//------------------------------// // Secrets // Story: The Dragon Princess // by Nineveh Orion //------------------------------// After a moment, Alexsraza's brows furrowed. "I smell the magic of interfering busybodies on both of you. Perpetuating a charade that cannot go on forever. I had hoped that at least one of them would have come forward by now." Pearl and Twilight shared a confused look. What did she mean by that? "I do not feel a thing," Twilight said, extending her magic, but feeling nothing. Alex nodded. "You will not. This is magic that not even an alicorn can feel when the caster puts their mind to it." Her eyes briefly locked with those of a shadow in the treeline. "I have half a mind to dispel it myself. For it involves both of your families and a history that has been long forgotten." Pearl scrunched her nose. "My family's always been connected to the sea in some way. Hell. Mom's goes all the way back to before Pegasopolis was even a thing." Twilight nodded. "And my family has roots that go all the way back to the very earliest days of Unicornia. It becomes murky past a certain point. But the same can be said for many families. But what does that have to do with any of this?" Alex smiled. "Oh, my child. Much. A connection that goes deeper than either of you know. A connection someone refuses to come out of the shadows and acknowledge. She had a chance when you ascended to become an alicorn, and again when you ascended the Throne of Equestria." Twilight frowned. Why did it feel like the Dragon Queen wasn't telling her everything? Clearly, she knew far more than she was letting out. "Then tell us. You know full well whatever all of this is about." The queen nodded. "Indeed I do. But it is not my place to say. Though if this continues for much longer, then I will, and damn what they may think of it. I may have no power over them. But they have no power over me as well. I have kept this a secret out of respect for those long gone from this world." Pearl turned her head as a low growl came from the treeline. She didn't need magic to know Kohaku was beyond annoyed at this conversation and where it seemed to be going. And why did it look like there was somepony with him? Maybe she was seeing things, but the pony almost looked afraid of something. She shook her head. Time for that later. She had bigger problems at the moment as she poked her new horn. "So what the hay am I supposed to do now? I was a Pegasus. I never learned a damn thing about unicorn magic. I never needed to. Is there a book about being an alicorn I can read or something?!" Twilight suddenly burst out into a gale of laughter and giggles, earning an annoyed look from her fellow alicorn. "And what's so funny, princess?" Pearl grumbled. Twilight wiped her eyes with a wing after a moment. "I am sorry, Pearl. But your question reminded me of when I asked Celestia the same question once. It was right after I ascended. Unfortunately, there is no book on being an alicorn. I should know. I tore through the Canterlot Archives, and the Restricted Section, and couldn't find a single one. No matter how hard I looked!" Pearl's ears dropped. Darn it. "So what am I supposed to do then? You know what my temper's like. I feel like a ticking time bomb now. One blow-up away from doing something with it. How long before I hurt somepony? Or worse?" Twilight's ears fell as well, sharing a concerned look with Alexstrasza. They could hear the genuine fear in Pearl's voice. That she was now a danger to everyone around her, or worse if her magic went out of control. Twilight well remembered what it was like for Flurry Heart when she was growing up. Sunburst had only been able to do so much to keep her magic under control. Alexstrasza smiled gently as lay a hoof on Pearl's shoulder. "Then it is well that you will have Princess Twilight there every step of the way. She will be able to guide you in learning to control the magic you now have. I can think of nopony better for the role." Twilight nodded, placing a hoof as well. "Indeed. It will not be easy, my Faithful Student. Not only must you learn alicorn magic. But you must also learn even the basics that a newborn unicorn instinctually knows, even if they do not remember it for some years. We have all the time in the world thankfully." Pearl smiled a bit at that. That helped somewhat. Now came the question of how the hell was she going to explain this to her parents? Alex again looked to the treeline, locking eyes with one figure in particular. "And there are several others who I am sure will be more than happy to help as well, Pearl Rose. One, in particular, I'm sure, will be more than willing to do so." From the shadows beneath the trees, Autumn Sparkle Rose felt her ears drop. Maybe it was time she stopped running away from this. Her birth parents had always told her that hiding herself from family was the coward's way out. Hay. Her godparents had been telling her the same for five hundred years. "You can't hide from Twilight forever, Autumn. Twenty-plus times reincarnated that I am or not, I know we taught you better than that," Pearl had said. Almost exactly as she had in her first life in fact. "You always come to me eventually. Why not Princess Twilight? I don't care that Kohaku says she isn't ready. What does he know about this?! I care too much about her to let this go on forever. Maybe she isn't Midnight's reincarnation, I don't care. Even if I have to drag you kicking and screaming into it! You're not too old for it, young filly." Autumn well remembered those words from several reincarnations back. As crystal clear as they had been the very first time Mama Pearl had told them to her on her lap as a filly. To hear it from the Life-Binder herself, someone who her mothers had always held in high regard and deepest respect, only drove the feeling home worse and made her feel like a little filly all over again. Perhaps it was time she stopped hiding from her own family.