Crimson

Fang froze in fear as he heard the alien speak to him. Slowly and shakily, he rose from the bush to reveal the pony form he hid in.

"Um, h-hi..." he said low with a forced hoof wave.

The alien merely motioned for him to exit the bush with its club, and stepped backwards to give him room. With a gulp, Fang stepped out of the leaves and branches, exposing the pony form he occupied. It was a light gray coat with a black, smooth mane and tail, topped off with eyes that were a simple blue, and a Cutie Mark of a cloud that fit well with his feathered wings. Not the most elaborate disguise, no, but definitely not one to stand out of the crowd.

"I-I'm, uh... S-Storm, Wing..." he offered.

\\\//////

Five examined the form of the being before him, and recognized none of it from what he saw.

'The Hell?' he thought to himself.

With a thought, Five activated the Promethean Vision and saw the form he was expecting. After shutting it off again, he spoke.

"What's with the disguise?"

\\\//////

Panic seized Fang when the alien said this.

"W-what?"

"Special visor equipment shows that you're not supposed to look like this," the alien explained. "You're supposed to have a horn, and-"

"Stop, please!" Fang pleaded. "Don't tell them!"

\\\//////

Five narrowed his eyes at the not-pony before speaking.

"Tell who about what?"

The not-pony looked around to make sure the coast was clear.

"You... you don't know what I am?"

"Why does everyone assume I do?" Five asked to his annoyance. "Look, I'm not on anyone's side except my own, right now. If you're some kind of spy or something, I don't care. What I do want to know, however, is why you're watching me."

The being gulped audibly while shifting on its legs.

"Um... well, it's..."

Five shook his head before walking in the path of the forest.

"If you wanna talk, then walk," he said before walking off.

The not-pony blinked a few times before taking off after Five, following him down the path out of town.

\\\//////

Twilight rubbed her temples with the flats of her hooves as she leaned against the frame of her home. She gave an exasperated sigh while dragging her hooves down her face.

"Why is everypony acting so crazy right now?" she asked nopony in particular.

The alicorn looked out the window beside her to see Five walking away from the Library with a pegasus stallion following him. She shot upright from her position and watched them walk off towards the edge of the town.

"What? Why is Five going with-" she gasped. "Is he already adjusting to the social norm already!? An alien adapting to our society after everything that's happened!?"

Twilight took off towards her desk to gather quills, parchments, and ink before propping a spare set of saddlebags on her sides and filling them up with documenting equipment.

"I have to record this! To make sure that this doesn't go wrong!"

The Princess flew out of the Library with urgency as she watched Five walk with the pegasus. While she focused on watching them and not being seen, she subconsciously began to document everything that she saw.

\\\//////

Five walked in silence with the not-pony as they neared the forest. The longer they walked, the more the smaller of the two seemed uncomfortable. He (unknown to Five if it has a gender) began to change where he walked in conjunction with Five, moving from side to side, or trying to stay behind him. The entire time they walked, the non-pony kept looking back to see if they were being watched. Knowing his line of work, as well as the current situation, Five would be surprised if he wasn't under observation.

"We're almost there," Five said to break the silence. "You maybe want to give me your actual name?"

The not-pony recoiled from the sudden speech, but managed to answer.

"Fang. Just, Fang."

"Five."

"Five what?"

"That's my name."

\\\//////

"That's it's name?" Chrysalis asked.

She watched the conversation through the scout's connection to the Hive, focusing on how it had singled Fang out, and why it was leading him out into the Everfree. Did it know they were in this ship? Did it want to execute him? What was it? She turned to view through the massive windows of what Sid had called, the "Observatory," and spoke.

"Sid, do you know of something red called 'Five'?"

"One moment," Sid responded, "searching data banks. File found."

"Can you explain what it is?"

"Of course."

The room darkened a bit as a large display popped up before the center window. The Queen watched as the form of the alien began to materialize on the flat plane of images and text, but was shocked to see its head removed to reveal a fleshy, scarred face, just like the aliens that she had found dead in the ship. Her eyes widened when she realized that this soldier was likely going to want the ship back. It spun in place as the voice of Sid explained what she was seeing.

"Sergeant-Master Antonio 'Five' Gutierrez, Spartan V-461 of the UNSC Infinity. Date of birth, April 1st, 2519 on Madrigal. Date of death: unknown, listed MIA after the destruction of Requiem. Date of Spartan-IV graduation: May 5th, 2555, placed 5th rank out of all candidates. Previous UNSC military record shows eight years of service in the UNSC Marine Corps, seventy eight drops as an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper until 2553. Specializes in medium-ranged combat, but has trained in close and long ranges as well. Placed top of the class in aircraft training in the Spartan-IV platoon of 2555. During his time aboard the Infinity, he led his fire-team, codenamed 'Crimson,' against Covenant and Promethean forces during the first Battle of Requiem in 2557. After returning to Requiem during the Second Battle of Requiem, his fire-team was captured by a large Covenant army, estimated to be between 20,000 and 30,000, not counting aircraft, heavy vehicles, and warships. Approximately 68% of the Covenant forces sent after Crimson were killed in the attack, 23%, of which, were his own. Some time after their escape from Covenant capture, the rest of the fire-team was listed MIA, leaving Five as the surviving member until the planet was destroyed by a supernova of the system's star. His sacrifice had saved over 21,000 members of the UNSC, and earned him several commendations, as well as a temporary promotion to Lieutenant before being listed as MIA. The last part was added before the Infinity broke all contact with Requiem."

After a moment of silence, she tried to think of something else to think of, but was interrupted by Sid's voice.

"Error: Communications jammed."

Chrysalis blinked several times as several red lights flashed up across the alien displays as a model of the ship popped up. A small portion lighted up red as the Queen spoke.

"What's going on?"

"I've attempted to communicate with Five's radio, but I'm being jammed by something inside the ship."

\\\//////

Five walked around the charred remains of what was once a crash site, kicking up ash with each footfall. The area around the blast was still as bent and scarred as he remembered it. Fang looked around in fear as Five stood in the center of the clearing.

"This is what's left of my first crash onto this planet. We're far away from anyone else. Would you kindly drop the disguise?"

Fang looked back and forth through the blackened bushes, fear in his eyes.

"A-are you sure?" he asked.

"It's fine. Just... do, whatever it is you need to do," Five said while motioning with a wave of his hand.

The not-pony took a deep breath before a green fire shot up from the ground and consumed him. Five was about to aim his rifle before he saw the form waiting behind the flames. The entire form of Fang was altered in all but shape. He still retained the shape of a pony, but everything else was different. Instead of grey fur, he was covered in a black, shell-like skin, with holes strewn across the bottoms of his legs. Fang's wings were now clear and also ridden with holes, giving an insect-like look to him. His once similar eyes had completely changed to a full blue, leaving no pupils at all. A horn had also appeared on his head, short and sharp, while his hair and tail had completely left. The other major difference was the fact that Fang had shrunk considerably. His torso was much thinner than before, almost looking as though he were nothing but shell and bone, and his height was almost halved.

"I-I'm... a Changeling."