Hi everyone! Happy 2022, and with it, a brand-new chapter! And a very important one as you might guess from the title, and really, the start of the second arc of the story.
Also for curious readers, be sure to check out DeviantArt (also AllegroGiocoso) for my pictures for this story. So far I've got two, a group shot of the main characters and one for Tricia's gang. I'll be putting one out for Hyp's gang once I reveal a bit more about their characters in future chapters, and I'll also be putting one out for the wave of newcomers who debuted last chapter. For reference, I'm also working on a size comparison chart so you get a sense of what everyone's proportions are relative to one another, which has obviously changed a lot since the movies.
As always, I really appreciate favs/feedback/reviews, the last especially, as they keep me motivated to write. And of course The Land Before Time and its universe belongs to Universal.
Chapter 11 – Point of No Return
Littlefoot woke up to a prod on his shoulder. Knowing Cera was sleeping on his other side, he turned to see who it was. Yawning and bleary-eyed, Littlefoot could make out that the slender, grayish form of Ann was crouched right by his side. For a second Littlefoot was surprised, unaccustomed to others in his and Cera's private hideaway. Then he remembered the events of yesterday, and in an instant, realized exactly why she was here.
"Hey Ann," Littlefoot said quietly, not wanting to wake Cera up. "I see you've found our place."
"Hope you don't mind," Ann said. "I just wanted to see how my eggs are doing."
Littlefoot nodded understandingly, as he directioned Ann towards the eggs.
"They're so beautiful," Ann whispered in awe as she looked at them in turn, bending down to stroke them gently.
She turned to Littlefoot and said, "I don't know how to say this, but … Thank you so much for doing this," Ann mumbled. "I didn't know what I was gonna do … I literally had no one to turn to."
"Not even any family? Out in the Mysterious Beyond?" Littlefoot asked concernedly.
Ann just shook her head and laughed darkly. "You and your friends are real lucky, you know that? That you've grown up in herds that see each one of you as individuals, and not just a means to advance your species." Ann sighed, closed her eyes, and explained. "My kind is never expected to live long, see. We've got no armor or bulk or speed or anything to protect us, yet we're just the right size for bigbiters, you know, your sharptooth friend's kind," she explained. "We're first on the menu as far as they're concerned. So you can guess how it all goes. We're expected to drop dead at any moment, so we might as well make ourselves useful and mate with whoever's available to keep our kind alive," Ann said distastefully. "See to the herds in the Mysterious Beyond, I wasn't attacked, that creep was just … Carrying out our bloodline."
Littlefoot sat, stunned with Ann's story. "That's just … Terrible," he said finally.
"You can say that again," Cera said, who had been jarred awake by Ann's story. "You mean this jerk won't even be punished?"
Ann nodded simply. "His herd would be proud of it."
"That's just sick," growled Cera. "Really, really sick."
"Yeah, it is," Littlefoot agreed. His curiosity getting the better of him, he then asked, "So how did you find the Great Valley?"
"My dad woke me up the night of my fifteenth star day," Ann said. "He smuggled me in through the entrance of the Great Valley and told me to wait there till he came back to get Mom. Only they never showed up," Ann said simply. "And ever since I've been Ann the orphan, the only one of my kind in the Great Valley."
She paused and shook her head. "Why am I even telling you my whole sob story? Oh well, I guess if I'm trusting you with my eggs, you might as well know the rest of the sharptooth dirt. Oh yeah, I just remembered … Hyp told me there's a herd meeting when the Bright Circle is at the top, and knowing your folks, they're gonna notice if you don't attend."
It took Littlefoot a bit to catch on where Ann was going as Cera looked confusedly, but eventually he said, "Are you saying that you want to watch over your eggs for a while?"
Ann nodded. "I need to spend time with them. And while everyone's busy, now's the perfect chance for me to be with my eggs without anyone asking questions."
"Makes sense," Littlefoot said. He then whispered to Cera, who nodded, before saying, "Feel free to come by whenever you want to be with your eggs."
"Really?" Ann said, surprised. "You wouldn't be bothered?"
"Nah. If you make that much noise we can always crash someplace else if we have to," Cera smirked. "Besides, if you watch over your eggs, it makes less work for us."
"I don't know what to say," Ann said.
"Well, just move your babies out after they hatch, because Littlefoot and I will need our beauty sleep," Cera said teasingly.
"Right," Ann said, and as she clustered over her eggs, Littlefoot and Cera left their sleeping spot.
They came out just in time. No sooner had they left than they saw that Topps was walking by, and when he saw Littlefoot and Cera, he walked right over.
"Hey you two," he greeted them.
"Hi Daddy!" Cera said, surprised.
"Pleased to see you two up bright and early," Topps said. "I was just coming to see you. Herd meeting at the Rock Circle at …"
"We know," cut in Cera.
Topps was taken aback. "Really? Who told you that?"
"Uh …" Cera began but paused uneasily. Telling her father that it was Ann would invite far too many questions.
"We overheard," Littlefoot said quickly.
Topps grimly smiled. "So, somebody's not been keeping their mouth shut. This meeting was supposed to be short notice … You know who it was?"
"Uh, no," said Littlefoot uncomfortably as Cera shook her head.
"Well, now you know," Mr. Threehorn said. "Be there sharp. Lots of important matters at hand," and he strolled away.
"That was close," Littlefoot said.
By the time everyone else awoke, news of the herd meeting had spread, and rampant speculation began to circulate about what the meeting was about. So after eating breakfast, everyone made their way to the Rock Circle, where in the middle, Mr. Thicknose was speaking with Topps, Tria, Mama Swimmer, Mama Flyer, and Mr. Clubtail. Those who had arrived since the last hearing were looking especially nervous, having heard of the grueling induction trials of both Ruby's parents' herd and Bron's herd, and were anxiously dreading their moment in the spotlight.
Littlefoot stood with the rest of his friends toward the side of the proceedings, with Tricia's gang bustling around near their feet, whispering their advice, shared experiences, and best wishes to Destiny, who looked terrified to get in front of the crowd. Nearby also were all of Hyp's gang but Ann, Ceph's new girlfriend Halle helpfully taking her place so her absence looked less conspicuous. Several times Hyp looked at Littlefoot suspiciously, as if he thought the younger longneck ratted out Ann's secret to the grownups. Littlefoot tried to nod reassuringly to Hyp, but the smaller runner took no notice. Soon though, Mr. Thicknose separated himself from the other elders and addressed the crowd.
"Good day everyone," Mr. Thicknose said in a collegial manner. "No doubt many of you are wondering as to the purpose of this meeting. Well, suffice it to say that as you are all aware, the events of the fires in the Mysterious Beyond have caused another wave of farwalkers to enter the Great Valley. I would ask for everyone's respect and consideration today, so that we don't have to repeat the … Ordeals of the last meeting."
Littlefoot saw that many of the newcomers, including Earl and his friends, Monty and Brara look curiously at Mr. Thicknose, whose eyes flickered towards Bron and Mr. Threehorn. He then continued, "Before we proceed any further, I would like to call upon Ms. Flyer to take the stand."
Mama Flyer obliged, standing in front of Mr. Thicknose. "As you may recall, the flyers have been tasked with assessing the damage of the fires in the Mysterious Beyond. So I would like Ms. Flyer to elaborate on the conditions outside before we continue any further."
Mama Flyer shuddered for a moment before continuing, "Well, everything has been destroyed for as far as the eye can see. The trees have all been burnt down, as have the ground plants. Many lives were lost, as bodies of all kinds have been found. Those few dinosaurs still alive in the Mysterious Beyond often suffer from burns or are nearing starvation. In short, the outlying areas are nearly inhospitable. We are very fortunate that the Great Valley was spared from the incident, for it may take many passings of the Bright Circle for the outlying areas to fully recover."
"Thank you," Mr. Thicknose said courteously. To Littlefoot's surprise, he looked right at him as he said, "I would like now for young Mr. Longneck to take the stand."
Hesitantly, Littlefoot stepped forward. "Now Littlefoot, I understand you and your friends went on a rescue mission. Can you confirm Ms. Flyer's testimony?" Mr. Thicknose asked.
"Yes," Littlefoot said. "It really is awful out there."
"Good. Now Littlefoot, as you are the one who knew your grandparents best, I would like to ask, what do you think they would do in this situation?"
"Well, they'd want to make sure everyone hurt by the fires is all right," Littlefoot said.
"And as for any farwalkers whose homes have been destroyed," Mr. Thicknose said. "Under these special circumstances, would your grandparents allow them to stay in the Great Valley?"
"Yes," Littlefoot said, fully sure that would be exactly what his grandparents would do.
"Good. You may step aside, Littlefoot," Mr. Thicknose said. Relieved, Littlefoot returned to his friends.
"Well, I think based on our testimony, we can all come to unanimous agreement, can we not?" he said. "We have a saurian crisis on our paws, and we in the Great Valley have a long history of not shying away from helping those in need. I have personally seen many situations with different leaders in times like this, all of whom would have come to this conclusion. So naturally, I think we can all agree to let our farwalkers stay indefinitely, until the Mysterious Beyond turns green again."
This pronouncement, however, did not produce the broad consensus that Mr. Thicknose desired. While many nodded in solemn agreement and many of the newcomers looked hopeful, others looked skeptical and a fierce murmuring wave broke out. "And what if we don't?" Juana Spikethumb said.
"Yeah, why should we take them all in?" Ed Shieldback added.
"They'll eat all our green food!" Lambe Hollowhorn agreed, and in the corner of his eye, Littlefoot saw Mr. Threehorn shake his head, looking sorely tempted to say something.
Mr. Thicknose was taken aback. "Look here," he said, trying his best to sound patient. "We have plenty of treestars in the Great Valley. There is no evidence of a food or water shortage in the Great Valley, and the addition of a few newcomers will not change this."
"But newcomers will just keep on coming," Weald's father Gideon, a spikethumb with a prominent accent, said. "They'd just be taking advantage of our goodwill."
"I'll say, and we wouldn't be able to eat our fill and help our growing young ones!" Mrs. Maia insisted.
Flustered, Mr. Thicknose said, "I can't believe you're saying this. How would you like to be turned away from the only source of life, effectively being condemned to a slow, painful death? The Longnecks would be ashamed of us for even having this conversation right now, for this is simply an obligation that we have to meet. What would the Bright Circle and those in the Great Above say about our callousness and lack of regard to our fellow dinosaurs?"
For an instant, Littlefoot saw Mr. Threehorn roll his eyes, as Mr. Thicknose, hyperventilating, angrily spat out, "This is something we simply must do, and as Great Valley leader, I insist we shall do it!"
Huffing and out of breath, Mr. Thicknose stood, panting, as the audience looked on in shocked silence. This was only broken when Bron stepped forward. "Don't judge Mr. Thicknose too harshly for his … Outburst," he told the others in the crowd soothingly. "As a herd leader myself, I can fully understand the stress he is going through in trying to do the right thing for everybody. We must give a new leader like him the benefit of the doubt as he adjusts to his new role. Yet all the same, as a herd leader, I do not see how Mr. Thicknose could make such an estimate about the Great Valley's capacity without a solid grounding in the facts. Seeing as he has no apparent conflict of interest, has been in the Great Valley since his own childhood, and seems to want to have everyone's interests at heart, I think we should for now take him at his word that the Valley can support this new influx. But if he proves to be incorrect, then it is our job to make sure he will hold himself accountable to his actions."
Bron's steady, soothing yet firm tone quelled the murmurs and created a temporary truce between the sparring parties. "Wow," Shorty whispered loudly. "Dad's really something!"
Indeed, many in the crowd, especially among the longnecks, looked in awe at Bron's handling of the situation. Littlefoot saw Earl, Len, and Gus muttering fervently amongst themselves, all looking excitedly at Bron as he slipped back into the crowd, waiting for Mr. Thicknose to speak.
Eventually, Mr. Thicknose finally got his breath back. "Very well … Well, now that that's settled …" he huffed. "Mr. Threehorn, if you would like to continue the meeting from here?"
"With pleasure," Topps said fervently, the reason for his silence having become apparent as he took center stage. In contrast with Mr. Thicknose's stress and discomfort, Mr. Threehorn looked at ease as he surveyed the crowd, relishing the moment to be in charge. "I think we can all acknowledge, as Mr. Thicknose said, that we have a crisis on our hands and that we have to do something to respond. However, as I'm sure Thicknose also agrees, we have to have some idea of exactly who these newcomers are and know their intentions before they take residency in the Valley. So I would like to call upon everyone who has arrived at our Valley since the fires to give us their story of who they are and how they got here. Understood?"
The crowd nodded, and in rapid-fire succession, he conducted direct, to the point examinations of all the farwalkers. The process was dull and uneventful as everyone stood there, the temperature slowly rising to a swelter further adding to everyone's fatigue. Still, many were looking upon Mr. Threehorn in admiration, seeing how he determinedly and steadily worked to check over everyone, throwing in general pointers of behavioral expectations in the Great Valley.
Shorty yawned disinterestedly. "I'm bored," he muttered. "Can we go now?"
"No Shorty," Littlefoot said. "You know the other dinosaurs our age we've met and that the Rainbow Faces talked about? They've still got to testify."
"Yeah, Dad will show Brara a thing or two," Cera smirked.
"Wake me up when Earl gets kicked out," Shorty said dully. "But I think Dispo's got the right idea."
The others turned and saw Dispo slink away from the meeting. No one else really noticed, not even Mr. Threehorn, as he was preoccupied with interviewing new residents. Finally, only Doc, Dara, and the young newcomers were left.
"Hey, you, clubtail, you're up," Mr. Threehorn said bossily to Veno.
Sullenly, Veno moved forward. "Why couldn't you have called me earlier? This is my sleeping time," he complained.
"Funny how no one else seems to have that problem," Topps said disdainfully. "But let's get down to business. I've heard all about the nasty bigoted things you said to Bella and Leigh. Let me tell you that as someone who was prejudiced in the past, this behavior will not be tolerated. In case you failed to realize, you've insulted my daughter with your slurs. When you insult my daughter, you insult me. Do I make myself clear?"
Veno nodded slowly. "I'm sorry, I won't do that again. And I didn't mean any of that stuff. I'm grumpy when I'm short on sleep."
"Good. Now let's make sure it stays that way. You're dismissed," Topps growled as Veno stomped off.
Cera looked at her dad in admiration. "Wow, Daddy, you tell 'em!" she marveled.
"All right, now you," he nodded toward Avie, who flew in.
"You're a crawler eater, correct?" he asked simply.
"Yes," Avie simply said.
"And you don't eat any other red food?"
"Mr. Threehorn," Mama Swimmer said reasonably. "Considering she didn't attack Ducky and Petrie when they were little, do you really think she'd attack anyone now?"
"Oh, I suppose not," Mr. Threehorn huffed as he nodded Avie out.
Next he nodded to Tuck who approached the much bigger threehorn.
"Open your mouth," Mr. Threehorn commanded.
Reluctantly, Tuck did so, revealing his sharp incisors to the crowd, making everyone draw back.
"Where'd you come from?" he asked.
"Some place far away from here … A dry desert," he explained.
"I see. And I've heard you're guilty of biting tails with those teeth of yours. Let me say that behavior will not be tolerated. Understand?"
"Yes," Tuck sighed as Topps shooed him away.
Relishing the moments, Topps next nodded to Doc, Dara and Destiny. Littlefoot was somewhat apprehensive, knowing Doc and Mr. Threehorn's troubled past. However, Mr. Threehorn was respectful as he said, "Well everyone who's been here for long knows who you are. And my kid's told me you've settled in the Great Valley to find a place to raise your adoptive daughter?"
"That's right," Doc answered curtly.
"Very well," Topps said. "As you well know, be respectful with your food intake and don't bring any bad luck to the Valley. That is all."
"Don't worry Daddy," Tricia ran up to him. "Destiny's adoptive parents won't bring any bad luck!"
Topps didn't say anything but nodded to acknowledge his daughter's words. This attracted some grumbling, but hurriedly, Topps kept the pace of the hearing going. "You, bonehead, you're up."
Halle briskly walked forward. Instantly, he turned to Ceph's father. "Mr. Bonehead, take the stand."
The elder bonehead did as Ceph looked at his father imploringly. Ceph's father looked solemnly as Mr. Threehorn asked, "Now Mr. Bonehead, I know you are the expert on the behaviors of your kind. Do you believe this newcomer can be trusted?"
"As far as I know. She seems very nice, and my boy loves her very much," Ceph's father answered.
"Very well. It is your responsibility to make sure she knows how to behave in the Valley," Mr. Threehorn said. "All right," he continued, looking at Bella and Leigh. "It's your turn."
Bella and Leigh walked up. "You two came here because of your attachment, I presume?" Topps asked.
"Yeah … Back home was not kind to interspecies couples," Leigh said.
"All right, be on your way," Topps said impatiently. Now only five newcomers were left, the three longnecks in Ali's herd, Monty and Brara. He turned first to the three longnecks. "You three boys, come up," he said.
However, at that point, Bron stepped forward. "Uh Mr. Threehorn?"
Mr. Threehorn was not pleased at having his questioning interrupted. "What?" he spat out, annoyed.
"Technically Mr. Threehorn, Earl, Gus and Len are out of your jurisdiction," Bron said matter-of-factly. "They have joined the Old One's herd, and since the Valley has already welcomed their herd, the only way you can deny them entry is to send the whole herd away, for protocol dictates that herds shall not be separated."
Mr. Threehorn glared at Bron. "I don't need bossy know-it-all outsider longnecks like you to throw your weight around and tell me how to conduct my questioning."
Fierce muttering broke out. Luckily by this point, Mr. Thicknose had recovered enough to intervene. "The two of you are both correct. Mr. Longneck, Mr. Threehorn is a distinguished elder in the Great Valley and shouldn't be interrupted by the audience while conducting his duties. That was a breach of decorum, and as a herd leader yourself, I would expect better from you." Topps snickered before Mr. Thicknose turned around. "As for you Mr. Threehorn, Mr. Longneck is quite right. The matter of those three longnecks has been settled by the Old One's herd, and it is not in your position to question them, as that has already been done by their herd."
"A fat lot of good that does, since they can't even teach their kids not to steal others' eggs," Topps grumbled.
Dark muttering came from Ali's herd as Cam and Mia looked down in shame, hurt and offended. "Enough Mr. Threehorn," Mr. Thicknose said warningly. "You have plenty of authority and respect, and you would be wise not to squander it."
Neither Bron or Topps were pleased with Mr. Thicknose's scolding, but both respectably backed down. "Good," Mr. Thicknose said simply. "Now Mr. Threehorn, why don't you get back to questioning our last two newcomers."
"Well, I've personally vetted one of them," Topps said confidently, nodding to the blue threehorn. "Monty has been kicked out of his old herd and needs a new herd to belong to, for reasons beyond his control. I think he has shown great character and maturity for his age by acting as Bella's caretaker and so … "
"Oh, oh, Threehorn," came a snide voice from the crowd, and Pterano flew in. "Questioning everyone else, but going out of your way to provide a testimonial to one of your own kind?"
The tension became palpable as Mr. Threehorn glared at Pterano. "For your information, in case your little wingbrain can't remember it, I questioned Bella earlier in the proceedings, and while both Bella and Monty are threehorns, neither one is my exact kind. But regardless of what he is," Topps shot back, "I've already personally vetted him, and that settles it."
"Well I have some questions I'd like answered," Pterano smirked. "If Mr. Threehorn doesn't want to ask the questions, may I propose that I shall?"
"Uh …" Mr. Thicknose said uncomfortably, but Pterano interrupted. "Grand."
Topps glared at Pterano as Pterano started in. "Okay Monty," Pterano said. "I would like to ask, why have you been kicked out of your old herd?"
"That's none of your business," Monty responded gruffly.
"Really?" Pterano asked. "The way I see it, it is everyone's business. You see, you must have violated some rule of the herd. As everyone here knows, I myself have violated herd rules and have paid the penalty for it. But as you also know, I have owned up to my mistakes and have resolved never to make them again. Which is why I ask for young Monty to be straightforward with us and own up to any mistake he might have made, so he too can begin the process to reformation."
Curious murmurs interrupted Pterano's speech. Monty, however, was unphased. "What happens if I don't want to tell you?"
"Then," Pterano said smoothly. "How would we know you would not make the same mistake in our Valley that you made with your old herd?"
Monty said nothing as Pterano continued, "What if, say, young Monty here challenged his herd's leader for the right to lead his herd, and was beaten badly for it? What if he was exiled for insubordination? I find that deeply concerning for our Great Valley which thrives on harmony, to house a power-hungry youngster who seeks to control everyone else?"
"These are baseless, unfair accusations," Topps spat out. "There is no evidence for any of this nonsense."
Pterano looked at Topps. "Oh? Perhaps am I touching on a nerve? I didn't mean to insinuate anything about you, Mr. Threehorn … But if the paw fits, I would be very concerned if you were to be a power-hungry usurper as well."
"Usurper? Usurper?" Mr. Threehorn said angrily. "I have given years of service to this valley …"
"So I've heard. Leading your daughter right into a fire, encouraging the herds to split up, spreading rumors of bad luck, leading the Valley in a chase against the tiny longnecks, even trying to stop your daughter from marrying her true love … Tut tut, such fine leadership."
"You ought to learn some respect, you exile!" Topps shouted at Pterano.
"I give respect to those who deserve it," Pterano shot back.
"All right, this is getting to be quite enough!" Mr. Thicknose shouted, panting as he spoke. "The purpose of this meeting was not to trade petty insults! I recommend we stop this meeting right -"
"Oh no Thicknose," said Mr. Threehorn heatedly. "We haven't gotten to the last newcomer yet. And I'd be more than happy to take the lead in questioning her. Wingbrain, get up here."
Brara defiantly walked up, glaring at Mr. Threehorn. "All right then," he said. "Where'd you come from?"
"I came from a place far to the east," Brara said coolly. "A place you wouldn't know of, I'm sure."
"Sure I wouldn't," Topps continued. "But I've got other questions. For one, who exactly are your parents?"
"I don't know," Brara answered. "I was born alone as an egg on the …. Where I come from. I didn't grow up with my mom or my dad present."
"Mighty convenient story," Topps said. "Considering the strong resemblance you share with a certain someone else, who I might say has shown anything but commitment, I propose your father might be in this very valley."
"Like I told you before," Pterano said coldly. "Brara is my ward, and that is that. Insinuating anything else is mere slander and character assassination."
"So you say," Mr. Threehorn said callously. "But as we all know, Pterano here has long had a history of being selfish, scheming and careless. Who's to say he didn't take an unsuspecting fool under his wing, have his way with her, and leave her when he learned she was expecting?"
Rumbles broke out, and at once, Mama Swimmer, Mama Flyer, and Tria rushed between the assailants and shouted, "Meeting dismissed." With that, everyone took off in a hurry, fervent gossip occurring in all corners as they digested the day's scandalous events.
Littlefoot quietly headed home with his friends, saddened by the day's events. What could have been a friendly gathering for the newcomers to introduce themselves ended up in an all-out brawl, with Mr. Thicknose, while fortunately not passing out this time, emerging more battle-scarred than ever, while his father, father-in-law, and Pterano were growing more and more disparaging of one another. He hated seeing it, and more than ever, wished his grandparents were here to effortlessly stop this fighting as they so effectively had done in the past.
Making matters worse were like everyone else, the fact his friends were talking about the meeting. "Gee Littlefoot," said Chomper to him. "I really wish your grandparents were still here."
"Me too Chomper," Littlefoot said. "Me too."
"I do not like all the fighting that is going on in these meetings, I do not," Ducky said sadly as Spike grunted in agreement.
"Well, Daddy was handling things just fine before someone had to butt his big fat beak in," Cera said. "I mean obviously Daddy's not perfect … But to treat him with such disrespect as your uncle did, Petrie …"
"Like your Dad much better," Petrie said, slightly offended. "Telling lies about Pterano like he did! When it's obvious Pterano did nothing of the sort!"
"Oh please," Cera said. "You know as well as I do that Pterano fathered Brara, just as Daddy said."
"We no know that, like we do know your Dad make all those mistakes just as Uncle Pterano said," Petrie said. "No forget, if it up to him, you no be married to Littlefoot right now."
"We would too," Cera retorted. "He changed his mind, didn't he? He's not perfect, but at least he learns from his mistakes. Unlike your uncle. I mean what is he playing at, trying to get under my father's skin like that!"
Meanwhile, Shorty chuckled. "What so funny?" Petrie asked as Cera glared.
"Imagine if either of them was the Great Valley's leader," Shorty snickered. "The Great Valley would fall to pieces, and sharpteeth would be picking at all of our bones by now. They'd do an even worse job than Thicknose!"
Littlefoot, Ducky, Spike, Chomper, Ruby, Ali and Guido all gasped at Shorty's claim, as Shorty held his head up high and said, "Now if my father was in charge, we wouldn't have any fighting like this. He knows exactly how to be a herd leader. I mean did you see him get everyone quiet after Old Thicknose couldn't do it?"
"Your father can't be leader of the Great Valley," Cera said angrily. "He's not even a resident! He doesn't know anything about our Valley! Besides, it would be totally unfair to have longnecks always in charge."
"Well it's obvious to me that you have no other choice if you know what's good for you," Shorty said cockily. "Right Littlefoot?"
"Uh …" Littlefoot said, taken aback.
"Ha!" Cera smirked. "Even Littlefoot knows that his father can't lead the Great Valley."
"Like yours can," Shorty snarked. "That was so disgraceful how he trashed your herd, right Ali?"
"Uh …" Ali said, and Littlefoot could tell that like him, she didn't want to be dragged into the muddle. "Well I didn't like what he said about Cam and Mia."
"See? There you go," Shorty smirked. "Between him, your father and Petrie's uncle, this is so obvious."
"What you mean, obvious?" Petrie asked. "Uncle Pterano changed, remember?"
"Once a wingbrain, always a wingbrain," Shorty shot back.
Petrie then butted heads with the much bigger longneck as Cera chortled, "You guys are both nuts if you think either of them's gonna lead the Great Valley."
With that, Shorty and Petrie lowered themselves to meet Cera's upstretched neck as the three of them growled at one another. Ruby shook her head as she made her way between their bodies and pushed their heads apart. "All right, this is enough!" she shouted. "You guys are arguing just like the grownups are arguing! And just arguing doesn't solve arguments!"
She succeeded in getting all three of them to quiet down and for a moment, everyone held their breath, waiting for a response. At last, Petrie coughed and said, "You right. There no point arguing with you two stick-in-the-muds," and without another word, he angrily flapped away.
"Hmph! Like I want to talk to either of you two rockheads anyway," Cera agreed, storming off.
"Same here," Shorty growled as he lumbered into the distance.
And with that, the three of them were gone, leaving Littlefoot, Ducky, Spike, Chomper, Ruby, Ali and Guido to look at one another in shock, horrified at what had all just transpired.
