//------------------------------// // Chapter XXVII: Minerva. // Story: Lightning Bolt of Rome // by CrackedInkWell //------------------------------// The first thing Lightning Bolt was aware of was a feeling like someone has chopped his skull down the middle. Every sound and beam of light stung his senses. Even moving around was proving to be a difficult task as he recovered from his hangover. When the stallion finally opened his eyes, he found himself in a portable tabernacle that the legion had been carrying. With the exception of his armor on a crossbeam, he was completely alone. Once he rolled over and fell on the earthy ground, he willed his sore body to stand up and take a peek outside. The camp itself was still. Canvas tents swayed in the cool breeze and there was the ghostly smell of smoke in the air. Every so often, a centurion would pass by like a lone fish in a rocky pond. The sun itself had yet to dawn, so the sky was still fairly dark with a soft glow highlighting the clouds drifting across the skies. For now, Lightning Bolt needed to find someplace quiet to recover from his skull-splitting headache. Fortunately, he knew just the place. Spreading his wings, he flew up into the air until the noise of the camp was left behind. He settled on a cloud where he found the perfect resting place for his sobering morning. From here, he could see the oceans of forests from his tiny cloud island. His aching eyes wandered through the rising and falling landscape of timber hills and grassy open fields. Not to mention the second trail of smo-- Bolt looked again. Several miles from where they were, a thin line of swirling white smoke rose to the sky. This could only mean one thing: their attacks were still nearby. Gliding downwards, the pegasus returned to the camp to tell of his discovery. _*_ “What a stroke of pure luck!” General Cato grinned as he and his forces looked through the bushes towards the village in the clearing. “These barbarians think they can attack Rome? Well now, let’s see how they like it.” “Felix,” the scarlet unicorn spoke up, “are you sure this is necessary?” “It is Roman policy after all,” he said, looking up at the clouds above. “Attack a Roman and we’ll attack you. Only this time, we are prepared. Now, all we need to do is wait for Jupiter’s signal.” Spear looked up as well and spotted the lone low-hovering cloud that inched over the village. The village itself had a wooden wall that encompassed several huts made out of sticks. As far as they could see, there was small farmland in the huge clearing, but it was surrounded by the forest. Then, when the cloud slowed down right over the village’s border, lightning from it struck the wooden walls, setting them ablaze. This was the cue that the Romans were waiting for. A cohort was the first to charge towards the village, getting the attention of the warriors of the village. Horses were called for and weapons were quickly gathered as they fled from the burning walls and toward the approaching cohort. Archers fired their arrows at the horses and soldiers tossed their javelins. When a whistle was blown, the soldiers formed a series of V-shaped wedges pointing towards the Germanics. The Romans formed a wall of spikes, causing those unfortunate enough to be in their path to be stabbed and rushed down by the ever-advancing army. Trumpets were sounded like the rest of the legion surrounded the village on all sides, also forming into wedges and marching forward. As soon as the rest of the Roman army revealed themselves, those left in the village either picked up a weapon to fight or tried to flee. Meanwhile, in the air, Captain Lightning Bolt looked down upon the village in chaos and spotted something unusual. While most of the primitive dwellings housed humans and the occasional farm animal, he spotted a being that caught him completely by surprise. Running around in panic, he spotted what looked like an equine, but it was smaller and had a white coat with… a pink mane. As far as he’d seen, nopony in this world had a mane that was any lighter than white, nor had they had any colors differing from the humans. He had to investigate. Swooping down from the sky, the pegasus called out. “Hey, you!” The pony turned around and gave him a clearer view. The pony was clearly a mare, and also a fellow Equestrian. The earth pony had a red cross as her cutie mark, along with a golden necklace and a bag around her neck that had a bottle sticking out of it. The mare’s eyes widened. “Oh Celestia, are… are you?” “Equestrian?” The Solar Guard landed. “Yes, I am.” Suddenly, the Captain was being hugged by the mare as she laughed with joy. “I can’t believe it! I’m being saved at last!” “Hold on, ma’am.” Lightning pushed her off. “How long have you been here?” “Four years,” she said with tears in her eyes. “I’m Nurse Red Heart from Ponyville. I was taking a vacation in Paris when I somehow ended up here. You have no idea what this means to me.” “Right now,” Bolt said, taking note of the approaching army drawing closer, “we need to get out of here. Is there anything that you need to grab?” “No. Let’s go.” “Follow me,” he said as the two ponies galloped their way out of the village. They went around panicking humans burning homes but managed to escape through the front gates and onto the battlefield. At this point, the Roman legion coiled around the tribal settlement like a snake, trampling over crops and warriors alike. However, when a cohort spotted the pegasus, they opened up their formation. “She’s with me!” Once the two ponies were behind the safety of the Roman lines, the town of their ambushers was crushed. _*_ “HAIL JUPITER! HAIL MARS!” the legion cried after their victory and capture of the village in the name of Rome. Once the Germanic town was ransacked and prisoners were taken in, the Solar Guards became even greater heroes once the soldiers discovered that they found another pony that talked like them. The nurse was dubbed to be the Goddess of Medicine herself, Minerva. To the Romans, this was good news, especially since the expedition’s missions were nearing completion. The General closed the flap of the tent, silencing the cheering army before turning to the three gods before him. “What a day this has turned out to be! I never thought that I would have the privilege of being in the presence of a goddess like yourself.” Nurse Red Heart’s face turned pink, but she cleared her throat. “Thank you for the compliment, General. So, now that you’ve captured them, what are you planning to do to them?” “Well, for those left alive, we will offer them a choice: serve Rome or face immediate execution.” “Doesn’t that seem a little extreme?” Lightning questioned. “Sire, we are dealing with barbarians. Do you really think they would act civil towards each other, much less another Roman?” The earth pony mare opened her mouth in objection, but quickly shut it and shook her head. “General,” Spear Head told him, “if you wouldn’t mind, I was hoping that the three of us could get reacquainted with one another in private.” “Of course.” Cato saluted and backed away out of the tent. With the three of them alone, the unicorn was the first to speak up. “Now that they’re gone, I guess it’s about time we figure out who you are.” “You’re from the Solar Guard, aren’t you?” she asked. “You have their armor.” “We are,” Lightning nodded, “and we are also trying to return to Equestria.” “Who are you two anyway?” “I’m Captain Lightning Bolt, ma’am, current Captain of the Guard. This is Drill Sergeant Spear Head.” The unicorn saluted. “Okay,” she nodded. “So, what’s with them calling us gods? When I was in that village, they thought that I was a spirit or a shamare since I knew about medicine.” “I won’t lie to you,” Bolt said, “but these Romans are just plain weird. I’d fallen while escorting Celestia and landed on my face in their capital. If I remember right, it’s because of my cutie mark and the fact that I can talk which led me to believe that I was their god -- King Jupiter, to be exact.” “And what about you?” She pointed towards Spear. “I was part of the search party looking for him,” he tilted his head over to the pegasus. “I had my suspicions that the cloud he passed over had some kind of magic. Not only was I right, but I also ended up in this world as well.” “A cloud…?” Red Heart put a hoof underneath her chin. “Wait a sec… Four years ago, when I was on my vacation and headed to Paris, there was a weird cloud, too. I remember it being violet and it let off a lot of lightning. Yes… I was trying to get to my hotel room when I felt something shock me, and then I ended up in the middle of the woods. After a few days of mindless wandering, I ran into those people who were migrating, and they took me with them. Since I had a good chunk of medical training while I was studying to be a doctor, they saw me as useful and kept me around. Of course, they didn’t carry any kind of medicine that I knew of, so I was forced to experiment with whatever healing plants I could find.” “Nevertheless,” Bolt said, “you are with an expedition team tasked with finding that cloud. We’ve convinced them to take us to the right place and time for us to hopefully get back home.” “That’s right,” Spear lit his horn once more, “and there’s some more good news, too.” “What’s that?” both pegasus and earth pony inquired. The Drill Sergeant dimmed his horn. “I don’t think we’ll have to wait for very long.