Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fluffy smile before poking my side.

“What’s the matter? You have that look on your muzzle.”

“Nothing, just thinking,” I replied while following Autumn as she led us further through the town.

“You, thinking about something? No way!” she teased, rubbing her cheek against my shoulder.

I was thinking about a number of things, but chief among them was that it felt good to see her this happy. With Fiery saying her first word and Autumn breaking out in a song and dance, well, it had definitely been a great idea to come here.

“You know, just before she had started singing,” I flicked my snout towards Autumn, “she told me that she would like to see our lair too.”

“And?” Fluffy asked, her voice still happy, but I had to be careful to not ruin it.

“I was just thinking about how I might convince you to allow her to visit. Perhaps even letting her bring some friends of hers along.” I looked at Fluffy, and seeing her expression sour, hastily continued. “Not as lairpets, obviously. Since I wouldn’t be happy with allowing kirin stallions to hang around, it only makes sense that you would not approve of mares as well. But I was thinking as guests every now and then. It would be good for Fiery, having some kirins around. And surprisingly, I don’t mind these kirins.”

“I noticed,” Fluffy said, and based on her tone, her good mood was quickly vanishing. I really needed to hurry now!

“So I thought, if I can pair Autumn with one of the stallions here, maybe get them to have a bornling themselves... you would no longer consider them as a threat, so they could visit and their kid could play with Fiery too.”

I stopped in my tracks when Fluffy suddenly started to giggle before then beginning to laugh.

“What?” I asked while Autumn threw a curious look back at us.

Fluffy moved closer to me and purred as she began rubbing her whole side against my chest, adding a little slap of her tail against my scales at the end. “Only you could say something so silly, while so logical for a dragon.”

“I think you’ll have to explain what you just said to me,” I said before purring the next words, ”maybe while you’re cuddling me.”

“You’re not even considering the possibility that you could fail at bringing her and a stallion together, hmm?” Fluffy explained teasingly, while her free hoof found its way onto my chest. She smiled and tilted her head. “The confidence of a dragon,” she played with my scales a bit, “charming, while ridiculous. You can’t just plan the life of somepony for them so it fits your desires.” She moved up to stroked over my snout. “Even if it is to make your marefriend happy,” she ended with a boop on my nose.

“Hmm, so you’ll allow her to visit without a stallion by her side then?”

She wrinkled her nose a bit, but one look at Fiery in her other hoof caused her to think about it a little more. “Maybe,” she finally said.

“That will be enough, for now,” I replied, kissing her before we continued our walk.

*

“And this is our kindergarten,” Autumn told us as we approached one of the larger treehouse styled flats. And it was indeed easy to identify, as there was a huge framed garden connected to it with one or two dozen little kirins playing there.

Of course, the commotion that so many tiny beings made grabbed Fiery’s attention. She perked up, listened for a moment, and then squirmed a bit in her mother's forelegs, signaling she wanted to be put down.

Fluffy exchanged a look with me though before she let her go. “Be nice, Fiery,” she told our daughter when her hooves touched the ground.

“She does her best,” I said, amused when I saw Fiery whiz towards the fence, peaking through the gaps between the laths. Though, since the fence was specially made to hinder little kirins from wandering off, it also stopped Fiery from sneaking in. She did try though; pushing and nibbling on the fence as well as her adorable attempts to jump over it, only to make it only a third of the way up. In the end, she decided it was a problem for mom and dad to solve. She took a seat and squeaked for us to come over and help her.

“Shall Daddy carry you over it?” I asked while cuddling her with my snout. “You wanna play with the other kirins?”

Based on the squeaks she made, that was indeed what she wanted, but her solution was to push the fence again, trying to encourage me to do the same.

“You want Daddy to break the fence?”

She squeaked encouragingly.

“Mom wouldn’t approve,” I said, and shook my head before grabbing her by the mane, lifting her up, and flying with her over the fence. Very much to the surprise of the two mares, one old and one young, on the other side watching the children.

“Hello,” Fluffy greeted them when she landed next to me. “I hope we did not scare you,” she said, even though it was clear that we had. The little ones, on the other claw, didn’t appear to be afraid of us. While Fluffy was still speaking with the two mares, a few of them approached us curiously.

“Allow me to introduce us,” Fluffy said, “I am Danger Do; this is my mate, Black Death; and this is,” she grabbed Fiery from my mouth, “Fiery Leadership, our daughter.”

“They are new to the village!” Autumn added after jumping over the fence, landing on our side, and exchanged a nod with the other kirins. I was quite impressed at seeing this, because as I said, the fence was not short.

“We heard about it,” she elderly kirin replied. “So it is true,” she continued in her slow voice while making her way over to me, “a real dragon has come to our village again.”

The little kirins stopped a wingspan away from us, waiting for the elderly one to approach us first.

“And such an attractive one,” the elderly added when she stopped in front of me and stretched out a hoof to rub over my snout. I was not sure if I was willing to allow that, more so knowing that Fluffy may take this personally. Though, she didn’t. Judging by her body language, it was okay if the old mare touched my snout, so I allowed it.

“And what hard scales you have, and so shiny.” The old lady giggled. “What a beautiful dragon you got yourself there,” she said to Fluffy, “if I were a century younger, I would challenge you for him, sweety.” She reconsidered what she said and added, “Maybe two centuries, he is a young dragon after all.”

“All mine,” Fluffy said, but in a joking tone. Obviously the elder one was not on her list of kirins to hiss at.

“Lucky you, now where are my manners?” The old kirin bowed before me. “I am Gentle Spice, and this is,” she pointed at the younger mare, “Clear Steam.”

“Hello,” Clear Steam said shily, keeping her distance.

“Nice to meet you,” Fluffy said while I simply nodded.

Familiar with dragon protocol, Gentle Spice bowed towards Fluffy, with Clear Steam quickly following, much to my approval.

“My daughter wanted to see the other bornlings,” I said after realising everyone had gone silent. Although, with Fiery squirming in Fluffy’s arms and stretching her head out so she could sniff at the other little kirins, I was stating the obvious.

“Then your mate should let her go,” Gentle Spice suggested.

Fluffy hesitated for a moment, giving the scenery another close look. It was good to see her being so careful when it came to our daughter. Finally, she placed Fiery on the ground, and as soon as she did so, Fiery rushed over to the other, well, not babies anymore, but little children.

Anyway, shortly before Fiery crashed into them, she slowed down and raised her nose into the air to sniff like I expected. Two of the children followed suit before approaching her. I didn’t see any tails raised or wings spread, so in short, it was a friendly meeting. Fluffy, however, was still on guard, it must be her motherly instincts.

I on the other Claw, laid down to watch the children play now, since of course that was what would follow. And I was right, when each of them seemed satisfied that they had identified each other’s scent, they started to squeak and rub against each other, quickly leading to them chasing one another around, even nibbling on the others scales. Fiery was a little shorter than them of course, but she still had her fun and had no problem with keeping up.

When I threw a look towards my mate, however, like proud parents do, I noticed Fluffy was on high alert. Her ears were perked up, her tail raised a bit, and her wings ready to spring open if the need to rush over should arise.

Seems I was not the only one who got protective.

Though, I wasn’t able to watch her for long as one of the other kids approached me while dragging a ball along.

“You play with me?” It asked in its childish way of talking.

I gave the ball a closer look. Despite a section looking to have been ripped out already, it appeared to be biteproof based on the numerous tooth and fang marks pitting its surface, it was still able to roll though.

Before I agreed however, I threw another look at Fluffy, one of us had to watch Fiery, luckily she still was, so I could play. I lowered my head and gave the ball a little push, resulting in it rolling forward and the kid chasing after it. I was well aware of how nervous this made Clear Steam, she was probably afraid I would hurt the children if they got too pushy. What nonsense! Gentle Spice shared my opinion since she gesticulated to her that everything was fine.

Anyway, showing my willingness to play lured far more children to me than I had anticipated. Soon, I was busy chasing after the ball and keeping it in my possession while a dozen little beings tried to snatch it from me. It was a lot of fun!

While we played, I occasionally glanced in Fiery’s direction, and every time I did so, she looked to be doing fine. During one of these brief looks, I saw that she and the other two kirins were cleaning each other’s manes. Seems that's what little kirins do to socialize. If I was right, I could hear a bit of purring too.

That moment of focusing on my daughter cost me the ball though. A sneaky little kirin bit into it and rushed away. Of course I started to chase after it, but two of the kids wanted to stop me by biting onto my tail, shaking their heads, hissing, and trying to pull me back.

“Wind Root, Leaf Whisper, stop!” Clear Steam yelled at them as she rushed over. Her yelling also alerted Fluffy, who’s eyes widened in shock at seeing what was going on.

I did not care too much though and wiggled my tail a bit, playfully trying to shake them off. When it did not work, I moved my head back to them and was planning to pick them off of it. I had just grabbed the first one by the neck when something heavy impacted against my side, nearly knocking me off my claws. Clear Steam had crashed right into me, and was now growling loudly while she picked up the kid I had dropped because of her attack.

“Big Softy, no!” Fluffy screamed while flying over as fast as she could. At the same time, the old kirin lady who had been talking with Autumn did her best to reach us as well.

Had every creature lost their mind now?

Fluffy was the first to arrive of course, and she placed herself between me and Clear Steam.

“Please don’t attack her! She didn’t mean the growling, I am sure!” Fluffy yelled hecticly. “They’re not good with words, remember?!”

“She is just protecting the children!” Autumn concurred when she arrived a second later.

My reaction to the saleskirin really must have had an impact on them.

“Oh stop it you two!” Gentle Spice scolded them both. “As if he would attack a protective mother! Did you learn nothing about dragons?” When she reached us, she grabbed and pulled Clear Steams ear. “And you, you really think he would harm a bornling? Stop your growling.”

Finally somekirin who understood dragons!

Fluffy and Autumn both threw a baffled look at her, then back at me.

“You’re not angry?” Fluffy asked.

“Of course not, it was my fault,” I replied.

“It was… your fault?” Fluffy repeated, astonished.

“Yes, from her perspective it must have looked like I was going to harm the little one.”

“Which is purely nonsense of course,” Gentle Spice explained. “No dragon would harm a bornling when they have one themselves.”

I supported this statement of me being a nice dragon by rubbing my head against my mate.

Gentle Spice took Wind Root from Clear Steam and placed him on the ground. “You go play, your mother and I have some adult stuff to talk about,” she told him and shooed him away. “And you too Leaf Whisper,” she added as she threw the ball for them. She smiled when the children rushed after it before then addressing the other mares. “You three still have to learn a lot about dragons it seems.”

I felt Fluffy’s hoof on my head, stroking over me softly. “It seems so,” she agreed. “After what you did when the stallion growled at you, I was a bit worried there, you know?”

“No need to.” I licked her cheek and then raised my head to look for Fiery. She was still playing with the other children, our little problem here hadn’t bothered her at all.

“I must say,” Autumn took a seat and watched me, “I am kind of surprised too. I’d expected a more... aggressive reaction to be honest.”

“If he was a single dragon, you would have gotten that,” Gentle Spice nodded. “But then he wouldn’t have played with the kids in the first place. When a dragon becomes a parent, they get far friendlier and more social, not to mention protective towards children and eggs.” She turned to Clear Steam. “However, he is more likely to bite you when he considers you a threat to the children than to bite one of them, no matter the reason.”

“Well, he has become a bit nicer towards others,” Fluffy said before returning the favor by rubbing her head against me. “Though, I would not really call him social now,” she added while raising an eyebrow at me.

I placed a kiss on her forehead.

“You are absolutely sure he is no threat to the children?” Clear Steam asked in the shyer tone I had heard her using when we first arrived.

“Absolutely, otherwise I would have not allowed him to play with them, or do you think I’m that irresponsible?”

“Right… I just… when he picked up Wind Root, I was… nervous.”

“Don’t you worry,” Gentle Spice assured her, “he will not harm them. Though,” she continued after a moment, “it would not be a good idea to growl at the children when he is around. He may defend them if they start to cry.”

Of course, Fluffy knew, and I think Autumn did as well, but to explain it, growling at one's own hatchling is the dragon way of saying ‘No! Don’t do that!’, but to do so to another’s was unacceptable. Seems Kirins do the same, except they seemed comfortable with allowing another to watch over their kids for them on a daily basis.

“We talk to them too of course,” the old lady told Fluffy when she noticed her concerned look. “It is just that when we were under the effect of the stream of silence, we were not really able to talk to them, so they do not reply to words all the time. Growling, however, is something they react to on instinct.”

“I see,” Fluffy said.

“So when you are done with considering me the big bad dragon, can I return to playing with the children?”

I got a light tap of Fluffies wing against my snout for my weak attempt at trying to play the victim and sneak some cuddling out of her.

“Go play you giant softy you!” Fluffy giggled.

And that is what I did, though, not without getting my good dragon kiss from Fluffy. So a few minutes later, I was already chasing the kids around the garden, playing ball and the like. And it was during that time that I heard a new voice.

“This is your sister’s overly dangerous dragonfriend?” The new voice asked ironically. “He doesn’t seem to be a threat at all.”

I stopped playing with the kirins and lifted my head, looking for where the voice had come from. It turned out to be a mare, a pony mare, but without wings or a horn, and she was looking over the fence.

“Just try to lift the winged one there, then you’ll see how dangerous he can be,” another voice half mumbled above her. It belonged to Never Ending Do. And from what I could recall, the mare must be, Holly, if I remembered her name correctly, as that made the most sense.

“Never!” Fluffy shouted when she spotted him and began trotting over. “What are you doing here?” She hoovered up and gave him a hug before turning to Holly, “and you must be Winterberry Hills, Never told me a lot about you.”

“Just call me Holly, when you mention Hills I feel like my mom.” She climbed over the fence and stretched out a hoof to shake it with Fluffy. “Nice to meet you too.”

A heavy nibble on my claw reminded me that I was in the middle of something. I tossed the ball away and watched the kids chase after it for a moment before walking over to the ponies.

As I walked over, I only caught the tail end of Fluffy talking. “...he is a big softy.”

“Are you telling lies about me again?” I teased while rubbing my head along her side to claim my territory in front of the new mare.

“And he is very cuddly and clingy,” Fluffy stated with a purr before adding, “Well, so am I,” and flying up, landing on my back, and placed her nose on my head.

See, I am not the only one who marks their territory.

“So, this is your mate?” I asked a moment after Fluffy had removed her head from mine and flew back to the ground. I gave the mare a closer look, she had a bright red mane with some darker streaks and a somewhat olive coat. “She has no chestfluff,” I judged negatively,” and no feathers.”

“I am an earthpony,” Holly said while Fluffy slapped me on the chest with her wing, “we don’t have those. But we are stronger and good with plants.” She then extended her hoof towards me.

I took the hoof she offered and sniffed at her in the process.

“And you two have not had sex recently,” I added disapprovingly.

“Big Softy!” Fluffy scolded me and slapped me with her wing once more while Holly’s face turned as red as her mane. “You can’t say that!”

“How is he supposed to have fluffy feathered bornlings if they don’t have fun regularly?” I pointed at Holly. “It is unlikely that they’ll have one on their first try with her being so… so unfluffy. It may take them a few times till they get the desirable feathered bornlings.”

“Black Death, could you please not bring up that topic?” Never asked politely. “It’s not something Holly feels comfortable discussing so openly.”

“Well, if you wish.” I conceded, but still threw a confused look at Fluffy. “It is true though,” I added before I hugged Never, as I had agreed to consider him as family now too. “You really should have fun more often,” I whispered into his ear.

“I will try to remember that,” he nodded.

“Good.”

“I am so sorry, Holly,” Fluffy said, “he can be a bit direct sometimes.”

“It… it’s okay, uhm, I just…” Holly replied.

“It’s okay, Kitty,” Never jumped in, “we all got a bit… surprised when we first met him. My first encounter with him was even worse.”

“And we will never talk about it!” Fluffy insisted.

“Come on sis, it’s to help Holly deal with your dragonfriend!”

They stared at each other for a moment, only for Fluffy to sigh. “Fine.” She crossed her forelegs though.

Never laid a hoof on his mates back. “When I first met Black Death here, I yelled all kinds of threats while stomping up to their room at our parents house. I didn’t know he was a dragon though. I was just so angry about somepony getting my sister pregnant, so I threatened to break his bones, rip off his horn or whatever would fit.” Now he smiled embarrassed too. “You can imagine my shock when I opened the door to their room and stood eye to eye with him.”

“I was not so amused with some lower creature threatening me,” I nodded in support.

“With my brother,” Fluffy corrected me with a certain look, only interrupted when she quickly checked on Fiery.

“With your brother,” I adjusted my sentence. I knew I could’ve shown dominance in front of the others by standing by what I said, but I figured that a happy Fluffy was more important than intimidating Holly.

“Dragon culture is very different from ours,” Never went on. “The next time I saw him was when he knocked at my door to ‘ask’ me to sleep somewhere else, since my sister here,” he pointed at her, causing Fluffy to blush, “was uncomfortable with having fun while I was sleeping next door and able to hear them.

It took a second, but Never’s plan eventually worked. Holly first smiled a little, then giggled, before beginning to actually laugh. “I must say, these dragons are quite different, but I am glad I am not being treated differently.”

“You can see them as naughty lizards,” Fluffy mentioned a bit grumpy.

“Come on sis, don’t be that way now,” Never said while poking her with his head.

Fluffy snorted, so I grabbed her and cuddled her a bit. You know as well as I do that she can’t stay grumpy that way. So she sighed and gave up her silent protest.

“You still need to tell me why you two are here,” Fluffy asked when I placed her down again. “You didn’t mention having any interest in visiting the kirins when mom and dad told us about them.”

“Well, I still don’t care that much, but Holly got curious, more so about Black Death and Fiery here.”

Of course, mentioning any interest in our child had a great effect on Fluffy. She fluffed up, proud mother that she was, and happily told Holly about her. I watched Holly in the meantime, she really seemed to be interested, given how focused she was on Fluffy’s words and from the little questions she placed here and there.

“You want to greet your niece?” I asked Never while the mares had their talk.

“Of course I do!” he replied, so I cried out for her.

Fiery perked up and stopped whatever she was doing with the other bornlings and squeaked.

“Uncle Never is here,” I yelled. “He wants to say hello. Come here, Fiery,” I added after lowering my head and purring so my daughter knew I wanted her to come to us. She was not as fast as normal to follow my will though, she first exchanged a bit of rubbing with each of her new friends before rushing over to us.

“Look who’s here,” I purred when she reached us and got into her meerkat position, sneaking some cuddling from me. “Uncle Never is here,” I repeated and pointed at him with my snout.

“Hello, Fiery,” he said, sitting down and opening his forelegs to embrace her.

She, on the other claw, just squeaked and looked back at her new friends, squeaking once again before turning back to me.

“You can play with them again in a moment,” I said and pushed her a bit in the direction of her uncle. “Just say hello to Uncle Never first.”

“You know me,” Never reminded her softly. “You slept on my belly, I’m the snoring guy.”

She tilted her head, squeaked, and turned around to rush back to the other bornlings.

“You should have puffed out your chestfluff a bit more,” I said. “Or started to snore.”

He sighed. “Maybe…”

I watched my daughter arrive at her friends and instantly cuddle and play with them again. “Well, maybe even that wouldn’t have worked, she really likes to have bornlings her age around her it seems.”

“At least she’s having fun,” he agreed, though, I could see it was a downer for him to not receive her approval. Male or not, he is a pony after all.

“She said her first word today,” I mentioned to lift his mood a bit.

“Really?” His head and ears perked up, and the usual pony smile crawled onto his face once more.

“Yes, she…” I wasn’t able to get further as me mentioning her first word caused Fluffy to take notice and excused herself from her conversation with Holly and storm over to yell the news into Never’s face.

“It is true!” she proclaimed. “And it was ‘Fluffy’!”

“That’s great news!” Never agreed. “You have to tell me everything about it!”

And as expected she did. She mentioned all the circumstances, every detail, and finally, the event itself. For ponies, it really was a big thing for sure.

On the other claw, Fluffy and Never catching up left me and Holly out, as well as Autumn and the other adult kirins, who waited patiently for us to introduce the newcomers. Surprisingly, the little kirins didn’t bother us at all. It must be some kind of learned behaviour by them to not approach larger gatherings of adults.

It was Autumn who made the first move as Holly and I waited.

“Have you been greeted by our village already?” she asked curiously while approaching Holly and I. “If not, let me be the first to say welcome!”

“We were just talking to some of the other kirins not that long ago,” Holly replied and shook Autumn's hoof. “That’s how we found out they,” she pointed at me and Fluffy, “would be here. Though I must say, the mares we asked were acting a little strange.”

Autumn giggled. “Yeah, I may have an idea why.” She shook her head. “Anyway, I am Autumn Blaze.”

“Holly, nice to meet you.”

What followed was what one would expect, questions! So many questions. And with Autumn being so talkative, you can imagine how that turned out. More so when Gentle Spice joined their conversation too while Clear Steam played with the children. The conversation was rather drull, but eventually, an interesting topic came up.

“It looks like you’re good with kids, Black Death,” Holly suddenly mentioned when there was a pause in her talk with the kirins.

“Hmm?” I withdrew my gaze from Fiery and focused on Never’s marefriend again.

“You always seem to be keeping an eye open for them, making sure they’re doing alright. Are all the dragons so careful?”

“Hatchlings must be protected,” I explained while turning my gaze back to my daughter. “It’s our duty as parents to make sure they’re safe. They need to know that mom and dad mean safety.”

“Isn’t protecting their children something all creatures do?” Autumn asked. “I mean we kirins are also quite aggressive when it comes to protecting our children. I always figured that was something we inherited from both sides of our heritage.”

“Our aggressiveness is a few levels lower than what you see in dragons,” Gentle Spice added. “We chase away the threat if necessary like you saw with Clear. Dragons on the other hoof will try to eliminate it, literally.”

I nodded at that before answering Autumn’s question after a bit of thinking. “I think most species do, though, for ponies, they tend to avoid getting into dangerous situations at all, given how Fluffy behaves. I, however, make sure Fiery doesn’t get into a situation that’s too dangerous, but I’ll make sure to solve it if one should arise. Kirins seem to fit in the middle of that.”

“I was referring more to how you’re acting around them.” Holly said, “You’re playing with them and making sure they don’t get into trouble or hurt themselves. It’s rather nice, if a bit unexpected.”

“What did you expect, that we don’t love our children, or that I can’t play with them because I am a huge dangerous killer like your coltfriend told you?” I said this neutrally, but she still took a tiny step back from me.

“No, totally not, just…”

“Their safety is our highest priority, but it doesn't mean we don’t love to see them happy.”

“Does that mean you’ll reconsider your opinion about kindergarten and schools now?” Fluffy had snuck into our conversation. I hadn’t noticed that she’d finished her talk with her brother and had come closer. “Fiery seems to love it here.”

“I am still not sure about it, though, I assume I’ll have to think about it more,” I replied. Seeing how much having other little beings to play with meant to Fiery though was definitely helping to change my opinion on the matter.

“It would be good for her,” Fluffy went on, trying to convince me while Never took the spot next to Holly.

“I said I will think about it,” I reminded her.

At that moment, a bell rang somewhere nearby, interrupting our conversation.

“Children! Time for midday nap!” Clear Steam shouted and started to collect the children from the garden by corraling them towards the house. “And don’t forget to bring the toys along with you,” she reminded them. That last statement didn’t seem to count though for Wind Root, as he just hopped onto his mother's back.

I smiled a bit when I saw how confused Fiery was by all this. At home, she didn’t have a fixed nap time since she never needed it. Whenever she was tired, she would just jump onto my or Fluffy’s back and take a nap. Well, she watched as her new friends quickly ran to the house, unsure about what it meant and how she should react. It was adorable. Finally she decided to chase after them and joined the herd of two dozen kirin bornlings searching for a place on the blankets that were spread out near the entrance of the house.

“Maybe I better go and get her,” Fluffy said, already halfway in the air.

“You worry too much,” I replied and stroked over her back with a claw, pushing her down. “She will find out what to do, napping is a significant thing in dragon culture.”

“I know that,” Fluffy said with a smile while rolling her eyes. “Still…” she raised a hoof again to step forward.

I picked her up, took a seat, and placed her between my feet, wrapping my arms around her. “She will handle it, and if there’s a problem, she will come to us anyway.”

Fluffy knew I was right, but still she stood on her hind legs as best as she could and stretched out her head to keep watching. And even though she knew that the kirins here didn’t intend to pose a threat, I knew the feeling.

“Fiery really likes her new friends, sis, so you can calm down a bit,” Never said before he continued in a jokingly tone. “And from what I know about her dragon heritage so far, she will be a natural at taking a nap.”

Of course she would be, she is my daughter! Though, it turned out that taking the nap wasn’t the issue, it was where to have it.

When all her friends had chosen a place to lay, they curled up to take their nap, very much to the confusion of Fiery. First she squeaked a bit, but then followed their example and curled up a few times herself, but everytime she did, she rose a few seconds later, unsettled. Sleeping out in the open, without mom and dad nearby, was something she was not used to at all.

After thinking about the problem a bit, she tried to wake up her friends again, but they just ignored her, and when she pushed them again, they started to growl.

“Hey Fiery,” Clear Steam approached her, “maybe you just need a fine pillow or some belly rubs, hmm?”

Now it was my turn to tense up. I scratched the ground a bit with my feet and slightly spread my wings.

“She will be nice to her, don’t you worry.” Gentle Spice laid a hoof on my side and patted me a few times. “And she is the second Lady of the Lair for the kindergarten.”

“What does that mean?” Holly asked, curious after seeing it calm me down. “From how you’re acting, it sounds like it’s quite important.”

“Dragons have their own social norms, it means that creature is incharge,” Fluffy explained quickly, keeping her gaze on Fiery. “The title increases your social standing greatly in a friendly meeting.”

“Mhh that makes sense,” Holly replied, but I shushed her. I wanted to hear what Clear Steam had to say, and it was difficult from this distance with them talking right next to me.

Obviously, Fiery did not want a pillow or belly rubs, instead, she tried to explain the problem she had to Clear Steam by squeaking and gesticulating.

“It’s time for a good nap,” the mare explained slowly and calmly while bringing her head to Fiery’s level. “You will be well rested in an hour or so and then you can play with your friends again.”

Now Fiery’s gaze turned to me, she knew what a nap was, but the idea of leaving her friends was not something she wanted to do. So her head shook back and forth between me, Fluffy, and her friends.

Finally, she made a decision, she rushed over to us. But not to jump on our backs and take a nap like Fluffy had expected, as she had opened her forelegs for our daughter to give her a hug, but to bite onto my leg and drag me to the other bornlings.

“What is your plan, Fiery?” I wondered. She, however, increased her efforts to drag me forward.

I exchanged a look with Fluffy, she seemed to be none the wiser.

“Okay, Daddy is coming with you,” I said after a moment. “I am curious what her plan is,” I explained to Fluffy.

“Just don’t do anything stup… too dragonlike now.”

I rolled my eyes and gave her a smile. “As if we ever do anything stupid.” I was wise enough to not wait for her reply and started to move. When I did so, Fiery stopped her attempt to pull me and rushed ahead, back to her friends.

When I arrived a moment later, two things happened. First, Fiery tried to wake up her friends once more, and second, Clear Steam came closer with a half raised tail and erect ears. Clear signs she was watching me, protecting the children in case I tried something funny.

I ignored her for now and focused on my daughter. Like the last time she tried to wake her friends, they growled at her and just kept their sleeping position, unwilling to move at all.

That did not discourage Fiery though, she just climbed up my tail and looked down on them from my back. From this distinguished place, she squeaked at them again, and just like before, was met with a lack of success.

While it was very much to my delight that my back was Fiery’s preferable napping spot, the fact she was trying to lure all the children there as well was a bit much. So I laid down and nuzzled her. “You can still have a nap on your own if you like, Fiery, Daddy will watch over you.”

Her reaction was hissing. Not at me of course, Daddy still was the best, but at the fact the other kirins weren’t paying her any attention. She placed her little claws on my snout, letting me know she appreciated my affection, but her gaze was on the other children when she hissed.

You may remember that I told you azure dragons have a problem with being ignored? Well, Fiery had one with it too, and her azure blood came through.

Suddenly, she let go of my snout, moved to the very end of my side, got into her meerkat position, laid her claws on my wing and… roared at the top of her lungs while the little scales on her forehead started to glow in a light azure. Along with her roar, I felt a wave of ‘something’ flow over me, it felt a bit like what my mom could do, but also very different, like eating a familiar dish, but something was missing, no, not missing, replaced.

While I was still surprised and lost in thought, the effect it had on the kirins was impressive!

All the little beings were pulled out of their sleep forcefully and began cowering down on the ground thinking some dangerous creature had shown up. Or on second thought, they all got into a submissive position on instinct. And even the adults were affected, Clear Steam just shook herself like she wanted to get water out of her coat, and Autumn and Gentle Spice, a bit away from us, had a shiver run down their spines.

Fluffy, Never, and Holly were not affected though. Besides, Fluffy was on high alert immediately, and made her way over to us.

But Fiery wasn’t done yet. She looked at her friends and squeaked demandingly, rushing back to the middle of my back and tapping me with her tail, marking the best resting spot. When her friends were a bit unsure though, she squeaked again, more forcefully now, and the two quickly got to their hooves and hurried to get onto my back.

The only problem was that they didn’t know how to use my tail as a ramp to get up, so they stopped at my side and looked up at Fiery.

It was then that my daughter made a mistake. She was so deep into her commanding role that she forgot who was in charge and tried to order me to pick up her friends. She squeaked at me in a tone that I really did not appreciate.

“No,” I said, poking her with my nose, the same moment Fluffy arrived. She moved to grab Fiery as she was worried, though, I had to raise a wing and push her aside while I settled this.

Fiery squeaked again, angry and demanding.

I roared back at her to remind her of her place! My daughter or not, a bornling has to know who is the dominant!

I knew it would get a scolding from Fluffy later, and she was already starting to inhale to yell at me, but I had to prevent the thought of ordering mom and dad around from getting into Fiery’s head. So I just grabbed Fluffies snout and pressed it shut.

Luckily for Fiery though, she got onto her belly instantly and laid her tail flat while the light from her scales dimmed down.

“Better,” I said and stroked over her back, growling slightly. “You better never try that with mom, or daddy will be most angry.”

She remained in her submissive stance, staying quiet.

“What was that?” Clear Steam, still a bit confused, made her way over to us now. “It felt… strange.”

“My daughter just lost her temper.” I lowered my head and picked up the two friends of hers and placed them on my back next to Fiery. They were a bit intimidated and unsure next to her, but as soon as Fiery recovered from my parental roaring, she approached them, and with little head rubs and squeaking, she convinced them she wasn’t a threat. Though, she pushed them around a bit till they all formed a comfortable heap on my back, exactly the right position in her opinion for a nap. In the end, she curled up with her tail and rear legs laying across her friends and settled in. Soon, her friends did the same, and eventually, all three of them were laid peacefully between my wings.

That was also the moment I could let go of Fluffy, her seeing our daughter peacefully taking a nap with her friends seemed to calm her down. Of course, she bit my claw out of protest as soon as she got the chance.

“Good old azure-kirin magic,” the old mare said quietly after she had slowly trotted to my side too and had taken a happy look at Fiery. “Last time I saw that, well I was a little filly then.”

“You’ve seen this already?” Fluffy asked, still a bit nervous.

“Of course I did, when I was your age, we had an azure-kirin as a guest in the village. She was good friends with Rain Shine, but she was kind of old though, even older than I am now.” Gentle Spice scratched her chin a bit. “I remember her doing something like your daughter here once, after she had kind of an argument with someone. I can’t remember who the other was, but I do remember half the village was just minding their own business when suddenly, everykirin laid flat on the ground, unable to move an inch. The azure was really angry and sparkling, just like the forehead of your daughter.”

“That means when she gets angry at kirins, instead of turning into a nirik, she may do this… this… azure thing?” Fluffy asked.

“No, not all the time, I am quite sure she can learn to control it. That is,” she added after a moment, “if she wants too.”

Fluffy threw a sorrowful look at our daughter. “If she wants too…” she repeated.

Well at the moment, the little heap of adorability did not look like a threat, but I shared Fluffy’s optimism. She could become a great ruler and dominant kirin.

“Sounds like my niece takes after her mom,” Never joked. He and Holly had also made their way over to us by now.

“I’m sure she will manage,” Holly said. “She has both her parents to help her with it.”

“Or, she will manage to control others,” I purred proudly while softly letting my nose slight above Fiery’s ear. For some reason the present ponies gave me a uncertain look.

***

And so, our visit to the Peaks of Peril ended more or less. The children took their nap, even without Fluffy nesting on them, and the adults talked quietly for a while before Never and Holly asked Autumn for a tour through the village. We agreed to meet at Fluffy’s parents house later today though.

For the moment, however, that left Fluffy and me with a lot to talk about. Things like the kindergarten for example. It was something Fiery loved, and when we finally wanted to go home, she was all cries and sadness, she even tried to convince us to take her friends with us. That was not an option of course, but I decided it would be best if we returned tomorrow, and we did, though in the long run, we had to find a solution at home that also worked.

There was also the use of azure abilities by our daughter, as you can imagine, that we had to consider. Fluffy and I had different opinions regarding that. She thought Fiery should be taught to be nice and not use it, while I thought it was her rightful heritage to use the azure powers she inherited however she pleases.

Anyway, enough of that for now, we already covered most of the interesting stuff that happened in Fiery’s first year, so I should move on and tell you something that happened a few years later, and it includes an egg!

Author's Note

Alright, this was way harder to write than I thought, but I am quite happy with how it tunred out. Anyway, we really need to move a bit forth in time now, so the next chapter will take place a good while later then this scenes. Let yourself be surprised

Editor: Schattendrache