Friendship In The Void

In the Ever Free, Master Chief still walked fin the direction Rainbow had given him. With Isaac in tow, it was difficult to traverse the thick foliage without hitting his head on something. Because who knew carrying someone would be so difficult? But it should not have been a problem for someone of Chief's stature. But of course, something else was happening. You know how I mentioned before that it was difficult to walk through the forest? Well, I didn't mention that there was a pack of Timber Wolves following him. Is it now clear why this highly trained soldier is having trouble?

Chief didn't really have a choice in the matter. With limited room and Isaac on his shoulder, it wasn't really a good idea to turn and fight. Especially when his guns were mostly dry, save for the one grenade he was hoping to save for later.

"Chief, slow down! I'm detecting something really big moving ahead of you. It's coming from some kind of crevice in the landscape!" he skidded to a halt at a kilometer wide gap cutting through the earth. Shaking and rumbling erupted from the huge hole, causing him to nearly stumble into the dark abyss.

It had to be at least a couple of miles deep. A faint glow was able to show through the darkness, indicating that an underground source of magma was making it's way up.

"Chief..." Cortana started before being interrupted by another rumbling noise coming from the trench. Barking was heard from behind him. He spun around to see the dogs not only come to a complete stop, but lose all interest in him. The entirety of his radar was being filled with a frightening red blip. Whatever it was, it was absolutely huge. He held up his assault rifle and shot at the dog's feet, causing a few of them to back up a little.

And just as soon as it ended, the earthquake stopped. The timber wolves began to slowly make their advance towards him and Isaac. Chief looked from one wolf to the other, wondering which was going to jump first. Then, something unexpected happened. They began to back away, their glowing yellow eyes somehow showing their fear. They looked up and up as a shadow covered them and the spartan. Chief dropped Isaac and turned around. It was none other than a giant stone hoof, cracks of glowing red running up and down it like veins.

The thing was absolutely enormous. It had to be at least half the size of the trench. And then, it slammed down on the area only a few feet from where Isaac was dropped.

"My god..." Cortana whispered, exasperated by the sheer size of the beast.

Not seconds after, a second stone hoof shot from the depths of the canyon and slammed down, this one considerably farther away from the first. The dogs ran away, yelping as they did. Chief looked up in aw as a giant head appeared slowly from the dark pit. Two eerie, yellow eyes slowly appeared on it's cracked stone head. The creature was barely at even half of it's full height when tilted it's head down to looked at him. It opened it's mouth slowly, showing off it's jagged, stalactite-like teeth. Then, it did something Chief of all people didn't expect; it spoke.

"Humans..." it grumbled as it raised itself higher into the sky. "Why would humans be here?" it contemplated aloud as it tilted it's head in confusion. "There hasn't been a single one of you here in over a hundred thousand years." it, or rather he, echoed as a third and fourth hoof came out of the pit and embedded themselves on the other side of the chasm. The stone giant looked at the land around him and sighed. "Yet another change in scenery... what a pity. I rather liked the lava gulches." he redirected his attention back down to the two humans before him. "But that does not explain why your kind is here."

"What do you mean, 'my kind'?" Chief asked the towering behemoth before him.

"Humans. You two. You were driven from this world and hunted to extinction a very long time ago. It is a wonder that you even still exist here. Unless you have just arrived." the creature told him as he looked along the landscape once more, observing his new home.

"What does it mean Cortana?" he silently asked her as the giant creature looked about.

"I think he may be referring to the ancient humans. This must have been just before the Forerunners devolved us." she explained.

"What do you mean 'devolved'? And how do you know it's a he?" Chief asked as he lowered his rifle.

"Apparently, the Forerunners had the technology to do so. We don't fully understand how, but they did something to make us backtrack nearly a hundred thousand years. Oh, and I can just tell, okay?" Cortana was about to say more, but was interrupted by the load voice of the giant.

"It seems you have strayed a long way from civilization, human. Even I cannot see beyond the treeline in the distance. This further adds to my theory that you have just showed up. Otherwise, there would be one of your 'cities' lying around." he bellowed as he stamped his hooves in anger. "You humans... now I remember. All you cared about was the resources here. Nothing else! You killed off my brothers and stripped them down to their very bones!" he shouted in anger as he remembered the horrors and atrocities committed by the humans.

"Calm down! We aren't here to do anything like that. In fact, it never was my intention to even come here in the first place." he explained as the earth shook under the giant pony's body.

He stopped and lowered his huge head to stare closer at Chief. "Really now? I vividly remember the snake tongues you humans possessed. You double crossed us into thinking that you were the good and the ponies the bad. But I always knew, always suspected that you were the ones responsible!" his voice had taken on a deeper form as he continued to roar down at Chief. "I could only watch as my own kind were slaughtered and had their very essence used to power your machines! Friends and family fell at your dirty 'feet' and we were hunted to near extinction!"

"There is no reason to do any of this! I never wanted to be here in the first place!" he barely managed to sputter as the ground shook with every tremendous step the giant creature took.

"Lies! The very people the ponies of this world protected killed us behind their backs! And whenever the uprising of my kind fell at the very hooves of the ponies we were tricked into believing were the bad, Father Time exiled and forced us into every rotten nook and cranny in the most barren and unforgivable wastelands on this world! And now you come back?! As if nothing had happened?! You will perish by my wrath, merciless liars! RAAAAAAAAAH!" his deepened, almost demonic voice echoed throughout the stale, damp forest air. Birds and animals of all kinds scurried from their hiding places to escape as one of it's giant hooves raised high into the sky.

"Uh oh."