//------------------------------// // Night Gem // Story: Harmony Gems // by Nova Arc //------------------------------// Nox stared at the clock on the screen as it counted down the final seven minutes. She grinned. “After what felt like forever,” she said, “I can finally begin. First, revenge. Then recharge. Then, get off this miserable rock. Finally, come back for more revenge… Yeah. Sounds good.” As the timer approached zero, a thick dark blue mist began to envelope her. She did some work on the control platform and a capsule appeared from the ground behind her. It opened, and Nox smiled at the contents. “This is gonna be fun.” The Gems Amber and Tourmaline walked through the Everfree, following the GPS in Amber's bracers. The orange holographic arrow hovering over her arm directed them towards the source of an unusual magic surge. “I think we're getting closer,” said Amber. The arrow was glowing more brightly and the scanners on her bracers were blinking wildly. “Okay, anything doing that to a Gem scanner is usually not good,” said Tourmaline, summoning his hammer. “Would you relax? It's not like… Whoa.” “What?” Amber showed him her bracers; they were both deactivated. “They just shut off.” “Okay, that's definitely not good.” Tourmaline looked around then leaned in to whisper to Amber, “Hey, maybe we should… Y’know… Just to be safe.” It didn't take Amber long to get what he was saying, and it took even less time for her to think about it. “No.” “What? Come on!” “Tourmaline, no. We need subtlety. And besides, that's Ful and I’s special thing.” Tourmaline frowned and attempted to puppy-dog-eye a yes out of Amber, but she just looked and grinned. “I'm sorry, but who was it that taught you to do that?” Tourmaline groaned in defeat. Then, Amber's bracers began to spark and multiple lights were going on and off. “Whoa! What is that?” Tourmaline asked in shock. “I have no idea,” Amber replied. The sparks grew more violent and Amber began feeling a burning sensation. “YEOW!” She cried as she shook the bracers off and tossed them away as they exploded in a plume of red smoke. “Okay… There is something very wrong. Her lower right arm began to glow with an orange-tinted white light with what looked like orange circuit lines running through it. “Whoa, you’re using it?” Tourmaline asked in surprise. “Just to be safe.” A rather large, cylindrical cannon that funneled at the end close to her elbow formed over her lower arm. A slightly smaller barrel popped out in front, as did five small stubs arranged in a pentagon format at the ends of the star-shaped design on the top. A pair of prongs popped up like reticle at the edge of the large part of the cannon and three more stubs on the outer side. She pulled back on it, part of the top moving like the railing of a rifle. The two Gems walked through the forest with caution. Amber's eyes wandered the surrounding area. “Hey, what's that?” Tourmaline asked. Amber turned to see what he was pointing to and was surprised at what she saw. “Oh… My… Stars…” Back in Ponyville, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were giving Fulgurite a tour of the town. So far, she wasn't all too shocked as she had zoomed by this area quite a few times, just no one could see her. “And this is the town hall,” she said, approaching the building. “Wow,” Fulgurite said, “Looks way different from about a hundred and fifty years ago.” “Huh? What did it look like a hundred and fifty years ago?” asked Rainbow. “Well, for starters, it was much smaller,” Fulgurite said. “Also, the color scheme was different. It used to have more white. Guess it was too hard to maintain. And…” She zoomed towards the building and up the wall in a burst of speed. “And the roof was made of mahogany, not oak.” “Whoa, really?” Pinkie asked, intrigued. Rainbow on the other hand, was never really into any kind of history… or learning. “So, what are Gems like?” Rainbow asked. “Huh?” Fulgurite was a bit confused by the question. “I mean do you guys have like cities and stuff?” “Well, yes and no.” Rainbow tilted her head in confusion. “Well, we do have labs and arenas and buildings and spires and all that, but we don't have most of the stuff you have like shops.” Pinkie gasped. “I mean, we don't really need it. We've got Gems that make practically everything we need.” “And they don't get paid?” Fulgurite shrugged. Obsidian, on the other hand, roamed the Friendship Castle with Twilight, Applejack and Fluttershy. “Well… This is unprecedented,” he said. “Interesting design.” They walked through the corridor, heading towards the library. “I always wondered what that pillar of light that popped up a few weeks ago was.” “You didn't just try to check it out?” Fluttershy asked. “We were still keeping out of sight,” Obsidian replied. “Besides, we were dealing with another issue at that time.” “A corrupt Gem?” asked Twilight. Obsidian did not reply. Finally, they reached the library. “And this is my collection!” She gawked at her own large collection of books, ranging from history to geography, science to magic. “Meh.” There was a breaking noise in Twilight’s head as Obsidian's lack of awe hit her. “What?! What do you mean by, ‘Meh’?” Twilight said in surprise. “I mean, ‘Am I supposed to be impressed?’ It's a giant castle made of crystal. Do you know how many of these Gems have built across the cosmos? And do you realize how much information we've catalogued in just the last one hundred years?” “Wait, wha-...” Twilight rubbed her temples. “For example, when you decided to trail Pyrite to the Lunar Sea Spire.” Twilight could hear the disapproval in his voice; he was still annoyed. “Oh.” Obsidian continued to look around as Twilight pulled over to her friends. “Girls, I think he's still mad.” “Pfft, don't fret, Twi,” said Applejack. “It's like Amber said, he ain't exactly the life o’ the party. Plus, he was against the whole ‘Gems and Equestrians’ idea. Just give ‘im time.” “I agree,” said Fluttershy. “maybe we just need to show him how nice it is to live with us.” Twilight pondered as they left for the throne room. Again, Obsidian was not all impressed. “So, this is it?” he asked. Then he noticed something strange. “Wait, why are there six thrones again?” “Oh, one for each of us,” said Twilight. “Each of who?” Obsidian asked. “Counting you, there's only four princesses. I can understand one being for the prince, but-” “No no,” Twilight interrupted. “I mean for my friends and I. There's six of us.” Obsidian looked confused. “So… Six of you are princesses? Why don't you all have magic marks and wings?” “We're not all princesses,” said Twilight. “She's the princess,” explained Applejack, “and the five of us are her friends. Princess of Friendship ain't one without ‘er friends.” Then she realized, “Wait, you didn't think this whole time that the six of us were all princesses now, did ya?” “Actually, yes,” Obsidian replied bluntly. “It was odd, but I never bothered bringing it up.” “Why?” “I didn't quite care.” He walked around the table in the middle of the chairs. He studied it closely. “This isn't just a table.” The three looked surprised. “Wait, how can you tell?” asked Twilight. “The crystal,” he replied. “It's similar to the one used for Gem control platforms. The structure allows light and electric currents to travel through and over it in order to create a touch-sensitive computing system and light-powered projection surface capable of storing vast amounts of information.” The three gawked in surprise and confusion. Even Twilight only managed to grasp barely half of that. “Oh… Um… Right.” Obsidian grinned smugly. “You have no idea how it works, do you?” Twilight smiled sheepishly and shrugged. “Um… Magic?” “Well, I guess your technology works differently from Gem technology.” Twilight grinned. “That's the first time we've seen you smile.” “That wasn’t a smile,” he said, reverting to his original demeanor. “It was a grin.” As he walked off, Twilight shrugged. “It's a start,” she said. Amber and Tourmaline approached the odd crystalline structure with caution. It looked like a pillar that had been cut down, barely more than 15 feet tall now. “I don't believe it,” said Amber. Her eyes glowed. “It's… an elevator.” She walked over to the pillar cautiously, still watching her surroundings, with Tourmaline following. With her free hand, she touched the surface. She jumped back at the warmth. “Someone's been here. Very recently.” She moved forward and pressed her regular hand against the surface. A circle lit up and spread, revealing the inside of the elevator. “Are we seriously going down there to… wherever?” asked Tourmaline as he approached the pillar. Before Amber could answer, the pillar lit up in a bright green. “GET DOWN!!!” She tackled Tourmaline out of the way as the elevator exploded in a cloud of thick green smoke. Amber looked up and saw the remains of the pillar and a rather large hole. She approached the hole and looked down. It was pitch black. A visor formed over he eyes and began scanning the area. First a thermal, then X-Ray, then bioelectic. But just before she could switch to the next one, a faint light appeared. “See anything?” Tourmaline asked, looking down as well. “I think so,” Amber replied. “Let's get a closer look.” She jumped down, followed by Tourmaline. Dawn met the Crusaders just outside the Everfree, confused. “So, what are we doing here?” he asked. “We're going back,” said Scootaloo. It took a while for Dawn to process, but when it clicked, he mentally began questioning their sanity. “What? We ever found out what… whoever that smoke person is was doing.” “Do we want to?” Dawn asked. “I mean I'm pretty sure the Gems or your sisters and their friends can deal with it.” “Do they know about it?” Applebloom asked rhetorically. “We all agreed not to tell anyone because…” Applebloom made a decapitating motion to make her point. “Right…” Applebloom leaned in. “You did keep it secret, right?” Dawn nodded hesitantly. He didn't like keeping secrets from the Gems, especially if it had anything to do with Gems. “Great. We can all keep our heads.” “For now,” Dawn added quietly. As they made their way to their destination, Dawn asked, “So why are we going back again?” “Duh,” Scootaloo said. “If we find out who that smoke guy was, we can tell the others. Or better yet, if it's evil, take it down ourselves!” Dawn just stared. Snapping out of his daze he said, “I highly doubt that anything we do is going to hurt it.” “Oh yeah? And why is that?” “Well, for starters, it's made of smoke.” “Oh… We'll figure something out.” “I don't think-” Dawn was distracted when they arrived at the same place where the entrance to the underground room was. But something was off. The rock they placed there had been blown clean off and into several pieces. “O… kay… I don't think we should go in there.” “We're so goin’ in there,” said Applebloom. The girls wasted no time in going through the entrance with Dawn following close behind. The corridor looked pretty much the same… except for the several crystal shrimp that seemed to have been fossilized into the ground, walls, and ceiling. “Whoa!” Dawn and the girls were all amazed at the sight. A bit terrified, but amazed. “What did this?” Sweetie Belle asked. “I’ll give you three guesses,” said Applebloom. “Hint: it's made of smoke,” Scootaloo added. A loud sound like a small explosion caught their attention. “What was that?” asked Sweetie Belle. “It's coming from over here,” said Dawn, taking a right turn. They soon found themselves in another room, devoid of anything, save form the several burn marks and chunks of rock broken off the walls and floor scattered across the room. “Looks like there was a fight.” They heard more explosions. “And it sounds like it's still going on,” said Scootaloo. They followed the trail of collateral damage and stood against the wall and peeked behind it. The room was lower than where they were standing, a slope leading to the floor of the depressed area. There was silence and more scorch marks. They made their way into the room. However, Scootaloo was a bit too eager and bumped into the others, causing them to tumble and collapse loudly to the ground in a heap and kicking up dust. The kids coughed and tried to wave the dust away. But Dawn's ears perked up at what sounded like a charging noise. He could see a fairly bright orange light through the dust. “FREEZE!” said a voice. Dawn knew it all too well. He got a grip on the girls, made a shushing motion, and readied himself to run. “Don't move or so help me I will blast you so far into kingdom come you'll see the curvature of this entire flipping star system!” Dawn began to rethink his initial plan. Took a deep breath and readied himself for judgement. As the dust lowered, Amber's face came clearer into view. There was a light orange visor over eyes with a target reticle over the right side. Dawn and the girls also noticed the plasma cannon that had taken the place of her right arm. As Dawn came into view, Amber's demeanor changed. It was a mix of relief that it wasn't another crystal shrimp, and then- “Dawn… DAWN?! WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE COSMOS ARE YOU DOING HERE?!” Her voice was strong enough to create a breeze that nearly knocked the girls off their feet. “H-Hi, Amber,” Dawn said with a sheepish smile. Amber leaned to look around him. “And you brought your friends… YOU BROUGHT YOUR-” “Amber, calm down,” said Tourmaline, placing a hand on her shoulder. He soon realized his mistake as he sharply removed his smoking hand. Amber calmed down and looked at them. “We'll discuss this later,” she said. “Now, what are you doing down here?” Dawn took a deep breath and explained what he and the girls saw the last time. Once Dawn finished, Amber looked in thought. “So, Nox is here? And she managed to get a control console working?” Dawn nodded. “Well, that can't be good,” said Tourmaline. “Ya think?” “No, I'm referring to this place. It's not just a temple.” His weapon lit up and vanished. “It's an armor facility.” “Huh? How'd you figure?” “When we saw Nox messing around with the computer,” Dawn said, “a bunch of tubes came up. Most of them looked like they had armor, golems, and a bunch of other Gem stuff.” “Wait, she got into the stock?!” Amber asked in shock. “Where is it?” Dawn showed them the way back to the room, but they didn't enter. They couldn't. Not with Nox inside. “There she is,” said Amber. Nox paced around the console, working on it as a capsule emerged in front of her. “Yes! Almost,” she said in a victorious tone. “Soon, I can begin Phase II.” “NOT ON MY WATCH!” Amber's cry took Nox by surprise as the misty figure spun a round to see Amber airborne, aiming a plasma cannon at her. “What?! Nonononononononono! Not you!” As she protested, Amber fired a shot. The orange beam flew with pink spirals swirling around it as it travelled. The beam passed right through Nox, who didn't notice that it had hit the console. “HA! Missed me, you cl-” before she could finish, an explosion rocked the platform as the console was decimated by the beam. Nox reformed and looked up as she saw Amber and Tourmaline land on the platform. “It's over, Nox!” “Really? Over a thousand years, through dreams and reality, and goody-two-shoes like you still don't realize that saying dumb stuff like that just makes you automatically wrong.” She grinned and began to float back. It took a while before Amber realized- “SHE’S GOING FOR THE CAPSULE!” Tourmaline summoned his hammer and slammed the ground with it, the shockwave dispersing Nox. As she reformed, Amber ran through the gap and lunged at the capsule, cannon charged. However, something caught her leg and flung her away. Her shot misfired and hit the ceiling as she was slammed into a wall, sending a ton of stone crashing down. Tourmaline jumped out of the way in time before the rocks collapsed onto the platform. The dust cleared, and there was no sign of Nox or the capsule. Amber dislodged herself from the wall and jumped down. Her visor glowed as she scanned the debris. The scanners searched in silence and picked up nothing. “Well, that, as they say, is-” “Not.” Amber almost jumped at the sound of the modulated voice. “Seriously? Did you honestly think it would be that easy?” the voice said as it tried to readjust to the owner’s original voice. “Not... even... close.” Now the voice was back; Nox was still there. Without warning, a shockwave from inside the rubble sent debris flying everywhere. Amber and Tourmaline jumped down to the lower part of the platform to avoid the makeshift projectiles, while Dawn and the girls hid behind the entrance for the same reason. Amber and Tourmaline looked up and saw a figure rising from the smoke. It was about six feet tall with a lean, humanoid structure. What looked like a pair of horns on its head, curved down so the point was on either side where nose would be. It's arms were very long, going just past its knees and growing slightly larger from the elbow. The legs were straight as tree trunks, but with the lower leg being larger, fitting like a pair of boots. The eyes opened, glowing dark blue and sinister. Both Amber and Tourmaline shrank back. “Uh-oh.” “We're screwed.” “Big time.” Nox smiled. “I'm back, baby!” She stepped out of the smoke. “Now, let's have some fun.” Obsidian ran outside, followed closely by Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy. “What is it?” Twilight asked, noticing Obsidian staring into the distance. He placed his hands on the ground and focused. Then he felt it; a dark, sinister presence. "She's back," he said. "Wait, what? Who's back?" Twilight asked with concern. Obsidian frowned and looked towards the forest. "Nox."