//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: Jurassic Park: Site Pony // by walk-in closet brony //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle Twilight shook her head in a daze. The man in front of her was certainly a curious new find, but what actually had her attention at the moment were the raptors that had just shown themselves a few feet away. The beasts snarled and took aggressive stances, poised to strike. The one in front, the largest of them all, pounced first. "Oh Shit!" For the briefest of moments, Twilight's gaze was averted back to the human lying in front of her. The man shot up and started running through the tall grass. The raptor was still coming, and Twilight hadn't moved an inch. Run. Her mind ordered. So she did. The purple mare soon found herself galloping right next to the human that had broken her fall earlier, and he was running like Nightmare Moon herself was coming after him. "What the- you again?" The man exclaimed as he ran for the hills. Twilight didn't respond seeing as though speaking would only waste valuable breath, hindering her escape. They didn't mean to, but the two survivors ran together for the next ten minutes, taking different routes every-now-and-then but somehow meeting up with each other at the end of each pathway. The raptors were following close behind, hissing and shrieking primal rage at their prey. As crazy as it may have sounded, Twilight was actually bemused at this constant running. Running towards a destination was one thing, but running just because you had to run? The fact that you needed no direction? Somehow, she found it exhilarating. Until the two reached a creek. The man, huffing and puffing his way along the slippery rocks, tripped on a mossy stone. His pack, withered from his previous exploits, hit the ground and spilled open. Twilight stopped for the briefest of seconds to help the man until she saw the white speckled objects in the small box that had fallen out of the backpack. "It was you! You were the one that took the eggs!" Twilight gasped. The man recoiled, looking dumbfounded as hell at the quadruped standing in front of him. Even though it didn't stop him from hastily packing away the container back into his pack, he gaped at Twilight every time he looked up at her. "You... you can talk?" He exclaimed. Twilight was about to answer back when the raptors that had been chasing them emerged from the path they had just taken, racing down the creek toward the two helpless beings. Without hesitation, Twilight and the man continued running, taking the only route that was available to them. A sunken, narrow gorge surrounded by steep sides. Seeing as though climbing up the sides was out of the question, Twilight followed the human through as they ran for their lives. The raptors, wising up to their prey's remarkable speed, took shortcuts over the trench as they skimmed along the rim waiting for a good ambush point. Twilight, trailing slightly ahead of the man, had reached a dead end in the gorge. A high, rocky wall dammed the small valley, insinuating that this must have once been a river. "No!" Twilight said frantically. She was about to start sobbing, realizing that she was going to be eaten, until she remembered a particular escapade one of her friends had gone through. Rainbow Dash, prideful as ever, had raced a plethora of her possible pets through Ghastly Gorge one day. During the final home stretch, Rainbow Dash was caught under a pile of loose rocks... just like these. An invisible light bulb popped up over her head as she got to work stacking the nimble rocks upon each other until they formed a loose staircase leading out of the trench. Taking small leaps at first, Twilight eventually scaled her improvised ladder and reached freedom just as she heard a peculiar gasping coming from where she had just been trapped. The man with the eggs. Rounding a corner, the human saw the rock ladder and started towards it. As if some divine call from the cosmic goddess herself dictated that this man wasn't allowed to live, the rocks in front of him collapsed into a dusty heap just as he reached it, trapping him in the gorge along with the raptors that were very close by. Looking up, the human noticed Twilight and scowled. "You did that on purpose you purple bitch!" He cursed. Twilight panicked and looked hurt at the same time. "No! I'm sorry, I swear I didn't!" She proclaimed in a teary voice. The man muttered something under his breath as he began climbing the wall of rocks. Nearing the top, the human noticed that the strap on the left side of his pack was tearing, the small container housing the eggs beginning to slip out of the now unzipped flap. Struggling to continue his climb and keep the eggs in check, the man began slipping. He clasped his hand that was keeping the eggs in the backpack onto a rock, causing the container to fall out. "Oh no you don't!" He yelled. Twilight watched as the human's mysterious desire for the eggs overtook his need for survival as he pulled a hand off the rocks and grabbed the small package. He was close to the top though. So very close. "You need to drop the eggs!" Twilight shouted as she reached a hoof out to the human. The man looked at her as if that was the stupidest thing ever said. "Are you nuts? These things are worth more than your life!" He yelled back. Twilight felt great pity on the man as she reached further for his hands. He was obviously slipping. Any more stress on the one arm that held him up would send the human tumbling to the ground. "Here, at least let me take that from you for a second!" Twilight said as she enveloped the container in a purple aura. The man, seeing Twilight's magic for the first time, looked both astonished and angry as the purple mare's telekinetic grip caused the eggs to slip out of his hand. Growling in an alarming rage, the human screamed at Twilight. "Oh, I see! You just want the eggs for yourself! Well you know what? Fuck you!" He shouted. As if he was using the last ounce of strength in him, the enraged human swung the hand carrying the egg case up into the air, striking Twilight in face. The impact caused Twilight to reel back as her magical grip on the case loosened, the man holding it falling down into the gorge below. "Oh no!" Said Twilight as she stood up and looked over the side of the trench. The man was on the ground rubbing his forehead which was now bleeding and clutched the egg case to his chest with his other hand. Twilight shook her head in disbelief realizing that she couldn't save this poor soul, and that he was about to die. Tears falling from her eyes, Twilight turned and ran in the general direction her friends had gone. She galloped so fast that she hadn't even noticed the log she had accidently kicked as it rolled over the side of the gorge and fell right onto the poor man below, pinning him to the ground. She also didn't notice the one raptor that had ignored the human and was now silently pursuing her. It's legs moved quickly, saliva dripping from it's eager jaws. Louis Dodgson The log hit him like a pile of bricks. Dodgson found himself struggling to move the heavy object off of his chest as he attempted to push it with his feeble hands. It was no use though, the gnarled old tree's trunk so large that it covered his entire upper torso. He was about to continue trying to remove the log until he heard something that caused his heart to skip a beat. A loud, cacophony of hissing. He couldn't see them considering his current situation on the ground, but he could hear the raptors clear as day as they closed in on him, snarling at each other as if... as if they were arguing who gets first dibs. Thinking about that, Dodgson began silently whimpering to himself as he heard the crunch of dry leaves under the raptor's claws as they neared his position. He felt it in his left foot at first. The beasts removing his shoe then a sharp, painful gnawing. Then it turned into a tidal wave of pain as the raptors bit at it shrewdly until the skin was raw and the tendons had loosened. Finally, in one fell swoop, his foot was gone. He screamed in pain as the raptors chewed madly on it. He could feel the beasts wildly attacking anything they could get their teeth on, the pain coming from it unbearable. "OH GOD! MAKE IT STOP!" He pleaded, but it was no use. He felt the pain of his right leg as the bones snapped off, then the agonizing burning he experienced when the raptors reached his crotch. Shortly after, the carnivores moved onto his stomach. Dodgson could faintly see the head of one as it broke through the T-shirt and the weak skin, tearing out his small intestines like party streamers. The torment was unbearable, and just as he began to wish something would end it, a lone raptor popped it's head up over the log and tilted it's head hungrily at Dodgson. The man had gone into shock by now, but he could still see and hear everything. Slowly, the raptor bent it's head down and bit out chunk-after-chunk of flesh from Dodgson's face. And he had to watch every second of it. Alan Grant The group of survivors had made it off the mountain pass but were still being chased by the enraged Spinosaurus. Grant was the only one to see Twilight go over the edge of the pass, and he planned on keeping that to himself for as long as he possibly could. The others had more than enough to worry about at the moment. "There! It's the jeep!" Yelled Sattler as she pointed towards an opening in the jungle. The Wrangler was parked on an open stretch of beach undisturbed by anyone for the past few hours. All they had to do was sprint the final hundred feet and they would be home free. Malcolm was leading the pack, working his legs as if he never had the injuries he sustained on Isla Nublar. "C'mon! We're almost- WAIT!" Malcolm yelled. Ian skidded to a halt right before he fell into the dark abyss that sat in front of him. Frank, Claire, and Gerry subsequently ran into his backside, almost sending them over the side. "What?! When did this get here?" Yelled Jess. A large ravine cut into the earth, the result of the heavy rain last night caused a shift in the water table, creating this fifty foot deep hole. It stretched across about twenty feet so there was no hope of jumping it. "Great! What do we do now?" Cried Frank. Grant was wondering the same thing as the group wandered around hopelessly, the Spinosaurus getting closer and closer by the second. Hammond stood nearby, leaning up against a burnt tree with a defeated look on his face. If Grant had a light bulb, he would have held it above his head. The tree must have been struck by lightening the night before, it's trunk slightly uprooted and the leaves and branches singed black. Almost easy enough to push. "The tree!" Grant yelled as he motioned for the group to follow him over to the gnarled trunk. With everyone assembled and the dinosaur's roar not far off, Grant began explaining how they could use the tree to bridge the large gap between them and the jeep. From there they would drive to the meet up point and get off the island. Everyone except Twilight... Grant shook the thoughts out of his head and took up position behind the tree trunk. "Everybody push!" He yelled. The group heaved once or twice then, sure enough, the tree creaked and groaned until it's roots snapped and the behemoth of a tree fell to the ground, bridging the gap between the survivors and the jeep. "Yeah!" "Alright!" The group cheered but was cut short when the Spinosaurus crashed through the foliage behind them, roaring bloody murder. "Across the bridge, across the bridge!" Grant ordered frantically as he hastily ushered the group across the tree. Grant made sure he was the last across, pushing everyone along. When everybody was finally on the opposite side of the ravine, Grant looked back at the carnivore charging them. It obviously hadn't seen the large gap in the ground as it tripped on it's clumsy legs and fell, tumbling into the darkness fifty feet below. "Take that you overgrown lizard!" Jess cheered. Everyone stood huffing and puffing for a moment, smiling all the while until a look of concern hit Ellie Sattler's face as she nervously looked around, scanning her surroundings. "Where's Twilight?" She asked frantically. Twilight Sparkle Twilight galloped as fast as she could. She could hear the raptor closing in on her faster than ever, the promise of a fresh meal probably lingering in it's mind. She had noticed it not five minutes ago stalking her from afar. As soon as the raptor had seen this, it charged, scaring the living daylights out of the small purple pony. "No, no, no, no!" Twilight kept telling herself as she felt the raptor's hot breath on her backside. A small gap opened up in front of her causing her to jump, making her just barely miss the deadly chomp of the dino behind her. For what seemed like forever, Twilight galloped away from this monster that never seemed to give up. Just when she didn't think it could get any worse either, she caught a glimpse of another dark form approach her from the side. Another Velociraptor arriving to join the hunt. Tears streaked down her face as she lost all hope of surviving even though she continued to run. After all, running was all she could do at the moment. Run and never look back. Ellie Sattler "I'm going back for her!" Said Ellie as she removed any extra accessories on her at the time to enable faster running. She would need it if she was going to get back to Twilight in time. "That's crazy Dr. Sattler, you'll never get to her in time on foot!" Hammond spoke. Sattler knew this. She also knew that she probably wasn't coming back from this either. "Wait! Ellie, use the jeep." Said Grant. The rest of the survivors looked at him like he was crazy. "Are you kidding? We need that jeep to get to the rendezvous point!" Shouted Claire. "Oh calm down. We don't need it that bad, it's only a half a mile down the beach. Ellie, take the jeep and find Twilight. You know where to find us." Said Grant. Ellie nodded and stepped into the Wrangler. Turning the ignition key, Ellie put on her best game face and floored the gas petal, driving through the dense foliage towards the mountain pass. And Twilight Sparkle. Twilight Sparkle Ten minutes later, Twilight was still doing the same thing she was earlier. Running for dear life. She had passed by numerous rocky bluffs and hills that would only hinder her escape. It was as if the raptors were leading her on, drawing her into an ambush. She galloped through a prickly bush only to find herself falling flat on her face and rolling down a small, rocky escarpment. Finally reaching the end, Twilight sat sprawled out like a ragdoll, at least one of her legs broken beyond repair. She would probably be limping on that for the rest of her life. Who am I kidding? I'm about to die anyway... Twilight's thoughts were cut short just as the two raptors jumped down directly in front of her, a triumphant sneer on their reptilian faces. Twilight could only inch away as the two beasts closed in on her, snarling at each other as they prepared to dig in. Twilight shut her eyes as she prepared for the inevitable. WHAM! With a start, Twilight looked up. In front of her stood a large cumbersome object, equivalent to a taxi carriage back home. On the hood, squished together, were the two raptors as they were held in place by the vehicle and the adjacent rock wall. The window rolled down and a frantic looking human poked her head out. "Twilight?" 20 minutes later... The barge and the rest of the survivors looked on in relief as they saw the battered jeep pull up on the beach. The grill was filled with bits of meat as if the Wrangler had rammed into something organic at speeds faster than light. Dr. Ellie Sattler stepped out of the jeep and ran to the barge, an exhausted purple mare in the crook of her arms. As soon as the distraught woman reached the loading barge, the estranged crew winded up the anchor and set out for the port city from which they came. "Get her some blankets. The poor thing is dying over here." Ellie said tiredly, leaning up against the side of the cabin. Twilight stirred in the cushions she was given, shaken and scared. The humans she had come to know were standing before her, some milling about and others standing close by to make sure she was okay. She had no idea where she was, but in her heart, she knew she was finally safe. The boat, her friends, the terrifying island just a black speck in the distance. It was all so perfectly mind easing. And in a blinding flash of light, it was all gone. Twilight Sparkle The purple mare opened her eyes slowly, taking in her surroundings. She was no longer on the hard surface of the boat, instead she felt a comforting carpet-like feel on her underside. Carpet? She looked up and gasped. She was back in her library, all the books remaining in the exact place that she would have alphabetized them. She went bug-eyed as she noticed what stood in front of her. The two princesses of the realm stared at her with looks of astonishment, observing Twilight's frazzled mane and bloodied fur. But it was what lay behind them that brought tears to her eyes. Twilight gazed upon the sights of all her friends, including one worried purple dragon, standing stock still as they too looked on in amazement at the mess of a pony sitting in front of them. In a flash, they all surged forward asking concerned question after question. Twilight could barely make out whatever they were saying, all she could do was bask in the company of her friends and teacher as tears streamed from her eyes. She grabbed them all in a tight hug and wept loudly, choking on sobs of joy. She was finally home.