(Disclaimer: 'The Land Before Time' belongs to Universal, Don Bluth, and every other original owner. My characters belong to me. This is for show, not dough.)

Author's Note: To be more clear on how Digger came to be in Littlefoot's herd and family, before her and several siblings were born, her parents were caught in a skirmish with a pack of 'egg-stealers'. They were going for the eggs. In the midst of the fight, most of the eggs were destroyed. The two oviraptors were mortally wounded and couldn't keep up much of a fight against the five eggsnatchers (I forgot their real name). Before long, the two collapsed from exhaustion, shock, and blood loss. The eggsnatchers ate their fill and scurried off. The two oviraptors began slowly bled out. Under dead weeds and bracken was the slightly scuffed egg of Digger. Several days passed and the bodies of her parents were beginning to decay. She struggled to hatch as the hatchling lied there sprawled out and weak from hatching. She soon got into a small rumble with a desperate compsognathus, recieving a horrible scratch on her left cheek. She could've died but the small dinosaur was scared off when Littlefoot's mother happened to be in the area. The apatosaurus came upon the aftermath of Digger's fallen family and her crying in confusion and pain from the scratch on her face. Taking pity on the hatchling, Lotus (that's the name I gave her) brought her to her parents where they reluctantly agreed to take her in. Littlefoot soon became fond of his now adoptive sibling and they grew into younglings as great friends, though different kinds. Lotus didn't want to see the little oviraptor perish like her family, so she soon had decided to take her under her wing and adopt her. Hope that clears things up. Tragic, but hey, the first movie was all about that stuff and even had some scenes taken out of it because some of it's makers thought it was too dark and depressing for younger viewers and the lighthearted. Look it up if ya don't believe my claims. :P

Chapter One: Sparse and Desolate Lands

Food was scarce. Mother had told Digger that her and Littlefoot had been born in unfortunate times. Half the time, Digger found herself face with barren ground, arid air, and dried up plant life. The young fastrunner sometimes found herself chasing after flying insects or stalking small reptiles. Other times, she would eat what plants they could forage along with Mother, Littlefoot, Grandpa, and Grandma. Though their herd was the smallest ever to be known, they thrived. One advantage was that it meant less threats of losing members, since it only contained five, three being fully grown and seasoned with surviving.

The sun had just began peeking over the horizon as Digger along with her brother, Littlefoot, were awoken by their mother, Lotus. Though a bit disgruntled at first, the two tired younglings soon gathered the strength to get to their feet. The two had been following their mother and grandparents for the past half hour foraging for what scraps of food they could find. They had to keep moving if they wanted to reach their goal. Yawning satisfyingly, Digger picked at the feathers on her spine to clean off some grit when something caught her emerald eyes. A bug! It was a large, green dragonfly, but Digger called them skinnygliders.

Getting low and narrowing her eyes, the fastrunner began to stalk the hovering insect. She trailed it into some barren undergrowth when she came into a small clearing. She gasped inwardly as her eyes befell upon swarms by swarms of skinnygliders, fatwings (beetles and the like), and smallbuzz (termites).

Lapping her beak, she charged into the storms of bugs, maw opened wide. As several insects were trapped into her mouth, Digger crunched down on the hard morsels. Chewing them thoroughly, she swallowed the mush with satisfactory. She was lucky to be able to eat both meat and plants. She felt guilty for not being able to share her jackpot of food with any of her family, but leaf-eaters were strictly leaf-and-plant-eating dinosaurs, unable to digest and handle flesh and things like bugs.

After chomping a few more mouthfuls, Digger felt gratified and crept into the dead undergrowth once more. Though it was a light meal, most of the insects had flew away and they were fast too fast to catch at one time. She sniffed the air, trying to catch scent of any green food that she could share with her entire kin folk. Digger scented until her nostrils strained. Sighing in defeat, she dejectedly began heading back to her family's scents.

Something suddenly wafted the air. Screwing her head around, she peered through the sparse bare, trees. Squinting her eyes, she perked up as she noticed something in the distance. Jogging closer to the sight, her heart did a skip and a leap as she announced,

"Green food! Over there!"

Her family must've heard her, because she soon heard their heavy footsteps becoming louder and their scents becoming sharper. The scamper of Littlefoot's much smaller footfalls accompanied them. Their shadows soon towered over the fastrunner as she turned to them, pointing both forepaws and even the tip of her quilled tail.

"Over there, Mother, over there!" Digger insisted excitedly. "I saw it—and smell it! We can all eat… together!" The blue fastrunner threw her forelegs into the air in emphasis.

Lotus chuckled at her child's antics, lowering her head to meet her much smaller gaze. She crackled a smile, "Good eye, Digger. But, there is more than meets the eye, more than just yours." She tilted her head. "Why don't we go see for ourselves if your eyes are right?"

Littlefoot seemed happy. "Sounds good to me. My tummy has been grumbling all morning!"

Digger took hold of his forepaw and took off, "Then come on!"

But the fastrunner had took off at the wrong time. With just one misstep, the idigo-feathered-and-cobalt-skinned fastrunner was sent sprawling forward. Before Digger could clash into the barren ground, she was caught by the long foreleg of her mother. Grunting, Digger soon regained her breath as she clung to the foreleg of her adoptive mother. Looking up to meet the gaze of her mother, she grinned sheepishly.

"Now, now, you don't want dirt up your beak now?" Lotus teased.

"No, ma'am," Digger shook her head, cackling, not showing her slight discomfort from her snout being called a beak, implying her bizarre differnce from her longneck herd family.

Giving her a lick, she set her down beside Littlefoot, who eyed her playfully. She only stuck out her tongue and began to follow her mother and grandparents. As the six trekked closer to the supposed green food, they were amazed when they were some groups of leaves gather on the highest branches of a cluster of trees. They hurried over to the horde and began picking off leaf by leaf, switching between showering some to Littlefoot and Digger, and devouring some for themselves. After every last leaf was plucked from its twig, the six dinosaurs headed off. Sadly, it wasn't much to offer. The sun was beginning to be seen clearly by now.

Digger hopped merrily along behind her brother, chasing the tip of the waving tail. She nipped at it occasionally as they came into a clearing. The small herd glanced around. No plant life. A bit downhearted, Littlefoot kicked at the dusty ground beneath them. Noticing his disappointment, Digger looked around when she noticed a small pile of black twigs near the basin of a towering tree. Approaching it and collecting the twigs, she scuttled back over to Littlefoot and offered them. Wanting to be niced, he accepted three of them and began crunching on them uneasily.

Digger tried the a twig as well, but nearly broke all her teeth. Spatting chunks onto the dirt, she noticed Littlefoot doing the same. Faces contorted in disgust, they had their fill of dry sticks. The gentle voice of their mother soon filled their ears as she called to them.

"Littlefoot, Digger, quickly!" Lotus insisted. "Come here!"

The two bumbling siblings came scampering over to her. Her head was facing skyward.

"Look. Up there," she told them. "A Tree Star."

The two gazed up to see a large, star-shaped leaf at the very top of the canopies of several trees. Reaching up, Lotus picked it off of its stem. Lowering her head, dew began gathering in the center of the leaf. The female let it settle before her two children as the dew slightly flicked them in their faces. Lapping up the dewdrops on her cerulean mandible, Digger took in the lush scent it gave off and the beautiful sight it displayed. She found herself unable to blink for a few moments as her mother snapped her out of her entrancement.

"It is very special," Lotus explained. "It'll help you grow too!"

"Yes," agreed Grandpa. "They are very healthy, but have become rare amongst these parts."

Grandma lowered her grand head to the two delighted younglings, assuring, "But don't worry, there will be more where we are heading, so this won't be the end of them."

"Wow…!" Littlefoot grinned, observing it at different angles of his head.

"A Tree Star!" Digger found herself unable to peck or nudge the delicate leaf. "I wonder how many there could be."

"Oh, as many as there can be, my child," Lotus replied with a smile.

Littlefoot soon grimaced. He asked, "Is this all there is to eat around here?"

Lotus sighed, "l'm sorry, my dear. As I've told you two before… the land has been changing. That is why we must walk as far as we can each day until we reach the Great Valley."

Digger glanced back down at the Tree Star, "Oh… well at least we have /this/ for now."

Littlefoot reluctantly nodded.
Licking their lips, the two were about to take their first bites of it when laughter filled their curious ears. Glancing inquiringly to the left, the two adoptive siblings crept towards the sound. Lotus noticed this.

"Littlefoot, Digger, don't wander too far!" she warned.

The two began tredding into some tall stalks of grass. As they peered out of the stalks, Digger noticed something in the distance. It was a four-legged creature only a bit smaller than Littlefoot and a bit larger than Digger. It had a horn in its snout and two on the fan-like head it had. Eyeing a fatwing perched on a potruding clast, the yellow horned creature licked their lips impishly. Sneering, the dinosaur was about to take a bite of it, it excreted a purple fluid into their face, their green eyes filling with suprise as the seemingly sticky substance dripped of of their face. Exchanging amused looks, Littlefoot and Digger suddenly burst out in laughter at the scene. The yellow creature noticed them and scowled.

"What are YOU TWO laughing at?" they inquired sharply in a young, feminine tone.

The duo gasped as she suddenly started scraping the ground with her forepaws. They found enjoyment out of this new action, leaping out of their cover and imitating the dinosaur's movements. The yellow youngling soon began to charge and let out a squeal that was the premature sound of a roar. Countering her call with a loud squawk from Digger and wail from Littlefoot, the two began to hail towards her. The three nearly reached each other when they heard a much deeper roar and a large black figure lunged towards them. It was a larger version of the horned youngling with much longer horns and a gray head with a dark hide. They stood over their young and eyed Littlefoot and Digger with a beady pupil, regarding them with disdain. Digger scrabbled to a stop as she stumbled next to Littlefoot at the towering dinosaur's feet.

"Come, Cera…" he ordered. "Threehorns don't play with /long-necks/." He added disgusted emphasis on the last word. He narrowed his eyes, "Especially those who hang around feather-brained /fastrunners/."

"Littlefoot! Digger!" Lotus called from afar.

The words stung and puzzled Digger as the two new dinosaurs continued to leer at them. Out of the corner of her eye, Littlefoot looked just as shocked. What exactly were these… threehorns? Why was that big one saying things like that? And what were longnecks and fastrunners?

Cera snorted, echoing her father, "Threehorns don't play with longnecks and fastrunners." She butted them away into their mother's jaws as she grasped the tips of their tails in between her teeth. The father threehorn also held his daughter by the tail tip and stomped away. Lotus carried her younglings back over to her parents. Littlefoot grasped a part of his tail and hefted himself upwards.

"Mother, what's a…" the word seemed hard to roll of of his tongue as he paused. " 'looong-neck'?"

She began to answer as he shimmied up on her large head and slipped under the Tree Star. Digger soon followed with a smiliar inquiry.

"Yeah… and what the heck is a fast… runner?" Digger settled beside Littlefoot under the cover of the Tree Star. "I never heard of either of those before."

"Why, that's what me, you, Grandpa, and Grandma are," Lotus replied. "And you are a fastrunner, Digger, my dear."

"Well, then why couldn't we play with that threehorn?" Littlefoot pressed.

Digger nodded, "Yeah, and why did that big one make it seem like it was bad for me and Littlefoot to be together?"

"Well, it's always been that way, my children," their mother insisted. "We tend to stick with our own kind. The threehorns, the spiketails, the swimmers, the flyers, the fastrunners… We never do anything together."

"Why?" Littlefoot asked.

"Because… well, we're different," Lotus explained.

"Then why am I with you?" Digger's voice was laced with faint hurt and confusion. "Shouldn't I be with other… fastrunners if I'm not a longneck? I thought meat-eaters and leaf-eaters weren't supposed to be together! And I sometimes eat meat. D… doesn't that make me dangerous?"

Lotus quickly reassured her, "No, no, Digger! I found you alone one day when you were very young… you had just hatched, too! You could've died if I hadn't taken you in… You are an exception to this family. Don't you ever feel unwanted here in our herd; you're part of it too."

Digger was uncertain, mumbling something under her breath that none of them caught, "That won't make me feel misplaced though…"

Littlefoot nuzzled his saddened sibling regardingly. She perked up a bit and gave him a sad smile.

Lotus continued, "Don't worry, though, there are sure to be plenty other longnecks and fastrunners for you to play with when we get to the Great Valley."

"Does that mean I can still play with Littlefoot, Mother?" Digger pressed hopefully.

"Of course," her mother smiled.

Littlefoot then spoke up, "Say, have you ever been to the Great Valley, Mother?"

"… No," she answered firmly.

"Then how do you know it's actually there?" Digger chipped in.

Lotus chuckled, "Some things, we see with our eyes. Others, with our hearts."

"I don't understand," Digger shook her head.

"Don't worry, you will someday," she assured her.

"Well, when will we arrive?" Littlefoot chimed in.

"We will have to travel very, very far. The Bright Circle must pass over us many times." Lotus explained.

"Do you know how to get there?" the fastrunner quizzed.

"Yes," Lotus nodded lightly, "Past the great rock that looks like a longneck, the mountains that burn, and through the valleys of vast waters. I know, it is a long journey, but we must follow the Bright Circle as it sets and rises."

"What is it like there?" Littlefoot questioned.

"Oh, it is a wonderful place. With enough Tree Stars and green food to last forever, cool, fresh water to drink, and huge walls to shield us from sharpteeth," Lotus mused.

"I wish we were there now…" Digger muttered impatiently.

"Don't worry, we will soon enough. Just you wait, my children."

"But I dunno if I CAN wait that long!"

"Hm-hm, well, then that will pass in time."

"If you say so, Mother."

The sun was soon ending its apex as they continued to trek through a region of dead bushes.