A FEARFULL LESSON

It had been a great adventure, and to achieve what Littlefoot was looking for they had to go to the edge of the Great Valley, up a steep mountain. Only there did that particular plant grow in large quantities that his grandparents had told him about to warn him not to eat it. It was very rare to find it elsewhere even if it could happen. Littlefoot had decided to play it safe though and had brought Ducky, Petrie and Spike with him for help.

They were coming down the slope and the little dinosaurs were laughing as they told each other the vicissitudes they had experienced. Littlefoot laughed too but certainly not at what had happened during their outing. His grandparents had told him that when eaten that particular plant caused terrible and frightening visions and Littlefoot was already thinking about how to find a way to get Cera to eat it.

It would have made her so frightened that from that moment on she would have struggled to get close to him without shaking. She'd always been a coward after all, she still remembered running away like a coward when he, Ducky, Petrie and Spike had emerged from that pool of black water and mistaken them for a monster.

As soon as they got to the base of the slope, Littlefoot paused and looked at the others. "I have decided that we will celebrate this adventure all together. They say this plant is really good, so we couldn't help but go looking for it," he said. He certainly hadn't told the others what the real purpose was.

"I think ... I think we should invite Cera too" Littlefoot added then with a smirk on his face "I want to make peace with her and maybe she'll even agree to go back to our group. Ducky you will go and call her but don't tell her that I said. Spike and Petrie, you will be waiting for us by the Big Rock with the plants .. Petrie, don't feed Spike before Cera gets here! " Petrie placed a wing on his head and nodded "Got it!" she replied and then fluttered next to Spike and began to set the plants on his back to carry them to the Big Rock.

Littlefoot smiled again. His plan was working perfectly.

Ducky was hopping humming "I have to tell Cera but I don't have to tell Cera Yep Yep Yep" she said as she trotted across the grassy expanse towards the threehorns that were grazing just ahead. "..I have to tell her ... wait ... what is it that I should have told Cera and what is it that I shouldn't have told Cera?" muttered Ducky scratching her head in confusion and stopping abruptly.
"Yeah, what is it you must tell me and what is it you must not tell me?" A voice behind Ducky's back. Ducky turned to find himself in front of Cera who was looking at her curiously.

"Oh no ... no ... no ... no! Littlefoot didn't tell me not to tell you anything! We want to invite you to eat a plant we found but Littlefoot didn't tell me to tell you!"

Cera grinned.

"Ok so Littlefoot didn't tell you not to tell me he wants me to come and eat with you. And where did you get this plant?" Ducky scratched her head again. "Oh in a very far and very hidden place in the mountains .. Littlef ... oh ... someone says it is very very very rare and very good!"

Cera grinned once more.

"Well if it's really that good I'll definitely have to eat it. Lead the way!" Satisfied Ducky began to walk, starting to jump again and guiding Cera towards the Big Rock.

Spike and Petrie had placed the plants on the ground and the older of the two was licking his lips as if already savoring the prospect of eating them. "No, Spike ... Littlefoot told us to wait for Cera!" Petrie said, placing herself between him and the plants with her wings spread. Littlefoot watched them from behind the rocks. He'd instructed Cera to take the first bite and said he'd come out once the good taste of the plants had sweetened the threehorn, so she'd be more willing to make up later. He would actually come out to scare her even more than the plant would with its waking nightmares.

Indeed, the plant probably would have made its appearance even more frightening. Suddenly Littlefoot heard Cera's voice and saw the threehorn come along with Ducky. Littlefoot ran and hid behind one of the large rocks next to the larger one that gave the place its name. In moving, however, a small stone moved away from his paw rolled down the small slope and fell at the feet of the two incoming dinosaurs. Cera looked for a moment in the direction from which the stone was coming but did not seem to give it too much attention.

Cera stopped in front of the pile of plants and sniffed them and then looked at Ducky, Petrie and Spike. "So these are the plants mh?" she asked and then opened her mouth ready to take a bite. Spike licked his lips ready to follow as soon as Cera had eaten one but ... the threehorn froze.

"... you made a lot of effort to get them ... it doesn't seem fair to me to be the first to eat them ..." she said raising her head and grinning again as she looked around. "But I doubt that you went there alone .. you don't have all this initiative. No, there is someone who pushed you in this adventure. The only one missing from the appeal .. it wouldn't be right to eat without him, right? ".

Then Cera turned in the direction from which the rolling stone had come, the direction in which Littlefoot was hiding behind the rock. "Come on, longneck, come out ..." she said then. Littlefoot gasped. He tried to flatten himself even more on the ground, behind the rock.

"Come on ... come out ... are you afraid of me by any chance?" Cera asked in a mocking tone. Ducky and Petrie looked at each other in surprise. "Woah Cera, you were really good, how did you know he was hiding back there?" Petrie asked. Littlefoot gritted his teeth in anger. Cera did the same but his was a smile of triumph. The little longneck finally resigned himself and lifted his head out of his hiding place. "Here you are!" Cera chanted "Did you want to surprise me by chance?"

Littlefoot glared at her but then he made up his mind to get out completely and with a dark look he approached them.

"Have you lost your words?" Cera asked, mockingly once again. "I ... just wanted to see what you were doing!" Littlefoot mumbled but Cera looked at him skeptically. "Do you mean you didn't bring them to get these plants?" Cera asked as Littlefoot dodged her gaze. "Oh yes, yes, Littlefoot was really brave too! Without him we wouldn't have come back!" Ducky said. Littlefoot gave her a fiery look that immediately fell silent.

"But really?" asked Cera sly "Well I think your courage should be rewarded then. The first bite is up to you, longneck ..." said the threehorn, moving aside so that the plants were in plain sight.

Littlefoot stared at the plants in concern then looked away.

"I wanted you to taste them first ..." he muttered then "how ..." The words were struggling to get out of his mouth "... as an offer of peace .." Cera did not wipe the smile from his face. "How cute .." she said ".. but I insist that you take the first bite .."

Littlefoot gasped. The words once again died in his throat. "I ... I don't want ..." "What?" Asked Cera "You did your best not to tell Ducky not to tell me you wanted me here to taste this plant that you recovered with so much effort ... And now do you want to give us this disappointment? Eat that plant! It's the reward for your courage .. "

Cera's eyes met Littlefoot's and the little longneck could see everything but benevolence in her gaze. "Eat that plant!" Cera said again and this time his tone did not allow for replies. "Yes, Littlefoot you deserved it!" Ducky said encouragingly. "Eat that plant! Eat that plant!" Petrie added as Spike did a clumsy dance on the spot. Littlefoot swallowed his saliva in concern. Maybe his grandparents were wrong, maybe it was just rumors. Trembling he approached the plants sniffing them while Cera continued to glare at him maliciously.

The threehorn just lowered its head so it was closer to Littlefoot's and hissed "Eat it or I'll crumble your bones .." with malice but so that only the two of them could hear it. Littlefoot sobbed then opened his mouth in resignation, taking a piece of the plant in his mouth. "More ... much more ..." said Cera "You deserve at least one whole ... or rather two ...". Littlefoot looked at the threehorn in despair but in the look Cera returned there was no mercy.

The longneck took two plants in his mouth and stood there motionless to stare at Cera. "Well, what are you waiting for? Chew!" Cera said pointing at him with a movement of the head. Littlefoot sobbed once more, squinting and slowly starting to chew the plants. Her teeth began to grind them one by one under the watchful gaze of Cera and the others. "And now swallow them .." the threehorn then said continuing to incite the longneck with the movement of the head. The victorious smile she showed weighed on Littlefoot as much as her eager eyes.

Resigned Littlefoot swallowed. At first he didn't seem to feel weirder than usual. He opened his eyes looking at the faces of his friends and Cera and blinking. Shortly thereafter, however, his legs slowly began to shake. He felt as if ... an enormous danger of death lay upon him. Littlefoot began to look around in terror. He began to go around in circles with his whole body while in front of him everything became confused. Then a scream to fill his ears ... the heartbreaking scream of his mother.

In front of him was the dark figure of a huge Sharptooth with red eyes and a mouth dripping with blood. Between his jaws was his neck and head detached from his mother's body. "M ... MOMMAAAAA !" Littlefoot shouted as the Sharptooth moved towards him. The shivering longneck began to recoil as drops of blood fell from his mother's remains with every step that congealed as they fell to the ground.

Then suddenly his mother's head lifted and her dead eyes fixed on the terrified longneck. "I'm dead, Littlefoot, and I'll never be with you again ... Never again ..." The Sharptooth began greedily chewing on the remains of Littlefoot's mother's neck and swallowed whole pieces as well. As the neck shortened and the head slipped more and more between the Sharptooth's teeth it kept repeating "Never again" under the helpless gaze of Littlefoot. Her terrified eyes filled with tears. "No, Mom no, stay with me ... Don't go away, don't leave me...!"

A voice boomed in his head. "She's gone. Forever ... and you'll never see her again ... stupid Flathead ..". It was Cera's voice. Everyone had seen Littlefoot fidget like that, shake, run away and then fall to the ground with those desperate screams. They couldn't see what he was seeing ... but they could see how he behaved. Cera leaned close to him whispering those words. Littlefoot could confusedly hear his friends calling him but in his mind they were abandoning him. They were moving away from him and he was now lying in his crumpled bed at the bottom. He was alone. In the distance on a rock he could see the bodies of his grandparents, lifeless, killed by the Sharptooths. The silhouettes of his friends were now lost in the distance as they walked away from him. Everyone was gone ... everyone had left him alone. Forever alone. Littlefoot curled up on the ground and began to tremble convulsively. The dull, tear-filled eyes stared into space as the paws jerked and scraped the stony ground. Cera looked down at him satisfied.

"My father warned me several times about the mountain plant, silly flathead ... Thank you but I really think we'll leave the rest to you too? Am I right?" Cera said and then stared at Ducky, Spike and Petrie watching Littlefoot in horror and now everything but excited to try the plant themselves. Cera nodded in satisfaction and then walked over to Littlefoot who was lying catatonic on the ground.

"Believe me this is just the beginning of your punishment ..." she whispered in the ear of the longneck "Enjoy it because what is to come will be much worse ..." said that Cera simply turned his back on Littlefoot leaving him there, in those conditions and walking away satisfied while after an initial moment of amazement the other dinosaurs rushed to help Littlefoot trying to make him come to his senses.

The effect would last for another hour and a half.

Littlefoot didn't say a single word for the rest of the day, just staring into space in front of him.