Juniper scooped up the remains of dinner and fed them to her pet Venus Dragontrap. Jaws was not a picky eater. She wondered where her friends had run off to while she was cleaning up. She walked through the tunnel to the central cave, and then searched for her friends. She checked the study cave, where she found Frostblood barking orders and Equinox arguing that they couldn't start without Juniper. She looked through the sky hole. A starry night sky was more or less visible. "Guys." Juniper said. "I'm right here." They both stopped arguing and looked over at her. "Oh, great." Equinox said. "Now we can start." She shot Frostblood a dirty look at the word 'now', but Frostblood didn't seem to notice. "Everyone quiet!" Frostblood said. "I'm assigning parts."
"We're acting out how the war began." Equinox whispered to Juniper.
Frostblood cleared her throat. "Now, obviously, I'd make the best queen, but Widow, you can be Queen Dragonfly, since you're actually a HiveWing." Juniper wasn't sure if she was imagining it, but Widow almost looked ashamed. "I'm Queen Blizzard of the IceWings and the narrator. Equinox, you're Queen Amber of the SkyWings. Goldfeather, you're Queen Firefly of the SilkWings. Iceseeker, you're Queen Stellar of the NightWings."
"But—" Iceseeker started.
"No buts! Cove, you're Queen Aquamarine of the SeaWings. Lily, you're Queen Iris of the RainWings. CocoaDust, you're Queen Beaver of the MudWings. Scorpio, you're Queen Rattlesnake of the SandWings." Scorpio grunted. "And Juniper is a tree."
Juniper groaned. "Why do I always have to be a tree?" She asked. Frostblood rolled her eyes. "Because you're good at being a tree!" She said. "But fine, you can be General Manchineel of the PoisonWings, the armies, and Queen Acacia of the LeafWings."
Juniper nodded. "Better."
"And a tree.
Alright, places everyone!" Frostblood shouted. "Starting in three... two... one... action!"
Widow cleared her throat. "Aheh-heh-HEM. I'm Queen Dragonfly of the HiveWings. I'm so important and, uh, royal. I have all the power over the entire world. Well, I mean of course, I don't actually have all the power over the entire world, but—Wait. A. Minute. That actually sounds pretty great. Oh, army!" Juniper stepped up to Widow. "Yes, Your Majesty?" She said in the deepest, most authoritative voice she could muster. "I've decided to conquer the world." Widow said. "Let's conquer the SilkWings first. Oh, Queen Firefly!" Goldfeather walked majestically out of the shadows. "Yes, Dragonfly?" She asked in a perfect imitation of the queen voice. Widow grinned. "Why, I've decided to conquer the world. I mean, genius idea, right? Anyway, hand over your throne and pledge your loyalty to me, or I shall unleash my army upon you."
"Let me think." Goldfeather said, pretending to think it over. After a while, she said; "Alright. You have yourself a deal." She bowed. "I pledge my loyalty to you, Great Uniter."
Frostblood cleared her throat. "And that's where she got her stage name." She said. Widow grinned again. Then, out of nowhere, she tackled Goldfeather. "Any last words?" She asked dramatically. Goldfeather pretended to think about it. Then, she said, "I did this for my subjects, not for me." Then Widow pretended to snap her neck. "Oh, Queen Acacia! Oh, Queen Beaver! Oh, all the other Queens!" She called. Juniper, CocoaDust, Equinox, Frostblood, Cove, Lily, Iceseeker, and Scorpio stepped out of the shadows. "What do you want this time?" Frostblood asked.
"Oh, only your thrones. If you don't back down, I will kill you and your subjects." Widow said, much too casually.
"Well?" Equinox asked the others. "What shall we do?"
"I say we back down." CocoaDust said.
"I agree." Juniper agreed.
"Me too." Said Cove.
"What?!" Iceseeker exclaimed. "You can't surrender!"
"Why not?" Cove asked. "She'll kill us either way."
"She can try." Juniper said, in a different voice than Acacia's.
"I refuse to surrender." Equinox said.
"Me too." Scorpio grumbled.
"Same here." Frostblood said. Lily nodded in agreement. Widow roared. "ATTACK!" She shouted.
"Everyone, run!" Frostblood exclaimed. The dragons who refused flew to higher ledges and into the shadows. Widow roared again and pretended to kill the dragons who agreed. "I will get my revenge on those-those-" Her whole body tensed. Her fierce face broke and she burst out laughing. The laughter spread to Juniper. Then to Equinox. Soon everyone in the cave was laughing their heads off. "Alright, you did a good job." Frostblood said to Juniper as soon as she could breathe. "But I still think you're better at being a tree." Juniper sighed. Before she could answer, she heard talonsteps. And loud ones. Hawk stormed into the study cave. "I TOLD YOU TO STUDY!" She roared.
"And we did." Frostblood said. "We were acting out how the war began."
"More like play-acting. You're much too old for games, you little salamanders."
"When were we ever young enough for games?" Equinox muttered.
"All of you go to bed." Hawk snapped. "Now." They all walked out of the study cave and into the sleeping cave, Hawk watching them like, well, a hawk. They each flew up to their own ledges. They were more like small caves above the ground. Juniper's was layered with sheep skin, moss, and leaves. She always hid five scrolls at a time in a little nook in the wall. She also had a small jar of fireflies in a different, more visible nook. She climbed up to her ledge and lay down. Hawk extinguished the torches with a bucket of water from the river. Juniper waited for Hawk to leave, then pulled out a scroll. It was titled , Tales of Infamous Animi, by Plaguebringer of the NightWings. Juniper opened the scroll. She read by the light of her jar of fireflies until she began to feel extremely tired. She put the scroll away in the scroll nook and tried to sleep, but her body just didn't feel like it. She kept trying for a while, then just decided to take a walk and maybe grab a snack. She quietly glided down from her ledge/cave and landed next to the exit.
"You can't sleep either?" Said a voice. She turned to see Equinox leaning out of her cave and looking at her.
"Nope." Juniper whispered. "I just thought I'd take a walk." She quietly tip-toed out of the sleeping cave. Equinox followed. They walked through the central cave. It was quite dark in there, as the torches had all been extinguished. They walked through the tunnel and into the dining cave.
Juniper searched her plant pots for the blackberries. She found them and put some into a bowl. Equinox selected a pigeon. She popped it into her mouth before it could squawk. They went back into the central cave. Juniper stopped dead in her tracks.
"Did you just hear that?" Now she could hear it clearly. The guardians were arguing as quietly as they could, which wasn't actually very quiet. Without thinking, Juniper jumped into the river and swam toward the guardians' cave. She heard Equinox follow her. She tensed as the freezing water engulfed her. They swam to the small gap in the wall leading to the guardians' cave. She slipped through it easily, but Equinox seemed to be having more trouble. Juniper helped to pull her through the gap when she got stuck. They reached the guardians' cave and Juniper poked her nose out of the water and took a breath. Then she put it back under and stuck her ears out instead. Equinox did the same. The guardians were arguing around a fire as quietly as they could, which wasn't actually very quiet. "I don't know!" Riptide shouted. "They just said, 'Morrowstalker is coming'! That's it!" Riptide was one of the dragonets' guardians. He was a SandWing-SeaWing hybrid and was probably the nicest to the dragonets(Him or Jaguar). "After six years, he's suddenly interested?!" Hawk shouted.
"Apparently." Mephitic grumbled.
"When he meets Juniper, he won't be pleased." Jaguar said anxiously. "I don't think he'll love Goldfeather, either." Jaguar was their other RainWing guardian. Hence the name, her scales made her look like a jaguar.
"I wouldn't blame him." Hawk said. The second Riptide said his name, Juniper knew immediately who Morrowstalker was. He was the dragon who delivered The War's Prophecy. He was the dragon all the dragonets were afraid of.
"When will he be coming?" Jaguar asked.
"A week from now, in the evening." Riptide answered. "Tell the dragonets in the morning. Be sure to warn them that he will be testing their strength."
Juniper had heard enough. She swam in the opposite direction she had come in as quickly as she could. She wiggled through the gap and continued to swim until she saw the central cave. She crawled out of the river and shook herself dry. Equinox followed a few moments later. "You okay?" She asked.
"I'm good." Juniper whispered back, wishing it was true. She picked up her bowl of blackberries and walked back to the sleeping cave, popping a few into her mouth. She flew up to her bed and put her blackberries in an empty nook. Equinox flew up to her own bed and went to sleep. Juniper ate her blackberries, pondering about what she heard the guardians say. Why was Morrowstalker coming so suddenly? What was he going to do with disappointments? He certainly wouldn't kill any of the dragonets... would he?
. . .
Juniper was having a dream, but it wasn't so much a dream as it was a nightmare.
Juniper and her friends were flying through a big battle. They all fought their way past the soldiers. Juniper's fighting skills were much better in the dream than they were in real life. They were headed to the heart of the battle, where Queen Dragonfly was leading her army. They reached the intimidating red and orange and black dragon. Juniper's heart skipped a beat. She was terrifying. But just as they were about to reach her, talons grabbed her and pulled her back. Just as she was about to call for help, claws wrapped around her snout. The strange dragon took her to a more hidden spot. When he turned her around, she could see that he was a huge black dragon(maybe I should stop stereotyping NightWings). A NightWing, probably. He pressed one of his claws to her forehead. His eyes went a little more blank. Juniper struggled wildly. "I enchant this dragon to feel complete loyalty to Queen Dragonfly, and obey my and Dragonfly's every command." He said. Juniper's pupils grew so that they covered her irises. "Now go kill your friends." Juniper nodded. She flew back into the battle, with a completely different goal than she had started with. She reached the other Dragonets of Destiny. "Juniper!" Equinox exclaimed. "There you are- um, are you okay?" Without warning, Juniper immediately attacked Lily. Lily tried to spit venom at her, but Juniper grabbed her snout and held it shut. "Juniper, what are you doing?!" Frostblood shouted. Before anyone could do anything, she snapped Lily's neck. Next was Frostblood. She leaped at her and hooked her claws into the gaps between her scales. Juniper slashed at her chest in just the right spot. Frostblood's eyes went blank. Inside her head, Juniper was trying hard to fight the curse. She continued to kill all her friends until the only dragon left was Equinox. "Join me or die." Juniper growled, with no expression in her voice at all. Equinox stared at her, tears in her eyes. "I don't know what's going on, but I'd rather die than join Queen Dragonfly."
"Then be it." She leaped at Equinox, pinning her wings with her own. Her pupils flickered. For a split second, she stopped in midair, the real Juniper fighting for control over her own body. But there was nothing she could do. Now she was on top of Equinox. "For her supreme majesty, Queen Dragonfly!" Juniper shouted. Then she snapped Equinox's neck. "ALL HAIL THE GREAT UNITER!" She hollered. Everyone repeated the same thing. "Thank you, dragonet." Said Queen Dragonfly. "You work for me now."
Juniper snapped awake, sweaty and panting. By her internal clock, it was roughly midnight. "Ok, that's enough sleep for tonight." That was the second nightmare she'd had that night. She quietly glided down from her bed and walked out of the sleeping cave. Juniper debated whether to read or play pranks on Frostblood. Then she suddenly had an idea. She speed-walked to her lab, grinning. She moved the bamboo aside with her leafspeak, walked inside, and took a seat on the toadstool. She dug around in her pile of random machine parts until she found what she was looking for; a light detector, a bucket, a bell, some rope, a tube(a pretty big one), tube connecters, seaweed slop(a mixture of squished seaweed and water),and a round rock. She ran to the study cave to start her project.
. . .
Juniper sat in the study cave, waiting for the sun to rise. The giant ball of burning gas finally peeked over the mountains. A loud bell rang as a rock dropped into the tube. It rolled along the large tube track Juniper had spent two hours building. Juniper followed the track to the sleeping cave. The rock fell out where the track ended and knocked over the bucket sitting on one of Frostblood's ledges of stuff. The bucket was tied with a rope to a hanger-looking rock outcropping so that it wouldn't fall off the ledge. It tipped over and dumped a bucket-full of seaweed slop right onto Frostblood's face. Frostblood snapped awake immediately. "JUNIPER!!!" She roared. Juniper burst into giggles. She heard two other sets of laughter as Equinox and Cove woke up to see Frostblood covered in seaweed slop. Since laughter was contagious, soon everyone in the cave was laughing their heads off. Even Frostblood was quietly chuckling. "WHAT'S GOING ON?!" Roared a loud and familiar voice. They turned to see Hawk storming into the cave. "AND WHY IS FROSTBLOOD COVERED IN RIVER SLOP?!" Frostblood put her normal, irritated, haughty look back on. "Juniper dumped a bucket of it on me." She said, glaring at Juniper. "JUNIPER. EXPLAIN. NOW." Hawk demanded.
"It's hilarious. Happy?" Juniper said at the closest she could get to a snap, which was pretty much just loud normal speech. "HOW DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING TO DEFEAT QUEEN DRAGONFLY IF YOU'RE ALL CONSTANTLY TRYING TO ANNOY ONE ANOTHER?!" Hawk's normal volume was a roar. It was like she was trying to get their cave discovered.
"Hawk. Focus on why you're here." Jaguar said, coming up behind her, her scales an irritated shade of green. "Ahem. The reason she's here is to tell you that Morrowstalker, the dragon who delivered the prophecy, is coming to inspect you lot, and you need to be ready." Juniper tried to look surprised. "Today, you will need to practice working as not ten, but as one. Tomorrow, you will practice using your... differences... to your advantage. But right after breakfast, you're going to learn about possible allies."
They walked to the dining cave for breakfast. They got to select what they ate. Juniper treated herself to some blackberries and a mango("WE HAVE MANGOES?!") Equinox selected a pig. Frostblood and Cove settled for fish. Lily found the pineapple, and let's just say, Juniper would have to wait until the guardians went hunting and foraging again to have any of that. Everyone got something to eat and ate it. Juniper nearly choked on the pit of her mango. She was exhausted. She had woken up early as heck, and it was still really early; the sun hadn't even risen; it turned out what set off the sensor was actually a torch.
After breakfast, they all went to the study cave for whatever lesson Jaguar was brewing up. "Alright," Jaguar said. "There are possible allies that you can find. For instance, has anyone ever heard of the Chrysalis?" Everyone looked utterly confused. "Ok. The Chrysalis is an organization of SilkWings, LeafWings, SeaWings, and MudWings, who believe their queen was wrong to let Queen Dragonfly rule them. There is usually one group in each hive. They will be on your side. And, at the end of the prophecy, there is a 'dragon of two nations, that you'll meet along the way.' This dragon will be a hybrid." Juniper wasn't sure why, but somehow, she knew that she was going to meet these dragons much sooner than they all thought.
Alright, this one is a little bit better.