Raptania: Raptors Next Door
Twilight Sparkle walked out of the ferry's living area and walked up to the silver railing that lined the boat's deck. She looked back to the large auburn castle of Maniraptora and the unique nation of Raptania, that only a few hours ago she and her friends had signed the treaty that united Equestria and Raptania together; and she let out a long sigh. She couldn't properly explain why, but she felt worried and nervous; mainly due to the fact that once this ferry docked in Baltimare there would be dinosaurs in Equestria. As she looked out on Raptania's horizon, the hazel Utahraptor Ostrom wandered up to the princess and stood beside her. Twilight took notice of him and simply asked, "How will the ponies react to you guys? I mean, you guys will look rather daunting to them, especially those massive Beishanlong and Gigantoraptor. And don't get me started on your serrated teeth; I'll be surprised if any pony will be brave enough to approach you."
Ostrom flicked his teeth with his tongue as if to see Twilight's point, and after almost slicing his tongue in two he replied, "Look, I know that this is going to be tough, but you did convince yaks to like you guys; and yaks are worse than us. I mean sure we have claws, but we're not ones to rip a pony's limbs off if one little thing's wrong."
Twilight chuckled at her friend's reasoning, and was almost entirely convinced of this plan, but as she looked back inside she saw the major problem with it all: while 5 of them could live in the castle; the rest were not working for her, and would have to get their own houses and jobs. Her face soon became plastered with a look of concern as the ferry swam through the Penna Ocean towards the invisible Equestria.
Baltimare Docks was a lot more packed than the raptors anticipated; with journalists and camera ponies eager to get their first look at the new citizens. The first look of these ponies however struck a nervous string through the bones of a certain blue Ornithomimus. Velox had been in large crowds before; he had seen everything they could throw at him. But the fact that these citizens were smaller, more colorful and fluffier meant that he felt unprepared; and as such he almost jumped when his back was pat by the hoof of Rainbow Dash. "Why so tense Velox? Aren't you excited to live in Ponyville, the most awesome place in Equestria? " she asked
"To tell you the truth, I'm concerned. Not for guys like me, Kin and Reed; 'cause we look more friendly to approach. But what about guys like Ostrom and Yuan, with those claws on their feet? I'm concerned that your neighbours are gonna hate them." Velox explained calmly. Somehow, he felt easier talking to Rainbow; he would deny that he liked her in that way, but he wouldn't deny that Dash was superbly fun to be around. And secretly, he found Rainbow's magenta eyes very beautiful to look at; he could stare into them for eternity. But before they could continue their conversation, Key flapped up to them.
"It's gonna be a pain in the tail feathers to get past that crowd, huh?" he asked as he checked his leathery wing membranes for any damage.
"Just be glad you're small and can fly; unlike Sean. I feel bad for that Beishanlong now; he is gonna be so nervous around that big crowd." Velox replied.
The ferry finally docked, and Twilight was the first to step off the ferry; and she was overwhelmed with the sheer number of microphones being forced into her face and mouth. It was only Ostrom's weak magic that held them back; and as he exited the ferry he was swamped by ponies; as well as every other raptor that stepped off the ferry.
"I'm so glad that we made it out of there in one piece!" Spike exclaimed, and all of the raptors nodded in agreement. However, they secretly grumbled, since Spike was rather small and could slip past unlike many of them.
"Just be glad you guys don't have hollow bones like us. It was sheer luck that we raptors survived without a single bone being broken." Kin retorted angrily. It was very rare that Kin was angry, but the fact that those newsponies were so persistent and pushy that Kin almost had his ribs shattered, Kin was ready to punch the next pony with a notepad and pen.
The walk to the train station was much safer for the raptors, although the cobbled streets took some getting used to under the raptors' splayed feet. At the train station, Velox said his goodbyes to his pal Sean as he and the others alighted the train to Ponyville. Sitting down for the first time since leaving Raptania, the lavender Apsaravis Apsara grumbled slightly as she gave her wings a rest. Yuan sat next to her and hugged the poor bird softly; wrapping her much larger wings around Apsara's aching body. As Kin and Velox found the group seats in the carriage, Reed was approached by a rather young mare who tried to flirt with the Kinnareemimus; but Reed was consumed by severe nerves. He was always like this around females, except when he was told otherwise; and he slowly wandered away and sat by his older twin brother, almost hugging him for comfort.
The only two raptors left standing were Zhao and Auro. Zhao was complaining as to why the main story was taking a long time to get running, and was asking why the author was stalling and reintroducing the characters when readers would be better off reading the previous story to be introduced to them. Auro was stating that all story series do this, as a way to let new readers who are reading this story to get introduced to the characters. It was at this point that Yuan slapped both of them for breaking the fourth wall for far too long and ordered them to take a seat. Grumbling, Zhao took a seat and the jet black Microraptor snapped at Yuan for being a bossy fluffball, which resulted in her slapping him again.
However Fall the beige Falcarius was very excited to be moving to Ponyville. She had read all the books, heard all of the legends; yet nothing in her mind could prepare her for Ponyville. She was also glad to be freed from her dead-end job back at that pawn shop; it nerved her every time she thought about that place, and that greedy Oviraptor made her gizzard churn. However whenever she turned to face Spike that feeling seemed to just...vanish. She didn't know what she was feeling, not love surely, but rather a friendly warmth about him that made her melt inside. But her feelings had to be tucked away, for ahead lie Ponyville. It was as beautiful as the raptors had heard it to be, with the crystalline castle overwhelming even the largest among the group. The train edged to a halt in the station and Velox was the first to step off, followed closely by the ponies. The rest of the group quickly followed with a certain alacrity, and ahead of them stood their next task: finding a home and job.
For Key, this latter was the easier option. He had already filled out his resume and was on his way to the Ponyville Job Centre along with Carnithimus. when the thoughts about where his house should be struck him. Sliding away from Carnithimus, Key wandered down another road when he saw a house for sale. It looked nice, with sandy yellow stone walls and a hay roof. But he saw a mint-colored unicorn with a golden lyre cutiemark and a buttercream Earth pony with three sweets as her cutiemark arguing about the house in question.
"Come on, Bon Bon!" the unicorn mare argued, "We could have this as a guest house!"
Bon Bon looked at her best friend and sighed, "Lyra, I don't mean to sound insensitive, but when did you start barfing up bits?" It was at this point Bon Bon looked up and saw the forest green Yi qi inspecting the unowned house. Smiling softly she continued, "Besides, it looks like that bizarre-looking gentleman is interested in that house."
Lyra turned to where Bon Bon was looking and her mind became overwhelmed with different thoughts, most of which were along the lines of "What's up with his wings/tail/head?". But throwing those thoughts away she walked up to the Yi and exclaimed, "Hi there! You must be one of those dino guys from Raptania. I'm Lyra, and this is my...best friend Bon Bon". Her pause was needed; no pony really took her relationship with Bon Bon to be serious, so the two used the term best friend to hide the fact that the two were dating.
Key extended his hand to shake Lyra's hoof and he replied, "I'm Key. I guess I'm going to be your neighbour if I can afford this house.". As he spoke, he looked at the For Sale sign on the house to check the price. It was 2000 bits, surprisingly cheaper than Key expected; but then again bits in Equestria were worth more than they were in Raptania. He started to look around for the estate agent who he could pay, but he found himself pulled closer to Lyra and Bon Bon, who seemed very interested in touching his downy feathers and small array of yellow crest feathers. Key's cheeks were flushed rose pink in embarrassment as at last the estate agent arrived. He was a brown Earth Pony with a mane and tail coloured in 3 stripes of green and grey and green again. His sleepless eyes were a rich green as he blinked and blindly held out his hoof to shake Key's, which was pretty much the only thing of Key's sticking out in the hug.
"Hello there. I'm Pine Leaf, and I'm here to show you around this 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom house." the stallion slurred tiredly and depressingly. Lyra and Bon Bon immediately let out a sigh. They knew exactly why Pine was so tired and upset; yet another mare had decided to use him for a fling and then left right after banging him. Since the pair were together they didn't understand this poor stallion's life; the constant pattern of meeting a mare then being ditched the same night. However they did understand that Pine Leaf needed the support of his two friends, so Bon Bon stopped hugging Key and instead put a hoof on Pine's slumped shoulder.
Key also got up from the embrace and sighed. "Look mate, you seem extremely down-in-the-dumps, so I don't need showing around. I'm just gonna buy this house." he said as he got out his wallet and handed 2000 bits to the tired Pine, who after a couple attempts finally managed to take the bits in a tired slide of his hoof. Bon Bon put a hoof on Pine's shoulder and she brought him inside for tea.
Key looked at his newly acquired home and found the key under the doormat. This always irritated Key as to why they would put the key in such a simple place; it was almost as if they wanted their houses to be robbed. Putting this thought aside he entered the home, and was met by a surprisingly warm welcome. Faded magenta carpets accompanied earthy brown walls and beige furniture; the small staircase spiralled up towards a cream white bedroom fit for a king-sized bed, and an impressed Yi smiled at the thought of resting his tired wings on pure cotton. Back downstairs however there was a small garage-like area which sparked Key's imagination even more. The area could easily be converted into a brand new locksmith shop. It was almost as if this house had been made for Key, in fact the only issue he could see was the dust, and that could be cleaned with no trouble.
Carnithimus meanwhile was not enjoying his time quite so much. All the houses he saw were occupied or in horrid state, and it didn't help that some of the ponies were giving him odd looks. However this two-hour search came to an end as he found a small red store attached to a standard Ponyville house. And it was for sale. Carnithimus' eyes gleamed with interest; he was planning to create a store for documents and old books and the opportunity was dangling like a worm on the end of a hook. Stepping ever closer to the store Carnithimus was halted by a magenta Earth Pony mare with a peach mane. "You interested?" she asked him, but in a way that made Carnithimus ponder what she meant. She clearly meant the property, but her posture and eyes made him believe she was asking about herself; causing Carnithimus to blush softly.
"Well madam, the store and the house look delightful; if that's what you were referring to," Carnithimus replied, "but if you are referring to yourself then I think you do look rather radiant with a delicate glow." The mare immediately blushed at his comment, and the richness of his accent.
"O-oh...I, uh...I was referring to the store of course," she chuckled nervously, "But, uh thanks. That's really kind of you. I'm Lovely Event."
Carnithimus smiled softly and replied, "I'm Carnithimus. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Lovely."
"Now now, there's no need for Miss here. Although perhaps there will be need for it at dinner tonight?" Lovely slyly asked, causing Carnithimus' cheeks to flush bright rose pink. Did this mare just ask him out? Surely not him, with his tiny stub of a crest, his long needles of legs and his pelican-like pouch. Surely, this gorgeous mare would not ask such a bizarre animal like him out on a date. Since he was out of words, he simply nodded a response and she giggled, "See you at 7," then left. Carnithimus chuckled nervously to himself then sighed happily as he waited for the estate agent to help him buy the house
Twilight's crystalline castle let off an iridescent glow in the afternoon sun as Ostrom and Auro passed through yet another corridor. Since they were going to be working at the castle; with Ostrom as an advisor and Auro being the long-distance messenger; the pair decided that they would live at the castle like Spike and Twilight do, and Reed and Kin had also made this decision as they were used to living in castles. Ostrom examined one of the corridors on the second floor and looked around, Auro keeping him company. "I think this is the right corridor." Ostrom said as they looked down the crystal corridor. He looked to Auro and asked, "What do you think?"
Auro looked at his friend with a tired expression and blandly replied, "Honestly, I stopped caring at the third corridor and this is about the fifth. As long as there is a good bedroom, quite frankly I could not give a damn about the corridor."
"Woah mate. Calm down." Ostrom snapped as the pair walked down the corridor and checked rooms for a good bedroom. Ostrom had never seen Auro bitter nor uncaring. Something clearly had made a bad impression on Auro and Kin upon arrival.
"I am calm, I just need to find a place to rest my splitting head." Auto retorted. The bustling stations and loud ponies had not helped Auro's travel sickness, and he was ready to faint he was so tired. But suddenly a Catenoleimus popped in through the window and made Auro jump a meter.
"Hey Auro! Nice to see you again mate." the new guy smiled. To the layman's eye he looked like any old bird, but he had small claws on his wings and tiny teeth in his beak. He was white on most of his body except for a black cover on his head, neck, back and wings, and a lime green stripe by his charming brown eyes.
"Lemur? What in all of Paraves are you doing here?" Auro asked breathlessly, Lemur's entrance scaring him slightly, "Haven't seen you since college."
"Well I moved here and I wanted to check on my old friend." Lemur replied, flapping his wings before landing opposite Auro.
"Do you mind introducing yourself because I don't think we've met. I'm Ostrom." Ostrom exclaimed as he shook Lemur's left wing
"I'm Lemur, Auro's old college roommate/lover." Lemur replied, putting heavy emphasis on that last word. It was clear it wasn't true, but the way he said it in his accent made it sound so believable.
Auro blushed deeply at this comment and quickly retorted, "We weren't lovers, Lemur! Quit trying to make everyone believe I'm gay!" His blush remained as he looked away from Lemur in a tsundere fashion.
"I know we weren't, I just find it hilarious to see you react that way." Lemur chuckled as he looked around the castle, "But the real reason I'm here is that I'm going to be working here as another messenger."
"I see. So both you and Auro will be delivering messages sent out by Princess Twilight?" Ostrom asked
"Yup. We're going to be delivering messages sent out by your crush." Auro sneered, clearly wanting to prank someone else after what Lemur had done to him. Ostrom blushed shyly at Auro's ribbing comment, very much embarrassed by this as he was praying to Yi that Twilight wasn't behind them in a typical sitcom cliché style.
"I...I don't like Twilight in that way..." he murmured as the trio looked for rooms. The two birds found their rooms rather easily, as they didn't need that much space (although not cramped conditions) and they needed a good place for a perch. The two left Ostrom to wander the halls alone, until a familiar purple alicorn wandered into the corridor.
"Ostrom? You're still looking for a room?" Twilight asked sweetly, a smile gleaming in her face that doubled Ostrom's adorable rosy blush into a full-faced blush.
"Heh, yeah. Looked around for a while but the only good room I saw was Spike's." Ostrom replied shyly, putting a hand behind his head chuckling nervously. Twilight very subtly bit her lip while looking at the hazel Utahraptor, she didn't know what it was about him but he looked so much more handsome than he did in Raptania.
"Well I have a room you might like. Follow me." she answered, then wandered towards the library room. Ostrom followed eagerly and his face lit up with more joy than a filly at Hearth's Warming when he witnessed the incredible library/bedroom. Bookshelves were stacked to the ceiling; everything was organised alphabetically first by topic, second by title and third by author going by surname; the bed was large enough for two Utahraptor, let alone one; and the ceiling had paintings that would make even Rennie MacIntosh's best works look rubbish.
"This place is incredible! You sure you want me to have this room?" Ostrom asked ecstatically.
"Of course! Truth be told I was kinda hoping you'd like this place." Twilight responded shyly, trying not to look at Ostrom's adorably ecstatic face, "I mean, I think you'd do well in a room like this. It's spacious, it's got books, it's got an attached bathroom. It's pretty good."
Ostrom calmed down so that he could look at her without looking like he was going to eat her, and simply smiled softly. "Thank you Twili- I mean, your Grace," he replied, stopping himself from informally calling her just by her name. Twilight however seemed curious by this level of formality from a friend. Not even Rarity was so formal to her, let alone a new friend.
She giggled softly and responded, "Please. You can just call me Twilight, Ostrom. Nopony calls me your Grace, and it'd be weird if only you called me that. It'd be like..." she stopped herself, blushing softly, then continued, "like we were dating or something."
"Well we don't want ponies to think that. We're only friends," Ostrom said calmly, "I should get settled in. See you later Twilight." He closed the door to his new room as Twilight wandered back into the depths of the castle.
Reed and Kin meanwhile were searching the ground floor of the castle looking for the guards' quarters. With every passing corridor they could not find a single area that was the guards' quarters, and this was confusing the twins with each room they inspected. Kin eventually grew tired of the wandering around and simply opened the door of a double bedroom, jumping into one of the beds in an exasperated sigh. Reed simply entered the room and sat on the bed, keeping his tail safe from damage. "This place is nice," Kin sighed happily, looking at his shy brother with a confused look. "You okay?" he asked.
"I don't like the mares here... They try to do dirty things to me..." Reed mumbled, blushing softly and curling up into a ball on the bed, stroking his tail softly. Kin got up from the bed and sighed. He knew that when not ordered to act a certain way around females he went from a confident and strong guard to a timid little hatchling.
"Why must you always do this? You're going to be here a while, you're going to have to get used to all the flirting." Kin replied flatly. He was tired of Reed being timid; after all, they have been through a lot worse than simple mares. But he always found it rather cutely funny to see his brother, who many a raptor has found attractive, to be more of a virgin than the oil.
Reed simply looked at his brother with an expression of sorrow and murmured, "Easy for you to say. You aren't flirted with constantly by anyone with a vagina. Or even some that have a penis." Kin's immediate reaction to this was the same as anyone else's, a shocked blush adorning his face as Reed continued, "Besides, I'm wanting to save myself for her should we ever meet again."
"So in other words you're waiting for something that may not even happen? You know, I won't deny the fact that I saw the spark when you two met; but the fact is that you two will probably never meet again, and so it's pointless to save your body for a girl that may never visit." Kin complained, starting to grow tired of Reed's infatuation with the one girl. He knew that true love was a thing, but long-distance true love at first sight is where Kin's suspension of disbelief left.
Reed's only response to this was to droop his head in depression. He wasn't expecting his brother to be so unsupportive of a genuinely good decision, even if Kin did make a valid point. But even so, Reed was still going to stick to his plan, even if he means he dies a virgin he wasn't going to let any girl but her have his body. Reed finally replied, "At least I actually have an idea, unlike you. Even Velox has got an idea as to who he wants to be with."
Kin looked at Reed with a shocked expression, he had hit it where it hurt, so he simply answered, "Okay, you've made your point. And speaking of Velox , where the hell is he?" Reed shrugged a reply at his brother, no longer caring about anything since he had won the argument; although wondering where Velox is was at the back of his mind. Kin finally unpacked all of his items and then left the room to look for the most important thing in a new town nowadays to him: the pub.
Velox had not decided to live in the castle like his fellow guards, but instead was with Rainbow Dash searching for a proper house in Ponyville. The two were exchanging funny stories from their lives, and some of the crazier stories; more on Rainbow's side than Velox's, since the craziest story he had wasn't very crazy compared to the mare who has done pretty much everything. As the two wandered towards the lake, they bumped into a brown Earth pony stallion and a grey Pegasus mare, and Rainbow simply exclaimed, "Hey Derpy, hey Doc. You two out on another date?"
Derpy blushed slightly and would have looked away if one of her eyes was not facing upwards no matter what she did. "Y-y-yes...we are on a date Rainbow..." she muttered shyly, cuddling closer to her companion for comfort.
"Our third date this week, fifth this month and twenty-third overall in fact. Today we're going to try bowling. You're both welcome to join us, you know a double date type of situation." Doctor Whooves explained, and was immediately met with a blush from both mares, although for different reasons. Derpy was blushing because of his amazingly attractive memory, but Rainbow was blushing at the idea of dating Velox. She was used to ponies believing she and Fluttershy were together, after all the evidence for it was innumerable; but no stallion had ever been confused as to dating her. She would deny it obviously, but part of her was now daydreaming what it would be like; and it was good. She stopped herself from enjoying it too much, as she never let arousal control her in public. Instead she shook her head and looked at Velox, who was blushing madly at the same idea she was having.
"N-no no. We...we're not a couple, Doc." Rainbow chuckled nervously, blushing more than she had ever done in a long time, even more than the time Pinkie caught her playing with herself in the closet at the Cake's anniversary party. Sure that event was embarrassing, but it wasn't as embarrassing as the prospect of dating a guy she had barely met. If Velox and her spent more time and knew each other better, then she would be okay with the idea of one date, but when they have spent very little time together that idea would remain as just a musing.
"Hmmm... But you both seem like you would make a very compatible pair." Doctor answered, smiling softly as he and Derpy cuddled together, making Velox picture the same musing Rainbow was even more so. He wanted that feeling more than ever, but the fact that he had to hold back hurt him on the inside.
"We would?" Rainbow asked confused, "Do you think Velox and I make a good couple, even though we have spent little time together?"
"Yup! He seems like a fun and sweet guy for you. You know, one of those guys you can be friends with while also being romantic." Derpy cutely explained before squeeing. Velox wanted to keep on talking to the pair, but Rainbow grabbed his scruff and pulled him along with her towards her home. But before they reached the lake a sandy yellow earth pony stallion got in their way, glaring at Velox. He was slightly larger than the usual stallion, and his mane was blue with a green stripe running through it.
"Hey Rainbow, who's the giant blue chicken?" he asked jokingly, prodding Velox's chest hard, trying to harm the Ornithomimus.
"Leave him be Pippin. Don't you have anything better to do than pick on the new guys in town?" Rainbow retorted flatly.
"Aw don't be like babe. You know that I'm just making sure he knows to not lay a finger on you." Pippin sneered, this time trying to grab Velox's arm and severely harm him. But before he could do so, Velox grabbed Pippin's hoof and pushed the earth pony to the ground.
"Listen to me right now you miserable Eohippus. Rainbow is not yours and she never will be; trying to hurt a royal guard is a serious crime and you should be glad I'm in a good mood; we do not tolerate racism here and we won't ever tolerate it. So do yourself a favour and buck off back to your mother's basement and continue your long-term relationship with your right hoof." Velox snapped in Pippin's face, wanting to have sharper claws to leave a good scar on this asshole's fat face.
Pippin simply murmured, "I actually have my own apartment," as he got up wearily and started to walk away but then retorted, "But mark my words I will track you and your family down and-". His rant was interrupted by Rainbow punching him across the mouth and tossing him to the ground, leaving him with a thick lip and black eye.
"Leave him and his family alone you whoreson. Go away. And don't even think about abusing your brother about this you pathetic crapbag." she snapped at him as he ran off almost in tears. "There we go Velox, sorry you had to meet the town twat," she continued, looking at Velox in his cerulean eyes.
"It's fine. What's his problem anyway?" Velox asked, brushing off the dust on his armour softly and calming his demeanor.
"He's just a horny Earth pony who wants to mate with every mare in Ponyville. He hasn't touched any of us though. He gets the dumb or drunk ones. I wouldn't get near him if I were you." Rainbow sighed. She hated everything about Pippin: his personality; his abusive nature; everything but his brother Elstar bothered her.
"I see... Well anyway, we should be approaching that lake anytime soon." Velox responded quickly. And as he said those words, approach the lake they did. The azure water glistened in the afternoon sun, reflecting off of the clouds that form Rainbow's house and also sending small rays of sunlight towards a small brown shack that had been long abandoned. Velox looked at the shack and an idea flickered in his mind. It had been months, nay years since his last restoration project, and he was practically jumping for joy at the opportunity to do so. He edged closer towards the shack while Rainbow looked at him with curiosity, but she didn't mind the view of his rear one bit.
"So you're thinking of using that old cottage? You know that that thing hasn't been used in years right?" Rainbow asked, tilting her head slightly to get a better view of him.
"I know! It'll be so much fun to renovate this thing. I haven't done a project like this, so I can't wait to get started." Velox answered happily, but before he got too carried away something hit him and he continued, "But this does mean I'll need a temporary home, and I don't think there are any nearby." As he said this, he slumped down by the old wall, slightly surprised that it didn't break.
Rainbow looked at him with empathy, she knew the feeling of homelessness all too well. So she flew up to her own house and gathered some of the stronger clouds and started making a small home for her new friend. "Here we go. I'll make you a temp house. These clouds will stick to the ground, and there will be plenty of room for you," she beamed as she worked on the temporary house. Velox looked at her and smiled brightly. It was not often others helped him out in a project, mainly due to them thinking he was a little crazy for taking them on, but Rainbow seemed so eager to help him it was very charming.
"I can't believe you're helping me." Velox gasped as she finally finished the fluffy temporary home. Standing up again he inspected the work as he entered the house.
"Well we're friends, and this is what friends do for one another. Just don't do anything weird with those clouds; they're the walls to my game room." Rainbow replied, looking at the smile growing on his face. The two smiled at each other then decided to head to the hardware store to get the tools needed to begin the cottage restoration project.
Fall was excited to be in the town of her dreams; and as she, Pinkie and Applejack wandered through the town she was looking left and right for a good place to call home. Pinkie was showing her Sugarcube Corner and Applejack was helping Big Macintosh with the apple stand when Fall was jumped on by a trio of adorable fillies. One was a yellow Earth pony, one was an orange pegasus and one was a white unicorn that looked similar to Rarity. "Ah! Who are these three fluffballs?" Fall asked, playfully screaming to please the three young fillies.
"Ah'm Applebloom, and these are my friends Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle," the yellow Earth pony smiled as she kept hugging Fall's long feathered tail. "You must be one of those dinos we heard about on the radio," she continued.
"It's so cool to meet you guys!" Scootaloo exclaimed as she jumped off of Fall's back, followed by the other two.
Fall looked at Sweetie Belle, who was still inspecting the Falcarius in front of her, particularly her long claws, her elegant neck and small head on the end. "I like you. You're cool-looking," Sweetie noted cutely as she kept examing the new visitor. All of the attention was making Fall blush, although she did wish a certain teenage dragon was also inspecting her. She still was unsure as to what those feelings were, surely not love. She was too mature to have a silly wee crush on the guy, love was finicky anyway. But the thing about Spike was just how kind he was to Fall; during the entire time in Raptania he never treated her with disrespect, and she appreciated that.
Applejack meanwhile was focusing on her job. To her the raptors being in Ponyville was just...meh. That was all she could say about it, they were just there. Things wouldn't be that different, other than a few new customers, but that was it. New neighbours, but no more surely. However Pinkie Pie was already planning a huge "Welcome to Ponyville" party for the raptors, and was upstairs making the enormous banner that would drape Town Hall; using some of the new party materials Party Favor had got her for her birthday. She liked Party Favor a great deal; ever since she went to the Equal Village she and Party Favor had remained in contact, sending each other gifts on special occasions and letters every two months. She would quickly deny the idea of having feelings for him, but a small part of her wished she did.
It wasn't soon before Fall had to leave to find herself a house. She had handed in her resume to the Cakes so she could work with them, but now was worrying about where her home would be as she wandered throughout the town. House after house went past, already sold to eager ponies or raptors; and this was starting to unnerve Fall. She assumed it would be easy to get a home, after all it was easy for everyone else; but now she was regretting getting the job first, then the house. At long last, she came across Pine Leaf, who was now much happier thanks to his lesbian friends and their therapy. "Excuse me sir, I'm looking for a medium-sized house?" Fall asked softly.
Pine beamed as he looked at the Falcarius and exclaimed happily, "Of course! I have just the house for you! Follow me!" He bounced towards the house in a manner not dissimilar to Pinkie, one would think they were closely related. The house in question was a large chocolate brown house with an ebony roof that steeply yet gently sloped down and created an overlap around the house. A large oak door with a Victorian-style doorknob held the entrance to this humble abode.
Fall inspected the house with great interest, it looked perfect for her. "I'll take it sir." she stated, then looked at Pine, who was still bouncing up and down. "Sir," she continued, "you can stop bouncing now"
"Sorry. I'm just so excited about this place!" Pine smiled before he stopped bouncing and continued in a serious tone, "So this is a two bedroom, two bathroom, you know your standard home. However it does have a library room situated in the east of the house, and there is a study room next door to that in which you can convert into anything: a bedroom, a living room, anything!"
"I see. And the price?" Fall asked softly.
"Three thousand bits, marked down from eight thousand." Pine answered kindly then smiled again. Fall checked her wallet to check if she had the money to purchase the house that was standing in front of her awaiting an owner, and her mind was buzzing with the excitement of owning not only a gorgeous house, but a house in the town she had always dreamed of living in.
Pulling out the mediocre-sized pouch of bits in her bag Fall handed the bits to Pine, who placed the bits into his small portable cash register that he had forgotten earlier in the day. "Thank you sir. Have a lovely day." she beamed as Pine handed her the key and she opened the door to her humble abode.
If there was ever a time when Zhao could say he was bitter, today was definitely that day. Not only had some of the ponies given him and his friends bizarre looks, they also hadn't yet found a good house, and to top it all off, Zhao was complaining about why he, arguably one of the mascots of this series, was in the final section of finding houses. Apsara kept comforting him by saying that the author simply planned it this way so that it could feel more flowing, but Zhao was complaining that maybe the author had simply made up a structure while on his way to a bus stop and didn't bother to change it. Yuan simply sighed at her so-called brother and once again slapped him across the head.
"Zhao, look. You need to stop blaming whoever this "author" guy is and just focus on what we're doing right now." Yuan scolded as the trio flapped around the town, looking through house after house. Apsara was humming softly to herself as she flew, feeling more at home than her friends did amongst the ponies and wildlife. Zhao looked back at her and smiled softly, he was glad his so-called sister had picked a good bird to be her partner.
The trio flew across town until they saw Fluttershy with a grey Earth pony mare with 3 purple marbles for a cutie mark helping to lift a large treehouse into the large elm tree for the animals. Fluttershy was continually warning the mare to be careful, and the mare was mhm'ing in agreement. Yuan looked at the treehouse with great interest, it looked perfect for the trio. Tall corridors flowed along the branches into spacious rooms; mottled green camouflaged the house in the tree to give it its own charm. But the only issue was that this treehouse was for birds, not dinosaurs; or at least for the moment. "Hey Fluttershy. How big is this treehouse you're putting up?" Yuan asked calmly.
"Well Yuan it has space to accommodate 4 large macaws, why do you ask?" Fluttershy softly replied; however her mind was starting to preoccupy itself with the stunning Austroraptor Cabazi that had shown his love for her just six hours ago, and the musings of being with him were making her smile the brightest smile.
Yuan tried hard to word her answer in a way that would not come out as desperate, and she requested, "Because we were wondering if we could use it as our house, since there's no normal house that really suits our type of living." As she said this, the treehouse was placed nicely into the elm tree, and it intrigued Zhao and Apsara into the house just as much as Yuan was. The two were very giddy, and eagerly awaited Fluttershy's response.
"W-well... I think Marble and I would have to make a proper door for it first, right Marble?" she smiled softly, trying to subside the thoughts of Cabazi in her head; while shifting to the right slightly to reveal Marble Pie hiding behind Fluttershy. Her uncovered fuschia eye scanned the trio from right to left to right again.
"M......mhm." Marble murmured softly as she tried to hide herself again in shyness. The trio simply looked at her in confusion; Yuan's confusion was how a pony could be shyer than Fluttershy; Apsara's was how such a timid mare could be so good with construction, and Zhao's was how Marble could be Pinkie's twin when the two looked nothing alike apart from the fact that they were both Earth ponies.
"In that case we'll take it!" Apsara blurted out suddenly, making the two mares jump a foot backwards, causing Apsara to blush and giggle out of embarrassment. "Hehe, sorry about that you two. I'm just so excited to be getting a house!" she continued. The mares simply smiled at the Apsaravis as Marble left to make the house's door.
"So...................shall we go to the bar?" Zhao asked, looking at Yuan and Apsara innocently. The two simply sighed and nodded slowly, causing Zhao to jump and down excitedly as he started to fly towards a quaint little red building with golden letters which read "The Watering Hole".
Inside the bar maroon walls accompanied orange-yellow wooden floors that emanated comfort onto Kin's feet. He wandered closer to the purple Earth pony mare working behind the red bar counter. Velox and Zhao followed him into the pub and sat on the tall stools. Berry Punch looked at the new raptors sitting in her bar; she had never seen creatures like them; but her oath as a barkeeper restrained her parents' racial slurs that was always in her head. "Hey there boys," she purred, "Whatcha havin'?"
Velox was the first to speak as Ostrom, Key and Reed also paced in, followed by Lemur. "Uh I'll have a pint of the Apple Acres cider please." Velox stated as the others sat down at the oak tables near the bar. Berry nodded as she grabbed a pint glass from the shelves and poured the cider into the glass, handing the finished drink to the Ornithomimus, who lightly sipped the cider before putting the glass back on the faded coaster.
Kin and Zhao both ordered the same drink, although Zhao ordered it in a smaller quantity due to his smaller size and tolerance; while Ostrom wandered slowly up to the counter and sat next to Kin, trying not to make conversation, since most of the raptors he knew had one topic in mind to talk about. He raised his head and just as he was about to make his order, Kin interrupted, "Hey Ostrom. How are things between you and your lovebug?"
Ostrom angrily blushed out of embarrassment and glared at Kin. "Look, there is nothing going on between me and Twilight and there never will be, understand?" he snapped as he pointed out his drink of choice and Berry poured some into another pint glass, handing the drink to Ostrom; who quickly began to down the lager.
"You know, the more you deny your feelings, the more we'll believe you have them," Kin explained softly as he sipped his cider slowly. Velox chuckled softly as he finished his own cider and examined the pub. Many ponies of various pastel colours, varying from unicorns, pegasi and Earth ponies, sat around many tables and blathered on about their day. All of them seemed to be talking about the raptors they had met today, and the comments were mostly positive, even though many were saying that the raptors were bizarre.
But before Velox could turn back to his friends, a cream unicorn stallion with a light red mane and tail that a mint green stripe flowed through, cyan eyes and a tipped salt shaker cutie mark wandered up to him and murmured, "Hey. Are you the Ornithomimus that beat up my older brother earlier?"
Velox was secretly very worried, if this stallion knew what happened who knew what he was going to do? "Y-yeah...that was me..." he replied reluctantly, awaiting a fight or even a scolding.
The unicorn simply laughed for a good ten seconds before he smiled and explained, "Man you are the best! It's about time somepony kicked his flank and taught him a lesson! Name's Elstar by the way, but everyone just calls me Apple."
"Velox. Nice to meet you Apple," Velox muttered softly.
"Huh. I thought you guys would be kinda strange. But I'll be honest, having you guys around is gonna make life so much more fun," Apple continued, "Hope you guys will stay around. Would be nice to have new friends"
"It may take a while to get settled in properly, but I think we'll fit in well here," Velox replied, "But one thing's for certain. Life's not gonna be dull any more." The group of raptors all finished their respective drinks and began to engage in the conversations they had in mind.
THE END
Author's Note
I'd like to thank you all for reading the newest Raptania story. It took a long while to write, but I hope that you all enjoy it thoroughly...
"...............Wait a minute. What about the unpacking and all that stuff?"
Zhao, could you stop invading all my Raptania author notes?! I wanted this to be finished.
"Okay mate. I'll just go back to staying in the back of your head"
...Anyway, the next Raptania story will be "Apple to the Claw"