The Scarlet Queen

Hi! I'm writing a fanfiction about Queen Scarlet, I guess. Enjoy! WoF belongs to Tui, cover art belongs to Joy, and story belongs to me (Mythic). This story is a work in progress, and has no regular updating schedule. Or any updating schedule, for that matter. There will be some spoilers for the first and second arcs here, I think, and a lot of foreshadowing, because I think that foreshadowing is fun. None of this is canon and please don't take it as such — this is just my own theory for what happened, and please don't edit this page unless it is to fix minor grammatical errors. Otherwise, just message me in the comments and I'll see what I can do about fixing it. Thanks!
THE PAST IS FINALLY REVEALED...
Scarlet is a name that has made dragons wince. It brings with it memories of death and tyranny; and even with her long gone and Ruby as queen, it's still all too easy to remember the bloodstained nightmares that came along with the name "Scarlet". But what if it wasn't always that way? No villain just becomes a villain overnight. And no dragon is completely evil...
Princess Scarlet is going to be queen of the SkyWings one day. Whether or not that means killing her mother and sisters, she knows she'll be the best queen in the history of her tribe. But when her family, beliefs, and destiny begin to interfere with one another, Scarlet is going to have to choose a path... and its certainly going to be the most thrilling one.
== Prologue ==
A dragon was trying to hide in the storm.
He was not the first to do so, nor would he be the last. But in that moment, as lightning flashed across the continuously darkening sky, it didn't matter if an IceWing was going to die here at some point in the future. It didn't matter that a dragon who wasn't even hatched yet would be flung off the cliff the runaway SkyWing was soaring over. 
All that mattered was Sunset. 
Mother can't take this away from me. She can't. Sunset's a noble — her family would be furious if she died.
But she's the QUEEN! the SkyWing thought, his warm gold wings beating against the howling winds. And now Sunset is a danger to her, and it's all my fault. 
He didn't want to think about what Queen Tanager would do to his dragonets, if she ever found out about his plans to have them. He didn't want to, but of course crimson-tinted nightmares from the previous night still clung to his thoughts like cobwebs. 
"We're nearly there," he said, partially to himself and partially to the dragon he was flying beside. She kept up with him easily, her massive, pink-red wings pumping in perfect synchronization with his own. Her bright yellow eyes were hopeful and determined — her beautiful orange scales shone like polished gemstones, and her claws were perfectly curved crescents. Cardinal wondered how he ever met such a beautiful SkyWing in the first place as he brushed his wing with hers, trying to ignore the rain battering his own, pale red eyes. 
This small gesture seemed to give Sunset strength. She smiled at him through the rain, and then spread her wings to soar up into the clouds, where it would be harder for dragons from below to spot them. 
Cardinal spread his own wings to follow her, even as the wind pushed against him, trying to dislodge him from the sky. 
"Here!" he shouted suddenly, coming to a stop in the air. Sunset wheeled around, and together, the two dove toward a rocky outcropping jutting from the side of a mountain. Cardinal was the first to land, and he quickly ran into the dark cave opening to light a small pile of sticks he had collected from the woods and put here a few days earlier. As warmth and light filled the cave, the SkyWing prince quickly ran to Sunset's side and helped her lay down on a reed mat in the far corner, away from the outside. She collapsed onto the mat, shuddering. 
"Are you alright?" Cardinal asked, subconsciously clenching his talons. 
"Yeah. Fine. I just need to... rest... for a while..." Sunset let out a yawn, and Cardinal finally noticed the dark rings under her eyes. 
"I'll keep watch," he replied. 
The storm went on outside for quite some time. Cardinal felt himself starting to drift off, but then he'd think of Queen Tanager arriving in her towering rage, and he quickly snapped back to attention. 
The pattering of raindrops became an incessant drumbeat, each droplet seemingly louder and more resonating than the last, causing echoes inside Cardinal's skull.
Then the drumbeats became wingbeats, and Cardinal barely had time to yell "Sunset!" before a furious orange-gold SkyWing with smoke pouring out of her nose and ears was landing in the mouth of the cave. Cardinal stumbled to his talons, snarling. 
"Mother," he tried to sound menacing, as though he would protect Sunset no matter what, but his voice slipped as he stared up into the ferocious glare of Queen Tanager of the SkyWings, the dragon he'd been taught to respect and fear since he was hatched.
Four guards appeared behind the SkyWing queen, and the massive dragon smiled as she heard her son's voice. 
"Prince Cardinal," she replied, spreading her enormous, burnt orange wings. Scars were slashed across her scales, and she wore them like trophies. The queen's armor looked like molten metal in the firelight. "I see you've finally shown your true colors, son. If you wish to betray your family, that's fine by me." She reached forward and grabbed Cardinal by the throat. The SkyWing prince gasped and choked for air as she tightened her grip. "But you'll have to pay the same price all traitors do." 
"Stop!" yelled a voice — Sunset. She was staring straight at the queen, the firelight reflecting in her eyes. Her curved claws suddenly seemed sharper and more dangerous than they had been moments ago. Sunset lifted her chin, spreading her wings wide as she spoke. A bolt of lightning struck the ledge outside, casting her face into a bright white mask.
"Queen Tanager, I hereby challenge you for the throne of the SkyWings."
----Three years had passed since the night Sunset — a dragon not even officially royal until the moment Queen Tanager lay on the ground, lifeless eyes glazed over and surrounded by a pool of scarlet blood — became queen of the SkyWings. 
Three wonderful years, filled with love and peace and dragonets. 
Under the rule of Queen Sunset, the Sky Kingdom was flourishing; even the poorest dragons had enough to eat, and the kingdom was open to trade from every other tribe. The SkyWings particularly had good relations with the SandWings; Queen Oasis had recently ascended the throne, and she was strong and fair. And King Cardinal had dragonets — four adorable, beautiful, bubbly, perfect dragonets. 
Princess Auburn, the oldest, kept her younger sisters in check, and was as well-behaved as she was charming. Princess Velvet was cool, collected, and was as stunning and elegant as any dragon Cardinal had ever met (Sunset excluded, of course). Princess Crimson loved to play tricks on her siblings, and was always doing something interesting when she wasn't making friends with the palace guards or messing with her younger sister. And of course there was Princess Scarlet — the youngest member of the SkyWing royalty, and fiercer than all of her siblings combined. She was smaller than the average dragonet her age, but she didn't let that (or the occasional teasing from her siblings) stop her from standing tall and making her parents proud. 
Cardinal settled quietly across his throne, admiring his beautiful queen. There was no doubt about it. His life was perfect. 
== Chapter 1 ==
Princess Scarlet of the SkyWings was going to be queen one day.
This was simply a fact — she knew, in the back of her mind, that becoming queen would mean killing her mother, and maybe killing her sisters Auburn, Velvet and Crimson too, but maybe that wasn't so bad because Velvet was an absolute jerkity jerkface who deserved to get a mouthful of poison. 
Okay, well, maybe Scarlet would keep Crimson alive. Crimson was nice, and even though she could be kind of mean sometimes, that was just her sense of humor. 
"And how might you be today, Most Thrillingess?" Crimson asked, her bright red-gold scales shining in the torchlight. "Thrilling" was one of Scarlet's sister's favorite words — apparently it "rolled off the tongue in a very pleasant way" and could "be used to describe anything remotely good at all", especially Scarlet. Crimson said Scarlet was the most thrilling dragon she knew.
"Crimsooon," Scarlet groaned, batting at her sister's snout and barely missing. "Leave me aloneee. Mother is going to make me go hunting with her later and I need to be ready!"
"You're taking a nap!!" Crimson complained, whacking her sister with her wing. "Come on, Scarlet! I want to go flying with you!" 
Princess Scarlet blinked away the memory and adjusted her earring, trying to get it to sit on her ear just right. Today she was going to be meeting with the royal SandWing family again — and she wanted to look thrilling for Princess Burn, one of Oasis's daughters. Argh, there was that word again. Crimson used it way too much, and now Scarlet was probably infected with it or something.
But either way, Scarlet got along pretty well with Princess Burn — the two were both very excited by the idea of defending their kingdoms and becoming queen one day, even though Burn had a weird obsession with dead, stuffed things that made Scarlet just a little bit uneasy. Burn was more than twice Scarlet's size, but Scarlet didn't mind much, and neither did Burn. And the SandWing princess's birthday was coming up — Scarlet had a present already prepared. 
"Oh, three moons," said a voice behind Scarlet. The SkyWing princess whirled around to see Velvet with her jerkity jerkface on, eyeing the earring dangling lopsidedly from Scarlet's ear with disdain. 
Before Scarlet could even open her mouth to respond, Velvet was already talking again.
"How do you mess up putting on an earring?" her sister complained, dislodging the gold-and-ruby piece of jewelry and starting to fiddle with it. Scarlet let out a yelp of protest, but Velvet was unfazed. "I mean, seriously, Scarlet. You put it in the hole in your ear — how hard is that?" 
"Shut up, Velvet," Scarlet hissed. "I can handle it fine myself." 
"Um, no, you can't," Velvet retorted, finally finishing and stepping back to admire her work. "There," she said, "that'll have to do." 
As the second-oldest SkyWing princess, Velvet was also the second-biggest. She was even taller than Auburn, but she was more slender and curvy and wasn't as strong. Her scales were a dull, purplish-red color like a washed-out tapestry, and her wings were a pale, rosy pink. She was almost always glittering with jewelry — silver horn rings, a heavy tail band that Scarlet couldn't understand how she handled, lots of pretty little rings and bracelets, and a thin (but shiny) black chain she always wore around her neck. She was currently wearing two matching gold earrings with onyx stones, a delicate gold bracelet that spiraled up her forearm and was embedded with even more little bits of onyx, and a flowing cape the color of a cloudy sky that draped over her wings. 
"Thanks." Scarlet's lip curled slightly as she spoke, as though the word was like broken glass. 
"You're welcome," Velvet replied, breezing past her sister and into the other room. Scarlet grabbed her favorite ruby necklace and threw it over her horns before trailing after her. 
"You're welcome," Scarlet mumbled quietly in a mocking tone. 
== Chapter 2 ==
Scarlet and Velvet wandered through the halls of the Sky Palace. Scarlet had always loved this place — it was her home, after all — but she knew that, when she was queen, there would be a lot more gold. And pictures of her. And just treasure in general.
The two SkyWing princesses walked into the dining hall. Crimson and Auburn were already there, as well as Queen Sunset and King Cardinal. 
"Mother. Father," Scarlet bowed her head slightly at them, the way royalty was supposed to address other royalty when there was company around. The SkyWing princess let herself glance at what her family was wearing, to make sure that she'd gotten her accessories right. 
Queen Sunset was, of course, the picture of exactly what a SkyWing queen should look like; the orange dragoness was glittering with rubies and topaz and gold, with a chain wrapped around her horns that dripped down over her face and chest, sliding over her scales. If Scarlet had been wearing it, the thing probably would've looked absolutely gaudy — but on Queen Sunset, it was stunning. She also had matching bracelets and wing adornments, which seemed to accent her red-pink wings. And of course she had her crown — the beautiful gold headpiece was decorated with the same rubies and topazes that were scattered across her scales elsewhere. 
King Cardinal was wearing his famous rose-tinted spectacles. They had silver rims and fine metalwork wires that wrapped around his horns to keep them from falling off during movement. He also had some rings on his claws — small, delicate pieces of jewelry that Scarlet almost envied. Almost. She preferred gold to silver, although perhaps she would get gold rings like that one day. 
Auburn was wearing a chestplate that had patterns of sapphires and emeralds marching across it. The biggest of all her siblings, she stood tall and proud beside her parents, her pale orange eyes shining with pride. Other than the chestplate, the SkyWing princess had a few other articles of decorative armor on her forearms and tail, as well as a helmet which curved over the top of her head. Sunset was very strict about any of her daughters ever wearing crowns or tiaras or anything of the sort until they were officially queen, and Scarlet wondered how much pestering it had taken for Auburn to get to wear that little bronze helmet. The dark, rusty red SkyWing didn't seem tired from arguing with Mother — perhaps they had the conversation a few days ago, a while before the SandWings were scheduled to arrive. 
Crimson had hardly any jewelry on at all — she had a small, beaten silver medallion on a cord hung around her neck, and a few small sapphires in a spiraling pattern were embedded in it. Other than that, the SkyWing princess had nothing extra on to impress the SandWing guests, and that made Scarlet feel a bit better about her own scarce accessories as she took her place beside her sister. 
"Nice necklace," Scarlet commented. 
"Yours, too," replied Crimson with a smile. 
The first thing Scarlet noticed as the SandWings walked in was that Burn was wearing an unusual amount of jewelry, even for a formal meeting with the SkyWing king and queen. 
She had a flowing, dark mahogany cape that she kept adjusting, and a sleek, black metal was twisted around her horns in elaborate designs. Small diamonds sparkled from a matching black bracelet on her wrist, and a silver band was curled around her tail, probably supposed to look like a snake. 
Her obsidian eyes met Scarlet's, and the SkyWing princess swore she was trying to say "three moons, help me, this is ridiculous" with her expression. 
Princess Blister was looking as terrifying as ever, with her zigzag patterns of black across her scales — Scarlet scarcely paid attention to what she was wearing, instead focusing on the look the SandWing was giving her mother; something mixed with curiosity, hatred, envy, and triumph. Scarlet didn't like Blister very much, as the princess was somewhat snobby, as well as absolutely creepy and something about her just rubbed Scarlet the wrong way. Scarlet remembered something Burn had said about her younger sister; "I openly admit that hate her, but at least she's smarter than Blaze." 
The aforementioned dragonet was decked out in so many accessories that Scarlet couldn't even see her face properly through the silk veil dripping with tiny emeralds she was wearing. Blaze was admiring herself in the reflection of a small, talonheld mirror. Before the SkyWing princess's eyes decided to melt out of her skull, Scarlet quickly turned her attention to Queen Oasis and King Char. 
They both had bronze rings on their right claws, carved with what appeared to be tiny dragons. Oasis was wearing a black crown that had small little spurs on it, giving it the appearance of a shiny black cactus sitting on her head. Char had a matching crown that seemed to be slightly smaller. They had plenty of other accessories on, but Scarlet didn't have time to see them because suddenly the formal greeting rituals were over and everyone was sitting down to discuss trading routes and alliances. 
Scarlet hurried over to sit next to Crimson, and Burn took a seat at the table across from the two siblings. 
"Where are Smolder and your other brothers?" Crimson asked her in a whisper, surprising Scarlet that she'd noticed the princes were missing. 
"Back at the palace," sighed Burn. "Along with Scald and Singe. Mother and Father don't really like taking them to this sort of thing. And Scald hates jewels anyways — now, I can actually understand why." She fiddled a bit more with the clasp of her cloak. 
"Oh, well, of course," Crimson rolled her bright gold eyes, motioning to the single silver medallion she had hung around her neck. Scarlet had never seen her wearing it before, actually, now that she thought about it. She was about to ask her sister where she got it when Velvet let out a sharp cough. All the heads in the room turned to the SkyWing princess. 
"Sorry," she said with a not very apologetic expression. "My, er, throat is a bit dry. Can I go and get something to drink, Mother?" Sunset nodded at her, and Velvet shot a look at Scarlet on her way out that the hibiscus-orange dragonet didn't understand. 
The meeting carried on for quite a while. Eventually Scarlet forgot about the stare Velvet had given her, and returned to the discussion with Burn and Crimson, this time with the topic of annoying siblings. 
"Blaze is possibly the most shallow dragon I've ever met," Burn said. "And Smolder is just... really weird. I know that we're from the same hatching, but still. Moons." 
"Okay, have you even met Velvet?" Crimson laughed. "She's the least thrilling dragon I've met in my entire life." 
"Oh, definitely," Scarlet agreed. "Actually, just earlier, I was putting on my earring and she said I was doing it wrong." 
Burn snorted a small burst of flame. "Honestly, your sister seems like a mix of mine, but with only their worst qualities. Which is saying something, since I don't think Blaze has any good qualities." 
"Speaking of Velvet," Crimson said, sitting up and craning her neck, "where is she?" 
Scarlet blinked, somewhat startled. "...Didn't she say she needed something to drink?" 
"For that long?" Burn narrowed her eyes. "Did she decide to go and hunt down a scavenger, too?" Crimson snorted. Scavengers were notoriously rare, especially around the highest peaks of the Sky Kingdom. 
Just as the SandWing finished her sentence, Velvet appeared again, her eyes wet. She wordlessly wiped at her face and took her previous seat. 
"That's weird," Crimson commented. 
"Was she... crying?" wondered Scarlet. She realized she'd never actually seen her snobby older sister cry before. 
"Three moons," whispered Crimson. "I wonder what about?" 
"I haven't the faintest idea," Scarlet replied. But she couldn't help wondering, ever after the meeting was dismissed and the SandWing royalty left. 
The last thing Scarlet thought as she drifted into sleep was, Oh... I forgot to ask Crimson... where she got her new necklace... 
== Chapter 3 ==
Princess Scarlet opened her eyes as a beam of sunshine crawled in through her window and sent it's ridiculous cheeriness directly into her face.
"Argh," the SkyWing rolled over, putting a blood red cushion over her head. "Go away, morning. I want to sleeep." 
"Sorry, Your Highness," said a voice. Startled, Scarlet sat up to find none other than Morning, one of the servants who was entrusted with the care of the SkyWing princesses. 
"Oh, not you," Scarlet said, sliding out of her bed. "Sorry, I guess I can get up now." 
Morning bowed curtly and moved out of the way so Scarlet could go and wash off. The SkyWing princess headed over to the small river that ran through her room and splashed some cold water onto her face. 
"Princess Crimson has requested to see you, Your Highness," Morning said, reaching for Scarlet's favorite necklace. She took it gently between her talons and put it over the princess's head. 
"What about?" Scarlet asked, adjusting her necklace slightly. 
"I don't know. But she wants to meet you in the gardens." Morning gave her a look Scarlet didn't understand. 
"Alright. Thank you, Morning." Scarlet rubbed the last bits of sleep out of her eyes and vaulted off her balcony, soaring up and over the SkyWing palace. 
Scarlet closed her eyes, breathing in the crisp air of the mountains. She smelled pine trees, the faraway ocean, and some sort of prey animal. She canted her wings and soared down into the woods, coming up a few moments later with a rabbit clasped between her talons. She bit off its head and spit it out, content with chewing on the rest of the furry mammal instead.
Eventually she flew down to the gardens where Crimson was waiting. The princess's sharp gold eyes turned upwards, and a smile blossomed across her face as her sister landed on the neat stone path that wove through the gardens like a twisting river.
"You wanted to see me?" Scarlet asked, holding out the rabbit as an offering to her sister. 
Crimson shook her head and pushed the prey back towards Scarlet. "I already ate," she said. Scarlet nodded, taking another bite out of her breakfast snack. "And yes, I wanted to go for a fly with you." 
Scarlet finished off the rabbit and tilted her head at her sister. "I thought you wanted to talk about Velvet." She suddenly noticed that Crimson was wearing the same silver medallion from last night. Out here, in the early rays of the sun, it sparkled and suddenly seemed a lot more like treasure than it had the night before.
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon)
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
"I do. But I also want to go flying with you. So I figured, how about we do both?" Crimson smiled a toothy grin and Scarlet couldn't help but laugh.
The two sisters spread their wings and launched into the blue sky. 
"I've been thinking," Crimson said, beating her dark copper wings, "Velvet is six. She'll be seven in less than a month." 
Scarlet felt her wings freeze. For a heart-wrenching moment, she was worried she'd fall out of the sky. But then she regained her balance and kept flapping. 
"You aren't suggesting—"
"I am. She's going to challenge Mother. I'm sure of it." 
Scarlet was in shock. Velvet? Queen of the SkyWings? That was her destiny, not her snobby sister's! 
"Why would she be crying?" Scarlet pressed. Surely there was another explanation. Velvet couldn't become queen — it just didn't line up with the rest of Scarlet's understanding of the world. Velvet wasn't ambitious enough; she didn't have the guts to kill Mother; and what would Auburn think? Scarlet knew her oldest sister and her mother were very close. Auburn very well might snap if Velvet killed Queen Sunset. 
"I'd be pretty torn if I wanted to become queen, but had to kill my mother to do it," Crimson offered. "Not, um, that I've ever, er, considered killing Mother to become queen." 
"You, too?" Scarlet groaned. "I thought that being queen was my destiny! The rest of you could just chill out while I run the kingdom. I had this whole plan where Auburn becomes my head general, you're my advisor, and Velvet disappears into the night one day." 
"That's nice," Crimson said dryly. 
"My point is," Scarlet rubbed her temples, "Velvet can't become the queen. Because I'm supposed to." 
"Yeah, and what are you planning to do about it?" asked Crimson, pumping her wings a little harder to fly ahead of Scarlet. They came to a stop in the sky, hovering over an expanse of forested mountain range. "You won't be old enough to challenge her until your seven." 
"Then I'll do it then," Scarlet replied, diving under her sister and canting her wings back towards the palace. She didn't want to have this conversation anymore. Even the thought of Velvet killing Sunset — Velvet, of all dragons! — was making her teeth hurt. She'd figure something out later. 
First, she had to talk to Sparrow and Robin. 
== Chapter 4 ==
Scarlet and her cousins had never been very close; the SkyWings were both much older than her and didn't participate in her and Crimson's "games". Even though Robin and Sparrow were about the same age as Princess Burn, they were almost nothing like her. When Burn enjoyed talking to Scarlet about annoying siblings and terrible jewelry, Scarlet's cousins were always trying to act better and more mature than she was.
Even though Lady Falcon and her family usually didn't live in the palace alongside the primary royal family, they came to visit fairly often, and Scarlet knew that this was one of those times. Robin and Sparrow had to be wandering around the halls somewhere. 
She found them admiring a tapestry of a battle, with ruby-colored swirls and gold-and-blue wings scrawling across it. 
Although the two SkyWings were from the same hatching, Robin and Sparrow looked nothing alike. While Robin was a head taller than her sister and had dark orange scales with bright red underscales (which was probably where she got her namesake), Sparrow was pale red and had piercing orange eyes. Where Robin had massive, muscled wings and deadly-looking talons, her sister was far more wiry and graceful, with curving wings that folded perfectly over her back. But even with their differences in appearance, they were very much similar personality-wise. 
The siblings always watched the highest-ranking dragon in the room, mimicking their movements and demeanor. Everything down to the way Queen Sunset breathed was mirrored by Robin and Sparrow. Scarlet and Crimson always found this unsettling, but the queen herself as well as Lady Falcon thought it proper, and even humorous at times. 
Scarlet knew that if Velvet became queen, her cousins wouldn't be able to challenge her. But she wanted to talk about something else. 
"Princess Scarlet," Sparrow said, tipping her head at her younger cousin, "what brings you here?" Her orange eyes narrowed, although other than that her expression didn't change. 
Instead of answering, Scarlet flicked her tail at the tapestry. 
"This one's called Flames and Lightning, isn't that right?" she asked, nodding at the art piece. 
"I never knew you liked art, cousin," Robin snorted a small burst of flame from her nose. 
"Then you don't know me very well," Scarlet replied, fiddling with her necklace. "You should see the gift I've prepared for princess Burn." 
"The SandWing?" Sparrow asked suspiciously. "They're our allies, cousin. Not our tribemates." 
"Call it a diplomatic offering," Scarlet dismissively waved her talon. "On the topic of princesses, which one do you think is going to challenge Oasis?" 
"Blister," both sisters said at once. 
"Blaze is about as smart as a stuffed chinchilla," Robin explained. "Cute, but not much else." 
"And Burn is too loyal to her mother," Sparrow hissed. "Have you seen the way those two talk to each other?" 
"Burn is certainly strong enough to challenge Oasis!" Scarlet snapped, but quickly clamped her mouth shut. 
"What, you have a NightWing prophet telling you Burn belongs on the throne?" Sparrow asked. "Or are you too chummy with dragons from other tribes for your own good, cousin?" 
"I-I'm loyal to the SkyWings!" Scarlet hissed. "What makes you so sure Blister will be a good queen?" 
"Nothing," Robin chortled. "She'll probably be one of the worst in history, what with trying to start wars with the other tribes in order to hold more power in her talons. She has nothing good going for her other than her looks." Sparrow snorted and whacked her sister over the head with her wing. "What? I'm just saying she's ambitious and conniving enough that she'll be the one to challenge her mother." 
Scarlet lashed her tail, annoyed. She came down here to ask her cousins about Crimson's necklace, not talk about the SandWings for the rest of eternity. Sliding calmly into conversation with these two never worked, Scarlet should've known that by now. 
"Anyways," Scarlet snorted, a puff of smoke curling up around her horns before dissolving into the air, "I was wondering if either of you noticed Crimson's new necklace." 
"Oh, yeah, I remember noticing that earlier this week," Robin shot Sparrow a significant look. "Who you think the lucky salamander is?" 
Sparrow shrugged. "I haven't seen her looking at anyone especially weirdly lately. Who knows?" 
Scarlet choked, falling backwards. "W-what?" she stammered. Robin cocked her head at her cousin, and Sparrow mimicked her. 
"Isn't it obvious?" the pale red dragoness asked." She couldn't have just gotten that necklace on her own. Auntie would never let her buy something like that." Beside her, Robin nodded. 
"N-no," Scarlet laughed dryly. "She wouldn't do something like that — not without — telling me, o-or—" 
"Then you certainly don't know your sister as well as you think you do," Sparrow interrupted. "Because she's been fiddling nervously with that thing and glancing sideways and that's all the warning signs. Right, Robin?" She grinned and elbowed her sister in the side, and the other dragon hissed good-naturedly. 
"My advice, cousin?" Robin asked. "Talk to her about it. See what's going on. Who knows, maybe you are right and we aren't as good at this as we'd like to admit." 
Scarlet wasn't listening. The hibiscus-colored dragonet was walking away, because Crimson wouldn't— 
She growled under her breath. They were wrong. Robin and Sparrow were crowd-pleasing scale-brains. They didn't know a thing about Crimson. Or... did they? No. 
No, this was a misunderstanding. Of course... it wouldn't hurt to check. Just to be sure. 
I won't bother her with it now. I'll wait until this thing with Velvet blows over and it's proven to be one big misunderstanding.
Princess Scarlet of the SkyWings was going to be queen someday. 
But standing there, alone in the hallway, with a massive tapestry her overcrowded brain told her was called The Fall of the Queen hanging over her head, things didn't seem all that clear anymore. 
== Chapter 5 ==
Scarlet was dreaming. Or remembering. Or dreaming about a memory. 
It was when she'd first met Princess Burn — she'd only been three at the time, and the SandWing had seemed much older. The SkyWing royalty were meeting with the SandWings and MudWings for some kind of diplomatic meeting, but all Scarlet remembered was that the meeting place was very far away from the SkyWing palace, and her wings were aching when they'd finally arrived. 
The Mud Kingdom was just as underwhelming as she'd expected it to be ("dreadfully boring," Crimson had murmured to herself as they walked), but the castle, though not flashy at all, had very unique architecture that even Scarlet had to admit was pretty cool. Though not at all what she wanted her palace to look like when she became queen. 
It was made up of many levels, each a slightly different type of stone. Each level looked a little different — whether it was the shape of the windows or something else, Scarlet wasn't sure, but it was certainly a thrilling effect, in her opinion. And there was still a bit of treasure here and there, so no total loss. 
Queen Mire was waiting for the other dragons in the diplomatic room. She was laid out across a pile of pillows, three dragons positioned around her. 
"Those are her siblings," Auburn whispered into her little sister's ear. "MudWings have undying loyalty to their siblings. As far as the history scrolls go, only insane dragons tried to challenge their sisters for the throne. It was always a daughter or neice."
Scarlet filed away this bit of frankly uninteresting information into her brain. She was sure she would never use it again. 
The dragon closest to Mire's left wing, the second-largest besides her, seemed to be shivering slightly. His snout was covered in scars and he had long, jagged tears through his wings. The queen had one of her own dark orange wings tented over him slightly, as if to protect her brother. She nodded as the SkyWing royals came in, and Sunset and Cardinal seated themselves on a large, nearby cushion. 
Crimson immediately dashed to her own pillow, and Scarlet jumped to catch up with her. 
"Now this is thrilling!" the older SkyWing proclaimed, draping herself over a golden pillow. 
From behind them, Velvet crinkled up her snout. "Be careful, Scarlet," she warned. "You're so small, we wouldn't want you to get crushed undertalon." Crimson growled, but it was more of a laugh. 
"Haha, good one, Velvet!" 
Scarlet ignored how that comment made her feel, and isntead opted to sit away from Crimson. Her older sisters loved her, she knew, but sometimes they could be a little much. 
"Mind if I sit here?" 
The SkyWing princess whirled around and then looked up, gasping quietly. A massive SandWing more than twice her size loomed over her, obsidian eyes meeting her own. 
"U-Uhm, g-go ahead," Scarlet stammered, inching away from the larger dragon. The SandWing sat down with a soft shff noise. 
"The name's Burn. What about you?"
Scarlet had memorized all of the other royals when she was little. It was the first thing she was required to learn, actually, even before the history of the tribes. Princess Burn, chattered her overstuffed brain. Oldest of Queen Oasis' three daughters. From the same hatching as her brothers Smolder and Scald.
"Princess Scarlet," she replied as confidently as she could. 
"Nice to meet you," Burn smiled a toothy grin. "How old are you, two? Are you allowed to be coming to one of these?" She motioned to the dragons around them, who were all a lot bigger than Scarlet. The princess puffed out her chest. 
"I'm three, actually," she responded, smoke curling from her nostrils. Burn blinked. 
"You're awfully small to be a three-year-old," the SandWing said. 
"Take it or leave it," Scarlet growled. 
Burn slapped herself on the forehead. "Sorry, I was being rude, wasn't I?" She sounded genuinely apologetic. "I'm just fascinated by strange things. Not that you're strange — ARGH." She snarled at herself. "I'm doing it again. This is why Blister always says I'm not fit to be queen, because I'm terrible at people 'polite' and 'queenly'. I'll shove her tail up her snout one day, I swear."
Scarlet tilted her head at Burn. No one had ever considered her height to be a positive. They'd always dismissed her as a naive little dragonet just because she was shorter than the average dragonet her age. Maybe she and Burn could get along. 
"It's alright," she offered. "It happens a lot. Except most dragons don't apologize." 
Burn grinned again. "Well. Sorry we got off on the wrong talon. Princess Burn of the SandWings." She held out her talon. 
"Princess Scarlet. Of the SkyWings." Scarlet took it, returning the grin. 
This is going to be thrilling. 
----Scarlet yawned, stretching her wings to their full length. Her room was lavishly furnished, with gold and red everywhere. Soft carpet cushioned her talons as she landed on the floor with the muffled thump, heading over to where an entire wall was decorated with a set of large mirrors so she could admire herself from every angle. 
Crimson had always said it was a bit much — but she and Scarlet didn't have to always agree, now did they? So wall of mirrors it was. Scarlet reached for her favorite necklace — the simple gold chain with the rubies on the end. It was a gift from her parents for her fourth birthday, and she treasured it with all of her heart. 
Adjusting it slightly so it sat just right around her neck, the princess glanced at her other jewelry. It was all gold and rubies and garnets, since she looked best in them. Occasionally the SkyWing would wear something a bit unusual, like the silver anklets Auburn had gotten for her after a hunting trip, but she tried to avoid that when it wasn't necessary to please anyone. 
It had been a while since her discussion with Robin and Sparrow, and the more time went by, the more the feeling in her gut kept gnawing at her. There had been no conclusion to whatever was happening with Velvet. Her sister's seventh birthday passed with the whole castle holding its breath, only for nothing to happen. But Scarlet needed to ask Crimson about the necklace — her sister hadn't stopped wearing it for a second since the meeting with the SandWings. She'd just kept putting off the confrontation, though. Crimson always seemed so cheerful when Scarlet wanted to talk to her, and it felt strange to ask somewhat personal questions to diminish her good mood. 
Luckily (or perhaps unluckily), Crimson was bounding into her sister's room now. 
"Scarlet!" she yelped, spreading her wings. 
"Crimson," Scarlet replied, deadpan. After a moment, she asked, "What is it?" 
"Auburn's going to try to fit an entire watermelon in her mouth!" Crimson replied excitedly, jumping up and down a little bit. "She told me to come and get you, so come on!" Scarlet cracked a grin. 
"Okay, that does sound thrilling," she admitted. "Let's go see." 
The SkyWing princesses ran through the palace halls before launching into the open sky. They glided for a few moments before landing again at the dining hall, where formal celebrations where held. Sure enough, Auburn was there. The seven year-old was currently surrounded by a couple other noble dragonets, all chanting "Eat the melon! Eat the melon!" in unison. The dark orange-red SkyWing was holding a green-striped fruit in her talons and eyeing it, as though regretting her decision to agree to this. 
"Come on, Auburn!" Crimson shouted. "Eat the melon! Eat the melon!" 
Scarlet, after a moment, joined in as well. 
Finally, her older sister opened her mouth and shoved the large fruit in. Little sprays of sweet red juice went everywhere, but she swallowed most of it fairly quickly. The dragonets erupted into cheering as Auburn grinned and rolled her eyes. 
As the commotion died down, Velvet stormed in, wings flared. 
"What in Pyrrhia are you idiots doing?" she growled. 
"Auburn swallowed a watermelon," Scarlet offered helpfully. Crimson nodded, and Auburn grinned sheepishly. 
Velvet scoffed. "How inappropriate for a SkyWing princess." 
"You aren't the queen, you can't tell us what to do," one of the other dragonets piped up. Velvet hissed, lashing her tail. 
"Mind you own business, Velvet," Auburn said. "It's no big deal, we were just messing around." 
With a sigh, Velvet flicked her tail and turned around. "If I catch you misbehaving again, I'm going to tell mother." 
"Absolutely terrifying," Crimson said sarcastically, but Velvet was already flying away. She turned to grin at her older sister. "That was thrilling, Auburn! Where did you even get a watermelon?" 
"Bought it off a SandWing," the rust-colored dragon responded with a smile. She waved her wings at the dragonets. "Alright, show's over. Find some other entertainment now." 
WIP
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon)
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)