Blooming Talent 2: The Apple Falls Far

"Goten, i need a second." Apple Bloom said, prompting her husband to stop and set her down.

They'd crossed into the desert an hour or two ago after non-stop moving through the night; the moon their only illumination. The sand was still hot, however, and Apple Bloom winced and gave a short gasp of pain as she lay on it to rest. As she gazed up at the stars, she felt Goten lay down beside her in the shifting dune. She continued to stare for several minutes at the beautiful orbs of light high in the sky before even attempting to say anything.

"Goten..." She said. "You have to go on and get Carrot back."

Goten immediately shook his head. "Nope. We already made up our minds we'd find him together...I am not going to leave you all alone out here. What if something happens? You're in no condition to fight."

He motioned towards her infected arm with his head as he said the last bit. She knew it would come to that though.

"That's exactly why, Goten." She said. "I'm only slowing you down, and every day we spend out here is another day our baby stays in Saddle Arabia...I can't bear to think of that...."

"You're not slowing me down--"

"Then what am I doing?"

The half-saiyan looked at the sky in thought for a second. "You're helping me get our son back."

Apple Bloom laughed a little at that answer. "That's kinda a weak argument, wouldn't you say? Hon, I know you love me, and you'll do anything to keep me safe...but right now...our boy needs his daddy to come rescue him, cuz Celestia knows mama isn't in any shape to."

She giggled again, and gasped in pain right after as she felt her sickness spreading again. Luckily it wasn't much, but the deathly vein tree now extended up the right side of her neck. Goten looked into his wife's eyes for several moments, deciding what to do. Just as he figured he was going to decide, he was never able to say so.

The sand started to rumble and shift more and more each second, and it rapidly grew to being almost like a quake. Before either of them could react, the dune right in front of them burst open violently, sending sand particles all over and both of them back tumbling. As Goten regained his footing, he looked up to see what had caused such a thing. His jaw dropped when he looked up and saw a massive beast overshadowing them.

The monster, from what Goten could tell, was long and slender with a torso easily up to eighteen feet in height, and that was just what was coming out of the sand. Its with was as much as four of Goten, and every three feet along both its sides glowed small little blue circles. Its arm span was unbelievable, and at the end of each massive limb was a set of three claws as long as a city bus, and just as big too. The head was small, but had on it a large set of pincers before a glowing blue maw that added to the affect of its slitted blue eyes.

Goten didn't move for a second, but rapidly grabbed Apple Bloom and dove away when the behemoth dove right at where he'd been a moment ago. It disappeared into the sand again, but the tremors could still be felt all around. He hoisted Apple Bloom onto his shoulders, and took off into the sky, earning a cry of pain from his wife.

He mentally apologized, but then verbally cursed as the beast broke the dunes again and swung its gargantuan claws at the couple. He dodged the first one, but misjudged the distance between the sharp digits, and was batted back down by the second one, dropping Apple Bloom off to the side.

He flipped onto his back and was immediately greeted by the creature's huge face. It slammed into him, driving him into the sand. It sank its large pincers into his sides and he was filled with pain instantly. He would have screamed, but the sand was suffocating him, and at the rate the monster was diving, he must have been many feet beneath the surface already.

He had no time to loser, and summoning as much strength as he could, he transformed into his Super Saiyan state;his hair glowing a magnificent gold.

With a thrust of his entire body, he exploded his ki outwards, not only removing the beast from himself, but creating a massive hole in the dunes. The beast landed at the edge, or at least its top half did. Fully exposed, Goten saw how long it actually was; it was easily 30 feet in length!

He quickly decided the size wasn't important, and charged up his family's signature attack.

"Kamehame--"

Thee beast seemed to not even be concerned, and in fact, was completely ignoring Goten now. It had set its hungry sights on Apple Bloom, who was struggling to take up a fighting stance. Goten disengaged the Kamehamema, and dashed down to grab his beloved just before the beast impaled her with its finger-knives.

"You OK?" He asked her.

"Hold me towards him!" She shouted, her ki rising every second.

Goten held her towards the monster as instructed, his hands at her hips. She instantly transformed into the shimmering and flowing form of her Rainbow Power state; the power of the Element of Honesty shining across the desert. She put her good hand away from her, pointing it palm first at the oncoming behemoth.

"Bifrost Blast!" She shouted out loudly; her voice echoing across the sky.

From her palm shot a wide beam of rainbow energy which hit the charging monster dead on. The massive beast stood no chance against the power, and was pushed back into the ground. Once it hit, the rainbow beam penetrated its thick hide, and its body began to crack and shatter. After a second, the whole monster exploded as it gave a final cry; the only part of it remaining intact was its hind end, which looked like a rattler.

Apple Bloom reverted back to her normal anthro state, and passed out, the exhaustion added by the sickness getting to her. Goten gently landed back down, and held her close to him, smiling.

He too reverted to his normal state, and picked her up in his arms. As soon as he turned around though, the massive flailing tail of the beast smacked into him, launching him several feet away, and knocking him out instantly.

***

Equisbane looked up and halted his party of soldiers as the distant horizon suddenly became blazingly bright with a rainbow color.

"What phenomena is that, sire?" One of the stallions questioned nervously.

Equisbane said nothing at first, but then narrowed his eyes; this wasn't a natural occurance, but he had heard of rainbow phenomena being cast by a specific set of items...

"We're going to find out." He finally spoke. "We may have company coming..."