“Well, it probably isn’t that bad,” Rythil weakly stated. “At least you saved everykirin from dying of the plague. That’s… something.”

“Yeah, totally,” Bliz agreed, nodding forcefully. She then tried to push me up by rubbing her head against my side.

I remained laying on the ground though, not really able to do anything. The horror of what I had just caused was still too fresh in my mind.

“You just have to be careful with what you say and command them to do and everything should be fine,” Rythil went on. “None of them are in danger as long as you’re careful.”

“That’s easy for you two to say!” Calamitous Blossom practically shouted as she joined the conversation. “It’s not as though either of you are going to die if you fail to listen to her!” She then pointed at me, her eyes filled with an almost murderous intent as the air around her back and mane began to warp with heat. ”My whole village could perish if she screws this up!” She started to growl and came closer, her back finally catching fire. “What were you thinking? I agreed that we would follow you, not pointlessly die!”

The meaty report of a hoof striking flesh was then heard. “Don’t you dare!” Mom hissed. “Don’t believe for a second that I forgot you tried to kill my daughter with an axe!” The entire time she was saying this, little flames were dancing across Mom’s back.

“Mom, please!” I quickly jumped up and got between them. “Mom, we have bigger problems right now!”

She pulled me in for a hug, but kept her gaze on Calamitous Blossom. “I know, Fiery, I know.”

“If I may,” Caustic Mercy knocked his staff on the ground two times. “Since we are all now your new followers, it would be prudent to give us your first orders.”

“You seem very calm given your situation.” Rythil tilted his head as he looked at the other priest, waiting for an explanation.

“Agitation is not an attribute found in priests of Hades very often. Besides, my god has made his decision, who am I to argue with that. If this is what had to happen to restore the faith and respect in Lord Hades, then I am glad to be part of it.”

“That is one way to look at it,” Bliz commented.

“Two questions,” Calamitous Blossom threw in, growling at the ground, doing her best to not direct it at me while Mom was watching. “Since Caustic Mercy is as much a part of your merriment as I am, given what he just said, that means we will both be held to the same rules as everyone else?”

I threw a glance from one to the other. It was hard to focus on them but I managed. “I think so,” I said slowly. “You are part of my fellowship since you are an inhabitant of this village, aren’t you?” My gaze locked on Caustic Mercy.

“That is correct. The wave that flew over everykirin also included me. Lord Hades has decided that I shall follow your orders too it seems. An acceptable punishment for my inability to keep the village in compliance with his will.”

“And there is no difference between us in your merriment at the moment, right?” Calamatious Blossom asked.

“I haven’t even started to wrap my mind around that.” Despair was already lingering in my voice at the thought of the responsibility that had been placed on my shoulders. “For the moment no, but I…”

Before I could even finish my sentence, as soon as the ‘no’ had left my lips, Calmatious Blossom crashed into Caustic Mercy and began biting and scratching him to the very best of her abilities!

Hades' priest had been caught completely off guard. Somekirin attacking him was so foreign to his reality that he didn’t even try to defend himself.

“Traitor!” Calmatious Blossom yelled while Caustic Mercy screamed in pain. “This is what you get for your darn suggestion!” Furiously, she went at him, thrashing him with everything she had.

“Stop it!” I yelled after I had overcome the shock of witnessing Calmatious' sudden and vicious attack. I pushed away from Mom, rushed over, and pulled Calamitous Blossom back. She kicked Caustic Mercy in the face one last time but showed no resistance.

“As you command,” she said, her voice filled with anger and sarcasm “I do not want to die due to disobeying your commands.”

‘Oh, right!’ The thought shot through my head as I covered my mouth with a claw. If she hadn’t stopped acting in anger just now, she would have been the first victim to my stupidity! I moved my claw over the top of my head and took a deep breath. I had to be way more careful!

Leaving her where she stood, I bent down to check on Caustic Mercy. He groaned in pain, his fur and scales were covered in scratches and some deeper wounds where Calamitous fangs had pierced his skin. In addition, his lip had been split open and was now bleeding over his chin.

I threw a look at his attacker, but she just stood there. Signs of remorse? None.

“Isn’t attacking a priest a bad thing?” Bliz wondered, her gaze wandering from Caustic Mercy to Rythil. “I mean, don't the gods take offense at that?”

“Normally they would,” Calamitous answered before Rythil could. “All kinds of disease could have struck me, if it wasn’t for the fact that Fiery, our great and wonderful leader, deciding we would be equal for the time being.” She looked at me. “Thanks for that. There have been more than a few situations where I wished I’d been able to do this.”

“Still it was risky,” Rythil said. “Blizzard Silence is right that attacking a priest has, depending on the god or goddess, consequences.”

“We can debate over religion later,” Mom said. “We need to patch him up first. Blizzard Silence,” she waited till Bliz looked at her, “go and fetch some bandages. And order one of the doctors to come here.”

After a quick look at me and my nod, she went off to do as Mom had said.

“I,” I started, but Mom placed a hoof on my snout.

“You shouldn’t order anycreature around for the time being, at least till you have the time to think this all through and work on your phrasing. Remember what Dad said? Small changes can make a huge difference when ordering your merriment around. Same goes for these kirins.”

“Yes, Mom.”

“Good, now let’s focus on getting these kirins merged with your merriment so we can leave this place. Blizzard’s parents are sick from worry, which I could relate to, so don’t let them wait longer than necessary.”

At the word ‘parents’, the thought of Sierra Bonsai came back to my mind. “We have to find Sierra Bonsai!” I yelled, to everyone's surprise. “Quick, Calamitous Blossom! Send some kirins ou… I mean, I would like it if you brought your daughter back to the village.”

A cacophony of emotions passed over her after my request. There were so many that I could hardly make out what exactly she was feeling.

“What… benefit would there be in that?” She then turned around to face away from me. “She has been expelled from the village. By our laws, there is no place for her here anymore.”

“New management, new rules. I decide what the rules are now.” I stepped over to her and laid a claw on her shoulder. “Sierra Bonsai is officially rehabilitated. Defending your own mother is no longer on the list of things you get expelled for. You can bring your daughter back home.”

“What are you talking about?” Mom wanted to know.

“During our… well, when we had our little fight, her daughter intervened and broke some ancient law. Therefore, Calamitous Blossom expelled her from the village.”

“That is horrible!” Mom proclaimed. “How could you do that?”

“She didn’t want to,” I explained. “Good thing I am now in charge. I can fix that, right now.” I let go of her shoulder and gave Calamitous Blossom a little push. “Go, bring back…” I cleared my throat, “Go and see if you can find your daughter and bring her back.”

For a moment she hesitated, her mouth opening and closing repeatedly. Finally, she nodded and galloped away, the flames on her mane, back, and tail evaporating as she ran.

***

While Calmatious Blossom went about finding her daughter, things had to be done. It took us a lot of time until we were able to leave the underground village. A lot of things had to be organized first. We had to extinguish the fires Dad had caused, get the wounded ready for transport, and also sort out who we were taking with us and who would stay here. You didn’t think I would take the children or elderly with us, right? So I sent Bliz ahead, making sure her parents would be calmed down and to prepare my merriment for the news. And I totally did not stay any longer than necessary to avoid the confrontation with Dad!

By the time we were finally ready, the sun was already dipping below the horizon and the swamp was quickly getting darker.

“It’s no use, we’re not going to make much progress in the dark with all this fog around,” Flittering Echo judged. For some reason, she’d also hesitated to fly back to our carriages, instead asking me if she could stay and help. “Maybe it would be best if we just bring everything over the river and use this underground village as a place to stay for the night.”

“Perhaps,” I replied, my gaze wandering over the swamp. We were standing next to one of the village's many hidden exits, one not so far away from the river as I could see the broken pillars on this end. “They’ll need some more time to bring everything over anyway. Even with the help of these volandilums.”

For those of you who are not familiar with swamp creatures, it is kind of a crocodile but it can glide through the air like some of those squirrels and jump quite high for a reptile. Surprisingly, they get along well with dragons. I was told that they and Dad, as well as Nightflame, approached each other as soon as they showed up with some of the villagers to help my merriment cross the river, and it was apparently a friendly meeting. Anyway, they are a great help at carrying stuff over. I also assume they’re of assistance when it comes to hunting and traveling in these swamps given the villagers had tamed them in the first place.

“Good thing they are on our side,” Flittering Echo said. “It would have been nearly impossible to cross if they’d attacked us. After finishing her sentence, she came a little bit closer and lowered her head. Knowing this behavior by now, I simply stretched out my claw, and when she made contact, began fondling her mane. With a little purr, she laid down next to me. We stayed in this position till one of the carriages showed up through the fog. Carried by four volandilums and steadied by two luftirins, it slowly approached the shore. When it had all four wheels on solid ground again, the luftirins and volandiums headed back, while two runehorns emerged from inside and took up positions to tow it further.

“Effective,” Flittering Echo commented. “Effective but still slow. It will take well into the night before everything is brought over.”

Sadly I shared her opinion. I was ready to stand up and give the order when another carriage emerged from the fog. This time it was my family's one. Night, Dad and Kindling hovered beside it while my aunt had decided it was only appropriate if she stayed inside, being carried. Six volandiums were necessary to carry the carriage with her across.

A pit opened up in my stomach when I saw Dad. Yes, Mom had told me she would handle him regarding me attacking her, but there was still the tiny detail that I had fended him and his parental purring off. Speaking of her, Mom was nowhere to be seen. And it seemed I was not the only one who was uncomfortable. Under my claw, Flittering Echo was tensing up, her purring stopped and she pulled back her tail, ready to retreat at any moment.

“Shhh,” I said, patting her head. “I told you he will not harm anyone anymore. He was just worried about me.” My words may have had more of an effect though if I’d spoken them with more confidence. Before my insecurity could grow though, Mom emerged from the fog, and along with her emerged Illu and, I had to look twice to be sure, Allerian, Angoriks son. “What is he doing here?” I wondered aloud as I stood up and began making my way over to them. I still wasn’t looking forward to the confrontation with Dad, but with Mom by his side, Illu around, who definitely needed some kisses and hugs if you ask me, and also now the curiosity of why Allerian was here, I found the courage to make my way over.

Hesitantly, Flittering Echo followed, but kept her distance from Dad.

“Fiery!” Kindling was the first to spot me and flew over, shortly followed by Nightflame. While Kindling had just intended to give me a hug, Night had turned it into a cuddle as soon as he crashed into us, wrapping his wings around us as he did so. I couldn’t help but giggle. It’s hard to be worried when you have your brothers in your wings.

“Fiery! Mom said you found a new city of kirins below our hooves! This is soo awesome!”

“And they have to fulfill all of your biddings!” Night pointed out. “Very well done!” He licked over my cheek in approval. “Your way to the throne is making great progress, sis!” He once more licked over my cheek before his head found its way into my bushy mane.

“Sadly it’s not that simple,” I retorted, my mood slightly soured by my brother's words.

“And have you seen those flying crocodiles?” Kindling went on. “At first I thought Dad would turn them into his next meal, but instead they became friends! They are some kind of dragondogs! Nightflame likes them too!”

“Yeah, they are great,” Nightflame confirmed, doing his best to put my mane into disorder.

“But Mom said I can’t go near them,” Kindling added, obviously not agreeing with that order. “I just wanted to pet them! Nothing dangerous with that!”

Now it was on me to ruffle through his mane. “You still think you can behave like a dragon? If Mom says they are too dangerous for a little pony, they are too dangerous for you.”

“I am not a little pony anymore!” His cheeks turned red and he fluffed up like Mom, making him look even more little and cute. “How many times have I told you I am a stallion now!”

“Like always, one more time,” I replied, letting go of my brother with a giggle and pushing Night back. Cuddling with them was always a pleasure, however, there was still one batpony that also needed to be cuddled!

“Illu!” I yelled as soon as I was close enough before jumping at him with open wings, knocking him over. With a long kiss and no small amount of purring, I made myself comfortable on top of him, ignoring the loud splash his impact on the swampy ground made.

“I am so glad you are alright!” he managed to say between my kisses and other attempts at cuddling him.

“Alright might not be the best description, but I already feel a lot better,” I said while rubbing my nose along his throat, breathing in his scent. Mine, all mine! I thought.

He grabbed onto my snout with a hoof and gently forced me to look into his eyes. “What do you mean that you aren’t alright? Your mom told us you have a new herd of kirins under your command but that you were alright.” He pushed me up a bit and took a closer look at my body, eventually noticing the shape my claws were in. “Fiery! What happened?” He stood up, forcing me to get off his belly as well and let him continue his examination of me.

“Nothing serious,” I tried to play it down. “Just another duel of leaders, you know, azure kirin stuff.” I tried to push him over again with my snout as well as calm him with some extra purring, but it didn’t work. I really have to take another class from Mom for that!

“And your backscales are cracked!” His tone darkened. “Who did that?!”

I grabbed his hooves. “It is all settled and done. There were some fights, some misunderstandings and some…tryingtokillsomeintruderstopreventthemfromkillingyourmom moments, but it’s all good now. I am the new leader. I am in charge. Kirins follow my lead.”

“What do you mean by preventing them from killing their mom? Who? Who’s mom? What are you talking about?” Illu’s gaze became concerned as well as angry. “Fiery, what happened down there?”

I took a deep breath. “Their leader challenged me to a duel. Yes, it was serious,” I went on before he could ask. “She tried to kill me, that's where I got these scratches.” I laid a claw on his lips when he tried to make a fuss about it. “But in the end I won. Before my azure heritage could take control though and force me to do something I would regret, her daughter blasted me off with her magic.”

“Somekirin tried to kill you?! Fiery that is…”

“Yes! It is,” my claw found its way onto his mouth again. “But it is all settled down now. Due to said daughter breaking the rules, I ended up winning without any serious harm done. Though, Hades, the god of the underworld, got involved and tried to kill everyone with a curse for said breaking of the rules. So to save all these kirins from his wrath, I had to bind them to my will.” I was unable to hold his gaze any longer and glanced to the side. “It backfired though, and now, any of them who disobey my orders will die.” A shiver ran down my spine and my clawtips started to feel cold as the pressure of the events bore down on me again.

Illu laid his wings around me, pulling me in for an embrace. “That, that’s a lot…” His hug became tighter. “Are you sure you are alright?”

I nestled into his embrace. “Yeah, I think so. It is just… I didn’t want it to be this way, you know? I would have just had them promise to serve me like my merriment does, but Hades didn’t trust mortals enough. He decided it would be best if they are not bound by their word, but by their life. He didn’t even ask me if it was alright with me, he just did it and left.”

“Not all the gods are going to go easy on you like your godmother is,” Schimmernde Morgenröte piped up as she approached. “You should get used to it. You more than doubled your followers numbers though, so this is most assuredly a victory.”

“If I had no heart, it sure would be,” I retorted. “One wrong command by me and kirins will die, aunt! They're gonna die!” I hissed in anger, but quickly calmed down when Illu distracted me with some affection and turned me around so I was no longer facing my aunt.

“If you want to become a real ruler, you also have to get used to that. Servants may die during their service. It can’t be helped.” She stepped closer as Mom landed next to us. “It is our duty to prevent it, if possible, but still, it can always happen.”

Now it was on Illu to protectively growl. No matter how often I told him, he didn’t get it that most of the creatures I dealt with, like my aunt, Dad, Oma, and many others, were simply way above his league when it came to combat. It was still sweet though…

“Thank you for your advice, Schimmernde Morgenröte,” I quickly said while pushing Illu a step back and laying a wing on his snout. “But it is not needed right now.”

My aunt looked like she was going to growl back, but Mom rushed towards her and spread her wings warningly. Atypically for an azure, my Aunt backed off. She knew better than to get into trouble with Mom.

When she was sure my aunt wouldn’t dare cause any more trouble, Mom turned to us. “I just spoke with your father,” she nodded in the direction of Dad, “he is not happy about what you did, but he will not make a fuss about it. Better give him some time to cool off though. The little incident with Blizzard Silence also didn’t help.”

I threw a short glance at her shoulder. Bliz fangmarks were still clearly visable, despite Mom’s efforts to make them look as small and harmless as possible. A bit of paste here, a bit of mud there, you know. She had refused to wear a bandage since it would only draw more of Dad’s attention to it.

“Thanks, Mom.” I didn’t know what else to say, knowing Dad wouldn’t roar me down and break my wings or something for attacking Mom was a huge relief!

“You better keep Bliz and her parents out of Big Softy’s sight for a while too. At least till the bitemarks she gave me have healed. You know your father, he will try to cuddle me and then get angry again when he remembers what happened.”

“I still can’t believe Bliz bit your mom,” Illu whispered. “Even if I didn’t know first hoof how dangerous she can get, I would have assumed your dad wouldn’t take attacks on his family too well.”

“Bliz was forced by the whole azure hierarchy thing,” I whispered back, “she didn’t really have a choice. Otherwise Mom would have taught her straight away not to mess with her. You should have seen the punch she gave her out of reflex. If it wasn’t for Bliz being Bliz, I doubt she would be able to walk right now.” I turned back to Mom. “Will do,” I finally replied to her.

“Would be for the best,” Mom pointed out once more. “Well, with that taken care of, as you saw, Allerian arrived while we were down there.” She then began tapping the ground with her hoof. “You’ll never guess what he’s up to this time.”

I threw a look over to him, he’d landed a few steps behind Mom and was waiting for us to approach him when we were ready.

“While I am kinda curious, I don’t know if I’m ready for one of his crazy ideas right now. It's been an eventful day…”

“It seems to me like this new idea of his is actually good this time, and given how unsettled Big Softy is, it may be a good idea to show him that you approve of his presence. You know, before your father decides it would be best to make Chicken Fricassee out of him just to be sure.”

“You know he wouldn’t do that, Allerian is barely fifteen. Dad wouldn’t harm him. Besides, if anything, he would make Angorik responsible for any misbehavior Allerian shows. Speaking of him, where is he?”

“Back at our lair it seems. But Allerian can explain it better himself.” And with these words, she waved him over. He was quick to follow her request and waved hello to us as he trotted over.

“Hi, what's up? Heard you were busy conquering Shakirin-La, Fiery.” He gave me a nod. “Your Oma said you’re going to be the next empress of the kirin empire. Sounds like one of those really big stories, like the modern day version of the theft of my race's golden idol by Arimaspi and the like if you ask me. Stories worthy of a bard telling them.” His light brown head feathers lifted up as he spoke. The feathers there grew rather long, at least when compared to his father, and tended to cover his right eye when he didn’t make an effort to keep them from doing so.

“At least that is the plan for now,” I replied. “It could use some improvement though. So far it’s more of a mess than a real plan.” I sighed. “Look, I had a really stressful day. I’d rather not talk about Shakirin-La right now.”

He shrugged. “A shame, since that’s the reason I’m here.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, when I heard what you’re going to do, I thought that this would be the opportunity for me to follow in my dad's pawsteps. Being a famous bard and all.”

I exchanged a look with Illu, then with Mom. “What is he talking about?”

“I am going to write a book about you, silly!” Allerian said before Mom could. “You know like my dad did about your dad. It made him famous! The Dragon And The Pony was the book in Alofted Harbour and beyond! Sure he had to change some details like your lairs location and some names, but nonetheless, it was the bestseller of bestsellers for years!” He clapped his chest with a claw happily. “And I will write an even greater and more famous book about your journey to the throne! And since you will be empress of the kirin empire, it’s almost a guarantee that everykirin will read it eventually!”

“You want to write a book… about me?” I stared at him uncertainly.

“Yeah, that’s what I said. Your path to the throne of Shakirin-La. Only a few creatures will have had the opportunity to be there when it all started, which means no competition for me to act as your biographer or simple bard in your entourage, or merriment as you call it, right? And best of all for you, I’ll be doing it all for free. I expect your fame to be the driving force behind my book’s, or books’ if the journey takes longer, sales. Meaning I don’t need to charge you anything for such an invaluable service!”

While I was baffled, Mom nodded in approval. “Having someone write down what you do would definitely be a benefit, helping prevent history from getting the wrong idea of you. Also it will be a good collection of memories,” she hesitated a moment, “for the most part though.”

“We can cut out some parts for the public version, like with your parents book,” Allerian said while Mom started to blush a little. “Still, nice work miss D…”

Mom’s growl silenced Allerian quite quickly. I had read the official version of Angoriks book years ago, but the one in Dad’s treasure room seems to have an extra chapter or two given it was slightly thicker. Given what Mom and Dad were like, it wasn’t hard to guess what the extra material was about, especially since Mom always insisted she would scold us for a whole day if we even dare touch said book.

“Not many great leaders get the opportunity to have their history written down from the start,” Illu threw in. “Most of the time their life is written down way later, often long after their death.”

“Yes! Accept his offer!” Roary shouted in my head. “This is your chance to be known far and wide. If anything, he should be paying you for the privilege of accompanying you. He should feel honored to be allowed to experience your journey to the throne.”

Calmy decided to add her thoughts a moment later. “While I don’t agree with Roary, I also think you should invite him along. I don’t think he will cause any problems just traveling with us, and he did come all this way to get to us. It would be a little rude to turn him away so soon after getting here.”

I scrunched up my face in thought. The idea seemed interesting, on the other claw though, not everything I’ve done so far went according to plan. Don’t need to have that be written down.

“Sooo, you're cool with that?” Allerian asked after a moment.

“I am still thinking, my advisors support your idea,” I tapped against my head. “Still, I am not a hundred percent convinced.”

“Advisors?”

“Yeah, my pony and dragon side. They both pipe up from time to time to give me advice.”

He raised an eyebrow and fetched a little notebook from under his wing, starting to scribble something down. “Hears voices in her head,” he mumbled.

“No! Not like that! Well yes, like that, but it is supposed to be that way!” I quickly shouted. “I am an azure-kirin, I am supposed to have these, every azure-kirin has them now!”

“If you say so…” He closed his notebook and stuffed it back under his wing. “Then it wouldn’t trouble you if I wrote it down, would it?” He gave me his winning grin. “A good biography has to be accurate, as well as entertaining. That’s what dad always said to me.”

“It is part of my heritage! Of course kirins would understand, but other species likely won’t! If you want to write a book about me, you have to put things into context!”

“So hearing voices is part of all this kirin heritage magic thingy?” He tilted his head. “You hear voices, can enslave oth…”

“I do not enslave them!” I bursted out, grabbing the attention of the kirins who were already on our side of the river. “I make them part of my merriment!” I finished with an annoyed growl.

“Yeah, sure thing,” Allerian wanted to wave it off, but was suddenly faced with quite a few angry kirins staring at him and joining my growl.

“She kind of had a bad day, Allerian,” Illu said, stepping forward and rubbing his cheek against mine. “Better not annoy her till things settled down,” he paused to turn my face to him and give me a short kiss, followed by a boop on my nose. “Otherwise her merriment may take offense. Also,” now his words were directed at me, “it’s Allerian, you know how he is, being a kid and all.”

“Sweet Batpony tricks,” I mumbled while still wagging my tail a bit.

“I heard that’s just what one needs to deal with azure-kirins.”

Our little moment was interrupted by my Mom’s giggling.

“What?” I wondered.

“Oh nothing, Fiery, nothing.” She still kept this mischievous smile on her lips though. Whatever was on her mind, at least she didn’t take any issue with Illu flirting with me anymore. I gave her a raised eyebrow but quickly focused back on Illu, exchanging some more affection and a little purr.

“Alright,” I finally said, “I will decide on that book later, for now,” my gaze wandered over the part of my merriment on this side of the river, “we should focus on getting everycreature over and prepare to camp inside the caves.”

“Sleeping inside a cave again sounds great, been a while hasn't it?” Mom retorted. “Still, you should ask us first, Fiery. I haven’t had the chance to speak with Big Softy about that yet.”

“Mooooom,” I groaned,” this is my merriment, not yours. I get to decide where we camp, not you or Dad!”

“We are not going over this again, Fiery. Your dad and I are responsible for you as well as your brothers’ well being. We have to decide if it is safe or not.”

“There are over two hundred kirins following my orders, Mom!” I stepped closer to her. “It will be safe! No one's gonna argue with my orders.”

“Then it will be good for you to be reminded that you are not the center of the world, Fiery. Now listen to me and wait till I’ve spoken with your father. Sleeping in the caves wouldn’t work either if he doesn’t think you and your brothers are safe there.”

“Mooom!”

“I said no,” she replied before turning around and trotting over to Dad.

“Has authority issues with her mother,” Allerian mumbled while writing in his book again.

***

“We will to our lady be true and faithful, we will serve our lady faithfully. Let her enemies be our enemies too!” The voice of hundreds of kirins echoed through the underground caves.

I nodded in satisfaction. “Then rise my loyal subjects!” I gestured to them to stand up. “From now on, you will behave like you are part of my merriment! And my merriment will treat you like equals!”

Well, if I had expected applaus, I would have been disappointed. Sure, the inhabitants of these underground caves did as I told them, taking the oath, but it was not like they liked it. Sure, my merriment celebrated since my power grew with the increase to our numbers, but, it will take a lot to convince these kirins to really accept and like me.

“I know,” I raised one claw, “the circumstances of all of this have not been the best! But I did what I could to prevent you all from dying!” Murmurs started to spread through the crowd. “I never wanted to bind you all with such a terrible threat! All I was trying to do was prevent Hades plague from killing you all! Keep that in mind!”

I took a deep breath and looked down from the balcony on the main mushroom-tree-thingy above the crowd. “But it was the will of your Lord, Lord Hades himself, that the punishment for breaking the contract you had with him was to serve me or perish! It can’t be helped! But!” I made a short pause. “You are in luck! Since I am not the kind of tyrannical ruler your ancestors portrayed all azure-kirins as! And furthermore! I don’t want anykirin to perish! So my next command will be this, all of you are to act with the best interests of the merriment in mind! Well, generally, not all the time! You have to treat everyone within the merriment as if they are family or friends and do what you can to improve or maintain the quality of their and your lives in general!

“What I am saying is that I want us all to work together! We are on the same side now! I don’t want any of you to die simply because you have your moments of anger or disagreement or anything else that normally happens when such a huge group is gathered and traveling together! So just put in the effort to get along and be good members of our group, and, in return, my following command is, that from now on, only when I specifically say ‘this is a command’ is it really a command! Anything else I say, you can consider as suggestion! No one shall die simply because I screw up my wording!” I took my time to look over the crowd, letting what I was trying to tell them sink in. “Your well-being is important to me, I care! And I know this change isn’t going to be easy for you, but if we work on it together, we will be able to overcome our differences and unite all kirins under my banner! Yes! You heard right! As an azure-kirin it is my duty to travel to Shakirin-La and to restore the kirin-empire!”

Shouts of astonishment, shock, or sounds of wondering and disbelief raised from the crowd quickly. Seems most of them weren't aware of that little detail yet.

“I know you have heard only bad things about it, your ancestors fled from it and hid here under the swamp for generations! But they fled from war and tyranny, not from a united race of kirins! Under my leadership, Shakirin-La will be a place for all kirins again! And it will be a place without slavery or tyranny, it will be a home for anykirin! For everykirin!” I let my words linger in the air and turned around, leaving the balcony. Trust must be earned, from both sides, but I had the good feeling that I laid a suitable bedrock for it today…

*

“An impressive speech,” Bliz purred as she entered the room and rubbed her head against my side.

“I sure hope so. If it all goes according to plan, they will stick with me till I am empress. So it’d be better for them to accept and like me sooner rather than later.” I stretched myself and yawned. “Though, now is the time for me to hit the hay.”

“You sure are tired,” Allerian threw in, pushed himself off the wall and stepping closer, “but could you first answer a few questions for my notes?” He raised his quill. “You see…”

He didn’t get any further when Bliz growled, spread her wings, and rushed towards him. “Bliz,” I hastily yelled and raised a claw calmly. To Allerians luck, she stopped right in front of him, though she showed him her fangs and had her tail tip raised warningly.

“I know this is new for you, but I am their leader now. Kind of their empress, queen, princess, whatever.” I swung my claw around in a circle. “None of them will take it lightly if you don’t show me some more respect, Allerian. Just think of how your dad treats mine and you get the idea I think.”

“Perhaps another time,” he replied and poked Bliz on the nose with a talon. “For now I’m going to go with telling your mother how rude you are being to a guest. I am sure she would like to hear that.”

Unintentionally, a little smile crept onto my face. “Bards, of all creatures it had to be bards!” I noticed the winning smile on Allerians face. “You are right, Mom would be mad if I were rude.” His smile increased and he made an attempt to step past Bliz. “Bliz, you can handle this, I will go and snuggle Illu, I do not want to be disturbed.”

A short ‘Hey’ escaped Allerians beak the moment before Bliz jumped onto him, sweeping him off his paws.

*

Finally, after a very long and eventful day, I arrived at what would be my home for the night in the underground village. Calmatious Blossom’s house. Technically, it was my house now since it was meant to be the leader’s house, and with me being the new leader, it only made sense for me to be here. Though, I had no intention to throw her out, nor stay in the village for longer than I needed to and had no desire to claim it. So it seemed like a fair deal that since I wouldn’t be oppressing the village, she could at least be a good host.

“Hello!” I shouted when I entered. “Where are you guys?” I gestured to my guards that they could stay outside, only Winter Moon remained by my side. She followed me like a shadow, her spear gripped tight and her position upright while her ears darted around, making sure no one was sneaking up on me. Due to the incident with her sister, as soon as she’d had the chance, she had doubled her efforts to prove her worth as my guard. Sure, when the anti-azure magic had faded on her sister, I reclaimed her and welcomed her into my merriment once more, though, Winter Sun saw what happened as a blow to her reputation.

“We’re in the main hall, Fiery!” Mom’s reply came from a door to my left.

When I entered the main hall, I was greeted by the sight of Mom, Rythil, Illu, Calmatious Blossom, her daughter, along with a few of my guards watching over my family. I rolled my eyes at that, but since Dad wouldn’t tolerate a single stranger around where my family slept unsupervised, it was the only solution. Thinking of him…

“Where’s Dad?” I trotted over to Illu to exchange some affection while Winter Sun took up a position next to the door.

“He’s with your brothers in one of the bedrooms,” Mom said. “It’s way past their bedtime.” She yawned. “Well, it’s probably past all of our bedtimes.”

“Yes,” I agreed, “yes it is.” I threw a look at Sierra Bonsai and her Mom. I was glad that Calmatious had found her, and that she was back in the village, though due how little time we had spent around each other, we’d not yet spoken about how we were going to deal with each other going forward. Well, that was a problem for future me. Since neither of them were showing any signs of hostility or any overt indications that they were going to challenge my authority, it didn’t feel like an issue that needed to be immediately addressed.

I hesitated. Where had this thought come from? I mean sure, there have been, and possible are, problems between us, but still… Well, I was possibly just exhausted. With a little shake of my head I got over it. “Alright, I think we can call that a day then.” I stroked over Illu’s back with my tail. “Mind joining me?” I underlined my cuddly behavior with a little bit of purring.

As I had hoped, he blushed and threw an embarrassed look around.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” I purred. I had already made a step in the direction of our bedchamber when my gaze landed on Rythil laying on Mom’s back. “What’s the matter with you?”

“This is the only safe place for the time being,” he replied.

“I had to retrieve him from your brother's grip to save him,” Mom added. “With this duty to not deny anyone who wishes to cuddle with him, every creature, especially your brother, wants to use him as a plushy.”

“It is terrible,” Rythil complained. “Fortunately, no one’s been willing to challenge your mother so far. So I think I’ll be safe as long as I’m on her back.”

“Mhh, true,” I nodded and then giggled. “Don’t get between her and Dad when he wants to cuddle her though.”

“Fiery,” Mom said strictly.

“I am just joking around.”

“Don’t worry,” Rythil said. “As soon as your brother is asleep, it should be safe to leave her back.”

I threw a look around at my kirins, doubting his assessment of the situation. “Well, good luck with that. You will surely need it. Anyway,” I yawned and then left in the direction of my family's bedroom. “Night Mom, Night everycreature.”

I was well aware that some of my kirins looked like they were hoping for head pats or ruffles through their mane, but none of them dared try their luck at getting one while Illu was next to me. At least they had learned that much.

“Hey Dad,” I said when I opened the door to the bedroom. Since it had been several hours since I had challenged him, I assumed he’d had enough time to cool down. I found him curled around my brothers, with both of them already sleeping, when I finally laid eyes on the inside of the bedroom. My thoughts turned to the question of where I should plant my bedsheets when Dad hastily rose up.

“Careful!” Roary suddenly piped up. I had just raised my head to receive the head rubs that would surely follow my arrival when Dad roared a challenge at me. I barely came to a halt when he stormed at me.

“Dad!” I yelled in shock, quickly trying to evade. Night and Kindling were also taken by surprise, pulled forcefully out of their sleep by the sudden movement and growling from Dad. Shortly before me, Dad came to a halt and hissed threateningly.

I was confused. Surely Dad hadn’t been fond of what I had done recently, but this was not his usual ‘bad bornling behavior’ kind of hiss, it was a territorially one! What was happening?! I didn’t challenge him for territory at all, nor had it been my intention!

“Dad, what is going on?” I took a few hastily steps back, making sure to push Illu back as well.

He didn’t answer my question, instead only adding another threatening hiss. Even if I didn’t know exactly what was going on, I knew this was a last warning kind of hiss. Either I back down, or he would attack me! I threw an unsure look at my brothers and stepped further back. They seemed none the wiser about Dad’s behavior.

“I told you, you fought him over your right to be an adult. Now you are an adult half dragon trying to sneak back into your parents nest.”

“I did what?!”

“You are a grown up now. You repelled his parental purring. To him, that means you are fully grown now. And you know how dragons deal with other dragons who try to get near their nest full of their offspring. You’re only getting some forbearance because you are his daughter.”

The echo of Mom’s hoofsteps tore me out of my inner dialog.

“What’s going on here?” she demanded to know when she burst into the room. “Big Softy! What are you doing?”

Dad acknowledged her with a snort and even made room for her so she could get past him and to my brothers, but kept his gaze on me and growled warningly.

“Roary says repelling his parental purring means he won’t see me as only his daughter anymore,” I spat out, seeking shelter behind Mom.

Mom froze. “Ohh…” she said after a few seconds. She then flared her wings and hissed at Dad, demanding his attention. As soon as she had it, she growled quietly and approached him, rubbing her head against his chest. It took some time and an exchange of growls and hisses between them, but finally Dad turned around and curled around my brothers once more.

I stepped forward to join them now that Dad was calmed down, but Mom raised a hoof stopping me.

“No Fiery, you can’t sleep in the nest any longer.”

“But Mom, you calmed Dad down, I …”

“It is not that simple.” She sighed. “I talked with your Dad about this a long time ago. I knew this day would come, but I hadn’t expected it to be so soon. Big Softy told me that dragons kick out their offspring one day if they didn’t leave themselves earlier. It is to prevent violence and territorial conflict between them.” She laid her hoof on my chest and pushed me in the direction of the door. “Normally you would have claimed your own lair by the time this would have happened, but this whole Call-To-Shakirin-La-Thing makes that a tiny bit complicated.”

“Mom, I am half Pony, I am not supposed to get kicked out! What do you expect me to do?”

“You’re not being kicked out per-say, you’re just not allowed to sleep in or near the nest any longer. Look, your father will protect your siblings from you, as well as our territory.” She quickly raised her hooves to calm down my imminent protest. “I know you aren’t challenging us for it, I am aware of that. But the truth is that your father will see you as a threat and will not be able to allow you to sleep in the nest for the time being.”

“But I’m not threat! I am your daughter!”

“Yes, and therefore Big Softy had no problems with you cuddling with your siblings earlier. And there is no problem with us traveling together and hanging out like a family, like it would be if you were somehalfdragon else, but, sleeping in the same nest, bed, or tent is no longer possible.”

“You can’t be serious!” I pulled out some strands of my mane in frustration. “After everything that’s happened today, all this Shakirin-La stuff, now I get kicked out just because I’m starting to take on some more responsibilities and don’t want to be dominated by parental purring?”

Mom pulled me in for a hug. “You complained about me and Big Softy interfering too much with your merriment all the way here. Now you have what you wanted. Being an adult and your father no longer treating you like a bornling. You need to see the positive side of this.”

“Does that mean you’re also not going to interfere anymore?”

“What?” Mom placed her hooves on my shoulders, pushing me a bit back so she could look into my eyes. “Of course not. I am your mother, Fiery. I will watch out for you regardless.”

I let my head hang in despear. “Great…”

Author's Note

This took way longer than I expected, but I hope it was worth the wait!

Next chapter, the bonus chapter, aka, the naughty one!

I will add a skip button here like in the first story as soon as I have the overnext chapter ready!

Skip to next chapter

Also there should be artwork

***

Thanks to all my little helpers, Schatten, Chryssy and co

And also to you for still be on board! Without you guys, I would surely lack the motivation to continue!