//------------------------------// // Chapter 26 - Hide and Seek // Story: Reflections in Black and Pink // by Krixwell //------------------------------// Welp. Party Popper had thought she’d gotten away with hiding Shining Armor and Cadence in the broom closet – her plan had worked out surprisingly well – but here she was, not even ten minutes later, hiding in the shadows from guards who seemed to be on high alert and looking for her. Why the buzz had she gotten herself involved in all of this? If they found her… she didn’t even want to think about what would happen. Even if Twilight didn’t immediately figure it out, they’d find Pinkie Pie eventually, and she’d know what Popper was. And then Twilight would… One thing was for certain, at least. She was way past the point of no return now. The best way forward had to be forward, which meant the throne room. She slipped down the hallway she was in, currently devoid of guards, and peeked around the corner of the next intersection. Right. How did she get to the throne room again, even without dodging the guards? She was really beginning to hate this castle. The best way forward has to be forward, she told herself again, and arbitrarily went straight ahead. She ducked behind a tall marble stand for a flowerpot when she heard guards passing in the hallway she’d crossed. One of them split off into the hallway she was hiding in. Don’t notice me, don’t notice me… she thought, breathing a sigh of relief as he passed by the flower stand without seeing her. In doing so, she leaned against the stand. It was less stable than it looked, and the flower pot on top wobbled and fell. She barely managed to catch it before it hit the floor on the other side. The guard continued to the next intersection and went left. Once she was sure the guards were gone on both sides, she put down the pot and continued in the same direction, but – since there was no forward – took a right instead. “Pinkie Pie attacked you?” Twilight said incredulously. “That can’t be right. Why would she do that?” “The only other possibility is a changeling,” Shining Armor said. “That shouldn’t be possible either,” Twilight said. “Not as long as the Heartshield is working, and Thorax would have alerted us if it stopped suppressing his magic.” Shining Armor nodded. “Unless it was Thorax, or he’s in on it.” “Stop it, Shiny,” Cadence said, “you know Thorax is good now. Besides, we still haven’t ruled out other forms of illusion magic.” “We ‘know’ Pinkie Pie is good too,” Shining objected. “Thorax makes more sense if that’s what you’re going by. It could have been a long con. But it still doesn’t add up right. And none of it explains why our magic isn’t working.” “Your magic—” Twilight began to ask, but she was interrupted by a guard approaching the group. “Your Highnesses! Captain!” the guard saluted, “We found Pinkie Pie.” “Lead the way,” Shining Armor told the guard. “She was hiding in her bedroom wardrobe,” the guard said as they approached Pinkie’s chambers. “Near the scene of the attack.” Sure enough, the door to Pinkie’s room was open. Inside, three more guards were surrounding an open wardrobe, where Pinkie Pie sat, ropes coiled around her hooves and a cloth around her neck. “Hiya, Twilight!” she said, waving with a hoof that wasn’t actually tied to anything. “And Shiny and Cady! About time you all found me. Who’s the next ‘it’?” “She’s not wearing the purple outfit,” Shining Armor pointed out. “Oh, you met the other me?” Pinkie Pie asked. “Well, I-she said I-she wasn’t me-me, but I-she totally am-is. I-me could tell. Anyway, I-she’m’s the one who hid me here, last night. Me-me, I-me mean.” Twilight had an awful feeling about all of this. “We need to gather everypony.” She turned to the guards. “Find my other friends and tell them to meet us in the throne room as soon as possible.” The guards hurried off to do as told. Miraculously, Party Popper found the throne room. Even more miraculously, even the guards on throne room duty seemed to have been pulled away to look for her, which ironically meant they didn’t find her when she reached the door. She creaked one of the double doors ajar and peeked inside. Nopony. It was nice to be lucky for once. She slipped in, and took stock of her escape paths. There was the door she’d just come through, leading right back into the maze. To the left, there was a balcony. Behind the thrones, a doorway seemed to lead to a spiral staircase going up. And… that was it. She turned around to look at her quarry. The Heartshield still hung above the doors, too high up for her to reach, especially while carrying the pouch. Fortunately she had thought about something in advance, for once in her life. She set the pouch down on the floor just far enough away, then pulled a stepladder out of her mane. She unfolded it and set it up in front of the doors, then climbed up. The moment she grabbed the Heartshield with her forehooves, the doors crashed open with a force that easily knocked the stepladder over. Popper was left dangling from the Heartshield. “Pinkie?” Rainbow Dash said, taking in the scene. “What are you doing? Do you know why Twilight called us here?” So much for luck. “N-nope!” Popper said. She had to act fast, before Twilight arrived. Fortunately, she was still out of range for the pouch, so she let go of the Heartshield and bounced off the floor, grabbing it again on her way back up, loosening it from its hooks. “Pinkie…?” Rainbow Dash said again. “What are you up to with the anti-changeling doodad?” Popper picked up the pouch and began to move towards the balcony. The doors opened again. Applejack. Rarity. Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie. Twilight Sparkle. Elsewhere: "I think Twilight Sparkle figured it out? Maybe you should ask at the castle. Twilight's out of town, I think, but maybe that mare she left in charge there knows.”