Crimson

Five paid no mind to the Changelings that were looking up to him in fear, as well as the accumulating blood at his boots, as he marched towards the Boarding Pod. Once inside the purple walls of the craft, he spotted a blinking light amongst a large panel of controls. As he neared the panel, his Heads-Up Display began to flicker and glitch, taking away his motion tracker and several other elements. Five responded to the disturbance in his equipment by lifting a blood-coated boot and smashing it against the console with all of his might. Bits of metal flew out as the lights in the pod flickered and died, a calm silence taking up the pod.

The Spartan removed his foot from the Covenant device and began to check his HUD as a synthetic voice spoke in his ear.

"Spartan V-461 of the UNSC Infinity, I am reading the jamming device down, do you copy, over?"

"This is Spartan V-461, confirmed, reading loud and clear. Identify yourself."

"I am UNSC A.I. SID 6206-9, however, many identify me as 'Sid'."

"Are there any more Covenant on board?"

"Negative. All Covenant forces have been disposed of. System check initiated. Scanning all equipment. Please hold."

Five walked past the threshold of the boarding craft and picked up the corpse of the Minor as he stripped it of all weapons. As he did, the Changelings watched him with mixed emotions, debating on whether or not they should try to protect themselves from the alien before them.

\\\//////

Chrysalis awoke with a gasp as she felt her heart racing, trying to beat its way out of her chest. She tried to move, but cried in pain as she felt the extent of the fight she remembered. As her mind buzzed with thousands of thoughts, she looked down to see her battered form. Three large masses of white wrappings were kept around her left foreleg, her wings, and her lower barrel, bordering on her flanks. Chrysalis could feel the stings of her burns under the cool surfaces, as well as an invading feeling in her neck. When she tilted her head to view it, she found several needles connected to a machine that kept them all in place, pumping unknown fluids through her body.

Every instinct in the Queen's brain screamed at her to get out of this situation. She paused, however, as she looked to the side of where she lay, and saw her Changelings laying around her. They were all being attended to by identical machines, the fluids pumping amounts in respect to the Changeling each device was hooked up to.

"Ah, you've awoken," Sid spoke calmly.

"Those... beasts," Chrysalis groaned out.

"The Covenant Elites have been eliminated, thanks to your specialists, as well as Spartan Five."

Her eyes widened as she remembered the fact that the alien soldier was already on his way to the ship before she had been knocked out.

"Where... is he?"

"He is currently questioning the status of the Armory, the ship's defenses, and the presence of your kind on the ship. He has yet to attempt to relocate any of the Changelings."

Chrysalis was pleased to hear that the soldier hadn't made a drastic change yet, and struggled to remove herself from the confines of the medical equipment.

"Queen Chrysalis, I would not recommend moving in your current condition," Sid advised.

"A Queen, must not appear vulnerable," she stated as she tried to rip out the tubes being fed into her.

"I would suggest summoning the Spartan here to converse with-"

"No! I will not be talked to as if I were some injured fool!" she protested.

A silence hung over the medical deck before the instruments began to remove themselves from Chrysalis' chitin.

"As you wish, ma'am," Sid stated.

When the advanced equipment let go of the Queen, the bed beneath her began to sink closer to the ground. With a grunt of pained effort, she managed to roll off the side and land on her hooves, feeling the sting of the cold metal shoot up her aching legs. Chrysalis struggled to walk forward as she registered the pain in her joints, likely from the blinding explosion that led to her being in these confines. Another metallic door slid open before Chrysalis to reveal several of her Changelings, Phalanxes, and a pair of Generals, all bowing as she slowly stepped out of the warship's hospital. They all rose in sync and formed a protective formation around their Queen before they marched down the corridors of the ship.

\\\//////

Spike watched as another tear fell from his face towards the dirt far below the Library's balcony. A soothing hoof ran along the spines on his back, as Rarity's pristine white coat rubbed against his cheek, trying to comfort the small dragon.

"But... I don't get it," Spike wondered aloud, "how could he do this? I thought Five was gonna be our friend?"

"Oh, don't try to focus on that, Spikey," Rarity cooed, trying to calm his nerves.

"But he sounded like he was a hero! Fighting for what's right, and knocking back evil. So why did he help the Changelings take Twilight?"

"Spike, she wasn't forced to go. She chose to follow the brute. We need to remember that this is Twilight we're talking about, darling. She's beaten an Ursa Minor, remember? She took on more Changelings than the rest of us put together at the Wedding. If anypony can handle herself, it's her."

\\\//////

Twilight swallowed the lump in her throat as she saw large numbers of Changelings huddling close together, a few hissing at her as she passed by. Though the hisses they threw at her were worrying, she felt a load of sadness as she saw smaller, younger Changelings hide behind others, trying to escape her sight. The more she looked around, the more her feelings on the race of insect-like creatures warred within her. She should hate them. They tried to ruin the most important day of her brother's life, steal love from Equestria, attacked Princess Celestia, and nearly caused her to lose all of those she cared for.

However, she was looking right at the fruits of their labor. They're starving, held up in an unknown metallic beast of architecture, and are scared of her. They were afraid of the Princess of Friendship, possibly the least dangerous of the four Alicorn Princesses. Not only that, but where as she had gone to Celestia, expecting a list of names that were lost, not a single citizen, Guard, or other had been killed in their attack. Twilight held her head down as she contemplated their past deeds, of which she knew one, and the results left before her.

Twilight started to think that they may have suffered enough.

\\\//////

Five stepped out of the elevator as he followed the directions that Sid had given him. As he did, the Spartan continued to ask the AI about the ship's newest occupants.

"Access to weapons systems?"

"Negative."

"Hacking into the database?"

"Only questions about the ship and myself have been asked, no hacking attempts made as of yet."

"Medical Bay?"

"Currently occupied with 83 critical condition cases, as well as 403 pending for medical attention, no deaths as of yet."

"Bridge?"

"Only four, but they seem to be praising the holotable as an alter of some kind."

"Barracks?"

"Currently unattended. I was going to ask Queen Chrysalis if she was going to move a majority of the Changelings in the hangars, but I have not yet had the time."

"Where is this 'Queen'?"

"30 meters forward, 2 meters left."

Five glanced at the sign bolted into the wall ahead of him, which read "Mess Hall".

"Give me some hints here, what kind of Queen are we looking at?"

"Genetically speaking, she shares traits with all members of the Changelings, as well as similarities to the more rare types you've encountered. There are several more gene types present within her that I am unfamiliar with, possibly types of their kind that have yet to be hatched. She has asked that I withhold the status of her current state, however, so that you wouldn't address her as an injured fool, as she put it."

Five stood before the door to the mess hall and locked the Shotgun to his back as he cracked his neck.

"Time to play diplomat, Spartan," he spoke to himself before the doors opened to reveal a room full of Changelings that surrounded a tall one that had green, straight hair, a bent, misshapen horn, and covered in gauze. Five could see the plasma burns stretch out from the cover provided by the white medical cloth, and paused when he saw the Queen's eyes. Unlike the rest of the Changelings, she had actual whites and irises in her eyes, though her pupils were slitted, like a reptile.

All the Changelings looked to him, their muscles tensing as he stood unmoving. Five broke the tension as he walked halfway towards the center of the group, while giving the Queen of the Changelings a stern gaze.

"I am UNSC Spartan V-461 of the Spartan 5th Regiment, Sergeant Master Five of the UNSC INF-101 Infinity, and former leader of fire-team Crimson. I'd like to know what your people are doing on an abandoned Frigate, and what you plan on doing, if you'd be so kind."

The Changeling Queen stood up and walked right up to Five, her guards parting around her. When she stopped, she looked right up at Five's face, which was barely above the tip of her horn, and spoke.

"I am Queen Chrysalis of the Changeling Nomadic Empire. We claimed this ship for shelter, and wish to use it to avoid extinction."