The sun set off in the horizon, and the moon drifted up into the sky to take its place. Its light reflected along the surface of the water, where the newly found kirin stood in its banks. She slowly walked out of its confines, and the bottom of her robes were dried off with a simple flick of her horns. Despite how young she seemed to be, there was a hint of wisdom beyond her years. Looks could be deceiving like that.
That wasn’t the first thing on Kunzite’s mind, and her jaw was firmly planted on the ground. A million thoughts raced through her mind, and she couldn’t focus on just one of them. Then there were a million more questions. Did Wildfire know that there could be more of them? How long has this been a thing? What this did mean for Equestria? For her? Her eyes darted all across the place as she tried and failed to process it all.
The other kirin turned to address Streaming Sea. “Thank you for bringing her to me. If you don’t mind, I’d like to spend some time with her, just the two of us. I imagine there’s a lot on her mind right now.” Her voice was quiet, too deep to pass as a young person’s voice, but too soft to be an old woman’s tone.
Streaming Sea rose up to his feet and nodded. “I’ll be waiting by the boat.” He picked up his belongings and went on his way. That left the two Equestrian Kirins by themselves, and Kunzite still couldn’t get another word out. Every time she thought she nailed down what she would say, another thought entered her mind to replace it right away.
“You must be confused and anxious,” the other kirin began. “If it helps, I was the same way when I started to learn about my powers and nature. Even then, never in a thousand years did I expect to see another one of my kind.” She closed her eyes and calmed down. Turned out that Kunzite wasn’t the only one overwhelmed by this meeting. “My name is Cinder. What is yours?”
“K-Kunzite,” the younger kirin finally got out. “You h-have a really nice name…”
Cinder smiled warmly and came closer to Kunzite. “It’s not that unique. I’ve met a dragon or two with that name. Yours on the other hand, I’ve never heard of a name like that before.”
That made Kunzite gulp. She cut the distance between them, and she had to focus to get the first question on her mind out. “How? I mean, what? Why? Err, where to begin? Oh Celestia, I thought there were only two of us in the whole world. And now there’s you! You’re real!” She gasped and nearly collapsed from the sight. Her mind might have actually been hurting.
Cinder came in and held onto Kunzite’s shoulders, doing whatever she could to comfort her younger kin. “Two of us? So there’s even more than I expected. But that doesn’t matter right now. What matters is that you must be filled to the brim with questions, and I’d be happy to answer all of them for you, Kunzite.”
If Kunzite wasn’t already over the moon, she was now. She just hoped she had enough breath in her lungs to get through them all. “Where to start?” Another look at Cinder’s young-ish face helped her see what she wanted to ask first. “How old are you?”
Cinder couldn’t help but laugh softly. “Normally, that would be a rude question to ask a woman, but this isn’t quite normal. The answer is, I turned one hundred years old just last month. It’s odd, I don’t quite feel that old.” She stretched out her arms and noticed the lack of wrinkles or anything like that on her body. “What about you?”
“E-Eighteen,” Kunzite stammered. That was new to her. Did that mean she wouldn’t age at all over the next 82 years? Wildfire had centuries on her, and he just now started to look like he was leaving middle age.
“That would explain why we haven’t met. You just came into the world by dragon standards. Speaking of which, was your father a pony and your mother a dragon, too?”
Kunzite shook her head. “My mother’s the pony, and my father’s a dragon.”
That sent a youthful spark in Cinder’s eyes, and she grinned in delight. “Then you must be half dragon as well! Your mother is a unicorn, isn’t she? That would explain the horns.” She lightly touched one of Kunzite’s horns, and even that was enough to make the younger kirin twitch a bit. “Oh, sorry, I forget how sensitive those are.”
“No, it’s okay. I just have so many things to ask you!” Then she remembered how she promised Twilight that she’d write to her frequently. The next letter was going to be an all timer, that was for sure.
“I know, I know. But I’m curious about you. If you don’t mind, could you show me what all you could do with your magic?” Cinder clasped her hands and stepped to the side to make room for her to do her thing.
“Me? But I want to learn about you, more than anything else!” The mere idea of showing off her skills to someone like Cinder blew her mind. She had to be dreaming by now.
Cinder nodded to show how serious she was. “Here, I’ll give you an example of what I can do, if that helps.” She brought her wings out to hover one inch above the ground, and she drew herself to the edge of the river. Her horns shone as white as clouds as she got ready for what she was about to do.
After some thinking, she had the perfect spell in mind. A bunch of water swished around inside the river, like there were two giant fish lurking underneath the surface. As she got to work, she kept her distance above the surface as she flew deeper into the river banks. The creatures underneath came out of their hiding under her command, but there wasn’t anything there--they consisted of two figures made out of water.
One of the figures was a dragon, standing six feet tall. She was clearly feminine, but her muscle mass rivaled that out of any dragon of her size. The next figure was a unicorn pony, just as tall as the dragon. He sported a robe of a particular design, something Kunzite recognized. They were the kinds of robes magicians wore a century ago in Equestria.
As they took form, Cinder sniffed and reached out to grab their hands, even though the figures were just that, figures. “These were my parents. Dragon and pony romance was looked down upon that time, but I imagine that has less to do with taboos and more that Equestria and the Dragon Lands didn’t get along. I know why that was the case,” she muttered, her emotions betraying her calm demeanor. “My father passed away a long time ago. My mother grew as big as any elder dragon does, but we still see each other every now and then.”
Kunzite watched in awe. She wished that she brought some popcorn with her on the trip. “I’m so sorry to hear that. At least it seems like they were happy together.”
“More than anything else in the world.” Cinder’s horns stopped their little spell, and the figures dropped down to their watery home. “Now you give it a try. Don’t worry, you don’t have to do anything that complicated. Just do the first spell that comes to your mind.”
Oh no. I know she just said that I could do anything I wanted, but how am I going to top THAT? Still, Kunzite saw Cinder’s face and knew that she wouldn’t be the judging type around here. It was okay doing whatever silly thing she had in mind.
Like Cinder did before her, she rose up with her wings and found her spot three inches in the air. She closed her eyes and lifted her hands up to her sides. Her senses focused on the scents of nature around her. It was so lovely to feel that around her, and the spell took its shape from those impressions.
Cinder could feel a breeze roll by around her, rustling her mane. And then there was another breeze that followed it, with three more coming up behind it. That’s when she realized what Kunzite was up to. It was going to be beautiful.
The breeze turned into a gust of wind, and it started to swirl around Kunzite. The breeze picked up flower petals from the ground and carried the scents of honey, fish, and other assorted smells of nature with it. It turned into a whirlwind of nature, and Kunzite opened her eyes to see how Cinder was reacting. It wasn’t quite the proud and heartwarming smile she saw Twilight give her when she cast her first spell, but this one was close.
She felt she proved her point, and the spell dissipated over time. The flower petals dropped back down their home, and everything was quiet and still again. She lowered herself to solid ground, only to cringe when she caught the sound of crunching grass. That wasn’t good.
Cinder cringed from the sound as well, but she ignored it and clapped her hands together. “That was amazing! Could you imagine all the uses for something like that?”
“It’s just a wind spell. My mother tells me it’s a great spell, too, but I don’t get it. It’s just a wind machine.”
“You never went sailing before, have you?” Cinder noted. “Imagine having a spell like that when you’re out in the sea. There’s no wind to back the sails one day, but then you cast that? You could sail anywhere in a minute, just like that.”
“Hmm...never really thought about that. But you’ve probably thought of a lot of things I haven’t thought about,” Kunzite said sheepishly. “Are you okay if I ask you another question?”
“Kunzite, I asked Sea to bring you here precisely to answer your questions. You think I wouldn’t find out about another one of my kind in the village, and not be curious about it? I’ll have questions of my own, but you go first.”
“Okay. Here goes nothing.” She took a deep breath to prep herself. “Streaming Sea said that you’re the real leader of this village. How did that work out? I saw the play and I get the history, but I’m still confused. You weren’t mentioned at all.”
Cinder’s eyes turned to a darker shade of orange for a second, but she concentrated on her work instead. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to show you the history of how that came to be, in a form I think you’ll recognize as one of our favorites: The play.”
“Wow, you kirin really like your plays, don’t you?”
“The tribes rubbed off on me, I admit,” Cinder admitted. She brought Kunzite down to a separate corner of the garden, where there were two tree stumps resting by each other. She sat down on one of them, and she motioned for Kunzite to sit on the other. The younger kirin sat down soon after.
Once they were seated, Cinder’s horns glowed again. This time, there were sparks across the dirt floor in front of them. After a while, the sparks formed fire particles, each forming by the second, until there were hundreds of them. They floated and swirled all around the floor ahead of their little audience.
“By now, you saw the first play, where you learned about the reason why the tribes migrated from their homes,” Cinder began. The particles moved and took two groups of shapes. One stayed on the ground, forming little tiny kirin and Niriks. The second group hovered in the air, resembling dragons. Some of them acted hostile to the tribes, but others protected the kirin below.
“That’s right. Moonstone was really upset about it,” said Kunzite.
Cinder looked off to the side for a second. “I’ll talk with him later. But there was more to the story than what Sea showed you. You see, the play you saw has a second half. I asked them not to tell that part to you, as I’m directly involved with that piece. I figured I’d be the best to tell it. As you’ll see, things weren’t exactly peaceful during their migration.”
The remaining particles went to the other side of the field, and the figure they formed was a little kirin that closely resembled a younger Cinder. Kunzite could tell who this person was, despite her being just one foot tall. The mini Cinder wandered around the field, curious yet directionless. “I’m not sure if you were ever told about this, but every kirin like us has their own special destiny. Much like how ponies have their cutie marks, except ours doesn’t leave tattoos on your hip.”
“I’ve learned about it. You know that other Equestrian Kirin I mentioned? His name is Wildfire. He taught me all about it, and his special destiny was stopping Dragon Lord Torch from invading Equestria, over a thousand years ago.”
The figures all stopped in the middle of their tracks, and Cinder looked right at Kunzite. “Is that so?” She let it process in her mind before she continued. “Then he and I have something in common. That said, I was still young of mind when they moved. More like a teenager, really. Trying to find myself and my place in the world, until one day showed me the way.”
The mini Cinder stumbled upon the tribes as they were migrating. They all stopped their trek and took a moment to examine her. Their reactions seemed to be a mixture of fear and curiosity. “That was their reaction, right there. And why wouldn’t they be a little worried? I was the first Equestrian Kirin they ever met, after all.”
Some of the Niriks approached mini Cinder without a hint of worry or concern. From the looks of it, they were chatting, although she was a little concerned herself. Kunzite was just in awe that anybody could do this, to be able to control fire like that. Although, she had seen ponies like Luna, Starlight, and even her own mother do similar tricks with smoke and wind. Just not with fire.
“I admit, I wanted to learn more about them, so I asked if I could come with them. They were divided on their response. Some thought it would be fine if I tagged along, but others were concerned. They migrated to hide from the dragons, after all, and they knew I was half dragon. And then something happened to change their minds.”
As they discussed the matter further, one of the more hostile dragons came down to confront the tribes. Kunzite couldn’t tell, but judging from the colors and the shape, it had a striking resemblance to a certain Dragon Lord of the past. She gasped and had trouble believing what she was seeing.
“Not every dragon from the Lands was happy to learn that we were leaving. They thought we were cowards, running away because we were scared. Even after the Kirin knew how to harness the Nirik form to their advantage, they needed a little push to truly break free. It was my turn to be that push.”
Mini Cinder stepped up against the dragon, alongside the Niriks and the dragons on their side. They rushed right at him and collided with the beast, causing a flame to break out from the collison. It shot up into the air and vanished without a trace. When it was over, only Cinder, the tribes, and their dragons remained in the aftermath.
“He left without when he realized it would be a stalemate, at best. At worst, our combined might would have defeated him. So he conceded the fight and we were finally free of their tyranny.” She waved at the particles to signal that their work was done, and they scattered across the wind. As the wind carried them away, the light inside them faded away.
That left the two kirin alone in the nighttime garden. “And that was my special destiny. I was supposed to be there to help them defeat the dragon. They chose me to be their leader once they found their new home. I don’t really see myself as that, however. The title ‘guardian’ feels more fitting, the way things have gone lately.”
Even though the figures were all gone, Kunzite stared at the field as if they were still there. Her eyes twitched from the revelation. Torch’s name was never mentioned, but she couldn’t ignore it when it was so strongly implied. Maybe it was just a misunderstanding? It wasn’t like…Oh Celestia.
Cinder noted her perplexed face and leaned in. “I understand if it’s a lot to take in. It might not have been the Dragon Lord that attacked us, but he did resemble Torch. Nevertheless, it doesn’t matter anymore. We’re safe and sound, and we picked this spot because it’s out of the way. Nobody will find us here. Well, save for you. You’re actually the first to find us since we formed the village here. Speaking of which, how did you find us?”
“Well…” Kunzite hesitated to share all the details, but she reasoned that if she was honest about what happened, maybe Cinder would trust her further. “It went something like this…”
------
The nighttime sky soared over the village. Luna’s moon shone over the lands, and it was almost a full moon tonight. That left the outdoors well lit, and Moonstone could see everything around him as well as he could during the daytime. His current situation took some time to deal with; this place was just like and nothing like home at the same time. On one hand, there were tons of dragons. On the other, they acted nothing like his homeland.
Later on, he noticed a lot of the teenage dragons went over to one of the caves on the mountains. Maybe they were there to hang out somewhere else. It would be one hay of a view, that was for sure. Not to mention, some of the older dragons were old enough to be part of the migration, so maybe he could get a few answers of his own while he waited for Kunzite.
As he ascended to the nearest peak, the cave entrance was visible to him. He was able to see that a few bigger dragons were indeed there, which there seemed to be just enough room for. A few of the teenagers hung out there as well, and they made their own little fire to cool off with. Yes, some dragons cooled off with fire. They could swim in lava, so it wasn’t much of a stretch.
He eventually came down to the entrance, and it was much like it went by the river. A lot of dragons were making small talk, but some had drinks to pass around. There was even some meat to break up the same old gems and lava diet. He caught bits and pieces of what the bigger dragons were talking about. It helped that they didn’t really have quiet voices.
Listening to their conversations, he caught wind of them discussing things from the pages of history: The Pillars of Equestria, the beginning of the Elements of Harmony, Twilight Sparkle and her friends, things like that. Yet, they never mentioned the one thing he was burning to learn about. Given how things were going so far, he didn’t think they’d want to talk to him about it, so he wasn’t sure if he should bring it up to them.
Eventually, one of the elder dragons, the red one from the play, noticed him sitting on the edge of the cliffside, staring down at the landscape down below them. He told the others that he needed a moment to get some fresh air, then he scooted over to sit down with Moonstone. The teenage dragon almost jumped up from the huge thud as he suddenly found the dragon he was looking to talk to.
“Yeah, that’s how I felt when this all started. Really confused and not sure what to make of it,” he greeted Moonstone. “Name’s Sunstone if you’re asking.”
“Huh, we both have Stone in the name. It’s Moonstone. I can’t really wrap my mind around it, either. It’s just so confusing, and I don’t get it half the time.”
“You get used to it. Not that you have to live here. I’m sure you got a home somewhere else. That said, while you’re here, you can see how things work--”
“Why did you and the others leave the Dragon Lands?” Moonstone interrupted.
The elder dragon didn’t care for the interruption, but he looked to the sky, right in the direction of the Dragon Lands. “So that’s on your mind? Not our way of life, or how things came to be?”
“I’ll know sooner or later. But that’s what I don’t get. It’s not like everything’s horrible in the Lands. We fight each other, but that’s the thing. We fight back. We don’t back down. Nothing gets in our way.”
Sunstone’s demeanor turned fierce, and he peered his head down to his younger counterpart. Moonstone could see the intent in his eye, and it wasn’t a friendly one. In fact, that was the look he’d see right before things came to blows.
“Don’t be one of those dragons. I was surrounded by them every day. We all were fighting each other, and going after so called threats. Not everyone wanted that way of life back home, though. Was that the norm? Yes, unfortunately. Torch was in no hurry to change it, either. He loved it as much as anyone did. That left us the outcasts in the Lands, the ones that thought dragons didn’t have to live that way.”
Moonstone shifted a few inches away from Sunstone’s head, and his clenched fists told how little he feared his elder. “You could have taken the title of Dragon Lord from him if you didn’t like it. You could have beaten him.”
“And continue the barbaric ways of our ancestors? No. I wouldn’t take it by force like that. That’s why we left. It would have been nice to spend a day without the need to fight again.”
That made Moonstone nod to his own surprise. As much as he disagreed with it, he knew where this dragon was coming from. “It’s not as bad as it used to be. I don’t fight every day like that.”
A flicker of wonder spread across Sunstone’s face. “Interesting. Still, we migrated away to this place, but finding a new home for a horde of dragons proved difficult. Even when we found the kirin tribes, welcome to our assistance because we were friendlier than most, it wasn’t all peaceful from there. We needed one last turn of events to figure out our new way of life.”
Moonstone peered down at the village below. Some of the dragons were resting inside the village, enjoying the night with their kirin/nirik brothers and sisters. “Let me guess, that came from Sea and Ivory?”
“No. If you can believe it, it came from…”
Moonstone would spend the next ten minutes getting his mind blown away.
------
When Kunzite finished her tale, Cinder was noticeably disturbed. Her hands laid to the side, and her eyes might have gotten watery a few times during the story. She stared off to the distance and went off into her own world.
Kunzite was crushed. It must have been devastating to find out that one of Cinder’s own villagers didn’t trust her. In the back of her mind, however, she remembered that they never found out exactly why it happened. It still wasn’t fun to be the one to break the news. “I’m so sorry. I’m not sure what all happened between the two of you, but if it makes you feel any better, she’s doing okay now.”
Cinder sighed and pushed her mane behind her head. “It does. I think I have an idea why she left. Being overbearing is really easy to do with a job like this, so it’s probably my fault. Might not always be easy to talk to someone like us.”
“I know what you mean. My mother’s one of the Elements of Harmony, and believe me, ponies get really nervous when they want to talk to her,” Kunzite went on. “So yeah, no harm no foul. Just be their friend and it will go a long way for them.”
That was a surprising answer to Cinder. “You’re really wise for your age. With your magical strength, I can tell you’ve had a lot of practice. Perhaps I could show you what I know about magic, too? You might have an alicorn for a mother to show you the ropes, but our kind of magic is quite different from pony magic.”
Kunzite’s eyes gleamed. “You? As a teacher? Mom and Wildfire are really good at what they’re doing, but to have a third teacher? Sign me up!”
The older kirin was very thrilled to hear that. “Then we’ll see how it goes with that. Now, about your dragon friend…”
The solemn tone sent a shiver down Kunzite’s back. “What about him?”
“Is he...nice? I heard from Sea that he seems to have some anger issues, but he’s been decent with you. Everything indicates that he hails from the Lands, so I was surprised to hear that he appears to be friends with you. But that’s my experience talking there, not you.”
For once, it was Kunzite’s hands gripping tight from anger. “He’s really good friends with me! We don’t always get along, but that’s the case with any friend. My mother would know. She’s literally the Princess of Friendship. Just give him a chance and you’ll see he’s got a good heart.”
“Hmm, if that’s the case, maybe I should talk to him.” Cinder rose up from her tree stump and dusted the backside of her robes. “You seem to care deeply for him, and that’s no small thing for you, given you seem to have a kind heart. Do you think you can introduce him to me?”
“Absolutely! Hold on, I’ll get things ready for you. I think you’re really going to like him. He’s one of the strongest dragons I’ve ever met. Well, for his age, that is.” Kunzite went off to do her own thing, getting the boat ready to leave for the village.
After she left, Streaming Sea noticed Cinder was alone and went over to see her. “It is just as I reported. The two of them are near inseparable. You saw her outburst when you suggested even the smallest accusation against the dragon.”
“Indeed, and I’m starting to believe you,” Cinder noted. “It’s hard to see if her destiny is tied to our home specifically, but he certainly plays a part in it. Keep a close on him. I don’t think he’ll be a threat, but looks can be deceiving.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Now, then. Time to find out more about our guests.”