Twilight Sparkle carefully pressed her hoof against the crack in the aliens mask, feeling the crevice from start to finish, before covering her own eye in a questioning glance at the creature, who simply shook her head.
In all, Twilight Sparkle was surprised that the alien let her even touch it. Based on what she had heard from Princess Celestia, this creature didn't seem all too friendly at points, and Twilight had no clue what could trigger it.
Before the purple Alicorn had time to think more on it, the creature pointed at the drawing of the strange stick before tapping its body with one of its fingers once more.
"I... I don't know what that is. Do you need it? Do you want it?" Twilight Sparkle asked aloud, before pressing her hoof against her face in the realization that the creature couldn't understand her words.
From the brief glimpse of a mouth that Twilight had seen, she got the idea in her head for a drawing, and quickly set about copying, to the best of her ability, the inked stick.
When she was finished, Twilight showed the drawing of a crude representation of the alien and the stick, with an arrow pointing from the stick to the alien, and a little pony smiley face above the arrow. Twilight's eyes sparkled as she waited for the creature to reply, who gave a nod of affirmation before taking the quill from Twilight and beginning her own drawing, which depicted a better drawn alien, the stick, and an arrow leading from the stick away from the creature; completely with an angry-looking circle.
Twilight gave a little, fearful nod. Whatever the creature had drawn, it wanted; and things might go very bad if it didn't get what it wanted.
But, alas, Twilight had no idea what the object was, and there was no way she could figure out how to ask the alien what, or where, it was, in addition to the fact that it now sat slumped in the corner- refusing to communicate until it had what it asked for.
Giving a defeated sigh and a promising nod, Twilight gathered up her drawings and took off to see the princess.
"Greetings, Twilight Sparkle. I trust that you have news for me?" Princess Celestia began as the last of her petitioners left the throne room.
"I actually have a few questions, Princess. The alien... She drew something, and I have no idea what it is, but she wants it very badly." Twilight explained as she pulled out the few drawings she had in her saddlebags, showing them to the curious princess. "I was hoping you might be able to help me."
As the princess's golden aura took over the pictures, drawing them close, Celestia cocked her eyebrow at the young Twilight Sparkle. "She? How do you know that it's female?"
"I showed it some basic pony anatomy and showed her, on the chart, of course, that I was female. Then, she showed me, also on the chart, that she was female, as well." Twilight said with a light blush on her cheeks as the princess nodded and began studying the drawings.
"I see... Tell me, has it- er, she, asked for anything else besides this?" Celestia questioned, levitating the drawings back to her pupil before stretching her legs as she stood.
"Well, when I gave her food, she ate it pretty quickly and then asked for water. When I gave it to her, she lifted her helmet just a bit so that I could see her mouth, That's when I saw that the hard metal stuff isn't actually a part of her; it's more like armor, but it covers everything.
"So she is fully encased in armor? That would make sense... Walk with me, Twilight." Celestia ordered as she led the young purple alicorn out of the throne room and down the hall. "Luna and I have our suspicions about this creature, Twilight."
"Like what?"
"We believe that whatever she is, she is very dangerous. If neither Luna nor myself are here to keep her in line whenever she tries to escape, the end result will be catastrophic for the entire city. I trust you paid attention to when she broke out and attacked Luna?" Princess Celestia continued, to which Twilight nodded. "She broke Luna's nose, I'll have you know. As you may have been finding out on your own, it is incredibly difficult to wound an alicorn without a weapon forged from very specific materials. This creature managed to do it with her own fists, and it's obvious to my sister and I that whatever that creature's armor is made out of, it definitely isn't a single one of the required materials."
"She broke Princess Luna's nose?! Is she alright, at least?" Twilight exclaimed in worry. To strike an alicorn and even succeed in wounding it was an unfathomable thought to Twilight, surely punishable by death had the creature in question not have been so... Unique.
"She is fine, Twilight, but the alien's brute strength is not what we are afraid of most. Rather, it is what we found with her; that object that she drew."
"What is it?" Twilight asked, stopping beside Celestia as she halted to pull open a door.
As both alicorns stepped into the room, they were met by several unicorn ponies trotting around in quite a hurry, and a large glass box in the center of the room.
"Oh, Princess Celestia!" a rather young looking unicorn sporting a very pale beard exclaimed as he detoured from his path to meet with the princess. "You're just in time to watch us see what it can do to a magic shield!"
"I hope the results will not be quite like last time." Celestia said sadly before following the unicorn up to the side of the glass box, where several other unicorns had gathered around to watch the next phase of the test.
In the center of the large glass box lay the odd stick that the alien had drawn, and two unicorn ponies; one, who took up a stance at the opposite end of the box and began channeling his magic into a simple wall, and the other, who picked up the stick in her own magical grasp and carefully pointed it at the shield.
"Activate it in three... Two... One... Go!" the bearded unicorn exclaimed. As the countdown reached zero, every pony in the room flinched form the thunderous sound that came from the stick as the unicorn's shield shattered and evaporated from the impact.
"Sweet Celestia..." a unicorn muttered in shock.
"That was a level six shield! Not even a dragon could smash through that!" exclaimed another as Twilight peered curiously up at Princess Celestia, who had lowered and turned her head- a pained, sad expression painted onto her face.
"Princess? Are you alright?" Twilight asked in worry.
"I am fine, Twilight. You saw what just happened? That is the result of using that object that the alien drew. That's the only use we've been able to discover, and if we were to give it back to her, we might as well be saying goodbye to Equestria." Princess Celestia explained darkly as she turned to leave.
"So, what am I supposed to tell her, then?"
"Nothing, Twilight, I will tell her myself."
Thunk...
Thunk...
Thunk...
Thunk...
Shining Armor was about to snap. Ever since Twilight left, that abomination in the cell just kept idly thunking its fingers against the walls of its prison.
It was distracting.
Thunk.
It was irritating.
Thunk.
It was-
Thunk.
"For the love of Celestia, Luna, and the stars above, will you quit with that incessant noise?!" Shining Armor shouted, pressing his snout to the bars on the door.
The creature stopped at his outburst for a moment, holding his gaze through its mirrored mask before it gave a final thunk in response.
Thunk.
Shining Armor gave a frustrated groan in reply, turning away from the cell in order to keep himself under control.
He usually wasn't like this. He had no idea why he was acting so hostile towards this creature, and he was sure he might let his anger and frustration boil on over to somepony else if he wasn't careful.
Shining Armor took a deep breath and sat up against the wall, closing his eyes and letting the silence of the room wash over him before he heard a gentle knocking beside him.
Ignoring it and suppressing a growl, the unicorn Captain continued to frolic in his happy place in the back of his mind before another series of knocks sounded again.
"What do you want?" Shining Armor grumbled at the creature, looking up at it with a glare.
Shining Armor felt just the slightest bit of unease as he saw the creatures' arms hanging outside the door through the gaps in the bars; its black mask pressed against the cold metal before it held one hand open, flat, and began moving the other across it like it was... Writing something.
"You want a quill and paper? Tough luck. I'm not leaving this room for any reason as long as you're in that cell." Shining Armor replied as he turned his head away and tuned the creature out once again.
"And how do you expect it to act, 'Tia?" Princess Luna asked, trotting alongside her elder sister as Twilight Sparkle brought up the rear.
"As poorly as anything would, Lulu, but if we don't give it-"
"Her." Twilight interrupted.
"Her a definitive answer, we will let the notion build up that it may one day get what it wants. And if that happens, there's no telling what it could do with that anger once it realizes it won't."
"There is more to this than you are telling us, sister. You would not have us come with you, were you simply explaining that it would not get its weapon back." Princess Luna inquired, causing Celestia to let out a slight sigh of defeat.
"You are correct, Luna. I want to see if I can try and convince her to remove her helmet. All we've seen is the outer shell. I also want to question her about her mental health, as a soldiers life is never an easy one, and she seems more violent than any soldier we've trained. That, and... And to figure out what to call her, because referring to her as "her" and "it" is becoming more and more tiresome." Princess Celestia explained as the trio began descending the spiral stairs into the dungeons below Canterlot.
When they reached the landing, Princess Luna took the lead and cleared her throat rather loudly, causing Shining Armor to snap up to attention, slightly shamed that he had been caught resting when he was supposed to be guarding the most important prisoner of the century.
"Captain Armor." Princess Luna began.
"Y-Yes, your majesty."
"Do you enjoy your role as Captain of the Guard?" she inquired as Celestia and Twilight made their way around her and towards the cell door.
"Yes, milady."
"Did you not swear to uphold our words without question, and to the best of your ability, when you were sworn in as Captain of the Guard?"
"I did, milady." Shining Armor replied, mentally beating the snot out of himself as he shook a bit in his armor. To displease the princess was a terrifying and shameful experience, and Shining Armor simply wanted to hide until it was all over.
"Then we trust that you will hold true to your words in the future, as this is your final warning. Do not let us catch you upholding your post in such an unruly manner, again." Princess Luna finished before turning to join her sister. "Open the door, Captain."
"Y-Yes, milady." Shining Armor replied, fumbling with the ring of keys for a moment or two before finding the correct one and slipping it into the lock, opening the door for the three rulers while being sure to shut and lock it behind them as he had been ordered.
Noble Six acknowledged the three horses standing in her cell with a readying flex of her hand.
Whatever it was that had brought three of them here couldn't be good, and Six wanted to have every advantage she could without starting something first.
The Spartan continued to watch each horse closely as the tall white one pulled a piece of paper and a quill from the purple ones saddle bags, levitating both up with its unseen force before beginning to draw.
When it had finished, Six was given the paper and a chance to study it, noting the great detail in which her weapon had been drawn, as well as the large X that had been placed over it.
Glancing up at the creatures revealed that the purple one had shrunk back a bit, while the taller two held their ground as Noble Six stood up and reached for the quill, which the white horse surrendered without resistance.
When Six turned her back on the creatures to begin her own drawing, she shivered slightly as glimpses of memories flashed before her eyes.
She began drawing herself, holding her rifle, as an ambush scene on an Insurrectionist supply caravan forced itself into her sight.
She drew herself, again, but this time without her rifle and looking wounded as memories of the engagement at Castle Base flashed before her; suicide grunts latching themselves onto helpless marines- their screams of terror filling Six's ears before they were drowned out in a sickening explosion.
She drew another version of herself, shouldering her rifle with bodies of Covenant soldiers- elites and grunts alike -laying bleeding in the ground as she saw Jorge leave the Corvette.
When she finished, she dropped the quill and showed the horses her drawing, tapping firmly on the Covenant soldiers.
The purple horse looked worried and produced the drawing of their solar system before tapping it and the creatures, shaking her head and trying to reassure the Spartan.
In turn, Noble Six kneeled down and began drawing her final picture of the evening; one that depicted several Covenant ships in orbit around the planet, before pointing to the soldiers, the ships, and then the planet itself.