Crimson

XXXX-XX-2558

Location: Requiem

Spartan: Five

Mission Objective:

Escape Requiem

Status: In Progress

“Crimson, get the Hell out of there!”

Was all Five could hear in his comms, with the name Commander Sarah Palmer in the corner of his visor.

He could feel the Pelican rumble everywhere around him, which didn’t help the fact that he lost the pilot when she tried dodging heavy debris, and ended up being impaled through the cockpit window, and now he had to fight the turbulence as well as the destruction of the inner part of the planet.

Five observed his surroundings as he flew the massive gunship through the tumbling ceiling scraps and noticed one thing: he was the only one left.

Palmer had already been pinged in his visor as green, along with everyone else from the ground teams. Majestic, Ivy, even the ODST evacuation security teams had made it aboard. If anything, he was holding Infinity back from fleeing Requiem. The Spartan’s train of thought was interrupted by a blast of sound from the moaning of the slipspace portal to Requiem’s outer shell. Five knew that it wouldn’t hold out much longer.

He pinged his comms and spoke.

“This is Spartan V-461 of Fire-team Crimson to Captain Lasky of the Infinity, come in, over.”

His speakers buzzed, “This is Lasky, where are you Crimson?”

“Sir, I’m too far from the portal, and there’s not enough time before it collapses. You need to get the Infinity out if here, now sir.”

Palmer chimed in, “Crimson, are you bat-shit insane!? Get to the ship, now!”

“With all due respect ma’am,” Five argued as he barreled out of the way from another lethal piece of debris, “I’ve got about ten minutes until I get to the portal, Infinity has five minutes to flee, and this Pelican’s got about seven, at best. I think that it would be better to escape with 16,000 alive instead of dying while waiting for one.”

There was silence over the radio channel as the options were weighed in by the Captain of the Infinity.

“Spartan,” started Lasky.

“Sir?”

“… It’s been an honor. Roland, prep the Infinity, prep for emergency slipspace jump!”

The radio goes silent again. Then Palmer chimes in one last time.

“Crimson, see you in Hell.”

Five smirks underneath his Mark-V helmet.

“I’ll meet you there, right before we storm the gates with the rest of them.”

The comms die out as Infinity’s signature dissipated from orbit and likely activated the Shaw-Fujikawa translight engine, leaving the system behind in the wake of a Super-nova.

Five may be a dead man, but he refused to die inside a bubble. He kicked the gunship into maximum overdrive and blasted his way through the debris field. The portal began to moan and shutter, along with the structure of the world. The blue light in the center began to flicker, and the Pelican’s left wing began to flame. Five accelerated through the last of the falling ceiling and propelled the gunship right into the collapsing portal, determined to watch the star explode on the outside, and so to say, go out with a bang. Massive constructs of metal began to clash about in the air, flying into the portal before the outer ring to the portal fell apart, and the image shuddered from its normal blue hue to a cloudy image, one that looked like a large forest. Five took the chance that it was a time-whatever that the Forerunners could fail-safe into, and pushed the Pelican even further. With one final push, the right thruster exploded, along with half of the right wing, and the Pelican dive rolled into the portal, mere seconds before the planet burst into plasma, and died out in a massive flash.

Five knew only of this:

Crimson was still operational.

\\\//////

It was a quiet night in Fluttershy’s abode. That was, until the Cutie Mark Crusaders decided to spend another night at her place for another sleep-over. Of course, the timid pegasus couldn’t say no to the most adorable little fillies in all of Ponyville. Still, she had to keep a close eye on them in case they tried to sneak into the Everfree Forest again. She dismissed these thoughts as she walked into their tent outside, along with a plate of pastries and fruits atop her wings. She placed them on the ground and laid down next to the crusaders as they continued to star-gaze.

“Oo-oo-ooh! How about that one!” asked Scootaloo.

“I think that’s a belt or something? Rarity would love that constellation.” Replied Sweetie Belle.

“Ah don’t know about that,” replied Applebloom, “but it sure is pretty. Don’t cha think so Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy looked out to them all and smiled deeply, extended her wings and hugged them all.

“I’m just glad for moments like these, when there’s nothing to worry about. I mean, a clear sky like this, a group of happy fillies, and the wonders of the night sky above us? What could possibly make this any better, or better yet, what could possibly go wrong?”

The three fillies snuggled up to Fluttershy, and sat there quietly, and drifted off to-

CRACK

The four of them shot their eyes open and looked to the sky above the Everfree forest. Fluttershy dove into the tent and peered out, shaking bad enough to rattle the entire tent.

“Relax, Fluttershy,” Scootaloo started, “It’s just the Everfree forest acting-“

CRACK CRACK CRACK

Fluttershy trembled as the onslaught of thunder claps continued their wake of terror, and the group of mares looked up to find the source. A strange blue cloud, shooting out lightning in every direction, as if to hit the sky itself.

The lighting and thunder became more and more frequent, and the thunder began to heighten in pitch.

CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK

The storm cloud almost looked like it was exploding from the inside, and just when they were about to run inside,

CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK TSH- VVVVVVRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

What appeared to be a giant flaming bird came spinning out of the storm and zoomed straight towards the Everfree Forest, and shaking the ground with a loud crash that sent dirt and smoke flying through the air. The girls all stood there in disbelief for a few moments, mouths agape from the show they just watched, and Fluttershy just stood there, staring into the sky with almost invisible pupils, frozen in pure terror.

\\\//////

Harness watched in awe and terror as the sky itself began to rip apart above him. All around, massive chunks of metal began to fall, engulfed in flames that began to spread to the rocky gorge below. As they crashed deep within the earth, more cracks and storms ripped through the sky, sending more large, broken structures across the landscape.

Suddenly, a thunderous boom came from above him, causing Harness' reflexes to kick in and sent him flying back with a rapid motion of his wings. Where he once stood, a large metallic box crashed down. He felt himslef tumble across the dirt from the shock-wave, and struggled to keep himself from going unconscious. When he stood on shaking legs, he focused on the power within the back of his mind, and echoed into the void.

'Something's falling from the skies. It's mostly metal, and dangerous. It may be wise to avoid the wreckage, my Queen. It would draw more attention to us than we can handle.'

"Alright," the Queen's motherly voice chimed, "good job, Harness. Return to the cave, I'll examine this myself."

The Changeling gave a bow to nothing before extending his wings and buzzing back into the depths of the Everfree Forest.