//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: From Warrior of Rome to Warden of Equestria // by Randomrusina //------------------------------// Ah Roma, the eternal city, the one place where all the roads lead to. The crown jewel and hearth of the mightiest empire on earth! Empire that I spend twenty five years of my life fighting for its glory and the honor of my family and then forty years of guarding its rulers. The friends I’ve lost and for what? To babysit this brat while I should be enjoying retirement at my villa? Have the gods forsaken me… Again? I swear by the spirits of my ancestors If I have to listen one more time about how great he is and and how things will be run when he is the emperor I’m going to kill him, gods and the future of the empire be damned!  I did not fight my way to the Praetorians to get sent to this island even the gods themselves have forgotten about in the corner of the world, to slosh around in a swamp. Trying to find some druid so he can be the emperor who killed the last druid in britannia!  And now he is complaining about this swamp. Seriously, why of all the holy places these druids have, this one choose to hide in the only one located in the middle of a swamp? Why not the ones that are on the dry land? Like the rock circle on a hilltop or the forest clearing in that island? Oh, right the legions hunted down and killed all the druids that did so. This last one is much smarter in comparison then. Good for him. I was drawn from my bitter thoughts by a yell at the front of the formation, apparently someone finally saw the place we’re looking for. It seems like the auxiliary we brought along as guides are some use after all. All the excitement I felt was crushed by what we saw. In front of us was a almost fully collapsed temple complex of some kind, this place must be older than the swamp if that piece of a road leading to it that just disappears into the swamp is any indicator. I swear this place makes me, a veteran of over twenty major battles and hundreds of skirmishes, to shake in my sandals. I don’t think that nothing good can be found in there. As we stepped inside the ruins it became clear this was not built by druids or any tribe in these isles as far as we know for what I saw must have been once a welcoming hall of some kind that is too similar to our own buildings to be build by these savages. As I looked I saw that there were half broken statues of what appeared to be horned horses on the edges of the hall, what were they called again? Unicorns or something like that? But the condition of this place makes it impossible for me to tell for sure what they were meant to represent. But they were all dwarfed by the size of the largest statue, a winged unicorn rearing on its hind legs with its forehooves in the air holding a sphere between them. I could only look at it in puzzlement, is this one of their god, or is it just decoration? It’s too big to be normal decorationary statue but it doesn’t have the amount of detail a statue which describes a deity should have, but then again it is larger than the other statues in the hall so maybe… “Stop looking at the statues and find that druid! Or are you truly so senile as to already forget why we’re here Centurion?” The uppity voice of the moron I’m supposed to watch awakened me from my thoughts, and as custom with this moron he first ordered me to do something and then insulted my intellectual capacity right after he stated he needs me to do something for him… I swear the first moment I get, I will teach him few facts of life that should woke him up to the reality before it is too late for him. ---~~~---  I can’t believe that it took us half an hour to search all of this place, all those empty rooms filled with art and treasury that would make even the emperor himself jealous, only to be left here to rot away. I was ready to call off the search and have us go look somewhere else when one of the auxiliary troops yelled in surprise and then let out a shriek of pain. I rushed to look what happened but it looked like the unfortunate soul just vanished as if he was whisked away by gods themselves. “Centurion, what happened here?” Great, it’s the heir. “I’m unsure, it seems if one of our auxiliary spearman just disappeared into thin air.” I said to him while looking around for hidden traps or entrances that could explain what happened. “Well don’t just stand there looking around like some senile fool, old man, go find him!” If he won’t learn some manners soon, that man will lead the empire into ruin if he is ever allowed to take the throne. In fact we are alone at the moment so this would be perfect moment to teach him few things. “I’m looking for hidden traps or entrances that would explain his sudden disappearance,” I said and looked him in the eye with almost pitying look.”If you do not learn some manners before your father passes away, you will find yourself at the wrong end of Praetorian sword.” I patted my still sheathed sword for emphasis. “A-are you threatening me?” “Me? Of course not, you are the sole heir to the imperial throne and I am the ever loyal servant of Rome. Why would I threaten you? I am merely stating the facts that every emperor has known ever since the time of Augustus himself as I feel it is my duty as Centurion of Rome and Primus Pilus of the Praetorian guard.” “And what would those facts be?” “That if the emperor does not hold the absolute loyalty of the Praetorian guard and the officers that lead it, he will not live very long.” I just love it when his face pales like that, there is no greater pleasure than teaching the facts of life to the next generation. “The Praetorian guard holds no power over the personal guards of the emperor.” The moron still tries to hold that bravado of his, how adorable. “Ah, yes the Germani corporis custodes, the personal guards of the emperor, five hundred strong.” I looked him in the eyes while shaking my head sadly. “The Praetorian Guard is ten thousand strong when you count the Equites singulares into its numbers. We have a fortress just outside of Rome, or did you forget Castra Praetoria?” I quickly looked around to see if someone was within a hearing distance and seeing none continued. “We choose who is the emperor, you should remember that or die young.” I’m of course retired by the time he takes the throne so I really don’t care who’s the emperor after my life is no longer at stake on the politics of the empire. “A lot can change Centurion, when I kill the last of those druids who still defy Rome’s rule I will be hailed as a hero, and we both know that not even the Praetorians can get away if they murder a hero of Rome. Now be useful and find what happened to one of our guides.” the heir said while walking away, but before he walked out of the room he turned back and said arrogantly. “Oh and be careful not to break anything while doing so I would hate for you to sprain something important, old man.” After saying his last words to me, he walked out of the room while laughing as if he just told the funniest joke ever. All of them are the same, you try to give them some advice and they insult you the moment they are out of the reach of your sword. I don’t know how he grew up to be such disrespectful piece of garbage, his father is the icon of what a proper Roman emperor should be, he is just, noble and honorable in all his endeavors, and yet his son is anything but. While I would love to spent more time reminiscing on the good old times when the emperor was still willing to go to campaigns and needed an escort from the Praetorians, I still have work to do. “Decurion! Get your lazy ass over here, now!” I walked to the half collapsed doorway the heir used to walk out and yelled in order to be heard to the hallways where most of our expedition force were looking for any signs of the druid, a waste of time as far as I’m concerned. “What is it now Centurion?” Marcelius, the Decurion of the first cohort and an old friend of mine, if saving my life and then blackmailing me to get him to Praetorian guard makes him a friend that is, asked while dragging his lazy ass over to me. “I have a name you know, it wouldn’t hurt to use it every now and then.” “Every time someone uses your name instead of using your rank you punish them for improper behaviour while on duty, so I’ll just stick to using the rank if you don’t mind” Damn, I could have finally had the reason to flog this bastard but he is still too smart for his own good. “I see that I still can't fool you old friend.” I patted him on the shoulder and pointed at the spear lying on the floor. “It seems that one of the local auxiliaries was attacked or activated a trap of some kind and I need you to search for him, take few of the men with you just in case.” “Why do you think he was attacked, there is no blood or drag marks that would suggest so?” “He is an enlisted soldier of Rome’s legions. And last time I checked if you lose equipment, you pay for it and I’ve never seen a member of a legion willingly parting from theirs.” I told Marcelius while picking up the spear and looking at the wall to see if there was anything that would trigger hidden traps or maybe even open an entrance that would explain the disappearance of the guide. “Hey, what’s this horseshoe doing on the wall?” was all I heard before the wall in front of me disappeared and I lost my balance falling to my stomach quite painfully causing me to grunt and let go of my sword. “You okay Centurion?” “Yes Marcelius, I’m fine, however when one is looking for traps it is customary to warn others before touching anything that looks out of place or this might happen.” I said while trying to keep myself from doing anything I might regret later. After seeing my face and the quite disturbing twitch that had developed in my left eye, Marcelius wisely kept quiet and merely nodded his compliance to my words. Once I had stood up from the ground and looked around of the new path that was hidden by the fake wall I saw that it lead to somewhere open to a sky for a sunlight was showing at the end of this new corridor. “Call the others and inform the heir that we found what happened to that auxiliary.” “What, but we haven’t even found him yet?” I merely pointed at the metal stakes covered in blood attached to the the fake wall and the auxiliary spearman still stuck to them. “Oh, how did I miss that?” Marcelius asks while scratching his head in confusion. “Because you're as observant and intelligent as pile of bricks.” I grunted to him while waiting for him to do as was told. I watched as Marcelius left the room and I then looked over the auxiliary complementing over the fact that we haven’t even seen the druid and we have already lost a men and to some old trap meant to keep looters out no less. “I heard you found that missing spearman Centurion, now can we finally resume our search for the druid?” It seems that the heir has no respect to the living men and even less for the dead, I have never thought very highly of him but this just confirmed my rather low opinion on him. “Yes, and if the trap that claimed his life is any indication, we’re getting close if the druid is indeed hiding in these ruins then it would be most logical to hide somewhere well hidden and protected.” I’m happy that even though we have lost a life we are closer to completing our task and then I can go to my villa and enjoy my retirement as I should be doing right now, one last favor to the imperial family my ass, I should have declined the emperor but I didn’t and now I’m here… By the gods, I’m starting to sound like a grumpy old man always complaining about everything! As we cautiously walked towards the end of the previously hidden corridor we started hearing weird noises from the end of the hallway but we could see who or what was making them. Once we exited the dark passage we saw what seemed like a large courtyard, but what really caught our attention was the cloaked druid at the middle of it. The druid was chanting in some language we have never heard before in front of a half collapsed arc of stone standing on a platform of stone gray with age, and while he turned to look at us he never stopped what he was doing… Impressive self control this one has if he is able to watch his executioners walk up to him and yet not to stop what he is doing, a pity we must kill him. Just as we step on the platform a portal appears on the arc blinding us momentarily and when could see again the druid is kneeling in front of the portal saying what sounds like desperate prayers. And of course the idiot of an imperial heir runs straight to the druid the moment he could see again. Without contemplating the glowing portal the druid is kneeling in front of, hey anyway it’s not like his father sent us here with him to just look around while he gets himself killed I wondered as my fellow Praetorians and I ran after the idiot before he gets himself killed. And would you look at that, he actually managed to kill the druid, now we can all go home for wine and… “By the gods, what is that?” I yelled to others when I saw some kind of horse with horn, wings and mane and tail, that flow like a twin rivers of blood, emerge from the portal… Wait a moment, half ruined temple with statues of weird looking horned horses? And then a chanting druid summons a creature that looks like those exact statues but has wings? Yeah, we’re dead. “Thou hath summoned us mortal, now what is it that thou desire?” The creature spoke with its eyes closed only to gasp in shock once it opens them “What hath thou done? ‘Twas the last of his kin thy mongrel!” It then lowered its head letting us see the tip of its horn “Have at thee!” And then the weirdest thing I have ever seen so far took place, the horn of the horse started glowing and before any of us could do anything the moron we were supposed to protect was flying through the air and not in a fun way, but in a way that promises pain and agony upon landing. Of course it can do that, why not? “Hold it back while I check if he is still alive!” I yelled to my comrades while running towards the moron of the year ‘future of the empire’ my arse if he ever takes the throne I hope it’s after I have died hopefully peacefully in my sleep, but the way this day has gone so far I’m probably not going to see my beautiful villa ever again and I just had it repaired! It was finally perfect! The yard, the murals, the coloured glass windows, oh the beauty of it all! Gone for good as far as I’m concerned.  And now I’m not going to see it because apparently the emperor couldn’t send his only heir without his ‘most trusted’ soldier. Why didn’t I just say I’m too old for this adventure business in the first place? Because it was the emperor who asked that why… Why I was never able to say no to that man?  Oh yeah I practically raised him while his father was away in campaigns at the far reaches of the empire, and for that reason he chose to spoil his own son to ruin turning him to a self entitled brat thinking he is the greatest thing to walk on earth. If I had know this would happen I would have kicked his arse when he was young to teach him some respect, now it’s already too late teach him anything other than ‘this is knife and it goes to your liver’ but of course he has to be the only heir to the throne. Killing him would only cause civil war, no matter how tempting that idea is, it would only cause suffering to the people I swore to protect to my last breath. And I will not be remembered as the one who caused the third civil war, but I’m sure someone else will kill him and then I can either die happy or smile from the afterlife, afterlife that is calling me pretty loud right now. There is some kind of spirit or even a god summoned by now dead druid throwing my fellow Praetorians around like ragdolls and I have no idea how to beat it. “Did anyone catch the bull that hit me?” And of course the heir chooses to wake up now, making him the highest ranking person here…  If we follow his orders we are all deader than dead, wait a minute. Is that things horn glowing the same color as the portal? Maybe if I push it back in there it will close, but that thing is the size of a horse I can’t push it. Unless I tackle it with my shield, causing me to be stuck in there with a creature that can throw grown man wearing armor like it’s nothing. If I survive I will introduce my sword to the stomach of the imperial heir and rip out his intestines and strangle him with them. And I really need to find better a way to deal with my anger than fantasize about brutally murdering the moron responsible for my anger. While the creature was distracted by my fellow praetorians I moved to prepared myself. My shield in hand, I pushed off the ground and began to build up speed. I had one shot to stop this thing. Fortunately, it noticed me only after it was too late to stop me from doing probably the stupidest thing in my long life “For the gods, for the empire!” I yelled and tackled that thing and evidently myself through the portal “Art thou mad mortal, thy body won’t survive in the void!” was the last thing I heard before the largest amount of pain I have felt in my life teared my mind apart causing me to scream in agony before I began to lose consciousness, though at that point the comforting blackness was a much welcomed relief.