//------------------------------// // The Five Cousins // Story: Raptor // by Dihinner //------------------------------// Gobi desert, Mongolia, sixty five million years ago. Twelve hours before impact. The hot cretaceous sun beat down on a pack of Velociraptor’s. The stench of death filled the hot, dry air as the small predators feasted down on their kill, a Protoceratops, a relative to the mighty Triceratops but much smaller, about sheep size, and with no horns. The shout and feathers of the alpha Velociraptor was drenched in the blood from the kill. A younger Velociraptor, nicknamed White Tip, had just joined the pack little over a month ago. Naturally, being the newest member, she ate last. Life could be tough for the pack of raptors, but it all paid off in the end. There were little other predators, besides the rival Velociraptor packs and the occasional Oviraptor, a taller, more birdlike creature with a peculiar crest and beak that usually hunted for eggs. White Tip gazed lazily into the blue sky. Everything was how it always was; the birds flew high, the mammals hid whenever her and her pack was near, the wait for the rainy season and finally, the earthquakes. Wait what? The ground shook under the Velociraptor, shifting the sand below them. White Tip desperately leaped onto a nearby dead tree to avoid the collapsing sand dune. The entire area was swallowed by the shifting sand to White tip’s amazement. She realised that she was safe, so long as she stayed in the tree. The other raptors were not so lucky. The sudden shaking had taken them all by surprise and they panicked. Some tried to follow White tip, but were too far away from a stable structure. In the end, they all lay suffocating underneath at least six feet of sand, where they would remain for millions of years… Mid-west North America, Sixty five million years ago. Five hours before impact. The two monsters stared down. One was a male Utahraptor. He was about the size of a (currently non-existent) human. The other was a female Dromaeosaurs, (who was about the size of a Velociraptor). Both were after the same thing: an injured Maiasaurus. Under normal circumstances, the Dromaeosaurs would have backed down. But the circumstances were anything but normal. The world was changing far faster than anything could comprehend. A large space rock filled the sky day and night. The rock caused the tremors, eruptions, giant waves and starvation. The Dromaeosaurs growled at her larger cousin while the Utahraptor leaped at the Maiasaurus and tore its throat open with its sickle toe claw, killing it instantly. The Dromaeosaurs pounced onto the Utahraptor, causing him to stagger back and try to get her off his back. All this notice attracted some attention from an unwanted predator. The predator had been stalking her two cousins for the last ten minutes while they fought over the kill. The Deinonychus shifted her tail for better balance on the small hillside. Deinonychus was about half the height of the Utahraptor, making her about the size of a pony. Her breath smelled like hundreds of dead carcasses from her twelve years of life. She silently eyes the kill, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Finally, just as the two other predators were in an all-out brawl with no determined victor, the Deinonychus started to feast on the Maiasaurus, and very loudly at that. The two birds of prey stopped fighting immediately to see the female Deinonychus eating what should be their kill. The Utahraptor growled as the Dromaeosaurs charger her larger cousin. Seeing that fleeing was the best option for now, the nimble Deinonychus fled. They chased her until sunrise, where another cousin of theirs was having problems of his own in another part of the world… European islands, sixty five million years ago. Two hours before impact. Pod was a Pyroraptor, a little bit larger that a Velociraptor. His mission: survive the day ahead. The sun had risen in the late cretaceous sky and everything was a bit more… panicked that usual. He already had his early morning meal, a young Iguanodon, and decided to rest for now. Last night was awful, the constant shaking and the big wave destroying his home and his pack… he’s had worse, but not by much. Pod gazed lazily at the mountain of fire in the distance. It’d been some time since it erupted. That was fun, well, except for his mother being killed by a stampede of iguanodons; the whole experience was a blast. He’d never forget the shaking and the heat of the forest that day. In fact, thinking about it made him almost feel and smell the heat and smoke. Pod stopped his train of primitive thought, ‘smoke? But there’s no fire…’ He got himself off the ground and ran to a nearby cliff overlooking the sea. There, in the distance, towards North America, he saw what could be described as beautiful and horrifying at the same time. A large mushroom cloud of rock, smoke and fire filled the Pyroraptor vision. Unable to take the breathtaking sight all at once, he took a step back. When he did, the world became orange, grey and finally, black as the cloud of death enveloped the entire planet… Everfree forest, Equestria. Unknown years after impact. Many monsters live in the haunted woods of the Everfree forest. Like Hydras, Dragons and Cockatrices. But, it’s not just the monsters that keep the residence of Ponyville out of the dangerous woods. It was the strange weather, clouds moving by themselves without any pegasi moving them, strange, uncontrolled weather and various other things. But by far the strangest things in the forest were five reptile-like birds, all crumpled on the forest floor. Each with a headache as the strange properties of this new land filled their primitive minds… *********************************************************************** Fluttershy was worried. Earlier today some of her bird friends claimed to have seen some sort of feathery bird hybrid. She knew of course, such a thing was impossible. But, decided to ask Twilight about the possibility anyways. She walked through the town of Ponyville to Twilight’s house. Upon arrival, she saw Spike walking out the door. He turned to go into town and noticed her. “Hey Fluttershy,” Spike said. “Oh, hello there. I was wondering if I could ask Twilight something,” said Fluttershy. Spike shook his head, “sorry, she spent all of last night studying about some strange sort of space-time rip thing that may have caused some problems. She’s sleeping right now.” “Oh, ok, I guess it can wait until she’s awake.” Nodding, Spike left to the town market to get something while Fluttershy returned to her cabin by the forest. When she returned, she saw that her windows were smashed open and claw marks surrounding the area. Ignoring the possibility of what ever did this was still inside, she ran into her home to see if the animals were ok. She nearly fainted when she saw the interior of her home. Blood and feathers covered the floor. Bird cadges torn open and strange footprints were on the floor. Fluttershy stared at the ruined house until she heard a peculiar bird-like call from behind her. She quickly turned around to face what it was. Throughout the town, everyone could hear the scream that had escaped Fluttershy’s throat. She was standing face to face with Pod.