Facing the Sun (Hinoiri Kirara)

Facing the Sun (Hinoiri Kirara)
Date of Cutscene:	16 April 2025
Location:	Kirakirafantastica
Synopsis:	It had been a long time coming, but finally Hinoiri took the final step in her journey. Facing Sora. Once her friends are all safe and secure, she steps into the portal alone and meets with the Sovereign... to tell her everything and, most importantly? Ask her the most important question in the world.
Cast of Characters:	Hinoiri Kirara

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Hinoiri took a slow, deep breath as she was called forward. It felt, admittedly, weird to wait in line. A few years ago she would have just teleported into the throne room, or taken the back entrance. Now? She was waiting in line like a guest. Admittedly, she was, though. She no longer had ties to the throne.

The throne room looked as majestic as ever, two guards at the entrance, watching. Staring in silence. Unmoving, as she stepped forward, bowing to the sovereign. She hesitated a moment, feeling her geode on her neck and trying to draw some small comfort from it.

When Hinoiri raised her head once again, the alicorn was standing on her throne, her mouth hanging open.

Hinoiri took a slow, deep breath and remembered all she had been through. The people who believed in her. Trusted her. Cared about her.

If there was one thing her offer from the mermaid queen had taught her… it was that these memories made her who she was, and now? It was time she faced them. “Sovereign Sora. I… don’t even know if you remember me, but… I was your student, once. Your apprentice. And when I left, I was an arrogant, spoiled, conniving little brat. I’m sure you… ummmm… you…”

Sovereign Sora was now walking to her. Sora was WALKING to her. Oh no. Ohhhhh no. No no no no.

Hinoiri took a small step back and gulped. “L-listen, I know, technically, I’m not supposed to be here, I-I was banished from the castle but… please. I… I just need to… apologize. I’ve done so many things wrong, but it’s time I make up for them and… and…”

Sovereign Sora was towering over her. Staring down at her with a look that, frankly, Hinoiri couldn’t even identify. If she didn’t know better, she’d think the alicorn was on the verge of tears. Was she really that angry? Hinoiri shrunk down slightly, wishing she could curl up into a little ball and hide in her tail so the alicorn would stop staring at her.

There was a flash from behind Sora and there was… a second alicorn? A dark blue one with a mane like the night sky. “S-sister?! I could sense incredible drama, I came immediately. What… oh?”

“W-what?” Hinoiri asked, before gulping. “I-I’m sorry. M-maybe this was a bad idea, I-I can leave and you’ll never see me aga--”

“You’re ALIVE!” Sora yelled before she suddenly rushed forward and enveloped the mare in a hug, her wings moving out and over the much smaller unicorn as her hooves did the same.

“… What?” Hinoiri asked, blinking a few times.

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The sun had long since set and all other requests of the Sovereign had been… postponed. Now? Absolutely nothing she had planned in her ‘confrontation’ was going as Hinoiri expected. But she was trying to make do.

“Of course, it was a strange world,” Hinoiri said. “Very strange. And… I found out about dark energy, but…”

But there was a LOT to go over.

“And so I took the name Sunbreaker,” Hinoiri said, her horn glowing while she wove a simple illusion to show an image of herself in her human form.

“Oh, ohhh this is getting good,” Sora’s sister, Runa apparently, said before disappearing. A moment later she appeared with a big bucket of popcorn in her hooves. “Carry on.”

“… Really?” Sora asked.

“What?” Runa asked before tossing a small hoofful into her mouth. “Go on, Hinoiri, tell us more.”

“Uhhh, right…”

So, so, SO much.

“And so I started finding out how the singing music worked in that world. It was… useful, in a way, but when Hematite stabbed my hand, it was really the best way for me to fight. Until, uhhhh… that one girl, Rashmi? Remember her? She… hit my hand,” Hinoiri said sheepishly. “I… put her in the hospital.”

SOOOOOOO much.

“And because I just couldn’t accept it at the time, I foalnapped the poor girl and tried to GIVE her power…”

So very, very much…

“And I just couldn’t take it anymore, she was the sweetest girl like… ever, and she made me this cake and so I finally told her like… everything. How I truly felt, that I just wanted to be her friend. And she became a witch…”

It really hadn’t felt like so much at the time, but now? Hinoiri was becoming distinctly aware of just how busy she’d been in the last few years.

“So I could come back and, well, I was angry and felt like my identity reveal was Norie’s fault, so… I gave her a donut…” Hinoiri said, her eyes downcast.

“H-holy buck…” Runa whispered, a piece of popcorn falling from her lips.

But, while there was so, so much bad…

“I became Sunset of Sora,” Hinoiri said softly. “I… I was heart broken. I don’t think I realized how much y-you meant to me, then. I thought… I thought you never CARED!” she yelled, unable to keep her voice still, the quiver out of it. “I-I thought… I thought you… hated me… or worse… didn’t… even remember m-me…” The tears fell from her cheeks, down to the ground.

Sora reached out, gently brushing them aside. “I am so… so sorry… I… I could not bear to look at the book once you left. Once I… realized what I had done… I thought you were… dead… one of my greatest failures…”

There was also good.

“It was scary, sure, being chased by a psychopath with fire powers,” Hinoiri said with a shrug. “But… it helped me understand. What I’d done to people. Why it was wrong. And… they came for me.”

Reminded her why it had meant so much to her.

“Even though I thought I was going to die, even though I had hurt them and taken from them. Even though I was a monster.”

Reminded her why she had to do this.

“It was so boring, I couldn’t even remember any of them. I thought I was a human, ugh. And trying to do reports all day? Please, I’d rather gargle dragon spit. But they never forgot me.”

Gave her strength.

“Seeing them in danger, even if I couldn’t do anything? I couldn’t stop, I had to try. So I grabbed one of the little sand buggies that the beach cleaners used.”

Gave her courage.

“Absolutely the cutest kid, you’d like her, and these little jerks thought they could push her around? Not a chance.”

And helped her see that she wasn’t alone.

“They came for me.”

“They helped me.”

“When I was lost, scared, alone, no matter how desperate it was, no matter how terrible it was, no matter how little I deserved it… they always stood by me. They always came for me… and I finally realized… there was one last thing I needed to do. I can’t… be the pony… I want to be. Be the person my friends deserve to have in their lives, until I do. Which is why I am here.”

“Yes?” Sora asked, staring at her, once again from her throne.

“I need to ask… I need to… know…” Hinoiri asked before taking a step forward. “They were there for me. I… bucked up, over and over. I made so many mistakes. I hurt so many people. And they forgave me, they helped me, they saved me. They… helped me become a better person. Guided me…”

Sora nodded, listening closely to her returned student’s words.

“… So why was it, you never could?” Hinoiri asked softly. “Why… wasn’t… I ever good enough? Why didn’t it matter? Why couldn’t you… love me… like I loved you? Why wasn’t I worthy?”

“S-sister…” Runa whispered, her own eyes turning to Sora. “What… have you done?”

Sora stared down at Hinoiri, her eyes soft and moist. Before, gently, she opened her mouth to speak...