Stairway to Stardom
With wheels spinning strong, and plenty of steam, the train roared down the train tracks towards its next destination. The new snowfall had did quite a good number amongst the lands of Equestria, many of the land around the tracks. A nice blanket of snow, far more storybook than Beach City in appearance with sparkly white snow. The train, which had a snow plow in front of it, had no such problem going through the thick snow, and it was making express time. Within one of the cars, the Mane Six and some of the Crystal Gems were waiting excitedly for their destination. Apart from the Mane Six themselves, there is also Steven, Garnet, Peridot, Pearl, Lapis, Amethyst, Jasper and Bismuth. For the time being, things were toned down, and everyone was passing time in their own way; be it either looking out the window at the land passing by, or chatting with eachother, or both.
"What a lovely setting we have here. your flying squad really outdone yourselves this year, Rainbow," Rarity praised, as she marveled at the beautiful snow. The unicorn was wearing a rather festive hat, which itself looked like a little decorated pine tree.
"Eh, it's nothing. Just doing our job for winter time. Though, I suggested for the northern snow this year," Rainbow said, waving her hoof, yet had her ego come around at the end of it. Course, the snow looked the same, but arctic snow was specially thick, yet soft - perfect for a true winter wonderland setting like this one. Rarity wasn't the only one admiring the winter sights around the place. Steven practically had his face pancaked on the window to see the beautiful sights go by him.
"Wow. The snow just keeps falling, and falling," Steven said, still seeing plenty of white snowflakes falling down outside.
Bismuth, who Steven was sitting right next to, peeked on outside herself. She playfully picked up Steven, the human giggling, and placed him on her lap. Pearl, who sat down behind Bismuth and Steven, turned over to them.
"You haven't seen nothing; try being around back in that Ice Age winter. Remember that, Pearl?" Bismuth asked.
"Hard to forget when we found our mammoth herd."
Steven's eyes sparkled.
"You guys seen REAL mammoths?!"
"That's right. There we were, out on a scouting mission for rose in the icy north, and we find this huge herd of mammoths just stomping right to us. These big, hairy animals like organic Quartz soldiers, marching on through the open plains like it was nothing."
"I wish I could meet an actual mammoth. Are they as friendly and as wise as modern elephants?" Fluttershy asked.
"They were friendly at first, but then someone decided to show off her muscle by juggling a calf," Pearl said, smirking. Bismuth just laughed, remembering fondly about the little trick. The others were enjoying her company pretty well, but the only one who wasn't bothering with her was Lapis, who sat the furthest away. She had a bit of mixed feelings about Bismuth still, and even if she promised to give her a chance for Garnet's sake, she just couldn't bring herself to join in just yet. She could hear them laugh with her, and then someone sat down with her, Lapis keeping her view to out the window.
"Hey, Lapis, sure you don't wanna join us? Bismuth's got some funny stories to tell," Applejack offered. Lapis felt herself sigh from that, her head pressing against the glass of the window. However, she turned and smiled to AJ.
"It's alright, thank you," Lapis said. AJ didn't seem to suspect anything from her, so she went over back to Bismuth. Lapis's smile went away after that as she looked back outside. At least the view was nice to see ...
"LOOKIELOOKIELOOKIE, THERE IT IS!!" Pinkie suddenly screamed, startling Lapis to no end, as the hyperactive pink mare opened up the window, and pointed out with her hoof. The others were quick to see what she was talking about.
"HOOO-WEE! Canterlot, here we come!"
~~~~~~
It didn't take them much longer until the train slowed to a halt over in the train station. Much like Beach city, Canterlot was also covered up in a large cover of snow, the main streets and sidewalks cleaned up of snow for easy walking amongst the higher class ponies around Canterlot castle. One key feature of the place was the decorations: Christmas reefs, red ribbons, and Christmas bells strung up along the buildings, decorated pine trees lined up down the road, colorful Christmas lights above the shop windows, even a few unique Equestrian features such as giant candy canes, and snowponies (snow men but for ponies). Snow was the main thing on Canterlot though, and there was no shortage of snow that has come down onto Canterlot practically all over the place, now in piles around the place for young fillies and colts to play around with. Even if it was supposed to be clear, it still added some special sort of detail to the Hearth warming time.
"WHOA, Canterlot looks amazing," Steven said.
"Yep, wish it was Hearth's Warming Eve every day," Rainbow agreed.
"This one of Equestria's fancy rituals, Twilight? Did a number on the city," Bismuth asked, taking a gander around at the decorations.
"We call it holidays, but yeah it is. I'm so excited too: Celestia asked us to help out with the most important play of the season," Applejack said.
"What's that?" Steven asked.
"We'll keep it a surprise for later," Twilight said, giving Steven a wink.
"We even got you all some excellent seats," Rarity revealed as well, showing them some tickets for some good seats.
"Thank you," Garnet said. A nice offer to them by Rarity, surely. Over in the back of the group, Lapis remained quieter than normal. The place was nice, and the tickets were a nice present, but she still felt just a little bit uneasy thanks to Bismuth still around the place. She was simply beside herself right now, and she was hoping -
"Yo, Lapis!"
Nevermind. Lapis stopped on her name being called, and looked forward seeing Amethyst turning back to her. Bismuth saw the down Gem after a while, alongside Steven, and Amethyst. The others continued going off ahead for a little bit, and exploring the town of it's festive traditions.
"Oh, hey Steven. Amethyst. Enjoying Hearth's Warming?" Lapis asked.
"Yeah, yeah, but what about you? Everything okay?" Steven asked. Lapis Lazuli turned away ...
"Does this have anything to do with ... you know who?" Amethyst then asked, pointing towards Bismuth. Lapis followed her finger to the Gem in question, who was actually helping out a pony with some extra decorations involving some ribbon streaming. Lapis looked down to Amethyst and Steven, looking less friendly.
"Why do you trust her?"
This was unexpected, but coming out of the right person, they would suppose. Outta the whole group there (except Garnet, and possibly the rainbow Gem in question), Amethyst and Steven were the only ones who knew about Lapis's involvement with Bismuth.
"Because we gotten to know Bismuth, like we did with you," Amethyst answered.
"You've known me for over a year now, and you only known Bismuth for a week and a half."
"So?"
"Come on, Lapis, you're not even giving her a chance. She's good once you get to know her, I promise," Steven said.
"Didn't she try to kill you on the second day, Steven?" Lapis questioned, eyebrow raised.
"Well, yeah, but you guys make me do things that nearly kill me all the time."
"It's true," agreed Amethyst. Lapis ended up flustered.
"W-Well, not for the purpose of killing you. *hand to face* UGH, guys, I don't know how you got to trust her so fast, but it's gonna need more than (quotes with her fingers)"Original Crystal Gem" to make me change my mind, ok?" Lapis asked, trying to be calm in the situation. She didn't want to lose it in front of her friends at any point. Before they could go any further.
"Hey, Steven! Think you can give a Gem a helping hand here?" Bismuth called, trying to reach across the road with the road with the red ribbon. Steven could see that the large Gem was having some trouble keeping the stuff of the street, so he had to go and help out.
"At least try to talk to her about it," Steven whispered to her, just before going, alongside Amethyst. Lapis watched as Amethyst and Steven aided Bismuth with the ribbon, and seeing them having some fun with it too. Lapis though, was just not understanding it. She could understand trusting the Ponies, and the other Gems, she even got how they could trust Jasper - a Gem who'd wanted them all dead on day one. But there was one key difference between them and Bismuth ...
They never met her before the mirror.
~~~~~~
After a while, the Mane Six eventually arrived from the streets, and over to the theatre. As with everywhere else in Canterlot, the theatre was as festive as ever. All along the walls were lines of streamers, reefs, bows, and bells. The stage itself looked very well done in of itself; large floor, wide walls, and a lovely red velvet curtain. A reef and bells hung from each top corner, with color lights streamed along the top. Between the curtains, one familiar Pegasus pony (Derpy as a matter of fact) poked her head out to see the crowds. By the looks of things, it was a real packed house this time: ponies lined up filling their seats from the front to back. Derpy looked up and down the crowds, and soon spotted some Gems as well. Admittedly though, while the front row seats were nice, the fact is that some Gems couldn't sit there: too big. Peridot, Amethyst and Steven were completely okay, and Pearl and Lapis were just short enough to not be of any trouble (though still taller than an average pony), but Garnet, Bismuth, and Jasper had to improvise. Garnet unfused, and Ruby and Sapphire had their seats to where Bismuth and Jasper would sit, and the two larger Gems simply stood to the side. Good enough view without getting in the way. Derpy and Peridot saw eachother for just a short moment, and they both waved to eachother just before Derpy went off backstage.
"Guys, this is something we should do back at the temple," Steven suggested at one point to the others.
"Eh, no. We can't make this "theatre" in the confines of the temple," Peridot noted, only having Steven giggle at that.
"No, no, I mean our own Hearth's Warming."
"Our own Hearth's Warming?" Peridot questioned. Steven nodded.
"Another fun tradition? I'm game for it," bismuth said, quietly yet bombastically. Sapphire smiled.
"Sounds like fun," Sapphire replied. Next to her was Lapis, who also agreed with the idea, but didn't say anything. Sapphire took simply one look to see a slight problem with her, but she planned it ahead for later. Why wouldn't she?
Meanwhile, backstage, the other members were getting themselves ready for the play to start. Maintenance workers cleaned up the stage, while the actors went over their lines and got their costumes. As per expected, the Mane Six had key roles in the play (obviously). At this point, it was mainly make-up time, and making up time to get their costumes together. Not too hard to get themselves ready, as Rarity helped with some makeup touches, such as adding some blush to Twilight's face.
"Oh, you just look so dazzling, Twilight," Rarity complimented, adding a few tweaks to the outfit she was wearing.
"Thank you, we all do. Let's do our best like last time," Twilight said.
"Eh, not to damper the mood, but, y'all gotta do somethin bout those wings," Applejack pointed out. Last time they did this, Twilight didn't had wings, and looking at the outfit, it kinda bulged a little bit to the sides thanks to Twilight's tucked in wings.
"Oh, you're right: Clover the Clever didn't had wings, did she?" Twilight sighed.
"I got it," Rainbow quickly said. She flew off fast, and soon got some rope. In a few quick (and otherwise cartoony) spins, Twilight had her wings tied down, the bulge not as noticeable as before. A little tight, but Twilight felt alright with it.
"Thanks," Twilight said. Rainbow nodded and smiled. However (like last time), Fluttershy still felt a little unsure if she wanted to get herself out there just yet. Not as bad as before, but still there.
"Oh, I don't know about this," Fluttershy said, as Rarity was helping with her mascara.
"Don't be so worried, darling. You went through the last play with flying colors, and you'll go through the play just as well now," Rarity encouraged. Fluttershy, despite the friendly gesture, still felt slightly uneasy, so Twilight decided that a little trick is in order.
"Hey, Fluttershy, come here for a second," Twilight said. The yellow Pegasus went over to her for the moment. Soon, Twilight sat down beside her, and she soon brought a hoof to her own chest. Fluttershy, understanding the idea, did the same. Twilight when gave a good breath, moving her hoof out in front of her, and Fluttershy soon did the same. A little trick Twilight learning from her sister-in-law. Fluttershy felt a little bit better when ...
*bang*
An accidental hit by Derpy's wing knocking over a costume rack got the Mane Six's attention. Derpy blushed a little bit, but she cleared her throat.
"Sorry. Uh, curtain in five minutes," Derpy said.
"thank you, Derpy, we're almost ready," Fluttershy said, as Derpy went off to tell the other actors. Everypony had to be ready by curtain time, especially for this big play.
~~~~~~
For the minutes that ticked on, the crowd within the theater began to hush a bit. Each minute that ticked by in those last five minutes made everypony quieter more and more for the play to begin without much trouble. The Gems too started to quiet down after a bit. Soon, and without a minute to spare, the lights dimmed, and the spotlight went up for the play's narrator to step out to begin the story. Turns out, in a sort of poet-like outfit, the narrator for this story was actually Spike. He knew exactly what to say, and the lines he's supposed to (it also helps that he was the only actor actually allowed to hold the script in his claws for authenticity). The first set showed him by a fake fireplace, and a large couch - a typical storytelling scenario. Spike cleared his throat.
"Jamie would love this sort of thing," Lapis quietly commented, just before Spike started.
"Once upon a time," Spike began, his voice in the faux British, "long before the peaceful rule of Celestia, and before ponies discovered our beautiful land of Equestria, ponies did not know harmony. It was a strange and dark time. A time when ponies were torn apart... by hatred!"
There was a gasp from the crowd of ponies.
"I know. Can you believe it?" spike quietly asked, this time normal before switching back to the British narrator. Quickly, the stage was switched, as Spike walked out during his first half, changing from a fireplace setting, to a background of farmland.
"During this frightful age, each of the three tribes – the Pegasi, the unicorns, and the Earth ponies – cared not for what befell the other tribes, but only for their own welfare. In those troubled times, as now, the Pegasi were the stewards of the weather. But they demanded something in return. Food that could only be grown by the Earth ponies. The unicorns demanded the same, in return for magically bringing forth day and night."
As Spike was speaking, the other actors went out on stage. Nine actors came out - three unicorn, three Pegasus, and three earth pony - all dressed as olde commoners. As Spike explained, the Earth ponies gave over food to the Pegasus and the unicorns. The crowds whispered to one another during this, and the Gems did a little as well. They didn't had any idea - for the most part - that ponies would resort to such things. Then again, it did make some form of sense for who wanted what, and who needed what.
"And so," Spike continued, "mistrust between the tribes festered, until one fateful day, it came to a boil. And what prompted the ponies to clash? 'Twas a mysterious blizzard that overtook the land, and toppled the tribes' precarious peace."
The play continued on from there with how much was going on, though Steven and his imagination got a much clearer picture from the story being told ...
~~~~~~~
The normally indigenous Earth Ponies could no longer farm the land. They were freezing.
A small, horridly frozen farm laid in wastes in the deadly everstorm. Crops were nothing but dried up weeds laid to waste in the frozen earth, and whatever the farmer tried to do, they had literally nothing to go on, or nothing to gain. The ground underhoof was no longer the fertile land it once was, but instead nothing but dust. A sad sight was easily evident on the farmer's faces.
The Pegesi fared no better. They were hungry.
Miles off, in the historical skies of Cloudsdale, the Homeworld Gems (In Steven's head, resembling Lapis Lazulis or Peridots to some extent) were becoming more and more desperate for food. Tired, and starving, one guard even tried to gnaw on his own helmet for some form of nutrition. All that did was made his teeth sore, and left his stomach growling.
Even the Unicorns and their magic cannot stop the storm. They were freezing and hungry.
In another settlement, the Earthbound Crystal Gems there tried in vain to at least slow down the horrifying blizzard, using their magic to baracade the door within one of the huts to keep the heat in. One strong blow was enough to break the door open, and the cold air froze the ponies down to their hooves. In times such as these, nature outmastered magic.
Each tribe blamed the others for their suffering, and the angrier everypony grew, the worse the blizzard became. And so it was decided that a grand summit would be held to figure out a way to cope with the blizzard.
The place everyone went off to a large temple, in this case resembling the far better looking Crystal Gem temple. aka, one that didn't look worn away by time and had all its pieces together. Various humans, Crystal Gems, and Homeworld Gems arrived to the location in mind as the horrifying winds blasted them all down.
Each tribe sent their leaders: Daughter of the unicorn king, Princess Platinum. Ruler of the Pegasi, Commander Hurricane. And lastly, leader of the Earth ponies, Chancellor Puddinghead.
With each one that entered, fanfare rang out on their arrive. While the imagination had no Ponies in mind, the overall idea was still there. For Princess Platinum, it appeared exactly like Pearl, but instead of her usual attire, the colors were instead purple, and a lot more regal. Amongst this, included a number of purple Gemstone diamonds that laced her neck, and crown on her head. The collar was lined with white fur, and the rims of the dress a similar manor, striped with snow white, and lavender up to her chest region, which was a deep violet color. Her hands had a pure white set of lovely gloves, similar to those of Sapphire's own choice of appearance.
As for Commander Hurricane, it appeared exactly like Lapis (his mind didn't choose the obvious leaders for homeworld this time). As with Pearl, the design choice was not entirely the same thing: instead of the regal princess look, she instead had the attire for a royal guard: more like Flint's armor than Lapis's dress. The armor on her body had a dark silver shing to it, and the helmet wasn't on her head, letting her blue hair free. She still had a Blue Diamond symbol edged in her chest, so that was a given. While still the main leader, she didn't look as regal as Pearl did.
And for Chancellor Puddinghead, it was chosen to actually be Ronaldo. Imagination can work in weird ways. For him, Jamie looked less like himself, as same with Pearl and Lapis, though his design instead had a more of a eurpoean royalty sort of look: a white flair around his neck, a yellow short, and some poofed-out brown pants, giving him the appearance of his name sake as the puddinghead he was. He looked regal, but not entirely "king" regal, and more "higher-class" regal.
The three leaders went over quietly, and regally, over to the main table at the center of the room.
Perhaps the three tribes could finally settle their differences, and agree on a way to get through this disaster ...
Some chance. Just seconds after each person was standing at the table, immediately they began arguing to one another. At first it sounded a bit nonsensical, since they all were yelling at once, but eventually it can be understood, with Pearl talking first.
"What I'd like to figure out is why you humans are keeping all the earthly goods to yourselves," Lapis began.
"Keeping food to ourselves?! We all know it's because of you Homeworld Gems controlling our weather with your freaky technology!" Retorted Ronaldo, slamming his fist onto the table. Lapis felt deeply insulted, and even Pearl was a little bit.
"I've been telling you hundreds of times: homeworld would not waste time to control your planet's weather! It's those Crystal Gem traitors who're to blame," Lapis accused, a finger aimed directly at Pearl's face. Pearl, feeling more insulted, swat her hand away.
"How dare you! Our free, more caring dearest Crystal Gems wouldn't even dare to put the lives of Earth at risk unlike SOME creatures," Pearl protested.
"Less you Gems turn everything back to normal, then I'm out of ideas," Ronaldo groaned.
"What a shock: a human without ideas," Pearl said in a salty tone.
"Princess Pearl, cease your horrid insults at once," Lapis demanded.
"I'm the Crystal Gem: You can't tell me what to do, you royal clod!"
Lapis gasped in shock.
"Excuse me?! Well, in that case, there's no point in staying, is there?!"
With that final remark, the trio then left. The problem unresolved, and the storm still raging on from outside.
~~~~~~
So the summit of the tribes did not turn out as well as hoped, and the three leaders returned home to lick their wounds ... and basically complain.
Still fuming from the incident, Commander Lapis arrived back first to cloudsdale, wings beating behind her as she landed down over by the main palace (which looked similar to Blue Diamond's palace on Homeworld). When Lapis landed, she soon went over to a Peridot. Unlike those on Homeworld, this one was small, like that of the Crystal Gem Peridot. In the play, Peridot would be Lapis's helper, named Private Pansy. Just as well, she had a similar armor outfit on her.
"Atten-tion!" Lapis ordered, the Peridot standing firm and at attention, doing the Diamond signature symbol with her hands.
"Welcome back, commander Lazuli. How'd it go?" Peridot asked. Peridot clammed up on seeing Lapis's scolding expression.
"Those others are impossible to reason with! The Weather Authority agrees to keep stable for those commoners, and those Earth-bound creatures blame us for the storm, I ask you! We have to stop bothering our time with those excuses!"
.......
At the same time, over back in their temple, Princess Lapis was resting over in the queen's chambers, feeling the cold shiver from outside still lace her skin, giving Lapis a shiver. She took a seat at her throne, stressed out as anything. Soon, she started to snap her fingers.
"Connie! I need you!"
An odd choice for a Crystal Gem, but imagination knows no boundaries. In this sort of idea, Connie had a outfit made up of brown rags to form a hoodie, similar to Connie II, but a key difference being that a Gemstone was on her forehead: rounded in a perfect circle, and colored a distinctive sort of amber, possibly same in material as well.
"Ah, your majesty. Did the meeting go as I predicted?" Connie asked. Lapis pinched the bridge of her nose, and gave a closed-mouth groan.
"Unfortunately, yes. Such low commoners refuse to listen to any sort of reasoning! HMPH! Be better for them if we no longer deal with them ever again. We Crystal Gems are graceful, majestic, and far exceed both Homeworld and Human. I, for one, will never consort with those lot again!"
.......
Just as well, over in the human settlement, Ronaldo marched right on back in a huff, swinging the door to his own hut open, and going right on inside. Inside, his own helper was startled by the sudden slam and blast of wind from outside.
"Must you do that, Chancellor?" she suggested, as Chancellor Ronaldo sat down by his personal table in a huff. For his helper, it was actually Amethyst (go figure). Though, much like how Connie had a Gemstone, Amethyst didn't had one. As for the outfit, it matched Ronaldo's to some extent, but still held some key differences: a blue and green feather in her farmer hat for example. Oh, and her skin wasn't purple, but instead a typical tan.
"Those Gems think that they really own everything. Without our food, those Gems will have nothing. HA! Let them check over themselves," Ronaldo decided.
"Eh, I dunno ..."
"Wait a minute. I'm about to be brilliant!" Ronaldo announced. Amethyst didn't seem to impressed though.
"That'd be a first," Amethyst commented under her breath.
"Us humans will go out on our own! We have all the food anyway, right?"
"Eh ... We're all out," Amethyst said, rubbing the back of her head. Ronaldo looked a little bemused towards Amethyst.
"Did you eat our rations again?"
Amethyst accidentally let out a burp before she could answer. Amethyst was a little casual about it, if not content with the food, but Ronaldo got up to his feet.
"We can grow more where we're going. Point is ..."
And this same idea, oddly enough, was decided by all three sides of this triangle.
"We must find a new land!"
*snap**snap*
Suddenly, Steven's mind came back to reality, when Amethyst snapped her fingers in Steven's face.
"Huh? what's up?" Steven asked quietly. Amethyst didn't say anything, but she then pointed over to Lapis's seat. Steven was spending so much time watching the play, that he simply lost attention of practically everything else around him.
"What happened?"
"Lapis just got up and left in a huff. I think she can't stand being around Bismuth any longer," Amethyst confirmed. The two know of her fault, and if that was true, then there's really a problem going on that they can't ignore. When looking over though, as if reading their concern and mind, Bismuth was suddenly walking away.
"I'll be right back," Bismuth said to Jasper, who she was apparently talking to beforehand. Jasper took it in stride, but Steven and Amethyst managed to get up and follow her back. This grudge has to end ...
~~~~~~
Having to miss apart of the play was a bit of a pain, but Steven didn't want this sort of negative drive to continue if Lapis was going to remove herself like this. It was a bit quiet outside of the theater, as the two tried to look around for Lapis Lazuli. Funny thing though, it actually didn't take too much time to locate the character. Just outside of the theater, Lapis perched up on one of Canterlot's rooftops. The snow was lightly falling around her, and the Gem was staring off into the night sky. Soon, they saw Bismuth down further away, and the rainbow Gem already noticed her up on the roof, looking up towards her.
"Lapis!" Steven called. Only then did Lapis decide to look down, and even fly down from the rooftop. Apparently, Bismuth didn't say anything before they showed up, because Lapis's smile disappeared on seeing her.
"Why is she out here?" Lapis asked.
"Hey, hey, everything okay? You kinda left in a bit of a huff back there," Bismuth said. Lapis crossed her arms and looked away from her. Bismuth didn't seem to make the connection right away, and Amethyst and Steven looked to eachother. Just behind Bismuth, both Amethyst and Steven tried to signal her to actually start talking to her about the problems. Lapis knew what they wanted, but she didn't know how well it'll actually help, so ...
"I just needed some alone time."
... Yeah, Not what they wanted. Amethyst had her hand to her forehead, both she and Steven a little defeated. Bismuth was a little unsure about the response at first.
"You sure now?"
"Yeah I'm sure. You just go," Lapis insisted. Bismuth could see that she was stressed, but not knowing as much about her as the other Gems, she decided not to push the subject any further, and went over back to the theater, with Amethyst, Steven, and Lapis standing outside.
"Lapis," Amethyst said, in a disappointed tone.
"What?"
"Why didn't you tell her anything?" Steven asked, a bit puzzled. Lapis sighed, and didn't look as angry at them as she was with Bismuth.
"I'm sorry. But, I don't think it's going to happen," Lapis concluded.
"Come on, Lapis, just talk to her. I'm sure you can work something out if you just -"
"Guys, guys. Please, understand. I know you two are trying your best, and I can see why ... But, it's a bit more complicated than that," Lapis said.
"Complicated?" Steven asked, obviously confused. What's so complicated about just talking to someone about your problems? Lapis just sighed, and masked her trouble with a smile.
"I'll talk to her when the time comes ... For now, let's just enjoy what's left of the play. come on, let's go," Lapis promised. She honestly wasn't too sure when that time would be, if ever, but she just wanted her friends not to bother themselves with her personal issues with the matter. It was nice, but she didn't want them to remove their own fun time along with her. So, with that, Lapis started to walk back inside, thinking that it was all she needed to say to them. Too bad it didn't seem to work ...
"It would be a lot better if it just work out like it does in cartoons."
"Yea. It would."
~~~~~~
After that little talk, Lapis, Bismuth, Steven and Amethyst returned to the Canterlot Theater. Amethyst, Steven, and Lapis got to their seats, and Bismuth went over to her own corner as before. Pearl looked over to Steven after a bit.
"Steven, there you are. So, to have you catch up, the princess, chancellor, and commander had left their old kingdom. They found Equestria, I believe, at about the same time at this point," Pearl quietly said. However, Steven wasn't exactly paying much attention to Pearl, looking over to the now withdrawn Lapis, who was just sitting quietly and watching the play. Steven was simply hoping that this will get resolved at some point soon. For now though, his imagination switched back on as he continued watching what was left of the presentation ...
~~~~~~~
Everypony was forced to seek shelter. They searched high and low, but the only shelter for miles was a cold and desolate cave. And, of course, the three tribes had to share it, and nopony was too happy about that.
At this point, the storm had started to return to this supposed new land. At this point in time, Chancellor Ronaldo, Princess Pearl, and Commander Lapis had to evacuate from the open, alongside their respected followers: Amethyst, Connie, and Peridot. As the narrator said, the group ended up stuck in a cave, and while it was big enough to hold all of them, they kept to a respected corner away from the exit of the cave. Still, things weren't going along as well as it should be.
"Private Peridot, mark our borders down. No Earth Gem or Earth human is allowed on OUR land," Lapis ordered. Peridot, a bit startled, did as she was told, and got out a stick to mark the borders in the cold dirt. After some quick ordering, Connie and Amethyst went on to do the same. The borders seemed pretty well done, until Connie stopped at a decent stone, and was about to go around it when ...
"Connie, don't go around the stone - head right over it. The territories of Crystal Gems will NOT be giving up a single inch to any ruffians," Pearl ordered. That seemed to start something off - again - as Ronaldo and Lapis moved forward, still on their borders.
"That stone belongs to homeworld land!" Lapis yelled, going as far as to reach for the stone, only for Ronaldo to nearly stomp on her hand.
"That rock was on human land at the start! i'll be taking that," Ronaldo decided, suddenly grabbing the stone, which ticked off Pearl severly.
"How dare you take from Crystal Gem territory?!" Pearl squawked.
"Finders keepers," mocked Ronaldo.
"HAND OVER MY ROCK!" Lapis demanded. As for Amethyst, Peridot, and Connie, who were sitting not too far away, they honestly found this beyond silly. It was understandable before, but they're arguing over a rock for goodness sake. They didn't try to get in between the trouble though, having respect still for their respected leaders. As the leaders still argued, the cold began to slip inside from the horrid blizzard. however, it was a bit more than just cold wind and snow ...
"The entrance!" Peridot yelped. The others turned to entrance, and the realization got in: their only exit was being frozen over! Peridot tried to run out, but the exit froze just quickly enough to trap them all, Peridot slipping on the ice.
"Great. Now there's no way out! We're trapped!" Ronaldo yelled.
"You two deserve this horrible fate. You've done nothing but argue and fight with each other!" Pearl accused.
"You've been fighting too, your snobness," Lapis mocked, and even went as far as to bring her hand up to her mouth and a *PBHT* filled the air, angering Pearl even more.
"Yeah! Worse! I haven't been fighting nearly as much as you!" Ronaldo added. No, that didn't help. As Amethyst, Connie, and Peridot watched, there was something else that was going on with the ice. The ice was expanding ...
And consuming the leaders!
"REBELLIOUS TRAITORS!" Lapis yelled.
"PATHETIC SCUM!" Shouted Ronaldo.
"HORRID CLODS!" Yelled Pearl.
Those final insults hung in the air before Ronaldo, Pearl, and Lapis ended up completely frozen in place! Connie, Amethyst, and Peridot backed up from the approaching ice. Soon, the three were in the center of the room, ice all around them, and closing in. Worse, it almost appeared that the storm itself was inside the cave! Storm clouds swirled around inside the cave, keeping the trio together, as they began to notice something else looming around within the cave with them. One of these came extremely close to the group, the figure resembling a Sapphire. There were two other figures, all looking like flying Sapphires, all looking like ice ghosts.
"Eep," Peridot said, cowering over by the others. The Sapphires circle them in the air, the ice coming in closer and closer.
"W-What are those things?" Peridot shuttered.
"I think they're Sapphires!" Connie realized, worried.
"Sapphires?" Asked Amethyst and Peridot.
"My mentor Rose Quartz told me about them before: they're a type of rare polar Gem that feeds off of hatred and anger. The more they feel hatred, the colder things become," Connie explained, not moving her eyes away from the creatures hovering around them. The three faced eachother at one point, and it was here that they start to feel the ice begin to consume them as well, starting at their feet.
"This is our fault. The three tribes - they kept on beating eachother down. We brought the blizzard then, and now here," Peridot realized.
"And now our bodies will be as cold as our hearts ... All because we're foolish enough to hate!" Connie concluded. The ice crept up their bodies more and more, as the Sapphies wailed, and flew around them ...
"Well ... I don't hate you guys," Peridot said at one point.
"You don't?" Amethyst asked.
"Yeah, I don't. I hate Lapis a little more than I hate you two," Peridot admitted. Connie and Amethyst giggled, though the Sapphires stopped for a moment, seeing the turn of events.
"Well, I don't hate you either," Amethyst concluded.
"Nor do I. No matters how different we are, Earth is our home," agreed Connie. The ice was getting very thick now, and consuming them all more and more. At the end of Connie's sentence, the ice was up to their faces. The three were very close together, smiling as their bodies were covered in ice. The Sapphires sense a deep shift from hatred to love, and their magic was starting to weaken ...
As the trio were standing there, Connie's gemstone started to glow, and suddenly a unique flame shot out from her gemstone: a purple flame to be exact. The flame spread out, not hurting them or their leaders, but the Sapphires were forced away.
"Whoa. I didn't know Gems could do that."
"Neither did I. This never happened before ... But, I know it couldn't had been just me. It was all three of us, joined together in friendship ..."
All through the night, the three ponies kept the fire of friendship alive by telling stories to one another and by singing songs, which of course became the winter carols that we all still sing today. Eventually, the warmth of the fire and singing and laughing reached the leaders, and their bodies began to thaw. And it even began to melt their hearts. The three leaders agreed to share the beautiful land, leaving past quarrels behind, and live in harmony ever afterwards. And together, they named their new land...
~~~~~~~
"Equestria!"
Steven came back around, all smiles, when the ponies around him started to cheer for the actors up on stage, which was the Mane Six. The crowds and the Gems enjoyed it overall, as the Mane six took their bows for the crowd. The presentation was a basic one for a play this way, but the point and what message was put across was still plenty strong. For Lapis Lazuli, the rest of the play seemed to bring the point home to her more than the others thought.
"Those ponies wanted to be friends ... Even after all their hatred towards eachother..." Lapis thought. Lapis took a small look over to Bismuth.
"She hasn't been bad since coming back to us ..."
Lapis just gave a sigh.
~~~~~~
Hearth's Warming day. The sun of Equestria rose up gently over Ponyville, and many of assorted fillies and colts all over were up and giddy for what they've gotten for the holiday morning. The Gems had been and gone from Equestria, as far as many were concern (if anypony was wondering where they were at, anyway). At the library, Spike was just about to wake up, tired from the narrating the night prior. However, as he was slowly waking up from his basket bed, his stretching claws then scraped something placed nearby. Once the little dragon opened his eyes, he found that there was a small present sitting just an inch away. It was wrapped up in white and purple wrapping paper, and the small tag read "to Spike. Love: Twilight". Curious, Spike got up, and opened up the present easily with his dragon claws, finding the present being a unique looking file for his claws, and a cute plushie of Steven's Lion. The plushie was a bit silly, but the file was nice for him, especially since it had a cool symbol of a dragon on it. Spike placed the lion by his bed, and he began using the file on his claws for maintenance. He peeked down, and saw Twilight with a Santa hat on her head, smiling up to him.
"Happy Heath's Warming Spike," Twilight said, as Spike went on downstairs.
"Thanks a ton, Twilight. Been meaning to get my claws done," Spike said, still working on his claws with the file for a bit before blowing off some debris off his new file.
"I knew you'd like it. Besides, you deserve it after your performance last night," Twilight said, giving Spike a hug. Spike hugged her back, but before anything could continue ...
*knock**knock*
Guess somepony wanted to come by for a visit. Who it was though could be anypony: a group of carolers perhaps? One of the Mane Six stopping by? Well, one way to find out: Twilight went over, and opened the door. However, she didn't exactly find anypony there. Or any pony for that matter. In fact, the surprise visitor was actually Lapis Lazuli ...
"Morning Lapis. Happy Hearth's Warming," Twilight said with a smile.
"Hi. Twilight? ... Can I ask you a favor?"
.......
"Lapis? Lapis! Now where is that girl?"
Back in Beach City, At least for the moment, the place was quiet, as Bismuth was trying to figure out where Lapis had gone. She hadn't seen the Gem since last night back in Canterlot, and Bismuth wondered if it was right to just leave her or not. Bismuth wandered on outside, just outside the Temple. At the moment just as well, no one else seemed to be around ...
Soon though, something gently started to float down to her. It took like a small present, with a parachute to float down easy. It landed down right in Bismuth's hand, and the blue wrapping made Bismuth a little curious. The note that came with it caught her eye, and she took a look at it first.
To: Bismuth. From: Lapis Lazuli.
Bismuth looked into the box next, and the message came with a special gift of Lapis's own. What was inside? Well, it was small, and for Bismuth, it just managed to fit on her wrist.
A bracelet, made out of sparkling blue dragon scales.
As for Lapis herself, she looked down from up on a rocky cliff, sitting casually and seeing Bismuth's big smile as the rainbow Gem put hers on. Even Lapis could see it sparkle up where she was. As for her relationship with Bismuth as a whole, she wasn't sure still how far it was going to go. But here, she took the time to show Bismuth that she was at least letting her by.
It's a start.
Well, the title is misleading. First time ever - hopfully the only time 
And here's my Christmas chapter for this year. 
Yeah, the story is instead being told in the human/Gem alternate universe when the history resembled that of Equestria. I can be creative, can't I?
Happy Heath's Warning everypony 
And Merry Christmas ^^
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Awesome chapter
7801296 thanks ^^
7801326 you're welcome
Omg that was awesome. Can't wait for more. I have a question if you can answer it, about how many more chapters?
7803677 not too many left for this season
7804140 what's that?
Okay, finally have a spare moment to read this.
About the "hand to face" and "quotes with her fingers" parts, I recommend removing those and trying to avoid them in the future. It kind of breaks some of the readers immersion if you know what I mean.
When I reached the part where Spike was narrating, I was kind of afraid that I would be skimming over it, but was actually pleasantly surprised to find that you changed it up a tiny bit by supplanting the Mane Six with members of the Crystal Gems (although personally I would have had Jasper take the place of Hurricane and Lapis be her Assisstant, and Jamie take Amethysts place as the assisstant to Ronaldo to reinforce the shipping that was hited at in previous chapters).
Also, I am glad that Lapis is at least trying to be friendly with Bismuth, even if it's only in small amounts.
I eagerly await the next chapter.
7815978 I'll keep that in mind, thank you. Glad you're enjoying it as always ^^