Carnivore

by Recteik Shade

A Whole New World

Cumulus spotted a low hanging cloud and angled towards it desperate for a rest. When he reached the soft island of water vapor, he dropped onto his stomach, and sighed. He had been flying nonstop since early this morning searching for any sign of water through the dense jungle canopy. So far he had had no luck spotting anything but Slashers and birds. His first idea had been to find the Slasher nest again and follow the little stream until it met a larger river but it flowed into the mouth a of a cave and had been no help.

It was now nearly noon if the position of the sun was anything to go by and Cumulus was hot, tired and, thirsty. He hesitantly reached into his saddlebags and fished out his canteen, taking small sips from it to wet his throat without using up all the liquid. He would have to be sparing with his water, the last thing he wanted was to run out before he found another potable source.

He returned the canteen to his bag and pulled out the map that Denda had given him to mark any river or lake he might find. He scrutinized it with a frown, the scale on the map was something that he had questioned as it depicted two separate mountain ranges. What was bothering him was the fact that neither range was in sight and no matter how high he flew he could not make out any thing on the horizon that even resembled a mountain. In fact the only thing that was different was that smudge of blue-green to the north that marked the ocean, in every other direction was a endless sea of trees a hundred times the size of the Everfree.

He glared at the map again and read the message scribbled by a little 'X' 'Meet us Here'. After the attack, Jaffar had chosen to salvage what ever he could from the razed camp and set sail to the inland sea, opting to use wind power rather than the Horus's engines so they could save fuel. This had expanded his time table to nearly a week but just now he felt like he would be flying over this jungle for the rest of time and he was not an endurance flier.

During his time in the Everfree he had never had to fly longer than an hour or two looking for the native carnivores, then hunkering down on a tree branch or a wild cloud and start observing. This marathon pace was killing him but he did have some semblance of a plan. Once he found a sufficient body of water he would chart its course to the sea and lead the the Horus to it. On top of everything else he was more than a little bored, he was flying Southeast, the same direction the larger creature had stomped off in. He had hoped to catch a glimpse of it and maybe take a few notes but the canopy was all he could see and he was fairly sure he had passed it by some time ago.

He had been resting for nearly half an hour just laying on the cloud feeling bored before sighing," I guess I should get moving again." He talked mostly just to hear a voice, a habit he had gotten it to in the Everfree. He stood and spread his wings testing the still sore muscles to see if they were stiff. Once he was satisfied that he was limber enough , he stepped off the cloud and slowly drifted South. He cast a forlorn glance back at the cloud and cursed himself for never learning how to make clouds," Looks like I am sleeping in a tree tonight. Fun."

After nearly an hour of flying Cumulus spotted a break in the canopy, a gap that ran north to south. Hoping it was a river, he set his wings and glided towards it. As quickly as he got his hops up they were dashed away even faster, there was no water here the ground was bare compacted dirt and all the trees on either side of the path had been stripped of leaves and there were trees all along the path that had huge portions of bark missing.

He landed on the hard packed earth and looked around, to the north a barren path that stretched to the sea. He could just barely see the ocean in the distance. His attention was pulled south when he heard a series of mourning brays off in the distance. He squinted trying to see what sort of animals were making the sounds but all he saw was a dust cloud on the horizon.

Curiosity won out over caution and Cumulus leaped into the air and winged his way towards the noisy cloud. Much to his surprise the animals were still miles away and as he flew closer the sound of the braying became almost deafening as he flew over head. He saw several large lizards at the head the cloud, their heavy footfalls kicking up fine light brown dust. They were very large each looked to weigh several thousand pounds. He could see more of the same animals outlines, many seemed to be very large though the smallest seemed to be hemmed in on all sides by their elders. As he looked further down the path all he saw was the same dusty haze and the blurred outlines of more of these animals. " There must be more than a hundred." He was in awe of the scale of this herd," Where could they have come from?"

He looked farther south and saw the dust just kept rising as more were lumbering in his direction. He glanced north again," For that matter where are they going?" He hoovered for several more minutes just watching the convoy of animals trying to piece together the scene below and fighting the urge to take some notes.

Finally after a fair bit of internal struggling he turned south again and slowly started to fly along the path. The animals continued to call to one another, as he continued to fly against the current as it were he was forced revise he earlier assessment of the creatures numbers. There were in fact, thousands of them all moving in the same direction, all calling signaling their positions. "This has to be some kind of migration. There is no way any one environment could support this many animals at once."

He was coming up on the end of the massive herd in the settling dust he saw nearly two dozen more all lagging behind most were limping and on one he saw an open weeping gash on its hind leg that spewed blood and puss with each step. In the distance he could see eight of the Ridgebacked predators eyeing up these prime targets. Normally a concentration of predators that large would be impossible but it was actually quite common for large predators to cluster together for the sake of an easy food source. Cumulus looked at the stragglers again," Rough luck guys." He was sympathetic but this was how nature was supposed to work. How life was nearly everywhere save for Equestria where pony magic had long since taken much of the savagery out of nature. The Everfree was one of the only exceptions to that and it was not uncommon for the wild to creep out of the forest to any nearby residence or villages.

He was just passing the Ridgebacks now and in the light of day they did not appear all that different then last night. Their rough scaly skin was dark grey their jaws were narrow but he did notice dark red dapples along the ridges. He swooped low to get a better look, not so low that he was in biting range but close enough that they saw him. They all glanced at him but only one actually stopped and it glared up at him and gave an annoyed growl. He crossed his forelegs and glared back fairly confident this was in fact the same Ridgeback from last night," What still sore?" He asked in a smug tone. It shook its head and snorted and sprinted to catch up to the others.

Cumulus watched the predators follow the massive herd into the distance and turned to face the south. He could not see where it ended but it seemed a likelier option than flying around the jungle with no real direction. He glanced back at the fleeting dust cloud and Ridgebacks before starting in that direction. it was a direct path deeper inland and his best chance to find fresh water,'And' He thought with a smirk,' See some more of the local fauna along the way.'

As the pegasus flew farther south along the trial a dozen pairs of eyes watched from the cover of the dense undergrowth. While above them crouched on a partially fallen tree another pair of burning red eyes watched. He stood nearly twice as tall as the others with feathers as white as snow, though he had never seen snow in his life. His toe claws were dug deep into the wood to give him a solid anchor and his stiff tail held out for balance.

One of his pack below him trilled and chirped quizzically. He replied with a snort and throaty purr, the whole of the hunting party purred and bobbed their heads approvingly which earned them an angry ,but quiet, snarl. They were being too loud and this was enemy territory. Most of this part of the forest belonged to the Ridgebacks and while he was confident that they could fight them off he would just as soon avoid any kind of conflict with the larger predators.

He would not take unnecessary risk but he would not let himself loose sight of his prey. He had tasted many beast and had even sunk his claws into the strangers from the bad water but this flying mammal was like nothing he had expected. There was such a smell around it, a sent that lingered in the air it flew through for so long. When they had tracked it down to its sand wall nest the smell was fading. Up close the smell was so strong it made his feathers itch and his blood burn, it was a challenge to keep from running out of the trees and trying at it it like some chick at his first hunt. He had managed to steel himself and it took little more than a threatening glare to keep the rest in place. However he was already scheming, the scent was easier to follow than a steady blood trail they would hang back keep their distance and watch from the trees shadows. Sooner or later it would have to walk on the ground and that would be their opening.

He turned to the rest of his hunters and gave a quick and quiet puffing bark. They reacted immediately and quickly stalked off into the jungle to watch and wait.

"Wut ya make o' dat Brodda?" Ad'e nodded toward the massive herd of animals stomping down the beach braying at regular intervals.

The Anubis shrugged," Can't say. Do Doc would be da one ta ask 'bout somting like dat." He looked back at the convoy of animals," He prolly saw um dependin' on which way he flew. T'ain't exactly tryin' ta be sneaky is dey?."

"Dats da truth!" He laughed. "Dose tings prolly had him flyin' in circles." He watched the passing herd with interest since the sailing was peaceful.

The Horus was running at about three nauts , which was slow very slow compared to the eighteen the engines could push it up to. The steady breeze was relatively weak but it would have to do. The Horus was about a hundred feet from the shore and it was likely they would be at this for days before they made it to the rondevous point with Dr. Granted and the general mood of the ship was gloomy. The Diamond Dogs had been mopping about and getting distracted easily. Sappra was worst of all though she just clung to a few dogs and cried. The rest of the dogs still followed orders so Jaffar had decided to let her cry it out and hope she would come around. As long as the mutts did what they were told Ad'e did not care if Sappra never showed her face again.

"Brodda look at dat!" Denda pointed towards the shore and he glanced at the distant sand then doubletaked. There were five of those big beasties from last night slinking around behind a bunch of straggling lizards. They seemed to be getting themselves riled up and were sprinting towards the big lizards.

"Hhuuraaaaooorreehh."

One of the beasts bellowed and the lizards did their best to start running. With in seconds the stragglers had left one of their own behind, one who's leg spurted blood and yellow puss with every step. Four of the beasts surrounded it each one biting onto a linb and shaking their heads tearing out large hunks of flesh. The lizards screamed but that did little against the Ridgebacks. A fifth snapped its jaws around the victims head.

While five of the Ridgebacks were working on bringing down their next meal another three were gaining on another of the weakened lizards. It swung its stiff tail at the encroaching hunters but they sidestepped the would be club. The nearest Ridgeback lunged out grabbed its leg and gave a quick twist and back step. An impressive strip of leathery skin and bleeding meat hung in its jaws. Ad'e watched as the other two peeled back and turned to the now dead lizard that the first group of Ridgebacks had brought down.

"Ah feel like we shooda taken som pictures o' dat." Denda said with a grin," Ah can already see da look on da Docs face wen we tell 'im bout dis."

Ad'e laughed," He prolly be sad he missed da show."

The sun was getting low and most of the Dogs were milling around in little groups of twos and threes, whispering to each other. While the glass kept him from hearing their words Ad'e was acutely aware of the hateful glares that were being thrown in the direction of the helm. 'Tings could get bad if dey decide to cause trouble.'

Jaffar had just stepped out of his cabin," How are we progressing?"

Denda snorted," Slowly! Ah seen slugs dat move fasta den we are."

The horse just rolled his eyes," It is necessary to conserve our fuel."

"Still a pain in da ass." Denda muttered.

"It's gettin dark." Ad'e turned to Jaffar," I tink we shood stop here fer da night Cap'in."

He nodded," As good a place as any I suppose." He keyed up the intercom," Drop anchor and clew up! We will rest here tonight." The Dogs glared at the helm again but slowly stood up to obey. "They could be trouble soon."

"Ah noticed dat dey seem a might moody." Ad'e said coolly.

"Dey did jus' lose nine o' deir friends." Denda said squinting into his spyglass," Ya can't expect um ta jus' write dat off. Still atleast da Doc won't get caught up in dis if dey try an' mutiny." He paused," Hope ya found sumting soft ta bed down on Doc."

Cumulus was entirely uncomfortable, much to his annoyance he had not been able to find a suitable cloud to sleep on. So now he was nestled in the forking branches of a rather large fig tree. He was positioned in such a way that he could stare up at the stars. There was no way he could sleep despite how tired he was, his wings were sore too but he just could not make his brain stop, he kept replaying the events of the last two days. To find himself trying to sleep in such a dangerous place was too much, so he just lay there staring at the stars drawing constellations and still his mind.

He did not know when he fell asleep but when he woke, the sun was blazing over the tops of the trees. If he had to guess it was somewhere around ten o'clock, late in all rights but he felt rested if not a might bit stiff. He groaned and climbed to his hooves his joints popping. He fanned his wings and gave them a few slow flaps to work the knots out. The high branches of the tree swayed in a strong breeze. There were a lot of scattered clouds now dark, ominous and loaded with rain drifting in from the north and carried the faint smell of salt with them.

By now the sea was to far away to be seen and to the south was still an seemingly endless expanse of jungle. He looked down to the path cut through the dense trees. "It has to lead somewhere." The trees were all tightly packed together their branches tangling into a web of twigs with lichens hanging low. Ivy's clung to the bark of trees like some sickly parasites. Apart from the soft wing the forest was deathly quiet. It was unsettling, the only time he had ever known a forest to be this quiet was when a predator was around. He searched the trees with more scrutiny looking for any thing that might hint at what was lurking in the underbrush. As if to confirm his suspicions a pair of brown Slashers darted across the path and crashed into the foliage. It looked like they were chasing something and Cumulus let himself relax a little. "They were hunting something else." He had been nervous about sleeping in a tree because he already knew that Slashers could climb. He had purposely positioned himself in the highest branches because he knew the predators could not reach him without causing a racket. He waited there in the branches for a few more minutes, the forest remained utterly silent.

With a sigh he spread his wings and jumped out of the Fig tree, he would have just flown south following the path but his stomach began to protest. He fluttered back to the trees branches and plucked some of its ripe fruit. Unlike most fruit bearing trees, figs produced all year round and had fruit in various stages of development. It was not a favourite of his but Cumulus was not about to waste a natural food source because he wanted a peach. After munching on a seventh and slightly less than ripe fig he jumped into the air and started down the path again. It was likely a long way till he could make it out of the jungle.

He watched as his prey flew down the path it had been following but that was the least on his mind right now. He glared down at two of his subordinates, they had broken their cover to chase some little stripped rodent which was laying dead at ones feet. "Hhhhiiiiiiissssssssssssssshh!" He was furious, their prey was smart and they had very nearly ruined two days of stalking. For a mouthful of fur and bones!?

The two offenders were already bearing their throats but a simple submissive gesture would not be enough to cool his temper this time. With a throaty roar, he lunged at the one with fresh blood on her muzzle. He shrieked in terror and flailed at him with her hand claws. It was a futile effort though he was larger a far stronger than she was. He latched onto her throat and clawed at her with his hands.

The two of them tumbled through the underbrush breaking fallen branches and filling the trees with at sound of screams. He twisted her head with a quick jerk. He heard the crack as he broke her neck, her body went limp in his grasp. He dropped her mangled form onto the leaf litter. "Ssshhhhhrrrrrruuuuuurrrrrrrrrggggghh!!!" He roared a challenge to the rest of his pack shifting his burning red eyes from one to another. Each ducked low and bared their throats to him.

He snorted and glanced at the corpse under his feet. Only it was not a corpse! Her green eyes were wide with fear and darted back and forth. He had only crippled her, how annoying. He snorted again and kicked at her belly, spilling her guts out into the dirt and leaves. She did not cry out and he realized that she could no longer feel his abuse which only annoyed him more. He gave another frustrated kick into her guts and skulked away in the direction his prey had flown, leaving the rest of his pack behind to catch up when they dared. Mostly likely they would take advantage of the fresh meal he had just presented to them.

"Boy do I hate being right all the time." Cumulus grumbled to no one. This was his fourth night in the jungle and he still had yet to see any sign that the sea of trees was going to end. This Jungle was more than a hundred times the size of the Everfree. He had been so determined to reach the edge that he had flown for hours into the night. Finally he had to rest but he was startling to feel that the situation was hopeless. "At least i have a cloud to sleep on tonight." It was a small plush island that he was happy to have as an alternative to unyielding tree branches.

He lay on his back staring up at the stars. The moon was new tonight and without its light he could see a beautiful infinite expanse of tens of billions of tiny flickering points of light. He just laid there for the longest time mesmerized by the splendor of the cosmos spread out before him. "Why does this make me feel so small?" He could not explain it but at the same time it was not a bad feeling and he smiled. He wanted to see these stars every night, they were so much prettier than the ones you saw in Equestria. He watched the night dance by before finally drifting off to sleep.

The dreaming mind rarely obeys any rules and for what ever reason he dreamed of Valerie that night. Though it was more akin to his fondest memories of her. In his dreams he was his own age and she was grown too. A white and silver huntress that was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. There was little notion of attraction to the dream just flying with her. Being close to her and feeling his chest burn with joy. It was the happiest dream he had had in years.

When the sun rising over the treetops woke him he wore a broad grin and he just felt so giddy. There was no way to explain it but all the dreary feelings had gone and he felt confident eager to see an end to this expedition. He stood and went through a series stretches to warm up his muscles. He looked north and saw an expanse of trees that was spread well beyond the horizon, The sea was a very long ways away now, the smell of salt long gone from the air. He had no way to be certain but he was fairly confident he had already covered close to a hundred leagues, nearly a quarter the width of Equestria.

He smiled to himself, covering such a distance in three days was by no means any kind of record but it was a feat he would have never thought himself capable of. He turned to face the south, the jungle could not go on forever and this path had to lead to water somewhere. The path ahead ran on ahead of him, the sky had many stray wisps of cloud and in the distands he could see a thunderstorm pouring out its fury on... "Wait! Is that!?" He squinted it was still dozens of miles of and the storm cast a very dark shadow, but it looked like... "Grass!" He whispered to himself almost not wanting to believe it. He cast his eyes over the surrounding trees with greater interest and yes! It was just like the Everfree! The trees were spread a little father apart, becoming widely scattered closest to the grasslands beyond.

For the longest time Cumulus just sat on his cloud watching the Wildstorm run its course. He was not the sort of Pegasus to try Cloud Wrangling and even if he was there was nothing one lone pony could hope to do against a storm that size. So he waited and watched every few minutes he could see a vivid streak of lightning and he would count," One one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand, four one-thousand, five one-thousand..." He usually heard the low rumble of thunder somewhere around a a minute and three seconds. Meaning that the storm was still roughly sixty miles away and so were the grasslands. Eventually the lightning stopped striking and he saw the clouds become a lighter color. The Wildstorm had rained itself out and would likely start to fall apart of its own accord. He grinned wide and his stomach growled a little, while wild grass was far from delectable he had acquired a taste for grass after a fresh rain. Wet and crunchy, it reminded him of iceberg lettuce, he had every intention of having a few bites and he jumped off his cloud and winged his way towards the dissipating storm.

He paid close attention to the thinning trees and he already saw new animals, the very first to catch his eye is a pair of extremely tall lizards pecking leaves from the trees. At first he pays them no mind but doubletaked when he saw their oversized hand claws. Curious he stops for a brief second to take in these creatures bizarre appearance, a wide potbelly and broad sturdy shoulders with shorter stubby hindlegs. However what confused him more than its unnecessarily large claws was the things neck and head, which were thin and tiny compared to the large body. He heard a grunt and turned to see that several, smaller than the Potbellies but still large, animals meandering around the larger herbivores. Their bodies were a blue gray but on some their bulbous domed skulls were brightly colored. There were smaller animals as well and they seemed to cling to the dome-skulled animals who nuzzled them in turn.

'They must be the offspring.' He concluded. However that was disturbing in its own right as these young looked completely different then their parents. In fact they bore a closer resemblance to dragons with long backward curving horns and being covered in sharp looking spines lining their armoured skulls, they looked fearsome in their own right. He watched the Domeskulls and their Dragonlings for a few minutes just to confirm that these to types of animals were in fact the same species. "Evolution never fails to amaze me." He shook his head as he flew away.

The trees were getting farther apart as he reached the grasslands and he had not seen any other animals along the way. He kept turning over the vast difference between the Domeskulled adults and the distinctly dragonic chicks they cared for. "This place will be crawling with researchers when I get back." He hovered at the edge of the forest and perched himself on a branch. There were still a few stray tufts of cloud hanging in the sky but sun shone bright and the many droplets of water glistened as the cling to the grass. It was beautiful, the wide open spaced stretched out across rolling hills and dipping valleys clear to the horizon. He could smell a heavy earthy scent carried on the wind and he took a deep breathe through his nose. He loved this smell, it reminded him of Stout's wheat farm after a gully washer.

"Woooo Hoooo!" He whooped as he threw himself out of the trees upper branches toward the break-bone ground only to catch himself as his hooves brushed the wet grass. From there he let himself tumble onto the soggy earth and rolled like a little colt playing in the mud. He could not believe how much he missed the feel of it on his fur, the way the crushed grass stained his coat, not that it ever showed. This was one of those simple pleasures he had forgotten about and he just lay there for a while watching the clouds drift by and letting his mind wonder. It eventually settled on Valerie and he smiled to himself as he imagined her laying next to him with grass stains on her white coat he rather liked the idea.

Cumulus lay there for several more minutes just happy to be on the ground again when the air started to rumble. It was some thing that was felt rather than heard , like a shockwave rolling over the landscape and his ears picked up the faintest deep bass sound, just barely audible, like when the music teacher back in grade school would use the tuning pipes and sometimes hit the really low notes. He rolls onto his hooves and twists his ears in the direction on the sounds, "What could that be?' As he spreads his wings his sensitive feathers feel another shockwave coming from the east, towards the sea. Turning to look in that direction he feels yet another pulse from the opposite direction with just the faintest whisper of sound. Confused he looks both ways and took to the skies, he heads west. in just a few seconds he spots a small group of large animals.

There is only about six of them, they are large lizards like the migration he had seen a few days before but their anatomy was different. They were smaller and had a large crest that ran backwards out of their skulls. As he drops lower to them he sees the largest lift its head and call. He can see the grass around them deform under the pressure of the nearly inaudible sound. It calls again twice more before trumpeting to its companions who trumpet in turn.

"Aaaaaaahhhhoooww!!!" His ears shudder the blast of their excited trumpeting and he peels off with his hooves clamped over his ears. He flutters to a nearby cloud and drops onto it, whimpering and clutching his stinging ears. Never in his life had he thought anything could be that loud. After a few minutes the pain subsides and he pulls his hooves away," Good at least my ears are not bleeding". He can barely hear the sound of his own voice over the ringing in his head. " Great I'm deaf!" He sighs,' Hopefully there is not any long term damage.' He looks down towards the crested animals with a scowl, before he something grabs his attention. A shimmer in the distance like the sun... reflecting off... "WATER!!!" Cumulus cast one last sour gaze at the animals, they were heading in that direction but he did not care he could easily out pace the dangerously loud creatures. So with a broad grin he rolled off the cloud and winged his way towards the shimmering blue-green splotch in the distance.