As Twilight and Pinkie Pie returned to the bar that Pinkie’s rather impressive bounce had propelled them both out of, Twilight observed Pinkie while she hopped up and down beside Twilight, shooting Twilight an aside glance and following it up with a beaming smile.
Twilight wasn’t quite sure what to make of Pinkie’s smile; she wasn’t sure what could have caused such a wide and seemingly pleased smile just from looking at Twilight, though she supposed it was a good thing for Pinkie Pie to be in a good mood, and Twilight reasoned it would only be polite to return Pinkie’s smile.
But she couldn’t.
Twilight tried to move the muscles of her mouth into a smile but it wasn’t happening, and Twilight halted in her tracks as she strained to do so.
“Are you okay?” Pinkie asked, her smile gone as she looked with a furrowed brow and concerned eyes toward Twilight straining to smile.
Twilight nodded. It wouldn’t do to make Pinkie Pie worry.
“Are you sure?” Pinkie asked, cocking her head, her ears flopping along with the motion ever so slightly in a way that Twilight couldn’t help but be transfixed by for a moment.
Twilight nodded again and stuck her hoof into the dirt of Appleloosa’s dusty road; there were a few lonely ponies loitering around the various businesses on either side of the road, but the road itself was empty so nopony would be disturbed by Twilight as she struggled against her village’s teachings ingrained in her mind and drew a symbol in the dirt for Pinkie Pie.
:)
Pinkie looked at the symbol and it took a moment for her to react, and in that moment Twilight wondered if perhaps Pinkie didn’t like it, and if Twilight had mistaken what the right response to Pinkie’s smile should have been. That would be unfortunate.
Twilight’s presumption that she had made a mistake only grew when she saw the dirt at Pinkie’s hooves become stained by her tears, and Twilight looked up from said dirt to lock eyes with Pinkie, whose eyes were pouring like faucets, her whole face scrunched up into a blubbering mess.
Twilight tilted her head. Did Pinkie not like the symbol?
“I-I love it!” Pinkie sniffed. “Y-you drew a smiley for me! You like me!”
Twilight hadn't considered that before. She wasn’t sure she could still ‘like’ things, but if she could, she was certain that she did-slash-would like Pinkie Pie.
So she nodded, and Pinkie threw herself off the ground and tackled Twilight into a big hug, pinning her to the ground as Pinkie buried her face in Twilight’s fluffy mane, Pinkie’s sobs barely audible inside Twilight’s fluff.
Twilight, of course, did the only responsible thing to do and put her forelegs around Pinkie, embracing her in a comforting hug while Pinkie cried herself out. Twilight knew it would only be a matter of time, and there was no sense in Pinkie feeling alone or unsafe while she was with Twilight. Pinkie could cry on Twilight all day if she needed to, for all Twilight cared.
“Hey! You guys alright!?” Rainbow Dash called out, her head poking out the door to the bar.
Hm. Perhaps Pinkie didn’t have all day to cry after all.
“Yuppers!” Pinkie sprung to her hooves and waved to Rainbow Dash. “All good here!”
Was she lying?
No, when Pinkie turned her head to Twilight, her eyes were still watery but her smile was bigger than ever, and Twilight didn’t detect even a smidge of insincerity to it.
Twilight put a hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder. If Pinkie wasn’t okay, it was important for Twilight to know about it.
“You’re the best, Twilight Sparkle,” Pinkie giggled and wiped her eye. “Sorry I got a little carried away there, I—”
Twilight shook her head and put a hoof on Pinkie’s lips. Twilight didn’t want to hear any apologies from Pinkie for her behavior. There was nothing wrong with it, as far as Twilight was concerned.
Twilight cocked her head toward the bar and headed in that direction, Pinkie bouncing along beside her the entire way, humming to herself with a big smile still on her face; bigger even than when Twilight first looked.
The tavern was rather sparse, with only about three patrons occupying its corners and very little in the way of decoration or flourish. Compared to Rainbow’s house, it looked like a mansion, but that it could even be compared to Rainbow’s house spoke volumes about its bleak state.
“Oh, Twilight! Twilight, over here!” Pinkie clamored, hopping up and down in front of the bar and pointing frantically to a silver-coated Kirin sitting on a stool and looking over her shoulder at Twilight.
The mare in question was aesthetically beautiful, with soft, curvy features, and her coat and mane were both immaculately groomed to the point of almost shimmering. She wore a flirtatious smirk and her deep blue eyes almost seemed to beckon Twilight closer to her.
Twilight felt her cheeks heating up and she didn’t know why.
Twilight turned her attention for just a moment to Rainbow Dash, sulking at the other end of the bar, with Dazzling Gleam consoling her with a pat on the back. Twilight wasn’t sure what to make of that, so she put it out of her mind. Next to the two was another Kirin, who Twilight didn’t recognize. Probably Rainbow’s other friend that she had mentioned— the one that was hanging out with Pinkie— Sandstorm.
“Hey, Rainbow!” Pinkie yelled across the bar. “You gotta come over here and meet my new friend Rarity!”
“Pay her no mind, darling,” Rarity said softly, returning her attention to her drink as Twilight sat up on a stool next to Pinkie Pie. “Rainbow Dash and I have… history.”
“Ooooooh!” Pinkie cooed, tapping her hooves on the bar.
Twilight, for her part, looked over at Rainbow, who must have sensed Twilight’s gaze since she turned to look over at Twilight, who blinked twice at Rainbow. Rainbow hung her head and groaned, but then arched her back and nodded at Twilight, giving her a big albeit shaky smile.
Good enough for Twilight. If Rainbow was okay working with this Rarity despite their ‘history’, and Pinkie trusted her, Twilight would put her trust in Rarity as well.
“SOOOOO,” Pinkie said with a gigantic smile, placing a hoof on Rarity’s shoulder as well as on Twilight’s, “this is my good friend Twilight Sparkle—”
Pinkie coughed and retracted her hooves; she opened her mouth to speak but Twilight put her hoof on Pinkie’s mouth and merely nodded her head. Pinkie didn’t need to ask if they were indeed good friends— as far as Twilight was concerned, they were.
“Ahem,” Pinkie cleared her throat and put her hoof around Rarity, who looked amused at Pinkie’s forwardness as Pinkie scooched Rarity’s stool closer to Twilight’s, “and this is my new friend, Rarity!”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Twilight Sparkle,” Rarity hopped over to Pinkie’s stool, now vacant as Pinkie was content to sit on the bar, and reached her hoof out to Twilight, who took it politely.
A silent beat.
Rarity wasn’t yet aware that Twilight couldn’t speak.
“Rather the quiet one, I see,” Rarity chuckled, placing her hoof in front of her mouth. Pinkie whispered into Rarity’s ear and Rarity’s eyes widened, an obvious blush streaking across her face. “My apologies, I didn’t realize you—”
Twilight shook her head and batted her hoof.
“Anyhoo,” Rarity cleared her throat, “let’s get down to business then, shall we?”
“Yeah! Rarity’s gonna help us fight the Storm King, Twilight!” Pinkie clamored, pounding her hooves on the bar.
“That is my plan,” Rarity giggled at Pinkie’s antics, and Twilight took a look around the bar to see if anyone paid Pinkie’s words any mind.
Nopony seemed to even notice, which struck Twilight as peculiar. A pony raving about overthrowing the Storm King couldn’t have been an everyday occurrence here, could it?
Unless it was, and that was the reason why Kirin were beginning to disappear. In which case, are the bar patrons simply unfazed by a familiar refrain, or could it be possible that—
“Twilight Sparkle?” Rarity asked, prodding Twilight delicately with her hoof. “Are you listening?”
No. Twilight had gotten lost in thought and heard not a single word Rarity had said.
Twilight shook her head and hopped off the stool, onto the creaky wooden floor of the tavern.
“Twilight!” Pinkie gasped. “Don’t be rude!”
“It’s quite alright, darling,” Rarity sighed, and her tone made it sound anything but alright. Twilight could apologize for her rudeness later, however. Right now she had more pressing matters to attend to.
Twilight turned her head to Pinkie and Rarity, and held up a hoof to her own eyes, then pointed at Pinkie Pie.
“You’re watching me?” Pinkie tilted her head, though her ears suddenly perked up and she bit down on her lip.
“We’re being watched,” Rarity stated correctly, Twilight nodding her head. Rarity’s face twisted into a scowl and she let out a bitter growl. “You’ve already talked to Sunny Day. He’s already given you his offer, hasn’t he?”
Twilight nodded.
“Then of course he’s watching,” Rarity’s eyes darted around the room, like she thought she could detect a hint of Sunny Day’s presence with just her eyes. “Sunny Day always keeps an eye on outsiders after he makes first contact with them.”
“R-really?” Rainbow Dash said, having approached the conversation and sidling up next to Twilight. “I didn’t— I didn’t know that.”
“He wouldn’t want you to,” Rarity said. “And no offense meant, but you don’t exactly have a deft hoof for subtly like I have.”
Rainbow grumbled, but didn’t reply.
“So what do we do?” Pinkie asked, loafing up on the bar next to Rarity.
Frankly, Twilight wasn’t surprised by any of this. She wasn’t surprised that Sunny Day was still watching her, in fact she suspected that he was and was operating under that assumption; hearing her suspicions be confirmed was actually good news in her mind.
She could feel a faint presence ever since she talked to him, and she could feel the eyes of ponies and Kirin that she walked past, even as they tried their best to remain casual. They were likely able to hide their spying from other Kirin before, but there was little that could be hidden from Twilight Sparkle.
“Hey gals,” Dazzling Gleam said in dry tone as she and Sandstorm approached the little gathering of Kirin, and as the six Kirin wandered closer together, Twilight could feel the prying eyes of the surrounding patrons intensifying. “What’s going on over here?”
Pinkie Pie explained the brief conversation that had gone on before Dazzling and Sandstorm got involved, and both of them looked ready to turn into Nirik at any moment.
“So what do we do?” Sandstorm growled, dust spilling out between his gritted teeth as he tried to keep his emotions under control. “We can’t just stand here and—”
Twilight picked up the nearest spying patron and threw him out the door, following suit with the other two patrons whose eyes were locked on Twilight. She was tired of waiting too.
“Huh,” Pinkie Pie hummed. “Twilight, did you know we were being watched this whole time?”
Twilight nodded. She didn’t know, but she was at least ninety-percent certain, and this wasn’t the time to be splitting hairs.
“Wait,” Rainbow Dash sputtered, “you knew Sunny was watching us this whole time and didn’t say anything?! What the heck?!”
Twilight shrugged and held her hooves over her head, she slapped them against the ground and then held them in front of herself in an X-formation.
“Ooooh, you were waiting for Sunny to make the first move?” Pinkie said. “Cuz you wanted to play defense.”
Twilight nodded.
Rarity laughed, and Dazzling Gleam rolled her eyes. Sandstorm’s eye twitched and his mouth hung open, but he said nothing. Rainbow looked like she wanted to say something, but she just shook her head and whispered “okay, sure” under her breath.
Was Pinkie Pie’s ability to intuitively understand Twilight unusual? She found it most convenient, and wondered why anyone could have a negative or perturbed reaction to it.
The doors to the tavern slowly creaked open, and Sunny Day walked in, almost a dozen armored soldiers guarding him from behind.
Twilight took the mood of her allies; Pinkie was still in a loaf but looked ready to pounce at any moment, Rarity’s expression was completely indecipherable, but she looked as though she was staring straight through Sunny Day.
Rainbow and Dazzling Gleam looked ready to bare their fangs but they kept themselves under control, Dazzling making it look far easier than Rainbow, as the rainbow-maned Kirin twitched and tapped her hoof on the ground.
Sandstorm stared at Sunny, his eyes focused on the treacherous Kirin like a laser, and while his face betrayed no emotion— a fascinating parallel to Twilight’s own— Twilight could feel the heat of Sandstorm’s intense rage rolling off of him.
“You were onto me this whole time, Twilight Sparkle?” Sunny Day said, sounding nonplussed by Twilight seeing through his charade. “And you didn’t say anything? How rude.”
“SUNNY DAY!” Sandstorm snarled, his eyes glowing pure white as his Nirik transformation begun.
“Hm?” Sunny barely glanced at Sandstorm. “Is there a fly buzzing in this room?”
“Things are about to get ugly in here,” Rarity said, her eyes falling on Dazzling Gleam as she tried to restrain Sandstorm, who was quickly turning into a savage beast, “and I don’t think this tiny little bar will be able to contain what’s about to happen.”
“So,” Sunny Day sighed, Twilight looking at him through her peripheral vision, “I take it this means you won’t be working with me, Twilight Sparkle?”
“No way!” Pinkie yelled, standing tall and stomping her hoof on the bar. “We’ll never work with the Storm King, right Twilight?!”
Twilight nodded.
Twilight gave one last cursory glance to Sandstorm, who looked like he was about to break free from Dazzling’s restraints, even with Rainbow helping to hold him back.
“Sandstorm, Twilight,” Pinkie said calmly, and Twilight looked up to Pinkie without hesitation. “Let me handle Sunny Day, okay?”
Twilight nodded. Sandstorm growled and sputtered, but Twilight walked in front of him and looked him right in the eye, and he settled down. Twilight turned to Pinkie and nodded again.
“Great, thanks!” Pinkie squeaked, before bouncing off the bar with lightning speed and rocketing into Sunny Day, crashing into him and through the tavern wall, removing them both from what was about to become a very ugly tavern brawl.
****
Sunny Day tossed Pinkie off of him and they stood in the middle of the dusty road, staring daggers at each other.
“It’s just you and me, Sunny,” Pinkie said coolly, scraping her hoof across the dirt.
“Are you super sure about that?” Sunny Day snorted, and Pinkie took a sec to look at the twenty or so pony soldiers that were stationed in front of nearby buildings, surrounding what Pinkie had thought would be a one-on-one Kirin fight.
“Are you super sure?” Pinkie asked, cocking her head back and crossing her hooves in front of her, trying to project as much confidence as possible, and she felt like she was doing a pretty good job! “You really don’t wanna fight me one-on-one? Everypony already thinks you’re a bootlicker, you don’t wanna try and prove them wrong?”
“The opinions of fools mean very little to me,” Sunny hissed, the twitch of his eye telling a much different story than his words.
“I mean, not to brag but I’m a pretty big deal,” Pinkie played with one of the curls in her mane. “The Storm King wants me alive, and there’s no way you haven’t seen my wanted posters, right?”
“I haven’t, actually,” Sunny Day said drolly, his patience apparently wearing pretty thin. Pinkie’s eyes flickered toward him for a sec in confusion; didn’t look like he was lying, but that was super weird. Why wouldn’t Pinkie’s wanted posters be all over the place in Appleloosa?
Unless… oh.
Pinkie couldn’t hold back her laughter as she realized what was going on.
“What’s so funny?” Sunny Day asked irritably, taking a step closer to Pinkie, which was a good sign for her if he was approaching on his own instead of sending his troops in.
“I know Tirek had my poster,” Pinkie said coyly, putting a hoof up to her chin, “he knew my name and face and everything. I wonder why he wouldn’t have shared that information with other ponies?”
“What are you getting at?” Sunny growled.
“Duh,” Pinkie snorted, grinning confidently at Sunny and trying not to laugh as he progressively got even more steamed. “Tirek obviously wants all the credit for bringing me in. So he doesn’t want anyone else to know what a big deal I am.”
“And just why should I believe any of this nonsense?” Sunny scoffed.
“I mean, you don’t have to,” Pinkie shrugged. “But can you really afford to take a chance that I’m lying?”
Sunny paused, and Pinkie let her grin widen just an inch.
“If what you’re saying is true,” Sunny Day took a deep breath and composed himself, “why shouldn’t I just let my soldiers bring you in and—”
“Oh you can totally do that,” Pinkie nodded, waving off Sunny Day super dismissively. “I mean, if you want the FlimFlam Bros. to get all the credit.”
Again, Sunny paused. He was on Pinkie’s hook now, she could feel it in her bones, all she had to do was reel him in gently.
“You like to think you’re a big man here in Appleloosa, huh?” Pinkie said, pacing back and forth and making an obvious show of how unimpressed by him she was. “But Appleloosa is like the least important Grove in Equestria. The Storm King left ponies in charge of it, for heck’s sake!
“But sure Sunny, you’re a big huge deal, right? That’s why you’re here licking the FlimFlim Brothers’ boots, that’s why they get all the credit of your accomplishments, that’s why you’re flanked by a bunch of pony soldiers, hired guns of the FlimFlammers, instead of getting any support from the Storm King herself.
“You are such a big deal, Sunny.”
“Soldiers,” Sunny Day licked his lips and took several intentional steps toward Pinkie, who tried not to look too excited, “stand down. I feel like this girl needs a wee lesson in humility.”
“Whatever floats your boat,” Pinkie said, blood pumping and heart pounding as she readied herself for a real fight.
Pinkie Pie and Sunny Day slowly walked around each other in a circle, sizing the other up before engaging; Pinkie didn’t know squat about Sunny or his fighting style, and while she didn’t take him seriously as a person, she could sense his magic wasn’t anything to sneeze at.
Pinkie would prefer to wait for Sunny’s attack and then counterattack, that was usually her jam, but as the seconds passed and Sunny just kinda stood there it became clear that Sunny was thinking the same thing, which meant this was gonna become a battle of patience which uh, hoo boy did that put Pinkie at a disadvantage.
Also it didn’t help that Sunny’s horn was already glowing, which meant he was already doing something, Pinkie just couldn’t tell what.
All this thinking was starting to make Pinkie sweat and she wiped her brow, making sure not to let her eyes leave Sunny for even a second just in case he tried something, but oof it was getting hard to think with all this—
—heat.
Hm.
Pinkie could’ve sworn it wasn’t nearly this hot when she was out in the sun before, and even if it was afternoon now and the sun was right above her, this sudden wave of heat rolling over her sure was suspicious.
“So you’re a Fire Nature, huh?” Pinkie said, taking deep breaths and straightening up her posture.
“And what if I am?” Sunny said coyly, raising a hoof to his lips. “What will you do about it?”
“Hmm, I’m thinking I’ll—”
Pinkie cut herself off with a magically-enhanced pounce, thinking she’d grab Sunny quicker than he could react and end this thing before it even really started.
But her plan was shaken up when she passed right through Sunny Day’s body, slamming into a wooden beam on the deck of a nearby building instead. Pinkie shook her head and quickly got to her hooves, growling at the two Sunny Days that appeared in place of the mirage Pinkie had tackled through.
“What’s the matter Pinkie Pie?” Sunny Day chuckled, and hearing his voice coming out of two bodies made Pinkie’s head hurt more than it already did. “Not quite feeling yourself right now?”
Pinkie grumbled and tried to shake off the heat, but with every second Sunny’s magic made that harder and harder.
He had a good thing going; batter Pinkie with unbearably oppressive heat and make her waste all her energy fighting mirages, then go in for the kill. But Pinkie wasn’t about to throw in the towel, though she really could’ve used a towel to deal with all this sweat. It was starting to sting her eyes!
Pinkie shut her eyes and took in a deep breath, letting the magic of Equestria’s nature and wildlife flow through her like wind whistling through a field of bamboo. For a single second she could feel the breeze on her fur, brushing off the sweat and grime Sunny’s magic had left on her.
For a moment she could feel herself, alone with the universe, and when she snapped her eyes open she was ready to fight back.
Pinkie channeled her magic into her hind legs and bounced off the ground, Sunny Day just looking amused at her efforts, but Pinkie let out a single laugh as she passed right by him on purpose, turning in the air and using her magic to bounce off the air itself toward Sunny, who spun around to try and deflect her attack, eyes widening like saucers.
Pinkie didn’t attack Sunny though, she bounced right by him again, hitting the ground and bouncing up toward the air, then bouncing off the air again, and again and again like a pinball until she was sure Sunny Day’s head was spinning trying to keep up with her movements.
Then she hit him, slamming right into him with a flying kick that sent him crashing into the same wooden beam Pinkie had been knocked into earlier, a satisfying crack resounding in Pinkie’s ears as the wood splintered from the impact.
Pinkie had forgotten how much fun fighting could be, but she was really starting to get into a rhythm now. She launched herself at Sunny, getting ready to hit him with a super cool spinning kick before he could recover, but he managed to duck and slide under Pinkie’s attack and get back into a defensive stance.
As Pinkie settled on the ground a few inches away, she noticed that Sunny’s speed wasn’t anything too impressive; Pinkie definitely had the edge there, so if she just got a chance to capitalize on it, this fight was as good as hers.
Pinkie charged in and Sunny stood his ground but was clearly getting ready to dodge, but Pinkie had no intention of giving him that option. Instead of hitting Sunny directly, Pinkie slammed her hooves on the ground in front of him, using her magic to bounce Sunny helplessly up into the air.
Pinkie jumped up and hit Sunny with that spinning kick she owed him, and he crashed into the dirt in a heap, coughing and sputtering as he stood up on shaky legs.
Sunny’s horn flashed with yellow light that forced Pinkie to shut her eyes for a sec, and when she opened them she saw like a bunch of Sunny Days. She tried to count them but there were too many and she kept getting distracted but she guessed there was like fifteen maybe.
“Oh are you using this silly trick again?” Pinkie kicked her hoof and scoffed. “I don’t think that’s gonna work on me this time.”
“You should know better by now,” Sunny said softly, an evil glint in his eye— or eyes cuz he had like thirty of ‘em, “than to judge so quickly by appearances.”
Pinkie puffed up her cheeks as the mirror images of Sunny slowly surrounded her. She didn’t like being lectured, but she really didn’t like having a bunch of mean guys surrounding her, even if it was just a bunch of illusory clones of one mean guy.
Pinkie needed to find out which one was the real one and fast, and while she did find it kinda weird that Sunny wasn’t attacking her— he looked like he was just waiting for her to make the next move— she didn’t think it was a great idea to dwell on that too much. No sense in overthinking stuff, Pinkie preferred to just not think about stuff at all.
Speaking of stuff, Pinkie had a great idea to figure out which Sunny was the real Sunny! She created a little pinch of magical pocket confetti and threw it at a group of the illusions; the real Sunny would react to its magic, and it’d just phase right through any fake Sunny.
Pinkie thought it was a brilliant plan!
Until the confetti touched the illusions and detonated them.
Pinkie only had a fraction of a second to react, her eyes widening and her ears standing straight up as she realized what was about to happen and that she had no way to stop it, and before she knew it, all of the illusions surrounding her exploded in a chain reaction, engulfing Pinkie in searing flames, the sounds of the explosions washing away her screams.
Quite frankly, Pinkie was surprised she was even still alive, but she couldn’t move and her body felt like every inch of it had been dipped in boiling frenchfry oil and she just wanted to cry but all that came out was a measly little whimper.
Fighting suddenly didn’t feel as fun as she remembered it being.
“Wow,” Sunny said coldly, standing over Pinkie Pie has she twitched and squirmed and tried to get some feeling back in her little crispy body. “Even I’m amazed by just how much you charged right into my trap. Worked better than I could’ve imagined.”
Pinkie looked away from Sunny and felt her face heating up, but in like an embarrassed way not in a ‘her skin was on fire’ way, though it felt like that too. She felt tears welling up in her eyes and she wondered how this happened.
She thought for sure she was stronger than this. She was stronger than this! But maybe she was only strong when she was with her.
No, no that’s ridiculous! She wanted to be with me because I was strong!
But if that was the case, she sure wasn’t showing that strength now.
“Soldiers,” Sunny said, “you can take her to the tower now. This fight is over.”
NO.
Pinkie growled under her breath.
No, there was no way Pinkie was gonna let the fight end like this.
Sunny had done nothing but be mean to her and disrespect her, and now he was gonna get off scot-free? After betraying Sandstorm and the others? After siding with the Storm King and licking the Flim-Flam Brothers’ boots?
No way.
I’m NOT gonna let that happen!
Pinkie snarled and stood on her hooves, and when Sunny turned to face her, he wasn’t met with the cuddly pink Kirin Pinkie was used to being; what he saw was a being of bloodlust and vengeance, whose pitch black body was covered in brambly thorns and whose eyes burned with nothing but hatred and anger.
She was a Nirik.
“Soldiers! Stand ba—”
Sunny’s words were cut off when Pinkie rushed toward him at mach speed and laid him out with a devastating punch, sending him crashing to the ground. But Pinkie wasn’t done, not even close. She jumped into the air and aimed to smash Sunny Day under the full weight of her Nirik form, crushing him into dust with one powerful blow.
Sunny just barely rolled out of the way, and it was a good thing for him too because Pinkie’s landing shattered the earth she landed on, leaving a sizable crack in the ground under her hooves. If Sunny’s head had been under her hoof instead, he would’ve been killed instantly.
And when Pinkie realized this— when she saw the cracks under her hooves and realized she came within a hair’s breadth of killing another creature— her rage disappeared, and her Nirik form along with it.
Pinkie barely even registered Sunny’s frantic pleas to his soldiers to arrest Pinkie, and she didn’t bother to fight back as they shackled her and started dragging her toward the tower.
This is what she deserved.