Choices - The Dragon Princess

by kleia

Winter Veil

Fluttershy stood from where she was sat, looking to the remaining panes of glass. She wiped away her tears and approached the other three. Surely one of them would reveal even a crumb of info about the scepter. The next included imagery of the a dragoness in the woods. After that was her father becoming king. The last ... showed nothing. It was empty, clear glass. Perhaps that pane was for history yet to be made.

She drew in a breath and placed her hand on the pane depicting a dragoness in the woods. The same surge of magic as the last.

"Amalthea, something fowl is afoot." it was the Queen's voice. "You are my most trusted lady-in-waiting. I need you to take care of Olivianna. My baby cannot be harmed in the wake of the tyrant I've created." her voice was pleading. Fluttershy opened her eyes. The queen was holding a baby, but Fluttershy could not make out what the baby looked like.

The other dragoness nodded.

"Does he know of her?" she asked the queen. The queen shook her head. "Good. I swear to you, I will keep it that way." she said. The queen sighed in relief. "Now go. Take her and never return to this palace. If anyone asks, we had a falling out. I fired you, okay?" The other dragoness nodded, taking the baby from the Queen's arms.

"She will return to the palace one day." the queen said, watching as her lady-in-waiting left.

The vision changed. The dragoness who had taken the baby earlier panted- she was running, and fast. Someone was onto her and the queen's plan. She had to leave the baby, and she knew exactly where to. In the eyes of the palace guards. They would take the baby to the palace. The princess would be restored to her rightful home.

The dragoness sprinted into the woods, snow falling all around her. The guards patrolled there. Hastily, the dragoness looked about. She spotted the guards not far off, and placed the baby down. In sorrow, she made the baby cry and sprinted off. Fluttershy's head followed the dragoness for a moment, then turned it when she heard guards approaching. She still couldn't catch a good look at the baby. The guards picked up the baby and ran with haste to the palace Fluttershy knew.

Fluttershy ran after the guards. She followed them into the palace, where they showed her father the baby in the throne room.

"Your majesty, sir!" on guard addressed the now king. He turned his attention to the guards.

"Make it quick." he stated coldly.

"Sir, we found a baby dragon in the woods." the other guard stated plainly. "She would have died out there," the guard continued. The king grimaced. Now was not the time for a baby. But politically... taking on an orphan baby would be a morale and politically boosting. It's not like she would ever rule anyway.

"Find one of the maids. Have them make up a bed for her. I will take her as my own." the king replied.

Fluttershy followed the guards, then the maid. Finally, when the maid set the baby down, she got a good look at the child. The child was her. Her yellow scales, crystalline butterfly wings, and pink hair. She was the true heir. The late queen's plan was working. The late queen was her mother. The mother her father refused to ever give an inch about. It's no wonder he refused to speak about her.

---

Fluttershy pulled her clawed hand away from the pane angrily. It all made sense now. She clenched her jaw and moved on to the next pane. This was the last one, it had to have a clue. She huffed, placing her hand on it...

"Announcing his majesty, the King!" a guard shouted to the dragons below the palace. Fluttershy's father stepped out onto a balcony she recognized. The dragons below looked confused.

"Hello every dragon. I come with saddening news. While I was away at war, some dragon managed to sneak in and take our late Queen's life. She had no children, so it falls to me to take her place." he looked out upon his subjects. They let out various gasps and sorrowful sounds. Fluttershy felt her heart drop. This smug bastard, usurping and playing it off like some murder, sweeping it under the rug. Rage boiled her veins. She couldn't stop the vision though. She had to find out where to look for the scepter. Another dragon approached. The king turned away from the balcony, and made his way inside.

"Your majesty, the scepter has been hidden." the dragon that approached said. The king nodded.

"Good." he began, a wicked grin forming on his face. "No one will be able to succeed me. Tell me where you have hidden it." he demanded.

"But sir, you instructed me not to-"

"Those instructions have changed." The king demanded once more. "Tell me where you have hidden it."

"It is hidden in the secret chambers within the library." the dragon replied. It was perfect. Fluttershy actually enjoyed the library. Her returning and heading to the library wouldn't raise an ounce of suspicion.

"Good, good. No dragon will ever succeed me." the king said, an undertone of insanity to his voice. The other dragon simply nodded, humoring him.

The vision ended, and Fluttershy was returned to her real surroundings.

Fluttershy knew what she had to do. She had a choice to make. Really, it wasn't a choice at all. She would not stand idly by, knowing the truth of everything. She would avenge her mother. She would claim her rightful place on the throne.

Fluttershy made her way out of the woods with haste, keeping her eye on the palace in the distance. She couldn't fly, her wing was still damaged, but it's bleeding had stopped long ago. She made her way into the underbelly, one of it's many secret passages. Fluttershy acted normal as she walked to the library. There were never any guards in or around it. With what she knew now, she figured her father wouldn't want to raise suspicion.

She opened and closed the library's entrance behind her, holding her wings in a way that she wouldn't knock anything down in the smaller space. She'd start in the "S" section. She knew there were books on scepters, as there were many historical ones. She knew the scepter by name: the Bloodstone Scepter. Surely, there would be a book on it, or it would at least be mentioned.

She quickly made her way over to the "S" section, scouring the books within. One stood out in particular- it was bound in a dark leather, and had a scepter shape in gold leaf on the spine. Fluttershy grabbed it from the shelf - she opened it, to find that all pages were blank accept one.

"Light the beacon" Fluttershy breathed the words on the only non-blank page. Light the beacon? Her eyes darted around the library. There was one wall sconce that was unlit, unlike the rest. Fluttershy tucked the book under her wing and mustered up her fire. With a focused spat, the sconce lit in a natural orange fire.

The flame snuffed out. Fluttershy made a noise of confusion, then looked at each other sconce. The flames were patterned, orange, blue, orange, blue. Really? If you're trying to hide an all powerful item, at least make the pattern harder to decipher! Fluttershy raised a brow in annoyance at the simple pattern. Whoever the dragon was that hid the scepter was really, really dumb.

She looked at the sconce that was unlit, and the others around it. She mustered up her fire, held it so that it grew hotter, then precisely spat it onto the sconce. This time, it didn't snuff out, and the wall behind it rumbled and moved away with a groan.

This was a part of the palace Fluttershy had yet to see. It looked far older then the rest, old caverns that stretched for miles into the volcanic palace. She explored each path. Each crevice. Each one led her back to where she started. She sighed, her breath coming out as a puff of white. She could feel the scepter's magic. Maybe if she just focused on it...

Fluttershy closed her eyes, another exhale forming a cloud in it's wake. She could feel the pull of magic in her chest, slowly walking towards it as the pressure grew. She knew she was close, the magic swelled in her chest. When she opened her eyes again, she was in an all new part of the caverns. Light shined through the ceiling and shone down upon a beautiful seat of giant maroon crystals, that looked like that of the scepter's. Atop the crystals, stood in it's mighty glory was the scepter.

It was truly a sight to behold. It was so beautiful that, at first, Fluttershy didn't notice the ground beneath her was giving way. When she did, she ran towards the scepter. With each step, the ground crumbled and fell away beneath her feet. Faster and faster the ground fell away, til she had to leap and flap, a searing reminder that her wing was still injured. She clawed onto the radiant crystals for dear life, bolstering the last of her strength and pulling herself to the safety of the top of the giant crystals.

Finally atop, she drew in breath after breath, calming herself first before reaching for the scepter. Before she even reached for the scepter, below it was scrolls of paper. She reached for those first. The paper was ancient, but it had clearly withstood the test of time.

The first she unraveled was familiar, she had seen it in one of the visions at the ancient palace. It was her father's original war plan. And his plans to usurp. He knew the queen would be alone upon his return? How? That didn't matter. She could find out later. The next scroll sent a surge of magic up her arm as she unraveled it. This one too, had withstood the test of time.

It was a document detailing that the queen had no children, and that she was "Hereby appointing General Mattias Shy as regent until he could find a relative heir. If none, General Mattias Shy would become king." Fluttershy held her clawed fingers beneath each line as she read. There was a historical, magical imprint left on the paper. In familiar feeling, Fluttershy accepted the vision she was about to see.

The vision took her back to the ancient palace she had found in the forest. Her father was pacing around his office. On the desk was the same scroll she had just been reading, but less weathered. It was missing something though. The last part was missing. Fluttershy got closer to the desk just as her father sat down at the desk, grabbing a quill and ink and scribbling in himself "If none, General Mattias Shy would become king". She raised her eyebrows in shock, then lowered them. Leave it to her tyrant father to illegally edit documents. No wonder their was no resistance at all when he was king.

Fluttershy scoffed, and her vision returned to cavern around her. She placed the scrolls under her wing and turned her gaze up to the scepter before her. She reached out a hand to take it, but hesitated.

No.

No hesitating. There was no choice.

Fluttershy took the scepter in her hands. Magic swirled from the bloodstone at it's top, swirling around her arms and into her body. She levitated off the crystals she was sat atop. Any pain she had felt in her body was swept away, the tear in her wing healing, an ethereal light shone behind her. The power of the scepter filled her body.

Upon her head appeared a crown that looked similar to the scepter. The metal part was black like obsidian, but the gems were pointed bloodstone. Suddenly, magic from all around her erupted, shooting in to the sky and alerting all to the scepter's finding.

Her father would be waiting.

It was time for war.

Author's Note:

Here, listen to this while you read the next chapter. Also, right click > loop. Enjoy!

Comments

[Mystic Sunrise]

.