A Twilight Rose Love

by Mystic Sunrise

Betrayal of Trust

Pearl sighed in relief as the chariot landed. “Glad to see Ponyville is still standing. We went away for a month, and I was worried.”

Twilight giggled as she directed the unloading of their luggage. “Oh come on, Rosie. Ponyville isn’t that bad. I’ve been gone for longer than this, and nothing has ever happened.”

Pearl snorted as they headed for the main door. “Yeah. But last time, we didn’t have a certain nine-tailed pain in my ass and his mate to worry about. They’ve been up to something. I know it.”

Twilight sighed. She would be lying if the thought hadn’t crossed her mind as well. But she trusted Kohaku and Summer to behave themselves.

I mean, she thought as they headed for the throne room, what’s the worst they can do? But as Twilight pushed open the doors to her throne room she stopped dead. Seeing the one thing she could never have guessed in a million years.

---

Kohaku happily floated in the air, cushioned by a pink cloud. His mate lay against his side reading an old beat-up copy of Daring Do with a purple bookmark ribbon reading ‘Property of Twilight’ on it in pink script. In Kohaku’s paws was a set of cards, flipping through them he looked up and over at his opponent. Laying down his cards Kohaku proudly announced. “Jin.”

“Dangnamit” Kohaku’s opponent growled slamming his lion fist into the pink cloud. Shaking it slightly as the trio hovered over Twilight’s empty throne.

“So when did you say those two would be returning?” Kohaku’s friend snarked.

“Hmmm sometime today, so you might not want to stick around.” Kohaku sighed. “I am glad you came, though. The last few months have been boring as hell after I sent you to the Void Between Worlds.”

“Yeah about that, did you have to be so rough?” A gray eyebrow lifted as the equine face smiled.

“Did you have to be so clumsy with my grave shrine?” Kohaku lifted his back in return. After a moment of silence, the pair shared a laugh.

“Okay I get it, I should have told you. But where would have been the fun in that?”

“True. And it did leave an extra avenue for me to stir things up a bit.” Kohaku continued to chuckle as he shuffled the deck again. “And I did have a lot of fun tearing you up like that. But you really didn’t have to ham it up that much.”

The trio were so busy with the game and taking snide remarks at each other they failed to notice the throne room doors open and a pair of ponies enter.

“Seriously you two still going on about that?” Tsumi chuckled as she shook her head at her mate and their long-standing friend. “I swear. If I have to hear another bad joke about Discord’s lousy acting I’m going to scream.” Her claw ideally circled around Kohaku’s tail base as he dealt out the next hand.

“OH common, my acting isn’t that…” Discord laughed before looking directly into the blazing eyes of Queen Twilight Sparkle. “Oh, horseapples.”

Kohaku blinked and sniffed the air before grimacing. Looking over his shoulder he saw Twilight fuming at the ears while Pearl was looking at the trio like she just got slammed over the head with something heavy. The only sound coming from the room, apart from Twilight’s huffing and puffing was his mate giggling. “You knew they were coming up.” Tsunami only giggled louder, nodding.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Discord groaned as Tsunami shook her head

“And where would be the fun in that.” She mockingly returned his words to him. Slipping from the cloud the dragoness swooped in and gave her little sister a hug. “Come on, you have got to tell me everything you did on your honeymoon. I want every dirty detail.”

“But.” Pearl gasped as she pointed to the drama-filling throne room.

“Oh no worries, I’ll tell you the whole story. I promise it’s a good one.” Tsumi smiled leading Pearl out of the danger zone.

“Say cordy, why don’t you head back to your place? I’ll smooth things over here.” Kohaku placed his paw on his friend's shoulder.

“If you say so, but you better have one hell of a silver tongue.” Discord grinned.

“If my mates’ screams are anything to go by, I do.” Kohaku watched as Discord chuckled louder and poofed before the fox landed on all four paws. “So how was the Honeymoon?”

Twilight couldn’t believe what she was looking at. Her own mind struggled at processing what she just saw. “What the buck Kohaku? I saw you rip him apart. How is he still here? You said your friendship with him was over, and now you're all buddy buddy again. After what he did to your shrine!” Twilight felt herself getting winded, not having breathed that heavily since the first night of her honeymoon. “Care to tell me what’s going on!”

“Hmm?” Kohaku smirked as he lead a swaying Twilight to her throne. “Oh yeah. I was planning on waiting another few hundred years. But I guess now is as good a time as any. The reports of my friend’s betrayal and desecration of my shrine were slightly… exaggerated.”

“He broke your shrine and stole your skull. Then placed it in the Everfree Forest for Fluttershy to find. How is that exaggerating?!” Twilight rubbed her temples with her hooves slowly as she closed her eyes.

“Well, he did take my skull but did so with my permission. I was just unaware of him breaking the shrine.” Kohaku produced an identical throne made of marble with a jade pillow next to Twilights. “I can only do so much outside of the Everfree Forest and I needed a solid medium.”

“Okay, assuming this isn’t some sick cosmic joke. Why don’t you tell me why you asked him to do that? It makes zero sense.”

“Not to you maybe. But okay, I’ll tell you everything. It goes back a few years when Pearl was still your student.” Kohaku produced a small bucket of popcorn and ideally munched on it as he spoke.

“Back then Tsumi and I would take turns, watching over her. We wanted to make sure that her beloved sister was well protected and cared for. I from my forest and her from the river. Pearl and her friends always like to camp out near both back then.” Leaning back he smiled at the memories. “Well, she would often talk about her crush. Never mentioning you per se, but it wasn’t hard for anyone with a lick of sense to know whom she was referring to.”

Twilight nodded slowly, now more familiar with Pearl’s past and the girl’s crush on her.

“Her friends would always tease her about it. While on the outside, she was all brave, my mate and I knew how she really felt. Even we thought it eventually would pass. Just a schoolgirl crush.”

“So what changed your mind on that?” Twilight brought a bit of the popcorn to her mouth.

“We watched her for years, seeing her look at you when you looked away. How she cried when she saw you and Flash together as a couple for the first time. That was too much for Tsumi. She wanted to do something then and there to get you two together, but I knew this wasn’t a simple fix. Romance and true love never are.”

Blinking Twilight tilted her head a bit. “Did you have anything to do with Flash and I breaking up?” Not that she cared now, she had her soulmate now, and Flash was happy with Sunset.

“Like it was hard. Two whispers were all it took one in his ear and one in yours.” Kohaku brushed it aside, reclining his throne. “Besides, if you and he were really destined for each other. You never would have heard them. I have to say it was a bit tougher with Pearl and Lotus.” That caught Twilight’s attention, her neck turned so quickly it cracked. “But my mate was adamant. She didn’t give up on that one. Thankfully she was able to save a friendship despite separating them. But I still thought it necessary to get her out of the picture. Hence my orchid and a few subliminal messages to get her out of Ponyville.”

“Let me get this straight, you and your mate…”

“And Discord,” Kohaku raised a finger.

“And Discord, have been playing with pony emotions for over a year now?!” Twilight felt her anger rise. She felt like it was the Grogar situation all over again. Playing with others’ lives like this. It wasn’t until she felt a paw finger on her lips that she settled down a bit.

“Twilight, I know you're upset right now, but let’s not do anything you’ll honestly live to regret.” Kohaku’s eyes were stern and caring. Twilight saw he didn’t fear what she was about to say but was afraid of what it would do to her and those she loved. She nodded slowly as his finger was removed. “We didn’t play with your emotions, even we don’t have that power. We just played the events and gambled on your emotions leading you to the right path. The three of us owed you a debt. A large one. Yes, it was caused by Discord, but his efforts in this were one of redemption. One I hope you’ll take to heart. He misses his friends.” Kohaku’s paw softly touched Twilight’s shoulder.

“He wanted to see you happy, my mate wanted to see Pearl happy. And I had the power to make all this happen. Altering perceptions and events to suit my needs is kinda what Kitsune’s do. Usually, we do this as a laugh and a joke. But this time. We did this to bring two souls who belong together, well together.”

“So all of this? You being trapped here when you could have left at any time?”

“Oh no, I was trapped here, that wasn’t a lie. I knew what would happen. And it made my job easier. I was able to form a lasting friendship with you and Pearl. And guide you two together.”

“Okay, I think I understand. But I’m still a little hazy on it.” Twilight sighed, rubbing her temples again.

“So you let yourself be trapped here for months on end. While I struggled to learn your language and the spell needed to restore your shrine? That seems a bit much.” Twilight looked at Kohaku as he looked up and whistled slightly. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me!”

“Yeah, I might have exaggerated that too. There is no spell for shrine restoration. Hell, I fixed it with a simple snap of my fingers while you and Pearl were dazzled by a light show that spell created.

“All those months I spend learning all of that? For what?” Twilight growled as she saw him smile.

“To put a strain on you and Pearl’s relationship. Which it did beautifully. Getting Luster in on the mix too wasn’t easy. That girl has a great mind, quite resistant to most forms of subliminal whispers. Thankfully Discord was able to sneak a few things in there.”

Twilight felt her head spin. “Speaking of Discord? What did you really do to him? All that anger had to come from somewhere or was that just a show?”

“Most of it was a special effect. But I wasn’t happy when you told me he actually broke my shrine. He said he was going to be careful. But ol butterclaws had to buck it up.” Kohaku huffed a bit. “And hide it from me to boot. I enjoyed ripping him apart. But rather than scatter his essence. I just tossed him into the cellar of Pinkie’s Inn Between Realities.” Smiling, he saw her mind slowly breaking down on that one.

“Sis knew what was going on with my temper and put a stop to it. She always knew how to calm me down. Plus being grounded kinda helped me stretch things out even more.”

“Stretch what out?”

“The time it took to actually learn what you ‘needed’,” his paws making quotations in the air. “Shifting your perspective. Altering words and images making them less readable. Normally with your mind, you would have learned it all in the ballpark of a week. I had to do something to stretch it out and increase the tension between you and Pearl.”

“Okay, why would you want to put tension between me and Pearl when you all were so adamant about us being together?” Twilight huffed.

“It’s an old family tradition. Over the course of a thousand years. The family on both sides tests a couple to see just how far they are willing to overcome the differences in each other before they become mated. Pushing both individuals to their breaking points while at the same time offering kind and sage relationship advice. Teaching them that no matter the hardship. Facing life together is worth the pain you feel as you walk it.” Kohaku sighed remembering all his family and his mates did to them. “I and Sumi had a trimmed-down version of it. It only lasted a hundred years. I had to trim it down even further. Especially after I learned about the eastern dragons coming to Equestria. Tiamat’s growing interest in Pearl. And my counterpart showing up. Thankfully that one did more to bring you and her together faster than anything Tsumi and I did.”

“Is that why our lives got easier after that? You two backed off?” Twilight watched as Kohaku nodded.

“You’re part of our family now Twilight. All of the stress Pearl was feeling was from Tsumi. Since they are spiritually family. For you. I took personal responsibility for putting and aiding you through all of this. You stopped the Legion of Doom from draining magic from Equestria, saving all our lives. All this is your just reward. The throne of a queen and the one soul in the universe fit to sit next to you for all eternity.” Kohaku smiled placing a paw on her shoulders.

“Hardly, Pearl may live longer now, but she’s not immortal. She’s not an Alicorn.” Twilight blinked as she saw Kohaku didn’t meet her gaze. “Do you know something I don’t?”

Raising his eyebrow Kohaku smiled. “What you don’t know could fill a forest. But about this, you’ll just have to wait and see. The two of you are going to be receiving a draconic visitor soon with her own wedding present.” Producing a scroll with a heart on it, Kohaku handed it to Twilight. “This is my way of repaying all the pain I put you two through. I personally copied and translated this for you from my sister Riko’s library. I think you and Pearl will enjoy its content for the future.” Kohaku smiled as Twilight opened the scroll and started to Read it.

As Twilight scanned the scroll she shook with delight. She knew there were avenues for children available to her, but nothing like this. “So, am I forgiven?” Kohaku’s voice brought her back to her senses.

Twilight looked at the twelve-hoof high fox. His tails lightly fanned behind him as she saw the child-like look on his face. How could she truly be mad at him? Yes, he had interfered with her life. In Pearl’s life. Their whole relationship from start to end was nothing but manipulation by three powerful spirits. She wanted to be done with them all. She dug her hoof into the ground and gritted her teeth.

Thoughts of Pearl flashed in her mind. They had brought her the one soul who made her feel special. They had taught her what being a true ruler meant and the sacrifices it required. Looking at Kohaku she saw a shadow of Discord behind him. The two were so alike. Tricky and manipulative. Thrived on chaos and protective of those they loved. Everything they had done made sense. They had taught her lesions she would always remember. Even if she didn’t like the outcome. And they were both willing to accept that they would be hated for it.

Letting out a sigh Twilight dropped and shook her head. “No mas…” with another sigh she looked up and smiled. “Yes, I forgive you. Both of you.” Twilight soon found herself in a three-way hug between her, Kohaku, and Discord.

“But you two troublemakers still have a lot to answer for. And a lot of trust to rebuild.” Twilight sat firmly in her seat. Gone were the days of the old Princess, now she was facing them down as Queen. Her eyes set firm as she met theirs. Inside she trembled in fear. How could she not with such powerful beings in front of her? With a word, they could end her existence. But this was her kingdom, not theirs. And she would not back down, ever. A smile came to her face when they both bowed down in unison.

“We promise,” the pair’s voice reverberated with a promise only gods would make. And one they would keep.

---

Pearl sighed as she sat there on the edge of her wedding bed. Her hoof lightly brushed along the new shape it had. A perfect circle with pillows bunched together in the center. She could lay anywhere and enjoy the view. All around her, she watched the birds dance in the sky. Kohaku and Summer had given her and Twilight something her counterpart enjoyed all the time.

Feather-filled mattress and pillows. And a spell that changed the upper half of the room to a reflection of the outside. Making her feel all the heavy winds without it so much as shifting a piece of paper. A wedding present her sister called it.

“Sis?”

“Relax, you're forgiven. Kohaku too.” The whole truth laid bare for her by her sister’s own volition. How could she be angry with them? Not when she was the happiest she had ever been in her life. Married to the mare of her childhood dreams and fantasies. “Not sure if I want to forgive Discord or not. He should have been more careful with that shrine.”

“I know, I put a beatdown on him a little worse than what Kohaku did. After all, I worked hard on crafting that piece of jade. It wasn’t easy either.”

Pearl nodded softly and nuzzled against her dragon sister. “Thanks. I never would have gotten this far without all of you.”

“Oh sure you would, we just wanted to see it happen now rather than a few centuries from now when your family isn’t around. After all, they should enjoy the memories you’ll give them while they are here to have them.”

Pearl couldn’t argue with that. “I’m still going to give him the beatdown of his life. I’ll make yours look tame by comparison. And then I’m going to do the same to Kohaku. I’ve been using him as my punching bag for a year now. Time to step it up a notch. Not like I can hurt him anyway.”

Summer sighed. “The things he does for family.”

Pearl giggled. “Hey. At least now my fox plushie can retire and finally rest from being my punching bag. This is more fun.”

Summer looked over at the plushie in question. For being as old as it was, it looked brand new, but she could also see where repair work had been done. Lovingly and with care.

Pearl saw the look and sighed. “As much abuse as I dished out, I always made sure never to ruin him. I took lessons from the mare who made him so I could always fix any damage I did.”

Summer smirked. “Aren’t you a little old for a plushie? No matter how cute he is and well-loved you've been with him."

Pearl smirked right back. “I don’t know. Aren’t you a little old to still be seeing an immature teenager?”

Summer stuck out her tongue, “Only mentally. It was much worse when he WAS a teenager.” Which only got another giggle from her sister, and a moment later, they were both laughing up a storm.

Comments

[PonyofEntropy]

Nice update.