I step into my winglet cave, my head hung low. I spot all the glaring eyes of my friends. Well, not even friends anymore. I ignore the stares and I fly up to my jungle leaf and curl up into a ball. I then see Beach laying down, looking at the wall. What could she be thinking? How much a bad friend I am? I shouldn't have ever been born. None of this would have happened then. Wow, just go to bed Shallowpond...

There is no possible way in Pyhhria that I can possibly go to sleep. I sigh and feel a talon wrap around me as something heavy gets on my leaf, beside me. I stay still as a soothing voice comforts me "It's okay... I bet Beach will understand." Hammerhead! Thats who it is. I smile slightly and close my eyes "We'll just see what tomorrow brings and deal with it tomorrow, there is no points of dealing with it today." He speaks the truth, maybe I should just go to sleep and wait for tomorrow to come. I gently sway back and forth on the leaf as Hammerhead wraps his wing lightly around me, falling asleep in the moon lit room.

Clay gave me the day off from classes to work things out between Beach and I. He actually gave my whole Winglet a day off, guess he thinks that we are all not friends now, typical. Hammerhead and I lay in the library, beside each other. We both read the scroll on the Sandwing Secession. What is with Burn and all her rotting flesh on the walls, like seriously wouldn't it stink? I suddenly feel a brush on my tail and I wrap my tail around it, Hammerhead's tail as we both blush, distracted from the scroll. I can feel Hammerhead staring at me, awkward! He nudges closer to me as I see Beach coming into the library, my scales turning into a dark purple with grey spots on my scales.

Beach looks at me and sees me and Hammerhead together, laying down as suddenly Hammerhead decides to put his wing around me. Not the time! She then starts walking her way toward us as I nudge Hammerhead and he looks up at Beach, his expression priceless. Beach stops when she is five talon steps from me. "Can I talk to you in private?" I nod and stand up, looking back at Hammerhead as we walk out of the library.

We head into our Winglet cave, no one in it, just Beach and I. "I can't believe you attacked me, Shallowpond! I was your best friend!" Was? No... "Bu-" "No! I don't care Shallowpond! I saved your life with my stupid tail! This is how you repay me?! You... you lazy, royal, over grown lizard!" A feeling hits me in the chest as I fall to the ground. Beach starts to leave, and I lay my head on the ground, waterfalls streaming down my checks. What did I just do?

I stand up and start walking out of the cave as I see Glory walking past the students, rushing out of Jade Mountain. Were is she going? I follow, making sure not to be seen. I see Sunny land at the entrance as Glory starts talking, her scales changing to a red and orange colour. Well, she is mad. I walk closer, hearing a little more. "Wait, so...took control...Shallowpond! ...Scarlet." There talking about me, must be about the attaching Beach thing. A tear comes back and I leave them, heading back to the library.

Hammerhead spots me walking into the library and he stands up, rushing to me. "Are you okay?" I agree, such a lie. "I'm fine." He nods and nuzzles up to me "So, what happened?" "A lot of yelling, she called me... a lazy over grown lizard." His snout twitches with anger. "Promise me you won't talk to her about that!" He nods "Hey, can I show you something?" I shrug "Sure, why not?"

He leads me down a long hallway, walking past winglet caves and talking friends. We eventually come to a stop, were a wooden door with tree carvings stands. Hammerhead pushes the door open with his talon as trees as tall as the rainforest fills a huge cave as water trickles into a lake in the middle of the room. "This is... beautiful." He smiles at me as he jumps into the water and swims toward the bottom, it becomes hard for me to spot him in the water, so I follow after him.

He goes into a underwater cave, I follow as I see seashells lining the walls. I finally catch up to him, his gills flaring as he stops at this small underwater lit cave. He blinks his scales at me. "What do you think?" I blink back "It's amazing!" I look around, stone carvings all around the walls. Dragons battling others, looks like Nightwings and Rainwings against Seawings. Hmm, weird. Hammerhead swims his way toward me and smiles, blinking. "Shallowpond, I'm in love with you." My eyes widen and I become speechless. "How do you feel?" He asks me as I stare into his eyes. Oh my moons, what is this?! What is this feeling! "I..." We both stare at each other. I don't know what to do. "Close your eyes." I do so as I feel his snout touch mine. We're...kissing!

                                                              ¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨

"Remember, no tails, barbs or teeth...that includes you Shallowpond, no venom. Everyone is only aloud to use there talons, but nothing else." Clay spoke loudly against the air currents that swayed through the needles of the pine trees that layed below the high mountains. Sapphire shot her talon up. "Can we fly?" Clay nodded "You may fly at the beginning when chasing but once you hit the ground it is running from then on." Everyone gets in position to shoot up into the air as we all look ahead at the seven elk, one for each of us to catch and kill. "Three..." I lean into my front talons and spread my wings. "Two..." I growl in my breath and get ready to lift off. "One! GO!" We all lift up at the same time and Clay pulls a gate witch lets all the elk free.

The elk run like scavengers running after gold as I spot a mostly white one. I growl and open and close my wings, flying faster, getting closer to it. I am nearly right over top of it so I close my wings closely to my body and shot toward the ground. I miss the elk and it jumps along the tree's roots. "Moons!" My talons hit the ground as I start to run faster toward it. This is not my strong suit, flying and swimming yes, but definitely not running.

I notice the tree's trunks getting thicker and the forest getting denser as I chase the elk deeper into the forest. I stop suddenly as the elk jumps into the vast darkness ahead. I should go back, I thought. A red talon suddenly grabs my snout. It squeezes so hard my teeth rub against each other. I couldn't see the dragon that was clutching my snout but then suddenly the dragon tightly puts a piece of leather around my eyes so I can not see. Oh no...mother! We're are you when I need you! I struggled against it's grip but it grows tighter. "Do what I say or you will die, rotting in this very place were your sweet little Mother will find you, scales and bone." My scales suddenly freeze as if they where incased in a huge ice cube. The dragon sounded female, I might be wrong but it sounded pretty feminine. It put another piece of leather, but this time around my snout, it wrapped around my snout as tight a boa struggling to kill a mouse. Egh, it smells of scavenger.

Wait! The dragon had not yet wrapped anything to my talons or tail! Without thinking through what I was about to do I swung my tail as hard as I could toward where the voice was coming from. It swung through the air, hitting nothing but the particles in the air. The dragon hissed as I felt a heavy talon stand on my tail. I try to yelp in pain but nothing comes out, the leather muffling out the sound. "Mff!" The dragon doesn't hesitate to wrap my tail, she wraps another piece of leather to my tail that now wraps around my hind leg. "Follow me." I feel a cool, metal clutch go on my neck as I hear a snap that sounds like a lock, locking.

My neck gets pulled forward by the metal and I fall to my talons. I scramble to my feet, I can't die here! I heard the dragon hiss and I started walking toward the sound of the steps ahead of me, my legs trembling as if they were the thinest twigs in Pyrrhia. I wish I could just be with Mother...with Hammerhead.

It felt like an eternity, the walking through branches, stones...everything! It was so silent I could almost here worms wiggling through the dirt below me, or was it dirt? I could barley tell anymore. "We are going to start flying, I want you to start flying when I say now!" I nod and I spread my huge wings to the side, slowly, making sure I don't hit any trees or anything. This is going to end horribly, I can't fly being blind and having no tail for balance! "Now!" I lift off into the air without hesitation and I feel another tug on the metal so I fly faster.

The wind current picks up and I barley hear what the dragon is saying. "Don't...drop...ever! Or...kill you!" Great, the dragon is now threatening me. I just continue flying, hoping not to bump into anything, including the dragon. I decided to just listen to the wind, hoping I could get a sense of where we were going or who the dragon is.

I thought since the dragon was faster than me, it was most likely a Skywing. My wings were Skywing but I couldn't fly at full speed of an adult yet. Okay, this dragon must be a Skywing or a Skywing hybrid. Now, what Skywing would want me? Scarlet, no she is dead, killed by Queen Ruby her self. Heh, probably got killed in 10 seconds. I laughed in my head, obviously not wanting the dragon ahead to know I was having fun with my thoughts. "We are landing now, get ready." I gulped, this is bad, very very bad! Without a second to get ready I felt my talons hit cold hard stone and I fell to the ground. What sort of warning was that?! I stand up slowly, my legs still shaking from the impact. Owww...

"Follow me, now!" We walk to what sounds like a cave and I feel the presence of another dragon. "Mother, I found her." A cackle echoes through the cave we where in, my ears ringing at the sound. "Bring her here...lets see what we can do with her." What?! Do they want my venom? What do they want?! The metal tugged at my neck and I got pushed forward. I felt a breathing on my snout as it felt like I was being stared in the eyes, even though my eyes where covered by a leather cloth. "Heh...nice job, Venus. This is the one." Venus...that sounds Nightwing-ish...maybe the dragon is a Nightwing Skywing hybrid! But, what is the other dragon? I listened in as the breathing continues on my snout, smelt like burnt flesh. I felt like throwing up, the smell burned inside my nose.

I felt a talon un-tie the cloth around my eyes. The cave was dark, but my eyes adjusted quickly and I saw a red figure stand in front of me. The figure was hunched over an orb, it lifted it's head fast and stepped over the orb, heading toward me. Through the light stepped a Skywing, a female that looked unhealthily bony and scratched. The Skywing turned it's face toward the wall and a huge black scar revealed it self across the Skywing's face. My eyes widened, that looks like something a Rainwing did with venom! I know who this dragon it, this dragon is Queen Scarlet.

"Hello, Shallowpond." Scarlet grins as smoke rises up through her nostrils, evaporating into the air. "I've heard so much about you! This is your first year at Jade Mountain isn't it?" I nod, my legs shaking. This must be a dream! Scarlet is dead, or at least I though she was. "Well...I have a little surprise for you!" She picks up the orb and strokes it with her talon. "Do you know what this is?" I nod my head side to side, maybe a dream visitor? She cackles in her breath. "Oh, well your about to find out!"

A silence fills the cave, the only sound heard is the heavy breathing of my breath and Venus's weight shifting from side to side on her talons. Scarlet looks me in the eyes and then the orb drops from her talons, on purpose and her eyes widen. "Oh no!" The orb falls on the cold rock floor and a crack echoes and bounces off the walls. A liquid substance lays on the floor as the shell of the orb lays, broken in tiny pieces, a very small dragonet laying between two large pieces. It's eyes are shut and it doesn't move, it just lays there. My eyes widen as a feel tears start to form in my eyes. "What! You jus-!"

"That, my little dragonet..." Scarlet lays a talon on my chin. "Was your little sister."