Thousands of hoofs marched perfectly in time through the streets of Baltimare, the clank of armour and the rattle of weapons echoed around every street, bouncing of every building, to catch the attention of every pony within distance.

Rows upon rows of armoured legionnaires stomped their way through the bustling city, their steel plates and chain mail covering them from head to hoof, their short swords strapped to their sides and their spears glinting dangerously in the sunlight.

Mare, stallion and foal alike stopped to wave and cheer as the cities much beloved heroes returned home, being the city that sat closest to the legions main fort to the south west, near the river, meant that it received the type of protection most cities could only dream of.

The most recognisable figure though, even without the eight thousand strong legion at his back, was General Thunderhoof himself. As tall as Princess Luna and stronger than any earth pony, the general was a demigod in appearance and reputation. Any battle the Ninth had fought in, he was always where the fighting was thickest.

His dark brown coat covered many of his less serious scars, but no amount of fur could hide the lightning shaped burn scar on his right side, starting from his neck it travelled straight across to his flank, the stories on how he got the scar varied from place to place but of all the different variations one aspect was shared in common, it had somehow involved the princess of the night herself, how, nobody knew, it would likely remain a mystery as the general himself refused to speak of it.

As with all who served in the Ninth, his grey mane was cut short, easily hidden beneath his helmet when worn. On days like this however, where uniformity was highly expected, if not demanded, all scars and marks were hidden beneath his full body armour, shined to perfection without a strap out of place he set himself as an example to all his men.

He marched at the very front of the legion, flanked by his legions eagle bearer and his second in command, Colonel Shield Wall, a strong unicorn stallion with family roots buried deep within the Ninth itself, five generations worth, all serving besides the general faithfully, the colonel himself having served for some twenty five years, five of those as a colonel beside the general himself, something he prided himself in.

The general glanced ahead at the upcoming city gates that would lead them to there fortress home, surprised to find a small detachment of royal guards baring their way out. Ten of them in total, all lined up in two rows of five with what was obviously an officer stood before them, a captain if his eyesight was telling him right.

Glancing to his right at Shield Wall, he spoke in a surprisingly youthful voice despite his some thousand odd years alive.

"It seems we have visitors colonel, bring the legion to a halt."

The colonel gave a sharp nod and detached himself from the march to stand to one side, his orders would then be echoed by any NCO's currently marching along and keeping the Legion in line.

"The legion will prepare to halt!"

As expected the order was repeated all the way to the back of the column, timing it just right he finally gave the order.

"Legion!"

A beat.

"Halt!"

With precision only bred in the military, every soldier took one step more and then halted in perfect time, not a hoof out of place, not a soldier out of time, perfect, just as expected.

With a satisfied nod the colonel moved to return to Thunderhoof's side just in time for the guard captain to reach him aswell.

The captain, a yellow pegasus mare apparently, gave a crisp salute to the general and then produced a scroll from her satchel to give to him.

"General Thunderhoof, I'm Captain Everwing, captain of Princess Celestias personal logistics team, I'm here to deliver new orders for the Ninth legion."

The general broke the wax seal and read through its contents quickly before passing it to Shield Wall for him to read.

"You are a captain yes?" The general asked, his face blank.

"Yes sir, as I sai-"

"Of course you are, you introduced yourself as such, you even have the rank pins."

"Yes s-"

"And yet despite the fact that you are indeed a captain, you have just hoofed over a classified message from the Princess herself, without first requesting proof of identity from myself or the colonel." the captain seemed to shrink to half her size under the generals disapproving stare, seemingly unable to find her previous confidence she instead stuttered out an attempt at a reply.

"B-but who-, I-I mean you-"

The General cleared his throat once to silence the mare, which she did so instantly.

"In future captain you will seek proof of identification before handing over any sensitive pieces of documentation, just because I look like General Thunderhoof, does not mean I am he."

"I would of thought the captain of Princess Celestias personal logistics team would know this."

Appropriately chastised and more than slightly embarrassed, Everwing made her apologies, thankful that her team were out of hearing distance and therefore unable to hear the dressing down she'd been given by what was not just a superior officer, but also a legendary figure within and without the armed forces.

The colonel meanwhile had reread their new orders twice before giving them back to Thunderhoof.

"What do you make of them colonel?" Thunderhoof asked as he placed the scroll safely within his satchel.

"If the situation is as dire as the princess states sir, I'd say the Ninth is about to put another notch in its belt, never fought Changelings before."

"To think the capital almost fell." Thunderhoof said with a shake of his head.

Shield Wall turned to Captain Everwing who straightened up once she realised she was back under their scrutiny.

"Captain, how many guards currently defend Canterlot?"

Everwing made a quick tally in her head of the numbers as she knew them just before she'd left on her mission.

"Out of five hundred guards, fewer than four hundred currently guard the city, sir."

Both the general and Colonel Shield Wall felt shock and confusion run through them both, though it was the general that recovered first.

"You mean to tell me only five hundred guards were guarding the entire city before the attack?" The general despite all his years of experience could not keep the slightest sound of shock from tainting his tone, nor the slight widening of his eyes.

"Y-yes sir, this is a time of peace, there has never been any need for more than that."

"Bollocks captain, it is always peaceful before war, it is the unprepared that fall the quickest."

The general turned his attention fully on Shield Wall then, his face an image of stock serious that was always followed by an order.

"Colonel, call up the Second cohort."

"Yes sir!"

With a quick bellow of orders the Second cohort of the Ninth legion, being around a thousand legionnaires, detached from formation to march to the generals side.

"Second cohort as requested sir."

"Good, colonel you are to take command of the Second and take them straight to Canterlot, they are to act as the cities main defense, once you have settled them in your are to regroup with me on the border between Equestria and the Badlands, clear?"

"Clear sir!" He declared with a salute before going about his duties.

The general watched the cohort begin its march out of the city before turning to address Captain Everwing.

"Now captain, I have a message I need you to send to our Princesses, before my cohort arrives..."

Author's Note

For those of you who know anything about roman legion sizes and are probably grinding your teeth right now, I'm changing the sizes of the Legion itself as well as the size of its cohorts, centuries etc, mainly because it makes it easier for me to remember the numbers.

Apart from that, let me know what you think!