Crimson

Twilight opened her eyes as the familiar surroundings of Canterlot Castle greeted her sight. From all around her, gasps were heard as clanking metal rushed up to her.

"Princess!" Several voices called.

Twilight turned to find several Royal Guards rushing towards the floating form of Celestia as a few shouted for medical attention.

"Princess Twilight," one Guard spoke from her side, "what happened?"

She looked to the Guard and saw that he was staring up in horror at the state of the Solar Princess.

"It's not as bad as it seems, I promise," Twilight said reassuringly. "It was just a... lack of communication, and somepony-"

"We'll bring 'em down into the deepest, darkest, dampest dungeon cell we can find!" a voice called from behind them.

The alicorn felt her magical hold break as multiple other horns ignited and began to carry the Princess out of the hallway.

"TWILIGHT SPARKLE!" a familiar voice boomed.

From the end of the hallway, the blue form of Princess Luna rose from her midnight-blue throne and flew towards the young alicorn. When she landed, Luna paced by Twilight and motioned for her to follow as the Guards saluted and followed the ones carrying Celestia.

"Explain thyself, Sparkle. What of this, 'miscommunication' thou hast mentioned?"

"Um, well... I was in the Everfree forest because something teleported above Fluttershy's home-"

"Is she unharmed?" Luna asked quickly.

"Yes, she's fine, and so are the CMC."

"Thank Mother. What of the 'thing'?"

"I went to investigate it, and it turns out that it was an alien ship!"

A blue hoof shot up to Twilight's torso and stopped her mid-stride. Twilight looked around to see that the rest of the Guards had also paused, even the ones holding up Celestia.

"Twilight, thou speakest of extra-equestrial life forms?"

"Well, there was only one. I spoke to him, and convinced him to try and give us a chance to help him contact his own race to rescue him. But, before we left the Everfree, Princess Celestia came in out of nowhere, and... well..." she raised a hoof to point at Celestia's wing, "he responded as such."

Luna looked between Twilight and the injury on Celestia's wing, stunned by the injury and the tale that Twilight had spoken to her.

"This creature, did that?"

"He said that he could have done worse, and that by law, he should have. I got him to agree to let me talk to you both and calm Princess Celestia down if he agreed to stay in the Library until we can-"

"Twilight, stop."

Twilight paused as Luna looked right at her with a stern gaze.

"Thou- I mean," Luna cleared her throat, "you said that this creature did... that to my sister, but could have done worse? And that you let him stay in Ponyville? Why?"

"I... I thought that, if I showed him how we don't want him as an enemy, then-"

"Twilight, you've made a decision that would be looked upon as foolish at best, I'm not going to lie. The way I see this, we now have a dangerous, unknown creature, capable of harming an alicorn, inside one of the most unprotected towns in Equestria."

"But Princess, he's agreed to talk this out! He's giving us a chance to-"

"To what, Twilight? To apologize for acting rationally?"

"Princess Celestia-"

"Was likely trying to protect you."

"But she didn't give him a chance! You're not giving him a chance! Do you really think he doesn't deserve at least one chance to prove he's not a monster!?"

Luna widened her eyes when she heard those words. Twilight raised a hoof to her mouth as she gasped in shock, realizing what she had just said.

"Princess..." she whispered.

Luna blinked a few times and took a deep breath before speaking again.

"Perhaps... we may have jumped to a conclusion, Twilight. But still, he's dangerous as is. Try and keep a close watch."

"But what about-"

"I shall handle my sister when she wakens. Just... make sure that this alien you speak of doesn't jeopardize this opportunity."

"Thank you, Princess. And, I'm sorry about that."

"Worry not, Twilight. You are right, though. We shouldn't judge before he gives us reason to."

Luna leaned over and wrapped a foreleg around Twilight before pulling her into a tight hug, which Twilight returned with a warm smile.

"Guards, bring my sister to the infirmary," she spoke after releasing the hug.

The group saluted before sprinting down the hallways towards the medical wing.

\\\//////

Five marched through the empty fields at a steady pace with his eyes set on the small town that barely showed itself in the darkness of the night. The two ponies at his side sounded like they were having a difficult time trying to keep up with him.

'Maybe because they tried to attack me and ended up hurt,' Five thought to himself.

"Hey... maybe... slow down, a bit?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Having trouble keeping up?" he poked.

"N-no, I, *huff* I'm way faster than you... but, you kind of... threw me, into Applejack... and now-"

"You can't keep up because you now regret trying to attack me."

'Called it.'

"Hey... maybe, if you weren't... so evil looking," she commented.

"I don't care."

"Well that's... just rude."

"Again, don't care. I just had to fight three of you, now, and I'm close to just going back to that forest and jumping off a cliff or something."

They went quiet again as they approached the outskirts of the small town, and Five took in as much as he could. The buildings were incredibly short, almost to the point of being comical, as a single story ended at around their height. This meant that a large number of the buildings, though they were clearly two stories tall, were barely a meter taller than Five. The Spartan stopped suddenly, causing the two following him to crash into the back of his legs, where they then tumbled onto their asses.

"Ouch! Geez, warn us when you do that," Rainbow loudly whispered.

"Where to now?" Five asked, ignoring her quip.

"Library's near the town's center," Applejack stated. "But, since ya don't know where it is, we'll have ta show ya the way."

"Lead on, then."

The small orange pony walked in front of Five for a few seconds before Dash got up to join her striding pace. When they were far enough ahead, Five began to march behind them.

'Gonna fucking lose my mind, I just know it.'

\\\//////

Chrysalis froze as she felt two nearby Changelings leave the presence of the Hive, and as another, smaller presence began to cry out.

"No..."

The Queen turned around and galloped for another section of the caves that her kind knew as shelter. When she jumped out of one entrance, she buzzed her wings and took into the air to reach a higher cave, where several nymphs were being cared for. Chrysalis bounded towards the sound of a young nymph crying, and found an all-too common sight. The nymph was pushing against the limp form of two Caretakers, their eyes dark and hollow as the young one begged for them to wake up.

"Please! Don't go-o-o-o!" the nymph cried.

Chrysalis approached the Caretakers bodies and used a hoof to reach out and close their eyes, two at a time. After letting their bodies rest, she wrapped her forelegs around the barrel of the young one and held them close to her neck, where they wept into her mane and held on tightly.

"I-I'm sorry, young one. They left trying to care for you, for the Hive. They will be missed by us all."

She sent word into the rest of the Hive, and within a single second, they all stopped for a moment of silence. Their sorrows became one as they gave departing words to the last Caretakers.

'They're gone. The Caretakers are dead, and now we have only these few children left.' she thought to herself, dumbstruck by the loss and realization of the Hive's chances.

A hot tear ran down the left side of her face as she held the youngest member of the Hive, praying to whatever deity may still remain.

'Please, let that ship be our salvation. Let us find the Birthlands.'