"Are you sure this is alright?" Twilight asked, sitting with her love and Pearl at the latter's kitchen table. "I know that this is rather sudden."
Cirrus Storm, Pearl's mom, smiled. "Of course, dear. And it would be nice to have a nice quiet night for once with a visitor from Equestria. Rainbow Dash has far too much energy for her own good."
Twi rolled her eyes. "And us?"
Cirrus rolled her eyes. "Honey. My husband and I have known about Equus and Equestria for longer than any of you have been alive. I admit that I never thought any of this would happen. But this barely qualifies as in the top twenty of the strangest things I've seen."
Pearl huffed as she crossed her arms. "I'm still peeved you didn't tell me about either of those sooner, mom."
Cirrus smirked as she rustled her daughter's hair. "Pearl. Need I remind you of what happened when you discovered Kohaku's real form? Or your reaction when you found out about his whole family?"
Pearl winced, blushing deeply as she sunk into her chair. Twilight and Twi shared a confused look. "What happened?" Twilight asked.
Cirrus chuckled. "Oh. Only the meltdown to end all meltdowns. Our families have been friends for generations. Kohaku had only just been able to hold his human form for any length of time. Getting to be friends with Pearl was an accomplishment in and of itself."
Pearl huffed in annoyance. "He gave me more heart attacks than I care to count. I finally cornered him and demanded to know why." She smiled at the memory. "Turns out it's his way of showing he cares for his friends. Or his best friend in my case. I knew our families had a long history together. But..."
Twilight nodded, seeing where this seemed to be going. "But it was hard to reconcile all of that with someone who seemed to be nothing but a pest?"
Pearl nodded. "Yeah. It took me a while to really get into it. But I wouldn't trade our friendship for the world now." She smirked. "I'll save the rest of that story for later though."
Twilight and Twi shared a look but shrugged. "So where will we sleep?" Twi asked.
Pearl smiled. "I've got an extra sleeping bag for when we go camping. Little tight, but you should be able to both fit in it. Just save the lovemaking for your own room. Some of us have to sleep."
Cirrus nodded. "Your friend Rarity came by earlier. She seemed to know this might happen, so she dropped off both of your pajamas. How she had them I do not know."
Twi rolled her eyes. She had long ago given up trying to understand how her fashionista friend did what she did. As she had with Pinkie Pie. The less said about those, the better. She pulled the princess close with a knowing smile. They needed more snuggling time anyway. Perfect.
"So what comes next, princess?" Pearl asked, flopping down onto her bed as the girls made themselves comfortable with their shared sleeping bag. It was a tight fit, but there was enough room for both of them.
Twilight looked over at her Liberator, now with the lightning bolt symbol of the Redeemer conclave on his left shoulder. She was glad Twi had reminded her of it earlier. "I'm not sure. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in doing more of these. But I wouldn't know where to go next, and I didn't bring any bits."
Pearl scrunched her nose. "Can't you both go to GW's store in town? I've got cash to spare if you need any."
Twi shook her head. "I go in often enough that it would not shock anyone to see me. But everyone knows that Shining is my only sibling, and I have no one else in my family that looks like me." She pulled Twilight close with a kiss on the cheek. "I can teach you to fake being me though."
Twilight saw a problem with this though. "What about your glasses? You know what they do to my eyesight."
Twi smirked, booping her nose. "Easy. Contacts. I use them sometimes if I feel I can go a day without losing them. I'm still hoping Princess Celestia can correct them for good with magic. I know it's possible to do so. And your hair being down wouldn't look weird. I do it sometimes."
Twilight giggled. "Aw. but you look so cute with them."
Pearl heaved off to the side as the two giggled. "Leave it in your own room, you two lovebirds."
Twilight giggled even more, before frowning slightly. "I would hate to use your money though, Pearl. It doesn't feel right."
Pearl waved it off with a smile. "Hey. Anything for a friend. And I won't take no for an answer."
Twilight smiled, before blinking. "You consider me a friend?"
Pearl nodded, pulling her blanket up around her with a small smile. "Well. Yeah. I don't care if we still don't know each other super well. It's never stopped me before. A part of me wonders if things had been different, we could have been more than just friends." She looked at Twi. "Either of you. I tried to be your friend when we were younger, Twi. But you always had your nose firmly stuck in a book. I finally just gave up."
Twilight pulled herself close. The thought had crossed her mind as well. Both for this Pearl, and her counterpart in Equestria. Twi winced at the reminder, remembering the times Pearl had tried to get them to do something together. Attempts she had always rebuffed. Only once they met at Spectrum had she remembered all the times the two had met before, and the friend she had turned away.
Pearl looked out her window toward Canterlot High. "Rainbow's told me what you girls did that Summer Sun Celebration. Ponies you barely knew at the time. On a quest that should've killed you, if Nightmare Moon had meant it. Us? This is normal compared to all you've done and the friends you have."
Twilight blushed as Twi smirked at her. Well, when someone put it like that. "Well, when yu put it like that..."
Pearl's smile grew. "You've made a friend in me that will last forever. Two if I can get my favorite pest in on this as well. And I never leave my friends hanging. I will put my life on the line for them. Never think I won't."
Twilight giggled, throwing her hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay. You've convinced me. But I still don't know where to start with any of this."
Pearl nodded. "Luckily there's a solution to that. Games-Workshop has several starter sets for Age of Sigmar. Each one is a great starting place for Stormcast Eternals. If you don't mind the second army that also comes in the box. But that can wait for tomorrow. I'm going in myself. We can go together."
Twilight wondered just what exactly Pearl meant by several parts of that, but as Twi kissed her gently and pulled herself close, she decided that it was something that could wait for the morning.