Crimson

Five watched as the large white pony stepped down towards the building he was occupying, and paused as it saw him in the window. Without missing a beat, the Spartan opened the door to the tree and walked out into the street. To the left of the pony were two more, smaller ones, decked out in flashy golden armor, holding spears up to the Spartan. To the right side were two similarly armored ponies, only these had horns and were holding something in an aura, similar to what he had seen Twilight do when she found his weapons.

"Monster!" one of them shouted, causing all eyes in the road to lock on to Five.

"Hold," the white one said, raising a leg.

All of the aliens paused to stare at the massive red form of Five as he stared down at the bandaged appendage that the white one sported. Behind him, shuffling could be heard before Twilight came out and spoke.

"Princess Celestia! What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Shouldn't you be nursing that wing?" Five asked smugly.

The armored ones growled at him as "Celestia" narrowed her eyes.

"I could have killed you if I wanted to," she snapped.

"I doubt that," Five replied dryly.

"Oh, you think you're better than me?"

"Look to your right. There's your proof."

"Because you cheated."

"Really? You think I cheated? What are you, eight?"

Twilight tapped his leg with wide eyes.

"Five, I don't think you should agitate the Princess," she said.

Five may have heard her, but didn't bother to address her as he simply continued to stare down Celestia.

"What do you want?" he asked bluntly.

Celestia almost flared her teeth at him while her guards began to lower their spears at him.

"What I want," she started, "is for you to leave my land, metal beast."

"I'd gladly leave, but someone here told me that you'd be able to help me get off this planet."

"Why should I help you? You've-"

"Done nothing wrong," Five interrupted. "I've walked out of a forest, gotten attacked by two of your kind on sight, then ambushed by you, and have only acted in defense."

"Do you expect me to believe that?"

"Exactly what was I doing, then?"

Celestia paused and stood still as Five simply waited.

"Princess," Twilight started, "Five really wasn't doing anything bad. I found him in the Everfree after his ship crashed, and he's only looking for a way back to his people. It was all just a misunderstanding."

Looking between Twilight and Five, Celestia pondered the danger of having this alien in Ponyville.

"Also, if I wanted to do any damage, I would have easily done it by now," Five added.

Celestia closed her eyes in thought.

\\\//////

Fang watched as the alien spoke to Princess Celestia with an audacity that he thought would get it sent straight to the Sun, or the depths of Tartarus, or somewhere worse. All the alicorn could do, however, was talk as it stood before her, waiting for a response.

"Fine," she finally spoke.

The Changeling had to gather his focus as his disguise nearly dropped in the middle of the street, scared by the sudden talk from the alicorn.

"I will look in our old archives to see if we have a teleportation spell powerful enough to jump worlds. But, if you harm any of my little ponies, I will personally escort you to the bowels of Tartarus. Do you understand?"

"First of all, good to hear that you're actually going to cooperate. Secondly, don't threaten me, because we both know who'll beat the other's face in. Last, any other conditions you want to add?"

"Actually, I want you to prove that you're not a threat. I want to hear from several ponies, not just Twilight and her friends, about how you helped them."

"So, community service, then?"

"If that's how you want to address it, fine."

The Princess turned back onto the carriage and motioned for her guards to follow.

"Wait, Princess, you're just going to leave?" the purple one asked.

"I trust that if it does act out, you can handle it, Twilight."

"So then why did you attack me if you thought she was so capable before?" the alien asked forcefully.

"Because I thought that you were trying to sneak up on her, and were going to attack the town."

The alien shook its head before turning around and starting to move towards the door to the treehouse. Princess Celestia's carriage took off to the chorus of flapping feathered wings as the alien watched it take off as well. Fang swallowed a lump in his throat and slowly approached the two from an angle, trying to sneak up to the side of the alien.

\\\//////

"So, what, she wants me to make friends before I'm even told if I can get out of here?" Five questioned. "Fan-fucking-tastic."

"Well, at least she's giving you a chance, right?" Twilight offered.

Five looked down at her with a blank stare, somewhat negated by the blank plate of glass between their gazes, but felt it necessary for the stupidity of the situation.

"God end me now," he dryly remarked as he took a few steps forward.

"Where are you going?"

"To check the area around the crash to make sure nothing made it from the demolition."

As he walked in the direction of the forest, Five saw a blip on his motion tracker to his left. He shifted his gaze to the source of the signal to find a small bush. With a thought, he activated the Promethean Vision and peered into the plant. Inside was a creature that was shaped like the ponies, except very different. It had a curved, short horn that ended in a sharp point, a set of wings, and had several holes along all of its legs. When the Promethean Vision shut off, Five spoke up.

"You want to stop hiding, and maybe explain yourself?"