//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Equestria's Dinosaurs: The Utahraptor Pack // by Lord Shadow Eclipse //------------------------------// As Vora was racing through the forest, she had begun to notice just how different this place was. Mammals here were a lot larger and stranger-looking. There were no other dinosaurs in this forest. At all. No herbivores. No predatory theropods. The sky was devoid of the sight and sounds of pterosaurs. Not even the smallest of tree-dwelling Microraptors could be seen. But Vora stopped running when she saw something that was truly bizarre. She saw a small feathered dinosaur perched in one of the trees ahead of her. It was small with brown feathers on its back and red feathers on the breast. It didn't have a toothed mouth, but instead it had a toothless beak like a pterosaur. It looked similar to other feathered dinosaurs she had seen, but also vastly different to feathered dinosaurs. It looked at Vora with dark, dumb eyes. The feathered thing made a series of chirping sounds. After some time had passed, the feathered thing flew away. "Well, that creature is certainly weird", Vora said to herself. She'll have to ask her pack about these creatures once she met with them again. If she met up with her pack again. She had to get back to the task before her. She ran towards the giant flat rocks. Since she had lowered herself closer to the ground and had been blessed with the Utahraptor physique, she could run at tremendous speed for long periods of time. This made her and her kind some of the most proficient carnivores ever known. It didn't take her long to reach the edge of the forest and finally beheld the bizarre rocks she saw from the hilltop. And she thought she was starting to lose her mind once she saw the rocks up close. These were the weirdest rocks she had ever seen. She remembered seeing a rock in the shape of a T-rex's head, but that looked normal compared to these rocks. They were certainly tall and square or rectangle-shaped. They were all brown or gray in color. The rocks were all arranged in some form of organized rows. There were all sorts of openings in the rocks, too. Paths were lining the spaces between the rocks, but these paths were lined with even smaller rocks. But amazingly, that wasn't the weirdest thing that Vora had seen when she arrived at this place. It was the creatures that were apparently living in the rocks. These creatures were definitely mammals, that much Vora knew for sure. The mammals were colorful, with each one's colors being different. All the mammals she had ever seen were never this colorful. It was really alien for Vora to see mammals living in what she now guessed was their nests. Vora noted that these mammals had some slight variations between them. Some of them had wings and others have feathered wings. "What the feather are these mammals?", Vora asked herself. A loud growling sound suddenly rang out from her stomach. "Oh sauropod-crap! I haven't eaten in a whole day. Maybe I could eat these crazy-colored mammals. Unless the bright colors mean they're poisonous", she contemplated. As she was trying to decide whether or not to eat the colorful mammals, something moved out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head to see that it was some form of small, furless mammal. It was small and pink in coloration with floppy ears and a flat nose. It was inside this barrier made of wood. Vora sniffed at the creature to see if it was poisonous. She could tell if something was poisonous by scent. This pink thing didn't smell like poison at all. That, and the growling pit in her stomach was too bad to ignore. She walked over to the wood barrier and looked right over it at the pink thing. The pink mammal itself didn't seem bothered by Vora's presence at all. That's weird. It's like this thing has never experienced a predator before, she thought to herself. Maybe she could eat lots more of these things with no problem. And with the wooden barrier in place, they'd have nowhere to run to. In one swift motion, Vora thrust her head downwards and snapped up the pink thing in her jaws. She snapped her jaws around it so tight that it was instantly killed. Her sharp teeth penetrated the thing's skin with ease. Blood splattered her tongue. Vora's eyes were wide with elation. This tastes so good! This is the tastiest mammal I have ever eaten in my entire life!, she thought in happiness. Tilting her head up, the pink thing slid down her throat with ease. In one fluid motion, her stomach was filled with food and satisfaction. Sadly, there were no other pink things behind the wood barrier. But at least her stomach was full. She suddenly got the creepiest feeling that she was being watched. She slowly turned around to see one of the colorful mammals staring right at her. I must look pretty terrifying to this thing, since I have the pink thing's blood on my jaws, she thought. Vora was proven correct since the mammal let out an ear-piercing scream, startling the Utahraptor. Vora took off running past the thing without thinking. She had no pack with her at the moment, so she was simply trying to survive long enough to find her pack. She turned around one of the mammal's nests to get away from the screaming one. But she instantly regretted this decision as she instantly came to face a larger group of these mammals. They all heard the other one screaming and instinctively looked in the direction of the sound. Of course they were all facing her. The looks on their faces were mixed. Most of these mammals looked at her with a mix of shock and fear. Some were even looking at her with fascination. They must have never seen one of her kind before. After some more staring, the mammals all panicked and started running in any direction one could think of. This was starting to really scare Vora. The mammals were making so much noise and were moving all over the place. "This is crazy! I need to get away from this place! I have to find my pack and get out of here! I just want to go home!", she shouted to herself. While looking for a path to get away from these mammals' nests, Vora noticed that some of them were actively trying to approaching her. These ones were different from the other ones. They all were carrying these long sticks with shiny pointy bits on the top. They all seemed to have some kind of yellow scales as if they were trying to pretend to be some kind of ankylosaur. These mammals all had these scowls on their faces and had fury in their eyes. "I don't like the way those things are looking at me. I think they want to hurt me" she said to herself. Before the armored mammals could get too close, she turned tail and ran. She tried to avoid running into any of the mammals but their disorganized running made it extremely difficult for her to get very far. She eventually got away from the onslaught of colorful mammals. She tried to run back into the forest. Vora knew that she'd be safe once she'd be back in the forest. But before she could make it to the forest, one of those sharp sticks the armored mammals used sailed over her head and embedded itself in one of the trees before her. Vora was so startled, she came to a complete stop and turned to see that the yellow armored mammals have somehow caught up with her and were pointing their sharp sticks at her. Why are they trying to hurt me?! Is it because I ate the pink thing?! It didn't look like they were going to eat it! she thought. Maybe I can try to scare them away Raising her head and ruffling her feathers, Vora put on a threat display. The armored mammals stopped advancing for a little bit, but they kept advancing after a moment's hesitation. Why aren't they stopping? Am I not being threatening enough? Vora decided to kick things up a notch by flexing her claws, baring her teeth, and hissing and shrieking at the oncoming threat. This time, the mammals stopped, backed away a few steps, and wouldn't get any closer to her. It was working! She could get away. One of the mammals' horns began to light up with some glowing energy. A blast of what looked like fire flew over her head and hit the tree behind her. Ha! It missed! she thought in mockery. Before she knew it, Vora felt something heavy hit her back and her head. She fell to the ground like a rock. Vora couldn't believe it! The mammal with the weird horn made the branch fall on her! Her head was swimming and her eyes were getting blurry. Twice in a short amount of time, she was forced into sleep by unnatural means. She could see the shapes of these horrible mammals getting closer. Not wanting them to get closer, she snarled and tried to snap at them, but she felt something tighten around her jaws to keep her from opening them again. I really hate these mammals she thought before succumbing to sleep.