Author's notes: Sorry that it has taken so longto get this chapter uploaded. But it's done now. Hope you enjoy the read. Sorry again for the long hiatus.


Chapter 12: Tranquil Horizons

Petrie is perched atop his old nest while his brother Pteren keeps an eye on Pterano's recovery below, waiting for any sign of his other siblings to appear in the far distance. The perch and his mother's choice of nook, has a perfect view between the peaks of the great wall of mountains and the common pass of most Fliers. In that area of the Mysterious Beyond, watering holes are fairly abundant including a safe rest stop that is quite cool. Right now he wishes he could be there, despite knowing it is also a common passage for Sharpteeth. Then there on the horizon, he sees a flock of Fliers heading his way but cannot quite see what the numbers may be. As they get closer, he sees all his siblings and three new Pteranodons he has never seen before.

"Pteren! They're coming!" Petrie shouts to his brother, before waving his wings towards them. In another five minutes they all start perching themselves in the trees around the nest, greeting and cuddling their two brothers.

"Me so happy you are all here visiting." Petrie begins.

"It's been so long since we left to find mates, but sadly only three of us managed to find one. Me included."

"So true Keruso. You fought well to win my heart." The new female Flier cooed as she rests her head on Keruso's shoulder.

"Of course Kida. You were the one I fell in love with. I allowed no other male to win over me for that very reason."

"Well I fought males much bigger than me, and I won them all."

"So strong Perry." Ptena exclaimed before she locks her beak with his.

"Speaking of fights. How are you Petrie? We all heard about the duel. That's why we all came back here, to check on you." His other sister complies. "Are you alright? Leader Gnash is a ruthless creep, and unpredictable."

"Me fine Keana. Me beat him easy."

"You beat him!? You actually beat him!" Keana was surprised. "I never knew you had it in you Petrie! Tell us how you won!"

"Well. At first he had me, then me hear Ruby shout my name. Ruby being there, gave me what I needed to beat him. Me nearly kill him too. He already be deeply wounded by me beak in his shoulder before he forfeit. He no come back anytime soon. Uncle be the one they wanted. Me made sure he never got taken." Petrie replied.

"So. Did you find a mate too Petrie? The rest of us have had no luck so far." Petrie's third brother said, changing the subject.

"Juni me pride and joy Pterus. Me hatchlings even more so."

"We're all, aunts and uncles now?" Petrie's fourth brother stated. "That's great news! Can't wait to see them! Although. Today's not exactly a good day. So, hot!" He begins to fan himself with his wing.

"Oh Kaeon hun. It's not that bad." The other new female says, fanning him instead.

"Well. You're used to this heat Aria, future mum to our children." He rubs his beak on hers cooing.

"You'll be an uncle soon then Petrie." Ptena assures.

"So, you expecting too then Ptena?" Petrie questions.

"We are. She's so wonderful." Perry coos, and they both lock beaks once more.

"Will uncle pull through?" Another brother questions, changing the subject entirely.

"Me did the best me could to protect and heal him Koda. He sleeping now."

"I hope so. We miss him." Koda wished.

"We're gonna stay here you know Petrie, for the moment. We'll all help keep uncle Pterano as healthy and young as he once was."

"I don't think he'll ever feel young again Philip. He's getting old now." Pteren replied as he perches himself next to Petrie. "But I'm sure with the right persuasion, he'll feel like he was twenty years young again. You know, seeing all of us when he finally wakes from his roost that is." He directs his attention to Petrie. "But please tell us of your experiences in that duel. I'm still concerned for your pain. Uncle may be on the mend, but you suffered injuries too." Petrie does just that, explain his experiences in his first major battle and what happened in more detail, that is until he sees Juni flying towards him in kind of a worried manner. He sees that she is carrying their three children, but the scene did not at all look promising.

"Juni?" He sees her awkwardly perch on a thicker branch nearby still carrying them, but what Petrie sees makes his heart sink. "Emmet! What happened?"

"They're dehydrated! Emmet collapsed into the wings of his sisters! I'm worried!"

"Let me carry them! We'll go to the Thundering Fast Waters together!" With careful consideration, Petrie gently picks them up with his beak and lets them slide onto his shoulders. "Hold on you three! We'll get you to water very soon." He looks to his siblings. "Me sorry me have to leave you everyone! It was so nice to see you all again!"

"Hope they pull through. This heatwave is dangerous!" Philip stated before they all watch Petrie leave with Juni, then return to their converse.


Petrie is flying with Juni towards the Thundering Falls, hoping he will be able to help Emmet recover from his collapse. He is flying as fast as he can and as carefully as possible, to keep them on his back and reach the location quickly. They are in luck when reaching the location for no big dinosaurs are there, able to step or stomp on them when they go to land. Petrie's first instinct is to get Emmet there drinking. Reaching in, he lets the water flow down casually onto his son to cool him down and wake him up again. He helps him open his beak and lap up his much needed fluids from a puddle in his wing once Emmet opens his eyes, but he notices the water level is different. Sure, there is still enough to sustain them throughout the heatwave and farther, but it seems the water source is lower than it should be. Petrie does not want this to happen, but they need Skywater now.

"Juni. Me may need to discuss with others about this. The water level has gotten lower."

"It's lower?! That doesn't sound good. How can we all be sustained if it gets too low?"

"Me no know."

"Thanks dad. I'm, okay now." Emmet thanked then assured before he runs amidst a game of chase with his two sisters. But watching them play seems to remind Petrie of the time he first met Juni.


By now the gang are in their own mind proudly walking along a huge log across a raging river below, in Petrie's case flying above them able to see everything, including Chomper who is slowly walking behind with his head down at a safe distance so he does not pull another stunt like he did a day or two past. He was the first one Ducky told about what Chomper tried to do to himself, and it is hard not to miss him now that he has grown almost as tall as Littlefoot. Petrie and his friends are still not fully grown, but Chomper is the one who suffers growing way too fast. By the end of the month, he most certainly will be adult sized and that is why he is so depressed. Petrie remembers what Chomper accidentally done to Cera, he could not help it. But Cera still will not forgive him. Petrie notices Ducky seems a little in thought, and he swoops down beside her to talk about it.

"What the matter Ducky?"

"I do not know. I want to tell Littlefoot about Chomper, but Cera will hear me. Something seems very wrong with him right now, and I think he may do something stupid."

"Why you think something wrong with Chomper?"

"The bite he made." She whispered this to Petrie so Cera did not hear. "Since then, he has been gloomy. I feel like he may kill himself. I do not want that at all. Earlier he seemed fine after I talked him into coming out from where he was hiding, but now he is thinking about what happened again." Ducky turns her sights back ahead and acts, much to Petrie's confusion, as though she saw someone. "Huh?" She shrugs it off however and continues walking, but then Petrie sees Ali at the same time Ducky does, heading to meet up with Littlefoot at the end of the log. "Whoa!"

Luckily Petrie did not suffer the crash Ducky had, so he flies above his friends and looks on at the front of the line curious as to why Littlefoot stopped, and there he sees Ali nose to nose with Littlefoot. Petrie then looks to each of his friends every time they speak something.

"Hey!" Cera glares at Ducky before looking back to Littlefoot who is now just standing there. "Littlefoot! Why d'you stop?"

"There's a queue back here!" Spike shouted in annoyance over to Littlefoot as Chomper stops as far back as he possibly can behind Ruby.

"A-A-Ali!" Littlefoot is very surprised by her appearance, so surprised he could not even think of what to say.

"Hey Littlefoot! What're you doing?"

"Em, nothing." He seems to back away slightly. "Just walking with the gang."

"Hello! Can we get going?!" Spike shouted to Littlefoot a second time.

"Spike. Be patient."

"Patient?" He looks up to Ruby. "How can we be patient standing on a fallen tree?" He pauses. "What if it breaks under all our weight?" Just as soon as Spike mentioned what he did, the fallen tree begins to creak. Spike rapidly looks down when he hears a snap. "Uh, oh." He looks up in worry. "Timber!" He shouted, causing the others to look at him.

"What?" Everyone else besides Ruby shouted in unison. There is then a chorus of gasps and screams once the fallen tree breaks in two, and they all disappear amidst the rapids in huge splashes before getting taken away by the current.

"Oh dear. This not good! Fast water too fast!" Petrie cries, unsure what to do as he follows everyone down the river from on high, hoping he could help.

"Littlefoot!" Ali cried after a gasp, before running beside the bank trying to catch up to him. "Wait!" She continues to run beside the river, keeping her eyes on Littlefoot and her friends. Ducky is trying her best to swim against the current, but Petrie cannot tell how deep the water is. When he sees Ducky tire for a moment the current takes her away, right into the body of another Swimmer like her who catches her while he is anchored between two rocks.

Petrie saw it all happen and thought to do something before the other Swimmer caught her, but then a Flier like him casually coos in his direction amidst a feminine tone.

"Cooey!"

"Huh?!" As he turns his glance towards the sound, he sees her waving her wing in flight right to him, making a questionable clicking with her beak.

Oh dear, oh dear. She clicking her beak at me. Me no get distracted. Me need to try and help! He watches Ducky now hand in hand with this Swimmer like her. Uh, oh. Ducky be twitterpated. That very bad. He looks around for the others. Maybe Chomper need help. He dives down to where Chomper was, seeing him surface gasping for air, go under and emerge again a short way spitting out water. "Chomper!" He flaps at speed towards him, but already Chomper is clambering onto the bank with his signature moan, so he casually follows him.

"Hnn. Why did it have to break?"

"Chomper! You okay."

"Oh..." He lowers his head sadly. "Please Petrie. Don't come any closer. I can't be trusted."

"It was only an accidental bite Chomper. You no need to feel sad about it."

"Please Petrie. Just go away." He stands to his feet and dismally walks away to hide.

"Hoh." He flies away hoping he could help anyone else, looking back only to see Chomper strangely looking inside a leafy bush wagging his purple tail like a dog for some reason. "Huh? What he find?"

"I'll save you!" An unrecognisable voice manifests down below, before Petrie sees another Threehorn dive into the river amidst an unnatural splash, only to come back up floating on his back a little dazed. "Whoa! So many clouds!"

"Ohhh!" Comes Cera's signature groan, before she swims out to catch up with him. "Must I do everything myself!" She grabs him on his hind paw and starts pulling him back to the bank.

"Me should help Cera!"

"Yoo-hoo! Brave Flier!"

"Huh? Brave, Flier? Yes! Me very brave!" He looks to the female Flier again, who is now trying to coax him into flying with her.

"You wanna fly with me!"

"I, er…" No, no. I mustn't get distracted. "Me must save me friends!" He dives down to help Cera, but is surprised to see her on the bank laughing with the new Threehorn. "Huh?" Is everyone getting twitterpated? This is very bad. Will it happen to me too?

There is then a scream further upriver from Littlefoot.

"Aah! No!" He frantically tries swimming against the current as far from the waterfall as possible. "Falling water! Falling water!" Littlefoot screams again, but then Ali grabs him just when the current finally takes him over, holding him at the edge shouting with his tail held in her jaws.

"I've got you Littlefoot! I'll pull you up!"

"A-Ali! Please, don't drop me! It's a rather big drop! And so far down!"

"Big drop?!" Petrie shouted rather alarmed. "Littlefoot!" Petrie swoops down to try and save him, ultimately getting caught in a large branch held by a Fast Runner like Ruby as he grunts and groans upon the crash... "Uh, oh." ...before falling into the river with a plop after his signature scream. "Aah!"

"Sorry!" The male Fast Runner called after him.

"Oh dear." Petrie ultimately screams unable to get out of the river as it carries him to the waterfall at the end, but not before he sees Ruby grappling the branch and getting pulled to the bank before linking a hand with the male's; Spike unsurprisingly searching through foliage but surprisingly laughing in a strange way; and finally the female Flier diving down to catch him. As he falls over the crown of the waterfall, his talons are linked by the female's before he is carried away to safety.

She seems to laugh happily. "Now we can fly together."

"Ooh! This nice. Thank you for saving me!" He glances up to her looking down.

"Name's Juni."

"Juni. Thank you." Her grip is so firm and gentle. Me like. He closes his eyes and relaxes, upside-down in Juni's talons.


"Petrie?" Juni replied a little worried, bringing Petrie back into reality.

"Sorry Juni." He pauses in thought. "Me just remembered the day we first met."

"Is that the day I saved you when you disappeared over the falls?"

"Yeah."

"Heh. I caught you just right I did." She rubs her beak with his. "And then you couldn't stop visiting me after that."

"Me liked you whole bunch after you saved me. Me liked to be with you."

"And then came the time your crest became fully formed. I fell in love with you after that. Your crest was so attractive. You were quite the looker too. No other Flier got my attention except you."

"No other Flier as good as me." He rubs his beak with hers again, clicking his beak and making Pteranodon coos, before heavy footsteps start coming their way. "Huh?" Then coming out of the trees from the direction of down river, are both Littlefoot and Ali with their three hatchlings.

Littlefoot lowers his head down to them. "Is this place taken? Everywhere else is full."

"Not at all Littlefoot. There be room here."

"Nice. Thanks Petrie. This heatwave is bad. I hope our water stays." He then walks into the deeper waters with Ali carrying their three hatchlings. They both then lay down to cool off, with Ali being careful due to the kids, before resting their heads together on the opposite bank and closing their eyes to accept the cool water round their baking bodies.

"Me wonder if others will come here too." He soon gets his wish when he hears Cera's voice coming closer from within the trees, in a manner that seems rather confused about something.

"I don't understand Kodi! How can we get a heatwave in the Time of the Changing Treestars! It's supposed to be colder at this time." They both appear from the foliage, Kodi carrying their two children and resting against Cera to help him walk. Petrie can still see his wounds from the Sharptooth attack yesterday, but at least they look like they are healing. He doubted they would ever heal. He doubted Kodi would ever walk unsupported again.

"Maybe the fire mountains, are causing this problem. They might be all, active or something, making our air hotter than usual." He clarified, but throughout his answer, he wore a grimace of pain.

"Why would that cause a heatwave here? Those mountains are many Great Circles away." She glances at Petrie all of a sudden, then directs her gaze to the river seeing Littlefoot and Ali resting there. "Oh. Is this place taken Petrie?"

"No. There room. Did you see Ducky and others nearby?"

"Can't say I've noticed them while walking here." She helps Kodi to the shallows of the river. "Here Kodi. This cool water should ease all your pain."

"Thank you dear." They rub heads and their nose horns together, before Cera carefully lowers Kodi to a lying position in the river. Their two hatchlings then slide off Kodi's back, before splashing about in the shoal with Emmet and his siblings. Next, the recognisable footsteps of Ducky are heard amidst the trees, and this is what cheers Petrie up completely as he watches her heading to the river somewhat chatting to herself.

"What will happen if our water dries up? Will we get another fire, this time a bad one. I do not want that to be what happens. No, no, no. We would have to move again, and may lose many of us before we get to the new place. I really do not want that to happen. What about our children?"

"Will things ever return to normal after this wave of heat? We've already lost two of us. I don't want us to lose anymore." Ruben questioned in worry as he makes sure to check that his and Ducky's children are close by. "Now then kids. Don't go in too deep."

"We won't dad." Paris replies for all his siblings, but already Lena is ready to dive in.

"No, no Lena! Too deep!" He rushes to catch her again with a sigh of relief. "Go play with your siblings and the others."

"Okay dad!" She vaults off his belly and lands atop Paris in a roll.

Petrie knows who Ruben is actually meaning when he says 'We have lost two of us already.', and that causes him to lower his head in sadness. Kosh died only a day ago after the Sharptooth attack, and Littlefoot lost his grandmother during the Hot Times this year. Who else might they lose if this heat gets any worse? Will Sharpteeth become so desperate that they invade their home just to stay cooler, and ultimately hunt them down?

"Oh." Ducky had stopped and now looks around. "Is there any more room here?"

"Sure. Loads of room."

"Are you sure? It does look a little packed, what with Cera, Kodi, Littlefoot, Ali and their children, as well as ours and yours and Juni's, Petrie."

"Me not bothered. Me like me friends being here with me."

"Oh. Guess I will find a place to be with Ruben then." As soon as she heads off, Spike appears with Zaria and Cilan, followed by Midas and his three little ones. Spike goes straight to a small bush but nuzzles it instead of eating like he usually does, watching a branch just break off and plummet to the ground below. He tries to make a sound of worry but no noise comes out, then just looks to Zaria in a way that only she seems to understand.

"Don't worry Spike. I'm sure things will return to normal after this heatwave. There'll be food by the bundles then." She nuzzles him and he seems to smile again, before helping Cilan to the river with Spike on her other side. "I hope there's room here for us too."

"There enough room Zaria."

"Hoh." Midas groans while he watches Clara, Seamus and Leon run to the water without hesitation. "We miss you Ruby. I hope everything is alright out in the Mysterious Beyond. You've been gone for a while now."

Petrie casually heads to him so he can hopefully help as best he can. "Midas. Me sure Ruby be fine. She may have found her siblings by now and got Chomper safely to his parents. He is still her responsibility, despite being a mother to yours and her children now. This place is still the best place to be though, even in all this heat."

"I guess. I do like it here. Much safer and cooler than the Mysterious Beyond. I will definitely stay here. I just hope nothing bad will happen here. It's like my other home."

Midas' words definitely make Petrie think again. The Great Valley has been his home since he was a hatchling, and if anything happens to it, he may not be able to handle it. He could not deal with the time the swarming leaf gobblers ate up his home, where he and his friends and all the other residents had to move to find a new haven. He does not want to go through it again, especially now that he has a family to care for, but watching Emmet and all his children playing with the other kids, all his worries just simply wash away.


Indigo is hiding behind a grassy sand dune still holding Ruby in his arms, the drag marks visible from her feet and tail in the sands. Beryl is checking round at most possibly the battle they can still hear going on out there, keeping her brother in the know whenever he asks. He wants to check himself, but cannot for the life of him dare to look out from hiding, so again he asks Beryl… "Beryl. How's it looking out there? The cries of pain I can't stand. Please say Chomper is okay." ...before looking back to Ruby hoping she will wake soon.

"He's fine. He's managing to hold them off, but they're not backing down." Beryl replied from round the hill.

"Figures. He is keeping their food from being killed, and he did kill one of their own and then..." He stopped himself from saying that as he imagined what could have happened. "No. I don't want to think about it. That could've been Ruby! But they won't stop until they avenge their pack member."

"Even though the ground around the battlefield is already blood-stained? Poor Chomper. They've been grasping his hide and clawing into him, biting at him trying to tear off his flesh, gashing him badly, and have made many attempts into forcing him down. I wanna do something to help! He needs us! That's what Ruby would do!"

"And yet. They are bigger than us, faster than us and more experienced at hunting than us. We'll just be a walking meal!"

"Yikes!" Beryl then quickly hides herself behind the hill at rapid speed.

"What happened?"

"One of them looked this way!"

"From way out there?!" There is a resonating cry of agony that sounds all too familiar. "That was Chomper's cry!" He pauses listening, but does not hear anything. "Why don't I hear anything now?! Did they…?!"

"I don't want to look. They might be looking this way." Beryl stated still a little frightened, and then Ruby seems to stir.

"Ruby?" Indigo looks down to her, seeing that she is indeed beginning to wake up. "Ruby!"

Beryl then hurries to her brother's side. "Is she waking up?"

"I think so." He listens for the fight intensely, wishing to at least hear something hopeful, like Chomper returning to them. But he hears nothing. "Come on Chomper. Give us a sign!"

"Chomper?" Ruby's relieving voice questioned, and Indigo helps her to stand.

"Slowly, Ruby. You fainted."

"I'm fine." She falls into Beryl after wobbling on her feet, who in turn helps her to stand again.

"No you're not! You can't stand unsupported yet."

"Where is Chomper? Is he alright?" Indigo knew she did not care about herself or anyone else when she remembered Chomper was still in danger, so he just casually replies to her.

"We don't know Ruby. We can't hear the battle going on."

"Then go out there and help him damn it!" Ruby shouted all of a sudden, and surprised .

"And risk being seen by the pack! What is your problem Ruby?! You nearly got eaten alive! Are you that stupid or what?!" His words were harsh, but he knew Ruby understood. "Look. If we go out there and the pack has already incapacitated Chomper, how will we safely get away? We'll be walking into a death trap!"

"I can't just hide here and do nothing!" She starts to head out. "I'm going whether you like it or not! And you can't stop me because I am going!" Without another word, she runs out into the openness of the prairie before Indigo could even speak.

"Ruby? Stop! You don't know the outcome!" He rushes after his sister, knowing Beryl will follow.

"I hate it when she's like this!" Beryl follows her brother close behind, and Indigo knows she does not want to, yet has no choice because her siblings have.

When following the trail of blood, they reach the crown of the hill Chomper fell down. Due to seeing the freshly disturbed sand the length of a Sharptooth Chomper's size, Indigo knows he must have fallen this way, moments before they happen upon a scene of carnage and death.

The remaining Fast Biters from the pack that started attacking him out of revenge for the loss of one of their own, now all dead. Their bodies are motionless and bloody, some crushed and all silent.

The ground bloodstained in erratic patterns, they find Chomper at the end of it all, bleeding from cuts, gashes, bites and slashes all over his hide and body. Some of his injuries still profusing with fresh blood onto the scorched land, and his jaws tearing deep into what remained of the Fast Biter's body like a maddened beast. All the bloody mess makes Indigo sick to his stomach, where he holds back from vomiting right there in place, and swears he can hear Chomper tearing off the flesh from his kill. Ruby and Indigo cannot even bear witness to the violence that happened here, and what Chomper has turned into, as they start turning their heads away in disgust.

Then they all freeze when Chomper looks their way, glaring with crimson staining and flowing down his jaws. He tilts his head back and swallows the flesh he had recently tore from his kill, which Indigo now believes was from the leader of the Fast Biter pack, before letting out a maddened victory cry as the fresh blood flows down his neck. He glares back and broadcasts, before heading towards the forest in the background. Indigo gets the feeling Ruby may never see him again, when he disappears amidst the trees into the eerie shadows distorted by the heat.