Legends of Equestria: The Legionary

Chapters

The Edge of Empire
The Dunes of Eternity
The Might of the Empire
The Old Flame
The Machinations of the Enemy
The Fury of the Emperor
The Evil of the Enemy
The Fall of the Legion
The Return of the Sphynx
The Fall of a Hero

The Edge of Empire

NOTE: This chapter was written before the imposition of a National Lockdown in England.

Tom was headed north, towards the edge of the world. He had a series of things he wanted to visit in the North of England, a part of the world that is especially famous for its Roman remains. Many towns, villages, forts, and supply bases had been unearthed in the counties of Northumberland, County Durham, and Cumbria, all sitting in the shadow of Hadrian's Wall, which had marked the boundaries between the Roman Empire and Scotland, where only barbarians had lived (in the Roman view, at least). So there he was, headed north to do some sightseeing.

He also wanted to get away from something else in his life. Only a few days ago, he had been spat back into this reality from having been Sky Stinger for several months, helping to foil an evil plot to destroy all of Equestria alongside Vapour Trail. He was now suddenly back in the world he had originally called home, and at the worst of times too. It seemed a little awkward to others, and quite hard to explain to those who wouldn't understand, but at the time of being warped back to Earth, he had just become a father.

Vapour Trail had become pregnant not long after their marriage, and she had only just given birth when Tom, as Sky, had been torn from that world and thrown back home. Truth be told, he was still feeling emotional pain from the entire situation and was now heading away from the place he normally called home to get away from that.

He switched on his car radio as he headed north. He was staying in a holiday cottage in Melrose, Scotland, but owing to the current situation he wouldn't be allowed into the property until 5, as the owner had additional cleaning to do. Instead, he was going to visit some places on the way up, and first on his priority list was Vindolanda. As he fiddled with his car radio, expecting yet another report about coronavirus, he was instead rather surprised to hear an archeologist being interviewed.

"We now speak to William Fraser, head archeologist at Vindolanda," said the reporter, who belonged to BBC Radio Cumbria. "Mister Fraser, thank you for joining us."

"It's an honour," Fraser replied. "Thank you for having me on."

"Mister Fraser, please tell us about this remarkable artefact you found."

"We discovered it whilst doing excavation on the northern barracks at Vindolanda," Fraser told the reporter, clearly quite proud of what they had found. "We knew that weapons and other military equipment have previously been found in that area, including the only complete original suit of lorica segmentata in the world."

"Lorica Segmentata?"

"That's the main armour that Roman soldiers wore. This newest discovery came amongst a large pile of broken parts and pieces from pilum and other artillery weapons. I was digging through some of the dirt when my trowel suddenly hit a metal object. I began to clear the dirt aside and found a golden object within the pile."

"And what was the object?"

"It was a shield from the 4th Century AD, so towards the end of the Roman occupation of Britain, but that wasn't what was fascinating about it. The shield was perfectly preserved and incredibly strong. It had not only survived in the ground in perfect condition, but it was completely undented from our archeological work. Later on, when one of the students accidentally scraped it, there was no trace of a scratch anywhere. I would normally be hesitant to say it, but the shield appears to be indestructable."

"Fascinating," said the news reporter again. "Where is the shield now?"

"The shield has had some archological checks done on it, and is now on display in the museum in Vindolanda," Fraser replied. "It's proven to be very popular, I can tell you!"

"Thank you Mister Fraser. Well, that's all we have time for now, but I'm certain many will come to visit the museum to see the shield." The interview ended, and Tom was left thinking to himself.

"On display in the museum at Vindolanda, eh?" he thought to himself. "I'm headed there right now, so I think I'll go and check out this shield for myself." His course was set, his mind was made up. Little did he realise that this was his course with destiny.

After arriving at Vindolanda and completing the neccesary temperature checks to be allowed onto the sight, Tom donned his face mask and got his bag ready. His hand sanitiser was in his back pocket, and other supplies were on his person. He went through the main door and along the corridor to access the map room. He studied the map of the camp, and walked onto the preserved ruins to look about. Vindolanda predated the neighbouring Hadrian's Wall, but soon became a supply base for the wall's soldiers. The settlement developed greatly during its nearly 300 years of continous occupation, and many streets and walls had been unearthed to give a sense of what this settlement had once been like. Tom walked through and looked at the many notices and signs, quietly laughing at how a handful had been (poorly) translated into Latin. He then walked down the hill and into the main museum, past the recreated Roman settlement complete with the monument to the Vindolanda tablets, amongst the oldest surviving written documents in the world. Tom turned a corner to see the shield in a display cabinet. The shield was made of bronze, from the look of it, and had a curved shape to it with a ridge at the front to deflect incoming fire. The shield also had a symbol on the centre, consisting of half of a laurel wreath at the bottom, a tall star intersecting it at the centre and running to the midpoint of the shield. Two wings extended off of that.

"This looks oddly familiar," Tom said, before a bright flash of light occurred. Seconds later, the glass case containing the shield exploded, throwing glass everywhere. Tom was hurled backwards and landed on his back, the room suddenly clearing from the explosion. As the light faded from his eyes, he looked up to suddenly see the shield was bolted to his arm, and furthermore couldn't be released. As he looked on in confusion, his right hand suddenly changed into a fleshy stump, and an iron horseshoe attached itself to that. The horseshoe also garded part of the ankle, and into this the shield bolted itself. Yellow fur suddenly erupted from this arm, soon to become a foreleg, and rapidly spread all over his body, even under his clothing, which made it extremely itchy.

Tom's screams of agony were muffled by his facemask, which he was unable to get off as both his hands had mutated into hooves. His elbows snapped and rotated to form forward knees. The jointing on his former arms had now changed to legs, and the shield continued to furiously glow.

His back and spine shattered in several places, forcing him into a quadrapetal shape and forcing his legs up, before the bones healed in the new position, leaving him in the shape of a horse. His leg joints snapped and broke, ripping through his jeans and revealing yellow furred legs. Backwards jointed legs were now in their place, and his feet were forcibly compressed into hooves.

As he tried to roll onto these limbs and stand, pressure began to build in his shoulders. This was soon of lesser import, as his ears began to stretch upwards and slide up his head. His nose and mouth also began to tingle, and more bones broke and reformed as they began to slide forward, forcing his nose and mouth together into a boxy, angular muzzle, also yellow and furry. Being pulled in multiple directions at once, the straps on the face mask could take no more, and they snapped, the mask falling off and freeing his face.

His eyes grew in size, and turned blue, and his hair turned red, shortening into a neatly cropped mane as the pain in his shoulders reached its climax. Two giant, feathered wings erupted out of them, tearing giant holes in his shirt (which he quickly shook off his body). A red scarf appeared around his elongated, tall neck, and a brown strap appeared looping over his right shoulder, connected into an armoured skirt that now sat upon his rump. Speaking of that, his jeans had long since given up alongside his underwear, and a tail erupted from his ass. It was fairly short, and neatly held in place by a brown cord.

A heavy metal helmet slotted into place atop his head, complete with holes for his ears, that now stood erect like giant radar dishes awaiting a signal. A helmet crest was soon attached into place, alongside red plumage atop it.

As he finally moved off, ditching the ruined socks and tattered shoes, he turned to the signs for the exit, still breathing heavily from what had just happened.

There was a notice above the door. But he struggled to understand it. He got bits of it, but couldn't figure it out. He crashed through the door and flew upwards, before landing amongst the exhibits in the garden. There was another inscription on the temple. Tom had never been especially good at Latin, but when he looked at the inscription, he could understand it perfectly.

"What the fuck is going on?" he asked.

A woman screamed nearby, and Tom turned his head. She shouted something, but he also couldn't understand her. "Are you alright?" he called.

She instead began to run, so Tom tried to follow her, walking being incredibly hard due to the shield. His wings suddenly flared into life as he took to the air, but he was unused to flight and crashed into a tree, before falling through the branches and landing at the bottom.

A mysterious female voice was the last thing he heard before blacking out.

Author's Note

Salve, my fellow readers! This, the next entry in the Legends of Equestria series, focuses on everybody's favourite Roman pony, Flash Magnus. Per the traditions of our characters, Jimmy assigned female characters to his self insert, meaning that it was Tom's 'honour' to get the male characters.

The adventure continues tomorrow, so stay tuned!

The Dunes of Eternity

Slowly, Tom began to regain consciousness and stood up, unsteady, shaky, wobbling as he did so. "Ouch, that was a strange dream. More like a nightmare," he said to himself.

He stopped. "Hey, what's wrong with my voice?" he asked. His eyes were finally working properly, and were adjusting to the incredibly harsh and bright light before him, the sun beating down upon the sand- wait, sand? Hadn't he been in Britannia before?

Britannia? What was he saying? Britain! Something seriously weird was going on here as he brought his hand up to his neck. It proved to be a tough lift, though.

Something heavy was attached to his arm, and he couldn't move his fingers. He brought his hand up to look to it. Attached to the limb was the shield from his nightmare, but he had no hand. Instead, a hoof was there, with a metal plate attached to it- some sort of guard?

"AHH!" Tom toppled backwards, and landed on his rump on the sand, feeling something metallic attached to his rear. He saw, upon closer examination, that it was an armoured skirt of some sort, designed to protect his flank from fire. But he lacked any armour around his front or torso, which seemed somewhat counterproductive as it would make him easy to hit from the front. Presumably this was some sort of scouting armour? That would explain the lack of armour around his front or torso. Speaking of which, the shape of his legs and torso was something that explained why he couldn't stand properly, or at least stand like a human could. He also had hooves where his feet should have been, and his legs were contorted backwards, like they were broken.

A flapping noise brought two other appendages to his attention. He had wings, with yellow feathers. Not only that he had fur. Yellow fur. He saw there was a pool of water nearby, and he needed it. His helmet and armour were making him very hot, and he staggered over to it, still not used to walking on four limbs.

He pulled his helmet off, and put his head into the water to drink. Once he was done, he pulled his head out of the water and gave himself a look.

A yellow pegasus looked back. But not just any old yellow pegasus was looking back at him in the puddle of water. One of the greatest heroes of Equestria looked back.

"I- I'm Flash Magnus?!" Tom exclaimed, still in a state of shock, and he looked at the shield. "And I guess that this is Invictus. So, that settles a few questions." He pulled his helmet back on, and filled up his water bottle with water from the pool of water, and looked around him. "Sand, sand, nothing but sand. Where the Tartarus am I?"

Memories of the previous day flooded into his mind. Hearing the story on the radio, travelling north to see Vindolanda, being hit by that stupid shield, the excruciatingly painful transformation, and eventually crashing into a tree and blacking out.

"Great. If this world is a joke, clearly I'm the butt of that joke. I could be lost out here, and I've no idea where anything is."

Suddenly, a loud noise caught his attention, and he looked over to his left. Trotting through the sand were a pair of ponies in loose fitting garments fitting of the heat, and headdresses, presumably for the same purpose. This filled his heart with hope. If they were hear, there must be a settlement nearby. And that meant he could get help and get out of this blistering heat!

Flash grabbed his shield and ran over. "Hey! HEY! Where am I?"

The two ponies looked over to him for a moment, but shrugged and then just continued on their way.

"I just asked you a question! Where am I?"

But the ponies ignored him and continued on their way.

"Damnit!" Flash growled, as he looked about, suddenly spotting something shimmering in the distance. It looked like a town of some sort, and that may have some clues as to where this even was in the world. His equipment stowed, he took to the air, wobbling slightly as he wasn't used to flying yet.

Flash Magnus roared through the skies, quickly gaining altitude as he whizzed through the air. He tried his hardest to focus and keep an eye on what was going on, given that his survival depended on it. But the intense heat and the weight of his equipment was starting to slow him down. The helmet was especially hot, and the interior was starting to get clogged with his sweat, liquid rolling down the sides of the helmet as he flew along.

"Where's that town?" he asked, the sand stretching out before him for miles. There were a few structures in the viscinity of where he was flying, but they didn't seem to be occupied. There was a building with many columns that looked like some sort of temple, and an obelisk covered with strange symbols that he didn't understand, but apart from that there wasn't much of interest. As he continued his air patrol, he spotted what he seemed to be looking for.

Out in the desert, there was a large column on the move, with massed chariots riding over the dunes. Ponies were pulling the chariots, with ponies riding atop them and supplies attached to the tops and sides. It appeared as though some force was on the move in the sector.

Flash had no idea how he knew this, but he realised that he could potentially get help. So, seeing the column, he flew towards it and dived. As he closed in, he suddenly saw them starting to shout. Again, he had no idea what they were saying, but he touched down and began to approach.

He only managed to say a few words before suddenly a net was fired his way and crashed into him, knocking him onto the ground and causing him to roll until he landed completely still on the floor.

As he tried to look about, his body currently locked in an agonising ball shape, he heard shouting and many voices closing in, and suddenly he was grabbed and thrown onto one of the chariots. As the column moved off again, the sands were thrown up again, and Flash was forced to close his eyes as he didn't want to get sand in them, and he couldn't reach for his visor either, as his limbs were all in a tangled mess. Amidst all the confusion and heat, he blacked out.

As Flash Magnus slowly regained his consciousness for the second time that day, he could hear loud voices shouting and conveying strange messages in that blasted language. He finally was aware enough to figure out where he was, and it was then he realised he was in some sort of holding cell for prisoners (as opposed to holding cells for bread). He called out. "Hey! Where is anybody?"

One of the guards, who wore a helmet with a crestpiece shaped like a jackal head, banged on his door and shouted at him again.

"I can't understand you," Flash said. "Do you speak Latin?" He suddenly covered his mouth. What had he just said? He spoke English! He'd always spoken English. Latin was a language he was very weak at, so why would he be speaking it?

The guard looked at him in confusion and tilted his head, before speaking again. Something harsh and angry. Flash slumped back in his cell and put his face in his hooves. He had been thrown into this against his will, was trapped Faust knows where, and had been torn from his equipment and armour. He could see his face clearly in the mirror, and his red mane, which was cropped very short and very neat, as per Legion requirements.

They hadn't even left Invictus, which was now taken from him. But why had those ponies been so hostile towards him? Flash tried to figure it out. Was it because of his armour? Because of the language he spoke? He had already established that these ponies couldn't understand a word that he said. And likewise, he couldn't understand a word that they said to him. It was the ultimate cycle, a Catch 22 if you will; he couldn't understand them, they couldn't understand him, so he couldn't get out or even have any chance of getting out.

Pricking up his ears, he suddenly heard a conversation between two guards that was going on. He listened closely. They seemed to be discussing something fairly mundane judging from their body language. But as he listened closely, he fell back when there was one word that they said. One word that was very close to him. One that brought back memories of a day a long time ago.

The only word from their language that Flash Magnus actually understood.

Somnambula.

The Might of the Empire

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

Several years ago, Somnambulus sector...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Sorry about all that," the officer said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Author's Note

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

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

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

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

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

The Old Flame

The sun was starting to set in the sky over the sand dunes, and with it the sky was starting to change in colour, from its previous blue with no clouds in the sky to quite a pleasant orange that was starting to shift towards a pink or purple shade as the sun descended.

Flash certainly thought that the sunlight looked impressive, but that wasn't the focus of his day. Indeed, he needed to find somepony, and doing that was not going to be easy.

"Sand, sand, and more sand," he complained, as he flew along. The wind was starting to pick up in places, blowing sand particles around and exposing a wadi to direct view, the water having ceased to flow within it many years ago. Or so he thought. "Who would choose to live in this sort of place anyway?"

He certainly missed the vineyards of his native Cloudsdale, and the rolling hills too. As he whizzed through the air, he could see other things in the distance. There was a strange cluster of tall things that he could see as he flew closer, and as he closed in he could see the ruins of a town that had long since fallen into decay, the buildings full of even more sand and starting to crumble.

He ignored it and went on his way. The tall objects rapidly turned out to be obelisks, and he weaved in and out of them to see if he could dodge them. The obelisks seemed to be set up like an obstacle course, and he smiled as he dodged in and out of them with minimal effort. He still had it, after all, and he dived towards the desert sand and suddenly climbed back up again, his commanding position in the sky once more in place. As he flew over, he then saw more of the obelisks, and then a line of tall, triangular structures, positioned in exact alignment with each other to the most exact of precision. You had to hand it to the Neighhiptians. Even if their military proved to be complete pushover (seriously, who uses a sword to slash these days?), they knew how to build things to last.

That landmark told him exactly where he was. This was the Valley of the Five Kings, a network of pyramids built as the tombs and final resting places of the Neighhiptian Pharoahs, eternal reminders to those who lived nearby and throughout the land of their legacy and that they still, in a sense, lived there. The Pharoahs had stopped using pyramids a while back, instead preferring to be buried in underground tombs some miles away, but enough of that. Flash now knew where he was supposed to go. Based on what the guards had told him, his contact had been seen not far from here, so he changed his course.

The Pyramids were aligned in a north to south alignment, so it made sense to follow them along the course of the river. Flash whizzed past the base of the first and climbed rapidly into the air, before pulling up even higher, turning over, and executing a perfect elliptical loop before diving back towards the ground. He had always loved the exhileration of diving toward the ground from high up, the speed and wind resistance an amazing sensation as the ground rushed up to meet him. Of course, when one is diving towards the ground, you must remember to pull up or else the results will be extremely messy, so he pulled up just in time, his stomach only just missing the ground, and flew onwards, a grin on his face. That never got old. As he whizzed past, he dodged through the air, whizzing around the top of the next pyramid, flying up the base of the next one up to the top, and then around the side and circling around the next. His next trick would be his best. He climbed as high as he could, his heavy armour and equipment weighing him down, and once he was as high as he could get, he rolled back, and dived.

The weight of his equipment pulled him downwards at incredible speed, the earth rushing towards him faster and faster until he pulled out of the dive and looked for a place to land.

"Somebody made an entrance," said a familiar voice. Flash looked up to see Somnambula sitting on a nearby pyramid entrance. Presumably Neighhiptians did that for fun, or something.

Flash Magnus' heart dropped at seeing his beloved again. With a quick jump, he took to the air and landed alongside her, gently sitting back, leaning on the wall of the pyramid and sighing. "You know me. Occupational hazard."

"I've missed you, you know?" Somanbula told him, joining him. "It's been such a long time since we last saw one another, and there's a lot to talk about, I imagine."

"I've been pretty busy," Flash admitted, pulling off his helmet and disconnecting the armour around his rear. "It's nice to get this off my head once in a while. It gets hot under all this armour."

"I can imagine," Somnambula said. "Would you believe me if I told you a Sphynx came through this part of the world?"

"Really?" Flash asked, perking up his ears. "I've always wanted to see one, so that must have been interesting."

"It was, and a little frightening." Suddenly, she said something that Flash didn't understand.

"Sorry? I didn't catch that."

Somnambula reached for her necklace and detached a piece of Glowpaz from her necklace before handing it to Flash. Well, not hand in the conventional sense since she lacked hands, but you know what I mean. Once Flash had it on him, he found he could understand her with no difficulty.

"Miraculous thing, Glowpaz," Somnambula continued. "Amongst its other properties, it allows the wearer to understand what another user is saying as it translates their speech."

"How very handy," Flash admitted. "As you were saying?"

"Ah, yes. I found myself near that pyramid. See that isolated one in the distance? Yes. These strange metal objects had landed, and the ape things nearby were in another set of metal machines. Then the Sphynx came, and there was a great battle between myself, the apes, and the Sphynx and its many hordes of undead creatures."

Flash nodded. "Just wait until Rockhoof hears that one. I'd love to hear what embellishments he'd make!"

"And how about you?" Somnambula asked. "What have you been up to, eh?"

"See this shield?" Flash said, pointing to his stack of equipment. "I was given that to help draw out and fight off a group of dragons in the Dragonlands warzone. My holding action allowed another unit to break out members of the 3rd Legion and allow us all to escape."

"What bravery," Somnambula said, as they watched the sun start to dip below the horizon.

Flash jumped up. "Oh horseshoes! Praetor Ironhead said I needed to be back to camp before sundown! If I'm back late I'll be in the slammer for sure!"

"After such little time?" Somnambula. "Never fear, Flash. I shall come back with you. There is not much out here to entertain me anyway."

"Thanks," Flash said. In that moment, the pair kissed for the first time in many years. The truth was, Flash had been harbouring feelings for her for a while, and told her before he was redeployed to the dragonlands. She had returned those feelings in kind, and it was the hope of seeing her again that drove him to his acts of bravery. He was very, very relieved to learn that she hadn't forgotten him, and indeed their love was as strong as ever. "We'll need to set off now if we're going to get there before sundown."

"At least the scenery is interesting," Somnambula told him as they took to the skies. "Be glad you are not allocated to the Griffish Isles. I overheard some Legionaries complaining that those islands consist of nothing but mud and rain."

"I heard the same," Flash laughed. "One of the forts out there is called Mediobogdum. If that isn't an indication of a place, I don't know what is." It's probably worth mentioning that he had pulled all of his armour back on by this point. It would have been remiss to leave it behind, especially Invictus.

As they flew through the late evening sky, with the Temples of this land beautifully lit, Flash suddenly saw something odd. Down below them, just visible over one of the dunes, there was a large column of dust and smoke, and sand being thrown up into the air below them. Flash indicated this to Somnambula.

"That's odd," he said. "We haven't seen those around here before."

"We should follow," she said, and both of them turned towards the trail of dust. As they moved in at the back, they looked closer and suddenly saw the markings on one of the trucks.

Project 722.

Author's Note

Somnambula is from, and references the events of, this story;

TLegends of Equestria: The Sands of Time

I don't Sphynx it's very funny!

JimmyHook19 · 3.7k words · 41 21 · 1.5k views

Now before any of you reading say 'you spelt sphinx wrong!', in British English the word is spelt with a 'Y'.

The Machinations of the Enemy

Flash and Somnambula followed the smoke trails at a relatively safe distance, keen not to draw attention to themselves should the enemy be made aware of two pegasi flying behind a convoy of vehicles. And so, they flew at a safe distance, following this strange convoy as it rolled through the desert. The formation, from what Flash could see, consisted primarily of smaller armoured vehicles protecting several larger trucks, each of which had blacked out cab windows and bodies. The trailers were also completely blacked out. It was clear to anypony observing that the operators of this convoy did not want anypony to find out what was in the trailers. The vehicles continue to plough through the sand and dust as quickly as they could, continuing to drive for approximately 10 minutes until they suddenly reached a large compound, at the centre of which was a massive pyramid. Surrounding the pyramid was a maze and network of auxiliary buildings, weapon platforms, and large tents. Watchtowers and searchlights surrounded the entire complex of buildings, keeping an eye on anything that was happening. As if that wasn't enough security, the base was surrounded by bunkers filled to the brim with machine guns and missile launchers. The vehicles pulled up at the gate and stopped. A soldier, clad from head to toe in thick armour and wearing a helmet and goggles, such that his face was completely obscured, held out a scanner and the driver of the lead truck scanned it. The gates slid open, and the vehicles drove into the complex, pulling up in amidst the maze of buildings and structures.

Flash flew closer, and focused his hearing as best he could, to hear what was going on. The soldiers were getting out of their vehicles and walking around to the trucks, idly engaging in conversation (conversation which, admittedly, Flash couldn't understand). The doors of the trucks were opened, and what emerged shocked Flash.

People. Humans. These trailers were transporting humans! That seemed like an oddly dark thing to do. The humans were lined up in front of a group of individuals, who all looked somewhat threatening.

One of them then began barking orders to the others. Several more soldiers formed up on either side of the lines of people, who were now being focused into lines of five. How many were there lined up? 50? A hundred? Flash couldn't tell exactly from the distance, but he thought it was a very large number, based on the lines.

The one who had spoken earlier began to speak again. Flash assumed this was their leader, based on his rank markings, although his equipment was of identical grade to that of the others, at least in appearance. He spoke for a while, in words that sounded quite harsh and aggressive, before indicating to one of his subordinates.

The subordinate saluted, and marched over to the control panel nearby, before throwing the switch down. Before them, a great door on the front of the pyramid began to open and more of those soldiers marched out, in perfect step.

"They sure keep this place well guarded," Flash muttered to himself, as the soldiers formed up alongside the people who had been brought in. One of them began barking loudly, and based on the movements of the other soldiers and the people inbetween them, it was some form of marching command, similar to the ones the Legion used. As the ominous light opened up from within the giant pyramid, the soldiers and the people vanished into its all consuming power, and once they were all inside and out of sight, the door was closed once more, and the place fell silent. With that, most of the soldiers on the base retreated indoors to the buildings on the site, presumably not wanting to be out in the sand and cold for any longer than they had to be.

"What are they up to?" Flash asked himself. "That's a lot of security for a place of that size. And what's in that pyramid? They sure don't want ponies to find out, that's sure."

"Flash?" Somnambula asked. "This place seems very dangerous, and I think we should head back towards the camp. Your friends are probably worried."

"You're right," Flash said. "Let's go."

"I don't think the Emperor will be visiting now, after what we've seen," Flash thought to himself, as they flew away from the pyramid and out into the wilds. "The Legion will probably be put on full alert after this."

When Somnambula and Flash Magnus returned to the base camp of the 3rd Legion, they could hear a lot of noise and sound, with playing of trumpets and drums. As the pair touched down to try and find out what was happening, they saw huge numbers of troops out on parade, with a parade of troops entirely in golden armour, polished to absolute perfection.

"This is the worst possible day to be late back!" Flash said to himself.

"Why is that?" Somnambula asked.

"That's the First Legion! The Emperor's own!" He moved into position as quietly as he could, aware his armour was rather grubby and could do with a clean, but there was no time. The 1st Legion finished their manuevres and formed a perfect corridor, as the elite guard of the Empire marched down the centre.

These warriors wore much heavier armour than most Legionaries, each bearing the text Ultimum in Principibus (the final argument of kings) on their greaves. In the centre was Emperor Hurricane himself. A stallion with red fur and a black mane and tail, he had dull bronze eyes and wore a silver helmet and body armour, which extended around his front, sides, and back, both parts lined with golden trim. The Emperor and his guard took their positions at the front of the parade ground, in front of the Principia, as Praetor Ironhead stepped forward and saluted.

"My lord," he said. "3rd Legion, ready for inspection, sir."

"Proceed," Hurricane replied.

Ironhead turned around. His eyes scanned along the entire parade, seeing Legionaries clad in immaculately clean armour and carrying perfectly maintained equipment. Then suddenly Flash, with his slightly messy kit, caught his eye. "LEGION!" he bellowed. The troops braced for the order. "LEGION... ATEEEEN- SHUN!"

With perfect synchronisation, every Legionary out on the field came to the shun position.

"LEGION, AT EASE!"

With one movement, the entire Legion returned to the ease position.

"1ST COHORT, ATEEEEN- SHUN!"

It seemed as though the Emperor would inspect this unit first, but suddenly Tribuna Iron Wing pulled Flash off parade and to one side. "What is the meaning of this?" he hissed. "You look like a dragon took a shit on you!"

"Tribuna, I can explain," Flash faltered.

"There had better be good explanation for this, or you'll be carrying boulders for a week."

"I was out off duty when I spotted a strange installation in the Valley of the Five Kings, and followed a convoy there. There were humans there, and they seemed to be guarding something valuable. The place was armed to the teeth!"

"Nice try, but it'll take more than that to get you off punishment duty," the Tribuna replied.

"Wait! I was there, and can prove what he says is true," said a voice, and Somnambula in an instant landed next to him. "This Glowpaz retains a record of everything that it sees, and will prove his word true."

"Get out of here, Neighiptian," Iron Wing sneered. "I can smell the sand on you savages from a mile off."

Somnambula looked visibly offended. "The only savages I see here are you," she said. "You took our land purely for natural resources. Nothing more savage than plundering a land's resources and then ruling over its people."

"Inciting rebellion, are we?" Iron Wing replied. "We'll soon deal with that."

"What's going on over there?" asked Praetor Ironhead.

"Disciplining a recruit for slacking off," Iron Wing replied.

Tired of all this, Somnambula grabbed Flash Magnus' hoof and flew over to the centre of the parade, right in front of Emperor Hurricane, who looked stunned to see their new visitor.

Somnambula bowed before the Emperor. "On behalf of Pharoah Hisan I speak. This land is seeing a grave threat that threatens both you and us. The humans are working on something deep in the desert."

The Emperor motioned to his guards. "Let her speak," he said. "And is this Flash Magnus?"

"Yes, my lord," Flash Magnus replied, bowing so heavily his helmet was scraping the floor.

He gave another order to the guards. "This matter is more important than a parade or an inspection," he said. "We must return to the Principia immediately. You two, come with me."

As the formation moved off, the rest of the Legion looked on in astonishment. The 1st Legion, however, moved to close off the Emperor from all others, forming a barrier outside the Principia.

Hurricane looked at Somnambula and Flash Magnus. "Fill me in," he said. "Every detail."

Author's Note

The soldiers of Project 722 in visual style and temprament are inspired by Helghast soldiers from the Killzone series of video games.

Emperor Hurricane is based on this image.

The Fury of the Emperor

He gave another order to the guards. "This matter is more important than a parade or an inspection," he said. "We must return to the Principia immediately. You two, come with me."

As the formation moved off, the rest of the Legion looked on in astonishment. The 1st Legion, however, moved to close off the Emperor from all others, forming a barrier outside the Principia.

Hurricane looked at Somnambula and Flash Magnus. "Fill me in," he said. "Every detail."

Somnambula nodded, and lit up her Glowpaz necklace. One interesting property that Glowpaz, apart from its power to instantly translate what another individual holding it is saying, is it has the power to capture and store images, things that the wearer has recently seen and done. It was these images that suddenly appeared, projected onto one of the walls of the Principia.

"Flash Magnus and I were returning from the Valley of the Five Kings when we sighted this formation of vehicles on the move nearby. We trailed them for a while."

The playback now showed the pair tailing the convoy, and it went on for several minutes. "I didn't realise you experienced your memories in the 3rd person," Flash joked.

"We also can't wait here all day," Hurricane said, visibly annoyed at how long this sequence was playing out. "Is there any way of speeding the playback up?"

Somnambula focused, and the footage suddenly accelerated until the point the convoy reached the gates.

"Resume normal playback here," Hurricane ordered. "This looks important."

The playback returned to normal speed. They all watched the scene play out before them, as the trucks were unloaded by the soldiers, the guards moving the humans to the centre of the building, and the officer harshly barking orders. Then the pyramid opening, the humans being processed inside, and the door of the pyramid closing again. Finally, the soldiers retreated indoors and the playback ended.

Two servants appeared with trays. One tray had grapes on it, and the other had white mice on it.

Seeing Somnambula's confusion, Hurricane nodded. "The mice are made of white chocolate. We stopped eating real mice a long time ago."

The trays were set down, and the servants retreated. Hurricane looked concerned. "It would appear this is one of the 'treatment centres' that the collegium speculatores have informed us about," he said. "I have heard many rumours about these centres, and none of them are good."

"Why is that, sir?" Flash asked. He didn't like where this is going.

Hurricane looked deadly serious. "I am about to share some highly classified information with you two. Normally, I would not impart this to a non-Imperial, but as Somnambula is close to the Pharoah I will make an exception for her just this once." He glanced over to ensure the servants had exited, and once the was sure, he resumed speaking. "Those camps are very odd. They are often built in highly secluded locations in the middle of nowhere, and are extremely heavily defended. If they were medical establishments, why would they be in such places?"

"Clearly there is something secret there," Somnambula observed.

"Indeed," Hurricane replied. "Not only that, those who are taken to those facilities never come back. There are rising numbers of 'missing persons' cases all across the world, and our allies have informed us these numbers are very high." He paused. "If the humans are doing what I think they are doing, then my respect for them has fallen to a new low."

"What should we do, sir?" Flash asked. "Is there any way of finding out what is inside the pyramid and the compound?"

"There is," Hurricane replied. He turned to an aide, who had entered the room upon being beckoned to enter. "Get me Praetor Ironhead. We need to discuss strategy, for a great battle approaches."

He looked back to the others. "We shall attack their camp and uncover the secrets for ourselves. They have built themselves into highly fortified locations based on your captures, and we will need all of the ground intel we can get."

"I know that place like the back of my wings," Somnambula said. "I request permission to join the attack."

"Permission granted," Hurricane replied. "In addition, I shall call upon the Pharoah's forces for assistance. They know the area better than we do, and not only that the humans are probably armed to the teeth. We shall take the fight to them and uncover the secrets of Project 722... one way, or another way."

The next morning, the 3rd Legion was awoken and taken to the parade ground, marshalling before the Principia in glorious parade. Their armour shone, their weapons in perfect order. Behind them, a great banner had been unfurled, showing a plan of a structure or base of some kind.

"Listen up!" Ironhead called. "We're splitting off into Cohorts for this operation. The above facility belongs to the human organisation known as Project 722, and we need to break into the facility and find out what they're up to."

He indicated to various points on the map. "We know they have heavy defences in all directions, providing a 360 degree arc of fire. As a result, we are going to have to attack them from all sides at once. 1st and 2nd cohorts will assault from the North to draw fire from the enemy anti air defences. 3rd cohort will attack from the northeast to achieve a similar effect. 4th, 5th, and 6th cohorts will engage from the east and west at once at low altitude. Fly as close to the ground as you can as this will scramble the guns' tracking systems. Fly as slowly as you can; they can't track below a certain speed. 7th and 8th will assault generator positions to knock out power systems on the ground. This will shut down the gates and defensive guns, allowing 9th and 10th to attack the pyramid directly and mop up any resistance. Now, the Emperor himself wishes to address you."

Ironhead stepped to one side, as Hurricane took the podium, cleared his throat, and began to speak. "Warriors of the third legion," he began, "mighty Legionaries. For centuries, Cloudsdale stood a broken state, pushed over and fought over by Griffon warlords and Hippogriff despots. But we reclaimed our home, and with your might we rebuilt a mighty nation. My ancestor, the great Emperor Tornado, asked you, the Legionaries, for time. And you granted it. You are the strength of the wings of the Cloudsdale Empire, and the holders of our hopes and dreams! We are now the most powerful entity in existence, the largest empire that has ever been seen! We have carved out a world that knows the light and sophistication of Cloudsdale, and we are known and feared across the world! In the time that you, brave defenders of the Cloudsdale dream, have granted us, we have forged a new world and found paradise."

He paused. "But now, my sons and daughters, we face an even graver threat. The humans, who would seek to dominate and oppress all that they do not understand, engage in secret and bizarre acts in strange underground fortresses that spell only doom for us should they succeed. The entire world must act as one if we are to survive. Once more, we find ourselves fighting for freedom. Not from the tyranny of our enemies. Not from the threat of invaders, but for the freedom to simply exist. I know that what I ask of you is not easy, but you have the strength and the courage to carry the day. Our enemies will hear our names, and tremble! Warriors of the Third Legion, this will be your finest hour! NOW IS YOUR TIME! THIS IS YOUR MOMENT! STAND TOGETHER, AND SHOW OUR ENEMIES THAT WE WILL NEVER BE COWED! WE WILL NEVER BACK DOWN! AND WE WILL NOT VANISH FROM THIS WORLD!"

The soldiers cheered as Hurricane ended his speech, and began to chant long and loud. "LONG LIVE THE EMPIRE! LONG LIVE EMPEROR HURRICANE!"

This went on for several minutes, until Hurricane indicated for them to stop. "Go forth, my sons and daughters," he said. "Go and bring us victory."

The pegasi, with buzzing of wings and thundering of hooves, took to the sky on masse. It was an incredible sight and sound to witness, and those who did not know what they were hearing would have mistaken it for helicopters taking off from an airbase. The pegasi formed up in mid air, moving to their respective positions, and roared into the rising sun of a new day.

Flash checked over his equipment. All of it was ready for use. As he was part of the 3rd Cohort, which was blocking enemy fire to let other units through, he expected Invictus would be getting very heavy use. Then again, this shield had successfully withstood the flames of dragons. Surely it could withstand whatever the humans could throw at them, right?

Author's Note

Another influence from Killzone, Emperor Hurricane's speech is modelled on a mix of both Scolar Visari's speech from the first Killzone and the Independence Day speech.

The Evil of the Enemy

The Captain had expected it to be a fairly average day at Fort 52.

Project 722 had set this facility up in the early days of its existence as part of its extensive research program into an entity that the Army had encountered in 2019 called 'Subject X'. Whilst various accounts on the internet had existed of this mysterious being, often referred to as 'Jimmy', there had long been assumptions that these stories were the products of people with overactive imaginations and far too much spare time available to them. It was only after an encounter with a pegasus and a creature from mythology that had convinced the Government otherwise.

As a result, the former Defence Secretary James Mattis had authorised the creation of Project 722 in February 2019, shortly before his resignation. Initially, they were created to investigate Subject X and the Pyramid Incident, but they soon were forced to expand the scope of their operation after more sightings were confirmed across the world. Not only of Subject X, but of five others, dubbed 'Y', 'Z', 'A', 'B', and 'C'. The tracking of a massive energy blast off the coast of North Carolina and the discovery of an interdimensional portal between Earth and Equestria by the USS Porter had only provided more evidence for Project 722 to work with. As a result, they accelerated their work and gained a new commanding officer, attached to the operation after the discovery that a blue horse had been seen in Louisiana.

Colonel Peterson had previously been attached to NORAD, but his decades of military experience meant that he was perfectly suited to run the daily operations of Project 722. To this end, there had been another individual who was running proceedings from even higher up.

The Captain had sometimes received his transmissions. He was only referred to on the radio as 'The Benefactor', and never showed his face, instead communicating via a mostly blank screen with the text AUDIO ONLY on it. He seemed to be running the show, and most of them assumed he was a government official, and that 'The Benefactor' was merely some sort of callsign for the person.

At least, they assumed it to be a person. Still, it was a fairly quiet morning at first in the middle of the Mojave Desert. The radio seemed to be pretty quiet, and there was nothing going on nearby. Although he had been told of these beings called 'The Pillars' by his superiors, the Captain had only ever seen one of them in the area. They went by the name of Somnambula, for some reason. What a stupid name. Increasing numbers of ponies had been popping up in various places and they had no idea why, but it wasn't considered to be a source of much concern. They had other things to worry about, such as keeping the base secure.

Which was why putting it here in the middle of the desert seemed so sensible. It was secluded and in the middle of nowhere, so nobody would ever think to look for it, right? Besides, the base was incredibly well fortified. Project 722 had superior armament and armour to the conventional military, as they had the capacity to operate and test weaponry far beyond what the military had available. And much of it was developed from studying enemy artefacts and Equestrian technology.

"Run a sweep, all Radar screens and towers," he ordered.

"Aye, sir," one of the technical officers replied, and started pushing some switches. The screens buzzed into life and started scanning the area for incoming objects. There was nothing. No real surprise. Airliners had been rerouted out of the area, and any unauthorised traffic was simply shot down or intercepted.

"Sir!" called another voice. "Objects have begun to materialise from various directions. Approaching at attack speed."

"How many?" the Captain asked.

"At least 1,000 blips approaching. Wait, make that 2,000. Coming from the north. Correction; make that 3,000; 2,000 from the north and 1,000 from the northeast."

"We've got hot and heavy incoming from the east and west!" called another. "At least 3,000 airborne hostiles, no IFF ping."

"Unauthorised objects approaching our airspace!" called yet another. "6,000 confirmed bogies."

The Captain nodded. This was the Legion that had camped in the local area. The question of how they knew where the base was could be answered later. Right now, they had some flies to swat.

"Prepare all anti aircraft batteries and SAM towers."

"Towers locked and loaded."

"FIRE!"

Flash Magnus flew in from the Northeast alongside the rest of the 3rd Cohort. It was not an easy duty, basically playing as ducks, for the enemy to shoot at, but it was a very important duty. The hope was that all the fire on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Cohorts would leave the enemy unable to detect 4th and 5th, as well as the others, who would fly in and knock out critical structures and enemy positions allowing them to roll into the pyramid and find out what was going on inside.

He glanced over to his Sergeant, who glanced back. "Good luck," he said. "We'll need that shield of yours to hold off much of the enemy fire."

"Understood," Flash replied, nodding. They fully anticipated heavy enemy fire, and they knew that it would come.

The sergeant motioned with his left hoof. "DIVE! DIVE! DIVE!"

At that moment, each pony rolled into the dive, each forming a column on top of the other. This ripple effect was repeating on masse across the entire assault formation, until a cloud of pegasi descended toward the enemy base.

It was only then they realised this was precisely what the enemy wanted them to do. In that moment, the sky was abruptly lit up with flak fire, with large shells and smaller bullets flying through the air as they dived.

"KEEP GOING! THEY CAN'T HIT ALL OF US!"

Flash soon doubted the accuracy of that statement as one of the pegasi next to him was blown apart by a hail of shells, his body exploding in a cloud of gore. The sky was soon black with smoke from the relentless fire of the enemy guns, the explosions lighting up the sky. Flash brought his shield up and only just managed to block heavy fire from a flak gun, the heavy shells smashing into Invictus, but being unable to break the mighty shield. The others were not so lucky. All over the place, Legionaries were dropping like flies, the intensity of the gunfire never ceasing.

Flash continued his dive, bodies falling all over and around him, with heavy firepower continuing to light up the sky. As he cleared the smoke cloud, he suddenly saw there was another set of weapons they hadn't accounted for.

Below them, stationed in the compound, were several Surface to Air Missile batteries. He suddenly saw two soldiers shout, and the missile launchers suddenly started firing through the cloud and above.

Soldiers on the towers were firing rifles and machine guns up into the air, seemingly not needing to aim as they could see the skies were jammed full of pegasi in such tight formation they couldn't maneuvre properly.

"BREAK UP THE FORMATIONS!" he shouted. "WE'RE TOO CLOSE TOGETHER!"

His attention was drawn back to the battle when a hail of bullets slammed into his shield. He turned to see two soldiers standing there. He threw his javelin at one, stalling them if nothing else, before flying at the other and bucking him in the face as hard as he could. Said soldier plummeted to the ground, unmoving. Flash tried to get moving again, but the SAM batteries suddenly had a lock on him again, and the first fired off a missile at him. He blocked it successfully, but the force of the explosion through him backwards and out of control. He flew backwards through the air and back into the smoke cloud, the explosions and smoke all around him as bullets whistled all around.

He attempted to fly back in, but the smoke left him unable to navigate properly. Suddenly, he heard cries for help below.

He flew in the direction, to see another Legionary in the air. "HELP!" he shouted. "WE'RE TRA-"

He never finished his sentence. A bullet punched clean through his helmet, ending his life in that instant. On the ground, soldiers with flamethrowers and fuel tanks on their backs were setting Pegasi who had landed and were trying to fight in ground formation ablaze. Their screams as they were consumed by flames were terrifying, but what seemed to be more shocking were the soldiers carrying the flamethrowers seemed to be laughing and shouting insults.

Flash saw another missile incoming as the machine and flak guns continued to reap a deadly toll on the enemy. He raised his shield again, and was thrown back through the cloud and outside the field of engagement. Black smoke surrounded the area, but it was all too clear what was going on.

They had flown straight into a massacre.

Author's Note

This song inspired this particular chapter.

The Fall of the Legion

It was an absolute, undeniable disaster.

The sky was black with smoke, as Praetor Ironhead could clearly see from the distance he was at. Relentless gunfire and explosions rocked the enemy base as their guns fired relentlessly, and pegasi were dropping the sky like flies. Had he not known better, he would have concluded the enemy had fell sorcery on their side. But that was not the case, as the humans lacked any magic of their own, and thus it couldn't be that that was the case.

He indicated to one of his aides. "Casualty reports?"

"First casualty reports are coming in now," the aide replied, visibly nervous. "1st cohort has suffered 50% losses in the air from enemy fire, and are unable to continue their attack. 2nd cohort has lost 30% of their- hold on- 32% of their forces, and are requesting to pull back. 3rd cohort is the most badly hit, however. They've suffered 75% casualties and are already bailing out."

Ironhead nodded. "Send in 4th, 5th, and 6th. We need them to draw fire whilst 1st, 2nd, and 3rd pull back from the lines."

"Understood sir. What of the others?"

"Have them on standby, and prepare to launch their part of the attack. They know their orders and will carry them out."

"Yes sir. 1st Cohort, do you read me, Tribuna Firehoof?"

"Loud and clear, over."

"Pull back. Other units will cover your retreat."

"Copy that, understood. Out."

"2nd Cohort, are you receiving me, Tribuna Goldhammer?"

"Five by five, over."

Pull back to safety, other units are moving in to cover the fallback."

"I'm not arguing with you on that. Pulling back, out."

"3rd Cohort. Retreat immediately. You are outnumbered."

"Command, we have Invictus, we can-"

"There is no point in needlessly wasting lives. Retreat as ordered for refit and rearm."

"Understood command. 3rd Cohort pulling back."

Ironhead indicated to the aide that he had fresh instructions. "Dispatch 4th and 5th from their hiding spot in the west, and tell them to fly at the enemy lines. Low and slow; the enemy flak guns won't be able to get a lock at that speed or altitude."

"Understood sir. 4th and 5th Cohort, you are cleared to commence your attack."

"Roger that, moving in now. Bastards won't know what hit 'em."

Ironhead raised his hoof once more. "Dispatch 6th to attack from the east. Maximum numbers, same spread and low flight patterns."

"Transmitting instructions now. 6th Cohort, launch your attack immediately."

"Moving out, over!"

The aide glanced away from his communication device. "All Cohorts have received orders and are on the move. What next, sir?"

Ironhead looked at the carnage. "I can only hope the low and slow attack will cause them to waste ammunition trying to hit them. Or else I have no idea if anything will work."

"Whose idea was it to launch an attack like this?" Flash thought to himself, as he began to fly away from the carnage. The heavy guns had decimated their attack, and those who hadn't been killed outright by the onslaught of fire had been wounded or left unable to fly straight. As he continued to move as best he could, having taken a few hits himself, he suddenly heard a loud roar behind him as 4th, 5th, and 6th moved into position to launch their attack. As he looked down, he saw the walls of the base on the eastern side open up. Several machine guns popped out of the walls, and there were soldiers manning them. In seconds, the space before the guns was awash with bullets as the soldiers opened fire, their firepower lethal. It became apparent that ordering the pegasi to fly slowly had been a terrible mistake.

The Captain could scarcely believe what he was seeing. Pegasi flying slowly in close formation? This simply beggared belief. The bases' machine guns were effortlessly tearing them up, the number of blips on the screen gradually decreasing. Although the blips began to fly faster towards them, it wasn't enough to evade the vast walls of machine gun fire.

"Sir, the enemy are attacking in bigger numbers from the west. The guns are struggling to cope with the weight of hostile troops and they've burned through 10% of their ammunition."

The Captain nodded. "Understood. Get the Scorpions into the air, full ammunition load. Rotating machine guns and napalm missiles."

"Sir, aren't napalm missiles prohibited?"

"The Geneva Convention only prohibits the use of napalm against humans. And pegasi aren't human."

Flash continued to pull back with the rest of the 3rd when suddenly he saw machines begin to fly upwards into the air. They had spinning blades mounted to the sides of their frames, and each had sleek, streamlined cockpits with twin prongs mounted to the back of a tail designed to provide structural support and help keep the craft stable. Under their wings were mounted many, many racks of missiles and several batteries of machine guns were attached to the bodies and frames. These were some form of human attack craft, and they soon buzzed over the assault lines of the 4th and 5th Cohort, their machine guns blazing and cutting down rows of pegasi where they flew.

But this wasn't the worst act that they carried out that day. There was a signal from one of the gunships, and several began to fire missiles into the packed crowds. They exploded upon impact, but these weren't the usual explosive core missiles. Each missile instead let loose a black liquid that almost immediately burst into flames. The land and sky were suddenly turned red by the explosions and flames that roared up and down the desert. Pegasi, desparate to escape from the flames and the packed formations, began to instead crash into each other and were consumed by the flames, their screams echoing through the air. It was a sound that Flash knew would haunt him for the rest of his days.

In that moment, all rationale and logic faded from his mind, all replaced by hot, burning anger. Those monsters would pay for the deaths of all of his fellow soldiers. Without so much as a thought, he let loose a battle cry and charged towards the gunships.

One of them turned around to face him and fired off one of those missiles. This proved to be a mistake. The missile collided with Invictus and exploded, flames pouring up and over Flash. However, the flames harmed him not, and he closed in on the target, tossing two explosive charges onto the wings of the machine. As he flew clear, they detonated.

The explosions failed to sever the wings, but instead damaged the firing circuits and target tracking systems. As the chopper went into an uncontrollable spin, the entire payload discharged into the ground, locking onto practically every conceivable target. Ground defences, buildings, enemy infantry, and even Flash. High explosive missiles tore apart walls and defensive buildings, napalm rockets set the very ground ablaze, and bullets tore through windows and shattered glass before the gunship hit the ground and exploded.

The other gunships wheeled around to try and cover the gaps in the defensive line, but it was too late. Flash suddenly saw another wave of pegasi approaching from the south. It was the remaining cohorts, and they were fresh and armed to the teeth. They flew over the perimeter, the weight of them two great for the compromised defence system and the damaged gunships to handle. The Legionaries continued to throw explosives to tear open walls and damage defenses, concluding with several touching down to blow the generators powering several critical base systems.

In one act of insane bravery, Flash Magnus had turned the tide of the entire battle. Seeing his actions, the surviving soldiers of Project 722 began to abandon their positions and fall back to the Pyramid, sprinting through access ports and doors in their bids to escape.

The remnents of the 3rd Legion landed within the compound and looked around. One of the Tribunae called out. "Survivors!" he shouted. "Form up on the ground. 5th through 10th Cohorts will act as a rear guard here, and keep an eye out for and stall enemy reinforcements. After that engagement, the enemy are certain to have noticed us. 3rd and 4th Cohort, I want you to investigate the pyramid directly. Somnambula will be joining you for this mission, as her knowledge of pyramids is second to none. All other units are to go on combat air patrol and keep an eye out for enemy aircraft or orbital weaponry. We have no idea what to expect out here men, so keep your eyes sharp and your ears on the swivel."

Flash nodded as Somnambula formed up next to him. "Well, the moment of truth," Flash said.

"We will discover the secrets of this pyramid, whether they willingly reveal themselves to us or not," Somnambula said grimly. "Now let us go."

As the door opened, the Legionaries grimly marched into the pyramid, and to await whatever horrors lay within.

Author's Note

The gunships are inspired by the Scorpion Gunship from Avatar, a tandem design noted for high maneuvrability and good weapon flexibility.

The Return of the Sphynx

"We will discover the secrets of this pyramid, whether they willingly reveal themselves to us or not," Somnambula said grimly. "Now let us go."

As the door opened, the Legionaries grimly marched into the pyramid, and to await whatever horrors lay within.

Flash looked to Somnambula. "I'm no expert on pyramids, but I don't think the ancient Neighiptians built them with sliding doors. Or any of these gizmos. Or any of these modern looking things."

"Project 722 have heavily modified this structure for their own purposes," Somnambula replied. "We must watch our steps and keep an eye out for traps that the enemy might have planted."

"OK, so where do we start?"

"The chambers open off of the central corridor in a symmetrical fashion as far as the central atrium. The central atrium is marked by a giant pit, below which the sarcophagus is found. More chambers open up off the corridors that can be found running off the other four exits, but I do not know if they are in use. This structure has, as I say, been extensively modified by Project 722."

"First door on our left!" called a Legionary. "Should we go in?"

Flash spoke up, ready to issue orders. "Split up, and check the two rooms."

The others nodded, and with a motion pushed the doors open. Curiously, the locks were not operational or faulty, as they got in with little difficulty. The room was set out like a storage space, with black tiling on the roof and walls, and blue tiles on the floor of the chamber. Apart from the lighting, which gave the whole thing a chilling yellow glow, the only things of note in those rooms were several crates and empty boxes, most of which were empty. The ones that were full had minute things like ammunition and a handful of body armour units in them. Flash made sure to have the locations catalogued so that the equipment could be recovered by engineers and studied at a later date.

Once the rooms were secured and guarded, with several legionaries staying behind to protect the goods, the unit continued into the pyramid. The flickering, harsh light and dark colours did little to break Flash's unease about the place, but they went onwards anyways.

Most of the other rooms were simply filled with more boxes and acted as storage or as break rooms for the troops (the break rooms were suspiciously empty, leading Flash to suspect that the soldiers were somewhere else in the structure). Another block of rooms acted as water closets and washrooms, which Somnambula theorised led to bunk rooms and rest spaces higher up in the pyramid. The buildings outside, based on their preliminary investigations, mainly seemed to serve the purpose of overspill space to allow extra equipment to be shuttled in if need be, or extra living quarters if that was what the allies of troops needed here. Apart from that, mostly sciency stuff in those buildings.

It was not long after they approached a section of corridor. This section of corridor was somehow even darker than the rest (blowing the generators must have either damaged or disabled the standard lighting, which would explain the flickering as that could be a set of backup lights). The corridors, still coloured in that ominous black and grey livery standard in these very walls, now had an even more chilling air to them, which made being in there quite scary. But not to Legionaries, as Legionaries knew no fear whatsoever.

Above them, a single notice flickered. "What does that say?" Flash asked Somnambula, as none of the Legionaries, himself included, could actually read it.

"It reads... science division offices and laboratories. No unauthorised personnel beyond this point. All individuals of Grade 4 or higher permitted only. Please report to Doctor Maulwurf for details or clearance on entering."

"That sounds ominous," said Flash. "Generally, when one is in a creepy building, strange science is taking place or illegal and shady shit is going on."

"How can it be that bad? It's just a bunch of labs," said another Legionary. "Besides, I think the Praetor would want us to search them."

Flash nodded. "Alright, open the door. But be careful. These doors could be booby trapped."

One legionary kicked the door, but it didn't move. "Locked."

Somnambula flew over, and pressed on something. With a hiss and a low beeping sound, the door began to slide open.

Flash was the first to go inside, and what he saw horrified him.

The room before them was layed out with several tables and experimentation chambers contained within the walls of the room. Many of these tables had straps on them to tie a person down, and the workbenches had several secured syringes and phials in them, all of them glowing with a strange green liquid, as well as many other colours of liquid. These vials and syringes bubbled ominously, and many machines hummed and glowed as well in that room.

But this wasn't what horrified them most. Inside the chambers, strapped down onto the tables, and inside huge storage crates that were piled up inside the room were bodies.

Human bodies.

"Faust almighty," Somnambula said quietly. "Now we know why this place was so heavily guarded. Project 722 has been experimenting on humans. But what have they been testing?"

"Secure the vials and syringes for transport," Flash ordered. Several legionaries marched to perform his order as he turned back to Somnambula. "This would explain all the people who are going missing. Project 722 is taking them here to test stuff on them."

"Sir!" called another. "We found somebody!" They roughly hauled a researcher out from the storage closet on the wall.

The researcher shouted something that Flash didn't understand. "Keep him under guard." He looked to Somnambula. "A piece of Glowpaz, if you please."

Somnambula tossed it to the researcher, who caught it. Immediately, his words became understandable. "Don't shoot!"

"Answer my questions and I won't." Flash glared at him. "What were you working on?"

"I- I was assigned to the advanced weapons program," the researcher replied, his voice and body both shaking in seeming fear. "They wanted us to test the stuff that the advance team had been researching and developing on functioning subjects to assess their capability in the field."

"What sort of things?" Flash asked.

"I don't know. I wasn't involved in what they were researching, but I can tell you what the various objects did. Some of these chemicals produce an energy sequence that block off the brain and cause the neurons to temporarily stop functioning, cutting function to the cerebral cortex. Another was a bullet of some sort that allowed this dark creature to possess somebody. It wasn't clear how this worked, but we had no choice!"

"They weren't holding a gun to your head!" Flash shouted. "You could've said no!"

"They weren't holding one to mine, but they were holding them to my family! They said that if I didn't go along with the testing or research, they would kill my wife and son!"

"Sir?" called another legionary. "There's a document here. Says something about a raven."

Flash trotted over, and took a close look. "They're covering this up as development for a Covid-19 vaccine. The sick bastards."

He looked back. "You two, make sure he doesn't get away. These sick fucks will pay for what they've done."

The two legionaries flanked the researcher and stared him down. The researcher, sensibly, chose not to move and instead stayed still in a chair.

"The rest of you, Somnambula, with me. We still have the central chamber to search."

They set off out of the room, leaving the grim scene of destruction and horror behind them as they entered the corridor and turned to the left. They marched down into the blackness, and the lighting soon stopped altogether, as the corridor seemed to stretch infinitely into the blackness ahead. In the shadow of the dark night, navigation became extremely difficult. Luckily, the magical properties of Glowpaz helped out once again, as the stone could naturally glow in the dark. The sickly green light produced by the magical rocks certainly made navigation easier as they went on their way. And the light was certainly appreciated, as for a long period the chamber was completely black and empty of light. But there wasn't a lack of nothing as they went along, and at long last they reached the central chamber.

This chamber stretched almost to the very top of the pyramid, and was filled with statues. But that wasn't the only thing in there. Inside the chamber was a massive creature that had purple fur and inner fur in a stripe that was of a lighter shade. Attached to the right foreleg was a purple amulet, and on the left a golden one. It wore an elaborate golden headdress, a gold and black collar around its neck, and golden earrings in its ears. Its bronze eyes glared down menacingly. It also had the face of a humanoid, the legs and many features of a cat, and a purple tail that swished about.

And it was very angry.

Author's Note

You read that right, people. The Sphynx is back.

The Fall of a Hero

And it was very angry.

The Sphynx looked down at the soldiers there before it, and screeched at them. "Miss me?" she asked, with a snort.

"How?" Somnambula asked. "I saw you die! You were no more!"

"You cannot kill that which can control life and death itself," the Sphynx replied. "I can control such things, so therefore that is of no concern to me. Besides, whereas you ungrateful ponies fail to pay me homage when all I did was protect you and keep you safe, Project 722 saw it fit to revive me. I serve them now."

"How can you serve a group of monsters like them?" Flash demanded, his voice never quavering or shifting, looking on with a determined look on his face.

"Says the Legionary with his armour and uniform," the Sphynx cruelly mocked. "Your empire swept across the world looting and killing those who got in your way. You may look like a soldier, but in reality you are nothing but thugs to do the Emperor's bidding. Project 722, on the other hand, has noble aims indeed. They don't want to destroy or conquer. They merely wish to save humanity, and push it further on its course of evolution."

"How does subjecting them to drugs achieve that?" Somnambula demanded. "You have killed thousands as part of your little pet project!"

"THEY DESERVED IT, NOT THE OTHERS!" the Sphynx bellowed, her voice angry. "But there has been quite enough talking. We shall settle this, not with words, but with the blade and the claw. This should, I hope, be a far easier fight, given you haven't got tanks or elemental powers or even the terrain to back you up. How interesting it is to fight inside the structure that I died on outside." She lunged with her claws at a group of Legionaries, most of whom dodged out of the way in time. One, however, was not so lucky, and he was squashed under her paw, leaving a bloody mess where a pegasus had once been.

Flash waved to the others. "To the skies!" he called. "She may be fast, but we can outfly him!" He took off and he and the others flew upwards into the air. Somnambula hovered in front of the Sphynx and fired off the Glowpaz necklace, trying to do what she had attempted the last time they had fought.

It had no effect whatsoever on the creature, who simply smirked. "Nice try, but you must know I have learned from that engagement. After all, the very same officer who oversaw that battle is now in command of this very program!"

Somnambula was distracted. "Who?" she demanded.

"Why, Colonel Peterson of course," the Sphynx smiled. "But the Evil One will not permit me to tell you any more." She swiped at Somnambula, who dodged and flew up as high as she could.

Meanwhile, the Legionaries continued to lead the Sphynx on a merry chase up the walls, seemingly gaining ground as they flew up, and up, and up, and to the roof of the chamber. Unfortunately, it seemed as though whomever had designed this chamber had thought of that very possibility, and there was a series of loud bangs as a series of shotguns discharged. There was such a cloud of fire that many of the Legionaries were turned into bloody pinatas and fell to the ground and into a pit filled with a green liquid. A green liquid. A green liquid.

Flash himself was injured, and felt his own blood upon his fur as he fell downwards, cartwheeling uncontrollably as he approached the floor. He tried to move his wings, but when he tried unbelievable agony ran through them, causing him to cry out. He was now unable to fly as his wingbones were broken, and he crashed onto the floor in a heap, dazed and confused.

He shakily got up, and turned to face the Sphynx, which was now facing him. She laughed. "Time to die, Flash Magnus. Your legend ends hear!"

"Come and get me, you bastard!" Flash said, his face cut and marked from the Sphynx's talons, his fur drenched in his own blood. With a warcry, he flew forward and prepared his javelin.

He never reached it, as his hind legs exploded in pain one after the other. He collapsed to the floor with a scream and was unable to move. "Gagh! Fuck!"

He suddenly heard a weapon cocking, and a group of soldiers emerged from the darkness. They belonged to Project 722, and were the ones who had retreated into the pyramid. Another group closed in from the main entrance to the chamber, and fired tranquiliser darts that immobilised Somnambula.

"What- how?" Flash gasped. As he looked on, he saw the lead soldier from the door remove his helmet and look up.

"Excellent work, Sphynx," he said. "No we have two more out of the way. The Benefactor will be very pleased with your work, I think."

"Thank you, Colonel Peterson," the Sphynx replied. "They may have uncovered the truth of what was going on, but the truth dies with them." She indicated to the corpses of Legionaries bobbing up and down in the green liquid. The green liquid. The green liquid. "As for the others, they are Pillars. What should I do with them?"

"That's entirely your prerogative," Colonel Peterson smiled. "I need to call this in. Level 5 purification will be needed."

Flash regained consciousness inside a large, abandoned building. He was stuck, on the floor, with broken legs and wings, and barely able to think straight as the pain was clouding his mind and ensuring that he couldn't make a single coherent thought or word or even a sound. He groaned, and looked about. It was then he heard Somnambula tending his wounds.

"Try to keep still. I can't help you if you don't keep still."

"Can you fix broken limbs?" Flash asked, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"I can stabilise you long enough for help to get here," she replied. "Assuming help ever finds us."

"What's the point?" Flash replied. "The Sphynx has won. The secret of what Project 722 is doing will die with us. Go, and save yourself."

"I'm not giving up hope of rescue, and I'm not giving up on you either," Somnambula replied. "We have to keep hope."

"How can I keep hope?" Flash replied. "There's nothing to hope for!"

"I know," Somnambula smiled. "It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Flash, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something."

Flash smiled as he recognised the quotation. "That's Lord of the Rings," he said. "What are we holding on to?"

"That there’s some good in this world, Flash… and it’s worth fighting for.”

Flash got an idea. "Wait. If we send out a message, we can get help! We may be immobilised, but we can get others to continue the fight." He groaned as he touched something on his belt, and a magical interface started up. He selected 'send message' on wide bandwidth, although the device locked him onto some place in the frozen north.

He then began to speak. "To all units receiving this transmission, I am in need of support. Somnambula and I were... able to survive her wrath, but now we're trapped. If you can't find us, you have to stop him and ensure he never finds the device, or he'll become unstoppable. I have no idea how long I have left. We were so close to finding the-"

And then the feed cut out.

Author's Note

To give credit where credit is due, Tolkien's writing is a massive source of inspiration to me. It's from Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit that I got my love for fantasy settings, and MLP carries that Tolkienesque splendour and scale, not only in its epic narrative, but in the smaller things and humour too. And I think that we can all take a piece of advice from Tolkien himself;

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”

This chapter of the story may be over, but on Monday JimmyHook19 picks up the story with Legends of Equestria: the Long Road Back.