Nearly a month had passed since I almost had my near outburst at the restaurant. But since then, my live hadn’t changed. Every day felt the same. Get up, work, spend the evening alone, go to sleep. And somewhere in between I would have small chats with coworkers or passersby on the street. But it was always the same. This reserved aura they kept up non-stop.

I had realised that this is what the ponies here were. Shy, sceptical, distant and scared of something new. They were friendly, indeed. They always smiled when talking with me, but this was just a façade they put on.

At least I knew it wasn’t because I was a kirin. They were scared of other ponies too. I had noticed during work or my free time, that they only talked with the ponies they knew and others found it hard (or better said, impossible) to join their circle. It was possible to have some small little chats, but nothing more. But how could I, as a complete stranger, get to know somepony then if they don't let me? It might take years of trust and tries for me to finally get a friend.

This standoffish aura… I had felt it everywhere. My neighbour Light (from the other neighbour I still hadn’t heard anything) had this, my coworkers, the ponies in the shop and the ponies in the plaza. It was just that I hadn’t noticed it on the beginning because I had been too excited and motivated.

And to some extent, I still was. Because in a few days, there would the Ruishou day. A very special holiday for my kirin kind. A day where we celebrated luck, peacefulness, justice and the blessing of foals (don’t ask). A day kirins wore costumes, played music, performed traditional dances, ate, and laughed.

And here in Maren I planned to hold up to this holiday. Of course, just a little bit smaller. I planned to invite some ponies to my home and cook something for all of them. I had already given an invite to Creative, Velvet, Cloak and some other coworkers. to be honest, they were all still giving off a aura of having a border, and I was on the outside, but I hoped that at least this party would lead to a more open feeling.

“Of course, you’re invited too. Why wouldn't you be?”, I asked Quick Rush, the mare I had shared lunch break on my very first day and even some days afterwards. Like right now, were we sat together again during our break.

She was a nice little mare. Just like every pony in Maren she was shy and distant but also cute and I was able to have more than one chat with her.

“Oh… I mean thank you. Very kind. When will the party be?”, Quick asked me.

“In ten days”, I answered. “I set in on a free day, so we will all have time to be together. Oh, and don’t eat anything before. I will make sure there will be plenty of food.”

“Alright… well, maybe, when I have time, I will come too”, Quick said with a shy smile.

“Well, I hope you do. I really look forward to it”, I said optimistically and turned my focus back to the spring rolls I had made myself for lunch.

“Ah… well I appreciate it, but I sadly cannot come. I’m already busy that day.”

Work was over and right now I was standing in front of Light’s front door and had offered him an invite to my Ruishou party too, which he rejected. On the inside I raised an eyebrow because his excuse of “being busy that day” sounded a lot like a lie. But I wasn’t disappointed at all. In fact, it would have surprised me if he had said yes. For the fact that he is my neighbour he still hadn’t exchanged more than a hoof full of words with me.

“Alright. At least you now know that I will have some visitors on that day. But I don’t think we will be too loud”, I said, trying my best to keep up a polite tone.

“Okay… thank you”, was the only thing Light said to that leading once again to an awkward round of silence.

“Well then, that was all from my side. Have a pleasant evening”, I gave as goodbye.

“Yes, you too”, the earth pony said and closed the door.

I gave a heavy sight as I made my way back to my own home. From all the ponies in Maren, Light was one of the more scared ones. My eyes fell on the house of my other neighbour.

But there might be somepony who is even more scared, went through my mind.

Since I had moved here, which is already over a month ago, I've NEVER even seen this other neighbor. I knew that somepony was living in there. The house felt way too alive. And mail in the mailbox also disappeared every day.

It had been a while since I had last tried to meet this neighbour of mine. Maybe that pony was just never home when I knocked on the door but deep inside, I knew that this was not true. This pony was just too scared to meet me.

Just as if fate wanted, there was a movement to be seen through the window. Somepony definitely was at home at the moment. This was a sign for me to try again.

I walked up to the door of my neighbour. This time it was not really to introduce myself, nor was it to give an invite to my party. This was more a confirm that this pony would ignore my call again.

I lifted my hoof and knocked on the door. And waited. And waited. My eyes were more focused on the windows than actually on the door itself. And indeed, one curtain moved very suspiciously while the door remained shut.

I left the property of my neighbour with an angry wave of my tail and the air around me felt dangerously warm. The fact that I was right had filled me with an unpleasant feeling of anger and I quickly went home before I turned into a nirik.

I went straight to my bedroom and sat on my comfy mattress to meditate. I had to do that more often lately. For reasons like sadness, disappointment or annoyance. Hopefully this all will change in ten days when I host the Ruishou party…

The day has come. Today was the day of my party. Since early this morning, I was awake and preparing. Cleaning the house, cooking and decorating. I had set the start time of the party for this afternoon, and I wanted to be fully ready by then. I even had a bottle of my limited rice wine Sake ready. I normally wasn’t much of a drinker, but this day called for celebration.

To eat I made a ramen soup. It was something that took time and work (since it had multiple steps, like when you poured in the vegetables and left them to brew like a tea) but didn’t require more work if made it for multiple kirins. (Or ponies, in this case.) It was also a very loved dish, especially during events, so I was convinced that ponies would like it too.

I had also prepared a variety of different food to add to your soup. The ramens, which I made myself, were the most important ingredient in the ramen soup but there were also more. Tofu slices, soft-boiled eggs, roasted nuts, coriander, fresh chilli, scallions, cut vegetables and beans. Everything stylishly served in kirin styled porcelain bowls.

Next to the food I had also spent time to decorate the living room with flowers, colourful cloth and these things I read that ponies use for parties. Balloons they call them.

All in all, I was ready and not too early it seems because when I looked at the clock it was already past noon. Now it was just a matter of time until the first visitors came. I placed myself on a chair in the kitchen and waited eagerly. I checked the food one final time, just to make sure everything was ready. Yep, everything was set. Everything was ready for the first pony to come. I just had to wait.

Some time had passed, and I was looking out of the window.

So far, no pony had come. I passed the time by watching the ponies walking by. But none of them were the ponies I invited. I gave a worried sigh. I was most likely just a bit nervous and impatient for the guests to arrive. In the end, I invited them over for the afternoon. And it still was afternoon. Nopony (or kirin) said that they had to arrive right at the very beginning. They would come soon.

I was sitting at the kitchen table again and snacking on the roasted nuts. Less because of hunger and more out of boredom and to calm down my nerves. When the guests arrived, I could always make new ones. So far, nopony had arrived yet. Even though the afternoon was slowly passing. To keep the food from going bad I had placed everything in the fridge and had taken the soup off the heat before it all boiled away. It could be heated up again quickly if needed…

How many ponies did I invite? A dozen? They can not all be late, can they? I thought and chewed on a nut. Still, I waited.

The nuts had gone empty long ago and I felt like I could smash the bowl on the wall. I was still sitting at the kitchen table. The sun casted an orange glow through the window. The afternoon had long since passed. And nopony had showed up. Not a single one!

All this preparation, all the invitations, all this bucking excitement I had was for nothing!

Of course they didn’t show up! Why should they?! I am somekirin who was outside of their friend circle. Somekirin new! And everything that is new is scary!

Emotions grew up in me. Disappointment, sadness, anger, hate. And I let it all flow through me. I felt my body ignite. My fur became coal black, my eyes a blind white, and my mane burst into hot blue and red flames. I let the nirik in me out.

Bucking Maren! Bucking ponies! Creatures of friendship and harmony, my flank!

The kitchen table and chairs ignited up and started to burn like I was. I was enraged and not able to control myself. In fact, getting this emotion out felt like just the right thing to do. I released the nirik in me and gave a roar. Fire came out of my mouth as if from a dragon and set more of the kitchen on fire.

I hate this place! I hate these ponies! They just hide themselves behind fake smiles and uninviting chats. And no matter what you try, they never wanted to open themselves! Never wanted to start a friendship! Never wanted to spend time with me! They never wanted to come today, but they were too scared to actually say no! Only keeping up with their bucking maybe!

Now that I recalled it, every time, they use the word “maybe” for no. Every time I asked anypony to spend time together in the future, they just gave a “maybe”. Creative always gave a stupid “maybe” whenever I asked him if he wanted to spend time together later. But had we ever done something? No! These Maren ponies couldn’t just say no! They might act friendly, but they are actually just a bunch of scared, sceptical and isolated creatures.

My nirik fire continued to rage and I let it ho. Everything was smoke, heat and flames, with me at the centre of it all. Only a nirik like I was could survive in here. But everything else around me was already burning. But I couldn’t care less.

This whole village should burn! Why should I care? They don’t care for me neither!

Author's Note

I should say here that this story got a lot inspired by real life. Well, I didn’t burn down my home (luckily!), but just like Spring Frost here I also moved from one home to a new place. Just like in Maren, persons are also very shy, afraid and reserved. And even though I tried, making friends was really really hard. Even building up a conversation became a challenge.

But I don’t want to get too much into details. I just wanted to say this to tell that this story is inspired by real life in cases you also feel a lot like Spring Frost here.