"It's time." Maple nodded with confidence. "We ain't spending another day cooped up in here."

Winter lifted an ornate kirin ear at her, then pointed to the door, then at her.

"I know I could go anytime I wanted." She smiled, pleased she was reading Winter a bit better. "But every day is the same thing. I come over, help you clean and do chores, maybe we sit together all nice and comfy, read a book or somethin', but you're the one trapped." She pointed back at him firmly. "An' ah won't accept it none."

Winter rose to his hooves from his seated position and closed in, gently touching his nose to her cheek.

"It ain't fer me," she complained, raising a hoof to his chin. "It's fer you. Ya need more in your world than just yer two mares." She turned away from him, looking over her shoulder at him. "Much as ah kinda like havin' ya almost to mahself. An exotic and loving stallion and my fillyhood filly..." She suddenly burst into giggles. "It's too much, like a dream or somethin'."

He inclined his head faintly, then pointed towards the door.

"Yep, out there." She resumed her trot, heading for that door. "Everypony knows you ain't a monster, so what are we waitin' fer? Maple season'll come up and then you'll have two busy mares and you all alone in this house? Nuh uh!" She grabbed the door handle in her mouth and opened it without delay. "Out."

He approached at a more sedate walk, peeking out the front door, ears swiveling left and right as if searching for dangers. But there wasn't any such thing in sight.

Maple nudged him from behind, pushing him with the top of her head, mushing her hat in the process. "Go on, git. Ah'll be there with ya, promise."

Winter stepped forward, out of the house, hoof to the dirt outside. It was day, the sun was shining warmly on his scaled back. The wind was gently playing through his mane and making his tail sway a little as it pushed the tuft at the end of it. It was a perfectly nice day by most measures. He sniffed softly, detecting just a little bite. It was approaching fall. Maple season was coming.

"You cut a fine figure there, standing all proper." Maple came out and closed the door behind them. "Now let's introduce you to the town, proper-like this time! No monsters here. Just a nice creature."

He smiled faintly before starting a steady walk towards the main road. He could see country ponies wandering about, getting things done.

A little filly rushed up towards him suddenly. "Who's your friend, Maple?" she cried, eyes all over Winter from top to bottom.

A larger mare came hurrying up to collect the filly. "Don't go runnin' towards strange things!"

Maple held up a hoof, shaking her head. "Don't worry none. This here's Winter, Winter Flames. And he's the nicest creature around."

"Maple." The mother had her eyes on the other mare. "Are you sure?"

"Sure as ah'm standin' here. He wouldn't hurt a fly none." She gestured grandly towards Winter. "He don't talk much though."

The mother mare considered the effimate 'he' before her. "Well... Hello?"

"Hi!" Apparently having decided things were alright, the filly darted forward to circle around Winter. "Winter, huh? That's a nice name. It'll be winter soon! Not yet though. Still a few moons before we run the leaves down."

Winter sat gently and the filly darted in front of him almost instantly. He offered a cloven hoof towards her with a faint smile.

"I'm Country Song," she proudly declared. "Nice to meetcha, Winter! What are you? Ya kinda look like a unicorn." She tilted her head left and right quickly. "A unicorn mare."

He was neither of those things and gently shook his head.

"Reckon not. Your horn's all... big and twisty." She stood back up, bouncing in place. "Does that hurt?" He shook his head. "I don't have no horn." She was a little earth pony, with only four hooves. No wings, no horn. "Can ya do magic like a unicorn?"

His horn began to glow as he plucked up the filly from the ground, levitating her slowly upwards. She squeaked, hooves flailing in the air. "Down down down!" He dropped her, only to catch her, realizing his error. He put the shaken filly back on the ground gently and she vanished behind her mom.

The mother's nostrils flared in a snort. "We should get goin'. You... take care of yerself, Maple." She strode away, keeping her daughter close.

Maple put a hoof to her face. "That coulda gone better, but coulda gone worse too." She looked over her shoulder at him. "Two bits says she'll realize how fun that was and come lookin' for more, later."

He inclined his head before nodding, deciding that wouldn't be a terrible thing.

"Good on you not tryin' to chase either of 'em." Maple began to walk down the road. "Woulda scared 'em both. We're jus', ya know, ponies. We spook kinda easy." She snorted softly as she went. "Just how we are. Keeps us safe most of the time, ah reckon."

He walked at her side silently, considering it. He didn't feel skittish. He didn't feel... many things. He was a kirin, a paragon of stoicism! If something dangerous came, he would handle it calmly and with elegance, and keep his mares safe, like a good kirin. A little smile spread on his face, enjoying that little fantasy of being a hero.

"You look mighty satisfied 'bout somethin'." Maple turned to him. "Ah'm gettin' better, but yer still full of mysteries. Can Kirin just not talk, or do they just... not want to talk?" She closed in, a hoof going to feel his throat. "Ya feel normal enough."

He took a step back from that, ears going down and back.

"Don't mean no harm by it," she assured, sitting down to raise both her forehooves towards him. "Is it the first one?"

He honestly had no idea, just that he was supposed to be quiet... He had made a noise before, he remembered that, so he had a voice, he just wasn't... using it. He shook his head softly.

"So it's the second one?" When he nodded, she clopped her hooves together. "We're gettin' somewhere! Is it a trust thing?" He shook his head softly. "Well, good... you can trust me, right?" He nodded softly. "Ah trust you too." She went in to touch her nose to his, but a cough brought her up short.

The sheriff was there, eyeing the two of them. "Yer sitting in the middle of the street, blockin' traffic, Maple." There wasn't all that much traffic trying to get past them, most ponies seemingly happy to just swerve around them. "Is that the dragon pony you were makin' such a fuss about before?"

Maple's cheeks abruptly went dark. "Y-yeah, but no! He ain't no dragon pony."

"What is... he?" A brow went up. "Don't look like no he."

With his various bits properly hidden, he was, to pony eyes, a strange mare with a great ornate horn and intricate ears and tufts in places ponies didn't have. Not to mention his scaled back that shone softly in the bright light of the day. He was a kirin, but he couldn't say that. He just watched the sheriff instead.

"He's maybe twice the he you are," spat Maple.

That got a red face from the Sheriff, equal parts anger and embarrassment. "You take that back! Ah didn't come here to be compared to no sissy creature."

Maple waved a hoof wildly, realizing how far over the line she had gone. "I didn't mean nothin'!"

"That sure was a lot of 'nothin''," he snorted, a scowl on his face. "Reckon it's about time you paid for your crimes, Maple."

"C-crimes?! What crimes!" She scooted back several steps, but he closed in easily.

"Disturbing the peace, inciting a riot." He tossed his head towards the passive kirin. "Encouraging harm on a creature. Need I go on? Ya done plenty worth a few nights coolin' down in a nice dry cell."

"Ya can't!" She pressed her forehooves together pleadingly.

"Ah can," he retorted, coiling and grabbing his rope free. "Now don't go addin' resistin' arrest to the list and come on peaceful like."

Maple sniffled and shivered, but wasn't fleeing as he casually began to tie the rope around her, but as he worked the last knot into place, the rope refused to get into position, and was glowing. "What the...?" He looked around and saw Winter's horn glowing the same color, though he was still sitting there calmly, watching him. "Now you cut that out! Yer impedin' justice."

He raised a cloven hoof and made a slow circle with it, magic pushing the sheriff back, sliding across the ground. "Now see here." The sheriff dug in his hooves, resisting further pushing. "I am the sheriff of this here town. It's up to me who gets arrested or not, and she's goin' in." He thrust a hoof at the strange not-pony. "Now ya can stand aside or I'll find another cell fer you!"

"Ya only got the one," noted Maple, rubbing behind her head. "Ah guess we could share? Ah mean! Winter! Go home!"

Winter shrank back a little before sitting right up and shaking his head.

"Go. Home," she repeated more firmly. "Ah made my mess. Ah don't want you gettin' in no trouble fer it. Hay, twere my idea to even go outside."

The sheriff casually finished the knot and began leading Maple away. "Ya heard the mare. Ah'll keep her safe until she's paid her debt to society."

How long was that?! He drove a hoof into the ground, digging into the dirt in increasingly angry little scuffs. How long would Maple suffer? A lick of flame ran through his mane, low embers threatening to ignite the lustrous fur. He grabbed at the rope with his magic and gave a tug.

The sheriff's grip was sure and he was yanked with it before pulling back just as hard. "Yer workin' mah..." He trailed off, seeing the strange state Winter was in. Flames were teasing all over his form, running in strange currents of almost-fire. Angrily smouldering. "What's wrong with him? That natural for whatever he is?"

He wasn't thinking. He couldn't think. He was angry, too angry. With a sudden cry, he igniting, becoming a full nirik. Silence broken with a great roar, he charged forward, flames following with every step of his hooves into the ground, leaving twin trails of fury behind him. There were no words, just angry and unintelligible shouting.

Other ponies were poking their heads out from inside houses and around corners, watching the strange flaming creature and their sheriff. Some fled, some stood fixated on what was going on.

"Stop!" Maple was suddenly between Winter and the sheriff. He crashed into her, sending both of them tumbling to the ground. "Please, don't do this," she begged, battered from the impact and trying to pick herself up. "Calm down, please calm down."

But there was no calmness. There was nothing but unending anger. But he knew her. He didn't want her being sad, or hurt. His emotions boiled in a frothing mix, leaving him so very confused, and furious. He did the only thing he could think of to do, he ran. He ran away from the entire thing, leaving a flickering trail of fire behind him as he galloped out of town, not towards anything, just away from it all. He couldn't properly collect his thoughts.

Anger, sadness, despair, anxiety, and other feelings warred in his locked mind as he attacked the ground with every step as if angry hoofsteps would somehow make the whole thing go away. But it was him.

He was the problem, and he was going away.

Author's Note

Hey boy, you aren't really silent. That means you get to face what drove kirin silent in the first place.

Written early for patreons who got this ahead of everyone else. Want to get early chapters, or even your own story written? atreon!

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