Tia raised her claws under the mass of dragons attacking her, and managed to stop herself before she clawed the living daylight out of Eclipse. "Oomf! Get... Off!" She managed to hiss through her teeth, though she was delighted that they had found her. Eclipse got up, and so did Serpent, Stella, Tsunami, Nebula, Flame and Frost, Sombrero, Altair, Helix, Hailstorm and Monochrome. Ivory and Icicle were hanging back, watching their friends with mild amusement. Tsunami's long tail swished so fast Nebula tripped on it when she backed up. She quickly regained balance, and beamed at Thunder Strike.
"You're back!" Sombrero exclaimed. Tia nodded. "I guess I am!" She dipped her head to her friends and brushed the dirt off her wings. "I'm so, SO sorry for making all of you so agitated, you all don't deserve that!" She bursted out. Nebula folded in her wings. "It's completely okay, you de-" She was cut off by Tsunami's swishing tail as it yet again whacked her. Tsunami turned around, looking startled. Monochrome finished Nebula's sentence. "You deserve a bit of alone time. We all do!" She looked at Thunder Strike. "All we are thankful for is that you weren't hurt!" Pearl twitched her tail. "A-actually, she was, well, nearly mauled to death!" She stammered.
After a lot of storytelling and explaining, her friends finally understood. Sombrero looked at her with a sympathetic expression. "That's a lot of things that happened to one dragon, such a young one, too." She told her kindly. Thunder Strike curled her tail over her talons and nodded thankfully, then glanced up at the sun, who had reached the highest point in the sky, and was now slanting back down into the sea. Tia sighed, then looked back at her friends. "I think it's time we all head home." She informed everyone. Flame blinked. "Yeah, C'mon, Frost!" They both lifted into the sky and flew away. The group started to break up after that, and everyone went their separate ways. Only Pearl stayed behind. "Make sure to tell Sunfyre that you're okay, he's probably worried sick!" She turned her head back to the setting sun and flew towards the horizon, following her two sisters.
"Right..." Thunder Strike mumbled after her. She sat there silently for a few minutes as the sky grew orange, pink, purple and finally faded into the darkness of night. Tia finally sat up and carefully stretched her wings, careful not to open the wound back up. She leapt to her feet, and suddenly was spun into another timeline. This time, she saw a small glowing dragon, suddenly forming in a dark black void. Then an explosion, and instantly it was an image of that same glowing white dragon, but next to a black hole. The scene exploded again. Tia scrambled to her feet when she realized she was on hard rock, not just floating in space. There, she saw a shimmering and shining clear gemstone, larger than any gemstone she had seen yet.
That's the Diamond, the center of Sunlit Island!
She stepped back, feeling the waves of power and strength coming from the diamond. Why am I here!? Why has Spirit given me this vision? Just then, a small chunk of the diamond split off and floated into Thunder Strike's talons. She gasped, and right when she did, lightning struck and she was in a different place. The wind howled, and the sky growled ominously. Next to her, she saw Raindancer. She ran over to him, glad to see him, but out of the corner of her eye, she also saw... Sunfyre.... She hissed. Tia lunged at him, knowing it was a vision and not real life, but suddenly, Raindancer crouched and leapt. Thunder Strike struggled to see what he was leaping at. She staggered, feeling her head spin, and just as quickly as it had all happened, she was back in the real world, her head half submerged underwater. She had fallen over when the vision struck her, and she had landed in Stone River. She slowly got back up, and realized the moon was high up in the sky. The light from it seemed to be shining down on her for a moment, that one shimmering moment.
But then it was gone, and she lifted up into the air to go back to her home.
That vision about Raindancer... should I tell him? I probably should. I'm not keeping any secrets from my friends. But for now, she had to sleep. It had been a long day, and telling him about it could wait until tomorrow. Her wing ached, and so did her spine. She powered on through the cold and crisp night.
Thunder Strike landed back at her home and padded through the halls, up the corridor to her room, the curtains back, lit by moonlight as the feathers swayed in the slight breeze. She walked past it to the pantry and discovered some dried fish that she had made many weeks ago. She grabbed a few, along with some dragon fruit and walked back to her room. She curled up on her bed and devoured what she had brought. Once she had finished, she looked up into the stars.
Spirit, what do you have to show me tonight? If you have something you want to say, say it now.
Before it's too late.
