Legends of Equestria: The Legionary

by The Blue EM2

The Might of the Empire

Flash Magnus was surprised. How did they know of Somnambula? Was she here? How could this even be possible? Admittedly, it had been a long time since he had last seen her, but to say he knew her well was an understatement. He collapsed back into his cell and let the memories become uncorked and flow through his mind, reminding him of happier times a long time ago...

---

Several years ago, Somnambulus sector...

---

Flash was about as green as they got in the ranks of the Legion. A young pegasus from a relatively poor family, he had signed up to serve the Cloudsdale Empire to not only escape from poverty, but also to travel the world. The new Emperor, Hurricane, had announced a new age of expansion for the Empire, and for this the number of legions had been expanded from the previous 15 to 20. When he had signed up, been trained, and gotten through basic, Flash had been assigned to the 3rd Legion, 3rd Cohort, 7th Century, 5th Squad. The Legion was everything to Cloudsdale's military power. Each Legion was an army in its own right, all of them at least ten thousand strong. The Centurion in charge of his unit had been a veteran of many wars, an old warrior called Iron Wing. No sooner had the Legion been assembled, kitted out and paraded through the streets of Cloudsdale to cheers, trumpets, and drums, they had been sent out and on their way into the world. The ancient nation of Neighhipt, a powerful nation in its own right, had fallen into decline, and Hurricane was keen to exploit these weaknesses for his own ends, especially wanting the country's iron, silver, and gold deposits.

The Legion had overrun their lands and conquered the entire country in less than a month. Whilst leaving the Pharoah's son, Prince Hisan, in charge as the de jure monarch, nobody was in any doubt that Cloudsdale ran everything in reality. Having taken control of the territory, the 3rd Legion had been assigned to consolidate control of the area and keep the peace, dealing with both pickpockets, criminals, and anycreature that dared to question the power of Cloudsdale.

It was on one such day, long before he gained Invictus and fought an army of dragons with nought but guts and bravery, that he made a meeting that would alter the course of his life. He had been assigned to patrol duty alongside the rest of his squad of a small village in the middle of nowhere. In the centre of the village, the Sergeant had brought the unit to a stop.

"That's enough patrolling for now, troops!" he called. "Get out there into the village and get something to eat. Be back here by the stroke of the hour."

"Aye, sergeant!" the men called, and after falling out perfectly in step, proceeded into the village. Flash, in particular, had patrolled here before and knew there was a good vendor of bread in the area who spoke Latin (albeit badly), so he would get something to eat there.

Suddenly, he heard shouting from down a nearby street, along with a panicked female voice. Without wasting a second, he flew down the street and towards the noise. It was then he saw it. Two big, burly ponies were ganging up on a much smaller female pony. The words of the big ones were harsh and nasty, and Flash suspected that they had evil design.

"Hey!" he shouted, banging his hoof against his hoof guard. "Over here! Leave her alone!"

The two big ones turned around and ran at him. He dodged out of the way, and kicked one hard, sending him flying into a barrel and getting wedged there. The other tried to catch him off guard, but he simply bashed it into a wall.

With both of them out of action, he went over to check the mare was OK. She had a pink coat and multi coloured blue and turquoise mane and tail, the former of which was hidden under a white headdress with a golden crestpiece, a crescent moon keeping it in place. Her eyes were grape coloured, and she wore a see through white dress suitable for the heat.

"Are you OK?" Flash asked her, as she looked at him.

"Why you help me?" she asked. Flash was surprised that she even spoke Latin, but to hear it spoken by a local (even if poorly) was a relief. Most of the time, communication was almost impossible as nopony spoke the same language.

"Because you were clearly in danger," Flash replied. "I presume they intended to steal from you."

"Yes," the mare replied. "I Somnambula."

"I'm Flash Magnus," Flash replied. "Nice to meet you."

---

Since then, they had stayed in contact whenever Flash visited. They had each taught the other their language and gotten to know each other a bit. Flash would be lying if he said he didn't have feelings for her. They, however, had fallen out of contact when he and the 3rd Legion had been reassigned to the Dragonlands warzone. If she was here, maybe he could see her and catch up with her?

As he sat in his cell, waiting for whatever was to come, he suddenly heard a familiar voice in the distance. It was old, and gruff, and barked in that language that he was still unable to understand, but eventually he heard his own name being called.

"Sir!" he called. "I'm in here! This way!"

There was some more talking in that language, and eventually the sound of weapons being stowed. Then a loud marching beat started down the corridor of this prison like structure, and who should approach but-

An old warhorse indeed (excuse the pun). He had blue fur with an extensive grey beard and moustache around his muzzle and nostrils, as well as a grey tail. He also had light blue eyes. He wore a bronze chestplate and upper foreleg guards, as well as four bronze horseshoes. He had an armoured skirt similar in design to the one that Flash had previously worn before he had been captured, and he had a heavy bronze helmet on his head, with holes for his ears, an aquila motif on the top of the crest, and a visor. Upon his back was a shield very similar in design to Invictus, the letters IPNV in the centre. The seal of the Cloudsdale Empire.

"Sorry about all that," the officer said.

"Praetor Ironhead!" Flash replied, and immediately saluted his commanding officer.

"Turns out these locals don't always trust the Imperials," Ironhead replied, as he swung the door open. "They thought you were attacking them. But what I don't understand is why you were so far away from camp!"

"I... I'm not sure myself, sir," Flash replied. "I found myself in the middle of the desert with no clue where I was."

Ironhead nodded. "Normally I'd be inclined to discipline soldiers for such lax behaviour, but with all the strange phenomena going on, I'm prepared to write it off. Reports of lasers in the sky, long distance flying machines, that sort of thing. This is the last thing we need, as Cloudsdale is moving into orbiting position over the area."

Flash exited his cell and was handed his equipment, which he quickly pulled back on, including attaching Invictus to his back. "Why is Cloudsdale moving into position?"

"The Emperor himself is conducting an inspection of the troops, and we are next on the list," Ironhead replied. "Of course, the additional resources Cloudsdale has available will help us put a stop to this nonsense once and for all. Be careful in future. That shield is extremely valuable. It cannot be allowed to fall into enemy hands."

"Sorry, sir," Flash replied. He and his commanding officer exited out into the sun, which was starting to descent through the sky. They had arrived in a compound of some sort, and several Legionaries, no, a full Century, were aligned, ready for drill. Out front, a grizzled Centurion was drilling them.

"Century... ABOUUUUUUUUT.... TURN!"

In perfect synchronisation, the entire Century of pegasi performed a perfect about turn.

"Century... BY THE LEFT... QUIIIIIIIIIIICK... MARCH!"

Without a second's hesitation, the entire Century marched off in perfect timing with hoofs hitting the ground perfectly.

"LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT... 4TH SQUAD, SLOW IT DOWN! YOU'RE HALF A BEAT FAST!"

Ironhead nodded. "Perfect drill, perfect discipline, and lethal military skill. This is why Cloudsdale is the most feared entity on the planet. None can defeat our soldiers. Any foe we meet crumbles under our blade, and they soon see the superiority of our way of life. The Pharoah has been of great help consolidating the area."

This prompted Flash to ask something. "Sir, there's somebody I want to talk to," he said.

"You have my permission," Ironhead replied, "but report to 3rd Cohort, 7th Century, 5th Squad, before the night falls. And who exactly are you seeing?"

"An old friend," Flash replied, as he took to the skies.

Author's Note:

In the episode 'Campfire Tales', we are told that Flash Magnus is a member of the 'Royal Legion'. However, this is just a blanket term for Cloudsdale's military machine, which in reality consists of many Legions. Below is the structure of a Legion.

The most basic unit of the Legion is the Century, which consists of 100 pegasi. These 100 pegasi are broken down into units of 10. Each Century is headed by a Centurion.

The next level up is the Cohort. Each Cohort consists of 10 Centuries (or, in total, 1000 pegasi). Cohorts are led by Tribuna.

Each Legion consists of 10 Cohorts, which works out to a whopping 10,000 pegasi. Legions are led by Praetors; Ironhead is the only one we see in the series (incorrectly called a 'Commander' (not a rank) in Campfire Tales, but this is excusable since Rainbow Dash is probably using words that the CMC will understand).

Magnus is assigned to the 3rd Cohort, 7th Century, 5th Squad of the 3rd Legion.

Comments

[JimmyHook19]

Noice. =3

[The Blue EM2]

10515942
Thanks.