06. A Simple Matter
So Pinkie got thrown in jail. It happens. Sort of an occupational hazard when trying to overthrow a local government.
She was locked in a cold, iron cell— very dark and dreary, with super uncomfortable iron shackles fixing her to the wall, all in an effort to suppress her Wood Nature magic. Pinkie tried to squirm a little to test her shackles but yeah she wasn’t going anywhere right now.
On the bright side, she’d gotten a bit of her spark back on the trip to the jail. She was feeling a little bit more like her old self, though she still felt bad about nearly killing Sunny Day.
Speaking of Sunny, he was standing in front of Pinkie’s cell. Pinkie figured he was gloating or something? She wasn’t really listening to him.
“Let’s see you try to ‘rebel’ from inside that cage,” Sunny said smugly.
And Pinkie couldn’t hold back a giggle at his expense.
“What’s so funny?” Sunny asked irritably, hoof tapping on one of the cell bars.
“Sorry, it’s just-” Pinkie interrupted herself to laugh again “-you’re just trying so hard! I don’t mean to laugh, but your tiny little fragile ego is just funny!”
Sunny didn’t like that. Oooh no he didn’t like that at all.
He was steaming like a tea kettle as he stared daggers into Pinkie’s eyes, and Pinkie tried really, really hard to take him seriously, but she just couldn’t help laughing again.
“Why are you even working for the Storm King—” Pinkie snorted. “Heck, not even the Storm King, you’re working for the freakin’ Flim-Flam Brothers! Two hired guns in the Storm King’s army that I promise you she doesn’t give a crap about! Those are the boots you wanna lick? That’s? I mean c’mon, how can I respond to that with anything but laughter? Hehe, butt.”
Pinkie drove her point home by giggling furiously, wiggling her little legs as much as they’d wiggle with the rattly chains holding them down.
“You wouldn’t understa—”
“No I understand perfectly!” Pinkie grinned ear-to-ear. “You got scared by the soldiers and you thought the best way for you to not get hurt was to join them! You probably didn’t even think about your friends when you made the decision, but by the time you had a chance to think about it, it was too late! Your ego wouldn’t let you back down so you just kinda stuck around with them.
“Now you’re desperate to rise through the ranks, cuz you can’t admit that you screwed up big time, and you need your bad decision to mean something, anything, and all you can think to do is gain the respect of the fascists you’ve thrown your lot in with. I get it!”
Sunny shut down completely; his sharp glare from earlier had completely disappeared and been replaced by an awkward, blank stare. Looks like Pinkie really squished that tiny ego of his.
“You know,” Pinkie hummed, “it isn’t too late to turn back.”
“What,” Sunny said flatly, grinding his teeth.
“To the good guys’ side, I mean!” Pinkie chirped, and now it was Sunny who was laughing, but his laugh was bitter and sharp, unlike Pinkie’s soft and bubbly laughter.
“You really think life is as simple as ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’?” Sunny scoffed. “You’re so naïve.” Sunny let out another bitter chuckle, and Pinkie rolled her eyes.
“You sure like to laugh at stuff that’s not funny,” Pinkie griped. “Cuz like, yeah I do think it’s as simple as ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’! The guys trying to take over Equestria, the ones who are burning people’s homes, kidnapping and enslaving, even killing people? Those are the bad guys actually! The ones trying to stop those things? Those are the good guys! It really is that simple!”
“You’re hopelessly naïve,” Sunny shook his head and rolled his eyes.
“And you’re hopelessly dull,” Pinkie yawned.
Sunny grumbled and shot Pinkie a nasty look, but before he could say anything, Pinkie cut him off; she really wasn’t interested in listening to his boring speeches anymore.
“Look, Sunny,” Pinkie said, “I know how it feels to be scared. I know what it’s like to feel like everything you care about could be taken away from you at any moment. But the Storm King isn’t gonna have your back.
“What you need is the magic of friendship. Friends will help you outta a jam where soldiers will let you rot, and I know you used to have some really good friends who would love for you to come back to them.”
“It’s too late for that now,” Sunny muttered under his breath, and Pinkie had the suspicion that he really didn’t mean to say that, especially for Pinkie to hear.
“It’s never too late for friendship, Sunny,” Pinkie smiled.
Sunny’s eye twitched and he looked like he was gonna say something else, but then a pony soldier wandered in and whispered something into Sunny’s ear.
“The tower is under attack?!” Sunny said, aghast, and Pinkie couldn’t help letting out a howling laugh.
“Hey that’s that magic of friendship I was just talking about!” Pinkie beamed. “I betcha anything those are my friends coming to rescue me! And let me tell ya, Sunny, you don’t stand a chance against Twilight Sparkle!”
Sunny groaned and tapped his hoof against his forehead.
“Have this woman fit with a bridle,” Sunny grumbled, “I don’t want to hear her voice ever again.”
And with that, Sunny disappeared to deal with the tower attack, leaving Pinkie alone in her cell. She didn’t really mind though; she had a good feeling she wasn’t gonna be in there for very long.
****
Twilight Sparkle believed that breaking into the Flim-Flam Brothers’ tower would be a simple matter. The reality of the situation was somehow even simpler than she imagined it.
The plan was for Twilight’s group to break into two teams; while Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Sandstorm attacked the tower from the front doors, Rarity and Dazzling Gleam were to infiltrate the tower from behind or below, rescue Pinkie Pie and the other prisoners, and reconvene with Twilight’s group so they could defeat the Flim-Flam Brothers once and for all.
But as Twilight’s three-pony cell stood in a large circular plaza inside the tower, surrounded by the unconscious bodies of weak pony soldiers whom they had effortlessly beaten, Twilight wondered if they would even need to wait for the infiltration team at all.
“Wow, that was it!?” Rainbow exclaimed, kicking a downed soldier in the head. “What were we afraid of this whole time?!”
A fair question, but Twilight presumed that the truth of the matter was that the soldiers’ intimidation factor worked against them in the end; they were so certain they had the people cowed, that they believed nopony would ever fight back, and they simply weren’t prepared when Twilight and her allies did just that.
But now, the first battle was over with a victory for Twilight’s camp, yet there was something that gave Twilight pause.
She watched Sandstorm as he agitatedly kicked his hoof against the downed soldiers, or scraped his hooves across the concrete, his body twitching with every gesture. Something was getting to him, and it was only getting worse with time.
Twilight trotted over to Rainbow and prodded her, wanting to hear her opinion on the matter. And while it took a moment or two for Rainbow to understand what Twilight was gesturing at, Rainbow did indeed take notice of Sandstorm’s peculiar behavior.
“Hey, Sandstorm!”
Though instead of sharing any information with Twilight, she elected to simply go to the source herself.
Fair enough, Twilight supposed; Twilight figured she would be able to come up with an effective plan to deal with Sandstorm’s problems if she had enough information to understand it, but it wasn’t her place to butt into matters between friends.
“What?” Sandstorm hissed.
“What’s up with you, dude?” Rainbow asked. “You’re acting all… fidgety.”
“I’m just itching to get this over with,” Sandstorm sighed. “So let’s just quit the talking and—”
“Ever the impatient one,” a familiar soft masculine voice came from the far door, Sunny Day making his presence known with a sigh. “Haven’t changed much, eh Sandstorm?”
Sandstorm didn’t respond with words, just a guttural growl that let everyone in the room know exactly how he felt about Sunny Day.
Sunny Day, meanwhile, had not quite caught up to the fact that he had just entered a room full of battered and bloodied soldiers, and when that realization finally hit him, his smug demeanor disappeared in a second, replaced with obvious, visible concern.
“Sunny,” Rainbow Dash growled, “you have one chance to surrender. Use it wisely.”
“Surrender?” Sunny balked. “Surrender?! You think I’m going to surrender now!? NO! I will not allow two random Kirin who just happened to show up on my doorstep ruin everything I’ve built!”
“What you’ve built?” Sandstorm snarled and pushed his way past Rainbow Dash, approaching Sunny Day with bloodlust in his eyes. “What about what we were gonna build? Together?! Have you just forgotten about everyth—”
“I gave you the chance to come with me!” Sunny shot back, but the way he recoiled into the wall behind him made his desperation and worry obvious.
“Don’t give me that crap!” Sandstorm spat. “Did you honestly think I was just gonna turn my back on my friends? On my community, on my ethics?! I could never work for the Storm King! And I thought that you were the same way, Sunny.”
Sandstorm’s rage subsided as he was only a couple of feet from Sunny Day. Rainbow was watching them carefully, apparently not keen on intervening; Twilight wasn’t interested in interrupting them either, unless things got violent enough that Twilight suspected one of them might be seriously injured.
Sunny Day may have been an enemy, but Twilight had no reason to simply stand by and let him be killed.
“Well—you—” Sunny grasped at straws to try to find a defense for his actions, but confronted by the pain and righteous anger of a Kirin whom he used to hold dear, all his justifications were failing him.
Not that it mattered much; apparently Rainbow Dash had gotten bored of waiting for Sunny and Sandstorm’s reunion to play out and in the time it took for Twilight to blink, Rainbow was standing over Sunny Day, who was lying on the ground, laid out by Rainbow Dash’s punch.
“Just give it up, Sunny,” Rainbow scoffed smugly. “You’re getting your butt kicked right here, right now, and you can spend the rest of your life regretting the shitty decisions that led up to this moment. And honestly? You kinda have it coming. You’re just getting what you deserve right now.”
“No,” Sandstorm said coldly. “This isn’t what he deserves.”
“Eh?” Rainbow balked, and Twilight suddenly felt the fur on her neck standing on edge.
“Sunny Day deserved better,” Sandstorm growled, his dull roar barely escaping his lips past gritted teeth. “He deserved to live a happy and fun-filled life, with me. Where we got to follow our dreams together and move into a nice house, and smooch every day.
“And that was ruined by the Storm King.”
“Yeah?” Rainbow said, disinterested. “And?”
“I can’t believe—” Sandstorm shook his head before shoving Rainbow Dash out of the way and pointing an accusatory hoof at Sunny Day, still lying on the ground with a hoof over his swollen cheek. “I can’t believe I trusted you! I can’t believe I loved you, and you just threw me to the wolves like garbage!
“And despite all of that, I can’t believe that I still love you!” Sandstorm’s voice was strained as tears fell from his eyes, but if Sunny Day was moved by Sandstorm’s emotion, he didn’t show it. “I can’t believe after everything, all I want is to beg you to come back to our side so we can be happy together— I can’t believe all I want is for you to come back and to love me.
“I—” Sandstorm’s snarl twisted into a bestial roar and his eyes filled with glowing white energy. “I HATE YOU!”
Sandstorm’s fur turned pitch black and an aura of shifting sand poured off of him like steam off a boiling tea kettle. His teeth had become like knives in his mouth, and he roared with the fury of a wild beast. He had fully transformed into a Nirik.
Now Sunny Day was forced to react, and his response was a reasonable one; to get up immediately and barricade himself in the next room, slamming the door in Sandstorm’s face.
Sandstorm threw himself into the door, and he likely would have torn it from its hinges if Rainbow hadn't pulled him off of it and thrown him to the ground.
Twilight teleported herself between Sandstorm and the door, her and Rainbow Dash barricading Sunny Day’s escape route from the out of control Sandstorm.
“Sandstorm?” Rainbow said tentatively. “Buddy? You alright?”
Sandstorm reached out with arms of rock-hard sand, grabbing both the Kirin in his way and tossing them aside, but instead of trying to force his way through the door, he turned to face Twilight and Rainbow Dash in the main room.
Twilight’s horn flashed, and with a crack of magic the dozen or so unconscious pony soldiers were teleported outside; it wouldn’t do to have them stuck in the crossfire of what was about to happen.
“Alright Sandstorm,” Rainbow spat, “this how it’s gonna be? You’re gonna just act like a petulant jerk? We’re all hurting, you jackass! Your pain ain’t special!”
“SHUT UP,” Sandstorm snarled.
Twilight wondered if there was a history of animosity between these two Kirin that she had been unaware of until now, but she supposed it didn’t matter.
The only way to stop a Nirik is to open up its heart, and the only way to do that was to understand the emotions that led to its transformation, and guide it to a healthy resolution.
A simple enough matter, and one accomplished rather handily with fighting.
Rainbow scraped a hoof across the ground and exhaled smoke from her nose. Twilight stuck her hoof in front of Rainbow to get her attention and stared into her eyes.
“What?” Rainbow griped.
Twilight pointed at Sandstorm and stomped her hooves, then pointed at Rainbow and shook her head.
Rainbow just looked confused, so Twilight dropped the subject.
She was trying to impress upon Rainbow that she needed to control herself and be careful not to become a Nirik herself, but it looked like Twilight was simply going to have to keep an eye on Rainbow’s emotional state for her.
“Relax, Twi,” Rainbow chuckled. “I’ll settle this in ten seconds flat!”
Rainbow charged at Sandstorm with such speed that Twilight had to brace herself against the gust of wind and heat left in Rainbow’s wake; but Rainbow wasn’t fast enough to beat the wall of sand that rose in front of Sandstorm, Rainbow crashing right into it and being flung back as if she’d hit a wall of iron.
The sand wall buried Rainbow Dash, but Twilight was able to cover her with a shield just in time, and Rainbow crashed through the sand before jumping toward Sandstorm and hitting him with a thunderous kick.
Against a normal enemy, that kick would have sent them flying; but against a Nirik it was barely enough to turn Sandstorm’s cheek, and he looked like he barely felt it.
“Hm,” Rainbow grumbled as she touched the ground in front of Sandstorm.
Rainbow hadn't noticed the ground opening up to swallow her underneath her hooves, but she was incredibly lucky that Twilight noticed, using her magic to switch positions with Rainbow Dash. And while Rainbow was mildly disoriented by the sudden switch, Twilight was able to levitate herself outside the range of Sandstorm’s quicksand ability.
Sandstorm was undeterred, letting out a guttural roar as two walls of sand rose up on either side of Twilight, smashing into her and smothering her. While she was able to defend herself with her shield, she could feel the force of Sandstorm’s magic pressing up against hers like an oncoming migraine.
Twilight couldn’t see the battlefield through the walls of sand, and she considered teleporting herself out, but before she could she heard Rainbow Dash charging Sandstorm again, whatever battle cry she yelled muffled by the walls of sand.
What she heard clearly however was Rainbow’s howl of pain as Sandstorm’s wall of sand crushed her, and Twilight focused all her energy into locating Rainbow and teleporting them both out of harm’s way.
And she succeeded in that effort— taking note that Rainbow now had an ugly bruise on her shoulder— but the magic required for such a maneuver left Twilight overextended, and she needed a second to catch her breath.
A second that she did not have, as Sandstorm took advantage of the pair’s loss of momentum to bury them both beneath a wave of crushing sand, Twilight feeling the course texture of the sand against her skin and the weight of it on her bones before she was able to create a bubble around Twilight and Rainbow to keep them safe; though she could tell by the power of Sandstorm’s force that this barrier would not last long.
“C’mon, Twilight!” Rainbow poked Twilight but then hissed in pain at the pain in her shoulder. “We gotta get out there and kick Sandstorm’s butt!”
Twilight stared at Rainbow.
“What?” Rainbow growled, her patience running thin. Twilight found herself wondering if the feeling would have been mutual if Twilight had her emotions.
Twilight pointed at Rainbow, and then crossed her hooves.
“Wh—”
Twilight pointed at Rainbow, and then crossed her hooves.
“Are you saying you want me to stay outta the battle?” Rainbow scoffed. “Is that what this-” Rainbow repeated Twilight’s motions “-is?”
Twilight nodded.
“Pfft, c’mon Twi, that’s—”
Twilight pointed at Rainbow, and then crossed her hooves.
“I’m not gonna—”
Twilight pointed at Rainbow, and then—
“Alright! Fine!” Rainbow screamed and stamped her hoof. “You wanna fight on your own so bad?! You think I’m holding you back?!”
Twilight shook her head.
“Well then what—”
Twilight put her hoof on Rainbow’s chest, right over her heart.
“I— I don’t—”
Twilight punched the air with her hooves, then shook her head. She put her hoof over her own heart, then over Rainbow’s heart, then nodded her head.
“You don’t wanna fight him at all,” Rainbow said, eyes widening with realization before her ears clamped down on her head. “So I really am getting in your way, huh?”
Twilight paused. She knew Rainbow wouldn’t like it, and she considered sparing Rainbow’s feelings to avoid a potential situation where Rainbow rebelled at Twilight and made things worse for them, but Twilight elected that being honest with her was the right thing to do.
Twilight nodded.
“I’m not gonna let you get hurt,” Rainbow said, affecting an air of confidence that Twilight could see right through as clear as she could see Rainbow’s shaking hooves. “If it looks like something might happen to you, I’m gonna step in.”
Twilight tapped her chin, then nodded. Rainbow nodded in return.
Twilight teleported herself and Rainbow Dash outside the bubble and toward the front of the room, on the other side from Sandstorm. Rainbow sat on her flank as Twilight took a step forward to face Sandstorm, though Twilight could feel her supply of magic was beginning to run dry. She’d have to be careful.
Sandstorm laughed; a bitter, haunting sound that echoed through the empty room.
“What’s the matter, Rainbow Dash?” Sandstorm snarled, venom dripping from his fangs that fell from his lips and turned to dust in the air. “You don’t wanna fight anymore? Finally ready to admit that you’re just a COWARD?!”
Rainbow clicked her tongue, but she said nothing and did nothing. Twilight recognized that must have been difficult for Rainbow, and she wished she could commend Rainbow for her restraint.
But if Rainbow looked mildly irritated by Sandstorm’s taunt, Sandstorm looked utterly furious at Rainbow’s lack of response, his face twisting into a ghoulish mask of rage.
Sandstorm charged at Rainbow Dash, screaming about how she was a coward, but Twilight wasn’t interested in humoring his tantrum, and as Sandstorm raised a wave of sand to try and crush Rainbow, Twilight merely teleported Rainbow out of Sandstorm’s way.
Sandstorm rushed to try and hit Rainbow with a physical strike, but Twilight teleported herself between the two and knocked Sandstorm away with her shield; Sandstorm once again trying the wave of sand, and once again having his attack fall against Twilight’s shield, completely ineffective.
“Is this how you fight your battles now, Rainbow Dash!?” Sandstorm screamed. “You get some stranger to fight them for you!? You’re a coward! You and Sunny Day both!”
Sandstorm tried attacking with a spear of sand, but Twilight blocked it. Sandstorm attempted a large platform of sand above the girls’ heads and rained spikes down on top of them, but Twilight blocked it. Sandstorm tried opening the ground underneath them and turning it into quicksand, but Twilight levitated the pair above it.
“Cowards will get what they deserve!” Sandstorm shrieked, his attacks and screams becoming increasingly desperate. “Isn’t that right, Rainbow Dash?! Isn’t that what you said!? Cowards will get what they deserve!”
Twilight teleported herself and Rainbow once more into the center of the room; while she was concerned at first that she would expend too much energy fighting Sandstorm, she quickly learned that his attacks were rudimentary, and without having to expend energy keeping an eye on Rainbow and protecting her, Twilight found that defending herself and Rainbow from Sandstorm’s attacks took almost no effort.
And while Twilight was not in a great position to counterattack against Sandstorm without losing her advantage, she saw no need to. Sandstorm would destroy himself.
“Cowards get what they deserve!” Sandstorm screamed again as his attack fell limply against Twilight’s shield. “They’ll get what they deserve!” Sandstorm howled, as yet another attack was deflected. “Cowards… they’ll get—”
Rainbow interrupted Sandstorm’s pathetic yowls with a high-speed punch, Rainbow’s sudden increase in momentum and magical force giving her punch enough strength to lay Sandstorm out and knock him to the ground.
It was only then that Twilight saw the tears pouring down Rainbow’s face.
“I get it, Sandstorm,” Rainbow whimpered, her hoof trembling as she held it in front of her and stood over Sandstorm, who didn’t seem to be in a hurry to stand up. “I get it. And I’m—I’m sorry.
“I know I said what I said, and there’s nothing I can do that can take it back,” Rainbow stomped her hoof on the ground, shaking her head furiously as her tears twinkled in the air around her. “I was so consumed by my own hate and anger after Sunny’s betrayal that I didn’t even think about how you were grieving; I didn’t even consider how much you still loved him.
“And I’m sorry.”
“Do you think an apology—” Sandstorm spat as he struggled to his hooves. “Do you think that will fix anything?! You think your damn words will bring Sunny back!? Will change how worthless you were!?”
“No, I don’t,” Rainbow shrugged, and while her hooves were still shaking, her tears had stopped and she looked directly into Sandstorm’s eyes without flinching. “Cuz yeah, you’re right again. I was a terrible leader to you and Dazzling Gleam. You guys relied on me, and my fear of what might happen totally had us all spinning our wheels forever, and that’s on me.”
Rainbow took a deep breath and shook her head. Sandstorm stood completely still, the dust and sand trailing off his aura starting to cool down but was still noticeably simmering.
“There’s nothing I can do to fix that now,” Rainbow said. “But what I can do is admit that I screwed up, and I can try to make it right.”
“You think you can make things right!?” Sandstorm snarled and unleased several spears of sand on Rainbow’s position, but once the dust settled, Rainbow was standing behind Sandstorm and his attacks hadn't hit her at all; Twilight didn’t even need to interfere, Rainbow had this battle under control now.
“I dunno, Sandstorm,” Rainbow said, hitting Sandstorm with a mach-speed punch and sending him flying. “I dunno how I’m gonna make things right, or if I even can! But that’s not about to stop me from trying!”
Sandstorm wasn’t listening, and just tried to defend himself and keep Rainbow at bay with another wall of sand, but Twilight covered Rainbow with a shield that allowed Rainbow to charge through the wall at lightning speed completely unharmed, laying Sandstorm out with another punch.
“But what I do know is-” Rainbow said, gracefully dancing around another of Sandstorm’s spears “-that you’re in pain! Cuz of what I did! I get that!”
Sandstorm tried to crush Rainbow with hands of sand, but he was simply too slow, Rainbow laying a fast kick to the back of his head, and when he turned around and tried to slash at her with his sand, she’d already gotten far away from him.
“But it’s not okay for you to use your pain as an excuse to lash out!” Rainbow said confidently. “We’re all hurting, Sandstorm! Your pain isn’t special!”
Rainbow sped toward Sandstorm and hit him square in the cheek with another high-speed punch, knocking him to the ground. He didn’t appear to resist it either, and as he struggled back to his hooves, his fur began to turn brown and his aura disappeared.
His Nirik form was fading, returning him to the form of a Kirin; a sad, scared Kirin.
“I don’t know what to do,” Sandstorm said, tears falling down his face. “I don’t wanna hurt anypony, not even Sunny, but I just—I just—”
“It’s okay, dude,” Rainbow sat next to Sandstorm and put her hoof around him. “I don’t think any of us know what to do. But at the very least, we got each other.”
Sandstorm affected a weak, tired smile.
“Thank you,” he whimpered. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry too,” Rainbow sighed. “You deserved a better leader… you deserved better from me.”
Twilight sighed and sat on her flank. She took a deep breath to try and channel some more magic back into her body. There were still quite a few fights in the lavender Kirin’s future, but this one, it seemed, was over.
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Afraid so, Ponkers.
Wow. You know you're sad when PINKIE roasts you.
I love this. I LOVE it when authors remember that underneath the ridiculous mane, ridiculous personality and ridiculous antics, Pinkie is PLENTY socially savvy. She understands how ponies work. Arguably better since her mind DOESN'T work how most minds do.
Oh Sunny. NOTHING CAN SILENCE THE PIE!
I don't like the sound of that.
Anakin? I thought you hated sand?
Nokirin's perfect, RD.
The thing about rage is, you can only sustain it for so long. Literally, on a chemical level, you eventually reach a point where your anger 'burns out', unless, like the Hulk, Kirins have a gland or something that lets them effectively be angry forever.
Maybe not. But she's willing to try.
Agreed. And to the author's credit, she writes a damn good fight scene.
10128481
YO i just wanted to say i appreciate this comment alot, cuz fight scenes are one of the things i care the most about writing and getting complimented on them feels hecking GREAT,, so tyvm!
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i.pinimg.com/originals/a2/d2/46/a2d24681ffb953c4dfb622822fe2cd9c.gif
oh! forgot to leave a comment when we read this last-week-ish
just wanted to say we love the take on silent twi and how great the interactions with pinkie are, especially when twi does some ridiculous communication movements and pinkie figures it out in one shot