Equestria's Dinosaurs: The Utahraptor Pack

The Badlands - Vora

This couldn't have gotten any worse. Not only did she fail to free her pack from the mammals, but she lost her mate and was now lost in the desert with no water and no way she could hunt with her injured leg. Her dry mouth and growling stomach were becoming more and more unbearable. Vora was on the verge of tears and slammed her claws into the sand.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" she cried into the air. "I'll find you! I swear!"

As Vora continued limping forward, the sound of wings beating and footsteps behind her caused her to turn around instinctually. And her eyes widened in shock, which quickly changed into anger. More of those insufferable mammals were right behind her catching up on both ground and air. Vora snarled at the sight of them.

"Great! Even more of these stupid things to worry about!" Vora said to herself. "Maybe I can eat one of them to regain my strength."

Vora turned to face them and put on a display of a threat: puffing her feathers, flexing her claws, and pulling her lips back to reveal all of her teeth. She shrieked at them as soon as they caught up to her and even did a charge. Or, she attempted to charge only to land on her side. The cream-colored feathered one from the pit came up to her and actually put her wretched hooves on her. Vora snapped her head backwards and snapped at her with a loud shriek. The other mammal, the purple one with the horn and wings, used the weird light from her horn to hold her jaws shut. Vora struggled against the grip of the light, but it was no use.

The next thing Vora knew, the pain in her leg was quickly vanishing. It astonished her so much that she stopped struggling for a brief second to wrap her head around it. She saw that one of the mammals had poured some weird liquid on her leg. Then the creamy mammal walked forward and spoke in a soft voice.

"I know you're angry and scared, but I need you to understand that we're not here to hurt you. We're here to help you," the mammal said. "You're looking for someone, right?"

As much as Vora wanted to get far away from these weird mammals, they did heal her and she knew she wouldn't be able to save her pack without help. She simply nodded her head to respond to the mammal's question. The creamy mammal smiled.

"We can help you get your pack back. You can track them and we'll help you free them," the creamy one said. "We're going to let you go, but you need to promise not to snap at us. Okay?"

Vora glared at the creamy mammal for demanding anything of her but she nodded regardless. Vora's head was now free and she got to her feet. She flexed her claws and flared the feathers on her tail while glaring right at the mammals. There was a new one among them, an orange one with flaming red and yellow hair. The flaming one was staring at Vora with wide awestruck eyes. Vora couldn't help but feel a twinge of pride at this as she was a peak specimen of her kind.

"I guess I don't have any other choice but to work with these mammals. Their strange powers and numbers could tip the scales in my favor and get my pack back," Vora thought while eyeing the horned ones. "Besides, if push comes to shove, I can just kill the horned ones."

Vora turned her head to the ground outside the ring of rock and sniffed the ground. Her pack and the kidnappers were mingled together strongly in the hot desert air. She should be able to track them easily enough in this crazy place with the other mammals as back up. She took off like a bullet. The mammals struggled to catch up to her, but the flying ones managed better then the others. The rainbow-haired one caught up to her enough to look her in the eye.

"Man! You guys are fast! I kinda wish I was a dinosaur, now!" she said. Vora snapped her jaws at her for space. The rainbow one pulled back with wide eyes.

"Okay, okay! Personal space! I see you!" she said.

Vora turned her head back and continued to run, stopping every now and then to catch the scent again or get a quick drink of water at the river. The sun's heat was beating down on her body relentlessly while the mammals were looking a bit worse for wear. She had to find her pack and her mate. She refused to fail them a third time.

• + +

With Velt

Velt was hungry and thirsty as well as in a bit of pain from being cooped up in a cage the entire time. He could hear the voices of the mammals outside the covered cages as they traveled. They kept mentioning going to a place called "Klugetown" somewhere in the southern territories of the Badlands to meet a client there. Velt could now hear whimpering sounds outside his cage and he recognized the voice as one of Vora's sisters, Hera.

"Hera! It's okay. Everything's going to be okay," Velt said. "Vora will get us out of here."

"But you both couldn't get us out last night and she got injured," Hera said with a quivering tone. "How is she going to help us now?"

"Your sister is strong. And she's determined. She found us, didn't she? She'll find us and save us, just have faith."

Hera didn't respond for a bit before she breathed a sigh. "Okay. I'll... I'll trust my sister."

Now all they needed to do was try to hold out and resist in any way they can until Vora found them. Velt was about to try to take a nap when he felt the wagon stop. Velt and the rest of the pack were now staring into the fading afternoon light of the sun and staring up at a weird creature wearing crazy metal garments and carrying weapons. The creature stared down at the pack with wide eyes before looking to their kidnappers.

"So you here to sell some unique specimens?" he asked the kidnappers.

"I am, indeed. I can tell these exotic beasts would sell for a hefty price," the head kidnapper replied. "Ever since Daring Do ruined my archaeological career, I've been looking for a change of pace."

"I see. In that case, welcome to Klugetown, Dr. Cabelleron," the creature said. "You may enter the city."

"So that's our kidnapper's name. Good to know," Velt thought.

The kidnappers maneuvered the wagon through what Velt guessed was Klugetown. It was a weird nest for strange creatures, a lot of which looked like fish, mammals, and reptiles. There was even a tall brown one that looked like a cat with bright green eyes. It was crazy for Velt to think that life other than dinosaurs could rule a world. A curious crowd was now following the wagon after seeing the pack of Utahraptors. Some of the people got close to the wagon to get a better look only to be scared when the pack snapped and snarled at them, but they never went very far. Even the well-dressed cat was following them.

The wagon traveled through what looked like a hub where the inhabitants were trying to get others to take things like food, rugs, or shiny colorful rocks. The smells that Velt was picking up were exotic by every definition. The one his nose focused on the most was the smell of meat.

He and his pack hadn't eaten anything in nearly two days. The hollow pit that was his stomach growled like a T-rex with a toothache. He stuck his snout through the bars of the cage and sucked in the smell of meat as saliva dripped from his jaws. The cat thing looked at him for a bit before pulling out a bag of dried meat from his pocket.

"Hey, bug guy. You must be hungry, huh?" he asked Velt. Velt was too hungry to be distrusting so he nodded. The cat threw the bag of meat in the cage and Velt ate everything, even the bag. Next the cat went up to Cabelleron and spoke with a smooth voice.

"Pardon me, gentlemen, but where are you taking such lovely specimens?" he asked.

"We're taking them to the auction house's animal pens where they'll be sold tomorrow. If you're interested in buying them, then you'll have to wait till tomorrow at the auction," Cabelleron said.

"Oh, I'll be there, don't you worry," the cat said.

Velt looked back and saw the cat looking at them with a strange look. Something about the cat made Velt feel like freedom could come quicker for them they he thought.

A while later the wagon pulled into a large structure where there were lots of other crazy animals of all shapes, sizes, and colors of varying shades. All were kept in cages or pens where the smell of animal fur and excrement hit them like a tidal wave. One of the kidnappers turned to Cabelleron.

"Where do we put these things, boss?" he asked.

"We put them in the back where there will actually be space for these big beasts," Cabelleron replied.

The kidnappers pulled the cages to the back of the huge room where they now sat as the kidnappers admired them for a good while. Cabelleron smiled at them.

"Hope you have a fun night, pretty beasties," the wretch said. "Tomorrow, you'll bring us more money than we ever made stealing artifacts. Sleep tight. Someone will be by to feed you later."

These horrid creatures should count themselves lucky that the pack was in cages. Velt curled up on the metal floor of his cage after the kidnappers left. The rest of the pack settled in with defeated looks in their eyes. Apart from him and Hera, the others seemingly gave up hope. But he knew that help was coming for them. He could feel it in his bones that Vora would come for them. He knew he could trust his beloved mate. He just needed to keep up his faith.