Listen up! My amplified voice echoing out in and around the stadium. I had to make sure that every dragon could hear my instructions. The last thing I wanted was a mass of injuries from mid air collisions from dragons just taking off willy-nilly. There were just too many here to allow disorganized takeoffs. I want no repeats of what happened during your arrival here in Hourglass City. Yes, yes I know there was a mating situation, but I don’t fucking care! I want a controlled and orderly lift off.

Those heading east out of Hourglass will be the first to lift off, and you will follow the phoenix PeeWee to the east coast port Hell’s Gate. PeeWee, the little show off, lifted off my shoulder with a caw and rose high above the stadium, a trail of phoenix fire behind him. From there, break off to head in the direction of your hoard, or whatever… Remember Hell’s Gate is within DragonWyrm Clan territory, so you must leave Hell’s Gate by nightfall.

Once all dragons heading east have lifted off and cleared Hourglass air, all dragons heading south or north will lift off. Those heading north must speak with me after these announcements, as the pony nation, also known as Equus Nation, is still under isolation.

Finally, any and all dragons that are remaining on the Migration, or are heading east, will lift off in stages. When the time comes, you will be surrounded by a circle of red light like this... I cast the signal spell, which looked like a column of red light from a spotlight that rose from the ground to several hundred feet into the air, high enough to be seen outside the stadium. When you see that, and feel the temperature drop suddenly, that is your cue to lift off. Fly west in formation at a slow pace until all headed west have left. A Rainboom will be the signal that a more moderate speed may be used until Port Klippfisk. At that point, those continuing on the Migration to the Southern Isles are to land south of the city, near two anchored airships with flags bearing the Southern Isles’ clan emblem: a volcanic island in front of a blue triangle, with the point facing down. As with Hell’s Gate, Port Klippfisk is within DragonWyrm territory, and you must leave by nightfall.

Make your decision now; I will not tolerate disruptions, hang ups, or other bullshit once departure has begun. Departure begins in one hour. Those heading north must meet with me in the stadium infirmary now. Any questions will be answered at the infirmary. No dragons are to leave the stadium and its immediate area unless given express permission by Caretaker or myself. That is all.

With that, I walked down from the top of the stadium, and down into the infirmary. I could already see a few dragons making their way there, as well. Most would most likely be heading north, and not asking questions, as most would have studied the rules and regulations of the Migration from the Dragon Heritage Memories before joining up.

“Two airships? My understanding was that you only employed one.” DragonWyrm Heart smirked as we touched down south of Port Klippfisk, between the two Southern Isles Clan dragoon airships.

As I looked around, I could tell already that the number of dragons that would be remaining on the Migration instead of breaking off like normal would be nearly tripled. When Firstclaw requested that the entire clan to go on the migration, I knew that at least the first few legs of the Migration afterwards would have a larger than normal amount of dragons. I was right.

“Yeah… I had Windjammer bring in another dragoon support airship, just in case.” I said after I did my cursory glance.

“Dragons have become wimps…” DragonWyrm Heart snorted in amusement.

“And what is that supposed to mean, Firstclaw?” I glared at DragonWyrm Heart. I wasn’t too keen on the implication of his statement, even though I knew that it was a jest.

“It’s just that you seem to baby them, which was something He of The Flight never did.”

“This is not He of The Flight’s Migration, it is my Miratigon.” I growled in irritation even as I saw the glint in DragonWyrm Heart’s eye. While it was good to see that DragonWyrm Heart’s mood was improving, he was way out of his league with his low brow, and quite lame, potshots. I had had plenty of experience by this point, dealing with smart jackasses, too much sometimes… “Besides, He of the Flight also used precautionary measures.”

“Of course he did, but his was a just a boring old leaking ‘water’-ship, manned by the ugliest, mangiest, scurviest sea dogs imaginable. Instead,” DragonWyrm Heart gestured to the two dragoon class airships, which, admittedly, were probably the finest airships in the world. Windjammer does take pride in his ships. Every ship was a masterwork of art, along with being a marvel of engineering. “We now have not one, but two slick snob fest airships. Am I going to need to do an audit of our coffers?”

I rolled my eyes. There is a little known secret of gems. Under certain natural conditions they could ‘grow.’ Though the rate is quite slow, and had a limit to size and quality, depending on factors such as, but not limited to, soil type, proximity to leylines or nexus, and ‘foreign’ influences such as gem finding spells… Given the three hundred thousand years the city was abandoned, the particulars of the ley line vortex and the way the “treasury” was constructed, we had more gems than what we knew what to do with.

Besides that, I dug up (with help from Dragon FireWyrm, and occasionally Twilight) all of the initial stockpiles of gems, and then occasionally restocked said stockpiles of gems when needed, with help from my mate Caretaker, for every stop of the Migration, minus Hourglass and Southern Isles. I do use Hourglass’ coffers for the Hourglass stop, and Southern Isles uses theirs for their stop. However, Hourglass’ gems are strictly used for eating and bedding at the Hourglass migration stop only, and are carefully and strictly doled out. Meticulous records are also kept so that the Migration doesn’t put undue stress on the coffers.

Finally, the Southern Isles Clan and DragonWyrm Clan are clan hatchmates. I would only have to ask for a favor, and I would have the airships without needing to pay, thanks to the ‘unpayable’ debt that Southern Isles Clan has to my clan, not that I would ever use it against them. Frankly, Merc and Windjammer are the ones who usually spout about never being able to repay… Either way, it makes it hard for us to ever be able to render anything in return to them.

“So... that’s a yes?” DragonWyrm Heart’s grin widened sadisticly.

“Fuck you, Firstclaw.“ I sneered, holding back a smile. “I can’t help it if Merc and Windjammer are helping out free of charge. You want to be a bitch’s ass about it, then go fucking nag them.”

“I see you haven’t lost your touch when it comes to cursing.” DragonWyrm Heart shook his head, chuckling a bit.

“Of course not,” I grinned. “I only tone it down around the whelps, and the last two times at the Hourglass Migration, as, at the time, I didn’t want to offend History Seeker when he visited, and I was not going to fan any flames, nor start any, with Minty Herb and Magic Dowser... Well, anymore than already had been…”

The brightness that had been returning faded a bit. Damn it... “Enough of this…” I waved a claw dismissively, “it’s almost time to leave Port Klippfisk.”

I watched as DragonWyrm Heart slowly nodded and went back to mingle with the preparing dragons. I could see that his earlier chipper mood was most likely only a fluke uptick. I want the real DragonWyrm Heart back, the awkwardly confident and snarky DragonWyrm Heart… not this… I hate it when those I care about are chained down needlessly, and this was needless. I may have been mad at DragonWyrm Heart for how She of Hourglass's situation was handled, but I would never hold it over him.

Over the next week of island hopping, I tried to keep an eye on DragonWyrm Heart, or did the best that I could. It was difficult for two reasons. One, while we were in flight, Caretaker, Windjammer, and I had to keep any of the dragons from doing anything they shouldn’t, like excessive trick flying, as well as get them onto one of the airships to rest, if they were fatigued too much. Then, when we did land for the day, DragonWyrm Heart ended chatting with one dragon after another. I could chalk that up to the dragons wanting to talk to DragonWyrm Heart, and DragonWyrm Heart indulging them, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was avoiding me.

We were into the second week of island hopping when the dragoons first had to be used, by She of Hourglass no less. Saw a few smirks and smug faces after that. Clearly, several dragons won and lost a bet… should have joined in… I would have won, given that, from what I had heard, She of Hourglass rarely flew. Though making seven days was good, either way. Luckily, the Southern Isles stop was only another nine days away. The central ocean Migration legs were always the hardest. Unless I routed the Migration near the poles, the time it took to cross safely varied from seventeen to twenty five days.

It was early on the ninth day, when I banked away from the migration flight path to do my hourly checkup, to make sure we had not lost anyone, or to get any tired dragon on the dragoon ships, that I saw something that could be a problem. A green and orange sea serpent whelp was lounging on Dragon FireWyrm. This was not appropriate action on my Migration. Especially if he wasn’t being helped, such as resting from fatigue or injury, and it was clear from his body language that the whelp was not in need of any help, other than a swipe from my sharpened claws.

From the looks of it, Dragon FireWyrm wasn’t even aware that there was a whelp lounging on his horns like he was some tropical sandy beach. It was a bit odd, as Dragon FireWyrm was quite a skillful flyer, and, as such, should be able to sense any kind of disturbance inside of his air envelope. Though the air displacement difference between Dragon FireWyrm’s massive form versus the very small whelp’s may have made it possible that the whelp managed to get lucky.

Either way, this could be a problem. I slowly drifted downward so that I could talk up to him in a safe manner. Coming from the sides would get our wings tangled up, and coming from above could buffet the whelp off dangerously.

“Dragon FireWyrm, are you aware that there is a whelp lounging on your horns?” I whisper shouted up to Dragon FireWyrm.

Playing. Dragon FireWyrm countered.

“Playing?” I banked away and up before Dragon FireWyrm could reply to my rhetorical question so that I could see what the whelp was doing. When I looked, the whelp was no longer lounging on Dragon FireWyrm, but was doing what is known in professional stunt flying circles as ‘kiting.’ Kiting was basically flaring one's wings open, like a kite or sail, as if one was trying to slow down quickly for landing, but while in a stationary position, usually on the ground in a wind tunnel or other windy spot, or on the back of another flyer, all while being tied or held down. Kiting was one of the things I had Twilight do to help with her so-so flying. It helped a bit, but, even with all the practice in the world, some will never become the face of flying...

It was clear that this whelp was doing it for fun, as he had his mouth wide open, his tongue out like a dog... I snorted in amusement as I banked away. Given that everything was okay with Dragon FireWyrm and the whelp, there was no need for me to remain, and I still needed to finish my checks. That, and I wanted to talk to Caretaker, who took up the rear of the Migration, about the whelp.

“Caretaker, do you know who the green and orange sea serpent whelp is?” I asked her once I finished up my latest checks. Caretaker usually kept an eye on the whelps, who tended to need a bit more supervision, so she would know more about this whelp who could prove to be a nuisance. That, and I wanted to know who the whelp was that Dragon FireWyrm liked.

“That would be Seaweed.”

“Seaweed?!” I blurted out, glad I was flying and not drinking anything, though my flying did falter for a second, from the shock. I could scarcely believe it; no self-respecting sea serpent whelp would keep a hatchling-like name as Seaweed. “Why would he keep a name like Seaweed!?”

“Keep!?” Caretaker giggled, confusing me further. “More like given. He has a tendency to get into every place he shouldn’t, do everything he shouldn't, and say the exact wrong thing to say… all just to get a reaction... In other words, be a nuisance of a lovable pest.”

“Just like seaweed…” I whispered as I saw the logic of the name. I take it back, it’s an excellent whelp name… “Let me guess, he wears the ‘insult’ like a badge.”

“You got it.”

“Where is he from?”

Caretaker stared at me in such a way that made me very nervous. Never a good thing to have a female look at you in that way. “Southern Isles…” She slowly drew out, a look of concerned surprise on her snout.

“He’s from the Southern Isles Clan!?” I yelled out in shock. Well that would explain why Dragon FireWyrm would allow him to use him as a makeshift airship while he played the part of the makeshift mast. Dragon FireWyrm was usually just indifferently docile around other dragons, unless the dragon was a clan member or a member of Southern Isles Clan. What it didn't explain was why I didn’t recognize him as a Southern Isles Clan dragon.

“Wanderer, come now, you can’t be expected to recall every dragon that you come across...” Caretaker cooed in reassurance, clearly seeing my own troubled expression. Sadly, she failed miserably at making me feel better.

“This isn’t some random Migration dragon!” I exclaimed, frustrated at myself for not knowing, and Caretaker for thinking it was a small thing to forget slash not know. “This is a Southern Isles Clan dragon! Our clans are like siblings, hatchmates even… we are hatchmates! I should know everydragon in that clan!”

“Would it help if I said he used to be called Whitewater, and that he hatched five years ago?”

“Wait, ‘Whitewater’ is five!? It’s been that long!?” I forget sometimes how much time can fly while on the Migration, especially when it comes to the short childhood that a dragon has.

“Sounds like someone needs a refresher with Twilight...” Caretaker smirked and winked before she speed up, leaving me behind to gape, shudder, and nearly lose control of my flying. That was not an experience I would want anyone still alive to have…

Author's Notes:

Like, comment, (please) and fave...

Also prepare for Dragon OCs... I have two from readers so far... One is coming in the next few chapters... now is the time to let me know if you want a Dragon OC of your own within the story... see Dragon OC Time for details