//------------------------------// // Warm Welcome // Story: Carmine and Carmine // by PonyManne215 //------------------------------// Anthony ran as if a corpser was chasing him like a dog. He ran without end towards the seemingly present heaven. He ran with enthusiasm and joy, ready to embrace a pig. The relentless wind rushed upon his helmet. Though not actually touching his head, he could feel the little bristles of the air. He curved around the descending road and gained more momentum. The downward slope made him go faster. The sun seemingly ran with him. Nothing was standing in his way. It seemed as though God himself was watching Anthony run. Benjamin was not far behind. Once his brother had set his mind on something, he wouldn't let go. "Wait up!" He tried to call out to Anthony. Nothing. They ran for miles on end before reaching the town. Benjamin could see little critters such as rabbits, squirrels, and raccoons running away from them as they approached. Quickly arriving into the town, they passed farms, pastures, fields, and streams. It was almost remote. Finally, they reached the center of the town. Benjamin was gasping for breath while Anthony had not even been affected by the run. He walked up to a nearby pig, revved up his Lancer and called to it. "Here, piggy piggy piggy." He was approaching the ignorant swine as he raised up his Lancer, preparing to cleave down. "Wait, Ant! It could be someone else's pig." Anthony turned his head to look back at his brother. "They won't miss it." He cut down. The Lancer made contact with something alright. It cut clean through, leaving a mess on Anthony's face. He looked down to gaze at his accomplishment. "Oops.." He didn't kill the pig for it scurried away when he was distracted. The mess on his helmet wasn't blood, it was sawdust. What lay before him was what was once a sign. He couldn't make it out so Benjamin took a look. "Welcome to P--ville, the Most Ha---est and Fr----ly Town around." He sighed and shook his head at Anthony. "Uhm, I can fix this...” Anthony reasoned. "How about you don't talk at all? I'll do all the talking, big bro. Just keep your mouth shut." Benjamin said patronizingly. "Got it." Anthony made a zipping motion where his mouth would be under his helmet. "Now what's with all that yellin' pigs? Y'all act like y'all seen a ghost or somthin'." A voice called around the corner of a building. To Benjamin, she sounded like Dizzy. "Yes, I must say, that noise was rather loud. It distracted me from my fabulous new inspiration." A British sounding voice responded. More voices came from buildings as they seemed to get closer. The Carmine brothers looked at each other, not sure on how they would explain Anthony's actions to the citizens. ***** Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity were all having fun at Sugar Cube Corner. They were making blueberry muffins with a hint of cinnamon. They were all laughing at each other when most of them hadn't even known what they were doing. A large buzzing noise and squealing interrupted their fun. "What was that?" Twilight said inquisitively. "Ah dunno' but Ah reckon that we go an' check it out." "Yeah, let's see what that thing was." Rainbow said, showing that she was interested. They left the building and went around the back to head toward source of the noise. Pinkie started to shake everywhere and sneezed hard. "Wow, I've never gotten this before. This is a doozy!" The ponies trusted when Pinkie's Pinkie Sense went off, and heeded her warning. They reached the front of Ponyville and saw the town welcome sign down on the floor. Then, they saw two hooves. They looked up and were terrified. Two armored, towering creatures stood before them. They were not on all of their hooves, only using the back two. They seemed bipedal yet, not simian. ***** The Carmines heard a loud gasp from multiple directions. They looked around and saw no people. All they saw were some small little horses about four feet. They were weirdly colored and had tattoos on their asses. Benjamin could only rub his helmet in confusion. "W-w-what are y-you?" A voice stammered. Anthony and Benjamin both looked down, seeing that the voice came from one of the horses. 'Nah, we're just imagining things." They both thought. Benjamin took a slow step towards the horses. They looked at him in fear. He took another step, getting the same reaction. Finally, he reached out his hand to touch one of them when the silence between them was broken. "RUUNNN!! MOONNSSSTTTERRRSSS!!!!!" All of the horses ran from them, going inside of buildings and barricading the doors. "What the fuck?" Anthony blurted out. Benjamin didn't complain, he was thinking the same thing. They went to the nearest building they could find, a tree. It was big and tall, yet had a sign and a door. They couldn't believe their eyes but they had seen plenty of weird things in their lives. Shadows figures rushed across the window shades of the tree. The brothers felt thousands of eyes staring at them in fear. Anthony and Benjamin both knocked on the door. "Eeep!" A scream from inside echoed in the air. They knew what they had to do. In this particular delicate situation, they had to do what any other rational soldier, let alone human being would do. 'VVRRROOOMMM' The door fell upon the floor with ease. It was cut into two little halves and tossed aside like a piece of paper. Inside, there was a cowering lavender horse with a horn on it's head. It's mane was a dark violet and had a pink streak going through the middle. ***** "Please, leave me alone! I'll give you anything you want." Twilight tried to find any emotion on either of the strange creatures faces, only seeing the same two glowing blue eyes. One of them walked up to her and kneeled down. It stared at her, almost into her very soul. She felt naked in front of this creature, as if it knew everything about her just by looking into her eyes. She knew what was coming. They were going to take her away from her friends that loved her. She started to cry. Her life flashed before her eyes. She saw her brother protecting her from bullies, being read stories by Cadence, becoming Princess Celestia’s pupil, befriending all of the Elements of Harmony, defeating Night Mare Moon. All of this was going to waste as she looked on in terror at the monster that was enclosing on her. "Hi?" ***** The horse in front of Benjamin wiped away it’s tears. It seemed to understand him. “You can talk?” A feminine voice erupted from the horse. “YOU CAN?” Benjamin shouted in surprise. She nodded and proceeded to ask him more questions, seemingly calming down after each one. “Are you going to hurt me?” Benjamin was a little taken by this question. Why on Sera would he hurt some cute defenseless ponies? “No.” “Then why are you here?” “We’re…a little hungry..” Both Anthony and Benjamin’s stomachs growled as soon as he said this. She seemed to giggle at this. She was realizing that the Carmine brothers posed no threat to them. She got up and began to speak when Anthony leaned in to whisper something to Benjamin. “Think they taste good?” She screamed and ran off to another corner. Benjamin slapped his brother for impeding his attempt to try and make peace. “Y’all ain’t gonna lay a hoof on her, ya hear?” An orange horse came in and bucked Anthony on his lower leg. Anthony got mad and chased her outside. The screaming of the ‘Southern’ horse could be heard slowly departing from the tree. “Sorry about that, little horse. We mean no harm, Anthony just jokes around too much.” He grabbed her hoof into his hands and brought it to his heart. “See? I’m not lying, my heart is telling the truth.” The horse then perked regained her voice. “….My name is Twilight Sparkle, what’s your name?” She said hesitantly. “I’m Carmine!” Anthony and Benjamin spoke in unison. Apparently, he had come back not long ago. “So, lemme get this straight, your name is ‘Twilight Sparkle’?” She nodded. He burst into laughter. “That’s gay as shit, dude!” “I’m a girl.” “Oh.” “So you’re…..both named Carmine?” “Yes.” They said again in unison. “No.” Benjamin was getting fed up. “Shut up Ant, I’m trying to talk.” “Got it, Squirt.”Twilight giggled at his name. “Your name is Squirt?” He was a little embarrassed by this. “No! Its Benjamin, Ben for short. That over there is Anthony, or Ant.” He said as he pointed towards his brother. Anthony said a casual “Yo”. “I think that everyone will be glad to hear that you are both…peaceful.” She tried to stand up but just couldn’t. “Ow..I think I sprained a hoof.” Benjamin, being the kind person that he was, picked her up in his arms and carried her outside, Anthony following. They arrived back to the courtyard of the town and were surrounded by more horses. A bolting streak of cyan rushed through the air and kicked Anthony in the head. “Sniper!” Anthony panicked, shooting his Lancer in the air. All of the horses around them backed away and the cyan figure landed to the ground. “Watch that, will ya?” Anthony looked on in anger at the cyan horse with wings beneath him. She gave him a nervous smile. “Hehe, sorry about that.” “The monsters are going to eat her! Run! But before you do, follow my lead as I show you how to properly run in fear.” A pink horse said calmly. “Wait, Pinkie! They aren’t going to eat us!” “Who says we aren’t?” Anthony said jokingly. “Ant!” Benjamin yelled. “We mean you horses-” “Ponies.” Twilight interrupted. “-Ponies, no harm. We come in peace. All we want is some food. My name is Benjamin and he is Anthony.” The ponies muttered among themselves, then a grey-maned pony came up to them. “As mayor of this town, I wish to welcome you to our beloved town of Ponyville. Just watch yourselves, this town is one of peace and happiness.” They shook hands and hooves and the ponies calmed down. Benjamin was listening to what the mayor and Twilight were saying. She introduced her friends and almost all of Ponyville to the two. Suddenly a yell came from behind them. “And that’s how Ponyville was made.” Pinkie said happily. “What?! All you talked about were some rocks and a farm. If that’s true, I have to say, that’s fucking awesome.” Anthony said, praising the pink pony. A small pony came up to Anthony. “What does ‘fucking’ mean?” “Oops, sorry kid, that is a bad word.” The small horse understood and stopped asking. The situation seemed to calm itself. Then, yet another yell came. “Get off amah back ya varmint!” Applejack was now running wildly trying to buck Anthony off of her back. “Giddy up horsie! Hi ho, Silver!” He was waving his arm wildly in the air and had Applejack’s hat on his helmet. “Get the buck off me!” “You guys say fuck too? Oh wait you said buck..What’s the difference?” He shrugged it off as he got off of the pony. Benjamin went to his brother and told him to stop. He took the order and saluted him. “I swear, its like I’m the older one here.” None of them heard this little remark, as Twilight limped over. “So as I was saying, I am a unicorn, Applejack is an earth pony, and Rainbow Dash is a Pegasus.” “That’s nice and all Twilight, but what about the town sign that there two troublemakers broke?” Applejack asked, aggravated at the fact that they just waved off the possible danger these two ‘humans’ posed. “It doesn’t even look right!”Applejack yelled angrily. Anthony stood next to her at the sign. He pulled out a pair of sunglasses. Benjamin saw this and realized what he was going to do. Benjamin was going to provide the chorus. “I guess you could say-” He put them on. “It looks a little ‘board’. “YEEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHH” They laughed and rolled on the floor at their joke. The CSI: Jacinto reference was one of their favorites. The ponies just looked at them funny and chalked it up to ‘human’ intuition. They got up, let out the last awkward chuckles, and stopped. “Well, now that we’re all acquainted, what do you have to eat?” Benjamin asked curiously. A voice rose from the back. “Why do you two sound the same?” The whole crowd agreed. “I got this Squirt.” Anthony stepped up front, a serious tone was present. Benjamin was proud that his brother decided to take it serious for once. “When we were born, our parents told us a saying that still is embedded in my mind. They repeated this to us in our childhood. It kept us in line and made us not act up.” “What is it?” An interested voice called out. “Our mother and father told us this; if you don’t behave and sound the same, you will never eat bacon again.” The whole crowd wowed and gasped in shocked. Twilight, with a shimmer of marveling tears in her eyes asked “Wow, really?” “Nah, I’m just shitting ya.” Everyone laughed at him, mostly Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. They loved this funny human. Underneath his mask, he did a certain face that not only showed joy, but somewhat mock. If one were to see it, it would make them rage. It was called a ‘trollface’ when they were little. Benjamin was annoyed by this. He went to his brother and put his arm around Anthony’s shoulder. “You mad, Squirt?” “Kinda.” Twilight asked again. “Really, why do you two sound the same?” “I dunno, we just do. Maybe it’s because we’re brothers or something. Or it could be God being sheer lazy and giving us the same voice.” ***** The citizens, now having all their questions and doubts answered, were satisfied. Only the Elements of Harmony remained, along with a certain somepony mysteriously staring at the Carmines from a distance. “Hey Ant, do you have the feeling someone is staring at you right now?” “Yeah, it’s really creeping me out.” “I know, same here. I feel like someones breathing down my nec-“ A large wisp of breath became visible between the two brothers. “Oh my gosh! Real humans! Hey ‘Anthony’ right? If you still want, you can ride me..” The pony behind them said suggestingly. “Excuse me, gentlemen?” Rarity said. “Yeah?” “Run.” The two brothers ran in fear, a mint-colored pony was right on their tail. They screamed and yelled, begging the thing to leave them alone. But all they could hear were flirtatious remarks coming from the pony. Finally, they stepped into an alley, checking if she was still behind them. The coast was clear. “Whew, that was a close one Squirt.” “Yeah, I’ll say.” “It’s about to get a whole lot more closer than that!” A maniacal voice called from behind them. They were frozen in fear. Shocked by the sheer madness of the pony. “My name is Lyra, and we’re about to have a really ‘fun’ time..” Loud screams of pain and abuse could be heard coming from the alley. The humans felt like their very essence was being sucked away as the aroused pony took them by force. They knew it was not right, and it did not feel good. The begged her for mercy but she was unrelenting. Her determination wore out their bodies. Finally their pelvises snapped, killing them from the abuse. They would rather die in their original deaths than this new form of pain and agony. ***** Lyra awoke. She was drooling from her mouth at the erotic dream she just had. The humans felt so good. But then, her feeling of pleasure was replaced by pain in her head. “Ouch, what happened?” She rubbed the throbbing on her head. She looked at what was before her. It was a brick wall with an indentation of her head on it. She remembered what had happened. After introducing herself, she chased them and they quickly maneuvered around a corner. She was too slow to react and went face first into the side of the Town Hall. “Dang it, I’ll get them next time.” The Carmines were running as the evening sun shone on their backs. “Ant?” “Yeah?” “How would that even work? I’m not sure horse on human times two is possible.” Anthony didn’t want to even imagine what would happen. “You got a fucked-up mind, Squirt” They ran to the gingerbread house called ‘Sugar Cube Corner’ ***** Twilight was screaming in joy. A new species has been discovered. She called Spike to write a letter to Princess Celestia. He, however, hadn’t seen them and didn’t believe in their existence. “Ready Spike?” “Yeah, I don’t see what so special about a couple of ‘things’ calling themselves ‘humans’.” “Spike please, this is urgent.” “Dear Princess Celestia, I am happy to inform you that a new species of creatures have been discovered. They have many weapons but the entire town has found that they are completely harmless. They call themselves ‘humans’ and their names are Anthony and Benjamin Carmine. They are tall, strong, and are very intelligent. They can speak full Equestrian and can also write it. They seem to be bipedal and somewhat like monkeys or apes. They do not have hair, for what I can tell. Their skin seems to be armor, or they are just concealing their skin perfectly. The one called Benjamin is very kind and mature. He seems to be the older and wiser one. Anthony, on the other hand, is a little childish and playful. He seems to be the younger. They are brothers and claim they came from another world called ‘Sera’. I hope that you see these creatures for yourself. For now, I shall learn as much as I can from them. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.” “Send it, Spike!” Spike spewed forth a small burst of green flame that teleported the letter to the Princess. “Where now?” “Let’s get to Sugar Cube Corner.” ***** “Your outfits are absolutely adorable!” They are well-colored, protective, and yet light. Would you be so kind as to let me examine it?” Rarity said pleadingly. “No can do, little miss, but this baby is what keeps my head fro- Oh never mind.” Anthony stopped himself, realizing he was wrong. “Anyway, no.” She looked at him with puppy dog eyes. “Oh, pwease! Won’t you wet wittle Wawity take your armor?” He slowly started un-strapping his armor. He was reaching for his helmet, then moved his hand forward, middle finger raised. “Nope.” “I’m sorry darling, but what does that mean?” He wasn’t sure he should explain it to her. “Never mind.” He went up to the counter and gave Mr. Cake a stern look. “So, since you have to err..what did you call ‘em? Fillies? Anyway, how does that work? I mean with ponies. Do you guys lay eggs or…?” Benjamin looked at his older brother and shook his head. “You’re hopeless bro.” “Ah reckon you must put a lot with yer little brother.” Applejack reasoned. Twilight entered, a sleeping Spike on her back. “Yes, I would like to know that too.” Benjamin scratched his head, unsure of how to explain that they were wrong. “Well actually, you see, Anthony is my big brother.” “HE’S WHAT!?” Everypony in the store exclaimed in overwhelming shock. “Why else do you all think he calls me Squirt? He’s older than me.” Anthony didn’t react to the current situation. He was in shock at how little baby horses were made. “That’s…that’s not possible..” Anthony was at a loss for words. His mind had been completely wiped away by the explanation that Mr. Cake gave him. He stopped everyone in the room. “WAIT! So you’re all telling me that baby hor- ‘fillies’, are made when two ponies who love each other, climb a mountain, get married, and then a filly comes out of a well in the mountain?” Everyone hit their face. Mr. Cake told him the story they gave to little kids when asked about reproduction. And Anthony fell for it. “Okay, getting back to business, so where are you two going to stay?” An inquisitive Twilight asked. “Because if you have nowhere to stay, I have plenty of room at the library. There are so many books you can read and I have so many questions!” “Yeah…no. We’re going to stay in the forest, no offense. Okay maybe just a little..” Anthony cut in. The ponies wondered how the Carmines would eat. “Easy.” They brought the cupcakes to their helmets, and the cupcakes seemed to be ‘grated’ into them. “Don’t you need to take off the helmets to put them in your mouth?” After wiping off his helmet, Anthony answered. “Maybe we don’t have faces..WOOOooo!” He did a ghostly moan at the end, frightening everypony as they believed him. The Cakes gave them some cookies for the road as the friends followed them to the edge of town. “Hey big bro, you gotta try these cupcakes. They taste just like mom’s!” “You gotta try these cookies. I’m tellin’ ya, there’s no other feeling as good as this except when I curb stomp a grub. “What’a a grub?” Rainbow asked. “That’s for another day, maybe tomorrow.” They reached the edge of town, saying their goodbyes, and going back the body of water that they swam in that morning. It was a great walk back. “Bro, I gotta tell ya, this is some weird shit we got ourselves into.” “I get ya, Ant. But come on! It’s not like we’re getting our asses shot up by grubs.” Anthony nodded at what his brother said. So far, they have not been shot at, targeted, hit with grenades, or smacked with the butt of a Hammerburst. Life was good. They reached the cache and set the supplies from town. They even picked up a few proper bedrolls. They prepared to sleep, when they realized they were reminded by Twilight to check on some pony living in a cottage nearby. “Let’s go see that cottage real quick.” ***** Scootaloo was bored out of her mind. She had been stuck with Fluttershy all day. The timid yellow pegasus made her help with the animals. She spent all day cleaning, feeding, or just petting them. She missed a whole day of trying to find her Cutie Mark with the other Crusaders. Now Fluttershy was asking her to stay for the night. Scootaloo really didn’t want to but if she said otherwise, she would hurt Fluttershy’s feelings. “So are you ready for a sleepover…if that’s alright with you..” Fluttershy said in her whispering voice. “Yeah, lets get this thing over with already.” Scootaloo rebuffed. “Yay!” Fluttershy screamed in her trademark way. A large knocking came from the door. Two unfamiliar voices called for Fluttershy. “Uh..hello?! Twilight sent us to check up on you.” A considerate voice said. “Told ya we shoulda bailed. This is bullsh- Ahh! What was that for?” A second voice yelled. “Calm your horses, the ponies around here are sensitive.” The second voice began to laugh. “I see what you did there!” Fluttershy floated toward the door and asked who it was. “We’re the new guys. We just arrived in town.” “Oh, okay…I’ll open the door now..if that’s alright..” She opened the door, ready to greet two new ponies that just came into town. There were no ponies in front of her. Just four big blue logs in front of her. ‘Wait…they’re moving.’ She thought. They weren’t logs. She slowly rose her gaze above the ‘logs’ and saw two faces. They were blue, emotionless, and big. The emphasis last part made her do what she always did. “Eeeeep!” ***** The pink-maned yellow pegasus ran and disappeared in front of the Carmines. “Well, that was easy.” Joked Anthony. They walked into the small little home and looked around. It had a sort of ‘naturery’ feeling to it. The moved forward to what seemed like the living room. “I’m not scared of you, you big blue meanies!” A small little orange filly raised it’s hooves in a boxing position. “Geez, Squirt, are all the ponies here girls?” Anthony went to the little thing, and picked her up with one of his hands. She began punching his arm, but to him, it felt like someone was kissing it or something. “Weak little thing, aren’t ya?” Scootaloo was saddened by this. She knew she was small and weak, but she felt especially bad when ponies or things pointed this out. “You got balls though, so you’re cool with me.” She looked up. The large blue thing was looking at her in the eyes. It then patted her on her purple mane. “You’re a little cute thing, aren’t ya?” She blushed, being embarrassed by the compliment given from the strange creature. “Let her go..if you don’t mind..please?” Benjamin turned his attention to the timid pegasus who was hiding behind a small bunny. “Sorry about that, my brother just gets a little excited is all. We mean no harm. And as we said earlier, Twilight sent us.” She slowly lost her fear as she flew to them. “Oh do tell me what you are. I would love to take care of you sometime.” Anthony and Benjamin explained to Fluttershy, Scootaloo, and Angel exactly what they told the others. The three small things just ‘ooohed’ and ‘ahhhed’. They also thought that Anthony was the younger one, making him a little mad. FLuttershy gave them a cup of tea. They sipped it through their helmets. “Uhm..excuse me? How did you do that?” “Do what?” Both Carmines answered. “That” “And how do you fly?” Benjamin said in a questioning voice. “It’s because I heave wings.” “And it’s because we have no faces!” Anthony screamed madly. He was trying to scare her again. She screamed and ran. Benjamin calmed her down and she returned back to the couch. After explaining, they started to take their leave. Scootaloo clinged onto Anthony’s leg. “Wait! Take me with you. I can’t take it here with her.” Anthony was surprised at the filly’s request but hesitantly accepted. “Don’t be a stranger!” Fluttershy peeped out as they left. When they arrived at their camp, Anthony let Scootaloo sleep on his bedroll. “You can sleep here, kiddo. I’ll take the floor.” He gave her the last of his food seeing as how she was hungry. Each bite she took felt extra special. Scootaloo felt a well of tears ready to flood. Nopony in her life was ever so generous to her. For some reason, she felt really comfortable around the two ‘humans’. She felt like they were her family. They were outcasts, just like her. She thought about it thoroughly but blurted out “Will you guys be my brothers?” Both Carmines let out a ‘what the fuck?’ under their breath. They patted her on the head and nodded. “Welcome to the family, kid.” They all fell asleep. All, save for Anthony. He laid down next to Scootaloo, the same position as when he first found himself on this strange new world. He looked up at the night sky, seeing a shooting star fly across. He reached an arm out to reach for it. Underneath his charismatic and childish personality, was a serious and kind person. His brother, Benjamin did take after him after all. He stared in wonder at the sky for the remainder of his time awake. He felt something latch onto his right arm. Scootaloo was hugging his arm like a pillow, happily snoozing as she found her new home. He smiled at this and gazed back at the stars. They both just introduced the first girl to the family. And this was a fine addition, no less. He felt proud of them, not giving up even after then end. Scootaloo was mumbling in her sleep. “Kids” Anthony found himself saying aloud. Her mumblings started to get clearer. “Home…Family..Brothers..” She then said something he was not expecting. “……I love you.” “What?”