//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2: Dangers in Babysitting 
// Story: A Gem in Canterlot High 
// by Golden Flare 
//------------------------------//

BEEP BEEP BEEP BE—Click

The buzzing of my alarm clock halts as I press the snooze button. I sit up, stretch, and get out of bed to do my daily routine; get up, eat breakfast, and go about my day. I recall that I was supposed to babysit Apple Bloom and her friends today, so I quickly finish my breakfast and head out the door and on my way to Sweet Apple Acres.

On my way, I saw Abyssal Shield walking through the park with Sunset hassling him, maybe she finally gave up on me, one can only dream. I turn away and continue on the path to the local apple farm. Once I made it, Applejack was there to greet me with Apple Bloom and her friends, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. They waved to me and I waved back, not wanting to come off as rude since I never associated with the young ones.

"Hey there, Black!" Applejack said, "Got ma sister and her friends ready for ya!"

"How long are you two gonna be anyway?" I ask.

"At least a few hours, makin' pies and cider ain't an easy job."

I sigh, "Okay."

She beams, "Great! See y'all later!"

Applejack returns to the farm house to help Big Macintosh while I'm left with the three children.

"So...what do you girls wanna do?" I ask them.

"Well, we had a schedule planned out, Rarity helped me with it." Sweetie said.

"Really?"

"Yeah!" Sweetie showed me the schedule, "First, we're gonna go to the arcade to play games and eat pizza, then we'll go to the park and watch Scoots do some tricks with her scooter, and finally, we'll come back here and play in the orchard."

"Wow...that's...impressive. You even got everything time stamped."

"Rarity helped me with that, too."

"Okay, let's go."

The trio cheered and raced off in the direction of the arcade, I had to run to catch up with them.

Something tells me this is gonna be a long day...



After arriving at the arcade, the girls got their coins out and began playing the games while I sat back and watched, but I didn't sit still for long until I saw one of my favorite arcade games: Pac Pony. It's similar to Pac Man back on the other Earth, but equine based, I got used to it pretty quickly. Anyway, I pulled out a quarter and inserted it into the machine, and the game began...

...It's been hours since I started playing the game, and when I made it to the infamous "kill level", my character died and I regained my senses. I must've lost myself in game somehow. I blinked and shook my head, looking behind me to see the girls in awe.

"So...awesome..." Scootaloo said.

"Black...are ya okay?" Apple Bloom asked, worriedly, "Ya looked...really into that game...so much that...you couldn't hear us...so are ya okay now?"

"...Yeah, I-I'm fine. I guess I just...blacked out for a bit there." I respond.

Sweetie snickers, "'Blacked out', ha-ha, you know, cause you're name's Black?"

The rest of the girls and I began to snicker, too, until it went into all-out laughing. After a while, our laughter subsided and we just smiled at each other. It took me a minute to realize that everyone in the entire arcade was staring at us, the girls seemed to notice too as they blushed in embarrassment.

"...Maybe we should move on." I suggested.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Scootaloo quickly agreed.

We immediately took our leave and headed for the park, hopefully Sunset wasn't still there when we arrived...

...Oh, who am I kidding? When it comes to me and Sunset Shimmer, I always have the worst luck.



We enter the park and sit down next to a tree, watching Scootaloo perform some tricks on her scooter, which, admittedly, were pretty cool, she was actually pretty skilled. I was amazed by her athletic ability, why she didn't go pro with her scooter is beyond me. But the fun was not to last as the fiery-haired witch walked over to us, prompting Scootaloo to stop.

"Black Crystal." she said, contemptuously.

"Sunset Shimmer." I said in the same tone as her.

"How are you?"

"I WAS having fun, until YOU came along."

"That's too bad."

"Quite."

Silence.

"So..."

"So..."

I sigh, "Alright, enough beating around the bush, what do you want?"

Sunset sighed, "...I just want you to join me, what's wrong with that?"

"The fact that you're trying to get me under your thumb."

"No, It's—! It's not that, I...I..." she stutters, "Well, at first I was trying to, but...I started thinking and...you were the first person to stand up to me and..." she blushes, "...I admire that."

I stare at her incredulously, "Are you serious?"

She nods feverishly, "Yeah. There. I said it."

Apple Bloom seemed to be studying her with a focused expression, "...Eeyup, for the first time, she's actually tellin' the truth."

I pull her close and whisper, "Are you sure? I don't wanna get into something I can't get out of."

She nods, "Ah'm sure. Ah'm an Apple, Ah can sense these things."

I turn to Sunset, who refuses to look me in the eye, then back to Apple Bloom, "Alright. I trust you."

"Just...be careful around her, okay?"

I nod, "I will." I turn back to Sunset, "Listen," she finally looks at me, "I don't know what you're playing at," she lowers her head, "But..." she perks back up, "I guess...I'll think about it."

"Really?" she asked.

"Really. Give me a couple days."

"Um, okay. See you later...I guess."

With that, Sunset left, leaving me confused about why she was acting weird. Sweetie smirked, making me raise an eyebrow.

"What?" I ask.

"I think she likes you~" Sweetie sing-songs.

"Ain't gonna happen."

"Yeah!" Scootaloo added, "Plus she's evil and has blackmail on everyone at school!"

Now that we can definitely agree on. After that moment was over, we continued to watch Scootaloo's tricks, and when we were done, headed back to the farm.



Shortly after arriving, Applejack greeted us with a platter with glasses of fizzy apple cider on it. The girls eagerly took a glass each and began chugging them down, I grabbed my own glass and sipped it when Applejack spoke up, "What do ya think?"

I finish sipping and take a breath, "Ahh, it's good, really good."

She smiles, "Ah'm glad ya like it." then she checks the time on her phone, "Well, we got everythang done for today, Ah think we can handle the girls from here."

"Actually..." Applejack perks up at my words, "I think I'll keep watching them for the day, they're great company, and well...they've kind of grown on me."

Applejack smirks, "Well now, Ah never pictured you of all people to be a softy."

I glare at her, "Don't tell anyone or I'll end you."

She guffaws, "Okay, if ya say so. Have fun, y'all!"

Applejack leaves us be with our glasses of cider, chuckling all the way back to the farmhouse. Scootaloo looks at me and smirks, along with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.

"So...we've grown on you, huh?" she says.

"Ah thought you hated other people." Apple Bloom snarks.

"S-Shut up." I stutter out, making the trio giggle.

After that bout of embarrassment, the girls went to go play in the orchard; they played games, like Tag, Hide and Seek, and a bunch of others. Eventually, they tried to get me in on the fun, and who was I to say no? Especially when they used their little puppy dog eyes on me.

...You know, they scare me when they do that.

Anyway, while I did have fun with the girls, something kept nagging at me, like something bad is going to happen. Was this the same feeling from yesterday? Was it some kind of warning? Either way, I kept my eyes open, just to be safe and make sure nothing and nobody tried anything dangerous with the girls around.

Suddenly, I heard growling. Not like angry human growling, this sounded...unnatural. Almost like...

...Oh no.

"Girls. Get back to the house." I order with finality in my voice.

"What?" they chorused.

"I've got a bad feeling all of a sudden, and my senses never steered me wrong. NEVER."

"Ya think somethin' is out there?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Yeah. Get in the house. Barricade the door. Trust me on this."

They looked uncertain for a time, but nodded to me all the same.

"Alright, we trust you." Sweetie said.

"Good. Now get going." I said.

They turned around and ran as fast as their legs could carry them to the farm house. I watched them leave until they were out of my field of vision, then set my sights on the intruder.

"I know you're there. Show yourself."

The bushes rustled as the intruder moved, it slowly came to reveal a disturbing sight; a six-legged tiger-like creature, four in front, two in the back, with reddish orange skin and black stripes, a spiky ball at the end of its tail, razor sharp fangs and claws, no eyes, and appeared to have extremely heightened senses. But one distinguishing feature caught my attention: the oval shaped, brownish orange striped gem with cracks running through it upon its face.

There was no mistake.

This thing is a corrupted Gem.

But how did it get here?

I couldn't think much about it as it tried to push me back with a really powerful roar, I held my ground until it finally stopped to take a breath. It bared its teeth to intimidate me and readied its claws for battle.

I wasn't scared, I've dealt with these things before.

I held my right arm out in front of me and revealed my gem, making the Gem growl. I made my gem glow brightly as I summoned my jagged crystal scythe, I held it like I was a reaper, ready to hack the life out of my opponent. The Gem made the first move and pounced, I jumped backwards and slashed at the Gem's face, making it recoil in pain.

I went on the offensive and swung my scythe at the tiger monster, rapidly landing blows in succession, but the Gem had enough and smacked me back with its two left paws, causing me to slam onto the ground. It pounced on top of me and tried to bite me, but I held up my scythe's handle and the Gem chomped at it like a chew toy, trying to get to me. Using my special strength, I took both my feet and pushed it off me, gravity causing me to somersault backwards as the Gem fell to the ground behind me.

I needed a plan to end this battle fast, so I rushed to the nearest tree and waited. Soon, the Gem was back up on its paws and charged, ready to mow me down, but I stepped to the side and it crashed into the apple tree I was standing in front of. I ran to the next one as it shook the stars out of its head and gave chase, only to crash into another tree.

I repeated this process for a good five minutes until the Gem's exhaustion finally began to show, panting heavily as it collapsed to the ground. I walked up to it and dealt the final blow by taking the end of my scythe and impaling its head, creating a puff of smoke that dissipated to reveal only the gem on its forehead that was left. I bubbled it and sent it to a bunker back at my house, relieved that the battle was over.

CLAP...CLAP...CLAP...

The round of slow clapping received my attention, but when I turned around, I was horrified by who was there.

"Bravo, Black Crystal, bra-vo."

Sunset Shimmer.

"Guess there's more to you than you're letting on."

"Why are you here, Shimmer?" I demand.

"To see what's up, after all, you babysitting a bunch of brats was too good an opportunity to refuse, to show everyone the softy you really are. BUT." she smirks evilly, "I found something MUCH more valuable."

I lowered my head, "What do you want?"

"Nothing."

That surprised me. I look up at her, she's checking her nails.

"You said you'd think about joining me, and to give you a couple days." she turns her attention back to me, "And I'd BETTER hear the right answer, or I'll reveal to everyone at Canterlot High what you really are."

"..." I remained silent, shocked at Sunset's proposal.

"I'll take your silence as a 'yes'." she saunters up to me and plants a kiss on my cheek, "And maybe, once I've gotten the crown, I'll make you my little prince. See you at the Fall Formal."

She takes her leave with a slight shake to her hips.

Guess I ended up on the same boat as her other victims.

...I decided to leave the farm before anybody started asking questions, though I couldn't help but feel like I was being watched.




???'s POV


The subject left the area after defeating the Tiger's Eye, bubbling it, and sending it to its place of residence. The fiery-haired girl seemed interested in him, but can't be deemed a threat yet. I received a call from my wrist communicator that one of the Peridots made for me.

"This is Moonstone. Go ahead."

"Has the subject made progress yet?"

"Yes. He's defeated the Gem I planted and captured it."

"Excellent. He's stronger than we gave him credit for. No wonder Yellow Diamond wants him dead."

"Why, though? He's just another traitor."

"A traitor that has a power that can surpass the Diamonds if he becomes stronger."

"...I see."

"And our job is to personally deal with potentially dangerous Gems and stubborn missions. After all, we are Homeworld's Black Ops team."

"The Feldspar Gems, I know."

"I'll see you at the rendezvous point. Labradorite out."

The communication disconnected. With nothing more to do in this precise area, I leaped out of the tree I was in, landing on my hands, pushing off the ground, and flipping in midair before landing on my feet. I rushed to the warp pad I have hidden within the foliage and stepped on it.

"Knowing your enemy is the key to your success."

I teleported away, heading to the rendezvous point to meet up with the rest of the team.