Sweet Apple Acres was as plentiful as ever with the latest harvesting of the farm's apples, a good five wagons full from the entire acre. AJ and Big Mac worked together to get the wagons over to the barn, Big Mac handling a good three wagons while AJ got two wagons full. It had been a long day of working on the farm, but they were pretty happy for it. Once they parked their wagons by the barnhouse, AJ took off her hat for a minute, and wiped some sweat off of her forehead with her hoof.

"Eeyup," replied Big Mac. both ponies took a moment to check out their work back on the barn, many of the trees no longer having too many apples on them. For just two ponies, that was pretty good. So, with their loads, the mare and stallion trotted on inside with one of the wagons, and apparently they couldn't have come at a better time either.

"You lazy swine! I, Peridot, command you to move to the circular water pool at once!"

They weren't the only ones aiding the ponies out today; the Crystal Gems (Steven, Peridot, Jasper, and Lapis respectively), took the time to stop by the barn as of Steven's request, but so far their aid in helping out the ponies wasn't doing so good. At least off of Peridot's end, who was trying her best to get the farm pigs into the bath tub, but the pigs just won't listen to her. Guess 'lazy swine' is more of a statement than an insult to the pigs. Peridot groaned in defeat, as one of the big pigs just snorted at her to keep her quiet. AJ and Macintosh glanced to eachother, before Big Mac walked over to her, clearing his throat.

"You're Equestrian swine are extremely irritable," Peridot simply stated. Big Mac needed one look at the pigs to figure out the problem, and walked over to the tub. Big Mac took one whistle to the pigs, just enough to wake em up, and then presenting them with a fresh corn on the cob.
Suddenly, the pigs jumped up to their own hooves, and bolted right over into the tub where Big Mac was. Peridot didn't get out of the way in time, and when the hogs got in the tub, Peridot was left with plenty a hoofprints on her. Oh joy.

AJ picked Peridot up off the ground, the small Gem dazed but alright at the end of it all, as Steven and Jasper came in, moving some hay bales for them. Like a little ant holding a rock, Steven held about three hay bales above his head, and Jasper had a whooping seven hay bales: three for each arm, and one balanced on her head.

"Where do you want these?" Jasper asked, not looking strained at all with the weight. Big Mac was pretty impressed with the amount she was carrying, more surprised than anything.

"Eh, just put em over by the cow stalls over there," Applejack pointed over to the stalls nearby, and an opening to where they're supposed to be, so Jasper and Steven got theirs placed down there with little trouble at all, getting it all in a good square with all the hay bales. Steven gave Jasper a high five for a job well done, though Peridot wished she was as successful as they were in her little escapade.

"No one gets their farmhooves on the first day, don't sweat it. How bout you see how Lapis is doin with Granny," Applejack suggested.

Uh oh. AJ, Big mac, and the Gems went on outside to see what had happened, and soon they found what Lapis Lazuli was up to not too far away from the barn itself. Turned out, Lapis was giving Granny Smith a helping hoof with the chicken coop, only for Granny herself to bang her head inside, freaking out a few of the chickens inside. Lapis quickly caught a few chickens before they could bolt off out of the barnyard, and Granny walked on outside, rubbing her head as she carried out a bucket of eggs from their hens. some of the running chickens went by the others, AJ and big Mac getting a few of them, as one of them actually landed on Jasper as it fluttered about, which Jasper easily grabbed. One flew at Steven, and was a bit harder to hold still.

"I told ya to watch yer step, missy, them cluckers scare easy," Granny scoffed at Lapis.

"Yeah, lesson learned, sorry," Lapis sighed, as a stray chicken landed on her head. It's never a good idea to scare chickens in a coop. Lapis got the hen off her head, and AJ and Steven helped rally them up and get them back in their chicken coop.

"You know, Steven, suggesting for us to partake in this daily routine of the Apple family, was a good idea when you mentioned it to us half an hour ago. But now, I'm not so sure," Peridot said.

"Eeyup," Macintosh answered. Granny smith brought over the bucket of eggs, and placed them down in front of Peridot.

"Here's somethin' ye can do: how about putting those eggs in the kitchen?" Granny said. Peridot just sighed, and used her metal powers to levitate the bucket, fingers up in the air and aimed at the bucket as she walked to the house. This was one thing she could do that won't get her trampled or something.

"Thank y'all for the extra help. With our cider season just round the corner, this saves us a ton of time," AJ said.

"Happy to help you out, AJ. Anything else before we head off?" Steven asked. Before AJ could answer, the group began to hear knocking over at the Sweet Apple Acres gate. Looking over, and there stood the mail mare Derpy Hooves, waving over to them. and hey, she didn't fly into the gate on landing, good for her and for the mail she had for them. Granny walked over to her, as Derpy got out a letter.

"For me? Well, let's see what we got here," Granny said, as Derpy gave the letter to her. The old mare opened it up, and took her time to read it over form top to bottom, mumbling to herself as she went. Once she ended up finishing the letter, her eyes grew wide, and a smile got on her face.

"Well, save me down and call me a mole-rat, sounds like your uncle Paula Red's inviting ya over for a day out fer some logging," Granny said, walking back over to her granddaughter, showing the letter to them.

"Uncle Paula? Haven't heard a word outta him in years," Applejack noted, looking over the exact details of the letter. None of the Gems heard of this new member of AJ's family tree before. After a short look over in the details of said thing, she turned over to Steven.

"Can I?" Steven asked, excited to see another member to AJ's tree. He had heard bits of her family, and just how expansive it was, so meeting a new member was something he would want to meet. Applejack nodded her head, and gave Steven the paper for him to read over. And after getting the main idea, his eyes starred up. This was going to be an interesting trip.

Howdy there nephew: This is your uncle Paula Red. So, I got a little bit of a project going on for this Connie fella, and I wondered if y'all be interested in comin over to the ol' White Tail Woods, and we can meet up at the site. I got it drawn out on the letter, so if you can bring some extra hoof power and lend a pony out, that'll be super. Hope to see you soon.

Paula Red

And so, one thing lead to another, and now a good group had showed up at the place in question after a good trip on the train. White Tail Woods was quite a different look then, say, Everfree Forest. for a start, many of the trees were large pines, and many of them were plenty tall when compared to the jungle-like Everfree back in Ponyville. A good chance of pace for a more northern setting over the typical look. Anyway, for the exact spot in particular, the place was a bit closer to a flowing river, a small dock already set up for where this new house would be placed, and it's on the dock where the others were deciding to wait for this Paula Red to show up.
For those hanging out at the dock, those included: Steven, Connie, Applejack, Jasper, Peridot, and Lapis. All the same, they got a good amount of help for Paula Red whenever he would show up, whatever the case may be.

"She's really going up in the world. Now aside from fighting monsters, she can relax at her own home," Steven replied, a bit excited for this news. Connie was especially intrigued that Connie II would be getting her own place after all her time alone in Equestria.

Well, there's their answer. The group tried to look around, but they didn't see Paula Red anywhere. Eventually though, something did begin to present itself further up the river. It started off to just be a moose strolling down alongside the river bank, but on closer inspection, this moose was actually pulling in a rope of some sort, the rope leading out to the river itself.
And soon they saw it: a raft filled with a good triangle pile of logs. The raft itself was pretty huge, and made out of the same logs it was carrying down the river with relative ease. On the raft as well came up a stallion who was rowing the raft along the river. It was hard to make him out, but Applejack knew who this pony was for a good mile away, and AJ immediately got herself off her own hooves and began galloping off to see him. The pony was a pretty tall one, a good strong stallion that looked a bit similar to Big Macintosh in a number of ways. His main fur was a lime green, and his scruffy mane and tail were a dark red, like a ripened Paula Red apple like his namesake. A bandana wrapped around his neck, and his cutie mark showed what appeared to be a saw with a cut apple on it. AJ would know such a face anywhere, and Paula Red steadied the raft on its course until it reached closer to shore.

"Paula Red! Over here!" Called Applejack from the shore. Paula Red looked up and saw his nephew waiting for him. He waved his hoof, and with the help of the moose on the shore, got the raft parked right next to the dock. The others got up and gave Paula Red some room to climb up onto the dock himself. It wasn't until now that they noticed, but this pony was a very tall one, about as tall as Lapis Lazuli.

"Howdy. Everyone, meet Paula Red. Uncle Paula, these are my friends: Steven, Connie, Lapis, and Jasper," Applejack introduced. Steven was happy to see him, and shook his front hoof.

"You're the biggest pony I've ever seen," Connie said, saying the obvious of the situation. Paula chuckled on that remark, as his attention was drawn back to the logs. Onto the raft he went, and pulled out into view a tool box, which Paula pulled out an axe from. What's a logger without an axe to work with?

"You bet your boots," Paula said, walking around to get to the rope that held the pile together. Jasper wasn't too sure about the structure though.

"You do know there's other, better structures we can use: steel, tungsten ... glass."

"Sounds like we got a couple of city ponies. Trees can be just as powerful as dragons, so don't try to scoff em," Paula advised. But Jasper had her own doubts. She was pretty strong herself, and can throw these trees like sticks easy. Then again, she was talking to a pony, not a Gem, so she didn't push it further than that. Besides, who knows how different trees were here compared to Earth anyway. That aside, Paula Red got his axe ready, and in one easy chop, the rope was cut off, and all the logs began to roll into the river!

"Easy now, just getting the logs off the raft. So let's go to work," Paula said, hopping into the water himself. His splash got Connie and Steven, both giggling a little bit. If this is what loggers do, then they shouldn't have too much trouble.

"Alright everypony, let's get to it!" AJ decided, also getting into the water with her uncle.

And so, things got busy: the first thing they did was get the logs right out of the river, which itself was ... actually, pretty easy. Once they figured out what to do anyway. The logs were brought to shore by the moose that agreed to help out, and once that was done, they carried the logs over inland a bit, right alongside the shoreline, but a foot away from the bank. Jasper made it look easy (naturally), and Paula Red did it pretty well even with no arms to grab the logs with. Steven and Connie did their share, though Steven got more done than Connie did, being stronger than Connie herself was. During the log moving, both kids got a little bit troubled in getting the logs moving, only able to roll one at a time. And seeing how the others went a little bit faster, that did kinda bugged them a little bit.

"These logs are heavier than they look," Connie said, taking a minute to catch her breath. It didn't help that Jasper strolled over to them, one arm holding about three of the logs with relative ease.

"No, no, we got it, just catching our breath," Steven reassured her. Jasper paused, but strolled on to add the logs to the pile off the bank. Eventually they began rolling the log again. However, neither had seen the rock that was in front of them, and next thing they knew it, they stopped altogether. They pushed as hard as they could, but the log wasn't budging, catching the attention of Applejack, Lapis, and Paula. Lapis whispered something to Paula Red, and Paula gave AJ a wink, pulled out some rope, and got it around the rock in a lasso as the two were pushing.

"Okay, one more time. One, two, three!" Just before Steven said three, Paula yanked the rock out of their way, and suddenly the push was made a whole lot easier for them. Both ponies giggled to themselves, and allowed them to roll the log to the others.

Eventually, Lapis and Paula were sawing at some logs, using a push saw to do so. It was tedious, and repetitive to Lapis, but it was something to keep her mind busy, as the others nearby were dealing with cement mixing not too far away. Eventually a piece was cut off, and dropped to the ground, which Paula picked up and placed aside.

"No, I mean the tree. Take a gander at this," Paula said, flipping the log part to show Lapis the rings inside. Both of them looked it over a little bit, and Paula got to a quicker conclusion, counting out the rings inside.

"How can you tell that?" Lapis asked, scratching her head as she looked closer at the piece. Paula pointed to the rings on the tree piece.

"Just count the rings: each ring is a good year, and a good foot to the tree," he explained. Lapis started to count it out a little bit in her head, and if Paula was right about how a ring can be the age, this was probably a rather old tree.

"This must be a tall tree then," Lapis concluded. Paula stepped back and smiled.

"You think that is tall. I once saw a tree that was so tall, that if you climbed to the top, you could've touched the moon," Paula claimed. Lapis's eyes widened at such an idea, even if it was scientifically hard to believe. How thick, and how tall would one tree had to be to touch the moon of all things? Well, that would be something for later.

"Hey, Lazuli, come here!" called Peridot. Paula allowed her to go off and see what her friend wanted, and soon she found Peridot was actually "bending" the cement around, much like how Lapis would work her water. It was a pretty interesting sight, to say the least.

"Look, this substance is made of metal! I'm you now!" Peridot said with a signature triumphant laugh, as she played around with the cement, and easily spread it along the layer of the logs as another large log was placed onto the cement by Jasper. Well, thoughts can wait, and they still had a house to make.

And BOY did they get a lot handled for just one day. With the efforts of the Gems, humans, and ponies themselves, this house was surely starting to take up shape: the foundries of said house being done within hours of beginning! Shocking to many, but with workers that can move five trees in one hand, one that can manipulate cement apparently, and such other things, projects like these wouldn't take too much effort, or time to complete. It took all afternoon, and just off to the night, but eventually the house was really beginning to take shape, with the main borders of the house being made up in little time, and it won't be long until the windows, door, and roof would be added to.
Still, as with everything, a break was surely needed, and by the time nighttime came around, Connie, AJ, and Steven were getting awfully hungry, and were a bit winded from all of their hard work. Lapis, Peridot, and Jasper were alright though, and once everything was done, the group took time to relax by a fire right by the river. And a meal was especially given, AJ giving Connie, Steven, and Paula Red some snacks they've brought earlier that day. And let's just say there wasn't much left when they were done.

"Oh, I'm stuffed," Connie said, rubbing her stomach from the good meal, and Steven couldn't help but agree. Jasper glanced over to the house.

"Yeah. So, Paula Red, you seem to know a lot about building these houses. I assume you've lived in one for referencing?" Peridot asked. Paula shook his head though.

"Sometimes. So it's nice to know, that I always have a family to come home to," Paula answered, fluffing AJ's mane. That was a nice thought to have, and Jasper began to feel a similar vibe from a long time ago, almost a Deja Vu if you will.

"Eh, nah, we can finish it in the morning. for now, how about we pass the time with some good ol campfire stories?" Paula suggested.

"Been years since we got a good story. K, let's see, who wants to share a story?" Applejack asked. The others thought it over a little, but suddenly Steven got a far bigger idea in his head.

"Lapis! Peridot, Jasper! Don't you guys know any stories from Homeworld?" Steven asked, excitedly. The three Gems didn't need to take much time to give Steven an answer.

"Homeworld isn't known to just "make up stories" Steven, we don't really have any campfire stories to share," Peridot made clear, in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Aww." Steven sighed. While Jasper and Peridot didn't have much of anything, eventually something did cross Lapis's mind in terms of a story.

"Blue Diamond told me this story once before. It's a bit long, so get comfy," Lapis said. They did just that, and Steven got especially cozy when laying on the ground, his head resting on his hand.

"Ooooohhhh! I forgot about that story," Peridot realized. Despite things, Lapis just chuckled, and as soon as everyone got themselves comfortable, she cleared her throat and began her story.

Many eons ago, there was a group of Gems who lived as apart of a small colony on a small moon out in the galaxy. There were three in particular amongst the Gems.

The Gem colony in question was in a rather early stage. not too many assortment of buildings up, and still plenty of nature left on the planet to signify its own life. A few buildings were already made, and three different Gems currently were going over some of the plans for the colony. One looked a lot like Amethyst, but with her hair flaired up and with red skin rather than purple, along with the Homeworld outfit of course, with her gemstone on her left cheek. Another one had multitude of colors on her, not too far off from what Rainbow Dash, or Bismuth would have, though the style mirrored that of Rose Quartz, her body a standard Agate design with her stone on her right elbow, and a Homeworld outfit too. And in between them was a fairly large, thick-bodied Gem, greenish skin like Jade with hair similar to Ruby with her gemstone on her chest.

Each one had their own identification: Fire Quartz Facet502-CutX12, Rainbow Agate Facet701-CutJX3, and Rainforest Topaz Facet477-CutXJ9. They had their own unique nicknames however, and they're also known as "Magma", "Comet", and "Terra". Amongst the Gems, Terra was the oldest, and the name came from her appearance similar to the forests she was made in.

Terra went on to give some proper direction to a few Fulgurites during the process of the colony, one of which had a bit of trouble operating a few of the machines, which Terra was happily lending a hand to.

She was very happy about this, and enjoyed keeping the other Gems in order, even if she wasn't an Agate. And whenever any of them did anything she thought wrong ...

At one point, Terra kept an eye over on a few working Amethysts and Jaspers, two of which ended up slamming into eachother by mistake while unloading some materials from a arriving dropship.
Terra just went right up to them, and said "That would never suit her clarity."

Many Gems came and went, but out of all of them, it was Terra who still stood tall. Magma and Comet even made up their own nickname for her, and would call her "fossil" time to time.

At a point, Terra was passing by Magma and Comet as she got her latest reports on the colony in progress, doing a fairly decent job too. She had just finished that up, just to hear ...

"Gems come, and Gems go, but Fossil goes on forever!" chanted Magma and Comet. Terra grew a little bugged by that.

"You little pebbles, what're you coming to?" Terra questioned, arms crossed as she walked over.

"Silver Rutile Facet678-Cut8X2. And that Gem was a complete show off! That little clod kept getting into trouble over on my last colony; breaking injectors, messing up plans, you know the lot. I kept telling her to be careful, but all she did was simply laugh. ... That was, until Yellow Diamond showed up, and decided to make her useful at last. She stopped laughing then."

"She had her harvested and turned into a Dropship generator. You can still find her gem inside one of the dropships' engine rooms. She'll never bother anyone again."

After that little story, Magma and Comet because very useful Gems, and they all worked happy together for many years.

Many of the Gems who were working on the planet were hit with some rather puzzling, if not sad news when they got to check in. All they got to see was a notification which mainly says "closed" on it. It would seem this Colony had been shut down.

After a while, the Diamonds had concluded the planet to be inefficient, and ultimately decided to close production on this colony. That also meant no more work for Terra's group too. Eventually, some of the leading Agates came to pick out which Gems they wanted.

And choose they did: about several different Agates had arrived down on the planet to figure out which gems would work, Terra herself being off and over to the back of the line. There was several other Gems apart of the chopping block, and one by one, after some looking over, more Gems were sent off to different places to work their use, as picked by their new advisors. Their Rainbow Agate, unfortunately, had little to say on it, even if she would technically be in charge. Soon, it was down to only three.

No one wanted Terra. They thought she was just too old and rusty to be of any good use, and one even suggested to leave her behind. Unfortunately the other bosses agreed.

"Cheer up, Terra. We'll find you a nice new colony, and you can come and keep us in order," called Magma. That brought a soft smile to Terra's face, as her Gems went off to be transported by their new boss.

They all tried to be cheerful and positive, but no one thought that the dream would come true. ... Once they all left, only two small Rubies remained. They gave Terra their goodbyes, and then had to go away and find work. ... Terra was alone.

It was nighttime now, and Terra simply looked around the remains of the now non-working facility. It sure felt weird without all the noise and racket. So, Terra walked over towards one of the buildings, and settled down easy.

"Oh well. I'll try and rest a bit, and see what'll happen. It'll pass the time."

So much time ticked by from this decision. When it would rain, the water washed down soil from the nearby hillside, covering up more and more of the building, none of which got into the place where Terra was resting. So much time went by in fact that the local flora began to grow around, and on top of the building. All the while, Terra was none the wiser to this passage of time, sleeping it all away like it was nothing.

You wouldn't have known the building was even there, let alone the Gem inside. ... But she was never forgotten.

After making that report from Blue Pearl, Blue Diamond waited patiently inside the throne room, and awaited for whomever it was to come inside. It turned out, it was one of the Agates, along with a few other Gems amongst her group. It wasn't exactly the agate in particular, but instead it was Magma who wanted to see her, and she went up and quickly did the Diamond insignia.

"Good, um ... Well, we've talked about something for a bit, and uh ... We want to find Terra again."

"Rainforest Topaz Facet477-CutXJ9," corrected the Agate. Blue Diamond pondered for a bit in memory, and soon it came back to her.

"She's helped us all so much, we want her to be happy," Magma got out, feeling more confident now. Blue Diamond paused again, but then smiled.

Sure enough, a rescue team was sent down onto the planet to look for Terra. Days, weeks, time ticked by but they weren't willing to give up in their little search for her. They continued looking, until one day ...

"She's here somewhere," thought one of the rubies apart of the search team. The team made up of several different Gems, and the ruby in particular went up onto what she thought was another part of the hill, until -

"Huh?" the ruby barely had time to react when the ground suddenly broke under her, catching the attention of the team! The ruby landed on something big, and actually bounced off of it like a ball, and landed nearby on her square head. When she took another look at the thing she landed on, she quickly got to her feet and got very excited, just as the others got there.
she found Terra!

"My stars, no! We couldn't find the entrence so we dropped in up there. Come on, let's go!" The ruby said happily, starting to climb out.

From an old dark building, into the limelight of the new colony, Terra took the time to observe the workers as she had before. Hidden not too far away, Magma and Comet couldn't believe their eyes on seeing their old friend again, Comet starry eyed and with a big smile, as Terra was resting a little.

"We'll all be back to work tomorrow, Terra, it's awesome you're back. We can keep you in order now!" Comet said, jokily.

"Keep me in order? Be off with you!" Terra laughed. And so comet and Magma did, all smiles of course.

"But Terra's eyes sparkled, and for the first time in years, she smiled as she rested in the sun."

Upon completion of the story, as Peridot and Jasper were enjoying it, Lapis found that her story had more of an effect on one member of the group, as he was getting very drowsy, and was already asleep by the time she looked.

"Don't blame him too much. Sounds like we all could use a snooze before Luna's moon zooms by us. G'night," Paula decided, stretching before getting comfy by the warm fire. Well, guess this was what they were going to do.

Close to midnight, the moon looking down onto the group resting by the river. None were stirring, all sleeping soundly ... all but one. Turning back and forth, as if trying to just keep her eyes closed, Lapis Lazuli felt nagging, and soon she gave up on trying to actually sleep. It was awfully quiet, only the sounds of the distant nighttime insects, and the flow of the river right next to them. Many of the others were still sleeping, and the fire had depleted a little bit from the passage of time. Poor Lazuli didn't want to wake anyone else up right now, and she had too much floating around on her mind now to explain anything to anyone. Getting up to her feet, and opening her wings, Lapis took one more glance back to make sure none of them were up for now. After being sure of it, on one flap, she was off and on her way to ... wherever the destination would end up being.
And where did this end up being? Lapis found a tall hill over in a clearing that looked down to the rest of White Tail Woods, and she landed down gently. It wasn't too far away from the group, but she was by herself ...

I was a monster back there, Steven. You and the rest of your friends saw that in Malachite. All that anger, that blind rage, the corrupted confusion, all of that was from me! ... You shouldn't be around me. I'm too dangerous.

I'M TERRIBLE! I attacked the Diamonds, I nearly killed the rest of you - twice in fact! GO ON, TELL ME I'M WRONG!!

"... I thought I grew past this. ..." Lapis thought, sitting down by the edge of the hill, and looking out to the forest. She wasn't showing it, but it still was a major issue she needed to get over ... but why was it so hard to? All that time isolated in her cocoon, and even her new form when coming out was supposed to be her getting past this hurdle. Or it seemed to be, but Lapis still felt it looming over her like her own shadow under her. Her hand reached for the scarf around her neck. Her thoughts then loomed back to another incident, but before it could go any further, her eyes glanced off to the forest again, and noticed something different. A single pine tree, taller than any of the other trees.

You think that is tall. I once saw a tree that was so tall, that if you climbed to the top, you could've touched the moon.

"Is that the tree?" Lapis wondered. If she wanted to get this off her mind, she needed to think about something else. So, with a flap of her water wings, she began to fly right to the tree.

It only took her a few minutes to get there, and she started off right at the bottom of the tree. BOY did it look tall from where she was standing, and she couldn't see the top of it. She could, however, see the moon up right above her head, and Paula Red's little claim was what drove the gem to begin her little flight up the tree. It was a bit strange to find such a tall tree, and curiosity on this tree's destination pushed her on upward. She didn't even realize how high she had gotten up the tree until after a good ten minutes, glancing back down and found that the rest of the forest looked extremely small from where she was.
Higher, and higher she climbed up the tree, not looking back, and only focused on where the top reached. Finally, after a surprisingly short amount of time, Lapis made it right to the very tip of the pine tree, and what did she find? ...

"Paula was right. This does reach the moon," Lapis thought in amazement. She looked back down, and she could barely see Equestria, let alone White Tail Woods, and the view of the world was simply amazing, seeing for miles on end. When she looked back to the moon though, there was another creature up there with her, standing on the moon and looking right at her.

But it wasn't Luna exactly, but rather a more shadowy version of her, almost like the Tantabus in some way, but a bit more of a blue tiny to the coloration. At first, it just stood there for a bit, but eventually it began to reach out to her, the body altering into a more human-like shape, the reaching hoof turning into a slender hand, and it gently touched Lapis's forehead.

But look at what you're doing! Nightmare Moon would've wanted the Tantabus to turn Equestria into a nightmare! You're doing everything you can to stop it! Don't you see? That proves you're not the same pony you were then! Everypony who knows you now, knows that Nightmare Moon is in the past! We all trust you, Luna, Equestria and Earth! Do you trust us enough to believe we're right?

Well, that was surely a thought Lapis had been stuck with the next morning, and she tried her best not to show it for the other's sake. On the bright side, building the house didn't take much longer, and soon they got a full-sized house complete, the roof door and windows now complete. all there was left to do now was wait for Connie II to show up to her brand new house, and they all went over to a nearby hill to wait for her. Lapis only stayed quiet as they waited, her mind too wrapped up in thoughts to really say much of anything.

"Who knows? Connie II travels all over place, it could be all day," Connie said.

"Or it could be how she's getting here. Maybe she's coming by wagon," Steven wondered.

"Maybe she's walking?" shrugged Peridot. It could be anything in such a magical place, who really knew?

The others jumped up to their feet, recognizing the voice, but looking around they didn't see her at first. That was, until one of them looked above their heads, and there she was! Connie II was up in the air for her ride here, somehow having a hot-air balloon as her transport. Good ol' Connie II, always with surprises one way or another.

"There she is!" Steven said, pointing up for the rest to see, as the hot-air balloon flew right over their heads. The others ran under her, following her to the river. Connie II could see the landing zone under her from there, and began to release the air from the balloon to descend.

"Grab the ropes," Connie II called, as she tossed down some ropes to them. Paula Red and Applejack grabbed two of the four ropes, and pulled back hard. Their hooves dug into the earth, trying to stop the hot-air balloon as it slowly descended, only to stop completely when Jasper grabbed hold. The trio kept the hot-air balloon still as best they could until the hot-air balloon landed down gently onto the ground. Once all the air was out of the balloon did Connie II jump out to see the others.

"I'm sorry I took so long. Wind currents were a trouble to work around, you know how it is," Connie II said, just as glad to be there herself. It was then that Connie II took a look over at her house.

"What do ya think? We spent all day yesterday making it, all for you," Peridot said. Connie II's eyes sparkled on seeing the house, especially grateful that they did it so quick, and with a great result as well. Instead of bolting to the house though, Connie II began to go back over to the hot-air balloon basket, and actually started to get some new items out of the basket.

And so, with the group's help, they started to do just that. The overall house foundation was pretty good, but now they got on to do the fun part in actually decorating, and making the place rather cozy to live in. This part was more thanks to Steven and Peridot, who helped out with the décor the most out of the whole group as more and more things were brought in from the basket, and into the house. for a single hot-air balloon, Connie II had quite a collection of things stored inside, though that mainly was because a bit of magic made traveling with all these items pretty easy.
The first rooms they got done was the living room and bedroom upstairs: a carpet, few chairs, coffee table and lamp for the living room, and a bed, clock, and a few books for upstairs. Connie II mainly did the essentials and didn't go too overboard with it. What did impress what some of the knickknacks she was setting up from her travels around Equestria. some were draconic in nature, others from ponykind, some even from unknown places like a mask from Zecora's homeland.

"Well, being a traveler, it kinda happens," Connie II shrugged, getting a giggle out of AJ. At this point, Connie and Steven both got together, and planned a little something for her. Peridot came from upstairs.

"Ok, Connie II. We got a little surprise for you!" Peridot said, sounding enthusiastic.

"You do?" Connie II asked. Peridot cleared her throat, and gave a signature two-hand clap as the signal for Steven and Connie to come down. Or rather -

Instead of Steven and Connie, she got Stevonnie. Her last trip to see them didn't give her this privilege, and they figured they got the good time now to do it. Peridot, Jasper, and AJ were pretty surprised by this themselves. Connie II began to look Stevonnie over a bit, Connie II's eyes wide in curiosity and amazement.

"Well, we both grew up since we first started," Stevonnie said with a smile. Connie II couldn't help but agree: with Connie and her fusion, and Connie II with her magic.

"I know, it's exciting isn't it?! Your counterpart Connie has single-handed created the first ever human-Gem fusion hybrid in all of existence!" Peridot explained, as excited as Connie II was about it. It took some time for at least one of them to notice, but eventually Jasper looked around, and saw that Lapis Lazuli ... wasn't there. Jasper got Applejack's attention on the matter before she looked out the window, and over to the river.

Off outside, Paula Red and Lapis Lazuli were actually readying the raft for a ride back down the river by the time AJ and Jasper showed up. The only thing they had left to do was to untie a bit of rope to the dock.

"Yep. It's time for this logger to get back on the river," Paula said, looking back to the house they've made. Well, it only made sense, the project being done and all that. AJ trotted over to him and gave him a hug, the logger stallion doing the same.

"Don't sweat it, AJ. It's good to see ya again," Paula replied, as he hopped onto his raft, paddle at the ready. Without all the extra logs, it should be a lot easier to go down the river now.

"Alright, let her go," Paula said. AJ did just that, and untied the rope to the dock, and in no time, the raft began to move off on its merry way. Both ponies waved to eachother, and as Paula went off out of sight, AJ and Jasper started to head back to the others in Connie II's new home. As they continued though, AJ glanced back and saw Lapis was still standing over at the dock.

"Come on, Lapis!" AJ called. Lapis snapped back to reality, and went off back to the others.

And off in the river, its eyes peering just above the water surface, another also went off. Information acquired.

My Little Universe: Season 6

by EquestrianKirin

Wild Timber