//------------------------------// // Sweet Apple Acres // Story: Pinkie and the Raptor // by Lycan_01 //------------------------------// Applejack was having a good day. It wasn't a very eventful day or anything. In fact, nothing about it was out-of-the-ordinary. Which was exactly why it was a good day. She'd gotten up early, done all her chores, and was now reclining on the porch of her farm. Her flank was comfortably seated in a rocking chair, and she had a tall glass of apple juice by her side for refreshment. No crazy plans with her friends, no villainous schemes threatening Ponyville, nothing weird or dangerous transpiring... Just a normal, quiet day. Most ponies would have considered it all quite boring. But Applejack was quite content. Up until Applebloom ran up and started babbling about monsters. Applejack hadn't noticed her sister running down the road and across the yard. Not until she ran right up to her, waving her hooves and screaming. "Monster monster monster Ah saw a monster!!" Applebloom exclaimed. Applejack sighed. "Whoa there, sis. What'd ya see?" "A monster!" Applebloom blurted out, her eyes wide with terror. The front door to the farm opened, and Big Mac strode out on to the porch. "What's goin' on?" he asked. "Applebloom thinks she saw a monster," the older sister replied with a roll of her eyes. "But Ah did! Ya gotta believe me!" Applebloom pleaded. "It was big, scaly, had claws, and was chasing Pinkie Pie!" Applejack's expression instantly went stern and serious. "Okay, time out. What about Pinkie Pie?" "She was hopping along, and the monster was hoppin' along with her! It looked like a giant lizard!" Applebloom exclaimed. Applejack smiled softly. "Sis, I think you might have been seein' things. That was prob'ly Gummy. He must have had a growth spurt or somethin', or yer eyes were just playin' tricks on ya." Applebloom glared. "Ah think I know the diff'rence 'tween a gator and a monster." Applejack smirked. "Sure ya do, sis." She then picked up her glass of apple juice, and took a sip. Which she promptly spat out all over Applebloom. "What in tarnation?!" the orange earth pony yelped, ignoring the angry protests of her beverage-saturated sister. Pinkie Pie had just hopped through the front gate of the farmstead. And hopping along right next to her was, just like a Applebloom had said, a giant lizard. More specifically, a dinosaur. And even more specifically... "Is that a velociraptor?" Applejack weakly asked. "Eeyup," Big Mac replied calmly, despite his eyes being wide in shock. While the Apple clan looked on in horror, Pinkie Pie turned to Utah and grinned. "Hey look, it's my friend Applejack and her family. Wanna go say hi?" Utah nodded enthusiastically. He then dropped into a low stance, and began to sprint rapidly towards the farmstead. He wanted to share the magic of hugs with Pinkie's friends. Unfortunately, it looked more like he wanted to make a snack out of them. Applejack jumped out of her chair, knocking her drink to the porch. She didn't even care that the glass broke. "Get in the house!" she yelled. Big Mac threw open the front door, and promptly raced inside. Without giving her a chance to react, she grabbed Applebloom and ran through the door behind her brother. The moment she was inside, she bucked the door shut. "What are we gonna do?!" Applebloom fearfully screamed. "Hang on, hang on!" Applejack barked, setting her sister down. She immediately trotted over to a nearby sofa and gave it a strong kick. The piece of furniture slid across the room, and slammed flat against the doorway. "Hah hah!" the blonde mare laughed triumphantly. "That should do it." "Ya think that'll stop it?" Applebloom whimpered. Big Mac nodded. "Eeyup." "That thing looks like it's built for speed, not strength. There's no way it's getting through there," Applejack replied with a smirk. There was a loud thud as something hit the front door. Then another thud. A few seconds of silence. Then a knock. Another knock. A series of impatient, forceful knocks. And finally, silence. The three siblings stood there for a moment, straining their ears to pick up any sounds or noises that would indicate what the creature was doing. After several tense seconds, they all let out deep, relieved sighs. "Well tha's a relief..." Applebloom smiled nervously. Big Mac raised a hoof to his forehead, and wiped off a few beads of sweat. "Eeyup." "Ah think we're safe now," Applejack observed. "Besides, even without the barricade, Ah doubt that thing's smart enough to know how ta open doors, anyhoo." There was a loud clicking noise in the kitchen. The three siblings all raced to the doorway, and stuck their heads into the room. They were just in time to see the backdoor swing open, and a velociraptor casually walk through the doorway. Utah paused for a moment to wipe his feet on the doormat, before closing the door behind him. "Clever girl..." Applejack muttered, dumbfounded. "Ah think it's a boy..." Applebloom grumbled. "Whatever..." the older sister rolled her eyes. "Ah think the more important thing is for us to-" Utah turned his attention towards the Apple siblings. He tilted his head to the side curiously, before extended his clawed arms and letting out an excited screech. "RUN!!" Applejack screamed. Immediately, the three ponies turned and ran back into the living room, leaving a dumbfounded raptor in the kitchen. Utah wasn't sure if he should feel offended or not. On the one hand, he just wanted to give them a hug. On the other hand, he was a raptor, and raptors tended to scare people... He figured it was nothing personal, and decided that he would just have to show him that he wasn't as dangerous as they thought. So he gave chase, with the intention of hunting them all down and giving them lots of hugs. Racing into the living room, Utah managed to glimpse a flash of red as Big Mac darted up the stairs. Letting out a reptilian shriek of excitement, the raptor leaped for the stairs, easily clearing the distance of small room and landing halfway up the steps. Big Mac, having just reached the top of the stairs, looked back over his shoulders. The taciturn stallion's eyes went wide in horror. The piece of straw he'd been chewing on fell from his gaping mouth. "Uh oh!" he gasped. "Don't just stand there, run ya buckin' idiot!" Applejack barked from the upstairs hallway. She quickly lunged back, grabbing her brother, and yanking him away from the predatory lizard. Utah hissed. There was no need for such uncouth language! Both ponies quickly galloped away, disappearing from the raptor's field of vision. "Quick, this way!" the raptor heard the youngest pony yell from upstairs, followed by the sound of a door opening. Utah leaped up the stairs and landed in the middle of the upstairs hallway. Just as he landed, he managed to catch a glimpse of a door at the end of the hall slamming shut. Utah's mouth curled into a grin. In the blink of an eye, the raptor hopped all the way down the length of the hallway, and landed in front of the door. With a bark of triumph, Utah grabbed the doorknob with both clawed hands, gave it a sharp twist, and yanked the door open. He found himself staring into an empty bedroom. Utah cocked his head to the side, and let out a few chirps of confusion. He stalked into the bedroom, and looked around for a few seconds, before his eyes fell upon a closet. A few quick strides later, he was in front of the door, which he promptly pulled open. Only to find an empty closet. Suddenly, he heard another door open out in the hallway, followed by the sound of several hooves on hardwood floor. Utah quickly spun around and leaped across the bedroom, landing back in the hallway just in time to spot another door shutting at the opposite end of the corridorl. Letting out a small growl of annoyance, the dinosaur ran down the hall and wrenched this door open too. Once again, he found an empty bedroom. With a growl of frustration, the raptor whipped its tail out behind it. Just as he did so, the door behind him started to open, only to get slammed back shut by impact of his tail striking it. "Ow!" Applejack yelped from the other side. Utah blinked twice. He then spun around, grabbed the door, and yanked on the doorknob. Unfortunately, in his excitement he didn't mind his own strength, and the dinosaur ended up ripping the door right off it's hinges. The result was a very confused dinosaur standing in the hall holding a broken door, while a blonde-haired pony sat in the doorway rubbing her sore nose. The two both instantly froze, and slowly raised their eyes to meet each others' gazes. They stared at each other for a moment. And then chaos erupted. "RUN RUN RUN RUN RUNNNN!!" Applejack screamed, sprinting right past a startled Utah. The raptor let out a series of apologetic bark-roars, before trying to slam the broken door back into place - right into Big Mac's face as he tried to race through the opening. "Mah face!" Big Mac yelled in agony. Utah let out a horrified screech, before throwing the broken door back over his shoulders. Unfortunately, the raptor had left the door on the opposite side of the hallway open, so the broken door sailed through the portal and smashed into some furniture in the other room. From somewhere in that room, Applebloom screamed in terror. Utah whipped his head around, trying to figure out what to do. Applejack was running down the hall. Big Mac was holding his face, which now sported a black eye. Applebloom was screaming incoherently. All over some hugs, or lack thereof. And then, as luck would have it, things got worse. Much worse. "WHO'S MAKIN' ALL THAT RACKET?!" the voice of an elderly mare suddenly boomed from a nearby room. Everyone froze. "Uh oh! We woke Granny Smith up from her nap!" Applejack gasped. "Y'all know what that means!" Applebloom yelled, racing out of the room where she'd been hiding. Utah didn't know what it meant. But he had a sinking suspicion. And his suspicions were confirmed when Big Mac bellowed a simple command: "RUN!!!" And so, the three equines and the dinosaur forgot their differences, and for a brief moment, all worked towards a single common goal - escape. And while the three ponies all made a mad dash for the stairs, Utah decided to take a more... direct route. Pinkie Pie was standing in front of the farmhouse, a hint of worry on her face. Utah had been in there a long time. At first she thought the screams she'd heard had been of happiness and excitement. But now... Now she was starting to worry a bit. She'd already tried the front door twice, but it hadn't opened. It must have gotten stuck or something when Applejack and her family had run inside earlier - they'd been in such a hurry to make their house look nice for company, or so Pinkie thought. But just as she was about to approach the front door again for another try, Utah reappeared. Via an upstairs window. With a shriek, the raptor smashed through a window on the second floor, creating a shower of broken glass and fractured wood framework. He also took brought a purple curtain with him. Utah landed right next to Pinkie, safe and sound, albeit with a slight look of horror in his eyes. "Oh, hi Utah! Wow, I know Applejack has been saying that window needs replacing, but I didn't think she'd ask you to knock it out for her. Glad to see my friends helping each other out!" the pink pony exclaimed with an oblivious grin. She then noticed the purple drapes wrapped around the confused dinosaur. "Hm. I don't think purple is your color. And dresses aren't really your style. But I bet my friend Rarity could find something you look good in. Maybe a top hat?" she asked rhetorically. Utah just stared at her, slightly confused. Top hat? What's a top hat? "Yeah, maybe a top hat and a monocle. Then you'd be a dapper raptor!" Pinkie exclaimed. Utah just continued to stare. "Let's go see if Rarity's busy!" Utah shrugged. Sure, why not? He then nodded his head towards the road, gesturing for Pinkie to lead the way. Pinkie smiled, and then began to hop back across the farmstead's front yard, back towards the road to town. Utah hopped along after her, following her lead. Meanwhile, Applejack, Big Mac, and Applebloom made their escape out the back door and into the orchard. They were pursued by a very irate Granny Smith, who was surprisingly spry when grumpy.