The Prophecy of the Dragonets

This is a part of A World of Unity!
This is a collection of short stories revolving around the Dragonets of Destiny, changing a few things along the way. What if Starflight had hatched under the three moons? What if Orca's statue destroyed Tsunami, and she was replaced with an IceWing? What if Asha, Hvitur, and the SkyWing egg survived, but Kestrel and Webs did not?
Not all short stories focus on the Dragonets of Destiny, but are in chronological order with perhaps a few future exceptions.
== The Act ==
"History is so boring," Icechaser complained, lowering her head onto her front talons as she lay atop a rock, struggling to listen to Asha's readings of a history scroll. Starflight lay beside her, and from the look on his face, he clearly regretted choosing to be beside her.
"Well, it doesn't have to be," Asha replied in a gentle voice. "Maybe we- maybe we should act out the beginning of the War! Wouldn't that be exciting?"
"Yeah, let's do that!" Sunny exclaimed, rising to her talons. "But who will be who?"
"Sunny, since you are a SandWing, you will play as Queen Oasis. Use that pile of rocks over there as a pile of treasure," Asha said, wrapping her large brown tail around her talons. Sunny nodded, trotting over to the pile of rocks and laying on it in a dramatic fashion, her golden tail and wings swept around them as if they were real treasure.
"Could I be the scavenger?" Clay asked. He wanted to be the role that had the most impact on the story, without having to say many lines. Asha nodded, and rolled a pointy rock to him.
"Use that as your sword," Asha told him, before turning to the other dragonets. "Icechaser, since IceWings are allied with Blaze, you will play her. Sapphire, since SkyWings are with Burn, you will play her. And Starflight, since you are the smartest of us, you will be Blister."
"What about you?" Clay asked, clutching the rock tightly in his talons.
"I will supervise," Asha explained. "And make sure we all understand what is going on. Begin!"
"I am the mighty Queen S- Oasis of the SandWings! Dragons tremble in fear and bow before me!" Sunny declared, standing up from the pile of rocks. From the way she held herself, Clay guessed the rocks were mildly uncomfortable. "I am incredibly, uh, rich?" As Asha nodded politely, Sunny went on. "I am the most powerful queen in Pyrrhia!"
Clay walked over to her, holding his rock in his talons as he approached. "Squeak squeak squeak!" He declared, mimicking the sounds scavengers made, according to Hvitur. "I have come to steal your treasure!"
Sunny snarled dramatically, and she jabbed her tail at him, pretending she had the curve of a SandWing barb that the rest of her tribe, including Dune, had. No one knew why Sunny didn't have one, but the dragonets all knew she was strong nonetheless.
Clay jumped back, then threw the rock at a spot near her head. Sunny pretended the rock had impaled her in the neck, and collapsed on the ground awkwardly, before rising up again to readjust herself so she was more comfortable on the ground.
"Squeak squeak! All this treasure is mine!" Clay declared, throwing himself on the pile of rocks and grabbing at the smaller pebbles as if they were gold in his talons. Asha flicked her tail, and Sapphire stepped forward, followed by Icechaser and Starflight.
"Our mother is dead!" Starflight declared in a dramatic tone, his eyes flitting nervously as if the dragonets were going to mock him for his awkward Blister voice. "Who will be queen now?"
"I should be queen!" Sapphire declared, snarling at the other two. "I am the eldest and strongest of us, and I will make sure the other tribes continue to fear us!"
"No, I should be queen!" Starflight argued. "I am the smartest of us, and I will make sure our kingdom prospers when all others fall!" Icechaser rolled her eyes when Starflight said "prosper", but spoke her lines anyway.
"I am the one who should rule the SandWings!" Icechaser challenged. "I am the youngest of us all, and quite frankly, the prettiest." Sapphire rolled her eyes, and opened her mouth to speak, when Hvitur walked into the cave, eyes narrow and freezing air rising from his parted mouth as he glared at them.
"What in the moons are you fools doing?" Hvitur hissed. "Are you studying or playing?"
"We were just acting out the beginning of the War," Sunny mumbled, sitting up and rubbing at her snout awkwardly. "That's all."
"You are too old to be playing, all of you!" Hvitur snapped, hissing as he glared at the dragonets.
"It helped them learn!" Asha snarled, stepping forward and glaring at Hvitur. "Why can't you be nicer to them every now and then? They're still dragonets; you need to treat them like that."
"And let them grow weak and soft?" Hvitur shot back, flaring the spikes on his spine. "They'll never fulfill the prophecy if they expect everything to be given to them all the time."
Asha snorted. "I'm sorry you never had a life as a dragonet, but that doesn't mean you can keep them from enjoying their life as a dragonet while they still have it!" Hvitur looked like he was about to attack Asha, more chilly air rising from his mouth and nostrils as he flexed his claws. At last, Hvitur sighed, the air in the cave becoming so cold, Clay was tempted to dive under a pile of moss and hide. Hvitur turned around, flicking his tail dangerously close to Asha's face, and walked off, muttering under his breath.
"You can't protect them forever," were the last words Clay heard Hvitur mutter before the large IceWing was gone.
== The Little NightWing ==
The thick trees of the rainforest curved overhead, and Moonwatcher began to retreat back to her small home as rain slowly pattered down. It wasn't much; her mother had tried to help her make it in the small moments she had with her, but it was enough.
It was a small hollow beneath a large bayan tree with a couple of long stone slates stacked to make a table, and a few jars with various fruits that she could eat without having to escape. A moss rug sat in one corner, where she often slept, and had a small, slightly charred stuffed animal, presumably a scavenger. There were a few indents in the walls where Moon kept her scrolls. The whole place was concealed by the tree's thick roots and some large ferns.
I'm going to have guests today, the clairvoyant side of her whispered in her mind. She glanced at her den, making sure everything looked neat. Mother would not be pleased to find out she'd been discovered. Stay secret, stay hidden, stay safe, her mother always said and whispered and thought and warned her, even as a hatchling, she was pretty sure.
If she finds out.
She'd had visions of this moment, vaguely, but had no idea just what would happen or when. She knew that there was a chance she'd never return home, but whether that meant kidnapping, murder, or just willingly leaving was not something she was sure about. She also knew of a chance of her simply staying in her home, deciding whether she should tell Mother or not.
Moon decided her den was tidy enough, and stepped outside of the ferns to wait patiently.
"Come on, Morning Glory! It's my first day out, and I want it to be my best!" The energetic RainWing, Kinkajou, called. "That means you gotta come with me!"
"Oh, all right, very well," Morning Glory replied, flying after Kinkajou. It was a small group, with Morning Glory and her friend, Pineapple, watching over Kinkajou and Tamarin as they flew out in search of fruit.
"All right, we'll split up our group to make this easier. Pineapple, you and Tamarin go and search that way, and check to see if the fruit trees have grown yet. If not, go and find as much fruit as you can carry. I'll go with Kinkajou to see if we can find our own fruit," Morning Glory said, spreading her talons in various directions to match her words.
"Yay!" Kinkajou exclaimed. Morning Glory smiled at Kinkajou's enthusiasm.
The two dragons flew in silence, with Kinkajou being too distracted by various bugs and animals and plants, and spending an hour trying to coax a sloth onto her back, before eventually giving up. Morning Glory's own sloth, Silver, had been left in her home, with her brother Jambu's own sloth.
"Who's that?" Kinkajou asked, pointing at a small dragonet on the rainforest floor. "And why're her scales so dark? Is she depressed? Should we go talk to her and make her feel better?" Before Morning Glory could stop her, Kinkajou dove down beside the dragonet. Morning Glory was afraid the dragonet would be spooked and run off, but she didn't even flinch.
The dragonet looked up at Morning Glory, and beckoned her closer with her talons. Morning Glory swooped down in front of the dragonet.
A new friend! was all Moon heard from the mind of the smaller RainWing, whose scales had once been yellow and pink, but were now all pink. The older, more reddish-purple RainWing simply watched the two of them, her scales not shifting to match her emotions.
"Hello!" The smaller RainWing, Kinkajou, said, outstretching her arm to shake talons. Moon gently held Kinkajou's talon and shook it lightly. "I'm Kinkajou!"
"I'm Moonwatcher," Moon replied, wrapping her tail around her back legs and folding in her wings a little. "But Moon is fine."
The older RainWing, Morning Glory, stepped forward, peering at Moon.
"You're not a RainWing, are you?" Morning Glory said slowly. "Why're you here?"
"I'm no RainWing," Moon agreed. "I'm a NightWing. I live here, because my mother hates where our tribe lives."
"And where is that?" Kinkajou asked. Moon had heard from her mother and read from various scrolls that many dragons had wondered where the NightWing home was, usually with intent of murder or secret-uncovering, but Kinkajou had no malice in her question.
Best not to tell her anyway, her mind whispered. "Not sure. Mother never told me." Moon stood up, and waved her tail at her small den. "Do you want to check my place out?"
Kinkajou grinned, beams of yellow now glowing across the bright pink. "Sure!"
Moon led the two RainWings to her small den. Seeing it now, with guests, made it feel tiny, but Kinkajou didn't seem to mind.
"Wow! Ooo, what's this?" Kinkajou slid a scroll out from Moon's shelf, and unrolled it. "Words! Morning Glory, will you teach me to read?"
"I don't- maybe another day," Morning Glory said.
"You're free to take any scrolls you like, just make sure to return them," Moon said. "I've read all of them by now, but I do like rereading some of them."
Kinkajou nodded thoughtfully, then pulled out a few scrolls. Moon noticed that all of her choices were either about animals or action-adventure stories.
"Come on Kinkajou, we should head back," Morning Glory said. "It's getting late, and Tamarin will be worried about you."
"Could I join you?" Moon asked, tilting her head. This was her chance, this was her choice. She wanted to live with the RainWings.
Mother will never find me, Moon thought sadly. She loved her mother; she knew she'd miss her. But this choice, this path, would be the best for her in many ways.
Kinkajou looked even more happy, and Morning Glory looked a bit surprised.
"Uh, sure, I suppose, but who will you stay with?" Morning Glory asked.
Moon was about to respond, but Kinkajou cut in. "She can stay with you, obviously! You and Delphinium can totally take care of her, and it works out well since neither of you can have your own dragonets."
"I would love that," Moon agreed. She'd had a vision of this once. It was of her and Morning Glory making a crown of flowers; a common way RainWings proposed to one another. They would be a happy family, one that wouldn't constantly leave Moon behind.
Morning Glory looked hesitant, but nodded. "Come with me, then."
Delphinium was surprised to see Moonwatcher, sparks of emotional yellow against her natural purple and golden scales. But she'd been willing to accept her new daughter.
You must tell, her mind shrieked. They will not hate you.
"Morning Glory? Delphinium? There's, uh, something I should tell you," Moon said. Slowly, she explained her abilities.
"I can read your minds, but not- not that great. I'm not sure if it's different for every mindreading NightWing or not, but I can only hear the occasional thought, not everything in your minds. I can also see the future, but only visions in my dreams and in immediate danger."
Moon kept herself still as she stared at the shocked looks on Morning Glory and Delphinium.
This... isn't going to be easy, both of their minds thought. But by the looks on their faces, neither of them would abandon her because of this; they'd still raise her all the same.
==The SkyWing Queen==
No one, as far as Peril was aware, questioned who the Queen's personal guards, her Eyes, as she liked to call them, were.
But Peril was the Queen's Champion, her Talons. She didn't know if that granted her a right to question her Queen, but it wasn't like she was planning to say anything.
There were three Eyes. Two of them, Peril had known from when she was a dragonet. One had shrieked when he saw her and threw his favorite toy at her, which burnt to a crisp, causing him to scream louder; the other was her brother, Hazard, who often spent time with her and even helped her win fights in the Arena, if Scarlet permitted.
But one of them... One had just shown up one day, out of nowhere. Peril supposed he could've been from one of the lower families, but knowing Scarlet, this wasn't likely.
Peril also supposed it was unlikely she'd met every dragon in the palace, but something still felt... off about him. Maybe it was those sharp horns, or his pale scales. Not as pale as Hazard's, but paler than most dragons. Perhaps because he never spoke, not as far as Peril was aware, and seemed the most devoted to the Queen.
Peril sat on the small slab Scarlet had given her, her brother right beside her. This was a "very important meeting", but they weren't aware of what it was about. Scarlet stood beside Hazard, though a few talonsteps away, and beside her were the other two Eyes. The toy-thrower, Rusty, stood looking the most serious Peril had ever seen him, while Sunstone was staring at the other dragons through narrowed eyes, as if any of them might try and kill Scarlet. As Peril stared at the other dragons, she realized most of them were guards.
"We're running out of time," Scarlet hissed, her eyes narrowing into slits and smoke rising from her nostrils, clinging to her curved horns. "Two years left before the Prophecy must be fulfilled, and I find out we're no closer than we were when Kestrel left our ranks?"
Peril figured out that this meeting would likely end in a lot of blood being shed, so she turned to talk to Hazard instead. While Scarlet did not like when Peril talked with him, she never seemed to care enough.
"Do you think we'll ever capture the Dragonets?" Peril whispered.
"I still don't think they even exist. It feels unlikely that someone actually stole five eggs without being killed and then raised them," Hazard whispered back. "I don't even believe the Prophecy itself is real. Why would the NightWings create a prophecy and make it so... vague?"
"Because that's how prophecies are!" Peril replied, flicking her tail at her brother. For any other dragon, lightly brushing her tail against them would mean death or horrible burns, but for her brother, it meant nothing. Hazard wasn't immune to all fire; they'd all found out the hard way, but he was immune to her fire.
"Now's not the time to argue this, I suspect," Hazard commented, casting a sideways glance at the dragons in the meeting.
Scarlet turned from where she was standing, glaring at her Eyes and her Talons.
"Hazard, Sunstone, and Rusty, quit bickering and go find the Dragonets," Scarlet hissed. Without another word, Hazard left with the other two guards, leaving Peril alone.
The Dragonets are coming, Peril thought to herself. But Scarlet will stop them. Another thought tried to sneak up into Peril's mind, but she burnt it out before she had a chance to think about it.
== Alone ==
The place he was in was dark again.
He'd been here before, but he couldn't quite recall where he was.
Not even his night-vision could see anything in this place.
The last times he'd been here he could hardly remember... but he was pretty sure he usually turned tail and ran. He wasn't interested in the unknown. It scared him enough that he couldn't even remember his own name, the darkness certainly not helping.
This time, though, he forced himself to take a breath to relieve his stress, and slowly placed one talon in front of him, then the next, forcing himself to walk into the beckoning void.
He wasn't sure where he was. It felt like stone beneath his talons, cold and hard, but he couldn't see it. Stretching out his wings or lashing his tail around felt nothing, not even when he lowered it to the same level as his talons.
Suddenly, he felt as though he were falling, spiraling down into an abyss that somehow seemed darker.
Then his eyes widened as he landed in the cave, the cave he'd lived in all his life.
But it couldn't be. Something was wrong, he could sense, but he wasn't sure what.
He stepped out of the sleeping cave, slowly, cautiously, and stiffened as he saw the Guardians towering over him. Hvitur, his pale scales glowing like the moons, a look of disappointment smeared across his face. Dune, his sandy scales radiating no heat, only fury. Asha, her face draped in despair and sorrow. And Webs... and Kestrel... the two guardians he'd only ever heard of, staring at him. Their image seemed to be distorted, so that he could not tell what they truly looked like. But Webs had a look of disapproval to match Hvitur's disappointment, and Kestrel looked irritated.
All of them made his scales prickle. He wanted to hide and cry, apologize and run, anything to escape. But he couldn't move anymore.
Behind them loomed a massive NightWing, glaring at him, his expression shifting between disappointment, fury, despair, disapproval, irritation. The faces of his Guardians.
And then he turned around slowly, at such a painfully slow pace, and saw a SkyWing he'd never seen before, her face neutral as she slowly approached him, claws of fire reaching for his throat.
And then as the talons grabbed him, he woke up. He gently touched his neck, which felt as though it really had been burned, though the feeling slowly dissolved.
"Starflight! Are you alright?" A voice asked. He turned his head to see Clay staring at him with concern. "You looked like you were having a bad dream."
A dream, Starflight's mind sighed. Just a dream, nothing more.
"I'm fine," was all he could say, his mind still racing and his heart still pounding. Clay still looked worried, but he looked away.
== The NightWing of the Future ==
The NightWing who'd received the prophecy of the five dragonets who would change the world was a lot bigger than Sunny expected.
She knew he was an adult dragon, but never expected him to be practically twice the size of Asha, their largest guardian.
His name was Morrowseer.
Starflight, the only NightWing Sunny had ever known before now, looked tiny compared to Morrowseer. They had fairly similar colors, though Starflight had more hints of blues in his scales, whereas Morrowseer looked like a piece of the night sky had formed into a dragon. A starless piece, Sunny supposed.
The largest difference between them was the silver teardrop at the corner of Starflight's eye, which Morrowseer did not have. Sunny noticed him eye that, his eyes widening, before he turned to the guardians, ignoring the other dragonets.
"These are the dragonets who must save the world?" Morrowseer asked, his voice chipped with disdain. "A cowardly MudWing, an off-color SkyWing, a stunted SandWing, and... an IceWing?" Sunny noted how he said that last part with perhaps a tiny bit more hate, and she was pretty sure they'd read in a scroll somewhere about a feud between NightWings and IceWings. She also noted how he completely left Starflight off his description of the flaws of the dragonets, which she supposed was due to bias.
Dune nodded, stepping forward. "They're what we could find. Blood-red MudWing eggs are so rare these days... and the SeaWing was killed in her egg. We figured an IceWing would be a strong replacement."
"And we couldn't have known Sunny would turn out different," Asha chimed in, stepping beside Dune awkwardly. "And Sapphire's egg was red when we found it, and was clearly the largest."
Morrowseer sighed, a plume of smoke covering the dragonets. Sunny coughed. He lifted his head, staring into the eyes of the other guardians, as if communicating with them without a single word.
Can NightWings do that? Communicate with others using only their mind? Sunny wondered. Starflight had never been able to do that, but perhaps it was an ability they gained later in life.
"I will find..." Morrowseer began, his eyes drifting to the dragonets and narrowing, "a way for this to work."
Dune and Hvitur nodded, and Starflight gasped slightly.
"You can't let them!" He exclaimed to the guardians. Morrowseer shot a vicious glare to Starflight, and Sunny wondered what Starflight had heard in the prophet's mind.
Morrowseer waved one talon at the dragonets. "Get your MudWing and SandWing into better shape. They'll need to be strong if they want to stop a war. And I expect you'll know the rest." Hvitur nodded again.
The NightWing was gone soon after.
Clay laid down, folding his talons, tail, and wings in in a comfortable lay, while Starflight paced the cave.
"Do you want to talk about something?" Clay asked Starflight, but he shook his head.
"I need- I need to check my scrolls. Something's not right," Starflight replied, looking distant. Sunny shot a worried glance to Sapphire, but Starflight was already walking away.
"I hope he never comes back," Icechaser told the other dragonets, her voice low to avoid the ears of the guardians. Sapphire nodded.
"I don't need NightWing powers to know we're in danger," Sapphire said slowly. Eyeing Sunny, she added, "We might need to be prepared."
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Alternate Universes
Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon)
Category:Genre (Short Story)