Steven Universe Of The Creek Chapter 16 The Wild Star Child Grazer

J.P. took the group to the open field of the creek, which took Steven by surprise. “There’s an open field here?” He looked in his surroundings.

“Yes.” Kelsey replied.

“I assume you’ve gone past multiple fields during your travels, right?” Omar commented.

“Well in the car on highways, but I’ve only gone to one field on foot.” Steven responded. “I still find this place small, but still relaxing.”

“This field is called Horse Girl Meadow, but there’s no actual horses.” J.P. said. “There’s a girl who wanted me to be part of her herd, but I wanted to be a truck rather than a horse.”

After listening to J.P. Steven witnessed four girls running in the distance. With the meadow itself completely empty aside from the four, he may find a way to do something with not only the location itself but also with Craig. “Are those?” He pointed to which J.P. catched on.

“They’re the Horse Girls.”

“I want you to know…I’m not much of a horse person.” Craig filled in.

“Thanks for letting me know, because I might be able to find a horse for you to ride on.” Steven looked back at Craig, which took the child by notice. They made their way to the Horse Girls who’ll just stop in the center of the field. It didn’t take long until they saw them after they jumped over the barricades like they do everyday.

“That girl with the white hair and cat headband is Maney.” J.P. said. “She’s the girl I was referring to.”

As Steven made his way to the herd, the leader of the herd took notice with J.P. and the others by his side. Unlike her encounters with the other kids, she’s witnessing a grown teen in her eyes. “What the hey?” She reacted.

“What is it, Mackenzie?” Marie wondered to which she immediately paid attention to the teen.

“Is that…a teen?” Melissa added.

“Seems they didn’t get the news about you last night.” J.P. commented.

“Perfect.” Steven smiled.

Soon, Maney turned around to witness J.P. again, to which she blushed. “J.P.” She responded with the group walking up to the Horse Girls.

“I have a special friend for you all to meet.” J.P. presented The Crystal Gem. “Steven Universe.”

When Mackenzie and her herd looked up to him, she wouldn’t expect a teen spending his time at this area of the creek. “How did you manage to have a teen as your best friend?” She looked directly at Steven.

“Last night had a lot of danger.” Craig answered.

“Literally.” Omar added.

“Hmm. If it’s dangerous when horses won’t make it out from a thunderstorm, you must be brave to save one horse.” Mackenzie replied.

“Yeah, last night was really scary.” Melissa commented.

“If a small horse was stuck to something during a storm, he or she would catch a cold, or have nightmares forever.” Marie added.

Both Steven and Craig looked at each other, but knew the Horse Girls got the wrong idea. “Well, small horses can still be brave, even during thunderstorms.” Craig awkwardly grinned.

“Not to mention there are more ways for a horse to be out in a storm.” Steven smiled. “Mainly stopping a terrible animal who could take over the meadow.”

“Oh so there's…a mean horse?” Maney wondered.

“A brown and mostly blue mean horse.”

The Horse Girls felt puzzled, even if their leader still had questions despite not as much as others who received the news involving Steven. “What kind of horse are you?”

“Let’s just say, a special breed of horse.” He lifted his shirt up to reveal his gem in front of the Horse Girls, taking them all by surprise.

“Oh my goodness!” Maney looking straight at the gem.

“That looks beautiful!” Marie added. 

“Where and how am I gonna draw that on a horse.” Melissa’s eyes sparkled.

“That can’t be rare for a horse to have.” Mackenzie looked straight at it.

“Believe me, if it wasn’t rare, it would’ve hurt if it’s stuck in there.” J.P. added.

“If you wanna know how rare I am, one of the horses in the herd I’m in has a gem similar to this, and she’s purple.” Steven replied.

“Purple?” Maney reacted. “That’s incredible if your herd has different colors.”

“It is. Her name is Amethyst. Ruby and Sapphire ride on her when they go to the mountains.”

“Amethyst the purple horse?” Mackenzie said while still staring at Steven’s gem. “What other horses do you have in your herd?”

“Pearl who is…mostly the same color as a white horse. Garnet who’s a Red and Pink color, Lapis who’s a blue horse, and Peridot who’s a green horse.”

“Wooow.” The Horse Girls responded.

Despite Craig knowing who the Crystal Gems are, he wanted Steven to have his chances in the Horse Girl Meadow. Even if it was J.P.’s idea to come here, from the way he’s handling it, it’s way better for his health than the events from yesterday.

“Would you be willing to join our herd?” Marie offered.

“Only for a while, since you just got here?” Melissa added.

“Horse Girls.” Mackenzie turned her attention to her herd. “As much as I lay off the rules, having a grown teen ride with us isn’t natural.”

“Yeah, I have to agree.” Maney replied. “J.P., don’t you think this is unusual?”

J.P. agreed with her, but at the same time, he knew they were on a wild ride from Steven’s Gem powers. “Yes, but have you ever played an online game where you can shorten your horse?”

The Horse Girls looked at each other while turning to J.P. again. “Yes, I’ve always wanted to shorten my horses.”

This gave Steven an idea, thanks to where J.P. is going with this. “I may have never played an online horse game, but shortening, that’s my secret of being a horse.” He glowed, taking everyone’s attention around him. His body got shortened with Craig and the others somehow taller than him, aside from Kelsey and Mackenzie’s height. As the glow faded, Steven opened his eyes with a smile on his face. “Steven Universe is here to be part of the herd.” He spoke with his young voice.

“Holy ranch!” Melissa reacted.

“He just became a kid in a matter of seconds.” Mackenzie added.

“This has just gotten better.” J.P. wrapped his arm around Steven, while witnessing his pink coat and pants unable to fit him due to his small size. “Do you want your coat and pants to be placed on the side while you ride with the Horse Girls?”

“Sure.” Steven got out of his pink coat and pants while J.P. placed it by the tall grass. Craig along with his friend’s jaws dropped from behind. They knew Steven told him about his powers but they couldn’t imagine what it would look like in front of their eyes. When Steven turned around, he couldn’t hold his laughter from his friends' reactions. “I guess you can see what I look like at fourteen years old.”

“Fourteen years old!?” Maney reacted while blinking.

“You can’t expect me to believe that!” Mackenzie said shockingly.

“Really, that was the last thing I would expect.” Marie added. “I thought you were like ten or eleven.”

Steven turned back to the Horse Girls, still smiling. “Believe me, Connie couldn’t believe it when she was twelve. What are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Steven went past the Horse Girls as he ran while lifting his arms up in front of him.

“Should we follow him?” Maney asked with J.P. by her side.

“Sure, it’s no longer unnatural.” Mackenzie smiled. “Let’s go girls.”

The Horse Girls and J.P. followed Steven in the Horse Girl Meadow. Craig and the others on the other hand are still stunted in place. “I can’t believe…he wasn’t joking when he had the ability to be younger.” Craig replied.

“If only we had that ability when we all enter our teenage years.” Kelsey smiled.

“Okay don’t go nuts on that, because I wouldn’t even spend my life as a kid forever.” Omar said.

Craig continued to watch Steven running with the Horse Girls and J.P. but as a truck. He hopped over the sticks right before the Horse Girls, he made a horse sound while J.P. made a truck noise, soon they both raced each other around the Horse Girls.

“We’re protecting you all from any danger of menacing animals!” Steven cheered.

“Like the brown and mostly blue mean horse.” J.P. added. “I’ll take her back to horse military school!”

The Horse Girls lifted their heads up in the air, making a squeal noise when Horses were excited. “I have to admit though, he’s way more happy when he’s a kid…despite still being fourteen.” Craig smiled.

“He’s probably enjoying this place because it’s an open field.” Omar added. “You can’t get enough when horses come out in open fields.” Craig and Kelsey both looked at Omar, not forgetting about what Steven stated upon arriving. “Okay, especially Steven himself.”

“Well you're not wrong about horses in open fields, I’m mostly impressed that he’s more happy than he was back at Ramp City.” Kelsey replied. “Hey Craig, why don’t you have Steven carry you?”

“I would but I don’t like being on horses. We only did that for J.P. when Maney wanted to hang out with him.” Craig turned to Kelsey.

“But Craig, that was a long time ago. I’m sure Steven would like to carry you.”

“This is much for J.P. since he chose to come here, I want to give him his time with Steven while you two can have…your…” Craig took notice of Kelsey moving to the left side and Omar moving to the right side. “What?”

“Welcome to the herd.”

Out of nowhere, Steven went under Craig’s body, lifting him up from the ground while landing on Steven’s back. Steven grabbed his legs just in time while Craig held on to him. “Steven!?” Craig reacted.

“Come on, I can still carry you. Be a cowboy like Ruby is!” Steven turned around to head back to the Horse Girls and J.P., he went past them and they followed him immediately with Craig trying to handle being on Steven.

“Whoa! I would be a cowboy if I was ready for this.”

“Expect the unexpected, that’s who Steven is.” J.P. called while running by Steven.

As the Horse Girls are next to Steven and Craig, Craig tries to focus on the moment while Steven’s still caring for him. Even from the weight of Craig, Steven had no problem while still running. He may be in his young self body but he still has strength from his grown teen self. He makes his way to the hill of Horse Girl Meadow, reaching up the hill while stopping on top of it.

The Horse Girls stop next to them with J.P. stopping next to the right. As Craig kept his balance, he looked at the field while Steven had a better view of Horse Girl Meadow. “This is the best spot when the whole herd is together.” Mackenzie said.

“Especially for new horses.” Maney smiled.

“I can tell.” Steven taking the view. “I had a bigger hill that showed the whole area, not just the beach where I lived.”

“If only the meadow was much bigger.” Marie commented.

“We could see what you mean from your childhood.” J.P. added.

Craig looked at Steven from the left who he took notice of. “I’m not gonna lie, you do really feel like someone who goes to the creek like we do.” He responded.

“Thanks.” Steven smiled. “Granted I want more people here to see my true self, but I can change back when a location makes me appreciative like this place.”

“That’s fine, it’s good that this doesn’t hurt unlike the other way around.”

“What’s wrong with the other way around?” Mackenzie wondered.

“Let’s just say…a glitch will happen where a bigger horse turns into a baby horse.” Steven filling in.

“It could happen.” J.P. replied.

“I really don’t want to see that.” Melissa added.

As they all looked in the distance, Craig thought about what he and Steven can go to next once they’re done here. Many options he can choose, but he’s hoping Steven would enjoy it as much as he did with Horse Girl Meadow and Ramp City, all the while also having more moments with him.