//------------------------------// // Home // Story: A Lost Crystal Gem - The Story of Sunset and how she became Spinel // by ratedoni //------------------------------// The blue endless landscape alongside the air smelling of salt brought back dozens of memories to her mind, some of them powerful enough to make her cry, the vast majority fighting the sadness that the redhead felt after coming back home and it also brought the nostalgia due to places she had visited countless times on the small city. The way the sand crumbled at her footsteps, the distant sound of the town alongside the multitude of old friends and acquaintances’ voices almost made her turn around to say hello and check on things after her time out of town. But she was here for something specific, something she should have done but was nervous about. “This is so exciting! I have never been in this kind of situation! I mean, it is well researched the effects an upbringing of an alien species by ponies could do to them but I have never had direct information about the reverse scenario!” “I heard the first time princess.” The reason was right at her side talking a mile a minute. All the time the two had sepdn time together was an incessant regurgitation of records and information which Sunset was not interested in knowing. The only thing Sunset wanted to think about was her imminent return back home and to the house/temple that saw her change from the self-absorbed moody little girl that she had been into the sarcastic, witty and slightly egocentric older woman that she was now. It hurt to think about home; not the dimension where she was born, oh no, home was the little wood house that had been built on top of the gigantic Buddhist style statue carved out of the mountain. The last time she had been there was too long for her, she remembered how much her decision to go out into the world and get her diploma meant for the youngest member of the house, the idea that her big sister was leaving and probably won’t return. Well, he was still a kid when she left almost 3 years ago but now, here she was, walking the old beach road she took almost every day when she came back from eating a pizza or playing some games with her little tyke of a brother. "I'm sorry, but this is somethng that has never happened before, to ge tin contact with another race! Especifically one from out of space and completely different from ponykind!" “I get it, I get it, no need to say it a hundred times princess.” Sunset said masking her worry with her usual annoyed voice that she used so many times when dealing with people like Pinkie or Amethyst. “Sorry, I guess I am just a little too excited about this.” “You don’t say… sorry, I tend to get sarcastic.” “No problem, Celestia told me that you used to be a little acerbic, said it was one of the reasons she brought you with her to court.” Sunset smiled at that, those were fun days. “I’m surprised Princess Celestia told you stuff like that.” “She told me a lot when I decided to accompany you here, she still remembers you fondly Sunset.” “I don’t know why, I wasn’t exactly the best student she had, I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the worst but still-” “Celestia never forgot you, she even forgave you the moment you arrived at the Crystal Empire.” “Yeah… I was prepared to fight my way out if she had declared me a traitor or something like that; I guess I was scared for nothing.” “I think so too, she was so surprised when you told her you worked your way around the time limitation on the portal.” “Hey, constantly playing around technology that is hundreds or thousands of years ahead of ponykind can help you find a lot of solutions, besides, I thought it was about time for me to come back home… listen, Princess Twilight-” “Just Twilight please, you don’t have to call me by the title.” “Humble too, anyway, thank you for coming with me, it means a lot even thought you were taking this trip more as an opportunity for research.” She said making Twilight blush slightly at the embarrassment of her initial outburst after hearing Sunset wanted to come back to the place she was ‘raised’ “and something else, my house is… a little out of the ordinary so don’t get frightened or surprised about what could happen, okay?” “I’ve seen my share of weird and bizarre things before, I’m pretty sure nothing inside that house can surprise me… AHHHHHHHHH!” just like Sunset had predicted, something completely strange happened just opening the front door. In this case it was a green and black worm the size of a dog with big mandibles leaking acid into the floor that had jumped straight into both Sunset and Twilight. The former did a spin and struck the worm right in the face with a spinning kick sending it flying inside the house again. “What is going on?” the question seemed to be useless since the three members of the bizarre family were currently engaged in combat with more of those worms, thankfully after another second the thinnest person in the room put a worm on a headlock and noticed both teenagers at the door. “Oh, Spinel! You arrived! Sorry that we couldn’t go and meet you when you arrived but we had a little bit of a situation here.” Pearl said calmly before breaking the neck of the worm making it disappear. “Hey bacon head! Who’s the girl? Your new girlfriend?” It was a little obvious who said those words. The short gem was currently running after another worm with a whip on her hand. For some reason it looked beyond comical for Sunset. “Hey short stuff! Nah, she is just staying for a while.” Sunset said stepping on a worm, it seemed that the couple of years she had been away didn’t change a thing, she got back in the routine of bickering and fighting like before. For her part Twilight didn’t even notice the slight teasing on the part of Amethyst and was busy trying to write everything that was happening around the living room “So, I will repeat once again, what’s going on?” The tallest member of the family simply backhanded a worm with her usual aplomb before loking directly to the redhead. “Centipeetles, welcome home Spinel.” The usually stoic dark skinned woman smiled at Sunset making her feel at ease, the so called centipeetles non withstanding. At that moment a young boy appeared from outside carrying on his back a bizarre mini fridge with a mascot drawing on it that Sunset remembered as the mascot for Cookie Cat. “Hey guys, I’m home. Wait a minute, Spinel, you’re back!” the boy was about to launch himself into Sunset before noticing the dangerous creatures walking everywhere in the room “whoa, what are those?” “Apparently, centipeetles.” Sunset said before a metal boot appeared around Sunset’s leg helping her crush the worm “and they don’t have gems, bigger worm out there?” “Hello Steven, we wanted to get the house free of these things to welcome Spinel back, don’t worry, we will get rid of them.” “Do you have to? They are cute.” “Does he really find them cute? I mean, Fluttershy would probably love to get a couple of them but I don’t think anyone outside of Discord would enjoy their company.” “Meh, this is Steven we are talking about Twilight, if he could have had the chance he would have found a way to befriend Discord before Fluttershy.” “Anyway, we will get rid of that thing soon, don’t worry Steven.” “Do you think I can help you with that?” “Oh Steven, you know you are too young for that yet, you can leave saving the world to us.” “Mommy Pearl is right, leave the world saving business to them, they have enough experience on that front.” Sunset said going back to her old joke. “Although I am sure Spinel can help us hunt the centipeetle down.” Pearl said looking at Sunset with half lidded eyes in her patented 'mom is very dissapointed in you' glare. “Oh come on, I just came back and you already want me to do that? Is this for the mommy Pearl thingy?” “Of course not, I just think that it will be good for you to get some exercise in gem hunting, we don’t know how rusty you are right now.” “Yes, it was the mommy Pearl thingy.” Sunset said to Amethyst making the short gem laugh at her misfortune. Meanwhile, Twilight found herself entranced with the interactions of the family members, it seemed that those three years of studying outside the city didn’t change the way they talked with each other; they even had their own inside jokes, it was fascinating. “Hey, shoo, shoo, out of the fridge.” Steven waved at one of the last centipeetles while this one was trying to eat everything inside the fridge, Garnet took care of it and nobody found it weird to see a flying centipeetle before poofing out of existence “hey, no way, it can’t be!” “What is it Steven?” Sunset asked her little brother openly curious about his reaction to what was in the freezer. “These are all Cookie Cats! I thought they had been discontinued!” “Wait, what? They discontinued Cookie Cats? But you love those things.” “I know, guess there won’t be Sunday Cookie Cats anymore.” Steve said a little sad at what had become a weekly tradition with the taller girl, after all the time they had spent apart they won’t be able to go out every Sunday to buy each a Cookie Cat to eat in front of the beach. “Is alright kiddo, we can always do something else, maybe even Twilight will like to help us.” she said finally bringing the seemingly normal teenager into the talk. “Wait, me? I don’t even know this town.” “Who is she?” Steven asked momentarily forgetting the cold snack on his hands. “Sunset’s new girlfriend.” Amethyst said before receiving a slap on the back of the head courtesy of Sunset. “She is a friend that will stay around for a couple of days, don’t worry Steven, go ahead and eat the Cookie Cat.” “Alright.” Steven was easily distracted sometimes but when it came to Cookie Cats nothing was more important, so after taking a deep breath he was ready for his rendition of the frozen treat theme. “Steven… you know how much I hate that stupid song.” Sunset said with her arms crossed and a slightly annoyed face on her. “Oh right, sorry I forgot.” he simply said before taking a huge bite out of the Cookie Cat, his blissful face showed how good it tasted before a pink glow took everyone by surprise. “Wait… is that your gem?” Sunset was more than a little surprised; last time she was here Steven wasn’t even capable of getting a spark out of his gem. “Quick, is glowing! How do I summon my weapon? Oh! Is fading!” “Calm down Steven, breathe, don’t force it.” it was obvious that he was doing everything he could to do exactly the contrary of what Pearl just said. “Yeah, and try not to poop yourself.” Sunset was this close to slap Amethyst once again. “Please,” but alas, the glow vanished and everything was back to normal “I was so close this time; can one of you just explain to me how to summon a weapon?” Pearls’ hand immediately went up. “I’ll go first.” she said before grabbing Steven and basically drag him in the direction of their special rooms, leaving behind Twilight and Sunset after Amethyst and Garnet went their own ways. “What did he mean by summoning a weapon?” “Is basically a special ability the girls have, it has to do with the gem they all have in their bodies.” “That sounds really interesting, do you think they'll mind if I also study about it?” “I think they won’t, heck, Amethyst will love to have someone new to show off her abilities.” “Do you think Steven will learn?” “From this bunch? Are you crazy? He will only end more confused, then he will come to me and I will finally explain it in a way he can understand, believe me, things like this have happened before.” “If you say so,” Twilight said finally putting her book aside, she would have more chances to research all the interesting things that had happened today “so, why did they call you Spinel?” “Well, I think you have notice the naming pattern between the girls of the family, so Rose Quartz -you know, Steven’s mom, I told you and Celestia about her- decided that after becoming part of her family I needed a name to represent the change. Also, don’t worry, I’ll try to explain everything crazy around here, but I’ll try to do that alongside Steven. Believe me, some of the stuff you probably wouldn’t believe it if it weren’t because we are both dimensional travelers. Don’t worry Twilight, why don’t you rest? I can assure the rest of the day will be very tiring.” Sunset said speaking on experience, after all, every day was an adventure when it came to the Crystal Gems. Seeing Twilight walk away to check the rest of the house Sunset finally let out a sigh, it felt wrong to lie to Twilight, especially about the name, but she knew she wasn’t quite ready to explain the truth to Twilight, some secrets were harder to say, she thought watching her reflection on the fridge, she then pulled down the front of her shirt, watching the red jewel that had grown on her skin exactly on top of where her heart should be. With one last sigh, Sunset turned around, fixed her shirt and walked in a random direction, she was sure that with all this stress she was in need of a drink, maybe even a snack. It was time to check all the changes to the house, maybe even say hi to Greg.