Lumena hummed as she sat there on her chair, sipping on her favorite drink as she watched the pair volley back and forth. She had long ago lost track of how many matches the pair had shared over the last five hundred thousand years. But she did know that Pearl had yet to win a single match with Kohaku. The fox always sneaking out a win at the last second.
Pearl looked the same. Eternal youth seemed to agree with the Dragon Princess. But Kohaku had touches of gray along his fur. His once emerald tone was slowly turning to silver. Not many would see, but age lines had started to show along his face.
She watched as Pearl served after cursing words even she didn’t know. Kohaku effortlessly reflected the shot as he always had. But something caught her eye. Beads of sweat on his fur. He was actually struggling to keep up. She watched as Pearl served back with a powerful swing. Lumena smirked and shook her head but she watched Kohaku swing, and what she saw made her eyes widen. His paddle missed the ball as it bounced on his side of the table and onto the floor.
“I did it,” Pearl whispered softly at first but soon her voice echoed through the common room. “I did it!! I won. YES. After five hundred thousand years I finally beat your nine-tailed ass.” Jumping up and down, Pearl felt like she was sixteen again.
“Congratulations Pearl.” Kohaku sighed and moved to a seat. “I need to sit down.”
“Winded huh? I guess I finally got good enough to give you a run for your money.” Pearl smirked as she playfully poked at Kohaku.
“I guess you have.” Kohaku closed his eyes and then turned to look out the window. “How's Twilight been doing?”
“Oh, she’s fine. She was so stressed about her work we needed this vacation. She’s probably still asleep.” Pearl sat opposite of her long-time friend. “How's sis? I haven't seen her come down in a while.”
Kohaku’s face betrayed nothing of emotion. He just looked out the window at the scenery. “She’s okay. Just waiting.”
“If you say so.” Pearl huffed. She enjoyed talking to her counterpart. So much so that they felt like sisters to each other. Even together they had fun teasing Kohaku. “So? When can I expect a rematch?” Pearl grinned. “I can’t wait to beat your tails again.”
“No rematch… this was our last bout.”
Pearl felt dumbfounded. This didn’t make any sense to her. “Our last match? What you lose once and you no longer want to play?” Kohaku just turned and looked at Pearl. His mouth opened but Pearl quickly silenced him. “Dammit you oversize rug, I never thought you would be such a sore loser. Well if you don’t want to play anymore FINE!” Pearl pushed the table into him before storming off.
Kohaku sat there in the now empty room. Everyone had long ago left to bed. Only himself, Lumena, and Pinkie were there. And Pinkie was finishing up her nightly work.
“I never thought you would be the one to not want a rematch. What with how many times she wanted one.” Lumena shook her head and sat down where Pearl was seated. “But, I understand why you don’t.”
“I guess I couldn’t keep it from you. Not even if I tried huh?” Kohaku held his half-full cup of tea. With a huff, it heated back up.
“I am a goddess after all.” Leaning back the goddess stretched her wings out a bit. “It’s not easy to hide anything from me. I even know the truth about your Pearl. I just said nothing to hurt her.” Lumena looked at the stairs leading upstairs where Pearl had run off. “I have to say, it was quite the illusion.”
“Hehe, yeah. But no substitution.”
“I know it hasn’t been easy for you these last five thousand years. Small wonder you made an illusion just to keep up appearances. You really miss her huh?”
“She was my mate. We had twelve children together. Thousands of years of happy times, and even some dark ones.” Kohaku sighed and sipped his tea. “So honestly what tipped you off?”
“You're aging. You look more like you should be Pearl’s grandfather than her lifelong friend. And that match. She didn’t just get better, did she? You’ve gotten slower. You didn’t just miss that last volley, you couldn’t see it could you?”
“Worse, I saw double. I just struck the wrong one. She won fair and square. So I have no regrets.” Leaning back, Kohaku closed his eyes.
“How long do you have?” The goddess frowned.
“Not long, it ends tonight,” he looked at the goddess.
“Well. Despite it all. I’m actually going to miss you. And you are saving the trouble of vaporizing you.”
Kohaku laughed aloud. “Be honest with yourself. You never would have done it.”
With a chuckle, Lumena just shook her head. “I guess we’ll never know.” Looking back at the staircase. “So what are you going to tell her?”
“Nothing. And don’t tell her. She’ll know soon enough. Just let her know I’ve left my room unlocked.”
“Don’t you mean you’re going to leave it unlocked?” the goddess raised an eyebrow.
“I meant what I said.” Looking down at his tea the elderly fox sighed. “Farewell old friend.” And in the span of a blink, Kohaku’s body faded as the cup fell to the ground and shattered.
All Lumena could do was stare at the now-empty chair. For the first time in all the time she knew him, he had finally pulled the wool over her eyes. With a chuckle, she sighed. “Well played you sneaky fox.” Looking up she got Pinkie’s attention. “Please let Pearl know Kohaku’s room is unlocked and he’s waiting for her.”
“Okie. You take care.” Pinkie sighed as she looked at the broken glass and spilled tea. A small tear in her eye at the loss of two of her most interesting patrons.
“I mean, what kind of sore loser doesn’t even want a rematch when he loses for the first time?!” Pearl huffed, shooting daggers downstairs. “That’s not like him at all! Look at me. I wanted one as soon as I could!"
Twilight didn’t say anything, having long ago known to let her wife rant and rave all she needed before she said anything. But something had seemed off since they had arrived about Kohaku. She just couldn’t say what it was.
Pearl finally calmed down for a moment and saw the look in Twilight’s eyes. “What is it? Come on. You’ve seen me angrier than this.”
Twilight shook her head. “That’s not it, Pearl. Something doesn’t feel right at all. Don’t tell me you didn’t see it. He was different. Off. I can’t explain why, but I felt there was something missing.”
Pearl snorted. “Yeah, sure, Twily. And what do we know about kitsunes exactly? All we have is him and Autumn. Not a lot to go on if you ask me.”
“Then why don’t you go ask him?” Pinkie asked, as came to the door. “His room’s unlocked, and he did say he was waiting for you.”
Pearl nodded as she zoomed out the door. “You know what? I will. Just to get this off my chest. And it’s been so long since I saw sis last.”
Twilight’s eyes widened as Pearl disappeared. That’s what was missing. Every time they had come to the inn recently, Kohaku’s Pearl had been nowhere to be seen when they arrived and only appeared infrequently. She looked over at Pinkie and the solemn look on the innkeeper’s face told Twilight everything. Her own ears flattened and lowered her head in sorrow. “Oh Pearl…”
Pearl raised her hoof to Kohaku’s door. Prepared to knock. Even she knew better than to just waltz in. after knocking she stood there for what seemed an eternity. Knocking again she waited for a reply only to be met with silence. Finally pushing on the door it opened freely Greeted only by the dark moonlight lit moon. As she walked in the door slowly closed behind her. Not uncommon as all the rooms in Pinkie’s inn had that very feature.
Looking about she smiled at all the familiar sights. The multitude of bookshelves lined with scrolls and tomes unknown to any pony. On the other side were various trinkets and a special kitbashed Gunpla model Pearl had given to her sister. As her hoofs hit the edge of the large circle bed the dragon alicorn stopped dead.
There in the center was a comforting sight. Her ‘twin’ sister sleeping peacefully in the arms of her beloved fox. For the first time, she noticed how old he looked. Far older than what he was only a few hours ago. His green fur was now pure silver as his amber markings were a light shade of dim gold. A light wispy beard flowed down from his chin.
Shaking her head with a smile, Pearl walked atop the bed and lightly shook her sis’s shoulder. “Hey sis. Wake up. I need your help in getting answers out of this sore looser of a fox.” Giggling, she just stood there looking down. But her smile slowly vanished. Reaching down she shook her sister’s shoulder with her hoof even harder. “Hey wake up.”
Turning her head she punched Kohaku in the shoulder. “Hey wake up. I have something to say!” Pearl watched as neither moved an inch. As she stood there she blinked as something caught her ear. The sound of her own breathing. Or rather the lack of breathing outside of her own. She knew herself enough to know that she had a problem, even though she doubts it entirely, of snoring. The Pearls had to listen for hours as both Kohaku and her wife Twilight laughed and teased them about all the times their snoring kept them awake.
Bitting down on her lower lip she reached down and poked her sister's nose. And quickly moved it back. Her heartbeat increased steadily as she shook her head. It wasn’t the lack of snoring, but the lack of breathing that raised all her alarms.
“Kohaku… wake up… Pearl… she… she’s….” Shaking her friend as hard as she could she noticed that he was as limp as his mate. “No… no. Oh, gods please no.” Walking backward Pearl tripped on a tangle in the blankets and fell flat on her back. The sound of a crystal shattering on the ground echoed in her ears. Looking up she saw a young and rather spry Kohaku looking down at her. But what she found odd was that she could see through his head.
“Hello, Pearl.”
Pearl sniffed. “How? Ghosts aren’t real, and now I’m looking at one. If this is someone’s sick idea of a joke, I an not laughing. Pinkie’s gonna have to ban me when I’m done with them!”
Kohaku smiled. “I bet by now you're arguing and yelling at me. Typical. But that’s you. I can assure you that this is no joke. By the time you see this, you’ll have finally beaten me in our game, and discovered the reason why it was our last match.”
Pearl blinked, wiping away her tears.
“No doubt you also figured out the truth about my Pearl. Yeah sorry about not telling you that. I could never bring myself to say the words. They were always too painful.” The image of Kohaku smiled and looked at the pair on the bed. “Being around you made me miss her less. I guess I could imagine, even for a moment. That she was with me once more.”
Turning Toward Pearl, Kohaku smiled and sighed. “I enjoyed our time together Pearl. You were the first friend I ever had in this life.”
“How…” Pearl wiped her eyes and looked at the bodies of her friends. “I mean you. You were both so full of life?”
“I’m surprised you never noticed that she miraculously recovered from her illness five thousand years ago? That’s when I decided to do something. I couldn’t live without her. So, I gave up my immortality. Even in this place, my age slowly caught up to me. Tonight was my last night, I’m sorry Pearl. For my deception and fabricating the truth. I can only pray that you forgive me one day.” Kohaku shook his head slowly and sighed. “But I'm with my beloved again in the spirit world. You finally beat me. And I had one last chance to say goodbye to the mare I loved.”
Pearl couldn’t move, tears flowed down her face openly.
“I have a few requests of you. If you would take them. First. Treasure all the time you have with Twilight. Because the immortality we share is no guarantee that you will live forever. And the void that is left when she is gone is incalculable. So take nothing for granted.” Turning toward Pearl, Kohaku’s image smiled. “Second. Behind you is a potted plant. Grown from the first tree and flower in the Everfree Forest of my world. Take it to yours and plant it someplace nice. I’ve poured a bit of our souls into them. Perhaps one day your ponies will have grown enough to treasure what nature can bring them.”
Pearl looked back at the unfamiliar tree and single wild rose that shared a large jade flower pot.
“And lastly.” Pearl turned and almost fell over. Standing there was the older more mature Kohaku she had seen last. “Don’t worry about us, we will rest here forever as we are now. So live a fantastic life, Pearl. You deserve it.” And in the span of a blink. The image of Kohaku had vanished from existence.
Pearl smiled a little, sniffing as she took the flower pot. “I will, you oversized rug.”
“We both will,” Twilight added as she joined her and laid a wing around her wife, wiping away her own tears. “Ponies can kiss my flank if they don’t like it.”
Pearl nodded as they left the room, making sure to leave it as Pearl had found it. “What now?”
Pinkie smiled sadly as she looked inside. “I’ll seal their room off forever. Their final resting place. In the arms of the one they loved. Only their family and you girls can enter now.”
Twilight’s ears fell. “What about their family?”
“They already know and have said their goodbyes long ago,” Lumena said as she joined them. “This was for you two.”
Pearl nodded. Typical, as she looked at the plants she held. “I know the perfect spot for these. Cosmos can kiss my flank if she doesn’t like it. I want to see what nature truly is with my own eyes, and not just what we have now.”
Lumena smiled. “As it should be. Perhaps one day, you will see the Everfree as it should have been. Not just a distant memory in a dusty scroll in an archive.”
Pearl smiled, as she and Twilight returned to their own room, as Pinkie closed the door to Kohaku and his Pearl’s, the magic sealing it outside of time locking into place as it closed. She was looking forward to it.
Pearl smiled as she sat under the large tree. It had been nearly a thousand years since she had first planted it. Looking out she saw all the trees that had grown outward. Not far, but still, it was nice to see how healthy the new forest was coming along.
Sipping on her tea she felt something bump into her. Blinking the princess looked down and saw a foal-sized green female fox with three tails, blazing red hair, and amber eyes. With pure white markings. The fox lightly pawed at Pearl’s side while looking at the drink.
“Where did you come from?” Pearl blinked as she sat the tea down. She watched as the fox sniffed it and took a few drinks before curling up next to Pearl and started to purr. Blinking again she smiled and shook her head. “Of course. Who else would have sent you?” Reaching down Pearl stroked the little vixen’s back as she leaned against the tree. Feeling as if her favorite punching bag and sister were beside her once more.