Equestrian Adventure 2!

by DerpyHooves320

4: Frank

Applebloom had been running with Zach over her shoulder for an hour now, but that didn't bother her. But what really bothered her was the fact that he was drooling on her back again, ever since he had fallen asleep half an hour ago. But that was reaching it's end, as her destination came into view, just a few minutes away now. With increased speed, she got there quickly and dumped the human onto the ground, causing him to wake up.

"No, not the pocke- oh, I'm alright," Zach said with a glad sigh, before being kicked by the crystal mare, earning a glare from him, "you're just the worst pile of crystals I've ever seen" he huffed, before getting up and turning around from his spot on the ground, giving her the cold shoulder. But after a second of staring, he realized that he was now standing right before someone. Someone all too familiar.

"Miss me?" Frank asked, followed by an attempt at an evil chuckle. If you could count random garbles as chuckling.

"Of course not, I was perfectly fine by myself and you know that for a fact," Zach said while dusting himself off, then promptly flipped him the bird, "Petey missed you though," he continued, while waving his middle finger at him, before walking up to him and rubbing it across his face. Growing tired of it, Frank smacked his hand away, before pulling out a red sword that looked like it belongs in Tron.

"I'd stop that if I were you, or else you'll lose your-"

"Lose my what?" Zach asked, interrupting him before he could finish while beckoning him with Petey. Waving Petey around some more, he pulled out his other hand, before the middle finger rose on that one too. "Don't forget George!" He yelled, waving both high in the air in Frank's direction. Growing even more tired of this, Frank swung his sword in a wide arc, barely catching both Petey and George at the tips, leaving a small cut on both. Now on the ground from the sudden swing and pain, Zach brought both his hands down to look at the cuts.

"Consider yourself lucky, but not so lucky!" Frank declared whilst chuckling to himself, as he watched him writhe in pain on the ground. "Now if I remember correctly, you were with a friend, correct?" He asked, swinging his sword around in a circle while watching his prisoner get to his knees, throwing him a dirty glare all the while.

"I have to ask you about what Discord had said, about me being the only who can defeat you. So you want me dead then?" Zach asked to avoid Frank's question after getting over the now dull pain in his fingers, his fingers hugged up against his chest, slowing turning it from pink to red in those two spots. The ash was getting mixed in as well, making it a little thick.

"That would be correct, as you're the, uh, 'hero', of this story. Everyone knows the hero wins, so I'm going to stop you before you can even begin to win," Frank said while grinning to himself, before laughing with his garbled laughter. "Who knew it'd be this easy? Maybe if all those other villains would just stop playing games, they might've won for a change," he finished his laughter, before kneeling in front of Zach, planting his sword into the ground.

"Don't think it's that easy," Zach said, before standing straight up and jumping over Frank, and started sprinting away as best he could. With a roll of his eyes and a snap of his fingers, Frank watched as Applebloom began her chase. Catching up to him with ease, she prepared to grab him, before he turned and brought his hand to her face, a rock held in hand. This caught her completely off guard, and sent her tumbling back with a shocked gasp.

"You'll regret that!" she yelled while getting her balance back and continuing the chase. Soon, she found herself in the Everfree forest, where she saw her target duck around a tree. Going around the other side for an easy flank, she prepared to grab him, only to see he wasn't there. Looking around the tree, she didn't find him sneaking around the other side and believed she had lost him. Until she heard a grunt from above. With her head turned up she saw him there, before he fell down right on her, one hand on her neck and another holding down one of her arms as best he could.

"How do I get this off?" Zach asked himself, trying to grab at the necklace hidden in the crystals. Feeling his fingers run across it, he felt a malevolent power flowing from inside, which caused him to shiver uncontrollably before grabbing it as best he could. Receiving a punch from her other arm which was now consistently hitting him, his grip loosened on it, but he quickly got that good hold back before starting to tug at it.

"Wait!" Applebloom quickly begged as all her movements stopped, but it was too late. Ripping the necklace off of her with surprising ease, he was met with loud screaming and more malevolent forces. Slowly, the crystal surrounding her started crumbling away and disintegrating as the forces that flowed free disappeared, leaving Applebloom, the real Applebloom, on the ground unconscious. Letting out a sigh of relief, Zach slowly got off of her before looking back the way he came from. Seeing Frank on a direct path to them, he started to panic.

"Oh shit, oh shit oh shit, what do I do to get you out of here?!" He fumbled the words out in his panic, since he knew he wasn't quite strong enough to carry her like she did to him. At this rate, Frank would surely recapture her and kill him. Dragging her a little further into the forest, he stopped at another tree and looked around. Seeing a small burrow under the tree, which was still decent in size, and instantly had an idea. Dragging her body over, he began stuffing her in as best he could without hurting her, then grouped up some leaves on her to conceal her all the way. Mostly. Once she was, for the most part, inside the burrow and hidden, he started climbing into the tree as to conceal himself as well.

"I know you're in the forest, and it won't be long until I find you," Frank called out, walking into the forest himself. Starting his search from their immediate entry point of the woods, he was dead set on finding him. It was all set out, he should've just cut him down then! But why did he decide to play it out? Was it just bad decision making, or something more? "I thought you were supposed to make me smart, fast, and agile when it comes to taking down Zach!" he yelled out to no one in particular. But he knows his words were heard, or else he wouldn't have said it. Would he still yell it if no one heard him?

Deciding to continue his search instead of trying to communicate with what would appear to be unseen forces, he heard furious tapping. Ignoring it, he soon realized that he had no chance of finding his target as night approached, and turned to leave the woods against his will. Much to his disappointment. After a few more minutes had passed, Zach hopped out of his tree, thinking over what he just heard.

"Who was he talking to?" He asked not just himself, but whoever might be listening in case they might give an answer. Also hearing the furious tapping, he ignored it, deciding it would be better for him to not know. Returning to the burrow at the base of the tree, he started dragging Applebloom out, only to hear her groan in annoyance.

"Just a few more minutes," she mumbled in a sleepy voice, before grabbing onto his arm and taking hold, her iron grip refused to let him go. Trying to get free, her grip tightened again, causing him to gasp from the sudden pain and discomfort it was causing. Soon realizing he was trapped, mostly by the mare that was now holding onto him, but also from his exhaustion from all the running and finger flipping earlier and decided to sit down.

"Why me?" He asked, before he set her head on his lap, treating it as a pillow for her. He knew she would need to rest, because she had done a lot today, even if it was in her crystal form. Leaning against the tree, he brought up his free hand, looking at the wound on Petey. "That looks bad" he said, looking at the now dirty wound. Slowly, his eyes started to get heavy, as he too began to sleep. Little did he know, he was returning to that unspeakable dream from forever ago.