Pure, white spiral that stood as a guardian in the middle of the sea; lost for all for centuries, never appearing in any map or photograph. Lost to every eye that had been born in the planet; as if it didn’t exist; as if it didn’t matter if it had been build or if it was simply a fever dream for everyone that even had an idea of what this place was. It was a strange thing to think that there were places as amazing as the spiral growing into the sky like a beanstalk made of marble and stone.
Looking at the gem-made titan, Sunset Shimmer felt herself being pulled towards the empty and lifeless tower. It was a weird feeling, as if there was someone or something standing in the same space as her that reacted to the forgotten lore of the planet. The first time the redheaded gem hybrid had seen something similar in importance, like the Desert Pyramid or the Sky Spire with the Heaven Beetle she had been more than just awestruck.
Something inside Sunset reacted to the immense constructions; to the other worldliness that they represented. It felt as she was a stranger in a land of giants, as if she truly didn’t belong. It felt alien in a planet that should be more than alien to her. Her first few minutes at all those old places build by gems had been the same. Stay rooted to the floor looking at the other-wordly location that had once been populated by creatures as fascinating as the rest of her family. Now, each and every single place had been abandoned; in many cases they had been overrun by nature. Forgotten and left to their own, the once mighty constructions from Homeworld gems now only ghosts of an age long gone.
It was unsettling, like the videos of people visiting abandoned cities and buildings. To see a place where other creatures had lived and interacted with each other now deserted and dusty; places barely holding on always affected Sunset, but not in the way the cities once populated by gems affected her. It was constricting to the heart, or at least that’s how it felt to someone that didn’t have a heart.
Sunset had theorized that whatever gem the splinter that had saved her life was part of originally was responsible. Maybe it was echoes of memories of a life once spend on a place like this. Once a gem had stood where she was standing, alive and well, a part of a group and part of a world that wanted to survive. A gem that many centuries ago had been alive, with friends, with memories, with a personality. All that had been stolen from that gem by Sunset and now the same young gem stood in the same place of that broken gem.
It was just a theory, with no real meaning and no real information about what happened. Not even Rose Quarts knew who exactly the gem that had been destroyed that night was. No gem knew the full price of the rebellion, with many gems simply disappearing rather than become corrupted. The worst part was that the gems that had been corrupted were not all Crystal Gems. At the end of the way, Homeworld had simply washed their hands on the gems still fighting and living on Earth; they didn’t care anymore from which side of the conflict they were before releasing the virus that changed everyone into monsters without mind or reason.
There was some good news, since none of the other gems were good engineers or researchers like Sunset. The Crystal Gems that were still left were fewer than when they started and none of them were part of the scientific caste. They were warriors, servants and oracles, but none of them were made for science in mind. Yes, Pearl had grown into the role, but even if her knowledge had grown by bounds, it was too slow, too composed. She did the best she could with technology, but even if what she knew could revolutionize Human knowledge, Sunset knew that the mortals in control of the planet will leave her behind in less than a century.
No, Pearl was no scientist and had no real love for it; sure, she could geek here and there in sporadic spurts, but even with only a fraction of the time the thin gem had been alive, Sunset was the true mind behind the beaker and lab coat. She had become not only used to Human technology and its head spinning way in which it grew and evolved; Sunset had become also a master of the few pieces still left behind by Homeworld Gems, so much that she had been able to reconfigure several machines.
So far, Sunset had some ideas about how exactly the corruption worked and even had a hypothesis of why Rose’s tears didn’t work. Tartarus, she even had a theory of why Rose’s tears even had those effects on inorganic and organic creatures, but there was something bizarre every time she worked on something from Homeworld, it was a pain in her heart, as if something was holding it that made her weary of everything that seemed to be connected with Homeworld.
The whole travel into the top of the Sea Spire she had felt it, as if someone was looking at her, judging her. It was disconcerting and she couldn’t enjoy completely the experience with both Rainbow and AJ. She still had enough concentration to help them and even be amazed by the teamwork the three had; first with the gravitational pull right at the entrance of the spire. Thankfully most things seemed to be already under control.
The bizarre crystal worms seemed more interested in bagels than in them and she already knew who was responsible for those. Then they saw a broken pillar being used as an impromptu bridge. In the end, it had been too easy, but exciting at the same time to the human girls. It was the perfect first experience for them and probably too for young Steven. But things were about to change.
As Sunset and her friends finally climbed, she was about to call the other Crystal Gems and show them the statue in her hands. It was at this moment that the statue was pulled by the Spire into its slot just at the moment the moon was on its peak. The light was blinding as Sunset Shimmer, Rainbow Dash and Applejack began to float in the air. Three beams of color appeared around them and connected to the spire; one red, another blue and finally orange. As this happened, Sunset’s eyes became blank, with visions and images of the past, present and future.
She saw a woman with a metal right hand holding a gun, around her an armored woman wielding a spear, a girl with armor as black as her hair and herself. She saw a gem with multi colored treads attacking Lapis. She saw a pink jewel breaking in contact with the floor. She saw a machine working day and night, lost among the stars. She saw a crystal tree with five branches and three cutiemarks in its trunk.
As Sunset Shimmer had these visions, more things happened in the world. Lost in the middle of a forest, seven crystals vibrated with power, waiting for their right owners. Forgotten inside the room of Rose Quartz, the shard of a gem pulsed with energy. And in Sunset Shimmer’s house, the bubbled gem of a longtime friend popped out of it and clattered against the ground.
The teardrop shaped gem began to shine in a mixture or light and shadows as it changed and morphed in the shape of a woman who kept on sleeping and dreaming of days long gone, mixed with the promise of light blue eyes and red hair.