Carmine and Carmine

by PonyManne215


Torn Apart, Literally

On the planet, Sera, humanity lived in turmoil, fighting amongst themselves over the source of fuel, Immulsion. After many deaths and months of fighting, the war ended. The world had thought that the fighting was over. They were wrong. Strange, bipedal creatures named Locusts emerged from the ground. Invading and conquering all cities left in their wake. None could escape the eventual grip of this savage species.

Finally, the Coalition of Ordered Government’s army, or the COG, put up a large resistance from the invading force. They developed weapons such as the Hammer of Dawn system, a satellite-controlled weapon fueled by Immulsion. It fired large focused beams of heat, burning and obliterating any targets it was used against.

Spirits and morale was raised at the mention of this weapon. The humans finally thought they would gain the upper hand. This was also false. Their false sense of hope was obliterated as more hordes of Locusts emerged. Slowly, the COG stopped caring for the civilians of Sera. They fired Hammer strikes recklessly in an attempt to prevent Locusts from controlling certain areas. Though this proved right, the poor defenseless humans could only watch as they were killed in an instant.

Only ashes of the people were left behind. A silhouette reminder of who they once were. The cities were devastated and sometimes, completely left lifeless. The COG was losing all hope of victory when a breakthrough developed. A scientist named Helen Cooper developed the Lightmass Process. It was a process that turned Immulsion into usable energy.

This process later led to the building of the Lightmass Bomb, a weapon fully capable of devastating the Locusts’ home. The only problem was that it needed to be moved to a certain location. The COG sent a detail to carry out this task. They sent Delta squad, a team that consisted of Lt. Minh Young Kim, and Privates Marcus Fenix, Dominic Santiago, and Anthony Carmine.

Kim and Carmine arrived at the prison containing Marcus Fenix in the KR Six-Four, a military helicopter. They arrived just in time to save Marcus and Dom from a Corpser. After a few minutes, they landed at Embry Square along with Col. Hoffman and Lt. Anya Stroud. After being briefed and fighting a large group of drones, they made their way to the House of Sovereigns.

Carmine was a rookie. But he wasn’t a by-the-book bootlicker. He was an enthusiastic and energetic young man. He joined the COG because all of his family had before him. It was a tradition. That and he wanted to shoot things. His enthusiasm was his major fault. After graduating from the academy, he was voted ‘Most Likely to Get Shot’. He went as far as to ignore the COG Golden Rule; Take cover or Die. This led to his downfall.

They encountered a large amount of resistance from the Locusts in the area, but slowly cleared the area. Finally facing some peace and quiet, they moved around to secure the perimeter. Carmine moved to the squad. “You good?” Kim said to Carmine. “Yeah, but I gotta problem. Something’s wrong with this thing!” Carmine said as he tried to fix his Lancer.

“Grreheh! It keeps jamming!” Carmine stood up to show Kim his weapon and it’s malfunction. “See?!” Time slowed all around Carmine. He heard the distinct shot of a Longshot off in the distance. He had no time to react as he was out of cover and exposed. He felt the bullet rip through his head as he blacked out. He died instantly.

Carmine was now floating in a void of black. He could see nothing anywhere. It was just pure nothing. He heard a noise though. He heard the faint sound of his name. “Anthony! Anthony, Sweetie! Won’t you come for dinner?” He turned his head to the side and saw a familiar figure. His mother was waving at him in the distance, her cooking apron upon her chest and her hair in a bun. A huge door with shining light coming through was right behind her.

Carmine did not even think. He ran as fast as he could towards his mother. He missed her and remembered all of the memories they shared. She was the one who had been at his bedside, calming him when he was a child. Most of his childhood, he had nightmares of the Locusts ever since Emergence Day. The day that took away the lives of many friends and family. One of the main reasons why he joined the COG.

He was not far from her now. He was only a few feet away. As he neared, his mother turned around and went through the open door. His mother’s voice echoed all around him. “This way, honey.” He leaped through the bright light. His vision was blinded and all he could feel was emptiness.

Carmine opened his eyes again. “Shit!” Carmine yelled as he bolted upright. He looked up at the sky. It was a beautiful and peaceful shade of dark violet. The stars shined above everything else, only matched by the luscious moon. “What…the…fuck?” Carmine observed his surroundings. He was in a large open field of grass accompanied by sounds of crickets.

His Lancer assault rifle, Gnasher shotgun, Snub pistol, and two Bolo frag grenades were beside him. “Well, my stuffs all here…” Carmine realized that he was not in the same place as he was before. The place he was in was a large, war torn, and wrecked city. It was noisy and explosions or gunfire could be heard everywhere. Here, there was only peace and tranquility.

Finally seeing that he was free from all of the things that could have killed him, he folded his arms behind his head and laid back down. He stared into the night sky and marveled at it’s magnificence. He slowly found himself drifting back to sleep.

He had a dream. He was in a restaurant with two of his brothers, the third being at some concert. “Hey Ant, pass the bacon!” “Sure thing Clay. Just don’t eat all of it. I want some too.” Anthony turned to Clayton the oldest of the three of them. The youngest being Benjamin, ‘The Squirt’.

“Hey guys! What about me?” Ben cut in. “Sorry kid, but I’m the oldest and what I say goes. Oh also because of One. Single. Thing.” He looked at Anthony and Benjamin with a very stern face. Then it turned into a sly smile. Slowly scaring each of them as they knew what was coming. They knew exactly what was going to happen but were frozen from shock. Clayton broke the silence. “Dibs.”


*******

It was night time in Ponyville. All of the small little fillies had fallen asleep. All of the colts and mares in deep slumber. They awaited for the next day to come. A small orange filly was still stirring though. She had a purple mane and a blank flank. She was alone. She had no family to speak of and wandered the streets silently. Elsewhere, in a close vicinity, was a mint green pony. She had a lyre upon her flank. She woke up in the middle of the night, gasping and covered in sweat.


"Humans..." She said quietly, trying not to wake the other pony in her house. She had just had a dream about these foreign creatures, going on a romantic picnic with her, while all the other ponies looked on in envy. It made her blush just thinking about it. People thought she was crazy, but she knew they existed. "Somewhere out there, theres a human just waiting for me."

Scootaloo had nowhere to go for the night. She thought of going to Rainbow Dash's house, but remembered that she could not fly. She bowed her head in disappointment as she trotted along the main road. She had an idea. 'I'll go to Zecora's hut!' She ran into the Everfree forest, ignoring the dangers that lurked in the night.

Monsters and growls were heard all over the forest. Scootaloo realized it was a bad idea. She couldn't see which road to take so she headed in the best direction; right. She kept moving until there was no more dirt path. The road ended somewhere far behind her. She was about to head back when she heard some pony screaming. "What was that?!" She said aloud. She ran to the edge of the forest and found that it lead to a prairie.

She tried to see what was in the distance but only saw very small figures. She couldn't make out any shape as they were almost a mile out. The screaming was definitely coming from this direction but she couldn't hear what it said. She was going to move up when she was stopped. A black and white hoof was on her shoulder.

"You should not be out here, little Scootaloo. There are creatures here that will give you more than just a boo. Follow me to my hut for you must stay. You can come back here another morning day." Zecora headed back to her hut. Scootaloo followed, but not before giving a disappointed glance back at the prairie. 'I'll check tommorow.."

*******

After the Lightmass Bomb was detonated, resulting in the death of Locust General RAAM and the main base of the Locusts, humanity had slowly thought to have experienced peace once and for all. Six months went by as no attacks from the Locusts had occurred. The occasional finding of stray Locusts was the only threat that loomed. All was well, until the Locusts reappeared.

Seemingly un-phased by the Lightmass Offensive, the Locusts reemerged in full force, adding more deadly and large creatures to their ranks. The captured cities and towns all around Sera. The humans were facing danger yet again. More death and pain followed this event.

This event though, was quickly responded to. Operation: Hollow Storm was brought to light. It was a massive military counterattack which set out to kill the remaining Locusts. A large offensive was underway and it aimed to go to the Hollows, an area underneath of the graves of Landown. Once again, the heroes from the previous war walked up to the plate. Delta squad was back up again, consisting of Sergeant Marcus Fenix, Corporals Dominic Santiago and Tai Kaliso, and Private Benjamin Carmine, brother of Anthony Carmine and the youngest of his family.

After an attack on Jacinto Med, they train Carmine and secure the hospital. After securing the hospital, Chairman Prescott, the leader of the COG, declared full-out war on the Locusts species. The massive offensive was underway. After receiving much resistance, the COG forces arrived at Landown, the area above the Hollow. From here, they deployed the soldiers into the deep, dark underground tunnel system that was the home of the Locusts.

Delta was split apart, Marcus and Dom in one section, and Carmine with another squad in the other. Marcus and Dom made their way to Carmine, all alone after his current squad being killed. They saved him and moved forward. They eventually reached what was Ilima. A giant rock-like worm called the RIftworm, dug a giant sinkhole under the city, causing it to eventually sink, killing almost everyone there.

Delta tried to save anyone they could but there was almost no one left. Delta was trapped in small enclosed area, surrounded by Locusts forces. They were sure to meet their end when an old friend saved them. Private Augustus “The Cole Train” Cole, a professional thrashball player, killed the remaining Locusts.

They ventured off to find Corporal Damon Baird, and found him amongst prisoner containers. They then hijacked a Beast Barge, a prisoner transport, and find Tai yet again. Only, Tai was not the same, he was tortured both physically and emotionally. He killed himself, shocking the team. They moved on to Ilima's sinkhole to be picked up by a King Raven.

Benjamin, like his older brother Anthony, was ‘green as grass’, a rookie. Like his brother, he was respectful of veterans and had a very identical personality to him. He followed in all three of his brothers footsteps, joining the COG. He was called ‘Rook’ by Delta mostly, and was called ‘Squirt’ amongst his family. Unlike his brother Anthony, though, he was a polite and kind-hearted soldier. He held the Golden Rule in high regard, only breaking it to help teammates, not out of sheer recklessness.

After fending off the Locusts forces trying to impede their evacuation, they hopped aboard. Carmine covered their retreat as they moved. “I got you back Sarge!” Carmine screamed. “Come on Carmine, let’s go!” Marcus commanded. He took a bullet to the chest but it just dented his armor. He was pulled aboard the Raven and it departed. As they were moving away, the Riftworm returned, damaging the helicopter and causing it to spin out of control.

Unable to hold onto Marcus, Carmine fell out of the Raven and into the Riftworm, which soon followed him inside the beast. He awoke inside a large fleshy monster. He looked around and found he was alone. Trying to stand up, he was attacked by white insect-like blood cells. They ripped into his body, flinging bits and pieces of his bloody meat into all directions. All he could do was scream in pain.

He heard a voice behind him. “It’s Carmine!” Dom shouted frantically. Marcus shot at the creatures as they pulled Carmine away further. They fled Carmine’s shredded body, leaving him to bleed out. “Get the hell off me!” Delta rushed to his side as he felt their poison slowing melting his insides. He groaned and moaned as he looked to Marcus who was now on one knee.

“S-S-Sarge?” “Carmine…” Marcus answered sympathetically. “I-I hurt, Sarge…..I…..tell my brothers…..my ma……..tell ‘em I love ‘em, and…..and….” Marcus could do nothing but stand by him in his final moments. Carmine coughed blood onto his helmet, trying to finish his statement. But his heart had finally given out, the poison melting it.

He was in a large white area. He was on some sort of solid ground, yet there was nothing. He looked around for any existence. There was nothing. He walked for what seemed like eternity before he heard two voices from behind him. “Yo, Squirt! We aren’t gonna wait any longer!” He turned to face his older brothers. They motioned for him to follow and he did.


He missed his brothers. He hadn't seen Clay since Ben first enlisted. As for Anthony....he was dead. He died within the first hours of the Lightmass Offensive. They had not told the Carmine family much except he died saving lives and that he brought honor to both the COG and his family. He had longed to hear his dead brother's voice again. Even though, it has been almost half of a year, he still remembered what it sounded like.


He could hear some skittering noises behind him. He glanced back and saw the creatures again, only bigger. He started to run frantically, towards the two who would protect him from anything. But each step he took, they seemed to move farther and farther away. The creatures on the other hand, got much closer.

He was scared beyond his wildest dreams. He ran and he ran, losing sight of them. He suddenly tripped, fumbling all over himself. The creatures were upon him. He closed his eyes to the horror that was going to happen a second time. They tore and picked at his body, but for some reason, he felt no pain. He opened his eyes back up, and didn’t see the creatures, but two friendly figures extending their hands.

“Come on, kiddo, we gotta get home if we want chicken soup!” Clay said urgently. The next thing that was most delicious to Clay besides bacon was chicken soup. “Don’t forget the ham sandwich. Shit yeah!” Anthony added. Ben grabbed their hands as they pulled him up into a dark night.

He couldn’t see anything. “Oh shit! I’m blind, I’m blind!” He waved his arms frantically but couldn’t see them. Then he looked again. “Oh, it’s night time…” He felt like a dumbass. “Wait…” He remembered, he had no stomach or legs left because of the monsters. His eyes ripped through his eyelids, figuratively, and he arched forward. He stared in shock at his legs.

Only, there weren’t any legs. He looked in horror as he saw what they were. They were….They were…..Still legs. He just couldn’t see anything because a butterfly landed on his helmet visor. “My legs, holy shit! My legs are still here!” He grabbed his legs, trying to hug them, and was tearing up underneath his helmet. He screamed ecstatically. He was so loud; he could be heard fifty feet away.

Anthony woke up, hearing a pop, a drool bubble that formed around his mouth had done this. The reason he was awake however, was because of loud yelling or roaring. He was mad. ‘Who was ruining his awesome ass dream?” He stood up and equipped his weapons.

He walked toward the source and was ready to kill or beat whatever was there. His Lancer fell to the floor, leaving a loud thump, being in shock at what was off thirty feet from him. Benjamin heard this thump and turned around, only catching a glimpse of a figure. The darkness of the night shrouded the person’s details. The silence was mind-bending until the words came.


“Ben?”