Party Popper woke up to a knock on Pinkie Pie's door.
She shifted uncomfortably, then precariously rose to her hooves on the wall-mounted flower bed, quietly apologizing to the lovely lilies she had flattened during her nap. She quickly climbed back into the bedroom through the window the flowers had adorned.
There was another knock. "Pinkie? Are you in there?" The voice was eerily familiar, bright like a lovely little bell lightly ringing in her funeral.
"Pi–" Popper stuttered, too low for the mare on the other side to hear her.
"You need to wake up, darling. Princess Cadence asked us to meet her in the throne room today, remember?"
"I-I'm awake!"
Party Popper grabbed the pouch of throne dust from the nightstand and put it in her pocket, then opened the door. One of her nightmares looked back at her, corners of her mouth turned upwards as though she was prepared to eat a delicious bagel. Nothing good is ever on the other side of this door, Popper decided.
Rarity's expression quickly changed to one of surprise as she took in the sight of Party Popper. Had she already caught on?
If I gallop, I can still jump back out the window before she catches me in her threads…
"Heavens, Pinkie Pie! I do apologize for saying so, but you look like you've been sleeping in a flower bed! And that hat and trenchcoat… Oh, here, let me get that," Rarity said, stepping forwards and reaching a hoof up towards the remains of a lily still hanging in Popper's cheek fur.
Popper flinched, taking several steps backwards. She clenched her jaw to hide her hyperventilation, then gave her body a good shake to get rid of the former plant matter. While the folds of the coat flapped around, the hat stayed in place.
"Are you feeling alright?" Rarity asked, fake concern all over her face.
A small thud came from the wardrobe. Rarity didn't seem to notice.
I have to get her out of here.
"Y-yeah! Doing great!" Popper lied. "Let's go, uh, do that thing you said!" She jumped, putting enough force into her leap that even with the throne dust suppressing her earth pony strength, she leapt right over Rarity and out the door. "Come on!"
Rarity looked after her, puzzled, but followed. "Right, yes, we should not keep the Princess waiting."
Right. Princess Cadence. Who had called for "us" to meet.
"Us", which probably meant the whole Council.
If I can't handle Rarity, Popper thought, how can I face Princess Twilight Sparkle?
Thank goodness for small favors. In a throne room full of terrors, the greatest was absent.
Party Popper and Rarity joined Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Popper really wanted to stand away from the rest, but Rarity led her right into the middle of the group, and she ended up with Rarity to her left, Applejack to her right, Rainbow Dash above her and Fluttershy just behind her to the right.
No escape.
In front of them stood Princess Cadence and a white, blue-maned stallion Party Popper didn't recognize, but could feel that Pinkie Pie had known. The fragments of Pinkie Pie's knowledge in the back of her mind told her the stallion was Cadence's husband.
"Hey, Pinkie," Rainbow Dash said. Popper hadn't thought she could stiffen any further. "What's with the outfit?"
"I-I-I-I—"
"Are you alright, Pinkie Pie?" Cadence asked.
"I just felt like dressing up!" Popper lied quickly. "You know, for the festival!"
"But the festival isn't until tomorrow," Rainbow Dash said.
"Now, now, there's nothing wrong with getting dressed up early," Rarity said, baring her teeth, "Though I do wish you'd come to me first. If you'd just said the word, I would have gladly helped you find an outfit more befitting the occasion. And yourself – dark purple isn't really your color."
"I know it's more your field to plow than mine, Rarity," Applejack said, "but I do like the hat. And that coat looks mighty practical."
"It looks nice," Fluttershy agreed softly.
"Uh, thank you?" Popper said. She wasn't sure how to take the compliments. Sure, they thought they were complimenting Pinkie Pie, but the hat and the trenchcoat were the only things about her appearance that she hadn't inherited from Pinkie Pie.
And then there was the matter of exactly who the compliments were coming from. They let it happen. They helped her do it. They'll do it again if they figure me out.
Rarity seemed content with letting the others have the last word on the matter for the time being. "Has anypony seen Twilight today?"
The stallion was the one to answer. "We're letting Twily sleep in today. Well, more like forcing her to. Helping to enchant the shield took a lot out of her, so I stole her alarm clock and had the guards keep the hallway quiet outside her room."
"Didn't you help just as much?" Fluttershy asked. "Shouldn't you be sleeping too?"
"Yeah, I did," the stallion said, "and then I napped away the rest of the day. But you know what my sister's like. When there's something important to help organize, good luck getting her to take a break."
"That's true…"
"How are things going with the festival preparations? Rainbow Dash?" Cadence asked.
Rainbow Dash groaned. "I'm starting to think a heart-shaped rainboom isn't even possible. But the rest of the Wonderbolts' routine is still gonna be wicked!"
"That's okay," Cadence said. "Even a regular sonic rainboom is a sight to behold."
"Duh, of course it is. I'm awesome, and there's nothing regular about it. But imagine how much cooler it would be if it matched the theme!"
"Let me guess," Rarity said, "about twenty percent?"
Rainbow Dash blinked. "What? Where'd you get that number from?"
"You know, that thing you keep saying?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Rarity?" Cadence prompted.
"The decorations are coming along nicely, though we could use more crystals, and…"
As Rarity spoke, Party Popper looked around, taking her eyes off the Council for the first time since entering the throne room. The throne room was relatively plain, but nice, with understated decorations. That made it all the easier to spot what she was looking for.
There, above the main doors, hung a shield. It had an angular shape, and was decorated with swirling stripes of light blue on pink that formed the shape of a heart in the middle. Two silvery earth pony figures flanked it in the foreground, holding smaller colorful shields as though to protect the swirling heart.
The Heartshield. It wasn't the most creative name she could think of, but it was fitting. The Bendyclutch Cabbagepatch would be a much worse name for this particular shield.
"—Pinkie Pie?"
"Where?!" Popper said, whipping her head back around to the conversation.
Cadence was looking at her. "...I asked you how your preparations were going."
"Oh! Uh, yeah, the thing I'm doing is going great! You can count on me!"
"You're actin' mighty strange today," Applejack said. No, no, no, no…
"It's Pinkie Pie, AJ," Rainbow Dash said, "she's always acting strange."
Applejack seemed to think for a moment, then visibly relaxed. "I guess you're right."
"Y-yeah!" Popper said, "Where's the FUN in acting normal all the time? Let's do this thing! …what are we doing again?"
Cadence accepted the cue to get back on track. "The festival starts tomorrow, so whatever is left to prepare needs to be done today. Really, girls, I can't thank you all enough for all the work you've already done. This festival might have been my idea, but you all are the ones who have made it great."
"Let's get to work, then!" Applejack said, and the Council of Friendship began moving out of the throne room.
Party Popper hung back at the door, breathing a sigh of relief as the rest continued without her.
She looked up at the Heartshield. Her primary objective. Deal with that and a few other things, and she could leave. What could she do to disable it?
It hung pretty high. First she'd have to get it down, then—
"Pretty, isn't it?"
Startled by the stallion's voice behind her, Popper leapt high enough into the air that she could have grabbed the Heartshield on the way down. With the main threats out of the door, she had forgotten Cadence and her husband were still in the room.
Gathering what little was left of the frayed thing Popper called her composure, she looked at the pair, who had trotted up behind her. Cadence seemed concerned, possibly about Popper's painful landing, but her husband simply continued talking.
"I guess you didn't get a good look at it before it blasted you through the roof, huh?"
"No," Popper said. She had no idea what he was talking about, but she'd play along. Blasted through the roof? That would probably kill her if she were carrying the pouch.
The stallion pointed a hoof towards the middle of the shield, with its elaborate design. "The Crystal Empire had a long tradition of artistic expression on military equipment before King Sombra came around, so the ancient armories were full of beautiful and unique shields. I thought this one was particularly suited for the job."
"Shining Armor can be such a geek about military art," Cadence added with a wink. "But I agree. It's a fitting design for a shield meant to protect all hearts."
This stallion was Shining Armor? That might be a problem.
"Right," Popper said. "Protect all hearts. Important stuff. Wouldn't want those hearts to go unprotected or anything."
Cadence shuddered. "I hate having to think about the possibility of another changeling attack."
"I know you do, honey," Shining Armor said softly, "but with a Festival of Love we have to account for it. It'll be like a pot of honey to them, with a big sign saying 'come get your free love buffet here'."
"I know. You're doing great." Cadence kissed Shining Armor on the cheek.
"Wouldn't it be a good thing for love to be free?" Popper asked. "We could share."
It was the wrong thing to say. Cadence and Shining Armor both tensed briefly at the question. Cadence managed to relax before answering, "Not like this. You saw what the changelings were like at our wedding, Pinkie. They'd take whatever love they could. They wouldn't leave any behind for the ponies they attacked."
"Most of them, at least," Shining Armor admitted. "Thorax turned out to be alright in the end. Couldn't have enchanted this thing without him." He gestured to the Heartshield.
Popper thought of Clypeus, of Labrum, of Frons and Mandible, of Ommatophore and Elytron, and even Gena. "Maybe there could be other alright changelings out there?"
"Maybe," Shining Armor said with a solemn nod. "After meeting Thorax, I'm willing to admit it's possible. But that doesn't change the fact that Chrysalis and the changelings as a whole are a threat we have to defend against."
"I guess."
"Well," Cadence said, "we've got a lot to do today. Let's get to it."
Popper had no choice but to follow along as the throne room doors closed behind her and the royals, two stoic guards by either side. As they parted ways at a hallway intersection, Popper thought about how suspicious it would look to come back to the throne room so soon.
Oh well. She had other things to do before she could risk dealing with the Heartshield anyway. If she was lucky, she might even manage to do them without having to meet Twilight Sparkle.
So of course she found her around the next corner.
Elsewhere:
"Clones? Like that time all those Pinkie Pies terrorized the town?"
"Oh yeah! I always wondered how she did that."