Hi, welcome to the third chapter of this story! First off, I just want to give you some dino species terms I'll be using here in this chapter:
- Round-Crested Hollowhorn = Corythosaurus
- Tall-Crested Hollowhorn = Lambeosaurus
- Green Runner = Dryosaurus
I may set up a reference page later on at the back for OCs and species names, as over the course of the story, many new OCs and species will be introduced that our main characters will encounter. I may also provide an age list as well to show all the characters' updated ages as of this story.
Thank you to everyone who provided feedback so far, and please fav/follow/review if you like! As always, Land Before Time and its universe belongs to Universal.
Chapter 3 – Foliage Frenzy
A few weeks came and went, and soon enough, the Season of New Growth was well underway. To Littlefoot's surprise, he saw that Cera had been looking at the Night Circle a lot lately. One night, as he saw Cera staring at it, Littlefoot couldn't help but asking. "Hey Cera, what's with you and the Night Circle recently?"
Cera looked surprised. "Don't you know what's coming?"
Littlefoot shook his head as Cera said, "Should've known since you're not a threehorn, so I'll fill you in. Two days from now is Flower Day. It's a tradition we have among us threehorns going back cold times. Every cold time, we don't eat the yellow flowers until the second big Night Circle after the Cold Time to give them time to grow. Then after the second big Night Circle comes, we go out as a herd to eat the yellow flowers together. My dad's in charge of the threehorns, so he leads the herd to the yellow flowers each time."
"Wow," said Littlefoot. "I've never heard of this tradition."
"Yeah, well he's always kept it to only us threehorns," Cera explained. "But since you're my mate now, you're an honorary threehorn. Dad said so himself."
"That's really nice of him," Littlefoot said, flattered with Mr. Threehorn's warm gesture. "You're sure the others would be okay with it?"
"Yeah, they know we go way back," Cera said casually. "Besides, when Tricia heard Dad let you come, she begged Dad to let her bring her friend along. Tria encouraged it, and Tricia finally pestered Dad enough till he agreed. Her friend's Mrs. Twoped's daughter, so you won't be the only non-threehorn."
"Oh great," Littlefoot smiled, relieved in not being the only non-threehorn to come along.
So the next day, after spending some time chatting with their friends, Littlefoot and Cera went to Cera's parents' nest. The two of them were resting in a clearing while Tricia and her friend were happily sniffing some flowers they had collected earlier.
"Hey there," Mr. Threehorn said as they arrived and he and Cera nuzzled and chuckled. Then Mr. Threehorn said, "Good to see you, Littlefoot."
"Thanks for inviting me," Littlefoot said appreciatively.
"Well you're part of the family now," Mr. Threehorn said evenly as Cera went off to greet her little sister. "So you ought to learn some threehorn customs and the way we threehorns do things."
"Thanks Mr. Threehorn," said Littlefoot. "I'm really honored."
"Littlefoot, why don't you meet Tricia's friend?" Tria said as she got up. Tricia's friend was a round-crested hollowhorn just her age and size, rich canary yellow in color, with turquoise eyes, a light tan belly, and a chestnut-colored back which went all the way up to her crest.
"Hi there," Littlefoot said friendlily. "I'm Littlefoot. What's your name?"
The hollowhorn said shyly, "My name's Cassia."
"Great to see you two finally met!" Tricia said excitedly.
"Why don't we all dig in?" Tria asked, revealing a large pile of treestars they had gathered.
And with that, they did. For as long as he knew Mr. Threehorn and Tria, it was entirely different for Littlefoot to eat with them as in-laws. Topps didn't say much as he ate at first, nor did Cera, who seemed to be just as nervous as Littlefoot felt. The awkward silence was finally broken when Tria turned to the two kids. "Cassia, Tricia's told us about your love of flowers. Do you have a favorite kind?"
"Yeah Cass!" Tricia added encouragingly. "What is it?"
While Cassia, Tricia and Tria were talking about flowers, Topps had eaten his fill and turned to Littlefoot and Cera. "So Littlefoot, has Cera filled you in on our tradition?"
"Pretty much," Littlefoot said. "You lead Cera and the rest of your herd to see the flowers?"
"The yellow flowers, yes," Mr. Threehorn clarified. "Abstaining from and then greeting the yellow flowers has been a tradition that has long ensured their survival and in turn the survival of us threehorns."
"Right," Littlefoot said, a little uncomfortable under Mr. Threehorn's gaze. Hesitantly, he asked, "You really don't mind me coming along?"
Mr. Threehorn shook his head. "No, on the contrary. Where else are you gonna get the knowledge to pass along to my grandson?"
Littlefoot and Cera looked at each other uncomfortably as Tria, Tricia and Cassia stopped talking at once. Sure they were married, but not once had they even discussed having kids. Nor was it a sure thing they could have any. What's more, Littlefoot saw that Cera was looking highly infuriated. Knowing the only way through this situation was to de-escalate it, Littlefoot said, "Excuse me, Cera and I need to relieve ourselves."
"Good idea," Tria said encouragingly before Topps could say another word. "Tricia, Cassia, why don't you go play for a while?"
Gratefully, Littlefoot used the chance to get away, a very irate Cera following in his wake. As they got far enough away, Cera huffed angrily. "Sorry Littlefoot you had to endure that."
"I'm okay Cera," Littlefoot said evenly. "I know your dad can talk before he thinks."
"You can say that again," Cera snapped. "The nerve … To even assume we're gonna have kids when you and I haven't even talked about it yet! Last time I checked, it's not him laying eggs! Never mind the question of can we."
"Yeah," Littlefoot said. "I've never really thought about it either. We're barely not kids ourselves. A cold time ago you and I were just friends and no sooner did we marry than my grandparents started needing help. We haven't even had a love journey yet!"
Cera looked blankly at Littlefoot. "What's a love journey?"
Littlefoot looked at Cera in surprise. "It's a journey that newly mated couples take with one another to feel at peace, get closer together and experience nature. It's a longneck tradition, I think."
"Sure sounds like it," Cera snarked.
"So what do you think about it?" Littlefoot asked curiously. "Having kids when we're ready?"
Cera looked uncertain. "I don't know. Look how raising Chomper turned out for us."
"We weren't that bad," Littlefoot smiled. "I'd say we succeeded. Chomper learned to be nice, he's still our friend, and hey who knows, maybe he'll learn to like a little green food one day," Littlefoot said as he and Cera both snickered at the thought.
"Yeah I guess you're right," Cera said. "But just look at us! Who's to say we even could? I suppose we could each mate with a farwalker who just wants the kicks and not the kids."
"Yeah," Littlefoot said reasonably, slightly uncomfortable with Cera's crude way of putting it. "Or we could adopt some lost hatchlings. Maybe a threehorn for you and a longneck for me?"
"You're such a romantic," Cera laughed, but now having joked about Mr. Threehorn's suggestion, they felt much better about it. When they returned, Mr. Threehorn remained cordial for the rest of the day.
That night, they spent telling each other stories. Littlefoot and Cera took great pleasure in jointly telling some of their adventures, especially to Tricia and Cassia, who listened to them enthusiastically. Tricia and Cassia, being preteens, then told some stories about their early childhood, causing Littlefoot especially to smile and laugh. Most interesting however for Littlefoot was when it was Topps' and Tria's turn to tell their stories. He had known Topps and Tria for a while now, but never got the chance to hear about their pasts before tonight, so he was quite intrigued.
"I came from a place far, far away from here," Topps said proudly. "A vast open plain with clans of hundreds of threehorns. We needed that kind of protection. Giant sharpteeth stalked the herds, massacring swimmers, domeheads and clubtails alike. But they were no match for our herd. When I was a hatchling, I watched my parents along with all the other grownups surround us in a big circle as they stood leering at the sharpteeth, their horns at the ready in case one of those tyrants dared taking any of us down," he declared with a smirk. "I can still remember the day I fully grew my horns and joined my herdmates in fighting off both those sharpteeth and those outsiders who've stripped away our green food."
"Wow," Littlefoot said. "So what happened to your herd now?"
"Well, you know how it goes,' Topps said. "Some of us heard of the Great Valley, and naturally we wanted to live in a place with more green food. I knew that was the place for me at once, especially when I learned I was going to be a father. So I broke off a faction of the herd and led them here to the Great Valley. I presume the rest of them are still out there, wandering around for food, if they've not already become sharptooth food," he said smugly, though Littlefoot saw he was averting eye contact.
Hurriedly, Tria stepped in. "Well, my past life wasn't anything like Topsy's. While Topsy's family lived out in the eastern plains, my parents lived to the south. It was dry and dusty down there, no place for us to live. But we've heard of the forests far to the north of here, a place so wonderful many dinosaurs have never left. So the three of us made a big journey to the forests. Along the way, we ran into Topsy's herd. We were exhausted, and they were gracious enough to let us stay for a few nights. And during that time, Topsy and I became friends," Tria laughed. "He was the first friend I made, and I was the first dino he really met who was not part of his herd. I suppose we were fated to meet again after that," Tria smiled.
Clearing her breath, she continued. "We crossed around the Biter Bluffs up north of here and passed through the Egg Valley before we finally reached the Northern Forests. And it was a wonderful place to grow up. There were all kinds of dinosaurs there, clubtails, onehorns, hollowhorns, you name it," she smiled. "That's actually where I met your mother, Cassia. She and I were best of friends just like you and Tricia are. We grew up there together before deciding we needed a change of pace. So the two of us went here, found your fathers in the Valley, and well, that's our story," Tria explained.
That night as the other four were asleep, Littlefoot and Cera were still awake, looking at the stars. "That was nice to hear your dad and mom's stories," Littlefoot told Cera. "I've never heard them before." Then he remembered something. "I didn't know your dad convinced your herd to go to the Great Valley."
"Yeah, well, that's because he didn't," Cera said sadly.
Littlefoot nodded. "I kinda figured. So what really happened?"
Cera looked around to make sure her parents were sleeping before she whispered, "Don't tell anyone else this, okay?"
"Okay," Littlefoot said uncertainly.
Cera sighed. "I only learned this from an elder but … My dad didn't leave his old herd, he got forced out of it. He challenged the herd leader for the right to lead the herd, and apparently he got beaten pretty bad. The herd leader then kicked my dad, my mom, and anyone else who he thought was too close to Dad out of the herd and we were left to wander through the Mysterious Beyond, and it was only after they saw everyone else going to the Valley did they decide to go to the Valley too."
"Right," Littlefoot said comprehendingly, understanding how this could really affect Mr. Threehorn's pride. "Is that why he was so … Mean when I first met him?"
"Yeah, kind of," Cera said. "But it's also because you were a longneck. You know how he was talking about outsiders? Well to his old herd, any leaf eater who was not a threehorn was an outsider and as far as they were concerned, the only thing outsiders did was steal 'their' food. So growing up, he learned that anyone who wasn't a threehorn was bad, and even after he got kicked out, he still had that old attitude. And I guess that's why … I acted like that," Cera finished glumly.
Littlefoot nodded solemnly, understanding the circumstances of when he first met Cera so much better now. "Well, at least you and your dad aren't like that anymore," Littlefoot said reassuringly, and together, they exchanged one last cheek rub before going to sleep.
The next morning, the threehorns, Littlefoot and Cassia woke up just as the bright circle began to rise above the Great Valley's cliffs. When congregated, Littlefoot saw that there were about a dozen other threehorns outside of Cera's family, mostly in shades of gray or brown in color, making Tria's and Tricia's pink and Cera's orange stand out notably in the crowd. They generally tended to be on the older side, as only Tricia and a few teens were younger than Cera. Most were middle aged to older adults, and a few were older or larger than Topps. Still, as Topps moved to the front of the herd, he commanded their total attention.
"Okay everyone," he said. "It is time."
The herd moved, Littlefoot, Cera, Tria, Tricia and Cassia hanging toward the back.
"I can't wait to eat those yellow flowers," Cera said as Littlefoot smiled, knowing that indeed was Cera's favorite food. Indeed, the rest of the crowd seemed to also be getting increasingly excited as they followed Topps up a hill to get to a large meadow. But upon getting there, everyone was in shock. Plants indeed adorned the meadow's green scape. But there were only a few yellow flowers scattered out amongst the leaves, for instead, there was a copious coating of thistle-like plants dominating the area that went as far as even Littlefoot's eye high in the sky could see.
"Noooooooooooooooooo!" Cera shouted in anger as the other threehorns began to grumble loudly.
"What are these awful things?" one of the threehorn teens asked.
Cassia went to investigate. "Prickly plants," she sighed. "They're a really bad plant. They're very invasive, and they take the Bright Circle and the sky water from other plants and stop them from growing."
"Great, just great," Topps growled. "I guess we're just gonna have to eat through these prickly plants first," he said moving in to eat one. Upon ripping it out of the ground, he tried to eat the prickly plant, only for his eyes to water and spit the plant out in disgust. "Pleh! These things are bitter!"
"I forgot," Cassia said meekly. "They're supposed to taste really bad!"
The other threehorns who dared to try all came to the same conclusion, making Topps even more furious. "All right, we've got a real problem here. Everyone, try ripping out what you can. I'm gonna have a talk with Long …"
Then he looked at Littlefoot and remembered. "I mean Thicknose about this," he growled before storming away.
No sooner had they all started to pull out the prickly plants did Pterano swoop in. "I say, what's going on here?" Pterano asked.
"We're removing these pesky plants," an elder threehorn growled as he pulled one out. "They're no good for eating, so we're putting them in a pile."
Pterano looked aghast. "Without eating them? Are you insane? Don't you realize what you are doing?" he asked incredulously. "You're creating a fire hazard! One case of sky fire and this whole valley could erupt into flames! I'm going to see Thicknose about this!" Pterano exclaimed as he swooped away.
The threehorns stopped in confusion as Littlefoot shook his head. "I better go check on them," Littlefoot sighed before going out to search for him.
Mr. Thicknose was mentoring a group of hatchlings when Mr. Threehorn stormed into the scene. One look on his expression was enough for Mr. Thicknose to quickly say, "Children, you're free to go," and they quickly scattered.
"Okay Thicknose," Mr. Threehorn barked. "What happened to all the yellow flowers? There are prickly plants all over their meadow!"
"Really?" Mr. Thicknose said in surprise. 'I … I didn't know!"
"Well as herd leader it's your job to know!" Mr. Threehorn snarled before saying, "Just get the whole valley to get rid of these prickly plants now!"
"Hold it!" came a voice from above as Pterano swooped in.
"Oh no, not you," Mr. Threehorn growled.
"You cannot rip these plants out of the ground and pile them up!" Pterano said. "That could create fires that would make this whole valley burn down!"
"Don't be ridiculous," Topps shouted before he turned to Mr. Thicknose. "Just make the announcement and have the whole valley help uproot these things!"
"That is preposterous if you leave them lying around!" Pterano shot back.
"The yellow flowers would never grow otherwise, and who's to say it's just the flowers? These things could come and block off the rest of our green food!" Mr. Threehorn snapped.
"It doesn't matter what happens to the flowers if the whole valley burns down, in which case not only the green food is lost but also our lives!" Pterano replied.
Mr. Thicknose was getting very agitated, and he was very relieved to see someone else coming in. As Littlefoot could run over, he could just see from their body language and tidbits of their conversation that Mr. Threehorn and Pterano were arguing and Mr. Thicknose was looking quite stressed out.
"Stop arguing!" Littlefoot said, having heard the bickering from down the hill, shocking Topps and Pterano enough to make them both be quiet.
Mr. Thicknose audibly sighed in relief before saying, "Thank you. Let's start over and think more rationally. Now Mr. Threehorn I understand you and your herd cannot eat these prickly plants. But from the stories I've heard, I know that different types of dinosaurs have different taste buds and what might not be edible for you may be edible for someone else. Why don't we get everyone together to try out these prickly plants and see if someone among us can naturally get rid of the problem?"
"Fine with me," Pterano said and swooped off as Topps also nodded in agreement. "Sure, anything to get rid of them."
"Good," Mr. Thicknose said shortly. "I shall gather the herds to try out these plants and see if anyone finds them satisfactory."
Soon, Mr. Thicknose did just that. The entire Valley came to watch as volunteers from the different herds agreed to try out the plants. It became clear at once that the prickly plants were not generally liked. Like the threehorns, the swimmers, longnecks, hollowhorns, flyers, domeheads and runners who volunteered all found the prickly plants to be disgusting. The only ones who remotely tolerated them were the clubtails and shieldbacks, and even they were lukewarm at best.
"We can eat these," Mr. Clubtail said hesitantly. "But it's not like we'd like to. We'd prefer to eat other green food if you know what I mean."
"So who else can eat them?" a tall-crested hollowhorn asked exasperatedly.
"Why not have Spike try them?" Ducky asked from the crowd.
The crowd looked thoughtfully as Spike stepped forward to eat the prickly plant. Watching the others' reactions of disgust, he was somewhat hesitant at first. But after eating them, Spike surprised everyone by nodding and making an approving grunt.
"Yay!" Ducky exclaimed as she moved forward to hug Spike. "I knew you would like these plants, yep yep yep!"
"Yeah!" Cera exclaimed. "Now we can have our yellow flowers again!"
"The only thing is, Spike is just one spiketail. And I do not know if he could eat all these prickly plants all by himself," Ducky said thoughtfully, before her eyes lit up. "Wait ... Mr. Thicknose, do you think all spiketails can eat these plants?"
"Hmm," Mr. Thicknose said thoughtfully. "Well I do know that spiketails in general have greater tolerance than most of us for certain kinds of green food, so I would imagine the answer is yes."
"That is it, yep yep yep!" Ducky exclaimed. "Spike can eat a lot, but he cannot eat all these prickly plants by himself, no no no. He needs other spiketails to help him out! We should invite Tippy and his herd to stay in the Great Valley to take care of these plants, we should, we should," Ducky suggested.
Everyone thought about the idea and looked around the crowd. The aging spiketails that had been in the Great Valley had since died out, and only now did the rest of the Valley really come to realize Spike was the only of his kind left.
Mama Swimmer then added, "I remember seeing Tippy's herd in this area when they came here before. So maybe they helped keep the prickly plants at bay for a while. But now that there are no other spiketails around, there's been no one here to stop the prickly plants from growing. So I'd imagine it might help to have some spiketails stay here permanently."
The crowd then began to discuss amongst each other. Everyone knew that spiketails ate a lot, more than their medium size would indicate. But the Valley had not suffered a green food shortage for a long time now, and if they could get rid of these prickly plants, that would only help the other green food grow better. Soon, everyone seemed to come around the idea of welcoming the spiketails, so by the time Mr. Thicknose asked the crowd their thoughts, there was overwhelming agreement.
"Very well," Mr. Thicknose said. "Flyers, if any of you can go find that herd of spiketails we had stay here before, please invite them to our valley," and two flyers went off.
Meanwhile, several of the smaller dinosaurs also had something to say. "There are too many big trees growing in our part of the valley," a green runner said. "They block the Bright Circle from reaching the ground stars so they've not been growing well."
"Perhaps I can help," offered Bron, who was standing nearby. "My herd has a lot of longnecks, and I can bring a couple of them down here to help the other visiting longnecks in clearing out that part of the valley."
"Good," Mr. Thicknose said. "Another problem solved. Well then, unless anyone else has something to say, the meeting is dismissed."
As the Bright Circle began to set, Littlefoot went to talk with Bron, who was just about to leave the Great Valley, "Hey Dad."
"Hi son," Bron said affectionately. The two of them went to sit at a cliff just barely within the Great Valley's boundaries, giving them a great view of the Valley. Indeed Littlefoot did see that a large part of the Valley was completely covered with a thick coating of dense layers of tree stars, allowing him to better understand the green runner's complaint.
"It sure is a lot of work to be a herd leader, isn't it Dad?" Littlefoot asked thoughtfully. "All those perspectives you have to take into account."
"Yes indeed," Bron nodded. "That was quite a meeting today. I'm impressed you all were able to work it out."
"Me too," said Littlefoot. "When I saw Cera's dad and Petrie's uncle arguing with Mr. Thicknose I wasn't sure if we'd get the problem solved so fast."
To Littlefoot's surprise, Bron gave him a strangely inquisitive expression. "You have doubts about Mr. Thicknose?"
"No, no," Littlefoot said quickly. "Just … He's not the confrontational type, and I was a little worried their arguing might get to him."
"I see," Bron said simply. "Well I better be off. Just let me know if there are any other problems when I'm gone, all right?"
"All right," Littlefoot said uncertainly as Bron made his way into the Mysterious Beyond and out of sight.
