Chapter 15: the battle in Canterlot

Ben was quick to react when the giant Gunker flopped out of the pod. A grotesque amount of slimy imulsion dripped from the pod and off the Gunker as its fresh mutated body prepared to slaughter and mutilate anything that it saw. Its mutated right arm, bonded with a clever, represented its deadliness for those who treaded too close to it. Giant yellow hotspots were evident over the Gunker’s chest and missing left arm which clearly showed that during the stage of mutation its left arm either mutilated away or swallowed itself inwards to create the disgusting yellow weak spot. Either way, what was more terrifying was the horribly disfigured cry or groan it made when it saw the Changelings, the Royal Guards and Benjamin. From its view, the three princesses and the queen, along with injured Changelings, had already made their way into the castle. Luna took one last look at Ben with a look of fear and worry in her eyes. Ben quickly stared towards Luna and they both caught each other’s’ eyes. Luna was worried for Ben’s safety.

As the giant abomination took its first massive step towards Ben, Shining Armor, the able-bodied Changelings and the Royal Guards, another pod slightly above the first gave birth to more wretched Lambent Drones and Drudges. The Gunker released another loud moan before the battle soon commenced between them.

OXOXOXOXOXO

Clayton dropped the Retro Lancer. He was quick to dive out of the way as the Berserker rampaged past him, missing him by mere inches. Clay rolled to the left and landed in a crouching position. As the Berserker passed the veteran gear, the purple portal snapped shut as if it had been forced closed. The only benefit Clay saw out of the closing portal was that no more Locusts could enter through the portal, which would mean that he could spend all that time kicking the Berserker’s ass! An unseen smile perched on his unseen lips as he turned to face the Berserker. He dropped the Retro-Lancer and swiped the flamethrower from his back.

“Looks like that son of a bitch was of good use after all,” Clayton first thought,” Ah, who am I kidding? The guy’s an asshole!” Clayton checked the ammo on his flamethrower…but to his surprise it was completely different. The ammo canister had a picture of Discord on it and he appeared to be smiling and winking with his left eye. Clayton stared at the canister, not only realising that it was his only canister, but that the picture was a bright, sparkling purple colour. Clayton pressed the trigger to test the flamethrower, and to his surprise the flames were a bright purple colour. The purple picture of Discord depleted slightly from the loss of flame, but in a short few seconds the tiny emptiness refilled itself so that the purple filled the entire face again.

Before Clay could react to Discord’s face, and grunt in disgust, the Berserker had already made a circle around him. The sound of the fire igniting for that small second pinpointed Clay’s position for the blind female. She unleashed an almighty roar before charging through the rubble. Clayton cursed and dived out of the way once more. Cursing, Clayton speared back up and did not hesitate to unleash a sea of purple flames upon the beast.

Clayton laughed heavily and roared at the sight of the ignited Berserker,” Eat it, bitch!” Rather than attempting to move away from the flames to avoid pain, the ignorant Berserker stood on the spot and waved its massive, muscles arms in a frantic manner. It was just too easy for the veteran Carmine. However, his luck was short lived when the purple flames suddenly stopped. Clayton stared at the flamethrower in confusion. He tilted his weapon to the side to see that the purple colour that had formerly filled Discord’s face had depleted down to his neck, and was slowly recharging.” God damn it!”

The purple flames on the Berserker remained for a few more seconds which allowed Clayton to gain a small space away from it. However, once the flames had died away and the Berserker was able to focus, she was angrier and deadlier than before. Hearing and smelling Clayton running from her, because the rubble amplified his footsteps and Clayton hadn’t washed in a couple of days, the Berserker howled and charged straight for Clayton, who was not as fast as the beast. In a matter of seconds the Berserker had nearly been close enough to crush Clayton into bits. However, before she could do so, a magical purple aura wrapped itself around the Berserker’s right leg, causing the beast to trip onto the sharp rubble bellow her. The impact was so loud that different parts of debris and rubble lifted off the ground for a few seconds. The crash landing had also caught Clayton’s attention, which he had believed to be that the Berserker had tripped.

“The fuck?” Clayton first thought as he looked at the Berserker, but quickly took the opportunity to check his flamethrower. The purple colour had completely filled inside the image of Discord’s head which pleased Clayton. While the Berserker was slowly trying to lift itself back up, Clayton unleashed another sea of flames upon the monster. It collapsed straight back down and kicked and frolicked about as a new sensation of pain entered its fragile, little mind. Clayton enjoyed the sight but he did not enjoy the fact that his flamethrower kept running out so quick. “Stupid piece of shit!”

Nothing in Clayton’s time could ever prepare him for what was about to happen next. The flaming Berserker had suddenly reached for Clayton in an attempt to clutch him and break him. Clayton had instincts almost like a mantis and could have easily, thanks to his training and time in the COG army, dodged and rolled away from her grasp. However, it was the second event that happened straight after the Berserker had reached for Clayton which had caught him completely off-guard. A purple orb from Clayton’s right, from behind a broken wall of a residential Ponyville home, struck the downed Berserker and caused the flames to engulf her in a ten foot flame wall. The explosion was so big that it sent Clayton back a few feet.
It took him several minutes to grasp hold of the situation.

He sat up, rubbing the back of his head. Clay released a groan as he looked in front of him to see a giant firewall. The dying screams from the Berserker entered his ear-drums, and Clay certainly enjoyed the sound. The screams did last for a good few minutes before the firewall suddenly vanished, taking the ashes of the Berserker with it. It suddenly hit Clay that something had caused the giant fire to erupt, his flamethrower being the mere catalyst of the situation. Feeling slightly exposed and vulnerable, Clay pulled out his Snub pistol. He quickly reloaded a new clip into it and slowly walked forward. Walking slightly around the burned circle aftermath from where the firewall originally was, Clayton avoided getting too close because he could feel the heat hitting his slightly exposed neck and muscly arms. Different words raced through his mind as he tried to comprehend what had just happened. But it was short lived when the sound of contact on rubble caught his attention.

Quickly spinning around, Clayton aimed his Snub pistol at what he believed to be a Locust. Only…it was not a Locust. Revealing herself from behind a destroyed wall, Clayton slightly aimed his pistol down as he tried to believe what his eyes were showing him. The one behind tripping the Berserker and firing the magical energy to create a giant flame wall was none other than Twilight Sparkle. Her eyes showed fear, but she seemed slightly relieved to see the human.

“What…the…fuck?” Clayton stuttered in disbelief.

“Carmine? Is that you?” Twilight asked, hoping for it to be Ben.

OXOXOXOXOXO

“Uh oh,” Ben thought as he, Shining Armor, the Royal Guards, and the able-bodied Changelings stood their ground in front of the giant Gunker. All of the injured and the princesses had fled their way into the castle whilst the Canterlot residents had fled in the opposite direction and into the closest home or shop. The Gunker howled as he saw his new victims. A new sense of fear entered all except the Gunker. The Changelings and Royal Guards all looked across at each other, hoping that one might have an idea of what to do. They all held their battle poses though and ready to fight

The Gunker immediately turned its attention to the very front, between Ben and Shining Armor, and released an almighty roar. The roar was deafening. Ben, the Royal Guards and the Changelings all stumbled and howled in pain, covering their ears from the pinching pain. Ben had never heard such a horrible noise in all his life. He yelled in pain and dropped on his right knee, his Hammerburst slipping from his grasp and landing flight on its side. The Changelings hissed in hostile towards the Gunker, but still did they retreat in fear and pain of its cry. Shining Armor and his Royal Guards didn’t fare any better. Most had dropped their spears and clenched their ears from within their helmets. Shining Armor found the pain excruciating. With a ferocious and warrior cry, he resisted the pain surging through his head and grasped his spear firmly with his magic. Focusing primarily on the chest of the giant abomination, Shining Armor commanded his magic to thrust the spear with brute force. In the blink of an eye, the spear penetrated deep within the chest of the Gunker.

Shining Armor smiled at his accuracy but his happiness was short lived when the Gunker appeared completely unscathed by the spear. Again the Gunker made a sound. However, the sound was a low grunt of frustration and anger. It was its turn to strike. Without warning, the Gunker suddenly unleashed a giant bomb of imulsion straight towards Ben and Shining Armor. Ben and Shining Armor only stared at the imulsion bomb for a few seconds before quickly leaping out of the way. Any of the Royal Guards or Changelings behind them backed up as quickly as they could to avoid the noxious acid. Ben landed with a thud as did Shining Armor. However, howls of pain soon sliced their way into Ben and Shining Armor’s ears. They turned to see that three unlucky Royal Guards were suffering from the fatal consequence from the imulsion. Large chunks of the explosion from the bomb had smothered one of the guard’s sides. Ben could almost hear over the screams the hissing and splashing the imulsion emitted as it burned through the armour and his flesh. It had melted all the way to the bone, which made Ben shiver from the horrid sight. The guard was silent after a few more seconds. Another guard was just as unfortunate. His eyes, now bleeding with a mixture of red blood and yellow imulsion, were scorched from their sockets. The third was not as unlucky, for only his right fore-hoof and leg had been touched by the imulsion. A couple of Changelings and Royal Guards were quick to drag the injured away. The others, including Ben and Shining Armor, were mortified!
“Holy shit,” Ben thought to himself.

The sight was gruesome and Ben couldn’t think of anything else other than the dying guards in front of him. His mind wondered as he thought back to all the gore he had seen ever since he was signed to Marcus Fenix and his squad. From the Locust and COG brutally- even himself at one point- brutally curb-stomping each other or snapping necks and whatever else his mind dared remember. Before Ben could remember any more violent fatalities, the Gunker had taken its first step from where it had hatched. The stomp was violent and shaky, causing the Changelings and Royal Guards to wobble and fall slightly. Ben turned to stare at the Gunker. He noticed that it was slightly at his side now from where he had jumped and stumbled to his left. His Hammerburst was just inches in front of him, and without it Ben felt completely exposed and weak. The Changelings had released hisses and buzzes of intimidation towards the Gunker. Their efforts were obviously futile. It was when the Gunker had taken another giant step forward that the battle truly commenced.

The Royal Guards yelled and most had thrown their spears at the Gunker. Most of their spears missed whilst others bounced off the Gunker like rubber. And only the tiny few had actually succeeded in piercing through the hard shell of the Gunker. One significant spear had directly stabbed its way into the imulsion weak spot on the Gunker’s chest. Enraged, the giant monster used its mutated right arm and sliced at a group of Royal Guards. Its right arm, during the course of the mutation, had moulded with the butcher’s cleaver. It could stretch at a ridiculous distance and was extremely deadly giving the power of the Gunker. The attack sliced one of the guard’s forelegs; the attack had completely decapitated the leg from the body. Blood squirted everywhere. It landed on the floor, on the face of one petrified Changeling and on the shiny armour of other guards. Deciding to take offensive action, Shining Armor yelled at the Royal Guards and Changelings to circle around the Gunker.

“We need to zero this thing and avoid the front at all costs. Alright guards, you take the left and right flanks. If any of you have lost your spears then go retrieve them or find new ones. Any guard with a spear keep the monster back as much as you can. If the situation becomes too extreme, move and find a better position. Lean forward, jab, and move straight back. Go for the legs to slow the beast and aim for the giant yellow areas. They seem to be the weak spot. Do not get caught out! I need any Unicorns to stay behind the spears. Use your magic to distract, blind and damage the monster. Changelings, I know I’m not your queen or captain but if you want to live then you better do as exactly as I say! Take the rear and wait for-“Shining Armor had already started moving whilst issuing out his orders, like a true captain. Within seconds, the Royal Guards and Changelings had already mobilised to Shining Armor’s commands. However, he was cut off when the moaning Gunker aimed towards him and jabbed his cleaver at his head.

Shining Armor moved as quickly as a mantis would strike; in the blink of an eye. He rolled to his left and landed next to Ben who was picking himself up and loading a clip into his Hammerburst. They looked at each other for a brief moment before the sounds of enormous pain shrieked its way from the Gunker. They turned to see that the Royal Guards were obeying their orders. The Royal Guards had formed a semi-circle around the Gunker. The Royal Guards used their spears to jab away at the legs and weak spots-avoiding the giant weak spot on its chest-whilst the Unicorns stood behind their comrades and fired away. Their magic appeared to do significant damage and effect to the Gunker, slowing him down and blinding him at certain times. Whenever the Gunker proceeded to either turn its body completely around to face a certain group of ponies, or when it would turn the top of its spine slightly to face them, the Changelings and Royal Guards would swiftly move around it to avoid its haunting blade. However, it was not so simple. Some guards lagged behind and were caught out by the deadly cleaver. Despite the tactic, only the magic appeared to be doing the most effective damage in distracting the Gunker. It was Ben and his Hammerburst that really gave the warriors an edge over the Gunker.

Ben open fired at the yellow weakness of the Gunker, which had some positive results. The Gunker released howls of pain. It found it incredibly hard to focus on Ben and the Royal Guards at the same time since it was being attacked in all directions. Ben found himself shaking from the adrenaline that he usually felt whenever he went into battle. He was smiling…but he was worried at the same time. He was forgetting something about the stalk behind the guards. As he proceeded to insert another clip into his gun, he noticed the single pod on the stalk began to leak furiously with imulsion. Large plops of the yellow liquid landed with a splat as a Lambent Drone erected from the pod. The word ‘shit’ and ‘crap’ echoed and buzzed around Ben’s mind as he realised what he couldn’t remember. The pods had to be destroyed.

The Lambent Drone, behind the distracted Changelings and Royal Guards, open fired immediately upon the large force. Two Changelings dropped dead whilst a couple of bullets deflected off some of the guards’ armour. When the back of the squad realised that more alien creatures had appeared behind them, they broke the formation in order to deal with them. Less and less attacked the Gunker and more and more Lambent spawned from the single pod. Because of the giant Gunker, Ben couldn’t aim correctly at the pod without having to move in order to avoid being hit. Around him he saw how the fighting was getting out of hand. A couple of Lambent Drones had cornered a group of defenceless Changelings, only to have its chest penetrated by a spear. A Royal Guard smiled as he issued for them to run. However before they could do so, another Lambent Drone found its way behind the guard and snapped his neck. The Changelings stared in horror at the sight. But one summoned the courage and charged forward, ramming into the legs of the Lambent Drone. It fell with a massive ‘thud’. With the beast down, the group of Changelings made a break for it.

A Royal Guard Unicorn charged his horn with intensifying magic. He aimed at a group of Lambent Drones and unleashed the electric beam. They cried for a few seconds before exploding into the non-existent. A Changeling rammed itself into another Lambent Drone that tried sneaking up on the Unicorn. With the Unicorn’s assistance, he quickly put the Lambent Drone out of its misery and helped the Changeling onto his feet. Sudden bullet, swishing past their ears, caused them to duck and seek shelter. Ben himself was forced to flee away slightly from the Gunker and aid any guards or Changelings that required his assistance.

Aiming down his sight, Ben fired upon two Lambent Drones that had injured three Royal Guards. He continued to survey his surroundings, trying to find an opening where he could get a clear shot on the pod. If things continued as they did, the Royal Guards, the Changelings, Ben, and all of Canterlot would be overwhelmed by the Gunker and the Lambent Drones. Cries and sounds of metal filled Ben’s ears as he continued to manoeuvre around the battlefield. His attention was suddenly caught when a Royal Guard had tripped trying to drag his comrade away. One single Lambent Drone slowly slithered its way towards him. Ben felt his immediate instinct kick in to help him. But all that changed when he failed to realise that he had been standing still for too long. The Gunker, seizing the opportunity, flung one of its imulsion bombs towards Ben. It landed a few meters away from him and caused him to fly back slightly and crash into the solid ground. Large amounts of pain and throbbing infected its way into Ben’s head and body. His vision was obscured and hazy. In the haze, he could see Lambent killing guards, guards killing Lambent. The guards and Changelings were slowly losing ground to the Lambent, and the Gunker had slowly, very slowly, started to tumble its way towards Ben with means to execute him. But slightly to his right, Ben could see the pod on the stalk. He could very easily shoot it without having anything to get in his way.

Slowly, Ben began to drag himself towards the middle of the battlefield, where a good amount of corpses lay. The fighting between the guards and the Lambent had taken itself behind the stalk after a good few minutes. Ben rose to his feet, hearing the Gunker slowly tracking him from behind. Not turning around, Ben continued to stumble towards the stalk. His pace was slightly faster than the Gunker. He had dropped his Hammerburst from when the Gunker had caught him off guard. Reaching for his Snub pistol above his thigh, Ben, very distortedly, aimed at the single pod.

He fired his first couple of shots. Two hit the pod whilst the others missed. The Gunker continued to tread its way forward. Ben fired again. His hearing was not perfect but he could hear the clashes in front of him, but it sounded as if it were miles away. He also heard the thumping and distorted groans of the Gunker, trudging forward to end him. Ben felt his body weakening. His mind was betraying him as was his eyes and legs. He tried to focus. He tried so hard to stay awake and destroy the single pod. Squeezing his eyes, summoning his final energy and slowly repeating the sentence ‘c’mon’, Ben fired his final shot…
Shining Armor was fighting desperately against the Lambent Drones. He lunged his spear forward at a Lambent Drone that had its back turned. Right before exploding, the Lambent Drone released a cry of pain. Weak amounts of imulsion blood splattered across his face and armour. What Shining Armor failed to realise was that another Lambent Drone had killed another Royal Guard that was covering his flank. The Lambent Drone edged his way forward and aimed his rifle at the distracted Shining Armor…but to no avail!

Hearing the explosion, Shining Armor turned to see that the Lambent Drone had exploded. Looking around him, he could see arrows! The arrows were in the shape of lightning bolts and were coloured mainly dark blue, but the outline held a shining purple colour. More and more of the Lambent Drones exploded into pieces as more and more arrows penetrated them. Looking up into the distance, just in front of the castle, Shining Armor could see a large group of ponies. These ponies were Royal Guards just like him. However, they were darkened and wore purple armour instead of golden. There was a group a hundred strong whizzing straight towards them. Shining Armor smiled as he saw that Princess Luna’s Royal Night Guards had come to their aid. She must have called upon them when she and the others fled into the castle. All of the Royal Night Guards carried beautiful dark bows. The string itself was a dark black colour. The main colour that painted the bow was purple with little twinkles over the purple painting. Their deadly arrows continued to hiss through the air as they caught more and more Lambent Drones. Once they were close enough, they could see the giant Gunker in front of the stalk looking towards them. And in front of that was Ben shooting at the pod on the stalk. Shining Armor also noticed this.
“You know what to do,” Shining Armor roared towards the Royal Night Guards. They quickly nodded and rushed towards the Gunker.

The final bullet in Ben’s Snub pistol connected with the pod. In a quick motion, the pod exploded and the stalk quickly died. In front Ben could see a large amount of black dots, nearly a hundred, form in long rows that stretched beyond his vision. And from in the distance, Ben could hear a single voice. The voice was very familiar and was filled with worry and regret. It was Shining Armor. He cried for Ben to move out of the way. The screams continued to penetrate his mind until it fully awoke him from his depersonalised state. Again, Shining Armor’s voice echoed for him to move. Without thinking, Ben leaped to his left and crashed through a door as to his means of escape. With Ben out of the way and the Gunker at a safe distance, the one hundred strong archers all loaded a lightning shaped arrow and pulled it back as far as they could. Their hawk eye visions were aimed straight at the chest of the distant Gunker. All other Lambent were dead. Shining Armor trotted underneath the hovering archers. All were hovering in the air in four rows, twenty five in each row. Shining Armor’s breathing was heavy and frustrated. It was fuelled with anger and rage. With one final look at the Gunker, he released the command.
“Loose!” Instantly, the archers released their arrows. The sounds of one hundred arrows plucking from the strings and zipping through the air filled their ears. With deadly force, the arrows completely covered and pulverised the Gunker. Dying screams roared and howled through the air as the Gunker slowly died. Its body started to glow yellow as its life in Equestria slowly ticked away. The Royal Guards, Shining Armor and the Changelings all watched as the Gunker suddenly exploded into giant imulsion puddles.

It was over!

Author's Note

Hey guys, I hope you're enjoying this story as much as I am. I also hope you enjoyed that ass kicking chapter! I would just like to ask if any of you guys and girls, dogs, cats, dragons, alicorns, and so on, wouldn't happen to know any artists about that I can get in touch with?

I'm just looking for someone who wouldn't mind doing a cover art for this story. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Stay tuned for more Carmine kicking ass action!