• 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 42: Making Plans

Elias kept his usual frown on his face as the Solar Guards opened the doors to the war room. He needed to make a good first impression for the first “official” meeting they would undertake for the march. All of the other planning meetings had ended up being fairly worthless, at least for the other generals. Each had dealt with their little gripes, but did little in terms of helping them, save for the ones that Elias already knew on a personal basis. With the conflict of schedules related to training, and the day to day hectic-ness of Canterlot castle, they hadn’t actually met as a unified group, and if what he had hear was true, Princess Cadence still wouldn’t join preparations for another few weeks.

Still, the meeting would involve all of the generals, and both of the important princesses. It would be the first meeting where everyone gave their status updates, and it would be the first time where they could start laying the groundwork for the march as a whole. Excited wasn’t quite the word Elias was feeling, perhaps energetic. He was ready to lay out his plans, and get approval from everyone so that they could begin gathering the resources and start training in a group.

His mismatched eyes quickly took stock of the table, locating a trio of empty seats right next to Luna and Nightshade. The latter focused on a stack of paperwork before her, and ignored his entrance, but Luna smiled brightly at him and patted the seat next to her. Elias gave her a respectful nod and moved across the room with long strides. As he slid into the seat, it didn’t escape his notice that the chair was designed for a human user, and he faintly wondered what would have happened if he had chosen a different seat. After a moment of consideration, Elias decided it didn’t matter, and he was more than glad to be close to Luna. They had skipped their weekly session to prepare for the meeting, and Elias had found his migraines grew worse when he didn’t have a bit of free time to spend with the princess. His current headache eased just slightly as the alicorn leaned in to give him a friendly nudged.

He gave her the smallest of grins while hiding the expression behind his information packet. He noticed a faint blush as the alicorn smiled and looked away. Elias straightened in his seat and suppressed his urge to match her smile. Damn did it feel good to see one of his only friends. He didn’t know why Luna inspired butterflies in his stomach though. Maybe he was just hungry? He had skipped breakfast…

As if on que to his thoughts, Celestia entered the war room with Chaser in tow and a broad smile on her face.

“Ah, good, everypony is already here. Since it is still early, I thought it a nice treat to provide breakfast for everypony. Please, take your fill.”

As she and Chaser sat down, a swarm of servants flooded the room, and Elias quickly swiped his prepared materials from the table. He passed them to Book Binder to keep safe, then the servants were upon them. Placemats were followed quickly by plates. In the center of the table, a buffet of different platters were unveiled, all filled to the brim with steaming piles of food. Elias felt his stomach growl at the sight of a small pile of bacon, and he reached for the entire plate, knowing full well that the meat was destined for his plate.

Only for the pile of meat to fly away in a purple glow as his hand got close. Elias blinked and sat back as he watched the stack of bacon set down on Luna’s plate. The blue alicorn smiled at the unicorn beside her.

“Thank you, Silver Shine, I think I can gather the rest myself.”

The unicorn nodded and departed without a word, and Elias found himself staring at the pile of meat sitting on Luna’s plate. She noticed his staring and smiled.

“What’s the matter General? It is not orthodox for ponies to eat meat, but bacon used to be a staple for the Equestrian diet. I still quiet enjoy partaking in its greasy goodness.”

“A mare after my own heart,” Elias muttered under his breath as Celestia made a face of distaste at Luna, who had eyes only for Elias.

“I really wish you wouldn’t sister," Celestia said. "There has been a great deal of research over the years to indicate that eating meat is extremely unhealthy for ponies.”

Luna scoffed and picked up a piece of bacon. Elias felt his eye twitch as he caught an additional whiff of the meat. Jealous didn’t describe the wave of emotion he felt as Luna bit the meat in two.

“I am a nigh immortal alicorn, I can eat as I wish,” Luna replied.

Her eyes flicked toward Elias, and he noticed a playful glint in the beautiful green orbs.

“Although, bacon is best eaten when shared.”

Elias’ momentary hope was squashed as she made a servant levitate the plate toward Nightshade.

“General, would you care for some bacon? It is as fresh as it can be.”

The thestral curled her muzzle.

“Thank you for the offer Princess, but I haven’t tried meat in years. It makes me fat. Mangos on the other hoof…”

The bacon levitated away as the thestral reached into the middle of the table and snatched up the fruit basket. Elias’ eyes traced the meat as it made its way around the table, stopping at everyone, including his two subordinates, before setting back down before Luna. The alicorn sighed and picked up another piece.

“Ah well, tis a shame. I do so enjoy sharing bacon, but alas, none here wish to join me.”

Elias desperately wanted to snatch up the plate, but he could tell that Luna was trying to tease him. He refused to rise to the bait, and he instead took an apple from the fruit bowl that Nightshade was ripping apart. With the everything else being hay based, he was stuck with fruit or the out of reach bacon. Elias suppressed a sigh as he bit into the apple and leaned back in his chair, leaving his plate empty.

It took until the fourth bite for Luna to let out a sigh of her own.

“Well played General, calling my bluff. Here, the bacon is actually yours. I have no taste for meat.”

She passed the entire plate to Elias, who felt himself flush red as the entire table watched the exchange. He blinked owlishly as he stared at the still steaming stack of meat, then looked to Luna.

“Then what did you eat?” he asked taking the plate from her hoof.

Luna winked and began serving herself some haycakes.

“Vegetarian version; hay based of course. I had the chefs label them subtly so that I could tell at a glance, but you didn’t rise to my bait.”

Elias smiled lightly and reached a hand out to rub the space between her wings. Her soft fur parted easily for his fingers, and he scratched softly right at the base of her wings, massaging her back with a gentle touch that eased her tense muscles. The mare melted in his fingers as he spoke.

“Ah, you underestimated my silence on personal issues. You should know me by now Princess, I don’t talk about anything.”

She shuddered as he scratched at the base of her wings, and she smiled brightly at him.

“I-indeed General. Please, eat. We ordered the bacon just for you.”

Elias smiled at her again, then blinked as he realized that they were not in private. A glance to his greater surroundings found that the table was staring at them in silence. Elias flushed red and his hand dropped from behind her back. Elias sat up in his chair, then hunched over his food, trying desperately to find his composure.

“It’s very good,” he commented softly as he bit into the first piece.

“I am glad,” Luna replied, equally flushed.

Elias noticed the deafening silence continue for a few moments after he began eating, but gradually the other generals set about talking about social nothings; though Elias received a wink from Nightshade, and a glare from Chaser and Celestia. Elias recognized quickly that he made some kind of pony cultural mistake, so he looked over to Luna to apologize, only to find her smiling brightly at him. Elias cocked an eyebrow.

“Are you alright Princess?”

She nodded.

“Better with you beside me General,” she responded. “I know you are busy, but could you have your Adiutor schedule our next friendship appointment? I quite missed our conversation this week.”

Elias nodded, and he glanced to his left to find Book Binder already writing the note down in her notebook. His eyes flicked back to Luna, and he smiled.

“I’ll make sure you’re informed when I have free time.”

Luna nodded and her head lowered as she focused on her breakfast. Elias smiled inwardly and he went back at his bacon and apple breakfast, his mind settled with the knowledge that he hadn’t managed to drive away the mare who was becoming his best friend.

With the knowledge that all was well in his personal life, Elias resumed his normal stoicism and began looking around the table, analyzing everyone around it.

*****

Night Flash’s mind was on fire. He knew what rubbing between the wings meant, and he was fairly sure that everypony at the table knew. To do something so romantic in public was unheard of for Elias, and Night Flash couldn’t have been prouder of his boy. Attempting courtship with a princess was a bold move, and from the looks Luna was giving him, Night Flash could tell that the feeling was mutual. Night Flash pulled out a small piece of paper and a pencil from beneath his armor, and he scribbled a quick note between bites of his haycakes. He smoothly passed it to Book Binder under the table.

He managed to finish another bite before the note was returned, and Night Flash felt even happier as he gazed at his soon-to-be wife. She hadn’t even looked at the note as she wrote it, yet it was in perfect hoofwriting as he unfolded it.

I think you’re right that Elias loves Luna, but he doesn’t know that that was a sign of romantic affection. Don’t tell him, let him figure it out. He’ll get too nervous if we start pointing out every little thing about ponies he gets wrong.

Night Flash frowned at that, but he understood the logic. Another glance up to Elias found the human staring at Luna again, but this time, there was no bacon to draw his eyes. Night Flash knew that look, it was the same one he and Book Binder shared, and if the blush on Luna’s cheeks was any indication, she felt Elias’ loving gaze on her.

Night Flash sighed and scribbled another reply on the note.

Stupid march. I can’t wait for it to be over; we are going to have so much fun!

Night Flash passed the note back to Book Binder, then settled into his food. Eat now, talk about Elias’ love life later.

*****

Nightshade grinned at Luna from across the table. She could tell the alicorn knew she had eyes on her, but she refused to meet Nightshade’s gaze, and that only made the thestral grin wider. Chaser leaned over and whispered in her ear.

“What are you staring at ‘shade?” he asked quietly. “Is it the moves Bright was pulling on Princess Luna?”

Nightshade heard a touch of anger in his voice, so she kicked the pegasus under the table.

“Don’t mess it up,” she hissed in reply. “Princess Luna’s personal relationship with Elias is none of your bucking business, so leave it be. You don’t even get to talk about it unless you support her.”

Chaser blinked stupidly at her.

“What do you mean support her?” he whispered. “Bright’s the one making moves.”

Nightshade gave him a forced smile.

“Yeah, and you’re not gonna say a thing, because Princess Luna’s been making moves too. This is the most public either of them have been, so you let them be. She wants him, he clearly wants her, so you have no part in it; got it?”

Chaser frowned, then looked toward Luna to find her staring longingly at Elias. The human was working away at his plate of meat, but Luna was watching him like he was singing her favorite song. Chaser could see the absolute love in her eyes, and he could see frequent glances her way that indicated he was thinking in a similar vein. Bright really did…

Chaser sighed and started picking at his food again.

“Fine, I won’t do anything. He just better not buck it up.”

Nightshade matched his sigh.

“I think we both know them well enough to know that the only thing that’s going to happen is that they’re going to buck it up.”

*****

Celestia felt something going on, but for the life of her, she couldn’t tell what it was. The issue was Elias; the human was positively unreadable. The physical signs on his body told a tale of exhaustion and sleep deprivation, and understandable occurrence given the health reports that Steel Scalpel had on the man, but his body posture; the man looked energized. Was it the interaction he had with Luna? That had certainly drawn the attention of everyone else at the table.

Celestia frowned as she glanced at her sister, who was watching Elias eat. She had mentioned that they had skipped their usual friendship session, perhaps Luna just missed her friend? She still hadn’t formed a very large friend group, and Elias had become one of her closest confidants; perhaps that was it. Luna missed one of her best friends, and with the opportunity to interact, they were behaving as friends did. A minor prank, some smiling, some friendly physical gestures. Elias likely had no significance of the between the wing gesture, and he was just imitating behavior he saw others performing.

Celestia sat up in her seat and smiled softly at her meal. That was good news then. Elias was slowly becoming enveloped by pony culture, and in time, she saw him losing his past traumas as the power of friendship cured his ailments. If Luna gained a close friend in the process, who was she to interfere? It was a minor social faux pas, and one that Luna would no doubt notify Elias of when they were in private. Celestia resisted the urge to clap her hooves together in giddy excitement. Now she knew what Twilight felt when she solved a friendship problem, it was exhilarating, and it was all happening before her! A few more months, and all would be well, she could feel it.

*****

Everfree greatly enjoyed the haycakes. They were in fact is favorite part of any breakfast, and he ate them as he had been taught; with dignity and grace. In truth however, he could have likely just chowed down like he wanted to and nopony would have been the wiser. Though they were hiding it, he could tell that all eyes were on General Bright and Princess Luna. Rubbing between the wings was something only mates did, and while he knew the human was uneducated on pony cultures, he had to know there was some significance to his action. Everfree glanced up at Luna, looking for any signs of distress.

He found none, and if he was reading her royal mask correctly, she was quite pleased. Everfree shifted in his seat and focused back on his haycakes. Good for her. It wasn’t an ideal match up, but General Bright was of some station, and he had more than sacrificed life and limb for the sake of his princess, but in truth, Everfree believed the pair would do well together. Some of the nobles, likely some at the very table he was eating at, would take issue with the unlikely matchup, but Luna was princess, and General Bright seemed a stern sort. They could weather any criticism that came their way with ease. With the knowledge that all was well between the pair, Everfree reached out and snagged the bottle syrup, ready to drown his delicious haycakes in sweet goodness.

*****

Lionheart was seething behind his immaculate, controlled facial expressions. Years of rejection for his proposals from both princesses, and yet some deformed monkey gets the pleasure? Initially, he had taken rejection with stride; many before him had been rejected after all, and they were of higher station! The princesses required the best in all of Equestria, and if they believed he didn’t meet their noble, godly marks, then who was he to contest their will? But Lionheart had seen Celestia’s offer for what it was; an offer for marriage through higher station. They had given him the ability to gain greater prestige on a silver platter, so that they may be wed.

Lionheart had been ecstatic at the news, and when he had received the list of who is co-generals were, Lionheart had been confident that he had been picked for the very reason of wedding. In particular, he had his eyes on the younger of the princesses, Luna. She had very clearly opened the door for such entreaties by having two female generals, one of whom was already involved with General Chaser. That eliminated all the notable competition. Shattered Shield and Dragon-Eye were fine fighters, but they lacked any substantial noble history. Their fathers were great warriors and had earned the title “Duke” for their families, leaving them only a generation into their noble history. Everfree was looking to the zebra lands for a political marriage, and with that, Lionheart was free to open courting with Luna. The blue alicorn was beautiful, powerful, and incredibly wealthy. Marrying her would make him a prince, and he would no longer have any equals, not even the rat Shining Armor.

Lionheart snorted into his greens. What a waste of a good princess. Sure, Cadenza was a weaker, younger princess, but she was still the highest form of royalty! Her title meant something, and yet she had been given to some lowly captain of the guard? What sort of cruel joke had they subjected the small princess to? The Sparkle family was so low on the noble ladder that it was a miracle they owned property in Canterlot, let alone married into royalty. It had been outrageous when their daughter had been taken on by Celestia as her personal student, though Lionheart could admit that that decision had been fair. Celestia had played a long game, raising the foal from her squalid backgrounds, and now the news couldn’t get enough of her heroics. Twilight Sparkle at least had merit at her back, unlike her lazy, worthless brother. He should have been executed for allowing the changelings to invade, but no. Instead the princesses had given him a second wedding and a princess as a wife. Unbelievable.

Now there was the human. Brilliant was his name, or something of that nature. Lionheart didn’t care. He was a nothing ruffian at best, and a mad animal at worst. Although his former wife had made quite the convincing case about covering up the scandal his little bastard had caused, it didn't excuse the monkey from assaulting one of a noble house, no matter how dull-witted. The very thought that such a creature dared to sit at the same table as two princesses, let alone touch one was barbaric, and Lionheart had half a mind to call in his troops to capture the beast to throw into a cell to rot out his miserable life. That would cost him respect in the eyes of the princesses though. Celestia had given him the position of general, and while it was an offence to life itself, Lionheart had to respect it. What he didn’t have to respect was the monkey’s pawing of his future bride. The dumb animal no doubt thought he was petting a cat, didn’t understand the subtle intricacies of pony courting culture. He could see twinkles of irritation in Luna’s eyes, could see that the princess was only holding a smile to prevent the animal from assaulting her further.

Lionheart snorted as he looked away from the grotesque human. He mentally commended the princesses for turning him into a capable meat shield, but he had no place at the dining table, and he certainly had no place sitting beside a princess. He just had no idea how to remove the beast without disrespecting the princesses. His brow furrowed as he turned away from his greens to munch on his imported fruit salad. Doing anything in Canterlot would be nigh impossible, there were simply too many eyes and ears. Even doing anything while in Equestria’s borders was out of the question, and his actions for the princess could be misconstrued as treason. Once they were in minotaur lands however…

Lionheart sighed and looked to Luna, hoping to catch her eye so that he could convey his sympathy for her plight.

‘Fear not my princess,’ he thought. ‘I shall save you as soon as possible. Remain strong.’

*****

Elias didn’t like the way Lionheart was staring at Luna. The stallion looked like he was halfway between a heart attack and actually getting up to attack the alicorn. It put Elias on edge, and he scooted a bit closer to Luna. The motion brought Lionheart’s eyes to him, and Elias quickly recognized the emotion on the unicorn’s face. Hate. Hate was something that Elias was intimately familiar with, and he could see pure hate written on the unicorn’s face.

‘Don’t like our friendship, do you?’ Elias wanted to say aloud. ‘Well tough shit pony boy.’

Elias let his face settle into a scowl, and he glared unblinkingly back at the pony as he finished eating. Though he tried to put on a tough face, Lionheart blinked first, and his face fell to his plate, leaving Elias the victor. Elias mentally grinned and focused on his food.

After a few more minutes of eating and simple conversation, everyone finished with breakfast, and another swarm of servants descended on the table. They removed all the plates, and then cleaned and polished the table before Elias’ eyes. One servant grunted at the lack of space between him and Luna, but the alicorn subtly waved the pony away, and Elias caught glimpse of a smile in his direction. It was a good sign, if she was smiling, he wasn’t messing their friendship up. That made him happy, and Elias had to fight to keep his own smile from breaking out. The time to work was fast approaching as Celestia sat up perfectly straight in her seat.

“I hope everyone is filled to contentment?”

She received silent nods. Celestia smiled.

“Then let us begin. We have much to discuss today, and I shall start.”

She cleared her throat and motioned to Luna.

“From this point onward, you will begin to notice physical changes in my sister and I. As we trap the remainder of our unicorn magic, the solar and lunar winds will stop affecting our manes, and in time, they shall return to their natural color. Additionally,” she continued, “we shall begin to diminish in size until we are approximately what we were before we became alicorns. It shouldn’t be noticeable for another month or so, but we thought it best to give you this information before it occurred.”

She chuckled.

“It wouldn’t do for you to think us ill or dying. It will already be enough of an effort to keep the public from panicking.”

“And how will we be handling that announcement?” Shattered Shield asked. “We have kept the Equestrian populace completely in the dark on this, and while some may suspect something is changing due to General Bright’s efforts, they have no idea that it involves you two.”

Celestia bowed her head at the unicorn.

“A good question General. Luna and I shall make the announcement of our journey to Saddle Arabia in one month’s time. Their dignitaries have been asking when aid would be sent for some time now, and we have had to remain silent to them as well. This should provide us with much needed diplomatic relief, and by the time we announce our journey, our forces should be largely prepared.”

She looked to Elias.

“Though I suppose that brings up a question for you General Bright. You have conducted the largest amount of training, yet your troops have still not been issued their formal armor. May I ask when they will receive their full equipment? When we make our announcement, I would like to show off our new military body.”

Elias frowned and rested his elbows on the table.

“Well, I’m afraid they won’t receive their full equipment for another few months. Weapons will take the longest, and I have given Anyon my tall order of pilla. We need thousands of javelins, and on top of commissioning the armor, swords, shields, and replacement materials… it’s going to take some time.”

He tilted his head.

“Although, I am pleased to tell you that we are concluding the first stage of the legion’s training, and their full armor should be ready and distributed by next week. I will be pushing my recruits hard these next few days, and should they pass the trials, they will be legionaries.”

He shrugged as he met Celestia’s eyes again.

“I realize the benefit it could have, but I don’t want to present the legion before it’s ready, and unfortunately, a month is too short notice. The recruits are only now getting the hang of throwing pilla, and their formations are still sloppy. It will be two months at least before their ready for anything.”

Celestia frowned.

“I must say General, that concerns me. I have seen their training, and it looks rather vigorous. Is there some issue with your ponies?”

Elias shook his head.

“None at all, they’re progressing exceptionally. They just need more time is all. You gave me seven months, and they will be ready by that deadline, not before.”

Book Binder passed him his folder under the table, and Elias set it on the polished wood carefully before flipping it open.

“What I would like to discuss is how my legion will be coordinating with the other three guard branches. We haven’t had any discussions about marching order, battle formations, camping arrangements, really anything important, as a group.”

Elias thumbed through the pages until he counted out the packets he had made. He removed them and passed the stack to his right.

“If everyone would take a packet, I would like to discuss some of the option I have drawn up. I think this meeting is the opportunity we need to sit down and truly discuss what still needs to be done, because believe me, we are drastically underprepared to undertake this march as we currently stand and while public opinion is important, it pales in importance when considered to the lives of the ponies under our command.”

Elias watched outrage play out on the faces of more than a few ponies in the room, namely the Solar generals, but the one’s he actually cared about nodded in agreement, namely Nightshade and Everfree. Chaser had a hard frown on his face, though that was likely because he had dethroned Celestia as the conversation leader, and his frown was matched by the white diarch. Still, his words were strong, and more importantly, right, so Celestia bowed her head.

“Very well then General, if all are in agreement, we shall direct our discussion as you recommend.”

She took a packet and passed the stack along to Chaser. Elias waited in silent as the stack made its way around the table, and he watched the ponies go through the plans he and Scarlet had worked for days on. The stallion was coming into his own as a strategist, and even though he was still a bit of a weak fighter, he had made noticeable improvements with Ice Blossom continually riding his ass during drills. Unfortunately, Elias had only obtained permission to bring two ponies with him to the formal meeting, and with his lack of physical prowess, Elias thought it better that Scarlet not miss drill.

Elias waited until everyone had at least made it past the summary page before he spoke again.

“I know that everyone has recommendations on how the march should operate, these are just my personal recommendations on how things should be organized.”

He looked toward the alicorns to his right, both of whom met his eyes. Though he should have been arguing his point to Celestia, especially given that their relationship could best be described as stand-offish, but he couldn’t keep his gaze away from Luna. Her eyes told him that she was genuinely interested in his words, and barring the fact that he cared about the mare, he always worked better with an attentive audience.

“I’ve largely based my efforts on adapting Roman style military doctrine to function within Equestrian military doctrine. For this task, I had my strategist, Scarlet Shield study all of the materials I had, and together we drafted these plans. I firmly believe that what we came up with is the safest and most efficient way to get the army through the minotaur lands safely, and with as few casualties as possible.”

Elias forced himself to look away from Luna’s captivating eyes to look at the rest of the table.

“We haven’t crunched numbers yet, but the packets before you have the equations needed to tell us everything; supplies needed, days needed, economic cost, it’s all there, and I am more than willing to explain anything and everything before you.”

Dragon-eye frowned at his packet.

“What are these signatures at the bottom? They look to be from General Nightshade and General Chaser.”

Elias nodded.

“They are. I sent an early draft of my plans to everyone here, and Generals Nightshade and Chaser were the only ones to give feedback. The plans were modified on suggestions they made, and they signed off on sections they had time to re-read.”

His eyes flicked to the thestral and the pegasus for a moment before looking back to the unicorn before him.

“We haven’t solidified everything, but the three of us have agreed how certain aspects of the march shall function.”

Lionheart looked up from his packet and scowled.

“So you think just because you talked with General Chaser and General Nightshade in advance that you can bully us into accepting your plans? What a ridiculous notion.”

Elias’ neutral face shifted to a frown, but Nightshade was the one who spoke first.

“What he expects from you is nothing, ‘cause that’s what he got,” Nightshade spat. “But to answer the actual question, yes, we do, because unlike you, Chase and I read over the plans General Bright gave us and we found some merit to his ideas, worked with him to strengthen the weak areas, and then submitted it for this meeting. If you wanted to be a part of that, maybe you should actually read our communications, rather than hoofing them off on your assistants.”

Lionheart glared daggers at the thestral, but Celestia was quick to intervene.

“Please gentleponies, there is no need for this. General Nightshade, perhaps the rough draft got lost in the mail, and General Lionheart never got a chance to look it over.”

Elias glanced toward Book Binder, who scowled at the accusation. He well knew that the unicorn had personally delivered all of the packets, and that each and every one had gotten to their destinations intact. Still, he said nothing as Celestia dispelled the anger already spilling into the air. She looked toward Lionheart.

“And General, please do not dismiss some ideas out of hoof, simply because they are new an experimental to us. General Bright’s people were much more accustomed to war, and as such, he is the resident expert on how to conduct a longer campaign. Even at a glance I can see that many of his suggestions bear merit, so please, keep an open mind. We shall go over everything in detail, signatures or no.”

She sent a look his way that he imagined was supposed to express her disappointment at trying to circumvent the other generals. Elias shrugged it off. He knew he was right, and with Chaser and Nightshade’s votes, they could easily outnumber the Solar generals, especially since Nightshade could promise Starry Skies’ vote. Everfree had also sent his recommendations, but he hadn’t had enough time to review the packet in detail, so he had asked Elias to simply give him an edited copy with everyone else. That left three in opposition, and frankly, Elias didn’t see anything coming from the ponies. They would trumpet and make a fuss, but they wouldn’t actually go against him in a way that mattered.

Celestia smiled again as Lionheart looked at the table, sufficiently chastised. The white alicorn’s eyes shifted to Elias, and she nodded toward him.

“I shall let you lead the discussion for now General, please, explain these plans to us.”

Shattered Shield scowled.

“Start with what a “castra” is.”

Elias sighed and nodded. It was going to be a long day.

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