//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: Tears for the Pearl // by The Lord Thunder //------------------------------// A loud rattling, almost an explosion woke Twilight Sparkle from her slumber. Throwing off the covers, she scrambled to her hooves and ran out into the hall to check on the noise. “Starlight?” Twilight asked as her worried eyes scanned the dark hallway. “Is that you?” No answer but more rattling. “Pearl? Spike? Are you guys playing some kind of joke on me?” A door by Twilight’s side opened. Starlight emerged, rubbing her eyes. “What’s going on, Twilight? What was that big noise?” “There’s something in here!” Twilight answered, darting her eyes about in search of the intruder. A shadowy figure swooped high above them, near the ceiling, then vanished back into the darkness. Whatever it was, it carried a malevolent aura that sent a tingle down Twilight’s spine and made her fur stand on end. “Did you feel that, Starlight?” Twilight whispered, her heartbeat starting to quicken. The two unicorns took up a low, defensive stance. “Yeah. Whatever it is, it’s powerful. I sensed it for a moment, but now...” They wasted no more words, charging light spells into their horns to penetrate the ceiling’s shadows. Twilight gasped. Up in the corner, hovering with batlike wings was a creature that resembled a pony, but had a red aura of power surrounding it and two horns jutting out of its forehead. “Up there!” Starlight turned in Twilight’s direction just in time to crouch as the creature dove in an attempt to ram into them. “What is that thing?!” Starlight yelled, snapping around to face it. The apparition held a hoof towards them, conjuring a ball of fire that lit the darkness around it with a warm red glow. “Look out!” Twilight shouted. The two unicorns scattered as the creature hurled the fireball towards them, exploding with a thunderous bang when it hit the ground. Another door opened. “W-what’s going?” Spike’s voice yelled. “Spike, stay in your room!” Twilight shouted. Spike must have seen the attacker, for he yelped in alarm and slammed his door shut. “Alright, you want some of this?” Starlight asked, charging a spell in her horn. “Come and get it!” The creature hissed and dove but Starlight blasted it with a magic beam before it could reach her. It jarred and snarled, seemingly more irritated than hurt, but before it could make its next move Twilight shot the creature with a blast of her own. With an enraged shriek, the thing turned its attention to Twilight while Starlight prepared another spell. Then she saw the pearl necklace the creature wore, put the pieces together and gasped. “No! Twilight, we can’t. It’s Pearl!” “I know,” Twilight said, fending off the creature’s blast. The creature swooped low and fast, but Starlight didn’t attack. She gasped in alarm as it butted Twilight square in the jaw with its horns, knocking her off her hooves, then climbed again and hissed as it summoned another fireball, aiming right for Twilight. Twilight blasted the attacker with a magic bolt before it could finish. A quick glance to her side made Twilight realize Starlight’s horn wasn’t even glowing. “Starlight, we have to! For Pearl’s sake as well as ours. You know she’d want us to!” Twilight gritted her teeth, letting out a low growl. She applied more focus, firing a continuous beam of magic energy. The creature took the full force of the attack, its face shifting from pain to anger. Twilight felt her heart quicken and put even more energy into her spell. The creature bore with it and raised its hoof for another fireball. Twilight gasped and switched from offense to defense, raising a barrier to protect herself. An ear-shattering boom filled Twilight’s head when the fireball struck her shield. The concussion of the blast was enough to break Twilight’s concentration, forcing her to drop her barrier. “Starlight!” Twilight moaned, holding a hoof to her pounding head. “I could use a hoof over here!” Nervous mumbling came from Starlight, whose horn still wasn’t glowing. “No,” she said, slowly backing away from the creature. "She's my friend." Still stunned from the last attack, Twilight fought for the strength to cast another spell. The creature was closing in on Starlight, but the unicorn stood her ground. A confused expression spread across the creature’s face, eyes quivering. It stared at Starlight for a moment as if debating what to do, then offered a final hiss before it streaked out one of the castle’s stained glass windows, shattering it into a thousand colorful pieces. “How did this happen?” Twilight asked, staring out the broken window. Her ears still rang from the concussion of the fireball. “Did she remove the ring?” “She had it on when I finally went to bed,” Starlight said. “Let’s check her room.” Twilight and Starlight ran to Pearl’s bedroom, examining it closer. Broken shards of metal and shattered amethyst decorated the pillow. “The ring broke?!” Starlight shouted. “She must have overloaded it,” Twilight guessed. “There’s no other explanation.” Starlight’s eyes darted. “But-but we combined our power to enchant that ring. It would have taken something stronger than our combined magic to break it!” “We don’t have time for this! Come on, Starlight. We’ve got to stop her.” Together they charged out the castle’s main entrance, looking about the night sky for any signs of the winged creature. Using the cover of darkness, it could be anywhere. “Where’d she go?” Starlight wondered out loud. “Shhh! Let’s listen. I have a feeling.” It was silent for what seemed like eons, then came the echoing rumble of a distant explosion. “There! Did you hear that?” “Yep. It came from over there.” Starlight pointed in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. “Applejack’s in danger!” Twilight yelled. She vanished with a teleportation spell and reappeared in the middle of the apple farm. Starlight flashed into existence next to her. “Twilight! Thank Celestia!” Applejack said, galloping up to them. “The Destroyer, it’s here! I told y’all it was real!” “It’s Pearl!” Starlight shouted. “I know that!” Applejack yelled back, “It was in that letter you sent me. But how do we stop her?” She watched the Destroyer summon a fireball and aim it right for her barn. “No, not that!” The Destroyer launched the fireball at the building. It exploded into charred, flying splinters with a deafening bang. Starlight sent a warning shot near the creature. “That’s enough! Pearl, you have to fight it!” The Destroyer swooped down at Starlight, but she was ready to snare it with a net spell. It smashed through the net with a fireball and rammed Starlight, knocking her onto her back. Before Starlight could get up, the creature pinned her down with a forehoof, summoning another fireball into its free hoof. Starlight’s horn glittered as she prepared a spell of her own. There was a time in her life when she wouldn’t have hesitated, but as she gazed up at the transformed Pearl, it was as if an invisible force had held her offense in. “Pearl, I know it’s you!” Pearl hissed and Starlight felt her face warming in the heat of the growing fireball. “It’s me, Starlight! I’m your friend, remember?” Starlight grimaced, tears now flowing down her cheeks at the thought of her own spell tearing into her friend. “I don’t want to hurt you, Pearl. Please!” “F-friend?” the apparition muttered in a low, otherworldly drawl. “Friend.” The vicious sneer melted into a mouth-cracked-open look of a pony who had no idea where she was or what she was doing. Pearl’s fireball vanished; her red, quivering eyes flashed to indigo, back to red, and to indigo again; the aura of power around her faded as the batlike wings retreated within her, and her two curved horns fused to reform her single unicorn horn. It was enough of a distraction for Starlight to ease her way out from under Pearl, not taking her eyes off her. But what had caused such a transformation? With no warning, Pearl lunged forward and wrapped Starlight in a tight hug, burying her face into her shoulder. Starlight returned the hug with one of her own. She could feel Pearl shivering with uncontrollable sobs. Pearl paused just long enough to draw in a sharp gasp and continued sobbing. “I’m so sorry!” she cried. Starlight rubbed Pearl’s back as she tried to think of an appropriate response. What she’d just seen, however, had stolen all the words away from her. “So sorry,” Pearl repeated, finally seeming to calm down into coherence. “I know,” Starlight whispered. Pearl had grabbed her so tight she could hardly breathe, but Starlight would allow Pearl to cry on her shoulder for as long as she needed. “It’s okay.” “Starlight,” Pearl sniffed, “It’s not okay. I’m a monster!” Pearl let Starlight go and scowled at the ground, unable to look Starlight in the eyes. “Maybe Dad should have left me where he found me.” “No!” Starlight yelled. “Don’t talk like that. You’re not a monster and I’m giving you my word; we are going to find out what’s causing this and put an end to it, so you don't have to suffer anymore.” “Don’t bother,” Pearl answered. “If I were you, I’d run away as fast as I could.” “No way. Twilight never gave up on me, not even when I was at my worst. I’m not going to give up on you.” By now half of Ponyville, including Twilight’s friends, had arrived at Sweet Apple Acres to check on the commotion. Pearl flattened her ears at the sight of them, hanging her head in shameful guilt. “So it’s true,” Applejack said. “You really are the Destroyer.” “No!” Pearl yelled, then quickly covered her face with her hooves. “I mean yes, I am, but not on purpose! I don’t know why it happens, but it does, and I-I can’t take this anymore! “I know.” Applejack gave Pearl a hug. “I’m sorry, sugarcube. I didn’t mean to sound accusin’ or nothin’ like that. We need to find out what the hay is up with you, and pronto. And not just for everypony else’s sakes, but yours, too.” “How?” Pearl asked. “I’ve tried to find the answers for so long.” The murmuring of the crowd caught Pearl’s attention. She looked to them, taking in a few angry glares and judging sneers. “She’s too dangerous!” one mare yelled, pointing a hoof at Pearl. “We can’t have her in Ponyville!” “Yeah!” came a stallion’s voice, “I say we banish her from the village before she destroys anything else.” “What do you think, mayor?” another pony asked. Mayor Mare stepped forward and eyed Pearl for a moment. Then she sighed. “I am terribly sorry, but as mayor, my first priority is the safety of my village. Therefore, I have no choice but-” “Enough!” Twilight Sparkle interrupted. “Now stop it, all of you. It wasn’t Pearl’s fault.” Irritation crossed the mayor’s face. “You object to my decision? Might I remind you that I am the mayor of this village?” “And I am the Princess of Friendship,” Twilight retorted, “and I say she stays.” Pearl looked up and realized her new friends, even Spike, had stepped up to the crowd in her defense. “No, they’re right. I told you from the start I shouldn’t have stuck around.” “Well, I don’t regret it,” Twilight said. “Me neither,” Applejack agreed, “and it was my farm she tried to destroy.” “Can’t you all see how frightened she is?” Rarity asked. “You all leave her alone this instant.” Starlight stepped closer to the crowd, charging a warning glow in her horn. “Unless you want to deal with me.” “And me,” Rainbow Dash added, crossing her forelegs against her chest in midair. “You should all be ashamed of yourselves,” Fluttershy declared. “Imagine if you were in her shoes, how would you feel?” Her moment of boldness didn’t last long; at their responding gazes, she folded her ears and drooped back behind her wall of friends. The crowd murmured again, none of them apparently wishing to act against a princess of Equestria. One by one, they left the farm until only Twilight and her friends remained. “Don’t listen to them, darling,” Rarity said, putting a comforting hoof on Pearl’s shoulder. Pearl hung her head again. “What’s wrong with me?” “I don’t know,” Twilight said, “but one way or the other, we’re going to find out.” “But how?” Pearl shrugged. Twilight rubbed her chin in thought, then her eyes seemed to light up at the formation of an idea. “Pearl, I was hoping to avoid this, but think we should take you to see Princess Luna. We need to find out what’s going on inside you while you’re asleep, and she’s the only one who can do it.” “You want to take me to Canterlot?” Pearl frowned. “After what just happened? Forget about it. I won’t put all those ponies in danger.” “I have a better idea. Spike, take a letter. We’ll have her meet us in the Everfree Forest, at the Castle of the Two Sisters.”