The early afternoon sun shimmered down its rays of light across Green Valley. The clear sky showed that tonight was going to be a promising night. The wind had been mild all day, providing the perfect livable temperature; not too hot or not too cold. The residents of the valley enjoyed another day in their life. They were eating, relaxing, walking, or playing, but all the adults had one thing in mind: mating night. Tonight was the night that could change bachelors and bachelorettes into together-forever couples, mates.

A purplish pink longneck looked down at her reflection in the calm river. She was hidden from other longnecks. The thick woods provided the privacy she needed. She was in the part of the forest she caught Littlefoot 'on top of' Janet in the river. She had come to see if Littlefoot or Janet was here. When she saw the place deserted, she asked herself why she had come here in the first place. Looking down at her reflection made her mad, yet sad.

"What are you doing here?" she asked in a hushed voice at her reflection. "What do you hope to accomplish? To get him? Rhett's right. He…found someone else."

Ali sighed, lowering her head down more.

"Probably tonight, he'll make his move, and then they'll live happily ever after…when I'm alone."

A tear rolled down her left cheek and dropped into the water below her. She looked at her saddened eyes in the water's reflection. She sniffled slightly and blinked a couple of times to clear her eyes from the tears. She lifted her head up and looked up at the sky.

"Why?" she mumbled and then found herself mumbling in frustration. "Why, why, why? What does she have that I don't? What makes her so special to you, Littlefoot?"

She deeply sighed and relaxed. She dropped her head to its original position.

"It's wrong for me to get mad. I should support him in his decision as a true friend. If…he loves her, then I won't intervene. He seems happy with her. That's what I want for him: to be happy."

She sighed.

Though it pains me to say this, but I…must move on.

With that final thought, Ali left the area to get some lunch and to spot a potential mate. It took her only a few minutes to reach the clearing where the majority of longnecks were. It was like the center of the community. Ali walked across the opened fields of grass, looking left to right. She was trying to find a tree to munch off its leaves.

"Ali?"

Ali turned her head from her left side and looked forward. Chris and Grace were standing in front of her. Grace was the one that addressed her. She knew Ali quite well. During the first weeks after her arrival, Ali would seek Grace for guidance or just to hang out as friends. Grace noticed that something was wrong.

"Ali, is something troubling you?"

She knew Ali well. She could quickly tell if a longneck was having a bad day by just its posture. Ali sighed. There was no point from hiding it from Grace.

"You can say that again. It's just…complicated."

"Let me guess…boyfriend troubles."

"With Rhett?" wondered Chris. "But your relationship with him seems strong."

Before Ali answered, Grace spoke.

"Not him, Dear."

Both longnecks were shocked, especially Ali, and looked at Grace curiously. She smiled.

"I've been through the same thing, dear. In fact, it was with Chris."

She then faced Chris.

"Chris, do you remember what happened when we first met?"

Chris faced away from his mate to think. When he came up with the answer, he faced Grace.

"I believe so. Let's see… I was with that female at the time. We were part of a migrating herd. We then found you wandering by yourself, and our leader allowed you to travel with us. You walked pass me, smiling."

Chris smiled.

"It's funny how one, tiny smile could change everything," continued Chris.

"But weren't you with that female?" questioned Ali.

Chris faced Ali.

"I was. Well…kind of. See, we were good friends. I had never really gone out with her."

Grace shook her head.

"Yes, you did, Dear. You told me about it. She rejected you."

Chris paused to think. He chuckled.

"I guess you're right. However, when I started to spend time with Grace, that female soon asked me if we should deepen our relationship. I…said yes."

"… How long did you go out with her?" asked Ali.

"It was quite a bit," admitted Chris, "but I wasn't that happy with her. My relationship with Grace grew stronger. It wasn't until a few bright circles before mating season that I found out that my female was seeing another longneck. See, our herd had stopped at a valley before mating season. My female had quickly fallen in love with another male that was a resident of the valley. I don't know how, but life has a mysterious way of working. Depressed, I hid myself from the herd. It was the day after the first day of the mating season that Grace found me. She comforted me after I explained what had happened. She confessed that she was at mating night and saw my female with another. She also told me that she was quite relieved. I faced her and asked why in an angry tone. With no fear in her eye, she told me that she had been looking for me the whole night. I softened my expression, and we had a long talk. That day with Grace turned into forever."

Grace smiled at her mate and then faced Ali.

"Every life has its ups and downs," started Grace, "but we can only look forward."

Ali thought about it and nodded.

"So…um…have you seen Littlefoot?"

"Littlefoot?" repeated Chris. "Nope. Usually he's here with Janet, but I haven't seen him…neither of them."

Ali began to worry a bit, but she didn't show it. She just smiled and nodded.

"Thank you."

Ali walked by them. Grace glanced back and looked at Chris.

"She reminds me of myself."

Chris slightly smiled.

"Well, let's just hope she finds that boy."

The two elders continued their stroll through the valley.

Night had arrived to Green Valley. The kids and their parents were all calling it a night and drifting off into slumber land. The oldest couple still up was Grace and Chris. They were in the west side of the valley where there was a large clearing surrounded by thick woods. In front of them were the single males. Chris smiled.

"We have a lot of fine males out tonight. This…marks the night where most of you turn into adults. This night will be a special night and hopefully one you can remember. Now, we should get on with it. Grace, if you may began."

Grace smiled. She looked towards the starry, clear night. She sung out in a dinosaur growl. As the sound echoed through the air and died down, the female longnecks walked out of the woods in a form of a thin annulus. The males looked around, looking at the smiling females around them. The females soon stopped before merging with the males. Grace lowly growled in sound again. Everyone faced Grace and Chris. Chris smiled.

"Well, I have nothing more to say. Enjoy yourselves and have a good night."

He faced Grace.

"C'mon Dear."

Chris and Grace started to walk off. As they walked, Grace noticed Janet to her right on the outer part of the annulus. Janet noticed Grace had glanced at her. Grace looked forward as she noticed Janet was looking back at her. Janet then turned around and faced back towards the males. She noticed that the two groups were merging. A military greenish male longneck with hazel eyes walked up to her. He was about a foot taller than her. He smirked at her. She smiled back.

"Why, hello…"

"Janet."

"Oh, nice. My name is Drew."

"Oh. Well, it's nice to meet you Drew. Um, so Drew. How did you get to Green Valley?"

"Well, I got here as a kid. My parents-"

"Janet?"

Janet and Chris looked towards the position of the little hand on 4:00. Ali walked up to Janet, startled at what she was doing.

"Janet, what are you doing?"

"What do you mean, Ali?"

Ali looked at Drew and slightly smiled.

"Um, can you excuse us for a bit?"

"No problem. You know I can always handle two."

Ali's smile dropped a little.

"I don't think so. Uh…can you just leave us for now?"

Drew nodded and walked away. Janet watched as Drew left. She faced Ali with an annoyed face.

"Why did you do that, Ali?"

"Janet, what about Littlefoot? You're cheating on him!"

"It's not cheating if you're not with that someone."

Ali's face softened.

"… Wait, what? What did you say?"

"He and I are done."

Ali was surprised at this. To her, their relationship was going strong. She blinked once and then began to speak.

"You…broke up? But why?"

"He thought his friends were more important than me."

Ali half-closed her eyes.

"Seriously? You broke up because of that?"

"Ali, I'm an adult female. I'm ready to have kids. Littlefoot could've waited, but he viewed our relationship as second."

"But he was doing the right thing."

"I know, but what is one bright circle?"

"It could mean everything!"

There was a moment of pause as Ali calmed down.

"Where is he now?"

"I have no idea. He left after the fight we had last night."

"So, you have no idea?"

"That's what I said."

"Don't be a stuck-up female."

"Stuck-up? Ha! You're the broad dinosaur here. You wanted Littlefoot, even when you knew that we were dating and you were with Rhett. I knew, Ali. You're horrible at keeping secrets."

"With Rhett? I told you. I was never with Rhett. Dammit, tell me where's Littlefoot!"

"I told you: he left. Last night was the last time I saw him. I don't know where he went. Now, if you excuse me, I need to find a mate."

Janet turned around and started walking the direction Drew went. Ali watched her as she left. She huffed.

"What a wench."

She looked up at the sky and sighed.

"Oh, where is he?"

Ali looked at one spot in the clear sky and stared at it. A flashback came to her. She remembered that a flyer was at a distance, flying away from the valley. In fact, why would a flyer be here in the first place? As long as she stayed here, she had never seen a flyer flying over the skies of Green Valley. Besides, flyers from the Mysterious Beyond didn't really associate with any of the longnecks in the valley…unless it wasn't from the Mysterious Beyond. What if the flyer was from somewhere else? What if…it came here in search for Littlefoot? Littlefoot was in the same area where the flyer was, and the flyer was gaining altitude, as if it had just taken off. She remembered that Littlefoot had a friend that was a flyer, and that flyer was friends with her. His name was Petrie. Ali formed a small grin.

"I know where he went."

Ali left the crowd of horny longnecks and walked out of the area. She walked through the clearing, slowly jogging across the grassy fields. She saw the entrance of the valley in view and hurriedly rushed out of the valley. She needed to be with Littlefoot.

This place…where Rooter lies dead…it gives me the creeps knowing he's dead in this dying forest, but I must rest for the night.

Littlefoot was in the forest of dying plants. He wasn't in the clearing where probably the bones of Rooter were, but he was close. Dead trees surrounded him, almost covering him up from all sides. He had lied down and looked up high at the starry night. He sighed.

"I hope I arrive there in time," he breathed.

He lowered his head to the cold, cracked ground and went to sleep.