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// It is a creepy eye looking at us 
// Story: A Lost Crystal Gem - The Story of Sunset and how she became Spinel 
// by ratedoni 
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There was something magical about taking the scenic route through the beach into the city for Steven. It was something that he few times he could do and yes, he had his bike which was perfect for getting himself from point A to point B… and maybe point C if he was in the mood for pizza, which was basically always, or at least until he went for the bits, but really, who didn’t love the bits, although it was bizarre that he go them every time since they were good, so, even if they were good, maybe people didn’t want them.

I think that by now, you all understand that Steven’s mind sometimes went on different directions and didn’t go back. What you may take from all of his mental ramblings was that zooming through the beach on Spinel’s back as this one used her rocket powered inline skate boots -commonly referred as rockets by the rest of the gems-, was one of the things Steven firmly remembered from all the time he had spent alongside Sunset. Maybe the big pink eye floating in the sky was something new, but the feeling of wind on his face and the presence of his favorite ‘older sister/mother figure’ was a constant that never failed to bring a smile on the young boy’s face, not that it was hard for Steven to smile, the boy was practically a walking ball of sugar due to all the peppiness and optimism he radiated day by day.

There was something magical on his relationship with Spinel, something that wasn’t present on his interaction with the rest of the gems, but sometimes they acted a little too disconnected, as if acting like humans and maybe do silly things like family simply went over their heads. With Spinel, on the other side, she always listened to him and played with him when the other gems were busy with gem missions. Of course, to Steven, Garnet was the cool mom, Pearl the over protective mom, Amethyst the aunt that you should under no circumstances listen to and Sunset the older sister that was always there when you needed her.

It had hurt to be apart from her, but now here she was, already visiting and having adventures with the rest of the family like always. Even better, they were going to visit one of the coolest people in the whole town. His dad!

Slowing down, both Sunset and Steven arrived at the business known by all as ‘Is a Wash’ and immediately Steven began to jump up and down on a slightly beaten van parked in front of the car wash. Sunset simply watched Steven call for his dad until the man in question simply appeared from the inside of the car wash looking as confused as Sunset by what Steven was doing.

“Hey Steven, what exactly are you doing?” The tall man -for a human anyway- watched with an eyebrow raised which made Sunset think of her friend Applejack and how much she tended to use that same look with the antics of the rest of the friends.

“Hey dad, I’m trying to wake you up,” Of course, it took several seconds to make Steven realize that his father was not inside the vehicle and by that moment Steven jumped down and threw himself at his old man in a giant hug. Greg was prepared for that and caught his son in a huge hug obviously as happy as his son for the reunion “so, what’s the occasion? Wanted to spend some time with your favorite dad? Maybe learn some lessons of life in the process?” the familiar banter from Greg and son was fun to watch but time was of the essence here.

“We were wondering if you still have Rose’s light cannon,” Spinel said making Greg do a double take at the presence of the returning gem.

“Wait, Spinel?” The hug she received was as strong as Steven’s when she came back to town alongside Princess Twilight “look at you, got bored from the big city and came to visit your old man?” the man with the long hair -with receding hairlines due to age- and with his now omnipresent stubble asked, but Sunset simply pointed one finger on the sky, just at the right moment in which Amethyst was launched through the air and impacted the giant eye ball with a loud bong, which was pretty hilarious by itself.

“Oh, Gem stuff, well, I think I still have that cannon,” Greg said, and in just a couple of minutes, both Steven and Spinel found themselves in front of a storage unit with a mountain of stuff jammed inside.

“You still have this thing?”

“What can I say? Is a lot of stuff for my house, besides, you know how much I like to collect weird stuff,” Greg said as Spinel’s palm met her face.

“Wow, you golf?” the voice of Steven came from somewhere inside the container making both Spinel and Greg chuckle at the memories.

“Sometimes I go and golf with some friends every so often, I’m not that good, but is fun.”

“Is Alice still taking his boa to the golf club?”

“Yeah, is still as crazy as you remember,” the two old friends/ band mates/ father and daughter… kind of, began to remember the crazy stuff that happened when you put together people as crazy and extravagant as rock stars and other people in the medium. That was until they heard a small crack from somewhere inside the container.

“Is everything okay? Did you hurt yourself Steven?”

“I’m fine Spinel! I just found a photo of dad and mom together,” Steven’s voice came back.

“Oh, the hot dog one?” Spinel asked in return already having the image on her head.

“Yeah!”

“Man, that day was so fun… I can’t believe is already 12 years since… that day,” Greg’s voice said while Spinel nodded.

“Yeah, can’t believe everything started due to you doing a concert at the beach,” Spinel said remembering the night that started it all.

“And no one came except Rose and you,” Greg continued with a huge smile on his face “back when I was just a one man band, those were crazy days.”

“Not that the next few years weren’t crazy too.”

“Wow, I found a bunch of your records! How many albums did you two make?” Steven asked still looking through the container.

“Several ones, but I have an idea for our next one.”

“Wait, really? I thought Sunlight in Space was in hiatus.”

“Oh, I found a gold mine of musical talent at my school, you will love it!”

And it was like this that the canon was found, dragged by Sunset and accompanied by both Greg and Steven into the beach. The password was then said and everything was ready for the Crystal Gems to once more save the day. That is until a projectile being shot from somewhere close to the town pierced the thick armor of the Eye, sending it right into the ocean, leaving the five humans and gems completely frozen in shock.

“Okay, I didn’t expect that one.”