Jack Patrick: The Secret World of Mesozoica

After taking a shower, Jack dries himself with his towel, puts on his new clothes, and walks out of the bathroom while holding his dirty clothes and a wet towel. He walks back into his room and throws his dirty clothes and towel in the laundry basket.

"Hey, Rex. How’s your food?" Jack asks his pet.

Rex is munching on a cricket.

"Great. I guess I'll let you eat your dinner while I read this new book I found."

Jack walks over to his bookshelf and grabs the book he found in the dumpster after getting bullied earlier today.

He looks at his stuffed Twilight Sparkle and his Toast Plushie (which is described as a stuffed Carnotaurus with a stuffed piece of bread with butter around its neck) he got from an online store. "You two stay out of trouble while I'm reading this book."

Jack hops up on his bed and sits behind a pillow and headboard. But, when he starts looking at the cover closely, Jack notices this book has a lock.

Jack sighs in frustration. "Now what?"

He mimics Twilight voice. "'I know what to do!'"

Jack acts surprised and sits at the side of the bed. "You do? What is it?"

He shakes Twilight's head while mimicking her voice. "'Remember the times when your uncle would teach you how to unlock things without a key?'"

"Oh, that's right!" Jack turns to Toast. "Toast, do you know where it is?"

He shakes Toast's head while mimicking his voice. "'Toast!'"

"Thanks. You're the best!" Jack jumps off the bed and runs out of his room.

He runs into the bathroom, grabs a needle from the countertop, and runs back to his room before closing the door behind him.

He grabs the book and starts picking the lock with his needle...

ZAP!

"OW!" Jack yelps from an electric shock as he drops the book and the needle to the floor. "What was that for!?" He picks the book up. "How the heck am I supposed to unlock you?"

Suddenly, a tiny object slips out of the pages of the book. Jack looks down at what's falling out. He finds it to be a small golden key that's been inside the book the whole time, and he watches it make a ‘THUD’ as it hits the floor.

Jack sighs. "Well, that was easy."

He picks up the key and sits back on the bed. He’s so excited about this new book he found, even though he doesn’t know if it was a dinosaur book or something more interesting, that he feels like jumping around like Pinkie Pie would at a party.

He pulls out the golden key, and he pins it into the keyhole. The keyhole suddenly starts glowing.

Jack's very curious. "That's weird."

He twists the key slowly, and then, after a 'tick' sound, the T-Rex skull icon on the book starts glowing golden. Shortly after, it comes to life. The glowing T-Rex skull turns to Jack in a 3D effect (even without 3D glasses), and emerges out of the cover in a life-sized T-Rex skull hovering in front of him.

"What the...?" Jack says in awe.

The skull grows a spine from the back of itself, then ribs, shoulders, a hip, a tail, legs, and arms, turning it into a life-sized fully complete skeleton. Then muscles and tissues appear and cover most of the T-Rex skeleton, and the skin covers the rest of the body, turning it into a scientifically accurate realistic Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Jack gapes in awe. "I think I took this dinosaur-loving thing too far.”

The glowing T-Rex opens its mouth and roars. It tries to devour Jack as he covers his eyes screaming, the feel of the animal’s mouth over the boy’s entire body. Suddenly, everything is quiet. There’s no more roaring, and he doesn't feel like he’s getting eaten alive. Jack reopens his eyes to see that the glowing T-Rex...is gone without a trace.

At Chrysalis's secret hideout, the Changeling Queen is sleeping in a newly found bed made out of...whatever it is that real insects often making a bed out of. But then...she senses something that jolts her awake with a cold sweat.

Chrysalis hisses. "She has awakened." She turns to her guards. "Guards, message the scouts on Earth to find that book as quickly as possible."

"My Queen, we've lost contact with the scouts." The guard says.

Chrysalis growls. “That does it! I'll find the book myself!"

"But, my Queen, you don't even know what's on that planet.” The first changeling says.

"Silence! I've been on Earth for a very long time. Now, if any of you want to come, it's your choice."

The remaining two changelings, along with an additional seven, look at one another, before making their full decision.

"We'll come with you, My Queen,” The second changeling says. “But, how are we going to get to this other world you speak of? Or even come back to Equestria? Those ponies and dragon took the ring that controls the portal.”

Chrysalis rubs her chin thinking. "Well, I do know that there are a lot of hidden warp gates on Earth in every location. And...” She grins. “There is one thing we have--completely hidden in our old kingdom--that can help us get to Earth and back to Equestria.”

Jack is scared and confused. What's happening?

He sees himself still holding the book with the icon still here. Jack places the book into his bookshelf, runs out of his room, and into the bathroom. He turns on the sink and scrubs his face with water, thinking he's hallucinating.

Jack looks at his reflection only to see that his eyes are golden. However, as soon as he realizes this, they fade back to his normal eye color. He shakes his head to see if it would happen again, but, it didn’t.

Shortly after, someone knocks on the bathroom door. "Jack, are you alright?"

Jack lets out a sigh of relief knowing it was his mother knocking at the door. “Yeah. I'm fine, Mom."

The boy wipes his face with an extra towel.

After finishing, he opens the door, where his mom stood outside while wearing a red office suit. "I swear I heard you screaming. What happened?"

"I don't know, Mom. I might've been hallucinating or something."

His mother has his book in her hand. "And where did you find this?" She asks.

"That book? I found it when I was tossed into the dumpster. I thought it was some sort of dinosaur book or something like that."

Mom hands the book to Jack. "You know that's not yours."

"Well, someone threw it away for no reason."

Mom glances at her watch. "Jack, I'll be at work. I won’t be back until five, but call me if you need anything.”

"Love you, Mom." Jack kisses mom's cheek.

"Love you too, Jack." Mom walks to the door.

As Jack walks back to his room to put his book back into the shelf, his mother opens the door. When she opens it, she sees that Will is out on the patio about to knock on the door.

“Oh. Hi, Mrs. Patrick," says Will.

“Hi, Will.” Mrs. Patrick greets.

"Hey, Will,” Jack waves, arriving to see him.

"Hey, Jack,” Will waves at him.

"You two have fun while I'm gone,” Mom says.

"We will,” says Will, as he steps inside the house.

"Bye, Mom." Jack waves.

Mom walks out before closing the door behind her.

As soon as she drives away in her car, Jack and his friend walk into the living room.

"So, what are you doing here exactly?" Jack asks.

"I thought that I could come over and we’d watch Equestria Girls." Will pulls out an Equestria Girls DVD case.

Jack smiles. "Well, put it in."

Will walks to the digital TV recorder inside the TV counter. "So, what happened after school?"

"Well, while I was alone, Henry and his cronies jumped me again."

Will sighs. "Man, those guys are messed up!"

"Oh! And I found something from the dumpster!" Jack suddenly remembers.

He pulls a DVD out of the case. "What is it?"

"Let me show you, be right back."

Immediately, Jack runs into his room to grab the book, leaving Will to just stand around while using his feet to rock back and forth.

A minute later, he runs straight to the living room and back to Will with the book in hand. "I found this."

Will chuckles. “A dinosaur book? Really?"

"Well, this isn't just any dinosaur book. It’s really eerie. While I was trying to open it, something really, uh, unexpected happened."

Will puts the DVD and the case on the TV counter stand. “What is it?"

"I don't know." Jack sits on the sofa. “I wonder who wrote this?"

Will sits right next to his best friend. “Have you opened it?"

"Like I said, I was about to, but then something unexpecting happens. First, I found the book lock’s key which fell out of the book. Then, I used the key to unlock it, and then, this dinosaur icon came to life and turned into a 4D hologram of a T-Rex! It tried to eat me, but...it never did because it abruptly disappeared."

Upon hearing this, Will scratches his chin with his finger because he finds everything to be really strange. "I think you're just hallucinating or something. I'm just saying." He says.

"Well, you’re not the only one thinking that," Jack says. “Maybe the smell from the dumpster messed up my brain."

Will smiles and laughs.

"What? What's so funny?" Jack says with confusion.

"Never mind. Just open the book."

Jack opens the cover of the book, and he reads the first page which contains the title.

Mesozoica
By: Starswirl the Bearded

"Starswirl the Bearded?" Will says surprised. "That Gandalf Pony from the season seven finale?"

"I thought he was just a fictional character." Jack turns the pages.

"And what the heck is 'Mesozoica'?"

"How should I know? That word isn’t the name of some seafood restaurant that’s for sure," Jack says. "Did Dr. Henry Wu from Jurassic Park & World write this?"

Will shrugs.

Jack flips several pages, with some, having images of animals from the Maastrichtian Era while others have writings. “And Lauren Faust never mentions dinosaurs."

"Except in the nineteenth episode in the sixth season." Will points.

Jack sighs as he closes the book. “That's NOT a dinosaur; that's a dragon fossil that looks nothing like a real dinosaur; and Archaeologists don't study dinosaurs, they study humans!"

"What about those comic books? There are dinosaurs in some of them."

"Comic books are just fanfictions made by a division separate from the show staff, whatever happens in them didn't happen in the show," Jack answers. "And besides, the designs on the dinosaurs are way worse than the ones from the Jurassic franchise, and that’s coming from a guy who thinks the Jurassic movies’ dinosaurs are designed in a way that’s fun for everyone."

"Let's change the subject,” Will says. “Who the hay wrote that book?"

"I don't know,” Jack says. “It can’t be Starswirl the Bearded. I mean, he’s fiction.”

"I don’t think you should keep it."

"Why not?”

"Well, you found a book about dinosaurs written by a nameless author, exactly like a kid who would take his dad's drink."

Jack shrugs. “Obviously, a kid might have taken his dad's drink and threw it away when it was empty."

"No, Jack, that's not what I'm saying. This book you got must've been thrown away for a reason. We don't even know where it came from, so, who knows where it’s been."

Jack looks at his book, “Well, that explains why I saw the icon coming to life."

"No, no, no, Jack. I'm just saying that this book was thrown away because this one has no author tag, no publish tag, and no company tag. The only tag that the book has is with that fake author tag." Will explains.

"So, you think I need to sell or give this book away?" Jack asks, looking at the book.

"Probably." Will shrugs.

Jack places the book next to him. “Let's watch that movie."

"Okay." Will shrugs.

He stands up, walks over the TV, turns it on, inserting the DVD in the digital TV recorder.

Jack glances at the book. I wonder if someone wants it back or not?

Deciding that Jack wants to take his mind off of the book for a bit, he turns his attention to the television.

Meanwhile, Twilight and the others trek into the grasslands, towards a large town with several trees. Noting that it seems to be getting dark, they look up into the sky to see that it’s almost sunset, so it’s going to be dark very soon. But, that isn’t what caught everyone’s attention the most. What really stuns them, especially those who aren’t Twilight & Spike, are that the sun is moving with no pony magic to aid it.

“D-darlings, i-is anypony besides me seeing the sun setting by itself?” Rarity asks with shock.

“You’re not the only one, Rares.” Rainbow says.

“How is this possible?” Starlight asks.

“Spike and I have often questioned that the first time we visited Canterlot High,” Twilight tells, “Around the second time we visited, Sunset told me about how the sun and moon rise and set, which is because their planet, as well as obviously this one, slowly rotates every day, with one half of the planets being either day or night each time.”

The others blink with complete shock, except for Spike, who already knew this.

“Oh my.” Fluttershy says.

Shortly after, Pinkie spots something not far away from them and points. “Look! A sign!”

The others see the sign Pinkie is seeing, and quick as lightning, everyone runs over to look closely at what it says.

The words on the sign say: Welcome to Bozeman.

"Bozeman? What kinda' name of a city is that?" Applejack thinks out loud.

"I don’t know. But, come on, everypony." Twilight says.

They continue to trek down the area up to a mile before heading uphill. When they reach the top, they find themselves in the distance of a town populated by bipedal mammalian creatures with hair on their heads, five digits on each hand and feet, all wear clothes, and their carriages aren't powered by horses, they have wheels instead. To make sure what they are seeing is correct, each of them grab out some binoculars.

"Oh, my Celestia." Rarity says in awe.

"What are they?" Fluttershy asks.

"Humans," Twilight replies.

"How do you know that?" Applejack asks.

"I've been in the human world before, which is where Sunset currently lives. But, these humans aren't multicolored like us."

"Awesome," Pinkie says in awe.

Using her hooves, Twilight pulls out the ring and the blinking light starts increasing. "We need to focus on finding that book before the changelings do."

"Sounds like a good plan, but, how are we gonna get right past them?" Starlight asks, pointing her hoof to the town full of humans.

"We’re ponies. We can blend in since our species is a common sight to them."

"Okay, but, speakin’ of ponies, we're not as vivid as them humans down there." Applejack mentions.

“She’s right,” Spike agrees, “And besides, I’m a dragon, not a pony. And, if this is anything like where Sunset lives, doesn’t this world not have unicorns, alicorns, & pegasi."

Twilight looks at herself, just now remembering that she's not as real as those humans and that Spike had a large point about the species many of them are, "Oh, right. We can’t just walk in then, we would attract too much unwanted attention to ourselves.”

Spike taps on her shoulder, and points at a pullover pickup truck on a road halfway downhill towards the town. The pickup box is covered by a blue tarpaulin sheet that holds the stuff inside.

"Good thinking, Spike."

"But, how are we going to get past that guy?" Starlight asks with a point of her hoof.

A big and fat male human with signs of a growing beard is standing beside the truck on his cell phone, either talking to someone important or just chatting it up with a friend or family member.

"Let's sneak in and get into that truck." Twilight whispers. “We’ll walk in quietly from the other side while he isn’t looking.

The Mane 6, Starlight and Spike quietly trot downhill without drawing attention from the man on the phone. The ponies and dragon make it to the truck, and they quietly walk right behind the tailgate. Spike quietly climbs up to the tailgate and lifts the sheet up.

Each of the seven ponies quietly climb up the tailgate and jump inside the pickup basket filled with antiques before Spike jumps inside it, closing the tarp behind him. While the seven ponies and the young dragon are hiding, the man hangs up his cell phone, walks to his truck, and he hops into the driver's seat, not knowing at all what is in the back of his truck.

The engine starts, and the truck moves down the road towards town. The Mane 6, Starlight and Spike feel the force of the truck moving, but they keep hanging on.

Twilight pulls out the ring again, and the blinking light increases. "We're on our way, girls." She whispers.

Pinkie shouts. “ROAD TRI-"

But, she couldn’t finish because Rainbow covers Pinkie's mouth. "Pinkie Pie, are you trying to get us captured!?"

Pinkie immediately nods ‘no’ to answer that question, and with that answer, Rainbow uncovers her mouth.

"Sorry." Pinkie whispers.

So, with that, everypony and dragon sits quietly in the truck as it drives along, not knowing what to expect next.