Friendship In The Void

*Hey, guys. I know this chapter is on somewhat short notice, but please, don't expect them so often. I mean, I will crash sometime. And when that happens, there will be a chapter shortage for three of four weeks.*

The creature before the three men looked like nothing they had ever seen. Or maybe something similar in proportion or size to a brute. It was some kind of lion. It had bat wings, and a long scorpion stinger stuck out of where a tail should be. But before they could look over it more, it shot a ball acid at. He sidestepped, avoiding the acid. He saw it fly past him and hit a tree on the other side of the pond, where it ate a huge hole into it.

'Holy shi-' his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a searing pain in his back. He fell on his back and looked up at the lion thing now on top of them.

"Dammit!" it's stinger came down on him to his left, to which he narrowly dodged it. The stinger retracted and came down again, this time to the right. Isaac dodged it again. But this time instead of just laying there, Isaac grabbed a hold of the stinger and elbowed the end of it off. The thing roared in pain and anger, then swiped Isaac out from under him.

Chief looked to the battle before him. He wasn't just gonna stand by and watch. So he and Shepard raised their weapons and fired at the creature, punching a few fresh holes in it's hide. It roared in pain and charged John. He slung his weapon over his back and took a different approach. The impact knocked the breath out of him, but it wasn't enough to keep him down. So the Spartan got on it's back and started tugging at it's massive stinger. He firmly planted his boots into the creatures back and tugged harder, to the point where he started hearing gruesome cracking noises. Meanwhile, it was trying desperately to get him off, but no matter how much it swung or thrashed, he wouldn't let go.

With one final tug, Chief ripped the rest of the stinger off and threw it to the side. It was only a few moments before it stopped moving altogether. Shepard ran to Isaac and helped him up.

"Stay still." he asked the engineer as he hoisted him over his shoulder, "I've seen this before, your ribs may be broken."

"No, their just bruised." he chuckled dryly, "So, what do you think it is?" Isaac nodded towards the dead animal.

"I think maybe it's a Manticore. But seeing as to how Manticores are only referenced in Greek mythology, I can't be sure." answered Chief as he stood over the carcase. "But what I can be sure of is that we need to get out of here. We can't afford anymore of these showing up." he tapped it with his foot.

"I agree. I think we should try and head out. I don't want to have to deal with more bruised than I already have. God knows I don't need more." Isaac groaned in pain as Shepard let go of him. He stumbled a bit before regaining his balance.

Shepard turned his attention to John, "Look-"

"Shh!" John raised his hand to stop him from talking.

"What-"

"Shh!" he cut him off again, "There's something nearby. Thankfully, it's a blue. I'll make my way over there. I'll signal you when it's clear." John started making his way towards where the blip was located. Then, all of the sudden, the blip disappeared.

'That's weird.' John thought to himself, 'Why would it just disappear like that?' He stepped further into the dark shadows of the tree line. He suddenly heard movement in front of him and a collection of seven blips suddenly appeared on his radar. 'What the he-' his thoughts were cut short as the wind was knocked out of him and he was knocked onto his ass.

Then there was a flurry of sound coming in through his helmet's external microphone. The thing was so close to it that he couldn't tell if it was saying something or just making random noises. He lifted the thing off of him and got up from the ground. Finally, he could get a good look at it. The first thing he noticed? Pink, pink everywhere.

"Himyname'sPinkiePiewhat'syournamewhatareyouwheredidyoucomefromwhyareyouhereareyougoingtoeatmedon'teatmealthoughIthinkIwouldtastenicebecauseI'malwaysaroundcupcakesandcupcakesaregoodandI'malwaysaroundthemsoImusttastelikecupcakes-" John quickly clasped his hand over it's, or rather her, mouth. Somehow, she was still rambling even though he did this.

Meanwhile, Isaac and Shepard were standing there in shock at what they were seeing. From the bushes in front of them arose four other creatures, each similar to the pink one John was holding. Each of them had a different color scheme. Not only this, but they also noticed that one of them had wings, and two of them had horns.

Suddenly, the orange, let's call them horses, charged John and bucked him as hard as, assuming they were female, she could. John's shields flared up as he let go of the pink horse and stumbled backwards. He looked up to see a rainbow fly into his midsection, knocking the breath out of him for a third time that day. His shields broke, a feat that most couldn't even dream of accomplishing. Thankfully his stance saved him from falling on his ass. He grabbed the horse currently assaulting him and threw her in the shrubbery. As he looked back to the other horses, he noticed one small difference: the orange one wasn't there anymore. The spartan spun around in an attempt to find her before stealing a quick glance towards Isaac and Shepard. Looking past Isaac, he saw the orange horse quickly approaching. And judging from her look, she wasn't exactly going to hug him.

Shepard looked to where John was looking and attempted to warn him, "Look out Isaa-AH!" when all of the sudden he was tackled to the ground by a flying blue blur. The same happened to Isaac, the orange horse pinning him from behind.

Then, out of nowhere, Chief's body started to constrict and stiffen, just like before when Isaac had used his Kinesis on him. But this time, his suit didn't react too well. Multiple warning messages started to appear on his visor.

"John, what's happening? Your radiation levels are spiking like crazy!" Cortana shouted in alarm.

"I don't know!" his body spun around to face what was doing it; one of the horses, this one purple.

"You mess with my friends, you mess with me!" she yelled as she slammed him into the ground.

He was barely even able to breath thanks to the extraordinary pressure binding him to the ground. She pressed even harder down on him with every waking second. Until he heard a shot fire. This one was a weird one. Instead of it sounding like an ordinary projectile weapon, like his, it sounded somewhat similar to a Plasma Pistol. He saw a flash of red and heard a scream of pain, presumably from the unicorn holding him down. And just like that the weight bearing down on him lifted and he could move again.. The spartan looked about to see where it came from, but could find nothing.

Nonetheless, a battle was going on and he had to pay attention. Looking back to the unicorn, she was laying on the ground sobbing and holding her injured leg; not a real threat anymore. For some reason, though, her friends were nowhere to be found. Not even the pink one. Meanwhile, near the Manticore's dead body, Isaac and Shepard were battling it out. The orange horse pinning Isaac down had both of his arms held against the ground. Unfortunately his Plasma Cutter was kicked away before he could reach it. Shepard was in the same predicament; the cyan horse had him pinned down also, his shotgun out of reach.

Isaac used his Kinesis to throw her off and struggled to stand up. The orange horse skidded to a stop on the ground before charging him again. This time he was ready. He lunged for his Plasma Cutter and picked it up off the ground. Isaac turned around only to get bucked in his chest. A very distinct cracking noise was heard, followed by a scream of pain on his part.

Meanwhile, Chief attempted to aid Shepard, but was unfortunately cut off by something rupturing his shields. He turned back to the treeline to see another unicorn. This one was white with a purple mane. Floating right next to her was her weapon of choice: a crocheting needle. She charged him with it, screaming something incoherent along the way, and lunged at him. He barely dodged it. Pulling the pistol off of his waist, he took aim and fired a round. Somehow, a shield formed around her. The spartan was extremely confused at this point. And in that moment of confusion, she lunged a second time, rupturing his shields again.

Whilst looking for a way to deal with her, the super soldier caught a glimpse of something; right next to his radar was a flashing symbol. It resembled a triangle with an eye in the middle. Then he just remembered; he had a Cloaking Ability tucked away. Without haste, he took it out and activated it, allowing him to disappear from sight. The white unicorn looked about in confusion. Seeing this as the right moment, John sneaked up behind her and swept her off of her feet before spinning her around and punching her in the forehead, incapacitating her. Finally he could help Shepard. He ran to Shepard and kicked the cyan pegasus in the stomach, sending her flying away from them. Shepard stood up and dusted himself off.

As Chief made his way to the pegasus, Shepard ran to help Isaac. But when he got to Isaac, the orange horse jumped off of Isaac and charged him instead. Isaac grabbed a hold of her back hoof and held her down. Seeing this as the right opportunity, Shepard hit her in the neck, causing her body to go limp.

"Oh God, my ribs!" Isaac clutched his chest with both hands.

"Whoa, you okay?"

"Do I look fucking okay? My ribs are broken!" Isaac was trying as hard as he could to breath.

"Okay okay. I'll try and get Chief to come over here. I don't have the required medical training for wounds like this. Plus I don't know how to administer any anesthetics."

"My suit is already taking care of that. It's just a matter of mending the bones. You still need to get me to a doctor." he told Shepard as his helmet unfolded.

Meanwhile...

"Who do you work for? And why did you attack us?" Chief asked her.

"N-n-nobody." she was shaking in fear. And telling from the bloody bile spewing out of her mouth, the kick Chief had landed on her had to have been hard enough to bruise her stomach.

"Don't lie to me. Why did you attack us?"

"Y-you were h-hurting m-m-my friends." she coughed some more, dotting the grass beside her in fresh blood.

"No, we weren't. We were just as lost and confused as you were."

"I d-didn't know. I'm s-sorry..." she sobbed quietly.

"Sorry doesn't cut it. But considering your a new species I guess I won't be able to punish you."

"What are you going to do with me?" asked the pegasus as Chief slung her over his shoulder.

"I don't know yet, but to start with I'm going to have to restrain you. I don't want you escaping." Chief said as he walked to the edge of the clearing and ripped a few vines off of the trees. "Don't know what we're going to do after that, though. Maybe we can find a way out of this forest."

"I think I can help you. But I need to see if my friends are okay, first."

"They should be okay. Except maybe the white one; I hit her pretty hard." Chief informed her as he dumped her off at the edge of the pond. He knelt down on one knee and started to tie her up.

"As long as their alive." the pegasus sighed in relief know that her friends were okay.

And from there Chief lay the three other horses at the pond's edge, careful not to hurt them anymore than they already were. Afterwards he headed out to scout the area. Shepard also did this, but only after he had placed Isaac along with the horses.

*Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I really like how this one turned out, especially the fight between John and Rarity. What did you guys think about Rarity's weapon? Creative? Oh, and if there are any mistakes, leave them in the comments bellow. I MUST CORRECT THEM!

Oh, and I think I fixed most of the issues you guys had. I'm sorry if it seems a little rushed. I'm just tired right now.

Also, on an added note, does Shepard have medical training? I never played any of the Mass Effect series, so I have no idea.*