Skywings are my favorite tribe. Back to the story.

She felt a hot wave of air hit her snout which made Glory sneeze. She looked up to see Peril uncomfortably tapping her talons one by one against the grass beneath her. "Um…I was about to wake you up but I figured I couldn't shake you awake." She said, taking a step back so the hot air wasn't around Glory.

"You could have just said something." Glory bristled, shaking herself awake before standing up and yawning. The air had gotten much cooler as it hit her scales and the rushing sound of the river was a calming presence after the events of the last two nights. She walked over to the sleeping Nightwing and brushed her wings against his, forcing him awake as the moon rose in the distance. "Come on, we're heading out soon."

Starflight nodded, not even seeming to have been asleep in the first place as he was already up and awake. "Yeah I know. I was waiting for you." Peril snorted behind them and Glory headed to get a drink. "So next stop, the mountain?"

Glory nodded and ducked her head into the river to take a sip. It tasted amazing and she forgot how long she had gone without a good drink. After letting the water flow through her mouth and deep into her throat, she got up and looked opposite to the river flow. "We follow the river that way until we find the waterfall. This time, no detores."

Starflight threw a small, balled up leaf at her in response which got a laugh out of Peril. Once they were all up and ready, Glory led the way up the river, staying on the right side and being able to hide under the trees. Not that they found any Skywings. The whole journey seemed calm. A whole night was spent nearly falling into the river as they only heard frog croaks and cricket buzzings to aid in the nightly silence. Once the sky began being lit up with orange, Glory called off their pursuit, allowing Peril and Starflight to rest their claws. The Skywing let out a large yawn that would have alerted any Skywing nearby to their position which Starflight was happy to point out only to get a mocking interpretation of his voice in response.

"Who wants to take first watch?" Glory knew neither of them would be willing to accept and had already figured she would be doing it. Starflight seemed to be getting more drowsy the longer he remained in the sunlight and Peril clearly wasn't used to all this walking. The Rainwing assumed she was used to fighting in short bursts. After neither of them responded, Glory sighed. "Fine. Get some sleep then."

Starflight curled up against a tree and looked like a giant blanket spread out against the bark. Peril slept near the river, scaring any fish that attempted to splash water against her. It didn't take long for Glory to hear the loud snoring from the former champion and then the light breathing from her friend. Now she was alone once more. With nothing to comfort her but the Rainwings thoughts.

"Ugh, why is this so boring?" She should have been used to this but of course, she wasn't. Too often Glory would wish her friends would be silent in the sleeping cave and she figured this was what she got for wishing that Starflight and Tsunami would stop their arguing until the morning. She couldn't wait for the little Sandwing to be back in their group and remind them about their 'great destiny' which Glory used to hate hearing about.

She could hear the buzzing of the crickets hiding in the grass that lurked for their next meal. Bugs flew through the air as the sun rose and Glory could make out the bursting of light through the trees and hitting the water which added a glare to the river. It hurt Glory's eyes and she was forced to look away from the water and she got up, approaching one of the trees and blending into the leaves as she climbed up to the top where her scales would get more light hit on them. Her tail rested on a high branch which would sway every now and then like a leaf in the wind.

The higher up the sun got, the more she felt her eyes drift to sleep. "Maybe it IS a Rainwing thing…" She thought unhappily. Another reminder that her tribe was a useless group of sleeping scavengers. Kestrel and Dune made sure she and the other dragonets would be aware of how Glory was a last resort and not intentional. If anyone was going to mess up the prophecy, it would be her. 'Just pretend you're not a total failure and do what the others tell you. We don't need you messing everything up.' Dune was horrible but Kestrel was worse. She was willing to kill Glory outright. Finally finish off the Rainwing that plagued her all her life. Glory looked down through the leaves at the ground, seeing Starflight snoring.

Tsunami and Glory were up for battle training. The Rainwing knew Tsunami was the most difficult and the only one she really needed to worry about. She wasn't as strong as the Seawing or as fast. She wasn't as skilled but she did have one advantage. She was smarter. Not that it helped much. Kestrel didn't belive in outsmarting your foes. If you couldn't kill them in a 'fair; fight, then it was a loss. "Fight!" the Skywing yelled and the Seawing ran at Glory.

The Rainwing spread out her wings and flashed dark red and orange, imitating Kestrel which caught Tsunami off guard and leaving her open to Glory's claw swipe against her snout. Once she got ahold of herself, Tsunami lunged at Glory and pinned her down with speed Glory wasn't ready for. Glory forced the Rainwings head down into the dirt but not so hard that it hurt. Tsunami waited for Kestral to call off the fight but she got no response. The two dragonets stood still in their position until the Skywing approached them.

"I said FIGHT not stand around and do NOTHING!" Her usual shouting.

The Seawing glared at Kestrel. "I won. The fight's over." Kestrel still didn't call it off.

"It's not over until I say it's over." She hissed.

Tsunami glared daggers at Kestrel and Glory could barely make out Tsunami from the corner of her eye. The Seawing was hungry as battle training always made them miss lunch. She was mad at Glory for their argument the day before. So why wasn't she doing what Kestrel was obviously implying her to do?

Tsunami looked down at Glory for a second, the two meeting each other's gaze and Tsunami bared her teeth, launching herself at Kestrel who was unprepared by the attack. Glory got up and found herself stepping back away from the violence as Tsunami slammed her tail into Kestrel's side with great force and attempted to claw her snout. At first, Tsunami was in the lead. She was on top of Kestrel and barreling down claw swipe after claw swipe. That was until Kestrel remembered she could spit fire. The Skywing spewed out more fire then Glory had ever seen and Tsunami had just barely gotten out of the way except her tail which got badly singed.

Kestrel flew towards Tsunami and successfully pinned her down with more forced than Tsunami had done to Glory. The Seawing hissed and flailed her tail wildly but the much larger Skywing kept her out of harms reach. She looked over to Glory with anger that the Rainwing didn't think was possible. Her eyes were flames dancing in a chaotic chant for punishment. "YOU, get Dune. NOW!"

Glory stood still in her spot, trying to keep her scales from flashing in worry. "No. Do it yourself. I'm hungry." The satisfied grunt from Tsunami made her feel a lot better about her decision. The Skywing however was not happy.

"I gave you an order. Now do it." She hissed out, flames starting to appear in her mouth as she prepared another blast of fire but Glory was ready to get out of the way. Seeing Kestrel mad but not being able to do anything was always cathartic. It gave Glory a glimpse of power over those she hated. Kestrel narrowed her eyes and Glory and took a step off of Tsunami, forcing her into the river and spitting a weak flame at Glory. "Fine. Just know that you made her punishment tomorrow twice as worse." She began leaving the cave and muttered something about useless Rainwings.

Once Glory was sure she was gone, the Rainwing ran to the water and bit her lip before Tsunami resurfaced, splashing water onto Glory which made her jump back in alarm. "HEY! I was CHECKING on you!"

Tsunami stuck out her tongue. "That's for saying my brain is as small as a lizard. Now we're even." She said and got out of the water, snickering as Glory shook off the water. The Tsunami made her way out of the cave and into the tunnel that connected the rest of the cave rooms. Glory was right beside her and the two walked in silence, not speaking about their fight before. "I hate her so much." Tsunami growled.

Glory shared the sentiment. "Yeah. Sorry for not helping." If she was stronger, bigger, just not a Rainwing…she could have done something. She could have actually hurt Kestrel.

"Eh, the look on her face was way better then any mark you would have left." Tsunami said with a grin and gently brushed her wing against Glory. The Seawing would do this as a way to mess with the Rainwing as Glory hated physical contact that wasn't from Clay. It was her way of not hurting the Rainwing but still being a nuisance. "Come on, I wasn't lying about being hungry."

Glory bristled at the contact and tried to keep up, her own stomach empty and she realized the fight before didn't need to be brought up. Even though she still held that Sandwing poison was more dangerous than Icewing death breath.

Glory returned to reality by soft rain falling against her scales and landing to the rest of the tree. She scowled at the sky and landed next to Starflight who was already starting to wake up and Peril was following suit. The Nightwing gave Glory a sympathetic look and shook his wings. Glory shook her head and tried to hide under the tree. "Well, I doubt Skywings are going to be flying around in this whether." That was when a bolt of lightning struck nearby, a few seconds later causing loud thunder to be heard. "And we probably won't be getting any sleep. I think we should keep moving. This might be a good chance to do so."

Peril burnt a wet twig next to her. More movement would not be something she was happy about but if she wanted to help Sunny, she needed to do it. The water droplets burnt up on contact with her scales and made quite the spectacle. Once the three were up and ready, Glory led the way and three went through the mud and water as the rain fell even more harshly against them. She walked next to the river and grew ever more thankful for each cover that the trees gave them so her scales wouldn't be drenched the whole way.

Glory heard Starflight land in the river after he was startled by more thunder. She turned to help him out and he silently thanked her. The Nightwing shivered and kept his wings close to try heating himself up. Glory wished Peril's heat would help but her's felt like hot flames trying to attach themselves to other life sources unlike Sunny's heat which felt like a warm fire. "Even more of a reason to save her." She thought to herself as they marched on up the river until Glory heard a familiar waterfall splashing down in the distance.

"Is that it?" Starflight asked in anticipation. Glory nodded and ran up to meet the falling water, smiling broadly as they finally reached the mountain that had held them for so long. It was just as giant and mountainous as she remembered.

Part of her felt a sharp ice pick hit her back and send shivers up her spine. All of the memories of Kestrel and Dune began resurfacing which made her desire to get to Sunny lessen by the second. Still, she couldn't give up just because of some bad memories. The little Sandwing was far more important than that. She turned to Peril and gave her a sad look. "I think it will do best for Sunny to see Starflight and myself first. When we leave, you can see her and we'll tell her about how much you helped us, right Starflight?"

The Nightwing nodded but seemed to be staring at the mountain with a starry gaze. Glory could practically hear his thoughts about what he would say to Sunny. Maybe the Nightwing should be the first to enter the cave. "No. I need to talk to her first. I need to make sure she's really there." Peril shrugged her big wings and approached a small perch. "Whatever. Just make sure she knows I did what Clay would have wanted."

Honesty, Glory thought she would put up more of a fight but this made her life easier. Not that that was much of an accomplishment given the events that had taken place. She waved goodbye to Peril who shrugged her wing in response. She flew up with Starflight and circled around the mountain. It looked the same as when they had first left which meant all they would have to do was find the boulder that kept them trapped for all those years. Starflight found it rather quickly and the two descended. Last Glory remembered, it was open since Dune had been killed and they had been captured but the boulder was back in place. She turned to Starflight who was hesitantly hovering over the lever that would move the boulder and open their way inside. "What are you waiting for? Just pull the lever and we can see her." Glory asked with a calm ease that she wasn't used to.

The Nightwing turned to look at Glory with those sad eyes he always had when he thought about asking Sunny about their future. "She may not be here. It could be a trap. What if it's a Skywing patrol inside? What if Kestrel is in there? What if-"

He was stopped by a thoughtful wing being laid on his shoulder by Glory. Previously, she had only ever done this to Clay when he ventured into the water to find an escape from the mountain. Now she was doing it to try and tell him that it would be ok. "She'll be there. What would Sunny say? Starflight?"

He nodded and gave a sad smile. "To never give up. Alright, let's do this." And he pulled the lever. The boulder lurched forward and inside was the exact same passageway that Glory had known. The torches were recently lit judging by their bright flames and the scrolls Starflight had dropped the first time they left were no longer scattered around the entrance.

The two walked along the path until they reached the dining hall. Neither were willing to let their entrance be known just yet but the memories came flooding in before Starflight could stop himself. "Look at it! There was food here recently!" He said, pointing to the crumbs of some kind of vegetable. "And over there, there was a fire that was just put out!"

"Someone IS here. Come on, wait a second." Glory felt something tugging on her leg and when she turned to look at it, it was a small creature with black hair on its head. It smiled up at her and before Glory could think of what the thing was saying, a bright yellow blur latched itself onto Glory and held tight.

"GLORY! STARFLIGHT!"

Sorry for the short chapter.