"I'm fully aware." Dad hissed into his phone. "I heard you. Chavez tried choking him out. Said he'd kill him. However, you realize they were both drunk? NJP'ing him will solve nothing. Make him go to Mental Health, then we'll see what we can do!"
Dad paused as whoever he was calling yelled back. I could hear him give a long puff of his cigarette, then finally respond.
"Yes, First Sergeant. I understand. I'll... I'll make sure it's done. Have a good evening."
There was a moment of silence, then I could hear him chuck his phone across the room.
"Stupid fucking asshole!" He screamed. Just from the tone, I could tell he'd been drinking. I'd bet money that the bottle of Kraken was out from its hiding place, and in its usual location right besides his recliner.
I reconsidered telling him about Jakey getting in trouble. He clearly had enough on his plate. After all the bullshit he was going through, the least I could do was remove his worries about us. I bit back on my desire to walk into the room and try to comfort him. No, he was too smart. That'd be opening a can of worms I didn't dare touch.
Shit, if I ever met his asshole of a first sergeant, I'd... well... what could I do? I was a seventy pound nine year old girl. I couldn't do anything. The world was so unfair. I just... know he deserved better.
With a quiet sigh, I tiptoed back to bed. He couldn't pick up rank soon enough. Him and his marines both deserve somebody like him in charge. I could only hope he could make it to that point.
For most of the next day I was dormant. Sunny, all the credit to her, seemed to know I just… didn't want to be conscious for a while, and took over without saying a thing.
Though considering how many times she went dormant and made me handle shit, I guess that's completely fair. She did have to hear both interactions I had with…
Nope. Don't think of her. I mean, she was coming back. She came back for years with Noi, and wouldn't have fostered Sunny and me if she was going to lea-
Stop that, Jenny! You're being an idiot!
But she also didn't know how much baggage Sunny and I shared. I know I wouldn't want to handle so much drama from kids.
Then again, I have to remind myself that I also didn't want kids. Never wanted to find out if "like mother, like daughter" was true.
I couldn't handle this train of thought. I needed a distraction. A distraction could sort me out. A couple cigarettes, maybe a nice fruity drink. God, I'd take anything, even try a fucking needle in my arm.
No. No, I wouldn't. I couldn't. Not even if I were in my own body. I'd never go that far. Especially with Sunny around.
I'm not that far gone, I just… I need something else to distract me. I need to find a better outlet than a bottle. But… what?
I've heard a good outlet was exercise, but I didn't know any quadruped workouts and shouldn't run on a leg that's still healing from a break. So… what then?
"Um, Jenny." Sunny thought to me. "I'm trying to give you space and let you figure things out, but I can feel the pain just shooting off of you. Is there anything I can do to help?"
Honestly, what a great kid. Her and Noi both.
"Hey! Great idea!" Sunny chirped. "Let's go play with Noi."
"I swear I'll never get used to you reading my mind." I huffed.
"Well if it helps, I wouldn't ever read it if I had the option." Sunny tossed back, heading to Noi's room. "What do you wanna play? I don't have any ideas."
"It's Noi." I chuckled. "No doubt she'll instigate something."
"Instan-what?" Sunny paused, just to be interrupted as Noi's head popped up from her comic just in time.
"You had fangs when you did that transform thing." Noi stated. "Do kirin eat meat?"
"Yeah?" Sunny raised an eyebrow. "Don't ponies sometimes?"
Noi actually looked affronted at that. "No! Animals were living once. I couldn't."
The two fillies stared at each in complete silence for a few moments.
"What kind of animals do you eat?" Noi asked softly. "Did you ever eat ponies?"
"Tell her you eat foals." I chuckled. "Trust me."
"Of course not!" Sunny almost instantly responded. She sighed, stared at the floor, then met Noi's gaze again. "At least not raw. I do like my pony foal served rare, though. Shame there's not a cooking spit nearby."
Noi's face split in a toothy grin. "But you have fire abilities!"
Sunny took a deep breath, and brought her hoof chin, mocking being deep in thought. I felt her give off just a ghost of a grin. "Hmm. That's true."
Noi let off a manic giggle and ran for the door. "You'll never catch me!"
Sunny was at her heels moments later. "C'mere! I'm gonna eat you!"
Noi slid into the kitchen, tossing back a playful grin and an "I'm too fast!"
Sunny turned the bend herself and tensed her hind legs, ready for the pounce. Unfortunately, she never completed it, as just then the body was scooped into the air.
"You trying to eat my darling Noi?" Script challenged, holding Sunny up and smirking.
"I'll eat you too! Raugh!" Sunny softly batted at Script's muzzle, who let off a deep chuckle.
Script gently pinned Sunny against the floor and winked. "Not if I eat you first!"
And with that, he leaned forward and started blowing raspberries on Sunny's stomach. Sunny let off a manic burst of sudden giggles.
I was very glad I couldn't feel that in the mind room.
But of course, Sunny heard that. A sudden click and suddenly I was fro-
"AGHGAHAHA! STOP!" I shouted out as my body writhed, some rather child-like giggling escaping me.
A spasming hind leg accidentally kicked his head away. He reeled back, holding the bottom of his jaw with a foreleg.
"Holy sh- Sorry!" I gasped. "I didn't mean to-"
"That was bad." Script said in a neutral tone. I felt my heart start hammering away in my chest. It occurred to me for just a moment how predatory this situation felt, us in the positions we were in. "You know what that means?"
I squeezed my eyes shut and looked away, steeling myself for the next level of military-grade torture tactics.
"More tickles!" He announced in a jovial tone, lurching forward and blowing another raspberry on our stomach.
I managed to wrestle away from him and crawl away, my lungs heaving for breath.
"You haven't been tickled a lot, have you?" Noi chuckled from next to me, shaking her head. "Total noobie."
"He attacked with extreme prejudice!" I gasped dramatically. "Such tactics are only seen on the bloodiest battlefields."
"Wh- but he wasn't being racist against you at all?" Noi cocked her head to the side.
"I know." I stated with a smile, reaching out and bopping Noi's nose. "Tag!"
Dunno if it was adrenaline, the happiness coming from Sunny, or the distraction, but I had a burst of happy chemicals. A moment later I was on my hooves, racing for the back door.
Noi's brain took a moment to process what had just happened, but as soon as she did, she was on my heels, racing for the pile of leaves one of the adults had probably raked up.
"Princess of the pile!" Noi called out, struggling to climb the pile of leaves, slipping as they came loose.
Must have been tightly raked by magic if you can climb them.
"You're on!" I challenged, making my way up the slippery slope.
Hitting a loose patch of leaves, I lost traction. I faceplanted into the pile and rolled down.
"Hah! Looks like I'm gonna win!" Noi cheered.
Nah, I was gonna cheat shamelessly.
I took a few quick breaths and called forth the prey mindset, like Sunny had taught yesterday. I guess I was decent enough with instincts, because I pulled it off on the first try.
Not sure exactly how, but I ran up the pile with ease, like it was a hill, not a loose pile of leaves. I made my way up to the top and smirked down at Noi, who was inches from me.
"Wh- how did you-" Noi began, pausing as I lunged forward, placing my hooves over hers.
"Long live the queen." I whispered, before pulling her hooves up enough to break her grip.
She tumbled down the foot high pile super dramatically, before rolling onto the ground with an emphasized "oof".
"You alright down there?" I called.
"No." Noi squeezed her eyes shut. "You've killed me. I'm so dead right now."
I blinked slowly, before letting out a loud whoop.
I stuck my hoof in the air victoriously. "Thus begins my thousand year reign of BLOOD!"
"-So that's when Dad came in, saying all his words backwards, and DT decided this was her favorite place." Noi continued, rattling off some nonsense story to Sunny after they spent the last hour ruining the pile and messing around in the backyard. "Then… Miss Fluttershy?"
Sure enough, a familiar looking butter-yellow pegasus was sitting across from Script at the table.
I steeled myself for her to act differently then I remembered too. Another strike of existential horror incoming. Yay.
"Hello Noi." Fluttershy gave her a soft smile, before trying to Sunny. "And you must be Sunn-"
"Miss Fluttershy!" Sunny shouted, scampering over to the table, her voice rising in pitch. "How have you been? Where's Miss Applejack? How have you two been? What are you doing here?!"
"Uh, you know her?" I coughed.
"She and her friend saved my village from the curse of the Stream of Silence!" Sunny informed me nonverbally. "They're heroes to the kirin."
"Oh, Applejack and I have been just fine." Fluttershy gave Sunny a soft smile. "She's busy working at her farm, but I'm sure she'd love seeing you too. I'm actually here on the request of Pinkie Pie."
"The… party thrower?" Sunny blinked.
Fluttershy nodded. "She told me you're having some problems with the kirin state."
I could feel Sunny's brain whirring a hundred miles an hour. "Can… Can we get rid of it?"
Fluttershy gave off a small sigh and looked down. "I'm afraid not. But I do want to see if I can help you cool off when you're angry or scared."
I felt a spike of excitement as Sunny whipped her head to look at Script, silently asking for permission. Script smiled and nodded.
"I trust Fluttershy completely." Script stated. "Just don't be gone crazy long."
And it was with a quick wave goodbye that Sunny and I found our way out the door and heading east.
"Where are we going?" Sunny asked.
"Whitetail Woods." Fluttershy responded softly. "I heard you had a bad experience in the Everfree, but you don't have to worry about that there. There are no monsters in the Whitetail Woods, and especially no timberwolves."
I could feel a wave of relief emanating from Sunny.
It looked like everything was set up pretty well. I got ready to go dormant and ignore Fluttershy, before she slowed down and smiled at us.
"I'd like to hear more about the kirin. We ponies know almost nothing of you."
Well nevermind. I wanted to hear this too.
Sunny chewed her lip. "Well I can teach you about our magic, but no kirin I know knows our history. Our library kinda burned down… a few times. Our last elder apparently decided it wasn't worth rebuilding, since we didn't have books to replace the ones we lost."
"Oh?" Fluttershy cocked an eyebrow. "What do you learn in school, then?"
"Job stuff." Sunny explained. "Magic, herbology, shaman work, a bit of alchemy. Stuff we'll use to help the village."
"Oh, so you don't know any of your history?" Fluttershy frowned. "That'll disappoint Twilight. She’s been trying to find out more about the kirin too. I can tell you what she's shared with me, if that's okay with you?"
"Yes, please!" Sunny nodded eagerly.
"Well," Fluttershy began. "Apparently Canterlot thousands of years ago, had an embassy for kirin kind. But our races weren't exactly friends…"
Fluttershy trailed off, rubbing her hoof on the back of her neck.
"Well, apparently the kirin were seen almost completely as a warrior race. While you had no combat magic, you could summon a new form with your unique magic, one that made you stronger and tougher."
"The nirik form." Sunny guessed glumly.
Fluttershy nodded again. "But from records Twilight found, it sounds like your ancestors had complete control over it. All of them reference using their nirik magic just like a weapon. Something only ever seen in battle."
A sudden wave of euphoria slammed into me.
"So it can be controlled!" Sunny shouted.
"Well I sure hope so." Fluttershy smiled. "But aside from that, we don't really know much. We know that kirin started having problems with the magic after peace came about, and they withdrew completely from pony society. There's no records we can find anywhere after our races split."
"...Until you and Miss Applejack found us two cycles ago." Sunny realized.
"So… y'all lost control of your magic and just isolated for thousands of years?" I thought. "That seems a bit extreme."
"Twilight's personal guess was that kirin were more focused as warriors. They had an outlet to use the magic on. But once all the fighting ended, you were a war race with no war. The only targets you could use it on were yourselves. And that's why the nirik form turned from a weapon into a curse." Fluttershy explained. "At least, that's what she thinks."
"So how do we deal with peace, then?" Sunny stared up at Fluttershy inquisitively.
Fluttershy slowed to stop and hummed quietly. Sitting down and lifting a foreleg up horizontally, she let out a shrill whistle.
Moments later a bluejay fluttered down from a nearby tree and perched on her leg.
"This is a bluejay. Among ponies who like birds, it's a popular pet." Fluttershy explained. "Inside a house, it sleeps in a cage, but can you imagine if it never was able to leave the cage?"
"It'd probably get really bored." Sunny commented.
Fluttershy nodded. "But if you let them out, let them explore and experience and tire themselves out, they'll behave better. They'll be less bored."
"So… you're saying let the nirik out? But that always results in somebody being hurt."
Fluttershy gave Sunny a gentle smile. "No, I'm not saying let it out. Not until you have better control. I'm saying you should exercise it. Find a way to bring it out in parts, so you can not only work through your anger with control, but you can diminish its effect on you. And if it gets really bad, find somewhere you can be a nirik alone, and just let all that anger out."
"How do I do that?" Sunny cocked her head to the right.
With a gentle wave of her foreleg, Fluttershy shooed the bird off of her. "It's different for everycreature. I find my stress relief alone with my animal friends, but my friend Rainbow Dash finds hers in flying. Explore who you are and what you like, and you'll find it. Until then, you have a lot of ponies at your side who want to help you. Including me."
Sunny paused for a few moments, then smiled. "Thanks, I'll try that."
A quick smile and nod, and the two resumed.
"I'm interested to know more about what they teach you. They must teach very in-depth to keep you in school for years." Fluttershy began. "At least with so few topics."
"Well, we did get our learning plans changed and then shut down after the Stream of Silence since we were… y'know, rebuilding the village and magically quiet." Sunny joked. "But according to our elder, calves my age are better at magic than they were when she was young."
Her gaze wandering around, Sunny spotted a strip of some kind of purple-ish budding flower.
"It's called an orchid, Jenny." Sunny told me nonverbally.
"Stop correcting my narration and get out of my head." I pleaded.
"It's my head, I was here first." Sunny sassed back, walking behind the budding plants and presenting it to Fluttershy.
"That's why I can do this so young-" Sunny began, laying down and tensing her entire body.
For a few moments, nothing happened. Then slowly, the flower changed. The stem straightened, the bulb opened, and if I'm not mistaken, the color seemed brighter.
A quick look behind, and we spotted the entire patch of orchids was now in full bloom.
Sunny wiped her forehead. "Whoo, that was a tough one."
Fluttershy tilted her head down and smiled. "Wow Sunny, these are beautiful. That's very impressive!"
With a practiced movement, Sunny plucked one of the flowers and fixed it behind Fluttershy's left ear.
"There!" Sunny chirped. "Now you're even prettier!"
Pink flooded Fluttershy's face and she took a moment to look away and hide her blush. With slow movements, she plucked another flower and fixed it behind Sunny's ear.
"Let's both be prettier." Fluttershy winked.
"Okay!" Sunny beamed. "I'm really good with flowers! My mom worked with them every day."
"Oh, you must be really smart then." Fluttershy nodded. "What do kirin use flowers for?"
"Medicine and recreation mostly." Sunny explained. "But I liked using it in pranks. Like, did you know if you make a soup in a pot with diced and salted nightshade roots, it will cure the cold? But if you crush some of its leaves, you can use that and any dye to make a poultice that will dye anyone's mane for a week?"
Fluttershy blinked.
"We can also chew the stem of a rose to help get rid of nausea!" Sunny added. "Nature is full of medicine."
Okay, conversation has moved from magic to flowers. I'm bored again. Going dormant.
"That's fascinating. Tell me more." Fluttershy eagerly. "I may be able to use some of these remedies to help my animal friends."
Sunny stopped completely. "Animal friends? Animals aren't friends. They belong in the woods with the rest of the monsters."
This time it was Fluttershy's turn to stop. "What? No no, I love my animal friends. Several of them live with me in my cottage. They're not mean."
Sunny shivered.
"Not all animals are like the Chimera." I reassured her. "Most animals ponies would own are pretty harmless. Like cats and dogs and such."
Sunny shook her head forcefully. "Dogs can crush your bones with a bite and cats are quick and have sharp claws. The best choice is avoiding them altogether."
"Oh dear." Fluttershy squeaked, watching as the trees of Whitetail Forest came in view. "I had no idea you had an issue with animals. I wish I knew, because I asked one of my animal friends to join us in showing you the forest."
Fluttershy raised a hoof to the area behind us. "I can assure you, he's really quite gentle."
I could feel Sunny's muscles locking up and she slowly, breathlessly turned around to see a massive, shaggy, 700 pound grizzly bear.
"Sunny, meet Harry."