//------------------------------// // Post Haste // Story: My Little Universe: Season 5 // by EquestrianKirin //------------------------------// "Lapis? ... Lapis! ..." another visit to the barn, and it still didn't seem like Lapis Lazuli was willing to come outside just yet. This time, it was actually Applejack, Spike, and Twilight coming down for their own visit to the barn to try and work Lapis back outside, but so far there was little to no word coming from the barn's interior. The barn didn't look too frozen as it was before on the outside, but the doors and window were still locked up tight by the water Gem inside. Applejack knocked good on the door with her hooves, but nothing happened. "Nothin. Locked up tighter than a rusted gate," AJ sighed. "She must be going through a lot in there," Twilight figured, and she might as well be. So many months as a corrupted fusion would traumatize anypony. "What happened with Lapis anyway?" asked Spike. "I told you Spike, she and Jasper got stuck in a fusion for months on end. She's been stuck inside the barn since we got her back," Twilight reminded, walking up to the barn door and placing her hoof onto it. Spike noticed a tiny crack in the door, and actually climbed on Twilight's head to peer inside. All he could see was ice around the walls and not too much else. He could make out a sort of cocoon in there, but that was about the best he could manage before he lost his balance, and stumbled off Twilight's head. "Steven mentioned she's recovering, so I hope she gets better soon," Twilight added in. "We all are, Twi. come on, we tried, let's see what the other's are up to," Applejack suggested. Bothering her during this was probably not a good idea to begin with, so the two ponies and Spike then started trotting away. Lapis wouldn't let them in no matter how much they would bang on the door. As AJ, Twilight, and Spike took their leave from there, Acid and Cyanide poke their heads out from a nearby bush, just out of sight from the trio of Equestrians. Cyanide gave a good hiss when they left, leaving them alone with Lapis Lazuli. "Well, isn't this sweet? Poor Lapis Lazuli's left unguarded," Cyanide noted. "And so distraught too," added Acid. "Yes. Amethyst's is left thinking, let's see what we can plant in Lapis's head," Cyanide decided, beginning to slither over to the barn. Acid stayed behind a little bit, giving a little moment to think about what was going on. They can mess around with Lapis as well, surely, especially with how distraught she was already. Acid's smile started to go away though, and suddenly, she ended up slithering in Cyanide's way. "Let's leave her be this time, dear." "Excuse me? Since when we're you declining in something like this?" Cyanide questioned. Acid went right up to her fellow snake's ear, and gave a few quiet whispers and hisses. Once Acid was finished, Cyanide's eyes widened in realization, as if just remembering something important. "OH YEAH. Where is my head? All our previous fun must've made me forget about that." "Can't say I blame you for that. Come on, let's find somewhere cozy to rest. i'm sure Grootslang will be okay with that when this storm passes," Acid suggested, starting to slither away from the barn. "Grootslang is fine with whatever we do if it means it's off his head," Cyanide chuckled, following her fellow serpent behind. ~~~~~~ It took Twilight, AJ, and Spike a good while, but eventually Twilight and Applejack got themselves back to the Beach House. By the time they arrived, things inside the Beach House were pretty mundane; Steven, Jade, and Connie were watching a cartoon on TV as Peridot and Amethyst were making some food. "Howdy, everypony. How's it going?" Applejack announced, as she and Twilight walked on in. "Hey girls. And Spike. Yes, things are going," Peridot said, adding some fruit to a smoothie mixer. While Peridot was doing fine, Amethyst just stayed quiet and added some sugar to the smoothie. Not many notice it just yet, and Spike hopped up over by Steven, Connie, and Jade. "Hey guys. whatchu watching?" Spike asked, looking to the TV they had on. "Peridot wanted to put on some Camp Pining Hearts for a while, so we're watching that with her. It's just commercials right now," Connie answered. Unaware to them, Amethyst took a little glance their way, feeling uncomfortable with herself. Still, she went on to add some more things to the mixer, when the Warp Pad sounded off to show Garnet, Pearl, and Flint coming back. "We're back," said Flint. "Hey guys," said Steven, waving to them. Flint, a bit tired, took a seat over on the couch over by Applejack. This search had lasted pretty long by the looks of it. "Well, that was another day for nothing," groaned Flint. "Nothing, huh?" Peridot said. "Nothing. Even if we've figured out who actually got Blue Diamond, we can find scale nor fang of that snake anywhere. Seriously, how hard is it to find a giant serpent?" Flint said, not sounding enthused about it at all. "At least we're on the right track," Garnet then stated. Before their conversation could go any further, Connie, Steven, Spike, and Jade suddenly got a different program switched up on their TV. The commercials suddenly switched to a multi-colored screen, much like when a screen would break, or something similar. This was a surprise enough, but a long droning beep echoed in the room for a good ten seconds, but an extra message then appeared on the screen: U.E.S. "This is the United Emergency Signal. This is not a test: Hurricane Israel is to pass through the eastern coast over the next twelve hours. Local residents of the following are to evacuate inland: Beach City, Bayburgh, Empire City. This has been the United Emergency Signal." "Uh oh." Connie gulped, immediately feeling nervous. Steven too felt a bit nervous on hearing this news, Spike as well since it was an emergency broadcast, but the others in the room were a bit more confused on it than anything, especially when they were looking outside and seeing ... well, no sign of any storm coming by them. In fact, no cloud was in the sky, period. "Uh oh what?" asked Peridot, confused as many of the Gems were. However, rather than answer, Steven hopped down and suddenly started getting stuff out from his stair cabinet. This included some clothes, and some preserved snacks (chocolate bars, cereal, etc.). "Steven, calm down, what's the problem?" Flint asked. "Didn't you guys hear that? A hurricane's coming our way, we have to go," Steven made clear, getting all his stuff onto the table so he wouldn't leaver any behind, and then tried to locate a briefcase. As he was, Connie's phone began to ring off like crazy, Connie probably taking a guess as to what it was about due to the broadcast. "Connie, you need to come back home this instant!" her mother shouted over the phone, freaked out about the situation. "I know mom, I'll be home right away," Connie said, giving her mother reassurance before hanging up the phone. Clearly Connie had to get herself going too. "What is this 'Hurricane'?" Peridot asked, asking the question the others wanted to know. "The mother of all coastal storms: A tropical cyclone out at sea, and they can wipe out a town in just minutes. We need to get off inland before that storm comes!" "I'm game," Spike said. "No now, let's calm down. It sounds like nothing more than a regular autumn storm, there's no reason to go into all hysterics over it," Pearl noted. Steven then turned to Twilight "Twilight? You should know how bad a hurricane is, do you?!" Steven said. However, Twilight and Applejack just looked at eachother unsurely. "Steven, don't forget, our weather's controlled by the Pegesi. We don't get anything as crazy as this uh ... hurricane," Twilight reminded. Both kids realized that they were right, but all the same that didn't help their situation about it. "Well, it is real, and it's very dangerous!" Connie said. "It does sound dangerous," Spike added, shivering a little bit. "Not really. You sure you're not exaggerating?" Peridot questioned. "No we're not!" shouted Connie and Steven. "Connie, Steven stop it. Even if it is that bad, it's not even coming! I mean, look, does that look anything like a storm to you?" Flint questioned, pointing off outside at the pretty clear sky. "Then why would there be a emergency signal?" Connie pointed out. "Maybe Grootslang knows how to send messages," wondered Pearl, though that idea was a pretty far stretch for even a voodoo snake to do. Connie and Steven knew they were just trying to make up reasons now, and they didn't have time for it. Then Steven got an idea. "Garnet!" Steven called. "I'm right here, Steven," Garnet stated. "Your future vision! Use it, see when that hurricane will come!" Steven said urgently. Garnet hated to leave Steven completely freaked out like this, regardless of the case being true or false, so she stayed quiet, and brought her hands to her head and started to concentrate. She seemed okay with it at first ... "Steven, Beach City had faced these natural weather patterns many times, why would this one be any different?" questioned Pearl. "Because it's a hurricane! Imagine those storms but ten times crazier!" "Literally impossible. Seriously, stop panicking over nothing," Flint insisted. "You should talk, what about when you kept worrying over Stevonnie?" Connie retorted. "Hey! There's a difference between a brand new fusion and a old occurring weather pattern! Stevonnie was entirely new and unheard of, storms are nothing new," Flint retorted back. "AH, don't have time for this! Come on, Steven, we gotta go!" Connie said, rushing out the door to get home. And for once, Steven had to agree. A hurricane was no laughing matter, and he still had plenty to get together before taking off. "Eh, yeah, can we go too? I'm not a fan of washing out to sea," Spike requested meekly. "There's nothing to worry about Spike, we'll be home soon enough," Twilight promised. Suddenly though, Garnet gave a sigh, one rather sudden and enough to catch their attention. The normally calm Garnet was actually in a slightly cold sweat after her future vision about this little incident, but Garnet wiped it off and then addressed the others. "Okay. It does sound a bit low, but the least we can do is help the humans prepare. Amethyst, Peridot, you two help Steven and Connie in whatever you can." "We'll do our share too, sugarcube," Applejack said. "Shouldn't we go home?" Spike suggested again. All Twilight needed to do was give Spike a signature deadpan look. "After we help them out." "You can count on us!" Peridot announced proudly. Amethyst was still uneasy, but she agreed anyway. "Flint, Pearl, try to find the other Gems and have the Temple and Beach House secured for the hurricane," Garnet instructed. "Wait, aren't you coming?" asked Steven, feeling surprised about what they said. Garnet went over to him, down to his level and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about us, Steven. I promise we'll meet up with you before the hurricane will arrive. You and the others just focus on getting your friends inland. You think you can do that for me?" Garnet asked. Steven knew Garnet would not lie to him about something like this, though Steven was still worried. All he did do was just nod. "... Did your future vision say we'll all be okay?" Steven asked quietly. Garnet smiled. "We'll all be together," Garnet promised. Steven felt some ease from it, but there was still the matter of getting out of there anyway. Then Garnet gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Good luck, Steven," Garnet said. "You too," Steven replied, heading out with the others, leaving Pearl, Flint, Jade, and Garnet inside the Beach House alone. Flint and Pearl, basically being given instruction, went off to go, and leaving only Jade and Garnet behind. Garnet was quiet at first. Jade quietly went down and over to her, Garnet only giving a sigh about the situation. "When will it end?" Garnet groaned. ~~~~~~ For Beach City, it was all on the clock, and it was all evacuation due to this little message left for them. Steven, Connie, Amethyst, Peridot, Twilight, AJ, and Spike were mainly getting the word out and trying their best to help whoever do whatever they needed to, be it either packing up to leave, or boarding up their homes for the oncoming hurricane. Each member of the group did their part to help one way or another: Twilight flew Connie off back home, Peridot and Amethyst went to help barricade some homes, and Applejack and Steven were getting a few final words out to be sure they were all set. For Applejack and Steven, their stop went right over to the carwash to get Greg. Not much work to do here today, so Greg was actually resting inside his van. A pretty bad time to be dozing off on them. In little to no time at all, Steven went right up to the van and threw open the back of it. "Dad! Dad, wake up!" Steven yelled. The loud demand startled Greg easily, the dad trying to grab something to use in case it was an intruder, but lucky he saw Steven before that could happen. "Whoa, hey kiddo." "Heyu. come on, dad, we gotta get moving. Let's go, go, go," Steven said, trying to get him up from out of the back. He did her him out of the van, but Greg stopped moving. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute kiddo, what's going on?" Greg asked, confused. "Hurricane, HUGE, it's gonna flood all of Beach City when it gets here," Steven made clear. "What?! Really?" Greg wondered, looking up to the sky. At this point, some clouds were forming up, but not enough to be considered worrying for him. "The rest of the town's already high-tailed it outta town by now, so you and your sprout better catch up with em," Applejack suggested, even there seeing at least one of the locals getting themselves all set up to go. Greg needed a minute to take this in, now seeing the weight of the situation, especially considering the house next to them was boarded up too. "Oh geez," Greg said, hand on head as he tried to process. Waking up to an emergency wasn't something he could actually prepare for, if at all. "Well, good thing I live in my van. Let's head off to the barn, that should be good enough," Greg suggested. Steven found that a good idea, and he hopped right into the van to the passenger seat. Greg went over to the driver's seat, Applejack hopping up to the window as best a pony could. "Be careful, Steven, see you after the storm," Applejack said. The van was soon to start off, and sure enough, Steven and Greg were off and on their way to meet up with the others leaving. At least Steven and Greg were off and safe. Applejack gave a sigh of relief, and took a look up to the sky, the clouds gathering a bit more. ....... The time ticked on by, and soon, the whole town was simply left vacant. Anyone who would look around, and basically, they'd see the entire place turn into a ghost town: houses boarded up for the oncoming storm, not a single sound even remotely heard aside from the slight breeze of the ocean. No Gem, pony, or human anywhere to be soon. ... *aroooo!* Well, one was still there: after a day of roaming around together in the countryside, Blue and Lion both came back to Beach City to find that the whole place was simply empty. not a soul anywhere. considering none of them really got the motive behind this, so seeing it all empty was, for the lack of a better word, weird. Both Lion and Dog wandered around town, trying to find somebody somewhere, but so far there was nothing to really find other than the occasional bird flying around. During their strolling, Lion took note of a TV station nearby, revealing the same screen. "This is the United Emergency Signal. This is not a test: Hurricane Israel is to pass through the eastern coast over the next twelve hours. Local residents of the following are to evacuate inland: Beach City, Bayburgh, Empire City. This has been the United Emergency Signal." The message from the TV would be scary to hear for a human, but when Lion and Blue heard this, they both feel a little bit odd about this news. Blue tilted his head in confusion, Lion scratching his head with his paw in equal confusion. Both animals took a look at eachother, before Blue started to send his nose to work and give a few sniffs in the area. He started on the ground, and then up into the air for a bit, sniffing good and long. Lion took a look into the sky and gave a few sniffs himself, but both Dog and Lion came to the similar conclusion ... *hiss* Lion and Blue heard the hissing loud and clear, and not too far down their road either. Lion and Blue quietly moved over to the noise, peeking around one of the vacant buildings on the border of town, just to see two particular snakes slithering along the now empty road, snickering to themselves as Blue and Lion looked onward, listening closely to what they had to say. "So, humans out of town?" started Cyanide. "Check," Acid responded. "Gems locking themselves in?" "Check." "The audience confused?" "Check. ... I didn't expect to pull a Discord today." "Why not? What can they do? They can't stop it, neither can the residents. ... Now they can't anyway," Both snakes snickered again, and while Lion and Blue had no clue about that last part, they both listened on anyway. Acid and Cyanide start slithering on up the road, Lion and Blue following as quietly as they could. Something was up, and these two were going to find out. Acid and cyanide slithered just out of town, and then ended up reaching the main beacon of Beach City: the Beach City Watertower. A huge, blue-tinted, oval tower, and a very HUGE one at that. Standing just outside of town, and possibly the largest structure in town apart from the temple across the way. Acid and Cyanide slithered just underneath, examining the Watertower pretty extensively, Lion and Blue still unsure what they were even doing. Both snakes slithered around in a circle for a bit, eyes looking to each and every detail of this Watertower as best a pair of snakes could do. both snakes gave a devilish, knowing grin to eachother, as both snakes went over to one of the Watertower legs, Acid deciding to extend her fangs and making a X mark on one angle of the leg. Acid only needed one little bite into the leg for it to take some effect. As if time passed it by for years, the leg began to weaken and strain to hold the Watertower up. Loud groans from the metal echoed around the place, scaring Blue and Lion nearby. "Here comes the Hurricane,~" Cyanide snickered, almost in a sing-along sort of tone, just before Acid and Cyanide slithered off the opposite way of the tower's leaning, and off out of sight. As for Lion and Blue, all they could do was observe the gigantic tower of water starting to strain and lean dangerously, and worst yet, it was leaning downhill towards the city! Lion and Blue wasn't able to do anything to stop it, and both animals turned and made a run for it. The huge groans roared from behind them, and both big cat and dog got themselves out of the way just in time. The huge Watertower, losing the equal weight of the legs, finally ended up collapsing down completely downhill, one of the other legs snapping in two and two of which pulled out of the ground. The main base finally lost its full build, and fell down onto the ground. The impact of the fall cracked the base wide open like an egg, all of the watery contents being poured out in a mighty explosion, all towards Beach City. The mighty wave of water blasted through the entire town, not taking long for the water to begin smashing into the buildings, and flooding the town. Lion and Blue could only watch the devastation occurring down through town: the residential area of Beach city was laid to waste with the wave of water, buildings collapsing in the water waves. close any building was to the Watertower, the more force they ended up getting slammed with, and unfortunately, many of the homes were placed right in the path of the water, most collapsing in little time at all. Interiors of the stores were quickly splashed with the psychowave, and even a few of the light posts fell like trees. The base of the Watertower itself rolled down and crushed the U Store, only adding more to the onslaught of water. The time it took to decimate the homes? Two minutes. Just two minutes, and over half the town was flooded and or destroyed. Lion and Blue couldn't believe what they were seeing, and with the problem finishing as quickly as it started. Blue whimpered quietly on seeing such devastation happening so quickly, but Lion got up and started to walk away. One roar got a portal opened for him and Blue to pass through, and both mammalian companions went straight through. The portal jump was swift, and soon both Blue and Lion ended up reaching another area of the world, this part more inland. They found themselves in the countryside, and over nearby a main road, one that coincidentally the people of Beach City were actually taking to escape the "hurricane". What luck for Lion and Blue. Almost immediately, Lion started his run after the cars, leaving Blue off in the back. Steven and Greg were amongst the group of cars evacuating Beach City, and as they were driving along, Steven took a look outside and saw Lion running alongside the road, keeping up easy with the group of cars. "Lion?" Steven wondered. Lion moved off as fast as a lion could go, until he found himself up at the front of the car line. Just what the big cat wanted. After gaining some more feet, Lion got on the road, spun around, and then roared good and loud. The roar itself was enough to make the first car stop to a halt, and in such making all the other cars stop too. The one leading the pack (the Frymens), took a look outside at the giant pink cat. Mr. Fryman honked the horn to get it out of the way, but Lion did not budge an inch. Steven and Greg got out of their car to investigate. "Steven, is that your pet? Tell your cat to move out of the way will ya?" Mr. Fryman asked, pointing to Lion, who didn't feel too deterred by the car honking in the slightest. Lion simply walked up to Mr. Fryman and snorted at him, but he was still in the way "Lion, move please. Here Lion," Steven said, moving over to the side of the road so Lion could move. Lion did technically complied, but instead of going to Steven, Lion grabbed Blue from the side of the road by the collar, and dropped him in front of the road. Blue simply sat there (annoyance levels rising), and only then did Lion move over to Steven. "Ok, now Blue come here," Steven said, but Lion snorted at Blue to keep him still. Lion walked over past Steven and Greg, and sat down nearby, starting to draw out a picture in the dirt with his paw. Lion made the picture quick and simple: a circle with a few lines spiraling around it. Steven soon noticed the picture, and tried to think on what he was doing. "Eh ... the universe?" Lion growled. "Ok, no uh ... Oh, the hurricane! Lion, we already -" suddenly, Lion scratched out the hurricane with his paw, showing the Hurricane wasn't what they were thinking. Lion kept their attention, and then drew out the next picture of the Watertower, and instead of scratching it out, Lion drew a circle around it. After that was done, Lion gave a quiet roar to the others, trying to get them on the right answer ... "The. Watertower?" Greg asked. ....... "You sure you felt something, Peridot?" Diopside asked. "I know I did, why would I lie?!" The Gems had an earlier wakeup call to the incident than the humans did, and freaked out Peridot was off and trying to get them to the right direction as well. She didn't get everyone, only grabbing: Fulgurite, Star Quartz, Amethyst, Diopside, and Garnet. While she didn't get everyone, she did get enough Gems to at least get things moving. "You can't have felt something, this hurricane or whatever it is didn't even arrive yet. ... Did it?" Fulgurite wondered. "Don't ask me, but I swear on my Diamond's name, something crashed in -" That's when they saw it. Or at least a part of it. Looking to the boardwalk, flowing water was pouring off the boardwalk and off down to the open sea, enough water to fill up streams. The Gems, seeing that, ran over to the situation and saw more of the devastation Beach City just had gone through. Wooden boards, stray dirt, and other smaller objects floated down to the shore from inland at their feet, Garnet picking up a piece of broken board, silent. Fulgurite hopped up on the big Donut rooftop (the Big donut one of the buildings not knocked over), and up there she saw the other buildings further away in nothing but a wreck. "Uh guys, you might wanna see this," Fulgurite called, going off towards the area. In no time, the Gems were at the scene. Just that morning there was plenty of buildings all over, plenty of homes for the local residents, but now it only remained as a wasteland of broken up houses. Wood, tiles, and foundations were now in heaps with whatever remaining inside each house. To say that this was unexpected was an understatement really. Garnet, who'd normally feel calm and collected, couldn't help but end up with questions. One in particular ... "But ... how did it happen?" "Say something, Garnet?" asked Peridot. "Uh, nothing. At least Steven's safe," Garnet said, correcting herself as the others looked at the damage. "... Is this was that hurricane could do? It moved fairly fast," Star Quartz said, as Diopside studied the damage. She tried to pick up one seemingly attached wall, just for it to crumble up into a pile of wood. "And brutal too," Diopside agreed. It was then they all heard yet another thud from farther away inland, and saw the remains of the Watertower as it laid in a heap. The group went off that direction, Fulgurite and Diopside reaching there first. At this point, the Watertower was completely empty, not much freshwater left inside, leaving nothing but an empty metal shell. Seeing such a large object toppled over like this surely was something different. "Holy smokes," said Peridot. "Yeah. That hurricane's stronger than I thought," Fulgurite said. However, as they were looking, Diopside started to look at it a bit more carefully. She walked over closer, and it was then she saw one of the legs, her Gem eye focusing more into detail on the leg that broke off. "Wait ... something's wrong here. Garnet, does earth rain have any acid in it?" Diopside asked. Garnet soon walked over to her when she said that. "Not exactly." "Well then ... I think we've been tricked," Diopside concluded, pointing to the wrecked leg on the Watertower. Garnet looked to the leg with Diopside, studying it more closely. ... "Oh dear ..." ....... Well, it took a bit for the others to come back to inspect the damage done to their town, but all the Gems, the Mane six, and local humans eventually saw the wreckage left from the road by the destroyed Watertower. The sight, for a lack of a better word, was enough to make anyone's heart sink. This was something all of Beach City had been effected with, no matter who it was, or in what way. Sadie, Onion, Lars, The Frymans, the Pizzas, and plenty of others were left homeless, each one of their family's homes now in some sort of heap. Buck Dewey and Steven were probably the only ones in Beach city who still had a roof over their head, but that didn't make them feel any better on seeing their friends now without a roof of their own to keep. Some of the Gems too felt sorry for Beach City and what had happened, despite not being effected directly themselves. "To think we were protecting Beach City just for this ..." sighed Pearl, tears coming down. "The odds caught up with all of us, Pearl," Bismuth said, a tear or two passing down her own face as well. Bismuth felt someone hugging her leg then, only to look down and see quiet Onion there. Even he was tearing up over the situation, and Bismuth just placed a soft hand on his head. "But, what happened?" asked Fluttershy, completely shocked about the whole thing herself. "Guess that hurricane did a quicker number than we thought," Amethyst simply noted, looking to the Pegasus. "The hurricane didn't do this, but there's nothing gonna be left when it does come," Jenny said. "There's no hurricane coming!" Everyone in the group turned over to Flint and Diopside, who were over near the tower again, in particular over by the acid-effected leg. Mayor Dewey was the first to react. "WHAT?! But Empire City, Bayburgh AND us got the signal, how's it not coming?!" "Ok, calm down," Peridot said, trying not to make things escalate. "That was a fake signal. Something to drive us away from town long enough to drown it all out to sea without anyone keeling over." Flint concluded, though admitted he felt especially stressed with himself, considering he coined the idea in the first place! At least with an actual hurricane, nothing could be pointed to anything malicious, but this was worse. A fake signal, and now full scale sabotage on the entire city! "I can't believe this; WHY did I have to listen to her?! I could've stopped this," Flint quietly groaned, just for Garnet to place a hand on his shoulder. flint was ready to criticize, but Garnet had her visor removed and showed how distraught she actually was, one of her eyes streaming a tear. She was hurting just as much as anyone else. "... I'm so sorry. ..." Garnet didn't need to say much else for Flint to understand. "But how did it happen? That leg was in perfect condition just before we all left, we all saw it right?" Twilight questioned, much of Beach City agreeing. After all, the main route out of town had to pass the watertower, so everyone got a look at it before leaving. "This was clearly sabotage," Garnet concluded. "Obvious," said Lars. Sadie nudged him to keep him quiet, but he was right on that anyway. "It is obvious, but the question is who? I know Humans, and they can't melt metal that quickly. ... Unless you somehow invented some rapid-melting stuff over the last thousand years?" Emerald wondered, asking Sour Cream in particular, who just shrugged. "Let's not point any fingers, Emerald," Rarity insisted. The last thing they needed was an argument on blame. "OK, look. Let's get this well known here: clearly things had been going on for months now since this spring had started. Now, Fluttershy here translated Lion and Blue's warning over there, and those two had laid witness to the culprit," Flint began, Lion and Blue sitting quietly nearby and listening to everything. Naturally the animals would rely on Fluttershy for some translation after they found things out just to be sure it was clear. "They have? Well, who is it?!" Mayor Dewey asked, really wanting an answer to it. "Grootslang," Buck suddenly stated. The Gems turned to him. "Grootslang?" "That giant snake and his snake posse were slithering around the city a couple days ago. I already saw him trying to manipulate Greg," Buck explained, thumb aiming at Greg nearby. "Wait, you saw that?" Greg asked, surprised. "I had a hunch," Buck simply said. "Eh, well, Lion and Blue said it was just two smaller snakes. It could be coincidental so -" "NO IT'S NOT!" Lars suddenly shouted. That got a number of people to jump back, Lars not really meaning to give that kind of outburst. He recoiled a little bit before Garnet addressed him. "So it wasn't just Grootslang who got you." "Y-Yeah, him and two other vipers jumped me!" Lars revealed, his own parents not too far away surprised to hear that happen to him, looking with worry. "Acid and Cyanide," Flint quietly pondered. "They messed with you too?" Peedee asked, surprised himself. "Why, what happened to you?" "What happened to me? The Food Wars is what happened! Those two vipers started it in the first place," Peedee revealed, remembering the end of the food war himself. Kofi was especially angry. "WHAT?! Those things messed with our businesses?! When I get my hands on those two, I'll -" Kofi was interrupted when Garnet raised her hand, mainly in his face to hush him. "Everyone listen. I understand how you're all very upset about what just happen, and at those vipers." Garnet's hand clenched into a fist as she continued. "... Yet, this is a more unnatural problem, something not normal to humans. It's for the best if us Gems and Ponies handle that part of the issue. The best you all can do is rest, and try to amend the damage," Garnet instructed. It was the best option they could do for right now, and boy did they have plenty of work ahead of them. ~~~~~~ Well, the days ticked by slowly, and everyone in Beach City really had to get one word into their consideration: adapt. Adapt to the situation and try to make the amends as Garnet had said. It was far easier said than done one way or another, and much of the group was still left homeless all the same. Had they got their homes yet? Well no. In the end, their main home actually ended up being moved out of the area completely. In short, the city turned awfully quiet. During one afternoon, Steven took some time out of the day to go and check in on the Dewey family, the only family who had a house still over everything. "Hello? Mayor, Buck? You home?" Steven called, knocking onto the door. Soon though, it was buck Dewey who answered. "Hey, Steven. Come in, man," Buck said, inviting Steven inside. The Dewey house was pretty basic for being the Mayor's house, but then again Steven just saw the "home" part of the place, and not the office of the mayor, so take that what you will. He and Steven took a seat on the couch together, Steven sitting normally as Buck reclined on it. "Is your family doing okay?" Steven asked. "Decently. Water's been a bit low though," Buck answered, bummed out over that. How could Steven really blame him for that, especially with the wrecked Watertower. Steven could even see it from their window, though at the moment plenty of police tape bordered the line so no one else could venture to the scene. "You heard much from the rest of the Beach City gang?" Buck asked. "They're trying. My dad and I are living over at our barn now, and Connie's letting Sadie and Lars stay with her. ... After a long rule talk," Steven admitted, remembering what Connie had told him. And as it turned out Connie wasn't the only one: soon, from the kitchen, Onion and Sour Cream actually walked in with some chips to watch some TV with Buck Dewey and Steven. "Yo, Steven, good to see ya," said Sour Cream, as Onion sat down on the ground. "So you're guys are staying here?" Steven asked. "Until we get our house's together. Thanks for letting us hang out, Buck," Sour Cream replied. "Least I can do," Buck replied. As they were talking, Onion finished up his bag of chaps, and crumbled up the bag. Soon, his eyes eyed on a rubbish bin over by the clothes rack. Remembering something before, he focused on the bin a little bit, and then tossed the bag into it with little effort. "Good shot," Steven said, smiling. Onion gave a sigh of relief before turning back to the TV, Steven unsure what that was about, but Sour Cream was quick to fill him in. "Onion's got this gimmick going since we started living here: he makes a shot to a rubbish bin to make sure mom and pops come back fine," Sour Cream explained. It's not too much, but it did help Onion's nerves anyway after the incident. "Oh. Hey Buck, how's your dad going?" Steven then asked. ....... "Ok, look, you said this is a magic problem, you got to help amend the town! We can't - ... What, no, no listen to me, our town's on a thread here. If resources go down, so does the town ... I don't care what caveman did, I, Bill Dewey, AM NOT A CAVEMAN. ... Well, yes, humans can, in fact, build houses, but we can only do - hello? Hello?! Seriously!" Not too good. Buck and Steven peeked into Mayor Dewey's office, just to see him completely stressed out over everything these last few days. After his latest phone call, Bill just sat there in complete distress, rubbing his temples to calm himself down. After the phone call, Buck Dewey knocked on the wall to get Bill's attention. "Ah, Steven, it's you. Can't you convince your sisters to actually help us out or something?" Bill asked. "... My sisters?" Steven asked, obviously confused. "You know, the tall one, the huge one, the purple one, the nerdy one, the hot one, you know what I mean," buck insisted, referring to Garnet, Bismuth, Amethyst, Peridot, and Pearl. "... My. Sisters?" "UGH, this isn't working," Bill groaned, head laying on the table. Obviously asking Steven to get his "sisters" to help wasn't going to work out so easily. "He's been like this for days," Buck simply said. "And none of those days were any helpful! No one found the culprits, no one started building yet, no donations arrived! Don't tell anyone this Steven, but ... I'm at my wits end!" Buck admitted, strained at the last part to even admit such things. "Don't worry, Mayor Dewey, I promise I'll help you clean up this mess," Steven proposed, hand in a official's promise. At least one person was willing to help him out. "Thanks, kid. First thing you can do is reassure the residents that everything's going to be okay," Bill advised. "Do you want their help?" Steven wondered. Bill got up from his seat. "Steven. you can't control everything that happens, but you can control how others feel about it. I'd be wrecked if they find out the Mayor doesn't even know what to do. You can reassure them of that, can't you?" Bill explained. Steven felt a little unsure about this white lie, but he could see the point he was getting across. "Well ... ok," Steven said reluctantly. Still, Bill gave a huge sigh of relief. "I knew I could count on you." ~~~~~~ First stop: Connie's house. To be honest, Steven was more or less impressed that Priyanka and Doug with allow Sadie and Lars's parents to actually stick around their house as things were being build, considering their previous interactions between one another were more or less weak, but it wasn't a bad surprise for Steven to know about to say the least. A short ride on Lion was more than enough to get to the place in due time, and as Lion stayed over by the garage, Steven went and knocked onto the door. First one to answer was Priyanka. "Hello there," Steven said. Unfortunately, like Bill Dewey, she looked a little bit bothered herself. "Oh, Steven hi," Priyanka said, sounding tired. "Uh, everything okay?" "Oh, no, I'm fine. I guess you want to see the others?" Priyanka assumed, Steven nodding his head. So, in he went with Priyanka, up to Connie's room. At the moment, it was where the others were hanging out, so if Steven did want to check in on them, it would be there. When they got there, Priyanka gave a knock on Connie's door. "Connie, your friend Steven's here to see you." "Oh, Steven?!" Connie gasped, opening the door. Suddenly, before Steven could even realize what happened, Connie hugged him tightly. Guess she was more than relieved to hear from him. When he looked in, he saw Sadie inside as well, but Lars didn't seem to be anywhere around. "Thank goodness you're alright, Steven, I was worried sick about you," Connie said, sounding very relieved. Priyanka was glad to see her daughter happy for this, but then a phone call pulled the mother away. "Oh boy, again. You three have fun now, let me know if you need anything," Priyanka said, just before walking downstairs to answer the phone. "Hey, Steven. Good to hear from you," Sadie said, as Steven and Connie went inside her room. "Just wanted to see how you and Lars were doing. Where is Lars anyway?" Steven wondered, looking around the room for him. One would think Lars would be hanging around after what happened. "Lars got into working with my mom for a bit to get enough money for the trouble," Sadie explained. Steven took a seat on Connie's bed as they chatted, finding this a bit interesting. "What about his job at the big donut? Last the Gems checked that place was still up and standing." "Yeah but didn't mean the water didn't get in. Sorry Steven, but you're not going to see a fresh doughnut from there for a while," Sadie revealed, sounding a bit disappointed herself. Steven slumped, now laying on Connie's bed and feeling very sad about that. He loved Sadie's fresh doughnuts, so learning he had to stay away from them for a while would be a bit troubling to do. "Oh man! No more donuts?" Steven groaned. "Don't worry, just be glad we're all here. It could be a lot worse right?" Connie said. Even with that setback, Steven couldn't help but agree. "Yeah, you're right. Oh, I'll avenge those donuts when I find those two snakes," Steven proclaimed, feeling upset. Yeah, he was just as mad at those serpents as anyone else would be. "Sadie said something about the snakes? They were the ones who flooded the town?" "AND manipulated me, AND caused a food war, AND ruined Lars's gift for a potluck, AND stole from the jewelers!" Sadie went on, listing them off with a count of her fingers, and remembering what was said over the last three days. "And to think we were supposed to protect the city from this. I'm very sorry, guys," Steven admitted, feeling bad for everyone. Though really, how could one not feel bad for them? Still, Sadie and Connie didn't want him thinking that. "No, Steven, it's not your fault the Watertower toppled over. Everything will be back to normal before you know it," Connie reassured him. "You think so?" "Sure, Steven. It's not the first time some town's gone through a disaster like this. I mean, look at Ocean Town: no longer on fire," Sadie reminded. Steven realized she had a point on that, remembering the opening welcome sign saying just that. If Ocean Town can go through a wildfire, then surely Beach City can handle a flooding like this. Eventually though, they each heard something from downstairs. "Steven Universe, Flint wants to talk to you." "Flint? Oh boy, I'll be right back," Steven said, as he started to head downstairs. Connie and Sadie followed him down, and Steven went right over to the phone. With what's been happening, Flint was obviously stressed about things. At least he figured such. "Flint wants me?" Steven asked. "Yeah here. I swear, that's not his real name," Priyanka commented, giving Steven the phone. "Hello?" "Ok, one two, one two, Steven can you hear me?" asked Flint over the phone. Sounded like he was just trying it out. "Yeah, I can hear you fine, what's up?" Steven asked. "Ok, first of all where are you? Garnet checked on you and found you were gone, you had her worried sick. I was fine, Flint. Garnet not now." "Sorry, Flint, I just wanted to check on my friends that's all," Steven reassured him. Flint groaned. "Well, next time tell us before you do that, especially with Acid, Cyanide, and Grootslang still going around. ... You didn't find them again, did you?" "No, not really. Though they'd have to be very brave to come around here again after what they did," Steven noted. "Let me see the phone Flint. Alright. Steven?" "Yeah Garnet?" "I can guess you might be at Connie's home by now. If you and your friends are able to find a clue to where they are, that'd be great. Oh, and try stopping by Peedee when you can. He'll need some help." "OMG I was just thinking that," Steven gasped. Garnet just giggled. "Be sure to be home by dinner, Steven. I love you." "You too, Garnet." ~~~~~~ Late afternoon, and following the advice not too long after being told, Steven went off towards where the Frymens would be staying at. While a number of residents were living with friends, the Frymans decided to have Greg give them a hand and having them stay around at the barn with him. It wasn't the best home, but it was a home nonetheless. "Come on, son, think of it as like a vacation," said Mr. Fryman at a point, though he didn't get a good response. As he was trying, Steven got caught up, and Peedee soon saw him. "Steven, there you are. Good thing you showed up," Peedee said, going up to him. "Hi, Peedee. Everything going well with my dad?" Steven asked. "Well ... sorta. It's kinda hard to get used to sleeping in a car. We tried the barn, but ... well, did you lock it or something? And why is it so freezing?" Peedee asked. Any reminder of Lapis's situation seemed a bit expected if they were going to stick around the barn. "It's uh, kinda complicated," Steven admitted. It was then Steven and Peedee both heard a sad-filled groan coming from Greg's van. When Steven and Peedee walked over to Mr. Fryman, they soon saw Ronaldo inside, laying down on the floor of the van. If one word could say Ronaldo's feelings over the situation, it would be miserable. "Ronaldo?" "I lost my girlfriend. Now my internet. ... What am I gonna do now?" Ronaldo groaned. Guess Acid and Cyanide's trick was still effecting him on that in some way, and without his access to his 'keep beach city weird' blog, he had literally nothing to do over these three days. "Cheer up Ronaldo, things could be worse," Steven said, trying to cheer him up. "How could this be any worse? ..." Ronaldo wept. Guess that wasn't going to fix much of anything for Ronaldo, who was actually crying over it. Three days without word of either girlfriend nor access to the net surely dulled him down of his spirit. "He's been stuck like this for three days," Peedee whispered. Steven tried to think of something to cheer Ronaldo up from his little funk he ended up in. "Ronaldo, you can't stay like this forever," Mr. Fryman said, trying to get his son out of it himself. "I got nothing right now. Everything's grown quiet. Normal ..." That final word got Steven's attention, and with that lightbulb popping up in his head, he got his idea, which he detailed by whispering it with Peedee, who was more than happy to agree. "But Ronaldo, don't you realize how big this could be?" "Yeah. Two seemingly innocent snakes capable of dealing so much damage? Perhaps it's a small piece to a far bigger puzzle. A conspiracy waiting to be revealed," Peedee added in. Steven then started to think. "Hmm, now who do we know who's an expert in conspiracies?" Steven wondered aloud. "Oh, I think I know one ..." Peedee added in. ....... "You're right. You're RIGHT! What am I doing just moping around when there's such a big conspiracy going on?! I need to get this down before it goes away! Look out world, here I come!" Soon, Ronaldo, now amped up, started going right off to get his take on this conspiracy down in his notes. A bit quick, but Peedee was more than glad to see his big brother now getting his confidence back. Mr. Fryman ruffled Steven's hair. "Thanks, Steven." ~~~~~~ "Such a pathetic bother. Now the whole town's after our heads," hissed Cyanide in annoyance. Both snakes didn't take too much time to figure out that they found em out (sort of), so the two serpents had to hightail it out of there before they could be found out. Their retreat had left them far off from any regular town, and hidden off in the forest. Not their first option during autumn, especially for two reptiles like them, but all the same at least no one was around to find them out here. "All the same, at least they were too busy with their "hurricane" to bother with us yet. Those humans, anyway," Acid commented. "True. Too bad, I was having a lot of fun with those hairless apes. Should've bit those two pets before we did that." "Like we're supposed to know they had a animal translator with them. Don't get your tail in a knot, we just have to change our targets that's all." "Such convenience too. ... Still, my dear, winter's coming. And we got two other worlds we can easily have fun in as well." "Assuredly.~"