Wings of Fire Fun!

Three... No, Two Moons!

Art by avazorous

Story suggested by @PhoenixCam_2

Qibli stretched, waking from a good night's sleep.  As he did, his adopted sister, Sunny, peered over at him from her small bed nearby.  "Hey, you're awake!"

"So are you," Qibli teased. 

"I think it's almost time for school.  We should get going," Sunny told him.

"You don't even GO to school," Qibli pointed out.

"I'm one of the teachers, remember?" Sunny reminded him, stopping by the doorway and gesturing with a wing.  "C'mon, or we'll be late!"

*****

A while later, the two SandWings set down.  "Have a good day!" Sunny called out to Qibli as she headed through the crowd of students towards her "office". 

"Thanks! You too!" Qibli called back.  He whistled a tune and walked down the hall a little ways, until he finally reached a cave with "Jade Winglet" scrawled over the door with green chalk.  The Dragonets of Destiny were still working on actual signs detailing which dorms were which -- including a more easily accessible sign with dot symbols for blind dragons -- but for now, chalk writings would have to do.

As Qibli entered the cave, he spotted a familiar friend.  Just the dragon he'd hoped to see, actually.  "Hey Moon!" he greeted the NightWing, who looked up from the scroll she was reading, which was titled, A Natural History of Unnatural Dragon Abilities. 

"Hey, Qibli," Moon smiled at him.  "I was just reading a really fascinating scroll, about all the cool powers that Pyrrhian dragons can have."

Is mindreading on there?" Qibli asked.

"Yeah.  It's still a relatively rare power, and this scroll doesn't seem to have been updated recently," Moon explained.

"Oh, alright.  Say, is class starting soon?" Qibli asked.  Before Moon could answer his question, Qibli heard the gong ring out, signaling the beginning of school.  "Yep.  Come on, we've got History together."

As usual, History class was with Webs.  Even though the SeaWing was getting on in years, he still was a reliable teacher, and the Dragonets had decided to let him keep teaching.  Qibli and Moon sat down, waiting for their winglet-mates.

A few minutes later, Kinkajou bounded in, her scales a familiar happy mix of pink and yellow.  Following her came Turtle, carrying a couple of scrolls with his notes -- and Kinkajou's -- on them.  Finally, their last winglet-mate arrived: Winter.

The IceWing strode in as usual.  However, the Jade Winglet couldn't help but notice the young female NightWing who was talking to him.  At first, they assumed it was Fatespeaker -- she had the silver scales under her eyes, after all.  That was, until Winter said, "Thanks, Moon."

Moon?!

"Hold on, what about Moon?" the NightWing sitting next to Qibli stood up, alarmed.

"Three moons!" Kinkajou gasped.  "Are there really two Moons?"

"I... I guess so," Turtle answered, his gaze traveling from one NightWing to her identical.

"How? That... that's not even possible!" Qibli stuttered, slightly jealous that Winter now had Moon as well.

"I don't know, sand-snorter," Winter retorted.  "But hey, at least now we're both happy." The IceWing wrapped a wing around 'his' Moon, who smiled at him.

Qibli growled slightly, annoyed at Winter's smug attitude.  As he did, the real -- or was she actually the copy? -- Moon walked over to him, giving Qibli a small kiss.  "It IS kind of strange, but like Winter said, at least you're both happy with me," she said, although not seeming convinced.

"Hmm.  Yeah..." Qibli sighed, nuzzling Moon back.

"Er... class dismissed?" Webs spoke up finally, reminding the Jade Winglet where they were.

"Oh, heh.  Sorry, Webs," Turtle apologized to the older SeaWing.  Webs just rolled his eyes.

"It's fine, but you guys should really get going.  I have the Copper Winglet next."

*****

Back in the Jade Winglet's dormitory, the dragonets were busy trying to sort out their problem.

"Where will Moon Two even sleep?" Qibli asked Winter.

"How do you know she's the copy? Maybe Moon's come to her senses and realized she likes ME over you," Winter replied.

"Hah! Unlikely," Qibli retorted.

"Guys! Calm down, please," Turtle, trying to make peace, pleaded.  "Like Winter said, at least you both have Moon."

"Yeah, but which one is the real one?" Qibli asked.  Even though it was nice to not argue over which one of them Moonwatcher liked more, the fact that they now had TWO of the same NightWing was somehow causing even more arguments.

"Who cares? I now have two best friends!" Kinkajou bounced around, clearly the only one who was fully happy with this situation.  She wrapped an arm around each of the Moons, pulling them to her in a tight hug. 

"Oof!" the Moons said in unison. 

"Hey, you two," Qibli said, getting their attention.  "Which one of you is the real Moonwatcher?"  For a moment, the NightWings stared at him.  Then...

"ME!"

"Okay, that's not gonna work.  How about... what is Moon's favorite prey?"

"Goats!" Again, the Moons were in unison.

"Hmm.  This is trickier than I thought..." Qibli said.

"It's like they have the exact same personality or something," Winter rolled his eyes.  "Because they're, obviously, the same dragon."

"Hold on... what's that?" Qibli had noticed something unusual.  One of the Moons wore a slender silver bracelet, so small that Qibli had dismissed it as part of her scales.  Suddenly, a thought dawned on him.

"Animus magic!" Before anyone could react, Qibli sprang forward, bowling the Moon with the bracelet over and quickly taking the silver jewelry off.

"Snails..." Turtle sighed.  Qibli looked up at him.  "What?"

"It's a snail!" Kinkajou gasped.  Qibli looked down where the RainWing was pointing.  In front of him lay a small green snail, hiding from the dragons in its gray-brown shell.

Turtle let out a sigh of relief.  Winter, Qibli, Kinkajou, and the "regular" Moon stared at him, once again.

"You're acting really suspicious, Turtle... did you have something to do with this?" Qibli asked, holding up the silver wristband -- which was now a small, shiny ring.

The green SeaWing froze.  "Noooo..."

"Yes he did," Winter informed them.  "And for the record, I did too."

"WHAT?!"

"Yeesh, calm down," Winter covered his ears.  "All I did was ask Turtle to enchant something that could make me a Moon."

"You sound like Darkstalker," Kinkajou pointed out.  "Enchanting someone -- or something -- to be your crush? Yikes, man.  Where's the enchanted strawberry?"

Winter cringed back.  "Hey, at least I didn't brainwash an entire tribe!"

"Or imprison me," Turtle added, trying to help.

"He's got a point," Moon reasoned.  "I know you liked me, Winter, but..."

"I know, I know," Winter sighed, scratching behind an ear.  "Can you guys forgive me?"

"Of course!" Kinkajou piped up, instantly ready to forgive him.

"Sure," Moon agreed, wrapping a wing around Winter.

"Alright," Qibli nodded, smiling.

"I helped you, so of course I'll forgive you," Turtle replied.

And so, the Jade Winglet never messed around with animus magic again.  Or did they?