CHAPTER 6

Hello, Twilight.

Wait, no, that's not the spell I intended, what went wrong? Twilight thought. As if on cue, the words were replaced.

Nothing went wrong Twilight, I just thought ahead of you.

How? I sent for the spell that was placed on The Gianim...

And you got me instead... Poor, naïve, little dragon, sometimes even animus dragons can't get what they want, of course there'd be obstacles along the way, Twilight.

Are these messages prewritten? Did you go and find out every PearlWing name in existence?

No, I'm writing to you right now from my little hiding spot in... The Blizzard Kingdom? So... they found it, that's a surprise.

You... you're the PearlWing who made The Gianim?

You deserve a round of applause, that's correct. I quite like talking with you, not much of a competition though, you're the first dragon I've spoken with in a thousand years, it can get a little lonely over here.

And how do you know my name?

I've been watching you; I have my own Pool of Vision.

What do I call you, the scroll says your name has been lost to time, but it's only been a thousand years, what's going on with that?

I wrote it myself, and I didn't die completely, just my physical body, much like Opal, I've put my consciousness into my creation.

But, what about the DesertWing who mutilated your body? How did you know about that?

I kept myself updated. Just a heads up, King Frost is looking around Viper in about an hour, also, to answer your question, my name is Raider.

"Did you get what you were looking for?" Snowblade called from the sleeping quarters.

Snowblade... he's nice.

I should go, right?

I would recommend that, yes, or you could hide.

Hm, thank you.

Just doing my part, goodbye.

The scroll went blank, and Twilight went upstairs to see Snowblade. "Your father is on his way here," Twilight said.

There was a knock at the door. Who could that be? King Frost was too far away, Cactus would be here tomorrow. Twilight thought as she went back downstairs and opened the door.

"Er, hello, I just... I just came to say thank you for the coconuts, and uhm... Sandy thought you could use some help with something, do you need help with anything?" Marrow asked.

Twilight tilted her head at him. "No, not really, thank you for the offer though," she said.

"There's also... another reason I'm here, a BlizzardWing claiming to be King Frost is looking for you," he said, stepping aside to reveal King Frost standing right behind him.

"Three moons, Twilight, you're not making this easy for either of us. Why don't you follow me back home and we can talk there?" he asked.

"Or... we can talk here, with the door closed and with both of us on either side and I run away?" Twilight offered, receiving a chuckle from the King.

"I assume that my son is here?" he asked.

Twilight called Snowblade over and he tripped on a small rock on his way to join Twilight, King Frost blinked at him.

When Snowblade got back to his talons, he stared down at the rock that had tripped him, and then blew his frostbreath on it, looking triumphant afterward when he finally noticed his father standing in the doorway.

"Er, father, I didn't expect you here," he stammered.

"Nonsense, we both knew that'd I would be the one to catch you two," King Frost said,

Twilight's gaze turned back to the king. "I assume that you would like to take me back to the PearlWing mountain, of which you plan to leave me for eternity?" she asked.

King Frost grinned at her. "Oh, I wouldn't call it eternity, I'd call it 'for life', you will die there of course," he explained.

King Frost tapped his claws on the hard ground below him. "Would you allow me in? It is very hot out here," he asked.

"I wouldn't call it 'hot'; I'd call it 'deservingly hot', wouldn't you?" Twilight asked him.

"Where did I put those coconuts again?" Snowblade asked himself from the kitchen.

King Frost frowned at Twilight. "Listen, normally I wouldn't tell you this, but I'm in a good mood today, my guards are on their way here right now, and I don't feel like chasing you across the entire continent just to get you to go home, Twilight, will you please come with me?" he asked.

"No... no, I don't think I will, I think I may have a conversation with your wife before I do that," Twilight said.

"Iceberg? Why is that?" he asked, looking confused.

"Well, I got the impression that she wasn't completely on board with your so called 'Council', I might be wrong, I was focused on you most of the time," Twilight explained.

"How did you- Oh... right, stupid question, why did I ask is the real question," King Frost said. Twilight nodded at him, leaning against the doorway.

King Frost looked behind him and towards the sky, there were tiny white clouds moving towards Viper, Twilight pointed at them. "Those are the guards coming to take me away to my final resting place?" she asked.

"Yes, they are," he said, turning back to Twilight. "So, the easy way... or the hard way?"

Managing to break her gaze away from King Frost, she shut the door and turned to Snowblade. "We need to leave, right now," she said.

Snowblade tilted his head at her. "You realize that now?"

Snowblade gestured to a backdoor that Twilight hadn't seen before, and she started toward it before the front door fell with a crash.

"There's really no way out of this, Twilight, please don't make this hard for both of us and fly away," the king said, his guards arriving at his side. "Guards are also posted at the mountain, so you cannot find refuge there."

"Then I guess it's a good thing that I do not plan to go there, isn't it?" Twilight snapped. King Frost gestured to his guards to grab her, but she was too quick, she reached the backdoor before they could grab her.

With Snowblade following close behind her, she turned and saw him right beside her and shut the door on the guards and heard banging in response. They started running out of Viper.

"So, where to now?" Snowblade asked, starting to run out of breath.

"Well, we can't go to the Blizzard Kingdom, or the PearlWing mountain, and from their expressions, I'm guessing that the StoneWings won't care either way, so maybe they'll help us, I can't be sure though, they look like that all the time," Twilight explained.

Snowblade tilted his head at her. "So, we're going to the Stone Kingdom on a very high hope?" he asked.

Twilight nodded at him. "It's worth a try," she said.

And with that, they took flight north-west to the Stone Kingdom to speak with King Rubble and Queen Boulder.