In Her Eyes

by Tirimsil

Happy Birthday

"Aaaaand here it is -- oh!!" Pipp cooed and then squealed. She set down her box-cutter and finished pulling the white cat-ears headset out of the pink box with white ribbons, beaming and holding it up next to her head, on which an identical pair sat. "Aw, these are so hard to find!! This pair's wearing out, it's so dope to have a spare ready!"

She looked over her chat to catch up on what they'd been talking about for the five or ten minutes she'd struggled with Schrödinger's Cat Ears Headset.

The chat room is currently in VIP-only mode.
No1Pippsqueak666 those give you the poops
NoticeMeSenpipp ew
MsBlueHair You sure run a lot of ads Pipp!
MsBlueHair @No1Pippsqueak666 Ewwww!
🪶Palestorm i ate 100 i was fine

"What?!" Pipp wrinkled her nose. "What are you guys talking about! Grody!" She blinked, glancing back at the box of candy she'd opened ten minutes earlier. "Oh, you mean the gummy bears?! Zipp you were not fine! Uuucchh!! I'm not gonna eat those!! Anyway."

🪶Palestorm i was after i pooped

Pipp delicately cleared her throat. "Sooo, I think that's the last box -- oh crud, I smacked the camera while I was messin' with the box, hang on."

She leaned forward to adjust her camera, her face getting a bit close, distorting her face and enlarging her nose like a photo-bombing cat. "How's that -- wait, no, why does this always happen, ugh. Don't mind me, professional streamer here, a princess, can't get her stupid camera straight. There!"

As she stepped back to verify her new camera angle, Pipp barely, just barely, froze for a split-second when she checked the chat again.

No1Pippsqueak666 her eye change color???
NoticeMeSenpipp eyes were yellow yesterday, green now. chroma glitch?
🪶Palestorm yea they always do that
🪶Palestorm hereyes change evry 2-3 days

She relaxed thanks to her sister's immediate deflection.

Sunny had asked her about it, too. That was a problem. Hitch was surprisingly gullible for an officer of the law, but Sunny didn't buy the whole "my eyes change color every 2~3 days" argument. In truth, eye color only changed like that with aging - from a baby to a foal, and from a young mare to a hag. It wasn't so rapid. Sunny was too smart and the only thing that stopped her from calling her out on it was that Sunny was also really polite. But she was also also a little bit particular about things like that, and Pipp would need a better excuse before Sunny pulled an Izzy on her and exposed her in public.

Or else just come clean and hope she could keep a secret...

She smiled and batted her lashes with a coy smile. "You guys are pervs, noticing a silly thing like my eyes changing color! Who does that! Anyway, that's the last box for today! Anything else before I sign off?" She yawned. "I'm a little tired."

No1Pippsqueak666 thats so cool is she part breezie
MsBlueHair But her sparkle's the same!!
🪶Palestorm wtd r u talking about
🪶Palestorm u can see that online??
MsBlueHair Happy birthday Pipp!
No1Pippsqueak666 whats spakle

Pipp had had a proper, in-person birthday party with her family already, of course; but it was her habit to open the presents on-stream.

"Whoa, you can?" Pipp balked. "Is my sparkle visible on-camera?"

NoticeMeSenpipp Happy birthday Pipp!
MsBlueHair Wait
NoticeMeSenpipp like a hippie aura?
No1Pippsqueak666 Happy birthday Pipp!
MsBlueHair No I can't never mind!
🪶Palestorm u r crazy ilu
🪶Palestorm happy birthday sis
NoticeMeSenpipp @MsBlueHair are you a unicron?

Pipp gave a little smile.

MsBlueHair Who's Ilu??

Her smile widened. "Ilu" Moonbow was a treasure. "Thanks, guys." She yawned again. "Seea-oo-maw-oow..."

---

That night, Pipp inevitably began the slow, anxious process of making sure every electronic device in her suite was off. She shuddered, giving one more glance over her shoulder before she fearfully poked her head into her restroom, scanning the room.

No cellphones or tripods in there; she was very thorough about removing them after her bath streams. She left out her breath, finally relaxing.

She removed her tiara, shaking her hair loose.

She kicked off her golden slippers and stepped into the shower with her birthday oils.

For someone who gave the outward impression of a spoiled, attention-seeking brat, she was uncharacteristically paranoid about leaving her feeds on when she didn't mean to. After all, she couldn't bear to let them see her secret. She'd already been caught with the strings attached and outed as a Twin Soul. If this got out she'd be ruined. The royal family could be exiled and shunned.

Good thing big sis always had her back. "Palestorm" could misdirect as easy as she breathed.

She left the shower and gently patted herself with her nice new phoenix down towel, wrapping the second around her head.

With the towel around herself, she walked up to the mirror and paused for a few seconds too long, her eyes closed, breathing in slowly.

She exhaled and opened her eyes.

Grey.

For she'd left her contacts at her bedside. She couldn't very well take them into the shower. The prescriptions cost a fortune. Couldn't get those as a birthday present.

Grey.

She trembled despite the warmth of the phoenix down. These were someone else's eyes. A rock farmer, a warrior from over the sea, a stormy god come to claim the kingdom as his own. Not a little pink princess.

Her wings fluttered. Those grey eyes began to water.

Mom and Zipp got teal.

They didn't belong on her small body, against her warm coat, under her purple curls.

His were grey.

She jerked her gaze away from the mirror.

Dad's were grey.

She waited there until her body and hair were dry and warm.

Then, as she'd done a thousand times before, she tossed her towels into the laundry basket, shuffled out of the restroom, and fell into bed with her cheeks still wet, her heart still cold, and someone else forever memorialized in her eyes.

Comments

[Genmaicha]

"NoticeMeSenpipp"

Great story! I'm really enjoying seeing everyone's explanations for Pipp's eye colors. I didn't expect that ending!

[Tirimsil]

11212788

I actually hadn't noticed until like a few days ago that Pipp's eyes are a different color in almost every picture of her. I saw somebody else write a fic where she's a changeling but I felt that this was a much more reasonable explanation, at least the idea that she wears contacts. The part where her eyes remind her of her father actually didn't come up at first and I suddenly had that idea at... some point or another in writing!

[Genmaicha]

11212798
That's the one I read too!

The difference in the two stories is intriguing to me - Zipp and Haven are magically coerced into love in the other one, and Zipp is knowingly protecting her sister within the stream in this one :)

They're both sad, but this fic is a little more heartwarming!

[The Mystery Fluttershy Fan]

I recorded reading this to make it into an audiobook, I hope you don't mind, I did ask first, but it's time for me to go ahead with it and hope you approve.

[Tirimsil]

11230205

Go ahead! I might not be able to find time to listen to it right now though, sorry. x(

[The Mystery Fluttershy Fan]

11232177
Just glad I have your permission, cause it already done and planned for my 1000k word week.

[Princess Starflight]

This is so heartwarming yet sad

[FanOfMostEverything]

And in time, he became a king by his own hoof. But that is a story for another day...

Having already read the "Pipp is a changeling story," this one threw me off for a bit, but that's on my end. You convey an impressive emotional impact with very few words in that ending. Honestly, the only thing that bothers me is ponies using cat-ear headphones. That's how their ears already look.

In all seriousness, nicely executed all around. Thank you for it and best of luck in the judging.

[Tirimsil]

Someone has pointed out an embarrassing typo that I could probably fix without altering the word count. However, I'm going to wait until the contest is over anyway just to be sure it doesn't screw that up. Then I'll fix it and pretend it was never there like I do with all my other typos.

[Tirimsil]

Contest finished! I didn't win anything.

I fixed that typo that I didn't make. What typo? There was a typo? Nuh uh, look for yourself, not there anymore. Was never there, actually.

[Bicyclette]

NoticeMeSenpipp ew

hehe, great name

🪶Palestorm yea they always do that
🪶Palestorm hereyes change evry 2-3 days

and that does explain why her eye color is inconsistent between shows, very nice

But she was also also a little bit particular about things like that, and Pipp would need a better excuse before Sunny pulled an Izzy on her and exposed her in public.

ah interesting, hinting that Pipp is actually older than how she presents herself as being?

"Ilu" Moonbow was a treasure. "

hehe, "Ilu"

A rock farmer, a warrior from over the sea, a stormy god come to claim the kingdom as his own. Not a little pink princess.

Dad's were grey.

oof, hints at who Pipp and Zipp's father really was? in any case, great segue into an emotionally heavy moment before the end, there is so much good angst in being pained by traits reminding one of a parent, which in this case i gather is due to some awfulness on their part

[Moproblems Moharmoney]

Misread at first and thought she was a Frankenpony

[Block]

Story title: In Her Eyes

Paul McCartney circa 1966: you see nothing, no sign of love behind the tears cried for no one, a love that should have lasted years