The Dragon And The Pony 3 Shakirin-La -The Adventure of Fiery

It was a short flight between where we had stopped due to me sensing the presence of another kirin and where we found them. I was surprised though when I saw that it was only the one. He stood in one of the valleys ahead, next to a cart, besides a white dragoness.

“Seems he can sense me as well.” I pointed at the strange Kirin ahead who was now looking up at us. The fact that he was an azure likely explained the sparkling taste I’d gotten.

When the dragoness noticed us, she released a loud warning growl and got into a protective stance.

Dad was quick to reply with a roar of course.

“Wait.” I raised my claw in an effort to calm him down. “If I’m not mistaken, he wants to talk.” At least that’s what this looks like to me.

As soon as the dragoness growled, the kirin moved closer to her and laid his hooves on her side before he began to speak to her. I couldn’t make out what he was saying, but it seemed like he was talking in a slow manner, similar to what mom would do with dad in such a situation.

“She is dangerous. And she is a white one!” It was clear from his tone that the fact she was white was enough of a reason in his mind to justify acting hostile towards her. For some reason, it seemed like black and white dragons didn’t like each other, and as the last conversation with my aunt would attest, Dad was not one to talk all that much about dragon culture. I only know that he was worried that Opa would be mad that I was white when I was born. That wasn’t the case, obviously, but Dad had been worried nonetheless.

“She is protecting her kirin,” I said before adding, “and the cart for some reason.” There are enough dragons in the family that I’d learned how to read their body language. I tilted my head and began hoovering. “She is more worried about the cart than him though.”

“Maybe there’s treasure in the cart?” Dad snorted.

I took a closer look at how the two were interacting with each other. It was really similar to Mom and Dad. “Must be a huge treasure if she’s considering her mate a second priority.”

After a second, Dad growled agreeingly.

“Let me talk with him, maybe…”

“No!” Dad yelled in an instant. “I told you she is dangerous! You can see it in her stance.”

“Dad, I want to talk with him, away from the cart and the dragoness. Look how he’s trying to calm her down, he isn’t looking for a fight.”

“It could be a trap!”

“From their perspective, we could also be planning an ambush. Look, they stopped in the middle of the valley, you couldn’t find a worse position to set up a trap. I’m sure they’re trying to show that they aren’t a threat.” I looked around once more. “And I would be able to sense if there were more kirins around.”

Dad's gaze scanned the surrounding hills with utmost suspicion. “It still could be… “ He hesitated. “Mhh,” he grumbled unhappy, “you might be right.”

“I’ll land a safe distance from her,” I nodded at the dragoness, “and see if he is willing to come to me. If not, we can always call your sister to keep her under control.”

Dad just roared out for his sister.

So much for my plan, but he might be making the right decision by being careful. I, however, took that as him agreeing to the rest of my suggestion. I flew down and landed on the road about halfway between the kirin and dragon and where I had been hovering. Dad didn’t follow, instead opting to remain in the air and watch out for threats.

It seemed I had been right about Dad agreeing with my plan.

Thankfully, the dragoness seemed to consider Dad the bigger threat as she kept her attention on him. This allowed me to take my time and watch the other kirin without fearing an attack. He was scurrying along her chest and was doing his best to rub himself against her, pointing at me now and again while constantly talking.

It took a while, but eventually, she lowered her head to cuddle him and reply to what he’d been saying, but made sure to keep one eye on Dad and her wings slightly flared.

Whatever they spoke about, in the end, the stallion was allowed to approach me, slowly of course. The dragoness’ gaze had completely returned to Dad.

I used the short period of time in which he was approaching to give him a closer look. Azure-blue scales were no surprise, and based on the horn sticking out of his somewhat grey-olive mane, it was clear that he had unicorn heritage. I leaned a bit to the side. Yep, no cutie-mark. No divine blessing it seemed.

“Hello, young one.” He came to a halt a few paces in front of me. “My name is Nimble Prophecy.”

Young one? I raised an eyebrow. I knew my age wasn’t all too hard to guess based on my appearance, but still, he looked like he was still in his thirties. “I am Fiery Leadership,” I said with a nod while looking him over. “You don’t look old enough to call me young though.”

He smiled. “I’ll take that as a compliment. If you must know, Fiery Leadership, I am two hundred and twelve. And as long as we are guessing each other’s ages, I would have to say you only recently became an adult.” Now it was him who was examining me from muzzle to tail tip. “Thirty at most,” he judged.

“I am eighteen,” I said flatly.

He took a seat and blinked a few times. “Eighteen,” he repeated slowly. “Eighteen and you’re following the call of Shakirin-La?” His look became suspicious as he licked his lips. “I can sense your entourage, your merriment...” His eyes started to take on a thousand-meter stare, focusing on something in the distance behind me.

“Mine!” I instantly growled, asserting my claim.

“Certainly.” A pause followed while he sniffed the air once more as he gathered his thoughts. Whatever information his nose was telling him though, he kept it to himself. Slowly, his focus shifted back to me. “I must say, I am feeling a bit uncomfortable negotiating with someone as young as you about the right to lead the kirins. It appears a bit… inappropriate.”

I had to restrain myself so as to not growl louder after hearing that. It wasn’t as though Nimble had said anything specific that had earned my ire, but the attention he’d shown towards my merriment, along with the presence he gave off as an azure, caused something deep down inside of me to want to react.

“Well, anyway,” he said.” I do not have the urge to claim you. Or to be more precise, the will to. You are not what I am looking for.” He sighed. “But I doubt you have the willpower to just walk away from another azure yet, correct?”

For a moment, I was confused. Simply walking away? That thought hadn’t even crossed my mind. Was that really an option? I mean, could azure-kirins do that? The thought lingered on my mind till… Our territory! Our right to rule! We can’t let him walk away now!

Yep, there was my inner voice again, telling me in no uncertain terms that that wasn’t going to happen.

Nimble saw the answer in my eyes. “I see. Well, that was to be expected. I can’t blame you, if I was your age, I doubt I would be able to either.” He sighed again. “That puts us in a very uncomfortable position. I really don’t want to claim you for personal reasons, and I don’t want to be claimed by you for similar reasons. So, we only have two options, either you tell me your price for submitting to my will, or we fight by the rules of tradition.”

“My price?” I was baffled. Sure I expected there was a high chance for a fight in the end, but offering my submission freely? No way!

“Yes, your price.” Nimble said, unaware of my inner indignation. “You didn’t expect there was only the way of violence, did you? Under normal circumstances, I could offer you dominion over a small town or village after claiming the throne, but If I’m being honest, I don’t think I’ll make it that far, so I can’t offer that in good faith.”

“I will not submit to you!” I growled, to emphasise my point. “However,” I had to suppress a hiss before continuing, “I would like it if we could avoid fighting.”

He shook his head. “You are far too young to claim me and resist the urge to dominate. I can’t trust you to keep your promises under these circumstances, and, I can’t offer you a prize for your submission, therefore, we will have to fight if you don’t back off.”

I presented my fangs, but then my gaze wandered to Dad and this stranger dragoness. If I was to fight, surely Dad would attack too, leading to a lot more collateral damage than either of us wants.

“Don’t worry about them.” Nimble’s gaze had followed my own. “A traditional fight is not lethal, and dragons keep their pacts. If we fight after a formal challenge, they will not interfere.”

He will be ours, and with him, his mate! We shall accept! We shall grow stronger after our victory!

I sidestepped and clenched my teeth, trying to keep my balance as the heated emotions of my inner voice flowed over me.

Nimble Prophecy raised an eyebrow. “You haven’t settled your inner conflict yet, have you? I can see it in your eyes, the hunger for might, yet the desire for peace.” He closed his eyes and shook his head. “You need to find your balance soon or you will get consumed by your conflict.”

“Don’t you dare speak down on me!”

“I wasn’t. I was only stating the obvious.” His tail waved slowly from left to right behind him. “If you don’t get control over yourself, you’ll only be a danger to those you end up in control of.”

I stomped a claw. “Enough of your advice! If you want to fight, so be it!”

“Actually, I don’t w…”

I roared at him. “Call your terms!”

He hesitated and looked back at his mate. With a sigh he nodded then. “Very well.” His gaze returned to me. “A traditional fight is about making the opponent unable to continue fighting without killing or crippling them. That means no biting the throat, no breaking of horns or wings. In short, if it won’t heal, you can’t target it.”

“Reasonable,” I admitted with a little growl.

“If you fail at that, you lose automatically. Even if it was an accident.” He pointed at my claw. “For example, if you scratch my eye in the heat of battle and I lose an eye, you lose the battle.”

“Anything else?”

“No magic, no flying, no artifacts.”

That got my attention. “No magic?”

“Wouldn’t be very fair if I just grab a boulder and smack you with it, wouldn’t it? Or, in return, if you slip though my grasp, fly into the sky, and just grab anything you can get your claws on to rain down on me until I have to give up.” Nimble Prophecy tapped on the tip of his horn. “I still can use it to poke you, and you can use your wings to slap me.”

What are we waiting for? We will subdue him with our claws! He stand no chance!

“What about magic I can’t control?” I managed to ask through gritted teeth. “Magic I was born with that is not under my control?”

“You mean your azure abilities? They will be of no use against me, don’t worry about them.”

Obviously he was misinterpreting what I was asking about. I was about to address that when a wave of my azure blood's dominance washed over me and caused me to hesitate. It was his problem to be none the wiser of my luck, not mine. If he doesn’t expect me to have some other form or inherent magic, that was just going to made this fight that much easier!

“Seems like we have terms we can fight under.” I growled. “We…”

Nimbles gaze suddenly shifted upwards to look into the sky behind me, with his mate quickly following to look at the new threat that had arisen. My aunt had arrived and was drawing nearly everyones full attention to herself as she made her way down to us.

“Mylady.” Nimble bowed deeply when she landed. “I am…”

“Nimble Prophecy.” Schimmernde Morgenröte said as she waved him off. “Mate of Snowdrift the Determined.” Her gaze wandered over to said dragoness, who lowered her stance in a show of respect, while still positioning herself to protect her little cart. “I know who you are.”

“I am honoured,” Nimble replied.

Schimmernde Morgenröte didn’t react. Instead, she turned to me. “Why haven’t you claimed him yet?”

“We were about to fight this out when you arrived.” With effort, I managed to get my tone to sound neutral again. “A traditional fight, and the winner claims the inferior.”

“Such nonsense! Did he-” she pointed at the other Kirin “- tell you that? Traditional fights are for equals, and he is in no position to request one.”

“Mylady, it was not like I wanted a fight in the first place. I was suggesting a non violent way to settle this according to my superior age and experience. But I assure you, if a fight is requested, I am more than capable to hold up to my noble origins.”

Schimmernde Morgenröte snorted. “I am not questioning your skill at claw to claw combat, I am questioning your right to ask for a traditional individual fight. You are alone, you have no fellowship, and your mate is nothing compared to me. I see no reason why my niece should accept a fight with you.”

“Wait, I can simply demand his surrender since I have the upper claw?” I was a bit baffled. “Just like that?”

“He can reject your demand, but no creature can prevent you from sending in your minions and relatives to fight for you instead. That is why he wanted to lure you into a one on one fight I think. It was his best chance to get out of this as the winner.”

“That was not my intention,” Nimble protested. “It is just impossible for me to surrender to such a young and inexperienced teenager. It is too dangerous.”

“Teenager?” I growled. “I am a fully grown mare!”

“Then prove it and fight me.”

“I will show you how to…”

“No.” My aunt rested her wingtip on my shoulder and held me back. “Don’t let yourself be tricked into a fight. That is exactly what he wants.”

“I am more than ready to prove my dominance!” I raised my wings to look more intimidating.

We can handle him! We can claim him! We show how powerful we are!

“Oh are you?” Nimble rose to his hindlegs too and let out a loud challenging roar.

Enough was enough! I ducked under my aunt's wingtip and burst forward, only to bounce back when she grabbed my tail and pulled hard on it.

“Don’t be foolish!” She grabbed me by the neck and lifted me up. “I will handle this without any risk.”

“He is mine!” I struggled in her grip and hissed. “I will claim him!”

“Of course you will,” Schimmernde Morgenröte ignored my attempts to break free and focused back on Nimble Prophecy. “Are you smart enough to just surrender, or do I need to subdue you?”

“Mylady, I simply can’t submit to your niece!”

“You will do it freely, or I will start breaking your bones until you change your tune.”

Nimble hissed and let his horn glow. That was the worst thing he could have done. This did get his mate to finally display a significant reaction though. She began to scratch the ground and fearfully whimper. That being said, the reason for such a reaction could have also been due to my aunt, who was now growling and showing her fangs!

After only a second of this, my aunt threw me behind her like a doll and stormed forward. I quickly stopped myself midair, ready to burst forward too, but hesitated. The only azure-dragon I’d ever seen angry thus far was Oma, and she always kept some kind of nobility. Schimmernde Morgenröte, however, was a blur of blue, claws, and wings spikes.

Nimble may have been telling the truth when he’d told me his age; he was swift, and more than a little bit skilled. Like a squirrel, he zipped around my aunt, sprinting here and there, even using his magic to throw little rocks at her.

It was the main reason he only ended up bleeding out of a few smaller wounds on his back and side rather than being impaled on one of my aunts wingspikes at the start.

“Soon he will be laying in the dust in front of our claws!”

“Yes,” my voice was eager and full of the thirst for dominance. “He will be ours…”

Hey, I am fully aware I was talking to myself here, but at that moment, I didn’t even notice.

“And with him his mate!”

“No!” A new voice arose in my head. It was free of the thirst for either dominance or bloodshed. Instead, it was more timid or… calm. “We can’t claim his mate for ourselves.”

Since things may get a bit confusing otherwise, I’ll give the voices in my head nicknames for the time being. I will refer to them as Roary and Calmly. I am sure you can figure out who is who.

“Why not? She belongs to him, and he will belong to us!” Roary stated. “He dared to stand in our way, to challenge us! We will dominate!”

Unaware of my inner dialog, or conflict as Nimble had named it, the fight in front of me raged on. With great effort, and a little luck, Nimble evaded the claws of my aunt, but only barely. And more than once, he got another scratch from her wings.

“He will be ours…” I mumbled.

“Yes!” Roary agreed.

“Look at his mate.” Calmly requested. “He isn’t challenging us on purpose.”

Slowly, my gaze wandered over to said dragoness. She was scratching the ground furiously, whimpering in panic, unable to intervene. The aura of my aunt was strong, more so with her fighting. A quick glance at Dad revealed that he was the only one with a clear head at the moment as it seemed. He still was hoovering a good distance up in the air.

“Look at her. Then look at him.” Calmly was referring to Nimble. “What do you see?”

“Don’t pay attention to such unimportant things!” Roary demanded. “Our aunt is winning! We must be ready to claim him!”

“What do you see?” Calmly repeated.

I growled and bared my fangs, fighting my desire to fly down and crash into Nimble, to subdue him myself and claim him as my loyal subject. What, do, I, see? The question lingered on my tongue like a rotten fruit, like a disgusting thought, still, I focused on it.

At the same time, Nimble made a mistake. He ducked under my aunt's wing and tried to change his direction to avoid her following strike. However, said strike never came, instead, she swiped him off his hooves with her tail. He collided with the ground and used his own momentum to roll away and get back up. He was too slow. Schimmernde Morgenröte bounced forward and grabbed him by the throat.

“We must act, now!”

“No! We must understand! Look!”

My aunt's claw closed around his throat and squeezed. “Give up!” she demanded.

“No…” Nimble pressed out. His hooves scratching harmless over her scales.

“You will surrender!”

Nimbles scratches and kicks with his hind hooves became more desperate. “I can’t.. do that!” His face slowly turned more and more red.

“He will be ours!” Roary’s anticipation matched my own.

“Don’t look at him, look at his mate.”

Snowdrift was still scratching the ground in panic, whimpering, fear for her mate clear on her face, still, she remained between Dad and the cart. Unable to move due to my aunt's aura… or was she?

“He didn’t want to fight us, she didn’t try to protect her mate, they both have a different goal.”

My gaze wandered to the cart. What could be so important about it? There was nothing important I could see. Some chests, some food, and a barrel of water maybe. A huge stack of blankets and pillows. Nothing suspicious at first glance.

My gaze returned to Nimble who was slowly turning blue now.

He didn’t want to fight me even before my aunt showed up. And after she did, he was more than eager to do so. I was missing something, something important.

“Last chance,” my aunt growled. “Surrender yourself!”

It was at this moment that the realisation hit me!

There was an egg in the cart!

“Yes.” Calmly said.

“Egg!” Roary shouted. “The egg must be protected!”

“Agreed.”

“Aunt!” I flew over and laid my claws on her arm. “Let go!”

Schimmernde Morgenröte just glanced at me and growled warningly.

“He is not willingly challenging us!”

“He will no longer be able to challenge us at all!”

“He is protecting their egg! There is an egg on the cart!”

“An egg?” My aunt turned around, mustering the cart herself and then roared. “Is there an egg on the cart, Snowdrift?”

“Yes, Mylady.” Snowdrift's eyes hung on her mate. A second later, Nimble was falling to the ground, my aunt having let go of him.

“The egg must be protected,” she said.

“Yes, it must be safe,” I agreed. “Dad!” I formed a funnel with my claws. “They are protecting an egg! They are no threat!”

“I… can’t…” Nible tried to speak but had to cough hard.

“You must go home and protect the egg!” I moved closer. “I will claim you and order you to go home!”

“I… don’t trust… you…” another wave of coughing stopped him again.

“You don’t have much of a choice!” I sprung forward and landed on his belly, placing my fangs around his throat. “You are mine now!” I ignored his weak attempts of fending me off and growled. “You are beaten, you are mine now!”

A spark of resistance built up in his eyes, but then his gaze wandered over me, to my aunt and finally to his mate. They locked eye contact for a moment, before he relaxed. With a deep breath and a sigh, he said, “I surrender.”

“Ours!” Roary cheered in triumph.

“Yes, he belongs to us,” Calmly agreed. “But we have to send him home now, he must protect the egg.”

“All in due time!”

“Actually I am not sure what…” I mumbled before my forehead suddenly began to glow. “Nevermind.” Quickly, the glow became a bright light that engulfed myself and Nimble, extending my personal aura around us. I was more than a little surprised as this was not something I was intentionally doing, rather, it was something I was doing instinctually. Surprisingly, when the aura reached his horn, nothing happened.

I removed my fangs from his throat and took a seat on his belly. “Shouldn’t I be able to see into your mind now?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugged, “I’ve never personally claimed another kirin.”

“Somehow this is… disappointing,” I said as I scrunched up my face. “I imagined claiming another azure-kirin would have some special effect, something just… more.”

“Try licking his horn,” my aunt suggested. “It would make sense for an azure-kirin to be more protected against magic that targets the mind, given their azure blood.

“What does that have to do with it?” I wondered, looking up to her.

“We have stronger willpower than other species,” Schimmernde Morgenröte said as though it was the most normal thing in the world. “It only makes sense for our offspring to benefit from that, even-” she ruffled her snout a bit “-after pairing up with lesser creatures.”

Nimble just raised an eyebrow, either because of the suggestion to lick his horn, or, at my aunt's mildly offensive statement. For me however, the problem was more about the licking part right now. Licking his horn could be seen as just a little bit awkward at best, and as an attempt to seduce him at worst.

“Don’t be so shy now, Niece. There will be more challenging moments on your way to the throne, this is nothing more than a little turbulence under your wings.”

I took a deep breath. “Right. Well, here goes nothing!” Under Nimbles embarrassed gaze, I leaned forward and attempted to lick over his horn. When I actually touched it with my tongue though, I got a shock like I was hit by thunder! My fur and mane stood on end and my wings, which had sprung open, spawned little glowing sparks! That was before everything went black and silent…