After another half hour of walking the mares and fillies finally arrived at their destination; the Visitor Center. By now the building was the exact opposite of how it was when they arrived, dark, shadowy and deserted. Only a handful of lights were on, the majority of the building being lit by the sunlight pouring in the windows.
“Hello?” Rainbow called out. She carried Scootaloo on her back, the little filly being far too weak to walk now. The group had to resort to using Applebloom’s bow just to bandage up the little pegasus’s bloody hooves. “Anypony here?”
“Twilight?”
“Fluttershy?” Applejack and Rarity called out, the mare’s voices echoing off the hard floor. The group trotted into the dining area. Rarity helped Rainbow lower Scootaloo onto a table, the pegasus wincing in pain because of her hooves.
"Ya'll are gonna stay here now." Applejack told the crusaders. "Rainbow, Rarity, and I gotta go find the others. Then we'll get out of this place, and get you to a hospital. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, can ya'll look after Scootaloo?" The little filly looked down at the floor in shame.
“Sorry I didn’t get down quick enough….”
"Aah come on now Sugarcube. It wasn't your fault." Applejack said gently before turning to her friends. “Let’s go.”
“Hold on.” Rainbow pushed her hoof down on Scootaloo’s mane. “Your manes all poofy now. Scootaloo the ponified piece of toast.” That got that little filly to crack a smile. “We’ll be back soon, we promise.” The older mares quickly trotted out the door in hopes of finding help. The members of the CMC sat for a few moments until their eyes fell upon the table of food that was set out for last night. They haven’t eaten anything since they left for the tour. Against better judgement, Scootaloo lowered herself down and limped over to the table, her closest friends following close behind.
Outside the older mares searched for their friends frantically.
“Fluttershy?” Rarity called out into the open environment.
“Twilight?” The three mares had no idea where to even begin looking. As luck would have it, a certain purple alicorn was pulling herself over the hill behind them, having hid from the raptors for a period of time. Her eyes didn’t want to believe it at first.
“Girls?” Twilight called out, her eyes watering up, overjoyed as the three turned into Twilight’s direction. “Run!” She warned as the alicorn broke into a mad gallop, jumping into her friends and embracing them, relieved and overjoyed to be reunited with them at last.
Inside the dining hall the CMC were happily munching on their food, having set plates of it out in front of them. A variety of daisy and dandelion desserts, fresh fruits and vegetables and even a few of teeth rotting sweets lay in front of the three. The three smiled, happy to actually have some food in them. Scootaloo took a drink from her glass of milk, but frowned when she placed it down. The looks Sweetie Belle and Applebloom were giving her were perplexing. The spoon of jello Rarity’s younger sister was holding with her magic was wiggling as the filly shook in fear. Scootaloo slowly turned around. The wall behind them was a glass mural, and right behind the painted figure of the Raptor a shadow was moving, one that matched the pained dinosaur perfect. The head turned towards the little ponies and hissed. The little pegasus turned back to her friends and gasped.
Sweetie Belle and Applebloom helped Scootaloo along as the three made a quick dash into the kitchen. Unfortunately this door didn’t have a lock. Sweetie quickly turned the lights off as the three took shelter at the end of a long metal counter, hiding out of sight. Outside the door the sounds of hissing and snorting drew louder. Scootaloo bravely peeked out as a scaly snot appeared in the window, fogging it up with its warm breath. The little filly gasped and huddled with her friends.
Twilight took her friends back to the emergency bunker where the three mares happily reunited with Fluttershy and Pinkie. The alicorn then had to explain what was on the loose at this very moment.
“Now let me get this straight, what are these things again?” Applejack asked.
“Velociraptors.” Twilight explained. “Very dangerous pack hunting dinosaurs.”
“They’re the things we saw devour that poor cow.” Fluttershy whimpered.
“What makes them dangerous?”
"Well for one thing, they are intelligent. Like solving quantum mechanics crossed with vector calculus intelligent." Only Scorch understood what Twilight just said, but others knew if these types of dinosaurs were that smart, then were in real trouble. The owner of Jurassic Park stepped in.
“Do you all remember the baby dinosaurs you saw in the lab yesterday?”
“Sure!” Pinkie threw in. “It was adorable!”
“That was a baby Raptor. These ones are all grown up. They're not just predators the way the T-Rex is, these things strategize and coordinate their attacks. They know exactly what they're doing.” Scorch explained.
“They set a trap for Crimson and he walked right into it. He never saw it coming.” Twilight revealed. The others looked at the two with mixed looks of fear and awe. "Not only are they intelligent. They're fast runners, incredible jumpers, and they have these." She tossed a raptor claw onto the table. "Raptors have six inch retractable claws on the inner toes of both feet."
“Those are some little piggies.” Pinkie said.
“How many of them are out there?” Rainbow asked.
“Three.” Scorch said.
“We have the power on; we just need to reboot the system. Then we can use the phones, call the helicopter back, then we can all get off this island.” Twilight said. Rainbow trotted over and pulled out one of the shoulder guns, loading it up with ammo.
“Let’s pony up then.”
“Scorch, you stay here with Pinkie. You’re the only one who can call the mainland, so we’ll call you when everything is good.” Twilight said. The stallion nodded.
“Twilight, are the girls safe where we left them?” Rarity asked.
“They should be, unless the Raptors know how to open doors.”
Inside the kitchen Scootaloo watched in horror as the knob to the door turned, her eyes widening as the door opened ajar. The snorting creature behind it nudged the door, trying to figure out how it worked. After a moment it pushed the door completely opened.
“Scootaloo, what is it?” Applebloom whispered.
“A Velociraptor.”
“It’s inside?!” Sweetie Belle whimpered. The Raptor looked in the doorway for several moments before it stood straight up, making a very loud calling noise. It was loud enough that the fillies had to cover their ears. The Raptor hissed again as another Raptor walked in right behind it. The two beasts sniffed the air, the smell of fresh meat clear as day. Sweetie Belle risked taking a peek, before being pulled back by her friends.
“There’s two of them!!!” She whispered frantically.
“Follow me.” Applebloom said quietly. The three fillies began to crawl as quietly as they could along the opposite side of the counter as the Raptors slowly walked down the other side. The two creatures were hunting just as they would’ve millions of years ago. To the CMC, this was a game of hide and seek. The snorts, hisses, and growls kept sending chills down the filly’s spines. The three could look under the counter and see one of the creature’s claws tapping the floor.
The lead Raptor snorted, freezing the CMC in their tracks. The beast looked over the counter, but it didn’t look down. It didn’t see the prey it was after. Growling in disappointment, it kept moving down the aisle. Snorting, the creatures tail knocked over several pots and pans, sending them crashing down on the CMC. The three crawled frantically, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom making it to the other side of the next counter while Scootaloo stopped on the end with the cooking utensils. The Raptor poked its head under the counter, but once more didn’t see anything. The filly pegasus let out a sigh of relief, until to her horror a soup ladle came off the hook next to her, clanging hard against the floor.
Both the Raptors head snapped over in the direction of the sound. As Scootaloo began crawling away one Raptor jumped onto of the counter, both creatures stalking their way closer to the fillies. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle made it to the end, and motioned for Scootaloo to make her way over, but the little filly locked up in fear. The snorting Raptors were right on top of her. Once they would turn the corner, they would surely see her. One Raptor bent down and sniffed the ladle; Scootaloo shut her eyes, expecting the worst. Then both Raptors looked down the previous aisle at a new sound. Sweetie Belle was clanging a spoon on the ground, successfully getting the dinosaurs attention.
The unicorn filly and Applebloom quickly climbed an open drawer on the counter, one Raptor didn’t take it eyes off them. The two desperately tried to pull the door shut, but it was firmly stuck in place. The vicious Raptor reared up before letting out a horrible scream. Then it charged at the two fillies. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle began screaming, trying with all their might to pull the door down. The creature pounced directly at the two fillies….
*Crash*
….only to go slamming head first into metal shelf. The two little ponies quickly climbed out while the Raptor laid there unconscious. It had been fooled by Applebloom and Sweetie Belle’s reflection. The two fillies then quickly crawled away to a different hiding spot. Scootaloo peeked over the edge of the counter. At the far end of the kitchen was a walk in freezer with its door wide open. This gave the filly a very dangerous idea. Making sure the other Raptor was watching, Scootaloo broke into a mad dash towards the freezer.
Shrieking, the second Raptor jumped from the counter and gave chase. The little pegasus filly limped as fast as her little legs would take her, the Raptor closing in with every second. With its claws fully extended, both Scootaloo and the Raptor ran into the freezer screaming. The pegasus slipped on the icy floor while the Raptor slammed into a metal shelf holding frozen food. Scootaloo quickly scrambled to her hooves and ran out the open door right as the Raptor pounced. However Scootaloo had the smarts to slam the freezer door in the creature's face. Running from their hiding spot, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle came running over as the creatures hold on the door slipping, trapping it within the freezer. So it wouldn’t escape, Sweetie Belle slipped the pin into the lock.
Gasping for air, Scootaloo felt her friends grab her as they made a break for the door. Neither member of the CMC saw the first Raptor come to, climbing to its feet as it watched the CMC make their escape. The three little fillies ran all the way back to the cafeteria where to their massive relief, they ran into the group of older mares looking for them.
“You girls ok?” Rarity asked, helping Scootaloo onto Twilight’s back.
“It’s in there!” Sweetie Belle pointed a hoof to the kitchen. Rainbow aimed the barrel of the gun at the door.
“The control room! Hurry!”