To Grant A Wish

by Eathlome

Crisis of Conscious

Applejack was waiting at the edge of the Everfree. It had been ten minutes, but to the orange Apple it felt more like ten hours. Pinkie glanced nervously at her, and Applejack realized that she was pacing. She noticed that Pinkie was still distraught by the encounter with the monster.

"Ya OK, Pinks?"

Pinkie silently nodded her head.

"Ya know we're gonna get that filly back, right? Nothin', and I mean nothin' is gonna stop us."

Pinkie brightened slightly at her friends reassurance, and her mane regained some of it's luster. Applejack smiled at her friend, and rested a hoof on her shoulder.

"And after we find her, ya can throw her th' biggest party Equestria's ever seen."

With this Pinkie's mane puffed back up, and her coat regained it's lost coloring.

"D'you really think so? The biggest party! There'll have to be cupcakes balloons andstreamersandpartyhatsandpartyblowersandpnchandcakeandpieandmuffinsandconfettiandsarsaparilland pinatasandgamesandsnacksandEVERYPONYwillbe invited -"

Pinkie drew in a huge breath, and Applejack quickly shoved a hoof in her mouth.

"Woa, calm down there a bit, we sill hafta save her first."

"Of course AJ!"

Applejack forced a smile on her face. Pinkie was a happy mare, she didn't do well in grim situations. Applejack glanced around.

"What's takin' them so long?!"

Pinkie suddenly smiled, "They're right here AJ!"

Pinkie reached behind her and pulled pulled out Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Applejack shook her head in confusion. Twilight looked slightly nauseous.

"Wh-what just happened?"

"We don't have time for explanations Twi! We have a filly to save!" Pinkie struck a heroic pose, pointing into the Everfree.

"But whats happening?"

"Move it Twi, Ah'll explain on the way."

Twilight looked around confusedly, then sighed and resigned herself to her fate. The six ponies trotted of in to the forest, Applejack leading, looking for anything that would indicate a trail.

'Don't you worry, Ah'm comin' for ya.'

""Hmmm, that looks tasty."

"NO!"

Apex quickly grabbed Wish before she could take a bite out of the bright blue flower.

"But I thought we were trying to find things for me to eat?"

"We are, but look at this patch. There are no signs of anything eating it, no signs of a path through it, in fact, all the animals in this forest give these plants a wide berth. When you take into account the bright coloring, I'm almost positive that these flowers are highly toxic."

"I guess that makes sense."

Apex and Wish had spent that last ten minutes searching around for things she could eat. So far they found several types of flowers, which Wish insisted were delicious, and a few berries. Apex had also stopped Wish from eating an array of poisonous things, such as Nightshade, Aconite (wolfsbane), Death Caps, and Destroying Angles. Wish was rather enjoying it, and found it rather ... fun. She was feeling much more relaxed, and had recuperated from her encounter with the ones who hurt her. Apex, on the other hand, was slightly exasperated by Wish's less than cautious approach to finding new food, and was still quietly monitoring their surroundings, taking note of any little movement, and being prepared to grab Wish, and run at a moment's notice.

'Still,' Apex thought, 'this sure beats hiding from the military any day.'

"So, let me get this straight," Twilight said for the fourth time in as many minutes, "There's a strange monster in the Everfree, and it stole a young filly."

"Yep."

"And we're going to find and save her, from a giant creature that took one of your kicks like it was nothing?"

"Yep."

"Just once more, so I can be sure-"

"Um, Twilight? Don't you, um, think you should calm down, if it's not too much to ask..."

"Fluttershy's right, you simply must be quieter, what if you bring this beast down upon us?"

"Um...Applejack?"

"Yea, Fluttershy?"

"Do you, do you think you could, maybe describe the monster to me? If it isn't too much trouble..."

"Well, it was real big, and real nasty."

"...ok...I-I meant what it's, um, characteristics were."

"Oh. Well, like Ah said it's real tall, taller than the Princesses by mah reckonin'."

"Oh dear..."

"And it walked on two legs, actually it sort of looked a bit like Spike, when he got all greedy, bu-"

"Are you calling Spike a monst-?"

"No, NO. Ah'm just sayin' that the monster sort of looks like Spike, not that Spike looks like the monster. And anyways Ah was gonna say that it didn't have a tail, and it's scales were all black. Does all this mean anythin' to ya Fluttershy?"

"Um...well, I'm not sure about the tail bit, but the scales sound sort of like camaflauge, were there any patterns or markings on them?"

"Nah, they were just completely black, bu they were dull, no shine in 'em."

"That's matte, AJ."

"Oh, um ... well that would indicate that this creature is primarily nocuurnal, and hides in the shadows. Did you happen tseitmuht..."

"Pardon?"

"Um, d-di you see it's mth."

"Once more, sugarcube."

"D-did you, um, see what it's mouth looked like?"

"It was terrible! It had big, sharp, pointy, spikes for teeth. And really bad breath."

"Pinkie... d-did it have any teeth like ours?"

"Nope, just giant mean fangs."

"Oh my ... I was afraid of this."

"Afraid of what?" said Applejack wearily.

"It's a carnivore."

"Ya mean ya think it gonna..."

Fluttershy looked rather uncomfortable, "W-well, I don't know. You said that the filly was alive right?"

"Hah, it's probably just saving her, keeping her fresh, so when it gets hungry it can ju-ow!"

Applejack grabbed Dash by the tail and glared at her.

"Less talkin', more trottin'!"

"Aww, why should I walk when I have these babies?" Dash ruffled her wings proudly.

"Cause, sugarcube, we're goin' that-a-way."

Applejack gestured in the direction where the trail lead. Dash looked at it and groaned. The trees were mush closer together, and the branches made it impossible to fly for more than a few feet, before she would have to land.

Dash grumbled, but followed Applejack, as she lead her friends deeper into the forest.

"Hey, Apex?"

""Yes?"

"Do you have any enemies?"

Apex thought for a moment, before replying.

"No, not anymore."

"What happened to them?"

Apex raised the ridge above his eye, a gesture which Wish had matched to raising an eyebrow.

"I did."

"Oh...did-"

"No," Apex sighed, "it didn't make me feel better. Seeking violence like I did was too destructive. I hurt so many who weren't even at fault, they were just in the way."

Wish sat silently, waiting for Apex to continue. This was the most she'd been able to get out of her companion about his past. Apex glanced at her and smirked.

"You aren't getting more than that, for now."

Wish huffed irritably,and Apex laughed. Then he heard a very soft and distant clop.

"So Wish, what would you do?"

"Huh?"

"If you had your enemies at your mercy. They were helpless before you, and there was nothing holding you back what would you do?"

Apex listened carefully as the sounds of trotting got steadily closer, he could even pick up a snippet or two of speech, not that he understood what was being said.

"I...I...I would..."

"Would you forgive them? Befriend them? Would you bide your time, waiting for their trust, before you strike, making vengeance all the sweeter? Would you cause them the pain you felt?"

Wish struggled to think up an answer. All she could get out were some quiet mumbles.

"What would you do, when faced with those you despise the most?" Apex stood up, and turned to where the sounds were coming from.

"What would you do Wish? What would you do?"

"I..." Wish whimpered, "I just don't know..."

Apex smirked, and as six ponies came out of the bush and into the small clearing he said, "Then for now you should run. Face them only when you have made a resolution, until then, run."

Apex turned to face the six, who had spread out. He let out a low snarl and glanced over his shoulder to where Wish was. She had vanished into the undergrowth. Apex cracked his neck and focused on the ponies in front of him.

'Yep, fighting magic ponies sure beats hiding from the military any day.'

A/N

So...
I haven't updated for a while, but give me a few weeks and more will be coming.

Anyways, how was the chapter?

Did I get the characters to act properly, it got kind of awkward trying to write the conversation with all of them in there. If you have any suggestions of how I could rework it to improve the flow, don't hesitate to let me know!