Twilight carefully treaded through the brush of the Everfree Forest, looking around, and occasionally calling out the names of the ponies she was looking for. They had to be there, after all it was the place where they were last sighted.
Recently, ponies that went into the Everfree forest hadn't returned. It didn't matter what they were going in there for, they just didn't come back. And Twilight decided she would be the one to look for them. Her friends couldn't come, all either too busy to help or not in town, which meant she'd have to look for the missing ponies all on her own.
"They have to be here...", she thought. "It's the last place they were seen! They should be here!"
Suddenly, Twilight noticed something. The woods were... Silent. Eerily so. No birds singing, no bugs buzzing, nothing.
That was when she heard something. A scream. Coming from deep within the woods.
"H-hold on! I'm coming!", Twilight shouted, as she sprinted towards the direction of the screams. She ran through the trees, the screaming being the only sound she could hear. But then, she tripped over a ledge, and fell on a small patch of earth.
That was when the screams stopped.
As she got up, she called out for whoever was making those screams.
"Hello? A-are you ok?"
No response.
"I'm coming! Please, just tell me where you are!"
She then noticed something about the patch of earth her . Its shape was... Strange. It didn't look natural, as if something had made it. It was around 86 centimeters long, and slightly deep, with three, strange, triangular shapes at the front. It looked like some sort of footprint. But what could've made it?
The vegetation also looked strange. It looked to be a collection of unusually large ferns as opposed to grass. Twilight flew up, and landed back on the ledge, and then looked back at the footprint. The vegetation was indeed different, with the ledge having grass, but the area under it had ferns.
Twilight found this odd. She went down again, this time carefully, and continued in the direction of the screams she heard. As she walked, she took note that the sky was darkening. It appeared that night time was coming. Then, she saw a strange creature land on the ground.
It looked like a small bird, but with leathery bat wings instead of the feathered bird wings one would expect to see. It was picking off small insects on the ground. As she approached, it noticed her, and ran towards a tree, before climbing it.
"What... Was that?", she thought, as she observed the "bird". She then continued on her way, observing her surroundings.
She looked up to see the sillouettes of large, flying creatures with long necks. They almost looked like dragons, but their wing tips were rounder.
As the night continued to approach, Twilight lit her horn. She saw a few more strange creatures. One creature looked like a large lizard, covered in stone-like spikes, and with a club on it's tail. It was seemingly trying to sleep, when Twilight's horn light interrupted it.
"Uh... Sorry.", she said, backing off. The large animal then lowered it's head, and once again, tried to fall asleep.
As she continued on her way, she encountered a small, shallow river. When she heard something. On the other side of the river was a large... Thing. It looked like a bipedal lizard with a big sail on it's back, a long snout, short back legs with webbed feet, and a massive tail. She flew over the river, and arrived at the other side. The creature was sleeping, and she felt best not to bother it.
As she continued, night finally fell. Twilight felt like returning to Ponyville, but she needed to save those ponies. She couldn't come back empty hoofed. She had promised to the relatives of the missing ponies she would find answers.
She then heard something. Another scream.
"Help!"
Twilight looked around, looking at the source of the scream. She called back.
"Hello?"
"Help!", the voice said again.
"I'm coming! Hold on! Are you safe?", Twilight said, running towards the voice. As she ran, she continued to hear the voice, calling out for help. When she stepped on something. She looked down and saw what she stepped on.
A bone. A pony's femur bone, covered in bite marks.
Twilight started to sweat, whoever she was looking for was in danger. This area wasn't safe, she needed to find them and get out of there, and fast.
As she continued, she saw as the foliage got denser, and denser. As she got closer to the voice, she found more and more bones. Then it hit her.
Everytime she heard the screams, they sounded the same each time.
And that, is when she saw it. She could only make out it's sillouette, but it looked like a large bird, with a long tail.
The creature then opened it's mouth, and from it, came a sound.
"Help!"
Twilight gasped in horror. She had been tricked. She looked around, and noticed several pony bones on the ground. And on her left, she saw two eyes reflecting the light of her horn. She could make out the creature's face. It had a somewhat long, lizard-like snout, but the back of the head, and some of it's face were covered in feathers.
It jumped towards her and landed on her back. Twilight felt two of it's claws stabbing through her back and one of her wings, and she tried desperately to shake off the attacker, but it wouldn't fall off. She then teleported a few meters away, causing the bird-like creature to fall on the ground, confused. She then started running, frantically retracing her steps through the forest, as she ran, she could hear those creatures chasing her, making horrible, shrill calls as they did so.
Twilight looked back for a moment, only to see five of those creatures chasing her. Adrenaline pumping through her, she continued to run, reaching the river from earlier. Her wing was injured, so she just ran through the river, getting her hooves wet. The bird-creatures didn't care, and continued to chase her.
She ran and ran until finally, she arrived at the ledge. She tried to reach it, but one of the birds jumped on top of her again, stabbing her thigh, and biting her.
Twilight screamed in pain, and shook off the creature, but now her leg was injured, and she was limping. She looked back again, as the bird-like creatures slowed down. She limped towards the ledge, and when she reached it, she turned around.
"Stay back! I-i won't hesitate to blast you things!", she screamed. The creatures simply growled at her. She prepared to blast the creatures, when suddenly, she heard something like a vibration.
The bird things seemed to hear it too, but before either Twilight or them could do anything, the creature closest to Twilight was suddenly eaten right in front of her by a large pair of jaws.
She looked at the large creature to whom the jaws belonged, and it was a massive, bipedal, lizard-like animal with a big head, a stocky, robust body, and small arms with two fingers. It swallowed the bird-like creature whole, the only remaining part being the tail, which was severed when the big animal's mouth clamped around the bird.
The other bird-creatures took off running. And Twilight stood in awe of the monstrous creature beside her. Then it looked at her. She snapped out of her daze, and teleported up the ledge. The large creature tried to attack her next, but she managed to quickly limp away in time.
Twilight limped until she reached Ponyville. The ponies who were outside noticed her, and immediately came to her aid.
The next day, Twilight returned to her castle. Her injuries were cleaned, treated and bandaged at the hospital. The doctors insisted she stayed, but she refused. She needed to know what those things were. Spike and Starlight Glimmer were there to greet her, and after that, she explained what happened to them.
"So that's why you didn't come back yesterday? And why you're so bandaged?", Starlight asked.
"Yes." Twilight said. "And i need you two's help to find out what those things were.
"Excuse me, Twilight...", Spike said. "Should i tell Princess Celestia about this?", he asked.
"Yes, but only once we find out what these things actually are.", Twilight responded.
So, the ponies and the dragon went to the castle's library, and looked over all books on the creatures of Equestria. But despite this, they didn't find anything. Until...
"Hey Twilight! Look at this!", Spike said holding a book on extinct animals.
Twilight took the book, and once she looked inside, she saw them. She saw images of fossils of the creatures she encountered. One of them stood out, however. The fossil of a nimble, bird-like creature. She then saw the name of the fossilized animal.
"Deinonychus..."
She could tell it was one of the things she had encountered. The shape and build was the same. She even saw the hook-like talons which had stabbed her.
"Spike... Write a letter.", Twilight said. "We have a big problem..."
Author's Note
This story was mostly made so i could get rid of my writer's block. I believe it has worked.
Dinosaurs/Prehistoric Animals featured (In order of appearence): Yi Qi, Quetzalcoatlus, Euplocephalus, Spinosaurus, Deinonychus, Tyrannosaurus Rex
