Legion

"A city is but cold stone and lifeless mortar. It is the creatures within that give it a soul."

-Michael Santius

Michael Santius walked through the streets of the holy city of Canterlot, lost deep in thought. Most Legion soldiers would have been struck with awe. Surrounded by the gleaming white towers of the castle and the exquisite mansions of the nobility, with opulence and style shining from every angle. Perched on a magically constructed overhang, the city was a titanic structure. In addition to the houses and businesses of thousands of Canterlot's citizens in the residential and market districts, the city boasted sumptuous gardens, shining rivers, and even a small forest or two. Over it all towered the castle of the holy sisters, a massive edifice, built to be their seat of power. A gleaming work of enchanted, purest white marble, violet tiles and shining gold. This city truly was an engineering work worthy of divinity. A glorious shining beacon of the Seraphim's holy presence, a reminder to all that the sacred rulers of Equestria were watching over them.

Yet, for all its magnificence, Michael trod Canterlot's streets with head bowed and gaze focused inward. He had done this several times in the week and a half since his departure from Ponyville. Usually in those rare moments when he had time to let his thoughts settle. Always he came back to that moment, when he had attempted to show lady Rainbow Dash the insidious warping effects of war on the mind.

His spell, which placed the subject into a hypnotic dream of the caster's creation, had not worked how it was supposed to. Far from being an unaware dreamer witnessing events in the detached manner that was intended, Rainbow's experience had been brutally visceral. However, what was more surprising was that, in the midst of it, the Saint of Loyalty had managed to fight against the spell. In great detail, Lady Dash had recounted the experience of her true self as a voice echoing out from her subconscious into her dream self's conscious mind. It was a thing that should have been impossible.

The spell should not have allowed for any kind of lucidity on Rainbow's part. And in dissecting it, Michael had come to a hypothesis that had him reconsidering many assumptions relating to the psychology of Equestrians. He was certain he had made no errors in the spell's casting, and that no outside influence had disrupted the ritual. Thus, the only variable he could point to, was that Lady Dash, was not human. The spell was, at its most basic, an illusory curse of sorts. Originally used to harden D'nurean soldiers to the horrors of combat. Allowing them to adjust to it in a training environment without the need for live-fire exercises. It was designed to work with the human mind, the mind of a species that while not necessarily predisposed to violence, certainly seemed fascinated by it. Evidently the Equestrian mind, was even more dissimilar in function to humanity than Michael had originally believed. Seeming to fight against the spell on a fundamental and instinctual level. If this hypothesis indeed proved true, it may indicate that Equestrians had an inbuilt mental resistance to, and rejection of, unnecessary violence and cruelty. If accurate, this might mean that the Equestrians would be far more psychologically stable in a war than the Legion itself.

"A pity I have no proof. Save a single incidental occurrence that may be entirely unique to Lady Dash. I would dearly have liked to ease my Lord's mind on this. Perhaps when I have more time. . ." Michael murmured to himself as he stroked his chin thoughtfully. Abruptly however, Michael was pulled from his thoughts by an angry hail from nearby.

"Oi! Michael! Your jerk boss back in Canterlot yet?!"

Looking up, Michael noted he had wandered into one of the city's larger plazas. Known as the Lunar Promenade, it intersected several roads leading to the residential district in one direction and the markets and art district in the other. It would be a key point of control for any invading, or defending, force. In no small part because, thanks to being dominated by a large but very shallow reflecting pool, it was an ideal location to land aircraft. Thus it was small wonder the Legion was in the process of fortifying it as heavily as possible.

Across the way, Michael could see a wall into a private garden being demolished in order to construct a machine gun nest. Opposite, on a nearby rooftop, an anti-air position was under construction in what used to be a cafe. The plaza itself was also being utilized as a logistics site. Tables and boxes covered in charts and lists had been set up next to piles of supplies, that were in a constant state of flux as they were added to or subtracted from in accordance with the needs of the defense. The best and brightest designers, architects, planners and laborers from across Canterlot rubbed shoulders with Legion soldiers and magetechnicians as they worked feverishly to fortify the city. And it was from one such group, being managed by a fuchsia eyed mare with a spice rack cutie mark, that the annoyed comment had come. Michael smiled as he responded.

"Regretfully Lady Saltfield, his Lordship is still in Ponyville. Shall I include your usual displeasure toward your wartime appointment in my next report?" Rosy Saltfield, glared at Michael from behind her stark white mane.

"No. But you can tell him that he is officially off my preferred customers list!" Michael chuckled as he walked toward the irate pegasus and her gaggle of aids. Despite her outward annoyance, he could tell there was very little actual anger behind Rosy's words.

"Oh my. Well some sacrifices are unavoidable I suppose. I'm still not certain I understand your irritation though. Lord Derran was under the impression you wished experience some excitement? I would think being made head of provisioning for the holy city during wartime would be plenty exciting?" Rosy gave an irritated huff as she hoofed a freshly sealed scroll to a pegusus runner, or 'flyer' if you wanted to be pedantic, who swiftly shot off in the direction of the palace with it tightly gripped in his mouth.

"Exciting?! Try exhausting!" Rosy shot back pointedly as she ran down a fresh list she'd been given by a Legion soldier who wordlessly saluted Michael before making a sign in the air and using a levitation spell to fly off toward the market district. "You!" Rosy snapped at an earth pony with a postage stamp cutie mark. "Tell Captain Heridule that we need to stockpile more dried beans, powdered eggs and milk. We may be vegetarian but ponies still need at least a little protein for a balanced diet. I don't care where or how he gets it, but we need more than dried apples and carrots if there's a siege! Tell him to contact Cut Oats in Manehatten, he wholesales the stuff, if he can't get it he'll know who can." Michael made an effort to hide his smile as Rosy turned back to him.

"I'm lucky if I get four hours of sleep at my desk! My mane hasn't been washed in days! I survive almost entirely off energy bars and coffee! And I haven't had a single non-work conversation since your bungling biped of a commander decided to tell Celestia I was some sort of distribution genius or whatever! If this is how that jackass helps his friends I'd hate to see what he's going to do to the enemy!" Michael had to put a bit more effort than normal into not rolling his eyes. Despite her vehement complaints, he could tell the pegusus mare was having the time of her life.

"Well if it helps we certainly appreciate your assistance. Your network of suppliers and remarkable organizational skills have impressed even Lord Leonidas and Lady Twilight. Without you we'd still be stuck with no knowledge of where to get what we need or whom may have it. Your efforts are felt even outside of Canterlot. The whole of Equestria is being supplied by the contacts you have been managing for us. I've even heard whispers that Ladies Luna and Celestia wish to offer you a noble title when this is all over." Rosy snorted as she hastily wrote something on a scroll before sealing it and handing it to another pegusus messenger.

"I'd rather have a full night's sleep and a hot meal." She declared gruffly, even as Michael saw her suppress a grin.

"Well if you are that hard pressed I could take some of the load? I have nothing pressing for the next two hours at least." Rosy raised her head, presumably to accept, before stopping and letting a smirk cross her features.

"Much as I'd like the help, it looks like your schedule just filled up." She stated with a slight chuckle. As before Michael could ask for clarification, a refined voice with a slight Prench accent addressed him.

"Bonjour Sir Michael, and a fine good morning Miss Saltfield." Michael felt a grin envelop his whole face as he turned to behold the speaker. A tall white unicorn mare with a pink and white mane and tail, who's cutie mark matched her namesake: Fleur De Lis.

"Good morning Lady Fleur. You're looking immaculate as always." He stated, as he bowed to place a light kiss on the fetlock of a raised hoof.

"Yo." Rosy stated with a wave, as she started writing another missive.

"Flatterer, careful or you'll have me blushing. Lovely to see you too Rosy." Fleur replied, offering Michael a beaming smile as he released her hoof.

"What brings you to this part of the city my Lady? I assumed you'd be at the palace helping Lord Fancy Pants?" Michael asked. In response Fleur let out a sound of frustration.

"It's Blueblood again. He and his cabal of idiots are trying to raise cane over damage to private property. Specifically relating to that." Fleur gestured behind Michael and Rosy to the machine gun nest in the process of being constructed on what used to be a tulip bed. "They insist that a 'Legion representative' be made to account for the damage." At that Michael chuckled.

"Not that seeing you isn't a delight, but there are plenty of high ranked Legion personnel available at the castle. Why would you need me?" Fleur gave a light laugh.

"I suspect because they find all your brothers utterly terrifying. Jet Setter and Upper Crust nearly fainted when they spoke to Lord Virgil. I think they thought he was going to eat them. I tried explaining to them that he always looks that angry, but they and the rest of Blueblood's pack just insist on speaking with you." Michael let out a laugh at that. Both he and Fleur knew for a fact that Virgil had an extremely low tolerance for nonsense. As head of Lady Celestia's trio of personal bodyguards the 'Devil Triggers' he saw it as his job to ensure no one wasted her divine majesty's time with, in his words: 'self entitled whining or pointless idiocy'. Unfortunately for Jet Setter and Upper Crust, that's about all they and the rest of Blueblood's friends knew how to do. Small wonder Michael was always the one Fleur and her brother tapped to help with the nobles.

Honestly though, most of the nobility were firmly behind the Legion. It was just a small group of less than a dozen individuals that had rallied to Blueblood's banner. Unfortunately, as Celestia's adopted nephew his word carried weight all the same. Alienating or ignoring him would cause wounds that could easily fester and cause trouble at the wrong moment. A diplomatic approach was undoubtably less efficient, but better in the long run for unity. And few in the Legion were better at smoothing ruffled feathers than Michael. Not that he especially minded, after all it gave him more time to spend with Lady Fleur, something he was very much unopposed to.

"Very well then, I suppose I can't refuse a call from a member of the royal family." From behind him, Michael heard Rosy scoff.

"The heck you can't! Everycreature knows Blueblood is an arrogant little punk, heck even Celestia knows it! Just toss his ass in the dungeon till the war's over. Not like we'll lose anything." Michael shook his head even as he suppressed a smile.

"Now now Lady Saltfield. Everycreature deserves a chance to be heard in the Seraphim's court. You never know, Lord Blueblood may have something to present we hadn't considered. Let's keep an open mind." Rosy scoffed again.

"You're just saying that because you wanna hang out with Fleur instead of helping me do some real work." Michael turned to look at Rosy with a beneficent smile.

"I promise I'll be back this evening. I'll take over and you can get a full night's rest. Sound fair?" Rosy paused as she handed off a scroll to a unicorn in a hardhat.

"Fine. You lovebirds head off and talk to the prince about maintaining the daisies while the world burns. But you better be back here tonight." Michael nodded as he and Fleur carefully ignored each other's blushes.

"As you say Lady Saltfield." Michael stated, as he and Fleur headed off.

The path to the castle was reasonably short, so the aristocrat pony and Legion Lieutenant set off, side by side, at a leisurely pace. The rout was filled with activity far in excess of the normal merchants and bustling citizenry. In one location, a group of guardsponies was being run through a map detailing the city evacuation procedures by a fully armored member of the Solar Guard. In another, several Star Guard magetechs were helping a group of unicorns set up what appeared to be some sort of magical forge. Overhead, Legion mages and pegusai flitted through the air on myriad errands.

"The war certainly has put our fair city into a frenzy. Is this normally how things go in human wars?" Fleur asked, as she and Michael stepped to one side to avoid a group of hard hat wearing ponies. Michael shook his head.

"No. Usually the defence preparations happen over a period of months, sometimes years. Unless of course the enemy is especially canny in keeping their own preparations under wraps. We are fortunate Hayden could be tricked into giving us a full month to establish defenses. If he had come with an army from the start. . . well he may actually have been able to force our hand." Fleur shook her head.

"Sacred bleu, thank Celestia that Derran and the Elements were there." Michael nodded.

"It is indeed fortunate. I don't care to think how it might have gone otherwise." The pair settled into silence for a time, each lost in their own thoughts. Finally, Fleur turned to Michael the barest hint of nervousness on her face. However before she could speak, a new voice rang out.

"Hail Lord Santius! How does this day find you?!" Walking toward the duo was a Legion soldier in polished silver armor, etched with the swirling symbol of the two sisters. Over this, he wore a robe nearly identical to Michael's. One half black with Celestia's cutie mark embroidered on it, the other half white with Luna's cutie mark. Across his back he carried a staff of some dark metal capped by a green gemstone that glowed with a faint inner light. At his side was a sheathed sword and pistol, while a sling of brown leather held a blast rifle behind his back. The man's unhelmeted head was clean shaven and accompanied by a well trimmed beard and mustache. His smile was bright and sincere, set beneath a pair of mischievous olive eyes.

"Greetings brother Garro." Michael replied with a smile. "The day finds me well. Just on my way to the palace." Garro immediately let out a chuckle.

"More trouble from Blueblood?" He asked with a knowing smile. Michael nodded, looking faintly surprised.

"Indeed. How did you guess?" Garro shrugged.

"Word gets around." He said simply, before turning his attention to Fleur. "And could this be the infamous Lady Fleur De Lis?" Michael let out a light laugh.

"Indeed. Apologies I was not aware you two were unacquainted. Lady Fleur permit me to introduce Champion Nathan Garro of the One Eighty Nine. One of our most courageous and potent magetechs."

"Charmed Champion Garro." Fleur greeted offering her hoof. Garro smiled as he took her hoof and shook it, bowing his head as he did so.

"Please, call me Nathan. Never liked the title, far too grand in my opinion." Fleur nodded as Garro released her hand. His voice was deep but held a boisterousness that made him seem full of energy. He also had extremely kind eyes, and Fleur already found herself liking him.

"Nathan it is then. Are you also on your way to the palace?" Nathan shook his head.

"No, my team and I are stationed in the clock tower in the center of town." Fleur looked at him curiously. She had known the Legion had heavily fortified the tower at the center of the city, but had never learned why.

"I see. I'm afraid I'm not aware of your team's purpose Nathan?" It was almost too quick to catch, but Garro flicked his eyes to Michael for a split second. To which Michael responded with an almost imperceptible nod.

"We're the backup in case the shield around the city fails. Since we're on high alert only one of us is permitted to leave the tower at a time. I'm just out to check in with Lords Leonidas and Musashi and stretch my legs around the city for a bit. I'd tell you more but it's one of those 'need to know' sort of situations." Fleur nodded, she expected as much. The Legion wasn't overly worried about spies, but regardless, only a fool would dismiss the possibility. As a result the Legion had made compartmentalization of information a top priority. Granted she had only learned this when she had idly attempted to read a scroll over Celestia's shoulder during a meeting. The letter had looked normal enough, until she asked Celestia about why the Legion was deploying troops to Hoofington. A town she knew for absolute certain they were in the process of evacuating.

That was when she learned that everycreature of rank involved in the defense effort had been enchanted so that the letters they wrote would only be readable by somecreature with the same or higher security clearance as themselves. What's more, the spell tricked the brains of any unauthorized readers into seeing false, yet plausible, information. While the actual message was completely invisible. Slightly more worrying, was a tertiary enchantment on some highly classified documents that caused the letters to violently explode in the event the illusions were ever broken. And that was some of the more tame aspects of the Legion's security measures. Breaking herself from her musings, Fleur smiled at Nathan.

"I understand. Thank you for entertaining my curiosity." Garro smiled.

"Anything for the marefriend of brother Santius." He replied jovially. Fleur instantly felt her face heat up as she babbled a series of incomprehensible denials. Michael however, simply arched an eyebrow.

"Borther. . . may I ask what makes you think Lady Fleur and I are a couple?" Nathan suddenly looked confused.

"Brother Dante told me when we crossed paths in the palace. He said you've been dating for several days now. He seemed surprised I hadn't heard. Why?" Michael shook his head as he let out a chuckle.

"I'm afraid brother Dante may have been pulling your leg. My and Lady Fleur's relationship is strictly platonic." A look of comprehension appeared in Nathan's eyes, before they narrowed in annoyance.

"I see." He said, his voice quite a bit less cheerful than before. "I can't believe I fell for that." Turning to Fleur, he bowed his head low. "Please accept my apologies Miss De Lis. I hope I didn't embarrass you." Fleur swiftly got her blushing under control as she cleared her throat.

"No need for apologies Nathan. I am well aware of how pranks among siblings go." She declared graciously. Even as in her head she reflected that when it came to her and Fancy Pants it was typically she who did the pranking. Garro nodded.

"Thanks for letting me off the hook. Still, I think I'll need to have a word with my team about this." He stated with slightly worrying degree of calm. Michael smiled as he let out a chuckle.

"I feel officially obligated to say something to the effect of revenge being a small minded solution." Nathan gave his brother a bemused look.

"How about 'unofficially'?" Michael gave his brother a conspiratorial smirk.

"'Unofficially? I think I might have a word with brothers Virgil and Nero about the importance of not interfering with karma." Garro let out a laugh as he clapped Michael on the shoulder and turned to look at Fleur.

"It's honestly a shame it was a trick. Because hand to the Light Lady Fleur, you couldn't do better than this man right here!" Fleur let out a light laugh as she suppressed another blush.

"Of that Nathan, I have no doubt."