Unfinished Smolder Autumn Blaze story

For context. The most Recent Yona and Limestone story was originally for the unusual pairing event I forgot the proper name of. I didn't finish it in time obviously. Why? Becuase I was originally doing a story with Smolder and Autumn Blaze. In which they'd pair up in a weird dragon holiday sport event where basically they all play a giant Battle Royale against each other.

Anyway I typed some of it so here it is for anyone who wants to read wips that will literalyl never finish

The Spirt Summit
Smolder let her wings and arms stretch free, bathing in  the gentle red glow that enveloped her scales.  A flame of pride in Smolder’s heart flickered. Who couldn’t feel pride standing under the majesty of the dragon temple,  a masterwork of stone, crystal, and fine metals?Lava flowed over and through it’s glistened against its massive, faceted structure. Artistry worthy of the greater dragon spirits. 

She let out her held breath in a deep and satisfied sigh. Today was a day to revel in what it truely meant to be a dragon. The dragon’s right to embrace oneself fully and indulge as they please in this sacred place. A sanctuary for dragon kind only.  She approached the grand entrance. To any other creature it would be an impassable flow of lava. This stream had long been enchanted to prevent other lava-immune creatures from passing through. Only dragon blood could enter this place.

Smolder closed her eyes as the lava’s pure heat washed over her, cleansing her scales and soul. A welcome emptiness roared in her gut. An emptiness to be filled with the spirit of her chosen patron dragon. The scent of ash filled the air. The hall was filled with dragons from the packed for those perched and flying high above. 

She sprung onto her tail . “I love the Spirit Summit!” All of Smolder’s energy exploded into one shout. 

The hall roared with cheers.

[Adding stuff to set the status quo before Autumn Blaze Shows up]

“Smolder!”  called a group from the east end of the hall, hands, wings and tails waving. She forced her way to them pushing and shoving aside any dragon on the path. Anyone who had a problem with it got a stink eye and a flash of the teeth. She could get away with it. All violence in the temple is strictly forbidden, but that didn’t mean her threats weren’t real. In due time any threat would become a sure promise.

“Ayyye! Fashion Lord’s finally made it!” It was a nickname that started to stick ever since a weird summer and Smolder and Garble agreeing to be completely open about their interests.  It was part of her new philosophy on the truth of being a dragon. Before going to school being a dragon meant proving your superiority at all costs, taking what you want, and never ever showing a weakness.  Now she couldn’t help but think of anyone who stuck to these ideals as being more childish than a freshly hatched whelp.

These days whenever she’d hear her friends call her Fashion Lord without a hint of irony, her soul whispered to her what it truly meant to be a dragon.  To be completely free and fully embrace oneself without being chained down by shame or fear.

Smolder bumped fists with the seven or so drakes that comprised her hoard of Dragon Land friends. Fist bumps turned to tail slaps, which turned to head butts, which turned to the inevitable contest of arm wrestling. An unspoken ritual had developed when Smolder left for school. Whenever she’d come back one greeting was just never enough and every greeting was some sort of contest. It wasn’t enough until someone nearly broke something.

Crack

“Well there goes that hand.” her friend cackled as she shook about her limp hand. Curly was the easiest of her friends to pick out of a crowd. Her horns twisted like a pig’s tail right above her head. Curly wasn’t her real name, but this point no one remembered what it was and she didn’t care to remind them.

“Still the champ!”

“Yeah which makes it sooo not impressive anymore. How about a little something else” Curly’s tail snaked away into the crowd before catapulting a barrel into their little circle. The barrel sloshed with quicksilver. Mercury nursed to a refined taste through centuries of careful aging. “Bet you can’t chug it all down.”

“You’re betting me to chug through our holy silver that belongs to all of dragon kind? Well heck yeah what sort of dragon would I be if I didn’t!”

“With enthusiasm like that I can’t wait to see you compete! You are competing right?” A voice rang behind her.

“Ha! As if I’d miss out on the games. I’m gonna bear the crown this year no matter what—” Smolder turned her head. “What in the world are you.” 

Her glare tensed into a tight squint. The four legs, the mane, the horn, the cute little marshmallow face. Whatever was in front of her was not a dragon.

“Okay, rude, but I can deal” She smiled and giggled. “I’m Autumn Blaze. I’m a kirin. We’re kinda like dragons of a sort.” Autumn shot Smolder a smile that flashed her teeth. A razor sharp, meat rendering row of pearly whites. “By the by, I’m competing. Nice to meet ya!” She offered her hoof.

It was left hanging.

Smolder’s lessons played in her head on repeat. The words of Fluttershy and the importance of kindness and acceptance playing through her head like a mantra was the only thinking keeping her from blowing a cloud of smoke in this creature’s face. “I think you should go. Most dragons arn’t as nice as I am?”

“Oh yes, you’re being oh so nice aren't you?” Autumn chuckled.

“Just how did you get in here anyway? No creature but a—”

“A-buh-buh-buh. Kirins are dragons. Kinda just said that. We can pass through that old spell just fine. Didn’t have to do a thing.”

Autumn was collecting her fair share of glares. Nearby, across the room, any dragon that noticed her was wearing a stare that could pierce through the hardiest of the scales.

Curly does imposing thing“No one’s buying your lies, hair-pony!” the others circled around autumn. Smolder knew better than to be part of it, but she didn’t feel terribly inclined to put a stop to it either. “Leave before we make you leave!”

“Now, now big guy. Think this through. You don’t really think that's a good idea do you?”

“I think it's time to test how well you really handle lava” Curly snatched Autumn by her main. “Time to go po—”

“You wanna die idiot!”

The temple went silent. Curly in her paryalzed state dropped Autumn like sack of potatoes. Dragon Lord Ember looked down from the podium in the center of the room.

“You all know the rules, no dragon is to inflict any act of violence upon another in the temple until the commencement of the games. So explain to me what in the world you think you’re doing.”

“B-but” Curly’s voice grew small “It's not a dragon Dragon Lord Ember.” she gulped

A second figure appeared beside ember. Tall, dark, graceful, and bearing green flowing lion’s mane much like Autumns 

“The kirin are our honored guests! Their blood passes through the spell. By right they are every bit as dragon as we are.They possess the same blood and worship the same spirits! Any dragon who has an issue with that will have personally take it up with me, but the temple shall not be tarnished with unsanctified violence. ... So please  wait till the perfectly sanctified violence later.”

“May I have a word?”

“Certainly”

“ Lord Rain Shine. My people have not been seen in the dragon land in over four thousand years. But after our lengthy isolation we’ve decided its time re-acquaint ourselves with our dragon heritage. While many of you may have forgotten us, we did once give praise in this hall and it has been long since our souls have been rejuvenated by the great spirits!” 

There was the beginnings of applause. Dragons turned their cold stares to whatever sound of small voices and clip clopping hooves they heard and as quickly as it started all the kirin clammed up with the knowledge that they were the one one’s cheering.

“Cheer for the spirits!” Ember's command was punctuated by the thunderous clack of her ceptor. 

The silence was eaten by the roarous applause, stomping, and unabashed fire breathing. Whatever cheers the kirin made were completely deafened.

“Nice work getting on the Dragon Lord’s bad side Curly.”

“Eh whatever. She never means it anyway, not the way Torch did.” Curly eyed her surroundings before whispering. “She’s soft.”

“Maybe, but she’s still smarter and more powerful than you so I’d watch it. I’m gonna go get signed up. Try not to break your other hand in the meantime.” 

Smolder left Curly to stew as she managed her way through the crowd. Dragons resumed their boasts and storytelling. Finding ways to display their pride in all cases. Showing off their perfect scales, their battle scars, the glorious trophies from their hoard. Whatever it was it was loud, bold, and unashamed. The kirin, she wasn’t sure if she would even notice them if she didn’t know they were there. They spoke softly, some didn’t speak at all. When the dragons were pumping chests chugging quicksilver, the kirin performed small dances and sipped from goblets. 

Even if it was in their blood there was no way these could be dragons. For all the ways a dragon’s body can deviate looking just like a pony wasn’t one of them. Having a few scales on your back wasn’t going to cut it.

“Whatever, dragon or kirin I’m winning this year anyway.”

“Now that’s the spirit!”

“You again? Are you following me or something.”

“No, of course now. You made it very clear you want nothing to to with me. Which absolutely fine with me cause i like I have to so many other dragons I want something to do with instead. Is that how you say that? Anyway. Nope just do draganoids registering to compete.”

“You’re competing? Really? You’re tiny.”

“Whaaaat. I dunno about you, maybe it's that whole two leg thing you got going on but we are  clearly  the same size. Wait no same height. If we took into account everything I’m pretty sure I’m the bigger one here, there is that tail though....”

Smolder groaned, the thing sure could talk fast. She didn’t even want to bother correcting that she meant in comparison to all the other dragons, the ones she was equally small compared to.  It was time to put all the time tuning out Silverstream to practice. Autumn’s wretched voice became nothing but  a drone in the back of her head. 

The registration had no dragon to manage it. No dragon needed to. There was merely an altar with a collection of silver goblets and behind the altar the DragonFly Lantern , a giant pillar of glass in the center of the temple. Within the glass the flames flickered and danced but never touched. Each flame carrying a pure glow at its center

“Hey. Blaze.”

“Most kirin call me Autumn.”

“Yeah I’m not wasting the extra Syllable. How the heck are you going to enter anyway? The DragonFly lantern is made for well, dragons.”

“Pffft, shaww, duh. The same way you do. I just need to get a little mad first.” Autumn grabbed the goblet with a glow from her horn. Much like any unicorn would. She closed her eyes for a moment

“What you’re just gonna think at the cup really hard?” Smolder leaned closer. Looking for a sign that Autumn was doing anything really. She also couldn’t help but notice Autumn didn’t smell like ash, sulphur,or even brimstone. Instead  she had a subtle scent of burning leaves. Autumn's eyebrows flashed into flame, startling Smolder into recoiling.

Autumn blew a ball of eerie blue flame into the goblet. She smiled and the fire on her face fizzled out. “See simple, my flames bear my soul the same as any other dragons.” With her magic she poured her flame into the funnel. The blue ghostly light traveled through the altar until it flowed into the lantern besides the flames of hundreds of dragons. It wasn’t the only blue flame in there, but it was the only one when that looked. As if it was wrapped in darkness, smolder thought.

“What the heck was that?”

“Just a little Nirik flame.” She said spitting out the last bit of flame on her tongue.  “Kinda gotta turn on the dragon powers. Without getting angry I’m mostly just fire resistant, retardant, rejectionary? One of those.”
“Heh.” Smolder kept a wary eye on Autumn as she spat her own ball of fire and let it float with the others in the lantern. The essence of her soul glowed within it. She couldn’t help but compare it with Autumn’s. She may have known nothing of souls. If only Yona or Ocellus was here for this. They certainly had more to say on the soul than she did. She looked for any sort of difference between the soul of a dragon and the Autumn’s. There was nothing different in the glow, but that dark flame that surrounded it. 

She checked on Autumn again out the corner of her eye. The kirin was low to the ground her head bowed, whispering her praises to the spirit of her choice, the final step of the registration process. A dark flame flickered on Autumn's flank. 

Smolder gave her own silent praise, and a golden ball of brilliant flame lit on her chest. She was officially competing on the behalf of her chosen spirit.

“OOooh I’m just so excited. What spirit did you praise to?”

Smolder shows reluctance “I. I don’t need to tell you. It's personal.”

[Smolder goes off and find’s Spike who has brought Mina with him. She learns that Spike is behind the whole kirin thing and they have some sort of small debate about it. Expected to be a bout a page worth of content]

A sound echoed through the temple that drew every dragon to silence. The scales of all those bearing flames glowed with red. All attention went to the top of the lantern where Ember looked upon all with her scepter. 

“Dragons! The lantern has filled with over three sound souls and it is now time for those of us who wear the light of our hearts to embrace our inner nature for the glory of the great spirits!”

Cheers*

“Alright alright.” Applause dies down* “Listen up. This year things will be a little different. You’re all gonna moan and groan about but it’ll still be all the same fun and deciet as usuall. This year you’ll be competing in pairs.” * “Yeah yeah. I know we all compete cause we want to rub it in our friends stupid faces. So to keep the spirit of the game pairs will be selected at random by the lantern. The spirits just thought it was time for a little change of pace.”

“This is to get us to play with those kirin isn’t it!” a dragon shouted.

“If you’ve got a problem with it you can bring it up to me face! We’re starting in five minutes when the sun hits the center of the sky no matter what! Nothing is changing so get used to it!” The sun shined through the windows above. Its light beamed agaisnt the crystal surfaces and bounced directly into the lantern. The flames within shined bright, and red glowing trails shined between the flames on dragons chests like tethers. “Now go find your partners!”

The trail emanating from Smolder's chest  wrapped around her and weaved through the massive crowd. Whoever it was better not weigh her down. 

“See you guys I’mma go find… wait!” Her head snapped to Spike and Mina, their flames already connected. “Whaaat! It's supposed to be random how did you two.”

Mina grinned, a blue blush covering her face. “We’re just lucky I guess!”

Smolder snapped. “The whole point is to not get friends but the two dragons who need friends the most!?”

“Well she said it was random. Its improbable but—”

“This is some Equestrian friendship magic thing isn’t it?”

Spike’s frills drooped. “I… don’t think that's how it wor—”

“Nope. That's what I’m going with. Equestrian Magic.  I don’t even want to think about it. Seeya equestrians!”

Leaving the paradox of improbability behind her Smolder rushed off to find whoever was her partner. Hopefully noone too much bigger than her. Even with the power a big brute of a dragon could bring to the table, the larger the harder it would be to get them to listen. Someone else’s pride wasn’t about to get in the way of her gameplan.

She flew above the crowd till she could see clearly who her tether lead to. Fate had conspired against her.

“Oh, hey! It's you! Lucky us! We’ve already built our repoir and everything.I act nice and you get to be vaguely dismissive back. A game winning pair.””

“Just my luck.”

“See, you’re already pulling your end of the bit. Keep up that level of dismal sarcasm, and we’ll get through this in no time!” She leaned in and whispered “In case I’m not making this clear, lighten up a bit.” She pulled back with a spine  “Be happy! Come on. I can’t really be so bad, can I?”

“I was happy when I came here. I was happy talking to spike, and I will be happy when I’m wearing the crown. What I’m not happy about is having to worry about someone else.”

“Being alone is overrated. Whew, trust me it's the worst. Honestly I don’t ever want to be alone again!”

“I don’t want to be alone! I have friends. I have lots of friends. But this isn’t how the Spirit is supposed to be. When that gate opens its supposed every dragon for themselves down there. Showing to their spirit what it means to be a dragon! That's the expression I’ve been waiting for!”

“Ooooh I get it.”

“You… you do?”

“You’re feeling challenged with something new. Ahh yes. I get it. I get it. New rules, new dragons—”

“You’re not a dragon!” Smolder shouted, smoke drooling out the sides of her maw with its heavy,heaving breaths. “I’m perfectly fine with new.” She growled

“Yeesh, harsh okay. I got presumptuous. My ‘B’. I’m sorry. Let's just meditate on this instead huh. Calm the nerves, align the chakras, channel our anger toward things that aren't me, hopefully.”

Smolder felt like re-aligning something alright, getting this little potential liability out of the way now could even do her some good in the long run.

[grand chasm opens giving access to the labyrinth]

[At some point in this labyrinth there is a trap of gold that Smolder nearly falls for, but Autumn is able stop her because Kirin don’t have a greed instinct]

[At some point they admit to eachother which spirit they prayed to. Smolder admits that she prayed to Tiamat spirit of evil. Because she has pure pride and no doubts or shame. And thats the part smolder wants to fill her heart with regardless of the evil]

[Figure out how the fuck things go from here. 

The general idea is “what does it mean to be a dragon”

Smolder who has dealt with things like helping her brother get over being bullied for his hobbies, getting more connected with the things she’s used to be ashamed, of and other stuff at the school. Has done a lot of thinking over that question. She thinks she’s developed a clear idea that ebing a dragon isn’t about bullying, strength, or always making sure your on top. But about unrelenting pride in yourself and to have security in that.

Smolder is challenged by the idea that something doesn’t have to literally be a physical dragon as she knows it to be a dragon. And when she thought she has become accepting and open she’s found a blank spot in in her views. That surely a creature that doesn’t look like a dragon can be one.

Autumn Blaze is used to not having any doubts in herself or the strength of her character. She’d defy her whole tribe for her beliefs. But while she believes she’s a dragon she’s challenged by thinking she’s not enough of a dragon for the people that are core to her heritage. That she’s too separated from them to connect together in what used to be shared traditions]

So he reason I didn't finish it was 1: I didn't like writing it.
2: I was still incredibly iffy on Autumn's character motivation
3: Most importantly. I couldn't convince myself that for all of Smolder's dragon pride the idea of her not being able to except Kirin's as dragons just didn't feel like it worked with her character after how she developes as a student.