Fly! The Rainbow-Colored Pegasus, Cure Parfait!

Fly! The Rainbow-Colored Pegasus, Cure Parfait! (翔べ！虹色ペガサス、キュアパルフェ！ Tobe! Nijiiro Pegasasu, Kyua Parufe!) is the 23rd episode of KiraKira☆Pretty Cure A La Mode and is the 658th episode of the Pretty Cure franchise overall.

Summary
Due to hearing how her actions affected Pikario, Ciel fell into despair. Noir takes his chance to bring Ciel over to the dark side, but Pikario and Ichika have different plans. Will Pikario and Ichika be able to bring Ciel back to their side, or will Ciel become a subordinate of Noir?

Synopsis
After the events of Ichigo Mountain, which revealed Ciel being the fairy Kirarin and Julio's true identity as Kirarin/Ciel's younger twin brother Pikario, the girls confront Pikario inside the KIRAKIRA Patisserie. Yukari tries to get him to apologize, but he refuses. Just as Yukari is going to take a step ahead, Ichika stops her taunting in time. Akira then tries to warm up the atmosphere by asking Pikario about Noir's plans, only to get an unsettling response from him on Noir's intentions of converting the whole world into darkness, and explains how Noir had turned his rage and hatred into his rod, granting him power.

Hearing Pikario's vow to plunge the world into darkness, a horrified Elder reminds Ichika about the seriousness of the situation, while Pekorin begs Pikario to come back to the light side and make sweets with them, only to be rudely flung away by him. Akira asks whether he and the Kirakiraru Thieves had their emotions manipulated by Noir, but Pikario denies this. Pekorin then urges Kirarin, who is hiding in the corner in sadness, to convince Pikario. However, she prepares to leave after transforming into Ciel, sayng that she has to head to her own shop, and tells Ichika that there is no way she can become a Pretty Cure because she has failed to understand her brother. As Ciel dashes away in emotional pain, Ichika is about to catch up when Akira prevents her and shakes her head, implying that Ichika should give Ciel personal space. Ciel is soon shown to blame herself for being the worst as she runs down the stairs.

The next day, Ichika and Pekorin notice that there are no lines at Ciel's shop and it appears that it is temporarily closed. Pekorin suggests finding their other friends to check how Ciel is going. Then upon visiting Ciel's home, the girls, along with Elder and Pekorin, discover that she is dwelling in sorrow and loses her motivation to cook sweets, as she continues to criticize herself. Pikario is ticked off knowing that he has to visit his older sister, so Aoi has to stop him from avoiding so. Akira then observes the table that has plates of failed animal-looking sweets, to which Ciel admits that even when imitating Ichika's style there was never any flash. All of a sudden, her younger brother flies out of Aoi's grasp and mocks her for being a prodigy who has been rendered into helplessness and believes that she has finally understood his misery. Himari is shocked to hear him insulting Ciel, but Pikario explains that he stills has some hatred toward her. To demonstrate himself, he instantly bakes waffles in front of everyone, causing Ciel to recall something. However, the perfect waffles then turn gray and their kirakiraru is nowhere to be seen. In response to this matter, Pikario admits that he is already lost in darkness, and having dirty hands, he can't return to his former self, which has been the major reason he didn't cook when he was with the girls.

Once again, Ciel beats herself up for being the mistake who has backed Pikario into a corner, labeling herself as the worst. As she shouts in depression, Noir appears in front of everyone, scaring Himari, and Akira proceeds to protect the others. Pikario recognizes the gloomy figure, who is actually Noir himself. Taking advantage of Ciel's self-loathing, Noir forces her into becoming his servant by brutally absorbing all of her kirakiraru, causing a force that is powerful enough to start dragging everyone. Desperate, Pikario and Ichika leap into the shadows, and Noir claims that his newest servant is born as he departs.

Elsewhere, Bibury still bears a grudge against the Cures and mutters that Julio is responsible for making her feel like a fool, when the dark sphere gets her attention. As the four other Cures arrive to break the sphere, Bibury becomes enraged and blasts them brutally. Realizing that she is still far too weak against the other Cures, she desperately pleads Noir to grant her more power, so he powers up Iru with her own envy and commands her to prove herself through sucking her into Iru, and she is ready to confront the remaining Cures.

Back in the sphere, Pikario picks up his rod and transforms into Julio, informing Ichika that the sphere itself represents his sister's inner darkness. As Ichika catches up with him, they both discover Ciel, who is completely surrounded by her despair and calls herself unforgivable. She continues to confirm her abandonment of her dream as a patissiere so that she can stay with Julio, revealing her utter hopeless and dim eyes. This time, Julio is concerned with his sister's situation, and tries to convince her to rethink about her choice, but she doesn't have the mind to change her stance.

Realizing his own mistake, Julio hopes to persuade Ciel by telling her how he has found that surpassing her while she is in pain is meaningless, but Ciel becomes more indecisive and wails in agony, causing the ground to crack, and the trio falls into the void. Ichika fortunately transforms into Cure Whip in time and catches Julio, who worries about his sister's whereabouts.

Meanwhile, the remaining Cures struggle in battle against Bibury, who is fused with Iru, only to be hit by her violent blows, though they still have faith in Ichika. Back in the sphere, Julio and Whip land safely. Julio tries to act cool by ordering Whip to let him go, but Whip is glad to hear him expressing his true feelings. Not faltered by her compliment, Julio still determinedly searches for Ciel, and as they explore the place, they notice a kitchen full of equipment for cooking. Julio still rejects Whip's optimism by declaring that feelings can never get through the dead sweets he makes, but Whip insists that he won't know the results unless he gives a shot, as he is the only one who can save Ciel. Julio, however, apologizes to Whip, because he thinks that Whip has a better understanding of Ciel than him, and starts painfully recalling how he used to bake some waffles for his sister to lift her spirits up before they went to Paris and respectively gained their human forms. To prove his point, Julio decides to bake another batch of waffles, though Whip is glad that he is taking a new step forward, until Ciel comes out of nowhere, reiterating how she has long given up her dream.

As Ciel's despair spreads at an alarming speed, Whip has to use her rod to create a cream barrier to buy time for Julio to complete his batch of waffles. Even though his waffles still lack their kirakiraru, Julio gives it everything he has to prevent Ciel's despair from going further by presenting the plate in front of his sister. Moved by his sincerity, she takes a bite and this time, she regains her spark of life, according to Whip, Julio's waffles are filled with his love and care for her, which is the main reason she returned to normal. Another part of his memory flashes in his mind, and he regrets his mistakes again, but Ciel is still grateful for what he has done for her. As she promises him to make more sweets to cheer people up, she begins to glow unexpectedly.

The four other girls have a huge disadvantage against Bibury, as she rampages through the town for her own amusement. Abruptly, Noir's sphere cracks at the same time. Not only do Whip and Julio exit the sphere, but Ciel also uses her kirakiraru to create a sweet, and with her friends' assistance as well as her brother's waffles, she makes a pretty pegasus parfait. Noir, however, is furious about his plan to hurt Ciel has been foiled, and shoots a sharp arrow aimed for her, but Julio takes the intended hit, which results in him becoming mortally wounded, even though he reassures Ciel to continue the process of making the dessert while falling down at a high speed. As Ciel finally completes her Pegasus Parfait, it turns into her Animal Sweet and she earns her Sweets Pact as well, providing her the opportunity to transform into her alter ego, Cure Parfait, for the first time.

After transforming, Parfait immediately flies and grabs Julio, and as she holds his hand, Julio's rod changes into a new weapon: the Rainbow Ribbon. Julio then reverts back to Pikario and smiles weakly at her, and Parfait thanks him. Bibury becomes enraged and proceeds to defend herself by spitting out countless shadow balls, only for Parfait to counter them with her Rainbow Ribbon. After a long scuffle between both of them, Parfait shoots more rainbows and even conjures a bridge for her friends. She then unleashes her final attack Un・Deux・Très Bien! Kirakuru・Rainbow! to purify Iru, leading to Bibury's defeat.

Unfortunately, by the time Bibury gets sent flying, Pikario is already weakened. After apologizing to Parfait, he fades away in the form of a kirakiraru stream and Parfait can only tearfully witness it along with the other Cures.