//------------------------------// // The Old Warrior // Story: My Little Universe: Season 5 // by EquestrianKirin //------------------------------// "Are we there yet?" "The last ten times you said that, it was no. but this time, it's actually yes." It took a while for the group to actually get to their next destination, but with some effort, Steven, Connie, Amethyst and the Mane Six had reached their next stop according to their monster hunting list. Their hunting had slowed down just a little bit, but they were back in action. The area they were in now looked more like an open plain, not too far from Beach City according to this one. However, by the time they did get there, it was just too late for them to do too much, so the group had to set up camp for the night. Many of the group were up for this task here, but as they were getting things settled, Amethyst just didn't seem up for ... anything, honestly. Her visit with White diamond obviously didn't help her AT ALL. As Amethyst sulked, the rest began to unravel some sleeping bags they brought along for their trip, and it was during this, that one of the ponies saw Amethyst bummed out. "You ok, sugarcube?" AJ asked, sitting down next to her. "I'm fine," Amethyst simply said, not looking at her, as she rolled out her own sleeping bag. Applejack knew Amethyst long enough to know that it wasn't true. "Come on, Ame, it's me." "Yeah, so?" Amethyst groaned. The others were beginning to notice Amethyst and her griping. Steven knew exactly what was the problem here, but the others weren't too sure. "Here, Amethyst. Turn that grumpy frown upside-down," Pinkie insisted, bringing her hooves up to Amethyst's face, and trying to bring her frown 'upside-down' like she said. All that got was Amethyst slapping the hooves away. "Cut it out! I'm ... I'm ... oh, forget it," Amethyst said. The purple Gem fell back, and laid down onto the ground, not even bothering to get into her sleeping bag, as she stared off into space. Amethyst knew her friends long enough to know they wouldn't just drop this. "Amethyst?" Connie asked. "I'm pathetic ok? There, I said it." "What? no, Amethyst, you're not -" "Don't even try to cheer me up, Twilight. I try, I really do, but White Diamond already talked me down. I'm just a runt." "White Diamond? What happened there?" "She wanted to see me and Steven, and basically confirmed that I'm the worst Crystal Gem ever. You guys keep saying 'You can be anything you wanna be'. NO! No I can't! Ugh ... I can't even be that thing I'm supposed to be, you know?" For most of the group, this was more out of nowhere. "Supposed to be, Amethyst?" "Look at me, I'm not supposed to be this small. And everyone talks about it like it's no big deal." "There's nothing wrong with being tiny. You're just all the Amethyst in a small package," Pinkie said. "See what I mean?" she groaned. The comment didn't make her feel any better, and the purple Gem just got into her sleeping bag. "Amethyst, listen, I know you're not feeling the best right now, but -" "No, don't start that. I told you what's wrong, and that's that. Just leave me alone to figure it out ..." Amethyst finished, curling up in her sleeping bag for the night. The others tried to get to her, but Amethyst stayed awfully quiet in her sleeping bag, now regretting even telling them about her problems. ... As time past on into the night, the group eventually decided to stop pestering Amethyst about the issue. If Amethyst won't get up now, then they'll pick up on it tomorrow morning. If they can say one thing about their night, it at least was a clear one. It was an easy night, and everyone was fast asleep at this point, nearby eachother. The only one who actually wasn't sleeping fully was Amethyst, her mind too wrapped up in her thoughts for her to even go to sleep. Rare for Amethyst. Still, the thoughts and depressed reality of her not being what she was supposed to (according to Homeworld anyway) was just enough to keep this sleep-bound Gem awake. She didn't really say a word about anything, not wanting to wake anyone up just yet. ... ....... It wasn't anything too complicated. The vision was a short and seemingly peaceful one. A gentle breeze blew through the air. Fresh, green grass down under foot. Distant, grassy mountains loomed far away. Silver clouds hover under each peak to cover the valley. Small, pink flowers bloom. Hills of bushes blossomed. Skies light blue. ... A large, pink object obscured by flora. The light that woke Steven up from his dream. And with tears coming down his face. "Huh?" "Steven, you feeling ok?" connie asked. Apparently he wasn't the only one who noticed, as Connie was the only one awake. "I think so. ... What a weird dream." "Dream, Steven?" "I don't know. It showed this strange place, pink flowers everywhere, and this uh ... Palequin?" "I think it's pronounced palanquin," Connie noted. Before they could go any further, the others began to stir, and Steven quickly wiped away the tears. Just as they woke up, the tears stopped flowing. Maybe they can figure it out later. ~~~~~~ "Finally. Took long enough, but I think we just about got it." At the barn, the other Crystal Gems; Garnet, Bismuth, Fulgurite, Flint and Jade all looked on to their finished drill. The project in creating, all and all, was a success in the end, despite their own little set back. The drill stood there in all its glory, aimed down and ready to drill at any moment, and the control center at the top. The only ones who weren't really looking at the moment were Pearl, Star, and Peridot, who were sitting quietly on the sidelines over by the fence. Both Peridot and Pearl had their own set of leashes, Pearl having a choke collar on her. A bit harsh, but not too much damage on the sad (if not bored) Pearl. "Alright then, let get to digging!" Bismuth said. As Bismuth started to head over to the drill, suddenly, something went through Flint's head and he stepped out in the way. "Wait a minute. We got the coordinates in, don't we?" Flint asked. "Coordinates? It's in the center of the Earth, what coordinates do we need other than down, down, and down?" Fulgurite asked, pointing down to their feet. It seemed pretty straight forward. "Just give me a second," Flint said, as he climbed up to the main control panel. As Flint went on to check the final piece to this operation, Garnet couldn't help but glance over back at Pearl and Peridot. They both had been rather quiet for a while, and seeing Pearl's cracked Gem reminded Garnet about just how badly things were going for her. Garnet stayed quiet, and took a look down at her own hand, in particular the one with Sapphire's gem. ... "What?! There's no coordinates to this thing! We can't drill to the Cluster without that," Flint yelled, before jumping down to the ground. They got the tools, the drill was all set, but without knowing where to go, how can it be done? "Why not?" "BECAUSE we can't waste any time when drilling! Every second counts, now anyone have any ideas?" Flint quizzed, waiting impatiently for an answer. However, the amount of silence was not exactly a pleasing one. However, someone did end up talking after a bit. "Oh, We know!" Peridot said, raising her hand to get their attention. "You would know, would you?" Flint said, unamused. "We do, really!" Flint wasn't buying it, after what they both did, but Garnet decided to give it a try anyway, only giving them a hand gesture to continue. Pearl got up. "There's a Diamond base that may hold that information. If information on its location would be anywhere, it would be there!" Pearl said, hoping that it'll help them out. Flint still wasn't buying this. "And where's there?" "The moon," Pearl and Peridot said. "... The moon?" "Yes: An old Diamond base built on the moon to observe the Earth Colony during their production. We can even take the Galactic Ray to get there!" Peridot said. "AAND, may I also say it's the only way to get there. It's not accessible by Warp Pad," Pearl added, before Flint had a chance to ask. Flint snapped his finger on the remark, his answer catching him faster than he could ask. Jade tried to comfort him, as the others took it in consideration. "Maybe they got a point. A quick check can work out," Fulgurite said. "And not many Gems remember that moon base. K, who's up for a moon trip?" Bismuth said, getting her memory going. Her experience as a builder for Homeworld did leave some useful information on her. "Is this even a place, Bismuth?" Flint questioned. "Sure it is, it's the Diamond's big Earth house. If the Diamonds know about the Cluster, where else would it be?" Bismuth replied. Flint would still have his doubts if it was just Pearl and Peridot who knew about this place, but apparently Fulgurite and Bismuth are on form with it, so he had to accept it. What else can they do? "Alright then, let's get the ship ready," Garnet decided. With the destination in sight, they began to go off to the Galactic Ray, but as they began to go, Garnet went over to Flint for a moment. "Flint? ..." "What is it, Garnet?" Flint sighed, as the others went off, leaving them alone for a bit. Garnet took a look over at Pearl, and just caught Pearl's arm glitch slightly, worrying Pearl a bit. "... I would like your opinion on Pearl's punishment." Flint groaned. "I thought you were fine with this. Especially after what she did to us." "I know, I know, but it's lasted a while." "This isn't forever, you know that and I know that. Let's just get this job done before the Earth explodes at our feet," Flint said, finishing their conversation and going off to join the others. Garnet silently went on after them. ~~~~~~ Meanwhile, Steven and company still continued looking for their next gem monster. Steven's tears had been gone since finding them last night, so no one was stuck questioning anything, including Amethyst. Traveling had been pretty good here, the open plains out in front with little to no real trouble in their way. They tried all morning, but they couldn't really try to get Amethyst to feel better. "Where is that thing? Come on, it can't hide forever," Rainbow groaned, trying to find it, but finding nothing. "Maybe it's in Equestria," suggested Connie. Not the first time they actually gone through this malarkey in Equestria. Still, Steven looked to the list, and according to instruction, it seemed like they should be at the right place. As they went, some of them looked back to Amethyst, who simply trailed them in the back. "Come on, let's split up. We can cover the ground better that way," decided Applejack. With not much trouble, they did so. And, since there was about nine of them, groups of three were made up: Twilight, Rarity, and Steven for team one; Connie, Fluttershy, and Pinkie for team two, and Rainbow, AJ, and Amethyst for team three. Even then, the group went out slightly further from eachother, in order to check the area a bit better, but not too far from eachother. For the teams, the only one who didn't feel up for it was Amethyst, who just sat over farther away from the others nearby some small shrubs as Rainbow and AJ continued to search for this next monster. AJ and Rainbow both decided to just leave Amethyst alone after their attempts earlier, and how little it actually did. ... *hisssss* "Hello, Amethyst." Time for one pair of creatures to make their appearance on the Gem. Amethyst heard the odd hissing for a bit, but didn't consider it until she heard the voice following it. When she heard that, Amethyst looked around, and began to see a sort of rope-shaped animal to slither out right next to her. Amethyst had seen weirder creatures coming out, and she was a bit down anyway. "Here we go, what do you want?" Amethyst asked, less than enthused by the whole thing. "Just to talk, as all. ... You seem down on yourself lately. True?" "OH, really? I didn't notice!" Amethyst growled, not in the mood. The snake bent back a little, but slithered out a bit more this time. "My, we are touchy, aren't we? Of course who wouldn't be after your little talk with the great Diamond." Amethyst got up to her feet, and looked right at the viper. "How'd you know about that?" Amethyst demanded. The snake stayed calm, and outmatched Amethyst's glare, rearing back to look her right in the eye. "Word gets around. Just as well, I hear your Gem species is down on your kind's respect," the snake simply said. After a bit, another snake slithered out, and soon Amethyst was in between both snakes. "Yes. Such a shame you are also so low yourself," the other snake hissed. Amethyst was starting to get concern with them, her emotions getting beat down already as it was. Both snakes circled around Amethyst, one of them checking to make sure AJ and Rainbow don't see them. "How is it just one to judge one over the full matter? I mean, after all, you've never seen the war yourself," one snake hissed. "You can do whatever you please. And with no true reason to stay in line, who's to even stop you?" hissed the other. A rather odd shift in tone. first they were just drilling Amethyst down, and now they were saying how she can do whatever she wishes without anyone else's imput. As the snakes wanted, Amethyst was taking in what they were saying, and begin to realize a few things. They did have a point there. ... "Wait a minute ... That's right. What am I to wonder what others think of me?" "YES," they both said. "I'll show them I got what it takes. That monster's going down!" Amethyst decided. The snakes stopped feeling enjoyed, and Amethyst, now motivated, went right off to go and search for her next monster. "Not the reaction I was hoping for," said the first snake. "Me neither. ... All the same, Cyanide, they won't get back in time anyway." "How?" "Just you sit back and watch," Acid said, patting her sibling on the back before she slithered away towards the others. Even with Amethyst knowing where they are, both snakes slipped off into hiding within the shrubs. Acid had her own scheme in her head, and she wanted to get this show underway. Acid took her position over at one of the shrubs, making sure she was right in the middle of the spread out group. She kept poking her head out to make sure they were in earshot. Looking around, each one of the split groups were just in range of the particular shrub, and Acid began to get to work. Stiffening her tail as if it were a staff, she started to engrave something into the ground under her. The symbol wasn't too big, just large enough to cover the dirt within the shrub, but just enough to keep it concealed. "Bye-bye.~" Acid quietly hissed, as she drew out her fangs, and bit down into it, both fangs digging into the soil. Seconds after she removed them, the symbol started to glow and activate, Acid high-tailing out of there, and over to Cyanide as the glow began to be picked up by the others around them. "There you are. I'm going in!" Amethyst said, bringing out her whip. With her determination now sky rocketed, the purple Gem went right in on this supposed Gem beast. "Careful, Amethyst!" AJ called. The purple Gem just got her whip launched right into the shrub before AJ grabbed her by the hair with her teeth, but the whip ended up stuck in something. Amethyst tried to pull back, but it felt like something was pulling Amethyst and AJ towards the shrub. The Gem struggled and pulled back as hard as she could, but it wasn't working even with AJ's help. "Come! ON! WHOA!" One power surge in, and Amethyst was off her feet! AJ tumbled over her hooves, and everyone else tried to grab them to pull them back. But it seemed that every pony or human who grabbed hold was just sucked in too! Acid and Cyanide hid just out of sight until all the noise was over, and when they looked, both snakes gave sly grins and 'high-tailed' eachother before slithering away. They were gone alright. ~~~~~~ With the roar of the engine, the Galactic Ray started to take its leave off of planet Earth with the Crystal Gems on board. Jade took in charge of flying the ship towards their destination, as the others stayed in the main control room. Pearl and Peridot, both navigators, sat up front but not without Flint holding onto their respected leashes just in case. He wasn't going to take any chances in case they both decide to pull a fast one on them again. As for the straight on flight, the Galactic Ray went through with flying colors as they neared the moon. When it came into sight, the moon looked fairly normal at first, but as they neared it, a sight of a building started to come to shape. This building looked much like a leaning tower with a rounded top, the very top of it completely made up of see-through glass, with the entrance all the way at the bottom. The coloration of it matched the moon itself, and the Galactic Ray docked ship right on inside. As with other Homeworld buildings, this one was automated, and the door opened up right away upon sensing the approaching ship. For the interior, it was rather quiet and lackluster. Not a soul had been in the place for centuries, and it showed with just how stuffy it was in there (like it'd mattered in space, anyway). The bottom floor where they docked ship was wide open, not much furniture or anything of the sort. Four different-colored diamond symbols on the floor, and four different murals drawn out on the wall, one for each of the four Diamonds. Any doubt now was dashed, as they all ventured out of the ship to investigate. "What a sight for sore eyes. I still remember when it was just on its first couple building plates," Bismuth commented as she looked around. "We're not here to sight-see. Where would they keep their information?" Flint wondered, trying to look around. Before any of them could answer, suddenly they heard something activate. Along the walls, a set of stairs was suddenly beginning to spiral upwards along the spire wall until it reached through the ceiling to the next level. When they looked, turned out Pearl was the one who activated the stairs, her foot on the starting platform. "Ta-da!" Peridot said meekly, trying to support her. Not amusing, but at least they got the proper tracks. "So, this is the Diamond's base for Earth? I'd thought it would be on earth itself, not on this small stone," Flint wondered aloud. "Well, since the Earth's moon is in constant rotation of the planet, it deemed to be a reliable location for the Diamond's observation as the colony was being created. Only the most elite Gems can even enter this place," Peridot said, though personally she felt a little excited about being there. How often can a little Peridot like her remotely visit such a high-ranking place such as this? Anyway, as they went up, it took them a few minutes before they began to reach to the ceiling opening to the next floor. They all went right on up, but when they did, this floor looked ... rather dark. Just the large floor and a single floating orb at the center of it all. Apart from the blue orb, there wasn't any other light source to show what else was in it. Jade stopped slightly and looked around just a little bit. "... What's this room?" "It's not what we came for," Flint simply replied, continuing up the stairs. As he said, they didn't come hyere to just sight-see the moon base, they had some information to gather up. They needed to get it before the Cluster decides when to come alive. Jade took a moment to look into the room once more before going off after the others. It was then that the spiral stairs brought them all the way to the top of the tower. As they expected, this part was completely lined with windows, and the view of space was seen all around them. In the middle was a large chair, presumably for the diamonds to sit in, and with a control pad in front to work with. If it was going to be anywhere, that's where it would be. "Oh my goodness! This looks like it could be brand new! I mean it's a relic by today's standards, but, golly! It's so elegant, so simple, so perfect!" Peridot beamed. "So how do you turn it on?" Flint asked. "I have no idea." "Here, let' me have a look at it," Fulgurite said, going over to the controls. She only needed to see one look at these controls to figure out how it could work. Fulgurite pushed Flint and Peridot aside, and she got her hands to work on the control pad. It took some quick trial and error, but a screen finally managed to show up, giving off details about Earth. Or at least what Earth would be according to the blueprints. "Alright! Come on, babe, show me that cluster," Fulgurite said, as she began to go through the files on this base's database. Files here were incredible out of date over the last thousands of years, detailed descriptions and blueprints over various Gem areas on Earth. These included the Lunar Sea Spire, the Prime Kindergarten, and the Tunguska Gem Facility to name a few. Nice diagrams, but the real answer had to be found somewhere. Fulgurite kept going through more and more files until she finally got it! The picture showed a blueprint of some sort of round sphere, all sparkled and likes crisscrossing all over the place to show the actual density of the cluster. "Bingo!" "Right. Pearl, Peridot. You two did your job, go back downstairs, and wait for us at the ship will ya?" Flint ordered, though he didn't sound too grateful towards them, even with this. "But, maybe we can -" "NO. Downstairs. Ship. Now." Pearl and Peridot were humbled by Flint and his serious expression. Most of them ignored what was going on to some extent, distracted by the Cluster, but Star Quartz did glance back to the two humbled Gems, as both Pearl and Peridot just agreed and went downstairs. Flint was not going to risk them messing with what information they had here. Star though wasn't getting too much on why they were being this harsh to them. Pearl, debatable, but why so much on Peridot? As the others were busy with trying to figure things out, Star just managed to go and slip away quietly downstairs as well. Eventually, she found Pearl and Peridot once again, both of which were right down at the Galactic Ray. Peridot just sat down at the Galactic Ray entrence, as Pearl paced around back and forth in front of Peridot. Obviously they weren't dealing with this very well, Pearl feeling worst about it. "So ... How're you feeling?" Peridot asked, trying to break the ice. Pearl just needed to glare at Peridot to keep her quiet. Rather than make a comment, Pearl just sat down next to her. and just in time, because she began to feel her cracked Gemstone take effect on her, her hand glitching up slightly. It had been like this ever since Flint cracked her stone, and it was just another reminder how much trouble she was in. "There has to be something we can do. I don't want to be cracked forever. ..." Pearl sighed, hand rubbing her gemstone. Peridot didn't have any idea, but that didn't mean she wasn't trying to figure something out. This crazy turn of events all started off from this blasted Cluster, and it was just drama bomb for everyone. Steven and Amethyst were running around bagging monsters, the ponies doing ... whatever they do, and them building that drill. It didn't seem like it, but Peridot had her mind wrapped around the Cluster more than anyone else. This is her mission to Earth, after all ... Her mission to Earth ... "I'll do it." Pearl turned to Peridot, the Gem getting up to her feet. "I'll stop the Cluster," Peridot decided. Peridot had enough with letting everyone else falter over a mission she was supposed to do. "Peridot, you can't!" "I have to! Pearl, my mission from Yellow Diamond herself, to come to Earth on the first day was to check and handle the Cluster. I'm not going to sit and make you guys do it for me!" Peridot yelled. Where did this side come from? This was pure, selfless determination here, and Pearl didn't see that part of Peridot in a long time. "It's what I was supposed to do. Besides, I think my neglect has caused enough trouble," Peridot said, referring to Pearl's broken gemstone. Peridot began to walk back into the Galactic Ray, leaving Pearl rather quiet about the whole thing. Pearl wanted to try and talk to her, but she wasn't given the chance. "We got the location, time to get back." ~~~~~~ "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH - OW!" And their tumble came to an end with a rather rough thud onto the ground. Where'd they end up is anyone's guess at this point. They weren't hurt too badly, but the group didn't had any idea where they ended up in that jump. The portal that jumped them there disappeared already, so they had that problem already going on for them. What they did find themselves in was no farmland, or open plain, but instead a forest. And a rather thick one at that. The heat was warmer too, and the plants unfamiliar to those found in Beach City. "What the hay happened?" Rainbow groaned, shaking her head to get her senses up. "We've been teleported by some magic trickster! Slipping a tiny spell in mister bush and sucking us all away like dust in a vacuum cleaner!" Pinkie said, already up onto her hooves, and running in circles around the group. It really didn't take long before they realize that Pinkie was right. As they tried to get themselves together, Twilight looked over towards Steven, and suddenly noticed that something was wrong: tears were pouring right down his face. "Steven! Oh my Celestia, are you hurt? Say something!" Twilight gasped, rushing over to him. "I'm fine, really," Steven insisted, but eventually he began to notice the tears streaming down his face. "Steven? ..." "I ... I'm crying again. ..." "Uh ... g-girls? ..." Fluttershy whimpered. Then they saw it. Looking down the path a little bit more, Steven, Twilight, and everyone else suddenly saw the palanquin that Steven had seen ... well, sort of. The palanquin Steven saw was pink and basically wrecked, but this one was light crystal blue, and in peak condition no less. "Steven? Is that ..." Connie asked. "Nah, nah. This isn't what I saw, it's not the same -" Crying. The whole group then heard crying. They tried looking around a bit, but could find nobody or Nopony around to actually make the crying, and for sure it wasn't any of them. They all started to pinpoint the noise after a good while, and it was Connie who got herself over through some bushes, and signaled the rest to follow. Looking through the foliage, they found the source. Blue Diamond! The diamond was cloaked, back to them, and facing the same pink palanquin Steven saw in his dream, and with Blue Pearl standing beside her. "I'm so sorry ... I should've done more ... Yellow says it'll be all over soon ... But I still wonder what you'd think. This is your planet, after all ... at least I still think it is ..." Every word whispered out of Blue Diamond was full of sorrow and guilt, the others seeing Steven's eyes swell up in tears again, almost filling his eyes completely. "Whoa, dude, calm down," Amethyst said, ducking down with him. "No, it's not me. My dream saw through her eyes! I'm crying her tears!" Steven realized. The coincidence made far too much sense. Looking over, one of the ponies looked a bit more closely to Blue herself ... "Y'all wait here." Soon, Applejack got up, and moved out from the bushes into view. At first, Blue Diamond didn't seem to notice the orange pony walking out, but she did eventually started to hear hoofsteps. It was Blue Pearl though who saw her first. "My diamond? Somepony is here with us," informed Blue Pearl. Blue Diamond just barely turned back to see AJ, before looking back down again. Applejack gathered her courage, and moved over, sitting down practically next to her. "How curious. I didn't think it much before. But now, I'm impressed by your kind's ability to survive in the wild. ... That a fragile being as a human, live. While something as powerful as a Diamond. Perish. ... This is where it happened. Where she ... was broken ..." As seen on Steven's face, a swell of emotion came back around again. It was painfully clear that Blue Diamond was grieving, and Applejack took a bit before she could actually say something correct towards the Diamond in question. "Were you close?" "... very ..." Applejack looked down to her hooves, going as far as to take off her hat for a moment, her ears drooping. "I'm sorry. I know how hard it is to lose someone you're very close to," AJ said. Blue Diamond was quiet, but she turned her head fully to see Applejack with her own eyes, one which had a tear fall down. Was she true to her word? "You do?" Blue Diamond asked, softly. Applejack gave a long sigh, feeling some slight emotion coming up herself. "Yeah. I lost two actually. I miss em every day, and I think about them all the time ... but I know it's not gonna bring em back. It's hard to live with something like that, and it can be even harder to be OK with," Applejack took a moment to wipe a small stray tear from her own eye, only reminding herself of her own loss in her own family, as large and diverse as it is. As for Blue Diamond, she wasn't sure what to actually say. She knew well that the ponies had some interesting similarities to Gems one way or another, but she didn't expect somepony to have this kind of similar connection with a Diamond like herself. As she was looking back though, she began to sense that there's probably more than just her there. Blue Diamond just turned away again ... "Are there others with you?" Blue Diamond asked. Being the element of honesty had its perks but downfalls too, and lying wasn't Applejack's strong suit. Instead of using words, Applejack just nodded. "... bring them here." AJ wasn't sure at first, but their bond with the Diamonds was a bit damaged as it was, so perhaps it would be better to just handle it. Applejack turned and went over to the others. Naturally, they were a little hesitant, but Applejack trusted that nothing would go wrong, so they began to head out. Amongst them though, Steven was the last to go out, staying in the back of the group. Blue Diamond though first saw Steven within the group despite that ... "... Steven ..." "I'm awfully sorry, Blue." What else could Steven really actually say aside from that? It wasn't his fault personally that Pink Diamond was dead, but he wanted to apologize for his mother's behalf, at the very least of the trouble. Blue Diamond felt a tear come down her face again, and she saw Steven's tear drop from his face. "Steven ... It's not your fault this happened to her ... I'd hate it more if I knew you'd go on thinking that ... I blame only myself." "No, no, Blue don't say that. Listen, it's hard not to miss someone close to you that you lost, it happens to everyone at least once in their lives. But, when it does, it's best to remember the good times you two had together, not think on the bad," Connie said. Blue was silent at first ... "... I never realized there is beings that understand how I feel ... It's a shame." Blue Diamond quietly rose up to her feet, still having her back turned to them. "There is a geo-weapon, buried deep within your planet, that will destroy everything shortly ..." Blue Diamond turned back to them again, still sad, but this time with a smile on her face. "... But, you don't deserve that. Do you?" The whole group was left stunned on that 'geo-weapon' part more than most. Not a single person, Gem, or pony remotely mentioned any geo-weapon to them before this! Was this why Garnet sent them on their way in the first place? To not figure out about the geo-weapon? They didn't forget the situation right now though. "Geo-Weapon, huh?" Pinkie asked. Blue Diamond kneeled down to them, so she was at a more comfortable level with them all. "You know, I really shouldn't be here. But I'm glad I came back one, last, time ..." Never before had they seen Blue Diamond look so defeated. As for the Diamond, she got back up to her feet, and slowly began to move away. Blue Pearl looked to the others before she too started to go off with her, both Diamond and Pearl heading back to Homeworld. Well, their list was done at this point, and now with what they were told ... "Come on, we got some catching up to do," concluded Amethyst.