My Little Carmines

Chapter 11: The Locust at the outskirts

Kreikie and the Locust Horde, with the exception of the four Drones that restrained the Berserker, cleaned their rifles and wiped away any blood that proved to have been a nuisance to them while they stood over a bloodbath of massacred Changelings. Kreikie observed the Changeling that lay lifeless at his pointy feet. He had personally and ravenously stabbed the Changeling multiple times in the chest, and there was a single slash across the neck and another straight through its skull. He hissed at the lifeless corpse and showed the lowest form of moral respect as he kicked the corpse out of the way. He looked towards his other Locust allies while they moved what was left of the Changeling corpses out of the way so that they could proceed without an accident. The Berserker had been restless ever since the slaughter of the Changelings occurred. More Drones had clutched the chains in order to restrain the rage intoxicated female from going berserk and rampaging through the forest and causing mindless destruction which could be useful for when the Locust need it. Kreikie, having already defied Discord's orders of not killing the inhabitants, lowly hissed to himself as he thought of his Locust brethren and how they were segregated from the rest of their species back on planet Sera. Having to feel the power of instructing the Locust to immorally slaughter the unsuspecting Changelings made him feel somewhat dominant and powerful. Back on Sera, he was a simple Kantus that served under the many ranks in the Locust Horde, but in Equestria he was a well respected captain and a strong one too!

"Leave their bodies to rot!" A hiss of his tongue immediately alerted the Drones and they all halted what they were doing in order to hear him. And with quick obedience, the Drones dropped the Changeling corpses and regrouped into formation where they continued their march towards Ponyville.

Because of the Changeling encounter, the time schedule for when the Locust were supposed to be ready was set back, but it did not matter for Ponyville would be startled all the same with the unsuspecting attack of the Locust. Simply trudging through the damp woods of the Everfree forest, they spotted through the bushes a whole squad of the Changeling creatures. What was most noticeable for Kreikie was the larger Changeling that had so easily fled the scene upon their attack. From first eavesdropping the larger one, whom clearly spoke in what they would call human tongue, Kreikie immediately knew that she was the leader of their group and was the pack leader. Nevertheless, he didn't want to know who or what the creatures were, so attacking them was the only thing that he saw necessary. For all he knew, they could have been inhabitants at Ponyville, or at least knew of Ponyville, and if they were seen then they could have possibly exposed their presence in the Everfree forest. Kreikie wasn't going to take any chances with anything in the new world which seemed to easy to invade. Everything from his perspective was too weak and inferior to stand up to their wrath. However, what did have the captain on edge, and the entire squad as well, was the description of the yellow monster that looked like a Lambent that had attacked the other Drones before. The giant Berserker in front of them, however, brought some sort of comfort to the Locust beings while they quickly walked towards their target. The sounds of birds flapping, animals scrambling towards their homes and the whistle of the leaves and the snaps of the twigs were the only peaceful sounds that would soon be extinct under the Locust boot. Apart from the gruff breathing from the Drones, the low and distinctive hum from the blind female Berserker contrasted massively towards the natural scenery of the forest. What the ponies described as the most terrifying place in Equestria, was nothing more than child's play for the Locusts, and the seemingly dark and unnatural, or aggressive, behaviour fitted the habitat for the Locust, but clear distinctions and contrasts between the feral and unintelligent monsters in Equestria's Everfree with the Locust monster itself would cause a war for pure territory and most common wildlife needs.

"We will be drawing in on the small village of Ponyville. On my signal, we storm in and capture as many of the inhabitants as we can. Kill any that try to rebel against our strength, and let nothing get in your way!" Kreikie's voice hissed through the Drones' heads as they prepared for the actual assault to begin. The Changelings that they saw earlier were nothing more than simple target practice for when they had to kill the ponies.

What looked like a bright patch of light, which offered its prize of freedom and safety to any creature that was looking to escape the enveloping darkness and danger of the nights of the Everfree, attacked the eyes of the Locust, excluding the Berserker, as they scurried towards it. When the dark depths of the Everfree forest had forcefully released the Locusts from its shadow, Celestia's sun greeted them with the vast beauty of a small bridge with running water below it. Across the bridge the Locust were greeted with woodland critters, beautiful green trees and grass with flowers of all sorts offering their attention to any insect that was dying for their nectar, and a single cottage, bordered around with bushes and fences, stood contrastingly out of place with the nature, but yet still looked as if it was welcomed as animals of all sorts, predator and prey, had gathered round it and were enjoying their time there. Kreikie was disgusted with the sight.

"Release her!" Kreikie pointed towards the added six Drones that restrained the Berserker. They all looked at each other hesitantly before quickly releasing their strength on the chains and retreating safely away from the enraged female.

The Berserker, feeling less force around the neck area, hollered with signs of freedom, anger, and rage as she heard, not the Locust captors behind her, but the innocent sounds of the critters that surrounded the cottage. The smell fumed her anger and she suddenly unleashed a devastating screech before blindly dashing across the bridge and towards the animals. There was nothing that the animals could do, for the Berserker had come so quickly that they did not even catch a second for a chance to escape from the mighty wrath of the Berserker. She pummelled through the bushes and fence, crushing any small creatures like squirrels and bunnies, and blindly demolished the small cottage into pieces. She crashed into the side which left a gapping hole from the impact of her collision. When she removed herself, the sudden weak structure of the cottage collapsed under its own weight and crumbled into pieces! The animals that tried to flee into the Everfree were cut down by the Locust who slowly walked out and idly aimed at deer, raccoons, beavers, birds, and many more.

"Good, now we attack Ponyville!" Kreikie demanded as six of the Drones were desperately trying to subdue the reckless Berserker that had tried to charge after the critters into the Everfree forest. Eventually they had managed to gain some sort of control of the beast and guided her back to the main road where a small bunny, hidden in a small bush, viewed them secretly.

When Angel realised that they were heading to Ponyville, with the monster that had just destroyed his and Fluttershy's home, he wasted no time in sprint hoping towards Ponyville while they was distracted with the Berserker in order to warn Fluttershy and the others!