The Land Before Time Retold

Two Worlds

We all know the beloved stories of the Land Before Time. How five young dinosaurs forged a friendship and braved the wilderness back to the ones they love. After that, they had many other adventures, made new friends, and learned life lessons.

But what if someone from our world managed to travel to theirs? How would a human interact in this world? And how would this story unfold if this human was with the Gang since day one? As a fan of the series, I decided to see how the outcome of the story would be if that really did happen.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Land Before Time Series; I am merely exploring an alternate story.

With that said, let's begin!

The rumble of the car on the gravel road jostled Aylene a little as she read her dinosaur guidebook. She was on a page that talked about a long-necked dinosaur that was called an Apatosaurus. For the longest time she thought it was called a Brontosaurus. It was only now that she learned that "Brontosaurus" was actually a synonym for Apatosaurus, not its actual scientific term.

Then, she felt a rather harsh nudge on her shoulder. The fourteen-year-old turned in annoyance. Her older brother was sitting just one seat over from her. He had rather smug expression on his face.

"What is it, Derek?" she said.

"Just wondering how your book was coming," he replied impishly.

"Fine, why?"

"Being the "Dino Nerd" you are, I was just curious."

Aylene scowled and hit her older brother and slapped his shoulder, causing him to flinch a bit.

"Hey, no fighting back there you two!" said their father sternly from the driver's seat.

"Derek started it!" Aylene argued.

"Just get along until we get to your grandparents' house, okay?" their mother ordered. "It's not that long now."

Aylene glared at her brother before going back to her book. She tried to continue reading, but the enjoyment of it was now gone. She closed the book and stared out the window with a sour expression.

It wasn't just her brother who gave her grief either. Nearly all the bullies at her school called her the "Dino Nerd" because she could spout out information on various species of dinosaurs on the spot. Sure, it may impress the teachers, but it did nothing for her when it came to impressing her peers. It just gave some of them a reason to tease and taunt her.

Why couldn't she just be allowed to be herself without anyone making fun of her? So what if she had a fascination of dinosaurs? They were interesting creatures. What was so bad about liking them? It wasn't like she was hurting anyone because of it.

Fortunately for Aylene, it was summer vacation. All she was hoping for was to spend a nice week at her grandparents' house: practicing archery, learning how to play the ocarina, and just relax to her heart's content.

Meanwhile, in a world very different from the world of humans, a world that was ruled by dinosaurs, a rainstorm struck the land.

Out of the darkness, an egg-stealer dinosaur crept silently in the reeds of a swamp near a resting herd of three long-necked dinosaurs.

In the nest near the tail of the youngest member were four eggs. Three of them were broken, leaving only one intact. It began to jiggle as the little creature inside of it struggled to break free.

The egg-stealer licked its chops with hungry anticipation. If the egg was about to hatch, that meant that he would have a fully developed hatching to feast on.

Leaping from its place, the egg-stealer quickly grabbed the egg and—

WHUMP!

The young female long-neck knocked the creature senseless with a mighty blow to the head. The egg flew out of the egg-stealer's hands and fell down the skeletal remains of a bigmouth laying close by.

The egg continued to roll down the decayed spine of another dead dinosaur until it flew off into a river raging with violent rapids. It rode the waves before careening over the edge a small waterfall.

The egg fell among a group of other small dinosaurs, causing them to scatter in surprise. The rain quickly began to diminish into nothing more than a drizzle. Then, it stopped altogether.

Suddenly, the egg cracked open. A small tail appeared out of it. Then a leg kicked out from one side of the shell, followed immediately by the other leg kicking through on the opposite side. The rest of the shell immediately broke apart, revealing a healthy baby long-neck.

The infant rolled over onto his rump and took in a breath of the new air. He smiled innocently and squeaked as he took in his new surroundings.

"Here I am," said a loving voice above him.

The hatchling looked up and saw three much larger long-necks towering over him. The one in the middle lowered its head and smiled at him.

Suddenly overwhelmed, the baby long-neck fell backwards and tried to scramble away. He didn't get far before he felt a lick on his back. He curled up into a ball, hiding his face under his forepaws. When he felt another lick though, it wasn't threatening at all.

It was loving.

The hatchling lifted his face and smiled again. He instinctively realized that this massive creature was his mother. More and more tender licks came as he turned and looked up at the female long-neck. He returned them all by giving her a small lick on the nose.

As he reached up to hug this his mother's face, various other kinds of creatures came out of their hiding places to see the new life that had just hatched. The baby long-neck turned his head and saw the strange creatures. He felt overwhelmed by how many of them there were, and just how different they all looked.

The creatures all looked so peculiar. Some had strange flabs of skin coming from their arms, and very long pointed mouths. When they walked, they seem to waddle on two legs. Others crawled along the ground on all fours, and had two very big eyes, not to mention large mouths.

Frightened by the new faces, the little long-neck retreated to behind his mother's leg.

"Oh, don't be frightened," the female long-neck gently coaxed. "Come out."

The long-neck hatchling peeked out from behind his mother's leg as the creatures began to crowd around. Some of them smiled at the little infant, as if feeling a sense of happiness as the new life nuzzled its mother's foot.

The infant long-neck opened his mouth wide and yawned. As he looked at the creatures surrounding him, he jolted in surprise.

He retreated away from the group and stumbled over his own feet. Moving around on all fours still wasn't easy for the hatchling just yet.

The female long-neck giggled and carefully grabbed her baby but the scruff, lifting him up into the air onto her back. He delightfully stomped around on his mother's back before sliding down into the base of her neck.

"Now, you be careful, my Littlefoot," she gently smiled.

Littlefoot yawned again as the two eldest long-necks gazed down at their new grandson. The little hatchling looked up at his grandfather and squeaked in delight. The elder male nuzzled his daughter lovingly as her child nestled into the folds of her skin.

"Beautiful Littlefoot," she whispered as the hatchling long-neck drifted off to sleep, safe in the love of his family.

Back in the world of humans…

About half an hour later, Aylene and her family reached her grandparents' house. The elder couple was already waiting outside in the front yard. Their grandfather welcomed his grandchildren with firm but loving hugs, and their grandmother kissed them on the forehead.

"Well, Aylene, you look prettier every time I see you," their grandmother smiled.

"Thanks, Grandma." Aylene said, running fingers through her short brown hair.

"And look at you, Derek," their grandfather grinned, "I see you put some more muscle on you."

"Just been working out at the gym is all." Derek answered with shrug.

"Great to see you, Mom, Dad." Aylene's mother said as she hugged her grandfather.

"Glad you could come and visit, Elinor." Aylene's grandfather said, hugging his daughter.

"And how have you been, Jonathan?" Aylene's grandmother asked her father.

"I've been well, Elaine." Jonathan replied, smiling at his in-law.

"Well, I expect your all tired from your journey," Elaine said kindly, "but first, Richard and I would like to present you with your gifts."

"Oh Mom, you didn't have to get us anything." Elinor replied, shaking her head slightly at the older woman.

"That's what I said." Richard laughed. "But your mother was insistent. And you know you there's no changing her mind when she's fixated on an idea."

Elaine gave her husband a small playful grin before gesturing toward the front door of the house. "Please, this way."

Elaine guided the family into house and into the living room. Once everyone had been seated, she passed out four individual gifts.

Aylene was given a small golden colored box with a green ribbon tied around it. She carefully undid the ribbon and opened the box. Inside was a dark green stone on a metal neck chain.

Aylene gave a huge smile. She picked up the necklace and held it in her hand for a while. It was such a simple thing, but she loved it.

"Thanks, Grandma! Grandpa!" she slipped the necklace around her neck.

"Glad you like it, Aylene." Richard answered, nodding.

Aylene looked up and saw what the rest of her family had received.

Her mother was given a set of small golden earrings. Her father had received a watch and chain. Derek got a new hunting knife.

"Thank you for the gifts." Elinor gratefully nodded.

"You're welcome, my dear." Elaine answered, smiling.

After the gift exchange, Aylene and her family took their suitcases out of their car, and brought them up to their rooms.

Aylene's room was a bluish beige color with a twin bed against the wall on the opposite side. In one corner was a dresser with a mirror on it ,and there were two sliding doors on the far side of the room that led into the closet.

The girl took a moment to look around the room before lugging the heavy suitcase inside it.

When Aylene finally got the suitcase shoved into a small nook of the room, she flopped down on the bed, letting out a huge sigh and staring up at the ceiling.

After a long road trip, and with her brother teasing her most of the time, it was nice to finally have some space to herself. She absentmindedly touched the stone around her neck and stroked it with her thumb.

It had a very smooth texture, yet it wasn't completely flat. It had a few ridges that were pretty subtle, but she could defiantly see small shapes when she tilted it in the light. Its primary color was dark olive green, but it also had small black specks coating it.

"I'm glad you like your present."

Aylene lifted her head saw her grandmother standing in the doorway.

"Yeah," Aylene said. "Thanks again, Grandma."

"You know, that necklace was mine when I was your age." Elaine said.

"Really?" Aylene's eyes widened a bit in surprise.

"Yes," her grandmother nodded, "it was…my treasure for a long time but I felt…let's just say that it may benefit you in some way."

Aylene sat up and stared at her grandmother with subtle curiosity.

"Dinner will be served soon." Elaine said, immediately turning away. "I'm making tilapia with fried rice."

Before Aylene could ask anything, Elaine left to go back downstairs.

Aylene was left pondering over the question of what her grandmother could've meant by the stone "benefiting" her in some way. Speaking ambiguously wasn't exactly uncommon for Elaine to do, but this particular phrase stood out in Aylene's mind for some reason.