Twilight Sparkle stood at the train station waiting. Waiting for the train, and naturally, waiting for her friends. She had made somewhat of a career out of waiting for them. She chuckled at the thought. She looked up at the sun, now high in the sky.
"About noon" She thought. The train will be arriving soon. According to the princess' letter, She and the other girls were to go and inspect a resort, but Celestia was fuzzy on the rest of the details. It seemed odd that a resort would be dangerous enough to warrant an inspection by the spirits of harmony. This wasn't something they usually did. They fought dragons and saved Equestria numerous times, but who was she to complain? Free vacation! That wasn't something she was willing to pass up and once Rarity got word of it she practically twisted Twilight's leg until she agreed to go.
She heard the whistle of the train in the distance. She sighed. late as usual she thought to herself. A cloud floated lazily above her, blotching the sun.
"Heya,Twi" said a voice from atop the cloud.
"Hi Rainbow Dash, are the others coming?" Twilight asked, gazing up through her sunglasses.
"I think I saw Pinkie and Fluttershy headed this way, but as for Rarity and Applejack, the jury is still out." Dash replied as she glided down from atop her fluffy abode. Twilight looked to the distance and saw Pinkie, bouncing as she normally did, along side Fluttershy who sported a large sun hat.
"WOOHOO! VACATION!" Pinkie squealed as she bounced all around.
"I know you're excited,Pinkie, but this is a serious mission and we need to put that before vacation."Twilight said trying to hold Pinkie still No matter how awesome it's going to be! Twilight thought, containing her true excitement.
"Spike will take good care of my little critters won't he?" Fluttershy asked as she approached Twilight.
"Yes he will" Twilight smiled "He's starting to get a way with animals. Maybe you're starting to rub off on him" Fluttershy giggled at the thought as the train pulled up and stopped with a loud hiss. The passenger cars opened their doors and ponies flooded the station. A midst the crowds the four were approached by a gray-amber colored pony.
"Hello there, you must be Twilight Sparkle! The leader of the little excursion to the park." he said cheerfully as he extended his hoof.
"That's me." She said shaking his hoof
"I am Filthy Rich and may I say that I am absolutely delighted to meet you all finally in person, but isn't there still two missing?"
"Yes we're still wai-"
"HOLD THAT TRAIN!" Screamed a voice from down the street followed by another.
"Confound it, Rarity! Why th' hay do you need all this luggage? It's only two days we're stayin'!"
AppleJack and Rarity came into view, followed by Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, each holding a considerable amount of bags. Filthy Rich signaled the conductor to wait a moment while Rarity loaded her bags.
"Hurry Rarity, we don't want everypony to be mad at us for stalling the train." Rainbow Dash said as she helped Rarity load her bags.
"Oh that won't be a problem, I've rented the whole train just for us! Spared no expense!" Filthy Rich grinned.
"Now you two fillies don't be givin' Granny Smith a hard time. She may still think she's pretty spry, but she's still an old timer" AppleJack said to the two fillies.
"Sweetie Belle, now you mind, do you hear me?" Rarity called out from the cargo car.
"Yes I hear ya." Sweetie Belle said rolling her eyes. Filthy Rich walked up to the two fillies and bent down to their level.
"You girls aren't coming to the resort?" He asked
"No, our sisters said we can't go cause it's official business" Apple Bloom pouted.
"Why of course you two can come! I insist!" Filthy Rich said as he stood back up to look at AppleJack.
"Now Mr. Rich you ain't gotta do that, we wouldn't wanna trouble you none."
"Oh pish posh! It's no trouble to me! My park was designed for kids in mind anyway!"
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom both beamed at Applejack, awaiting her approval.
"Well, okay. But you best be on your best behavior, Apple Bloom!" AppleJack said cutting a stern glance at her sister. The two fillies screamed with joy as they ran into the passenger car followed by Pinkie who shared their enthusiasm.
What did he mean his park was designed for kids? How could anything made for kids be dangerous? Twilight thought.
"What kind of a park is this?" Twilight said as she walked to Filthy Rich.
He gave her a smile "It's right up your alley."
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They took the train all the way to Los Pegasus where they boarded a boat that would take them the rest of the way to the island. The boat was very nice, almost like a mini cruise ship. They all piled on joined by another pony who met them at the docks.
"Everypony, this is Dr. Whooves, he designed the computer systems for the park. He's going to be joining us this weekend." Rich explained. "Got a few bugs to iron out before the park opens." The brown pony said nothing. Just nodded and remained silent in his seat.
Sweetie Belle's ears perked up at the mention of computers. She rather enjoyed computers and she'd gotten quite skilled at them. She often fixed her parent's computer when it malfunctioned. She usually fixed it by tinkering around, but that's how pretty much anyone learned anything.
"Just out of curiosity" Filthy Rich began "How much do you all know about dinosaurs?"
The six exchanged confused glances. "You mean like big lizards?" Applejack asked with a quizzical expression.
"Actually," Fluttershy began "Recent studies have shown that dinosaurs have more in common with present day birds than reptiles. It's really rather fascinating!"
"But dinosaurs were huge! and today's birds are ittie bittie" Pinkie said holding her hooves accordingly.
"Well only the more famous ones were huge, but the average dinosaur wasn't any bigger than a small dog." Twilight added.
"You mean like Procompsognathus? They weren't any bigger than chickens." Apple Bloom stated, earning surprised looks from around the passenger room of the boat. Even Whooves, who stayed out of the conversation until this point, gave a shocked expression.
"I didn't know you knew anything about dinosaurs." Applejack said, ruffling her sisters hair.
"We learned about em in school once is all." Apple Bloom said, trying to hide the truth. The truth was that she found dinosaurs very interesting, but she didn't want anyone to know. She was afraid of being made fun of, because girls weren't supposed to like stuff like that.
"There have also been studies that led to evidence that dinosaurs were warm blooded, further strengthening the theory that dinosaurs are related to birds." Twilight said "But why do you ask?"
"Oh the park has a prehistoric type theme." Filthy Rich explained. "There are a few exhibits and such. I just wanted to know how much you all knew, so you wouldn't be at all bored. Speaking of which there it is!" He pointed to an island cloaked in fog. "The waters could be a little rough around the dock, so please bear with us."
The boat rock back and forth as it approached the dock. Rarity was breathing heavily and fanning her face trying not to get seasick. They heard the ramp lower then clank on the dock.
"Now if you all will just follow me now." Filthy Rich said as he walked onto the dock.
"What about our luggage?" Rarity asked.
"I'll have some workponies come and put them in your room."
They all emerged from the boat and walked onto the dock. Twilight slipped her sunglasses back on. the fog they had seen before didn't really cover the island, it just seemed to be on the water. She heard the sounds of the ocean hitting the dock and the sounds of the birds in the jungle. As they proceeded up the path, Twilight heard something else. It sounded like, Whales? No, whales were much more high-pitched than this. She turned to the others. They heard it too. Filthy Rich, however, seemed to be unaffected. The noise sounded again. It sounded like giant low-pitched horns. As they progressed up the hill the noises grew louder. Then they saw them. about 5 of them dotted the valley below.
"Holy shit." Rainbow Dash said under her breath. There in front of them, perhaps 50 yards away was a full grown Apatosaur. Twilight took off her glasses, her eyes wide.
"Is that? That? That?" She stammered.
"An Apatosaurus? Yes." Filthy Rich said. Holding back a grin.
"That's... That's a dinosaur!" Rarity said, mouth agape. Pinkie didn't move, she didn't speak, she just stood there frozen.
"What's their metabolism? Growth rate? How fast are they??" Fluttershy said, mere inches from Filthy Rich's face.
Filthy Rich chuckled. " Calm down, calm down. We'll explain everything on the tour. The Apatosaurs aren't too incredibly fast, but we've clocked our T-Rex at around 32-33 mph.'
Twilight's head snapped to Filthy Rich's direction. "You have a T-Rex?" She felt her knees quiver then buckle. Applejack and Dash both rushed to catch her. Filthy Rich laughed at this and turned to look over the valley.
"Ms. Sparkle, my Dear Fluttershy. Welcome to Jurassic Park."