The Land Before Hooves

by Moon Flame

Chapter 5. The Pink Star

Littlefoot opened his eyes for the sixth time since whenever he lost count of it. He had been lying awake for a while now, trying desperately to relax his body enough to fall asleep. Beside him laid his grandparents, sleeping as deeply as they usually did. He could hear his grandfather snoring loudly, although that wasn’t the reason the young longneck Littlefoot couldn’t sleep.

He didn’t know why, but for some reason he felt a nagging unrest growing in him, like if something was waiting for him, something big. Over him the stars laid dotted across the night sky. Birds could be heard singing over the treetops inside The Great Valley. Littlefoot stretched his long but still short neck for a longneck child. He strained his eyes. Was there a sparkle somewhere up there in the sky? He heard rustling in the bushes ahead.

“Littlefoot?” He could hear Ceras voice.

“Cera?” Littlefoot answered sleepily.

Ceras yellow head poked out of from behind the bushes.

“Littlefoot, come, theres something i’d like to show you.” She whispered.

Littlefoot yawned. He lowered his neck and went back to sleep. He felt something hard hit him in the head.

“Ao!” Littlefoot exclaimed as he saw the rock wail of to the side. “Cera. That hurt?!”

“Shhhh. Come on Littlefoot!” Ceras head disappeared behind the bushes. She poked out again and added Smirking. “Unless you’re a scaredy egg.”

Littlefoot grumped. "No, I'm not!”

“Well?" Cera urged. "Come on then!”

Littlefoot had lost count how many time Cera had woken him this way. He stretched himself and went after her.

Littlefoot and Cera ran over the hill ahead. The bright moon silhouetted their bodies against the night sky. Around them the rest of The Great Valley habitants slept as deep as the mysteries that laid beyond the stars above. When Littlefoot and Cera came into a tree area Cera turned to Littlefoot.

“Wait here, I'm just gonna check on something.”

Littlefoot closed his eyes yawned. Cera frowned and poked her horn at him.

“Ao!”

“Stay awake sleepy head.” Cera urged.

“But Cera, what is this about?” Littlefoot asked sleepily.

“You won’t believe it unless you see it with your own eyes.”

Littlefoot wasn’t sure if he could see anything with his own eyes. It was like they weighted heavier the longer he tried to look. Where were he again? Was he even awake? Or was this still a dream?

“Wait here, don’t go anywhere.” Cera said.

“Im not going anywhere grandpa.” Littlefoot blurted out.

Cera ran back to her sleeping nest. Her father laid right beside it like a breathing mountain, this being no surprise since Cera could hear his snoring from across the hill. After the threehorn girl had checked what she needed to check she went back for Littlefoot. A dark voice rumbled behind her.

“Is it that longneck again?” Cera stopped dead in her tracks. The moment she heard the tone of his voice she knew what was coming. She braced herself. “You know i have warned you about hanging out with those leaf grubbers!” Ceras father boomed.

Cera swallowed her cry. She put on a confident appearance in her voice.

“Im not going to hang out with those longnecks father.” She said.

“Then why are you heading to meet one right now?” Her father boomed.

Cera knew it was pointless to lie about meeting Littlefoot.

“Im not meeting him, he is going to meet me, he owes me a favor.” Cera still had her face turned away from her father, who grumped for an answer.

“Urgh, what favor?”

“He owes me exactly one hundred tree stars.” Cera answered confidently.

Her father grumped again.

“You know i have warned you about hanging out with those ‘longnecks’.” His voice bathed in disgust as he empathized the word. ”They are nothing but trouble. I AM your father and i KNOW whats best for you Cera!”

The dark voice of the male threehorn tore a hole straight into his daughter.

“Yes father.” The threehorn child said with a confident voice, the same confident voice that right now came out of a dropped face. Ceras green eyes were wide open and sparked with tears. “I am going to bring some stars back to you Father, the Longnecks should know that a debt to a three horn is always to be payed!” Cera managed to keep the cry out of her voice.

Ceras father grumped again. The grump almost made Cera gasp. She heard her father lay down his face. Ceras heart raced along with the silence.

“Don't let it take too long.”

After Cera had passed the tree line she stopped. She turned her yellow face downward and let her tears out on the grass below.

As Cera came out of the bushes ahead Littlefoot thought she saw her flinch.

“Is everything alright mom?” Littlefoot blurted sleepily.

Cera looked sully att Littlefoot.

“What kind of a question is that? I’m not you mom, and of course everything is alright! Why would it not be? Now, do you want to see this thing or what?”

Littlefoot yawned.

“Yes Chomper, let us have friends for dinner.”

The dinosaur children procceded through the greenest part of the valley, the one that had burned down a good couple of moon cycles ago. They then climbed the rocks close to the border of The Great Valley, their home. Cera lead Littlefoot on top of a cliff outcropping. She stared out into the blackness of the sky. She flung her eyes confusion.

“Where is it?”

“Its right there Ali, behind that hungry Crocodile.” Littlefoot sailed out yawning.

“I know i saw it.”

Littlefoot pulled himself together.

“Look Cera. Whatever you saw, maybe it was just a dream.”

“No. I know i saw it!” Cera said assertively.

Littlefoot had no idea what crazy adventure would befall them this time, but he was sure it involved at least two sharptooths, one encounter that would have no impact of the ending of their adventure and a couple of songs. - But all that could wait. He laid himself down and rested his head on a rock below. He closed his eyes and let his mind wander of. “Wake me up when whatever you saw decides to show up.”

The calmness fell over Littlefoot. He thought he heard Cera say. This is pointless, i'm heading back. He felt himself sink into a vacuum.

Suddenly it was there again - that feeling inside that something big was waiting for him. - Littlefoot opened his eyes. The stars laid tick in the blackness of the sky. One of the stars were bigger then the other stars. It gave a blink. Littlefoot yawned and raised his neck. There was another blink. Littlefoot squinted his eyes. The star became more clearer. Littlefoots eyes widened with his excitement.

Is the star changing color?

The star blinked more and 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. The skin of the longneck sparkled in the light. The pink star reflected in the young longnecks eyes.

---

The pink star reflected in the eyes of the juvenile adult longneck. It waved up and down on the flank of the sleeping alicorn. The question dug itself into Littlefoots mind as he watched Twilight Sparkle.

Could it be?

Just as Littlefoot thought about this a sudden feeling suddenly struck him. Littlefoot raised his long neck. Around him the forrest laid thick. The six ponies and Cera slept peacefully beside him.

The group had taken their way through the forest on their way to The Great Valley. Cera had been reluctant to head back there.

“Why go back to that old dust bowl?” She had said incredulous.

But now none of those thoughts mattered, all Littlefoot could feel was that sinking feeling that, right now, it was all or nothing.

“Ponies.” Littlefoot urged. They all kept on sleeping.

“Ponies!” He retried. Groaning could be heard from one of them.

“Eh, what? Cant a tired pegasi get a little rest?” Rainbow Dash whined.

“Listen ponies, we need to get out of here, now!”

The other ponies were now awake.

“What is going on?” Fluttershy asked with her tiny voice.

“Littlefoot?” Cera asked. Littlefoot looked at Cera with worrying eyes.

Cera had traveled with Littlefoot so many times before. She had lost count how many times he had gotten on her nerve to such an extent she that she rather listen to a flock of blownoses singing. But as annoying as he always was, one thing Cera was ready to admit to herself he never was. - Wrong.

“Let's get a move on ponies!” She urged.

Twilight opened her eyes and saw the others leave ahead. Apple Jack trotted up to her and nudged her with her hoof.

“Come on Twilight, something’s up.”

Apple Jack turned around and went after the others. Twilight rose up and sleepily trotted after Apple Jack. There were the sound of something breaking above Twilight. She felt something hard hit her in the head.

The world went black.

---

The blurry world slowly became clearer as Twilight opened her eyes. The twig that had snapped and hit her in the head laid beside her. She noticed that her friends was gone. Her muscles urged her to rise up and gallop after them. She was just about do that when she heard an all to familiar snort rumble above her. Twilights blood froze.

Slowly, without moving a muzzle, Twilight turned her eyeballs the the right. A giant foot with the largest claws that Twilight had ever seen planted itself in the mud only inches away from her. The claws moved slightly, scraping holes in the dirt. Twilight felt something fall down on top of her mane. Thick saliva dripped down over her face. There was a ground rumbling growl.

Sharptooth!

The thought screamed inside her head. Twilight was about to consider herself a dead pony when she realized that she was lying underneath a bush. The realization didn’t ease her thumping heart.

Sharptooth looked around the area. He know he smelled something, and not just anything, but the same smell he felt when he saw those colorful rodents earlier. The last evening his wife had demanded that he would bring her some more pray. When he had done that it hadn’t been enough. The three meals he brought her later hadn’t been enough either. Each humble gesture had only been answered with more bickering and whining. Eventually it had all come down to him giving up his entire supper this morning just to shut her up. His head thumped with anger. He wasn’t even all that hungry, he just wanted to sink his teeth into something and feel its life fade out between his jaws.

Twilight knew there was a deep chasm with a rocky slope, slightly to her left. She saw a rock lying in front of her. She had an idea.

Carefully, Twilight used her weakened horn magic to lift it from the ground. She had it sail slowly toward the chasm. The sharptooths' growl pushed down upon her from above. The phrase repeated inside her head.

If i drop it to soon I'm dead! If i drop it to soon I'm dead!

She dropped it.

Twilights panicked face glistened purple as her horn gave a glow and caught the rock only millimeters from the ground. Slowly she had the rock hover over the chasm. She released her spell and let the rock fall.

There was a loud clang resonating from the nearby chasm. Sharptooth leaned his head left to see what it was.

In a flash, Twilight pushed her hooves forward and galloped full speed to the right. She heard the sharptooths jaws slam only inches behind her before she jumped over the bushes and let the forest swallow her rather than him.

Sharptooth leaned his body forward as he ran. He saw a lavender patch down in the forest below. It was one of those small colorful rodents he had seen earlier. Sharptooth wondered how they tasted like?

The steps of the Sharptooth rumbled from behind her. The bushes slammed against her face. Twigs cut her lavender body. She didn't feel a thing, all she felt was her thumping heart and the perceived darkness that would be her death if those jaws reached her spine. She zig zagged between the trees, hearing them break apart behind her when something big came between them. The roar of the sharptooth pushed her hoofs to ignore even further the tiering. She spotted a fallen down tree trunk ahead. She lowered her head and galloped inside.

The walls of the trunk obliterated behind Twilight as she galloped through the corridor. Small rodents and insects fled into small niches in the wood as the trunk became shorter.

When Twilight exited the trunk she saw a dark shadow close itself over her. In a flash she planted her hooves on the ground and jumped right, barely avoiding Sharptooths jaws. Twilight moaned in pain but kept galloping for her life. Twilight spotted a pond ahead. She heard the Sharptooths steps closing in behind her. Out of options, she took a deep breath and jumped.

The world went blurry as the water engulfed Twilight. She hurled her hooves forward and swum deeper, hearing the splashing on the waters surface above. Twilight now realized that the pond she had jumped into had been a small one and that she had no plan on how to get out of it without Sharptooth reaching her. She felt the recently relived panic rise inside her again. Twilight felt her tummy jerking as her body wanted to breathe. The blurry water started growing dark. Twilight decided that being crushed between the jaws of the sharptooth would be easier than drowning. She was about to swim up again when she felt hands grabbing hold of her cheeks.

Something green blurred in front of her vision. Lips closed around her mouth. There was an inflating relief inside her chest when the lips gave air. The hands then grabbed hold of Twilights hoof and led her further down into the pond. The darkness closed around her as the hands seemed to lead her through some kind of underwater cave.

Suddenly Twilight felt the cold air wrap around her head. The hands around her hooves let go as she adjusted her eyes. There was a thin light ahead, but mostly the cave seemed pitch black. Twilight made herself out of the water and onto the stone floor. She had her horn light up the darkness.

“Woaaaaa!” A hoarse, highly pitched voice awed. “How do you do that?”

Twilight turned her head. The first Twilight noticed was the flat form of the creatures mouth. Behind it there seemed to be a pointy outcropping. The head of the creature almost looked like green half-moon. She stood straight up on two legs with her two small arms hanging in front of her like a hare.

“Oh this? This is just a illumination spell, nothing advanced.” Twilight lectured.

“And what about that pink star behind you? What is that?”

“Oh this?” Twilight answered and turned her body slightly. “This is my cutie mark, it represents my special talent.”

“It is beautiful, it is...” The creature said in wonder, then added. “...Yep, yep, yep.”

What a cute little creature this was. Twilight laughed while her mind caught up with the recent events. Her pupils slowly diminished. Her face got stuck in laughter position as she fell sideways and fainted.

Comments

[Viper Pit]

and my favorite character appears yep yep yep

[Draskos]

8387804
You too? Petrie came close for me but Ducky was always my favorite.