//------------------------------// // Chapter 15: Derpy and the Terrible Hand // Story: My Little Pony - The Age of Dinosaurs // by StrangeBehavior //------------------------------// One day, a grey pegasus named Derpy Hooves, or Ditzy Doo if you prefer, was going out in a small forest near Ponyville's southern boarders. With all these dinosaurs, it would be very dangerous to go alone anywhere, even in the small town, but strangely, Derpy has had a rather high amount of good luck with all the crazy things that have happened. As for why Derpy was out in this forest, she was scouting out a perfect spot to have a picnic with her friends, since at this time, spring has started to give way to summer, which was a few months away. The heat of the changing world was making the temperatures around noon, rather too warm to have a nice picnic, but Derpy knew that the forest south of Ponyville was surprisingly cool. Predators have taken the tendency to patrol around the perimeter of Ponyville, looking for prey to snatch up, but never really entered the town because of the sheer number of herbivorous dinosaurs, especially the Apatosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Stegosaurus pair, and a number of the rather territorial ceratopsians. But Derpy got past by, unknowingly, moving with a small group of Chasmosaurus to the forest. The young pegasus happily trotted along, looking for the ideal spot to have a picnic, unaware of a massive dinosaur was quietly watching her. She said to herself, "This spot is perfect, I'll tell the others about it, so now…" Derpy stopped when she heard a bird or a creature like one chirped, then twigs snapped. Then, thunderous footsteps sounded behind, whatever they belonged to, it was massive, possibly bigger than Tarbosaurus. She continued to prep the picnic site by moving rocks and branches out of the way, but keeping her sight focused on the direction the sounds came from, humming a happy tune to pretend to let her guard down. She heard the footsteps and calls coming closer at a slower pace, like the creature was carefully approaching, not sure what the pegasus will do. As Derpy continued, she heard the sounds getting quieter and quieter, saying, "Huh…He or she must be heading back to bring his or her friends for a picnic as well…A shame we cannot share the spot or el…" She looked ahead and saw a massive beaked creature staring back with a tiny head, but a long neck, like an ostrich. She screamed with surprise and the creature responded the same way, screeching loudly with fright as it dove for the cover of thick trees. Derpy realized that it was just as surprised as she was and said, "Wait! It's alright, I'm not going to hurt you, birdie, want a muffin?" Derpy then pulled a muffin she was saving for later out of her bag, and held it out to the creature hiding in the bushes. Out of the bushes popped the tiny head of the creature, it was an absolutely bizarre-looking dinosaur, even by dinosaur standards, it was only though recent discoveries did humans get their clearest picture of this animal, who was a mystery for over half a century. Derpy was attempting to feed a dinosaur that resembled an Ornithomimus, but much bigger, it was known as… "Deinocheirus…mirificus…?" Doctor Turner said as he read a section of the Dinosaur Codex, which was focused squarely on the weird and bizarre dinosaurs. He continued to read it for more information, "For reference, see Ornithomimid Dinosaurs, page 59…? Great Scott! This thing had ten foot long arms, and was expected to be nearly fifty feet in length?! W-well, I suppose I really should see more about this, 'oddball dinosaur'. Now where is that book on the Ornithomimids…" Derpy succeeded, somewhat, into luring the giant dinosaur from hiding, its long, ostrich-like head was a mere foot from the muffin. The massive ornithomimid sniffed the muffin curiously, the creature's iconic arms shifting in short movements like they were bird wings. The bright colors suggest that this creature was a male of his species, the Deinocheirus bobbed his head in swift short jerks that further cement the bird ancestry of the dinosaur lineage. He sniffed for fifteen seconds more and in one quick strike, swiped the muffin from Derpy's hooves and swallowed the muffin in one bite. So fixated on the male's beautiful colors, Derpy wound up saying, "Wow, pretty colors, you must be a girl birdie to look so pretty…" The Deinocheirus heard and was greatly insulted that he was thought by this puny mammal as a female! He wondered how stupid could mammals get, since in common dinosaur logic; the male is always brightly colored, so he can woo the females into mating. He let out an agitated caw sound into Derpy's face, making it clear to somepony as dense as even the gray pegasus, that he is not pleased with Derpy's words. Derpy, fortunately, got the message and asked, "You don't like my compliment? But…" It then clicked, "Oh! You're not a girl birdie, you're a boy birdie! Aren't you?" The giant animal cawed like a crow that made it rather clear he was a male, which Derpy responded, "I'm sorry, Mr. Birdie, I forgot that colors work differently with birdies than with ponies." The Deinocheirus was slightly annoyed with this mammal seemingly associating himself with the tiny, loud, flying creatures that live among the trees. The two heard a crushing sound from a nearby bush and see another group of ceratopsians, this species is known as Styracosaurus, a ceratopsian with a series of horns on its bony frill, and a singular long horn on their nose. Derpy thought they were funny looking, but remembered, "Oh! Right, I got to get my friends…Please wait here, Mr. Birdie, my friends should meet you. Promise me you'll stay…" The giant ornithomimid cocked his head in a manner similar to an ostrich, he couldn't understand what the mammal was saying to him. But Derpy took the silence as a yes, then said, "Thank you, I'll be back as soon as I can Mr. Birdie…" Doctor Hooves, was not pleased, not pleased at all…"Confound it all! No pictures, and only this, 'speculative' sketch to go off on the appearance of this creature!? *sigh* At least the mysterious author got information on the behavior and lifestyle of this creature, but I would love to see this intriguing creature, to go find new discoveries that even the mysterious author haven't found yet." He was trying to piece together the mystery of Deinocheirus, until he heard someone knocking on his door… He opened it to see a very familiar grey pegasus at his doorstep. He warmly greeted, "Why hello there my dear, what brings you to my abode?" Derpy answered in a chirpy, sing-song voice, "I found the best picnic spot for our friends doc, I also made friends with a giant birdie…" The 'giant birdie' intrigued the Doctor, prompting him to ask, "By birdie, do you happen to mean, a dinosaur, Derpy? Please describe it for me…" Derpy cocked her head to the side as she said, "I don't know what a 'dinosaur' is doc, given how many times ponyfolk are saying that word, you'd think I'd see one…" As she shrugged her shoulders, behind the grey pegasus was a herd of Olorotitan and Centrosaurus, moving along in a manner that would make anyone, (anyone, but Derpy) notice right away, leaving the brown earth pony to smack his own forehead. Derpy continued as Turner started to jot down notes, "…Well, as for my new friend, he looked like a giant bird that can't fly, like those ostriches in zoos. Oh, and instead of wings, he had these super huge arms…" Doctor flinched in great surprise at the mention of those, 'super huge arms', it sounded like… "All right then, let us go get our friends and head to that picnic spot with your new friend, my dear. Allons-y!" About an hour later, Derpy, Turner, and several others (Octavia, Vinyl Scratch, Lyra Heartstrings, Bon Bon, and Bulk Biceps), were following the pegasus mare to the picnic spot in the woods. They would never venture into them with the predatory dinosaurs circling Ponyville's boarders, but they moved along with a herd of Olorotitan, whose size and numbers made the meat eaters look on with a envious hunger. The ponies broke off from the herd when they were a mere two feet from the picnic spot. "So…This is the spot? You really lucked out…" Lyra said. Derpy chuckled a little, then called out into the forest's direction, "Mr. Birdie! It's me, and my friends! Are you still here?" Time Turner looked around for the pegasus' dinosaur friend, but saw nothing, except a nearby clan of Dryosaurus turning their heads up and looking at the ponies for a few moments, then resumed grazing. The other ponies slightly worried that a predatory dinosaur was nearby, but let out a sigh of relief when there was none, what they weren't aware of was that a rather large carnivore was hidden by the thick brambles nearby, napping until Derpy called out for her Deinocheirus friend. Growling that its pleasant nap was interrupted, the carnivore headed to the source of the sound… Time Turner said tensely, "Miss, please don't go shouting like that, we are outside the boundaries of Ponyville, remember? Predators patrol around these parts, we are taking a huge, calculated risk just being here, also, your dinosaur friend is an animal, he most likely moved on to get more food…" The Doctor's words were cut short when the foliage rustled and loud thumps grew closer to the clearing, and then the ponies see a Deinocheirus looking right at them, bobbing his head like a bird and curiously identifying the equines. Derpy was ecstatic as she said, "Mr. Birdie, you did stay! Want another muffin?" 'Mr. Birdie' snatched the muffin out of Derpy's hooves and ate it greedily, leaving the other ponies with their jaws to the ground. Time Turner was smiling widely as he said, "Ah-ha-ha-ha! Ditzy Doo, my friend, you have found a Deinocheirus!" About half an hour had past, and the ponies had their picnic like normal ponies, except with a plus forty-foot long ornithomimid as a guest. The Doctor was still studying the massive dinosaur as the herbivore lied down and panted like a hawk or eagle to expel excess heat in its body. Octavia continued to stare at the dinosaur, saying to Vinyl, "That is the most unusual creature I've seen, I can't stop staring at it. It's stranger than even that Bugbear thing that was in Ponyville a few weeks ago, or was it months…don't you agree?" The unicorn nodded with silence, the animal was odd looking even by Equestrian beast standards, and for some reason, it inspired the DJ to make a mix just as strange and bizarre as the ornithomimid. Bon Bon said in response to the earth pony's question, "Yeah, not even those pictures of those, uh, Tatzlwurm things, in those old stories I read when I was a filly have anything against this guy." Lyra added, "…or the Hippogryphs, not that I have anything against them, they just look weird to me…" "YEAHHHH!!!" Bulk Biceps shouted as he scarfed three muffins at once. The friends all had a good laugh, making jokes about how odd Deinocheirus is compared to Equestria's own brand of weird creatures. The giant understood them, for some unknown reason, they were talking in a dialect he understood perfectly, but had never heard before. Normally the jokes would offend any other dinosaur, but the Deinocheirus was used to it, not even bothered at being made fun of. The predatory dinosaur found the source of the sounds it was hearing and watched them all with a killer's intent in its sharp eyes, staying absolutely quiet short of a few deep breaths. The Deinocheirus stood up immediately, he smelled something that put the massive ornithomimid on high alert, which didn't set so well with the other picnickers. Time Turner said as the dinosaur searched for the smell's source, "Knowing what these mysterious books have told us, I believe the Deinocheirus must have sensed the presence of another animal, one that might be a predator…" 'Mr. Birdie' then made a small, click-y, trill sound as its eyes darted around into the canopy, alerting the nearby Dryosaurus which then turn tailed and ran, screeching like panicked birds. Octavia muttered with eyes wide open, "Bl-Bl-blast…you sir were right about a pr-pr-pre-predator…" Time Turner said, "Ha-ha! I was right!" He stopped then asked the earth pony, "Uh, how was I right about a predator dear?" Octavia shakily pointed her hoof to the bushes north of her as she and Vinyl hugged tightly in a state of fear. The other ponies (minus Derpy) looked and their hearts leapt up into their throats as they saw the shadow of a very large dinosaur in the shade of the woods, staring at them with its piercing yellow eyes. The carnivore snarled murderously as it stepped into the light, revealing the identity of the predator. It was almost as big as a Tyrannosaurus, short by a few feet, making the animal around forty-to-forty-one feet long and twelve-and-a-half feet tall. Its appearance was remarkably similar to the Allosaurus, but the arms and skull looked much stronger than the Jurassic predator's. The dull and plain patterns and colors all over it's body, and the shape of its skull with rather small crests, meant that this animal was a female, one that could be around the age range of a woman in her mid twenties. The scars around her face, chest and back, meant she was a bloodthirsty warrior who fought with many other aggressive dinosaurs and survived each encounter, whether she fled or killed her opponents is up to you, but her sheer ruthlessness in the way she moved means the dinosaur was much more aggressive than average dinosaurs, than even among her species. She was an Allosaurid of Jurassic North America's Morrison Formation, having lived in what will become the US state of Oklahoma, she was a… "Sa-Saurophaganax maximus…" The Doctor uttered, "…O-one of the bi-bi-biggest and mo-most aggressive carnivores of the Jurassic…" Bulk Biceps looked at the female dinosaur, then sounded a hearty, "YEAHHHH! It is Big!" The Saurophaganax focused her gaze on the overly muscular pegasus, and gave him a murderous glare and growled angrily, she was tired, and the big mammal was too loud she thought. With the allosaur's gaze focused on the ponies, she was caught by surprise when something suddenly strikes her face, and heard squawking on her right, the dinosaur looked and saw the larger Deinocheirus, using his size and instincts in intimidating the predator, flashing his gigantic clawed arms, which were much bigger than hers. The grumpy dinosaur glared bitterly at the ornithomimid and unleashed a guttural roar at the massive herbivore, which frightened a passing herd of Styracosaurus as they ran off out of the forest. The Saurophaganax attacked the Deinocheirus, in an attempt to rip out the ornithomimid's throat, but the giant Mongolian dinosaur put up an aggressive defense by swatting with his arms, kicking her, and pecking furiously at the Allosaur. The ponies ducked and dodged as the two giant animals fought each other, with Time Turner saying, "Great wickering stallions! I had no clue Deinocheirus were aggressive at all! I thought…" He never got to say anything more as in a sudden flash of a moment, a third, large dinosaur came crashing into the Saurophaganax, which based on the ostrich-like shape and plain colors, was a female Deinocheirus and could be 'Mr. Birdie's' mate. The female Deinocheirus joined the male in attacking the carnosaur, their beaks pecking and pinching and using their rather strong arms to claw at the predator's skin. Bon Bon noticed her friend, Lyra, got her hoof stuck between the roots of a tree, and was in a very dangerous spot to be in, right underneath the fighting dinosaurs. Lyra screamed as Bon Bon leapt into action, calling to the unicorn, "Hang on Lyra! Your best friend is here to rescue you!" The deep cover, secret agent was amazingly agile as she weaved, ducked, jumped, and flipped through the violent, unpredictable movements of the furious giants fighting against each other. Bon Bon got to Lyra and using her earth pony strength, smashed the tree root and freed Lyra's hoof, then the two got to the others as they watched the Saurophaganax and Deinocheirus pair. The Doctor did a small head count, then exclaimed, "Wait a minute! Where's Ms. Doo at!" Vinyl pointed towards the Jurassic predator snarling and growling as it was being ganged up on by the Deinocheirus and…Derpy…?! The gray pegasus was flying around the carnivore's head, shouting while kicking the animal at various points, "How dare you scare my friends! How dare you threaten them! How dare you attack Mr. Birdie, you big meanie!" The Saurophaganax got angrier and grumpier as the attacks continued, Derpy gave a very sharp kick to the predator's nose, she roared as the kick delivered a very sharp, stinging pain to her brain. The female Deinocheirus pecked at the Saurophaganax with no relent in action, eventually striking at one of the scars, which suddenly spouted blood, she reopened a healing wound on the carnivore's back, which was enough for the predator to 'scream' in pain, what escaped her mouth was a horrifying sound that made everypony cringe with sympathy pain. Then 'Mr. Birdie' leapt up into the air, and as the Saurophaganax turned her gaze on her intended revenge victim, 'Mr. Birdie' delivered a powerful kick like a kangaroo to her side, throwing the massive carnivore back several feet. She slammed her side against a very huge and thick tree with tremendous force, and got several gashes as she slid down against the tree's trunk. The predator got up on her feet, wincing and whining in pain as her gaze was on the giant Deinocheirus flailing their arms in display like a bird, cawing in a loud, obnoxious, yet intimidating way, the Saurophaganax knew she was no match for then in her current condition. So, with a fierce, defiant snarl, she limped away, picking up the corpse of a trampled Dryosaurus and dragged it away, absolutely bitter about being beaten by dinosaurs she had never seen before, and a tiny mammal that could somehow fly. After a few minutes, the ponies now knew the female was indeed 'Mr. Birdie's' mate after the two rubbed each other's necks like a mated pair of birds. It started to get late, so Derpy knew that she would have to say bye to her Deinocheirus friend. So, she said as she handed out a muffin to her friend, "Bye Mr. Birdie…I hope we meet again, and have a good life with Mrs. Birdie…" The male Deinocheirus sniffed the muffin and picked it up in his mouth, and left with his mate while looking back at his… …Friend… He somehow was thinking, I hope to see you again mammal, as a Eximius Mortem Brachium, I swear on it…