Thank you all for the wonderful reviews on the previous chapter! I know I said there would be fluff in this one but change of plans! Someday... (Honestly I don't know how to write fluff with these two, they're so close but yet so far apart!)

Anyway, sorry RedMageKnight for not mentioning the meaning of the new name thing. I actually have somthing in mind for it. I'll explan the name in a later chapter, promise!

Sorry for talking for too long, hee heem! Enjoy! :3

Chomper sped up until he reached the gaping mouth of the cave. The once luscious vines that draped over the entrance were now crippled and worn down from the bitter cold.

The sharptooth busidly searched around for his omnivorous companion. He made his way to a cavernous area where Ruby normally slept, but the young fastrunner wasn't there. Chomper walked deeper into the cave, and from a corner, he spotted her pacing back and forth. "There you are." He said as he made his way over to her.

All the while, she continued to pace, her face shown with frustration and worry. And she looked so stuck in her realm of thoughts that it almost looked like she didn't hear Chomper's next words.

"Listen, Ruby. We need to talk." Chomper tried to sound leveled. He didn't want to stress her, but there was a bit of force in his tone to show he was serious.

Ruby continued to pace rather swiftly, her eyes locked on the ground. Chomper sighed, he wasn't going to get through to her like this. He stepped in front of her, and doing so made the fastrunner stop abruptly, not raising her stare to look at him.

"Please. Stop this for a moment and tell me what's wrong." He said with a soft, soothing tone.

"...Nothing's wr-"

"Don't lie to me, Ruby! I'm not stupid." Chomper hissed with frustration. He didn't mean to snap, but he had to get to the bottom of this. Ruby and Littlefoot have been acting strange, he recalled. Whatever it was, it was making both of them anxious and uncomfortable, and he couldn't just watch his two friends hurt themselves any longer.

"I know I'm younger than you, and you don't want me to worry, but please, Ruby. I need to know what's wrong. I care about you too." Chomper sat down so that their eyes were leveled, and he gave her a supportive smile.

Ruby exhaled deeply, she licked her lips, wondering where to begin, and to Chomper's surprise, she started to cry.

Chomper paused. He didn't know what to say. Ruby was always strong minded, and she was the voice of wisdom he always looked up to, but seeing her like this carved a hole in his heart. He could only imagine the pain she was feeling inside. Instinctively, he pulled her towards him with his tiny arms, and she continued to sob loudly over his shoulder.

"I'm sorry Chomper!" She stopped to suck in a tearful breath. "I just- I meant to…" Her choking sobs disrupted every word.

"Look, It's ok." Chomper said in a hushed voice. "It's just me here, no one can hurt you."

After the shakiness in her voice subsided, she spoke again. "I'm not worried about someone hurting me…It's something worse."

He examined her weak posture. All those days, she kept up with her disguise, but who would have thought she would have broken down in Chomper's arms? He looked down at her sympathetically. Ruby was always the one he went to for help, and he wanted to return that guidance.

"Tell me everything."

Littlefoot walked in a swift pace away from the group. He didn't want to tell Ducky, Petrie or Spike about what just happened. He didn't want to talk at all. He sped up his walk to jog, worried that he might bump into Cera as he went.

Embarrassment made his face flush hot as he continued to run aimlessly through the valley. At some point, he came across Ali, but he ignored her friendly greeting.

Littlefoot didn't know what to think. He considered giving up on Ruby all together, but he quickly flushed the thought out of his mind. It would be too unbearable to leave Ruby behind.

Without realizing, he made his way towards the border of the valley, now at full speed as the taunting thoughts roared in his ears. Why couldn't he love a longneck? Why couldn't Ruby just stay in the mysterious beyond, that way he would never have met her.

He nearly smashed into the rocky wall that stood in front of him. He skidded to a halt, now realizing where he was. Littlefoot panted with exhaustion as he moved his gaze up at the massive wall that stood between the Great valley and the Mysterious beyond. Littlefoot was about to turn back until he noticed an interesting slope that led to a small perch, just above the wall.

He stared at it curiously, until he turned around to head back to his nest. Then, looking back again, his curiosity winning over him, he scrambled his way up the slope. There wasn't much of a path for the size of a small longneck like him, but there were lots of foot holds and curves that allowed him to climb to the top of the bordered wall.

When he reached the top, the ledge was nothing but bare earth and small, independent stems of grass. And large rocks decorated the edge of the perch, but what amazed Littlefoot was the Mysterious beyond. The view stretched on endlessly, and from his position, Littlefoot could see nothing but the lonely mountains and the bare trees that dotted the empty landscape. The look of it all frightened him from the past adventures that occurred in those ominous lands. But he knew that this was a welcoming home for someone he knew. He carefully made his way down the wall, and headed for his nest. Tomorrow he was going to confront Ruby once more, and he knew, that that would take a lot of courage.

Chomper sat back at Ruby's story. He never would have guessed that this was what she was struggling with. "So…Does he know you like him too?"

Ruby sighed doubtfully. "I don't think so." She had calmed down from her tearful outburst, but everytime she drew in a breath, it felt heavy.

"Ruby, I'm so sorry. I never would've guessed." Chomper looked at her sympathetically. The atmosphere was too sombre for his liking, so he tried to lighten the mood. "I mean, you guys always seemed close. You two would actually make a great pair!"

Ruby didn't join in his laughter, and just continued to stare thoughtfully at the ground.

Chomper cleared his throat awkwardly. "I know you're worried about what everyone will think, but no one's the boss of you here. You could love him all you want!"

"Chomper, it's betraying the law of life! Fastrunners need to love their own kind. And longnecks can't be with other species, especially if she's a Bothtooth." Ruby fretted back.

Chomper stared at her in frustration, he wanted to come up with a solution. But first, he had to see what Ruby would do without his input. "So what are you going to do now?"

"I'm not sure, I guess I'll just leave it be without doing anything."

"Leave it be? Both of you are going to continue on like this if you just, 'leave it be'."

Ruby sighed. "It's for the better…I don't want to get Littlefoot in trouble, and I don't want the other residents to kick me out of the valley over some broken interspecies nonsense."

Chomper scoffed amusingly. "Why is it nonsense?"

"If I went to my parents to tell them why I was exiled, they would call it nonsense." She paused thoughtfully. "It's been so long since I've seen them, I'm actually not sure what they would say about all this."

Chomper had held a tiny claw to his chin until he came to a realization. "Hey, why don't you journey to the Mysterious Beyond and find them! You could ask them for help."

Ruby shook her head vigorously. "No way! I can't let them see me like this. And besides, they travel a lot, so It would take too long to find them." She sighed once more. "I have to deal with this alone, I'm old enough to deal with my mistakes." She sneered to herself.

"Ruby, there's nothing wrong with loving someone-"

"A longneck." She interrupted flatly.

"...Yyyes, but it's all the same in the end."

"But it's not!" Ruby clenched her head with her hands, it looked like she was having a headache. "I can't do this! I can't love him, and he can't love me. That's just how it has to be!"

Chomper decided to let the conversation go, he didn't want to end the day with an argument. "Ok, we'll figure something out later, you must be tired."

"It's not like I won't get much sleep anyway. These past few days gave me no rest." Ruby grumbled as she stood up to go to her sleeping area.

"You want me to stay with you until you fall asleep?" Chomper asked as he stood up to follow her.

"No thanks, you would squish me anyway." She added playfully.

"I'm not THAT big, ok!" Chomper couldn't help but smile as Ruby laughed teasingly at him. He was glad her spirit was still bright.

Despite Ruby's protest, Chomper curled himself around his warden. They whispered a relaxed, casual conversation as Ruby rasped her tongue motherly on the young sharptooth's flank. Chomper grew sleepy from her rhythmic licks, and slowly, he closed his eyes to enter a calm slumber.

*happy sigh* Glad the chapter ended on a good note for once.

(Umm, so there's like at least 100 people reading each chapter, but only 3 or 4 of you actually review. What da heck? Pls, if it's not too much trouble just pop in a review, you don't have to have an account or anything pls... *wimper wimper*)