Blooming Talent 2: The Apple Falls Far

The sun beamed down over the desert sands from high above as the day progressed on. As usual, the winds were picking up clots of sand and blowing them about like a light sand storm. However, Equisbane was not interested in the weather; the immortal horse trotted along eastward, his hooves striking up sand clouds as they pushed into the grains below him. He wore no armor, nor any other form of clothing or protection. There was no need; all it would do is slow him down and keep him from his objective.

He had to admit though, it was tough tracking one who flies; rarely do they leave behind much evidence of their passing. He also know, however, that somewhere along the line, Apple Bloom had to have landed to save her energy. The Legacy Killer was an efficient disabler.

Just as these thoughts crossed his mind, his bird-like eyes caught sight of some indentures in the sand. Hoof and paw prints; one set each. That was them alright.

He raised an eyebrow when he spotted something else; a trail of brown feathers, and rather large ones at that. They were sat least the size of Equisbane's torso. They were spaced out far from each other, and didn't seem to follow a straight line. In fact, as he looked further ahead with his impressive vision, it was almost like they were arranged in loop-de-loops. But there was no doubt they ran parallel to the prints of his targets.

It looked like Equisbane wasn't the only one out hunting this day...

***

Apple Bloom held her arm with her good hand as the blackened veins started throbbing. The pain was starting to reemerge and she didn't know how long shed have till she collapsed again and became useless. Hopefully not until they reached their destination, whatever it was.

"Hey, Wrath?" She asked, using the given moniker to address the young canine walking beside her.

"What?" Wrath replied, sounding annoyed already.

"You got any idea what this place were going actually is?"

"How would I know?" The pup rhetorically asked. "I've never been there myself. Only Ahkma has."

"Do you at least have an idea of what it might be?" Apple Bloom continued.

Wrath growled a bit before speaking. "You talk too much, lady. Its bad enough I have to be around you after what you caused, but please spare my ears the grating sound of your voice."

The southern anthro smirked a little. "You didn't seem to have a problem with my voice when I sang that lullaby."

The pup's cheeks flushed red, and brightly so because of his white fur as he fidgeted his arms. "I...was just really tired. And besides, I didn't ask you to do that either."

He crossed his arms across his chest and looked away as they kept moving through the dunes. Apple Bloom just smiled at the reaction; he was an angry pup alright, but still just a pup. In a way, he sort of reminded her of her own childhood way back when. The years had gone by so fast; it seemed only yesterday she was singing songs and up to shenanigans with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Those were the days...

"To answer your last question," Wrath spoke. "Just so you won't ask again, I know that temporal means time, and rift means tear. So I guess we're looking for a tear in time."

Apple Bloom nodded, a little surprised she wasn't shocked by this possibility. "How do we know what that looks like?"

"Do I look like a doctor, lady?" Wrath spat.

Even before Wrath finished his statement, Apple Bloom sensed a powerful ki approaching rapidly from above and behind. She grabbed Wrath and pulled him down with her, yelling out for him to get down. The massive talons of the beast just barely missed shredding the two into halves.

They looked up to see what just nearly killed them, and their eyes befell a birdlike creature of massive size. Though, birdlike was only part of it; the head was of vulture proportions, and the talons on its front legs and its enormous wingspan were there too. However, the back end of the creature appeared to be...a pony? A pony's back half with a lion's tail. The cutie mark was something shed never seen before; it looked like some ancient symbol one would find on a rune in a lost temple, at least that's what it made her think of.

Apple Bloom stopped thinking about the cutie mark when she saw the humongous creature was not finished with them. It took a wide turn in the air at impressive speed and charged back down at the duo, letting out an ear-splitting call.

Apple Bloom reacted on instinct, and kicked her left leg out to strike the monster's beak. The giant tumbled through the sand, but thrashed itself upright immediately, and crouched down as if it were a feline. The southern anthro herself took up a fighting stance as best as her tiring body would let her, and the two circled around each other.

"Wrath, what is this thing?" She asked the pup who was watching in shock.

"It..looks like some kind if..of hippogryph." He managed, still impressed by its size. "But..I've never seen one so big!"

The hippogryph called out a challenge to Apple Bloom, who readied herself and waited. She thought hippogryph were sapient not feral creatures; there was even one who used to live in Ponyville when she was younger, and aside from snide comments here and there, he'd been a rather mellow fellow.

But this one was obviously in no mood to just discuss television shows or gossip; this massive hippogryph seemed to just want to kill her.

It dug its claws into the sand and threw up a big huge handful of it right after. Feral it may be, it was smart attempting to blind her. The move might have worked but she sensed its ki coming and made to block its gaping beak from snapping her up. Using both her good and infected arms, she held the monster's beak open and tried to use the leverage of its head to wrench the beast onto its side.

Its size made that difficult, as it flapped bits huge wings frantically, dragging Apple Bloom off the desert sands quickly. The hippogryph flung its head back forcefully, and the suddenness of the move shot pain all throughout her right arm. She involuntarily let go from the pain, and was flung into the air; the spinning making her more disoriented.

The hippogryph lunged after its anthro prey hungrily; its beak open and ready to swallow Apple Bloom whole. But just before it could, the sound of rending flesh sounded out from the beast's neck. Apple Bloom flew back away, and saw the deep gashes in the beast's throat. It fell to the dunes, and immediately, Wrath was on its head. Without so much as a hesitation, the pup sank his seven inch claws into the hippogryph's skull.

It cried out loudly, and twitched around before finally going still; the life fading forever from its eyes.

Wrath retracted his claws back into his paws and hopped off the beast.

"You make a good distraction." He said to Apple Bloom as he admired his kill.

"Distraction?" She questioned. "You were using me as a distraction?"

"You were the one who started fighting it." Wrath said simply. "I just waited and took advantage of an opportunity when it presented itself. When it went to swallow you, it left its neck wide open for attack, so I acted."

Apple Bloom was impressed by the young canine. Shed never have thought to look for something like that in the heat of battle.

"Well, thank you." She said, holding her arm once more. "You saved my life."

Wrath's face contorted at the end of that sentence. "No. Do not thank me. I don't want your thanks; I would have let the bird thing swallow you if it were any different, but I still need you to take me to the temporal rift. I saved you out of necessity, lady!"

"You could easily just take the directions and follow them yourself." Apple Bloom told him.

Wrath didn't answer for a moment. "No, I can't..."

"What do you mean you can't?" Apple Bloom asked, raising an eyebrow.

There was silence for awhile and Wrath's face started to burn bright with what looked like embarrassment. What did he mean he couldn't just take the directions and go, why did he still need her? She was falling apart and yet the young dog insisted on keeping her alive.

"I....I can't take them because...because I...I..."

"Yes?"

Wrath breathed in and prepared himself for humiliation. "Because I can't read, OK?!"

Apple Bloom widened her eyes in surprise. He couldn't read?

"I was never taught how.."

"How can that be?" Apple Bloom asked, finding it hard to believe. "Didn't anyone in your clan teach you?"

He looked at her as if she were stupid. "The only thing we were ever taught was how to mine the Legacy Suppressor. Reading and all that stuff wasn't totally necessary for that..."

"But Ahkma--"

"Was old. The oldest in the whole clan actually." Wrath explained. "He was the only one left from before the Legacy Suppressor was found. He was the only one who could do things like read and write..."

"But I saw other old dogs there as well! How can that be?"

"They might appear old, but they were actually only mid-thirties at the oldest...doing a job non-stop can take its physical toll. He, and his mate, were the only survivors from before all this. And he was the only one with real knowledge."

Wrath sat down and looked sadly at the dead giant in front of him.

"He was literally our father; to all of us. He and his mate brought the clan back from extinction...but now...."

He tensed up and shut his eyes tightly before going on. "He...he was going to teach me. He was going to teach me everything he knew so...so that one day I might bring our clan into a new era...but now it seems that will never happen..."

He punched the ground hard as he shouted his next statement straight at Apple Bloom.

"AND IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!! YOU WHO CONVINCED HIM TO BETRAY THE EMPEROR!!"

Apple Bloom flinched a bit as the canine unsheathed his claws and pointed them at her throat; the tips barely touching her flesh and scrapping at it.

"It takes everything I have not to kill you every time I look at you..." He shuttered, tears streaming from his eyes. "But Ahkma put his trust in you...and even though I may never like you...that's another reason I have to refrain from slicing your face off....I can't...I can't..."

His claws resheathed as Wrath fell to his knees putting his face in his paws. "I can't destroy the last will of our father.."

Apple Bloom watched painfully the sadness fall over Wrath. The poor pup was alone now, and it was all because of her. Ahkma had said if anyone knew she was there, they'd kill them all, so even if she had kept her mouth shut, her presence alone would have ended in the same result. How could this young one see it any other way except that it was her fault.

She knelt down and took Wrath into her arms to embrace him. He opened his eyes in surprise, not expecting something like this to happen.

"You're right, Wrath..." She spoke. "It is my fault that this happened. And I can understand your pain all too well. I've lost my family too...my big brother...my big sister...my granny...my parents...even my son and possibly my husband."

Her embrace tightened slightly as she continued. "But if I've learned anything over my years...its that we can't let what happened destroy us. We have to keep moving on; rising to the next challenge instead of wallowing in despair and hatred. We do it not just for ourselves...but for those who would be heartbroken to see us this way."

Wrath listened intently; his mind processing what was being said by this Equestrian.

"I may call you Wrath," she said. "but don't let that become who you are forever; don't let your hatred of me or your sorrow over your clan destroy you. Keep moving forward...for them..OK?"

Wrath didn't answer; the pup just stared into the sky over Apple Bloom's shoulder as she held him close. His thoughts drifted to his clan, to his family. They would be so upset if they saw the anger in him now. But how could he just get rid of such strong resentment? How?

He guessed he would just have to find the answer...somehow.

Apple Bloom let go of the young canine and smiled down at him as he just stared back. She opened her mouth to say something, but suddenly choked on her words as a whistling sound cut the air. Several more followed, and the southern anthro fell to her face, unconscious.

Wrath extended his claws and frantically looked around the open area of the vast desert. Another whistling sound, and a sharp pain in his neck told him what was happening. He yanked the dart out of his neck and gave it a sniff; tranquilizers.

Six more darts cut the desert air and buried themselves in Wrath's back. The pup struggled to stay conscious, but his vision was slowly blackening. Before he went under, he caught sight of something landing in front of him; something about pony sized and with wings and feathers. The stranger raised a tubular device to her beak, and blew another tranq dart straight into Wrath's chest. With that final injection, the canine went to sleep.

***

"My..my subjects plot against me..?" Luna queried, aghast.

"It would seem so, your highness." Flash Sentry answered, concluding his report. "Lyra Heartstrings, Vinyl Scratch, and Trunks Briefs are the known conspirators at the moment."

Piccolo gritted his teeth beside the Princess while she sat surprised in her throne in Canterlot Castle. Trunks attempting a conspiracy? But why? Because of Goten and Apple Bloom? Or was it something else?

He turned to Luna. "Princess, should I go out and stop them before this gets out of hand?"

Luna thought for a moment, but then shook her head. "No...there may be more involved in this. If we act too early, the others will just continue on without those we know about. Let them reveal themselves first, but keep an eye on them."

"Yes, princess." Both Piccolo and Flash Sentry responded.

The alicorn looked to the glass mural of her and Celestia from countless moons ago with a pained and confused look.

"Oh, sister...what am I doing wrong? I only wish to protect this country...why do my subjects not see this....?"