//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: The Great Ape! 
// Story: Dragon Wish 
// by DanishDash 
//------------------------------//

It was supposed to be a nice evening, filled with the laughter and happiness of friends. They had come through another ordeal, helped the Apple Family beat the Flim Flam brothers, and sold more apple cider than ever before.

That was enough reason to hold a celebration, and everything had been enjoyable until Apple Bloom and her friends had screamed out for help. It had shocked them all, and of course all of them ran outside. The three fillies stood by the open door to the farmhouse, looking scared and shocked.

"Apple Bloom!" Applejack exclaimed, running over to the three fillies, along with her granny and older brother. 

Rarity was not far behind, looking very concerned for her little sister, Sweetie Belle, who looked even more scared than Apple Bloom. "Sweetie Belle, are you alright?"

The three of them started explaining, all at the same time, which was very confusing. They claimed they had seen some  monster, or an alien of some kind. Ever since they had seen the strange asteroid crash into the Everfree forest, the girls had insisted that it was an alien spacecraft, like the ones from the books and comics.

"Twilight," said Rainbow Dash, pointing up to the sky. Twilight looked, and saw how the clouds had parted, like something had sliced them open. She looked to Rainbow, who in turn confirmed her own thoughts by giving her wings a little flap, showing she thought the same as her. Somepony had flown with high speed close to the clouds.

It was then that it happened. They had barely gotten the whole story together from the girls, before a massive roar caught every ponies attention.

"What in tarnation was that?!" Applejack yelled over the massive roar.

Rainbow took to the air, and gasped almost right away. "Guys! You ain't gonna believe this!"

Before any of them could ask what she saw, they felt it. The ground was shaking, and it wasn't long before they could see a massive monster roaming the Everfree. None of them had ever seen anything like it before. Standing higher than a tower in Canterlot, the massive monster ape started roaring, making its way towards the town of Ponyville. Its massive footsteps shook the ground, echoing as it walked closer and closer.

"We have to do something, it's heading this way!" Rarity almost screamed.

Twilight bit her lip, not sure if they should engage that massive monster, or focus on evacuating. Looking at her friend in the sky, she called out. "Rainbow Dash, go to Ponyville, get everypony to evacuate!"

Rainbow wasn't going to argue with that, she could see the urgency, and she got a very bad feeling from the monster. Somehow she knew it was like nothing they had ever faced. She sped off towards town, and Big Mac wasn't going to wait around. He hitched himself to a small wagon, and put the three fillies and Granny Smith in it.

Applejack wanted to protect her family, but she wasn't going to let her friends face that monster alone. Shooting her brother a trusting look, she said. "You take care of them!"

"Eeyup!"

Before he went though, Twilight levitated Spike into the wagon. "Take Spike too!"

"But Twilight!" Spike protested, but Big Mac was already hurrying them away.

What was left was Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy. None of them was very happy to be facing this monster alone, but surely the princesses would notice it from Canterlot, it was pretty hard to miss after all.

"Maybe it is just a scared animal?" Fluttershy suggested hopefully, though by the tone of her voice it was pretty clear she didn't believe it herself.

Twilight narrowed her eyes, then pointed at the great ape. "Look!" They all did so. "It's wearing armor."

"Not the most pressing matter at the moment." Rarity commented, mostly to keep herself calm.

"But that must mean it is intelligent! Also, it must have transformed." Twilight reasoned that an animal this size would not have been able to get so close to the town unnoticed. The armor was also massive, which meant it had to be intelligent. How would somepony get armor on that thing? It had to have slipped into it on its own accord.

"So what's your idea?" Asked Applejack, a certain urgency in her voice.

"Maybe we should try talking to it?!" Suggested Pinkie, bouncing in place, like if eager to to run away, or facing the danger head on, it was always hard to tell with her at times.

"But what if it is just a magical grown ape?" Asked Fluttershy. "What if the poor animal has been forced into this?"

There were too many questions and too little time. They couldn't stand around here and do nothing, they needed to slow this monster down before anypony got hurt. "We need to slow it down until help arrives!"

"Right!"





What Daniel experienced was not as one would expect. Mostly, Daniel saw flashes, got impressions. It was like everything was an enemy. He did not know who was a threat, and who was not, he just felt angry, and felt like destroying anything and anyone who got in his way.

He saw nothing but danger, and never really knew what he was fighting. It was like he was of two mindsets, one brutish and instinctual, the other half was him. His mind was battling for control, he was not aware enough to think to himself, but aware enough to get brief glimpses of clarity.

It was like being asleep, yet aware. At times he felt the wind move through his fur as he swung an arm, or the crushing of trees beneath his feet as he walked. All of this was brief and quick, like they didn't even happen.

One thing stood out to him though, two blue eyes, staring into his own. Daniel wasn't sure what had happened, but for a moment he felt like his entire massive being was halted, as if commanded to. Something within him had compelled him to do so. As if an animal had met an alpha, and was commanded to stop.

Then something changed, or rather, he did.

His mind was coming back to him, and his focus was regained. However, as he felt himself going back to his own mind, he almost immediately fell to the ground, his mind still foggy. The last thing he noted before he passed out, was a yellow pony with pink hair looking at him concerned.

Then, darkness.