//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: A New Start // Story: A Princess’s New Playmate: A MLP/Steven Universe Crossover // by Lord Shadow Eclipse //------------------------------// A girl named Jessica was putting the final touches on her Spinel cosplay. She was applying the tear streaks to her face to give herself the tragic villain look. She put down her applicator and looked at herself in the tall mirror that hung from her bedroom door. Her costume was perfect. Jessica dyed her hair the same color as her "Steven Universe" character and tied her hair into Spinel's twin pigtails. She even made her pigtails spiky to give herself that unhinged look. She painted her face, arms, and legs pink. Jessica was able to stitch her own Spinel costume by hand. "I have to remember to thank Grandma for teaching me how to sew", Jessica thought to herself. She was even able to get Spinel's shoes and gloves down-pat. As for Spinel's Gem, she simply made a paper version which she then glued to her chest. Jessica had wanted Spinel's Rejuvenator so she got a long stick and made the blade out of cardboard. When she looked at herself in the mirror, she was absolutely delighted to see herself as her favorite Gem. There was just something about Spinel that she loved more than the other Gems on the show. Was it her quirky, Harley Quinn-like personality, her tragic past that made her a more sympathetic villain, her jester-like appearance, her rubber-hose style of movement and fighting? Jessica decided to go with a simple "all-of-the-above" and leave it at that. One thing she loved about her cosplay is that she looked just as skinny as Spinel. Jessica was known at school for being quite skinny. She wasn't as buxom as some of the other girls, but she was content with herself, so she didn't care one bit. Jessica then left with her fake Rejuvenator and sat on the couch, waiting for her friend Amy to pick her up. Amy was Jessica's best friend and wanted to accompany her to the Comic-Con they all got prepared for. Amy wanted to hop on Jessica's "Steven Universe" train and wanted to cosplay as her favorite Gem, since they were both fans of the show. Amy was going to go as Peridot, the small and geeky one of the bunch. Jessica had actually noticed how similar Amy was to Peridot in terms of their personalities. Both Amy and Peridot were quite smart and didn't really like other people touching their stuff. Amy even had Peridot's habit of calling people "clods". They both don't pick up on social cues very well and tended to be loners, unless they were hanging out with people that they trust. Both were also quite short, with Amy only coming up to Jessica's chest. Jessica looked up what "clod" meant and apparently, not only doe the word actually exist, but it means "a lump of earth or clay". Jessica guessed that the word would be quite an insult to Gemkind. Eventually, there was a knock on Jessica's door. Jessica opened the door and was greeted by a familiar-looking green Gem. They both smiled and gave each other a hug. "Wow, Amy! You look great! I see you pit in about as much effort into your costume as I did.", Jessica said after getting a good look at the Peridot lookalike before her. The fake Peridot smiled. "You look amazing as Spinel. Your hair actually looks better in that style. It would definitely make stand out at school.", Amy said. "No. I'm not interested in popularity. Besides, most of the popular kids are clods, anyway, right?", Jessica asked with a smile. "True. Compared to us and our good grades, those clods would be lucky to even work for us, someday.", Amy said with no small amount of pride. Amy then did the Diamond salute. "For the Gem Empire!". Jessica repeated the salute. "For the Gem Empire!". The two fake Gems then went to Amy's car and drove to Comic Con. To say that Comic Con was impressive would be an understatement. The place was pack with all kinds of booths, showing off whatever cool merch the vendors were selling. There were comics, DVD's, manga, figurines, and cosplay props being sold at every one of these booths. Jessica and Amy were very impressed with all the different costumes people were wearing. People came to this dressed up as their favorite cartoon or anime characters. Sure, some came that weren't dressed up, but that was fine. Jessica and Amy were genuinely surprised at how many people came dressed up as "Steven Universe" characters. They saw Steven, Pearl, Amethyst, Garnet, Ruby, Sapphire, one of the Diamonds, Lapis Lazuli, even one dressed up as Jasper. "It's a good thing that we're not the only Gems here. I would have been really embarrassed if we were.", Jessica said with a sigh of relief. "Yeah. We probably would've looked like real clods. So I'm happy that more people enjoy 'Steven Universe' as much as we do.", Amy replied. After a bit of wandering, Amy spoke up. "I have to go use the bathroom. Can you just hang around the nearby booths until I come back?" "Sure thing. I'll wait by the booths by the restroom. Don't fall in when you get there!", Jessica said, joking about Amy's height. Amy gave her a dry look. "Ha. That was so funny, I forgot what laughing was.", Amy said sarcastically. Amy left for the restroom. Jessica was waiting by the booths when she noticed one booth, in particular. It didn't have a sign advertising what they were selling. Speaking of what they were selling, it seemed to be random cosplay props of all kinds. There were weapons, fake artifacts, masks, even fake animal ears and tails. The merch was also not neatly categorized; instead it seemed to just lay in a random pile on the table. As for the vendor, he was a bit odd-looking: the vendor had a long black coat, a black hat, and Coke-bottle glasses that perfectly hid his eyes. The vendor also possessed a wide grin that was somehow beckoning her to come closer. Jessica went up to the vendor to see what exactly he was selling. She didn't see anything that stood out to her until she passed a small case he had placed on the table in front of her. The case was filled with various gemstones. Jessica thought that they were fake gems at first, but somehow they looked like real gems. Jessica's eyes fell on one gem that stood out to her more than the others: a pink spinel cut into the shape of a heart. The same shape as the character Spinel's Gem! Jessica looked to the mysterious vendor. "How did you get a gem like that?", Jessica asked with keen interest. The vendor looked at her with a raised eyebrow and a sly grin. "First of all, most people call me 'The Merchant'. Secondly, are you interested? I can give you a decent price for it.", the Merchant offered. Jessica seemed to consider the potential cost of a real gem. "I think that this gem may be an entire solar system outside my price range.". "Don't worry, dear. In fact, since your Spinel costume is so well-made, I'll give you the spinel gem for only fifty bucks!", the Merchant haggled. Jessica's eyes were as wide as moons. "How can this Merchant sell a gem like this for so cheap? Shut up! Don't question it! This will be way better than this paper one. I better take advantage of this offer.", Jessica thought. She looked at the Merchant's glasses and spoke with a clear voice. "I'll take it.". Jessica reached into her pocket and pulled out the fifty bucks needed to pay for the possibly-real spinel. She handed it to the Merchant who took it with an all-too-wide grin. "Thank you so much, dear.", the Merchant said after handing Jessica the gem. As Jessica was walking away, she heard the Merchant whisper, "Have a nice new life in your new home world!". Jessica wasn't sure what he meant, but decided to ignore it. Suddenly, the gem started to give off a blinding light. The light made Jessica fall to the floor and hit her head. As she was losing consciousness, she started to feel her body changing. It started to feel like she wasn't solid mass, anymore. There was a pulling motion, too, like her body was moving somewhere on its own. What was even more bizarre was the feeling that she was losing her memories along with her body. Everything in her mind was slipping away until there was nothing. After that, there was nothing but darkness.