Jurassic Pinkby The Zoologist ColtChaptersPrologue: The Pinkie Pie IncidentChapter 2: Blood Suckers AboundChapter 1: 120 Miles off the Coast of Hoovesta RicaPrologue: The Pinkie Pie Incident"...sudden changes may appear." “See? That wasn’t so bad,” Twilight said in cheery tone, as she and her friends exited the Equestrian Museum of Natural History on Manehattan Island, in Central Park. “Yeah, I guess it wasn’t that bad,” Rainbow Dash replied, doing her very best to hide the fact that she actually did enjoy it. “Though, the dinosaur exhibit was awesome!” It was the last week of summer, so the six friends had decided to take the day off and go to Manehattan. They had spent the day walking around the city doing something that each of them had wanted to do. Rainbow had wanted to go see the Wonderbolts race, Rarity wished to catch the fashion show at the Old Abe Center, Applejack wanted to see Monster Chariot Jam, Fluttershy hoped to see the new baby animals at the Central Park Zoo (if, umm, that wasn’t to much trouble), and Pinkie had just wanted to try as many pastries from as many bakeries as she could. They had just now finished Twilight’s choice for an activity. Needless to say, not everyone liked the idea of spending the rest of the day at a museum, and Rainbow had wanted to go about as much as she wanted to go to Rarity’s fashion show. “Ah gotta’ say, while Ah did enjoy the hall’a Ancient Earth Pony technologies, the part with the dinosaurs was mah favorite, too,” Applejack admitted, as she came out right behind Rainbow Dash. “Me three! The dinosaurs were the best part!” exclaimed the perpetual sugar high of a pink Earth Pony – which was their friend Pinkie – as she bounced happily after them. “I personally preferred the exhibits of the Culture Hall, myself, but I suppose the Hall of Fossils wasn’t all bad,” Rarity stated, as she exited behind them with the lady like grace she always had. “I liked the Halls of Animals,” came the tiny voice of the butter yellow Pegasus with the pink mane and tail. “Particularly the hall of magical creatures…but the Hall of Fossils was nice too.” Fluttershy quickly added, as if trying not to offend everyone who had already said they liked the dinosaur part. “Sounds like you all enjoyed the Hall of Fossils,” Twilight said with a smile – happy her friends had actually enjoyed her choice of place to visit, and weren’t completely bored out of their minds. “Ah especially liked the, uh…what’d ya’ say its name was again, Twi? Ya’ know; the one with horns an’ the frill?” Asked Applejack, trying to remember what it was called. “Triceratops,” the lavender Unicorn replied cheerfully. “That’s it!” The orange Earth Pony responded. “I liked the Apatosaur,” Fluttershy said in a cheerful yet quiet tone, “it seemed like such a nice dinosaur.” “The T-Rex! RAWR!” Pinkie exclaimed, as she suddenly appeared next to Twilight; doing a mock T. rex roar right in her ear. “And don’t forget about the Pterodactyl!” Rainbow said with a cheer, as she did a quick aerial summersault. “Pteranodon,” Twilight quickly corrected. “Pterodactyl actually refers to creatures of the genus ‘Pterodactylus’, and is often incorrectly associated with Pterasaurs, such as the ones we saw in the-“ “Yeah, whatever,” the cyan Pegasus said, cutting her off. “Pterodactyl sounds way more awesome than…whatever it is you just said.” “Pteranodon.” “Yeah, that.” “What ‘bout you, Rarity?” Asked Applejack in her usually southern drawl, trying to steer the topic back on course. “Which was your favorite?” “Well I suppose the Stegosaurus, but it is rather hard to tell which is more…” The white Unicorn began, trying to find the right word, “…aesthetically pleasing when all you have to go on is a jumbled up pile of dusty old bones.” “What about you, Twilight? What was your favorite dinosaur?” asked the sweet voice of their timid, yellow Pegasus friend. “Of the ones we saw, I would definitely have to say the Deinonychus,” Twilight replied. She received only confused looks in return. “…The small therapo-…meat-eater with the big claws on its feet?” “Ooooooooh! Okay!” they all said, suddenly remembering what she was talking about. To be honest, most of them had only given that exhibit a slight glance before moving on. It had not been nearly as impressive as its larger cousins that they had seen, and they hadn’t really given it much thought aside from that. “What makes this Die-nonnuh-thingy so great, Twi?” Rainbow asked skeptically, as she continued hovering over the group. “Well for one thing, it was one the fastest, most agile and most dangerous dinosaurs of its time,” the Unicorn informed. “And it was smart; able to out think and out maneuver just about every other animal alive back then.” “Heh, like me!” their chromatic aerial companion said proudly, puffing up her chest. “Actually, Ah’m afraid she said this thing was ‘smart’, Rainbow,” AJ then added; quickly deflating the rainbow maned Pegasus’ ego. “Low blow, Applejack. Low. Blow.” “Well if that was your favorite one we saw, what is you favorite favorite?” Pinkie Pie asked, getting right up in lavender and purple Unicorn’s face (though, to be fair, Twilight had gotten fairly used to Pinkie’s lack of understanding of Pony’s personal space by now). “Well…it’s a dinosaur called ‘Troödon’,” Twilight began. “A close relative of Deinonychus and other raptors that belonged to the Infraorder ‘Deinonychosauria’. However, while Deinonoychus and the Raptors separated off into the Family ‘Dromaeosauridea’, while Troödon and its relatives separated into the Family ‘Troodontidea’. Troödon, was the smartest dinosaur ever to exist…well, of its time, as birds are now considered-” “Okay, we get it! You know a lot of big words!” Rainbow cut her off, rubbing her head. “Geez, now my brain hurts.” “Alright now, Rainbow,” Applejack said, trying to get the cyan Pegasus to simmer down. “Now look; it’s been a long day, an’ Ah think it’s time we started headin’ on home – don’chu agree, Twi?” “Yes, I think you’re right, AJ. Is everypony ready?” Twilight asked as she looked around at her friends who all nodded in agreement. She quickly took a deep breath, and began to concentrate on casting the teleportation spell as her horn began to glow bright purple. “Next stop: Sugarcube Corner!” Ponyville’s premier party pony suddenly exclaimed, as she bounced in place happily. “Oh, Pinkie,” Rarity sighed. Twilight couldn’t see anything with her eyes clenched shut (clearly), but she could almost feel Rarity roll her own, “I’m not sure even Twilight is accurate enough with her teleportation spell to teleport us to any-” With a flash of purple light, the six friends had vanished from the streets outside the museum. At that exact moment, they was an equally bright flash of purple light several miles away, as the group reappeared in Ponyville. “-specific part of Ponyville,” the elegant white Unicorn finished, as they reappeared. “Here we are!” the pink pony cheered happily. “Oh, look at that: Sugarcube Corner…” Rarity said, completely bewildered. Twilight rubbed her head and opened her eyes to see where they had ended up this time. Sure enough – just as Pinkie had said – they were at the front step of Sugarcube Corner. “Hey, you guys wanna’ coming inside for a bite? There are a few extra cookies and cupcakes left from this morning,” the pink pony invited. None of them were feeling particularly hunger right then, but a cookie or two never hurt (plus it was rather hard to resist a free baked good from Sugarcube Corner), so they followed in after their pink coated friend. Inside, the Cakes were cleaning up the shop, and getting ready to close for the day. “Good afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. Cake,” Pinkie said with a cheery grin, as she pranced inside the bakery. “We’re back from our trip!” “Oh hello, girls!” Mrs. Cake greeted with a smile, as she layed down the tray of cookies she had been moving to the kitchen. “How was Manehattan?” “It was great!” Pinkie beamed, and almost immediately began to describe the trip in detail: her words seeming to fuse together, she was talking so fast. “FirstwewenttothisracetracktoseetheWonderbolts,andRainbowDashcheeredsohardshepassedoutwhenSoarinwon-” “Did not!” Rainbow said defensively. Pinkie, however, didn’t seem to have heard her… “-andthenwewenttothisfashionshowwithRarityattheLincolnCenter-” “Pinkie, it’s the ‘Old Abe Center’,” Twilight interrupted. “We already went over that. Why do you keep calling it the ‘Lincoln Center’?” “The readers will understand what it means,” Pinkie merely stated, before winking towards the wall where the entrance to Sugarcube Corner was. The Unicorn’s brain broke. “…What?!” “Anyway…atthefashionshow,wesawFlurdeLishaveawardrobemalfuctiononstage,anditwasreallyfunny!AndthenwewenttotheMosterChariotJamwithAppleJack,andsawFrankenChariotsetTheBulgingPorpoiseonfire,anditwassooooooooooooooooocool!ThenwewenttothezoowithFluttershy,andIgottoseeababySnowLeopardupclose!Butthentheythrewmeoutofthenursery,whichwaskinda’rude-“ “I told you it was employees only.” Fluttershy added softly, but it was lost to the seemingly endless stream of words coming out of Pinkie’s mouth. “AndthenIsaidIwantedtotrysomeofthelocalbakedgoods,andtheyendeduphavingtousetheJawsofLifetogetmeoutthedoor,andthenTwilightsaidthatwasprobablyenoughandthatweshouldgotothemuseumwherewesawabunchofdinosaursandrocksand-“ “Speaking of rocks,” Mr. Cake interrupted, before picking up a sealed envelope and pushing it towards Pinkie, “this came in the mail for you today. It’s a letter from you family.” At the sound of her family, Pinkie immediately stopped talking, and just stared wide eyed at the envelope for a second. “A letter from my folks?” Pinkie then said, smiling as she picked up the envelope in her hooves and opened it up (again: with her hooves). “What’s it say?” Twilight asked, as Pinkie unfolded the enclosed letter. The pink Earth Pony cleared here throat, and began to read aloud. “‘Dear Pinkie, How have you been? Things have been rather interesting as of late, here on the farm. The other day, while we were farming rocks from the South Field, we struck a huge vein of not only gems, but also precious metals and oil. Pa has struck a deal with a gentlestallion from Canterlot to sell off the oil and much of the jewels and metals. The reason I’m writing to you is to give you your share of the sales. Attached to this letter is a check for your share. I do hope to hear from you soon, little sister. Yours truly, Ingrid Miriam Pie’” Pinkie returned her gaze to the envelope, and proceeded to pull a slip of paper out of it. She read over the check quickly, and then re-readed it: her eyes now bulging out. Everypony watched as her eyes began to expand wider than any of them thought possible. Her mouth hung open, as the check dropped to the floor and sat there. Pinkie didn’t move a muscle, and her gaze was fixed on the place in her hooves where the check had once been held. The last time Twilight had seen her look like this, a giant rampaging Spike had made off with the entirety of the store’s baked goods. “Come now Pinkie, I’m sure you just being overly dramatic,” Rarity said, as she floated the slip off the floor and began to read it herself. The last words out of her mouth were “SWEET CELESTIA!” before she fainted in an overly dramatic way. Where she pulled that chair from to fall on, probably not even Pinkie knew. Next was Applejacks turn, and she gave similar reaction but seemed to handle it a bit better. “Woah, Nelly!” “Wow! That’s a big number,” Twilight said simply. “Look at all the zeros!” Rainbow said, pushing her face right up against the check. “Pinkie Pie! You’re rich!” Twilight said, at a complete loss for what to say. “Filthy Rich ain’t got a thing on you, girl!” The cyan Pegasus exclaim, giving her pink friend a good slap on the back. Pinkie however was still in a state of shock. “So Pinkie, just what do ya’ plan on doin’ with all that dough?” AJ asked as she shook off the affects of looking at the check (Rarity was still down for the count, however). As Pinkie’s brain tried to get itself back into working order only one thought had been going through her head: “dinosaurs and rocks”. Over and over again, this one phrase kept repeating itself inside her mind. She knew what she was going to do… Chapter 2: Blood Suckers Abound“All in all I’d rather be a judge than a miner.” It was four in the morning in Clopertino, Calicornia. The street lights brightly illuminated the streets outside BioQuine HQ. The building was almost completely dark. The only source of light came from a single computer screen in one of the back rooms. Lligase Cosmids sat in front of the monitor, flipping between tabs and windows. Depending on who you talked to, Lligase Cosmids was famous as the most aggressive unicorn geneticist of his generation, or the most reckless. Thirty-four, light brown coat with a Cutie Mark of a hypodermic needle super imposed over a Petri dish, balding, gryphon-faced, mousy brown mane and tail, and intense, he had been dismissed by Fancy Pants University in Baltimare as a graduate student, for attempting rather risky gene therapy on pony patients without obtaining the proper protocols. Hired by BioQuine (one of the many genetic research companies that had sprung up over the past few years), Lligase had become the head of product development for the company. This consisted of “reverse engineering” competitor’s products: tearing them apart, learning how they worked, and then making your own version of it. In practice, his job involved industrial espionage, and the main target as of this past year was EquesGen. Even now the unicorn was hard at work researching what EquesGen was up to. Every window and tab on the computer screen in front of him was of (or had something to do with) EquesGen; and (much like with the mare in charge of the company) Lligase just could not seem to be able to figure it out. Purchase of an island off the coast of Hoovesta Rica? Visits to the Dragon home lands? Hiring chefs from 5 star restaurants around the globe? Deals with ostrich & emu farms, and automotive companies? He just could seem to figure it out; it didn’t seem to have any pattern he could follow. “What are you planning, Ms. Pie?...” It was a bright sunny morning over the jungles of the Domaneican Republic. Many brightly colored tropical birds sounded and flew through the canopy. A frail framed, middle aged, slightly balding unicorn stallion; dressed in a city pony’s idea of hiking attire (a rather crisp looking suit), stood upon a rather unsafe looking raft as it floated upon the jungle river. A dirty red earth pony with a black mane and tail, and a raft and pole for a Cutie Mark was at the front of the raft: pushing it along with a long, wooden pole, as they made their way down stream. The unicorn - wiped some of his sweat away with a hoofkerchief he levitated out of his suit. He was a light grey in color, with a well trimmed, mousy brown mane and tail, with a Cutie Mark of a signed contract with money signs around it. It was incredibly humid out, and he was not particularly use too this kind of weather. The closest he had ever been to this kind of humidity was at a sauna in Canterlot, after a long day at the office. His name was Dollar Journal: a lawyer and accountant from Canterlot. He had been sent down to represent the investors of Ms. Pie’s grand project, and he was not exactly happy with how things had been going so far. First he had to get up at the crack of dawn to make sure he caught his flight; got held up by airport security; was bumped back from first class to coach on the flight; then, upon landing in the La Rompana International Airport, found out that Ms. Pie may have left an hour or so ago; and, to top it all off, he was dumped in the middle of a jungle, with bugs and dirt and germs...And he had seen a bunch of crocodiles lurking by the banks of the river! Journal hated roughing it. “Are we almost there, Mr. Balsa?” Journal asked the red earth pony, as he kept them on course. “Si, señor,” replied Balsa with a nod. “It won’t be much longer now.” As they rounded the river bend, the pair of them was greeted by the sight of the cliff face of a decent sized hill. Wooden structures and walkways had been built into the cliff side as ponies and donkeys and others walked and climbed along the structures, and went in and out of the tunnels that were dug into the base of the cliff. “Ah, here we are!” Mr. Balsa stated as he put down the pole, and just let the current carry them the rest of the way. “The Cascos de Alicornios Amber Mine, señor.” Before Journal could say a thing, Mr. Balsa had jump (much to his surprise) into the crocodile infested waters of the river, and began swimming towards shore (the length of rope that was tied to the raft clenched between his teeth). At first Journal had thought he had fallen in (or was pulled in), and quickly jumped back on the raft – much to the amusement of a certain gryphon that sat waiting for them on the river bank beside a crudely constructed dock. Gregorio Gutierrez sat watching the city pony on the raft, and could not help but chuckle at how out-of-place he seemed in contrast to the lush green jungle around them. He was a gryphon in his mid-thirties, with a dark red-brown coat and white and purple speckled head that was topped by a wide-brimmed hat, woven from reeds. As the earth pony paddled to shore, Gregorio reached out one of his taloned hands, and helped Mr. Balsa onto to the bank. “Hola, amigo. ¿Qué tal le va?” The gryphon inquired in his gruff voice, as Mr. Balsa climbed out of the river and began pulling the raft in. “Mas o menos bien,” Balsa replied with a grin. “¡Mire esta gringo!” Gregorio look up from the dark red, and out over the water toward Dollar Journal, and couldn’t help but smirk a little. “Apuesto mil pedacitos que se cae.” The gyrphon chuckled, as the unicorn was pulled closer to shore. This was not the first time the two had met. No, they had met before when he and Ms. Pie had been working out a deal regarding their (he and his work crew) mining operations and the workers that would be helping at the park. He had met up with her earlier today, to discuss the incident with the zebra worker (a rather good friend of his); she had wondered how his family had been holding up. Naturally, his family had been offered compensation in, but they (naturally) had taken the news rather hard, and were holding a lawsuit against EquestGen. He felt bad for Zubari’s family, but new that they didn’t have a case; he had signed a contract with EquestGen (all of them had), and it was very specific as to the risks of working at the park. Not that he held what happened against Ms. Pie! Far from it! She was a lovely young lady, and paid extremely well; ten times the wage they had been normally paid by their previous employers! No. Zubari’s family was just very hurt and looking for some closure, though he very much doubted they would find any in the form of Bits. Pushing those thoughts aside, Gregorio looked up and smiled at Journal as he came in to dock. He had a feeling that the unicorn would not be too happy once he found out that Ms. Pie was no longer here, and had a feeling that this would be a rather unpleasant conversation. “Hola, Gregorio,” Dollar said in a rather poor Spanish accent, as the gryphon reached out to help him off the raft. “Hola. Bienvenido.” The gryphon smiled in return, and gestured for the unicorn lawyer to follow. “So what’s this I hear at the airport; Pinkie’s not even here?” Asked Dollar; getting straight to business. “She sends her apologies.” The gryphon offered with a shrug. “We’re facing a sixty thousand bit lawsuit from the family of that worker and you’re telling me Pinkie couldn’t even be bothered to see me?!” The grey unicorn said, exasperated, as he did his best to follow the gryphon without slipping on the muddy ground. “She had to leave early; she went back to Ponyville. Something about the ‘Cake twin’s birthday’.” Gregorio sighed. “And I understand that - knowing how important parties are to her. But we’d be well advised to deal with the situation now! The insurance comanyeeeeeiii-!” Dollar squealed, as his legs comically began to slip and slide out from under him on a rather algae blanketed patch of rocks. He had just barely gotten his legs back under himself in time to avoid falling on the slick ground. After regaining his footing, with some help from Gregorio, he continued. “The underwriters feel this raises some serious safety questions about the park…that makes the investors very, very anxious! I had to promise them I would conduct a very thorough on-site inspect.” Gregorio stopped in his tracks, and turned to face the unicorn. He had feeling Journal was going in that direction, but he had hoped he wouldn’t. “Ms. Pie hates inspection: they slow everything down,” the gryphon stated, as though Dollar’s words had made him physically exhausted. “Gregorio, they’ll cut the funding. That’ll slow her down even more!” “¡Jefe! ¡Jefe!” Both turned to watch as a green pegasus stallion with a light blue mane came rushing over to them from one of the dark tunnels that had been dug into the cliff side. “¿Qué es?” The gryphon foremen questioned, as the pegasus flittered excitedly in front of him. “Encontramos otro mosquito, en el mismo sitio,” he replied. “¿Seguro?” “¡Si!” “¡Muestrame!” “What was that about?” Dollar Journal asked with a confused tone. Gregorio merely turned to him with a smile. “Today might be a good day, after all! They found another one. C’mon,” he said, before gesturing for Dollar to follow. “Oh; watch you head there!” Gregorio said, as the unicorn lawyer almost bonked his head against the tunnel’s rather low ceiling. It was dark and dripping inside the lightly illuminated mine; rivulets of water rolled off the walls and formed hoof sized pools in the floor. On either side of them about a dozen workers hammered at the walls with their pickaxes. One of which – Dollar caught – said something along the lines of “he encontrado más hierro,” to which the miner next to him replied, “trate de encontrar más diamantes. Necesito otro diamante para finalizar mi piqueta”. He wasn’t entirely sure what to make their conversation, but this line of thought was cut short as the two of them neared what appeared to be a work bench where a yellow earth pony stood cutting (or rather carving) a shiny yellow rock with a table saw. “If three experts,” Dollar began, as they neared the work bench, “sign off on the island, the insurance guys will back off. I’ve already got Emma MathComp, but they think she’s too ‘trendy’. They want Terra Soar and Buck Ryder.” Dollar had finished his statement just as they had reached the bench, and Gregoro had already taken possession what looked like a small, yellow gem stone: amber. The gryphon turned to him with the most amused expression on his face at hearing the name of the pony they wanted. “Terra and Buck?! Ha! You’ll never get them out of Manetana!” the gryphon said in a tone that made it obvious that he found the very notion ridiculous, as he inspected the fossilized tree sap held between his talons. “Why not?” Dollar asked. Gregorio wasn’t paying attention. The gryphon was inspecting something inside of the yellow rock, but couldn’t quite make it out. “Luz. Más luz!” Gregorio said to himself, as he turned the ancient, yellow stone in his claws, “¡Muchachos! ¡Llevar la luz!” Almost immediately, everypony in the mine shaft dropped their tools and began to crowd around Gregorio. Several of them had brought lights over, while the rest just wished to see it themselves – Dollar among them. “Why not?” The unicorn asked again in an annoyed tone, as he tried to get a better look. “Because they’re like me…they’re diggers,” Gregorio chuckled, as he sat staring directly at the tiny figure held in place by the tree sap. A tiny mosquito; held suspended for millions of years inside the hunk of ancient, yellow sap. Perfectly preserved. At that moment, there was nothing more beautiful to the gryphon foremen and his crew. “Hay que lindo eres vas hacer a much gente feliz...” Chapter 1: 120 Miles off the Coast of Hoovesta Rica"Raptor. Lo sa raptor..." It was night. Celestia’s golden sun had long since set beyond the horizon, and its place had now been taken by Luna’s silvery, crescent moon which loomed over the tropical sky. Everything was completely dark out save for the glow of the lights on the building behind the large crew of workers as they looked out towards the jungle. The group was made up of mostly Earth Ponies, Donkeys, a handful of Unicorns and several Zebra - with a few Pegasi watching from the tower that stood at the very back of the building. The building itself looked more like a small – yet high security – prison than anything else. Thick foliage and greenery grew out of the “courtyard” to the point you couldn’t see anything in there, and electrified fencing and iron-bars lined the top of it. At the very front of the “prison”, was a large, imposing steel door that looked like it was built to withstand even an angry bull elephant! The most of the workers were dressed in what appeared to be black and charcoal grey construction uniforms. Each wore orange hardhats with the picture of what appeared to be the silhouette of some skeletal horror with a massive head, huge teeth, and yet rather puny arms. Most were armed with what could only be described as “heavy duty cattle prods” (which looked like the hybridization of a taser, a shotgun, and assault rifle, with a tuning fork stuck to the end) that were hooked up to their utility saddles. The rest of the workers were equipped with powerful looking rifles, which were hooked up to their own utility saddles. Only one pony seemed to stand out from the group; a powerful looking Pinto Earth Pony stallion – with brown patches, a dark brown mane and shorn fetlocks – that seemed to give off a sense of authority that told everyone immediately that he was in charge. Unlike the others, he wore a pale mint-green (almost grey) safari-looking shirt with a brownish-tan vest and a wool cowpony hat. He stood there at the front of the crew; staring unblinkingly at the tree line with a fierce determination, as the dark mass drew closer. The trees swayed back and forth as something large and powerful moved between them. Many of the workers were sweating from the high humidity – though the night did bring with it a cool respite to the ugly mornings that were so common in this geographic location. Everyone stood at the ready as they stared off towards the tree line that sat only a few yards away. Branches and sapling could be heard snapping in the distance. Several workers were chewing gum to calm their nerves, as beads of sweat flowed down their foreheads. There was a bluish white light in the distance, as an engine roared. Gears ground together, tree limbs snapped, and ferns were crushed, as the forklift rolled out of the dense foliage towards the docking platform at the front of the building. It was carrying a large, metal crate; around 20 feet long, with small gaps place here and there: making it look more like an industrial strength cattle car. As soon as the workers saw it, they became more ridged and on edge. “Everypony heads up! Heads up!” one of the pony workers shouted, as the lift rolled forward and everypony began moving out of the way; letting the lift pass through. “Keep it clear… Keep it clear!” a black Earth Pony in a bright orange vest shouted over the grinding of the lift’s gears, as he moved forward to help guide the lift into position. “Okay, down!” “¡Andalé! ¡Sí, Vamonos!” one of the workers (a donkey from the Hoovesta Rican mainland) shouted in Spanish to the other workers as they all got ready for the job ahead. “Keep going! Come on!...” the black Earth Pony shouted, as the forklift approached the docking platform, in front of a concrete building-the top of which was lined with electrified fences, with a small tower at the back of it. Several other orders were barked, but were lost in the sound of the lift’s grinding gears. Once the lift was in position, he quickly added, “that’s good; stay!” Several more words in Spanish were shouted, but were lost to the commotion of the workers moving forward and the lift slowly began to lower the crate; lining it up so that it would fit into the grooves on the platform. The stallion in the khaki vest and safari shirt locked his eyes on the crate for a second as if trying to stare it down. A pair of bright yellow orbs flashed out at him from between the gaps in the crate, and stared directly at him as if to return the sentiment. His clenched teeth hard together; though his face never changed from the stern, neutral look he had been wearing. He turned to the group standing behind him, and barked an order; “Pushing team, move in there.” “Move it!” one of the work crew said, and then added, “¡Cuidado, vamos!” in a warning tone, as the team ran forward towards the metal crate. “I want tasers on full charge!” the Pinto stallion ordered with a distinct “British” accent as they moved forward, making sure that everyone was prepared. As soon as they reached the crate and the first worker touched it, the group was greeted by a high pitched, primal scream that made everypony’s heart race. The crew directly around quickly jumped back in terror; eyes wide with fear. “Steady!” he barked from under his wool cowpony hat, stepping forward as if hoping to prevent anything from happening as the rest of them jumped back at the sound. “Come on. Move back in,” he ordered, after everyone had regained themselves. “Places!” another pony shouted from behind, as several more workers moved forward to help them. “Ready, move it!” The workers galloped forward and took hold of the metal bars on either side of the crate. Once everypony had taken their places, the stallion barked out: “and, push!” The crate screeched, as they pushed it toward a large, metal gate. As soon as the crate came in contact with the gate, there was a satisfying “Ka-chuck!” followed by a buzzing as the lights on either side of the gate changed from red to green. “We’re locked; loading team, step away!” the stallion said, somewhat relieved – although his voice did not show it. Once again, the yellow orbs with the slit pupils inside the crate locked onto him, but he ignored it. “Gatekeeper!” he shouted, turning to a rather large Zebra worker with a glyph of a flowing river on his flank, who quickly walked up to the crate and began climbing up the bars at the front of it. A crackling, hissing sound came from inside the crate as the orbs immediately stopped staring at the stallion in the khaki vest, and locked onto the Zebra that now stood atop the crate. “Zubari, raise the gate!” he shouted up to the striped equine on top of the crate. The Zebra nodded, before turning towards the building. He bent down, and – using every ounce of strength he had – began to lift the gate up so that the contents of the crate could be moved into the structure it was currently locked to. The gate groaned a little as he began lifting it up: inch by inch. Another scream erupted from inside the crate, as a dark silhouette inside charged full speed towards the front the crate: slamming into the gate with almost unrealistic strength. There was barely enough time to react. Everypony’s jaw dropped at that moment, as the crate broke free from the lock – door open – and began sliding backwards. The Zebra worker was thrown off balance and fell to the concrete floor of the docking pad below with a thud, as the crate was knocked free of the gate. A worker had lifted his hoof, as if trying to catch him, but was only knocked back into the others behind him. Zubari lay there on the ground dazed and hurt as the alarm blared. The green lights on either side of the gate had changed to red. Several other workers galloped to the back of the crate as they tried to stop it from sliding back, but were instead knocked down as it continued to slide backward another few feet. Zubari was still slightly dazed as he lay face down on the ground; his brain throbbing too much for him to fully grasp what had just happened. He slowly lifted his head and attempted to get back on his hooves. The Zebra looked up to see the others galloping towards him. A surge of terror seized his heart as he felt himself suddenly and violently dragged backwards. “BLOCK THE OUTLET! DON’T LET IT GET OUT!!!” the white and brown blotched Earth Pony shouted; his eyes wide as he grabbed the Zebra around the waist and tried to pull him free. Several workers ran to the front of the crate; their tasers charged up. Zubari screamed, as he felt his lower half been torn apart! The tasers sparked as the other workers jabbed the thing inside the crate as hard as they could. Zubari grabbed hold of one of the bars he had used to climb up the crate in a desperate attempt to get free, before being violently lifted up into the air as if he were nothing more than a light feather pillow; knocking the Pinto stallion to the ground, along with several others. The Stallion in the khaki shirt quickly scrambled back up, and grabbed hold of Zubari once more! His eyes were wide, and he gritted his teeth, as began pulling the Zebra worker as hard as he could. Another batch of workers ran in, and began zapping the thing with the tasers. In fact, everyone who was armed & able was using their tasers, sending sparks into the night air. The creatures’ screams filled night air, as the tasers were thrust against its hide, yet it refused to relinquish its prey. “WORK HER BACK!” he shouted frantically; Zubari still screaming from the pain he was in. The tasers continued to spark and sizzle, as they were forced against its scaly hide. Their eyes suddenly locked again. He could see her clearly now: her brown and grey scales, and bright yellow eyes – illuminated by the sparks from the tasers. He could see the raw hatred and fury in her snake-like eyes as she stared at him even as she tore apart the Zebra they were playing tug-of-way with. She wasn’t going to stop… No matter how many tasers were forced on her, she just was not going to relent. He could feel Zubari slipping away now, as his strength began to give out. He had to end this, now! No matter how much trouble he would be in, he had to do it! “SHOOT HER!” the stallion order at the top of his lungs, as the worker screamed again-sounding more like a pained moan, by now. He could feel the Zebra slipping away from his sweaty grip. “SHOOOOOOOOOT HEEEEEEEEER!!!” he shouted again; his voice growing hoarse, as he felt the worker’s arm slip away between his forearm, bicep, and armpit-now only clenching the Zebra’s fetlock, which was almost gone. It slipped away a little more, and now he was gripping was nothing more than hoof! He then felt his grip close in around nothing. BLAM!…BLAM! BLAM!
Prologue: The Pinkie Pie Incident"...sudden changes may appear." “See? That wasn’t so bad,” Twilight said in cheery tone, as she and her friends exited the Equestrian Museum of Natural History on Manehattan Island, in Central Park. “Yeah, I guess it wasn’t that bad,” Rainbow Dash replied, doing her very best to hide the fact that she actually did enjoy it. “Though, the dinosaur exhibit was awesome!” It was the last week of summer, so the six friends had decided to take the day off and go to Manehattan. They had spent the day walking around the city doing something that each of them had wanted to do. Rainbow had wanted to go see the Wonderbolts race, Rarity wished to catch the fashion show at the Old Abe Center, Applejack wanted to see Monster Chariot Jam, Fluttershy hoped to see the new baby animals at the Central Park Zoo (if, umm, that wasn’t to much trouble), and Pinkie had just wanted to try as many pastries from as many bakeries as she could. They had just now finished Twilight’s choice for an activity. Needless to say, not everyone liked the idea of spending the rest of the day at a museum, and Rainbow had wanted to go about as much as she wanted to go to Rarity’s fashion show. “Ah gotta’ say, while Ah did enjoy the hall’a Ancient Earth Pony technologies, the part with the dinosaurs was mah favorite, too,” Applejack admitted, as she came out right behind Rainbow Dash. “Me three! The dinosaurs were the best part!” exclaimed the perpetual sugar high of a pink Earth Pony – which was their friend Pinkie – as she bounced happily after them. “I personally preferred the exhibits of the Culture Hall, myself, but I suppose the Hall of Fossils wasn’t all bad,” Rarity stated, as she exited behind them with the lady like grace she always had. “I liked the Halls of Animals,” came the tiny voice of the butter yellow Pegasus with the pink mane and tail. “Particularly the hall of magical creatures…but the Hall of Fossils was nice too.” Fluttershy quickly added, as if trying not to offend everyone who had already said they liked the dinosaur part. “Sounds like you all enjoyed the Hall of Fossils,” Twilight said with a smile – happy her friends had actually enjoyed her choice of place to visit, and weren’t completely bored out of their minds. “Ah especially liked the, uh…what’d ya’ say its name was again, Twi? Ya’ know; the one with horns an’ the frill?” Asked Applejack, trying to remember what it was called. “Triceratops,” the lavender Unicorn replied cheerfully. “That’s it!” The orange Earth Pony responded. “I liked the Apatosaur,” Fluttershy said in a cheerful yet quiet tone, “it seemed like such a nice dinosaur.” “The T-Rex! RAWR!” Pinkie exclaimed, as she suddenly appeared next to Twilight; doing a mock T. rex roar right in her ear. “And don’t forget about the Pterodactyl!” Rainbow said with a cheer, as she did a quick aerial summersault. “Pteranodon,” Twilight quickly corrected. “Pterodactyl actually refers to creatures of the genus ‘Pterodactylus’, and is often incorrectly associated with Pterasaurs, such as the ones we saw in the-“ “Yeah, whatever,” the cyan Pegasus said, cutting her off. “Pterodactyl sounds way more awesome than…whatever it is you just said.” “Pteranodon.” “Yeah, that.” “What ‘bout you, Rarity?” Asked Applejack in her usually southern drawl, trying to steer the topic back on course. “Which was your favorite?” “Well I suppose the Stegosaurus, but it is rather hard to tell which is more…” The white Unicorn began, trying to find the right word, “…aesthetically pleasing when all you have to go on is a jumbled up pile of dusty old bones.” “What about you, Twilight? What was your favorite dinosaur?” asked the sweet voice of their timid, yellow Pegasus friend. “Of the ones we saw, I would definitely have to say the Deinonychus,” Twilight replied. She received only confused looks in return. “…The small therapo-…meat-eater with the big claws on its feet?” “Ooooooooh! Okay!” they all said, suddenly remembering what she was talking about. To be honest, most of them had only given that exhibit a slight glance before moving on. It had not been nearly as impressive as its larger cousins that they had seen, and they hadn’t really given it much thought aside from that. “What makes this Die-nonnuh-thingy so great, Twi?” Rainbow asked skeptically, as she continued hovering over the group. “Well for one thing, it was one the fastest, most agile and most dangerous dinosaurs of its time,” the Unicorn informed. “And it was smart; able to out think and out maneuver just about every other animal alive back then.” “Heh, like me!” their chromatic aerial companion said proudly, puffing up her chest. “Actually, Ah’m afraid she said this thing was ‘smart’, Rainbow,” AJ then added; quickly deflating the rainbow maned Pegasus’ ego. “Low blow, Applejack. Low. Blow.” “Well if that was your favorite one we saw, what is you favorite favorite?” Pinkie Pie asked, getting right up in lavender and purple Unicorn’s face (though, to be fair, Twilight had gotten fairly used to Pinkie’s lack of understanding of Pony’s personal space by now). “Well…it’s a dinosaur called ‘Troödon’,” Twilight began. “A close relative of Deinonychus and other raptors that belonged to the Infraorder ‘Deinonychosauria’. However, while Deinonoychus and the Raptors separated off into the Family ‘Dromaeosauridea’, while Troödon and its relatives separated into the Family ‘Troodontidea’. Troödon, was the smartest dinosaur ever to exist…well, of its time, as birds are now considered-” “Okay, we get it! You know a lot of big words!” Rainbow cut her off, rubbing her head. “Geez, now my brain hurts.” “Alright now, Rainbow,” Applejack said, trying to get the cyan Pegasus to simmer down. “Now look; it’s been a long day, an’ Ah think it’s time we started headin’ on home – don’chu agree, Twi?” “Yes, I think you’re right, AJ. Is everypony ready?” Twilight asked as she looked around at her friends who all nodded in agreement. She quickly took a deep breath, and began to concentrate on casting the teleportation spell as her horn began to glow bright purple. “Next stop: Sugarcube Corner!” Ponyville’s premier party pony suddenly exclaimed, as she bounced in place happily. “Oh, Pinkie,” Rarity sighed. Twilight couldn’t see anything with her eyes clenched shut (clearly), but she could almost feel Rarity roll her own, “I’m not sure even Twilight is accurate enough with her teleportation spell to teleport us to any-” With a flash of purple light, the six friends had vanished from the streets outside the museum. At that exact moment, they was an equally bright flash of purple light several miles away, as the group reappeared in Ponyville. “-specific part of Ponyville,” the elegant white Unicorn finished, as they reappeared. “Here we are!” the pink pony cheered happily. “Oh, look at that: Sugarcube Corner…” Rarity said, completely bewildered. Twilight rubbed her head and opened her eyes to see where they had ended up this time. Sure enough – just as Pinkie had said – they were at the front step of Sugarcube Corner. “Hey, you guys wanna’ coming inside for a bite? There are a few extra cookies and cupcakes left from this morning,” the pink pony invited. None of them were feeling particularly hunger right then, but a cookie or two never hurt (plus it was rather hard to resist a free baked good from Sugarcube Corner), so they followed in after their pink coated friend. Inside, the Cakes were cleaning up the shop, and getting ready to close for the day. “Good afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. Cake,” Pinkie said with a cheery grin, as she pranced inside the bakery. “We’re back from our trip!” “Oh hello, girls!” Mrs. Cake greeted with a smile, as she layed down the tray of cookies she had been moving to the kitchen. “How was Manehattan?” “It was great!” Pinkie beamed, and almost immediately began to describe the trip in detail: her words seeming to fuse together, she was talking so fast. “FirstwewenttothisracetracktoseetheWonderbolts,andRainbowDashcheeredsohardshepassedoutwhenSoarinwon-” “Did not!” Rainbow said defensively. Pinkie, however, didn’t seem to have heard her… “-andthenwewenttothisfashionshowwithRarityattheLincolnCenter-” “Pinkie, it’s the ‘Old Abe Center’,” Twilight interrupted. “We already went over that. Why do you keep calling it the ‘Lincoln Center’?” “The readers will understand what it means,” Pinkie merely stated, before winking towards the wall where the entrance to Sugarcube Corner was. The Unicorn’s brain broke. “…What?!” “Anyway…atthefashionshow,wesawFlurdeLishaveawardrobemalfuctiononstage,anditwasreallyfunny!AndthenwewenttotheMosterChariotJamwithAppleJack,andsawFrankenChariotsetTheBulgingPorpoiseonfire,anditwassooooooooooooooooocool!ThenwewenttothezoowithFluttershy,andIgottoseeababySnowLeopardupclose!Butthentheythrewmeoutofthenursery,whichwaskinda’rude-“ “I told you it was employees only.” Fluttershy added softly, but it was lost to the seemingly endless stream of words coming out of Pinkie’s mouth. “AndthenIsaidIwantedtotrysomeofthelocalbakedgoods,andtheyendeduphavingtousetheJawsofLifetogetmeoutthedoor,andthenTwilightsaidthatwasprobablyenoughandthatweshouldgotothemuseumwherewesawabunchofdinosaursandrocksand-“ “Speaking of rocks,” Mr. Cake interrupted, before picking up a sealed envelope and pushing it towards Pinkie, “this came in the mail for you today. It’s a letter from you family.” At the sound of her family, Pinkie immediately stopped talking, and just stared wide eyed at the envelope for a second. “A letter from my folks?” Pinkie then said, smiling as she picked up the envelope in her hooves and opened it up (again: with her hooves). “What’s it say?” Twilight asked, as Pinkie unfolded the enclosed letter. The pink Earth Pony cleared here throat, and began to read aloud. “‘Dear Pinkie, How have you been? Things have been rather interesting as of late, here on the farm. The other day, while we were farming rocks from the South Field, we struck a huge vein of not only gems, but also precious metals and oil. Pa has struck a deal with a gentlestallion from Canterlot to sell off the oil and much of the jewels and metals. The reason I’m writing to you is to give you your share of the sales. Attached to this letter is a check for your share. I do hope to hear from you soon, little sister. Yours truly, Ingrid Miriam Pie’” Pinkie returned her gaze to the envelope, and proceeded to pull a slip of paper out of it. She read over the check quickly, and then re-readed it: her eyes now bulging out. Everypony watched as her eyes began to expand wider than any of them thought possible. Her mouth hung open, as the check dropped to the floor and sat there. Pinkie didn’t move a muscle, and her gaze was fixed on the place in her hooves where the check had once been held. The last time Twilight had seen her look like this, a giant rampaging Spike had made off with the entirety of the store’s baked goods. “Come now Pinkie, I’m sure you just being overly dramatic,” Rarity said, as she floated the slip off the floor and began to read it herself. The last words out of her mouth were “SWEET CELESTIA!” before she fainted in an overly dramatic way. Where she pulled that chair from to fall on, probably not even Pinkie knew. Next was Applejacks turn, and she gave similar reaction but seemed to handle it a bit better. “Woah, Nelly!” “Wow! That’s a big number,” Twilight said simply. “Look at all the zeros!” Rainbow said, pushing her face right up against the check. “Pinkie Pie! You’re rich!” Twilight said, at a complete loss for what to say. “Filthy Rich ain’t got a thing on you, girl!” The cyan Pegasus exclaim, giving her pink friend a good slap on the back. Pinkie however was still in a state of shock. “So Pinkie, just what do ya’ plan on doin’ with all that dough?” AJ asked as she shook off the affects of looking at the check (Rarity was still down for the count, however). As Pinkie’s brain tried to get itself back into working order only one thought had been going through her head: “dinosaurs and rocks”. Over and over again, this one phrase kept repeating itself inside her mind. She knew what she was going to do…
Chapter 2: Blood Suckers Abound“All in all I’d rather be a judge than a miner.” It was four in the morning in Clopertino, Calicornia. The street lights brightly illuminated the streets outside BioQuine HQ. The building was almost completely dark. The only source of light came from a single computer screen in one of the back rooms. Lligase Cosmids sat in front of the monitor, flipping between tabs and windows. Depending on who you talked to, Lligase Cosmids was famous as the most aggressive unicorn geneticist of his generation, or the most reckless. Thirty-four, light brown coat with a Cutie Mark of a hypodermic needle super imposed over a Petri dish, balding, gryphon-faced, mousy brown mane and tail, and intense, he had been dismissed by Fancy Pants University in Baltimare as a graduate student, for attempting rather risky gene therapy on pony patients without obtaining the proper protocols. Hired by BioQuine (one of the many genetic research companies that had sprung up over the past few years), Lligase had become the head of product development for the company. This consisted of “reverse engineering” competitor’s products: tearing them apart, learning how they worked, and then making your own version of it. In practice, his job involved industrial espionage, and the main target as of this past year was EquesGen. Even now the unicorn was hard at work researching what EquesGen was up to. Every window and tab on the computer screen in front of him was of (or had something to do with) EquesGen; and (much like with the mare in charge of the company) Lligase just could not seem to be able to figure it out. Purchase of an island off the coast of Hoovesta Rica? Visits to the Dragon home lands? Hiring chefs from 5 star restaurants around the globe? Deals with ostrich & emu farms, and automotive companies? He just could seem to figure it out; it didn’t seem to have any pattern he could follow. “What are you planning, Ms. Pie?...” It was a bright sunny morning over the jungles of the Domaneican Republic. Many brightly colored tropical birds sounded and flew through the canopy. A frail framed, middle aged, slightly balding unicorn stallion; dressed in a city pony’s idea of hiking attire (a rather crisp looking suit), stood upon a rather unsafe looking raft as it floated upon the jungle river. A dirty red earth pony with a black mane and tail, and a raft and pole for a Cutie Mark was at the front of the raft: pushing it along with a long, wooden pole, as they made their way down stream. The unicorn - wiped some of his sweat away with a hoofkerchief he levitated out of his suit. He was a light grey in color, with a well trimmed, mousy brown mane and tail, with a Cutie Mark of a signed contract with money signs around it. It was incredibly humid out, and he was not particularly use too this kind of weather. The closest he had ever been to this kind of humidity was at a sauna in Canterlot, after a long day at the office. His name was Dollar Journal: a lawyer and accountant from Canterlot. He had been sent down to represent the investors of Ms. Pie’s grand project, and he was not exactly happy with how things had been going so far. First he had to get up at the crack of dawn to make sure he caught his flight; got held up by airport security; was bumped back from first class to coach on the flight; then, upon landing in the La Rompana International Airport, found out that Ms. Pie may have left an hour or so ago; and, to top it all off, he was dumped in the middle of a jungle, with bugs and dirt and germs...And he had seen a bunch of crocodiles lurking by the banks of the river! Journal hated roughing it. “Are we almost there, Mr. Balsa?” Journal asked the red earth pony, as he kept them on course. “Si, señor,” replied Balsa with a nod. “It won’t be much longer now.” As they rounded the river bend, the pair of them was greeted by the sight of the cliff face of a decent sized hill. Wooden structures and walkways had been built into the cliff side as ponies and donkeys and others walked and climbed along the structures, and went in and out of the tunnels that were dug into the base of the cliff. “Ah, here we are!” Mr. Balsa stated as he put down the pole, and just let the current carry them the rest of the way. “The Cascos de Alicornios Amber Mine, señor.” Before Journal could say a thing, Mr. Balsa had jump (much to his surprise) into the crocodile infested waters of the river, and began swimming towards shore (the length of rope that was tied to the raft clenched between his teeth). At first Journal had thought he had fallen in (or was pulled in), and quickly jumped back on the raft – much to the amusement of a certain gryphon that sat waiting for them on the river bank beside a crudely constructed dock. Gregorio Gutierrez sat watching the city pony on the raft, and could not help but chuckle at how out-of-place he seemed in contrast to the lush green jungle around them. He was a gryphon in his mid-thirties, with a dark red-brown coat and white and purple speckled head that was topped by a wide-brimmed hat, woven from reeds. As the earth pony paddled to shore, Gregorio reached out one of his taloned hands, and helped Mr. Balsa onto to the bank. “Hola, amigo. ¿Qué tal le va?” The gryphon inquired in his gruff voice, as Mr. Balsa climbed out of the river and began pulling the raft in. “Mas o menos bien,” Balsa replied with a grin. “¡Mire esta gringo!” Gregorio look up from the dark red, and out over the water toward Dollar Journal, and couldn’t help but smirk a little. “Apuesto mil pedacitos que se cae.” The gyrphon chuckled, as the unicorn was pulled closer to shore. This was not the first time the two had met. No, they had met before when he and Ms. Pie had been working out a deal regarding their (he and his work crew) mining operations and the workers that would be helping at the park. He had met up with her earlier today, to discuss the incident with the zebra worker (a rather good friend of his); she had wondered how his family had been holding up. Naturally, his family had been offered compensation in, but they (naturally) had taken the news rather hard, and were holding a lawsuit against EquestGen. He felt bad for Zubari’s family, but new that they didn’t have a case; he had signed a contract with EquestGen (all of them had), and it was very specific as to the risks of working at the park. Not that he held what happened against Ms. Pie! Far from it! She was a lovely young lady, and paid extremely well; ten times the wage they had been normally paid by their previous employers! No. Zubari’s family was just very hurt and looking for some closure, though he very much doubted they would find any in the form of Bits. Pushing those thoughts aside, Gregorio looked up and smiled at Journal as he came in to dock. He had a feeling that the unicorn would not be too happy once he found out that Ms. Pie was no longer here, and had a feeling that this would be a rather unpleasant conversation. “Hola, Gregorio,” Dollar said in a rather poor Spanish accent, as the gryphon reached out to help him off the raft. “Hola. Bienvenido.” The gryphon smiled in return, and gestured for the unicorn lawyer to follow. “So what’s this I hear at the airport; Pinkie’s not even here?” Asked Dollar; getting straight to business. “She sends her apologies.” The gryphon offered with a shrug. “We’re facing a sixty thousand bit lawsuit from the family of that worker and you’re telling me Pinkie couldn’t even be bothered to see me?!” The grey unicorn said, exasperated, as he did his best to follow the gryphon without slipping on the muddy ground. “She had to leave early; she went back to Ponyville. Something about the ‘Cake twin’s birthday’.” Gregorio sighed. “And I understand that - knowing how important parties are to her. But we’d be well advised to deal with the situation now! The insurance comanyeeeeeiii-!” Dollar squealed, as his legs comically began to slip and slide out from under him on a rather algae blanketed patch of rocks. He had just barely gotten his legs back under himself in time to avoid falling on the slick ground. After regaining his footing, with some help from Gregorio, he continued. “The underwriters feel this raises some serious safety questions about the park…that makes the investors very, very anxious! I had to promise them I would conduct a very thorough on-site inspect.” Gregorio stopped in his tracks, and turned to face the unicorn. He had feeling Journal was going in that direction, but he had hoped he wouldn’t. “Ms. Pie hates inspection: they slow everything down,” the gryphon stated, as though Dollar’s words had made him physically exhausted. “Gregorio, they’ll cut the funding. That’ll slow her down even more!” “¡Jefe! ¡Jefe!” Both turned to watch as a green pegasus stallion with a light blue mane came rushing over to them from one of the dark tunnels that had been dug into the cliff side. “¿Qué es?” The gryphon foremen questioned, as the pegasus flittered excitedly in front of him. “Encontramos otro mosquito, en el mismo sitio,” he replied. “¿Seguro?” “¡Si!” “¡Muestrame!” “What was that about?” Dollar Journal asked with a confused tone. Gregorio merely turned to him with a smile. “Today might be a good day, after all! They found another one. C’mon,” he said, before gesturing for Dollar to follow. “Oh; watch you head there!” Gregorio said, as the unicorn lawyer almost bonked his head against the tunnel’s rather low ceiling. It was dark and dripping inside the lightly illuminated mine; rivulets of water rolled off the walls and formed hoof sized pools in the floor. On either side of them about a dozen workers hammered at the walls with their pickaxes. One of which – Dollar caught – said something along the lines of “he encontrado más hierro,” to which the miner next to him replied, “trate de encontrar más diamantes. Necesito otro diamante para finalizar mi piqueta”. He wasn’t entirely sure what to make their conversation, but this line of thought was cut short as the two of them neared what appeared to be a work bench where a yellow earth pony stood cutting (or rather carving) a shiny yellow rock with a table saw. “If three experts,” Dollar began, as they neared the work bench, “sign off on the island, the insurance guys will back off. I’ve already got Emma MathComp, but they think she’s too ‘trendy’. They want Terra Soar and Buck Ryder.” Dollar had finished his statement just as they had reached the bench, and Gregoro had already taken possession what looked like a small, yellow gem stone: amber. The gryphon turned to him with the most amused expression on his face at hearing the name of the pony they wanted. “Terra and Buck?! Ha! You’ll never get them out of Manetana!” the gryphon said in a tone that made it obvious that he found the very notion ridiculous, as he inspected the fossilized tree sap held between his talons. “Why not?” Dollar asked. Gregorio wasn’t paying attention. The gryphon was inspecting something inside of the yellow rock, but couldn’t quite make it out. “Luz. Más luz!” Gregorio said to himself, as he turned the ancient, yellow stone in his claws, “¡Muchachos! ¡Llevar la luz!” Almost immediately, everypony in the mine shaft dropped their tools and began to crowd around Gregorio. Several of them had brought lights over, while the rest just wished to see it themselves – Dollar among them. “Why not?” The unicorn asked again in an annoyed tone, as he tried to get a better look. “Because they’re like me…they’re diggers,” Gregorio chuckled, as he sat staring directly at the tiny figure held in place by the tree sap. A tiny mosquito; held suspended for millions of years inside the hunk of ancient, yellow sap. Perfectly preserved. At that moment, there was nothing more beautiful to the gryphon foremen and his crew. “Hay que lindo eres vas hacer a much gente feliz...”
Chapter 1: 120 Miles off the Coast of Hoovesta Rica"Raptor. Lo sa raptor..." It was night. Celestia’s golden sun had long since set beyond the horizon, and its place had now been taken by Luna’s silvery, crescent moon which loomed over the tropical sky. Everything was completely dark out save for the glow of the lights on the building behind the large crew of workers as they looked out towards the jungle. The group was made up of mostly Earth Ponies, Donkeys, a handful of Unicorns and several Zebra - with a few Pegasi watching from the tower that stood at the very back of the building. The building itself looked more like a small – yet high security – prison than anything else. Thick foliage and greenery grew out of the “courtyard” to the point you couldn’t see anything in there, and electrified fencing and iron-bars lined the top of it. At the very front of the “prison”, was a large, imposing steel door that looked like it was built to withstand even an angry bull elephant! The most of the workers were dressed in what appeared to be black and charcoal grey construction uniforms. Each wore orange hardhats with the picture of what appeared to be the silhouette of some skeletal horror with a massive head, huge teeth, and yet rather puny arms. Most were armed with what could only be described as “heavy duty cattle prods” (which looked like the hybridization of a taser, a shotgun, and assault rifle, with a tuning fork stuck to the end) that were hooked up to their utility saddles. The rest of the workers were equipped with powerful looking rifles, which were hooked up to their own utility saddles. Only one pony seemed to stand out from the group; a powerful looking Pinto Earth Pony stallion – with brown patches, a dark brown mane and shorn fetlocks – that seemed to give off a sense of authority that told everyone immediately that he was in charge. Unlike the others, he wore a pale mint-green (almost grey) safari-looking shirt with a brownish-tan vest and a wool cowpony hat. He stood there at the front of the crew; staring unblinkingly at the tree line with a fierce determination, as the dark mass drew closer. The trees swayed back and forth as something large and powerful moved between them. Many of the workers were sweating from the high humidity – though the night did bring with it a cool respite to the ugly mornings that were so common in this geographic location. Everyone stood at the ready as they stared off towards the tree line that sat only a few yards away. Branches and sapling could be heard snapping in the distance. Several workers were chewing gum to calm their nerves, as beads of sweat flowed down their foreheads. There was a bluish white light in the distance, as an engine roared. Gears ground together, tree limbs snapped, and ferns were crushed, as the forklift rolled out of the dense foliage towards the docking platform at the front of the building. It was carrying a large, metal crate; around 20 feet long, with small gaps place here and there: making it look more like an industrial strength cattle car. As soon as the workers saw it, they became more ridged and on edge. “Everypony heads up! Heads up!” one of the pony workers shouted, as the lift rolled forward and everypony began moving out of the way; letting the lift pass through. “Keep it clear… Keep it clear!” a black Earth Pony in a bright orange vest shouted over the grinding of the lift’s gears, as he moved forward to help guide the lift into position. “Okay, down!” “¡Andalé! ¡Sí, Vamonos!” one of the workers (a donkey from the Hoovesta Rican mainland) shouted in Spanish to the other workers as they all got ready for the job ahead. “Keep going! Come on!...” the black Earth Pony shouted, as the forklift approached the docking platform, in front of a concrete building-the top of which was lined with electrified fences, with a small tower at the back of it. Several other orders were barked, but were lost in the sound of the lift’s grinding gears. Once the lift was in position, he quickly added, “that’s good; stay!” Several more words in Spanish were shouted, but were lost to the commotion of the workers moving forward and the lift slowly began to lower the crate; lining it up so that it would fit into the grooves on the platform. The stallion in the khaki vest and safari shirt locked his eyes on the crate for a second as if trying to stare it down. A pair of bright yellow orbs flashed out at him from between the gaps in the crate, and stared directly at him as if to return the sentiment. His clenched teeth hard together; though his face never changed from the stern, neutral look he had been wearing. He turned to the group standing behind him, and barked an order; “Pushing team, move in there.” “Move it!” one of the work crew said, and then added, “¡Cuidado, vamos!” in a warning tone, as the team ran forward towards the metal crate. “I want tasers on full charge!” the Pinto stallion ordered with a distinct “British” accent as they moved forward, making sure that everyone was prepared. As soon as they reached the crate and the first worker touched it, the group was greeted by a high pitched, primal scream that made everypony’s heart race. The crew directly around quickly jumped back in terror; eyes wide with fear. “Steady!” he barked from under his wool cowpony hat, stepping forward as if hoping to prevent anything from happening as the rest of them jumped back at the sound. “Come on. Move back in,” he ordered, after everyone had regained themselves. “Places!” another pony shouted from behind, as several more workers moved forward to help them. “Ready, move it!” The workers galloped forward and took hold of the metal bars on either side of the crate. Once everypony had taken their places, the stallion barked out: “and, push!” The crate screeched, as they pushed it toward a large, metal gate. As soon as the crate came in contact with the gate, there was a satisfying “Ka-chuck!” followed by a buzzing as the lights on either side of the gate changed from red to green. “We’re locked; loading team, step away!” the stallion said, somewhat relieved – although his voice did not show it. Once again, the yellow orbs with the slit pupils inside the crate locked onto him, but he ignored it. “Gatekeeper!” he shouted, turning to a rather large Zebra worker with a glyph of a flowing river on his flank, who quickly walked up to the crate and began climbing up the bars at the front of it. A crackling, hissing sound came from inside the crate as the orbs immediately stopped staring at the stallion in the khaki vest, and locked onto the Zebra that now stood atop the crate. “Zubari, raise the gate!” he shouted up to the striped equine on top of the crate. The Zebra nodded, before turning towards the building. He bent down, and – using every ounce of strength he had – began to lift the gate up so that the contents of the crate could be moved into the structure it was currently locked to. The gate groaned a little as he began lifting it up: inch by inch. Another scream erupted from inside the crate, as a dark silhouette inside charged full speed towards the front the crate: slamming into the gate with almost unrealistic strength. There was barely enough time to react. Everypony’s jaw dropped at that moment, as the crate broke free from the lock – door open – and began sliding backwards. The Zebra worker was thrown off balance and fell to the concrete floor of the docking pad below with a thud, as the crate was knocked free of the gate. A worker had lifted his hoof, as if trying to catch him, but was only knocked back into the others behind him. Zubari lay there on the ground dazed and hurt as the alarm blared. The green lights on either side of the gate had changed to red. Several other workers galloped to the back of the crate as they tried to stop it from sliding back, but were instead knocked down as it continued to slide backward another few feet. Zubari was still slightly dazed as he lay face down on the ground; his brain throbbing too much for him to fully grasp what had just happened. He slowly lifted his head and attempted to get back on his hooves. The Zebra looked up to see the others galloping towards him. A surge of terror seized his heart as he felt himself suddenly and violently dragged backwards. “BLOCK THE OUTLET! DON’T LET IT GET OUT!!!” the white and brown blotched Earth Pony shouted; his eyes wide as he grabbed the Zebra around the waist and tried to pull him free. Several workers ran to the front of the crate; their tasers charged up. Zubari screamed, as he felt his lower half been torn apart! The tasers sparked as the other workers jabbed the thing inside the crate as hard as they could. Zubari grabbed hold of one of the bars he had used to climb up the crate in a desperate attempt to get free, before being violently lifted up into the air as if he were nothing more than a light feather pillow; knocking the Pinto stallion to the ground, along with several others. The Stallion in the khaki shirt quickly scrambled back up, and grabbed hold of Zubari once more! His eyes were wide, and he gritted his teeth, as began pulling the Zebra worker as hard as he could. Another batch of workers ran in, and began zapping the thing with the tasers. In fact, everyone who was armed & able was using their tasers, sending sparks into the night air. The creatures’ screams filled night air, as the tasers were thrust against its hide, yet it refused to relinquish its prey. “WORK HER BACK!” he shouted frantically; Zubari still screaming from the pain he was in. The tasers continued to spark and sizzle, as they were forced against its scaly hide. Their eyes suddenly locked again. He could see her clearly now: her brown and grey scales, and bright yellow eyes – illuminated by the sparks from the tasers. He could see the raw hatred and fury in her snake-like eyes as she stared at him even as she tore apart the Zebra they were playing tug-of-way with. She wasn’t going to stop… No matter how many tasers were forced on her, she just was not going to relent. He could feel Zubari slipping away now, as his strength began to give out. He had to end this, now! No matter how much trouble he would be in, he had to do it! “SHOOT HER!” the stallion order at the top of his lungs, as the worker screamed again-sounding more like a pained moan, by now. He could feel the Zebra slipping away from his sweaty grip. “SHOOOOOOOOOT HEEEEEEEEER!!!” he shouted again; his voice growing hoarse, as he felt the worker’s arm slip away between his forearm, bicep, and armpit-now only clenching the Zebra’s fetlock, which was almost gone. It slipped away a little more, and now he was gripping was nothing more than hoof! He then felt his grip close in around nothing. BLAM!…BLAM! BLAM!
