//------------------------------//
// Big Bear Rodeo 
// Story: Now what? 
// by Silver Butcher 
//------------------------------//

Bismuth was hard at work, having set up the new flight entrance on the second floor of the barn and finished repairing the Spinal shaped hole in the ceiling she was now in the process of installing door hinges while Applejack lent a hoof and secured her a door that matched the rest of the aesthetic of the barn.
The Sound of laughter could be heard inside as Spinel and Peridot joined together for a rare moment of watching Camp Pining hearts without arguing over who was playing who.
"Honestly," Bismuth muttered as she shook her head and reflected on her stance of the camp counselors being the masterminds, "The show's just badly written and we're trying to fill in the plot holes with our own personal theories," Bizmuth thought on the idea for a moment before shrugging "Eh, at least it's fun," Bismuth took a step back to admire the now fully installed Door hinge before turning her attention instead to where she was planning to make the outside dining area.
A line had been drawn in the dirt to mark where she would install the fence. "A small metal fence would probably work best," She decided after a moment "Mostly just there for the aesthetics, as for the actual eating area I think I'll dig about half a meter into the ground and fill it in with cement for a lovely Concrete Patio to place the table and chairs on, maybe a smaller area so we can set up a grill so we can try some of those...what were they called? Hay-burgers maybe?"
As Bismuth waited for Applejack to return with the door by trying to plan out the outside area fully Spinel bounded out of the barn, with Peridot having gone off to spend some time on her tablet. Spinel Took a big sip from her soda cup before just eating the entire container to avoid having to carry the empty cup to the slightly out-of-her-way trash bin.
"Ah, now where's my girl Lapis?"
"I'm not your girl," Lapis called out from above, Spinel looked up and saw Lapis flying in the air trying to master the art of commanding clouds with limited success.
"Not what I meant, but since we're now on that subject," Spinel extended her legs and shot up to the same elevation as Lapis before stretching her neck out to Lapis so as to speak to her without the need to shout "Admit it, even though it hasn't been all that long your waters just boiling to become Iolite again,"
"Not even a little," Lapis said in a calm tone, Spinel's smile only grew wider at the words "What?"
"Your face is practically glowing red," Spinel informed. The Two stared at one another for a moment before Lapis turned her wings into hands and used them to grab Spinel and slam her into the ground. "You can Lie but your face can't," Spinel managed to say before hitting the ground. Spinel pulled herself back together as Lapis began walking down the dirt road and Spinel bounced after her. "Come on, just a quicky?" Spinel stuck her tongue out and it was in turn grabbed by Lapis, her face now redder.
"Never. Say. That. Again," Lapis demanded before letting go and continuing down the road "Come on, it's clear your just gonna follow me around all day so let's at least go to Sugar cube corner and eat our weight in sugar,"
"Oh Lapis, you do know you're supposed to take me out on a date before the fun not after right?"
"Shut up," Lapis shot back "Stop trying to make something out of nothing,"
"I was all up in your head Lapis, I'm trying to make something out of something!" Spinel spun around Lapis as she spoke "Admit it, you're interested in my unique physic," Spinel spun her arms around into a tight spring before letting them spin at high speeds, kicking up a cloud of dirt as she did so "It's alright you can stare I don't mind,"
"How about we talk about this later," Lapis offered.
"Alright," Spinel said as she shot her head forward and pressed her cheek against Lapises "How about tonight, under the stars, with a picnic of Popcorn and Soda?"
"How about you drop the subject and we talk when I feel like talking?" Lapis counter offered.
"Hey whatever works," Spinel replied with a shrug. "We talk later and I've already secured a second date,"
"You need to have had a first date for there to be a second genius,"
"I know, good thing we're going on one now right?" Lapis glared at Spinel, who just slid to a stop, wiggling her eyebrows at Lapis with a smug smirk.
"It's not a date," Lapis said sternly as she tried to stamp out Spinel's passion.
"Oh? So you're going to be paying your half of the bill then?" Spinel stood her ground smugly as Lapis came to a halt, the two had a long stare down before Lapis turn away with a huff.
"I don't have any money," She mumbled in defeat.
"Oh, so what I'm hearing is you want your Sugar Mama to sweep in and buy you some sweets?" Lapis groaned as Spinel bounced forward to be at her side. "Come along my dear Tsunami Lapis,"
"Tsuna....what?" Lapis turned to Spinel with great offense only to find she had started bouncing ahead of her. Lapis took flight and flew after Spinel.
"What? You're a mighty wall of water," Spinel chuckled as she left a large crater in her wake and turned into a pink wheel as she cartwheeled at high speeds to Sugar Cube Corner with Lapis in tow.
"Never call me that again," Lapis called out angrily as Spinel shot off into the distance.
Spinel easily outpaced Lapis, and Lapis in turn decided to hang back to let herself cool off and get rid of the red on her cheeks. Spinel Laughed as she Spun into town, having too much fun in what she mistook for Lapis trying to catch her to pay much attention to the road. At high speeds Spinel hit a wall of fur face first, her arms shot out and she wrapped around it before looking up to see she had landed face first both with her own face and with the creature's face.
"It's a Bear," She noted before it raised to its full height "A very big bear," She amended as she slunk down and hung around its neck like a tie before it shot into the air, angrily roaring at her as it took flight "A very big flying bear," She amended one final time before tightening her grip as it began rolling around in the air in an attempt to be rid of her. As Spinel and the Bug Bear flew in the air Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie arrived on the scene.
"Word has it another Bug Bear is on a rampage," Rainbow said as she led her friends to the Monster's last reported location.
"Fluttershy said those Lumber Ponies are intruding on their breeding grounds," Pinkie called out. Twilight stood at the front of the group, ready to take the fight to the bear, only for her to hear a very recognizable voice scream out as it slammed into the ground.
"This is worse than that time Applejack killed me," Spinel noted, her eyes bouncing around in their sockets as she desperately tried to remove herself from the bear, only to cry out in outrage "You idiot you knotted my arms around your neck," The Bug Bear began violently flailing to the alarm of his new necktie Spinel "Heel, you're gonna choke yourself out with my arms if you keep doing that," as Spinel attempted to remain with a wild animal Twilight simply shook her head.
"What a surprise, the pink monsoon returns, and this time she's brought a bear,"
"What kind of nickname is Pink Monsoon?" Spinel demanded angrily "Also this guy was already here before I got here, I just body-checked him and now we're all tangled up," The Bug Bear continued violently shaking Spinel around and she called out "Someone unknot my arms before I become a murder weapon," The Bug Bear began violently rolling around with Spinel trying with all her might to get enough of a foothold to elongate her arms and pull the knot out from around the Bug Bears neck. Twilight lit her horn and tried to hold the large creature in place only for it to force its way through the magic.
"I hate the big ones," She muttered angrily "They move too spatially to reliably contain," Rainbow Dash took the scenic route as Twilight tried to think of a good way to hold the bear down, Rainbow latched onto the back of the bear's neck and started biting at the knot.
"Can't we just pop you?" Rainbow called out.
"You pop me and I'm popping you in the face," Spinel shot back "Dying hurts,"
"Between the two of you the Bear can walk it off way less easily than you could," Rainbow countered "Heck I'll let you pop me one if it means we can end this faster," Before Spinel could agree to her own murder a pair of water fists grabbed the Bug Bear and suplexed it and all it's riders. With the Bear temporarily contained Spinel flipped herself over into a sitting position and looked up at Lapis, who just looked frustrated.
"Why?" Lapis requested of Spinel "Just...why?"
"I found a bear," Spinel replied helpfully "A very big flying bear,"
"How did you go from a date with me to wrestling a bear?" Lapis demanded, adding more detail in the hope for a better answer from Spinel "I left your side for three minutes at best,"
"It was in the road," Spinel replied as she tried to untie her arms only to realize the bear was the wrong way up for her to slide out from around its neck "Hold up, I gotta untangle my arms," Spinel tried lifting her arms up only to be grabbed by Lapis who sighed.
"I don't trust you not to make this more difficult than it needed to be so-" Lapis put her arms around Spinel's waist and picked her up, spinning a little and wrapping herself in her arms, Spinel put her forehead against Lapis's in response and the two turned into pure light.
Twilight rushed to Rainbow's side, Pinkie was following them but came to a halt when she saw Spinel turn to light, her eyes grew wider and she grinned from ear to ear.
"Ow," Rainbow decided as she lay on her back and also spied the glowing arms turn to light and pull themselves back in, "Who killed Spinel?" She pondered in confusion as Twilight helped her to her hooves only for Pinkie to slide in and grab the both of them with excitement.
"It's Iolite," Pinkie cheered, Twilight was about to ask what Pinkie was talking about when the Bug Bear was lifted up by a Giant of a Gem, she just stared at it dumbfounded as it easily threw the Bug Bear into the horizon, leaving in unconscious in the grassy area just outside of Ponyville.
"Why Hello again," Iolite greeted Pinkie "You seem excited to see little old me," Iolite snickered "Welp, sorry wish I could stay but I was just here to untie Spinel so," Iolite shrugged and Split back into her two component Gems. Lapis stood red-faced as she held Spinel in her arms, who chuckled as Lapis took a deep breath and chose to ignore the ponies and walked to Sugarcube Corner
"Hey Pinkie," Spinel called out "We're on a date come and be our waitress!"
"No we're not," Lapis called back before quickly adding "But do come be our server I can't handle new people and Spinel at the same time,"