[HEY! Thank you all for your patience and waiting so long through my... for lack of a better word, turbulent life. I PROMISE you all that this is not going to die. Just... gonna take a little while. Again, thank you all, and enjoy!]

(Chapter 2 - All In Motion)

-X-

Moon and Sunny had crossed the threshold where the sand and dirt began to fade into each other, shrubbery turning into dead bushes. The desert lay ahead, having traveled for an hour or so. They both wore satchels with their piece of technology from Queen Aries.

Moon glided smoothly alongside Sunny, the heat from below providing a natural heat draft to keep them aloft easier.

Sunny glanced over to Moon. "Hey Moon?"

"Hm?"

"Do you really think Winter will help us…?"

Moon stared straight ahead, the horizon seemingly endless. "If he's still the Winter I know, I'm confident he will. He might be hesitant, but he'll see how important this is."

Sunny seemed a bit more confident and happy by her assurance. "You really think so?"

"I do! Why does everyone seem so skeptical of him, he's a good dragon!"

Sunny shrugged. "I don't think many dragons had a good relationship with him, I didn't get to know him that well either."

Moon sighed in defeat. "Well… he isn't easy to get along with. He's definitely got his rough edges, but his heart is capable of… y'know, being friends, and love and stuff."

Sunny glanced back to Moon with a tinge of curiosity. "Friendship I can see, but love? How do you know that?"

"He, uh…" Sunny could almost see the blush across Moon's snout. Either it was that or a reflection across her face, it was usually hard to tell with Nightwings.

"He kinda had a crush on me for a while… he said he'd heal, but I get the feeling he still might be into me."

Once Moon snapped out of her trance of dwelling on the past, she could obviously see the big ol' grin on Sunny's snout.

"What're you smiling at?"

Sunny cheekily glanced back over.

"Totally called it.~"

The duo finally approached Thorn's Palace, busy and bustling with Sandwings, and more notably with dragons of nearly every other tribe as well. Moon swirled around in her place just trying to get a look at them all.

"Oh Moons… there's so many Sandwings here, how in the world am I gonna-"

"Found him!"

Sunny motioned to the Palace Gate, where a single Sandwing sat and waved them over. Qibli seemed pretty enthusiastic to see Moon and Sunny.

"Hey! What are you two doing here?"

Qibli hugged Moon and Sunny happily. Moon hugged just a bit longer.

"I have to talk to Thorn," Sunny looked to the Palace. "Is she here?"

"Yeah, just be careful," Qibli shivered a little. "She's in a mood. If anyone can change that, I'd assume it'd be you."

"I'll do my best." Sunny, eager to see her mother again, stretched a bit and pounced inside. "Thanks Qibli, see you around!"

As Sunny disappeared behind the Palace doors, Qibli turned to Moon.

"Weren't you going with her? What's the hubbub anyways?"

"Actually," Moon nosed up to Qibli with a smile. "I was looking for you."

Qibli's snout flushed ever so slightly.

"Oh?"

Moon gestured to outside the walls, and the two sauntered outside rather privately.

"I need your help… There's something big that's happening," Moon's intonation and expression caught Qibli's rapt attention. "We've found out where Stardust is from."

"Wait wait, what?" Qibli led Moon to a more secluded spot right outside the walls, away from prying ears. "That's big news… what'd you find out?"

Moon leaned in. "They're called Starwings… and they're here."

Qibli blinked a few times. "Come again?"

"They're a tribe of dragons that live in the stars!" The Nightwing nearly hopped around in excitement.

"They're so beautiful, and they somehow found Stardust! I don't even know how but they found him! Now they're here and they want to help us, but they need to gather all the Queens for a meeting so they can all agree to let their tribe stay here!"

Of all the things Moon was expecting, a concerned and confused stare was not one of them.

"...Okay, one: If this is true why do you need my help?

Two: This sounds suspiciously like a plot to kill all the Queens at once, and take over Pyrrhia. Just saying."

Qibli shifted in his stance to a bit more worried posture.

"Third: Are you ok? You don't have heat stroke do you?"

Moon slapped him with her wing. "Stop it! I'm not crazy, this is really happening!"

She pulled out the hologram projector from her satchel, putting it on the ground. "Look at this!"

Moon powered the machine, producing a soft whir while it gathered light and projected a hologram of Queen Aries on the floor.

"Greetings, Queen Snowfall of the Icewings. I am Queen Aries Pulsar of the Starwing Freeclan-"

Qibli fell back on his scaly hind in shock.

"It's a hologram! It's not real!" Moon helped Qibli back up as he marveled at the projection. After a few more seconds, Moon shut it off and put it away.

"That's…" Qibli still couldn't put together the words for what he just saw. "...Alright, I believe you. But I still don't understand what you need me for, Sunny is already going to see Thorn."

"The problem is the Icewings. The giant wall of ice that'll impale us if we get too close, and the fact that we won't be welcome even if we do get in. We need to find either an Icewing we trust enough to get over, or the bracelets that get us in."

Qibli could already see where this was going. Moon continued.

"And since we don't know where the bracelets are right now… we need an Icewing we can trust."

"Moon," Qibli nudged Moon's wing with his own. "I have no idea where Winter is."

Moon nudged back a bit forcefully. "Then we go to the Talons of Peace."

"What if they don-"

"Oh nOT YOU TOO!" Moon near shouted out to the sky, turning around and pacing back and forth. "WHY DOES EVERYONE HATE WINTER SO MUCH?! I get it, he's a little anti-social, but he's not a bad guy!"

Qibli stamped his paw down. "I DON'T hate him! He doesn't hate me, he called me his best friend! I would like to see him again too."

He paused and sighed. "That being said, it just seems like he wants to be alone. He may not want to go back home, or help us at all. I do see the need to seek him out, and I'm sure we CAN convince him to help us, but I just…"

He shrugged helplessly. "It's not ideal…"

Moon glared at him, causing Qibli to back up a little.

"I miss him too Moon… and I'll go along with you. But it is an eventuality we have to consider…"

Had they not been friends (and brief lovers before), Qibli would've sworn that she was going to tear him apart. However, she surprised him with a hug.

"Okay… You're right, I just... miss him, is all."

Qibli didn't know how to feel about that statement.

"You miss him?"

"Yeah… I just think he deserves better, I want him to be happy. Every time I think of what he went through and what kind of life he's lived…" She shudders and looks back to Qibli.

"I just want him to know we still think about him, that he still has a family."

"Are you sure you don't feel guilty because you turned him down?" Qibli regarded her with a 'Be honest here' kind of look. "Because it almost seems like y-"

Qibli's maw was suddenly closed by Moon's paw around it.

"One more word and I'll tell Thorn you have the hots for Smolder."

Qibli squinted and thought out loud in his mind.

'You wouldn't.'

"Try me."

Qibli growled ever so lowly in a playfully annoyed tone, then in defeat. He still had a giant smile adorning his snout.

"Okay, okay… I'm sorry I said anything.~"

Moon let go of his snout as he rubbed it gingerly.

"I still have to let Thorn know that I'm leaving, she still needs my help."

The two headed back into the palace, Moon looking to Qibli curiously.

"What's going on?"

At the topic Moon brought up, Qibli's expression darkened.

"My grandfather escaped, and he's planning retaliation on Thorn and the entire Sandwing Kingdom."

As he explained, Moon made more sense of her surroundings; Sandwings running everywhere, scurrying to return to their post and get supplies.

"Thorn is bracing for the worst, and knowing Vulture we're gonna have to be on our toes. We don't know how much he's built back up, who's loyal to him still, or even what his plan is…"

Moon stopped Qibli, right at the Palace Gate.

"Qibli, I didn't know. I wouldn't take you away from this if Thorn needs you, I can do this myself-"

"No," Qibli interrupted her. "It's okay. I've talked to Thorn extensively about it anyways. If she needs me to stay, I'll stay. Otherwise I'll absolutely come."

"Are you sure…?" She nosed up to him gently.

"Absolutely. I owe you, after all."

Qibli led her inside, Moon gently smacking his side with her tail.

"For this, I'm gonna be owing you.~"

[Meanwhile…]

Sunny traversed the crowded halls, seeing less and less dragons going towards the throne room. The closer she got, the more distinctly she could hear yelling and shouting, things being thrown and stomping around.

She took one more turn around the corner, seeing an attendant Sandwing rushing out looking fearful for their life. Along came Smolder, equally bewildered until he saw Sunny.

"SUNNY! Good!"

Before she could say anything, he pushed her into the Throne Room.

"Go and talk some sense into her!"

The doors behind her slammed closed. At this point Sunny was quite violently confused and just a bit worried.

The throne room was empty, least astonishingly. Most astonishingly, it was almost completely trashed. Carpets clawed to shreds, pottery smashed with their bits scattered, royal guard spears left on the floor. It hadn't looked sacked or raided, more like someone just wanted to destroy something… and destroy they did.

"WHAT NOW?!"

Thorn, in a pallid rage, emerged from the adjacent room with a spear and a gaze so intense the nearest object might have burst spontaneously into flames. Her jewelry was torn asunder and hung off her body drippingly.

The enraged Sandwing Queen pointed the spear unrestrainedly at Sunny, who raised her hands up in defense.

"Mother, it's me!"

A flash of surprise flashed across Thorn's eyes, melting into affection and warmth.

"Beetle!" Thorn dropped her spear, wrapping Sunny in a tight and tender hug which Sunny returned.

"Hey, what happened here? Is everything okay, are you ok?"

Thorn equipped a facade of a smile that was obviously for show, but did so for Sunny out of affection.

"Is everything ok? No, not really. Am I okay? That is entirely up for debate, but I am doing better now that you're here."

Thorn nosed Sunny's cheek tenderly. "Today has been going entirely downhill, so I'm a little bit…"

As Sunny peered into Thorn's gaze, it was apparent that stress was abundant in her current life.

"... Perturbed. But it's nothing I can't handle, no one ever said that being Queen would be easy."

"I know the feeling… Running a school is the same way, really." Sunny nosed back and planted herself in front of Thorn with compassionate determination.

"I'm sorry you're having a rough time right now, is there anything I can do to help?"

Thorn's smile cemented from facade to reality, shaking her head.

"Having you here is everything you could do to help me, my beloved daughter. Just help me get my mind off of today, that'd be everything I could ask for."

Sunny grinned back and hugged Thorn once more. "I'm sorry I haven't visited in a while, I've been real busy running the academy and helping raise Stardust."

"Speaking of which, how is he?" Thorn absentmindedly began cleaning the floors, making it a bit safer to walk around. Thorn's personal guards peeked in again, looking to each other.

"He's doing amazingly! Which… Is also what I wanted to talk to you about." Sunny motioned silently for the guards to come back inside, which they hesitantly did. Thorn glanced back to Sunny and said guards, which promptly froze in place and prepared to dash back out.

"Oh?" Thorn gave her full attention to Sunny, resuming her place on the disheveled throne. "Is there something you need from me?"

"Well, in short, yes." Sunny brought out the hologram device, and set it on the floor. Thorn and her guard's inquisitive glances prodded them to peek closer.

"We found out who's Stardust's parents are, and where they're from… And it's imperative that you see. Are you ready?"

"Ready for what? Sunny, what is that anyways? Are you implying that-"

"I just need you to trust me… It's a message and I just need you to watch, okay?" Sunny did her best to assure Thorn, who was antsy and unsure of everything going on. However, she trusted Sunny's judgement, and put faith in everything she did.

Thorn nodded resignedly, and sat back. "As you wish."

Sunny nodded back, activating the machine as it whirred to life. It thrummed with energy for a moment before activating the projection of Queen Aries.

"Greetings, Queen Thorn of the Sandwings."

A collective gasp of disbelief erupted from the guards and Thorn, Sunny motioning to wait and listen.

"Please do not be afraid, this form is simply a hologram, an image composed of light and energy that has been recorded previously, I am not in the room currently. I bring you a message and request. I am Queen Aries Pulsar of the Starwing Freeclan. We Starwings come from the void above and deepest reaches of galaxies beyond yours, but more importantly we come in peace, in hopes of creating bridges between our worlds in unity."

The guards drew closer, Thorn hopping off her throne to marvel at the device and holographic form. Sunny smiled and watched as her mother fascinatedly inspected the image.

"Again, I must emphasize our intent of peace. We mean you no harm, for if it were our intent we would have already begun an invasion. That will never occur, for we would lose more than anything we could ever hope to gain. We Starwings value the life found across the cosmos, wishing nothing more than to upbuild and strengthen both our relationships and their worlds and civilizations with our advancements in science and technology."

Thorn seemed to sit up rimrod straight at this, gazing intently between Sunny and Aries. Every pass to Sunny was a look of "Is this real? Am I dreaming?" to which Sunny giggled to herself.

"In order for this to occur, there must be a meeting between our leaders, a communal agreement that we may stay on your continent. Therefore I propose a meeting at Jade Mountain in two days time. As you are the Queen of the Sandwing Kingdom, my invitation extends to you and two esteemed guards or royal lineage. We will discuss diplomatic procedures, our communities needs and requirements, what might be offered between our cultures and how this might be accomplished."

Thorn sat back in her chair, stroking her chin in awe.

"I beseech you for your assistance in this matter, so that both our worlds and dragons might benefit and grow. Please refrain from spreading the word, whoever might be watching this, until a conclusion has been made by the meeting of our tribes. Queen Thorn, if you could delegate your arrival and questions to Sunny, she will give you all the necessary information."

The holographic Aries bows deeply.

"I thank you endlessly for your consideration, for your time and attention. I look forward with anticipation to our meeting, if you would attend it."

"Thank you again for your time. Aries out."

And with that, the hologram dissipated into nothingness, Thorn still awestruck with the guards nearby mouth agape.

"Sunny…" Thorn spoke softly as she stared into the distance. "I didn't just hallucinate all of that did I? Because I don't doubt that I would have considering the stress I've been under."

"Mother," Sunny padded up to her mother. "This was as real as it gets. I can't tell you how amazing and incredible it all is, you have to go!"

The Sandwing Queen stood again, looking to her guards.

"Leave us, and speak to NO ONE ABOUT THIS. IF I catch a hint of it outside this palace, I will tear off your barbs and shove them down your throat DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR."

Wincing in terrified submission, they bowed and nodded eagerly.

"Yes my queen!" "Of course your highness!"

Promptly they turned tail and hurried out. The door slammed shut, leaving Thorn and Sunny alone again. Thorn hopped up onto the floor and paced the room.

"Where… Where do I even begin?! Starwings? Dragons from SPACE?! When did they get here, HOW did they get here?!" She heads up to Sunny and questions her relentlessly.

"Where are they now, are there any with you? Are they all like that, flowing scales of color down their backs? Can, can they fly in space? Oh I have so many qUESTIONS FOR THEM!"

"MOM!" Sunny calmed her down and kept her in place.

"There's a lot of questions you want to ask, I know. Me too, but they literally got here yesterday! Stardust just met his parents, who are the King and Queen by the way-"

"Stardust is a PRINCE?!"

[On the Shuttle]

Sheratan scrolls through her pad, going through the list of supplies for base camp. Suddenly a stolid THUNK rings out from the chamber Boteïn was in.

"Boteïn, is everything okay?"

"Urgh…"

[Back at the Palace]

"Yes, he's a Prince! And they're so nice, and they have so much amazing technology and Thorn you have to go meet them! This is going to change Pyrrhia forever, and you can directly influence it!"

It was obvious Thorn was bursting to express how much she was aching to go, however she held back her words with sadness.

"...I can't…"

"WHAT?!" Sunny didn't usually ever yell, but in this case she let her voice get as loud as she wished.

"Why not?!"

Thorn paced around her throne room even more.

"Again Sunny, I am a queen. Nothing is ever easy, and I can't just leave. Especially not right now…"

Sunny attempted to get Thorn to stand still. "What's happening? You still haven't told me…"

Thorn resumed her spot on the throne and growled deeply.

"Well… First on the list, Onyx has openly declared herself the true Sandwing Queen and launched a public campaign to mount herself as a rival queen. I'm not sure how much traction she has, seeing as the public seems indifferent about it."

"Onyx is STILL trying to dethrone you? After all this time?"

"It seems so. Smolder can't talk any sense into her, and Vulture has nothing to do with this anymore. Apparently, she was supposed to break him out of my prison but she decided to go on her own."

Thorn seemed to be working herself back up again. "RegARDLESS, VULTURE MANAGED TO ESCAPE AGAIN WITH COBRA AND A FEW OTHERS, so we ALSO have to worry about him…"

Sunny sat besides Thorn comfortingly while she continued.

"So now I have to figure out what Onyx is going to do, while making sure Vulture doesn't try to kill us all in our sleep and proceed with daily queenly operations regardless. And then… On top of that I have to be a representative for our tribe to a species of space dragons who want to change our lives forever."

"Wow…" Sunny laid down besides her mother. "That is a stressful day…"

Thorn let out a combination sigh/groan of frustrated anger and tiredness. "Yep… I wonder if I can just politely ask Vulture and Onyx to stop their ridiculous antics for a week so I can talk to the Starwings…"

"Well," The two Sandwing royals sat shoulder to shoulder, Sunny snuggling close to comfort her mother. "Think you can arrange a temporary truce? I imagine they have a lot of stress on their plate too."

"Yes but what are the chances they-"

Thorn suddenly sat up with the idea.

"...As absurd as that sounds, I like it. Maybe they would be willing to talk, at least for a little bit…"

"Yeah! Then you wouldn't have to worry about them so much!"

Again, Thorn was on the move, prowling from wall to wall in thought. "Perhaps it could work… I could have Qibli and my guards spy on Vulture and see what he's planning, then have Smolder talk to Onyx again and hope she's more willing to cooperate this time-"

Before Thorn could continue, the door creaked open with Qibli and Moon peeking in.

"Excuse us your highness," Moon spoke respectfully, Qibli looking ever so slightly nervous. "Have you been informed of the situation yet?"

"Moon, Qibli! Come in, and if you're referring to the Starwings and their offer, I have! It's incredibly exciting! I must work out something, Qibli I need your help!"

"Actually," Qibli speaks up first. "I uhm… Came to ask something…"

Thorn stopped in silence, motioning for Qibli to continue.

"Since you know that we have to tell the queens about the coming meeting, Moon has been tasked with finding an Icewing Prince to get into their kingdom. And Moon says she needs my help to find this particular one…"

It didn't take a genius Thorn wasn't happy hearing this, but before she could say anything...

"Your grace," Moon speaks after Qibli. "I humbly request that I take Qibli along with me, I don't think I could do it without him."

"But-"

"Please, mother." To complete the combo, Sunny offered her best puppy eyed look to her mother. Thorn turned to the other two, seeing THEIR equally soulful gazes.

"I…" Thorn rubs her temples and snout, growling louder and louder.

"rrrrRRRRRGRAAH, SLITHERING SANDVIPER OILERS, FINE! Go, before I change my mind!"

Qibli and Moon bow deeply before charging off. Thorn turns in her spot to Sunny.

"You have to stay, I'm gonna need your help with all this."

Sunny nods happily and smiles. "Of course, I'll help however I can."

"Good!" Thorn hops off her throne to the door.

"SMOLDER GET IN HERE. WE HAVE WORK TO DO!"

From the distance in the halls, Smolder responds.

"NOT UNTIL YOU PROMISE NOT TO KILL ME."

"I'M NOT GOING TO KILL YOU IF YOU COME HERE, I WILL IF YOU DON'T!"

"PROMISE?!"

"SMOLDER I PROMISE, NOW JUST GET IN HERE!"

A faint pattering of talons to stone echoed through the halls as Smolder prodded his head through.

"Did you talk some sense into her, Sunny?"

Thorn smacks the top of his head with her wing.

"I'm fine, I just need your help."

"With?"

Thorn glances to Sunny, as Sunny brings out the hologram device with a giddy smile. For a brief moment, Smolder contemplated running again.

-X-

"Can we at least slow down?! My wings are aching…"

Turtle and Anemone trailed behind the ever determined Tsunami, huffing and puffing while the Seawing Princess hurried onwards.

"We have to get there as soon as we can, no time for slowing down! We can rest when we get there!"

"Yeah, because we'll have died of exhaustion when we get there!" Anemone sped up to Tsunami to get face to face.

"Look, there's the Diamond Spray Delta, we're halfway there! Can we take a breather for a minute or two? We're hungry and we need to stop!"

Tsunami adamantly shook her head.

"No! We can make it, we just need to push forwards! Come on, I believe in you guys!"

Anemone groaned and fell back besides Turtle. Tsunami could hear the two whispering to each other, not anything coherent enough for her to make out. After a bit more mumbling, they began laughing at each other uproariously. Tsunami didn't have time to turn back to see what they were up to before they appeared in front of her, simply floating and relaxing in midair using their animus powers.

"Okay," Anemone stretched out with a smirking yawn. "Let's keep going.~"

"I could do this all day.~" Turtle followed suit and cozied up, keeping track with the now struggling Tsunami.

"HEY! That's… *Huff* CHEATING!"

"I mean, no one said anything about not using our powers." Anemone inspected her talons casually. "Unless you want to stop, we can totally keep up with you now.~"

"I DON'T*Huff* NEED*Huff* TO STOP!"

"Okie dokie." Turtle just shrugged and laid back.

"Race ya there." The two animi Seawing Royals sped off in a rather comical and hilarious fashion, speeding off without moving a muscle. Tsunami exerted herself as much as she possibly could.

"GET BACK HERE!"

[A Few Minutes Later]

POOMF!

Tsunami crash landed fast first in the sand of the Bay's soft beaches, totally exhausted.

"...uurrgh…"

Anemone and Turtle landed besides her with dignified manner and a sort of magical element of grace, both prodding up to her.

"Sis?" Anemone nosed her head. Turtle followed suit.

"You ok? Need some help?"

"Mnhhae-hyuhho-muh-mrhfrh…"

Turtle and Anemone glanced to each other confusedly.

"Huh?" "What?"

Tsunami barely had the energy to lift her head up, but managed to do so anyways.

"I hate you both so much right now."

She let her snout plant itself back into the sand, POMF.

"Awe," Anemone sat beside her older sister. "We love you too sis."

"We'll let you rest, there's a couple of underwater currents nearby that'll take us straight to the palace. We can take those when you're feeling a bit more energized." Turtle laid himself in the sun sprawling out in peace.

Tsunami growled a deep and frustrated growl. With the will of her mind over her body she stood up on her four legs of jelly, and sat up a bit wobbly.

"Mind… mind using some of that animus magic to help me stand up?"

Anemone nodded, then searched the nearby area for something to use. She picked a bunch of bananas after some thought.

"Enchant these bananas so that whoever eats them, will be refreshed and energized for an entire day."

Promptly she handed a banana to Turtle and Tsunami respectively. Tsunami groaned out in annoyance.

"It had to be bananas… couldn't have been a fish?"

"Unless you'd like to swim to the palace in your current state," Anemone peeled her banana with indignation. "I suggest you eat the enchanted banana, you absolute squid brain!"

Turtle had to hold himself back from laughing, catching dagger stares from Tsunami. She unpeeled the whole thing and chomped it up ravenously. Immediately she popped back up onto the sand, shaking herself off as a sudden rush of energy invigorated her body.

"WHOO! thAT STUFF REALLY WORKS!"

"It's magic, what do you expect?" Turtle's smile seemed contagious to the other two.

"Hey," Tsunami wrapped a wing around Turtle and Anemone suddenly. "Speaking of magic, are you two okay? I know the whole going insane thing is still possible, and I have total faith in you of course…"

Turtle hugged back in good spirits, looking to Anemone. "I'm great! Still feel like my old self, what about you Anemone?"

Anemone nodded happily, albeit reminded of past events that had occurred not too long ago and not too far away from the isle they stood on.

"I'm doing good, I promise." She turned to the sea, the sun still gleaming high in the sky. "Let's keep going, shall we?"

Turtle immediately peeled his banana, devouring it whole. He shivered a bit and hopped foot to foot. "I know! C'mon, let's go, we're super close!"

Anemone stuffed hers into her maw and nodded. "ONWARDS!"

Tsunami and Turtle plunged in the sea immediately, leaving hesitant Anemone to look at her reflection in the calm waters. Introspection wasn't anything new to the Animus Princess, her past decisions haunting her still. But only as of recently has her affirmations taken hold that she wasn't bad or insane, warding off the plaguing ideas of murder, control and power.

Her gaze fell to the other isles, finding a familiar stone building where she and Turtle fought whilst memories and flashbacks flooded inwards. Before her mind could fall to the insecure side of her fears and guilt, she forced her mind to shift towards how she had grown. Her friends at Jade Mountain, her relationship with her mother, sister and brother, and especially Tamarin. Focusing on her in particular seemed to melt away everything else that bothered her conscience.

Taking one last good look at the building, she spoke firmly to herself out loud.

"I'm doing good… I promise."

Without any more forethought, she pounced into the sea and never looked back, eager to join her family.

-X-

"How goes our transportation for supplies Sheratan?"

Aries padded down the cave halls speaking to her comm, Hamal and Webs on either side.

"We've got the last bits synthesized, we're loading it up now. ETA 10-15 minutes."

"Very well," The group stopped as Webs motioned to an empty cave. "Bring the shipments to the main entrance, we'll move it to the designated cave. Aries out." She clicked her comm once more, then turned to Webs.

"Thank you for taking time out of your lesson to help us, Webs was it?"

Webs smiles heartily and nods. "Yes ma'am, and it's my pleasure!" He clears his throat and noticeably his expression drops some. "It's uh, not like… anyone was… listening… anyways…"

"Well, next time you'll have some students eager to learn all about it. We will need help communicating our histories to each other won't we?" Aries nudges his wing with her own, as Webs' snout lights up with an excited and childish grin that could've nearly blinded the nearest dragon.

"A-AYE MA'AM! I'M JUST THE DRAGON FOR THAT!" He bows humbly and shifts from foot to foot. "D-do you need anything else?"

"We'll be fine," Aries smiles courteously. "Thank you Webs."

Webs nods and bows again, padding off with a giddy pop in his step.

"He seems nice." Aries watched him trail off happily.

"He does…" Hamal rubbed his snout. "He also smells like fish."

"Really? I couldn't smell a thing." Aries heads inside the new cave, inspecting it up and down.

"With all due respect your grace," Hamal follows her inside. "You didn't smell a Porous Leech Nyscalium attached to your shoulder until the crew pointed it out."

"That was BEFORE it's maturity stage, they don't smell until they bud!"

"Your highness, it was causing the other crew members to faint. Like it or not, you haven't the keenest sense of smell."

Aries turned to Hamal with a growly smirk. "Alright, you have a point. But that doesn't mean you can call me out on it like that.~"

Hamal's smile was subtle, just enough to make Aries smile too. "Yes, your highness."

Aries' comm erupted with static for a moment, before Orion's voice spoke through.

"Good morning, my sweet."

The Queen covered her comm while speaking to Hamal softly.

"Oh, he's in trouble now."

Hamal did his best to subdue his snickering, Aries responding promptly.

"Good morning? I think Good Afternoon is more like it. Where have you been? What happened up there this morning?"

"Dearest, I know you hate waiting. You know that I know. Stardust slept in, which you TOLD me not to wake him until it was necessary." Sounds of Orion settling into a chair and placing down a pad onto the nearby table rattled through the comm.

"And after that I was preparing to send him down, when Tau shared a fascinating discovery on the planet's surface…"

"Oh? Fascinating enough to make us wait half an hour?"

"Actually… yes."

Hamal and Aries glanced to each other, Aries settling down on a soft cushion she had set in the center of the room.

"Well in that case, send me the data."

Nearly immediately her wrist comm beeped with a glowing blue button, which activated an entire screen down her forearm. Streams of data and images flashed across her arm, Hamal stepping up to marvel at as well.

"...Orion, are you sure this is coming from-"

"It's not being redirected from somewhere else, that signal is being broadcast from the planet. The mountains you've established base command from is connected to the source of the emission. On their maps it's called the Claws of the Clouds Mountains, of which Jade Mountain is apart of, but the peak that's transmitting is right in between the Skywing Territory and your position."

"And we haven't seen anything else like this anywhere else? We've explored 87% of our galaxy, this has to have come from somewhere."

"No one down there knows anything about it? What of the dragons on the other continen-"

Aries quickly covered her comm, looking outside the cave up and down the halls before returning inside.

"Orion," She whispered intently. "Nobody knows about the other continents. They don't know there's other dragons on another continent, and you know our rules about that."

"Ah. Nevermind that then."

"The question now is how did it get here…"

"Well whoever it came from, they left behind something to interact with." Orion uploaded another stream of data to Aries comm, Hamal stepping up to look on in amazement.

"That's been transmitting this whole time?! How did this slip under our noses?"

"It's broadcasting on frequencies our equipment only searches for on special occasions, had Tau not run a comm sweep of the area we would have missed it entirely. We're still working on a method of communication, there seemed to have been a few bugs in their installation process."

Aries rubbed her snout in wonder, and decided to let Orion take care of the matter. "Well… Okay, let me know what comes of it."

Before Aries could follow up with another thought, Orion spoke up again.

"You should have seen your Little Prince, he's actually the one who completed it's initialization."

"Stardust? How'd he manage that?~"

"We were so caught up with debating whether to let it finish, only Stardust saw the active panel with the needed specifications, and he took the initiative and did what he thought was right."

Aries held her heart with a prideful and sappy smile.

"My boy…"

"He's taking to his role quite well, a natural for someone who's been thrust into this like he has."

"I'll say, he's doing quite well down here."

Aries then laid down and stretched a bit.

"Speaking of which… When are you going to come down here dearest? It's absolutely amazing, you're going to love it.~"

"As soon as I wrap things up here, I'll be down to meet everyone. You've met up with Stardust's adoptive parents?"

"I have, and they're the sweetest couple I have ever laid eyes on."

"Oh? What happened to us?"

Aries chuckled herself. "Besides us.~"

Orion's deep and loving laughter echoed over the mic.

"Glad to hear, anything you need from up here dearest?"

"No, we're all fine down here. All I need is you."

"You'll have me soon. Then we can all be family once more…"

Aries couldn't help but detect the intonation of sadness in his voice, but hesitated to inform him of what she promised she would.

"Orion…"

"Yes my queen?"

The words caught in her throat, unable to let them go at the expense of Libra's worry floating around in her head. She sighed and shook herself off.

"Nevermind, nothing important, I'll let you know when you get down here."

"Alright. Let me know if anything else comes up, keep me apprised."

"Of course. Love you dear."

"Love you too.~"

Static rushed between the comms, cutting out a second later. Aries sighed to herself and stood up with a stretch. Hamal stepped beside her, seeming a bit concerned.

"My queen… Is there something you're not telling us? Something we should be aware of?"

Aries, looking straight ahead, turned outside and motioned for Hamal to follow.

"Not for long."

-X-

"Are they gathered?"

Glory rummaged through her sparse chest of queenly adornments, Deathbringer and Jambu standing aside.

"Greatness congregated the Nightwings around the pavilion." Deathbringer watched as Glory tried on a few different simple necklaces, each with distaste. Jambu prodded up besides her.

"And I got all the rainwings together, we're all waiting sis."

Glory growled and grumbled under her breath.

"Stupid jewelry… I don't look good in anything Grandeur left behind…"

Deathbringer nosed up behind her.

"I think the problem is you look good in everything."

"Deathbringer I swear," She glared at him through the mirror. "Not right now."

Jambu picked out a single hibiscus flower from the surrounding area, and gently placed it snugly on her head, tufted between her ear and horn.

"Simple is better?"

Glory looked at herself with the flower, a small smile tugging at her maw. Deathbringer snapped his talons (somehow) and dug out a simple black pendant, hanging just beneath her neck.

"Best of both worlds."

The smile across her maw sprouted into a soft contented grin. She hugged the two dorks compassionately.

"Thank you… Guess I'm just a little nervous."

"I'd be too," Deathbringer peeked outside, seeing the rather large congregation of dragons. "You know what you're going to say?"

Glory shook herself a bit. "Mostly. But yes, I have a plan, just back me up, ok?"

The Nightwing nods affirmatively, while Jambu pops up again. "I can back you up too!"

"Thank you Jambu," Glory steps to the leafy entrance, grabbing the hologram device that Aries entrusted to her. "Just… Don't over do it, ok?"

"Got it!"

The trio stepped outside into the leafy pavilion, surrounded by a massive group of Rainwings and Nightwings. Glory noted the Nightwings bustled about with energy, the Rainwings lax but curious. Deathbringer stood with Greatness who headed the Nightwings, while Jambu stood with the Rainwings.

Glory built up her queenly energy and spoke with as much authority as she could muster.

"Nightwings and Rainwings!" The crowd silenced rather quickly. "Thank you for convening on such short notice, I've been…"

Glory shuffled in place for a second. "Made aware of something incredible, that requires the time and attention of all of us."

The Rainwings turned to each other curiously, all except a few that knew. The Nightwings however, seemed quite excited. Greatness quickly paced up to Glory.

"Glory, is this about the City of Night?"

The Rainwing Queen's scales fringed with a greyish blue tint as she blinked a few times.

"The City of Night...?"

Greatness nodded. "There's been rumors of efforts to restore the Lost City, and the citizens are greatly excited. Was this what you were going to talk about?"

That grayish blue fringe spread down her back and sides, droplets of red and yellow spreading all around. She glared at Deathbringer from across the way, who ducked down a bit.

"Glory, are you ok…?" Greatness seemed quite concerned about Glory, who in return returned to her queenly stature and addressed the crowd.

"Nightwings… I've just now been informed of the rumor about the City of Night, and… While it wasn't what I was intending on discussing…"

The entirety of the Nightwing crowd leaned forwards in anticipation.

"...I do not have an answer for you as of now. It is a topic that must be addressed, but there are no restoration efforts being done to my knowledge."

A single dragon peeked his head up from the crowd.

"Are there any being done outside of your knowledge?"

Glory paused for a second.

"...Well if it was outside my knowledge, HOW WOULD I KNOW?"

"...Yeah but what if-"

"LOOK, that's not what I gathered you here to discuss. And while it IS an important topic, there's something more pressing you must be made aware of-"

A different Nightwing head popped out of the crowd.

"WHAT COULD BE MORE IMPORTANT THAN OUR FUTURE?"

Glory, now struggling to keep her voice above the crowds, felt her calm demeanor sink away.

"THAT IS NOT WHAT I MEAN!"

"YOU CAN'T JUST PUSH US ASIDE!"

"WE WANT A BETTER FUTURE!"

The crowd of Nightwings seemed to grow more and more belligerent, their hopes dashed into anger. Glory deflated and racked her brain on how to settle the crowds.

Before she could open her mouth again, a certain Rainwing took a spot beside her and stood right in front of the Nightwings.

"WE'VE BEEN VISITED BY DRAGONS FROM SPACE!"

That certainly got their attention. The Nightwings, including Greatness, stopped in their tracks in both curiosity and bewilderment. Deathbringer hopped up beside her and Jambu.

"He's not kidding, a new tribe of dragons from outside Pyrrhia has made contact here. They are from the stars above, and both me and Glory can attest to that."

Glory shook herself off and spoke up again.

"They call themselves Starwings, and yes, they are from the stars that shine above us. I've met with them, so has Deathbringer. And if you don't believe me…"

Glory places the holographic machine at her feet in front of the crowds.

"They have a message for us."

As it whirrs to life, the crowds whisper among themselves and watch intently. After a moment, a forme of Queen Aries manifested from nothingness and stood before the awestruck crowds. Gasps and voices of shock erupted from both sides and all through the pavilion.

With her first words, all the jungle fell silent.

"Greetings, Rainwings and Nightwings of Pyrrhia. My name is Aries Pulsar, and I am Queen of a nomadic tribe of dragons, that inhabit the vastness of the inky black above, The Starwing FreeClan."

The collective crowd watched intently the holographic figure, and as she gazed upwards so did the collective tribe as well.

"For millennia we have inhabited the vast reaches of space, traversing our galaxy in search of life and civilization. Our search after our lost son has led us to your continent, and into contact with your tribes. And as we wish no ill-will or harm, we only ask to let our two species and communities unite, and strengthen each other."

Now, heads began to turn between the citizens, both Rainwing and Nightwing. Whispers rushed like wind around the pavilion.

"A meeting between all the queens of Pyrrhia is being arranged as we speak, to further discuss the possibilities and details. This first contact is a message of peace, of good will, and greatest of all… Hope. All that I ask is your consideration of our presence."

She bows deeply with respect.

"Thank you for your time, I wish you and your planet the blessings of the living universe, and I hope to meet you all soon. Aries out."

The holographic device whirred to a stop, the image fading out entirely. The silence resumed again, leaving Glory on the stage to gauge their reaction.

"...Do you still want to discuss the City of Night after that?"

A few heads shook no, the rest of the crowd still stunned. Glory sat down, preparing herself for a big speech again.

"Citizens of the Rainforest, this is history that will be talked about for eons! This event will irrevocably change the face of our planet, our tribes, our cities and towns! We can learn of technology beyond our comprehension, the possibilities are limitless!"

"Queen Glory," A spry Rainwing, Banana specifically, poked their head up a bit. "We understand all that now, but… What do we do?"

"Right now," Glory responded kindly. "All I need is your cooperation. Big things are going to be happening for a while, but I can only request that you try and continue your lives as normal, or at least as normal as can be. Keep this news in mind, soon there'll be polls and such to collect the opinion of our tribes. But for now…"

Glory sighs and rubs her head some. "Just… Carry on. I'll hold another meeting soon for the other topic to be considered, being the possibility of reconstructing the City of Night. Thank you all for your time."

Glory bowed deeply, quickly sauntering off stage with Jambu and Deathbringer.

"Well," The Nightwing spoke with a hopeful intonation as the trio entered Glory's room once more. "I think that went well?"

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THERE WERE RUMORS LIKE THAT FLOATING AROUND?!" Nearly immediately, Glory's previously green and blue scales frenzied in red and yellow bursts across her body. Deathbringer shrank back a bit.

"I didn't think they were serious! I gave them no thought!"

"You didn't give rumors of restoring the Nightwing City," Glory paced around while Jambu sat aside watching with morbid curiosity. "Of which every Nightwing in our tribe would happily believe and put their hopes in… ANY THOUGHT?!"

At Glory putting it like that, Deathbringer just shrugged helplessly.

"Um… Kinda…?"

Before Glory could throttle the Nightwing, Jambu popped up again.

"Hey! We can deal with that later! We have more important matters to attend to!"

Glory stopped in her tracks and growled.

"Rrr… Thank you Jambu. You and Deathbringer go put up the polls we discussed earlier, let everyone know they're up for the public." She eyed Deathbringer with daggers.

"I'll deal with you later."

Deathbringer and Jambu slunk away, followed by Glory who went to retrieve the hologram device.

...only to find it was not in the place she left it. She hadn't taken it with her, and she hadn't entrusted it to anyone else, which only worried her more so.

"Jambu, Deathbringer! What happened to the hologram device?!"

The two popped their heads back around the corner.

"We thought you had it!" Jambu ran back to inspect the area. Surprisingly, no device. Before anyone could get a chance to say anything more, a Rainwing guard swooped down to Glory.

"My Queen, an intruder was spotted in the area. A Sandwing."

-X-

"What do you think of her?"

The last of the peaks disappeared behind Stardust and Peril as they made their way to the Skywing Kingdom. Peril looked to her son in response to his question.

"What do I think of Aries?"

Stardust nodded, the two simply gliding over the small Skywing towns below. Peril sighed to herself in thought.

"I think that had you been born with her as a mother, you would still have an incredible life. She is an amazing dragon, and I'd trust her with near anything, especially you."

"Do you say that just because she's the Queen of a super cool space tribe?"

Peril chuckles and shakes her head some.

"No, but that is one reason. She's just a fantastic dragon in general! She's smart, tactful, agreeable, charismatic, and she seems to be a very caring and loving to both her family and her tribe."

Stardust beams a smile of pride and unabashed happiness.

"She is! I still can't believe all this is happening, I mean… Had I told you we'd be visited by dragons from the stars, that I'm actually a prince, and we're gonna get a chance to LIVE with them…"

Stardust looks to Peril. "I mean, would you even partially believe me?"

Peril shakes her head no, looking ahead to the distant towns. "I would think you were a little crazy, admittedly."

"I would too." Stardust thought to himself, still gliding on autopilot. His mind wandered around the prospect of what living together as one tribe would be like…

The more he thought of the idea, the more his heart beat out of his chest and into his neck. Out of fear, or of excitement, he could not tell; Only that the future held an incredible prospect that made his mind abuzz.

"Stardust!"

Stardust glanced around, noticing himself drift lower and lower. Peril already loomed above him a good few feet.

"wwWOAH!" He flapped a few beats harder, rising back to his previous level besides his mother.

Peril flew wingtip to wingtip with him. "You ok hun…?"

Stardust nodded and shook himself off. "Yeah, yeah I'm good! Just thinkin'. C'mon, let's go!"

With that, Peril and Stardust sped off to the Skywing Palace, the glimmer of it's spires shining in the distance.

[Not too long after...]

Being regular guests of the Skywing Queen, they were immediately let in. Stardust and Peril were led into Ruby's throne room by two Skywing Guards personally. Upon entering, Ruby nearly throttled the two, to their surprise.

"Peril! Stardust!" Ruby hugged Stardust tightly, and then did the same for Peril (after Anemone had enchanted a special ring for Ruby specifically).

Before either of the two could speak, Ruby began talking again. "Excellent timing!" She beckoned them inside her throne room, heading towards her throne.

"I've found something regarding Stardust's origins, just today in fact! It's incredible luck that you're here to see it!"

Stardust and Peril turned to each other and back to Ruby.

"Uhm…" Stardust looked to his aunt curiously.

"Yeah, luck…" Peril stayed quiet.

Ruby motioned to her guards. "BRING HIM IN!"

The door to the side of the chamber opened in quite a dramatic fashion, as two armored guards brought in one muzzled and chained Skywing-looking dragon. He was blindfolded, and also notably gagged. Ruby stepped down besides the two, and stood in front of the imprisoned dragon.

"Now, I know what you're thinking. Overkill, yes?"

Peril and Stardust nodded quite abundantly.

"Yes." "Absolutely."

"WRONG! This dragon is not at all what he seems!" Ruby motioned to the guards again. They nodded, and brought up the bound dragon's wrist. They seemed to take off a single scale, but instead the entire color and tone of his body dramatically changed into a starry black canvas, a stripe of pulsing light blue and white scales cascading down to his tail. He notably cringes and grunts, not out of pain but of his knowledge of failure.

Ruby presents the now exposed dragon to the two, hoping for a dramatic response. Seeing Peril's expression cringe and Stardust remain pretty unfazed, she explained further.

"It's one of Stardust's own species! He was spying on us! They're among us, even now! They're using some sort of… camouflage magic, I don't know how they do it, but I'm willing to bet that there's even more too!"

As Ruby went on rambling about this to Peril, Stardust slowly approached the guards.

"Can you take the blindfold off? Please?"

The guards seemed hesitant to comply with his request, looking to their Skywing Queen. Ruby looked over to Stardust.

"Don't you see Stardust? You're not alone! Isn't this incredible?!"

"Ruby," He spoke calmly, motioning to the guards. "Can you have them take the blindfold off please?"

She seemed taken aback by this, seeing such a calm reaction. Nonetheless she nodded and motioned to the guards again. They complied and revealed the Starwing's bright blue eyes.

Stardust smiled as the two met each other's gaze. "Mesar, I assume?"

He squinted for a second, adjusting to the light, then upon getting his bearings his gaze landed upon Stardust. For a split second there was recognition and fear, then discernment that this strange colorful Starwing wasn't Orion or Aries. After another second, the Starwing figured out the Starwing's identity, and immediately bowed deeply, head to the floor.

Ruby, speechless, stood there in shock. Stardust looked to the guards again, about to ask them something before he decided to remove Mesar's muzzle and gag himself. Mesar sputtered a little before finally speaking.

"Prince Nebula, I DEEPLY and humbly apologize that we must meet this way… I am at your mercy, my lei-"

"Oh hush!" Stardust cut him off and offered a warm smile. "All will be forgiven if you just give me a hug."

Mesar stopped in his tracks, and cautiously brought his head up with a confused but hopeful look on his snout. "A… A hug?"

"A hug." Stardust smirked to himself. "You have those in your culture, yes?"

The Starwing guard nodded, as Stardust enveloped him in a tight hug.

"Pleasure to meet you, Mesar. My name is Stardust."

Mesar hugged back, then saluted in a serious but friendly manner.

"Lieutenant Guardsman and Royal Sentinel Mesar, my liege. At your service."

He leaned in closely and grumbled. "Any chance you can just not mention this to your mother…?"

"Um… excuse me?"

The two turned to a certain Queen Ruby, watching this unfold while violently confused. "Would you mind explaining everything that just happened here?"

Peril nosed up to her. "Well… we have news for you too."

"News?" Ruby turned to her guards, then Stardust and Mesar, then back to Peril, all in a whirlwind of slight worry and more confusion. "What news?"

Peril, in response, brought out a small, black disc shaped device and set it on the floor in the middle of everyone.

"You might wish to step back some." Peril pressed a single digit to the top panel of the device and took a step back. Ruby's guards as well as Stardust and Mesar followed suit. Ruby also took a few steps back, mostly out of anxiety driven curiosity.

"Oh good, a show." Mesar stood next to Stardust, almost protectively.

As the device booted up, light seemed to gather through the room and bundled up to the middle of the disc, forming the holographic projection of Queen Aries in the middle of the room.

After the initial gasp, and sudden formation of guards around Ruby, the recording of Aries played.

"Greetings, Queen Ruby of the Skywing Tribe."

Ruby circled the hologram with wide eyed wonder, astounded by the image in front of her.

"Please, do not be afraid. This image is simply a hologram, an image composed of light and energy to form the likeness of me in front of you now. I'm not here in the room, but I am able to speak to you nonetheless."

Hologram Aries bowed to the room briefly.

"I am Queen Aries Pulsar, representing the Starwing Freeclan. We are a peaceful civilization, living in the stars above and colonizing the galaxy we inhabit. We bring peaceful intentions, and wish for unity between our two worlds."

Ruby, still circling the image, glanced to Stardust and Mesar then back to the hologram.

"I understand you are family to Stardust, and being the leader of the Skywing Tribe, I very much look forward to meeting you. I have asked that several other representatives contact the other Queens, that a gathering between us all might be arranged to discuss the future of our two species. Again, I must emphasize that we Starwings seek nothing but peace, and intertribal community between us all."

Peril found herself seated besides Ruby as the room had their intent gazes on the message.

"In two days time, the queens of Pyrrhia will convene at Jade Mountain for a meeting that will discuss this very topic, how our tribes might unite and proceed with such a task. You are wholly invited, along with two representatives of your choosing."

Hologram Aries bowed deeply.

"I thank you humbly and graciously for your time Queen Ruby, and I look forward to our meeting face to face with great anticipation."

After she bows, Aries stands back up and nods.

"Again, thank you for your time. Aries out."

The holographic figure disappeared, fading into nothingness as Ruby and her guards glanced around to each other with greatly confused and fascinated expressions, Ruby a bit more anxiously so. The Skywing Queen stood and motioned to the guards.

"Leave us please, make sure the room is closed off."

Her guards nodded, and immediately carried out her orders. The main doors were sealed and the room only housed the two Starwings and the two Skywings. Ruby slowly went back to her throne, and plopped down in her seemingly endless stream of intense thought.

"Alright… just to make sure… this isn't me having a mental breakdown and seeing things I shouldn't be, right?"

Stardust and Peril shook their heads in unison.

"Nope." "Absolutely real."

Ruby nodded with a deep and contemplative sigh.

"Alright, excellent. Now that we have that squared away…"

The Queenly figure arched her head up and with the vehement confusion of a thousand dragons, she exclaims "wH A T?!"

The trio of dragons standing before her looked at each other for a moment, unsure of what to think. Ruby continued meanwhile.

"EXCUSE ME? A FANTASTICAL RACE OF SPACE DRAGONS HAVE MADE CONTACT WITH OUR CONTINENT WITH THE INTENT OF CREATING PEACE, AND GIVING US ACCESS TO UTTERLY INCREDIBLE AND UNFATHOMABLE TECHNOLOGY BEYOND OUR UNDERSTANDING!"

Ruby popped off her throne and landed near the three.

"How are you two nOT FREAKING OUT RIGHT NOW?!"

Peril just shrugged it off.

"I learned about it yesterday, so… I guess I had some time to digest it all?"

Mesar raised a paw after Peril finished.

"To be fair, Queen Ruby, your reaction and current feelings are valid and to be expected from someone in your position. This isn't your everyday news, and it absolutely warrants a little bit of a freak out in your-"

"YOU SHUT UP!" Ruby pointed a talon at Mesar as she shouted out, causing the Starwing officer to promptly quiet up. "YOU were caught sneaking around spying on us, so I don't think you're in any position to say anything here!"

The Starwing promptly deflated a little more upon hearing that, while Stardust sat next to him and rubbed his wing comfortingly. He then shot Ruby a concerned and slightly angered look. She didn't notice however, pacing around wildly.

"I just… How am I supposed to deal with this?"

Peril caught up to her and stood her still.

"By first of all, calming yourself and not shouting at our newfound friends," Peril grasped Ruby's shoulders firmly and nearly planted her snout to the Queen's. "And getting a hold of yourself to prepare for a meeting with the other queens."

Ruby grasped onto Peril's shoulders in return, taking a deep breath and nodding along.

"Okay… you're right, you're right…"

After collecting herself, Ruby took another deep breath and turned back to Mesar.

"Mesar, was it? I apologize for my rudeness… let it not be the first talon we start out on."

She then offers her paw to the Starwing in professional stature, where Mesar accepted it albeit shakily.

"I assure you, my Queen is as displeased you found me as you might be. She would frown upon this being our first meeting as well." He grasped her paw and shook it in good spirit.

"Thank you for your gracious mercy, Queen Ruby."

Ruby forces a smile upon her snout, and nods back. "Of course."

Stardust, sensing something else in the disturbed Queen, prodded up to her and nosed her wing.

"Aunt Ruby, I've known you to be level headed and collected… not even something like this would usually phase you. Is something wrong…?"

Ruby, planting her head in her talons, just sighed once more. Peril, catching on to the oddness of the situation and realizing who was missing, also nosed up to her.

"...It's Cliff isn't it?"

The silent and slow nod from Ruby told Peril all she needed to know.

"He snuck out again, and he's been gone for two days now."

Stardust and Peril both responded unison, carrying the same worried tone as well.

"Two days?!"

Upon nodding once more, Ruby leapt back onto her throne.

"Two days. No note, my guards haven't seen anything of him thus far either."

Peril followed suit, leaping up to her level too.

"Ruby, I'm sorry… I didn't know…"

Stardust found himself besides the throne on the opposite side.

"Can we help? We have two days before the meeting, that's plenty of time to start a search party!"

"No," Ruby shook her head again. "If Cliff wants to run off like that, then he must want to be alone… I won't hunt him down like a criminal if he decides he's too good to be my son."

Something in her tone of voice betrayed an intensely hurt emotion, as if she was doing her best to cover it up. Before either of the two could ask any further questions however, Mesar stepped forth again.

"I'll find him for you."

Ruby and company found their gazes drawn back to Mesar, Ruby in confusion and secret delight, the other two more confused than anything.

"Mesar, I can't ask you to do that…" The Skywing Queen glanced to the outside window nearby. "I have a team of dragons who can help find him if need be."

"My liege, I want nothing more than to gain your trust, and for the moment ease your mind about things. I have the technological capability to track him down, and I can even talk to him and perhaps persuade him to come back too."

Ruby arched an eyebrow at his statement. "Track him down perhaps. But convincing him out of his stubbornness is something I don't know if you're capable of."

"That remains to be seen, but I beseech you, Queen Ruby. Allow me to help…" Mesar bows before the throne once more.

Peril and Stardust notably keep quiet, looking to Ruby through all this, who's gaze finds the floor as she mulls it over.

"...Alright, I'll entrust you with this task then. Find him, make sure he's in good hands, and if possible convince him to come back home. If he refuses, let him know…"

She stops for a second and exhales sharply before continuing.

"...Let him know I still love him dearly and I worry about him too."

Mesar stands up again, saluting the queen heartily.

"You have my word I shall not fail!"

Ruby then stands up, calling out down the hallway.

"NIMBUS, FRONT AND CENTER!"

Within a few seconds, the Skywing Guard found his way to the Throne Room, spear and all as he stood before Queen Ruby.

"Yes my Queen!"

She gestured to Mesar as she briefed him.

"This dragon's name is Mesar, you and him will find my son. Mesar apparently has the ability to track Cliff using some… unknown means, but I want you to aid him in his journey."

Nimbus looks back and forth between Stardust and Mesar, more and more curiously.

"Yes… my liege… Are you and Stardust related, Mesar?"

Mesar opens his maw to speak, but decides against it.

"I'll explain on the way. Shall we depart, your highness?"

Ruby nods again, motioning for them to go forth.

"Go, keep me updated if possible. And please… be safe."

Mesar and Nimbus both bowed again before heading out.

"Thank you, your highness." "It shall be done my Queen."

The two exit via the hallway, while the other two guards in the hall come back in again. Ruby motions for Stardust and Peril to follow as she headed to the overlook of the city.

"Thank you two for coming all this way, the news is exceptionally exciting and having your company here really soothes my mind."

Peril, empathizing with her sister-like friend, wraps a wing over her shoulder.

"I'm glad we came right on time… anyway we can help here?"

Stardust followed suit as he nosed up to her side.

"Anything we can do?"

Ruby's gaze found itself settling on the city below, the bustling streets and skies of dragons going about their lives. The usual sight to behold, but with the news she had just been given about Stardust and his family… she took a good look at the city once more and felt a sense of wonder and hope she hadn't felt in quite a while.

"...Tell me about your family, Stardust. The Starwings… what are they like?"

Stardust, beaming a smile as the three settled together, found his gaze landing upon the city along with Peril too.

"Well… I know for sure that you'll love them.~"

-X-

Clay never did enjoy flying solo. No matter the scenery, no matter how long or short the trip was, if he didn't have company, he was sure to be bored and lonely.

'Shoulda taken Hamal with me… Would've been nice to have someone to talk to.'

Having flown for about an hour before stopping for lunch (predictably), he was back in the air and headed straight for the Mudwing Kingdom, having a few fish packed in his chest satchel with the device from Queen Aries. The forested areas below began merging and transforming into swampy marshes, wetlands where trees and ponds abundantly pock marked the land.

The sight was a welcome one for the Mudwing, though he had to resist the urge not to dive headfirst into the muddy areas. Clay knew he had more important fish to fry.

'Speaking of fish… Kinda hungry again…'

Still looking down instead of ahead, Clay searched the waters for any bigger fish, Catfish or the like. Instead he only caught his reflection in the waters beneath him. The longer he gazed down, more and more his head started to linger on his family, and the sibs he left behind.

Before he let himself slip any further into anxious guilt, he shook himself off a bit.

'C'mon Clay, focus! You got a job to do, no messing around here. You're gonna see your sibs, they're your family after all. Everything is-...'

In the reflection he gazed at, a pillar of black rose up from the opposite side. Perplexed and obviously worried, Clay finally looked up at his surroundings.

The wetlands usually teeming with Mudwings were now abandoned, and that black pillar he saw in his reflection turned out to be much bigger than he anticipated. And that black pillar, as Clay looked harder, was actually smoke.

Thick, and black, flecks of burning material rising up into the air, Clay flew a bit higher to pinpoint the source of the smoke.

...And what was on fire, was none other than Queen Moorhen's Palace itself, all of it.

'...on fire.'

Clay immediately barreled down, now making out the figures of Mudwings scrambling to put it out.

'Everything is on fire.'

[Near the smoldering Palace...]

"GET MORE MUD OVER HERE!"

"WE NEED A MEDIC, SOMEONE WHO CAN HANDLE BURN TRAUMA!"

"GET THESE CIVILIANS OUT OF HERE!"

"IS ANYONE LEFT INSIDE?!"

As Clay landed nearby where the commotion most intensely buzzed, screaming and shouting as Mudwings panicked and rushed around, he tracked down any important looking Mudwing in the area to try and help. He found a tall but thin Mudwing, dark as tree bark with an underbelly of cream, ordering other soldiers and directing civilians out of danger.

Clay barreled forwards towards him.

"HEY! I'm fireproof, what can I do?!"

The tall Mudwing stopped for a second and squinted at this newcomer.

"You're WHAT?"

"FIRE, PROOF. I WON'T GET HURT BY FLAMES! HOW CAN I HELP?"

Just as the Mudwing was about to ask more questions, Several more soldiers pondered up to the scene.

"Hey, ain't that the Wings of Earth dude?"

"Yeah, he's one of the Dragonets of Destiny!"

"What's he doin' here?!"

"He's here to help obviously!"

The important Mudwing glanced back to his soldiers, then the fire, and back to Clay with a more trusting (albeit begrudging) expression.

"Okay, look. We need to find out if there's still dragons inside that thing. We don't know if it's structurally sound and it could come down at any minute. If you're fire-proof, you might be our only shot at getting inside. That's how you can help. Savvy?"

Clay, ever the brave and fearless leader, simply nodded and without hesitation charged inside the burning palace. He could hear the Mudwing attempt to yell something at him, but Clay couldn't turn back now. He dove head first through the fiery entrance.

Now, there were two problems with this. Clay hadn't a clue how big the palace was, and whether or not he could check all the rooms and such in time. Even if the palace stayed up for a few more minutes, debris and burning mud coated the floors. He'd have to search through all of that, and whether he could get all the dragons out in time was another story altogether.

Secondly… Clay wasn't exactly fire proof. Fire resistant, absolutely. Having a dragon made of fire for a mate made sure his heat resistant scales were toughened tenfold. But there were a few exposed spots on his body where heat would be particularly painful. And the heat surrounding him found every single spot, causing him to stop for a moment and reconsider.

"Rrngh… Ok, maybe I should've thought this through some more…"

The smoke rising from the ground and from the walls caught in his lungs, albeit being on the ground floor it wasn't too bad. He coughed a bit upon trying to take a deep breath.

'Oh moons… C'mon Clay, get moving! No time to waste!'

He forced himself forwards as he searched around wildly. Only barren floors and collapsed walls with flames embroiling the entire scene. No signs of any bodies, no cries for help, at least not that he could hear.

The further down the halls he went the tighter the corridors. The fires touch freshly engulfed the areas, less heat emanating from down the halls. Clay pressed on in that direction, searching the various emptied and now smoking rooms.

'No one here, good.'

As he turned back, a piece of the ceiling above caved in and blocked his route back. A decent sized hole to the upper levels, however, laid before him. The second story of the palace had yet to be totally engulfed by flames, only smoke and a few walls infected with the fire.

'Up we go then.'

Clay launched himself up, finding himself in the second story of the palace, a large meeting room with it's walls starting to melt down. From here, he could hear the flames starting to rise from down below, but more importantly he could hear frantic and panicked talking from a few rooms over.

As he darted into the halls, he spotted a group of Mudwings; one unconscious and looking mildly burned, the other two coughing and supporting the unconscious on either side. Clay rushed to meet them.

"HEY! YOU GUYS GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE!"

The two supporting the unconscious dragon nodded vigorously.

"YEAH NO DUH!"

"THE EXIT IS ON FIRE AND THERE'S DEBRIS BLOCKING THE WAY, WE CAN'T GET DOWN!"

Clay quickly examined the walls and searched for windows, finding none. However on one spot of the wall, the brick and mud mortar melted and drooped to reveal a crevice to the outside. Clay readied himself as he prepared to charge.

"I'M GONNA MAKE AN EXIT. STAND CLEAR!"

Before the two dragons could protest, arguing that the resulting burns would kill him, Clay sped full force to the wall and immediately shattered it with his body, flying through and creating a semi stable exit for the trapped dragons to escape through. He caught the air in his wings and landed back inside, to the astonishment of the others.

"GO, GET OUT OF HERE!"

The two wasted no time in getting out, hoisting the injured down to the floor. As Clay was about to jump down, the second of the two shouted back up to him.

"HEY, WAIT! THERE'S ONE MORE IN THERE!"

Clay did his best to look down without getting flames or smoke in his eyes.

"WHERE ARE THEY?!"

"DOWN THE HALL IN THE BOTANY ROOM! HE'S TRAPPED IN THERE!"

Clay nodded in acknowledgement, darting back over. From the time he simply looked back from talking, the flames had already advanced upwards thricefold. The fire licked at the ceiling and melted the floors in certain spots, and it got worse by the second as Clay looked on in horror.

'Gotta move fast, this guy doesn't have much time!'

He sped off through the building, searching the rooms no matter how fiery hot or dilapidated the inside was. Four rooms in however, and he'd found nothing. The flames had nearly caught up to him at this point. He'd almost turned back had he not heard coughing and scratching.

Clay barreled to the last of the rooms, finding a dragon pinned down under a pillar, nearly crushing his chest and arm. The fire hadn't yet made it's way to him or the room, but he looked hurt nonetheless. Clay immediately rushed over to help get it off, but the Mudwing protested and looked over.

"*Cough* it's no use, just- *Cough Cough* get out of here while you-"

As the two finally recognized each other's faces, a collective pause resulted. Clay's heart stopped dead in its tracks, seeing his brother Reed trapped under the pillar.

"REED!"

"CLAY?!"

Now renewed with strength and determination to get his brother out from under there, he gathered all his might towards lifting the pillar. Reed attempted to do the same, but stopped short.

"N-NO! GET OUT OF HERE, THIS PLACE IS GONNA BLOW!"

"I AM N O T LEAVING YOU AGAIN! HELP ME, PLEASE!"

Reed, unable to argue, simply pushed once more with all his might. Slowly but surely the pillar was lifted up, as Reed rolled out from under it.

"Nngh… thank you, Clay…" The Mudwing stood up shakily, and notably under great duress as well. Clay stood besides him and made sure he could stand, while Reed's gaze was firmly affixed to the wall.

"Of course, I'm here for you… now let's get-"

Clay finally glanced over to the wall and immediately did a double take. Lining the walls were pots of various plants, but an entire row about 10 pots long were solely dedicated to Dragonflame Cactus. Reed grabbed Clay and forced him along as he ran to the hall.

"C'MON! M O V E!"

The duo bounded down the hall, Reed a little bit slower as Clay literally ran towards the fire. Reed, definitely not fire resistant, faltered as the flames got higher.

"Argh!"

Clay wrapped his wings around Reed as the two ran through the walls of fire. Reed could only cough and try to say what he could.

"Cl- *Cough, Hack* Clay, if I don-"

Before he could say much else, a piercing whistle emanated through the air… The unmistakable sound of Dragonflame cactus reaching its critical temperature. Clay promptly just barreled towards a spot in the nearest wall with Reed in tow, literally blasting out the wall and landing in a rather shallow mudpit, alive but not exactly fine and dandy.

And what followed next…

...fweeeeeeee e…

[Meanwhile...]

"Hey... you hungry?"

A particular cave in the mountains adjacent to the Mudwing Kingdom housed two particular Mudwings… Umber had just flown back with a catch of a few fish for him and his sister a few hours earlier, and he sat there quietly grilling them up. He offered a Catfish to Sora, who had stayed behind and tried to get some sleep (unsuccessfully albeit...)

"No… I-I'm okay Umber…"

Umber didn't believe that for a second. Considering it had been a long while they'd been on the run, and Sora still acted this way, Umber was getting near his wits end with the whole situation. The only reason they stayed where they were was to be close to Reed and Pheasant. And even then… they'd only seen them maybe a handful of times just to make sure they were safe. Sora constantly held herself in a depressive state, which Umber rarely saw her get out of, if at all. And by now… Umber nearly found himself in the same place she was.

"Sora… please… for moons sake, you can't keep doing this to yourself…"

He padded over to wrap a wing around her, as she slowly but firmly pulled away and laid on the opposite side of the fire. Umber, not giving up so easily, followed her.

"It's been nearly three years, Sora… you have to move on from this. You've let it overgrow who you are, and who you care about. And I'm beginning to lose my sister…"

Sora, about to respond with her usual angrily down trodden antics, paused as the sound of explosions resounded relatively nearby. The two dropped everything, rushing over to stand at the outcropping of their cave, which overlooked a decent height and portion of the Mudwing Kingdom.

"What was that?" Sora, before depressed and hazy eyed, now stood alert and anxious. "Are they looking for us?"

"No," Umber stood besides her, immediately tracking the smokestacks to the Mudwing Kingdom. "But… something very not good just happened."

Another powerful explosion rang out from the same place, launching a smoke cloud even higher. The two shrank back a little before Umber went wide eyed with worry.

"Oh no… no nononono no no."

Sora, immediately as worried as Umber by his reaction, switched her gaze back and forth.

"What? What is it?"

Umber found himself stepping in place and almost hyperventilating.

"That smoke, that explosion, that's EXACTLY where the Queen's Palace is. Sora, the Queen's Palace is on FIRE, what if Reed and Pheasant got hurt? We gotta go check on them, we have to make sure they're ok."

Sora, taking in what Umber just said, stood deathly still. The prospect of losing any more family, especially the BigWings they loved and cherished, scared her to death. All her flashbacks to Icicle and Crane crowded her mind all at once, nearly overwhelming her with that depressive mindset and anxiety driven guilt, but something stopped her. Something about the smoke in the distance and the horrible feeling Umber had given her snapped something else inside her. She wasn't going to stay put and just wonder if everything would be alright.

Still horrified and anxious, Umber kept muttering to himself worriedly, but by time Umber was finished talking Sora took a single step forward.

"Let's go."

Umber stopped for a second and turned to his sister.

"Sora… Are you sure?"

Sora nodded slowly but with a solemn certainty.

"Whatever happens… I'll be with my family… Right?"

As she took note of the gradual shift in Umber's horrified worry into reassured determination, she couldn't help but find it in herself as well.

"Of course." Umber touched wingtips with her sister, and shifted his focus to the smoke. "We better get over there."

Sora nodded as the two pushed off the ledge into flight. Sora and Umber made their best speed to the source of the flames, unaware of the third Mudwing trailing behind at a distance.

[At the Mudwing Village...]

'Rrrrgh…'

Consciousness.

The last thing Clay could remember is a deafening explosion, followed by a wave of heat so intense that the mud nearly baked into his scales then and there. His last action was to shield his brother, and that he did.

That being said, Clay could barely open his eyes. With his vision blurred and the world still spinning a bit, the first thing he could sense was… cold.

'Jeez that's cold… ah…'

Coming into focus around him was ice. Mud, water, Ice, a few herbal treatments, and a concerned Mudwing at his side. The hut he could make out was compact but cozy, letting some light in from outside. The tub was of clay and filled to the brim as his body floated in the mixture.

The water was bitingly cold, but the more it settled in the better it felt to him. He dared not move just yet, either out of pain or just plain exhaustion. But his eyes opening was enough to garner the attention of the Mudwing nearby. As Clay gathered his mental faculties as well… he recognized one weepy eyed Pheasant.

"Ph… Pheasant…"

She immediately took Clay's hand and squeezed it tight, nosing it as well.

"Hey… how do you feel?"

Clay responded with a slightly stronger smile than he anticipated, and drew a deeper breath this time.

"Honestly… Cold."

Pheasant cracked a smile with her teary eyes, prodding up to the BigWings' snout.

"I'd imagine… can you feel anything else?"

Clay wriggled about just a tad, letting out a soft groan of pain that faded as quickly as the discomfort did.

"Mnnfh… Sore. But all in all… whole? I don't think I'm missing anything."

Pheasant managed a giggle to herself and shook her head.

"Thankfully no, you're not. The medics were as shocked as I was to find you in as good a condition as you were, hot stuff. You really surprised us."

Hearing that, Clay beamed a prideful smile. He did good, and saved lives today. His smile faded a bit though.

"Wait… where's… Reed?"

Pheasant's smile faded a little upon hearing his question. It didn't fade all the way though.

"He's recovering… Right now he's unconscious, but the healers expect him to recover well."

She placed herself right by the bigger Mudwing's snout, more so out of loneliness than anything.

"He only has some minor burns, nothing bad at all. If it weren't for you Clay… He…"

Clay stopped her before she finished that train of thought.

"I can guess what would've happened… I'm glad I was there too."

Pheasant's smile reappeared just as quickly as it faded out.

"Yeah… I'm glad you're here too."

Clay's heartstrings twanged just a little bit from the statement. He really was glad he could be here for them through all this. Seeing Pheasant again reminded him however of his real mission. He nearly sat up, but failed after his sore muscles forced him back reeling with pain.

"Nrrgh! Mnnfh…"

Pheasant stood once more, and held his hand. "You ok? What is it?"

Clay scanned around the room, unable to see much from where he was.

"Where's my satchel I came with…?"

Just as Clay spotted it, Pheasant padded to the corner of the room and picked it out.

"I got it here. Is there anything important in it?"

Clay nodded. "Open the top, there should be a weird black… thing in there."

Pheasant, confused by these instructions and Clay's description, rummaged through the bag and produced said object with fascination. "You mean… this?"

Clay heaved a sigh as heavy as his body would allow him, and rested back into the tub a bit.

"Phew… can you guard that for me? It's really important. And I mean like… fate of the world important."

Pheasant's eyes lit up again, looking over the device and nodding affirmatively.

"I can do that. Mind telling me what it's all about?"

Clay opened his maw to speak, but paused and promptly shut it.

"It'd be better if you came with me to show the Queen, it's very important that she gets it."

Upon mentioning the Queen, Pheasant's face fell again. Clay regarded her with a "Don't tell me" look.

"We… haven't been able to find her. The Palace Wreckage didn't yield any corpses, but they might have just been incinerated. Oddly… it's as if when the fire started… she just vanished."

Clay, surprisingly, was able to face palm. The icy coldness on his face splashed him awake again as he sat up easier this time.

"Whoo! THAT was cold."

Pheasant helped him stay sitting up as Clay took a deep breath. "You sure you wanna be moving around so much? You just woke up…"

Clay offered a brave and chivalrous smile. "Nonsense, I feel right as rain-"

As he attempted to plant his talons on the edge of the tub, he slipped and fell back in under the water. Pheasant, already being so close, hoisted him back up and got him on his feet. Clay sputtered and coughed whilst shivering harshly.

"HOAH! haAAAAYIYiyiyi that's reALLY COld!"

Pheasant, stifling her giggles, helped him out of the tub as Clay managed to find himself standing up. Wobbly and with a bit of trouble albeit, but he stood on his feet nonetheless, even able to shake himself off. Pheasant leaned on his otherside to keep him righted.

"Careful big guy. Take it slow, ok?"

"I got it, thank you sis."

Pheasant offered him a smile… the kind of smile Clay hadn't really seen on her before. The kind that meant she was happy, and she hadn't anything else on her mind. The kind of trust she didn't really understand a whole lot, but that put her at ease immediately.

Clay returned said smile, one more caring and thankful. There were no words spoken in this smile shared between them, but it said more than words might've been able to convey. Pheasant motioned to the hut entrance.

"I imagine you want to check up on Reed?"

"Yeah," Clay could see out the entrance that the sun was nearly setting by now. He might as well make the best of this day yet. "It'd be better if he woke up and we were all in the same room, y'know?"

Pheasant agreed, leading them out the hut and across the busy area. Burn victims were being treated left and right, some pretty minor, and some not so lucky.

"Jeez…" Clay glanced back to Sora watching the area. "How many wounded?"

"18 wounded, the majority of them burn victims. No fatalities, thank the moons… "

Clay sighed in relief, seeing some of the burn victims look to him and wave with a thankful smile. He nodded back, feeling a deep sense of pride that Pheasant took note of.

"Hey…" The younger Mudwing nosed her big brother's neck some. "Thank you for helping… The guards told me what you did in there, you were really brave doing that."

Clay's smile etched itself deeper now, less prideful and more contented and relaxed.

"I'll always help dragons in need, I get the feeling you'd do the same thing."

Pheasant glanced down in thought for a moment. "I would… but I mean fire resistant scales would help a lot too, y'know?"

Clay's snout flushed a bit at her mentioning that. "I mean… that is true."

The two entered the healing hut, finding only an unconscious Reed sitting in the same tub that Clay was in. Pheasant sat by his side, while Clay found himself on the other side as well. Pheasant laid her head atop Reed's shoulder, sighing with a softly worried expression. Clay laid a paw atop hers comfortingly.

"He's gonna make it, I know he will."

Pheasant nodded once more, smiling just a little. "I know… it's just…"

Her gaze drifted towards Reed's burns along his neck. She seemed almost transfixed.

"We were both stationed inside the Palace. Reed worked in the Queen's Throne Room, and I was on regular patrol through the halls. Reed apparently was investigating something the Queen said, and I was in our hut taking the day off, when I heard the screaming outside."

Clay listened intently to Pheasant's story, looking up at Reed as well.

"I got out there as fast as I could." She seemed to tear up just a bit while she looked at Reed. "But I couldn't get in there fast enough. The Main Hall was up in flames before I could even come up with a plan to get inside… and the more I watched the burning building, the more I felt helpless without him…"

"Pheasant…" Clay snapped her out of it momentarily. "It's not your fault. Any of it. Reed was doing his job, and no one could have known that today the Palace of the Mudwings would burst into flame."

He reached a wing tip over to Pheasant's shoulder as he nudged her snout.

"As someone who's had nightmares about protecting his family time and time again, you simply cannot hold yourself accountable for the things you can't control. It'll only eat you up inside…"

Before she could respond, a pair of familiar heads peeked in through the entrance.

"C...Clay?" "Pheasant?"

Clay and Pheasant stood to their feet instantly.

"Sora!" "Umber!"

Sora and Umber stood in the entrance, teary eyed and emotional, as the four of them drew together into a dragon pile of weepy hugs. Clay wrapped his wings all around the three, holding them close.

"Guys, what are you guys doing here? Are you safe?"

Umber could barely make out his words through the tears, Sora could barely breathe much less. Pheasant had her held tight along with Umber.

"We… we saw the smoke coming from the palace… we couldn't just watch and stand by… we assumed the worst, and we at least wanted to see you one more time…"

Sora finally caught her breath, and looked up at Clay, then at the unconscious Reed.

"I-is… *hic* Is Reed gonna be ok…?"

Pheasant nodded slowly, nosing at Sora's head protectively. "He will… I can promise you that."

Clay rubbed Sora and Umber's head gingerly. "Can you two promise me something?"

The two nodded, not looking up from their embrace. Clay leaned down to them and squeezed a bit tighter.

"...Promise me you two will stay here with us."

Pheasant, picking up on Clay's reasoning and direction, held the two closer as well.

"Please…"

Sora, already broken up about things, quite nearly bawled out into Clay's chest, just nodding along. Umber finally brought his teary snout up to Clay's nose and sniffled rather hard.

"We will… we promise. I don't think we can run anymore…"

Clay nosed Umber's nose back with a sappy smile. "Thank you… I promise you won't regret it…"

As the four settled around Clay, his contented smile could've lit the entire village had he been outside. His wings surrounding the other three, Pheasant looked to Clay with the same expression, happy and whole.

"Heh… all we're missing is Marsh…"

And… as if on cue…

"...G… guys?"

And one by one, as the group collectively recognized the dragon in the doorway, the four MudWing siblings turned to the entrance and immediately surrounded him.

"MARSH!"

Marsh could do naught but enjoy the love as his family squeezed and hugged him. He could barely keep track of it all and surrendered himself to the dragonpile of family. Tears would form in his eyes too, hugging back all he could. It was only after a good few minutes of this his attention turned to Reed.

"Reed…"

He rushed over to his side and felt his neck for a pulse.

"Please… please tell me he's not…"

The gang rushed over by his side and around Reed, Pheasant and Umber beside him.

"Hey," Clay reassured Marsh in the calmest voice he could. "Reed's gonna be ok. He's just unconscious, he'll recover soon."

Marsh, ever the anxious one, felt his breathing quicken. He held onto Pheasant's paw and squeezed as he failed to calm himself down. Pheasant held him tight, having seen this before.

"Woah, Marsh, breathe little guy. Breathe."

Clay came around as well, sitting down to Marsh's level and looking him eye to eye.

"Marsh… it's gonna be okay… we're all here for you, and no one is going anywhere."

Marsh still couldn't settle his breathing down, and instead just planted his snout in Clay's chest. Clay noted mentally how common this was becoming, and pushed that aside to fully embrace his younger brother.

"Shh… it's okay…"

He leaned down and rubbed his snout along the trembling Marsh's back. After pausing for a bit, Clay spoke once more; this time almost like an announcement, but soft and tender as ever.

"It's gonna be alright little brother… Bigwings is here for you…"

After Clay had uttered the phrase "Bigwings"... the room took a hushed tone. Not stunned, not angered, not even a hint of worry. When Clay pronounced himself Bigwings… it could've only been described as wonder, and joy. Soft spoken, unsaid, but absolutely overwhelming to the four surrounding Clay. Sora was first to tackle hug him, curling up in his arms and wings. Umber followed suit next to Marsh, both of them sniffling still. Finally, Pheasant hugged around Clay's neck, spreading her wings around the three in between and acting like a blanket. She simply laid her head atop Clay's shoulder.

She only spoke once more before settling in with her family.

"Bigwings…"

One by one, the other three followed suit.

"B-bigwings…"

"Bigwings."

"...Bigwings…"

Clay... had no response. He intended the words to serve as comfort, yes, but he did not know whether this meant he had overridden Reed as the Bigwings of the family. Clay was always the eldest, but Reed was the functioning Bigwings in his absence. Clay knew not what this meant as far as the family dynamic went… but he got the feeling Reed would have approved nonetheless.

Clay finally let his head down over Pheasant's wings, holding his family tightly. With a sense of family and love in the stillness of the air, Clay let his eyes close for today.

"...Yeah…"

His worries set as the sun outside set. Slowly, but surely, and absolutely. There was but peace in his heart, and spoke but three more words.

"...Bigwings is here now."

-X-

Deep in the heart of the SWFC STARCASTLE, two brothers Xenon and Neon worked tirelessly in their pursuit of a method of interaction with the mysterious interface. The two worked at the same desk, back to back.

"You set up the Encoding Script right?" Xenon turned to face Neon. "I've got the GUI/CLI bridge good to go."

Neon kept on typing and moving files, compiling data and such.

"Not YET, almost there. This thing has me going in circles trying to codify its root language, give me like three more minutes."

"Dude," Xenon now turned around fully to his brother. "I gave you five minutes, TEN minutes ago! Orion is expecting us to have results, if we don't have something-"

"Xenon, the dragon wants a fully functioning command interface with an alien code that literally became our system code. The fact that it used near completely different symbolic code than our own and MADE itself work with ours, is still something I cannot wrap my head around."

"Neon I was THERE," Xenon turned back around to his desk. "I saw what it did, and yet here we are with almost a fully functioning interface, FOR the interface. All we need is the Encoding Script to make sure what we're sending whatever it is we're interfacing with, actually understands our commands."

"Dude, I KNO-"

Ding!

And just like that, Neon's workscreen flashed a Task Complete screen. He curtly saved the file and compiled it all into a virtual globule which he held in his two talons, represented by a little ball of light and data. He turned around to Xenon with a wide grin.

"Dude… we're ready!"

Xenon turned back around and did the same, holding said globule like Neon was. They turned to the screen besides them, blank for the moment.

"Alright," Xenon looked to his brother and the screen back and forth. "Same time. Ready?"

Neon nodded, as the two started counting down in sync.

"3.

2!

1!"

On cue, the two threw their data globules at the empty screen, which manifested into a simple keyboard and pad, along with the Command Line Interface that the alien code had brought up. Neon and Xenon looked at each other in awe, and promptly high fived each other.

"Yes! Dude it works!"

"Wait wait, we know the GUI/CLI works, we don't know if it'll connect properly talk to the alien thing."

"You saying we should test it first, before we show it to Orion?"

Neon nodded heavily, much to Xenon's dismay.

"I mean… what if we accidentally screw something up? We don't know WHAT this thing can do!"

"They're an alien race advanced enough to come up with universal codified compatibility patches, they've probably made it user friendly enough for a bunch of nerds like us to figure it out. C'mon, something simple!"

Xenon sat back and sighed.

"Alright… let's try… /help?"

Neon nodded. "/help is a classic."

Xenon looks to the keyboard, and slowly but surely inputs the simple phrase "/help".

He sighs and stops for a moment, looking to Neon before he reluctantly presses Enter.

For a moment… nothing. Then, the CLI explodes with a huge list of commands, some as simple as "exit" and "why", others long and complicated and several lines long. Xenon and Neon, mouth agape, looked back to each other and shouted for joy at their new creation.

"WHOOOOOOOOOYEAH!"

"WE DID IT!"

"WE ACTUALLY DID IT!"

This went on for a good few minutes, ending with the two tossing crumpled up papers at each other in good spirits. By the time they settled down, they were panting and breathing hard.

"Heh, phew!"

"Hehe… nice work dude, we did good!"

"Yeah we did, yeah we did.~"

After glancing back to the screen, Neon noticed one command that stood apart from the rest. Something simple, but it drove his curiosity up the wall.

"Hey, Xenon… look at this."

He directed Xenon's attention to one particular command listed: "whoami".

"Whoami… that indicates either it's got a user system, or someone left behind clues to figure out more along the way…"

"Yeah." Neon instinctively pushed forwards to the keyboard.

"Neon," Xenon nearly stopped him. "I think we should tell Orion now."

"Yeah yeah, but… let's just try this one more, ok?"

"Neon I really-"

By the time Xenon finished talking… Neon had already hit Enter.

"Whoami" flashed in the CLI at the bottom of the list of commands, and only a second later, the response was highlighted in all caps. Xenon and Neon leaned in a bit closer to read it.

"Huh… What do you make of it, bro?"

Xenon shrugged to himself, confused but with an ominous feeling he couldn't shake off.

"I… dunno, honestly. Let's just get Orion up here. He'll wanna see this."

The two got up promptly to find their superior, leaving the screen behind.

What the interface gave in response to the command was simple, only one word.

"HUMAN"