Summer held her lips closed with her teeth, trembling. She had messed up. The only real question was how badly she had managed to do so, and asking felt horrifying on every level. "You alright?" A kirin had asked, a mare. "You're looking as bad as your friend was."

In a small, but clean and fresh little hut, Winter and Maple were together. Maple was squeezing Winter by the cheeks, her hooves pressing in slow circles. "Everything's alright," she assured. "Whether you get along with them or not won't scare us away."

Winter curled a hoof to his chin. There was that... Maple and Summer weren't kirins, and they liked him just as he was... Still... He stood up and nuzzled gently at her. She didn't seem surprised when he walked past her. He had to know...

He walked up to another kirin. Male or female? He actually wasn't sure and colored mildly at that. Not that he planned on doing anything with any kirin that required that knowledge, but that lack of basic knowledge was... irritating. The kirin didn't even notice Winter. So Winter waited, and watched.

Minutes passed in silence. The other kirin stretched out and stood up, turning to-- "Oh!" she yelped, her voice making it clear which she was. "When did you get there? You suprised me..." She angled he head to the side faintly. "You really do look like a mare." She colored at that. "More than me..." She rated a -20, comfortably angrongynous. "I won't admit it. I won't!"

What would she not admit? Winter looked at her curiously.

"Nnng! Not fair!" She trembled in place before flopping forward. "I'm super jealous. Why is a stallion looking so much more mare than me, a mare?"

She did not have the harsh jangles of Autumn Blaze, but she spoke, and she had things to say. He reached for her prone form and set a hoof quietly on her shoulder.

"Aw, thanks." She sat up, understanding the gesture without words. "Well... You are pretty, not gonna lie." She glanced off and back. "Are you... much of a stallion?" She sharply inhaled. "No insults intended! Just, um, figured your dial was all set one way...." She sank without flopping. "I sound like an idiot... Maybe being quiet has perks."

Winter smiled faintly. There was a kirin understanding the truth. Quiet could be a blessed thing. He gestured at himself, then her, and offered a hoof.

She met the hoof with a slop clop. "Splash Steam," she introduced. "Nice to meet you, and thank you for not being mad at me... Probably would deserve it. You're Winter Flame, right?" He nodded. "That's a nice name."

He considered. Splash Steam was also nice. He nodded at her and sat next to her.

"I remember this." She went quiet, and just sat with him. The two shared in silence. That was it! It was what Winter had hoped for. There was a kirin, just... being. They were silent, but talking. They were experiencing and sharing without words getting in the way. It was... It was nice, but he knew she would speak eventually. This was a break, for her, not a way of life, as it was for him.

She inclined an ear at him. "This is what it was like, for all of us." She colored. "Sorry, I can be quiet if you want."

Winter perked at that. He pawed at her gently.

"Want to hear more? Alright." Silence was good, but she made him too curious. "We used to get into fierce fights... We'd burst into flames." She threw her arms wide. "Fwoosh... And then things burned, sometimes each other, but our things too... We weren't happy... But then we found the stream of silence, and it quieted us down, inside and out. Our emotions were cool. Our voices were silenced. Nothing but quiet." She fell back to that silence for a time, existing with Winter. "Some parts of it were kind of nice... Thank you, for the reminder. I need to shut up more often." She stood up. "Thank you."

Was she leaving? He stood up as she had, watching her, eye to eye. She met his gaze, the two staring at one another.

But she did withdraw, turning. "I missed that. If it helps... you can still be quiet when you can talk." She smiled gently. "I wouldn't mind being quiet with you again." She trotted off in a jog towards other things in her day, leaving Winter to his thoughts.

"How ya doin'?" Oh, Applejack. She wasn't as quiet. At least she seemed nice, and she wasn't quite as jangly as Autumn. "Yer lookin' happier. Glad ya caught yer breath."

Winter raised a hoof in a mild wave. She was a friend, even if not quiet.

"Saw that other kirin. Ya two hit it off?" He nodded. "That's good! The girls'll be happy to hear ya made a friend." She pointed past him. "That's where yer stayin', right?"

He looked and nodded, that was the comfy place they had been given to use.

"Liking it?"

She sure liked to ask a lot of questions. Compared to the silence he had just enjoyed, it was... He sighed gently and set a hoof on her, meeting her eyes. Sometimes that worked. And it was working. Applejack was looking him back in the eyes, and for a time, there were quiet between them.

"That a yes?" she asked, one ear falling. "Ah don't understand ya like yer mares. Mighty fine family, bein' so tight ya don't even need no words."

Winter nodded with growing pride. Yes, they talked without words. That was family!

"But there are things ya need words for," she went and countered the words she had just said. "Big thoughts, little thoughts... Sometimes, you know, gotta talk it out to work through it. Just bein' there ain't always enough." She rubbed behind her head softly. "Yer makin' it work, jus' hopin' ya can keep it goin'."

Winter watched her leave, mild displeasure on his face. Was he doing it wrong? The trip had raised so many questions. A little quiet time considering it would help.

Summer didn't go talk to Maple, or Twilight, or any of those. She had to go to the top. "Miss?"

Rain Shine looked up from where she had been relaxing on a large cushion fit for her. "Hm? Oh. You're the couple..." She trailed off. "That isn't the right word, there are three of you. Triplet? No, that makes me think of foals... How can I help?"

Summer looked around at the other kirin, but they were mostly not paying attention. They were talking to each other, or playing games, and otherwise enjoying their best kirin lives. The town was quite idyllic. Did any of them have jobs? Summer shook her head as she came in closer. "Ma'am. I did... somethin' really dumb. It didn't..." She bit it back. No excuses... "I did somethin' really really dumb."

Rain inclined her head faintly. "Care to share it?" She did not get loud, or move. She had the quiet cool of the kirin, and she was patient.

Summer sat and played her hooves together. "Ya see... before ah met Winter, ah was a lonely mare. Ah was makin' ends meet, but still lonely."

Rain blinked slowly. "What did you do?" She did not claim sympathy. Perhaps she had none, or perhaps she did. She didn't say.

"Ah... heard ah could get a pony." She laughed a little hysterically, breath held even as she did it. "They could do a kirin, they said... Brought a picture, one ah drew... An'... they made 'em. An' ah got a Winter." She started at a touch. Rain was touching her face, split hoof gently brushing away tears. "Sorry..."

Rain inclined her head the other way. "Winter is made? He is magic?"

"Maybe? I dunno!" She threw up her hooves and brought them down in two clops. "Ah don't know how any of it worked... but she went and made him just as ah drew him, so we got a girly kirin stallion." She colored through her entire face. "All pretty, with that big horn that's so darn perfect." She glanced at the other kirin, voice lowering. "He's even big where one might want a stallion to be big."

Rain joined the coloring, though hers was far less complete. "I see... But he is not one of mine. He is not even a kirin. He is... a dream, in the form of a kirin. A lovely dream, that had made you happy."

Summer smiled, tears staining her cheeks in silent spilling. "You ain't angry? Ah'd be livid! Plenty of reason to be, somepony just... makin' somepony up like that... If ah saw a relation like that, ah'd lose... Ah'd be so mad..."

"But they are not a relation. They aren't like many kirin I know." Rain leaned in slowly. "They are a lovely dream that brings joy, and wishes only to be a good dream, not a nightmare. Why would I be angry at that?"

Summer tapped her hooves in nervous little motions. "He's tellin' the world what a kirin is, and he don't even know! Poor thing..." She slumped with a heavy gust of air. "Poor thing... And ah did it! I made this... I made him!" She recoiled. "Did I make him? He... He came to me lookin' different... All tall and furless. Two legs!" Summer stood up to show the basic shape of a human as best she could. "Fingers here." She thrust forward one of her forehooves. "An' so confused... Ah... Ah told him my dream, and he started to dream with me, and..." She crashed forward, drawing eyes as she slapped into the ground on her belly. "Yer right! He's my dream, jus'... dreamin' with me! I'm awful."

Rain did not understand much of that, and didn't pretend to, instead gently being there for the distressed mare. "Are they unhappy?"

"Pardon me." Eyes rose to see Twilight there at the doorway. "Sorry, but that description." Her magic glowed as she formed the image of a human in the air. "Is it like this?" The holographic human waved, fingers wriggling.

Summer's eyes went wide. "Yes, just like that! How...?"

Twilight waved the image away. "That is a human. I've met them before, both on their world, and on this one. Curious species... Winter is one of those?"

Summer trembled. Somepony knew about that? "Am ah in trouble?"

"I should imagine not, at least from me." Twilight turned to Summer's borrowed hut. "This is more of a question for you and him. Does he know where he came from?" She squinted with thought. "And do you know where Doctor Fetlock is? I would dearly like a... conversation."

Summer could hear the meaning in that. "It was right hard trackin' her down the first time."

"I was afraid of that," sighed out Twilight. "Thank you." Not aimed at Summer, but Rain Shine. "This must be terribly confusing."

Rain nodded at both of her visitors. "Quite, but interesting as well... Summer." Summer turned quickly to the large kirin. "You have been bad. Fetishizing us." She inclined her head. "On some level, it is charming, to be thought of that way. Are we really so comely? This is your first time meeting us, is it not?"

Summer shuffled in place. "N-not exactly. Ah met one other who came through town. They left a powerful 'pression on me. Ah'm real sorry."

"You can put wrong to right." She smiled gently, showing no real anger. "Learn us, the real us, the ugly and the wonderful. The angry and the thoughtful. We are creatures, just like you, with ups... and downs." She lifted and lowered her hoof with that. "We may drive you to anger at times, but I imagine ponies do the same, hm?"

Twilight bowed her head at Rain Shine. "Thank you for being understanding. As... awkward as this is, I don't think Summer meant anything bad."

Author's Note

The cards are being spread on the table. How will Summer react? And Winter, for that matter.

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