"I guess … But how's this supposed to work? We got an unpoofed Gem here, and apparently THIS is supposed to mess up her coding and make her messed up? I'm no magic nerd, but tell me how that makes any sense."

Another day, another time to be on guard for the remaining Gemstones. The Beach House had been a decent spot to let them both await their physical forms to return, but Lapis Lazuli and Pink Diamond were apparently taking their time to actually make this work. For Pink Diamond this might be understandable, being fragile as it was, but Lapis Lazuli … well who could say how long she will be? Either way, as they marched back and forth, Blue the Gem Dog and Spike the Dragon were keeping some watch over both of them in a almost military manor, marching back and forth and occasionally looking out the window in case something were to show up. Spike had an extra hand in a telescope, which at times he did use to check outside by the ocean and beach, as Blue would occasionally give the Warp Pad a sniff or two (for whatever reason). As Spike and Blue were doing this, there were still some that were just chilling out nearby: Emerald was taking time to catch up on some of his shows, Nora the cat was just sleeping away the afternoon (as cats do), and strangely, Spinel was standing nearby … just standing.

"Hey, Spinny, you sure you don't wanna watch just one episode or what?" Emerald said. Spinel though shook her head, keeping her gaze to the Warp Pad.

"Nuh uh: Flint told me to play the "stand still" game, and wait til' he gets back. The rules are I can only move when he pops back … He'll be back any second now," Spinel said, though that last part did sound a little bit forced. She didn't budge though, keeping still and at attention as she just looked to the Warp Pad. Waiting.

"Uh … how long were you playing this game?" Spike asked, overhearing the conversation.

"Dunno. Couple hours? A day maybe?" Spinel shrugged, not turning her gaze. Emerald and Spike weren't buying the idea Flint would play a game with her. Emerald paused his show, and he strolled over and, with Spike's help, started pushing Spinel away from her spot. Even Blue helped out by pulling on her from the back to make sure she was moving.

"OKAY, let's play another game, it's called "do not stand here and do ANYTHING else"," Spike said.

"If any game lasts more than a day, it might as well be over," Emerald commented, "Here, why don't ya just chill out up here and watch some anime with me?"

"Ani-who?" Spinel asked. Soon, Spinel was set down by Steven's bed over by Nora, who only now woke up given her space was invaded by the new Gem. Not that Nora minded, all she did was hop off the bed and found another spot over by the couch.

"Come on, Spinel, you'll like this," Emerald said, starting to play his show for her. It didn't take very long until Spinel began to take notice of the show he was watching. The scene in particular was one of the comedy bits of the show

"Oh this show? Something called "Koala Princess" or something, I just got into starting this after Ronaldo pestered me about it. So far it's decent, but I've seen better," Emerald said as the episode continued. The episode itself was decent enough, playing out some scene with the main character dealing with a boyfriend. Y'know the usual shtick. But the more Spinel watched this go on, the more she began to grow invested into it.

"Girl friend? ... What's that word?" Spinel wondered, hearing the word at least three times in this one scene by the lead character, her thinking it in her head.

"Oh, some title Humans like using on eachother. If your a girl and you love someone, then you're their girlfriend. And if it's a guy that love you, then he's your boyfriend."

"Wait … there's something BETTER than being "friends"?" Spinel asked, shocked admittedly that being friends was actually lower than other relationships.

"Sure, of course. Look it up," Emerald suggested. He even gave Spinel his iPad for use, which he tossed to her for leisure. Spinel only had a vague use over these things, so it took her a bit to actually use her big poofy fingers to work the buttons on the thing. Eventually she got her explanation.

Girlfriend:
a regular female companion with whom a person has a romantic relationship

"Wait. Flinty has a lot of friends who look like girls. NO WAY, is that …?" Spinel's thoughts screeched to a halt when she saw a particular picture shown up on one of those "search engine images" category. In particular, there was a couple within the shots that looked VERY familiar to her. It could be a trick of her eye, but not only did it look like Flint in the shot, but the girl … well clearly it wasn't Spinel, but someone else … someone in the room with them, but not in form just yet.

"AAAAHHHHH!!"
Spinel's screaming made everyone in the room jump: Spike falling on his back and dropping his telescope, Blue falling flat on his snout, Emerald falling off the bed, and Nora looking like a witch's cat with its hair standing on end. Spinel herself (for the first time in days) no longer looked so cheery. Something clicked in her head, but before they could figure out what, they all then heard the Warp Pad go off nearby. Blue and Spike got "armed and ready" - ok, Spike only had the telescope - but they went a bit more at ease when they saw some familiar faces come through the warpstream, in the form of Steven, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Flint.

"Flinty!" Spinel said, immediately ignoring the TV for a second and the iPad horror discovery, stretching her arms out, and tried for another hug. However, Flint was quick enough on the draw to duck as she reached, Spinel actually launching herself to the back wall on the miss … but she hugged him anyway on second attempt, arms wrapping around him like a mix of lassos.

"I know," Spinel said, not letting go. Flint just ignored her though as they went inside to see what was going on.

"Hello Spike, Blue, Emerald," said Fluttershy, her and Steven giving Blue a few pets on the head, the Gem Dog happy to see them.

"Hey guys, How's all the work back in Little Homeworld coming?" Spike asked, retracting his telescope.

"Well let me see," Steven began, "we got plenty of Gems cured of corruption, and it looks like they're settling in well with Little Homeworld, which apparently is 45.06% complete."

"Peridot kinda calculated it out of boredom," Steven admitted. It was nice to be getting updates time to time, though their attention then turned to the remaining Gemstones.

"How's Lapis and Pink Diamond doing?" asked Flint, picking Lapis Lazuli up and checking her gemstone for a bit. Spinel felt a slight sting on the question, but didn't show it outside of the coloration of her eyes.

"Yeah, still nothing. How long did you guys say reforming … takes?" Spike asked. He didn't mind the guarding job, but it was taking quite a while for him to do alongside everything else with everyone else.

"That depends on the Gem," Flint said, Spinel curiously holding Pink Diamond's gem in her hand like a kid holding a toy as they were talking, "in any case, Gems sometimes need more time to reform and recollect themselves than others would. Spinel, put her down that's not a trinket."
And Flint yanked Pink Diamond's Gemstone out of Spinel's hand and placed it back down onto the table, to which Nora went over to and took a cuddle by it, tail wrapping around it. Still, Spinel released Flint, resting her chin on the table as she checked each of the gemstones sitting there, poking at least one of them.

"So anyway, any of you wanna come back now?" Twilight offered, "I think the Gems are gonna be fine for now."

"Well sure thing, but if you need another great guard, I got ya covered," said Spike, giving Twilight a wink. For a brief moment, Flint looked back over towards Lapis Lazuli, which Spinel was taking interest in too. Flint had been tense about her return the most, considering what happened while she was around last time. For a brief moment, Flint picked up Lapis Lazuli, looking over her gemstone as it seemed to shimmer in the light. It almost seemed to flash even with the light bouncing off of it ...

But another flash from the Warp Pad meant they had to put that on hold, as a rather disgruntled looking Sapphire. As if getting headaches wasn't enough trouble, now it seemed something physical was going on somewhere.

"You're needed. NOW. Back at Little Homeworld," Sapphire said, straining in breath a little bit. This would be an alarm, and in a way it still was, but sadly they might already know what the problem was, given they too were a bit annoyed by the answer.

"Alright, see ya," Emerald said. The group began to go, but leech Spinel wouldn't let Flint go without her. Given the timeframe, Flint just groaned and HAD to bring her along this time. The sooner they get back, the sooner they can get this problem fixed and handled. Soon, it was only Blue and Emerald there this time.

Another fight, this time in Equestria. With another powerful punch from trigger-happy Jasper, another one of the soldiers was knocked back a good ten feet, rolling on the ground as Jasper looked ready to crush some heads. This did get a crowd started, some weaker healed bystanders watching it all like it was some sort of street fight (which it might as well be). Jasper's opponents all looked like tough Quartz soldiers of a sort, and they weren't giving Jasper any time to get herself back together. By the time the others got to Little Homeworld, the fight had escalated to the point when Jasper tried grabbing a support beam from a nearby building for a good hit.

"Guys, over here!" called a voice. Jade, Connie, and Pearl were present for the fight, but given they too looked a little bit ruffled up they couldn't stop the fight either. Steven was riled up when he saw Connie even got herself hurt in the fight, bandaged up all along over one of her eyes.

"Steven, it's fine. I just got a little scratch. Pearl just insisted it was better safe than sorry. … I tried my best," Connie said, quickly calming Steven down as she showed him her … rather small cut on her head. It wasn't even close to her eye, but "helpful" Pearl simply smiled and gave him a thumbs up. Steven brought his focus back to the fight.

"Okay, what started the fight this time? This is the seventh one already," Steven asked, just as Jasper was actually thrown onto the ground by an angry healed Amethyst, just for Jasper to kick her off.

"I don't know, they were talking, and the next thing I know it's a wrestling match," Connie answered.

"She's not here, she went on a mission before this happened," Jade answered gravely, just for that same Amethyst, joined by a Carnelian, tackled Jasper again and actually keep her down briefly before she forced them off with a good shake.

"Stop!" Steven called, blindly rushing in. However, while Steven did briefly get in the way, all that happened was him getting whacked aside by Jasper, making him land hard in the snow.

"Stay out of this!" Jasper shouted. The quartz was then grabbed by another quick Jasper, enough to make her stumble a bit. Twilight Sparkle raced in next, but instead of forcing in, she used her magic to make the fight stop, making all of them finally stop.

"Enough!" Twilight demanded. They tried breaking free, but it wasn't doing any good. They needed to have a talk with them later, but for now they need to just get the fight to stop. Steven confronted the crowd as the others went to the fighters.

"Okay everyone, the show's over, you don't have to keep watching," Steven called. This was done and they began to go, but some of them did start to act a bit hesitant, instinctively bringing up the diamond insignia to him as if they knew immediately he was a Diamond. Steven sighed.

"You don't have to do that here, you're not on a rank anymore," Steven insisted. Meekly they nodded and just left. some things are hard to change it seemed. Soon as the crowd left, they confronted the four involved after releasing the magical grip.

"Dare I even ask how THIS started?" Twilight asked, not amused by yet another fight.

"Why don't you ask your trigger-happy titan over there? She started it!" accused one of the Amethyst.

"ME?! You're the ones that got in my way, you pathetic rock!" Jasper shouted. The quartzes looked ready to fight again, but Steven braved the turmoil and got in between them, trying to push them away.

"Stop it, the fight's over! All of you go away, and calm down before you hurt anyone else," Steven sternly ordered. Not a typical forte of his, but this would only get worse otherwise. Unfortunately, they didn't seem so willing.

"You really want me to bring Emerald into this? Because I will," Steven questioned, arms crossed. Jasper buckled up on THAT threat, and with a rough huff she decided to just go away, walking off a bit but not before punching the daylights out of a nearby light post. Steven took a deep breath before turning to the others, who while two of them did leave, only one remained. A rather tired looking Jasper, just sitting there.

"Sorry, guys," she said, rubbing her arm, "Fighting is just something we're so used to doing, you know? It's what we're made to do …"

"Not anymore, Biggs," said Fluttershy, "You're all free now, you don't have to do only what you're made to do."

Biggs Jasper lowered her gaze a bit. They've all been told of the changes time and time again since getting healed up by Nephrite, but that didn't make adapting to it any easier. From a life of discipline and placement, to a life of … well, the opposite, Biggs Jasper simply felt uneasy with it.

"Look, why don't you go and chill out? We'll even fix up the support beam for you," Steven offered.

"Oh. Ok," Biggs sighed, walking away and taking a minute to regather herself, finding a seat over by a Warp Pad to try and relax. This of course brought up a bit more concerns from everyone, and it also didn't help that some of the others nearby cowered a bit when seeing other workers nearby.

"Oh boy, these healed Gems are either too scared or too ready to fight. I thought everyone would be happy to not have to be labeled anymore," Steven sighed.

"Well Steven, they've had a lifetime of being told what to do, Diamonds or no," reminded Jade. "It's … gonna take a while for them to get used to it."

"Hopefully not too long. We've done so much, we're so close to making everything better again. I mean, how much do we have left now? We healed most of the Corrupted Gems, the Diamonds aren't ready to get rid of Earth or Equestria -"

"But," cut in Flint, "we still have the Crystal Gems' memories, Grogar's roaming somewhere, and there's the healed Gems actually trying to adapt a bit. That's A LOT to do, and who knows -"

"That's fine, and soon as it's all done, everything will finally be good. Our Happily Ever After," Steven said with a smile, almost a little dreamingly at the thought of everything good FINALLY coming to fruition again. They still had a bit to go though, and looking to Pearl and Spinel, they knew where to go next.

"Cool, but who do we go with? I'd say Jasper if she wasn't so ready to kill us," Starlight inquired.
Before any of them could come up with an answer this time, the Warp Pad nearby began to activate again, making Biggs jump off of it so the travelers could actually use the Warp Pad. Soon, Blue and Emerald were back and immediately they jumped out and towards them.

"... First of all: WHAT THE CLOD HAPPENED TO YOU?" Emerald asked. Connie gave a quick sigh, proceeding to just take off the bandages so no more people would be freaked out by her, showing him the rather meek looking injury.

"So, the problem?" asked Spike. Emerald and Blue glanced to one another, Blue whimpering a bit and lowering his head. Emerald just had to make this work, and they couldn't wait.

"Okay let's just get it out there: the Good News is that we got Lapis Lazuli reformed and back in the game and she's not willing to seek out revenge or kill any of us. Cool," said emerald, thumbs up on the last statement.

THAT answer came up upon a secondary use of the Warp Pad. Emerald and Blue thought they had more time before she could come with them, but unfortunately, Lapis Lazuli seemingly couldn't wait around for much longer. She … looked okay. The form didn't match the one they knew before her Rejuvenator incident, so that didn't help them too much. Still, Lapis didn't look like she was looking for revenge. In fact, she didn't open her eyes at first.

Eventually, Lapis's eyes started to open up, and she examined the group around her. She didn't say a word to any of them at first, her gaze at first focused on Steven. Lapis took a few steps off of the Warp Pad, walking from there and towards one of the Gems present. Spinel started to feel uneasy all over again, especially with what happened next. …

Next thing he knew, Lapis reached out, grabbed hold of his free arm, and actually brought him close to her. Spinel felt a shock run through her on seeing this horrifying revelation.

"Could her Gem be cracked?" asked a dumbfounded Connie. As Lapis seemingly was keeping property to Flint and not letting go of him, Spike and Steven went around to check the gemstone. Flawless in texture, not a single crack on it anywhere.

Flint could feel a cold shift in the air as Spinel was suddenly right by him and Lapis Lazuli. It was enough to actually make the calm and collected Gem turn around fast in startle, only to see the rather "killer" look in Spinel's slightly pinkish eyes. Lapis wasn't feeling deterred about seeing Spinel like this, though Flint was hesitant and, with no one to back him up right now, unsure what to do.

"Yep," Flint sighed. Spinel didn't say much at first, her gaze focused on Lapis Lazuli at first, but then she bowed her head.

"Thank you for being so nice to my friend," Spinel said, a bit monotone actually.

"Huh? Well, thank you," said Lapis. Only for Spinel to give her another cold glare.

"Don't look into it, I'm just being polite," Spinel said. Flint felt a shiver run through him, that same glare Spinel given him before when he tried to make her stay the first time was coming back to bite him. The mood quickly shifted though as Flint found Spinel reaching to him and wrapping her arms around his waist like a little sister or something.

"Flint, what's she doing with you?" Spinel asked, looking up to him, "What's her story with you, huh? Are there others like her?! Y-You're not her girlfriend are you?!"

"Spinel, what in the stars are you talking about?" Flint asked, in a rare moment blindsided by the question. Unfortunately, it seemed Lapis and Spinel were more focused on eachother than on him, Lapis speaking next.

"Of course I do, he's my best friend. IT'S NORMAL," Spinel replied, pushing her cheek against Flint's chest as she hugged him tight … while giving Lapis a look saying "don't come any closer, I'll kill you".

"She's a little over-attached sorry," Flint said, trying to push Spinel off of him a little bit, but not able to make her let go of him. Lapis was undeterred by the response.

"She's a Spinel, it's only natural for her to be attached to her owner. So why not try someone who's more serious?"

time for this water Gem to have some authority over these two. not to mention some fun, but not exactly in a professional way …

"That's a good question," Lapis said, her gaze looking to Flint. Before Flint could even respond, Spinel was already in his face, her eyes now fully changed from black dots to hot pink fireballs, her teeth sharpened and jagged now for dramatic effect.

"WHAT IS SHE? JUST SPIT IT OUT!" shouted Spinel, not giving Flint a second to even breathe or respond. It was enough to make him fall over onto the ground, Spinel standing on top of him face-to-face.

"Just to make it clear, you two aren't dating right?! No lovie-dove yet or anything or what?" Spinel pleaded.

"Get off me!" Flint pleaded back, trying to make Spinel get off his chest, but the hijinks weren't done yet. While Flint was busy trying to comprehend what was even happening, Lapis helped Flint up off the ground and onto his feet, much to Spinel's annoyance.

"No, no, nothing's happened yet, we're just friends. … For the time being," Lapis said, but her smile was really suggesting otherwise in her own head. And Spinel, as silly as she was, caught that pretty quick.

"She's trolling me, Flint! You can't possibly have feelings for her right? RIGHT?" Spinel asked, looking desperate towards her best friend. Honestly, Flint couldn't even keep up with all this nonsense, not even finding an answer to whatever question Spinel had for him. Unfortunately, that only made things worse, as Spinel suddenly looked ready to faint.

"W-Why're you hesitating?" Spinel murmured, "Just reject her already, you're only gonna hurt her if you lead her on."

"She's right you know, if you're not interested just say so," said Lapis Lazuli, looking away from him and FINALLY letting him actually breathe for a second or so. Flint forced Spinel off of him at last, and cleared his throat.

"Okay, stars … now, I don't know what's even going on, and me and the rest of the team have so much to do already …"

"Let's go!! Let's go!! KICK HER TO THE CURB!" Spinel cheered in the background, actually going full cheerleader and even pretending she was kicking Lapis by grabbing a rock and kicking it clear out of Little Homeworld. But Flint hesitated again.

"Flint!" Spinel yelped, suddenly hugging him all over again, now worried it seemed, "I'm just trying to look out for you and be a good friend. If you stay with her, you're only going to get hurt."

"Now. Spinel. I never said I was going to date her, so calm down please," Flint said, even placing a hand on her head. While she may appear weak and scared, the second she heard this she had an almost devilish grin. That was all the evidence she needed, though Lapis seemed perplexed by the answer (which pleased Spinel more).

"BULL'S EYE!" Spinel said, just before cuddling against Flint and adding, "You don't need a girlfriend, don't cha Flint, you already got your best friend forever right here."
But Lapis Lazuli wasn't rearing to give up. She wasn't an aristocrat just by quitting everything, even if she was made to be one, so instead of letting it go … she threw in a few tears. Great.

"Lapis, no don't do that, I don't mean we're not friends. Just not … that way," Flint insisted.

"No, I understand. If you like some over others, that's just fine," Lapis said, as she wiped some tears away from her face. Flint grunted a bit, not sure if she was legitimately sad, or actually playing with him. But Flint couldn't bare it.

"Stop, I don't hate you, j-just quit crying. Okay?" Flint insisted, which in turn made Spinel feel questionable about him.

Spinel's grip tightened on Flint's waist. "NO, you can't take him, HE'S MINE!"

"S-Spinel, you're hurting me," Flint groaned, feeling like a snake was constricting him. Probably not far from the truth. Lapis found her reactions amusing admittedly.

"Oh well, if it makes you feel better I'll drop it. Flint, why don't we let you take your time for your answer?" Lapis said, staying right by Flint's opposing side much to Spinel's anger.

"Let me establish right now that this is NOT my fault, I don't have a clue what happened and I got no involvement in this clingy, apparently passive-aggressive Lapis Lazuli," Emerald made clear.

"Something must've happened - you reform your body, not your mind! Emerald, Spike, did you two see anything weird happen before she reformed?" Flint asked, still trying to comprehend this properly himself more than anyone else here.

"Ehh, nope," Spike said, trying to think, "Unless you count Emerald screaming at the TV during episode 5 of his Koala Princess series."

"My ship sunk that day, cut me a break!" Emerald retorted. Flint may seem to be worried, but it was actually Steven who was starting to word out the problem with this scenario.

"Who cares how it happened, we got to work this out! We have to make them remember, and for that we need their missing pieces. One of them for Lapis is handled by Bismuth, but now we need the next big thing: love! Lapis loved Jamie, they always hanged out together."

"Oh yeah, you did mention that before," said Starlight. "Well why don't we just call him over and see if that works anything?"

"That's not the only problem," said Connie. They all looked over to her, who at the moment was already trying to find her phone. She usually had one on her, but today it kinda wasn't there. She tried checking her person, but then Pearl simply smiled, her gemstone glowing, and brought out her phone from her storage.

A talk for later. Connie started skimming through her messages, and it turned out she had a little something from Jamie within the message box. Particularly, it was a picture when Lapis had to seemingly say goodbye to Jamie, as he went onto a travel bus.

"Jamie went away from Beach City while you were gone, Steven. Last we heard he left to try his acting talent off in Kansas."

"Hmm … he left on the second day you left, and you took a week to come back, and Jamie said a month, so … two days before Hearth's Warming Eve?" It was a rough estimate, but that was the closest she was gonna get.

"That's still a good week away," remarked Twilight. Eventually they got to their conclusion.

"Okay, so if we're gonna help Lapis remember, we need to wait until Jamie comes back. So Flint … you're gonna have to watch both her AND Spinel," Steven decided.

"If you're sure," Flint murmured. It's hard enough dealing with Spinel as it is, dealing with Lapis Lazuli on top of that (which not to mention was making Spinel protective) did NOT sound like heaven to him.

"Don't worry, we'll all help you out through this," Steven promised. Flint glanced down between Spinel and Lapis.

And while they were all working out this problem, the ordeal did not go unnoticed by Grogar's army (Bray, and Budgerite specifically), as they spied in on them all.

"Huh. I can't believe that worked," remarked Budgerite, still in disbelief that their hex worked on Lapis.

"Who's the stupid one NOW?" Bray said with a snicker, giving his Gem friend a nudge to the side. Budgerite didn't like being wronged by a donkey, but the results were still there all the same.

"Ok, ok, don't rub it in. Come on, Bray, Grogar's gonna want his info on this," Budgerite said. She started to go, but Bray still watched what was going on over there.

Day in, day out, and the week was going by as slow as possibly possible (much to Flint's already high stress and pressure). Having to juggle around not ONLY the concentration of handling Little Homeworld's growing population of healed Gems, but topping that with handling Lapis and Spinel's "advances" on Flint only made him go up the wall even further. As prementioned, it was enough of a challenge to keep Spinel in check, and them pestering him on "who to choose" wasn't doing him any sort of favors as time went by. Not to mention some paranoia over an extra factor ...
And in such regards he wasn't alone: the rest of the Harmony Gems had a bit to handle too: juggling Flint's aid with adapting the new healed Gems to the world without rule or labeling, alongside trying to work out how to get their friends' memories back, Ronaldo and his "teachings", AND keeping with missions of mystical monsters as well. … Yeah, that's a lot to handle, even without Grogar's Army coming after them. Not that any of them were complaining, but ever since Canterlot's assault, Grogar's troops had been staying well out of the way for some reason.

"Flint, you look like you've been running a marathon in your dreams, you okay?" asked Tiger's Eye, as she and the other Off-Colors (and Ruby) went into Little Homeworld for a little bit only to find Flint looking ready to just fall over, sitting at a table with his face nicely planted on the surface as Spinel sat right next to him, oblivious to the problem.

"You'd have to sleep to dream," Flint grumbled. His groaning pretty much summed up the entire week for him so far.

"Oh my," said Fluorite. Rhodonite gave Flint a poke on the shoulders, but that barely stirred him up beyond that. While much of the Off-Colors were checking Flint out, the rest of the Harmony Gems off nearby were taking this opportunity with Sapphire and Ruby in the same place to try and work them out next. They couldn't do much with Lapis until Jamie comes back, so they had to make do and work in a few things. Padparadscha was standing over by Sapphire, allowing Ruby to technically guard both of them, which was helpful. And now with Steven there, along with Bismuth, they got some leverage on her origins story.

"So, when Ruby and Sapphire first became Garnet, Ruby rushed in to save Sapphire from danger, and bam! They fused. So, maybe we've gotta create some sort of dangerous situation," Steven concluded.

"Looks about the size of it," said Bismuth, "If it means they're gonna remember, then we gotta do it. Question is, how do we get them to fuse without making them fuse?"
It was a rather tough question. Fusion itself was a big game to gamble with, but as they tried to think, Ronaldo (who was hanging out with them for whatever the heck), took a glance off towards what looked to be a box of tools. A smirk came up on his face.

"I think there's something dangerous we can dig up," Ronaldo said, before going right over to the toolbox - it was actually a dumpster. - and started looking through it. The dumpster had quite a lot of tools to handle: a handsaw, a drill, hammers of a lot of sorts, things like that. The others checked over to see what was up, but did have to watch it as Ronaldo kept tossing stuff aside. One hammer did end up bonking Pearl in the head, but Ronaldo didn't stop.

"Not exactly," Ronaldo replied. Starlight eventually joined in, using her magic to move tools aside, but eventually both Ronaldo and Starlight found the proper item. Ronaldo pulled hard, but Starlight's magic helped dislodge it. And what was the item they pulled out? …

"More like a giant pizza cutter. Steven?" corrected Ronaldo, giving the weapon over to Bismuth. The blacksmith checked it over a little bit, seeing its sharp edged and automatic start button, even using her finger to give the blade a spin. It was an odd way to do it, but heck it could work.

"Hmm …" He got in the way, and before Bismuth could go, Ronaldo clicked the button on the device, starting up the blades in a threatening spin. The pizza cutter turned into a chainsaw. "Now it's MUCH more threatening. You're welcome. And off you go!"

Ronaldo even gave Steven a simple push towards Ruby, Padparadscha, and Sapphire. However, Steven couldn't bring himself to move closer with the spinning blade. He already "killed" Garnet before, why did he have to do it again?! Steven gulped, feeling a cold sweat, but before he could take another step, Twilight snatched the cutter away from him.

Twilight took a breath and began to move her way over towards the two Sapphires and their guard. With the singular jagged circle of a sawblade still whirring above her head, Twilight trotted over towards the trio, trying to feel as threatening as she could manage. Just walking over to them though was enough to make Ruby jump on edge, arms spread out and making herself a wall.

"Halt! I can't allow you to approach my Sapphire with such a … threatening device," Ruby said firmly.

"Well that's too bad. Because I'm going to GET YOU!" Twilight said, raising up the blade and ready to attack them.

"My Sapphire, permission to dispatch the purple one?" Ruby asked. Padparadscha was still a bit behind, but Sapphire actually answered for her.

"It's okay Ruby you don't have to: the purple one won't be able to follow through," Sapphire said.

"She's right … I can't, even if we're pretending," Twilight said, turning off the blade and bringing it back with her, dragging it on the ground as she did so. Threatening her friends just wasn't her thing, even if it was for the greater good.

"Oh clod," groaned Flint, the voice all too familiar. He would hide away in his cloak, but he already tried that on day two, and that didn't work well for either of them. Flint felt Spinel's arms tighten their grip around him as Lapis made her landing nearby.

"Hello my Knight~ … Spinel," said Lapis. Spinel growled at her, but Lapis wasn't deterred and focused her attention on Flint.

"Why don't you go find something else to do?" Flint asked, getting up with some difficulty thanks to Spinel's arms wrapping around him. Spinel meanwhile gave Lapis a cheeky grin, as Flint started walking away from Lapis with Spinel on him like a backpack … you know, for at least ten seconds until Flint made her let go.

"I'll take care of this," Jade said, starting to move her way over to the three. It took a bit of her clearing her throat before Lapis and Spinel could give her any mind, Flint silently thanking the stars SOMEONE was gonna try and give him a break.

"Lapis? Spinel? Why don't you two go and give Flint some time to himself?" Jade suggested. Spinel and Lapis didn't seem willing to do that anymore, Spinel grabbing Flint by the arm.

"Why does it matter to you?" Lapis questioned coldly. Jade tried not to be intimidated.

"Girls, please," insisted Jade, "Take a moment and look at him. Doesn't he look like someone who needs some time to himself? Or at least a minute to rest?"

Both Gems looked to him, seeing his tired eyes, and overall worn out demeanor he carried with him.

"Well when he gives me an answer, I'll stop. Until then, I'll just have to wait for it.~" Lapis said, resting her head on Flint's chest without a care in the world. Spinel knew what this could mean, getting angry as she then eyed a particular circular pizza cutter.

"Evil witch trying to seduce my best friend. … I WILL MAKE YOU SUFFER!" Spinel thought, finally releasing Flint from her grip … and going right for the pizza cutter!

Too late. Twilight and Steven could handle the weapon just fine when they had it, but soon as Spinel clicked on it to try and "cut Lapis down to size", suddenly the goof of a Gemstone started to shake like crazy to the vibration of the cutter. It was too much for her to hold on to, and suddenly Spinel was off running without control, smashing the closest set of clay pots with the blade.

"Stand clear everyone! She's about to lose control!" shouted Padparadscha. Ruby jumped in protection of both Sapphires, as Spinel suddenly started bolting by, the blade digging into the ground and snow with her holding on for her life, going every which way.

"Whoa here she comes!" yelped Pinkie, everyone jumping out of Spinel's way as she plowed her way through the dumpster she got it from, along with a few more boxes and along a mid-constructed building wall for a bit, cutting up boards and scaffolding all the while. All this cutting, and the scaffolding started to crumble up and fall right down towards them all!

"Spinel!" exclaimed Steven, seeing Spinel suddenly shoot up high into the air as she shot off the building with the cutter. Only NOW did she let go of the cutter, flailing in the air as she screamed.

"I got you, Spinel! I got you!" Steven called, running out with his arms out stretched to catch her. Freaking out, Spinel stretched out her arms and grabbed Steven, but gravity still made her slam into Steven, leaving them both on the ground. As for the pizza cutter, it landed on the ground, but on its side, so it wasn't cutting anything anymore. Even if it was though, the scaffolding that fell onto it broke it up easily.

"My Scaffolding! MY BEAUTIFUL SCAFFOLDING!" shrieked Bismuth, seeing her work start to crumble on her AGAIN.

"We got it. Starlight, with me, go!" Twilight instructed, though Starlight already knew what was up as she and Twilight started working their magic to keep the items from falling. Their telekinetic magic kept many stuff from shattering on the ground, them placing it aside, but still a lot was falling down in a huge wave, with whatever stray debris falling down the others have to either catch or jump out of the way. And to Flint's horror, Jade found herself caught in its sights.

"JADE!" Flint shouted, finding the speed and strength to charge forward, and push Jade out of danger before -

Just like that, what remained of the scaffolding struck ground RIGHT ON FLINT. A huge dust cloud erupted from the destruction. The only one that seemingly got stuck underneath everything after all of that was Flint, not a sign of him out of the rubble of the wrecked scaffolding.

Fortunately it wasn't. After a minute of silence, Flint's fist shot out of the rubble. And then his head. And soon, he pulled himself out with the help of the others. If he didn't look like wreck before, he sure looked like one now.

Flint looked to Spinel and Lapis nearby. Spinel looked overjoyed to see that Flint was okay, and quickly raced towards him.
But Flint had reached his limit.

"Flinty! Oh my stars, you're okay! For a second I thought I lost my bestest best buddy -"

"JUST SHUT UP!" Flint demanded. Spinel stopped on the spot on the scary demand. Flint got himself back up onto his feet, this time all by himself as he stared not only Spinel down, but Lapis Lazuli down as well. The two were side by side by the time Flint pulled himself free.

"What's wrong? Did you NOT see what you just did right now!" Flint shouted, pointing to the wreckage nearby, "What were you thinking?!"

"Waitwaitwait, I didn't mean to! That was for the evil witch trying to take your heart," Spinel said in her defense, looking to Lapis Lazuli. That only made Flint even angrier.

"I can't believe this. Another day and something goes wrong, and do you know why?"

"NO! It's because of YOU TWO! Ever since you both reformed, all you've done is make things worse!" Flint stomped over to Lapis first. "YOU'VE been nothing but a trollish leech -" he turn turned to Spinel, "- and you've just been PLAIN ANNOYING!"

"AND YOU'RE NOT DOING ANYTHING TO HELP! I'd rather take you when you tried killing all of us with your giant injector than how you are right now - at least THEN you thought more clearly!" Flint roared. He got close enough to her that Spinel actually bent her back, Flint leaning above her as Spinel looked terrified, not knowing what he was talking about. Flint didn't keep his high anger up though, and he took a breath, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"If you'd just answer us instead of dodging the question, this wouldn't be a problem. And if you're gonna be a jerk about it, then just spit it out," Lapis said, not even caring about what just happened.

And just like that Flint's anger was peaked again, and he rushed Lapis, punching her square in the face and sending her flying ten feet up until she landed hard on the ground. It hardly was much for a Gem, but it woke Lapis Lazuli up as she got to her feet, suddenly realizing the situation she was in.

"You know what, I'm DONE with you! Both of you! I'd rather go and fulfill Sapphire's prophecy than spent another day dealing with this cluster. That means you're finished, you're through, I don't need you!"
Each word Flint shot you was a direct hit on both of them, Spinel even more so. What even was he so mad about? Wasn't she doing what she was supposed to do? Be funny? Be a good friend?

"... heh … hehehehe … o-of course you don't neeeed me. But you want me right? Hehehehee … So, what's the next game you wanna play … buddy?" Spinel asked, trying to get onto a more "fun pose" by the end of it to lighten the mood.

"THERE IS NO GAME! None of this has ever been a stupid game, and if you can't get that through your head THEN DO IT ELSEWHERE. Now I'm going to go now, and if either of you follow me there, I'll beat you up so bad it won't even be FUNNY!"
Now the sledgehammer was swung. After that barrage of released anger, Flint turned and went straight for the nearest exit in the Warp Pad. The others would stop him from leaving, and Sapphire actually was ready to do that but Jade held her back. She knew that Flint needed time to himself before any of them could just go for him, at least for a minute.

Lapis Lazuli, staring off a bit as if reality struck her for the first time, slowly went from standing on her two feet, to falling down onto her knees, and then just sitting on the ground as her hand felt where Flint punched her. She didn't say anything now, still trying to mentally accept the fact that Flint didn't want her. In such thoughts though, Lapis started to feel a headache rushed through her, which was enough to make her get her water wings out and fly away.

At first, came short giggling. Short, and weak giggling. But as seconds ticked by, these humbled chuckles turned into whimpers. And the whimpers turned into cries, tears forming and streaming down Spinel's face. Her heart was broken. Shattered.

"Bismuth? Think you guys can check on Flint and where he went? I'm gonna stay here with Spinel," Steven asked.

"Alright. Good luck with her," Bismuth said, looking to Spinel before starting to go. Taking a breath, it was Steven who walked over towards Spinel, the Gem now on the ground and almost trembling. Soon, Spinel broke completely, and was crying her heart out.

"Spinel. There, there, everything's gonna be okay," Steven said, hand on her back.

"NO IT WON'T!" she wailed, "I tried to be good, to be fun to be around, but he still doesn't like me. He hates me now! I'm a b - … b-b-b-b-bad f-f-f-friend!" Spinel fell onto the ground, crying even more so, and basically going into a fit like a child would. It kicked up snow and everything, looking like a mess when she grew tired of doing that.

"Spinel, Flint doesn't hate you, I promise. He's just stressed that's all," Steven promised her, gently wiping away some of the tears.

"B-But everything he said at me, it - … all these feelings are just flooding back to me," Spinel whimpered, sounding like she was gonna wail all over again. Hearing this though, in spite of what just happened, that last bit started to turn the gears in Steven's head.

"Feelings. Wait, Spinel, your memories. … Do you remember anything?" Steven asked.

"I don't know … It … feels like I did something super bad, but … Steven … What did I do? Did I … do something?" Spinel turned to Steven for some answer to her dilemma, tears going down her face. Steven quickly snapped out of the surprise, and just focused on what was in front of him. He began to think hard about it. This pink Gem that was effected in some way by both White Diamond and -

"H-Huh? … The … Garden?" Spinel asked, her voice weak and barely making a squeak.

"It'll get better, Spinel. But first … I want to take you somewhere," Steven said, his hand out for her to hold.

"T-To where?" Spinel asked. Spinel was gently helped back up to her feet as Steven pulled something out of his pink coat pocket: his Portal Key.

As for Flint, he actually didn't go that far away. With a travel from the Warp Pad, he got far away from Little Homeworld, and off more towards a forest. The forest, covered in winter with all the snow on the trees, gave the area a nice "comfy" feel to it. Flint though was still trying to calm down from it all, so he didn't notice it much as he strolled through the forest some more, a light snowfall coming down around him as the bitter wind moved through the branches.

He only got about twenty steps before he fell to his knees, a loooonnnnng groan uttering from his mouth. Now he wished this prophecy was over with, because he couldn't take the guilt for snapping at them any longer, no matter if he was right to do it or dead wrong.

"Well that didn't take very long," Flint remarked, before turning away from the path and seeing the rest of the Harmony Gems (minus Steven of course), come over to him.

"Did you get everything out of your system?" Bismuth asked, helping Flint up to his feet.

"I guess so. I … didn't lay down the hammer too hard did I?" Flint asked, humbled.

"And Lapis looked like she saw someone kick a puppy," added Fulgurite. They didn't need the details for Flint to get the idea. He'd have to go back later and apologize for that, but for now, Flint just turned away, leaning against the nearest tree.

"I'm sorry guys, I dunno what got over me. I mean, yeah maybe they might've deserved it for driving me mad all week, but … I dunno, I should've said it differently or something," Flint sighed.

"Well Steven's handling them right now, but we got a little something to ask you too," said Rarity.

"Don't worry, I'm NOT actually thinking to beat them up if they did show up … that much …"

"Oh no, we're not worried about that," said Jade, "But you said something about "Sapphire's Prophecy" during your outburst. So what's going on?"

Well, it had been over a week since Sapphire told him what was going to happen to him. He looked around to all the Gems and Ponies there, and after considering it all, he just decided to come clean. He wouldn't gain anything for keeping it to himself any longer.

"Several days ago, Sapphire foretold me that I will be shattered before I left for the Jersey Quarry. She told me this herself over a week ago, and far as I know it hasn't happened yet. But I think I'm gonna be nothing but shards soon," Flint summarized.

"What? NO, no that can't be right! You've been on tons of missions all week, if it was gonna happen it would've already! It's gotta be a mistake," said Diopside, surprised on the news as everyone else.

"I don't think Sapphires make mistakes. You did see it, didn't you Sapphire?" Flint said, looking to the blue Gem. Sapphire needed to get herself together.

"... Yes. I s-saw him standing out in the open somewhere, away from help. A monster will come in and target him alone, before coming in for the -"

"Alright, they get the idea," Flint cut in, tensing from all of the information again.

"Do you have any idea how dreadful this is, Flint?! Especially to us! Why wait now for such horrible news?!" Rarity asked.

"Well A) because I didn't want you freaking out over me, and B) … well what's the point? It's gonna happen either way, one way or another."

"Do you NOT know what team you're on?" exclaimed Bismuth, "Flint, we're not gonna let you be turned into rubble, not on our watch! Just point us in the right direction and we'll get it done."

"Listen. It's nice you all want to help, but let's face it; there's not much left. I mean, Jade and I already handled almost all of the Corrupted Gems as it is, and Homeworld's guaranteed to be on good terms with Earth now so there's nothing to be scared of from that."

"It means there's not a reason left for me to be here, that's what. As much as you wanted me to heal the corrupted Gems, once that's done that's all I got. Face it, Little Homeworld wouldn't be where it is without you guys, so if it's going to survive they need you and … all of those special ideas of yours."

"What are you talking about? So all those missions hunting mystical monsters, helping us with Little Homeworld, you're doing WAY more than you've done before. And now you're telling us you hardly did anything? Flint, you're doing an amazing job and WE'RE NOT losing you," Diopside said, confident and determined to work this out.

Everything suddenly stopped when the low rumble echoed through the forest. Something HUGE was roaming in this part of the forest, but what it exactly was they had no idea. It also didn't help that a ton of forest birds started flying away almost immediately when the world heard that rumble. And whatever this was, it sounded VERY CLOSE.

"I uh … I have to go now. Be good guys," Flint said. He took a breath, and was just about to start walking off towards the noise, but they all weren't gonna make it that easy.

"Flint, get back here you're talking crazy," Applejack said, jumping in his way and trying to push him back. If words weren't gonna get through, some more physical work might.

"That doesn't mean you have to speed up your clock and make it happen!" exclaimed Pinkie insisted.

The tall tree slammed into the ground, shaking the earth and tossing up a cloud of snow after everyone bolted away out of its path.
And in came their monster for the day, only this time the beast looked far larger than many of the monsters they've dealt with this week. The animal was a titan of a beast, easily as tall as most of the trees, with a bulk large enough to hold Greg's van AND Bill Dewey's van at once. Its legs alone were the size of stone pillars, its head sturdy, Elephantine, and like a giant boulder of fur and skin with a long trunk. Tusks jutted out with two pairs: one large and curved between its snout, and a smaller sharpened pair out of the lower jaw.

"Is that a Elephant? In winter? That doesn't make any sense," Starlight questioned.

"You live in a world of Dragons, Unicorns, and flying horses, and THIS is the thing that crosses a line?"

The giant animal, dwarfing practically everyone else, didn't seem to notice them at first as it kept going along, crushing the tree as it went, and pulling off the branches to eat … before knocking the bare wood aside at everyone else!

"Woodpile incoming!" exclaimed Applejack, everybody having to scatter to avoid the broken pieces of wood. Some dodged it, and some actually blocked it. Once the rain stopped, the giant elephant started grazing on the tree, stripping it with ease.

"More or less. So this is our monster for the day," noted Diopside. As the large elephant was chewing up on pine needles and branches, the others went and checked where the beast came from. The entire path the elephant walked was a mess: trees knocked over or snapped into rubble, with large footsteps all along the way.

"Oh my," Fluttershy said. To think of how many hibernating animals just got an early wake-up call thanks to the behemoth.

"So what's the plan guys? What do you want to do with this thing?" Connie asked. Flint though was more focused on the monster itself, who after eating up the branches did start to see at least him standing there. The Behemoth turned and brought its long trunk closer to Flint, the Gem hearing and feeling the creature start to sniff him for a bit. Flint had his weapon, but still on mind about the future vision, he wasn't so ready to just start blasting. In fact, he looked ready to just let it happen.

And it seemed the animal was ready to do that, as it wrapped its trunk around him …

"Hold it, Dumbo!" Bismuth suddenly said, rushing in and using her muscle to open up the Elephant's trunk, pulling flint right on out much to the Elephant's angry, a low exhale emitting from the trunk.

"Flint, get a hold of yourself, you're NOT dying today, now quit it," Bismuth instructed, putting him aside.

"You'll a good bunch, and you'll get along fine without me!" Flint said, getting free of Bismuth's grip, and ready to just get his execution done. As for the others …

And next thing Flint knew he was suddenly grabbed and pinned down by Rainbow Dash, Diopside, Pinkie, Applejack and Jade.

"We don't care if you're walking into Grogar's front step, we're not letting you face this alone," Diopside made perfectly clear.

And not a moment too soon, as the giant elephant started getting annoyed with this sudden takeaway. It WANTED some Flint in steel armor, and if they were gonna keep it away from that, then it just had to try some more force. It trumpeted good and loud, trunk raised up good and high as if to show its tusks to them. But its first attack wasn't in a trample, or a swing of the trunk, as the trunk itself started to turn red.

The Mammoth then shot a huge blast of fire right at them! Everyone jumped back from the flame, which melted the snow off the nearest tree, even burning it a little bit.

"OKAY we got a Fire Mammoth here! Up and atom girls, it's game time!" Fulgurite announced.

And the fight was kicked right away, swinging its trunk and trying to strike at them all. They managed to jump aside, but the strength alone made some stumble on their feet. The Fire Mammoth had a specific sight though, and only focused on where Flint went, and with a trumpeting roar started going right for him. Bismuth just got in the way, locking her hands to the animal's tusks, making her stop completely.

"Picking targets or something, Mammoth?" groaned Bismuth, seeing how it wasn't going for anyone else. The Fire Mammoth then started groaning and "speaking", Fluttershy all ears all of a sudden.

"Huh? What's that?" Fluttershy asked, flying over to the Fire Mammoth's head. The creature looked to her, and after a few more grunts, Fluttershy turned pale …

"HECK NO!" Bismuth exclaimed, breaking off from her grip briefly to turn her hand into a hammer, and whack the Fire Mammoth's trunk away. The hit stung the animal, making her back up a little bit. For Flint, this just confirmed that if he was going to get shattered, this WILL be the day it'll happen. None of the monsters were that specific before.

"Starlight, Twilight, get your shield magic going and cover Flint. Rest of ya, let's send this pachyderm flying!" Bismuth instructed.

"Or at least just get it out of here!" Diopside added. Either way, they had to keep it away from Flint. Starlight and Twilight got a shield up and working to protect Flint just as the Fire Mammoth sprayed fire onto them, flames and embers bouncing off of their shield, and into the snow-covered area.
Ponies and Gems alike were in a scuffle with this tyrant after just ten seconds, with the Fire Mammoth swinging her trunk, stomping the ground, and occasionally shooting fire all over the place. Emerald and Rainbow Dash kept any fire-blasting up in the sky instead of at the ground or the trees, as speeding Pinkie and Fulgurite kept giving kicks to the animal to keep stomping away from anyone in the way. The few times she tried to move towards Flint again, Jade sent her eastern Dragon projectiles to keep the beast focused away from them, not wanting her closest friend to be shattered. The only issue was the swinging trunk, which they kept having to dodge time and again as it flailed around trying to get something.

After trying to blast Rainbow Dash out of the sky right above her head, the Fire Mammoth swung her trunk down hard, FINALLY striking someone in the form of Bismuth - right in the head too! It was like a bowling ball striking her head from a fifty foot drop. But this did give her a chance to grab hold of her trunk with both hands, holding on tight.

"Got her! Whoa wait -" spoke too soon, as the Fire Mammoth not only blasted fire in bismuth's face, but she also lifted her off of the ground and started swinging Bismuth around for a bit before sending her flying into the air.

"Bismuth!" shouted Fluttershy, flying straight up to fetch her, alongside Rainbow Dash. Each Pegasus grabbed her by each arm, and while very heavy for the two, did keep Bismuth from crash-landing.

"Don't sweat it," Rainbow Dash replied, putting Bismuth down before they had to move away from another strike of the animal's trunk.

"Hang on, I got an idea! AJ find a rope and work with me," Fulgurite decided, skidding to a halt at one point and using her hair to Lasso a tusk, bringing the Fire Mammoth down to one side. The giant animal tried to move, yanking HARD of Fulgurite's hair. Applejack though needed a rope, but wasn't sure if there even was one around.

"I do!" Pinkie said, getting into her mane and pulling out a rope (out of nowhere) "I was gonna save it for practicing my butterfly knot, but this works too."
Pinkie tossed the long rope to Applejack, not bothering to question it for the situation, and got a lasso thrown right at the Fire Mammoth's free tusk and pulled down as hard as an earth pony could, yanking the animal down closer to the ground.

"We're sorry, Fire Mammoth, we don't want you eating our friend!" Fluttershy called to the animal.

"Maybe we can find you some non-living Flint?" called Diopside. Applejack felt herself get lifted off the ground until Bismuth got hold of the rope and stomped the free end on the ground, keeping it firmly placed.

But THIS solution did not last for very long, and what happened next felt like slow-motion: the beast reared back in a mighty roar, and the momentum swing Bismuth, Applejack, and Fulgurite high into the air. Still having the grip on the tusks meant they swung head long right into eachother, slamming in mid air before all three dropped to the ground, right in the path of the animal's large feet! Luckily, and BARELY, Fulgurite shoved Bismuth and Applejack back so all three narrowly avoided getting stomped, but this left all three of them stuck underneath her. It was a mad scramble to get out of there AND avoid getting trampled.

"Guys, let me in there! It doesn't matter if I'm destined to die or not, I can't watch this," Flint insisted, him having been trying to get passed Starlight and Twilight since the fight started.

Just as the Fire Mammoth launched another fury of fire right at the Alicorn. The magic shield handled it just fine, though some of the spray did actually jump close to Flint. … At least, that's what he thought it was as embers started falling down. All Flint had to do was look up and see the burning tree right above them to say what was gonna happen next.

"Well I'm handling you!" Flint said, before rushing forward, grabbing both ponies by their tails, and jumping away into the open as burned branches fell right where they were standing. The crash did catch the Fire Mammoth's attention, and she saw Flint now more in the open instead of hidden off near the treeline. If she wanted to eat Flint, then she had to handled his cavalry first. And in her fury, the Fire Mammoth readied to do just that with a 360 swing of her mighty trunk, toppling trees and sending A LOT of them flying back.

"Flint! I-I'm sorry!" gasped Sapphire, "I told you, you were going to be shattered!"

Starlight and Twilight had to go on the offensive, but the giant Fire Mammoth wasn't having any of it and actually pulled a more double move: shooting fire from her trunk AND swinging her head so her tusks could clip the Alicorn and Unicorn. Flint was in the open now, by himself for the moment just like Sapphire said. But rather than be scared (er, more scared) Flint looked to Sapphire.

"FLINT!" Twilight gasped, as the Fire Mammoth reared back to bring down all her weight onto him. Flint closed his eyes briefly, ready for the hit himself. She was making it quick. But Sapphire was NOT having any of it. Flying in as fast as she could, Flint suddenly, ever so brief, found Sapphire face-to-face with him as she tackled him aside. His two eyes locked into Sapphire's one, and as they felt the ground tremble and shutter under the weight of the Fire Mammoth, everything turned bright …
A HUGE snow cloud formed from the Fire Mammoth's mighty slam, making the entire area impossible to see much to the horror of everyone else. Did they just watch Flint get shattered? Or worse, Flint AND Sapphire? The Fire Mammoth paused to see if she got her Flint to consume, but looking under her feet, she found nothing. Not a single shard anywhere.

But as the cloud cleared, there was someone else standing not too far away. The reality was slow to reveal the figure as the white fog of snow lifted around them. Their color appeared pale, a silver almost with a slight hint of blue on their skin as they tried to comprehend what just happened. They were only slightly taller than Flint, about two feet taller than Bismuth, though they still had a slim physique. Their hair smoothed out, pale silver but still short-length just reaching passed their neck. They at first seem to only have two eyes, but a third more crystalline eye was in place for a head gemstone. Their outfit was a mixture of a princess and a knight: a frill skirt with knight's armor on their arms and legs, accompanied by smooth gloves along each arm.
They paused, trying to work out what just happened as they looked at themselves. It might've been an accident, maybe now, but there was no denying that THIS was Flint and Sapphire's fusion. The fusion stuck in place for a bit, the stress making Sapphire's future vision go all over the place, as they kept seeing one scenario after another, either from the past events or possible future.

They had little time to work this out though. The Fire Mammoth was still after them!

"Fusion, get out of there!" called Diopside, as the Fire Mammoth moved right for them. The fusion themselves started to get back to reality, looking up towards the titanic and furious Fire Mammoth as the animal closed the gap. The fusion didn't speak, but eventually they took a breath after thinking. If they ran, the beast would chase them all over the forest, but any more of a battle would tear the forest to pieces AND put the others in danger.

The Fire Mammoth lifted her foot up, hovering it right above the fusion's head, but the fusion still didn't move, locking all three eyes to the animal's gaze. It was as if time just stopped.

"… Are … you … quite … finished?" the fusion asked. Their tone was slow and stern, but not harsh or cold. A sort of tone of stern respect.

… And the animal stepped back. Humbled. Almost like a guilty dog to their angry master.

The animal made a few low groans, no longer as willing to try and attack them anymore. It was a kind of tone that seemed to say "I'm sorry" to the fusion. The fusion placed a hand on the animal's trunk, gently rubbing it as they knew it must've gotten sore from Bismuth's earlier grip.

And slowly, one step after the other, the Fire Mammoth withdrew from the fight herself. She moved through the forest from there, and left the battlefield she had started. The fusion took a breath, and closed their eyes for a bit, trying to calm down the barrage of future visions they were seeing. All sorts were jumbling around, but as they relaxed (seeing a vision of Steven leading a meditation class it looks like for some reason). And only THEN did the two suddenly unfused, Sapphire and Flint back in their own forms.

"Flint! Sapphire! Are you two okay?" Starlight, as they all went over to the two.

"You fused! You fused with Sapphire and stopped the Fire Mammoth! Who even was that?" asked a psyched Pinkie.

"Sapphire and I … fused? … I need a minute," Flint said, surprised that even happened.

As for Sapphire, it was even more so. While Flint had to handle visions of the future for a little bit, Sapphire had to handle both that AND the memories Flint had for a brief bit. Her headache now was SPLITTING AWFUL, but … somehow needed? It was hard to explain it, but Sapphire was strangely starting to make sense of many of the others' talk about her earlier.

"Sapphire?" asked Fluttershy. Sapphire herself didn't respond at first, but eventually she calmed down enough to think properly.

"What do you mean, your fusion with Flint just drove off a giant Fire Mammoth with a few kind words and a death stare," Emerald said. While Sapphire seemed to be surprised about that, it's what she said next that confirmed what just happened, as she suddenly realized something.

"Grogar! Oh my, we're all the way here and we left Steven to fight him alone. As if his ordeal wasn't horrifying enough. We have to go," Sapphire instructed, starting to go off towards wherever the nearest Warp Pad. But everyone else was stunned silent and not moving ... until ...

"SAPPHIRE, YOU'RE BACK!!!" Pinkie of course was the first to give Sapphire her hug, everyone else very happy that SOMEHOW this finally got her back to them. Sapphire meanwhile was a bit blindsided.

"U-Uh ... someone explain to me what I missed. B-Besides the fusion part," Sapphire said.

"Well you got hit by this scythe thingy that can hit a Gem and brain-wipe them," said Pinkie.

"Yep! And we got this new Gem who's like some cartoon character," explained Diopside, "But we're not sure if she's actually okay with us, or if she's just acting silly ... because she kinda got hit herself."

"OK, what's the point in telling you if you know already?" remarked Emerald. Then Sapphire's attention turned over to Flint nearby, who at this point was just sitting down in the snow. As her memories started coming back to her, she began remembering just what kind of trouble Flint had to go over through the last week, part of it still her fault for saying the Future Vision in the first place.

"Don't start," Jade insisted firmly, holding Flint's hand, "Everything's fine, and you are not allowed to worry about anything anymore. Agreed?"

Flint paused on hearing that demand. He was still alive, even after the Future Vision …

Steven didn't hesitate any further. Getting the Portal Key to open a door into Spinel's past (figuratively and somewhat literally) Steven gestured Spinel to go through said portal with a gentleman's bow. Spinel was hesitant of course, still teary-eyed, but as she looked through the portal beyond the swirling magic making up the path, she began to see sight of Steven's Garden. Only one step through was all it took to travel lightyears, from the cold snow of Earth to the hard smooth rock of the Garden.
The same dead, dried up vines and shrubs and small trees standing amongst the place. The same cracked ground that covered up the foundation, the same clouds circling the barrier of the transparent glass. Just like how Steven last saw it. and in a way, the same as Spinel remembered it.

"Does this jog any memories, Spinel?" Steven asked upon entering through the door with her. Spinel didn't know what to say at first, but the more she kept looking around the scenery, the more she began to realize where she actually was. She could only make a small gasp.

"It's still here," she said, as she started going down the platform stairs, moving over to the first thing she could see, which was the ancient fountain. Steven followed her close behind, only stopping as Spinel paused herself, placing a hand down on the borders of the once fertile, water-filled pool.

"I got captured by a giant teleporting spider and got dropped off here," Steven said, "And … for a while, I was actually going to stay here."
Steven frowned a bit on that memory, but it almost seemed that this was bringing up more to Spinel than he realized, especially with what she said next.

"Hmm?" Steven turned to Spinel, who took a seat along the rim of the fountain. It all was feeling so strange to Spinel. Strange yet familiar at the same time.

"Spinel. Tell me what happened," Steven said. Spinel, still sad and reluctant, did eventually look off to the distance at the reminiscence of the Garden. Well, they were here. And as far as Spinel knew now, no one else was waiting for her.

"... This was our Garden," Spinel began, "A special world, built just for Pink and I. … Pink Diamond was so lonely on Homeworld, so sad, but not here. … Here, we would play for hours. We'd play all sorts of fun games together, and every day was so much fun. … At least. That's what I thought."

As Spinel explained everything, Steven could just imagine it all happening: Pink and Spinel having the time of their lives in the Garden. During a time when all the world was lush, green, and alive. In a way, Spinel was remembering it too, bit by bit. Back during a fun time when Pink Diamond was still a young youth of a Gem, and Spinel was always there with her in the Garden to play whatever games they would come up with together.
A cute little game of Hide-and-Seek, with Spinel making Pink Diamond laugh with a funny look as a reward for finding her.
A bit of playing pretend as they were by the fountain as galactic warriors traveling the universe on an epic quest.
Even simple things such as Spinel having some bubbles and showing Pink Diamond how to juggle.

It was such a long time ago. Spinel quietly wiped some more tears from her eyes, as Steven placed a supporting hand on Spinel's back.

"So you were Pink Diamond's friend. Did something happen?" Steven said. Spinel just quietly nodded, but before she could answer, she then pointed off to the one spot that Steven once stood last time he was here. He could tell it was the same spot, because the footprints were still there. Still facing the Warp Pad and, as Spinel walked over and stood in the exact same spot, a perfect fit.

"One day, she told me to wait for her here … to stand right in this spot until she came back. I thought it would be so much fun, just another game to play. ……. But she never did. Thousands of years, all I did was stand here. Waiting. The only thing I was thinking was "am I doing this right? Is this how it's supposed to work?" … Actually, I thought of just calling it quits, to see where she went but … but ……."
Steven, knowing what little there was about Spinel thanks to the other Gems, could already tell what was gonna happen next.

"But then White Diamond found you," Steven concluded. The sudden look of horror suddenly hit Spinel's face as the memories of White Diamond came flooding back into her in a huge wave.

"She told me where Pink Diamond was. What happened to her, a-and how she "ditched me for her own life". And she wanted to play with me. I was so happy when she said that. So … so silly, I … I-I …"

Then something started to happen to Spinel. No pain or any headache, but as Steven simply stood there and watched, Spinel's entire body began to glow. Her whole form of all its details shifted into a pure white. Steven knew a reformation when he saw one, and Spinel's gemstone, right in front of him, turned back upside-down, the hearts in her hair turning back into the signature scruffy ponytails. And upon completion of form, the mascara was back on her face. Spinel would continue crying if she had any more tears to shed, as she looked back at Steven.

"Spinel! You got your memories back," Steven realized. He'd be excited, but now was not the appropriate time for it, given Spinel's currently mental state.

"I can't believe mom just left you like that. … Er, no. Wait. I can totally believe it. She's hurt a lot of Gems besides you -"

"YEAH RUB IT IN WHY DON'T YOU!" Spinel suddenly snapped, turning to Steven and going right up to him, angry, and knocking Steven onto his back, "You must know everything she did without me, don't ya?!"

"No, spinel, that's not what I meant! you deserve a better friend!" Steven said, but Spinel's fire was still raging.

"OOHH yeah, listen to Best Boy, because he knows what it's like to be alone!" Spinel scoffed, "You're the sweetest, kindest best-est super-est HARMONY GEM, since when did YOU ever not have anyone to look and say they like ya? GO ON, MAKE MY DAY!"

They all seemed to come from everywhere, a small troop of a number of animals leaped out of hiding and rushed right for them, as fast as they could and as violent as they could. Spinel, being so distraught already, actually found herself getting struck by something big and quick, sending her careening down to the ground in a rapid spin. Steven could barely get up on his feet before one of the animals tackled him, making him fall to the ground more roughly again. Only now he knew exactly who was there the second he saw those red eyes of his.

"W-What, how'd - what're you doing here?!" Spinel exclaimed. Grogar, in the flesh, was back in the game and ready for a fight.

"Finishing what I started, that's what. It took you both long enough to get here, I was getting bored. But I DID say I was gonna kill you one way or another."

"But how'd you even get here?" Steven asked. For that Grogar had a more blunt answer.

"You left your door open, idiot," Grogar said, glancing over to Steven's portal, which was actually kept open by a simple stone.

"So anyway, let's "cut to the chase"," Grogar said, making sure that all of Spinel's legs and hands were pinned down, and THIS TIME as extra measure used his magic to keep her head still. With his hoof, he moved the dagger edges towards her gemstone, and looked more than ready to start cutting up her already broken heart.

"Get away from her," Steven shouted, trying to get up, just for one of Grogar's minions to ram him back to the ground. Grogar wasn't gonna make this easy.

"Why should I listen to you now? I already let you live once before, I don't owe you anything anymore," Grogar said, as Steven got back up to his feet. So even after saving his life, Grogar was STILL after them. Steven started to feel a little bitter, but he knew he would eventually. Just not like this.

"Grogar, don't hurt her," Steven said, "I don't care what you do to me, but keep Spinel out of this! She's got nothing to do with you, you don't have to hurt her - hurt me instead. Beat me up as much as you want, just let her go."

"S-Steven?" gasped Spinel. Was Steven serious? Was he REALLY gonna let these guys go at him for her own safety? Steven sure looked ready to do that, even if he was powerless with his gemstone out of commission. Grogar huffed, rolling his eyes.

"Sorry chum, but you're powerless, useless, you can't even fight proper without your fancy Gem powers. You're no threat to me anymore. … But if that's what you want … BULLS! KILL HIM! HE'LL MAKE A GOOD PRACTICE DUMMY!"

Steven tried reaching them, to get Spinel free, but the bulls weren't having any of it and the more muscular beasts of burden went whole hog on Steven, their horns ramming and swinging him around every which way.

"STEVEN!" Spinel gasped, trying to get herself free. However, Grogar wasn't giving her the benefit of a doubt this time, and each limb was firmly kept in place by each of his dagger hooves. In fact, as a means to humble her, Grogar used his magic to stretch her head and neck so she could see Steven's "demise".

"Watch well, Spinel. You're about to see just what your "friend" can and cannot do," Grogar said.

And it seemed that was what exactly was going on. Just like a ragdoll, Steven was tossed around all over the place with each hit and swing of the Bulls' horns, tearing his clothes up, some even cutting into him. Steven was hardly even given time to get up, as after one Bull knocked him down, there was another bull coming in and flipping him head over heels.
But even during all of this, Steven was still getting up, and trying to reach them.

"You two shouldn't be fighting -" *BAM!* "- s-she's suffering enough without this -" *BAM!* "- you got nothing to do with her -" *BAM!* "- s-so stop it!"

"Why won't he stay down?" Grogar thought. Even with at least five full grown bulls beating him to a pulp, Steven was still somehow finding the strength to get to his feet. But the more times Spinel watched Steven get beaten up, not only was she feeling more and more angry, but the more it seemed Steven wasn't finding as much strength to get back up. One point in particular: Steven got knocked down by another ram from a bull and sending him into the fountain, but the next bull, instead of just sending him flying with his horns, started to trample him underhoof. If this kept up …

Suddenly, Grogar was launched off of her with a punch-kick combo, sending him flying in the air, crashing through the fountain and into the wall of the middle platform. Spinel broke free of the magic, which broke up the ground actually.

"RAAAHHH!" Spinel yelled, going into a complete rage. Without giving a second thought, suddenly she started to spin like crazy, only her head locking in place, the rest of her body as if it was the body of a spinning top. Only a LOT more destructive. With lightning speed, Spinel rushed forward at them, striking the first bull with the strength of a cannonball, and knocking the bull over her own head. After that hit it was like a game of pinball: Spinel bouncing from one enemy to the next, sending them all flying all over the place. The bouncing only stopped with Grogar, whos' horns briefly stopped her from coming at him, but didn't remotely stop her spinning. She was spinning so fast and so hard, sparks were coming out!
This only lasted a little bit, as during her spinning, she actually opened her hand, and grabbed Grogar by the horns, sending the tyrannical Ram in a rapid spin. Spinel made sure he struck the building and pillars as she bolted around with him for a bit, before tossing him high into the sky, the ram slamming into the borders of the Garden before he fell to the ground.

"JUST SHUT YOUR TRAP!" Spinel yelled, "Now call of your thugs, get outta here, or I'll pummel you all so bad IT WON'T EVEN BE FUNNY!!!"

"Make me!" Grogar roared back. Spinel didn't give Grogar a chance to breathe as her arm stretched and grabbed him right then and there, forced him down, and Spinel just went to town on him with her fists like jackhammers on the old goat. Grogar tried over and over to do SOMETHING, but Spinel was just too fast for him to connect. At least when he faced the Diamonds, they were dumb enough to take their time with their attacks.

"Then stop stallin and DO IT!" Spinel demanded, holding Grogar by the collar and throwing him over towards the portal so he can go. Grogar, dazed and bruised up almost as bad as Steven thanks to Spinel, decided to just see himself out, and cut open his own portal away from Steven's location. The Bulls, shocked but ready to go, started heading out through Grogar's portal. One of them though Grogar stopped.

"Don't worry about that," the bull replied, before Grogar allowed him to go through. Grogar turned to Spinel and Steven.

As suddenly and abruptly as it began, it was all over. The Garden still got beaten up thanks to them, but Grogar and company were gone either way. Spinel felt the fire of her anger start to diminish, wearing her out, and she fell back down into a heap of her own arms again.
If not only for a little bit until she remembered what actually happened, and looking to Steven. He was SOMEHOW still alive, even finding his feet as he leaned against what remained of the fountain.

"Steven! You still here? Can you see good? H-How many touch stubs am I holding up?" Spinel asked after going over to him, her hand showing three to Steven's face so he could see (hopefully). Steven wasn't sure exactly what happened, being so beaten up he looked like he walked out of a wrestling ring, but he eventually smiled to Spinel.

"I'm glad you're alright, Spinel. … And I see three," Steven said softly. Spinel, pleased, gave a sigh of relief.

"Whoo boy, talk about out-of-nowhere," Spinel said, looking tired, "I guess Grogar's back now, huh?"

"I guess so. Come on, let's get back home. The others have gotta be worried by now, and I think they might want to know about this," Steven decided. Despite his injuries, he still stood up and readied to get back home.

"Eeehhh, you sure ya wanna do that? I mean you're not exactly up to scratch after that fight, and … I don't think the others will be exactly, incredibly thrilled to see me like this," Spinel said. Steven sighed.

"It's not like it can get any worse from here, right? We just have to talk to them."

"But I … I don't know. I did kinda screw up A LOT before I got reset," Spinel said, sitting back down by the fountain. She didn't know how to, not after she left them. Steven had at least some idea what she was talking about. After all, he only found this place even existed because he "screwed up a lot". Steven looked to his bruises and small cuts for a bit, then looked over to Spinel.

Someday … Somewhere … Somehow …
You'll love again …
You just need to find someone ...

Steven's gentle, soft voice carried the song along the quiet air, Spinel quietly turned away from him, though she no longer was feeling sad, or angry, or … well, anything. All that raw emotion earlier had just worn her out, to the point when all she could feel now was being tired. Steven gently brought his hand out for her. …

Spinel; Someday … Somewhere … Somehow …
I'll love again …
I just need to find someone ...

Spinel found herself, and Steven standing up now, her hand holding onto his. It was a quiet moment for them both, Gem and Human beginning to make their way back towards the portal. It was still left open by the stone left behind, some now even blowing in from outside back on Earth to coat the ground in white. The portal back home.

Steven; Someone … who treats you better …

Spinel; Someone who wants me around …

Both; Someday. Somewhere. Somehow.
You're gonna feel … fine …

Steven was happy to show her the way. Spinel paused for a brief moment, seeing Steven standing right by the door, opening it wide and inviting her back with a simple gesture and a sweet smile. Even after what she did, and after everything, he was still giving her a chance.

Spinel; Today … right here … right now …
I've already feel … found.

My Little Universe II

by EquestrianKirin

Tricky Game