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// Chapter 9: Titans of the Jurassic 
// Story: My Little Pony - The Age of Dinosaurs 
// by StrangeBehavior 
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The massive Apatosaurus trudge through Ponyville, the ponies had never seen animals like them, for the size of the sauropods could rival or surpass Equestria's biggest creatures, dragons themselves. The young fillies and colts look up at a gigantic female, eyes wide with wonder as the Apatosaurus walked over them. These creatures towered over the buildings in the quaint little town, the ponies themselves only reached as high as the dinosaur's ankles. The ninety-foot long, thirty-ton giants were migrating from far south and the route they took made it seem like these peaceful titans appeared out of thin air.

Rainbow Dash exclaimed with wonder, "Whoa! I've never seen anything like these guys. What are they exactly?"

Twilight saw the overall appearance and colors of their newest visitors, and realized they could be these sauropods that were frequently mentioned in all the books on dinosaurs. She quickly got a book that had sauropod species and quickly looked through dozens of different sauropods of a specific group known as Diplodocids, and had found a match.

She answered Rainbow's question,
"Ah-ha! Here it is! They're a species called Apatosaurus, hmm…Let's see…Live in herds…use their tails for defense…Ah! The Apatosaurus are gentle herbivores that can grow so large, most predators just leave them alone. These dinosaurs, and others like them, shaped the landscape in their time, creating many open prairies where forests would overrun the land."

Twilight paused as a elderly male swung his neck to his side and began stripping the leaves of a soft shrub near the town hall. Fluttershy immediately loved the peaceful nature these dinosaurs displayed, and proceeded to feed one of the younger Apatosaurus some hay. They noticed some of them heading for Sweet Apple Acres with Applejack running ahead to keep them from eating her farm's apples, so they, along with Rarity and Pinkie Pie, headed for the farm.

"You stay away from my apples, you…" Applejack stopped as the Apatosaurus leader lowered his head down to the tiny mammal that was shouting at him.

The bull sniffed the farmer pony, and sneezed on her, then proceeded to his intended destination, the apple orchards. Winona barked at the dinosaurs trying to scare them off, but to the sauropods, the collie was as annoying as an ant. The leader walked up to one of the apple trees, then reared up on its back legs, and using an instinctual trick his kind has done for millions of years, knocked the tree down using his massive bulk. Applejack gasped in horror as the tree creaked and cracked and then fell over as the sauropod thudded back onto his quadruped posture. She bucked one of the rotten apples onto the head of the alpha male, he turned his head over to the pony, shouting some gibberish he couldn't understand. Now realizing the mammal was going to pester him more, he used a trick to scare off smaller 'pests', he let out a low bellowing sound that seemed to make the earth pony's bones vibrate. Not realizing the Apatosaurus was just trying to shooing the farmer, Applejack stumbled back and hid behind a tree, thinking the herbivore was going to gulp her down.

Applejack then saw her friends coming up and said, "Hey! I'm over here! Help me get rid of these monsters."

Pinkie said, "Silly Applejack, they are not monsters, they eat vegetables. They are something funny sounding dinos called Apattysaurus."

Twilight sighed and said, "Pinkie, they're called Apatosaurus, and Applejack you may want to sit down for this…"

Back in Ponyville, the ponies panicked and retreated into their homes when the Tarbosaurus entered the town to investigate the source of the foot tremors she was feeling. The Apatosaurus knew that the tyrannosaur was a hunter and put up a strong defense, rearing up on their back legs that made them look much bigger than the predator. Realizing that more dangerous herbivores were going to be around this area, the Tarbosaurus decided to move on, especially when an Apatosaurus stomped and bellowed loudly. The tyrannosaur headed south, where she hoped less dangerous prey could be found.

Applejack was more at ease with the Apatosaurus, now knowing the bull was just chasing her away.

Twilight said to the farmer, "The Apatosaurus are not after the apple trees, they want those weird plants that were growing between them."

Rainbow Dash whined, "But they might as well be with them knocking the trees over, all the cider lost…"

The multicolored pegasus bit her hoof as the sound of another tree came down with a loud crash.

Twilight placed a hoof over her face and said, "Rainbow, they are just doing what they, apparently, have done their whole lives. It's in their nature, we could change it, but we don't want a repeat of the Vampire Fruit Bats to happen again."

The ponies knew what their friend was talking about, and looked to the ground, regretfully. Then they decided to gather all the plants the sauropods want, and move them away from Applejack's home, so they would not knock down the apple trees.

Apatosaurus wasn't the only sauropod in Equestria, for a lone pegasus spotted unusual depressions in the ground. When she stepped into one, the tan pony realized she was standing in the footprint of a massive animal. The print was a colossal seven-feet wide, four ponies could easily fit inside. The pegasus looked around and saw broken twigs and crushed bushes along the path of the mystery creature. She landed in one spot that she immediately regretted, for the pony was standing in a large clump of dinosaur dung, that had prehistoric dung beetles crawling around, that made the pegasus shiver in disgust.

She realized the dung was still very warm, meaning whoever dumped it, was still close by. She flew up and hit the neck of the creature she was looking for, the creature gagged and coughed up a shrub it had in its mouth. As she rubbed her head, the pegasus looked into the eyes of a massive sauropod dinosaur, it was a giant, even by dinosaur standards. The pony was as big as its head, but the whole creature would dwarf even the biggest dragon. The pony stared with her jaw dropped, as the dinosaur stared back, it let out a low call that sounded like a cow mooing, then the sauropod reached down and plucked a bush of soft plants and gulped it down.

The pony said to herself, "What the heck is that?! It is HUGE!"

The Apatosaurus wandered into a huge park near the outskirts of town, it was littered with the plants the Mane Six moved from Sweet Apple Acres, and had lots of smooth stones littered about. The six friends had planted the last of the ferns, then noticed something unusual that the sauropods did.

Fluttershy asked Twilight, "Um, Twilight, why are the Apatosaurus eating rocks?"

The Apatosaurus were selecting and swallowing the round stones whole then resumed to eat the plants.

Twilight rummaged through the pages and said, "Here it is. Apparently, all sauropods swallow stones to help in digesting their food. They swallow their food whole and do not waste time chewing. They also have to eat around one twentieth their weight in plant matter"

Rarity commented, "My goodness, that doesn't sound polite, or um…sanitary at all. How do they not choke by eating that way, I know I would certainly choke if I ate that way."

Twilight responded, "Birds do the same thing Rarity, and according to whoever wrote these notes, the sauropods cannot chew their food, because their jaws are too weak and their teeth can only strip leaves off of soft plants."

Rainbow Dash commented, "Well that makes sense, looking at them I could make a similar guess."

They know the Apatosaurus are not going anywhere soon, so they went to find out what the Kentrosaurus-looking dinosaurs were.

Twilight looked through a book that had Kentrosaurus and knew it would be in there. After scrolling through the pages over dozens of stegosaurs, including Kentrosaurus, the alicorn found a perfect match.

She cleared her throat and read aloud,
"Stegosaurus, its name means roofed lizard. One of the most recognizable and iconic dinosaurs ever found, it has captured the hearts and imagination of humans for over a hundred fifty years since its discovery. The seventeen or more plates that run along its back in a double-row, can be as small as three inches, to be as large as three feet wide. These iconic plates have blood vessels running through that the dinosaur can use to regulate its temperature, but the Stegosaurus can also flush blood into their plates, like when a mammal's face can turn red, to attract members of the opposite sex, to intimidate rival Stegosaurus, or to scare off predators like the Ceratosaurus or Allosaurus. Unlike what scientists believed when it was discovered and what I can confirm with scientists now, the plates were not used as armor, I saw a poor Stegosaurus got one of its plates bitten into and it was, to put it mildly, a bloodbath. The Stegosaurus have very small brains compared to other dinosaurs, a debunked theory said that Stegosaurus itself and others like it, had two brains, one in their heads, and the other located in its hips. This 'second brain' was actually a cluster of nerves that helped it back-step for purposes to defend against aggressors. They have weak jaws and cannot eat tough plants, preferring soft ferns and low trees, because they're easier for the animal to digest. Through my studies on the fortunate up close interaction with them, I found out that, despite what media had shown, Stegosaurus were actually gentle and hate conflict, they only fight if no other possibility is available. These creatures often live alongside Camptosaurus for mutual protection, the Camptosaurus able to spot and identify possible threats, and the Stegosaurus providing the means to fend those said threats away."

Pinkie gasped and said, "Wait! Don't we have those Camptosaurus here in Ponyville?"

Rainbow pointed at the Camptosaurus moving towards the Stegosaurus, and they began herding together for mutual protection, like they had millions of years ago in the North American savannas. They were informed that the Tarbosaurus was here in Ponyville a short while ago, but moved south because of the Apatosaurus scaring it away. The six sighed with relief that Ponyville's most dangerous hazard had moved away, now having to deal with their (currently behaving) raptors, and the Ceratosaurus pair that were last spotted in the vicinity of the mountain where a dragon first tried to take a hundred year nap. After getting close to the tame Stegosaurus for a better look, they decided to check on the Apatosaurus.

Rainbow Dash decided to head back to her house to check up on her pet tortoise, Tank, unaware she is going to get a visitor unlike any other.

Ponyville's citizens were cleaning what was left of winter to move things further along, until they heard an ominous call of a creature echo in the air. The ponies felt chills run up their spines, the call sounded like the moan of a ghost, then they panicked when the shadow of something huge flew over, the pegasi flew beside the giant pterosaur that was reported several times in the past few weeks, amazed at the size of the creature. From wingtip to wingtip, the pterosaur's wingspan was a frightening forty-two feet, the ponies look like beetles next to an eagle to draw a comparison.

The pterosaur was quite old and having traversed more than any other, decided to rest here in Ponyville, and knew that some clouds could actually support his deceivingly small weight. He simply had to look for clouds that those winged mammals are on, he spotted a rainbow-headed mammal walk onto a funny looking cloud that was just the perfect size. Rainbow was surprised when her house rocked a little and shrieked slightly when she nearly bumped into the back of a massive flying reptile. The pterosaur was on all fours, even with his wings folded, he stood taller than a man, which would make him quite tall. He looked behind and saw the mammal staring with eyes as big as saucers, not liking being bumped and the mammal was too close to him, the pterosaur cawed long and loud showing his needle teeth, making Rainbow Dash fly like a bullet to her friends. With the mammal gone, the pterosaur started to groom himself, getting rid of annoying parasites that were biting him non-stop.

The five ponies were excited, one of the female Apatosaurus had laid a huge clutch of eggs on the edge of the Everfree Forest, meaning that Equestria's first baby dinosaurs will be born in a matter of time. They all saw why the notes mentioned that the herbivores had little to fear, because a pack of Timberwolves tried to eat the plant-eaters, but got stomped on, being pests to the sauropods. When the Timberwolf pieces formed together into a giant Timberwolf, the Apatosaurus now see the wooden carnivores as a minor threat and decided to use their tails to make it clear they are off the menu. The Timberwolf was huge, but compared to the dinosaurs, it was still pathetically small, when it attacked a juvenile, the adults were quick to respond.

The five ponies watched as an elderly female swung her tail and after hearing a deafening crack, saw the splintered remains of the wooden Timberwolf go soaring far north of Ponyville. Even if they were wood, one swing of the whip-like tails of Apatosaurus, even the Timberwolves would die from such a blow, they could even kill dragons with such weapons. Twilight then saw two adult males growl at each other, then shove their gigantic bodies at one another, shaking the ground with their stomps. After a minute, one of the male Apatosaurus backed off as the victorious male brayed with triumph, puzzling the ponies on such unusual behavior.

Then they realized that they were fighting over a female, as the male Apatosaurus rubbed his body against the female as she stomped in response. Rainbow Dash flew in a big hurry, like she was chased by something, the rest of the Mane Six asked the daredevil pegasus what was wrong.

Rainbow said, "There is a big, I don't even know what it is, at my house and it is huge! Please help me get rid of it!" Twilight and the others agreed and rushed over to their friend's home, wanting to see Rainbow Dash's unexpected visitor.

At the cliffs near Las Pegasus, there were hundreds of the flying reptiles called Tapejara, odd looking pterosaurs with huge sail-shaped crests on their heads. They are medium sized for pterosaurs, many others are either smaller or bigger, the cliffs they claimed were in a chorus of squawks of males trying to attract females flying overhead. Many ponies try to get closer to the strange creatures as they seemed to be peaking the curiosity of the mammals.

A few poachers tried to catch them, but they were chased off as the agitated Tapejara started to peck at them furiously, making the poachers either flee in terror, or fall down screaming in the steep cliffs to their deaths. One quirky pegasus managed to get within breathing distance of these pterosaurs in heat, many males too busy cawing to notice him. He was seeing that these creatures seemed to be flying by flapping their wings once, and wanted to try it himself. The pegasus ducked when a female Tapejara flew down to land in front of her chosen mate.

"RRRAHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGGGGRRGG!!!!!!"

A thunderous roar echoed in the Badlands south of Equestria, a lone stallion was running from a gigantic creature. The unknown animal was a carnivorous dinosaur, and unfortunately, the cliffs obscured anything noticeable of the animal that the pony could identify. He manages to get into a tight gorge that the dinosaur couldn't reach, the pony manages to see, and regrets seeing them, huge curved teeth as large as knives. When the theropod seemed to have retreated, the pony got out of his hiding place checking if the coast is clear. The dinosaur was nowhere in sight, the stallion looked to the left, nothing but red and black cliffs, and then he looked to his right, more cliffs and a view of Manehatten. A drop of something wet dropped on the stallion's head, he sniffed it and scrunched up his nose, the stench of the wet thing was awful, like roasted vomit mixed with rotting flesh, four-year old sour milk, and skunk stink.

Then his eyes popped open, it was the same smell the mouth of the monster that chased him had. The pony looked up and saw some rocks wet with drool that was also coated in fresh blood. Then in an instant, the dinosaur caught the pony's head in its jaws and shook violently, with the sound of bones crunching in the theropod's jaws. The poor mammal never saw it come, and the predator swallowed its prize of the lifeless pony whole, not satisfied with the tiny creature. The carnivore felt the thunderous footsteps of large dinosaurs, it decided to investigate, and with its yellow and white eyes, saw a group of sauropods called Camarasaurus heading for Manehatten. It softly purred as these sixty-thousand pound walking bags of meat headed for the city, and growled low when it saw a pack of Allosaurus tailing the potential prey. This dinosaur had the best eyes of its race, it can easily determine how far the dinosaurs and the city are.

It let out a thunderous roar that seemed to echo for miles, while in Ponyville, the six friends see the giant pterosaur grooming himself on Rainbow's house.

Applejack uttered, "What the hay is that creature?"