The Tale of Briar Rose

The Tale of Briar Rose	The Tale of Briar Rose
Author 	Sterling
Summary 	An evil spirit curses a NightWing princess to eternal sleep should she prick herself on a thorn, and only her soulmate can wake her.
Genre 	Fairytale/romance
Notes 	so this is basically Sleeping Beauty but dragons. also, it might surprise you who the princess's soulmate is!
==Prologue==
“So. New NightWing princess.”
“Yes, a beautiful thing, isn’t she?”
“Indeed. When did the queen say the gifting ceremony would be?”
“One week from now, in continent time.”
“Continent time. ’Kay.”
“What other kind of time did you want me to measure in?”
“No time, preferably. Time in general just gives me a—well, not a headache. But if spirits could get headaches, then that’s what I would have.”
“…O-kaaaayy, moving on. Here’s the list of spirits who’re invited. We’re two of the top guests—and you know what that means!”
“Yeah, we each have to come up with a gift to grant the dragonet.”
“Right. And I know exactly what my gift will be! What about you?”
“Well, after last time…I’m, uh, gonna have to think about that.”
“Right, so I’ll put you down as ‘undecided.’”
“I have a gift in mind.”
“Um, I don’t believe you’re on the guest list.”
“Well, if this whiny prick can’t make up her mind, maybe you’ll just have to replace her. To heck with the queen's ‘official’ guest list. She should’ve invited a spirit who can give her young one a REAL gift.”
“The answer is still no. I mean, maybe I could squeeze you in as like, a secondary guest—”
“I AM NOT A SECONDARY GUEST! IF THIS LOSER CAN’T THINK OF A GIFT FOR THE PRINCESS, THEN I WILL!”
“…Now I think I know why the queen didn’t invite that guy.”
==Chapter I==
The entire Night Kingdom was rejoicing—Queen Omniscience had just announced the hatching of her first daughter and heir to the throne. As was custom, the queen and king had arranged a special celebration ceremony to take place a week from the princess’s hatching—and also as custom, at least for female dragonets, they had invited seven benevolent spirits to the ceremony to bestow gifts upon the little princess. Queen Omniscience had memorized the gifts bestowed upon her at her ceremony: the grace of a gazelle, the effortless beauty of a bird-of-paradise, the brains of a raven, the humour of a hyena, the speed of a bird of prey, the outgoing personality of a puppy, and the height of a giraffe. And in her heart, she secretly hoped that her daughter would receive all the same (except for the height of a giraffe; as a dragonet Omniscience had been teased to no end about her hilariously long neck).
 
Of course, such a ceremony required quite a bit of planning, all of which had to be condensed into a seven-day period so that the festivities could commence exactly on the princess’s one-week hatching day. Her Majesty, though she had been blessed with the brains of a raven, sadly had neither the foresight of a squirrel nor the work ethic of an ant, and as such preferred to leave any planning work to her council—a word which here means her husband, King Morrowlooker.
“So, husband dearest, how’s the guest list coming along?” 
His head jerked up from reviewing the guest list that was nearly as long as Omniscience’s neck. “It’s finished, if you would like to review it,” he said.
Omniscience stuck her head over Morrowlooker’s shoulder and perused the guest list. “Hmmm…ah, yes, the very same spirits who were at my gifting ceremony. All seven of them.” She frowned. “Morrowlooker, I thought I told you not to invite the Green Spirit. What if she gives our daughter the same…stupid…gift” —here she stretched out her neck and gestured in its general direction— “that she gave me?” 
With a “what can I do?” look, Morrowlooker regarded his wife. “I don’t believe you told me, no.”
Omniscience waved her talon with a sigh. “Oh, whatever. The ceremony’s in five days anyway. Too late to change anything.” She motioned to a court dragon who happened to be walking by. “You there. Take this” —she grabbed the guest list off of the table— “and make out one (1) invitation to each and every dragon and spirit on the list. When you’re done, drop them off at the Royal Post Office.”
The hapless dragon nodded and flew away with the parchment trailing behind him.
After a pause, Omniscience glanced at her husband. “You didn’t invite that one spirit who always likes to…what’s the term?…turn everything on its head, right?”
“You mean the Grey Spirit?” Morrowlooker shook his head. “No, I didn’t invite her—in fact, I explicitly mentioned on the list not to let her anywhere near the castle.”
Omniscience smiled. “Good. That’ll prevent our little one’s ceremony from being the great fiasco that my aunt’s was. Did I ever tell you about the sentient cream puffs?...”
==Chapter II==
Every NightWing with status was in a tizzy—a word which here means they were excitedly preparing themselves for the royal gifting ceremony that was to take place tonight. As the sun went down, scores of dark dragons swarmed like bats to the palace.
Queen Omniscience and King Morrowlooker sat on their thrones, which were set on either side of a tiny, cushioned throne reserved for their week-old daughter, Briar Rose. However, the little princess was less interested in her special throne than in burying her snout in her mother’s neck. 
“Rosie dear, look at all the dragons here to see you!” said Omniscience, hoping to prompt a reaction from her daughter. Instead of looking, Briar Rose squeaked and tried to scurry behind the queen. Omniscience twisted awkwardly around in her throne, removed the dragonet from behind her posterior, and tried to set her on her little throne. The princess squeaked again and kicked her little feet and flapped her little wings with such fervor that the queen gave up and placed her back on her lap with a sigh.
Category:Content (SapphicSapphire143)
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Fanon)
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Genre (Romance)