My Little Carmines

Chapter 8: "Welcome to Canterlot, dear chap!"

The city streets of Canterlot held a fabric of beauty and amazement for Ben. Being so used to the waves of destroyed rubble and gloomy atmosphere, the bright and rather rich taste that Canterlot elaborated itself with was rather weird and unnatural for Ben, but that did not mean he didn't enjoy it. However, he felt rather self conscious and awkward at the fact that the inhabitants of Canterlot were not too warm welcoming with his sudden arrival into the upper rich cultural city, and the fact that he realised that he had the Royal Guards trying to follow him around at a distance didn't help him feel any better. As he slowly walked through the streets, he watched as different ponies walked around with their eyes closed and their heads held high as if they held some form of a social importance and wanted to seek the attention of others in order to show off their wealth. Others positioned themselves for some expensive and well made tea and cake while they spoke of matters which most probably did not interest the young gear. What activities they were doing was not of interest to Carmine, but what did catch his attention was all the ungrateful eyes and attention he was receiving from them. Most, after staring with curiosity, spat a sign of disgust towards him while they walked past him like he was some form of slave or degenerate. Despite their cruel behaviour, their dress was some what strange and mildly amusing for Ben. He could have sworn he saw one of ponies wearing a feathery bird on their heads.

Ben continued to walk slowly through more of the streets, and still he received the glares of curiosity of some of the upper class but most seemed to have the initiative to consider their presence too worthy for him. But what Ben noticed the most, from the gathering of neatly laughing posh ponies, was one particular pony that stood in the middle of the crowd with a jolly smile on his face. His features were bright and cheerful: a bright azure mane, accompanied by azure eyes, a mixture of a white and light grey coat and a tuxedo fitted from his neck to his stomach. There were three golden crowns with purple jewels in the middle of them which resembled his cutie mark. The unicorn seemed friendly from his appearance and his smile gave off as one of those respectable tolerating types that do not judge upon first appearance. From what Ben could see, the unicorn was suddenly looking at him, but his reaction was different compared to the other ponies around Canterlot. His look was a half smile with a glint of extreme curiosity in both his sparkling eyes. And then, he slowly and calmly walked over to the young soldier.

"I say," he began with a high tone to show his curiosity beckoning further, "who might you be?"

"I'm Private Benjamin Carmine…and you are?" Benjamin replied with a question of his own.

"Wow indeed, you do speak of our language. You must be an intelligent young fellow! Oh I beg your pardon how rude of me! I am Fancypants, a pleasure to meet you, Mr Benjamin." Fancypants replied jovially.

"Uh, thanks I guess."

"Do mind me asking, but what are you; if I may ask?"

"I'm a soldier for the COG army; that's 'Coalition of Ordered Governments…I think."

"How interesting, Benjamin Carmine, but what I meant was your species."

"Oh! I'm a human."

"A human, you say? How rather interesting! We've never encountered such beings as a 'human' in all of Equestria. Don't mind me saying but you are clearly quite the eye catcher when it comes down to it. I believe that it is your unique appearance. Tell me, chap, is that your style of dress or your actual flesh and bone?"

Carmine didn't know what to think of this strange character that he had just met, but somehow he liked him thanks to his polite behaviour; but at the same time the behaviour did bother him to an extent. He was by far the friendliest pony that he had met in Canterlot, but that was the very problem. He seemed too friendly. Benjamin couldn't figure out why exactly this particular upper class pony was being so nice to him, and what made the situation more disturbing was the fact that the ponies that had so earlier spat hideous looks towards him suddenly painted smiles on their faces. It was getting too weird for him as they suddenly accepted him as if they had known him as a life long friend. Their smiles, from what they believed, seemed to be comforting but to Ben they seemed just creepy. His side track made him suddenly realise that he had been asked a question and quickly responded.

"Oh you mean this? Nah, it's my uniform."

"I see. So, Mr Carmine, what brings you to Canterlot?"

"The princesses brought me and said that I needed to explain some things that happened a while ago…oh crap!" Ben thought to himself as he had forgotten that Princess Celestia wanted to speak to him earlier.

"You know the princesses!?"

"Yeah, and I was supposed to meet one of them right now!"

"Oh my, well you better hurry along, old sport."

"I'm way ahead of ya."

"Oh and Mr Benjamin," Fancypants cried out which caused Ben to turn around one more time, "I have a private box for the Wonderbolt derby. I would be honoured if you could attend. I would like you to meet some very important ponies that would be interested in you."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Ben replied too quickly that he didn't acknowledge what he was saying.

"And welcome to Canterlot, dear chap!"

OXO

"Lissssssssssten, you foolsssss! Our massssster hasss ordered an elite attack at the closssssest town, Ponyville, in order to expand our headquarters. Massster Discord hasss ordered for a Berserker with a large attack force. If we want to conquer thisss land then we mussst ssstrike now!"

A large range of frontline Drones were lined up and cheering incoherently as the captain of their army spoke of Discord's plans for dominating Equestria and removing Celestia from the throne. Discord had already informed Kreikie, from his experience, that Ponyville was a small and unguarded town that contained the Elements of Harmony. Discord had strictly informed Kreikie that he wanted all six of them alive, but captured quickly before they could gain their necklaces and the single crown that belonged to Twilight Sparkle. The rest of the inhabitants were to be executed on sight and with no mercy. A total of four hundred Drones had been organised for the assault on the small town. Kreikie did question, however, why his master had chosen such a weak and feeble town for their first target, but refused to question further as he had faith in his 'god' and would show his full support for his methods and ideologies. Kreikie preached and bellowed the very words that Discord had told him and he wanted to make sure that the less intelligent Locust understood fully what was going to happen. He watched intensively as the Locust loaded their weapons and how nearly twenty to thirty Drones were trying to attach a chain to one of the Berserkers while it ferociously swung its massive fists in blind rage.

From what Discord had told him, he wanted the town to be destroyed to the ground and left as a symbol and warning of the chaos that the Locust could spread. It would also be a sign of the nearing victory for Discord and his Locust army. The dead bodies laid in between the rubble would be a fear striking symbol of the ponies' peril under the Locust boot. However, Discord had thoroughly informed the captain that the ponies they came across, whether they're survivors from the Ponyville massacre or ponies randomly met on the roads then would be captured by the Locust Horde and enslaved as their workers. Kreikie liked the idea of watching the suffering of the inferior species and how it would be pleasurable watching their faces squirm under their dictatorship and authority. They would provide an amazing source of entertainment for them whenever they were bored.

Kreikie's thoughts made the time travel at a ridiculous speed as he realised that the Berserker had been tamed and the Drones were ready to move out. He nodded his head in approval at the gate guards who nodded back and slowly began to rotate the lever. The two giant wooden gate doors slowly stretched open and made a loud 'thud' when they hit the walls. The Berserker, for the safety of the Drones, was the first to leave the gates before being followed by the entire force. There was a chant and a couple of cheers before Kreikie was the last one to exit the gates before they closed. He wanted to witness the onslaught first hand so that he could deliver the successful news to his master.

An evil smile stabbed its way onto his filthy face.