Chapter 57: A change in attitude?
"What da hell!?" Cera thought. She had tried to move her body but the realisation that this was not going to happen came in form of an excruciating, stinging pain in her back. "Well, it sure has been a dream..." she mused.
Her yelp seemed to have attracted Ducky's and Petrie's attention fully.
"What that?!" Petrie shouted, alarmed.
"I do not know, Petrie, no, no, no," Ducky responded, shrugging her shoulders.
"The evil Threehorn's gonna eat ya, Petrie, raaaawl!" Cera whispered viciously.
"Ahhhhhh!" Petrie cried and ran away.
"Hehehehe! Oh Petrie... This is only Cera, yes it is her," Ducky chuckled.
Petrie didn't hear Ducky so he went on running towards the exit in a panic... where he bumped right into Littlefoot just making his way towards their sort of nesting place.
"Petrie?! What's going on? What are you running away from?" Littlefoot questioned, concerned.
"There... monster," Petrie panted.
"Oh Petrie..." they heard Ducky giggle in the distance. "It was Cera, silly, yes, yes, yes."
"It... was Cera?!" Petrie squeaked in disbelief. "Ohh..."
Ducky and Cera had a powerful outburst of laughter, though Cera's quickly came to an end again since her back didn't appreciate the movement. Littlefoot snickered a bit before grabbing the obviously embarrassed Flyer with his tail and placing him on his back.
Spike smiled in amusement but quickly cut it out since he didn't want to make Petrie feel sad. At least he would feel sad if he was being laughed at.
"Me scaredy egg..." he mumbled depressedly.
"It's alright, Petrie," Littlefoot said.
Neither of them said anything else until they arrived at the girls.
"Lookie what they got!" Ducky exclaimed in awe. Littlefoot and Spike had created a huge pile of food that was firmly placed on Spike's back.
"I could've carried twice as much," Cera stated smugly.
"Sigh... she hasn't changed a single bit..." Spike thought, rather in amusement than in annoyance. With some assistance of Littlefoot, he dropped the food to the ground and took a bite despite having had his last meal only about thirty minutes earlier...
"Spiiiiiiiiike!" Ducky exclaimed happily and stormed towards the Spiketail to embrace him tightly. She had only been separated from him for a short period of time but she had missed him a lot already. Once she released Spike, they munched on all sorts of vegetation. Simultaneously, Petrie hopped off Littlefoot's back and began to eat as well, though he chose to stay away from Ducky and Spike.
Littlefoot approached Cera, a shy smile drawn into his face.
"I'm very happy to see you alive and kicking, Cera," he told her happily. "You doing okay?"
"Sure I am!" Cera replied snappily. "It needs more to bring a Threehorn down than a scratch..."
"Your attitude sure hasn't changed..." Littlefoot chuckled.
"So what? Why should it have changed, eh?"
"Well, you've been pretty dead for a day or so... we actually thought you were before... weeeell."
"Spit it out, will ya?" Cera shouted.
"I-I'll tell you right after dinner, okay? You need food, the others need food too," Littlefoot said.
"You'd better..." Cera growled. She tried to get up again but her back was preventing her from doing so.
"Should I bring you some food, Cera?" Littlefoot offered.
"NO! I'm fine!" Cera growled once more.
"Cera..." Littlefoot sighed. "This attitude of yours is wrong. One day you'll get yourself killed..."
"Will. not," Cera retorted.
"Everybody needs some help, sometimes," Littlefoot explained. "You may be prideful, Cera. I can accept that and I'm sure the others can as well, but you can't always be the toughest..."
"I'm FINE!" Cera screamed, angrily.
"Okay, as you wish..." Littlefoot murmured and left the moody Threehorn alone.
While Cera was pouting, Littlefoot joined Ducky, Petrie and Spike. Other than Spike, he didn't need a second dinner that evening. He noticed that Petrie's chest was kind of wet. "Has Ducky cried again?" Littlefoot figured he would never find out if he didn't ask.
"What have you been doing anyway, Ducky?" he asked the Swimmer.
Ducky turned to Littlefoot, munching on some leaves. "Well, we were bored-ed, yes we were," she lied.
Littlefoot gave her a stern, inquiring look.
"Well, not really. I cried again, I did," Ducky then said genuinely. "I have felt very lonely because I need my family very much, yep, yep, yep." She looked to the ground, downheartedly.
"Sometimes, I feel lonely too, Ducky," Littlefoot admitted. "But when I do, I keep telling myself that I'm not alone. I have my mother who's watching me and guiding me and I have you guys."
"Well, that is the part that does not work for me, nope, nope, nope. I have not forgotten your wise words, Littlefoot. I have tried to follow your advise but it did not work. I am so sorry."
"No need to feel bad about it, Ducky," Littlefoot assured, using his tail to lift Ducky's head. Ducky smiled weakly. "As long as you try your best, it's all fine," Littlefoot told. "You shouldn't feel sad because you can't win a fight. You should see the positive aspects and keep telling yourself that they are the only aspects that matter."
"Like... if I keep telling myself that Cera is going to get healthy again?"
Cera snorted in the background.
"For example. Don't let those weak moments ruin you. You are stronger than you may think, Ducky," Littlefoot spoke affirmatively, smiling at Ducky.
"Am I? I am very small so how can I be strong?" Ducky questioned.
"I'm not talking about physical strength, Ducky, but about inner strength, mental strength... Even though your inner turmoil is trying to knock you down, you still find the strength to care for others. Remember how we found Spike? It was you who insisted on taking him along and you know how great a decision that was." Littlefoot took a breath, then continued. "He is a very good friend and he has already been very helpful." "And Cera doesn't even know..." his mind added.
"You are right, Littlefoot, you are, you are. In fact, you are always right, yes, yes, yes." Ducky said cheerfully.
"Now I have to disagree, Ducky," Littlefoot chuckled. "Everybody does have quirks, faults and mistakes. Spike can't talk and he's eating far more than his fair share." As if to confirm this, Spike tucked into the pile of food madly, causing Littlefoot and Ducky to smirk in amusement. "Petrie is easily scared," Littlefoot continued."He can't fly yet and he sometimes speaks in a funny way. Cera is often too proud to admit her faults which is one of them, actually." Cera snorted yet again. "She can be very mistrusting and mean as well. Ducky, you know your faults. You're very affectionate and therefore easily upset about certain things... like the separation from your family. And, obviously, I'm not free of them either. I think my biggest blunder was insulting Cera's Dad back when she tried to convince us of Spike's uselessness. Cera," he was now adressing the Threehorn directly. "I think I should have done it much sooner, I'm sorry. I apologise for everything I said about your kind and your dad. Do you accept it?" Littlefoot looked at Cera uncertainly. Cera appeared to be pondering about this.
"Sure, maybe I did overreact a little back then," she eventually responded. "I'm sorry too."
"Much appreciated," Littlefoot replied, smiling.
Spike walked to Cera.
"Oh, I almost forgot. Spike, I'm very sorry for not accepting you too. May I have a second chance? I now know that we need to work together in order to find our parents. Sorry everyone. Guess it's my fault that we're still stuck in this bloody cave, eh?" The Threehorn uncertainly awaited her friend's responses, however it would turn out.
Spike approached Cera, then moved his moist tongue across Cera's face. Everyone but Petrie laughed.
"I believe he has accepted your apology, Cera, heheheh," Ducky chuckled.
"So do I," Littlefoot said in agreement. "I'm glad that you finally realised that we need to work together. Things will be much easier."
"Yep, yep, yep. Then we can finally continue to search for our mommies and daddies," Ducky cheered.
"True. Y'know guys..." Littlefoot spoke. " Having talked about everyone's flaws, I think I should also point out everyone's positive traits. Spike is very laid-back so he doesn't support arguing or fighting."
"But he did attack me..." Cera remarked. "Though I deserved it..."
"Spike is also very protective over those he cares for."
"Ah, makes sense. I don't hold it against you by the way, Spike," Cera assured.
Spike gave an appreciative smile and turned his attention back to Littlefoot.
"Petrie is braver than he may think. He could've run away from that Fastbiter but instead he warned Ducky and brought himself into danger." Ducky twinkled over to Petrie but the Flyer didn't even look. "Cera is very tough and brave. Ducky is caring and cheerful. What do you think would be my traits?"
"You are very wise, yes you are," Ducky exclaimed, nodding.
"You're... you're good at leading, I guess. Though I'm good at that as well..." Cera replied.
"I think you're right. Though I don't like to be THE leader, I feel kind of responsible for our group," Littlefoot admitted. "
"Uhm, would you mind passing some food over to me? I'm starving..." Cera then requested. The Gang laughed, again everyone but Petrie.
Before Littlefoot could have reacted, Spike rushed to the remaining food and pushed it to Cera, using his tail.
"Thanks Spike!" Cera exclaimed happily. "What did you cover my back with anyway? Feels kinda sticky..."
"Well... ehh, can you tell her the story, Littlefoot? I think you are better in telling them, yep, yep, yep," Ducky piped up.
"No problem, I'll just inform you about what's happened while you were... well, y'know," Littlefoot replied.