//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7 
// Story: Near Human 
// by Element of Power 
//------------------------------//

A critter burst forth from the treeline, making a beeline for the cottage of Fluttershy. The little blue bird flapped its wings, occasionally gliding on the wind. It was feeling tired from its journey, but continued on, determined to make it. Its destination grew in the distance, becoming more detailed. 

Unfortunately, the door was closed when it got there, so it flew around the house a few times, looking for a different way in. There was an open window, so it took the opportunity and flew through. The house was still crowded with more animals than usual, but they had all calmed down considerably as they got comfortable. The bird flew past them, searching for Fluttershy. Once it saw her, it landed on her head, eager to relay the information.

Fluttershy smiled up at the bird. "Oh, you're back! Did you see anything?". The bird let out a few chirps, eager to explain. After a few seconds, Fluttershy had a worried look on her face. "It was with a pack of Diamond dogs? That could be bad! I should tell Twilight right away!" She looked back at the bird. "Thank you. Could you keep watching it please?" With a happy chirp and a nod, the little blue bird flew off, back into the forest. Fluttershy, however, galloped out the door to see Twilight.


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E-30 continued his trek through the twisting trees, dragging his cart behind him. Every once in a while he would see an animal scurrying here and there. There were mice, birds, badgers, raccoons. 'They're all identical to animals on Earth..' he thought as he watched a squirrel climb a tree. He looked around at the trees as well. 'The trees seem a bit more, curvy though, and more of a reddish brown.'

As he looked at the trees, a familiar sight entered his vision. "It's that blue bird." He smiled at it, waiting for it to do something, but it just sat there on a branch. He held his hand out for the bird, whistling. "Hey, come on, come here!" After a few moments, the bird flew down and sat on his hand. He looked at the bird in awe, while it just looked at his face. 'The horses and dogs could talk, so maybe...' He tried his luck and said, "Hey, can you talk?"

The bird just looked at him, and tweeted. 

"...Ok, I'll take that as a maybe." E-30 continued forward, pulling the cart with one hand, and holding his new companion in the other. 

In about 2 hours, E-30 felt like he hadn't made any progress. It seemed like the forest just went on forever, with very little difference in his surroundings. "There might not be anything in this direction anyway." He still for a second to think. The blue bird, now on his shoulder, watched him intently.

He snapped out of his thinking phase. "Alright, this might take longer than I thought. Maybe I should make a base or something?" Putting down the cart, he walked over to one of the foreign trees. It loomed over him, but he could already see his plans. Thinking for a moment, his hand turned into a chainsaw. "Cool." 

He revved the machine, and the roar of the tool burst out. The little bird on his shoulder, however, didn't like that. It panicked, and flew off to a tree behind him. E-30 lifted his machine and edged it against the tree, chunks and shaving flying to the side as the cut got deeper. Once he was about halfway through, the tree began to fall forward. He quickly moved out of the way as the tree fell to the forest floor. 

Next, he was able to cut most of the tree into about 20 planks, with excess branches and bark off to the side. "I guess I have to clear this whole area." He did the same thing to the rest of the trees in the vicinity, reducing them into a large pile of planks and beams. He tried changing his hand into a circular saw, and it worked. He used this to make the materials smoother. 

Finally, he stood in a small clearing, a pile of wood stacked in the center. "Alright, I'll use the metal for screws and nails." Running out wasn't a problem, since he could easily get more. Picking up metal, he allowed the creepy nanos to swarm out of his hand, coating the material. Once they receded, a pile of nails, screws, and bolts was left in his palm. 

"Okay, how am I going to do this?" He stared at his materials, before getting to work. He leveled the ground, put up frames, used a screw from his hand to put the walls up, nailed down a roof, and made a door. 

Once it was done, he stepped back to check out his work. "It's actually not that bad!" He looked around for the blue bird for a second, and couldn't find him. "I guess it left." As he turned to walk into his makeshift house, he kicked a rock. Looking down he realized: it was in the shape of a bird. The same bird that was following him. Carefully picking it up, he inspected the object. Every small detail of the bird was there, each individual feather. 

"I think... it was petrified." It couldn't have been a coincidence, and it definitely wasn't the first strange thing he had seen so far. He carried it into his house, and put it on a wall shelf he made. He stared at it, until he felt his stomach rumble. 'Of course.' Even though he was mostly mechanical, he still had to eat. As sucky as it was, it was understandable.

He walked out of the clearing, in search of any food. In the distance, a creature slithered in the brush, clucking as it went.


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In her castle, Twilight made preparations. Even though Celestia had told her not to aggravate it, she wanted to be prepared for the worst. She set up a cage in a room of it's own, with a teleportation spell drawn inside. That way, she could quickly trap the creature if she needed to. 

Satisfied with her work, she left the room and locked the door. Twilight made her way through the halls, headed for the library. "I should find a book about rare creatures. I want to be able to identify it if we do catch it." Before she got there, she heard a knock on the door. Twilight teleported to the door and opened it, revealing Fluttershy.

"Oh, Fluttershy! Are you okay? Did you find out anything?" Twilight let Fluttershy in, asking question after question. Fluttershy put a hoof up to Twilight's mouth. "I'm fine Twilight. But my bird friend came back. He said that the creature was at a Diamond Dog camp."

Twilight looked in confusion. "But, why would it be there? Did your bird tell you what it looked like?"

Fluttershy nodded. At this, Twilight teleported away, and reappeared with a book floating in the air. "Do you think you could look through these records to find a match?" Fluttershy nodded. "I'll try." With that, she put the book between her wings and walked out the door.


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E-30 trekked through the brush, never going to far from his house. The ambient sounds of the forest rang in his ears. Every once in a while, a bush would shake, but nothing would leave. Since he was doubtful about his chances of finding edible fruit or berries, he was on the lookout for any animals to kill. "Let's just hope they aren't like the horses. It'll be harder to find food if everything is sapient." 

He moved slowly, searching for any signs of movement. However, besides the sound of bugs and distant birds, there was no sign of any creatures. "Why did they decide to hide now?" A few hours ago, he saw animals all over the place. As he crept forward, his eyes landed on a rock on the ground. He crouched, and saw it was in the shape of a squirrel. "What? Is there some kind of Medusa here?" 

Before he could inspect it further, he heard a cluck in the bushes a few meters away. "A chicken? I guess that works." He slowly went to the bush, holding his hands out to catch his prey. The bush rustled a bit, and he tensed in preparation to dive. In the blink of an eye, the creature jumped out at him, wrapping him in its, tail?

E-30 batted at it, grasping the end of it as he tried to pull it off, but the thing wouldn't budge. Eventually, he managed to toss it off, and it landed on a nearby stump, allowing him to see his attacker. 

Its tail that had been holding him was like a snake, but its midsection was like a dragon's, with a scaly chest and leathery wings. It's head, however, was just like a chicken's, except it had sharp teeth, and glowing red eyes. 

As he looked at its eyes, he felt a stabbing pain in his head. He fell to his knees, clutching his head, but he still couldn't look away from the monster's eyes. 'I can't... look... away!' He screamed in his head as he groaned in pain. With a struggle to focus, he changed his hand into a blade, and swung at the beast's neck. 

This was enough to make it dodge, breaking eye contact and relieving him of the pain. He kept his eyes on the thing's chest, not daring to look higher. The two faced off, E-30 looking for an opening to attack, and the creature looking for his eyes. In the corner of his eyes, he saw another squirrel running past only to look at the beast and freeze, encased in stone. "It is like Medusa..."

Since the animal petrifying meant that the monster wasn't looking at him, he burst toward the creature, stabbing forward with his blade.

20 minutes later:

E-30 sat outside his house on a log next to a fire. As he was thinking, he took a bit of his food. 'This is pretty good.' His bird friend sat nearby, eating some berries he actually managed to find. Apparently, killing the animal freed its victims, so that was good. He put his food down. "Wooden wolves and petrifying chickens. If that exists, there could be much worse." He looked back at his house. "I should make some defenses." He took another bite of his food.