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Chapter Text

When the war has lasted twenty years … the dragonets will come.

When the land is soaked with blood and tears… the dragonets will come.

Find the Seawing egg of deepest blue. Wings of night will come to you.

The largest egg on the mountain high will give to you the wings of sky.

For wings of earth search through the mud for an egg the color of dragon blood.

And hidden alone from the rival queens, the Sandwing egg waits unseen.

Of three queens who blister and blaze and burn, two shall die and one shall learn if she bows to a fate that is stronger and higher, she'll have the powers of wings of fire.

Five eggs to hatch on a brightest night. Five dragons born to end the fight. Darkness will rise to bring the light. The dragonets are coming ….

Prologue

Even though the scene was currently not visible if you were deep inside Jade Mountain, the three moons had made a steady descent upwards into the sky, all shining brightly. This was the beauty of the Brightest Night, only present when all three of Pyrrhia's Moons shined. Had the Talons of Peace not become enemies with Queen Scarlet of the Skywings, perhaps they would have been able to witness it themselves. But not yet. They couldn't go to check the moons out for themselves.... not until the prophecy dragonets had hatched.

Deep under the mountain, two dragons stood solemnly over a large nest, which contained 4 of the 5 eggs of the prophecy. The first was a tall, stern looking Skywing with scales and claws the colour of rust, with bright orange eyes, fixed upon the nest, specifically the largest egg from the mountain high. This was because this egg was her own, and the Talons of Peace had gone through a lot of trouble to rescue it. She had watched as her Icewing ally, Hvitur, died painfully to ensure that it wasn't destroyed by the Queen. Even though her egg was now safe in the nest, with the other Dragonets, she was still tense. That maybe, something could go wrong.

Next to her, a very slightly smaller, considerably shrimpier Seawing stood, also looking at the eggs, particularly the Seawing egg of deepest blue. "This isn't preferable..." He slowly turned his gaze to face the Skywing. "We'll have betrayed our queens for nothing if Dune doesn't get back with the Sandwing egg in time..."

"Don't be such a tremble-claws, Webs," the Skywing hissed in response. "Maybe you betrayed your Queen for nothing, but I'd still escape even if there was no prophecy." She once again looked at her egg, towering over the other three. "I'd never let anything happen to it.... and neither did Hvitur. I respect that, but... the prophecy is what matters now. And I assure you, we wouldn't have had Dune go and retrieve the Sandwing egg if we didn't believe he'd get back in time."

"I... that's fair enough," The Seawing, Webs, replied. Even if Dune was missing a wing and a foreleg, he was still relatively good at traversing the landscapes. Besides, he had another Seawing to help guide him. This Seawing was more new to the Talons of Peace, but still very powerful. There was no way Dune wouldn't get back in time---

CRACK!

Webs and the Skywing glanced up in panic. The Mudwing egg coloured of dragon blood was starting to shake, and they noticed some cracks surfacing. "Uhhhh.... Kestrel...."

The Skywing frowned, a soft growl escaping her lips. "The eggs aren't all here yet.... please hurry, Dune.... or Webs is going to chew his tail off for betraying his Queen for no reason..."

As if her wish had been granted, they heard uneven footsteps coming from the tunnel behind. The pair turned sharply, and saw the tall and bulky figure of Dune, with a surprisingly golden egg with a slight silver sheen in his mouth.

"There you are," Kestrel exclaimed, impatiently. "Quick, put it with the others."

Dune limped over as swiftly as he could and placed the egg next to the others, before hobbling over to the other two to watch the blood-reg egg continue to shake.

"What happened?" Webs asked Dune, seemingly concerned. "You took far longer than we agreed."

"Not my fault that my helpline just vanished...." Dune growled in response. "Apparently he was chasing off Skywings, but I couldn't see or hear any."

"Ah.... I wonder if he'll come to see the dragonets hatch himself," Webs mused, prompting Kestrel to snort slightly.

"I doubt it," she replied. "Even if he were telling the truth, it takes a bit more than a few scratches and bites to chase off Skywings. Even if you're as strong as he is."

"Yeah," Dune agreed. "And if he wasn't telling the truth, I doubt he'd care enough to see these little Dragonets himself. All he seems to think about is himself. Arrogant, moon-licking crocodile..."

Webs opened his mouth to claim that was a bit harsh, when a loud chirp broke the silence. The three glanced over to the eggs, and saw a slightly amber Dragonet crawling out of the blood-red egg. "Oh!" Webs exclaimed. "It's hatched...."

"Guhh..." the Mudwing dragonet looked around their surroundings, unsure of the big adults around them.

"Aww, he's cuter than I expected," Webs piped up, tilting his head ever so slightly in curiosity.

"He looks dim," Kestrel responded. "Just as I expected."

There was an abrupt, other loud crack, as the deep blue Seawing egg began to hatch. Even the Mudwing seemed curious.

"The Seawing's hatching." Webs watched, as slowly, a crack began to form.

"Hm..." Dune slowly observed. "Something tells me we shouldn't let her know exactly where she came from...."

"Yes, that would be preferable," Webs responded. "Anyway, about the Mudwing... shouldn't we name him?"

"Well, errr..." Kestrel tried not to make her hesitation evident. "I suppose perhaps.... Clay?"

"Yeah," Webs agreed, as the Mudwing approached the deep blue egg. "A nice muddy name, fits perfec---"

"Eggu!" The Mudwing, now named Clay immediately ran over to the blue egg, scratching at it with his claws, attempting to get in.

"Rooo!!!" The Seawing egg yelped from inside in panic.

"No no no!! Stop that!!" Kestrel ran over and picked him up.

"Waahh!!" He flailed around, wanting to get to the eggs.

"Phew...." Webs sighed as the Seawing finally managed to hatch, without being destroyed by the Mudwing.

"Rrrr.... roof!" The deep blue Seawing struggled to get up on their feet, accidentally stepping on one of their wings and tripping on it. This left it greatly annoyed at their inability to walk.

"Rawr!" Upon seeing this, the Mudwing flailed free, and rushed to the Seawing.

"No no no!" Kestrel attempted to grab him again.

"Hapa!" Clay went over to the Seawing and put his head underneath their neck and supported them upwards.

"Huh?" Kestrel paused, and the other two shared her confusion.

"Is he... helping her?" Webs questioned.

"Not sure..." Kestrel responded, when there was an even louder crack. Kestrel glanced over and saw the large Skywing egg hatching. "My dragonet!!" She observed the egg, ensuring no harm could come to it.

"Eggugu!!" Once again Clay ran over but the moment he put his claws into the egg, he yelped loudly and recoiled in his first sensation of pain.

"No!" Kestrel pulled him away, but then looked at his claws, surprised. They seemed to be smoldering slightly. "Odd.... well, that's what you get for harming my baby." She dropped him next to the Seawing and blocked him from getting to the egg, before she observed it cracking open. A small, beige head popped out of the egg, blinking slowly in confusion, before looking up at Kestrel. Upon making eye contact, Kestrel was overwhelmed with emotion. "...Hello."

"Mam..." He had bright blue eyes and his scales didn't have the same shine as a regular Skywing did. That didn't matter to Kestrel, not even if her partner, Sore, or however he spelt it, abandoned her. She was officially a parent and a guardian of her own Dragonet of Destiny.

"Not the most perfect Skywing we could've asked for..." She muttered, as she reached her claw down. "But definitely the most perfect chi---oop!" The egg suddenly fell onto its side, and shattered. As the hatchling shook the egg pieces off, she suddenly noticed another bundle of scales behind her beige Skywing. "Hm...?" Slowly, she lifted her Skywing to see what was behind him.

There was a second dragonet. With similar blue eyes and... smoke...?

"A twin!" Kestrel cried out. "There's a twin here!"

"Huh??" Webs rushed over and observed. "That makes sense.... with such a big egg, it'd only make sense that there are twins. But why the smoke?"

"Huh...." Kestrel slowly thought to herself, before touching the orange dragonet on her head. For about half a second, there was nothing, but then a sharp pain occured. "AGH!!!" She drew her talon back. "A firescale...."

"Mama!" The firescale lept out at her face before she could react, soon leaving a talon-shaped burn on the side of her face as she quickly pulled it off. That left her talons burnt slightly as well.

"AGHH!!" She yelped again, before putting the firescale down next to her pale brother. "We'll definitely need to teach you not to do that...."

"Wait, why isn't her brother burning?" Webs asked. Sure enough, the two were nuzzling up to each other, and while there was smoke, the little dragonet seemed fine with it.

"He must have developed some sort of immunity inside the egg," Kestrel claimed, "or he never would have hatched to start with."

"That makes enough sense..." Webs replied. "So, uhhh...." He picked up the Seawing and placed her slightly closer to the Skywings. "I guess we can call her.... Tsunami?"

"Sounds fine to me." Dune replied back.

"Great! Wait..." Webs glanced around. "Uhhh, where's Clay gone?"

"Egguuu!" The Talons heard a large crack and a small, greyish-black Dragonet had come out from the egg. Clay was right beside him, proud of his work.

"Not the Nightwing!!!!" Webs and Kestrel cried in shock, as the latter grabbed Clay. "If anything happens to the Nightwing, Morrowseer won't be happy...." Kestrel growled.

"Rowrow?" Tsunami seemed to ask.

"It's nothing for you to worry about," Kestrel snapped, miffed at Clay possibly harming the little Nightwing. Upon closer inspection, though, he seemed to be mostly fine, other than being a bit shaky on his legs as he stood up.

"Hap!" Tsunami looked at the pale Skywing dragonet and the two went over to assist the newly hatched Nightwing.

"Rrewra...?" He glanced between the two, before gaining his footing properly.

"Well, look at that...." Kestrel gently petted her pale dragonet. "Already providing care for others... I'm proud of you."

He cooed happily as Tsunami grumbled slightly and the firescale sibling wandered over to the Nightwing, curious about the black scales.

"Careful," Kestrel exclaimed, putting her claws between the two. "Don't touch him, you could burn him."

"Bu bur." She replied back, seemingly confused, while looking between Kestrel's hands and the Nightwing.

"Oh? His scales might be dark, but they aren't burnt."

She looked at him sadly before walking back to her brother. Kestrel looked after her, slightly pitiful. She wondered how well her dragonet would be able to manage without having to touch anyone.

CRACK!

"Hm???" Kestrel glanced over, and saw the Sandwing egg shaking. "Dune!" She tightened her grip on Clay. "You should come watch..."

"Right." Dune came over and observed as the egg hatched.

"Rraar! Rararr!!" Clay was not happy and squirming underneath Kestrel's burnt talons.

"No, no, stop it!" Kestrel held him tighter. "You're not hurting the Sandwing."

"Mraaaawwww!!!" He tried to bite her but she wouldn't flinch. That was until the firescale accidentally flicked her tail onto the back of Kestrel's foot.

"Gah!!" She glanced back sharply, lowering her guard enough to feel the Mudwing break free from her grip. Once she looked back, he had knocked the Sandwing's egg down, only for Dune to pull him back and pin him down.

"ENOUGH!!!"

He looked at him in fear and began to cry, leading to the newly hatched Sandwing to cry with him.

"Right..." Kestrel took Clay. "Someone try to calm the Sandwing down."

"Raw?" Once again, her pale Dragonet came to the rescue and rushed over, gently nuzzling against the newborn.

"Good work Ember, no that doesn't fit, umm, Pumice, that's your name." Kestrel said to her pale child as she brought Clay away from the crime scene.

"I think I know why she's crying now." Dune exclaimed, holding up a tiny yellow barbless tail. "He bit it off!"

"He WHAT??!!!" Kestrel glanced back. "But.... how does that even work??"

Webs checked the eggshell. "Don't see one anywhere. Did Clay.... eat it?"

"Grrrr..." Dune groaned slightly. "Of course.... looks like Thorn miscalculated.... the egg wasn't meant to hatch tonight. She hatched too early."

"I'll get a cactus for Clay to eat in case he did eat it..." Webs went to leave the cave.

"She's defective, that's what she is." Kestrel growled in frustration.

"Don't you call her that in front of me," Dune growled, as he held the Dragonet close. "I very much would not want to remember how long I walked on the off-chance that she was 'defected'. And we can't control that. Defected or premature... or mulitated....." He glared at Clay as he said this, "she's still our wings of sand."

"Fine." She looked back at the dragonets, now trying to play with each other, while also attempting to accommodate for the firescale. "You still don't have a name do you?" She thought for a moment before deciding on her name, "Molten, that's who you are."

"Roo!!" Molten looked quite pleased with this name.

"Oh, I have a good one for the Nightwing!" Webs spoke up, now with a cactus, which had the spines removed. "His wings look like they have stars on them.... so, Starflight?"

"...All Nightwings have stars on their wings," Kestrel informed him. "But Starflight is still a good name. Now, Dune, why don't you name the Sandwing?"

"Oh?" Dune glanced down at the little Sandwing, whose tears had stopped flowing. "Well, she looks pretty cheery.... Thorn was considering Sunny as a name. I'll go with that."

"Sunna!" She seemed happy about the name.

"At least she's happy...." He glared at Clay, who was wincing at the bitterness of the cactus Webs was forcing him to eat. "If anyone here's defected, it's him. What's wrong with him?"

"Nothing," Kestrel insisted. "He's a little monster. Just what we need for the prophecy."

"Roo?" Clay tilted his head slightly.

"Well then, am I late to the party?"

All the present dragons and dragonets turned to the cave entrance, and noticed a tall figure emerge from the shadows.

"You...." Dune growled quietly.

"Yes, me indeed," the dragon replied, rather smugly, as he stepped in, the light of the torches reflecting off his dark scales.

Part 1

"How many times to I have to tell you to be more aggressive?" Kestrel shouted at Clay with anger and a hint of irritation in her voice.

"Well you can't just stomp on my tail like that!!" Clay yelled in response.

"How else am I meant to get a response from you? Use your claws and your teeth! Attack me like you did the eggs!"

"That was six years ago!!! Can't we just negotiate???" Clay's voice had a tone of desperation.

"You need to fight and I'll find a way to make you fight."

Sunny stared down the tunnel as she heard Clay trying to fight Kestrel off. She was busy helping Starflight look around for scrolls, all while Kestrel was once again training Clay to fight. She did understand where Kestrel was coming from, but it wasn't exactly fair on Clay. Luckily, Clay seemed to be holding his own. Sunny wasn't really a fighter, so she wouldn't exactly be able to save Clay, and therefore it was fortunate that she currently didn't need to. Knowing that Clay was okay for now, she glanced over to Starflight, who was looking through some scrolls. "So... have you found what you were looking for yet?"

"No... it shouldn't be this hard to find, I've read all of them at least ten times over..." Starflight was searching diligently through the scrolls, dedicated to finding whatever he was looking for.

"Right... can't you tell me which one you're looking for?" Sunny asked, walking over to him. "If you've already read them all, then does that mean you're finding a scroll for someone else? Who?"

"It's the one that describes all the dragons of Pyrrhia. I'm trying to study up on Icewings and Rainwings."

"Ooh! Rainwings!" Sunny was excited to check the scroll on the species of Rainwings. Most dragons insisted that Rainwings were just lazy and stupid, but Sunny was sure that they weren't all like that. They didn't have really any scrolls on Rainwings. Apparently all they knew about them was that they stayed reclusive in their home in the rainforest, and they weren't really on any sides of the war. One day, Sunny hoped to be able to see a Rainwing herself.

"Yes, Webs said there was an Icewing that was part of the Talons and he also said he went into the rainforest at one point. So I want to see what other information I can find on them, Rainwings specificaly."

"I don't think you'll really find any..." Sunny informed him. "I asked Kestrel about Rainwings once. She said that we should focus on the 'actually important tribes'. Rude."

"Icewings are still important." Starflight rebutted. "Icewings are allied with Blaze. And all dragons are important in the war. Nightwings aren't truly allied with anyone either. So it's not that odd Rainwings aren't allies in the war." He explained with an excitable passion.

"Nightwings are still important," Sunny piped up. "They're the reason we're here to help stop the war! I'm sure Rainwings are important somehow, too..."

"That's precisely what I mean!" He grinned with eagerness before noticing a certain scroll in the shelves, "there it is!" He reached to grab it, but then suddenly, a sound echoed through from another tunnel. A loud, frantic mooing.

"Cows!" Sunny glanced up, eager, before she rushed off. She sensed a slight, brief sadness from Starflight, before she looked back and saw him following.

"Hey I want some cows too!" Clay ran out from the corridor to get to the cows, much to the annoyance of Kestrel.

"But you---grrrr, fine. You get half an hour, then back to training!" She called after them.

"Thank you, Kestrel!" Sunny called down, before chasing after Clay.

Living under a mountain had quite a few benefits and drawbacks. Sunny's friends could only really see the drawbacks, but Sunny could tell that there were a lot. They didn't have to sleep in the cold. They got all the tasty cows they could ever want. And, most importantly, Sunny had her friends. All of which had managed to beat her to the cows and were chewing at them.

Sunny would say that in terms of a best friend, Starflight the Nightwing came the closest. Starflight was smart, and he really liked to study. He definitely preferred it over fighting, that was for sure. Sunny agreed, but mostly because she wasn't fond of conflict herself. He was also a dark colour, capable of blending in at night (this was evident when the Talons had some struggles finding him after torches out when he was a hatchling, who would just keep wandering around the dark caverns) and had scattered silver scales across his wings that were like stars. Instead of instantly going for a cow, he had brought the scrolls from earlier and was reading through them despite the massacre behind him from Tsunami the Seawing (who we'll get to in a bit) disembowling a cow. Sunny appreciated Starflight, especially as he was mostly calm and calculated, and he didn't dwell on problems too much. Well, other than the thing where he didn't seem to have either of his tribe's Nightwing powers: mind reading or future sight. And nobody knew why. "We should study some more tonight," he said aloud.

"Sure. Right after we aren't starving anymore," Clay the Mudwing agreed, as he ate up his cow eagerly. Clay was also a very nice dragon. Despite what Kestrel insisted, he was definitely NOT a monster. He was very kind, a gentle giant. Definitely not the kind to bite someone's tail barb off as a hatchling.

"Can I pick what we get to study?" Tsunami spoke up, her jaws and claws still bleeding after viciously attacking the cow. If Sunny was forced to say she had a least favourite, with everyone's life on the line, it'd probably be Tsunami, but only by a teeny, tiny, speck-of-dust sized margin. This was because she was relatively bossy, and slightly arrogant and rude. She could and would fight anything, the stark opposite of Sunny's peaceful mentality. Apparently, Tsunami was insistent that she was a princess, specifically the princess in some sort of scroll that was written. As bossy as she could be, Sunny still loved her, and knew that if anyone was capable of figuring out the best queen to choose, it would be her. Especially considering how often she focused on the studying of the three Sandwing princesses.

"Not if you're picking the three Sandwing queens again," Molten the Skywing piped up, staring at Tsunami, in clear annoyance. Molten was a relatively stubborn dragon, who preferred battle training over studying mostly. But the problem was that she couldn't really practice against anyone other than her brother, Pumice, due to burning everyone else she touched. So she just had to practice against inanimate objects. Despite this, Sunny knew Molten was a great friend. She was a lot like herself in most ways, as well as being a bit more abrasive, and powerful. Similarly, Pumice was mostly the same. He and his sister were inseparable: they'd do everything together, whether it was training or studying. Sunny would've thought of herself as one or the other's closest friend, if they didn't have each other.

"The three Sandwing queens!" Tsunami spoke up, glancing at the firescale. "Great idea, Molten!"

"Oh joy...." Molten muttered under her breath, even more annoyed. There seemed to be some sort of slight conflict between Tsunami and Molten, but it rarely took on an undesirable form.

"Hey guys!" Sunny spoke up, as the other five glanced over at her. Since most of the good cows were taken, Sunny rushed to the nearby river, with multiple fish swimming along. "RAWR!" She growled loudly as she snatched one in her claws. "That's my fierce hunting cry!" She glanced back at the others for approval. "Wasn't it scary?"

"Ehh... it was..." Tsunami was unsure but then Clay spoke up.

"You were awesome!" He excitedly told her, "keep it up you were really scary!"

"Yeah, very scary..." Pumice carefully took some of the cow and went over to Molten to eat it, seemingly uncomfortable at all the mess Tsunami was making.

"So..." Tsunami glanced up, seemingly full. "Are we ready to act it out?"

"Ugghghhhh..... do we have to???" Molten groaned. Her anger was radiating out along with her heat.

"Alright!" Tsunami walked around, apparently not listening to her. "I'm assigning parts. Clay, Pumice, you two can be two of the scavengers. We, uhh... don't have enough roles for a third."

"Can't I be something else? What about Queen Oasis?" Pumice asked before muttering something else under his breath, "then I don't have to be involved for too long..."

"I think it'd make more sense for Sunny to be Queen Oasis," Tsunami replied, nodding to the Sandwing in a tone that implied she felt proud of herself for that decision. "I mean, she is our Sandwing..."

"If you really don't want to be a scavenger, we could swap," Sunny offered to Pumice.

"That'd be nice, thank you."

"Bu---grrr, fine." Tsunami didn't seem pleased that she had been ignored. "Molten, you'll be Princess Blister, the smart one."

"Fine." She seemed reluctant but Tsunami was the most stubborn out of the six. Nine if including the Talons. Tsunami and Molten had a sort of rivalry as they often argued and figuratively butted heads.

"I'll be Princess Burn, the strong one. Obviously. And Starflight, you can be Blaze, the one the Sandwings like."

"The pretty one," Pumice added.

"Why do I always have to be her?"

"Stop complaining. Let's just start."

20 years ago, the mighty Queen Oasis was stood guarding her treasure.

"My treasure, nobody gets to it!" Pumice Oasis said to her favourite treasures. There was gems, and gold, and all sorts of amazing artifacts. All of which had gathered the attention of three scavengers, although due to an inexplicable reason, one of them had been eaten by a vulture prior to this.

"Squeak squeak!!" A large scavenger ran inside, much taller than Oasis herself. "Treasure is mine!" After noticing the size difference, the scavenger tried to crouch so that he was smaller, but didn't really succeed.

"Squeak squeaker squeak! And other annoying scavenger noises!" A smaller scavenger joined the large one, waving a stick large, serrated sword around. "Squeak squeaky----" She and Oasis trailed off and burst into laughter at the sight of the large scavenger crouching so he was shorter than the queen. Suddenly, Princess Burn stuck her head into the room, looking very annoyed.

"Can't you three be a bit more serious? The queen--- I mean mom is meant to be killed here!" Burn told her mother and the dragon sized scavengers.

"Right, right...." Oasis stood up and loomed over the scavengers. "Rrrraaaaaaarrrr! You will not touch my treasure you p-puny scavengers! I will crush you like grapes under my talons and...." Oasis had to stop as she was stifling back laughter.

"Not again..." Burn sighed and put her talons over her face. "Let's just get to the fight already..."

"Okay!" The smaller scavenger charged and stabbed the sti---sword straight through Queen Oasis' heart.

"Owwie!" She clutched at the sword and quickly fell down, "oh noo I'm dead! Bleh!" Oasis stuck her tongue out.

"Oh no!!" The three Sandwing princesses, Burn, Blister and Blaze ran in. "Scavengers killed our mother dear!" Blister cried, as she ran over and held Oasis' corpse in her talons. "MOTHER!!! WHYYYYY!!!! OHHH, HOW COULD YOU HAVE FORSAKEN US FROM SOME PUNY SCAVENGERS!!!!!"

"Uhh, since when were you one to care about her?" Starflight---Blaze asked.

"Since always!" Blister responded. "I have always deeply cared for her as a fragile adorable precious dragon!"

As the small scavenger observed, she could sense fury building up in Burn as she said this.

"Ignore it." Burn muttered. "What will we do now? None of us killed her, who will take the throne?"

"I, Blister, am the one who loved her the most---" Blister began, but Burn glared at her in pure fury. "Uh, I mean... I'm the smartest, so I should take the throne!"

"Well, I, Burn, am the strongest and eldest!" Burn replied.

"I, Blaze, am the youngest and would have the longest reign!" Blaze added.

"And?" Burn looked at Blaze.

"sigh... and I'm also the prettiest..."

Upon hearing that, Blister, Burn, the two scavengers and the dead Queen all burst into laughter.

"There we go, was that so hard?" Burn asked the group.

"Yes." Blister responded, helping to ressurect her mother's corpse.

"You all were so bad at this... next time we're going over this until you get everything right." Tsunami was very displeased.

"Like there'll be a next time...." Molten replied, equally displeased at the prospect of having to repeat this.

"What about the boring stuff where they all pick their alliances?" Sunny piped up. This was probably her favourite bit.

"That's Starflight's job," Tsunami replied.

"Harsh...." Starflight mused, but started the speech. "Burn is allied with the Skywings and Mudwings. She could crush the others like bugs in claw-to-claw combat. If she wins, she'll probably keep the war going just for fun."

"I don't really think that's preferable..." Pumice responded. "The war sure doesn't sound fun."

"Blister's allied with the Seawings. She's smarter than the other two put together. But she's also conniving. If she wins, she'll probably try to take over the other tribes. It was her idea to start the war, since she knew she couldn't kill Burn in a regular duel for the throne."

"Smart does sound good..." Molten evaluated. "But on the other talon, an extreme takeover doesn't sound.... preferable."

"Blaze is the Sandwing favourite, and allied with the Icewings, but Burn would easily destroy her. And she's about as smart as a concussed sheep. Thank you sooo much for always making me play her, Tsunami."

"We do have to pick one, right?" Sunny asked. "When we fulfill the prophecy? But none of them are really good...."

"Maybe Sunny here's the secret Princess instead of you Tsunami." Molten said smugly to irritate Tsunami.

"Huh??" Sunny looked up, sharply, in confusion. "But... I'm not part of the royal family..."

"Great work, Molten," Tsunami mockingly replied. "You confused Sunny more than you annoyed me."

"I'm going to get more of the cow if Clay hasn't eaten all of it..." Molten left in irritation.

"Hey, wait!" Pumice ran after her. Sunny could sense that he was worried for his sister.

"Do you two always have to fight?" Sunny asked Tsunami.

"She started it." She rolled her eyes in irritation yet still, Sunny could tell that Tsunami still cared about her deep down. After that, she looked up to Sunny with a surprising urgency. "Hey, didn't you say you saw a snail earlier? Did you get a chance to show it to Pumice?"

"Oh! No, I didn't!" Now that she had remembered it, Sunny decided to try and find it so that she could show her friend. She swiftly turned and rushed off. But as she left, she felt an odd.... relief from everyone around her. "Huh? Eh, they're probably worried that Pumice won't get to see the snail."

Sunny continued along, feeling mostly cheerful. After that, her mind slowly began to wander. She thought about the snail, and how much Pumice would react over it.... then about Pumice himself, and his sister too... and then about how they were both here with the other prophecy dragonets.... and then the prophecy itself. Sunny still didn't know the exact details of the prophecy, or how any of it would work. Apparently, between the sisters who blistered and blazed and burned, two would die and one would learn. So if the dragonets of destiny chose one of the princesses to be queen, would the other two die on the spot? Did they have to kill the other two to ensure that it worked? Sunny really hoped not. She didn't want to have to kill anyone. Even if that was what the prophecy implied....

Although, now that she was thinking about it, what exactly was the living sister learning? How to be a queen? Perhaps.... or did it really have to be a royal family member? Maybe there was some other Sandwing out there, that would've made a better queen than any of them... like herself? She thought about what Molten had said earlier. She may not have been a princess, but if she were, she knew she'd be great at it. She'd protect everyone, treat the Sandwings fairly, make sure the war wouldn't continue... Sunny continued to smile happily before she arrived at the river. "Right... the snail was meant to be around here somewhere...." She looked slightly closer to the water... and then directly into the water, as she caught her own reflection. And once again, she felt saddened.

When she was younger, Sunny would spend time looking between her and Dune's reflections. And they really helped to emphasise the stark differences between them. While Dune's eyes were a very dark brown, with the black sclera nearly blending into the iris, Sunny had easily visible pupils due to her emerald green eyes, and her sclera being white like everyone around her. Dune was a relatively pale beige colour (slightly darker than Pumice's) but Sunny was golden with some pale silver only she really noticed. Dune was large, but Sunny was tiny, and, the most glaring difference: Sunny had no venomous barb on her tail. She sighed as she stared deeper into her own reflection. "Who am I kidding? There's definitely a better Sandwing queen candidate than the sisters, but it can't be me.... I'm hardly a Sandwing at all." Of all the scrolls Starflight had, all Sunny wanted was a scroll telling her why this had happened. Even if Clay had bitten her barb off (which she refused to believe), that wouldn't explain her size and scales. Dune's theory of her being premature was plausible, but didn't explain the eyes. The most likely theory was the one that saddened her the most: Kestrel's that she was defective. Which wasn't exactly fun knowledge....

"I wish I could just be normal...." She muttered, as she slowly layed down next to the water. She had forgotten what she wanted here, anyway. She just sighed, and closed her eyes slightly. She needed to think of something to cheer her up... sunlight, like the one she saw in the skyhole for the study room.... green grass and trees, and nature in general.... she sighed. It all seemed so peaceful... so surreal.... so....

Without any warning, she heard loud cackling. Abruptly, Sunny looked up, only to see Kestrel looming over her. At least, her mind instantly flashed to Kestrel, but only a second later, she realised it wasn't. This dragon was roughly Kestrel's size, and had a weird scarlet colour to her scales. She also had... jewels? Embedded in her scales?? Not to mention, wherever she was, it wasn't the river. It looked like the natural scene she had been picturing earlier. The dragon sneered at her, almost psychotically, before reaching for her face, her talons extended. Sunny opened her mouth to scream, but as she did, her eyes properly flew open. She gasped in shock, and looked around. No other dragons were there anymore. No nature. Only the river she had been laying next to. What had just happened...? "Don't be silly... It was all a very weird daydream... she sighed as she looked into the water. "What truly was I meant to be...?"

CRASH!!!

"Hm??" Sunny glanced up, sharply. That was the boulder that blocked the entrance moving. What was going on? She rushed through the tunnels, and glanced up, before she gasped. Kestrel, Webs and Dune were greeting a tall, menacing-looking Nightwing. He didn't look particularly happy to be here, and Sunny could tell that he was feeling rather... judgmental at the moment.

"Hello, Morrowseer." Kestrel bowed slightly to him as greetings. "I'm surprised you didn't tell us you would be coming sooner."

"I expect that you've been managing the dragonets well?" Morrowseer asked as the Talons of Peace stepped aside to properly let him in.

"Well, of course we have," Dune responded. Upon hearing that, Sunny decided to speak up herself.

"Yeah," she exclaimed, stepping out from the tunnel. "Really well!"

"Sunny?" Kestrel looked surprised. "Oh, uhh, well..."

"And what is this?" He glared at her, seemingly peering into her mind. "Why does she look like... this."

"She's a Sandwing. The prophecy asked for one." Kestrel glanced up at him. "We can't help if she's defected."

Defected. Even though Sunny knew it was true, it hurt every time to be called that way, even if Kestrel didn't seem to be intending to hurt her feelings.

"Defected?" He seemed quite annoyed, when they suddenly heard more talking.

"Sunny?" Tsunami poked her head around the corner, as Clay and Starflight followed. "What's going on---" She glanced up in shock of the giant dragon. "Wha... who are you?"

"Oh, this is Morrowseer!" Sunny introduced them. "The one who made our prophecy!"

"Morrowseer?" Tsunami looked up, and Sunny could sense something odd in her.... hope? And then she opened her mouth. "Can you get us out of here?

"HUH???" Sunny looked just as shocked by this as the other talons of peace, and Kestrel seemed furious.

"Hush, you ungrateful dragonet," she snapped.

"You are not ready. I can tell." He said while his eyes seemed to be piercing into her soul. Despite Tsunami not showing it, she immediately felt fear at his presence.

"But we can't just stay trapped under this mountain!!" Tsunami cried out.

"Yeah.... we have tons to see! I've never even seen another Mudwing!" Clay exclaimed.

"Clay???" Sunny looked rather hurt.

"Hmph. You will see one when you are ready."

"You really want me to prove I'm ready? I can definitely prove it!"

"Well, maybe we do still need to study a bit more before we can go out into the open..." Starflight spoke up. "Don't want to get eaten by Skywings."

Sunny sighed with relief. At least Starflight hadn't lost his mind.

"And why aren't you in charge of these... failures?" He took the scroll from his talons. "Nightwings should be in charge. Not a dragon with glowing scales."

"Huh?" Sunny looked confused. "What's this about being in charge?"

"Well... you seem to listen to this Seawing a lot more than the Nightwing."

Sunny felt the anger rising in him, prompting her to get angry too. "Firstly, their names are Tsunami and Starflight. And secondly, Tsunami's pretty good at figuring out how good a person is. If anyone can save the day, it's her."

Tsunami looked at Sunny, quite surprised, before smiling slightly, clearly pleased by the compliment.

"Don't go questioning my authority, you defective Sandwing." He growled angrily, upsetting Sunny. "I know what the prophecy called for. Five Dragonets. Not four and a half."

"B...b...but I....."

"Guys?" Molten appeared, oddly without Pumice. "What's going on---oh my!!" She glanced up at the massive Nightwing. "Who are you?"

"Firescale." He smiled slightly, "it seems one of you is a good candidate."

"Oh, uhh, thanks..." She nodded slightly.

"Yeah, she really is cool!" Pumice appeared from the corner, which caught Morrowseer off guard. "Sorry, I was distracted by a snail by the river. It looked really cool!"

"And who is this weakling?" The smile instantly vanished and his mind was filled with thoughts of rage, "what are you? Pathetic thing, caring for snails? Snails aren't important enough for anyone to care about. I can tell you are more pathetic than the defective Sandwing."

"Wh-wha??" Pumice stared up, even more hurt than Sunny had been.

"How dare you!!" Kestrel hissed, as she ran to her son. "Pumice might look frail, but he's very capable in a battle. At least he can actually fight, unlike the Mudwing..."

"There were five dragonets that were intended to hatch on the night. Not six." He snapped back at her.

"Five dragonets for the prophecy," Webs spoke up. "We've been considering that only one of these two are part of the prophecy."

"And we're currently unsure which," Kestrel added. "But either way, they're both fine the way they are."

"Then you will have to get rid of the one that is not part of the prophecy. Any means possible. They cannot tell the location of the dragonets."

"WHAT???" Kestrel glared up in horror. "No! I can't! They've been living here with the other dragonet for their entire life. They can keep living here."

"Trapped under this mountain?? No way!!" Tsunami yelled.

"Ah... so be it. Looks like the vision I had the other day had meaning."

"Vision...?" Starflight asked.

"Yes. I'm sure you had that vision too, right?" He loomed closer to Starflight. The dragonet was panicking slightly... Sunny knew he couldn't get caught out.

"What vision?" She asked Morrowseer.

"I saw two Skywings.... and one was gone within a week. This means that the false dragonet shall die. Whether it's from an accident or the talons of another, they shall not be living on Pyrrhia by the next week."

Everyone stared up in shock. "No, no!! You can't do this!!" Kestrel cried. "There has to be a way!"

"Well, if you sell them out to the Skywing Queen within that time, it's possible they could live. Maybe if they do well, even earn their freedom."

Kestrel turned her head to her son, looking despaired.

"NO!!!" Tsunami charged at Morrowseer, scratching at his shoulder. Clay joined in, and tried to bite his back, but Sunny could sense some sort of pain from Clay. Those scales must be tough...

"Get off me!" He shook them off with ease, before glaring at them angrily.

"You can't just let Pumice die!!" Tsunami yelled. "He did nothing wrong!!"

"SILENCE."

Instantly, everyone else fell silent. Sunny could feel all sorts of emotions in the room. Pumice was petrified, Clay and Tsunami were angry, Kestrel seemed devastated, and Morrowseer was just.... stern. Sunny could feel her anger rising as well. As Morrowseer observed the other four, Sunny then noticed his tail nearby. In her anger, she didn't give herself an opportunity to think properly, and bit the tip of his tail.

"OW!!" He yelled in shock, before he glanced down. Sunny could sense shock, and a slight bit of... smugness?

"Well done. I didn't think you were capable. Turns out you are."

"Of course I am!" Sunny glared up at him. "I-I am the Sandwing of destiny. I know it."

"Seems then you're going to do well." Sunny was confused. His tone was.... hard to pin. He had somehow changed his mind on Sunny, all because she bit him. Something felt.... wrong. "Now then...." He glanced at Starflight. "I'm sure you used your powers to know that I wasn't going to hurt them. And now you also know that I'm going to take you into the other room to talk."

"R-right... I knew that..." He was very nervous but obeyed. They walked off, and Sunny could sense him feeling quite sad. However, she suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of anger beside her.

"How DARE you!!!" Kestrel glared at Tsunami. "We've been raising you in safety for ages and you have the AUDACITY to complain???"

"Safety? You mean isolated from the outside world!"

"Because of your complaining, my son's in danger!!!" Kestrel yelled. Sunny could tell Kestrel didn't really believe that, but she felt awful, and she needed to project the blame onto someone.

"Umm, it was a vision... doesn't that mean it was going to happen even if he didn't tell us...?" Clay asked.

"Silence!!" Kestrel stormed off. "I need some time to myself."

"Oh..." Clay laid down, feeling guilty for what he said.

"This is awful...." Pumice curled his wings around himself, distressed. "I don't wanna die..."

"I won't let you die, even if I have to kill whatever will make you die." Molten tried to reassure him but it didn't work too well.

"B-but what if it's an accident? You can't k-kill the ground..."

"Then... don't try anything dangerous. Avoid any stalactites and don't go into the river. Easy!"

"Something isn't right here...." Clay muttered. "Morrowseer said he'd survive if we handed him over to the Skywing Queen. So it can't be an illness of some sort."

"Maybe that's what we should do." Tsunami told the group, "get out and find the queen. Then we're all able to help out and begin stopping the war!"

"Wait, wait, guys!" Sunny spoke up, catching all their attention. "Where did this whole 'let's run away from the mountain' thing start?"

The other four all looked between each other, before Clay spoke up. "A while ago... we weren't too happy here, just being cramped under a mountain.... you like it a lot, though. And you aren't great at keeping secrets."

"I--what???" Sunny glanced up, upset. "I'm plenty capable of keeping secrets."

"Well you told the Talons what we were doing with the river a few years ago."

"That was an escape attempt???" Sunny asked in shock. "You told me that was a breath-holding contest! So that's why we were grounded...."

"Not like it'd get anywhere..." Tsunami groaned, "Webs must've put grates in the river so we couldn't escape even if we wanted..."

Sunny thought for a moment. She knew that when it came to Nightwing prophecies, they were always right one way or another. No matter what they did, something could happen to Pumice. She had also heard stories of the Skywing Queen from Kestrel as a hatchwing. She barely remembered them, but all she knew was that she was bad news. She couldn't let Pumice be taken.... maybe it was time to escape.

"Why are you all talking about escaping??" Dune demanded, approaching them. "You aren't leaving. Trust us, nothing will happen to Pumice."

"But what if something does happen to him?"

"It won't!!" He growled. "We'll need to talk to Kestrel. Come on Webs."

"Right..." Webs walked off with him, before glancing back. "You lot still need to do some studying. Lots of it."

"Oh come on!" Molten groaned, "we're trying to save my brother here!"

"And you think we aren't??" Dune replied. "Study cave. Now."

"Fine..."

Sunny sat down, feeling nervous in more ways than one. Starflight still hadn't returned, despite it being ten minutes already. And it wasn't really fun to study without him. The others seemed to agree, as they were just flipping through the scrolls in boredom. Well, other than Pumice.

"Are you okay...?" Sunny walked over to Pumice's side.

"N-no..."

Sunny looked down. "I really don't want you to die..... but.... will you really be okay by Scarlet?"

"I... I hope so..."

"We don't have to resort to that," Tsunami insisted. "If we just escape..."

"But how will that help??" Sunny asked.

"Uhh...." Tsunami thought. "Well, it just said he won't be living on Pyrrhia. Maybe we can find a temporary island to hide on? And then we can return and choose a Sandwing queen."

"Ah... that is pretty smart." Clay seemed in agreement, when they suddenly noticed Starflight entering the study cave. "Starflight! How was it?"

"Uhh... okay." He tried to say with confidence but Sunny could tell he wasn't.

"What did he say?" Sunny asked, worried.

"I don't think I can share..."

"Starflight, I know how you feel," Sunny told him. "You seem pretty distressed, and put under pressure. What did he say to you?"

"Wha? How did you know that??" He was quite shocked she was able to tell his emotions so easily.

"Hm? I, uh... I just know. Wasn't it obvious?" She looked at the others for confirmation.

"No... I couldn't tell..." Clay informed her.

"Huh?"

"Nope. I don't think anyone could." Molten then responded.

"Well that's.... weird...."

"...Anyway, what happened, Starflight?" Tsunami asked.

"Uhh, I think Morrowseer wouldn't want me to tell."

"Who cares what Morrowseer thinks??" The agitation was radiating out of Tsunami's voice. Although, Sunny didn't exactly listen to whatever she said afterwards. Everyone could tell Tsunami was angry, right? Like, her teeth were baring, her eyes were narrowed... all clear visible signs of anger. But Sunny thought that everyone could read dragons like books. That the energy they emitted made their current moods obvious, even without the facial expressions. It was obvious.... wasn't it?

"P-please stop... I should go study like we're meant to be doing..." Starflight went to the scrolls and buried himself within.

Clay sighed. "It's alright, Starflight. We won't push you. But if he said something harsh, don't let it get to your head."

Even though Starflight nodded, he still seemed stressed and upset over whatever Morrowseer had said. Sunny wanted to help him but she didn't know how.

"...What are we going to do, then?" She asked.

"The plan still stands," Tsunami replied. "We escape. Starflight, do you have any ideas?"

"Molten could try in the river. I doubt whatever is blocking us can withstand her heat."

"But I don't like being in the water. I make it too hot for everything and too cold on my body..."

"Hm..." Sunny thought slightly. "Hey, what about the--"

"It's not that bad!" Tsunami interrupted, "just hold your breath for a bit and melt it open!"

"Will I even be able to melt it underwater??" Molten asked.

"Guys!" Sunny tried to speak up. "I have an---"

"You boil the water when you sit in it for only a minute. You can melt through it with ease."

"There's no way our mom and the other talons wouldn't notice before---"

"I HAVE A PLAN!!" Sunny yelled loudly, but no one seemed to notice.

"We shouldn't force Molten to swim if she doesn't want to," Clay exclaimed.

"But then how else are we getting out??" Tsunami demanded.

Sunny just groaned slightly. This was pointless.... she walked off, as the other Dragonets continued to negotiate. She wished that sometimes, the others would take her seriously. No one ever listened when she had a plan, even a really good one. Surely, she could just fly up through the skyhole in the study area if she wanted to. But she didn't want to, since she wasn't sure what to do from there.

"Sunny...?"

Sunny turned to notice Pumice rushing towards her. Sunny could still feel his terror. "Poor little dragonet.... musn't be fun to be told you're going to die soon..."

"I'd like to hear your plan..." He looked at her, desperate to find a solution.

"Really?" Sunny looked at him with relief. "Well... I wanted to try fly up through the hole in the study room. And after that... uhh...."

"Starflight says there's a boulder which is locked, and only Dune has the key," Pumice informed her. "But it should be able to be opened from the outside."

"Oh, that's perfect!"

"Okay, so I think you're still small enough to try and go through the hole and open it that way. Good luck."

Sunny nodded and opened her mouth to thank him when she suddenly heard some sounds. She could hear the adult dragons approaching.

"So what do we do...?"

Sunny looked up sharply, and nodded to Pumice, before they both hid nearby. Soon after, the talons walked into the room, all discussing.

"I can't let anything happen to Pumice.... I just can't...." Kestrel seemed furious and distraught, all at once.

"We know you don't but you know what he's like... I'm not sure if we have a choice..." Webs informed her.

"It's such a painful decision..." She muttered. "I've been trying hard to protect him from Scarlet, but if it means we won't have to kill him...."

"We still have a week Kestrel." Dune told her, "don't immediately decide on something you'll regret later."

She sighed slightly. "I guess that's fair... but Morrowseer told us he's coming back tomorrow. What are we going to do about Sunny?"

"Me??" Sunny and Pumice exchanged concerned glances as they continued to listen.

"I'm not sure yet..."

"You did hear what Morrowseer said, right?" Webs asked.

"Of course I did!" She snapped at him, quite irritated but also scared for Pumice's safety.

"I'm not saying we should... but we still have to consider it..."

"Can't we change the subject??" She growled.

"Well, that Morrowseer should know that we can't help how Sunny is," Dune growled softly.

Kestrel sighed and went to the entrance, from what Sunny could tell, she wanted to clear her head from the disaster that had occurred. Dune and Webs went their own way, to the study room. That left Sunny and Pumice alone.

"I don't understand why he's so agitated," Sunny told Pumice. "Specifically with me...."

"I'm not sure either, you seem fine as you are."

"Yeah... like they said, they have a Sandwing for the prophecy. That's what matters..." She trailed off slightly as she saw Pumice looking up behind her in shock and horror. Confused, Sunny turned, and gasped upon seeing the large Nightwing from before. "Gah! Uh... Morrowseer!"

"I wish to talk to you, Sandwing."

Sunny opened her mouth to agree, but then noticed that Pumice was shaking his head slightly. From Pumice, she could sense concern, and from Morrowseer, he seemed to be.... she couldn't tell, but it was a sinister feeling. "I... only if Pumice listens."

"This is a private conversation." He began to guide Sunny away with his wing.

Sunny looked back at Pumice, who looked concerned, before she reached a small cave that Starflight enjoyed going to when he wanted to read in private. Sunny felt Morrowseer curl his tail around her slightly, so edged away, uncomfortable. "What's this about?"

"Well, it's possible you are not the one in the prophecy from the visions I have seen."

Sunny glanced up, in utter confusion, before she weakly laughed. "That can't be right. I hatched on the Brightest Night, and my egg was hidden in the dunes from the rival queens."

"Well it's possible that I saw another. It's not impossible for another egg to be hidden."

"Wha...." Sunny stared up, reading him as more solemn. "But... which one's the one in the prophecy?"

"Why would I know? I only can tell there's another, not which one they might be."

Sunny looked down, worried. "Well, I have just as much chance of being the Sandwing as they do, so---"

"Still." Morrowseer glared downwards at her. "Let's suppose you are. It is rather disappointing that we have a defect like you.... but I believe you are confident you can solve the prophecy. Correct?"

"O-oh....." Sunny thought for a few moments. "So.... I might not be the one in the prophecy? I... I'll do my best."

"Very well." Morrowseer nodded. "But I am certain that if I come across another dragonet born on the brightest night, then they are our prophecy Sandwing instead."

"Wait.... what???? You wouldn't even consider??"

"Prophecies are complicated," Morrowseer mused. "I'm quite certain that fate wouldn't have given us a defect like you."

Sunny slowly looked him in the eyes. That... stung... a lot.... "B-but....."

Morrowseer was silent, glaring at her as if he was telling her to leave. Sunny looked back up at him, as her mind felt overwhelmed. Scared by his glare, she hung her head low and closed her eyes, trying to hold back tears. But as she closed her mind, something flashed before her eyes. Some sort of blurry picture... Sunny was stood in front of a Sandwing, again, blurry, so she couldn't tell who the Sandwing was, let alone if they were someone she knew. She was slowly handing them something, and she could vaguely hear herself say, 'Sandwing Queen'. Upon seeing that, her eyes flickered open, and she looked around. She was back in the cave with Morrowseer.

"What in....?" She thought to herself. "What just happened....? Was that a daydream?"

"Leave my presence this instance Sandwing."

"R-right." Sunny slowly walked off, feeling terrible.

"Sunny?" Pumice asked, "are you okay?"

Sunny sighed as she looked at him. "I don't know what to think.... it's nothing too major."

"I don't trust him, first Starflight, now you? What is he saying to make you feel this...?"

"Well... he had a vision..." Sunny sighed and curled her wings around herself. "He says it's a possibility that I'm not the Sandwing in the prophecy. There's apparently probably another one."

"That doesn't make sense! How can there be another?"

"Morrowseer said so. There must've been another Sandwing whose egg was found hidden in the sands.... and hatched on the brightest night...." As Sunny kept muttering, she glanced down at her tail. "And has a venomous barb..."

"Even if he sees another, I still believe you're the right one."

"Really...?" Sunny looked up at him.

"Of course, you're my friend."

Sunny looked down. "And you're my friend... but Morrowseer says that we both may not be prophecy dragonets."

"And? I still want to leave. Maybe that could lead us to escaping and being able to free the others. And... I don't want to die..."

Sunny looked at him, sensing a lot of determination from him. Even if she turned out not to be part of the prophecy, she could still help the others escape to fulfil their part... "You're right."

"You're welcome."

"No! Let me go!!"

"Huh?!" Sunny glanced up and ran down the corridor, after the yelling. She recognised it as Tsunami's. What had happened? She got her answer as she appeared, to see Tsunami with a chain around her neck which was tied to a pole. Dune held her still while Kestrel tied it up, and Webs put his wings up to stop Clay, Starflight and Molten from getting to her. "Tsunami!!" Sunny cried, running over. "What're you doing??"

"The way she spoke up right in front of Morrowseer..." Kestrel snarled, glaring at Tsunami. "So ungrateful!"

"It's the truth!! He insulted everyone and walked all over you three!"

"We sacrifice everything for you and this is how you treat us?!" Kestrel cried. "Maybe some time away from the water will make you understand." She turned to leave when her dragonets ran in front of her.

"Don't you see what you're doing?" Molten asked, feeling devestated.

"Please... I'm not in the mood for this." Kestrel told her firmly. "I've just been told my son's going to die unless I hand him to a tyrant. I do NOT need any insolence from Miss I'm-definitely-a-princess-and-my-mother-will-punish-you-all-for-this!"

"What if I was the one who's not part of the prophecy? Or if you had to punish me." She told her, "I know that Tsunami isn't the perfect dragonet but even this is maddening!"

"I'm just trying to protect both of you!!" Kestrel yelled. "Why does no one understand that???"

"Mom..." She looked away.

"It's up to you, Pumice...." Kestrel slowly looked at Pumice, tears welling in her eyes. "I tried to negotiate with Morrowseer, but he says you'll only be saved if you are sent to Queen Scarlet's palace. I... I just..."

"There has to be another way."

"You lot are free to figure it out..." Kestrel muttered. "Pumice, Molten, come with me."

The siblings reluctantly followed, as Dune and Webs once again left, possibly to speak further to Morrowseer.

"I'm really sorry about what happened, Tsunami..." Sunny muttered.

"None of this is your fault Sunny." She said as she attempted to unsuccessfully free herself.

"I know.... but I still feel sorry for you, Starflight, Pumice, Molten, Kestrel... pretty much everyone but Dune and Webs and Clay since nothing bad's happened to them."

"Yes but we can't just sit here and mope around. We have to do something, even if we have to plan for the entire week on how to escape."

"But I already have--"

"I need to convince Molten to come with me, even quickly, maybe you can convince her when she's back?"

"RRRGHHH!!!! Fine, but it'd be nice to listen to my ideas once in a while...." Angered, Sunny slowly walked off, but it wasn't long before Starflight caught up.

"Sunny?"

"Hm?" Sunny glanced back. "Oh... Starflight."

"I'm sorry the others aren't listening to you..."

Sunny sighed. "I just don't like it when they don't listen... it's not fair! I have good ideas."

"They're trapped in their own thoughts so don't care to listen..."

Sunny sighed and looked down, before she looked him in the eye. "Be honest with me... did you know about their plan to escape Jade Mountain?"

"Yes..." He said with a sigh. Sunny could sense slight remorse in his voice.

"Oh...." Sunny looked down. "Is it really that bad down here..?"

"Well... when you've read every scroll here and memorised every detail of the cave... it gets... boring."

Sunny looked back up at him. That hadn't really dawned on her. Occasionally, she'd sense some sort of dissatisfaction from the others, besides Pumice. She and Pumice loved to look around and see small critters often crawling around the caves. She had heard Tsunami refer to it as 'Sunny-excited' and not 'normal-excited', but Sunny just rebutted that they weren't excited about enough things. But come to think of it... all those trees and the foliage she had imagined... she definitely would've wanted to see it in real life. "Yeah..." She muttered aloud. "See all the nature.... maybe see the kingdom of sand.... and maybe even...." She looked up at Starflight. "Find our parents."

"That's why we want to leave, but with you often saying whatever is on your mind, we had to keep things quiet."

Sunny sighed. "I can keep secrets. I'll prove it. I'll escape tonight, and free the rest of you."

"Oh, then good luck."

Sunny nodded. "Just try figure out how to free Tsunami. Take care!" She rushed off, headed for the study room. As Starflight left, however, she felt an odd sense of... something from him. Something that diminished while he wasn't looking at her. Odd...

"Are you two okay..?" Sunny asked Molten and Pumice. She had entered to see the two with Kestrel, and once the latter left, she came in to quickly talk to the twins.

"It's... hard to say..." Molten answered.

"I'm still really sorry about everything that's happened..." Sunny held her wing above Molten, getting it as close to her body without accidentally burning herself.

"It's not your fault Sunny, Kestrel is leaving the decision up to Pumice."

"...What're you thinking?" Sunny asked, looking at Pumice.

"I... think... that we have to do your plan."

"Plan?" Molten glanced up.

"Yes. The plan you didn't listen to." Sunny glanced up at the skyhole. "Alright, wish me luck!" She quickly flew up towards it, when she suddenly heard Molten calling to her.

"Sunny! It's too---

"AAHHHH!!" Sunny couldn't get her thighs through the hole and her wings were preventing her from going back.

"Small..."

"Oh for the love of the three moons...." Sunny had tried to fit through by curling her wings around herself, but now she was stuck. She did take this chance, however, to look around at the rocks. And up above.... the three moons shone down. None were full, but they were still glorious.... she stared up at them in wonder, forgetting her predicament for all of two seconds. "Oh, uhh.... it's great up here, at least!"

She heard Molten sigh below. "Tsunami, Starflight and I have flown up here before. You should've told us your grand plan beforehand.... I'm gonna go try get Tsunami." She heard her run off, despite Pumice's protests.

"Molten!! Oh three moons..."

Sunny looked down, even if her own body was blocking the entrance. "This'll be pretty embarrassing when she brings the others...." Before she could say anything else, she suddenly heard some sort of sickly crunching nearby. She sharply glanced up, and noticed that relatively far away, a red dragon was facing away from her. Upon squinting, she realised it was a Skywing... but not Kestrel. It seemed to have.... jewels adorning its body. Why was that familiar...?

"You do not take my jewellery and get away with it." She threw away a small headless body of some bipedal creature wearing what looked like the fur of another animal as it had none of its own.

"Was that.... a scavenger...?" Sunny muttered under her breath. She had seen pictures of scavengers in the scrolls she would often read with Starflight. They were among the most adorable creatures she had ever seen... but her love for them was nothing compared to Pumice. She was very relieved that she had been the one to fly up aside from Pumice, or otherwise... Sunny suddenly realised that the Skywing had spotted her, and stared ahead, concerned for what could happen to her.

"A Sandwing? I don't recognise you." The dragon flew over to her, "if you're allied with one of the other sisters then I'll kill you right now."

Sunny stared up, threatened by the menacing glare in the dragon's expression. "N-n-no... I'm not allied with any of the sisters. I..." She trailed off. "....I'll just be going..." She began struggling again, trying to get back into the study room.

"Are you now? Anyone who is not allied with the sisters shall be prisoner."

"What??" Sunny glanced up in panic, as the dragon reached for her. "No no no stop!! It's not what you think!!!"

"And what is?" She looked at Sunny with a burning glare, the exact opposite that Morrowseer had given her.

Sunny swallowed nervously. What could she tell her? She didn't want to get the others caught out... but then she started to form a small idea in her mind. "Well... you see... I'm the Sandwing of Destiny. You know, the prophecy? The Brightest Night?"

"Oh are you now? Then the rest must be with you." She gave a menacing grin, "thank you Sandwing for allowing me to now take the Dragonets of Destiny for myself."

Sunny laughed, slightly nervously, but managed to make it sound mocking. "Don't be ridiculous. Do you really think all five dragonets would be kept under the same mountain?? This is just the lair of the Sandwing. The other four dragonets are hidden all across Pyrrhia. In different kingdoms." She heard slight tapping beneath her as Pumice seemingly overheard and snuck away, but this Skywing didn't seem to hear. Relieved, she continued. "So, whatever you want the dragonets for, Miss Skywing, I doubt you---"

"Miss?" She looked furious, "are you uneducated??"

"I... huh?"

"How dare you call me miss!" Sunny could feel her breath heating up with fire, "you call me by my title!"

"Title??" Sunny cowered slightly, and continued to struggle. "I don't know who you a..." She trailed off as she suddenly remembered. That daydream... had it somehow predicted this bejeweled Skywing? Wait... she had read scrolls of a certain Skywing who loved embedding jewels into her scales. "Queen Scarlet...."

"There we are." She seemed less angered, so Sunny sighed with relief. That was, until Scarlet abruptly and forcefully pulled Sunny out from the hole, leaving grazes on her wings. "You'll now come with me, Destiny Sandwing."

"What?? No!! I don't want any trouble!!" Sunny began struggling in her grip.

"Then you shouldn't have revealed yourself by getting stuck in that hole." Scarlet held her tighter, her talons pressing against her neck.

Sunny stared ahead in sheer terror. "Wh...what do you even want with me?"

"Likely throw you in the arena. Think about it... a Dragonet of Destiny, in one of my arenas... wouldn't that be simply thrilling?"

"Arena?! No!!!" In panic, she tried to slap her with her tail, but Scarlet managed to catch it, before looking at it, curious.

"Where'd your barb go?"

"Huh? I...." She tried to pull her tail away, to no avail.

"Oh no you aren't. Tell me where it went."

"N-nowhere.... I never had one growing up." Sunny swallowed nervously. Maybe Tsunami was right about being unable to keep secrets.

"Never had one? Then I guess I'll just hand you to Princess Burn. She has quite the collection of oddities... you'll fit right at home when you're stuffed with them all."

"Stuffed?! No no no!!!" Sunny kept struggling. "SOMEONE HELP!!!"

Scarlet just laughed and opened her mouth to say something, when Sunny noticed Dune crawl from behind a rock behind Scarlet, and spoke up.

"Let her go, Scarlet."

The queen turned, startled, and upon seeing Dune, Sunny could sense resentment sparking between the pair.

"You."

"I don't know what you want with these Dragonets..." Dune approached her, slowly. "But I'll stop you here before you try to find and harm any of the others."

"Pumice must've told him what I was doing," Sunny thought, relieved that Dune was playing along.

"Oh are you now?" She grinned, "I know what your history with her is like, let me take this dragonet and I won't tell her you're here."

"These Dragonets are sacred... you can't just take them!!" Dune rebutted.

"Who is 'her'?" Sunny wondered, before she realised. "Oh... Burn. The Skywings are allied with her..."

"So you would rather be killed? Then I'll bring you both to Burn and get her to kill you both in a single swipe."

"No." Dune insisted. "She can kill me all she wants, but I won't let her harm Sunny!!" He charged, attempting to sting Scarlet.

Scarlet flew up high and dragged Sunny with her, looking quite smug. "What's the matter? A bit too high for you?"

"GRRR!!!" Dune glared up in frustration. Sunny quickly took the change to try and wriggle free from Scarlet's grip again.

"Hey!! Don't you dare escape dragonet."

Sunny rammed her in the chest, which allowed for her to slip free. After that, she took off, as fast as she could.

"No matter, my army shall recapture you." She dived down to attack Dune.

"What?? No Dune!!" She stopped flying away and quickly dove down, right as Dune's neck was grabbed.

"Gah...." Dune stared up at Sunny. "Don't come back!! Go!! You have a prophecy to fulfill..."

"B..but..."

"Any last words?" She said to Sunny as she began to twist his neck in an unnatural way, all the while holding down his tail with her back talons.

"No no no no no!!!" Sunny dove and, in desperation, blasted at Scarlet in the hopes that she'd let him go.

"Oops." She smiled and a loud crack was heard. Scarlet let go and Dune was gone.

Sunny screamed loudly as she saw Dune's body hit the ground. "NOOOO!!!!!" She landed right next to him and tried to lift him. "Dune?? DUNE!! Dune, wake up!! Please...!!"

"Didn't you hear the snap? How about I show you it again!" Scarlet slammed down her talons onto his head, cracking his skull.

She screamed again and grabbed him, tears flooding down her face. "No.... Dune.... why..."

"Burn shall be happy to learn he's dead."

Sunny held him close, crying more. "Oh.... Dune..."

"What? Sad over a little death? You'll never make it in this world like that!"

"Why?!" Sunny glared at her. "Why did you have to kill him???"

"Because death is something I find oh so thrilling!" She smirked.

Sunny gazed into the queen's heartless eyes, before growling and lunging right at her. "YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!!"

Scarlet screamed in agony, seemingly felled extremely easily.

Sunny leapt back, in shock. Did she really hit her that hard?? At that moment, she slowly thought about herself. She had never attacked anything with that ferocity... "I didn't mean to hurt you that much..."

"Got you Sandwing!" She shouted as she grabbed Sunny, any injuries non-existent. "You'll be a perfect competitor for the arena."

"Wh-what?!" Sunny tried to struggle free. "But I don't want to kill any dragons!!"

"Then too bad."

"THAT'S ENOUGH!!!"

Sunny and Scarlet glanced up, right as Pumice and Molten landed nearby. Upon seeing them, Sunny's heart sank. "What're you two--"

"Firescale." She muttered under her breath, "oh nothing, she's mine now." She said while glaring at Sunny, her lie was now caught.

"Let her go, now." Molten approached, as her claws continued to scorch the rock beneath them.

"You might be a firescale but I don't fear you."

"Oh, don't you???" Molten flapped her wings and flew up, before diving right towards Scarlet.

Scarlet nimbly dodged by flying up, being much more experienced in the air than Molten. Sunny glared up, angered at once again being held hostage, and began struggling. But as she glanced up, she noticed that Scarlet was staring at something in the distance. Confused, Sunny followed her gaze... and saw Kestrel and Webs with the other three Dragonets. "No no no!! Don't hurt them!!!" Sunny kept struggling.

"Oh? I thought you said the other Dragonets were in different parts of the continent. Seems I'll be getting a lot more for my arena." At that moment, Scarlet nodded back, and Sunny noticed several reddish shapes in the horizon.

"No!!!" Sunny shoved Scarlet back and began to fly towards her friends.

"Oh no you aren't!" Sunny felt Scarlet grab her tail.

"Gah!!! Why are you doing this???"

"Because why not." She striked Sunny hard and everything went dark.

"AGH!!!"

"SUNNY!!!!!"

Chapter Text

It felt like Sunny had been swimming in a void of darkness for over a decade, before she finally could feel something again. She couldn't immediately tell what that something was, since her brain felt completely incapable of comprehending anything. She layed still for a few more minutes, slowly taking in whatever she could feel. After a few minutes, some words were slightly forming in her groggy mind.

"Heat... stiff... tight... dry..."

Even if Sunny couldn't properly think, she felt very slight frustration in that she couldn't really make anything of these thoughts. Her eyelids felt like they had been chained shut, so that wouldn't help.... she waited another few minutes, and now she was able to make slight sense of the words in her mind.

"Heat on my scales... stiff muscles... tight around my ankles.... dry mouth.... the Skywing Queen....."

At that moment, something flashed in Sunny's mind. The evil glare she had seen in the Skywing Queen, Scarlet's eyes, right before she swiped a claw at her face... and then the dark void. Nothing until now. She wasn't sure why she felt what she did... but she definitely wouldn't get the answers lying around. Slowly, she tried to move her muscles, which hurt a lot. "Argh.... agony.... how long was I out for....?" After much more effort, Sunny slowly realised that simply moving wouldn't get her anywhere. After much deliberation, she slowly managed to force her eyes open.... only for them to be flooded with light. "GAH!!!" She squeezed them shut again, her eyeballs feeling the same agony as her muscles. She thought slightly. Was it one of the torches in the caves? She and Starflight had accidentally fallen asleep in the study room, and waking right to that torch hurt her slightly. After much deliberation, Sunny lifted her talons and covered her eyes with them, before she began to open them again. Once they were open, she made out small cracks of light seeping between her fingers. She opened her mouth to ask why the torch was still on, but all that came out was an exhausted groan. Even so, she suddenly heard a familiarly devious voice, apparently a response to her groaning.

"Finally up, are we? Splendid."

"...Huh...?" Sunny slowly removed her talons from her face in confusion. At first, just the light flooded in, but after a bit of wincing, a shape appeared in the light.... a devious Skywing face, with jewels embedded in the scales. "Queen Scarlet....? What are you still doing here....?" She was panicking a lot internally, but was too exhausted to show it. What was Scarlet doing in their sleeping cave? Was she the reason every torch around them was blindingly bright?

"Still doing here? No. You came with me." Scarlet's grin was making Sunny feel even more uneasy.

"C...came....?" As Sunny's eyes adjusted further, she finally built up the strength to remove her claws from her face. As she did, she glanced around, in quite a lot of confusion. Behind Scarlet, and even around them, she could see some sort of... pit, surrounded by pillars. Odd... ropes? Chains? Some sort of material in that category was connecting the top of each pillar, with different coloured blobs on top. But the weird part was that, around the pillars, there was a blur of an orangy blue. After a few seconds, she realised it. Sky. And the blinding light that had kept her eyes shut for a while seemed to be directly from her left. Sunny resisted the urge to look, remembering what Starflight had told her. The sun. The brightest thing any dragon could see. "This isn't Jade Mountain..."

"Correct. Welcome to my arena."

Sunny glanced up, her eyes widening in panic as she remembered. "No.... not the arena....." She began to stand, but somehow, that felt even harder to do than before. At the same time, she heard some odd rattling sounds of chains. She looked around, and now something even bigger had dawned on her: she was atop a pillar herself. Part of the chains that were tying all the tops together. One of the coloured blobs that she now realised were dragons trapped atop these pillars.

"You're a prisoner now. Fight and you might be freed."

"No.... no no no no no...." Sunny put her claws back over her face, feeling again, overwhelmed. "This is terrible..."

"So how was your nap? It seems I had you out for a while. Too bad I didn't do it on that Seawing."

"Grrrr..." Sunny groaned slightly. "It was awful..... wait.... Seawing...?"

"You're a clever little liar but not when the others come out."

Sunny gasped and tried to stand. "The others!!!" She glanced across the pillars, trying to find them. "Where are they???" To her left, she could see other miserable dragons on the pillars, but none her friends. But to her immediate right, she saw a familiar face. "CLAY!!!"

"Huh?" Clay glanced over in shock. "Sunny! You're awake!!"

"What happened???" Sunny cried, when Scarlet suddenly grabbed her head and shoved it down roughly. "Agh!!!"

"No talking to the other prisoners."

"Oww...." Sunny tried to lift her head. "But he's my friend..."

"He is still another prisoner." She lifted her talons off Sunny's head. "Unless you want to be muzzled, you do not talk to them."

"M...muzzled...?"

"Oh you know," she said in a tone that seemed obvious to everyone but Sunny, "getting something to shut your mouth up until your fight in the arena."

Sunny flinched and backed away slightly from Scarlet, sensing how much Scarlet seemed to be enjoying her fear.

"Understood?" She bent down and put her face up against hers.

Sunny trembled slightly and nodded. "Understood..." She looked back at Clay, sadly... but then noticed something golden on the horizon behind him. Like hills.... before she could properly check, Scarlet grabbed her by the chin.

"You see the desert?" She forcefully turned Sunny's face back to her, "enjoy the view, I doubt you'll ever go to the place."

"The... desert? My homeland?" Unable to look back at the golden dunes, Sunny just pictured them in her head. "My parents live here somewhere..."

"Your parents must've not wanted you from what the idiotic prophecy says."

"Wha---no!" Sunny glanced up. "I..." She trailed off as she thought about it. Why was her egg hidden from the rival queens? Was there something that the queens wanted with her? Or did her parents really just.... abandon her.... to be raised by Dune and the other Talons...?

"Seems like they did." She smirked.

"No..." Sunny replied. "You don't know any more than I do. For all we know, it could've been an accident, while they were fighting off snakes! Or they could've done it to hide me from the rival queens as the prophecy states."

"Hmm... I doubt it."

"I... doubt your doubting," Sunny responded, slightly flustered.

"Do we now?" She laughed, "oh you'll be adorable when you die in the arena."

Sunny looked up in panic. "...When do you think that will be, exactly?"

"Hmm... soon." From what Sunny could tell, it seemed to be she accidentally brought herself up further in the line to fight.

"Oh... oh no...." Sunny sighed. She had to try figure out how to get out of this without having to kill or being killed herself. But first, she needed to know about her friends. "So, I know Clay's there, and alright. Now tell me about Starflight, Tsunami, Pumice, Mol---"

"Oh enough of the fast speaking, it's irritating..." She growled. "I'll tell you but it's gross you care about others more than yourself."

Sunny was about to tell her that they were her best friends and of course she'd be worried about her, but she was quite certain that this Skywing wouldn't have cared anyway, so kept her mouth shut as Scarlet elaborated on the condition of her friends.

"Well they're fine, for now."

"....Tell me how they each are."

"Hmm, the Nightwing is quite interesting."

"Well, of course, but he's not a fighter."

"Nonsense. He'll be a spectacle just like the Mudwing, how thrilling to have someone on my side fight in my arena."

"Only the Skywing Queen would be this thrilled to fight someone she's allied with.... What about Tsunami, Molten and Pumice?"

"The Seawing was a pain to capture, I might just minimise her water intake so she's more cooperative."

"What??? No, you can't do that!!"

"Oh but I can, and I sure will do that."

"I won't let you!!!" Sunny began trying to stand again.

"Remember, you're chained up, you can't move from here even if you tried."

"I still won't let you hurt Tsunami!!" She continued to struggle, growing angrier as the chains continued to hold her down.

"Oh dehydration doesn't hurt her, it just makes her easier to use for my fights."

"It's still a terrible thing to do!"

"And what are you going to do about it, you stunted Sandwing?" She said mockingly.

Upon hearing that, Sunny stopped struggling and layed down, looking pretty miserable.

"You're just as pathetic as that fireless Skywing the firescale was protecting."

"Wha---no!!!" Sunny glared up. "He's not pathetic in the slightest!! Where are the Skywings??"

"That firescale got away but I'll find a way to get her soon."

Sunny sighed with relief. Molten was safe... "But what about Pumice?"

"Publicly being displayed in my castle to show what a freak he is. Might be stuffed alongside you."

"But he can't help the way he is!! In fact..." Sunny had to come up with something, and fast. Another lie? She could definitely keep this a secret. "We think he's the wings of Sky!!"

"Oh is he now? Then it seems I've completed the collection. Simple enough to kill all of you, then the firescale will come to my side with ease."

Sunny winced. She had probably made things worse. "She's not going to work for the monster who killed her brother!"

"Maybe. Maybe not, only time shall tell."

Sunny glared directly into her eyes, sensing that Scarlet seemed to be thinking of something malicious. She opened her mouth to talk again, but started coughing. She hadn't realised how dry her throat felt.

"Thirsty? Unusual for a Sandwing."

She shrugged. "The heat feels good, but I guess I'm not completely adjusted to it, yet..."

"You'll have to soon enough when you enter the arena."

Sunny groaned. "Are you obligated to keep bringing that up?"

"Of course, it's my favourite viewing pleasure with every fight being such a thrill. Now, if you don't mind, I'll be checking on the rest of your 'friends'."

"Why are you saying friends like that?" Sunny was confused.

"No reason, ta ta!" She flew off.

Sunny sighed, as she layed her head back down. Hopefully, everything would work out...

"Wow.... I've never seen one before...." Sunny heard those words echoing throughout her mind, as she saw some sort of magical creature before her. One moment it was red, then blue, then it would vanish, before reappearing, as green.... so, so green....

THUD!

"Agh!!!" Sunny shot awake and glanced around, confused. She must have fallen asleep for another while... the sky was now even brighter, as the sun shone directly above. It was midday already... at that moment, she noticed a feathery, bloody mess next to her: a dead bird. Above her, a Skywing was flying, before it flew to Clay, and dropped the bird next to him. Sunny watched as he started to eat it, but didn't seen as eager about food as she was expecting from him. "Clay? Are you okay...?"

"Oh, uh, I just wasn't expecting this to be our meal..." He looked at it with displeasure.

She sighed. "I understand.... but I don't think just starving is a good idea..." Reluctantly, she also began to pick the feathers off the bird and eat it.

"I know..."

As they were eating, Sunny noticed a pair of Skywings flying over to Clay, and landing next to him. Before she could comprehend it, another pair landed on her platform.

"Queen Scarlet wants an audience with you," one of them informed her, as they slowly removed the shackles from around her ankles.

"Just great... why is she obsessed with getting to know me??"

The Skywings then grabbed her by the arms and flew up. Slightly shocked, Sunny attempted to fly herself, only to realise that she still had shackles on her wings. She glanced over to Clay, and saw them doing the same to him.

"Okay..." Sunny thought to herself. "So it's not just me. Must be with the rest of the--"

"Hey!! Back off!! Let me go!!!"

Sunny quickly glanced over, and saw not two, but three Skywings trying to wrangle Tsunami as she fought back.

"So brave..." Sunny thought. "Should I have fought back, too? No... that wouldn't have solved anything. And I'm not as strong as her..."

Promptly, Tsunami vanished from her sight as the Skywings carried Sunny down into a hallway. Once they landed, they continued to drag her along until they reached a large throne room, with Queen Scarlet sat in it, staring down. Next to her, Sunny could see Starflight, looking over in surprising relief, and on the other side, Sunny saw Pumice trapped in a cage, with some sort of muzzle on him.

"Pumice!!" Sunny cried, trying to run over, but the guards quickly held her back.

"You're here to talk to the queen. Don't talk to anyone else."

Sunny sighed, reluctantly, as the guards guided her next to Starflight, with Clay's guards positioning him next to her.

"Where's that Seawing? The deep blue one that was with the rest of them."

Right on cue, the Skywing guard trio appeared, bringing along a reluctant, thirsty Tsunami.

"Ah perfect. Now, onto my announcement." She glanced between the dragonets, seemingly cynically. Sunny stared up, slightly concerned. "For today, you shall be spared. You'll be pitted against weak opponents."

"Wha... really?" Starflight seemed confused.

"Of course. I want my special prisoners for an incredible and thrilling event tomorrow!"

"Why exactly?" Tsunami growled, clearly angered at being captured. "What's tomorrow?"

"If you know enough about me, you shall know. If not, I shall reveal tomorrow."

"We... didn't exactly have many scrolls relating to Skywing royalty..." Sunny told her. "Kestrel didn't seem too bothered about that."

"Then too bad. Kestrel is being searched for as she's on my list."

"Mrr!! MRRRR!!!" Pumice was shaking his head frantically, clearly worried for his mother.

"Poor thing..." Sunny thought. "But if anything Morrowseer said was true, then he's safer here than at Jade Mountain."

"Oh? You know her? Well I'll make sure she doesn't live now." She smirked at Pumice, who had a pleading look in his eyes.

"Mrrrrr!!!!!" He shook his head frantically, tears welling in his eyes.

"Leave him alone!!" Clay snapped at Scarlet.

"Don't tell me what to do! Or I'll go and pit you against the prisoner with the highest win streak."

All five dragonets quickly fell silent. Well, mostly. Sunny could still hear Tsunami panting slightly, clearly distressed, possibly from dehydration. As she heard her, she suddenly noticed a malicious smirk forming on Scarlet's face. What was she planning now...?

"Well Seawing, how does it feel when water is taken from you?"

Tsunami glared right at Scarlet, her distress morphing into pure fury.

"Good. Do well and I might give some back."

"If you really think I'm going to let you force me to fight for your entertainment...." Tsunami growled.

"I will, or you'll die."

The other three looked at Tsunami, sympathetic, before Starflight glanced up to the queen. "May I ask exactly what's going to happen next?"

"I'll just pit you against prisoners that refuse to fight or are to cowardly to be of much entertainment."

"What???"

"If you're the supposed Destiny Dragonets then you should be able to do it with ease."

Sunny stared up at her, in horror. "That's not how the Dragonets of Destiny work! We're here to bring peace to Pyrrhia! Not kill the innocent!"

"What if the queen I support is the one you pick? Then they're not innocent."

Sunny opened her mouth to respond, but shut it after realising she didn't exactly have a response.

"Maybe we won't choose your queen," Tsunami spoke up. "Maybe we'll choose one of the other two."

"I'm sure you'll eventually consider her."

"Well, considering that you're threatening to give Pumice to her for stuffing, we really aren't that eager." Sunny glared up, and she could suddenly sense anger welling in Scarlet.

"Oh are you now? Should she just stuff you all then? Dragonets of Destiny: a collection of taxidermy. How does that sound?"

"There'll never be peace if you just do that!!" Clay yelled. "Don't you want this war to end??"

"Do you want to live? Then you shall fight in my arena."

The four dragonets looked at each other, concerned. "This is dreadful..." Sunny thought. "I don't want to fight anyone... we have to get out of here somehow..."

"I'll make the decision for you. One of you shall enter in right now."

"What????" They all looked back up at her, caught off guard.

"You heard me. I'm sure you'll survive if you're that confident at being our destiny."

"That's not..." Tsunami muttered.

"I'll do it!" Clay spoke up.

"What?? No, Clay!" Sunny glanced at him, concerned. "You can't just kill a dragon!"

"I don't plan to." Clay said this by whispering to the others. "Just keep him long enough for her to get bored. And I don't want to have to let her throw any of you in."

"Very well. I'll go and pick out your competitor. Lock the others back up."

Sunny stared in woe as a pair of Skywings grabbed her, and the others grabbed Starflight and Tsunami. "Please take care..."

Clay nodded, giving a slight smile, as they were taken away.

"What is he thinking???" Sunny heard Tsunami ranting. "He can't even fight against Kestrel... I'm really worried for him..."

"He can... he just doesn't want to hurt her..." Sunny replied. "I just hope he---"

"No talking!" One of the Skywings jabbed her with his claws.

"Ow! Okay okay..." Sunny sighed and looked down, when she suddenly felt.... shock. Surpise. Confusion. Sympathy. Huh? She glanced up. It was like she felt all those emotions at once, emenating from.... she glanced around, but couldn't see much other than the dragons, which clearly weren't any of the above. But this feeling seemed to be coming from.... the wall? Sunny squinted at it, confused, as the Skywing guards oddly paused. They seemed to be looking ahead, but Sunny didn't care to look at whatever they were. She squinted more at the wall, still confused by why it was emitting emotions. "Is... someone there?" She muttered quietly. At once, the emotions seemed to intensify, with fear in the mix. Sunny flinched slightly, when she suddenly heard a loud thudding. She quickly glanced up, and her jaw dropped at the intense size of a Sandwing that had abruptly appeared in front of them.

Despite looking younger than Scarlet, the Sandwing was physically much larger than her, being full of scars and tears in both the sail and wings. And she seemed to have a menacing glare in her eyes, which were as black as Sunny thought the colour black could be. She didn't know where the other guards holding Starflight and Tsunami had gone, or why the guards had stopped with Sunny. All she could sense was some sort of.... she didn't know what she could sense, but it didn't feel pleasant... right on cue, she heard other footsteps, and glanced back to see Scarlet approach the massive Sandwing.

"Queen Scarlet." The Sandwing greeted her, but oddly didn't seem to shift her vision from Sunny. Slightly unnerved, Sunny backed away, before the guards held her in place.

"Ah, why hello, Burn. I didn't expect you to be here so early. What's brought you all of a sudden?"

"Burn." Upon realising who this dragon was, Sunny now even felt more uneasy. She could tell Burn probably hadn't seen her tail yet, and felt inclined to keep it that way, so she shifted it so it would be hidden.

"I just came to check on this... arena of yours." Burn informed Scarlet. "And I have nothing better to do since the other tribes are too cowardly to plot against my empire. The better question is...." She narrowed her eyes at Sunny, sending shivers down her spine. "What's with this puny Sandwing?"

"Ah yes, I thought that she might be an interesting thing for your collection. The trouble is that she's also one of those Dragonets of Destiny and I thought that she needed to go in the arena. What do you think?"

"Collection?" She scoffed. "Just because she's small, that doesn't make her worth collecting. And she definitely wouldn't make it in the arena. You sure she's a destiny dragonet? Why would they choose her??"

"No one 'chose' me," Sunny thought angrily, yet still quite terrified of Burn. "It was destiny." As Sunny thought that, she suddenly remembered what Morrowseer said. The destiny dragonet may have had a stinger.... so it may not have been her. "I... was still hidden in the sand... from the rival queens... wait...." She glanced up, feeling more scared. "Why was I hidden from the queens in the first place....?"

"I wouldn't know, I thought those supposed friendly claws were meant to know that. And I meant that she has, or doesn't have..." She went over and grabbed Sunny's tail, showing it off to Burn, "how silly is that, a barbless Sandwing! That's like a Skywing without fire!" She began laughing.

"What is the meaning of this???" Burn glared intensely at Sunny's tail, before Sunny yanked it back and hid it, but it didn't help. "Alright, now you have my interest." She reached a large claw for Sunny, who stared in horror, her mouth even drier.

"I'll make sure she's dead by tomorrow, I'll just get the one to kill her make sure they don't tear her up too much when we get to taxidermy."

"What???" Burn glared at her angrily. "There's no reason to keep this defect alive more than necessary. I'd be more than happy to kill her now."

"But how fun would it be to see her fail to win?"

Burn growled and suddenly swiped out her claws, knocking down the two guards holding Sunny. Before Sunny could do anything, Burn had grabbed her throat, tightly at that. Sunny glanced up fearfully as Burn glared at her, the hatred once again boiling in her eyes...

"Burn, don't do it. That is my prisoner."

The grip tightened even further, as Sunny began struggling to breathe. Burn slowly turned her head to face Scarlet, part of her hatred turning towards her. "What's your reason for keeping her alive...?" She growled menacingly.

"Oh Burn, did you forget what tomorrow is? I'm keeping her for then."

"..." Burn seemed to be thinking, while Sunny was masking her fear. Would Burn really comply with Scarlet's request? After a few moments, Burn glanced at Scarlet. "Alright. You can throw this pipsqueak into the arena. But I'll be the opponent." She then threw Sunny next to Scarlet. "Is that a fair deal?"

"Of course."

"What?!" Sunny glanced up, finally speaking up. "No it's not! I'm part of the Dragonets of Destiny! You can't just kill us! Or this war won't end!"

"Destiny or not, Burn will fight you."

"No..."

"Very well." Burn slowly walked off. "I'll be back for you..."

The terror welled up in Sunny as the true reality of her situation dawned on her. She and her friends were in the clutches of a bloodthirsty pair who only cared about killing. This was awful... they had to get out of this place immediately.

Once Burn had turned the corner, Sunny quickly took off back towards the throne room, attempting an escape. It took only half a second for Scarlet to realise what had happened.

"Oh no you don't." She grabbed her tail, "do not try and flee."

"Argh!!" Sunny yelped in shock as she was grabbed. "No... please..."

"You're my prisoner."

Sunny sighed quietly. Looked like it would be another long while at the pillars....

"Just so you're not able to converse with your friends, I'll take you somewhere different."

"What?!" Sunny looked up in shock.

"Bring her to the dungeons." Scarlet told the guards, as they stood up, recovered from Burn's attack.

"No no no!!!" Sunny tried to get free from Scarlet, but it was too late as they grabbed her arms, before they slipped a blindfold onto her.

"Have fun tomorrow, deformed Sandwing."

Sunny sighed, as she curled up in her cell miserably. She was somewhere deep... far from the sunlight. She couldn't really see any more of the sky (but at least she could see something, even if that something wasn't pleasant, but still better than having a blindfold on constantly). Honestly, it felt a lot like being under Jade Mountain again... only she had no company. None of her friends. At the very least, she only really had time to try process everything that had happened... in the right order.

So, Morrowseer had claimed that Pumice would be safe if he was in Scarlet's clutches. But why exactly? What did being captured by Scarlet have to do with any of it? Especially since she was threatening to kill him, and his friends. But on that note... why did she seem so interested in Molten? According to Kestrel, Firescales were normally killed as hatchwings since they were apparently too dangerous. Was that it? Scarlet already enjoyed watching dragons die... a Firescale would definitely speed that up. But, on the original note.... Morrowseer said that maybe she wasn't the true Sandwing of Destiny. That just... didn't feel right. Sunny's entire life had been about knowing what she was capable of and destined for... was that really all a lost lead? No. It couldn't have been. Dune knew she was special. He sacrificed himself for her... she wouldn't accept that Dune died in vain. She was special. She was a part of this prophecy.

Still, said prophecy possibly wouldn't come into fruition if they were all trapped... so she needed a way out. Fast.

Sunny quickly stood up and paced around her cell, looking for possible ways to escape. There was a water trough (which, while the water was incredibly warm, was enough to quench Sunny's thirst, but otherwise useless), an empty bowl that smelt of rotting meat, and a wooden plank, presumably her bed. She sighed again, despaired. "Nothing in here...."

Without any other ideas, Sunny glanced through the bars into the corridors, with multiple other cells around. Sunny looked at the one adjacent to hers, quickly regretting it upon seeing a bunch of dried bones. She shuddered slightly. "I don't know what's worse... being locked in here with the knowledge you're going to die tomorrow... or being locked forever, to waste away.... huh??"

At that moment, Sunny suddenly felt intense fear, but it felt... muted. Almost like a towel was covering it to hide it. But from where? She glanced to the right, and sensed it get stronger, as she fixed onto a part of the floor the feeling seemed to be coming from. Then it moved. It just.... whatever was emitting the muted fear, it seemed to be sliding along the floor, before Sunny was once again staring forwards at the dragon skeleton in the opposite cell. She couldn't see anyone... but she could sense something amiss.

"H...hello?" Sunny asked, her voice shaking slightly. "Is someone there?"

Almost at once, the emitter of fear seemed to lock into a place, slightly to the left of the skeleton's cell, before it moved back in front of the cell, but felt... closer. Sunny followed the emitter's movements with her head, confused as to why she couldn't see anything. "I... might just be insane...." She muttered to herself. "I have been in here a while...." Then she heard a voice.

"Impressive, seems she might have figured me out."

"ARGH!!!!" Sunny leapt back in shock. "Wh-who's there?? Why can't I see you???"

She heard sighs as a head appeared from seemingly nowhere. Sunny screamed slightly at the floating head, which was a vibrant green, with a blue line above their snout. They had green eyes, and feathery ears, while staring inquisitively at Sunny. "Wha---who----is----animus---???"

"Nope." The rest of the body began to appear, ending in a tail curled into a spiral. "I've heard that word tossed around a lot. No clue what it means."

Sunny just stared ahead, her jaw dropped. What on earth was this dragon that could vanish? It didn't look like any she had seen before.... except..... "Wait.... are you....... a Rainwing???"

"Oh no I'm not a Rainwing, how else could my scales turn into different colours." The dragon said with heavy sarcasm, "lemme guess, you're going to think we're lazy and don't care about the war."

"Wha.... I don't think that at all!" Sunny replied. "I've never seen a Rainwing before, they look incredible! I didn't know they could change colours."

"What? That's the main thing about us! How do you not know that? Do they not teach anything about us??"

"...They probably do in other places..." Sunny muttered. "Anyway, who are you? And what are you doing here? Are you with the Sandwings? Are the Rainwings allied with Burn???"

"No, I'm looking for a friend. She's gone missing."

"Oh." Sunny looked up at her, feeling worried. "Were you two searching the place together? I can understand why she'd be hard to find..." She added, slightly jokingly.

"She went missing back at home." She sharply responded, turning a slight orange.

"Oh...." Sunny's face fell. "I'm really sorry to hear that.... I don't know if she's here... Scarlet wouldn't put a Rainwing into the arena though... apparently they don't fight."

"What? We can fight!" She angrily responded, her frills opening out in annoyance, "well I mean, some can... I... can... ugh, fine. I'm the only one who can properly fight."

Sunny stared at her, before nodding slightly. "That's fine... if anything, it's good. If Scarlet has your friend, she wouldn't put her in the arena. Although... where is your home?"

"The rainforest. Where else?"

"But.... that's ages away... how did you get from the Rainforest to the Sand Kingdom???"

"I'd rather not tell. Anyway, my name is Durian."

"Durian! That's a nice name! I'm Sunny. One of the Dragonets of Destiny."

"So you're one of those dragons the guards were talking about. I think I've heard about you, some weird Nightwing made a prediction in a poem from what I know."

"Prophecy," Sunny corrected. "But that prophecy might not come true if I'm killed tomorrow...."

"Hmm, then maybe I can help."

"Really? You'd do that?" Sunny's face lit up.

"Yeah, you treat me seriously, so I want to make sure you can do your quest."

"That'd be great! But... my friends..."

"I'll figure something out." She stuck her tail into the lock in at attempt to pick at it.

"Incredible..." Sunny watched as her tail wiggled slightly. "I don't understand why the other tribes look down on Rainwings... they're magnificent."

Click!

"Wow... impressive!" Sunny slowly opened the door.

"You're welcome."

"Alright...." Sunny slowly came out. "We should hurry... if they know I'm missing, they'll sound the alarm." She dashed off.

Durian nodded and blended back in with the walls.

"W-wait!" Sunny paused. "How am I supposed to hide? They'll instantly know it's me..." She glanced down at her tail sorrowfully.

"Hmm..." Durian turned a bright red and drooped her wings to the floor in a similar way to how Skywings held theirs. She then unfurled her tail, flattened the frill against her face and turned some scales into a bright silver and gold to appear like armour. "Maybe I can fool them into thinking I'm a guard."

"Whoa... incredible! That'd definitely fool them at a distance. You Rainwings are incredible!"

"It's a technique we learn as we age." She walked over next to Sunny. "Now come on."

Sunny nodded, as they continued down the corridors. She was slowly feeling more and more tense, as the smell became more rancid. "How often does Queen Scarlet trap others down here....?"

"I'm not sure but it seems like it happens enough that it's not always clean in here..."

Sunny nodded and coughed slightly at the stench. "It's awful... how can she be allowed to do this...?"

"I don't know..."

"Hey!!!"

Sunny and Durian glanced up sharply, to see a Skywing running over to them. Quickly, Sunny cowered behind Durian, who positioned herself to give the illusion that she had dominance over her new Sandwing acquaintance.

"Ah, hello, I'm just taking a prisoner out, was orders from Burn, you know how she is."

"Ah... fine, I'll get someone else. Need help bringing out the next opponent.... Gill's a real tough one, eh?"

"Oh yeah, he was, I'm impressed how his fight went recently."

"More like no-fight, am I right?" He laughed. "Just a nice lil' warm up for the Seawing of Destiny, and she gets to see what'll happen to her if she keeps resisting. Win win!"

"Tsunami," Sunny thought, concern growing.

"Of course, I'll check on her fight soon, hope she makes a performance out of it. Need to impress the queen and all."

"Sounds good!" He then headed off, and the coast was clear.

"Phew, seems my disguise is enough to fool at least that one."

"Yeah... but like I said, don't get too close to them," Sunny replied. "They might notice that your 'armour' looks off. Anyway, we need to go help Tsunami."

"Right, I think this was the way I got in so we can help her that way."

"Perfect." The two continued along. "So it's simple. The two of us get to the courtyard. We disrupt the fight. You try and take Tsunami away. Once we've saved Tsunami, we'll go back for my other friends."

"Understood." She went to a small opening and slid through it with ease. Sunny followed, fitting through even easier thanks to her small size.

"Alright, make sure you're not seen with that tail, they'll immediately know who you are if it's kept visible."

"Right." She quickly hid it as she arrived through the opening, and was able to once again see the sky. As she glanced around, she saw the pillars... and Queen Scarlet's throne. "Eep!!!" Quickly, she retreated back into the hole. "I can't go there..."

"Huh? Oh... that's bad."

Sunny tried again to glance through, and stared at the Skywing Queen. She was currently facing her from behind to the left, and she seemed to focused on the battle.... but Sunny couldn't take any chances. "This isn't going to work..."

"Maybe I could try something...? But it could be risky..."

Sunny glanced up at her, slightly skeptical. She opened her mouth to ask what she was thinking about, when she suddenly heard some sort of a scuffle from the tunnels behind her. Curious, she crawled off to investigate.

"Wha---hey wait!!" Durian quickly followed after her, as the pair looked through. They then noticed a few Skywing guards wrangling another Skywing, who was struggling intensely. Sunny noticed that this Skywing had a muzzle on her snout, and.... burns on her talons....

"KESTREL!!!!" Sunny cried as she ran over, trying to help her.

"What're you doing??"

Kestrel glanced up, seemingly relieved yet surprised to see Sunny. Before Sunny could do anything, Durian suddenly grabbed and pinned her down.

"Do you want to get caught??" Her face turned fully red, "because that's how you get caught."

Sunny glanced up, slightly scared and very hurt. "I...."

"S-sorry... I overreacted there..." Her scales turned a slight purple, but she got her away from the Skywings before they noticed.

"I.... I just wanted to help her....." Sunny was fighting back tears. "I don't want to lose anyone else..."

"We have to figure another way, we can't immediately be found out by the Queen."

"I know we can't...."

"Let's keep searching. There must be a way."

Sunny sighed. Maybe, if they could just escape, then surely they could find someone willing to help them save her other friends. The two continued down the corridors, eventually finding a staircase.

"This could lead to an exit, come on."

"But... what about the others?" Sunny was growing increasingly concerned.

"We can carefully fly back."

Sunny looked down. Something didn't feel right about just.... abandoning her friends.

"Look. If what that guard said was right, we have until tomorrow to rescue them. So we should focus on a plan of action."

"I... that's fair..." Sunny nodded. "And I suppose it would be easier to make a plan outside of a cell."

"Right, and I haven't had good suntime in a while..." She said, suddenly drowsy.

"Sun...time?" Sunny asked, as they headed up the staircase.

"Rainwings sleep at midday to absorb sunlight so our colours appear brighter..." She explained as she let out a slight yawn.

"Whoa... incredible..." Right on cue, the pair arrived at the top of the staircase, to a large locked door. Sunny could see slight light peeping through. "I think we need to get through here..."

"I'll get to unlocking it again." Durian unfurled her tail and began to poke with it at the lock. However, after only a few moments, nothing was happening.

"I don't think your tail's going to work for this one...."

"This can't be good..."

"I think we need to get a key..." Sunny exclaimed. "But they're really going to be suspicious if the guard assigned with me wants a key to the outside..."

"Then we'll need to steal it."

She nodded. "Stealthily. Considering your camouflage, that shouldn't be a problem."

Durian nodded and climbed onto the wall, quickly blending in with near perfect accuracy.

"Wait!" Sunny looked after her, able to detect her determination. "Where am I going to hide? What if a dragon comes up here?"

"Three moons, you're right..."

"Hm..." Sunny thought for a moment. She had a slight idea. "What if I--"

"Put you back in the cage until I have the key!" She interjected, "I won't fully lock it but enough that it'll fool anyone who comes."

"Wha---oh... ok." Sunny followed along cautiously. "But you using your camouflage to hide me would be nice, too..."

Durian carefully brought Sunny back to the cell and made sure the door could be opened from inside.

"Take care," Sunny nodded as Durian left. She sighed, feeling lonely again... that was when she sensed a strong melancholy next to her.

"Sunny...?"

"Kestrel!" Sunny was pleased to hear her voice. "Are you okay?"

"For now yes."

She sighed with relief. "What happened? Where's Molten and Webs?"

"I'm not sure... I lost them in that Skywing attack. But I do hope at least Molten is trying to find a way to save us."

"I'm sure she is!" Sunny spoke up. "Even if she doesn't, at least we have a Rainwing to help!"

"Are you sure she's actually helping you? She looked like she was about to fall asleep while she put you back in the cell."

"Wha---she's plenty capable!" Sunny responded annoyed.

"She's a Rainwing, Sunny, all Rainwings are lazy and only interested in sleeping."

"That's not true!!" Sunny cried. "She came all this way to find her friend!"

"Ridiculous..." She rolled her eyes.

"It's true! And she's trying to save me!"

"Fine, but if she leaves us here, don't say I didn't tell you."

"I..." Sunny looked down. Durian wouldn't really just leave her... would she? "Why would she leave us?"

"What if she finds this friend? She'd probably forget about us. She is a Rainwing."

Sunny looked even further down. "But that's..."

"That's how dragons are."

"What??"

"Not all dragons have the best interests in others, only themselves."

Sunny slowly glanced up. Kestrel seemed to have a sense of... confidence. As if she knew exactly what she was talking about. Curious, Sunny approached the wall separating them. "Have you had a run in with one of these dragons?"

"More than you'd think." She muttered, looking away.

Sunny looked down. "You've been through a lot to protect your egg, haven't you...?"

"Molten and Pumice are the only family I have."

"Really?" Sunny was quite surprised. "But... who's the father?"

She went silent, with a sense of anger burning inside her but attempting to extinguish it before it was released outward.

"I... I'm so sorry..." Sunny backed away from the wall. "I didn't mean to anger you..."

"He betrayed my love. That's all I'll say. They should never meet him."

"...do you know anything about my parents?"

"No." She coldly told her.

"O-oh...."

"That would have been something Dune knew."

She looked down. "I'm so sorry I got him killed..."

"That's Scarlet's doing. Not yours."

"No... I chose to try and escape... I didn't fight against her.... I'm just... terrible...." Sunny layed on the floor and put her talons over her head. "Morrowseer was right.... I can't be the Sandwing of Destiny. I doomed all my friends...."

"Sunny, not all prophecies are accurate to a T. Morrowseer might be adamant about there being only five dragonets but I believe both Molten and Pumice are the wings of sky. They both were born from the largest egg."

"Prophecy or not, I've doomed us all..."

"You haven't. As far as I'm aware, they're all still alive. You were worried for Pumice. I was too."

"But if I'd have just told my friends I was going to the skyhole, then they could've warned me I didn't fit..." Sunny thought sadly.

"Sunny, stop doubting yourself. I joined the Talons of Peace because I wanted to have an impact on ending the war while avoiding any alliance. You have a job to do and I still believe you can end the war. No matter if you're defected, you're still a Sandwing. The Sandwing of Destiny."

"I.... only if you're so sure...." Sunny slowly stood back up.

"I am Sunny. I'm always sure."

Sunny looked over in Kestrel's direction, when she suddenly sensed some sort of... amusement next to her. She glanced out of the bars, but couldn't see anyone. "Uh... Durian? Are you there?"

"Who else do you think would be here?" said her voice from nearby.

"O-oh, sorry..." Sunny looked in her direction. "You have the key?"

She heard a light clink of metal and saw a set of keys in front of her talons.

"Perfect. You think you can help Kestrel, too?"

"Kestrel? What makes you think you can help her?" Scarlet suddenly came in. Since she didn't seem scared of the floating key, which floated to the side, Sunny presumed that Durian must have curled her wing around herself to conceal the key from Scarlet's perspective.

"O-oh! Queen Scarlet! Heh, what a surprise...." Sunny muttered.

"You think so? I'm flattered." She then walked over to Kestrel's cage.

"What're you doing here?" Sunny asked, as she sensed Kestrel's reluctance to get involved with anything.

"Oh I'm just coming to make sure you're where I left you as I heard someone took you out of your cell, supposedly on Burn's orders."

"Huh? Uhh..." Sunny looked down, trying to think of what to say.

"Well? What happened? Burn said she didn't give any orders."

"I... don't know what you're on about," Sunny replied. "I was in here the whole time."

"Really? Then why would someone lie to me?"

"M-maybe you heard wrong?"

"Nonsense."

"You are one to make mistakes..." Kestrel mused.

"Am I now?" She went over to Kestrel, "you are as foolish as ever."

"Indeed... so foolish as to protect my own children..." Sunny could sense boiling resentment from her guardian towards the Skywing Queen. "I don't care if one's a Firescale. I won't let you kill her. She's safe. You'll never find her."

"You expect me to kill her? Oh Kestrel, you really have no idea."

"Wh...what?" Sunny could sense confusion in Kestrel's voice.

"Anyway, you'll be up for execution soon. Have fun."

"What?! No!!! You can't execute her!!!" Sunny cried. "I won't let you!!"

"And what will you do about that?"

Sunny growled, furious that she couldn't do anything. "Why do you want Kestrel dead?? You already killed Dune!!! Isn't that enough??!!"

"Because that's how I am, your so called Talons of Peace are just playthings to me."

"And the Dragonets of Destiny??" Kestrel growled.

"I'm saving them for the next day. And if the little deformity gets out, she'll immediately be taken to Burn's collection."

Kestrel's anger grew, before she muttered something under her breath. Sunny slightly picked up what she said. "If you really want to prove you're not as lazy as your tribe, then make your move."

"Hm? What did you say Kestrel?" Scarlet said mockingly as Durian revealed herself on the ceiling, opening her mouth as if to drop down and bite her face. However, as she did, suddenly they heard more footsteps, as a guard appeared, and Durian once again vanished.

"Queen Scarlet," the guard stated, bowing to her. "The arena has been cleaned up. It is all set for your prisoner's trial."

"Trial..?" Sunny questioned.

"Oh it's personal business." Scarlet answered. "Let's get going, Kestrel."

The guard approached Kestrel's cell before opening it. He then headed inside, and after a few moments of struggle and welling anger, he brought out Kestrel, muzzled and chained. Once she was out, Kestrel gave Scarlet a dirty look and growled slightly.

"Oh don't give me that look, you know what you did."

Kestrel growled again, before she promptly glanced to Sunny. Sunny was confused for a moment, but then sensed Kestrel's concern for her.... and some sort of.... acceptance? Hm... was Kestrel telling her that it was okay to escape?

"If you think you can get away, then you are severely mistaken."

Sunny opened her mouth to tell Scarlet that she didn't need to feel so confident, but quickly shut it. Scarlet didn't need any hints towards any escape plans she had.

"You and your so called prophecy dragonets are my playthings and I'll make sure you get the best treatment in the arena for my entertainment."

Sunny slowly returned to the thought about the terror of having to face Burn in this arena. Whatever this special event was, she couldn't let it happen... she wouldn't. She quickly tried to mask her growing fear.

"Pathetic little thing. Your miniature stature makes me doubt you were even born on that night."

Sunny growled softly and looked away. She couldn't let Scarlet get under her scales...

"What's wrong? Oh is it because you don't have a barb?" She laughed, "oh you are completely incapable of success."

"Just ignore her, Sunny...." Sunny muttered to herself. "But.... what if she's right? What if Morrowseer was right? What if I---"

"AGH!!!"

Sunny turned sharply to see Scarlet clutch her claws in pain as Kestrel stood by, looking smug.

"Oh you'll pay for that." She muttered under her breath as she forced Kestrel to leave with her. As soon as they turned the corner, Sunny sensed relief next to her as Durian reappeared.

"She's crueller than I could have even imagined..." Durian muttered, shuddering slightly.

"I take it you don't often see dragons of her kind..." Sunny whispered in response.

"Only a Nightwing before my friend went missing... and just the one."

"A... Nightwing....?" Sunny murmured. "Does that mean the Nightwings live in the rainforest, too?"

"Yeah, she's shy though but says her mom keeps her hidden from the others. Not exactly sure why..."

"Wh...." Sunny was growing confused, but just shook her head. "You can tell me about this Nightwing another time. We should escape... maybe we can find Webs. Maybe he can get the Talons of Peace. Maybe we can save our---my friends."

"Of course." Durian quickly opened the cell door, and put her Skywing disguise back on.

"You have the correct key... right?" Sunny asked as they arrived at the large door once again. She really didn't want to have to go back for the right key if this wasn't it.

"It has to be the right one, it looks to be the same for the door and stood out from the others."

"Right...." Sunny exhaled. "Quietly.... I don't know if this will take us directly outside... I was blindfolded while they brought me in."

"Then we'll just have to keep exploring in case it is."

Sunny sighed. "Considering how adamant Scarlet is that I don't escape.... I really hope this leads outside."

Durian inserted the key and turned it. Sure enough, the door clicked, and Durian slowly pulled out the key before she gently pushed the door open. As she did, light streamed into the room, and the two shut their eyes, before slowly opening them, to allow their eyes to adjust properly. Once the door was opened wide enough, Sunny glanced through the relatively narrow crack, and took in the surroundings. Right ahead there was a platform which extended out, but seemed to just... end nowhere. As Sunny carefully stepped out into the light, she noticed that this whole time, the dungeons had been a part of a large tower. As she continued to observe, she then saw what lied beyond the suspended platform: a large wall. And beyond that.... sand. "Whoa..... there it is....... the Sand Kingdom."

"So much... sand." Durian seemed mildly unimpressed, "I don't see much apart from sand..."

"It looks.... glorious...." Sunny murmured. Somehow, she could tell that all Durian could make was the colour yellow. But to Sunny.... the sands seemed to be speckled with gold, shimmering in the sunlight... contrasted with the blue and slightly orange sky...

"If you say so. We should find a way to free your friends."

"I know...." Sunny muttered, when suddenly she felt a sense of... shock? Anger? She glanced up, only to see a blaze of orangy yellow headed for her. "AAA!!!!" She quickly leapt to the side, as the fire blasted the spot she had previously been in. The two once again looked up to see several Skywings attacking. "Oh no no no no..... FLY!!!!" She quickly flew upwards.

"Prisoner! You shall not escape!" One of the Skywings shouted, blasting a long stream of fire at the two dragonets. Durian tried to follow but almost got hit.

"Durian!!" Sunny grabbed her and quickly pulled her upwards, before glancing around. To her surprise, she could barely see any of those chained dragon pillars, to the sides of the tower. Now that they'd been caught, it wouldn't have been wise to try get to her friends..... she needed cover. She needed to escape. Quickly, she turned her vision back to the shimmering dunes. "This way!!" She flew towards the wall.

"O-okay!!" Durian followed, as did the Skywings.

"Surrender before we kill you!" Another Skywing yelled, blasting fire.

"Eep!!" The two quickly dodged, as Sunny continued to fly. "Don't look back!! Keep going..."

"Queen Scarlet's soldiers will search across all of Pyrrhia to find you if you do not surrender."

"Well they're gonna spend a while then!!" Durian quickly grabbed Sunny's claw, and the two dove directly downwards, right towards the wall below.

"Uhhh... Durian??" Sunny felt concerned, but could sense that Durian had some sort of a plan. She took a deep breath. She had to trust whatever Durian was doing...

Promptly, Sunny noticed that they were diving slightly past the wall: onto the other side. As Durian dipped below the top of the wall, however, she suddenly flew to the side and pressed Sunny against the wall. She then covered up Sunny with her wings, causing everything to become darker, and stayed still. Very shortly after, Sunny heard what sounded like diving, but then hovering and shouts of confusion.

"Three moons, I was right on their tails!" One of the Skywings shouted in annoyance.

"Where did they go?!" Another yelled, in confusion.

"Search the sand!!" A third cried, as the flapping of wings slowly descended downwards.

"Ph-phew...." Sunny sighed with relief. "Nice one, Durian."

"Hide and seek is a speciality of mine." She responded, as she shifted slightly. As the light poked through, Sunny deduced that she was possibly checking on the Skywings.

"So.... what do we do, now?" Sunny asked. "I don't think we can wait here for them to give up... I don't think they will."

"They'll decide to go elsewhere to search eventually."

"Can I quickly check?"

"Alright but be careful." She lifted her wing very slightly, and Sunny peered through it. From the slit, Sunny could see roughly 5 Skywings searching in the sand, with another 3 hovering above, keeping an eye out in case they were buried and escaping elsewhere. Eight in total. None seemed to be looking upwards, but Sunny knew that it was too risky to just fly. Unless...

"I have an idea," Sunny spoke up. "What if I flew up, and you flew slightly below me while camouflaging against the sky? Then we'd both be hidden."

"That's actually quite clever." She remarked.

"Thanks!" Sunny beamed. "See? I do have good ideas if Tsunami ever bothered to listen..." She glanced again down at the Skywings. "Okay... let's try it."

"Alright, on the count of three." Sunny noticed Durian slightly adjusting her wings. "One... two... three!" She quickly leapt off and Sunny almost immediately followed suit, flying up above her. She then looked down, to see that Durian had vanished. She briefly panicked until she noticed that she could still hear wing beats. "Right... camouflage. Let's try glide as much as we can, Durian. If they heard the wingbeats, they'll get suspicious."

"Will do." Soon the wingbeats vanished but Sunny could still sense her presence below her.

"Alright...." Sunny sighed, as they continued to glide along. They were still relatively close to the ground, not too high up that anyone observing from the castle would instantly notice her. They just had to keep going.... further... just further....

After around half an hour of flying, Sunny had reached a point where she couldn't really hear.... anything. It felt serenely quiet... kind of peaceful. As she glanced back, she was surprised to see that the palace seemed to just be a small dot on the horizon. "Wow.... all of that distance covered........." Sunny then groaned in pain. Although she was better mentally, her wings ached. She wasn't used to long distance flying. On that cue, Durian also piped up with her exhausted complaints.

"How much longer? My wings aren't meant for gliding this long..."

"Alright.... I think we can take a very quick break." She flew to the side, before landing. As she did, she could finally feel the sand shifting beneath her claws. It felt really... just perfect. Even if it was gritty, it was still the comfort of home. Sunny sighed happily as she layed down.

"It's kinda rough... it's getting in between my claws..." Durian muttered, "not at all like the leaf litter in the rainforest..." Sunny could tell she was annoyed but she sighed, "at least it's direct sunlight... can I nap here for a while?"

"Huh?" Sunny looked up, concerned. "I think we need to find some sort of safer place before we do that... if the Skywings catch us, then..."

"I'll just make myself look like the sand..." She yawned and spread herself out on the sandy dunes, quickly changing colour to go along with it.

"I don't know if that's..."

She was already fast asleep.

"Durian?!" Sunny looked down at her in shock, before sighing. "If I leave her out here, and the Skywings find her, they'll think she's me since her tail is barbless. There has to be something we can do...." Sunny flapped her aching wings and flew upwards, before analysing the nearby area. As she did, much to her relief, she noticed some sort of a civilisation in the distance. "Right...." she thought to herself as she picked up Durian (who was surprisingly light, despite being around Molten's size and build) and flew towards it. "Just need to hope that it's not another of Scarlet or Burn's establishments..."

As she got closer, Sunny suddenly noticed an odd figure at the entrance, which was a small gateway in a large wall surrounding the town. She landed and observed said figure, realising it was a Sandwing. He had large wings, his scales were yellowish brown, and he had some odd scars running along his body. The Sandwing seemed to be deep in thought when he suddenly noticed Sunny nearby.

"Hm?" The Sandwing seemed intrigued. "What's a young Dragonet like you doing all the way out here?"

"O-oh, uhh..." Sunny looked down, hesitant, while she held Durian in her arms. What could she say that would get them in? "Uhhh... you see... we've come to bring a message from Burn, but my friend here.... passed out."

"Burn?" He asked, looking quite displeased.

"Y-yes?" Sunny responded, surprised. "Maybe even the Sandwings she rules aren't fans of her.... it's, errr, very important. Relates to her ally, Queen Scarlet, finding and imprisoning the Dragonets of Destiny."

"Has she now?" Sunny could sense that the Sandwing was a lot more intrigued than he expected. "But I thought they weren't meant to be out at this time."

"Well, you see... Scarlet tracked down their hiding place and has thrown them all into the nearby arena."

"Of course she has..." He had anger bubbling within but kept his outward calm appearance. "Fine, but you'll have to be kept as hostages. We don't like messengers from any of the sisters."

"Wait... what?!" Sunny stepped backwards in shock. "But... doesn't Burn rule the Sand Kingdom?"

"And you don't know that she has no control over here?" He asked in suspicion.

"I.. uh...." Sunny looked down, hesitating. "Right... didn't Dune say something about some Sandwing civilisation that isn't on the side of any of the queens?"

He sighed, "hostages, follow me."

"I.... okay...." Sunny slowly walked into the town, carrying Durian along. As soon as she entered, she was shocked by what she saw.

On the inside, her first impression was a sprawling, walled city with several run-down stone buildings, dusty streets and along said dusty streets, several merchant stands. They were yelling all sorts of things, as though they were attempting to draw in customers. Most talked about food, like roasted scorpion, crocodile stew and bags of crickets (having adopted Pumice's love for bugs, she was put off by the last one), but others brought up water and cactus juice.

"Wow..... busy place...." Sunny murmured, before looking up at the Sandwing. As she did, she then caught sight of his feet, and gasped slightly. Instead of five, this dragon seemed to have... six claws on each foot. "Oh my... uhh..." She quickly glanced away, not wanting to seem rude.

"Hm? Oh you saw those?" He asked, "Yeah, that's why they call me Six-Claws."

"Hm," Sunny mused, looking back at him. "I take it your parents were feeling creative."

He laughed at the comment before urging her to move forward. As she did so, she then started to think again. "Maybe this is where my family came from? It does seem plausable..." She stole another glance at his claws. "Could he be my father? Maybe peculiar defects run in the family. Or I'm just totally desperate...." She shook her head and decided to clear that thought for now. Wouldn't help any matters, jumping to conclusions.

"So..." Sunny muttered as she took in the sights. "What is this place, exactly?"

"This is the Scorpion Den, where no rules reside apart from one. If you control the water, you control the den."

"Oh.... I see." Sunny glanced down at Durian, still sleeping peacefully as she dragged her along. "So who controls the water right now?"

"The leader of the Outclaws. Thorn."

"Outclaws?" Sunny questioned. "Is that some sort of an organisation, or... gang?"

"You can call it an organisation if you like."

"R-right.... so what's it abo---"

"Hungry!!!" At that moment, a tiny, frail, skinny dragonet leapt out of nowhere towards Sunny, accidentally treading on Durian's wing while doing so.

"Oww! What the--- Sunny where in three moons are we??" Durian woke up and red triangles appeared on her body.

"Gah! Uhhh..." Sunny adjusted her body slightly to ensure Six-Claws didn't see Durian change her colours. "I'm sorry, I don't have anything," she told the dragonet. To her relief, Six-Claws was more focused on the Dragonet in the first place.

"Where's your guardian, squirt?" He asked the dragonet, seemingly annoyed.

"Don't hurt him!" Sunny told him, when another dragon suddenly appeared.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry!!" She apologised as she picked up the little dragonet and wrapped him in her wings.

"Hm... you must be new here," Six-Claws mused. "He shouldn't be starving. Dragonets get a free meal every morning at the pool. Send him there and he'll be the size of a real dragon."

"Wha... huh?" Durian seemed even more confused, so Sunny quickly whispered to her.

"We're in a place called the Scorpion Den," she informed her, as the mother of the starving dragonet seemed to say something to Six-Claws, but Sunny didn't really listen. "I've told Six-Claws here that we're messengers for Burn... and we're kind of being taken hostage. J-just keep your Sandwing disguise up.."

"Right..." She made the triangles less visible and the two looked back at Six-Claws, who was negotiating with the mother.

"Listen, nobody's going to abduct a bunch of scrawny kids," Six-Claws explained, seemingly tired of the conversation. "Thorn just wants Dragonets to stop starving to death in her Scorpion Den. Just send him tomorrow or I'll come after you myself."

"Y-yes, sir," the mother stammered, as she carried her Dragonet off.

"Is that true?" Sunny asked. "The, um... Outclaws feed all the dragonets in the scorpion den?"

"We try. Dragons don't change easily, though..." Six-Claws muttered. "Especially in a place like this. Oh, is your friend awake?" He glanced over at Durian.

"Okay.... so her disguise is still up. Yes, she is. Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah," Durian replied, "even if it wasn't exactly the comfiest rest, but it was alright."

"Rest?" Six-Claws questioned. "Er... anyway, we should keep going."

"Right." Sunny helped Durian up as the pair continued to follow Six-Claws. A few moments passed, and slowly the streets were becoming less crowded.

"This place is pretty neat," Durian chirped, as she grabbed a nearby piece of paper. "What is this stuff?"

"Uh, that's paper," Sunny responded, taking it. "We write on---wait..." She looked down. This wasn't just a piece of paper... it was a wanted poster. "Is that... Dune?"

"Surprised you know him considering your age. But I've yet to ask. What're your names you two?"

"Oh... uhh, Sunny."

"Durian," Durian added. Sunny sensed confusion from Six-Claws, and panicked slightly.

"That's... an unusual name..."

"Says the guy called Six-Claws," Durian rebutted.

"At least I was named after a trait I have. Not a fruit that will stink up the entire den if opened."

"So you're saying you don't want me around?" Durian looked at him. "So why are we in here again?"

He glared at her. "You are hostages."

"Why, exactly?" As Sunny heard Durian ask this, she was checking over the paper. To her surprise, Dune wasn't the only familiar face. "Is that.... Morrowseer? What's he doing on this paper...? And who's that Nightwing next to him....?"

"You're being kept as hostages as it's the safest thing for you messengers inside the den."

"Safer than simply being released and going back to Burn?" Durian added. Even though Sunny wasn't looking at her, she could sense the frustration growing from both sides of the conversation.

"Look, Thorn can explain this better, you'll be unharmed here. Just keep following."

"Alright," Durian shrugged. Sunny took another look at the poster, reading it as she came along.

"Wanted" was written at the top, and below were the images of the supposed felons: Dune, Morrowseer, and another Nightwing. Below that was some more text.

"For any information leading to the whereabouts of two Nightwings once seen around the Scorpion Den known as Morrowseer and Stonemover."

"Stonemover.... so that's the other Nightwing's name," she thought, before continuing to read.

"For any information regarding the present location of a scarred Sandwing named Dune. Last seen frequenting the night market seven years ago."

"Hm..." Sunny continued to think deeply. "So, if Morrowseer and Dune were on here.... what's the connection? Why would there be wanted posters of them? Why wou--"

"Here," Six-Claws suddenly stated, as he presented a large, tent-like structure.

"Hm, not bad," Durian commented, as she walked ahead. Sunny followed, still bringing the poster. Perhaps she could question this... Thorn on the matter.

"So... when will Thorn be here?" Sunny asked Six-Claws.

"Excuse me." A voice said from behind her.

"Huh?" Sunny and Durian turned abruptly, to see that two Sandwings had entered. One appeared quite small, wiry and compact, with pale sandy yellow scales, and darker dappled freckles along her spine and wings. She had two chains: one around her forearm, crafted from twisted golden wires, and another around her neck, with a moonstone pendant dangling from it. But the part that stood out to Sunny were her eyes. They were just as dark as any regular Sandwings' eyes, but they didn't really feel as cold or creepy as they did from other Sandwings like Dune and Six-Claws. Even though she was only making eye contact, Sunny could feel some sort of... comfort. "Sunny, you shouldn't be comfortable... you're being taken hostage." She shook her head slightly and turned to the other Sandwing. This time, the Sandwing was a dragonet: seemingly younger than Sunny herself. His scales were pale and light, while having some freckles along his snout, and an odd, small scar atop it. He also had some jewellery of his own: a golden hoop with a small piece of amber at the end, hanging from his left ear. Unlike the taller Sandwing, who seemed rather formal and stern, this dragonet looked scruffier and scrawnier, and as another contrast, his eyes seemed quite... sharp. "Yet not really threatening, either...." Sunny thought to herself. Based on the differences in their formality (and also the age difference), she quickly deduced that the taller Sandwing was Thorn.

"One of you must be Thorn," Durian spoke up. "I take it it's you," she added, looking at the older dragon.

"That would be correct."

"Right, uhh...." Sunny slowly nodded her head. "Um... we're here because apparently we delivered a message from Burn and that means we're.... hostages, now?"

"Yeah, could you explain that part??" Durian asked, and Sunny noticed the red triangles slightly appearing again. She promptly nudged her and Durian realised her mistake, calming down as they heard Thorn's response.

"Hostages?" She looked at their captor in confusion. "Six-Claws? Did something happen?"

"They say Scarlet has the Dragonets of Destiny," he growled in response. Sunny then sensed as Thorn's emotions became those of shock.

"She has? Of course she would. She always wants to use anything to be a show for her residents.... well, this gives us an opportunity."

"Opportunity?" Sunny questioned, in confusion.

"We can go and gain the Sandwing and Dune."

"Wait----what???" Sunny and Durian looked at each other in confusion. "You.... know the Sandwing of Prophecy?"

"No, but I'm sure it'll be simple enough to find them."

"Why do you care about the Sandwing specifically?" Durian asked. "And who's this 'Dune' fellow?"

"Hm? You don't know him?" She asked, with Sunny quickly sensing Thorn being mildly disappointed and annoyed.

"I, uhh...." Sunny looked up at her. "If I remember correctly.... Scarlet killed him. While he was protecting the Dragonets."

"She did?!! Arggghhh, teeth of the viper!!" Sunny could sense that she was furious. "I was looking forward to killing him with my own talons!"

"Wha...why?" Sunny took another look at the poster. Oddly enough, it wasn't saying what he.... wait.... she suddenly realised there was an extra line underneath the one describing Dune.

"For any Dragonet hatched in the last six years with unusual features. Come before Thorn with anything. Your safety guaranteed."

Sunny knew that it had been another while since she had a drink, but her mouth felt drier than ever. "Sh...she wouldn't want to kill the Sandwing of Destiny... would she? And if so... why?"

"Is something the matter?" Thorn asked, suddenly seeming slightly calmer.

"Uh...uuhhhh...." Sunny tucked her tail between her legs, trying to hide the barb, or lack thereof. "No... everything's fine..."

"Are you sure? You don't seem like you are."

"Oh, I assure you, it's nothing much," Durian spoke up. "Just, uhh... what do you keep looking at that paper for?" She took it and slowly analysed it. "What's with all the squiggles?" She asked.

"Uh... that's writing?" Sunny replied.

"What's writing?" Durian asked.

"Oh three moons," Sunny thought in despair. "Can Rainwings not read?"

"Burn's messengers can't read? And I thought Blaze was thick skulled..." the dragonet next to Thorn commented.

"N-no! We can read!" Sunny quickly spoke up, but Durian looked annoyed.

"Thick skulled?? I'll show you thick skulled!!" Durian snapped, as her scales turned a deep red.

"Oh no oh no oh no..."

"What the---restrain them!" Thorn commanded, shocked at the sudden colour change.

"No no no, it's not what it looks like!!" Sunny rushed in front of Durian defensively. "Don't hurt her!!"

"I don't need more excuses!" She commanded, "put them into cells. I'll question them later."

"No, just, listen... I..."

"Where's your barb?" Six-Claws questioned her suddenly.

"Huh??" Sunny glanced down at her tail, which in her panic, she had forgotten to hide. "Oh... uhh....." She backed away and hid it, feeling self-conscious again.

"So neither of you have barbs..." Six-Claws muttered. "Are you really Sandwings???"

"I'm not," Durian rebutted. "But she still is. Destiny, too. That's the closest you can get to a Sandwing."

"What????" Sunny looked at her in shock. Why would she have just revealed her like that?

"Wait... really?" Thorn looked up, suddenly losing the hostility. "Is this true?"

Sunny looked her in the eyes, and swallowed nervously. It was probably time to come clean. "Y...yes..... I am the Sandwing of Destiny... I managed to escape with Durian's help..."

Thorn thought for a while before providing one more command. "Take Durian away, I wish to talk to the Destiny Dragonet here in private."

"O...okay... but don't hurt her...." Sunny looked at Durian as Six-Claws led her out of the tent, before Thorn then headed to a different part. Sunny followed her, before they reached another room, one with several posters that were the same as the one she had read. "Wow.... what are all of these?" She then glanced up, only to realise that she wasn't exactly in here alone with Thorn. The other dragonet had also followed.

"Qibli, this is a private discussion," Thorn informed him, rather sternly. The young dragonet seemed unfazed, however.

"I'm not leaving you alone with a stranger, Thorn," he insisted. "All prophecy-like or not."

Thorn smiled slightly as Qibli said that, giving a rather toothy grin. "Your loyalty is charming, but I think I can handle this dragonet as well as you can."

In other circumstances, Sunny would be rather scared of what Thorn meant by 'handle'. But she didn't really feel threatening. Something about her felt rather... warm to Sunny. Like she could be trusted.

"It's better to have backup," Qibli replied. "I promise I'll be quiet."

"Well, that I do have to see," Thorn mused.

"Erm... what do you want to talk to me about?" Sunny asked.

"Well you probably read what was on the poster, about Sandwings with odd features?"

"Y...yes...." she muttered. "I'm just confused by why you'd want me so much. I mean, Dune just found my egg in the desert... clearly my parents didn't want me.... did they know I would've hatched a defect?"

"I would have Sunny. And I have a good reason as to why."

"Huh..?" Sunny looked up, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Dune didn't find you. He stole you."

"Wait... what???" Sunny was feeling bewildered. "I... he did?"

"He took my egg."

"Y...your egg? But... that..." Sunny looked down at her own talons. "This is what Starflight and I talked about... leaving so we could fulfill the prophecy.... and find our family...." She looked up at Thorn again, who approached her with a warm smile. "Find our parents."

"Yes Sunny. I'm your mother."

"So you didn't abandon me!" Sunny hugged her, which surprised Thorn slightly, but she didn't seem to care.

"I wouldn't leave my only egg to be taken advantage of by others."

"Advantage? But we want to stop the war. I mean... maybe being separated from our parents was an unnecessary step..."

"Like I said, he stole you. It wasn't my intention that you'd be used to end the war. But since you are one of the Dragonets of Destiny, that doesn't matter."

"I suppose that's fair.." Sunny muttered.

"Thorn, are you sure?" Qibli spoke up. "She could easily be a con artist."

"Yes I am sure. Don't doubt me. I've met thousands of con artists before her. This is my daughter."

Sunny smiled slightly. "Her daughter.... Well, it's really nice to finally see you...."

"It is the same to you."