Lars would never admit to having feelings for Sadie, nor would he ever admit that he squealed at the sight of the adorable ponies. He was a strange tall lanky teen with large earlobes that had equally large holes in them, a curly of brown hair with an orange tint to it all at the center at the top of his head. He would generally be rude, but the sight before him was a little hard to call dumb in his view. Fluttershy still had quite the positive effect on people even when she didn’t notice it herself to appreciate the fact.
Bonnie swaggered up to the counter and ordered a jelly filled doughnut just to see how Soft would react to it. It took a bit of doing and Fluttershy biting into a second one before Soft would actually bite into her doughnut after sniffing at the filling on Fluttershy’s face. The alien experiment had already paid for both so it was okay for them to eat.
It was entirely cute that Soft drained the doughnut entirely of its filling before she took to eating the doughnut normally as she saw Fluttershy doing. She liked the doughnut well enough after draining the filling out of it entirely with her fangs, it took a while because the jelly was more syrupy then Soft was used too. If she was a good bat pony thing, then Bonnie my buy a fruit flavored popsicle for her just to see what would happen when Soft tried to suck that up.
“So is she a vampire or something, she’s kind of cool.” Lars for once didn’t care if they looked girly; the thought of the pony being a vampire was rather wicked cool to him.
“She’s a fruit vampire and unlike stories about actual vampires, which actually do exist by the way, she’ll only suck the juice out fruits as far as we can tell.” Noticing she was being stared at Foxglove decide to cut them off before they asked the obvious. “Before you ask, no, I’m not a vampire bat nor do any of us drink blood. The closest would be Fluttershy being able to eat fish and obviously her daughter having that ability as well, they can’t eat any other kind of meat aside from seafood.”
“It’s a good thing we’re going to a place that specifically caters to seafood related pizza then, they make this weird fish pepperoni. We should be sure to tell the Pizza’s that you can’t handle most kinds of meat.” After a moment Connie had a thought and decided to voice it. “I wonder if the family legally had their last name as Pizza before they opened the restaurant or did they change it after they moved here?”
“We need two boxes of doughnuts one of them filled with the assorted berry filled kind and the other with a dozen tiger tails with cinnamon and apple chunks.” Bonnie turned to Fluttershy to see if she had an angry expression on her face, but sighed when Fluttershy just flatly stared at her. “They’re just twisted up doughnuts and in no way were tigers harmed in the making of them.”
Fluttershy watched as Sadie went about making a fresh batch of tiger tails and they did look like striped tails. She was eventually going to bring this nifty little pastry idea back to equestrian to see what Pinkie’s version would be like, obviously powdered sugar would be involved. Maybe she should get a bit of alien fashion for Rarity to look over, a book for Twilight, some flashy for Rainbow and apple seeds from an alien planet for Applejack since earth had apples. She wondered if her taste for apples was still going to be slightly above normal, she’d have to find out later by eating one of the tiger tails.
“Right, do you need anything else?” Sadie liked these customers; she didn’t know whether or not they’d be sticking around, she’d just enjoy them while they’re her. She was a short blond woman who was quite tough despite her size who found enjoyment in the simpler things in life.
“Yeah, do you have a small carrot cake? We’re going to cheer up Steven and the news we have to deliver will perk him right up, he hasn’t been eating much lately has he?” Looking into the older woman’s eyes Connie could see she also felt hurt over Steven’s current mood and looking to Lars he had a slight frown on his face. “Why don’t you two join us, you’re officially invited to the party we’ll be having.”
“If the doughnuts are really good, we’ll need some for the road so to speak when it comes time for us to leave. So how much is all this?” Bonnie asked this as soon as Sadie had the cake sitting on the counter, she had the wallet out and she was actually going to legally spend the money she had on this stuff. It didn’t really bother her nearly as much as she thought it would have. She paid the appropriate amount and she had plenty of money leftover since those gear heads back on the road were carrying at least several hundred dollars each. She made sure beforehand and definitely for certain that the money wasn’t counterfeit before paying with it.
“Well I guess we can close the store down to take a lunch break, Steven has spent enough time moping around and I think it’s high time we helped him out of his funk Lars.” Sadie turned to someone she wouldn’t mind asking her out on a date. She knew Lars was lazy, but he was also shy and rather sensitive which explains his rude behavior and Steven was right about him having a good heart in him somewhere. If only he didn’t have anxiety issues, then they’d be a lot closer to each other.
“Sure whatever; just give us some time to close up.” Lars acted nonchalant, about as nonchalant as one could act with all the strange beings that could speak their language in the room. Not to mention they paid for stuff in American currency. Lars thought of how Ronaldo, someone who was his old friend, would have had a field day with all these guys if he knew they were here. He wouldn’t tell Ronaldo about them. In particular, Lars didn’t feel like subjecting Fluttershy and her daughter to that nut even if they were magical or alien in nature.
In all it was business as usual in Beach City, where a lot of people ignored the obvious weirdness of the group Connie was leading over towards Fish Stew Pizza.
-
The people of Beach City were too used to strange things really to raise an alarm over a little visitation by strange creatures; even the people that moved to Beach City quickly learned to just ignore the overly mystical or magical things going on. Who would believe them anyway and why bother overreacting? They went with the flow easily enough and just let things be. They’d cross a bridge if they became personally involved the happenings around Beach City, which wasn’t often thanks to the crystal gems protecting them. It was a quiet city, with little to no crime whatsoever and the mayor really didn’t do much aside from keep things running smoothly.
-
Connie led the group to the front of the pizza restaurant and that was when Fluttershy and friends got their first glimpse of Steven. He was a chubby little kid wearing a red shirt with a yellow five point star on it that had Roller concerned for his life given what the usual symbolism of death for his species was. Steven also wore pants with rolled up legs and sandals to complete the outfit. He didn’t even acknowledge Connie’s approach until he noticed the strange band of beings with her.
“Hi Connie, so did you actually get into a magical school in Europe and now have to move away so you can learn magic?” The depressive mood Steven seemed to be in was kind of downer as they approached. He sounded much worse when he talked of Connie moving away and was still upset about Pearl being missing and not hearing a word from her in so long.
“No, I have some news that you’ll really want to hear and… hey, where’s Bonnie?” Connie noticed the green alien was missing and saw that she wwas already inside the restaurant talking to the Pizza’s. “Come on Steven, I swear by the time lunch ends you’ll be telling Garnet and Amethyst all about this.”
Connie turned back to Fluttershy who shrugged at her while holding two box loads of doughnuts under a wing in a bag that Soft Echo pawed at with a hoof. Soft obviously wanted more jelly filled doughnuts.
“No my little Soft, we’re about to eat lunch. You can have one after we’re done with our meal.” Fluttershy’s nuzzling affection made Soft purr slightly and she gave up on getting at the sack with the two doughnut boxes in it in a shy manner. It reminded Fluttershy of herself at that age and that was why she named her Soft Echo, because Soft was a magically created if slightly warped echo of her. Besides being fitting she felt really soft and acted in a manner befitting of a kind hearted nature in the future.
They went into the restaurant where led to a table for a party of eight that was already being set up.
-
Fluttershy logically understood that having some vampire fruit bat in her, Soft would need a relatively sugar heavy diet from all the fruits she would consume in the future. There was a mental note to never leave Soft Echo alone around Applejack’s orchard, especially when she was hungry. While Soft didn’t have hypoglycemia, it would be a fair bet that she would act like she did if she went too long without a piece of fruit given she had a vampire fruit bats diet which was likely added on top of a ponies natural dietary habits as well. It would explain why Soft was always so hungry and since she was recently born she needed a lot of nutrients to catch up with her body suddenly existing.
The medical tomatoes from Janet Rhizome really helped out in the endeavor of feeding Soft, but she had already eaten through a large amount of what Fluttershy had on Head Hunter all by herself. So Fluttershy would need a lot of jams and preservatives as part of Soft’s diet plan in the future, she blankly wondered if her friends knew about Soft Echo yet.
Bringing her attention back to the table they were all seated at, Fluttershy was introduced to the Pizza family. It was discussed what would be on the two large pizza’s Bonnie was paying for. It was nice of her to pay for lunch, even if she was using money she had recently stolen. She and Bonnie were going to have a large discussion when her emotions fully came back, which would be about another day or tomorrow morning at the earliest convenience.
The two pizza’s were decided on, a pizza with pineapple and fish toppings on it and a pizza with traditional meat and veggies that are more normally seen on regular pizza.
“So what is it that you have to tell me Connie and why are they here?” Steven just sat his chin on the table; his mood was still at an all time low.
“Okay Fluttershy, tell him the message you delivered to me!” Excitedly Connie turned to Fluttershy since she was the one that said she’d deliver the message and deliver she would.
“Dear, Garnet, Amethyst, Steven, Connie and Greg. Don’t worry about me, I’m still alive and I’m likely bringing home souvenirs from my vacation, love Pearl the crystal gem.” Of course Fluttershy was paraphrasing Pearls message, even with a blank tone it didn’t stop every human other than Connie from looking at her wide eyed. Steven just stared at Fluttershy for a moment before a cheerful wide smile made its way onto his face. Fluttershy smiled slightly as she was given a grateful hug, happiness was an emotion she didn’t mind at the moment. “P. S. I miss you too.”
“She’s alive? I think I can understand why you didn’t tell me now Connie, why that’s the best kind of news in the whole world!” That message had even made Greg’s day, but more importantly it made Stevens and brought him out of his bad funk. He stood up as someone who was introduced as Kiki Pizza brought their pizza to the table. “We should… oh, we already are celebrating. I’m sure you’ll tell Amethyst and Garnet all about how you got a message from Pearl. Where is she and where did she end up?”
“I’ll call a printing company to make the pamphlet for you Fluttershy.” Bonnie said wryly while shaking her head.
The explanation was shared over around of delicious pizza, Soft somehow managed to suck the tomato sauce entirely out of a pizza slice before eating it. It took her a bit to get at the chunks of pineapple, she eventually figured out with Fluttershy’s gentle coaxing that the easier way was to eat it was altogether.
Lunch was a time of happiness and merriment, Steven’s sudden good mood brightened the room up by five levels on his own. It was amazing to Steven that Pearl would be coming home from a pony planet somewhere in the universe and she’d be brought back by a mystical space being known as a star nomad.
That wasn’t the end of the good news, if they went to sleep next to each other sometime tonight they’d be able to communicate to Pearl in their dreams directly through Fluttershy’s lunar princess. Steven could hardly wait to talk to Pearl and he just knew that Amethyst and Garnet would want to too; he always wanted to meet a princess.
“So what caused her to end up on Equus, I don’t think it was an accident considering it was a planet once visited by the crystal gems.” The observation quieted everyone as they turned to Bonnie. “Pearl and Sweet Cheeks have a running theory that Sweet Cheeks planet did to protect itself from crystal gems that were invading it.”
“Well it involves this mean crystal gem who was with another mean crystal gem that’s currently being held at the bottom of the ocean… by a friend.” Started Steven slowly as he was too happy with Pearl still being alive to be upset at retelling the story of how she ended up missing. Connie reached over and grabbed his shoulder; he smiled at her and continued on. “Pearl had learned how to tracked Peridot, that’s the mean crystal gems name, Pearl was in the middle of using one of the warp pad things we use to go all over the place. It was destroyed by Peridot when Pearl was in the middle of activating it, when we didn’t hear from her after that we thought she was gone when we couldn’t find her after that.”
Steven obviously loved Pearl as if she were an aunt or a mother, she was always there for him when he needed her and she did a lot of the chores around the house. Without Pearl around it was up to the other two gems to pick up the slack with protecting the world from crystal gem related danger and doing all the household chores. The other two gems Garnet and Amethyst were spoken highly of by the humans at the table, even the tight lipped Lars had some nice things to say.
After finishing off the pizza, Soft Echo perked up when she noticed the doughnut boxes being brought out of the sack. She was still hungry and two doughnuts were placed before her, one tiger tail and the other a jelly filled doughnut. Curiously she went for the tiger tail first after sniffing it; she actually ate it normally instead of trying to suck the small bits of fruit out of it. She was learning already and the world around her might have been big and scary, but with her mommy nearby she knew she was safe.
Soft Echo rubbed at her head with a hoof as a small wad of information filtered throughout her head. There were no memories to put them to though, even as she now understood the world around her a little bit better. She now knew her mother’s name, what she had eaten and the general colors of the things she saw and numbers. At least Fluttershy wouldn’t have to teach her those things… mommy was smart, beautiful and loved by many. She wanted another jelly filled doughnut and nuzzled Fluttershy while telling her so in bat squeaks.
Soft Echo wouldn’t be having any nightmares about metal monsters or the other things Fluttershy has been through, but she would eventually have a lot of subconscious knowledge surrounding animal care.
-
Lars and Sadie were back off to work after a slice of cake, Greg had other things to do and this left Steven and his best friend among a group of strange beings alone outside the pizzeria after a great meal.
“Oh right, I have to tell Amethyst and Garnet about you guys!” Motioning for the visitors to follow, Steven would lead the travelers to his home which was at the bottom of the cliff of which a lighthouse sat upon. As they followed Steven onto the beach, they saw a large statue that looked like it had four arms, however closer inspection would show that there were two other arms that were acting as a foundation for the house sitting at the base of the statue. “That’s my home, welcome to the crystal gem temple!”
A pink lion ran up to them and looked at Steven. He then curiously sniffed Foxglove tickling her a bit, he immediately licked Fluttershy when he got close to her and just nuzzled Soft Echo affectionately next. When he got to Bonnie he just growled slightly. The large lion with the heart shaped nose didn’t do much more besides go back to lying down in the sand, but it sent a stare at Bonnie that was quite an obvious warning.
“I think that lion knows way too much.” It was obvious to anyone that something was odd about that animal aside from its pink fur and it’s obviously magical nature. The fact that it knew she was something to be wary around meant he was quite intelligent. “I might even say that he has something against me, even if I haven’t done anything yet.”
“What are you talking about? Lion’s just a big softie, if he thinks all of you are alright then you’ve got nothing to worry about.” At least Steven thought that, he was pretty sure Lion was a great judge of character. Though he didn’t know why he treated Bonnie different, she seemed nice enough to him.
“Amethyst, Garnet, you’ll never believe what I just heard!” Running into the house ahead of everyone, the joyful Steven attracted the attention of the two beings currently in resident.
One was a bewildered sturdy morose looking purple skinned humanoid lying on the couch; she was obviously one of the two crystal gems that lived there. To the left of the entrance a tall strong looking dark skinned lady wearing sunglasses stood up from her position of sitting on the steps and seemed a bit perplexed at seeing Steven being so happy.
“Steven... what has gotten you so…” The tall woman was about to ask what was making Steven so happy, when she grunted and held a hand to her afro covered head. She muttered under her breath. “Something is very wrong.”
“You’ll never guess what I heard, come on in guys and make yourself at home. That’s Amethyst and this is Garnet.” Into the home piled the strange beings that attracted the attention of the two named gems. “These guys appeared at Connie’s house and they say Pearl is coming back, though it’ll be a while. She ended up on another planet and she’s playing with magical ponies!”
“Hello Garnet, hello Amethyst I’m Fluttershy.” After introductions were had all around and a big of information from Fluttershy about Pearls continued exist, Garnet looked around at everyone oddly before standing up.
“Excuse me everyone, I need to go and clear my head. This is good news, I’m glad to know that Pearl is doing alright.” With that Garnet left the house and as she walked away she voiced a thought, one that only Lion heard and reacted to with fright. “Why can I no longer see the future?”
-
“Whoa, it’s so awesome that Pearl survived! So you say you’re here for the night so Steven can talk to Pearl while you sleep? I want in on that, I want to talk to Pearl too!” Amethyst felt like a weight had been lifted off of her since she saw a happy Steven come in and with the knowledge that Pearl didn’t perish to boot. She even felt like snacking again, one of the things crystal gems didn’t need to do and yet she got enjoyment and extra energy out of it.
They spent a lot of time telling stories after that. Amethyst learned that she had something in common with Bonnie in being made. They had all learned that Foxglove was quite musically inclined and had wonderful singing voice that could match Fluttershy in its angelic sounding tones and also had quite a few tales of the Rescue Rangers to share. Fluttershy’s journey was the most amazing story yet as she talked of all the alien races she had come across. That was followed by Bonnie’s tales of misadventure as a free spirit. Even Roller had his own stories about going fast and his life growing up that lasted well into the evening.
After a quick dinner, Steven pushed several mattresses together in the middle of the living room along with all the cushions in the house to make a makeshift bed they could all share together. It was so Fluttershy could comfortably act as a dream conduit. Everyone but Bonnie slowly snuggled together and went to sleep, Garnet had yet to return and Bonnie left the house to enjoy the beach in peace.
-
“It’s a thing of beauty, the horizon.” As always Bonnie looked to the horizon when she sat down in the sand, she was soon joined by Lion who sat down next to her without a word. They sat there looking at the stars together for a while. Eventually Lion left her as he came, in peace.
Sometime later that night Bonnie saw a red hat with a large yellow M on it come sloshing onto the shore. Curiously when she picked it up, she found that it was strangely dry despite having been floating in the sea. This was a mystery she would deal with later tomorrow, it was about time she joined the others and snuggled Fluttershy’s rump.