“Wow, even if I’ve already seen those, I must say, dragon claws are very effective!” Gold Digger admitted as he watched a large amount of rubble and small pebbles get thrown into the air as I dug a new side tunnel into my gemmine. Yes, while I had shown him my abilities when I had been in his mine, compared to his little pickaxe, well, yes I was able to go ten times faster, so an acknowledgment was in order. While my gem mines had a bit softer rocks to break through, it still felt nice for him to recognise my greatness.

While I was busy digging, Gold was standing at the entrance of the new tunnel and lighting up the tunnel with his helmet-lantern while Angorik stood next to him.

“Hmm, kind of,” I retorted, a bit delayed due to still being focused on my work. “They’re better than your pickaxe for sure. And it feels good to use them from time to time.” It wasn’t that I didn’t use them, but I know how sensitive ponies were about that and would rather not remind him of me being a predator.

“Those things are sharp,” Angorik agreed, pulling his head back behind the edge of the opening. “That much I can tell you.”

Aaand my efforts had been in vain.

“Hmm?” Gold Digger threw a glance at Angorik.

“He got me once with those,” Angorik lifted his left wing and pushed away some of his feathers and fluff, presenting a long scar over his chest. “Was a close call, but I survived.”

“You came to plunder my lair!” I reminded him over my shoulder.

He smiled innocent. “Actually, we were after your head.”

“Hm-hmm, and you shot an arrow at my belly!” I added.

“Wait,” Gold Digger pointed as Angorik, “you tried to raid his lair? And you two are friends?”

“To be fair, and to protect my honour, it wasn’t intending for him to survive,” I yelled, “was kind of an accident.”

Angorik nodded, “Yep, he definitely didn’t do that on purpose.”

“Uhm… “ Gold Digger made.

“It’s alright,” Angorik said, “point is, those claws are cutting through that stone like it’s balsa.”

“They would be doing a much better job if I didn’t file them, but it was a benefit to Fluffy and Fiery if I did.” It really was, I mean, I never scratched either of them on purpose, but sharing a bed together would be a bit risky otherwise. And of course, my claws were still deadly, it just took a lot more force. “Anyway,” I stopped my digging and looked backward, “this should be enough for you two to have someplace to excavate some gems on your own.”

I shook off the dust and pebbles that had found their way onto my back and stepped out of the corridor I had just created.

“Thank you, uhm, Big Softy,” Gold Digger said as he lifted his pickaxe and switched places with me, obviously still a bit confused by the most recent revelation.

Yes, I know that how he addressed me is confusing, so let me explain. When I was at Fluffy’s parents’ place, I had a deal with Fluffy to be nice, and that included letting her parents call me Big Softy, since, you know, The Black Death doesn’t go over well with ponies. Though, when they came to our lair, I demanded that I be addressed as Black Death for anything formal, like when asking permission for Never to enter. Though, since there wasn’t anyone around that would require me to maintain my image of dominance, I allowed him to use Big Softy. He is family after all.

“Alright, let’s get started then,” Gold Digger said. “Angorik, could you place the lantern in the center, please?”

“Sure,” my griffon friend agreed before sticking the metal pole in the ground and hanging the lantern on it by its chain. It swung back and forth a bit, causing the light to flicker and cast spooky shadows on the walls. It was a good thing I was able to see in the twilight and Gold Digger had his helmet-lamp, otherwise, Gold and Angorik might have been afraid of any potential threats.

Angorik made a deep “Mhh,” as he took place a bit behind Gold Digger and inspected the walls closer, stroking over them with a claw. “Actually, I am not sure where to hit. I’m unfamiliar with gem digging.”

Gold Digger lowered the pickaxe and looked at the spot were Angorik was standing. “I would say one step to the left and at hip height. No, a bit lower, yeah, a bit more… right there.” He nodded encouraging to the griffon. “That's the spot.”

“If you say so,” Angorik said doubtfully. For him, the spot looked like any other on that wall, but I agreed with Fluffy’s dad. I didn’t know why I was sure that it was the right spot to dig, nor was I any wiser as to why Gold Digger knew, but that was the right spot for sure.

Gold digger was proven correct a second later when Angorik hit the spot with his pickaxe and a little sapphire and some dirt rolled down from the wall.

“Not the best yield, but still…” Gold Digger giggled. Angorik, however, carefully picked it up and rubbed over it with his wing, removing the remaining dirt and holding it up to the light.

“My first gemstone gathered by honest work,” he happily announced. “Isn’t it beautiful?”

“Well, you find much bigger ones in Equestria,” Gold Digger replied. “Not to mention more tasty as well.”

I raised an eyebrow, it confused me a bit as to why Gold Digger said that. I mean, normally ponies were more supportive towards the luck of others. What he said made it sound luke he was trying to belittle Angorik’s accomplishment. Mhh, maybe he was just proud of his home and this was his way of showing it.

“That very well might be the case in Equestria, but this stone -” Angorik fluffed up his chest “- this gem, this is mine. I found it myself, it is my personal treasure.”

Now it was my turn to chuckle. It would have been so easy for me to take it, or more cruelly, take and eat it. It was just a thought to amuse myself, not really something I would consider doing. Not that it wasn't my right to do so in my gem mine, but, Angorik was a friend and here with not only my permission, but my invitation. So no, he was allowed to keep this treasure.

“Still a small one if you ask me,” Gold Digger snorted and lifted his pickaxe again. “Let’s see what I can do.” And with those words, he swung his pickaxe down and into the rock. Though, nothing showed up after this first strike, or the next, or the ones after that.

“Very impressive,” Angorik teased him, “really, very impressive.”

“Just you wait!” Gold Digger continued to swing his pickaxe, and indeed, several blows later, a topas about half the size of his hoof was among the dirt that fell to the ground. “Ha!” he shouted as he picked it up. “Look at this little beauty. Not as big as back home, but still quite valuable.”

“It’s not worth writing a song about it,” Angorik joked, “but yes, I have to find another one then if I want to be in the lead again.”

“Well, if this’s become a competition all of the sudden,” I moved closer to them and inspected the wall myself, “let the real expert show you how it is done.”

“Be our guest,” Fluffy’s dad said as Angorik made some more room for me.

I licked over the wall and felt the taste on my tongue. “Not here.” I moved forward and repeated my tasting a few times until I found an interesting spot. “Now observe the master, hatchlings.” I pierced into the stone with my claw, slightly above the spot I’d found and ripped off a good chunk of it.

Revealing… a tiny ruby, even smaller than what Angorik had found.

“Oh yes,” Gold Digger giggled, “seems like our gem expert won without doubt!”

When I didn’t show any intention of ripping off Gold Diggers head, Angorik joined the giggling.

I smiled. “Well, I won by taste,” I proclaimed before flipping the little gem into my mouth, chewing and gulping it. “Delicious,” I said while licking over my lips. “Ruby beats sapphire, which beats topas. So first place me, second place Scarchest, and last and least, Featherball.”

A moment of tense silence followed, only interrupted by the slow, creaky swinging of the lantern between us. We all exchanged a look, like only guys could do, then burst into laughter.

“Alright,” Gold shook his head smiling and returned to his digging, “I let you get away with Featherball this one time, but next time I ask my daughter what your full name is in return.”

“Dangerous knowledge,” I laughed. I then lowered my head to his level. “Seriously, you don’t wanna know.”

“We will see about that,” he replied with a smirk. “I can always ask my granddaughter when she’s older too. I am quite sure she will know what her dad’s name is.”

“Pony tricks,” I snorted.

“No,” he objected, “father tricks. You learn a thing or two when you raise two foals.”

“I see.”

“Uhm, could we dig out some more gems before you two continue that argument?” Angorik quietly asked. “I really would like to excavate some more gems for myself before you two start squabbling.”

After releasing a small cloud of flames in his direction, which causes him to quickly duck, I nodded. “Fine, we can talk this out later.”

Gold Digger also nodded and returned to his work, but I was sure that at some point this argument would come up again.

*
The rest of our trip was quite calm and somewhat successful. We dug out some more gemstones, even a few rather tasty ones like rubies and emeralds, and very much to my pleasure, even some onyx. You know, they taste like chocolate, imagine them as sweets for dragons.

We also found a single piece of sphalerite, or more accurately, Angorik found it. These gems taste like cinnamon, one of the few gems I like more than onyx. If you remember, Fluffy smells just like cinnamon, so it’s not too hard to understand why I like it so much. The gem also has the advantage of being quite fragile, meaning my daughter might be able to crack it. Angorik was a bit disappointed that I demanded it from him, but he already had more than enough gemstones to satisfy him.

The only strange thing was that Fluffys father always had something to complain about whenever we found a stone. Too tiny, too dull, too damaged; and that was just the gems, the mine in general was not to his liking it seemed. Nearly empty and not very lucrative were his words.

I really wondered why he was behaving that way, normally, from what I know about him, he was far more peaceful and good-natured. His constant mocking and complaining were uncharacteristic for him. I‘d have to ask Fluffy about it when we were back home.

***

I announced our return with a medium roar as soon as we reached the waterfall, adding a “We are back!” right after it. It would give Fluffy, her mother, and Never a moment to prepare for us, it also had the pleasant little side effect I loved to see.

Not even half a minute later, a tiny spot of white, blue, and orange burst out of the lair. I simply had to purr at the sight of my overly enthusiastic daughter. She nearly fell over, like she did so many times in the past, when she made the turn onto the path leading up to us; but that little misstep did nothing to slow her down. Going at her full speed, she jumped upwards and loudly and happily squeaked when she saw me. I spread my arms and wings, lowering my body to catch her when she bounced at me, because of course she did. What followed was a series of purring, cuddling, and some licking over my scales by her. Daddy coming back home always has this effect, and I loved it.

Grandpa and Angorik were of no interest to her, and that made me even more proud and happy.

We spend a few minutes with our greeting ritual, blocking the way most effectively, till I finally turned around to let her see the others. With a final purr and head rub, I placed Fiery back on the ground and let her approach her grandpa.

“Hey, Fiery,” Gold Digger said and stretched his hoof out to pet her. She got into her meerkat position and allowed him to proceed. Granting him a little purr when he reached her ears.

“Have you been a good girl while we were away?”

Of course she had been, or better put, she wouldn’t know if she hadn’t have been. All that counted for her was being cuddled or pet. So she simply stood there and received what she could without spoiling it with a reply.

That didn’t mean she didn’t notice how somegriffon wanted to sneak past her. And based on how she reacted to this, it was obvious that Angorik had really made a good impression with his playing of the lyre. Fiery jumped over to him and squeaked—half demanding, half requesting—before holding her head up so that he could pet her too. Something that not everycreature was allowed to do, as her first interaction with Never Ending demonstrated.

A bit unsure, and after a quick look at me, Angorik began petting her head and ruffling her mane. “Good kirin?” he more asked then said.

Satisfied with the attention she got, my daughter squeaked in agreement before hushing back to me, climbing up my tail, and taking a place on my back next to the bag of gems, which she quickly began inspecting.

I poked her with my head and purred. “Daddy brought something for you too, Fiery. Just wait a moment till we are back inside.” I poked her once more with my snout to get the message across that she needed to leave the bag alone. She didn’t need to be told a third time, so the three of us made our way down into the heart of my lair.

What we saw when we reached the living room, however, surprised us. Fluffy was standing on one side of the wooden table with a sour expression while Cloudy and Never Ending were sitting on the other side, and based on her expression, Cloudy seemed to be just as upset as Fluffy.

I raised an eyebrow and purred at my mate, giving her a kiss when I was finally next to her. “I’m guessing you three had some kind of dispute?”

Fluffy snorted. “Kind of, I found out why mom and dad were so eager to visit us.”

“Cloudy…” Gold Digger asked in an accusing and disappointed tone.

She raised her hooves in defence. “It was unintentional, honestly.”

He sighed. “Look sweety… “

“No, dad,” Danger cut him off. “You know exactly what I think about you two tring to guide my life.”

“It’s not like that,” he replied, “your mom and I originally agreed to just make suggestions.” He threw a look at his wife. “Approach this slow and talk calmly about it.”

“I did,” Cloudy defended herself. “Your daughter just… “

I growled loudly, silencing everycreature. “I better hear an explanation quite quick,” I announced. “What did your mom do, Fluffy?”

“Oh nothing, my mom and dad just decided it would be in Fiery best interest to grow up in Equestria. That is the reason they are here, to convince us to move,” Fluffy explained.

I blinked.

"The fact that my brother had never visited us before was just a cheap excuse," Fluffy went on. "They just needed a reason to come over that wasn’t so suspicious."

I spun my head around and pushed my snout up against Gold Diggers, forcing him back while I held his gaze and growled angrily. His pupils shrunk to the size of a pinhead and he hastily moved backward, but I didn’t allow him to put any distance between us. I followed him, making sure I was in control of how fast he retreated, not him.

"Big Softy," Fluffy scolded as she rushed over to intervene, but I just spread my wings to block her path. This was a male thing, something that her dad and I had to figure out between us.

"Half empty and not lucrative, hmm?" I growled. "Unappetizing and small gems, right?"

"Look, it wasn't meant to..." he started, but I speed up, silencing him by pushing him back till his flank collided into a wall.

"Liar!" I spread my wings completely and forced him onto his hind legs by continuing to move forward.

"Hey, hey, we don't need to be hasty!" he yelled in an attempt to calm me down, but I really have a problem with someone lying to me.

"You come here under false pretenses and dare to speak ill of my lair and my gem mine, all so you can tell me and Fluffy how to raise our daughter. Why shouldn’t I be hasty?" I blew a cloud of smoke into his face. "Not to mention your..."

I didn't get any further.

Alerted by her daddy’s yelling, Fiery, who was still sitting on my back, became curious, and with two quick jumps, was on my snout, preventing me from yelling at her grandpa any further.

She noticed the last vestiges of my smoke cloud and saw the unfamiliar position her grandpa was in, though, she didn't make the connection. Instead, she squeaked and hopped over to Gold, landing on his head and purring as she tried to cuddle with him without falling off. It was a hard task for her, made harder now that she’d learned not to scratch him with her claws. So with that option off the table, she did the next best thing and bit his ear to hold on.

"Ouch!" he yelled and flinched back his other ear.

I observed my daughters struggles as well as her attempts to cuddle with her grandpa. Her approval of his presence was far more effective in calming me down than anything he could have said. As you may have noticed, my daughter had an unreasonably high influence on me. So with a snort, I lowered my wings and allowed Fluffy to approach.

"Stop scaring my dad!" she scolded me again. "You promised to be nice to my family."

"Your dad lied to me, Fluffy," I replied and growled again.

She gave him an inscrutable look before she went on. "That is no reason to threaten him like this."

"But... "

She poked me. "No,” and now her ears raised up too, “simply no. If he lied to you, he will explain and apologize. And you will not scare and threaten him for it."

"This is a male thing, Fluffy, you don't understand," I tried again.

"Oh, I understand," she said before she rubbed her head against my shoulder and used it to push my head away from her dad, placing a kiss on my snout in the process. "But that is not how I want you to deal with my family and their flaws."

"And I," I half hearted tried to look back at Gold Digger, only to get more cuddling by Fluffy as she tried to hinder me, "would like to not be lied to." I quickly pulled my head back to cause Fluffy to slide aside before then pushing forward again, not to look at Gold Digger, but to get my snout between Fluffies ears so I could start nibbling and tickling her there.

"Hey!" she half purred half laughed.

"What?" I mumbled, playing with her ears and mane even more.

"Stop that!"

"I don't think so," I smirked.

She dug and pushed my snout off of her with a wing. "Cuddle dragon. One moment you’re soo angry, and the next you’re using it as an excuse to start cuddling me."

I smiled innocently.

Don’t get the wrong idea, I was still angry, and I wanted to punish Gold Digger for his lying, but I had come up with a much better idea for how to do that.

"What are you up too?" Fluffy asked suspiciously while giving me that look. She knew me too well to just think a bit of cuddling would calm me down, especially when it was nothing she had done to anger me so.

My smile got much, much brighter. "I have a very good idea of how to pay your dad back for talking poorly about my home."

"You are not going to harm him!"

"No, of course not," I said and lowered my head to her level and purred seductively.

She looked at me confused by this very sudden change in theme.

I, however, looked back at her dad, who still had to deal with a kirin who wanted to cuddle. Though said kirin was now in his hooves and chest fluff since I was no longer pinning him to the wall. Of course Fiery always found a way to sneak into those, clever daughter of mine she is. I waited a second until my and Gold’s gaze met before I started rubbing my snout against Fluffy’s and stroking over her side with my wing, making sure he had a good view of that.

"I think we should talk about this later," I said loud enough for everyone to hear, blinking at Gold Digger. "You know, between mates."

A bit confused by my actions and my 'reasonable' suggestion to discuss things, Fluffy wasted no time in agreeing. She was so used to me flirting with her and being naughty to a degree that she hadn't noticed what I had actually done. But Gold Digger did. I saw it by his reddened cheeks and the way he was avoiding my gaze all of the sudden. I always found it strange how ponies could be such prudes, but, I think I’d found a good use for this information. Without Fluffy noticing, I had made her dad pay. Oh, and how he did, I could see it in his eyes that he wanted to be anywhere but here.

I smiled in victory.

He knew what I was going to do. I knew it. And maybe even Cloudy and Never Ending, perhaps Angorik as well; but Fluffy, Fluffy was none the wiser, and so proud of me for being reasonable and forgiving.

It was purrfect.

That was till Cloudy rejoined the conversation.

"Well," she started and trotted over to us, "I admit that we could have been a bit more direct and open about our intentions, but still, they are good ones." She opened her hooves to take Fiery into her arms, but our daughter was too comfortable in her grandpa’s chest fluff, so she refused to be grabbed with a squeak and Cloudy was not stupid enough to try anyway with me and Fluffy standing next to her. She only pulled a snout, but went on nonetheless. "Fiery should have some other kirins around her as she’s growing up, not to mention school and kindergarten in general."

"Mom..." Fluffy said, impatient and annoyed.

"No, sweety, it is true. Don't get me wrong," she made a gesture including all of my lair, "this lair of yours is wonderful, quite charming with all the comforts and furniture it has, not to mention the garden, but still, it is not a place to raise a little kirin." Now her gaze wandered to me with a raised eyebrow. "And don’t think I didn’t catch your not so subtle implication at laying our daughter. I know you did that to make my husband feel uncomfortable, but that won’t change our minds about this."

"Mom!" It was now Fluffy’s turn to sound angry and indignant. "He would never..." She stopped there and also looked at me. "Well... he..." she closed her snout and started thinking about what just happened.

Unfortunately for me, she came to the right conclusion.

"You!" She yelled at me before slapping me in the chest with her hoof. "Naughty dragon!" She yelled again as her cheeks reddened. "No fun for you today!" She punched my chest once more in anger. "I told you not to do that in front of my family!"

"If you prefer, I could still discuss that with your dad," I raised an eyebrow. "If this is what you want."

She groaned. "I just want... I... arg! I just want you all to be more honest and friendly to each other!"

"But your parents started this," I replied grumpy.

"I know! And you just used that as an excuse to be mean and naughty, even though I asked you not to!"

"Hey! Why is this all suddenly my fault? I..." I stopped mid sentence and turned around to Gold Digger, or more precisely, to his chest fluff, when I heard something. Without us noticing, our arguing had started to make Fiery unhappy. She now looked at us with worry in her eyes and was starting to cry.

All arguing was immediately forgotten.

I stretched out my claws and retrieved her from Gold's hooves, pressing her against my chest and purring loudly. Not a split second later, her mother joined in rubbing her snout against her head and stroking over her back with her feathers, bubbling calming nonsense into her ear. In this, dragons and ponies were the same, we love our children and everything else becomes unimportant when they need our support, emotional as well as physical.

I closed my wings protectively around my family and made sure no one else would interfere. Grandparents, uncle, or what else, none of them were allowed to get close to what I was so dearly protecting at that moment. For several minutes, we stood there, purring, cuddling, and Fluffy whispering soft nonsense into our daughters ear till she finally stopped crying and started to babble herself. It was not important that we didn't understand what she meant, only that she was no longer sad.

"No more fighting today," Fluffy whispered to me.

"Yes." I nodded and gave her a kiss on the forehead, with a second one landing on Fiery's head. "Mom and Dad will behave now," I purred while I licked over my daughters ear, causing her to giggle.

I clawed Fiery over to her mom where she soon cuddled into her chest fluff and started to squeak happily. The little argument already forgotten. But me and Fluffy had not, so we exchanged a nod before I addressed Angorik.

"I think it is time for that next lyre performance you promised," I said, opened my wings and turning around to open the bag that had slipped from my back during our cuddle session. "And also for daddy’s gift for you, Fiery." After a short search I had found the sphalerite and pulled it out of the bag. "Here Fiery," I announced, holding it up before her snout, "this one is for you."

Fluffy raised an eyebrow at this, but Fiery gave the shining stone a closer look and stretched a claw out for it.

"It is quite soft and fragile," I explained for Fluffy. "She should be able to break this one, and if not, it is her first piece of personal treasure that actually has some value, I mean more than her cuddlestone." I poked her with my nose. “It tastes like you smell.”

"Dragons," Fluffy whispered cheekily with a smile on her face before placing a hoof under Fiery so that she could sit up and have both claws free to inspect daddies gift. "You know she already had some gems at her birth, right?

"That doesn't count," I waved that off with my tail, which earned me another shake of the head and smile from Fluffy. I placed the gem in Fiery's open claw. "That is for you," I assured her once more when she closed her claw around it. "Your first gemstone, you can eat it or keep it."

It was a joy to see her turning it around in her claws, fascinated by how it's played with the light. I was also happy to see her first definitive attempts to chew on it.

"You must use your fangs, Fiery," I told her. "Crack the gem before you chew on it."

"Why don't you show her?" Fluffy suggested. "I’m sure seeing daddy do it will show her how it’s done."

"Good idea," I agreed as I fetched a onyx from the bag.

"Sweet tooth," my mate scolded me jokingly. "I knew you would find some of these by happenstance."

Of course, I had told my mate about the taste of my favorite gems quite a while ago, not entirely so that she would know what she could make me happy with though. And yes, I did manage to find some more onyx by happenstance from time to time.

"Look, Fiery," I whispered, and raised the gem so she could see it. Of course, she stretched a claw out for it, but I slowly placed it between my fangs and mumbled, "you must crush it before you can chew it."

A loud, outraged squeak was heard after I ate the gem instead of giving it to her, but her attention returned to her own gem in her mouth rather quick. And like Fluffy said, seeing how daddy had done it showed Fiery how to do it. A short while later, we heard a crack and a happy kirin joyfully chewing the splinters after that.

A warm, happy feeling grasped my chest when I saw my daughter swallowing her first gem, and the joy and happiness on her face about the taste it had.

"Great!" Fluffy proclaimed and lifted her up. "You cracked your first gem, Fiery." She rubbed her snout against Fiery's. "Look how proud you made daddy!"

And indeed, before she even turned to me completely I had made nose contact and purred most approvingly.

It was at that moment that Angorik returned with his instrument and started to play.

Good timing, I thought, and after some more cuddling, I turned my attention back to the sofa where Fluffy’s family had retreated to while we had our family thing. Oh no, this argument wasn’t over, far from it, but as we told Fiery, no more arguing today. So I just snorted at them to make some space for me and my family, and when they did, I took the spot and watched my daughter and Fluffy dancing to the music.

A little cough to my side pulled me out of my thought though.

"Uhm, Black Death, look, I want to apologize," Gold Digger said. "It really wasn’t right for us to withhold the truth about our visit."

I snorted disapprovingly. "We will discuss that when Fiery is in bed." I made myself more comfortable on the couch. "It will just anger me again, and I don't want her to see me like that anymore today."

"Well, maybe it would be better to discuss things now where you have to stay calm instead of later when you can shout at us again," Cloudy pushed into our conversation. "It would be our best chance to talk with you about it reasonably."

I suppressed a growl and just replied, "You remind me a bit of my own mom, Cloudy."

"Is that so?" she asked.

"Yes, always seeing the opportunity and not hesitating to go for it."

"That is a good thing I suppose?" She gave me a little smile.

"Difference is," I turned to her and gave her a wide smile with my fangs easily visible, "my mom is a dragoness; swift, deadly and more than capable of enforcing her will if diplomacy fails. You on the other claw," I moved my head closer so she had to lean back, "are a pegasus, a pony, soft and cute, and no match for an angry dragon of any kind."

She shook off a little shiver. "That is not how to treat your mother-in-law, you know, scaring and threatening me. And I thought we had a good mother, son-in-law relationship."

"You are lucky that we do and that I like you two to a degree, otherwise I would not tolerate the two," I looked at Never Ending, "three of you in my lair anymore."

"Hey, I didn't do anything today!" Never Ending threw in. "I had nothing to do with this at all!"

"You have the tendency to come between me and your sister when we are going to have sex, something I highly disapprove of!"

"That was an accident, really," Never Ending mumbled sheepishly. It was nice to see that his cheeks reddened as well as Gold Diggers. Only Cloudy seemed to have no problem with me addressing this theme at all. Well, there was a reason I liked her in general.

"Accident or not, there are a few things you guys have to understand, and even if that makes Fluffy angry at me or not, I will not tolerate your misbehavior any longer. Dragons are not ponies!"

"Uhm, we know that much," Gold Digger said after a short moment, exchanging a look with Cloudy and Never Ending. "I think I remembered we were talking about that when you visited us the first time?"

Well, we had spoken about this, but it was more like what they would and wouldn’t find okay when I was there, the part about dragon culture and behaviour had been quite short and hadn’t really contained much besides the basics. And the few times when they were here they had been more focused on Fiery and how she was doing, and the must knows when it comes to dragons and their hatchlings. For example, to never ever try to take her from my back. I know for sure my father instinct would kick in and I would attack anycreature besides Fluffy who dares try that. As I said, between moms and dads wings is the safest place for a hatchling, and that is for a reason.

Even today I can remember the safe, warm feeling of laying between two azure blue wings... but I digress.

"It is a bit more than just eating habits and a tendency for violence in general." I inhaled deeply and looked at my family for a moment to gather my thoughts before starting that topic. Fluffy had picked Fiery up in the meantime and she was now nestled against her chest while they slowly turned around and danced in little circles.

"Look," I started after another deep breath, "your indirect approaches will not work, not now, not ever. If you want something, put the cards on the table and negotiate about them. Under clawed play will get you in trouble."

"But we..." Cloudy started, only to get cut of by my claw slapping on the sofa loudly.

"I am not done yet!" I quickly checked that Fiery did not noticed this and was still distracted by mommy. "You are indeed very lucky that your species is so cute and I inherited a liking for that from my father. Most other dragons would have simply killed you by now, or have killed your daughter that day we met." I noticed that I was making them feel uneasy based on their facial expressions. "It is true, even I considered doing that after how disrespectful she had been. I am happy I didn't, but it was an option. Pride, pride is a big thing in a dragons world, you must never forget this." I looked back at them. "Fluffy told me a lot about being nice, reasonable, and calm, but it is not, and I repeat, not, in my nature. If you continue to disrespect me, there will be the point I will do something we all will regret."

I waived off doing any dramatic gesture or growling, the message itself worked well enough.

"Pony rules when we are in Equestria, dragon rules when we are here," I made clear after a moment.

"Uhm... yeah... sounds fair enough," Cloudy slowly replied, still a bit shaken by the seriousness of my words.

The fact that there was such a big difference between my behaviour and tolerance with them in our previous interactions and now was something that was hard for them to understand and swallow. Still, it was better to be crystal clear now then to possibly have to deal with problems later.

"I must say," Gold Digger added, "this is tough." He looked up to me and opened his mouth, but hesitated. "Honestly, I’ve just seen you as a rougher and taller version of a pony so far, I can’t say that I was prepared for those to be your inner thoughts."

I just raised an eyebrow.

"Well, maybe we should have asked to know a little more about dragons culture in the first place. It’s just, you know… from how you tread our daughter and how you act, not to mention how you care for Fiery... it’s not all too different from a pony. At least not when one take into consideration that you are a dragon."

"Maybe I can make a suggestion?" Never Ending asked.

I snorted, "And what would that be?"

"What if you tell us a bit more about what it means to be a dragon, especially when it comes to the family aspects. That way, we know what we can and can’t do, giving us an outline for how to stay safe. And in return, while we try our best to follow that, you don't get angry when we do something wrong in your eyes that we couldn’t have known about? Like today."

"Yes, I mean we are family now, aren't we?" Cloudy asked. "At least for ponies that's how it is.” She shrugged. “I mean, you haven’t formally married our daughter yet, but with Fiery being born, we are related now.” She looked back at me. “Or do dragons have a different view on that?”

She didn’t wait for an answer to that and went on, “Well, we don't want someone to feel uncomfortable in our family at all."

“This also might be a good place for you to start teaching us about dragon culture,” Never threw in. “If you tell us about how dragons handle certain things and how you think things should be, we could work something out.”

“We want you to be able to honour your traditions too,” Gold Digger added.

My gaze wandered back to Fluffy and my daughter. I know that normally a dragon would not care at all for their father or mother in law, even if they had such a concept. Though, we wouldn’t attack our mate’s parents or vise versa, or even fight with them over territory. So we had some sense for that concept now that I thought about it, but only subliminally. And I had to take Fiery's and Fluffy’s interests into consideration too, Fiery would care for both sides of her family, especially since that was the case for her mother. They are also all fluffy and cute...

So I made a decision.

Quickly, I sprung up and, before he could even react, bit into Never Ending mane and pulled him up. He screamed in shock as Cloudy and Gold tried to run away in a panic, but I caught them with my wings and forced them back onto the couch before throwing Fluffy’s brother between them and hopping onto all three of them.

"Big Softy!" Fluffy screamed as she sprinted over to us, but when she arrived, I had already laid myself comfortably onto the ponies and was starting to calmly purr.

It was a bit tricky to stay on top of them without letting them escape or accidently hurting them, but after the initial shock, they calmed down quite quick.

"Diplomacy," I explained over the sound of three groaning ponies below me. That was before I purred at my daughter, luring her out of mother's embrace and onto my back. It must have been quite a sight for Fluffy; with me carefully resting on her... our family, purring and trying to lure her in too.

Even Angorik had stopped playing his lyre.

"But what... how..." Fluffy stuttered, unsure of what I was doing.

"I... I think it is okay, sweetie." Cloudy managed to struggle her head out of the heap. "I think we and your dragonfriend just settled the problem.” She groaned again under my weight. "Or at least solvet one of them."

I snorted agreeingly and pointed with my snout to Fluffy’s brother. Waiting for my ‘being a very good dragon’ kiss for accepting him too.

Of course Fluffy had questions, much to the misfortune for her family at this point, who still had to wait for me to get up, but first things first. She came closer, and in a dialog between mates, containing a lot of questioning purring, head rubs, little growls and kisses, along with some other, non verbal communication, I answered her questions and found that she approved of my actions. I got my passionate ‘very good dragon who will definitely get some naughty fun later’ kiss and rose up.

With noises of relieve, Cloudy and Gold hushed away from under me, I only held Never Ending back with my wing.

"Well, that was something," Cloudy commented, sounding a bit excited. "I must say, your dragonfriend’s quite warm and heavy." She ruffled through her mane to get some fresh air in it. "Uhm,but what is he doing now?"

I had placed my claw on Never Ending and rolled him around and onto his back, holding him that way and rubbing my head against his belly and chest. It was obvious that he was not so comfortable with this.

"Uhm, sis?" he asked worried.

"I don't know... Big Softy?" she asked.

But I was not in the mood to answer, I had gathered the information I wanted. I reached onto my back and fetched my daughter before placing her down on Never Endings belly. After my inspection, it turned out that he didn’t have as much chest fluff as Fluffy or their father, but he did have a soft and comfortable belly, something that was very much acceptable for Fiery to lay on. And it was to show my good will to my mate that I placed her there.

Fiery released one of her unsure kirin squeaks. She wasn’t so sure what to think about this either. On the one claw, daddy had placed her there, on the other, that strange pony had not been to her liking so far. She needed her daddy to show a little more approval to convince her to trust him, and, since it was her uncle and I had agreed to accept them more into my family, I was willing to give it.

I rubbed my head once more against his belly and over my daughter, showing her that daddy approved of this resting place. And when Fiery still hesitated, I requested mommy’s approval too, which she eagerly offered after she understood what was going on.

It still took a while, but after I had grabbed his wings and placed them on Fiery, so she had something to nibble on, along with his chest fluff to cuddle, she started to warm up to the idea of liking her uncle. And a few minutes later, she curled up on his belly, and was so generous as to begin purring... only quietly, but still.

Author's Note

Honey Rolls:

Blend one and a half peeled apples to the point it is almost a liquid, add 5-15 tablespoons of honey, to taste, add cinnamon to taste, [add 7-10 tablespoons of all-purpose flour and an egg] or [add 7-10 tablespoons of all-purpose flour and 2-3 tablespoons of cornstarch]. Mix thoroughly, place on parchment paper and freeze. After freezing, cut ‘log’ into pieces, dip into flour, then egg, then panco and repeat once more [this is breading] add pieces to pan of oil and fry. Drizzle honey and cinnamon as you see fit

*Recipe and edits by Schattendrache