//------------------------------// // Don't You Believe It? // Story: My Little Universe II // by EquestrianKirin //------------------------------// Ever since returning from the other realm, the remaining Harmony Gems had been more than hard at work when trying to set things up for the Spirit to come down. It was something they've been working on for nearly a day now, with morning arriving in the Little Homeworld settlement with some of the group either chilling out or prepping up for the big show. For the moment, nearby Bismuth's new forge, Lion was getting himself all ready by letting Pinkie Pie and Connie give him a bit of a paint job using fur coloring and dyes, Connie particularly making a heart mark on his chest as Pinkie Pie added glitter to his fur. "Doesn't he look sparkly?" asked Pinkie at one point, who herself was covered in sparkles and shimmer. Lion though was not too comfortable with all this stuff, at one point shaking so at least some of the glitter could get off his fur. "No, no, no Lion! We know this isn't comfortable, but you got to look as magical as possible," Connie said, "We'll give you a nice warm bath as soon as this is over." Typically Lion didn't like baths like any other cat, but in this case he'll make an exception. Though he did draw the line on having his muzzle dyed in darker pink, giving Connie a rather rough huff. "Ok, no muzzle lining," Connie said, retracting. "Oh, don't you look festive, Lion? All you need is a magical entrance and you'll be all set at this rate," said Jade, who was standing nearby with some decoration of her own in the form of firefly lighting, being strung up with Rarity and Steven's help. It was the most magical thing Rarity could think of that didn't involve actual magic. "I hope this all works," said Rarity, "with everything going on, I'd hate to leave White Diamond and Discord like … well, this." "Well like my dad always said: "You can't fail if you don't do anything"," said Steven, finishing wrapping one more firefly lighting to the string. "Oh? I thought his saying was about … oh what was it? About hot dogs and porkchops?" Rarity was a bit vague on that kind of detail, only hearing that saying a few times ever. "Yeah that too, but I'm saying let's do our best. Even if we mess it up, we can't say we didn't try right?" Steven said, standing up and checking the handiwork. "Even if so, we might actually get something from it. The Canterlot attack did in a way help bring Sapphire and Ruby closer together," Jade said, pointing off not too far away. That, out of much of the recent attempts, was a good change in the right direction. The others took a look nearby, and saw Ruby hanging out with Sapphire. She still thought of herself as Padparadscha's guard, but lately since the Storm King's attack on Canterlot, the focus was starting to shift more towards the proper Sapphire, Ruby feeling a bit giddy actually while being with her. "Yeah. You're right. Maybe we might get more out of this," Steven said. If only he could actually remember what the next step was. Getting them together was one thing, but getting them together was another. "I wish you were here, Garnet …" Steven sighed. "So I predicted the Spirit will be arriving onto this planet out of suspicion and curiosity," Sapphire explained to Ruby (who wasn't there for the main explanation). It was mainly her future vision that got them preparing for the Spirit in the first place, or at the least skipped the first step in how she was supposed to come to Earth at all. "You're so incredible," said Ruby at a point, laying on the ground and smiling to Sapphire, "So, how far can you see?" "As a Sapphire, I can predict my entire existence. Every step of it, for mine, and yours," said Sapphire in her typical calm tone. Ruby was amazed. "WOW … how good can you see?" Ruby asked, fascination like a child. Sapphire was ready to answer that question, but instead of just using her matter-of-fact speech, she decided to work out a different kind of route to the answer. Sapphire smiled and cleared her throat. "What kind of pathetic soldier would come out looking like that." "Huh?" Ruby wondered. Sapphire simply counted down from three on her fingers, and soon as she passed one ... "What kind of pathetic soldier would come out looking like that?!" said a strong and stern voice of Jasper from not too far away. Predicting the future right down to the voice is simply beyond incredible. With that exclamation though, everyone else began to see the rest of the team come by, Pony and Gem alike, with Peridot and Jasper trailing them not too far behind. Seemed Jasper might've overheard their plan for the Spirit, and she wanted in on SOMETHING since coming out. All Jasper had been doing was training herself for some mission, but that could only go so far. "Okay folks, stage is set and curtains will be up in thirty! How's Lion coming along?" Emerald asked. "Sparkled and ready to dazzle," Pinkie said in a salute. Lion still wasn't as thrilled, but if it meant to make this all work, then he might as well not gripe too much about it. Besides, it could be worse. "We got Beach City ready for the Spirit's arrival," explained Flint, "So they shouldn't freak out too much when she shows up to investigate. Twilight and Starlight will be on standby in case we need some extra evidence too, so don't worry about that." Even if Flint was explaining all of this however, some of the others couldn't help but smile, some trying not to laugh. "H-Hey Flint … Spinel's supposed to be the Heart Fairy," Jade said, honestly finding it hard not to at least giggle on seeing him. Flint was NOT thrilled about this at all: he was stuck wearing what looked like a pixie outfit more akin to an Aquamarine, skirt and everything alongside heart-shaped wings behind him, and his hair matching Spinel's heart-shaped pigtails. "Heart Fairies reporting for duty! How do we look? Magical, right?" beamed Spinel, who herself didn't really need much of an outfit change outside of a small tiara on her head and one of those. Spinel hugged Flint and gave them all a wink, as Flint looked a bit less than enthused. "I struggled as much as I could," Flint grumbled. "It's okay Flint," Steven said with a chuckle, "maybe you can be Spinel's apprentice or something. Whatever makes it look more believable." "I hate to break it to you, but I can't be involved in this idea," Flint insisted, his free hand getting rid of the heart-shaped pigtails in his hair, "We got report of a mystical creature running around the Jersey Quarry again, and we need to investigate. … We just found out." Flint glanced up and saw Spinel fix his hair back to the pigtail heart shape, much to his annoyance. "But you can't leave now, the Spirit will be here in half an hour!" insisted Steven. "Which is why we're splitting up teams: one team handling the Spirit while the other team handles … well, whatever's in the Quarry," explained Diopside. It seemed simple enough, although Steven did feel a bit worried that the team would be cut shorter for the Spirit showing up. "You got this," said Rainbow Dash, "She won't know what's coming." "I hope so …" "You will." Everyone then turned over to Sapphire. "We will?" asked Steven. Could either be a attempt to show off her ability to Ruby, or perhaps just a way to help them out a little bit, but Sapphire began to see a clear path to branch off a bit. "Yes. She will arrive near one of the Human settlements to the west of here, upon which the pink "Heart Fairy" will appear out of a log. She will take her over to a nearby body of water to present her pet Lion. From there the Spirit will go to the town, where she will see a group of water-walking, humped animals as apart of Steven's kid's ride. After seeing all of that, she will realize that Earth is ready for magic after all, and she will remove her sentence upon White Diamond and Discord." "oooOOOOooo," said Ruby, eyes sparkling at the confidence of Sapphire's prediction. "WELL there we go!" Steven said, "Let's go make this all work." "But try, ok? Just because she says it's destined to happen doesn't make it guaranteed," said Flint. "I'm sure it will," Sapphire simply said. Flint just ignored her on that remark. "We got this. But who's gonna go after the monster?" asked Connie. Might as well ask that question, given the idea and all. "I AM," Jasper suddenly said, at the ready for any mission. All of her training she'd done since coming back, she was more than prepared to - "NOOOOO," said Emerald. "What?" Jasper asked. "Listen, Jay, not that we don't think you can do this, but we got to have everyone on the level. That means you just hang out here with them," Bismuth explained to her as she placed a hand on her shoulder, only for Jasper to swat her hand away. "First of all, I'm Jasper. Get it right. And B: I didn't train non-stop for days to do nothing," Jasper made clear, cracking her knuckles and readying herself for the mission. "You've torn up half the countryside," exclaimed Applejack. "That's what I said," Jasper remarked. Applejack just rolled her eyes on the remark. The sooner they get Jasper back, the better for the environment. "OK OK, I got a better idea!" Steven said, "we'll just make this simple." And out from his pocket, Steven pulled out a coin. A shining quarter piece. "... And THAT'S gonna decide something … how?" "Heads you stay, tails you go. Ready … and flip!" Steven flicked the coin good and high, the shining quarter dollar spinning in the air over and over again. Jasper wasn't remotely convinced this was a good idea, as Steven caught it, and … "Heads it is! So Jasper, you're gonna stay -" Jasper grabbed the coin and crushed it in her hand before Steven could even finish. "I don't take orders from such a pathetic pebble!" Jasper said, tossing the now destroyed coin off out of sight. Jasper for one was getting tired of waiting for an answer, though this left a cold shiver down everyone's back, staring at the deceased quarter. "Is she talking to me or the quarter?" Steven wondered. Either way, he almost forgot until now how scary Jasper could actually be. "We're getting nowhere here, I will solve this people! … Jasper, go with em," Emerald said. "What? But we -" Unfortunately, Flint wasn't gonna speak. "I'm trusting you to take care of things for me on this job, so I don't want anything sloppy, ok? Deal with this monster whatever ya gotta do as long as the thing's alive when you're done beating the pebbles outta it, got it cheesepuff?" "... What's a cheesepuff?" Jasper questioned. Some things he missed O so much. "Do you wanna go on a mission or not?" Emerald firmly stated. "Sir, yes sir!" Jasper said, diamond insignia and everything. Jasper, on instruction, then moved straight towards the Warp Pad, waiting for the rest of the team to go onto it. It seemed Bismuth and Flint had the same idea, as they both then looked over to Sapphire, especially after she seemed to get a bit of a shiver. "Emerald you can't tell her that," said Applejack. "Why not, it got things moving, what's the worst that could happen?" Emerald said. "She's been bossing everyone over everything since she reformed, Emerald!" explained Rarity, "I mean, just yesterday she ordered me out of finishing my latest winter's line because it looked too frail against our enemies! I've spent HOURS stitching all those feathers, and she tore them all off!" "Technically it was 90% of the organic material," corrected Peridot. … Who'd been silent the entire time up to this point. "... How long were you standing there?" bluntly asked Rainbow Dash. "The whole time," Peridot simply answered, her focus not entirely on them as she started studying some of the new iron in the forge's walls. After they were reminded of the green dorito's existence, Flint slipped away, moving Sapphire along until they were at least some distance away. "Sapphire. You're the one with the future vision … think you can tell us what'll happen?" Flint asked. Sapphire, being the Gem she was made of, paused and took a look ahead of time. Something big must be going on if it was enough to give Sapphire a shiver, regardless if she had her memory or not. … And then she shivered again. "That bad?" "Not bad … it's just a lot." "Then just give me the summery. Anything important?" "Hmm … the Peridot will lose her limb enhancers. The Jasper will be put in harm's way despite your warnings. … And … you'll be … you'll be …" Sapphire had trouble getting out the last part, but Flint was a smart enough Gem to know what the last part was supposed to mean. It wasn't anything he wasn't used to after all. "I see. ……. Peridot? Perhaps you can come with us?" Sapphire was taken aback by the request, but Peridot didn't seem too interested at all. "Reason?" Peridot asked. Flint already got an answer. "Because you can study the planet more besides roaming around here?" Flint offered. Peridot thought about it briefly, but then shrugged. "I've studied more than a third of this location anyway," Peridot figured. "You heard what I said," stated Sapphire. Flint turned to face her. "Okay, I'm just going to be forward here: you and a lot more of the Harmony Gems got your memories erased thanks to a Rejuvenator. You had a more exciting, more dynamic life before that, and we're trying to help you, and them, remember that. And part of that is to get Peridot out of those limb enhancers." They had enough trouble already, so they couldn't just stay around any longer. They had all the time in the world to handle Sapphire's amnesia, but for now they got a monster to catch so Flint just left a confused Sapphire there as he returned to the group. Sapphire looked over to Peridot, who herself was impatiently waiting to go by the Warp Pad, but she wasn't that concerned over her state. It was actually enough to give Sapphire a bit of a headache. "You okay?" asked Ruby. "I will be. You better return to your Sapphire," Sapphire said, calming down after a breath. But after hearing this … "MY SAPPHIRE! Oh my stars, I forgot her?! I-I can't face her, I need to be replaced immediately!" Ruby said in a panic. "Look for the town by the body of water east of here. She will be in a "Big Donut"," Sapphire explained. "Thank you!" Ruby said, before suddenly rushing off to wherever the heck it would be, running as fast as a Ruby could run. A Ruby's job was to her Sapphire, and far as she knew, she wasn't her Sapphire … although it was fun while it lasted. "Okay, everybody ready to go?" asked Flint. "Ready, willing, and able," Rainbow Dash said. "Good luck out there, guys," said Steven. "Same to you," replied Diopside. From that, each of the teams started to split away, one side getting into their respected positions for the arrival of the Spirit while the rest went to the Warp Pad and readied up for the monster hunt wherever that would be (Jasper being the most impatient by the way). Flint took a deep breath, but before he could go, he already could hear the squeaky footsteps of Spinel following him. "Why're you following me this time?" Flint asked. "You wouldn't go anywhere without your best friend would ya? I'll follow you anywhere," Spinel asked in her giggly tone. "Spinel, there're times when you can't always have your friend with you. I got work to do, and I don't want you to come along … SO PLEASE STAY HERE WHERE YOU'RE SAFE, ALRIGHT?" "Hmm ……. Got it!" Spinel said. Surprisingly cooperative today. "Good," sighed Flint. He turned and was just about to go to the Warp Pad when - *squeak* *squeak* *squeak* "ARE YOU LISTENING?!" Flint shouted, his outburst actually making Spinel scream in panic, before Flint grabbed her, carried her away, and placed her down on a nearby crate. In a matter of five seconds. "For stars sake, STAY HERE! Handle the spirit like you're supposed to! We'll meet later!" Flint said roughly, before going off in a huff. Spinel meanwhile was feeling extremely blindsided by this remark, but she did as she was told and simply sat there, and watched as him and his team went away on the Warp Pad, leaving Spinel kinda stuck by herself. "He left me here … H-He just left me …" Spinel was shivering a little bit, but eventually she smiled. "Ah, he's just busy. I'll go play with him after playing Heart Fairy! Yeah, that'll be fun! So much fun," Spinel told herself, looking … a little fragile actually as she turned and readied to go. Though before she could, she saw Lion. "... You know, you could use some more flare," Spinel said after thinking. Lion didn't like the sound of that, but it'll give Spinel a bit of a distraction as she bounded off to find the stuff to fix that. Lion turned to Sapphire, the only other who remained, her feeling a more prominent shiver this time. ~~~~~~ Silence over by the barn. With so much activity happening everywhere else, the barnhouse had been left surprisingly quiet and vacant for the most part, standing still and somber in the winter cold like most buildings do, though the barn didn't have anyone inside to keep it warm and lively. Or at least, not the typical company of the Off-Colors today. As one Illy-powered Draconequus tried to get comfortable on a cold couch inside of the barn, a very weakened diamond was left pacing back and forth, worrying and worrying. "So this is where the Off-Colors stayed?" White Diamond said at one point, trying to distract herself a little bit, "It looks filthy …" "Well it's no extra-dimensional cottage, but I think it's cozy … as soon as I figure out how," Discord said, trying to get cozy on the couch until a loose spring shot him off the couch and onto the wooden floor. "There we go!" "I-I'm sorry, but how can you ever get used to living like … this?" White questioned. Discord got himself off the ground. "I'm sorry, have we met? I'm the Spirit of Chaos, my whole shtick is to be chaotic and unpredictable, while being quite one good-looking boy," Discord said, brushing his mane back with his claw while giving White Diamond a smug look. White Diamond didn't feel too amused by that, as she did eventually find a seat nearby on a cold hay bale. A little uncomfortable, and a bit pokey, but at least it was something. "How can I even face anyone looking like this? My subjects are going to laugh at me, berate me!" White insisted, "A leader can't be a laughing stock to her subjects, it's … it's ridiculous!" "Oh, stop being such a ninny, Whitey," Discord said, playfully flicking White Diamond's nose, "I swear, some people think they're on top of the world, and one tiny mishap they just crumble up." Like he were to talk. "Whitey? How can you say something so controversial yet so brave?" White asked, appalled he was talking to her with such nonchalance. "Well for a start, I can break the very fabric of reality with a snap of my tail … er, I could," Discord explained, reminded that he couldn't do anything after snapping his talon. He just continued anyway, suddenly looking more regal in tone and posture. "Secondly: It is not about the name that makes a leader, it's what they do with it," Discord explained, sitting upright with a talon finger pointing to the sky as if giving a lecture. Only for him to just lay down next to White and add "It's a little somethin KK liked to say, saying powers aren't everything." "... Well you don't have planets to look after," White Diamond muttered, not feeling better but more confused if anything. "Come on, you Diamond you," said Discord, pinching her cheek, "I just know that all of our friends are easily working hard to convince them to give our powers back, and I will be a grand being of chaos again, and you will be the mighty overlord -" *BAM!* right outside of the barn came a loud and almost thunderous landing, enough to shake the very foundation of the barn itself, and fluster up the snow outside into a cloud of white, coming in from the cracks of the door and the open window. "Discord?! Where is that excuse for a spirit?" "Oh no," gulped Discord, his confidence dashed on hearing the familiar voice. It took him and White Diamond a bit of work to look out from the upper window (they were NOT opening the door), to see just who had landed nearby the barn. The Spirit herself had arrived. Just as Sapphire had predicted she would, and just like she said, this spirit was full of suspicion as she tried to figure out where Discord was. "Why's she back? Isn't getting rid of my powers enough? That thing'll crush me!" Discord gasped. "Didn't you just say power doesn't matter?" White Diamond questioned. "Easy for you to say, you're not the one she's after!" Discord retorted, both quickly bolting out of sight as the Spirit glanced over to the barn. The Spirit was not pleased by the looks of it (when was she?). As the spirit kept going around, the thoughts of so many appearing in her realm thanks to Discord's involvement. "How in worlds can his magic still be working? I should've known the trial went too smoothly for it's own good," the Spirit thought. She was so distracted by this, she didn't notice that a yellow blur zoomed by her, and hid away in some nearby bushes. Sapphire was right about the Spirit location, as Fulgurite, emerald, and Spinel soon discovered. "There she is. Ready to do your thing, Spinel?" asked Fulgurite. "Ready, Freddie," said Spinel, giving them a thumbs up before looking around and eventually finding the log that Sapphire predicted. All hollow too. In a quick bolt, Spinel slid herself right inside. not retracting her arm until after getting in there. Emerald and Fulgurite just stayed within their bush for now. Time for the show to begin. "SPIRIT! O regal and valiant one!" Spinel shouted, good and loud like a true being of power. The Spirit herself wasn't exactly startled, but the yell from apparently nowhere did catch her attention. Wasting her time even coming here at all now no longer seemed correct. "Who called my presence?" the Spirit questioned, looking around the area. There didn't really seem like anyone that was around to call her for miles, but then - "Tis me! Spinny, the mighty Heart Fairy!" Spinel bellowed. "Heart? Fairy?" questioned the Spirit. She was aware of quite a few things, but a Heart Fairy sounded just a bit too sketchy for her. Equestria never had a "Heart Fairy" before. As for Spinel, she didn't really have a special way to appear, so she had to improvise a little bit. Basically sneaking her hand around, and tapped away at the Spirit's back until she turned around, and only THEN sliding out from her hiding place in one of those "French girl" painting poses. "BEHOLD! Spinny the Heart Fairy appears before you!~" sang Spinel, springing up to her feet in her typical springy manor, ending her hops with a ballerina's pose. Spinel tried looking as magical as possible. "... What're you doing, Spinel?" the Spirit questioned, recognizing the heart Gem almost immediately. Spinel froze up on the spot, as did those watching nearby. Was the mission over before it could even begin?! "S-Spinel? Spin-who, I'm SPINNY THE HEART FAIRY!" insisted Spinel, trying to add even more flair by hopping up off the ground, spinning like a corkscrew, and stretching her arms out and even showing her name up above her head due to some "magic" off of her own. "Naturally that's the case," sighed the Spirit. And here she thought she was stuck doing something important. Spinel needed to keep her attention somehow, but as she tried to make her laugh or giggle, hopping up to her face time and again, the Spirit seemed to not pay her any mind at all. "Nononononono," Spinel thought. But Fulgurite quickly got a sign out for her to handle, it simply saying "magic tour". Well it's worth a shot. "WAIT! If you DARE to leave me now, you won't be granted you're MAAAAGIC TOOOOOUUUR~" Spinel said, her voice "vibrating" on "secret wish" to make it sound a bit more spooky. The Spirit, possibly either from curiosity or just out of boredom, stopped moving and glanced back. "I'm well aware of how magic is to be handled, thank you." "NO no no, the magic tour of Earth! It's always so magical here, and you got no belief in the magical workings of this wonderful would of mine~" "... Earth. Isn't. Magical," the Spirit stated, looming over Spinel to the point when she fell onto her back. "Not magical? Then what am I supposed to be?! I'm super-duper magical: I show people sweet, sweet love and affection," Spinel said, passionate about the last bit of that sentence as she held her heart Gem. She sounded so convincing for never having a lesson, but the Spirit didn't seem to be all too thrilled about any of this herself. "Prove such power to me then," the Spirit stated, waiting for Spinel to do something. Emerald and Fulgurite couldn't believe what they're hearing. They planned some resistance, but it's WAY too soon to start showing off Spinel's magic! But happy-go-lucky Spinel just laughed, wrapping a long arm around the spirit's shoulder, "hovering" next to her. "Naughty, naughty," said Spinel, "Magic is about belief, not proof. And if you wanna see my magic, you're gonna have to walk the enchanted trail! … If you daaaarrrre!" The Spirit rolled her eyes and didn't answer right away. Fulgurite and Emerald were silently praying that this was enough to at least make her wanna go along with Spinel, at least for a bit. But the silence stood for an uncomfortable amount of time, as the Spirit used her own actual magic to loosen Spinel's grasp on her, and making Spinel fall onto the ground. Her landing into the snow though tossed a bit of it over by the others close by, and then … *achoo!* "Who's that?" the Spirit questioned. "T-That's the … apprentice Heart Fairies! they're just gonna be in the bushes. COME! The magic awaits right over here!" said Spinel, bringing the Spirit's attention to her, as she started skipping along her way. The Spirit glanced over to said bushes for a moment or two. It could be just pure dumb luck, but rather than just attack them right there, the Spirit decided to just go and follow Spinel anyway. "Clod that was close," said Fulgurite, who was holding Emerald hostage, wrapping her hair around his mouth. He was gonna get a hairball from this, big time. ……. As for Flint and his team, the Warp Pad travel hardly took that much time for them to do, and they got to the main location in no time at all. It was a sight for sore eyes for some of them, remembering vaguely of their last trip to this quarry and how "wonderful" that ended up. Unlike before though, not only was the quarry covered in snow in several spots, but there were still workers amongst the area trying their best to mine up the place for what minerals were left. Bit odd since it was cold winter and all, but work doesn't wait for no one it seemed, as the machines' chiseling echoed across the quarry. They could see at least twenty to thirty workers scattered around the place, either working the machines, moving minerals, or just keeping track, but no exact signs of any reported mystical creature anywhere. Though, that probably was expected, given all of the noise everything made. "Okay, so how do you guys want to handle this?" asked Flint, "Do we just go in altogether, or do we split up -" "Of course we're all going in!" Jasper said, "what'll the enemy think if it saw us going in one-by-one, now come on!" "Jasper, hold it!" said Applejack, but the warrior already jumped in practically blind, getting into the quarry in no time at all. The others had to rush down to try and catch up with her. The only ones who stayed were Flint, Bismuth, and Peridot. "Ok, fine. This is happening," Flint groaned. At least Bismuth stuck back a bit for his sake, but the two did join the rest in catching up to Jasper as Peridot trailed behind, wondering why she was even there again. And just in time too, as Jasper looked about ready to start beating the daylights out of one of the machines, only for the group to grab her and pull her back. "Not a monster, not a monster!" shouted Diopside, pushing her back with aid of AJ and Rainbow. It was just enough to make Jasper stop, but her focus was moved to her troops. "Who ordered you to get in my way?" Jasper questioned firmly, shaking them off of her with a simple motion of her arm. Of course, seeing all of them just show up out of nowhere did ring up more attention from the Humans working there. "Oi, you there!" called a foreman, "You can't just wander in here, this is a work zone! What're you all doin here anyway?" "W-We're sorry for just charging in," said Diopside, not wanting a fight, "We just got reports of a some creature wandering around in here, so we came to check it out." "K, but this ain't a tour attraction," the foreman made clear, "any of you got any ID or something? Or at least some headgear?" "I didn't realize anyone made you in charge, human," Jasper growled, not keen on letting a human order HER around. How she knew what a human was, who knew, but right now that wasn't important. Quickly Jasper was pushed away by Bismuth. "She didn't mean that, she's just a bit on edge that's all," Rainbow Dash said. She'd be happy to get into a tussle, but not at random, or with a foreman of all these machines. "Yes I did," said Jasper. "Jasper, not helping," Rainbow Dash said. "Well why should we care? They're just a bunch of humans, what can they do to a Quartz like me?" Jasper questioned, hardly amused at all. But it seemed the Foreman gave the loudmouth cheesepuff her just comeuppance with a well aimed wrench to the head. Jasper growled a bit, instinctively summoning her headgear, but Bismuth got in the way. "Okay, okay, hold on!" Bismuth said. "Look, we won't get in anyone's way, we'll just check the place for this beast and we'll leave right after that okay?" The foreman did withdraw his "weapon", which Peridot was actually surprised did as much damage as it did to her head. "So when you find this "thing", you'll stop snooping?" "Uhh … yeah? That's what we've been sayin," Applejack said. The foreman thought about it a bit more, but eventually he withdrew his wrench. "Alright, fine, I'll let ya look around after we're done workin here," the Foreman concluded. As long as they weren't in anyone's way, then there wasn't a reason to stop production for them either, so he had to go back to work. That seemed reasonable for some of them, but for Jasper, she started walking away. "Don't just stand there, start looking," ordered Jasper. "We have to wait until they finished working, weren't you listening?" Flint asked. "Says who?" "... The foreman just now?" said Rainbow Dash. Jasper rolled her eyes. "Can't you at least pretend to wait?" Applejack asked. "Hey, I've been put in charge of this mission, I'll do it however I want!" Jasper harshly stated, before she started going off to handle the mission. Jasper had always been known for being a bit mean time to time, harsh even if especially angry at someone, but the fact she sounded so cold and selfish there just didn't suit too well with … well, any of them. "AND how many minutes was that?" asked Rainbow Dash. "According to the position of the planet's closest star … five minutes," said Peridot. "I'll keep an eye on her for you guys," said Bismuth. She was probably the only one who could handle Jasper anyway if she were to go off the rails. As Bismuth went off to go handle them, Applejack looked to both her and Peridot back-to-back, remembering what the Rejuvenator was supposed to do. "Hey Flint, Dio? Can I ask y'all somethin?" Applejack asked. The two Gems turned to the two ponies, but looking to one another they could probably guess what they were gonna ask anyway. "Yes, Gems often start off a lot less caring most of the time. We're made for function, not emotion, so those things come later ..." "So is that why most of you guys acted like complete jerks after coming back? Lapis, Jasper, P-dot over there?" Rainbow asked. "Ehh … not for all Gem types, but … yeah. Pretty much," Diopside admitted. Applejack and Rainbow Dash found that WAY too understandable: Lapis and her terraforming, Jasper's military anger, Peridot's more science-techy approach, Sapphire's more distant view with everyone. Only Pearl and Spinel seemed friendly, but that was because they were made to do so. They almost forgot about all that … *CRACK* and Peridot just dismantled a tool box to investigate it. "The sooner we get our friends back, the better," Rainbow Dash commented. ~~~~~~ "Here they come. Get ready," said Twilight. Back near Beach City, Twilight and Starlight were keeping their own watch for the next step to this plan to start, finding a comfy spot within some of the foliage. It was a bit cold of course, but they needed to keep in their position. That didn't take very long though, as they saw Spinel going straight over to the nearby country pond. Spinel kept the Spirit's attention the whole time, knowing some of the others are close by. After getting close to the pond, she then started to shiver. "OoOoOoOoOo," said Spinel, "I feel some magic starting to come up. Can't you feel the magic?" "I can sense magic, indeed … but I don't sense anything going on," the Spirit said matter-of-factly. Spinel hesitated, but chuckled. "I haven't conjured up my magic Lion yet, silly, no magic's out here yet! He's off giving kiddy rides," Spinel said. "Then how can you feel it?" the Spirit questioned. Spinel decided it was best to just dodge it, hopping on ahead of her until she reached the side of the pond. "Say the magic words with me, and he will come," Spinel explained. What she did next basically went like this: "Steephi!" - she posed as a karate master, leg up and kicking to the sky. "Leafie!" - she sprung up into the air all arms and legs were stretched out like a star. "Tofilo!" - she squatted down, and her arm moved into the shape of a heart. As silly of a display Spinel was pulling off here, the Spirit was just standing there … silent as a mouse. She wasn't gonna look like an idiot if she could help it, magical or not. "... Uhh … you're not saying it," said Spinel. "Ohh very well then, I'll play along with your drabble," the Spirit decided, deciding to humor her instead of bringing down any hammers. The Spirit cleared her throat, and this time the two said the magic words together, Spinel repeating her dancing as earlier. "Steephi! Leafie! Tofilo!" THIS TIME, the "spell" seemed a lot more impressive, as within the outline of Spinel's arms, a sort of pinkish glow began to show itself (Starlight Glimmer and Twilight both working their magic into it). The Spirit stepped back a bit as something seemingly started to form, leaping out from seemingly nowhere and skidding to a halt right by her, at first appearing like nothing but light and hearts, but eventually given a full body. NO GEM could just do this, not by a long shot. And once more, Lion himself looked a bit more extravagant than he was before: instead of just a pink lion with a light pink mane, his mane now appeared almost fiery with purple highlights along the edges, and a marking of a heart was right on his chest that almost seemed to glow. Even Lion's tail almost looked like a beacon. "I don't remember making him look like that," noted Starlight. Upon fully appearing, Spinel gleefully gave Lion a good hug, cheek to cheek. "Hello buddy. Did you have fun today?" asked Spinel, giving Lion a friendly little rub on the head. Lion returned the kind gesture with a hearty lick to Spinel's face, making her all giggly again. NOW however the Spirit had to call a bit of bull on this. "Now hang on a moment, what is this?! Gems can't summon creatures out of thin air!" the Spirit insisted. Spinel looked a bit pouty. "I'm not a Gem, I'm ~Spinny the HEART FAIRY!~" Spinel insisted. "But that's -" OOOHHH HARVEST MOOOON, HEAR MY TUUUNE! AND BRING US LOTS OF STRAWBERRIES REEEEAAALY SOOOOON!~" … Lion just sang. Not only talked, but he sang! The Spirit felt almost blind-sided, unaware of the voice-throwing spell that Starlight Glimmer was working with on Lion in order to even make this work. Lion simply played along with it, though it was hard to tell if Lion really was acting, or if the ponies were indeed controlling him for a bit to make this all work. "What on Earth is he doing?" the Spirit asked. But rather than Spinel answer, Lion "answered" for her. "I sing to the Harvest Moon for the town's Strawberries," said Lion in Twilight's voice. The Spirit glanced up into the sky. "... It's noon," the Spirit bluntly pointed out. She didn't even bother pointing out that it was winter either, because that was a given. "Best time to sing to the Harvest Moon," explained Lion, "She's not so busy shining the night away during the day." And with that, Lion went back to singing some more, trotting away from both the Spirit and Spinel for a bit until Lion seemingly disappeared with a aura covering him, and flashing away to somewhere else. The Spirit glanced to Spinel, who gave the Spirit a thumbs up, a smile, and a wink. "NOW do you believe in the Heart Fairy?" said Spinel. the Spirit was still trying to better comprehend the random singing fiery Lion of hers, knowing all too well that Gems weren't capable of just conjuring up things out of nowhere, ESPECIALLY living things! … well, outside of pulling it out of their gemstone storage, that is. "Maybe, but there is still many a contradiction, for Strawberries don't grow in winter, and the aforementioned "Harvest Moon" isn't even close to this time of year." "You need to get updated more," said Spinel jokingly, "next stop: town! Let's see if we can play with the Waterwalkers today - they got free tickets!" The Spirit scoffed on the idea. "Impossible, Waterwalkers don't exist outside of fantasy and legend. That, and Camels don't walk on water." "Belieeeeeve in the magic.~" said Spinel, before she started skipping along towards town. Spinel kept going, but then she turned her head and saw that the Spirit wasn't moving. Did she see through the ploy? "What's up slowpoke, you coming?" Spinel asked. "It's all very well for you, but I can't just wander into some town unannounced -" "Oh, PSH, they already know ya! They get big spirits every day, two on the weekends! C'mon," Spinel said. The Spirit may seemed to buy her authenticity in magic, but there was still some ways to go according to Sapphire in order to fully convince this being to give Discord's magic back. However, as Spinel went on, the Spirit paused and turned over to a peculiar bush nearby … And blasted it right out of the ground! All that remained was a burnt mark in the snow. "Hmm … nothing … let's be more discrete," the Spirit concluded, before she went off to follow Spinel a bit more. THANK THE STARS Sapphire predicted an outcome like this, otherwise Twilight wouldn't have teleported them both away in time, Starlight, Lion, and Twilight re-appearing over nearby a old tree by the pond. "Okay, THAT was not needed," Starlight muttered. "Hey Lion, go into town and join the others. It'll really help with you there," Twilight instructed. Lion roared a little, and went through his own portal back to town. They still got plenty to do if this was to work. "I wonder if Flint's team is doing any better," wondered Starlight Glimmer. "I think we'll find out soon enough," replied Twilight, before the two went on their way. ……. So despite the Foreman's instructions, Flint, Diopside, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were off and investigating the area for any signs of this monster, whatever it might be. With Jasper being handled by Bismuth, they took it at a more casual pace, with Rainbow Dash being the biggest eye in the sky as she flew high overhead. The Pegasus could see quite a bit of the Quarry: lots of machines and workers, but as before finding this mystical creature was not easy. "Monster. Monster … monster … nope, nothing but hulks of metal everywhere," Rainbow Dash concluded. You'd think it wouldn't be too hard to find a creature lurking in an open quarry, but whatever this creature was, it sure knew how to hide. After soaring around some more, Rainbow Dash flew back down towards the rest of the group, who were basically hanging out nearby the Warp Pad and away from the quarry (minus Bismuth and Jasper). "Yeah I got nothing. Did these reports say how big this thing's supposed to be? Because if this is huge, it sure knows how to hide … but I did see Jasper and Bismuth," Rainbow Dash said upon landing. "Unless it gave up, it wouldn't come out with everyone working," noted Flint, who admittedly appeared the most chill, but his bobbing knee suggested he was ready to start blasting at any second. "How's Bismuth holding up with Jasper?" Diopside asked. "Hmm, how do I put this? …" "WHAT'RE YOU ALL DOING?!" they didn't need to go on any further though, and soon Jasper and Bismuth came back to the main Warp Pad. And of course, the shouting was from Jasper, bismuth actually looking worn out a bit physically, much to the surprise of the rest. "Bismuth? You alright?" Applejack asked, concerned. Bismuth gave a huff. "I thought she was determined before. I can barely hold her down now," Bismuth answered, flicking some stray gravel from her rainbow hair. "I thought I told you all to get to work, and I find you all doing nothing?!" Jasper said. "Wait, not true, we were just waiting until we're allowed in!" insisted Diopside. "I did tell you to go in, you pebble," Jasper reminded, leaning towards Diopside as a means to humble her. "Hey, leave her alone!" Rainbow said, moving in Jasper's way. "I don't take sloppy discipline from a Gem, so I'd be dead if I take it from a chump like you!" Jasper yelled. She may be Rainbow Dash's friend, but lord was she getting under her skin now. "Alright, settle down everypony, don't start getting ugly," Applejack said, but Jasper didn't care. "If you're not big enough to do your job, I don't want you in my platoon!" Now she broke it. "YOUR platoon? Who said you were in charge anyway?!" Rainbow exclaimed, flying right in Jasper's face, only for the Quartz to slap her away. "My Emerald did: he put me in charge of this mission. WHY do you think I'm here?" "He said to handle the mission, not be in charge of it!" "Are you in his service?" "Of course not -" "Then how could you possibly know?" Jasper scoffed. So not only was she a brute, she was a stuck-up. But as all of this was going on, even with the working machines still making a lot of racket, Peridot began to note something further away. She had been observing the machines from afar and took interest in wondering how they work, but it wasn't that that got her attention. But more over, what exactly decided to actually come out to do some excavating of its own. It was enough to bring Peridot away from the group, and even down closer to the Quarry itself towards what came out. The monster finally decided to come out. Though the word "monster" didn't seem fitting as the creature didn't look all too threatening. In fact it looked fairly simple in body structure: a small rounded head, a long curved neck with a loping posture like that of a Kangaroo. This included smaller hands compared to large back legs, and a tail that dragged on the ground as it moved along at a slow and steady pace, sniffing the ground for something to eat. Seeing this creature, in spite of her "brain wipe" something seemed to click. "Bipedal movement. A reptilian exoskeleton. no external hearing aid." more such descriptive words kept going through her head, as if she was scanning the animal rather than just watching it, not even thinking of the danger as she walked right up to the animal. She stood tall, finding that Peridot's head lined with the animal's hip. "Approximately seven feet tall at the hip bone." *pluck* and not considering the animal, she actually saw the scales of the creature and straight up pulled one off. It was like plucking off a hair from someone's head: not a fatal injury, but still painful and quick. Peridot didn't care though and looked over the scale more closely, flicking it and seeing it reflect the light. "frail overlapping scale covering, slightly reflective coating -" *snort* And the creature was then stared Peridot face to face, enough to actually make Peridot step back. Not scared, but still took some mental notes of the animal, even after it turned fully to face her, towering twelve feet tall. Rather than being completely scared, Peridot's scientific curiosity got the better of her and she held the creature's front foot to give it a better look. "Sturdy claws for excavating … what kind of creature are you?" Peridot wondered. The animal looked to her with curiosity as well, lowering its head and sniffing her a bit. Peridot took this to advantage and actually took a look inside the mouth of the creature, seeing its teeth up close. "Hmm … Hmm? …" Peridot wasn't sure what to consider this animal's diet, though she subconsciously licked her own teeth after seeing how similar this animal's teeth were compared to her own. Human-like teeth in a not-so-human like animal. Still the creature wasn't enjoying this random investigation, and shoved her away a bit before it started to move out towards the active Quarry. It wasn't considering her as much of a threat, and neither did it seem to consider the noisy machines a threat anymore, actually going right up to one of the mining conveyer belts, much to the surprise of the workers. The workers quickly got out of the way, freaking out seeing this random dinosaur just pop up from out of nowhere, one worker even tumbling to the ground and making a run for it. As for the dinosaur, it found one of the moving mineral rocks on the conveyer belt, and didn't hesitate to snatch one up and start gnawing on it like a dog to a bone. "Hey!" shouted one of the braver workers, trying to get one of their rocks back. The animal only pushed him away with its head, as if to say "shoo", before continuing to gnaw on the rock. Peridot was curious again, moving over to the animal and observing. "A high mineral diet? …" Peridot thought about it briefly, and felt a shiver run through her. Gems were basically rocks too. But this did give her another question. Were these things edible? … Well, one way to find out. *chomp* "ACK!" Nope. Not edible. In fact it hurt a lot. The yelp did catch the creature's attention again, this time the creature. "PERIDOT, where'd you go?!" Hearing the distant voice, Peridot should've figured that she would be found out eventually. The group were quick to find where she went thanks to Rainbow Dash's flying. "Peridot, what'd we tell ya about -" Applejack was cut short the second they saw the creature standing right next to her. Peridot might not have spooked this animal, but seeing the more intimidating forms of Bismuth and Jasper did start to make it feel more uneasy. "Is THAT the thing you were talking about?" one of the workers asked. "Evidence points to yes," said Flint, though he felt a bit uneasy himself. The others wondered what to do, but as for Jasper. "Finally," she said, a rather scary smile forming on her face, as she summoned her own form a gem weaponry. It took it long enough to come out, now to drive it away. She'll keep it alive as instructed, but NO WAY was she leaving it without a scratch. "Jasper, wait -" Diopside tried stopping her, but Jasper went just too quick to grab and the orange quartz took the first attack almost immediately. The creature meanwhile took action too and stood tall, but this just left it open to Jasper's ram, sending it and her off a good twenty feet into the Quarry, making a lot of workers scatter. After landing the creature spurred to life and used its large back legs to kick Jasper over and over again. "Heh. Too easy," Jasper said smugly, hardly even feeling the kicking on her stomach as she readied a strong punch to the animal. One good hit to the head should be enough to get it to stop thrashing. Everyone else was just about ready to go rush in, but Jasper already gave the creature a powerful punch right to the head, making this animal stop altogether. "JASPER!" exclaimed Diopside. "Will you shut up?" Jasper scoffed, as she grabbed the body and lifted it off of the ground, bringing what she could take up over her shoulder like it was nothing. "Please tell us it's alive at least?" Bismuth said. "My Emerald didn't tell me to kill it, but he did say I can beat it up if I wanted to. NOW be useful and grab a limb," Jasper ordered. But this all seemed a bit odd to Flint: Sapphire predicted a lot happening during this mission, but if the monster was already down and out … well, how could any of that stuff happen now? The monster was stuck in Jasper's headlock hold after just a single punch. "Something doesn't feel right here," Flint mumbled. "Then just watch - whoa!" After coming back around, the creature was suddenly standing again, now Jasper being held up off of the ground as it suddenly bit into her arm and held her up high a bit. The headlock though was freaking this thing out, making it thrash and buck to try and get free. "Jasper, let go of that thing!" called Applejack. "Over my shattered stone!" Jasper shouted, able to swing her weight enough to get a footing on the ground and swinging the creature back over onto its, well, back, the motion whacking it into one of the machines, leaving metal broken a bit. This time though, being on its back completely made all of its kicking a bit more wild, Jasper getting several to the face until the eight double-kick FINALLY made Jasper release it, and back up. "Oh great, you made it mad," said Rainbow Dash. "Scatter!" Diopside shouted. And good timing too, as by the time they bolted the creature took on attacking, and would've landed on top of them if they were just a bit slower. "Now we're talking," said Jasper, "BRING IT!" "No, no, don't bring it, let's not just bring it!" Diopside pleaded. However, the animal was already ticked off plenty, and jumped right for them, back legs ready to crush Jasper under it. The orange Quartz blocked all the weight of the animal, and threw it off of her with ease, making it land down hard on the ground. The animal was targeting Jasper only though, and got back onto its hind legs, straightening up tall in a Kangaroo threat posture, front limb rubbing against its chest and stomach. Summoning her helmet, Jasper was finding this all too convenient for her and charged head long into the creature's stomach - *ZZZAP!* "... IT'S ELECTRIC TYPE?!" exclaimed Peridot. Jasper was suddenly launched back towards the others, her hair spiked up all over and looking slightly burnt thanks to the electrical charge. All that rubbing got sparks jumping off of those reflective scales, sending lightning off of it all over the place. "That makes more sense," Flint thought. "Everyone back up and take cover, that thing's kicked into overdrive!" Bismuth ordered. Everyone got to a much safer distance, getting themselves behind some cover while dodging lightning here and there. If there was a time for the prophecy to be fulfilled, it would be now. The only that wasn't moving was Jasper, just staring at the spectacle. "JASPER, WAKE UP!" shouted Rainbow Dash. But it seemed Jasper was stuck in place, the lightning bolts dancing around the creature and the area around them. "She's frozen. I'm going in!" Bismuth said, and before anyone could stop her, she charged head long towards the seemingly paused Gem. Jasper felt someone grab her, and drag her away just before one especially large spark zapped right where she was just sitting. The creature only stopped the threat display once everyone got a much better distance, the blinding light and electrical sparks dimming down to nothing. Everyone looked to Jasper, who was left wide-eyed and stiff. Bismuth moved her as if she was a tree, to give you an idea of how stiff she was. "Oh geez … Jasper, you okay?" Diopside asked, looking to Jasper's face. Not even snapping fingers in front of her face did much of anything to snap her out of that funk. "What kind of creature is capable of electromagnetic creation? There's nothing in my studies suggesting anything," Peridot wondered in both bewilderment and amazement, despite it nearly killing them moments before. "You barely studied that thing," Rainbow Dash pointed out. "Welcome to Earth, Peridot," sighed Flint. As for the creature itself, after seeing no one else around, it felt time to go on its way. The quarry seemed too dangerous anyway. So, with the rock it was gnawing on earlier, it looked around one more time before it started going off to a safer distance, running up out of the Quarry, and right on out of there Still nothing happened yet that Sapphire said. "Hey, you all okay over there?" called Bismuth to the humans nearby. "We're all good I think," called one of the workers, "What on earth was that thing?" "Doesn't matter, it's gone now. You're all good … no one got hurt …" Flint said, though the last part just left him confused if anything. Peridot's enhancers were still on, and Flint was still in one piece so … what gives? Their attention then turned over to Jasper. "She alright?" "She doesn't look hurt, but she does look zoned out," Bismuth noted. "Hang on, I know how to wake her up," Applejack said … as she turned away from her, and swatted her face with her tail. It took at least seven hits to snap Jasper awake, the huge Gem suddenly swinging her arm, narrowly missing Applejack as she sprung back to her feet. "What. Was. That. Cluster?" Jasper asked, still trying to get herself together. Flint still felt uneasy, but he went and helped her chill out anyway. "It doesn't matter. We drove it out, so … mission over. Let's get back home, see how the others are doing, okay?" Flint decided. Jasper straightened up and looked around all over the place, not finding the monster anywhere in sight. No more electricity, no dinosaur. Nothing. "If any of you say anything about this. I'll kill you," Jasper warned. "Our lips are sealed, Jay," Bismuth said. The creature now seemingly gone, they all began to go back to the Warp Pad, but as they were Flint was left with one question: when is it going to happen? Will it even happen? ~~~~~~ It took some more time until The Spirit arrived into town. Though not many a folk did recognize her as the Spirit of the world yet to come, but rather just "Princess Luna" walking through town, seeing what there exactly was to see. The whole town itself looked pretty mundane if anything, people just going about their day with some crows hanging out by rooftops. Since everyone was planning for The Spirit to show up, not Luna, they took her arrival with a more surprise than the casualness they practiced. "Some amount of surprise, given they're supposed to be used to such sights," the Spirit thought. Then again, she always suspected something wasn't sitting right since she got here. It was then she reached the docks. She didn't fully come out yet, but sure enough there they were: Spinel as Spinny, with a few ponies, some people, a Gem or two, and of course at least four Camels (Waterwalkers in legend were basically water-walking Camels). As expected, the dromedaries were very reluctant to even get close to the water, let alone try to swim in it, but Fluttershy and Star Quartz all were helping in calming them down. "Don't worry, Matilda," said Fluttershy, rubbing one of the Camel's heads, "We won't let any of you sink, we promise." The Camel was still reluctant though, speaking Camel to the mare. "Okay, so let's try it out," Starlight said, focusing her own horn, and zapping the water's surface. The seawater wouldn't freeze in any time of the year, even during winter, so instead of just freezing the ice, Starlight made a disk-shaped glass covering to place just above the water, invisible but stretching for at least a good thirty feet around the bay passed the docks. The Camels themselves were then coaxed by Steven and Connie into getting onto the surface, which while a little cold to the feet did keep the Camels standing up above the water's surface, but still low enough to appear that they are on water. At least, that's what it looked like to the Spirit. "I knew it," the Spirit thought. "See? Just stay by the docks and act it out, okay?" Fluttershy said. The Camels nodded, understanding her. "Looks good. Ok, we better get out of sight before the Spirit shows up," said Steven. They would go off out of the way, but before any of them could - "Before who shows up?" Shifting back to normal, the spirit loomed overhead, and moved over towards all of them. Spinel may have given them some early indication, but this was far too soon. "Spirit! Uh, nice ... to ... see you," said Steven, trying not to simply freak out that she was even here at all. "... So may I question what this is supposed to be?" the Spirit asked, looking over to the Camels quizzically as they already started practicing some of their walking. "Oh this?" said Steven, "It's just our Waterwalker ride. It's just before the holidays, so we set one of these up every year when fishing dies down." "Yep, nothing out of the ordinary here," added Connie, rubbing one of the Camels' heads. "Obviously," the Spirit scoffed. The Spirit loomed over towards the docks' edge, the Camels standing there as they were being judged by this being from another world, but her gaze wasn't strictly on the Camels, but rather the water they were walking on. "I think you're too big for a ride right now," said Spinel, only getting a death glare from the Spirit to keep her quiet. "I think she's onto us," muttered Twilight. "Wait, let's just see," Steven muttered back. The Spirit only found the muttering confirmation of what she saw earlier. Now more confident to expose them, she took a long step off of the docks towards the center of the Camels' walk path. She just had to step on the invisible floor to work the exposure in. She fell into the water with a loud splash, splashing the Camels and the others by the docks. She was as shocked about this as a spirit could be, as she darted her head out of the water, only to be met with one of the Waterwalkers snorting in her face. "B-But I … I saw … Camels don't walk on water, it shouldn't be possible to the rules of this world!" exclaimed the Spirit, her voice booming as she pulled herself out of the water, her entire outfit soaked with the cold seawater. The group were caught off lucky, and given the chance to regather, went along with it. "Well, this is how it's always been here. … Uhh, you need me to dry your clothes for you?" Steven offered. "NO," the Spirit stated, her voice slow and growling, before she started to walk off to try and rekindle her dignity, flying off instead of walking. Soon as they were sure the Spirit was far enough away … "Hmm … you think she bought that?" Spinel asked, unsure actually herself. "... No," Steven stated, blindsided. Wasn't that enough?! Steven was shocked, but he needed to keep it together. "Okay, if this isn't gonna be enough, we gotta move on to the big finale. Get the Camels out of the water, they don't have to do that anymore," Steven said. "But … what's the big finale?" asked Twilight. "I'll let you know when I think of it." "Steven, we're back!" called a distant voice. The whole group took a look up into the sky, and sure enough there was Rainbow Dash flying overhead. Well they might as well check in and see how they're doing. ……. As for the Spirit, she found a spot isolated from the rest of town to try and regain some composure after her slip into seawater. She wasn't ready to go back home just yet, so she went for the next best thing and found a good spot over by the Beach City lighthouse. Her fur was cold, her clothes soaking wet as she wringed it out a bit with her magic. "Pathetic Humans. Pathetic Ponies, pathetic gems can't ever accept "no" for an answer," she griped, wringing out what she could until she was all dry. Cold, but dry. "Thank the realms of every universe the mistress didn't see that. I'd never hear the end of it," the Spirit added, looking up into the sky. Her eyes then moved downward towards Beach City itself, which the Spirit could probably guess was trying to plan yet another little escapade to make her change her mind. No doubt Discord was behind this game, the only problem was where the heck he was. "Where are you?" *flash* The Spirit heard the sound of an iPhone camera loud and clear, and immediately she turned around towards the lighthouse. She expected Spinel to be playing games, but instead it was another human from Beach City, who thought seeing her so up close would be perfect material for his "Keep Beach City Weird" blog. "Perfect picture. The blog's gonna be amazed!" Ronaldo said. "GIVE ME THAT," the Spirit bellowed. Last thing she needed was her image shown all over the place, so she swiped the phone from him, and without a second hesitation … snapped it like a twig. "NOOO! MY CONNECTIONS!" Ronaldo shrieked, down on his knees at sight of his iPhone now in pieces. The Spirit was in no mood for his grief, and just about ready to leave, but the heart-broken Ronaldo was up in arms. "Who do you think you are doing that to me?!" "I'm in no mood for anymore games," the Spirit hissed, "I've had more than my fill of it all this day …" "But my information's on that iPhone! All my recent studies. My evidence," Ronaldo said, actually looking ready to cry. The Spirit loomed over Ronaldo, as she usually did to lower lifeforms. "My presence wasn't supposed to be known by everyone, you lonesome creature," growled the Spirit, "I'd be darned if I allow myself to be publicized by your … iPhone." "But the public eye must know," retorted Ronaldo, "Just stand there for a second, I'll draw you out -" He was cut short when the Spirit opened her wings and readied to fly away. In a surprising amount of stupidity or courage, Ronaldo grabbed her cloak. "Wait, don't leave! It'll only take a minute, they need this!" "It would be better if you all didn't require it," the Spirit said, kicking Ronaldo off, "Why is such a matter so important to you anyway? I can understand the desperation from your Harmony Gems, but this has no involvement on you." "Are you kidding? You're supernatural, of course it involves me! It's my duty as an investigator to show the world everything weird and unusual," Ronaldo said, sounding almost mighty in his statement. The Spirit was not amused in the slightest. "Sure you are. And I already noted a few airborne swine on my way over here." While Ronaldo would just at picturing them, he could just tell that the Spirit wasn't being serious about it, nor his credibility. "It's true, I got the blog to prove it. … If I have my iPhone … wait. Wait, my laptop! Wait right here," Ronaldo said. "Don't bother yourself. Only one human doesn't prove the rest of the world's familiar with this," The Spirit scoffed. THAT'S when Ronaldo had to draw the line. Bad enough he got his iPhone wrecked, now this spirit's shooting him down like this? "MY blog has hundreds of followers, and fellow investigators who're just as deep into the weird and wonderful! Just today they told me all about a giant spider spotted by a ski lodge a few states away -" the Spirit suddenly spun around, facing Ronaldo Fryman. "AND DID THEY TELL YOU COWS COULD JUMP OVER THE MOON?!" The Spirit bellowed, her version of the Royal Canterlot Voice strong enough to knock Ronaldo back to the wall, his ears ringing a bit. "That was last week," he mumbled, before falling onto the ground. The Spirit shook her head. "What you're seeing is byproducts of what was never meant to be for the few years your "ponies" arrived. Whatever display the Harmony Gems had set up this time will NOT work," the Spirit said, turning and ready to go away. "You think everything in this world's just a set-up?" Ronaldo questioned, arms crossed. "There's so many secrets out there, and people like me are out to find it." "Only for the five years, perhaps. And I know exactly the responsible one," the Spirit said. She was growing tired of hearing all this drabble from these people, she had Discord to find. She walked a bit aways from the Lighthouse, ready to take off, but Ronaldo needed to work this out. It'd been too long since he got something actually good on such a scale, and with his iPhone wrecked he needed stronger tactics. "The truth is out there! But if you don't want to be safe from the Sneople, then fine," Ronaldo said. The Spirit stopped. "... Dare I even inquire what that is," the Spirit huffed. "Snake people - beings hiding in our society, half Human, half snake," Ronaldo explained. The Spirit expected a more profound explanation than that. "Ridiculous. Your friends already tried to deceive me with their "Heart Fairies" and "Waterwalkers", why would I believe these "Snake People". And even so, their existence hasn't been very long at all," the Spirit questioned, believing these beings to be yet another sort of trick from Equestrian Magic in Earth, or something along those lines. Ronaldo though started to feel a bit more daring. "I'll show you." ~~~~~~ Back in Little Homeworld, and one Sapphire was still feeling a bit unsure about herself. She didn't know why, but ever since she got her vision for Bismuth's team, she couldn't seem to bring herself to keep still and simply wait for them and instead she was walking around Little Homeworld further away from the Warp Pad, unaware of the team's return just yet. Whichever team were to show up, she had to say something to them. "Friends. It is my sad duty to inform you that your friend didn't make back from the mission. ……. No, too blunt. Hmm … *ahem* I know you're all busy, but … I'm sorry to say that your friend won't be coming back. ……. No, that won't work. …" Sapphire had been doing this for a good half an hour, trying her best to figure out what to exactly say that WON'T result in making everyone crumble and cry. Honestly it was hard to do, even for a Sapphire, to deliver bad news. So much so, she didn't notice someone stopping nearby her. "Hello Sapphire," said Star Quartz, her voice making Sapphire jump. She can see the future, but can't see where Star Quartz would come in. "Oh! … It's you is it. One of the specialized quartzes," Sapphire said. Star Quartz nodded, and walked over to her. "You look scared. You okay?" Star simply asked. Sapphire hesitated a little bit, but the Gem still had to tell SOMEBODY. So, seeing Star Quartz standing there, she decided to do a test run. "I … I have something to tell you. It's about your fellow Gem, Flint. ……. He's … no longer with us, I'm afraid," Sapphire revealed. "Is he?" Star asked, curiously. As if she didn't actually understand it at all. Sapphire thought that would be good, but in this case she might need a bit more of a push. "On his latest mission, I predicted he would be shattered while there. … It's my reasonability to tell you that at the least," Sapphire informed. So many of her future visions kept on telling her that this would be horrifying news to them, many of them crying and/or in shock at the news. It only made sense. "No he's not," Star Quartz replied. "I know it's hard to accept," Sapphire sighed. She wasn't expecting them to be in denial over it. "Strange. We were just talking to him. By the Warp Pad, over there," Star Quartz said, pointing over to the direction of Little Homeworld's Warp Pad. "... Huh?" ……. "So yeah, I don't think she's convinced just yet," Steven concluded, as they all were basically hanging out by the forge. "And she's still saying no?" questioned Bismuth, "Didn't Sapphire say she'll have to be convinced after all of that?" "She sure didn't look like it to me," Starlight sighed, "Maybe it needs a while to kick in." "How much more does she need?" said Rainbow Dash, "You showed her the Heart Fairy, her pet lion, water-walking Camels. What, does she need flying cows too?" "No. But that might not be a bad idea," Steven pondered, thinking about a herd of flying cattle for a moment or so. "Well at least you did alright. … Sort of," Emerald said, bringing their attention towards Jasper, who while they were talking was standing aside and leaning against the nearest wall. "What happened to her?" Fluttershy asked. "Our monster used some electric shock, and she's been freaking out since," explained Bismuth, "looked like she saw the world crash down in front of her while we were there." "You mean she. JASPER. got scared of some monster?" asked Emerald, finding it hard to believe in that kind of idea. "An electric-type Monster," corrected Peridot matter-of-factly. They paused and looked to Jasper for a bit, the orange Quartz still trying to ponder what the heck happened herself. Emerald, being her "boss", went right over to her and checked out the still seemingly puzzled look on her face. Jasper herself actually didn't notice Emerald there until he was directly in front of her field of vision. "Attention!" Emerald shouted. Jasper sprung up and into stance, her diamond insignia back into position with her hands. Freaked out or not, loyalty to her superior comes first. "Got a bit of a problem, cheesepuff? You look like you're zoning out," Emerald asked, confronting it head on despite the annoyed looks from the others. "S-Sorry sir, just a bit worn out from the mission I went on, sir," Jasper explained, upfront. Emerald continued the upfront approach, even standing on her head after levitating himself up there with his hexagon. "Worn out?" Emerald question, tapping his foot on her head. Turned out it didn't take very long. "I got scared, okay! I don't know what happened, sir." "Well that didn't take long," Applejack commented. Considering Jasper threatened THEM for saying the exact same thing. "Hmm. Got scared of an electric-type … I feel like something's important here, I just need to think what it is," Emerald pondered. Something was there, but what? Emerald hopped off of Jasper, leaving her puzzled at what he was saying, as with everyone else. "Look, we're done with that for now, let's just give her a minute, and we'll get back to it. Maybe we can help with the Spirit now this is over," Flint suggested. "Can you put back on the Heart Fairy costume?" Spinel asked … who the whole time was holding him rather tightly. "No." "Hello." The unmistakable voice of Star Quartz soon caught their ears, her arriving with Sapphire alongside. Sapphire couldn't believe it, not sure if this was just some trick or not. "Oh, hey Sapphire. How was your …" Twilight didn't get an answer. In fact, Sapphire ignored everyone else as she walked straight up towards Flint, even moving the hair out of her eye so she could see who exactly this was. "Flint." "Hey, how're you?" Flint simply said casually. Sapphire … wasn't sure what was going on. "But … but … I don't understand. How're -" "We'll talk about it later," Flint said, knowing what she was worrying about. Now was NOT a good time to go over her predicational screwup. "But, no this isn't right. My future visions." "What about them?" asked Rainbow Dash. Sapphire took a breath. "I saw so much on this mission: the Jasper would be put in danger, the Peridot would lose her Limb Enhancers, How were they wrong?" That last part did leave a bit of unease, but considering Flint was standing right there, there wasn't much need to worry about it. "Okay, easy Sapphire, calm down. It's okay if they weren't right - nobody's perfect," said Steven. But it still felt so off to Sapphire with this kind of news. Seeing Steven though, another Future Vision did come across her mind. "The Spirit! That vision's still correct, it has to be. She must've been convinced after all your attempts," Sapphire said. THAT'S when they felt a bit uneasy again. "... She … is convinced … right?" Sapphire asked. "Yeah about that -" "Eh, hold that thought Steven, I think we're gonna find out," Twilight said. Amazing how on cue some things could be. As if she overheard them talking, the whole group paused when they heard something start to close in on Little Homeworld from the air, the shadow of a bird starting to form up in the sky. Turned out it wasn't the Spirit, but more rather one of the Spirit's messenger cranes. While she would've sent a Red-Capped crane, the messenger this time took form of a Crowned Crane, which glided down from the air in a circle, until landing down in the snow with gentle feet, a message wrapped around its neck, and a passenger riding on its back. "GEMS! Your new Harmony Gem has arrived," said RONALDO. Ronaldo. Yes. "RONALDO?! But when'd you get the bird?!" exclaimed Steven, as Ronaldo confidently got off of the bird, seemingly full of pride about something. "Let's get over the whole "new Harmony Gem" thing first," said Bismuth. The first one to be confronted by Ronaldo about this was Twilight actually. "Twilight Sparkle! I'm really looking forward to working with you on the team," said Ronaldo, a point and a wink to the alicorn. "Ronaldo, wait a minute, what're you even talking about?" Twilight asked, dumbfounded by the concept altogether, "what's this about you being a Harmony Gem now?" Ronaldo was looking a bit smug, adjusting his glasses like some cool anime character. "Isn't it obvious? I've been proclaimed the newest Harmony Gems thanks to my skills as an investigator, and information gatherer," Ronaldo explained, "she said I'd be perfect for your team, so here I am. You know, I can already feel like we'll get along great." "Not in this lifetime, sorry," Fulgurite said bluntly. "What? But -" "Ronaldo, you can't just join the team like that," Flint said, "You just an average joe, you won't last more than a few days with the work we do. Besides, don't you have that lookout job for the town?" "Not since Nanefua confiscated my telescope," Ronaldo said. For some reason, no one was surprised hearing that. "But you just met Spinel on the spot, yet you let her join the team," pointed out Starlight Glimmer. "Are you really going to entertain this?" meekly asked Emerald. "And who even told you you're a Harmony Gem anyway?" added Twilight, more to Ronaldo. Then the answer … "The Spirit of the World yet to come," he announced confidently. What? "Whoa, whoa, wait. The Spirit told you this? We are talking about the same spirit right? A very tall pony in a dark moon cloak?" Steven asked. "And her own messenger bird, and here's the message to prove it," said Ronaldo, as the crane gave Ronaldo the rolled up message, and him proudly giving it to them to read. That did explain why he had the crane to begin with, but that didn't explain how the Spirit thought that RONALDOwould be good for the team. As Steven unrolled it, and some of them looking over his shoulders to see, the answer was written right there in black and white … Harmony Gems. By the time you're reading the enclosed passage and possibly questioning life as you claim it, I'd already return to my realm and discussing matters with the deities. I've been well aware that you've been setting up your "attempts" to persuade me not only of the world's adaptation to magic, but more over to return Discord and White diamond's power. In a way it worked. But, not in the way you wanted. Your "Ronaldo Fryman" shown me that Earth has been shown to, as he kept stating it, "conspiracy and secrets" long before Discord's known involvement. In short, I will admit I am wrong in saying Earth isn't magical. On that thought, I've given Ronaldo my own personal regards to be the informant to the Harmony Gems on the otherworldly matters outside of both Equestrian and Gem knowledge. P.S.: NO, this doesn't mean I'm giving their magic back. That is no longer under my decision, and never will be. DON'T TEST ME. "... Are we being punished? I feel like we're being punished," said Fulgurite. They all looked back over to Ronaldo again, oblivious to the rather odd feel in the room. "Come on guys, maybe this'll be a good idea," Starlight insisted, trotting over to Ronaldo. "Thank you, my dear," said Ronaldo. Not needed, but whatever. "I mean, think about it: you guys had been together for a long time, but I don't think anyone besides Connie has actually tried to be apart of the team. And besides, he convinced that "Spirit of the World yet to come" this world's actually used to magic when we tried three times with ACTUAL magic. At least we should hear what he has to say. Seriously if it can convince a god she was wrong, it's gotta be good for something." "Hmm … well, the mare's got a point," said Bismuth. "Not a very good point, but a point anyway," said Fulgurite shrugging. As annoying as Ronaldo was from what they knew, it was hard to deny something must've happened. Eventually Steven spoke first. "Alright let's do this," said Steven. "It's not the strangest guest," figured Flint. "Welcome aboard!" beamed Spinel. Nearby, Sapphire was … well, it was hard to say how blindsided she felt. One future vision didn't even happen at all the way she saw it, and the other future vision was completely muddled up even if it did happen, again not in the way she saw. Her visions were ALWAYS right and on point, weren't they? ... All of this was giving her even more of a headache.