CHAPTER 7

Flying around the border of the snowy Blizzard Kingdom, and into the grassy hills of the Stone Kingdom, Twilight saw the Stone palace in the distance, it's spiky spires around the throne room screamed: "DON'T COME NEAR ME!"

"Soooo... Do we have a plan for getting an audience with the king and queen of the Stone Kingdom?" Snowblade asked.

"We take it one talon at a time, we will see if a guard will help us," Twilight said.

"Urgh, guards, I've had my fair share of guards this week," Snowblade grumbled.

When they landed, they found themselves face-to-face with a StoneWing guard who looked particularly displeased to see the two of them today.

Twilight cleared her throat, seeing the guard's claws, they weren't the normal StoneWing claws, but they also weren't the stunning royal StoneWing claws either, instead of diamond, they were made of emerald.

The guard looked down his snout at the PearlWing and BlizzardWing with an expression similar to surprise.

"My sister warned me that you would probably show up here sometime soon," he said without even a hint of emotion in his voice. "I did not think it would be this soon."

The guard raised one of his emerald claws and pointed at Snowblade. "And what are you doing here?" he asked.

Snowblade made eye-contact with the guard for what felt like an eternity to Twilight until he finally spoke. "A prince has no need to speak of his business with a runaway PearlWing to a mere guard from a different tribe," he said in the "I'm a prince and there's nothing you can do about it" voice that he sometimes liked to use on Twilight.

The guard raised a brow with amusement and let a snort. "And would this prince tell another this business?" he asked, brandishing his claws.

Twilight leaned over to the confused Snowblade and whispered: "This guard is Queen Boulder's brother, Prince Emerald of the StoneWings, have you never met him before?" she explained.

Snowblade quickly turned his head to face Twilight, his eyes admitting that he knew he'd made a mistake in underestimating Prince Emerald. "You tell me that now?!" he hissed.

The StoneWing prince chuckled. "Unlike my sister and her husband, I engage in conversation more than five times a day," he explained.

Twilight turned to him and noticed that his smile had just a small hint of a frown. "Do you know if they will see us?" she asked him, widening his frown.

The prince glanced at the palace, then back at the dragons in front of him. "I truly apologize, but they have told me about King Frost's plans, and they quite like it, they would not be willing to speak with you, not now, not ever. I respect you Twilight, but this is not the place to seek sanctuary, I suggest that you resume flying before somebody sees you," he explained.

Twilight slowly nodded. "Thank you, I wish you the best of luck with your guarding," she said, walking away and gesturing for Snowblade to follow her.

Two sets of talons squelching into the grass turned to threeand then one, Twilight looked behind her and saw Snowblade snapping at Prince Emerald, his tail appeared to have a spot that was more blue than usual.

The prince raised one of his green claws and spoke. "Wait..." he pointed to the sky south of them, white specks were gradually growing. "I will take you to speak with the king and queen, but mainly it would be protecting you from his father." He pointed another claw at Snowblade.

Prince Emerald waved his wing in the direction of the palace, inviting them in.

"Just to be clear," he said, opening the massive doors and walking into a beautiful hallway with decorations as far as the eye can see. "They still would rather not speak with the two of you, stay behind me if you do not want to be thrown in the dungeon until King Frost arrives to escort you to the PearlWing mountain."

Twilight had never been to the Stone Kingdom before, of course, she'd briefly flown over it on her way to the Magma Kingdom to meet King Bedrock and Queen Obsidian, on that visit, she'd seen Prince Boil from a distance just once, and he looked very busy trying to repair something with a distressed look on his face.

Twilight looked at the decorations, there were sculptures, carvings, lights made of gold, even the walls themselves were littered with gems, crystals and other shiny things. "So... Are we going straight to the throne room orrr... what?" she asked Prince Emerald.

Prince Emerald stopped for a moment. "We go straight to the throne room, once we can be sure that King Frost has passed over the palace, we can let you out to find somebody who will help you," he explained.

Turning past corners, walking through corridors, Twilight started to get a cramp in her legs. The StoneWings must have a lot of stamina to do this regularly. Twilight thought before Prince Emerald stopped again with his wings spread to signal to her and Snowblade to stop as well.

"King Rubble, Queen Boulder, you have visitors," he said, folding his wings back in and bowing his head.

Prince Emerald stepped to the side to reveal Twilight and Snowblade waiting behind him, they too bowed their heads.

There was a long pause before the queen spoke. "Well done, Emerald, this action will be duly rewarded..." she said sternly. "You may now place them in the dungeon, but do not harm the BlizzardWing, his idiot of a father has requested him to be returned to him unharmed."

Prince Emerald turned to Twilight and Snowblade with a smug expression, then, in one very swift movement, he twirled and smacked Twilight with his hard tail, knocking her out.

This was not how I imagined my first visit to the Stone Kingdom happening, I would have never expected the guard who freely invited us in turning on us and imprisoning myself and Snowblade.

Twilight dreamt of herself being in a dark place, being watched by a fellow PearlWing she did not know, he was just sitting there and watching her, he did not say anything, when he finally stood up and left after what felt like an eternity, he disappeared into the darkness, and that was when she woke up behind bars, cold from Snowblade lying next to her and again being watched, but this time by that StoneWing guard.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: No, I'm not dead, much to your disappointment... JUST KIDDING! LOL! I know you wanted another chapter, and I was more than happy to oblige!

The end of this sparked a surprise Chapter 8 that I didn't even see coming until the day I wrote the ending, but it makes sense when I consider who eventually finds them.

How are Twilight and Snowblade going to escape? Find out when Chapter 8 is published!

Announcement reminder: OK, so here's the gist, there will be something called the TPL Special in which there will be credits for fan characters, fun facts and a Q&A between you (the readers, and me. (The author.) So, if you'd like, leave a review, private message me or join the Discord server to ask me your (probably inevitable) questions. (Link in my profile.)