Category: Land before Time

Rating: T

Couples in Series: Littlefoot/Ali, Cera/OC, Ducky/OC, Petri/OC, Spike/OC

Couples in this installment: Littlefoot/Ali

Warnings: AU

Chapter: Prologue

Copyright: © characters and places by United Pictures; © Plot and OC by me

Author's Note: This is part one of an installment, covering the transition from Single to Committed for our beloved Characters. Maybe I'll later also add parts about Chomper and Ruby, but as of now, it's only the Main Five.

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Many cold times had passed. Each of the five had grown, being many times the size they had been in their younger days: Littlefoot was now three quarters of his grandfather's size and didn't seem like he'd stop growing any time soon. His skin-colors had darkened, making him look more like his father than ever.

Cera too had grown and was now about Tria's size. Several cold times ago her main horns had broken through, a thing which she had been waiting for impatiently. She still had the same colors as during her childhood, but anyone who made fun of that found himself with a face full of enraged Threehorn (with all three horns, as she'd love to point out).

Ducky had grown darker and larger over time, now looking like her mother while still being smaller, the top of her crest only reaching the lower part of her mother's bill. Her customary 'yep yep yep' had changed in a series of calls through said crest, something which amused and irritated her friends to no end. But they had gotten used to it and by now it was as much a part of her as her 'yep yep yep' had ever been.

Petrie had lost his way of speaking somewhere along the way, now only speaking like that when he felt very strongly about something. When his uncle Pterano had returned after his five winter-exile, everyone had been very amused that by that time the young flyer already looked like he was a smaller, darker-colored twin of the old flyer. The similarities had only increased as time progressed.

Spike still didn't speak much and his main priority was still his next dinner. Considering he too was nearly the size of a grown-up this lead to many amusing situations. His plates and spikes had come through only a winter after Cera's horns (for which he was silently grateful, since he preferred not to see the Threehorn angry at him for being faster in that regard).

Chomper had grown too, causing him to leave the Great Valley. He could no longer sustain himself on buzzing creatures and even fish had soon proven to be not enough for the ever-growing hunger of the Sharptooth. He had left soon thereafter to ensure he would not accidently hurt his friends or worse, harm a Valley-resident. Ruby had followed him, returning to her family. It had been a long time since the two had been seen by their other friends.

All five had only recently returned to the Valley with their families, each returning from Courtship-Day, which was essentially a meet-and-greet for young dinosaurs to meet potential mates and grown-ups to see distant relatives.

They had met up on the very hill they had huddled together after first finding the Great Valley so many cold times ago, their mates at their sides. Littlefoot had Ali resting at his side, which his friends proclaimed was a match they had seen coming cold times ago.

Cera's mate was a bulky Threehorn, whose dark-brown color reminded Littlefoot of earth. His horns were already fully-grown and his eyes were the color of sand. The lighter colors of his underside went only as far as his neck, but his darker back-stripe was flanked by two smaller stripes of the same color as his stomach. He introduced himself as Trike and seemed well underway to prove himself a much calmer dinosaur than Cera.

Ducky's mate was a Swimmer named Paro, who seemed to be a male version of Ducky. Cera jokingly asked whether the Swimmer was sure she had not accidently chosen one of her brothers as a mate. Ducky answered her with a lot of giggles, assuring the Threehorn she had already checked whether he was related to her. The following laughter echoed across the grassy plains of the valley, reaching the grown-ups who could not help but smile at the antics of their young ones, regardless of said young ones' age.

Rana, the dark-red flyer that had followed Petrie to the Valley, dryly commented that he had not exaggerated when calling his friends 'interesting'. Her eyes sparkled with amusement as she nuzzled him. His blush at that move nearly matched her wings.

To his friends' surprise Spike had found a suitable match too. The dark-blue female Spiketail introduced herself as Tega and mentioned that they had found one another over dinner. That made much more sense to the others than the thought that Spike had actually courted her. Tega simply responded that he had courted her… by taking her out to dinner.

"So Littlefoot, how does courting go for Longnecks?" Cera asked after a while of meaningless chatter. "I doubt it's the same as that for Threehorn's…"

"Oh, let's share experiences!" Ducky exclaimed. "It'll be fun!" The deep sound of a Swimmer-crest-call echoed in the cooling evening-air.

"Uh…" Littlefoot looked to his right, where Ali nodded with a big smile on her face. "Ok then. Well, I and my Grandparents left before any of you did, since the Longneck meeting-place is further away from here than those of your kinds. Underway I started talking to Grandpa…"