Deep Trouble

Chapter 2: Prologue: The Legend of The Tribes

Hello everyone! SummerTheFastfin is me and SummerTheFastfin is now posting the first bit of this story! This is just the prologue, told from Maple's perspective. This takes place 109 years before the main story starts, considering dragons live about 100 years in this universe. Now, without further ado, let's take flight.

The Legend of the Tribes

Maple hurried through the empty and regal hallways of the HollyWing palace. She finally turned through a set of hollyleaf shaped doors, and came into the classroom. Her classroom. She swung her bag back onto her shoulder for the final stretch, annoyed at how it kept sliding off. She let it topple off, and sat down behind a delicately carved desk.

Maple was glad that she got to class before her students did. She was not one to be punctual. She was in fact one to be very, very late. But she thought herself good at her job, and that's why Queen Pine kept her. Queen Ivy, Queen Pine's late mother, would never have allowed it. But it seemed the rules got more relaxed with every generation. And while this did benefit Maple, she knew it wasn't good for the HollyWings in whole. The tribe might disintegrate.

But enough of those bad thoughts, Maple taught at the academy, which was where all the important dragonets go to school. But the funny thing about it was, instead of teaching math, she taught manners. Instead of teaching history, she taught legends.

Just then, a lovely young dragonet named Raspberry came in. "Princess Raspberry" Maple said, giving a half-joking bow.

"Maple, I tell you again and again to just call me Raspberry!" Raspberry blew a raspberry at Maple, and she feigned shock.

Raspberry's brother, Blueberry came in. He was not as pleasant. "Blueberry" She said flatly.

"Make that Prince Blueberry, teach. Hey! Hogweed!" Blueberry said as his best friend came into the room. Hogweed was a rather... large not saying fat, necessarily. Okay, yeah, he's a fat fellow, who had an f in absolutely everything you could have an f in. But for some reason, the straight A, Prince of the HollyWings liked to hang out with Hogweed. Maybe it was his dashingly bad looks, or his perfectly horrible grades.

Maple didn't know. Other dragonets were arriving, and she had to start class. "Take your seats everyone!" A young dragonet named Huckleberry did the 'I have to pee' dance. "Huckleberry, go to the bathroom" Huckleberry nodded her thanks and scurried out of the room.

"Now, since today is the first day back at the academy, I am going to be telling the most important legend of all. The creation of the tribes."

"THREE MOONS, WE HEAR THIS EVERY YEAR" Prince Blueberry moaned. Granted, he had heard it two times a year for six years, but that was no reason to be rude about it.

"Blueberry, there-"

"Prince Blueberry"

"Prince Blueberry, there are other dragonets that haven't heard it."

He scoffed. "Like who?"

"Huckleberry, Parsnip, Dieffenbachia"

Blueberry coughed, "HUH?" He said to the last name.

"Pardon" Maple murmured, correcting him.

"Uh-huh, okay."

"Now. Here we go." Maple slipped on her glasses and began to tell the story.

"A long, long time ago... there were ten tribes. They were called the SkyWings, SeaWings, MudWings, RainWings, SandWings, NightWings, IceWings, LeafWings, SilkWings, and the HiveWings. The LeafWings, SilkWings, and the HiveWings discovered that there was another continent. They left the other seven tribes, and headed over together." She paused for a moment.

"A long time later, the only heir to the SandWing throne got gravely ill. The only dragon that could heal him was the greatest healer of all time, Silentsage. She was a NightWing and she had gotten a prophecy earlier that day. Now, no one knows exactly what it read, but it said that if she saved the prince then the six tribes would continue on as always. But if she didn't, four new tribes would rise up-"

"The HollyWings, ShrinkWings, CloudWings, and the DeepWings!"

"Very good Raspberry!"

"Now, the NightWings opted to save the dragonet, but she had spent so long choosing, the dragonet was already too far dead to save. So she told the SandWing queen that she could not save her heir. The SandWing queen got very angry, and declared war on the NightWings, causing the original tribe's downfall. Now, can anyone tell me a little bit about the other tribes, as well as what hybrids of the old tribes they are made of?"

Immediately the common paws shot up: Raspberry, a nice dragonet named Sumac, and her friend Oak. Maple didn't want to call on them. They knew the answers.

"Hogweed! Tell me, what original tribes make up the HollyWings?"

He waited for a moment, and finally said "The SandWings and the SeaWings?"

"And why do you say that?"

He just sat there.

"Well, can anyone give me the right answer?"

Again, Raspberry, Sumac, and Oak's paws shot up. "Prince Blueberry!" Maple called.

"The HollyWings are made up of RainWings and NightWings, though we also have a little bit of SandWing and SeaWing in us, causing us to be able to swim better than most other tribes and have poisonous barbs on our tail."

Maple gritted her teeth. "Good, Prince Blueberry." Now, it was Maple's job to teach, so it means that she did her job well. But Prince Blueberry never seems to pay attention, and is always interrupting. So, when he knows the answers, it makes her annoyed that he didn't have to pay more attention.

"Now, who can tell me about the ShrinkWings, origins and powers. Sumac!"

The small green dragon, shuffled her little red paws and began speaking in a bright and confident voice. "ShrinkWings are made up from RainWings and SandWings. They live on the moor in burrows, and they can release poisonous gas, as well as shrink and grow. Some of them even have the power to change the color of their scales."

"Very good Sumac!"

"Oak, tell me about the CloudWings."

Oak smiled, and said in a shy voice, "They are made up of IceWings and SkyWings, with a little bit of RainWing. They are incredibly good fliers, and they have ice breath."

"Good, Oak. Raspberry, tell me about the DeepWings."

"We don't know much about the DeepWings, since they are thought to be dead. We do know they come in shades of blue, white, silver, and black, and live very deep down in the water. They are descended from SeaWings and NightWings, causing them to have an extraordinary animus gene. But, sadly, we have not seen them in a century."

"We haven't seen any other tribes in decades..." Maple muttered. "Good Raspberry!" She spoke loudly. "Now, onto manners and other high class HollyWing stuff!"

Maple taught for a few hours longer, and finally dismissed class. "Goodbye all of you good dragonets, and also Prince Blueberry and Hogweed, who have failed to make it into that column!" She said in a joking manner. Everyone, including Prince Blueberry and Hogweed had a good laugh at that, and everyone headed home. Well, technically Prince Blueberry and Princess Raspberry lived in the HollyWing palace, and the academy took place in the HollyWing palace, so they kind of already were home. But they went to their part of the palace. Maple headed home too, to her mate, Rhubarb, and her three dragonets, Valley, Oleander, and Wisteria.