Twilight soon brought the others over to have a look, and were amazed of what they found.
"Wow, I can't believe how much stuff is in here." Starlight bringing out a few books.
"I know, it's amazing." Twilight beamed.
The books of on Mammal species, behavior, life style, and even their evolutionary history. And even on extinct species.
"Hey, this one seems to be on Cats." Rarity looking at a book on Cat species.
"This one seems to be on Whales." Rainbow looking through another.
"This chest seems to have everything about them." Spike said.
As Pinkie looks through a book, she then found a page with a Leptictidium. "Hey! This looks like the Kangaroo creature we found."
They went over and looked at it.
"The Leptictidium is 3 feet long, and lives in the forests of the Eocene." Twilight reads a page. "Their long legs mean that they probably hopped like a Kangaroo."
"Interesting." Starlight said.
"You know, this feels like when the chest appeared with the dinosaur book." Pinkie said.
"You're actually right Pinkie, it does." Twilight realized.
"You know, with strange things around, it's usually me thing." Said a voice as they looked and saw Discord on the book shelf. "Maybe if I wasn't so complex with these thing, I might decide to take it personally. And isn't this quite the deja vu."
"What is it, time this Discord?" Rainbow questioned.
"Well, I just happen to be stopping by." Discord explained and appeared from Rainbow's mane and came out big again. "And I happen to run into this little fella."
He then brought out an Epigaulus, which is a kind of Horned Gopher.
"Aw, who's this?" Fluttershy flew and held him.
"Some sort of Gopher I think." Discord said. "But I had nothing to do with the horn."
Twilight looks through a book, and soon a patch with a Epigaulus.
"I think I found a match." Twilight said. "It's called... Epigaulus.
"Bit of an odd name." Rainbow said.
"Yeah, quite weird." Applejack agreeing with her.
Meanwhile, on a rocky coast of eastern Equestria, a pony was out walking.
And then he saw something odd, he went for a closer look. And standing on the rocks, were what looked like Penguins.
But they aren't even related to them, it was a group of famous Seabirds called the Great Auk.
The Great Auk was one of the famous of extinct birds, they used to be found across the North Atlantic. But over hunting by Humans has sadly brought them to extinction around July 3, 1844.
Great Auks are actually more closely related to Puffins, but they can't fly like Penguins. So they can often be sometimes called the Penguin of the North.
These Birds haven't been seen for centuries, only the thing Humans have left are drawings, paintings, and stuffed specimens.
And surprisingly, the black and white coloration and the white patch near it's eye is almost similar to that of a Killer Whale. It's likely to help blend in as it was hard to see from above and below. Since Killer Whales were likely to have been the Auk's greatest predator other than Humans.
Great Auks also use rock ledges to lay their eggs, since being on land leaves them expose to land predators like Polar Bears. But likely Polar Bears don't live this far south. And the ledges seem unreachable from other predators such as the dinosaurs.
But the ledges can be reachable with some Mammal predators. And then, a Wolverine appeared attached by the chattering Birds. Has found a reachable spot to reach a nest. He soon climbs down towards the nest, luckily the parent wasn't around, but that leaves the chick vulnerable.
And soon, the Wolverine snatches the chick and rushes away as the other Auks noticed him and begins to ward him off as the mother returns.
With her chick gone, the mother will have to try again next nesting season.
And the Wolverine begins to feed, these members of the Weasel family are the toughest ever. Wolverines are known to drag prey 5 times their size, and can challenged a Grizzly Bear.
And as they Weasel feeds, another predator arrives on the scene. It's a Homotherium or the Scimitar Cat, it's another species of Sabertooth. And seems interested in the chick the Wolverine is eating.
The Wolverine soon turns to the Cat, and starts growling. The Homotherium is twice his size, but Wolverines can challenged even Cougars. The Wolverine starts growling at the Cat as she got closer.
The Homotherium growls and the 2 were in a growling contest as they circle each other. But soon, the Cat begins to move away from the Weasel as he soon got back to eating again.
Meanwhile, in a forest further inland, a Deer was feeding off some grass.
But is unaware he's being watched.
Hiding in the bushes, was a large Dog like Mammal. He is an Amphicyon, a powerful predator with bone crushing jaws. The Amphicyon watches patiently as the Deer wanders closer, in order to make a kill, an ambush predator needs to be patient and either silently stalking within striking distance or let the prey come to him.
The Amphicyon kept dead still as his target got closer, and soon it with within striking distance.
And the Amphicyon lunges from his spot, and lands and pins the Deer on the ground and crushes the neck. The neck is the most vulnerable spot for a target, which is why most predators like Leopards usually aim for.
And soon, the Amphicyon begins to feed from the he soon buries his snout inside the rib cage, and then pulls out and chomps through a bone like it was a pretzel stick.
Amphicyon have one of the strongest jaws of any Mammals, easily enough to bite through bone.
For a pony, it would a horrible way to go.
Back at Twilight's castle they were going through the books and anything else in the chest.
Pinkie was going through a book on ancient Elephants, and then found a page with an Elephant with a weird head design with downward curve fang like tusks. And a shorter trunk than today's Elephants.
"Hey, look it this." Pinkie said.
They looked at the picture.
"Whoa, that's a weird Elephant." Spike said.
Twilight looks at the page. "The Deinotheres were perhaps the oddest of the Elephant family tree branch, with downward curved tusks, it was thought they used them to scrap bark from trees."
"A bit weird when it comes to looks." Rarity said.
"Got that right." Applejack said.
"I wonder what else might be there?" Starlight thought.
"Not sure." Twilight said. "But, it's something to look at."
And they continued to look through the chest to see what else there is.
Next Time:
Mammals go from big, to bigger.
They'll meet the Indricotheres.
Mammals that rival in size, the dinosaurs of old.
And creature from a world of the big, the bad, and the ugly.
Author's Note:
The Brontothere I brought from Walking With Beasts. Which happens to be known as Embolotherium.
Also, did I forget to mention other Cenozoic animals will appear as well?
Species Shown:
Epigaulus/Horned Gopher
Great Auk
Wolverine
Homotherium/Scimitar Cat
Amphicyon
