//------------------------------//
// Meeting the Dragon Queen 
// Story: The Dragon Princess 
// by Nineveh Orion 
//------------------------------//

Twilight watched with an amused smile as Pearl paced back and forth, casting an occasional glance skywards. "Keep this up, my Fathul Student, and you'll dig yourself all the way to Neighpon. You will be fine."

Pearl shot her a glare but stopped all the same. "I can't help it. I am so not ready for this! Can't I take a rain check? Like forever?"

Twilight giggled as she wrapped a wing around the Pegasus. "Pearl. You'll be fine. Alexstrasza would not do something like this if she did not think you were worth it." She winked. "Besides, if I have to listen to Kohaku complain he did all of this for us, and you chickened out, he has my permission to annoy you all he wants, and he will not hear a thing from me."

Pearl's eyes widened in horror as she looked around the huge clearing they were in. She knew for a fact it hadn't been here before and was large enough that even former Dragon Lord Torch could stretch out and have room to spare. She frowned as she saw a shadowy fox snickering in the treeline.

Twilight saw it as well and rolled her eyes. "And besides, I need a break from all of this me-damned paperwork! I just wish the girls were here."

Pearl gave her a look. "They didn't want to come? I know Fluttershy is still afraid of dragons. But I didn't think it was as bad as you made it out to be. I mean. She kicked one out of a mountain once. This should be easy."

Twilight shook her head. "They did in fact. But I did not think it would be wise. Rainbow is just dumb enough to try and do something. Applejack never was able to keep her in line. No matter what she did."

Pearl rolled her eyes. That was an understatement. Before she could say more, however, she saw a distant dragon-shaped speck. "I think I see her. At least she's on time."

Twilight turned to look as well. She too could just make out a distant shape rapidly growing in size. It soon began to dwarf everything around it, and even Torch seemed small in comparison as a colossal red dragon was revealed at last. She circled the clearing a few times, before descending.

Pearl gulped as Twilight tightened her grip. So much for running for the hills now, but her nerves soon gave way to another feeling. "I never imagined she was so big," she whispered in awe. "She's so beautiful."

Twilight nodded. "Neither did I. And I have seen many wonderful things in my life. But nothing such as this."

Alexstrasza seemed to hear them, for she smiled as she landed before them and brought her head down to their level. "Flattery will get you nowhere, Princess Twilight. But thank you all the same."

Pearl giggled as Twilight blushed, before backing up as the Aspect turned her gaze on her. The blazing light soon faded from her eyes as she smiled. In those eyes, she saw boundless compassion and love for all life, welded to intellect and wisdom that beggared belief. She had never felt so small before. A feeling shared as well.

Alexstrasza chuckled. "Do not worry. Many have the same reaction when we first met. And I see why Kohaku likes you. You are nearly her."

Pearl rolled her eyes. Not this again, as again she saw her mentor tense up at something she still refused to explain. "I get that a lot. And I will tell you what I told him. I do not care what I look like. I am not her. Some days I wonder why I stick around him as it is."

Twilight gulped as the queen turned her gaze on her. "You still have not told her?"

The alicorn shook her head. "It is not my place. And what could I say that Kohaku can't say better? Every time I go to his home, though, it feels like I have done it before. Long before we first met in fact."

Alex smiled. "Oh, my sweet child. There is more to the both of you than either of you know. A bond that goes back much further than either of you know, and deeper than mere teacher and student."

Pearl and Twilight shared a confused look. What did she mean by that? Yes, they loved each other more than the usual student-teacher bond. But that was it. Twilight loved the filly almost as if she was her own daughter.

And Pearl? Well, she did have a major crush on the princess. But so what? Who didn't at her age? In her heart, Pearl knew that, no matter what some of her fantasies said otherwise, it would never work out between them. Not only was the age gap enormous. But the Pegasus hated the idea of leaving Twilight a widow for all time. It wasn't fair at all to her.

Alex's smile grew as she saw the glimmer in Pearl's eyes. One that Princess Twilight did not seem to see. "But that will come in time. I have waited a long time to meet you, Pearl Rose."

Pearl blinked, taken aback by this. "But why? You don't know me. I'm nothing to you. Just another Pegasus in a country filled with them. What makes me so special?"

Alex's smile softened as she looked at the filly's flank. "Your cutie mark says otherwise."

Pearl looked at it in confusion. "What about it? I still don't even know for sure what I did to get it. I've always loved dragons. Will to the day I die probably. I was hoping I could meet Spike. But good luck getting that lazy drake up now."

Twilight giggled, knowing the feeling all too well herself. Pearl's gaze turned distant as she looked at clouds above them with a somewhat dreamy expression on her face. "I've wanted to the worlds' foremost Dragon Scholar for as long as I can remember. Hell. Meeting you is a dream come true. I've wanted to meet you and Ysera for so long."

Alexstrasza chuckled. "A noble goal indeed. My sister might be harder to meet since she rarely comes out of the Dream, but she too knows your love and fascination for our kind. I only wish you could have met the others."

Pearl scratched her chin, and even Twilight looked confused. "What do you mean? There are only two of you. There always have been," Twilight finally said.

Alexstrasza sighed as she looked towards the north. "I'm sure you know the story, Princess Twilight. How my sister and I became as we are today?"

Twilight frowned. "The two of you stood against Galakrond, a nightmarish, mutated and diseased dragon that did unspeakable things to the dead. Necromancy is forbidden on pain of death because of the Not-Living he created. Even more so than what Grogar created."

Pearl nodded. She saw a haunted look in the Life-Binder's eyes however. "You're saying that's not what happened?"

Alex shook her head. "No. That is indeed what happened. But it is not the full story. There were five of us who fought the abomination. Myself, my sister, and three others. Neltharion the black, Malygos the blue, and Nozdormu the bronze. They fell so that we might have any chance of bringing him down. They succeeded in weakening Galakrond enough for the two of us to destroy him utterly. But it cost them everything to do so."

Pearl's ears fell in despair, as she felt Twilight wrap a wing around her. "That's not fair. I would have loved to meet them. If they were anything like you."

The queen smiled slightly. "In their own separate ways, they were. Only my sister and I know where they are buried. Not even Kohaku, and he is one of the few who can access the Emerald Dream. Ysera considers him her equal, though I do not see it myself." She looked at Pearl strangly once more. "When his friend died, his grief caused untold damage to the Dream. The one you called Nightmare Moon was a product of this. My sister has been trying to repair the damage done for millennia."

Twilight's ears fell in horror. She wondered if Luna knew about this. From the corner of her eye, she saw a large fox in the shadows bow his head in remorse at what he had done. Grief stricken or not. "But what does this have to do with Pearl?" She asked.

Alexstrasa smirked, before she began to glow and shrink down in size. In a moment, she had shrunk down to the same size as Princess Twilight. When the light faded, the dragoness had been transformed into a pony dragon hybrid. Her twin horns still swooped back from her head, and the many rings and other accutraments she normally wore now were refited for a pony size. "Much, Princess Twilight. I want to give young Pearl something."

Pearl blinked in surprise. "Give me what? And I didn't know you could do that?"

Alex giggled. "Only my sister and I can do this. And this is something that I should have done long ago. A gift I never gave to a pony who truly deserved it. Not again. And it will finally shut that big headed fox up."

An annoyed snort came from the treeline, earning an amused giggle-snort from Pearl, and even Twilight could not keep a straight face at this. Her eyes widened as she saw the magic begin to gather at Alexstrsaza's hooves. She knew this magic, but that wasn't possible. Was it?

Pearl looked at the gathering magic with some concern as a hoof was lifted over her head. "Um. This won't hurt will it? I don't want it if it's going to hurt."

Alexstrasza shook her head, her smile turning gentle. "Not at all, my child. Think of it as waking from a wonderful dream, refreshed and ready to face the world."

Before Pearl could ask what she meant by that, Alexstrasza touched her hoof to Pearl's forehead. At once, a rush of power and magic flowed into the filly. her eyes glowing with the power flowing into her. It became so bright that Twilight had to shield her eyes from the glow around her student.

A moment later, the flow of power ended, and Pearl wobbled on her hooves, her eyes spinning wildly. "Ow. I'm going to pulverise the idiot who just ran me over," she grumbled, rubbbing her forehead, before making contact with something hard and pointed above her eyes. It felt like a horn. No way.

Looking up, Pearl felt her mouth drop in shock at what she saw. She did have a horn now. Long and spiralled just like Princess Twilight's own. Her height had increased as well, and she felt the incredible amount of magic that now coursed through her.

Alexstrasza nodded proudly as she stood back. "I name you Pearl Rose, Dragon Princess of Equus. I give to you the Dragon Soul. Use it well."

Twilight felt her eyes begin twitching uncontrollably. She could feel that this was real, and not a trick. Great. Just great. Not like she had enough to worry about already.

Pearl took a moment to admire her new horn, before grinning widely. "Oh, man. Mom and dad are gonna freak when they see this!"