My Little Carmines

Whilst Celestia had departed shortly with the Mayor of Ponyville to discuss issues over what had just happened and about Ben living in Ponyville, the young Gear decided to take a small stroll around the alerted town of Ponyville. The small town had been shaken fully awake from the onslaught of the Lambent. Every single pony that Benjamin walked past either stared at him in curiosity or hid in fear as they were still cautious of him. Most of the town seemed perfectly normal except for the small area where he battled the unknown creatures that he believed to have looked a lot like the Locust Drones.

Benjamin constantly looked left and right at the small town. A lot of the ponies seemed hesitant to look at him directly in the eyes. Then again, a foreign being in rock hard armour, loud and terrifying weaponry and bright glowing blue eyes from the helmet did make him come across as a dangerous being in general. Ben, of course, was a soldier and a killer. His actions were deadly and ferocious for pony eyes but they were necessary as the Lambent Drones would have executed them without mercy. Ben couldn't shake the thought of the yellow glowing liquid that was pouring from the creatures. The more Ben thought about it, the more he seemed to believe that the yellow substance looked a lot like the imulsion fuel that he and a lot of humans had used back on Sera.

Crossing another street, Ben entered a street that had a bakery that was labelled 'Sugarcube Corner' and seemed very bright in colour. Sugarcube corner was very bright and attractive in colour. The mixture of pink, brown, purple, white and the top design of the building made out to look like cupcakes made the building seem almost like a child's dream house. Ben, from underneath his helmet, smiled at the unique appearance of Sugarcube corner. It certainly wasn't anything that you would find, even before 'Emergence Day', within the land of Sera. However, despite the odd appearance, Ben felt somewhat relaxed by its visual elements. The spatial elements isolated the bakery from the rest of the ordinary homes which meant that there was a lot of room for massive crowds to walk around. Probably, the bakery was one of the main attractions of the town and therefore required a certain amount of space away from the homes so that there was enough room for all the ponies to walk and shop.

Slowly, Ben moved his head down and looked at the bottom left window. A small figure was staring at him through the glass. Ben tried to look closer at the small figure that stood by the window but he had no luck. As he slowly walked towards the window, the little figure became clearer through the small light shining from inside the bakery. From appearance, the small figure was a little orange coat foal that stared at him in a mixture of curiosity and uncertainty. The giant azure eyes of the baby foal continued to stare at him as he slowly moved forward towards the window. However, another figure appeared behind the baby foal and picked the foal up and moved away. The light suddenly went out.

"Are you lost, Benjamin Carmine?" A sudden voice asked. Ben screamed in fear and fell to the ground as he turned around. Luna laughed at the young rookie and apologised for scaring him. Ben laughed hesitantly as he pulled himself together.

"Whoa…uh, hey, how did you-"Ben started before Luna unfolded her wings in front of him.

"Alicorns such as me and my sister are granted the ability to fly and possess greater powers than the average unicorn," Luna explained whilst Ben hushed himself down. "You said in your world, Benjamin Carmine, that magic does not exist in any way…is that correct?"

"Uh, yeah I said that. Why?" Ben asked.

"I find it hard to imagine how in your world, such forces such as the sun, the moon and the weather are simply left to be controlled on their on free will. Within the Everfree forest, the weather and animals run on their own time and are not controlled by our magic. The beings within the haunting forest are very feral and dangerous, Benjamin Carmine, so how has an intelligent being such as yourself survived in a world where it contains a similar context of the Everfree forest?" Luna asked, staring at him with the taste of knowledge and curiosity.

Ben thought about what Luna had just said to him. He tried to figure out where to begin with answering the question.

"Well, I guess we used a lot of machines to do stuff for us." Benjamin replied.

"Tell me about the human machinery. How does it differ compared to the small machinery of Equestria?" Luna asked, intrigued further.

"Well, we have cars and stuff which take us to places where we need to be which is faster than walking. Cars, helicopters, phones, you name it. It made life easier I guess, but we use machinery to help the COG in battles and stuff. Some stuff is pretty awesome!" Ben told.

"Such devices that you currently possess are what you make for your 'COG' army?" Luna asked again. Without realising, they had already started walking blindly around Ponyville whilst engaged in their conversation.

"Oh this? No, no, no, this is not ours. This is what a Locust would use. We have something much, much cooler!" Ben stated with a hint of excitement in his voice. "We use a Lancer. It's got some awesome chainsaw thing at the end which is really useful when the Locust get a little too close. I guess, from what I heard, when the Locust first attacked us, we had a rifle similar to the Lancer but it was called a 'Retro-Lancer of some sort. It had some huge blade at the end but it wasn't good against the Locust."

"These Locust creatures that you speak of…what are they? And why do you want to…kill each other so bad?" A hint of worry slowly sank into Luna's voice as her eyes poisoned themselves with sadness.

Ben stopped for a short moment. He turned and looked at the princess of the night.

"I dunno why they want to kill us so bad, but they just want to for some reason. I never listen to what the COG soldiers said back on Sera. Although, I did listen to some rumours. Check this, one guy in basic, he thought that they came from 'Risea' or one of the moons and that they feed on Imulsion. But the truth was that they were living under us the whole time! But seriously, the Locust are scary, man. They're big, scaly and have some freaky faces! Clayton, my brother, seemed the bravest of us when we were signing up for the COG. Hell, I wish I was as brave as him. "Ben replied. He didn't exactly give the exact answer to Luna's question, but it was still as useful for her to know.

Ben and Luna stopped when they had realised that they had been walking idly around. They found themselves next to the Ponyville spa where two ponies from a window were looking at them. They both looked exactly like one another with the exception of their mane and coat colour. One possessed a blue painted coat and a silky pink mane whilst the colour pattern of the other pony was switched from the first pony. Their faces were of a mixture glee and curiosity.

It was then that Ben had thought of something.

"You said you were an 'Alicorn' right?" He asked.

"That is correct, Benjamin Carmine," Luna responded.

"Well…if you can fly and do magic…then why are there these flying ponies and unicorns?"

"Ah, so you wish to know about the history of Equestria!" Luna said with glee. "Very well, I shall tell you."

"Actually I-"Ben tried to say. However Luna had already started explaining, so he sighed and decided to listen.

"Before my sister and I ruled Equestria, it was firstly divided into three tribes: the Earth, the Unicorns and the Pegasi. The Earth tribe knew how to plant and grow food, but the Unicorns controlled day and night and the Pegasi controlled the weather. They demanded food from the Earth tribe if they wished for the weather to remain right and for the sun to rise and set. Clearly there was mistrust between the three tribes. This mistrust led to a mysterious blizzard across the land which led to famine. The three tribes left the land and searched for a new, but the place that they were happy with was the same place that their enemies had chosen which led them to arguing as to who the land belonged to.

This hatred caused the wind to follow and blanket their land in thick snow. The assistants of the three leaders had found out that it was 'Windigos' causing the blizzard through feeding on their hatred. The assistants' friendship created the magical Fire of Friendship which rid away the Windigos and the snowstorm. The three leaders then decide to join forces and found a country shared by all three tribes, and name it Equestria."

Ben stared at the princess of the night. He was clearly intrigued by Equestria's history.

"Whoa! That's awesome!" Ben exclaimed.

"Yes…but then a tyrant soon took over the rule of Equestria. His name was Discord and he was the master of madness and chaos. Before me and my sister stood up to his reign, he kept Equestria under unrest and unhappiness. He found torturing the ponies with his chaos and mind games hugely amusing. However, when I and Celestia stood up to his wrath, we discovered the 'Elements of Harmony' and used them to capture Discord within a stone prison. But he escaped his prison and was free for a second time. But it was the courage and the bravery of Twilight Sparkle and her friends that captured Discord in a second stone prison."

Ben stood silent as Luna looked out at the sky. Celestia's sun was slowly starting to sink below the Everfree forest. Luna's horn started to light as she suddenly hovered into the air. Ben looked on in a mixture of uncertainty, amazement and panic at the same time.

A bright blue aura began to shape around Princess Luna as her horn grew brighter. An illusion of a moon painted itself behind Luna as her eyes suddenly blossomed a beautiful white colour. The performance of magic only lasted a few moments before the bright white moon erected into the sky. Luna slowly levitated back onto the soil and turned to look at the awe-struck rookie. She cleared her throat to snap his attention awake.

"That…was…amazing!" Ben said, at loss with words.

Luna turned her eyes away, blushing from the compliment.

"Why thank you, Benjamin Carmine." She replied happily.

Before another word was exchanged, Princess Celestia had flown directly towards the pair and landed beside her sister.

"Evening sister, and Carmine," Celestia started. Ben let off a weak and small salute whist Luna nodded towards her sister. "Benjamin Carmine, the discussion over staying in Ponyville has come to a negative decision. There is simply no room in this town for you to stay in. So therefore, I have made it my decision that you have been granted a room within Canterlot castle."

Luna smiled and Benjamin simply stood as if nothing special had happened.

"This is at least some good news for us, sister," Luna started, "Benjamin Carmine can tell you the past of his people as he has done with me. Some is interesting whilst others are…most cruel."

"Ah, great!" Ben thought to himself, not happy with the idea of having to rethink everything about the COG and Sera.