Ponnie

Ponnie is the non-binary ship between Pearl and Connie Maheswaran from the Steven Universe fandom.

TV Series
Pearl and Connie first meet at the end of "Bubble Buddies". But when Pearl tries to introduce herself, Garnet stops her by saying not to mess with Steven's "funky flow".

In "Lion 2: The Movie" Pearl warps into the house, posing in an attempt to impress Connie. Having recently reformed, Pearl with her new outfit feigns surprise at seeing her.

In "Fusion Cuisine" it initially seems that Pearl is going to be chosen to attend a dinner to meet Connie's parents. But Pearl's aversion to eating food results in high jinks when Alexandrite (the fusion of Pearl, Amythest and Garnet) is chosen instead.

In "Alone Together" Pearl is shocked and surprised to see the Steven had been able to fuse with Connie to become Stevonnie. Pearl initially thought the fusion between a gem and a human as 'unprecedented', 'impossible', 'or at the very least inappropriate'. Insisting the two should unfuse immediately, though Pearl would quickly grow out of this mindset.

In "Full Disclosure" Pearl tells Connie, 'I don't understand your human relationships.'

Since "Sworn to the Sword" Connie convinced Pearl to teach her sword fighting by appearing very passionate and devoted to staying by the side of Steven and the Crystal Gems in protecting Earth. This struck a chord with Pearl and moved her to the point of tears, with this resulting in her strict and rigorous training of Connie. Pearl takes them to the "Ancient Sky Arena" for training and explains the history and significance of this place. She hands Connie a sword and explains the concept of being a knight and that Connie is nothing more than a protector. The two share a mutually respectful mentor-student relationship, in which Connie starts to call Pearl as "Ma'am". Pearl tells Connie to bow then proceeds to summon a "Holo-Pearl", which Connie thinks is cool. Pearl instructs onnie on the correct stance while singing "Do It for Her", which Connie joins in a duet. Connie's greatly improves her sword-fighting ability, but Pearl's emphasis on self-sacrifice and self-denial durring training causes Steven to grow concerned. Steven interferes, leading to Pearl having a breakdown. Connie and Steven comfort Pearl, after a heartfelt conversation, she calms down and comes around to a more lenient viewpoint.

In "Nightmare Hospital" Connie displays the results of her sword training under Pearl when a "Cluster Gem" attacks the hospital.

At "Steven's Birthday" Pearl and Connie are a team together, playing badminton against Steven and Amethyst.

In "Gem Hunt" Connie goes on her first official mission alongside Pearl and Steven. At the start of the mission Connie thanks Pearl for allowing her to come along. Pearl compliments Connie by saying that she has greatly improved from her training and can easily handle the mission, Connie bows to Pearl and blushes. After the mission Pearl shows great pride in her pupil's performance.

In "Crack the Whip" Pearl is unable to attend a training session with Connie, due to needing to go on a missing with Garnet to track down Jasper. Connie understands, realizing the importance of the mission. Amythest volinteers to instruct training insteed resulting in Connie to be critical of her unorthodox methods.

In "Buddy's Book" Connie learns more about Pearl's and the Crystal Gems' history, when she and Steven find "Buddy Buddwick's Journal'.

In "Mindful Education" Pearl and Garnet instuct a special training session to help strengthen the fusion between Connie and Steven.

In "Gem Karaoke" Connie sing while Pearl plays the tambourine.

In "The New Crystal Gems" durring the absence of Pearl and the other members of the Crystal Gems, Connie, Peridot, Lapis and Pumpkin substitute in forming "The Crystal Temps".

In "I Am My Mom" Pearl joins the effert to rescue Connie and the other kidnapped humans from Aquamarine. While the rescue of Connie is successful it ends in the capture of Steven and Lars.

In "Lars' Head" Pearl and Connie are working along side the other Crystal Gem's to think of a plan to rescue Steven.

In "Reunited" Pearl and Connie are both members of the bridal party for Ruby's and Saphire's wedding. Later on they both join the battle against Blue Diamond and Yellow Diamond.

In "Leg's From Here to Homeworld" when the Crystal Gems go on a diplomatic mission to the Gem Homeworld, Pearl is with Connie to tell her parents that everything will be alright. Pearl tells them that she will be by Connie's side the whole time, and reassures that there is an atmosphere she Connie will be able to breath.

In "Together Alone" Pearl stores Connie inside her gem, alongside Garnet and Amythest, in order to sneak them into the Diamond Palace. When the Diamond Authority organise a ball intially only Pearl and Connie were permitted to attend, being viewed as Steven's property and pet.

In "Escapism" and "Change Your Mind" Connie helps Steven in rescuing Pearl, Garnet and Amythest and escaping Homeworld. When the Crystal Gems are corrupted by White Diamond, Pearl is forced to do combat with Connie, pitting the student against her mentor. While it initialy seems Connie won the conflict, she is momentarily distracted leading to Pearl catching her with her guard down. Pearl is made to keep Connie restrained and gagged as they watch Steven's gem to torn out by White Diamond. In the end, once Steven is saved and White Diamond's control over the Crystal Gems is broken the heroes celebrate and Pearl and Connie embrace with a hug.

In "Steven Universe: The Movie" Connie returns early from Space Camp to help Pearl and the other Crystal Gems save Beach City. Later on the pair accompany the other Crystal Gems in a musical number.

In "Bismuth Casual" Pearl and Connie are joined by Steven and Bismuth at the Starlight Roller Rink, where everyone is introduced to Pearl's and Connie's extended friend groups (Khadijah, Jaime and Brandish for Pearl, and Patricia and Daniel for Connie).

In "Everything's Fine" and "I Am My Monster" Connie and Pearl alongside the other Crystal Gems, Greg and the Diamonds, try to comfort and support Steven durring his breakdown and corruption into a giant monster.

In "The Future" Connie and Pearl are together with the others to see Steven off once he finally leaves.

Comics
In "Library: part 1 & 2" Pearl becomes sick after storing too many items inside her gem, she was cleaning up a mess left by Steven and Connie. When Pearl was laying incapacitated on the couch Coonie stayed by her side, to try and tend to her illness.

In "Storytime" Connie reads one of her favorite books to Pearl. At first Pearl realy enjoys the story, but she gets frustrated when she finds out her favorite character isn't the hero.

In "Too Cool For School" Pearl helps to save Connie's school from a giant slime monster.

In "Issue 1 (2017)" Connie finished a session with Pearl where she had to endure multiple Holo-Pearls ganged up on her.

In "Issue 12 (2018)" Connie has a sleepover at the temple to help her destress, Pearl plans out a schedual for the night. The two join in activities such as baking cupcakes, playing twister and videogames, a pillow fight and nail painting (for which Pearl compliments Connie on her polishing technique). Afterwards they go stargazing and Pearl aids Connie with the telescope, Pearl even points out the galaxies she's had visited when she was younger.

In "Issue 18 (2018)" Connie, Steven and Amythest go to the Sky Arena for training with Pearl. On the blackboard it is shown that Connie has earned more "Pearl Points" than Steven. Pearl takes Connie for a private lesson and tells Steven to go off with Amythest. Afterwards Connie reads a book on fencing techniques in order to impress Pearl. However Pearl points out that the techniques she is reading are for fencing blades and aren't realy viable with "Rose's Sword" which Connie uses. Later on Pearl and Amythest duel against Connie and Steven, in which Pearl disarms Connie until everyone resorts to fusion.

In "Issue 20 (2018)" Connie is absolutely exhausted after a particularly intense training session with Pearl. Back at the temple Pearl gives Connie a glass of lemonade and says that she is so proud of her little warrior, to which Connie replies that she is learning from the best. However they immediatly have to go on a mission to the Strawberry Battlefield. Pearl explains to Connie the importance of the area durring the Gem War Rebellion. They are soon attacked by a flock of giant birds, Connie attemps to cause a distraction and lead the birds away but she quickly gets overwelmed, getting herself cornered on a tiny floating islet. Pearl and Garnet need to fuse into Sardonyx in order to save Connie. After the battle one of the birds escape. The gems ask if Connie is ok, she says that she is even though deep down she feels like she's a failure. The next day Connie is found on the beach, she says she's been practising with her sword since the early hours of the morning. She suggests a quick training duel, but gets embarced when she is swiftly defeated by Steven of all people. Connie says that she just needs to study up and she'll be ready for traing with Pearl that afternoon. When Connie arives for training she is surprised when she is told she is instead need for a special mission. Connie is taken back to the Strawberry Battlefield, she initially thinks the mission is to hunt down the bird that got away, but Pearl informs her that the special mission is actually a picnic. Connie has an emotional breakdown, freaking out that they should be training, she expresses how she's ashamed that she struggled and failed to take down a single corrupted gem bird. Pearl reasures Connie that while training is indeed important it is just as important remember that a balanced life is key. Connie manages to calm down and enjoy the afternoon picnic. After a while Connie is feeling much better when they are interupted by the last giant bird. Leaping into action Connie is able to single-handedly defeat the bird, much to Pearl's pride.

In "Harmony" Pearl sacrifices herself after coming up with the plan to harmonize with the Crystal Core in order to free Connie from her imprisonment trance. Connie later aids in restoring Pearl.

In "Issue 24 (2019)" the Crystal Gems clean up the Luna Blossum Grove to surprise Connie and Pearl.

In "Camp Pining Play" Pearl and Connie act the roles of Paulette and Penelope.

In "Issue 30 (2019)" after defeating a giant gem dragon Pearl works tirelessly to try and repair the damage caused to Beach City. Connie asks Pearl to take a break and come join the celebrating townsfolk, pearl reluctantly agrees for now. Pearl gets mad at herself when she catches herdelf actually having fun when there is still work to do. Connie tries to remind Pearl of when she taught her balance is key, but feeling stressed Pearl angrily snaps at Connie. Pearl immediately regrets her actions when she sees how hurt Connie is, as she runs off to bed in tears. The next morning Connie wakes up to find Pearl, who had worked all night to fix the temple. Seeing Connie Pearl apologizes for how she acted last night. Connie offers to help finish the repairs. Later Pearl calms down and remembers, balance is key.

Video Games
Connie and Pearl both appear in the now unavaiable browser game "Sword Dancers", as the player character and final boss respectively. The game was an emulation of one of Pearl's and Connie's sword training sessions.

Quotes
"'Yes, ma'am!'""-Connie""'This is an Ancient Sky Arena, Connie, where some of the first battles for Earth took place. It was here that I became familiar with the human concept of being a knight, completely dedicated to a person and a cause. This is what you must become, Connie; brave, selfless, loyal... a knight!'""-Pearl""'Thank you so much for letting me come on this mission, Pearl! It's such an honor to work alongside you.'""-Connie""'Well, Connie, your sword fighting skills have far exceeded my expectations. And, with my careful supervision, of course, I'm confident that you can handle a simple Gem recovery mission like this.'""-Pearl""'Thank you so much! I promise I won't let you down, ma'am.'""-Connie""'Connie, you are my pupil, so I know your combat skills are excellent. But I'm afraid this is too risky. You've never been in a real fight before.'""-Pearl""'But... Shouldn't we be training?'""-Connie""'Well, training is important. But balance is key after all!'""-Pearl"

Fanon
Ponnie is a somewhat niche but relatively popular ship within the fandom. Sporting numerous fanfics and fanart, both SFW and NSFW. A common theme within the fandom is the "College AU", which normally sees Connie aged up and attending college, with Pearl being a residential professor.

Shipping between Pearl and Connie primarily stems from their dynamic in the episode "Sworn to the Sword". In which the two begin a Student/ Teacher relationship, as Pearl instructs Connie in the art of swordfighting. Resulting in the platonic, mutual respect such relationship entails.

This coupling can often be considered as a controversial pair within the fan base, much like other ships with a similar dynamic.

Inturn this has lead to some fans to view this pair as a one-sided "Hot for Teacher" type ship, with Connie having an unrequited crush on her mentor Pearl. Alternatively some fans have viewed the ship in the reverse as a "Hot for Student" type ship, with Pearl pining after her protégé. Aditionally there are fans who will "Age-Up" Connie and hold this pair as a "Mutual Attraction" ship for fun.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Pearl/Connie tag on FanFiction.Net
 * Pearl/Connie tag on FanFiction.Net

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