The road to Ponyville was a quick and smooth walk, Trixie reached the building without meeting any of the local guardians on her way. Still, she had a shiver as she entered the bookshop. Breaking and entering was something new to her, but at the same time she was just retrieving something that didn't belong to Twilight. She noticed the display case in which the elements of harmony were resting, and rather than going straight up, she went to take a closer look. Five of the six elements were there: Rainbow Dash's necklace was missing. For a moment, she wondered if she should not act on her own initiative in order to prevent the elements from being used. But on second thought, the instructions were concise, and at no time was she ordered to do such a thing. She immediately turned back and walked down the stairs. Once in the laboratory, she followed the instructions, and found the bag without the slightest trouble. She was prepared for the smell of blood, but the bloody wick of mane made her retch. Keeping the hoof over her mouth so as not to vomit, she concentrated the best she could on retrieving the hair clip.

All of a sudden, the noise of the front door opened with a bang, a pony entered the bookshop, galloping from one end of the ground floor room to the other.

Trixie's heart was pounding, she wasn't expecting it, she was staring at the doorknob of the door she had entered by, trying to find an excuse for her presence here.

But the pony left just as she had come, the sound of the gallop returned to the door, which closed with just as much noise.

An adrenaline rush ran through Trixie, her breath was quick, the muscles in her legs were boiling. Relieved to know that the threat had been averted, she finished what she had started and took the barrette out of the bag. The smell of dried blood came to her nostrils, forcing a grimace on her face. She opened the packet and looked at it. There was a bottle of water, a clean handkerchief, two phoenix feathers, and a unicorn signet ring. Trixie used her telekinesis to clean the barrette with water, rubbing it with the clean cloth before leaving the premises, taking the ornament and the signet ring with her, leaving the rest behind. On the ground floor, in too much of a hurry to leave, she did not notice that there were only four elements left in the display case.

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Pepper had tested the reaction of a few royal guards at the town hall by walking in front of them, ready to send them to Chrysalis if she had to get rid of them on the spot, but they didn't pay any attention to her, and thus she concluded that she was not actively sought after. She headed for the library, walking the most direct route. In the last third of the long street, there was a large wooden frame that went from one side of the road to the other, it was impossible not to cross it in order to move forward. A few steps past the frame, she had a strange feeling, as if she had just entered another world. For a moment she looked around her, the surroundings were strangely empty, she could hardly hear the birds singing. Suddenly, she had the kind of shiver she had never felt before during her stay in Equestria, a murderous aura against her, the human immediately took hold of her, and she could hardly believe the vision that had just appeared on her right.

Standing against the wall, Pinkie Pie had headphones in her ears, listening to on a loop. She was wearing an outfit, a white t-shirt covered by a blue hoodie, and black pants, white slippers on the hind legs. Over the left sleeve were six odd watches. Her left eye had been staring at Pepper since she had entered peripheral vision. She turned the volume down to minimum, then took the earphones out of her ears while she still walked to stand in the middle of the street facing Pepper. With a peaceful smile on her face and a pensive look on her face, she dropped the open backpack on the ground.

"What's wrong with her right eye," asked Gamine, shocked and no less frightened.

"Shut up, just shut up, this is not the time. Let me focus, she has never looked so violent before," Pepper replied. "Pinkie? What is wrong with your right eye?" she asked anyway.

Half hidden by the smooth mane, the orbit of the right eye was empty. The earth pony laughed again. "Not even a hello? Or how about asking how have I been after all this time?" She sighed. "Why Pepper? Life was peaceful while you were here, everything was going well, the preparations for your birthday were complete. What did we do wrong to deserve this?"

Pepper shook her head, a brief, barely perceptible gesture. "I do not have birthdays, I am not like you."

"Of course you do. Everycreature do." Pinkie understood then. "Wait, you don't know when you were born? I've got to say, it was a shock to me, not that it's uncommon. You were born on June 21st, Summer Sun Celebration Day."

Pepper remained sceptical. "How can you know something like that?"

She sobbed but kept smiling. "I'm Pinkie Pie, the one who plans birthday parties for all the people of Ponyville, it's my special talent to know these things. And for a while, you lived among us. Did you really think I wasn't going to plan anything special for you? Especially considering how important this day is to so many people?" She had an uncontrollable laugh, tears in her eyes. "The day Twilight became our friend, the day Nightmare Moon was banished, the day Princess Celestia celebrated every year. Why Pepper? Why did you have to be born on that day?"

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Pepper remained impassive to this detail, which was trivial to her. "I do not care about these stories. I just came to see Handsome, say goodbye, then I am leaving for good." Even though Pinkie was just an earth pony she could keep under control at any moment through telekinesis, Pepper never let her guard down.

Pinkie calmed down, a peaceful smile on her lips. "You want to see Rainbow? I can bring her over here." She took a pink and white whistling rocket out of her pocket, tied a piece of paper to it, aimed it at the sky and lit it. With a long whistle, the rocket flew away from Ponyville and disappeared into the distance. "Let's have a little fun in the meantime. At the end of this path is a frame like the one you have just passed. If you cross it, you'll be able to see Rainbow when she comes."

Pepper concentrated her magic, its crackling power around her horn.

The earth pony pulled the soda can out of a hoodie pocket and drank it all. Her one eye was focused on the unicorn with an intense gaze. "It's a nice day, don't you think? The birds are singing, the leaves are falling from the trees." She activated the timer on the watches in succession, then pressed a button on her walkman, started playing. "You dirty Princess killer. On a day like this, a human like you, should stay six feet under." At those words, she slammed her right hindleg on the floor.

In response to the seismic tremor this strike caused, a Pinata twice the size of Pinkie Pie sprang out from the gym bag. This one, made of papier-mâché, resembled Celestia's head, white eyes, mouth wide open. Pointing towards Pepper, it spat out a bluish ray of energy that crossed the street and then disappeared back into the bag.

Pepper had just enough time to dodge it. Her attention was totally absorbed by the reflection that was the source of this attack, hiding in the depths of the Pinata. The element of laughter. It was impossible for her to counter, she couldn't afford to be touched by any of the elements of harmony, not now. As constrained as she was, she turned her back on Pinkie and began to gallop.

In the space between the second and third houses on the street, a party cannon on each side exploded and covered the lane and the walls with sharp candy cane sticks.

Pepper barely had time to move back, a second too late and one of the sticks would have gone right through her throat.

"Usually the candy slips down the throat, they don't pierce through it," Gamine whispered to herself.

"Shut up," Pepper shouted as she jumped over the deadly hedge. Just a few steps away, several bundles of flour fell from nowhere around her and exploded into a huge, blinding cloud.

Pinkie Pie arrived at full gallop, a kitchen knife in her mouth, and without hesitation threw herself into the cloud of flour to slice the regicide.

However, against Pepper's instincts, such an attack did not come to an end. Pepper used her telekinesis and threw Pinkie Pie back down to the ground, hooves and neck nailed to the ground by magic, Pinkie’s head being targeted by a hoof ready to strike.

"We'd need a strong wind to get rid of that cloud," thought Gamine. And strangely enough, a gust of wind suddenly rose to sweep the flour down the street. "Did I do this?" she wondered.

"Speak again Guardian, just one more word, and I will kill Pinkie Pie before you have time to stop me," Pepper threatened.

Gamine didn't take a word like that lightly and kept her mouth shut.

Pepper and Pinkie glared at each other. The predator could have ended it right there, but a voice came from behind her. "Pepper, did you miss me?"

Pepper, still staring at Pinkie, was disturbed by the voice. Incredulous, she turned her head to see if she had a problem with her ears. Pinkie Pie stood there, a little out of breath but in great shape, next to the gym bag.

"Because the explosion won’t miss you~," Pinkie Pie chirped, grinning.

When Pepper looked back at the one she was holding at her mercy, only an adult pony mannequin was there, painted pink with a grotesque lipstick face, all filled with explosives, the wicks about to burn out. She had just enough time to open a portal under the model, leading to a place where she knew the blast would not hurt anyone, before she walked away from it with a roll to the side. A sheaf of flames burst out of the portal before Pepper had time to close it.

"You pretend you want to leave for good. You should leave now, it's not like Rainbow wants to see you, you know. You have no idea how much you've hurt us. I won't let you hurt us any more," Pinkie Pie said before invoking the pinata again with a kick.

Again, Pepper rode sideways to dodge the attack before getting up on his legs facing Pinkie: "I am not here to hurt anypony. I am just here to see my friend." She had a sudden doubt. "Is Fluttershy physically injured? When she left the cottage, she was unharmed."

"You definitely don't understand anything. It's not a physical injury we're talking about. You have trampled on the harmony of Equestria, you have stolen our joy of life, the reason for our smiles! It's like breaking a Pinkie promise!"

Pepper remained insensitive to these accusations. A quick glance at the surroundings and she noticed that despite the ruckus, the street was still empty.

Pinkie took a deep breath before she let out a slight sigh.

"Still there? Hang on, I'll give you a reason to gallop." She put her right hoof into her hoodie pocket and pulled out a pebble, threw it at the trunk of a tree to Pepper's left, knocking over another gym bag and then did the same thing with another tree to the right.

Pepper understood what was about to happen there, so she took a few steps back, then turned instantly and galloped off in a great gallop to reach the frame that the earthly had mentioned earlier as quickly as possible.

"At last," Pinkie said, with a smile of sadistic satisfaction on her lips, before hitting the pavement with a more powerful kick, making the three pinatas jump higher than before.

It was a never-ending race. Pepper fluttered between the countless attacks of all kinds that tried to bring her down every time she passed between two houses.

Pinkie's laughter resounded, candy cane sticks flew, knife attacks rained down when they weren't directly spat out by a dozen party cannons.

The unicorn dropped the magic shield once she had passed through the frame that marked out this Pinkie-only play area. As soon as she felt that same strange yet familiar sensation of having passed into another world, the people of the country town were visible again.

She was back in the town hall square.

Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy were arriving at full speed.