The cave rumbled by the raging longneck. Littlefoot used his tail to violently slam the crumbled cave entrance. A small light lit up the borders of the longnecks’ cutie mark, the light generated from the tip of a unicorns horn. “Stop!”
Littlefoot could only hear the voices of the dinosaurs who wasn’t with him anymore. His mother, his grandmother, grandfather. And now, unless he managed to break through these rocks, the first hatchling he ever brought to the world. Twilight Sparkle kept urging.
“Stop! You’ll only cause another cave in!”
Littlefoot heard the fragile walls around him rumble. He stopped struggling. He kept breathing heavily.
“Littlefoot. Please.”
Ducky walked up. “That was Chomper.” Her voice cracked. “He saved us.”
“And now he’s gone.” Petri said without contemplating his words.
“No!” Littlefoots’ eyes teared up.
There was a moment of awkward silence between the flier and longneck. “I’m sorry I yelled at you before Littlefoot.” Petri said.
“Great timing.” Rainbow Dash said sarcastically.
“Not to bad yourself.” Rarity gave the pegasus a kick.
Twilight gave Littlefoot a sooting touch with her hoof. “We only saw him become overpowered. We never saw him...” Twilight looked for the word. “...Pass. Whether he is gone or not, we owe him our hope.”
“Not to mention us. If we don’t find our way out of this cave he would have sacrificed himself for nothing.”
Twilight shot Rainbow a fat glower. Cera walked up to Littlefoot. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle is right. We must find our way out of here before we start worrying Chomper.”
Littlefoot seemed to dig out of his apathy now rather than this cave. Twilight thought she might hug Cera. Nobody could bring that longneck down to earth as well as that threehorn.
“You’re right.” Littlefoot looked at Twilight and Rainbow Dash. “Both of you. Let us find our way out of here first.”
“If there is a way out?!” Pinkie Pie wailed.
There was no way out.
That much was clear after almost an hour of scanning every crevice. What also became clear was that they weren’t alone. The other valley residents had also taken cover from the sharptooths. They had all gathered in the middle of the cave.
A day or more passed. The valley residents sent out expeditions to try and find an exit, but it all turned out hopeless. In the end they only wasted their limited air supply. They tucked themselves close to their families. Spike was hugging Lily, their daughter Snowflake and aunt Ducky.
“So you must be Ducky?” Lilys’ voice was edgy but damped by the situation.
“Nice to meet you Lily.” Ducky cursed the darkness for not allowing her to take a good look at Spikes’ wife.
Petri tucked himself next to his mother.
“So this is it, mom?” Petri tried to breathe. Guido squeezed himself next to Petri. His mother used her wing to embrace them both.
Whispers came from the other valley residents. They each ended with bitter sweet with phrases like ‘The Great Circle’. The only light source came from the ponies. Twilight Sparkle was using a spell to bring some air from the outside. Apple Jack had her hooves embracing her.
“You should save your strength Twilight.”
The air was so thin Twilight felt her head fall in and out of consciousness. Her pleading came out weak. “It can’t end like this. Not when we’ve come this far.”
“What about teleportation?” Rarity asked hushed.
“I don’t have strength. Despite, its to dangerous. If it fails someone could end up inside the ground and suffocate.”
“Not... Huh... Enough... Huh... Air...” Pinkie Pie huffed.
Rainbow Dash imagined one single Pinkie outburst sucking out all the cave air in a second. If that happened it meant it would be the last thing Rainbow Dash heard before she died. Her magenta eyes widened in horror.
Cera had tucked herself next to Littlefoot, for what that was worth. At least she wasn’t annoyed, yet. She imagined Littlefoot snoring or something before she died. If that happened she would probably waste her last gulp of breath sending the longneck flying. She smiled at the thought.
Littlefoot tried to breathe as little as he could. If he fell asleep he would never wake up again. He thought about all the happy moments he shared with the ponies of Equestria, all their adventures. When it all came down to it, maybe this wasn’t such a bad ending to this story? Littlefoot had found Cera, Ducky, Petri and Spike again. And now they were about to fall asleep together, without heartaches. Or were they?
Littlefoot raised his neck. He had it sail over to the fliers nest.
“Hey.”
Petri stirred. “Yes Littlefoot?”
“I thought about what you said to me back there, and I’m sorry I yelled at you too.”
“Me weren’t myself. Me bares the burden of my mistakes.”
Littlefoot and Petri had a long moment of eye contact. Littlefoot had his neck sail to his back. He grabbed the tree star with his mouth and dropped it next to his friend. Petris’ eyes became dreamy. They reflected the image of him sitting on Littlefoots back, guarding the tree star on their first journey to The Great Valley.
“You know me cannot take that.”
“Its just like you said, you bare the burden of your mistakes, and I bare mine. Except, you actually cared about mine. Me? I was stuck in the past, blaming Bron for moms death, traveling the mysterious beyond for years, just to level him up.” Littlefoot rolled up the leaf and placed it in Petris wings like a stick. “I should have left my heart with someone who was ready to guard it.”
“Littlefoot me...” Petris’ eyes filled with sentiment. ”Me don’t know what to say.”
“But I’m still not your carrier.” Littlefoot added smirking.
Petri smiled. He wrapped his wings around the head of the longneck. “Thank you Littlefoot.”
“Thank you Petri. For all.”
The star blinked more repeatedly. It slowly turned into a shade of pink, a pink star in the blackness of the sky. It blinked three times and gave a last long blink with a much greater loom. Littlefoot opened his eyes. The light carried a whispering wind.
“Littlefoot.”
This was how the dream usually ended, but now the stars’ light intensified again, becoming so bright that it filled the entire sky. Small shadows enclosed it. It was held up by winding tree branches.
“Littlefoot.”
“Mother. We’ll meet again soon.”
“Not yet.”
“What do you mean?”
“Others are waiting for you.”
“But I wanna see you again.
“I’ll be with you, even if you can’t see me.”
The pink star wavered in the wind. It loosened from its branch.
“I saw that before. What is that, mother?”
“The others.”
The dream started rocking, like an earthquake. The sky turned red.
“Mother? Mother!”
Sharptooth was flying through the air, about to deal the finishing blow on his mom.
The dream stopped. The sharptooth was standing on his mother but hadn’t wounded her yet. Littlefoot felt his mind calm down. What was happening? Was there something he had missed?
It was.
Littlefoot turned his head inside his dream. The threehorn kept her eyes of disbelief riveted at his mom, filled with youth and innocence. It seemed to be fading as she watched.
“You were there too.”
“I was.”
“Cera?”
The dream came alive again. Ceras’ eyes were still staring in disbelief, but the scene was another.
Littlefoot looked around him. Duckys mother was there, along with a whole bunch of other old Great Valley residents. They had all gathered around someone lying on the ground. Littlefoot felt his heart stop. Cera walked up to the unmoving shape.
“Father?”
“Cera.”
“Father!?” The threehorn shook him.
“Cera.”
“Father! No...” Cera quickly became a shaking heap of yellow. Duckys’ mother tried to comfort her but was pushed away. “FATHER! NOOOOOOO!”
Littlefoot walked up to her. He tried to touch her but his feet went through her.
The dream shifted. Cera was eating leaves with Petri and Ducky. There was no cry on her face. As always, she seemed blunt to everything around her. Ducky appeared to continue an earlier conversation with her.
“I know how much he meant to you.”
“No.” Cera answered chewing.
“No?”
Cera swallowed. “Hurg, yes. That’s what ‘no’ means.”
“You don’t need to get angry.”
The dream shifted. Cera was standing in front of the mountain shaped like a longneck. She bashed it repeatedly with her horn.
“YOU WEREN’T THERE! YOU...WEREN’T...THERE!”
“I wasn’t there.”
Cera awoke by the sound of Littlefoots’ voice. She turned to him.
“I wasn’t there.” He repeated.
Cera was about to mock Littlefoot for not making any sense when she saw his eyes. They reflected the same nightmare she have had for 15 years. Had her pride been a rock, Littlefoot would have just smashed it into but a thousand pieces.
“What difference had it made?” Cera immediately felt her words eat her from the inside. She snorted. “What...h....Difference had it...H...Made.” She sobbed.
Littlefoot embraced the first friend he ever had. “I should never had left, not without telling you.”
“I tried to...h...Find you.”
“I know.”
“Its all...h...his fault!” Cera sobbed.
“Who’s fault?”
“Fathers.”
“Oh.” Littlefoot nodded. “I see Cera. I see.”
“You don’t see shit!”
“Its not your fault, and its not your fathers fault. Look at me.” Cera allowed her teary eyes to look up at Littlefoot. His calm face beamed with understanding. “It is nobody’s fault. The great circle of life has begun. But you see, not all of us arrive together at the end.”
“What’s that light?” Someone in the cave asked.
“I miss him...h...So much.” Cera sobbed.
“And you will always miss him. But he will always be with you, as long as you remember the things he taught you.” Littlefoot smiled, on the inside as well as the outside. “...in a way, you’ll never be apart, for you are still a part of each other.”
Ceras’ felt her loneliness fade. She pulled herself closer. “My tummy hurts.”
“That too will go away in time, old friend.” Littlefoot made a long sigh. “Only in time.”
Cera snorted for the last time. She wasn’t annoyed, not this time. If she would have picked one soul in the whole world to cry in front of, by the pride of all threehorns, she would have picked this longneck.
“Littlefoot!” Ducky adressed in disbelief.
“Its your cutie mark!” Fluttershy awed.
“Yours too, Twilight!” Petri exclaimed.
Littlefoot turned to the alicorn princess. His face sparkled in its light, his mother in the blackness of the cave, his purpose. “The pink star.”
Littlefoots’ cutie mark pulsated in the eyes of the alicorn, a memory from a long time ago. “The green star.” Twilight locked eyes with the longneck. “You saw it too.”
Littlefoot was engulfed in a white light that illuminated the whole cave. The green star flashed.
“It IS a green star.” Rarity concluded dramatically.
“It is a...” Littlefoots cutie mark changed shape. Twilights’ face twisted in confusion. “Its a leaf?”
Littlefoot looked down at his flank. “Its a tree star.” He awed.
Twilight gasped. “So that’s what it was!”
Twilights’ cutie mark, representing the element of magic, sent waves across the cave, the cutie marks of her friends like wise: The apples on Apple Jack, representing the element of honesty. The diamonds on Rarity, representing the element of generosity. The butterflies on Fluttershy, representing the element of kindness. The rainbow lighting on Rainbow Dash, representing the element of loyalty. The balloons on Pinkie Pie, representing the element of laughter. The eyes of the ponies shone as they lifted from the ground.
“What’s happening Littlefoot?” Cera asked frightened.
“I don’t know.”
The ponies landed tentatively on the ground. The light from each mark reduced to a small blink. Twilight opened her beautiful, purple eyes. Three small, magical spheres circulated her horn before disappearing. A broad smile formed across her face. She already knew what was coming.
There was a sparkling sound. A string of two lights streaked across the cave roof to its floor. They parted ways like an opening curtain, letting through a welcome breeze of fresh air.
The inside of the curtain was like taken from a fantasy. Purple banderoles had the symbol of the moon on them. A majestic throne towered on top of large stairs made from granite. Engraved castle windows told the story of Dashies home. The rainbow pony spread her wings and high-fived the air. “OH YEA!”
“The magic mirror.” Twilight said dreamy.
“Its Equestria!” Rarity exclaimed laughing.
“We did it girls! We can go home!” Apple Jack cried.
Pinkie cried tears of happiness. “Friendship hug! Now!”
The the ponies formed a group hug. The dinosaurs could not take their eyes off the magical curtain.
Duckys’ tail stood up in wonder. “Beautiful!?”
“Is that magic dad?” Snowflake asked. Spike was flabbergasted. He guessed he was mute after all.
“What are those hanging things?” Petri asked.
“Is that rock? It looks so smooth.” Littlefoot remarked.
“How do they get it to form those shapes?!” Cera asked bewildered.
Rarity faced Twilight. “Your horn darling.” She looked up at her own and gasped. “MY horn, my...”
“...Our magic. It’s back!” Twilight exclaimed happily.
“In full force!” An evil smirk formed across the face of Rainbow Dash. “Anyone else thinking what I’m thinking?”
Twilight saw Dashie motion her head. The alicorn princess grinned.
The raptor picked up a leaf from the ground. He smelled it and shivered.
Tickleclaw was so hungry he could eat a grown longneck, but how leaf grubbers could eat this he had no idea. He swallowed it. It didn’t taste good, but at least it was something. He picked up another and brought it toward his mouth.
There was a chiming blast. The six colorful rodents from earlier appeared out of thin air and smiled at him. Tickleclaw looked at them in disbelief, then at his food of choice. His face flattened in acceptance. He released the leaf.
With her magic back, Twilight quickly removed the rocks that blocked the cave. The dinosaurs exited it with a growing unease.
Littlefoot looked around in dread for Chomper, or great circle forgive, his body. He saw no sign of him. It caused the stone inside of his stomach to release some. He hoped with all his heart he was alright. But now he was mostly happy. He looked down at his flank again. He smiled as he studied the tree star, his cutie mark. Was this how ponies felt too when their purpose became clear to them?
The Great Valley widened around them with its dried out trees and sand. Twilights’ cutie mark kept pulsating, hers and Raritys’. The other ponies looked at each other in confusion. But not the white unicorn and the alicorn. They exchanged smiles. Twilight spread her wings and hovered mid air. Her horn started glowing with a purple light.
“Feeling generous, Rarity?”
“Always, Twilight.”
The horn of the alicorn glowed with extra intensity. A rainbow was created with its arcs landing on the alicorn and the unicorn. Raritys’ cutie mark pulsated faster. Spectral rainbow wings spouted from her sides.
“Don’t fly to high this time.”
“As long as you lend me your magic princess.”
Rarity flapped her angel wings and took to the sky. Twilight answered her softly on the way. “You always had it.”
The rainbow wings of the white unicorn casted colored beams over the valley. She glanced over its murky water, dry forests and flat out deserts. The valley itself was surrounded by large mountains, which seemed to have more beauty in them than the valley itself. The bothered eyes of the unicorn shot their feminine intuition. Her body was connected to a string of magic, supplied by the rainbow that ended with the alicorn on the ground.
Rarity went for a dive. She stopped inside the ominous forest from earlier. She took a deep breath. Her unicorn horn started shining with a white light. She breathed out and aimed her horn. The magic had the color of the rainbow as rocketed into the ground. The earth started becoming dark brown with nutrition.
The magic continued spreading over the whole valley like fluid. The dirt spouted grass. Flowers protruded in yellow and blue. The trees grew leaves. The dry sand disappeared.
The rainbow river reached the murky water and turned it clear and nutritious. It climbed up the weak stream of water falling down the Thundering Fall. It then continued travel outside The Great Valley until it reached the countless damaged rivers.
By now, Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petri and Spike had sprinted up a hill to observe everything. A huge smile formed across their faces when they saw the Thundering Fall become thunderous again. The clear water flowed through the valley and started giving the newly grown plants nourishment. The beauty of the white unicorn sparkled above a fully green valley, with more food that one could ever eat and more water that one could ever drink.
“You did it Littlefoot!” Ducky exclaimed.
“WE did it!” Littlefoot replied, the tree star on his flank sending flashes in the morning sun. The dinosaurs smiled at each other. They formed a group hug. Those with four legs got up on their back ones. Littlefoot reached down his neck and managed to lift hugging Ducky and Petri up with his head. He then streched his neck, putting the ending touch on their friendship tower.
Sharptooth walked slowly toward the purple rodent, his sharp teeth dropped all the way. She was not even using her wings anymore. The frigging thing was floating mid air with some hocus pocus lasers coming out of her - connecting with that other rodent that in turn spread her hocus pocus to hocus pocus grow plants out of hammerdung nowhere! The raptors were gone. The moment they saw the plants grow they fled beyond the mysterious beyond. Sharptooth was beyond flabbergasted. He did not notice his wife joining him.
The moment she saw the purple rodent it did not matter what went on. This time she would watch her husband fail with her own eyes.
The female roared to her husband.
Twilight Sparkle spread her wings as she hovered. Her purple and violet streaked mane combined with the rising sun made her almost sparkle like the time of day. Sharptooth did not take his disbelieving eyes off the glowing beauty.
The female sharptooth pointed her minuscule claw at the rodent and roared again.
The face of Sharptooth contorted in anger.
The female roared louder.
“GET YOUR OWN DARN FOOD WOMAN!” Sharptooth roared back in their language.
The female was taken a back. Sharptooth turned tail and marched away from the cursed place. The female looked at the purple rodent, then at her husband. She turned her head upward and made a sound bordering between roaring and whimpering. Her tail laid bent against the ground as she followed her husband out of the valley.
The ponies and the dinosaurs had all gathered around the entrance to the cave, almost all.
“Where is Pinkie Pie?” Ducky asked.
“I believe she went through the magic mirror.” Apple Jack replied.
“So she went home?” Littlefoot asked sadly.
Twilight walked up to the longneck. She smiled. “Not exactly. She’ll be back with a little surprise.” Twilight saw Littlefoot look over the valley. “Hey.” She got his attention. “We’ll find Chomper again, as soon as the others are here.”
“The others?”
“Littlefoot. Look!” Ducky pointed her claw toward the entrance to the valley. It dotted with wandering herds - Longnecks, spiketails, swimmers, hammertails, threehorns, fliers, all kinds. Some of them Littlefoot could swear looked familiar. Before he had time to wonder how the word had spread so fast the answer screeched by the cave entrance.
“Wohoooooo!”
The dinosaurs turned and was met with a sight that rocked their minds. Now there were, not just Pinkie Pie, not just her six friends, but fifty plus ponies. Awes went in waves as they all came out of the cave.
“Oh my.” Mayor awed.
“What a lovely place for a picnic.” Ms cake said to her husband, Mr cake.
Apple Jack did not look surprised, just country happy. “Well, shucks! You brought the whole darn Ponyville Pinkie.”
Maud looked sideways at her sister. “I expected more rocks.”
Pinkie Pie raised her hooves in the air.
“Time for a Great Valley PAR-TEY!”