Byzantium

Carmine looked on beyond Precipice of the hill top at the village below. Massive wooden fences and stone ruins were scattered bellow the bulwark, below even the very bastion in which the entire village stood on. The modified Motte and Bailey design of the village was wholly considered one of the most steadfast and indestructible forms of protection against the monsters of the outside world. Rather than having massive wooden pikes risen from the ground and moats, however, the village was composed mainly of limestone and sandstone serving as a fortress against the outside forces.

At the top of the village, overlooking the entirety of nearly the entire forest stood the Everfree Prefecture's keep with the Silverspear and the Blackblade citadels on either side of it. Most if not all of the Prefecture's residents were mainly composed of dukes, chamberlains, barons, counts and of course, individuals in which Carmine himself loathed to his very core, Bishops and Saints of the Goddesses.

Despite being called the Pony's Republic of the Province of Everfree, it was more of a theocracy to be exact. Codes of conduct, laws, trials and nearly every aspect of political ordeals were dominated by the church of the Goddesses. Everypony believed that they were under the care of some divine Providence, no matter what happened, it was always up to the Goddesses to fix it, and nopony else lifted a single hoof to even help reach a resolution to the crisis at hoof and it was all thanks to the Divine Syndicate at the head of the Everfree council.

It was one of the many things Carmine hated about Everfree. Growing up, he was taught that the Goddesses were the only reason they were alive that very day. Give to the goddesses and they shall give back. In this case it was complete and utter spiritual, physical, mental, and psychological surrender to the divine mistresses. He'd eventually began to question their very existence and soon enough began to not only not believe in, but also despise and estrange nearly any and all aspects or even hindrances of the Goddesses. A main factor to this being the many strict rules and the 'Divine Code' limiting him from doing many things that he thought should be done by an independent, young colt if he wanted to. It was also the fact that the church system was even more so corrupted than the slums of the city itself, which was controlled by guild lords, prostitute barns and the drug traders. Church officials had the rights to any young virgin they had set their eyes on in the name of 'Divine Conception' as sacrifices to the goddesses. Daily taxes were collected from every citizen, in the name of the Goddesses, though the church officials sat atop their bedchambers, showered in gold and luxurious furnishings, stuffing their fat flanks off with cheese and wine while young fillies and foals beneath them taxed themselves and strained every fiber of their being just for a measly half bit, not even enough to buy bread scraps. Indulgences and Indictments were sold at extremely high prices. Indulgences ultimately conned the masses into believing that they were tickets out of Tartarus, the minute they held an Indulgence, they were free to commit any sin they wished and were made to believe that they were free from the depths of Tartarus itself the minute they died and were free to join the goddesses in Luxens, the home of eternal pleasure and light for those who obeyed the goddesses accordingly and who's hearts were of goodness and peace. Indictments were quite the opposite, however. If anypony saw 'corruption' or 'evil' within another pony, they'd buy an Indictment and basically damn that pony to Tartarus for the rest of eternity, though they weren't used for that at all, but rather for personal grudges and rising hatreds among the corrupted, but misguided and manipulated masses. Indictments and Indulgences counteracted each other, so the church made an easy bit off of the poor saps who continually bought Indictments against each other and then bought Indulgences to save their sorry rumps. There were many aspects of the church that was corrupted, though nopony saw it nor acknowledged it, for if they were to point it out, they would be branded a heretic and shunned for the rest of their lives, though in most cases, the punishments were even more severe.

Getting up from his perch, sighing, Carmine decided to return home. He was hoping he wouldn't have to confront his father and mother today about his disbelief in the Goddesses. T'was a cruel thing in his honest mind's opinion. Why would the Goddesses allow for ponykind to simply suffer and wither away like this when they'd put their complete and utter trust of them? In his mind there was naught but two options left, either the Goddesses were simply cruel and evil beings, or they simply did not exist.

The sun dipped into the horizon as the last gleams of sunlight shined throughout Equestria. It was already hard enough to see during the day, what with the mist and fog that plagued the outside world, but nightfall only brought about pure darkness. In the outside world, the moon and stars were easy enough to see, but the mist, fog and heavy clouds blanketed the sky in an miasma of darkness, blocking any and all moonlight. Though it was quite hard to navigate, the city itself was easy enough to see from inside the walls, though the dense foliage and woodland outside the walls along with the high level of humidity in the air contributed to much of the mist and fog.

Carmine prided himself in learning that himself through reading science books and studying climate patterns with his teacher, though according to the church, the fog and mist itself due to the infamous event known as 'The Wild Hunt'. The Wild Hunt was a theory developed by Sir Bishop Gallant of the royal court. Despite being a bishop for the church as well as a cleric knight for the kingdom, this particular religious and political stallion was one pony that Carmine had actually respected and admired due to his philosophical ideals and ability to keep an open mind and learn about the world the way most wouldn't even dare. The Wild hunt pertains specifically to the study of survivalism and a pony's breaking point in pressure when their life is in danger. Sir Bishop Gallant states that in order to survive, one must adapt, change and fight in order to live in this dangerous world, lest he perish at the hands of the beasts that plague it. There are particular levels, meters in which a pony would fathom in order to survive until their breaking point and basically gave up on surviving and let themselves simply die. A pony willing to sacrifice his life for the sake of another, was not heroic, but rather suicidal and pretentious by all means, stupid in a way, when his life could have been prolonged and spent fighting, surviving. A pony willing to sacrifice another's life was smart and cunning, had the wits of survivor and would do anything, even if it meant losing the only thing that kept them civilized, to survive. Though there were certain aspects that would play in. Psychological aspects, factors as to whether the pony was fit enough or not to survive. It was all a complicated process. The basic Gist of it was that the world was cruel and there are many ways you can go about surviving in it. It was all simply a matter of how far you would take it in order to survive.

Somehow tying this to the goddesses, the church concluded that mist was brought upon by them to purge Everfree from the evil of those ponies with evil hearts who would plague ponykind,

As Carmine walked through the slums of the city, he pondered what he was going to do in order to survive this world. Even if he lived his life, successfully, he would never see the outside world. Many ponies leave the city, though only the wealthy and lucky actually survived long enough to see the outside world. Trading routes were heavily guarded, though the merchants who used them always traveled in caravans so as to not attract the creatures of the outside world while they were secluded and unprotected, though they rarely ever journeyed alone without an armored escort. Carmine's parents always assured him that he would be safer and more successful in the city.

Despite being one of the smartest students in his academy, having parents who were more on the wealthy side and not being necessarily ugly, but rather quite the extreme opposite, he still felt empty inside. He sighed as he rocked his head back in forth, making his long, thick mane fell down the side of his face, covering up one of his eyes. It wasn't necessarily that he wasn't always given what he asked for, not implying that he was a pampered, whiny, snobbish brat, but rather it all bored him. He'd once suggested joining the Royal Arsenal and completing a tour of duty around Everfree and possibly even Equestria itself, fighting rival families just so he could see the world around him, but it ended with his mother and father nearly waking the entire square with their bawling.

The lanterns and torched sconces surrounding the square flickered as he entered the Craftspony's Quarters. Homes to the upper middle-class, merchants, chamberlains, entrepreneurs, dukes, etc. His parents would worry once more that he was out past the allotted time he was allowed to wander. First world problems had always pissed him off...

"Mum, Da, I'm home." he said as the maids welcomed him in, but he quickly dismissed them with a wave of his hoof. It had always angered him that not everypony was treated the same. No one pony should be under another just because of social class. Despite being told not to, by his parents and even the servants themselves, he'd helped around the house with cleaning, cooking and many other chores. He hated that they had to go through hard labor like this just to earn so little money for their starving families, so he tried his hardest to close the gap between him and his servants. Eventually the maids and butlers began to warm up to him and grew to like him.

"Carmine, where have you been? Didn't your father and I tell you not to be outside of the Craftspony's Quarters after sundown?" asked his mother as she came down the stairs, rushing to her son's side.

Dismissing her and his approaching father with an indifferent glance, he said, "I was only out for a few minutes don't worry about it." he said as he began making his way up the stairs.

"Camine, come back down here this instant." his father said sternly.

Stopping in his tracks and immediately turning back around to face them, he said, "Yes, da."

"Son, you know everything we do is because we care about you." said his father as he crossed his hooves. "We only care about you."

"Well don't care about me. I'm not some stupid little foal that doesn't know what he's doing, I can take care of myself." he said. "I don't need anypony's help." he added sternly under his breath.

"You may think so, but out there is more dangerous now, more than ever." said his mother, trying to grab her son and embrace him.

"Your mother is right, son. We just don't want to see you get hurt. Some filthy street beggars may give you diseases or you may get mugged by some thieves or even worse may happen." said his father.

"I can handle myself." he said. "What were all those swordplay skills you made me learn if I'll never get to try them out." he said sternly as he glared up at his father.

"You're not going to go on about the Royal Arsenal again are you?" he asked with an angry flare in his voice. "We already told you you aren't going to join the military."

"No this isn't about that. This is about you and everypony else being too much of a coward to even go outside of their own homes." he replied with an surge of rage welling up deep within him.

"We only want to protect you, Carmine. We don't want anything hurting you and I'm sure everypony else thinks the same." said his mother, trying to calm the two colts down.

"No! It's because you and everypony else are weak, scared little cowards who do nothing but hide behind the walls of the city! You all dream of the day when there are no more monsters out there plaguing Everfree and even Equestria, but the reason they are out there roaming free, keeping us behind these walls is because none of you lift a single hoof to help exterminate them!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. "Everypony in this goddessdamned city is a fucking lazy, cowardly dumbarse! You all depend on your fucking goddesses, but what have they done to even help us reclaim our land?! Nothing! If we need something done, we'd aught to do it ourselves and rely on our own strength!" he added as the servants began to hurriedly retreat to their rooms, not even daring to interfere.

Carmine's parents were dumbfounded as they stared at their son, speechless with both shock and dismay. "Carmine, go to your room right this instant." said his father with a surprisingly calm voice. "Your mother and I have something we need to talk about alone." he said with a dark and brooding tone in his voice.

Carmine complied and did exactly that. Trotting up the stairs and going down the corridor, he opened the door to his quarters and he retreated into his room and flopped down on his bed, sighing and breathing in hurried, deep paces.

From the other side of the room, he could hear his little sister crying softly in her room and his older sister trying to distract herself from the intense scene that had just occurred downstairs with her harp music across from his room. His eldest sister however, was eerily quiet.. He stared up at the large portrait of him and his family above his mantle and fireplace, depicting him, his three sisters and his parents. Underneath was a plaque with his family crest as well as the inscription, 'The Devil family'.

If one was to wander about the hall, one would find portraits and plaques describing each member of the Devil family. Scarlet Devil, his little sister, Carnelian Devil, his older sister, Cerise Devil, his eldest sister, Sangria Devil, his mother, Amaranth Devil, his father and of course, Carmine Devil himself. Though it was his family name, Carmine didn't actually like to be referred to as 'Devil' so most people only refer to his first name.

Despite the family dominantly having gray to black fur with brilliant shades of red serving as their mane and shades of light blue to deep purple eyes, Carmine was different. A recessive trait on his mother's side had given him brilliant white hair with a few silver streaks running down it and a generally light shade of brown color for fur, though it was quite appealing to the eye, so his family had found a way to cope with it. His eyes, unlike his family, however was the bloodiest shade of red, almost as though he were something else entirely different from a pony, but he was normal enough. Showing very little to no emotion whatsoever, they pierced the air with their very stoic and mysterious charisma. It was one of the many terrifying, but curious features about him. He was absolutely unpredictable.

Carmine sighed as he lay on his bed, staring up at his ceiling. His parents always had given him what he wanted, he was well fed and well clothed. He was lucky... He was also a pampered brat. He yearned for hardship. For struggle. To face real problems out in the world. To survive and to be kept on his hooves every waking moment of his life, The way life was meant to be lived. According to Sir Bishop Gallant at least.

After some fairly awkward moments of silence, he'd began to feel his eyelids getting heavy and in a matter of minutes, he was fast asleep.

It was probably only about a half hour to forty minutes into his peaceful state that his parents had interrupted his sleep, by barging into his room.

Shaking him awake and giving him a hard look, his father sat by Carmine's bed, with a distraught look on his face. It was almost as though he'd made a mistake he was going to regret for the rest of his life. His mother stayed behind, by his bedroom door, crying and sobbing softly into a handkerchief.

"Son... Carmine... Your mother and I decided..." he said as he comforted and consoled his crying wife. "We're going to let you join the Elite Crusader's Corps."