FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Cera! Cera! Cera!"

The threehorn slowly opened her eyes. She had dreamt that the whole ordeal was just a dream, that the little tinysaur was still alive. But as she saw Lizzie, another dinosaur she had grown especially attached to, was running towards her with a sympathetic look, Cera knew, heartachingly, that the past was real.

"Oh, hello, Lizzie." She gave a weak smile before closing her eyes yet again. Lizzie came over and put her front legs on Cera's nose and gently pushed.

"You okay?"

Cera opened her eyes. "Of course I am, Liz. Now will you leave me be?" Cera looked away.

Lizzie shook her head. "Littlefoot told me you blame yourself for what happened. Why?"

"Why?" The threehorn's eyes filled with rage. "Because that stupid sharptooth killed Dusty and I could have stopped him!" The tinysaur took a step back, eyes wide with shock. Cera realized what she did, and let out a soft sigh. "Sorry, Liz..."

The tinysaur smiled inwardly. "That's okay, Cera." She walked right up to Cera's head, and nestled beside her. "It's okay to feel responsible, but it wasn't your fault." Before Cera could answer, Lizzie continued, "After all, how were you to know something like that was going to happen? How were you to know that Dusty would've gone above ground at that time? How were you to know that the sharptooth would be there?"

Cera hesitated for several moments. "Well...I..."

"You're not the only one who misses Dusty, Cera. We all do." Lizzie tried to hide her tears. "My father and I...we both miss her, very much. And so do my other siblings." She closed her eyes, and finally let the tears flow down her cheeks. She then looked up at Cera again. "But you cannot keep blaming yourself for what happened."

The threehorn couldn't give an answer. Instead, she simply looked away. She looked as though she was ignoring Lizzie, but in reality she was pondering her words. Perhaps Lizzie was right. Maybe she was being too hard on herself.

"I just wish I could've done something, though." She said sullenly.

"You're doing it again." Lizzie said a bit sternly.

Cera glanced at her. "What do you mean?"

"You're blaming yourself again. Listen, Cera, sometimes bad things happen and we can't do anything to change it." Lizzie was surprised at her own words, and decided to relax a little. "Dwelling on the past won't solve anything. All you can do is change the future."

Cera looked at the ground, then at Lizzie, then at the sky. She could see the rustling leaves in distant trees, and she could see that the sun had disappeared behind the mountain. After several silent minutes, she finally rotated her eyes in Lizzie's direction.

"I suppose you are right, Liz. I couldn't do anything about it. None of us could."

Lizzie smiled. "I hope you feel better soon."

Cera smiled. "Yeah."

Suddenly they were interrupted by a frantic Ducky. She came bursting in between two closely grown trees. "Cera! Lizzie!" She cried frantically as she dashed towards him.

Cera rose off the ground. "Ducky...?"

Ducky skidded and came to a stop in front of the young threehorn and tinysaur. She heaved in large breaths with difficulty, trying to calm down her speeding heart beat. "It's...it's...it's..." But she couldn't spit out the words.

Lizzie jumped off the ground and shouted, "What? What is it!"

Ducky opened her eyes. "It's Petrie."

Cera tilted her head. "What about him?"

"He's missing!"

Cera and Lizzie's brains registered with shock. "He's missing!" They cried in unison.

Ducky nodded, coughing into her hands. "Yes yes yes. I went to his nest to greet him, and he wasn't there!" She clenched her hands into fists. "There was no trace of him anywhere near the nest! It was as if he just... disappeared."

Lizzie and Cera looked at each other. "Disappeared...?"

Cera took a step forward. "Are you sure he's missing? Maybe he's just going to get a drink or something..."

But Ducky shook her head. "Even if that had been the reason for him not being there, I was waiting around there for a long time, yep yep yep. He never came back." She looked crestfallen. "I'm worried. Maybe he's lost somewhere."

Cera scoffed. "How could anyone get lost in the Great Valley?"

Lizzie stared angrily at her. "You'd be surprised."

Cera smiled nervously. "Whoops." She grinned. "Sorry."

"We must look for him. Yes yes yes." Ducky suggested. "I already told Littlefoot and Spike about it. They're off searching for him as I speak, yep yep yep."

Lizzie cleared her throat. "Should we help?"

Ducky nodded. "That would be of great help, guys. Spike and Littlefoot are searching there." She pointed west. "I'm gonna search there. "She pointed east. "And you guys can search there for a start. "She pointed north.

Cera and Lizzie nodded. "We're on it!" She lowered her head down and let Lizzie jump on. She stomped off towards the north part of the valley.

Ducky gave a small smile. "Thanks..." She whispered. "I must start searching myself, yep yep yep." She headed off into the east part of the valley. By splitting up, they would cover more ground. But Ducky realized, as Cera and Lizzie disappeared into the forest, that by splitting up, they would become more vulnerable to a sharptooth attack.

And as she made her way through the forest, she did not notice a set of footprints, nor did she realize that a set of eyes were watching her...