Ever since that fateful visit from Applejack and Fluttershy, the kirin village had become practically a cacophony of sounds. Its fluffy inhabitants were constantly chatting, laughing, shouting, singing and arguing, months of bottled emotions now being able to be fully expressed. It was a bit chaotic, but Autumn welcomed the change from the dead silence that had long reigned before
Getting to finally return from exile didn’t hurt either.
Autumn walked through the center of the village, her ears perked up, as she looked at the fountain she had used to spread the cure to her people. She had been so lucky that Fluttershy’s friends had found more of the elusive flower.
As she kept going, she suddenly felt something… off, like a wrong note in a concert. Did she forget to brush? Was somekirin taking an argument too far? Could it be that it would rain soon?
Autumn quickly checked. “Nope, my mane is brushed, I don't smell anything burning, and the sky is clear. Hmmm, what a conedrum… con-no-drum… conundrum!”
From there, she started to investigate her surroundings, asking a few of her neighbors if they had some kind of problem. However, things seemed relatively normal to them. She tapped her hoof on the dirt, and suddenly the feeling returned.
“Aha!” She did it again and got a feeling for the direction, moving towards it. She soon found a bed of withering sunflowers.
“Hmm, an unkempt garden shouldn't be much of a problem,” she mused aloud. She looked to the hut that the garden belonged to and quickly noticed the problem. There was no sound coming from it.
“Oh! Maybe it's a friendship problem! Time to make my friends proud.” She ran to the door and started banging on it. “Worry not, friend, I'm here to help!” She got no answer.
“Hello?” She knocked again. “Anykirin?”
She kept knocking, to no avail.
“Did they leave?” Autumn sat down and began to think. “Hmmm, what would Applejack do?” After a few seconds, she stood up, turned around, and bucked the door off its hinges. “It worked!”
Then a potted plant was flung at her face, she was barely able to catch it with her magic. “Nice throw!” she shouted as she went in, placing the pot on a nearby shelf.
Looking around, the house clearly belonged to a gardener, which made the fact that the plants outside of the home were dying very strange. There were plenty of plant pots around the walls and on top of small tables or even the floor, turning the room into a miniature jungle. They were a bit much in Autumn's opinion, leaving little space to move.
Said gardener was standing at the other end of the flora-cluttered room, her forest green mane giving her a good camouflage among the vegetation of the house. Green coat, beige scales, freckles, green magical aura holding another potted plant ready to be thrown.
Surprisingly, Autumn couldn’t recognize this kirin. “Hi… uh, new friend? You clearly live here but I don't think I've met you. Are you a traneler… tra… traveler. Like a tourist?”
The green kirin lowered the pot and looked at Autumn blankly before pointing at the door.
“Yeah, that was a good throw,” Autumn said with a nod.
The stranger shook her head and pointed again, waving her hoof a bit.
“Oh, gotcha.” Autumn turned around and closed the door. The gardener facehoofed, but Autumn didn’t think anything of it, sitting down on a nearby stool among the plants. “So, tell me about yourself. You seem to have all-green hooves, hehe.”
The green kirin didn't respond. Instead, she seemed to decide Autumn wasn't worth her time and went back to tend to her internal garden.
Autumn tapped her hooves nervously. “Um, look, I just want to know if there's a problem here, I got a feeling outside and wanted to check.”
The stranger remained expressionless as she worked, putting the pots back in their place and watering them.
“Look, I just want to help. Be friends. You can never have enough of those.”
The stranger paused, then lit up her horn. The leaves and branches of her garden moved and grew till they slowly formed a string of letters.
I disagree…
Autumn’s jaw dropped. “Wow, that's a neat trick! But why don't you use your voice?”
I can’t…
“What? Why wouldn’t you… you're still cursed!” she exclaimed, jumping off the stool and nearly knocking over some plant pots. “Come now, the water outside still has Foal's-Breath.” She grabbed the kirin, but they didn’t bulge.
The plants moved again.
I know… I don't want to…
Autumn scratched her head. “Why? Don't you want your voice back? I bet you've got a pretty voice, and even if not, I can give you some singing lessons. Free of charge.”
No… thank you…
“But- I don't get it,” Autumn sputtered. “Didn't you hear what we talked about with AJ and Shy? Did you miss that part? We thought everyone was there.”
I was there… I heard it…
She raised her hooves, waving them in the air. “Then you should know that it's for the better to be able to talk and express yourself and-”
It's not about the voice…
Autumn blinked. “Then what is it about?” It took a second for it to finally click in Autumn's head, the other effect the Stream of Silence had. “The emotions? You wanted them gone?”
The gardener nodded.
“But my friends showed us that anger can be good, it's something we need to express.”
I'm okay with anger…
Autumn paused for a long second. “Then what did you want to mute?”
Fear…
Panic…
Anxiety…
Sadness…
Loneliness…
Empty…
Autumn winced as sharp thorns grew out of the plants making the last words. She wasn't prepared for this. Maybe she should try and get her friends?
Perhaps, but she could still give it her best try. She gave herself a moment to think. “Have… have things really gotten better with those emotions gone?”
Yes…
“How?”
I do things now. I don't waste away in bed. My garden is full of life…
“Your sunflowers outside seem to disagree.”
The gardener paused, seemingly struck by the news.
Guess I forgot…
Autumn looked around, at how cramped everything was. “Do you feel comfortable in your house?”
It's livable…
“But is it comfortable?”
It’s enough…
“I could be more than just enough. Why not try to improve it?”
The stranger didn’t respond this time, focusing on her plants.
Autumn thought for a second. “Do you do something besides tending your garden? Any hobbies?”
No… the garden is enough…
“Really? But there’s so much one can do. I've done plenty of things, tried out a lot. Some didn't work, but I had fun with at least tying, err trying them.”
The stranger paused, putting down her watering can.
I tried that…
Blaze leaned closer. “And how did it go?”
I embarrassed myself. Didn't want to try anymore…
Autumn moved between the gardener and the watering can, stopping her from going back to her idle work. “But stumbling is part of learning! No one expects you to achieve things on the first try, everybody starts from the first steps.”
I don't want to try, I'm happy with what I have…
“Well, normally I would believe you.” Autumn looked right into the stranger’s neutral expression. “But you don't actually feel happiness, do you?”
The gardener looked away.
“You pretend to be happy, you convince yourself that everything’s right and that things are normal even though they clearly aren't but if you admit it then you'll go crazy and…” Autumn's cheery voice faded as she went on, feeling tired.
Are you okay…?
“I… I can relate to that, and I can assure you that it won't work forever. Telling yourself that everything is fine is not a solution, and filling your day with… anything to not really think about where you are…” Autumn needed another minute to compose herself, so the gardener gave it to her.
She took a deep breath. “But I found a way out, I just needed friends, people to show me that things could be better and that I could make a change for myself and improve.” She reached her hoof out. “I can offer you the same. And I promise that I’ll stick by your side, even if things don’t go perfectly, and help you do better. That’s what friends are for.”
The gardener looked down at the hoof offered by this bizarre, talkative Kirin, the one who’d brought everyone’s emotions back. Who, just like everyone else, wanted to be her friend.
Friends she always felt that she would disappoint.
And yet.
I… I guess…
And yet there was something different about this one. Like she could feel comfortable around this one, like she didn’t have to be afraid anymore.
Was there truly a harm in taking one more chance?
She slowly reached out and took it.
No. There wasn’t. After all…
I don’t have much to lose.
Autumn smiled. “What's your name?”
Wallflower Blush…
“What a pretty name. How about we go outside for a bit? Maybe look at those Sunflowers outside?”
She nodded and followed Autumn outside, hiding her eyes from the bright light till they adjusted.
The village felt… alive. It was bright, cheerful, and loud, and it was quickly becoming too much, but the presence of Autumn helped her calm down and process the deluge of sensations.
“Yeah, it’s a bit of an adjustment, but we’re all learning to be ourselves again,” Autumn assured her. “I'll be right next to you.”
Wallflower tried to write a ‘thank you’ but her plants were too far away to be able to communicate.
She needed her voice.
She wanted it back.
So she slowly made her way to the fountain, where all her fears, her anxieties, her sadness, and that gaping hole she had often found herself inside resided, all threatening to swallow her forever.
She hesitated, but once again, Autumn was next to her, offering a smile and a gentle gesture with her hoof.
She took a deep breath, and submerged her head in the waters, pulling out almost immediately. “Cold! Too cold!”
Autumn let out a playful giggle. “Knew you had a good voice.”
Wallflower felt a whirlwind of emotions come back to her at once trying to beat her back to the quiet silence of the stream, but one emotion weathered the storm as she looked at Autumn, smiling. “Thank you.”
