Chapter 1

"Dawn!" A voice called.

Dawn groaned and curled up into an even tighter ball. She felt something nudge her shoulder. She opened her eyes. A light yellow SkyWing was peering down on her. Dawn jumped up immediately, startled. The SkyWing laughed. She beamed at Dawn.

"Good morning sweetie!" She chirped.

"Morning mom." Dawn huffed.

She looked out her window. The sun was at the edge of rising.

"Darling, aren't you happy to see me?" She said with a sad pouty face.

Dawn couldn't help giggle. Her mom looked ridiculous with that face. Then the smile on Dawn's face vanished with a yawn.

"Mooooooooooom. I'm soooo tired." She groaned.

"Then let's get moving!"

"I wanna keep sleeping. We wake up at dawn everyday. Can't I take one break?"

"As future queen of the Sky Kingdom, no. You have to get ready for your future duties!"

Dawn rolled her eyes before her smile returned. She knew her mother just wanted the best for her. Though, she still didn't understand why her mother took such good care of her. After all, some day, she will challenge her mother for the throne. Which would mean, she would have to…gulp...kill Mother.

Why do I have to kill her! I love my mom. She's my only family. And I would have to kill her. She thought miserably. Every dragon thinks I'm lucky to be the princess of the Sky kingdom. But I don't want to be queen! Much less kill the only family I've got. I am the only child, so why can't my mom just pass down the crown to me, so I can live happily with her. Dawn snapped out her thoughts when she spotted her mother walk out her bedroom. She scrambled out of her bed to race after her mom. When she caught up to her, Mother was chatting with Sunset, a small thin dragon with orange wings, a dark red body, and a yellow head and tail.

The mixed colored SkyWing's eyes were darting all over the place until they landed on Dawn. Dawn saw this and backed away, front talons in the air. When Sunset finally lost interest in the dragonet, Dawn relaxed her shoulders and leaned in to listen.

"Where was I? Oh yeah. Queen Mountain, we have revived a message that 12 SkyWings were found at the edge of the MudWing kingdom," Sunset reported. "10 dead, 1 with amnesia, and the other dying of SandWing poison. They seem to have been ambushed by IceWings and SandWings, since 6 of the 10 dead have been frozen alive and 4 stabbed with poison." Mother nodded with a look of concern and fear.

"Do you know the identity of the 12?" Mother commanded as she pushed her emotions away.

Sunset nodded. "The SkyWing popsicles are Dew, Swift, Glider, Horizon, Stratosphere, Meteor, and Comet."

"And the others are…?"

"-Blitzel, Seagull, Pelican, and Hooden."

Dawn hid her smile with her wing.

I want to be a great queen like her. Dawn thought wistfully. Her pride of her mother turned to dread when she remembered how she was supposed to kill Mother to obtain the throne.

"Um, anyway, I have something else to tell you." Sunset continued. Sunset looked over Mother's shoulder, staring right at Dawn.

"It's about…him." Sunset whispered.

She nodded in Dawn's direction. Mother turned her long neck to face Dawn. She flicked her tail at her. Dawn nodded back in turn and swiftly glided away. She knew the drill. Whenever her mom talked about "him", whoever "him" was, Dawn had to leave the room to go to her best friend Starling in the village and hang out there until her mother came to pick her up.

Dawn was used to this. Unfortunately, she still had to train for her "future queenly duties" which always made her depressed. Not to mention the fact that her training was extremely boring. She stopped to look into a mirror.

Dawn had a long slender neck the color of fire. Her face was golden with dark amber eyes. She spread her wings, revealing black wings with a pattern of silver under scales scattered across the black. Her tail twisted gracefully into a thin black whip. She had orange spikes trailing down her spine. Dawn smiled. Starling was her only and best friend because she was the only dragonet that didn't care that Dawn looked weirder than the other SkyWings.

Dawn was no ordinary SkyWing. She was a mix. Her father was a NightWing and her mother was a SkyWing. So, she was a NightSkyWing. Dawn shook her head. Time to go. She opened her wings again and leaped out of the Sky Palace.

O O O

"-Thus, ending the war." Dawn ended.

"You did it! 100% correct!" Starling squealed.

Dawn beamed proudly at her friend. Starling was a tiny golden dragonet. She was Dawn's age, four years, but was the size of a two year old dragonet. Dawn didn't care though. She and Starling had just reviewed her flash cards. When she trained with her teacher, Dropper, training was boring. But when she practiced with Starling, nothing was boring. Starling always felt proud for Dawn, even when she failed. Starling would just say; "Don't look so down! You just got a small score!" Instead of looking at it like in a negative way, she always remained optimistic. Starling always made her day.

"Dawn? You okay? You seem a bit sad. OMG! Is it my fault? Did I do something super duper horribly terribly absolutely tremendously bad?" The golden dragonet cried out. She burst into tears. Dawn snapped out of thought and tried to calm her overactive but caring friend down.

"No no no no!" Dawn assured. "It's not you! I would never get mad at you! You're too... perfect... to get mad at!"

"O-oh. O-o-okay." Starling sniffed. She rubbed away her tears as her smile suddenly bounced back. "Then what are you sad about?"

Dawn sighed. "I don't want to kill my mom. But I'll have to!"

"Aw. I hear ya. I wouldn't want to either. Unless she's super duper horribly terribly absolutely tremendously mean." Starling smiled at her with sympathy in her eyes. "But on the bright side, you will get to choose when you feel like challenging her!"

Dawn's face brightened. Oh yeah! So I don't have to worry. I will never challenge her throughout my entire life. So me and her can live peacefully until she passes away of old age. The NightSkyWing dragonet nudged her friend.

"You're right! You always know how to cheer me up."

"That's what I'm here for." Starling smiled with true happiness.

THUD. Dawn spun around to see two royal guards standing at the entrance of Starling's den. Dawn peered out the hole, but all she could see were two guards.

"Where's my Mom?" Dawn asked.

"She's in her throne room waiting for you." The first guard said.

"We must go at once." The second continued.

"But-"

Before she could protest, both guards grabbed her arms and soared into the sky with her. Dawn looked down at her friend who was getting smaller and smaller. She shrugged at Starling and mouthed "Bye. See you next time." Her now nano-sized friend mouthed back "Okay. Bye."

Dawn looked at the setting sun. Strange. My mom always picks me up. What's going on? When they finally arrived at the Sky Palace, Dawn was taken to the throne room. She looked around and spotted her mother on her gigantic throne. Next to her was a tall slender SkyWing. The SkyWing had dull red scales and narrowed his eyes at Dawn. She didn't know his name, but she knew that his job was to read the laws on his scroll. Basically whenever some dragon commits a crime, he is there to tell they what laws they broke. What's wrong? Did I do something bad? But I don't remember doing anything different today. I did what I always do. Dawn's head was spinning with confusion.

"Ahem." the SkyWing coughed.

Dawn stared at Mother. Queen Mountain looked away, refusing to meet her eyes. Her eyes glittered with a somber look.

"Princess Dawn of the SkyWings." The red dragon began. "I have but one question for you."

Oh boy. What is it. Dawn thought grimly.

"When are you planning to challenge your mother for the throne?"

Well that was... unexpected.

"I am not sure." Dawn replied flatly.

"Is this your finally answer?"

Dawn hesitated. What is he up to?

"Yes."

"Very well, Princess Dawn." He said.

Dawn regretted it when she saw the SkyWing smile with his cold, smug, eyes.

"Then, you shall challenge her tomorrow at dawn. I suggest you start honing your fighting skills."

Dawn widened her eyes. "WHAT!?"

Her mother turned to her with tears in her eyes.

"You can't do that! I get to choose when I will challenge my mother." Dawn protested.

"Actually, I can." He answered calmly. "It says in my scroll of laws that when a princess is four years of age, they must challenge their mother if they haven't yet decided a time when to fight for the throne."

The dragon unrolled his extremely long scroll. Dawn looked again at her mother, wishing she would burst into laughter and say; 'Hah! I got you! I fooled you good didn't I? There is no rule that says that!' But instead, her mother just looked at her with tears trickling down her light yellow cheeks.

"No...NO! It can't be true! Mother! Tell them! Tell them there is no rule! Tell them we can live happily forever!" Dawn's voice shook.

Mother just turned away. Dawn could hear her sobbing quietly.

"I'm sorry." She said with tears starting to run down her face.

Dawn turned and ran out of the room sobbing. When she reached her room, she slammed the door behind her. Dawn flung herself on her bed. Both she and her mother knew it. One of them would have to die.

I already both wrote chapter 1 and 2, but like I said, I am new to this website, so I have NO IDEA what I am doing. I hope I did this right. (crosses my fingers)