Humanity and the Equines share a history together that can be declared a story for the ages... but it begins with not peace or harmony, not much of the love and compassion that propsers today... No, back in the ancient times... there was only war...
The land of Equestria has now been declared as its own sovereign country. The Crystal empire sits to the north, the land of the Changelings to the south and many more unexplored lands await. Though the fogs of chaos set in to disrupt the newly awakened harmony. War against an unknown threat is imminent, and the ponies must be ready. All of this sets up perfectly for one race that will steal the show and effect history forever. Humanity will act soon...
A species that prides itself upon controlling the world in every way possible…
Whether it is technology, culture, economics, or warfare…
Humans…
A species that is made to be the apex predator…
Humans hunt by chasing their prey until they simply give up and die…
Humans are able to eat most of what they find, keeping them in the hunt…
The human body simply eats itself if food is not found…
Humans…
Humans walk upright, giving them extreme efficiency when travelling great distances…
Humans sweat, keeping their bodies cooler so they can continue with their objectives in survival…
Humans have small amounts of body hair, allowing them to radiate their body heat, meaning extreme environments won’t stop them…
Humans…
Fighting against them may prove futile…
Their bodies can take a large beating and lose almost half of their blood… and still survive…
Humans…
They are intelligent, persistent, ever enduring, and fully determined…
Humans are intolerant of resistance…
Anyone or anything that stands in their way will be eliminated one way or another…
Humans…
The most feared, revered, and powerful species that Equestria has ever known…
3000 years before Discord…
The country of Equestria lies in a time of harmony. The three tribe leaders have set aside their differences and now unite to form a growing empire. The earth ponies continue their work on the land. Pegasi guide their patterns of weather, using it to better effect the outcome of the crops. The unicorns now use their magic in any way possible to aid their new comrades in their tasks.
Though, a new race has arisen in the tribe, a race of ponies that have all of the traits that a pony can have. They can dash about in the big blue skies, tend to the earth’s crops, and bend the land to their will with magic. This new race is titled… the alicorns.
The leaders of the tribe that have discovered the comradeship which forms their country today have been rewarded in the ability to become an alicorn. Other ponies have become alicorns as well, creating almost an entire hierarchy for the race. All of them complete different tasks to guide the ponies in their lives, whether it be controlling the sun, and moon, or guiding the flow of the water in the streams.
The united tribes have taken to worshipping the alicorns, feeling as if they were enlightened beyond their own understanding in the ways of life.
The kingdom continued in peace for decades to come… But such harmony must be interrupted to make way for an equalizer of… chaos.
In the southern desert lands of Equestria a clan of strange creatures arose, using volatile magic to alter reality into whatever situation they truly wanted. The ponies have taken to calling them the draconequess clan.
Short-tempered peace continued between the two species, until the draconequess clan started to expand northward, into the lands of Equestria. They began to mishap with the Earth ponies, for they had no real way of escape, this slowed the overall process of the crops, which in turn could lead to ponies starving even with the help of the other races.
The alicorns began to force the draconequess clan away, leaving them without anything to play with. The draconequess clan then decided to simply fight back… with force. The alicorns replied continuing to protect their citizens at all costs.
The war mainly raged on the southern border of Equestria, but what neither side knew was that the real threat lied to the northwest…
Large cities stood tall over the land, putting the ponies’ tiny villages to utter shame. The buildings made out of white painted stone with red roofs upon them. Giant cobbled streets ran inside and between all of the cities, giving them a better infrastructure than the ponies. One city contained a brilliantly large palace, a large port nest to the sea, and even a coliseum for sporting events.
The people of these cities were none other than human beings themselves. Thousands upon thousands of them populated these cities, wearing robes, tunics, and a portion of them wearing armor.
This was the territory of the Severius Empire.
The Latin-speaking country laid claim to the area and was unchallenged in the process of taking it.
The Severians knew of the other races that fought about in the country south of them. They found the ponies to be completely inferior, proven by the fact that ponies were extremely underdeveloped. They saw the alicorns as the only race that could prove a challenge to them on the planet, and even then they wasted their time with the ponies.
The Severians felt that all of the grand land to the south had been mismanaged by the ponies… and they looked to right that wrong.
The ponies and alicorns have had rumors of a powerful species lurking in the northwest; some have even said they have seen them.
They have taken to placing a name upon them as the “hind walkers” Tales of humans have spread about, depicting them as creatures of power and control. The ponies soon began to fear the creatures they found fictional. Now they crafted stories of ponies going to their giant cities and never returning to their homeland.
Though, these stories would prove true, even for an alicorn…
A forest overlooks the northwestern lands of Equestria; the forest sits upon a large hill near Smokey Mountain, in the full bloom of summer, birds chirp in the trees, deer prance about, the occasional raccoon, fox or even a bear would come about through the forest.
Standing on top of the hill was a tall male alicorn. The alicorn was named Clash, Prince Clash to be exact. He originally was but an unicorn before his transformation, due to him defending his home and family against even the largest and smallest of threats. His coat was a dark red, along with a mane of dark grey, and eyes a fiery hue of orange. His cutie mark, which was a long broadsword, displayed his abilities in combat.
Clash was sent to truly assess the existence of the humans, and if they were a true threat. If they were then he was to attempt talks of peace, rather than war.
The prince unfurled his wings and ascended into the air, quickly hovering above the tree line. He looked out over the entire land, finding a strange formation in the distance. As he neared the formation it begins to reveal details to him, along with many more of the same formation.
He ascended further into the air overlooking the giant city that was now in his view; he was now able to see the streets and the city’s inhabitants.
The alicorn was at a loss of words now realizing that he has discovered the human race that so many legends have arisen from. He remembers stories from his childhood, being told that humans are terrifying creatures of destruction. He was indeed struck with fear as the possibilities played about in his head, but he pushed on to complete his objective.
He dove down through the air, in the direction of a square in the town, filled with market stalls, and human merchants buying and selling goods. The prince then aimed for an open area in the square and landed onto the ground with a large stamp when his hooves made contact.
Clash then stood to his full height and was in shock to find that he only reached eye-level with the creatures. The humans in the area gasped at the sight of the alicorn and some even ran away from him.
Others began to run and yell in their language to each other, confusing the alicorn.
“Auxilio! Auxilio!” One of them males yelled, sprinting away with a basket of spices.
“Et custodes!” A woman yelled, carrying a child away from the square.
“Confuto!” Two armored humans yelled as they stood defiantly in front of the alicorn. The guards were armed with large scutum shields, made of wood, and edged along with metal. The shield displayed symbols of their empire. The soldiers were also armed with a gladius in their other hand.
The two soldiers shielded themselves and readied with the gladius if the alicorn was to attack.
Clash quickly realized how threatening he appeared and quickly placed his wings against his body and improved his posture to diminish any aggression in his appearance.
Quickly, more soldiers appeared to surround him with their own shields and blades to use, creating a full circle around Clash.
“Don’t be afraid!” He called out. “I don’t mean any harm!”
The soldiers replied by all simultaneously bashing their shields with the blades, which startled the alicorn slightly.
“Tempero!” A loud voice called out.
Two of the soldiers stepped out of the way as a soldier with heavier armor appeared in the ranks and stepped in front of the alicorn. He stood slightly taller than most of the other soldiers and his armor enhanced his look of authority with a cape and large plume upon his head. The centurion kept his shield and sword down as to not appear as aggressive as the legionnaires.
“Dic negotio, equine.” The centurion stated to the alicorn.
Clash returned a strange look at the centurion. He had never heard this language before, and was confounded by it.
“I speak English; I don’t understand you, sir.” Clash apologized, bowing his head slightly to avoid any sign of aggression.
The centurion looked down and cleared his throat slightly before he looked back at the alicorn.
“Then you shall understand me, equine.” The centurion stated, seathing his blade.
“It doesn’t seem that I have much choice.” Clash stated, looking about at the legionnaires around him.
“Hmm, you are an alicorn.” The Centurion eyed his wings and horn.
“Indeed, and you are a… human.” The alicorn stated, still in surprise of this situation.
“That truly doesn’t matter at this time. You are in a land which doesn’t belong to you and have scared the populace." He stated, looking about to see his lagionnaires shaking their heads in agreement.
“I come in peace, to pull a legend into reality for my country.” Clash bowed fully to the centurion before standing back up, ensuring that he was showing full-out respect and peaceful intentions.
“Names would be rather courteous at this time. I am Centurion Gregorios Democratis.” The human bowed his head back at the alicorn.
“I am Prince Clash of Equestria.” He placed a hoof upon his chest to place emphasis upon the prince title.
Gregorios turned around and stated something inaudible to Clash. One of the legionnaries immediately broke off and headed in the direction off deeper into the city. The centurion then turned around to see the alicorn.
“Well it is a pleasure to make your aquaintence, prince.” The Centurion stated, waving his hand, signaling his troops to move away and revert to a less aggressive state.
The prince looked around himself now that the circle of human soldiers has been cleared. The buildings of the city simply amazed him in every way. It was much more advanced than pony buidlings and technology and it showed with the large almost never-ending metropolitan feel of the city.
"Your city... it is amazing." Clash stated as he gawked about.
"Thank you. It is the fruit of several hundred years of labor by our people." The centurion then looked to his legionnaires. "Quin magis superbis."
They responded by bashing their sheilds twice with their blades. "Severnium aeternum!" Was then chanted out after the bashing.
"Your troops seem quite... enthusiastic about this." He said with tension clear in hiw voice as he looked to all of the legionnaires, all of them, dead-set on the alicorn prince.
"Of course they are, who wouldn't be excited about taking part in the first contact between our races." Gregorios smiled to Clash. "Though, we have had ponies come through here before, some lucky enough to truly meet us and enjoy their time, while others..." His smile faded as he gestured to Clash.
"Didn't return." Clash finished, slightly narrowing his eyes at the centurion. "Yes, I've lost quite a few citizens due to them wandering off."
Gregorios nodded to the alicorn. "We are much more efficient when it comes to keeping our citizens safe and sound here in Severnium." He gestured his head to his troops. "This city is numerous and it takes hundreds to thousands of troops to patrol and keep it's streets safe. My century and I here were just on a patrol around this district until you showed up and made things... interesting."
"Indeed, I was sent out here in order to scout about the lands due to the recent spike of dissapearences." Clash began. "Would you happen to know anything about that?"
"My century does not patrol oustide of the city's walls, which is where your ponies would have most likely have dissapeared. We centurions have no real say in how trespassers and outsiders are treated, for we are only chraged with rounding them up and reporting them to the legate. From there they would be sent up to the emperor himself for judgement. I do not know why he introduced such a system, but it was his choice."
Gregorios then released a sigh. "For all that we know, your ponies could either be dead, enslaved or rotting in a prison for the crime."
Clash leaned back slightly in surprise before gritting his teeth, though Gregorios continued on.
"Though, the emperor could have kept them alive for a much wider range of uses. They could be up in the emperor's Domus as we speak."
Almost instantly the alicorn unfurled his wings and readied to fly off until the centurion raised his hand up to stop him.
"I reccomend you stay here, for the Praetorians shall not be as friendly as my century and I have been."
The two locked eyes, as if standing off against each other as Clash contemplated this situation.
He had no real choice but to wait for the humans to do something, for if he was to do something deemed threatning or evading them, they could attack him and make the entire trip for naught.
Gregorios was on edge about this entire situation, if it was to come to combat, the alicorn was unpredictable overall, for each alicorn had a difference of distribution when it came to their power. Some were stronger in melee, others better with magic or speed with their wings. For all that he knew, Clash could kill him almost instantly if he pleased.
Te both of them released a held breath as the legionnaire from earlier came running back, a piece of parchment in his hands... and a squad of Praetorians with him...
The Praetorians shoved Gregorios' soldiers out of the way and took their positions as Gregorios took the parchment from his returning legionnaire.
Gregorios read the paper and let out a heavy sigh once he finished. He tossed the parchment away and then readied his blade.
“It seems that peace shall not happen on this day.” Gregorios seriously stated waving his hand to the legionnaires and Praetorians who then began to close the circle. “If it means any consolation, I think you and I would have been great friends.”
“What do you mean?!” Clash yells as the troops closed in.
“Our countries will meet on a battlefield rather than a peace table.” Gregorios then began his walk to the alicorn. “Forgive me for my actions, for they are of the emperor and not myself.” He then lunged forward with his gladius.
The sword struck down at the prince, who hopped to the side, but still took the hit to his leg. The alicorn then immediately launched himself into the air.
“Mitto tuus pilas!” Gregorios ordered with a shout.
The legionnaires replied by bringing out their long pila and immediately lobbing them at the flying alicorn. The pila quickly strike, ripping apart Clash’s magical shield, and then two of them piercing into a wing, another one then slammed right into his side. Clash then is forced back onto the ground in an ugly landing, falling on his bad wing, forcing the pila further into his side.
Clash immediately howled in pain, but quickly pushed himself up as he used his magic to rip the pilas out of him. He then looked at the oncoming charge of troops, led by Gregorios. He tried to bring up a ward, but was instantly interrupted by an arrow striking him in his good wing. An archer on a nearby rooftop then cheered as he hit his mark on the alicorn.
Clash now found himself drained of energy, and unable to stand anymore.
Gregorios then sprinted ahead of his legionnaires in order to have the first strike on the alicorn and stabbed his sword straight into the front-left leg of Clash, sending some blood out of him, and another loud cry.
The centurion quickly ripped out the sword and raised a fist to stop all of his troops.
Clash slowly looked up at Gregorios with pain clearly in his eyes. Gregorios looked back and shook his head.
“Do not worry, this is not your end yet. Our emperor wants to ensure that your people know of your fate.” He then raised his right foot above the alicorns head.
"Please... don't-" Gregorios then stomped his boot upon the alicorns head, a loud thud sounding when his head met the ground.
The Severius-Equestrian war had begun…
Though the Severius Empire has declared war on Equestria, the alicorns had no true idea of the events that set it into motion.
Emperor Duilius has now set many different operations in order to fully militarize the country. Taxes have been raised to pay for expenses and the army is now being expanded.
Duilius wished to send a message to the alicorns, showing them they are not invincible. Gregorios and his century have already placed heavy injuries onto Prince Clash. Rather than keep him as a hostage the Emperor sends Gregorios and his century to ‘demonstrate’ the future of the alicorns.
Gregorios now leads his century to the pony city of Chandleridge… and they expect a fight from what they’re about to do.
In the time of midnight, the small century of only eigthy legionnaires marched to the beat of multiple war drums. The centurion, Gregorios marched at the front of the formation with a catapult to his right. Behind that, a small group of soldiers drug a net behind them, the alicorn prince inside of it.
Soon, the pony city came into sight of the century, small stone huts line across the dirt roads with ponies going about in their struggles for survival. Gregorios stops the march upon seeing a large stone building in the distance, resembling a large governmental building, even though it sat with no real amazing traits, but a large balcony leading inside.
“Promptus ad catapultam!” The centurion yelled out to his soldiers. The lines of legionnaires behind him dispersed to the sides in order to create new smaller lines as the catapult is pushed up to the front. The wooden catapult lurched to a stop as the workers began to prepare it to fire.
“Adduc principem!” He announced as he headed behind the catapult as Clash was dragged their as well.
“No, what does that mean?” Clash asked in fear, looking all around in an attempt to find out where he was.
Gregorios simply looked at the alicorn before removing his helmet, displaying his short black hair. "It means, you and I shall soon part ways."
"Are you letting me go?" The prince asked, looking up to the centurion in hope.
"Well, that depends on how you look at it, Clash." Gregorios waved to the troops the dragged Clash over. "Aliquam ipsum."
The quickly lifted the alicorn up and palced him into the catapult's basket.
Clash looked about quickly realizing the situation. “No, y-you can’t!”
The centurion then readied his sword to cut through the tension line below the basket.
"I am merely following orders, Clash. Like how you did when you went out to Severnium. You knew the risks and the possible things that could've happened, yet you pushed onward to fulfill those orders." One of the strands on the line cut when the sword sliced it.
"You would have done the same."
The line fuly snapped as the sword cut straight through it and forced the basket upward, sending the alicorn flying through the air, stuck inside the net.
Queen Clover sat on her throne in thought as her green mane shimmered along with her white coat, which created a small glow in the room.
She looked over to the empty throne besides her belonging to her husband, King Hurricane.
A sigh escaped her breath as she then looked to the balcony leading into the throne room. The area in which Hurricane would always enter and they would be reunited again, but today he remains on tour in the southern lands against the draconequess clan. Today she was alone, her son, Prince Clash going on some task for Star-Swirled the Bearded.
She was worried due to her son being gone for almost a full day, but he knew how to handle himself… right?
Clover then stood up and began to walk through her empty throne room. Only accompanied by two guards next to her throne who continued to stand still as she passed by. She came to a stop as she walked out onto the balcony, leaning onto the railing with her hooves.
She looked up at the sky to see the midnight sky graced by thousands upon millions of stars in the sky. The night sky always did put a smile upon her face, even during the times of the wendigo blizzards.
She looked across the land to see something that confounded her. Something was moving across the sky at an alarming speed. Screaming from a familiar voice met Clover’s ears.
Clover cast a spell to illuminate the area in a green shade of light revealing Prince Clash as the one that flew through the air.
“Clash?!” She yelled in surprise.
Clash immediately slammed onto the balcony, sounds of cracking bones filled the throne room as Clash bounced and then began to slide across the floor, coming to a stop in the center of the room.
The two guards quickly dashed over to the prince as Clover teleported next to him. Clover gasped upon seeing her son with heavy injuries upon him, heavy cuts on his side have been reopened, bleeding extensively. Heavy gashes on his head from the landing in the room also bled slightly.
The guards attempted to heal him with magic, only to find that the injuries were too great and Clash had already lost too much blood.
“Clash, you’re going to be okay, just keep looking at me, alright?” Clover stated desperately looking down at her son as she began to charge up a mass healing spell... futile, but she wanted to at least try.
“Mother… the humans.”
“What?”
"The Severians... they're coming..."
The prince then released a large cough of blood as his head dropped back onto the floor, lifeless.
“Clash?! Clash?!” Clover yelled, shaking her son’s body, attempting to get a response out of him.
She remained there, lying next to the body as her shaking became less firm as blood continued slowly flowing out of her son's wounds.
The two guards removed their helmets, placing them upon the ground as they both sat down and lowered their heads in mourning for the prince.
“My queen, he is gone.” One of them stated in solemnity.
Silence ruled over the room as they paid some respect to the prince. The heir to the throne is now dead... and he was murdered by the Severians...
Clover perked up a bit once she remembered that name and how is was interchanged with humans. She grit her teeth in a newfound rage over the killers of her son.
"Guards... round up the town militia... we have some humans to hunt."
The legionnaires sat upon the hill in a shield wall formation facing the city. Gregorios stood to the side of the formation watching the city, waiting for any signs of movement. He had order the troops to fortify themselves the best that they could for the inevitable retaliation from the ponies. They had pretty much killed a prince, one should expect at least some troops in retaliation.
His wait was rewarded with signs of movement among the town and calls being made in the distance.
“Vestibulum!” The centurion called out and the troops instantly stood ready behind their shields.
The troops waited a while longer to find an entire garrison of troops exiting the city, kicking up the clouds of dust as the moved.
All of the humans readied themselves, gripping their sheilds and blades tightly, readying for the coming battle.
The garrison was composed of unicorns and earth ponies in light hide armor instead of the steel humans used. Armed with spears and small swords. The infantry looked completely inferior to the century of human troops.
Gregorios stood at the front of the formation, in front of the sheild wall, along with the rest of the humans that waited for the unorganized mass of troops which came to a stop about twenty meters away.
All of the ponies looked on with fear at the taller, more organized and better armed humans.
The small pony militia was not meant to take on a force like this directly...
Clover landed in front of the ponies, her wings open and her face stern to display her fury. She was not intimidated by the humans, even with their superios armaments and positioning.
This was personal now...
"Speak." She demanded to the centurion.
"Centurion Gregorios Democratis, equine." He bowed his head slightly to her.
"Queen Clover." She simply returned to the officer.
The two remained silent as they stared back at each other, locked in a battle of wills rather than soldiers right now. The pony soldiers were beggining to gain back their morale as they watched their alicorn queen stand before them, as if she was ready to do the fighting herself. Gregorios had his hand on his blade, ready to bring it out when the fighting inevitably began.
The ponies sprinted up the hill straight towards the human sheild wall, unleashing their cries of battle as they did so. Queen Clover stood back and readied a blast of magic to support her troops.
Clover then released a full beam of emerald shaded magic at the line of troops. The legionnaires quickly readied their shields to absorb the blast, right before the beam slammed against their shields, shoving the troopers back slighly. The soldiers held their ground shoving against the blast of magic, drawing lines in the ground with their feet from being pushed back.
Clover continued pouring more energy into the blast shoving the troops back even more. Some of the human’s troops in the center of the line, absorbing the majority of the blast, started to feel their shields cracking from the power. Clover was encouraged by the cracking and other unicorns began to contribute to the blast, helping their queen.
Gregorios widened his eyes in surprise at the use of magic against his century, the beams all going stright past him and hitting th sheild wall. He traced the beams of magic back to find the queen as the true source of their power. He instantly wielded his pillum and quickly aimed at the queen. It would have to travel over twenty meters to reach its target and Gregorios was going to make sure it made it or possibly lose some of his troops.
He lobbed the pila as hard as his body would allow.
The pillum cut its way through the air traveling at an alarming rate. It then began its quick descent towards the queen as she remained focused on directing the flow of magic, not noticing the pillum heading towards her. The lobbed spear came to a stop piercing straight into Clover’s front-right foreleg.
Clover let out a cry of pain, interrupting her focus on the beam of magic and causing the spell to abruptly stop, burning the horns of all the unicorns in sync with the spell. They all fell down in pain along with their queen and tried to recuperate.
“My Queen!” Two soldiers yelled as they immediately rushed to assist her. The ponies all then halted their charge to look back at their queen in fear.
The humans quickly reset their formation as their centurion gave a new order.
"Vestibulum pila!"
The legionnaires all then equipped their pila, readying to throw them at the idle and confused ponies.
"Et immittam strepitu!"
All of the Severians unleashed their pila, throwing them straight at the ponies. The volley ripped straight through their light armor, penetrating through skin and into vitals, sending large amounts of blood out from almost the entirety of the first line of ponies. Most were killed instantly, forced to the ground by the strength that the pila were thrown. The injured rolled about on the ground, their screams terrifying their brethren.
The ponies soon continued to charge up the hill, heading towards the sheild wall.
Gregorios headed back into his century's formation, right as the humans prepared themselves and braced behind their sheilds right before the mass of ponies slammed straight into them. The humans were forced back slightly as they held against the pony charge and attempts to knock them over and render their height advantage useless.
Suddenly the Severians shoved right back with their large sheild, easily forcing the ponies away from the sheild wall, allowing the legionnaires to draw their gladii and lung forward at the ponies striking quickly and efficiently. Many ponies fell prey to the counter by the sheild wall and were killed by the first movement of the blade attack.
Once the ponies recovered they were able to form up again and ready to charge back, but the Severians were already formed back with their sheild wall, ready to go through the process again.
This time when the ponies charge, the unicorns lead with a quick screen of small beams of quick magic to hit the sheild wall, knocking the humans of balance, leaving them open to the earth ponies that charged in and knocked some of them down onto their backs. Though, they were shocked once humans came out behind the fallen ones and quickly retaliated with fast strikes, slaughtering the ponies where they stood, buying time for their comrades to stands back up and resume their positions in the sheild wall.
The brutal melee continues with humans stabbing down upon the ponies, quickly executing them, and ponies managing to pull some humans out of formation and quickly gang up on them, knocking them down and attacking them with their mediocre weapons. The humans received minor lacerations thanks to their protective armor and were able to recover and get back at the ponies. The ponies on the other hand, were being easily slashed through by the gladii used by the humans, along with heavy sheild bashes as well.
The battle looked extremely lopsided to say the least...
Queen Clover rose back up onto her hooves to find her troops being slaughtered in a terrifyingly efficient pattern of blocking and slashing from the short swords of the humans.
Clover was still rocked from the exchange of magic and began to lose her balance while standing. She shook her head about in order to keep herself up in the fight, but she instead began to feel dizziness in her mind. She began to hear the screams of the unicorns as they were easily overtaken by the humans in the carnage. The earth ponies could only put up a small fight before being torn apart by the human infantry. Clover continued to gather her strength on the ground as the humans continued cutting through the ponies.
Gregorios pushed forward out of the sheild wall, thinning out the ponies with his experienced technique of sheild bashing followed by quick jabs with his sword.
Now with the inspiration from their centurion the legionnaires pushed forward even faster, systematically blocking and slicing at the ponies. As the ponies continued taking casualties, more of them began to route from the battle. Soon the only remaining resistance was the Queen and a few ponies that were brave anough to continue the futile defence.
The humans quickly encircled them readying their shields and swords for any final surprises.
Queen Clover slowly rose up and looked about to find her entire garrison wiped out. She then looked over to find Gregorios casually walking towards her in the circle of legionnaires.
“You have lost this skirmish.” He explained grimly. "I would like to say it was entertaining, but there wasn't much of a chellenge unfortunetly."
No response came from the ponies as they remained in their desperate positions.
“Now, if you admit defeat and surrender your city, I assure you the benefits for your country will be great.” He coined a smile at the end of the offer as he removed his helmet.
Clover looked down in thought before replying. “What ‘benefits’ would we be receiving?” She asks, hiding the fear in her voice.
Gregorios’ smile slighly, seeing how there was now a possibily of stopping the bloodshed. “Well…” He clasped his hands together. “You become folded into our empire as a vassel state and adopt our own laws and systems. You shall be able to take the benefits of being foled into our empire and be protected by possible invaders. This is as long as you swear your undying loyalty to Severnia and her people. Though I will tell you this, you will help us to make the rest of your people so they take the same route as you. All of this if you just admit your defeat and bow before our emperor.”
Clover could read Gregorios’ offer easily, the rhetoric he used made it sound like the ponies were getting the true good side of the deal.
“No.” Clover simply states in reply. “We will not admit defeat.” She quickly stood up to her full height. “We will not bow to your emperor either, for we are not so easily tamed, nor will we submit to an enemy we have yet to truly meet."
The centurion sighed in annoyance as he then readied himself.
“You face against odds that wouldn’t favor you in any conditions, yet you cling on to your cause. That is... something rather human.” He stated as he began to walk towards the queen and her small ring of soldiers.
“Admirable trait, but here it is deplorable.” He stated as he raised his sword to strike…
In a flash of green, blinding all of the humans, Clover teleported herself and the remaining ponies to another location, evading her end.
The centurion recovered to find the alicorn gone. He shook his head in disbelief, unknowing of the spell just cast.
“Nuntiare debemus imperator.” Gregorios states to his troops as they recover. “Nunc celebramus uictoria!”
“Victoria!” The century shouted in reply, followed by cheers for the victory.
The victory in Chandleridge marks a turning point in not only Equestria, but the entire world. Every decision made after this point, will matter greatly to all who live in this ancient world.
And they were only getting started…
Gregorios and the century marched through the main street of Chandleridge, unopposed by the pony populace, who cowered in fear at any place they could reach, homes, wooden crates, anything would do.
The thoughts that transferred through Gregorios’ mind boggled him. He has been trained to only look upon his soldiers with care, and the rest with contempt. Despite that and his experience in warfare -crushing plebian rebels- he felt bad when fighting against those pony soldiers. They were outmatched in all categories, ill-prepared, and unloyal, but against all of that, they still fought against the century with courage. If it was up to him, there would be peace here, but he didn't decide that, only how to execute his orders.
The main street looked almost entirely decrepit, if you could call it a street that is. Dirt instead of cobble paved the road that the century marched on with small obsolete huts built on the sides of the street. Some of the huts were made of stone, others of wood, but they all held their small families inside of them. Troughs sat about filled with clean water carried from the rivers and streams nearby, each with buckets for families to take for drinking water.
The unmodernized town was certainly a change for the Severians. They were used to giant, proud buildings, aqueducts towering over them, clean cobbled roads under their sandals. What was even stranger were the ponies hiding about. The century is used to being taunted, yelled at, booed, or cheered and adored when marching on a street. Instead of those normal reactions, the ponies hid in fear from them. It confused them slightly, for they thought the ponies would revolt and resist the occupation.
Ahead of the century’s path a pair of earth ponies stood on the side of the road, looking about desperately for something valuable to them. The continued to frantically look about as the Century continued the march, coming close to being in front of the pony couple.
“Mother!” A small and frightened voice called from the opposite side of the rode.
Gregorios halted the century’s march and turned to find the source of the sound. A small pony stood looking towards the ponies across the road; a young filly now halted the entire march in her search for her parents.
“Slate! Just stay there, we’ll be right there!” The father yelled to her daughter from across the road.
The filly, instead of listening dashed across the road, passed the first legionnaire on her side of the road. Some of the legionnaires dashed forward, gladii pointed at the filly.
“No, please!” The mother and father shouted while running forward into the road.
Both of them were shoved back by two legionnaires, wanting to ensure there was no foul play afoot.
Gregorios maintained his attention on the young fill, unaware of her parents on the other side of the road.
Quickly another legionnaire threw his comrades out of the way and lunged at the two earth ponies.
“Mihi, Equine!” The legionnaire screamed before stabbing his sword down into the stallion’s head and then ripping it back out. The legionnaire then dashed over to thrust the sword into the mare’s chest.
The mare let out a scream from the pain as the gladius pierced through her skin. She began to hyperventilate as she looked up at the legionnaire, being looked down upon by a terrifying expression of hate and anger. The mare then looked to her daughter as her legs started to buckle and her eyes brimmed with tears.
The filly looked on with her mouth hung open in shock. Gregorios also turned around to find the situation as well, with him widening his own eyes in surprise, before looking down at the filly, now tearing up on her own. He turned his attention back to find the mare placing a hoof onto the blade to steady herself as she attempted to speak.
“I… love you.” The mare’s body slumped over as he limbs limply fell over onto the ground.
The legionnaire pulled his gladius back out and spit down onto the mare as she spilled down, joining her partner in death on the road.
“Congue equitum.” The legionnaire then turned back to the rest of the century, a proud simle upon his face, as if he waited for them to cheer with him.
The young filly huddled herself into a ball, crying quietly to herself as Gregorios' began to boil with anger...
They remained silent as Gregorios simply looked over and nodded to them.
Two other legionnaires took the one soldier by his arms and held him firmly, knocking away his shield and sword before dragging him off as he pleaded his case.
The rest of the century kept their gaze on their centurion as he looked upon the two dead Earth Ponies on the dirt road, their blood forming a small puddle around the two bodies.
He shook his head in a disapproving matter. Two civilians were now killed under his command and in front of their own child no less. Gregorios waved his hand and two more troops quickly pulled the bodies to the side of the road.
“Lorem sepulchrum habet.” He commanded for the couple to have a proper burial… for what respect it may give.
He then turned his attention to the filly and crouched down, still much taller than her. He slowly placed his hand onto her head, a gasp being uttered out of her as she retreated into herself more.
“It’s alright.” He softly stated, pulling his hand back to give her room. “I mean no harm, unlike the other.”
The filly slowly cracked open one of her eyes to look at the centurion before uncurling herself slightly.
Gregorios finally had time to look at the further details of the filly. Her coat, a dark shade of blue, a dark silver mane resembling the hue of slate, and her eyes were a shade of amber, standing out from her otherwise dark colored body. Her mane and tail remained unkempt and poor, possibly due to her family being poor... and earth ponies.
“Here, do you have anywhere to go, any… relatives, friends, maybe?”
Instead of replying she averted her gaze from the centurion and remained locked onto the ground below.
Gregorios let out a sigh and looked back to his century. His legionnaires returned sympathetic looks to him, some even nodding in approval, as if knowing what he was about to do. He turned back and looked down at the filly.
“Alright, come along then, I’ll find you somewhere… or at least someone.” He then carefully scooped the filly up into his arms, cradling her to be hidden behind his large shield, to avoid the sight of other ponies.
“Etiam in itinere!” He shouted out and the century quickly resumed the march.
“What is your name?” Gregorios quickly asked.
The filly remained silent for a small time, possibly still surprised at the human's actions.
“Slate… my name is slate.” She stated quietly, rather wary of the wooden shield blocking her sight from the road so she can only look up at the centurion.
“Well, Slate, my name is Gregorios. Gregorios Democratis.” He glanced down to see Slate looking back up, her expression easing slightly.
“Gre… gori?” What type of strange name is that?” She asked, intrigued at his long and complex name compared to hers.
He responded with a chuckle. “And Slate isn’t strange?”
“At least my name makes sense. My mane is a shade of slate.” She giggled slightly, calming the centurion.
They continued on quietly, with the steady sound of the legionnaires steps giving a steady pace for them listen to… at least until Slate spoke again.
“Greg... orios?” She correctly stated his name for a first.
“Yes, Slate?” He returned, keeping his eyes ahead on the road.
She remained silent as she attempted to form her words properly.
“Are my parents…?”
“Yes… yes they are.” He already prepared for the question.
“Why? Why would this happen?”
Gregorios sighed before starting to explain. He wasn’t exactly the spiritual type, but it seems as the only valid explanation.
“There are some humans who have certain beliefs with our gods. One of those is about how we can’t use magic… at least now. In the beginnings of our empire, it is said that our kings and queens could wield magic. Harvest entire crops by themselves, stop rebellions before they even happen, and even free the old and sick from the maws of death. Now, all of this is nice, except for where it gets bad. It is thought that those abilities were stolen from our people, by a spirit. A spirit of tricks and evil, and he brought our magic and spread it about the world, to watch our empire fall to our own magic. Now, it gets worse, it is said that this spirit was one of a pony… one of your alicorns to be exact.”
Gregorios then looked down to find Slate paying vivid attention to his words, which he then looked back at the road as he spoke.
“He gave most of the magic to the ponies, making them more prosperous than us for a time. There was famine that year, and many… didn’t make it. It is said, that our empire almost collapsed that year as well. Now there is a large group of humans that have such spite for the pony form that they can only feel contempt for them, even if they don’t use magic. It now appears some of them have made it into the military… and he went off on your parents disrupting the march.”
He looked back down at the filly as she continued looking at him in intrigue.
“I’m sorry about all of this, and still that may not even be accurate explanation of the tale, because it most definitely isn’t a justification for your parent’s… passing.”
Slate then curled herself up as she felt the pain of the loss again. Gregorios then pulled her in for a soft hug, surprising her and eliciting a gasp.
“Why are you… being nice?” Slate asks, returning the hug.
“No creature, human or pony should have to go through that pain. You’re a child as well. It is unacceptable in any morality.” He then saw the palace only a small distance away, revealing an end to the long march.
“For who did it, what will happen to him?” Slate asks, wanting more information.
“He has broken our sacramentum for killing of the innocent. He is to be whipped in front of the century by me, and then discharged.” He stated in a serious tone, before looking back down at the filly. “Come along, young one, our stop is here.”
Overlooking the city of Chandleridge, a mountain stood tall, giving a good view of the town’s main road. A small path ascended up the mountain to it's summit.
On this summit stood a certain pony...
He wore a large, decorative blue cloak, sparkled with various constellations and bells, giving it a regal look, and his large wizard-like hat gave the same vibe. His coat was a shade of grey, and a long white beard hung from his chin, along with his old white hair under his hat. His green eyes scanned across the small town, taking in the current situation.
...The wizard known as Star Swirled the Bearded...
“Hmm, maybe there is hope for this after all…” He stated, looking at the centurion carrying the earth pony filly.
The Severius Empire grew in strength to the north, the people rallied after word of the events at Chandleridge reached their roads. Thousands more volunteered into the army, creating a massive reserve for the Empire’s use. The emperor ordered an entire legion to march to Chandleridge, which will now act as the new staging area for the remainder of the conflict.
The Severians then expanded their borders, establishing small settlements along a new road leading to Chandleridge, connecting the frontier to the capital of Severnium.
Gregorios and his century waited for further orders, as he began to manage the city for a short time, creating new reforms and modernizing the ponies to properly fold into the Empire.
He was also attempting to find a home for Slate, proving difficult due to the standardized poverty of the population. No unicorn or pegasus wanted her and the earth ponies couldn’t afford another mouth to feed. Gregorios has now taken it upon himself to try his best to find her a new home, or if he had to… adopt her.
He felt it was his fault for the loss of her parents, but there were no standardized rules for adopting one of a different species. Until told otherwise, he would raise her as his own… or at least that’s what he had planned.
Gregorios stayed inside of his tent, rather than the city. He enjoyed the peace for him to keep himself sharp in intellect during his free time.
Inside his pitch white tent a rather simple design was laid out. A table, two chairs, on it many different plans and books, holders for his armor and equipment and a small bed, all of this sat inside of tent. All of the items were easy to pack and move if the time came.
He sat in his chair next to the table, wearing a red tunic while reading a book from a different land, the title ‘The Art of War’ translated from Latin. He received the book as a souvenir some years ago at the port in Severnium; he was told it was from across the seas, which he didn’t take seriously. No one has been able to get there and come back, but apparently that old merchant did.
The old merchant told of a land where they spoke a complex language that put Latin to shame, but the biggest difference was over there, horses were large and not quite intelligent. They don’t speak either, which intrigued Gregorios. The humans apparently rode upon them to travel great distances, and formed great bonds between rider and steed.
It was also said that the land went on farther, but the old man could not make the journey due to the dangers ahead.
The book told of tactics in warfare, ones that seemed rather strange to Gregorios, but from a grand look, they made sense.
Slate sat across the table from him, playing about with two legionnaire figurines on the battle map. She pushed them back in forth as if they fought each other through… ramming.
Gregorios looked up from his book to see Slate giggling about with the figures. It put a smile on his face to see her at least entertained rather than glum and saddened.
“Are you having fun?” He asked in a playful tone.
Slate almost knocked over the figures from being startled at his voice. She immediately straightened out and placed the figures back on the map.
“I-I wasn’t doing anything!” She abruptly stated, in almost a scared tone.
He set his book down and gave her a concerned look. “Slate, are you okay?”
Slate let out a breath before returning to her normal positioning. “Yes, I’m just... used to…” Her voice trailed off.
Gregorios wanted to learn more, but it seemed that may not be healthy for her, instead he just nodded to her and smiled. “It is fine.” He quickly returned, getting a small smile from her in return.
The sound of the tent’s flap flipping open brought the centurion’s attention back forward, showing a legionnaire entering the tent.
The centurion and the troop exchanged a few words and the trooper was back out, followed by a horn call ringing out inside the camp.
“It is time to rest, Slate.” He then stood up from his chair.
Slate then got off the large human-sized chair and got back onto her hooves. “Where can I sleep?” She asked him.
“Hmm, give me a moment.” He walked over to his bed and was about to give her a pelt blanket to use, but remembered that the ponies don’t hunt. It would probably be quite awkward and strange for her and might even scare her. Instead he sighed and returned back to her. The only other blankets he had, were the ones that made his small makeshift bed. “I regretfully, don’t have a blanket for you.”
“Oh, that’s okay; I’m used to sleeping on the floor.” She returned a smile to him.
He gave her a strange look, wondering just how poor her family was to not even have a bed for their only child.
“If you say so.” He stated walking over to the table and extinguishing the candle, darkening the room. He then carefully stepped over to his bed and placed himself underneath the blankets.
He looked over across the tent to find Slate lying on the ground, attempting to get comfortable, and shivering all the while due to the heat of the candle being extinguished. He knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep properly, but he already asked and she refused… didn’t he? He felt as if he should say something, but instead he just drifted off to sleep.
Slate continued to stay awake, trying her hardest to fall asleep, but she wasn’t able get comfortable on the floor, nor could she get warm with the night’s cool air drifting through the tent’s outer layers. She didn’t wish to inconvenience the centurion, but she needed some help to sleep. He told her he didn’t have any blankets though, so she couldn’t do that… she instead gulped nervously before approaching him in his makeshift bed.
She placed her hoof on his shoulder, carefully shaking him awake as he grumbled about before opening his eyes.
“Slate? Why aren’t you asleep?” He groggily asked, while wiping away at his eyes.
“I… can’t.” She conceded. “I can’t get comfortable.”
“Hmm, are you cold?” He asked next.
“Yes…” She shivered slightly at the mention of the word.
The two of them looked at each other for a moment before he conceded to her and moved over in his bed, creating a space for her.
“Come along, you should be comfortable here.” He sighed out lifting the covers for her.
Slate quietly gasped, she only wanted to light a candle for warmth and security from the dark, but she accepted the offer. Quickly and quietly she climbed into the bed next to him, as he remained on his back, lying down, and she quickly became warm from the covers and his own radiating heat in the bed.
“Thank you.” She replied, feeling better already.
“It is nothing, now please, get some rest.” He then rested his head back onto his pillow to try and fall back asleep.
Later on a sudden swoop of wind pushed against the tent, shaking it slightly and sending the flaps about with the wind, bringing in another cold breeze.
Slate was startled by the wind and instinctively clung onto the human next to her, wrapping herself around his arm in an attempt to be protected from the wind.
Gregorios looked over to find her clinging on and released a sigh. He wrapped her up with his arm, bringing her close to his body, sharing his temperature with her. She felt quite cold, even with his tunic and her coat.
Slate snuggled in and remained asleep, as the centurion instead shook his head before returning to sleep himself.
It would be a long time for Ponies and Humans to truly understand each other, but it seems that this duo have began to pioneer a historical companionship.
But while Gregorios and Slate continue to solve their problems, and the Severius Empire pushed in, the ponies attempt to rally their forces to the south. Commander Hurricane begins to pull the army back from the Draconequess front and position them to the Severian front. The Draconequess clan holds itself steady, wary of the humans encroaching onto them.
What none of the current belligerents in the war know is another human civilization begins its own ascent into the history books.
South of the very country of Equestria itself, the Polisian city-state has begun to mobilize itself. The Polisian people spoke a different language than the other known humans of the time, Greek, originating from their territory in which they named Grecia. Instead of being ruled by monarchs or emperors, the Polisian people elect their own rulers through a new process called democracy.
The Polisians began to push themselves to the north, hearing tales of a fertile land beyond the deserts; it would be quite profitable for them to take advantage of their position.
The Polisians marched onward with their glorious hoplites, into the dangers of the Equestrian Badlands, unknowing of the dangers, but all willing to find what is on the other side…
“Proó̱thi̱si̱!” A voice called into the air, followed by a horn blowing loudly.
The thunderous sounds of marching troops overtook the silent desert as hundreds of Polisian hoplites marched onward. Hoplites, armed with giant shields made of bronze, along with their bronze armor covering their torso, shins and forearms. They also wore trademark helmets, also made of bronze. Each of Hoplite’s shields bearing a symbol of a golden olive branch with a dark blue background, showing that they stand for peace and prosperity.
The Polisians aren’t known for a warlike culture; they mainly try to avoid war if possible, but can amass a strong army if required. Now their large army marches across the badlands to the new world for them to colonize and utilize for their nation.
The hoplites all march in a line formation, three ranks deep at a steady pace. At the front of the formation an officer led the march, wearing a large blue plume upon his helmet, and a bright blue cape.
Pelagius Theodoros, an older officer in the Polisian army. Pelagius is known for his abilities to command from the front, a required ability when it comes to hoplite officers. Though, he is not all for the military life of an officer, being away from his son -who still resides in Polisia with Pelagius’ sister Korinna-, is beginning to irritate him.
As the army continued to march through the sweltering badlands, many different rock formations dotted the otherwise empty desert. Each of them a dark shade of red, contrasting with the dark yellow sand the makes up the ground.
Some of the rock formations are covered in holes, creating tunnels leading inside of them. Inside these tunnels… something deadly lurks. Inside one of the many tunnels a dark colored creature observes the humans marching outside.
The creature was a changeling…
The changeling survives with one of the older breeds of changelings; -the Cinereus or Grey breed due to them being a dark shade of grey compared to the other breeds- and has never seen these bipedal creatures before.
The changeling’s exoskeleton is a dark shade of grey with contrasted heavily with the changeling’s bright green eyes. The insect-like wings of the changeling were also a bright shade of green, complementing its eyes as well. The Cinereus breed is only capable of flying, meaning they have no horns for their magic, making them parasitic in their nature.
A hiss arose from the changeling as it began to back away from the entrance to the tunnel, before unfurling it wings, jumping into the air, and turning around to report to its queen.
Pelagius continued to lead his troops until a loud hiss sounded from a rock formation before them.
“Páf̱si̱!” He calls out and the hoplites immediately halt.
One pair of green glowing eyes appears in one of the hole followed by another hiss. Above them another pair appears, larger than the other with a look of aggression upon them. Another hiss sounds this one significantly louder than the last.
Quickly more eyes appear in the remaining holes as various hisses and growls echo of the rocks.
The hoplites grip their shields and spears tightly as the feeling of danger creeps up onto them. Pelagius backs up to his position in the formation creating the option of a phalanx if needed.
Suddenly with an insect-like screech, the changelings swarmed out of the rock formation. Hundreds, if not thousands of changelings quickly dashed towards the formation, screeching and roaring all the way.
“Fálanga!” Pelagius screams over the loud changelings and immediately the hoplites force themselves into a phalanx formation.
Pelagius takes his stance in the center, shield and spear ready with the other hoplites.
“Kratí̱ste!” He yelled out and the hoplites held their shields firm, ready for the impact of the changelings.
The changelings slammed into the phalanx with a thunderous crack of kinetic energy. The hoplites held strong, all of them pushing their weight forward in the phalanx in order to hold off the changelings. Some changelings flew above the phalanx and attempted to flank around, surprising some of the hoplites. The changelings swooped down and began to flash and cut up the hoplites. Some of the hoplites were even dragged out of formation, screaming as the changelings tore them apart.
Quickly the hoplites retaliated by sectioning of that area of the phalanx and began to fight back with their spears, ripping the changelings out of the air and finishing them off on the ground below.
The changelings surrounded Pelagius’ phalanx, but the hoplites held strong with organization and discipline as their specialties.
Pelagius thrust his spear forward, piercing into a changeling’s chest, before ripping the spear back out and bashing forward with his shield. The changeling was then knocked back to bleed out on the ground as it was trampled by its changeling brethren.
The hoplites continued to systematically wipe the changelings out before a loud screech sounded from the rock formation. The changelings quickly perked up and disengaged the humans before scuttling back to their hive.
As the changelings retreat the hoplites hold their formation strong after the battering done to them.
Bodies of changelings and humans litter the surrounding area, broken spears lie on the ground along with dented shields and torn capes. Once the changelings dissipate into their tunnels a deathly silence falls across the area.
“Anasyntachthoún! Prépei na fýgoume!” Pelagius commands for the hoplites to regroup and exit the area quickly and the follow the command swiftly.
The hoplites uncover their dead and wounded and begin to carry them at the rear of the formation as the hoplites traverse the remainder of the desert.
“Akoumpí̱ste edó̱ gia tó̱ra. Eímaste sto telef̱taío skélos.” Pelagius called out for the army to rest as they entered a large canyon area. The hoplites almost immediately collapsed onto the ground to rest from the marching in the desert climate. Pelagius himself was exhausted from the marching and he was used to long marches.
As the hoplites continued to settle themselves around a voice echoes out nearby.
“Axio̱matikós Pelagius, vrí̱ka káti!” One of the hoplites called out from a nearby tunnel entrance.
Pelagius headed over to the hoplite, followed by other interested hoplites.
Pelagius looked at the cave entrance with the one hoplite nearby, waving his arm to the officer, wanting him to come and see inside the tunnel.
The two of them peek inside of the tunnel to see that it split off into multiple directions, each of them glowing different colors. Red, grey, yellow, and the final one being black. The tunnel itself is lined with a green gel-like substance that leads down all of the colored tunnels.
“Ti eínai af̱tó?” Pelagius asked out loud to anyone that could answer, but no one did.
The hoplites continued to look on in awe of the colors until another hoplite called out in a terrified tone.
“Axio̱matikós! Axio̱matikós!”
Pelagius quickly turned his attention away from the tunnel and ran back to the sound of the voice. There he found another one of his hoplites pointing at something in the distance. Pelagius looked over to find a bone-chilling site to even the bravest of soldiers…
On one of the high peaks of the canyon, looking down upon them was an enormous scaled creature.
The creature was a dragon…
Red fiery scales, giant wings, and two black eyes stared down upon the hoplites.
With a large roar coming from the other side of the canyon another dragon perched itself above them, this one being a shade of green. Both of them bare their long teeth to the humans, as a sign of aggression.
The hoplites watched on as one of the dragons reared up into the air before letting a stream of fire combust from its mouth, showing the humans that they were not welcome in the territory.
“Metakíni̱si̱! Párte to kálymma sto toúnel!” Pelagius yelled out as he ran across the canyon to grab his spear and shield.
The hoplites followed his orders and grabbed their gear before heading into the cave that they discovered.
“Ti sas, axio̱matikós?!” One of the hoplites yelled out over the commotion.
“Tha apospásei ta thi̱ría! Tó̱ra pi̱gaínete!” He called out to the troops that he shall distract the beasts for them to escape.
With that being said Pelagius charged forward with his shield raised as the red dragon flaps it wings and began to hover in the air above the canyon. The dragon then inhaled before unleashing a hail of fire down onto Pelagius, heating up his shield, which blocked away most of the fire, the remaining flames only slightly searing his legs.
The green dragon landed onto the ground at the other side of the canyon, cutting of the route of escape and to charge at the remaining hoplites outside of the tunnel. The dragon quickly swiped its claw across the area, sending the hoplites flying to hit the tunnel and the area above it with such force, that the rock above it begins to shatter and crumble. The dragon continues to stomp about chasing the humans into the tunnel in which it fails to stop and ends up slamming into the rock causing them to fall down on top of the dragon and cover the tunnel entrance, trapping the hoplites inside.
The humans inside of the tunnel are knocked down from the impact of the dragon as the light immediately dissipates away, leaving only the multi-colored glows in the tunnel to illuminate them.
Pelagius continues his suicidal sprint, unaware of the condition of his hoplites. The red dragon lands on the ground in front of him and he reacts by raising his shield to block him from the flames once again. As the dragon remains focused on keeping the flames moving Pelagius ducks underneath the dragon and thrust his spear at the dragon’s underbelly. The spear barely pierces into the dragon’s scales, not even scratching it.
“Dekára!” He cusses as his spear almost shatters from the scales of the dragon.
The dragon halts his flames and looks down to try and find the human only to be met with Pelagius’ spear striking it in the eye.
The red dragon screeches in agony from the injury to his eye and quickly falls onto his side as Pelagius runs up to the dragon’s head. Pelagius stopped at the dragon’s head and readied his xiphos short sword to strike. If the spear was unable to puncture the dragon’s scales then the short sword definitely couldn’t. Pelagius began to slash with large swipes of the sword on the dragon's head, getting loud roars and screeches in response.
Pelagius then placed his sword back into its holster and grabbed onto his spear lodged in the dragon’s eye. He then attempted to rip the spear out with all of his strength as the dragon began to rile about on the ground, flailing its limbs in pain.
Suddenly the spear dislodges from the dragon’s eye, forcing Pelagius off balance and knocking him off of the dragon’s head onto his back.
Blood flowed out of the dragon’s eye as it flailed about on the ground in even more pain.
As Pelagius recovered and rose back up the green dragon released a roar from across the canyon at the officer.
The green dragon began to charge while firing out it flames while Pelagius immediately turned around to run, jumping over the limbs of the now motionless red dragon.
His cape began to catch on fire as he neared the exit of the giant canyon, seeing that the environment began to change into a temperate climate rather than a desert. Trees began to come into view and rivers along with them.
Right before he exited the canyon Pelagius quickly pulled a one-eighty turn and raised his shield to block the full might of the dragon’s breath. He stopped in his tracks… the dragon didn’t.
The dragon slammed into Pelagius, knocking him into the air backwards and the dragon slipped and fell over from being pushed off balance from the force.
Pelagius bounced multiple times on the ground, his armor taking a massive beating, right before slamming into a tree.
He slowly slid down the tree as his armor rung and quickly slumped down with his back against the tree.
The first instance of the Polisian people coming into contact with Equestria and of human contact with two creatures that can match their dominance over the land.
In Chandleridge a large amount of fresh troops have finally arrived, including units of velite skirmishers, more legionnaires, and units of ballista all being led by a legate to take control of the army. Legate Varinius, known for his brutal treatment of his enemies, going as far as too kill their own children to keep them from acting out again. Varinius is also the heir to the throne of Emperor Duilius, giving him the ability to get away with these cruel acts.
Gregorios readies his century for any new tasks that await them with the new troops from their homeland and for the new threats they may face in the coming hours…
The sun clinged to the horizon on the gloomy summer day. Gregorios stood in his tent, clad in his centurion armor with his gladius and shield leaning against one of the legs of his table. He stands leaning over the table with his hands to support him. He glances over to the right to find Slate still asleep on the small bed they shared the night before. She was wrapped up in the covers with her head hanging slightly off of the bed.
He cracked a small smile before walking over to the side of the bed. He carefully picked her head up in his hands and laid her back onto the soft pillow. He then gently tucked her in to ensure comfort before returning himself back to the table.
The centurion was looking over the new reports of the reinforcements he would be receiving and the new legate that he would have to take orders from. He has worked with Varinius in the past... it was quite a highlight of his career to say the least. It was before he was even a centurion in fact...
His thoughts were interrupted as an audible yam came from his small bed.
Gregorios then chuckled as Slate got out of the bed, stretching her legs out.
“Good morning, uh… Greg-or…” She attempted to state his name properly.
“Gregorios, Slate. It is pronounced Greg-or-e-o-s. Gregorios.” He responded with a smile.
“Gregorios. Good morning, Gregorios!” She stated with a triumphant smile.
“When I was being sent out here, I didn’t think I would have to teach a pony how to say my name.” He remarked to her.
“Hey! I don’t even know what your language is.” She retorted with a blush of embarrassment.
“It is Latin. Very complex compared to English when you learn both of them.” Gregorios then reached down to pick up his shield in his left hand and then placing his gladius in its holster.
“So… what are you going to do today?” Slate asked, beginning to be comfortable being in the presence of the centurion.
“Mainly preparing the troops to move about again, we might stay here for the occupation though.” He stated while adjusting his helmet’s plume upon his head.
Slate’s expression fell at hearing this. “So… you might leave?”
“Well, there is a chance. Slate, do you really have nowhere to go?” He asked, concerned for her.
“Well… without my parents… Nopony will take a little filly like me.” She stated looking down at the ground.
Gregorios released a heavy sigh looking at her. “Slate… if we do leave, would you like to come with me?”
Slate gasped and looked up at the human. “You… you would do that?”
“There aren’t any rules against it… yet, anyway.” He announced the last part quietly under his breath.
Her eyes widened up with a grin coming across her face. Slate suddenly latched herself to his leg in a tight hug. “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!”
He reached down and pulled her off of his leg before setting her back down on the ground. “Yes, well I need to get to work. I assume you can navigate your way about the city?” Slate nodded. “Good, meet me back here when the sun reaches mid-day and we can see about all of this.”
“See you later, Gregorios!” She excitedly yelled back as she ran outside of the tent.
He remained inside shaking his head at the thought of this working. He looked down at the ring on his finger a nodded his head.
“This is what he would do.” He states proudly before exiting the tent himself.
“I want this canyon covered stallions! Get the clouds into position for the rainfall! Come on stallions, we’re not letting them through here!” A loud voice echoed off the walls of the tall grey canyon.
Pony soldiers dashed about, preparing the canyon for a defense in the future. Though, these were not ill-equipped soldiers, but the elite army from the draconequess front, called to combat the human threat. The soldiers were clad in proper iron armor, designed specifically for each race.
Pegasi wore lighter armor, covering their torso, head, and hooves to give them full control of their movement. Pegasi were to act as shock infantry, leading charges with lances and swords in order to wipe out an enemy formation quickly. Pegasi were also authorized to use their abilities with weather manipulation to change the tide of combat in their own favor.
Unicorns wore medium armor covering their torso, head, and hooves, like the pegasi, but heavier in order for them to fight better on the ground. The unicorns were meant to act as skirmishers to fire their magic into enemy formations and hold off small attacks to cover for heavy infantry… the Earth ponies.
The Earth ponies were armed to the teeth with heavy armor covering their entire bodies. Earth ponies were meant to act as the heavy infantry in the army, holding formations against enemies and taking a large beating in the process.
All of these soldiers were led by the legendary Commander Hurricane, who stands tall over the canyon. Becoming the alicorn embodiment of war has made him quite powerful in his position as King of Equestria alongside Queen Clover, who remained back at the nearby village of Brinkburn.
The King’s alicorn body holds characteristics that make him the wielder of authority wherever he goes. All of his features were hidden under his white armor, such as his dark red coat, white mane and crimson red eyes.
His beloved has still not told him of the events that have made her so, nor does he know of his son’s whereabouts. All he knew is that Chandleridge has fallen to a mighty foe that plans to continue until the ponies are wiped away from civilization, but he wasn’t going to let that happen… at least without a fight.
“Earth ponies, move the rocks into position, if they want to come through this canyon, then they better keep their heads up!” Hurricane called out to a team of Earth ponies pushing boulders to the ledge of the canyon, in order to push them down to fall on troop formations below.
The stallions grunted with one final shove of effort as they rolled a boulder into position.
“Good work, now move the others!”
“Yes, commander!”
He nodded his head in approval and continued to look on as his pegasi troops placed their clouds into position above the canyon, now able to strike lightning down upon troops below.
Hurricane looked on and then nodded his head.
“Whoever this enemy is... they’re going to have a hard time.”
Gregorios walked himself through the aisles of his century’s tents, inspecting the condition of his legionnaires. Each of them gave him a look of assurance as they continued readying their equipment for their eventual mobilization.
Gregorios enjoyed leading his troops, not for the superior wage and abilities, but for the respect that he has earned over the years.
His family wasn't exactly respected back in Severnium, mainly for age old treachery involving the last emperor of the nation. The Democratis family at one point wanted to reform the empire to a government based upon the people rather than a single man on a throne.
While they gained support, the revolution failed in the end, leading to most of the family dead or executed. Gregorios has faced extensive difficulty through his life for this and now, due to some events, he is the only viable family member of this generation.
It took a lot of time in order to achieve his current status and his family is proud of it, pushing him to continue on and redeem the Democratis name. Soon he may just be able to rest with his family redeemed, but that may have been dashed with this war.
“Gregorios!” A voice called behind the centurion, who spun himself around to see one of his legionnaires out of breath from running.
“Quid est hoc, legionarius?” Gregorios asked with a stern voice.
“Legate Varinius venit domino.” The legionnaire stated, attempting to catch up his breath.
Finally, Varinius had arrived in Chandleridge, hours late compared to the rest of his army. It may be considered a bad omen among most men, but it seems they would have to deal with it for now.
“Vade, et congregavit in hominibus, et conveniam Varinius.” Gregorios commanded the legionnaire to ready the men as he would meet with the legate.
The soldier nodded before bolting off to carry out his orders.
Gregorios shook his head and then began at a brisk pace to the entrance of the camp.
Pelagius’ eyes slowly pulled themselves open as the hoplite released a pained groan. He quickly lifted his head up and instantly grunted along with a pop sounding from his neck. He looked about his surroundings to find himself planted against a rather tall tree, his spear was on the ground, shattered into pieces. His shield though was only knocked a small distance away, with the sun brightly reflecting off of it.
Pelagius attempted to pull himself up, feeling all of his joints ache with searing pain for each movement.
He finally rose to his feet to take a deep breath in order to cool his lungs as he took in his surroundings. The area changed from the dry desert badlands to an area of plentiful grasslands, covered in small groves of flowers and swaths of various trees.
It was almost too much for Pelagius to witness, never before has he seen such a wide variety of botanical life.
Drawing himself from the environment he looked back to the area from whence he came to find the canyon has collapsed due to the destruction from the dragon attack.
It seemed that he has lost contact with his hoplites, a dangerous situation. Pelagius now had to recover this situation; if not then he must consider it as a total failure…
In the tunnels within the cave system screams echoed off of the dimly lit walls; screams of pain, fear, and utter death, followed by sounds of tearing, hissing and the like.
Pelagius’ hoplites have wandered into a death trap while attempting to navigate the cave system. The four original tunnels, lit of different colors all led to different fates for the hoplites.
The red tunnel led to an area of fiery insect-like creatures... changelings of a flaming variety, using spells of heat to subdue their prey, before stealing away their own body temperature, rendering their corpse as an ice cold husk.
The grey tunnel brought them to a place of another changeling race, ones lacking wings or horns, capable of extreme strength. They simply bashed through the bronze shields and tore the hoplites apart.
Next was the yellow tunnel, consumed with ponds and areas filled with yellow acidic liquid, capable of burning skin off, and even melting through armor. These changelings used their abilities of flight to ambush enemies, biting them to release their acid formula to kill the prey quickly in order to drain the body fluids to fulfill their own energy requirements.
Some of the hoplites were able to fight back in the tunnels… only leading them to die in utter exhaustion.
Though, one has survived long enough to get through a large area of the tunnels…
The hoplite’s heavy breathing echoed off the walls of the tunnel, conflicting with the screams coming from behind him, as he dashed through the tunnel in an attempt at freedom. Thankfully, it seems that the different races of changelings are battling each other over the new food wandering into their domains, and are currently distracted from him.
As he continued his sprinting through the tunnel he began to run the images through his head of entering the tunnels, strange noises and then… the blood…
The hoplite continued to just cling to his spear and charge forward, now feeling a cold sensation of moving air hitting him head-on, indicating an exit was near.
As he rushed forward he began to feel the same terrifying presence as before… The feeling of eyes watching him… hunting him.
The hoplite has spent so much time inside these tunnels; it was if his mind was leaving him, trapped in darkness with only instinct and the glows of his predators to guide him.
“Eínai kaneís ekeí?!” A voice sounded down the hall.
The tunnel curved slightly to the right in the tunnel, afterwards revealing a bright glow… Freedom…
The voice grew louder as well, a short distance away from the exit another hoplite lied, propped up against the wall, dead changelings on the ground around him, with a shattered spear and melted shield. He has sustained injuries, and seems to be on the brink of passing out.
“Parakaló̱… Voí̱theia!” The injured hoplite called for help to his running comrade, who quickly stopped before him, ready to help him from the danger, like he was trained to.
A hiss sounded down the tunnel attracting the attention from both the hoplites, looking back to find… their hunters. Multiple grey changelings stood at the other side of the tunnel, hissing, ready to charge and take down their prey… Their eyes, only a soulless shade of grey, with solid black fangs showed bare at the humans.
Suddenly the changelings broke into a dash at the hoplites as they remain frozen at the sight of their hunters.
“Vgálte me apó do̱!” The injured hoplite called to his comrade, who simply returned a stare in reply. “Éla, voí̱thi̱sé mou!”
The standing hoplite looked back to find the changelings closing in on the two and took on last glance at his injured comrade…
The two of them locked eyes, the injured hoplite beginning to tear up at the possibility of his fate and the other with a look of fear and desperation…
The standing hoplite then bolted towards the light of the tunnel’s exit as the injured hoplite reached to his fleeing ally.
“Óchi!” He cried out in anguish as he was betrayed by one of his own colleagues.
The other hoplite already ran out of the tunnel to burst into the bright light of the outside forested area. He immediately collapsed onto the grass below him, destroyed by what he has witnessed in such a short time.
Suddenly screams poured from the tunnel as the injured hoplite was slaughtered by the changelings, followed by sounds of flesh tearing open with massive strikes, growls and hisses echoing outward as well.
The surviving hoplite remained on the ground, curled up into a ball, quaking from fear with each new noise coming from the tunnel. Soon, the violent noises faded as the changelings dragged their meal deeper into the tunnels of their hive.
He then released a breath that he had been inadvertently holding in, before tossing away his shield and spear, crashing against a nearby tree. The hoplite then curled himself up and began to vent his emotions… He cried, screamed, and swore, lamenting in all ways imaginable.
The Crystal Empire prospered in the northern tundras of Equestria, a literal gem in a sea of white. The city itself stretched far, covering the area in hundreds of buildings. Homes, administrational buildings, even militaristic buildings, all of them contributing to the strength of the empire. One enormous spire shaped building controlled the center of the city, standing high over the rest of the region as the Crystal palace. Currently the entire city is the greatest architectural wonder of the ancient world.
Empress Tourmaline is the current ruler of the empire, using her current policies of total isolationism to keep themselves safe from all foreign threats. This lead them to have a very distinct culture, based around respect and social equality for all citizens in the empire.
Inside the very throne room of the palace, Empress Tourmaline sat in her throne, reading through reports of the past week. The alicorn stood tall, with a dark black coat and a violet mane, matching her eyes.
“Empress Tourmaline! Empress Tourmaline!” A husky voice called from outside of the throne room.
The doors quickly swung open urging the guards near them to ready themselves, only to be assured when they realized who came through.
It was Erinite, commander of the Empire’s military. He wore his bright white crystal armor, to differentiate him from the standard soldiers wearing the teal shaded steel armor. His coat was a mere shade of faded grey due to his age, along with his mane a shade of faded green mixed with teal.
“My Empress, I bring news from the gate!” He yelled out as he brought himself to a bow before the throne.
“What is it, Erinite?” The empress asked, placing the documents on the ground, sensing the seriousness in his tone.
The commander rose back onto his hooves from the bow. “There are… humans, at the gate. It seems they wish to enter the city.”
Her eyes widened at the news. “Do they come bearing grotesque intentions?” She asked.
“It seems not, they are unarmed. They only come with what few things they carry.”
The humans of the northern lands have been quite aggressive towards ponies in the last few years. Some of them even hunting, killing and eating the ponies, putting fear into the crystal populace.
“What do you think brings this change of heart from them?” She asked, intrigued at the situation.
“We… do not know as of now. They speak a language we do not understand, but they refuse to leave nor do they wish to fight.”
Erinite looked back to find some of his soldiers reporting into the room to back up his testimony if needed.
“I assume all of your stallions are in agreement?” The alicorn questions in order to get support for his report, leading all of the soldiers in the room to nod in agreement to their commander. “Very well.” She stateed as she rose from her throne. “Let us go and see their intentions.”
Gregorios arrived at the entrance of the camp to now see just what he has to deal with. More reinforcements of legionnaires have arrived along with the new legate who is… nowhere to be found as of now.
The legionnaires are currently just standing about, waiting for orders, some of them even sitting down and talking with each other. Gregorios let out a long sigh before approaching the legionnaires.
“Qua legatione Varinius?”
It seems as if the soldiers didn’t even care for Gregorios’ question. He cleared his throat loudly, actually getting one of the legionnaires to look at him with a dull look upon his face.
“Qua legatione Varinius?” Gregorios asked again.
The soldiers rolles his eyes and pointed to the back of the entire formation. The centurion looked to where he is pointing to find in the distance a large group of praetorian guards and what looks to be a mobile throne… made of solid gold…
Gregorios slaped a hand to his face at the sight before making his way through the rows of legionnaires.
“I do say this city is absolutely filthy!” A voice sounded from behind the row of Praetorians. “Tis a good matter that we’ve taken it from them, we shouldn’t let animals toil with marvels.” The voice almost felt venomous to the ear, as if it always spoke out of spite.
“Don’t feel as if it was you that have taken it, last time I recalled none of us were here during the battle.” A more gruff voice sounded.
“I second that, the centurion who led the attack has yet to reveal himself.” This time it was a female voice.
“Yes, if you want this to work then having the last piece of the puzzle would be nice.” Another younger male voice stated.
Gregorios picked up the pace as he neared the source.
“Calm down, I assure you that he will be here any moment.”
Gregorios was finally near the line of praetorians, who instantly drew their blades and readied their shields, catching the attention of the four on the other side.
Between a pair of the praetorians one man pushed through. He wore heavily decorative armor, with designs of gold and silver lining the red painted paneling of the armor along with his own red cape. He wore no helmet, revealing his dark black hair and blue eyes along with a soft looking round face.
“Ah, Gregorios!” The legate called out.
“Varinius…” The centurion mumbled back.
The praetorians moved out of the way so Varinius could hop out and meet with the centurion.
“Oh, my good friend! It’s been so long since the Battle of Valo!” Varinius was a good bit shorter than Gregorios, almost hindering his position of leadership.
“Yes… too long.” He felt rather strange with the friendly approach from Varinius.
“Oh, and you’re a centurion now! I never knew you’d look so good at the age of thirty!”
“What is this, Varinius? You showering me in compliments and praise? Last time I checked, I wasn’t the son of the emperor.”
“Please, come with me and I shall explain it all, my friend.” Varinius waved his hand to Gregorios and headed to the other side of the praetorians. Gregorios shook his head and followed him on.
“Our final piece has arrived, my friends!” Varinius called out, attracting the attention of the other three armored soldiers.
“Gregorios, I would like to introduce you to your new partners.” He stated, gesturing to the three soldiers.
“Centurion Silvanus Quintillus.” Varinius gestured to a centurion in the same armor as Gregorios, yet with different emblems based upon his century. The centurion has a rather oval shaped head with a balding head and a black goatee along with faded green eyes. He stood taller than Gregorios, almost by a full head taller, a rather intimidating presence.
“Centurion Julia Caecila.” Now, a female centurion was presented, certainly one of a kind. She wore her own custom centurion armor, fitted for her smaller build compared to a male centurion. A diamond shaped face with brown eyes, softly contrasting with her light brown hair. She was the same height as Gregorios, almost surprising to him as he was taller than most of the men he knew.
“And finally, Centurion Avitus Sabinus.” Another centurion was presented, though he looked quite similar to Gregorios when it came to armor selection. His eyes were a simple shade of grey along with facial hair of dark black stubble along with combed over black hair.
“This is Centurion Gregorios Democratis.” Varinius introduced him to the others, each of them showing signs of confusion at the mention of his last name.
“The emperor sent a Democratis out here first? I don’t know whether to be insulted or thankful.” Silvanus stated in a spiteful tone.
“I’ve heard of your family… It seems that you’re working for redemption.” Julia responded respectfully.
“I congratulate you. Being the first to take out a foreign threat, and of Democratis blood, it is quite the accomplishment.” Avitus added.
“I’m honored to meet you all.” Gregorios responded, receiving rather indifferent looks from each of them.
“Now, I can actually inform you all of why I’ve gathered you here.” Varinius states quickly ascending to the top step of his small mobile throne. Before sitting down he tosses a small bag down onto the ground before the centurions. Now seated in his throne he begins to continue his monologue. “Now, my friends, this is a rather… magical land, is it not?”
“I guess it seems the horses are pretty magical.” Silvanus responds while looking at the bag to find pieces of gold within it.
“It was rhetorical… Continuing on, I want to hire all of you, that being your first payment.” Varinius points to the small bag of gold.
“Rather light, don’t you think?” Silvanus holds the bag up, seeming to be the only interested in the payment.
“You have not done anything for me yet, therefore why would I give you a large sum? The only one truly deserving anything here would be Gregorios, but I think he’s gotten all that he wants from this city.” Varinius implied with a wink at Gregorios who only pondered his words.
“Now, the reason I’ve gathered you all and am paying you is to… eliminate certain threats to our operations here.”
“Please, if you could make this quick that would be preferred. My men seem to be getting more ornery by the minute.” Julia interrupts, losing her patience.
Varinius growled in frustration. “These threats are very magical creatures here, connected to the land in their own individual ways. It also seems that they take the leadership roles of our new enemies.”
“Hmm, they sound rather troublesome, please, continue.” Avitus commented.
“What I want you four to do is… hunt these… these ‘Alicorns’.”
The snow whipped viciously outside of the Crystal city, nearly blinding anyone unfortunate enough to wander outside of the city walls. Though, at the main gate of the castle many taller beings stood, as if waiting for approval to enter… which they were.
The humans wore ragged pelt and hides of various hunted animals to provide them with warmth in the winter climate. They wore heavy wrappings of hide around their feet in order to keep them dry while trudging through the snow of northern Equestria.
All of the humans carried supplies upon their backs, from wicker baskets carrying tools to small satchels carrying meat from recent hunts. The larger built males carried various spears as their form of defense for their small families as the mothers watched over and carried the young. Though joining the humans is a companion that has turned from their worst enemy to their newest ally in the battle of survival.
Wolves… Hunters that dominated northern Equestria and once terrified the humans are now joined at their sides as a form of a symbiotic relationship. The humans provide food for the wolves, and the wolves protect the humans from larger threats. This combination of predators now is able to dominate northern Equestria and even make the ponies fear them when exiting the city.
Crystal ponies clutter about near the gate as the guards ready themselves if protection is required. The guards stonewall the gate, keeping citizens from exiting the city, they also line up upon the top of the walls to keep an eye on the humans on the other side.
The humans simply waited, keeping themselves warm and feeding each other with their small supply of food. The pony guards look on in disgust as some of the humans help themselves to their supply of meat and at how the wolves beg and consume the leftovers.
“Savages…” One of the guards states, while watching a human rummage through one of its satchels. The guard’s eyes widen when the human rips what appears to be a… mane from the satchel. The human tosses the mane off to the side and continues to rummage through the satchel for something to eat.
The Pegasus guard holds back his gag before shaking his head. He then flaps his wings, ascending into the air. He then landed outside of the wall in order to quickly pick the mane up with his hoof and then head back onto the wall.
His fellow guards looked down at the torn off mane to find it a simple shade of red, mistaken to a piece of meat most likely.
“Well… who does it belong to?” One guard asked, attempting to hold back his dinner.
“Let’s see…” One of the unicorn guards levitated a scroll listing missing ponies in order to cross-reference it with the mane in order to find a possible victim. “Black mane… blue… Ah, red mane! A missing foal… Filed by commander Erinite…” He placed the scroll back into his satchel. “Oh dear, it seems we’ve found what is left of the commander’s… foal…”
Each of the guards immediately let out an audible gulp as they looked back onto the red mane lying before them.
“They’re still eating…” One of the guards interrupted, still watching the humans and wolves patiently eat, as if waiting for something.
“Alright…” The unicorn stateed in order to retrieve their attention. “If the commander learns about this, who knows what type of rampage he’ll go into, but it’s definitely going to involve those in charge of the walls, and that means us.”
Each of the guards exchanged uneasy looks.
“It’s either we get rid of this, or it’ll be our hides being eaten by those savages.” The unicorn gestured to the humans, continuing to consume their meat.
“But, this isn’t right, he should know of his daughter’s fate.” One of the guards interjected.
“Yes, but it was our job to find her. Our reputation will be ruined and we’ll never find work again. Do you want that to happen?”
The other guard released a tired sigh before speaking. “Fine then, do it.”
The unicorn quickly tossed the mane onto the ground before levitating a torch down to hover just above it, slightly searing it.
“Not a word of this will be mentioned again between any of us, understood?”
All of the guards nodded, some hesitated, but each of them doing so in the end. The unicorn then lowered the torch to make contact with the mane, causing it to catch the flames, quickly rendering the mane unidentifiable, before searing into a small pile of ash, almost instantly picked up by the cold winds to dissipate into the air.
The guards held a moment of silence, each of them removing their helmets as a sign of respect to the youth that has been lost.
If only they knew…
The ancient ages of Equestria were not one of accurate communication for the ponies. Messages had to be relayed across the entire continent of Equestria, requiring a large work force of pegasi to be able to transport the messages, which were only written upon primitive scrolls. No set roads or guiding routes were made at the time, requiring the pegasi to journey the routes from pure memory, which was quite the unreliable source, no matter the circumstances. This was due to the irregularity of the weather patterns on the continent, which also had to be resolved by the pegasi in order for these messengers to even have a slim chance of making it to their destination, and then there was a vast array of in the skies which they had to battle against, ranging from predators to even other rogue ponies bent on robbing and even killing the messengers.
It was even more difficult for the ponies of the Crystal Empire to operate a messenger system, this was due to their weather, with which the pegasi had next to no control over and the scarcity of supplies that the empire had access to, a symptom of their isolationism in the north. This not only led to ponies constantly getting lost outside of the city, but led to even the lists of the lost being inaccurate. Why, you might ask? Because there wasn’t a census system to keep track of the citizens either and the taxation system was also unreliable due to ponies rarely having a stable place to call home, leading them to being nomadic within their own city.
The only way for the Crystal ponies to know if one of their citizens were missing, is if they haven’t returned in a while. This was also common due to the ponies being nomadic with how they lived. Their entire system was based upon guessing, which for obvious reasons is unreliable.
Now the guards may have thought that they have discovered the truth of Eritnite’s daughter, but even when the evidence seems to line up to a simple hypothesis, it can all still be wrong when certain factors are missing, with which the future shall use to truly reveal what has happened.
The guards quickly rearmed themselves with their armor and exchanged nods before returning to their posts on the walls, just in time for a certain alicorn to arrive.
Empress Tourmaline landed upon the ground, Erinite at her side, causing the nearby Crystal ponies gathered at the gates to shift out of her way before bowing to their ruler.
“What hath happened to our kingdom, my Crystal citizens?” Tourmaline addressed her subjects with a thundering voice to bring focus onto the situation.
“My Empress, humans gather at the gate!” One guard responded from the walls.
“We know not of their intentions!” Another guard called out, descending from the wall to bow before the Empress.
Tourmaline placed a firm expression upon her features. “Remain calm, my soldiers. Do the humans reveal signals of aggression?”
“None yet, but they bear arms.” The guard looked up with a signal of haste.
“Thou are so sure of an attack. Stay, on thy distrust; I alone will go.” The Empress then began an approach to the main gate, Erinite in tow.
“Tourmaline, you cannot possibly-” Erinite was cut off by the alicorn.
“I would much rather hath a peaceful meeting, rather than one of anguish to both parties.” Tourmaline usually remained as a rather cool and friendly ruler to her subjects, but when firmness was required she more than happily obliged for their sake.
Erinite held himself back, he knew not to push his limits with the Empress, and experience tends to bestow that wisdom upon a guard.
The guards in the gatehouse quickly worked to raise the gate open as the empress neared it letting a mist of snow swoop through the entrance, blowing through the alicorn's mane. She inhaled the cool breeze, refreshing herself almost as she exited the gate, with which the guards quickly closed behind her. She continued her peaceful march forward, eyes closed as she adjusted to the brightness of the sun reflecting off of the snow and the chill.
Her peace was tarnished when the dogs of the humans began to ferociously bark and growl at the alicorn. The humans quickly pulled their dogs back and stood together, males in the front with weapons, females and children in the back with food and the dogs.
The Empress halted her approach in order for the humans to truly verify her, allowing them to quickly whisper between each other. Tourmaline attempted to listen in, but instead found the humans speaking a different language, one completely spate from English. Finally one male human stepped forward, donning grey colored furs, compared to the standard tan of his brethren. He also wore a hat, made of a bear’s head, Tourmaline also found that it was not only the head of the bear, but the entire pelt, stretching down to just above the humans fur boots, giving it the appearance of a cape. The jaw of the bear sat wide open, as if in the middle of a ferocious roar, and the eyes, wide open, as if they stared at Tourmaline.
His clothing was a sign of him being the dominant leader of the group, giving reason for the other humans to bow their heads to him as he passed. He then continued his walk to the empress, spear in hand, putting everyone involved on edge, the guards, the civilian ponies, and even the humans, all sat in silence to watch the two leaders meet.
Erinite instantly slammed onto the ground in front of the empress, holding his body in a low defensive stance with his wings flared and ears splayed back as a sign of aggression.
The human reacted by simply pointing the spear at the pegasi, a warning for a possible confrontation.
“Erinite.” Tourmaline coldly stated behind the pegasus. “Stand down and get back to the wall.”
Erinite glanced back at the alicorn before returning his gaze to the human. Erinite snorted, creating a large burst of warm air to manifest in the air as a white cloud before disappearing in a gust of wind. The human readied himself with his spear, setting himself into a combat stance if the situation would call for it. The two of them locked eyes and it almost seemed that the wind itself settled for the tension to take over.
Then… the human spoke…
“Pozhaluysta ... Ne nado.” He called for the pegasus to stop… but the language barrier prevented such from happening.
The human spoke in a tongue native to the many roaming tribes of the northern lands... Russian, a language older than English and Equestria itself.
“Erinite, you will stand down.” Tourmaline kept her voice firm for the commander.
The humans and pegasus held their glares, before Erinite quickly grunted in frustration before pulling his wings back together and stepping to the side. “Fine, but I’m staying here, in case if the animal wishes to pull anything.”
The alicorn and the human then continued to walk forward, before meeting in the middle, matching each other’s height.
The two of them looked over each other, as if examining a tool for flaws. The human’s eyes were a dark blue, contrasting heavily with his pale white skin, colored a dark red in some areas due to it being irritated by the nipping wind and snow.
The human then used his empty left hand and placed it flat upon his chest before speaking. “Varlam.” He stated his name to the alicorn.
Tourmaline then nodded in understanding to the human before placing a hoof onto her chest in order to do the same. “Tourmaline.”
They exchanged smiles to each other in an assurance that confrontation would not be an issue.
“Are all of the preparations in order?” Hurricane asked in an authoritative tone, overlooking a map displayed on a small table in front of him.
Three pegasi stood behind him, the commander's officers, each of them clad in multiple colors of armor, their helmets were irregular from the usual ones, displaying the shapes of evil entities, fangs and all. It created an image that they were more than mere pony soldiers, but as if they were creatures bent on destroying the enemies of Equestria. It has worked effectively, fooling enemies into believing that the gods conspired against them.
Commander Hurricane instilled these warriors when he first became king of Equestria, as a way to sway the people into believing that the monarchy and nation was protected by the gods, giving hope to the people. The wars against the chaotic draconequess clan proved these soldiers to be heavily experienced and capable of defeating great enemies.
These magnificent elite soldiers were known as The Cyclones.
“The pegasi have prepared the storm clouds. They’ll be arching through nearly an hour of rain and thunder.” The first cyclone responded, wearing his dark violet armor.
“Unicorns have readied all magical traps along the path. Smoke bombs are ready, along with the skirmishers on the flanks of the canyon.” The next informed, with his dark black armor.
“Heavy infantry is ready to crush them on all sides, we will await you orders.” The third stated, donning his dark green armor.
“Excellent, to your positions, cyclones, I foresee a glorious battle in the future…”
“So... you're bribing us to ensure that these alicorns are hunted down?" Avitus asked as he looked up to the legate who remained standing at the top of his throne.
“Indeed... it is not like this illegal, just an assurance of understanding between all of us...” Varinius replied, sitting down in his throne. "It ensures that you know that I don't accept failure among the officers... but it also lets you know of what shall come if you succeed."
“It’s like a dream come true…” Silvanus commented while examining one of the gold coins, the coin having a sign of Severnium carved on it, an eagle.
“Varinius, where did you get the idea that we were fit for this?” Gregorios questioned, keeping away from the coins as Silvanus fawned over them.
“My father recalls how you, a Democratis, managed to easily beat an alicorn with only some of your men with you. Then there was the battle for this forsaken area where you were able to beat their queen through advanced countering tactics to their magic.” Varinius smiled to the centurion. “You are fit for this job and the rest of you have already proven yourselves capable in your positions, crushing rebellions and keeping our countryside forever peaceful.”
Gregorios simply crossed his arms and looked to Varinius, their eyes meeting. The history between the two can be traced all the way back to their very childhoods in the streets of upper Severnium, where the two would get into a wide plethera of conundrums. All of those days and years of friendship waned over time as they both entered the military, Gregorios as a simple legionnaire and Varinius... a legate from the start.
“Yes… ever peaceful.” Julia sarcastically remarked taking one of the gold coins from Silvanus’ grasp, who returned a scowl at her. “Remember to share the payment.”
“You two may fight over that all you want. I’m in this for the experience.” Avitus commented while sharpening his gladius on a whetstone.
“I shall not take the petty money either. It demeans my passion for an objective, but what if I don’t want to do this?” Gregorios asked, walking to the base of the throne.
Varinius began to descend down his throne once more. “It is either you do this for your nation…” Varinius then leaned in to the centurion’s ear. “Or I take that filly off of your hands.” Varinius then leaned back, now standing taller than Gregorios due to the steps of the throne. “I know much more than you may want me to.” He then coined a smile to Gregorios before turning back around to ascend the throne.
“Your father doesn’t know of this, does he?”
Varinius stoped halfway up the throne at the question. “No, but what he does not know, won’t hurt him, will it?”
Gregorios remained at the bottom of the throne thinking as Varinius sat back down.
“I recommend all of you ready your centuries to move out. I plan on making our job as short as possible.”
Each of the centurions then nodded to their new legate and began to head out of the area, past the Praetorians, Julia and Silvanus still splitting up the payment, Avitus readying his gladius, and Gregorios still on-edge about this ‘partnership’.
Gregorios looked up into the bright blue sky to find that mid-day was upon him. He must now make his way to his tent and meet with Slate. Though for now, his mind remained on the future. Varinius insinuated that Gregorios has found all that he wants in this city, multiple things could be implied, but one stood out the most… and that was Slate.
A sudden worry struck him as he entered back into his century’s camp, causing him to quicken his pace as he called for his soldiers to begin readying to move out.
Gregorios finally made it to his tent and quickly waved his way through the flaps to instantly find Slate inside, sitting at the table, who instantly brought her focus onto him.
“Ah… you’re here.” He stated, panting to catch his breath.
“Yes, why would I not be?” She asked with a hint of worry in her voice.
“Never mind…” He quickly stated, realizing that Varinius’ threat from earlier was hollow for now. “Come along, we are moving out.”
“To where?” She asked, excited to possibly move outside of the city.
“Et deinceps!” Gregorios called out at the front of the formation. Suddenly the entire army began to march forward, rumbling across the earth in a synchronized beat with the many drums beating a steady rhythm.
Legate Varinius felt like taking a risk with his actions today… Instead of taking the full legion of nearly five-thousand or even half of that, he instead was going to take a single cohort of the legion which only numbered at five-hundred. The cohort consisted of four centuriae of eighty men each. Each commanded by their own centurions, Gregorios, Silvanus, Julia and Avitus.
The new fully created Severian cohort numbered just over four-hundred-and fifty soldiers, composed of mainly legionnaires and skirmishers. They were also backed up by a large set of ballistae that would provide artillery for the army.
Gregorios’ century led at the front of the column formation in which the cohort was marching in to fit onto the dirt road. Next came Julia’s century, one of the other centurion’s, Silvanus’, Avitus, then the final century marching directly in front of Varinius’ large mobile throne, which was now being pulled forward by Earth ponies and raised in the air by other Earth ponies.
Avitus controlled the ballistae which seemed to fit his role as a supporting officer on the field. His was entirely composed of skirmishers, wearing lighter armor and equipped with javelins, pila, and no shields to go with their gladius’. Julia and Silvanus had entirely medium infantry for their century, giving them the main force of the cohort at their disposal, along with the other two centurions.
Gregorios simply composed his force of a medial amount of heavy legionnaires and a large force of skirmishers. His main tactic would involve his heavy infantry being spread thin into a line with the skirmishers providing support. It was an effective tactic on the front, since he equipped his skirmishers with enough equipment to fight off other melee units and still be effective at range.
Varinius commanded over his own small force of the Praetorian Guard, soldiers that were immortalized among the legions of the Severian Empire. They were easily the most powerful soldiers in the entire cohort and it showed with their decorative armor and purple capes, which was an illegal color to wear unless you held great power and experience.
Gregorios marched to the right side of his cohort, next to the signifier carrying the Severius banner of a golden eagle resting upon the top of standard. Slate walks alongside him, acting as the guiding voice to following the trail, and any dangers that may come with it.
“Gregorios?” The filly asked, keeping her eyes upon the dirt road.
“Yes, Slate?” He questioned, glancing down upon her.
“How did you learn English?” She looked up to the centurion, wondering of how he learned the language she spoke.
Gregorios took a sharp breath in thought. “Well, in order to become one of my ranking you are required to learn a foreign language… and there is only one foreign language to learn, which was one which is based upon our language, so it was rather simple to learn, yet hard to master.”
Slate’s eyes widened. “Wait, based on your language? Are you saying that English is based on… whatever your language is?”
“It is called Latin, and yes, English is based on Latin. In fact supposedly there was a time in which ponies and humans spoke Latin, but it was way before our era. Though, it is not only based upon Latin though. There are reports and documentation that it came from the central lands of Equestria, the lands near that large mountain..."
Slate perked up at this. "The mountain of Canter. It's one of the tallest in Equestria."
He smiled to her. "Thank you, Slate. Around that mountain there is a large concentration of small human tribes, them speaking another rather... violent sounding language. Our languages merged over the ages and English was born." He quickly rolled his head about, getting a crack from his neck. "Sorry about that, I tend to get lost when speaking of academic topics."
"It's fine, Gregorios. It's fun to learn about Equestria and your culture and race." Slate then looked forward, instead of the dirt road, she places her eyes upon the skies.
Something was moving...
"Come on, it's best we begin the rainfall." The cyclone commanded in his dark violet armor. His small detachment of pegasi scouts agreed and began to dash about in the clouds.
The cyclone looked down to find the column of Severian legionnaires steadily marching down the dirt road.
"Begin with the rolling thunder and we will gradually build from a light sprinkle to a heavy downpour. With the ground uneven under their feet they will tire from the march. They will then seek refuge in the canyon and we can end this."
"Yes, cyclone!" The pegasi warriors chanted as they bucked the clouds hard, sending a erupting crack of thunder into the sky.
Varinius stood from his throne at the crack of thunder above him.
"What is this?!" He bellowed in anger. "A storm dare attempt to stifle my march?! Why, I'll-"
Varinius stopped dead in his rant as a drop of rainwater impacted against his forehead. He instantly brought his hand up to wipe it the liquid off before looking upon the traces it left in his hand.
He grunted in frustration before slumping back down into his throne.
As the storm gathered strength, now a heavy downpour with crashes of thunder and lightning, the Severian column continued its march, heading to the large canyon in the distance. One of the few canyons that divided the large Unicorn Range, one of the continents many natural wonders, this one being the largest mountain range of the land. Mountains in the range pierced into the sky and were even capped with snow at some of their peaks.
Gregorios looked up in awe at the mountains, along with many of the other legionnaires, this is the first time that they have even seen snow before. Severnium was a city which never received snowfall in all of its years. Only the most venturous of Severians were ever able to see snow, which lay quite a ways to the north.
As the column entered the canyon the soldiers looked about, being quite cautious of this positioning with their columns. The rain remained quite heavy with the darkened sky, the ground now a thick mud instead of simple dirt.
Gregorios sighed in annoyance as his right foot became stuck in the ground, surrounded by the mud. With a forceful pull his leg was free and able to walk again. He looked to his right to find that Slate was having a way harder time than he was against the mud. Due to her low height she was getting practically covered in the mud along with her hooves getting caught much more often than a human's foot.
Still though, Slate was pushing on to keep up with the column, which amused the legionnaires, some of them chuckling when she finally fell down which covered her coat with mud.
The centurion chuckled as well as he knelt down and picked the filly up, placing her onto his right shoulder where she attempted to sit comfortably, the shoulder plate a bit too small for her, but it was much better than the mud below. She was also able to see much more than usual with the change in height.
"Wow... so this is what it's like..." She stated in amazement at the "view".
"What?" The centurion asked, as he wondered what she was on about.
"To be tall. You humans are taller than any pony could hope to be." She looked about, suprised at how much more she could see. Slate then looked back to the marching legionnaires, seeing them at the same height or slightly shorter then Gregorios. She waved to them with a hoof. Most of them chuckled, some even waving back to her. She smiled as she then sat back down and enjoyed the ride on Gregorios' shoulder.
For the century under the command of Gregorios, Slate has become a sort of mascot to them ever since earlier in the day, where she spent a good deal of the morning running about the camp, meeting all of the soldiers. She even taught some English to them in the process, mainly just simple nouns to directions and some verbs... of course the soldiers barely understood her, but it was fun nonetheless.
They showed and taught her some of their formation commands and even allowed her to march them around the camp as a makeshift centurion, which entertained her and gave the soldiers something to do.
The soldiers wished to learn more about the ponies and she was their true gateway to another culture, another species all-together. Though, they really didn't know how those back in Severnium would react which worried them slightly. The Severians don't exactly have a... tolerent history with those that are different from them. Even fellow citizens of Severian blood can be subject to harsh punishments for not fitting to the proper status quo of soceity.
But these soldiers simply push those thoughts to the side for now as a sudden crack of thunder startled the entire column. It was loud enough to shake the very canyon they marched through, rocks and dust falling down into the path before the army. Gregorios instinctively raised an arm to protect Slate from some debris that fell and hit the path.
"State, et tenete!" He called out, halting the formation.
Some of the soldiers raised their sheilds up in order to stop some rubble from falling and hitting them, leading to a few clanks and thuds echoing through the canyon.
Soon the rubble halted its fall as the thunder grew quite whence again, the sky now darker than it was beforehand. The clouds were black, rolling about in the sky as rain poured from them. Some of the clouds seemed to dash quickly from place to place in the sky, strikes of lightning and thunder seeming to be in sych with them as they got near a larger cloud.
The soldiers then placed themselves on guard withint the halted formation, waiting for another strike to come and bury them under rubble.
Gregorios even took a few steps back towards the formation, wanting to ensure safety of Slate and himself.
The area then became silent as the rain abruptly stopped, as if it was cut off like the clouds had been sealed.
Silence reigned across the canyon as movement could be heard up above without the rainfall and thunder to cover it.
The legionnaires looked all around, confused at the sudden sounds and movements being heard. Even the centurions were confused and attempted to silently reign their men in to hold formation.
"Ibi! Ibi!" One of the soldiers screamed out, pointing up at one of the rocks on the top of the canyon, seeing a dark figure instantly dissapear back behind the formation.
"Nec ad sinistram!" Another yelled motioning to the left of where the other pointed.
"Praeterea, servitus pro nobis cornua!"
"Ad dexteram!"
"Et in medio sedis!"
"In omni loco!"
"Tace!" Gregorios screamed over them, silcencing the constant chatter as all of the soldeirs then looked to him, their morale shaken by the movements of their hidden predators. Gregorios then began to address them all at once.
"Per hoc faciemus, et modo cohaerent-" He was interrupted by Slate being thrown off os his shoulder by an unknown force, landing down in the mud.
The centurion then spun about on his heels to then be knocked down himself by a bolt of golden energy.
He landed onto his back with a loud slam as mud flew about and dirtied his armor. In his daze another much largeer flash blinded him as he felt a presence above him.
"Veneficus! Protege Gregorios!" One of the legionnaires shouted out as the centurion opened up his eyes.
A grey-coated unicorn dressed in a decorative blue cloak stood over him, his beard moving about in a sudden burst of wind.
"You and I have much to discuss." The old stallion stated to Greorios as his horn glowed a shade of gold, causing a giant flash to consume them, blinding the soldiers.
When the flash was fully cleared they looked about to find nothing but the imprint of their centurion's body on the ground. Slate instantly stood back up, realizing what had happened.
"Starswirl..." She stated in surprise and fear.
"Cyclones, initiate attack!" A booming voice sounded, shaking the very roots of the cannon, sending more rubble tumbling down.
Loud war cries sounded from the top of the canyon and the source revealed themselves as lightly armored pegasi began their dives downward towards the Severian formations. At the edges to the canyon unicorns teleported themselves in, armed with heavy bows in their levitating grasps. The unicorns released a large volley of the arrows, pointed downwards, synching them with the pegasi charge so that they would impact first.
The other centurions of the army,Silvanus, Julia and Avitus immediatly called for their troops to pull together in a tight formation and ready their sheilds.
One of the soldiers of Gregorios' century ran over and scooped the filly up before running back into the formation.
The arrows reigned down, making their targets into quite a few of the men in the century. Compared to those of the other centuries, they took far more casualtie, the legionnaires.
The one trooper protecting Slate took two arrows in the chest, the arrows barely her head. He fell to the ground, dropping her in the progress as he began to bleed out.
She frantically looked about, seeing soldiers all over, on the ground, either dead or injured by the arrow rainfall or ready to run away from the assault.
She then remembered on word that these soldiers had taught her, one word that could save them all from the charge soon to arrive.
"TESTUDO!" She screamed as loud as her lungs would allow her.
All of the soldiers looked to her quickly, surprised at the accurate order. Almost instantly they all formed up into the square, deploying their sheilds. The troops on the outer part of the formation placed their sheilds into the ground, while the others filling the large area in the center raised their sheilds above themselves, locking them all together in the powerful formation. Slate found herself under neath all of the shields, shrouded by the large shadow created by the sheilds above.
Gregorios' skirmishers outside of the testudo formation were left open, but were more than ready for the pegasi, most with their spears pointed upward, ready to take the charge, the others readying their gladio for the melee.
Across the entirety of the cohort the multiple centuries did the same, readied with testudo and spears.
Varinius jumped off of his golden throne to join his Praetorians in their testudo, ensuring his own protection from the inevitable melee.
The pegasi closed in on their charge readying their short blades and spears as they unleashed a viscious war cry.
With a thunderous slam, the pegasi shoch troopers impaced with the multiple testudos, nearly knocking the humans down with their force. The pegasi had no area to attack on the formations due to the sheilding. The skirmishers were able to take quite a few of the pegasi out in the initial charge with their spears, penetrating their light armor and piercing vitals, killing and injuring them. The pegasi that managed to dodge the spears were able to get to the ground and engage the skirmishers in melee combat.
The skirmishers weren't doing to well in the melee however. While they're superios height and weilding of their weapons gave them quite the advantage, they weren't trained for melee as much as the legionnaires were and it was showing. The pegasi were able to dash at them and make quick strikes, with which they weren't able to keep up with and properly block, but their armor was able to protect them decently from the assaults.
Eventually though, the skirmishers began to take losses as they were tired out by the fast movement of the pegasi.
Another volley of arrows landed upon the legionnaires, keeping them pinned in testudo, unable to assist the skirmishers in melee.
The other centuries still had the numbers to assist their own units, the centurions giving orders to break testudo and instantly get involved in the melee. Varinius himself led the charge into the rear flank of the pegasi to assist Avitus' skirmishers and ballistae. The praetorians slaughtered the pegasi in melee, capable of keeping up with their speed and armed heavily to make use of it.
Silvanus and Julia split their forces up with the two other centurions to reinforce the skirmishers of Avitus and Gregorios. The legionnaires were able to make good headway through the pegasi troopers, which were now tired out in the prolonged melee, their stamina being worn out quickly compared to that of a human, lowered due to their body hair keeping more heat in and their armor not breathing well for them.
"Pegasi, pull back!" The booming voice commanded, shaking the canyon once more.
The pegasi attempted to comply with the order, but most of them were too tired to fly once more and even if they weren't tired, they were already stuck in melee. The humans were then able to drive up the pony casualties with these new factors dictating the engagement.
Soon the remaining pegasi had either been killed our routed, allowing the legionnaires to form up whence again as the skirmishers recovered and returned fire, retaliating to the arrowfall the best they could.
Slate found herself being looked at by all of the remaining leagionnaires as they reformed a line, their numbers far lower than before. It seemed that they had adjusted to her taking contral earlier and with how it saved their lives, they are now willing to listen to her every statement.
She looked about all of them, some covered in blood from the pegasi engagement, to which she quickly averted her eyes. While these humans have been in war their whole lives and completely adjusted to it...
...Slate was not...
It seemed that everywhere she looked, bodies lie about, if not that, then weapons, stained with the familiar crimson color as the bodies that they once served and slayed.
The sounds of battle still roared about, screams of demise and arrows hitting their marks still resonated through her ears. The calls of the soldiers were firm, piercing through the air.
The stench was strong as well, the bodies giving off the foul odor that only death could bring about.
The young filly was becoming overwhelmed by all of these senses, her mind almost reaching a state of shock as she tightly closed her eyes, a vain attempt for it all to dissapear.
Slate's mind was wandering far and wide now, journeying back to yesterday...
A normal day, awake, food, work, tired, stopped...
Guard, punishment...
Ran...
Humans, cries of pain, kept running...
Mother, father...
Gregorios.
Star Swirl...
The filly was drained from the quick thoughts, opting herself onto the gorund as she became mentally exhausted. Her body was shivering, as if ready to collapse like a vase on a crash course with the ground.
As she remained on the ground, a call came out, one she hadn't heard before, mainly due to her mind not registering it through the shock. The familiar sounds of armor clattering about reminded her of her positioning in the battle. Another sound of shields slamming together tightly also awakened her senses.
Slate opened her weary eyes, looking up in order to find the source of the noises.
The legionnaires, have formed a shield wall... around her.
"Tueri equine!" One of the men called out, the rest of the soldiers giving a call in return.
From then on only a single thought ran through all of the minds of the troopers.
Protect the equine.
Protect Slate.
"Earth units, advance!"
A crack of thunder accompanied a massive war cry, followed by the sounds of heavy galloping among the wet muddy path through the canyon.
Regiments of Earth Pony infantry began to charge through the front end of the canyon, armed with spears, swords and rather medial leather armor.
The remains of Gregorios' century then rushed to form a shield wall across the width of the canyon, in order to fully utilize their shields and combat training.
As if on cue, Silvanus charged his own melee infantry up.
"Retractis!" He called out to Gregorios' century, wanting to move up and be in the heat of the battle.
The men quickly looked to Slate who instantly shook her head in agreement. She knew of the order, and did not wish to see anymore of these soldiers die before her.
One of the legioannaires scooped her up and retreated back with the rest of the century, Silvanus' men taking their places with the sheild wall.
The large centurion emerged out of the front and took a place before the wall, bashing his sheild as the ponies approachd with their charge.
"Severnium aeternam!" He cried outloud.
"Severnium aeternam!" His century called back, their morale now at a high with their leader ready to take the brunt of the charge with them.
Quickly the ponies closed in on the charge... Silvanus was the first to strike.
The century quickly thrust his sheild at a pony, the edge of it jabbing a pony straight in the neck, knocking the pony back to crash and knock down a few of his comrade behind him.
He then raised his gladius up and swiped downward, slashing across the neck of a pony to his right.
Quickly he hopped to the left in order to avoid the strike of a spear, which he retaliated against with a quick strike of his blade directly down onto the shaft of the spear. With a loud crack, the spear snapped and shattered into pieces. Silvanus then rushed forward with his sheild down and slammed head-on into the pony weilding said spear.
Then with a quick spin to his right, he was able to catch a blade with his sheild, with which he raised upward, forcing the front end of the pony into the air, leaving him open below. One quick jab with the gladius pierced through the leather armor and struck into the equine, eliciting a scream of pain as he dropped his weapon and fell backwards. Silvanus then took the oppurtunity to jump upward, and slam his right foot down onto the pony's head, a loud crack coming as a result.
Though, as he began his process of turning in order to block a blow to his front, a sudden pain for his left lag forced him to the ground. Quickly, the centurion rolled over in an attempt to avoid his attacker, only to bump into another pony soldier.
The two earth ponies then looked to the human and readied their short swords, raising them into the air, Silvanus without the ability to block both of them along with the pain in his leg.
Suddenly the two ponies were slammed away though, as two legionnaires used their sheilds to bash the ponies away. One of the soldiers quickly helped their centurion up, as the other covered them, battleing away other ponies.
Once Silvanus reached his feet, he patted the trooper on his shoulder. "Gratiae." He stated as the legionnaire then handed Silvanus his gladius after recovering it from the ground. The Ceturion took it and then looked to his left leg where the pain was located.
He had received a minor cut on his calf to which he simply chuckled.
Silvanus has taken worse.
"Frange formatione! Graveolentiam!" He called out.
The humans were going on the offensive now.
Varinius and his Praetorians stood over the bodies of a large amount of pegasi bodies and not a single Severian body, proving the effectiveness and efficiency of the Praetorians.
The legate casually stepped over the bodies as his men looked patrolled about for any survivors among the wet ground.
Rain was still cating over the entire battle, as sounds of metal clanging along with screams echoed off the canyon walls, accompanied by an ocasional crack of thunder.
"It seems these equines have bit off a bit more than they could chew..." Varinius mused to himself. "They did not predict just how strong my legion is and how strong my guards are." He let out a small chuckle. "They will pay dearly for this." He stated as he looked to the Earth ponies that made his throne capable of movement.
"And it seems I will have to start with you."
Suddenly, an arrow pierced straight into the ground before Varinius, halting his approach to his throne.
Multiple pegasi units swooped in forcing the legate back as the Praetorians reformed for the possible melee.
Though, instead of the pegasi attacking them, they merely swooped down to the enslaved ponies at the throne.
Before the Legate and his guard could move to stop them a large warcry came out from outside the canyon.
The sounds of hooves sprinting through the muddy ground came out as a large regiment of more Earth pony soldiers came into view, entering the canyon.
Already, the pegasi were able to free the slaved ponies as the throne dropped to the ground, shaking the ground around it and sending mud about.
Varinius let out a scream in anger at the sight.
"You vermin will pay! Ingrata linea!" He shouted out with ferocity.
Quickly, the elite Praetorians formed a thin battle line, raising their sheilds up without interlocking them together. Varinius joined in at the center of the line, raising his own sheild up, ready for the combat.
At the sight of this the ponies, instead of continuing the charge, halted in their tracks. The formation then adjusted to where the first line of warriors weilded spears, all of them aiming them horizontally with the sounds of metallic clips soon following.
With a sneer on his features, Varinius began his march forward, the guards keeping in stride with their legate.
The ponies held firm, starign down the Praetorians as they approached... or at least tried their best, due to the guards being covered in blood from an entire unit of pegasi troops...
Varinius and his troops marched all the way up to the ends of the spears before halting. The legate could literally reach and grab the spear if he so wished to.
Instead, he wanted to do something rather... interesting.
"Intorqueo!"
At the sound of the command, it seemed as if every guard moved as one with the legate, perfect synchronization.
The gladius was swiftly drawn against the spear, pointing downward before the soldiers rotated it under and below the spear, before forcing it upward. The ponies were forced to follow the spear, as it was connected with their armor in order to hold the formation. With one quick motion of the arm though, the Severians forced the spear down to the left, knocking the ponies onto the ground below. The gladius was then pulled back and the sheild was raised up, before the edge was slammed downward onto the spear, snapping it to pieces.
A simple but effective maneuver done within the span of a few seconds.
Immediatly after that order was fullfilled, Varinius was the first to charge forward, leading with his sheild. The first target in his sight was the spear weilder, who was currently knocked on the ground due to the last maneuver.
Varinius quickly spun to his right, lowering the blade downward as he lined it up with the pony. With a quick swipe upward of the gladius, the pony's throat was slit.
Quick and clean. Just how the legate liked it.
From that upward position of the blade he was able to swipe downward onto another pony, who was lucky enough to bring his own sword up to block.
Varinius widened his eyes in surprise at the reaction of the pony. Quickly though, he recovered from the shock and glared at the pony.
"Cheater."
At that, the legate delivered a quick kick to the pony's chest, sending him backwords, before losing his balancedue to only having three legs on the ground. Varinius then dashed in and delivered the tip of the blade at the pony's neck before hopping back away.
The pony quickly flailed about for a moment before tossing his sword away and attempting to cover the wound with his hooves.
The legate simply stepped over him and moved onto his next target, listening to the noises of his guards cut through the enemy infnatry with ease.
The majority of the ponies have broken against the Praetorians, mainly due to not a single one of the elite humans having fallen yet.
Varinius was not finished though.
Few of the ponies remained holding, ready to retreat almost.
As the Paraetorions were combing over for the remaining units and eliminated those that were routing, Varinius took it upon himself to approach these ponies that were brave enough to hold.
"Equines!" He heartily called out to the ponies.
Some of them instantly bolted off, not wanting to find out what would happen next.
All except for one, who shakily stood his ground, possibly frozen in fear of the combat.
The legate looked to the pony soldier. Blue mane and a white coat. Simple colors with a young complextion.
"Perfect." Varinius muttered to himself as he approached the soldier, who remained stationary as the human approached.
"As my father always told me: 'A dead man is but worth his weight in dirt, but a live one can be the same in gold.' I hope that same saying applies to equines." The legate walked up an kneeled down to the pony, their faces mere inches apart.
"Because you're mine now."
With a sudden burst of speed, Varinius slammed his head into the pony's, a loud slam sounding from the hit. The pony tumbled back as Varinius slowly rubbed his forehead.
The pony's vision spun, as he attempted to steady himself, only resulting in him falling onto the ground, his ears ringing.
"Tolle eum." The legate stated as he rose back up.
In the corner of the pony's vision, a praetorian came up, looking him dead in the eyes for a moment.
To the pony, it felt like he was staring into a black abyss, it staring back at him with a calm ferocity, that baffled him.
The pony closed his eyes, sure of his demise as the praetorian's boot slammed down onto his head.
Back at the front of the Severian formation, Silvanus continued to hold down the ponies from advancing further. He had been waiting for an opening in which he could lead the army out of the canyon and into safety, but such oppurtunity had not presented itself.
The Julia and her men were lined up behind Sivanus' century, mearly finishing off the leftovers as they slowly worked their way out of the canyon. Julia wanted to be in the melee, she wanted her men to get some feel for the battle.
She wanted in now.
Silvanus' men had been getting tired from the prolonged melee they were locked in, and it is beginning to show in their performance. The legionnaires were getting sloppy with their movements, allowing the ponies to get in more desperate hits, even killing some more of the humans in battle. Impaled by spears, trampled by hooves, stabbed and sliced by swords, anywat that the ponies could bring them down.
"Constituo!" Silvanus called out among the rabble of battle.
His troops quickly turned back and began a hasty retreat in order to reorganize and get their stamina back that was lost in the melee.
Julia looked on at the retreat with a feeling of happiness in her.
Now or never.
"Praecipe!" She shouted out loud, the entire century immediatly charging forward as Silvanus and his men retreated past.
The ponies, who had begun to advance after the retreating humans, were suddenly met head-on by Julia's bloodthirsty troops. Entire rows and lines of the ponies were wiped out, as the legionnaires slammed and slashed through them in the charge.
Julia leapt into the air, striking downward into the neck of a pony, before landing onto the ground with perfect balance. She then blocked the jab of a spear using her sheild, before pivoting off of that, leading into a sheild bash on the pony which brought her to pivot again and slash her gladius downward, taking the pony out.
A large group of the ponies then began to retreat beack out of the canyon, allowing Julia and her men to press further and work their way out as well.
"Pegasi, support them!" The loud voice bellowed again, seeming a it desperate now.
Almost instantly, a large group of armored spear pegasi flew down into the canyon, taking a diving formation straight down at the lagionnaires. This took Julia and her soldiers by surprise, quite a few being knocked down and killed.
Julia herself was tackled down by a pegasus warrior, the momentum rolling them about a decent distance.
When the two came to a stop, the pegasus was on top of the centurion, quickly recovering and getting a bearing on his surrounding as Julia lie in shock from it. Though, Julia's full attention was brought back to the pony as he slammed his hoof into her head, nearly knocking her helmet off.
Both of them had lost their weapons in the impact, the pegasus' spear lie in the sight a ways above Julia's head though, giving the pegasus some hope for winning this scuffle.
Quickly, Julia retaliated by bringing a fist to impact right on the pony's exposed muzzle, getting a grunt of pain from him.
However, the pony was able to recover and bring out a heavy headbutt, as he forced his head downward, crashing against Julia's head, eliciting a metallic clang and sound of pain from both of them.
The pegasus wearily picked himself up, luning for his spear before flapping his wings and getting back into the air as Julia remained dazed from the recent strike.
The pony then hovered for a moment in the air as he readied his spear for another dive downward to finish off the centurion.
Julia was now beginning to get her bearing when she looked up and saw the pony begin his dive, coming straight downwards towards her.
Though, the pegasus did not make it, aa he suddenly slammed into the canyon wall, letting out a massive scream of pain. Once the dust settled it was revealed an enourmous bolt pierced through the pegasus' side and quickly forced him to the canyon wall.
Julia smiled at the sight as she got up, because this meant that the fight will be a lot easier now.
Avitus squinted on in the distance and found that the ballista had made it's mark, instansly killing the pagasus that was giving Julia trouble.
"Ignis in voluntate!" He shouted out to his soldiers, who instantly complied with firing off the large ballistae and reloading them. As each bolt was launched, a larger sound of a life ending signaled success for the weapon of war.
Avitus watched on as his men reloaded and fired again, months of training and drilling paying off as they acted as a machine, rather than mere soldiers.
Severian innovation and ingenuity at it's finest.
Soon all of the pegasi were shot down by Avitus' ballistae, or killed and routed by the legionnaires. Which left the earth pony infantry to feel the unrelenting assault of Silvanus and Julia's troops, constantly assaulting and working their way out of the canyon. Varinius and his Praetorians held the rear, stopping any and all flanking attacks that the ponies could muster.
Gregorios' men remained in the center, deterring attacks from pegasi in order for the skirmishers to keep the unicorns at bay at the top of the canyon.
Suddenly, the earth ponies were fully broken at the front, the entire force of them retreating out of the canyon as fast as their hooves could take them, attempting to keep their lives.
It was a mass rout.
Silvanus and Julia immediatly took advantage of this, ordering their troops to charge through the ponies to get out of the canyon.
The legionnaires adhered to the order, using their sheilds to charge through any and all resistance keeping them from their goal, even trampeling ponies in the process.
Quickly Gregorios' soldiers followed, escorting the slower moving ballistae. Slate was in the center of the formation, being carried by a legionnaire and hidden from sight, in order for her no to bear anymore of the horrors on the battlefield.
Varinius and his Praetorians came out last, finishing off any ponies that were still alive among the ground.
The unicorns and remaining pegasi on the canyon did not give chase, for they have lost too much to gain anymore today.
The bottom of the canyon was filled with bodies, human and pony alike. Weapons lie, their purpose fulfilled for the battle. Blood flowed about, mixing with the rain water and mud from the storm. Ashes and scorch marks smoked slightly, the magic having expired and combusted.
The pony casualties numbered that over five-hundred stallions were lost, among them, eight cyclone elite troopers. All of them giving their lives in order to defend Equestria from the Severian onslaught.
The Severian numbers had been nearly halved from the battle, leaving barely more than two-hundred of them left. Gregorios' century had taken extremely heavy casualties from being the first main target of the battle, along with the majority of the skirmishers being lost as well. Silvanus and Julia's units had only lost a third of their troops, leaving them in a decent state to continue. The Praetorian Guard of Varinius though... had not lost a single man.
The Severians were now in foreign land, their numbers cut down extremely low and missing a certain centurion.
The Severians soon dissapeared into the vast forest past the canyon of Unicorn Range, leaving the pony army to begin licking it's wounds. Commander Hurricane ordered his troops to begin examining what the humans left behind, dead soldiers, weapons, armor, anything that could provide insight to this powerful enemy.
Of course though, they moved their own dead from the area, attempting to give them what respect they could for dying in the defense of Equestria.
Though, the Equestrians were no strangers to war. Much like the Severians they fought against, the ponies have had many wars among themselves. Back during the times of divided races, warlords would arise and attempt to seize control over territory, another race even a simple resource like iron or wood.
When the races did unite to form the exploitation cycle of the Earth ponies, usually a rogue pegasi or unicorn leader would attempt to wipe out another with armies from each race clashing on Earth pony territory, in turn causing famine to strike across all ponies the next year.
All of this built up to bring about the Wendigos, which brought the harshest of winters onto the land and forced them to all unite in peace and harmony.
That was only twenty-six years ago and the peace was shattered with this new war against the humans, who probably always prepared for war, even when all was in peace.
This hypothesis is supported by the efficiency of the Severians on the battlefield and how many ponies died to each human. If the war was to be won, this couldn't continue. They needed to find a weakness.
And fast.
Hurricane ordered a squad of troops to examine and gather information on the humans soldiers, in hopes of finding out how the enemy was able to fight back so well.
The small squad of the soldiers gathered around a pocket of human bodies and began.
The weapons of the humans seemed very simplistic, blades barely the length of a pony's leg with siome exceptions here and there. The blades did not have complex designs or engravings, let alone any real aesthetic appeal, but rather preffered funcionality over all else. The ponies used a human body as a sort of... test dummy in order to see how a human would use these weapons, placing the short blades into their hands. The human hand seemed to fit perfectly onto the handle and the hand was more than capable of holding a loose grip or a firm one which paved the way to more complex and dangerous maneuvers.
The armor of the humans seemed to come in two types. On the main soldiers that were in the heavy melee against the ponies, the armor was what seemed to be paneled steel armor to the ponies. It was strong, yet gave a lot of mobility to the humans that wore it due to how it seemed to work in total harmony with the shape of a human body. Other humans that acted as the skirmishers in the army wore relatively light armor, mainly composed of a type of mail that was still pretty effective at stopping a blade.
All of the humans though, used large shields that seemed to easily tower over the ponies. There were two types, both of which being used in a uniform condition with their neighboring soldiers. One was large and recatngular with a large bend in it and the other was a simple oval shapethat still managed to be as strong as the rectangular ones.
All of these items were then used within the perameters of deadly and well kept formations that were perfected for long-term melee combat.
Compared to how the poneis went about a battle, it was a no-brainer how they took so many losses compared to that of the humans.
"Damn..." A pony soldier muttered. "No wonder they were able to hold us off."
"Yeah, they've got the best damn equipment I've ever seen!" Another stated in disbelief.
"And those formations?" One questioned. "I hate to admit it, but they were beautiful. They packed themselves tight and stuck to it..."
"Agreed." A firm voice stated, the slam of hooves and swipe of wings following.
The small group of soldiers quickly turned to see their commander and king, Hurricane. All of them quickly saluted, gaining a nod in return for them to yeild.
"The humans are proving to be quite the formidable force," He began. "I fear we may have underestimated them." He then looked down at one of the dead humans. The human's armor was battered and scratched up, but still held firm. Cause of death seemed to be a single stab in the neck. "I doubt our magic will help us much in this war... not to our own fault, but rather how the humans fight."
"Sir, do you have... any ideas?" One of the troops asked.
Hurricane remained quiet for a time, mulling the statement over in his mind. FIghting a brand new enemy and being expected to know a way to beat them certainly isn't the most favored position for a ruler...
"Ideas will come later," He stated in confidence. "For now, we know they bleed and die just like any other enemy. Human's aren't invincible, that's already better than what the legends told us."
The soldiers were somewhat reassured by that statement. Legends of humans usually spoke of them as invincible, being able to survive walking through flames and even surviving being consumed by a dragon. Of course, no one truly had any evidence to support these claims, because then they wouldn't be legends.
"For now, I wish for us to regroup and try to lick our wounds. I forsee only further conflict on the horizon." With that, the king unfurled his wings and leapt back into the air.
"Yes sir!" The soldiers called back as they resumed their work.
"Colligebant! Colligebant!"
"Linea!"
"Tene!"
The Severian army was in a chaotic movement at the time. The centuries were all spread about, their legionnaires attempting to form back up with their superiors. Julia and Silvanus' troops have been mixed together from the earlier time of rushing through the canyon while Avitus and Gregorios' troops were trying to figure out how to retain organization with so many men lost. Varinius and his praetorians though, were doing their best to help them all along.
Slate was currently being held in the arms of a random legionnaire from Gregorios' century, which handicapped her ability to observe the current situation. All she knew was that the Severian was running with the others, nearly falling over a couple of times.
"Please, set me down." She stated simply, looking up to the soldier.
He didn't even notice her plea, remaining focused on keeping her safe and staying with the others.
"Just slow down, please." She spoke louder now, yearning for him to yield.
"Non..." He spoke between ragged breaths. "Stare debet... movere."
Slate gritted her teeth in anger, something snapping inside of her as she remembered back to another word that she learned in their tongue.
"Prohibere!" She yelled, loud enough for the surrounding soldiers to hear. It pierced through the other cries of order. It stamped out the calls of cowardice. It rung in the minds of every Severian within ear shot.
It halted them.
Every one of them. They all stopped dead in their tracks and looked to where they heard the order come from. The legionnaire holding Slate even looked down to her, seeing the annoyed look in her eyes.
She used a hoof to point upward to his shoulder.
He simply looked back at her, an eyebrow raised. "Illic?" He asked as he looked to his right shoulder.
Slate nodded in confidence.
The soldier obeyed and raised her up with his hands, placing her upon his armored shoulder and still keeping his hands near her to act as insurance if she fell.
The young filly balanced herself upon the steel layor on the armor, sitting herself down and facing forward to see all of the other legionnaires nearby.
They were in the middle of a thick forest as of now, large trees and thick grass covering the area. It was a no-brainer to head into the area as an evasion tactic after the recent battle.
"Uh... English?" She called outloud.
Many of them gave looks of confusion while a few shook their heads. Though, one of them did respond.
"English?"
"Yes," Slate pointed to him with a hoof. "English."
The lone Severian ran up to the pony, looking up at her from his lower positioning on the ground.
"Okay, can you tell them something?" She asked.
He took in her words, processing them slowly.
"Tell... something." He nodded to her. "Yes, can tell them."
Slate's head reared back a bit at the broken English being spoken... but it would have to do.
"Tell them... to make two lines." She spoke simply before remembering back to what she learned. "Duo... linea."
"Ah, yes. I know what have say." He smiled to her before turning around to address the others.
"Dual linea instructa!" He shouted out.
The legionnaires quickly assembled into two lines opposite of each other, managing to keep them straight and clean despite the prior chaos. The two Severians working with Slate stood inbetween the lines, making sure that they could be seen and heard.
"Alright then..." Slate mumbled to herself.
Gregorios still hasn't turned up in the area, confusing all of the Severians in his century. The uncertainty that came with a missing centurion was far worse than the loss of a centurion's life, for an enraged unit in mourning is better than one that is indecisive with it's actions.
Slate knew that Starswirl had teleported away with him, but where he took Gregorios and the reasons behind it were still up for debate.
"Okay..." She began. "Can you ask them if they've seen Gregorios? Centurion Gregorios?"
"...Uh, yes. I may." The translating legionnaire returned back in the broken english. He turned about to see all of the others. "Numquid vidisti centurio Gregorios?"
All of them looked around, searching for the signature images that came with a centurion, the symbols on the armor, the plume, the presence of command... but none could find him.
Gregorios needs to be found if this century has any hope of properly reforming, let alone surviving in these foreign lands...
A bright flash of white light ripped through the air, sending a small shockwave off in a multitude of directions. It quickly dissipated away in a thin cloud of white mist which was blown away by the breeze of the area.
Revealed by the absence of the white shroud, Gregorios lied on his back. His breath was fast and ragged as his body attempted to evaluate what just happened.
He slowly got himself up off the stone ground he was now on, taking some time to gain his balance.
The lone Severian looked around, trying to figure out where he was.
He stood at a high peak, overlooking a vast landscape of eastern Equestria. Rolling fields and hills covered the flat lands before them, uninterrupted as they all crescendoed up into a large mountain that seemed to stand dead center in all of the land. Large clouds dotted the ever-going sky,
"Beautiful, isn't it?" An old voice asked behind the centurion.
Gregorios quickly turned about, only to see the same older pony from before. The one that had attacked him before he was taken out of the battle.
"You..." The human began. "Who are you?"
"Well, I have gone by a good few titles in my time." The cloaked unicorn began. "My current one would be Starswirl the Bearded." He ran a hoof through his long facial hair.
The Severian remained alert, keeping up his guard in case the pony was to try anything.
"I am the Grand Arcane Master of the Royal Court to Commander Hurricane and Queen Clover." Starswirl announced to him.
"Arcane?" Gregorios asked. "Then that explains why you've taken me from battle..." The unicorn nodded in response. "How did you-"
"Teleportation spell." He quickly answered. "Needed to make it a bit more powerful for your armor and weapons of course."
The centurion was about to interrupt, but he was cut off before he could say anything.
"Your shield and blade are safe, I assure you. They shall be returned to you once we are done."
Gregorios narrowed his eyes at Starswirl. Trusting him to keep his word was proving rather difficult.
"Fine. Then why did you bring me here?" The human asked.
The old stallion placed a hoof upon his chin and looked off in the distance for a moment, thinking.
"Hm... You don't seem to be very aggressive." He pointed out, curious as to why.
"I am unarmed, separated from my century in an unknown location and am speaking with a master of the arts rather than martial practice." Gregorios stated quickly. "I truly have no reason to be aggressive as of now."
"Rational." Starswirl muttered. "Seems that I was right in my choice..."
"Choice of what?" The centurion interrupted. "Who to abduct?"
"Abduct?" The unicorn chuckled. "You and I must share different meanings for that term then. But in a way, yes." He looked up at the human. "While most are focusing upon battling you humans, I have taken up the task of researching and learning about your species. From my observations there seems to be few of you that the speak our tongue and even less that aren't completely bloodthirsty... no offense. I saw you take the young Slate under your wing, so to speak, after her mother and father were forced from the realm of the living..."
"Don't act as if it is a final decision." Gregorios stated, almost coldly. "I doubt I'll be able to actually take her in, especially at my rank."
"Hm, well that is rather disappointing... nonetheless, it is good to know your are still willing." The old stallion then looked out over the horizon from their position on the cliff. "I wish to simply ask you of your people."
"That is all?"
"Indeed."
Pelagius continued his way through the grasslands, holding his shield close, as it was his only way of defense with his blade gone and spear shattered.
It had been a hours since he had awoken and began to search the area. His men were nowhere to be found, even back at the the collapsed canyon and near the tunnel entrances. Though, he did find traces of something exiting the tunnels, what it was is unknown to the Polisian.
Now he simply walked, lost in the great grasslands he found himself in. Well, walked is a stretch. It was more along the lines of limping due to multiple fractures he sustained with his impact against the tree from earlier.
Quickly he was tiring, as his shield's weight was multiplied by his injuries, causing immense exhaustion.
Finally, he simply dropped his shield and sat down with a thud, breathing heavily as if he had been sprinting.
His thoughts felt rather hollow at the time as his mission was now of ambiguity. There was no goal to really be achieved as he has lost all of his men and his route back was now blocked. What was he to do now? Was he simply find another way back? Well, with his current condition that is no option. Heal himself? He was not one for medical expertise and he has no idea of the herbs and fauna in the land.
For now, he placed those thoughts away by laying back onto the grass, it feelings quite cool, even through his blue cape.
The hoplite closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath of the cool autumn air, a smile coming across his face.
He then promptly fell asleep...
"Heeeellloooo? Anyone home?"
"Chancellor, I do not think that this is-"
"You're right, I'm not being forward enough. Good observation, Smart Cookie!"
Pelagius heard a pair of voices that pulled him from his sleep, one being rather high-pitched and... excited and the other sounding rather exasperated.
He attemped to slowly open his eyes... until he felt a large smack across his face, the loud sound of his cheek cracking out and forcing him awake.
Once he opened his eyes, the Polisian found himself face to face with... a pony.
Chancellor Puddinghead.
"Haha! Look at that, it worked!" He heartily declared.
The chancellor had a yellow shaded coat and a golden mane with an array of creme colored swirls within it. His eyes, a bright and cheery blue that fit with his attitude. He wore a rather... high profile outfit, involving a cap that resembled... well, pudding.
"Well well then, how're you doing friend?" Puddinghead asked with a smile, seeming to get even closer to Pelagius who remained on the ground.
The two simply stared at each other for a time.
Pelagius has never seen anything like a pony... nor has he ever heard this language, leading him into utter confusion.
Puddinghead has heard of humans before and how this one just fits the look... but he doesn't care about those old legends. Besides, those bad humans only lived up north, this one is in southern Equestria, so there must be a difference.
At least, that's what Puddinghead thought.
"I assume the awkward silence that you've made by not responding means that you're fine." He declared, backing off of the human, allowing him to sit up.
There was another pony to the right of Puddinghead, this one being a mare with a pale tan coat and a mane with a faded maroon shade. Her eyes were a bright shade of green, with a few freckles between her eyes. She wore plain clothing with a feather cap upon her head. her cutie mark being a cookie with a bite taken out of it.
Smart Cookie, Chancellor Puddinghead's most trusted adviser.
"Chancellor, I advise that we report this to Hurricane and Clover, they will want to know that humans-" She began before Puddinghead placed a hoof upon her mouth to stop her speaking.
"Shhhh! They don't have to know. Besides, it's not like humans actually are the evil monster that the old stories make them out to be..."
News did not travel fast across Equestria at this time. This was mainly due to the mediocre road system and the monarchy taking all news directly, rather than letting it be announced to the whole of the nation, thus ensuring the populace does not panic.
The majority of Equestria was unaware that is was even at war.
"So, what's your name?" Puddinghead asked.
Pelagius simply started at the pony. He had no idea what it was saying or what it was.
Utter confusion is all that could be said for the Polisian.
"Chancellor, should you not do the formal greeting?" Smart Cookie asked, having some empathy for the human.
She recalls her first time meeting Smart Cookie... rather confusing and strange overall.
"Fine then, we'll do it your way." Puddinghead sighed.
The chancellor walked back over to the sitting human, standing right before him.
"Salutations to you, human. Welcome to the land of Equestria. I am Chancellor Puddinghead and this is my trusted adviser, Smart Cookie. Shall you please state your name and business within our lands?" Puddinghead spoke, keeping his head held high with a plain expression.
"Ti?" Pelagius managed to ask, looking to the Earth Pony.
Puddinghead spun around and looked to his adviser.
"See? Now we've got the poor thing all confused."
Smart Cookie looked back to the human again. "I think it was confused long before that..."
North, beyond the Crystal Empire, the snow fell slowly as Tourmaline and Erinite followed the large group of humans and wolves. Varlam "told" the ponies to follow him after their initial meeting. Seeing this as a moment to settle the relations between the Crystal ponies and the far north humans, Empress Tourmaline took the opportunity.
The walk had been long and cold, more so for the two ponies, as they did not have the warm pelts worn by the humans and their fur was not thick enough to fully protect from the cold.
"Where are these damn humans even leading us?" Erinite asked, shivering from the cold.
"I do not know..." Tourmaline responded before casting a blue magical ward around the two ponies in an attempt to keep the cold at bay. "We must have faith in them though."
"Why, Empress? They have led us nowhere, obviously trying to kill us out here." Erinite fumed, angered by the actions of the humans.
"Erinite, if they wanted us dead, then they would've done so long ago." The empress began, looking to Varlam who walked ahead of them, undeterred by the cold along with the other humans. "I find it amazing that they do not mind the cold. Even with the... furs, it would still be intensely cold."
"Their resilience is absolute, but I do not see this as a good thing." Erinite stated.
"Why would you say that, commander?" Tourmaline asked, looking to Erinite.
"It means they don't have to kill ponies out here... they just chase them until they die from the cold." He ominously stated.
Tourmaline looked back forward, seeing the packs the humans were carrying, all of them filled as much as possible with meat. Most of it was probably gained with that tactic or some variant. She did not truly know if she could trust the humans, as they have been known for tricking ponies in a large variety of ways, albeit it was unknown if they were lethal or not. Those that tell their tales of encountering them usually state a strange pattern of smoke in the sky or a wide range of howls and shouts that seemed to guide them away from the safety of pony territory.
So far the empress could not see any form of deception, but she could still feel the doubt within her mind of the humans being trustworthy.
"Tam! Glavnaya!" One of the humans at the front called out, the rest of the humans letting out a cheer and started to run.
Varlam looked back to the two ponies, giving them a strange glance with the shield they had raised. Before long he simply shrugged and waved them on before breaking into a quick run with the others.
Tourmaline and Erinite looked to each other before looking back forward, now seeing the small pillars of smoke and yellow glow in the distance.
"Fires... this must be it." Tourmaline commented.
"Finally." Erinite added as the two of them ran after the humans.
Since the dawn of their evolutionary upcoming, humans have lived together in groups. Families, communes, tribes, villages, cities and nations, are all products of humans grouping together for survival rather than toughing it out on their own.
The very basis of this hierarchy of size, was food and shelter. Food was to be gathered and hunted before being brought back to rest of the group who would the use said food to keep up their work on building proper housing to their locale. Within this cold climate of the north, a traditional wooden hut would not due when it comes to retaining heat. The homes of these humans went down into the ground a small distance, shaped squarely with a wooden structure to it.
They were called, burdei. Almost going a meter deep into the ground, the burdei was built from strong timber of northern Equestria and patched up with clay gathered up from scattered frozen lakes. On top of the primitive homes, the roof was made up of various grasses and straws gathered (and sometimes stolen) during the short. summer months. In the center of the roof, was a square opening for smoke from the fires used to maintain warmth.
Many of these housing building stood about in the village, perhaps dozens of them all providing shelter from the harsh climate and weather.
The human village was busy with the return of it's hunting party. Humans moved between the dozens of hide huts, moving around their supplies, food and other necessities gathered.
Erinite and Tourmaline entered the village, receiving strange looks from all of the humans around them. The two just followed Varlam as he led them through the many huts, with no real indication of a set path.
As they continued some human children ran up to the ponies, stopping them in their tracks.
"Loshad! Loshad!" Many of the children called out as they neared them.
Erinite quickly placed himself in front of the empress, putting himself into a defensive stance.
The children stopped and looked to the commander, seeing his demeanor as one of hostility.
Tourmaline let out a chuckle at the commander. "Do you really think these children are a threat to me, commander?"
"I'm not taking any chances." He retorted
Tourmaline simply rolled her eyes and pushed Erinite to the side with a hoof, leaving herself open for the children.
The young humans cheered and ran up to the alicorn and began petting her, some hugging onto her as if she was a pet. Tourmaline smiled and laughed with the children as they played with her.
Varlam looked to the children at play, chuckling at their antics and how the alicorn reacted to them.
Tourmaline then felt that she should spice things up for the children and with a loud swoop, unfurled her wings to their full wing span, getting multiple sounds of wonder from the children. The empress looked to the eyes of the children, full of wonder and curiosity that simply made her happy.
Varlam shook his head before speaking again. "Prikhodite seychas. Ostav'te."
The children all released a simultaneous 'aw' as they backed up and headed off, dissapearing among the many burdei in the village. Varlam then waved the equines on as he headed deeper into the village, the ponies quickly following him.
Tourmaline examined around the village as they headed through, intrigued at how the humans ran a sort of... system among each other.
First the hunters who returned gave their meat to a smaller group of humans, who took it over to a fire at the center of village, beginning the process of cooking it. Second, they handed their hides and furs to another group of humans that took them into a burdei and soon came out with a new coat or other piece of clothing. From there, the hunters headed back to their own burdeis and families, to gather for the eventual consumption of food.
All of this, done without writing to each other, without trading or paying one another, without any dispute or quarrel over who brought back more or less which all were problems back at the Crystal Empire.
"Hm... possibly due to the lack of any virtual economy or currency..." Tourmaline mumbled to herself.
"What, your majesty?" Erinite asked, keeping his eyes straight as Varlam continued through the village.
"These humans... they don't pay each other, or argue about who has more or not... they just try and survive." She responded.
"Yes, it's quite sad."
Tourmaline looked to her commander. "What is sad about that?"
"It's uncivilized. No real organization in their system as to how much shall be received and distributed among the masses. They give it all and have no surplus." He deadpanned, as if reading a simply statistic.
"What masses do you speak of, Erinite?" Tourmaline refuted. "This is simply a village, they take not more than they need and if more is required, they simply expand their gatherings."
"That's where the problem lies. There is no constant growth, no binding force pushing them upwards. They simply stay in the ice with... with this."
He gestured to the small homes, most entirely covered in snow from the constant storms. The people who inhabit them were covered in snow, dirt and muck in general, even the children. Their tools were primitive, metal not even in use except for the ones stolen from the ponies.
"They won't build a city. They won't craft a government. They won't even form proper civilization at this rate." Erinite scowled. "It is disappointing that we fear such a primitive creature."
Tourmaline chuckled. "I think you are just mad because they outsmarted you."
Erinite opened his mouth to state a reply, yet failed to form any words. He simply froze for a moment, stuck in his thoughts.
Tourmaline was right.
Erinite was rather distraught over the fact that he had been outwitted by the humans time and time again when it came to defending the Crystal Empire. They stole food, harassed guards and possibly are responsible for the long range of disappearances that have taken placed over the recent years.
"Vot!" Varlam shouted to the two equines, as he stepped into one of the many dug-out burdei homes.
The queen and commander looked to each other, snow beginning to collect in their fur and freeze their skin. Few ponies have been out this far north, even fewer coming back to tell the tale.
The two ponies followed Varlam, ducking down the small incline into the short entryway of the burdei. Once in, they were able to fully stand up again, even Tourmaline with her added height as an alicorn.
Both of them looked on in intrigue at the interior of the primitive home. A fire sat in the center of the single, wide square chamber, giving off it's thermal glow and heat while the smoke funneled upward out of the hole at the top of the burdei. Hunting equipment and supplies all lied about on the floor.
Humans donned in their fur outfits sat on the ground around the fire, eating, talking, laughing... some some kissing with their companions.
Though, when the ponies walked in, all of them halted their activity to look upon the equines. Their expressions were neutral, albeit there may have been a small amount of malicious intent in their eye, but the humans had no intention with a fight... for now.
"Varlam." One of them spoke as he stood up. "Eto vremya?"
"Da."
All of the humans within the hut dropped what they were doing before standing up, looking at the equine visitors.
Erinite let out a small gasp and looked up at the Empress.
Tourmaline frowned as well. "This might not go as I thought it would..." She muttered.
Drums were beaten in a loud and steady rhythm. Hands clapped and feet stomped upon the dirt floor. Humans sang, cheered and conversed aloud while drinks and food was passed about.
At the center of the room a large group of humans formed a circle and all held their hands together. They kicked their feet about, shuffled right and left, and even simply jumped up and down. They hollered and laughed the entire time.
Tourmaline sat at the side of the room, bobbing her head to the beat as she cast some spells to entertain the human children. It didn't take much, a simple illumination spell caused them to be in wonder.
Varlam sat to the left of the pony empress, a small smile on his face as he monitored the celebration.
Across the room, Erinite stood firmly, speaking with some of the males of the village, young to old. He was showing off his armor, which in and of itself was quite a grand piece of smithing.
"I bet you've have never seen anything quite like this." He stated, knocking his hoof against the breastplate. "I took on a dragon wearing this armor and I came out without a single scratch."
The humans seems a tad confused at his words, to which Erinite rolled his eyes.
"Dragon? You don't know what a dragon is?" He asked. "Can't say I blame you, they're pretty rare. When you head down south though, oh, you're guaranteed to run into them." He looked over to his empress. "My liege, these humans seems to be lacking knowledge of what a dragon is, may you please enlighten them?"
She smiled in return. "Of course, brave warrior Erinite." She remarked with sarcasm.
At that, she focused her magic up and into a violet ball of energy in the air. It sat there for a time, growing a good bit brighter before cracking a bit, hatching like an egg.
In an instant, it exploded open, revealing the form of a minimized dragon. It's violet glow was brilliant in comparison to the underground structure. It roared, and flapped its wings before releasing a breath of purple fire.
The humans were surprised at the display. One of them jumped up and tried to grab the dragon, only to have their hand pass through the illusion.
"That is a dragon!" Erinite called out, pointing at it. "The most dangerous damn things to cross the land and I fought one of them."
"Yes." Tourmaline chuckled. "You fought one of them. How about we show what happened during this 'fight'?" She stated, smirking at the commander.
A small violet pegasus appeared, bearing armor the same as Erinite's. With a quick dash, the pegasus was in the air and flying straight at the dragon. With a very small and high-pitched war cry, the pegasus was ready to defeat the dragon, with a great fiery fury, the glorious pegasus-
The dragon simply raised up it's claw in time and slapped the pegasus away, barely even seeming to notice the pony.
Every human laughed, even Varlam who let out a hearty chuckle at the display.
The purple dragon and pony vanished away as Tourmaline herself let out a small giggle.
"That was Erinite fighting a dragon." She said aloud.
Erinite placed a hoof upon his forehead and sighed. "Alright, fine, I concede. It certainly wasn't one of the finer moments of my service history... at least Commander Hurricane didn't have a bunch of humans laugh at me."
The laughter soon settled down and the celebrations resumed. The human hunters simply patted Erinite on the back and chuckled with him.
Tourmaline was enjoying the little scene the humans had seemed to set up for them. Relations with these humans had been so very strained over the years that she thought it would never be fixed. It was a sort of... mutual respect and neutrality for a time, but as soon as ponies began to go missing, it all changed.
Tourmaline's amusement faded though.
The humans invited them there. At the very least, it was suspicious. Usually in the intricate game of diplomacy, the side that invites and entertains the other would usually end up asking something from the visitor.
The empress looked over at Varlam. He was her equal when it came to ranking in society it seemed.
"Varlam." She stated.
The human looked to her, his interest peaked.
"What did..." She sighed, remembering he cannot understand her. "Oh for the love of... I'm just going to say it. Why did you bring us here?"
The man looked at her with a raised eyebrow for a moment. Eventually though, he managed to make something out of it.
Varlam turned his attention away from the alicorn and whistled aloud. Quickly a male human walked over to him.
"Varlam, chto eto?" The new human asked.
"Prinesite ikh zdes'." Varlam ordered.
"Da."
The other human ran off, leaving the burdei home.
Varlam looked back at the Empress, a smile upon his face. "You will know." He stated through his thick accent.
Tourmaline's eyes widened in shock. She had never seen a human speaking English before and she did not expect it to happen now.
"Y-you speak-" She stuttered out.
"Little." He cut her off. "No much."
"But how can you-" Tourmaline was cut off again.
"My empress!" Someone yelled in surprise. After which, the sound of hooves upon the dirt floor sounded out.
Tourmaline looked over, Erinite as well who had stepped away from the corner of the room to investigate.
Standing there, at the entrance to the room, was a crystal pony. It was a mare unicorn, with a dark blue coat and a white mane.
"A pony!?" Tourmaline was in shock. "But..."
"My liege, there is more than just 'a' pony here." The pony said.
Behind her, more crystal ponies walked into the room. Pretty soon, ten ponies were standing together at the entrance to the burdei. The humans cheered at their entrance and gave them calls of confidence.
"Father?" An effeminate voice asked from the crowd.
"Wait." Erinite stated. "Is that... Mica?" He asked back.
Within a second a young pony appeared in front of the other crystal ponies. She was a pegasus with a bright white coat that was a bit tainted by dirt. She lacked a mane, but her tail was a bright shade of red.
"Father!" She yelled out once she saw Erinite.
"By the gods, Mica!" He returned.
Father and daughter quickly ran across the room to each other. They clasped themselves up in a tight embrace, Erinite wrapping his wings around his daughter.
"I have missed you..." The commander stated happily. "It's been so long."
They stepped back form the embrace and looked to each other.
"Are you hurt? D-Did anything happen-?" Erinite started but his daughter simply tapped him on the nose with her hoof.
"Father, I'm fine!" She told him with a smile. "The humans kept me safe."
"My, you have grown so much." He looked to the top of her head. "W-Where is your mane?! What happened to it?"
"I had it cut off." She rubbed a hoof on the top of he head. "The hunters said it gave away my positioning."
Erinite's eyes widened. "Hunters?! You mean you've been-"
"Father, we can talk about that later." Mica said, caressing a hoof on her father's chin. "For now though, there's some important business the humans have with the empress." Mica looked over to her liege and took her hoof back from her father. "Sorry about the interruption, your majesty."
Tourmaline smiled to her as she rose up. "No, it is quite alright. Erinite has been quite stressed ever since you've been missing. I did not think you'd be out here though."
"Well, none of us knew." The dark blue unicorn stated. "I am Boreale, your majesty." She then took a bow. "For all of us, one moment we were up and about outside the city walls, the next, waking up inside one of these huts."
"Please, rise and tell me your tale."
Boreale rose up to her hooves and looked to the empress. "As I have already stated, each of us have all gone through the same process, losing ourselves outside of the walls and awaking here. The humans kept me inside of one of their homes, these burdei. They fed me and generally took care of me but did not go beyond that. After a time though, they let me out. They seemed to give me a choice of leaving or... well, staying. As they all know, I ran off to only end up practically freezing to death. Surprisingly, the humans had followed me all the way... without me even noticing. They brought me back here and I survived of course." She looked over to Varlam. "Spasibo." She bowed her head to him before looking back at Tourmaline.
"You know their language?" The alicorn asked.
"Yes. When they brought me back from my failed attempt at getting home alone, they began to... well, to teach me their ways."
"Boreale, eh?" Erinite wondered. "I believe recall your name coming across my desk at one point. That was quite a while ago."
"Six years ago." Boreale stated with a smile.
Tourmaline gasped. "You have spent six years out here with the humans? Amazing."
"Yes." Boreale returned. "The others that are with me have been... in a way, collected over the years. Varlam has told me it is all for a project he has been working on."
"A project?" Tourmaline was intrigued. "What project could he possibly be considering?"
Varlam chuckled and looked to Boreale.
"I believe he would like to tell you himself." She stated happily. "Varlam, skazat' yey, vash plan, ya perevedu."
"Da." Varlam returned. He stood up and went to the center of the room, humans and ponies alike sitting around him to listen.
Boreale translated as he spoke.
"We have felt something change in the winds and the snow. Across the land, down to where the snow melts and the water moves, there are more of us."
"Us?" Tourmaline asked. "More humans?"
Boreale asked the question for her, to which Varlam nodded his head. He then resumed talking.
"They are not like us. They wear armor like the angry pony."
Varlam pointed at Erinite who simply rolled his eyes. His daughter chuckled at him.
"They live in homes like the ponies, but... larger. There are many of them. Far more than the ponies and us with our rival tribes combined. They are dangerous, and our scouts barely made it back here. They speak a different tongue than us or the ponies. Their hunger for blood and conquest is never ending. I fear they may soon find their way up here and when that day comes... we will not survive them."
"The humans are afraid." Erinite stated. "Not by dragons, or bears or even us. They are afraid of other humans." He looked to the empress. "My liege, if the humans are afraid of them, I believe we should be aware of the threat as well."
"You side with the humans now?" Tourmaline asked. "You were quite hesitant earlier."
"They have proven me wrong." He stated as he placed a hoof onto his daughter's shoulder.
Varlam resumed his speech with Boreale translating.
"The survival of both of our peoples is at stake. We have taken some of your ponies, not as an act of... aggression. Instead, it is to show how humans and ponies are indeed compatible. Now that you have seen how our people can live together in peace... I propose this..."
The tribe leader picked up his spear and placed it onto the ground between him and Tourmaline. It sat at an oblique angle, the head of it pointing slightly to the right of the alicorn and the flat wooden end to the right of Varlam. He continued talking.
"Our people will become allies and try to survive together for the betterment of the future."
The room sat silent as all eyes fell onto Tourmaline. She and Varlam looked each other in the eyes.
Erinite came over to his lord's side. "If I may speak here, madam. I think you should think through this and-"
"Erinite, give me your sword." She stated, still looking at Varlam.
The commander sighed and unsheathed his sword, placing it onto the ground before him.
Tourmaline used her magic and raised it up into the for all to see. With a quick slam onto the ground, the sword was then crossed over the spear.
"We accept." Tourmaline stated with a smile.
Varinius stood atop a small hill, his arms crossed and red cape blowing slightly in the wind. A small squad of praetorians were standing a decent distance behind him, on guard. The rest of his troops were working hard at setting up camp among some of the other small hills nearby.
Other than that, the rest of the army's location was unknown.
The heir to the throne sighed in frustration. His campaign in Equestria was obviously off to a rocky start... and he certainly didn't approve of that. The recent battle in the canyon was a rather pyrrhic one at best and on top of that his army quickly divided up and headed out into the unknown before Varinius could even get them into order again.
Truly something that he would prefer to keep out of Severnium's records.
"Father won't be pleased about this." He muttered to himself. "I won't be returning to Severnium with my tail betwixt my legs though."
The sound of running footsteps quickly filled the air as a legionnaire ran up to the hill Varinius was upon. Almost immediately, one of the large praetorians stepped in front of him, nearly knocking him down.
The legionnaire looked at the decorated soldier.
"Verbum mihi legatus sit magni momenti." He quickly stated.
The praetorian nodded and stepped to the side, letting him through. He sprinted up behind the legate, kneeling down as he waited to be addressed.
"Loqui." Varinius stated quietly.
"Legatum meum, per late viribus tuis et campi." The soldier gulped before speaking again. "Congreget licet ... tota die et nocte"
Varinius closed his eyes in thought for a moment.
The soldier reported that it may take all day and night to gather the army together.
The teeth within Varinius' head grinded against each other almost instinctively at the uttering of those words.
"Relinquere." The legate stated with malice.
With a bow prior, the legionnaire quickly got up and ran off, heading back to camp to resupply from his scouting journey.
Varinius looked out across the field and rolling hills again, some flashes of light popping up every once in a while. Stray screams can be heard if one listened hard enough.
"Adduc eum ad me." He stated aloud.
The praetorians nodded, stepping to the side to reveal what one of them was holding. A single praetorians held onto a pony, the same one Varinius stole away from the battlefield back at Unicorn Range. The elite guard walked towards Varinius, his hand grabbing firmly onto the young stallion's mane. The ponies legs were tied up, rendering him pretty much immobile.
He was tossed onto the ground before the legate, grunting in pain.
"Relinquite nos."
This time the praetorians quickly dispersed away, heading into the camp and leaving their general alone.
Varinius turned around and looked down upon the beaten equine.
"So... here we are." The human started. "I, the heir to throne of an emperor and you, a nameless equine."
He knelt down to get onto a more familiar level with the pony.
"Tell me... what makes you special?" He asked.
The pony avoided eye contact, looking to the ground from his prone position. He remained silent.
"Not talking?" Varinius asked.
For once, the general got a good look at his catch. He wasn't exactly a large pony, nor was he a small one either, but certainly not what Varinius would call proper soldier material. His coat was a faded light brown shade, which contrasted with his teal mane and tail, both of which were cut rather short as per usual with a pony soldier. His eyes were a deep blue hue, nearly matching his teal mane. He was only slightly buff, once again not exactly a good standard for a pony soldier.
"It is okay to not talk to me, after all I did snatch you up like a looting soldier would a young virgin." Varinius chuckled. "How could I resist? Even gods have to give in to their desires once in a while."
The legate reached his hand out to the broken pony. He placed his hand right upon the stallion's head, getting an uncomfortable squirm in response.
"Oh, don't be afraid, I'm not going to hurt you. You see, being a slave for I, a lord born in the purple, is much more comfortable than being a slave for any other. You will know pleasure and fortune that many of your other kin will never encounter in their lives, though, there will still be hard work."
The pony stopped his resistance upon hearing this, simply giving in.
"Yes." Varinius whispered as he ran his hand through the pony's teal mane.
"Addecet! Addecet!" Silvanus screamed out to his troops. "Venturam, the equines just keep coming!"
Him and his century took position at the top of another small hill in the large empty area past the Unicorn Range. They've been under assault by Equestrian forces constantly, whether it be massive earth pony charges, barrages of arrows and magic, or skirmishing teleportation mixed with pegasi flying strikes. The legionnaires were weathering through it, but their numbers were gradually decreasing as time wore on.
For good or for worse, Silvanus wouldn't dare retreat against this enemy and shame his homeland. At the same time, he was intensively irritated with the fact that it seemed like Varinius had abandoned him.
As the last of another group of earth ponies were either slain or retreated, a single legionnaire quickly looked up and pointed with his gladius.
"Dicta!" He shouted out as some pegasi began closing in.
Silvanus quickly took notice. "Scutum adgressum!" He ordered as he raised his own shield up.
What remained of the century followed suit, their shields raised and readied for the unavoidable attack of the pegasi.
The pegasi, armed with medium length spears slammed downward at the Severians, knocking a good amount of them off of their feet before swooping back upward into the air.
Silvanus though, was ready.
When the pegasus was well within range of stabbing the centurion's shield, he brought it out to his left, catching the spear on it in a parry. As he pushed the spear away, he instantly brought his gladius straight upward at the pony, aiming for the nearest area without armor... the neck.
The pony's look of surprise was met with the centurion's blade thrusting into the stallion's neck.
All of the pegasus' force and momentum was brought downward onto the blade, forcing him down to the hilt, the tip of the blade sticking out the other side of his neck.
Silvanus raised his enemy upward into the air, the pony's head hanging low as he gasped for breath. The blood flowed down in quite an explosive fashion, covering the ground and Silvanus' arm.
The centurion looked straight into the dying eyes of the pegasus.
"Weak." He stated flatly before bringing the blade down and inverting it, the pony sliding off of the blade to resume bleeding out on the ground.
Now with his bloodied blade and arm, Silvanus looked back up to see the remaining pegasi coming in for a new pass at them. Some of his troops were killed after they were knocked down by the quick pegasi, but by now the rest have gotten used to this tactic and were ready for another go at them.
"Come on, Equines!" He shouted out. "Show me your fury!"
Julia bashed her shield forward, knocking back an earth pony. With a quick burst of speed, she dashed to the off-balance pony and with a quick thrust of her blade, dispatched him.
She took a step back and saw that her own legionnaires managed to finish their foes off as well.
The female centurion took up a position in a small valley between two of the area's hills. Her century was in relatively good condition all things considered, her position providing a decent disruption to any pony forces attempting to come after her. Their main concern was finishing off Silvanus' troops before trying to take on any more.
Though, a stray squad of ponies would keep coming around at just the perfect times to try and occupy her and her troops, more than likely to try and keep her from assisting her colleague.
She planned on doing just that.
With a bold shout and a raised blade, she gave the order.
"Columna!"
The legionnaires quickly took notice of the order, finishing the few opponents that they fought with hurried attacks before moving into place behind their centurion. They were more than ready for a good fight.
"Movere!" She screamed out next, pointing her gladius forward and taking the first step.
The century began forward at a brisk pace, their shields at the ready to deflect arrow fire when needed.
Pegasi began to harass the tight formation of troops with their spears, swooping in for small hits between and on the shields. Their goal wasn't to try and kill them off, it was to merely slow their advance.
Julia and her troops pushed through it, quickly hitting the crest of a nearby hill. Across the small valley on the other hill ahead of them, Silvanus and the remainder of his troops were spotted. They were currently flat-out surrounded by pony forces. Mainly pegasi and earth ponies simply hammering upon them.
With only about 80 meters between them and a valley creating rather undesirable terrain for them to charge in on, Julia needed another plan in order to help her colleague.
"Ponies!" Julia shouted out. "Come on and fight us already! Wasting your time on such a weak target when you have a nice and juicy one right here!" She gestured to her own troops. Next, she holstered her gladius and placed her hand upon her hip, shifting her weight to one foot. "Hm, maybe you should just keep fighting them, it'll make our job easier."
Some of the ponies looks over to her, just barely hearing her voice over the heat of battle.
"We'll just march right into your homelands, gladly pillaging and storming on." She chuckled. "Maybe I'll even try the meat of an equine, I've always wondered what it tasted like. Maybe I'll even just let my men try out some of your mares."
With that, a large chunk of the pegasi quickly swooped up from Silvanus and his troops, directing their attention towards Julia and her taunts.
"Come on lads!" Their captain called. "Let's give the damn human some iron!"
With that, the pegasi then dashed forward through the air, aiming for Julia and her formation. She reacted quickly, lining back up with her troops in a shield wall formation, three men deep. They placed their shields in front and their blades atop of them, pointing forward, ready for the enemy.
The pegasi quickly slammed straight into the Severian line with a rage, pushing forward and slashing with all their might against the wall of solid shields. The legionnaires began their life's work, maintaining their shield and thrusting forward with their gladii, striking the enemy. As said efficient system worked in the front, the third rear line of men quickly fanned out onto the formation's sides and closed in on the pegasi flanks, utilizing the same shield wall.
With frightening efficiency, the pegasi numbers were halved quickly, the Severians constantly moving over the bodies of dead foes. Within another minute the rest were almost entirely wiped out. The few that remained used their wings and quickly flew up and away from the melee, hoping to regroup at a different position.
With a sigh, Julia looked over to see her the remainder of her comrade's unit still holding together, now no longer under attack.
"Julia, I commend you on the assistance!" Silvanus shouted. "Let us find Varinius and finish this!"
Gregorios stood silently, looking straight at the old wizard, Starswirl. He was ready for anything.
"Where do you come from?" Starswirl asked, looking to the human, his brow peaked in curiosity.
"We come from the west. It's a land called Severnium."
"Intriguing. That is still not what I wanted though." Starswirl chuckled. "How about all of you? In general."
"Humans? Our origins?" Gregorios asked back. "Why, I don't particularly know. Some say the gods brought us about, some say we always have been here, and others simply don't bother to substitute their ideas as an answer. We tend to try and always look for an answer."
"Your people are not cohesive about your beliefs?"
"Yes and no. We don't kill each other over it anymore if that's what you're asking... at least, over the minor subject matter. We know your people were doing the exact same not too long ago."
"Hm, the Winter of Sorrow. Yes, it was indeed a dark time." Starswirl nodded, looking down to the ground, remembering how the Wendigos brought about such pain and misery. He also remembered his student, Clover, proving herself along with the others that now rule.
He knew of no other time in his life that brought such joy and pain at the same time.
"Now, why are your people here?" The grey unicorn asked.
"Why?" The centurion chuckled. "Starswirl, I am a soldier. It is not my job to know why. It is my job to do."
Starswirl smiled. "You are not a mere grunt, Gregorios. I know of your rank, your ties with the one called 'legate'. Feigning ignorance is... well, useless with me, I commend you on trying though."
The human sighed. "Fine then. You would end up learning it anyway, might as well explain it now." Gregorios placed a hand under his chin. "I will not go into details though. Let us just say that... my emperor is coming for what is his and all of humanity's."
Starswirl raised an eyebrow at this. "If that is all you will deliver, then I will not press. Your devotion to your people is evident. Now, what do you know of my people? The ponies?"
"All I know is what I've been told to believe about the enemy. Said information has been proven wrong quite a few times so far."
"How so?"
"Your people, they are not the dangerous warriors and practitioners of the arcane as I was led to believe." Gregorios crossed his arms and shifted his weight to his left foot. "I was told to be ready for the fight of my life. When in fact, it felt more like a simple slaughter. I presume your people are better scholars than you are fighters?"
The unicorn chuckled. "You. I like you. I ask a question in this one-sided environment and you give one in return, as if you are the one in control. There truly is hope." He smirked.
"Answer my question." Gregorios insisted.
"Well... I would not say it is true for us to be exclusively scholars or warriors. You have faced... well, the minors of our forces. We take defending our territory very seriously, I assure you. Besides, your comrades seem to be having quite a time fighting against my liege's forces."
The human nodded. "You have talked about hope, a future, and have been implying I am a right choice for something of yours. Explain."
Starswirl laughed this time. "And again you demand an explanation. I believe it is time for me to stop toying with you then..."
The old sorcerer walked up to the centurion, looking directly up to him.
"Gregorios, there is something that is coming." Starswirl stated seriously. "Something big and it isn't going to go well for many. I don't know what it is per-say, but I have seen you somehow involved with it."
The human looked down to the pony, an eyebrow raised in curiosity.
"I wished to know more about the human I've been seeing in visions. It seems that I have gained all that I can get for now though. I hope that you have the best of luck in your travels and actions, Gregorios. It seems you'll need it."
With that, a massive flash consumed the human's sight, blinding him.
With a loud thud, the centurion landed onto the ground, the wind being knocked out of him. He then bounced upward after he landed, the air rushing past him. After a couple more roughs bounces, it finally stopped and was instead replaced by a sliding motion upon the ground he was on.
With the last slam, Gregorios landed upon his back, which let him look about to see exactly where he was as he was dragged downwards by gravity.
He had been teleported onto the side of a steep mountain.
"Whoa!" He shouted out in a startle as he looked on to see just how high up in elevation he was.
He could feel his armor being scraped up by the land he slid upon, his bare shins being torn up as well. He now tried his best to keep his head raised, wishing to avoid as much trauma up there as possible.
The centurion seethed in pain as he continued the slide, gaining more and more momentum on the way down. He thought it would never end... at least, until he saw a rather peculiar object jutting out ahead of him. It was rectangular... and red.
It was his scutum, his shield.
Without hesitation, Gregorios reached out with his left hand, preparing to grab onto the shield as he passed it.
"Diligens, diligens..." He muttered to himself as he got within a small distance of it.
With a massive swing of his arm, his left hand latched onto the shield's edge, a loud clang sounding from the metal getting hit. The shield ripped out from the ground, held firm by the centurion's strong grip.
He adjusted the shield within his grip, using both hands, he moved his left hand from grasping the edge to properly fitting into the grip at it's center.
Now with the large shield in correct form, his balance was slightly off, resulting in a lazy curve to the left as he continued to slide.
Then, with a glinting reflection of sunlight, Gregorios caught sight of what shall make him complete.
His spatha, his blade.
It was thrust down into the dirt, perpendicular to the slope and beckoning for him to wield it once more.
The centurion readied himself once again as he neared the blade.
In perfect speed and strength, he grabbed right onto the grip of the blade, using the firmness it provided to hang down from the embedded blade, halting his descent.
Gregorios let out a long sigh.
"Good." He stated as he looked over his equipment one last time. "Where to now?"
He looked forward only to find a further descent downwards before the area finally ran off as a steep cliff. Up above was the rest of the inclining area that he just slid down.
"Receptus! Receptus!" A voice called in the distance.
Gregorios peaked up at the sound of the familiar language.
Once again, he looked around, trying to find options as to get down from his current position. He can't climb upward, especially at the current angle he was at. He couldn't go to the right or left either because of this same reason and the fact that his spatha was the only thing between him and a nasty fall down a cliff. Finally, he looked forward at the edge of the cliff, the sounds of metal clashing with loud screams now reaching up to his position.
"Damn." He muttered to himself. He looked back up to his spatha implanted in the slope and then back to the cliff. "Fortune favors the bold."
With that, the centurion pulled his blade free and resumed his slide down the slope, gaining speed as he neared the edge.
He flew right off of the edge feet first, almost straight downward.
Two legionnaires dashed through the woods, their heavy breath and rapid steps the only other sound over the roar of battle in the distance. They had long been cut off from their century, now simply running for their lives.
"Agite! Agite!" One of them yelled to the other, encouraging his brother in arms to keep moving. Though, as he did this, his comrade's tired legs tripped up and caused him to fall down.
"Auxilio!" The fallen one exclaimed.
His ally quickly rushed to his aid, reaching down with his hand which was quickly grabbed.
"There they are! Over here, I found them!"
The legionnaires stopped in their tracks, to see a pegasi flying overhead. The fallen one was quickly pulled up and they tried to look for an escape route. The area was a medial-sized plain in the forest, a large wall of rock sitting before them, clear of ponies except the pegasus above.
Suddenly, multiple large flashes of magic blinded the two humans for a few seconds. When their vision cleared, they were now surrounded by a mixed group of various unicorns and earth ponies.
"Maledicit!" One of the Severians called out. Both of them pulled out their gladius and quickly spun about so they were back to back.
"Put down your weapons and you won't be harmed!" The pegasus called down at them, seeming to be the leader of the ponies.
The two humans stood in silence, their shields up. Even if they could understand the tongue the ponies spoke, they wouldn't dare surrender and tarnish their gods and their nation.
The area was consumed in silence and tensity. Neither side made a move, not exactly knowing what to expect from the other. Two legionnaires hadn't been caught out of formation like this and the ponies had never gotten a full encirclement upon the humans either.
"What in the-?!" The pegasus yelled out before he was cut off by a loud impact and the sound of a sword piercing flesh.
Almost instantly the body of the pegasus slammed onto the ground, some blood spreading about with the impact. On top of the pegasus a figure stood, barely more than an armored silhouette from the evening light. It reached down to pull a sword from the dead pony's back.
One of the legionnaires stepped forward. "...Centurio Gregorios?" He asked aloud.
"Certe." The voice confirmed, the centurion looking up and revealing his visage.
The two Severians quickly ran over to their centurion, keeping their armaments at the ready.
"Not this guy again!" One of the unicorns yelled in surprise.
"The captain is down, what do we do?!"
"Kill the damn humans!"
"You kidding me? That guy killed a load of troops back in the Chandleridge!"
"Screw this!" One of them stated as he turned around to run. "You guys can fight that thing, I'm done!" With that, he ran off, the majority of the others following.
The few that remained looked between themselves, the centurion and themselves again before finally nodding.
The Earth ponies quickly charged in at the three humans.
Gregorios quickly charged forward in return, placing his shield before him and, with a display of great power, slammed into one of the Earth ponies. He raised his shield upward at the same time, knocking the pony into an upward motion.
As the first pony landed, another charged in at the centurion's right side. he quickly reacted, waiting for the proper moment to bring a great slash right across the neck of the pony. Said pony stumbled down onto the ground, going past the human who simply stepped out of the way.
The third and final Earth pony promptly stopped charging and quickly turned on his hooves to run in the opposite direction.
"Nope, not dealing with this nonsense." A unicorn stated. "Let's get out of here." He stated before running off, the others quick in tow.
Gregorios inhaled and let out a deep exhale before looking to the two other humans. "Ubi sunt ceteri?"
Still out of breath, one of the legionnaires simply gestured his head to the left and turned around. The other did the same and began to head off, Gregorios following in tow.
"Stabilis! Stabilis!" Avitus yelled out. "Ignis!"
The ballista launched its loaded spear straight forward, the sound of wood and metal cracking out into the air which was already cluttered with the sounds of battle. The spear flew right over the heads of the fighting Severian skirmishers, past the ranks of reserve legionnaires and above the ranks of engaged humans and ponies. It then slammed right into the side of a unicorn, interrupting the casting of his spell. The force behind the pointed weapon was more than enough to strike through the armor and then proceed the knock the pony back and right into his comrades.
"Bene." Avitus stated in satisfaction. "Urgeo, urgeo!" He screamed, pointing his blade forward.
The humans down in the fray began to push against the lines of pony soldiers. The two units of infantry had been slugging it out for some time and it had been a simple draw for a while, the humans holding the slight edge in the combat with their formations, shields and general size. It wasn't going to last forever though and Avitus needed the find a way to break through. Ordering for his men to be aggressive rather than conservative would fix the outcome, he thought.
"Testificor!" A new voice called out across the battlefield, behind the lines of the ponies.
Avitus glanced up, intrigued by this call for a charge. He certainly didn't give the order and he was quite sure none of the ponies spoke the Severian tongue. Quickly though, he realized what it was.
Reinforcements.
From one of the patches of wooded land, legionnaires charged out from between the trees. Skirmishers ran with them, launching their pila into the air, aiming for the pony troops held in reserve.
In a few seconds the unready ponies took many losses from the pila alone, unicorns being struck in the middle of casting a spell, causing it to go haywire and unleash some friendly fire.
As the legionnaires charged in, the remaining unicorns that sill had any energy left teleported away, those unlucky enough to survive but lack the energy to escape were simply trampled over by the Severian troops.
Pegasi launched themselves into the air to retreat. The Earth ponies were not as lucky.
The charging humans slammed right into the rear flank of the ponies, crushing, stabbing and bashing with all of their might with and extraordinarily brutal efficiency that only the Severians have seemed to masted over generations of warfare.
Few of them managed to squeeze out of the far sides of the melee and escaped into a route. All of the others were simply wiped out from the legionnaires assaulting on both sides.
Once the humans met in the center, they walked up and bashed their shields against each other in celebration with a big shout of appraisal for each other.
Avitus let out a long sigh, seeming to have held it in for a while.
At the other side of the area, one lone legionnaire walked forward steadily, not cheering or rushing about like the others. He held his shield close and had his gladius holstered.
"Tranquillitas, super ejus." He whispered to the inner side of his shield.
Slate sat herself upon the human's arm, sitting right behind the shield. She had been shaken up by the day's events to say the least. She was grateful for the protection that the Severians gave to her, but it wasn't the most comforting thing for her. She mainly missed the fact that the person that actually talked to her in English has been missing for a while.
All that she knew of now was a horrible smell in the air. One that simply delivered dread to her.
"Instrueretur acies!" Avitus cried out from his slightly elevated positioning as the multiple ballista were broken down for transport.
The troops formed up into a large column, skirmishers in front, ballista in the rear with the legionnaires making up the center.
The troop Slate was with moved to his position, taking his place at the front-right corner of the column.
"Deinceps!" Avitus yelled as he took his spot at the front of the column.
With that, the marching began.
"Oh joy, welcome back!" Varinius called out as he clapped his hands together.
Silvanus and Julia walked up to their legate, behind them their centuries began to set up camp with Varinius' forces as well.
"What in the name of..." The legate said in shock. "Your armor, what has happened?"
The two centurions finally took some time to look at the armor they had been wearing through all of the chaos for the past day. Many of the metal scales of the segmentata had been dented and scratched nearly beyond recognition. Blood was spattered about on both of, though there was a large amount more on Silvanus who had been in intense melee for hours.
"We were doing our job, my lord." Silvanus stated, crossing his arms.
"My then, you've got to stop working so hard. This is... this is just not attractive anymore." Varinius looks to Julia. "No offense, dear."
Julia simply rolled her eyes.
"Anyway..." The legate stated. "How have things gone?"
"Losses across the board for us, but not enough to render us incapable of fighting." Julia informed.
"Yeah, but I can't say the same for the equines at this rate." Silvanus chuckled. "We've taken out enough to fill the Colosseum with their blood."
Varinius let out a laugh. "Oh, I'm sure you have. Have you seen any of the alicorns though?"
Silvanus and Julia looked to each other and back at the legate before both shaking their heads.
"Hm, they seem to be playing hard to get then." He cleared his throat. "Well then, we'll just have to try again when we get reinforcements."
The sound of marching sounded in the distance, belonging to the approach of the remaining forces, which Varinius instinctively knew was Avitus and Gregorios' centuries.
"Well then, there we go, the last of the army has arrived. Everything is working just-"
Interrupting Varinius, a massive roar of thunder clapped in the air. Immediately after, a massive green light flashed across the area.
It was blinding to all those that witnessed it. Stacked atop of the deafening thunder that crashed in the sky, it was pure sensory overload. Varinius and the centurions covered their eyes with their hands, attempting to spare their retinas. When the flash seemed to clear, they quickly looked up into the sky.
The thunder continued and lightning struck down onto the soldiers setting up camp. Supplies went flying and exploded into pieces, human soldiers were struck and knocked down onto the ground after being electrocuted.
Flying above in the air staring down at the legate, a light green alicorn with a grey shaded mane hovered in the air with his wings. Around him, a large group of heavily armored pegasi hovered about and standing on some floating clouds unicorns clad in heavy armor stood as well.
Varinius chuckled to himself. "When one speaks of the wolf, one sees its tail."
A small glow of red light dashed between the legate's fingers.
The alicorn looked down upon the humans from his position in the sky. The many elite armor-clad pegasi and unicorns around him remained idle, coldly looking down as well. Many of them were the elite Cyclone's that served directly under Commander Hurricane. They have been spearheading the pony army against the Severian forces and have managed to continually harass and deplete the humans while taking relatively minuscule losses in comparison.
Varinius recognized them immediately, as they were the troops that stole away many of the slaves he had detained from Chandleridge.
The devastating lightning from earlier had ceased it's barrage as fast as it had began. Many of the Severian troops had to manage and recover from the jarring unorthodox tactics they just experienced.
Back, across the large plane Avitus halted the forces he led, attempting to take in the details of what had just occurred. Him and all of the legionnaires stared on.
"An alicorn..." He stated to himself.
Slate heard the familiar word from her position behind the shield of one of the Severians. She lifted her head up as her ears perked. She managed to poke her head up over the shield she used for cover and then immediately noticed the rare pony up in the sky.
She gasped. "Him?"
Avitus looked over in order to find the speaker, knowing no common legionnaire spoke English. He immediately found the filly's head above the shield.
"Arripe illam descendit." He ordered the soldier to put her down.
The trooper complied and placed the filly down onto the ground before him.
"Now, who is that?" The centurion asked her.
"An alicorn. His name is--"
"I am Drustan." The alicorn stated in a thundering voice. "Alicorn of the Smokey Mountains, White Tail and Unicorn Range. You have attacked my lands with a despicable hunger for conquest that can only be comparable to barbarians."
Varinius chuckled and began to speak aloud. "Oh, your terrible words, Drustan, they wound me so!" He placed his hands upon his chest and turned his head away in faux distraught. "Please, go on, tell me of my wrong-doing! I am but a weak and helpless child to the wagging finger of a strong parent!"
"Halt with your sarcasm, human." Drustan angrily interrupted. "I have not come here to play, I have come here to end your incursion."
"Have you now?" The legate asked with a raised eyebrow. "Well then..." He raised his arms up and opened them both up to the side, pushing his chest out slightly. "Come on. I don't have much time, army to lead, nation to conquer, the world can't wait for me forever, you know?"
"Enough!" Drustan shouted out.
The alicorn reared his head back as his horn glowed a dark green. He sprung back forward with his head and blasted the energy off. The beam of green magic surged forward at a breakneck speed.
It cracked across the sky, heading straight forward at the legate.
Julia and Silvanus leaped out of the way as two praetorians attempted to intervene, running towards the Severian heir from behind.
"Back!" He yelled to them, not taking his eyes off of the active spell. He quickly moved his hands out before them as they glowed a faded red.
Finally, the powerful green beam slammed into the legate, blasting straight into his hands. From there, a brilliant display of green and red lights clashed against one another. It radiated out steadily, starting to consume the surrounding area in a quagmire of energy. It simply continued to grow brighter and larger, forcing nearby humans to get farther back.
Gregorios quickly vaulted over a fallen tree as he continued to follow the two other legionnaires. His breath was quick and heavy after such a long run. In general, it had been a very long day.
"Ibi est! Ibi est!" One of the others shouted out, pointing his blade up in the air.
Gregorios followed with his sight where the blade was pointing. There, he found a massive red and green glow that stood even above the tree line.
"What in the name of...?" He muttered to himself. "That's magic... wait a moment. Red?" Gregorios let out a deep breathe and remained still for a moment.
He had only heard of this in ancient tales.
"Vado, vado, vado!" He yelled out quickly as he ran in the direction of the light, the two other humans following swiftly.
The vacuum of magical energy grew in size, eventually consuming a large area of five square meters. By now, even the praetorians had left the nearby area.
After one last vast breeze outward of power, all of the magic collapsed inward in the blink of an eye, whooshing loudly.
Finally, as the last particles of the light dissipated away, all that was left was Varinius. He stood there, breathing heavily with his eyes shut. The hands of the human flickered lightly with sparks of red energy. His armor had some scorch marks upon it, left by the magic that did its best to resist him.
Drustan stood upon his cloud, mouth agape at the site.
Next to him, a quick flash popped in and out, leaving the wizard, Starswirl to stand next to the alicorn.
"I felt it." Starswirl stated in a serious whisper. "The human... he has done the impossible."
"Impossible to you, equine." Varinius' voice announced loudly.
The unicorn took a step back on the cloud he stood on. "...He heard me?"
"Yes, I did." The legate chuckled. "If you would please do me the kindness of halting your discussion, we can get this little debacle over with quickly and cleanly."
Suddenly, the human vanished away in a thick red mist, surprising even the Severian troops that watched on in awe.
"Like I said..."
Drustan quickly tried to look back at the sound of the voice behind him.
"I have a nation to conquer."
With that, a massive surge of red energy exploded outward in the middle of the pony position in the sky. Pegasi were simply knocked straight downward, spiraling out of control as the red magic burned away at them as they fell. Those in heavier armor managed to endure and recover, flapping their wings to life. Others made acquaintance with the ground. Unicorns did not excel either, many being blasted away off of their clouds. The rest manged to throw up a shield for protection, which was steadily burned up by the legate's energy.
Drustan and Starswirl were more than strong enough with their shields... but they were truly at a loss as they looked on at the tirade of power that had been unleashed.
As quickly as it came, the magic faded away, leaving a general glow of red to the area. Among it, Varinius stood tall, having no problem imitating the cloud-walking spell other unicorns were using. Down from his nostrils though, a small amount of blood ran down before being quickly wiped away by his hand.
With a smirk, the legate reached up to his shoulders and undid the binding of his cape, his paludamentum. He held it off to his left, letting the wind flow through and strongly flap it as if it was a flag. He released it from his grip and off it went, flying off into the landscape.
"Now then, Alicorn..." Varinius stated sternly. "Let us just see who's magic is more powerful."
With that, Starswirl leaned over and whispered to Drustan. "If I would sir, I would recommend that we take a retreat. The power that I am sensing from him is more than that of two alicorns combined."
"How did he get so powerful?" Drustan asked back, not taking his eyes off the human.
"It seems to be some form of an absorption spell." The wizard ran a hoof through his beard. "He had gained all of the energy from your attack and combined it with his own... though, there is still a massive excess of energy not accounted for here. I did not detect even a fraction of this power prior to your attack."
"If he can absorb all of the power we throw at him... then, this is an impossible fight." Drustan sighed. "Yes, let's retreat."
Starswirl began to cast a large teleportation spell. "As commanded, Alicorn."
The unicorn's magic quickly funneled around them and brightened itself up before unleashing a magnificent flash.
With a flash, the magic quickly dissipated and Starswirl appeared, letting out a deep sigh. With his eyes closed, he rubbed his hooves about on the temples of his hurting head.
"That was close, wasn't it?" The wizard asked aloud.
...
He heard no reply.
Starswirl opened his eyes up and looked about the area. He found himself within the large meeting hall of Drustan's castle which rested on the far side of the Planes.
The long table sat empty at the center of the room, the stone walls stood strong with torches sitting alight upon them.
He was alone.
His eyes widened in shock. "By the gods, did he-?!"
Drustan gasped wildly as his throat was forcibly constricted. His wings flapped about with his hooves, trying to find some route of escape. The fingers on his neck tightened up a bit further, nigh leaving marks of contusion where they were.
The owner of said hand, the legate, chuckled at the alicorn.
"Silly equine, you should know by now..." He walked over to the edge of the cloud, carrying the alicorn with no trouble.
"You can't run from a god!"
With that, Varinius pulled the alicorn back past his shoulder and raised him up into the air. With a firm exertion of strength and magical energy, the legate threw the alicorn straight downward, right off of the the could he stood upon.
Drustan fell at a speed that would rival many pegasi and it seemed to be only getting faster due to the amount of magical energy that was stacked upon it, the burning red power forcing his body towards the earth.
With a savage slam, the alicorn hit the ground, a small red explosion erupting at the impact. Debris from the ground was blown into the air into a multitude of directions. Grass was simply vaporized and burned away. By the time the energy dissipated, all that remained was Drustan lying down in a crater that ran nearly a foot down into the ground.
Pegasi and unicorn troops alike ran up to the sides of the crater, checking on the condition of their leader.
"My lord, are you alright?" The captain of the group asked in concern.
In response, the alicorn moaned and slowly rolled himself over. With a gravelly cough, some blood spilled out from Drustan's mouth.
"I am fine." He stated in shaky matter. "I abdicate command to you, captain. I am going to be busy for a while as you can see." His wings flapped themselves back to life as he caught up with his breath. "My last orders are these... resume with the assault and send word to Hurricane. All alicorns need to know of this."
Drustan launched himself into the air as the captain nodded and turned himself about. He looked forward to see an oncoming march of Severian troops in their heavy formation. He let out a sharp exhale.
"Forward, ensure that your formation is strong and don't let them rest!" The captain announced loudly.
With a roaring cheer, the soldiers around him rallied together. With an even more deafening shout, hundreds of ponies began to charge out from the forest at the edge of the plains. The unicorns immediately began to open fire upon the Severians, casting as many spells as they could muster to suppress the human infantry. Pegasi quickly shot out of the tree line, many of them wearing relatively heavy armor. They set about passing over the Severian formations, exploiting small gaps between the units to get in in some strikes. With this, they also attracted the Severian skirmishers to use their pila on them instead of the charging units of earth pony infantry.
Silvanus halted his troops at the sight of this, Julia did the same. Their two centuries and the Praetorians were now faced with staggering odds approaching them.
"Murus!" The two centurions yelled out in unison.
With that, the legionnaires quickly raised up their shields and the two units angled themselves about, forming a large V as to avoid being flanked during the oncoming charge.
The skirmishers from behind were still focused on trying to take down the pegasi, but with a quick order, many turned their sights onto the charging formation of ponies where they began an effort to thin out their numbers to make the legionnaire's jobs easier.
Behind them all, the praetorians split their unit in half, setting out to the far flanks of the formation. With their superior training, experience and equipment, they would cut their way through the pony ranks, flank them and come to the relief of the legionnaires in the center.
Varinius looked down upon the entire situation from his position on the cloud. He began the process of smiling but was quickly interrupted as his body forced him to cough violently. He covered his mouth with his hand as he hacked away in some pain. Once the fit was over, he pulled his hand away and looked at it, his eyes narrowing in annoyance. Specks of blood sat upon it, staring back at the legate.
"And yet, I am still a mortal." He stated in disappointment. He took a moment to angle his head to the right and left, getting a multitude of cracks in the process.
"For now I am." Varinius huskily declared.
"Human!" A voice sounded from below.
Varinius looked down from his cloud again, to witness a certain alicorn returning with his wings flapping in the air. Drustan settled at eye level with the legate, maintaining his position in the air.
"Ah, you're alive!" The human chuckled. "I was almost disappointed. To think, you would have died that quickly at my hand. Sure, that is a bit impressive for me... but I like to play far more than I like to win."
"Tell me..." Drustan began. "You are a human... how are you using this magic?"
Varinius scoffed at the question. "Please, do not play ignorant with me, that's an insult to my intelligence... the very intelligence of my species even."
"Then there is simply something I must have forgotten then." The alicorn stated. "Explain."
The human shook his head. "Of all the equines to ask that, it is an alicorn. Fine then. I'm going to be taking your head soon enough and you can't escape, so no harm in telling you some common information." With that, Varinius let out a long sigh before beginning.
"Many, many years ago, my far-off ancestors marched across much of the world and came to rest in the land we know as Severnium. The times in the start were rough, difficult. Tales of hardships that rocked all humans to their cores even. But, one man came upon a certain... power, that seemed to descend from the sky itself... magic." He put his hand out with the palm facing upward and sent some red light upward to dance in the air before dissipating.
"The leader of the tribe my ancestors owned got a hold of that magic and used it to fight off dangerous barbarians and to unite our many tribes. He passed the power down to his children and so on and so forth. The ruling done by them went on fine... for a time."
Varinius clapped his hands together. "Of course, all good things must come to an end eventually. One year, it seemed that the power was stolen from the rulers of the kingdom. They tracked it down though, the used-to-be users of it knowing the signature of the power well enough to always find it again."
The legate chuckled to himself. "They came here. To Equestria." He pointed down at the ground for emphasis. "It had a different name back then... don't truly recall, but that doesn't matter. They kicked out the humans that inhabited it back then, wretched group, you wouldn't like them, I'm sure."
Drustan raised an eyebrow at that, knowing of the stories of humans being in Equestria to this very day.
"They found out that a certain... group, of new settlers had taken the magic and hidden it away. Nonhuman settlers at that." Varinius chuckled. "So, since my ancestors were feeling so very right about having their power stolen, they quickly went about the route of exterminating these many..." The legate inhaled sharply through his teeth. "Equines."
The shook his head and grinded his teeth as he looked to the human.
"I knew you would like that part." The human smiled. "They came... close. Very close. They managed to wipe out all of the alicorns, but not all of their lackeys. So, they were not able to find their magic at all, so they returned home, not before leaving some traces of themselves back in the lands of Equestria. When they got home, word of their lack of power spread and so, the people raged against the weakness of the ruling class. New governments were established and the region destabilized... so it was back to square one. Not with tribes though... 'republics'." Varinius chuckled. "Such a silly notion, the commoners picking their rulers."
"Soon though, my family came to power and united them all again and established a grand empire. Years passed as my forefathers rebuilt everything that was lost, everything that was stolen... by your kind." He stated pointing at the alicorn and narrowing his eyes.
"The blood of my ancestors still resides in me and every other human though. Letting me do the things that I have done today with ease. But now... now, we look to reclaim what is ours, what has been stolen from us. Given how your people have seemed to run into a... time of unity and magic among your ranks... it seems that we'll just have to take it right from you."
Varinius rolled his shoulders as he looked to the alicorn. "And we're going to stomp your species into the dirt if need be."
With that, the legate instantly flashed forward in a bright red light, surprising the alicorn. With a burst of power and speed, he slammed his fist home, hitting Drustan right on the muzzle.
Gregorios quickly dashed across a small stream and burst his way right through the brush and emerged into the large plane. The other two Severians followed suit, joining their centurion in a moment of heavy breathing from the rushed journey.
At the center of the field, Varinius' camp sat, barely complete as it was interrupted from the pony assault and beyond that, the battle waged between the clashing forces. Back at the other side, two decently-sized columns of human troops moved forward, heading towards the fray, at the head of it was Avitus, who took a moment to stop and survey the progress of his troops. Doing this, he managed to look back and spot the three lone humans standing at the edge of the forest. Noticing the crest upon the helmet of the fellow centurion and the current position of the two others, Avitus knew who it was.
"Gregorios!" He shouted out across the plane. "Veni, let us unite!"
Gregorios let out a sigh, relieved that he was now no longer detached from the army. "Vade, we will get to you!" He called back.
Avitus nodded his head in agreement before turning around and heading off to keep up with his forces.
With a vicious slam, a legionnaire plowed his shield head on into the front of an Earth pony trooper, knocking him back into fellow pony soldiers. The human stepped back and kept his shield up, staying within formation with the rest of the Severians.
As soon as he was back though, a spear was lunged forward at him, which he was lucky enough to block with his scutum. He pushed the long weapon to the side and quickly dashed himself forward a few steps and thrust his gladius at the inevitable spot of the spear's owner. He received the feel and resistance of what could only be described as flesh at the end of his blade followed by a pained grunt.
With the small foray out though, his right side was left exposed from the thrust of the blade. One of the ponies tried to take advantage, trying to dash in and take the human out, but was quickly disrupted by the next legionnaire over bashing his shield right into the stallion as he got near.
Both of the humans quickly pulled back and got themselves into position to resume the organized melee.
Down the defined line of battle, the praetorians steadily mauled their way forward, maintaining their formation. The pony forces were being very cautious with them, utilizing their spears to maintain a relatively large gap between the two groups of infantry in order to ensure the humans wouldn't simply wipe them out in the close melee.
The Praetorian Optio, second in command of the unit, stood in the front line with the others. The legate was occupied and because of that, he was now in command of the Praetorians. He split the unit in two and sent them to both sides of the Severian flank in order to ensure the main body of the centuries would not be hit on the sides and as a way to place pressure on the outer ranks of the Equestrian forces, giving them less room to maneuver.
Utilizing this positioning though, would mean that he would need to work fast or risk the legionnaires taking too many losses in the melee at the middle of the engagement.
"Exequor unitas!" He shouted out and put his shield forward, pulling his arm back and raising his spatha up to point forward above his shield.
The rest of the Praetorians followed suit and formed up along side him, soon creating a think and powerful wall of Severian discipline.
"Porro!" He screamed with a smack of his blade against the top of his shield.
With a terrifyingly synchronized step, the elite Severians began to march forward, undeterred by the ponies before them. With quick thrusts of their gladii and the protection of the mobile shield wall, the humans efficiently carved their way onward, not even taking a moment to halt. Ponies that manged to survive the strikes of the blades were then simply marched right over and then finished off by Praetorians in the rear rank.
Spells from unicorns were blocked by the shields, pegasi continued taking fire from various pila flying from what seemed like all directions and the earth ponies lacked the flexibility to adapt to the volatile situation in the melee.
Decades of experience and training manifest in physical form as the praetorians trudged onward, the enemy wavering.
Meanwhile, deep in the forest
With a grunt, Varinius was slammed down onto his back, momentum quickly carrying him further until his body rolled backward. He quickly recovered himself into a kneeling position, grasping firmly onto the ground before him. His gladius slid down on the ground in front of him, a small sizzle of smoke rising from it.
His breathing was deep and steady, even as the scorch marks on his armor burned against his flesh. The red glow kept alight around him, maintaining a form of homeostasis to his figure. Upon his right cheek sat a fresh bruise, its shape akin to that of a certain alicorn's hoof.
He gazed coldly at his enemy.
Drustan stood nigh nine meters away from him, looking right back. The lighter armor the alicorn wore was all but gone, having been slashed across, burned and otherwise simply pulverized by the magic-wielding Severian.
The alicorn was breathing raggedly, some blood running across his snout. The fight was taking a lot from him, but his thoughts remained positive seeing the worsening state of his foe was akin to that of his own.
Varinius quickly spit a clump of blood out of his mouth, having it land upon the ground, painting the soft earth red. In the center of the small puddle was a white tooth.
The pony looked to it and then back at the human.
The legate chuckled. "I still have more than enough to chew through you."
With a sudden burst of energy, Varinius snapped up to his feet and began to sprint forward, howling out in a war cry as well.
Drustan reared back and readily retaliated, blasting off some pulses of magical force at his assailant.
The human quickly flashed away in the red flash of a teleport, reappearing a mere meter to his left, and a good bit closer to the alicorn, who readjusted his line of fire and resumed.
Varinius teleported away again, with Drustan's aim following. Soon the rapid teleporting closed the distance until after one nearby burst of the magic, Drustan's target seemed to vanish entirely.
At the sound of a viscous roar, the alicorn looked up and was immediately caught off guard by the human flying down and slamming into him. The two of them tumbled down onto the ground and rolled about, both parties fighting for a more dominant position in the scuffle.
Eventually, the human managed to get on top, straddling over the barrel of the pony. In one quick motion, he brought up his gladius and with vicious fervor forced it down and into the middle of the equine's foreleg, piercing through the flesh and bolting the leg down to the dirt.
Drustan shouted out in pain as blood seared out from the wound.
The legate quickly used his free hand to grapple down onto his enemy's muzzle and forced it down to the side, locking the alicorn's head into place. Varinius' head then stormed downward and with an angry snarl, he bit down upon the pony's ear.
The alicorn screamed out again, feeling the sharp canines dig in and saw away along with a tongue grappling against it sent an absolute call of panic through his body. He physically struggled against the human, but that only managed to make the pain more intense as the blade in his hoof scraped about in sync with the teeth digging into his abused ear.
With a one final bite down, Varinius quickly whipped his head to the right and yanked it back, getting a violent tear of flesh in response. His head rose upward and between his grit teeth sat half of the alicorn's left ear. He quickly spat it out off to the side and then shoved both of his hands down onto the pony's neck. He shifted them about to grip around Drustan's neck, his nails digging down into flesh.
"Now then, equine." He seethed out, Drustan's blood falling out his mouth. "As you can see, the true inheritor of the world has won here today. The true owners of magic and the true incarnates of all that is powerful." He let out a chuckle. "It was entertaining for a time, but now, I must put an end to your worthless existence and get on with transforming this world."
With a quick inhale, Drustan slammed his eyes shut. With a quick bright blink, his horn flashed alight and unleashed a blast of energy. With a blinding light, Varinius was quickly blasted away, landing on his back a few meters away.
Immediately, the alicorn set to work at getting out of this situation. With a quick grapple of his magic, he ripped the blade out of his leg, letting out a pained scream in the process. He tossed it aside and began to rise back up onto his three good legs.
Urgently, the human climbed back up to his bipedal form to look back at the pony. His eyes burned with a rage that could only be condensed down into a single though for the alicorn.
"Run." Was all that Drustan stated as he attempted to turn himself around and spread his wings. As soon as he flapped them once, he was met with a ferocious pull at his rear.
Varinius firmly grabbed onto the alicorn's tail and twisted the hair about his hand to get a grandiose grip upon it, getting a pained grunt from the equine.
In an intense display of might, the legate quickly pulled back and upward, yanking the equine up into the air, his muscles invigorated with a massive amount of magic.
"No!" The human shouted out in anger, slamming the pony downward and into the ground.
Drustan grunted loudly at the impact, his head being forced to painfully bash into the ground with the rest of his body. Inside of his body he could feel some of his ribs cracking from the sheer force that was exerted.
Still filled with fury, Varinius raised the alicorn back up into the air and pulled the pony over past his head to strike down into the ground once more.
Another pained grunt sounded from the pony, this time he could feel bones in his body simply yielding to the force and breaking. His head suffered from another impact and went on to be further concussed.
Varinius looked down at his foe, baring witness to the fruits of his vexation. Drustan's coat and mane were speckled to various degrees by splashes of dirt and blood. His breathing was now extremely labored, the wound upon his foreleg now bleeding profusely, the blood pooling out around his body. The alicorn's snout now no longer bore any of the elegance it once did. Now it was slightly bashed in and covered in muck and blood.
With another hardy effort, the legate repeated the violent process and smashed the equine down again, this time simply getting no vocal response in return other than the now normalized ragged breathing.
With an intense sigh, the human released the alicorn's tail, letting it limply fall down onto the ground next to its battered owner.
The hand of Varinius was now marked with deep indentations from the hair he was gripping so tightly to. His armor was further battered and covered with blood shared between him and his enemy along with various large scorch marks and a practical coating of dirt and mud. The bruise upon his face remained and ached slightly, dulled by his sheer amount of built-up magic. His black hair was a mess as well, matted down with sweat, dirt and blood. Bruises covered his body at various places and brought an overall pain to his body.
He looked at his prone enemy and began to walk towards him. With a deep exhale, he knelt down next to the alicorn's head.
The two of them locked eyes once more. Drustan was barely managing to keep his eyes open, his head having received such severe trauma that he was having trouble detecting where he was anymore... but he still knew who he was fighting.
Varinius reached forward, gently placing a hand upon the underside of the alicorn's muzzle and the other upon the back of his head.
"This..." The human heaved. "This was a good fight. I thank you for the learning experience." He smiled down at him.
Drustan did not make any noticeable act of cognition, but the legate had a feeling that the equine understood perfectly.
A quick twist was followed by a savage snap.
"Retreat, retreat!" The captain shouted out, waving back as the remainder of the pony troops ran past him. As soon as the last soldier got past him he took the time to look back out onto the field of battle.
Over a hundred ponies lie on the ground, dead. Their bodies were strewn about along with dozens of dead human legionnaires... only a handful of praetorians as well.
He took it all in, the smell, the cool autumn air brushing up against his dark blue coat and grey mane and all of the gruesome details his aged green eyes bore witness to.
The human soldiers all stood about, cheering over their victory with a thunderous chant that shook him slightly. He thought he knew fear before... but not on this scale. He didn't fear for his life, he never has. He feared for his people now.
Draconequi were one thing... but the humans were certainly another.
"Captain Arcturus! Come on!" One of his soldiers called out behind him.
With a shake of his head and a sigh at the site, his horn glowed a dark blue and with a small flash he dissapeared.
A Few Hours Later...
Gregorios finally managed to catch up with the remainder of the human army. It seemed as if every single soldier bore some form of pain and injury after the exhausting last few days that they have gone through.
He looked about at his men, all of them giving him a small nod once they realized he had returned. Not a cheer, not even a happy greeting.
With a sigh he began thinking to himself as his men resumed their work setting up the tents that they were going to sleep in that night. His thoughts were broken though at the sound of a certain familiar voice.
"Gregorios?!"
The human spun about to see the young filly once more.
"Slate." He stated with a smile.
She quickly ran up to him as he knelt down. With a leap she wrapped herself up around him in a tight hug.
"You're back!" She exclaimed in glee. "For a moment I thought..." She trailed off.
"No, no. I am fine, see?" He put out his arms to show her that he was in fact okay and whole.
She smiled at him, but it quickly faded. The filly got herself out of the hug and looked around, seeing all of the downtrodden legionnaires going about their labor.
"There used to be so many more of them." She stated solemnly as she looked down at the ground.
With a sigh, Gregorios nodded his head. "Yes, I know." He stood back up. "I've heard that you gave some orders of your own."
The filly snapped about to look up at him, her words then came out as a torrent. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do anything bad! They were all running around and falling down and-and bleeding and I just remembered what some oft hem told me and then I just yelled it all out! They got together and started fighting! But there were just so many of the-!"
The centurion raised a hand. "Calm down. It's fine. You saved a lot of them by doing that."
"Yeah, but..." She let out a heavy sigh. "I wanted to... to save all of them."
Gregorios shook his head and scolded himself for a moment. This was a filly, a little girl. He shouldn't have to be thinking abut these things, making these decisions. It was foolish of him to even conceive of the idea of bring her with him... sadly, the only other option for her would be... slavery.
He reached down and patted her upon the head. "It is fine. Don't worry. We can discuss it later. Now, go find some of my men, I'm sure they'll find you something to eat and somewhere warm to sleep."
The filly nodded to him. "Yes sir." She then headed off down the row of tents.
"Well then, look who showed up." A stern voice stated behind Gregorios.
He turned about to see the dynamic duo, Julia and Silvanus.
"Ah, my peers. It is good to-" Gregorios was cut off.
"No, no, no." Julia shook her head. "Don't try."
"You missed out on all of the fighting... and the work." Silvanus stated, bashing a fist against his shield.
Gregorios nodded with a sigh. "I know, and I regret being separated and not able to provide support."
"Yeah, I bet." Julia chuckled. "What even happened to you anyway? You simply vanished away."
"I'll just state that our enemy has some brighter heads among their ranks." Gregorios sighed. "Though, that does not seem so for their army."
"No, no it does not." Silvanus laughed. "You can also say that they're pretty weak as well, it's their numbers that end up resulting in any losses for us."
"Indeed." Gregorios affirmed. "I'm sure that will change soon though. When an entire Severian legion marches into here-"
"More blood than we can handle will flow." Julia finished with a smile. "It is good to know you are alright." She finished as she then walked off, heading to tend to her troops.
"I declare the same" Silvanus heartily reaffirmed. "With you back, we will dispatch even more enemies." He also then walked off to his own troops.
Sighing, Gregorios then headed off as well, seeing if he could find his superior... and 'friend', Varinius.
"In the name of my father, it feels great to just sit down..." Varinius moaned out as he sat upon a simple folded our chair. His back leaned up against a rock and below his stretched out legs his new whit-coated slave lie prone upon the ground, acting as a foot rest for the legate. His hands were locked together behind his head.
His armor was off and now he wore a simple white tunic which contrasted with a lavish purple toga.
Two praetorians stood a good few meters away, keeping watch.
Varinius stared up at the late afternoon sky, watching the sun go down in the distance. In his peripheral vision, a figure appeared, bearing the crested helmet of a centurion.
"Gregorios..." He hissed out.
The eyes of the centurion widened up in reaction. "Um... yes, it's me."
"You're back then. Good." The legate stated in a slow and relaxed drawl.
Gregorios quickly noticed the bruise upon his superior's cheek... and the general bruising across much of his limbs.
"Fighting." Varinius nodded.
The centurion looked on with a raised eyebrow, surprised that his question was known before even being asked.
"Varinius..." He began. "Something happened... I saw those lights. What was it?"
The legate continued looking on at the sun, a smile upon his features.
"Progress."
Gregorios shook his head as he witness this strange behavior. He simply turned about and walked away, obviously not willing to spend much longer locked in such a strange exchange of communication.
With that, Varinius brought his hands out from behind his head. In his right hand, he rubbed his thumb over the a small piece of furry flesh, the dried blood on it sending a chill though him knowing that the ear belonged to a certain alicorn.
The slave beneath the legate's feet shuddered as he saw it in his peripherals.
Detecting this, Varinius cooed. "Don't worry... I would never do this to you..."
"Lord Drustan! Lord Drustan!" The captain called out as he searched through the woods, a squad of ponies following and calling out in tow.
Captain Arcturus has been engaged in this searching operation for hours. So far they had combed nigh the entirety of the plains, sweeping across it all, from the roots of the trees to the high clouds above.
It did not help that not a single other alicorn nor even Starswirl the Bearded have made contact with him. He was left with a feeling of direction and of abandonment... something no officer would want in any scenario.
"Captain!" The voice with the sound of hooves tapping down onto the soft grass graced Arcturus' ears as he looked over to see one of his pegasus scouts.
"Speak."
"We have... found something. You need to see it." The pegasus informed unsteadily.
The captain shook his head and let out a sigh.
"Find then, show me."
The two of them along with the rest of the squad set off, heading across the landscape. They crossed over various small brooks and creeks, over many cracked logs and downed trees. Some areas even had trees cut clean in half or massive craters in the ground.
"By the gods..." One of the stallions stated. "What happened here?"
"It's like a damn Ursa tore through here." Another one remarked. "What else could do this much damage?"
The Captain thought it through and simply knew.
"It was the human."
The entire group came to a stop, the others gawking at the captain.
"Sir, I acknowledge and respect your vast experience and steadfast command... but sir, are you okay?" One of the unicorns asked. "We've fought against them, none of them are capable of this."
"No, not the ground troops. The one that blasted Drustan and walked on a cloud." Arcturus stated factually. "I would not be surprised if we end up finding something that would be... troublesome, to our hierarchy."
The troops looked around in uneasiness, knowing exactly what their superior meant. The group then continued on.
Soon, a thick smell came into the air, overtaking their senses. Many of the men coughing from the rancid feeling of it. The captain remained steady.
With a few more meters they came upon a clearing... there, they found the source.
All of their eyes widened at the sight and some jaws fells open.
"Lord... Lord Drustan!"
"In the name of Equestria, what in the unholy..." One of them trailed off before starting to cough intensely. He then excused himself and looked away as his body regurgitated in disgust.
Many of them looked away in astonishment and horror... all but the captain who simply nodded his head in a mixture of disgust and disappointment.
He advised against all of this.
"Notify next of kin." He stated. "Send word to Lord Hurricane and the rest. They will not be sleeping soundly this night." Arcturus then looked up at the late evening sky. "I doubt any of us will."
