//------------------------------// // Chapter 23 - Anteater // Story: Reflections in Black and Pink // by Krixwell //------------------------------// Her Royal Alicornous Highness, Princess Twilight Elizabeth Sparkle of Friendship and the Fourth Equestrian Throne, Element Bearer of Magic, Protector of Harmony and Pentuple Savior of Equestria, or just Twilight to anypony who knew how she felt about her extended titles, was royally peeved. Somepony had stolen her alarm clock and instructed her guards to let her sleep, and that somepony was about to get an earful about interfering with his sister’s carefully planned schedule and making her miss the morning meeting Cadence had asked for. Normally, at least Spike would have made sure she woke up on time, or failing that, helped her reschedule everything. But Spike, unaware that Shining Armor and Cadence would bring Thorax, had decided to stay behind in Ponyville and help Starlight with her research. Brothers, Twilight grumbled. In her irritation, she didn't pay enough attention to where she was going. She reached a corner just as Pinkie Pie came around it, and Twilight crashed right into her side. The two of them both ended up sprawled on the floor of the intersection. "Aaah!" Pinkie screamed, getting up as though ready to bolt down the hallway. Her long trenchcoat, a few shades darker purple than Twilight's fur, could barely keep up with the motion. Miraculously, the matching hat had stayed firmly on Pinkie's head through the collision. "Pinkie! Relax, it's just me!" Twilight reassured as she herself stood up. "Sorry for running into you like that." "R-right. Twilight. It's just you," Pinkie said with a grin that bared a lot of teeth. She still seemed to be hyperventilating. Since when did colliding with somepony spook Pinkie Pie so badly? She could understand this reaction from Fluttershy, but Pinkie? "Are you okay?" Twilight asked, sibling annoyance fading from her mind. "You seem really nervous today." "Nervous? Me? Why would I be nervous?" The words spilled out of Pinkie's mouth like a waterfall. "Th-the only kind of nervous I am is nervouscited! You know, for the Festival and all that! Yeah!" "Ohh," Twilight said. "That makes sense. I'm pretty nervouscited about it myself. It's going to be great! If this works out, maybe one day we can have a festival like this for friendship too? I'd love to organize that." Pinkie Pie didn't say anything. She was still hyperventilating through the same wide grin. "Here, let me show you something." Twilight put a hoof to her chest and drew a deep breath, just the way Cadence had taught her, then let her hoof guide her breath out into the world. "Try it." Pinkie Pie mimicked the hoof placement and drew a breath. A very deep breath. She continued drawing the same breath until her eyes grew wide. "Now out!" Twilight reminded her. Pinkie let the breath out all at once and started coughing. "We'll… work on your technique," Twilight said. "Did it help?" Pinkie was coughing too much to answer, but at least she'd stopped hyperventilating. When the coughing finally died down, Twilight could swear she heard her friend mumble something, but she could only make out a few words. "...dust can't save…" "What did you say?" Pinkie stiffened again. "Nothing! Gotta go! See you later!" Then she galloped off down the hallway, not looking back. "Pinkie, wait!" Twilight said. "Do you…" Too late. The pink blur turned another corner and was gone. "...know where Shining is…" Twilight often thought she knew how strange Pinkie could be, but Pinkie always kept her on the tip of her hooves. Oh well. She'd still find her brother, and when she did, he'd get a piece of her mind. A few minutes later and about one metric Canterlot Castle away, Party Popper sat in a garden full of statues, reeling from her near death experience. Twilight Sparkle. Her Royal Murderous Highness, Princess Twilight Elizabeth Sparkle of Death and Destruction and Hatred of Clones, Element Bearer of Deadly Magic, Protector of Singularity and Executioner of the Ponyville Clone Massacre. Twilight buzzing Sparkle. Heavy breaths in and out. Sweat trickled down Party Popper's brow, onto her muzzle, dripping into the grass. Around her, statues of a variety of strange creatures stood, watching her, but Popper paid them no mind. Shivering, she clung tightly to the pouch of throne dust in her hooves. She knew she should throw it to the side, get a few seconds without its power suppressing her vitality, her energy, her earth pony magic. But she couldn't. The pouch was her only lifeline. If Twilight Sparkle snuck up on her to kill her – to disintegrate her, or maybe petrify her so she could stand for centuries in the garden as a warning to others who would dare exist against the will of a princess – the pouch might save her. Might. She wished it wasn't a pouch of magical dust she was holding. She wished it could be somepony else. Clypeus, she realized. I wish it could be Clypeus. But Clypeus was half a country away, probably still cocooned by the Queen's orders. Why did she have to do that? He was just protecting me. He meant well. She thought I was Pinkie Pie. Chrysalis had seen her as a threat. Surely now that the confusion had been cleared up, she must have released Clypeus too. Popper told herself that, Cadence's words churning in her head. They'd take whatever love they could. They wouldn't leave any behind for the ponies they attacked. And she saw Clypeus, frowning as a family of innocent ponies lost their train tickets. Popper sat up straighter, gritting her teeth. Cadence didn't know anything. Of changelings, or of Twilight Sparkle. She probably didn't know how many lives her fellow "princess" had taken, how pragmatically her friends had gathered clones for the slaughter. Or maybe she knew, and didn't care. Did the other princesses have body counts too? Had Cadence herself ever gathered loveless ponies for culling? Changelings? Ponies don't kill the few changelings they catch, Labrum's voice said in her head. Was he sure about that? And Celestia? Luna? Popper looked up at one of the statues. It depicted a creature Popper didn't recognize. It looked like a cross between an oversized anteater and a giraffe. One of the pieces of knowledge she had inherited from Pinkie Pie told her that one of the villains Pinkie had faced had once been a statue in this garden, petrified by the royal sisters for a millennium. Was he alone in that fate? Popper stood, still clutching the pouch to her chest with her hoof. She took a deep breath, then let it out alongside a hoof motion that left her holding the pouch out in front of her. The princesses had to pay for what they had done, and the first step of that was helping the Queen. Even if it meant talking to Twilight Sparkle. She put the pouch back in its coat pocket and looked up at the giraffe-anteater. "They'll pay." Elsewhere: "Well, I don't know a lot about cloning, but I've been studying the science of time. Theoretically, a time traveler could—"