The Land Before Hooves

by Moon Flame

Chapter 20: The Great Valley Party

The longneck wandered aimlessly along the border between The Great Valley and the mysterious beyond. Down below the party went on with a heavenly sound rising.

Pinkie Pie had invited the Three Gees to perform. Three brothers entered an improvised stage. One earth pony was named Merry Gravel, one unicorn named Dusted Gravel and the last a pegasi named Berry Gravel. Berry had a long mane that went down over his ears and a full beard.

Together their combined voices formed a sound that Littlefoot swore belonged where his mother was waiting for him. A steady beat came from stage now. The song had a knobbly base that sounded like nothing Littlefoot had ever heard. Either way, he thought it kicked ass.

Its just your Jive trottin’
You’re not who you seem, yea
Jive trottin’
No self esteem, yea
Jive trottin’

Ducky waved at him from afar. Littlefoot used the tip of his tail to wave back. He used his face to signal that everything was alright, that he wasn’t leaving them like 15 years ago. It would be a long time before he got over one of the biggest mistakes of his life.

He turned his winding neck around and glanced at his flank. He understood now why cutie marks was such a big deal for the ponies. His mind raced with excitement, so fast and loud he didn’t hear the Sharptooth sneaking up on him.

The mighty roar made the heavy longneck almost go airborne. Chomper laughed so hard he lost his breath.

“You should have seen your face.”

“You...huh... alive.” Littlefoot huffed.

“I was never in danger.”

“Huh...What...h?”

“What’s that?”

Littlefoot caught up with his breath. “This? It's a cutie mark.”

“Sounds gay.”

Petri arrived at the scene to see what was going on. His worried face quickly beamed with happy disbelief. “Chomper!? You’re alive!”

“Petri, my dude!”

It did not take long for Petri to bring Cera, Ducky and Spike there. They all sat down by a big rock, eager to hear what their old friend had to say.

“I’m so glad to see you” Littlefoot began.

“I’m glad to see you too man.” Chomper rubbed the top of Littlefoots head. “Dude, your neck is a mile long!”

“Its nice to see you so happy Chomper. But what happened back there?” Ducky asked, her brows bent.

“Like I told Littlefoot. I was never in danger.”

Littlefoot leaned his neck forward. “But I saw you when the cave crumbled.”

“You saw my step-dad teach me a lesson, but my mother was there to stop him.”

Cera seemed to be on the brink on getting up and run. “That Sharptooth had a thing with you mom!?”

Chomper nodded. “Did all to impress her.” His voice filled with sadness. “My biological father got along with her fine, but then he disappeared and she became a control freak. Once she met that old Sharptooth she became worse than ever. Don’t get me wrong, I loved her with all my heart, and I wanted to love my new step-dad too, but he needed to get his act together.” The red eyes of Chomper sparkled with sentiment. “Love is about giving in, not shower the other with shallow satisfactions.”

“Needed? Wanted? Those are past tense.” Spike pointed out.

Chomper laughed. “First time I hear you speak and you lecture me in grammar. I missed you man.”

“I missed you too Chomper.”

“Yes, he needed, until what happened yesterday. This evening I watched him and mom talk things over. I heard him tell her that he loved her and she told him too.” Chompers eyes filled with gratitude. “For the first time since forever they laughed and were sweet on one another. I don’t know what your rodent friends did, but whatever it was, it brought my mom back and it gave me a step-dad to be proud of.”

“That’s eh...” Cera smiled nervously. “Great.”

“Yea... Hehe, I’m glad your parents are happy Sharptooths.” Petri showed his teeth gray.

“You think I intend to bring friends for dinner tonight?” Chomper chuckled. “Don’t worry guys. They’re a long way from here, and they don’t keep track what I’m doing.”

Littlefoots’ mind was stuck on something Chomper said earlier. “What happened to your first dad?” His eyebrows lowered. “He’s not dead, is he?”

“He and mom divorced. The love had faded and it was the best thing for everyone. Why do you ask?”

Littlefoot looked at the tree star on his flank. “I know in my heart what it is, but I might have to ask Twilight Sparkle about it. She’s a pony by the way, not rodent.”

“Light Horn is the princess of friendship.” Ducky informed.

“She’s that purple one eh? My family owes her an apology. Can you give her that?”.

“Why not give her yourself?” Cera asked.

“Yea Chomper! Come down to the party!” Petri boomed.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

A pink pony came rocketing. “A Sharptooth! RUN!”

“Don’t worry Pinkie Pie. Chomper is a friend.” Littlefoot urged.

“No! I mean. - A Sharptooth friend who thinks going to a Pinkie Pie party is a bad idea. - RUN and get him!” Pinkies’ smile widened. “Of course you can come! A scary Sharptooth would stir the party up just right!”

“Right?” Chomper blurted.

“RIGHT!?”

Chompers’ demonic T-rex teeth reluctantly rose into a smile of approval. Pinkie Pie smiled so widely the air around her turned pink with glitter.

---

A disco ball hanged by a tent contraption. Tables were set with cupcakes and soda bottles. The Three Gees sang professional old school disco like it was their last performance. The young dinosaurs were open and learned quickly to go with the flow. The older ones looked on in bewilderment.

“The worlds gone crazy, I tell ya.” The diplodocus grumped.

“What are those weird things hanging around them?” The brontosaurus asked.

The old triceratops female turned to the brontosaurus. “There’s a foreign creature that’s blue and you ask about her wears?”

“Isn’t that the one that grew back the green food?”

This was the time Rarity had been waiting for. - After suffering the bugs, the dirt, the rough climate and the sharptooths seeking to devour her it was finally her turn to devour the scenery. She moved gracefully with her glittery orange dress made out of silk and sapphires.

“How do they hide from Sharptooths?” The styracosaurus asked.

The triceratops chuckled.

The eyes of the longneck widened in disbelief. “Speaking of.”

The leaf eaters watched the confused sharptooth walk hesitantly among the multi-colored ponies.

“Seems they gave up too.”

“I told you! The worlds gone crazy!”

Then I get that night, pony night, tonight
We know how to do it
Gimmie that night, pony night, tonight
We know how to show it

Pinkie Pie was dancing with a oviraptor named Ruby and a Hypsilophodon named Hyp. At first Hyp had been quite rude, but Pinkie Pie had broken his grump like a professional. He now smiled almost as widely as her. “Show me those moves, Hyp!”

The Hypsilophodon did some freestylin' to the drumming of pony hooves. Berry Gravels’ falsetto solo blessed the air.

Here I am
Feelin’ everypony around
Living on the friendship so fine
Bourne on the wind
Makin’ it mine

The Three Gees were Scootaloos’ favorite band of all time. She danced so hard she had to sit down.

“Excuse me?” A voice asked behind her.

She turned and spotted her feet. She bent her head upward 45 degrees and spotted her head. The filly pegasus thought she might learn to fly then and there. The green eyes of the longneck gleamed apologetically. “Sorry I scared you.”

Scootaloo smiled nervously. “Me? Scared? I’m not scared.”

Rainbow Dash landed beside Scootaloo. “Of course you’re not!” She rubbed her head. “Well, lookie here. You’re the second longneck I see in your age.”

“How do you get those colors?”

“These?” Rainbow wiggled her tail. “They’re this way naturally, miss.”

“Ali.”

“Rainbow Dash. Nice to meet you Ali.”

“Wow. You all have such different colors!” Ali exclaimed.

“That we have!” Twilight Sparkle joined them, a lilac unicorn following her.

“You’re Twilight Sparkle, the pony princess. I heard you helped regrow The Great Valley.”

Twilight smiled. “I see you’re well informed. Me and Rarity, let's not forget her. She's the white unicorn over there.” The pony and the apatosaurus introduced themselves. Twilight motioned her friend. “This is the counselor of my friendship school, Starlight.”

Ali faced to greet her, but the lilac unicorn had her attention elsewhere. The princess made fake coughs.

“Ahum... This is...Star...Light!”

Starlight wailed her head around, her face wide in horror. “Have you seen the egg!?”

Ali shrunk in fear. Her voice dwindled. “Nice to meet you...”

Twilight used her magic to drag her former student to a private corner and snarl.

“This is no time to go Glimmernanas!”

“I lost a dragon egg.”

“You WHAT?!”

“I’m sorry, Twilight. I wanted to see if Equestrias dinosaurs were related to dragons!”

“Me sorry? What about the dragons?!” Twilight covered her face in frustration. “Starlight Glimmer, this is a party, only conduct crazy scientific experiments when guests aren't watching!”

Starlights’ ears lowered. “Dragon lord Ember is going to kill me!”

---

“Get a move on Strut!” The Ornithomimus male blasted back at his brother.

“I’m moving Ozzy.”

“And don’t drop the egg!”

They caught their breaths under a tree. “Huh, let me take the first bite. I’m hungry!”

“Here you go Ozzy.”

Strut made sure Ozzy had his lustful eyes riveted on the egg before reaching down and grabbing a leaf. Ozzy shot him a fat glower.

“I saw that! Stop grubbing leaves, your kind eat eggs, not plants you shrunken, deformed longneck!”

“Just one bite.” Strut begged.

Ozzy gave his brother a smack with his tail. He gazed at the egg, which were green with dark spots. He closed his jaws around it. One of his tooth went sailing. The egg remained undamaged. “What is this? This is no egg!”

“It will take more than that to hatch a dragon egg.”

The brothers turned to the lecturing voice. Ozzy and Strut were the height of a triceratops belly. Spike the dragon were the height of Ozzys’ knee. He raised his finger in the air. “A dragon egg need to be heated to thousand degrees at least, for an extensive amount of time, in order to hatch.”

“Oh blasted Strut, you imbecile! We’ve been spotted. Take the egg.”

“No, you take it.”

“No, you!”

Steps rumbled the ground. A tail grasped around Ozzys leg. Before he knew it he dangled eye to eye with a familiar face.

“I thought it was you, and up to no good again I see.”

“Littlefoot.” Ozzy stammered nervously. “I see you’ve... Grown.” He hoped the longneck wouldn’t remember the time when he and Strut held him over a cliff. “Don’t drop me over a cliff, please.” Ozzy failed.

“I will now release you! You will then lay the egg on the ground, carefully.”

Ozzy tentatively did what Littlefoot said. In a flash he was disappearing into the woods, his brother on his tail. Their voices faded.

“This was all your fault Strut...!”

“Ozzy. Wait for me...!”

“I can show you how to hatch it!” Spike shouted after them.

“Those were Ozzy and Strut. They're egg thieves.” Littlefoot grabbed the egg with his tail. “The one I held was going to eat it.”

“Oooooooh.” Spike cringed. “Wouldn’t want to be his jaw. Well, I guess you deserve a dragons gratitude then.” He bowed politely. “My name is Spike.”

Littlefoot lit up. “You’re Twilight’s assistant! You’re a dragon.”

Spike stretched himself. “That I am! Little...” Spike looked hesitantly at the longnecks feet.

“Littlefoot.” Littlefoot said.

“Little... Foot.“ Spike cleared his throat. “... Hm, right. Yea.”

“Can you breathe fire?”

Spike grinned. He blew a flame the size of a campfire. Littlefoots’ impressed eyes sparkled in its light. The fire caused the tree star to show itself summery green.

“Is that a cutie mark?” Spike asked equally impressed.

“Yes.” Littlefoot streaked it with his tail. “Isn’t it beautiful?”

“But only ponies are supposed to get a cutie marks.”

“I know.” Littlefoot began. Spike looked suspiciously at him. “Its a mystery, but somehow its not just a mark on my flank. I can’t explain it. Even though I always knew what I needed to do, after this mark appeared, it calls me. Over and over.”

Spikes suspicious look faded into admission. “That does sound like a cutie mark.” The tiny dragon walked on two legs. “Let’s get that egg back to Starlight Glimmer, then we can ask Twilight about it.”

“Good idea. Nice to finally meet you, Spike.”

“Nice to meet you too, Littlefoot.”

---

Dawn turned to night, but the light kept shining from Pinkie Pie's Great Valley Party. It grew with intensity as each soul got to know one another.

Chomper was playing with the CMC. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo galloped in circles around the amused sharptooth. Each time he roared at them they only got crazier.

Cera had finally reunited with her sister and step-mother Tria. She was showing her significantly bigger sister some ramming techniques. The cherry colored earth pony named Cheerilee took a special interest in them. Being school teacher in Ponyville, her and Cera ended up discussing teaching techniques.

A group of talkative earth ponies were making acquaintance with an old fellow named Mr Thicknose. He shifted constantly from angry to delightfully informative as his long stories was constantly interrupted. The Three Gees shook everything up.

Whether you're a pony or a griffin or a changeling
You're stayin' alive, stayin' alive
Equestria is breakin' and everypony shakin'
And we're stayin' alive, stayin' alive
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive, stayin' alive
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive

Rainbow Dash had lost it since she got her flight magic back. Petri watched her gracefully pull of advanced maneuvers like she ate them for breakfast. Her rainbow tail painted colors behind her. She was only a dot against the dusky sky when a membrane started forming around her. There were gasps among the dinosaurs when a gigantic rainbow suddenly exploded in the sky from the pony. Petri was flabbergasted. He swallowed all his doubts about the sonic rainbow being real.

The colors lit up the contours around Ali, along with her mood. She may smile to herself now and then, but shy as she was, she was mostly watching everyone else in silence. Fluttershy had tried to get her to talk but Ali felt sorry Starlight Glimmer. She knew she was being silly, but she felt she was responsible somehow. The Three Gees started a ballad.

Nopony gets too much heaven no more
It’s much harder to come by
I’m waiting my turn
Nopony gets too much love anymore
It’s as high as Cloudsdale
Its harder to learn

Words had come that the egg had been found. Knowing this did not stop Starlight from staring blankly into the ground. What if the egg they had found was the wrong one? Who knew how many kind of eggs one would find here? Embers’ rage wouldn’t be enough - Starlight may have just caused the death of a dragon baby. - The fact that The Three Gees was singing about heaven only made her feel worse. A tear ran down her left cheek.

“I hope you find your egg, Starlight.” A vaguely familiar voice sounded behind.

“Not now!” Starlight instinctively shot.

Ali felt her stomach squeeze. Her long tail bent behind her.

Starlight remembered who the voice belonged to. Personal crisis radiated from her heart to her face. She sighed. “I’m sorry” She turned to the longneck, her lilac face in regret. “I’ve been rude because of my mistakes and I apologize.” She reached out her hoof. “Forgive me.”

Ali backed away. She hesitantly brought her tail over to the pony. She gasped when she felt her hooves on it.

“Don’t worry. I’m not biting.” Starlight Glimmer ensured smiling.

That lost egg is less scared than you pathetic longneck! Ali cursed herself. She allowed the pony to shake her tail. They exchanged smiles. Berry Gravels’ falsetto rose to new heights.

You’re my liiiiiiiiiiiiife!
I can see a new Equestria
Everything we are will never die
Loving’s such a beautiful thing
When you are that mare, my light above
Made for all to see, our precious love.

“The egg is back!” Voices shouted.

“Safe and sound.”

Littlefoot laid the egg in front of the sad unicorn. “Are you Starlight Glimmer?”

Starlight felt her whole world return. “Thank Celestia! I was so worried!” Starlight embraced, not the egg, but the dragon inside. “Thank you. Thank you so much!”

Ali felt the stone in her belly drop when she saw the unicorn finally happy. She noticed the old friend responsible.

“Littlefoot.”

“Ali! Nice to see you here.” Littlefoot noticed how big Ali had become.

“You saved the egg.”

Littlefoot noticed how beautiful Ali had become. He kept his cool. “It was stolen by Ozzy and Strut. We might want to look out for those thieves.”

“And you stopped them?” Her voice softened.

Littlefoots’ cool failed. He blushed. His tail spazzed. “Ah. Hehe... I think they’re gone, for now. If we arrange those boulders and appoint a lookout tonight our eggs will be safe.” He just fumbled now.

Ali giggled. “Our eggs?”

Littlefoot swallowed. His heart thumped. “Ah...Eh...”

Ali noticed that no one was watching.

Spike the dragon wasn’t one to allow someone else to take all the credit. He was getting ready to march in when he saw Ali kiss Littlefoot to the sound of Three Gees under the Sonic Rainboom. The egg thieves could have dropped a mountain on it and it wouldn’t have cracked, but one egg was apparently cracked tonight, Spike figured and laughed.

Nopony gets too much heaven no more
It’s much harder to come by
I’m waiting my turn
Nopony gets too much love anymore
It’s as high as Cloudsdale
Its harder to learn

Comments

[SuperSaiyanDiclonius]

Glad to see Chomper alive and well. The rest of this was pretty funny as well.
I was pretty surprised to see those egg theves alive, my headcanon was Chomper's parents got rid of them. But I'll accept this.

[Keldeo_of_thepast]

9722786

A book actually suggested they are dead 🤣

Also chompers is to badass to die