Crimson

Were anypony were to walk in to Princess Celestia's chambers at the moment, one would think that the Princess of the Sun was replaced with a perfectly carved statue that was filled to the brim with sheer rage. Her eyes were dilated to the point of being nonexistent, and her magical aura was burning with fury.

Hold aloft before her was a simple parchment, sent to her via her personal student's brotherly dragon. Celestia had hoped it would help her calm down some, to know that her student was safe from the insects.

How wrong she was.

Not only had they seized control of an alien warship, a Frigate to rival the combined mass of Equestria's Air Fleet, no less, but they had also seized Twilight's mind.

That was the only possibility Celestia's mind could truly comprehend at the moment, as she read and reread the message dozens of times in her head.

'Twilight... they...'

Unable to contain her fury any longer, the Princess of the Sun incinerated the "Peace Treaty" and summoned her Royal Armour. In a flash that would have blinded any lesser beings, Celestia's form was encased with a suit of armor. The golden plates appeared to be almost identical to that of any Royal Guard that could be seen anywhere in Equestria, only this suit encompassed her legs as well with plates of the shining metal. Runes and ancient symbols of power glowed with the intensity of plasma as they were reawakened from the stasis spell she had encapsulated it in, enhancing her already godly prowess to unfathomable heights.

Her regalia and tiara were thrown across her room as she summoned a helmet and chest plate that bore the flag of Equestria.

Beside Celestia, her mighty Ember Striker, freshly sharpened and enchanted, came to her side as she cracked her neck.

"I... will burn. Them. All," she stated to herself.

As she focused her power into a teleportation spell, her eyes began to emit a haze of purple as the whites of her eyes turned a pale green.

\\\//////

Once Five had assembled the heavy ordnance properly, he looked over the terminal to see how the relocation of the Changelings was going. There were a sparse few signatures outside of the Crew Decks, likely waiting while the rest were making themselves at home in the barracks. He switched the view to security mode to check on the barracks and watched as the Changelings piled into their new sleeping quarters.

Some of them were making use of the beds already, taking off the sheets to make a crumbled pile of fabric to roll themselves into. A large amount of the smaller ones, likely children, were sharing beds while a number of the larger Changelings were examining the different devices in the Crew Decks. A few came across the lounges, and started to interact with the holoscreens and datapads. Five had thought ahead as he was organizing the ordnance and had ordered Sid to switch all access in the ship's  lounges to Civilian, denying any and all access to weapon data or anything classified that would likely cause trouble later.

Just as he was cleaning up, the speakers in his helmet began to emit Sid's voice.

"Sir, I've detected a radiation surge near the starboard maintenance entrance, on deck 3-A. Several signatures are approaching the hull now, one of them being the purple quadruped from earlier."

"Son of a bitch, what now?" Five groaned.

Five accessed the security feed and groaned as he saw Twilight Sparkle approach with a small crowd. There Apple-something, Spike, and a few bigger ponies in gold armor that barely covered anything. For God's sake, their necks were exposed!

"Put me on speaker," Five said to the AI.

"Yes, sir."

\\\//////

Twilight, Applejack, Spike, and the three Royal Guards had followed Twilight to... whatever it was that they were staring at. It looked like an overly complex skyscraper on its side, with burn marks and torn sides littering its exterior. Spike stared up in awe at the sheer scale of it while Applejack ran numbers through her head, thinking of how much iron or steel this thing would need if Five was going to ask for help fixing it up. The Royal Guards, however, were focused on something else entirely.

"That thing is a Frigate!?" one of them asked, whispering to the other Guards.

"Look at the size of those mounted weapons!" one of them said as he pointed a hoof at the Rampart turrets.

"And that thing is filled to the brim with Changelings," the third one added.

"Celestia, are they breeding an army in there!?"

"That thing looks like it could take down a Dreadnought in minutes!"

"Why the hay do they need our help, again?"

"Guards!" Twilight shouted.

The three Royal Guards reacted immediately, galloping up to Princess Twilight before bowing their heads as she turned to face them.

"The Changelings aren't breeding an army in there. In fact, I don't think they're breeding, period. I've seen the state they're in, and I can assure you, that they need help. Despite their..." Twilight looked back to the Pale Horse, swallowing a lump in her throat, "rather secure housing, I can assure you that they don't intend on acting against us in any way, so long as we do not instigate a violent response."

"Us!? Instigate a violent response!?" one of the Guards half-shouted. "Your majesty, with all due respect, they attacked us! Why shouldn't we get out of here and let them rot?"

"Because we are Equestrians! We value friendship and harmony above all else! And if we were to turn our backs on an entire species on the brink of extinction, then we're worse than any monster we've ever faced. If they want a chance to work past our conflicts and towards a better future for everypo- everyone, then we need to embrace the spirit our founders had when they made our flag, and give them a chance."

The sense of finality and authority in Twilight's response was enough to silence any other thoughts the Royal Guards had about second-guessing the Princess. They all nodded as a voice boomed from the ship.

"What do you want?"

Twilight turned to the ship and cleared her throat before speaking.

"We are here to represent Equestria in hopes of conversing a state of peace with the Changeling Queen, Chrysalis. We are unarmed and swear to not bring any undue harm upon the Changeling race."

A tense silence hung in the air as Twilight awaited the Spartan's response.

"As the highest ranking officer aboard the UNSC Pale Horse, I recognize your intentions and welcome you aboard. However, should any physical conflict erupt between your personnel and the Changelings, it will be considered an act of violence not only against an endangered species, but against the United Nations Space Command as well."

The large doors opened up before them, and with a smile on her face, Twilight motioned for everypony to follow her into the alien vessel.

\\\//////

"Well, looks like I get to play diplomat some more," Five sighed to himself as he loaded a Magnum.

"Sir, where should I direct the guests?" Sid asked.

"Anywhere the Changelings aren't."

"Very well. I shall-"

The sound of an explosion cut off the AI as Five looked towards the ceiling.

\\\//////

Chrysalis looked up instinctively, staring through the metallic ceiling towards the source of the noise. She could sense fear and panic enter the minds of her Changelings as well, and reached out to them in a comforting manner. Using the knowledge that her Sensorlings had inquired from Sid, she limped through the hallways to find the source of the sound.

\\\//////

"Sid, what the Hell was that and where did it come from?"

"Radiation detectors are going haywire, and the Rampart batteries are unable to find an IFF tag to lock onto. Whatever it is, though, is organic. Acquiring visual feed of the outer hull."

The holo-screen lit up before Five to show the Hyperion silos atop the ship, as well as a glowing ball of gold and purple light that was hovering above the hull.

"Magnify image."

The image focused on the light source and revealed a white pony with golden armor and purple wafts of smoke coming from her eyes and horn.

\\\//////

Celestia halted above the behemoth of alien metal as she felt her magic being sapped from her being. Even with her armor's enchantments, the construct beneath her was still somehow able to drain her of her greatest strength. Though it was not as intensive as some of the traps she had fallen for in the past, she wasn't about to allow her opponents any advantage. With a thought, she prepared her Royal Canterlot Voice, and shouted.

"CHRYSALIS! YOU AND YOUR CHANGELINGS HAVE DEFILED THE ROYALTY OF EQUESTRIA FOR THE LAST TIME! YOU HAVE ONE MINUTE TO SURRENDER YOURSELVES AND RELEASE MY PONIES BEFORE I INCINERATE YOUR ENTIRE SPECIES!"

\\\//////

"That bitch is back again? Fine."

Five walked over to the weapon racks and pulled out an M739 Light Machine Gun down before loading in a fresh magazine.

"No more mercy."