//------------------------------// // The Scent of the Hunt // Story: To Grant A Wish // by Eathlome //------------------------------// To Grant a Wish: The Scent of the Hunt Apex groaned and leaned against a building, bringing a hand to his head. 'I might have gone a bit too far there,' thought Apex, looking back on the mugging he interrupted. 'I didn't mean to kill them, just break an arm or two.' Apex leaned his head back. 'I guess its happening again. Can't this damn retrovirus stabilize already? It's had ten years.' Apex remembered the first time the retrovirus had reacted, 'Well the gills have definitely been useful, but they were painful coming in! At least there haven't been any more reactions, like that.' Apex shook his head, 'Can't be distracted, have to leave.' Apex glanced down at his bloody clothes and grimaced, 'Keeping to the alleys I guess.' Before taking off. Only a few minutes later Apex came to a dead stop. He sniffed, then turned around and sniffed again. 'Beer, mold, cats, rotten food, that's not it,' he took a few steps back, 'car exhaust, old cigarettes, blood, wait! There!' Apex jogged down the side alley following the strange scent. 'This doesn't make sense, there is no way that this sent could be in a city like this. But the nose doesn't lie, so where is it coming from?' He breathed in deeply feeling the new, yet familiar scent wash over him. 'A forest. A real forest, wild, untouched. Perfect.' Apex stopped at the source of the scent. There was nothing there. Apex glanced around then took off his sunglasses, 'Still nothing.' Apex grimaced as he closed his tertiary lenses, filtering out the spectrum of visible light, and allowing him to see in infrared and ultraviolet. He gasped, there in front of him was an opening. On the other side was the forest. 'How is this even possible? Is this real?' Apex grinned, 'Only one way to find out.' Abandoning all sense of trepidation, Apex walked up to the strange forest, and strode in. The first thing he noticed was the noise, much quieter than the city, yet filled with the sounds of wild birds and other animals. Apex glanced behind him, seeing the alley he had just come from, before returning his vision to normal, the city fading from view. Apex removed his bloody jacket and dropped it on the ground. 'No sign of human activity anywhere, so probably no humans around here. No chance of losing it and going on a killing spree.' Apex inhaled the forest air, and grinned savagely. Right now he could relax, and let his instincts guide him, right now he could hunt. Wish grimaced as it's form began to solidify. 'I used far to much power to protect Luna,' Wish thought, 'I guess this means I'm going to die. I've never had to survive in the wild before, not without any of my powers. I don't even know what will be safe to eat, let alone how to avoid being eaten myself.' Wish had never thought about death before, 'Maybe it'll be like falling asleep ... sleep ... it's been so long since I needed sleep. Or food.' Wish continued to ponder about what it would need with a body, before returning to think about what it would look like. 'Probably something pony-like,' Wish figured, 'Since the last body I had was one...' Wish trailed off, this line of thought once again reminding it of the recent betrayal, causing Wish to once again begin to cry. 'Why does it always end up like this? I am always nice, I never put myself ahead of anyone. Maybe Luna was right, if you can't get them to see things from your side, you'll have to force them. But how would that even work, you can't force a friendship, not a true one anyways.' Wish continued pondering this for a while, letting the thought take it's mind away from the dangerous area of Luna. After a while the thoughts turned down a different path. 'I can't force a friend, but could there be another way to fill the hole in my heart? Something that could offer me a temporary revive from all this pain?' Wish thought for a moment, 'Revenge?' Apex was familiarizing himself with the forest. There were several types of trees which he had never seen before, and several tracks which interested him. Continuing his exploration Apex came across a field for pale blue flowers, he was about to continue through it, but something was off. 'I've never seen flours like this before. No sign of damage anywhere, so they aren't a food, and there are no tracks through it. In fact all the tracks I've seen so far have given this place a wide berth. Therefore these are most likely very poisonous,' Apex reasoned. Apex was about to try to collect a sample to experiment with, when his ears heard a distance roar. Apex grinned, this was the roar of a predator, '...and where there's a predator, there's prey.' Apex sped towards the sound, his hunting instincts and curiosity as to what kinds of animals lived here, spurring him on. As Apex approached where the noise had come from, he slowed down, and began to stalk. Carefully glancing from his cover, he froze. What stood there was no creature Apex had ever seen before. It looked like a lion with bat wings and the tail of a scorpion. Apex's mind was on two different tracks now: 'That doesn't even make sense! I mean the wings are clearly to small to even lift it, the wingspan should be at least three times larger for it to even take off, let alone fly. And the scorpion tail? The only thing scorpions have in common with lions is their kingdom. There is no way that could be natural. What could have caused it.' and 'I wounder how that would taste?' Wish shivered, which was surprising. Glancing down Wish thought, 'I guess it's done, I'm trapped in this body now, until I regain my strength ... or die.' Wish shook it's head, 'No I mustn't think like that. Now what does a body need to survive... hmmm... right, first I need water. That will also let me see what I am.' Wish stood up, wincing as it felt. The simple act of feeling was something entirely alien to Wish, and it was confusing. Glancing down and noting that it was standing on all fours, and that it definitely had hooves, Wish thought, 'Well I was right about getting a pony like body.' Before stumbling off to find some fresh water. After about five minutes Wish was completely lost and totally exhausted, 'How does anything move around in these things, they weigh so much, and they get tired so quickly.' Wish thought, after collapsing on the ground. After lying and resting, Wish continued to search for water. Soon the sound of a slight burbling could be heard. Wish climbed over a slight rut, and could see a small brook. Dragging itself over to the brook Wish dunked it's head in, the came out gasping for air. 'Well that isn't how you drink.' Wish carefully leaned down and lapped up a tiny bit of water up with it's tongue. It wasn't very much, but Wish found it to be the most refreshing thing ever. After sating it's thirst Wish glanced in the brook, using the relatively calm water as a mirror. Wish was surprised by the image that could be seen. Wish had been expecting some sort of monster pony with vicious fangs, like when it had fused with Luna, but instead it was greeted by a very small pony with a pure white coat and mane. Wish's eyes widened as she saw them, they were also completely white. Wish had no horn and no wings, but it knew it wasn't an earth pony. It felt none of the inner strength, or innate connection to the ground, which earth ponies possessed. Wish was a pony. Not a unicorn pony, nor a pegasus pony, nor an earth pony. Just a regular pony. 'A regular female pony,' Wish thought, noting her gender for the first time. Wish was wondering about this strange phenomenon, when she was interrupted by a low growl. Wish slowly turned around and saw a manticore slowly crawling towards her. Wish let out an ear splitting scream, which made even the manticore recoil, before it roared and pounced. Apex had been stalking the strange creature for a while now. It was definitely a carnivore, the sharp teeth showed that. But what was it hunting for? It moved slowly and lumbering, yet it was definitely prowling. Trying to use stealth to approach a target. Apex nearly laughed at this, 'In a dark green forest, this thing is bright red and orange.' Apex could hear a gentle burbling, and could smell water. 'Maybe it strikes animals while they are distracted drinking? It's a good strategy.' Stealthily moving ahead of the creature Apex approached the water source. It was a small brook, with another strange creature drinking there. This one resembled a small horse, yet it clearly wasn't. 'Interesting. The skull is definitely more of a predator's, with the eyes facing frontwards, but the flat teeth show that this creature is a herbivore.' The creature looked up, and what Apex saw startled him. 'It's eyes are completely white! Is it blind? No that can't be it. It's looking at it's reflection, maybe it sees without the spectrum of visible light. But in that case it would have surly seen me. This is most interesting.' Apex was pulled from his thoughts as he saw the lionesque creature approach the horse like one. The lion one let out a growl, alerting the other to it's presence. The horse creature reacted in a most unexpected way. Instead of dashing away, or trying to hide, it slowly, almost comically, turned around and screamed. 'There is no way any animal would act like that. As mush as I am shocked about the possibility of sentient horses, a I can't discount it. Especially with the lion thing over there.' Apex leaped at almost the same time as the lion creature did. Apex collided with the very surprised creature, midair, his claws ripping through the creature's hide. Jabbing with an outstretched hand Apex punctured through the creature's ribs and through it's heart. Apex grinned and he felt the hot blood flow over his hand, he always preferred to hunt predators, he found the irony in it helped keep him sane. As the creature fell to the ground, Apex let out a primal howl of victory. Still grinning he turned to the other creature, which was staring at him, with a mixed look of horror, fear, and awe.