//------------------------------// // 03. A New Friend // Story: A Kirin Tale // by Leaf Blade //------------------------------// Pinkie hopped excitedly in a circle around Twilight, smiling ear to ear and prodding Twilight while pointing at the blue Kirin who drove away Tirek’s pursuit party. “Did you see that?!” Pinkie clamored. “Did you see that!?” Pinkie gave a great big grin to Twilight, who side-eyed her and blinked. Pinkie curled her nose and tilted her head back. “You did see that, right?” Twilight nodded. “Then what gives?” Pinkie huffed. “You don’t seem too enthusiastic!” Twilight glanced at Pinkie briefly, blinked at her, then put her eyes back on the blue Kirin. Pinkie tapped her chin and hummed. “Actually, now that I think about it,” Pinkie pondered, “you haven’t seemed very enthusiastic about anything. You’re always really glum and straightforward, like a robot or some—” Pinkie felt a dim lightbulb hover over her head as she remembered something that Tirek mentioned. “Wait a tick! The Stream of Silence, that’s right! “I’ve heard of that, but I thought it was just an old urban legend! You mean,” Pinkie gasped in horror, “you really can’t emote, can you?!” Twilight shook her head. “And you can’t feel any feelings!” Twilight nodded. “That’s so sad!” Pinkie blubbered and jumped onto Twilight, wrapping her forelegs around her. Twilight just shrugged, because of course she would just shrug! It’s not like she could be sad about not being sad! “Twilight Sparkle!” Pinkie said proudly, standing tall in front of Twilight. “I know I already said I’d help you get your voice back, but now I’m doubly super-duper sure! I’m gonna totally help you get your emotions and stuff back, okay?” Twilight blinked, and then paused. Pinkie bit her lip as she waited for more of a response than that and started feeling a little pit in her stomach as she worried that maybe she’d gotten a little carried away and stuck her hoof in her mouth. But then Twilight nodded, and Pinkie let go of the breath she’d been holding onto. “But first thing’s first!” Pinkie grinned and bobbed her head toward the blue Kirin, who was preening herself and totally ignoring Pinkie and Twilight. “We gotta go introduce ourselves!” Pinkie hopped through the moonlit grass toward the blue Kirin before flopping onto the ground mid-bounce cuz something had grabbed ahold of her tail. She looked behind her to see what was up, and saw her fluffy tail coated in the raspberry glow of Twilight’s magic. “What’s the matter?” Pinkie asked concernedly, bobbing her head at the blue Kirin. “You don’t wanna introduce yourself?” Twilight’s eyes narrowed slightly and she gently tilted her head to one side. “Oh, you don’t know if we can trust her,” Pinkie whispered, getting real close to Twilight so as not to let the blue Kirin overhear. Twilight nodded, and Pinkie nodded in turn, trying to affect a very serious demeanor for this serious situation, but she couldn’t keep it up for more than two seconds without bursting into giggles. “The way I see it,” Pinkie chirped, “that Kirin helped drive away the Nirik, and judgin’ by how she talked to ‘em, I don’t think she’s on good terms with the Storm King’s army. And y’know how the old saying goes, ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’, and I love making new friends!” Pinkie laughed and hopped away from Twilight again, only to be caught mid-bounce by her and flop onto the ground. “You could at least wait until my hooves are on the ground silly,” Pinkie blew a raspberry at Twilight, who just blinked in response. “You guys know I can hear everything you’re saying, right?” the blue Kirin said in a raspy voice as she trotted up to them. Twilight quickly jumped in front of Pinkie, and the blue Kirin stopped once she was face-to-face with Twilight. “Oh, please don’t get mad at her!” Pinkie hopped to her hooves and pushed Twilight and the blue Kirin away from each other. “She’s a little gunshy cuz those guys were chasing us and her village got destroyed and—” “What, the whole village?” blue Kirin took a step back and her eyes widened. She took a sharp breath when Twilight nodded, and sat down on her flank. “No way… they just torched it? They didn’t try to take over or anything?” “Nope,” Pinkie shook her head and felt her shoulders nearly break from the weight of being responsible for that destruction. “They said a village full of Kirin who couldn’t transform were worthless, and so they just—they just—” Pinkie took several haggard breaths as she tried not to burst into tears, and she gasped quietly as she felt Twilight’s hoof on her shoulder. Pinkie couldn’t imagine how Twilight felt… or didn’t feel? She wasn’t sure what was going through Twilight’s mind right now, but it couldn’t have been good, and Pinkie felt like her heart was gonna break right in two, if only because Twilight’s wasn’t able to. “Hey,” blue Kirin cleared her throat, “listen for a sec. My name’s Rainbow Dash, and I am no friend of the Storm King or his army. In fact, me and a couple friends are putting together our own little resistance group. If you guys wanna join—” “YOU ARE!?” Pinkie shouted gleefully, toppling Rainbow Dash over in an excited tackle. “Omigosh omigosh omigosh!!! I thought I was totally alone against the Storm King! I thought everyone else was too afraid to fight ‘em!” “Well, you’re not totally wrong,” Rainbow said, pushing Pinkie off of her and dusting herself off. “See, cuz the Storm King’s army is only targeting Kirin villages, and since our kind tends to stick to ourselves and not make waves with other ponies or anyone else, most of the pony towns and cities don’t see the Storm King as a threat.” Pinkie clicked her tongue and grumbled under her breath. She glanced at Twilight and felt her heart warmed by the sight of Twilight’s eyes slightly narrowing, signaling that she was just as unimpressed as Pinkie was by Equestria’s apathy; even without her emotions, Twilight could still tell between right and wrong, and that was a huge comfort to Pinkie Pie. “And I mean, obviously not every pony is an apathetic jerk,” Rainbow shrugged, “but you know how it is. Governments gonna government, and they don’t see anything as a threat until it impacts them personally. And the Storm King knows this and is exploiting the heck out of it.” “So what do we do?” Pinkie asked, her ears flattening against her head. Hearing about a so-called resistance group made her really happy, but being reminded about how much other people just did not care about her and her kind sorta kinda deflated her spirits again. “What, you think the Kirin are just gonna lie down and roll over?” Rainbow scoffed, and she affected a big smile that quickly made its way to Pinkie too. “Sure, some villages have either joined the Storm King or been conquered by him, but even in those villages, there’re still some of us who are fighting back! “All over Equestria, seeds of resistance are being planted, and it’s just a matter of time before somepony harvests those seeds! And that somepony is gonna be—” “ME!” Pinkie and Rainbow shouted in unison, and when they saw each other’s enthusiasm, they couldn’t help but laugh. “See, Twilight?” Pinkie beamed at Twilight. “Rainbow’s super cool!” Twilight didn’t budge. “So your name’s Twilight, huh?” Rainbow approached Twilight and held out her hoof, and Twilight gave it the coldest and most limp hoofshake Pinkie’d ever seen, but at least she tried! “Yup!” Pinkie hopped between the two and put her foreleg around Twilight. “Her name’s Twilight Sparkle! She can’t talk, so I hope you don’t think she’s been being rude this whole time.” “Twilight Sparkle?” Rainbow grinned and leaned in toward Twilight. “You’re trans, right?” Twilight nodded, and Pinkie stood there blinking in disbelief as Rainbow grinned. “Yeah, big same,” Rainbow held her hoof out, with Twilight looking down at it awkwardly. Rainbow grabbed Twilight’s hoof and held it up, then tapped her own hoof against it. Pinkie stammered for a sec before asking, “How did you know she was—” “I could just tell, I guess?” Rainbow shrugged. “I dunno, something about the name ‘Twilight Sparke’ just seems extremely trans to me. It’s pretty cool, but not as cool as ‘Rainbow Dash’, obviously.” “I’m Pinkie Pie!” Pinkie smiled, wagging her tail as she awaited compliments on how good her name was. “That’s adorable,” Rainbow snickered, and Pinkie’s smile widened as her heart swelled with pride. “Now that’s enough dawdling, it’s getting late!” “Oh yeah,” Pinkie said as she looked up at the pitch black night sky. “No worries,” Rainbow said confidently and batted her hoof, “I can getcha through the Macintosh Hills in like ten seconds flat, then we’ll head straight to Resistance HQ and you guys can catch some shuteye in a decent bed.” “You have an HQ?!” Pinkie jumped in front of Rainbow Dash and grabbed her by the cheeks. “Yeah,” Rainbow chuckled, pushing Pinkie’s hoof away. “It’s a little more pathetic than I’d like, but it’s home for now, and my friends’ll be waiting for us there. Now c’mon!” Rainbow Dash ran ahead and Pinkie nudged Twilight’s shoulder as the two took off after her. “So what do you think?” she asked Twilight as they ran. “I really like her.” Twilight looked at Pinkie for a moment, and that made Pinkie wanna smile even harder. Eventually, Twilight nodded, and Pinkie giggled in delight. **** While Rainbow Dash wasn’t quite right about getting Pinkie and Twilight through the Hills in ‘ten seconds flat’, they did really speed through ‘em and into the town of Appleloosa, making it there while the moon was still high in the sky. And good thing too, because Pinkie Pie was exhausted. Rainbow’s friends were sound asleep by the time Pinkie’s party reached Rainbow’s headquarters, so everypony agreed that the introductions could wait until tomorrow, and with nothing else to do, Pinkie and Twilight took off into the spare bedroom so they could get some much needed and well-earned shuteye. Pinkie giggled at the sorry shape the ‘guest bedroom’ was in; it was more like an empty storage closet with a single mattress just kinda flopped onto the concrete floor in the corner of the room, with little scatterings of hay sprinkled here and there to make it slightly more presentable. It was a disaster, but it was adorable. Pinkie hopped onto the mattress with a laugh and patted the space beside her to call Twilight over, but to Pinkie’s surprise, Twilight gathered some of the loose hay into a pile and laid down on top of it. “Twilight?” Pinkie asked concernedly. “Aren’t you coming onto the bed?” Twilight shook her head, her eyes shut as she prepared to go to sleep on the floor. “How come?” Pinkie tilted her head and pouted, even though Twilight was looking away and couldn’t see. Twilight turned her head toward Pinkie. She pointed to the bed, then held her hooves together really closely, then pointed at Pinkie with one hoof and herself with the other, before crossing her forelegs and shaking her head. “Ohhhh, you think there isn’t enough room for both of us?” Pinkie slapped her forehooves together. Twilight nodded. Pinkie scoffed, “C’mon, Twilight! That’s ridiculous! This bed’s more than big enough for us both!” It was true the mattress was pretty teeny-tiny, and it’d be a bit of a struggle for the two to both fit on it, but Pinkie had a secret weapon. She curled into as much of a ball as she could, tucked all four legs underneath her, and curled her fluffy tail around herself, biting down an amused grin. “I loaf,” she said, releasing a burst of little giggles. Twilight stared at Pinkie until Pinkie’s smile faded, and then put her head back down on her hay pile. “Twilight?” Pinkie said hesitantly, tapping her hooves together. “Do you… not want to sleep by me?” Pinkie could practically feel her hoof flying into her mouth so she stammered to hastily correct herself, “W-whwat I mean is that—uhh, do you—umm…” Pinkie groaned and put her hooves up against her cheeks and it felt like pressing them against a hot grill. She flopped onto the mattress, forelegs limply dangling off the edge, and looked at Twilight, wondering what she was thinking. Twilight pointed a hoof at Pinkie and prodded with it twice, then pointed one hoof at Pinkie and another at herself, put the two hooves together, then hung her head back with her eyes closed and took quick breaths in and out while twitching her forelegs. Then she snapped her head back up with her eyes half-open, and mimicked a silent yawn. “Ohhh, you think if we sleep close to each other on this tiny bed,” Pinkie sprung up into a sitting pose, “that I won’t get a very good night’s sleep, I’ll be all groggy and restless in the morning.” Twilight nodded. “Well, what about you?” Pinkie huffed. “Sleeping on the floor isn’t good for you either, and you deserve a good night’s rest as much as I do! Or more, even!” Twilight shook her head. She waved her forelegs at the scraps of hay lying around, pointed at herself, and then shrugged. “You’re used to sleeping on the floor,” Pinkie grumbled, feeling frustrated that Twilight was so insistent to not sleep in the bed. It wasn’t good for her! But then again, maybe Twilight was right, and Pinkie wouldn’t want to make herself or Twilight feel all groggily in the morning. Except… “Twilight,” Pinkie blurted out, looking away from Twilight and feeling her cheeks burning her again, “can I be totally honest with you?” Pinkie glanced at Twilight enough to see her nod. “And can you promise not to be angry at me,” Pinkie bit her lip, “or judge me too much, or be mean to me or make fun of me or laugh at me?” Twilight tilted her head to the side, her ears flopping slightly and her curly purple mane rustling. She nodded with her eyes closed, and Pinkie realized that her request was a little silly considering that Twilight couldn’t do any of those things even if she wanted to. Pinkie took a deep breath, her teeth tugging against her lip as she tried to hold back the tears that were coming, and she blurted out her shameful confession all at once. “I really want you to sleep next to me cuz I’m super lonely!” Pinkie turned away from Twilight and put her hooves up against her head. “I know, I know,” she breathed rapidly, “I said I was concerned about you and how well you slept, and that’s true! But I’m also concerned about me and how I feel like garbage and I’ve missed being around other ponies for so long! “But I feel like if I’m concerned for you and me then I’m not really concerned about you I’m just concerned about me and I shouldn’t be concerned about me I should be concerned about you and not me but I can’t—” Pinkie gasped as she felt Twilight’s hoof on her shoulder, and she darted her head around to see the purple Kirin sitting right next to her on the mattress. “I don’t want you to do something you don’t want to,” Pinkie blubbered, fighting in vain against the flow of tears, “just because I—” Twilight put her hoof on Pinkie’s muzzle. Twilight pointed over to the hay pile she had been laying on, then pointed at herself, then shook her head. She pointed her hoof at the mattress under the pair and nodded. “You’re saying you were wrong before?” Pinkie wiped away what felt like buckets of tears from her eyes. “You really just want me to sleep well, and you think I’ll sleep better with you nearby instead of over there?” Twilight nodded, and Pinkie felt a wall of mixed emotions slam into her with brutal force. “And you’re not just saying that because I’m a dumb stupid ugly pink Kirin that nopony could ever like and you want me to shut up?” Twilight didn’t respond, and Pinkie felt the vice of shame strangling her insides. But then, something curious happened; she saw something flash through Twilight’s eyes, if only for the briefest second of seconds. It was anger. Twilight put a hoof on Pinkie’s chest, and while Pinkie almost recoiled after seeing that flash in Twilight’s eyes, something about Twilight’s hoof felt gentle and calming on Pinkie’s chest. Twilight looked Pinkie right in her eyes and pointed to Pinkie’s mouth with her free hoof. Twilight slammed her hoof onto the mattress and shook her head. “You don’t ever want to hear-” Pinkie paused, gulping down a big lump of anxiety “-me put myself down like that again.” Twilight nodded. She looked at her hoof for one moment, then looked back up at Pinkie and held her forelegs apart from each other. Pinkie didn’t even need to ask what that meant; her entire body lit up and she felt her floof getting even floofier as she tackled Twilight into a hug, purring as Twilight wrapped her own forelegs around Pinkie. Pinkie bashfully crept off of Twilight and tried to make some room for her on the mattress so Pinkie wouldn’t be in her way, but Twilight sidled right up next to Pinkie, curled into a ball as much as she could, tucked her legs under her, and curled her fluffy tail around herself. She loaf. Pinkie wore a shaky smile and loafed right next to Twilight, the pair wrapping their tails around each other as Pinkie quickly dozed off into peaceful slumber. Pinkie would wake up a little sore and groggy after all, but she couldn’t remember a time where she’d slept so well. **** Twilight Sparkle found it odd when she awoke in the morning and found no fluffy pink loaf by her side. She took a note to investigate that later, but she had something she needed to do first; look in a mirror, and thankfully there was one nearby on a dilapidated old dresser. Twilight didn’t feel exhaustion anymore, so looking at her reflection and checking the state of the bags under her eyes was the easiest way for her to tell if her body had gotten enough sleep. She hadn't expected to look positively glowing, but she sure did, and it was a good thing to see; she couldn’t recall the last time she appeared so well-rested. She wondered what the cause could have been, but quickly realized there simply wasn’t enough data to do a full analysis based on one night’s sleep. Still, sleeping next to Pinkie Pie a second time probably couldn’t hurt, so long as Pinkie was alright with it. Twilight moved from the guest bedroom into what could only graciously be described as the foyer. Sunlight peaked through several poorly patched-over holes in the roof and illuminated the dusty concrete floors. There was no furniture to speak of and the windows were hastily boarded up, leaving the room with awkward pockets of shadow that skirted around the beams of sunlight. Twilight had reservations already about Rainbow Dash’s value as an ally—having only seen her in action one time did not give enough information on her ability, and her attitude didn’t strike Twilight as particularly dependable—and seeing the rundown state of her ‘headquarters’ only strengthened Twilight’s doubts. Still, this was Pinkie Pie’s quest, and she had placed her faith in Rainbow Dash; Twilight had no choice but to do the same, and would do what she could to make the most of things. Speaking of Pinkie Pie, Twilight was beginning to wonder where she had gone, since Twilight expected to see her by now, if not in the bedroom than certainly in the foyer or nearby kitchen, which was similarly vacant. “You worried about Pinkie Pie?” Rainbow asked, hovering around the front door as Twilight stepped out of the kitchen. Twilight stopped in the middle of the foyer and pondered that question. The obvious answer was ‘no’, she wasn’t worried; she wasn’t able to worry about Pinkie Pie. But that thought conjured vague memories in Twilight, and she recalled that she used to worry a lot before her silencing, didn’t she? She wondered if the old her would be worried, but quickly dismissed the notion as not being relevant. Pinkie Pie was an adult, and moreover she had travelled across Equestria alone already; she was more than capable of taking care of herself. So even if Twilight had the capability to be worried about Pinkie Pie, doing so would be meaningless. But the idea that if she wasn’t Silent she would be very worried about Pinkie Pie scratched the back of her mind. She had practically forgotten her old self, and almost wondered if perhaps her new state of being was an improvement. “Twilight?” Rainbow asked, looking at Twilight with a furrowed brow. “You alright there?” Twilight nodded. She did two tepid jumps in the air and fluffed up her mane, then motioned her hoof in a forward circle. Rainbow tilted her head and let her mouth hang slightly ajar, evidently missing the meaning in Twilight’s gestures. Pinkie Pie would have known that meant ‘where is Pinkie Pie?’ but Pinkie wasn’t here, which was very inconvenient. Twilight walked right up to Rainbow’s nose—Rainbow backing up until she bumped awkwardly into the doorframe—and stared at her. “Sooooo, you’re looking for Pinkie Pie, right?” Rainbow asked, arching an eyebrow. Twilight nodded, and Rainbow sighed and pushed Twilight away. “She headed out with my bros a little bit ago. C’mon, we can probably catch up to ‘em no problem.” Rainbow headed out the door and cocked her head to signal Twilight to follow her, which Twilight did. There wasn’t any reason not to trust Rainbow’s word, even despite Twilight’s reservations regarding her; and more to the point, it made good sense to try and get to know Rainbow Dash a little better, perhaps try to understand what Pinkie Pie saw in her. That said, Twilight wasn’t entirely listening as Rainbow talked while they walked through the dirt roads of Appleloosa; Twilight was too distracted by the sorry state of the city. Kirin walked around looking sullen and dirty, while every so often Twilight would spy a pony or two who looked no worse for wear. Every building Twilight saw around her was in the same pitiful shape that Rainbow Dash’s headquarters were in, and that at least put Twilight somewhat at ease; it wasn’t Rainbow’s fault she lived in poverty, and Twilight had rushed to judgment without having all the facts, something which she should have known better than to do. Twilight’s hoofsteps came to a stop as she looked into the horizon; sitting in the town square a few yards away, a grand tower touched the sky. Its ornate detail and dazzling adornments clashed strikingly against the decay and stagnation of the surrounding architecture, and something in Twilight’s stomach turned at the mere sight of it. It almost made her feel something, some tickling on the back of her neck that felt vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t place. But she knew one thing; this tower— whatever it was— it was wrong, somehow. It did not deserve to exist. “Y’like that?” Rainbow hissed as she walked back to Twilight, noticing she had stopped. Rainbow cocked her head at the tower and sneered. “That’s where the Flim Flam Brothers live. They took over this town at the Storm King’s order after it was conquered. “Appleloosa used to be a Kirin Grove, but now they run the place, and the Kirin that don’t join up with the Storm King, or perform labor for slave wages, get treated like garbage at best, and ‘disappear’ at worst.” That was… a lot to process. When Rainbow had mentioned before that the Storm King conquered Kirin villages, she had assumed Rainbow was talking from a place of distance. It hadn't even crossed Twilight’s mind that Rainbow’s home village might have been conquered. And what was this about ‘disappearing’? If these Flim Flam Brothers really made Kirin who opposed them disappear, then Rainbow introducing herself as an enemy of the Storm King was quite brave of her; almost stupid, even. Twilight would never have done that… would she? She would need to think on this. “Yo, Twilight?” Rainbow waved her hoof in front of Twilight’s face. “You still with me?” Twilight nodded. “Sorry I just kinda rambled at’cha,” Rainbow stammered, holding a hoof behind her head, “I just can’t stand those brothers, but like, don’t tell anypony I said that, cuz that’s not a good opinion to have around here, you feel me?” Twilight nodded. “What about you?” Rainbow asked as the pair resumed walking. “What do you think about that ugly tower?” Rainbow chuckled, “Although I guess I’m not really giving you much space to make your own call, huh?” Twilight shrugged, and stopped where she stood. She pointed at the tower, planted her hoof firmly in the dirt, and shook her head. “You don’t like it either?” Rainbow asked, the pitch of her voice raising slightly. Twilight nodded, and Rainbow let out a short groan. “Wait, does that mean you do like it? Or you don’t?” Twilight blinked. Rainbow let out a strained laugh, “Okay, do you like that tower?” Twilight shook her head, and Rainbow laughed again. “Awesome,” she gave a sly grin and nudged Twilight with her elbow, “glad we’re on the same page, at least.” As Twilight and Rainbow continued their walk, Twilight continued to observe the local populace. Most of the Kirin here looked less emotive than Twilight did, and Twilight knew it was because they were all burdened with unfathomable stress, each and every single one of them. It was difficult to process the scale of so much misery compounded in one location, so Twilight put it out of her mind. Though thinking about such things did cause her to realize that she couldn’t feel stress anymore, and that was… good? Not ‘good’ exactly, that wasn’t something Twilight had any real context for anymore, but it was convenient at the very least. Without stress—or anxiety, for that matter—to weigh her down, Twilight could do what she needed to do without fetters. Even when the thing she needed to do flew in the face of basic self-preservation, which was a rather serendipitous thing to be thinking about as Twilight and Rainbow passed by a shop where the owner was being hassled by a trio of Kirin. Twilight didn’t understand the exact details of their conversation, but she got the gist; the trio belonged to the Storm King’s army, the shopkeeper had been saying some rather unkind things about said King very recently, the trio were here to collect a debt. “Honestly, Dazzling Gleam,” one of the Kirin let out a raspy chuckle, “sayin’ stuff like that might cost ya, y’know what I’m saying?” The shopkeeper, a steel-blue furred Kirin mare with an immaculate and fluffy beige-colored mane, glared at the trio at her stand. “I won’t apologize,” she said. “I know what those Brothers over in the tower did to my girlfriend! I won’t forgive them, or your cursed Storm King!” “Well then,” one of the Storm King’s men cleared his throat, “I guess we’re gonna have to teach y—” Twilight took the man in his magic and tossed him behind her like the garbage he was, walking into the empty space his absence provided. She was now standing between the two other soldiers, who stared wide-eyed and slack-jawed at her, and the shopkeeper—Dazzling Gleam, apparently—wore a similar expression. “Hey Dazzle,” Rainbow said casually as she trotted behind one of the Storm King soldiers, who was eyeing her as a bead of sweat dripped down his forehead. “Rainbow Dash,” Dazzling Gleam put a hoof up to her cheek as she rested the elbow on the counter of her stand, evidently more relaxed now that Rainbow—and possibly Twilight?—was here, “is this incredibly brave and incredibly stupid Kirin one of your friends?” Twilight didn’t wait for Rainbow to answer before she picked up the other two soldiers, one by one, and threw them away. She turned around, anticipating a counterattack from them, only to see them scurrying away with their tails literally between their legs. “She is now,” Rainbow cackled.