My Little Carmines

Chapter 7: Tensions

The ride back to Canterlot was short and quick for Benjamin. Throughout most of the rid, he was staring down at the ground below him. However, it was Luna that constantly stared between him and then back outside the window. A new carriage had been sent from Canterlot to escort the princesses back since their first one was obliterated by the Lambent. Luna couldn't help but wonder about the mysterious human being. From his personality, she could tell easily that he was a rookie among his ranks from his lack of disciplined behaviour. However, his green as grass nature put a smile on Luna's face as he was indeed a curious being with much to tell about his race and his home. Also, he had saved her life from the yellow mutant whom had so beastly clutched Luna's mane and attempted to end her life.

The haunting image of what Luna remembered inflicted her with great fear. From what she remembered, a filthy and hideous face with poisonous glowing eyes stared at her with the lust to murder her. She still felt the throbbing pain from where the creature had so heavily clutched her mane. Luna reached for her the back of her head to the root of where the pain was indicating itself to be. Luckily, she had not lost that part of her mane but the pain was growing every time Luna thought about it. Her sister noticed the pain in Luna's eyes and gently rubbed her head against Luna's.

"Are you okay, Luna?" She asked with concern.

"I am fine, sister," Luna responded lightly.

Ben continued to stare out the carriage at the sights of Equestria. Clearly, he was too fascinated with the sights to have been noticing the quiet conversation with the two royal princesses.

"What do you think of this Benjamin character?" Celestia asked her sister quietly as if it were a big secret.

"He is…strange. He possesses a personality which is kind, gentle and caring but claims to be a soldier from his world. It does not fit together for him. Compared to our Royal Guards back at the castle who are very will disciplined, Benjamin Carmine seems carefree about situations," Luna responded quietly.

"I see," Celestia replied, "but his actions back at Ponyville proved that he is brave and courageous against those monsters."

Luna shredded once more at the thought of the yellow mutant that nearly ended her life. But her thoughts changed when she concentrated on her saviour. Benjamin had been the one to have saved Luna by ending the monster's life with his Long-shot sniper rifle. If not for Ben's action, Luna would have been dragged out into the open and become exposed. Luna did not want to think of what the monster would have done to her if Ben had not been there.

"Yes, sister, his actions did save me from a certain awful fate. What would we have done if not for the actions of Benjamin Carmine, sister? Our poor guards' lives were robbed by those monsters. We had no guards left other than Benjamin Carmine," Luna continued. She switched her eyes between the distracted rook and her sister.

"We could have used our magic to stop them, Luna. However, I fear that these monsters cannot simply be stopped by the power of our magic. Also, I could have saved if I wasn't so afraid of these hideous creatures," Celestia sadly responded. A tone of guilt was easily noticeable for Luna and she rubbed her head against her sister's.

"Do not fell bad for what you could have done, sister, I was just as scared as you were," Luna sighed.

The sound of wheels suddenly hitting the ground alerted the princesses as they looked outside to find that they had arrived at Canterlot. Once the carriage had reached the Canterlot castle, Princess Celestia and Luna noticed that there were a row of guards waiting for their arrival. When the two princesses and the one COG soldier exited the carriage, they noticed that the Canterlot castle drawbridge was down and that there were two figures waiting for them.

One their left, there stood another Alicorn. She possessed a dark violet mane with moderate rose and golden streaks and her coat was a beautiful pink colour. Her eyes were a greyish purple but they had the power to melt any heart that they met. Her cutie mark revealed itself to be a teal crystal heart within a golden lace. Wrapped around her horn was a ring. On their right was a male unicorn that also had a ring on his horn. He held a simple charming look in his moderate blue eyes but they showed his character as being one of charm and kindness, but at the same time seriousness and strength. He held a simple white coat and owned a cutie mark that had a shield with one big purple star in the middle and three smaller blue ones above it.

They were none other than Princess Cadance and Shining Armor.

As Cadance and Shining Armor walked towards the three, both gasped at the dreadful state that they were all in. Both Luna and Celestia's manes were a mess and there was imulsion covered over Benjamin Carmine's suit. They quickly rushed over to the three.

"Goodness! Are you okay?" Cadance asked with worry.

"Don't worry, Cadance, we're fine," Celestia responded calmly with a smile on her face, "but we have a serious issue that we need to talk about right now!"

"What are covered in?" Shining Amor questioned to Benjamin. He was glaring at his armour that was covered in imulsion that had dried itself during the ride to Canterlot.

"Ew, gross!" Ben cried out aloud as he stared at his armour in disbelief, "what is this?" Ben moaned aloud. The three princesses had already begun walking into the castle but Shining Armor had held Benjamin to have a word with him.

"What happened back in Ponyville?" Shining Armor questioned the young rook. His voice turned sharp and hostile.

"Well, they were meant to be having a party or something like that for me, but these two massive things just came up from the ground and then these things dropped out and started shooting everything," Ben responded.

"What! Is every pony okay? What about my sister, Twilight, is she alright?" Shining Armor questioned with a mixture of fear, anger and worry.

"Most were okay…but-"Benjamin started.

"Is Twilight okay!?" Shining Armor repeated louder and deadlier.

"Whoa! Yeah she's fine. But two of those guards were killed…sorry man," Benjamin said sadly and innocently.

An awkward silence suddenly exploded between Shining Armor and Benjamin Carmine. Shining Armor stared at Benjamin with the obvious look of mistrust and hostility. Shining Armor did not trust the human. He was a foreign creature in their world that was not new to violence and does have the courage to take a life. Shining Armor didn't like the fact that he hardly knew anything about these creatures that attacked Ponyville and the princesses, and he also disliked his lack of knowledge on Benjamin Carmine and his species as a total. He didn't know if Benjamin was actually a friend of theirs or if it was a bluff and he was an evil being with the means to hurt and destroy. The fact that two of his guards were dead, as well as the injured princesses to add, made Shining Armor more suspicious of Benjamin and he wasn't going to accept him as easily as the rest did.

"How…did my guards die?" Shining Armor asked with sadness, slight rage and curiosity.

"Some things just jumped out of this giant stalk thingy and started shooting at us. When I killed them, I saw two of em on the floor with bullet holes. One was straight through the head and the other had three in his chest," Ben replied casually.

"Just how did you deal with these things which my guards couldn't handle?" Shining Armor questioned, his voice growing angrier by the minute.

"I used my rifle," Ben said as he pulled out his Longshot rifle," pretty awesome, huh?"

"What did you say your name was again?" Shining Armor quickly asked.

"Ben."

"Listen, Ben, I don't know exactly what happened out in Ponyville today, but what I do know is that there is something I simply do not like about your presence here in Equestria. Two of my guards are dead today, and you were the one there at the time of their deaths. I don't know whether a 'giant thing' really did appear out of nowhere but your story does not add up. I will let you wonder around freely here in Canterlot but I and my guards will be watching you very closely. Maybe I am wrong…but I know danger when I see it, and you are definitely a danger to every pony around us. If another pony is innocently murdered with you around, then you will be held responsible!" Shining Armor stated before barging past the young rook.

"The hell's your problem?" Ben called back at the angered captain. Shining Armor ignored his protest and continued to march on. The other guards stared at the young human with the same look as their captain. Not noticing the looks, Ben decided to wonder around the city of Canterlot in order to try and forget Shining Armor's threat.