Author's Note:

Folks, this has been on my mind for quite some time. I've been watching the Flintstones a lot lately and figured, well, it's time for a new Hanna Barbera story. I could even tie this in to the 13 Ghosts arc for Meddling Kids.

In this story, we are going to tell the origin of how Fred and Barney came to be, how they met their wives and how they stuck together through thick and thin. Hail and hardships.

So without further ado, let's get started!

Our story opens up at the home of a little caveboy in 400 Million BC, where we see young Fred Flinstone sleeping in his bed, when all of a sudden, the sun rises and the bird in his alarm clock pops out.

"Seven o'clock and all is well." said the bird.

The bird pulled out a tiny gong to wake Freddy up, but that didn't work.

"Hey snoozy! Get up!" shouted the bird.

The bird grabbed a horn and blew into Fred's ear, but that didn't work either.

"What do I gotta do to get you woke up?" said the bird.

"Bark! Bark! Bark! Bark!" said a voice from outside his room.

It was from a little pink dinosaur with spots, who jumped on Freddy's bed and started licking his face, which finally woke him up.

"Dino! Dino! Stop!" Freddy grunted. "Bad snorkasaurus!"

"Oh Freddy..." called out his mother. "Time to get up. You're going to be late for school."

"Oh come on, Ma, just a few more minutes." Fred wiped the dinosaur drool off his face.

"No, school builds character and you know how Miss. Rhyolite feels about tardiness." Fred's mother tossed him his clothes. "Now get dressed and eat your breakfast."

"Yes, ma'am." Fred sighed.

Eventually, Fred got dressed and ate his breakfast.

"You know Freddy, you might have a pretty great day." said Mrs. Flintstone. "You might even find a new friend, like that nice boy that just moved in next door."

"Yeah ma, whatever." said Freddy. "Now if you excuse me, I've got to catch the bus."

Fred ran outside and hopped onto the bus with the other kids. Little did he know that Dino was following him to school.

Young Barney Rubble had just moved to Bedrock from Granite Town with his parents and his pet Hopparoo, Hoppy, so he wasn't too sure if he would fit in with the other cave kids.

"Don't feel bad, son, you'll make plenty of friends." said Mr. Rubble.

"But dad, what if the teacher is really mean? What if people beat me up? What if the work is super hard?" asked Barney.

"That's called life, son." Mr. Rubble chuckled.

"Now hurry up, son!" Mrs. Rubble said. "You've got a bus to catch!"

"Bye mom! Bye dad!" Barney ran out the door to the bus stop.

Barney tried to catch the brontosaurus bus, but he couldn't catch up.

"Drat!" Barney snapped his fingers. "How am I gonna catch up, now?"

"Honk! Honk! Honk!" Hoppy hopped over to Barney.

"Hey boy!" Barney jumped onto Hoppy's back. "Follow that bus!"

"Honk! Honk!" Hoppy honked.

Eventually, the bus landed at Bedrock Elementary School and Fred stepped off.

"Now all I need to do is make sure that I can get in safe and sound..." He thought. "I'd better not run into-"

"Hey Flintstone!" Someone jumped in front of Fred.

"Rocky Ratrock..." Fred sighed.

It was Rocky Ratrock and his gang, ready to confront Fred.

"Hello Flintstone, haven't seen you all week." Rocky said. "Thanks to you avoiding me, I have fallen behind on my pounding schedule."

"Gee, that's too bad, Rocky, wish I could do something about it!" Fred grinned nervously.

"Well, there is something you can do..." Rocky and his gang grinned evilly.

"Let's party..." said Janet.

"Oh no..." Fred gulped.

Next thing Fred knew, he was beaten up and thrown in a trash can.

"Thanks for the milk money, Flintstone!" the bullies laughed as they walked away.

"Guess I'm gonna eat four more hoagies than usual at dinner tonight." He groaned as he climbed out and walked to class.

Outside, Barney finally made it to the schoolhouse.

"You wait out here, Hoppy!" Barney told his Hopparoo. "I'll be out in a few hours."

"Honk! Honk!" Hoppy honked.

As soon as Barney went inside, Hoppy stood by the school and waited for his master to return. Just then, little Dino ran over to the school.

"Bark, bark, bark, bark!" He barked.

"Honk! Honk! Honk!" Hoppy honked.

"Ruff, ruff, ruff!" Dino barked as if he was saying, "Hey! You waiting for your master too?"

"Honk, honk, honk!" Hoppy nodded, as if he was saying, "Yes, I am!"

"Ruff, ruff, ruff, ruff!" Dino nodded as if he was saying, "What do you say we wait for our masters together?"

"Honk!" Hoppy nodded.

Inside, Miss. Stone's class was just introducing Barney.

"Class, I would like to introduce our newest student, Bobby Stubble." said Miss. Stone.

"It's Barney Rubble, ma'am." Barney corrected the teacher.

"Whatever." Miss. Stone rolled her eyes. "Barney, you can sit in that open seat next to Fred."

"Sure thing, Madame." Barney sat in seat next to Fred.

"Hey, I'm Barney." He whispered to Fred. "I'm from Granite Town."

"Fred." Fred deadpanned.

Fred and Barney mainly ignored each other as they continued on throughout the school day.

Back outside, Dino and Hoppy were still waiting for Fred and Barney to come out of school. They walked over to a window and saw Fred and Barney working with the rest of the class.

"Ruff! Ruff! Ruff!" Dino barked at the window.

"Honk! Honk! Honk!" Hoppy honked at the window.

"Huh?" Everyone turned around and saw the two pets outside.

"Dino?!" Fred gasped.

"Hoppy?!" Barney gasped.

Dino and Hoppy jumped into the classroom and pounced right on both Fred and Barney, licking their respective faces, making the other kids laugh and the teacher very irritated.

"MR. FLINTSTONE AND RUBBLE!!!" Miss. Stone shouted. "PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE, NOW!!!"

"Uh-oh." Fred and Barney gulped.

Author's Note:

Barney's first day of school and he's already gotten detention, along with his new neighbor. Stay tuned for more updates!