Steven stood on brilliant white bricks, while Pearl looked down at him with a frown. Her left hand was currently holding a sword, which was being swung at a Holo-Pearl, that blocked every attack. "This isn't one of your ridiculous movies! This is real sword fighting!" Pearl said, with obvious frustration. Garnet and Amethyst watched from a distance, and if they had been closer then maybe, just maybe they would have noticed the quick sparkle in the Holo-Pearl's eyes. "It's about having patience, and waiting for the..." Pearl was cut off as the Holo-Pearl avoided her next attack, and quickly stabbed Pearl through her head, causing her sword to drop, and her gem to shatter.
Steven gasped, before shouting as loud as his voice would allow "PEARL!" Pearl gave no response as her body instantly vanished, and the shards of her gem fell onto the stone below.
Steven shot awake, sitting up right away, covered in a cold sweat. "Steven?" He heard Connie tiredly ask, she sat up in her own bed, and faced him with her eyes still closed. "Are you all right? You seem kind of... Tense..." Connie muttered, and Steven quickly nodded.
"Perfectly fine...! I mean, its not like I had a nightmare or anything!" Steven said, despite his own attempts to remain calm. Connie was too tired to realize this however, having just woken up.
"Oh... All right... I'm gonna lie back down, wake me when its morning..." Connie said, but Steven began to giggle. "What? Whats so funny?"
"It already is morning, look." Steven said, yanking the curtains away from the windows, allowing sunlight to flow in. This began to make Connie feel more awake, and she rose onto her feet with loud yawn. "Wanna go get some breakfast?" Steven asked and Connie nodded, before the two rushed out to find the kitchen. Much to their surprise they were already near and could smell frying eggs and cooking toast. They pushed the door open and saw Spike was standing on a stool to reach the stove, while cooking all of the delicious smelling food.
"Mornin' Steven, mornin' Connie." Spike said, before asking "You two want some eggs and toast?" They both nodded, and Spike turned back to the cooking food, before placing some on a few plates.
"I didn't know you could cook. " Connie said, taking one of the plates, while Steven did the same.
"Yep, just follow me to the dining room, everypony else is up." Spike replied, but that raised a question from Steven.
"Every...Pony?" Steven asked, and Spike nodded. "That must be your version of 'everybody'." Steven commented, before he and Connie joined them in eating.
Steven pulled his shirt down over his gem, and exited the bathroom, now dressed and ready to start to the day, he knew what was planned for the next several hours. He and Connie would be exploring the castle and trying to make a map of the place, for future reference of course. He had all the necessary tools and equipment: A large piece of paper, a pencil, a variety of markers, and Lion. Now all Steven had to do was wait for Connie, which should be fairly short. He had failed to notice however that she was sneaking up on a him and once she was behind him poked his side, which made him burst into laughter as she continued to poke at him. They fell silent when a guard moved by, staring at them with suspicion, until he noticed Lion, who stared back. The guard quickened his pace and left.
"Well, you ready to explore?" Steven asked, and received a nod from Connie. They climbed onto Lion's back and began their exploration.
Half an hour. That's all it took to explore this entire castle, they'd mapped it out, they'd searched every little nook and cranny, and it only took them half an hour... Although they suppose that was for the best, especially when Twilight said they had a surprise for them. It hadn't taken long to get to her, and he was instantly given instructions.
"We need you to call your friends... Er... I suppose I should be calling them the Crystal Gems." Twilight said, and Steven pulled the Communication Device out from his pocket, before his gem started to glow and the Device activated. They saw nothing, until Garnet stepped into view.
"Sorry, we weren't expecting you to call so early. We've been out all night." Garnet explained.
"What for?" Rainbow Dash asked, and Garnet grinned.
"Hunting." Garnet replied, and this made the ponies cringe.
"Hunting what?" Steven asked, and before Garnet could answer, Amethyst jumped in front of her and began to whisper.
"Be vewy, vewy quiet. We're hunting Pewidots..." She burst into laughter before saying "Peridot doesn't know what's coming for her!"
Rarity seemed shocked about this. "You mean another Gem? I thought you said you four were the only Gems on Earth." She said, and Garnet shook her head.
"Not since Peridot arrived, and not to mention now we've got an angry fusion trapped in the ocean." Garnet said, and this was who the ponies assumed was 'Malachite'.
"So where's Pearl?" Steven asked, and Garnet shrugged.
"You don't know?" Connie questioned, and Garnet nodded.
"She said something about going into town, I think to tell Greg where you are." Amethyst replied.
"I don't think he'll take it well... Considering he finds all of this strange already." Garnet added, and Steven began to frown.
"You guys didn't tell Mr. and Mrs. Maheswaran, did you?" Steven asked, and Amethyst began to laugh.
"No, of course not. I shape shifted to look like Connie, painted myself to look even more like her, then I went told them that I'd be staying here for a couple days, and left." Amethyst said, and this seemed to shock both Steven and Connie.
"And they just agreed!?" Connie asked.
"Well, they seemed kind of busy. Something about the hospital and just wanted me to do something other than be there at the moment." Amethyst replied, which seemed to relax the two.
"Hospital? Your mother works at a hospital?" Rarity asked, and Connie nodded.
"She's a doctor." Steven said, and they heard Pearl entering the room.
"Well, Greg took it surprisingly well." Pearl said, and she quickly noticed Steven and Connie. "Oh, you two are up early."
Twilight frowned before saying "It's almost noon." Pearl seemed shocked by this, and quickly looked at a clock on the wall.
"So it is... Sorry. I've just been... Distracted lately. Peridot's been sending more and more Robonoids out. I doubt she has an unlimited supply though, so it's only a matter of time before she runs out!" Pearl exclaimed, and noticed the confusion on Twilight and Connie's faces. "Robonoids are the spherical robots that Peridot sends out. They repair damaged Gem structures and some have even shown defensive capabilities... They've already tried repairing the Galaxy Warp fifteen times..." Pearl explained, before noticing a knocking coming from the hologram.
"Is that something you should be concerned about?" Amethyst asked, and Twilight's eyes widened.
"They're here!" She shouted, before bolting out from the room, leaving Steven and Connie standing there alone.
Twilight rushed through the corridors, just trying to make it to the front door, after all she didn't want to keep the Princesses waiting. When she arrived, she quickly took a moment to recollect herself, before opening the door, and saying "Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, it's so nice to see you again..." Before she realized that it wasn't the Princesses that stood before her. Instead it was Zecora who had a troubled look.
"Ah! Twilight, just the pony I needed to see! I have a big problem, and I require assistance immediately!" Zecora yelled, and Twilight invited her inside to explain what was going on.
It hadn't taken long for Steven to convince the Mane Six and the mysterious zebra to allow him and Connie to join them. With a few begs, and a quick statement from Garnet was all it had taken, now they were heading for Zecora's hut, to hopefully find out what this problem was. However the moment they saw glowing green eyes from the darkness, they found out what had been troubling the zebra.