//------------------------------// // Beginnings // Story: Gems of Power // by WezzaHD //------------------------------// The door opened and the gems, still in shock from what happened, entered. The ponies were behind them, just as uncertain. When they were asked by the guards what happened, none answered. They all just kept heading to the throne room. Each face looked forlorn, turning heads as they passed. They opened the door to the throne room, seeing an uncertain Shining Armour, and Cadence reassuring him. Both turned to see the gems and ponies. "Oh hello." Shining smiled slightly. "Glad to see all of you are back." "How... How was search?" Cadence asked. At that moment, the pair could've sworn they heard a pin drop. "Um..." The silence didn't bode well with Cadence. Little did she know how right she was. "W-We saw... A private study room... With a Kindergarten..." "Pardon?" Cadence frowned. "A... filly's school was there?" "A Kindergarten means something different to a gem. It's where they're made. And he... Made one below the castle." They then began to explain everything to Cadence and Shining, who's expressions shifted from neutral to shock, then to morbid. "So... You mean to tell me that somewhere... King Sombra is out there in Equestria..." Shining said, still processing the situation. The gems paused before all answering a collective. "Yes." Another long, silent pause made itself known. "I see..." His horn glowed and a snowflake appeared. On it, was a letter with the contents just discussed. "Is there anyone else that knows who isn't here?" "No Prince Armour." Lapis shook her head. "Only us." "I see. We will think before deciding what to do. In the meantime, you gems are needed elsewhere." "...We understand." Garnet said. "What is our punishment?" Lapis asked. "Punishment?" Cadence and Shining Armour frowned. "Yeah. For everything that happened." Peridot said. "Listen, nothing that happened was your fault." Cadence looked down at the group with a small smile. "Right now blame isn't something we can think about. What we do need to think about is what we do next." “...Excuse me?” An aggravated voice said. They turned to one of the guards on the expedition. His coat, usually shining like other crystal ponies, had gone dull. “Is there something wrong soldier?” Shining asked. “Sir, I have respected many of your decisions and held my tongue, but, if I may...” He hesitated. “Soldier you may.” “This decision... It’s ludicrous! These gems were the ones responsible for bringing the fearful king back! They've been his enforcers and retainers, whose loyalty clearly has not" The gems stared at the stallion then looked down. Rock sighed. "Alright cadet that's eno-." "No sir! They are monsters that deserve to be punished!" He yelled at Rock before he turned back to Cadence and Armour. "My Prince... My Princess... Please... I implore you... You can't possibly let entities of evil like them go..." He pointed a hoof at the gems, who paused and slowly looked back at him. "...Prince Armour, may we go?" Lapis asked. "...You may. Head to the prison. There is someone there for you to see." "Very well." "What is your name cadet?" Shining asked. "Silver Bolt, sir." "Silver Bolt. You must understand the position the gems were in. They are not monsters. They were in a similar position to you. They were forced to do what they did. They didn't want to, but they had no other choice." Cadence explained. "...I see." Silver said, looking away from his rulers. "Do you understand?" "I do." He said, however even after lowering his head to bow, a scowl on his face could still be seen, causing Cadence to frown. However, she currently had bigger things to worry about. "Very well." Shining turned to the rest of the guards. "All of you. None of you are to speak a word of the Kindergarten or Sombra's freedom to anyone until further notice. We still need to notify Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Twily, too. Anyone who breathes a word of this without our permission will be severely punished for their actions. If such information was made clear to the public, it would cause a panic. Do we make ourselves clear?" The guards each nodded. "You are each dismissed." Cadence said and each of the guards left, leaving the two on their own. They looked to each other with frowns. "Shining... What are we going to do?" "I don't know yet Cadence... I don't know..." He looked down. "For now we need to make this situation clear to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. We all need to be alert. Along with this, increase the amount of guards around the Crystal Heart. It must be protected at all costs. Our defences need to be fortified before we can launch any kind of investigation..." He rubbed his horn in frustration as he began to think hard for the next dosen steps. "Shining hold on there. One at a time. We'll get nowhere if we're the ones who panic." "I should've seen this coming though! Of course he'd have a plan B even for death!" "Shining..." She brought his face up to her's, showing him her smile. "Listen. We'll think about this together. We can stop this and catch him, but not if you panic." Shining looked straight into Cadence's eyes and sighed before smiling back. "Okay. Thank you Cadence." The two nuzzles before looking at each other. "I'll keep in contact with Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Twilight. I'll leave handling the guards to the Captain." She said. "Alright." Granite sat in prison, two guards stood next to his cell. He hadn't moved since he was placed in the cell, he simply sat on a bed on the wall opposite to the bars, staring off into space. The cell itself wasn't as dainty as most, on account of being made of crystal like the rest of the buildings in the Empire. However, Granite saw them differently. He had been made from these crystalline walls, given life by an entity of repressed insanity. It generated an odd feeling in Granite, looking at the walls. It was almost like a pony staring at jars and jars of internal organs, yet not as unsettling. He scowled. "Emotions are a pain." He thought. He was drawn from his thoughts when he heard footsteps. He listened, but only turned his head up slightly to see who it was. He heard many different footsteps, so it meant that it was a group. Perhaps some guards putting another prisoner into a cell? Or perhaps it was the escorts that the prince had promised him. Now in front of his cell, his vision of the wall beyond the bars was obstructed by six gems. "...It's you..." Lapis frowned. Granite looked between each of them. "How did you get out?" Amethyst asked. "I was freed by a gem of the earth." He answered. "And he wanted you to join Sombra." Garnet concluded. "Yes. I gather that name is of importance to you?" "It's only the maniac who's now free." Peri folded her arms. "I see." Granite looked down. "Shining Armour wants us to supervise you. Essentially a parole." "Does he wish to gain something from me? Locations? Power? I know nothing of this 'Sombra' other than the gem that preached his name." "We wouldn't expect you to." Jasper glared at him and folded her arms. "But I guess this is one of those 'second chance' dealings." "Personally I'd prefer it if you rotted in that bubble." Lapis said coldly, her finger tapping her arm in annoyance that stemmed from multiple causes. "But... Orders, I guess." "What do you plan on doing once you're out?" Peri raised a brow. "I wish to find my master. The masters of others don't interest me." "Searching for that insane asshole huh?" Peri sighs. "Hate to break it to you but... He won't be coming back." Lapis said, the aggression in her voice decreasing and almost gaining softness. "Do you mean to imply that he was defeated?" Granite asked, his fingers twitching. "...She means he left you here." Jasper said. "You do not go anywhere without us." Garnet said, a small hint of frustration being picked up in her voice. "Nowhere without at least 2 of us. If none of us are available then you go to the Prince and Princess or the nearest pair of guards and wait. When one of us tells you to do something, you do it. If we think we see you summoning a weapon we will not hesitate to attack. Do I make myself clear?" "Crystal." Granite replied. They all paused. Amethyst snickered slightly. Garnet looked to the two guards beside the cell. "Open it." They looked to the fusion before unlocking and pulling the bars open. "...Well whaddya waiting for? Stand up and get over here already." Jasper grunted. Granite slowly stood up and walked towards the group. They each looked to Granite cautiously as he looked back to each of them. No facial expressions could be made out, though that was mainly because he didn't have many facial features to express with. "Come with us." Jasper said and walked out of the holding area. The rest followed. Granite looked around the castle. One might call it beautiful, but it didn't matter much to him. He was merely staying put until his creator returned. A spark of anger lit up in him when they said he was never coming back. He would spread chaos and insanity everywhere, this universe would be no different. He wondered what would happen to each of the six. The group arrived to the gem's shared dorm. Granite looked around. There wasn't much difference between them overall, but he was able to tell which bed belonged to which gem by the contents of the beds, such as the level of mess, or pieces of copper wire. The only ones he couldn't tell were a few standard ones. Though by process of elimination, he guessed that they were Garnet's and Lapis's. "This is where you'll be saying." Garnet said. "I see." Granite nodded. "Why do you need beds? You do not sleep." "We don't need to, but it's fun." Amethyst pointed out, looking out through the window. "Would you like to try a bed?" Garnet asked. "I would not. I do not need sleep, so I shall not sleep. Unlike the rest of you, turning off my external sensors for hours isn't a hobby of mine." Granite said. He almost pitied ponies and other organic lifeforms for sleep being a necessity to them. "Suit yourself." Amethyst shrugged. "I'm not standing guard." She went over and crashed onto her own bed, falling asleep almost instantly. "1 2 3 not it." Lapis walked away and sat down. "I'm too big to fit on my bed anyway." Jasper shrugged. "I know I can shapeshift and stuff but... Screw it. I don't feel like sleeping after today. She sat down on her bed and watched Granite. She and Garnet stayed up whilst the others sat on their bed. No one spoke as the night drifted upon them. In the Dragon Lands, on the hot stone earth and surrounded by several pools of magma and encircled even moreso by a group of mountains, a certain fight was going on. “Ha!” A familiar female dragon laughed as she floored another. The fellow dragons watching the fight cheered and roared. The winning dragon, a bright red dragoness with flames surrounding her, grinned and strolled over to the gem pile. She picked up her new pile and walked over to a large blue dragon, who was currently lying down. He opened an eye when the smaller dragon came towards him. “Got us some good eating, boss.” Flamedra said, plopping her gem pile down. “Sure.” Medreth grunted, taking about half of the pile that barely covered half his claws and chewed on the gems. Flamedra sat down and chewed on a few gems. “I knocked some dragons into the dirt so maybe they’ll join us too.” “That right?” He pondered, scowling briefly at the thought of a good number of his own lackeys having run with their tails between their legs. “Heh, is the Thunder Beast cranky?” Flamedra grinned. “Oh shut up.” He stood up straight. “I’ve rested enough. Let’s get back to business.” He looked up and in the distance, dragons were flying around the Dragon Lord himself; Torch, sitting atop his giant mountain of a throne in all his pride and power. “About time.” She chuckled. “I’ll aim for that spot soon.” The dragon grinned. Towards the clustered group of dragons, walked another figure. Scales and claws covering her green and red body were clear, but had a few differences. One being the gem that stuck to her body just below her neck, something that the dragons who saw her noticed. “Well hey there.” One of the dragons grinned. “What’ve you got there little dragoness?” “Hey that’s a nice- looking, great- smelling jewel you got there.” One of the larger ones grinned. “How about I take it off your claws.” “...” She ignored them and looked off to the mountain Torch was sitting atop. She walked towards it but was blocked by the large dragon’s hand that slammed down in front of her. “It wasn’t a request, whelp.” The Dragon said, a grin still on his face. “What’s a little whelp like yourself doing with a gem like that anyway? It smells delicious, yet seems familiar.” Medreth looked to them and sniffed the air for a moment. “That’s…” The lightning dragon frowned. The figure looked up to them with a smile. Her gem began to glow and all the dragons were blinded. “I am Bloodstone, and I claim this land in the name of my king.”