A Diamond In The Ruff: A Gem Stone Beginning.

by Campanula Monkshood

Chapter Six: Remarkable, Simply Remarkable

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Two months after chapter 5.
Twilight's Castle

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"Alright Gem, I think you have Harden Air down so lets proceed onto the next spell on my list," Princess Twilight lifted a scroll from one of the tables mumbling off names until she found the perfect spell for my level. "How about... No, oh wait... no that won't do either. Oh! Here's one; Gumshoe, anything struck with this spell will become hard to separate from the next thing it touches."

"It sounds great Miss Twilight, what do I need to do?"

Twilight rummages through the D.D.S until she finds the scroll with the information needed, "Hmm, 'Infuse your mana with it the essence of sticky, encapsulate, launch, and wait and don't be picky.' Oh, this is a Zebrecian shaman scroll, this should be perfect for you; Zebra's have been honing their form of magic for generations. This spell should be a walk in the park for you; this type of magic is easier to learn is you're not a Unicorn. Go ahead and give it a try, then we'll work our way from there; just let me teleport us outside so we don't wreck anything this time."

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An hour and many misfires later.

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"It's not funny Spike," I shouted at him I tried removing the things stuck to my body, yelping when I pulled to hard on my fur.

"I think you'll find that I think it's hilarious!"

"Spike! Don't worry, Gem, I'm sure we have the counterspell for Gumshoe around here somewhere," she blushed slightly in embarrassment, "I suppose it would have been the smarter thing to have actually had the counterspell before we started the lesson..."

"It's okay Miss Twilight," I gave her a smile, my tail making a racket as it wagged all around with things stuck to it.

Shortly after Twilight had found the correct spell which was funnily enough called Dumb Gum Removal. Soon as she cast it, all the little leaves, rocks, and practice dummy parts just fell off. "There you go, Gem. Now I'm afraid we're going to have to stop early today, I have a lecture at Celestia's school for gifted unicorns this after-noon. Would you like to join us? I'm going to be talking about cutiemark magic."

I suddenly found myself anxious at being around so many magic users, I tucked my tail between my legs "N-no... Thank you but I don't think I could bring myself to go."

"Well I certainly won't force you to go if you don't want to, Gem. I'm sure you could find something to entertain you for a few hours until we get back, just don't break anything," Twilight said with a kind smile and picked Spike up in her magic then left to gather her things needed.

"See you later," shouted to them as they teleported to Canterlot, "wonder what I can do for a few hours... Something fun and crazy..." A light went off over my head and I shouted, "Discord! Want to do something fun?!" I wilted when neither claw or hoof of him was seen of him. "Maybe the Crusaders are doing something."

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I spent almost two hours walking across Ponyville, it felt like I was just missing ponies; Pinkie was doing deliveries, the apple family was away for an Apple thing, Sweetie Belle and Rarity were visiting their parents, and Scoots was zooming around somewhere on the outskirts of the town. "Things just aren't going my way, I might as well just go back to the castle and look for that rune book I lost..." I just accepted my losses and trudged back up to the castle and saw the back end of a purple pony entering the castle. I figured it must have been Twilight and Spike returning from Canterlot so I ran after then calling for them.

I think it might have been the sixth door slam before I got it in my head that this wasn't Miss Twilight, this was an intruder. I heard an excited exclamation from the map room and made a beeline straight there and found said pony going over a scroll, I mustered up my courage and faced off against her, "S-stop what ever it is you're doing! You are trespassing on Miss Twilight's property!" The mare scoffed and just kept reading, "Hey! Didn't you hear me?!"

"How could I not," She groaned as she rubbed her temple, "what with your constant yapping, Twilight could find better guard dogs from a kennel; who'd want you, a scrawny little thing that's so out of touch with his species he ran away from home. You're not better than that dragon that wants to be a pony."

"Hey! Say what you want about me but if you badmouth my friend I'll have to do something both of us will regret and teach you what for!"

Her laugh echoed off the walls, well it was more of a cackle, "You teach me?! Listen her fleabutt, know your place; all the ponies living in perfect harmony and all the other races beneath our hooves where you belong! Besides, what do you possibly say that could come remotely close enough to give up my plans?"

"I have been taught magic by Miss Twilight and-"

"Ha! Twilight Sparkle? Little miss princess? She may have Alicorn magic backing her but one day that will fail her, just like her friendships will... or rather, have."

I raised my right arm and channeled my mana into a barely glowing matrix, I still had poor control and reserves but I was taught by two of the best, "You didn't let me finish; I have been taught magic by Miss Twilight and Discord." Her smirk dropped slightly, glad to know I knocked some wind out of her sails. 'First time casting chant magic but she sounds like she means business. Just remember what Discord said; let it flow and the words come by themselves.' "From the center which all magics blow, allow me to break the mold. I shape my will to DIAMOND SOUL!" The matrix blew itself apart off my arm into sharp pieces of crystallized mana before shooting it at the mare who formed a bubble shield with little difficulty to stop every shard, they didn't even come close to her. Something felt wrong, the room seemed to be darkening fast and my legs failed me and I knew exactly what was going on; magical exhaustion. I wasn't ready for a spell of that level and I was going pay the price.

There was a pop then tinkling as the shards fell and just laid there like their caster, "I will admit you had me slightly worried so I will freely admit you are stronger that I gave your kind credit for." Her horn flared and the shard congregated and transformed into rope that hog-tied and gagged me, she picked me up in her magic and tossed me into a nearby door. "Now I have a dramatic reveal to set up so lay down, stay... good boy, " with that said she slammed the door shut and I had to sit in the dark as I felt my body shutting down to recharge my mana while only hearing Twilight and Spike as the pony started whatever crazy plan she had in her mane.

Author's Note:

Here you go, guys. A new chapter of A Diamond in the Rough. I told you it wasn't going to die. Life's just been a pain for so long... Health scares, friend's pain of doctors not being able to find out what's going on for months until she finally passed five days ago to cancer. Cancer! How hard is it to find out if someone had cancer instead of putting her through painful procedures and surgery?! *Deep breathe* So I'm going to be doing something productive; I have the next three chapters planned out but not yet written. Much like this chapter it has to do with The Cutie Re-mark and the altered timelines-
"Time is not made out of lines, it is made out of circles; that is why-"
Shut up caboose, I know. They're titled 'What could have been part 1,2, and 3' and they center around, you guessed it, what would have happened to Gem if things didn't go as planned. Feel free to comment, doesn't matter of what so long as it's coherent. Camp out.

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This chapter is dedicated to my coworker and friend; Joann Walls, 83. May your next adventure be grander than this one was.

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Comments

[Starlight Nova]

If Gem Stone was voiced, what would he sound like?

[Campanula Monkshood]

8311666
Huh... I never really thought about it... I guess if I had to choose? Probably the voice actor for young Lance on Symbiotic Titan during his father's funeral. If I ever make it to his teenage years it'd probably be Jay Baruchel.

[Skalula7]

how often will this story get updated? your track record so far doesn't seem to promising.

[Campanula Monkshood]

8311738
I can't give a definitive answer to that but I feel I have finally gotten my muse back for this fandom. I know my track record has been poor and that's not fair to the readers... I've been in that situation way to many times as a reader like you and I don't like it. As I said in the author's note I have the next three chapters planned out and I'm thinking about posting one a week so I can build up a stockpile. Thank you for the question, I hope it answered your question.

[mustangdrew4]

Eeeesh, probably should've stuck to the magic he was certain of. Although, to be fair, he probably didn't have much of a chance against Starlight Shimmer.