Friendship In The Void

"Chief..." the spartan looked up slowly as the hoof guided itself high into the air and above the clouds.

"Run?"

"Run." and with that, the giant stone hoof tore down at ludicrous speed, barely giving Chief enough time to duck out of the way with Isaac.

The super soldier looked up once more at the beast and shouted at the top of his lungs, "We don't have to do this!" The huge appendage collided with the ground, causing a huge cloud of dirt to be kicked up, obscuring Chief's vision.

"Oh, but we do, human! You started this when you drew the blood of the first fallen Goliath! And now, I will end it! By killing you, I will further prevent the extinction of my kind!" the other hoof of the giant rose up and smashed into the ground, sending debris and shredded rocks in every direction. Thankfully, it was a near miss, landing the hit a couple of yards away from Chief's position.

"I really didn't want to have to fight you!" Chief shouted over the clatter of rocks as they fell to the earth.

"What could you possibly hope to do to me?" the stone giant echoed over the crushed earth beneath him. Chief reached to his side and pulled the Energy Sword he had saved out of it's magnetic holster. "Such a weak weapon! A simple rock will do nothing against me!" the Goliath talked down to the soldier as he ignited the blade, sending a wave of energy from the hilt to form a sharp hard-light blade. "Ah, this changes things! I have not had a good challenge since before I was exiled!" the giant roared as he lifted his hoof into the air once more and slammed it down, narrowly missing Chief yet again.

Chief was never the taunting type, so he kept his mouth shut. But he and Cortana both had to admit that his aim was terrible. The augmented human jumped up and grabbed onto one of the small rock formations jutting out of the huge appendage.

"What do you think you are doing, human? Do you honestly expect to defeat me with simple agility? I think not!" the earth began to rumble as the hoof slowly but surely began to pull itself out of the ground.

By then, however, Chief had made his way at least a quarter of the arm's length, using his Energy Sword for a makeshift grip. Every stab elicited a pained grunt from the Goliath as it still stood above the deep, dark trench he had arisen out of. Fresh lava was pouring out of every new wound that Chief was making with the sword. The giant finally dragged his hoof underneath his body to stabilize himself for his next move; the Swatting Maneuver. Otherwise known as the 'Stop Hitting Yourself'. A cascade of lava was pouring down the beast's front-right leg. No matter how sturdy he was, the stone golem knew that if he didn't get the pest off of him soon, it would find it's way to his head and ultimately end him. So he took his front-left leg and raised it high into the air before sending it crashing down towards where the human currently was; his shoulder.

*CRACK*

As his giant hoof collided with his shoulder, the brittle rock covering it shattered. Lava rained down upon the landscape below. The giant fell to his knees at the edge of the giant trench.

"You're skills are not to be easily underestimated, human." a pained grunt came out of his mouth as Chief once again stabbed his sword into him. "But it will take more than your small size to best me!" the giant suddenly started to jerk his entire body about. Chief hung on to his sword, careful not to lose his grip...

Meanwhile...

Ponyville was quiet. Not a soul stirred in the streets. An uneasy silence hung through the air as the sky darkened. Clouds covered the streets and rooftops in a shroud of darkness, blocking out the sun. It was then that they made their move. They moved swiftly... well, two of them did anyway.  The other was too big to actually do any effective sneaking. The three of them moved about the shadows, careful not to make even a noise. However, the bigger one of them kept bumping into carts and barrels, making them tumble over. The noise was certainly enough to gain attention to them. Thankfully, though, the streets were cleared.

"Would you stop bumblin' around, you big idiot?" Hunter called from one of the dark alleys, making sure to remain as quiet as possible.

"Sorry!" the pony in question, Big Hurts, nearly shouted before a loud crashing sound was heard from said alley.

"Not so loud! You'll ruin our cover!" the unmistakable face of Hunter moved slowly from the shadows. Hurts attempted to look as well, but instead tripped over an apple, tumbling forward and pushing Hunter completely out of cover and into the middle of the road. The brown pony hunter skidded to a halt in the middle of the cobblestone road. His eyes widened in realization as he noticed where he was; right in the open, and completely exposed.

"Boss..." an eerie feeling lurked over the bounty hunter as the shadows seemingly stretched out of the ground right in front of him. He covered his face in fright. "What do you think yer doin'?" he uncovered them to see the other hired mercenary, Darkly Shady, standing over him.

He was slightly taller and slimmer than Hunter. He had dark green eyes, with a very dark red coat to go with them. A little bit of loose, light gray hair was draped over his right eye, hiding it from sight.

"Oh, it's just you. Please, don't sneak up on me like that." he got up and dusted himself off before turned his attention to the dark alley from which he had been pushed. "Get out here, you big buffoon!" a significantly larger pony, nearly twice hunter's size, trotted out of the shadows.

His mane was cut short and so was his tail, both colored a sickly green. His grayish blue, scarred exterior looked tough as a rhino. "Here I am, boss!" Hurts wasn't exactly the most intelligent of ponies. However, he was a good listener, or at least that's what the Princess told him. No matter what he told that stallion to do, he would most likely screw up.

"Do you realize what you've done, you idiot? You've blown our cover!" the large pony looked around him for a second before replying.

"I don't see nopony, boss..."

"That don't mean, they could be watchin'." Hunter looked around himself suspiciously before setting his sights on Shady. "Where were you, Shady? You weren't with us." Shady sighed.

"I was lurking about the town. And it just so happens I know where to find our targets..." Hunter and Hurts both looked genuinely surprised.

"Where?" they both asked in unison.

"The Oak-Wood Library."