Neither Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie nor Spike could bear to watch. And yet, they couldn't prevent themselves from doing so, for they had never before seen such a display of brutality in person before - especially one committed by creatures who had become trusted friends of theirs.
Hyp didn't even have the time or the strength to react as the Didelphodon pounced on him, knocking him to the ground. The air all around was filled with Hyp's agonizing cries as Snips and Tana's teeth and claws ripped and tore into his underbelly. Blood gushed out from him like bullets, the taste of which on the Didelphodon's tongues was as sweet as nectar to them. Hyp was totally defenseless; all he could do was scream and writhe around as Snips's teeth clamped down on his jugular, sending out a fountain of blood like a geyser. And just like that, as more and more blood left his body, along with his strength, the adolescent Hypsilophodon's ghastly cries faded away as he fell flat to the ground entirely. After that, he saw and heard no more.
Needless to say, Littlefoot and his friends could not believe that creatures that they befriended would act so viciously towards another; even though they had managed to befriend a family of tyrannosaurs once before, they'd never seen them making a kill, nor did they expect to see it from a creature as small and seemingly insignificant as Didelphodon. Snips and Tana, however, were totally indifferent to the shock on the young ones' faces as they drooled uncontrollably over the carcass of Hyp.
"Oh, baby, I haven't had a meal like this in ages," Snips shuddered orgasmically.
"Well then what are we waiting for?" Tana marveled. "Let's dig in!"
And so they did. They furiously dug into the meat on the Hypsilophodon carcass, ripping off large mouthfuls and wolfing the flesh down their throats, sipping up any spare blood they could get their tongues on as they stuffed their faces with the sweet, fresh flesh.
Eventually, Littlefoot brought himself to speak up. "Hold on, let me get this straight," he said, causing Snips and Tana to look up from their meal. "You guys eat... meat?"
Snips and Tana exchanged awkward glances before Snips brought himself to answer, "Yes, Littlefoot. We do eat meat."
"Well," Littlefoot reasoned, "that explains why you refused my treestars earlier."
"But surely," Tana added, "you wouldn't judge us by our diets... would you?"
"Oh no, no, no!" Ducky assured them. "It's just that, well, you both seemed like such kind and caring tickly fuzzies."
"But here you are, having just slaughtered an innocent fast runner as if you were giant Sharpteeth!" pointed out Cera.
"Well honestly," explained Tana, "we normally would only eat animals that were already dead, but neither Snips nor myself had had a real good meal in days, and that fast runner was real weak, and we just took the opportunity when we saw it."
"Oh, so you're normally scavengers?" Littlefoot clarified.
"And egg stealers, too," Snips pointed out. "Don't forget that."
"YOU'RE EGG STEALERS?!" the kids all spoke out, clearly shocked to hear this coming from their new guardians' mouths.
"Well it's the truth!" Tana confessed. "Sorry, we didn't mean to offend you or anything."
"Wait," Cera realized as it all started to make sense to her. "Is THIS what you meant by the bad reputation your kind had amongst our kind?" Snips and Tana said nothing; they only nodded with their faces twisted with shame, praying that their new unofficial family wouldn't shun them.
But none of them seemed to have developed such feelings towards them "It's all right," Littlefoot reassured them. "It's just that, well, we all had a bad experience with a couple of egg stealers once. Not your kind, though, but still."
"Yeah, it would've served them right if those Sharpteeth had eaten them!" Cera growled through her beak.
"Oh believe me," Snips intoned grimly. "Many of our kind have been eaten trying to raid Sharptooth nests."
"Many of our own family members and friends have suffered their fate," Tana sighed, hanging their head. "For the longest time, the only real companionship Snips and I have had is each other. Then you came along."
Hearing these words, Littlefoot was again reminded that all creatures had emotional needs just like those of his own kind, even the vicious carnivores. "Gee, I... I had no idea," he said, trying to console the two Didelphodon.
"There just one thing," Petrie asked uneasily. "You would not do any of that to us, would you?"
Snips and Tana looked at the kids as if they had all just made a suicide pact. "Don't say that!" Tana begged, getting close to tears. "We would never do anything of the sort to you! We love you!"
"Yeah, we may not have the same diet as you children do," Snips grinned, "but like we told you, we'll be here to look after you. You're safe with us!"
For a while, the kids all just looked into Snips and Tana's smiling faces, hoping that after what they'd done for them so far, that they meant what they said here. Spike, however, seemed convinced. With a hearty grin, he reached out with his tongue and gave Snips and Tana both affectionate licks on their cheeks; Snips and Tana both giggled, and this display had Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky and Petrie all convinced that the two Didelphodon, despite their own violent tendencies, were still their friends.
"Uh, now if you'll excuse us," Snips then said. "We haven't yet eaten our fill."
"You don't have to look if you don't want to," Tana assured them as she and her mate ran back over to the carcass.
But Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie and Spike all watched very intently as Snips and Tana dug back in to Hyp, eating the rest of their fill of the carcass. After all, this was the first time that either of them had seen this aspect of nature in person before. As depraved as it was to see Snips and Tana wolfing the flesh of another dinosaur down their throats, it was, at the same time, intriguing. After all, it was just a different lifestyle from their own, and was in no way inherently evil.
In time, the two Didelplodon had eaten their fill. Not much was left of Hyp's carcass; the majority of it had been reduced to just bones. The only things that could still get a meal from it were the surviving insects (which they called buzzers) that were already swarming desperately around it.
"Well, we're all good on food and water," Snips announced. "Now we all have to get out of here - this place is no longer safe!"
"What you mean?" Petrie asked incredulously. "There be... Sharpteeth out there!"
"Yeah, and look what happened to your mother!" Snips replied sternly. "It's only a matter of time before other carnivores find there way here and pick us all off!"
"Oh... don't remind Petrie!" Petrie moaned as he buried his face, unable to bear an episode of the memory of his mother being snatched away from him by that pleisiosaur.
"Nice going, Snips," snapped Tana. "You done made the poor little guy cry!"
"I'm just telling it like it is," Snips said, defending himself. "I know you all love this valley, we do too. But it's now just as dangerous as the rest of the land out there; there's hardly anything left for either of us to eat or drink, and now there's nothing to stop the carnivores from trapping us here and making us their entrees! Our best and likely option, is to leave this valley before they corner us first."
Noticing the kids' unwilling expressions, Tana assured them, "We'll all go together, and we will not abandon you for anything. After all, you're like the family Snips and I never had!"
She needn't have said any more. The words "together" and "family" were all that was needed to move Littlefoot and friends.
"OK, Petrie go." proclaimed Petrie, having gotten a grip on himself.
"Us too!" added Littlefoot. Cera, Ducky and Spike all nodded in agreement.
"Very well," Snips nodded. "Let's all get started now, while our fuel tanks are still on full."
And so on they all went, towards the passageway that led out of the Great Valley and into the open environment that lay under the blackened skies all around them...