Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It’s the question every FanWing asks: What if the Dragonets of Destiny hatched outside? How differently would the series go with an empowered Starflight? Would the NightWings see him as more of a threat to their plan?

(Yes, I know, that’s three questions.)

And what if Sunny had inherited more from her father than her strange scales and harmless tail?

Here is a chance for us to find out.

Akishyff: Well, our theories, anyways! Also, is FanWings an actual term now?

…

“You can’t be serious.”

A rust-colored dragon stood scowling at a three-legged one the color of sand.

“The prophecy says the eggs must hatch on the brightest night,” Dune said. “Why not place them under the moons?”

“Because it’s not safe,” said Kestrel. “We’re in the middle of Queen Scarlet’s territory. If she sees anything, it’ll be the end of the prophecy.” She snorted bitterly. “Of course, it’s already in tatters with the SkyWing dead.”

“Webs will return with a RainWing egg soon.”

“Again, a RainWing egg! There aren’t any wings of rain in the prophecy!”

Dune remained calm. “We need five dragonets, Kestrel. And you said it yourself, Scarlet will have already killed all the SkyWing dragonets that were supposed to be born today.”

Kestrel couldn’t deny that. “Fine! Webs is already getting the egg, so we may as well use it. But I still think it’s idiotic to leave them out in the moonlight where any SkyWing patroller could find them!”

“It’s very specific that the dragonets hatch on the Brightest Night! Why would that be in there if the dragonets weren’t meant to hatch under the moons?”

Kestrel rolled her eyes. “Maybe to give us a hatching day so we know which dragonets would be important?”

Dune grimaced. Then he spoke up, more quietly. “For all we know, it’s vital the dragonets hatch under moonlight. Maybe you’re right, and I’m wrong, but do you want to risk the prophecy being unfulfilled?”

The SkyWing opened her mouth. Then closed it. Then opened it again when she couldn’t come up with an argument to that theory. “Fine! If it makes you feel better, we’ll get the dragonets to hatch under moonlight. But if Scarlet catches us, I’m not taking responsibility for the prophecy being ruined! Well, more than it already is.”

Dune nodded and went straight to business. “Our best bet would be constructing a shelter. Pile some boulders around to hide them while they hatch, maybe.”

Kestrel snorted. “ I’ll start piling the boulders. You go get the eggs.”

They found a secluded spot near the hidden entrance to the cave under the mountains. Kestrel got to work gathering boulders, arranging them in a circle before adding some straw and grass to cushion the eggs.

Dune brought the SandWing egg over first, the one he’d found hidden in the desert, away from the three rival sisters fighting for the throne.

Well, more stolen than found, but those were just semantics.

He retrieved the other eggs - the MudWing, the SeaWing, and the NightWing- as stealthy as possible. Once they were safe inside the circle of boulders, Dune got to work assisting Kestrel with arranging the rocks until he’d convinced her that no other dragon would be able to spot them.

The four eggs sat quietly in their makeshift shelter, looking peaceful and harmless, as eggs tended to do. Kestrel sat down and scowled at them. If she’d had her way, there would have been a SkyWing egg in there with them already. But Hvitur had to screw up and let Princess Burn destroy it mercilessly with her own talons. Now all they had was a lazy good-for-nothing RainWing egg as a replacement.

If those NightWings are so powerful, why didn’t they do something about the SkyWing egg? Useless toad-faced salamanders! I knew I should have stolen that egg myself!

Somewhere above them came the sound of beating wings. Kestrel leapt into battle pose, teeth bared.

She relaxed a moment later at the sight of a blue-green SeaWing dove out of the sky, a rainbow-colored egg cradled in his talons. “I have it!” he cried triumphantly.

“Webs,” Kestrel hissed, “That’s not exactly a cause for celebration.”

Webs hung his head. “I know, but we need five dragonets! It won’t work if we only have four!”

Dune sighed and gestured to the small nest they’d constructed in the shelter of boulders. “Not now, you two. Put it with the others.”

The SeaWing gently placed the egg inside the nest with the other four.

“Of all the horrible ideas,” Kestrel said. “If I had stolen the egg myself, we wouldn’t need a replacement! Least of all a lazy, stupid, RAINWING!”

“Would you rather have us replace it with an IceWing?” asked Dune, scaly eyebrow raised.

Kestrel rolled her eyes. “At least the IceWings are actually part of the war, and not lounging around some mucky rainforest without a care in the world!”

Webs coughed. The other two turned to him. “Dune? Kestrel? Is the NightWing egg supposed to be doing that?”

When Dune had brought the egg to the nest, it had been an ebony black, like they’d assumed all NightWing eggs would be. Now it was an eerie silver color, as polished and glimmering as the three full moons in the sky.

Kestrel let out a snarl and threw her talons in the air. “Great! First we lose the SkyWing egg, and now the NightWing egg is defective! I knew we should have kept them inside the cave, but did you lis-“

Her tirade was interrupted by a cracking, splitting sound. A large starburst-shaped crack now marked the smooth surface of the blood-red MudWing egg.

“It’s hatching!” Dune exclaimed.

“Not so loud!” Kestrel hissed. “Do you want the whole Sky Kingdom to know they’re out here?”

“The SkyWings are too busy celebrating,” Webs said. “Queen Scarlet’s hosting some kind of party or something.”

“Shush,” said Dune, holding up one claw.

Another crack rang out from the egg. Then two in quick succession, followed by a brown head pushing its way past the smooth shell.

Evidently, the dragonet had realized his skull was tough enough to be used as a battering ram.

Two brown eyes blinked in the moonlight. Then the baby brown dragon pushed again, freeing his shoulders. Then his talons came loose, and he promptly seized the sides of his shell and pushed himself out the rest of the way, looking quite pleased with himself.

The trio stared down for a moment as the dragonet spread his wings for the first time, wriggling a little. “So that’s what a baby MudWing looks like,” Dune mused after a few moments. “Rather cute, isn’t he?”

Webs nodded with a small smile. “We’re going to need a name for him. Any suggestions?”

Dune nodded. “Asha wanted to call him Clay if he was a male.”

Webs took a moment of silence to mourn the MudWing. Then he nodded his agreement. “Clay is a fine name. And much better than anything Kestrel could have come up with.”

The SkyWing snorted at him.

The sound of another egg cracking drew all four dragon’s heads to the brilliantly blue SeaWing egg. A set of tiny talons shoved a fragment of eggshell aside, wriggling brightly at them. 

Clay promptly ruined the moment by leaping on the egg and smacking it with his skull.

“What’s he doing?” cried Webs.

“He’s attacking them!“ Dune whisper-yelled. “Stop him!”

Kestrel reached over and plucked the MudWing dragonet off of the egg as easily as lifting a beetle. The little MudWing let out a pathetically high-pitched growl, trying to twist and bite at Kestrel’s talons without success.

Webs had gone somewhat pale and had to sit down, burying his snout in his talons. “That’s the egg I stole from Queen Coral. Three moons, that’s the egg I stole from Queen Coral. ”

Kestrel snorted. “Attempted regicide at two minutes old.” She examined the angrily squirming dragonet with a raised eyebrow. “Well, that’s one way to deal with whichever two princesses these brats don’t pick as Queen. Just set this little monster on them.”

Webs let out a low moan. “Please don’t joke about that.”

Dune rolled his eyes. “Kestrel, keep a hold on him, will you? We don’t want him killing these ones.” And sure enough, as the baby SeaWing struggled her way out of her own bright blue eggshell, the other three had begun to crack.

And inside the once-black egg of the NightWings, a rather… unique dragonet was stirring.

…

The first thing he knew was darkness. It surrounded him in its cold grasp, trapping and torturing him with its tight walls. He nudged it experimentally - nothing! No fair! He wanted to know things besides darkness and cold!

He could hear voices outside the walls that isolated him from the unknown. Big, loud voices thundering around his tiny ears. Other dragons, maybe? They sounded scary, but it would be so fascinating…

A shift. Silver light brushed against the walls, which were suddenly radiating warmth. It was beckoning him. It wanted him out, and it was giving him what he needed to be out. 

Maybe. Possibly. But he wouldn’t know if he didn’t try!

He pushed against the walls again, harder this time. A satisfying crack greeted his ears, something beginning to give way beneath his talons.

The light would make him safe and happy. It would give him what he needed to know what he wanted, but only if he could see it. He had to get out. Maybe another push would do it-

CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!

The walls fell away.

And the light poured in.

Three shining silver spheres blazed down on him from up in the night sky, embracing him in warmth. He wanted to pluck them out of the sky and roll them over in his talons, look at every last inch of them, and write down everything he could find on a scroll. Or at least he would have if he’d known what scrolls and writing were.

It took him several heartbeats to realize there were three large dragons standing over him. One was sandy yellow, one blue-green, and one rust red. The red one sparked with anger he could hear as she glared down at an emerald dragonet that was sitting in a half-broken rainbow egg.

Was this Mother? He didn’t think so. She was too angry. He could barely look at her without seeing a spiral of confusing images: pain, fear, betrayal, fire everywhere, something small leaving her talons, falling to the ground where she would never be able to find it.

But inside her, hidden under so much fire, was something smaller and cooler. Something that made him realize that he was safe with this dragon. Maybe not happy, per se, but safe in a sort of violent yelly way.

A sudden spark filled his mind, and he saw the little green dragon looking curiously at him. A moment later, she wasn’t green, but black, with silver around her eyes. There wasn’t much coming from her, but he could see they shared something.

Something blue jumped on him from behind, squeaking something that sounded happy. He yelped in surprise and fell over.

The blue thing seemed confused. And also entirely too boisterous for having just come into existence.

It would be a long time before the little black dragon realized he could read minds (and see the future), but the few brains available for him to peek at were certainly making good first impressions.

These were his friends. His siblings. His family. He belonged with them.

…well, maybe not the angry red dragon. But the yellow and blue-green ones seemed nice enough!

CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!

The black dragonet jumped at the alarmingly loud noise next to him. A little yellow egg with a faint silver glow was sitting next to his shattered shell. A few sharp raps from the inside opened a crack, and a little golden head poked out. Well, mostly golden, aside from the black scales spattering across her nose like freckles. She struggled the rest of the way out, wriggling a pair of jet-black talons at him.

He stared at her. The light was sharing something with her- at least, he thought so. It was very different - her talons twitched a few times, before she blinked her green eyes up at the others. Then she squeaked brightly and leapt towards the blue dragonet, knocking her over. The blue one squeaked right back, and the two began merrily rolling over each other while the green-now-black dragonet watched with a curious expression on her face.

“What’s wrong with that SandWing?” barked a voice. It came from the red dragon. “Why is she all golden? What’s with the black scales? And WHY DOESN’T SHE HAVE A TAIL BARB?”

“She’s fine,” said the yellow dragon. “It’s not uncommon for SandWings to have some black patterns, and I’ve met a golden SandWing before. Besides, I found her egg out in the desert, alone, like the prophecy said.”

The blue-green dragon shrugged. “Dune would know if there’s something wrong with her.” He gave the golden dragonet a sort of mushy look. “What should we-“

Dune raised an eyebrow. “Sunny, since she’s a girl. Beetle was the other option.”

“Alright then,” the red dragon said with a snort, evidently uncaring about the proceedings. “What names do you two want for the SeaWing, the NightWing, and the glorified chameleon?”

“That’s not a bad name for her,” the blue-green dragon piped up. “Glory the RainWing. I like it. Good idea, Kestrel.”

“…I did not just name the lazy color-changer.”

Dune snorted. “I’m afraid so. Webs, thoughts on the SeaWing?”

He frowned. “What about Tsunami? It’s a fierce name. And my only other idea is Lagoon, which presents its fair share of controversy.”

“Fair enough,” Dune decided. “Now, as for this little one…”

All three turned to him. He blinked up in a mix of surprise and curiosity - what had he done to earn all this attention?

Dune frowned. “Do NightWings have a naming theme at all?”

Kestrel rolled her eyes. “What makes you think I know? Just call him something night-related.”

The other two couldn’t argue with that. Webs frowned, scrunching up his snout, but Dune was the first to speak up. “What about Starflight?”

Webs blinked, tilting his head to the side. “Starflight.” He smiled. “It’s an excellent name for him.”

“And he can always change it if it turns out he’s a she,” Kestrel noted dismissively.

The other two couldn’t argue with that logic.

Starflight simply looked at them, then back at the other dragonet’s play. He squeaked happily, then hopped over as Sunny darted under Tsunami’s belly, bowling the blue dragonet over from behind.

Tsunami poked her head up, a mingled feeling of surprise and betrayal coming off her, before it was replaced with amusement and something more complicated. Two seconds later, Starflight was on the ground, Tsunami having plopped herself proudly on his chest.

He couldn’t help but giggle. Surely he’d be happy with friends like these!

What could go wrong?

Chapter Text

Well, it’s about time for another chapter! …really about time, sorry guys, ReptileGirl can attest to my schedule being heck. Like, seriously, why did I think university would be easy?

You’re not the only one who’s had a busy schedule, Akishyff.

Touché, and oof of sympathy. Well, anyways, here we are! With the texborne fruits of our labours! …also I just realized something. Are we gonna devote another chapter to our other moon-related plot point, or…

Definitely, yes.

…well, we’ll have fun doing it, at any rate! Also, should we just alternate author’s notes every chapter or so? Might be a fun gimmick.

If it’s fun, then I’m all for it! Now, without further ado…

Indeed, let’s get on with it.

…

Starflight and Sunny had always felt that they were different from most NightWings and SandWings, but they couldn’t put their talons on how or why.

It was difficult for Starflight to figure out exactly what was different about him. He’d been hearing two voices from just about every dragon since he was born, and once they’d learned that NightWings had mind reading powers, it was pretty easy to tell exactly what was going on. NightWings could see the future, too, and Starflight had definitely seen things happening before they actually had - what scroll Webs was going to bring him, what they’d be having for hunting practice that night, that one time Tsunami dunked him in the river (though he hadn’t been quick enough to avoid said dunking. That was profoundly unpleasant.), etcetera.

 He felt like there was still something else, but he just didn’t have any idea what exactly it was.

Sunny’s ‘different from most SandWings’ was significantly easier to discover. They’d done it completely by accident, courtesy of Tsunami’s Best Idea Ever.

They could’ve just called it what it was, but they weren’t sure they wanted the guardians to know what Sunny’s… erm, special talent was.

Tsunami had presented the idea to them when they were all three. She’d gotten the idea in the first place after reading a historical scroll - a very rare occurrence for Tsunami. She was much more interested in fiction. “GUYS!” Three moons, this is big! This is really big! Starflight probably already knows because he’s Starflight, but still -

Clay snorted awake from his nap and shook several feathers off his face. “I wasn’t sleeping!” And I was having such a nice dream…I can still taste that cow.

Glory snorted from where she was lazily lounging on a ledge in their cave, looking over a scroll. “It’s not Kestrel, Clay, you don’t need to panic.” This had better be good.

Tsunami thumped her tail impatiently on the ground. “Guys, c’mon, c’mon! This is important!” 

Starflight raised an eyebrow, looking up from a scroll of his own. He already knew what had Tsunami so excited, and he couldn’t exactly refute it because for all he knew she was right, but still. “Tsunami, I get you’re excited about this, but you have to accept the possibility that it might not work -”

“But you’ll do it anyways, right?!” C’mon, Starflight, back me up here!

“For all the non-mind readers in the room,” Glory declared drily, “What’s Tsunami talking about?”

Starflight sighed. “She was just reading about animus dragons, and now she wants to do a sort of test to see if any of us are one.”

Sunny finally spoke up. “Animus dragons? What are those, again?” 

Tsunami grinned. “They can make stuff do what they want! With magic! Imagine it! A stick that could turn you invisible! A bracelet that gives you super strength! A ruby that lets you talk to every dragon in Pyrrhia at once!” Something that makes Kestrel itch on her insides every time she yells at us!

Starflight snorted at the one she hadn’t voiced.

Glory leaned forwards, her eyes gleaming. “You seriously think one of us is an animus dragon?”

“She could be right,” Starflight said in his most reasonable tone. “From what I’ve read, animus magic is genetic. It doesn’t always show itself, but if we had an animus dragon ancestor at any point, it might manifest in us.”

“Exactly!” Tsunami declared. “It’s worth a try, right?”

Starflight could see exactly how much she wanted this. And what was the harm in doing what she was thinking of? “I agree with her on this. Her idea won’t take long to do, and there is a chance, however infinitesimal.”

Glory stared. “Infin- I can’t even pronounce that, what?”

“It’s a new word Webs taught me. No idea if I’m using it right, though.”

“Fair.” The RainWing turned to Tsunami. “If Starflight’s with you on this, it can’t be that bad an idea. What’s the plan?”

Tsunami gathered up a bunch of small rocks, each about the size of an orange, and handed one to each of her friends. “ This is the plan” she said, a pleased grin on her face. “We’ll each take turns ordering our rock to fly up into the air for a few seconds. If nothing happens, then we don’t have magic. If one of us does get their rock to float -”

“Then we’ll know if anyone’s an animus,” Starflight finished. “Good idea, Tsunami.”

The SeaWing visibly preened at the compliment. “I’ll go first. I enchant this rock to fly up to the ceiling and return to my talons.” I hope this works. Being an animus would be so cool!

Sadly for her, nothing happened. The rock stayed in her talons, still and unmoving as any ordinary stone.

Pouting, Tsunami dropped her rock onto the cave floor. “Your turn, Clay.”

The MudWing eyed the rock in his talons with a worried look, as if he were expecting it to turn into a spider at any second.

“You can do it,” encouraged Sunny. “Just say exactly what Tsunami said.”

“Okay,” said Clay. “I…I enchant this rock to fly up to the ceiling and return to my talons.” And then turn into a cow so I can eat it.

Starflight chuckled quietly at that last part. Typical Clay, always hungry. He’d turn the whole continent into a buffet, if he could.

But Clay’s rock wasn’t floating. It didn’t move at all.

Which was probably for the best. 

Then again, knowing the MudWing, Clay was likely to solve as many famines as he started.

Aw , the MudWing thought sadly. I could really go for some cow.

“My turn,” declared Glory. “I enchant this rock to fly up to the ceiling and return to my talons!” If I’m really an animus, I could show the guardians that I’m more than just ‘a lazy RainWing’! I could enchant Dune’s dinner to eat him instead! That would show him!

Starflight shuddered at that rather horrifying mental image. When Glory’s rock didn’t move, he couldn’t help but feel relieved.

“I guess I’ll go next,” he said. “Unless Sunny wants her turn now.”

“No, that’s okay,” Sunny said. “Go ahead, Starflight.”

Starflight smiled at her. If there was one thing about Sunny that he loved, it was her kind and joyful personality. He’d been having snippets of visions of them together, jumbled in between horrific flashes of blood and lava, but the visions of him and Sunny seemed more distant than all the others he had over the years.

Well, aside from that one where she started stockpiling lizards in a crevice in their sleeping cave. That one would probably happen in a few days, judging by the size of the Sunny in question.

“Hey,” said Glory, “are you gonna take your turn or what?”

“Huh?” Starflight snapped out of his daze. “Oh, right! Sorry.”

Sunny laughed.

How long was I standing there staring like an idiot? Starflight wondered. Straightening himself out, he commanded uncertainly, “I enchant this rock to fly up to the ceiling and return to my talons.”

When the rock didn’t move, he felt both relieved and a little sad. Then again, he already had his mind-reading and precognition. Having animus powers as well would probably be too much power for one dragon.

“Alright, Sunny,” Tsunami said, “your turn.”

Trembling with nervous excitement, Sunny fumbled her rock out in front of her and took a deep breath. “Rock, please fly up to the ceiling, then return to my talons?”

The rock did not fly up to the ceiling.

The rock practically jumped to obey Sunny’s polite request, rocketing up to the ceiling, tapping it lightly, then dropping like… well, a stone, stopping just in time to fall sedately into Sunny’s talons again.

There was silence for a moment. All five of them stared in shock at what had just happened, but no one looked more surprised than Sunny.

“Oh my gosh,” Tsunami blurted. “Sunny! You’re an animus!”

Starflight shushed her. “Not so loud! The guardians might hear you.”

As if the warning had summoned her, Kestrel burst into the room.

“What is all the noise?!” the SkyWing roared. These brain-dead lizards should be in bed right now!

Glory tossed her rock away and scurried into a nook in the wall, turning gray all over. Which was understandable.

“We were just playing a game,” Starflight said quickly. “And, uh…Sunny won.”

Technically, that wasn’t a lie. Starflight just hoped his explanation was convincing enough for Kestrel to not press the issue any further.

“I won?” Sunny parroted in confusion. Tsunami nudged her hard, and she quickly amended, “Oh, yeah! I did win!”

“Quiet!” Kestrel snapped. “All of you to bed. NOW! ” She turned and stomped out of the cave. Stupid small-brained dragonets, keeping us all awake, can’t just go to sleep like sensible dragons…

Once the SkyWing’s footfalls faded into the distance, Glory pulled herself out of hiding. “I swear, Kestrel gets angrier every time she yells at us.”

Starflight could always hear when Kestrel was coming - her mind was full of angry thoughts all jumbled up together and zipping around her head like a swarm of bees. There were so many of them that it was hard to tell what she was mad at and why. Starflight wished he could pluck Kestrel’s thoughts out of her head, place them on a scroll and rearrange them in an order that made readable sense.

I could if I were an animus. Maybe Sunny could -

No. Starflight had learned all about the effects of animus magic from The Animus Histories . He couldn’t just ask for anything from Sunny, not with the price that came with the magic.

“We should go to bed before she comes back,” he said.

At the same time, Tsunami whisper-shouted, “Guys, Sunny’s an animus ! Do you realize what this means?”

“That she can do whatever she wants?” Glory jokingly guessed.

“Free cows for everybody?” Clay asked hopefully.

“ Guys ,” Starflight stressed. “We should really get into our beds before Kestrel comes back.”

Killjoy, Tsunami thought in his general direction. “Glory, yes. Clay, no. Starflight, relax! We’ve already had battle training today, and that’s pretty much Kestrel’s go-to punishment for us.” Which is barely a punishment because yay, hitting Kestrel with my tail lots!

“Well, I’m feeling pretty tired,” Clay said. He pulled himself up onto the biggest ledge in their cave and laid down. And hungry. Hmm, I wonder if Starflight is sick of hearing me think about being hungry.

No, Clay, Starflight thought amusedly. You’re a surprisingly comforting white noise.

Naturally, Glory’s first statement was somewhat more pragmatic. “Maybe Sunny could conjure us some blankets so we’d actually have something soft and warm to lie down on instead of these cold, hard rocks.”

That would be nice. Tsunami thought. And then something monumentally stupid entered her head, which Starflight elected not to rebuke because Glory would do it for him. “Or,” she said, “she could enchant you to turn into a SkyWing.”

The RainWing froze for a brief moment out of surprise, then starbursts of angry red bubbled across her scales as she glared at the SeaWing. She’s GOT to be kidding.

“Think about it!” Tsunami declared brightly. “Kestrel and Dune would stop being horrible and start treating you like a real dragonet of destiny for a change. And we’d all still know you’re you.”

“Glory is a real dragonet of destiny,” said Clay, “no matter what the guardians say.” She’s a thousand times better than any SkyWing.

Sunny pulled herself up onto the smallest ledge. “I could never do that,” she said. “I mean, the blankets are a good idea, but Glory’s perfect the way she is. We shouldn’t have to change her just because the guardians don’t like that she’s a RainWing.”

Glory’s scales faded back to their normal emerald green as her friends praised her. At least there are some dragons who like me the way I am.

“Either way,” said Starflight, “we all need to be very smart and very careful about this. If we suddenly got blankets in our beds, or if Glory just disappeared and was replaced by some random SkyWing, the guardians would know something was up. And Sunny really shouldn’t use her powers too much, not with what it costs.”

“We can be smart and careful!” Tsunami protested defensively.

“Maybe we can,” said Glory, “but Tsunami? There’s a better chance of seaweed growing out of her ears than her being careful about anything.” And now that we know Sunny’s an animus, that chance has just increased in likelihood.

“We are not asking Sunny to grow seaweed out of Tsunami’s ears!” Starflight yelped.

“EW!” Sunny cried. “No way! Not in a thousand years! That’d be so weird and yucky!”

“Not to mention uncomfortable and embarrassing,” Tsunami noted pointedly. She glared at the snarky RainWing. If she tries anything funny, I will tie her tail in a knot! 

Starflight couldn’t help but chuckle at that, more out of nervousness than amusement.

“Um, Starflight?” asked Clay, “What does animus magic cost?” Treasure? Time? Food?

Being the type of dragon who liked sharing his random bits of trivia, Starflight promptly dropped into what Tsunami called his ‘know-it-all-voice’. “There’s a theory that every time an animus dragon uses their magic, it costs them a bit of their soul. And that once all of their soul is gone, they turn evil. Granted, it’s not confirmed, but there is a substantial amount of evidence to support it. Prince Albatross, for example, was the first animus in the SeaWing tribe. He made a lot of contributions to the Kingdom of the Sea with his magic, before he went insane and slaughtered most of his family. He had to be killed himself by a legendary warrior named Indigo -”

“Great bedtime story,” Glory interrupted in her snarkiest tone. “Tomorrow night, why don’t you tell us the riveting tale of the Darkstalker?”

Starflight felt the shiver that went down Sunny’s spine. Is that my destiny? To turn evil and kill my friends?

His heart sank. He hadn’t meant to scare her. Just discourage Tsunami from...okay, yeah, there wasn’t any way around making Sunny’s new gift something frightening.

“That’ll never happen,” Clay said. “Sunny’s the nicest and most bubbly dragon in Pyrrhia. She could never turn evil.” He shrugged. “Besides, maybe it only happens to animuses -” Animi, maybe? Starflight probably knows - Starflight, is it animi or animuses? “- who already have something wrong with them.”

That cheered her up. “Clay’s right. I’m not evil, and I never will be!” I hope so. Being an animus sounded great, but if what Starflight said is true, then I should be more careful. And Starflight is never wrong. I’m not evil...but I’m not just sweet and simple, either. I can be much more, I know it!

Starflight smiled. “Trust me, Sunny, the last thing you are is simple. Sweet, definitely, but not simple. ”

He says it like it’s a curse word.

Aww, thanks, Starflight!

I wish I could eat encouragement. I’d never be hungry with how much of it we all give each other.

Starflight smiled warmly at his friends as he drifted off to sleep. It was usually quite difficult for him to tell whether he was dreaming or having visions, but it was worth enduring night after night when he had such great friends waiting for him in the morning.

This night proved to be a nightmare. Hooray for being able to see the future.

Dragon blood everywhere. Scrolls filled with lies. A flash of deadly fangs, a wave of golden-orange fire, a SeaWing writhing in agony, a massive NightWing illuminated by an infernal glow, and strange black diamonds gleaming in the corners of his eyesight.

And then there was Sunny. And Clay, and Glory, and Tsunami.

The five of them were all huddled up together in a group hug that warmed Starflight’s soul. The sun was shining brightly over their heads, and they were happy and hopeful and as tight-knit as the family they’d become.

“Don’t worry about the future,” vision-dream-Sunny said to him. “We can handle anything, as long as we’re together.”

Starflight smiled in his sleep. These were the vision-dreams that he liked the best.

It helped that every version of Clay gave very good hugs.

…

If you like this, be sure to leave some reviews/comments. It’s always great to know that our work is appreciated. Right, Akishyff?

Well, also it gives us warm and fuzzy feelings, but yeah, sure, we’ll go with that!

Chapter Text

DISCLAIMER: Reps and I had this little chat back in 2022, which is when this chapter was created... sorry, guys, I've been burnt out for a while. But I'm looking to make a return! And now, on with the friendly banter:

ReptileGirl497: I just want to say for the record that this bit was Akishyff’s idea (and a good one at that).

Akishyff: WHAT CAN I SAAAAAAAAY EXCEPT YOU’RE WELCOME- I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m a music major, I had to, it’s the law.

ReptileGirl497: You know what else you are? A creative genius. Also thanks for getting that song stuck in my head. (And please don’t sing “You’re Welcome” again, or we’ll be here all day.)

Akishyff: Alright, alright, fair enough. And thank you for the compliment, my flowers are watered, my sinuses are cleared, and the stray cat on our street has been fed… I actually don’t know how that meme goes. Shall we just carry on?

ReptileGirl497: Yes, let’s.

Akishyff: Alright! We hope you all enjoy the chaos that results when you give supernatural powers to children!

…

Nearly a year had passed since the dragonets discovered Sunny’s animus magic. Following Starflight’s advice, she had neglected to cast any obvious spells since their impromptu test with the rocks.

…well, there was that one spell that made their ledges change to their preferred temperature. But really, that was just Sunny being Sunny.

Starflight never truly believed that animus magic cost dragons their souls. There had been mentions of a few animi who had used their powers without going insane, namely Prince Fathom of the SeaWings. But that didn’t mean they shouldn’t be careful with Sunny’s magic - they could still draw unwanted attention from the guardians.

Clay, being Clay, was firm in his opinion that Sunny could never turn evil, but Starflight was still a bit unsure. Maybe if he studied his scrolls again, he’d find something he missed, something that would reassure him that Sunny’s soul was safe and there was nothing to worry about.

The other dragonets would often say that Starflight studied too much. But they didn’t understand why he worked as hard as he did. He knew that what was written in their scrolls had to be important - there could be something in there that would one day mean the difference between life and death. They needed to learn all they could before taking on the outside world.

And, if Starflight was being honest with himself, being the smartest of the group made him feel more special.

His friends all had something that made them special. Sunny had her magic, Clay was hatched from a blood-red egg, Tsunami was convinced that she was a princess, and Glory…well, aside from not being in the prophecy, she could change her scales to any color they could imagine. It may have been ordinary for a RainWing, but the dragonets probably wouldn’t have known there were so many colors if they’d had a SkyWing instead of Glory.

There didn’t seem to be anything special about Starflight. From what he read, every NightWing had the ability to read minds and foretell the future. Aside from being a dragonet of destiny, Starflight was just like all the other NightWings. (He wasn’t sure why hysterical laughter seemed to ring in his head every time he thought that. Well, he was pretty sure it was a vision of the future, but why would thinking about being a normal NightWing trigger a vision of someone having just been told a side-splitting joke?)

At least, that’s how it seemed.

They were four now. Starflight had just finished another session of battle training with Kestrel - another miserable failure. He was the worst fighter of all the dragonets. Even when he could read Kestrel’s thoughts, or see what she was going to do before it happened, he would always overthink his next move, and before he knew it Kestrel was throwing him into a stalagmite.

Sunny often told him that there was nothing wrong with that; that she wasn’t a great fighter either, despite her willingness to abuse her small size. She was always trying to make the others feel better.

“I just wish I could do something useful,” he bemoaned. “I hate to think about what could happen if one of you needed my help, and I couldn’t do anything to assist.”

“You’re the smartest of all of us,” Clay said, “You don’t have to fight to be useful.” Tsunami already has that covered.

The SeaWing dragonet was the best fighter of the group. Starflight couldn’t help but wish that he was as strong and brave as she was.

Each of them seemed to have a part - Clay was the heart of the group, Tsunami was the leader, Glory was the sarcastic one, and Sunny was the cheerful little sister. That left Starflight as the smart one.

But being the smartest wasn’t enough for the guardians, specifically Kestrel. She expected them to fight, to defend themselves, and liked to shoot fire at the dragonets if they didn’t meet her expectations. Meaning 'often'.

Dune and Webs weren’t as bad. The SandWing guardian spent extra time ensuring that Starflight understood particular topics, while the SeaWing guardian taught the dragonets everything he could and sometimes brought back prey that they each liked.

Starflight had heard the trio thinking about two other guardians - Asha and Hvitur - that had died retrieving their eggs. He couldn’t help but wonder what they’d been like, and if life in the caves would have been any different if they were around. …well, maybe not Hvitur, given what he’d read about IceWings and NightWings, but Asha might have been a good dragon to know.

“Maybe it’s enough for you guys,” he finally said in response to Clay’s statement. “But the guardians keep expecting more from each of us. If I’m not a fighter, then how am I supposed to please them?”

“I ask that question all the time,” Glory said, “but not the same way as you.” She was resting under the sky hole, through which the noontime sun’s rays were shining and making her scales glimmer like jewels. In spite of her outward serenity, Starflight could hear her grumbling in her mind, I don’t need everyone reminding me I’m not a SkyWing. Why do the guardians even bother keeping me here if I’m not supposed to be in the prophecy? It’s not like they even care if I exist.

We care, Starflight wanted to say. You’re our friend. You’ll always be one of us.

The RainWing’s head shot up, snout wrinkled in confusion as her eyes scanned the cave.

Was she looking for something?

What if she was trying to find a way out of the caves? Starflight knew she’d thought about it from time to time - slipping out into the sunshine and flying away to the rainforest without ever looking back.

But her friends were the only family she had, and she wasn’t ready to leave them behind.

As Tsunami had said once, “If one of us goes, we all go.”

Or would she say that later? It was hard for Starflight to differentiate memories from visions sometimes.

There was a distinct splat-splat of wet talons on rock and the SeaWing dragonet pranced into the cavern, water dripping off her wings. It was easy to tell she’d gone and taken a dip in the underground river - it was her favorite activity.

“So, how was battle training?” she asked, sitting down with a wet *squish*. “It was Starflight’s turn, right?” If it was, then it probably didn’t go well.

“I hate to admit it,” Starflight replied with a grimace, “but your train of thought is completely correct. Kestrel burned me pretty badly this time. I might not be able to sit right for a week.”

“We were just talking about how impossible it is to please the guardians.” Glory said, before amending her statement to, “Well, mostly for me and Starflight.”

“So what?” Tsunami snorted. “Starflight’s smarter than all of us combined. And you’re way better than a SkyWing. You get to turn any color you want while they’re stuck with those eye-burning reds and oranges.”

Whatever conversation followed faded into oblivion as Starflight immersed himself in his thoughts. If there was supposed to be a SkyWing in the prophecy, then why hadn’t they lived long enough to hatch on the brightest night? Wouldn’t the NightWing who foretold the prophecy know that the SkyWing would die?

…What if the prophecy was wrong?

No, it had to be right. The prophecy was the whole reason they were here right now; it’s what gave their lives purpose.

Besides, he’d misinterpreted his visions before. What he’d thought was Tsunami smacking Kestrel across the snout in battle training had actually been Glory cycling through just about every color of the rainbow in a distraction attempt, before landing a solid blow. If he could do that, wasn’t it entirely possible that the prophecy could be similarly missing details?

Of course, a far more reasonable explanation was that the NightWing prophet who revealed the prophecy had simply been mumbling, and the poor scribe that was writing it down had been forced to fill in the blanks. He’d seen that theory in Sunny’s dreams a few times.

He pulled himself out of his thoughts to discover that Tsunami was still talking about how Glory was better than some SkyWing who would grump and complain and shout and set all of Starflight’s scrolls on fire.

The last part made her argument particularly compelling.

Glory rolled her eyes. “I get it, Tsunami, you guys prefer me to some SkyWing, you can stop singing my praises now.” Actually, feel free to continue, it’s doing wonders for my self-esteem. Starflight, I’m thinking at you.

Starflight chuckled at that. Hey now, Glory, let her raise my self-esteem a bit. Kestrel’s got issues with me too.

Glory shot straight up, splotches of orange-purple and pale green flaring at her talons and around her eyes. “Okay, what the heck?!”

“What happened?” Sunny squeaked, jumping in surprise.

Ever the considerate one, Clay blinked. “What’s wrong, Glory?”

“I just heard someone talk inside my brain!”

“…excuse me, what?!” Starflight demanded. “How?! Wait, no, stupid question, if you knew how, you wouldn’t be this alarmed. Okay, let’s be logical about this.”

“ Logical?! I’m hearing a voice in my head!”

“GLORY!” Tsunami snapped. “Trust me, all five of us think this is freaky, but Starflight’s the smart one! Let him try and work this out!”

Starflight closed his eyes, his brain flying a mountain range a minute. Okay, think, Starflight! What’s the most reasonable conclusion? …psychic powers, that’s a decent starting point. NightWings have them, maybe Glory somehow developed them as well? A freak mutation? “Okay, I have some theories. Glory, what does the voice sound like exactly? Does it sound like it’s coming from other dragons? And who exactly does it sound like? Is it your own voice just saying something you can’t make sense of, or is it another dragon?”

Glory frowned. “It was definitely in my own head. I don’t remember what it sounded like though, it was talking too quickly.”

Okay, that probably rules out mind-reading, Starflight thought, not noticing Tsunami’s brows suddenly furrowing. What are our other options? Glory could simply be thinking to herself, but I would notice if she was - and she’d definitely notice if she was, it is her head after all. What else is there? All I can think of is animus magic, and I somehow doubt Sunny would put a spell on Glory if it wasn’t to save Glory’s life-

“Uh, the hearing-voices-in-our-heads club just got a second member!” Tsunami declared, looking extremely alarmed. “It’s not super clear, but apparently it’s… actually, it kinda sounds like you, Starflight.”

That shook him out of his theorizing. “Wait, what? How so?”

“Well, it’s making theories in a mildly organized manner, and it has a bookish nerdy sound to it - and it’s gone now!”

Glory and Clay couldn’t help but snicker at the description. Starflight was too busy adding that information to his considerations. …wait a second. Could it - no, that’s impossible, an ability like that hasn’t been recorded - but in that scroll on notable NightWings 2000 years ago, Clearsight was clearly an outlier too - that was just a spectacularly strong version of a base power, this would be too different - not when you think about it, it’s really just the reverse of mind reading -

Starflight’s twin trails of thought abruptly ended with the statement, experimentation is required here.

“…Hey, Tsunami, how do you direct your thoughts at me specifically when you want me to read your mind right then?”

The SeaWing blinked. “How would that help?”

“Humor me.”

She shrugged. “Well, it’s nothing really. I just… I dunno, think in your general direction? I’m not sure how I do it, I just know that I do.”

Starflight tilted his head slightly and imagined a sort of wave rippling from his skull towards Tsunami’s forehead. Kind of like this?

Tsunami yelped. Glory’s head shot between her and Starflight. “What just happened?”

“STARFLIGHT JUST PUT HIS THOUGHTS IN MY BRAIN! Either that, or it was the weirdest hallucination I’ve ever had.”

Glory blinked. Starflight could practically see the three different questions squabbling over which one would leave her mouth first, and the one that came out was, “Weirder than that dream you had about the singing cucumbers?”

Tsunami shuddered. “If Sunny ever offers me carrots or something, I’ll say no just because of that freaking dream. Yeesh.”

“You don’t have to worry about me giving you enchanted vegetables,” Sunny said. “That would be way too silly. You really should try carrots, though. They’re really good.”

The SeaWing flicked some water at her. “I’ll pass.”

“I’ll eat your carrots,” Clay offered, which wasn’t quite as sweet a gesture as it would have been given Clay ate everything.

There was a burst of bright pinks, yellows, and blues as Glory flared out her wings, bringing the other dragonets’ attention to her. “Excuse me,” she said, “but are we going to ignore the fact that STARFLIGHT CAN TALK TO US WITH HIS MIND?”

“Do you want to tell the whole cave about it?” Tsunami snarked. “And you guys say I’m loud.”

Right. Just what they needed. Another secret they had to keep from the guardians. Yippee.

“This is very unusual,” Starflight mused aloud. “Nothing I’ve read mentions any NightWings having the power to project their thoughts to other dragons’ minds.”

“Scrolls don’t list every single little thing throughout history,” said Glory. If they did, we’d be up to our necks in them.

Starflight took a brief moment to daydream over that wonderful image.

“Maybe you’re more special than you give yourself credit for,” Sunny suggested with a warm smile. She brushed his wing with hers.

Starflight felt his heart jump. It always did whenever Sunny said or did something nice for him, with that smile and the spark of joy in her eyes. He saw her as something more than a sister for almost as long as he could remember.

But he knew she didn’t feel the same about him. She had never thought of him in the same way he had, not even once. Yes, Sunny loved Starflight, but like a brother.

That’s why he hadn’t told her about his feelings. He was still in love with her, still having visions of them being together as more than friends, and he didn’t want to risk ruining his friendship with her. If Sunny was happy with them just being friends, then he was willing to let it stay that way. Besides, maybe he’d misinterpreted those visions, too. Or he was seeing an alternate timeline. There were countless variables to consider.

In any case, the future wasn’t set in stone.

I’m glad one of us thinks so, he thought at her, the smallest hints of a smile turning up the corners of his mouth.

And then he quietly took Tsunami aside and started making plans to make that rousing ‘The Dragonets Are Coming’ song Webs had taught them, into a song Kestrel would be unable to stop hearing in her dreams.

Really, there were some things you just had to do if you could do them.

…

ReptileGirl497: Don’t you just love the smell of irony in the morning?

Akishyff: Depends on my dealer. I prefer my irony with a subtle hint of that shampoo Dad uses when he washes the dog- oh, you were being literal. Or figurative- actually, I don’t know which of the two are more applicable, because I’m the one making a snarky joke out of a metaphor and completely overthinking it because me.

ReptileGirl497: Well, you’re certainly the best you you can be. Me, I like my irony with a dash of humor and a hint of karma. …And I have no idea if that makes any sense.

Akishyff: Sense has no meaning in this place. …actually it does, but I really like saying that! So, what’s next? Story events, do we think?

ReptileGirl497: Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to seeing how differently things will turn out from here.

Akishyff: Works for me! Until next time, readers! We dunno when it’ll be, but ‘eventually’ seems to hit the bill!

Next Time: How To Conceal Your RainWing

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: Banter from 2022 again... I'll get better lol.

ReptileGirl497: Since this story is just as much about Sunny as it is Starflight, I thought maybe we’d take a break from the NightWing dragonet of destiny and focus on our wonderful ball of sunshine for a little while.

Akishyff: …Sunny POV. I didn’t even consider that for this chapter! Which… tells you something about how scatterbrained I can be… moving on!

…

The dragonets were six when everything changed. And not for the better.

It had started on a fairly normal evening - Clay had once again failed at battle practice with Kestrel, Starflight had his nose buried in a scroll, Tsunami was being her usual Miss Bossyclaws, and Glory was lying curled up under the sky hole like she always did at noon. (They had asked her about it once, and she’d told them she had no idea why she did it, which Starflight affirmed to be true with a little help from his mind-reading abilities.)

Sunny was hunting for lizards by the river. She had a small appetite, so she never had to indulge in larger meals like cows - Clay’s favorite.

The SandWing dragonet had always known that she was special, even before she knew she had magic. She’d barely even noticed the faint tingling in her claws that had persisted since the night she hatched along with her friends. She did recall a faint memory of something stirring inside her as her scales were bathed in the light of the three full moons. Perhaps it had been a sign of how perfect she was for a Big Heroic Destiny.

She wanted to save the world, and she knew that she’d be perfect for the job. Why else would she be so small and odd-looking? She may not have been a normal SandWing, but it didn’t matter because she fit the prophecy: Hidden alone from the rival queens, the SandWing egg awaits unseen . It didn’t bother Sunny that her parents had left her out there alone in the desert, because then she wouldn’t have met her friends.

Every now and again, Tsunami would suggest, or possibly joke, that Sunny could use her magic to end the war. Then they could all go home to their families and not have to worry about anything ever again. But Sunny wanted to use her power wisely, for the good of other dragons, without hurting or killing anyone. And there was no animus magic mentioned anywhere in the prophecy.

Besides, what kind of spells would Sunny need to cast to end a war? Using that much magic would definitely have consequences. Better to do it the normal way - compassion, reason, and faith that not every dragon was as abrasive as Kestrel.

A small pale tail disappeared behind one of the rocks, and Sunny pounced, her claws clamping down on tiny scales. A sense of triumph coursed through her as she loudly declared “AHA!”

“What’d I do?” yelped a voice. “I’m sorry! It was an accident! Or if it’s the extra cow, Dune said I could have it because Webs would be out late but I’m sorry and I can skip dinner tomorrow!”

Smiling, Sunny nudged Clay’s back with her snout. “Calm down, silly,” she said, giggling. “I wasn’t aha-ing you. That was my fierce hunting cry. Did you like it? Was it scary?”

“Well, it was certainly surprising,” he said. “Lizards again?”

Sunny swallowed her catch before she answered. “Well, cows are too heavy for me. The others are waiting for us in the study cave. Wanna walk together?”

“Sure,” he smiled. Then he followed her across the central cave.

Sunny always looked forward to studying. She didn’t love it like Starflight did, but she didn’t mind learning new things. It was more fun when they were all studying together as a group.

The study cave floor was covered in scrolls when Sunny and Clay arrived. Tsunami was sweeping them up with her tail, trying to clean the cave so she could walk around without slipping on any paper.

“All of this history is so confusing,” Sunny murmured to Clay, swishing her tail back and forth. “Why don’t the three sides just sit down and talk out an end to the war?”

“That would be great,” Clay said. “Then we could stop studying it.”

Sunny giggled. She loved how sweet and funny Clay was. He was like a big brother to her, always looking out for her and the others, and she could always confide in him.

“Stop that,” Tsunami said bossily, stamping her feet at them. “No whispering! Pay attention. I’m assigning parts.”

“This is not proper studying,” Starflight pointed out. He swept a few scrolls between his talons and began to neatly sort them into stacked triangles. “Perhaps I should read to everyone instead.”

“Dear moons, anything but that,” Glory said from her resting spot under the sky hole. “Maybe later, when we’re actually trying to fall asleep. Or distract Kestrel while we think at you.”

“…suppose I -”

“No, Starflight, don’t use your telepathy to do the silly voices. Kestrel almost caught us last time! None of us can laugh subtly!”

“Shush,” Tsunami scolded. “Now, obviously I’d be the best queen, but let’s make Sunny the queen, since she’s an actual SandWing.” She bustled over and pushed Sunny into the center of the cave.

Sunny beamed. This was a game she and her friends would often play, and she hardly ever got to be anyone besides one of the three sisters (mainly Blaze).

Tsunami tapped her talons on the cave floor, studying her friends. “Clay, you’re the scavenger. Here, this can be your claw.” She swung her long tail in an arc and smashed a stalagmite loose. Shards of rock flew across the cave, and the other dragonets ducked. Tsunami picked up a small, pointed piece and handed it to Clay.

“The rest of us will be the princesses,” Tsunami said. “I’ll be Burn, the strong one, obviously. Glory, you’re Blister, the smart one. And Starflight…”

She quickly realized that that sentence had to be finished diplomatically. “you can be Blaze, the- uh- the one the SandWings like.”

“You mean the pretty one,” Glory simpered gleefully.

“I had to be a princess last time, too,” Starflight observed drily, narrowing his eyes at the smirk Glory wasn’t even bothering to conceal.

Maybe you and Clay could switch roles? Sunny thought at him.

He visibly perked up. Good idea, Sunny.

It had been really weird for them when they first discovered that Starflight could talk to them with his mind, but Sunny had gotten used to it by now. It was especially useful when they had conversations about topics they didn’t want the guardians eavesdropping in on, like Sunny’s animus magic.

“I know that look,” Tsunami said. “What are you two thought-talking about?”

“Um,” Sunny said. “Well, since Starflight doesn’t want to be Blaze, I thought maybe some of us could trade roles?”

“I’d rather see Starflight be Blaze,” Glory said, trying and failing to hide an amused smile.

Starflight sighed and settled into the shadows. “Oh, alright. I’ll be the pretty one,” he grumbled in a tone that left no debates about the fact that his complaint was because he had to be ‘the pretty one’.

Sorry, thought Sunny. No one ever listened to her ideas, unless she had Clay or Starflight tell them for her.

Tsunami and Glory hopped onto the ledges to give Sunny some room. The SandWing dragonet stood as straight and tall as she could, trying to look like a queen. “Okay, here I go. La la la, Queen Oasis of the SandWings. I’m so very important and, uh, royal, and stuff. I’ve been queen for ages and ages.” She strutted across the cave floor. “No one dares challenge me for my throne! I am the strongest SandWing queen who ever lived! It’s not at all because I poison all my potential competition in their sleep to strictly control the number of dragons that can challenge me for the monarchy!”

“Don’t forget the treasure,” Tsunami hissed through her giggles at Sunny’s butchering, pointing at a pile of loose rocks.

“Oh, right,” Sunny said. “It’s probably because of all my treasure! Which I have because I’m such an important queen! And totally don’t levy disproportionate taxes on my kingdom, I am a completely trustworthy monarch, where are these accusations coming from?”

Sue her, she liked having fun with this scene. And invoking Glory’s more cynical theories about Queen Oasis in the funniest way she could manage.

“Did someone say treasure ?” Clay bellowed abruptly, leaping out from behind a large rock formation. Sunny yelped with fright - in her defense, even if Clay was the sweetest thing since… well, whatever tasted sweet, she guessed? Fruit, maybe? - he was still one of the biggest dragons she’d ever met. Which wasn’t saying much, but still!

“No!” Tsunami called. “You’re not supposed to be scared!”

“Right, sorry,” Sunny said. “Rargh! What is this tiny scavenger doing in my kingdom? I’ll eat him in one bite! Because he is pathetic! And tiny! Rawr!”

Clay swung his stalagmite in a circle. “Squeak squeak squeak!” he shouted. “And other annoying scavenger noises!”

Sunny had to bite her tongue to stop herself from laughing. And judging from the snickering sounds, she guessed that Glory and Tsunami were also amused.

“Take that!” Clay shouted, thrusting the fake claw between her neck and her wing, pretending it went right through her heart. “Uh, I mean- squeak! Fierce squeaking!”

“Aaargh!” Sunny howled, throwing as much hamminess into her tone as she could. “Impossible! A queen defeated by a lowly scavenger! The kingdom will fall apart! Oh, my lovely treasure, my greatest love in life, because the war might potentially be because I was a terrible parent!” 

And then she fake-collapsed to the ground and let her wings flop lifelessly on either side of her as abruptly as she could. Because what were death scenes for if not to be shamelessly butchered?

“Squeak squeak!” Clay said. “The treasure is all mine!” He scooped up all the rocks and paraded away, lashing his tail proudly.

Tsunami and Glory jumped off the ledge and hurried over to Sunny, followed by a reluctant Starflight. The SeaWing reached her first, clasped her talons together, and let out a cry of anguish. “Oh, no! Our mother is dead! And the treasure is gone! But mostly our mother is dead! And worse, none of us killed her! Who’s going to be queen now?”

“I, Blister, was about to challenge her,” Glory cut in swiftly. She flapped her wings for appropriate dramatic flair. “I should be queen!”

“Excuse you! Don’t be stupid! I, Burn, am the eldest, biggest, and strongest!” Tsunami insisted. “And you’d have been squashed like a bug if you tried to fight her! I should be queen!”

They both turned to look at Starflight, who sighed heavily. I, Blaze, am the youngest and would have the longest reign. I should be queen!

“ Starflight ,” Tsunami said with a massive grin that made it clear she was enjoying this, “you’re supposed to say the words with your mouth , not your mind! And you forgot the most important part!”

The NightWing frowned hard and grumbled through gritted teeth in a tone that made it clear he regretted every decision that had led him to this point, “Also I am by far the prettiest.”

This time, Sunny couldn’t hold back her giggles, and decided to give up on playing dead.

Tsunami gave her own snort of laughter. “And then they pick their alliances and all of that boring stuff,” she said dismissively, keeping an eye on Starflight for his inevitable reaction to blasphemy against knowledge and trivia.

“Boring?!” Starflight demanded on cue. “Surely you mean ‘essential to fulfilling the prophecy’?”

“Oh, go ahead,” sighed Glory, as though she hadn’t taken detailed mental notes the first time Starflight had explained this. “It’s not like we can stop you.”

Sunny shook her head to dispel the giggles, nodding warmly to the NightWing. “Go on, we know this is your favorite part.”

Starflight immediately dropped into his ‘know-it-all voice’ and indulged his true calling in life: disseminating information to other dragons.

Hmm. Maybe once the war was over, Starflight could open a library- focus, Sunny!

“Burn is allied with the SkyWings and MudWings. She could effortlessly wipe out either of her sisters in single combat, and they both know it. Blister is allied with the SeaWings and is smarter than both of her sisters put together. It was her idea to involve all the other tribes and turn their SandWing throne battle into a world war, because otherwise… well, like I said, Burn would crush her easily. Finally, Blaze is allied with the IceWings, and also has the most SandWing supporters of any of the three sisters.”

“If that many SandWings want Blaze, why can’t she be queen?” Sunny asked. “No, wait, it’s because-“

“-Burn would destroy her,” Starflight finished bluntly. “Effortlessly. Easily. Hilariously swiftly. With three talons tied behind her back. And gagged. And a restraint over her tail barb. And -”

“Which one do we want to be queen?” interrupted Clay, which was a considerably more practical topic than the fact that Burn was seemingly an unstoppable force of nature in a combat setting.

“I hate to say it, but none of them are great picks,” Starflight said ruefully. “Blaze is about as smart as a concussed sheep, Blister’s most likely plotting to become queen of all the tribes somehow, and if Burn wins, she’ll probably keep the war going just for fun.”

Sunny picked herself up off the cave floor. “Well,” she said, “how are we supposed to choose a queen if they’re all so terrible?” Her voice wobbled a little as she spoke. She didn’t like the idea of leaving the SandWings with a terrible queen. She wanted to save the world, not endanger it.

Starflight gazed at the cave wall, like he usually did whenever he was in deep thought or having a vision of some kind. “I don’t know,” he admitted. He didn’t like not knowing things.

Clay, sensing that the two friends were feeling a bit low, walked up to them and folded his wings over their backs comfortingly. Sunny obligingly leaned against his shoulder. Starflight, on the other talon, didn’t react much.

“What about the NightWings?” the MudWing asked. “If they can see the future, they must have some idea who will win, right?”

“Hey, yeah!” Tsunami realized. “They could just tell everyone who would win! Then we can just go find our homes and have actual lives and know more than seven dragons that aren’t ourselves!”

“My visions don’t work like that,” Starflight told them. “I just get glimpses, and nothing precise. We don’t have any reason to suspect the other NightWings are different, unless I’ll get more control with training or age, or some other factor I don’t possess yet.”

Sunny knew how badly her friends wanted to see their homes, and find their families. She wanted to as well. It probably would be safer if they waited until after the prophecy was fulfilled, but the other four wanted to meet their parents sooner rather than later. Sunny didn’t need any mind-reading powers to know that.

“I’m sure our parents are worried about us,” she said. “I mean, they’re our parents . They’re probably tearing up the continent looking for us. And we’ll find them when we fulfill the prophecy and save the world.”

Her friends all looked at each other uncertainly.

“Uh… hey, Sunny,” Tsunami said hesitantly, “You know that weird bug you caught at lunch? Can you bring it here to show us again?”

“Why?” Sunny asked, tilting her head a little. “Didn’t you all see it?”

“I didn’t,” Glory said. “I was napping under the sky hole, remember?”

Sunny pretended to droop. “Oh.” She fake brightened up almost instantly (which wasn’t hard for her) and started for one of the other caverns. “Well, you’ve got to see it! It’s so weird!”

She knew what they were trying to do. They were getting rid of her so they could discuss something secret. They hadn’t trusted her with secrets since she’d accidentally blabbed to Dune about the pile of rocks the dragonets were collecting. Their plan was to build a tower to the sky hole, back when they were too small to fly. They’d only wanted to stick their heads out and look around. But one day Sunny forgot to be careful around Dune, and the next day all the collected rocks were gone from their hiding place. That was the end of that plan - and of Sunny getting to know anything. Which she supposed was fair, if annoying.

And, of course, she couldn’t eavesdrop on them to find out what they were discussing - not without Starflight reading her mind.

Maybe if she enchanted something to block her thoughts from NightWings-

No, I can’t do that. It wouldn’t be fair to Starflight. And I have to be careful with my magic. No power abuse for this SandWing, no siree.

Sunny could still hear her friends talking in the study cave, but she tried not to listen too hard. She didn’t want to betray her friends’ trust a second time.

Suddenly there was a thundering crash from the central cave. Sunny heard the entrance boulder slam back into place, and then the rumble of heavy footsteps. From the extra squish-flap sound of them, she knew that it must be Webs.

Then came the scrabbling of talons on rocks, and she ducked into the shadows just before Starflight and Glory rushed by. The RainWing’s scales were changing to match the mottled gray-and-black rocks. In a moment she was practically invisible.

A faint splashing from the river told Sunny that Tsunami and Clay were also set on investigating the noise.

I should probably head to the sleeping cave, she thought to herself. They’ll be expecting me to be there. Still, I want to know what’s going on, just like they do-

I think you can probably come, Starflight’s voice cut in. We’ll tell you everything we hear anyways.

Sunny wasn’t too surprised that he’d heard her thoughts. There was, of course, the mild worry of how much he heard-

I’m not that invasive, Sunny, give me some credit, please.

Point, Starflight.

She slowly crept through the shadows of the caverns, heading to where she knew the loud noise had come from. It wasn’t too hard to find the guardians. From the way Kestrel was shouting, the entire SkyWing kingdom might hear her. Unless, of course, all SkyWings shouted as much as Kestrel did, in which case the entire kingdom likely had some form of hearing loss.

“Coming here? With no warning?! After six years, suddenly he’s interested?!” She shot a column of fire at the nearest rock spire, which Sunny conceded was an understandable method of working through frustration.

“Well, it’s his prophecy,” Webs said. “I guess he wants to make sure they can actually stop the war.”

His prophecy. Sunny thought for a moment before it dawned on her. They’re talking about Morrowseer.

Morrowseer was the NightWing who had spoken the dragonet prophecy ten years ago. They had learned about him in history class. And remembered him from Starflight continuing to be curious about him for a week straight.

Dune snorted. “These dragonets? Then he’s going to be very disappointed.” He eased himself onto a flat boulder, stretching his foreleg stump and mangled wing toward the fire. The big SandWing dragon never discussed his scars or how he lost his foot, but… well, there was a war going on. It was easy to figure out.

Yet another reason why Sunny wanted to stop it. Because there were too many dragons who were injured and dying for a throne that had nothing to do with them. Why couldn’t the three sisters just talk amongst themselves and come up with a solution without all the fighting?

Well, aside from all points Starflight made against that possibility, but Sunny preferred to maintain her optimism.

“We’ve done our best,” Webs said. “The prophecy chose those dragonets, not us.”

“Does he even know what happened?!” Kestrel demanded. “Does he know about the broken egg and the stupid RainWing?! Or the defective SandWing?”

“I’m not worried about Sunny,” Dune said. “We followed the prophecy’s instructions. We can’t control that she’s the way she is. But the RainWing…he’s not going to like that.”

A deep growl rumbled in Kestrel’s throat. “I don’t like it, either. I never have.”

“As you’ve pointed out multiple times,” Webs said in a tone of obvious exhaustion. “Glory’s not that bad. She’s smarter than she wants us to know.”

“You’re overestimating her,” Dune snorted dismissively. “She’s lazy and useless like the rest of her tribe.”

“And she’s not a SkyWing ,” Kestrel snapped. “We’re supposed to have a SkyWing!”

“Again, Kestrel, you’d been saying that for the last six years,” Dune snarked.

Sunny frowned. It wasn’t her fault she was so weird-looking, and it wasn’t Glory’s fault she wasn’t in the prophecy. She didn’t understand why Kestrel was always so mean about it.

“And all of the SkyWings that were supposed to hatch on the Brightest Night are dead!” Webs cried. “What was I supposed to do , lay an egg myself?!l

“It is odd,” Dune noted with an audible frown, “that all of those eggs were destroyed when there’s supposed to be a SkyWing in the prophecy. Perhaps Morrowseer got it wrong?”

Sunny had wondered about that. What she and Starflight had also found to be odd was that there wasn’t an IceWing in the prophecy at all. If the IceWings were involved in the war, then why wasn’t there an IceWing DOD? Shouldn’t all the tribes be represented? 

“Did they at least say when he’d arrive?” Kestrel asked, pulling Sunny’s attention back to the conversation.

There was another crash, louder than the first one, which made Webs jump in surprise. “Evidently, right now!”

…

One fight in which Sunny bit a massive NightWing right on his soft spot later, the dragonets had ended up back in their cave.

Their encounter with Morrowseer had been an overall claw-biting experience. Even Sunny, with her usual optimism, had been worried about Morrowseer reading her mind. She’d tried not to think about her animus magic the whole time they were being inspected, for the sake of her friends as well as herself, and judging from how Morrowseer didn’t bring it up at any point she guessed that he hadn’t been too interested in listening to her thoughts.

“Why didn't you fight Morrowseer with us?” Sunny was asking Glory, trying to ignore the taste of Ye Olde NightWing still in her mouth. “He’d have seen how fierce and brave you are!”

The RainWing dragonet was resting up on her preferred ledge. Trails of violet and gold chased each other through her scales, with the shades of flame around her feathery ears being the only hint that she was upset.

“Why bother?” Glory asked dully. “It was obviously a test.” A splotch of sky-blue scales on her back pulsed, and then the color began to spread across her other scales, eating up the purple and gold.

“It was?” Clay asked.

Glory gave him a rueful look. “Yep. And I failed it the day I hatched as a RainWing.”

“Okay,” Tsunami said, “I'll admit that turning you into a SkyWing wouldn't have been the best idea. But you could have at least made yourself look like one.”

“Even if I did, it wouldn't have mattered anyway,” Glory sighed. “The guardians would have ratted me out on the spot.”

“Well, we don't care what the prophecy says, or what Morrowseer thinks,” Clay said stoutly. “You're our fifth dragonet, and if fate says differently, then fate is stupid.”

Tiny bubbles of pink spattered across the RainWing’s snout and she smiled a little. “That's very sweet of you, Clay.”

Tsunami snorted. “He's only saying what we've been telling you all along. Who needs a grumpy SkyWing? Morrowseer can go stuff a pufferfish up his snout, for all I care.”

Starflight let out a quiet snort of laughter, which probably meant Tsunami had just imagined that particularly glorious image. Sunny wished she could’ve-

The sight was promptly projected into her brain. She desperately stifled her own giggles.

As if the thought had summoned him, Morrowseer suddenly loomed in the entrance to the cave. He eyed Glory with unrivaled contempt, his dark eyes piercing like knives. She stared calmly back at him.

Just do what you do when you don’t want to distract Starflight. Think about what you see, Sunny told herself. Nothing else.

Morrowseer glanced at the rest of them. He lowered his head down to Starflight. “I need to speak with you,” the larger NightWing said, shooting the other dragonets glances. “ Privately .”

Starflight gulped nervously.

Go ahead, Sunny thought at him. We’ll be okay.

He gave the slightest nod to her. The four of them watched as the two NightWings slithered toward the study room.

There was a prolonged, awkward silence, before Clay finally asked, “What do you think Morrowseer wants to talk to Starflight about?”

“Maybe he’s giving Starflight tips on how to fulfill the prophecy,” Tsunami guessed. “Or tips on focusing his visions, like Starflight said earlier?”

“Either one of those would be pretty useful,” Glory noted practically. “Particularly the first one. It’s his prophecy. If anyone’s gonna have tips, it’s him.”

Sunny curled her tail over her talons. They would often discuss how they were supposed to end the war and fulfill the prophecy. She had some good ideas, but her friends hardly ever listened to her.

“Hey, Sunny,” Clay said. “What would you think about running away?”

She looked at him, shocked. “You mean leaving the caves? Without the guardians? I don’t think that’s such a good idea, five dragonets all on their own. And we have to do what the prophecy says, right?”

“Do we?” Glory countered, a bit of pent-up rage entering her tone. “You heard what Webs said; there were no SkyWings hatched on the Brightest Night! The Talons don’t understand the prophecy any better than we do.”

Sunny settled on her designated ledge and twiddled her claws, still tingling with magic power. “No, I mean, maybe if we try to follow the prophecy, everything will turn out all right? Future vision exists for a reason.”

But even in spite of her optimism, a small part of her couldn’t help wondering.

What if Glory’s right? What if the prophecy is wrong?

What happens then?

…

ReptileGirl497: You know, with the benefit of hindsight, I’m pretty bewildered at how many clues there were that the prophecy wasn’t what it appeared to be, and yet no one thought to wonder if it was fake. Though to be fair, the NightWings have lied about still having their mystical powers for who knows how long, and it’s been established that most dragons (and people) will believe pretty much anything they read.

Akishyff: Hey now, the prophecy was actually believable. No one would’ve guessed that Morrowseer was making it up. Though, obviously in this universe, Starflight is capable of picking up ‘Sus Vibes’… we’ll see how that turns out.

ReptileGirl497: Like I said, with the benefit of hindsight . We were just as fooled as everyone else because Tui T. Sutherland is such a brilliant author. Too bad for Morrowseer his plan is in even more jeopardy now that Starflight has real NightWing powers. Sorry not sorry.

Akishyff: …ohhhhh, I’m doing the Evil Laugh IRL right now, you have no idea how fun it will be to ruin that man’s whole career. Actually, nah, you probably do. Please tell me we can work the beginnings of his downfall into the next chapter?

ReptileGirl497: Oh, yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I’m already excited about it! …Is that wrong?

Akishyff: Nah. Dunk on the a-hole. You heard her, readers, next chapter’s gonna be fun for fellow Morrowseer haters. Probably. Potentially- we’ll do our best, let’s make that the promise, shall we?

ReptileGirl497: I promise, 115%.

Next Chapter: Starflight Proves Why He Should Have Been Named Bigbrain