Friendship In The Void

Shepard stood there for a second, comprehending what he was seeing. First, it had a chickens head, something that isn't really that frightening or surprising considering the amount of utter crap he's been through. But then, pulling the thing off of his armor and looking at it, it also had the body of a snake. His first thoughts were along the lines of 'that's funny looking' to 'is it mutated?'

The really crazy thing was that not only did it have the body of a snake and the head of a chicken, but it also had that kind of intimidating look about it. You know, like when you're playing a game and for some reason you don't really want to stick your head around the corner because of the chance of it getting completely cut off and eaten. It was that kind of unsure feeling that was really bugging Shepard about this weird creature.

He began to wonder where it came from and what it was doing there, but that seemed pointless at the moment considering the fact that it was glaring right at him. It was the kind of glare you would get from someone you just punched straight in the face. But somewhat different concerning that it was an animal and not a human being. But, judging from the things that attacked him and the others back in the clearing, it was not his ground to make judgements.

Another thing was the Manticore that was encased in stone and completely unmoving behind him. The most creepy and unnerving thing about it was the horrified look on it's cold, frozen face. It was like somebody had just pulled a gun on it and pointed it between it's eyes. Or something like that.

Anyway, making the connections, he finally pieced it together; the thing that encased the Manticore in stone is still on the loose and is probably somewhere nearby. And there was also the slight chance that the thing that fossilized it was there the entire time. But enough of that. What the war veteran really wanted was a nice, warm and delicious meal after those long years eating nothing but rations.

So, with no further ado, he took the small beast in both of his hands and stretched it out full length. Shepard looked at it all over. It tried to wiggle free from him once or twice, but to no avail, it was still in his hands.

It hadn't stopped struggling, in fact. It was still trying but with only a fraction of it's original strength. He had it upside down with it's talons in his right hand and a mess of vines in the other. Using his 'skills', he wrapped it's feet together and slung it over his back.

Meanwhile...

"Isaac, wake up!" Rainbow shouted.

"It's no use, darling. He's most likely unconscious. And one does not simply wake someone from unconsciousness." Rarity informed her, "The only thing we can do now is wait until he wakes up."

"But I want out of these now!" she tried yet again to break the vines that bound her, but she only failed. "Why aren't you helping? You have a horn. Do something!"

"I wish I could, but sadly I can't. Every time I try, the migraines come back. And if you really were my best friend, then you would know that I have a very low threshold for pain." she stated in her usual annoyed tone.

"Well we have to get out of her sometime. That green guy really scares me."

"Who is this green pony you keep talking about?"

"He isn't a pony. He kind of looks like Isaac actually." Rainbow nodded towards the human beside her.

Rarity looked over the unconscious form of Isaac before coming to a conclusion, "He is unconscious."

"No, really? I thought he was awake." she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

Rarity's annoyed expression told Rainbow that she had done something right. She usually doesn't get frustrated by sarcasm.

She sighed, "Well at least we know for sure what's wrong with him."

"Yeah, right after you verified it for like, the millionth time." Rainbow said exasperatedly.

"I don't see you doing any better." she retorted. The pegasus could only smile in return. "Why are you smiling like that?"

"Oh nothing. You're just getting back to old habits."

"How so?" Rarity asked quizzically.

"Me and you would argue like this all the time, remember?"

"How could I know? I don't remember." Rainbow sighed in frustration.

"I can't wait like this anymore. We need to wake Twilight up."

"Twilight? You mean the purple unicorn over there?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah. She's kind of an egghead. But she can definitely help us out of these vines." Rainbow assured her before lurching towards the unmoving form of Twilight Sparkle.

Meanwhile...

Along the borders of the Everfree Forest, the town of Ponyville was in a full on panic. Ponies darted left and right trying to get into their homes. The reason? Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie made it back and warned them all that three monsters were in the forest and heading straight for town. Well, not Fluttershy. Fluttershy went straight home the second they got out of the forest. Pinkie, however, went straight to town and started spouting warnings with a megaphone.

Only a couple of minutes later and the streets of Ponyville were vacant and quiet. All except for Pinkie Pie, of course, who was still there.

"Stay inside everypony! It's your only hope!" she shouted through the over sized megaphone in her right hoof.

A stray wind blew through her hair as she spun around the pole to the ground. Her hooves connected with the barren streets with a soft thud.

All of the ponies of Ponyville were inside and safe at last. No way those monsters were going to harm them, because Pinkie was here. But then she remembered that she had left her friends in the forest. All of them except Fluttershy, of course, but still.  She was very worried about them. A few grim thoughts came to her mind about what they would do to her friends, but they quickly left. The wind whistled throughout the air and along the cobblestone around her. Something was wrong. It wasn't just the eerie silence that made her spine tingle, but it was the feeling that she was being watched.

She quickly spun around but there was nothing there. Only the town hall stood where she was looking. Sighing in relief, she turned back around only to bump her head into something. And it WASN'T a pole.

A harsh breathing came from it, but it sounded funny. And somehow it was cold like metal. Her blue eyes widened as she looked up fearfully. As her eyes met the creatures, she squealed in fright and shrunk down to the ground in fear. It was bipedal and completely made of metal. Red and blue wires ran up and down alongside it's forearms and sparks flew from each appendage. Claw-like bits at the end of it's arms opened and closed in what seemed like anticipation and it's skull shaped head had two beady little yellow dots for eyes. It's lower jaw was completely missing and the entire right side of it's metallic body was red hot like it had been on fire. The legs it stood on were at least three feet long themselves, not counting the rest of it. But the worst of all was it's breathing. No machine could breath like that. Only living things.

Right?

*New character! How you like it? It's a machine that I made up for one of my other stories. It looks kind of like a Terminator, but a little more... scary. Oh, and guess what? Oh never mind... you will see in future chapters. Sorry for the wait, by the way! Hope you enjoyed!*