Pinkie Pie ran through an open field as fast as her hoofsies could possibly carry her, which wasn’t fast enough. She didn’t dare look back to see how close the Nirik chasing her was, but she could hear his frantic hoofbeats on the grass, and the snarling cackle he made as he readied himself to take down his prey.
Pinkie narrowed her eyes and saw something in the distance; a chasm, by the look of it. She wondered if she or the Nirik would be crazy enough to jump down into it, but she only wondered for a second before she was somewhat distracted by a sudden gash in her cheek.
The Nirik had caught up to her, and was grinning maliciously as a pair of magical steel claws surrounded his forehooves, the edges dripping with Pinkie’s blood.
“Looks like your luck’s run out, girl,” the Nirik sneered, before indulging in a self-satisfied cackle.
He was wrong though; Pinkie knew her luck would never run out, and she proved it by bolting out of the Nirik’s range while he was distracted by his own laughter. He screamed at her to come back before galloping toward her again, and while she had hoped she’d have thought of a plan to escape before he caught up to her again, he was making ground super fast.
But then inspiration struck; if Pinkie really believed she was lucky, then surely a little fall down a mysterious chasm couldn’t hurt, right?
It didn’t matter. She at least had to believe it would hurt less than whatever the Nirik would do if he caught her.
Pinkie ran for the chasm, getting closer and closer with each step and just hoping really, really, really hard that she could make it before the Nirik caught up to her, but oops no she couldn’t.
He slashed her across the hind leg, tripping her and causing her to tumble to the ground.
Pinkie whimpered in pain and cringed at the sight of her bleeding, shredded leg, and the Nirik just licked his lips as he inched ever closer to the prone Kirin.
“I think you’ve run far enough today,” the Nirik hissed, its fanged mouth twisting into a hideous and scary grin, as the dark green smoke rose from his back and mane, smothering the air around him.
“IIIIII honestly don’t think so?” Pinkie put on her best, most charmingest smile as she tried to reason with the Nirik, even though she knew it was kinda sorta a total lost cause. “I’d like to run a little bit further, if you don’t mind!”
“I do,” the Nirik said flatly.
“You do want me to run further?” Pinkie hopped to her hooves, biting down another pained whimper as her bloodied leg hit the ground. “Okie dokie lokie, I guess I’ll just be on my w—”
Pinkie’s pleas were cut short by a slash across her muzzle, that tore the flesh of her nose and left three bloody scratches across it.
“Hehehokay, I can see somepony is in a super grumpy mood,” Pinkie laughed nervously, “why don’t you just lay down for a bit while I—”
“Enough talking!” the Nirik screamed as it lunged at Pinkie, claws bared at her and ready to take her down for good.
Which is just what she was waiting for.
The grooves on her horn glowed a bright, pale blue as a pair of vines reached out of the ground and wrapped around the Nirik’s hindlegs. Controlling the vines with her magic, she spun the Nirik around in the air a couple times before throwing him as far away from her down the open field as she possibly could, only feeling a little bit bad at the giggle she made when he landed on the grass with a noticeable thud, even in the distance.
Still though, he was up and at ‘em right quick, and charged down Pinkie like an oncoming freight train. Pinkie might’ve bought some time, but she couldn’t beat the guy in a straight up fight, and the only escape option she had at hoof was jumping down the ravine.
So she jumped.
She relished the Nirik’s shocked gasp for only a second before her mind and face were confronted by a jutting cliff. Pinkie looked up past the silly cartoon stars swirling over her head to see the cliff wasn’t very far down the ravine, and the Nirik was looking down at her.
She smiled at him before walking straight off the cliff, pleased as punch to see his eyes widen in shock, which basically confirmed that he didn’t have the guts to follow her down.
She just had to hope that her guts wouldn’t end up spilled all over the bottom of this chasm.
Pinkie wasn’t sure how many cliffs, rocks, crags, and other such things she’d hit by the time she landed at the bottom of the ravine with a nasty thump. She’d lost count after like the fifth or sixth? Seventh maybe?
Anyway, she was lying in the dirt at the bottom of the ravine— looking through her one eye that still opened all the way after the other was hit by a rock on the way down—and she vaguely saw the Nirik looking down the ravine, before turning and walking away, out of sight.
Pinkie breathed a sigh of relief that quickly turned into a hacking cough that spilled blood out of her mouth. Her chest hurt like crazy, she could barely move her limbs, she could feel blood pooling in her mouth—and all that just from a measly fall!
She was safe from the Nirik at least, but geez she was so tired all of a sudden. All that running around, probably. Even if she was injured, it wouldn’t hurt to lie down for a bit, would it?
Maybe close her eyes a minute?
She was really sleepy.
****
Twilight Sparkle rose from her bed and walked downstairs into her humble dining room, where she ate breakfast with her parents. There were no words shared between them. Twilight could not remember the last time there had been words shared between any Kirin in Twilight’s village.
The day that every member of the village entered the Stream of Silence— and were robbed of not only their voices, but their emotions as well—seemed at once to have been an eternity ago, and yet just yesterday. Twilight honestly had no concept of how long it had been since she had heard her voice, or anyone else’s.
And it was—well, ‘funny’ wasn’t quite right, as Twilight wasn’t certain she had the capacity to feel humor anymore—but it was a curious thing; the Stream of Silence was supposed to remove the Kirin’s ability to feel, and yet Twilight could still feel one thing, like a wispy flame struggling to breathe deep inside her heart.
She wasn’t sure what the feeling was exactly, she had no tools with which to parse what her emotions might theoretically feel like at this juncture, but she knew one thing; she wanted her voice and her emotions back.
Twilight left her home and looked back at her parents, who nodded at her with no hint of love or anything else on their faces. Did they still love her? Did she care? Did it matter? Twilight had no answers, but she did know that she would not be returning home today, and likely not for a long time after.
She wondered if her parents knew what her plan was. She couldn’t tell them—well, she could have written it, but even writing words down was frowned upon since the Stream of Silence, and it took far too much energy anyway. Twilight just supposed it didn’t matter if her parents knew what she was up to, it was not as though they had the ability to feel anything for her one way or the other.
Twilight passed by the Stream on her slow walk through the village, and she let her eyes wander across it. Such a simple thing, visually indistinct from any other body of water, yet the impact it had on Twilight’s life, and those of her family and friends, was unquantifiable.
She paused a moment to look at the Stream. She wanted to hate it, to issue it some burning glare as if her ability to show disdain for the thing that had ruined her life would fix her somehow, but she felt nothing as she looked into the water’s reflection, and a bored-looking lavender Kirin looked back at her with glassy eyes.
Enough stalling. Twilight headed for the village gates and did not look back even once.
The Grove that held Twilight’s home was nestled into a hidden ravine deep within the southern mountains of Equestria; it would be some time before Twilight found any other civilization or signs of sentient life.
Not that it mattered; Twilight could neither hold a conversation nor feel loneliness. And yet, she found that after giving it a moment’s thought, she wasn’t looking forward to a lonely journey to… to where, exactly?
The Stream of Silence was an utter enigma, even to the Kirin who had built their homes around it. Twilight lived near the thing her entire life and knew absolutely nothing about it, save for its effects on her, which she only understood insofar as she could experience them; the specific nature of her curse eluded her.
Point being, where would she go to find a cure? Who would even know how to make one, or if it was even possible?
Twilight supposed it was a good thing that she did not have the ability to feel hopelessness as her legs kept moving forward one step at a time, undeterred by the impossible nature of the task at hoof.
She at least knew one thing; the first thing she required was information. The landscape of Equestria outside the Grove was not something known to those within it, but Twilight had been a rather curious sort before her silencing, and she was vaguely aware of a capital city in the land of ponies called Canterlot, where the world’s greatest library was said to reside. Surely it would have some information that could help her, and if not, at least it was a direction to be walking in.
So Twilight kept walking, easily losing track of time until something caught her eye. It was a Kirin, not one that she recognized, lying in the middle of the ravine in a pool of blood, with several scrapes, bruises and gashes across its pink-furred body. The girl was still breathing, but barely.
Twilight stopped in her tracks and blinked. She walked toward the Kirin and looked around, spying a nearby cave that would suffice for what she needed to do. She didn’t know what had happened to this mare that caused her to be in such a state, but Twilight had no desire to linger around and find out if whatever had hurt her still lurked nearby.
Twilight’s horn glowed with raspberry magic, and a similarly-colored aura enveloped the pink Kirin as Twilight levitated her, carrying her behind as she escaped into the moss-covered cave and laid the pink Kirin on the ground.
Twilight stood behind the Kirin and faced the cave entrance, just to be safe. She wrapped the mare up in a glowing raspberry light, and as she closed her eyes, so too did the wounds on the pink Kirin close.
Twilight opened her eyes to see a mare whose fur was still stained by blood, and who still had an odd bruise or scrape, but had color in her face again, and the hair on her mane and tail practically bounced with fluffiness, where they had been laid nearly flat before.
Still though, while Twilight’s magic was powerful enough, the girl’s wounds were many, and Twilight did not have the power to close them all.
Regardless, the pink Kirin’s face—which had been an unpleasant and fearful-looking scowl when Twilight found her—was now graced by a tiny smile as the Kirin’s breathing returned to normal.
There was something satisfying about seeing that tender smile. It made Twilight feel…
Something.
****
Pinkie groaned and arched her back as she yawned herself awake, not even thinking to take stock of where she was until she was halfway into that yawn and she saw a lavender Kirin staring straight into her soul with the dead-eyed stare of a demon, or like a really bored yeti.
Pinkie yelped and jumped back, cowering on the floor and putting her hooves over her eyes, super certain that she’d been caught by the Nirik and this was it for her, and yet…
She opened her eyes, and the lavender Kirin just… tilted her head a bit, and her ears did an adorable little flop. She didn’t move or attack or even show any inkling that she wanted to hurt Pinkie at all. In fact, Pinkie took a look at her legs, which last she’d seen had been all kinds of torn up by rocks and Nirik, but now were good as new, or close enough anyway.
“Did you…” Pinkie pointed at the lavender Kirin with a trembling hoof. “Did you heal me?”
The lavender Kirin nodded, but said nothing.
“W-wow, thanks a bazillion!” Pinkie hopped up and down with a big grin on her face, but stopped in the air mid-jump. “Wait, you’re not gonna turn into a Nirik and haul me off someplace, are you?!”
The lavender Kirin shook her head, but said nada.
“Oh,” Pinkie breathed a sigh of relief as she touched the ground. “Soooo… you just took care of me? And-“ Pinkie could see the light outside the cave entrance, and could tell sunset was coming soon “-watched over me while I slept?”
The lavender Kirin nodded, but again, didn’t say a gosh darn thing.
“Not really much of a talker, are ya?” Pinkie giggled, and the other Kirin just shook her head, of course.
Pinkie took a sec to walk in a little circle around the Kirin and size her up, which she didn’t seem to mind even as she kept her eyes on Pinkie the whole time.
Pinkie’s first impression was that lavender was a really cute color for a Kirin, and that this new girl’s indigo mane was a nice compliment, especially with the deep purple and bright pink streaks, and her burnt-red horn—which was pretty standard for any Kirin—looked pretty snazzy too.
The hair of her mane around her neck and head were just as floofy as any Kirin—except Pinkie’s of course, cuz she was the absolute queen of floof—but she also had neatly straightened bangs, and the hair on her tail was straight as an arrow.
Pinkie’s final conclusion was that this Kirin had the face of a friend, even she did seem a little reserved, and was a super cutie that Pinkie wanted to get to know better! So what better way to do that, than to introduce herself?
“What’s your name? Mine is Pinkie Pie! Do you like that? I came up with it myself!”
The lavender Kirin blinked, and tilted her head.
“Uhhhh, are you okay?” Pinkie asked, touching a hoof to her chin.
The lavender nodded yadda yadda.
“Wait,” Pinkie’s eyes widened as a light bulb went off over her head, “you can’t speak, can you? Waitwaitwait, let me try again.” Pinkie cleared her throat. “Are you capable, physically, of speaking?”
The Kirin shook her head.
“Oh no, I’m so sorry!” Pinkie gasped. She’d absolutely hate it if she couldn’t speak, she just had so much to say and to talk about and to yell and to sing and to—well you get it. “Is there anything I can do to help?” she knew it was a silly question, but she couldn’t not ask, just in case there was something she could do.
The Kirin shook her head.
“Well, can you write down your name?”
The silent Kirin didn’t react at first, like she had to think about Pinkie’s question, which made Pinkie a little nervous. What if she couldn’t write, and Pinkie was just rubbing salt in her wound like a big meanie? She’d hate to make anypony feel bad!
Pinkie took a deep breath, “It’s okay! You don’t have to tell me if you don’t feel comfortable,” the lavender Kirin blinked, and Pinkie hurried to come up with something to say to keep the conversation going. “Uh, how about I give you a nickname?”
The soon-to-be-nicknamed-by-Pinkie Kirin nodded.
“Oh okay, this’ll be fun!” Pinkie beamed. “I’m great at coming up with names!” Pinkie walked in a circle around the Kirin and hummed, wracking her brain to come up with the perfect moniker. “Okay, I got it! You’re super-duper purple, which is cute as heck, and you’re the strong silent type, so that means you must be pretty smart! How do you feel about ‘Purple Smart’?”
Purple Smart’s eye twitched, and she looked to her left, then to her right. She took a few scraps of moss and hanging vines from the cavern walls with her magic, arranging them into a neat little pattern on the ground between her and Pinkie—a pattern that spelled out two words.
TWILIGHT SPARKLE
“Your name is Twilight Sparkle?!” Pinkie gasped, throwing her hooves up to her face. “What a cool name! Did you come up with that?”
Twilight Sparkle nodded, and Pinkie couldn’t help squealing in delight.
She beamed at Twilight, “Are you trans like me?”
And for a second, she felt like she was gonna have an anxiety attack over maybe accidentally outing herself before she was sure this other Kirin was trans. But fear not! A nod of Twilight’s head not only put her worries to rest, it sent a lightning bolt of joy through her heart that coursed through her whole body!
Pinkie purred and jumped next to Twilight Sparkle, wrapping her forelegs around her new friend.
“I can’t believe I met another friendly Kirin!” Pinkie beamed, rubbing her cheek against Twilight’s, who didn’t seem to mind. “It’s been forever since I met one who didn’t turn into a mean ol’ Nirik and try to attack me! And I can’t believe your trans too! This is the best day eve—WAIT! What’re your pronouns?”
Twilight said nothing, and Pinkie felt like a doofus for expecting her too.
Pinkie jumped back and examined Twilight.
“Is there any way you can tell me?”
Twilight blinked.
“Should I just guess?”
Twilight remained still for a second, and then nodded.
“Okay,” Pinkie breathed in, knowing she’d be mortified if she guessed wrong, “please don’t be super mad if I guess wrong, okay? I know how awful misgendering feels, and I’m really really sorry if I mess up!”
Twilight just stared at Pinkie, who took a deeeeeeep breath.
“She and her?” Pinkie asked nervously, biting down on her hoofsies.
Twilight nodded, and Pinkie’s delighted scream could’ve shattered glass.
“I’m so happy I got it right on the first try!” Pinkie bounced up and down before jumping at Twilight and tackling her into a hug, pinning her to the ground. Pinkie gasped and jumped into the air, “I just had the greatest idea in the whole world! Do you know what the Elements of Harmony are?”
Twilight stood to her feet and shook her head.
“They’re these legendary magical artifacts,” Pinkie explained excitedly, “said to be created by the oldest and wisest Kirin sages in history. Nopony knows what happened to ‘em though, and a lot of people just think they’re a legend, but I know they’re real!”
Twilight tilted her head, and Pinkie blushed and tapped her hooves together.
“Okay, I don’t know they’re real,” Pinkie muttered, before puffing up her cheeks and stamping her hooves in the dirt, “but I believe it! Super strongly! And I’m gonna find the Elements and save Equestria!”
Twilight’s head was still cocked to the side, and her ears twitched.
“Uhhhhh, you’re probably wondering why I brought all this up, huh?” Pinkie asked, feeling a little self-conscious that she kinda got rambly there for a second, which wasn’t entirely helped when Twilight nodded.
“Right, so, anyway!” Pinkie cleared her throat. “I think the Elements can probably restore your voice! I mean, they’re supposed to be super magical, so why not, right? So whaddya say? You wanna team up? We can look for the Elements and a cure for your voice together! It’ll be fun! Like an adventure!”
Twilight said nothing for a moment, and Pinkie bit her lip.
Another moment went by where Twilight didn’t react, and Pinkie lowered her head a bit, then another silent moment and Pinkie’s chin was on the ground, and then another moment where Twilight did nothing and Pinkie’s hooves were covering her eyes because she was a stupid, dumb, worthless pony who always made mistakes and got way far ahead of herself and of course no one wanted to go looking for made-up dumb artifacts that probably weren’t even real, especially not with a dumb boring ugly pink Kirin like—
Twilight’s hooves gently brushed Pinkie’s away from her face, and Pinkie’s teary eyes were greeted by the utterly glorious sight of Twilight’s small nod.
“Y-you will? You’ll help me look for ‘em?” Pinkie muttered, trying not to lose it and start bawling right then and there, but after Twilight nodded again, the waterworks came out in full force. “Nopony’s ever believed in me! Thank you sooooooo much, Twilight!”
Pinkie held onto Twilight for a sec while she sobbed and wheezed, but then she bounced away and giggled, having gotten the crying out of her system.
“So what’re we waiting for, huh?” Pinkie beamed. “Let’s go find those Elements!”
Twilight nodded, before following Pinkie out of the cave and into the ravine, which was tinted orange by the setting sun.
Pinkie hopped merrily along and turned to Twilight, wanting to ask her a million bazillion questions, but she’d be sure to stick only to yes or no questions.
Buuuut that’d have to wait, because Twilight was standing totally still and looking off into the distance behind her.
Pinkie trotted up to Twilight to see what she was seeing, and noticed a big black smokestack rising in the distance, visible even past the ravine’s scarily high walls.
Twilight pointed her hoof in that direction.
“You wanna go that way?” Pinkie asked incredulously, and Twilight nodded. “Why? Whatever’s making that smoke, it’s probably super danger—wait.” Pinkie gasped, having been struck by a terrifying thought. “Is that where you came from? Like, your home?”
Twilight nodded, and a crushing anxiety seized Pinkie’s gut.
“Lead the way, Twilight,” Pinkie nodded, wearing her most serious of serious faces, “I’m right behind you!”
Twilight took off and Pinkie followed, and she tried to just ignore the really queasy feeling in her gut that got bigger and stronger the closer they got to the smoke.
It was probably nothing. She hoped.
Twilight had many questions for her new companion, and she would have to devote time to finding a way to ask them.
While Twilight was skeptical of the existence of ‘legendary magical artifacts’ that could somehow restore her emotions and ‘save Equestria’—from what, Twilight had no clue—she did know that she had no direction of her own, and Pinkie Pie could benefit from Twilight’s magical expertise while Twilight could benefit from her company, at the very least.
Nothing about Pinkie Pie struck Twilight as anything other than what she seemed to be; a bubbly, cheerful young woman with big dreams. Twilight could definitely find worse company.
But for the moment, Twilight needed to focus on the task at hoof. Fires in the Grove were rare, though not unheard of, and she was certain that everypony in the village would be fine, but it wouldn’t be right to turn her back on her home if they really did need her help, so before any ‘Element hunting’ could begin, Twilight needed to return to the village to make sure everything was alright.
It didn’t take long after reaching the village to see that there was indeed something very wrong there. The fires were being caused by a Nirik, who sliced down trees with steel claws and let out a hideous, shrieking laugh at Kirin who huddled in their homes for safety.
She hadn't seen a Nirik since before she had been silenced, and if it were up to her, she would have preferred to never see one again.
But there was nothing to be done about it now, all Twilight could do was remove the threat as quickly and efficiently as possible, which meant first getting its attention focused solely on Twilight, so that the other villagers could get to safety and put out the fires.
Twilight turned toward Pinkie and clapped her hooves, then pointed at the Nirik, hoping by some miracle that Pinkie would understand that Twilight wanted her to grab the monster’s attention.
“HEY NIRIK!!!!!” Pinkie screamed at the top of her lungs.
That was perfect.
The Nirik turned toward Twilight and Pinkie and bore a sinister grin, and Twilight sized up its features more closely.
The flames surrounding its body weren’t actual flames, they were magical smoke that rose from the Nirik’s dark frame, which on closer inspection was more like a sickly dark green than pure black, and its puffy mane was also made of the flame-like smoke, in a dark teal hue; Twilight presumed that in his Kirin form, his mane probably looked similar to Pinkie’s.
His most notable feature though, was his snarling, malicious grin that bared a mouth full of razor-sharp fangs.
“Y-you’re the Nirik from before!” Pinkie’s voice dripped with fear, but it was quickly swept away by frustration. “What’re you doing here!? Why are you hurting innocent Kirin!?”
“I figured they were hiding you someplace,” the Nirik smirked and took a step closer, Pinkie inching behind Twilight, “and lo and behold, here you are.”
Twilight wasn’t entirely certain what was going on between these two, but she could tell that Pinkie did not want to go with him, so Twilight was going to protect her.
“W-we’re gonna beat you up though!” Pinkie jumped beside Twilight and pointed a hoof at the Nirik, but Twilight stuck her hoof in front of Pinkie. “Wait, what’re you doing, Twilight?” Pinkie whispered, and Twilight pointed to herself, then put her hoof on Pinkie’s nose and pushed down, sitting Pinkie down on her haunches. “You’re gonna fight him yourself?”
Twilight nodded.
“I can h—”
Twilight pointed at Pinkie’s legs, which were still cut and bruised even after Twilight’s healing. Twilight did not want Pinkie worsening her injuries by getting into an unnecessary fight.
“Are you sure?” Pinkie asked fretfully, and Twilight nodded. A single Nirik was no threat to her.
“Hey!” the Nirik roared. “You’d better not be ignoring m—”
Twilight didn’t even look back at the Nirik before grabbing him in her magical aura and throwing him hard against a tree, Pinkie snorting at the rough thud he made as he collided with the wood.
Twilight pointed at herself, and Pinkie nodded. “I’ll leave this to you, Twilight. Thanks.”
Twilight nodded, and turned to face the Nirik, who growled as he returned to his hooves.
“If you think you can beat Fast Break that easily-“ the Nirik suddenly disappeared, before reappearing behind Twilight, with his steel claws pointed at Twilight’s throat “-then you have another thing coming!”
Even if Twilight had emotions to speak of, she still would not have been impressed. She almost wished she could still laugh, just to show this enemy how little his attacks meant to her. She simply teleported herself and Pinkie out of the way of the man’s attack, standing with her back to a stream and staring him down as he looked dumbfounded at the empty air that used to contain his opponent.
He snarled at Twilight and charged toward her, and before she could make a move against him, he disappeared again, reappearing once more behind Twilight, but this time it was Pinkie Pie who was his target.
Twilight grabbed Pinkie in her aura and levitated her high into the air and safely away from the Nirik’s attack, the Nirik planting face first into the grass as he fumbled a tackling strike against her.
“Wow, you sure showed him!” Pinkie giggled, and Fast Break didn’t seem terribly amused, if his snarl was any indication.
Twilight could only hold one pony at a time, so she dropped Pinkie and grabbed Fast Break, throwing him into the air as Pinkie fell to the ground, only to be caught by Twilight’s aura as she released Fast Break. Twilight gently placed Pinkie on the ground and, as Fast Break began to orient himself in the air, she grabbed him in her aura and slammed him hard into the ground on his back.
Unless his spine was as steel as his claws, he wouldn’t be fighting for a while after that.
“You think…” Fast Break growled as he struggled to his feet, Twilight arching an only-slightly-impressed eyebrow, “…that I’ll lose so easily?”
“Enough, Nirik,” a booming man’s voice echoed throughout the village, and it sent a shudder down Twilight’s spine. “Don’t embarrass yourself or the Storm King’s army more than you already have.”
The source of the voice quickly made himself known as he stepped out of the foliage and into the empty village square. He was another Kirin, though much larger and more imposing than any Twilight had seen in her lifetime.
He was a hulking mass of muscle, easily double Twilight’s size, with a burnt red coat and pitch-black horn, with a silvery white mane kept in a wild, unkempt style that almost looked like a coat of needles around the man’s neck.
“My name is Commander Tirek,” the man said, “and this village now belongs to the Storm King. You will submit, or you will die.”