To Build a World

Luna woke, her body overheated and her eyes teary. She raised herself up on her forehooves, shaking the nightmare out of her head. Her room was caste in shadows from the pulled curtains, which blocked out almost all light.

“Are you alright?” Henry’s voice pierced the silence of her room, coming from the doorway. Luna jumped a little, looking towards the sound of her father’s voice. “I could hear you from my room,” he said.

“I’m…. We’re fine, father. We simply had a nightmare.”

Henry turned on the light, the room lightening instantly, a brightness against which Luna squinted her eyes. “Father, thine presence is not necessary at this time.”

Henry smiled. “Not necessary, or so you say. A father always makes time for a trouble child.” He sat down on the edge of her bed. “What was it about?”

“Thy did not love us,” Luna looked down, then up at her father. “Thy kicked us out of thine house, as thee were ashamed of us.” She looked down again. “We were scared we would never see our family again.”

Henry reached out, touched Luna’s face with his hand. She recoiled slightly, before letting his hand rest on her face. “My dear Luna,” he said softly, “I could never not love you. You are most precious to me. You know that…” he lifted her chin to look into her eyes. “Don’t you?”

“We know, father,” she whispered.

“Now, what was your nightmare really about?”

It saw the world through the eyes of a bat; sound echoing off of its environment. It was an active predator, something which didn’t have a name. It had never existed before its creator created it, and it escaped before it could be named. It lacked eyes, having a bulbous, brain-like growth on its head. Its skin was pale, lightish grey, and bumpy. Its lipless jaws clicked together, its teeth long, drool falling from its mouth. Its two fingered hands clung to the branches above the raptor nest.

It watched the two brothers. They were good protectors, but they were bored. The predator could see that quite plane. It repositioned itself in the trees, its stumpy tail wagging between its legs. It knew what to do; it had done it a dozen times as it moved throughout Everfree. There were many of them now. Its creator had created only one, but in a rare case for a mammal, it was parthenogenetic. Asexual. In its wake, it left naught but death and little predators who could fend for themselves at birth.

All it had to do was distract the brothers long enough to get a meal.

It moved swiftly through the trees until it was about three quarters of a mile away. It stopped, turned back toward the nest, and let out a roar. Its echolocation picked up the brothers looking in its direction, picking up one of them taking a step toward it. It roared again. And again. It shook branches and rattled trees. It roared again.

It could see the brothers look at each other, then start at a swift jog toward its location. The hatchlings were unguarded. It swiftly swung through the trees until it was right above the nest, then dropped down. The hatchlings – there were four of them – squealed as it landed in the nest, landed on top of one of them. It gave a whimper as it died. The predator used its massive claws to crush the heads of two of the hatchlings, and lunged forward toward the third.

It grabbed the neck of the small animal with its toothy grin, shaking it back and forth. It would hear, and see, the brothers racing back towards the nest. It shook the hatchling violently, cracking its neck, before picking up the other three in a spindly arm and racing away. On three legs, its gait was awkward yet surprisingly swift. It could hear the raptors coming up behind it as it escaped up a tree.

Celestia could feel the sun against her face as she flew, her wings still as she rose up on the thermals. A smile graced her face as she closed her eyes, her mane and tail billowing behind her. She circled around, her legs tucked in beneath her.

She opened her eyes and looked down on the small village. None of the towns had any names, so her and Luna had named them. This one was small and welcoming. They had named it Ponyville.

She looked at the town, at its squat buildings. She looked more intently. All of their trips into the Ponyville had seen the natives out and about, busy and happy as usual. Today, however, Ponyville was deserted. She couldn’t see anypony. The looked around the town some more, her eyes coming to rest on the school, where her smile disappeared.

She could see, from her great height, a gathering of ponies on the grounds of the schoolhouse. She could see two forms a distance away, laying in the grass – a colt and a mare, from the looks of it.

“Oh, dear,” Celestia said as she pulled in her wings and dove toward the ground. She pulled out just soon enough to glide down into the pasture where the ponies had gathered themselves, chatting in an excited yet dismal manner.

“Did you see it?” asked one adult mare.

“Yes,” said Whirlwind. “It came from the trees. There were two of them.”

An older pony, with green skin, white hair and an apple on her flank, squinted out into the pasture. “Looks like they ain’t nothing but bones, now. They must’ve eaten every bite of them.”

Celestia spoke in a bold, commanding tone. “What has happened here?”

The ponies all went silent as they turned to look at her. Nobody spoke as she stared at them.

“Well?” Celestia asked.

The colt, Whirlwind, spoke. “Something attacked us. I don’t know what they were called, but they attacked us. They ate Fanficul and Ms. Crabapple.”

“It was raptors, by the sound of it,” said the old mare.

“Raptors?” Celestia asked.

“Yep, raptors. We’ve known they’ve been in Everfree forest for a while now, but they’ve never done anything like this. First that young mare goes missing, and then this happens. Something’s going on, Princess.”

“They looked kind of skinny,” said one of the schoolfillies.

“And what’s your name, my little pony?”

“Rose, Princess Celestia.”

“Rose, were you there when they attacked?”

“Yes, Princess.”

“Why would they be skinny?”

And old stallion spoke up. “My Princess, something’s been driving the animals out of the forest. We haven’t seen anything in there like we usually do. It’s usually so full of life, but now it seems so empty, so dead inside.”

“I see,” Celestia said. “Stay here, my little ponies.” She began to trot out to where the two bodies lay. She could see them as they came up – the mare who taught the young foals, and behind her a short distance was a young colt. Their body cavities were empty, not a trace of organ, their limbs stripped of muscle. The eye dangled from one of Fanciful’s sockets. Celestia grimaced.

“My poor ponies,” she whispered. She hung her head. The air smelled of copper, with a twinge of feces. Her ears moved back and forth as she listened intently.

The sounds were faint, but she could here it - something in Everfree, deep inside from the sound of it, was fighting. Snarls and shrieks and howls and hisses. She took a tentative step forward, still listening intently. Then another.

"What is it, princess?" A pony shouted from behind her.

She didn't answer, only looking deep into Everfree as she took another step.

The male knew better than to get in the way of his mate. While he has felt pangs of pity and grief - as much as any raptor could - at the empty nest, it had affected his mate far worse. She had been driven into a fit of rage, and was taking it out on his brothers, who cowered close to the ground, their heads down. The female had slashed both of them with her foreclaws, drawing blood and removing feathers. She had also severely bitten each of them on the backs of their necks. The male was afraid, as much as he could be said to be afraid, his mate would kill his kin.

Nevertheless, decidedly content at his being ignored, he sat on his haunches and watched.

The female screamed, lunging toward the brothers with her mouth open and arms flailing, kicking up dirt as she bounced up and down erratically. She stared at the males, snarling and snapping her teeth while they tried harder and harder to become one with the dirt. The female calmed, and went over to the nest where until recently her young had been safe, and lowered her head. She could still smell her chicks, her maternal instincts registering the loss. Unlike other dinosaurs before her, her brain did not consist solely of a switch between REPRODUCTION and FEEDING; no, raptors were intelligent, complex, capable of at the very least primitive emotions.

She let out a sigh. The male stood up, and slowly walked over to his mate, who had laid down in the nest, her head on the rim. He laid down beside her, pushed his body into hers, nuzzled and playfully nipped her neck. She did not respond.

The two brothers remained content to attempt to become one with the dirt.