"How much?" asked Maple, her jaw a little slack.

"This much." Summer waved to a picture frame that had become the home of the increased amount Winter had gotten for himself. Was it technically required? Far from it, but Summer's grin spoke that she thought it worth the price. "Now he's makin' almost twice me."

Maple inclined her head before flicking upright. "And ya ain't mad? He's kinda new at it, and you've been workin' there forever-like."

"He's good at it." Summer shrugged expansively. "Besides, he's doin' it for me, for us." She wagged the hoof between herself and Maple. "He saw he has a family that's only gonna get bigger an', without even askin', went to make sure he can do his part to make it work. Ahm so proud ah him!"

Maple allowed an unsure little laugh. "Y-yeah... That's good, sure." She rubbed her cheek. "But Jubilee ain't no fool."

"'Course she ain't" Summer squinted at Maple. "What's that got to do with nothin'?"

"So if she bumped him up like that." Maple pointed firmly at the number. "She's gonna expect to get that out of him. He signed up to work, and work hard." She brought her hooves to barely touch one another. "Ah don't think he's thinkin' this through."

"Like you thought it through?" She thumped Maple on the chest. "Had a namin' dream yet?"

"No!" Maple's cheeks went dark at the idea. "I may not, we can't know that."

"But the odds are with ya." Summer began to circle around Maple in a prowl. "Ah asked why he had to do it, that day, an' you know what he said?"

"Nothing?" That seemed a safe bet, considering what stallion was being spoken of.

Summer snorted softly. "He says a lot an' you know it. He pointed at his nose." She turned a hoof at her own, twitching it with big sniffs of air. "He thought you smelled good."

Maple's coloring only grew darker. "He didn't!"

"He did." Summer nodded firmly. "You were ready. Probably part of why you were hot to trot, even in yer friend's house!"

"Ah said sorry!" Maple sank to her belly, covering her face with her hooves.

"Ah ain't angry." Summer patted Maple on the shoulder. "But ya were ready and ya did it anyway. This is at least half yer fault. Didn't yer mom teach ya about that?"

Maple's ears wilted down to either side, hanging. "Ah'm no young filly, Summer... It's been... quite some time since we had that chat. We're both done grown up... It never... It never came up. I wasn't even thinkin' of that."

"If it makes you feel better." Summer snorted as she pointed at herself. "Ah obviously made the same choice. But when ah did it, there weren't no other foals involved. Now... we can't take back what we already did. Yer probably a tickin' bomb, jus' like me. When ya get that dream, ya tell me, alright?"

"I will. Ah will!" Maple scrambled back to her hooves. "Look, ah'm jus' sayin' we need to support him too. 'Sides, that's what herd do normal-like."

"Herds are not normal," caustically noted Summer, each word spoken firmly. "But here we are... Here we are..." She reached for Maple, who didn't resist, running a hoof over Maple's belly and sides. "Technically, ya know, means we're gonna be married too."

Maple's bright coloring shifted with that new realization being driven home. "Well, we were already best of friends... Ah'm not... against it."

"But it means we have to make a choice." Summer prodded firmly. "Two herd mares are two things." She raised both her hooves, one higher. "They're either like sisters." One hoof lowered so the other could go hight. "Or they're wives. Which is it we're aimin' for?"

Maple began to fidget with restless energy. "Before all that, shouldn't we... make it official? We can't keep this a secret forever-like."

"We could." Summer closed with Maple, leaning in over the unsure maple farmer. "This here ain't no big town. People like to get upset about new things. Shoot, remember how they reacted to jus' him bein' here? Now he's gone and snatched up two mares right under their watch? There gonna be some unkind thoughts 'round that."

"That ain't fair." Maple sat, but raised her head, upright. "Like yer boss. Miss Jubilee thinks he's great, an' she likes both of us plenty. Bet she could knock heads together, an' ah bet she would if ponies started actin' up."

Summer danced in place from hoof to hoof. "Well, sure..." It weren't hard to imagine Jubilee thumping a pony that was being unreasonable to one of her workers. "But hiding behind mah boss..."

"She already owes ya one." Maple's unsure expression brightened to a smile. "If ya promise it's way in the past an' tell her the truth, bet she'd sign right up to stand behind ya."

Her bright smile turned into a squeak as Summer shoved her over. "When did you get so wicked?!" Summer stormed away. "Still, ain't a bad idea..."

"Right?!" Maple trailed after Summer. "Bet if you jus' told her, she'd announce it fer us, make a big deal out of it. We'll... be... It'll be awkward sure... but ain't not a pony in this town that'd fight her if she says it's a good thing."

A bell chimed. It was a little thing, but it let Winter announce that food was ready. Maple turned an ear towards it. "Winter food? I'm invited too?"

Summer rolled her eyes. "Did you already forget? We're family." She threw a leg over Maple, the two headed for the kitchen. "But ya never did answer the question. We sisters, or wives?"

They turned the corner into the kitchen, only to find a kirin's snout in the way. There was Winter, giving each of them a welcoming touch of his snoot to theirs before gesturing at the dinner he had made.

Maple clapped her hooves in appreciation. "Lookin' mighty good! Like to spoil a mare." She hurried up, leaving Summer's grip, and her question, behind. "Ah could get used to havin' two ponies around that right like to whip up somethin' tasty."

Winter just looked at her curiously. Summer put it to words. "You cook plenty."

"Well, sure." Maple got comfy in her seat. "But ah make sweet things. Things you expect maple in. That ain't this." She spread her hooves over the dinner provided. "Both are nice, but it ain't the same."

Summer climbed up onto her own seat. "Sellin' yerself short. There are recipes out there for not-dessert that use maple." She leaned over the table, looking at Maple. "In fact, gonna get you a book of 'em, so there. Now, you want a challenge? Try usin' cherry for not-dessert. Now that's a real challenge."

Maple laughed awkwardly. "Alright alright! Still... yer not 'Cherry'. That's yer boss. You're Summer. Bein' all warm and bright all over us." She fanned herself lightly. "An' that's alright too." She shoved a hoof into a fork, clicking it into place, ready for her to use, attached to her hoof. "Winter now, he's a contradiction, right there in the name. Cool and collected 'xcept when he's not. Real hot if you know where to look."

Summer took a slow loud breath. "We're 'bout to announce to everypony exactly where to look."

Winter inclined his head. He hadn't heard that part of the conversation.

"Oh." Summer seemed to pick up without a word spoken. "Jus' an idea Maple had." She pointed at the nibbling mare. "Come right out an' tell Miss Jubilee exactly what's going on, let her make a big deal 'bout it. If it has her seal of approval, not many gonna make a fuss about it."

Winter's ears twitched atop his head, ornate things turning this way and that. Internally, he considered it, the situation, the idea, and the fallout of it. He snorted and pawed at the chair he had sat on, unsure.

"She's gonna get involved." Summer inclined her head at Winter. "Not much avoidin' that. But if we pick how, we can take advantage a bit. Forgive her for that mixup we had, but get her on our side, so we can be together without a big stink."

Part of that made sense, total sense. But other parts of that... Flame wafted up along his scaled back, the scent of charred wood teasing the air as he set the chair he was seated on to smolder under his emotional outpouring. His expression remained neutral, but emotions were emotions, and he failed to keep them entirely in order despite it. His left eye was lost to sight, becoming flames even as he sat there calmly.

Maple cringed a bit. "You feel alright there, Winter?"

Summer reached to pat a flame, only to discover that fire was, strangely enough, very warm. She wrenched her hoof back and away. "Winter, what's wrong?"

Winter had no words. He wasn't known for that. His horn began to glow, only to ignite instead of forming anything useful. He hopped to the floor, scorch marks with every touch of his burning hooves. He could see the damage he was causing and that didn't help as he began to scramble away.

Only to have the mares chasing after him as they exploded out of the house. He crashed to his haunches on the dirt, heaving for breath. The ground smoldered but he couldn't set the dirt on fire it seemed. The scraggly grasses that were too close combusted, burning away quickly as more and more of his form was lost to the fire that swept over him, transitioning from a kirin fully into a nirik.

The worst part being that he didn't know why. What they said wasn't that bad. Nothing that awful was going on! He just had to take control of his feelings. He was a kirin! Kirins were cool and collected! Kirins did not let their feelings just... run away with them. Winter grunted softly as he tried to force those emotions down. Everything was fine. Everything was... fine...

Summer suddenly grabbed him in a hug. It was a kind of nice. It was also a terrible idea. Summer quickly realized this as she let out a scream and fell back, her attempt to love away the problem proving quite a poor idea overall.

Maple was on Summer in a flash, patting out the flames and smothering her as best she could.

And there was Winter, watching it, but unable to help in any real way. If he reached, he would only be making it worse. His magic had fled him, used for the fire? He had hurt Summer! The flames only got hotter as he fidgeted in place. He wanted to help. He was mad, at himself, and at her. Why did she do that?! He wanted to swat her, but doing that would hurt a lot more than he wanted in that moment.

He wanted to shout, but kirins didn't shout.

They burned, apparently. Oh, and shouted. He wasn't sure when it happened exactly, but he was letting out a howl, wordless, but full of the emotions he had been keeping such a tight lid on for months. The heat spread from him as he stomped and thrashed, letting it all out whether he wanted to or not.

All the thousand little things were escaping him, the tight lid on his emotions blown clear off into the air as he lit up the area brightly, forcing the mares to back away. He wanted them closer, not farther away! His fire only got hotter as he snarled and stomped, even the dirt starting to light on fire, pools of flames beneath him wherever he set a hoof.

He wanted them closer, but they couldn't, and he knew that. He had to calm down. He had to be a calm and collected kirin. That is what kirins were! He had to calm down.

Just calm down.

Author's Note

Winter has... a moment. Just imagine, this is what the entire kirin village was like at one point. Everyone going silent as an alternative maybe wasn't entirely a nuts idea.

Pity Winter was never actually silenced, just told to be quiet. That was a typo, and we are paying the price.

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