How To Raise A Kirin In 12,371 Steps

by Soothing Stone

First published 2nd of April, 2018

After tying the knot with Spike in the future, Twilight gives birth to a kirin--a dragon-pony hybrid. This sends both of them searching for answers about their child.

After a long and confusing relationship in the future, Spike and Twilight fell in love and decided to marry. The dragon's been adjusting to life as a husband and a prince, but just when he starts to get comfortable, he discovers that Twilight's pregnant with their first child. Fast forward several months, and she gives birth to their baby--only that said baby turns out to be a creature once thought to be just a myth. It turns out to be a kirin, a hybrid of a pony and a dragon.

When Starswirl the Bearded gets wind of this, it sends him asking questions of his own, questions he sets out to find the answers to. Celestia will join him on this quest, and what he will find out might just send shockwaves through Equestria...

In the meantime, Twilight and Spike have no idea how to raise a kirin, but they're determined to put everything they have into it. To say she'll be a handful is an understatement, especially when she unveils her powers...

Part 2 of the My Little Kirin saga. Spike Finds Love is Part 1. However, it is not required reading for this story. Edited with the help of Salnalus. No, the kirin doesn't look like that, just wanted to use a pic to show what they look like in mythology.

Prologue: All Hail Prince Spike

Dealing with a new routine of royal duties wasn’t nearly as difficult as Spike imagined it to be. Granted, it was weird having everypony call him “Prince Spike” after years of being the #1 assistant to another princess. When he got to work with his new chores, however, he discovered that it wasn’t that far off from what he had done before. Arrange meetings, go over paperwork, talk to diplomats, it was familiar territory for him. He had it in the bag.

Still, there were times where things got rather interesting, and today would be one of them. He got ready in a guest room within Celestia’s castle, just wanting to make sure his uniform looked right. The white dress shirt was a little uncomfortable, but uncomfortable clothes came with the job. After adjusting his collar and slicking back his head spikes, he was ready to go.

“Prince Spike, I have all the documents you need for today,” a stallion said to him, sporting thick glasses and looking almost as studious as Twilight.

Spike dropped his clothes checklist and picked up the documents. “Thanks. Sorry, it’s just weird having my own assistant. I used to be the one handling all the checklists and stuff.”

“I understand, although I wouldn’t imagine complaining about such a thing. Not with the pay you’re offering, of course. Celestia wanted to tell you that they’re ready when you are.”

“Right, right, thank you. I’ll be out in a second.”

The assistant closed the door as he left, leaving the dragon prince alone to look over his final preparations. He rubbed his hands together as he braced himself for what he was about to do, and he adjusted his wedding ring for good measure. This wasn’t the time to be nervous. The people at the meeting were all familiar faces, and a new title wouldn’t change his friendships with them.

Spike left the guest room and made his way to the meeting room, a special room Celestia made for such occasions. It had a large table in the middle with a few chairs pulled up, and maps of Equestria and the bordering nations decorated the walls. A few guards were there to make sure everything went smoothly, but what really got his attention were the two members of royalty waiting there for him.

Celestia was the first member, always wearing a fancy dress to indicate her royalty, with this particular dress being dark orange. She was going through her own set of documents, but she still had time to greet him with a smile. That wasn’t a surprise. What really stood out was the dragon there with them, none other other than Dragon Lord Ember. She grew a few inches since the last time Spike had seen her.

“Long time no see,” she greeted him. “Hey, where’s Twilight?”

“She’s staying in Ponyville to take care of a few things back home,” Spike replied. “She wish she could make it, but I’m here to take her place for today. You’re okay if I’m here in her place, right?”

“I don’t have any problem with it. Are things okay with you and her? It still sounds weird in my head that a pony and a dragon got hitched.”

“It’s wonderful,” Spike marveled. “We have our issues here and there, but that’s like every marriage. Still, we couldn’t be happier.”

“Heh, I know what you mean with the issues. I’m learning that for myself.”

Spike was a little surprised to hear that. “What do you mean?”

“Well…” Ember’s cheeks blushed red for a moment. “I found a mate.”

“Really? That’s amazing!” he gleamed. “I’m so happy for you. What’s he like?”

“Well, he’s a dragon from the Dragon Lands, so he can be a jerk sometimes. He has a soft side, though, so that’s good.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Celestia commented. “It’s always wonderful to see old and new friends alike find romance and friendship, no matter what their walk of life is. Still, we have important matters to attend to, and we can begin when you’re ready.”

Spike and Ember, realizing how much they got caught up in things, broke it up and took their places at the table. Ember always found it weird how Equestria used something as flammable as paper for their note taking. Then again, ponies couldn’t exactly breathe fire like she could.

“So we’ve been getting a lot more dragon visitors after the opening of the Friendship School,” Spike noted. “We’re really happy about that.”

“Yeah, just as long as you cut out all the singing, dragons really like it there,” Ember replied. “There’s lots of gems in Equestria, and everything’s not just dirt and ash. It’s nice out here.”

“But we’ve had an unintended side effect as a result,” Celestia noted as she gazed through her papers. “A lot of ponies have been asking our offices about visiting the Dragon Lands. Since you’re the Dragon Lord, we’ve been wondering how you feel about letting them visit your homeland.”

“Have you been there? It is just dirt and ash. And I don’t know if you know this, but dragons can be jerks.”

Spike winced in pain, as he remembered Garble vividly. “I know all about that.”

“But...it might not be a bad idea, actually. We’ve wanted dragons and ponies to get along for a few years now, and this could help. You ponies don’t really know that much about us, mostly because you’ve never really been there before. Just keep in mind that you’re probably going to find it boring.”

“Noted,” Spike replied, taking a few notes for the meeting. “It’s really not that bad. Volcanoes are kinda cool.”

“You’re not just wanting to go because there’s a lot of gems over there, are you?”

He scratched out a note as soon as he heard that. “N-No! Hey...wait a minute…” To his surprise, he felt a little sick to his stomach. He hunched over and grabbed the edge of the table as the stomach pains only grew more intense.

“Spike, are you alright?” Celestia asked. “I can have somepony look at you if you’re unwell.”

“I-I don’t know! It just came out of nowhere and--” He burped out of nowhere, and it was one of his loudest belches ever. A flame escaped his lips, and a letter came out of the fire. “This wasn’t a good time for a letter, was it?”

“Doesn’t matter to me. Who’s it from?” Ember wondered.

“It’s likely from Princess Twilight,” Celestia thought. “Go ahead and read it, Spike.”

With that blessing, Spike broke the seal and unraveled the letter. The first thing he noted was how it was hastily written, and it had a lot of ink spots all over it. Rather uncharastic of Twilight in his opinion. For having so many mistakes, it was a rather short letter.

However, he would soon learn that short letters could have a big punch to them. He gasped when he read the contents of the letter, and he glanced to the princess and dragon lord in panic. “I have to get back to Ponyville right now. Something huge just happened!”

Celestia looked to Ember with concern, but Ember just shrugged. “Whatever it is, sounds like it’s really important. Besides, I can get along with Princess Sunbutt--I mean, Celestia here.”

“Very well. You’re free to be dismissed, Prince--” Spike had already left the room in a rush before she could finish her thought. “I wonder what would make him leave in such a hurry? This was something he was looking forward to for weeks.”

“We could always just look at the letter,” Ember pointed out. Spike had left it in a rush to get out the door.

“Huh. So we could do that.” Celestia levitated the piece of paper to her side of the table to look over it herself. Her eyes widened at the news, and she glanced at Ember in a mix of shock and awe. “Looks like there’s a new member of royalty on the way.”

------

As soon as Spike saw the news, he knew he had to get to Ponyville as quickly as possible. He didn’t bother with his royal carriage at all. Instead, he took to the skies himself and let his wings carry him as fast as possible to his home. There was no way he was going to let this sit for long.

The journey, while short, felt like it was taking forever. His fastest speed wasn’t good enough. The uniformed shirt flapped around his body from how fast he was going, but that was the least of his concerns. It didn’t really matter in comparison to what else was happening.

Before too long, he finally saw the Castle of Friendship come into view. He made a beeline to the balcony and made his landing there. Once he landed, he rushed past the door and looked everywhere in the castle for Twilight. The castle wasn’t that big, but it felt like a maze with what he was dealing with.

He found Twilight before too long, standing in the living room with a blank expression. Once she realized Spike was there, she ran to him as fast as she could. They embraced each other tightly, overwhelmed with the new developments.

“Are you sure the doctors are right? They didn’t screw anything up?” he asked.

“I had them triple check to make sure. But it’s really happening, Spike. I’m pregnant,” she answered softly.

He couldn’t help but gasp when it finally sunk in. “That...that’s wonderful. Oh my gosh, we’re going to be parents. It’s actually happening.”

“I know. It was only a matter of time. How long have we been married?”

“Two years, I think.”

“Right. I just...oh my goodness, this is a lot to take in.”

Spike laughed nervously and hugged her again. “It is, but this was something we wanted, right? We’ve been literally dreaming about it for a while.”

“Yeah, but it’s one thing to dream about it and another thing to actually have it happen. I just didn’t think I would feel this way about it.”

That made him stop in his tracks. “What do you mean? Are you not happy about it?”

“No, it’s not that. I couldn’t be happier about it if I tried. But...you remember when you said we have no idea what the baby’s going to be like? It’s hitting me what you meant at the time.”

His ears dropped down to the side. “Like how we don’t know if it’s going to be a dragon or a pony or a little of both.”

“That’s what I mean. Personally, I don’t care what he or she is. It’s going to be our baby, and we’ll take care of it the best way we can. It’s the least we can do.”

He held her hands and pressed their foreheads together. “Right. But it’s a little scary that we don’t know what species it is. I don’t know if we should be getting ready to have a pony baby or a dragon baby.”

“I hate to admit it, but you’re right. Still…” She brought his hands down to her belly. “Can you feel it? That baby’s ours. We’re having a child together at last.”

Spike felt up her stomach and thought of the baby inside. A tear started to go down his face as it sunk in completely for him. Deep down, he wasn’t sure if he would be a good father, but he wanted to be. For their child. For Twilight.

Twilight, meanwhile, was holding her own tears back. This would completely change her life, but children always tended to do that. On top of that, she always wanted to try her hand at being a mother, and now she had that opportunity. She sniffed and calmed herself down.

“Equestria will probably want to know about this,” she commented. “After all, they’re about to have a new prince or princess. That’s pretty big news, no matter what species it is. Remember when Flurry Heart was born?”

“How could I forget? We should still wait for a little while,” he pleaded. “We just found out about it a few hours ago, and it’s going to leave us emotional for a while. It can wait for a month or two, anyways. You’re not getting a baby bump tomorrow.”

Twilight giggled at the thought. “It’s going to take more than a day for that to happen. And we should probably get things ready for the big day before we announce it.”

“Yeah. Our baby’s going to need a lot of food and toys after all. I should probably get on that as soon as possible.”

“Oh, Spike, I’m so happy that I’m doing this with you…” She nuzzled his head softly with his.

He did the same, kissing her on the lips for good measure. “Right back at you. Then again, it’s not like there’s another mare in Equestria as beautiful and smart as you…”

After that, they were almost completely quiet for the rest of the day. The weight of the future was starting to weigh on them. Although they didn’t mind, it didn’t stop the fact that this was going to be a huge challenge for them. Joining each other’s hand in marriage was one thing, but raising a child would be another thing entirely. It would take a lot of preparation to be ready for it, both on a physical level and a mental level.

As it turned out, their child would be something they wouldn’t see coming. No, it would be much, much better than that.

Author's Notes:

And so it begins...

Yeah, this wasn't much, but it was meant to be a link from the previous story to this one, both as a transition and to make it as newcomer friendly as possible. The real fun starts next.

A Kirin Is Born

When someone is waiting for a critical moment, the worst thing that could happen would be the sound of silence. The feeling that nothing is happening, or things have come to a standstill. It could be painful or create an intense sense of anxiety. It was never fun when it happened.

Pinkie Pie was experiencing that for herself just now. She waited at the hospital’s waiting room, along with six of her friends. She watched the hands of the clock up on the wall, counting every passing second. Her hands were fidgeting as she realized she had been waiting for a few hours by then.

“Are you sure she’s okay in there?” she asked around the room.

“Pinkie, we can’t just rush something as monumental as this,” Rarity replied. “When it’s time, they’ll surely let us know. None of us wish to wait any longer, my dear, but it is necessary for this occasion.”

“Yeah, and I’m pretty sure delivering a baby isn’t an easy thing to do,” Starlight agreed. “Just let it take its time, and we’ll meet her once it’s over.”

“I just hope she’s okay,” Fluttershy commented. “She’s really been stressed out about it for weeks.”

“Everypony gets stressed on days like these, y’all,” said Applejack. “But it’s always worth it. At least, that’s what my ma used to say.”

Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, was trying to kill the time with the latest Daring Do book. She glanced at the clock and couldn’t believe her eyes. “Has it really been two hours already? What’s going on in there?”

“I know!” Pinkie replied. “You think it’s going to be quick, but then again, I don’t know how baby delivery works at all, and I just hope she’s okay! Oh, I wish I could go in there and cheer her up!”

“I’m sure Spike will do that for us,” Rarity replied. “I just wonder if this is how it will be like if I ever have a child…”

Meanwhile, the delivery room was a few rooms down the hall. A series of doctors were there with Twilight as she screamed from the birth pangs. Her hospital gown was drenched in sweat as she clutched the railings of the bed.

Celestia was there with her, sitting in the back of the room. She would never admit it openly, but a part of her was debating if her former pupil was going to make it. Nothing she had ever seen in a delivery room was quite like this, and surely it would grab the attention of the ponies in the next room over.

Spike was there with them as well, and he held Twilight’s hand as tight as he could. He was fearing the same thing; while he expected this to be painful for her, he didn’t count on the blood curdling screams. It killed him to see her this way, even if he knew what would happen at the end of this.

The doctors were encouraging her to push, and every time she did, another scream came out. “It hurts so much! Why does it hurt like this!”

“I’m right here with you! We’re all here with you!” Spike panted. “You’re almost there! Just hang on and keep pushing!”

“I’m trying!” She grasped his hand so hard, he thought she was going to break one of his finger bones. “Please tell me it’s almost over!”

This continued for an unbearable amount of time. Her gown only grew more saturated with sweat, and Celestia was openly debating on using a spell of some sort to help her survive this delivery. Luna was in another room, awaiting the new prince or princess but not wishing to get in the way, and Celestia debated if she would need the assistance.

After more and more pushing, the doctor stood back. “I see the head! But it’s not like anything I’ve ever seen before.”

“See? You’re getting there!” Spike pointed out. “You’re almost done!”

“Oh thank Celestia. Spike...I don’t know if I’m going to make it!” Twilight gasped.

“You will! Just a little more!”

The purple alicorn screeched as she kept pushing the baby out. The other doctors crowded around her to get the baby out. They, too, were stunned by the creature coming out, but they brushed it aside to focus on their job.

Spike held her hand as tightly as he could. He couldn’t help but gasp when he started seeing the baby come out, and he looked back to his wife. She was still in deep pain, but she had no idea what she was in for. Neither was anyone in the room, as it would turn out.

“It’s almost out!” the doctor shouted. “Just a little more and you’re done!”

“I...I...aaahhhhhh!”

She gave every little ounce of energy into the next push, screaming on the top of her lungs. That did it, and the baby came out with that last ounce of pain. It slowly dawned on her that the pain was gone, and she tilted her head up. “Wait...Spike...is she...is she...where is she?”

“Yes,” Spike gasped. “It’s over.”

The doctors looked at each other, as they were stunned by what Twilight just gave birth to. They glanced over to the royal couple, not exactly sure how to handle this, and finally brought the child into view. Twilight and Spike were both shocked to the core by what they saw.

Their child was neither a pony or a dragon, but it had characteristics of both. Her feet were clawed, just like a dragon. Her skin from the belly to the chin was scaled, colored with a medium shade of purple. Her wings were just like Spike’s as well, but the wingspan was feathered as if it was a pegasus. Every other part of her body was light purple, and it closely resembled that of a pony. The dark purple mane was certainly like that of a pony. The tail was dragon-like, though, with its spikes and pointed tip. What really grabbed their attention were the two antlers on her head, resembling that of a deer’s.

As soon as Celestia saw the creature, she ran into the other room. Luna was going to want to know about this as soon as possible. Better to do this now than later.

“W-What…” Twilight gasped. “Is it…”

“Is she…” Spike wondered.

The lead doctor wasn’t sure how to respond. “What do you want us to do with her? I know it’s a lot to take in.”

“It doesn’t matter what she is, she’s still our daughter,” Spike replied.

The baby started to cry as she came into the world. After the doctors wrapped her up in a blanket, she was brought into the waiting hands of her mother. Twilight held her close to her chest as they gazed upon all of her unique features. She wouldn’t deny that she didn’t know what to make of this, but when she let it sink in, she was still crying that she got to see her daughter at last. “She’s beautiful…”

“Yeah. She really is. She’s even got your face,” Spike thought. “And a little bit of my good looks.”

That made her laugh nervously. “Yeah. She’s got your scales and tail and…” The baby slowly opened her eyes as she was crying. They revealed reptile-like pupils in her orbs, and they were green in color. “She’s even got your eyes.”

“She does?” Spike went around to get a better look. “She does. Oh my goodness, I can’t believe this is happening…”

“You want to get a better look? I think she’s going to like you.”

Spike nodded, and he carefully picked her up in his arms. He was almost trembling as he looked upon his first child, and his whole world changed with that moment. It was like nothing else mattered, not unlike the moment when he fell in love with his wife for the first time. He wasn’t even thinking about it anymore, as his mind stopped at the occasion.

Twilight’s eyes were streaming in tears. It was going to take some time to process the fact that they birthed a pony-dragon hybrid, but deep down, she had a feeling this was a positive thing. How she knew that, she didn’t know. She just knew it was special. However, her thoughts turned to a certain topic at hand. “If she’s not a pony or a dragon, what is she?”

“A kirin,” Luna spoke as she stepped into the room with Celestia. “Just as I thought.”

Spike and Twilight turned to the princesses, very confused at the news. “A kirin?” they said together.

“Yes, a kirin. It is thought to be a mix of a dragon and a pony. We had our suspicions that you would give birth to one, but we did not want to assume anything until it was time,” Luna continued.

Spike looked down at his baby once again. She was already asleep in his arms. He stroked her mane softly as his mind raced through all this. “What does that mean? Is she something special, or is she a monster? I just hope it’s not the latter. My daughter will never be a monster.”

“Truth be told, we are not sure,” Celestia admitted. “They were thought to be just a myth, as there hasn’t been a kirin in recorded history. At least, not since Equestria was founded. And yet, it might have been inevitable. You and Twilight are the first known union of a pony and a dragon, after all.”

Twilight’s mind was buzzing. To say that this was a lot to take in was an understatement. “I guess you’re right about it being inevitable, but what do we know about them? If you know anything, please tell us. I want to know everything I can about kirins. It’s very important that we understand what our daughter is.”

“Truth be told, we know very little. Even in myth, information about them was rather limited. However, we might know somepony that might know,” Luna commented. “Sister, where is Starswirl the Bearded?”

“He should be in Canterlot,” Celestia answered. “I’ll go summon him at once.”

“Wait, we’re dragging Starswirl into this?” Twilight gasped. “Is it that serious?”

“It could be. Even then, you need near fear the nature of your child, Twilight,” Luna replied. “If anypony knows about kirins, it would be him. For now, rest and relax. This isn’t a detail you need to burden yourself with.”

“Yes. We’ll take care of Starswirl ourselves. And, by the way, congratulations,” Celestia smiled. She left the room to give the royal family time by themselves. Luna soon followed suit, along with the rest of the doctors.

Now that they were alone, Spike climbed slowly into the hospital bed, cradling their daughter carefully. They looked all over her frame as she was sleeping softly in their arms. Her hands very much like Twilight’s, only making the princess overjoyed that she could see herself in the kirin.

“Be honest. Did you think she was going to turn out that way?” Spike asked.

“I knew it could happen,” she admitted. “Does it matter, though? She’s our daughter, and we’re going to accept her as she is, not what we think she should have been.”

“I’m not upset over how she turned out, even if I’m surprised. She’s beautiful, and whatever she is, I still love her. I mean, look at her! Have you ever seen anything cuter in your life?”

The little kirin stretched her arms out as she slept. She yawned as she did so, exhausted from everything that just happened to her. Given how painful her delivery was, it wasn’t a surprise.

“I haven’t. She’s just...I can’t even get the words out,” Twilight laughed. “She really is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. No offense, Spike, but I think you’ve been topped as the cutest thing in all of Equestria.”

“Hey, if I’m losing that title to my daughter, I can’t complain.” He held her with both arms again. “I just realized, we never came up with a name for her. Think we wanted to wait until we found out if she was a pony or dragon. Did you have something in mind?”

“That is a good question.” Twilight gave it a good deal of thought. She considered the kirin’s color scheme, and that’s when a light bulb went off in her head. “She is a really nice shade of purple, and Maud Pie introduced me to a gem that has the same color as her. What do you think of ‘Kunzite’?”

“Kunzite? It’s got a nice ring to it. How does Princess Kunzite sound to you?”

“Yeah, that’s going to be her name. You hear that, Kunzite? You’re just as precious to us as a gem--” Then she remembered that her daughter was sleeping, so she lowered her voice. “You’re like a little gem to us.”

“She is. Speaking of a Pie, you think the rest of our friends will want to see her? I just hope they don’t give her the wrong treatment because she’s not like anything they’ve ever seen.”

“They’re our friends, Spike. They’ll understand. We’ll just explain to them that she’s half pony, half dragon. It will make sense after that.”

“You’re right. I just hope that they’re as understanding as we are.”

------

As it turned out, her friends were very, very confused about the whole thing, and they asked a lot of questions about the kirin. It was rather scary to have questions Twilight and Spike didn’t have the answers to. After the shock of the moment came and went, they thought she was the best thing ever. Rainbow Dash made a mental note to train 40% harder, as she was certain that she was about to lose the title of best flier in Equestria.

To say it was a relief that things went smoothly as they did was an understatement. Twilight started to feel like this was going to be easier than expected--well, as easy as raising a child from a species you don’t know about could be--and she would have help along the way.

After a while, Kunzite wasn’t the only one getting tired. Her friends understood that the new parents were going to need some rest, and they went on their way. Pinkie was already planning a huge party for the whole thing, but the incident with the Cake twins taught her to give some time and space for them.

Twilight and Spike rested together after that. It was desperately needed after such a painful delivery, but it wasn’t going to last for very long. With the importance of the moment not left unnoticed, it might bring more trouble with it. At least it would be bring familiar faces with it this time.

Celestia and Luna returned to the hospital room, but they brought a certain guest to the room with them. His white beard was as long as ever, but he needed to bring a walking stick with him these days, a side effect from his advanced age. His hat jingled from the bells on his hat, but his eyes still carried a hint of unending wisdom and arrogance to them.

“So, the reports are true after all?” Starswirl the Bearded inquired. “Is it true that you, Princess Twilight, have just given birth to a kirin?”

Twilight’s eyes lit up from seeing her former idol, now a colleague, step into the room. “It’s true.” She turned around so he could get a good look at Kunzite’s face. “They said you might know more about kirins, and we could use all the help we can get. Just, please don’t hurt her.”

“Hurt her? I’m more curious if they’re real.” He slowly came up to see Kunzite, all while Celestia and Luna watched on. They were rather tense about this, knowing this could go a thousand ways, and only a handful of them were good. As he got a good look at her, he rubbed his beard and thought about the scaled face that greeted him.

“Is this a good thing?” Spike asked. “I just want to know she’s going to be alright.”

“Alright? That’s the least of your concerns, Prince Spike,” Starswirl thought. “If I know anything about kirins, they’re very powerful and protective beings. They carry the strength of a dragon and the magic of a well trained unicorn. And to see one in the flesh, when even I thought they were merely a figment of a vivid imagination, it might be a monumental discovery.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “You mean...not only did I have my first child, but it might be a...a...huge discovery that might change how we see the world?”

“Here we go again. She’s in research mode now,” Spike sighed.

“It’s possible,” Starswirl concluded. “But this raises questions that I don’t have the answers for. We know very little of them, and--hmm. There is that to consider.”

“What do you mean, ‘that to consider’?” Princess Luna asked. “Is there something we need to know about?”

“I’m not sure. I’ll have to go into my own library and check my notes from long ago. There might be something of value I wrote that could prove fruitful to the nature of kirins.”

“In that case, what should we do about her?” Spike asked, a little high strung with all this hoopla going on. “We don’t have to be afraid of her, right? That would be the end of me.”

“You shouldn’t have to. She is but a baby, after all. Even Celestia and Luna did not understand their powers when they were out of the womb, after all.”

“Even if I almost crashed the sun into Equestria that one time…” Celestia blushed.

“For now, though, just keep a close eye on her and learn all that you can. There is much I have to look into, and I will find out all that I can about them. Good luck.” He went out the door without a second thought, much to the ire of Spike.

“He still puts magic and knowledge above everything else, doesn’t he?” the dragon noted. “Not even a thank you or congrats on the big day?”

“You have to keep in mind that this is a huge discovery for him,” Celestia explained. “When he was on the verge of making a scientific breakthrough, it was all he could put his mind to. He might not always have the best tact about it, but this might have an impact on the whole world.”

“Although, we would agree that he could still use work on his tact,” Luna piled on.

“Maybe. At least he didn’t call her a monster,” Twilight replied. She yawned and almost fell asleep on the spot. “Sorry, it’s just been a long day. You sure we don’t have to worry about anything with Kunzite? He was a little startled when he saw her.”

“I don’t believe so, and that was just Starswirl being Starswirl. Just take care of yourselves. And, Twilight, your daughter is beautiful,” Luna gleamed.

That got the purple alicorn to smile. “Thanks. And if you find anything out about her, you’ll tell us, right?”

“You’ll hear about it the moment we find out. For now, rest well. You deserve it,” Celestia trailed off.

She left the room with Luna, closing the door as they left. That left the new family to themselves, and oh boy, was it a rough day for them. At least Kunzite was enjoying a deep sleep, and she cuddled into the arms of her parents.

Spike and Twilight were quiet as they started to drift off to sleep. It felt like they aged five years in the span of five hours, but they knew it was worth it whenever they looked upon Kunzite’s face. The only thing that wasn’t clear was what pitfalls and trials the future held for them. Then again, the dragon prince and pony princess were starting to get used to having an uncertain future together. They just brought a new kirin with them along the ride.

It wasn’t long until they were all asleep on the hospital bed, dreaming of things they wanted to do with their daughter. How much of it would become reality would be up to them. Hopefully.

------

Starswirl stormed down the halls of the hospital, and the gears in his mind were whirring with questions. It didn’t matter to him that a lot of the hospital guests were in awe of the legend in their midst; he was too occupied with the kirin in that room. Was it to be feared or not? Was she the first one in existence, or merely the first one in a long time? It always aggravated him when there was a part of the world he didn’t understand, but that only motivated him to find out.

Right after he left the lobby to the street outside, he heard Celestia and Luna go out with him. He turned around to face them with a stern look. “I assume you have questions of your own about this.”

“More like a thousand,” Luna huffed. “I don’t think I have to tell you that you could have handled things better than you did, but that’s not why we’re here. What are you doing, exactly?”

“Exactly what I said I would. I’m going back to Canterlot to fetch my notes. To my recollection, I did make notes about the kirin myths I came across before I was put into limbo. It may not be much to work on, but it’s the only lead I have right now.”

“So you don’t know much about kirins as well,” Celestia replied. “I was afraid of that. I don’t wish to put Twilight in a situation like this, if I must be honest.”

“She helped defeat the Pony of Shadows and save Stygian. That alicorn can do anything she puts her mind to,” said Starswirl. “That said, I am rather curious about that Kunzite.”

“Do you think she needs to be feared?” Luna asked. “If you do, now is the time to come clean.”

“Truth be told, I don’t know. I’m terrified to admit that it’s something I have no knowledge of. What I do know is that she’s very powerful, with the potential to be more powerful than either one of you. That is why I must go see my notes at once. If Kunzite poses a threat, we need to find out.”

“Whatever you do, don’t treat her like a monster. For their sake,” Celestia warned. “Whatever you find, we will not treat the daughter of Twilight like she is something to be disposed of. Is that understood?”

Starswirl was taken aback. It had been a long time since he saw that side of Celestia, but it was a side he had seen before. “Understood. I assume you want to go with me to find out what we can from my notes?”

“Very well,” Luna nodded. “The sooner we get to the bottom of this, the better.”

Author's Notes:

Then the real fun started.

Admittedly, I think I derped when I realized Twilight's family wasn't there with her, but I'm gonna aim to fix that with the next chapter. Pretty sure they would be interested in finding out a member of their family gave birth to a mythological creature

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 Notes:

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.

The First Step Of A Bazillion

Author's Notes:

Yes, you're seeing this right. After cancelling this story several months ago, I'm resuming it. Just felt like something I needed to do, both for myself and for you guys. Tell me what you think of this new entry, I think you might notice a few differences in the writing style.

Sleep always came easy to Twilight, no matter what season of life she was in. When she was a filly, she slept early to make sure she got to class in time. Once she moved to Ponyville, she was up and it to tackle the next friendship lesson. After she was crowned a princess, she was up before sunrise to attend to her new duties. After her wedding with sleep, that was the first time she ever had trouble falling asleep. Sharing a bed with someone every night took some time to get used to.

Nothing could prepare her, however, for her new sleeping patterns with the dawn of motherhood. She woke up through the night to check on her daughter, just to see if she was okay, or to check for any signs of magical energy. It might have driven her crazy, but she didn’t want to drop the ball by any means necessary. That kind of paranoia was common among new mothers, she reasoned.

When the clock on her desk started ringing, she was fresh off another visit to Kunzite’s room. Spike groaned from the noise and turned the clock off, only to note that his wife was standing next to the mattress. “You’re already out of bed? You spent the whole night checking up on her, didn’t you?”

She squealed and nodded. “Only for half the night, tops. I couldn’t help it. What if I wasn’t there when she cried or needed sompony to comfort her? Is that wrong to do?”

He rubbed his eyelids and sighed. “Nah. Surprised you got any sleep at all, to be honest. That’s nothing to be ashamed over. If you’re that worried about her, that means you’re a good mother. Why don’t you check on her, and I’ll find something for her to eat? That’s one less thing for you to worry about.”

“Thank you, Spike!” She planted a kiss on his forehead. “I have a whole lesson planned for her, so this is perfect.”

That made him raise an eyebrow. “First lesson? Already? I’m not even a little surprised here.”

“You know me. I’ve just been looking forward to this for so long. I won’t let her down.” She rushed out of the room without another word. He chuckled to himself as he got ready for the day. It was going to be something, alright. He just hoped she knew what she was doing, and she sure acted like she did.

Matter of fact, she sorta had an idea. As she went to the bathroom to fix her hair and get dressed, she had the whole day planned in her head. From what Shining and Cadence told her, there was a good chance that the plan would be thrown out of the window twice a day, if not more, but she had it in the bag.

She changed into a regular shirt and jeans, and she looked at herself in the mirror for a good prep talk. You are a great mother, Twilight. You’ve been preparing for this moment. Now go out there and raise Kunzite right! Oh, and don’t forget to take notes while you do so.

When she went to go see Kunzite, the little kirin was already wide awake. Matter of fact, she was gazing at the painting on the ceiling, as if to wonder what she was looking at. The sight warmed Twilight’s heart. Was this was a sign that she was a curious one? Either way, she picked Kunzite out of her crib. “Hi, Kunzite! Did you sleep well last night? I know I checked a million times, but I might have missed something--”

Kunzite cut her off with a loud burp. A small plume of green fire escaped her lips, coming within inches of Twilight’s shirt. She yawned after the flames disappeared, as if this was totally normal.

“What was that?” Twilight gasped. Her heart pounded in her chest from the close call, and seeing Kunzite try to sleep in her arms didn’t snap her out of it. She had a feeling this kirin had some dragon properties, but she was taken off guard from the fire. Her mind turned to the shelves nearby, where she had placed a notebook or two. “I’m definitely keeping track of this,” she noted. She picked them up with her magic.

Still, Kunzite was peaceful and quiet as she was sat down on the floor. She clapped her claws together and couldn’t wait to spend some time with the cute purple person hanging out with her. Next thing she knew, she was given a book with a huge boat on the cover.

“Okay, let’s just pretend that never happened. You didn’t catch anything on fire, so...do you know what this is?” Twilight asked. “This is a book. Boooook. Here, look at it.” She pushed it up so Kunzite could see for herself. “It has a lot of paper, and it can teach you a lot of things!”

Kunzite saw the weird shaped thingy on the cover and tried to figure out what that shape was. Her claws threatened to poke through the paper inside as she grabbed it, almost sending Twilight into a panic attack. Thankfully, she pushed the cover to the left instead. Crisis averted. She looked up to her mother with her mouth wide open, like she just climbed a mountain.

“You already know how to open a book?” She went to town with her notebook. “You caught on fast. This is a picture book. See what’s on this page? This is a sailor. Sailor.” The picture on the book was a sailor on a boat, along with a sailor with weird allusions to the moon on her uniform. “Sailors go out to the sea. See?” She was already kicking herself for that pun.

Kunzite wasn’t fazed by the cheesiness of the pun. She just clapped her claws together and giggled. Another set of flames came out of her mouth from all the laughter. That sure got Twilight’s attention; she was in awe while her notebook had another page worth of notes on it.

“Here’s another picture. This is called a hippogriff. Hippogriff.” Silverstream’s mug was on it, and since this was a picture, she had her tongue sticking out on it. “They are ponies that can turn into birds or fish. This is one of my best friends on here. Isn’t she almost as cute as you?”

Kunzite huffed with that. She even turned her head to the side to pout that anybody could compare to her adorableness. “Wait, are you pouting? That sure looks like pouting to me.”

“Yeah, that looks like pouting to me. What did you do, run an experiment on her?” Spike poked in. He was carrying a packet of baby food with him. “And why am I not surprised that your lesson involves reading? You’re trying to get her hooked on books.”

“Eeep, you saw that?” She tried to play it innocent and shove it even closer to Kunzite. “It was her idea! Besides, it’s never too early to start reading. See, this is a basic picture book. Any foal could understand it. Nothing like a picture book, am I right?”

Spike shook his head and smiled. “If she catches your love for reading, we’re gonna need a bigger library.” One thing he took note of, pardon the pun, was the amount of notes his wife wrote down on the book. Anytime Kunzite did the littlest thing, there would be a new sentence or two on the notebook. Even when she turned her head to the left, that warranted more scribbling. “How’s it going with her, anyways? Other than the book reading, of course.”

“Just wonderful. Kuznite, your dad is here.” She pointed Kunzite over to Spike, and the kirin was delighted to see her father. She crawled over to see who this mysterious dad was, and it warmed his heart to see her come to him.. He gathered her up and snuggled her tightly. “She was able to open the book all by herself, and she’s already showing a lot of emotions. If I had to guess, she’s the curious type.”

“No, she’s the cute type.” He rubbed underneath Kunzite’s chin. “Aren’t you the cutest thing ever? Aren’t you?” Kunzite giggled from all the rubbing.

“Wait, she also breathes--”

Suddenly, Spike’s face was covered in ash. Kunzite just burped again.

“...fire…”

He blinked from the surprise attack and stood there for a moment. “Yeah. I can see that. At least she didn’t get the baby food.” Then he realized that some of the ash on his arms used to be the packet of food. “Don’t worry. I got more.” He wiped some of the ash off his face.

“We have more? Thought we were out. That’s why I planned to go to the grocery store later today.”

“Don’t worry about it. I took care of it last night when you were giving Kunzite a bath. We’ve got plenty for days.

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Just how much did you get?” She went downstairs to see what he did. He actually wanted to see her reaction to what he bought, so he went down with her, making sure Kunzite was secure in his grasp. Surely, Twilight would be thrilled at what he did for their baby’s well being.

When the alicorn came down to the dining room, she gasped at the sight. The dining room table was full of baby food.There was so much baby food on there, she couldn’t see the surface of the table at all. Not only that, but it was stacked a few feet in the air. There was enough here to feed five babies for two weeks, let alone one.

“Spike, I think you might have overdone it,” she whimpered.

“What? Is that so wrong? I’m worried about Kunzite. We have all the money and resources to give her the very best, and I think we should do that for her. It’s the least we can do.”

“But...I mean...oh Celestia, there’s so much of it! I don’t even know where we can store it! We might need a second fridge at this rate. How did you even carry this all home? I’d have trouble carrying this all with my magic.”

“It took a few trips.”

Twilight facepalmed and pulled up a chair by the table. “It’s too much. Way too much. Can you warn me the next time you’re thinking about doing something like this? It kinda hurts that you did this behind my back.”

Spike’s ears perked down to the side. “I’m sorry. I just really wanted to make you happy. You have a lot to think about, and this is one less thing off your plate now.”

“I know. It was thoughtful and considerate. Just a little overdone. I’ll find a place for this later. Oh, I think it’s lunchtime for her.”

“Already on it.” He pulled up a baby chair and sat Kunzite down in it. “Who’s a hungry little kirin? You are! Get ready, because the train is coming!” He picked up a packet of Apple Bloom’s Baby Applesauce(trademark pending) and opened the lid. The smell was rather strong for something like this.

When the scent reached Kunzite’s nostrils, something within her woke up. Her stomach was growling louder than a dragon’s, which is already pretty loud. Her body looked like it was vibrating, and she was laser focused on the packet of food she needed. Her wings spread out all the way, and she wiggled to get out of the chair. All the while, Twilight was in awe of her daughter’s actions. This was something to note.

Spike was occupied fetching a spoon for the food to notice. Before he realized she was out of the chair, Kunzite swooped in and stole the packet out of his claws. She dove her head in and slurped all the food up. He jumped back and gasped from the surprise. As it turned out, he wasn’t the only one in awe.

Twilight’s jaw was firmly on the floor as she witnessed Kunzite hovering in the air, using her wings to stay up there. She brought her notebook downstairs with her, and she was filling up pages by the minute. “She’s a baby and she’s already flying? How is this possible? She might be as powerful as an alicorn, and she has the natural flying ability of a pegasus. What kind of daughter do we have?”

The dragon was barely able to comprehend it himself. He carefully approached Kunzite step by step. “Hey, I’m not gonna hurt you. I’m just going to pick you up and take you back to your chair. Is that alright?”

Kunzite had no idea what he was saying. She just wanted to keep eating and get the growling in her stomach to stop. She scooted into Spike’s arms without any issue, and it wasn’t long until she was propped back into the chair. Her face was still planted inside the packet to get any food she missed. Spike pulled up his own chair and collapsed into it.

“She’s something, alright,” he breathed. “Just don’t know what to make of it yet. I’m willing to bet you do, since you’re taking so many notes about it.” He shot Twilight a dirty look over it.

“What? I’m so sorry. It’s just that she’s the first dragon-pony kind of kirin, maybe second. There are those kirin Fluttershy and Applejack met, but Kunzite is totally unlike them at all. She’s way cuter, for example.”

“Yeah, that’s what’s standing out to you,” he whispered to himself. “Just don’t forget she’s your daughter, too,” he said at a louder tone.

“I won’t.” She turned to another page of her notebook. As it turned out, she wrote her schedule for the day on that page. “I totally forgot that I still have some duties to attend to. Delegates from the Hippogriff Navy want to know when’s the best time for a diplomacy meeting. Don’t know how I’m going to squeeze this into my schedule. Kunzite should have top priority.”

“You know what, go ahead and do that. I’ll keep my eye on her for today. It will just be Father and Daughter Bonding Time. You go take care of your chores, and I’ll make sure she’s fine.”

“You sure? The whole load shouldn’t be just on you. I can help.”

“And you will. It won’t be like with me, where you had to raise me by yourself a lot of time. You’ll be the mother you’ll want to be, but you’re also a princess. Go be the princess Equestria needs you to be.”

“Really? Thank you!” She kissed them both on the forehead. “I’ll be back when I’m done. Tell me everything that happens while I’m gone!” With that business taken care of, she went off to attend to those royal errands.

That left Spike alone with his little kirin. He looked at her suspiciously “You don’t have any other surprises for me, do you?” Kunzite actually shrugged and reached for another packet of food. “Alright, you get one more. You gotta show me how you learned to fly so quickly. I had to wait years for my wings…”

------

The mountain ranges were tall and menacing in all directions. Snow would usually cover their peaks, but not during this season. There was always fog to them no matter what, however. On the other hand, the valleys between the peaks were nice and peaceful. They were grassy, leaving to picturesque surroundings whenever a wind current blowed through. It didn’t hurt that they were easy terrain to trek through.

Celestia learned that quickly as she trekked through the valley. A legion of guards followed her, and despite their insistence that she bring a carriage for the journey, she insisted on walking. She didn’t want to leave Starswirl behind on this journey, even though he was making good ground for a middle aged unicorn. It was important that they made the journey together.

It was getting late, however, and the road was long and wearisome. Once they got out of the mountain range and found themselves at the entrance to the forest, they made camp there for the night. The guards took inventory and prepared dinner for that day. With the amount of ground they made, it would take just another day or two to make it to the kirin’s roaming grounds. They weren’t far off from the Equestria-Dragon Lands border, so the guards would keep watch overnight for any rogue dragons.

Celestia enjoyed the taste of a dinner roll, and she looked over Starswirl’s notes under the light of the campfire. He debated on trying out this mead he heard about, but settled for plain old water instead. It was intriguing for him to see his former student look over his notes and understand everything on the first readthrough. The last time he saw her, he had to explain every little term and word to her young, impressionable mind.

As he observed her studying, he would notice little ticks and signs of hidden emotions. For example, he could see a tear try to form in her eye, only to push it away. It wasn’t hard to see that it wasn’t caused by dust in her eyes. “What’s on your mind?” he inquired.

“To be honest, I’m emotional about a few things. It just dawned on me that the previous season of my life is over,” she replied calmly, still looking over the notes.

“What do you mean? Seasons come and go all the time. You know that better than anypony in the world. Yet, I sense that something about that troubles you. What was it about this last season?”

She sniffed and raised her head up to meet him eye to eye. “For the last twenty years of my life, I’ve been acting as a mentor to somepony’s life, from Sunset to Twilight. I served as their mentor as long as I can remember. I believe I did a good job, so there’s no regrets there. Sunset is doing well in the other dimension, and Twilight requires no explanation.”

“Nothing to be ashamed of. So what’s at the heart of this issue?”

“The thing is, Twilight’s started a family. We still talk every now and then, but I can feel a difference in our relationship. It doesn’t seem like I’m mentoring her anymore. Now, it appears like we are equals.”

Starswirl nodded and rubbed his beard. “You view her as your daughter.”

Celestia glanced at him in bewilderment. “My daughter? Not at all. She has parents of her own. They’re still involved in her life. I’m just a mentor to her, that’s all.”

“Yet, from what I’ve read, the way you’re acting about it is how mothers act when their daughters graduate from school, marry, and have foals. Your behaviour over Twilight’s actions are very motherlike.”

The princess took a moment to give the idea some thought. “I suppose you’re right. I was proud of her when she ascended to alicornhood, and being there when she found love was a touching moment, one of the most touching in all my life. But I shouldn’t be sad that our relationship has changed. She’s happier now than ever before, even if she’s a little confused over the nature of her daughter. Speaking of which, what do you expect we will find with this other kirin?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. He stroked his beard in thought once more. “It was not a erroneous idea to bring these guards with us, as this type of kirin can be very powerful. If our stranger is the threatening type, we might have no choice but to fight him or her. With any luck, it won’t come to that.”

“So you don’t know for certain.”

“No. It’s best to be prepared for anything, no matter what is to come.”

Celestia sighed and got up from her post. “Advice you’ve taught me a million times, and it’s served me well. Regardless if it’s wise, I will aim to avoid it, for Twilight and Spike’s sake. They need all the answers they can get. I will rest for now, and may Luna’s moon watch over you.” She then went to her tent for the night.

Starswirl remained alone by the campfire, and she was nice enough to leave the old notes behind for him. He couldn’t help but look over them himself, just to be prepared. Whatever nugget of information he forgot over the years, he should probably find them tonight. It was best to have them and not need them rather than the other way around.

After all, it was best to be prepared for anything. Advice he should probably heed himself.

The Joy Of Not Stepping On Grass

Spike wasn’t too sure where to take Kunzite for the day. Where do parents take foals to, anyways? It was such a long time since he was a hatchling, and he forgot what he liked to do when he was so little. Twilight couldn’t remind him of the places he liked to visit as a baby, so he had to improvise. He was wary of introducing Kunzite to other foals, even if Equestria had largely accepted her nature. Maybe tomorrow. No way was he taking her to the park just yet, either. That was for kids older than her.

It took him a while to come up with something good, but he recalled that little sanctuary Fluttershy opened a few years back, not long before he gained his wings. Now that was a place that would be perfect for Kunzite. She could enjoy some fresh air, hang out around the fields, and maybe even learn about the types of animals there. Twilight would be happy with that. No downsides, all positives to think of, so let’s go.

He grabbed a backpack, stuffed it with some baby food and milk, and carried Kunzite down to the sanctuary. The pegasi scheduled a sunny day with a light breeze, and the sunlight made the place look even more appealing. Even if the weather wasn’t as its best, fresh air never hurt anybody.

When he got to the entrance, he observed Kunzite’s reactions closely to see what she thought about a place like this. As it turned out, she was in awe of the large forest wonderland. The large palette of colors, creatures, and smells were overload to her senses in the best possible way. It made her giggle with glee. “Heh, knew you would like it,” he commented. “We should find Fluttershy first. She’s really good about nature and animals, and she could tell you all about this place. She can’t be that far away.”

The pegasus wasn’t anywhere nearby, so he took a step on the grassy field to find her. The sound of grass crunching rang in Kunzite’s ears, and she began to cry. “Huh? Something wrong?” She didn’t say a word--not that foals should be able to talk--but she twisted and turned like she was in pain. “Hey, nothing’s wrong. I’m here for you.” He took another step and crunched even more grass along the way. She cried and bit down on her claws, looking at the grass like there was a dead body there.

“Okay, now I know something’s wrong. Are you crying because Mommy’s not here? She’ll be back in a couple of hours. It’s nothing to be worried about,” he pleaded with her. This was the first time she really cried like that after she was born. He felt guilty about it, as he suspected it was from something he did.

Kunzite flew out of his arms and raced towards his legs. When she got there, she threw everything she had to get his feet off the ground, pulling at them with her claws. This was a matter of life and death for her. She kept tugging and tugging at him to get off.

“That’s making you cry? You want me to get off the ground or something?” He shrugged and used his wings to hover off the ground. Wasn’t like he had any better ideas. Kunzite went down and looked all over the grass blades he destroyed, and she couldn’t stop crying from the sight.

“Wait, that really was it? You were just upset over the grass getting stepped on?” he wondered. She nodded and flew back into his arms. At least she wasn’t crying anymore. “Okay, then. No more stepping on the grass. I had no idea you cared about it that much. It’s just grass.” That earned him a death stare from his own daughter. It sent shivers down his spine; he was very aware that she could destroy him if she learned to control her magic.

Now that he realized that he shouldn’t screw around with nature, he stayed a few inches above the ground as he showed her around the forest. With the weather corporating like this, the animals were out in full force today. Even if they stayed in the entrance area, Kunzite could watch a giraffe drink from the river, a few foxes running around in the fields, and a bear resting up on the boulders. She thought they were all wonderful, and she left Spike’s grasp to go see them up close and personal.

“Wait, some of them might be dangerous!” he shouted. He flew in to catch up with her. There was no way he was going to leave her alone when one of these guys could hurt her. It didn’t help that she was coming up on one of the foxes to check out its tail. By Celestia, he hoped that Fluttershy checked them all out for rabies….

However, something intriguing happened when she met the fox, which was a male one. He stopped his little trek to see who this mysterious creature was. Certainly wasn’t any pony he ever met before. Kunzite couldn’t stop grinning from how cute it was, and she reached out to pet him. Spike’s heart sank from imagining all the ways this could go wrong, and he was prepared to snatch her away from the beast. Instead, Kunzite brushed her claws over the fox’s head, and the fox didn’t move a muscle or appear irritated.

Spike stopped in his tracks when he realized the fox wasn’t going to attack. In fact, he sniffed all over Kunzite’s face to see what was up with this scaled pony-like creature. She squirmed from the fox’s wet nose rubbing all over her face. It was so wet and ticklish, and she liked the feeling. Maybe, just maybe, she just made another friend.

“George, what are you doing?” a familiar face piped in. Spike would recognize Fluttershy’s voice from anywhere, and he was happy to see her come in. As she grew older, she still retained her graceful form, although that wedding ring on her finger was taking some getting used to.

“Hey, Fluttershy,” Spike replied. “Man, I am never getting over the fact that you’re married to Discord now. Who would have thought?”

“Even I’m a little surprised that it happened,” she admitted. “Oh, your daughter’s so adorable! Why is she playing with George? He’s usually very shy around strangers.”

“Yeah, I’m just as confused as you are.” As he was talking, Kunzite realized Fluttershy’s feet were stepping on the grass, and she started to cry again. “You might want to stay off the ground like I’m doing. She’s very sensitive if you step on the grass at all. Don’t know why, but she is.”

“I’m so sorry, Kunzite. Here, I’m getting off right now.” She hovered off the ground, and Kunzite stopped crying immediately. “I never heard of anything like that before. I know some environmentalists, like Tree Hugger, and they don’t get upset over things like that.”

“Huh. Wonder what that means if she’s getting upset over things Tree Hugger would see as no big deal…” He sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Can I be honest with you, Fluttershy? Just between friends.”

Kunzite ran off to explore the other parts of the sanctuary, and Fluttershy kept a close eye on her. “That’s usually what somepony says when they’re about to share a deep, dark secret. How serious is this?”

“It’s nothing that serious. Well, it kinda is. I’m worried that Twilight views Kunzite more like a science project than as a daughter.”

She was startled to hear that. “Should I be in the middle of this?” The pain in Spike’s eyes told her the whole story. “Okay, just between friends. Although, are you really that surprised? Kunzite is the first known kirin born from a pony and a dragon, and we know so little about them. That’s the kind of stuff Twilight would go crazy about. Didn’t she run a few experiments on you right after you were born, since we had so little information about dragons at the time?”

“Yeah, and I still have some of the scars,” he winced. “But that was different. She was just a filly at the time, not like she had any idea what she was doing. She’s an adult now and this is her offspring. Doesn’t that feel a little different to you?”

She nodded. “I suppose you have a point. Have you talked to her about it?”

“Not yet, but I want to. Is it better to speak up about it, or hope the problem fixes itself? No matter what, if it gets worse, I’m saying something. No if or buts about it.”

“I hope it doesn’t get to that point for you.” She turned back to see Kunzite again, only to see a scary sight. “ By the way, where’s Kunzite?”

Spike’s eyes shrunk down to the size of peas when he heard that. He was so preoccupied with venting out his problems, he didn’t notice that Kunzite was off on her own. “No no no no NOOOOOOOOO!” His heart stopped for a split second, and he sprinted across the sanctuary to find her. His eyes darted in all directions, trying to find any sign of her daughter around here.

He wasn’t tired at all, but he gasped for air with every moment it took her to find the kirin. He had to use a lot of willpower to brush aside the guilt that he didn’t keep track her of her, and he found himself deep into the forest. Even if it was a stretch that she made that much ground already, he had to look for her everywhere at this point.

The sounds of her laughter echoed throughout the forest. He could hear Fluttershy coming up from behind, but it barely registered to him. All that mattered was that he knew which direction Kunzite was in, and he flew closer to the sounds of her voice. He prayed to Celestia that she was okay, and that she didn’t pick a fight with someone twenty times her size.

As it turned out, she was sitting on the branch of a tree. He almost screamed at the thought of her falling down from there, and he came up to grab her as quickly as possible. Only problem was that she wasn’t alone on that branch. A lot of squirrels had joined her up there. The squirrels themselves were calm and tranquil, some of them even accepting pets on the head. Kunzite was delighted to make even more friends, and she loved petting their bushy tails. They might not like it, but they didn’t seem to care.

“Is she alright?” Fluttershy asked. She came to the tree trunk to see the same thing Spike did. “Oh, that’s so adorable! She’s getting along with all the little squirrels. Isn’t that the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?”

“That’s what you’re thinking about? How cute this looks?” Spike gawked. “All those squirrels could bite or scratch her! That’s it, she’s coming down right now.”

“Spike, wait a second. Isn’t it weird how they’re warming up to her? Most squirrels never warm up to a guest, ever. They run away as soon as they see somepony that’s not me. Maybe it’s a good idea to bring her down, though. Do you need my help?”

“No, I got it. Kunzite, please come down from the tree,” Spike begged. “You could get a serious boo-boo if you fall down. Just come with me…” All the squirrels turned to the big dragon bully and reared up on their legs. Some of them even got ready to pounce on him. This was their kirin, and he wasn’t going to get in the way of cuddle times.

Kunzite was upset to see all her new friends attack Daddy, and she started to whimper. The moment one of them was about to pounce on him, though, was the moment her mood shifted. Her horns glowed together into a menacing shade of red, and her eyes shifted to the same color. All of a sudden, the squirrels were knocked softly off the tree branch from a burst of magic. They weren’t seriously hurt, but they got spooked from the impact and ran off in all directions.

“KUNZITE!” Spike snatched her up and brought her down immediately. “What did you do? What was that?”

The kirin realized she did something really bad from his tone, and she turned away from him. It tore her up to see all her squirrel friends run away in fear, and her horns changed color once again. This time, it was a shade of blue, and all the critters levitated back to her. They freaked out and tried to get out the spell, but it was no use. She gave them all a big hug to make it up to them. Spike’s face was starting to pour from sweat, but he wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to stop her at the moment.

Kunzite hugged all the squirrels to calm them down, and it worked. They weren’t all that cuddly anymore, but they weren’t scared for their lives either. Once their moods had improved, she put them down gently into the tree branches. Couldn’t afford to let them break more grass blades, of course. Then, she went back into Spike’s arms and fell asleep on the spot.

He turned to Fluttershy in bewilderment. She was just as surprised as he was, and they didn’t know what to say. He glanced down at Kunzite and dwelled on the way her horns changed color. What did they mean?

“Guess her magic is tied to her emotions after all,” he whispered, trying not to break Kunzite’s nap. “You saw that, right?”

“I couldn’t unsee it, even if I tried,” she meeped. “Please don’t let her harm the animals like that again.”

“How do you think I feel about it? We knew she wasn’t going to be a normal pony, but we had no idea it was going to going this way. This must have been what Shining and Cadence went through when they were raising Flurry Heart.”

“There is one big difference between you and them. Flurry wasn’t half dragon.”

Spike gulped. “I didn’t think about that. Oh Celestia, I don’t know if I can do this. She’s already so powerful, and she’ll just get better when she grows up. Can I raise her the right way when all of this is going on?”

Fluttershy’s heart soared for her friend. It was obvious to see he was trying so hard to do this right, so she said the only thing she could think of. “You don’t have to do it alone. Twilight’s helping you out, and you have a lot of friends on your side. We can help you if you need it.”

Spike still felt overwhelmed, but his shoulders loosened up when he heard Kunzite snore peacefully. No matter what just happened, he couldn’t deny that she was the cutest thing he had ever seen. He cradled her face softly and sniffed from the emotions coming over him.

“I just hope that when she grows up and living on her own, I don’t have too many regrets over how I raised her…”

------

As the years went by, the Dragon Lands never changed. Ponies, griffons, and hippogriffs may have visited it more than ever, and Smolder might have helped dragons warm up to friendship, but in terms of appearance, it didn’t change at all. A lot of ashy air, a lot of active volcanoes, and lava pools still made up the lands. No matter how much dragons learned about friendship, they were not giving up lava swimming or surfing. It was too much fun to just drop like that.

Speaking of which, Fizzle was on the edge of a cliffside, looking over one of the bigger lava pools. His friends were down at the pool, waiting for him to make his big dive. The drop was at least twenty feet high, and he wasn’t eager to see how a drop like that would hurt. But he was Fizzle the Dragon. Fear wasn’t in his DNA up here. No, it was only there when he had to explain to Torch that he was dating the big guy’s daughter.

“What’s taking you so long?” Garble sneered. “You’re just a big old chicken. Bawk bawk!”

“You’re the big chicken! You’ve never tried this jump!” Fizzle pointed out. “I’ll do you one better. I won’t do a cannonball off this cliff.”

“Boooo! Knew you were a chicken.”

“I’m going to do a backflip off this cliff!”

The dragons all gasped. “He’s not really going to do it.” “Doesn’t that leave a mark?” “Ember would be soooo ticked off if she was here to see this.”

Fizzle turned his back around and spread his arms to the side. Deep down, he was terrified that this was going to hurt. Dragons don’t do fear, though, and neither would he. He was going to be a true dragon and do this right now. His feet hung over the edge as he prepped for the big move.

“He’s gonna fail, trust me,” Garble said to the gang.

Before he knew it, he jumped off the cliff and flew backwards. The air around him was one big whirl as he flipped back feet first into the pool. He was only in the air for a second, but it felt like an eternity. Before he knew it, he saw nothing but red lava as he dove below the surface. Oh man, it hurt so much on his legs. Definitely wouldn’t do it again.

He rose back above the surface and spit out the lava from this mouth. The dragons rose to their feet and applauded his performance. “Fizzle! Fizzle! Fizzle!” He felt like a million gems as they picked him up and paraded him all around the pool, like he just won a grand battle for all of dragonkind.

“What? WHAT? He did it?” Garble said in disbelief. “He actually did it! Showoff…”

“Told you I could do it! Say my name!” Fizzle roared. “That’s right, who’s the best dragon around here? I am! I am!”

“Thought that was me,” a certain blue dragoness cut in.

Just from that one sentence alone, all the dragons stopped their act and dropped Fizzle back into the pool. He flailed around from the drop and climbed out of the lava in a huff, shooting the other dragons a dirty look. Then he saw the Dragon Lord herself standing in front of him, tapping her claws on the floor, and he realized he was in for some good old fashioned chewing out. “Well...maybe the second best dragon around here?” he squeaked.

“Everybody else, get out of here,” Ember shot at them. “I’ll deal with Fizzle myself.”

The rest of the gang sprinted out of the pool as fast as they could. They were in fear for their lives, as Ember made it very clear that she was not to be trifled with. “You are so screwed right now!” Garble laughed.

Ember made sure they were all gone, even checking to see they left the side of the mountain completely. Once they were gone, she came into the pool and planted a kiss on Fizzle’s lips. “You big old brute! I saw the whole thing. What made you think you could do a backflip like that?”

“I didn’t,” he admitted. “I just wanted to show them all up, that’s all. You know how Garble’s like. Any chance I get to shut his face, I’m gonna take it.”

“He made fun of you again, didn’t he?” she sighed. “You don’t need to prove anything to him. Don’t forget that you have me. That’s something he’s never gonna get.”

“Heh, that’s right. Next time he pokes fun at me, I’m just gonna ask him where his Dragon Lord is. That will remind him who’s the luckiest dragon in all the land.”

“Stop it. You’re just gonna make me fall in love with you again.” She gave him another kiss, and all the stress Garble put Fizzle through was gone. He returned the favor and embraced her tenderly, reminding her why they fell in love in the first place.

Later, they had some fun with the lava pool. Ember never got tired of splashing Fizzle’s face with lava, and he was more than happy to splash her back. The next couple of hours were spent like that, going back and forth between playing and cuddling. It looked Ember picked up on a few things from the ponies over the years.

After a long while like this, they were spent. They climbed out of the pool and rested down on the side of the mountain. He kissed her again as he laid down on his back. It was just the right moment to start thinking about life after an outing like that, and that’s just what he did.

“How do you feel about having hatchlings?” he inquired.

“Okay, what’s bringing this up in your mind?” Ember smiled. “You don’t just think about these things, Fizzle. Have you been thinking about this for a while?”

“I’m not exactly a subtle dragon,” Fizzle commented. “We’ve been mates for what, a year now? Two years? I’ve met a lot of dragons, and when they’ve been mates for this long, this is the point where they’re expecting a hatchling.”

“Maybe, but we don’t have to be like everyone else. That’s a big reason why I’m the Dragon Lord. I did friendship at a time where dragons didn’t, but I would be lying if I didn’t admit I’ve thought about it. Were you wanting some hatchlings of your own?”

“It wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen. Who knows, maybe I’m secretly a great dad and I don’t know it yet. If I had kids, they would grow up to be the fiercest dragons that ever lived. Just think about it. You and me, we’re already strong together. Just imagine what kind of kids we could have.”

“Heh, that would be kind of cool. I’m not in a hurry to have eggs, but if it ever happens, I’ll do the best I can. Why not? They’re going to have a really awesome, powerful dragon as a parent, and then the other parent will be the Dragon Lord.”

Fizzle grinned. “You’re just inflating my ego at this point.”

“Not like you’re complaining.”

The rest of the night went the same way, just two dragons hanging out and having fun. Anyone that tried to mess with them got one hay of a death stare from Ember, and the rest didn’t dare get in the way. It was a fun night for them, which she could use after another day being the Dragon Lord.

Once they were done, they rested on a big pile of gold over at Ember’s cave. No matter what she learned about the world, there wasn’t a better bed in the world a pile of stuff her father may or may not have stolen. It didn’t take long for Fizzle to fall asleep, leaving Ember alone to think about the whole hatchlings idea.

That might be worth thinking about, given some of the pains she experienced in her stomach lately...

Author's Notes:

This was a rough chapter to get through, but here it is.

Oh, if you're wondering about why Kunzite's sensitive about grass, this was something I found out about kirins. Some versions of them are deeply attuned to nature and wish no harm upon it, down to not wanting to step on grass to avoid hurting it. Looks like Kunzite picked that up very early in her life.

Advice From One Demon Baby To Another

When Spike and Twilight found out they were having a baby, they had a definite plan on raising their child. They would raise him or her together, stay in touch as much as possible, and be on the same page when it came to communication. It was a solid plan, but like most good plans, life forced them to throw it away and start from scratch.

What they failed to realize is how, baby on board or not, they were still Prince and Princess of Equestria. The royal duties weren’t going to stop just because they had a kirin daughter now. Spike experienced that firsthand when he had to take care of Kunzite by himself, and today, it would be Twilight’s turn to look after her. He would be off to take care of that meeting with the Hippogriffs, while she would stay at home to look after Kunzite and sign off on a few documents. Thankfully, she sent a letter to a couple of ponies that knew a thing or two about raising a strong and powerful baby...

She waited in the lobby of the castle, and Kunzite was sitting on a baby chair nearby. The kirin was more than happy to stay in place when she had a few packets of applesauce to keep her happy. The guests should be here any moment now, and Twilight was more than ready to greet them. Kunzite would love to have more playmates, although, her mother wasn’t entirely sure how it would go.

In the meantime, she flipped through the pages of her notebook. She had no idea that she already filled it up from cover to cover. Then again, Kunzite was a fascinating creature; if she did anything fascinating, it would earn a few notes in the notebook. Given this was Twilight, she had spare notebooks all around the castle, and she decided to grab one of them. “Hopefully, this is the last one I’ll ever need…”

Shortly after noting her notes for her notebook, she heard the sounds of pegasi galloping in the wind. It was showtime. She levitated Kunzite out of the chair and brought her outside to see who was coming. Kunzie reached her hands for the applesauce back at the chair, only to be in awe of the chariot waiting outside for them.

The Crystal Pony pegasi manning the charit brought it down near the entrance. There was an entire envoy with them, which was custom for Equestrian royalty. Three familiar faces waited inside the carriage, and their faces beamed when they saw Twilight and Kunzite down below. The chariot touched down a moment later, and the guards escorted them out of the place. A certain pink princess was more than happy to greet Twilight.

“Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake. Clap your hands and do a little shake!” Twilight and Cadence sang together. Just like old times, even if Kunzite was wondering what the hay she was looking at.

“That never gets old!” Twilight laughed. “How are you? Oooh, Flurry Heart’s all grown up now!”

Flurry Heart stood next to her parents, slowly waving to her auntie. “That’s what I keep telling them, but they never believe me. Is that Kunzite? I’ve never seen a kirin before.”

“You’ve met her before. You might not remember it, but we saw her in the hospital,” Shining Armor pointed out. “Speaking of which, how’s it going with Kunzite, Twily? We haven’t heard from you ever since the ceremony.”

“Well, it’s been...it’s been really difficult,” Twilight admitted. “I thought we could handle it on our own, but it’s a challenge when your daughter has magical powers and talents beyond her years.”

“Does that make us soul sisters?” Flurry Heart pondered. She came over to look Kunzite eye to eye. The kirin was rather intrigued by this little alicorn, and she smushed Flurry’s cheeks together. “That’s something Mom likes saying. Did she set the castle on fire by accident? That would really make us soul sisters.”

Twilight had to stop herself from laughing. “Actually, that’s why I wanted you guys to come over. Flurry, you’re really good with magic and flying, and your magic was off the charts when you were a foal. I was wondering if you wanted to help Kunzite figure out her magic.”

Flurry winced at the memories. “I didn’t know what I was doing with my magic, and it freaked everyone out? I broke the Crystal Heart without even thinking about it. I still feel bad about it.”

“It’s okay, Flurry,” Twilight comforted her. “You were just a foal, and we know you didn’t mean to do that. You’re wiser now. The point is, you’re skilled with magic way beyond your years. As it turns out, Kunzite is a lot like you. Her magic is really powerful, and she needs to learn how to use it well. Do you want to help her with that? You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Cadence whispered over to Shining.

“If something goes wrong, we’ll come in and put a stop to it. Between the three of us, it shouldn’t be a problem,” Shining responded. “I don’t like it either, but let’s just do it for their sake. Twilight has no idea what she’s in for, and she could use all the help she can get.”

“You want me to help her?” Flurry puzzled at the idea. “Am I really that good with magic?”

“You have no idea,” Shining confessed.

“Honestly, you could be stronger than Celestia or Luna when you grow up,” Cadence added.

“That’s a big reason why I wanted your help,” Twilight agreed. “You may not know it yet, but you’re a natural at this stuff. I understand if you back out of it, but I wanted your help because you went through a lot of the same problems Kunzite’s going through right now.”

“Well…” She felt Kunzite’s claws smush her face again, and she really saw how adorable this foal really was. With those eyes, that dragon underbelly, and those claws that were poking her face, no wonder everyone thought she was adorable. “Okay. I’ll do it.”

Twilight squeed in joy. “Wonderful! Whatever you want to do with her, we’ll do it. How should we do this?”

“Maybe we should do this inside?” Cadence offered. “All these guards might freak her out. No offense, guys.”

“They’ve been through worse,” Shining shivered. The changeling invasion alone was much worse. “We’ll help you get set up.”

------

A few minutes later, Twilight cleared the middle of the living room out for practice. Kunzite was rather curious why there were three ponies levitating furniture around, but she felt close to Flurry already. Maybe it was how she was the closest to Kunzite’s size out of the whole family. Flurry was too busy preparing her horn for practice to notice, and she calmed her mind for it as well.

Shining and Cadence watched the scene from the back of the room. They were more than a little terrified of what was about to happen, but Twilight was the complete opposite. Her second volume of notes were waiting to be written, and she was so excited over this.

“Mom says my emotions have a big part in my magic. Is that how Kunzite’s magic works?” Flurry asked.

“Seems to be the case so far,” said Twilight. “Her magic goes crazy when she has mood swings.”

“Okay. I have no idea how kirin magic works, but I’ll try to be her friend.” She raised her hands in front of Kunzite. “Patty cakes. Do you like patty cakes?”

Kunzite never played a game of patty cakes before, so she had no clue what Flurry was doing. However, she could tell her friend wanted to play with her, so she brought her claws up. She cooed in delight, knowing this was gonna be fun.

“Here, this is how you play.” Flurry clapped her hands with Kunzite’s to the beat of the song. “Patty cakes, patty cakes, baker’s man. Bake me a cake as fast as you can!” She did it a few times in a row so Kunzite could learn how it was done.

The kirin didn’t have any idea what Flurry was doing, but she liked it. When Flurry stopped to hold her hands out, Kunzite clapped her hands out to the beat of the song. She laughed and tried to sing along to the song, letting out a bunch of gibberish instead.

“You’re getting it!” Flurry smiled. “Do it a few more times.”

Kunzite squeaked and kept clapping with Flurry’s hands. It made her very happy to get along with her new friend, and her horns started to glow from it. Twilight gasped from the sight, and she leaned in to see what would happen.

Flurry stopped in her tracks when she realized Kunzite’s feet weren’t touching the ground anymore. The baby couldn’t stop laughing as she levitated up in the air. She didn’t need her wings to fly this time. If it wasn’t for the fact that her magical aura was loud, everyone in the room would hear Twilight’s pen going crazy.

“Should I be scared?” Flurry meeped. “I’m scared right now.”

“No no, it’s nothing to be worried about,” Twilight cut in. “She’s levitated like this before, but only in her sleep. This is so exciting! And you should be happy about this, Flurry. It looks like she’s doing this because she’s really, really happy to play with you.”

Shining and Cadence sighed from the news. “So she’s not going to hurt our daughter,” Cadence inquired.

Flurry was frozen still as she kept her eyes glued to the floating baby. She wasn’t sure what to do, but Kunzite kept clapping her hands together like nothing was happening. Flurry slowly lowered her hands to her side, and that made the kirin drop down softly to the floor. “Wow, she’s emotional, isn’t she?”

“You have no idea,” Twilight smiled. She finished up her notes and put the notebook away. “Did you have anything else in mind, Flurry? Whatever you want to try, we’re game.”

“Hmm. Maybe we could try out some spells outside?” the young alicorn offered. “I could show her a few things and see if she learns from what I’m doing. That’s what Mom and Dad did with me after a while.”

“You mean...you want to teach her magic?” Twilight was overcome with emotion at the mere mention of it. “That would be...I want to see this for myself. It would mean the world if she learns her first spell while I’m there to see it. Let’s give it a try.”

Shining and Cadence looked at each other in horror. “You need to keep in mind that if Kunzite’s anything like Flurry, she’s going to be very powerful,” Shining piped up. “There’s no telling what kind of spells she’s capable of doing.”

“I realize that, Shining, but you won’t have to worry,” Twilight answered. “If anything goes wrong, I’ll use a bubble spell to stop any excess magic from destroying anything. We’ve had to use it a few times.” She let her horn glow to illustrate her point.

Cadence sighed. “Well, if you’re prepared for the worst, go ahead. What do we need to do here?”

“Well, I was thinking we could…”

------

They spent the next few minutes setting things up in the park right outside the castle. Flurry had a few stacks of hay set up next to each other, and she made sure that they were set as far apart as possible. Twilight was more than happy to assist in the effort, while Shining held his kirin relative closely. This was going to be interesting.

After that was all set up, Flurry and Twilight looked at their handiwork. The haystacks were all stable and looked ready to go. “Be careful not to touch the grass. For some reason, Kunzite’s really sensitive about that,” Twilight pointed out.

As it turned out, Shining was stepping in it himself. Kunzite glanced down at his shoes and realized what he was doing, and she started to cry. He got off the grass and brought himself down to a dirt road, and the crying stopping immediately. “You know why she does that?”

“We’re not entirely sure, but it’s possible she really likes nature. Flurry, what spells did you want to try out?” Twilight puzzled.

“Why don’t we try a few fire spells?” Flurry offered. “Those are really easy. That was one of my first spells, although it didn’t make Mom and Dad very happy.”

“No no, it’s okay. I was just freaked out when Dad’s mane was on fire, and I wasn’t sure what he did to cause that,” Cadence interrupted. “So that’s why you have those haystacks out there, so Kunzite can use them for target practice?”

“Right. Make sure Kunzite’s watching this.” She flew gently to the nearest haystack, and she charged her horn into a dark shade of red. Before they knew it, a pretty good sized fireball launched from her horn and set the haystack on fire. Kunzite’s eyes glistened from the fire, and she cheered from the sight.

“Not exactly a good sign that she likes fire, but that’s a start,” Twilight chimed in. “Alright, Kunzite, do what Flurry just did. You got this.”

Kunzite barely understood what her mother said, and she tried to follow Flurry’s example. The young alicorn led the kirin to the nearest haystack, and she concentrated as hard as she could to do what she just saw. That was a cool ball of something Flurry did, and she wanted to be just like the pretty purple-pink pony friend. Sweat poured down her face as she tried to concentrate. It was proving difficult to do, but she pushed through.

Twilight watched patiently from the sidelines. The thought crossed her mind that this might be too much too soon, but she ignored it for now. After all, Kunzite was showing signs of magical talent she had only seen once before, and the pony that did it before was teaching her right now. This was going to be fine.

Just when she thought about ending the lesson, a spark of fire came out of Kunzite’s horns. She gasped when the kirin’s horns suddenly glowed bright red, and a tiny fireball escaped from them. The haystack slowly caught fire from the spell, until it was consumed in flames.

Twilight had her notebook ready for the notes, but the sight was too much for her. Her muzzle was covered by both hands. “I just watched Kunzite’s first spell before my very eyes...I wish Spike was here to see it…”

“Wow, you’re a fast learner!” Flurry marveled. “You want to do it again?” She brought Kunzite down to the next haystack. “Just do it again. You got this, Kunzie!”

Kunzite understood that she was given a really cute nickname, and she turned her attention to the next haystack. Her horns would glow red again, but a spark of electricity came out of them for a brief moment. Twilight saw it and wondered what it meant--and then she saw a wall of fire come out of Kunzite’s horn. It hit the side of the haystack out of the blue, and the surge was so strong, she could feel the heat from here. Thank Celestia, Flurry was standing behind Kunzite this time.

Shining and Cadence nearly screamed from the sight, while Flurry was just in awe. “That’s a really pretty fireball,” she imagined.

However, Kunzite’s mood was rather different when the fire spell was finished. She realized that the spell set a lot of grass blades on fire, and it broke her heart to realize she did that. She swooped in and tried to swat all the fire away with her wings. The effort produced a decent gust of wind, and it went over the flames and put them out. It took a lot of energy from her, and she was exhausted from the effort. So exhausted, in fact, that she fainted and started falling to the ground.

“KUNZITE!” Twilight’s motherly instincts kicked in, and she raced to pick up Kunzite right before she hit the ground. Flurry got there first and grabbed Kunzite just in time. She handed her to Twilight without a word, and she checked every part of the kirin’s body to make sure she was alright. “I am so sorry. Please forgive me.”

Kunzite was still in her arms, passed out from the spells and wing flapping. Thankfully, she wasn’t hurt or anything. She slept peacefully and didn’t seem the least bit disturbed, although her body was very sweaty from all that work she did.

“I did this, didn’t I? I am so sorry,” Flurry cried.

“Don’t be. If anything, thank you,” Twilight corrected her. “You saved her from getting hurt. I should probably take her inside her crib for now, but don’t beat yourself up over it. This is on me. I’m the one that pushed her into this.”

Shining and Cadence came in to check up on them. “Thank Celestia, they’re both okay,” Cadence chimed in. “Do you need anything? Please, don’t be afraid to ask.”

“I think she’s fine. She just needs some rest. Thank you, though.” Twilight calmly stepped aside and took Kunzite back inside the castle. She was solemn, focused on her child and nothing else. The entrance door was shut behind her.

“I’ve never seen anything like that,” Shining noted. “Do you think this is a good thing or bad thing?”

“Both,” Cadence replied. “Twilight’s going to be shaken up for a few days, at least. Nothing’s worse for a mother than feeling like they messed up, but I think she’ll be fine in the end. But she was so happy when Kunzite cast her first spell. That has to help.”

“I hope they’re okay. This is all my fault,” Flurry sighed.

“It’s not your fault, Flurry. We just didn’t know what we were getting into,” said Shining. Something caught the stallion’s eye, however. He found Twilight’s discarded notebook and pen discarded out on the lawn. He wasn’t sure why his sister was carrying a notebook to begin with, so he flipped through the first few pages. “This is weird. It’s a bunch of notes on Kunzite. It looks like Twilight’s been studying her to understand the kind of kirin she is.”

“That’s Twilight for you,” Cadence shrugged. “She always was a notetaker. This is the first time she’s done it with a family member, I think. Spike doesn’t count, she was just a filly when she did that.”

“Do you think Spike needs to find out about this?” Shining questioned. “I don’t feel good about this. He should probably know what his wife’s been up to, especially when he hears about the accident.”

“I don’t feel good about it, either, but I hope it doesn’t strain things between them…”

------

When Spike got the letter over the incident, time crawled to a standstill. He did his best to look calm and rational in front of the hippogriffs, but he was freaking out on the inside. Sure, Shining and Cadence emphasized that Kunzite was okay, but that’s not what a parent hears when they find out their child was in an accident. They tend to assume the worst. Spike was no different. What if Kunzite had internal injuries, or she hurt Flurry without realizing it?

The meeting was over an hour later, thank Celestia. Once it wrapped up, he didn’t bother to use the carriage to go home. He flew himself back to Ponyville as fast as he could. His heart was beating out of his chest from all the worst case scenarios, and he couldn’t get home quick enough if he tried.

Even when he found himself in Ponyville again, it still felt like a million miles to his home castle before he finally got there. His hands trembled as he opened the front door, and he was prepared to scan the whole place to find his daughter. Thankfully, she was right where he hoped she would be, sleeping soundly in her crib within her bedroom.

Twilight stood there quietly by the crib, watching her daughter just as closely as Spike did. Her eyes were glistening from the tears wanting to come out, and she wasn’t aware that he was standing there with her. Rather, Kunzite had her full attention, and she was almost in a trance-like state. It eventually dawned on her that Spike was by her side, and she threw her arms around him.

“This is all my fault,” she whispered. “Please don’t be angry.”

“Is she okay?” Spike worried. “Did she get hurt? Did Flurry get hurt? I heard the whole thing. Please tell me she’s okay.”

“She’s fine. She didn’t get hurt. We stopped before it got that bad. But I shouldn’t have pushed her into magic like that. She’s just a baby…”

Spike made sure Kunzite really was safe and sound, and took a deep breath when he realized she was. “We’re taking this to another room, alright? We can’t wake her up, but I need to talk to you right now.”

Twilight nodded. She trembled from the emotion coursing through her veins, but she was able to pull herself away from Kunzite. He brought her to their bedroom and sat down on the edge of the bed. He held his head and tried to relax in vain.

“Spike, I realize you’re mad at me for pushing Kunzite like that, and I’m sorry,” Twilight sobbed. “I really want to be a good mother and make sure she’s the best she can be, but that doesn’t mean I should keep doing this to her.”

“You know what? I’m not angry at you. I’m upset. Shining and Cadence told me that you’re still taking notes on Kunzite. Can you see why that gets to me?”

“Wait, they told you about that?”

Spike rubbed the temples on his forehead. “It’s not really a secret. I’m really upset that you’ve been doing that. Sometimes, it feels like you treat her more like a science experiment than your own daughter. Maybe I’m wrong, but that’s the way it seems.”

That was enough to bring out the tears she was holding back. “I realized that when we were outside, that’s why I left the notebook. It wasn’t right to do that to her. It’s just that...that’s what I did as a foal. I had to push myself to be good at magic. But she’s not like me, isn’t she?”

“Just because she’s a kirin?”

“No. Everypony learns magic differently. She won’t learn like me, even if I want her to. I just want to be a good mother…”

Spike stopped what he was doing and embraced her tightly. “You are a good mother, Twilight,” he said, his voice starting to quiver. “If you weren’t, you would have kept going with the magic lessons. And it’s not like you’re the only parent messing up here. You saw all the baby food I bought her the other day?”

Twilight kept sobbing in Spike’s arms. “I-I do. We’re never getting rid of all that food...Spike, are we supposed to be parents?”

“What?” Spike looked her dead in the eye, keeping her in his grasp. “Of course we are. We just don’t know what we’re doing yet.”

Twilight gave it a moment to let it sink in, and she wiped the tears from her face. “It gets scary at times, doesn’t it? You have no idea what it was like to see her do that. It was kind of cool that she’s that powerful, but I kept thinking she hurt herself or worse, and it was because of me. That’s the worst feeling I’ve ever had.”

“Yeah. I can only imagine how that felt.” He kissed her forehead softly. “Look, we both suck at this. You were taking notes on her, and I was babying her way too much. We’ve got a lot to learn from the looks of it. But we’re learning together, right? That’s what good parents do. They don’t just raise a baby. They learn from each other.”

She smiled and leaned into the kiss. “We are. It helps that I got the perfect dragon to teach and learn from.”

“Hey, we both know who’s the better teacher around here. It was your idea to open up a school on friendship, after all.”

“Heh, I get carried away sometimes. Okay, no more notetaking, and we won’t try to push her magic or go overboard with supplies. Deal?”

“Deal. I love you, Spike.”

“I love you too, Twilight.”

They stayed in the bedroom for a moment, giving themselves some time to relax and cool down. They would still feel overwhelmed from the burden of raising a daughter, but they were honest with themselves over what it would take now. It was better to be honest about it than pretend everything was picture perfect.

After a while, they decided to check up on Kunzite to make sure she was still okay. She was in the middle of a nap, and just like last time, she was levitating off of the crib by a few inches. The smile on her face told them the whole story, and it left them feeling more at peace than they had in a long time. It truly felt like they were starting to put the pieces together on how to live as a family.

Not quite. There was still one more surprise life had in store for them.

Author's Notes:

This was a hard chapter to get through. Through a combination of feeling like I was just repeating myself and dealing with some personal issues, it took some time to gut through this chapter. I'm glad it's over now, because my goodness it was painful.

That said, this is a big milestone for the story, as it concludes the big Spike and Twilight arc. There's quite a bit more to the story, of course. There's a reason why Ember and Fizzle have had scenes in the story, and I haven't forgotten about Starswirl and Celestia's journey. The next few chapters will show where I'm going with those.

With Age Comes A Quick Wit

The forest beyond the mountains proved to be thick with vegetation and animals. Rays of sunlight tried to trickle down to the ground, but save for a few openings, it was nearly impossible. Despite the lack of natural light, it was still a bright and inviting place. Still, the knowledge of what resided there weighed heavily on the travelers making their way through the forest. There was no telling what to expect, what with the rumors and tall tales that made it notorious.

The legion of royalty walking through the forest disturbed the wildlife in their wake. The critters scattered around the area, making things eerily quiet save for the sounds of footsteps. That made any other sound, like a tree branch breaking or the gust of wind, send the royal guards on edge, even if there was nothing to worry about.

Celestia was careful to watch her step around the thick roots going through the soil below. Her eyes darted in all directions to catch any sign of this rumored kirin. Maybe there would be footprints or the remains of a fire. Hopefully, it wasn’t the type of kirin Fluttershy and Applejack met. As lovely as they were, they wouldn’t know the first thing about the type of creature Twilight and Spike were raising.

In the meantime, Starswirl had the hardest time getting through the forest. His body wasn’t exactly used to this kind of travel, and he was forced to take a break every now and then. The rest of the ponies were kind enough to stop for every break, but it made him feel foolish. Even if his face was drenched in sweat from the humidity, he was going to get through this, blast it. If he really came across a kirin, it would make the journey worth it.

As they pressed through, they noticed a change in the climate. Rather than thick vegetation, the woods gave way to more and more clearings. The ground wasn’t just a bunch of dirt and bushes anymore, it was more like lovely flowers of all shapes and colors. Not only that, but there were a few dirt paths there, almost like the kind of roads Ponyville had. Everyone had a feeling what this meant, and the guards raised their swords and spears just in case.

The area grew even more elaborate as they marched on. What once were stray flowers resembled curated gardens, and the dirt roads slowly gave way to stone tile. The trees were more spaced out, which allowed the sunlight to finally come down.

“Do you suppose this is where our little guest resides?” Celestia whispered.

“It certainly looks like someone’s been living here,” Starswirl agreed. “Not only that, but I suspect whoever lives here has been doing so for a long time.”

“Ah, so you noticed my handiwork!” a voice echoed throughout the forest. It was a deep male voice, with an accent that was unrecognizable by anypony. “What do you think of the sunflowers? Those were added just last year, and I thought it was a terrible idea at first. Yellow really isn’t my color.”

Celestia felt her coat hairs rise when she heard that deep, booming voice. “Who are you? Are you the kirin we’ve heard about?” The guards surrounded her on all sides, with their weapons pointed up in the air.

“Oh, so I’m popular now?” the stranger snickered. “How fun. Times changed, didn’t they. Oh well. The fact that you even know that word says the whole story.”

Starswirl took a step back and scanned the forest for the intruder. “We mean you no harm, kirin. We’re here to find out more about your kind, that is all.”

“Hmmph. I want to believe you, but you sound like the ‘let’s fight this kirin, burn down the garden he spent a hundred years on, teach him a lesson’ kind of guy. Then again, you do have a nice beard. What did that take, like twenty years?”

The old unicorn grumbled under his breath. “Five. Are you here to taunt us or teach us? Did we waste our time in visiting you?”

As if to answer his question, a gust of wind came through from the other side of the garden. Slowly but surely, the ponies could see a figure emerge through the trees. This person was tall, well over six feet, and his teal, dragon-like eyes glistened in the sunlight, along with his scaly, orange underside. His twin horns were almost completely black, and the rest of his body was a shade of red. He appeared like he was a dragon with fur in spots. Yet, despite his fearsome appearance, there was a smirk to his face.

Celestia couldn’t believe she was seeing a kirin with her own eyes. She had heard the rumors, but it was a shock to her sense that they were real. Looking at his frame, she could tell he was packed with muscles, and with those twin horns, he likely knew a thing or two about magic. Starswirl, on the other hand, was not impressed. All he saw was a punk with that smirk and the way he crossed his arms.

“Oh, by the way, you’re not supposed to be stepping on the grass,” the kirin commented. His horns glowed with his spell, and all the guards were lifted up into the air. They all thrashed around and tried to escape his magical grip. Celestia was prepared to race over and fight the kirin, only to see the guards placed neatly on the stone tile. “Yeah, that’s actually why I put those things there. Can’t really harm the dirt, but the grass is another story. Name’s Wildfire, by the way.”

Celestia and Starswirl looked at each other in bewilderment over the kirin’s nature, and the princess approached him a little bit. “Wildfire it is, then. We must apologize, for we had no idea the grass meant so much to you.” She took note of that, as her feet were mere inches from touching some grass blades of her own.

“Yeah yeah, they always say that before they run away and call me a monster,” Wildfire snorted. “So why are you really here? Everyone that comes into my garden have their reasons for it. I had one guy think I had a hoard of gold, all because I’m half dragon, and he demanded to know where it was! Griffons can be really greedy.”

Starswirl sighed. This was going to be a long conversation. “We have come for your guidance on kirin like you. We have knowledge of them, but never from dragon-pony offspring like yours. We could use the knowledge you can provide.”

Wildfire rubbed his chin and used his wings to float over their way. “Hmm, and why would I do that? Look, if you’re that stumped about my species, that means there’s nobody else like me. There’s a reason why we stayed hidden for so long. Your guards don’t seem to trust me, for once.” While he was saying that, the guards were in battle positions, and the archers had arrows on the ready.

“Stand down, everypony,” Celestia commanded. The legion was stunned by the order, and she shot them a look to let them know she meant it. They lowered their weapons, but they weren’t too pleased by it. “Is that better for you, Wildfire?”

“Better,” he nodded. “Look, I don’t mind talking to someone that’s not a woodland critter, but there’s a reason why I’m here by myself. Out of all the places in the world, this suits me the best.”

“And what would that reason be?” Starswirl pondered. “If you were to walk into Equestria today, you would surely receive a lot of attention. I just don’t understand how you’ve been able to hide for...um...however long you’ve been hiding.”

“A thousand years, give or take a century,” Wildfire shrugged. “That’s about how old I am.”

“Does that mean...no. It couldn’t be. That would place you almost as old as I am,” Celestia realized.

The kirin’s smirk faded away. “What did you say?”

“I’m 1,100 years old, as far as I can remember. That means we might be close to the same age, at least, for people as advanced in age as we are.”

Wildfire couldn’t believe his ears, and he cleared his ears to make sure about it. “Here’s a good question for you. Did Dragon Lord Torch get his title around the same time as yours?’

“You know about that? Even Equestrian historians rarely know about that,” Celestia pointed out. “Then again, our knowledge of the Dragon Lands was rare back then.”

“Oh yes, I was there,” Starswirl added. “It was rumored that Torch planned to celebrate his start as the Dragon Lord by planning a siege of Equestria itself, as Celestia and Luna were still fillies. However, it was also rumored that a dragon confronted him over the plan and put a stop to it.”

“Well...it’s why I’m here. It wasn’t a dragon that stopped him. It was a kirin. Me,” Wildfire replied. All the sarcasm left his sails, and what remained was a solemn creature, deep in thought.

“That was you?” Celestia gasped. “This is new to me. Could you explain what happened?”

Wildfire crossed his arms and recollected his thoughts. “You see, kirin like me, we have our destinies tied to certain events or people. That’s what my mother taught me, at least. She was the dragon in the family. If your timetable is right, that means we were born around the same time, Celestia. And I think my destiny was to stop Torch from invading Equestria when you wouldn’t have been able to stop it. He was kind of a jerk, and I felt like I had to do something about it.”

“So that’s why the siege was just a rumor,” Starswirl realized. “He never got past the planning stages.”

“Right. I confronted him over the siege, we fought to a draw, and I was kicked out of the Dragon Lands for fighting the Dragon Lord at all. So I tried to make a living in Equestria, and what did I get for my efforts? Oh, how about being called a monster, a freak of nature, that kind of stuff.” He squirmed a little bit. “Honestly, I don’t care anymore. That was a thousand years ago. I found my own place in the world, looking over this forest and making sure idiots don’t burn it down or something.”

Celestia’s heart soared for the kirin, and she placed her hand gently on the shoulder. He looked up at the princess, confused and startled. “I’m sorry you had to go through that, but we’re not here to pour salt on your wound. We’re here because there’s something of grave importance to us, and you might be the perfect pon--I mean, kirin to help us with it.”

“Yeah? What would that be?”

“There’s been another kirin, your kind of kirin, born in Equestria.”

Wildfire’s jaw dropped. “Really? Another one like me? You know they can’t just recreate the awesomeness that I am. Jeez, it’s not as easy as it looks.”

Starswirl had to do everything in his power not to lose his temper. “Yes, we’re aware of your ‘awesomeness’, but we need your help. What can we expect from the newly born kirin?”

“Hmm, where to begin. Your little kirin is going to be a real pain in the rear when it comes to magic. Twin horns, baby! Even alicorns don’t have that!”

“I can raise the sun by myself. Can you do that?” Celestia raised an eyebrow.

“Raise the sun? I could if I wanted to. I just don’t feel like it. Anyways, the next point is, and I hope you’re taking notes, your kirin will be obsessed with nature. Like, you notice how I got offended when you stepped on the grass? They’re all like that. At least, the ones like me.”

“Intriguing. The other type of kirin do seem to be harmonious with nature.” Starswirl reached around his pants for his notebook, only to hear scribbling behind him. One of the guards was already taking notes for him.

“This is truly fascinating, but there must be more you can tell us,” Celestia added. “For example, why are there so few of you? We haven’t seen any in all of my reign until we met you. Well, you and the baby, now.”

“There is one thing you need to keep in mind about kirin,” said Wildfire. “Whenever one of us is born, there’s a big thing about fate intertwining us with someone else, all that crap. That’s why it was a big deal when you and I were born around the same era, Princess. You could say I came into this world to stop Torch from wrecking things all over Equestria.”

“Is that so? In that case, I owe you my thanks,” Celestia offered. “I apologize that you never earned the reward you deserve for your hard work. But if that’s the case, who or what do you believe this kirin’s fate is tied to?”

“If you’re gonna push me into a corner like that, it’s time for me to come clean. I don’t really know. That just comes with time, ya know? I was lucky that my big moment came early in life, but it could happen at any time. Maybe decades from now.”

Starswirl huffed and looked off to the side. “I was afraid you had no answers for us. Was this journey a waste?”

“Hey hey, it’s not that big of a waste. You got to meet me, didn’t you? First kirin born from a pony and a dragon seen in centuries. If there’s another kirin running around now, though, that means something big is coming. It might already be here. You can’t really time it, but with this news I’m hearing, that means it’s gonna happen sooner or later.”

Celestia rubbed her chin as she pondered over things. “I wonder what this could be…”

------

Today started like any other day for Fizzle. He would beat Garble in a test of strength, hunt for any gold or treasure he came across, and the rest of the day would be spent with his mate. Surely, she would be thrilled that he found a chest buried under the sea, containing artifacts from ancient griffon kingdoms that very few knew about. He didn’t even know that he was holding something that would have sent Twilight into a freakout, he just knew it was fancy stuff.

His wings struggled to keep his body up as he flew around the mountains, and his arms strained from carrying this big chest around. Man, this was heavy. There was no way he was going to ask for help, though. The moment Garble found out he couldn’t do it by himself, he would never hear the end of it.

It wasn’t long until he found the way to the cave he called home. He wondered just how proud Ember would be of his catch, only to be interrupted from a blood curdling scream. It was Ember’s voice behind it, and he dropped the chest as soon as he heard it. He didn’t care that his treasure was now dropping along the side of the mountain, what mattered was inside the cave.

He raced inside the cave and searched for her everywhere he could think of. “Ember! What’s going on? Ember? Please tell me!”

“Fi...Fizzle...please come over here...OWWWW!” Ember screamed again. “I need your help...it hurts so much…” The voice came from the throne room, and the screams were growing louder.

Fizzle sprinted over to find her, and she was lying on her back by the throne, her entire body covered in sweat. She clutched at the gold piles around her body, and she roared from the agony.

“Ember! Ember, I’m right here,” he gasped. He came to her side and held her arm tightly. “Are you hurt? Did someone hit you?”

“I-I don’t know! My stomach started hurting out of nowhere, and I don’t know what to do!” Her back arched from the intensity of the pain. “What’s happening? Oh screw this!” She roared at the top of her lungs, and a pillar of fire shot out of her lips. “Just get it over with!”

“What is going on with you? Maybe we should take you to a hospital in Equestria?” The idea of asking ponies for help made him shiver. “They know more about dragons than they used to, and maybe they’ll--”

Ember howled louder than ever, and her claws dug into Fizzle’s arm. “I can’t make it to Equestria. Just...please don’t leave my side...I am not going to die this way!”

“I’m not leaving you. I can’t leave you like this. Just breathe. Breathe....”

She breathed in and out, in and out, and she clenched her eyes shut. Fizzle hung onto her as she went through the torture, but the scary part wasn’t the pain. It was the fear from not knowing what was causing this.

As the moment continued, they soon discovered the source of the pain. It was something that caught them off guard, but it gave Ember the little push she needed to endure. Her screeching echoed throughout the walls of the cave, and Fizzle was grateful Garble wasn’t here to tease them over this.

Ember’s claws dug into Fizzle’s scales, but he was willing to accept it for now. He stood there by her side as it continued, staying there until it was all over. When it was, the reward for going through this was worth it.

A dragon egg popped out to the floor, and Fizzle picked it up so Ember could see it. She was shell shocked when she opened her eyes and saw it in front of her. It never really occurred to her that she was carrying an egg around, and her mind was all over the place from the image.

“Wow. We’re parents now,” she whispered. “I had no idea it would be happening now.”

Fizzle sat down next to her and rubbed his hands the surface of the egg, truly realizing that it was theirs. “Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Right now, I’m just happy you’re still alive. I didn’t know if you were going to make it.”

“It’s...I have no idea.” She took a deep breath, as her body was aching from the delivery. “I need time to think. Had no idea this was why I was having stomach pains, but I figured we were going to have an egg one day.” She paused to let it register in her brain, and when she did, she started to smile. “It’s a good thing.”

Fizzle sighed in relief and leaned into her shoulder. “I was hoping you’d say that. About time we had a child that could kick some rear ends around here. I can look over the egg if you need me to. I’ve been dreaming of this moment for a long time.”

“Hey, don’t forget who’s Dragon Lord around here,” she laughed, and she gave him a light punch on the shoulder. “We’ll take turns looking over it. Hmm, that’s weird timing. We’re having an egg less than a year after Twilight and Spike had their kid.”

“Oh yeah. We should probably tell them about it when we get the chance. They’ll want to hear about it, and Spike’s going to be thrilled at the news.”

“Let’s give it a moment for now. I’ll send a letter to Celestia once I’ve stopped freaking out.” She hugged the egg and set it neatly between them. “It’s not like they’re going to freak out or anything, right?”

------

Celestia freaked out when she got the letter from Ember. “Wildfire, remember what you said about a kirin’s destiny? I think I know what it is now.”

Author's Notes:

Welp, planned to finish this tomorrow, but I was ahead of schedule

Anyways, we're in the final stretch for the story, and things are picking up. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be out, but it shouldn't take too long. Almost there...

Three Dragons, Two Kirins, One Pony, and An Egg Walk Into A Forest

Not long after Celestia received the news about Ember, she sent a letter to Twilight and Spike right away. With the sensitivity of the information, it was best that they knew about it as soon as possible. Naturally, when the Princess of Friendship received news like this, she took it quietly.

“WHAT? EMBER HAS A CHILD, TOO?” she screamed in the middle of the living room. “That’s awesome! It was just yesterday that I met her in the Dragon Lands, helping you answer Torch’s summon and discover that dragons do friendship after all. Now, she’s kinda-sorta married with a baby on board. Time sure flies, doesn’t it?”

Spike went over the letter himself. “Aren’t you forgetting something here? Celestia and Starswirl found another kirin out there. Figured you would be spazzing out and demanding we go over there right now. It’s the first one they found in centuries.”

“Oh, I’ve learned to see the big picture lately,” she squeaked. “It’s a big deal and I’d like to learn everything I can from this Wildfire, but I can be happy for someone else, too.” She fed Kunzite another spoonful of applesauce, something the little kirin was happy to have. “Aren’t you happy for her?”

“Are you kidding? It’s nice that she ended up with another dragon, and it’s not Garble! I mean, I’m happy for her and all, but I’m wondering why Wildfire wants us all to go over there to that forest. Judging from the tone in the letter, it sounds important. I can get everything packed for the trip if you want.”

“And we will. I just want a moment with Kunzite first.” She wiped the sauce from Kunzite’s face with a napkin. “After everything going on, I feel like it’s finally starting to come together. Of course, Cadence tells me it won’t stay that way for long, but it’s nice to have a moment like this every once in a while.”

Spike put the letter away and brought his chair next to the rest of the family. “It is. We shouldn’t keep them waiting for that long, but...yeah. I wanted a moment like this with the family.” He rubbed the top of Kunzite’s head and ruffled her mane a bit. She giggled and grabbed Spike’s claw to see what it was that messed up her hair. It was like she had never seen it before. He let her enjoy her food, but before he knew it, he felt Twilight’s head lean on his shoulder. She would soon feel his arm wrap around her waist as they watched their daughter act all cute. It was therapeutic, just letting the kirin be herself for once.

After she was finished eating, Twilight had an idea to take their daughter out for a walk. Spike pointed out that Celestia would be still be waiting for them. Hopefully, a letter asking for more time would take care of that. Once it was sent, they brought Kunzite out to the great outdoors, and despite the overcast skies, it would be a good day for a walk.

The dragon quickly remembered Kunzite didn’t like them stepping on grass, so he decided to fly by the clouds. Twilight brought Kunzite up to meet him, only to see her spread her wings out. Their hearts melted when they discovered she had no trouble staying that high up in the air. Then they decided to see how far she could fly, going a little past the castle. She had no troubles going that far, so they changed their plans for a walk to a flight.

Kunzite was absolutely thrilled to be doing this with her parents, and she laughed in pure ecstasy from the sights and sounds of Equestria surrounding her. Twilight made no attempts to hide her tears from watching her daughter fly. If this was what motherhood would be like, it would be an incredible ride Spike went through the same experience, thinking back to what it must have been like for his wife, watching him grow up. Oh jeez, the tears were coming for him, too.

After an hour of flying, Kunzite was spent and needed a nap. She cuddled herself into Twilight’s arms and fell asleep. Spike and Twilight let the moment sink in, and their eyes were red from all the tears. This was certainly a moment they wouldn’t forget.

“Hmmm….Mommah...Daddeh…” Kunzite mumbled, right before she fell into a wonderful dream.

------

Celestia paced back and forth in worry. She might have gotten a letter that they would be late, but this was Twilight she was talking about. That was a pony that would always be on time, punctual to a tee, and changed plans to make it to events like these. If Twilight wasn’t here yet, that usually meant something was horribly wrong.

“Does she always do that?” Wildfire inquired. “She’s so graceful, and a total worrywart at the same time.”

“It’s usually not this bad,” noted Starswirl. “She might be concerned due to the importance of this event. There is no telling what will occur, and she thrives on expecting any outcome. It can be terrifying to not know what is in front of you.”

“Meh, that’s life for you.” The kirin lounged in one of the tree branches. “Dragons, on the other hand, you never can tell what they’ll do. They have temper tantrums over anything, so who knows. Maybe they won’t show up--” His thoughts were interrupted when he caught two dragons coming in overhead. “OH COME ON! Right when I say it?” Judging from the egg in the blue dragon’s hands, there was a good chance they were Ember and Fizzle.

Celestia sighed in relief and bowed before the Dragon Lord as she arrived. “Dragon Lord Ember,” she greeted her fellow royalty. “It is an honor to meet you again, and congratulations on the child.”

“Dragon Lord? That still feels weird to say,” said Ember. “It might be a thing between you ponies, but we dragons really don’t care about titles unless we’re in trouble. Hey, where’s Twilight and Spike?”

“...Spike?” Fizzle balked. “He’s a prince now? I remember when I found out he won the Gauntlet of Fire. Garble won’t shut up that he got further than me to this day, let alone Spike. Do I really have to talk to him?”

“Ah, you must be Fizzle.” Wildfire got down from his perch and came up to see the dragons, still hovering above the floor. “Mate to Dragon Lord Ember. From what I heard, you’re the daughter of the previous Dragon Lord, Torch. Did he ever mention me?”

Ember smirked at the figure in front of her. “Wildfire. You were the only one to stand up to him in his lifetime. Well, without dying. So this is what a kirin looks like. Kinda cute.”

“Yes yes, I’m cute and handsome at the same time, but we’re not here for that.” He touched the top of the dragon egg and closed his eyes. The horns on his head started to glow. “Let’s see...any magic properties here? Hmm, not yet...almost...oh my gosh.” When he opened his eyes, they were almost completely white. “Yep, that’s the stuff. There’s a ton of magic to this egg.”

“What does that entail?” Starswirl butted in. “Surely, there must be more to it than simply magic.”

“Oh yeah, way more. It’s just as I thought. Most dragon eggs don’t carry this much magic, if they have it at all. I’m starting to suspect it wasn’t a coincidence you had this egg right when Twilight and Spike had their baby.” His eyes turned back to normal.

Ember and Fizzle looked at each other in concern. “Is that something we need to be worried about?” the Dragon Lord pondered.

“Not sure. We’ll know when the rest of the party gets here--oh hey. I have the best timing in the world. Right behind you guys. You’ll like this part.”

The dragons checked to see who it was, and they found Spike and Twilight coming in. The only company with them was Kunzite herself, fast asleep on Twilight’s back. Wildfire’s attention turned to the younger kirin, and he couldn’t believe what he was witnessing. There really was another kirin in the world, so they weren’t just pulling on his leg about it.

“Took you long enough,” Celestia said half-jokingly, but also half-not jokingly. “What took you so long? I figured you’d get here ahead of schedule.”

“We wanted to, but we got caught up in a moment,” Twilight responded as they came down next to the dragons. “It’s been hectic ever since Kunzite’s come into our lives, and we finally got a moment to relax and hang out as a family. That was a big deal for us.”

“Hmm, parenthood really is changing your life after all. I recall when Cadence got married, and her life changed drastically over time. It truly is beautiful, and I hope your life changes for the better, just as it did for her.”

In the meantime, Fizzle gulped when he found the other former Dragon Lord come up to him. He glanced down at the floor and tried not to say anything. Then he felt Spike give him a quick tap on the shoulder.

“Hey, how you’ve been, Fizzle?” said Spike. “You’re not making Ember upset, are you?”

“OH THANK TORCH!” Fizzle shouted. “I thought you were all gonna be like ‘hey, what’s the difference between me and you? One of us is a former Dragon Lord’. Why are you being so nice to me again? You realize I was a jerk when we met.”

“Why wouldn’t I be nice to you? I’ve heard a lot of things from Ember about you, and it sounds like you softened up. Still, why are you hanging out with Garble? He’s just gonna make you a jerk again if you’re not careful.”

“I know…”

On the other hand, Twilight was more than eager to meet up with Ember. The dragon egg grabbed her attention right away. “Congrats on your first egg, Ember! You must be so proud. What’s it like knowing you’re going to be a mother?”

“I’m confused. Like, really really confused. Is that another kirin there?” She pointed to the sleeping baby Twilight was carrying. “Huh. It is. That makes the second kirin I’ve ever met. This is a weird day, but she is pretty cute.”

Speaking of Kunzite, Wildfire couldn’t stop staring at her. “It’s been...I can’t remember how long it’s been since I’ve seen another kirin. Is it okay if I hold her? Just for a second?”

“That’s fine by me. Just be careful with her.” Twilight handed her off to him, and she was still sleeping soundly. She extended her claws from the dream she was in the middle of having.

“This is incredible,” he marveled. “You might be here for answers, but if anything, I should be thanking you for this privilege.” He parted the mane over the baby’s face and smiled. “Little Kunzite, I only wish you will be better received in Equestria than I was. A lot of time has passed and society is likely different than it was in my youth. You have a bright future to look forward to.”

“Speaking of that, isn’t that why we’re all here?” Ember piped up. “Come on, we gotta get to the bottom of this. What’s with this ‘fates intertwining’ stuff Celestia rambled about? My dragon’s not gonna be a freak, right?. I don’t want her to get kicked out of the Dragon Lands...or him. I haven’t thought about what gender it’s going to be.”

“Nah, he or she is not gonna be a freak.” Wildfire cleared his throat and handed Kunzite back to Twilight and Spike. “One thing is for certain, however. When this kirin and this dragon grow up, their fates will likely collide. I dunno when and I dunno how, but it’s inevitable. Just to be sure, I’d like to cast a spell on both of them to check their magic. Would you guys mind if I did something like that?”

“Is it going to hurt the egg?” Fizzle asked. He was frightened at the thought of his egg having anything done to it.

“Not at all. I’m just gonna check both of them for magical stuff and make sure it’s not just a theory that they're connected.”

“Then go ahead. I want to know all I can about our hatchling before he or she is born,” Ember agreed.

“Likewise,” said Twilight. “It’s obvious that our little Kunzite’s going to be something special, but if we can find out more about her destiny, that would be a big deal to us.”

“You will be taking notes on this, I presume?” Celestia said to Starswirl.

“Already on it.” He had a notebook ready with his ink and pen.

“Very well. Bring the children forward,” Wildfire asked.

Ember and Twilight gave one last glance at their partners, just to be certain, and they brought their children to the older kirin. They weren’t sure how this would go down, which didn’t exactly help their fears. Wildfire stood in front of them, trying to look as professional as possible for the event. That would take a lot of effort to pull off, but he was no ordinary pony-dragon creature.

After they all came together, he unleashed his spell on Kunzite and the egg. Their body glowed from the magic coming over there, and they started to lift out of the arms of their mothers. Ember and Twilight reached out for their kin, but they stopped to let him finish his work The air around the garden felt like it was crackling with electricity as the spell continued on to the next stage.

A black aura started to go around the two children. Sparks started to fill the space around them, but Wildfire was calm as he started to examine them with the spell. Amazingly, none of the electricity woke Kunzite up. The aura swirled around them as the magic picked up in intensity. Wildfire grunted and started to sweat from the force it was inflicting upon him.

In due time, the aura started to leave the children and come to the space between them, forming a black orb of pure energy. The energy moved to go inside Wildfire’s twin horns. Once they did, his eyelids shot open. “So much energy...such intensity...I’ve never seen anything like this! How lucky am I to witness this!”

The spell stopped out of nowhere. Kunzite and the egg were still in his magical grip, but he pushed them forward, back into Twilight and Ember’s waiting arms. Once he did, he fell down with the biggest grin on his face.

“That was awesome!” he panted. “Never went like that before. So, where do I start with you guys? You’re gonna have a great future ahead of you. Just make sure you raise them right, and you’ll thank me later.”

“What does that even mean?” Ember questioned. “You got anything else to say other than ‘this is awesome’?”

“Yeah, I got a lot more than that. It was just as I thought. Their fates are intertwined, and whatever Kunzite’s birth is gonna lead to, your hatchling is gonna be part of it. I can’t quite figure out what it is, but they’re definitely going to be in each other’s business. So that’s kinda cool, am I right?”

Everyone in the group gave each other looks, ranging from confusion, frustration, anger, or open relief. “It’s one step closer to knowing what will happen,” Celestia commented. “For that, we are grateful. I only worry if this is a sign of disaster to come.”

“If there is, Kunzite and this little egg will be able to stop it together. At least, that’s what I’m seeing,” Wildfire shrugged. “If you ask me, it’s probably best that they get to know each other when they’re growing up. I dunno how exactly their future will be like, but it will make things smoother for whatever purpose they have.”

“That is a good point, and it could potentially bring our two kingdoms closer together,” Twilight thought. “Spike, what do you think about it? It’s not like it will be the first time we got to meet a dragon.”

“I like it, and it might just keep Fizzle away from Garble,” Spike whispered into Twilight’s ear. “We’re on board with Wildfire’s plan if you guys are. What do you say to a kirin-dragon hangout?”

Ember paused to give it some thought. “Kunzite is pretty cute, and she’s half dragon, so maybe we can get along. Still, we shouldn’t force it. Just have them get to know each other and go from there. After all, these dragons do friendship.” She nudged Fizzle on the side to get him to agree with her.

“Right!” he said. “We totally do friendship. It’s a nice thing, magical and all, and...okay, this is just weird. We thought we would just have an egg, everyone would be happy, and now I find out that there’s two types of kirin, I’m in the same forest as the oldest Equestria princess ever, and there’s a sorcerer that might be over a thousand years old! Is it that big of a deal when we have children?”

“Yes,” Twilight stated plainly. “Your life is never going to be the same.”

“Understatement of the century,” Spike added.

“Well, guess we better get started right away on getting ready for dragon parenthood,” Ember commented. “We’ll keep in touch on how it goes, and good luck with your little kirin baby. Sounds like you’ll have your hands full.”

“Thank you, and I’m sure your baby will be just as cute as you,” Twilight cheered.

“Like it will be that hard to do. I’m not that cute.”

After a little while, Ember and Fizzle said goodbye and departed for the Dragon Lands. Wildfire spent a little more time getting to know Kunzite, as he was still blown away that he wasn’t the only one of his kind. It was getting late in the day, however, and Kunzite was wiped out for the day. After the elder kirin found out he was free to visit Equestria as he pleased, the rest of the party started to make their way back to Equestria.

“Hey, before we go, there is one thing we wanted to say,” Spike spoke up to Celestia and Starswirl. “Thanks for everything you’ve done for us. It means more to us than you can imagine.”

“What did we do to deserve such a compliment ?” Starswirl pondered. “It felt like a waste of our time, if I must be forward.”

“Oh, how about trekking through an ancient forest, finding the first dragon-pony kirin seen for over a thousand years, and helping us find out more about our daughter?” Twilight pointed out.

“That sounds like a lot to me,” Celestia grinned. “And you thought you did nothing productive this week.”

“Hmmphf. I suppose more was accomplished than I thought. Still, best of luck to you two. If Wildfire’s right, you’ll have a lot to deal with in the coming days.”

“Like we’re not used to that already,” Spike sneered. “We’ll be fine in the end. We’re doing this together, after all.” He kissed Twilight on the cheek to prove his point.

“Very well. Farewell, Princess Twilight, Prince Spike, and Princess Kunzite,” Celestia bowed. “May the future bode well for you.”

“And for you as well, Your Majesty,” Twilight bowed back.

After everything was said and done, the dragon and the purple alicorn spread their wings and flew up into the sky. Spike made sure Kunzite didn’t fall out of his hands as they went on home, leaving the sun princess and her former teacher in the forest. It wasn’t long until the royal family disappeared off to Ponyville.

“You don’t think Wildfire was full of it, do you?” Starswirl noted. “He strikes me as a trickster, not unlike Discord.”

”I heard that,” Discord grumped in another part of the universe.

“Wildfire may be full of himself, but he doesn’t strike as a liar,” said Celestia. “Either way, we should keep an eye on Spike and Twilight. If I have to go with my gut, I’d say it’s going to be a wondrous future for them.”

Author's Notes:

Welp, nearly done with the story now. This chapter should conclude a lot of arcs the story was building up to, but we're not finished yet. Just one more chapter left to go. Whew, what a long ride this has been.

Epilogue: Destinies Intertwined

The last week was a crucial one for Spike and Twilight. With the new boundaries they put in place, they were finally on the same page when it came to Kunzite. For now. There were still kinks to work out, but they were closer than they were at the start. Cadence would likely need to keep giving them more advice, but at least they weren’t going to burn the house down with another mistake or two. If someone went to the palace now, they would be treated to a more welcome sight.

“This is the sun. Sun. Celestia raises the sun every morning. And this is the moon. Moon. Luna raises it every evening!” Twilight taught. She was sitting down with Kunzite in the kirin’s bedroom. So far, things were going well.

Kunzite giggled. “Mo..moo…moon!” She didn’t know what she was saying, but it sure sounded good. Moon was a funny word.

“That’s her third word!” Spike gasped. He watched the two of them from the doorway. “So repeating words over and over actually works on her? Wonder why it didn’t work on me. Maybe I just wanted to smush your cheeks together when I was a baby.”

“Who knows? Every baby is different. I’m gonna try to test out a few more words with her and see how it goes. Must be nice, seeing this without any note taking.”

“You have no idea.”

Despite the promising results, Kunzite didn’t learn another word that night. Still, three words in one week was a good number. Just like Spike did all those years ago, she spent more time smushing Twilight’s cheeks than learning her lesson. Looks like she picked up a thing or two from her father other than the dragon scales.

After giving her a few packets of applesauce, Kunzite started to trail off and fell asleep. Spike brought her to the crib and tucked her in for the night. Even if she woke up, at least she would get to the see the stars...that were painted on her bedroom ceiling, of course. The roof wasn’t blown off from an accidental spell just yet.

“You think she’ll get along with Ember’s son, daughter, whatever their egg turns out to be?” Twilight asked.

“So you’ve been wondering about that, too,” Spike noted. “If you ask me, it doesn’t matter. You weren’t getting along with your friends when we moved to Ponyville, and that didn’t stop you from beating Nightmare Moon. I hope that they’re good friends, but if that doesn’t work out, that won’t stop them from fulfilling their destiny. It’s making sure Kunzite grows up to be a wonderful woman that I’m worried about.”

“Hmm, good point. It’s out of our hands, so we oughta focus on what we can control. Don’t worry, I already have her preschool education in mind. It won’t be too taxing, and when she goes to magical kindergarten, she’ll be one step ahead of the lessons.”

“Twilight, don’t be too demanding on her. She’s just a baby.”

“I won’t. She’s already showing a lot of intelligence for her age.”

They headed for bed themselves, and they left the door open to Kunzite’s room. They couldn’t wait to rest up for the night, up until they saw the hallways flashing with a bright green light. It came from the kirin’s bedroom, and it grew brighter by the second. Their hearts exploded from the sight, as they knew who was the source of it.

When they sprinted into the room, Kunzite levitated herself from the crib. The whole room shook from the surges of magic coming from her horns, and Twilight kneeled down from the strength of it. Spike stood next to her and thought about grabbing Kunzite, snap her out of it, but part of him knew it was best to ride this out, even if they were both terrified for her well being.

Kunzite cried out as the magical surge concentrated itself into a magical orb. The orb looked for all avenues to get out of the area, and it settled for the door leading to the rest of the castle. It zipped out of the bedroom at the speed of sound. Twilight saw the orb from the bedroom window, and she opened the door to see it flying out into the distance.

“I think that might be the direction to the Dragon Lands,” she noted. “What was that about?” When she looked to Spike for the answers, she caught him putting Kunzite back into bed. The magical surge was gone, and she was sound asleep.

Spike was about to have a heart attack, and he stumbled down to his knees. “I really hope this stops happening with her. I can’t take it happening every week.”

“Hopefully, that’s the end of it. Whatever that was, I have a feeling it’s very important. Maybe I’ll ask Ember about it when I get the chance. Kunzite, please be okay…” She embraced Spike and did whatever she could to calm him down.

Kunzite snored in her sleep, peaceful and quiet. Whatever went down just now, it didn’t seem to bother her one bit. In fact, it would turn into the best night’s sleep of her life up to that point.

------

“So you had an egg with my daughter already? I would say I’m too old to be a grandfather, but I stepped down from being a Dragon Lord for a reason. You’ve been treating her right?”

“Y-Yes, former Dragon Lord Torch,” Fizzle gulped. “It’s perfectly fine, like you ordered. She kicks my rear end all the time, and she hasn’t lost a spark. Nothing going wrong over here?”

“Come on, Dad, give him a break,” Ember groaned. “He hasn’t done anything wrong, and it was my idea to hang out with him. He’s kinda cool. Aren’t you here to see the egg, anyway? You know this is a big deal for us.”

“Right, right. Let me get a good look at it.”

It was impressive that Torch could fit his whole frame inside Ember’s cave, but here they were. The whole time he was there, Fizzled was in fear for his life. Granted, Torch knew about their relationship for a while, but that didn’t stop him from being frightened just from the sight of the former Dragon Lord. He could have quashed almost anyone with his pinkie if he wanted to.

Sweat poured down Fizzle’s face when he lifted the egg in the air, letting Torch get a better look at it. He did everything he could do keep his feet planted on the ground firmly. If he let it go, Torch wouldn’t be the only one wanting to kill him.

“Ah, I like what I see. Firm shell, good color, all signs that this will be a strong and mighty dragon. It could make for a dragon almost as strong as me. Well done, Ember. You chose your partner well. Do you know when it will hatch?”

“I dunno, I just had it,” Ember reported. “We gotta get our hoard together before it’s hatched. Every dragon needs its own collection before they’re born.”

“Y-Yeah, and we’re just starting o-on it,” Fizzle stammered. He brought the egg down and nestled it snugly into a small pile of gold. “S-See? We’re g-good parents that totally won’t screw it up.”

“We’ll see about that, little one,” Torch stated calmly, which only made him more intimidating.. “I know Ember won’t screw it up, but you on the other hand…”

“Dad, I think you’ve teased him enough for one day. You got him shaking in his boots!” Sure enough, Fizzle trembled and swayed all over the place. If he was gonna die, at least the others wouldn’t be around here to tease him about it.

“I suppose you are right. Don’t forget that I am proud of you, Ember. I might not like how soft the ponies are, but the dragons here are happier than they have been in centuries. Spike’s made a good impression on me, and if Fizzle makes you happy, I’ll stop teasing him about it.”

Fizzle fell on his knees. “Oh thank you, thank you sir! I promise I won’t hurt ever, ever hurt her! Not that I ever, but I’ll make sure it stays that way. You don’t know how big of a deal this is for us. We wanted an egg sooner or later, and now we got one. If you look, the egg is sitting on a brand new pile. That’s going to be the start of his or her own hoard.”

Torch grinned from the image. “Now that’s how you put a dragon on the right path. Well done, little one. Maybe when you grow up, you’ll be able to keep up with Ember. Knowing who her mother was, that’s going to be hard to do.”

He stuck around for a little while, looking over the cave and seeing if his daughter had everything in place. She went out of her way to make it look like she had it all together, which she did. This wasn’t the same little dragon he raised when he was younger, and he would be around to see his grandchild after the hatching. He would leave a little later, but Ember watched from the mouth of the cave to ensure he really was gone.

“Thought he would never leave,” she sighed. “For the record, he picks on everyone like that, even me. I put a stop to that when I earned his title. You okay?”

“Yeah. I’m still alive, for one,” he admitted, wiping the sweat off his body. “Did you ever really like him?”

“He could be a pain in the side, but whenever I did something awesome and powerful, he loved it.” She patted him on the back. “You think that little pile is enough for the egg? It’s rather tiny. Wouldn’t mind giving it a little extra gold before it hatches.”

“It’s fine for now. It’s not even born yet. You ever seen a dragon out of the egg? They’re really tiny. If anything, that’s a really big pile. We got it in the bag, like Spike would say.”

“Hmm, now that I think about it, you’re right. Look at that! I would have killed to have a hoard like that when I was little. Father had me earn every little bit when I was growing up, and our little hatchling’s gonna have head start. So, what do you want to do now?”

“Hang out? Ever since you’ve sent that letter to Celestia, there hasn’t been a moment where we could do that. We’ve been meeting up with ponies, meeting up with Torch, and I want some time with just the two of us before we’re officially parents.”

Ember smiled and kissed him on the lips. “You might be a jerk, but you’re my awesome jerk. I haven’t counted the amount of gold we’ve had in a while. Why don’t we fix that?”

“Now that’s my idea of a good time. We better have a million gold pieces, or else I’m gonna do something about it.”

They wound up doing that for the rest of the day. Every single piece was counted and recounted, and it wound up being the quiet moment they needed. As it turned out, they had exactly 999,674 pieces, which made Fizzle very, very upset. The sooner he could fish out some pieces from a sunken ship, the better. Then again, didn’t he drop a treasure chest over the side of the mountain recently...

After they were done, they needed some rest from all that counting. That, and Fizzle had to resist the itch to go treasure hunting. They sat down around the egg and pictured themselves as a family. Was this the kind of stuff Twilight and Spike went through when they were about to have their first child? Ember thought about asking Twilight about it through mail, but Fizzle thought they could use a moment of quiet until then.

That moment wouldn’t last long.

The egg started to move in the middle of the pile. They saw it and thought it was from the pile giving way underneath it, so they set it gently on the floor. It only trembled more after it was moved, and then it dawned on them what was really going on. Ember gasped and watched in awe, while Fizzle drew closer to the egg in case something bad happened. He wouldn’t take any chances here.

A crack formed on the side of the egg. Then another, and another, so many more cracks. Pieces of the shell started to come loose as a result, and they fell inward. Fizzle freaked out and pulled the pieces of shell away before they caved in.

“Be careful!” Ember cried out. “We can’t afford to hurt it.”

“What do you think I’m doing? I don’t want to hurt it, either,” he gasped. A clearing emerged from the top of the shell, and he peeked inside. “I think it’s a boy! Come over here. He’s...wow.”

Ember scooted over to see for herself. When she did, she saw a baby dragon with blue scales and a white underbelly. He squirmed within the shell and struggled to break loose. She realized he couldn’t break out on his own, and she broke the top of the egg off to get him out. Fizzle saw what she was doing and broke other parts of the shell loose. After a few minutes of effort, they finally got him free of the egg.

Once the hatchling was out, he grumbled and started to cry. He flailed around in his mother’s arms, and she was in shock over the child she was now holding. It was a tiny little beast, and she saw a lot of her features in his face. The slender eyes, the claws on his feet, it resembled her to a tee. This was her son. She was a mother now.

“...wow. I didn’t know what to expect, but he’s beautiful,” Ember whispered. “Look at that. That’s our child, right? We’re really doing this?”

Fizzle saw lot of himself in the newly hatched dragon as well. That white underbelly was just like his scale color, and that tail...that was his tail. He was a father now. “We’re really doing this,” he trembled. “Oh man. Oh man, this is happening. That’s our kid. We have a kid of our own…”

“Crazy, isn’t it? He’s not even doing anything and I love him already.” The dragon baby’s cries slowed down as he went to sleep, tucked around Ember’s waist. “Oh my gosh. I’m going to cry. Dragons don’t cry.”

“I think it’s okay to cry this time.” He was already starting to do it himself. He sat next to Ember and watched every little snore from the little dragon. His world changed forever and he realized it at that moment. He wouldn’t have the time to hang out with his friends like he used to, and he would have to teach his son about how the world worked. Yet, that was fine with him. It just felt right.

With that blessing, Ember started bawling her eyes out openly. She felt the hatchling’s cheek and was overwhelmed by the soft skin. She knew of other dragons that had children before, and they didn’t think it was a big deal. Screw that, this was a huge moment for her and she was going to treat it that way. That mixture of blue and white on the infant’s body was perfect, and she wanted to cherish this occasion for all its worth.

“What should we name it?” Fizzle asked. He nuzzled up to his mate and son. “We stopped to think about it.”

“Moonshine,” Ember trembled. “I’ll name him Moonshine. He’s got the same colors as a moonstone, after all. What do you think of the name?”

“Moonstone? I love it. Heh, I can see how he looks like one now.” He traced his fingers over Moonstone’s head. “And best of all, everyone will know what it means. Moonstone, son of the Dragon Lord.”

Ember chuckled, only to find herself crying again. “That does have a nice ring to it…”

Right when the moment sank in, however, they saw something come into the cave. It sounded like a gust of wind, but the green light it carried with it wasn’t natural. A few seconds later, they saw the source of the light: A big green orb of energy, at least, that’s what it looked like. Fizzle scrambled to his feet at the mere sight of it. “What is that?”

The Dragon Lord shielded Moonstone from the orb as it came closer. “Whatever it is, don’t let it hit anything!” she commanded. “I’m not gonna let it hurt Moonstone!”

The orb went around Ember’s arms without warning. Before she had the chance to flee from it, it hit Moonstone right in the forehead. She gasped when she realized what happened. “No, please, no!” She searched all over his body for any signs of damage, anything the orb might have done to him. To make it even worse, Moonstone’s eyes were bright green, no sign of pupils to them. “Oh no….no….”

“What did it do? What did it do?” Fizzle screamed. He ran over to see what was happening, and he was freaking out just like Ember. The hatchling dragon flailed his claws around in the air, like he was struggling with the atmosphere itself. A few seconds later, the glow left his eyes and he returned to normal. It wasn’t long until he fell asleep again.

Ember and Fizzle sighed together. The orb didn’t seem to harm their child from the looks of it. In fact, if it wasn’t for that sudden magical surge, nothing looked out of the ordinary when it came to little Moonstone.

“I’m sending a letter to Twilight about this right now,” Ember whispered. Her nerves were still all over the place. “I don’t know what that was, but that was the scariest moment of my life.”

“That looked like the kind of magic Wildfire had going on. You think that was kirin magic?” Fizzle pointed out.

She paused and thought about it. Once it dawned on her, she gasped again. “It was similar! He said something about Moonstone and Kunzite, how they were closely tied together, and maybe that was it! That would be something Twilight would know about. Whatever this is, it’s big.”

“No kidding. Still, I keep wondering what Wildfire meant by that. At least Moonstone’s safe.”

“Yeah, he’s safe and sound.” She hugged her son tightly and took a heavy, deep breath. “I don’t want anything bad happening to him again.”

She wound up sending that letter that very night. It only took a minute to get a return letter, and she couldn’t believe it when she found out that Kunzite herself sent that orb to Moonstone. They debated back and forth through several letters on the meaning of this event, as they were both worried about it. After some discussion, it dawned on them that this was likely tied to Wildfire’s prophecy over the two babies.

You know how crazy this sounds, right? Ember wrote. Has anyone even heard of this happening before?

Only once before, and that was with Princess Celestia, Twilight responded. We’ll keep an eye out on this. Don’t worry. You won’t have to handle this destiny alone.

I better not. If anything happens to my Moonstone, I don’t know what I’m going to do. He means a lot to me already.

So you truly are embracing motherhood after all, Dragon Lord Ember. It only gets better from here, trust me.

Moonstone didn’t seem to care about any of that. He was enjoying his nap too much to notice. Just like the little kirin miles away from him, he was in the middle of a wonderful dream, just happy to have his parents around. They snuggled up to him after the letter exchanged, falling asleep with him. The first night as a dragon family was just as crazy as they expected it to be.

What they did know, however, was that the coming days, months, and years would be important. They had to maintain close ties to Kunzite, to Twilight and Spike, to all of Equestria and the Dragon Lands. That wasn’t a mystery at all.

What laid for them in the future, now, that was the true mystery.

Author's Notes:

It's finally done. After several months of work and hiatuses, this project is finally done with the last chapter out. Whew. About time. Now that it's over, time to go into details over what it was like working on this.

First, this was a pain to write. If I must be honest, I hit a point where it proved to be extremely difficult to write, and I didn't think it was that good. I still don't think it's that good. It's why the story was cancelled for a good chunk. Maybe it's because I've done it before so much, but writing for Twilight and Spike is really hard to do anymore. I might actively avoid writing for them in the future, save for maybe one little thing.

That said, why did I finish it if I didn't care for it? It was mostly for you guys. I saw how disappointed people were when I cancelled it, which was surprising...honestly didn't know some of the readers were into it that much. It's the reason why I stuck with it and wanted to get it done, even though IRL stuff came out and caused production of the story to slow down to a crawl. It was honestly worth it, just to say I did it despite the issues that came up with it.

As for the future? Well...I need some time to think it over, plan it over, but there is a chance...chance...I'll do a sequel to show what exactly Kunzite and Moonstone's destiny is. I need a massive break after this for so, so many reasons, but it was what I originally thought about doing once this was over. It's why you see "This story is part 2 of the My Little Kirin saga" on the story's description. If I end up doing the sequel, it will likely be a while, but it will happen one day. I'll post stuff in my blog detailing what's going on with it, but hopefully this story concluded on a good note for you all.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna celebrate this project's conclusion with a big, Monster drink. I think I earned it after all of this.