Crimson

Five looked upon the strange building that the other two were entering, and considered how fucked up his current situation was.

"We're here, you know," Dash called back to him.

"Do you actually expect me to fit in any of these buildings?"

"Just duck under the arch. It's spacious in here," she replies.

Five sighed as he approached the large tree's entrance, and felt his armor clatter as he ducked underneath the low arch of the door, almost bringing him to his knees. When he stepped through, he slowly rose up and examined the interior. Thankfully, there was enough space for him to stand upright and then some. The walls were all lined with some objects that he didn't know anything about, and were all marked with strange text. In the center, a large, golden decorative head that resembled the ponies rested on a small wooden table. Five saw his motion tracker indicate five signatures above him, all huddled together and moving away from wherever he was walking.

"Are there others upstairs?" he asked.

"Um... maybe, why?"

"I can see them on my tracker."

"Your what?"

"Motion tracker. Built into the suit so that I can have full awareness of everything around me, within 25 meters."

"Okay, then..."

Rainbow Dash flew into the air and scanned the upper level before stopping mid-flight.

"It's alright, just Fluttershy, Spike, and the Crusaders," she spoke.

"You know that I have no idea what any of those are, right?" Five remarks.

Dash gives a snort before landing before him, and glaring daggers at him.

"Listen, just because you think you're so tough-"

"Put you down without even trying," Five interrupted.

"They're our friends, alright? Do you have any idea what that word means, robo-thing?"

'Are you fucking serious with that one?' Five thought to himself.

"First off, I don't care. I'm not here to make friends, I'm here to wait until I can find a way to contact UNSC forces to get off this rock. Second, don't act like I should know everything about everyone you know, because I'm not staying here for any longer than a few days, even if I have to go back into that forest."

Rainbow Dash looks away with an annoyed look on her face as her tail flicks out for some reason.

"And third, don't. Ever. Call. Me. A. Robot." Five says forcefully.

"Whatever. Just don't think about hurting them."

Five looks to his motion tracker to see that the five signatures were moving around and approaching the staircase that was in his view. Soon, the five blips turned into actual forms as five new aliens walked into his field of vision. Four of them were smaller than the rest, with one being purple and walking on two legs, like Five. Three of them were smaller variants of the ponies he had seen, and had no marks on them. The last one froze when it saw him, and was shaking in fear. The others also stopped their descent as they stared at Five, not saying a thing.

"So, Five," Applejack says from another doorway, "can Ah get ya anythin'?"

The Spartan takes a moment to swallow and finds that his throat was painfully dry. He pushed the pain to the back of his mind as he cleared his throat before speaking.

"Some water, thanks," was all he said.

"Water?" she asked. "Um... alright, be right back."

As the orange one walked off, Five approached one of the desks and placed his, now strapless, duffel bag on it. The desk creaked in protest of the weight of the weapons, but Five paid no mind as he reached up to the straps of his helmet. As he began to unlock the seals, he could feel his stomach cry out in pain as well.

'Shit. Gotta get a ration bar, now.'

Five heard a familiar hiss as the many different features of the MJOLNIR visor faded away, and was replaced with a blank, golden screen.

\\\//////

Spike watched in awe as the strange creature spoke to Applejack before turning towards one of the desks and placing a large bag on it. Then, without warning, it brought its claws up to the side of its head and made a hissing sound. Rainbow Dash prepared to fight, but stood still as stone as the creature began to remove its head. He could have sworn that he heard Fluttershy make a scared sound, but ceased when they saw what lay beneath the red, metallic piece.

The thing underneath had no fur on it, save for a thin brown layer where its mane would be, and looked to be scarred over a majority of its face. Its features were easily male, all angular and thick, but was also foreign in so many ways. Spike couldn't help but stare at the scars... horrible, frightful scars. Its right ear had half of it taken off, near the bottom, judging by how the other one looked. Below that, along the right cheek, a grotesque burn streaked along a portion of the chin in a perfectly straight path, reaching down below the red armor that covered its neck. On the left side, a large burn ate up a part of its short mane, and reached near its left ear, coming forward all the way to right above its left eye. Along the nose, a scar ran horizontally, burying itself underneath the eyes. And speaking of those orbs... the windows... Spike looked in and saw torture, pain, sorrow, horror... death.

Spike gasped and tumbled back as he recoiled from staring at the face of the creature, and heard it chuckle in a deep voice.

"Scary, huh?" it asked with a smirk. "Just don't ask how I got them."