Chapter 11: Littlefoot's Hidden Feelings

"Spike, stay here," Ali told him. "I'm going to tell Littlefoot that everyone knows about the plan."

Spike nodded and Ali walked back to where Littlefoot was. Nobody seemed to notice her as she crossed through the Great Valley and headed closer and closer to where she last saw Littlefoot. When she arrived at the hill where Littlefoot was before, she found that he was still there, sleeping peacefully, and neither of his grandparents was watching him. He was lying down on the grass, with his legs sprawled out. Ali smiled, for she thought Littlefoot looked cute as he stretched out his legs and rolled on the ground.

Ali approached Littlefoot and she called out, "Littlefoot, wake up! I'm back!"

Littlefoot, however, was so deeply asleep that he couldn't hear her. He was mumbling in his sleep, and now that Ali got a closer look, she noticed that his rolling on the ground and stretching didn't look to be peaceful at all. Gasping, Ali saw that Littlefoot was thrashing in his sleep, and she watched in horror as a pained expression appeared on Littlefoot's face. She could tell that Littlefoot was having a bad sleep story.

"Are you all right, Littlefoot?" Ali asked as she stood next to him.

Then, Ali heard Littlefoot mumble in a pained, yet very determined voice, "Leave her alone, sharptooth…Cera…Cera...Cera…"

Ali then bent down to Littlefoot's head and whispered, "Psst…Littlefoot…wake up!"

Littlefoot shouted and jumped up in worry. His head desperately swiveled in all directions as he breathed heavily, and after a few seconds, he realized that Ali was standing right by him. "Ali! We have to save…" Littlefoot began frantically.

"Cera?" Ali finished gently. Vigorously, Littlefoot nodded, and as he looked at Ali, she noticed that to her amazement, the same intense passion that she had just seen in Cera's eyes had appeared again in Littlefoot's eyes. Ali then laughed gently and said, "Calm down, Littlefoot. It was just a sleep story. Don't worry. Cera's just fine."

"How did you know it was Cera?" Littlefoot asked curiously, looking at Ali with a puzzled expression on his face.

"You were murmuring her name in your sleep," Ali answered.

"Oh…" Littlefoot replied, blushing furiously and looking at the ground. "Sorry for scaring you Ali."

"That's all right," Ali smiled. Then she continued, "So, I've checked in with Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike, and everyone is ready for the plan. As soon as their parents have fallen asleep, I've told everyone to meet you at the place where Chomper left. Also Mia and Cam have left, so Spike is now unsupervised and he should get there with no problem."

"Great," Littlefoot told Ali, smiling gratefully at her. "Thanks so much, Ali."

"You're welcome," Ali replied. Then, she stood and looked at Littlefoot for a long time. She looked deeply into his eyes, and Littlefoot noticed that she looked to be very deep in thought.

"Is anything wrong Ali?" Littlefoot asked concernedly.

"Oh, it's nothing, Littlefoot," Ali told Littlefoot gently. "It's just…I can tell that your heart…and my gut feeling... have already made the decision for both of us."

Littlefoot looked confusedly at Ali, and without fully understanding why, he realized that he felt the same way. He felt a tear roll down his cheek, for he didn't want her to realize his feelings just yet, especially right after she had just helped him. "Ali, Ali… I'm sorry," Littlefoot stuttered sadly. "But I don't understand...why?"

"That's all right, Littlefoot," Ali replied softly. "And don't worry. I think your heart made a great choice in the end…and you will understand sooner than you think." And with that, she turned and began to walk back towards Spike.

"Ali?" Littlefoot asked suddenly.

Ali turned to look back. "Yes, Littlefoot?"

"Well… we can still be friends, right?" Littlefoot asked gently, looking at her pleadingly.

"Of course, Littlefoot," Ali smiled. "And I won't tell anyone of what just happened, I promise."

"Thanks Ali," Littlefoot replied gently.

Littlefoot looked at the setting bright circle and sighed as tears fell from his eyes. His heart felt heavy as he worried that he might have unintentionally broken Ali's heart. But as he looked at the setting bright circle, he understood that a romantic relationship between them would not have worked out, for he knew in his heart that while they were close friends, he did not truly love her. He wished with all his heart that Ali would be happy even while knowing that his heart did not belong to her.

Littlefoot kept on thinking about how Ali could've been feeling for a while, but eventually he took his mind off of her and began to look up at the sky puffies high above him in the twilight sky. Littlefoot smiled slightly, for watching the sky puffies always made him feel a little better. Littlefoot sat and continued to watch the sky puffies go by, and slowly but surely, their cheerful forms began to ease some of the pain that his heart felt.

The sky puffies took on all sorts of familiar and wondrous forms, from those resembling tree stars to sweet bubbles to those resembling longnecks with wings and star swimmers that almost seemed to be waving at him. Littlefoot smiled at and admired many of these amazing clouds, but of all the clouds above, there was one cloud that Littlefoot was especially captivated with, a cloud that he couldn't keep his eyes off of for long. He felt his eyes water and a soft grin emerge whenever he set his eyes upon this cloud. It had a peculiar, soft shape with gorgeous curved edges around its top that formed a dazzlingly beautiful frill. Near the cloud, Littlefoot saw three stars twinkling brightly. He imagined that if these stars were connected to the cloud, they would have looked like the ends of three very special horns. Littlefoot smiled, for he saw that when put together, the stars and cloud formed an image that looked very much like someone that he held very closely to his heart.

He sighed dreamily as he closed his eyes and began to reflect. He had known Cera for almost as long as he could remember, and though they regularly argued, they have always remained best of friends and have really cared for each other. But upon reflecting over his feelings, Littlefoot realized that he cared about her in a way deeper than he had ever imagined. He reminisced over all the times that they had spent together from when they played fun games to when they went on dangerous adventures to when they just sat and appreciated each other's company. He smiled with those happy memories, vividly imagining her special warm presence that he always felt by his side through all of those special moments. While he missed all of his friends badly, he especially missed Cera and thought about her over and over… everything about her, from her wonderfully feisty and determined personality to her gorgeous green eyes and her ornately decorated frill, to the way her beautiful voice said, "Littlefoot". He then had a new thought, and realized that that the way she called out his name sounded strikingly like the voice in his sleep stories that had been calling for him night after night. Then Littlefoot thought about his last sleep story, in which he imagined Cera, rather than being her inspirationally energetic and confident self, lying unnaturally lifeless and still. Seeing Cera dead in his sleep story made him feel terribly miserable, and in those tragic moments, there felt like there was no point in living at all…then it all clicked.

"I love her," Littlefoot muttered aloud to himself, amazed with his discovery. At once, part of him began to feel at peace with itself, realizing at last, why Cera always was so special to him. At the same time, however, he experienced a rush of anxiety. "Oh gosh…I'm in trouble," he thought. Littlefoot vividly remembered his grandmother's voice when he asked her and his grandfather for their opinions on different species falling in love. "Such an act… well, wouldn't be natural… it wouldn't be the right thing to do…to be lovers, that crosses the line."

Littlefoot's heart sank. He was falling into the very same position that his grandparents were talking about. Then he imagined Cera's reaction if he asked her. With dread, he imagined her skeptical voice smirking, "You've got to be kidding, Littlefoot! Threehorns fall in love with threehorns, and longnecks fall in love with longnecks." He then imagined her laughing at him, or even worse, deciding that she didn't want to be friends with him anymore. Then he imagined Cera's father's reaction. With a sudden jolt, he remembered his grandfather saying, "Mr. Threehorn would never approve."

Littlefoot knew that unfortunately, his grandfather was probably right. He knew Cera's dad was extremely judgmental and he knew that if Cera's dad suspected his feelings, Cera's dad would do anything to try to keep Cera away from him. Though it was a long time ago, Littlefoot still plainly remembered the day when he first met Cera, when her dad said, "Threehorns never play with Longnecks." Littlefoot's heart sunk with that thought. If Cera's dad had at one point disapproved of him and Cera playing together, Littlefoot was sure that the thought of him being in love with her would drive Cera's dad to a furious wrath.

"But," a voice replied in Littlefoot's head. "Cera always seems so annoyed whenever a girl longneck walks up to me. Maybe…she's jealous. Maybe she's in love with me…but she doesn't feel comfortable talking to me about it yet… But maybe someday soon, she'll come forward and say how she really feels about me."

Littlefoot closed his eyes and smiled as he imagined Cera saying, "I love you, Littlefoot." He sighed dreamily, before he heard Grandma Longneck call out, "There you are Littlefoot! Now come on, you should get some rest."