A Kirin Tale

by Leaf Blade

04. An Obvious Trap

Pinkie’s eyes fluttered open and before she had even gotten a peek at the waking world around her, she was drowned in a sudden wave of loneliness. Something felt missing, but she forced herself awake despite that and jumped out of bed, taking a big yawn before scoping out the scene.

Oh that’s right, she was in Rainbow Dash’s pad—eh, such as it was. It was cold and there were holes in the walls and ceiling that little beams of sunlight poked through, illuminating the hay all over the dark gray concrete ground, and none of these details were helping Pinkie’s awful mood.

Pinkie heard a rustling behind her, and her jaw dropped when she looked over at the bed and Twilight was sleeping there, curled up into a little cozy-looking ball. Pinkie had forgotten about Twilight—or rather, her brain hadn’t quite caught up to her yet and all of yesterday was still a blur to her.

Twilight looked so sweet and cute, and fluffy too but that was just a Kirin thing. Pinkie felt the siren call of Twilight’s fluff yearning her back to the bed, but she took a step back and shook it off. Twilight was—well it was complicated, Pinkie crushed on girls SO easily, and Twilight basically coming out of nowhere and rescuing her was just—ehhh well how could she not crush?

It didn’t hurt that she was SOOOOO pretty, like waow.

Pinkie bit her lip and looked away from sleepy Twi, and if she could’ve disappeared into her own fluff she would’ve, if only to escape from how hot her burning cheeks were, ugh she felt like such a dork. It was easy to crush on Twilight, she didn’t say anything! It was easy to project Pinkie’s own feelings onto Twilight, and that just wasn’t fair to Twi, and it wasn’t healthy for Pinkie either.

This was all getting very convoluted in Pinkie’s brainspace so it was time to grab some breakfast… uhh, well hopefully, she didn’t know if there was any breakfast to be had, and judging by the ‘rustic’ decoration of Rainbow’s place, odds looked bleak.

But bleak odds had never dampened Pinkie’s spirits before, so she proceeded undaunted! Empty fridges though, those dampened Pinkie’s spirits quite easily, and her ears flopped practically to the floor when she opened the kitchen fridge up and there was like, one orange in it.

She did eat the orange though, and it was good! But it wasn’t breakfast.

“Looking for food”?

Pinkie snapped to attention, getting her head out of the fridge at the sound of a young man’s voice. It was a Kirin, a very, very brown Kirin, with a light brown coat and chocolate brown mane, the guy was fairly well built and he had a warm smile on his face, which was decorated by fairly soft features.

“Sowwy,” Pinkie said, her mouth still full of orange, “wath that oranjth for thumwon elth?”

“No, you’re fine,” the guy chuckled and batted his hoof. “But you can see there’s no food in the fridge, we kinda have to get creative to get our meals around here. The name’s Sandstorm, by the way.”

“I’m Pinkie Pie!” Pinkie squeaked, grinning ear to ear as she swallowed the orange. “Nice to meetcha Sandstorm!” Pinkie bounced toward the pretty Kirin boy and excitedly shook his hoof, shaking his whole body along with it. “Now what’s this about getting creative? I do like the sound of that.”

“C’mon,” Sandstorm cocked his head and headed for the door, Pinkie bouncing along behind him, “I’ll show you around town. Well, what’s left of it anyway.”

****

Twilight knew enough about herself and about the world to be certain that even if she still had her emotions, she couldn’t have possibly been surprised that the Storm King soldiers she had antagonized returned quickly, with several more soldiers in tow.

Rainbow Dash didn’t seem perturbed by this either, she merely scraped her hoof across the dirt as she and Twilight stood in the center of a small market, the nearby salesponies quickly scattering as the line of soldiers approached Rainbow and Twilight, Rainbow apparently very eager to do battle with them.

There were too many soldiers for Twilight to count—though that didn’t stop her from trying—but she could tell there were far too many of them for only Rainbow and Twilight to defeat in a straight fight, and if the soldiers turned their attacks onto the innocent townsfolk of Appleloosa who remained on the edges of the market around them, Twilight wasn’t certain she would be able to protect everypony.

It was a real problem, one that Twilight was still trying to work out a solution to when the soldiers suddenly stopped, barring the road forward from Rainbow Dash and Twilight, but evidently having no intention of coming closer to them.

Except for one; a well-put-together Kirin stallion with sandy-colored fur and a mane as orange as autumn leaves, he had rather soft, feminine facial features, and a dainty trot as he walked toward Twilight—who decided it would be best if she stood in front of Rainbow to keep her from lashing out and making trouble needlessly.

“You know,” the man laughed softly as he turned his head to his retinue of soldiers, “such a large escort was unnecessary. We aren’t here to do war or anything.”

“But sir, these girls—”

“Did I ask?” the man cut off one of his soldiers with a severe glare, though his warm smile never left his face.

“No, sir.”

“Then please,” the man waved dismissively at the soldiers, “allow me to discuss matters with these women in peace. All this commotion will alarm the townsfolk.”

Without another word, the soldiers dispersed, most returning to the tower they came from, though others wandered off into the city, and Twilight couldn’t shake the impression that they were going to blow off steam by harassing more innocent people.

Even if Twilight didn’t have Pinkie to think about, she couldn’t imagine being anything other than an enemy to the Storm King.

“I’m sorry about them,” the man turned his full attention to Twilight and Rainbow, and while Twilight could appreciate the man’s beauty, she couldn’t shake the impression of a snake oil salesman the way he smiled at her. “Things have been rather tense around here lately, what with the—”

“Hey, Sunny Day,” Rainbow took a step forward and huffed from her nose, small jets of flame pouring out of her nostrils, “how’s the Flim Flam Brothers’ boots taste?”

Sunny Day looked sickened when his eyes fell on Rainbow and he realized who he was dealing with.

“Ah, Rainbow Dash,” Sunny’s attempts to force a smile back on his obviously bemused face were admirable, though not nearly enough to mask his contempt. “Long time no see.”

“Really?” Rainbow scoffed. “Feels like just yesterday you turned on us to lick the Brothers’ boots.”

“Well,” Sunny’s smile was stretched thin and his tone was measured carefully, though his resentment still shone through to Twilight, “after what happened with Wood Hammer—”

“Don’t you dare talk about Wood Hammer,” a soft but vicious feminine voice spoke up from behind Twilight, who looked to see the steel-blue furred Kirin who Twilight had helped earlier had moved away from her shop to join the conversation.

While Rainbow looked like she was ready to throw hooves with Sunny Day, Dazzling Gleam looked like she was ready to kill him.

Twilight dragged Rainbow by the tail with her magic and stood as a buffer between Sunny Day and the two Kirin who were ready to spill his blood, staring down Rainbow for a moment before Rainbow rolled her eyes and sat down, batting her hoof and letting Twilight take the lead.

“Ah, I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure of meeting you before,” Sunny Day said, holding his hoof to Twilight.

Twilight looked at his hoof for a moment and considered whether to take it. She decided to do so and politely shake the man’s hoof, deciding it would be best to not cause conflict with the Storm King’s soldiers unless somepony’s safety was at risk.

“My name is Sunny Day,” Sunny Day said proudly, as if his own name were music to his ears, a feeling Twilight vaguely remembered having about her own name, and she wondered what it would be like to feel that way again. “And you are?”

“Her name’s Twilight Sparkle,” Rainbow stood next to Twilight and spoke calmly, having composed herself. “She doesn’t talk.”

“Doesn’t talk, huh?” Sunny Day looked skeptically at Twilight, who stared back at him. Sunny let out a small hum. “So she doesn’t. That’s fine.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow snorted, “I bet that’s how you prefe—”

Twilight clamped Rainbow’s mouth shut with her magic, prompting a snicker from Dazzling Gleam, who sheepishly looked away with her ears clamped against her head when Twilight and Rainbow both looked at her.

“Anyway,” Sunny Day cleared his throat, “I can tell you have no love for authority figures, Twilight Sparkle, but I’m also guessing you care about the safety of innocent people. Why else would you risk arrest, or worse, by antagonizing the Storm King’s soldiers?”

Twilight blinked. She had very little interest in listening to this man for much longer if he didn’t hurry to a point.

“So,” Sunny Day cleared his throat again, and Twilight surmised he wasn’t used to dealing with someone like her who had no interest or desire to placate his ego, “my point is this: there’s been a rash of disappearances in this town as of late, mostly of the town’s Kirin population, and our soldiers haven’t had any luck figuring out who is doing this or why.”

“Gee, I wonder,” Rainbow sneered.

“Funny the Storm King can’t find a solution for a problem they invented,” Dazzling Gleam added, her voice dripping with disgust.

“Believe what you want,” Sunny Day harrumphed, “but I care about the Kirin living under the Storm King’s protection. I don’t want any harm to come to them, but I believe there’s a mole in our ranks, so I need someone unconnected to the Storm King to look into this matter for me.”

Which, of course, is where Twilight came in.

“You expect us to believe—”

Once again, Twilight thought it necessary to clamp Rainbow’s mouth shut.

“Like I said,” Sunny Day turned up his nose and looked at Rainbow with a scowl, “believe what you want. As for you, Twilight Sparkle, think it over. I’ll be happy to compensate you for your work, of course. Come see me on the ground floor of the Flim Flam Tower if you have any questions.”

With that, Sunny Day took his leave. And Twilight began thinking about his offer and the likelihood of him indeed being in on the cause of his so-called problem.

It wasn’t difficult to imagine the Storm King’s men spinning this story of wanting to protect innocents from quote-unquote ‘mysterious’ disappearances in order to trick nosy outsiders into their traps.

In fact, Twilight couldn’t think of a more likely alternative. Why would someone be kidnapping Kirin unaffiliated with the Storm King? Though a third party with their own agenda, who didn’t want to make waves with the Storm King and thus only captured those the soldiers would deem ‘unimportant’, wasn’t outside the realm of possibility either.

Too many variables. Twilight would need to consult Pinkie Pie before making a decision either way.

“Ugh, I hate that guy,” Rainbow grumbled, and Twilight looked over to see she was commiserating with Dazzling Gleam.

“You don’t have to tell me,” Dazzling sighed and shook her head, her tongue sticking out through her bitter scowl. “There’s no doubt in my mind that the Flim Flam Brothers are behind Wood Hammer’s and the other Kirin’s disappearances, and Sunny’s all too happy to throw us all under the bus to save his own skin.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow said, her voice heavy, but she quickly slashed her solemnness away with a snarl and kicked her back hooves. “And we all trusted him! And this is what we get!”

“Yup,” Dazzling shook her head slowly. “And like, I feel miserable about the whole thing, but I feel really awful for Sandstorm.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Rainbow hung her head and let out a bitter growl. “If I have to think about Sandstorm’s face when he heard about Sunny’s betrayal I’ll go berserk. Poor guy’s never gonna wanna date again, I swear.”

“So what now, acting captain?” Dazzling stood up straight and ran a hoof through her fluffy mane. “Do we walk into Sunny’s obvious trap, or…?”

“Uhm,” Rainbow sputtered and tried to mask a cough by making it sound like she was just clearing her throat. “Twilight? What do you think? You’re in on this whole thing too, right?”

Twilight nodded.

“Any ideas?” Rainbow asked, and judging by the way her face was going pale and Dazzling’s comment about ‘acting captain’, Twilight surmised that Rainbow wasn’t as happy to be in charge of her little rebellion as she had let on before. She didn’t know what to do.

And frankly, neither did Twilight.

Twilight did two stiff hops in the air, then stood on her hind hooves and wiggled her forehooves in the air, like she thought Pinkie would do.

Rainbow tilted her head and croaked out a baffled grumble, and Dazzling just looked in disbelief like she was watching a poor circus performance.

Twilight wasn’t getting through to them.

She took her hoof and wrote in the dirt, though her village’s taboo against writing was still so ingrained in her head that it made it too difficult for Twilight to force herself to write more than one word.

“PINK”

“You wanna run things by Pinkie Pie first?” Rainbow asked, and Twilight nodded. “Sounds good to me. We’ll get Sandstorm in on this thing too, and then the five of us can put our heads together and come up with a plan.”

“Works for me,” Dazzling Gleam nodded and flashed a smile, and Twilight noted it was the first time since Sunny Day showed up that Dazzling had smiled at all. “I’ll pack up the shop and we can bounce.”

“Sounds good!” Rainbow said, and once Dazzling was out of earshot in order to pack up her shop, Rainbow collapsed onto the ground and put her hooves on her head.

“Geez, what am I even doing? I can’t be an ‘acting captain’, I’m a total spaz! If Twilight hadn't been there I totally would’ve just punched Sunny right in his smug face and like it’s so obvious I would’ve been the next one to disappear—”

Rainbow looked up at Twilight, who was still standing at Rainbow’s side, and blinked. Twilight blinked back at her.

“I uh,” Rainbow stood up and dusted herself off, “didn’t realize you were still here.”

Twilight wondered what Pinkie Pie would do when faced with another pony’s obvious discomfort, and the answer was plain as day.

Twilight squeezed Rainbow in a tight hug, and while Rainbow was caught off-guard and hacked for a second, then tried to pull away from Twilight, when Twilight started to let go Rainbow froze.

Twilight resumed the hug, and Rainbow slowly sank into Twilight’s embrace.

“Thanks, Twi,” she said, making sure to whisper so nopony would hear her, “I really needed this.”

****

Pinkie waddled over to a stool sitting in front of a cool wooden bar, and once she managed to get herself on top of it, she patted her big ol’ belly proudly. Sandstorm taught her the secret technique of ‘dining and dashing’, and thanks to that Pinkie’s belly was fuller than it’d been since she left home, or possibly ever!

She’d maybe regret it later, but right now she felt GOOD.

She felt even better when she looked around the bar; it seemed like a place where everypony could just hang out and lose their troubles for a little bit. The Kirin who wandered slavishly outside looked dead on their hooves, but there were several Kirin in the bar who were having lively conversations with friends, and it warmed Pinkie’s heart.

And then Pinkie spied a very cute Kirin sitting at the edge of the bar; a silvery white coat of fur that looked like it’d been polished to a shine somehow, with a mane of deep purple hair that fell around her face in elegant curls.

She was super pretty and Pinkie really wanted to try and talk to her, but as soon as the mysterious mare of mystery turned her head in Pinkie’s direction, her icy blue eyes meeting Pinkie’s, Pinkie spun around and away from her, too embarrassed to even try looking at her.

“Bartender!” Pinkie pounded her hoof on the bar and sat up very dramatically and straight. “I would like some WATER, please! I would ask for milk, but I cannot afford it! I have no money!”

“C’mon, Pinkie Pie,” Sandstorm groaned, sitting on a barstool next to Pinkie and resting his forelegs on the bar, “don’t announce that to everypony in town.”

“Here you go, fellas,” the bartender said as he laid a pair of mugs in front of Pinkie and Sandstorm, though Pinkie barely registered what was happening as all of her hairs stood on end from being called ‘fella’, and she nervously darted her eyes all about to see if everypony was staring at her and clocking her as trans.

“Uh, wait what?” Sandstorm asked, looking into his mug and tilting his head. “We ordered water, I think this is cider?”

“Yep, apple cider,” the bartender said. “Used to be a real specialty in this neck of the woods. Anyhoo, it’s courtesy of the lady over there.” The bartender cocked his head to the side, and wouldn’t you know it, the pretty lady Pinkie was looking at earlier winked at Pinkie when she looked over again.

Pinkie knew an opportunity when she saw one, and she sidled up to the lady at the end of the bar, sitting in a stool right next to her.

“Hey, ma’am,” Pinkie put her foreleg on the bar and flashed a pretty cool-looking smile, if she did say so herself, “did you crawl out of hell? Cuz you are hot.”

The lady blinked and her formerly confident smile disappeared into a look of complete befuddlement. Pinkie’s cheeks turned pinker than usual and she cleared her throat, determined to try again.

“Uh, I mean,” Pinkie cleared her throat again but choked on some of her own spit and gave a loud hacking cough, but she didn’t let that deter her and smiled confidently at the pretty mare, “did you fall from heaven? Cuz your face looks busted.”

The pretty lady just put a hoof up to her lips and Pinkie could tell she screwed up again.

“SANDSTORM!” Pinkie shrieked. “HOW DO YOU FLIRT WITH GIRLS!?”

“I don’t!” Sandstorm called back. “I’m gay!”

“YEAH ME TOO!” Pinkie shouted. “IT’S NOT WORKING OUT SUPER WELL FOR ME AT THE MOMENT THOUGH!”

Pinkie nearly gasped as she felt a cold hoof underneath her chin, and that hoof gently pulled her head back to look at the pretty lady, whose eyes were glittering like the ocean under a starlit sky, and her lips were curved into a seductive smile.

“Darling,” she whispered, short-circuiting Pinkie’s brain instantly, “has anypony told you that your voice is sweeter than the very first song of spring?”

Pinkie paused, and she blinked. Her whole face was bright red now and she felt like there should’ve been steam comically pouring out of her ears. She had to say something though, so she mustered up all her linguistic prowess to reply with something that would charm this incredibly sexy lady.

“HRRRNG!” Pinkie grunted, biting down on her lip and raising her hooves in a mock-shield.

“You’re cute,” the lady giggled, taking a sip of her drink. “What’s your name? Mine is-” the woman paused for dramatic effect and ran a hoof through her beautiful mane “-Rarity.”

“P-P-Pi-Pi-Peepee-Pi-P-P-P-Pinpee—” Pinkie threw her hooves over her face and brought her head down onto the bar, tugging on her ears to try and cover her immense shame.

“Her name’s Pinkie Pie,” Sandstorm said, trotting over to join the conversation and taking a seat next to Pinkie, patting her mane comfortingly. “Mine’s Sandstorm, by the way.”

“It’s an absolute pleasure to meet you both,” Rarity said before taking another dainty sip of her cider. “Especially you, Pinkie Pie, you’re quite the doll.”

“YOU ARE!” Pinkie bolted her head up and yelled for the whole bar to hear, her sudden shouting met with suffocating silence.

“I am, yes,” Rarity examined her hoof and gave Pinkie a smirk and an aside-glance. “Thank you for noticing.”

Pinkie grabbed her cider—still sitting over by where she was sitting in the first place—in her magic and took a big gulping sip, but she took a little bit too much and choked, spewing cider all over the bar.

“Wow, Pinkie,” Sandstorm said drolly, “you’re really good at first impressions.”

“Thanks,” Pinkie snarked back, “your mom thought so too.”

Sandstorm narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to respond with a witty comeback, but he was interrupted by Rarity’s snort, Pinkie turning to see her giggling and Pinkie’s bad joke and that filled Pinkie’s heart with affection.

“So what brings you to Appleloosa, Pinkie Pie?” Rarity asked, resting one foreleg on the bar.

“Oh, I’m here to overthrow the local government,” Pinkie responded gleefully, Sandstorm choking on his cider and spitting it down onto the floor.

“PINKIE!” Sandstorm yelped. He grabbed Pinkie’s scruff with his magic and pulled her into a huddle, whispering harshly “Don’t just say stuff like that!”

“Why not?” Pinkie asked confusedly. “It’s not like anypony here actually likes the Flim Flam Brothers, right?”

“You’re not wrong,” Rarity chortled, and Pinkie threw her hooves to point emphatically at Rarity.

“Y’SEE?” Pinkie said to Sandstorm, scoffing at the naïve Kirin’s ignorance.

“Yeah,” Sandstorm grumbled through gritted teeth, “I still don’t think it’s a great idea to announce that to literally everypony in town.”

“It’s not everypony in town,” Pinkie scoffed again and batted her hoof, “just everypony in this bar.”

“So anyway,” Rarity loudly cleared her throat, and Pinkie snapped to attention, placing her foreleg on the bar and resting her cheek on her hoof. “I was wondering, since you’re no fan of the Flim Flam Brothers yourself, if you’d like to help a girl out.”

“YES? Obviously?!” Pinkie said excitedly, enthusiastic about being helpful and getting the attention of this hot girl.

“Kirin are disappearing in this town,” Rarity said coldly, and Pinkie appreciated that she sure wasn’t beating around the bush at all, “and it doesn’t take a genius to know that the Flim Flam Brothers are behind it all. I want to stop them, and to rescue the Kirin who have been kidnapped, if I can.”

“Okay, so what do you want us to do?” Pinkie leaned in, pounding her little hooves on the bar.

“Well, I was—” Rarity was about to say something important probably, but the doors to the bar swung open and Twilight walked in, and she immediately became all Pinkie could care about.

“TWILIGHT!!” Pinkie shrieked in delight, bounding like a rocket off the bar and throwing herself straight at Twilight, bowling her over and knocking both girls out of the bar, the two tumbling through the dirt for a moment before hitting another building, with Pinkie lying on the ground and Twilight on top of her. Pinkie didn’t hate the view. “I missed you!”

Twilight got off of Pinkie, which made Pinkie feel a little disappointed honestly, and helped her off the ground, Pinkie bouncing up quickly and asking Twilight how her day was, but Twilight of course couldn’t say much of anything so she just shrugged.

And yet, even though Twilight couldn’t emote at all, Pinkie felt warmer and safer with her nearby.

Author's Note:

What if TwiPie, but they're back from the dead.

Please feel free to alert me to any typos or errors.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed.

Comments

[virgoknight]

hurray I am happy to see another chapter thanks for continuing this lovely tale. I enjoy mute characters and the tactics you use for Twilight to communicate is amusing and adorable. As for errors i am not strong in this area but it is easy to read and feels pretty smooth to me thanks again!

[Legatus]

I loaf this. ❤️
Twipie forever

Lol tho,
Rarity and pinkie flirting
Twilight walks in*
TWIPIE COMMENCES
rarity is rejected

[ShadowLDrago]

“Don’t you dare talk about Wood Hammer,” a soft but vicious feminine voice spoke up from behind Twilight, who looked to see the steel-blue furred Kirin who Twilight had helped earlier had moved away from her shop to join the conversation.

Dazzling Gleam, Sunny Day, Wood Hammer, you sure this ain't Pokemon?

“SANDSTORM!” Pinkie shrieked. “HOW DO YOU FLIRT WITH GIRLS!?”

“I don’t!” Sandstorm called back. “I’m gay!”

“YEAH ME TOO!” Pinkie shouted. “IT’S NOT WORKING OUT SUPER WELL FOR ME AT THE MOMENT THOUGH!”

Your comedy is on fucking point.

“I am, yes,” Rarity examined her hoof and gave Pinkie a smirk and an aside-glance. “Thank you for noticing.”

Confidence is always a win.

What if TwiPie, but they're back from the dead.

So, does that make you a necromancer or a Cleric?

[AppleTank]

Good Morning, everyone! I am broke as shit!

Man, I do hope we get to see Twilight emote more. Being emotionless sucks.