DISCLAIMER: I do not own Land Before Time and its universe, which belong to Universal.

Chapter 1: A Special Sleep Story

High above the Great Valley, the night sky was a breathtaking shade of deep blue. There was not a sign of a sky puffy, and the great night circle shined brilliantly while the stars twinkled above. Down below, the tall grass was swaying with a gentle breeze, and the night chirpers were chirping peacefully. In this tall grass sat a young brown longneck with a chocolate colored back, a lighter-colored belly, and large, soft, warm, eyes. Despite being smaller than most longnecks, he still had grown considerably over the years. His legs were thicker, his body was taller, and his neck and tail had lengthened to the point where he was able to stretch his neck high above the ground and watch the stars twinkle above him. He slowly felt his eyes shut and his mouth smile as he looked up into the sky...

"Psst…Littlefoot! Over here!" came a eager, muddled voice from behind him. Littlefoot turned to see who was calling for him. He saw that a shadowy figure was sitting in some distant grasses, and Littlefoot's heart instantly began to race. Without fully understanding why, he felt like he was waiting for this moment, as he felt a sort of deep, inexplicable connection with the voice. Though he was very curious about who was talking to him, he felt that he had to be considerate and so he slowly walked over to the figure. Through the near complete darkness of nighttime, Littlefoot had a hard time trying to figure out who the shadowy figure was. He couldn't quite place the voice either since it also was hard to make out, though part of him couldn't help feeling that the voice was very familiar to him. He drew closer and closer to the shadowy figure, until he saw that it was sitting right in front of him. He felt very contented as he smiled down at the shadow and whispered, "I'm here."

Then abruptly, the scene blurred. All Littlefoot could see was pitch black darkness. He then blinked and slowly opened his eyes. He realized that instead of sitting in the tall grasses, he was lying on a large rock on top of a hill. He looked up in the sky and saw that the bright circle was now shining high above him and that some flyers were circling high above his head, gathering berries for breakfast and returning to their perches. Littlefoot blinked a couple more times as he got used to the morning light, and realized that he must have had a sleep story.

"You okay Littlefoot?" came a nearby voice. Littlefoot slowly lifted his head up as his eyes continued to blink slowly. He smiled as he saw Petrie, a flyer and one of his best friends, clumsily walk over to him from a little ways away. Like Littlefoot, Petrie grew, but his growth spurt was much more dramatic than Littlefoot's. It was not too long ago when Petrie could sit on Littlefoot's head, but now, Petrie was only a bit smaller than his mother, and he had also grown a longer crest on the back of his head. His voice, however, still sounded like it did when he was a little kid, and he still spoke with his peculiar form of broken language.

"I'm okay, Petrie," Littlefoot sighed and smiled gently at him. "I just had a sleep story."

"What it about?" Petrie asked curiously, as he sat down next to Littlefoot. Littlefoot looked at Petrie thoughtfully, and even though he was deep in thought, he couldn't help but to notice that Petrie was breathing a bit restlessly.

"Well, I was sitting in the tall grass, and…I heard a voice," Littlefoot explained, sighing dreamily as he laid his long neck down.

"Me hear that story all the time," Petrie told Littlefoot. "You always have same sleep story."

"Yeah…I do have it a lot," Littlefoot told Petrie softly. "But that doesn't make it any less special. That voice in my dream makes me feel happy inside…and I feel that it's happy to see me too."

"Petrie curious," Petrie replied. "Me wonder who it is."

"I wonder too," Littlefoot told Petrie happily, sighing. "I just…feel that these sleep stories have to be important. I've been having this same sleep story for nearly every night now…so it must mean something."

"Come on Littlefoot," came a skeptical voice from behind them. Littlefoot and Petrie turned, and saw that a familiar orange threehorn was walking up to them from the other side of the hill. Littlefoot smiled, for this threehorn was his old friend Cera. Cera was now large for a threehorn of her age, as she was only a bit smaller than her dad. She also had a larger frill and she had just recently grown her other two horns that she lacked when she was a kid. She sat down by Littlefoot's other side, shook her head, and sighed, "Don't think so much about it. It's just a sleep story."

"This isn't an ordinary sleep story," Littlefoot replied. "It's that same one I've been having all the time…and it always feels… special. I still remember it vividly. Every moment of it," Littlefoot explained.

Cera rolled her eyes. "A sleep story is a sleep story," she countered, her green eyes flashing skeptically at him. "Don't be silly Littlefoot."

Littlefoot wasn't convinced, but since Cera had a stubborn streak, he knew that it would be very difficult to get Cera to change her mind. Littlefoot then noticed that Petrie was looking vacantly off in the distance, and that he was trembling and mumbling to himself. Littlefoot leaned a little closer to Petrie and asked, "Is anything bothering you Petrie?"

Petrie jumped and turned quickly, and looked at Littlefoot and Cera with very wide, distracted eyes. "Me bothered? No…me just fine…no, me not bothered at all," Petrie told them, laughing unconvincingly.

"Come on Petrie," Cera wheedled, nudging him gently with her front horn. "I can tell that you're nervous, don't try to pretend that you're not. You seem completely distracted."

"Okay, fine," Petrie told them, waving his wing in resignation. "Me…Me feel like me have sharptooth chasing me." Petrie shook his head. "No, not that it… me… me… me terrified!" he cried out.

Littlefoot and Cera looked at each other blankly, not knowing what to say next. Then Petrie cried out dramatically, "Petrie want to be brave!"

"Well," Cera told Petrie confidently. "You've come to the right threehorn! You just need to step up to your fear and tell yourself that you can take anything on. Like this! Watch me hit this boulder!"

Cera nodded towards a spot a little ways away from them, where a large, heavy boulder sat waiting. Cera excitedly got up, took a few steps back, grinned with determination, and with gusto she charged at the boulder. With the help of her newly grown horns, she managed to ram the boulder head on, causing it to shatter into many little pieces. Cera smiled brightly as she tossed her head up into the air in triumph. "Hee!" Cera laughed. Then she smiled at Petrie and told him, "All it takes is some practice and confidence and you can stand up to anything!"

"Petrie can't do that," Petrie sighed. "And me not sure that can help. Me not afraid of anything like a boulder."

"Well then, what are you afraid of, Petrie?" Littlefoot asked.

Petrie gulped, and shook his head frantically. "Petrie…not say…"

Littlefoot and Cera looked at each other and then smiled at Petrie. "Don't worry Petrie," Littlefoot told him. "Because no matter what you're scared of, we're your friends, and we'll always be there for you."

"Just remember, be sure of yourself and tell yourself you can do it!" Cera added encouragingly.

Just then, Littlefoot, Cera and Petrie turned, for they had heard voices coming from the bottom of the hill. They soon saw that their old friends Ducky and Spike were happily hurrying towards them. Spike was almost the size of a full-grown spiketail, but though Ducky had grown a good deal, she, like Littlefoot, was on the smaller side for her kind. Ducky had grown a longer crest on the back of her head and longer, taller legs, while Spike had begun to grow his spikes and plates on his tail and back, and his build became slightly rounder from his love of eating. "Hi guys!" Ducky called out excitedly. "The grownups are calling for us to come down! We have guests, yep yep yep! Come on!"

Littlefoot called back, "Okay, we're coming!"

Ducky smiled, "Great!" Then she pushed on Spike, who was still happily eating ferns. "Spike, you should stop eating now! We have to get back to the grownups, we do!" she insisted, yet she giggled while she spoke. At first Spike didn't seem to notice her, since he was deeply absorbed in eating his ferns. Ducky smiled and waited patiently while Spike finished his ferns. Then Spike then looked at Ducky, nodded and licked her, and the two of them began to walk back.

"Littlefoot, hurry up! Let's go!" Cera told him.

"Okay!" Littlefoot replied. But just as Littlefoot began to follow Cera back, he looked behind him and saw that Petrie was acting funny again. Littlefoot noticed that Petrie was shivering, despite it being a warm, sunny day, and that he was sitting on the ground in a very odd position. Littlefoot couldn't even see Petrie's face because he was covering it up with both of his wings.

Littlefoot sighed, and knowing that Petrie would not like it if everyone saw that he was still acting strangely, he checked to make sure no one was watching him and quietly walked back to Petrie. "Come on Petrie," Littlefoot told him gently as he arrived, bending down to him. "You should come too."

Petrie didn't hear Littlefoot right away. He was still shivering, and Littlefoot saw that he was beginning to bite on his wing. Littlefoot then bent down even closer to Petrie, so his mouth was right by Petrie's ear before he asked, "Are you okay, Petrie?"

Petrie turned and gasped in surprise, seeming to have just realized that Littlefoot was there. "Oh hi Littlefoot! Me…me just fine! All right, me go!" Petrie told Littlefoot breathlessly, and he instantly soared off high above Littlefoot and began to flap his wings loudly. But Littlefoot noticed that while Petrie finally stopped shaking, he was flying clumsily and was avoiding eye contact at all costs.