The next couple of hours were hectic for Kunzite. She asked around for the kind of things she would need for a long trip, having forgotten her prized book, How Not To Die When You’re Far From Home, when she left Ponyville. As a result, she freaked out and tried to grab all the things. A hundred water containers, enough food to feed...well, a village, things like that.
When Autumn came up to check on her, she found a huge pile of stuff in the middle of the village. Kunzite was even adding to it with different utensils. “Got to have a net,” she mumbled to herself. “Never know when there could be a dangerous bug out in the open. I should know, I could name them all off the top of my head. Wait, is that enough water?”
Autumn laughed and joined her friend by the pile. “You don’t have to carry that much stuff around. There’s no way we could carry all that by ourselves.”
“Don’t we need it, though?” Kunzite thought. “We’re going to be gone for a few days at the very least, and we need to prepare for everything.”
“Don’t you have magic? That should be enough for most things. You could start a campfire with your fire spells, maybe even make a magical shelter.” She poked Kunzite’s horns just enough to make sure they were solid.
“Hey, those are sensitive.” Her horns twitched from the pokes. “I guess magic could help a little bit, but I’m still learning. I haven’t gotten to Volume 2 of Mom’s spellbooks, and those have, like, a hundred spells each.”
“That’s good enough for me,” Autumn countered. “Between my knowledge of the tribes, your magic, and Moonstone’s strength, we can do anything. Isn’t that enough before you throw…” The pile of stuff collapsed under its own weight. Everything scattered in a million directions. “....all that on board?”
Kunzite cringed from the pile crashing on her. It didn’t help that the villagers were upset to see their village all cluttered from the mess. “I guess you’re right…” She used a levitation spell to pick everything up from the pile. One by one, she put everything back where she found it.
“Hey, we’ll be fine. You had the right idea, we just need to slim down.” Autumn went around the village and gained a fraction--fraction--of what Kunzite thought they needed. “We’ll just pack up some of the things we need, restock when we have to, and we’re good to go.”
“Really? That little?” Kunzite gazed at the pile to make sure she was seeing it right. It had a few one liter bottles of water, rations for food, some bedrolls and enough materials for a tent, among other things.
“That’s all you need. Oh hey, I think our little dragon’s coming back!”
Just on cue, Moonstone could be seen coming back over the horizon. He seemed pretty content with himself when he came back their way. It was impossible to miss the bag hanging on his back, with how tightly packed and cumbersome it looked. It wasn’t hard to guess that it was full of gems, given how some of them bulged out of the bag.
“You’re just in time. We’re about to leave!” Kunzite waved. “Are you ready to head out?”
Moonstone landed down, and the gems almost bounced out of the bag. “Ready as I’ll ever be. Said my goodbyes back home, and I guess I gotta write to Mom and Dad, too.”
“Don’t worry. I got enough between the both of us.” She pulled out a whole roll of paper, quill, and ink from her knapsack, more than he had ever seen in his lifetime.
“Why am I not surprised you were carrying that around…”
“Oooh, are those gems?” Autumn wondered. She pulled out a Fire Ruby from the bag. “That is adorable. You guys might eat rocks like these, but that would make for a good decoration.”
“Don’t touch my gems like that,” he snapped. He took it back and stuffed it in his bag, only to get a certain stare from his friend. “Sorry, just touchy about my stuff.”
“Gotcha, don’t touch the gems. Anything else you guys need to do before we hit the road?” Autumn asked around.
“I do,” said Kunzite. “Give me just one moment.” She went off to go see her parents again at their guesthouse. A few knocks on the door later, and Twilight and Spike came out to see her. They didn’t have to ask if she was ready or not. It was obvious with the look on her face.
Before she could get another word out, Twilight pulled her in for a family hug. Spike joined her right away, and the things left unsaid were louder than anything they could say. Kunzite wouldn’t know it yet, but Twilight’s eyes grew watery.
“I’m so proud of you,” her mother whispered. “You’ll promise you’ll write to us every day?”
“I will,” Kunzite nodded. “I don’t want to keep you guys out of it. We’ll be okay no matter what. I’ll keep Moonstone out of trouble.”
“We know you will,” Spike agreed, and he rubbed the top of Kunzite’s mane. “You’re a big girl now, and you got a lot of people looking out for you. Not that you need it, you’re awesome like that. But…” He brushed away a tear before she could see it. “Go out there and show them what you’re made of.”
Kunzite couldn’t stop grinning. “You guys are like the best parents ever. Now, I’m gonna go out there and change the--”
“Don’t forget about the guards,” Twilight interrupted. “They should be ready about now.”
“Awww, I forgot about that.” She kicked the dirt around her feet. “They’re not going to be bossy, are they?”
“No, and I think you’ll like them. They’ve been guarding the castle for a few years now, and I would trust them with my life.” She brought Kunzite and Spike down to go see them. “Here they are. I told them to keep an eye on you if something goes wrong, but they won’t get in the way if everything’s fine.”
The two guards were both pegasi, and they carried a small chariot with them. One was a mare, around twenty years old with a white coat and silver mane. The other was a stallion, sporting a blue coat with a black mane, and he was a bit older than his counterpart. They bowed before the alicorn when they saw her motioning their way.
“You don’t have to do that every time I point at you,” Twilight laughed. “Anyways, these two are Silverstrike and Marine Wind. They’ll use the chariot to carry Autumn around, so you won’t have to leave her behind whenever you want to fly.”
The guards rose up to their feet. “Sorry, matter of habit,” Silverstrike noted. “We are ready to depart when the party is ready.”
“Just one moment,” said Kunzite, turning to her parents. “I’ll promise to write every day...err, every three hours. You’ll know everything when it happens. Oooh, I wish I could draw, I want you guys to see what the kirin look like over there.”
“Oh, I think we’ll see them soon enough,” Spike smiled. He brought her and Twilight in for another group hug, and this one went a little longer than the last. “Don’t let us keep you from it. Don’t forget that we love you.”
Kunzite smiled and kissed them both on the forehead. When she left the guest house, she looked over her shoulder at them the entire time, then she found herself back with Moonstone and Autumn. She went ahead and told them about the guards tagging along, much to Moonstone’s disgust.
“You mean there’s gonna be more of you guys coming along?” he groaned. “Alright, whatever helps your parents sleep at night.”
Autumn had...quite a bit of a different reaction. She examined the guards coming along with them, and she made sure they were in top shape. The two pegasi stood there without a hint of emotion, as they were used to this kind of nonsense from Pinkie Pie. “You guys look alright. You can hold your own in a fight or not?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Silverstrike responded. “If we need to fight, we can fight. When we are leaving?”
“Right now!” Autumn immediately piled all the provisions into the chariot, including Moonstone’s bag of gems, and she climbed on board. “Let’s get this show on the road, guys!”
That’s when it truly dawned on the dragon and kirin what they were going to do. Even when they kept in mind that Twilight and Spike would be around, this would be the first time they’d get to do something this huge by themselves. Moonstone took it well, and his wings were already spread out. The sooner he took to the skies, the better.
Kunzite had a different feeling about the moment, however. She couldn’t deny that she was nervous, and it was possible she didn’t think about what she was getting herself into. Whatever was out there could be terrifying, and she grew nervous about it. Despite all of that, she learned over time about the best way to face fear for someone like her: Hit screw it and do it anyway. She spread out her wings and started to fly.
Her parents watched them both from the porch, along with a lot of the kirins across the village, as their wings carried them into the air. Autumn couldn’t stop squealing in delight as the guards flew up, taking her chariot up with them, and a cool breeze passed through the feathers and scales on their wings. It wasn’t long until all of them soared above the trees in the wild blue yonder.
Kunzite realized this was the last time she would see her parents in a while, and she turned around to see them one last time. She waved at them as fast as she could, and they waved back at her, trying not to tear up again. Just a few seconds later, the party would be dots in the sky, unrecognizable up there.
“I just hope they’re okay,” Twilight whimpered. She wouldn’t be able to fight the tears this time.
“They will be,” Spike comforted her. “I believe in them.”
------
The land of Equestria flew by them at crazy high speeds. The wind was a nice breeze behind them, carrying their wings further than they could do on their own. Autumn was having a blast from the chariot, with her mane and fur going everywhere. She even lifted her hands up in the air like this was all one big roller coaster.
Ahhhh, this was just what the dragon needed. He felt cramped in the village, and this was more like his style. He did barrel rolls both ways and soaked in the breeze. The wind enveloped him like a blanket, and the fresh air in his nostrils smelled like paradise.
Kunzite noted how fast he was going. She might not have been the quickest flier, but she had no idea he was so much better than she was. He noticed it right away when he gazed over his shoulder. “Come on, you can do better than that!” he ‘encouraged’ her.
“We have to be careful!” she cautioned. “We could be falling into a trap, or something worse!”
“Not right now. We got a lot of traveling to do, and I’m not gonna wait on it.” He blasted right over the forest, and he started to become a dot in their field of vision.
“Come on, Kunzite, show him what you’re made of,” Autumn piled on. She leaned over the side of the chariot and pumped her fist in the air. “He’s not the only good flier in this group!”
That didn’t help things for Kunzite. She didn’t want to show off, but she grew scared for her little scaled friend. He was so reckless, not caring if they were flying into danger, and she needed to make sure he was okay. Faced with no other options, she flapped her wings harder than ever to make up lost ground. Her feathers ruffled against the current as she pushed herself to make it.
Moonstone grew so arrogant, he was convinced she’d never catch up. That didn’t sound fair, so he halted to give her a few seconds to catch up. Maybe in a minute, she’d get over here, and he’d get to rest just a tiny bit. Not like he needed it. Then he felt a blur of fur and scales nearly miss him. Wait, was that...no way. There was no way that could be HER.
“What’s wrong? Worried that she can keep up with you?” Autumn grinned from the back. The guards strained to keep up the pace themselves, but they weren’t tired just yet. “She’s stronger than you think!”
“Grrr...knew I was full of myself back there!” He slapped himself for letting that happen, and he went back to his usual speed. As it turned out, his friend stopped in her tracks for him. You gotta be kidding me. It really was her back there.
Kunzite exhaled peacefully once he caught up. “I thought I’d never catch up to you. Do you know how fast you were going? I bet you could do a Sonic Rainboom when you grow up.”
“Huh. So that’s what you’re thinking about, Sonic Rainbooms,” Moonstone thought. “Well, I could go a lot faster if I felt like it.”
“Really?” The thought made her awestruck. “How fast could you go?”
“You know what, we got some time to kill before we get there. Why don’t we do a wager? I’m gonna fly to the limit, and you have to try to keep up with me...using your magic. If you win, I’ll have to read all of your mom’s books. If I win, you have to try one of my gems. Deal?”
Out of all the things she expected to happen on the way, this wasn’t on the list. That wasn’t a bad thing. “Deal. You’ll really like her books if you ever try them out. Really informative about a lot of things. And then there’s Dad’s book. That’s a classic.”
“Heh, we’ll see about that. On your marks, get set…” He sped off right away, leaving a huge gust of wind in his wake. The skin on his wings thrashed against the wind as he pushed himself to go as fast as he could without dying.
Kunzite was astonished how quick he was getting, and she huffed and tried to concentrate. This spell was going to be a long distance one to work. Her twin horns shined from the magical aura as she brought her attention to her destination. This was the longest distance she ever tried a teleportation spell on, but it would make for good practice.
The dragon roared in delight when he realized how far he had gone. He could barely make out his friends off in the distance, and he was only getting faster. Who knows, maybe he could be the first dragon to do a Sonic Rainboom. If anyone could do it, it might as well be him.
However, he heard something behind him. It sounded like a burst of energy of some sort. He froze up and turned to see who it was. “Dang it. Of course your magic’s that good,” he muttered. “Does this count as a win for me or you?”
“Hmm, I’m going to say...Moonstone!” Autumn interrupted. As it turned out, Kunzite accidentally dragged Autumn and the guards into her spell. The guards were caught off...guard...and tried to regain their bearings. “You came really close, but you weren’t totally caught up with him. That was really good, though.”
Moonstone placed his hands on his hips triumphantly. “Heh, knew I could do it. Okay, maybe not, but I still gave it my all.” He slapped her shoulder like she was a teammate. “You’ll get the hang of it one day.”
“That was my best teleportation spell yet. I had no idea I could go that far,” Kunzite cheered. “Guess I’ll have to try a gem after all when we make camp.”
Despite the satisfaction of winning, he felt kinda bad about things. “Hey, we could try something else to even up the score, so I’ll still have to read a book. And I think I got just the thing. You got any fire spells in ya?”
The idea made her meep. “I do, but why would I need to do that? It’s nothing but forests in all directions. I don’t want to burn anything down like that.”
“No no no, nothing like that,” he waved his hands. “How about something like...” He took a huge breath of air, more than Kunzite had ever seen him take before. She swore he had to suck in the air around her, too. After he exhaled, a huge plume of fire came out of his lips. It shot up fifty feet in the sky, maybe even more. He aimed it away from the party and any trees, but she could still feel the heat from it. Her eyes widened from the huge amount of fire, and maybe a little disgusted that he had to belch it out.
Once it was over, he caught his breath from all that. “You think you can top that with a fire spell? There’s no way you can come close to me.”
“It’s honestly a toss up,” Autumn comment. “What do you guys think?”
“For the love of Celestia and Luna, please don’t ever do that again unless you have to,” Marine Wind pleaded.
“That was so awesome!” Silverstrike countered. “We need to see that one more time. Go ahead, Kunzite. Try to show him what Equestria’s made out of!”
“Okay. I’ll try.” Kunzite wasn’t sure about it, but her friends having her back helped a little bit. That, and she really wanted him to read her dad’s book right away. Surely, Moonstone would love some advice from another dragon.
Once again, she concentrated everything she had into the spell. Her horns illuminated in a different shade of color, the red shade hinting at the spell she had in mind. Moonstone leaned back in the clouds and watched. He wasn’t sure what the dragon equivalent of popcorn was, but he wished he had some on him.
After a minute of preparation, Kunzite slowly let it out. It started as a spark of flame, but it almost flickered out before it caught on. “Come on, you can do better than that,” he egged her on. That turned out ot be one of the biggest mistakes of his lifetime. Before he knew it, a huge pillar of fire shot up just inches from his frame. It was bigger than his fire belch, and the heat felt like a volcano right up in his face.
Kunzite realized she almost hit Moonstone, and she freaked out. She immediately pointed her horns up into the sun, and the fire soared up a good seventy-five feet up. When it was over, Moonstone and Marine Wind’s jaws were planted on the floor, while Autumn and Silverstrike looked like they just saw the best fireworks show of all time.
“So...oh man…how was that?” Kunzite panted and wiped some sweat away from her forehead. “Was that pretty good?”
“Maybe we need to take a break from this…” Moonstone whimpered.
------
Yeah, my Molt was terrifying, AND I had to fight a giant bird, but it was worth it in the end. I even got these sweet wings out of it. Goes to show that change isn’t always the worst thing in the world. You might even love it like I did back then. I wouldn’t want to be a grounded dragon forever, after all.
Moonstone grumbled and put Spike’s book away. It had some practical advice mixed in there, but a lot of entries read more like diaries than any attempt at professional writing. Still, a bet's a bet, and he enjoyed watching Kunzite’s end of the bargain on the other side of camp.
Kunzite held a yellow gem in her hands, and she wasn’t sure where to start with it. Maybe she should begin on the pointy end, where it wasn’t that thick? On second thought, that was gonna hurt. The center could work, but she might chip a tooth that way. She didn’t know what to do, so she went ahead and bit down on the pointy end. To her surprise, her teeth dug right into the gems, and it crunched in her mouth like a rice candy bar.
The chunks of gem hit her tongue, and it tasted of lemons. However, it was unlike any lemon she ever had. The taste was so strong, yet so juicy. She grinded her teeth on the rock and swallowed. The aftertaste was even better than the regular taste. “Huh. I guess I could eat these after all. They’re really delicious.”
“Told ya. I’ll share some of mine with you,” Moonstone stated.
After another hour of flying, despite his concerns, they made camp for the midday hours. Silverstrike and Marine Wind took it upon themselves to get the very basics of a campground ready, mostly getting a fire ready for any cooking.
Autumn’s fur was blown over in all directions, but she never felt so alive in a long time, if not her entire lifetime. She didn’t bother fixing her mane when she sat down by the fire, boiling some rations on a frying pan. “Whew, we need to do that again! Is that what flying always feels like?”
“Pretty much. It never gets old,” Moonstone agreed. He tried to get through another page of Spike’s diary--let’s face it, that’s what it was--but then something crossed his mind. “Why is this so important to you, Autumn?”
Autumn tilted her head to the side. “Didn’t I tell you? I told the whole village, but if I left you out, really sorry about that.”
“No, you told me. You want to unite all the tribes, yadda yadda. But there’s so many kirin around you. It’s not like you live alone back home.”
“Ohhhh, I get it. You’re like ‘she’s not alone, why would she need more friends?’ But it’s more like I want things to go back like they were. We all used to be connected, and we hung out all the time. Then we stopped doing that for all the wrong reasons, oath of silence and all that. When I did our reunion with the two tribes missing, it felt like a family reunion but someone’s missing.”
“Yeah, well, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be,” he snorted.
“Moonstone!” Kunzite cut in. “Why would you say that? Don’t you know what she’s going through? I’m so sorry he said that to you, Autumn.”
Autumn got up from her log and, with a completely blank expression, went to face Moonstone. “No, I want to know what you mean by that. Did something happen to you?”
“Nothing happened!” He snapped, but he forced himself to calm down. “It’s just that we’re not divided where I come from. Dragonkind never went off and disappeared like your kind did. We might be united in a sense, but it never meant anything to us because we never saw eye to eye. We still fight each other. It’s not like Equestria, where everypony’s happy as they can be, and they’re all friends with each other.”
Kunzite didn’t count on hearing that, and she winced a little bit. She wanted to retort his argument, say something, but she couldn’t. Not another word was said by her.
“So you understand what I mean, probably because you’ve been in the Dragon Lands,” he continued. “They all recognize my mother as the Dragon Lord, but that doesn’t stop them from fighting and stealing from each other, right?”
“Right…”
“My point, exactly.” He put the book under his armpit. “Autumn, I hope you find what you’re looking for, I really do. But not everyone’s going to like what you have in mind for them.”
The older kirin stood there quietly. She had a lot of mixed emotions, ranging from sorrow to concern to optimism. Kunzite swore her fur started to ignite into that of a Nirik. Still, she didn’t burst out or anything like that.
“I need to try, at least,” Autumn stated calmly. “I have to. I just want to make sure everyone is safe and sound.”
“And I don’t think that’s a bad thing,” said Kunzite. “Look, it would get to me if there were just two of my kind in the whole world.”
But you’re only one of...oh, Moonstone thought to himself. I hit a nerve with you, didn’t I? “Yeah, I know. Just be careful about this.”
“I will,” Autumn replied, starting to get her cheer back. “And we’ll get through anything together. Right?”
“We will, but I think I need a moment,” Kunzite said. “Just a few minutes.”
“Wait, was it something I said?” She reached out for Kunzite, only for the younger kirin to go out on her own, deeper into the forest.
“More like something I said,” Moonstone complained. “I really gotta shut my mouth sometimes.”
Kunzite tried her best to keep her calm when she found a river nearby, where there was just enough grass around it to make her hover in the air. She gazed down at her reflection, and she didn’t see a freak like she might have done in the past. Just someone that needed...well, that was a silly thought. She didn’t need it like she thought she did.
Her hands cupped a few drops water out of the river, and she drank it down. It was just clean enough to drink, but she could still taste something weird in it. It might for the best to stop drinking it. Still, the faint taste of gem crust was on her tongue, and it was a reminder of the dragon side she carried around. That got her thinking about what Moonstone had to say, and he wasn’t wrong. There wasn’t any unity in the Dragon Lands like there was in Equestria.
At least he wasn’t alone when he wanted to find more of his kind.
Her eyes drifted towards the horizon, right in the direction of their destination. There were a few mountain peaks there, and maybe she should fly over there to get her mind straightened out some more. After all, he didn’t know he was getting under her skin with those comments. It was on her, and she didn’t clue him in on how that was a sensitive topic.
Right when she got out of the river to head over there, someone huge landed down by one of the peaks. What was that? It was big and red, with a little yellow on its underbelly. Were those wings she was seeing on it? They were. Then she recognized the body form, the scales, everything about it. It was a dragon.
She gasped and watched in bewilderment. There was nothing indicating that dragons lived here, not even one. Was it a stray dragon or part of a pack? She had to tell the others about it, maybe they knew what to do. Before she could go over and tell them, she heard a loud scream emitting from the camp.
“No no no, please tell me we’re not under attack!” She rushed to the camp and braced herself for the worst. There was no telling if there was another dragon out there, and she didn’t want to have to fight.
As it turned out, Autumn was the one screaming...in pure delight. Moonstone stood right by her with fists raised, and the guards had their swords ready for a fight. What was it they were facing? That was the fun part of this story.
Surrounding the party on all sides were a bunch of kirin consumed in the flames of the Nirik. Even with their bodies consumed in flames, their clothing remained intact. Despite their raged induced stage, they seemed calm and collected, but they carried spears in their hands.
“Why are you guys wanting to fight again?” Autumn asked the rest of the party. “These are KIRIN! They might even be from the lost tribes! Oh my gosh, this is really happening. I finally found you after so long. Where do we start? Hi, I’m Autumn Blaze, and these are my friends. I just met all of them, but they’re incredible.”
“Fellow Kirin, step away from the dragon,” one of the Niriks demanded.
“No way. I don’t trust you guys,” Moonstone snapped.
“Wait, why would I do that? He’s my friend,” Autumn added.
“He’s one of them. I sense it on him,” another Nirik answered.
Moonstone growled. “Say that again and I’ll blow you away.”
“No! Wait!” Kunzite dashed in and stood between him and the others. “They really are our friends. Please, don’t fight anyone. We can talk this out.”
The Niriks collectively gasped at the sight of Kunzite. The shape and features of her form brought all their attention on her “Could she be…” “No, this can’t be right.” “We need to let her know about this.” “Does this change anything?” “I still think we need to do something about that dragon.”
Moonstone caught the last part and growled again. “What is it with you guys? I haven’t touched a hair on you, but you’re sure getting on my nerves.”
Autumn went around him and faced the Niriks directly. “Look, if he was a bad dragon, he would have burned this whole forest down. We’re all just a bunch of friends coming to find you. How’s it going?”
They weren’t sure what to do about these visitors, so they huddled together and talked amongst each other. Autumn wished she was part of the huddle, Kunzite hoped it would be enough to defuse things, while Moonstone was still ticked off to high heaven. The guards held tight to their swords in case things escalated again.
After some words were exchanged, they powered down into their normal kirin forms. Their color schemes were vibrant, just as much as ponies were. They didn’t seem to be as suspicious about their guests as they once were.
“We believe you, but we’re keeping a careful eye on your friends,” they told Autumn, eyeballing Moonstone most of all. “Our leaders might be interested in your friend.” They gestured over to Kunzite.
“Yeah, she’s wonderful, isn’t she?” Autumn piped in. “Although, you gotta get to know Moonstone a bit more. He’s got a wallup punch like you’ve never seen before.”
“That’s not for us to decide,” the leader of the pack stated, with a calmness that didn’t exactly instill confidence in the dragon. “Come with us. We need to show you our village.”
“YOU HAVE A VILLAGE?” Autumn exploded. “Now this I gotta see! Come on, guys, we’ve got a lot to see and learn about these guys!”
The guards sheathed their swords, understanding that this wasn’t going to turn into a fight. They went with Autumn down into the forest, curious about where this village would be. Kunzite was about to join them, until she felt Moonstone tugging at her arm.
“This doesn’t feel right,” he stated. “You feel it, too?”
“That’s because they don’t like you,” she responded. “I didn’t enjoy that, either. You were just being protective, that’s all.”
“No, it’s something else. I don’t know why just yet, but they’re freaking me out. We shouldn’t go with them like we’re all buddy buddy.”
“Isn’t this why we came, though? Besides, if something goes wrong, we can handle it. If we can’t, my parents can send in help, too. We’ll be fine.” She went with everyone else down into the woods.
“Ugghhhhh...why does nobody ever listen to me?” He kicked a piece of grass (thankfully, not while Kunzite was there to see it) and huffed when he joined them on the trail. Whatever was going to happen, he wanted no part in it. Not like he had a choice, though. Let’s just get this over with.