The Rainwing lifted her head as she talked to the Queen, unable to stop the flow of colors that came and went through her scales.

She and Mudpuddle had been discussing the Rogues, and their need for Allies, as well as Solar's planned attack on the Crystalwings.

Diamond sat and contemplated their requests, no longer on her mound of treasure, but sitting with her wings pressed to the ground.

"Amethyst." She suddenly called, and Mamba watched in surprise as the sleek purple dragoness turned around the corner, into the Queen's room.

"Yes, mother?" She responded, blinking her eyes in obvious distaste over at Mamba and Mudpuddle.

"Send for my generals at once." Diamond said, nodding firmly.

Amethyst merely nodded in response and backed out of the room, and Mamba listed to the breeze of her wings opening and her taking into the air.

"Thank you, Diamond." Mamba said honestly.

"I'll send them back with you." She said. "For an escort and to exchange battle plans until I am able to arrive with the army." The Queen touched the strand of emeralds along her neck, a shiver of what Mamba guessed to be anticipation.

"We'll end this, Diamond. Once and for all." Mamba assured her.

Diamond spread her wings a little bit, light bouncing off the gems in her scales. "I hope you're right. This is the last chance my kingdom and I have. If your friends vision was real, if Solar is not stopped, we will all be destroyed."

"We won't let that happen." Mamba said, narrowing her eyes. Mudpuddle strengthened her stance.

"You're awfully brave for a bunch of dragonets.." Diamond tilted her head at them, a bit of regonition sparkling in the depths of her blue eyes. "I respect that."

Mamba lowered her head and spread out her wings, Mudpuddle doing the same, but Diamond just waved her talons and brushed her wings against their own.

Her talons rested on each of their shoulders, and the gem studded Queen had a slight smile to her face. "If you ask the other tribes, I'm not fit to be Queen. And sometimes, I would agree. But you've given me a confidence in myself again." She lifted both of their heads. "I hope we can continue to be allies beyond this war."

"You're a good Queen, Diamond." Mudpuddle said, and she drew back her wings and talons.

"Thank you."

Amethyst arrived back in the throne room, with three large dragons trailing behind her.

The first was a heavily built female, with russet scales that had traces of dark aquamarine and carnelian throughout them.

The second was a slimmer female, with a sharp, snake-like head with light lavender scales. They had small, paler rings and speckles throughout. The final was a deeply scarred male, his scales being a washed out shade of green and pale olive.

"These are my generals." Diamond announced to Mamba and Mudpuddle. "Heliotrope, Chalcedony and Hiddenite. They will be going back to the Rogues with you."

Chalcedony turned her pale pink eyes over Mamba and Mudpuddle, a bit of a scowl curling onto her face. Mamba gained a dislike for her immediatley.

"Rest up and gather your supplies before you leave." Diamond said, nodding at the two. "I need to talk with my generals privately."

"I'm going to go see if I can find Aventurine." Mudpuddle murmured, and Mamba nodded and watched her Mudwing friend disappear out of the throne room.

Mamba figured she would fly around the mining caverns, and explore the kingdom a little bit. She wondered where she could get some food around here..

She waved a farewell to Queen, spreading her wings and taking off out of the throne room. As her talons lifted off the river of gold, a small avalanche of jewels and coins erupted.

A few heads shot up in suprise at her gliding over the dragons below. Her scales melted into a opalescent pink and blue that slightly mirrored a shade of the Queen's. She narrowed her gold eyes to the ground as she beat her wings to rise a little higher.

She was still astounded by the massive cavern. Like before, dragons milled around and hovered near the crystals and gemstones, mining into them with sharp tools, the shards falling into talons and buckets below. A lower cavern probably housed the tumblers, which smoothed down the stones consistently.

The Crystalwings probably were the main source of all of the jewels in all of the kingdoms.

Artemis's own could've came from here before they reached the Skywings. She halted her flight just slightly, grimacing. She wondered how the Nightwing was faring. Hopefully well, Artemis usually was. Mamba had faith in her friend.

She flapped her wings, feeling the strain of her muscles. As she flew over the mining area, it slowly faded away into a more open, smooth cavern. She could see homes carved into the sides of the cavern.

Many shacks were draped with velvet and gold trim, dragons displaying foods that ranged from fruits to roasted meats that wafted up into Mamba's nostrils. There were also shacks littered with boxes containing glimmering rings, earrings, and necklaces, all studded with jewels.

One shack had a strange, fizzy type of liquid in glassy blue bottles, and a small dragon was there arguing with a customer with one of the bottles to her chest, holding out a small bag of what she guessed to be coins. She even saw a few tattoo shops.

But even this slowly faded away, to smaller shacks with tattered drapes. It looked like the life had been sucked out of it. Mamba stared in confusion. This reminded her of the Scorpion Den. Potent would tell her stories..

Mamba cupped her wings to turn herself, landing where most of the shacks started to fade away. The area down here was more bland, with less light and bejeweled items. She landed and curled up her tail, blinking and shifting her scales into a soft baby blue and turquoise.

She walked along the dragons milling around the street, though these Crystalwings tended to be more harsh, Mamba even being shoved over a few times. She flapped her wings to right herself, suddenly spotting a dragon out of the corner of her eye. They straightened up at being spotted, turning and vanishing into the darkness behind the shacks.

"Wait!" Mamba called, stumbling over to the vacant shacks they dissapeared behind. She spotted their gold tail slip behind a crack in a few boulders as she turned the corner. Mamba narrowed her eyes and blended into the enviorment, silently making her way to the opening.

She slid herself in, pressing her wings to her side and shuffling inside. She saw a few more shacks, and window like openings in the tall crevasse she had just entered. It was silent.

"Hello?" She called, and shifted her scales back to her preferred colors of scarlet orange and red.

She heard faint shuffling from inside one of the shacks, and slowly made her way over to it. She snorted as dust blew up in her face as she moved around it, eyes curiously trained on the desolate shack. She was about to call out again when the door suddenly burst open, and she was more or less ambushed by a small green form.

She was knocked slightly off balance, but was able to right herself again. She bared her teeth and swirled around, ready to fight, but was bewildered to find a very young dragonet clinging to her. His eyes were dark brown pools, and very intense, like shards of charcoal staring back at her.

She was even more surprised when she spotted the spines flaring at his neck.

"Chrys!" A young female voice called from the tall windows carved into the walls. A gold head snaked outside, and the dragonet from earlier crawled from the window and launched herself down to Mamba and the dragonet.

"Who are you?" He said fiercely, his young voice rising so much that it was almost a squeak.

"My name is Mamba." She said, confused as she stared at the dragonet clinging to her leg.

"Get away from her, Chrys." The gold dragonet said, and Mamba just now noticed the oddly plated scales on her neck with clearer gems twisting their way out of them.

"What are you!" He exclaimed.

"A dragon." She answered, and shook her leg slightly.

"That's not the answer!" He howled, and the gold dragonet raced forward with a grimace to pull the clinging dragonet off of Mamba's leg.

"Sit." She snapped, and pointed to her side. Surprisingly, he obeyed immediately, and sat at her feet.

"You didn't answer him." She said cooly, and held out a talon to the dragonet.

"Excuse me?" Mamba said, staring at the two young Crystalwings.

"What are you?" She asked, more forcefully than needed. "Your tribe?"

"A Rainwing." Mamba responded, and the gold dragonet tensed.

"Not like the tribes from Pa's stories." The green dragonet observed, and the gold dragon hushed him.

"Why were you following me?" Mamba questioned. It was her time to ask some questions.

"You looked strange." The gold dragonet responded.

"That's all?" Mamba arched her brow.

The gold dragonet narrowed her light brown eyes.

"Does there have to be anything else?"

"You said your father knows about the other tribes, who is he?"

"We're not supposed to talk to strangers." The youngest dragonet said, rather firmly.

Mamba stepped forward a little bit, holding out a talon. The two dragonets grimaced away for a moment, but Mamba merely sat, her talon still outstretched.

"My name is Mamba, and I'm a Rainwing. My parents are Treefrog and Shimmer the Rainwings, and my brother's name is Vine. Two of my best friends are Mudpuddle and Artemis, and I just met with the Queen." She smiled triumphantly. "I'm not a stranger now, am I?"

"Not much of one." The green dragonet sniffed. He stared at Mamba's outstretched talons, and reached out with his tiny ones to shake it. "I'm Chrys."

"Nice to meet you, Chrys." Mamba said, and her eyes raised to meet the gold dragonet's gaze.

"That's my older sis Sulfur. She doesn't like other dragons."

"Chrys." Sulfur hissed, pulling her brother closer to her side.

"Why are you two all alone?" Mamba asked. "You're to young to be.."

"Our father will be back soon." Sulfur glared.

"Pa is working." Chrys piped up.

"Working?" The Rainwing shifted her wings.

"Yes." Sulfur said stubbornly, turning away with her brother in tow.

"Why did you want to know about my tribe?" Mamba questioned. She was really curious now.

"Pa was a traveler before he worked in the mines! He told us stories about these cool dragons he's met and-"

"That's enough, Chrys." Sulfur pulled her brother along, the little dragonet flaring his spines and flapping his wings.

"Sulfurrrr." He whined, and Mamba just watched on with a surprised face.

"You're hybrids." Mamba said, her eyes suddenly widening.

Sulfur stopped in her tracks, Chrys bumping against her side.

"I know." Sulfur said cooly.

"But you aren't sure what of."

"Chrys..Chrys is my half brother. We found out about him." Sulfur turned. She grimaced and clasped her talons together. "But not me."

"And you were wondering if I was part of the tribe your mother was." Mamba nodded.

"Pa only ever talked about dragons called Mudwings, Sandwings and Seawings." Chrys said.

"I've never heard about Rainwings." Sulfur said suddenly, turning a little edged. "Are there others? What exactly can Rainwings do?"

"There's Icewings, Nightwings, and Skywings as well as my tribe." Mamba explained.

Sulfur pulled Chrys forward a little bit, ears perking with curiosity.

"Rainwings thrive in warm, sunny climates. We get most of our energy from the sun. " Mamba said, sighing a bit as she thought back to her home.

"Fruit is our favorite, it's rare to find a Rainwing that eats meat. We can change the color of our scales to blend into our surroundings." She spread her wing, letting a flow of colors wash over it.

Sulfur grimaced again, and Mamba guessed those weren't traits of hers.

"Now this is a secret." Mamba murmured. "Don't tell others" She opened her mouth a little bit, tapping one of her fangs. "We are able to spit venom. It can dissolve pretty much anything except metals."

"I don't think I'm part Rainwing." Sulfur said, a little dissapointed.

"That's okay." Mamba assured her.

"Tell us about Skywings!" Chrys shouted, and flapped his wings.

"Skywings are a powerful tribe." Mamba began. "They have an intense firepower and are amazing at flying. They do have giant wings after all. Not to mention they are wicked fighters."

"Ya think you're part Skywing?" Chrys asked Sulfur. She shook her head and pressed her wings to her side, looking a little downcast.

"Maybe you're a hybrid of one of the tribes from the twin islands?" Mamba suggested.

"Icewings. Tell me about Icewings."

"They can withstand freezing temperatures and bright lights. They emit cold from their scales and exhale a deadly frostbreath."

Hey, Jade Mountains dragon anatomy class and having friends among tribes really did benefit Mamba.

"Nightwings." Sulfur continued.

"It's rare, but sometimes they have the power to read minds or tell the future. They are able to blend into shadows and usually have silver scales alongside their wings. Of course, they breathe fire, too."

"I don't understand. Nobody can tell me about.. me. Father is too stubborn, and I can't connect anything from what you've said-".

"I think it's time you really sat down with your father and asked him about it." Mamba said, nodding reassuringly. "He will be able to tell you the truth. You will find out about your mother, okay? Don't worry."

Sulfur paused for a moment, flattening her wings closer to herself.

"I'm sorry about being rude to you. I just.."

"I understand wanting to protect your loved ones. I really do." She thought back to her brother and her friends. Her father and mother. "It's forgiven."

"Thank you for helping me at least learn a little more about the world."

"Of course, kid."

"You should probably leave before father comes back. He wouldn't be too happy to find us talking to you."

Mamba nodded. "I understand."

Chrys unlatched from his sister, shuffling over to Mamba. He hugged her, and Mamba brought her wings forward, bubbles of lavender rising in her scales.

"Bye bye, pretty Rainwing." Chrys crooned, the hybrid patting her shoulder and looking up at her with now sad eyes.

Mamba laughed a little bit and pushed Chrys back over to his sister. The Rainwing stood for a moment, before nodding at the two and dissapearing back the way she came.

She hoped they would be okay.

Mamba eventually flew back over and made her way to the wealthier side of the tribe. That was where she was to meet with the generals.

She stopped by a few stalls along the way, using what little money she had to buy some food. She tried what was she was told to be crystal berries, which had small little crystals along the inside like a geode.

They, of course, tasted amazing. She even stopped by and bought a little blue bottle of the liquid she had seen earlier, which turned out to be crystal berry juice. Which, tasted amazing.

As she made her way back she was met by a ledge occupied with the Queen, the three generals along with Mudpuddle and Aventurine. She landed and folded her wings, nodding over at her friend.

Mudpuddle brushed her wing with hers as Mamba walked up, Diamond glancing at the two.

"I need to organize my troops, but I can gurantee, we will be there."

"Thank you." Mamba said, her scales turning a pale blue.

Mudpuddle thanked the Queen as well, and said her goodbyes to Aventurine. Mamba waited alongside her friend, turning away as she prepared to leave with the generals.

She thought back to the two hybrids. They were just two out of thousands, but they were two. Two lives that did not deserve what would come to them of Solar accomplished what she had planned.

"We have to stop her." Mamba whispered, narrowing her gold eyes at her friend "We have to stop her, Mudpuddle. No matter what."