07. A Rescue Operation
As Pinkie Pie sat in her jail cell, legs shackled to the wall and teeth grinding against the bridle in her mouth, she was starting to think that maybe she’d overstayed her welcome.
While she was being escorted to her cell, her magic allowed her to feel the other Kirin who were trapped inside the tower, and their pain and sorrow still resonated in Pinkie’s mind; she’d wanted to wait for Twilight, but hearing the faint sounds of battle from the other room made Pinkie start to wonder if maybe Twilight needed her help.
And if that was the case, Pinkie would do anything to be by Twilight’s side, even if that meant becoming a Nirik again.
Pinkie’s shackles may have been designed to keep a Wood Nature like herself restrained, but they had no idea how powerful Pinkie could be when she really let herself go wild. And while becoming a Nirik again was the last thing Pinkie wanted to do, she would do it without question if it was for Twilight’s sake.
But before she could entertain that thought for too long, she heard some hoofsteps coming down the hall. It probably wasn’t Twilight, but it could’ve been so Pinkie decided to at least wait and see who it was before breaking out of her cell.
It was not, in fact, Twilight Sparkle. But Pinkie’s ears shot straight up and her eyes widened when she saw that instead, it was Rarity.
“Oh, darling!” Rarity said aghast, holding a hoof up to her mouth as she saw the sorry state Pinkie had been left in by her captor. “Hold on, dear, we’re going to have you out of that mess in a flash! Promise!”
“Yeah, I got this,” a blue-furred Kirin with a sandy-colored mane cricked her neck as she walked up to the cell, her horn lighting up as she bent the bars with her magic, tearing away Pinkie’s shackles right after.
Pinkie wasted no time bouncing out of her cell, wrapping her hooves around Rarity and squealing in delight.
“Rarity!” Pinkie said cheerily, stars in her eyes. “It’s so good to see you! I never expected you would be the one to rescue me!”
“Yes, well,” Rarity tried to play it cool, but Pinkie could see— and was close enough to even feel— the heat warming up her cheeks. “I came here with Twilight Sparkle, we have this whole big operation to rescue you, and the other Kirin, and then defeat the Flim-Flam Brothers. It’s a rather impromptu situation, but so far it’s gone off without a hitch!”
“That’s so awesome!” Pinkie gleefully cheered and stamped her hooves on the ground. “I’m super duper excited to help out! So what are we doing next?”
Before Pinkie could get too caught up in the moment, she noticed the other Kirin and she felt like a total doofus for not thanking her already.
“Oh hey!” Pinkie took the woman’s hoof in her hoof and shook it super hard. “Thank you so much for rescuing me! I’m Pinkie Pie! What’s your name?”
“Dazzling Gleam,” Dazzling said, running a hoof through her mane and striking a confident pose.
“A mare after my own heart, to be quite honest,” Rarity said with a smirk.
“You’re a flatterer,” Dazzling batted her hoof bashfully at Rarity.
“I try,” Rarity flashed a charming smile, and Pinkie was starting to drown in sapphic tension so she figured it’d be best to cut them off.
“So what’s the plan, ladies?”
“Well first,” Rarity stood next to Pinkie and looked her over, and Pinkie tried not to be too self-conscious about a beautiful woman checking her out, but she couldn’t stop blushing.
“Rarity?” Pinkie squeaked.
“Oh, sorry darling,” Rarity chuckled nervously, “I was simply checking to make sure they didn’t hurt you.”
“Nah, I’m good,” Pinkie nodded confidently. “Quite frankly, I’m rarin’ to go go go!” Pinkie emphasized her readiness with a series of short hops as she spoke.
“You two done flirting?” Dazzling Gleam chuckled into her hoof.
“Please, dear,” Rarity scoffed, “this is not flirting.” Rarity closed the distance between herself and Dazzling Gleam, brushing a hair out of Gleam’s face. “If I was flirting-” Rarity whispered, her lips inches from Gleam’s and Pinkie wishing that were her right now, before Rarity turned on her hooves and flicked her tail across Gleam’s face “-you would know it.”
“Ahem so anyhoo!” Pinkie croaked, her voice cracking and her cheeks a deep red. “What’s the plan?”
“Do we meet up with Twilight next?” Dazzling Gleam asked, her tone remarkably measured for someone who had just had Rarity getting super flirty with her; Pinkie was jealous of Gleam’s coolness to be honest. “Or do we try and release the Kirin on our own?”
“I think the latter,” Rarity hummed. “While I doubt any of the captured Kirin will be in fighting shape, our position against the Flim-Flam Brothers will be much stronger if they don’t have the leverage of hostages to use against us.”
“Plus they won’t be able to use their army of twisted Nirik soldiers to attack us!” Pinkie added, and she thought her words were super clear, so she was confused by the looks of horror and bafflement on Dazzling Gleam and Rarity’s faces. “What?”
“What do you mean?” Rarity asked cautiously.
“Twisted Nirik soldiers?” Gleam asked, her voice cracking as she bit her lip.
“Yeah,” Pinkie said casually. “You guys not know about that? The reason the Flim-Flam Bros are kidnapping Kirin, the only reason any of the Storm King’s troops kidnap Kirin, is cuz they’re trying to force them to become Nirik that they can put under their control and use as soldiers.
“Most of the time the drafted Nirik— that’s what the Storm King calls them— aren’t super reliable as foot soldiers since they’re hard to control, so they pump their bodies full of drugs and magic to make them go even crazier, and then release them on towns or enemies that they want completely destroyed.
“So it’d be better if we didn’t have to worry about that in our fight with the Brothers is all I’m saying! Plus, the sooner we free the Kirin from that awful situation, the better in my imho.”
Pinkie smiled as she finished her lecture, but that smile quickly faded when met with the cold and horrified expressions of Rarity and Dazzling Gleam.
“Did you girls—” Pinkie gulped. “Did you girls not know about all that?”
“No,” Dazzling Gleam said flatly, falling back on her flank.
“How do you?” Rarity asked, eyebrow raised.
“I—” Pinkie froze. What could she possibly say to answer that question? She didn’t want to lie, she didn’t even know if she could, but she couldn’t exactly be honest either.
“I don’t wanna talk about it.”
“Oh,” Rarity said sheepishly. She cleared her throat. “That’s perfectly alright darling, we all have demons. Either way, neither Dazzling Gleam nor I have any intention of simply abandoning the Kirin here to such grisly fates. We shall rescue them all, and then we shall reunite with Twilight Sparkle and the others.”
“Sounds great to me!” Pinkie beamed, a wave of relief washing over her.
“Yeah,” Dazzling Gleam gave a sharp exhale and stamped her hooves, “let’s get this done.”
****
Rainbow Dash exhaled sharply, a wicked cackle escaping her lips as she stood over a defeated pony soldier. Sunny Day bit his lip, a bead of sweat dripping down his brow.
It didn’t take long to catch up to Sunny, dude probably thought his numbers would help him beat Twi and Rainbow so he waited with a little battalion just a few rooms over from where the fight with Sandstorm happened.
And as all his soldiers laid defeated in just a couple minutes, Rainbow figured that he hadn't expected Rainbow and Twilight to be such a strong team.
“So,” Sunny Day said cautiously, “where’s Sandstorm?”
“Shut up,” Rainbow snarled. “Keep that name outta your mouth.”
Sandstorm was still reeling from his sudden Nirik transformation, plus he already had doubts about if he could face Sunny Day himself without breaking down, and also he just got his butt kicked by Rainbow and Twilight. So he wasn’t in a great place to help out in the fight against Sunny, and Twilight suggested he catch up with Rarity’s crew instead.
Which just left Sunny Day, alone in a room against Twilight and Rainbow Dash.
“Oh, is that a threat?” Sunny pursed his lips all smug. “Please, after your two fights against my soldiers, plus Sandstorm’s ghastly Nirik transformation, you two must be on your last—”
Sunny was cut off by the sensation of suddenly being lifted into the air by Twilight’s magic, Twi having teleported behind him while he was yammering. She threw Sunny Day toward Rainbow, who jumped into the air and knocked Sunny hard against the ground with a powerful kick.
Before Sunny could even struggle to his hooves, Twilight grabbed him again and threw him into the wall, a guttural groan of pain escaping the dude’s mouth. But Rainbow was far from done with him, jumping toward him and socking him across the jaw with her hoof and tossing him to the ground, where she proceeded to smash into his back and then kick him across the floor.
“I’m not messing around here, Sunny,” Rainbow growled, though there was a voice at the back of her mind that wondered if maybe she was taking this a bit far. Rainbow took a deep breath and squashed that voice though.
This wasn’t a battle between two former friends in Rainbow’s mind— it couldn’t be, Rainbow couldn’t stand to think of it that way— this was a battle between Rainbow, who wanted to do the right thing by her friends and the Kirin of Appleloosa, against a fascist bootlicker.
Nothing more, nothing less.
“I’m not—” Sunny sputtered and coughed, blood dripping from his nose and mouth into a pool on the ground as he stood up, fangs bared and eyes glowing with intense rage. “I’m not going to lose everything I’ve worked so hard for!”
A burst of flame surrounded Sunny Day as his fur turned black and dark orange flames burned all over his body, coating him in an armor of fire.
“I won’t let my work be ruined!” Sunny snarled, and his horn glowed bright yellow as Rainbow could feel the temperature of the room heating up.
As a fellow Fire Nature, it didn’t bother Rainbow all that much, but a quick look over to Twilight, who covered herself in one of her magical bubbles, told Rainbow all she needed to know; she needed to end this guy quickly.
It was clear to her now that dealing with Nirik wasn’t a simple matter of brute force; she’d always been scared of other Nirik, but the way Twilight dealt with Sandstorm was downright inspiring. Twilight showed Rainbow that a Nirik’s heart isn’t completely closed off, it’s just hidden behind armor, but if you can strip that armor away, you can connect with a Kirin’s purest self through their Nirik transformation.
That said, Rainbow didn’t have the patience or magical powers that Twilight had. She would need to rely on her own methods to get through to Sunny’s heart, if he even still had one. And she knew just how to do that.
“You think I can’t take the heat, Sunny?” Rainbow laughed, her gravelly voice echoing through the empty room— Twilight having teleported the battered soldiers out at the first sign of Sunny’s transformation, just like she did with Sandstorm.
Rainbow’s mane burned with rainbow-colored flame as her fur turned scorched-black, her fangs sharpening and growing in her mouth as her eyes became covered by white-hot flame.
Rainbow might not have been scared of Nirik anymore, but if Sunny Day knew what was good for him, he was about to be.
Wings of flame stretched out from Rainbow’s back as she flew into the air, breathing a bullet of compressed air directly at Sunny; he dodged the attack, but Rainbow just smirked as the bullet exploded on impact with the ground, knocking Sunny for a loop.
Sunny roared in frustration as he stood up, and Rainbow let out a piercing cackle.
“What’s so funny?!” Sunny barked.
“Dude, I can see through you like a pane of untouched glass,” Rainbow grinned ear to ear. “You’re trying so hard to be tough, but I can see you shaking from fear.”
“I’m not afraid of you!” Sunny screamed, conjuring a collection of bright red jewels surrounding Rainbow.
Rainbow knew this trick; they’d explode if Rainbow so much as grazed any of ‘em, so she looked over to check how Twi was doing, and she nodded at Rainbow from behind her barrier, but she was also starting to sweat pretty bad so Rainbow needed to hurry things up.
But as long as Twi was safe from Sunny’s attacks, that was good enough for Rainbow, who covered herself in a barrier of wind that immediately touched and detonated the minefield surrounding her, and while Rainbow’s barrier did dampen the damage a bit, the explosions still took out a couple chunks of her flesh, but hey whatever. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Rainbow divebombed at Sunny, whose eyes widened as he took a step back, before Rainbow grabbed him and did a super cool somersault in the air, then threw Sunny right into the ground hard enough to leave a crack in the concrete.
“Dude, c’mon,” Rainbow chuckled, circling around Sunny in the air as he struggled to get back into the fight. “I don’t even know why you’re going so far outta your way for the freakin’ Flim-Flam Bros. Not like they’d do the same for you.”
“You wouldn’t understand,” Sunny spat, his horn lighting up.
“Yeah? You think so?” Rainbow clicked her tongue; now she was starting to get mad. “What about your friends, Sunny? They not mean anything to you?”
“Friendship doesn’t put meals on the table!” Sunny growled. “It doesn’t save somepony from being snatched from their home and thrown into a cell! Friendship didn’t do a damn thing to help Wood Hammer!”
Oh.
Oh was that how it was gonna be now?
Rainbow didn’t visibly react, but the temperature of the room drastically cooled down all of a sudden, as the warm colors in Rainbow’s fiery mane shifted to feature mostly cooler ones— purple, blue, white, that sorta thing.
Rainbow dived toward Sunny again, but when she made contact with him, the mirage she thought was him blew up in her face, sending her flying back and bouncing along the concrete ground, a spray of blood and streams of smoke following her.
She grumbled and stood up, but she was a little too woozy to try and fly again just yet; she checked on Twilight for a sec, figuring that Rainbow’s magic cooling down the room— which she honestly didn’t even know she could do— would help Twi out a bit.
And it kinda did; Twi wasn’t hiding inside her bubble anymore, but she was sitting on her flank, eyes closed as she attempted to channel her magic. At first Rainbow thought about screaming at her like ‘yo don’t close your eyes in the middle of a combat zone, idiot!’ but then she realized Twi had her eyes closed cuz she trusted Rainbow to have her back, and that kinda brought a smile to Rainbow’s face.
Granted, that smile quickly faded when she saw Sunny taking a deep breath before blowing a stream of flame directly at Twilight, but Sunny’s reflexes were never that great and Rainbow’s were amazing so she was able to intercept Sunny’s attack in the nick of time.
Rainbow threw out a shield of ice-cold flame that she didn’t even know she could do, but she was kinda inspired by Twilight’s magic and thought it might work and yo here it was!
Rainbow looked back at Twilight, who peeked one eye open and nodded at Rainbow, before shutting her eyes once more.
“Don’t worry, Twi,” Rainbow chuckled, “I’ve got this.”
A tap of Twilight’s hoof alerted Rainbow and she looked over at Twi, who shook her head before pointing at Rainbow and then quickly at herself, nodding.
“Oh yeah, you’re right,” Rainbow grinned ear to ear, “we’ve got this! Together!”
Sunny’s horn flashed, and Rainbow and Twilight found themselves surrounded by his glowy red jewel mines; but Rainbow just gave a grin to Twilight, who nodded in return and covered the pair in her barrier, Rainbow sending out a gust of wind that detonated the mines, blowing the walls, floor, and even ceiling of the room to kingdom come, but Twi’s magic was incredible and her and Rainbow weren’t scratched at all.
Sunny, left devastated by his own futile attack, collapsed to the ground, his aura weakening as he struggled to keep control of his Nirik transformation.
Rainbow stomped a black hoof in front of Sunny’s face, and she carried Twilight on her back cuz Twi was running outta juice and Rainbow didn’t want her to get hurt or exhaust herself more than she needed to.
“Sunny,” Rainbow said, “friendship’s a lot more powerful than you think.”
“I can’t believe you,” Sunny growled. “How dare you lecture me, after everything you did! You were supposed to lead us after Wood Hammer was captured! And you didn’t do a damn thing! Always making excuses and running us around in circles! You’re nothing but a coward, and here you are preaching?! Don’t make me laugh!
“It’s your fault I had to turn to them to survive!”
“You’re right about one thing, Sunny,” Rainbow said coldly. “I was a total screwup. I was a crappy leader, and yeah I was a total coward. And yet, here I am trying to make up for my mistakes, and here you are trying to blame me for yours.
“Grow up. You can believe whatever you want, but the truth is that I’m here to set things right, and I’m not gonna let your cowardice or my own stop me from doing that.”
Sunny responded only with a weak shot of flame from his mouth, but Rainbow was quick enough to get behind him, Twi still safely on her back, before his attack had a prayer of connecting.
Rainbow’s horn glowed a deep violet, and she froze Sunny where he stood, before grabbing him in her magic and throwing him against the wall, shattering the layer of ice around him and draining whatever juice he had left, leaving him nothing more than a sad, withered Kirin lying helplessly on the ground.
Rainbow wasn’t sure if she reached his heart exactly, but she was sure of one thing; this fight was over.
“Alright dude,” Rainbow breathed a soft sigh of relief as she released her Nirik transformation and felt like her old self, though she had to fight against a wave of exhaustion at the same time, “lemme ask ya something.”
“What is it?” Sunny said bitterly, barely glancing up at Rainbow.
“Do you wanna be friends again?”
Sunny Day’s eyes snapped open as he looked up in pure shock and bewilderment at Rainbow’s words, but Rainbow just offered a smile and her outstretched hoof in return.
“What?” Sunny croaked. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, dude,” Rainbow shrugged. “Like, when I came here, all I wanted to do was beat you up— and don’t get me wrong, I’m super glad I got to do that! You totally had it coming!”
Sunny grumbled under his breath, but Rainbow figured even he couldn’t deny the truth in Rainbow’s words at this point.
“But if I’ve learned anything from this fight, and that one with Sandstorm,” Rainbow sighed, “it’s that it’s never too late to make a better decision, to try and make things right. That’s what I’m doing by being here, and you can do the same thing.
“It’s not too late for you to do the right thing, it’s not too late for you to choose friendship over fascism. But you can’t have both.”
“You’re wrong,” Sunny let out a pathetic chuckle. “It’s way too late for me. No matter what I choose, I’m screwed. The Flim-Flam Brothers won’t appreciate my complete failure to stop you, and my so-called ‘friends’ won’t ever forgive me. I just need to accept tha—”
“Man, shut up,” Rainbow groaned and rolled her eyes. “All Sandstorm wanted was for the dude that he loves to not be such a jerk, and as for me, I’ve already forgiven you. No one cares about your ‘woe is me fascism didn’t work out for me’ sob story, dude.
“What matters now, is that you have an opportunity to try and make things right with the people who care about you, or you can run away with your tail between your legs. It’s your decision, and I’m not gonna try and twist your leg into making either one.
“So what’s it gonna be, Sunny?”
Sunny looked up at Rainbow and bit his lip.
A moment of silence passed, and it was agonizingly slow for Rainbow Dash.
Sunny looked down, away from Rainbow.
But then he looked back up at her, and put a quivering hoof on her hoof, Rainbow flashing a great big smile.
“Come on, dude,” Rainbow said as she helped Sunny up off the ground, “let’s go stomp some fascists together.”
“Yeah, okay,” Sunny said anxiously, “I think I’d like that.”
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Huh Nirik is Kirin backwards
hehe pinkie's gay as heck
awww nooooo
good fight scene
we really appreciate twi's no nonsense fighting style of completely ignoring monologuing and immediately throwing stuff around
this part and the stuff around it reads exactly like rainbow is narrating it after the fact
The fanciest of Kirins.
Aw, you're no fun.
That, is terrifying.
Sandstorm wants to face Sandstorm?
Oh that sounds epic.
Does, is Rainbow a winged Kirin or...
Ironically, white and blue fire are WAY hotter than orange fire.
Cute.
She's not having ANY of this shit.
I mean, yeah, that's basically Shonen Anime in a nutshell.
10155275
"i'll face myself" blares in the background as i fix that typo
she is not,, i intentionally chose not to use winged kirin or anything like that (and am rly glad the show didn't introduce any either and mess up my plans lmao)
i had to check to make sure i established it, but...
rainbow's using magic to create wings. granted, reading a couple of these passages thru again, i could've made that more clear, but oh well
10181618
gotcha
I'm really hecking amused at how close RD's transformation is similar to her Thems Fighting Herds expy, Tian Huo.
This fic is wholesome and I live for it