Envy folded his wings as the royal stylists finally finished getting Envy ready for the Moon Festival that was in a few hours. Envy's scales were freshly polished, glittering like diamonds in the sunlight that was going through the sunroof. Golden earrings with ruby droplets hung from his ears, sparkling magnificently under the light.
"Are you excited for the festival?" Said Poise, Envy's personal favorite stylist. The larger male flicked his tongue, as he added his final touches, examining the moonstone necklace that hung from Envy's neck that was as tight as a choker. The prince smiled. "Of course," he says. "Lots of food, activities-- plus, I can finally get away from my dad for a while."
"Personally, I dislike your father too."
Poise and Envy laughed together, and the stylist stepped back, hearing talonsteps coming from outside of the room. Starflicker poked her head through the overhead curtains. The elder NightWing female flicked her tail, smiling. "Poise, Beastslayer is almost ready. You?"
"Of course," Poise replies. "As long as the dragonets can keep clean along the way. I've had to re-polish their scales for the third time." Envy, Silverday and Fateslayer grinned, guilty for their proneness of getting dirty and constant horseplay. "Alright, lastly, put the bracelet on, Silver, and we're ready."
Silverday flared her black wings as she quickly pushed the bracelet onto her wrist. "Come on, you slow snails! I don't wanna be late for the festival!"
The gray dragoness was the eldest but also the smallest of the royals. She, unfortunately, was hatched a year before the Brightest Night, but even without strong mind-reading or foresight, she didn't need it. She was skilled at predicting things.. maybe that was her power.
Envy had his wings folded closely to his side, carefully walking down the marble staircase that lead to the grand hall. Envy turned his head, glancing at family portraits of royals from the past, painted in oils but looked so realistic. They were stationed almost everywhere in thr palace, except for rooms reserved for the royals to sleep in. He couldn't stop staring at one of them. It was a painting of a obsidian black NightWing with a long, narrow snout and tired dark brown eyes, a jagged scar running down her neck.
"Dragoness' first," a guard says as he opened the doors, leading towards outside. The females walked out, and the males walked after them. The walkway ended a few feet from the palace, because the NightWings had built their home on an enormous, steady mountain. Everyone was expected to fly, so there was no staircase or path that lead up to the NightWing palace entrance.
A few friends of the royal dragonets were also permitted to be escorted with the guards. Stardust, a tiny dark purple dragonet sat patiently, her eye-rigdes raised as he watched the rowdy dragonets play around. She looked as if she never wanted to be here.
"The sun's going down! The festival is gonna start soon!" Silverday says.
Fateslayer smiled happily as he looked up at the sky, and so did Envy. The royal siblings were waiting at the grand entrance of the NightWing palace, waiting for their escorts.
Fateslayer leaned over to Stardust, raising his talons near his mouth to keep his voice from being heard. "Hey, watch this.."
Stardust sighed, rolling her eyes as the prince moved back, retrieving a small dun-colored spiked caterpillar. The tiny animal curled, desperately trying to escape.
"THERE'S A BUG ON YOUR SCALES!" Fate screamed as he tossed the bug onto his older sister's head. Envy bursted out laughing when his sister began to scream as if she's been stabbed, the princess scrambling backwards, her pupils contracted. The spikes on her back were straightened with terror. "GET. IT. OFF!"
"Despicable," Stardust grunts.
A troop of guards trotted to the royals and their friends. They all wore platinum armor that protected their underbelly and necks and tails. Envy was in awe about how strong they were. Dragon armor is incredibly heavy-- the last time he tried to lift up a plate of armor his arm's trembled and he gave up in a few seconds. He was grateful to have bulky guards to protect him.
"The King and Queen should be waiting for you all in the City of the Night by now," a female guard states. She looked back, flapping her wings loudly to get the dragonet's attention.
"That's where the fun begins!" A royal official adds, looking down at the young dragons. "You all will love it, there's music, games, food..."
Silverday tugged onto the official's robe, obviously impaient. "Can we go now..?"
"Of course, Princess Silverday."
Finally, the dragons leapt off of the edge, gliding towards the mountain's that had blocked the sunset, but the powerful rays of light still beamed from behind the granite peaks.
☆.｡.:* .｡.:*☆
Envy clawed at Fateslayer's earrings, giggling loudly as the officials attempts to stop the roughhousing dragonets. "Hey! You two!" The female fumed, hissing as she leaned towards the brothers. "I am not going back to the palace to wait for your scales to be re-polished! Do not make me t-- huh?"
The official looked up, her wings half folded as she looked towards a crowd of dragons. Envy was startled out of his reverie by the same mass of dragons that were gathered near the entryway of the NightWing city. They constantly pushed through each other, a few of them snarling and lashing their tails when other dragons were shoved into them. They looked like they were horribly concerned about something.
Envy gazed at his siblings and friends, before looking up at the official. "You all, stay with Dreamforger. I'm going to find out what is happening while Cinder informs the queen."
Once the official bolted to the crowd, Envy opened his wings. "What do you think is going on?" Envy asked his sister, but Fate answered before her. "It sounds like someone is hurt!" Fateslayer craned his neck into the direction of the commotion. "...Should we investigate?" Silverday whispers, hoping Dreamforger did not hear. The black, burly NightWing wasn't even paying attention to the dragonets, but focused on the crowd. "We should head back to the palac-- HEY!"
Envy, Silverday, and Fateslayer sprinted towards the crowd, even while Dreamforger commanded them to come back. Envy and his siblings shoved through their way into the crowd, occasionally even running under the spaces of their legs. Envy dodged the whips of tails as he looked up, looking for his siblings. He saw a glimpse of his sister's tail, but it vanished in seconds into the wads of dragon rears. Envy grunted, and he lowered his head again. Why was there so many dragons?
The hushed, panicked roars around Envy was growing at an alarming rate. "Will he be okay?" "Oh holy moons-- he's going to die!" "That's so much blood..."
...Blood?
Envy finally got to the center of the drama. On the ground was a large NightWing with severe slashes and a broken leg. There was the white jagged end of a broken bone cutting through the dragon's scales and the blood ran freely in thick scarlet rivers of his leg, before it soaked into his once light tan dirt ground. From the NightWing's side, under his wing, there is no more scale, only raw and weeping flesh in various shades of pink and red that oozed with blood. He must've been attacked, and whoever attacked him was most likely set on killing him for good. The dragon howled in agony when he moved.
"...That's, that's the commander!" Fateslayer suddenly blurts, spooking his brother and causing him to yelp. Envy looked at Fateslayer. "The military commander..?"
Fate nodded, his ears turned back. "I.. I forgot his name, but I recognize him! He's the one who leads the NightWing soldiers to-- things! Like the wars n' such!"
Envy assumed whoever attacked the commander was trying to throw the NightWings off. Was it a SkyWing? Or a SandWing? From his wounds, the dragon had to be big, strong, and powerful enough to even snap a dragon's diamond-hard bones. Any dragon can do that, but SkyWings are known for their merciless nature.
"Over here, Your Highness," a voice calmly says. Envy moved back, the crowd dispersing into two opposite directions of each other, revealing Starflicker and Beastslayer, side by side as both of their eyes widen. "What happened?" Starflicker says as she examined the dragon's wounds from a distance. Beastslayer stayed silent, his wings perfectly folded as he looked down at the dragons he towered over. Envy could never get used to his father's monstrous size.
"The guards in Nightseeker's troop says a SkyWing attacked him while investigating a corpse of a SandWing that was found by the northern border," Cinder explained.
"THE SKYWINGS WERE IN OUR TERRITORY!" A deep purple NightWing guard scowls. Envy and his siblings cower underneath a dragon's legs who paid no mind to them. "W--We assume the SkyWing, or SkyWings, had attacked the SandWing who was also in our territory. They-- They purposely did this, to throw us off, to make use defenseless!"
The mumbling in the crowd was growing louder, and the gossip was beginning. Envy clenched his talons, crouching low to the ground. He was getting dizzy at the sight of the dragon's blood. He's never killed, or even harmed, a dragon in his life, at least not on purpose.
"The rest of you are to give room and go back to your activities!" Starflicker said firmly. She turned to Cinder and the other official, speaking with them, but it was in too low of a whisper to be heard by Envy. As Envy and his siblings watched the crowd finally walk off, they all turn their heads once a large shadow fell over them. Envy's neck craned upwards until he spot his mother's tremendously massive wings and body that completely blocked the sun from where Envy sat. "You three," the queen said, her voice still a bit firm. "Come with me. You should've stayed with Dreamforger like you were told."
The siblings had their head lowered in guilt for being disobedient, but Envy could care less. He took one last glance at the wounded commander, watching him cough up blood and other healers circling around him, patching up his wounds and pouring water on them.
He just wanted to help.