How To Raise A Kirin In 12,371 Steps

by Soothing Stone

End of The Beginning

A week later, a rather large crowd had gathered around the base of Twilight’s castle. It seemed like everypony from Ponyville was there that day. On top of that, some of them were from Cloudsdale, Canterlot, and even the Crystal Empire. If someone had to guess the size of the audience, it would likely number in the thousands. A new princess was just born after all, so it was going to grab some attention.

They drew their focus to the balcony in particular, since it had a couple of guards standing watch. For all intents and purposes, it looked like something big would go down over there. They waited with bated breath for the reason they were all there. When it would happen, they didn’t know. It would still be worth it.

The scene inside the castle was quite different. Twilight and Spike had Kunzite all ready to go, and Twilight’s family was there with her. Still, her family members noted just how nervous she looked. Spike almost looked as nervous as he did before the delivery.

“What’s the matter, dearie?” Twilight Velvet asked. “Isn’t this the moment you’ve been waiting for? Oh, look at the crowd outside! They’re all here because they’re happy for you, just like we are! What could be better than ten thousand people going ‘Awwww, isn’t she adorable’ at the same time?”

“That’s what we’re afraid of,” Spike confessed. “I know you’re all happy that she’s a kirin, but how is everypony else going to react?”

“We really, really don’t want anypony treating her badly,” Twilight Sparkle added on. “It would just crush us if she was rejected before she’s even a month old. You know what I mean?”

“I understand why you might be concerned. She’s not like most children,” Cadence said, glancing over at the kirin. “But why should that matter? She’s yours. If they don’t like her, they can go to Tartarus.”

“I wouldn’t put it like that, but even if they don’t like her, we’ve got your back,” Shining smiled. “She’s going to make friends with Flurry Heart if nothing else. Right, Flurry?”

“She’s so adorable!” Flurry gleamed. “Can she eat gems like a dragon? I think she just yawned! She just yawned! I’m gonna die, it’s too cute!”

Sure enough, Kunzite was in the middle of a yawn. She was totally oblivious to everything going on around her, just that she knew it was getting crowded outside. The kirin hung tight to her mother; she discovered that this purple figure would protect her from all the other different colored people. Well, that and the purple figure that was all scaly would protect her as well.

“See? She won’t be alone out there,” Night Light said as well. “I just can’t believe I’m a grandfather already. I’m too young to feel this old!”

“Hehe, we’re still young, silly,” Twilight Velvet teased. “Now go on and show our cute granddaughter to the world!”

Spike and Twilight looked to each other in terror. The time had come at last, and they weren’t gonna get out of this one. Twilight covered Kunzite’s face with a blanket as they came to the balcony to greet and (hopefully) not be judged by the huge crowd outside.

The crowd erupted in joy as the royal couple came out to address then. Kunzite cried from the loud outburst of noise ringing in her ears. Twilight held her close to her chest, telling her that it was going to be okay. That calmed the kirin down just enough to get through this.

Spike still wasn’t used to audiences showing up to see him outside of the Crystal Empire. He nervously waved to the sea of ponies outside his door, only creating another burst of applause. Yeah, that was a mistake. Kunzite was already overwhelmed to begin with. How to best handle this…

Thinking on the spot, he cleared his throat to speak. Everypony quieted down to give him the space to talk. Twilight smiled at him warmly, doing just what he needed to give Kunzite’s ears sweet relief.

“Fillies and gentlecolts, as I’m sure you know, it wasn’t that long ago when I started a relationship with Princess Twilight Sparkle. It might have been just three years ago, but it feels a lot longer than that. Not every day has been pitch perfect, but I couldn’t have been happier to call her my wife. Although, the Prince title doesn’t hurt…”

The sea of ponies roared with laughter. Twilight couldn’t help but be a little flustered at the comment, even if she knew it was just a joke. Come to think of it, they did have something in common: Neither one liked wearing their royal crowns.

“But now, we’re happy to say that we’ve just had our first child. We just met her a week ago, but she’s already more precious to us than anything else in the world. Everypony, please welcome Princess Kunzite!”

Once again, the crowd applauded at the mere mention of the new princess. This was something they’ve been waiting hours to hear, and the payoff was euphoric to them. To the surprise of nopony, Maud Pie was there to point out what exactly a kunzite was.

Twilight sighed in relief. She couldn’t help but imagine the worst for her daughter, but the reality was turning into the complete opposite. Kunzite seemed to like the reception as well; she was tilting her head to see what the commotion was all about. So far, so good.

“Hey, we want to see her face!” one pony called out.

“Yeah, I bet she’s adorable!”

“Is she made out of kunzite, or was that just a cute name you came up with?”

“She has to be part dragon, right? Come on, I wanna see!”

Suddenly, Twilight’s worst nightmare started to come to life. The whole group wanted to see Kunzite after a while. A trail of sweat dropped down her face while the calm, regal demeanor was starting to crack under the pressure.

Spike could feel the pressure on his scales as well. He hoped that it would just die down, but the whole crowd was demanding it. Soon enough, over ten thousand ponies wanted to see their daughter. He turned to Twilight with sweat pouring down his face. “What do we do?”

“I don’t want to do this, but they’re going to find out sooner or later,” she sighed. “It’s better to do this sooner rather than later.” She took a deep breath, braced herself for all the insults she was about to hear, and took the blanket off of Kunzite’s face.

The kirin tilted her head to look out to the crowd. Even as an infant, she knew that this was a lot of ponies, and she couldn’t believe the sight of it. Her mix of dragon and pony features were readily visible to anypony that looked her way, and there was no way they weren’t going to notice.

The crowd soon went quiet. A lot of them were confused by what they were seeing, while others actually couldn’t see her very well. Those that could see her clearly, they had to process the surprise of the moment.

“What is that?” one pony asked. “Doesn’t look like any pony I’ve ever seen.”

“That’s because she’s not a pony,” Twilight responded.

The crowd gasped. “Then what is she?” “She’s a monster!” “Hey, what’s with her eyes?”

“Kunzite is a kirin,” she responded. Her heart was pounding from the wave of fear hitting her heart. “She is a mix of a dragon and a pony, and therefore, she has elements of both races.”

It dawned on the audience when she said that. “Does that mean you and Spike...OH MY CELESTIA!” “I guess that makes sense. Her father’s a dragon and her mother’s a pony.” “Hey, did you just make up the word ‘kirin’ on the spot?”

“I know a lot of you are shocked and surprised by this news,” the purple alicorn continued. “We were surprised as well. Still, she is our daughter and a princess of Equestria, and that’s how we will treat her. We don’t ask you to understand, but we would appreciate if you don’t treat her as a freak or a monster just because she’s different. You have all made Equestria a great nation for its love and understanding of each other, and we ask that you would extend your hand to Kunzite as well. Please. For our sake.”

Her advice made the crowd silent at first. It was a lot to take in, as Kunzite was the first member of Equestrian royalty that wasn’t a pony. The silence got to Twilight. She almost cried, fearing they hated Kunzite, and Spike went around to hug her tightly. It was killing him inside as well, but he wanted to show the world that he was standing with his wife and daughter.

However, neither one of them expected what came next.

A few ponies started to clap their hands together. More ponies joined in with them. And more. Suddenly, the whole crowd was clapping their hands together, and it was the loudest applause they made all day. Kunzite covered her ears from the loud noises again, but her parents weren’t covering their ears to this one. No, this was a beautiful sound to their ears.

While this was happening, the rest of Twilight’s family watched the whole commotion from inside the castle. Shining and Cadence smiled from cheek to cheek from the reception Kunzite was receiving, while Flurry was just wondering when the next world ending catastrophe would happen. It wasn’t a true family reunion without one.

In the meantime, Twilight Velvet leaned her head on Night Light’s shoulders. “Do you think our daughter’s going to be a good mother, or the best mother?”

“If she’s anything like you, the best mother,” Night Light grinned. “After all, you did raise a future prince and princess.”

“Hey, not like I had anything to do with it. It just happened. Although, Twilight’s daughter is already a princess, so maybe she has one of my good genes or something…”

------

All the ponies that arrived for the reception would go home in due time. The guards would be busy cleaning up the grounds around the castle all night long. At least this was better than getting their flanks kicked by the villain of the season. Twilight’s family would spend the night in the guest bedrooms before they went home the next day.

For Twilight and Spike, they would finally be able to show Kunzite her own room. Spike acted like he was about to unearth some hidden treasures when he got set to unlock the door. “Ready to see your new room, Kunzite? We made it just for you.”

“Come on, Spike, she doesn’t know how doors work,” Twilight giggled. “Speaking of which, I’ve got to teach you about doors as soon as I can.”

“Alright, here goes nothing…” He turned the key to unlock the door, and Kunzite would soon see her own room in the castle. She didn’t know how to react, except with wide, dragon eyes.

The room was one of the bigger guest bedrooms in the castle, now converted into a permanent bedroom. As it turned out, painting the walls to an inviting shade of purple was spot on, given her color scheme. There was a corner of the room with lots of toys, and another corner had her own little bookshelf--thankfully, filled with baby friendly books and not advanced calculus books like Twilight was thinking of. However, she did get to put world maps and constellations on the walls.

In the middle of the room was a massive crib to rest the kirin’s head on. Right above the crib, she would see a special painting on the ceiling just for her. The painting had a land made to look like Equestria and the Dragon Lands merged into one place, with dragons and ponies alike playing and frolicking with each other.

“What do you think of your new room, little one?” Twilight asked.

Kunzite cooed and giggled as she got to see it for herself. She extended her arms out to the crib, the weird structure catching her eye the most. Still, she couldn’t help but be amazed by all the weird thingys on the walls.

“I take that as ‘I love it, you’re the best mother, Twilight!’” Spike commented.

“Oh come on, it’s just okay,” Twilight laughed it off. “So, you want to go to your crib, Kunzite? We can do that!” She took her daughter over to the crib and placed her gently on the pillows. The kirin was in awe of the painting hanging above her once she saw it. Twilight brought a blanket over her frame, which was good, because the kirin was exhausted.

“Huh. She really was tired after all,” Spike noted. “Good timing on that.”

“I know, right? Seeing all those ponies must have been exhausting.” She then turned over to Kunzite. “Sleep well, okay? We love you so much.”

Kunzite blinked for a few seconds, and she yawned again. She grabbed the blankets with her claws and started to doze off. It wasn’t long until she fell asleep, resting well after such a big day.

Spike and Twilight couldn’t help but smile from seeing their daughter like that, and they tiptoed out of the room. There was no way they were going to wake their little one after she looked so adorable in her sleep, and they were going to keep her that way. After they went down to their own bedroom, Twilight couldn’t help but kiss and hug Spike all over.

“Oh my gosh, she’s so adorable!” she gleamed. “I was hoping she would be the best thing ever, and she is! I mean, did you see her yawn?”

“I did. I love her so much,” Spike nodded. “And I love you too. Oh man, this is all moving so fast!”

“Hey, it was just like this when we started dating, remember? We all know how that turned out. Everything’s going to be just fine.”

“Actually...there was something I wanted to talk to you about.” His mood started to turn for the worse, visibly so.

“Huh? Is something wrong? Do you think we did something wrong for Kunzite’s reception? You were wonderful out there--”

“It has nothing to do with that. That couldn’t have gone better if we tried. It’s just...she’s the first kirin born in a thousand years, if not longer than that. And nopony really knows anything about them.”

“We’ve been over that. It doesn’t matter who or what she is, she’s still our daughter. Why are you still worried about that?”

“Here’s the thing. We don’t know anything about kirins and...well, to be honest, it’s scary. Not because she’s a kirin, but how we don’t know what being a kirin means for her. Like, what she’s capable of doing.”

The thought made Twilight pause. “You mean, like how powerful she might be? Things like that?”

“Yeah. Like, is she half dragon half pony, or is she more dragon than pony? I don’t like how I don’t know about it. I can’t figure out what to expect, and...it makes me feel like the least qualified man in the world to to raise her.”

She responded with a tight hug around the waist. “Spike, nobody ever really feels qualified to raise a child like they want to be. We did our best to get ready to be her parents, but I still feel like I didn’t do enough. I’m not saying that you don’t have legitimate fears, but I’m pretty sure every father goes through this at least once in their lifetime.”

“Maybe, but this is different. If this was enough to make Starswirl freak out, then what is she capable of--”

Suddenly, they saw a huge flash of light shoot out from the hallway. It was only for a second, but it was bright enough to grab their attention. “What was that?” Twilight gasped.

“I don’t know,” Spike admitted. “It was only for a second. You saw it, too?”

And then the light flashed again. They could see it more clearly, and it had a shade of green. Given that Kunzite’s room was just a few doors down, that had their minds racing. They rushed out of the master bedroom down to hers. What they would find would be the biggest surprise of the day.

As it turned out, Kunzite was still sleeping soundly. That wasn’t the weird part. What was weird what how she was levitating in the air, floating just from pure magical power. Her twin antlers were glowing bright green while she was up there. The air in the room crackled from the energy on display, and some of the books in the shelves threatened to fall out of their confinements.

“KUNZITE!” Spike screamed. He ran as fast as he could and snatched her out of the air. Right when he grabbed her, the energy in the room was gone, her antlers stopped glowing, and she woke up almost immediately. She cried at the top of her lungs while he was holding her close to his chest, hoping to Celestia she was okay. “I got you, I got you…”

Twilight’s jaw was planted on the floor, and she could barely stand up from the sight. “I mean...I can’t...what just happened?”

Spike was too occupied with Kunzite’s well being to hear that. He tried so hard to calm Kunzite down, patting her back and telling her it was okay. She was still crying from her little panic attack, all while he tried his best not to have a breakdown. It started to work, as she calmed down a little bit.

“I can’t believe it!” Twilight gaped. “So the antlers on her head work just like a unicorn’s horn, and she has two of them. Does that mean she’s more powerful than most ponies because she has two horns? I have to write this down!” She used her magic to levitate a notebook and a pen over from the next room. “Have you seen anything like this in your life? Kunzite is even more special than we thought!”

“Twilight, please. I just had a heart attack,” he whispered. He looked down at the kirin and found her fast asleep in his arms. With that taken care of, he set her down on the crib and closed the door. “I can’t even breathe right now. I was so scared.”

“I know. You were really brave back there,” Twilight noted in the middle of her notetaking. “I just can’t believe it. The amount of power she was showing, that’s almost on Flurry Heart levels. Can you believe it?”

“I need to drink some water,” he panted. “Just...please...tell me if she does something like that again. I can’t even talk right now.”

She saw his hands trembling from what he just went through, and she comforted him with a kiss on the cheek. “Picking her up was the right thing to do. How did you know that work?”

“I didn’t. I just didn’t want to see anything bad happen to her. I’ll join you in bed in a few minutes. I need to breathe.” He took a deep breath and headed for the kitchen. It would take a lot of water to calm himself down after something like that.

Twilight, meanwhile, finished up the last of her notes and peeked at Kunzite through the keyhole. She couldn’t help but wonder what her daughter was truly capable of, given the huge amount of power she just witnessed. If Kunzite could levitate herself and send the whole room spinning, and she had two magical horns, what was she truly capable of doing?

------

Meanwhile, in a library down in Celestia and Luna’s castle, Starswirl had a spread of books laid out on a table. Several of them were installments on old myths and legends. However, the book that grabbed his attention the most was none other than his old notebook. He poured over every page that held up over the years, all while he had the lanterns on as bright as possible.

Celestia was there with him, as Luna was occupied with raising the moon to join them at this hour. The sun princess glanced at the mythology she could find from Mage Meadowbrook’s neck of the woods, theorizing that they might know a kirin or two. Alas, it was a fruitless search. If kirins really did exist, they might just have predated Equestria itself.

“What have you found?” she thought.

“Precious little,” he grumbled. “Just as I presumed, I have written about them in past travels. Kirins were indeed creatures of great power, and the myths I stumbled upon described them as judges over the lands. Imagine a judge today, except he or she had the might of a dragon, and they used such might to enforce the laws.”

“Sounds like we found something. Come to think of it, you might have lectured me once about them, but I barely remember. It was such a long time ago.”

“Hence why very few ponies even know of their existence until Kunzite was born.” He scribbled a few notes on a fresh notebook, until he found something from the old notebook. “A-ha! I knew there was more concrete information on them. Come, see if you can read my Olde Ponish.”

Celestia came to Starswirl’s side of the table and glanced over the ancient notes. It strained her eyes to read the words on them, as most of the ink had faded with time. Still, she was able to comprehend them as she went on.

“It is...rumored that the arrival of...a kirin...signals the arrival of royalty in a nearby kingdom. Hmm. I don’t believe anypony else in the Equestrian royal family has given birth recently, other than Twilight. How would this apply to us?”

“I am not sure. There is one theory I had.” He stroked his beard as he went deep into his recollections. “I never investigated this claim in the past, but there was one report of a kirin long ago. There were notes about it in the old journal. And if it’s true...the kirin was born at the same time your parents conceived you.”

Celestia gasped at the revelation. “Are you sure about this?”

“That’s what I’m wanting to find out.” He brought a big knapsack to the table, and he was already stuffing it with food and whatever books he could carry. “If this kirin is real, he or she might still be alive. They were noted for having the lifespan of an alicorn or dragon, and if so, 1100 years would be nothing for them. That kirin from the previous age might still be alive.”

“And this kirin, do you know where they could be?”

“If he or she isn’t just a figment of somepony’s imagination, then yes. It was rumored to reside in a forest not far from the Equestria-Dragon Lands border. When the sun rises again, I plan to go find it for myself.”

“Then I’m coming with you,” Celestia stated. “You’re not going on a journey like this alone. I’ll inform Luna of our plans, and knowing her, she’ll be more than fine ruling Equestria alone for a few days. It’s something she hasn’t had the opportunity to do since her return.”

“Very well. The journey will be full of peril, and I can’t predict how this kirin will react to visitors. But if it does exist, perhaps it can give us answers to our little Kunzite problem.”

“All this does leave me with a question. If it’s true that Kunzite’s birth is a forewarning of new royal blood, who do you suppose it would be?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. It is a rather intriguing question, to be sure…”

------

Ember was a little bummed over how the meeting with Spike went several months ago. Granted, finding out that you’re having your first child was big news, but it was the first time the dragon lord got to see him in several months. Recently, Spike grew quiet and didn’t send letters to her as frequently as he used to. Given he was her first real friend, she couldn’t help but deny that it stung her to see things turn out that way. At least he wasn’t her only friend anymore.

She flapped her wings as she flew over the Dragon Lands, making a sweep of it to make sure everything was safe and sound. Yeah, it was the same collection of ash and rocks she had always known, but it was her home. Besides, lava slides were awesome. The dragons were their usual, bashful selves, so it was a normal day out here.

After her daily patrol, she made her way to the Dragon Lord’s palace. Or, to be more exact, an enormous pile of gold that happened to have a throne in the middle of it. The massive lava pool with lava falls feeding into it was just the personal touch she needed.

However, as she waltzed inside, someone was watching her from the shadows. It waited for the right moment to pounce, and it found said moment when she stopped to grab a few pieces of gold in her hands. It took a deep breath and leaped right for her.

Ember was caught off guard as she was tackled right into the gold pile. She panicked and guarded her face with her claws, only to stop when she saw who it was. “Fizzle? Again?”

“Ah, got you again!” the white and red dragon crackled, booping Ember’s nose. “What was that? Three times this month?”

“You’re such a jerk sometimes,” the dragon lord snorted. “That’s really your idea of playtime, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know I overdo it.” He got off and sat down on the pile next to her. “But it’s so much fun. Besides, we all know you’d beat me in a fair fight.”

Ember got a smug grin on her face, and she punched him right in the arm. “You know it. Where have you been, anyway? Felt weird when you’ve been gone. Didn’t think I’d say that about one of Garble’s friends, but here we are.”

“Ehh, not much. Took a look around Equestria. Sorry, but colorful forests and water isn’t for me. Active volcanoes and lava falls, now that’s what I call home.”

Ember smiled and gave him a boop of his own. “So in other words, you’re a dragon?”

That got Fizzle laughing. “And you’re not? Hey, I’m not against working with Equestria if you think that will help us. It just feels weird. We used to ransack their houses all the time for gold and other stuff.”

“It is weird, but I like it. There is something I wanted to ask, though.”

“Go ahead.”

“You know we’re gonna have hatchlings if we continue to be mates like this, right?”

The thought made Fizzle pause for a moment. “Kinda thought that came with the package for you. I mean, why else would you want to be with me? I’m a big dumb jerk.”

“You’re my big dumb jerk, Fizzle,” Ember replied with a hug. “It wasn’t just for the eggs that I chose you as a mate. You see that, right?”

Fizzle huffed a bit. “Right. You’re an awesome mate, Ember. But...the eggs...man. That’s going to be something when it happens.”

“You’re talking like that’s inevitable.”

“Because it is. I just hope I’m ready when it happens…”

The two of them lounged together for a while after that. What they didn’t know was that fate already had its plans for the two of them. They wouldn’t know it at the time. In fact, they wouldn’t know about it for a few days. When it started, however, it would catch the whole kingdom off guard.

Author's Note:

So...this is gonna be a little different than most. You see, I wrote around 60% of the chapter(all of the ceremony and most of the nighttime scene) by the time I uploaded this story to FIMFiction and...I did not take the reception well. It was terrifying to think it might just top Memories in the Stars as my worst performing story in terms of views, that and the story having just one upvote and one downvote for a while didn't help. Truth be told, it caused me to hit a severe depression for a couple of days and I debated on cancelling the story, finishing this chapter no matter what.

Instead, I decided to do the rest of the story differently. Normally on a project like this, I go out of my way to try to publish two chapters a week. This time, the process will be a little bit slower to just one chapter, only releasing two if something turns out to be shorter than expected. It will likely help this time around.

Comments

[Viper Pit]

well unless ember's eggs contain something like deathwing, darkeater midir, mega rayquaza ,or black dragon kalameet, on power then the birth of a kirin could also been seen as counter balence to discord