//------------------------------//
// Culmination 
// Story: All Smoke, No Mirrors 
// by Jinzou 
//------------------------------//

Knock knock knock

"Giiiirls!" A sudden voice cut through the dark, booting me from the void.

I opened my eyes. Well, we opened our eyes. It was strange. It was almost like I was looking through the eyes of the body Sunny and I shared, but also was back in the mind room looking at the screen at the same time.

I… or we, rolled onto our stomach and limply let our head hang over the mattress, just in time to watch Noi herself flump onto the floor. She was wearing what looked like a cyan hoodie with wing designs on the side. She seemed content in laying on the floor and didn't pick herself up.

Sunny let out a loud groan, and with a sudden mental click, I was back soundly in the mind room, slumped on one of the chairs.

"Whaswiththefakecoat?" Sunny mumbled down at Noi. Noi responded with a loud grumble, before rolling onto her side. I could see the side of what looked like Rainbow Dash's cutie mark across her chest. Cute.

"Never seen a hoodie before?" I asked.

"A what?" Sunny responded with a yawn.

"Like, a hooded sweatshirt."

"Dunno what that is either."

"A… heavy shirt?"

"What's a shirt?"

"Are you actually messing with me or do you not know what clothes are?"

"No. You front, I'm sleep." Sunny mumbled aloud, and with another mini dizzy spell, I was in control of the body.

Well, that was interesting.

I ambled my way down the ladder and nosed at Noi. "C'mon kiddo, time to get up."

With another grunt, Noi used me to pull herself up, and with a quick movement, leapt onto me. The sudden impact almost knocked me over.

"Carry me." Noi whined.

"Absolutely not." I responded firmly, sitting down so Noi rolled off my body. She was surprisingly light, so I could have carried her with little issue, but I'm not a goddamn taxi. "You got four perfectly good legs. I can't even say that."

With a drawn out, melodramatic moan, Noi forced herself to her hooves. One of her eyes was closed and the other one was fluttering closed. Noi was apparently one of those morning zombie kids.

Understandable, honestly.

I led her out the door, her stumbling around like a drunkard. We made our way to the kitchen, me looking over my shoulder every couple seconds to make sure she hadn't collapsed in the hallway. 

After Noi had made it to her seat, used the stool to jump into her chair, and rested her head on the table, I jumped into the only empty seat with ease. Despite kirin being quadrupeds and humans being bipeds, it seemed like my current back legs were much more powerful, as I cleared almost my own height with that leap.

Then again I've heard about the results of people being kicked by horses, so I guess judging leg strength by anatomy would be a stupid idea. Horses are strong. Especially horses that are also half dragon.

Golden placed a steaming bowl of oatmeal in front of me. Plain, flavorless oatmeal, from the look of it. I suppressed a sigh. It was free food.

"What would you like to drink, my tiny ray of sunshine?" Golden asked with a sly smile, pulling two cartoons out of the fridge. "We have apple juice and orange juice."

"Whiskey on the rocks." I ordered with a big smile. "Hold the rocks."

Golden's frown and unamused expression answered me. Her brows furrowed.

"And hold the whiskey." I grumbled. "Orange juice, please."

"That's much better." Golden's smile returned, pouring orange juice into two glasses and placing them in front of Noi and me. She turned to Noi.

"Now, if a certain little filly doesn't wake up, I may just have to call the tickle monster on her."

For just a second, I could see Golden lock eyes with Script, who looked like he was reading a newspaper on the living room couch. He winked back.

Noi bolted upright. "No, I'm awake! No monsters need to come for me!"

"What a shame." Golden put on a fake pout. "'Cause he's already here."

"Wha-" Noi began, only to be interrupted by Script sneaking up behind her and tickling her ribs. Noi burst out in a sudden giggling fit. With a quick movement, Script picked her up and, ears straight back to avoid any kicking hooves, started blowing raspberries on her stomach. Noi's giggling somehow shot higher in pitch and volume as she flailed all four legs around.

A moment later Noi was back in her chair, breathing heavily with a manic smile on her face. Script turned to me. "I don't suppose Jenny wants a visit from the tickle monster too?"

I let out a dry chuckle. "No, thanks."

Script shrugged.

"The other two aren't wearing the fake coats, though." Sunny noted. With an unexpected rush, I found myself back in the mind room.

"Uh, excuse me?" Sunny asked, shifting her forehooves around.

"Yes, what is it, Sunny?" Script asked.

"Wh- wait, how could you tell we switched?"

Script's eyebrow shot up. "Body language. Jenny sits more openly, in a more dominating pose, while you look like you're trying to make yourself small–at least in comparison." Script nodded. "Also your tone was higher, which gives off a more timid feeling.”

I could see Noi giggling into her oatmeal in our peripheral vision. Golden merely smiled.

"Wow.” Sunny said. I'll admit I was impressed too.

Script shrugged. "I've never been good at reading between the lines. Reading body language became really important to me..." He reached over and ruffled Noi's mane gently; she leaned into his hoof. "It's how I’m able to tell if my favorite hellion here is actually mad or just playing with me, sometimes. Anyway, what's your question?"

"Oh, uh…" Sunny pointed at Noi's sweatshirt. "What is that?"

Script looked between Noi and us with a bemused expression.

"That would be Noi, my darling stepdaughter. Or if you prefer the scientific name, Noi-icus Ponicus. I believe you're already acquainted."

"No, I mean," Sunny chuckled. "I mean the blue thing around her. Jenny says it's a 'clothes', but I don't know what that is."

"Kirin don't have clothes?" Golden piped up from the other side of the table. "What do you do when you get cold?"

"I…" Sunny cocked her head to the side and furrowed her brows. "I'd just run hotter. Every calf knows how to change their internal temperature. I mean, not babies, they learn it from their parents, but… yeah."

"You can regulate your own temperature by will?" Script asked excitedly. "Ponies can't do that. That's really interesting!"

"Oh, yeah. That's um… that's why Jenny burned you last night." Sunny explained to Script while I pretended I wasn't there. "She wasn't trying to burn you, she was just happy and doesn't know how to control her temperature yet. She’s sorry. I mean, she didn't say it, but I can tell."

"Ah, it's fine." Script waved Sunny off. "Iced it, let it settle, and it was right as rain."

"Wait, what?" Sunny's voice took on a sudden high pitch. "Rain has opinions? Is pony rain alive? Ooh, is it because the pegasussuses do bird magic with the clouds?"

Script covered his mouth with a hoof as Golden snorted loudly into her oatmeal.

"...What?" Sunny stared at Golden.

"Oh nothing," Golden's chest heaved with silent laughter. "That was just the most adorably innocent thing I've ever heard you say."

"Right as rain is a figure of speech." Script explained with a sideways smile. "It essentially means working as intended."

"Oh." Sunny stared at the table quietly. I could feel her cheeks burning through the mind room. "That makes more sense than rain that's alive."

"Mhm." Script chuckled. "So how exactly does regulating your own heat work? Is it emotion based, or is it something like excreting something from your skin to cool you off?"

Yeah Script, because Sunny is obviously a fucking lizard. You can tell by the way she blinks sideways and is clearly cold blooded.

"No, I think it's magic based." Sunny hummed quietly. "It's mainly by choice and practice, but emotions can play a part. When sad, your temperature might drop, or when angry, it will rise. I think I learned in school that going Nirik is kind of related to that. When your body gets to a certain heat because you're angry or scared, it causes a defense instinct thing, and pumps you full of…" Sunny paused, chewing on her lip.

"Adrenaline?" I offered.

"Yeah, adrenaline!" Sunny chirped. "Depending on the amount released, we can go either a little bit or all the way Nirik! We can also kind of make ourselves show a little bit of our Kirin side without the adrena-whatever."

A mixture of "oohs" and "ahs" came from the three ponies.

"So is it something you just instinctively know?" Golden pressed. "Or is it completely learned?"

Sunny took a moment to chew on her lips, thinking of how to best explain the phenomenon.

"Every adult Kirin has a temperature they burn at normally, and I think I learned in school calves can find their parents by their specific temperature before we open our eyes." Sunny explained. "We got used to a specific temperature while growing inside our moms, so that's how we can identify them. And then until we learn, we just kind of use them to keep warm through winters and stuff. Our houses are a little more…" Sunny paused, looking around the room." They have more spaces cold air can come in, since our ceilings are thatched."

"What's 'thatched' mean?" Noi cocked her head to the side. 

"Oh it's like, made with plants and branches and stuff." Sunny responded.

"Can you teach me to control my own temperature?" I asked Sunny.

"Sure!" Sunny replied enthusiastically in our mind conversation.

"That's really interesting." Golden smiled. "Hope you don't boil us alive today, though."

"I… what?" Sunny responded unsurely.

Golden furrowed her brows. "Did I not tell you we were going swimming at the lake today?"

Sunny slowly shook her head.

Golden sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Sorry. My memory isn't what it used to be these past few years. I swear I thought I told you. Do you have a problem with that?"

Hmm, she has memory problems, and still looks pretty young. She did say she had an addiction to painkillers at one point. Maybe she hurt her head? Or maybe I'm drawing connections where there are none.

"I um…" Sunny hesitated. "Don't know how to swim. We don't have any lakes where I'm from."

Golden waved her off with a hoof. "No problem. I can teach you how if you'd like. Or you can hang on the shore with Script. He's not a big swimmer."

Sunny instantly perked up. "Ooh, I'd love to learn!"

Something inside me begged to make a sarcastic comment or a joke about that… but this was the longest time Sunny had been out, and easily the most social she'd been. I didn't want to put that in jeopardy.

"Is it… hard to learn?" Sunny asked tepidly.

Golden fixed us with a sympathetic smile. "I can teach you the pony paddle in just a minute, but more swimming styles will take a bit of practice to get used to. Don't worry, I've taught Noi already and swimming is one of her favorite things to do!"

"I'm basically part fish!" Noi chirped.

Sunny paused, taking a few moments to take some deep breaths. "I-if you're a fish, why am I the one with scales?"

That got a few good chuckles out of everybody, and Sunny relaxed.

"Will it take all day?" Sunny asked, picking up her spoon and taking a big bite of oatmeal.

"No, only a few hours. Actually, we didn't have any plans for after going swimming, kiddo. Is there anything you want to do?" Golden smiled.

"I..." Sunny began, straightening out and tensing right back up. "I want to see Smoky."

Golden rubbed her chin. "I'm afraid I don't know quite where she is at, unfortunately."

"The nurse said she was being fostered by Berry Punch, dear."  Script offered with a small smile.

Golden rolled her eyes and facehooved, and Script's eyes shot open.

"I-I mean, she might have." Script sheepily rubbed the back of his neck. "Couldn't say for sure."

"I.." Sunny spoke up, determined. "I want to see my sister."

"Yesss!" I hissed. "Assert yourself, kid!"

Sunny put her spoon down with a resounding clunk. Golden didn't return eye contact.

"You can't keep me from her." Sunny spoke. Although I can tell she was trying to act brave, I could feel her muscles all seizing up and the trepidation in her voice. "She's the only family I have left."

I didn't dare respond to that. That was the closest Sunny had come to discussing her family at all. My thoughts were apparently shared by Golden and Script, both who were silently watching Sunny.

Golden bowed her head for just a moment, then met Sunny's eye contact. "I'll see if I can talk to Berry about having you two meet under observation, okay? But it won't be today at least."

I could feel our body temperature rising. In our peripherals I could make out tiny puffs of smoke escaping from our fetlocks.

"We don't need to be observed." Sunny's voice had dropped all trepidation, she was now speaking clearly and strongly. "She's been watching out for me almost since I was born."

"Ooh, I can do it!" Noi piped up enthusiastically, completely failing at reading the room. "Berry's daughter Ruby is a good friend of mine!"

Script attempted an ice breaker as Sunny caught sight of our smoking fetlocks, her breathing suddenly rapid. "Nice try Noi, but I think your mom meant somepony a little older."

Sunny squeezed our eyes shut, focusing on slow, deep breaths. I could feel our heart pounding in our chest and our skin crawling. With another sudden lurch, I was fronting.

Golden let out a small sigh. "I can't promise we can get a meeting today, sunshine, but I will talk to her this afternoon, okay?"

"That's fine." Sunny told me. I parroted it back to Golden, who responded with a solemn nod.

For another few minutes we ate in relative silence. Well, as silent as it gets when you live with somebody like Noi, who was yammering on and on about swimming or something to Sunny, who swapped back after taking some time to cool off. I found that even though I was there, I could kind of… drift off. Not sleep, as it was, but just sort of a… disconnected state.

With a sudden movement, I jerked back to attention. Sunny was getting up, pushing her chair back in.

"Wha- what's going on?" I mumbled.

"We're going to walk to the lake." Sunny answered mentally. "Then Golden is going to teach me to swim."

I was sure glad Sunny would be fronting for that. Since lakes don't have edges like pools, that probably meant Golden was gonna have to hold Sunny up while she practiced her form, and I'll be damned if she would try and do that for me. Fuckin' jump off another train before I let that happen.

"Hey, what's your issue with her?" Sunny challenged. "I think Golden is great!"

There was a tense pause.

"Did you just… read my mind?" I finally managed.

Sunny let out a short laugh. "Well, yeah. We have the same brain, there's not a lot of room for privacy. Can't you read my thoughts, too? I mean, I'm thinking this message to you."

"I… well I understand you now, and get like, bursts of your emotions, but that's mainly it. You're telling me you can hear ALL my thoughts?"

"Yeah." Sunny thought simply. "You and all my other imaginary friends. Some thoughts you've had I definitely wish I could not have understood, though. Like when you thought of Maria. And uh, more of your… adult thoughts."

There were a few more moments of tense silence.

"Oh hun," I whispered. "I am so sorry."





The walk to the lake took about ten minutes. Script was carrying a full simple brown pair of saddlebags, no doubt full of towels and sunscreen and stuff.

The lake was a bit bigger than I expected. It looked like the kind of area you'd take a boat to, or go fishing off of. My frame of reference was obviously a bit skewed, but it looks like it went at least a hundred feet out. The other side was covered in trees, but since it was on the outskirts of the town… was that the Everfree Forest?

Well, it sounds like the family had been here quite a few times so I'm assuming even if it was, it was probably safe. 

As we settled down, Script and Golden shared one simple nod, then pulled the sunscreen and started work slathering the no doubt cold, slightly viscous fluid all over us, Golden working on Noi, and Script working on Sunny.

"Bleugh!" Sunny stuck her tongue out as she accidentally got some in her mouth. "What is this gross stuff?"

And why are they putting it on us now, as we're about to go in the water? Did it have magical properties?

"You're not supposed to eat it." Script chuckled. "It's to make sure you don't get burned from the sun."

I could feel a wave of something close to confusion from Sunny. 

"How would we be burned if we're in water?"

As Script tried to explain sunburns and ultraviolet radiation in a far too complicated tangent, I idly noticed how the sunscreen seemed a lot thinner than I was used to. Probably because ponies, and by extension kirin, had fur coats that blocked some UV rays. 

As Script finished his lecture, Sunny stared blankly at him. 

"Do you know how hard it is to burn a creature that can turn into a magical fire monster as easy as-" Sunny picked up and drove her hoof down into the dirt. "-that? We're almost impossible to catch on fire as kirin… or burn at all."

"Damn, got experience with that?" I chuckled. Sunny didn't acknowledge my joke.

Her loss, ignoring my clearly genius, peerless humor.

"Ready?" Noi asked Script, a manic smile on her face. 

Script nodded back, flipped over, and held his rear legs up. With a wild shout, Noi got a running start, jumped onto Script's hind legs, and with a mighty buck, Script sent Noi sailing into the air. Noi managed a double front flip before cannonballing into the water. The splash hit both Sunny, who jumped to the side, and Script, who didn't seem to care.

Pushing his now sopping wet mane out of his face, Script laughed and settled down in one of the poolside chairs nearby.

Meanwhile, Golden was blowing up floaties behind us. Sunny turned to stare at her. Instead of explaining, Golden pushed one of the floaties, one of the ones you'd fit around a foreleg, into the water. Sunny followed its gentle bobs with her eyes.

"I want to try holding you up in the water." Golden went on to say. "If you feel like you wanna try swimming alone today, I brought these just in case you had a problem staying afloat."

Splashing over, Noi grinned wildly. "I never needed any since I was born awesome at swimming!"

With a roll of her eyes and a small shake of her head, Golden smiled at us. "She did, she just doesn't want to admit it."

"Mooooooooom!" Noi whined.

Golden let out a chuckle. "I am many things, darling. A liar is not one."

Noi tried crossing her forelegs at that, but ended up only getting a faceful of water. She popped back up with a sheepish grin, eliciting a chuckle from the rest of us.

As Noi did a flip in the water and started swimming the other way, Golden called after her. "Don't swim out farther than you're comfortable with, my little troublemaker." 

Noi paused. "Why would I do something like that?"

Golden smiled. "To show off for your new foster sister. Be careful, you."

Noi faked a hurt look before smiling back, then swimming off presumably to do exactly what she was just told not to do.

Ah, kids. Such little shits. 

"Hey, throw a look her way every minute or so, make sure she's okay". I instructed Sunny, spotting Noi in her peripherals practicing her breaststroke under the crystal clear waves. Not exactly sure how that works as a quadruped, but didn't care enough to ask either.

Exactly how I expected, Golden was teaching Sunny form by holding her up in the water and having her practice with either her hind legs or forelegs. Every twenty seconds or so, Golden herself would look around, make sure Noi was okay, and turn her attention back to Sunny. Script, in the meantime, was still sitting in his pool chair, reading a book and soaking up rays.

I guess everyone was in a good enough position, and I didn't need to worry about Noi with two fully grown adults nearby, both better at swimming anyway.

I let myself relax, not paying attention to the world around me as I let non-existence swirl around me.

I'm not certain how long I was like that. Could have been minutes, could have been an hour. All I know is that I was suddenly shunted into consciousness by sudden, bone-chilling waves of fear emanating from Sunny.

Looking out our eyes, I could see Noi, and at first I couldn't understand why Sunny was scared. It looked like she was just treading water. Then I noticed what she wasn't doing. She wasn't kicking. She wasn't swimming.

She wasn't breathing.

Her head bobbed under, and in another moment she was up, her chest heaving as she struggled for breath. She wasn't crying out for help, but fixing the sky with a glassy look. 

In our peripherals, I could see Golden following her gaze. When she noticed Noi, she let out a startled gasp, then screamed. 

"Script! Grab Sunny!" Golden shouted, pushing us toward shore. Script was on his hooves in no time, and streaking straight for us. Golden turned again and set off for Noi, faster than I'd expect a pony able to move in water.

But she wasn't fast enough.

With another wave, Noi went under. She pedaled her forehooves toward shore, looking less like a swimming stroke, and more like she was trying to climb a ladder.

It took two seconds for her to resurface, and when she did she came out coughing, barely enough time to pull in more air before she was dragged under again.

Almost as if it was a dream, I found myself in control. No dizzy spell, no mental click, nothing. My body moving faster than my brain, I pumped all four hooves against the water, instinctively looking for traction. For something to push off of.

A moment later, I found it.

I ran. I ran past the dulled sensation of pain in my bad leg as my brain went into fight or flight, flooding my body with adrenaline and deadening my pain receptors. I ran as every cell of my body filled with power.

Filled with fire.

I sprinted past Golden, all four hooves impacting in an order I hadn't learned yet to push me to a speed I didn't even know I could achieve.

I ran until I was right on top of Noi, who had gone underwater again. Without a moment's hesitation I plunged my head through the waves, and grabbed a mouthful of her mane.

I yanked my head up, Noi's own head breaking the surface with an ease I didn't expect. As her lungs filled with air, she let out a violent coughing fit, spitting water everywhere.

With thoughts of getting her to safety, I turned quickly, digging my hooves in and sprinting back toward shore, the only sound I wasn't blocking out being the coughing, interrupted by small cries of pain as I dragged her by her mane all the way to shore. 

Finally we hit sand, and the sudden loss of traction threw off my balance. I landed face first in the hot sand, and both Noi, who I had dropped in surprise, and I tumbled onto the beach right near Script. 

In the second it took me to shake off my daze, Script was at Noi's side, holding her up and trying to help her cough out any more water that remained in her lungs. A second later I was at her side, watching over her as she greedily sucked in mouthfuls of air.

"What were you thinking?" I spat, my worries instantly replaced with anger as I stared at her. "You're supposed to be an experienced swimmer, why were you out there so deep when you knew you were tiring out?! You gotta think about this stuff, Jake-"

I squeezed my mouth shut as I realized what I had almost just said.

For a few seconds Noi just stared at me, breathing heavily and not even reacting.

"Did you just…" she managed after several gasps. "...run on water?"

"I-" I shut up, my next accusation dying on my lips. I looked up at the path I had just taken, looking between where we were now and where Noi almost drowned.

The energy started ebbing away as my vision flicked between the two points. It was nothing but water. But I… was running. On what felt like the ground.

I turned back to stare at Script and Noi uncomprehendingly, the latter of the two taking far more normal, deep breaths.

"Uh, Sunny? Can we run on water?" I thought.

"I… don't know. I didn't grow up anywhere near water, except a little creek."

My brain buzzing with too much information, I sank to my haunches.

"Noi! Sunny! Jenny!" Golden shouted, splashing toward us. Her hooves hitting sand, she ran to all our sides. She almost tackled Noi, pulling her into a tight hug.

"Oh my poor baby, are you okay?" She pulled Noi back to look at her face, her eyes flicking between both of Noi's. Noi let out a shaky nod and Golden pulled her back into a hug, finally meeting my eyes, her own full of tears.

"Thank you… I don't know how you did that, but you… you saved her life."

I nodded unsurely, still dazed.

"How did you do that?" Script asked, snapping me out of my stupor. "That was the craziest thing I've ever seen. You looked like a fireball."

"I…" I turned to look at Noi, shivering uncontrollably, her face pressed right into her mom's chest. I heard a high pitched sob. "...don't know. I just kind of… did it."

For a moment we all stood there, letting Noi cry her heart out, watching Golden rub a forehoof up and down her back, before Sunny spoke up.

"I wanna… wanna try something Smoky used to do for me."

I didn't fight back as the familiar dizzy spell pushed me back into the mind room. I sat by and watched as Sunny stood up and slowly made her way to Noi's side, gently placing a hoof on her shoulder.

Noi didn't say anything as she looked up and spotted Sunny, detaching from Golden and throwing her hooves around us, squeezing as hard as she could. Sunny laid her chin down on Noi's shoulder, and just a second later I could feel waves of heat warm every inch of our body. Not like happiness warmth, more like… laying under a heated blanket.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Warming up. Smoky always did it when I was upset. Reminded me of mom. Plus it will help us dry off."

"How does that even work? Do you just have to imagine a fire or something?"

There was an awkward pause. 

"Think of every creature under the sun that you love. That you would die for." Sunny responded, then continued on in a softer tone a moment later. "I thought of Smoky… and you."

I think my heart melted a bit at that.

Sure enough, by the time Noi pulled herself off Sunny, her chest was almost completely dry.

Deciding we'd had enough swimming fun that day, Golden told us we were heading back home, before insisting on drying off Noi herself. That wasn't too ultimately useful because Golden kept pausing mid-dry and pulling Noi into a tight hug.

Packing up and the journey back home was relatively quiet, with not a single word spoken.

Noi herself seemed to have pretty much recovered from her experience, though I kept catching Golden shooting backwards looks at her. I assume she was making sure Noi was keeping up with the rest of us, not going internal.

Noi didn't react at all, just staring at the ground as we walked. I kept mulling over whether I should say something, do something, but didn't make a move.

I couldn't help but notice that she walked a lot closer to us on the way back than she did on the way there, though.