//------------------------------// // Three, Two, Boo // Story: My Little Universe: Season 2 // by EquestrianKirin //------------------------------// The summer fun time was beginning to loosen its grip on Beach City. Summer had its fun and surprises, but the warm weather was starting to shift away with the arrival of the cool autumn winds. However, aside from that, very little had changed weather wise. When it came to the group though, things had gone a bit testy with Jasper. Having yet to be given any explanation from Garnet, the orange Gem had pretty much ditched the Gems for a while, needing some distance before she destroyed anyone or anything. Speaking of Garnet, the revelation of Sapphire and Lapis's involvement with Blue Diamond soon got to the other Gems. So far though, being members of a court who knew how long ago was all they really knew with the two. What they did, how they were treated, or why they no longer follow was still something they both agreed should wait for another time. Secretive, yes, but necessary far as Garnet was concern. Within Beach City, one of the ponies were in for another visit, which was starting to become a more normal occurrence for the place so any awkwardness with them in town was diminished for the most part. Steven decided to bring Twilight out for some lunch at a place called Beach Citywalk Fries; a sort of fry stand along the Beach City Boardwalk. While it was originally just for him to have some Twilight time, Amethyst and Peridot joined too on their trip. Steven didn't protest on it. In no time at all, they arrived right to the place in question, Steven ready to order. "Hey buddy, I'd like -" before he finished, his order suddenly was placed right in front of him, the cashier already knowing what Steven wanted. The kid there didn't look much older than Steven, yet he seemed to be handling himself just fine. He had blond, wavy hair on the top of his head that resembles an arrangement of steak fries. He also appeared to be missing an upper tooth, leaving a notable gap in his teeth. He was wearing a white tank top, cargo shorts, and yellow slip-on sandals. "Wow, thanks!" Steven beamed. He had a smile on his face, leaning on the counter. "Yep, seen ya coming up," the kid replied. It was then he noticed Twilight nearby, his mood quickly changed to a worried one. "Oh, hey. Uh, you one of those magic ponies, aren't ya?" He said after seeing her. Twilight nodded, as Peridot began to fiddle with her screen behind her, as per usual. "Yeah that's right. Been around for a while." "So I've heard ... Uh, you're not going to, uh ..." It got to the point when he started to back up slightly, as Twilight got her front hooves on the counter. Twilight was a smart pony, and could get a pretty good guess as to why he would be a bit concern personally. "Don't worry, I'm not going to cause any trouble." "You're not?" "Course not! I'm not like that other unicorn," Twilight assured him. The kid gave a sigh of relief, his nerves gone and worry for any bad magic antics not coming around anytime soon. Twilight couldn't blame him though for making sure, especially after the trouble this "unicorn" had caused for Beach City before. Soon, he got back to the counter, calmer than before. "Thanks for the fry bits," Steven said, paying for the food. Amethyst also got double fry bits, and Twilight just got the same thing later on mainly because she didn't know what else to get from the place. Peridot didn't exactly order anything, but felt she wanted to try some stuff from the others anyway. As they left, they sat down by an outside beach table to enjoy their Fry Bits. Peridot didn't act too interested, though she did want to try it personally. Steven and Amethyst went right at it while Twilight and Peridot both shared a curious sort of look, like a look that a scientist would use when looking at a experimental flask. Out of the two, Twilight tried a fry bit first, focusing on the taste. "Hm ... Hot, crunchy, but pretty good," Twilight concluded, swallowing her fry bit. Peridot was about to try it for herself, but, before she could, she suddenly had an odd feeling over her. Looking around, she then heard the distinct sound of an iPhone camera flash. Looking around quickly, Peridot tried to find the source of the flash noise for a little bit until she noticed someone nearby. He looked a bit like the kid who gave them their food; similar skin, steak fry hair, though he looked older and bigger. he wore a burgundy collared shirt with orange and yellow flames covered by his apron, untucked, and tan cargo shorts that reach his knees. He also had the source of the noise; an iPhone aimed right at them, and a laptop in front of him. Seemed obvious this human was in the mood for some snapshots. Soon, Steven looked to where Peridot saw him. "Hey, Ronaldo!" Steven said with glee, exposing him. Ronaldo walked out, putting his iPhone away. "What were you doing with that?" Peridot asked. Ronaldo practically ignored Peridot (for the moment) in favor of studying the Alicorn. "Intriguing. And what might you be?" Ronaldo asked, a keen eye looking her over. Twilight kept calm, though thought she was past this point of awkward interaction months ago. "Uh, I'm Twilight. Ronaldo, right?" "Right. And you are, as rumors say, a otherworldly creature. True?" Ronaldo asked, a hand on the table. Ronaldo seemed very serious about these questions, making Twilight a little bit uncomfortable - something the other kid noticed. "Ronaldo, please don't bother the customers," he insisted. Ronaldo looked to him, and then back to Twilight. "Excuse me for a moment," Ronaldo said, walking over to the other kid working. The others watched him go. "Peedee, what're you doing? This is very important," Ronaldo asked in a hush. "But we're in the middle of work here, can you hold off until they're finished before you interrogate?" Peedee asked. Ronaldo looked less serious after that. "And miss on such a big opportunity? You and I both know such a breakthrough waits for no man," Ronaldo retorted, though he acted more humbled than threatening. However, Twilight eventually got up with Steven, letting Amethyst and Peridot have their fry bits, and went to Ronaldo. "What breakthrough?" Twilight asked. Ronaldo and Peedee looked to them both, Twilight not trying to be rough in tone. It was hard though when someone tried to take snapshots behind her back. "Ronaldo, she's awesome," Steven insisted. However, Ronaldo kneeled down to her level. "You positive? Or maybe you're a spy sent down on earth, trying to learn our secrets and overrule our race?" Ronaldo said firmly. Again, Twilight can get a pretty good guess on where he could've gotten that kind of idea, though that didn't mean she didn't feel no less odd with the whole thing. "Okay, you're only half right; I'm not from this world, but I'm not having any plan to overthrow anypony, thank you," Twilight cleared up. Ronaldo kept a sort of judging stare but eventually a smile showed up on his face. "Alright, I'll keep your word for it. If you wouldn't mind," Ronaldo said, bringing out his iPhone again. Twilight still wasn't sure what Ronaldo was trying to exactly do, as he aimed the camera at her for a full picture. Peridot showed up again, just her levitation to take the iPhone away to examine it. The fact she did that both annoyed and interested Ronaldo, as Peridot looked over the small object. "What is this? Another touch screen?" Peridot wondered aloud. Ronaldo quickly snatched it away, bugging Peridot a little bit, when Twilight asked "So, what're you trying to do?" Seemed a question like that got Ronaldo more excited than most. "Discovering the big answers, my dear. There's so much hidden from the mere public, activity beyond any simple mind, and I'm here to bring them to light. The weird and supernatural is something that must be known to those who'd gone blind in this world." Ronaldo's enthusiasm in his statement did catch Twilight off guard, along with Peridot, though Amethyst and Steven took it in stride. From what he was saying, Ronaldo's was putting his goals pretty high in pedestal in uncovering these confidential secrets and paranormal activities. Still, Peridot leaned to Peedee after Ronaldo gave his explanation. "Is this normal human behavior?" Peridot asked in a whisper. "Only to Ronaldo," replied Peedee, in a similar hushed tone. Still, despite the odd accusation, Twilight seemed to take some interest in Ronaldo; first human she met so far since first arriving that was this focused on such things. The only humans Twilight met that came close were Greg, Steven, and Connie, yet Ronaldo seemed fully on it. "Sounds like you're really deep in this stuff, huh?" Twilight asked. "Of course. Have you seen how much activity has been happening around here?! Look at these site studies," Ronaldo said, turning his open laptop to the alicorn. The site Ronaldo was on himself was actually a sort of blog, entitled "Keep Beach City Weird". A straightforward title, though what information amongst the blog posts actually gave Twilight a bit more interest; stuff on it included a human shaped watermelon, a surprisingly good shot of Peridot's duel with Sombra, and even included Steven, only his fingers were strangely a set of cute kitty heads instead of regular fingers, him smiling for the camera. Peridot and Twilight both were surprised Ronaldo had gotten so much information about Beach City, and without them knowing either. "And all of this activity had been happening here?" Peridot asked. Even if she was a Gem herself, and the magical weird stuff was more normal to her, she wasn't around long enough to experience everything within Beach City. Plus, she wasn't aware her duel with Sombra was actually documented, and put up on a blog already. "Correct; and this is just scratching the surface of what the weird and wonderful have to offer," Ronaldo explained, feeling a strong sense of pride in his work. Peridot looked over to Steven, who smiled and shrugged when they did see his picture with the kitten fingers. The picture didn't look faked or cropped much, so, they only wondered how the heck Steven managed to pull that off. After Amethyst finished off the fry bits (and the bags they came in), the Gem went right over to them. "Geesh, you gone through enough yet, Ghostbuster?" Amethyst joked. "No way! My studies are going on tonight; rumors of some paranormal happenings located at the lighthouse beacon an explanation," Ronaldo revealed, actually pointing to the lighthouse, which they can actually see from where they were. "Need me to cover for you?" Peedee asked, though not sounding upset. "Para-normality's never active within the light of day; I'll hold off until tonight," Ronaldo concluded. Peedee understood why Ronaldo would wait, and was glad he was gonna help out still. ~~~~~~ As night approached, the four went back to the Beach House after their lunch time. Since figuring out about this blog, Peridot had been a bit busy with looking over what other freaky stuff had happened before she showed up. As she was, the others were a bit more wondering on what Ronaldo was going to do at the lighthouse, or what paranormal activity he was talking about. The only main activity that happened before was with Sombra and Tirek, but both of their activities were erased completely from the spot. What else was there that they don't know about? "What else you found, Peri?" Amethyst asked, not having much else to do. At the moment, Peridot was at one blog post describing some 'foreign flowers appearing within the city' when Amethyst got her attention. "This Ronaldo had gathered more information than I thought," Peridot said to herself, seeing post after post of different information on all sorts of odd stuff. As they were doing so, one of the other Gems from the back came around after a bit; Lapis Lazuli. "Hey guys? Had any of you seen Garnet around? I wanted to talk to her for a bit," Lapis asked. "Beats me," Amethyst replied. Lapis seemed bummed out by that comment, but only sighed. "Well, thanks anyway. I'll be back later," Lapis said, heading out the door. The others had noticed that, since the discovery of Blue Diamond's message, they both had been around each other a bit more. Maybe it was because they were involved in the same court or for the sake of similarities that they shared. Either way, they didn't had too much of else to really go on, and their interaction was purely of a speculation. It was a bit late, as Steven looked outside. the placement of the Lighthouse was literally right above them, so, he could occasionally see the light beamed off of it during the night. That night it wasn't much different; seeing the beamer along the ocean. Seeing the light reminded Steven on what Ronaldo was up to. "How do you guys think Ronaldo's doing?" Steven asked. "Eh, he's probably running around like an idiot in there, don't worry about it," Amethyst said, fluffing his hair. "But, do you guys really think something ghostly's going on in that lighthouse?" "Steven, don't worry about Ronaldo; there's no ghosts anywhere here," Twilight assured him. However, coming from a pony who's world was full of centaurs, dragons, and magic alone, that seemed a bit out of place to say that something doesn't really exist. "You sure? You live in such a magical place, are you sure Ghosts don't exist?" "Steven, Magic is a skill you're born with, and is able to be proven and studied on. Paranormal activity can be easily explained as just simple mundane, everyday things that go on around wherever somepony says is "haunted". Don't you worry about a thing, Steven," Twilight assured again. Twilight went down, and prepared to leave; using the magic key and going on her way. She still had stuff to do back home anyway. After Twilight had left, a few hours into the night had past and Steven still was awake a little bit. His curiosity got him thinking on Ronaldo a bit more, just staring up at the ceiling in thought. At that point, the only other person with him was Peridot, who was actually still looking over the blogs on Ronaldo's page. After a bit, Steven turned over to her. "Hey, Peridot? Do you believe in ghosts?" Steven asked. "Mind informing me on what a ghost is first?" Peridot asked. The Homeworld Gem, although looking through the blog from Ronaldo, didn't really understood what a ghost actually was, as the blog posts didn't really give her enough information to work with. Steven thought for a moment on what he considered to be a ghost. "Well, you can't normally see a ghost. They fly around old buildings and love to scare people," Steven explained. Childish, but, it was the best Peridot was going to get really. However, Peridot had gotten information that was, more or less, too childish to make ghosts an actual threat to worry over. Steven, though, had seen many TV shows that included ghosts, and knew how much trouble they can be. If the Lighthouse was indeed haunted, then Ronaldo might be in a bit of trouble. "... Is that it?" Peridot asked, eyebrow up and arms crossed. "Oh, and you can't exactly attack a ghost; you can't touch or hurt one. I think they can possess anything too." Peridot suddenly felt a bit unsure of her previous statement; troubling, but, if they can possess anything around ... "Possess? You mean, take control?" "I think so. A ghost can possess a pencil, a bed, the fridge, the TV ... your enhancers," Steven said, after thinking. The second he mentioned that, Peridot immediately grew a little concern over what a ghost could do to her limb enhancers. Move them around? attack her with them? Wreck them?! "There is a method to remove said ghost, right?" Peridot asked. Steven thought for a bit, but eventually just shrugged, worrying Peridot a bit more. At least Steven's beach house wasn't haunted by anything paranormal, far as she was concern. "Let's leave him to his own risks," Peridot insisted, not wanting to come face to face with any ghost, if one really is there. Steven looked back up to the ceiling, knowing that Ronaldo would probably end up there by now. Steven simply sighed after a bit; Ronaldo was a bit more experienced with his own antics than Steven was. With a yawn and a stretch, Steven decided to head back to sleep, as Peridot was still going through her own stuff, comfortable that there was no ghost in the Beach House. ~~~~~~ Back at the Light House in question, Ronaldo had arrived to the area for his personal investigation. Unlike before, he had a sort of army camouflage outfit rather than his other uniform back at the Citywalk Fries. He was ready for anything. No sooner after he arrived, he went straight into the light house with a confident grin on his face. Inside the lighthouse, it seemed a bit open, dark, and pretty quiet with every step Ronaldo took. He went along the steps until he went right up to the light itself, the large room aligned with a ring of windows for the light to shine through. Interestingly, the place seemed pretty furnished up; a desk with scattered papers on one end, and a billboard with "linked photos" on the other. A poster with the word "believe" was right by the door, and some extra miscellaneous accessories were along the wall, which included a diving suit mannequin with a strange sort of helmet on it. This was Ronaldo's base of operation with the paranormal, and now, it will also be the place where his paranormal study will begin. Heading to his desk, he opened up the desk drawer and pulled out a particular tool to begin the communication; a pendulum to be precise. Ronaldo went to the center of the room, right by the big light, and displayed the pendulum in front of him, holding it away from him only by the string, letting the pendulum itself hang in front of him. "Spirit! Give me a sign of your presence," Ronaldo said, awaiting for something to happen to confirm the haunting. For the first minute, nothing around him seemed to occur, so he began to move around the room. Perhaps the spirit was being complicated, or scared of his presence as well. "I mean no harm, spirit! Show yourself," he insisted. Still, after a bit, nothing seemed to really occur around him. Just silence filled the room around him, the light of the lighthouse beamer rotating around him. Nothing moved, nothing happened, and nothing could prove any paranormal activity. But, Ronaldo didn't look ready to quit, and tried once more, that time aiming upward with the pendulum. "Show me a sign, spirit! Show me your existence on our realm of reality!" ... Finally, something seemed to occur. Small, but noticeable. Ronaldo had his pendulum aimed to the light, but as it turned his way, the light beaming, Ronaldo noticed there was a strange sort of figure standing inside the light itself, like a silhouette. Ronaldo hit his mark, and focused his attention to the recurring shadow from the light. The figure from within the light seemed to be a sort of girl, yet the eyes didn't show to be casting any shadow, almost hollowed out to let the light through. "Spirit! We have made contact," Ronaldo announced, the figure not exactly reacting much to him. Ronaldo got out his IPhone and aimed it to the entity, taking a quick photo before starting to ask questions. The figure in question didn't react much to having her picture taken, keeping a sort of sad expression in her eyes. "... S-Spirit ..." "Spirit, why do you still wander our plain for?" Ronaldo asked, not taking his gaze away from her. She tilted her head slightly, but when Ronaldo took another look, the spinning light showed she disappeared. Ronaldo looked around frantically until she reappeared from the other side of the light, much easier to see. She seemed about as tall as he was, keeping her face lowered. She seemed white all over as well, from her hair to her clothes. "Spirit, what keeps you on our plain of existence?" Ronaldo asked again boldly. She didn't react much at first, walking towards him. Ronaldo moved back as she came forward, her saddened eyes having stars in them... "... Is she here? ..." "Who?" "Mother ... Is she here?" Ronaldo assumed she meant a deceased mother from long ago, so he felt it was needed to tell her. "I'm afraid your mother has long since past, dear spirit. But -" "No. She's near. Where is she?" "And whom might she be?" "You're friend and mine." She then looked to Ronaldo's IPhone, and gently took it. Lucky for her, it was already on Ronaldo's camera gallery, so a quick click was all it took to get the right picture. The picture was of Peridot. As the conversation continued, Ronaldo seemed to feel calmer than usual, though he kept himself focused on the task at hand. That didn't mean Ronaldo wasn't anymore intrigued with Peridot being the supposed mother of this entity. It took a bit before Ronaldo answered her. "I'm not entirely sure," Ronaldo replied, a bit more mellow than his other replies were. The figure sighed, keeping her gaze down, and looked out to the lighthouse window after making a floating jump to it from the floor. She had a great view of the night ocean, the light reflecting off of her, and her shadow casted over the quiet waves. Not a soul was out on the water for the time being, but she wasn't focusing on the sea. Soon, she gently opened the window, the cold night wind blowing in, as she looked straight down. Far below her down the cliff, she could actually see the beach house far below her. Ronaldo could only watch from below as she stood there for a while more. Then, right in front of him, she took a step forward ... Fell ... And disappeared ... ~~~~~~ Still out in the night sky, Lapis was flying alone in the cool night air looking for Garnet. She had already tried many spots all over Beach City, but with no luck. From coast to coast around the city, she didn't find any exact clue on her. With a keen eye, and the moon shining bright to help her see, she began to go outside Beach City for a little bit when she began to get somewhere with her flight. Ahead, under the moonlight, she noticed a large hillside, a apple tree with ripe apples along its branches growing at the top. The tree wasn't too tall for a tree, but plenty wide with growing branches and leaves. Under it, Lapis could see Garnet sitting under it, stargazing. The branches didn't block the view of the sky from under the tree, which gave Garnet a nice view of the sky. On seeing her, Lapis landed gently nearly, and her water wings went back in her gemstone. "Evening, Lapis," Garnet said upon seeing her. "Evening. Uh, can we talk for a moment?" Lapis asked. Garnet simply smiled, and patted the ground next to her, inviting Lapis for a seat. Nodding, Lapis sat down next to her. At first, there wasn't much to talk about, but Garnet looked right up to the sky. "You can see Homeworld's galaxy from here, Garnet stated. Lapis looked up to where Garnet was seeing, seeing the many stars above them. Amongst them, Lapis could see one particular galaxy, brighter than the rest of the stars from their point of view. "You're right," Lapis said, not realizing it sooner while on Earth. Some silence was up for a while longer until Lapis spoke again. "Garnet? ... Have you been wondering about Blue Diamond lately?" Lapis finally asked. Garnet's smile went away, though expected the conversation to come on around sooner or later. "A little bit, actually." "Me too. It's been a long time since we had seen her." "Yeah. To think she would even keep our places after so long ..." Garnet's mind had wandered a little bit on the very idea; even after thousands of years of absence, both positions for Lapis and Sapphire hadn't been taken by any other Gem back on Homeworld. Both of them looked up to the Homeworld galaxy star for a while more. "She must really miss us ..." Lapis thought aloud, looking up at the galaxy. Garnet sighed, but then a smile showed up on her face. "Nice of you to join us, Discord." Completely out of nowhere for a statement, but before Lapis could say anything, a red exclamation point suddenly showed up next to them (upside down), before Discord suddenly fell out of the apple tree as a large apple himself. Though, his eyes, horns and ears still showed him as the draconequus eavesdropper that he is. Lapis was a bit surprised to see him just pop up out of nowhere, though Garnet had come to expect it. "Nothing gets by you, does it?" Discord chuckled, turning back into his draconequus form. "I suppose you heard us?" "Well, if you mean you two being Blue Diamond's little helpers, then of course. Would explain your choice of fashion," Discord said, suddenly having a similar outfit to Lapis and Sapphire with a similar diamond mark. Weird, but, it was Discord after all. "And you know about the message too," Garnet assumed. Discord nodded, settling down in between Lapis and Garnet (without his uniform of course). Garnet just took it in stride, leaning back to the tree, arms behind her head. "You've been gone for a long time, eh? I'm sure she misses ya both if she kept your seats open," Discord said with a smirk. "Yeah, maybe ... You think ..." "Well let's phone up the Garnet future vision hotline and find out," Discord said, getting a phone to appear on Garnet's head. "Wait, what? Garnet has Future vision? ..." Garnet stretched a bit, and turned to Lapis; Discord blabbered on about it, so, Garnet might as well. "In a way. I can see options and trajectories. Time is like a river; it splits into streams, or pools into lakes, or careens down waterfalls. My vision is my map, and I steer the ship." "OOOHHHH," Lapis said in realization. Leave it to the water Gem to understand Garnet's ability through her river concept. Garnet didn't had much took the time to have a look yet. "So, why not give that future eye a check, eh?" Discord encouraged, a paw around her shoulder with a smile on his face. "If you promise you won't interrupt me," Garnet promised, a smirk on her own face. Discord went right by Lapis, and got himself comfy with Lapis wondering what Garnet will see for their future. Garnet kept quiet, and focused on what the future would hold for them. Garnet kept calm, quiet, and kept her gaze straight forward to the sky like she was daydreaming. Garnet's vision needed a bit before it got to work, beginning with the possible outcomes of the future for not only herself, but for the rest of her friends, be it from here or from Equestria. A number of different possible images and outcomes flashed through her mind as time would go on, one after another, giving Garnet (not to mention both Roby and Sapphire) a good view of what can come depending on the results ... Then one particular image passed through her mind. The image was a bit simplified, no large details other than simple colors and silhouettes, though Garnet could easily tell who was who; seeing herself, with a lot of other Gems and her pony friends behind her. In front of her was another group of gems, one of which was taller than her, a deep blue color to her as well. Garnet and her shown to shake hands, and both Garnet and her were smiling to each other A few orbs appeared above each side, Garnet under Earth, and the other Gem under Homeworld. To Garnet, this signified the Crystals Gems with the Homeworld Gems, but they didn't show any anger towards each other, but showing a sort of calm ... A understanding ... Garnet's vision ended there with a gentle light, Discord and Lapis both watching her from nearby. After seeing such a splendid future possibility, Garnet's mood changed in a huge direction, a very big smile across her face, hands together in front of her mouth. Lapis looked a bit confused, and even Discord didn't expect that sort of reaction from such a mellow person like her. Still, Garnet must've seen something that was especially good. "Have a fun sight see, Garnet?" Discord asked, flying around her. Garnet got up, and in her joy, actually surprised them both and hugged Discord. Discord comically shown he was being crushed, eyes bulging out and other limbs going stuff as Garnet hugged his torso. Garnet spun around, not noticing at first that she was hurting Discord a bit. Garnet released afterwards, Discord collapsing on the ground in a daze as Garnet went over to Lapis. Lapis thought she was gonna be hugged and braced for it, but Garnet instead went eye to eye with her, removing her shades. An even bigger surprise, a single tear slipped from her eye. "Lapis! You won't believe what's in store for all of us!" Garnet beamed with her big smile. Lapis had never seen Garnet so happy before, and it was a bit new to her. "Whoa, you okay?" "I'm better than okay!" Garnet replied. After relaxing just a bit, she then looked to Lapis with a more familiar calming grin. "Lapis Lazuli. Tomorrow, I want you to get everyone together to hear this. Can you do that for me?" Garnet asked, a hand on her shoulder. Lapis felt Garnet's hand on her shoulder, thinking a bit. Again, this side of Garnet Lapis hadn't seen before, but whatever exactly Garnet had seen must be good in some way. Eventually, Lapis smiled to her. "I promise." "Thank you," Garnet replied. Lapis got out her wings again, and started to fly back. Discord got himself back together, as Garnet got her shades back on. She knew that future wasn't entirely carved in stone, as with every potential outcome, but it was indeed a strong future ... And Garnet was ready to make it happen.