The Dragon

WARNING, THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS DARK CONTENT, BUT IS NOT NECESSARY TO FOLLOW THE STORY!

A hundred years ago...in another galaxy

Summer Raelordiel does her best to cheer Sky Wing up over the past hundred or so years, but nothing she does helps to cheer her up. She runs her dainty, hand over her forearm as she just lies on the floor, curled up on herself, saying, "Won't you go out today, miss Sky?"

Still sobbing over the ache in her heart, Sky Wing takes a breath, saying, "I don't feel like it, I still have trouble handling the knowledge of what those damn priestesses did to him."

Curious, she looks at her and asks, "Do you know what his punishment involves?"

Whimpering out a sob, the dragoness nods and says, "I doubt that even my love knows what the full penance is, many don't fully grasp how horrible it is... It begins with a dragon being reduced to a beast-like state driven by base instincts to survive and their very soul torn from them, forced to watch from above as their own body moves and act on its own beyond their control. While that is happening, they are given no peace as they see and feel the final moments of those that they have slain over and over. That stage lasts until their rampage gives rise to someone capable of killing them or imprisoning them. Once that happens, their soul is split apart into several pieces which causes them to feel excruciating agony until an extremely rare celestial event allows the pieces to reunite and return to their body. When they awaken, they are not of sane mind after serving their 'penance' and are left to themselves, or for others to handle them." A keening sigh escapes her as tears fall from her eyes, saying, "The bipeds have taken a few of us down already, Perhaps dragonkind should be wiped from existence."

The elven princess looks at her and sighs, saying, "Why don't you honor his wishes for you to take another mate?"

She then growls and says, "Because he was the only one that I could ever like, I won't ever take another mate besides him!"

With a sad expression on her face, Summer then looks up at her and says, "HOW DO YOU THINK I FEEL THAT HE'S GONE! ELVES ARE MORE SENSITIVE TO EMOTION THAN ANY OTHER CREATURE, ALMOST AS SENSITIVE AS DRAGONS ARE! I COULD BARELY BRING MYSELF TO EVEN EAT BECAUSE OF THE GRIEF I FELT THEN AND STILL FEEL!" With resignation in her voice, she then says, "Since neither of us don't want to live for him, then we both may as well just go and die."

Sky Wing sniffles and pulls her head out and looks at her with one eye, asking, "W-What did you just say?"

She repeats herself, saying, "I feel the same grief you do, but if you don't want to keep on living without him...then neither do I."

Straightening herself out, she lowers her head, saying, "Then we should cause as much damage as we can until we fall, get what you need for our last stand."

With a crazed look in her eyes, Summer nods and then takes off to the lower level to get a bag and fill it with as much supplies she could ever need. Returning a half-hour later with a set of four satchels around her waist and a couple straps, she looks up at Sky and says, "Let's go turn some towns to ashes..." Climbing onto her head, she ties the two straps around long spikes on Sky's head to keep herself in place.

After they head out, they fly over the ruins of Raelor, the city that Star Reaper took Summer from as she looks down at the city saying with a laugh, "Oh look, the city's finally stopped smoking...what a beautiful view..."

While flying through the air, they keep their eyes open for any settlement and rain death and destruction down upon each one they find. Watching a wing of seven dragons descend upon a large army and engulf them all in flames, though losing four dragons in the attack.

As they spend a few hours burning settlement after settlement, they come across the capital city of the entire region. Summer looks at it and says, "There's the capital city of Dannorel, with a population of around a hundred thousand... Looks pretty untouched by the other dragons...let's go hit it as hard as we can."

A scout in a tower focuses his sharp eyes on the approaching dragon and sweats immediately when he notices that it isn't just any dragon, but Sky Wing with the former princess of Raelor atop the dragon's head. Bringing his horn from his belt up to his lips, he blows on it as hard as he can, shouting, "SOUND THE ALARM, IT'S THE MAD PRINCESS OF RAELOR AND SKY WING!"

Sky Wing chuckles saying, "It seems we are rather famous, mad princess."

The crazed princess cackles as bells ring out and horns blare, saying, "I wonder why, was it because of our brutal attacks on a neighboring land whose capital lies in ruins now? Or was it our destruction of the port cities...it's kind of hard to pinpoint which one made us famous, you know?"

Flying up higher, the dragon dives down toward the city while sending fireball after fireball upon the city, pulling up out of it to engulf the castle walls in her own light blue fire. Once all four sides are burning, she raises her claws and slams into a tower to collapse it.

Summer cackles like a wicked witch as she uses her magic to catch ballista bolts and send them right back at the weapon that fired them while imbuing them with explosive fire, wreaking a lot of chaos as the weapon bursts apart and maims several of the bipeds operating it.

The scout watches with horror as the castle collapses after only a few strikes from the dragon, saying, "God help us all, they're both insane..." Not wanting to let the kingdom fall, he abandons his post and races towards the wall to help the soldiers fight back. As he makes his way to the wall, he hears shrieks from the far side of the city and stops to look behind him. Seeing the dragon attacking the far wall steels his resolve to save the city, spurring him to keep running toward the wall.

When he reaches the top of the wall, he runs toward a ballista manned by a dwarf and yanks him out of the seat saying, "Move! You can't hit the broadside of a barn!" Climbing into the seat, he uses the pedals to turn the weapon to lead the dragon, waiting for the right moment to pull the trigger.

The angry dwarf huffs indignantly, and watches the young boy finally pull the trigger. Following the bolt with his eyes, he is amazed when it slams into the dragon's body, just in front of the shoulder and claps him on the back, saying, "Well done lad, well done!"

The scout hears the dragon roar out in pain as it leaves another section of the wall in flames, saying, "Time to move, she's heading this way and she. is. pissed." He then jumps out of the seat and orders the others to abandon the ballista, then takes off running to one of the ballista towers.

Sky Wing sends a blue fireball towards the ballista that just hit her and swoops along the wall, engulfing it all in fire to destroy the ballistae that are pestering her, thinking, 'That was so close to being a fatal shot, come on and hit me again!'

Summer looks down at her side as it bleeds, then swipes a finger through the blood and puts it into her mouth to taste it, saying, "Tasty..." Turning her attention back to raising hell, she downs another mana potion and resumes casting wide area fire magic to cause as much death as she can, shouting, "ALL YOU BIPEDS WILL DIE THIS DAY, SO BURN BITCHES, BURN! AHHAHAHAHAHA!"

Several minutes pass as most of the outer walls and over three quarters of the city are now burning wildly, all ballistae destroyed or abandoned in terror when the scout finally reaches an intact ballista tower with the dwarf and crew following him, saying, "We will likely have only one chance to defeat the dragon, so use your magic to take that crazy elven bitch down first!"

Nodding their heads, the elves race ahead and begin to call forth long range spells to their hands and cast lightning bolts, fireballs, and ice spears at the cackling princess. They watch as the lightning misses her completely, with the fireballs grazing her hair, and two of the four ice spears hitting their mark.

Looking down at the two spears of ice sticking out of her body, knowing one of them is definitely a fatal wound, she falls to her knees and laughs softly, saying, "They got me, Sky...I will keep breathing until they get you too."

With a grin, Sky chuckles and says, "Don't worry, hopefully, it won't be long as I left one ballista intact." She then turns and starts flying towards the unburnt portion of the city to continue destroying it, giving the ballista a chance to hit her.

Gasping at hearing that, the scout says, "They both came here just to die?! What is wrong with wanting to live?" As the rest of the city is engulfed in flames, he gets a clear shot at the dragon and pulls the trigger.

The group of bipeds manning the last ballista watch the bolt fly forth in slow motion with bated breaths, seeing the bolt spin clockwise as it sails toward the dragon's body. Seconds last forever when they finally witness it hit the dragon behind the shoulder and a bit above, hearing the dragon wheeze out, "Thank....you..."

Sky Wing flies away from the city, ripping the bolt from her side and dropping it into a field below as she hears a few cheers ring out from the remaining tower. She thinks of heading back home until she recalls how the priestesses took her mate from her and chuckles darkly as her eyes dilate a little into wide, star-shaped slits, saying, "Now it's time to make them pay for taking him from us."

The scout watches the mortally wounded dragon fly off as the dwarf and elves shake him happily, thanking him and congratulate him for killing the dragon. He sighs sadly and looks at them, saying, "Why should we be happy about helping that dragon and former princess die?"

They all go silent as the dwarf speaks up, asking, "What do ya mean, lad?"

Wiping away a few tears, he then explains, saying, "Those two came here to commit suicide, didn't you hear the dragon say it wouldn't be long because she left only one ballista intact?" When he sees them nod, he says, "They did that on purpose just so we would bring her suffering to an end, and I pulled the trigger that will slowly kill her..."

Their bright and cheery mood turns dark and gloomy as they all walk down the stairs without saying a single word as the scout says, "Let's look for survivors after the fire fades, the capital is gone."

As she gets closer to the volcano where the priestesses reside, Sky asks, "Are you still with me, Summer?"

With a cough, Summer continues to lie on her head, saying, "Yes...I'm still here, I told you I would hang on until you go."

Sky smiles and sees the volcano in the distance, saying, "Good, because we are almost to the volcano where everything went wrong, I promise you that I will slaughter every last priestess in that accursed temple of theirs."

When they finally reach the volcano, Summer chuckles and says weakly, "Now let the slaughter begin..."

The pure white priestess makes her way to the entrance of their sacred temple as she smells blood in the air, saying, "Sky Wing, you have come for healing?"

Making her way towards the priestess with her rage barely controlled, saying, "Yes...of a sort."

Unaware of the danger she is in, she walks towards the bigger dragon, saying, "Approach me and I will do what I can to help you."

Sky smiles a murderous grin, saying, "Oh I know you will..." Waiting until she gets close enough, she sees her channel her magic into the staff to heal her. The opportunity presents itself, and she seizes it by swiftly raising her claw and gripping the smaller female in her grasp.

With her staff torn from her grip, she struggles to breathe asking, "Wh-What are you doing, Sky Wing?! Let me heal you!"

Chuckling darkly, the elf sits up and says, "I think not... For the crime of taking the one we love, we sentence you....all....to die."

Not missing a beat, Sky tears the priestesses head from her body and tosses it behind her, then drops the body and steps on it, crushing the smaller dragon's bones under her with a satisfying crunch. Walking further in, she then looks to the entrance and sends a blue fireball at it, causing it to collapse as she heads further into the temple to slaughter the priestesses.

Minutes pass by when Sulfur Hide hears screams of terror and pain coming from the temple, leaving his home to go investigate it. When he arrives he sees other dragons gathered around the entrance and notices that it is collapsed, but the head priestess's head is lying just in front of the pile. Turning to them, he says, "What are you waiting for, start clearing the debris so we can find out what is happening!"

The dragons begin working as swiftly as they can, carrying the stones away as the screams continue on, followed by the angry roar of a dragon inside. When the entrance is cleared, Sulfur Hide hurries in to see the crushed body of the head priestess lying on the floor. Noticing the claw marks on the neck tells him that another dragon did this and shouts angrily, "Just what in the holy fire is going on!"

As he continues on, he investigates the nearby rooms to find the priests and priestesses all dead and the rooms burning with blue fire. Not liking how it looks, he returns to the main room and looks at the floor to see it fully covered with a thin layer of blood. Even the walls are splattered with their blood as the bodies of young priestesses lie in piles, the golden decorations melted into nothing with orange flames eating away at the sparse flammable objects within. Making his way to the next part, he sees the children littering the floor with their bodies crushed underfoot as well, causing tears to fall from his eyes as he spots a couple of vibrant red scales on the floor in front of him between two dead whelps, asking the empty, lifeless space around him, "Why would you do this, Sky Wing?"

Once she finishes off the last female, she glares at the male before her and roars out angrily, "It sickens me how you call yourself priests and priestesses, but breed with each other as you are all related by blood!"

The old dragon stands guard in front of the hatchery and looks at her with displeasure, chuffing before saying, "It has been done this way for several millennia, it is our sacred duty to keep the holy bloodline going!" With an inhale, he prepares to attack her with his own blue fire.

Knowing what he is going to do, Sky inhales herself and sends a shard of ice towards him. When he is forced to evade it, she sends another one at him and charges toward the ancient dragon, saying, "The old ways will die with you!"

Even though he is much older than her, he is still a bit slower due to his size and fails to stop her from raking her claws across his shoulder, leaving a nasty set of gashes on his left shoulder. He then tries to retaliate by grabbing her tail and throwing her into the wall, though he fails to notice that she expected that.

Seeing her opening as he goes for her tail, she quickly spins around the other way and goes for his throat. Catching him by surprise, she hears him bellow out in pain which slowly turns into a gurgle as she applies more and more pressure to her jaws. When he begins to go limp, she rips out his throat and tosses the chunk aside before returning to tear the bastard's head completely off. Dragging the head to the center of the room, she walks over his corpse and looks back, bellowing out a vicious roar before heading into the hatchery.

Sky looks around at the number of eggs in the room, asking, "Summer, do you want to bake some eggs?"

Shaking her head with a weak cackle, Summer says, "Oh heavens no! I prefer mine scrambled!"

With a laugh, she then makes her way around the room, stomping on the fertilized eggs born of incestual relations between the bloodline, she says, "So do I!" then starts using her tail to crush or shatter them all.

Sulfur Hide makes his way through the temple complex, seeing only dead and burning corpses wherever Sky Wing has been. He gets a sinking feeling in his gut as he reaches the deepest part of the temple, finding the ancient dragon dead and the hatchery behind him engulfed in light blue flames. Rushing over his corpse, he enters the room to find every single egg shattered or crushed. When he spots his niece in the center of the room, lying on the floor while breathing weakly, he approaches her warily and asks with tears in his eyes, "Why, Sky Wing?"

Looking up at her uncle, she chuckles and says, "Vengeance, what else could there be?" She then coughs up blood and begins sobbing, saying, "I just can't live without him, Uncle, he meant too much to us and these incestuous bastards took him from Summer and I! So, we set out a few hours earlier to cause as much damage as we can until we die, and began laying waste to any settlement we could find until we came across Dannorel. I managed to destroy the entire city while leaving just one tower alone to give it a chance to fatally wound me, which they got Summer with their spells and landed a hit on my right lung. I won't be here much longer, so don't worry about little old me..."

Summer coughs and spits some blood out as her vision starts to darken, saying, "Hey Sky...I'll race you to the other side..." then lets out her last breath and slumps down against one of her twisted horns.

With another wet cough, her own vision darkens as she lays her head down, saying with her last breath, "Oh no...you...don't..."

Rushing up to his niece's side, he pulls her limp head against his chest as tears begin to fall from his eyes uncontrollably. With an agonized roar, he tears her head from her body and holds it close to him as he slowly rocks himself back and forth, mourning his dead niece.

Presently, at Star Reaper's temporary den in Never Land

Holding her friend while laughing herself, Tinker Bell says, "We just ground up some flowers called Poison Joke and spread the powder over you while you slept, expecting something funny to happen to you" then quietly adds with a slight blush, "but we didn't anticipate the...naughty events afterwards."

He looks at her and lets out a huff, saying, "So last night wasn't a dream...though me being smaller was part of your prank, you two really are trouble." Unable to keep back a chuckle, he says, "You best hope that there are no other nasty little surprises from the aftermath of your prank from those...events, or things might get a little dicey for you."

Feeling uneasy from the look he's giving them, Fawn asks nervously, "Uhm...what do you mean?"

Star looks at the fairies with a mischievous look on his face, and says, "Well, dragon females lay eggs, and with my size, I wonder if you would survive laying an egg even half your size."

The two fairies gulp together as Tinkerbell thinks about how that would look and goes pale with a shudder, saying, "If I have that many eggs in me, I will be torn apart!" Then looks at Fawn and says, "We need to get to a doctor to check ourselves for pregnancy."

Fawn nods and covers herself as best she can, saying, "I think that would be great, but could you finish helping me clean up?" Noticing that the dragon is looking at their bodies, she asks, "Could you please see where my clothes are at so that I can get dressed?"

With a nod, he turns, saying, "Of course, though I couldn't help but admire the view. Though I must thank you for giving me this chance to go places that I couldn't before due to my size." Noticing his change of mood, he lets out a huff and looks back over his shoulder and says, "It seems you have managed to break me out of my depression."

As Tinker Bell continues to bathe her friend clean, she groans and says, "I can't believe that you just let yourself fall asleep on him like that, some of this stuff just doesn't want to scrub off."

Nyx comes back with a slight wobble in her flight, glaring down at the two fairies as Fawn gets cleaned up. She then looks at the state of the dragon's den with disgust, asking, "Are you going to leave your den looking this messy?"

Once he finds her clothes, he sets them near the water, saying, "Well, I can get started on cleaning, though it will take me a while."

With a huff, she looks towards the entrance with her arms crossed over her chest, saying, "Very well then, you should probably get started." When she watches him head to the water and picks up a mouthful of water, walking over to one puddle and sprays the water into it with a surprising amount of force.

It takes Star a few hours to get the mess all pushed into the water when the fairies sit off to the side with Fawn finally dressed, he turns to her and asks, "Are you going to be okay, little one?"

Fawn nods and says, "My name is Fawn, but yes, I will be fine. I can at least move my legs around now, though there is no strength to them."

Nodding his head, he says, "Well that is some good news, if anything happens, let me know and I will do whatever I can to help out." Making his way up the path he carved, just barely small enough to accommodate his small size, he then jumps off the top and dives towards the water below to help get some of his sticky seed off him.

The girls wait for an hour until he finally comes back with Di looking at Nyx saying, "I will wait here as you take the others back to Pixie Hollow."

Climbing onto the stony floor, Star then asks, "Before you all go, how long will I be affected by this Poison Joke?"

When all eyes turn to Fawn for answers, she smiles sheepishly and says, "Um...until we can come up with a way to reverse it?"

Nyx growls at her, saying, "You did this without having a way to undo it?! I'm going to deck you for this!"

Taking off swiftly with Nyx on her trail, her legs float in the air behind her as she calls back, "Sorry, I'll figure something out eventually!"

Chuckling at seeing that, he turns to the fairy he knows as Tinker Bell and says, "Perhaps you should get going as well, little one, or are you not able to feel your wings?"

She turns red at hearing that, stomping towards him and saying, "I can feel them, and I can fly!" To prove her point, she flies in a circle around his head, saying, "See!" then comes to a stop in front of his face.

Star then smirks at her attitude, then asks, "So does the Poison Joke have the same effect on you fairies?"

Tinker Bell then shakes her head and says, "Oh no, it just makes us..." then searches for a polite word to use, then adds, "Really affectionate to put it mildly."

With a chuckle, he blows out a puff of air, saying, "I was convinced that it was a dream, though what took place was anything but really affectionate..."

Regaining control, she returns in front of him with a red face and says, "It only affects us for a few hours, thankfully. Though it is for that reason alone that we are warned to stay away from it."

Star looks at her and then says, "You should get going, little one."

Her face returns to its normal color as she shouts, "My name is Tinker Bell, NOT Little One!" With a huff, she then spins around and heads out of his den to go get checked out.

Two weeks pass as the three fairies find themselves at the healer's tree, with Nyx giving the other two an angry glare, asking, "Are you two feeling sick every morning too?"

Tinker Bell then chimes in, saying, "As well as having to...go more often?"

Fawn and Nyx groan as the animal fairy says, "Well, I guess we all sort of know what this might mean..."

The scout fist makes a fist and pounds it into her other hand, saying, "Yeah, it might mean that I finally get to beat you two black and blue..."

The nurse comes out and looks at the list, saying, "Nyx, I will take you in exam room two. Right this way please."

As she gets up to follow her, she scowls at Fawn and then follows the nurse to the room. Closing the door behind her, the nurse asks her what she is here for today and takes a breath to calmly say, "I am afraid that I might be...pregnant."

Shocked to the point where she drops her pencil, she then takes it as a joke and laughs loudly, saying, "Oh that's impossible, sweetie! Fairies have lost that ability thousands of years ago!" She then gets her laughing under control and sighs, saying, "I'm sorry for laughing, but why do you think that you are pregnant?"

Nyx sighs and tells her how she has been feeling, saying, "Because I have been throwing up frequently throughout the day, going to the bathroom way more often than I had before. Oh yeah, and the nasty cramps I have been getting in my abdomen."

She blinks and then says, "Very well, lets get you checked out for certain."

Once she gets what she needs, the nurse examines her for a few minutes. When the exam concludes, she looks at Nyx with a pale face, saying in a soft voice, "I don't believe it..." Shaking her head, she says, "Wait here for just one moment, I have to get a second opinion."

Huffing with annoyance, she nods and rests her head on her elbow as the nurse hurries out of the room and brings back another nurse, who does the exam over again.

When the exam is done, the nurse has the same, pale-faced look the other nurse does as she looks at her, gulping nervously saying, "It's true...she is, in fact...pregnant."

The first nurse turns to Nyx and asks, "Please tell us in detail about what happened."

Sighing in irritation, she then starts her story, saying, "It started about two weeks ago when I found out Fawn was playing yet another prank on Star Reaper..."

A few minutes pass by as she finishes her story, saying, "One moment sweetie, I will go get the other two." She then opens the door and makes her way to the waiting room, calling out, "Fawn, Tinker Bell, please come with me."

Confused, the two fairies look at each other and shrug their shoulders, then get up and follow her to the exam rooms. Entering exam room two, they see Nyx sitting in the exam chair with an angry scowl on her face as the nurse shuts the door, asking them, "Now one of you please take Nyx's place so we can examine you twice."

Once the two other fairies are also found to be pregnant, one of the nurses sends an assistant to ask Queen Clarion to come to exam room two in the healer's tree.

Queen Clarion floats into the exam room as a shimmering light, folding her hands in front of her asking, "Greetings fairies, what is going on?"

The nurse that performed the first examination on Nyx looks up at her saying, "We do not understand how it happened, but something miraculous occurred." She then steps back and gestures to the three fairies adding, "We examined these three young fairies a few times, and have soundly determined that they...are pregnant."

A gasp escapes her lips as she quickly raises her hands to her mouth, saying through her fingers, "Truly!?" She then looks at Nyx, Tinker Bell, and Fawn, asking, "Please tell me how this came to be."

When they blush from embarrassment at having to retell the story again, Fawn starts the story off with her part about playing a prank on the dragon as he slept with Tinker Bell joining in with her part. Taking them an hour to finish the story with no detail left out, Fawn looks at the floor, saying, "I'm sorry for causing such trouble, Queen Clarion...I just wanted to bring Star Reaper out of his sad mood."

Queen Clarion beams happily at her, lifting her head up with her hand, saying, "You misunderstand, Fawn. I am not mad at all about this discovery, I am quite pleased to hear this blessed news as there have been no new fairies being born from laughs." She then looks to the nurses and says, "Please ensure that these three fairies are well-cared for until the time they lay their eggs in three to four months, there might be one or even more." Turning back to the fairies with happy tears in her eyes, she pulls them into a gentle hug, saying, "Please take good care of your eggs and never leave them unattended, and always keep them warm until they hatch in a week."

After the queen takes her leave, Nyx looks at fawn with a raised fist and pulls it back, preparing to punch Fawn's cheek, saying, "I'm going to beat you black and blue for that prank!" She swings at her, making Fawn wince and try to protect herself with her arms when she stops her fist just short of her face, with her eyes tearing up and threatening to spill over her cheeks.

When Fawn doesn't feel the punch land or pain, she cracks one eye open to see that Nyx's face is full of tears as her nose turns red while she fights back her sobs. Pulling her into a hug, she quietly says, "I'm sorry for causing this to happen, Nyx, but at least the queen seems really happy about the news."

Something gives inside her as she leans on Fawn as she flutters in the air just above the ground, her tears and sobs begin to slip from her as she says through her sobs, "But I...didn't want this..."

Tinker Bell walks toward the two and lays her left hand on Fawn's lower back, then her right hand on Nyx's in the same place and joins the hug saying, "None of us did, but we are strong fairies and we can get through anything by sticking together."

After receiving the news, the three fairies follow their new diets and inform the dragon of their pregnancies. Against the scout's orders, Fawn and Tinker Bell show the shrunken dragon around Pixie Hollow over the following weeks.

Unable to fly due to her belly weighing her down, Tinker Bell places her hands on her hips with a red face as she says, "Ugh...if only I could fly!" She flaps her wings hard to try to lift herself off the ground, but fails as she barely manages to lift her heels and groans when she sees Fawn walking towards her and says, "It's so annoying not being able to fly with this belly weighing me down like this."

Fawn giggles and says, "I feel the same way, Tink. I can only fly for about fifty yards before I need to rest, though now I mostly walk everywhere to avoid feeling so tired."

She looks down at her friend's belly under her half top and above her pants, saying, "At least you can fly, these clothes show too much of our stomachs for my liking." Comparing her belly to her own, she stomps her foot indignantly and says, "I think you got lucky, your belly is smaller than mine."

Nyx lands before the two fairies with a big smile, saying, "And my belly is smaller than both of yours." Seeing her remark cause Tinkerbell to stomp her foot with a huff and turn her head away, sticking her nose into the air makes her chuckle saying, "How cute, someone's jealous... I guess one of us will be blessed with more than one egg." She then gasps as she feels liquid gush out from between her legs, saying, "Uhm...what just happened?"

The animal fairy's face lights up as fluid rushes down her own legs, saying happily, "I think our time might be approaching, let's fly on over to the healers to get ready!"

Tinker Bell watches the other two start to fly off and says, "Hello! Too big to fly here!"

The scout fairy chuckles and looks back, saying, "Right, apologies. We will carry you there."

Fawn then heads back with a smile, saying, "With a few stops in between so I can rest for a bit."

She stands in a small patch of dirt, raising her arms for them to grab and lift her up when she feels her own fluids gush out of her, slowly turning the dirt below her into mud and making her say, "Lift me up before I slip on this mud!"

It takes a few moments for the two to lift her off the ground as they start heading to the healers when Nyx groans, "Woah you're heavy!"

Carried by the two fairies with Nyx doing most of the lifting, Tinker Bell looks at Nyx, saying with a red face, "I already know that! Why do you think I can't fly at all!"

Eventually, Rosetta, Vidia, Silvermist, and Iridessa join in and help to carry the very pregnant Tinkerbell to the healer's tree as Silvermist asks, "So...did you and Terence patch things up yet?"

Tinker Bell sighs sadly and says, "No...he won't even look at me now, whenever I go to talk to him, he just comes up with a reason to fly away..."

Fawn sighs and says, "How inconsiderate of him, I thought he would be bigger than his jealousy over what happened months ago."

When they reach the healer's tree, Tinker Bell facepalms herself and says, "Could one of you go let Star know that our time is getting close?"

After setting her down, Vidia nods, saying, "I'll do it, I will be back before you can say sparkle!" then takes off toward the dragon's den.

Star is in his den, eating an eel he caught in the sea when a fairy flies up to him, lifting his head up from his meal, asking, "Hello, little one, what do you need?"

Hovering in the air, she cringes as she sees him slurp up the last bit of his food, saying, "Eww..." Remembering why she came here, she then says, "Tinker Bell, Fawn, and Nyx are getting close to their time, so they wanted you to know so you could come if you wanted to."

Getting up, he says, "Alright, let me get this cleaned up and I will follow you there."

Vidia watches impatiently as he runs over to the water and blasts the remains into the water, saying, "Good, it's clean now. Can we go now?"

Star chuckles and leaps into the air, saying, "After you, but can you keep up?"

She looks at him with a smirk, saying, "Just try and catch me." then takes off like a dart.

He grins an evil smile, saying, "Don't you know it's bad luck to challenge a dragon!" Giving chase, he watches her dart through the dry path and chuckles, saying, "Too bad you aren't skilled enough to dart between the open spaces in the waterfall!" Putting on a little speed while looking for a spot to slip through, finding one a moment later and then folds his wings against his body to dart through it.

Mildly impressed, she scoffs and looks back, saying, "I could do that if I wanted to, I just didn't want to get my feet wet." Turning in the air, she then heads back towards Pixie Hollow while hearing the dragon following after her.

As he chases after her, he spots a bird circling in the air up high and starts to dive toward them, forcing him to fly even faster, saying, "Fold your wings down, now!"

Vidia is about to look back when she hears a high pitched cry of a hawk, causing her to gasp and fold her wings against her back and protect her face with her arms when she hears teeth snapping shut. When she doesn't sense any pain anywhere, she feeling herself lying on something warm, wet, and slimy, causing her to open her eyes to look around her. Through zig-zagging patterns, she can see tiny slivers of light shining into wherever she is, when her eyes adjust to the low light, she trembles as she sees the inside of the dragon's mouth and screams, "PLEASE DON'T SWALLOW ME!"

Star grumbles at her scream and ignores her as he watches the hawk start to eye him, letting a threatening, rumbling growl slip through his nose, thinking, 'Oh don't you even think about, pest...'

When the hawk dives at him, he snorts out hot air angrily while pulling up sharply to get around the attacking hawk, thinking, 'Need to make this quick, but I sure hope she will grab onto my tongue to keep from going down my throat.'

Feels herself sliding backwards, she quickly grabs onto the slender tongue below her, praying silently that she doesn't end up in his stomach. As she lies there, sensing him changing his course repeatedly as if evading something, making her think, 'Wait...did he put me in his mouth to protect me from the hawk?' Her unspoken question is answered by a searing heat filling his mouth, turning her head just in time to see an orange glow rapidly rise up his throat and pisses herself in fear, saying, "So this is how I'm going to die..."

Rolling his eyes as he bathes the underbelly of the hawk in fire from his nostrils, he thinks, 'Hey, I'm not a latrine, you know... and don't be so dramatic.'

When the heat slowly fades away, she sighs with relief and hugs his tongue closer to her, kissing it thankfully, saying, "I'm unharmed and still alive, thank you for not roasting me." When she gets a little nauseous from a rather tight loop-the loop, she fights the urge to puke when she feels him perform a barrel roll. The barrel roll comes to a jarring stop as she empties her stomach into his mouth, noticing light illuminate the darkness around her. Looking up with a smile at finally seeing the sky again, she watches as his jaws open wide while heading right toward a slender, feathered neck. Watching with a horrified shriek as the hawk's neck enters his mouth, she hears him bite down on the bird's neck with a sickening crunch and throws up again before passing out.

Star opens his mouth to let the dead hawk fall, suddenly feeling the fairy sliding toward the back of his mouth and drops his head down to send her back toward the front, sighing with relief that he managed to keep her from sliding down his throat. Landing carefully in front of the healer's tree, he spots a passing fairy and clears his throat, saying around the unconscious fairy in his mouth, "Hey, a little help here?"

The fairy cocks her head and asks, "What do you need, mister dragon?"

He lies down on the ground and rests his head before saying around Vidia's unconscious body, "Please help her, she passed out when I killed the hawk."

When she sees him open his mouth wide open, she shrieks at seeing the slimy state of the fast-flying fairy's wings and whistles for another fairy to come over, saying, "Come help me bring Vidia inside to get her looked at!"

Once the two carefully pull the fairy out of his mouth, he swallows the bitter and sour liquids she left behind, saying, "She might need a new change of clothes as well because I was eating a slimy eel when she came to get me."

In their own rooms delivering their eggs as Tinkerbell hears one of the nurses say, "Come on Fawn, the second one is almost out. Now push again!"

Listening frustratedly as they congratulate her on birthing her third and last egg, she groans and shouts with a cherry red face, "When will someone come help me birth my eggs, I'm ready to explode here!"

A nurse hurries in, rolling her eyes, saying, "Alright, alright, I'm here Miss Bell. We had to wait for your entrance to become fully dilated first, I wonder how many eggs you will be birthing? Nyx birthed two eggs, which only lasted twenty minutes. Fawn, however, took a bit longer to lay all three of her eggs." She checks on her entrance and smiles at seeing it prepared and lays the sheet back over her legs, saying, "You are finally ready to begin birthing, let me go get a few assistants and we will get you started."

When they return a few minutes later to a red-faced Tinker Bell, the nurse calms her down and gets into position, saying, "Star Reaper is outside the tree to be here for you three, so take a breath and then push on your next contraction.

As the next contraction hits Tinker Bell, she grips the sides of the table and starts to push. Feeling her entrance stretch to accommodate the size of the egg, she screams out in pain as she pushes harder, shouting, "JUST HOW BIG IS THIS FLAPPING THING!"

She watches with wide eyes as the light green egg is slowly pushed out, saying, "It is a bit early to say, but I can guess it is about the size of a baby acorn."

When she feels it rush out of her, relief washes over her body as she feels a little less stuffed. Looking down between her raised legs, she watches the nurse hold up something almost as wide as her hips, looking with wide eyes, saying, "I pushed that out!?! How is that even possible!?"

The nurse chuckles and hands the large egg to an assistant to clean and lay into a basket, saying, "We fairies have flexible, partially split hips sweetie. Why do you think we all have pear-shaped bodies? That all helps to make it easier to birth our eggs, although you three are the very first pregnancies in a very, very, long time."

Letting her rest for a bit, she then returns to her position and says, "Once you are ready, wait for the contractions to start again and then push when the next one hits."

As Tinker Bell loses track of how much pushing she has to do, she feels the egg rush out of her. Left completely exhausted, her head rests on the pillow, asking, "Am I done pushing, yet? I'm to tired to push any more..."

Handing off the last egg to the assistant, the nurse looks at her slightly chubby stomach and cleans her up, saying, "Yes you are, Miss Bell. Congratulations on birthing even more than Fawn and Nyx combined, even a bit larger than their eggs too!"

Staring at the ceiling with unfocused eyes, too tired to even care, she asks, "How many were there?"

Finishing her task, she moves her feet out of the stirrups, saying, "Six in all, and they all were three-quarters the size of a sparrow egg, your friend's eggs were about half that size."

Taking a deep breath, she lets it out in a huff, saying, "Great to hear, now I can just sleep for a few days..."

The nurse chuckles when she hears the fairy start to lightly snore, saying softly, "Better sleep while you can..."

When the other fairies in the waiting room see the nurse wheeling a softly snoring Tinker Bell down the hall, Rosetta is the first to ask, "Oh gracious sunlight, is she okay?"

The nurse shushes them all and says softly, "Everything is just fine, she just needs her rest after birthing six eggs nearly as big as a sparrow's."

When they stand there in the hallway, watching her be wheeled into a recovery room, they look to each other with wide eyes, saying with disbelief, "SIX?!"

Moving her hand away from her mouth, Rosetta looks between the other two, saying, "Bust my bonnet, that's a lot of eggs for a small fairy to push out, don't you think girls?"

Iridessa then sighs and says, "Poor Tink, no wonder she couldn't fly anywhere and always had a red glow to her."

Silvermist then looks between the other two, asking, "How about we go check to see if Vidia's alright after being cleaned up?"

The garden fairy looks at her friend and asks, "What happened to her?"

The light fairy looks at Rosetta and says, "She was carried out of the dragon's mouth unconscious and all slimy after he caught her during a hawk attack, remember?"

Rosetta then giggles and places a few fingers over her mouth, saying, "Oh how silly of me, I forgot due to all the excitement. Yeah, let's go see if she is awake yet."

When they get to her room, they find her in a dry set of clothes sitting on the bed, rocking back and forth with her knees up to her chest as the garden fairy flies up to her and pulls her into a hug, saying, "Oh you poor dear, you must have been so scared."

Trembling in her friend's arms, she let's out a sob, saying, "I have never felt so ashamed of myself in my entire life... How could I just let myself go like that when he breathed fire through his nose?"

Getting something of an idea of what happened, Silvermist places her hand on her back, saying, "We do strange things when we are terrified and can't think properly. So don't be so hard on yourself, Vi, any one of us could have lost ourselves while trapped in his mouth as he was fighting."

Iridessa trembles and runs her hands up her arms, saying, "It gives me shivers at the thought of being inside a creature's mouth, I don't think I could keep myself from screaming my head off."

Realizing that her friends don't really know about her 'accident', she relaxes a bit and sighs with relief, saying, "Trust me girls...it's a terrifying experience. Some of his maneuvers caused me to be so nauseous, I actually threw up once or twice. When he opened his jaws wide to crush the hawk's neck, I screamed bloody murder when I realized what he was doing. When I heard the hawk's neck break, I puked again and must have passed out because I don't remember anything else." Angling her feet together, she asks, "Uh, do any of you know how is doing after that fight?"

The nurse enters the room, hearing the question and saying, "The dragon is just fine, just has a few light scratches down his back from the hawk's talons. He told us that you nearly slid down his throat when you passed out, so he tilted his head down to prevent that. Now let's find out if you can fly since you were completely covered head to toe in slime."