//------------------------------//
// Chapter 31 
// Story: Words of Power 
// by Starscribe 
//------------------------------//

Lotus stumbled forward, hurrying over to embrace Iron. She hugged him as tight as she could, not caring about what it might do to the silk dress. "Iron! I thought you were still a prisoner!"
He shrugged. "Your new friend put in a good word for me. Because of you, I'm pretty sure." Without a fancy outfit, Iron could still hold her with one of his feathery wings. He didn't smell like dirty trail and blood anymore. They hadn't given him flowery perfume, but she wouldn't want that anyway. The natural spell of ozone and rugged strength was far better. "Either you, or the magical barrier keeping me locked here. I tried flying out from all kinds of angles, but it's no good. The whole town is a cage."
He finally released her, meeting her eyes. "Wait, what happened to you? You're—" He trailed off, wings opening slightly to either side.
"Made me wear one of their costumes for the festival," she admitted. "You can laugh if you want, it's okay."
His wings settled back against his sides again. "You're beautiful." He blinked, then seemed to realize what he'd just said. "I mean—the dress."
She pushed his wing away, grinning wider. "My new friend picked it for me. Autumn Blaze. Same one who got you released." She looked away, inhaling sharply. She fought back tears, without much success. "There's something... you should probably know. I talked to their leader. Rain Shine. Way stronger than I'll ever be, tall and strong. Said she was hundreds of years old."
"Like an Alicorn. We knew it was possible—Searing Gale had strength like that. No wings, at least not in any of the portraits."
"No wings." Lotus pawed weakly at the dirt, shuffling awkwardly closer to him. "She won't let us leave. She thinks Equestria will be hostile towards kirin. Something about their history."
He rested one foreleg over her shoulder, firm and strong. "I guessed. If they were going to let us go, they would've blindfolded us when they took us here. Granted, I thought we might be burned offerings to Searing Gale—until I saw the village."
Lotus giggled in spite of herself. Far away, drums continued to beat. Hooves slid along a wooden floor, punctuated by the occasional clap or shout. She couldn't make out the words from this distance. "Rain Shine knows who she was. It looks like they wanted to be left alone. Out here where no one can find them, where Equestria thinks they're extinct. Do ponies really hate kirin that much?"
She'd been separated when they were discovered—but when she got there, Iron was already fighting. For all she knew, the stallion was the first one to throw a punch. 
"Most don't know they exist. It was a long time ago, before Luna's banishment. Long enough for the memories to fade and the wounds to heal. But they're more dangerous than ponies. You've seen what can happen.
She glanced down at his foreleg, then back up to his face. "I don't think they have anything to worry about. I've burned things before, and you’re still here."
The drums faded into the background, replaced with a softer, soothing melody from distant strings. "I can't imagine what it was like, having an evil sorceress whispering into your head. But you were stronger than she was, Lotus. She threw everything she could at you down in that quarry. You still cast the portal. I bet half the students at Celestia's school couldn't do magic like that."
She flushed, tail whipping out behind her. She could master the flame in her chest, but not her embarrassment at a compliment. "Is that a subtle hint about how we're supposed to escape? Cross back into my world, then find another place for a Worldgate?"
He released her shoulder. "I don't think so." He urged her away from the river, further down the winding garden path. There was a desperation in his motions, though whether from the thought of being overheard or desire to be somewhere more private with her, Lotus couldn't say. She also didn't care.
Only when they were walking together did he finally say what he had in mind. "The princess I serve, Luna—she rules over the sleeping world of dreams, protecting all the ponies in Equestria from nightmares. All we have to do is wait for her to find my dreams. I know where we are now, this is the Peaks of Peril. That was Haybale down in the valley. Rescue is close."
"Even if they have a magic shield hiding us? That one stopping you from flying away..."
He nodded again, perfectly confident. "She raises the moon in the sky, Lotus. We told her we'd arrived, so she knew to look for us. She won't be fooled by an illusion. The princess will come for us. All we have to do in the meantime is... get a good night's rest."
They ascended a gentle slope, to where a large stone statue rested in a strange, seated posture, both hooves together in front of it. Its face vanished beneath moss, along with most of its features.
Autumn said to wait here. Lotus stopped beside the statue, prompting Iron to do the same. "I guess we can do that. Equestria really needs the book, so—they'll send somepony out to get us."
He sighed, plopping down onto his haunches in the shadow of the meditative monument. "Don't worry, Lotus. You'll be changed back before you know it. The princess can send you home, and you'll be out of our war. You can go back to your life."
Her tail strained against the dress, whipping angrily back and forth. Her ears folded, though that was all. It wasn't anger boiling until she ignited—this was shame.
But if ever Lotus planned to tell the truth, it was now. "What if I didn't?"
His head snapped up, staring directly into her face. "You would do that? Leave your life behind?"
She settled down beside him. So she could keep her tail from giving her emotions away. No other reason. "I don't know if it would be forever. I can't promise—I've never even seen Equestria. But that doesn't mean I have to go straight back. Maybe you could show me around? I could be convinced."
A flicker of motion drew her eyes away from the pegasus. Lotus turned, staring up into the night. Something floated past the trees—a lantern? The sides were paper, painted with symbols Lotus couldn't read. A single candle burned inside, illuminating the paper with one faint flicker against the darkness.
Iron stood, staring off towards the lights. Soon there were dozens of them, scattered in the faint currents around Hono into their own nearer constellations.
"What changed your mind?" Iron asked, finally breaking the silence. "You were so desperate to change back before that you risked transformation magic. Why give up now?"
She kept her eyes stubbornly away from his, focused on the sky above. "Autumn Blaze told me a little about kirin culture. Not much—still don't know what this festival is about." Iron was so close to her now, close enough to touch. "She did tell me about this. Apparently it's tradition. For new lovers to confess their feelings under the lanterns."
She squirmed under his gaze, tail threatening to tear free of her legs. Why was this so hard? Eric had dated before! 
"I see." Iron Feather stared up after her, into the sky full of lanterns. "Did she say how it's supposed to go?"
Lotus looked toward him, heart racing in her chest. A very different kind of heat surged there, with no danger of reaching her mane this time. "She didn't say."
He chuckled. "Guess it's up to me then."
Lotus had been kissed before. But she'd never been kissed during a kirin festival under the light of a hundred little lanterns. 



For a little while, she could forget about the fears that still surrounded her. How would they escape? Would Equestria find them here? What would Gus think when he found out?
In the privacy of the garden, none of those things mattered.
They returned to the festival a little while later, in time for a few final, quiet dances under the moon. She didn't have to worry about Gus—her friend had drunk enough to fall asleep right there in the temple. 
The locals were far too busy enjoying the occasion to get into the difficult questions of whether a pony ought to be dancing with her or not.
Some tried to tell her more about the occasion, and its importance in the religious observance of the kirins’ ancient culture. Lotus barely heard a word of it. Did it count as a first date if they spent most of the night separated and her boyfriend was in prison?
"We always keep a new home growing in case someone needs it," Autumn explained, when the music finally ended and the last glass was poured. She took them to the door, then tapped against it with her foreleg. It swung open, into a darkened interior of a house almost identical in floor plan to Autumn's own.
She lit the magical lights on the wall as they went, leading Lotus through a simple living room. It was already furnished, albeit without any decoration of personal touches from the ones who lived there. "Welcome, I guess! Would probably be best if your friend lives here too. Downstairs room there. You two—master's up those steps. I'll make sure we find somewhere else for him until tomorrow."
Lotus nodded gratefully. If she planned on hiding her feelings for Iron, she probably shouldn't have made them so obvious through the night. Like her tail, some parts of her scent were impossible to hide. "Thanks."
Autumn grinned mischievously back. She mouthed something, but Lotus wasn't really looking to see exactly what. Autumn clicked the door closed behind her, and suddenly they were alone.
"Guess we should see the accommodations," Iron said, after an appropriately long moment just looking at each other. Minutes? Maybe more, she wasn't exactly thinking clearly.
"I've got a pretty good idea." She slipped past him, passing so close she moved against his side the whole way. "The stairs are this way. Go up the middle in a spiral. Not sure how the tree is still growing strong."
"Magic." He trailed behind her up the steps. "They weren't expecting anypony with wings in here. There's no room to fly up and down. Have to walk every single time." 
She lit her horn, guiding them up the steps. A skylight from above illuminated the interior space with faint amber, she didn't entirely need the help to see. She did it anyway, the same way she might've hummed a song or whistled a tune. It felt much the same, magic thrumming in her chest with every second.
Finally she perched on the top step, grinning down at him. "Does it matter? We won't be here that long. Just until we get rescued."
"True." He squeezed past her through the doorway, into a darkened hallway, then into the master suite.
Lotus's human self could never have imagined living in such luxury. Fine hardwood furniture, silk sheets, and huge windows leading onto a balcony in the treetops. Lotus focused on the crystal mounted above them, lighting it the way Autumn had shown her.
For a second, anyway. She lit it just enough to fill the bedroom with a diffuse glow. Enough to see what she was doing, but keep the soft lighting of the evening.
"Woah."
He clicked the door shut behind her. "Nicer than anywhere I lived in Canterlot. Except maybe the indoor plumbing. Much nicer than the castle barracks."
He stopped in front of her, resting his head on hers. "Princess Luna will find us soon. We won't get to enjoy this place for long."
Lotus nodded, silent. Her heart raced all over again, but at least she could finally meet his eyes. Somehow, impossibly, this pegasus liked her. "Would that be... okay?" she asked. "If we got to enjoy it, I mean. Aren't some... royal rules you're breaking?"
Iron laughed again, happier than he'd sounded anytime that night. "The princess doesn't expect us to fight a kirin Alicorn. So long as we're keeping our eyes open, waiting for an opportunity to bust ourselves out—I think we're okay." 
He brushed a few strands of mane away from her face with his wing. "So long as you are. Don't do anything you'll regret, Lotus. The night could end right here."
Her ears folded back, and her words nearly choked in her throat. She tried a few different answers, before finding one she could say.
"C-could you... reach the fasteners for this dress? I can't see them behind me."
He slipped past her, wing tracing down her side. "We wouldn't want to damage something so beautiful."



Lotus Cinder wasn't sure when she finally woke. Late enough that the sun was overhead, instead of streaming in through the windows.
She still didn't know how much of what Iron Feather said about the Equestrian princess was true. Raising the Moon, watching the dreams of her subjects? None of that made much sense. But if it was true that rescue could come from their dreams, then she'd done her part.
For the first time since Lotus's transformation, she finally slept soundly. The soreness wasn’t even a problem—she could image many worse ways to tire herself out.
She stepped out of the bedroom and onto her balcony, facing into the light afternoon breeze. Below her was Hono, an impossible home in another universe. The locals moved about below, pulling carts, laboring in their workshops, chatting in the marketplace. A small town of alien creatures, surrounded by jungle and a magic shield.
If it wasn't for Searing, we could just stay here forever. Learn a trade, raise a family...
Lotus tucked her tail, feeling suddenly self-conscious. She hadn't just thought that! Good thing she didn't have Searing's phylactery anymore—it would've felt her embarrassment, used it as one more weapon against her.
Light hoofsteps sounded behind her, and a pegasus appeared beside her. He set a tray down on the table, then kissed her cheek. Lightly this time. "There was tea downstairs. Smelled pretty good."
She levitated a cup into the air, then sipped. "Thanks. Nice and warm."
"You would know all about that."
She choked, spitting up a mouthful of tea onto the balcony. "No way you came up with anything that corny on your own. Is Gus down there?"
Iron stuck out his tongue. "Where I come from, we call that romantic."
"Liar!" She settled up against him anyway, draining her cup in relative silence. She'd fought through hell to get here, and the world facing them remained as unclear as ever. But now she had a reason to fight for Equestria. It wasn't just the domain of strangers. She could make a home there too. 
Eric wasn't somewhere else. There was no other personality locked in a box somewhere. Eric was a name, a name that didn't fit her anymore. If it never fit again, she could live with that. Eric never had anyone take him to balconies in distant places and hold him.
Lotus did. If she was very lucky, this wouldn't be the only time it happened.
"You're smiling," Iron said, after a few minutes. The tea wasn't warm anymore. "You'll admit it then. Ready to accept the truth."
When she didn't respond, he lifted his wing from her shoulder, prodding her. "What is it? You see Luna's chariot coming?"
She shook her head once. "Nothing like that. I just realized—I think I'm glad this all happened. That's all."
"Me too. I think I got more—"
Something banged beneath them, loud enough that he fell silent. The sound also came from behind them, though much quieter. Knocking. "Meet you down there!" Iron lifted off the balcony, diving down through the trees. 
Lotus gasped, shuddering with fear—for the second it took her to remember that he could fly. Then she swore, and took off through the bedroom. She passed the limp gown, resting over the desk. She took the steps two at a time, horn lighting up as she went.
Seeing where she was going mattered far more than setting some romantic mood, particularly in a stairwell that hadn't invented handrails. She could slip off the side and fall several feet, maybe over and over again to the bottom.
Finally she reached the door, and flung it open.
Autumn Blaze stood there, along with Gus, chatting energetically with Iron. The other kirin stopped in mid sentence as Lotus opened the door, giving her a slow, deliberate wink. She kept right on talking where she left off seconds later.
So much for subtlety. Gus eyed her, then looked back at the pegasus. 
"Rain Shine wants to talk to you right away," she said. "Sounded pretty important. You just know when the matriarch insists on a time like that, she means business. So we should probably go straight there. Unless you want to make her angry instead. That might be fun!"
"No," Lotus said, in the same second as Iron. "We'll go," she continued. "Maybe she decided to change her mind and let us go."