My Little Carmines

Chapter 14: Carmine?

Clayton continued to sprint in a disorganised fashion whilst contemplating with his mind on what had just happened back with Discord. His mind tumbled over Discord's appearance and how weird he looked, and he was also puzzled with the fact that he knew about the Locust and his brothers. He knew that two of his brothers, Anthony and Benjamin, both had their lives stolen from them at the filthy hands of the Locust, so whatever Discord was saying about him bringing and losing Benjamin into the foreign world was not convincing for the veteran Carmine. Clayton couldn't bare the fact that his brother, Ben who he called 'Squirt', was actually alive in the very place that he found himself lost in, and he found himself fighting against the whole forest as he had to literally force himself through the bushes and vines. It was almost as if they were purposely trying to block his path. But his thoughts were mostly on the fact that he knew his brother was dead. He had been missing for so long that there could only be, like so many other soldiers that went missing on Sera, pronounced dead, and the fact that his body was never found only made Clayton bitter towards, not only the Locust Horde, but the COG itself and how they deal with situations such as his. Adding insult to injury with the fact that they couldn't bury Ben's body, the same event had happened with Anthony where the COG never went back to retrieve his body for burial. Clayton knew that he and his family were proud soldiers but the fact that they didn't receive any sort of sympathy; neither from Clayton's point of view had any family received the same sympathy, from higher members in the COG army only made Clayton, for the first time, feel pathetic for joining such a selfish and corrupt army. But then again, they were the last pair of arms that held humanity from the brink of distinction, and they were better than joining the militias that were being formed on the mainland by the citizens.

Clayton pushed through another bush and suddenly found himself on some sort of green path that was in between the thick black trees. There was rustling that was highlighting itself from behind the gear, and then he realised that something was following him…and he did not want to find out what it was when he was in a place that he had no knowledge about. Clayton turned back to the situation put in front of him. He couldn't go forward; he could only go left or right. And it suddenly became obvious on where he wanted to go. To his left the path continued to lead on until it was swallowed by complete darkness. But on his right was a small bright light that symbolised a way out and the veteran immediately ran towards it like a moth to a flame. Clayton could hear distinct hisses from creatures that he really did not want to see, and he could have sworn that there was eyes back in the depths of the forest that were staring and following him, but it didn't matter to him now because he had reached the end of the forest and pushed through the darkness and into the bright light. What he saw stunned him on the spot.

There was a little bridge over a small flowing river, and what the bridge leads to was a completely wrecked and destroyed building with dead creatures all around it. The sight was filthy and the smell was disgusting and Clayton himself felt somewhat grossed out by the mixture of internal organs weeping in different areas and in the wrong open parts of animals. But only a little, Clayton had seen far too much to have become grossed out over some small animals. He would have preferred Locust or Lambent guts all over the place, but he himself was going to have to make that happen if he ever did come across any Locust or Lambent. And judging from the destruction of the single cottage alone, Clayton could tell that something big, or some things that worked together, had purposely destroyed the cottage, and it could only confirm the veteran Carmine's suspicion on the fact that there could be Locust or Lambent where he was after all. Seemingly reluctant to move into the animal and rubble graveyard, Clayton began to tread lightly over the dead animal corpses and any seemingly broken pieces of the cottage. He clutched his newly acquainted flamethrower, ready to scorch any Locust scum that dared to stand in his way. His focus was puzzled from the crunches of the broken glass and broken wood to the fear of a Locust suddenly shooting from the ground or leaping out from behind a bush. His eyes manoeuvred over the dead animals that were slowly passing by: three deer lay mutilated and crushed under a piece of tiles that had fallen and shattered from the roof, one single bunny rabbit lied with half its body dismembered while other body parts showed what was left of the other bunnies' fates, one bear had its left arm and paw completely crushed but its brains splattered everywhere showed what happened to its head. There were more animal parts, but Clayton couldn't exactly make out what they were from the fact that they were mutilated beyond identification.

"Goddamn-"Clayton tried to exclaim, but the sound of a distant roar and sudden bullets screaming through the atmosphere, which was followed with distant cries of pain and agony alerted Clayton's body and tightened his grip on his flamethrower. From what he could suddenly see in the distant, in the sky, was a rainbow type of beam that flew all around the sky. It was constantly dipping back and forth as if it were trying to fish for something, much like a seagull would when trying to obtain fish. What followed was on the ground, in the distance, was a light purple aura that flashed every couple of minutes. But the most obvious was the very familiar roars and moans from the very creatures that he despised.

That confirmed his suspicions fully.

"Son of a bitch," Clayton cursed as he immediately began sprinting towards the Locust, ready to destroy every single Locust that he came across.

OXOXOXOXOXO

"What does these Locust mean to you, creature?" Queen Chrysalis asked as Benjamin flinched at the word. He seemed reluctant, and his spine started to shiver and his nerves crack slightly as he felt all eyes pry down upon him. He didn't know in what he was thinking in putting himself in the spotlight with a bunch of foreign creatures that he hardly knew anything about. To make matters worse, he felt that no one was on his side as large amounts of mutters, which soon turned into shouts, started to arise from the continuously growing crowd. The guards especially seemed the most intimidating as their glares seemed the deadliest, as if they were going to kill him on the spot. Even though Ben could possibly have a fair fighting chance against the guards, their numbers were too big for him and his Hammerburst to handle alone, and they could easily overpower him and catch up to him in seconds if he had tried to run.

Ben continued to feel the pressure weigh him down as the crowd of upper class ponies degraded him with the fact that he was provoking fear into Equestria. News had reached almost all over Equestria with the fact that there was a mysterious creature that, upon his finding, had brought other dangerous creatures into the open and reports of disturbances had been recently high. He was gaining an unpopular reputation, especially with the incident back in Ponyville with the giant stalks and the deaths and injuries of ponies. He was becoming a scapegoat of hatred and a lot of the ponies wanted him permanently banished to the Everfree. It was amazing how word spreads quickly around Equestria, but not every pony was fully convinced that Benjamin was the cause of the monsters, such as the princess of the night and the princess of the sun. The same could not be said for the captain of the Royal Guards and the upper class pony folk. They were quick to judge and all followed the popular opinion to avoid segregation and isolation from the crowd.

Ben couldn't find the right words to say, and the pressure building from the crowd made it hard for him to keep his cool or concentrate on his explanation for how he knew the Locust. After all, he was a rookie and wasn't properly experienced in handling hostility from friendlies… at least he hoped that they were friendly. Ben heard words of hate spit at him such as 'ruffian' and 'monster' which continued to flatten his chances of being able to explain himself to the crowd. He surprised himself on how his 'green as grass' nature kept him cool under the borderline of hatred because if it were Clayton in his shoes then he would have lost it and started kicking the living hell out of the entire crowd on his own. However, he was not Clayton and he didn't know where or how ugly things would have gotten if Princess Luna had not suddenly stepped in to silence the crowd.

"Silence!" She roared with a loud and echoing voice which rattled the very mountains. The crowd immediately hushed themselves and all eyes switched to her." Is this any way to treat a new and very special guest from another world? You should be ashamed for your barbarism!" The anger fuelling from the night princess stunned every pony beyond words. Princess Luna quickly regained her posture after she had realised that her actions had caused her take on a rather sinister looking image that made out if she was going to strike the crowd down with her magic. She spoke once more, "Proceed, Benjamin Carmine."

It took Ben a good minute to realise that he was being addressed. He did not expect such fury from something that looked so gentle and harmless. The word 'awesome' filled his mind as he watched Princess Luna smile at him.

"The Locust are-"Benjamin tried to explain, but the sudden rumbling from the earth halted him. The rumbling grew louder and roared with disturbance. The crowd stumbled and cried in fear as the very soil underneath the stone pathway shook to an incredible speed. The guards had immediately reacted quickly by throwing themselves in a tight circle around the three princesses in order to stop them from falling over. Ben himself clumsily fell on his backside, and the view of the sky gave him a front row view of the sudden Lambent Stalk that suddenly exploded right in front of him. The icky yellow pods on the branches suddenly leaked with small amounts of imulsion.

"What in Equestria is that?" Shining Armor asked aloud as the crowd and princesses fled the scene. He question remained unanswered as a large amount of filthy imulsion leaked from the pod, and it hatched the abomination of the abominations; a Gunker. Oblivious to its name and its deadly strength, Shining Armor stood his ground, as did his guards, and looked at Benjamin, "Carmine?"

OXOXOXOXOXO

The sudden change of sunny weather into a hail storm of rain confused Clayton. He had made it to where the source of gunshots and Locust grunts, and wasn't surprised that they had left a blood bath at their feet. From what he could evidently see from the hail storm and from his hiding spot in a bush, there was trails of slippery blood and rubble all over the place, and he could hear distant screams of pain and agony. He cursed as he watched as a Locust walked over to a dying creature, that creature being a Royal Guard but the weather prevented Carmine from properly seeing, and unjustifiably stomped its head clean off its body. Part of him wanted to charge down there and rip every single Locust to pieces, but another part of himself prevented him from doing so as there was too many for him to handle. Also the Berserker had suddenly reappeared with the Locust just about managing to get it under control and in chains once more. Luckily, for the Locust, the Berserker had tired herself out for them to gain control without her going on another blood bath. It was the Berserker that Clayton found to be the biggest problem, and his flamethrower wouldn't completely destroy the beast and the entire Locust squad down there seemed too big for him to handle alone. Their weapons consisted of mostly Hammerbursts, but there was the occasional Locust that carried a Retro-Lancer. Carmine cursed at how outnumbered he was and how the numbers were against him. But his thought was distracted when the sudden black weather changed, and everything became an alienated light and dark purple pattern in the sky. And then a voice, very familiar to Clayton, rocked the sound wave.

It was none other than Discord, who had snapped his claws to stop the bad weather and change it to his liking, and his face was not pleased at all. Whilst the Locust bowed in respect to their god, Discord was set on finding the very devious creature that had failed to listen to his instructions…Kreikie. He found the priest perched upon a fallen home and had one foot upon a dead Royal Guard and had used a Retro-Lancer to plunge the sharpened blade through his heart. He hissed in delight as he heard the last dying breath of the Royal Guard, and he left the Retro-Lancer there to purposely create a gruesome scene for the Locust and the six enslaved ponies to observe. However, when the priest noticed Discord towering over him with hints of anger and disappointment he immediately bowed at his feet.

"Kreikie! What is the meaning of this? I ordered you to capture the ponies, not kill them!" Discord's voice caused the Locust leader to lower his head in slight shame. He was proud of what he had done and how he had showed the Locust power, but he hated the fact that his master scolded him for something that the Locust was born and bred to do.

"Master," Kreikie started with a minor hiss," we simply did what the Locust do best, and we have captured this small town and the six ones that you have requested." Kreikie pointed to his right which showed six ponies cuffed in chains around all their hooves and there were extra chains for the four of them as they had horns and wings. Discord's mood didn't change towards Kreikie, but his face twisted into an evil smile as he would soon hold the Elements of Harmony captive which would surely bring Princess Celestia to her knees and begging him not to hurt them.

"Well at least you've done something right in this disaster," Discord said with a groan as he clicked his claw fingers. A glass of chocolate milk suddenly appeared in his lion paw. Defying the laws of physics, he swallowed the glass instead of the milk and threw the chocolate away. There was an explosion that followed the milk impacting on the soil. He released a sigh of relief and wiped the invisible remains of the glass from his lips. Discord then turned to see that the six captives were too busy being afraid of the Locust that were guarding them to actually notice that it was him behind everything.

"It was easy to capture the Elements of Harmony, master. All we had to do was capture the weakest element and force the rest to surrender. Their warriors were no match for our female's mighty power, and our outstanding accuracy and strength of course. But these Elements of Harmony are pathetic, especially the yellow one. She was the very reason for their fall. Too afraid to fight was she and then we used her fragile body as a message to the others. They stopped exactly what they were doing after that." Kreikie had stood up to tell the small victory over Ponyville, and his posture was tall and his chest inflated out in pride. He looked at Discord who was focused on the terrified six. A crooked smile stretched from his face. Kreikie mirrored his smile. But Discord's quickly vanished at the sound of a whole group of Locusts arguing for something unknown.

"Since your mission here is complete…to some extent, I am going to open a portal and I want most of the Locust here gone…and that giant one." Discord's order was quickly obeyed by Kreikie, and in a matter of minutes most of the Locust had quickly vanished into the purple portal, which had to be widened for the disobedient Berserker. Discord had taken the time to reintroduce himself to the Elements of Harmony who were shocked at his sudden appearance. The smug look on Discord's face didn't help to when he introduced them to the Locust and that he was their leader.

"When I get outta these chains, you're so in for it!" The threat from Rainbow Dash was completely ignored and Discord laughed hysterically.

"Oh don't be so foolish, Rainbow Dash. Have you not already seen the damage that my Locust has caused upon Ponyville?" Discord warped down to Rainbow Dash's ear to whisper to her," It was a little too much than what I asked for but live and learn." Rainbow Dash wanted to lash out at Discord, but the Locust holding her chain pulled the chain tightly around her neck chain which knocked her to the floor. Applejack was furious.

"Y'all big, dumb, mean cowards, y'all worse than them Timberwolves, ya hear?" Applejack roared as she tried to wrestle her way free from the captivity of the Locust. She was easily yanked back and tamed through the threat of a giant Locust boot. Discord halted the Locust and ordered that Rainbow Dash should get back on her hooves.

"Come now, we're wasting too much time. All of you, through the portal." Discord ordered.

Discord was the first to enter the portal that led back to his expanding empire. The teary Fluttershy was easily yanked through the portal without hesitation and was followed by a whiny Rarity, who had hoped that her whining would annoy the Locust into releasing her. However, it didn't work. A gun was pointed, more precisely a Boltok pistol, at Pinkie Pie in order to keep the hyperactive pony afraid and miserable. Applejack reluctantly followed whilst giving the look of deadly hate towards her captor, which the Locust ignored. As much as Rainbow Dash hated being controlled and made to look weak, and despite her final best efforts of escaping, she too entered the portal but was kicked hardly inside the purple portal by the Locust. Finally, there was Twilight Sparkle who had remained quiet throughout the event. She was too saddened by the fact that she had failed her friends and feared that she was never going to see Ponyville or the princesses ever again. A tear slowly formed across the edges of her eyes and started swimming down her cheeks as the fear and message of defeat attacked her. However, before the Locust behind her could push her into the portal, there was a metallic collision sound which struck Twilight's ears in a matter of seconds. Before she could even turn around the Locust released a cry of realisation before suddenly exploding into dismembered bits.

Blood spilled over the unicorn and she was petrified. However, her survival instincts immediately commanded her to run to safety, and so she did.

The small group of Locust looked around in confusion as another Locust was hit in the chest, and met the same fate as the first Locust. They roared and tried to communicate with each other as to who and where their attacker was. Another arrow whizzed past a Locust and caught a piece of rubble and exploded. They had begun retreating to avoid the arrows…and the attacker, Clayton Carmine wasn't going to let them get far.

"Oh I love it when they do that," Clayton roared mightily at the sight of the second Locust exploding and immediately jumped from his hiding place and started giving chase to the fleeing Locust," Rock and roll!" He started dashing along the pathway and over the rubble. The land of Ponyville was almost completely flat as the Locust had destroyed literally everything.

The Locust turned around from retreating and saw the giant COG soldier charging over the rubble. They immediately roared and started firing at Clayton. Clayton ran straight for cover and prepared to fire his Torque bow. He waited for the Locust to reload, and when he heard his opportunity he sprung up and quickly aimed at one of the exposed Locust. The explosive arrow hit the Locust perfectly and he exploded into mutilated pieces. Another Locust tried charging forward and catching Clayton by surprise, but Clayton was more than prepared. As the Locust quickly looked over the small pilled rubble to grab Clayton, Clayton grabbed the Locust in a headlock and flipped him over onto his back. Clayton quickly stormed his way on top of the Locust and held its neck with his left hand and had his Snub pistol in his right.

"How'd you like to meet my brothers?" Clayton asked rhetorically as he fired multiple bullets into the Locust's face. Without thinking or wasting time, Clayton climbed over his cover and started charging towards the other Locust. His Torque bow had become jammed and he left behind, but he spotted a Retro-Lancer impaled into something which he didn't have enough time to identify what it was. He yanked the handle and the blade came free in under a second whilst he continued running. The power of the Retro-Lancer was remarkable. Clayton killed two more of the Locusts and dived into more cover as another had thrown a grenade. Clayton didn't have time to grab ammunition and was running low on the Retro-Lancer ammo. Luckily for him, most of the Locust had suddenly fled towards the open portal.

However, one had spotted Clayton and attempted to smash him with his Hammerburst. Clayton reacted quickly and ducked from the punt and used the blade of the Retro-Lancer to stab the Locust in the chest. The Locust cried in pain and dropped to his knees. Clayton quickly picked himself up and looked at the Locust. Using his strength, Clayton swung the blade of the Retro-Lancer across its face. Blood squirted everywhere and Clayton cheered victoriously at his accomplishment.

"Too fucking easy! Is that the best you sons of bitches can do, huh?" Clayton roared at the air as he continued to celebrate and congratulate himself. However, the sound of a familiar shriek caused Clayton to turn around at the portal…and the same Berserker from before came charging through the portal and was free of her chains…Clayton had jinxed himself. "God fucking damn it!"