A soft clopping had Applejack hopping from her bed. A glance showed the sun was heavy, late in the day on towards evening. "Hello?" But nopony answered as she came over to the door. A delivery? She threw it open, her eyes directed at the ground where she saw the bottoms of legs. "What?" She recoiled, vision raising to see the rest of Winter. "Hey there! Ya startled me. What brings ya this way?"

Winter pointed past Applejack.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, you can come in, if that's what yer askin'?" She stepped aside for the kirin and closed the door behind him. "Welcome to my little place, borrowed as it is. Now how can ah help?"

Winter turned back to the apple farmer and raised a hoof to direct at his throat as he opened and closed his mouth slowly with little pops, but no words, and not much sound other than those muted pops.

"Oh right! The silence spell." Applejack nodded as she sat down. "Alright, wanna hear the entire story?" Winter nodded quickly in a bob. "So, me an' Fluttershy, another friend of mine, went out and found the kirin. They were silent, like you!"

Yes, silent kirin! That was the normal way. The way kirin were meant to be. Winter liked the way the story was going.

"But we met one kirin that weren't silent. In fact, she had a lot to say. An' she told us the kirin wanted to stop becoming Nirik. That's when they go all... flamey." She wobbled her hooves in a pantomime of fire. "If they were quiet, they couldn't upset each other, so no fire! Weren't a good idea... Anywho... One adventure later and we convinced them to stop bein' so quiet, and now they're happy, and talking." Applejack leaned forward slowly towards her visitor. "And then there's you."

Winter silently sat there, watching Applejack and showing no reaction to the words she had just said. He slowly raised a hoof and pointed at himself.

"Yes you." Applejack smiled a little. "Curious thin' you are. Now, those kirin went quiet, and stopped bein' quiet, but you're still quiet. Ah still don't know fer sure if you got dunked in the silent stream or not. Ah assume so? Ya get fixed?" He shook his head. "Well... then ya should head back to the kirins and get that sorted out." She lifted her shoulders. "Don't mean ya gotta talk, but should have the option, right? Mah big brother's real quiet, but when he has somethin' to say, he can say it."

Winter wanted for a moment to see Applejack's brother. Perhaps in silence they would find understanding. Applejack was loud, and opinionated. Not in a rude way, so far he could see, but quiet was what he had gotten used to. Becoming a source of noise himself sounded... scary.

"Ain't no pressure." She patted him, perhaps seeing his discomfort. "It's yer life, and ya done went and got a family, so ya must be doin' somethin' right! Ah ain't here to tell you otherwise."

He smiled just a little at those words. His life was good. He had a good life? The memory of his former life drifted towards the surface. He had been playing a game... He had work the next day? Winter clearly didn't get to that. He shook his head free of those thoughts. Winter had a family, with two lovely wives that loved him a lot, and he loved a lot! He had a life, and it was a good one... He nodded at Applejack and rose to his hooves. She didn't stop him from leaving.

"Hm." As soon as he was gone and the door was closed, Applejack fetched some paper and scribbled out a quick note.

Howdy Do, Autumn Blaze,

I ran into another kirin, Winter Flame. I don't think he's from your village, at least not recently? He's acting like he's still silent. You want to ask your princess what she thinks? Yes, I know she's not exactly a princess, but she's your princess. Ask her about it, if you would. I pointed him towards your town but that isn't any promises, and he's grown enough that I can't go forcing the issue without being super rude about it.

Either way, I'll include the address for here so your reply gets to the right place. Let me know, quick if you can. Just want to make sure there isn't a lost kirin out there not getting the help they need when I could have given that hoof.

A Concerned Pony,
Applejack

She checked her ts and is before she folded it shut and delivered it to the nearest post pony. "An' now I wait!"

"Wait for what?" There was Twilight, looking at her curiously. "Writing home?"

"Writing to his home, I think." She moved past Twilight. "But, fer now, dinner. Wanna join?"

The two went off to get a nibble.

"Nuh uh." Summer moved to block the way Maple had been going. "You ain't leavin'."

Maple inclined her head slowly. "This was a right fun day an' all, but it's late and ah should get some sleep, pretty sure."

Summer pointed towards their bedroom. "Then sleep here. You ain't sleepin' alone an ya shouldn't be alone no more. We're married! For Celestia's sake, that you still have your house is... embarrasin'! Only families wit' problems sleep in separate beds, let alone separate houses! C'mon, we don't snore."

Maple darkened quickly. "Ah know that! We've slept together before, Summer."

"I know you did! So what's the problem?"

Maple stepped forward instead of back, almost thumping chest to check with Summer. "That's my family home! It was left ta me and just... givin' it up don't sit right with me none! I don't see you givin' up yer house. You could! You could move in with me jus' the same and I'd put you up without a complaint."

Summer clenched her teeth, but stepped back. "That... does change things... I wouldn't take kindly if ya asked me to move out." Even if that just happened if one looked at it the wrong way. "But we're still a family... We should be together, in one place. 'Sides, one day we're gonna pop! An' the others should be there, to get us to the doctor an' be with us, ya know?"

"I get that..." Maple pawed at the ground and flopped to her haunches. "I get it! I do... You're not bein' all mean about it... But just leavin' the house to rot... Ah can't do that!"

Summer set a hoof on her chin. "Got family?"

"Pardon?"

"Family." Summer smiled in a slowly emerging gesture. "Family to give the house to, that you'd trust to take right proper care of it, and you'd be givin' them a pleasant house. A fair trade, hm?"

"Hm..." She didn't sound nearly as certain. "I'll check with 'em, but that ain't tonight." She turned for the door. "Tonight, goin' home, alright? And even head mare powers won't stop that."

"My power has limits." She hurried up to Maple's side and smooched her on the snout. "But I'm giving you some love to take with you, so there."

"Oh, no." Maple motioned as if gathering something. "That I'll gladly take with me. Tell Winter I said I hope he had a pleasant sleep." And she was off towards her own home.

Applejack!

Hi there! Wow, we should write to each other more often! How are things? How are you? Why aren't you in Ponyville? That's your home, right? Did you move? Is anything wrong? Tell me! If you just wanted to move, that's alright too. I didn't mean to sound all judgy. Anyway! Hi!

Rain Shine has a name! And she's not our princess, sheesh! She's more like a mayor than anything else if you had to put a title to her. She usually has good ideas and we listen to her because she tends to know which end is which. Anyway! I asked her about it and she got curious. We don't know any Winter Flames, even with the missing kirin, so you found a new one! Which is confusing anyway.

We kirin, there aren't like a ton of us. Bring him over! She said that. Bring him over so we can say hello properly and see if he's cursed or not. If he is cursed, we can fix it, but even if he isn't, we want to meet the new kirin! You said he's quiet, but maybe he's playful too. I'd like a chance to play with someone new, even if they don't talk a lot. I can talk at them if they're alright with that. The town was mostly a downer because they didn't like it when I talked at them. Glad that's over!

So bring him over, and you visit too! You're still our friend, right? I'd love to see you!

Burning with Excitement,
Autumn Blaze

Applejack set the note down with a tired sigh. "Well... Alright then."

"You keep exchanging letters without telling me." Twilight sat next to her. "Going to share? This is why we haven't gone back, right?"

Applejack tapped at the letter. "Too right. Just like I thought, Winter doesn't fit in right with the kirin neither. They wanna meet him, shake hooves, but also figure out what's goin' on."

Twilight inclined her head slowly. "That sounds delightful, but we have no say over what he does, or not, and he's married, so there are other ponies who get a say. We can't just order them to go to the kirin village."

"Reckon not... Good call though." Applejack headed for the door with a flick of her tail. "Gonna chat with Summer. She seems to be the one in charge. If I get her sayin' alright, the others will probably follow along without much a fuss."

Twilight quickly cut off Applejack's planned route. "Hold on! Maybe I should talk to her? You two seem to have a history, and not all a good one." She tapped at her own chest. "Unlike me."

"Twilight... You were there." Applejack let her brows raise back to default. "She remembers when y'all all came to get me and we made a right mess of the factory. Whichever of us goes, she'll remember that. Kinda hard to forget, really... I really should apologize for that while I'm at it, her an' Miss Jubilee, an' I'll find both at the factory." She looped around Twilight, but the unicorn was still next to her, following. "Ya ain't stopping me."

"Don't plan to. If you owe an apology, then I do too. We both caused the same mess at the same time." Twilight advanced to Applejack's side in their march down the street. "By my calculations, we are equally due to give a sincere apology for how that worked out, and for any inconvenience that made."

"Well... can't argue that rightly..." Applejack relaxed a little. With the two not arguing about who was going where, they could march side by side without any further delays. They had some past mistakes to live up to!

Author's Note

To the factory!

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