//------------------------------// // Chp 8: Split up // Story: Frie-n-emy // by Guy Balkur //------------------------------// //Equestria// //Canterlot// “You guys go ahead, I’ll catch up,” Rainbow said as she dashed herself towards the Wonderbolts. ‘Oh boy, another shot towards me becoming a Wonderbolt. This is just going to be so COOL!’ Rainbow smiled happily as she made her way to the main entrance of the VIP room. She saw that a lot of ponies were missing from the place as she took in her surroundings. She trotted up to the rope and asked the guard to let her in. “Of course Miss Dash, have a pleasant time,” he said, smiling. “Thanks.” She made her way to the center of the room before she spotted Spitfire. With a cocky grin she walked confidently right up to her to get her attention. ‘Ok Dash, you got this.’ “Hey Spitfire, what’s up?” she asked, getting the attention of her most favorite icon. Spitfire turned her head around and saw Rainbow waving her hoof. “Uh, excuse me guys,” she said as she passed Soarin. Rainbow swore she could’ve seen her roll her eyes out of annoyance, but shrugged it off. ‘Maybe she’s just ticked about something else.’ Rainbow trotted up to meet her half way. She couldn’t help but feel even more worried about why Spitfire had a bemused look on her face. Clearly she was upset about something, or somepony. “Hey, how’s it going? My name's Rai—“ “I know who you are," Spitfire interrupted. "You’re that filly-fooler, Rainbow Dash,” she said with a venomous tongue. “Wh-wh—” Rainbow felt her heart suddenly explode from her chest and be replaced by an empty black void. “I know why you’re here. Just because you showed off last year something you thought could instantly get you in the Wonderbolts? Yeah, well that’s not how it works. I decide who comes and who goes.” Spitfire shook her head in disbelief. Rainbow couldn’t help but let a few tears roll down her check as her once favorite icon told her to buck off. “Listen kid, you might be one of the Elements, but that doesn’t mean you get a free pass into the most elite force of fliers Equestria has ever known. Now would you—“ (SMACK) Rainbow bucked her hooves into her face before taking flight into the dark sky. Spitfire tried to raise herself up but the pain in her nose kept her down. “Yo SPITS!” shouted Soran, galloping over to help his Captain. “You Ok?” He said , extending a hoof. “Yeah, I’m fine. That's exactly the reason I don’t think we should let her in. She’s way too aggressive,” she said as she stood next to Soarin. “Damn... I really would have liked for her to join. She had some sick moves last year, thought it’d be cool to have her on the team.” “Don't worry, we’ll find somepony else. Somepony who doesn’t buck others in the face and flies off,” she said while forming a hidden grin. //Ponyville// //Near the entrance to the Everfree Forrest.// //North east side.// “Ugh, I don’t want to go to school,” said a very groggy voice. The voices body moved itself around the ground before flipping itself to face the cold night. 'Oh yeah, Mom! How about I jerk off on the table huh? It’d be nice for the whole family to sit down and have a great pile of my spunk for breakfast!' The being soon opened his eyes very slowly, careful not to hurt his eyes. When he found it to be rather dark, he opened them up all the way to find his vision slightly blurred. “Oh god, I feel like that time me and Sam stole all of the Captain’s whisky.” He gave a grunted sound before puking his guts out onto the grass. He stood on his knees before getting to his feet rather slowly. “Oh God, it’s good to puke. So good...” he panted as he wiped the remaining chunks off his lips. “Wow, heaven must just look like Reach, except with without all the glass,” he chuckled, before feeling a sense of guilt. ‘Probably too soon.’ he thought, mentally punishing himself. He stumbled a bit before he was able to balance himself into a proper standing position. “Huh, seems quiet. I wonder what the hell happened. Let’s see... I got up, got my breakfast, went with Sam to grab my gear, and then Sam, Noah and I all went to kick some alien ass before we they reached Earth. Not my typical Sunday afternoon, but at least we were able to disable the core." Daniel scratched his gruff bald head before realizing he still was holding his shot gun in his other hand. He inspected it to find it bent in the center, creating a perfect L shape form. Then he remembered: just before he blacked out, a Brute Chieftain had lodged his Grav Hammer into his chest plate. Luckily the shot gun took most of the hit before he was tossed aside from his group. He heard a giant electrical explosion before he passed out. “Gee whiz, I wonder if the explosion had sent me through a parallel rift in space, hurling me into a different alternate universe… mmm, Nah!” he said, laughing. “I’m probably dead, and this is purgatory.” As he finished that sentence, he felt a sharp pain spike in his chest. He looked down to see his chest plate pierced right through and was barely hanging on by a thread. He spotted and felt no blood, which means he probably broke a rib or two. “Well, I guess that defeats that theory. If I’m feeling pain, then that means I’m still alive.” He wobbled some more before seeing some trees at the end of the field. “I think it’d be a good idea to set up camp. Trees give great cover,” he said as he began to walk into the forest. After some time, he was able to make his way into a thicker part of the forest. He laid his gear at the base of a large tree before setting out to gather some fire wood. Walking out to a clearing a few yards away, he found a few trees that were knocked over. He quickly scavenged some larger branches near the fallen trees but hesitated when he noticed the large bite marks on the base of the trees. “Whoa, it looks like the bite marks from the love child of a shark and a grizzly bear. Damn,” he said before lightly jogging back to his camp. He laid out the wood before unpacking his gear that he always carried. Relief washed over him as he found two magnums tucked inside his pack. He pulled them out to inspect any further damage, and satisfied that he found none, he replaced them before finding two more extra clips to inspect. He shuffled some more before finding an old lighter Shelly gave him and he smiled at the memories of his lost friend. Grabbing some leaves and other bits of scrap wood he tried to light the fire. He found it quite irritating before he was able to get a spark to catch fire from the empty lighter's flint. The sparks caught on the tinder and he began to blow lightly to feed it more oxygen. A small flame burst from the tinder. Thinking it would only be a moment before the rest caught fire, he stopped blowing and was about to sit back and relax but a sudden gust of wind squelched the beginning fire from reaching a comfortable flame. “Oh, Goddamn monkey splooge!” he angrily shouted before looking up at the sky to see an odd trail of what looked like a perfect rainbow, streaking through the sky and ending abruptly about a few yards from his position. He decided to investigate this strange anomaly before trying again on the fire. He equipped both magnums to the magnetic holsters on either side of his waist before quietly heading out. “I don’t need them. They can go buck themselves!” Rainbow settled gently onto the ground before collapsing into a pathetic heap of unhappiness. “Why Celestia?! My dream was literally told to go buck itself.” She began to sob more. After a while of crying, Rainbow turned to find her dress ripped and dirty from the mud she had not noticed she had laid in. “Oh come on! Rarity’s going to have a hissy fit when she sees this.” Rainbow immediately stood up when she heard a large crack come from a nearby bundle of bushes. She was about to fly away but a sudden shadow quickly moved from behind her and snatched at her wing. The timberwolf's teeth sunk into her wing, she gave a loud shout as it began to shake her around, ripping feathers about. Rainbow gave a mighty buck to its jaw making it throw her towards a tree, and as she slammed into it her vision blurred from the pain. She began to make out more shadows that soon became even more timberwolves. She tried to stand but her limbs were still shaking from the amount of fear and terror they held as they created a semi-circle around her. She moved her wings, only to provoke intense pain that spread all over her back side. She never thought this was how it would all end. So much she wanted to accomplish, like maybe actually finding a colt friend or maybe even joining the Wonder—. At this point, the pain from her wings and the recent events of her shattered dreams made the glistening drool entreating from the timberwolves’ fangs actually seem welcoming. She closed her eyes as the one in front leaped at her, fangs shinning in the moonlight. A sudden thunder like sound echoed from behind Rainbow, deafening her for a brief moment. She opened her eyes to find the timberwolf's body fall short next to her. Its wooden head shattered in bits of bark. She turned around to see a weird creature that stood on its hind legs, raising its front hoof at the dead timberwolf. “Boom, head shot.” Daniel said as he pointed at the other groups of wolves. He raised his other arm that held the other pistol. “Better watch yourself, I’m a crazy Mo-Fo when I’m having this much fun.,” he said smiling. The remaining timberwolves let out a low whine before retreating to their domain. Daniel sagged his shoulders as he scowled. “Awww, and I already pulled out the second one!” he said before he turned his attention to the petrified pony that laid in shock against the tree. He placed both pistols back in their holders before waving his hand in a friendly demeanor. “Hey, what’s up Skittles?” he said in a non-serious way. Rainbow looked at the creature with her mouth slowly dropping. She felt like now was a great time to pass out, so she did. “Well. That was rude.” Daniel looked at the sleeping Pegasus for a moment. He walked over and realized it wore a very fancy looking dress. Thinking for a moment, he scooped her up and walked back to his camp. He placed her on top of his backpack, cushioning the rocks from her body. He poked at the cold fire pit before settling back against the tree. “Weird fucking place. Colored horses wearing dresses. What’s next? Elite’s in tutus?” He looked over to the horse to find what he assumed to be its wing glowing red. He reached for the supplies he took to find a cloth he kept. He scooted gently over as to not wake her or him, it was hard to tell. He wiped some of the blood away before wrapping it up with the good side. After he finished, he laid his head back against the tree and watched the night sky until he fell asleep. //Near Fluttershy’s cottage// With a rude awaking, Sam sat up as fast as he could. He looked at his surroundings to find that he was sitting in some damp grass. He lifted his right hand to find his weapon still attached to his grip. He tried to stand but his sense of balance was distorted as he stumbled around.Scanning the surrounding area again, he found a field of flowers with the moon light’s blessing shining upon each petal. “Okay, I never really had any type of religious faith, so why am I here?” Sam stood still for a moment to recall the events leading up to now. “Daniel?” He asked in a low tone. He reached for his comn but find only static in the radio waves. “Damn, communications are out. Got to—“ A loud grunt came from behind Sam. He turned around and pointed his rifle at a large body laying a couple feet away from him. It moved a bit before getting to its feet. It stumbled around before lifting its head to face Sam’s weapon. Sam recognized the being as the Elite that had hastily joined their fight against the brutes. “Human.” Konthou hissed menacingly . “Well, fancy meeting you here. I thought your kind never believed in a place like this,” Sam said still holding the rifle at him. “What?“ Konthou took a moment to view his surroundings. He stood up very slowly before setting his gaze back on the human. His mandibles shut tight, concealing his hatred for him. “What is this place?” he said, turning his head to the field of flowers. “Your guess is as good as mine.” Sam lowered the Assault rifle as he noticed the Elite was unarmed. “My guess is that we somehow got thrown into a makeshift slip space portal. I remember the drive core overloading, and then blacking out.” Konthou turned to face the human, his eyes pierced through him as his continuing rage built inside him. “I think we should—“ Konthou reached for his sword and activated it blindly fast. He jumped at the unsuspecting human and smacked his gun out of his hands. Sam was unprepared for the sudden outburst, his grip from his gun fell when the Elite smacked it. Konthou grabbed the human by the throat and lifted him up off his feet. Sam grabbed at the Elites crushing grip, trying to pry it from his throat. “Let’s get something straight. There is no we, there never was. I rather die than work with some filth that should never even be allowed to breathe.” Konthou raised his blade and was about to strike but felt the blade suddenly lose its power and deactivate. Konthou averted his attention to the blade and then back to Sam who had taken advantage at the distraction and punched the Elite right in his face. Konthou fell back from the force and onto his back. Sam jumped up on top of the Elite and pointed his gun at his face. He pulled the trigger but then realized his ammo count read at zero. “Well fuck,” he said before the Elite tossed the human off of him. Sam landed with a thud as he hit something very hard. He got up to find himself on top of a bridge with a gurgling river beneath him. Sam looked up in confusion to see what appeared to be a cottage sitting on top of a small hill. He never noticed it with the lights off and the increasing darkness growing. He sat up to find the elite lift him up again to his face and tried to stab him with his wrist blade. Sam stopped his fist by blocking it with his palm as he put all his energy into trying to delay the slowly descending blade from reaching his throat. Konthou put all his weight onto his arm,. and inch by inch he pushed the blade until he was only a single push from victory. Konthou looked at the human with a determined face. But then felt his blade rise as he lightened the pressure. Konthou felt perplex on why he was attacking the human. He rationalized it to be the duty of the great journey and the will of the proph... With that thought Konthou deactivated his blade and rose from the human. Sam looked up shocked but still ready for anything the elite was going to throw at him. Konthou simply stood still as he recalled the recent betrayal the prophets bestow upon him. He looked at the human with a neutral expression before he saw a large blur jump from the bridge and knock him back from the human. It was heavy enough to land on him and strong enough to pin him to the ground. His arms were spread apart as a low growl came from a pair of large white teeth that drooled onto the perplexed Elite. Sam immediately got up to see a large wooden beast gnarling at the pinned Elite. He was about to turn around to allow the beast to finish its attack but six golden eyes appeared out of the darkness. Three even larger beasts leaped from the darkness to circle around him. Sam quickly grabbed at his combat knife he kept hidden away. He pointed it threateningly at the closing timberwolves that became even more excited at the sight of the blade. ‘The hell? Wooden wolves? What’s next, talking ponies?’ Sam stole a glance to see the Elite head-butt the wolf off of him. The wooden being let out a yelp before returning to the other three larger ones. Konthou leapt up and prepared his hidden blades to defend himself once more. The Wolves started to create a circular pattern around the duo, barking and gnashing their piercing razors for teeth at their slight movements. Sam unknowingly bumped into the large dark green armor of the Minor. He glanced up at the Elite with a bemused look. Konthou answered with a look of disgust. “Ironic, wouldn’t you say?” Sam said with a slight grin. “This will change nothing human,” Konthou said as he kept his gaze on the circling Wolves. “I hate your guts too but these things probably hate us even more,” Sam said as he held his arms out in a defensive stance. “Besides, if anything is going to kill you, it’s going to be me.” “Fair enough.” Konthou said as he leapt towards the largest of the wolves that equaled half his size. He managed to catch it by surprise and rip its head clear off with the blades before turning around to face another wolf about to tackle him. Sam jumped lightning fast into the airborne wolf, making sure to stab it in the throat before they both landed in a heap beside Konthou. The human jumped back up right after he stabbed it again in the head to make sure it was dead. Konthou examined both the corpses to find something misplaced about them. There was no blood sighted or felt amongst the two soldiers. Before the duo could react to the other two remaining targets, another large animal jumped in between them and let out a defining roar at the wolves. The timberwolves yelped as the fled for their lives. Konthou and Sam looked at each other before taking another glance at the dark coated figure in the moonlight. “A freaking bear?” Sam asked no one in particular. Konthou looked at him out of confusion. “A familiar animal to my people,” Sam explained some of his culture to the Elite. Konthou simply nodded as he stepped up to the creature cautiously. The bear turned around to face the elite. It sat up on its rear to get a better view of the strange creature that actual met its height and size. “We thank you for the intrusion but it was unnecessary. I know how to defend myself as well as the human. Mostly.” He finished in a mocked tone. Sam tried to stifle a snort at the Elite’s attempt of communication. Konthou began to walk back towards Sam but felt a giant force grab him and squeeze him until his lungs began to catch fire. Konthou was about to activate his blades again but felt a large warm and sticky sensation rub against his left row of mandibles up to the tip of his helmet. The elite became paralyzed at the sudden affection, it felt like when Rega’lily got over excited about being assigned to the Redemption and actually broke a few of Konthou’s bones in a tight embrace. Except this time it wasn’t hard and metallic like the cheery Hunter, but warm and fuzzy. After a moment the bear set him down and began to walk in the direction of the house. Sam couldn’t help but smirk and hide his ever growing laughter building inside him. Konthou got up and shrugged it off like a bad bullet wound before turning to the human. “No day of my life could prepare me for such a horrible fate as this.” He said in a depressed tone. Sam stopped his chuckling as he saw the bear lift its paw to motion them to the house. He then began to question his whereabouts now that the elite wasn’t trying to kill him. ‘No way could this be earth. If this bear is sentient to a degree, then this has to be an alternate tangent in time. Maybe in a complete different part of the universe.’ he thought for a moment. “Nahh… I’m probably dead, and this is purgatory” he said to himself aloud. He then felt a sudden dark chill run up his spine. "I don’t know why, but it feels like I just agreed with Daniel on something." Konthou looked at the human in a questioning manner. “I think we should…” “No, this is where we go our separate ways. If we meet again, I won’t hesitate to kill you,” Konthou threatened as he brushed pass the human. “But…” “No! Leave me be human,” Konthou said with a scant amount of pleading. Sam nodded slightly as he watched the Elite walk towards the field of flowers, not caring where he’d end up on his forgotten road. Sam felt a ping of remorse for the ignorant beast. He then followed the bear to the cottage on top of the hill. He noticed that the bear had even opened the door for the marine and was standing in a fashionable manner. Perplexed by this strange behavior, Sam decided to question all forms of reality after he got a better understanding of the world he now was in. He looked around to find the interior quite familiar to the olden times of earth. Feeling around on the wall, he managed to find what he assumed to be a light switch that somehow turned itself on. He felt much bigger in this environment due to what he assumed to be his gear enlarging his body size. He walked forward and found a big enough part of the floor sit down and collect himself. Sitting across from what appeared to be a sofa and a chair that looked big enough for him to sit in, he undid his small back pack and began to recount the ammo clips he had left. “Let’s see, five more assault clips, two rocket rounds, and a plasma grenade.” Sam reloaded his gun before turning around to see the bear looking outside for the elite. Sam stood up and placed his gear back into his backpack. He placed it gently on the couch as he sat in the chair. The bear looked back at Sam with a confused look. Noticing this, Sam confirmed the intelligence level of the bear, and got a basic understanding of its body language. “Um, he isn’t coming back. Sorry,” he said as he placed his fist under his chin to help focus on the situation. The bear gave a large frown and sulked back outside into the night air. Sam couldn’t help but feel like this was Earth to some degree. Bears where a natural inhabitant to the earth’s forests and wildlife. ‘This is really bizarre. But like any solider, I’ve got to adapt to my surroundings no matter how things change. So far the only immediate threat is that Elite. The other inhabitants seem to be bears that aren’t hostile and wooden wolves, I seriously can’t get over that shit.’ Sam looked around again to find the place beginning to feel even cozier. His tired body slumped to the side as he slowly drifted off to sleep. //Road to the Everfree// The ground vibrated slightly as small pebbles fled the path of the large Minor. Each step felt like a hunter’s gradual walking cycle. Konthou had no intentions of finding out where he was but to only keep walking. His mind became a blank void of hopelessness as he continued on the dirt road to the dark mystical forest. “Why?” His own voice surprised him as he felt it loose its strong tongue of honor and turn into a weak pitiful source of weeping. “My prophets, my life, and my honor. Was it all for not? Was everything I fought for a lie?” Konthou stopped his endless walk cycle as he eyed a nearby tree. His four digit hand tightened into a fist as he eyed the tree with a now even more enraged look. He began to imagine the tree as the prophet of truth, his long neck and aging face smiling at the young Sangheili in mock. Konthou let out a roar as he smashed his fist into the tree with all the strength he had left. The tree’s bark shattered into bits and pieces from the force of the blow but Konthou wasn’t done yet. He began to hammer the tree until it uprooted and fell to the ground. Still unsatisfied, he leaped onto it and began to rip it to shreds with his energy blades. With blinding rage he lost connection to the outside world, he could only see the prophet looking tree, tearing into tiny fragments of wood. He began to pant and become light headed as his lungs tried to catch up to his actions. Konthou sat upright as he looked at his art work. He felt his back slam against what he assumed to be a tree but never cared to look. He only kept his gaze on the massacred tree, feeling his anger only grow at his knowledge of what was truth and what was lie. Konthou let his body go limp as he waited for some form of predator to kill him and what little honor he had left. No other higher commander was here to silence his ever growing dishonor. Konthou would never had guessed that his life would be torn aside from glory and honor to be put into a situation of unknowing circumstances with no hope for restoring his honor. Konthou felt a few tears escape his face as he finally came to terms with his situation. “My holy leaders have lied to me. My life is a lie. My actions were for a lost cause.” Konthou realized now why he couldn’t slay the human. Killing him would have proven that he still had faith in those who had tried to kill him. Having no intentions to rejoin the covenant even if he could, Konthou lifted his helmet off to reveal a very scaly texture to his face. His brownish skin darkened in the moonlight. He dropped his helmet to the side as he looked up into the dark sky to find it blocked suddenly by a growing shadow. Turning his head at the being approaching him, Konthou felt no sense of moving his destroyed soul from what could possibly be a threat. Instead he kept his eyes on what appeared to be a four legged creature, slowly walking towards him. Once it was in plain view he could make out a weird pattern of black and white stripes coating its body. He also notice it to have a shocked and horrified look on its face. Its turquoise eyes shrank from fear as it scanned the elite from head to toe. Konthou kept his saddened look at the creature, hoping it would leave him to wallow in his saddened state. But instead it said something in a very familiar language. “Of all the creatures of the Everfree. You are the most frightening that I have seen,” Zecora said in a small concealed tone. Konthou tilted his head back against what he assumed to be the tree, turns out was the hut that Zecora lived in. He didn’t care though, he decided that she was no threat to him and felt like passing out from the lack of energy he had, both physically and mentally. Zecora was truly in a pickle. This thing decided to cause a ruckuses and then fall asleep on the side of her hut. Being that it was five times her size, she felt like the wisest thing to do was to let it sleep and maybe it would leave once it had rested. She slowly left it there to rest as she hurried back inside. She closed the door and fell on her bed as she could hear the loud breathing from the creature outside her hut. “This is unexpected yes indeed. What is to happen to me? This being is unusual, not of this world perhaps. Maybe something from a different time elapse. Whatever it is, I have no clue. On how to approach it true. Tonight it rest, tomorrow unsure. If it intends to destroy and conquer...” With that final thought she decided to jump out of bed and quietly make her way outside. Once she slowly opened the door she as to make her way to Fluttershy’s cottage. Her place being the closest to the ancient forest. Zecora decided it be best to go there first. After stealing a glance at the still sleeping monster, Zecora quickly trotted onto the dirt road. Once far enough away she noticed a few tracks on the dirt road that she quickly identified as timberwolves. She quickly analyzed the tracks, leading her towards the exit of the Everfree. “This is unnatural of them. To leave their homes abandon. A greater threat must have spooked them from home. Perhaps the creature that has fallen asleep in prone?” she analyzed again. Without further hesitation, she made her way to Fluttershy’s home as quickly as she could.