"Wait here Spinel, I'll be right back," said Steven before taking off towards his friends, only to turn back and say, "Really," and taking off again.
Spinel chuckled at that as she watched him, no doubt in her mind that he would come back... but every doubt that she didn't deserve to see him come back. "All the things I've done to him, to his friends, to his planet," she said as she gazed at the complete wreckage caused by her Injector before continuing saying, "even if they will forgive me, I can't forgive myself." As she took one last glance at Steven, who had had already begun slowly but surely repairing the damage she'd done, she smiled and said, "You really are as great as the legends say.... which is why I don't deserve you." She then took off back towards the Steven's home, and the Galaxy Warp it contained.
She thought she heard Steven call her name as she ran, with tears in her eyes as she put out her right foot and stretched it all the way to the front step of the Warp Pad, where she then took her left foot off the ground and snapped all the way to it like a rubber band. She brought up the Warps map and as it loaded she started saying, "OK, just got to make a choice and WOOOAAHHHOO!" Once the map had finished she saw that Blue, Yellow, and White had expanded their empires quite a bit since she last looked at them with Pink. "So many worlds to choose from," she said with a smile before continuing saying, "Full of gems who've never seen me." That smile faded though as a revelation hit her and she said, "Gems who love Steven Universe and everything he did for them.... and will hate me for everything I've done to him." As she gazed at the map not knowing what to do she noticed something odd happened. A part of space became pixelated before a new world popped up for her to select. "Hmmm, Equis," she said in confusion as she read the world name. "Now where have I heard that name before and-" she said before suddenly cutting herself off as she remembered.
8000 years ago in The Garden
As Spinel juggled she glanced at her best friend only to see her frown holding solid, so she used her power to stretch out her neck and add her head to the mix. She juggled fast and faster before eventually failing on purpose and letting her face fall on the ground hoping a little physical comedy could cheer her up. When she picked her head up off the ground though, she was only greeted by a slight smirk before the frown returned. At seeing this Spinel had new emotions flood her that she didn't fully understand as for the first time she could remember a frown came to her face and she said, "What's wrong Pink?"
Pink Diamond looked at the little gem and was slightly off put by how she was currently expressing a level or seriousness and concern she wasn't meant to be able to as Pink said, "Oh um, it's nothing Spinel... it's just Yellow has been extra moody lately."
"What about?" asked Spinel as her frown turned to curiosity.
Pink, slightly relieved at seeing her Spinel act how a Spinel should again, said, "Her most recent colony, a planet called Equis, failed before it really even started. Somehow the warp they launched from orbit never became active to let a Peridot survey the land, and White said they aren't allowed to use more then one warp or land on planets directly unless they know for sure a planet is valuable."
"Oh," said Spinel as she watched Pink's frown return before she decided to pick her up and turn her saying, "Now why don't you turn that frown, upside down!"
This caused Pink to finally break into a fit of giggles as she said, "Spinel, never change."
"You got it best friend," said Spinel as she too erupted to laughter and stretched her fingers all along Pink to tickle her.
"HAHHA, NO SPINEL, STOP! HAHA!" said Pink as her laughter increased and her face turned red, "STOP SPINEL!"
Back at the Galaxy Warp
"SPINEL STOP!"
She was suddenly brought back to reality at hearing Steven's voice and, without thinking, she selected Equis and activated the warp.
By the time Steven managed to get there she was already gone and Equis had glitched back off the map.
As Spinal arrived on the warp she saw exactly why it wasn't working right as it somehow landed in a lake and was surrounded by water covered in foliage. It was a miracle it was able to get a signal for as long it did, literally as what Spinel didn't notice as she swam to the surface was a shiny white and blue tree root recede away from the warp and back to it's cave, now that it's job had been done.
Once Spinel reached the surface she looked around at the lively organic woods before her as she said, "Yup, definitely not a gem colony. This will be the perfect place then to make new friends with people who don't know me," her smile faded though when she saw her reflection in the water. At her matted hair, her upside down gem, and the black lines under her eyes, as if her skin was permanently stained with the tears she shed. At this body she solely crafted to convey her anger, sadness, and need for revenge. "But I still know me."
She then swam to the shore thinking about what to do before she remembered a part of her revenge plan she hadn't used yet. As she stepped ashore she reached into her gem saying, "I knew Steven would probably get a hold of my Rejuvenator... which is why I brought two." She then pulled out the small rod and looked at it saying, "I still don't know why Pink kept these hidden in the back of our Garden... and given how many other mistakes she apparently made I'm not sure if I want to know."
She then activated the device as part of her screamed not to do this, but she knew that even if whoever called this planet home could get past her looks, she could never make friends the way she felt now as she said, "I guess Steven was right, it will be better if we just," she then pointed the blade at herself as she shed a tear and said, "Forget this ever happened," and then swung it down before seeing nothing as her form poofed away.
Her gem clattered to the ground and the Rejuvenator, with no one holding it anymore, automatically deactivated and fell near her.
Several minutes later
"I can't thank you girls enough for helping me on this little gem excursion, I simply must find the perfect center piece for Pinkie's birthday gown before we give it to her tonight," said Rarity as she searched around the Everfree forest with her gem finding spell.
"Shoot Rarity, you know we're always here to help," said Applejack as she pulled along the cart already filled with gems and she mumbled, "Though I still don't know why we can't use any of these gems."
"Now darling you know why, it's not everyday someone turns twenty one and since Pinkie's not really interested in the usual festivities that come with this age, we should do everything else we can to make it special," said Rarity.
Twilight smiled as she said, "That's very considerate of you Rarity. After all, friendship begins with recognizing and accepting others differences and-"
She didn't get a chance to finish her friendship lecture though as Rarity's horn suddenly glowed brighter then any of them had seen it before as she said, "OH! My my my, there is quite the rare gemstone nearby," she then trotted in the direction her horn took her as she said, "Come along girls."
Twilight shied before she and Applejack took off after her, only to see her standing by a lake and staring at something on the ground. They trotted over to her and saw that she was staring at a pink heart shaped gem stone.
"Wow Rarity, that looks beautiful," said Twilight with a smile.
"Shoo-Wee, is that one of them heart stones or something?" said Applejack.
"No... it, it doesn't make any sense," she said as she levitated it in front of her face.
"What do you mean?" asked Twilight.
"I mean, judging by the clarity and texture it appears to be a form of Spinel... but I've never seen it form into a heart shape like this," said Rarity as she pulled out her dichroscope and took a good look at the oddity before her.
"You don't think it fell off somepony's necklace or something, do you?" asked Twilight concerned.
"It couldn't be, these lines are too flawless, even the finest unicorn gemologist couldn't cut this perfectly. It must have formed like this, but I don't know how," said Rarity.
They all paused for a moment before Applejack said, "Well I feel like that makes it perfect then, a gem that doesn't make sense to you right now, for a pony who doesn't always make sense to us."
Rarity chuckled as she said, "I suppose you're right darling," before levitating it into her saddlebag. "Besides, I'm sure Pinkie wouldn't mind me taking another look at it later after I've brushed up on my gemology to make sure there's nothing I'm forgetting."
They nodded before they turned to walk out of the forest, but just as they were leaving Twilight felt something brush against her hoof. She looks down to see a small rod with a button on it, as she levitated it to her face saying, "What the, who would leave a laser pointer all the way out here?" She was about to press its button and see if it still worked out of curiosity.
But before she could she heard Rarity's voice say, "Come along dear, Rainbow can't distract Pinkie forever and we need to help Fluttershy and Spike with the decorations."
"COMING!" yelled back Twilight before putting the object in her saddlebag and trotting after her friends.
Several hours later in Sugarcube corner.
Spinel wasn't sure what was going on, she had gathered enough energy to restore her form but she also sensed some kind of wrapping around her gem and while it was too thin to stop her she didn't think she should destroy it as she combed through the data she was gifted with in her gem trying to figure this out. Soon though she realized what was happening as she thought, "OH! I GET IT! I'm a gift! That makes sense, it says here that it's not uncommon to wrap gifts and that Spinels are usually given to Peridots or Holly Blues to help them relax in their down time so they can be more efficient when they work. If that's the case then I DEFINITELY shouldn't form yet. I wouldn't want to ruin my new best friend's surprise."
As Rarity watched Pinkie tear into her cake, careful to hold the neatly wrapped gown behind her, she eagerly awaited the chance to give it to her.
"WOWEE! This is the best cake I've ever eaten before, how did you girls do it?" asked Pinkie excitedly, paying no mind to the frosting beard currently on her face.
"Actually, you can thank Starlight for that. She made it using her magic and the baking lessons you gave her... it's to bad she couldn't be here though," said Twilight.
"I can't believe she and Trixie got a last minute request to perform at the Canterlot Theater," said Fluttershy smiling at her friends success, even if it was just a hobby for Starlight.
"Only because Sapphire Shores cancelled," whispered Rarity snidely, causing a guilty giggle to come out of Applejack before she regained her composer.
"Meh, it's fine. Because even if my friends can't always make my parties, I know the're still my friends," said Pinkie with a smile.
"So I guess that means you haven't been talking to any bags of flour or buckets of turnips lately," said Dash with a giggle at Pinkie's slight embarrassment.
The girls all chuckled for a bit before Rarity, unable to contain herself anymore and noticing that Pinkie's plate and face where now inexplicably clean, said, "OK Pinkie, if you're ready to open your presents now, I have one I'm very excited to give to you!"
"OH YES YES YES YES! GIMME GIMME!" said Pinkie as she eagerly hopped up and down before reaching out her hooves to Rarity, who gave her the gift as Pinkie tore the wrapping open.
What happened next was something none of them expected as the heart shaped gemstone detached itself from the dress as it started glowing and floating into the air. As it turned itself upright the light formed into a humanoid shape around it and they began hearing what sounded like a young girl's laughter coming from it.
Suddenly it tackled Pinkie to the ground as the light faded and it was revealed to be a pink girl with heart shaped pig tails, large gloves and shoes, thin limbs, and puffy clothes on her shoulders torso and waist. She had the widest smile any of them had ever seen as she stared down at Pinkie and said, "I am just so excited to meet you!"
"YOU ARE!?" said Pinkie not only matching, but outpacing her excitement and smile.
"Of course," she said as she got off Pinkie. "After all, why wouldn't I be excited to meet my BEST FRIEND!" she said as she jumped up into the air and began giggling.
Spinel then got back on the ground as she looked around for the Pearl who was supposed to introduce her, but upon seeing none she shrugged and thought, "Guess I gotta do it myself." She then began singing, "My cut is perfect and I'm Pink, like you. I'll bring you endless entertainment," she then spun over to Pinkie as she continued singing, "I'm your best friend, Spinel."
She then stood proudly stood with her arms to the side as Pinkie looked at Rarity, "WOW! I can't believe you got me a new best friend for my birthday."
"Well I um," stammered Rarity as she and everyone except Pinkie struggled to figure out what was going on.
Pinkie on the other hoof simply hugged Spinel, who stretched her arms all around Pinkie to give her less of a hug and more of a burrito wrap as Pinkie said, "This is, THE BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!"
Wait huh? A Steven Universe movie fic already?
Sign, me, up!
love this. more plys
Spinel needs love. I am all for this
Edit: You got a new follower!
“How much do you like Steven Universe the Movie?”
Me: Yes.
This is tooth-rotting level of cute and sweet!
YES! Spinel needs a Best Friend like Pinkie, she deserves at least one good Pink friend in her life, unlike a certain Pink jerk who caused a war because she was a spoiled child who decided dumb actions were better than thoughtful words.
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She started the war because words failed.
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And then she faked her own death, meaning that they could never come to a peaceful resolution through words. Her faked death caused the war, leading to thousands, if not millions, of gems shattering, bing turned into the cluster, or becoming corrupted. Granted, she saved humanity but that doesn't excuse her actions. She could have been more persistent and, I don't know, NOT fake her death so that a war wouldn't start. The war would have ended in a day if she revealed herself. Blue and Yellow wouldn't willingly attack her, White would just let her do her own thing until she, "Got it out of her system" and she could have had Gems like Jasper on her side because of their loyalty to Pink Diamond. She never considered how her actions would affect her sister/mother figure Diamonds or the Gems that looked up to her as a mother figure like Jasper did.
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She tried to convince the diamonds to stop the colonization, they ignored her. She started the rebellion against herself as a way to convince the diamonds the earth wasn't worth the trouble. When that still didn't work she faked her own shattering in hopes of finally convincing the diamonds the earth wasn't worth it. Her shattering ended the war, the only thing she didn't expect was that the diamonds actually cared enough about her to commit an act of revenge on their way out which lead to the corruption of all the gems on earth. But the earth was saved and Rose made sure she and others would continue to keep the earth safe from then on.
Remember the important thing is that the gems don't really have any concept of love of affection so pink didn't think the other diamonds cared about her in any significant way especially since they always treated her like an annoyance. So no it wasn't as simple as revealing herself because she was convinced that they would never listen to her as pink diamond and revealing the war was fake would just convince the diamonds to continue the colonization.
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The war Intensified after her shattering, leading to all of the corruption that happened as a last resort in the war as the Diamonds then left because they thought, "Out of sight, out of mind." Heck, they were prepared to genocide every single Quartz after the war and never start production again. And it's not like they had no concept of love on Homeworld, it just wasn't expressed as much in public. From what Blue and Yellow said they did try to make sure Pink knew they loved her when they weren't busy with work. They would play in the tub, talk, watch the stars, all the stuff people who love each other do. Heck, they even gave her Spinel as a present to make her happy and gave her a colony to make her happy, even though they knew she wasn't ready for one yet. Her faking her own death was far too extreme, and worst of all she never even attempted to clear it up with the other Diamonds or let her son know. She couldn't have recorded a message for Steven saying, "Hi Steven, I'm secretly Pink Diamond, show this video to the other Diamonds if you ever meet them so they don't try to shatter you since you're my son and I care about your safety and how me being both a Diamond and a War criminal may effect it. Love you~." Instead she just dropped all her problems on Steven and let him deal with it, because screw being a responsible parent and being a reasonable adult.
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Look, I'm sure we can both keep at this all day, neither one of us convincing the other. Can we at least agree that her actions did end up hurting the Gems whether she meant to or not.
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Yes, that's kind of the point of her character. She made mistakes but it doesn't make her monster or invalidate the good she did. You can't just claim there was an easy way to fix everything because that easy fix only exists in hindsight when we have all the information we possess now with no way for the characters to have known those things at the time.
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I never claimed it invalidated the good she did, only that she made a mistake and hurt many in the process. And while it's her character that doesn't excuse her for never owning up to her mistakes. Heck, she never even tried to get back to Spinel and see if she was ok. Monster, hero, Diamond, Rose Quartz, no matter the name or label she is still childish and leapt before she looked.
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Even if she did remember Spinel (and after thousands of years of fighting it's understandable she would forget) she couldn't get back to her because the warp pads off earth had been destroyed and they had no way to get back into space.
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True, but she also had a fully functional space ship that could get there. Heck, she probably had dozens of space ships. I highly doubt Bismuth only made weapons and buildings during the war.
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Sure but if the diamonds knew the crystal gems were still alive on earth they would just come back. You know like what happened in the show. They couldn't take any risks like a trip into gem controlled space.
9821542
Possibly, but seeing as how Pearl nearly took Steven off into space in a ship with no weapons or anything on board, something tells me a small ship could get through Gem controlled sectors, and that's assuming that the Garden was far away or even in Homewworld controlled space. Seeing as how it took Lars months to get to Earth with the fastest and most advanced ship in Gem history, and Spinel was able to get to Earth in about a day or two at most, I would say it's safe to assume that the Milky Way Galaxy as a whole wasn't part of Gem controlled space and that Pink's garden was somewhere inside the Milky Way Galaxy.
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Homeworld already knew about them at that point so it didn't matter. I'm done derailing this comment section with what has basically become me explaining things that were explained in the show.
Your reasoning is flawless. Right now, all the internet's love is reserved for precious cinnamon roll Spinel.
Wow, what Spinel did was pretty... depressing like a damn.
May God help that universe
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Well, Pink was a pretty horrible person in general
Also... Spinel was perhaps one of her greater sins
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Well, I would argue that being forgotten doesn't exactly justify global genocide nor is it really the worse thing Pink ever did.
It's basically what happened to Starlight cranked up to 100.
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Not saying it does. I'm saying though that she was, in essence, a toy for Pink's amusement and still a sapient being. She was made and designed for that sole purpose, and Pink, as she was want to do, left her behind when she ceased to amuse with no explanation or even a fuck you very much.
I'm astonished that people are even able to defend Rose at this point
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Because context matters. Gem society itself was messed up, Pink's behaviour wasn't really her fault. In Gem society, Spinel was just a toy and many would argue there is nothing wrong with getting bored with a toy and abandoning it.
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Its fucking Luna again, I swear.
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There is if that Toy has emotions, feelings, wants, and desires. If she was a robot with those things it would matter, if she was a turtle with those things it would matter. In the end she was sapient, toy or not.
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Sapient
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Thank you.
9821773
Gem society didn't understand the concept of such complex emotions despite being capable of feeling them or the idea of what makes someone a person. A gem was simply whatever they were made to be no more no less. Again it was messed up but that's not really Pink's fault.
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And again, I'll say they did understand it. If they had the ability to sing about it, then they probably understood "Hey, this feeling that feels like the opposite of fear must be called something."
And wasn't "Rose" the one who argued that all Gems are equal and should embrace their emotions and who they are? Clearly she didn't really mean all Gems since she decided to not let Spinel be happy or be herself.
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Okay, I'm gonna stop talking to you because you clearly didn't watch the show but those were things she learned from her time on Earth she didn't think that way at the start and she spread those ideas to other gems.
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True, but she learned them and never even tried to apply those lessons to a Gem who thought of her as her best friend. And if I didn't watch the show then how do I know any of this, do you think I have a Wikipedia page up and am reading from that? You're just making claims trying to debase my argument because you can't actually prove that "Rose" or "Pink Diamond" or whatever you'd like to call her, was a nice Gem. And then using the argument that it was part of her character destroys both our arguments and our reasons for debating this. You essentially said, "It doesn't matter because it's a tv show."
Edit: And if she didn't think that way before Earth then why did she play with her original Pearl and let her be happy? Pearl was also a tool to be used, like how Spinel was a toy. Why did she treat Pearl nice if she didn't know Gems have emotions?
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I also think it's interesting how you say Gem Society is the reason why Pink acted the way she did and it gives her a pass, but said that Pink abandoning Spinel to 6,000 on a dying rock in the middle of nowhere space didn't justify her actions. Technically speaking, Gem Society is the reason for Spinel's actions, so if you say Pink should get a pass, then so should she.
9821807
I don't have to prove anything we've seen her be a "nice Gem" as you put it because guess what, people are complicated and doing bad things doesn't make you a fundamentally bad person especially when those actions are done out of ignorance which could be applied to most things she did.
Because, and say it with me now, she was a nice person! Just because she viewed gems as tools doesn't mean she went out of her way to be cruel towards them for no reason.
I do give her a pass its why I don't hate her for it. It still doesn't justify her actions.
Now seriously I'm done.
9821833
Oh yes, she was such a nice person that she abandoned her best friend, traumatized her family by faking her death, started a war, bubbled another friend and kept it secret from her friends, let an innocent Gem be imprisoned inside a mirror for at least two to three thousand years, and then let all of her problems be dumped onto a child who she didn't tell any of this to or prepare in any way aside from saying, "Hey besties, take care of my baby. I'm not going to leave anything for him except an old VHS tape that says I love him and a pink lion that may or may not find him later if you ever travel to the desert.". Yes, truly she is the nicest person ever.
9821837
Damn..when you put that way she's kinda worse than Princess Celestia. And old sun butt made a lot of mistakes during her rule.
9821869
Spike better not eat her
YES! Great to see this! However, I am hoping that Spinel does get her memories back, just so we can have her sing her 'Drift Away' song to the group. Let's introduce the girls to Pink Diamond in the rose way possible so when Steven inevitably shows up, he'll be surprised that yes, even in a place the diamonds have never officially been, Pink Diamond is HATED.
P.S. The greatest sin I think Pink ever did, was LITERALLY cause the genocide of innocent Rose Quarts' across the empire. Remember, because she put on that disguise, an entire race of gems were basically wiped off the board.
I'm all for Spinel getting a fresh start, though really not sure if using the Rejuvenator on herself and wiping her memories like this is the best way to go. A part of me hopes she regains her memories and our favorite ponies help her with her pain and trauma.
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Thank you, glad to see others sharing in my love for Spinel and will try and get out a new chapter as soon as I can
9821983
Lol, why do think Spike was absent from the party
9822087
9822258
Don't worry Spinel will indeed get her memory back, as well memories we haven't seen already because well... as the story said the Rejuvenators where in Pink Diamonds garden, why do you think that is?
9822258
I honestly 100% agree there, my friend.
9822429
Take your time bud. We will wait for Spinel~
MOOOORRRREE!!!!
9822087
100% agree. Oh, and maybe Other friends too. Not sure how the author could work that song in though, I just love Other Friends.
9822861
I also LOVE other friends and will try and work it in if I can (though I doubt I'll be able too)
Drifting Away will definitely be in here though
9822087
I'm pretty sure the rest of the rose quartz gems weren't actually killed.
Being mass bubbled isn't the same as mass genocide.
9822806
more more moresmore
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