//------------------------------// // Chapter 14: Monsters of the Deep (pt. 2) // Story: My Little Pony - The Age of Dinosaurs // by StrangeBehavior //------------------------------// Last Time, Princess Twilight and her five friends have ventured into the Equestrian sea, now filled with monstrous creatures of the Mesozoic Era's oceans, to reignite the magical barrier that protects the capital of the undersea kingdom. They ran into various sea animals that were lost from time, like Olthalmosaurus, Plesiosaurus, Tanystropheus, Cymbospondylus, and various placodonts. Now we see what happens when they come into contact with two of the most feared sea animals on earth...One of which is the dreaded, Pliosaurus... Pinkie shouted loudly, "RUN AWAY…!" They all started to run as fast as they could, but tripped as they held their hooves over their heads, and tightly closed their eyes as they waited for the Pliosaurus to swallow them all… ... ... ... But, the Pliosaurus swam over their heads, the Mane Six were not its target, but the fleeing Kimmerosaurus as the monstrous animal gave chase. They all sighed heavily with relief as Applejack said, "G-golly, I'll be havin' nightmares for weeks after that fright'ning experience…" The others agreed as they continued to the city, now fully cautious of their surroundings, for any creature worse than the Pliosaurus, unaware that there is one sea animal worse than the most powerful monster of the Mesozoic… Discord is in a faraway land to the east, investigating the surroundings of the entire continent because this was where his ability to sense magical imbalances were at their strongest, stronger than even after the Canterlot Eruption event. He wore a Stetson as he said, "Aside from these new plants, nothing points to the source of that distortions I felt weeks ago. What could have caused a disturbance that strong, stronger than even that malevolent surge I felt days ago? It defies…" His thoughts were interrupted by thunderous footsteps of something massive, Discord was then in the shadows of giants, giants of the long forgotten time. Discord gulped as he saw the heads of these giant dinosaurs look down upon him, and smelled the draconequus' scent. The dinosaurs resembled those Brachiosaurus that were in Ponyville some time ago, but bigger, much MUCH bigger. One of the larger dinosaurs bellowed loudly as the others started to move along. Discord wiped the sweat off his brow as he said, "Well...uh...that answers that question...but, raises a few more..." He teleported deeper into the continent as he went to see if his suspicions are correct... At the same time, in a village far south from Equestria's borders, the villagers run in sheer panic as a wave of blood covered changelings, in a sea of ruby red blood go about drowning everything in sight, no one is safe from their summoner, the demon who has awoken from Canterlot's destruction. The one changeling survivor hovered, turning his gaze away at his forced master's slaughter of innocents. He was utterly disgusted when the monster created a sea of blood with his victims murdering innocents. He opened his eyes as Alastoris said, "Look my servant, part of the job requirement is to see my delicious carnage. You either watch, or your family will become my dinner, I restored your wing so you belong to…Hmm?" Alastoris spotted a ostrich running away as his slaves try to kill it, his eyes shot open as he pulled back all of his victims to him. The changeling noticed and followed his master as he grabbed the ostrich and snapped its neck. He asked as Alastoris tossed the dead ostrich up in the air, "S-sir…I-I-it's just a bird…why did you kill it and not just devour it, like the…others…" Alastoris looked with a killer's intent at his servant as he unleashed an energy blast at the ostrich corpse and destroyed it. He said ferociously, "It is a bird, they are living descendants of those cursed creatures my foes had created, millions of years ago, particularly the dromeosaurs, their blood acts as a poison to many demonic monsters of Hell." The changeling suspected something as he said quietly, "…dinosaurs…?! What do those creatures have to do…" The changeling was suddenly grabbed as Alastoris said with anger, "HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT NAME!!! THEY DON'T EXIST IN THIS WORLD, YOUR WORLD HAS NO KNOWLEDGE OF THEIR EXISTENCE, THEY DWELLED IN ANOTHER WORLD, AND HAVE BEEN EXTINCT FOR MILLIONS OF YEARS!" Ex-extinct?! As in…no longer alive?!, he thought... The changeling answered meekly, "I…I…I…I heard about it from a spy of Queen Chysalis, they have appeared in all of Equestria, until these books they called recently the Dinosaur Codex arrived, no one had heard of a dinosaur until now…" He gulped as Alastoris glared suspiciously, but let go of the changeling as he said, "Though your body language betrays someone who is lying just to save their useless hide…I know you speak the truth, you were simply intimidated…but if it is true, that dinosaurs are in Equestria, then they would spread throughout the planet…" Alastoris heard a low, grumbling sound and saw a massive Acrocanthosaurus sniffing the air sixty feet away. It was simply looking for food, until it caught a very powerful scent that made the predator nervous. It turned its head to the demon and changeling staring right back, when the forty-foot long carnosaur saw the demon, an ancient instinctual program activated in its brain. It growled more viciously than ever before, then went into a full frontal assault to Alastoris, completely ignoring the dead and injured that remained, all it knew was that its brain told it to kill the murderous demon. Alastoris grinned creepily as he said, "This might have been a big problem for me…" The demon raised his hand and grasped the six ton animal in a psychic grip as he finished, "…If they haven't gone extinct sixty-five million years ago, and gave me the strength where they are nothing more than a minor setback now…" Alastoris clasped his hand shut and crushed the poor dinosaur's neck, killing the powerful animal. He turned to his changeling servant as he said, "If that creature was here, then there are certainly more, how many is the real question…" He sensed for the unique signatures of non-avian dinosaurs and said, "A real hassle, hundreds of thousands of species roam the planet in numbers suitable for repopulating to sustainable numbers, to evolve…unless…" His monstrous eyes gazed up at the stars, looking into deep space as he zeroed in on a massive shadow in front of a star that wasn't far from this solar system. He said with an unpleasant grin as he pulled the object, "…I deny them the chance to become stronger species that could end me…a mass extinction event, of not only those accursed dinosaurs, but any other animal that will stand in my way…in a year's time…" The changeling cowered as his master laughed psychotically, then finished, "…So long Equus, your times of peace are at their end, your times of fear and hatred…are upon you all…" The hellish monster fired and energy blast at the Acrocanthosaurus' corpse and destroyed all but its head, as it crashed in front of one villager survivor as she screamed at the top of her lungs… Pinkie was being Pinkie Pie being all sneaky, zipping from one place to the next, as everyone else tries to move as quietly. For the six ponies were now just seventy feet from the city, the waters surrounding the city were teeming with dangerous sea animals of the Mesozoic. Archelon, Plesiosaurus, Cryptoclidus, Xiphactinus, and Hybodus swarm the outermost borders of the city. More dangerous sea animals swarm closer to the city, like a sea crocodile called Metriorhynchus, and a group of mosasaurs called Halisaurus, waiting for a feast of merponies and various other animals that lie in the city. The six cringed when the Xiphactinus swam beside them, they were not only huge, the fish from Hell's Aquarium were frighteningly ugly to look at. "Yesh! That fish was cree-py!" Applejack said. Rainbow added, "Yeah, I'll say...I don't like it at all..." After ten minutes, the six friends made a dash for the city when the animals started to go into a feeding frenzy when the corpse of a massive Leedsichthys floated lifelessly to the ocean floor. They made it inside the city as an individual Xiphactinus tried to swallow them in a six individual bites for each of them, only for the monstrous fish to be attacked by two Halisaurus and torn to pieces. "Boy are we happy to see you six…our princess told us you would come. Those animals are trying to get in for, obvious reasons." Said a voice as Twilight and the gang opened their eyes. They saw the voice belonged to a merpony guard as he helped them up... Twilight said, "Thank you, now can you tell us where your Barrier's source is located? We're here to help you with re-strengthening it…" "Certainly…" he began to say, "…but, you will need a member of the royal family here to unlock the Barrier's power core. It so happens that the queen is here, she can unlock it for you." Applejack said, "Okay then, let's go and get her highness now. Something is telling me we better hurry…" She looked up at the magic barrier, it started to flicker on and off, like a light bulb, as out of the animal feeding frenzy, massive mosasaurs looked on with predatory glares, looking at all the food around and in the city. "I am glad you six have arrived on time…the barrier is on its last legs you see…" the Queen said to the six land dwellers. Twilight said after bowing, "Well, Princess Celestia sent us here, thinking the magic barrier can be strengthened by a power me and my friends share, that defeated Tirek a while ago…" The Queen interjected, "Ah! Yes, I've heard of this, 'Rainbow Power', that defeated Tirek many months ago. Does the high ruler of Equestria think it will be a viable substitute for alicorn magic?" "She does, I also am here to let you know that our scientists are still trying to find out how the barrier was powered long ago…so far, we still have not found a solution…" Twilight said to the Queen. The merpony ruler was frowning as she said, "That…is unfortunate to hear…" A bunch of guards suddenly burst through as one of them said, "M-my Queen! Urgent report! A bunch of those monsters from a day ago have arrived and they broke the perimeter of the city's outlands! The Barrier's power has been drained completely!" They all froze when a low, haunting call resonated through the castle, then the shadow of a massive, snake-shaped creature swam by the windows of the castle. Twilight noted the shape and size of the shadow and flipped through the book and found its match, utterly pale at the identity of the animal. She said, "G-g-g-g-girls…we really need to power the barrier, like, immediately!" Fluttershy nervously asked, "W-what for, T-Twilight?" Twilight answered as she showed everyone the sea monster, "This is why…Tylosaurus proriger, a mosasaur of the Late Cretaceous. The apex predator of its time. The author described that these things are extraordinarily dangerous, more dangerous than any other animal of the entire planet, he or she would rather be with a pack of Tyrannosaurus or sharks than these things!" Then a young Tylosaurus entered the castle and attacked any merponies inside. They all knew they better get started, before they become food. The mosasaur tried to eat one of the merponies, but was fended off, which frightened the youngster enough to make it cry for help, then the mother Tylosaurus came rampaging through, making short work of any defense measure used against her. The six land dwellers and the queen hurried to the barrier's core, with numerous juvenile Tylosaurus chasing after them... The group got away as best they could from the tylosaur juveniles, but had attracted the attention of the massive adults, unfortunately. "Take this, sea-lizards!" Rainbow Dash said as she managed to get a few of the massive mosasaurs trapped, for now at least... After ducking and weaving through all the aggressive and hungry sea predators, the Mane Six and the Queen made it to the barrier generator, and the queen merpony unlocked it as an above-average sized Tylosaurus spotted them, then swam upwards to take a deep breath, then dived down to them. The seal was unlocked and they saw an orb of light that was fading slowly and surely burn out completely. Twilight said to her friends, "Alright girls, we have to hurry, concentrate…" They all closed their eyes and gathered the Elemental Energy within their hearts, and as the Tylosaurus closed in with jaws agape, everything, merpony or animal, was suddenly blinded by a bright light. The six transformed into their 'Rainbow Power forms' and then, a beam of rainbow energy was fired to the dying core as it regained its brilliant light, brighter than ever before in its time. The light then became a glittering sphere and expanded away from the orb, any non-native and dangerous sea creature was purged from the city and thirty feet from the walls. The queen resealed the lock as the Tylosaurus regained its balance, it looked back at the city, staring into the eyes of the six ponies who stared back, then the gigantic mosasaur swam away, in its search for food. Twilight and the others collapsed with exhaustion, the Tylosaurus staring at them sent shivers down their spines, and drained their energy. Twilight said with a puff, "Phew…that was a…*huff*…close one…right girls…?" The other five agreed and per the request of the queen merpony, rested in the city for a couple days. There they saw more sea creatures, like a living Leedsichthys, the largest fish that ever lived, growing to be as massive as a whale. A lone Futabusaurus soared through the water like a bird of prey, snapping up fish and completely ignoring all the merponies. Then, the city is swarmed by unusual seabirds called Hesperonis, two meter long birds that adapted for underwater life like penguins. Things were finally relaxing… if it wasn't for a dark shadow spying on them… Alastoris grinned through the images in a mirror he created, he said, "So those are the Elements of Harmony I've heard so much about…their carriers…that Rainbow Power…? Hmm-mm-mm-mm-mm…mighty, mighty indeed…but that isn't enough…" He held in a single hand, the skull of a royal guard with a helmet made of a tough material, then crushed it with incredible ease, then finished, "…to finish me…I should expand my horizons, then, my old foe, I shall hang your head as a trophy…when I deal with the dinosaurs…" He looked at the sky, and said, "Dragon God…"