• Published 15th Jul 2019
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The Centurion Project - TheEighthDayofNight



Elias "Rubrum Aquilae" Bright, the former leader of the Legio I Americana, on the run from his past, finds himself thrown into the conflicts of Equestria.

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Chapter 37: Endurance

Elias scowled in the early morning sun as he conducted his inspection of the recruits. As per the usual, they were lined up by cohort, their backs straight and their chins held high. Elias gave them no praise, and instead searched each one closely, looking for the slightest of mistakes. Unfortunately for him, many of the recruits were becoming quite good at meeting his seemingly impossible standards, and at least one row passed the inspection without comment. Out of the corner of his eye, Elias caught more than one recruit smile as the human walked by without saying anything. The pony quickly realized their mistake and their face resumed its serious mask, so Elias let the mistake slide. It was good for the ponies to feel proud when they succeeded, that feeling of success, of having his silent approval was what he wanted. He needed them to strive for his praise, so that every action would be taken with the utmost precision, and fearlessness.

Elias frowned as he made his way to the next row, quickly noticing a very blatant mistake. Ice Blossom, upon seeing his displeasure, was at his side in an instant. She blanched when she saw the very obvious gap in the line. The ponies to either side of the empty space seemed to quiver with fear-filled anticipation, and Elias noticed more than a few nervous glances in his direction. Elias walked slowly between the lines of recruits until he was standing before the space. He tried to mentally picture who was usually standing in it, but even he couldn’t memorize the names and faces of five thousand different ponies. Not in only a month at least.

Elias looked to the recruit to the left of the hole.

“Recruit, who is supposed to be in this space?”

The unicorn mare snapped a salute and answered quickly and forcefully.

“Star Orchid, General.”

The name was familiar. Though it took him a moment, Elias mentally snapped as it clicked. He looked around the training grounds.

“Who else was guarding the standard last night?”

Nobody answered. Elias looked to Book Binder, who checked her journal.

“I have… Recruit Thunderstorm. He and Recruit Orchid were on guard duty for the standard.”

Ice Blossom cursed under her breath, and without a word to Elias, she broke into an enraged sprint toward the recruit barracks. The sound of the pegasus slamming through the door seemed to echo around the training grounds, and the sound of yelling soon followed. Content that his centurion would get the pair of failures before him in a timely manner, he continued his inspection.

A few minutes later, Ice Blossom shoved a pair of ponies; a pegasus and an earth pony, out of the barracks, then barked for them to sprint toward the front of the formation. They both did so, and Elias watched them both from the corner of his eye. Feigning like he was finishing his inspection, Elias let the pair sweat for a moment as he decided on their punishment. It had to be something substantial, it was the first night the recruits had guarded the standard after all, and they had immediately failed to report to inspection the following morning.

Elias frowned at that, and he stopped. He had no idea when specifically they had left their post. That would be the measure of punishment. He just needed to identify where the point of failure was. He stopped mid-row and turned on his heel. Quickly leaving the formation, Elias made his way toward the front of the training grounds. Both recruits stood at attention as he approached. Hands clasped behind his back and with a stern expression on his face, Elias stared at the pair of ponies. Both looked exhausted, but while the stallion seemed nervous, the mare just seemed pissed. She blinked at Elias as he stared at her, and her eyes seemed to hold a dare, as if begging for him to try punishing her. He was nothing if not up to the challenge.

Elias turned on his heel and began pacing before them.

“Recruits, I must say that I am extremely disappointed. You have shamed yourselves, and your cohort by choosing to skip inspection. Before I let you make your case, answer me this; when did you leave your post?”

The mare took a step forward and gave an angry salute. Her eyes carried heat as she glared at him.

“We left our posts at precisely five a.m General, just like we were ordered to. When we received no further orders, we went to bed with an alarm set for ten a.m, the beginning of formation training. I-“

Elias held up his hand, and the mare’s jaw snapped shut. Elias stared at her for a moment, then continued pacing.

“Thank you for your long, and overly-descriptive answer Recruit Orchid, but you seem to have misheard me. I didn’t ask for the reason why you weren’t at formation, I asked for the time you left your post guarding the standard. By giving me more information than I asked for, you are wasting the legion’s time, a punishable offense on a normal day, but you have already wasted the legion’s time this morning, so I suggest you stop glaring at my back and fall in beside Recruit Thunderstorm, who is currently the only pony before me showing any shred of common sense.”

Elias could almost hear Star Orchid grinding her teeth as he looked to Thunderstorm.

“So Recruit, what was the reason you two were not at inspection?”

The pegasus glanced at his compatriot for a brief moment.

“W-Well it’s like Orchid said; we finished our guard duty over the standard, and then we went back to the barracks. Nopony gave us further orders, so we assumed that it would be alright to get some sleep, then be rested enough for today's training.”

Elias nodded and looked to Orchid.

“And at any point did you think to ask for orders? At what point did I give anyone the idea that my orders can just be assumed?”

Orchid huffed.

“General, we tried to find Centurion Ice Blossom, but she wasn’t in the barracks yet. I didn’t want to put words in your mouth, and I thought it best that we be rested for the most important part of training! I’m sorry we weren’t here for inspection, but we didn’t know better!”

“But you did know better,” Elias snapped. “I provided you with a schedule for the week, and nowhere on it does it say that the legion remains in inspection block while General Bright dismisses two failed recruits. If you have a question, you ask. If you cannot find someone to ask, you search until you do. You have wasted far too much time by not putting in simple effort. You have been briefed about the location of my office, and there are no less than three other ponies you could have gone to besides Centurion Ice Blossom. Now leave your helmet in the line and get out. If you can’t put enough thought into finding someone with authority to answer your question, then I don’t want you. Out. Now.”

Orchid looked on the verge of exploding with anger. Her fur puffed out, and her eyes burned from beneath her recruit helmet. Her lips curled in a snarl, but she didn’t speak. She instead huffed and grabbed Thunderstorm by the collar of his armor, dragging him toward the castle doors. Elias turned away from the pair, staring out over his blocks of recruits as he waited for the ding of the bell. When it never came, Elias cast an eye back in time to catch the castle doors slamming closed. A scowl spread across his face, but he didn’t order anyone to retrieve the disobedient recruits. They had pissed away enough time already.

Elias turned his gaze back to the recruits.

“Let this be a lesson to you all. If you have any doubt about your orders, you ask. Doing so will make the difference between living and dying. You must have utmost certainty on the battlefield that everybody is doing their job. If one pony is not in line, if a pair of ponies are not on guard duty, then it could mean an early death for all of us as the enemy slips into our camp and slits our throats. Consider it a new standing order. Ask questions.”

Elias let his hands fall to his sides as he moved toward his gear.

“Now fall into formation and let’s get running.”

*****

Elias trotted beside the blocks of exhausted recruits, scanning them for signs of failure. They had started the morning run without a hitch, but Elias had added an additional challenge to it. If anyone fell out of formation, the entire legion of recruits would do another lap of the city. They had nearly done the first lap perfectly, a sight that had surprised Elias, but within two hundred feet of the training field gate, a pony had decided that they didn’t want to run anymore, and they had quit, trotting out of formation and to the bell. A few groans managed to pierce the air, so Elias had called to his officers, and the legion had turned on its heel and started another lap. Things had gone downhill from there, and quickly.

It had started with one pony dropping from the effort; a failure of body, not mind. Elias quickly had the unicorn dragged away to the healing ward by two of his fellows, and then they had started another lap. This time, two dropped, and so they too were dragged away just as the other two returned. Elias had them pause for two minutes to get water, and then he had set the legion to running again. As the sun began rising, the legion slogged through lap after lap. More ponies dropped as the air grew warmer, but Elias kept them running. After the tenth lap, with no end in sight, four more ponies quit, and Elias halted the legion to ensure that the bell was rung four times. Once it had been, Elias had made the ponies tighten formation to fill in the gaps, then they were off again.

Elias spit off to the side to rid his mouth of the excess saliva, then shot a glare over the heads of his recruits.

“Keep those fucking feet moving! You do not stop unless you are told to, and I swear to the princesses that if I see one more recruit dragging their feet, we will run laps until the sun goes down! This ends when you want it to! Now keep moving!”

The ponies near him shot him nasty glares, but their steps became more focused. Elias took deep breaths as he picked up his pace to get near the beginning of the formation. Ponies were out and about, something that wasn’t an issue during their normal running time, but now that it was approaching noon, the streets were filling, and so a few ponies had to run ahead of the formation to make sure the path was clear for the five thousand and change recruits.

As he moved past the formations, Elias spotted an issue immediately. One of the earth pony recruits didn’t have his training vest strapped on correctly, and the weights were sliding toward his front, making him lean into each step. It was only serving to tire him out faster, and each step became dangerous. Before Elias could move to correct the issue however, the inevitable happened, and the exhausted stallion’s hoof tripped on a lose brick of the road. Weighed down by his equipment, and with his momentum still trying to carry him forward, the stallion’s foreleg snapped with an ungodly crack. The pony let out a sharp cry and sprawled into the dirt. The recruits around him flinched and ground to a natural halt, but unfortunately for them, the rest of the legion was set to trample over them.

“Legion halt!” Elias bellowed as he raced forward.

A healer met him at the fallen stallion, quickly cradling the broken leg as she began taking the needed supplies from her saddlebags. Elias spared the former Solar Guard only a glance before he cradled the stallion’s head, positioning himself so that his shadow fell over the earth pony, giving him a measure of respite from the sun’s heat.

The stallion sighed in relief for just a moment, then his eyes snapped open, and they locked onto Elias with pure panic.

“G-General! I- I’m not quitting, I swear! I- I just fell! I can keep going, I’ll even do another lap! P-please, I didn’t quit. You’ve gotta believe me General, I didn’t quit!”

Elias reached out to remove the stallion’s helmet, but the earth pony whimpered loudly and tried to reach for it with his good foreleg.

“No! Please General! I don’t want to quit! I can’t! This is all I have!”

Elias blinked in surprise at the stallion, and he quickly shifted from the hard drill sergeant, to the calm, charismatic general; ever the winning politician. Elias put on his best smile.

“Relax recruit, I’m getting your helmet off so you don’t overheat, and so that the healer can make sure you didn’t hit anything.”

The stallion didn’t seem convinced, and it almost concerned Elias that the earth pony was so easily ignoring his broken leg. The healer didn’t lose focus however, and she controlled the broken limb with ease as she set it with a pair of splints and a long length of white cloth. She growled in mild frustration as she wrapped the leg with her hooves, but even the healers were restricted, and a dampening ring was fastened firmly around her horn. She used her teeth to pull the leg tight, then tied it off quickly.

As soon as she did so, the stallion tried to stand.

“Woah big guy, no more walking on that for you,” she said quickly, pushing the earth pony back down. “We’re going to get somepony to carry you back so you can heal up.”

The stallion whimpered and looked to Elias.

“B-but the General is right here! I can’t let anyone down! It’s only the fourth day! I have to get up!”

He whimpered softly and sniffled.

“I don’t want to be thrown out.”

“Why?” Elias asked simply, his curiosity more than piqued. “This can’t be out of blind loyalty to me or the legion, you haven’t been here long enough. Why do you care so much about staying? An injury like this is a shameless ticket home. I would discharge you; not disown you.”

The stallion looked at him with desperate eyes.

“Please General, don’t send me home. This is my last chance to do things right.”

He sniffled again and looked at the pavement in shame.

“I’ve never been good at anything, and my cutie mark isn’t something you can just find a job in. Who’s going to pay for a butcher in Equestria? I tried to help out on the family farm, but we raise pigs! When I get inspired I just… do what I’m good at. I cost my family hundreds of bits, nobody in town will even talk with me, and… I got into trouble when I got desperate. I did some bad things, stole from ponies, sold illegal stuff. My family managed to grab me off the streets and force me into a rehabilitation center. Then they gave me an ultimatum. I can’t go back General; I haven’t done anything good yet! I haven’t even made it a week in training!”

He tried to scoot forward to latch onto Elias’ armor as he pleaded with tear filled eyes.

“Please, I think I have a real chance to do something here, to be someone! I think I can be a legionnaire; I just need one more chance! I’ll even finish the march! A broken foreleg isn’t so bad for an earth pony!”

He immediately tried to stand, but the healer pushed him down, and looked to Elias.

“General, he cannot walk on this leg. He does that, he’s crippled for life.”

“I can do it!” the stallion growled. “I am not getting thrown out over a silly injury!”

“It’s not a silly injury you walnut,” the healer shot back. “You broke a leg! You need to have it healed! To do that, it needs to remain set.”

“I can walk fine!” the stallion shouted back. “I can do anything for the legion! I-…”

Elias raised his left hand and both ponies fell immediately silent. Elias rubbed at his bare face for a moment, then looked to the stallion. He had no intention of throwing the earth pony out for an accidental injury, but it was clear that the stallion didn’t want to be given his place; he wanted to earn it. It was exactly the mentality that Elias needed to cultivate. The strong were rewarded, even in their moments of weakness.

“You want to stay in my legion do you?”

“More than anything General,” the stallion replied. “This is something special, I can feel it. I know my place is here.”

“You know?” Elias replied. “Interesting. Since you know, stand up. I will decide your punishment for delaying my legion.”

The stallion nodded and a flicker of a smile passed over his face as he struggled up on three legs. The healer looked at Elias with a disgusted expression.

“General, he cannot finish this run! It will ruin his ability to walk for the rest of his life!”

Elias looked at her with an even stare.

“Noted Healer, now remain quiet until I ask for your opinion.”

The pony looked like she wanted to yell at him, but her jaw clenched shut and her eyes shifted to the stallion, who had managed to stand, though it was clearly an immense effort for him. The crippling pain he had been able to ignore while on the ground likely lanced through his leg as he stood, but he did his best attempt at an attention.

Elias nodded, admiring the pony’s attempt at posture, then smirked at the earth pony, making sure to meet his eyes.

“Very good Recruit. Here is how I will decide if you deserve to be in my legion. I will carry you, but I will not hold you on my back. If you can stay on for the rest of the run, with your full gear mind you, you will still have a place here once your leg has been mended. If you fall however…”

“I won’t fail you General!” the stallion said with a grin.

Before he could trot forward, the healer moved behind him, quickly unclasping his saddlebags and tearing them free. When the stallion began to protest, the healer growled at him.

“Do you really think that you’re going to be able to hold on with one leg, while being bottom heavy? No, I’ll carry your bags, and then when we get back, you and I are going to the infirmary, immediately.”

The stallion looked to Elias, who crossed his arms and shrugged.

“You heard the healer. What she says, goes, unless I say otherwise.”

The earth pony sighed, and nodded, then limped over to Elias. The human crouched as low as he could, allowing the stallion plenty of time to get a comfortable grip on his back. Despite his words, Elias did slip a hand under the stallion’s rump, ensuring that he wouldn’t fall and injure himself further. Whatever his past, the earth pony was the ideal recruit. He had the drive to succeed and push himself past his breaking points, while also knowing who was on top. He was perfect, and Elias wouldn’t let him slip away. Perhaps later he would talk to the stallion in private and find out more information about his previous mistakes. He could use them as a motivation factor if nothing else.

Once the stallion stopped shifting, Elias got to his feet. The healer was at his side, watching the stallion carefully, and Elias gave no orders to contradict her out of formation behavior. In time, the healers would know when to push and when to respect his wishes, but for now, he would concede her the ability to be concerned for the stallion on his back. The rubble laden saddlebags sat on her flanks, resting uncomfortably over her medical bags. The healer shifted slightly as she got used to the weight, but she didn’t complain, and as she found some modicum of comfort, she stared straight ahead, waiting for Elias’ order.

The rest of the recruits watched him with a mixture of expressions, but Elias ignored their stares and resumed his normal commanding state, and his voice carried high through the stone streets.

“Stand at attention recruits! We still have a run to finish, and if anyone drops out, they will run another lap!”

With his centurions working quickly, the formations began moving again, with the slightly rested ponies moving in time so that their torturous morning run would finally come to an end. The earth pony on Elias’ shoulders let out a grunt as the man started running, but the pony didn’t complain, and his three good legs remained tight around Elias’ chest. Some part of Elias wanted to look back and grin at the earth pony, but Elias brutalized that portion of his mind. He would not make friends with the pony. This was a test, another trial to make the earth pony into a stronger soldier. Elias mentally cursed the ponies for making him soft before requesting he form a legion. On one hand, it made sure they could actually convince him to do it, but on the other, it made him far too soft, and if anything, made him more like a pony than a human. He felt a need to make a friendship with the stallion on his back, and that made Elias angry.

Said anger filled his legs with energy, and despite the fact that his calves were screaming as they made their way back to the training grounds, Elias felt like he could do another lap, pony on his back or no. The recruits, however, were not in such a state.

Elias continued carrying the earth pony as he conducted his inspection of his recruits. Without a sound, seven more made their way to the bell, with the rings carrying loud and clear through the grounds. Elias gave them no notice, instead carrying the stallion toward the stage, where a pair of Royal Guards were waiting with a stretcher, no doubt a result of a message sent silently by Book Binder. The pair of black-clad guards gave Elias an odd look as he carried the stallion over, but the stallion couldn’t have smiled wider as Elias finally gave him permission to get down. He did so stiffly, and he nearly collapsed as he balanced on three legs, but he grinned broadly at Elias as he limped to the stretcher. With an off-kilter salute, the earth pony flopped onto the stretcher, and the Royal Guards carried him off to the infirmary. Elias made a mental note to check with Book Binder for the stallion’s application and background forms, then turned his focus back to the legion as a whole.

Walking past the newly begun row of training helmets, Elias began calmly inspecting his recruits. He did his best to ignore the sweat pooling under his helmet, and it took strength of will to ignore scratching at his armored spine, where the sweat was running down in rivulets. The noon sun was beating down hot on the shade-less training grounds, and despite his mental fortitude, Elias was feeling it. He cut his inspection short and walked to the center of the formation, ensuring that his voice could be heard easily.

“Congratulations recruits! You have just successfully passed the first phase of your endurance training! It is important that your mind be able to push your body onward, even when you feel on the brink of physical failure. For those of you that have decided to quit, you are already gone, so these words are wasted. You have earned a small break before the next stage of your endurance training, so take a two-hour lunch and report back here in full gear. Centurions, make sure everything is shining and is being worn properly.”

Elias picked one of his officers out at random, and he got in Gray Granite’s face, glaring hard at the earth pony.

“I should have your forelegs broken for the time you have cost me, and for the time you have wasted on one of my recruits. He will spend the next few days in the infirmary, and I should hold you personally responsible for his failures.”

Granite didn’t move, though he did gulp nervously. Elias moved away from him, letting his voice rise again.

“You have had a rough morning however, and an injury was bound to happen sometime. Better that it happens early to somepony that has the common sense to try and get back up, rather than on the battlefield, where the enemy won’t give you the chance.”

Elias rolled his shoulders, trying to ease the weight of his pack. He needed to get himself into better shape if he was going to yell at others on a long march. The afternoon would provide that chance however.

“Today, after your lunch, we will be marching to Ponyville. I expect you to be in performing shape, and if you so much as step out of line, you will be sent home. This is not some exercise around Canterlot where the ponies are looking down their noses at you anyway, this is the Equestrian heartland, and you will represent my legion proudly, or so help me I will beat you to within an inch of your life before I throw you out and onto the street. If you do not think you are up to task, the bell waits to collect its toll. For those of you who are strong enough to succeed, fall out, rest up. I will see you all in two hours.”

*****

Elias was extremely disappointed with the results of their march. Not with the recruits themselves, they had performed admirably given their minimal training. Nor was he disappointed with his officers, who controlled the recruits with the utmost focus, so quick to respond to failure that Elias found that punishment was being meted out as he noticed the issue. It was a good sign of cohesion, and Elias should have been pleased with the result of their first march.

The Equestrian citizenry, however, had let him down in every regard. Perhaps it was because the recruit armor was dull and grey, and they had not yet been given their distinctive weapons and equipment, but as they marched, the recruits only received passing glances from their fellow ponies. While Elias had expected nothing from the ponies of Canterlot, he had at least expected some shock and awe from the more isolated town of Ponyville; it was why the turnaround point for the march was the town center after all. He had planned it as an exercise to show the recruits who they were fighting for, to show them that their fellow ponies would support them fully in their venture, yet nobody showed any interest in the ragged lines of recruits. The civilians instead went about their days like Elias hadn’t marched a recruit army of thousands into their city.

From the looks on the faces of his recruits, he wasn’t the only one who was disappointed. More than a few of the recruits were Ponyville locals, and yet their townsponies flat out ignored them as they broke formation to call out and wave. Elias had waved punishment as he tried to catch the eyes of the Ponyvillians, to try to see why they wouldn’t look upon a group of honestly brave volunteers. Elias would weed out the weak, but volunteering gave them a bit of credit in his eyes, and surviving several grueling days of training? Elias was beginning to learn the names of the best recruits. So why did their countrymen ignore them?

Elias got his answer when they made for the edge of town on the return trip. With all he had seen of Equestria, he had never expected to see something straight out of a human history book. It wasn’t by any means a large crowd, but it was enough to make a racket. Elias glanced at the hastily made signs the ponies in the crowd had made, and his bad eye twitched as a mild wave of slander struck out at his recruits. It was pitiful to Elias, but he could tell that the words were venomous to his recruits, especially those born of Ponyville. A vaguely familiar yellow pegasus seemed to lead the crowd, and though her voice was soft, it carried the distance to the formations easily, aided by the much louder voices of her followers.

“Equestria has no place for war!” the pegasus called out. “We don’t need soldiers! Go home and do something helpful!”

Elias paused for a moment, and beside him, the ponies hesitated, causing the formation to bunch up. Gray Granite sprang into action to administer punishment, but Elias raised a hand, stopping the earth pony.

“Keep them marching, I caused them to falter. Get First Centurion Flash and Adiutor Binder to me. I’m going to go see what stirred up this little hornet’s nest.”

Gray Granite gave the crowd of ponies a nervous look, but nodded and began shouting orders for the recruits to keep moving. Elias took one of the pilla from his shield and walked forward. It took a moment for the crowd of ponies to notice his approach, but when they did, their shouts seemed to dip in volume and fervor. Many eyes flicked to the weapon in his hand, but Elias had no intention of using the javelin on anyone. A few dozen paces away from the crowd, Elias stabbed the weighted end into the ground. The pilum waved in the breeze as Elias took off his helmet and placed it atop the spear point. He slid his shield from his arm and balanced it against the pilum shaft, then slipped his bag from his shoulders and sat it down carefully in the dirt.

By the time he had made himself as non-intimidating as he could be, Night Flash and Book Binder appeared at his side. Both looked nervously at the crowd of the ponies, who stared nervously back. Elias felt no traces of nervousness as he clasped his hands behind his back and walked forward, choosing to leave his bad eye exposed. No need for soldiers? Please. An almost successful changeling invasion wanted a word with these dullards.

Elias stopped a few feet away from the yellow pegasus. At a glance, she seemed to shy away from him, but as Elias looked her up and down he saw… something around her. Like she was trying to deceive him. A similar distortion seemed to hang in the air around the crowd, but it centered on the yellow pegasus. She was clearly the ringleader, and Elias stared her down as he let his voice ring clearly through the air.

“Is there any particular reason you are here harassing my recruits today, or do you just not have anything better to do?”

The ponies seemed aghast at the fact that he could speak; at least most of them did. The yellow one faked shock at his words, but the ripples of distortion seemed to increase around the pony, while the distortion around the crowd lessened. Elias had to wrinkle his nose to force his bad eye not to twitch.

“W-well,” the yellow pegasus started, “w-we don’t like soldiers! They’re mean, and they hurt things! Nothing good comes of violence!”

Elias raised an eyebrow at the mare.

“I disagree. A good deal can be gained from violence, especially when it is for a good cause. The princesses believe that they have need to cause present violence to prevent an even greater future violence. A worthy goal, and so here are a group of ponies that have volunteered to give their very lives for you all, yet you would reject them? That seems shameful in my eyes.”

Most of the ponies began looking at the ground in shame, while others looked at their signs in confusion. The ripples of distortion vanished from around them as the signs hit the ground, and the ponies blinked, looking around in bewilderment, as if they had just woken up. Elias’ eyes narrowed as he watched them. The yellow pegasus cast a glance back at the crowd and chuckled nervously.

“W-well, that’s their choice! We didn’t ask them to become soldiers, and we don’t want them to be soldiers! We have a right to protest you marching into Ponyville without permission!”

Elias shook his head at the pony.

“I’m a General of Equestria, I have the permission of the princesses to do whatever I deem necessary to prepare my troops for combat, including a leisurely walk into what I thought would be a kind, supportive city of their loved ones. I must say, I don’t believe Ponyville has earned its reputation for friendliness. Even the Canterlot nobles weren’t as cold as some of the ponies I’ve seen today.”

The crowd of ponies flinched at his words, and the distortion around them seemed to lessen further. One mare, a pink and green earth pony shook her head and whimpered lightly. She closed her eyes and clutched her forehead.

“I… My marefriend waved and I just ignored her. Why would I do that? She… she looked so hurt when I didn’t even look at her.”

Her head snapped up toward the rapidly retreating group of recruits.

“I have to go see her!” the mare cried out as she bolted away.

“Go after her,” Elias ordered Night Flash. “Make sure the recruit in question isn’t punished.”

The pegasus nodded without a word and took to the sky like a shot, flapping hard toward the formation of recruits. Elias watched him go for a moment, then looked back to the crowd to find it beginning to disperse. A few ponies looked toward the recruits with regret in their eyes, and a few followed the pink mare, while others turned back toward Ponyville with their heads down. The yellow pegasus, however, was glaring daggers at Elias. Distortion bled off the pony, and her eyes almost seemed to flicker as she took a step back.

Elias cocked his head and shifted his hands so that one rested on his gladius hilt.

“Now that everyone seems to be thinking clearly again, I’d like to ask you a few questions miss, starting with your name.”

The pegasus looked around for help, but she quickly found herself alone as her crowd of protesters dispersed. She smiled at Elias sheepishly and took a step back.

“Oh, well. My name is Fluttershy, and I think I’ll go home now. My, um, bunny is no doubt worried sick about me.”

The pegasus eeped as she bumped into Book Binder, who had managed to subtly slip behind her while Elias held the pegasus’ attention. Her head whipped toward both of them, unsure of who to look at as she became boxed in.

“Remain calm Ms. Fluttershy,” Elias said. “If you answer my questions, you can go home without issue, but I need information from you. We were in sight of Ponyville for less than half an hour, yet you managed to gather a crowd of dozens, with coordinated signs no less, to protest our march. I need to know how you knew we were coming, and I will have my answer now, or you will be making the long march back with us to Canterlot so that one of the princesses can get the answer from you.”

Fluttershy flinched, and she looked back to Book Binder desperately.

“P-please, I didn’t mean it! I- I just don’t want to see anypony hurt, and imagine all the little animals! I- Please, I won’t do it again, I promise! I- I…”

The distortion became nauseating around the pegasus, and Elias’ hand drifted to the hilt of his gladius. The mare seemed genuine, but at the same time malicious. Something was happening here, and he didn’t like it at all. Before he could rip the gladius from her sheathe and strike out, a quartet of voices called out from the direction of Ponyville proper. Elias’ eyes flicked to four ponies, mares by the look of the them, sprinting toward his confrontation with Fluttershy. The yellow mare let out a sigh of relief, then shrank to the ground, hiding her face in her hooves as she let out a low whimper.

Elias quickly recognized the mares, especially Twilight. He moved quickly, whipping his enchanted glasses from their pouch and sliding them on. He felt the illusion magic take hold of his scar and bad eye, rending both from visible existence. For some reason, the distortions lessened as well, as if they were being viewed through smudged glass. Elias ignored that for the moment, and instead focused his mind on the potential situation he found himself in. The purple unicorn and her friends stopped a few feet away from where Fluttershy had begun crying. Twilight cocked her head at Elias with a nervous expression on her face.

“H- hello Elias. It’s been awhile. I- is something wrong with Fluttershy?”

Elias cast an eye down at the yellow pegasus, who peaked out of her hooves for a moment before yelping and hiding again. He felt his bad eye twitch as he looked back to Twilight and her friends.

“Not that I can tell, but perhaps your friend had better keep her nose out of guard business. She gathered a crowd of ponies to verbally harass my recruits on our daily march, and when I confronted her to find out why, she refused to answer my questions.”

His eyes flicked down again.

“In fact, I still have yet to get an answer as to how you knew we were coming.”

The rainbow-maned pegasus flapping next to Twilight snarled and set down on the ground, striding with purpose toward Elias.

“Personally, I don’t give a buck. Nopony gets to treat Fluttershy like this, especially when I’m not around.”

Book Binder was in front of her in an instant, glaring the pegasus down.

“That’s quite enough Ms. Dash. General Bright was doing his job and protecting his ponies from what we have been told were friendly ponies. Ms. Fluttershy could have been home by now if she just answered his questions.”

Dash got closer to Book Binder and growled.

“I don’t give a buck why that monkey thing did what he did. What I care about is that my friend is currently crying in the dirt. Now move outta my way before somepony gets hurt.”

Book Binder snarled and butted heads with the blue pegasus. The rest of the mares tensed up, as if preparing to fight the unicorn, but Elias cut everyone off with a shrill whistle. The ponies recoiled at the high pitch, no doubt a result of their much more sensitive ears, but it brought their attention back to him quite nicely. Elias cast another glance down at Fluttershy, then snorted dismissively.

“We will be marching here again tomorrow, and the next day, and every day after that for the next six months. I suggest you do not gather anymore crowds." He looked to Book Binder. "Adiutor, gather their signs and burn them, then let’s go. The recruits are getting too far ahead, and I can feel that Night Flash isn’t pushing them hard enough. I’ve wasted enough legion time on this.”

Elias looked to Twilight as he turned away from Fluttershy and walked toward his pilum.

“I’d advise you keep a close watch on your friend. Her actions have consequences, even if she’s too selfish to see that. Keep her in check, or next time, I will.”

Twilight nodded silently, but Elias could tell that his words caused her some measure of discomfort. She and Dash moved toward the still crying Fluttershy while Book Binder gathered the protest materials into a pile and set them alight. The signs were a cheery blaze by the time Elias slipped his shield onto his arm once more.

Elias didn’t give the mares another glance as he and Book Binder turned away, falling into a jog so that they could catch up with the recruits. As they ran, Elias glanced down toward Book Binder.

“Adiutor, did you notice anything… odd about Fluttershy?”

The unicorn shook her head.

“Not particularly General, though ponies like that drive me up the wall. Here we are, on the princesses wishes, protecting Equestria, but because we might kill something else, we’re suddenly the bad guys. They take no regard for the fact that its either our enemies, or our friends and families that will pay the price. I understand they have the right to say what they want, but they could at least keep it out of our sight, you know?”

Elias nodded in silent agreement, but let the subject drop. She hadn’t seen anything around the yellow pegasus, hadn’t noticed the distortions. He briefly wondered why only he had noticed something. Maybe… maybe he had been seeing things? It wasn’t the first time he had had hallucinations, and with the onset of training, he had begun having daily migraines. Perhaps seeing the crowd of protesters had snapped a piece of his brain and had caused his eyes to see things that weren’t there.

He would investigate further in the future. Elias hadn’t noticed signs of distortion from any of the other ponies, not even Fluttershy’s friends. It made him curious as to what the distortion was. Was it simply an effect the yellow pegasus had on other ponies, or something more malicious? Her association with Twilight implied that she was somebody special, but did that extend to some sort of additional magical effect that most pegasi didn’t have?

Elias scowled as he and Book Binder rejoined the rear of the formation, catching the recruits just as they filed back into their formations. Their former harassers waved goodbye with wide, happy smiles, and as soon as they fell back in, the recruits were set upon by their officers. The shouting ponies made sure the recruits continued moving as a group, leaving Elias to think. He had a few options when it came to Fluttershy’s actions. It could have been nothing more than a pacifist seeking to shame her fellows into quitting, and she might have had some odd ability that assisted her in gathering strength to her cause. Might. That important distinction between speculation and fact put Elias on edge. He had done more than a little research on changelings, and he knew that mind-manipulation was within their skill set. He couldn’t just act on an Element without evidence, however.

Elias felt his bad eye twitch. He squinted and stared out over his recruits, immediately picking out several distortions among them. They had made no attempts to manipulate their fellows, so did the distortions detect something else? Elias didn’t know, and he couldn’t act if he lacked knowledge. He glanced over to Book Binder.

“Adiutor, when we return to Canterlot, schedule me an appointment with Doctor Scalpel.”

The unicorn nodded and pulled out a scroll, quickly writing a note on it. IT then vanished back into her saddlebags, and she squinted as she looked up to him.

“Is something wrong General? Do I need to make arrangements for somepony to stand-in for training exercises?”

Elias almost smiled at her clever attempt to disguise her concern. Making it about training was a good trick, but fortunately, he was wise enough to see through it.

“Nothing wrong Adiutor, and I will make sure I keep to my schedule.”

He gave her nothing more than that, and given the way the mare glanced at him, he could tell she didn’t like it. Elias didn’t let what she thought bother him…. much.

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