The next thing I noticed after giving Nimble’s horn a lick was the subtle but distinct scent of lemons and sapphire that tickled my nose. I opened my eyes, and to my surprise, I found myself standing in the middle of someone's living room. I took a step forward and recoiled in surprise when the sound of a parquet letting out a squeak resounded throughout the room. Where was I?

“Hello?” I perked up my ears and listened for a reply before stepping forward again. My gaze began to wander over everything around me. The interior seemed kind of familiar, similar to what the kirins in Autumn’s town had. It wasn’t too different from my own home though, just with more wood than stone, and the presence of windows instead of holes on the ceiling to allow more sunlight to come in. Besides those differences though, yeah, it was kind of familiar.

“Hello?” I shouted once again, peeking into the three connected rooms. “Is anykirin home?”

“Welcome,” Nimble said, having suddenly appeared right next to me, causing me to jump into the air out of shock.

“Nimble! Do you have to scare me like that?”

He remained silent.

I took a deep breath, calming my nerves. “Where are we?” I gestured to everything around us. “What is this place?”

“Home.”

“You mean your and Snowdrift’s?”

He nodded.

“How did we get here?”

The answer became obvious when my gaze eventually passed over one of the windows. While it appeared that sunlight was spilling in, through the window, I could see that everything was only a blur of white and blue. There was no sun emanating the light, nor was there anything at all out there, just a bright mixture of colours.

“We’re not really here, are we?”

“No.” He started to move towards the next room, requesting I follow with a nod of his head. “I think this is my memories we’re wandering through.” He tapped against his temple. “We’re in my head.”

I stopped mid-step and stared at him in bewilderment. “We’re walking through your head and you just accept it like it’s the most normal thing in the world?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t expect this, though, it’s not too surprising either. From what I read about azure-kirin gatherings, the fact there would be some kind of mental connection was kind of obvious.” He shrugged again. “That it would present itself like this however, well.”

“Hmm, a good question would be why it’s doing this though.”

Nimble continued his migration into the next room. “One reason I see is that it allows you to be you, for the time being. I would already call that an advantage.”

“Me to be me?” I caught up with him, and together we proceeded through the house, making our way towards, what I assume, was the basement.

“You didn’t notice that your inner conflict didn’t follow you here? The anger, the hesitation?”

I stopped again, listening to my inner self. Roary and Calmly remained silent though.

“The two sides of your heritage, trying to push you in a certain direction. It was impossible to not notice that you were struggling to get them under control.” He threw a look at me. “You seem to be far more… reasonable when it’s just you.”

“Hmm.”

Nimble waited for me to say more, but when I remained silent though, he went on. “You need to get it under control as soon as we’re done here. Otherwise it will either drive you crazy, or one side will overcome the other, leaving you as either only a dragon or a pony in terms of your mind. Not the best outcome.”

“Would stop them from messing with my mind though.”

Nimble snorted. “You don’t want one side to dominate your actions. The balance between them is the key to being a kirin. You are not strong enough to act like a true dragon, with all the fighting and greed. You would spend all your days gathering a bigger hoard or things of value till the day you find your better and perish. On the other hoof, if your inner pony takes the lead, you would lose all your dominance, your inner drive to act, you would become a doormat in kirin society.” He flicked his hoof once in front of himself as though he’d caught a whiff of something foul. “You couldn’t even lead your current merriment.”

“Eh, that does sound significantly less appealing when you put it like that. So, how do I do that? Finding a balance between them?”

He hesitated a moment before answering as he opened a hatch in the floor, leading to a tunnel below. “That depends on you,” he said as he began to walk down the stairs he’d revealed.

“What do you mean? What am I supposed to do?”

“You have to decide what you want to be, that's all. Decide what you want to become, what your personal goals are. Then you put your inner voices in their place, forcing them to support your way, in their way.”

“That doesn’t make much sense…”

“You lead the way and set the goals,” Nimble stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked back at me. “Your inner voices will support you in achieving it, each in its own way. Your inner dragon will suggest more direct approaches and tell you luck favors the bold, while your pony side will think things through, finding less violent or more subtle ways for you. It will be up to you whose advice you take, just make sure it’s your decision, not theirs.”

I giggled.

“What's so funny?”

“It’s just that luck will favor me anyway, even if I was timid and shy.”

An raised eyebrow was his reply.

“Having the goddess of luck as my godmother has its advantages.”

Now it was at him to be baffled. “You are telling me that...”

“Yes, Fortuna, the goddess of luck, is my godmother.” I nodded at my flank. “Gave me my cutiemark and made sure luck follows me wherever I go.” A smile crawled on my lips. “Maybe one of the reasons I didn’t need to fight you to claim you.”

“Maybe,” he agreed, blankly staring at me as the hints of a frown tugged at the corners of his lips.

“Don’t be a sore loser now. I’ll send you home safe and sound so you can care for your egg, and you said so yourself, you didn’t expect to claim the throne in the end anyway. it is not like you lost anything.”

“True.”

Still, he seemed to be a bit unhappy about it, so I changed the subject.

“Where are we heading actually?”

Nimble thought for a moment. “I actually lack a word for it,” he finally said. “I would describe it as the root of my azure heritage. The part of me that makes me different from other kirins, or more accurately, other non-azure kirins.” He tilted his head. “It’s actually quite interesting, I’ve never been to this level of my consciousness before, and yet, I know exactly where we need to go and what this place looks like.” He glanced at me. “I’m sure you would have the same experience if we were in your mind.”

“Could be, but since we aren't, I’m none the wiser. It’s interesting that it looks like your home though. The idea of having a kirins traditional treehouse mixed with a lair has something to it.” I took a moment to listen to the echo of our steps on the stone floor. “This part reminds me a bit of my own home.”

“It has a positive effect on my mate's mood, the stone that is. I rolled out some carpets to reduce the sounds when we excavated it, but it turned out that hearing me trotting around makes her happy, so we got rid of them.”

“Yeah, I remember Dad saying something about those lovely clippety-clop sounds Mom's hooves cause in the lair. Seems like dragons like that.”

An agreeing hum was Nimbles response. “I still get surprised sometimes about what makes my mate happy and what doesn’t. Just the knowledge that I’m around our home can cause her to be most happy and excited, even if there’s no further interaction, while on other days, anything less than the complete focus on cuddling and spending time together will result in her getting all grumpy and a little bit hissy.”

“Whenever Dad gets grumpy, all mom has to do is fluff up and cuddle him and he becomes the happiest dragon in the world again. Maybe that works with your mate too?”

“Snowdrift’s love isn’t based on my fluff or my body,” he said judgingly. “Our relationship is deeper than that.”

“My parents love each other,” I growled warningly.

“Of course.” He quickly took a step back. “I didn’t mean to imply otherwise.”

“You better have not! There’s a difference between knowing how to make your mate happy and having a relationship solely based on cuddles!”

“It wasn’t my intention to annoy you.” He lowered his stance and looked up to me, making sure his head was lower than mine now.

Satisfied that he knew his place, I snorted and moved on.

It didn’t take us too much longer to reach the heart of the lair, a large chamber filled with what I assumed must be Snowdrift and Nimble’s hoard. A respectable little hill of gems, gold, and various other potentially valuable items rested in the center of the hall. It was way smaller than what Dad had gathered, but still, it was definitely a hoard worthy of being laid upon. And based on the indentation on top of it, and the fact there weren’t any artifacts there that I could see, it seemed that was exactly what Nimble and his mate were using it for.

“An acceptable napping spot,” I said, letting my gaze wander around while I approached the hoard. In contrast to my parents' lair, Nimble and his mate seemed to be more interested in art. Almost the entirety of the lair’s walls were covered in canvases and tapestries, there were even a few sculptures and one or two exotic weapons I’d never seen before interspersed in there to break up the room. “My parents removed all the weapons back home when my little pony brother was born,” I mentioned. “Too dangerous, mom said.”

“When our hatchling hatches, we may have to do so too.” Nimble agreed. “Though, my mate may not like it. She can be sensitive when it comes to displaying her strength.”

“Dad was hesitant too, ‘what if adventurers invaded the lair’ were his words if I remember correctly. But as soon as my brothers and I started to draw him and mom, the lair was quickly plastered with little drawings instead of weapons.”

Okay, he kept two spears and placed them out of my and my brothers’ reach, but in a way that Mom could still grab them in the case that something happened when she was alone with us while he was hunting or gem digging.

“Your Dad doesn’t sound that draconic, if I may say.”

I shrugged. “Do you know enough dragons to make that assumption?”

“Hmm… not really. I just can’t imagine my mate hanging drawings from our hatchling on the walls.”

A pause followed, and my attention drifted elsewhere until I stepped on something. I lifted my claw and was greeted to the sight of a thin blue line that, on closer inspection, seemed to be pulsating slowly. I followed it with my eyes and came to realise that it was part of a net, spider webbing across the ground.

“What is this?” I wondered aloud.

“That’s new, I don’t remember any blue strings laying around our lair,” Nimble said curiously before he moved closer. “I’m not sure what this is supposed to mean,” he added as he laid a hoof on the line.

Where he touched it, it started to glow, illuminating the surroundings and washing them in a bright blue light. As soon as he removed his hoof however, it began to dim before finally fading away.

“Whatever it is, it’s only reacting to you, not to me.” I poked the line again just to make sure.

“A mystery for sure, though…” he stopped mid sentence and released a contemplative hum.

“What?”

Nimble scratched his nose and then moved next to me. “I have an idea. Maybe, this net represents my azureness. That would explain why it has its origin in the core of my home while you’re here. And if we stay with this line of thought for the moment, it could react differently if we touch it together.” He gave me a look. “After all, I think we are here to form some kind of mental connection with each other.”

“We’re here so I can claim you as my loyal subject, not to form some kind of equal mental connection,” I made clear. “When we are done here, I will be in charge.”

“Certainly,” Nimble agreed. “Still, I think that my suggestion would be the way to achieve that.”

Now I was between a rock and a hard place. Nimble had submitted to me in the real world, and I doubted he would try anything risky with their egg nearby, but still, it could be a trick to claim me instead. What if he did know about this net of strings? What if this is all just a trick to lull me into feeling safe?

“Something’s wrong?” he asked. “You seem not to like my idea.”

I clicked with my claws on the ground, thinking. “I’m not sure.”

Nimble took a seat and gave me some time to think.

If this really was a trick, it was a very good one. His offer to let me just wander off, his fight with my aunt, the unwillingless to submit to me and now his submissive behaviour. It doesn’t feel like a trick, and still…

“Alright,” I took a deep breath, “but if this is some kind of trick, be aware, my dad or my aunt will not tolerate any kind of betrayal. If we get out of here with me under your control, you would not live long enough to gain any advantage from it. We didn’t agree on any rules to fight that would hold them back.”

“Your caution honers you,” Nimble replied and smiled. “I’m glad that you don’t trust someone you barely know. This will help you on your way to the throne.” He rose from his spot, and with a little purr, approached me to rub his head against my chest in a submissive manner. “However, I already accepted my defeat. All I wanted in the first place was to return home with my egg, that's why I wasn’t willing to submit to you or fight with you in the first place. That's also why I don’t want to trick you now. You claim me, then send me home. That's all I want.”

“You better be speaking the truth, for your own sake.” I softly but firmly pushed him away with my wing. “Alright then, let us try your idea.”

His tail started to wave behind him as he bowed. “As you wish.” Quickly he laid his hoof on the blue string. “Whenever you’re ready.”

I once again looked for any signs of betrayal in his face. As far as I could see, there were none. Much slower than him, I placed my claw next to his on the now glowing string.

For one or two heartbeats, nothing happened. The string didn’t react to my touch.

“Huh, that didn’t work out it seemed.” I was going to lift my claw when Nimble held me back.

“Just a moment.” He lowered his horn and poked me carefully. As soon as he did, the string of, of whatever, started to glow like a Hearth's Warming Eve tree! And it wasn’t only doing so where we were touching it, it had spread! In all directions the string started to glow and pulsate! I turned around a bit frightened. “What’s going on?” Even the walls and the tunnel we used to come here were covered in thin blue glowing strings now.

“I don’t know either, but I’m sure it’s supposed to be this way.” In contrast to me, Nimble was entirely calm and was just watching with fascination everything that was happening.

My head was swiveling back and forth hecticly. “This is your mind after all, shouldn’t you feel what’s going on?”

“I do feel… something.”

“Can’t you be a bit more precise?” I jumped to the side slightly out of fear when a ruby suddenly hit the ground next to me. When my head whipped around to take in what had caused this, I saw that the hill of valuables was falling apart! Sapphires, diamonds, and all kinds of golden coins started to roll or bounce around randomly.

“If we really were at my home, I would be worried that something might get damaged.”

“If we were, I would be more worried that one of us would get hurt,” I spat out while barrely dodging a few gems that went flying in my direction.

“Oh, yes that too.”

“What is…” I stopped mid sentence when the remainder of the hill of treasures exploded, sending a dense rain of valuable items towards us.

“Take cover,” Nimble shouted as he jumped on me, shielding me with his body.

More and more coins and gems rained down on us. I peeked out from under Nimble and saw several sharp gems crashing into the floor right next to us. Several even pierced the floor, embedding themselves into the stonework and reflecting the surrounding light to become a strange approximation of the night sky.

“Now would be the time for a shield spell, Nimble!” I yelled. “I’m not sure our scales are strong enough to protect us from this!”

He grunted in return. “If I knew any, that would be a splendid idea.”

I felt his body shake when a few things hit him, but from my position, I couldn’t see what it was or if he’d gotten injured. Luckily, as quickly as the bombardment had started, it ended.

“Are you alright?” I pushed free from under him and rushed to inspect his backscales.

“I’m fine,” he said, only interrupted by a tiny wince of pain when I tore out a sapphire from between his scales.

“Yeah, looks like you’re okay. Thank you.”

“No need to thank me, it’s kind of my duty now, isn’t it?”

I wasn’t sure what I should say to that.

“That remains to be seen.” A new voice arose from where the hill of treasures had been. “The last word about that has yet to be spoken.”

Both Nimble and I turned around. Instead of his and Snowdrift's hoard, an azure dragon now stood in the center of the room. His gaze resting on us, examining, lurking.

“And who are you?” I dared to ask, holding his gaze. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t dare challenge an unknown azure this way, but I had a good idea who he was already.

I was proven right, when Nimble said, “That is my inner dragon. My azure heritage.” He stepped closer to the dragon. “Fiery Leadership, this is Noble. Noble, this is…

“An intruder!” Noble shouted, flapping his wings. “She came to claim you, make you hers!” He finished his statement by lowering his head again and growling at me.

I was quick with answering his challenge with my own growl.

“That is correct,” Nimble mentioned, unimpressed by either of us. “And she has my permission to do so.”

“You can’t allow her to claim you!” Noble objected, his head turning to Nimble. “She can’t be trusted!”

“It is not like we have a choice.” Another new voice arose from the hallway just before a pale yellow unicorn entered. “You saw as well as I did that we already lost the fight.” She came to a halt in front of me and offered me a hoof. “Happy Swiftness,” she introduced herself. “While it is not really a pleasure to get claimed, welcome anyway.”

I shook her hoof, but kept an eye on Noble. “Fiery leadership.”

Happy Swiftness flicked her cream blonde tail in a disapproving manner. “Don’t mind Noble, he can be a bit stubborn sometimes, but he still has a heart of gold.”

“For gold, not out of gold, Swiffy!” Noble snorted. “And I can still fight her!”

“I,” Nimble said loudly, preventing these two from bickering with each other any further, “have decided to surrender already. So you will not fight her, Noble! Is that clear?”

The azure dragon mumbled something under his breath.

“Is it?”

“Yes, Nimble,” Noble spited out between gritted fangs.

“We now must focus on protecting our egg,” Happy Swiftness said. “We need your full focus on that, Noble. You don’t want the egg to get harmed, do you?”

“What? No way! The egg must be protected at all costs!”

“See,” Happy Swiftness gave him her best warm unicorn smile. “So we will just be claimed by our new friend Fiery Leadership here and she will help us protect it.” She turned her head to me. “Right?”

“Of course,” I said slowly, still worried a bit about Noble. “I will send you home, after I claim you that is.”

“Then we shouldn’t waste any more time,” Nimble decided. “Any ideas on how to arrange that? The claiming part?”

“Not really,” his pony side shrugged.

“Me neither,” I confessed.

“Noble?” Nimbles gaze turned to his dragon side. “Do you know how to do it?”

He snorted. “Of course I do.” And then he mumbled, “I am an azure dragon after all…”

“Care to tell us then?”

It took him a few seconds and a few very unhappy swings of his tail, but finally, Noble answered. “Fine…” He moved back to the spot he had occupied under the former hill of treasures, where a softly glowing crystal was embedded in the floor. “This is the heart of Nimble’s azureness,” he explained. “Just mark it as your territory…” he sighed, “and we will be your loyal subjects.”

I stepped closer. Looking at this strange crystal. It seemed to be aware of my presence since it started to pulsate quicker the nearer I got.

“What are you waiting for?” Noble asked. “Mark your territory.”

“How do I do that?”

“How does a predator mark his territory?” he replied.

“I am not going to pee on it,” I said in confusion. “And I have no idea what else I should do to mark it.”

“That would be a sight,” Happy Swiftness giggled.

“Please don’t,” Nimble raised his hooves with a concerned gaze. “I might be alright with you walking through my head right now, but if you start marking your territory like a dog here… it will not be good for my mental health.”

“Are you really sure you want to get claimed by some inept child, Nimble?” Noble threw a questioning look at him, ignoring my growling.

“I don't really have a choice, and my mate prefers me to be alive and claimed over dead and defeated.”

“Fair point,” Noble agreed with another unhappy sigh. “Very well then,” he turned back to me, “just press your forehead against the crystal and extend your aura around it.”

I leaned forward to try, when he stopped me with his claw. “It may tickle though.”

Pushing away his claw, I growled my reply. “I can handle that.”

“If you say so.”

I took my time, allowing my gaze to hang on him for a moment longer. I may not know that many azure dragons, but something about Nimbles was off. I couldn’t put my claw on it, but something about Noble was strange, and I am not only talking about the fact he was more personally involved in things than I would have assumed.

Anyway…

My gaze moved down onto the crystal again. Its pulsing had significantly quickened, and the light it was emitting was strong and played across my fetlocks. There was something fascinating coming from it. Slowly, I raised my claw and slowly let it come to rest against the crystal's surface. It was warm, and indeed, a light tickling began to travel up my foreleg. I took a deep breath, and lowered my head, replacing my claw with my forehead.

As soon as they connected, I could feel emotions! The crystal really had its own personality! I felt a whiff of greeting and welcoming, along with curiosity and a tiny bit of hesitation.

“Nimble, can you…”

“Yes, Mylady, I can,” he nodded and kneeled down, as did his inner dragon and pony.

What a strange feeling, I thought to myself. Suddenly, pictures rushed in before my inner eye. Pictures of Kirins, pictures of places. Too quick and too blurry to really make out any details. It was clear to me though that it was random memories of Nimble.

“Don’t worry about it, it will sort itself out as soon as your connection properly establishes itself. The beginning is always a bit shaky,” a female voice explained.

“Who said that?” I kept my forehead on the crystal but tried to look around. “Who else is here now?”

“Uhm, there is no one else besides us, Mylady,” Nimble answered.

“Somecreature spoke with me!”

“But there is none,” Nimble once more said. “And I should know if someone else was in my head, shouldn’t I?”

“But I heard somecreature, I’m sure about it!”

“He can’t hear me,” that female voice explained. “Only the dominant one can.” A second of silence followed. “Fiery Leadership, I see… the one with the blessing of a goddess. How interesting.”

“Who are you?” I asked, but the voice was already gone. I didn’t know how I knew, but I was very certain about that fact.

“Mylady?” Nimble now sounded concerned. “To whom are you talking?”

“There was a new voice, but now it’s gone.”

“A new voice? Here in my head?”

“It seems so, though, I am still not sure who she was. However…” My thought returned back to the crystal before me. “That mystery can wait for later.” Once again, I reached out with my aura, deeper this time, grasping for the very core of the crystal. It reacted to my actions by glowing stronger until, in a flash of light, I found myself back on the plane, sitting on Nimbles belly.

Author's Note

Well, I sadly couldn't find some artist this time to draw a inchapter artwork, well maybe next time again

Hope you enjoyed it anyway!

Edited again by my friend Schattendrache
And Pre-read by QueenChrysalisForever