although. I may have use for you and your soldiers Marianus, if your interested?" She had very early on learned his name, as had he but still insisted on addressing her by her title of royalty, not that she was exactly complaining. It was rather..cute. "Oh?" he perked up "And what does the Queen require of me?" "Simple" she said with a grin "I have a little invasion to plan if your intelligence report hold any truth to it and you shall be the teeth of it" "Before we talk invasions" He quickly cut in "Whats in it for me?" Marianus simply said "You understand i cant leave myself with out a secure promise of reward...or a deposit per say" She giggled trotting around whispering to a level of seductiveness "Oh but gener-" "Legate Queen" She rolled her eyes "Fine, Legate" She said correcting herself "You shall have more then a reward, you may have your own kingdom, somthing you can rule with an iron fist. Perhaps as there King...Leader..." She moved closer her lips just gracing the neck of the Legate to the sill apparently disgust of Octavius. "Emperor" she finally finished. "Emperor?" She giggled again moving away. It seemed that this was her common response, her giggle. It Displayed both traits of mischief, seductiveness and hints of authority making it a potent mixture. And he loved every bit of it. "Well then Marianus are you interested?" she said running a hoof up the wall "Want to make a name for yourself as a Leader of a country rather then a silly old...What did you call it. Legion?" HE thought for a moment, there was no emperor, finally no Varius. His legion remained loyal to him and him alone and what was Octavius going to do? Cry? Most likely but other then that not much, possibly complain. He smirked, he once imagined himself walking though the marble city of Rome. Or on a chariot of gold, a purple robe and red sandals of the old kings of the city. And of course he would be hailed as a god, praised by his subjects and slaves alike. Indeed it was perfect, he had free reign here and with the most advanced builders, architects and soldiers this land would ever see and know. Who the hell was going to stop him...He would burn this land Roman red. With a almost crazed smile he turned and bowed to the Black pony kissing her fore hoof and looking up "Of course Queen Chrysalis, you have my legion..."