Dealing with Derps and Dinos

Although the silence was uncomfortable, Derpy enjoyed being in the company of her most favored Pegasus friend. The two trekked on for what felt like hours before, finally, coming to a clearing.

Several long necked creatures stood in the tall grass as they reached their mouths up to the trees to bite off several leaves. These creatures were herbivores but neither Dash nor Derpy were aware of the fact and they certainly were not about to take any chances.

“Okay here’s the plan” Dash started as Derpy leaned in closer.

The rainbow Pegasus began to explain her scheme, being sure to keep her voice low. She was convinced that the plant eating creatures in the fields were slow, judging by their stubby legs and long tails, and proposed that the best way to avoid any unwanted contact would be a speedy, low altitude flight directly across the grassy plains.

Derpy had no qualms and complied with Rainbow’s proposition.

“Get ready” Rainbow said in a whisper. “One… two… three”!

Wings flapped fast and hard as the pegasi sped past the brush. However, they hadn’t made it one hundred feet before a large, bird-like creature with scaly skin swooped down and clutched them in its claws. Rainbow and Derpy struggled to wiggle free from the creature’s grip but their efforts were for naught.

“Let me go you big, ugly Sere-, Sauro-, Seri-, ya stupid lizard bird”! Dash loosened up and slumped in the ‘bird’s’ claws. “Well this is just great” she remarked.

“Where do you think it’s taking us” Derpy asked.

“I don’t know” Rainbow replied. “I’ve never seen a--, a thing like this before. I have no idea where it’s going”.

In the distance, a craggy spire appeared to rise from the terra firma and reached far past the low hanging cloud of soot just overhead. Large nests made from massive rods of bent arbor spotted its rocky surface as legions of these… terrible lizard birds… circled about. If their destination was unclear before, the speed the monster had accumulated upon spotting its dreadful abode quickly cast out any doubt from the Pegasus’s minds.

Within a quarter hour, the ‘bird’ had arrived at a particular nest dangerously close to the top of the mountain near the thick soot polluted air. It unceremoniously dropped the two mares in and took off towards the horizon, probably to find more food.

“I dare you to try that again you stupid pigeon!” Rainbow yelled after the creature, angrily shaking her hoof in the air all the while. “Let’s get out of here Derpy” she said as she flared her wings.

As if on cue, another of the massive birds soared upwards and into the black cloud just as Dash finished her comment. Her wings fastened tightly to her side as she peered over the edge. Hundreds of the bird creatures circled below them by their own nests. Even if they could slip past them, they would surely be noticed and chased until they wound up back where they began.

Dash backed up from the edge.

“On second thought,” she said. “There’s probably another way out”.

She wasn’t sure how thick the black smoke was above them, nor was she sure how long she (or Derpy for that matter) could hold their breath during a ninety-degree ascent into the, most likely, thinner air of the upper atmosphere.

Her flanks met the hopelessly entangled twigs with a soft ‘THUNK’ and a crackle as the dried leaves gave way under her weight. She brought her hoof under her chin as her mind sped into overtime, contemplating another possible escape route.

Derpy prodded Rainbow’s shoulder with a shaky hoof, her gaze focused on a trio of pony-sized ivory eggs opposite herself in the nest. One of them began to stir, then another, and soon, all three were fidgeting restlessly.

“Rainbow” Derpy stammered.

The rainbow Pegasus waved her off with a hoof.

“Hang on Derpy. I’m trying to get us out of here”.

Derpy poked Rainbow again, causing her to spin around to berate her. Before any insults unsettled themselves from her mouth, however, she stopped cold as her eyes fell upon the newly formed cracks in the chalky spheres’ surfaces.

Three sets of terrifying, green, scaly beaks shattered through more of the rigid membrane as they called and cried out. Rainbow Dash frantically paced back and forth from one end of the nest to the other as Derpy sat in stunned silence.

“This is bad,” Dash commented to herself.

“Rainbow.” Derpy called out.

“Oh, what would Twilight have done”. Rainbow asked herself, but no new ideas sparked in her mind.

“Rainbow” Derpy tried again.

The sky blue Pegasus ignored it.

“There’s got to be a way.” Dash tried to convince herself as she, once more, peered over the side of the nest, down at the perilous path to the ground. “Oh” she whined. “There has to be a way”.

“Rainbow look!” Derpy cried out.

The infantile creatures had broken free and were steadily approaching the Pegasus duo (who were now both wrapped tightly around the other’s waist for comfort). The ravenous look in the newborn’s eyes told both Rainbow and Derpy that they had not arrived to explore the depths of friendship.

“What do we do, Rainbow” the grey mare questioned worriedly.

“I-I-“

Dash stammered for an answer.

“I don’t know”.

The beasts accosted the two pegasi and separated them. One dragged Derpy away to a remote side of the nest while the other two worked away on Dash as she squirmed helplessly under them. The first bit down furiously on her chest as the other held her down. Their teeth weren’t as sharp as they would be in several years, but with enough gnawing, their stubby fangs would soon break through Rainbow’s hide.

Derpy cowered as the towering brute opened its jaws wide. She closed her eyes and swung her hoof blindly. Luck was on her side as she landed a solid blow in the animal’s temple, sending it toppling over to its side, unconscious.

Feeling a new sense of steely resolve rising in her chest, she eyed the beasts that were chewing away at her friend. She had to act quickly; they had drawn blood and may have been dangerously close to hitting a vital organ. Derpy marched confidently towards them and stopped inches away from their backs. She had never heard a pony scream so loudly for help before and certainly did not expect Rainbow, of all ponies, to have a voice so bold.

Nevertheless, Derpy inhaled deeply as she raised a hoof against the monsters. She swung and landed another blow directly in the beast’s temples. It stood still. Derpy’s hoof hung midair where it had ended its arc as she waited for the creature to fall. Instead, it turned towards her, considerably angrier than it was before. It growled at her. Derpy shoved her hooves behind her back as she shed a shy smile.

The creatures, both the one and its sibling, closed in on Derpy as Rainbow clutched her sides, writhing in agony. Derpy’s flanks met the spiny, sprig caked wall at the edge of the beast’s roost. Why did she always have to mess everything up?

The blonde pony closed her eyes as tears began to well up in them. Everything she worked at seemed to crumble in her hooves. She hardened her resolve. This time would be different. She had to make a change.

Derpy began wildly bucking her hind legs in every direction with the intent to strike at least one of the aggressors. The creatures backed away, narrowly missing the grey mare’s speeding hooves.

“Derpy!” Rainbow coughed out.

A slow rumble began to build after the ditzy mare dealt a dizzying blow to the nest’s wall nearest the overhang. It slipped and slid slowly away from the mountains face, yet the creatures were still closing in. The nest jerked and toppled over the edge, sending the two ponies and the three newborn ‘birds’ down towards the jungle canopy in a freefall.

Acting swiftly, Derpy snatched Rainbow out of the nest just moments before it crashed into the red dirt below. The birds screamed and cried out in pain as they tried to maneuver their broken wings and limbs to a more comfortable position (although their efforts would prove to be in vain). They were badly injured, but still alive.

Assuming that their mother would be back soon, Derpy took Dash in her mouth and dragged the very nearly mutilated rainbow Pegasus away from the landing site. Dash looked into Derpy’s eyes as her flanks bumped into the fallen brush under the roof of the tall arbors.

“Derpy” she said weakly. “You saved me”.

And she had. A newfound sense of pride welled up in Derpy’s chest as a wide smile bridged her cheeks. She felt that she had finally accomplished something worthwhile. Rainbow Dash blacked out.