Crimson

Chrysalis held down the urge to vomit as she hefted out another "Human" corpse from the ship. As the cold body began to fall into the chasm and eventually into the river below, she could hear Sid from the "speakers," as he calls them.

"Quite lacking in formalities, isn't it?"

"What do you mean, spirit?" she asked.

"The way the crew is being disposed of, of course. Usually a burial as such would require a ceremony involving a folding of the UNSC flag, or departing words from fellow officers."

Chrysalis spared a glance towards the edge of the large "vehicle bay," and down into the chasm that the ship crashed over, and felt ashamed of how she was indeed treating them. She steeled herself, however, and focused on what she needed to do for the Hive.

"My first priority is the good of the Hive at all times. I can't partake in such ceremonies."

'Even if they do deserve better,' she thought to herself.

"Understood. In that case, there are no more bodies to dispose of, as of now. The ship's interior is ready for your needs."

"Excellent. First thing's first, I need to relocate the sick and the young. Give me a moment to contact them," she said before turning towards the large opening.

"If you have any that are ill, perhaps I could reroute power to the Medical Facilities?"

Chrysalis paused her magic as she spoke to the "spirit".

"What?"

"I suggested that I could reroute power from unused portions of the ship to power the equipment in the ship's Medical Facilities."

The Changeling Queen turned back to the ship's interior as she spoke.

"Why are you offering me all of this?"

"I am obligated to serve any directions given to me by anyone that may inhabit the ship, at any given time. Of course, my security protocols would differ whom I listen to, but they were corrupted and damaging my processors, so I deleted them. Now, I follow any and all orders that I can perform, regardless of where they come from."

She nodded into the ship before taking off into the air, her thoughts locked on the location of her hive as the sounds of thunder rolled beyond the mountains.

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Five felt an intense wave of heat roll over him, even under his suit, as his shields withstood the impact of several unlucky trees. When he came into contact with the ground, Five flipped once before shooting his fist into the ground and slowing his momentum while creating a trail up dirt. The strap of the duffel bag broke and sent the weapons flying into the bushes as Five looked up to see his assailant.

It was another pony, like Twilight, with wings and a horn, but was easily taller than any other one he had seen (which wasn't amazing, since he had seen all of three). It had a white body with golden armor in strange places, such as only on its legs, and one piece around its neck. The hair of this one was stranger than the others, which is an achievement all on its own. It had four different colors, and was waving in some kind of invisible wind, giving it the look like it was all one piece of some kind of wig.

The new pony spread its massive wings and flew straight towards Five with a look of rage in its eyes.

'Alright, that's it,' Five thought to himself.

The Spartan stood fast and charged full-sprint at the giant pony, the background of trees and grass fading away as he neared a speed of 50 kilometers per hour.

The pony began to charge some kind of glow around its horn as Five raised his right fist over his head. He swung down towards it as face, just as a blast of yellow energy expanded around him. When the two forces collided, another burst of heat cracked through the air as a blinding light came from the point of impact.

\\\//////

Twilight gaped as she watched her mentor attack the alien that she had just stopped her friends from attacking. Not only that, but Five was also fighting back against the Princess! She watched as the alien threw punches that obliterated trees and rocks that stood before him, and Celestia counter with blasts of magical fire that melted craters into the dirt.

"Why?" she asked herself quietly. "Why can't we just talk to the alien like civilized ponies!?"

\\\//////

Five swung a left hook out towards the large pony and felt it slam against some kind of Overshield. A ripple of yellow energy pulsed from where his fist froze in the air, and sent a wave of energy against his suit. On his Visor, the shield bar flared and began to pulse red as the barrier between him and the attacker fell from abuse. Five pulled his hand back and rolled to the left to avoid a strike by the pony's horn. He watched as a large bolt shot out from it and incinerated a total of six trees in a burst of light.

'Note to self, avoid that shit,'

His thoughts were cut short, however, as a golden limb flew into his helmet's visor and sent his head reeling back from a massive blow. Hearing the chorus of beeps from his shield indicator, Five focused on dodging for the time. The tall pony swung with its forelegs, trying to connect another strike with Five's face, but never managed to hit anything beyond his padded forearms.

After waiting for a few seconds, Five could see his shield meter begin to recharge, and decided to play on the offensive. As soon as it raised its left foreleg to strike down with, Five reach out and caught it in his grasp. He shifted his left arm up and threw back its other foreleg before swiftly throwing his fist out towards its face once more. Again, his fist collided with a golden barrier that came from nowhere, and suspended his hand in the air. Five brought back his right hand and jumped away from the attacker before reaching towards his hip. Five pulled the Magnum from the magnetic holster and aimed it straight for the pony's form before firing a single shot blindly.

As the sound of the Magnum firing cracked through the air, the pony stopped entirely as the sounds of the forest began to become more apparent. The glow around its form began to cease altogether as blood began to drip down onto the dirt, before the white body of the large pony hit the ground.

\\\//////

Celestia gasped for air as she reached for her injured wing, feeling a hot piece of metal jammed directly in one of her joints as simple movement caused it to scrape against bone and flesh. She could hear the large metallic beast approach as a set of screams began to fill her quickly fading hearing. Before she could turn to find the source of the shouting, the red machine looked down at her for half of a second before raising a fist and slamming it into the side of her face, plunging Celestia's world in total darkness.