As Kirouac and Book continued to talk, Pearl turned back to the Throne Room doors. She was not looking forward to this. There could only be one reason Twilight wanted to see her like this. Her actions last night.
As much as she had a better understanding of Kohaku now, a part of her was still pleased she had done as much as she had to him. He was still an annoying twerp at best. But she would try to put up with him from now on.
What worried her the most though, was what her nearly killing him and others meant for her. And she had been meaning to kill them. In the most gruesome ways, she could imagine. And with five heads, that was saying something. Given more time, she might have even been able to figure out her breath weapons.
At this point, banishment or dungeon time was what Pearl could look forward to. She was finished as Twilight's Personal Student. The thought made her sniff. No matter that they butted heads on some things, she had loved every second of her time with the princess.
The Black head of her costume slipped down her shoulder, almost rubbing reassuringly up against her neck. Pearl looked at it. "What happened last night? What did you do?" She whispered to it, hoping that whatever had given it life was still there. No luck though.
Pearl sighed as she raised a hoof. That was one thing she hoped the princess could answer, she thought, as she knocked on the door.
"Come in," came Twilight's voice from beyond, a sound that had always brought joy to the filly's heart. But now, it only brought dread as to what was to come. Pushing down the thought, Pearl pushed the door open and entered.
The Throne Room was always a sight that took Pearl's breath away with its grandeur and beauty, and the Cutie Map always seemed to be more impressive every time she came here.
Twilight sat on her throne, a worried look on her face. But she smiled as she saw Pearl come in. "Pearl. Just the pony I was looking for. Come in. Take a seat."
Pearl did as she was told, taking a seat on Fluttershy's throne. Twilight was quick to take the costume off her back and drape it over the map. Her brows rose in surprise at the note on the Black head, but didn't comment on it.
Pearl sighed as she looked at her teacher. "You wanted to see me, princess?"
Twilight frowned. "Pearl. You know you don't have to call me that. I'm your friend, and I won't have any student of mine call me princess."
Pearl looked down as her ears fell. "I'm not your student. Not after what I did last night. I don't deserve to be."
Twilight's frown grew. "Book and Kirouac told me about what happened last night. I know about the crystal, and what it made you all fight. I know you fought off Kohaku's inner demon."
Pearl nodded. She couldn't argue with that. And she was rather proud of herself for doing that, if for nothing else. "Does his mom know why he looks like he does this morning?"
Twilight shook her head. "No, Buttercup doesn't. And neither do I for that matter. Book and Kirouac were rather silent about what happened before the crystal was destroyed. Though they both clearly know what happened." Her expression darkened. "Do you know why, Pearl?"
Pearl smiled a little at that. At least those two hadn't already explained this whole mess. "Yeah, I know why. Kohaku pulled one of his stupid pranks on me." She shook her head. "That damn crystal turned us into the weaker forms of our costumes. Unfortunately for the others, Tiamat even on a bad day is still strong enough to kill all of them."
Twilight's ears fell. She hoped she was wrong though. "You mean?"
Pearl nodded. "I'm the one who almost broke Kohaku in half. But I wanted to play with him before I killed him. So I let him off easy. Then Book showed up and distracted me long enough so that he could escape. I was beyond peeved at that point. And then these ghosts just showed up, and they all ran for it. All but Kirouac. He talked me down. Asked me if I wanted to be no better than the worst Equestria has ever faced."
She sniffed. "And it worked. I was still angry. But I didn't want to kill Kohaku anymore. I was the one who destroyed the crystal, with a little help from Naruto of course. You know what happened from there."
Twilight nodded. "What about when the two of you escaped from the cemetery? The others lost sight of you after you two escaped."
Pearl chuckled. "Me and fox-boy had a little chat about why he's such a pain in the flank to me. I doubt we'll ever be best friends. But now I know him better than I did. And I also know what happened to his family, and why he views dragons as he does."
Twilight nodded. Her heart sank when she saw the tears in Pearl's eyes. "Pearl. What's wrong?"
Pearl let her tears flow now. "Do you know what the worst part of last was? I actually enjoyed doing what I did. Almost breaking Kohaku in half, almost killing Book, Flash, and Light. And I had every intention of slaughtering them and anyone else I could find. I wasn't going to stop. Maybe I would have gone back to normal once outside the cemetery. Or maybe by that point I would be too far gone and just continued. I didn't care! I was going to ill everyone I could find, and I was going to enjoy every second of it!"
Pearl sniffed. "I don't deserve to be your student after that. That feeling? It's still there. Just talking about it is getting me hot under the collar. So go ahead. Throw in me in the dungeons. Banish me from Equestria. Or throw me in a dungeon in the place you banish me to. I deserve it."
Twilight's ears fell even further as she watched her young friend cry her eyes out. The sight broke her heart.
Pearl hiccuped and looked up in surprise as Twilight wrapped a wing around her. The alicorn's loving smile helped ease her fears a little. "No, Pearl. I'm not going to banish you. Or throw you in the dungeons. Or throw you in a dungeon in the place I banish you to. Starlight once said the same thing to me, but I didn't."
Pearl rolled her eyes. "Starlight got off easy and you know it. Those timelines were erased from existence every time you guys went back to the Sonic Rainboom. There was nopony to remember them. This? Everyone is going to remember it. I doubt they'll blab about it to everyone they know. But still."
Twilight stroked the filly's mane. "Pearl, let me ask you this. Do you regret what you did last night?"
Pearl nodded earnestly. "Of course I regret doing all of that now! But that doesn't change the fact that I did it and took pleasure in it." She chuckled. "Though it was awesome to be Tiamat. Even if it was just for a little while."
Twilight giggled. "I bet it was. But you know what you have to do now, right?"
Pearl sighed. "I need to go apologize to the others. I already did it with Kohaku. I think Kirouac got it last night, but I'll do it anyway. Who knows with Book. Maybe if he got that stick shoved up his flank removed..."
Twilight giggled more than she should have at that, but she couldn't help it. "I can point you to where Flash and Light Heart is. And then you need to see Buttercup. She was asking for you earlier."
Pearl gulped. She'd almost forgotten about that little bit. Oh, sweet Celestia, she was not looking forward to that. But it was the right thing to do. "Am I still your student, then?"
Twilight's smile softened as she pulled the Pegasus closer into a hug. "Pearl. You will always be my student. That bond will never go away. It'll take a lot more than this to break it."
Pearl let out an audible sigh of relief, as she leaned into the hug. "Thanks, Twilight."
Twilight chuckled. "Any time. My Faithful Student."
They sat there for a while like that. It did a lot to help Pearl's nerves to know she was off the hook. No matter how much she was still beating herself up over it. She finally broke the silence, however. "So, um. Was this all you wanted to see me about?"
Twilight blinked, as she finally remembered the other reason she had asked Pearl to the castle on a Saturday. "Not quite, Pearl." Igniting her horn, she floated the second letter from Princess Celestia over to the pair. "I received this from Princess Celestia a little while ago. It's about you, and last night."
Pearl blinked in surprise. "Does she know about what happened?"
Twilight shook her head. "Not all of it. But I feel she and Princess Luna will know soon enough." She sighed. "But that's not the point. Someone wants to see you. They seem to have taken an interest in you. Especially after last night."
Pearl was still. "Who would want to see me?"
Twilight paused to collect herself as if she couldn't believe what she was about to say. "Tiamat."
For a moment, Pearl didn't say anything, waiting for the punch line. But it never came. In fact, Twilight still looked shocked at the news herself. Pearl finally found her voice. "Wait. Tiamat? The Dragon Queen? The Chromatic Dragon? Wants to see me? Why?"
Twilight rubbed her snout irritably. "I don't know. Princess Celestia herself doesn't know why either. But this is out of our hooves now. Tiamat isn't known for her love of ponies. She hates us in fact. But she and the princesses get along rather well, almost friends in fact. But even they fear her. Above and beyond anyone else. Even Discord."
That sent Pearl reeling. She had never expected to hear that about the princesses. Something though nagged at the back of her mind. Looking at her costume, she remembered something. Something almost lost amidst everything else that had happened. "Last night. When I faced Kohaku's shadow. There was someone else there with me. I had no control over my other heads. They talked to me. But it wasn't me talking to myself."
Twilight looked down at the costume. It was nothing but fabric and cloth now. But there was also the faint whiff of very powerful magic to it as well. Magic that nopony had cast on it either. She also noticed the note stuck to the Red head. Carefully removing it, so as not to tear the costume, she read what was there. Or tried to anyway.
Pearl saw the look, and her heart dropped. "That was there when I woke up this morning. It wasn't there last night, and mom and dad didn't put it there either."
Twilight nodded, as she turned the note around. "This is the Iokharic Script, the ancient language of dragons. Only the oldest dragons even know about the language. It's also the basis for all magic as well. Only the Supernal Script and the Barazhad Script are older than this."
Pearl groaned. This kind of thing always made her brain hurt. She was trying to understand it, she really was, and Twilight was the greatest teacher she could ever ask for. But a lot of this went over her head, no matter how much she studied. "So who wrote it then? Spike didn't, you didn't, and mom and dad didn't."
Twilight shook her head. "I don't know. This is just another question I don't have an answer to." She looked at Pearl earnestly. "Princess Celestia is sending someone to get you. They'll take you halfway. Tiamat is sending someone to take you the rest of the way to meet her. We leave in one week."
Pearl just barely stopped herself from doing a happy dance right then and there. This was a dream come true for her. Seriously. How many ponies could say that they had met the Chromatic Dragon face to face? She stopped as she caught all of Twilight's statement. "What do you mean, 'We'?"
Twilight sat straighter in her throne. "I'm going with you, Pearl. You are my student, and I will not let you go alone into who knows where just to meet some dragon. No matter who she is."
Pearl sighed in exasperation. "Twilight. Do you really think that's a good idea? I might get off because I was invited. But I doubt Tiamat will be happy to see you too."
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Well, that's too bad for her, now isn't it? If Tiamat doesn't like it, she can come to tell me that herself, and that's final."
Pearl giggled. She knew better than to argue with her teacher when she was like this. "Fine. But don't blame me if you get eaten five different ways."
Twilight chuckled. "Duly noted, Pearl. Remember though. One week. And then we set off."