Chapter 7: What is a cutie mark?
'It was your solemn duty and obligation as a soldier of the Legion's First Cohort to fulfil the Lustration exercise!'
'No it wasn't! Fate has forced me into the army!'
'You are a soldier of the of the First Cohort! You were meant to die for Rome! You were meant to defend her honour and pride with your LIFE!'
'No! My new mission is to continue on living for my comrades!'
'You don't even know if the dream is true!'
'...'
'What about your comrades? Your father? Did they die in vain to protect the honour of the Legion?'
'...' Silvanus looked down, unable to answer his own argument.
'Then thou hast done well.'
'But surely they won't accept me as an friend now!'
'Your only allies are your Comrades and Rome.'
'My Comrades are dead and I am in nowhere near Rome!'
Silvanus was arguing with himself mentally as he walked along the streets of Ponyville. On one side, He felt worried about how his new friends would think of him. Would they think of me as a Monster? A lot of these "Equestrians" already seem to think of me as one. Would they still think of me as a peaceful stranger? A friend maybe?
More questions popped up from his mind as he delved deeper into the recent events. What's with the Apsconsus idea anyway? Have people been to Equestria?
Ponies would stare at the strange creature that seemed to roam freely in their beloved town. Some even went as far as to whisper among themselves. Right now, Silvanus felt like a real freak and he suddenly regretted leaving the tree house. He ignored the ponies, who generally maintained quite a distance from the Legionary, and marched on proudly under the Golden eagle.
On the other, Silvanus' Soldier side kept on reminding him about his duty and his honour as a soldier of Rome. The soldier in him tried justify his action of performing the Lustration exercise, but Silvanus just brushed away these thoughts. He relayed and tried to process the events that just happened. The Orange Mare's violent reaction, The bent pole, the performing of the Lustration exercise, the other mare's rea-
'Fluttershy...' Silvanus whispered, looking down in shame.
'Maybe she'll... Maybe I should expl-' He suddenly fell silent and stopped marching as he remembered the fear and concern in Fluttershy's eyes. Oh By the gods! What am I thinking. Surely she would never be at ease around me ever again.
He stood on top of a small bridge. A sound of a faint trickle of flowing water drifted in from both sides. Silvanus sighed and stepped to the side to peek over. Small lily pads floated by and disappeared underneath the bridge. A small frog jumped back into the water as it caught sight of the Armoured Legionary.
'I guess it's my fault. I was too slow to react.' Silvanus murmured.
He turned his back to the water and sat down. He slumped with his legs in front of him, his back was leaning on the side-wall of the bridge. He held on to the Eagle's pole as it slightly leaned against the brick railings.
He lifted his newly bandaged left hand until it was directly in front of his eyes. Large blotches of red contrasted against the slightly dirtied strip of white clothe.
So. What now?
'Wow! You're one big fella! That's fer sure!'
'By the-'
Silvanus automatically leaned forward and put down his bandaged hand and placed it on the ground in an attempt to prop himself up. Pain shot up from his hand almost instantly. Silvanus winced as he quickly withdrew his injured hand, and leaned back onto the side of the bridge. He looked back to where the voice came from. He instantly recoiled and winced once again as his head made contact with the brick railing of the bridge.
Three pairs of curious eyes stared at him, a few mere inches away from his face.
How in Pluto's name did they sneak up to me?! Silvanus thought. I must be out of practice!
Three small, female Orange, Pure-White and Yellow Ponies stood in front of him. Their necks craned forward to inspect every inch of his armour.
Hmmmm. The Yellow and White ones seem a bit... Familiar. Silvanus noted. He put on an awkward smile as the ponies began poking his armour. 'Oh uh. Hello?'
'Hmmm... What d'ya say Scoots? Is it really made up of his bones?' The Yellow pony-child asked, still staring at his Segmented armour.
The Orange one tentatively poked his chest with a hoof, emitting a faint clank. She quickly withdrew her hoof and thoughtfully rubbed her chin. 'Can't really say 'Bloom. It sounds all metally and stuff.'
'Ooh! Ooh! Maybe it's the thing that guards wear?' The White-coated pony-child guessed enthusiastically.
The Orange one, or "Scoots", stopped rubbing her chin and dropped her hoof to the ground. She turned to the White one with a questioning look. 'Yeah. Maybe that could be it Sweetie Belle. But what's it called?'
"Sweetie Belle's" chin jutted out as she 'Hmmmmed' thoughtfully. She suddenly beamed as she announced. 'A helmet!'
The two other ponies stared at Sweetie Belle for a moment before they started giggling.
Sweetie Belle frowned at her friends as their giggles escalated into fits of laughter. 'What? Did I say something wrong?'
'No you Ha! Ha! S-Silly-filly!'
'Ha! Ha! H-Helmets are for Ha! their Heads Sweetie!'
Sweetie indignantly looked away from her friends as she mumbled. 'At least I had something! Hmph!'
Silvanus just looked on with surprise and mild amusement. Silvanus cleared his throat in an attempt to gain their attentions. The two, laughing ponies just continued in laughing. Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle still had her head turned away from the two young ponies and Hmph!-ed at them.
Silvanus cleared his throat once again. This time, louder.
The three fillies stopped laughing and hmph-ing and stared at Silvanus.
'Um. Hi. The name is Silvanus. Yours is?' Silvanus asked with a friendly smile.
'Pleased ter meet'cha Mister Silvanus! The Name's Applebloom!' The Yellow coated filly enthusiastically grabbed Silvanus' injured, left hand and shook it vigorously.
Silvanus face paled as jolts of pain erupted from his hand. He still wore his smile and tried to pretend that he was fine. He did not want to offend the little fillies. It took a great amount of effort to answer back. 'A-Applebloom? T-That's a N-Nice... name!' He gasped.
Thankfully, Applebloom stopped shaking his hand and looked at Silvanus with a concerned face. 'Ya Okay Mister Silvanus? You look pale?'
Silvanus sighed with relief and smiled. 'Oh. Nothing. I'm okay.' Silvanus did not dare let of the Eagle. Lest it should fall into the water below.
Applebloom raised an eyebrow. 'Ya sur-'
She was suddenly pushed aside as Unicorn filly, Sweetie Belle, grabbed hold of Silvanus' still throbbing hand and just like the latter, shook it vigorously.
'Hi Mister Silvanus! My name's Sweetie Belle!' She squeaked in an adorable way. 'I really like your, uh, What's that thing your wearing in your chest?' she asked as she continued on shaking his hand, much to Silvanus' dismay.
Silvanus bit his tongue and closed his eyes as the pain in his hand intensified.
'Are you sure your okay Mister?'
Silvanus opened his eyes to see a pair of green eyes stare at his with concern.
'I-I'm Okay. And T-The thing that I'm W-Wearing is Armour. The Lor-Lorica Segmentata.' Silvanus grinned again. Sweat began to build up in his forehead as he answered. By Jupiter! make it stop! Silvanus inwardly begged.
Sweetie Belle let go of Silvanus' hand and returned to her former, cheerful self. Silvanus hurriedly tried to hide his injured hand behind his back, but it was intercepted in mid-air by an orange hoof.
'Hey there Mister Silvanus! The name's Scootaloo!'
Silvanus stared in horror as the hoof started to shake his hand. 'No!' Silvanus whimpered in distress.
It seemed to fall on deaf ears. She, just like her two friends, shook his hand enthusiastically and vigorously.
'NOOOOOOOO-AAAAHHHHHH!!!'
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'Oh Dear. Where could he be?' Fluttershy whispered to herself as she flew above the town, carefully scanning the streets for any of the Roman.
She seemed as if she was having an inner discussion with herself as she flew over the Clock tower.
'He's dangerous!'
'No he isn't! He's... well... Nice.'
'He could've seriously hurt somepony! Or Worse!' Fluttershy stopped and hovered in mid-air. She shuddered in fear as her imagination went wild.
A few moments later, Fluttershy shook her head and pushed her fear away. 'What kind of a friend am I? He would never do such a thing!' She stated.
'Hey there Fluttershy! Somethin' wrong?' A voice called out to her from below.
Fluttershy squeaked in surprise and looked down, losing a little altitude as she did so. A cream coated mare with the striped dark blue and white mane looked up at her.
'Oh. Sorry 'bout that. Ya don't really like being snuck on.'
Fluttershy blushed and smiled with embarrassment.
'Oh. That's okay Bonbon.'
The cream coated mare, Bonbon, smiled back.
'So what's your mind Fluttershy? Saw you were just hoverin' up there and I just wanted to ask. Not to be nosy or something.'
Fluttershy descended and landed gracefully with her back legs touching the ground first.
'Oh uh. If you don't mind, Have you seen a rather tall, armoured col- er. Man?'
'Uh What exactly are Mans?'
Bonbon stared at Fluttershy with a confused expression.
Fluttershy inwardly told herself off. Silly me. Nopony has seen anything like Silvanus before. She thought.
'Uh Fluttershy?'
Fluttershy shook her head and smiled ruefully.
'Oh uh. Silly me. Have you seen a uh. Hairless diamond dog bringing a large golden object? If you don't mind...'
Bonbon rubbed her chin thoughtfully, trying to recall anything of relevance to the strange creature that Fluttershy was trying to find.
Fluttershy sighed as she apologized. 'Oh I'm sorry for wasting your time. Hope it wasn't too much of a bother.'
She turned and spread her wing wide, ready to take flight.
'Wait! Fluttershy! I think I do remember seeing that "Hairless diamond dog" that your talkin' about.'
Fluttershy's quickly turned and looked at Bonbon with her new-found enthusiasm.
'Really? Thank you! Oh Thank you!'
'Yeah. Saw him near the bridge, Southeast of town to be exact.'
Bonbon gave a little laugh before she suddenly became serious.
Listen, Fluttershy. I wouldn't go near that thing if I were you. He looks really er... Well...' Bonbon hesitantly tried to stall in order to think of a word as an alternative for "Scary" "Terrifying" and " Dangerous".
'... Intimidating?' Fluttershy suggested. Now knowing where this conversation is heading.
Bonbon gave Fluttershy an embarrassed smile and nodded.
'He's not bad. It's just that... He's been through a lot.'
Bonbon glanced suspiciously at Fluttershy.
'What do you mean A LOT?'
Fluttershy sighed. She saw the doubt in Bonbon's eyes and she made up her mind. 'Well, from what he told me, He-'
'NOOOOOOOO-AAAAHHHHHH!!!'
Both mares jumped up in fright. The masculine scream of agony filled the air. It was so loud that the whole town could've heard his cry of pain.
Fluttershy turned to the general direction of the scream. 'Silvanus!' She gasped.
She turned around to thank Bonbon once more, only to find her retreating figure disappear behind a house.
'Wait!...' She squeaked.
She shook her head and flew off to the bridge. 'Oh no! I wonder-' She gasped as she accelerated. 'I Hope he's not terribly hurt!'
'He's still dangerous! He could have killed somepony!' A voice in her head screamed.
Fluttershy faltered for a moment before putting her fears of her new friend to rest.
'But He didn't. That's proof enough for me to know that he's a good pon- I mean man.'
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By the gods! That was- Oh by Jupiter! Silvanus cursed inwardly and winced as he felt another jolt of pain run from his injured, throbbing left hand and to his arm.
'We said we were sorry!'
Silvanus looked down and gave the three fillies who walked right next to him and gave them an accusing and wary look. Making sure that his injured hand was well hidden from the fillies by facing his right side to them. Inwardly, Silvanus has forgiven them long before. "I can't stay angry with chil- er. Fillies!" As Silvanus would put it. Silvanus just felt like pretending to stay angry to see what they will do next. They were walking back into town.
'Yeah! We didn't mean i'!' Appleboom reasoned. nervously pawing the ground.
'We're really sorry Mister Silvanus!' Sweetie Belle looked down in shame and pouted.
Silvanus said nothing, his gaze was still stern.
'Whoa! Whoa there Mister!' Scootaloo ran in front of Silvanus, blocking his way.
Silvanus stopped, raising an eyebrow.
'Besides, It wasn't really our fault. We asked if you were alright, and you said you were.' The Orange filly stated, rather haughtily, and posed proudly. Hmmm. Just like Rainbow Dash. Silvanus noted with amusement.
Silvanus frowned but still said nothing. He just stared at the three fillies.
Scootaloo went back to her normal stance and stared back at Silvanus with a confused look. She turned to her friends and beckoned them over.
The three of them huddled together and had a small whispering conference.
Silvanus raised an eyebrow. What are they going to do now? He thought.
'It's not working Scoots!'
'I agree. We need a new plan.'
'Okay, How 'bout we-'
Sweetie Belle suddenly looked up and saw Silvanus eavesdropping.
'Heeeey! No listening!' She whined.
Silvanus smiled apologetically and took two steps back.
Sweetie Belle went back to their conference, watching the Roman from the corner of her eyes.
Moments later, Silvanus could hear counting.
'Ready girls! 1-2-3... Go!'
The three fillies suddenly looked up to Silvanus. One thing was different though...
'By The gods?!' Silvanus stared at the exaggeratingly large, pleading eyes of the Fillies.
'Were Sorry. Friends?' The three fillies pleaded simultaneously. They wore hopeful smiles on their little faces.
Silvanus' heart melted instantly. All of a sudden, he felt like a real monster for pretending to be mad at them.
'Fine! Fine! Friends.' Silvanus gave in, sighing in defeat.
'YAY!' The three of them cheered.
Silvanus could not help but smile at the fillies' antics.
Applebloom suddenly came up to Silvanus and threw her arms around him. This caught Silvanus in surprise.
Moments later, she looked up with a hopeful smile. 'Does that mean your gonna join our club?' The two others joined her and looked up at Silvanus with the same hopeful expressions.
Silvanus reached down with his left hand and ruffled her red mane. Almost displacing her large, pink bow. 'Of course Kiddo!'
The three fillies once again cheered. 'But uh. What kind of Organisation are we talking about?' Silvanus asked.
The three fillies looked at each other and nodded.
Scootaloo cleared her voice and started singing as her two friends started doing cart wheels and strange dance moves.
We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders, on a quest to find out who we are
And we will never stop the journey, not until we have our cutie marks.
We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders, on a quest to find out who we are
And we will never stop the journey, not until we have our cutie marks!
'We're the Cutie Mark Crusaders!' They shouted simultaneously once again, marking the end of the song. They froze in place and posed for a few seconds before looked up to Silvanus expectantly.
By the gods? Silvanus thought as he gingerly opened his mouth to clear his ears. But nonetheless, Silvanus stilled clapped by hitting his armour with his right hand.
'Uh. I can tell that you put a lot of work into this.' He commented.
The three fillies beamed and gave each other high-fives- er. High hoofs.
'What's a Cutie mark crusader anyway?'
They stopped their revelry and looked suspiciously at Silvanus.
'Weren't you listenin'?' Applebloom asked with a pouty expression.
Silvanus smiled awkwardly and nervously rocked on the soles of his feet. He has been yelled at daily in the face with a centurion, fought in a battle, saw his comrade's ghosts and fought off three timberwolves. But none of these made Silvanus more nervous than the sad faces of young children, or in this case, ponies.
'Uh. Yes! Of course! Of course I listened!' Silvanus blurted in a moment of panic.
The three young fillies still looked sceptical.
'Um. What I meant was: Uh. What are-' Silvanus paused for a moment, desperately thinking of a quick question. 'Uh. I my question was that, uh, What's a cutie mark?'
The three fillies looked at Silvanus incredulously.
'You serious?!' Scootaloo exclaimed.
'Uh. In case you haven't noticed, I'm a human and your a pony.' Silvanus stated.
'Still, how could you not know what a Cutie Mark is?' Sweetie Belle thought out loud.
'Yeah! Where've ya been all this tahm?' Applebloom looked at Silvanus with squinted eyes.
By the gods. What have I gotten into. Silvanus tried to calm down. He tried to clear his mind. 'Ummm... A place called, er, a place called...' Silvanus once again panicked. '... Uh-'
Silvanus looked to the sky and he felt his heart dance with joy as he saw a yellow-coated pony with the flowing, pink mane fly towards them. 'Fluttershy!' Praise the gods! I'm saved from further embarrassment! Silvanus thought gleefully.
He looked down and saw the fillies still looking at him.
'Ohohoh! I know that trick Mister! and I ain't gonna fall for that!' Applebloom laughed.
'Yeah! Stop trying to change the topic!' Scootaloo added.
'Oh Silvanus! I've been looking everywhere for you! Are you hurt!'
The three fillies turned around in surprise as Fluttershy cantered past them and went straight for the equally surprised Legionary.
Looking for me? Silvanus thought as Fluttershy looked around him for any new injuries.
She shuddered slightly and stared for a few moments as she caught sight of his bandaged left hand.
Silvanus winced inwardly as she saw her reaction to the sight of his injured hand.
Fluttershy turned to the fillies who just stood in front of them with smug smiles.
'Ooooh! Is she your marefriend?' Scootaloo asked teasingly.
'Ooh! Ooh! I know! I know! You should go out together in this year's hearts and hooves day!' Sweetie Belle jumped in the air excitedly.
'An' We'll treat you. Ah'll give ya Apple cahder fer free!' Applebloom added with a smile.
Fluttershy blushed deeply at the fillie's talks. Silvanus, who stood behind Fluttershy, face-palmed. By the gods. Marefriend? Silvanus thought as he too, blushed from behind his palm.
'Oh my! Er, Run along now. I think your Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity would like to see you in Twilight's house.' Fluttershy told them as she tried to suppress her blush.
'Awwww... Can't we stay with Mister Silvanus just a little longer?' Sweetie Belle pouted.
'Yeah! Mister Silvanus was just about to tell us where he's been! Right Mister?' Applebloom turned to Silvanus with pleading eyes.
Silvanus peeked from between his fingers. Oh gods, no. Not again. Silvanus was about to answer, but once again, another miracle happened.
'Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash wanted to see ME?!' Scootaloo asked Fluttershy eagerly. Her face was just mere inches away from Fluttershy's.
Fluttershy squeaked and took a step back. She smiled at the beaming Scootaloo and nodded.
'YEESS!!!' Scootaloo shouted. She earned a few weird looks from passing ponies as she did.
She then turned to her friends and grabbed hold of their hooves. 'Come on Cutie Mark Crusaders! How about we try earning our racing cutie marks!'
'But we already tried that!' Sweetie Belle whined. Wincing at some of the painful memories from the last time they tried that.
Scootaloo did not seem to hear her as she almost literally dragged them down the street and towards Twilight's house.
As soon as they were gone, Fluttershy turned back to Silvanus and gave him a concerned look. 'Does it still hurt?' She asked, pointing a hoof to his bandaged hand.
'Look, Fluttershy, I'm terribly sorry for doing that. I was only regaining my Legion's hono-' Silvanus sighed as he tried to apologize. He was cut off as Fluttershy cut him off.
'It's alright. Just... Just don't do that again. Please?'
'I'll try.' Silvanus sighed with relief.
'But you do know that your still going to explain everything to Twilight and the others, right?'
'I know.'
Both of them fell silent for a few moments before Silvanus shocked Fluttershy by asking her what a cutie mark was.