North hoofton Village

3 Minutes after Roman Scouts spotted

POV- 3rd Person

The VIllage of Northern Hoofton, a normally calm and quiet farming village, is now in a flurry of activity. With the hundred odd ponies rushing from their homes to the town center at the sound of the emergency bell. With a duo of pegasi ringing the bell and calling out to the villagers.

"EVERYPONY COME HERE THIS IS AN EMERGENCY!!" A Blue coated young filly yells out over the sound of the bell towards the growing crowd of ponies and human slaves, who watch with mild curiosity, this being an excuse to take a break from their work.

"What is it this time Cloud Dasher? Did you think you see a timberwolf again? or was it the thousand foot tall dragon that somehow nopony saw?" The village elder walks up. Clearly annoyed at the young fillies having rung the bell for the third time this week. "You know that bell is for emergencies only!"

"But this is an emergency granpa!" The second filly, a light yellow colored pegassus with red mane yells down. "We saw some humans in the forest!"

This earns some attention from the ever growing crowd of villagers. Most talking about some slaves may have escaped.

"Well we will send a party out to catch those escaped humans later today, that is nothing to ring the bell about! You know that-"

"But they had Armor and weapons!" The Yellow one blurted out, causing gasps and louder murmurs through the crowd. Even some human bystanders seem suprised, having grouped up at the edges of the crowd.

"A-Are you sure you saw weapons or armor? Could it not have just been some sticks or a trick of the light?" Grandpa states, slowly flying up closer to his grandfillies.

"No I am sure! They wore the same kind of armor the militia ponies in the town wear, the ones with the metal loops! and one looked like a royal guard with flat sheets of metal armor. Only it was silvery not gold. And Red thing on its head!"

Panic starts to set into the crowd before being silenced by a hoof raise by the elder. "Where did you see them and what were they doing?"

The Blue one steps forward. "They came from the north part of the forest, past the fields. We saw them when we were resting on a cloud after a race, they just slowly walked to the tree line and looked at the village, before going back. We came as fast as we could!"

The crowd again starts to pass rumors, some saying that a human rebellion is about to come here, some start to panic and look at the small groups of humans suspiciously before telling them to go back to work, Which of course, The humans begrudgingly agree to.

"I must send a message to Hoofton! YOU!" The elder points to the nearest adult Pegasus. "Quickly fly to Hoofton and warn the militia. Have them send a group over!" The Pegasus nods and takes to the sky towards Hoofton.

"Everybody else! Get your business done with and hide in your homes. Any of you who signed up for the militia meet here with your equipment while we wait for the ponies from the town!"

The large crowd immediately bursts into a frenzy, the earth ponies running about to get their already harvested crops and slaves into the barns before they get any funny ideas. Local shops closing and within the hour the whole village is deserted accept for a few stragglers or the small group of militia ponies at the town center.

Hoofton, 10 Minutes Later

POV- 3rd Person

The pegassus from the north village flew non stop at full speed towards hoofton. flying over miles of farmland. Seeing the town approach he quickly loses altitude and lands roughly at the wooden gates, Causing the militia ponies guarding the gate to wake up from their daydreams and rush over to help.

"Hey whats wrong?" One of them ask.

"H-Humans *Pant* with weapons and armor *Pant* North hoofton village!" The militia ponies quickly get the message and onerushes throught the town while the other takes the exhausted pony inside the guard post.

Meanwhile at the mayors office Black ink and Mayor Parchment are discussing taxes.

"What do you mean there are no taxes on farms? or on trade? What taxes do you have!" Ink yells out seemingly in disbelief that this town barely has any money in the treasury and hardly any taxes. Which would make it near impossible to buy anything to fix her new home.

"W-Well we haven't had a lord administering this area directly in q-quite a while. So we just stuck with their old taxes. Just a simple tax on bought property to fix the walls or bridges when they break every now and then.." Parchment states nervously wishing he could hide behind his desk from this surprisingly intimidating mare.

"Only that! Well thats the first thing we are going to change! We need-" Baroness Ink is interrupted by a exhausted militia pony bursting into the room wheezing and out of breath.

"M-Mayor we have-" He falls to the ground panting for air. "-A-a major problem from-"

"How dare you interrupt us with no warning! Whats your name you lowly-" Ink is interrupted by Mayor Parchment.

"Whats the issue Bronze Shield?" The mayor states slightly worried. hoping its just a wolf attack or bandits.

"N-North Hoofton village has reported spotting a group of armed and armored humans in the forest to their north!" Bronze yells out having caught his breath and speaking more clearly.

"WHAT!" The mayor yells out in disbelief. "Are you sure?!"

"The messenger seemed to have come at breakneck pace. He barely managed to tell us before passing out."

"This is not good. Who knows what these humans are up to. And if they have weapons and armor then they must have a way to make them or somepony is supplying them. Baroness Ink what should we do?"

The baroness is quiet, standing still. Thinking to herself about how this is her opportunity to prove she can do great things easily. A Human revolt being crushed by her will put her on news headlines across equestria and she'll be a hero. She starts to grin which creeps out the other two ponies in the room.

"Mayor how many ponies have signed up for the town militia?" Inky states happily much to the confusion of Parchment.

"Uhh about 7,000 ponies last time i checked.."

"Call them all up, We have some humans to crush!" Ink yells out happily, knowing those war games her sister made her play would come in handy eventually.

Roman Fort

10 Minutes after Scouting party is spotted

With the fort now in good order, His sub commanders scouting and taking stock of the supplies and what troops they have, and a few groups sent to fish from the beach and natural harbor with nets used on the lake fish. General Varian finally has some time to sit down and think about the situation. Realizing that the village the fort was stationed near was not taken with them, meaning many of the wives of the soldiers, and his own family are not here. Along with that he doesn't know how far away they are from where they were. Even still how they got there.

His thoughts are interrupted by a cavalry captain entering his room. "Sir Sorry to inturrupt but my men have found a settlement not too far south of here. A farming village from the looks. Our cartographer made this map of the area around the beach to the south up till the village." The captain states after a quick salute.

"Did you see who lived in the village? did the buildings look roman?" Varian asks, grabbing the crudely drawn map and unfolding it on his desk, quickly looking over the few markers and rough measuring distances on it to get a view of the map.

"Unfortunately no we weren't able to get close, for the forest did not get very close to the village and we wished to remain unseen in case the locals were unfriendly to Romans.

"Hmm very good work. We might have to send some men to check out the village, maybe ask the locals for a map of the area or directions to the nearest roman border if they are friendly and know where it is." Varian thinks to himself for a moment while looking over a list of the current forces he has at his disposal. "Have the 3rd legion prepare themselves to march off to this village. Cant be too careful and 5,500 legionnaires seems like plenty of soldiers to handle a small village. But in case have 200 cavalry go along with them. And tell the cavalry to map the area along the way, better maps equal better information. And information is better than any sword." Varian rants slowly looking towards the list of legions stationed in the base. Writing down the order on a piece of paper.

"Aye sir i will tell the 3rd Legions officer immediately." The captain states, watiing for Varian to finish the order.

"And tell them to try not to provoke the natives unless attacked. We dont want to be seen as invaders or accidentally have them call upon a much larger force if they dont know who we are." Varian states as he hands the note to the captain, who salutes and walks out of the generals room.

20 Minutes Later

3rd Legion

After the cavalry captain delivered the orders to the 3rd legion's Centurion, the legion sprung up to get ready. Gathering their backpacks, equipment, rations, weapons and armor as they gear up. Equipping their chainmail and gathering their oval shields. The legionnaires quickly file together in the street forming a column with 5 rows in it.Soon the centurion stands at the front next to the eagle standard bearer and orders the legion to begin marching outside. Walking past the large open gates and down the hill towards the beach, Using the crude map and the 200 cavalry to find their way. Deciding to follow the shore and walk alongside the treeless gap next to the beach while the cavalry scouts ahead around the woods, intending on meeting up once the legion exits the forest into the farmland of the village.

The column moves slowly, marching in sync, eyes forward and shields held at the ready. Prepared for any attack to be sprung at them. Many eyes cautiously watching over the forest attempting to spot a glimmer of metal which may detail an ambush, many having been apart of one or two during their time stationed on the Rhine.

"Men keep your eyes peeled. We are in unknown territory so watch eachothers backs!" The centurion yells over the symphony of marching feet, To which the legion gives a short 'Yes sir' in response.

While many legionnaires were watching the beach or the forest for an ambush or scouts, none attempted to look upwards at a small cloud that just happens to be following the legion at the exact same pace they are marching at. And none notice the two Pegasi peeking over the edge.

Meanwhile on the cloud

Swift breeze was in complete shock at what she is seeing. Having been sent out to scout ahead and perhaps find the human base camp in the woods to tell the baroness, she and her friend Hearty Stew did not expect to find a well drilled, perfectly in sync human force, at least four to five thousand strong marching towards the town. With modest gear and what looks to be large ponies pulling carts behind the army. Seeing this they quickly jot down what they see on a paper they brought. Writing as many notes as they can about the humans, Their armor which appeared to be chain-mail, and their weapons. Mostly writing about how efficiently they are moving and how well trained they appeared to be. Comparing them to the royal guards when they would parade In when the princess once visited the village years ago.

"Swift they look like they've been training for years!"

"Quiet down hearty, they might hear you. They already seem paranoid of an ambush and we cant have them looking up. Seems they think this area isn't populated by pegasi much." Swift states, looking at her friend before continuing to write.

"Still, how many ponies did the baroness manage to get? 7000? That is a-lot more then they got. Still they look trained." Hearty stew states, staring down at the humans listening to their steady rhythm of their march. "plus, their just some humans who somehow got some armor. I bet well mop them up quicker than Bucket can clean his tavern"

"Still we cant underestimate them. Remember that human Lifter got in a brawl with. His back hoof never recovered. Good thing the militia came in and stabbed em otherwise I think lifter might of died." Swift finishes writing and sits back up and looks to hearty. "Enough talk. Take this to the Baroness and mayor, Ill stay here and fly back if I see anything else. Tell them their coming up from the beach."

"Got it, stay out of sight." Hearty states before taking a bit of cloud as camouflage and flying away.

Meanwhile on the ground a bored legionnaire stared up at the sky and saw a small cloud break off from the rest and fly away quickly. Befuddled he rubs his eyes only to see the cloud gone and shrugs it as just his imagination....

Author's Note

Thank you for reading and please leave any spelling mistakes, Word choice mistakes and historical mistakes i forget (Besides the fact that the Romans come from a world where they didn't have slaves. Or the fact that they speak English not Latin.)

Please lave any comments on how i can improve my writing or how to improve the story. Thank you!