She trailed patterns in the dirt at the end of her cloven hooves, tail lashing behind her. "This time...." She was alone, but she didn't mind that. Dancing back from her intricate pattern, she clapped. "Let's try it!" The kirin's ornate horn glowed with power. "It's time for kirin magic!"

Magic burst forth from her, and a portal opened, shining with light. "It's a portal, which means...it's time to go through the portal! And that's what I'm gonna do!" With a giggle of anticipation, she trotted towards it. "The very first kirin portal. Wonder where it goes?" She eyed it a moment, then shrugged. "One way to find out." With a great leap, she jumped through it.

***

"Alright, pup." She ruffled Kit Tune's head gently. "You may be my child, but today, you're an adult. Still my kid. You'll always be there."

His tail wagged with vibrant energy. "Of course, Mom. You'll always be my mom too." He jumped forward, grabbing her in a firm hug. "But, yeah, um."

She laughed gently. "Today you get your first mission." She curled her fingers, summoning a floating display. "We have an Equestrian that just got herself lost. She'll be landing on Everglow, Ashen timeline. Nasty place. She'll need a good friend to keep her safe. Think you're up for it?"

Kit nodded firmly. "Of course! Saving ponies is the best thing we can do. We'll be friends forever!"

She smiled. "I know you will, Kit. I know." She turned to her console, typing. "If you can make a friend, bonus. But your mission is to keep her safe until she gets back home. Do that, success. Make a friend, that's extra. Come back with a foal, I will give you such a look, but technically not banned."

Kit colored brightly at that. "I just want to make a friend, mom, not get a wife." He rubbed behind his head, clopping with his pony hooves. A creature both fox and pony, he had bits of both, with hooves below and curious fingers above. "I'm ready! Let's go!" He wiggled back and forth.

His mother nodded. "I'm opening the portal for you, now. You know how to use your magic. Good luck." With a flare, the portal opened. "You can call me, but only if it's an emergency. Use your own head, Kit. I know I gave you a good one of those."

Kit charged for the portal, just to slide to a stop. "Tell Mom where I am."

She snorted at that. "I'll keep Octavia in the loop. She'd get cross with me if I let her son wander off without doing at least that."

He grinned at that. "Thanks." With that, he dove in. The swirling portal closed behind him.

***

The kirin landed, not on grass, or leaves, or even a city street. It was a strange substance that gave beneath her a little. She raised a hoof, smeared with the stuff and took a sniff. Ash? She looked to the sky and gasped. Not the sky, but a ceiling of ash. The sky itself was a dull grey that seemed to be raining down. She held out her hoof and caught some of the substance.

It felt like she had arrived in a world of ash. Not wanting to be rained on, she trotted forward into it, looking for some cover, any cover. "Spring Shower, what have you gotten yourself into?"

She squinted against the driving rain of ash. It had gone from pleasant warmth to a burning heat. Fortunately for her, kirin didn't mind heat overly much. Ahead, she could see a cave, a rocky outcropping that promised some shelter from the unrelenting ash. Her hooves kicked up clouds, her tail leaving a streak that slowly settled, like she was running through dust.

She got to the cave and slipped inside. Her horn glowed, the magic around it bursting into a ball of flames that illuminated her surroundings.

"Hello." A figured emerged from the dark. It had pony hooves, but fingers at the end of its arms. "Bad weather, huh?"

She stepped backwards, the flames flaring in her surprise. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to intrude." He wasn't a kirin, and she didn't know how to react.

Kit spread his arms. "This isn't my cave. I'm visiting too. You can come on in." He gestured to the back of the cave. "I don't have a campfire, but I can offer a few snacks?" He sat on the rocky floor. Digging into a pocket, he pulled out a parcel of plastic. Within it, subtle hints of something sweet began to emerge. "I have chocolate."

Chocolate? She'd heard of it, but never had it before. "Sure. I'd be glad to have some." She trotted up to him, then folded her legs, laying on the ground. "Um, so, hi. I'm Spring Shower." She curled a cloven hoof to point at herself. "Who are you?"

Kit smiled. "I'm Kit. Kit Tune. A pleasure to meet you." He broke off a section of the chocolate, offering it to her. She gingerly accepted it in her hoof, then brought it to her mouth. "Isn't it great?" He took a bite directly with his teeth, breaking off a chunk and chomping with a glad smile. "Mm. Wow, it's really coming down out there."

She chewed on the chocolate, feeling it melt away in her mouth, leaving only a pleasant taste. "It is. I've never seen anything like this before." She glanced towards him again. "So, uh, you live here?"

"Nope." He folded his arms with a smile. "I'm new here too. I never saw it rain like that. What even is that?" Curiosity getting the better of him, he scrambled for the exit on all fours and shoved a hand out to feel the ash rain on it. Withdrawing it, the ash was clinging to his fur, and he shook it to dislodge it. "It feels like dust, but warm."

She'd never seen someone on all fours like that. Not anyone that preferred two legs anyway. "You're a curious one. But a nice creature, I think. There are worse sorts to run into."

"Like us?" A boot thrust out from the sheet of ashes, kicking Kit Tune back into the cave. Following it came a griffon with a scowl, another just behind him. "You two have crappy luck, or we have good ones, take your pick." He raised a gun, something Spring Showers looked confused at, a Kit shrank from. "Now kindly get to dropping everything you got."

Spring shower's eyes went from curious to angry. She rose to her hooves. "Or you'll do what? I'm not scared of you!" She stamped her hoof, her tail lashing.

"Oh, that one has spirit. I hate it." The griffon raised his gun at her and took a shot with no delay.

Spring rocked back with the impact, feeling nothing at first, just stunned. What had he done? She raised a hoof to where a mild stinging was coming. Oh, she was bleeding. She stared at her blood, feeling her mind go blank.

Kit Tune's eyes snapped to his fallen companion, then at the two griffons. They'd already started to circle. "Just hand over your stuff, and we'll be going. Hopefully, you're a little smarter than your friend over there."

He rose to his hooves, his hands clenching and unclenching. "You...shot her." The air around him seemed to get heavier, the light dimmer. The griffons paused, staring at him. He took a shot, but the bullet wrapped around some unseen sphere, unable to connect with the kitsune-pony. "How dare you!"

Spring shower watched as the two griffons were flung through the air, landing in the ash, then dragged back towards the cave. "Whoa." She watched with wide eyes, the kitsune-pony walking forward on two legs, his tail lashing behind him.

"Bad people! Bad!" Despite his almost childish speech, he battered the griffons with quite adult precision. His magic wrapped them, making them dance like puppets, slamming each into the other, into the ground, and into the walls. Then he tossed them, sending them flying into the ash, where they landed with a puff of dust that was soon covered by more. Their guns, he kept. "Hmmph. You alright? Of course you're not. Bad Kit." He slapped his own forehead, rushing over towards her.

She was a little intimidated. This had not been how she'd expected the fight to go, but she was a bit glad, too. She smiled nervously. "That was amazing."

His ears were pinned back. "I'm not a fighter. My mom said I should, um, only do it when I really needed to. I hope this counted." He dug out a satchel with a big cross on it and started tending to Spring's new wound. "Just stay still. This will sting a bit, but it'll be better when I'm done, promise." His voice had a soft, gentle tone. "I'm sorry this happened to you."

Spring Shower wasn't sure how to handle the apology. He hadn't done it, so why was he saying sorry? "T-thank you, really. I'm not sure what I wold have done if I ran into them before you came."

He finished getting a bandage over the cleaned and otherwise tended wound. "This is a dangerous world. Why did you come here?"

"I didn't mean to." She looked down, a little ashamed, her tail lashing. "I was trying to open a portal and see what was on the other side."

"You got this side." He smiled despite the situation. "Can you make a portal going back?"

"I don't know. Maybe? I need to see the sky. It'll take time to do it." She glanced at him. "I didn't get your name, um."

"Kit." He pet Spring gently along her mane. "I said that. You must still be shocked from getting, you know, shot like that. Does it hurt?"

"No." She wasn't sure if it didn't hurt, or she just couldn't feel it. Either way, she was fine with that. "We just need to wait until this storm stops, then I can see the sky."

He looked ready to pounce on her, but he aborted the motion. "I'll try to get a fire going." He went about the cave, digging into the griffon's bag, then a few bits of dried grass from outside. A spark, then another, and the fire took.

She watched him, then scooted a little closer to him. "So, you came here from somewhere else?"

"Yeah." He didn't volunteer more about it. "Well, we're both here now." His tail slowly resumed its wag. "Let's stick together until you get home, okay?"

She nodded. "That sounds like a plan." A yawn escaped her. "Sorry, I'm tired."

He pet her. "Then rest, okay?" He looked out at the rain of ash. "Rest helps with being hurt." He looked back to her to see she had already passed out. Watching the ash grew tiring in time, so he nestled in with her, soon hugging as he joined her in getting some rest.

They could look for better things after they were ready to go looking for it, or so he decided in those final moments of being awake.

The two slumbered in that little crevice, at least safe from the ash. When Spring Shower woke, her companion was still snoring. The rain had stopped, so she slipped outside, hoping to get a view of the stars, maybe even a glimpse of home. She looked up, but the haze was too great. It was as if that world was just always ready to rain more ash, but it wasn't in that moment. "At least there's that." She turned back for the cave. "Kit? You awake in there?"

No, no he was not. She could hear his loud snoring. With a roll of her eyes and a smile on her lips, she slipped back into the cave and gave him a nudge. "How long were you awake after me? You're out."

Kit's eyes slowly opened, then closed again. "Just...another hour..."

She snorted at him. "Oh no. We've got to get moving. I'm sure there are better places to get stuck on this world than this one." She shook him with a laugh until he was up and moving. "We have a bright day ahead of us. As bright as it gets around here anyway."

Author's Note

And so we begin. Hello, dear reader. Please, sit and enjoy this tale with us. There was a reason Kit was sent to this place and time, clearly.

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