Unite, Prevail

Chapter One: Sparse and Desolate Lands

Unite, Prevail

(Disclaimer: 'The Land Before Time' belongs to Universal, Don Bluth, and every other original owner. My characters belong to me. This is for show, not dough.)

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Food was scarce. Mother had told Digger that her and Littlefoot had been born in unfortunate times. Half the time, Digger found herself face with barren ground, arid air, and dried up plant life. The young fastrunner sometimes found herself chasing after flying insects or stalking small reptiles. Other times, she would eat what plants they could forage along with Mother, Littlefoot, Grandpa, and Grandma. Though their herd was the smallest ever to be known, they thrived. One advantage was that it meant less threats of losing members, since it only contained five, three being fully grown and seasoned with surviving.

The sun had just began peeking over the horizon as Digger along with her brother, Littlefoot, were awoken by their mother, Lotus. Though a bit disgruntled at first, the two tired younglings soon gathered the strength to get to their feet. The two had been following their mother and grandparents for the past half hour foraging for what scraps of food they could find. They had to keep moving if they wanted to reach their goal. Yawning satisfyingly, Digger picked at the feathers on her spine to clean off some grit when something caught her emerald eyes. A bug! It was a large, green dragonfly, but Digger called them skinnygliders.

Getting low and narrowing her eyes, the fastrunner began to stalk the hovering insect. She trailed it into some barren undergrowth when she came into a small clearing. She gasped inwardly as her eyes befell upon swarms by swarms of skinnygliders, fatwings (beetles and the like), and smallbuzz (termites).

Lapping her beak, she charged into the storms of bugs, maw opened wide. As several insects were trapped into her mouth, Digger crunched down on the hard morsels. Chewing them thoroughly, she swallowed the mush with satisfactory. She was lucky to be able to eat both meat and plants. She felt guilty for not being able to share her jackpot of food with any of her family, but leaf-eaters were strictly leaf-and-plant-eating dinosaurs, unable to digest and handle flesh and things like bugs.

After chomping a few more mouthfuls, Digger felt gratified and crept into the dead undergrowth once more. Though it was a light meal, most of the insects had flew away and they were fast too fast to catch at one time. She sniffed the air, trying to catch scent of any green food that she could share with her entire kin folk. Digger scented until her nostrils strained. Sighing in defeat, she dejectedly began heading back to her family's scents.

Something suddenly wafted the air. Screwing her head around, she peered through the sparse bare, trees. Squinting her eyes, she perked up as she noticed something in the distance. Jogging closer to the sight, her heart did a skip and a leap as she announced,

"Green food! Over there!"

Her family must've heard her, because she soon heard their heavy footsteps becoming louder and their scents becoming sharper. The scamper of Littlefoot's much smaller footfalls accompanied them. Their shadows soon towered over the fastrunner as she turned to them, pointing both forepaws and even the tip of her quilled tail.

"Over there, Mother, over there!" Digger insisted excitedly. "I saw it-and smell it! We can all eat... together!" The blue fastrunner threw her forelegs into the air in emphasis.

Lotus chuckled at her child's antics, lowering her head to meet her much smaller gaze. She crackled a smile, "Good eye, Digger. But, there is more than meets the eye, more than just yours." She tilted her head. "Why don't we go see for ourselves if your eyes are right?"

Littlefoot seemed happy. "Sounds good to me. My tummy has been grumbling all morning!"

Digger took hold of his forepaw and took off, "Then come on!"