“OH man, this was the best weekend ever!” P. Pearl excitedly did a small spin as the trio walked into the deserted courtyard of Canterlot High. All of her kits had been sent through already, Sunset making sure everything came out alright in Equestria the day before with special permission from Vice Principal Luna. “I kinda wish we had some of this tech in Equestria. Then I can just borrow the, what did you call them again? DVD’s?”
“Yeah me and my counterpart have been trying to figure out how to set up human tech in the pony world but so far there’s been no luck.” Twilight sighed as she stopped at the gate and looked about before frowning.
“What’s wrong?” H. Pearl placed a hand on her girlfriend’s shoulder as she stopped next to her.
“My friends aren’t here. They said they were going to help see her off.” Twilight frowned. Her friends were rarely if ever late. And hardly ever broke a Pinkie Promise.
“That’s odd. I know we’re not early.” H. Pearl let her eyes scan over the whole of the courtyard.
“Well, maybe your friends…” P. Pearl cheerfully started before the three of them quickly turned to the statue.
“They aren’t coming.” A stern voice spoke out. By the statue was Kazumi, wearing designer jeans and a low-cut shirt. Her arms were crossed and her high heel shoe was tapping irritably on the ground.
Twilight and H.Pearl both gulped loudly taking a slow step backwards as P. Pearl took a step forwards. “Hey, aren't you the woman from the other night?”
Kazumi chuckled as she walked forward and cupped P. Pearl’s chin with her strong hand and tilted it up a bit.
P. Pearl half struggled but it was as if this woman’s grip was made of iron. “Hey, what gives!”
“Remarkable. So I guess little brother was right. She’s nearly identical to you.” Kazumi smirked over at H. Pearl. “Even has that nasty little rebellious streak we all find enduring.” Releasing P. Pearl, Kazumi walked over to the young girl's counterpart.
“Had I not been so focused on my brother that night, I would have noticed that she wasn’t you.” H. Pearl felt as if her legs were freezing solid. “Which leaves us with a small problem. We entrusted you with a precious secret, and now that secret has spread to two others. You understand what’s at stake here right?”
“Yes, oneesama.” H. Pearl almost whimpered out. Her head down as she shivered. “I didn’t realize his review was that night. We were all having such fun, I messed up the dates.”
“Well, it’s not entirely your fault. Our fathers are leaving for the Orient next week so we had to move the exam up.”
“So I’m not in trouble?” H.Pearl almost felt light sighing in relief.
“No more than usual. Your exam is coming up soon. So you best be ready for it.” Kazumi smiled and placed a hand on H. Pearl's head softly. “However, we do have a rather unique problem before us. Not only does this pony here know about us. But you absentmindedly let my brother go through a portal to another world.”
H.Pearl just nodded slowly as her counterpart came walking up.
“What’s the problem? It’s not like it’ll cause any harm or anything.” P. Pearl crossed her arms, her bags slapping her sides for a moment.
“It’s more harmful than you realize, little pony.” Kazumi narrowed her eyes at Pearl. “Magic from one world can poison another. What if my brother had gotten sick from that world's magic? Purging another world’s magic from one person is not an easy task as this one’s friends are well aware of.” Her finger pointed directly at Twilight who just nodded. “Now I cannot stop you from passing through worlds. But mother has tasked me with taking care of the problem of them now being aware of us. Which leaves me with no other option than to purge the problem from existence.”
“What does that mean?” P. Pearl took a step back for a moment. H. Pearl quickly ran to her pony counterpart’s side as Twilight just stood there shaking. “What are you going to do?”
“Please, Kazumi neesama, don’t hurt her. None of this is her fault. It’s mine.” H. Pearl held her pony self tight trying to keep any harm from befalling her. It wasn’t until Kazumi lifted H. Pear up off the ground by the back of her shirt like a child, that she remembered how powerless she really was.
“Noble but useless. Good try though, an A for effort though.” Looking over her shoulder Kazumi smiled at Twilight. “Catch.” And before Twilight could respond, tossed H. Pearl with no more effort than she would a softball.
Slowly backing P. Pearl to the statue Kazumi smiled down at the girl.
P. Pearl shivered. The woman before her seemed to have grown several feet in height, or she shrunk. Tripping over her own two feet the young girl felt a swift jab to the forehead as something warm flowed over her whole head as her world suddenly went black.
A warm light gentle tapping, like gentle rainfall, against her cheek slowly woke Pearl up. “Mm, what happened?”
“You slipped you silly girl.” Kazumi cheerfully chuckled, helping P.Pearl back up to her feet. “You really need to pay close attention to what you're doing. You hit your head pretty hard, you and your friends are just lucky I happened to be here finishing up some paperwork for the new students coming to Canterlot College this fall. Or that fall could have been far more serious.”
“Yeah.. wait.. You're that woman from the other night who was beating up on her brother aren't you?”
“OH you saw that from the balcony did you? You have good eyes. Yes, that was me.” Kazumi placed a hand on her own chest with a smile. “I homeschool Kohaku and help train him in martial arts. That night was his combat exam.”
“You were rather rough with him weren’t you?” P. Pearl saw both her human self and Twilight look at each other with confused looks but said nothing aloud.
“Well, maybe. The world is a harsh place. And he does have to learn to survive in it. I don’t have the luxury to kowtow just to boost his self-worth. He has a big enough head as it is.”
“That's true.” P. Pearl chuckled as Kazumi laughed with her. “Well thank you.”
“No problem Pearl. Kohaku told me all about you and where you're really from. So you don’t need to worry.” Kazumi smirked as she helped P. Pearl up.
“Well for all the pain that he is, he seems to have my interests at heart.”
“He gets that from me. Speaking of my brother. I’m glad I ran into you, he wanted to give you a parting gift.” Reaching between her chest she produced a sterling silver necklace in the shape of a sleeping dragon.
“Oh my gosh. It’s beautiful!” Pearl cupped the necklace in her hands before blinking and looking up for a moment. “I guess those do come in handy don’t they?”
H. Pearl and Twilight both slapped their heads in unison as Kazumi laughed louder. “I’ve been told that a few times. Now you best get going. I’m sure you have a lot of friends who are waiting on you.”
P. Pearl smiled, “You're right. Thanks, and tell Kohaku thanks for me,” she shouted as the girl dashed into the portal.
Kazumi’s cheerful attitude vanished so quickly as she sat up. Both Twilight and H. Pearl thought thunderclouds were going to start forming. “Well, that takes care of that problem.”
“What did you do?” Twilight stepped forward, her hand on her Geode in case she needed to use it.
“I just wiped her memory of Kohaku being anything but an annoying little boy. For all she knows, anything she saw that night or any day previously concerning us was nothing more than imagination gone wild.” Taking a few steps forward she placed a hand on Twilight's. “And I wouldn’t bother using that, it has no effect on me. Brave of you to try, but I have over nine hundred years of experience backing me.”
With that one touch Twilight felt herself slip and fall to her rump. Her eyes are wide as she felt through her Geode the storm of magic inside of Kazumi. Her head lowered as she bit her lower lip.
“Well, you two have a good day. I set a VIP reservation at my favorite restaurant and at that high-class spa for the two of you. You seem to need a bit of pampering and I’ve already paid the bill. And Pearl. Remember don’t slip up with our secret again. You won’t like the results.”
“Hai.. wait… you're not going to wipe her mind?” H. Pearl bit down on her lips as she looked at Twilight for a moment before looking back at Kazumi. “And what was that thing you gave my pony self.”
“The pendant will send an invisible shockwave through the town he visited. Wiping all memory of him. An easy enough spell but useless on any creature who’s skilled at knowing things they shouldn’t. And I doubt there’s anyone like that there.” Turning around Kazumi started to walk away. “As for Twilight there. I trust your lips are skilled enough to keep her silent. And congrats on finally coming out in the open.”
Both H. Pearl and Twilight watched Kazumi leave, waving to the two of them without so much as giving the weather a final look.
“That spa and restaurant sound really good right now.” Twilight groaned as she stood up with Pearl’s help. “How do you deal with that family?”
“Our families have been close friends and partners for generations. Ever since my great-grandfather’s day and we still can’t figure them out. I just gave up. It’s better for my health.”
Twilight shook her head. “That wasn’t an empty threat, was it?”
Pearl shook her head. “Nope. Luckily, Kazumi isn’t one to abuse it. But she means every word of it.” She paused before sighing. “And there’s more to it than just keeping it a secret.”
Twilight blinked at the hesitation in her girlfriend’s voice. “Pearl. What is it? What could be more important than keeping their family secret hidden?”
Pearl gulped. “That’s just it. I don’t know. But I swore on the Slayer of Eternities a few years ago when our families were together for some dinner, I think. Hell, I don’t even remember why. But it was the only time I’ve ever seen their entire family flinch.”
Twilight snorted. “Pearl. I have only ever seen Kohaku flinch when his sisters come looking for him after doing something really stupid. I don’t think they even know what the word means.”
Pearl shrugged. “Yeah, well. I’ve known them my entire life. Despite being as different as they come, they still know most things we do. They have something hanging over their heads that even their parents will not touch. Mom and Dad gave me a stern talking-to afterward and made me promise to never use that swear in their presence ever again. Thankfully it was gone in a flash and we all went back to normal after a moment.”
Twilight bit her lip. Something in Pearl’s voice told her to drop this. She could only wonder what it all meant.
The princess was waiting for her as Pearl came out on the other side. “I see you have been taking lessons, Pearl.”
The filly nodded as she landed back on all four hooves. “Yeah. Not doing that first time again if I can help it.”
Twilight giggled as she looked at the rather sizable amount of things that had already come through the portal. “Everything is intact, and I have already put the spell on all of your kits, Pearl.”
Pearl sighed with relief. That was a weight off of her shoulders at least. “Sweet. Now I just need to figure out where I’ll put them all.”
Twilight’s eye twitching became worse by the second as Pearl pulled more and more kits out, finished and still unopened. “This is more than I ever expected, my faithful student.”
Pearl nodded happily as she set the HG Aile Strike on an unused shelf. “What can I say? I love Gunpla now! Probably won’t be doing this every weekend. But I can’t help it!”
Twilight sighed, but she could not deny the joy she heard in her student’s voice. Something she had only ever really heard when Spike talked about comic books.
As Pearl pulled out her Master Grade Ginn, she paused for a moment. She did not have enough room for all of her kits, let alone the ones she still wanted. Crap.
Twilight seemed to catch on after a moment. “Do you not have enough room, Pearl?”
Pearl shook her head. “Not like this I don’t. Forget my backlog. I can keep them in my closet. I’m not sure if I have enough room for the kits I’ve already built.”
Twilight frowned. That was a problem. Unless her student wanted to mix and match different universes, there was not enough shelf space at the moment.
Pearl looked over her current shelf. There was still enough room for one or two more Seed kits, and she wanted to display her Master Grade Strike with the Ginn. Having it attached to the Archangel’s catapult would help with that thankfully.
That wasn’t even counting what she had in mind if she ever got the Freedom and Justice. Oh, so many possibilities, she giggled, glad she had started young and not when she was older. There was no way she could get them all if she had it felt like.
Twilight saw the slightly crazy gleam in Pearl’s eyes and smiled, for she well understood the love of a new hobby. So she hated what she was about to say even more. “I am sorry to burst your bubble, Pearl. But something has come up.”
Pearl blinked, before groaning. “Okay. What did Pinkie, Rainbow, and or Discord do this time?”
Twilight frowned at the accusation, no matter that she couldn’t argue it, before shaking her head. “Nothing in fact. This is simply something I forgot. I will be leaving Ponyville soon, and I am not sure for how long.”
Pearl’s ears dropped in horror. “What! Why?”
Twilight shook her head quickly before pulling Pearl into a hug, one that was happily returned. “Not for anything bad, my faithful student. This is simply a meeting I cannot miss.”
Pearl hiccuped, fighting back her tears. “Start with that next time, Twilight. Sheesh. Who are you meeting anyway? And why can’t you do it here in Ponyville? Way easier than going somewhere else. Hell, even the Crystal Empire is a long-ass trip."
Twilight chuckled. “I would, and you are right. But Tiamat tends to cause a serious panic if she ever comes to Equestria, so we have decided that this is much easier.”
Pearl blinked, before smiling widely, her whole body vibrating excitedly. “You’re meeting the Dragon Queen! Why did nobody tell me that?”
Twilight was taken aback by Pearl’s reaction, wondering just what the Pegasus was so excited about something like this.