Some time back I had an idea for a fic that would take place at the K-T event, when the Dinosaurs became extinct. I'd been reading the TvTropes entry for Land Before Time, and the Wild Mass Guessing page listed the frequently debunked theory that all the characters were dead to begin with, and that the Great Valley was Heaven. The difference here was that this person interpreted each event as having a deeper significance - each of the GOF represented some form of a follower of religion, Sharptooth represented Sin, Rooter was an angel trying to get Littlefoot to let go of his self-guilt surrounding his mother's death, etc.
While not particularly interested in the religous aspect of it (if done badly, it becomes a preachy mess), I thought the concept of dead characters not realising they're dead wandering through a metaphorical wasteland until they overcome their failings and make it to their afterlife. At the same time, I thought I could make it a darker fic, and have it so that characters got killed off along the way, creating suspense as to who would last the longest.
The basic story I figured out involved a group of five friends - Kylo, a Clubtail, Alta, a Longneck, Parry, a Hollowhorn, Bambo, a Triceratops, and Zal, a Flyer. The story would allude to the original LBT films in several places - the opening would have an elder telling the story of the first film, and Kylo would wonder what a Spiketail was, as none had been seen for many years. Another would have Kylo remembering another of the stories..."Big Water. Something about it seemed familar - something to do with a friendly sharptooth...or was it a swimmer?" The Great Valley would be a myth by this point, but would later be found over the course of the story - perhaps even where they had started from - but earthquakes would have changed it so that it was several smaller valleys. The characters would even roleplay as the characters of LBT, although some of them would hate their roles - eg Kylo playing Spike, who has considerably less intelligence than him.
The story would open with the meteor hitting far to the south, and a large shockwave following up the land. An earthquake would hit and destroy their home, killing many. The survivors would then head for safety, but their numbers would be whittled down over time through various disasters (Any adult characters would be quickly killed off, perhaps from injury or disaster. Zal would have perished by scouting a mountain route, and being hit by a blast from a volcano. Bambo's pride and confidence that he was right about which way to go would have led him to his downfall in a landslide (alternatively, he turns out to be right, and turns up towards the end of the story). Parry goes mad and/or falls off a cliff. Kylo and Alta survive thus far...each of these ends would be sort of ironic, to do with each character's major faults). Ultimately, the story would end with all the characters dead, but together in a "Great Valley", and watching as the world begins to change below them.
Only problem with this whole thing is that I kept running into parts where the story got confusing or contradicted earlier parts. One one hand, I wanted to write a darker story where characters got killed off as time went on, but how could an already dead character die? I toyed with the idea of them all dying halfway through, and the deceased characters appearing as "ghosts" to guide them on, but again I got stuck. I also toyed with the idea of having them rescue a character, perhaps a mammal, and have that character live on to become a creature that would later evolve into the mammals of today. By this point, I was getting confused by all the possible ideas, and I didn't want to do a fic that was just "Kill Everybody", cause not only would that be kind of pointless, but it'd be pretty darn depressing. I mean, what's written here is already pretty dark, but I was going to add some happy bits to it!
If I'd finished it, I'd have called it "The Rite Of Spring", as a nod to the Fantasia cartoon involving the dinosaurs. I do think there were some interesting ideas here, but I couldn't think of enough to write a story on, so it'll have to remain this way for a while. Perhaps it would have worked better if I'd split this idea into two concepts. Any thoughts on this?
If you think it looks interesting, feel free to use it as a base for a fic, just let me know when you write it, cause I'd love to see what others come up with.
