Just so there is no confusion this has nothing to do with the Alien or Predator series.
It was a typical day in Ponyville. The sky was clear except for a few clouds that were scattered throughout the otherwise blue sky. It was about midday and the sun was up fully and shone brightly through the streets of Ponyville. Everypony was going on with their daily business, some were out on the street selling various foods and other goods, others were buying whatever goods were on sale, some were out enjoying the nice day while fillies and foals were in school eagerly awaitng for the school day to come to an end so they could go out and enjoy the day as well.
Tyranno sat alone in Sugarcube Corner with several other ponies sitting around the place chatting with one another. He was bored out of his mind. Princess Celestia had called Twilight and the others up to Canterlot for something of importance, she didn't explain in the letter she sent what it was for only that she needed them in Canterlot as soon as possible, he asked if he should go with them but Twilight reccommended that he stay in Ponyville while they were gone, after all that he had been through over the past four months she decided he needed a break, after all he was only out of the hospital two weeks ago after recovering from the last incident, so he was alone for the day.
The dark green earth pony found that whenever he was on his own he would always be overcome with boredom from not having anyone to talk to. He didn't have much friends outside of Twilight and the others, he managed to be friendly with Applejacks brother Big Macintosh again but things still weren't the best between the two and as well he was always busy so it was hard for the two to properly spend time together and talk things out.
"Here's your order Tyranno" Mr Cake said placing a plate with a piece of chocolate cake on it on the table. "That'll be three bits"
"Here you go" Tyranno said handing over the money. "Thank you"
"Enjoy"
At the edge of the Everfree Forest three husky pegasus were busy clearing clouds away. While they were carrying it out they were boasting about their physical strength to one another by exagerating the amount of weights they could lift.
"Oh please Hoops my grandmother can lift more than you"
"Oh yeah Dumb-Bell wanna prove it once we're done this"
"Your on"
While the three proceeded with clearing the clouds a they heard something come from within the forest, it was a manticore except it sounded like it was in pain. Instantly the three stopped moving the clouds from the shock of hearing it.
"Whoa what do think happened ?" asked Score.
"What do you think is after happening ? Some manticore just got thrashed" Dumb-Bell replied.
"Yeah but what do you think could do that to a manticore ?"
"I dunno, you guys wanna find out ?" Dumb-Bell said grinning deviously.
"What are you crazy ?" Hoops interjected. "Havent you heard about what goes on in the Everfree Forest"
"Aww is the wittle baby afwaid of a few old mares tales ?" he taunted. "Come on what do you think is going to happen ?"
"I agree with Hoops on this, besides we have a job to do"
"Fine then you two scaredy cats stay here, I'll find out on my own, unlike you two I'm not afraid of a bunch of filly stories" Dumb-Bell said before flying off into the forest.
While he was flying through the forest another roar could be heard but this one was alot lower than the previous one, then it was followed by the roar of something else, something that sounded much bigger than a manticore. Any normal pony would have immediatley went back after hearing such an earsplitting sound, but the overconfident and cocky Dumb-Bell wasn't deterred by this.
After about five minutes of flying he had finally found the manticores roar had come from. The sight of it shocked him. Lying on its side was the body covered with large tooth marks, of the now dead manticore with a large pool of blood coming from where its head once was. He looked around the area, there were several trees that had been broken and blood staains scattered around the spot where a seemingly brutal fight had taken place.
"Whoa" he said still looking around the place. Then right next to a large tree he saw the head of the manticore. Now he was beginning to get scared, the only thing he knew that could do that to a manticore was a dragon and there was no signs of any fire being used during the fight. The sound of something snapping follwed by a low growl hit his ears. This frightened a little.
"H Hoops ? Score ? Is that you ?"
There was no reply. He quickly moved his head around the area scanning for whatever made the noise. He began shaking.
"Ok guys real funny come on out now" there was a hint of fear in his voice. Once again there was no reply except for an even louder growl. By now he was overcome with and took to the air. He then realised that because he had flown so fast into the forest he had completely forgotten which way he had come in.
"Oh no which way did I come ?" he said frantically searching the area as he tried to remember the direction from which he came. Then he heard the sound of footsteps approaching.
Now extremely fearful he flew off at full speed in whatever direction he was facing while he avoided flying into the trees which were only blurs by his point of view. Then he flew headfirst into something knocking him onto the forest floor and it didn't feel like a tree. It was only a few seconds before he got back up and looked directly into the dark yellow eyes of the creature which killed the manticore, its mouth was covered with they drying blood of it and it was huge
The creature lowered its head down towards him him, its mouth full of large teeth opening as he ran away screaming as loud as he could. Before he could even get anywhere the massive jaws closed on his head and forelegs. The sounds of his bones being crushed were all that could be heard as the powerful bite force killed him instantly. His now dead body hung lifelessly from the jaws of the massive creature.
The creature lifted up its prey and threw it up in the air before it caught it headfirst. It raised its head up in the air and opened its mouth letting Dumb-Bells dead body slide into its mouth before finally swallowing it. The Pony it had just consumed was barely enough to satisfy the behemoths hunger. But that didn't matter for it at the moment because it had just caught the scent of more prey. It was Hoops and Score. It followed the smell of its next kill running at speed that was amazing for such a large predator. When it had got out into the open there was nothing in sight, but the scent of prey still lingered in the area. It then caught sight of Ponyville.
Hoops and Score who had flown into Ponyville, unaware of their friends demise were now after exposing Ponyville this giant of nature which dominated the the land from where it came and whose very sight brought fear to the creatures it shared the land with. It now had a new feeding ground. Nopony knew of the danger that was now approaching them.
"Well well well if it isn't Tyranno." Tyranno was just about to dig into his cake when a voice interuppted him. He looked up into the golden eyes of a familiar mint green unicorn, it was Lyra. "What's somepony like you doing here all alone?"
"What do you mean all alone ?"
"Oh come on you know what I mean, I don't think I,ve ever seen you without one of your friends"
"You're one to talk. Where's Bon Bon ?" he asked.
"Right here" Bon Bon said making her way over to the table from the entrance.
"Hey Bon Bon, long time no see"
"Yeah how long has it been now ?" Lyra asked.
"I think it was before that whole incident in Appleloosa" Bon Bon replied.
"Yeah with those uh uh, Tyranno what were they called agai...?" Lyra stopped when she realised that he had his head down and his eyes closed. "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."
"It's ok Lyra" Tyranno said. He didn't like remembering his visit to Appleloosa. Whenever he did the horrible images of the dead bodies of ponies and buffaloes came back to him, especially the ones of those he couldn't save. When he had returned from the trip word about the whole thing had gotten out fast and him, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were swarmed with reporters wanting to get the whole story. Since then he had become known as a hero for defeating the creatures that terrorised the once quiet town of Appleloosa, though it was only short lived, he didn't mind though, he didn't like all the attention he was getting. He was glad that only Twilight and the others knew about the previous incident when he was out with Rarity and Spike when they were searching for gems, and only they knew the whole story. Fading toothmarks were still visible but whenever somepony asked he just said he got attacked.
"Anyway where are the others ?" Lyra asked.
"Princess Celestia summoned them to Canterlot on Royal business"
"How come you didn't go with them ?" asked Bon Bon.
"They thought I should just stay here, with all the traveling I've been doing over the past few months"
"Oh ok, well then I must be off, I have to get a few things from the market" Bon Bon said and began walking towards the door.
"Alright then see you two later"
Lyra turned to Bon Bon and stopped her. She spoke to her quietly so that only she could hear.
"Bon Bon do you mind if I stay here with Tyranno, its been so long and ..."
"Of course not go ahead"
"Thanks, your the best"
"Don't get into bed with him too fast now" Bon Bon spoke in a slighly teasing tone
Instantly a large blush grew on Lyras face. "Wh What are you talking about ?"
"I've seen the way you look at him, I especially saw the look of excitement in your eyes when you saw him sitting here, I know you have a thing for him"
Lyra tried to hide her blush from both Tyranno and Bon Bon. She looked behind to see if Tyranno was looking, thankfully he was eating his cake and didn't notice.
Bon Bon chuckled before walking out.
"See you at home"
"See ya"
Once she had made sure all traces of the blush had disappeared from her face Lyra walked back over to Tyranno.
"Mind if I sit with ya ?"
"Of course take a seat"
"Its really nice to see you again Tyranno"
"Same here, you would think that we would have seen each other before now, seeing as we both live in the same town"
"Yeah, so how have you been ? I heard that you were in hospital a few weeks ago"
"Yeah, I was attacked by something, can't remember it exactly because it got me in the head pretty hard, what about you and Bon Bon, how have you two been ?"
"Just fine, we were in Canterlot a few days ago"
"Get up to much?"
"Just seeing the sights, it was so long since the last time we were there that we had forgotten almost everything"
"Nothing wrong with that, its just as fun when you see them again it's almost like enjoying them the first time you saw them"
"I guess so"
For the next minute there was complete silence between the two as they tried to think of something to say to one another.
"Come on Lyra just say something, anything"
Before she could say anything Tyranno spoke up.
"You look nice, as usual"
The blush returned to Lyras and one appeared on Tyrannos as well.
"Th Thanks" she said akwardly." He thinks I look nice
"So are you up to anything for the day ?" Lyra asked.
"No not really"
"Well then wanna hang out for while"
"Sure I'd love to"
" Yes ! I have some time alone with him, now if I could just tell him before the day is out"
To answer any questions you might have yes this is a sequel to Devils in the Desert. In fact this story is the third in a trilogy, I know its weird that I'm writing the third before the first is even anywhere near finished but what I was thinking of doing is working on the three stories at the same time and answering questions like why things are bad between Tyranno and Big Macintosh and any other questions that might arise from in each different story.