//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: Extraction // Story: Friendship is Magic: Jurassic Park // by Triple B Studios //------------------------------// After Twilight Sparkle and her friends had checked into their respective rooms, they convened with the others in the visitor building. The building was a two-story structure, entirely made of glass, with exposed black anodized girders and supports. Being a man of technology, Grant found the building to be determinedly high-tech. Upon entering they were greeted by a small auditorium, which was dominated by a robot Tyrannosaurus rex. Poised menacingly by the entrance to an exhibit area labeled, ‘WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH.’ Further on, they discovered other displays, such as ‘WHAT IS A DINOSAUR?’ And ‘THE MESOZOIC WORLD.’ However, the exhibits were not yet completed, and there were wires and cables scattered all over the floor. Gennaro, being climbed up on the stage and addressed Grant, Ellie, Malcolm, and the three mares. His voice echoing slightly in the room. “We’re about to tour the facilities,” Gennaro said. “I’m sure Mr. Hammond and his staff will show everything in the best light. Before we go, I wanted to review why we are here, and what I need to decide before we leave. Basically, as you all realize by now, this is an island in which genetically engineered dinosaurs have been allowed to move in a natural park-like setting, forming a tourist attraction. The attraction isn’t open to tourists yet, but it will be in a year. Now, my question for you is a simple one. Is this island safe? Is it safe for visitors, and is it safely containing the dinosaurs?” Gennaro turned down the room lights. “There are two pieces of evidence which we have to deal with. First of all, there is Dr. Grant’s identification of a previously unknown dinosaur on the Costa Rican mainland. This dinosaur is known only from a partial fragment,” Gennaro explained. “It was found in July of this year, after it supposedly bit an American girl on a beach. Dr. Grant can tell you more later. I’ve asked for the original fragment, which is in a lab in New York, to be flown here so that we can inspect it directly. Meanwhile, there is a second piece of evidence.” “Costa Rica has an excellent medical service, and it tracks all kinds of data. Beginning in March, there were reports of lizards biting infants in their cribs—and also, I might add, biting old people who were sleeping soundly. These lizard bites were sporadically reported in coastal villages from Ismaloya to Puntarenas. After March, lizard bites were no longer reported. However, I have this graph from the Public Health Service in San José of infant mortality in the towns of the west coast earlier this year.” A large wide screen monitor came to life. Revealing a chart of numbers. “I direct your attention to two features of this graph,” Gennaro continued. “First, infant mortality is low in the months of January and February, then spikes in March, then it’s low again in April. But from May onward, it is high, right through July, the month the American girl was bitten. The Public Health Service feels that something is now affecting infant mortality, and it is not being reported by the workers in the coastal villages. The second feature is the puzzling biweekly spiking, which seems to suggest some kind of alternating phenomenon is at work.” The lights came back on. “All right,” Gennaro said. “That’s the evidence I want explained. Now, are there any—” “We can save ourselves a great deal of trouble,” Malcolm said. “I’ll explain it for you now.” “You will?” Gennaro asked, arching a brow at him. “Yes,” Malcolm said. “First of all, animals have very likely gotten off the island.” “Oh balls,” Hammond growled, from the back. “And second, the graph from the Public Health Service is almost certainly unrelated to any animals that have escaped.” Grant’s brow rose at Malcolm. “How do you know that?” “You’ll notice that the graph alternates between high and low spikes,” Malcolm said. “That is characteristic of many complex systems. For example, water dripping from a tap. If you turn on the faucet just a little, you’ll get a constant drip, drip, drip. But if you open it a little more, so that there’s a bit of turbulence in the flow, then you’ll get alternating large and small drops. Drip drip … Drip drip … Like that. You can try it yourself. Turbulence produces alternation—it’s a signature. And you will get an alternating graph like this for the spread of any new illness in a community.” “But why do you say it isn’t caused by escaped dinosaurs?” Twilight asked, looking at Malcolm curiously. “Because it is a nonlinear signature,” Malcolm said. “You’d need hundreds of escaped dinosaurs to cause it. And I don’t think hundreds of dinosaurs have escaped. So I conclude that some other phenomenon, such as a new variety of flu, is causing the fluctuations you see in the graph.” Gennaro said, “But you think that dinosaurs have escaped?” “Probably, yes.” Malcolm replied. “Why?” Gennaro pressed. “Because of what you are attempting here. Look, this island is an attempt to re-create a natural environment from the past. To make an isolated world where extinct creatures roam freely. Correct?” “Yes.” Gennaro nodded. Malcolm crossed his arms. “But from my point of view, such an undertaking is impossible. The mathematics are so self-evident that they don’t need to be calculated. It’s rather like my asking you whether, on a billion dollars in income, you had to pay tax. You wouldn’t need to pull out your calculator to check. You’d know tax was owed. And, similarly, I know overwhelmingly that one cannot successfully duplicate nature in this way, or hope to isolate it.” “Why not? I mean, there are zoos?” Fluttershy spoke up, brushing her mane with her hooves. “Zoos don’t re-create nature Fluttershy,” Malcolm said. “Let’s be clear. Zoos take the nature that already exists and modify it very slightly, to create holding pens for animals. Even those minimal modifications often fail. The animals escape with regularity. But a zoo is not a model for this park. This park is attempting something far more ambitious than that. Something much more akin to making a space station on earth.” Gennaro shook his head. “I don’t understand.” Applejack nodded in agreement. “Me neither. Ah’m just as confused as y’all, partner.” “Well, it’s very simple. Except for the air, which flows freely, everything about this park is meant to be isolated. Nothing gets in, nothing out. The animals kept here are never to mix with the greater ecosystems of earth. They are never to escape.” “And they never have,” Hammond snorted. “Such isolation is impossible,” Malcolm said flatly. “It simply cannot be done.” Hammond glared at Malcolm. “It can. It’s done all the time.” “I beg your pardon,” Malcolm said. “But you don’t know what you are talking about.” “You arrogant little snot,” Hammond said. He stood, and walked out of the room. “Gentlemen, gentleman,” Gennaro said, gesturing his hands between the two men. Fluttershy's countenance turned sour as she observed Hammond's departure from the room. “He seems really angry.” Fluttershy remarked, casting a fleeting glance at Applejack. Applejack nodded in agreement. “Eeyup. Ah’m ‘gettin the feeling that Hammond doesnt quite like Dr Malcolm,” Applejack stated, crossing her hooves. “Ah only hope he can keep his temper under control during our time here.” “I’m sorry,” Malcolm said, “but the point remains. What we call ‘nature’ is in fact a complex system of far greater subtlety than we are willing to accept. We make a simplified image of nature and then we botch it up. I’m no environmentalist, but you have to understand what you don’t understand. How many times must the point be made? How many times must we see the evidence? We build the Aswan Dam and claim it is going to revitalize the country. Instead, it destroys the fertile Nile Delta, produces parasitic infestation, and wrecks the Egyptian economy. We build the—” “Excuse me,” Gennaro interrupted Malcolm with a raise of his finger. “But I think I hear the helicopter. That’s probably the sample for Dr. Grant to look at.” He started out of the room. They all followed. Twilight was diligently jotting down notes in her notepad, her pen moving swiftly across the paper after she recorded Dr. Malcolm's latest theories and mathematical equations. The subject matter was truly fascinating, and she couldn't wait to share her newfound knowledge with Princess Celestia. Suddenly, a scream shattered the peaceful atmosphere. Twilight lifted her head and saw Gennaro frantically waving his arms and shouting over the deafening noise of the helicopter. The veins in his neck were visibly bulging, indicating his extreme distress. “You did what? You invited who?!” Gennaro was livid. “Take it easy,” Hammond said. Gennaro screamed, “Are you out of your goddamned mind?” “Now, look here,” Hammond said, drawing himself up. “I think we have to get something clear—” “No,” Gennaro growled. “No, you get something clear. This is not a social outing. This is not a weekend excursion—” “This is my island,” Hammond told him clearly, “and I can invite whomever I want.” “This is a serious investigation of your island because your investors are concerned that it’s out of control. We think this is a very dangerous place, and—” “You’re not going to shut me down, Donald—” “I will if I have to—” “This is a safe place,” Hammond said, “no matter what that damn mathematician is saying—” “It’s not—” “And I’ll demonstrate its safety—” “And I want you to put them right back on that helicopter,” Gennaro demanded. “Can’t,” Hammond said, pointing toward the clouds. “It’s already leaving.” And, indeed, the sound of the rotors was fading. “God damn it,” Gennaro said under his breath, before glaring back at John. “Don’t you see you’re needlessly risking—” “Ah ah.” Hammond cut off Gennaro with a raise of his finger. “Let’s continue this later. I don’t want to upset the children.” Twilight pivoted and noticed two children descending the hillside, escorted by Ed Regis. The first was a bespectacled boy, appearing to be around eleven years old. The second was a girl, a few years younger, approximately seven or eight years old. Her blond hair was tucked under a Mets baseball cap, and she carried a baseball glove on her shoulder. The two youngsters gracefully made their way down the path from the helipad and halted at a distance from Gennaro and Hammond. It wasn’t long until said youngsters approached Twilight, with Ed Regis beside them. “I’ll introduce you to everybody, and then we can take the tour.” Ed Regis said, standing before the group. “I have to go,” Lex said softly, “I’ll just introduce you first,” Ed Regis said. Lex placed both hands below her waist. Shaking her head. “No, I have to go.” Despite Lex's pleas, Ed Regis had already taken the initiative to introduce everyone. He began by introducing Hammond, who greeted both Tim and Lex with a warm embrace. Next, he introduced Gennaro, Grant, Elilie, and Malcolm, each of whom exchanged pleasantries with the group. Finally, he gestured towards Twilight and her companions, introducing them as well. “And these three are Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, and Fluttershy.” Ed Regis finished, glancing at the trio. The kids turned their gaze toward the ponies with shocked eyes. “No way…” Tim said breathlessly, shaking his head in disbelief. The first to step up was the element of honesty herself. “Well, howdy-doo, little ‘youngin, a pleasure makin' your acquaintance. Ah’m Applejack. We ponies back at home sure do like makin' new friends especially in Sweet Apple Acres!” Applejack stated proudly with a big grin on her face. Tim glanced at the ground shyly before looking back at Applejack. He extended his hand out at Applejack. “It, um…it’s an honor to meet you.” Tim greeted respectfully. Applejack couldn’t help but chuckle at the boy’s manners but shook his hand anyway. “It’s mighty nice tah meet ya too, sugarcube.” Applejack returned with a smile. Tim released his hand and glanced at Lex. He was about to tell her to say hello to the pony ambassadors, until he noticed Lex was staring wide eyed at Applejack. Applejack quickly noticed Lex’s gaze and stared back with a warm smile. “Well howdy there, hun. What’s yur name?” Lex remained quiet, as a sense of warmth enveloped her heart. The manner in which she gazed at her with those leaf green eyes, brimming with authentic sincerity, was akin to a beautiful symphony. It reminded her so much of her grandma. Her grandma, her green eyes. “Lex?” Tim called. Lex blinked and shifted her gaze towards her brother. “What?” “Are you alright? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Tim inquired, his tone laced with concern. “Of course I am,” Lex replied, crossing her arms with a huff. Tim shook his head in response. Lex beamed at Applejack. “I’m Lex. You three look really pretty by the way.” Twilight's face lit up with a smile. “Aww, thank you.” Applejack chuckled and rubbed the back of her neck with her hoof. "Well, shucks. That's mighty kind of ya to say, hun." Even Fluttershy couldn't help but blush at the little girl's compliment. "Yes, that was sweet of you to say.” Tim occupied himself by arranging the impressions of the slender gentleman in black attire, and happened to glance at Ellie's lower limbs. It was at that moment that he abruptly comprehended the identity of the bearded gentleman. “Your mouth is open,” Lex pointed out. “I know him.” Tim responded. “Oh sure. You just met him.” Lex expressed. “No,” Tim clarified. “I have his book.” Grant looked at Tim curiously. “What book is that, Tim?” “Lost World of the Dinosaurs,” Tim replied. Lex snickered. “Daddy says Tim has dinosaurs on the brain,” she said. “Dinosaurs on the brain?” Grant inquired. “Well, as a matter of fact, I have that same problem.” “Dad says dinosaurs are really stupid,” Lex stated. “He says Tim should get out in the air and play more sports.” Tim glanced to the ground; he felt embarrassed. “I thought you had to go,” he said. “In a minute,” Lex said. Tim turned to glare at his sister. “I thought you were in such a rush?” “I’m the one who would know, don’t you think, Timothy?” She replied, placing her hands on her hips, mimicking her mother's most vexing posture. “Tell you what,” Ed Regis said. “Why don’t we all just head on over to the visitor center, and we can begin our tour.” Everyone nodded and started walking. After a few minutes of walking, Mr. Regis led the group up the black suspended staircase to the second floor of the building. Everyone followed him in an orderly fashion. They walked down the second-floor hallway, which was adorned with a glass wall that looked out onto a balcony with palm trees in the light mist. On the other wall, there were stenciled doors that resembled offices. Each sign that passed had the word "biohazard" printed on them, which was a clear indication of the nature of the work being done in the area. Upon reaching their destination, Mr. Regis stopped in front of a door and smoothly slipped the card in the slot. The light blinked, and the door opened, revealing a small room bathed in green light. Inside, Twilight saw four technicians in lab coats who were peering into double-barreled stereo microscopes or looking at images on high-resolution video screens. The room was filled with yellow stones, which were meticulously arranged in glass shelves, cardboard boxes, and large pull-out trays. Each stone was tagged and numbered in black ink, indicating the level of precision and attention to detail that was required in this line of work. “Boy howdy!” Applejack gawked. It was then the group was approached by a man in a lab coat. Late twenties, Asian-American, wearing a white lab coat and working at a nearby table, making notes. “Hey, Henry!” Ed Regis greeted. “Oh, good day, Mr. Regis,” Dr. Henry Wu returned. Ed Regis turned to face the group and gestured his hand towards the doctor. “Everyone, this is Dr. Henry Wu,” Ed Regis introduced. “He’s our chief geneticist, and one of the most brilliant minds here at Jurassic Park! I’ll let him explain what we do here.” Henry Wu smiled. “At least I’ll try,” he said. “Genetics is a bit complicated. But you’re probably wondering where our dinosaur DNA comes from.” “It crossed my mind,” Grant said. “As a matter of fact,” Wu added, “there are two possible sources. Using the Loy antibody extraction technique, we can sometimes get DNA directly from dinosaur bones.” Twilight stepped to Grant’s side. She was amazed with the technology in the room. Her jaw hung slack as she stared at one technician peering into a double-barreled stereo microscope. Turning her gaze away she looked up at Dr. Wu. She smiled and took a step forward. “It’s so great to meet some of the scientists behind the scenes!” Twilight conjured her notepad and pencil in her magic. “This is…THIS IS ALL AMAZING! I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS; I DON’T KNOW WHERE TO START!!!” Wu couldn’t help but chuckle. “Well, I’ll try to answer as much as I can.” “What kind of a yield?” Grant asked, getting back on topic. “Well, most soluble protein is leached out during fossilization, but twenty percent of the proteins are still recoverable by grinding up the bones and using Loy’s procedure. Dr. Loy himself has used it to obtain proteins from extinct Australian marsupials, as well as blood cells from ancient human remains. His technique is so refined it can work with a mere fifty nanograms of material. That’s fifty-billionths of a gram.” “And you’ve adapted his technique here?” Twilight asked. “Only as a backup,” Wu said. “As you can imagine, a twenty percent yield is insufficient for our work. We need the entire dinosaur DNA strand in order to clone. And we get it here.” He held up one of the yellow stones. “From amber—the fossilized resin of prehistoric tree sap.” Grant looked at Ellie, then at Twilight, then Malcolm. “That’s really quite clever,” Malcolm said, nodding. “I still don’t understand,” Grant admitted. Twilight nodded in agreement. “Me neither.” “Tree sap,” Wu explained, “often flows over insects and traps them. The insects are then perfectly preserved within the fossil. One finds all kinds of insects in amber—including biting insects that have sucked blood from larger animals.” “Sucked the blood,” Grant repeated. His mouth fell open. “You mean sucked the blood of dinosaurs..?” “Hopefully, yes.” Wu answered. “And then the insects are preserved in amber.…” Grant shook his head. “l’ll be damned—that just might work.” “I assure you, it does work,” Wu said. He moved to one of the microscopes, where a technician positioned a piece of amber containing a fly under the microscope. On the video monitor, they watched as he inserted a long needle through the amber, into the thorax of the prehistoric fly. “If this insect has any foreign blood cells, we may be able to extract them, and obtain paleo-DNA, the DNA of an extinct creature. We won’t know for sure, of course, until we extract whatever is in there, replicate it, and test it. That is what we have been doing for five years now. It has been a long, slow process—but it has paid off,” Wu explained. “Actually, dinosaur DNA is somewhat easier to extract by this process than mammalian DNA. The reason is that mammalian red cells have no nuclei, and thus no DNA in their red cells. To clone a mammal, you must find a white cell, which is much rarer than red cells. But dinosaurs had nucleated red cells, as do modern birds. It is one of the many indications we have that dinosaurs aren’t really reptiles at all. They are big leathery birds.” Dr. Grant maintained a skeptical expression while Dennis Nedry, the disheveled corpulent man, appeared entirely disinterested, as if he were already privy to the information. Nedry repeatedly glanced impatiently towards the adjacent room, while his partner, Andrei Weller, nudged him and gave him a stern look. Applejack observed this and raised an eyebrow at the pair. Meanwhile, Twilight diligently jotted down notes in her notepad. “I see Mr. Nedry has spotted the next phase of our work,” Wu said. “How we identify the DNA we have extracted. For that, we use powerful computers.” They proceeded through the sliding doors and entered a refrigerated chamber. A noticeable, resonant hum filled the air. Positioned at the center of the room were two cylindrical towers, each measuring six feet in height. Along the walls, one could observe rows of stainless-steel boxes, each standing at waist level. “This is our high-tech laundromat,” Dr. Wu said. “The boxes along the walls are all Hamachi-Hood automated gene sequencers. They are being run, at very high speed, by the Cray XMP supercomputers, which are the towers in the center of the room. In essence, you are standing in the middle of an incredibly powerful genetics factory.” There were multiple monitors, all operating at such a rapid pace that it was difficult to discern their contents. Wu proceeded to press a button, which resulted in the deceleration of a single image. “Here you see the actual structure of a small fragment of dinosaur DNA,” Wu said. “Notice the sequence is made up of four basic compounds—adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine. This amount of DNA probably contains instructions to make a single protein—say, a hormone or an enzyme. The full DNA molecule contains three billion of these bases. If we looked at a screen like this once a second, for eight hours a day, it’d still take more than two years to look at the entire DNA strand. It’s that big.” Wu illustrates his point by indicating the DNA sequence that contained an error, specifically located in line 1201. It is worth noting that a significant portion of the DNA that scientists extract is often fragmented or incomplete. Therefore, the initial step in the process involves repairing the DNA, which is accomplished by the computer. The computer will utilize restriction enzymes to cut the DNA, selecting a variety of enzymes that are best suited for the task at hand. The same section of DNA will be analyzed, with the restriction enzymes' points being identified. In line 1201, two enzymes will be utilized to cut on either side of the damaged point. Normally scientists would rely on computers to determine the appropriate course of action. However, scientists also require knowledge of the specific base pairs necessary to rectify the injury. To accomplish this, scientists must align various cut fragments. Subsequently, they would locate a DNA fragment that overlaps the injury site, thereby revealing the missing information. Once identified, they would proceed with the necessary repairs. The dark bars represent restriction fragments, which are small sections of dinosaur DNA that have been broken down by enzymes and analyzed. The computer then recombines these fragments by searching for overlapping sections of code, much like assembling a puzzle. The computer is capable of performing this task with remarkable speed. “And here is the revised DNA strand, repaired by the computer. The operation you’ve witnessed would have taken months in a conventional lab, but we can do it in seconds.” “Then are you working with the entire DNA strand?” Grant asked. “Oh no,” Wu said. “That’s impossible. We’ve come a long way from the sixties, when it took a whole laboratory four years to decode a screen like this. Now the computers can do it in a couple of hours. But, even so, the DNA molecule is too big. We look only at the sections of the strand that differ from animal to animal, or from contemporary DNA. Only a few percent of the nucleotides differ from one species to the next. That’s what we analyze, and it’s still a big job.” “And once the computer has analyzed the DNA, how do you know what animal it encodes?” Twilight asked, pausing her pencil in the grasp of her magic. “We have two procedures,” Wu said. “The first is phylogenetic mapping. DNA evolves over time, like everything else in an organism—hands or feet or any other physical attribute. So we can take an unknown piece of DNA and determine roughly, by computer, where it fits in the evolutionary sequence. It’s time-consuming, but it can be done.” Twilight raised a brow at the doctor. “And the other way?” Wu shrugged. “Just grow it and find out what it is,” he said. “That’s what we usually do. I’ll show you how that’s accomplished.” They arrived at the adjacent door where Dr. Wu utilized his security card to unlock it. Upon entering the new room, Twilight observed yet another room where technicians were diligently working at microscopes. Towards the rear, there was a section that was entirely illuminated by blue ultraviolet light. Dr. Wu proceeded to explain that their DNA research necessitated the cessation of cellular mitosis at exact moments, and as a result, they stored some of the most potent toxins known to man. “Helotoxins, colchicinoids, beta-alkaloids,” he said, pointing to a series of syringes set out under the UV light. “Kill any living animal within a second or two.” Dr. Wu droned on about using unfertilized crocodile ova and replacing the DNA; and then Professor Grant asked some complicated questions. To one side of the room were big tanks marked Liquid N2. And there were big walk-in freezers with shelves of frozen embryos, each stored in a tiny silver-foil wrapper. Lex appeared to be experiencing a sense of ennui, yet she would surreptitiously observe Applejack whenever she averted her gaze. Nedry was observed to be yawning, while Andrei was seen checking his timepiece. Tim emitted a sigh and shook his head, and even Dr. Sattler appeared to be losing interest. Fluttershy gazed around the laboratory in wonderment, while Applejack was attentively listening to the discourse between Dr. Wu and Grant as they strolled. “It’s a little warm and damp in here,” Dr. Wu said. “We keep it at ninety-nine degrees Fahrenheit and a relative humidity of one hundred percent. We also run a higher O2 concentration. It’s up to thirty-three percent.” “Jurassic atmosphere,” Grant said. “Yes. At least we presume so. If any of you feel faint, just tell me.” Dr. Wu inserted his security card into the slot, and the outer door hissed open. “Just a reminder: don’t touch anything in this room. Some of the eggs are permeable to skin oils. And watch your heads. The sensors are always moving.” He opened the inner door to the nursery, and they went inside. Tim faced a vast open room, bathed in deep infrared light. The eggs lay on long tables, their pale outlines obscured by the hissing low mist that covered the tables. The eggs were all moving gently, rocking. “Reptile eggs contain large amounts of yolk but no water at all. The embryos must extract water from the surrounding environment. Hence the mist.” Dr. Wu explained that each table comprises 150 eggs, which represents a new batch of DNA extractions. The batches are identified by numbers at each table, namely STEG-458/2 or TRIC-390/4. The workers in the nursery, who are waist-deep in the mist, move from one egg to the next, plunging their hands into the mist, turning the eggs every hour, and checking the temperatures with thermal sensors. The room is monitored by overhead TV cameras and motion sensors. An overhead thermal sensor moves from one egg to the next, touching each with a flexible wand, beeping, then going on. “In this hatchery, we have produced more than a dozen crops of extractions, giving us a total of two hundred thirty-eight live animals. Our survival rate is somewhere around point four percent, and we naturally want to improve that. But by computer analysis we’re working with something like five hundred variables: one hundred and twenty environmental, another two hundred intra-egg, and the rest from the genetic material itself. Our eggs are plastic. The embryos are mechanically inserted, and then hatched here.” “And how long does it take to grow?” Twilight asked. “Dinosaurs mature rapidly, attaining full size in two to four years. So we now have a number of adult specimens in the park.” Dr. Wu replied. Twilight scribbled her notepad. “What do the numbers mean?” “Those codes,” Wu said, “identify the various batch extractions of DNA. The first four letters identify the animals being grown. Over there, that TRIC means Triceratops. And the STEG means Stegosaurus, and so on.” “And this table here?” Grant inquired. “That’s a new batch of DNA,” Wu said. “We don’t know exactly what will grow out. The first time an extraction is done, we don’t know for sure what the animal is. You can see it’s marked ‘Presumed Coelu,’ so it is likely to be a coelurosaurs. A small herbivore, if I remember. It’s hard for me to keep track of the names. There are something like three hundred genera of dinosaurs known so far.” “Three hundred and forty-seven,” Tim said. Grant smiled, then turned back to Dr. Wu, “Is anything hatching now?” “Actually, there is.” Everyone turned to see a woman nurse looking at them over her shoulder. She gestured her hand for them to come over. “Well, come on. You don’t wanna miss this.” Everyone started towards the incubator machine, where a robotic claw turned over the eggs underneath the heat and strong light source. “It’s turning the eggs,” Ellie commented. Fluttershy then came over at the mere sight, gasping with excitement. “Oh, my goodness!” Fluttershy smiled. She soon noticed five of the eggs made strong movements - a robotic arm steadied the shells one by one. “Look! Look! They’re about to hatch!” Both the scientists and Equestrians joined her, as did Henry Wu. In due time, the egg in the middle commenced to fracture, while the robot claw maintained a secure grip. It is unmistakable: a juvenile dinosaur is on the verge of hatching. “Come on, you can do it.” Fluttershy encouraged. Soon, a bulging crack began to form as a little head became visible. “Oh nelly!” Applejack stared. “Oh my gosh!” Twilight gasped. “Just a little further. You can do it,” Fluttershy added. “Just push your way out.” As the little baby became visible, so did the strands of blood that were covering it. “Oh, God,” Ellie remarked. The nurse reached down and carefully broke away the egg fragments that covered its head, helping the baby dinosaur out of its shell. The little dinosaur cooed at the sight of the giant creatures staring down at it. It didn’t take long for the four other eggs to fracture and bulge. “There you are,” the nurse smiled. “They imprint on the first creature they come in contact with. That helps them to trust Mr. Hammond. Mr. Hammond had been present for the birth of every animal on this island, after all. Which is a shame he isn’t present.” “They’re so adorable,” Fluttershy cooed. The five little dinosaurs settled their focus on the yellow Pegasus, cooing and clawing at the air in front of her. She moved her snout closer to them. “Hello, little ones. My name’s Fluttershy.” To Fluttershy’s surprise, and to the shock of everyone else present, even the scientist and nurse, the baby dinosaurs leaned down and purred. Softly nuzzling her soft fur. “Alright ma’am, this is as close as I can take you.” Bobbie Carter’s feet landed on the earth. She found herself standing at the edge of a precipice. She peered over the edge and the sight that greeted her was nothing short of breathtaking. The vast expanse of the ocean lay before her, its waves crashing against the rocks below, nearly sixty feet beneath her feet. Bobbie looked up in time when the purple Pegasus stallion asked. “Are you sure you’re gonna be fine all by yourself?” “Yes, I’m positive.” Bobbie assured him. The purple Pegasus nodded. “Alright. Well… good luck.” Bobbie watched as the purple Pegasus flapped his wings and ascended into the air. Said pegasus flew farther away until he became nothing more than a small shadow fragment. She turned around to face the dense foliage all around her; It was a struggle to get to this island without getting caught. But what did that matter, she was finally here. Bobbie dimly hopes that she will find the answers here.