Wings That Shine Read online

  Skydancer took a deep breath and raised her head to peer into the creature’s eyes. They were half closed and dull looking. Its chest was heaving, and she could see its ribs. It looked as sick as the baby she had seen.

  “Guys, I don’t think it’s trying to trick us,” Skydancer told the other ponies. “It really seems to be sick. We have to help it. Someone bring it some water.”

  “I’m not doing it,” Stone said as the rest of the ponies backed away from the window.

  “You go,” shouted a pony at Skydancer. “You’re the one who can talk to flying animals.”

  Skydancer said nothing. Neither did anyone else. No one was brave enough to go out there.

  “I’ll help you,” Daisy said quietly.

  Despite her fast-beating heart, Skydancer nodded. She felt a little less scared knowing she wouldn’t have to go out there alone.

  “Thanks. You’re such a good friend. Let’s get some buckets of water.”

  All the ponies galloped down to the banquet hall.

  “I don’t know about this,” Belissima said, running next to Skydancer and Daisy. “The headmaster might be mad at us for interacting with a dragon.”

  “Then he can be mad at me,” Skydancer said, surprising herself. “I can’t stand by and watch it suffer.” Her words sounded brave, but she certainly didn’t feel that way. She was frightened. But that didn’t stop her from helping Daisy gather buckets in the banquet hall. Next, she stomped on the marble floor, charging up her magic so she could cast a spell. Glitter billowed from her sparkly hooves.

  “Fill these buckets to the brink, so we may offer the dragon a drink,” Skydancer said. Spells worked best when cast in a rhyme.

  Water soon rose in the buckets, filling them to the brim.

  Daisy helped Skydancer load the water onto a cart, and they pulled it back to the great hall. All the ponies followed them, too upset and curious to stay behind.

  Skydancer stood in front of the door, gathering the courage to go outside. “Does anyone else want to come?”

  No one answered. So she nudged the door open with her nose and pulled the wagon outside, but she didn’t see Daisy following her. She felt disappointed. Daisy had promised to help. Guess I’m going to have to do this by myself.

  Slowly, the dragon—a female, Skydancer realized—raised her head.

  Skydancer was terrified being this close to a dragon so big. She cleared her throat. “You said you were thirsty?”

  The dragon’s eyes widened. “You can understand me?”

  Skydancer nodded. “It’s my Glitter Gift. I can talk to other winged creatures.”

  “Can you bring the water here? I’m too weak to move.”

  Now Skydancer’s heart was racing. She’d have to get awfully close to the dragon to do that. Was it a trap like Stone had suggested?

  Then suddenly the cart started moving on its own, traveling right over to the dragon. The dragon grabbed a bucket with her long, sharp teeth and drained it.

  Skydancer heard the patter of hooves headed her way, and Daisy appeared. Daisy was the only pony whose hooves didn’t make glitter. But that was a blessing, since her Glitter Gift was the ability to turn invisible. A trail of glitter would give her away.

  “I didn’t know you came with me!” Skydancer said.

  “One of the perks of my gift.” Daisy smiled.

  After finishing all four buckets, the dragon sat up. “Thank you,” she said. “I’m feeling a bit better. I’m Emerline.”

  “I’m Skydancer, and this is Daisy. What are you doing here?”

  “Looking for food. I brought my little brother, Azule, with me. Our food supply has run out. We were the only ones strong enough to come looking for help. But he was too weak to even reach the school.”

  Skydancer felt a lump forming in her throat. Dragons ate meat, didn’t they? Did the pony academy seem like a great big banquet? And here she and her best friend were standing right in front of one, waiting to be eaten!

  “What kind of food are you looking for?” Skydancer did her best to sound calm.

  “Fruits. Vegetables,” Emerline replied. “We stopped eating meat long ago, when the animals died out. Now we just eat vegetation. But we haven’t had rain in months. Nothing is growing. We’ll eat anything. We certainly don’t have the strength to fly back home.” The dragon lowered her head.

  Skydancer had no idea what to do. How could she possibly help? “Let me ask the others for some ideas.”

  Skydancer and Daisy galloped back inside and explained everything.

  “She said they’d eat anything,” Skydancer said.

  “Right, like us!” Stone said. “That’s what it really wants. Tell it to go away.”

  “We shouldn’t be helping it without talking to the teachers,” Razzle said.

  “But what if she dies from hunger?” Daisy asked. “That would be awful.”

  “It’s not our problem,” Stone huffed.

  “Tell her to go somewhere else,” another pony called out.

  Anger was taking the place of fear in Skydancer’s heart.

  “There is a creature here begging for help,” she said loudly. “I’m certain the teachers will understand. If not, I’m willing to take the risk. If anyone else wants to help me gather some food, follow me to the banquet hall.”

  “You’re going to be sorry,” Stone insisted. “You can’t trust dragons.”

  “We’ll see.”

  Skydancer hurried back down the hall, desperately hoping he was wrong.

  The ponies from Earth barn helped Skydancer load carrots and apples onto a cart. Skydancer pulled it outside and left it near the dragon.

  Emerline quickly ate everything and was able to stretch out. The enormous talons on her feet scraped the dirt as she moved. “I need to get some food to my brother.”

  “The teachers went to see him,” Skydancer told her.

  “Can any of them talk to dragons?”

  “No.” Skydancer frowned.

  “Please come with me to help him.”

  Skydancer backed away from Emerline. She couldn’t stop thinking about Stone’s warning, that dragons couldn’t be trusted. She couldn’t imagine what the teachers would say if she showed up with a dragon when the ponies had been told to stay at the school.

  “I don’t think I can.”

  “Please. They won’t know what he needs. He’s starving. We have nowhere else to go.”

  No one else could speak to dragons. And Emerline looked so sad. But Skydancer was scared. Could two dragons overtake a whole pack of ponies?

  “Is there at least more food that I could bring him?” Emerline asked.

  “We have apples in the orchard,” Skydancer suggested. “Let me talk to the lead pony.”

  Skydancer went inside and explained the situation.

  “The headmaster insisted we stay here,” Belissima said. “I forbid you to leave.”

  Skydancer felt like backing into a corner, or running to her stall to be alone. But she couldn’t stop thinking about that baby dragon who had looked so sick. What if he died? If she didn’t help them, who would? She raised her head.

  “They need me, Belissima. If I get in trouble, that’s fine. I’ll face the consequences, but it’ll be worth it knowing I helped.”

  Then Skydancer turned and galloped out into the courtyard before anyone could stop her. “I’ll come with you,” she told Emerline. “We’ll get apples on the way.”

  “Oh, thank you so much,” the dragon said.

  Skydancer clamped her teeth onto a bushel basket so she could collect some apples, then lifted off the ground. Slowly, the dragon followed her, Emerline’s wings creating an immense shadow on the ground and a strong breeze in the air.

  Skydancer flew in the direction of the spot where she had seen the baby dragon. She was going to be in so much trouble for disobeying the headmaster’s orders. And for losing the medal! She’d forgotten all about that. Which problem was bigger: the dragons or the medal? She wasn’t
sure. No way would she be Grand Pony Marshal for the parade. Maybe she’d even get kicked out of school for everything she’d done.

  She blinked back tears. She couldn’t worry about that now. She had to help baby Azule before it was too late.

  Skydancer landed in the apple orchard and quickly filled the bushel basket, while Emerline gorged on fallen fruit.

  Tears streamed down the dragon’s scaly cheeks. “I haven’t had this much food in months.”

  Skydancer couldn’t imagine what it felt like to be that hungry. “I’m sorry it’s been so hard for you.”

  “Everyone back home is counting on me to fix our food problems. I can’t let them down. I was so scared to come here, but I didn’t know what else to do.”

  Skydancer was shocked. Emerline was a good-size dragon, and she was scared? “Don’t worry. Everything will be fine,” she told the dragon. But she wasn’t sure she believed it.

  Once the basket was full of apples, they took off into the air again. Skydancer spotted the teachers standing in a circle around Emerline’s baby brother.

  The teachers looked up as Skydancer and Emerline landed.

  “Another dragon?” Headmistress Valincia asked, backing up, her eyes wide. “How many are here?”

  “Just these two. She landed in the courtyard after you left,” Skydancer explained. “We didn’t know what to do.”

  “Why aren’t you back with the other students?” Headmaster Elegius demanded. “I ordered you all to stay put at school.”

  Skydancer’s legs felt shaky, like she might topple to the ground. She had never heard the headmaster talk angrily to a student before.

  “Why did you disobey my command?”

  Skydancer was so scared. Could she get kicked out of school for this? But what else could she have done? The dragons were in trouble, and she had the power to help them.

  “I … I’m pretty sure I’m the only one in the school who can talk to dragons.”

  “That’s true,” Headmistress Valincia said.

  “So I thought I could help everyone understand what’s going on.”

  The teachers nodded.

  “You’re right. Your Glitter Gift will be most helpful,” Headmaster Elegius said, not sounding quite so angry. “Please, tell us what you know. Why are the dragons here? What do they want?”

  “This is Emerline, and that’s her little brother, Azule. There’s no food left in their world. They eat vegetation now, and there’s a drought in their land. They were the only two strong enough to come look for help. These apples are for Azule.” Skydancer dragged the bushel of apples over to the sickly little dragon.

  He opened one eye and tried to reach for the apples with his scaly paw, but couldn’t. Skydancer tipped the basket over so the apples tumbled out. She rolled one toward Azule’s mouth, and he closed his lips around it.

  “He needs water, too.” Skydancer helped the little dragon eat a few more apples while two teachers left to get water.

  The creature’s eyes slowly opened wider as he filled his belly with food. “Thank you,” he whispered.

  Skydancer felt her eyes brimming with tears. The poor thing looked so sick. “You’re welcome.”

  “Once we’ve fed them and given them a place to sleep for the night, I think they should be on their way,” Professor Xayide said. “This doesn’t feel safe.”

  “Are you leaving soon?” Skydancer asked Emerline.

  “After we’re rested and feeling stronger. We thank you for the food, but we have an even bigger favor to ask.”

  “What?” Skydancer asked.

  “We need ponies to come back to our land with us.”

  Headmaster Elegius gasped when Skydancer told him what the dragons wanted. “Impossible! Dragons and ponies have never been friendly.”

  “That was hundreds of years ago!” Skydancer was surprised she was arguing with a teacher, but she couldn’t stop herself. “They need our help!”

  “What do they think we can do for them?” Headmistress Valincia asked.

  Skydancer turned to Emerline. “How can we help you?”

  “We need your magic to help our crops grow faster,” the dragon explained. “We need your magic to make it rain.”

  Skydancer shared their request with the teachers.

  Headmaster Elegius paused for a few moments. “How far away is their land?”

  Skydancer asked the weary dragon. “Headmaster, they’re three days from here. Could you teleport there?”

  Elegius shook his head. “That is too far for teleporting.”

  “One thing’s for sure,” tiny Professor Xayide said, zipping through the air as he spoke. “They can’t stay here for long. Not while our former students return with their owners for Homecoming. Imagine the panic if humans knew dragons had returned.”

  The rest of the teachers nodded in agreement.

  “It’s getting late. Let’s go back to the school and discuss our options. The dragons can stay in the courtyard so we can keep an eye on them,” Headmistress Valincia said, her pure silver coat and horn glinting in the setting sun. “Skydancer, tell the dragons we’ll have a decision in the morning on whether we can assist them.”

  Skydancer explained everything to Azule and Emerline as they flew back to the castle.

  “We thank you,” Emerline said. “Without your help, the dragons will die. We will be gone from this world.”

  * * *

  The dragons settled into the courtyard for the night with the teachers swapping turns watching over them.

  The ponies in the Earth barn couldn’t sleep. “I never thought I’d see a dragon,” Belissima said. “They’re frightening to look at.”

  “They smell weird,” said Razzle, wrinkling her nose.

  “I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep until they leave,” Lavender said.

  Skydancer felt sad to hear how the other ponies were talking about the dragons. “They haven’t hurt us. They just need our help.”

  “I’ll just feel better when they’re gone,” said Razzle.

  “Me too. We lost a whole day’s work on the Homecoming float. We’ve got to work really hard tomorrow, so spend some time tonight thinking about your plans,” Belissima said. “I’m going to be so disappointed if Earth barn doesn’t win.”

  Chattering about their plans, the ponies went to their stalls. Even the beautiful scenes of meadows and fields in her room couldn’t cheer up Skydancer.

  “Goodnight,” said Daisy, who shared the stall with her. “I’m exhausted after this day.” She snuggled down in her bed of hay and quickly fell asleep.

  But Skydancer couldn’t stop replaying all the events in her head: the lost medal, the fear that had rippled through her when she first spotted the dragons. The concern about what would happen to them now. It certainly seemed as though there were nothing more she could do to help. She didn’t even have time to worry about the Homecoming float—or the lost medal. She groaned. Belissima would be so disappointed in her. Her parents, too. But she was more concerned about those poor, poor dragons. What could she do? She was just a young pony, and a scared one at that. She couldn’t be of any help at all.

  The next morning on the way to breakfast, Skydancer saw the dragons munching huge piles of carrots in the courtyard.

  “I hope they don’t eat all our food,” Razzle said.

  “Are they leaving today? I feel so nervous with them here,” said Violet, a unipony from Sky barn.

  How are the dragons going to grow food again in their land? Skydancer wondered. The teachers had to have a plan.

  Skydancer was enjoying some oats in the banquet hall when Headmistress Valincia entered the room. “Students, I know you’re all very curious about what’s happening with the dragons. We teachers are addressing that now. In the meantime, since this commotion is so disruptive, we’re going to suspend classes today so that you may work on Homecoming festivities.”

  Whinnying and nickering filled the air as the ponies celebrated.

  “We�
��re going to have so much fun!” Electra said.

  Skydancer felt relieved. Finally, she’d have a chance to contribute to the Earth barn float.

  The headmistress whistled to get everyone’s attention. “Settle down and listen to your lead ponies. Remember, you’re in competition for Grand Pony Marshal. Do your best and follow orders. Maybe you’ll be the one proudly wearing that medal!”

  Skydancer’s smile disappeared. Everyone was going to hate her when they found out she had lost the medal.

  The headmistress continued talking. “We’re still not certain what’s going to happen with the dragons, but don’t worry. We’ll take care of it. Enjoy your day off. Where is Skydancer?”

  Everyone turned to look at her. “Here,” she called out softly.

  “The headmaster and I need your assistance. Please come with me.”

  Skydancer’s stomach felt queasy.

  “Good luck,” Daisy said, as Skydancer headed toward the front of the room. All the ponies were watching. It was so quiet, her clomping hooves seemed louder than ever.

  The headmistress led her outside. “I’m sorry to pull you away from the Homecoming preparations, but we can’t help the dragons without you and your Glitter Gift.”

  “That’s okay.” Skydancer tried not to sound disappointed. She followed the headmistress to the training field where the dragons sat surrounded by the teachers. She was actually happy to see them.

  Emerline and Azule smiled at her.

  “Skydancer, we need to know what the dragons want us to do,” Headmaster Elegius said.

  Skydancer nodded. Emerline and Azule looked much more energetic than the day before. Their colors were deeper, too, and their scales were shiny. “How are you feeling today?”

  “Much better, thank you so much. I don’t know what we’d do without your wonderful translation skills. I wonder if dragons and ponies would’ve gotten along better years ago if they could’ve communicated.”

  “Maybe!” Skydancer said, intrigued by the idea. “Now that you’re stronger, what do you want us to do for you?”

  “We need to bring some ponies back along with seeds to plant. It would be wonderful to have a huge apple orchard like yours and fields of carrots. But we need quick-growing crops. And we’ll need your help planting them and making it rain. Without pony magic to help things grow, I fear we’re doomed.”