//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 - Confusion and Questions // Story: There but for the grace of our gods // by Valtyrian //------------------------------// Pearl leaped from the top of the circular stairwell and landed on all fours in the center of Kohaku’s main room. Quickly looking side to side she saw a partially open door and dashed through it. Eager to get out. She barely even noticed the hallway before she slid to a stop in the middle of Fluttershy’s living room. “Wha…” Pearl looked around, blinking. This was not what she was expecting. “Oh good you're up.” A country voice from behind her caught her attention. Spinning around Pearl came face to face with Applejack. “Ya know you’ve worried a lot of ponies. But I'm sure glad you're okay.” “Applejack? What are you doing… where are.. Are we in Fluttershy’s house?” “Eeyup, home sweet home.” Applejack chuckled at the question. Pearl only twitched an eyebrow. As Fluttershy came into the room. “Sweetie, could you go wake… OH Pearl you're up.” Fluttershy smiled as she walked into the living room. “That’s good, could you go wake Kohaku? Breakfast will be ready in a few moments.” “Now darlin, you know Kohaku’s probably out cold with a big ol grin on his face.” Applejack came up to Fluttershy and lovingly leaned in and pressed her forehead up against the shy pegasus’s. “I’m sure he’ll be down soon enough. But Pearl here has been unconscious for weeks now. And I bet she’s starving.” “OH my, you're right. I almost forgot.” Fluttershy lovingly kissed Applejack and turned only to find her front door wide open. “She’s gone.” “Well shoot, you think she would be hungry.” Applejack smirked as the pair looked at the hallway. Kohaku falling over himself, groaning out in pain. “Help…” he whispered in a slightly higher pitch than normal. Pearl’s mind was running wild, even now she could feel her wheels grinding to a halt. What the buck was Applejack doing at Fluttershy’s? Since when are they a couple? For that matter, what was I doing there? On reaching a gliding altitude Pearl almost halted, diving down she landed safely on a cloud. Looking down she saw Ponyville. It was twice as large as it should be. Her sharp Pegasus eyes swept along the borders. Despite its size. Pearl saw the familiar locations. Rarity’s Carousel Boutique, Sugar Cube Corner. The schoolhouse. The mayor’s office. Nodding she felt her blood run cold when her eyes settled on the area the Castle should have been. It was nothing but a long stretch of grassland, with a small blast crater. “The Castle! What happened to it? Did it blow up?” Pearl chewed on her lower lip as she moved her gaze again. “Thank heavens the school is still there.” Gliding down Pearl flew over the School, curious as to why guards were stationed at every entrance, both upper and lower. Landing atop a pegasus entry way she pushed through the doors and worked her way to Twilight’s office. What is up with this new layout? It took me ages to find this room. Pearl grumbled in her mind. “Twilight! Twilight are you here?” “Pearl?” Twilight came out of a large set of double doors Pearl had never seen before. “Pearl your awake!” “OH Twilight!” Pearl leaped forward and fullon tackled Twilight who oomphed hard before Pearl placed a deep kiss on the princess. Twilight’s eyes widened as she quickly teleported away. “Pearl! What in the name of sanity are you doing!” The princess huffed as she fixed her top. “Uh, well I.. what’s wrong with me kissing you?” Pearl pushed herself up from the ground and turned around. “You are after all my fiance. Speaking of that, where’s your ring?” Twilight blinked and tilted her head. Opening her mouth she was swiftly silenced by Pearl starting off again. “For that matter, what’s wrong with Ponyville? How long was I out. It’s twice the size it should be. And another thing what happened to your castle, why is this school so oddly designed on the inside. Did you remodel the whole thing while I was out?” Pearl panted, huffing and puffing repeatedly as she lowered her shoulders. “And back on the subject of couples, how long have Applejack and Fluttershy been a thing? And why are you just standing there? Why aren't you answering my questions?” Pearl scrunched up her face and huffed loudly. “Well I..” “Hey Twi. Have you seen where I left my wonderbolt badge?” Rainbow came down a flight of stairs just off the side of the desk. “OH hey Pearl, glad to see you up. I won’t be a minute then you and Twily here can catch up on what happened.” Giving a nod at Pearl, Rainbow turned to face her wife. “Rainbow, it’s right where you left it. On the dinner table. I’ve told you to put it safely back in its case when you take it out. I don't know how many times now.” Twilight turned her attention from Pearl to her wife. “Seriously you're just as bad at leaving things around the home as our daughter.” “Yeesh no need to be so harsh on me.” Rainbow moved in and nuzzled her head next to Twilights. “I’m sorry, okay? I know you’ve been under a lot of stress. Thank you for letting me know where I left it. And I promise I’ll do better at putting my stuff away.” Twilight sighed and nuzzled Rainbow’s neck. “And will you please tell our daughter to pick her things up when she’s done with them. I may be your wife and her mother, but I am not your maid.” Chuckling Rainbow leaned in and kissed Twilight lovingly. “Well you are when you wear that little…” whatever Rainbow was about to stay was swiftly silenced by a hoof in her mouth. “That’s enough out of you. In case you forgot we have company.” Twilight motioned with her wing towards Pearl who was standing there with a dumbfounded look, her mouth opening and closing repeatedly. “OH right, well I’ll just go grab my badge and fly off. Can’t keep the team waiting.” Rainbow nodded towards Pearl and dashed up the stairs. “Sorry about that, but you know how my wife can be sometimes.” Twilight chuckled and took a few steps toward Pearl and blinked. “Uh, Pearl? You okay there? You’re looking like the sky just fell.” “I… ma… my head hurts.” Pearl groaned as she stumbled backward into the table. “How long have you been married to Rainbow?” “Since long before you came to Ponyville. You know that, don’t…” Twilight leaned in and looked at Pearl carefully. Quirking her eyebrow and scrunching her lips a little. “Oh my. I should have considered this? Oh how could I have been so utterly stupid.” Twilight moved away from Pearl and started to pace back and forth. Pearl blinked as she watched Twilight. She knew this motion. Something Twilight always did when working out a problem. She found it cute but annoying at the same time. “I should have listened, she was right. But he and I were so certain. Or were we just projecting our desires onto the situation? She’s Pearl, but she’s not Pearl. Was she right, another world? I should have listened to him and just shattered that damned mirror!” Twilight groaned as she put her front legs on the back of a chair and leaned into it. Her head dropped so swiftly her crown fell from atop her head. Pearl blinked as she caught only a few scant whispers from Twilight’s mumbling. What caught her so off guard was ‘another world’. Looking out the window over Ponyville she saw how things looked so similar, but vastly different. The only other world she knew was the Human world. Could there really be other Pony worlds out there? Other versions of herself? Lives not lived, or lives turned in a different direction. “Twilight?” Pearl moved in closer and put her hoof on the princess’s shoulder. “What did you mean, I'm Pearl but not Pearl?” Twilight sighed but smiled weakly. “It means that Sunset was right, she usually is in these situations. You are Pearl Rose. Just not our Pearl Rose. Apparently the mirror we were experimenting on brought you here, while taking our Pearl someplace unknown. Maybe your world. We can’t be sure. Kohaku and I were so certain you were ours. Now I'm certain we were wrong.” “Okay, so, that explains a lot.” Pearl sighed as she sat down in a spare chair. Her eyes widened and groaned. “Oh I am so sorry, that kiss. I was just.. Well I…” “I take it our relationship elevated in your world?” Pearl nodded with a smile. “Well I’m glad to hear your fantasy developed into reality. And don’t worry about that kiss, I won’t say anything to Rainbow. Not unless she really annoys me.” Twilight laughed which slowly got Pearl to laugh as well. “So probably tomorrow?” “Eeyup.” Both Pearl and Twilight laughed. A warm feeling flooded over Pearl. She loved her Twilight but at times she missed the old motherly feeling that came with the old relationship. “Come on, let's get something to eat and talk.” Twilight gestured to her office chairs, which would have had better placement in a living room. And pressed a button on her desk. “Sounds wonderful.” Pearl and Twilight sat together in the chairs. Twilight told Pearl all about the experiment with the mirror that was uncovered. How they believed it was a portal to another world, how Kohaku after seeing the mirror almost begged them to destroy it. “Why would he ask to destroy a crystal mirror?” Pearl siped on a glass of soda that had been brought in. “He never said. I convinced him that we had things under control. But after what happened.” Twilight shivered. “He turned the silent treatment into a punishment. I felt waves of anger and rage flow off of his body that I had never before experienced.” “I can believe it. We have our own version of Kohaku in my world. Only a lot older and not actually living.” Pearl shivered recalling the incident with Discord. As she took another sip she suddenly spit it out. “Oh buck me.” “What is it?” “I best leave, there’s a certain little fox I have to go apologize to.” Pearl rubbed her head with both wings. “What did you do?” Twilight smirked, recalling all the trouble her Pearl had gotten into in the past. “Well? Let's just say, he can hit the high notes in the Equestria national anthem now.” Twilight smirked and held back a laugh but shook her head side to side. “I told him, give you some space. But four weeks without you was probably more than he could stand.” “Yeah. I’ll be going now. Again I’m sorry.” Pearl stood up and moved to the door. “Uh, I think I forgot how to get to the entrances.” “Just go up the stairs and use my home exit. It’ll be quicker.” Twilight smiled as she watched Pearl dash up the stairs. Once she was alone, Twilight looked out the window. “No matter what world, Pearl is Pearl.” Pearl flew as quickly as she could; she was grateful Ponyville had the same layout despite being larger. Landing in front Fluttershy’s cabin she burst through the door. There on the sofa, Kohaku lounged on his back with several small bunnies laid out on his chest. Between his hind legs was a large ice pack. She watched as he lifted his head up and looked her directly in the eyes. Taking a long deep breath, Pearl waited for the chastising that was coming. And rightly so, she deserved every word he was about to spit her way. Steeling herself Pearl stood there as he leaned up a little. “You know, if you weren’t in the mood, you could have just said so,” he said with an all too familiar smirk. Pearl was so dumbfounded she collapsed to the floor with a confused look on her face.