Meanwhile, the little herd of six continued westward.

There had never been a herd like theirs before: an Apatosaurus, a Triceratops, a Saruolophus, a Pteranodon, a Stegosaurus, and a Human. Although the converging of different species was either taboo or frowned upon by most, these little travelers had somehow made it possible.

However, Cera walked a distance away from the group. Not only was she uncomfortable with the idea of coexisting herds, but she also felt a bitter dislike toward Candice. That girl thought she was all "that" and acted so superior when she really wasn't.

For one thing, she was smaller in terms of size. While she was obviously bigger than Petrie and Ducky, she was so skinny and her limbs were like gangly branches. Also, every now and then, she would have to ask Littlefoot if she could ride on his back for a while, giving the three-horn the hunch that Candice couldn't walk long distances for very long.

What irritated her the most was the fact that whenever they would say something, most of the time, Candice would correct their words with another kind of word of her own. While the others went along with it and seemed to be excited to learn a new word and how the human spoke, Cera found it to be extremely irritating.

"What makes her so bold to change the way we talk?" she thought angrily. "She acts like she's so smart, brave, and strong. I bet she's just trying to hide the hurt that she's actually weak."


The sun was almost down when the herd stopped by a large river near a waterfall to get a drink and to eat from a nearby tree. The sky was painted in a rich vibrant red with a slight golden tint to it. The moon was slowly creeping into visibility, just slightly blending in with the heavens.

Candice opened her bag to put away the refilled water bottles and found to her dismay that she was out of granola bars. All that was left of them were a couple of wrinkled up wrappers. The granola, despite handy, hadn't done much in keeping her stamina up. They had just given her a boost of energy.

The only reason she was able to survive on little was that she had a low metabolism. But even she couldn't go on for a full day without eating anything. "Oh, terrific!" she groaned to herself and visibly frowned. "Now what am I going to do?"

As if a miraculous answer to the question, Candice looked into the river and saw a bunch of fish that looked vaguely like salmon swimming around. She couldn't help but smile a little. Salmon was her favorite type of fish to eat. She wouldn't starve after all.

However, her relief from seeing another source of food was suddenly crashed when she heard Littlefoot trying to encourage Petrie to fly up to the tree and get some leaves for them to eat and the little flyer refusing in a panic-stricken manner.

Candice whipped her head around to see Littlefoot, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike gathering around a small tree that had a source of vegetation. "Aw, do not worry, Petrie," Ducky said reassuringly to the little flyer. "Many things can't fly: rocks, trees, Spike..."

Candice looked away and fearfully bit her lip. It had never occurred to her that she would have to eventually eat meat in this world until now. What made it discouring was that that friends she was keeping company with were herbivores.

She just HAD to become friends with a bunch of plant-eaters who despised anything that eats meat!

But Candice knew that she had to eat meat because of her dietary needs. She was an omnivore; meat was part of her diet if she wanted to gain any protein. Peanuts would work too but only if she HAD any peanuts. And of course, if there were any fruits or vegetables around, she would eat that instead.

But at the moment, all there were was fish and leaves, and she could only eat one of those two.

"Hey, Candice!" Littlefoot suddenly called out.

Candice jumped and turned sharply around with a start. Littlefoot blinked in confusion as she did.

"Are you okay, Candice?" he asked.

"Huh, yeah," Candice answered as she put down her bag and walked over to the group, rubbing her arm as she did. "What's going on?"

"We're trying to figure out how to get to the green from...I mean, leaves down from the tree," Littlefoot said, quickly correcting his choice of words.

Ever since Candice started sharing her vocabulary with him and the others, he felt it only respectful to use her terms when around since she was kind enough to acknowledge theirs.

"We were thinking about stacking on top of each other but Petrie just doesn't want to go up," the long-neck finished.

Candice looked down at the little Pteranodon shivering behind Littlefoot's leg. Her expression softened a bit. She could relate to his fear and didn't feel right to force him to do something he didn't want to do. She knew it wasn't easy for anyone to face his and her fears.

She then looked back up at the tree. It didn't look too high but Petrie's fear of any place high up was so severe that he wasn't going to go up there willingly.

Then, it struck Candice like a lightning bolt. What was she doing? She was the elder of the group. She should start acting like it!

"I'll climb up," she declared.

"What?" Littlefoot said on confusion. "But Candice..."

"I can climb trees," Candice admitted. "I have the muscles as well as the flexibility to do so."

"But you said yourself that you're afraid of heights," Littlefoot reminded her.

"Well," Candice shrugged. "Gotta face my fear sooner or later. Might as well be now."

Taking a deep breath, Candice walked toward the tree. She looked up to the leaves at the top and gulped.

"Huh. Just promise to catch me if I fall, okay?" she said nervously.

"We will!" Ducky replied. "Just do your best! Yep, yep, yep!"

With that, Candice took another deep breath of air and began to climb up the tree. Fortunately, the trunk of the tree was rough enough and had thick pieces of bark sticking out so that Candice could get a good grip and foothold. To help to make things a little easier, she tried to imagine that it was like climbing the rope in gym class. But that didn't help either because she always failed at her task due to her fear.

"No!" she scolded herself. "Don't think about that right now! Just focus on the goal at hand and don't look down!"

The others below watched in amazement as Candice quickly scaled the small trunk. For someone who was scared of heights, she was doing a pretty good job at climbing. She was like a little ground crawler scaling up the side of a cliff.

Cera scowled at the human as she felt another dent in her pride. Again, Candice had to be the amazing one of the team.

When Candice got to the top, she immediately starting pulling leaves off the branch in big handfuls and let them fall to the ground. Her muscles started to ache as she struggled to hang on the tree with her legs and arm. Her pulse pounded in her ears and blood pumped through her veins. She forced herself not to think about how high up she was but instead just continued pulling off leaves and let them drop.

The others on the ground began cheering for her. Well, most of them. Cera was still mad about the whole situation and Spike was too busy with catching some leaves in his mouth and gobbling them before they hit the ground.

After a minute or two, Littlefoot called up to the human: "Candice, come down here, we've got enough food!"

Candice looked down at the group which was a mistake from her part.

Her heart jumped fearfully when she realized how high she was. In her sudden panic, she lost hold of the tree. Before she knew what was happening, the ground was rushing to meet her.

"CANDICE!" Ducky and Petrie cried out.

Littlefoot didn't hesitate. He rushed under her falling path and caught her. She grimaced a bit as the protruding spine on his back jabbed her in the stomach, but the pain lasted only for a few seconds. "Candice, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Candice panted. "Thanks for the save." Once she regained control of herself, she slowly got off Littlefoot's back.

The long-neck went over to Cera, who was on the ground just a few feet lower near another tree that also had some food. "C'mon, Cera," Littlefoot graciously invited. "We've got food."

"I can get my OWN GREEN FOOD!" she said, glaring up at Candice as if using the term she had always known would somehow irritate the human.

However, Candice didn't react to it which annoyed the Triceratops even more. Cera then started charging and ramming herself into a tree, trying to get leaves from the top to fall down. Littlefoot and Candice looked at each other then back at the leaves that the human girl had gathered for them just moments ago.

Candice quietly pointed to the leaves and then made a swinging motion with her arms. Littlefoot caught on to what she was saying and gathered up some leaves in his mouth while Candice scooped up two large handfuls. On one of Cera's collisions with the base of the tree, they threw their leaves down, as if to make it look like the three-horn had knocked them down.

Cera shook her head and opened her eyes to see fallen leaves around her. She smugly grinned and then started greedily eating. Candice turned away, not wanting to look at the Triceratops eating with her mouth open.

"See," Cera answered boastfully. "I can take care of myself."

"Yeah, sure you can," Candice mumbled.

"What was that?!" Cera snapped.

"Nothing," the human lied.

After that, Littlefoot and Candice rejoined the other three and the herbivores began to eat their fill as much as they could. Candice hugged her knees as her stomach started to ache with hunger. She looked back and forth between the river and vegetation at her feet.

How in the world was she going to explain this situation to the others?

"What's wrong, Candice?" Littlefoot asked, pushing some leaves over to her with his snout. "C'mon, there's plenty for you too."

"Thanks, Littlefoot." Candice looked at the Apatosaurus. "But...I can't eat leaves as you guys can."

At that statement, everyone except Spike turned and looked at Candice with mildly surprised expressions. From where she was, Cera looked up with alert, suddenly becoming interested in what Candice was saying.

"What you mean?" Petrie asked.

Candice coiled up and began rubbing her hands nervously. She couldn't beat around the bush on this one; she had to tell them the truth.

"Okay," she said, taking a deep breath. "This time, I'm gonna come out and say it..." Candice hesitated before finally screwing up her courage. "I'm an omnivore!"

Candice flinched as she waited for the little dinosaurs to start panicking. Instead, they just stared at her with confusion.

"What's an omnivore?" Littlefoot asked.

Candice face-palmed as she realized that this was going to become more difficult than she thought.

"Okay, huh," she stuttered. "You know how in your world, you guys plant-eaters which we call herbivores and meat-eaters which we call carnivores?"

The others nodded, unsure of why Candice was saying this.

"Well," she nervously continued. "Let's just say that I'm a hybrid between the two."

"Hybrid?" Ducky questioned.

Candice bit her lip. "I'm both."

With that confession, the dinosaurs' eyes widened and their jaws dropped. They finally understood what Candice was trying to tell them. "You mean you're a meat-eater too?!" Littlefoot asked in shock.

Candice dropped her gaze and hugged herself. "Yes," she confessed.

To the human's misery, Petrie shrieked and rushed away from her. Ducky coiled back behind Spike. The only ones who didn't move were Littlefoot and Spike. Spike was too busy enjoying his meal and didn't seem to have noticed Candice's explanation at all.

Littlefoot was just in a state of shock.

This person who had been by his side ever since his mother was killed was a meat-eater like Sharptooth and his kind? Of course, he knew that she was obviously different from Sharptooth. Plus, those granola bars she had been having weren't meat, even he could tell that. So she wasn't a full meat-eater.

But still, just learning this fact was enough to make the long-neck freeze in terror.

"I KNEW THERE WAS SOMETHING WRONG ABOUT YOU!" a voice screamed.

Cera leaped up onto the ledge and marched over to the group. Candice started to fearfully scramble away as she got closer. Littlefoot shook his head as he snapped out of his shocked state and stepped in-between the human and the angry Cera.

"Stop it!" he ordered. "Have you all forgotten what Candice has done for us?!"

"She's a meat-eater, Littlefoot!" Cera shouted. "She even confessed herself! How do you that she won't turn on us at any moment and decide to eat us?!"

"I'd never!" Candice jumped to her feet, feeling a nasty stab in her chest at the accusation.

"Cera, that's not fair!" Littlefoot rebuked. "C'mon, guys! Candice has never once made a move to harm us! Not to mention she saved my life from Sharptooth before! And she let you join our herd! Does that sound like a bad creature to you?!"

"Well, no," ducky shyly admitted. "But Littlefoot...you have to admit none of us ever had good experiences with meat-eaters."

Candice felt tears rise up to her eyes as the little swimmer said that. "Ducky!" Littlefoot scolded.

"She has a point," Petrie shivered. "Meat-eaters usually mean bad news for leaf-eaters."

I...I'M ONLY HALF MEAt-EATER!" Candice desperately tried to defend herself. "I also eat vegetation like fruits and vegetables!"

"Then why don't you just eat green food?!" Cera snarled.

"I can't!" Candice answered, almost in tears. "Humans need meat in order to survive and get protein, just like we need fruits and vegetables! We have to balance our dietary needs! But we can't eat leaves as you herbivores can!"

"If that's the case, then why don't you just go and join the other meat-eaters of this world!" Cera said through her teeth.

"CERA!" Littlefoot shouted. "That's taking it too far! Candice is nothing like that!"

"How do you know?!" Cera retorted. "You've only know her for a day or two! How do you know she won't turn on you at any moment?!"

"I KNOw she won't because she's our friend!"

"MEAT-EATERS like HER don't have friends!"

"Stop calling her that!"

"Stop it!" Candice suddenly cried.

Everyone turned to the human girl who was now struggling to hold back the tears in her eyes.

"I get it," she choked. "I can tell when I'm not wanted anymore. I'll just leave and ease your minds. At least you know the truth about me and I don't have to keep it a secret anymore. Now you won't need to worry about me "turning on you" as well."

"No, Candice-" Littlefoot began to protest.

"It's okay, Littlefoot." Candice smiled at the only one who still trusted her. "It's way better this way. Trust me."

With that, Candice quickly gathered her things and walked away.

"Candice! Come back!" Littlefoot called for her.

But the human girl ignored his pleas and just continued on her aimless path. As she sauntered along the edge of the river, looking for a good place to fish, she took one more glance back at the group.

Even though she was far away, she could still see Cera watching her with a scowl, Petrie and Ducky still looking nervous, and Littlefoot looked just as sad as she was.

Candice turned away and quietly let her tears fall. The ache in her stomach couldn't match the pain she felt in her heart. They may have bee dinosaurs, but for the time she had spent with them, they were starting to feel almost like a family. For a while, they were the only family she had in this world. Isn't that what a herd is? Isn't herd a family?"

Probably not when eating habits come into factor. Which in this world, they apparently do.

"I guess at the end of the day, if I'm not an herbivore like them, I can't belong with them..."

When she was out of sight of the little herbivores, she stopped, dropped to her knees, buried her face in her hands, and began to cry. For the first time in this world, she was all alone.

"Just take me home!" she sobbed, but the Time Stone refused to grant her wish...


...You know, when I write something, I try to feel what my characters are feeling...WHICH IS EXACTLY WHY I WANNA BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF CERA FOR WHAT SHE DID!

Seriously, I understand they are scared of meat-eaters, but still, that doesn't excuse what they did. I'm feeling bad for poor Candice right now. Hopefully Littlefoot will catch up with her and make her understand she isn't alone, even if the others don't want of her anymore.