Unpopular opinion time

@Mildgyth  
It would make sense. Like, unless that trait was a very recent mutation how would they not be better equipped to deal with it? Either that or the vast majority of kirin DID move away and those were the holdout minority who would rather lobotomize themselves than travel for like an hour to get to the canyons, or desert, or ocean XD

@Badumsquish
 
It isn’t too recent, given that the mutation seemingly occurred over 1000 years previously, before Star Swirl’s time.

@Mildgyth  
Maybe literally every other species hates them for constantly igniting themselves and that’s literally the only place left that they won’t be chased out of by some native creature XD  

@Badumsquish
 
I think it’s more like a freaky mutation that happened and then got amplified after some kind of natural disaster that killed most of the population and that only spread further because of their isolation.

@Badumsquish  

@Mildgyth  

 
Well if we’re going for wild fan guessing, I like to think that at one point in time they had a symbiotic relationship with another species native to Equestria, that we know feeds specifically on negative emotions.  
 
Or at least they did up until said species realized it could use the negative emotional energy they consumed to become more powerful, at which point they swiftly turned evil, prompting the heroes of that era to make them someone else’s problem.  
 
This absence left the kirin in the unfortunate position of having to deal with negative emotions they hadn’t really had to keep in check before, which is why the sudden increase in house fires caught them by surprise and lead to their rather hastily thought out (albeit effective) solution.

We really missed the chance to have a trio of Kirin named Tianma, Longma and Ryuma.

No more fucking kirins goddamn. Do you people ever get sick of kirins.
 
yes this counts as an unpopular opinion

@LightningBolt  
Aren’t kirins part dragon? :o

@Marx  
MLP kirins are boring looking (to me) and I’m tired of seeing them.

@Marx  
MLP Kirins are basically Ponies with Scales

@LightningBolt  
@Broken Adam  
I see

@Broken Adam
 
Good.

@Dustcan  
Thats why they’re so fucking boring and why everyone draws them. other species are more fun.

@LightningBolt  
Like what?
 
Also worth noting is kirins are one of the few things newer than me to really take off (Starlight, CMC marks, Flurry, Windy Whistles and Pear Butter to an extent, Student 6, Cozy, Grogar, Li’l Cheese, and Luster Dawn are about the only ones. Add kirins and I think that’s roughly equal to what Seasons 1 and 2 gave us)

@Wiimeiser  

 
Literally any other species that isn’t ponies or kirins (and i like ponies) griffons, hippogriffs, seaponies, changelings, sirens, even changedlings and I hate those. Just everyone needs to stop drawing and plushing and crafting all the kirins 500x over.

@LightningBolt  
I’m reminded of how popular bat pones were

@Marx  
Were? They still are. Only with bat ponies they’re old enough to have a legacy and are actually just a type of pony so it makes sense to be edited ponies, plus there’s a fuckton of bat pony OCs.
 
Kirins are supposed to be a different species but you can’t even tell really. so it feels like everyone drawing/plushing them is just lazy and thinks that editing a pony to make a kirin will rake in the attention/money as opposed to making something wholy different.

@LightningBolt  
I say ‘were’ due to how much people loved the newer species as the seasons went by.

@LightningBolt  
Yeah, kirins are lazy pony edits. It’s actually to the point where I consider kirins one of the 8 (9 if you include alicorns) “Houyhnhnms” (Earth pony, pegasus, unicorn, batpony/thestral, kirin, zebra/zecora (abada?), kelpie, and melowy)

@Marx  
Kirins kinda took over other species in popularity and I don’t get it.

@Wiimeiser  
Who are Kelpie and Melowy

@LightningBolt  
I guess because people asked for them for so long.

@Broken Adam  
In mlp, kelpies are ugly sirens.

@WyrmSpawN  
I never did, and fanmade kirins usually looked better.
 
@WyrmSpawN  
I was about to get mad for you calling sirens ‘ugly’ but then I read your post again.
 
There are no kelpies tho.

@LightningBolt  
Idw.