A thousand thoughts raced through my mind at this discovery.
Pearl?! As in THE Pearl?! I couldn't believe it.
Was it possible she'd been in here the entire time?!
Pearl blinked at me confused. "Yes?" She asked like it was a prompt.
I shook my head. "No, no. You're Pearl!" I waved my hands about as she looked confused. "You're a member of the Crystal Gems! Terrifying renegade Pearl! Pearl who worked with Rose Quartz? That Pearl!" I explained.
Pearl looked at me like a gaping fish. "I am." She replied, "But how do you know this?" she asked.
Before I could open my mouth, the ground started to shake around us, making me panic.
"Hold on!" Pearl shouted as she grabbed my arm to keep me from sliding on the now slanted ground. The tremors stopped briefly, leaving a bigger mess of pixels and glitches than before.
I paid little mind to it.
"Thank you." I breathed, "You saved me."
Pearl shrugged, "It was the right thing to do." She explained.
We sat in silence for a little bit after that, the unstable world around us becoming more and more distorted, but never bothering to stretch past walking distance. To be honest, I didn't quite know what to say to her. This was Pearl, a superior being who was nearly immortal, and-
"S*** I hijacked your gem." I blurted out not thinking.
Pearl whipped her head around to look at me.
"I believe we've already established this, thief." Her voice still held malice whenever she said that, but it also felt like she was hesitating for some reason...
I frowned, "I am not a thief." I clarified. "I am as much an unwilling prisoner as you are." By now Pearl had stood up, her hands shaking with rage.
"I want to believe you." She said her voice warbling unsteady, "But it takes a lot of ingenuity to change the magical properties of a gem. Especially when it comes to possession." She spat that last word out like a plague.
I shook my head, "Believe me this was not my idea. I-"
"Then who's was it, huh?! Your diamond?" She hissed, her pointy nose in front of my own.
I shrank away in fear as I realized she was holding back from killing me. Oh my God she's still going to kill me if I don't do something... I realized.
"I-I don't have a diamond!" I squeaked out.
Pearl laughed, "Really? And just who would a pearl be without their master?" She taunted, and something painful twisted in my heart while the world made a screeching noise. She ignored it, "That's what your lot always told me. That and more. So which is it?" She withdrew her spear again, "Are you a lost pearl, or a spy?" She held her spear above my throat.
"Stop!" I cried scared, "I'm not a Pearl!" I yelled, "I'm a-!" I screamed as my form flickered violently and the world shook around us angrily once more.
Pearl's eyes widened in realization as she let go of her spear and put her form over mine to protect me from the falling cloud debris.
I huffed, clenching my teeth as my form phased and flickered in and out of existence for a bit before I stabilized and the pain ebbed away.
I breathed heavily, my strength sapped now.
"Okay, tell me who you are then." She breathed, her face ever so close to mine as for the first time I saw true fear written on it.
I nodded quietly, still tired and shaken up, as Pearl moved a bit to adjust so we could sit next to each other, but she didn't let go.
To be honest, we both were too afraid to let go...
"M-My name is Crystal." I quickly explained as the mindscape seemed to be deteriorating even faster now. "I used to be a human until I found your gem, and long story short I touched it and woke up in your body-er form." I huffed, trying my hardest not focus on the ever deteriorating place. Pearl said nothing as I continued. "I've spent the last year and a half? I think, helping the Princesses and my friends against danger. There's corrupted gems, other monsters, and demigods running amok, and we're the only ones with the power to do something." I looked at her determined.
"Please understand if I had known you were inside here I would've tried my hardest to get you out." Pearl opened her mouth to retort but I quickly interrupted, "I mean it to." My gaze held firm against hers, "Ever since I wound up in Equestria I have tried my hardest to continue to protect everyone, even at the cost of my power, or rather yours I suppose." Pearl's gaze softened, as the ground around us started to peel at the edges, revealing a large black chasm below.
"I-I made a promise." I blurted, in fear that if I didn't say what I had to it'd be too late. "I promised everyone that I would help. That I would be there to protect them from danger, even though I had wanted nothing more than to go home." Tears were streaming down my eyes as my form was acting up again. "I promised I would be there for Twilight!" I yelled aloud, unafraid.
A hush fell upon the place, prompting me to open my tear-streaked eyes and look up.
"I couldn't ask for a more noble goal." Pearl spoke as she held her hand towards me in a sign of peace.
The world had stopped deteriorating. My form had restabilized and I could hear the faint sound of waves lapping on the shoreline.
"What?" I said confused, as Pearl helped me up and we looked around.
We were in Beach City, or what I guess could be a close enough mock-up of it. We were on a boat dock near the ginormous temple and to my right was the Big Donut and It's a wash! buildings. To say I was confused was an understatement, I was dumbfounded.
Pearl then turned to me, "Don't ask me why all this is here, I don't know. But my gem is no longer trying to actively throw you out of it." She sighed, looking very tired.
I chuckled dryly, "Well that's good I guess." I admitted, as I leaned over the dock and sat kicking the water with my feet as Pearl joined me.
The mindscape had even conjured a little sun too, which was just fixing to set over the horizon at the moment.
Things were silent for a bit before Pearl spoke up. "I'm... Sorry for not trusting you." She admitted, turning to look away from me as she did. "Ever since I regained consciousness I've been trying to regain control over my gem. That's all I ever thought about." She looked up at the sky distant, as the first star of the night came out. She shook her head, "To be honest, I thought maybe one of the Diamonds had managed to get the jump on me and attempt to reprogram myself with well, you..." She laughed, "I actually thought maybe you were another version of me programmed to be loyal, but now I see that's not the case." She stood up, holding her hand out again.
"I suppose I should make up for the misunderstanding. Follow me." She said as I looked up at her confused.
"Where to?" I asked as Pearl just shook her head and smiled.
"Somewhere sacred in my memories." She replied as we started to walk away from the dock.
-------------------------
The world began to change as we moved, going from a tranquil evening out on the beach to loud roaring explosions as the confusion showed on my face while the scenery changed.
I realized we were on a battlefield of sorts, the knot in my stomach twisting tighter as I had a pretty good idea what Pearl had in mind to show me. Gems of all sizes, fusions even, began to materialize in front of my face as the roaring of battle continued while we walked. I noticed Pearl didn't seem to flinch as enemy and friend alike fell to their knees and were crushed. She ignored all as we continued to walk ahead.
"This is where it all started, five thousand years ago..." Pearl said calmly as the roaring of battle dimmed and another figure formed in front of us. "This is where you and Rose Quartz met?" I asked, turning my head towards Pearl as a pseudo-Rose fought another gem twice her size.
Pearl shook her head, "No, we met much earlier on; though I suspect you probably are aware of that." She sighed, making me feel sad, "This is where the war for Earth took a turn in favor of the Crystal Gems, and by extension mine and Rose's relationship." She pointed to where the Rose had cut down the giant fusion and promptly bubbled the gemstones. A younger version of Pearl ran up to greet her, the two conversing in an unknown language to my ears.
Pearl chuckled sadly, "When we won that battle I told myself that I would stay by Rose's side until the end, not matter what it cost me." She looked away from me for a second as if lost in thought over something... "It wasn't what she wanted but anything that made me happy she wanted to give me. That's just how she was; kind and caring." The scenery had changed now to the younger Pearl and Rose on top of some floating chunks of rocks, their hushed whispers unknown to our ears.
Pearl looked on sadly, "In time she would fall in love with a human and conceive an offspring. Half human, half gem. His name was-"
"-Steven. I know." I blurted out as Pearl looked at me surprised, but then remembered she'd already explained that part.
"R-right. It took quite some time for me to love Steven, but eventually I loved him as much if not more than Rose Quartz herself." She explained. "Looking at him now I finally got what Rose was trying to say all these years." She smirked a bit, making me blink confused.
"And what was that?" I prompted as Pearl laughed.
"To protect all forms of life and cherish it." She smiled, as the world shook violently and we yelled afraid.
Large chunks of ground began to fizzle in and out of existence randomly, and I felt myself being yanked in all directions as Pearl tried desperately to grab one of my flailing limbs.
She was yelling something; I couldn't hear what it was because everything was muffled by the loud noise of the mindscape shaking as things glitched in and out. New buildings and spires began to fill in the holes where things disappeared in the mindscape, making an awful grating noise as they collided with the still intact ground. In a way, it reminded me of the time when Steven had fought the Sand Gem in that one episode with the ever changing castle... It was like the mindscape was having a seizure and couldn't decide what to make of it.
I began to feel hot to the touch once more like before I had arrived in the mindscape. Pearl was still calling out to me but seemed to be quickly drifting away as I felt my limbs lock up. A few seconds later the ground underneath me caved in and I began to float, my mind feeling feverish as my body felt like it was being ripped apart.
So I'm finally going to die I guess... I thought to myself as I began to break apart into small pieces, my senses anything but numb to the creeping pain as each bit broke off of me...
I let out a dry laugh that turned into a cough. Funny, I thought you didn't feel anything when you die... I thought ironically as I continued to deteriorate and Pearl was nothing more than a speck to my eyesight. My form was just a head now, but I was long past the point of caring...
"It was a good run..." I croaked, as I made my peace and closed my eyes for the last time....
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The world returned to me in the form of a sharp ringing noise you get when you've just been deafened by something...
It took me a few seconds to coherently make sense of what was going on and what had just happened, but by the time I had managed to do that I was already opening my eyes.
Everything was a blur as my vision swam and I fought to bring things into focus. I felt the cool floor of a wooden room followed by muffled shouting as the ringing in my ears slowly faded. At the same time I was also rubbing my face, trying to make sense of why I wasn't dead at the current moment.
My sight snapped back into focus with a blink as the ringing was replaced with the sound of something getting smashed and that's when I heard her voice.
"What. The. BUCK. did you do with my friend?!" Twilight's voice yelled a few feet in front of me.
My jaw dropped as I saw her face contorted in rage, her fur turned white and her mane on fire. She was mad. Beyond mad. More than I'd ever seen her be... She was also holding someone familiar in her magical grip. A gem. More specifically Pearl. Which was weird because hadn't she been in the gem?, mindscape??, gemscape??? with me a few seconds ago?!?
"T-Twilight?" I found myself asking, fear and worry laced in the words as I just spoke without thought.
The unicorn turned to me, her ears swiveling over to greet me first as she recognized my voice, and then her head. Her face went from angry, to confusion, to utter pain. I didn't know why she looked so upset.
That's when I discovered why she was looking at me that way. In the process of moving a hand forward to attempt to reassure her I was fine, though I have no clue how, I froze.
My hand wasn't the pearly white I remembered it being for the past year or so...
It was an ash grey...