Crimson

Five placed the duffel bag onto the ground as he waited for the small alien to respond to his inquiry that he had asked almost three minutes ago. He knelt down and searched through the bag for a few seconds before pulling out the empty Sniper Rifle. The Spartan unattached the scope of the rifle and placed it on one of the magnetic clamps on his waist. With the rifle utterly useless, Five examined the weapon for a moment before shoving it back into the bag.

"Why?" came a meek voice.

Five looked back to the small alien to find it crying lightly, the fur under its eyes matted and damp.

"Why what?" he responded bluntly.

"Why would you just do... that!?" it yelled while pointing to the edge of the cliff.

"Because I'm not about to risk my chances of survival by keeping that wrecked piece of shit as leverage. How am I supposed to know if your kind would respect my wishes and just hand over anything you might find in there? For all I know you could restore the navigational system and use it against the UNSC."

"But we wouldn't! You couldn't just talk about it first, or ask if you could get some help!?"

Five zipped up the duffel bag and slung it over his shoulder again before walking off towards the trees. Behind him, the sound of the alien approaching caught up with him as the shouting continued.

"Where are you going!? Just- I'm sorry if I offended you, but I can help! I promise!"

"I don't care if you promise anything, I have an obligation as a member of the UNSC to carry out the necessary protocol in this situation. If I'm told to destroy my ship, then I destroy my ship. If I need to dispose of anything I can't use, then I dispose of what I can't use. Orders are orders."

The alien seemed to back off at his words, walking further away from him as the thicket of flora began to scrape against his armor.

"I..." Twilight tried to start. "Can you at least... answer a few questions?"

Five glanced back while keeping on track.

"Fine. Ask something. If it's not too classified, then I may answer. If it's anything personal, don't ask it."

"Alright. What's your name?"

"Five."

"Five? As in the number?"

"Yes."

"Why 'Five'?"

"Classified."

"Okay... what are you?"

"A soldier."

"What kind of soldier?"

"Spartan."

"What's that?"

"Classified."

"Alright... what about your species?"

"What specifically?"

"What are they called?"

"Humans."

Twilight went quiet for a few seconds, likely thinking of what to ask him. While all was silent, Five spotted a large lake, shimmering in the moonlight. Before he could walk towards it, however, Twilight spoke again.

"Why are you a soldier?"

Five looked back to find the alien peeking at him from behind a tree.

"Why am I a soldier?"

Twilight nodded.

"Why would you want to have to do things like this? Did you get assigned to this because you were being punished, or...?"

Five stood completely still before turning back to the body of water and walking towards it. Again, the sound of the small creature following him could be heard as he reached a small section of an open field before the shining lake. When he was only a few steps away from the edge of the water, he placed the duffel bag on the ground again and opened it. Five reached in once more and pulled out a small canteen with the UNSC Marines logo embedded on it, and shook it a bit, only to hear the clattering of the container. The Spartan walked closer to the edge of the water, tossing the canteen between his hands. Once he was close enough, Five knelt down and dunked the metallic container under the shimmering surface, causing small ripples in the water to echo about the lake. As the bubbles from the canteen slowed in number and size, eventually coming to an end, Five brought it back out of the water and screwed it shut.

"Were you... programmed to?" Five heard.

The Spartan looked behind him as he stood up yet again, and stared down at the form of Twilight.

"You think I'm some kind of robot?" he asked.

The small creature nodded swiftly but cautiously, careful not to break the line of sight with him.

"I'm not. I chose to be a soldier, yes, and for good reasons."

Five walked back to the duffel bag and dropped the canteen in unceremoniously before closing the bag yet again and draping it over his shoulder.

"Mister Five, I'm trying my hardest right now to make this a pleasant welcome for you," Twilight spoke.

"Thanks for trying, but I'm trying to focus on how I'm supposed to survive in this forest until a UNSC ship can pick up my IFF signal and get me out of here. Until then, I don't need to play ambassador."

\\\//////

Twilight thought about how she could persuade the alien to keep closer to Ponyville, only if it meant that she would be able to get more answers as to what Five was and why, or how, he got to Equestria.

"What if... I could set a meeting with the Princesses? They might be able to help you contact your people," she suggested.

"Aren't you supposed to be one?"

"Well, yes, but Celestia and Luna are far more powerful than me, and I know that if you explain your situation to them, then they'd be glad to help!"

Five stood still for a few moments before nodding at her.

"Alright. If you know anywhere I can camp out until then, lead the way."

Twilight was about to nod before Five drew the weapon off of his back and pointed it skyward.

"But, if you try and spring a trap on me, I will respond as necessary."

Twilight swallowed loudly as she nodded.

"Good. If you wanted to talk, then you can start now."

"Well, let's head this way," Twilight started. "And in case you've been wondering, I'm what's known as a Pony."

\\\//////

Chrysalis looked up upon the behemoth of metal that landed only a few short hours ago and felt her hooves shake in awe. The walls of the metallic object stood taller than most of the mountains that she had seen since her banishment from Canterlot. Lights danced across the structure as sparks poured down from one of the sides. Atop the object was a large building with massive windows, showing more lights that indicated life within the behemoth. One side, she had seen, had large circles that hummed a blue light every now and again. As she took to the air and hovered around it, she could see massive scars that dissected the structure, exposing the inner workings of the beast like a predator would with its prey. What could do this to a structure so sturdy, she could only imagine. She slowly approached one of the massive gaping scars in the structure, and saw that they were created by massive burns that melted the armor of... whatever it was, apart.

Her hooves touched down gently inside the behemoth, and she gasped when she saw that the inside was more akin to that of a building as opposed to a creature. The hallway she was in had several panels that were slumped on the walls, sporting bubbles that were as solid as rock, giving the Queen more evidence that this thing was destroyed by heat-based attacks. Above her, several artificial lights began to flicker, and after a few seconds, they began to light up the hallway in a pattern more along the lines of a guide. Chrysalis readied her magic as she followed the path of lights, determined to learn of what exactly had almost crushed her hive into extinction.