How do limited use metamagic cost reductions interact with regained prepared spells

Question

If my wizard has the feat Metamagic School Focus (Conjuration), and prepares and casts three Summon Monster V, with the Imbue Summoning metamagic, then uses a pearl of power V to regain one of those expended spells, what happens?

1. My wizard regains the Summon Monster V, with the Imbue Summoning effect, as a 5th level spell.
2. My wizard regains the Summon Monster V, without the Imbue Summoning effect.
3. That expended spell is not a valid target for the pearl of power.
4. My wizard somehow regains the Summon Monster V, with the Imbue Summoning effect, as a sixth level spell.

Answer 1

Situation 1: You regain the spell, with its metamagic, as a 5th level spell.

According to the D&D 3.5 FAQ, p. 62:

Any metamagic effects (or other effects that altered the spell's level) apply, so a 5th level pearl of power can recall the quickened magic missile you've already cast, but not the empowered cone of cold (since that's a 7th-level spell).

• The base spell, summon monster v, is 5th level.
• Imbued Summoning increases that to a 6th level spell.
• Metamagic School Focus reduces the metamagic level cost by one. It's a 5th level spell again.

Since the pearl considers the level after all effects that alter its level, an Imbued summon monster v is a 5th level spell, and a 5th level pearl can recover it.

However, you do not recover the spell you imbued the creature with when you cast it. That's a separate spell with its own slot.

The only other complication is that you can only have three Metamagic School Focus spells prepared at a time, but casting one of your three and then recovering it with a pearl does not break this restriction.

Answer 2

The pearl of power (Dungeon Master's Guide 263) (1,000+ gp; 0 lbs.), in part, says, "Once per day on command, a pearl of power enables the possessor to recall any one spell that she had prepared and then cast. The spell is then prepared again, just as if it had not been cast."

When the caster activates the pearl of power, the spell is reprepared no matter what the caster's done to the spell.

For example, a caster prepares the 5th-level Sor/Wiz spell summon monster V [conj] (Player's Handbook 286–7) that was modified by the metamagic feat Imbued Summoning (Player's Handbook II 92) (that normally adjusts the slot required for the spell by +1) that, in turn, was affected by the general feat Metamagic School Focus (conjuration) (Complete Mage 45) (that then adjusts a metamgic-modified spell's slot by −1). When the caster activates her pearl of power (5th-level spell), she'll reprepare that 5th-level spell, just as she had when she first prepared it, complete with the Imbued Summoning metamagic modification.

However, repreparing that spell doesn't impact the spells that've been expended due to having been imbued upon a creature via the feat Imbued Summoning! The benefit of the feat Imbued Summoning, in part, says

When you cast a spell from the summoning subschool, you can choose to grant the summoned creature or creatures the benefit of any spell of 3rd level or lower you can cast that has a range of touch. You cast the spell you wish to grant the creature (using a prepared spell or a spell slot) at the same time you cast your summoning spell. The creature or creatures gains the benefit of the spell when it appears.

So the spell that's piggybacking onto the summoning subschool because of the feat Imbued Summoning is a separate spell that's cast independently, therefore unaffected by the pearl. Thus, while the caster gets back the summon monster V spell using the pearl, the caster doesn't also get back her invisibility spell that she used the first time she cast that summon monster V spell.