//------------------------------// // Creature Quest // Story: My Little Universe: Season 5 // by EquestrianKirin //------------------------------// At the drill, Pearl was still taking her time in working on the parts alongside Jade. When it came to the process on the drill itself, it was going on a rather steady pace, and at this point the main construct of the drill was in proper shape. Metals were lined up, and the model was practically done. Function, and control were two different matters though, and only now did they begin to work that out. Pearl was working on the circuitry, Jade sitting up at the controls, working on those a little bit. Peridot, still practically chained up to her fence, looking simply miserable. She tried in vain to reach a nearby microwave to give her something to help out, but the leash didn't give her enough radius to even get close to it. Jade and Pearl didn't spoke to her at all during their work, and they still weren't when Star and Emerald came back, Star Quartz holding some metal plates. "Oh good ... No. No, no, no, no, I said I needed tungsten. Tungsten?" Pearl corrected. "... What's Tungsten?" Star asked. Emerald nudged Star after that. "Tungsten," Emerald said, but instead of showing the real thing, he just stuck his tongue out. It had been kinda up and down when it came to Star and figuring things out from the others. "Nevermind, I'll just get it," Pearl groaned, before going off to get it herself. Emerald shrugged, and both he and Star looked over to Peridot, especially after hearing a notable sniff from the green Gem. "Hey, P. So you really are stuck on a short leash, aren't you?" Emerald commented, casually walking over. The last person Peridot wanted to see was Emerald, and she expected the worst. Jade, after Pearl left, came down too, and went over to Peridot. "What's you're first clue?" Peridot simply groaned. "... Are you crying?" "NO! T-That's the rain!" Peridot snapped, though it didn't help that her eyes were still tear-stained. That, and no cloud was in the sky above her... "Peridot. Come here," Jade said, moving closer to her, arms open. sometimes that's all someone would need. Peridot really didn't want to break out into tears, but she couldn't help herself. She began to wail and sob, hugging Jade rather tightly. "Why did I have to forget the cluster?!" Peridot cried. Jade hugged back. "Come on, Peridot. So you've made one goof that could end up destroying the planet. No big deal, right? We've been there haven't we?" Emerald said. Not the right thing to say, unfortunately. "I don't think you're helping, Emerald," Jade quietly said. Peridot sobbed a little more, making them all feel a little troubled over her. "Peridot. I know they're mad now, but .. maybe you can do something in return. Something you can do that they'll thank you for," Jade finally suggested. So far, Peridot hadn't done anything worth while, since the other Gems didn't give her the chance to. It was the least Jade could do to suggest the idea to her fellow short green Gem. Peridot was quiet aside from quiet sobbing, as she tried to get herself together. "Yeah. Maybe you're right. Except that I'm TRAPPED BY THIS DREADED TORTURE DEVICE!" Peridot snapped, referring to the harness. "Torture device?" Emerald questioned. "YES. Look at me, I can't go anywhere with this constricting my abdomen! How am I supposed to -" "You mean this?" Emerald, Jade, and Peridot turned and saw Star Quartz holding the other end of the leash, which easily slipped out of the post in the wooden fence. Well, that was solved, but Peridot still needed to do something now ... "Wow. Thanks." "You're welcome. What now?" "I'll show you, Star ..." ~~~~~~ "STEVEN!" One quick scream, and Steven jumped clear off the bed. Honestly not the perfect wake-up call for him, or anyone. It had been a while since Steven and Amethyst had come across the ponies, but now the Mane Six had finally found them after days of searching. Pinkie was the one who got her voice to work on her scream, which was enough to wake everyone up. "Morning," Amethyst said, picking her ringing ears to hear a little clearer. "Where have you guys been? We've been looking for you!" Rainbow said, the Pegasus tired. "We've been busy fighting off our share of monsters. Show em' Steven," Amethyst said. Steven was still getting his own ears clear, but he got down to the couch, and got the list - which was sitting by Steven's bed - out to show them. They may had crossed off a bit, but they'd got a LOT more to go according to it all. "HOO-we, y'all got a lot done," Applejack commented. "Thank you. And we're bout to get more done! Come on Steven, let's go," Amethyst said, ready to head out. However, Steven gave a yawn, and headed down the stairs. "Let me get me up and ready," Steven yawned, heading over to the bathroom. He needed to get his body awake along with his mind. As Steven was doing that, Twilight turned to Amethyst. "So, what kind of monsters did you have to get?" Twilight asked. "Oh all sorts! Just on our first day, we bagged up a giant scorpion, and THEN it was one Gem beast after another for days, it was awesome," Amethyst bragged. She felt proud over what they had done so far, and at the rate they were going, they could get this stuff done by the end of the month! "That sounds awesome! Hey, we can beat down a few monsters for ya!" Rainbow offered, hoof aimed down at the list. Steven stepped out at this point, fully clothed and drying his hair with a towel. "What're you girls talking about?" Steven asked. "Hey Steven, we were wondering if you wanted some help with these Gem monsters," Twilight said, levitating the list over to Steven so he could see. Steven took it into account, and then smiled. "Oh sure, if you want to. It'll be fun," Steven decided. The Mane Six were glad, but Amethyst was slightly taken aback. "Steven, this is our mission to do," Amethyst whispered. "It'll be fine, and we can breeze through more of these in no time at all," Steven explained, which was true. Amethyst realized Steven was right, though she still felt it was their mission to complete. As they were talking, Fluttershy looked outside, and began to see someone else coming in from along the beach. "I think Connie's coming," Fluttershy said, looking outside. Sure enough, the others opened the door, and saw Connie coming up to them, backpack on her, and a big smile on her face, waving to them. Steven was the first to go up to her, meeting her at the beach. "Hey, Steven," Connie said. "Connie, hi! How's it going? Been keeping well?" Steven asked, as the others came down to see her. "Yeah, pretty well. Guess what? My parents are letting me go on Gem missions now!" Connie announced. "They did? Congratulations," Twilight said. "I know right? I really think I'm making a breakthrough with them," Connie replied. "I can't believe they're letting you do that, Connie. They must really trust you now," Rarity said. "Especially after you flew into space, meet a White Diamond, fused with a Gem and a Gem human, beat her up, and went through a human zoo," Pinkie added. Not exactly the mission all too well, but Connie still kept a good face. "Yeah, I know," Connie simply said. You'd think her parents would go a bit further after THAT performance with the highest Diamond authority figure, but they were willing to give her a chance at the least. Soon, Steven got an idea in mind. "Wait here," Steven said, racing off back into the Beach House. Short time later, Steven went right back outside, but this time with - "Rose's Scabbard!" Pinkie beamed. "Steven?" "Well, you've been training really hard on being a swordsman, and since you're allowed to go on missions, you can use this," Steven concluded, smiling, and presenting the sword to her. Connie took a moment, but she eventually took the sword with pride. "Thanks, Steven. I could use this in case a monster pops up," Connie said, equipping it to herself. The sword was a lot bigger than herself, but she managed to equip her scabbard so it hung onto her back, just enough so she could move freely while carrying it. "Hey, speaking of which, are you doing well on those monsters? It's been a while since I last heard from you," Connie asked. "Oh, we're doing great! Say, you want to join us? The Mane Six already said they'll help out, you can come with us," Steven offered. Connie felt psyched about the situation, and she had plenty of time on her hands. "I'd love to!" "Steven," Amethyst quietly sighed. Oh well, it won't be that bad, she could figure. "SWEET! Go shorty squad!" Pinkie beamed. "Shorty squad?" Steven asked. "Yeah, we're all together, and we're all short, but strong. Shorty squad!" "Eh, sounds about right," Amethyst shrugged. ~~~~~~ Farther away on the beach, Peridot and Star were alone along the beach, the cliff alongside them. Jade and Emerald didn't follow them to this point, and Star wasn't sure exactly what Peridot was up to. "... What're we doing, Peridot? Are we finding more tungsten?" Star Quartz asked. Peridot kept walking until she was standing at about a foot away. "Ok, Star. Do it." "Do it? ... Do what?" Peridot stood there, and pointed up the clifface. Star looked up, and she saw that some of the rocks were a little bit unstable, one of which was a bit large. "See that boulder? Go get that, push it over down onto me." "Onto you?" Star asked, hesitant ever so slightly. Peridot sighed and looked to Star. "Do it fast." With that said, Peridot then laid down on the sand, as Star then moved off out of sight. Peridot just stared off into the sky for a few more minutes, just waiting for that boulder to be tossed down from the cliff face to slam into her gem. It may be a bit far, and even a little silly, but she had already caused enough trouble and the Crystal Gems hate her for not telling them about the Cluster in the first place, so she felt like she was saving them the trouble. As she was laying there, she started to hear some more footsteps close by. When she looked, it wasn't the Crystal Gems who came out to bubble her again ... or at least, not the same Crystal Gems: The Mane Six, Connie, Amethyst, and Steven. "Peridot, there you are. What're you doing?" Amethyst asked. "Go away, you clods! Can't you see I'm trying to get crushed? Or better yet, maybe you can just punch my Gem, you think you can do that for me?" Well, that was extreme. "You kidding me?! What for?" Rainbow said, not believing her own ears. Even if Peridot was in a bubble, she still knew that the others didn't want these characters knowing about this and worry more, so, Peridot at least took that in mind with her answer. "I forget to tell the Crystal Gems something, and they all hate me now," Peridot simply said. Not detailed, but it's the main concept of it. "Peridot, no, no, that's a terrible idea! Come on, let's just talk to them," Steven insisted. Bad enough Lapis and Jasper are gone, he didn't need to see Peridot go missing too. Peridot didn't really move though. "They won't listen ... haven't I caused you enough trouble?" asked Peridot. "I dunno, but it's not worth getting shattered over. Here, I got it," Connie decided, getting a quick idea in her mind. Getting the same idea, AJ gave Connie the list given to them, and showed it to Peridot. Peridot saw a number of beasts crossed off the list already, so, they were doing fairly well on it. "How about you help take care of one of these beasts with us? You can still help out, and they might even forgive you for it. Besides, I don't think you've had a personal mission yet, so what do you say? You in?" Connie offered. Peridot looked over how much they were actually getting done, surprised at how much success they were actually getting done with this. "You think so?" Peridot asked. "Of course! It would be even Stevens with you with us, a full ten team Shorty Squad!" Pinkie Pie said. Peridot looked down to the list, and saw that some of these actually looked very tough to do. If she were to actually go and do this, then maybe, just maybe, that the other Gems would give her some admiration on it. A little scenario played out in her head with her being practically admired by the rest of the Crystal Gems, with Peridot herself standing tall and proud. She was sold. "You're right! I'm in! Come on, Shorty Squad, time to get ourselves some beasts to -" *BAM* AND then came the boulder. Peridot was alright under the boulder, even if the big rock did make a good dent on the beach. Of course, everypony and everybody jumped on the sudden assault on them, as they all looked up to see Star Quartz on the cliff. The white Gem hovered down gently, landing over on a outcrop on the cliff. "Did it work, Peridot?" Star Quartz called. "... ow ..." ~~~~~~ After that little venture, and some explaining to Star Quartz about what was up, the group was off and away again. A quick teleportation on the Warp Pad got them to their next spot. They've been to a number of spots, and this one was the most arid one so far. The place in question looked rather arid and dry, in a red stone desert. The skies were clear, and judging by some plants growing around them, the rainy season had been and gone. For the plants, there was your average cactus here and there, a tumbleweed or two, but desert flowers were still blooming around as well. The exact location where the Warp Pad was though was actually in a canyon, lined with desert rock, sandstone, and red minerals. Heat was pretty high here, as it would've guessed, and the ground was smooth like stone, but not completely rocky. In this area, the walls appeared to be covered in holes, and when the group saw the signature Gem injectors, it was clear that this was a Gem location, or rather was one. "Welcome to the Beta Kindergarten, everyone. Still rather mundane," Peridot commented, as they all began to look around. The canyon where the Beta Kindergarten was in wasn't exactly as large, or as strictly one direction; the walls a bit wavy and pathways not as straight and sharp. For the holes themselves, they weren't exactly as exact either: some were sideways, some thinner, some bigger, and overall, none of them really seemed to match. "What happened with the holes here? No offense, but, I thought Homeworld was a bit more organized than this," asked Rarity, who was a sucker for pattern and accuracy. "The Beta was more of a rush job. Many Jaspers, Carnelians, and so on, didn't had the proper conditions as the Prime did," explained Peridot, as they were going through. Amethyst herself was the one who mainly was observing the place up and down. Considering she thought that she was a bit defective herself, seeing all of these supposed mishaps made Amethyst question a little bit on how many variations were actually around ... "Amethyst, you coming?" Steven suddenly called. Amethyst was quick to comply, and rushed down to catch up with the others. When she did catch up, they stopped and looked over at Steven's list, finding the part of the list they had in mind. "Here it is. OK, so it looks like we're looking for another corrupted Gem, by the looks of it, so ..." *BLAWRK!* "What the hay?" Rainbow said. The odd noise seemed to come from nowhere, and as everyone was looking around, something suddenly zoomed by at a speed that Fulgurite would probably match. They tried to see it, but it moved just a little too fast for them to catch sight of it. The apparent corrupted Gem zoomed by again, this time knocking Steven and Connie off their feet before it finally slowed down enough for them to see what they were dealing with. As far as corrupted Gems go, this one was rather small actually, just larger than they were by a foot or two. Her skin was a sea blue, and the main design was rather basic: a body, mouth, and a set of bird legs with sharp claws at the end of each foot. The gemstone was square, and right on her nose, with six eyes on each side, putting the gem between them. Even with the mouth closed, they could see the three tips to her large tongue. She gave another loud *BLAWRK!* at them, opening her mouth to showed small sharp teeth. The group looked at the picture that accompanied the list, and sure enough, it was a pure match. "That's it," Connie said. "We're getting good at this. I got it!" Rainbow said. The fastest flier of the group made a B-line right to the Gem, but soon the Gem beast bolted for it, both the corrupted Gem and the flying Pegasus moving fast. Even with Rainbow flying, she was just a hoof away from the beast, as the Gem raced around the Beta. She turned back to see Rainbow still after her, and she suddenly made a dime stop, and ducked. Rainbow flew right over her, and right into one of the many holes in the Beta kindergarten, a loud bang being heard by the others. Rainbow stumbled out in a daze before the corrupted Gem rushed off out of sight, with the others going over and helping her up. "OK. Flighty. Right," Rainbow said, still in a daze, as they all heard one more distant *BLAWRK!* before the Gem was out of sight completely. Peridot couldn't help but laugh. "Hahahaha, you think it's going to just stand still for you, Ha!" "What're you laughing at? you weren't dealing with these things," retorted Rainbow, as she got to her hooves. "Yeah, but I don't just run at it and expect to grab it," retorted back Peridot. Rainbow was about to protest, but, she was right. It was then that Fluttershy asked the question that would pretty much be a day of trouble ... "Well, what would you do?" "Me? I'll show you what I'll do," Peridot simply said, as she started going off down where the Gem raced off. Of course, the others felt a little bit concern with Peridot just running blindly after the Gem beast, not sure what it can actually do to her. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" Rainbow asked. "Way ahead of you," Connie simply said, already going on after her. While not planned for it, the group then split off into two: Connie, Rainbow, Pinkie, and Rarity going after Peridot. Amethyst, Steven, Applejack, Twilight, and Fluttershy went off after their own monster. Here we go. ~~~~~~ It didn't take very long until Peridot had found the Gem beast, and just as well, the others catching up with Peridot. They all were in another part of the canyon, with Peridot, Rainbow, Rarity, Connie, and Pinkie hidden behind some canyon rock, and the Gem beast over in the open, sniffing around nonchalantly. It was clear that this Gem beast didn't notice them just yet, which was what Peridot especially wanted, as she snickered and grinned. "Time to employ my flawless Peri-plan: take note of the dormant injector, positioned right above the obviously oblivious creature. With an assist of gravity and some weakening of the injector's Gravity connectors, and we'll have our little Gem nicely done," Peridot explained. Everything did seem in place for a basic trap when the group saw what Peridot was talking about. "It could work. But, suppose -" Peridot suddenly shushed Rarity as the Gem beast moved right under the injector in question, standing just under the shadow. Perfect! Peridot raised her arms out, focusing her energy on the metal legs, one of which started to shutter a bit. The Gem beast didn't seem to notice anything, but as soon as the leg fell, it startled her enough to make her jump. However ... "It's not falling," Connie said. "Another leg has to go," Peridot concluded, trying for another leg. The leg in question shivered until it popped right off, and landed right down in front of the gem beast this time, her actually moving off away this time. Still, the injector didn't fall down ... "WHAT?! Come on!" Peridot was a bit upset, and she went right on out of the hiding place, straight to the wall that was holding the injector up. How could the Injector still be stuck there with ONE LEG?! Annoyed, she started kicking the rock wall, trying to dislodge it. Pinkie went up to help too, running up the wall and hopping up and down on the injector. Despite their efforts, for some odd reason, it wasn't making the injector budge an inch. When looking, Rarity began to look concern, especially since Peridot was right under it. "Wait, Peridot, move over!" Rarity warned, a hoof pointing up to injector. "Good thinking," commented Peridot, moving over just a little bit. Pinkie Pie didn't stop her jumping though, but with one kick of Peridot's foot to the wall and ... "OW!" Down came a ton of rocks, right down on Peridot. Honestly, it was weird. Once that was done, the Gem beast soon confronted the others nearby. She just stared at them at first, tongue flickering in and out of her mouth. The others weren't sure what to do, but the Gem beast though was quick to attack this time! The gem beast leaped off the ground right at them, Rarity bringing out a shield to protect them. The Gem beast screeched as the bird claws scratched up the shield all over! Peridot pulled herself out of the rubble, just to see the beast attacking the others head on. "KEEP DISTRACTING IT, I'LL FINISH IT OFF!!" Peridot yelled, getting herself out ... Just to have the injector FINALLY fall down on her! The crash panicked the Gem beast, and she raced off out of sight soon after that. The others just cringed on seeing that, going over to her. Peridot was alright, albeit hurt, with only one arm sticking out from under the injector. Pinkie, still standing on the injector, looked down eagerly with her tail wagging. Pinkie didn't realize what actually happened, and she couldn't see what it landed on. "YES! Did I miss?" Pinkie asked, eagerly. Rainbow Dash was less amused about it, as she went right over next to the green Gem. "No, Pinkie. You got her, alright," Rainbow sighed, rolling her eyes, and then looking down to Peridot. Peridot lifted her arm, pointing her finger to the sky. "I think ... we should ... rethink our strategy ..." Peridot groaned. They'll get the beast eventually, but first they got to get Peridot out of the heap ... ~~~~~~ Out on the open plains, Steven, Amethyst, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Applejack were still trying to find their own beast. As they had been, Steven kept his list out in front, with the main monster's picture as their main source of identification. However, they were not seeing anything. The open plains had rocky terrain, cactus scattered around here and there, along with plenty of arid rock formations, and boulders for sure, but no Crystal animal anywhere. "Anypony see that thing anywhere round here?" Applejack asked. "Not a thing. You sure it's around here Steven?" Twilight questioned. "Says here on the list, look," Steven said, showing the instructions down on the list. On the list though, it simply said 'Beta K desert', but nothing exactly particular about the desert in the Beta Kindergarten. The heat wasn't exactly helping them much either. "Well, I vote we rest a little bit. If that's ok," Fluttershy suggested. It did seem like a good idea, but before they could bother to rest, something up ahead of them started to move. Amongst the shrubs and cactus, one hanging shrub started to move, as if being pulled down on one side. All on its own, it wasn't anything exciting, but as they moved closer, it was what was pulling it that got their attention. The creature looked as large as an elephant, but it looked more like a tortoise. Its skin was bright orange to match the desert, and a number of crystals. The back of the animal was all one, huge, crystal casing to make up the shell, and one large crystal made up the eye. It stood on four sturdy legs, the front pair having crystals on the knees. It didn't seem to take notice of the others at all, and it continued to eat the shrub it was browsing off of. "Is that it? That's gotta be it?" Amethyst asked quietly. Steven got out the picture, and by the looks of it, it seemed to be right. "Yes, that's it!" Steven answered. "I got this," Amethyst said, jumping out into the battlefield straight away. The turtle, however, continued browsing on the scrub as if Amethyst wasn't even there, even after she landing a powerhouse hit onto its back! Amethyst tried her best to do some sort of damage to the animal, only getting nothing out of it. Steven, Twilight, AJ, and Fluttershy were surprised how little reaction this creature was getting from her hits. Amethyst punched, whipped, and kicked it up and down, only coming up empty. "HEY, I'M RIGHT HERE! HELLO?!" Amethyst yelled, coming up with nothing. "I don't think it's working," Fluttershy said, not liking how rough she was being with it. Amethyst eventually climbed up onto the Gem tortoise's back, stomping on it to try and get some damage. Might as well be spitting at it at this point. It felt Amethyst on its back, and began to shake. The shaking along with the gleam on the shell made Amethyst tumble off easily. "You ok, sugarcube?" Applejack asked. Amethyst got herself up easily thanks to some help from Twilight and Steven. "Did I do anything to it?" Amethyst asked. Looking at the shell, there wasn't even a scratch on it. "Not a thing. Let me try at it," Applejack offered. The orange pony trotted over to the Gem tortoise, which had just finished eating up its fill on the bush. Applejack turned away, lining up her back hooves to the creature's side. Everypony got the idea, and AJ laid a full-forced Earth Pony kick right onto it ... nothing! The creature's main response? *burp* The tortoise began to move away casually after that, Applejack rubbing her now sore back hooves. "This'll be harder than I thought." ....... Out in the desert, the tortoise Gem was quenching its thirst over at a desert pool. Amethyst, Steven, Twilight, AJ, and Fluttershy caught up with it, peering in from a nearby, large cactus. Even if the tortoise noticed them, it wasn't paying them much mind. It was a bit strange how it was behaving so much like a normal animal, despite the fact Gems don't need to eat or drink to live. "Ok, Twilight, you know what to do?" Amethyst asked. "Right. Just be ready with the spike and I'll get it onto you," Twilight replied, beginning to quietly start flying. The tortoise continued drinking a little bit, as Amethyst dove into the water. The dive got the tortoise to look, but not to worry. Steven and Fluttershy, both unsure, watched as they got to work. Amethyst stuck herself to the bottom of the pool, shapeshifting her head into a sharp spike. Twilight flew off as much as she could, and after gaining enough distance, she began to dive towards the tortoise. Since it was so heavy anyway, it didn't had time to get out of the way, and Twilight managed to shoot a magic beam strong enough to knock it forward into the water. The tortoise landed right on top of Amethyst, as the purple Gem was hoping for, but ... Nothing happened. No poof, no damage, just an upside-down tortoise. "Amethyst?" Fluttershy asked, worried. "I got it," AJ said, galloping into sight. The orange pony leaped up into the air, and doing a divebomb kick right to the tortoise's stomach. However, instead of a hit to poof the animal, it was a hit to launch Applejack off of it like a trampoline. Twilight was struck by the pony, and both crashed to the ground, making Steven and Fluttershy cringe a little. At this point, the tortoise had swung itself onto its feet. It didn't move at first, but then it dipped its head into the water, and pulled a dazed Amethyst back to land, dropping her to Twilight and AJ. The Gem tortoise looked over to Fluttershy and Steven, some grunts coming out of it. Fluttershy, much to her own surprise as to anypony else, understood every bit of it, just before the tortoise turned and walked away. "What'd it say?" Steven asked. "I ... It thanked you for fixing a knot in its back," Fluttershy responded timidly. So, it didn't see it as a kill attempt, and more of a little service. NOT the response they expected. ~~~~~~ As for Connie's side of the coin, she, Peridot, Rainbow, Rarity, and Pinkie were still trying to get their speedster of a Gem. After their first shot in the canyon, Peridot had concocted another idea. "Alright, the last Peri-plan was too close in radius to the opposing target. But this time, I've employed one of the injector's into our own personal Gem cannon! Observe," Peridot explained, adjusting the giant cannon in one direction, and she shot a rock sky high! Rather impressive considering the cannon was made from scratch in just a few minutes. "Nice!" Pinkie beamed. "I know. Now we can take down that dumb beast from a distance. It's more flawless than the last Peri-plan!" Peridot beamed. "Eh, darling, I don't think it would be considered -" "There it is!" Pinkie said, cutting Rarity off as the Gem monster soon appeared, scurrying along the desert floor. It didn't seem to notice the other group standing twenty feet away, as it gave a few loud calls, tongue flapping around. Peridot, seeing her chance, adjusting her personal cannon at the ready, hand on the lever, and locked onto target. Connie and Rarity, sensing more trouble, started to back away a little. "You clod," Peridot chuckled deviously, as she slammed the lever on ... "Huh? COME ON, STUPID -" BAM. The cannon went off, but nothing came out. Instead, it rocketed herself, Pinkie, and Rainbow back into a nearby rock formation, causing a ton of rocks to fall on them. Yeah, that happened ... AND the monster showed up. "Oh, hey. You win this round, hehe," Connie said nervously. The Gem beast just jumped them, clawed them, and went on its way. Oh joy. ....... "You ready for the next great Peri-plan?" "The last two weren't so great," Rainbow groaned. "YES. NOTED, DASH. After analyzing the last two Peri-plans, I've realized a common factor - working with the injectors introduced too many complicating variables. NOW, we only have to rely on simple physics!" After gathering from Peridot's last attempt, the group had gathered up over at the top of the Beta canyon for this next plan ... which was a boulder on top of the cliff. They knew at this point Peridot was getting a little desperate, and judging by the bruises, scrapes, on most of them, it wasn't doing any good either way. "Alright, I'll bite. What's this one?" Rainbow asked. "We'll wait up here until the monster is right underneath us, not suspecting a thing, because it's so dumb. And then we'll drop this rock on it's STUPID HEAD! It's even more flawless! And at this height, NOTHING CAN FALL ON US!" "AND, if the rock doesn't go where we want it to?" "I'M DOING THE BEST I CAN, PINKIE!!" No, it didn't sound any better. Peridot eagerly waited right at the cliff, giggling deviously as she waited for the Gem beast to come up. The others obviously were concern over her. To think they just found her this morning ready to shatter herself, and now she was very bent on doing this job. As Peridot stood there, she began to hear some scuffling, and when she turned around, they were gone ... only to show up on the otherside of the canyon. "... Is there something you're trying to tell me?" *Blawrk* Then come in the monster in question, right behind Peridot. Before she could react, The Gem monster lunged at her, making Peridot stumble back, and fall right down the cliff! "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" *thud* When the others managed to get down to investigate, all the way at the bottom of the cliff, Peridot laid in a heap, the impact hard enough to crack the ground under her. "I -" THEN came that boulder! Unable to get out of the way in time, Peridot got slammed by it easy, sticking to it as it rolled off! Rainbow Dash accidentally ended up caught in it too, and they both ended up out of control, as Pinkie, Connie, and Rarity tried to go after it. Peridot and Rainbow Dash rolled, and rolled, and rolled, until the boulder ended at a rock formation, shaped like an O. Peridot and Rainbow spun round and round around the inside of the rock formation a good seven spins until the boulder finally stopped near the top, only to drop down to the ground completely dazed. "I-I think - UGH!" AND the boulder fell back on Peridot, leaving only her legs out. "You don't poof easy, huh?" Rainbow commented. "Us Peridots are tougher than we look." ~~~~~~ Night came. The group all came back together, most of the group bruised up in some way with their own troubles. Neither side got their Gem beast, and all they got was some battered bodies and battered pride. The group was around a fire for the night, easily put together after some effort, and by the looks on their faces, they could already tell which side was unsuccessful in their endeavors. At least the fire was warm for the night, and Pinkie was generous enough to provide marshmallows for the group. Nearby though, Peridot seemed very excited. "Oh yes, this is perfect! It's flawless! It's ..." Peridot's attempt at another trap set-up didn't even come close: an injector leaning against a standing Injector leg, just to have it collapse in front of her. "A waste of my time." Peridot, grumbling in defeat, just slumped back over to the others, sitting in between Fluttershy and Steven. Seemed rather obvious her plan wasn't going to go anywhere, anytime soon. "So ... Y'all didn't have much luck either, huh?" AJ said. "Nope. And you don't have yours either, huh?" Rainbow said. AJ simply shook her head. Peridot seemed a bit more rough on the whole thing. "I don't get it. I'm smarter than your average Peridot. How did I fail against this. This. Stupid, cloddy, dumb-dumb?!" Peridot yelled. "Hey, hey, they're not dumb, not at all. They just think a little different," Fluttershy suddenly said. Peridot wasn't really buying that from her. "Just to make sure my Earth vocabulary is correct: Let's say, I'm a monster. I spend all my time slamming my face into hard objects, and throwing my tongues in the air for fun. How am I not dumb?" It was clear that Peridot just wasn't getting it. "Well, it has to be doing something right. It never fell for any of your Peri-plans," Connie pointed out. That didn't make Peridot feel any better. "It's just luck! NOTHING NOTHING DOES MAKES ANY SENSE!" Peridot yelled, kicking a stray stone off the ground. The green Gem was in a rut now. It was only a matter of time until the others would figure out she had run off, and so far she had nothing to show for it. What was going wrong with her approach? "Hey, P, relax. It's not like you're the only one that got a little scuffed up today," Amethyst said, remembering what happened to her earlier. Peridot didn't really answer her, just sitting there staring at the flickering fire. The others tried to think of something, but then Steven looked to the marshmallow bag. He chucked one at Peridot. "Hey." He threw another one at her. *grr* He chucked a bunch of them at her. "Why're you assaulting me with your puff rocks?!" Peridot griped, asking what the others were thinking. But Steven knew what he was doing. "To show you what it's like to be a monster! Pretend I'm a person screaming at you in fear! Pretend I'm a Changeling driving you away from your first hiding spot! Pretend I'm an angry green Gem trying to POOF you! This is your life now: END.LESS. SUFFERING!" "Uh, Steven?" Fluttershy asked, hoof poking his shoulder. But Steven winked to her, as he continued to pelt Peridot with marshmallows, until ... "AAAAAAHHHH!" Peridot suddenly grabbed the bag, gripped it in her teeth, and shook it like crazy like some rabid dog. That's when the others finally got what Steven was trying to do, as Peridot took a moment to catch her breath. "See, Peridot, you get it! What you did made total sense," Twilight said, as Peridot spat out the bag. "How?" Peridot asked, now legitimately confused. "How? Peridot, you were frustrated by what you're going through, and so is that monster. You think she enjoys being corrupted?" Twilight explained. "She's right. Maybe you can try thinking about things from her point-of-view," agreed Connie. That was something worth thinking about. "Hmm ..." ~~~~~~ The next day, and the Gem monster on Peridot's target list was roaming around on the desert rock, flicking out her tongue in the air good and loud. It didn't take very long for Peridot and company to find her. Steven and his side had decided to stick around this time to help Peridot out if she needed. "Hold on ... maybe if I -" "Peridot, I swear if you say you have another Peri-plan, I'm coming over there and poofing you," Rainbow quickly, and firmly said. That shut her up. The Gem beast turned to Peridot, but it didn't bolt off straight away. Peridot though wasn't so easily impressed with seeing her. "UGH. I can't take this tongue-flapper seriously," Peridot stated. Pinkie popped up further away, her hooves aimed at her own head. "Think. Like. A monster," Pinkie whispered. Peridot simply had to take their word for it this time, and if she was to get this thing, she had to improvise from her usual Peri-plans. So, she began her approach by squatting on the ground, keeping her eyes wide like those of a frog. "Bleagh! Bleagh!" Peridot said, sticking out her tongue to mimic the Gem monster in behavior. Peridot felt like a complete idiot, but the method was actually working itself out. As she hopped closer, the beast did the same behavior as Peridot did, not running away. Peridot continued her act more and more, able to go right up to the creature without getting herself hurt. During one *BLAWRK* from the Gem beast, Peridot got a little gutsy, and kicked it in the leg. Bad move. Suddenly, the Gem beast was on top of her, clawing at her! "Peridot!" Connie gasped, she and the ponies rushing out to help her. During the scuffle, Peridot got a firm grip on the Gem beast's gemstone, making the beast panic, and head for the hills with Peridot on her back. "Oh no you don't!" Rainbow yelled, taking off after her. Everyone else was left in the dust, but Rainbow kept good pace with the Gem beast, as she scurried across the desert, trying everything to get Peridot off of her. Peridot tried her best to pull the Gemstone off, but it was no use. She didn't have the strength like Bismuth or Jasper in order to do so, and even if she did, she needed to keep herself on her back more so at the speed they were going. Rainbow kept trying her best as well, but as she can keep up with her easy, it was the turning that kept throwing her off, as this Gem monster kept making turns on a dime. The Gem monster kept ramming herself into rocks, and the occasional castus as desperate means, but it wasn't enough to get the stubborn green Gem to let go. "Come on! Just let me!" Peridot groaned, but of course the beast was not having it. The beast shrieked, growled, and yelped as she raced along the desert rock and stone. With the green Gem in front of her face, she couldn't make out exactly where she was going all too well. It almost seemed like it would never stop ... *SLAM* Something stopped the Gem monster dead in her tracks. She and Peridot ended up slamming right into it hard, slowly peeling off of whatever it was in a daze. Rainbow cringed on seeing that, and as for what they raced into - that same Gem tortoise Steven was trying to get! Rainbow accidentally flew right past them, and she had to hit the brakes hard to slow down. As for the tortoise, the hit wasn't very effective, but it was getting a bit peeved at this point. Enough it had to deal with Amethyst, Steven and their ponies, it didn't need Peridot as well. So its response? All it did was lean to the side, and ... "AAHH -" BAM. Both Peridot and the Gem monster ended up crushed underneath the tortoise's weight, the Gem tortoise just large enough to cover them completely. What freaked out Rainbow was a prominent poof cloud just seconds afterwards! "Peridot!" Rainbow gasped, rushing down to see. The large tortoise didn't budge, and actually seemed to fall asleep. Or at least, it didn't move. "Hey you, off my friend!" Rainbow warned, trying to move the tortoise herself. At this point, the others soon arrived to the scene, seeing what happened. "What happened? Peridot, you ok?!" Steven said, helping Rainbow alongside Amethyst and Applejack to move the tortoise. It took a lot of effort, but they moved the tortoise just enough to get it off of them. Peridot laid there, still in one piece, if not comically flattened. However, her Gem monster appeared to be missing. "Peridot? Peridot!" AJ said, waiting for a reaction outta her. Eventually, the green Gem finally managed to get up, but she suddenly got in a victory pose, with the poofed Gem monster proudly presented. "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!" Peridot said in joy. Well, half of it was done, anyway, they still had the tortoise standing there. ....... "PERIDOT!" Oh no. Voices of the other Gems were further away, and Peridot quickly hid behind the Gem tortoise. Lucky for her, the Gems that came to look for her were Jade, Emerald, and Star. "Oh, guys, there you are! Had any of you seen -" Emerald cut himself short when they saw the worrying Peridot just behind the tortoise. "Are the others with you?" Peridot squeaked. "No. Peridot," Jade simply said. Peridot looked around to be sure, but the tortoise grabbed her and moved her out into view rather than letting her wait. Before any of them could get up to Peridot, Steven, Amethyst and Connie got in their way. "Hey, why don't you lay off?! She's going through enough trouble right now without you," Amethyst snapped. "We know, we know, calm down will ya?" "I don't think you do! We found Peridot trying to shatter herself yesterday! I dunno what Peridot went through exactly, but it has to stop RIGHT now!" Applejack demanded. Jade looked completely shocked on hearing what she really was trying to do. "Oh my goodness. I-Is that true?" Jade asked. "... It wasn't my best ideas," Peridot said. Star went over to check out the tortoise, as Jade went straight to Peridot. "I-I'm so sorry. Listen, the others told us to find you. When we go back we can try to make things better, I promise," Jade said sincerely. "I don't know if there's much ... but I, appreciate the offer," Peridot said. A grunt from the tortoise reminded them of what was there, the tortoise being rubbed by Star. "Oh, right. We'll help out, just let us beat this Gem beast and be on our way," Connie said, Amethyst readying her whip. However, during a series of grunts, Fluttershy suddenly moved in between them. "What's up, flutters?" "I ... I don't think we should take him out," Fluttershy said. "What? Why? Its one of the Gem monsters on our list," Amethyst reminded. A few more grunts later from the tortoise, and Fluttershy responded. "He's saying he's ... not a Gem beast. He's a Light creature." A light creature? That surely sounded new to them. The tortoise continued explaining through its grunts to Fluttershy, who translated as she heard it. It was a little harder and slower to understand, but Fluttershy understood the same way as if a real turtle would talk to her. "He says light creatures ... are from Earth, and ... and as such ... Gems shouldn't have uh ... have to worry over his kind ... Oh, uh, that's why he helped with the Gem beast for Peridot." "Wait, that's not true. We've only seen one thing that looks like you, and that's a Gem beast. And our mission is to get them all bubbled up," Amethyst retorted. The tortoise, suddenly, moved over to Steven and snatched the list they had so it could see, much to them trying to get it back. Eventually, a few more grunts came out of it, which Fluttershy took a moment to look at the picture herself. "Oh, you're right." "Right what?" Connie asked "The picture doesn't match him," Fluttershy pointed out. "What're you talking about, course it does! Look, there's the Gem shell, the single Gem eye -" The tortoise snorted suddenly to cut Amethyst off, poking the paper with one of its feet. Steven and Amethyst looked at the picture a little more closely, but than they noticed that the shell pattern was actually a bit different. Amethyst didn't seem to buy it. Even if different, it was probably just something to leave it alone. "... Maybe we should leave him alone." "Why? There's no light creature, and Garnet assigned him on the chopping block," Amethyst retorted. "He's not on a block, is he?" Star asked. A loud bellow from the tortoise got their attention again, along with a few more grunts for Fluttershy to translate. She didn't say right away, feeling a bit unsure. "You sure about that?" Fluttershy asked meekly. The tortoise nodded, and gently moved her and Star to the others. "He said he'll let you bubble him, but after you go through the others on your list," Fluttershy said, though she felt uneasy about the idea of it giving himself up so easily. At least he had plenty of time to do what he wanted if they do agree to it. With how little damage their moves were doing to the tortoise in the first place, and how many they still had to go out and get ... surely one monster left alone won't be too bad, right? "Eh ... Ok, deal," Amethyst agreed. With a nod of the head, the tortoise turned, and began to move away. Amethyst felt silly leaving it alone, but there's plenty of other monsters to make up for it anyway. ~~~~~~ "There they are," Bismuth said. At the drill, Bismuth, Garnet, and Pearl were now at the drill working, when Bismuth saw Emerald, Jade, and Star return with Peridot, who was carrying the gemstone of the Gem beast with her. "Hey, gang, how's it going on the drill?" Emerald said. "Stopped for now, but nevermind that. Peridot, who said you can run off? We made it clear you're to stay here at the barn," Pearl scolded. "No, wait, wait! Look what I got! Handled a Gem beast problem for you all by myself," Peridot said, hoping it'll work as she held the gemstone in front of Pearl and Garnet. A little silence hung in the air for a minute. Garnet quickly took it, bubbled it, and sent it off. "Peridot, there's a cluster in the Earth that can destroy everything. You really thought this is going to fix it?" Garnet asked. "... I'm ... tempted to say no ... but -" "BUT, that was just a distraction that she so happened to handle," Emerald suddenly cut in. This was going bad by what he was seeing, and he got a good plan ready for it. "Oh yeah?" Garnet questioned. Emerald nodded. "Yeah, sure she did. Besides, the gal did a lot more than that for us." "None of us ordered her to leave the barn, Emerald," Pearl asked, eyebrow raised in suspicion. "So? You were griping about a lil somethin yesterday, and by the sound of it ... eh, not much luck on it, I see." "What're you talking about?" "What are you talking about?" Peridot thought. "Star, if you please," Emerald said. Star understood what he meant, and her Gemstone started to glow slightly. Emerald moved outta the way, as something started to be removed from Star's gemstone, which once fully appearing, turned out to be a bag. A rather full bag, and as big as Star was. Star gave a sigh of relief, as Bismuth opened it up to find it was full of a number of things. "You sure had been busy, huh?" Bismuth commented. Pearl looked in as well, as Emerald stood there smiling. "Yep, check it out: Tungsten, Titanium, and even a few drill power cells from some leftover injectors," Emerald said, as Pearl pulled out one of the injector power cells, which while slightly worn out, had a good amount of juice in them still. "Uh ... this ... this is wonderful! These will be perfect for the drill, power source AND durability. How on Earth did you manage?" Pearl asked. Emerald started walking to the barn, passing by Peridot ... "Eh, thank the green dorito for that one. She got the stuff just as we got her," Emerald commented, giving Peridot a sly wink before casually going to the drill. Pearl and Bismuth began to bring the stuff over to the drill, but Garnet took a moment to look to Peridot, who just stood there meekly. "... Thank you, Peridot." Without another word, she went over to the drill with Jade and Star. Peridot could tell that Garnet still hadn't forgiven her, but it was the first "thank you" she heard from Garnet in quite a while. Well, it's a start.