Tyrants Path

Twilight adjusted a bit as they stared at the field, Big Mac and Applebloom sitting by her side, Applejack and Rainbow Dash walking around for a bit in the empty field. Applejack knelt down, giving the ground a determined look, before shaking her head, standing up. She continued on, Dash giving a bored look around, making to open her mouth, before Applejack raised her hoof, cutting off Rainbow Dash.

Twilight leaned over to Big Mac and asked, "What is she doing?"

"Well, right now, AJ is tryin to find a nice spot to plant ya critter, which won't ruin the field when we fill tha hole back up." Big Macintosh explained, Applebloom yawning a bit.

"It is a tad borin."

"Eeyup."

Twilight sat there, her eyes traveling to the distant treeline, her jaws clenching a bit as she saw something move along the treeline for a moment. She stood up, squinting a bit, before suddenly yelling, "Something is coming this way! Something big!"

Applejack and Rainbow Fash shot up, Rainbow Dash giving a startled yelp and jumping into the air, her wings flaring out as she steadied herself. Applejack grabbed a rope into her mouth and readied herself, twirling it around.

The trees rustled softly in the breeze, Big Mac pulling Applebloom behind himself and whatever was coming. A tree shook softly. Then violently, before falling over, something large heading this way. Twilight readied herself and lit up her horn, glaring at the treeline.

It suddenly burst through the treeline with a thunderous call, making Twilight, Big Mac, and Applebloom jump in fright. Applejack took a step back, Rainbow Dash hovering over her girlfriend, her eyes narrowing at the beast.

That is when everything changed.

Spike gave the fish a soft, sickening look, before looking at the hatchling before him. Said hatchling had really only gotten a small amount of meat from the fish and tuckered itself out. It peered up at Spike, opening its jaws and giving soft, chirp like whining sounds, clearly still hungry.

Spike peered back at the dead fish, almost as if its eye stared at him. He gave a soft, sick look, his tongue flying out wordlessly, before he leant down, digging his claws into the fish. He gave a grossed out look as he felt blood cake his claws, before he ripped off a piece of flesh. He pulled it in front of the hatchling, watching it snap the strip of meat up in its jaws.

The Tarbosaurus hatchling started to swallow the strip of meat down, before opening its jaws, giving a loud chirp, Spike feeding it another, which its swallowed down as voraciously. "Fluttershy, why can't I use a knife?"

"Well, if you use a knife, you may accidentally feed him a bone when you slice it up. I am sure he hatched last night, so, your claws and jaws will have to make use of the fish."

"I am not putting my mouth on this thing."

"I didn't say you were putting your mouth on the fish now. However, if we don't find his papa, he may not learn how to hunt for himself. You will have to teach him how to hunt."

Spike looked at Fluttershy, mortified, before looking back at the hatchling. "Fluttershy, I know dragons are omnivores, but I get my stuff from gems and bones Celestia gives me sometimes! I am practically a full vegetarian! How can I teach him how to hunt if I cannot hunt?!"

"Simple. I will teach you."

Spikes ear fins perked up, making him look at Fluttershy in shock, his hand holding the piece of flesh in front of the hatchling. Instead of eating it, he looked at his "father", then over to his "mother", confused. Was his mother angry at his father? No, something was up though.

The hatchling grew curious, before looking back at the strip of fish, his stomach rumbling at him. He can be curious later, right now he was hungry.

The hatchling jumped up and grabbed onto the piece of meat, dangling for a moment as Spike kept a hold. It tugged his hand down a moment and gave a muffled growl, the hatchling playing tug of war with his "father". Spike let go of the strip of meat, the hatchling shaking his head with it, as if it were a squeaky toy its jaws.

"Sorry, I must have misheard you, it sounds like you said you wanted to train the hatchling and I how to hunt. Like, hunt animals."

Fluttershy smiled, before sitting on her rump, looking at the hatchling. "Not the hatchling. You."

"Why me?!"

"Spike. Dragons are omnivores, and you cannot hope to stay only on plants and gems. As sad as it is, you eventually do have to eat meat, and we will accept it. I already have." Fluttershy stared at the hatchling, "The dragon we kicked out of the mountain, there were bones he would chew on that we found. And bears hunt other animals, yet I help take care of Mr. Bear. I was afraid you might become like them, hunting animals, that you might hunt us..."

Spike sat there for a moment, then spoke, "Sensing a 'but' in there, Fluttershy."

"I...realized that it was Spike I was thinking about." Fluttershy finished, flashing him a small smile, one which made Spike give a honest smile. "Our Spike, who risked his life to save an entire empire. Our Spike, who saved Thorax. Our Spike, who became the king of the dragons, but gave it up to a friend. Our Spike." Fluttershy listed off, looking back at Spike, sending him a smile that could warm even the coldest of hearts. "I realized you would never hunt us, never hurt us on purpose, and you even changed back to your normal self after rampaging throughout the town."

Spike looked at the fish, it suddenly looking more appetizing, before tearing off another strip and throwing it to the little hatchling, who jumped to try and catch it, only for it to smack against the hatchlings face. The little Tyrannosaurid shook his head, before gorging himself on the meat that had unintentionally fallen to the floor.

"So...you said you wanted to name him?" Spike brought up, the little Tarbosaurus yawning and stretching out. He nuzzled into Spikes arm, before biting down on his arm, giving a playful growl. "He seems to like biting."

"I'm not naming him. You are his dad, Spike, you should name him." Fluttershy spoke, making Spike raise his eyebrow. "You were the first thing he saw, so he imprinted on you. He thinks you are his dad."

Spike looked down at the little Tarbosaurus, the hatchling giving a cute, squeaky yawn. Spike smiled, scratching the sleepy little hatchlings head, making jmit rumble cutely as it rested against him. "How about...Chomper? You seem to love biting things, so it fits."

It shook its head, waking itself up, then bit Spikes hand. Luckily, its teeth were not sharp enough to actually cause Spike any harm, giving a playful growl. Spike pulled his hand up and smiled, saying, "Chomper it is."

"Well, we should go check on the girls and see how they are doing. Perhaps, if we can find this things dad, you won't need to teach him. We could, hopefully, return them home, or something close to it."

"Well, we should probably follow them. They didn't leave that long ago, maybe we can catch up to them."

That had been twenty minutes ago, Spike sniffing the air and giving a soft grunt. "Man, Big Mac needs to take a shower. I can smell him from here." Fluttershy giggled, Chomper hanging on her back, sleepily nuzzling into her hair.

All three jerked up when they heard a roar, Chomper jumping off of Fluttershy's back and hiding underneath her belly, his instincts telling him to hang close to his parents. Spike hung his hand out and peeked around the corner of a tree, seeing the girls, Big Mac and Applebloom backing up a bit. Spike ran around the corner, his instincts screaming at him to run, but he got on all fours and ran towards Twilight, protective instincts kicking his fear out the window.

Spike was too late, the being burst out of the trees and was upon Twilight already, a scream cutting through the air, along with a throaty roar.

That would have spelled doom for Twilight...if it weren't for the fact that the scale covered beast stepped over her, ignoring her completely. Spike dragging his claws into the ground to slow himself down, stopping with a befuddled expression.

What had stepped out of the tree line was a massive Saurolophus angustirostris, a Mongolian dinosaur, much like Tarbosaurus. Its head possessed small, mostly hollow crest, perfect for its calls to other members of its species. Its massive hands...well, fleshy hooves had one massive nail on the end, and its feet looked a lot like Chompers and Spikes. The massive beast stood on its hind limbs and gave a deep, resonating call. Twilight, the bookish mare, took out a notebook with her magic, quickly scribbling out a sketch of the beast.

The Saurolophus walked between the two, dating mares, paying them little attention, before stopping in front of an apple tree. The beast lifted its massive arms up and raised its body up, taking some leaves from the apple tree and chowing down on them.

The Saurolophus stopped its chewing and looked down at the ponies, twisting its head to and fro. It gave a low, sing songy rumble from its throat and crest mixture, before returning to eating the leaves, Fluttershy coming around and giving a soft gasp at the massive Saurolophus.

"Woah. Chomper, look, a new friend."

Twilight perked up and looked at Spike, confused, "Fluttershy just said Chomper. Did she already name the animal?"

"Oh, uh...no, I named the hatchling." Spike said, scratching the back of his neck.

"What hatchling?"

Chomper took that moment to scramble out from under Fluttershy, scampering away from the Saurolophus, running up to Spike. Fluttershy walked over, Applebloom giving a squee as she saw the adorable hatchling, the baby Tarbosaurus looking around at the new people, confused.

"Yeah, about that egg I brought back."

Applejack walked over, stopping as she stared at the hatchling, before frowning, "Spike, please tell me that ain't what I think it is."

The Saurolophus decided it was done munching on the leaves of the tree, then stood up on its hind legs. It gave a great, bellowing roar, making the party shrink down a bit, before walking off. The Saurolophus shook its head, giving a low boom that Spike and Chomper felt in their toe pads, before walking off into the forest.

Rainbow Dash zoomed by and stopped in front of Chomper, whose pupils rounded as it saw her rainbow mane. Chomper walked over to her, resting his bottom jaw on Rainbow Dash, peering up at her with big ol' puppy eyes, confusing the rainbow maned mare.

"Uh, what's with the baby bird?"

"His name is Chomper." Fluttershy spoke, walking over and smiling at the hatchling, who was enraptured by Dashies mane.

"Spike, this a baby of that thing that attacked Ponyville."

"I know."

"A baby. Of that giant that decided to rip apart some streets."

"Yes?"

Twilight rubbed her forehead with a hoof, giving a loud groan, before Chomper bit onto Rainbow Dashes hoof, gently, not causing any harm to her. Rainbow Dash was confused, then looked at Spike, raising an eyebrow.

"Spike, can you tell your kid that I'm a taken mare?"

"Chomper." Chomper let go and looked at Spike, running over to him. He looked over and saw Twilight, cocking its head like a puppy, then to his "dad", smelling a small bit of anxiety coming from him. Chomper nuzzled his head into Spikes hand, giving loud, happy chirps, the dragon scratching the hatchlings head and smiling.

Twilight walked over and sat next to Spike, Applebloom hopping over and leaning down, speaking to the hatchling, "Why, hello there Chomper! You are a cutie, ain'tcha?~"

"I will admit, he is a cute little thang." Big Macintosh said, Applejack leaning down with Applebloom. Chomper backed up, confused, before looking at Applebloom.

Chomper launched forward and bit down, making Applejack and Applebloom jump back in fright. In Chompers jaws was Appleblooms bow, the little hatchling running around Spike with muffled squeaks and chirps, ready to play.

"Yeah, he likes taking stuff off of ponies. He tried taking a hat from a stallion who was shopping for pears earlier." Spike explained, Applebloom pouting and giving a soft noise about her bow. "He also likes chewing on gems, but he can't eat them."

Twilight sighed, watching the hatchlings antics, "Spike. You hatched the bird thing and named it. You know when you name things, you grow attached to them." Spike shrunk down a little, his hand claws gripping into the dirt a bit as he was scolded. "This...Chomper can't stay here, he needs to go back to his mother."

"Father." Fluttershy corrected, making Twilight look at her. "The animal is a male, male animals tend to be brighter than females, typically, in bird species."

"Wait...there might be another out there?" Rainbow Dash asked, making Fluttershy nod.

"And...whatever that thang was." Big Macintosh said, pointing his head towards the big herbivore that passed through.

Twilight stopped when the hatchling approached her,.the bow in its mouth. It dropped the bow in front of her, its tail wagging happily as it looked up at Twilight, giving her big puppy eyes. She sighed softly, before looking at Applejack, "We better make the hole bigger than we planned. We'll keep an eye on...Chomper, until his parents are found."

Spike gave a fist pump, having won the argument against Twilight without a word, Chomper running back to Spike and giving a happy chirp. "He...is rather adorable." Twilight said as Chomper snuggled against Spike, the excitement of meeting everyone tiring the youngster out. "Just...make sure Pinkie doesn't throw him a birthday party, he may be a bit overwhelmed."