The Land Before Time: Corruption

Chapter II: The Beginning of the End

"Well, duh, Littlefoot." Cera mocked. "There's no wonder you would have those sleepstories."

"What do you mean?" Littlefoot asked, lifted his head from the water.

She laid down next to the watering hole and continued. "It's not like you watched your mother die when you were just a kid and then your grandpa just a few days ago."

Swishing his tail about in the water, Little replied, "so, you think I'm traumatized or something?"

"I think your memories are just getting to you." Cera grunted. "Sleepstories don't mean anything."
"Do you really tha- AHH!" Littlefoot exclaimed, feeling a pair of hands grasp his tail.

"Haha! I gotcha! Yup, yup, yup, I gotcha!" Ducky popped her head out of the water.

"You certainly did," Littlefoot laughed, trying to settle himself again.

"You bigmouths are so immature." Cera rolled her eyes whilst raising her head sophisticatedly and showing off her shiny white horns growing out of her head.

Ducky smiled and splashed about in the water with her hands and tail. "I am not immature. I am just a lot of fun!"

"Fff... Fff... Uuun." Spike groaned.

Ducky hopped out of the lake and went over to her little brother who was laying under a tree, half asleep. "Yes, Spike! Fun!"

"Ducky... Fun." The spiketail tried to speak. "Ducky is fun."

"Yes, yes! That's right, Spike!" The green swimmer clapped her hands and practically hopped in place.

"Ah, I see Spike is finally learning to talk!" A clever voice piped up from a branch in the tree. "Good on you both, Ducky and Spike."

"Thank you, Petrie." Ducky smiled and nodded up at the flier.

"Ahh..!" A feminine and fun feathered friend in pink trotted over next to Ducky and her little brother. "Spike has always known to talk, but what he knows now is words to talk with!"

"I agree." A nervous Guido crawled down the tree trunk. "Precisely."

Cera noticed Littlefoot staring off into the distance. "Littlefoot! Are you alright?"

Caught off guard, he quickly redirected his focus. "Oh, uh... I'm fine. Just thinking."

"Think too much and there will be nothing left to think about." Ruby approached the side of the lake.

"Are you remembering those sleepstories again?" Cera asked.

Littlefoot looked away into the distance once again. "For once, no."

"Then tell us what it was you were thinking about." Ducky plopped down next to Spike.

Littlefoot sighed. "I was thinking about Chomper."

"Chomper?" Cera blurted. "Why would you be thinking about him?"

"Well," the longneck began. "It's just that we all spend so much time together in the Great Valley. But now that Chomper is getting bigger, he can't come out to hang out anymore."

Guido spoke up, teeth chattering. "W-well... You know why that is, Littlefoot. S-some people just get s-scared by big sharpteeth like him."

"Not to mention Chomper is no longer satisfied by bugs anymore." Petrie stated, gliding down from his perch. "He must feed upon sharpteeth like himself now, Littlefoot. Doesn't that fact speak for itself?"

"But we're still his friends!" Littlefoot retorted. "It's not fair that Chomper has to be alone in the Mysterious Beyond while we have a good time together in the Great Valley."

"Littlefoot--" Ruby tried to interject.

"I'm gonna go see him." The longneck swam through the lake, aiming for the other side. He quickly came to an abrupt stop when he looked up at the sky to see it a dark red color.

Everyone immediately fell silent.

Petrie, not letting up his gaze from the sky, flew over to Littlefoot and landed on his back. "I say, Littlefoot. What do you make of that?"

"I have no idea." The longneck said, bewildered.

A raspy female voice broke out over the lake area. "Littlefoot! Come home! We must stay together."

The youngster did not hesitate to flock to his grandmother's side. "What's going on, Grandma?"

"I don't know, Littlefoot."

"Cera!" A very worn male voice cried.

"Coming, daddy!" Cera was quickly off in one direction to meet her step-mother, little sister, and father.

Ducky and Spike returned to their herd, as Petrie flew off with his flock of brothers and sisters. Ruby and Guido ran away into the brush together.

The sky grew darker and darker until it mimicked night with no stars or moon.

Littlefoot and his grandma huddled together, staring straight up at the sky. A deep terror stirred within the young longneck. The atmosphere of his nightmares flared like a raging fire inside his head. "Grandma, I'm scared."

"Hush, Littlefoot." The elder said. "There is nothing to be scared of."

"That's how the sky looked in my sleepstories, Grandma..." He tried to explain.

She had nothing to say to his remark.

The sky seemed to rumble. Very soon came a slow shower of falling stars. The family of two stared in great awe. As minutes passed, the stars became much larger in size. They sped up, flying through the sky. The dark sky was now at a low roar.

Littlefoot took away his attention for just a second to glance at his grandmother who seemed to be completely hypnotized by what was happening. "Gr... Grandma?"

She did not speak or even flinch.

Suddenly, a traumatizing horror completely devoured Littlefoot. He was at a disbelief from what he saw hurtling through the sky, falling down to earth and growing larger and larger. An ear shattering rumble completely overtook the valley. Littlefoot felt like running or crying or hiding or screaming or something! He was totally frozen. A massive ball of flame flew through the pitch-black sky, illuminating parts of the planet at a time.

The entire world was at a total stand-still.

Down, down, down it went to hide behind the mountains surrounding the Great Valley. As it disappeared, a violent, abrupt vibration accompanied by a booming noise shook the land... Then it stopped completely. All was silent. All was dark.

Recovering from the impact, Littlefoot tried to speak to his traumatized grandmother again. "Grandma?"

And just like that, a fiery, dusty wave came racing toward the Great Valley.

A wall of death.