Pinkie had experienced panic before, even straight up anxiety attacks, but those were nothing compared to the sheer terror she felt as she watched a hulking behemoth of a woman, her body made up of patchwork skins and pieces of various monsters sewn together, turn Gilda to stone just like she had to Pinkie’s sister Limestone.

Pinkie and Rainbow Dash were now all alone with this woman, surrounded by towering buildings overflowing with overgrown foliage, the dirt below them a moist, blackened and cold mess, as the woman slowly turned her gaze over to them, both women freezing in fear.

“Who are you?!” Rainbow called out, her hands shaking as she readied her laser attack and pointed toward the woman.

“Tempest Shadow,” the woman coldly replied, her voice a deep boom like thunder given life.

Her cracked and shattered stump of a horn sparked and fizzed as it conjured a ball of shadowy energy, that she then launched at Rainbow and Pinkie, both women diving in opposite directions to avoid the resulting explosion, but thankfully neither was hurt.

Rainbow fired her laser at Tempest, but the woman responded by throwing a shattering clash of lightning into the laser, tearing it apart before hitting Rainbow and electrocuting her, the harpy letting out a haunting scream of agony.

Tempest charged at Rainbow, and Pinkie just stood there frozen even stiffer than Gilda or Limestone; she wasn’t a combatant, so she didn’t know what she could do in this situation, and she couldn’t live with the guilt or the panic if she tried to run away.

Rainbow tried to fly away, but Tempest’s fist connected with her face before she could take to the air, knocking the wind out of Rainbow and forcing her to stumble back awkwardly. Rainbow attempted to take to the air again, but Tempest threw one of her bombs at Rainbow, the weapon exploding before it even reached her, and while Rainbow was able to dive out of the immediate area of effect, the wing on her right arm was sealed in stone.

Rainbow was lying awkwardly on the ground, and she fired her laser at Tempest as she approached, the explosion blowing up in Tempest’s face but if it fazed her at all, she didn’t show it. Rainbow’s eyes widened in horrific realization as Tempest advanced on her, and Pinkie realized she couldn’t just stand there and do nothing. She had to find some way to help, or at least try to help.

Pinkie did what she did best; try to make Tempest laugh, and she did this by jumping up behind Tempest and attempting to tickle her sides, but the stoic monstrosity of a woman wasn’t having any of it, barely responding with any emotion on her face before smashing Pinkie in the head with her fist and knocking the poppet to the ground.

Rainbow fired a laser while Tempest was distracted by Pinkie, or at least while they thought she was distracted, cuz she sure had no trouble firing a bolt of lightning through Rainbow’s laser, harmlessly ruining it and annihilating Rainbow’s body if her pained scream was any indication.

“I—how—I don’t know what to do!” Rainbow yelled in a panic, dropping to her knees. “My attacks don’t work, she beat Gilda like it was nothing, I—I don’t—”

“Yep, Rainbow, I know how you feel,” Pinkie said sympathetically as Tempest dragged her off the ground and punched her in the head again, Pinkie wobbling back and trying to stay upright, but after taking another punch to the stomach, she crumpled and fell to her knees. “It doesn’t look good.”

Pinkie took another hit from Tempest, and then another, and she started spitting up blood. Rainbow screamed and charged at the monstrosity, her one good wing flaring out as her fingers crackled with magical energy.

It didn’t matter; Tempest knocked her on her ass with one punch. Rainbow got up again, only to get knocked back down with a devastating kick. Rainbow was on her hands and knees, and Tempest stomped on her back, flattening her into the mud.

“Too weak,” Tempest sighed, and she dropped one of her bombs on Rainbow, petrifying the harpy in an instant, her face locked in a permanent state of fear as she struggled to escape from under Tempest’s hoof. Tempest looked over to the quivering, terrified Pinkie. “Just one left.”

Tempest dropped a bomb and kicked it over to Pinkie, who thankfully had the foresight and the dexterity to get away from there before it detonated, the poppet awkwardly but successfully getting up on her hooves.

“I don’t suppose there’s any way we can just talk things over?” Pinkie pleaded desperately, hands clasped in front of her.

Tempest charged Pinkie and threw a punch, but Pinkie was able to bob outta the way in time, and she jumped away outta Tempest’s reach. What she really needed to do was to free the others; knowing they were petrified by magic meant that there was a possibility that Pinkie’s magic could still reach them and free them. It was a long shot, but like, she had to try something! She couldn’t beat Tempest on her own!

But if Pinkie couldn’t find a way to interrupt Tempest’s relentless assault— the monstrosity charging Pinkie again and barely giving her time to breathe, let alone think— then there wasn’t a whole lotta hope for restoring any of the others.

Pinkie had a plan though, and the first step was to just outlast Tempest by dodging; while the monstrosity was much more powerful in a physical fight, her strikes were slow and deliberate, making them easy to read and avoid for an agile little poppet like Pinkie.

Tempest was starting to look a little irritated as her fists failed to land their mark, and as Pinkie jumped away for what felt like the bazillionth time, her legs burning and her chest heaving, Tempest clicked her tongue. Looked like she was finally ready to switch tactics.

Pinkie was breathing heavy, but she tried to stay focused. Tempest fired off a bunch of shadowy, electrified orbs in the area surrounding Pinkie, likely in an attempt to get Pinkie to dodge into them, and then dropped a bomb at her own hooves, kicking it toward Pinkie.

Tempest’s bomb would detonate before it reached Pinkie; the monstrosity timed it perfectly to give the smallest possible window for escape, but she wasn’t counting on fighting someone as rock stupid as Pinkie Pie, who dived into the bomb instead.

Pinkie slapped the bomb back toward Tempest and jumped backward, getting fried by one of those shadowy orbs, and then the others all converging on her position to really rake her over the coals, Pinkie screaming in terrified, tortured agony as she felt like all her bones were being ripped apart one by one.

Once the pain died down though, she saw the green smoke from Tempest’s bomb, and the newly petrified Tempest Shadow in the midst of it. Pinkie laughed; after all that fear, Tempest ended up losing in the most humiliatingly anti-climactic way possible.

Funny how Tempest’s statue face was frozen in what looked like nothing more than mild irritation. Stoic to the end, Pinkie supposed.

Pinkie was woozy and in horrific pain, and she couldn’t stand to stay on her hooves so she collapsed, but she still dragged herself across the mud to make it to Rainbow Dash. There must’ve been something Pinkie could do; if she could generate enough magic inside Pinkie with her laughter, it was possible that Rainbow could break the spell herself just by outgrowing it, so to speak.

It was worth a shot! Too bad Pinkie didn’t really feel like laughing. But that never stopped her before, so…

Before she could think of a joke, a hoof slammed the back of her head and pushed her nose painfully against the statue of Rainbow Dash. Pinkie looked back in horror to see Tempest Shadow standing over her.

“But how—”

“You think I wouldn’t come prepared with a counter to my own weapon?” Tempest said in disgust. “You insult me.”

Tempest kicked Pinkie away like a sack of garbage and listlessly threw a bomb at her. Pinkie was able to clumsily jump away, but she didn’t make it far enough, and both of her hooves were frozen. She wasn’t going down that easy though, so she sprung off her hands and lunged at Tempest, aiming to knock her out with Pinkie’s brand new stone feet.

Pinkie’s attack never even came close, Pinkie being met with one of Tempest’s lightning bolts in mid-air and she suddenly understood why Rainbow screamed bloody murder whenever she was hit by one of these things, cuz it was very much like all of her blood and muscle were being incinerated from the inside out.

Tempest kicked Pinkie hard in the ribs, the poppet groaning in pain and whimpering before Tempest dropped a bomb right on top of her and jumped back, Pinkie having just enough time to recognize what was about to happen and how helpless she was before the bomb detonated, leaving her fully petrified just like the rest of her friends.

And it was here that Pinkie learned a horrifying fact about petrification; she was still fully cognizant of the world around her. She could barely see, like someone had put a pitch black curtain over her eyes, with everything being shrouded in darkness and shapes appearing blurry, but she could still see. She could still hear too, and it was like she was underwater the way sounds and voices felt to her.

Most importantly though, she could still feel. She felt like her body should have still been able to move, and the fact that she couldn’t find a way to make it to was immediately driving her to madness and despair. She wanted to scream but her mouth wouldn’t move.

“Well,” Tempest said with a bitter chuckle, “it seems like this trip wasn’t such a waste after all. The power of a soul really is all it’s cracked up to be.”

Tempest dug into her chest and retrieved a lavender glowing sphere of magic energy; she had the soul they were searching for all along. It was right there in front of Pinkie’s eyes.

But there was nothing she could do.

Being in a petrified shell of never-ending agony and existential dread wasn’t really Rainbow Dash’s idea of a good time. She was really pulling for Pinkie to take a stand against Tempest, and when she managed to get Tempest petrified by her own bomb, Rainbow was like heck yes! And then Tempest broke free and petrified Pinkie, and everything was awful again.

But something felt weird; as soon as Tempest showed off the soul that she had taken, Rainbow almost felt like it was calling out to her, and her own magic surged in response to that call, welling up inside her until the stone keeping her trapped exploded outward, Rainbow’s head spinning as she was freed somehow.

“How did—” Tempest reacted with shock, putting the soul back inside her chest and throwing another bomb at Rainbow, but she was too slow.

Rainbow zipped right past the bomb with no fear, gaining momentum and surging with magical energy as she zipped past Tempest, the ground behind her exploding in her wake. Tempest didn’t look seriously hurt, but she was thrown off her game and that was good enough. Rainbow was sick of letting this woman push her around, and she wasn’t gonna hold anything back.

She was taking that soul or she was dying in this battle. No in-between.

Rainbow charged up to Tempest, landing a solid kick against her side that made the stitched-together monstrosity grunt in pain before Rainbow fired a laser point blank against her chest, Tempest putting up her arms to block and getting pushed back.

Tempest jumped back and threw a bomb at Rainbow; she was on the defensive now, which was great. Rainbow knew if she gave an inch, she’d lose this fight for sure. She didn’t think twice about flying into the air to escape the explosion of green smoke, and Rainbow launched herself at Tempest like a rocket.

Rainbow flew at Tempest and the monstrosity tried to fire off a bolt of lightning at Rainbow, something that had devastated her a bunch of times already, but this time Rainbow coated herself in magical energy, phasing through Tempest’s attack and Tempest herself; Rainbow didn’t even fully grasp what kinda magic she was doing, she was going a hundred percent on instinct now.

Tempest spun around and kicked Rainbow hard in the head, and while it took every bit of grit in her body, Rainbow held fast and stayed on her talons. Tempest prepared another bomb but Rainbow just punched her in the gut, her fist exploding on impact, and that was just enough for Tempest to drop the bomb harmlessly on the ground.

Rainbow put her hand on Tempest’s chest and felt the warmth radiating outward from the soul, as if it were coming from inside her own body. Tempest jumped back and fired a bolt of lightning at the bomb by Rainbow’s feet, but Rainbow had already sped outta the way and behind Tempest before the bomb detonated.

Tempest spun on her hooves, but once again Rainbow was faster, punching with both fists into Tempest’s gut and blowing them up, the force of two explosions enough to make a dent in Tempest’s impenetrable façade, the monstrosity stumbling back as Rainbow pushed her advantage, zooming toward her and causing another explosion in her face.

Rainbow tackled Tempest with every ounce of strength in her body, bringing the monstrosity to the ground on her back. And just like Rainbow had done this entire battle, she let instinct guide her as she plunged her hands into Tempest’s chest, her claws diving into the woman like they were reaching into a pool of water.

And she felt the soul in her hands.

Tempest threw Rainbow off of her and tossed a bomb her way, but it didn’t matter; it all happened in a blur but Rainbow knew that Tempest’s bombs weren’t going to be effective against her anymore. Sure enough, as Rainbow’s skin started to turn to stone, her body surged with magic that cracked and shattered the stone before it could form.

“How did you—” Tempest said in alarm.

“I guess it just likes me better,” Rainbow said confidently, the soul shining in her chest.

Rainbow realized she didn’t have to hold back now or pull her punches; she’d lived by the mantra of always conserving as much magic as possible, but the soul poured magic into her body like an infinite waterfall, and Rainbow had every intention of taking full advantage.

She held her hand out to Tempest and let the magic flow through her and through the air around her, capturing Tempest in a vortex of wind. That was new, but it was pretty sick. She kept Tempest trapped too, shredding her body with blades of wind until she was a tattered husk of her former self, before dropping her limp body onto the ground with a splat.

“So much for the oh so powerful Tempest Shadow, huh?” Rainbow cackled, and Tempest tried to raise her head but Rainbow just kicked her in the face for trying. “Stay down like the dog you are.”

Rainbow was proud of herself, that was the main thing that she felt as she tied up Tempest Shadow and made her completely helpless, going the extra mile to give her a little crotch rope and a noose-like leash just to make sure she knew who was in charge.

Having such a powerful fighter at her mercy like this… she could get used to it.

Anyway, now with her outta the way, Rainbow used her newly overflowing magical power to release Gilda and Pinkie Pie from their stone prisons, Pinkie immediately tackling Rainbow into a hug, and Gilda just chastising her for taking her sweet time. Rainbow had half a mind to bark back, but honestly she was just glad Gilda was okay.

Then again, she could still sass Gilda a little bit.

“Don’t give me any sass, G,” Rainbow said confidently, looking up at Gilda from the ground where Pinkie was still on top of her and nuzzling her, “I have a soul now.”

“Okay, that’s kinda metal,” Gilda tugged on Rainbow’s ear and forced her to her feet, where the quetzal then put her arms around Rainbow and felt her up, “but you’re still a dweeb.”

“Alright now it’s time to revive Limestone!” Pinkie pleaded.

“Ehhh,” Gilda rubbed the back of her neck and groaned, but Rainbow just elbowed her in the side.

“C’mon, G,” she rolled her eyes and headed over to Limestone, “it’s the right thing to do.”

Rainbow Dash wasn’t exactly expecting a ‘thank you’ from Limestone or anything, but she sure didn’t expect to hear the words that actually left the gargoyle’s lips as she was unfrozen.

“Hey, what happened to Tempest?” Limestone pointed to the spot where Rainbow had left Tempest, a bunch of torn up ropes and rags all that remained in that spot.

“Aw crap,” Rainbow groaned, rubbing her temples.

“Don’t sweat it, dweeb,” Gilda put her arm around Rainbow. “No way that chick’s gonna want to mess with us now! We got a soul!”

“True,” Limestone added. “Her seemingly endless barrage of attacks were only possible because of the soul’s power, and it didn’t even save her. Forget about her, she won’t be bothering us again.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow sighed contentedly as Pinkie hugged her and Limestone and Gilda, the others not looking too pleased, but Rainbow was digging it, “I can live with that.”

tempest shadow could stomp on me and i would thank her tbh