A new season had begun in the Great Valley, bringing with it the smells, colors and sensations typical of spring. The leaves glowed with new shades of green and thrived, and treestars were no exception to this. Littlefoot had never seen the foliage so charged with those particular plant stars that reminded him of his mother. Sometimes as he played with them, bouncing them on his paws, he stared at the sky and the clouds seemed to take on her shape, as if his mother continued to watch over him in those moments of play. Sometimes the morning dew or the water that fell from the sky would collect on those leaves that detached from the branches. Then they whirled in the air scattering small crystals of water all around them. Littlefoot enjoyed letting those droplets fall on his face, laughing heartily, and then chasing the leaves before they reached the ground. He stretched his neck, often lifting himself up on his hind legs and trying to catch them on the fly. Even that day he was doing the same thing, biting into the leaves and bringing them to the ground and then piling them next to a large rock. He was already looking forward to the moment when he would eat them all, even if perhaps one or two he would keep, just to play with. A large insect with a huge back, however, passed by at that moment, attracting the attention of the little longneck. The loud hum of the animal caught his eye and Littlefoot saw it pass overhead and lean on a low twig not far from him.
"Hey!"
Littlefoot exclaimed as he trotted in that direction, approaching the big animal to get a closer look. The big insect, however, suddenly rubbed its paws on the back going to release a powder that reached Littlefoot's nostrils forcing him to sneeze. Once, twice, three times. The flying animal thus took off once again heading towards the branches of that tree into which it disappeared. Littlefoot just looked sadly at the canopy of the tree and then sniffed and walked back to the pile of treestars he had left by the big rock. What she saw, however, did not please her at all. There was Cera next to the pile of leaves and she was eagerly eating some, chewing them in large piles inside her mouth, satisfied.
"CERA! What are you doing?" Littlefoot yelled to get her attention "These are my treestars."
Arriving near her, he craned his neck to push Cera back with his head and stand between her and the leaves. She stared at him annoyed as she chewed what was left of the last treestar she put in her mouth.
"I found these treestars on my way and I got hungry ..." she answered without too much care.
"These aren't yours!" Littlefoot replied angrily trotting on the spot to try to stop Cera from stretching his mouth again on the rest of the leaves "I picked them up! At least you should have asked me before you ate them!"
Cera stared at him arrogantly. "And who says these leaves are yours? I found them on the ground and I eat them!"
"I say it!" Littlefoot pointed out "I picked them up one by one as they fell from the trees!"
A smirk appeared on Cera's face. "Ah, of course I understand ..." she hissed "The fact that your stupid longneck mother gave you one makes you think that all the treestars in the Valley are yours!"
Littlefoot touched to the quick he widened his eyes as his face turned ashen.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" scream.
"Stupid longneck mother !" Cera repeated without hesitation.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Littlefoot shrieked once more.
Little Longneck began to scrape the ground with his right paw, lowering his head ready to charge. Teeth clenched, eyes full of anger and pain suddenly he charged at the opponent. In the meantime Cera was laughing, in guard position and remained motionless ready to receive him. When Littlefoot tried to hit her with a butt she just pushed forward bringing her head to collide with that of the Longneck to push it back.
Stunned and pushed back Littlefoot lifted himself up on both hind legs exposing his belly to Cera's frontal attack. This, still lucid, did not think twice to charge with all the force it was able to release. Littlefoot's breath snapped in two as little Threehorn's head hit his chest. He was thrown back, falling to the ground and rolling on the gravelly ground of a small slope nearby. The pebbles scratched his skin as he slid over them. As soon as he stopped he was seized by convulsive coughs and gasped trying to catch his breath. He tried to get up on his hind legs, unsteady, but Cera didn't seem willing to let him be. Running down the small slope the little threehorn charged head down, this time on the side of the longneck. Littlefoot was hit again, once again thrown away. He felt a stabbing pain in his side as he was lifted off the ground and then fell tumbling to the ground landing on his back and falling to his side.
"C...Cera.."he tried to articulate but she began to whip him in the side with her tail, once, twice, three times and Littlefoot began to cough and gasp, trying several times to get back on his feet without success. The last time he tried Cera hit him so hard on the back that his head got stuck inside an old hollow trunk that must have belonged to a tree that had fallen some time ago. Littlefoot tried to place his paws against the trunk in an attempt to leverage but it all seemed useless.
"Cera, get me out of here!" the longneck grumbled but Cera just stood there for a while and fidgeted like a desperate man with no possibility of freeing himself. The little threehorn burst into an amused laugh and then began to look around. His eyes suddenly spotted something. From a nearby tree descended what looked in all respects to a gnarled vine. He walked over to it ignoring Littlefoot's moans and examined the vine before pulling it back with his mouth and placing it on the ground for most of its length. In the end she went to break it in half with her mouth, convinced that that length was enough for her purpose.
"You always played boss when no one asked you to. But now I'll give you a big lesson, flathead ... "she said with the vine in her mouth. Beginning to spin the vine moving his neck and head and making sure the noose was wide enough he suddenly went to give a first whip to Littlefoot's back using the vine like a whip. Littlefoot let out a cry of pain. Encouraged by that first result, Cera gave another whip to Littlefoot's side and a third to the little longneck's tail. The affected spots immediately began to redden. Littlefoot began to flail left and right, moving his legs and tail convulsively.
"What are you doing, Cera? It hurts!" yelled the longneck but for Cera this was just the beginning. Two more lashes reached Littlefoot's hind legs, ripping out two more screams of pain. From there Cera began to whip him at a continuous rate, imparting more and more strength. On the rump, on the hips, on the legs, on the tail. "Please ... please ... stop ..." Littlefoot pleaded from time to time, but even that wasn't enough to stop Cera. If before the parts of the body that were hit were limited to redness, now they began to see real wounds, not deep but bloody cuts that opened where the vine struck with greater violence. The longneck continued to cry and fidget albeit with less and less force as Cera struck. At a certain point he began to tremble shaken by sobs and his legs gave way leading him to collapse on the ground exhausted.
"Do you like it? Now you don't play so much of a bully .." Cera hissed, pleased. "You're a tiny brainhead! What are you? Repeat!" she ordered. But Littlefoot didn't repeat. He was crying, sobbing, trying desperately to bring his hind legs back to the trunk to try to pull himself out but if it was already difficult before now it seemed completely impossible.
"I said repeat !" Cera again ordered "What are you ?". He resumed hitting him in the side, over and over again with that improvised whip. The wounds formed red Xs on his side and rump and now Littlefoot seemed to be struggling even to find the strength to stir. The pain was now mingling with other pain at a steady pace.
"WHAT ARE YOU?" Cera yelled again. And this time after swallowing Littlefoot he forced himself to repeat.
"One ... a flat head ... with a ... small brain ..." he gasped.
"Oh yes you are ..." Cera said smugly "And what was your mother? ..." she added therefore ruthless.
"No ..." Littlefoot begged "Cera, no ... please ..." The voice was now so broken with tears that it was almost unrecognizable.
"Oh yes ..." said Cera and then backed away. After spinning the vine again he began to whip Littlefoot continuously with blows coming from the top to the top and aimed at his rump. One, two, three, four, five, nine, ten, fifteen shots. Littlefoot was now prone to the ground and as she struck, Cera seemed to hear him say something confused. She stopped whipping him and put her ear to the trunk.
"What did you say?" churches.
"... e..ck ..."
"I can't hear you!" Cera hummed.
"She was ... a ... stup ... stupid ... stupid the ... longneck ..." Littlefoot stammered, his voice cracking with tears. By now the longneck was defeated, humiliated, tamed. The weight of what he had been forced to say weighed on him more than the pain Cera had inflicted on him.
"Yes she was ..." Cera repeated triumphantly. He spat out the now useless vine, all frayed as it was and walked over to Littlefoot starting to hit him with his tail on the wounds she had opened. But it wasn't over there.
"From now on you will be able to eat the treestars only if I'll give you permission. When you find them you will bring them to me and then I'll decide whether to leave you the leftovers .. Did we understand each other? If you understand, tap your tail on the ground twice..."
She knew he would never get an answer verbally. Littlefoot's tail slowly lifted and then slammed twice to the ground and returned motionless. Laying on his side, he continued to breathe but otherwise he just quivered and sniffled or whimpered at times. Cera then approached the old trunk initially trying to test its consistency. When he found the right spot he charged it going to break through the wood a short distance from where Littlefoot's head had got stuck. As the wood cracked, it crumbled, freeing Littlefoot's head as well.
"And now get out of my sight ..." Cera scornfully ordered "The Threehorns don't go around with the Longnecks ...".
Totally ignoring Littlefoot, Cera climbed up a small slope ready to take a bite of the remaining treestars, which the longneck had collected for itself. Littlefoot tried to get up on all fours again. Each movement caused him unbearable pain. He sniffed several times and began to drag himself painfully away from the trunk of the tree that had been his prison. He didn't even have the courage to turn to look at Cera enjoying her treestars.
Returning home was a real ordeal for him. Eventually he dropped into one of the huge dinosaur footprints that served as his bed and there he stood there, motionless, sticking his head into the ground, gritting his teeth and trying not to think about how his whole body burned. He passed the whole night without sleep, tormented by wounds and crying bitter tears until morning.
Cera had taught him a hard lesson that Littlefoot would never forget.
