Locked Conversation: Autumn Blaze & Marble Pie
Hiding behind her straight mane of dark-cyanish gray tone, a turquoisish gray mare shrank back nervously. Her grayish violet eyes darted along the sidewalk she currently stands on as she watched the various ponies of Manehattan go about their morning. They pay no mind to her, but the task she must undergo with them is making her saddlebag feel heavier. That, or it could've been the gold coins being dropped inside.
"Here's three bits," a stern looking mare told her sister. She buckled the saddlebag, stepping back and adjusting her own around her bluish gray fur, "I want you to use those and go do something sociable. It could be getting your hoof read or playing a game of chess at a park, anything that gets you talking with somepony. We'll meet back here at sunset, got it?" the bossy mare didn't even wait for an answer from the other as she began to take her leave.
The other mare looked back and forth between the crowd and her departing sister, frantically panicking with everything going by so fast. She acted by galloping to her sibling and tightly hugged her neck, enough to get her coughing.
"Ack! Hey, get off." as if her voice wasn't raspy enough, she pushed off the mare and gave her a harsh glare, "Would you rather go to every lapidarist in town to sell the gems we've harvested?"
"Mm-hmm," she nodded with a relieved smile.
"Arguing with them for a fair price for each stone, alone, all by yourself?"
"Hm-hm!" she refused the offer with a shake of her head.
The other pony gave a weighted sigh for this mare she has to deal with, "Look, you need to get over this quiet nature of yours. You need to be more assertive and start speaking up for yourself instead of turning to one of us to do it for you. Our sisters have already left the farm, Ma and Pa aren't going to be around forever, and I'm not always going to be present when you need me. Hiding behind your mane isn't going to solve any of your problems, so you have to overcome your self-consciousness. Sooner, rather than later."
"Hmm," she's uncomfortable with the idea, but she can't fend off the logical reasoning.
"Think about that stallion you had a crush on. You had every opportunity to say something to him, but you just kept quiet and never did anything other than ah-hummed to everything he said. And then what happened? Another mare came by and swept him away from you before you could even muster up the courage to voice your feelings. ...you don't want that to happen with the next stallion you find attractive, do you?"
With a disheartened look in her eyes, she shook her head.
"I wouldn't be doing this if I knew you couldn't handle it. You know your way around things, so you'll fit right in with everyone, but only when you make an attempt for it will that become clear to you."
A pause fell between the two, enticing the sister to make her route, "Look, I need to get started before it gets too late in the day. So just go on a stroll through town and try to enjoy yourself, okay?" she waited this time and received a nod from the mare.
The mare watched her sister trotting off. Taking in her surroundings, the mare rubbed her foreleg as she stood on the sidewalk, saddened and alone.
Placing a cloven hoof before another to the swing of her thin tail, a light golden-gray kirin trotted along one of the many sidewalks in Manehattan. Her apple-green scales shimmered to the sun as much as her golden eyes while she took in everything around her. Her bushy tangelo mane covered most of her head and chest, but her excited smile covered a decent portion of her face, "This place is amazing!"
She stomped the pavement and dragged her hoof, "Rough instead of dusty," she placed a hoof on the building next to her, "stone instead of wood," and then looked at all the active ponies, "and so many engaging faces."
She lifted up her foreleg, waving it over her dark-crimsoned horn, "HELLO, GOOD SIR!"
"SCREW YOU!"
"THANK YOU! ...screw you. ...wonder what that means," she pondered aloud, but waved it off as something to look into later. There was just too much to see on this casual visit through the city.
Such as the chalkboard stand that drew her closer with its bold words and gentle design choices, particularly the first line that said, 'Mareina's Café'. The lin loved the font style, but she kept speculating over what she's seeing. She turned to the store, seeing the calming atmosphere of a café, and then look back at the sign, "Huh... they really should address this place as being a café."
She refreshed her surroundings with a twirl and found herself captivated with the building across the street. 'Salon Marcon' was written along the establishment's windows as clear as day, and just like before, the lin is left to wonder over what it could mean, "Do any of these ponies know how to write in Ponish?"
Just as she was about to look away, the kirin snapped her attention to someone fidgeting in front of the building, that timid gray mare. She was examining the salon and kept walking around it, making brief attempts to enter the store before recoiling back and studying it some more. The lin couldn't see the pony's face, but it's not too far from what she's completely enraptured with, "No-ho-ho way!"
The mare rested her hindlegs as she sat down while looking inside of the salon. She wanted to go inside, but her muscles kept feeling like they were being squeezed every time she made an attempt. Resting a moment might ease her a little, and it felt like it was working, but her ears began to perk up to the sounds of an approaching gallop being mixed with abrupt screeches made from carriages.
She turned her head and suddenly had her cheeks pressed together.
"OH MY CUTENESS!" the kirin squeed as she held the mare's face in her hooves, "I just LOVE your mane!"
"Hm!?" the mare pondered, albeit extremely nervous of this sudden intrusion of her personal space.
Tilting the pony's head to study every angle of it, the kirin is dazzled how it follows the law of gravity, "It's so short, it's so straight, and each strand of hair flowing to the wind so freely. It's just like drapes!"
Anxiety began to overtake the lost pony, "...hm."
"Sorry, sorry," the kirin back away after she noticed her expression, "I just never seen a mane that was so smooth before. Every mane I've seen so far have always had curls or split ends to them, and finding a mane like yours is frankly im-possible back home. Just one small temper tantrum and poof, all the effort of brushing it that morning goes up in flames. Oh! *giggles* I made a funny. Although I doubt a joke like that would've been caught by anyone around here, what with how secluded kirins can be and all, but it doesn't mean that I can't test the waters at least, even if the subject is about fire. Am I right?"
The mare maintained her shocked look as she nodded, though she isn't too clear on what she's agreeing with this peppy lin.
"Yeah, it's just- it's just an open world filled with so many amazing things that have yet to be seen, you know. So many faces all around, so many places to be found, so many experiences that ring a sound. Like this village of yours, the 'sigh-tee'. There are so many structures, and with all these ponies passing by, I can't help but feel a surging urge to siiiiiiiiiiiing!"
The mare shrank back, feeling all the eyes of passing ponies looking at them and placing weight on her conscious mind.
"♪ Hat-tan, Hat-tan, it's a hay of a town!
Much to be seen and over there is a clown!
He does a poor job judging by the frowns! ♫"
The pony darted her eyes and cautiously began to step back.
"♪ Hat-tan, Hat-tan, it's a ♫- Hey! I just thought of something. Why don't we spend the day together?"
"HM!!!" screeched the mare, getting a chilly feeling from the idea that was freezing her on the spot.
"Oh I hope you don't mind. I'm new to pony society and lack a lot of insight on your culture and how it works. And from the looks of what I saw of you from across the street, it seems like you could use a little help as well. You don't seem like you're in a hurry for anything, so let's make this a duo thing."
It's only been a few minutes since encountering this lin that just made a scene in the middle of the street. Now she's asking to join the mare on her day? It was clear to the pony that this kirin would bring nothing but drawn attention towards them, too much judging faces for her to handle. The mare frantically shook her head in disagreement on the offer, "Hm-hm! HM-HM!!"
"You... you don't?" the kirin was hurt to hear this, but as she held a moment of studying the mare's expressible face, those feelings of dejection quickly vanished, "Alright, if you really don't want me to hang out with you, just pronounce a vowel."
"..." she averted her eyes. It was so simple, anyone could do that, but being placed on the spot like this... it felt like her lungs were being squeezed from just considering the attempt, "...hrmmm."
"Great!" the kirin leapt into the air, "Your knowledge on pony society will make this feel like a tour for me. Which reminds me," curiosity was written all over her face, "do you know what 'screw you' means?"
The mare had a neutral look on her face. Eyes half-closed as she turned to the salon's window that held her reflection.
The kirin turned to see what she was looking at, only to look past the reflection and was astounded by what she saw, "Is this one of those 'saloons' I've heard so many great things about!? Let's head inside!"
Before any interjections could've been made, the kirin bolted through the door, leaving the mare alone outside with her thoughts. She kept thinking about what her sister told her before parting ways earlier, about doing something sociable. A salon was definitely a place where one could converse in, and this kirin was a very affable character, so making an attempt on this sudden intrusion would likely be something her sister would want from her.
As the lin gestured the mare to come inside, the pony took that moment to take a deep breath before attempting this again with aided help this time. Steadying the jitters in her body, she was ready to make an attempt at speaking aloud to everyone.
"-so the two decided to enter this annual hunt to prove their worth, but they bump into this guy, who was secretly blind, and he offered them these stones saying that it would help them in the hunt, yet they decided not to use them, then when the hunt started, and they were totally getting their butts whooped, so they decided to go after the ultimate monster that was an instant-win, yet everyone knew that it was unstoppable, but they tried to stop it anyways and were failing with the hunt nearing its runtime, but then they're met by that blind guy again and he kept pressuring them to use those stones, but they kept refusing, so the blind guy decided to fight the monster by himself with only one minute left and he completely obliterated the monster in one shot, then he began to scold those two guys and said that the kill for the monster was theirs before jumping through this gateway that came out of nowhere and it closed just before those two guys were found by everyone, leading everyone to think that they were the ones that defeated the ultimate monster and named them the winners of the hunt, but those two guys-"
That is, if there was an opening for her to make an attempt at all.
The kirin has been talking nonstop about a play she's written shortly after her and the mare sat down to get their hooves filed on by two hoofacurists. The hoof technicians had their mouths filled with the files they're using, but the zoned out expressions in their eyes told that they're not too thrilled in what the kirin was talking about. The mare however was attentive with responses to the kirin's story. Nodding along, expressing faces, laying her free hoof on her mouth. She couldn't follow everything, but it eased her that she didn't have to say anything.
"-and then word got to the guy that runs the place, and he is a pure ableist, who took the blind guy's actions as a threat to his empire, because he a guy he took for dead, so he made preparations to try and kill the blind dude even at the expense of his kingdom, and then act eight-point-five finishes off with him addressing the blind guy by a number that I'm not too clear on what it should be," the kirin finally allowed a pause to enter the room, and quickly pushed it back out with a question, "Are there any good numbers that would be suited for that blind guy?"
"Hmmhm," the mare shrugged.
Despite not receiving a proper answer, the kirin still gave an amused smile, "You know, you're really good at conversations."
A titter escaped from one of the hooficurists, only adding to the blow on the mare's emotions.
"I'm serious," reassured the kirin, "my entire village was nowhere near as good as she is. It was back when everyone was still under the effect caused by the Stream of Silence. You see, everyone- oh wait, I should probably explain what the Stream of Silence is in lengthy detail first."
"NO!" the hooficurists cried together as they dropped their files.
"Alright, alright, you don't have to make it sound like I'm talking your ears off."
"You're saying that wasn't your intention!?"
The kirin ignored the comment, "Anyway, everyone back home used to always just tilt their heads looking pre-tty emotionless. They were always so cryptic and never made any real attempt at conversing. Sure, they were under the effects from the stream, but they could've written on something, stomped the ground in a pattern to make a sort of code, shifted their ears in angles to signal a message. They made gestures, but those could be so vague when they don't have any emotion to them," she pointed at the mare, "you place effort in every one of your responses, and they're all so easy to understand too."
The hooficurists looked at the mare, now finding herself on the spot again from their gazes. She tried to work off the kirin's encouragement and shivered into a smug pose, "Hm-hm-hmm," her attempt at sounding prideful wavered to her shifting tone.
Sharing a look between themselves, the hooficurists decided that it would be best to finish up these customers and gave their hooves a quick wipe down, "All set."
Both pony and kirin took a moment to admire the work done to their hooves. While this wasn't the first time for the mare, it's always nice to see her hooves looking smooth again after months of working on a rock farm. The hooficure was a first for the lin though, "Whoa, so shiny. Looking very spiffy there, Clover," she told her hoof, "love the face lift," the mare passed by the kirin's sight and she watched her approach the stores front counter where one of the salon's employees waited. The lin pondered as the mare opened up her saddle bag.
"Two hooficure," reminded the employee, "so that'll be two bits, one from each of you."
The kirin trotted over, still lost to the events unfolding, "What's a bit?"
Laying down an example, the mare paid her half.
Attention returns to the kirin, utterly unprepared for this situation.
"Don't tell me you thought I did all that work without expecting anything in return," warned the employee towards the kirin.
"Well, yes. The driving force of working has been to better ourselves and the rest of the world for generations."
There was an unamused look on the employee, clearly not in the mood for this, "I don't know what secluded utopia you've been living in, but that's not how it works for ponies."
Completely flabbergasted on what to do now, the clicking sound on the counter brought her attention down so see a second being placed by a turquoisish gray hoof and traced it back to the mare, softly smiling at her. The kirin had clear signs that she was embarrassed as she rubbed the back of her neck, "Th-thanks you."
While it did cost her the second bit on her, the mare found the result rewarding. After depending on her sisters many times before, it actually felt empowering to be in her sister's position for once.
"I guess I'm really out of my element here, huh?" she tried to break the atmosphere, "N-not very green around these parts."
With that observation noted, a particular location popped into the mare's head. It also occurred that if she was more in the kirin's element, it might refrain her from being too distracted, perhaps making it easier to start talking to her.
Though the collection of forming clouds has covered up the sun, the kirin saw a sight that still felt like it was shining, the city park. The familiar scent in the air, the softer ground beneath her, "This place, it feels so much like home."
The way the kirin galloped everywhere with excitement, it dawned on the mare that this exposure probably made it worse on her goal.
"It's all naturey with trees and flowers and squirrels and... that's... that's a very interesting food stall," she pointed to a vending wagon just a gallop away, "but, oh! You have a fountain too. And it's so much more decorative than ours."
As the kirin galloped over to the display, the mare kept her eyes on the food stand. It was personal size with enough room for one pony to walk into a portable, small kitchen. The words, 'Snack Wagon', printed above the window that gave a glimpse inside with a unicorn at the ready. She was feeling kinda hungry, and with the kirin busy viewing the park...
"Is this a training ground intended for your offspring?"
...the mare decided to gallop over to buy herself a snack. She slowed down to view the many stickers on the wagon's side to decide her order.
"One snack, one bit," the vender's owner said from inside, "what will you have, miss?"
Jumping with thrill, the mare pulled out her last bit and held it over to him.
The owner took the bit, "Alright, and your order is..." he waited for an answer from her.
There was a short hesitation as her lips trembled until she resorted to pointing at it with her hoof. The owner leaned out the window and she galloped over to point at it more directly for him.
The owner wobbled his jaw before nodding and went to work.
"An outdoor settee!" the kirin marveled at a wooden park bench. She jumped on and began to shift in various reclining poses, incapable of deciding which way to recline, "Now why don't we have one of these back at the village?" she laid on her stomach, "I mean, we've made a system that sprays water within a spring," she hung her head over the seat's edge, "just because we never look back there doesn't mean we should forget about our tushie."
Suddenly, the kirin saw a small object under the bench, "Wait... that's... that's one of those things!"
"Order up," the owner levitated the snack over to the excited mare.
And she just stared at it.
"Well come on."
"..." she held out her hooves and the snack was placed in them, a puchka.
"Hey! Look!" the kirin galloped over with an object in her light opal aura, "I found one of those things you ha..." and halted upon noticing the melancholy expression on the mare as she stared at one of the edibles plastered on the truck.
The mare looked down at the snack in her hoof. This wasn't what she wanted. The image of it was near the location to the one she was attempting for, but instead of just coming out and saying it or to tell the owner that he got it wrong, she accepted it anyways.
"Order up."
The mare turned to the owner of the wagon, getting the startling surprise of a celery stick with peanut butter in it being levitated out and picked by a different aura, the kirin's.
"I found a bit under the settee," the kirin turned to the mare, "Let's trade," and before she could even give a reply to anything, the puchka in her hooves was levitated out for the celery.
With this exchange, the mare started to grin and crunched into the treat, "Mm-Mmm," she expressed how tasty it was with a big smile.
"It's great to hear that you like," the kirin chimed, "but I wonder what mine tastes like."
The kirin took a bite into the puchka, breaking through the wheat and got a surprise that inside was filled with a liquid. Steam from inside kept it warm, but she isn't familiar with this new taste. She smacked her lips and let the juice play with her taste buds.
"...hot, hot hothotHOT!"
The kirin began to run around in circles with an unclear reason for her actions. She jerked back upon registering her salvation for this spicy sensation on her tongue and she bolted for it, wasting no time and plunged her head into the park's fountain.
Approaching with concern, the mare checked the state of the lin. Upon seeing her exhausted, drenched face, the mare began turning her head with a hoof over her mouth, having a difficult time stifling her laughter.
"Oh, you thought that was funny, huh?" the kirin said with a smug smile forming on her, "Well guess what I just found," her horn illuminated and the sound of sloshing water roared from the fountain as she pulled out over a dozen bits, "now let's see you handle one. Or perhaps twenty."
The threat was quickly dismissed when a sudden pat sound came from the ground between them. It brought their attention to the spot before another few more pats came from around them. With a hit to the face and a startle on the back, the two girls got the clue that it was starting to rain.
The bits were dropped back in the fountain as the lin's only focus now was to find a location to take cover. "...over there," she pointed to a gazebo that she and the mare galloped for.
They made it without getting too wet, and it didn't take too long before the rain broke out of a drizzle and into a steady pace.
Ruffling her mane to get the water out, "Well," the kirin gave a sigh, "at least things can't get any better."
The mare looked at the lin and the rain kept stabled.
"...why can't it work the other way?" she sat down and watched the rain.
Though it may not appear like one for the kirin, the mare couldn't agree more that this is the best it can get. Secluded environment, no likely intrusion, sole individual, unentertained. This is the best moment for the mare to finally try and have a normal conversation.
The mare took a deep breath, gently made her way over, and sat beside the kirin.
...
Now what?
She's been anticipating a moment where she could sit down and talk with someone. But about what?
She can't stand this. There's been someone with her the entire day. Someone she just met today and has been slowly getting used to from that time to now, yet even when it's just the two of them alone, she still can't find it in herself to say anything. The only voice she could manage to make was in her thoughts. Relentlessly belittling her as it kept repeating-
"I'm not fit for this kind of life."
The mare broke thought. She glimpsed at the kirin next to her, transfixed on watching the rain.
"This village is amazing in ways that I can't even express. It's more than I thought it would ever be when I stared out from the cliffside back home. It's so overwhelming, that if I was forced to live here, I don't think I could ever adjust to it. I've been doing alright so far with my first visit here, but if I had to stay here and do this everyday... I can't see it ever happening."
The mare stopped looking at the reflecting kirin.
"...I wonder if my ancestors felt the same way about the whole world. Isolating themselves in those peaks, letting generations pass in seclusion as our culture began to alter from the outside. Words are written differently, mutual aid has been replaced with an exchanging of bits, it's done more harm than good for any kirin who would want to start a life out in this advanced society."
The rain filled the pause between them.
"It's a lot like... no, it is just like being under the effect of the Stream of Silence. It was meant to quell fighting amongst us, but it also took away our voice and our emotions. ...well, almost. It was subtle, but I could see everyone making expressions every now and then from just watching their eyes. They eyerolled, they furrowed brows with concern, I actually got really good at reading the thoughts of others because of it," a glance went uncaught by the quiet mare, "as for my own emotions, they felt like they were drilling into me. With no way to project them, it felt like my mind was screaming at me to do something, but I had no way to project my words. It felt like I was going to go crazy, I just wanted to voice out something, anything to drown the cries in my head and sound to my ears. And almost like a sign from the heavens... it fell on me in the form of rain."
Closing her eyes, the kirin listened to the rain around them.
"Dripping off leaves, drumming on roofs, splashing into puddles, the sound of the raindrops felt like it was washing away all my thoughts. It felt like nature was trying to talk to me, singing with each bead of water that hit a surface. Before I knew it, and against all odds that I thought were possible, ...I managed to sing with it," the lin takes a deep breath, "...♪ hm-mm hm-mm hm-mmm, hm-hm-mmmm hm-hmm. ♫"
The mare cautiously began to turn towards the kirin. There was a vague familiarity she was getting from her, how she was incapable of speech, the description about her emotions during her struggle, the most she was capable of achieving with her voice...
"♪ Hmm hm-mmmmm, hm hm hm hmmm. ♫"
...she saw how it's comparable to her own situation, but she also noted the major difference between them, being that she wasn't under any kind of effects caused by a stream. That very fact felt like a weight pressing down on her. Guilt? Embarrassment? Or was it the truth of her worth? She couldn't decide, but something was ringing in her head. It was directing her to what the lin said, that she wasn't fitted for this kind of life of being in the city because of a lack of understanding about the society. She's a mare that's grown up out in the country, a location that's about as far away from the city as one can get, yet she's managed and understood how it works around here regardless. If this country mare who struggles with talking could grasp city life, then this foreign lin who regained her voice could do the same. The same lin she found herself comparable to.
"♪ Hm hm hm, hmm hm hmm hmmm hm hm hmmm. ♫"
"♪♪ Hmm hm-mmmmm, hm hm hm hmmm. ♫♫"
The rhythm was kept as the two of them glanced at each other, exchanging smiles as they continued to hum throughout the course of the rain.
With the rain concluded, it was time for the mare to return to the spot she promised to meet her sister. She led the kirin to the location and had spent their time through entertaining means.
"Okay, so that road's name has two words, and both words start with the same letter."
"Mm-hmm."
"Hm... the second word has two symbols next to each other in the middle... 'Street'?"
"Mm-hmm!"
"Alright... something Street... is the first word a type of animal?"
"Hm-hm."
"...is it a type of plant?"
"Mm-hmm."
"...is it edible?"
"Mm-hmm."
"...is it a fruit?"
"Hm-hm."
"A vegetable then?"
"Hm-hm."
"So it must be some kind of seed."
"Mm-hmm."
"What else... Wait, the design for the letter 'E' is also in the first word."
"Mm-hmm."
"So it's 'blank' Street, it starts with an 'S' and has an 'E' in it, and it's named after an edible seed."
"Mm-hmm."
"Hmm... using those as the clues... how do I get to, 'blank' Street?
"..."
"...I got it! The road's name is, 'Sunflower Street'!"
"Mm-hmm!!!" she clapped her hooves to the kirin's success at getting the answer, but when the sight of her sister started to come into view, she began to wave to her instead.
"Hey," the sister approached the mare in a casual tone fitted to her standards, "How'd it go today?"
"Hmm," she sheepishly turned.
The peeved look on the sister shifted over to the kirin that's studying her, "...what are you looking at?"
"...I don't think I've ever seen a mane as short as yours before."
She groaned at the nuisance, "Buzz off, hairball. And while you're at it, do the same with the majority of your mane."
"It'll just grow back the moment I turn into a nirik"
"Nirik? ...wait, I've heard about your kind before. Last Hearth's Warming from the Apples. A kirin, right?"
"And I assume you're her sister," she gestured to the mare.
"So what if I am? What's it to you?" she immediately went defensive with an aggressive expression, 'Have you been stalking her?"
"We spent the day together."
To the mare's nod, the sister eased up a little, "Alright, so what did you two talk about today?"
"Well I talked a bit about my village, my days of being under the effects of an enchanted stream as a mute, my subplot act that was thrown aside for another one that wasn't trying to force itself into places not meant for it."
"And what about her? What did she talk about?"
"Oh, she just made responses throughout the entire day."
"Really?" she said in an irritated tone and looked peevishly at the mare.
The lin saw how the pony shrank from her sister's glare, "...were you trying to get her to talk today?" she got the sister to look back at her, "It kept appearing as if she was forcing and struggling to get herself to do something all day."
"It was the entire purpose of bringing her to the city. She needs to be more assertive and engaging for her own sake if she wants to go anywhere in life."
"After everything that's happened today, I think she can manage it pretty well without speaking."
"I don't think a kirin has any right to say that after freeing their voice from some cursed water."
"You're right, I don't, but I know what it's like to be in her hooves. Struggling to voice your thoughts can really place a lot of strain on you, and forcing yourself will only make things worse on you. Having her to rely on her methods won't help her in every situation, but neither will depending on your voice as you charge into life."
Being in the center of their topic really placed the mare into an awkward position, one that she can't really figure out how to respond towards. But for her sister, her patience had pretty much dried up as she snapped at the kirin, "Alright, fine, so she'll never be capable of projecting herself through any of my attempts. So what should I do? Just, just watch her suffer?"
"My suggestion? just let her be."
She exasperated the suggestion with a sudden burst of air.
"Let her handle things on her own, but be ready to help her whenever she needs it, and definitely help her when she asks for it. She'll speak up whenever she really wants you to know about something. It's slow progressing, I'll admit, but so is a lot of other things, such as getting familiar with the lifestyle of a new culture."
The sister huffed at her. Glaring, but doesn't challenge the kirin. She glanced over to the mare, "Say your goodbyes and let's go."
The sister stomped by the mare, who turned toward.
The lin waved at her, "It was very nice meeting you."
She returned the wave. Seeing that her sister is already ahead of her, she placed a hoof forward...
"What right does she have judging my attempts at being a big sister? When we ge-" as the sister looked back, she sees the the mare is reflecting over something.
"..." the mare turned to the kirin and laid a hoof on herself, "M... M... Marble Pie."
The kirin was astound, but soon began to grin as she did the same and placed a hoof on herself as well, "Autumn Blaze."
Marble returned back and walked by her jaw-dropped sister, who just kept looking between her and Autumn, "Wha... wh-what was that?" her sister asked frantically, but all she got from her was a chuckling smile, "Don't claim up on me now!"
The sisterly love being displayed got a giggle out of Autumn, "Manehattan, it's a hay of a town."
Author's Note
Okay, I should state this now before going into anything about this story... this was my take on an entry from last year. Rhonie8k wrote a story called, 'A Silence in the City', which involved Autumn Blaze encountering DJ PON-3 during a trip in the city. While I enjoyed the story, I felt like it should've been touch upon a bit differently by pairing a different character with Blaze. Marble came to mind, and before I knew it, I took a liking on how I could play around with the way she talked from the various way you could play with 'H' and 'M'. Questioning, disagreeing, irritation, I just had so many takes on it. I didn't want to write this story as it felt like I was stealing the idea from Rhonie8k, but I succumbed to going through with it when it suddenly struck me... Marble's way of talking could be used to hum a tune with Autumn's giddy behavior, so I went with the jabbering kirin and the taciturn pony this year.
Despite talking in the comics, I wanted Marble to stay silent throughout most of the story to mirror the mare that many are familiar with as well as a way to keep it a 'lock conversation' due to the fact that she can't speak up to end it. This kind of talking would mean that she would need to adapt in a unique fashion suited to her, and as I stated above, there are many ways you could play around with them. It isn't too different from when I was writing my Daring Do crossover with Donkey Kong, where there was only one character that did all of the talking while the others made variations on the word 'oh,' 'ah,' or 'eh'. It was going to be easy, but when I had to keep it in tune with her personality... oh gah. The kongs were engaging and exaggerating to the best of their ability, but Marble is a withdrawn character, making this really difficult as she wasn't allowed to be that expressive. She has emotions like anyone else as she chuckled, glared, and was heartbroken in the show, but there wasn't enough for me to take advantage of in a back-and-forth interaction that said 'I am hear'. While her lack of character is likely due to the actions of her unobtrusive and interjecting twin, Marble leave me in a rough spot regardless. I tried to take inspiration from Komi Shouko (Komi Can't Communicate) at first for Marble's personality, but a lot of Komi's character (at least, at the start of the series) is very Fluttershy-ish as she's easily frightened and trembles alot with tears ready to drop. I wanted to stay as far away from Fluttershy as I could possibly be to make Marble her own character instead of a comparable one that many have made with her, so I turned to her roots and made her as hard as a rock towards fear; however, I tried to get her keep a lack of determination that possess little will, keeping her down and too concerned to talk aloud (basically, she can't handle embarrassment and doesn't want to be placed on the spot as it could lead to even more of it). I'm not sure if I did a good job at it as fear and low confidence are very difficult to separate, but I hope her fans would still find her attempts to be enjoyable.
While Komi filled a decent portion of Marble, a teenie bit of Tadano was in Autumn Blaze as I gave her a sense that she can easily read others, which actually works very well in this case as a standard Kirin is known to be a sharp judge of character. In legend, Kirins are considered a great blessing as they're rarely seen and have benevolence to all forms of life, from humans to even a single blade of grass; however, they're fierce towards those with a guilty conscious and will invoke a fearsome justice with the use of holy flames covering their bodies. I guess that's the Nirik side to them, which brings me to Autumn's lack of knowledge of the world outside of her home. Kirins in MLP play much like Disney's Atlantis as the only clue we had to their introduction was through a shield centuries old, so one can make their own interpretations as to why they're not widely known. My hypothesis is that the nirik side of kirin's resulted with them withdrawing from society by their own choice as a means to protect others from themselves (it would also give the 'Peaks of Peril' reason behind its name as an attempt to dissuade others from approaching them). The prolong time of absents also opens up possibilities that those years could've led them to develop a different lifestyle, such as a new kind of trading system that diverted from currency (such as Star Trek's no money world (being a secluded village, it seems possible)) or a new penmanship styles in writing despite maintaining the verbal portion of the language (much like how Cursive is a dying font form nowadays). While we're on the topic of speech, I believe Autumn would've broke a lot of habits since she appeared in her episode (mispronunciation, inanimate friends, ect.) as she stated that she hasn't spoken in a while to anyone, but I still kept a few hiccups here and there to keep her familiar to everyone. She's quite a philosopher as she discovered a cure to the Stream of Silence and is very outgoing since her entire motive to find that cure was in order to express herself to the fullest (if her standup, play writing, speeches, news reporting, variety reviews, and songs wasn't obvious enough about this chatterbox), so I tried to follow that train of thought that would get her to explore the outside world her secluded village. I was thinking of putting her in a vulnerable position after discovering how vastly different the world from the society she knows for Marble's sake, but it occurred to me that she's very adaptable given the circumstances she's in. Bouncing back and continuing seems like one of them as she stated that she search the forest for foal's-breath seventy-three and a half times before searching again with the assumption that the second half could make a difference.
As I kept watching the episode 'Sound of Silence' in an attempt to learn as much as I could about Autumn, I noticed that the effects from the Stream of Silence are imperfect. It's suppose to maintain silence and suppress emotion for those who take a dip in it, but the kirins are seen periodically with eye shrinks from being surprised, rubbed their leg out of guilt, had concerning looks when they watched Applejack and Fluttershy fighting with each other, and Blaze is the most prime example as she said that she was bored and was shown like she was about to snap despite being under the stream's effects. So if the water was flawed with the emotions, then I think the very least I can get away with in the vocal area is the capability to hum.
I wanted Marble to speak something at the end, but I wasn't too clear on what it should've been. But as I was doing research on Kirins, I discovered that they had names to tell the difference between genders ('lin' for female, 'ki' for male), soon sparking the idea that I had an easy way to address the two without giving their names (much like the prior 'Locked Conversation' story) and used the names as a sendoff. Maybe it'll be traditional if I do this again.
This had so many rewrites (likely the most out of any story I've done). Ideas that I just loved and scenes that captures, but in the end, those portions just tipped the story with pointless moments and conflicting directions. One example was the girls working off each other for personal gain only to end up with supplying the other's benefits instead. Another was a time where Marble was suppose to acquire things to indicate that she was successful in communication for Limestone (a kind of evidence if one must). And there was a moment where Autumn goes nirik after the fountain scene when she was shadowed by a mime, leading to an apology scene at the gazebo because those items Marble got were destroyed in the crossfire of Autumn's flames.
Those were bad ideas, but I actually had to remove entire portions intended to be in the story that I considered to be good. There were parts that felt like they were cut or shifted too quickly, but I didn't have the time to flesh them out (it's probably the first time I've ever submitted a story I wasn't fully satisfied with (it felt like Autumn hardly received any help from Marble, making this seem like a big sister kind of deal)). It's a long story of how it got to this, but I was attempting two contests that both pretty much started on the same day and ended on the same time. I focused on that other contest first, placing maybe two weeks on it before giving up on it to focus on this one. I am currently writing this, feeling very tired, so please excuse me if I sound a bit off or if I forgotten to talk about areas that would've been very nice to learn about. Couple of these areas have been prewritten, but I'm too exhausted to proofread my notes.
It's kinda hard to get sound into these stories, but I like to envision that Autumn and Marble are humming the lullaby version of, 'Chiisaki Mono', also known as, 'A Small Thing', or its chopped up English counterpart, 'Make a Wish', from the 6th Pokemon movie that stared Jirachi. It's basically a song about being brave or bold through the help of encouraging guidance and praised reflections. It's a beautiful song that seems to fit this story quite well in my opinion. It was never intended to be, but with lyrics like 'The small one is me' and 'My voice becomes full', I feel that one of the girls (or even both) would be singing various parts of this.
