Before you read the chapter, please aknowledge this:

The following chapter is written by The Rhombus and Nimbus from their collaboration story Perspectives: Littlefoot & Perspectives: Cera

I have received their permission to weave their story into my LBT 1 novellization because, let's be honest, it just expands Cera's and Littlefoot's first encounter so much more nicely than I could have ever done myself. All I did to this chapter was take the two perspectives and merge them into one coherent story.

So the praise for this masterful chapter is not mine. Thanks for reading, enjoy the two-part chapter :)

Chapter 5: Threehorns never play with Longnecks 2

Part 1:

"Threehorns never play with longnecks!"

Despite his befuddlement at the sudden aggression from his new friend and her intimidating father, he did not resist as his mother began to lift him by the tail. Within moments he saw the ground fall below him as the larger sauropod took him skyward, out of harm's way. From his vantage point, dangling from her mouth, he did not see the knowing glance between the two parents, or the threehorns begin to walk away in parting, but as soon as he was placed on his mother's back he made his thoughts known.

"Mother, what's a long-neck?"

It was not the most obvious starting point, and it really wasn't his major concern, but for some reason the mentioning of a "longneck" caught his attention. Maybe if the threehorn couldn't play with him then this mysterious "longneck" would be welcome to play?

"Why, that's what we are, dear."

"Oh."

In his five short years of life he had mainly kept to his herd, just him, his mother, and his grandparents. He had never considered that all of these odd dinosaurs they told him about or seen from afar might have given his kind a name. Though, the more he thought about it, the name did make sense. They did have rather long necks, compared to the short-necks. His thoughts trailed off after a few seconds before another question entered his mind. A question which more closely reflected his angst.

"Well, why can't I play with that threehorn?" He laughed as he recalled the threehorn's antics, "We were having fun!"

"We all keep to our own kind - The three-horns, the spiketails, the swimmers, the fliers. We never do anything together."

Despite his youth, Littlefoot knew a deflection when he heard one. His mother had given him a "what" answer, but she did not answer the "why". Maybe she didn't hear him?

"Why?"

"Well, because we're different," came her unsatisfactory answer, "It's always been that way."

She did not mishear, that much was obvious; clearly she simply didn't want to answer. This would not dissuade the little longneck, however.

"Well, why?"

She laughed, "Oh, don't worry so much. When we reach the Great Valley, there will be many, many longnecks for you to play with."

Littlefoot sighed. Regardless of why the different herds were separate, it would be nice to play with others of his kind. Longnecks, he reminded himself in his mind, that is what the others call us.

"I wish we were there now."

His mother's voice almost seemed far-away as she answered, "It's a long way yet - past the rock that looks like a long-neck, the mountains that burn. Still a long way, but we'll get there."

Littlefoot could only hope that she was right.

"Come, Cera. Threehorns never play with longnecks."

Cera stood by her father's enormous foot, unsure of what to do. When the great threehorn arrived, she'd only thought he was joining in, the same way he did when she played within the confines of the herd, but this was different. He was glaring, snarling at the young longneck who had surprised her, the one who had dared to laugh at her admitted embarrassment at the tail end of a squirting buzzer. In other words, it seemed "play" was the farthest thing from his mind. Was this strange creature an enemy of some kind? Cera was deeply confused. Behind the safety of her father's foot, she stuck her tongue out at the longneck, payback for his mocking laughter. As if to back her up, her father growled menacingly at him, forcing the longneck back until he was well clear of her.

It was clear now to Cera where her father stood on the longneck's presence. He was something weaker, something to be intimidated. And even as her long-necked adversary's mother approached, a towering creature that would probably have frightened her had she been alone, she decided to prove herself to him, to prove once again that she could be just as strong as her father.

"Threehorns never play with longnecks!" she echoed, just before a familiar pressure clamped down on her tail, dragging her back and up into the air. She looked up just in time to see the mother longneck and her own father meet each other's eyes before giving one another a curt nod and parting ways.

She didn't understand it. If her father didn't want the longneck around, but didn't want her going anywhere near him, then what was she to do? She wasn't about to let some stranger laugh at her and get away with it, and she doubted her father would have wanted that either. He'd always told her to stick up for herself, and this? This was hardly that. This was running away.

"Daddy, where are we going? Why'd you take me away from the longneck?"

The larger threehorn set his daughter down, and when she looked up at him, she saw disappointment in his eyes.

"You ran away from our lesson, Cera. I won't have you hanging around with stuck-up, untrustworthy longnecks while there are still things I have left to teach you. The Mysterious Beyond is not a forgiving place, and I-"

"But he laughed at me!" she protested, "and you just pulled me away!"

"Don't interrupt me!" her father barked, and Cera settled down. She knew that voice, and it was a voice best obeyed. Disobedience could cost her a meal, or ground her to the herd for the next few days, both of which were less than appealing options.

"Cera, I don't want you anywhere near that longneck or his kind," he continued, looking down the hill. At the bottom, the rest of his herd had gathered, some enjoying the afternoon light, others going about their business, eating whatever food they could find and drinking from the nearby stream.

"Why not? He wasn't stuck-up or anything. I just didn't want him to laugh at me, that's all! I thought you wanted me to stick up for myself!"

"I do, but… but this is different."

"Why is it different? I was just trying to be like you!"

"I don't want you to be like me, Cera. Not right now, anyway. Right now, I want you to listen so that one day you have the chance to grow up and be like me."

"I wasn't going to hurt him or anything," she protested.

"I'm not worried about whether or not some longneck child gets hurt. It's you I'm looking out for."

At this, Cera tilted her head in confusion. There was nothing remotely dangerous about the longneck. It wasn't as if he was a sharptooth, and when they'd met, she hadn't seen anything dangerous about him. Just a curious kid about her age with a goofy smile and an annoying laugh.

"I don't need protection. There's nothing dangerous about Leaf Eaters. It's just sharpteeth I should be scared of."

Her father sighed, his shoulders sagging in the way they did when she wasn't listening to him. He looked down the hill, past the stream, as if trying to find something. When his eyes locked onto it, he nodded.

"Come with me, Cera. There's something I want to show you."

The little longneck twitched as the unwelcome light of the Bright Circle appeared through the clouds, making his previously cool resting spot rapidly rise in temperature. This was not what made him open his eyes, however.

"Mother…"

Littlefoot's eyes opened groggily as he noticed the lack of warm flash underneath his body. In its place was the familiar sting of the scorched ground. It was only when he heard his mother's thunderous snore to his side that he relaxed.

"Looks like someone just woke up from a nap."

Littlefoot turned towards the familiar kind voice of his grandfather. His words had come across as a whisper, but had echoed like a distant thunderstorm. The little longneck prepared to speak when the sudden snore of his mother again alerted him to the fact that she was slumbering. As a result he slowly walked to his grandfather as his mother and grandmother slept peacefully.

"Grandpa? Are we staying here?" Littlefoot looked around, "And where is here?"

This earned a hearty chuckle from the elder longneck as he looked out in the distance with his massive neck.

"We might stay here for the night, Littlefoot, but we are not staying here. As for where this is… well it is still the Mysterious Beyond, but at least there is a stream here."

"A stream?!" Littlefoot exclaimed until his grandmother's snore again alerted him to the fact that his elders were sleeping. His next words were quieter, "I am thirsty…"

As the little longneck felt the inside of his dry mouth with his tongue he could remember just how long ago it has been since he had a proper drink.

The elderly longneck nodded as he looked towards the stream, "We figured as much, little one. Perhaps you could get a drink and go play while your mother sleeps... just don't go too far. My neck has limits, you know?" Grandpa Longneck chuckled at his own joke.

This sounded like a perfectly sensible idea to the young longneck, "Great! Maybe I can find a new friend again, like that threehorn!"

As Littlefoot prepared to bounce off he did not notice as his grandfather's expression became one of concern. Taking one more look to make sure that his mate was soundly asleep, he spoke to his grandson once more.

"Littlefoot?"

The little longneck stopped. He knew that voice… that was the voice that usually came before him being corrected about something. But what could he have done wrong here? Reluctantly he turned around.

"Yes, Grandpa?"

The elder sighed. To explain to a child how things should be, and to explain how they actually are, were two totally different things.

"Let me tell you a story."

Parched mouth or not, Littlefoot needed no further prompting once the subject of a story was brought up. The stories that his grandparents often told about life when they were his age were always engrossing. To hear about lands lush with green, and many longnecks everywhere… it was like something out of a good sleep story. As it was the little longneck had never seen another child of his kind ever since he had been hatched.

In fact, Cera had been one of the few children of another kind he had ever seen.

Seeing that he had the little sauropod's attention, Grandpa Longneck began his tale, "It all began back before the Mountains darkened the sky, before the streams dried and the herds thinned, before the time of changes, and before I met my Time of Great Growing; back when I was around your age, still a small youngling…"

Littlefoot listened, mesmerized. It was still hard for him to believe that his mother and his grandparents could have been anything else but the wise, massive sauropods that he saw today. But if they said that they had been his age once then that must have been true…

"Back in those days I was part of a small herd, though by no means as small as ours," he laughed but it was a subdued laugh, "and we resided in a small valley in the shadows of the Four Mountains. It was there that I and my siblings were hatched. Though my poor mother sometimes had difficulty watching us all. As we have found with you, sometimes watching one child can be a lot to handle…"

His grandfather nuzzled him, as Littlefoot laughed.

"…but to watch twelve little ones was a monumental task for even the best of mothers. And your Great-Grandmother was certainly among the best. Because of her seven of us made it to our Time of Great Growing, four of us sadly falling to the coughing sickness."

Littlefoot looked down at this. He remembered vaguely his experience with the coughing sickness, and how he had felt so warm even though it was in the middle of a Cold Time. The days stretched on like an endless sleep story… until suddenly he began to recover. Though concept of death was still foreign to his personal experience, Littlefoot had begun to realize how close he had come. It seemed that his grandfather's siblings were not so lucky.

"But it is the one that did not fall to the sickness that I want to tell you about today, little one. Because what happened to him is something that I want you to make sure that you avoid."

Littlefoot was now quite curious, "What happened?"

His grandfather raised his neck further, as if he were looking at something in the distance. As if he were looking for a lost friend that was just out of sight.

"Gatus was like me in many ways at that age. A playful boy, but also quite a source of trouble when it came to being back at the nest in time for sleep. He would often lead us on adventures in those young days… from trying to find tinysauruses that supposedly existed in the mountains, to trying to find sweet bubbles by the streams. Many of my earliest memories involve him in some way. But, sadly, he never learned the lesson that the rest of us learned before it was too late. That was because he was the one who forced us to learn that hard lesson."

"It all began one fine morning, before the Bright Circle had even risen. I felt Gatus nudge my side…"

"Hmmm… What is it Gatus, the Bright Circle is still asleep and I think it has a good idea."

The playful brown longneck rolled his eyes, "Oh don't be lazy-neck, Baku! I saw it again."

By this time Baku was quite ready to return to his slumber, even faking a snore in the hopes that Gatus would take the hint. As soon as he felt a small tail cover his nostrils playfully, he gave up his attempt. As soon as Gatus put his mind up to something there was little that could dissuade him.

"Saw what?" Baku groaned as he forced himself off, shaking the morning dew off of his extremities.

"The all-necks!" Gatus beamed, "Which means that someone owes me their share of the sweet bubbles today…"

Baku glared at his brother, "And you think I am going to take your word for it? Show me these supposed all-necks, Gatus."

The elderly longneck shook his head, "But much to my amazement the all-necks, as we children called them then, were right where Gatus had indicated. Several small belly-sliders, as they are actually called, slithered on the bare rocks in the shadows of the Four Mountains. I was quite prepared to concede my sweet bubbles, but Gatus just couldn't let it stop there. This was something new… something exciting… he just had to find out more…"

"I don't think that they can talk."

As if in response to Gatus's observation, the larger of the belly sliders began to raise its head skyward, its imposing body now becoming visible. Even Gatus could not mistake this for something other than a threat display.

He reared back just in time to avoid any further escalation as the belly slider hissed at him.

"Well good job, Gatus. I don't know what it just said, but I don't think it is happy with you."

Gatus smirked at his brother, "Oh you are just bitter because you lost our bet! But I wonder why Momma never really told us about these."

Baku shrugged with his neck, "Maybe she has never seen them before?"

Gatus rolled his eyes as he looked back at his brother, momentarily taking his eyes off of the snakes, "Oh come on, Mom has seen everything! I am sure that…"

What happened next would forever be etched into Grandpa Longneck's mind even though it only took a few seconds. Unknown to the small sauropods, the belly sliders they could see where only the juveniles of a much larger snake. In the end Gatus never saw the large snake in the trees until it was too late. In one swift motion it fell from the tree and wrapped itself around the small sauropod, preventing him from even letting out more than a panicked squeak. Within moments his brother's eyes bulged as he was slowly suffocated by the massive predator. The frightened stare of his brother as his life left him was something that would forever remain in the small sauropod's mind.

The time of adventures had come to an end.

Grandpa Longneck shivered. He had avoided giving his small grandson any of the gruesome details in his retelling, but that did not stop the memories from playing in his mind.

"Later, once we had mourned brave Gatus, our mother explained to us what those were. They were belly sliders, and though they often looked harmless and were quite small, some could act like sharpteeth when it came to younglings. This was where Gatus's bravery and curiosity had led, and we all learned a hard lesson that day: A longneck does not need to be afraid of everything, but he does need to be cautious; never greet a new situation until you learn more about it."

To say that Littlefoot was shocked into silence would be an understatement. He had only seen a belly slider once, and had wondered why his grandparents had quickly stomped on it before it could get closer to him. Now he knew the answer. Sometimes danger came from even the least likely places.

"This is why we want you to be careful about playing with other kinds, Littlefoot. You are still young and learning, but sometimes life does not give us time to learn all of the lessons that we need. This is why we have parents and grandparents who can help us learn these things. Do you understand?"

Littlefoot nodded. "But… the threehorn did not seem like a belly slider. She had more than just a neck. Her dad was scary though."

Grandpa Longneck could only chuckle at his grandson's innocence. He still had much to learn about the ways of the world and his experience would harden his mind, but he knew that his grandson's heart was pure.

"Well, just remember to let us know if you see any others, okay? It is better to watch from afar than to put yourself in potential danger," Grandpa Longneck asked before his grandson nodded in agreement, "But I think a certain little longneck might want to get a drink of water and play before his mother wakes up… we have a long journey ahead of us."

Littlefoot needed no further prompting as he bounded off towards the steam. It was as if the horrors of the story had not even reached his awareness. For some reason this made the elder smile.

He had no idea how wrong he was.

Cera and her father walked down the hill, past the stream and a short distance away from the herd. The area he led her to wasn't anything special; it looked like everywhere else nearby - dry with a few scattered bushes here and there for grazing. The whole place was a bit of a shallow canyon or depression, the sort of place water might have gathered in wetter times.

Her father led her on in silence to a dry riverbank where he stopped. Cera couldn't see what was on the other side of him; he seemed to be deliberately blocking her line of sight with his body. But there was a strange smell in the air - a sort of musty, dead-leaf smell that caused her to wrinkle her nose in disgust. She wasn't sure what was in this place that was so important for her to see, but she suddenly felt uneasy. Whatever it was, it wasn't anything good.

Her father seemed to hesitate for a moment, his head turning as he looked at something only he could see. Then, closing his eyes, he took a few steps back, revealing what his body had blocked from her sight. Cera had to hold back a scream. Bones, bleached white by the Bright Circle, littered the ground, making up an entire Threehorn skeleton lying on its side near the riverbed. She'd never seen a skeleton up close before, and the rush of sheer terror she felt almost sent her scrambling back to the herd for safety. But her father's strong foot held firm behind her, keeping her from retreating.

"Look."

Against every instinct urging her not to, Cera looked, staring into the hollow sockets where once eyes sat, eyeing the teeth curved in a perpetual, horrifying grin. She imagined the whole thing standing up, approaching her as she stood locked in place, its white teeth chattering as breeze twisted and wormed its way through hollow cheekbones and cavernous ribs. She fell onto her belly, trembling as she shut her eyes, covering them with her feet.

"Cera, open your eyes" her father said. He didn't sound angry, but his tone carried a measure of force within it. "Be brave. Stand up and walk with me."

Shivering, she slowly removed her front feet from her eyes, lifting herself onto wobbly, unsteady legs as she tried to avoid those terrible, empty sockets. Her father was already making his way over to the skeleton. He stood between herself and it, and that seemed to bring a small amount of comfort to her. Swallowing back her fears, she followed him. He stood by the carcass, examining the unfortunate Threehorn's ribs, eyeing them carefully.

"What do you think did this?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the bones.

"Sh- Sharptooth," she whispered, quaking as she gave him the only answer that seemed logical. Sharpteeth were killers, enemies of the herd and of all Leaf Eaters. But to her surprise, her father shook his head.

"No. Look closer at these bones. See how they're cracked? And there are no tooth marks at all. This wasn't done by a sharptooth; it was done by another Leaf Eater. Probably a threehorn."

In that instant, Cera felt as if someone had struck her. She actually stumbled, losing her balance for a moment as she tried to comprehend her father's words.

"But… but… Leaf Eaters aren't supposed to kill each other. That doesn't make any sense."

"No, it doesn't. But it still happens. Sharpteeth aren't the only threat we face. Sometimes the greatest dangers are the ones we don't expect; the ones that hide behind a friendly face." He nudged the skeleton to prove his point, and the rattle it produced made Cera shiver.

"That's why I can't let you play with the longneck. He may be a Leaf Eater, he may even be just like you, but he is not harmless, and the rest of his kind is certainly not harmless. The truth is- It's not just longnecks, Cera. You can't trust anyone. Not until you've earned their respect, at least. Not until you know you can trust them with your life. Forget that even once, and you could end up like this poor fellow here. The world we live in does not care about you. No one you meet has your best interests in mind. Live for yourself, and no one else. Forget the longneck, and one day you'll be glad you did."

Devastated, Cera fell back down, shaking uncontrollably. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she covered her eyes again. Her father only grunted a response.

"So you see, now, that some things do scare me."

Cera continued to weep quietly, shuddering as she lay on the ground. Had she seen her father at that moment, she might have noticed the pity in his eyes, a fleeting image that passed as quickly as it appeared.

"Get up," he said.

Obediently, Cera did as she was told. She was a mess, the tears mingling with the buzzer juice on her face from earlier.

"Chin up, Cera. You're stronger than this. I know this is hard, but you're a threehorn. The world expects you to push through this, and so do I." He looked down at the bones again, this time bearing an angry scowl.

"Day is fading. We should go now. Go wash yourself in the stream before you return."

"Yes, Daddy," Cera sniffed, getting to her feet and plodding off toward the sound of the trickling stream.

"And Cera-"

She turned around, fixing him with her baleful, gleaming green eyes.

"Don't go anywhere near the longnecks."

But those words weren't necessary anymore. Right now, she had no intention of going anywhere near anything without three horns on its head. And even that was a stretch.

As always, apologies for the long wait. My writing motivation is on and off and if I have some I usually take part in the LBT prompt challenge on the Gang of Five Forum which thus keeps me busy with writing shorter stories (some of which I shall upload today as well).

Again, I should mention that I didn't write this but merely adapted it into my story and finally found the muse to upload it today. All praise belongs to The Rhombus and Nimbus.

I've been putting off doing part 2 in a while since it's a lot of work to merge all the dialogue between the two young dinosaurs which you can expect in the second part but I hope that I can get my hands around that soon. We'll see.

Guest chapter 5 . Mar 16

It's great to see you again most evil swimmer. This is going to be shorter than my previous reviews, considering the length of the chapter a longer review would just be my usual compliments regarding your perfect characterization of everyone involved. Admittedly I don't understand what you meant by "did I miss that", although if it's in regards to the potential concept I mentioned earlier I assure you that you didn't miss anything. If you're interested you need only to express your interest by posting on the LBT Squad Facebook page so we can discuss it. My apologies for the rather consistent messages on Shorty's Dark Past, I hope I didn't annoy you, it's just my favorite and you know what dedication can do. Thanks again for coming back and responding to your fans. I look forward to more of your work as always.

Just as great to hear from you again too :)

I did send a message to the LBT Squad page a while back but no response ever came. Maybe I failed to make clear who I am? Well, I shall send you a message on there later today, once I've given a proper update now that I have some time and muse today. Thanks for sticking by despite my horrible update behavior! :)