My Little Universe: Anarchy

by EquestrianKirin

My Little Universe: Anarchy Pt1

Alarms were the main sound echoing in its ears, as the figure raced through the halls. Lights were little to none except for the reoccurring lights turning on and off with each ring of the alarms. Guards ran helter skelter every which way to try and catch this renegade runner. Quartz soldiers on high alert to their orders to recapture and relocate, with the figure moving at high speed. The figure didn't have any normal run, racing through the paths and halls in a long stride, almost resembling a gallop of sorts, though any of the soldiers who saw the runner seen no animal that resembled such. All the quartz soldiers tried their hardest to catch the runner, but somehow it was evading many of them well.

"There it goes!" One of the soldiers called, as she saw the creature race across the hall. The group of Quartzes rushed at it, but the creature skidded to a halt at one point, and jumped out of sight. The Quartz soldiers ran by, but the animal evaded them just long enough, sticking itself to the corner of the ceiling like a spider. Once they left, it left too and was running off again.
The figure made every turn and every stop to find a way out of this place, so far not getting anywhere. The only thing it got was more soldiers running after it.

"There he is!"

"Capture him, hurry!"

"You're not getting out of here!"

These screams just made the figure bolt off once again. Every soldier who saw him ran after as fast as they could. During the run, the figure finally caught sight of something that looked promising. A rather small part, a hatch almost, but it was just what he moved towards as the other soldiers closed in. There wasn't much time to think, but the figure looked too big to get through fast enough. He could probably, but no time to do so. The figure looked back for one moment before he grabbed something, and tossed it into the hatch just before the soldiers fully arrived. The room the other object was tossed into closed up tight, and the figure found a control panel nearby, to which it quickly activated. This hatch then became active, and after a little bit the hatch detached itself, and suddenly blasted away! It wasn't entirely what the figure planned for, but it was just enough.

All he could do now was face the onslaught.

~~~~~~

Night time. And a group over on one planet was enjoying a perfect time of stargazing. The hillsides rolled on through the Equestrian countryside, and it's these hills that made for a wonderful spot for this group to enjoy the stars above. The stars flickered and danced in the air like small twinkling diamonds, and they all were up on display for this group down below. For those down below the star's eyes, they consisted of quite a mixture: a few Earth Ponies, Pegasus, a Unicorn, an Alicorn, a human, and a Gem being.
These went by the names of Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Twilight, Steven, and Garnet.
And what a night to stargaze too, for the night shined alive with shooting stars, zooming by like the Pegesi of ol. Steven was sitting in Garnet's lap, with Fluttershy and Twilight side by side.

"Oh, oh, I wish ... I wish for a new baker's set!" Pinkie said, hopping up and down.

"You've already made wishes on twenty shooting stars now, I think you can let them have a break," Twilight chuckled.

"But I won't get my wish if I miss it," retorted Pinkie. Technically correct by her logic, anyway, as more stars shot by. Nothing better than just watching stars go by with friends.

"What do you wish for, Garnet?" Asked Steven. Garnet just fluffed Steven's hair.

"My wish is for your wish to come true," Garnet replied.

"Aww, how sweet," Fluttershy commented. Steven felt very happy about that and his gaze went back to the stars.

Shooting stars were a nice surprise for the night, but tonight was a true spectacle to behold. Each pony kept their eyes to the sky, and as they were, it seemed that one of these stars stuck around pretty long compared to the others in the sky. It looked just like one, though it seemed to be staying in place and seemingly growing. Strange for a shooting star.

"OOOO, that's a big one," Pinkie pointed out, a hoof aimed to the star. The others took notice of it, and saw what Pinkie meant.

"Make a wish sport," Applejack suggest, looking to Steven. Steven quickly got his wish going after a few seconds of thinking, making sure the star didn't miss him. Steven kept quiet for a moment or two, but as he was, Twilight took another look at the shooting star. She seen shooting stars, that's for sure, but this one seemed a little bit different from other shooting stars. Twilight squinted her eyes as it grew closer, trying to make sure that this shooting star is a shooting star. But the more she kept her eyes on it, the more she started to put that theory into question. It didn't move away, or disappeared after a bit, and it only grew bigger by their perspective. It just kept getting bigger, and bigger. And bigger ...

"It's coming straight at us!" Twilight realized.

And not a moment too soon. The flying star was indeed coming right at them, and they all saw it go right over their heads! So close in fact, they could see the flames from the speed shooting from the shooting star's tail. Lucky none of them were ten feet up, otherwise it would've struck one of them at the speed it was going. The star rushed by them, and just five feet behind them, down the hill, the object made contact with the ground. The hit wasn't straight down, so it skidded along the ground until a few sturdy trees stopped it cold. The impact left a strong streak into the dirt, leading right up to the supposed star.
But then came the real shocker. The shooting star, wasn't a star at all. The object didn't even look natural at all, and appeared like a large round orb of sorts. Nothing too specific, but strange all the same. The outer shell of the object was smooth, fire-resistant metal that gleaned in the moonlight. Not any evidence of a usual hatch anywhere, but it did appear that something did open up on one end of this thing, revealing that something had ended up on the ground, not far from the object. At first it seemed harder to tell on who, or what it was, but it didn't take very long until they all were at the spot.

"A space shuttle," Garnet stated. A odd sight to see, but with how much they've seen as it was, it wasn't too surprising. Their attention then turned to the collapsed thing not too far away. It looked small, only about pony-sized, but the body was by no means equine. Once the moonlight got to her, she was quickly recognized by plenty of them. The bluish hue of her red skin, and Gemstone on her navel made her an immediate recognizable Gem from their previous encounter.

"It's Navy!" Gasped Steven.

"Eh, that's a Ruby," corrected Garnet.

"That's her nickname. Because she has her Gemstone on her navel."

"OH. I get it."

"But wait, isn't this Ruby with that squad we met with before?" Twilight questioned.

"Now you mention it, I did recognize her from that group. But where're all the others?" Rarity wondered. Navy surely did look a bit rough on first appearance. Her body ragged, her face tired and hair a little messed up for its square shape. Before anyone could answer that, Navy slowly started to come back around. A very muffled groan just grew audible enough for them to hear, and Navy started to open her eyes, just a little bit. She took a moment to look around, and then she saw a sort of blue figure close by. ...

Suddenly, Navy went psychotic: she jumped up fast, and tackled the closest thing to her (which was Rarity) and suddenly Navy summoned out a pair of spiked knuckles!

"I WILL NOT BE SHATTERED BY ANYONE, YOU HEAR ME?!"

"WHOA, whoa, calm down!" AJ said, grabbed the Gem and pulling her off of Rarity, alongside Fluttershy. Clearly something was incredibly wrong with her if she were to just lash out like that. Now pulled back into more view, Navy's problem became more apparent this time around: her Gem had been brutally cracked!

"Oh no! Here, hold still," Steven said, his healing spit brought out to his hand, and he got it ready to be placed on Navy's stone. Navy was still freaked out, yet exhausted, and tried to break free until Steven got to her Gemstone, his healing powers going to work right away. Navy could feel her Gemstone getting filled in, and this moment gave her time to regain herself, and sure enough her stone was whole again. But even with the Gemstone healed, she still felt extremely tired. Once released, Navy collapsed down on the ground, and fast asleep after a few seconds.

"Navy? Navy?"

"Leave her be. She can tell us what happened in the morning, but for now let's give her some rest," Garnet instructed. Something they couldn't agree more. The Ruby was lifted up easy by Garnet, and moved on her way. If she is to rest, it wasn't going to be out in the open.

"Here we go," thought Rainbow.

~~~~~~

.......

Navy took a bit of time before she started to stir a bit. She felt a little tired still, but feeling a lot better than the initial crash landing at Equestria. The morning light from outside hit her eyes, and it was enough to get her waking up from her first time snooze. After getting her eyesight together, she took a moment to check the surroundings. She still remembered the crash site, and she found that it wasn't anywhere near her spot. Instead of by some trees, she found herself inside of a tree. Twilight Sparkle's house to be more specific. She was up on the upper level of the library, under the covers in Twilight's bed. The bed was cozy, much better than the ground she crash landed on, and the scenery was all new to her. She never been inside Twilight's house before, after all. Navy took the time to check in the area around her. She saw the picture and clock over by the bed, the smaller dog bed for Twilight's friend Spike, a few spare books, and a sitting stool. Enough indication to say someone had kept an eye on her throughout the night. The Gem yawned and stretched her arms, waking herself up as she got herself out of bed, trying to make some sense of things.

"Hello?" Navy called. Navy walked down the stairs to the main floor of the library after a while, and sure enough her movement was picked up on by whoever was inside the house. The call got Twilight's attention, the Alicorn moving in with some others who found out about Navy's little crash. Naturally Twilight wasn't the only one there to see her that morning, for she had a few visitors that arrived, including Ponies and Gems alike (Twilight, Steven, Garnet, Applejack, Fluttershy, a Bismuth, a Flint Gem, a Amethyst, and a Pearl)

"Navy, you're awake. How're you feeling?"

"Oh, hi Steven. I'm okay, but ... who's "Navy"?"

"That's Steven's little nickname for you," replied Fluttershy.

"Oh. Ok," Navy simply said, as Amethyst went over to her.

"Now, what on Earth happened to you? Garnet said you nearly killed Rainbow Dash last night," Amethyst stated. Navy needed a moment or two to get her own mind together, and to get her memory going. Since her Gemstone was cracked when they found her, it was a little vague, but little by little her mind started to get the images of what had happened before they found her. Navy sat down on the floor, soon after her full memory came back to her. And by the look on her face, it didn't seem like anything good.

"Ruby? You're free to tell us," Garnet assured her.

"Yeah, we're all pals here," added Bismuth. Navy took a seat near the Library's center statue before she decided to start speaking her situation, as much as she didn't want to.

"Well ... I don't know. ..."

"Ruby, you assaulted one of my friends last night, AND we found your gemstone all cracked up. Something must've happened," Steven said.

"That pod didn't look like your usual red spaceship either. And where's the rest of your squad? Weren't there supposed to be five of you?" added Twilight, remembering the last time the Ruby squad stopped by. Navy placed both hands over her own gemstone for a moment or two.

"... I don't like them. ..."

"Like who?" Asked Fluttershy.

"It's a bit of a long story."

"Well we have a lot of time, so go on ahead," AJ encouraged, sitting down and getting comfortable.

"Well, let me see now. Me and the rest of my Ruby squad were going through the Milky Way Galaxy on a mission to the V system and we were about a few hours away when, uh ... when our ship was brought to Gem colony Aredox in Star System 5 III. ... W-We were brought in. For some reason, a-a-and ..."

"Uh ... you okay?" Asked Pearl, walking over to her. Navy started out alright, but the more she tried to remember correctly, the more scared she appeared to be.

"I ... Those ... the Agates wouldn't let us go ..."

"Aredox? What're you talking about? ... Navy?" Steven asked.

Navy was a little too traumatized to even answer straight. The Ruby ended up on the ground, laying on her side and huddled up.. Whatever happened on Aredox took a severe toll on the small Ruby. Eventually, Navy suddenly snapped back, and pancaked herself to Garnet's face.

"PLEASE, OH PLEASE HELP ME SAVE MY FRIENDS! I-I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'LL DO WITHOUT THEM!" Navy begged, eyes locked with the fusion. Navy sounded very desperate for help, and Bismuth pulled Navy off of her.

"There, there Ruby, calm down. Where's this Aredox place? Is it far?"

"Oh, no not at all! It's only two hundreds years away," Navy stated, a bit happier in tone. However, the rest of the group didn't have that kind of time, especially with Steven and the ponies: both with limited lives compared to the Gems. How can they even LIVE that long to even get there?! Bismuth placed Navy down on the floor after a little bit, the Ruby gem still with begging eyes and both hands clasped together, as Flint moved over to the Ruby.

"We don't have that kind of time. Is there a faster way to get there, if any?"

"You can use a spare Ruby ship. A wormhole can cut time short," Navy figured.

"Wait, what about your ship?"

"Those mean Gems confiscated it," Navy simply said, able to get that out a bit easier than the other things. Despite everything, Flint looked a bit unsure about it. He was the type of Gems that tries to avoid trouble as much as he could, and this surely sounded like a lot of trouble on the surface.

"Eh ... I dunno," Flint admitted.

"Please?"

"Ruby, I know they mean a lot to you, but I don't know if this is such a good idea," Flint made clear, a bit unsure himself. Navy stayed quiet, looking very sad. This Ruby had a little trick up her sleeve.

"Oh. Okay then, I guess I'll just go then. Maybe little ol me can find a new group of Rubies. It took me a long time to get those perfect group of Rubies as my friends, but ... I'll find others. *sniff* It may take months, years even, but -"

"OK, FINE WE'LL DO IT. Just ... stop that!" Flint groaned. Navy's mood quickly switched, and Navy hugged Flint tightly.

"THANK YOU. I knew I could count on you!"

"Yeah. Sure."

~~~~~~

Pretty soon, the group went on over from Equestria, and over into Steven's main would. With Gems more common there, that's where Navy was taken for some more time to recover from her crash. Steven's home was actually a beach house, attached to what looked like a ancient Gem temple alongside the beach. A typical home for the Gems to take. Keeping around the Beach House, Amethyst, Steven, and Fluttershy stuck around to keep a better eye on Navy as the others tried to get everything ready for their flight to Aredox. Someone had to at least handle that during the wait.

"It's been a long time since we've been on a space trip like this. I wonder what Aredox is like," Steven wondered, excited to see a new Gem place, as Amethyst nibbled away on some snacks.

"Who knows? It's about time we got some serious space missions! I'm ready to kick some butt anytime," Amethyst said, doing a few kicks and punches in place. Fluttershy took the time too in order to get some snacks together, though mainly they were for the road, and not for herself. Though she did start drinking a small juice box at a point.

"I just hope the Rubies are okay," Navy commented, the Ruby sitting in between Steven and Fluttershy. The Pegasus placed a hoof on Navy's shoulder in comfort.

"Don't worry, they'll come back home safe and sound, I promise," Fluttershy assured Navy.

"Yeah, we ain't gonna let those Gems beat up your squad."

"But wait, the Agate patrols are too strong for you! You'll get shattered if you just charge in," Navy suddenly advised, remembering her own experience at the Gem colony. That got the other three a bit by surprise.

"What do you mean?" asked Steven.

"Or can you even tell us without freaking out?" Amethyst added in.

"No. No. I'm better now," Navy insisted. With her mind in a better place now, Navy was ready to give them the full story, or at least tell them what they're dealing with here. It was probably for the best that they know that anyway.

"The colony of Aredox is run by Agate Gems. They all run everything, each Agate in control of their own group of guards. The entire colony is run by a big, mean Agate - Holly Blue Agate."

"Wait a minute, isn't the Diamonds in charge of these colonies?" Amethyst questioned, scratching her head. Navy shook her head.

"I don't think so. I said that to them, and they told me Holly Blue is put in charge of the colony altogether. Everything is run by how she sees it. I don't know why either."

"So the Agates are in control, not the Diamonds," restated Fluttershy.

"Yep. And they're very strict too. You can't even walk around without being taken away to be punished."

"Hence the cracked Gem?" asked Amethyst. Navy paused and placed her hand onto her gemstone.

"Yeah."

"Oh my, you poor thing," Fluttershy said sorrowfully, rubbing her head with her hoof. Navy just sighed on memory, and could only wonder how the rest of her squad is holding up on that planet.

"Maybe you should tell the others about this, they should know about what happened," Flutters suggested. It took a little bit, but Navy eventually agreed to it.

.......

"Run by Agates, is it? Not too surprised," noted Flint.

Didn't take too long for them to get the others together for Navy to tell them her story, or at least what she told Steven, Amethyst, and Fluttershy about. This time around a larger group was together for the meeting, with all of the current Crystal Gems and Mane Six present to hear her out. The place she was telling this was at a barnhouse: a abandoned barn where they had used for outdoor work and construction projects in the past.

"Some of them must get out," stated Rarity. Navy thought it over a little bit.

"Actually, one did try to while we were there. She didn't get very far though, but I didn't see what they did with her. ... I did hear her though," Navy said, the last part making her shiver. The others looked to eachother for a bit on the implications Navy left. Navy then started to remember something else.

"There's another too. I think he's named Razor. I couldn't of escaped without his help."

"Why didn't he come with you?" Pearl asked.

"I don't know. ... Something about the others?" Navy figured, though she wasn't entirely sure herself. Interesting information for some of them, and that last part made it clear on why he stayed rather than leave with Navy.

"Alright then, I'll get the others and we'll be off!" Rainbow said, ready to fly off, but Garnet was quick to stop her.

"Not everyone, Rainbow. We'll get a team together, the rest can watch things here until we get back. Ruby, you better stay here. You're known to them and it could be dangerous for you," Garnet advised. Navy was worried, but it was probably best for her to stay off Aredox anyway. She was technically an escaped convict after all.

.......

There she is. Send in the roaming eyes, and recapture her.

~~~~~~

So after that, the group got busy. In the barn, much of the group got themselves into working out coordinates. Navy being the main guide for this venture. Information about where the exact planet was was, for lack of better words, vague. Lucky for them, Navy already drew up a sort of star chart from a chalkboard Steven and company dug out from the barn's many spare parts and extra items. With chalk available, Navy took little time to draw out their directions, linking from Earth to Aredox in the quickest way she could think of. At least to the Gem, it was a quick trip, but anything over years of travel was not even going to suffice for any pony or Steven on the trip. Currently, Pearl, Twilight, and Navy were at the barn looking it over, as Bismuth and a CG Peridot prepared some extra resources for the travel.

"So, this is the Earth. And WAY over here is Aredox," Navy directed, as she drew a line from Earth to Aredox. According to the drawn charter, the planet Aredox looked similar to a ring planet, like Saturn for example. Pearl and Twilight both looked over the charter.

"I see. With the approximate time of two hundred years by regular space travel, a warp-based Ruby ship can make the time in ... Let's see ... Two hundred, convert into light years, divided it by the average warp speed, plus added weight of estimated passengers on board, and ... ten to twelve Earth days," Pearl concluded.

"Ten to twelve days? That's not too bad. Provided we keep on a straight schedule," Twilight added in, concerning of anything they might run into during the flight.

"So ... Ten to fifteen then," Pearl corrected, putting Twilight's suggestion into consideration. Better secure than sorry. Then they began to hear the racket made by the other Gems nearby.

"Bismuth, Peridot, what're you two doing?"

"Me and Bismuth agreed that we're being presented with unforeseen risks, so we decided to cooperate some backup just in case," Peridot explained, presenting what Bismuth brought out. The object didn't look too big, but that was only because it was more compacted.

"And that is ...?"

"Portable teleporter. Just a little something we whipped up together," Bismuth said. She simply tossed it, and as it landed, it opened up into a much larger teleporter, though at the moment it was inactive.

"OH, bravo Bismuth," Pearl applauded.

Before things could continue for them, a distant humming sound began to slowly come around from farther away. When they looked up, they began to see what the other pals had been up to, as they tried to drive down a borrowed Ruby ship from Homeworld. However, the flight patterns on this ship were a bit more sporadic than they would be comfortable. Speeds shift, altitudes altered rapidly, and angles jumble about. The others on the ground had to move inside the barn fast before this Ruby ship ended up slamming down into the ground with a loud thud. The hatch opened up, and out stumbled the pilots of this Ruby ship: Amethyst and Steven. Took some maneuvering after the first ten minutes to get one of these, but it sufficed anyway.

"One ship ready to fly ..." Amethyst said, finger aimed to the air as if finding the point above her head. By the sound of it, the flying wasn't all too good. They weren't the only ones in the Ruby ship though, as one ruffled Pony stumbled out as well.

"Don't you know how to fly those things?" groaned Applejack.

"I'm no expert in driving Ruby ships," Amethyst said, picking herself up with Steven, as AJ pulled her hat out from the hatch. A bit dusted up, but they at least got their ship altogether, and in one piece. Now they got the plans, and the ship to get them there. The noise of the rough landing got Flint coming back outside to see the situation.

"Okay, I think we got the - what happened to the ship?"

"Rough landing," Steven simply said. Flint looked through the hatch into the Ruby ship to be sure that it wasn't damaged. Lucky for them nothing inside the ship was even remotely affected by the landing.

"So what were you saying?"

"Oh, right. I spoke with Garnet, and she made up the best members to go off. Right here," Flint explained, presenting those there with a list of names. Twilight got the list from him and looked it over from there. The list seemed decent enough, though Steven found he wasn't on the list, along with Amethyst.

"Eh ... aren't you missing a few people?"

"No? I don't think so."

"But you forgot to put Amethyst in, Steven too."

"You two aren't going," Flint simply stated.

"What?!"

"Steven, Amethyst, it's for the best. You two nearly died back with White Diamond as it is, and Garnet doesn't want you two going through that again. Besides, Navy could use the company."

Both Amethyst and Steven glanced over to Navy, who spun around on a swivel seat for a moment. While a number of them didn't need to be reminded about White Diamond and what happened on her space station, it was probably the best and only point Flint had to get them to stay, as reasons go. Not the best reason, but still a reason. There was no way Navy was going to go with them, and whoever else staying can't stay around Navy the whole time they were gone, so the factors stood against them. As for Flint, he didn't give them much time to answer, before he addressed the others.

"Hey Pearl, can you get the others together? Make sure they're ready to go, and to meet up at the Temple for the initial liftoff. I'll get the ship ready and meet you in a few minutes," Flint instructed. Pearl soon went off on her way to get the team set up.

"Dang Flint, you're on a roll. First White, and now here," Bismuth complimented.

"Don't worry about it. Anyway, Bismuth, is there a connection end to that thing? I see that's a teleporter, but you need two for it to work.

"Peridot's almost finished with it in the barn."

"Good, then being that along and meet Pearl at the Temple. We might need that for a quick getaway."

Bismuth needed no further explanation, and went in the barn where Peridot was still tweaking with the other teleporter connection. By the look of it, it wouldn't be long until that was all fixed up and ready to go. With this preparations and all that, Steven and Amethyst were left with nothing to do. They may have brought in the Ruby ship for them, but that was really all they needed here. Whatever Aredox had in store, they weren't seeing it.

"Is there anything we can do?" Steven asked, a bit hopeful for something to do. However, what Flint had in mind ...

"Just spruce up the barnhouse."

.......

"Did you have to ask?"

Few minutes later, and Amethyst, Steven, and Navy by extension, were in the barn and sprucing things up. Navy stood aside and observed what the two were doing, which was simply shifting stuff around just to make it look good. Steven, being slightly stronger than Amethyst, did some of the shifting a bit better, but both shared in it pretty equally overall. Navy only stood there with her arms behind her back, and a rather casual posture and expression. Her focus was on more of the stuff in general rather than actually doing anything to clean it up.

"Cheer up, it looked a lot worse before," Steven reminded, as Amethyst placed a box over to one part of the barn.

"Hey, what are those things?" Navy asked at one point, referring to Steven as he was moving around a leftover piece of a propeller. Navy looked over the propeller as Steven answered.

"Oh, this is a propeller. People use it on their planes to fly, and boats to zoom along water," Steven said. Navy looked a bit confused, as any alien would to human structures and uses.

"Humans used this to fly?" Navy questioned.

"They used to. Now it's mainly jet engines and hot air balloons."

It honestly wasn't too much going on for the next ten minutes after that, and it was mainly the same. Navy would ask time to time about some objects in the barn, and the other two would just keep their work in moving objects to their better places. Not where they were supposed to be, but better spots anyway. Far as they were concern, it was nothing more than a simple chore that anyone could've done. The stuff they did move were just in more categorized piles, in a manor similar to how Amethyst handles her stuff over in her room.
Still, be that as it may, it seemed that something might've gotten them their own method to Aredox. Steven stopped for just a moment and glanced over towards the barn's open window. He'd normally see the sky with maybe a cloud or two, maybe even a bird if given a chance. But that wasn't the case today. ...

"What is that?" Asked Amethyst, who also saw the window too. Navy, Steven, and Amethyst witnessed something entirely new come in from the window, suspended in the air by an unknown force. It looked about their size, but the shape looked like a true diamond Crystal; a pointed end with a flattened front like a cone. The flat end was silver, with a single small gem at the center that resembled a blue Gem, shape of an octagon. The strange thing floated in, the 'eye' locked onto the three inhabitants inside the barn. Navy stayed absolutely still as it approached, though Amethyst and Steven had never seen something like it before.

"Navy?" Steven asked. Before anyone could say anything, the object started to flash a sort of light at them, brought out like that of a scanner. It started at their heads, and moved downward. As it did so, the gemstones on Navy, Amethyst, and Steven suddenly started to glow bright white, much to Navy's worry. Once it made a proper scan of them, the thing turned from passive blue, to aggressive red, and started to move in on them, Navy specifically. The center stone began to charge up, but it gave the others enough time during this to react.

"NAVY, move it!" Steven said, shoving Navy aside just before it went off. What they thought was going to be a laser or beam ended up being a capturing method. It looked like a net, strands red and electrified, and it got around Steven and Amethyst, Navy only being missed by a hair due to being moved. Both Gems tumbled, the electricity paralyzing both. It wasn't just electricity that activated during the capture. Seconds after Steven and Amethyst got stunned, the net turned to a red bubble, capturing them both in it. It seemed like they were had ...

"Steven, come on we're gonna -"

Well, they got one more shot. Applejack. The orange pony halted her own thoughts on seeing the situation: a Gem thing capturing Steven and Amethyst, with Navy hidden away. Obviously something was wrong, and this object turned its attention to the pony. A similar blue scan appeared on AJ, but this time the object didn't seem to pick up on anything.

"Applejack, a little hoof here?" Amethyst said, trying to break the bubble herself. The thing continued its search for Navy, the Gem trying to keep hidden from the scanners, but AJ was quick to take action, and went straight for the red bubble. The bubble wasn't too strong on the outside, so a good kick was all it took for it to pop and let them out. The scanner quickly sensed their escape, an alarm going off in its system. But its focus was on finding the refugee Ruby, scanning light trying to find her. Navy tried to hide, but the scanners just manage to catch her gemstone and began to close in, readying another Gem net. Amethyst got her whip out, and lasso'd her out before the net could capture her. The object apparently had a limited time to get this handled, because the light on it started to flicker a bit after that. With limited energy dwindling, the object changed color from blue to a silvery grey color. Not much charge was made this time, and a sort of transparent wave was being emitted towards their general direction.
The reaction from the others was a swift one: One quick grab and throw of AJ, and Navy found herself over by the door. Steven, Amethyst, and Applejack got themselves caught in the waves, and suddenly their bodies appear to distort and deteriorate, until all three of them disappeared completely! That action used up the rest of the machine's energy, and it fell to the ground.

And just like that, it was serious.

~~~~~~

...wake up...you hear me?... WAKE UP...

Groggily, after a faded voice made the command, Applejack began to wake herself up. She felt a bit uneasy after what she could assume was a teleportation, and it took her senses some catching up to do after her body got up on all four hooves. When she got herself together, her position was clear: she's been captured!
For a start, the pony found herself inside what appeared to be some container. Not exactly a cage, but more like a see-through tank. Smooth plexus glass covered the entire container, so simple bucks weren't going to get her out at any point. AJ wasn't alone in her cell, with Amethyst and Steven laying not too far away, in the same cell. Where the cell was, was a bit more ambiguous in details, since AJ was mainly seeing nothing but midnight blue walls, VERY simple in details as far as rooms go.

"Guys! Y'all okay?" Asked Applejack. Amethyst and Steven came to after a bit.

"About time!" yelled a voice. The trio turned over to the source of this gripe, and they found a strangely familiar figure. Or at least, it looked familiar at first, but after the light grown more visible, the three Gems found a newcomer to them.
This figure, clearly some sort of Gem, moved on over towards them , standing just outside the cell and staring them down. The Gem stood taller than all three of them, about as tall as Flint but a bit thicker in her curves and overall body. The main color theme for this Gem is blue. Her skin was a lighter blue color, her main bodysuit very prominent in a deep sea blue coloration. Many parts of this Gem showed a kind of authority: white soldier boots, a diamond symbol on her chest, and a general-like expression. Her light blue lavender hair was made in a set of hair buns, both which having a lighter ring around then before reaching the tip.

"And who're you?" Amethyst demanded, getting up to her feet. The Gem looked each one over for a bit more before her hand met her face.

"Stupid roaming eyes. Programmed for one job and I end up with a overcooked runt and her posse of freak rocks?" The Gem opening thought, only ticking off Amethyst a bit further.

"Who're you calling a freak rock?!" Amethyst snapped, trying to get herself out with punches and kicks. But even for a Gem, this plexus glass wasn't going to break up anytime soon. The Gem was by no means intimidated by this 'little runt' as she puts it.

"Where're we?" Steven asked. But the Gem didn't really acknowledge Steven all that much, if at all. Instead, the Gem turned and gave a whistle. A short time later, a few Gems came in, and they all look a little bigger than her, about Jasper size.

"Can one of you pebbles explain to me why these three ended up here instead of that runaway Ruby?" The Gem questioned.

"I don't know, I'm sure the roaming eye was programmed correctly. Must've got some of her allies instead," said one of the other Gems. The single blue Gem looked to the trio in the tank. Obvious this Gem wasn't happy about it, but she didn't go off on them right away.

"Oh fine. Just dump these ... things, with the others. Put them to work."

Not what they wanted to really hear.

~~~~~~

Outer space. Considered by many a race as the final frontier. And within the vastness of this space, the Crystal Gem Ruby ship zoomed through with lightning fast speed for the longest time. The pilots on the ship here wasn't planning any stops over on this flight, especially now. For the team on board, it was a bit of a gamble, but those on board were about as ready as ever to reach Aredox. The members on board include: Bismuth, Garnet, Pearl, Flint, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Pinkie. Some couldn't really get going on this trip for a number of reasons, the main one being that they need to watch over things. Someone had to. Transmission back to home was made fairly easy thanks to some quick fixes by Peridot just before they left, just giving enough of a signal for a clear communication. Speaking of, during the flight through space, this same communication started to come up.

"Testing, testing. Can you read me?" Asked Peridot from the other end of the call.

"Loud and clear, Peridot. We're only a few minutes to Aredox at this point," Flint replied. On the screen, Peridot was joined up by Navy, who still looked extremely frazzled for some reason. Garnet looked to the screen as well.

"Ok, Ruby. Now calmly tell us what happened," Garnet said.

"No offense, but when you came to us ..." Rainbow added.

.......

"STEVEN-EYE-BLUE-GOT-SAVE EM!!"

.......

"Not much to go on there, sport."

Navy still looked a bit freaked but she was just good enough to get her words together. Still worried, but enough sense to get it right.

"It's the Agates: they sent a roaming eye, they captured our pals!"

"WHAT?!" Flint gasped.

"I-I don't know how it happened, I'm so sorry. I should've left you alone, otherwise they would never had been caught!"

"OK, OK, calm down. Thank you, Ruby. We'll get him back."

"AND my squad! Oh, who knows what those mean Agates are doing to them!"

"HEY, watch the shaking, you'll break the camera!" Peridot cut in, moving the screen away from Navy before she could wreck it with her panicking grab-n-shake. They didn't need a broken communication track before getting home.

"Good luck," Peridot said. Garnet nodded and cut off the communications back home.
And just in time. For Pearl started to slow down the ship just enough for a more reasonable speed, as another planet started to grow into view. The details on this planet were pretty prominent in the lack of water, and varying mountains visible from orbit. Also visible from orbit was what looked like streams of warping, going around from place to place. None of them knew exactly where these were going, but either way it was clear this was a Gem colony.

"Aredox. That has to be the place," Bismuth stated.

"Right. Prepare to -" before Flint could finish up his sentence, the group started to see some company. Somehow this colony must've sensed them, because a set of small space pods left the planet, and soon the lone ship was confronted by the set of ships. No doubt these ships were orbiting patrols for the Agates. They didn't even get into the planet's atmosphere and already they were caught.

"Oh great, a patrol!"

"Calm down, I'll handle this. Twilight, you and your friends stay out of sight," instructed Garnet.

"You too Garnet, they'll be all over you the second they see you," Flint added in. Before Garnet could do anything, one of the ships started to make a rather vague transmission screen at the front window. Little time to protest, they quickly went right out of sight, leaving only Flint, Pearl, and Bismuth on the screen's radar. The screen in front showed the head of what looked like some Amethyst, though larger like a Jasper would be.

"You! You're crossing by Agate territory," the Amethyst stated. Flint cleared his throat.

"We're well aware of that, thank you. Don't mind us, we're just passing by that's all," Flint stated. The amethyst didn't seem convinced by such things.

"You know, that Ruby group said the exact same thing," said another amethyst on the same ship. Well this just proves that they got the right planet if they know that kind of information off the bat, and so easily at that. One of the ships looped around the Ruby ship, catching it in a sort of captive ring of sorts. They tried to move, but they couldn't get themselves out no matter the typical movement. Obviously the Amethysts were going the direct approach on this one. The transmission screen was removed, and gave them time to try and get the ship moving.

"Crud crud crud, we're stuck!" Flint groaned, trying like mad to get the ship out, hitting controls like mad but getting nowhere. They're just going to get captured the same as the Ruby squad if they let them do this. Both ships had tractor beams connected to the ring, and started towing them towards Aredox.

"Okay, time to clear out," Bismuth said, moving in and reaching for one particular switch on the controls.

"Bismuth wait!"

Too late. Bismuth activated the ship's warp speed function. The Ruby ship went crazy, and the extra oomph to their speed was enough to quickly snap the barrier of the ring, leaving the space pods in the dust. Since they were going so quick, Bismuth had to quickly turn it off before they would zoom through the planet, or blast too far away. It may had been quick, but it frazzled everyone on board all the same. ...

"BISMUTH, the heck was that for?! We could've ended up across the galaxy with that!" Flint snapped.

"We're here," Garnet announced, opening up the hatch to see the planet. Good thing she got that out before Flint would just scream his head off. Turned out, the ship was probably the luckiest it's ever been. Looking out, not only was the ship not crashed, but it was actually snug in a fair sized ditch in the Aredox dirt, the ditch on top of a large hill.
Flint stayed quiet ...

"Nice park job," commented Pinkie.

"Well, let's get away and try to find somewhere before those space pods find us again," Garnet concluded.

~~~~~~

"And in you go."

With those words, Steven, Amethyst, and Applejack all were dumped down right into the opening area. These newcomers were oblivious as oblivious can get. At the least AJ was allowed to keep her hat, but that was it in advantages. Not that it even mattered here.
Speaking of, the 'here' looked a bit like an assorted prison yard. The ground underfoot matched a sort of cinder, smooth and like stone. The sky itself looked roughly purple in color, though that could be from the time zone. The landscape laid out looked bordered by a long steep hill, looking like the borders of the place. The area they landed in particular was accompanied by various other creatures put in by the Agates. Most of these didn't pay too much attention to them, the trio staying together as they observed the situation. When it comes to Gemkind, the only main ones they saw were the guards and Mark captains, rarely any in the prisoners side. That was mainly given to other species, some human, humanoid, some quadruped, some beyond that. Regardless of what what looked like, they seemed to be under constant watch, some eating in only designated areas when they had oddly similar growing fruit. As the trio looked, one of the guards nearly attacked one of the prisoners just for wandering too far from their designated area.
The trio had an area indented in a small ditch, over by what seemed to be a workers pit, a brutish looking Carnelian on guard over a group of Gems, each mining by the look of things. They drilled into the rocks with their own fists until the Carnelian called them off with a few claps. Seeing how they all just fell to the floor told the trio that they've been at it for a while, as the Carnelian went off to check the others out.

"Hey. Is it me, or aren't those Navy's squad members?" AJ pointed out.

"Wait ... yeah. Yeah, you're right," agreed Steven. Rubies may seem the same on the surface, but the details on each one of these was just enough to distinguish them. As for the squad, the first to notice was a Ruby with one eye, the other covered by her Gemstone. She didn't say much, but did get a more boisterous Gem's attention about it, as the three walked over.

"Hey, squad! We've been looking for you," Amethyst said.

"... Do we know you from somewhere?" questioned one of the Rubies, this one having a visor over her eyes.

"We're part of the Crystal Gems. We met when y'all were looking for that Tunguska place," said AJ. However, the Rubies still weren't figuring it out. They remember the mission, but not them exactly. Their interaction was a bit brief after all.

"Eh, here, remember this?" Amethyst chimed in, as she quickly transformed herself into another member of their group: Ruby. Their Ruby.

"Hmm ... HEY, it's the Earth Gems!" said Doc. Not the exact name, but it fits. At least they recognized them now, Amethyst changing back to normal.

"You all okay? Doesn't look like these guys are treating you any good," Steven asked, worried for their safety. A Ruby, Army Ruby, simply flexed one of her arms.

"I feel great. All this mining's boosting my muscle," Army replied. She seemed the most comfortable outta her squad, though the same thing can't be said for the other three.

"Why're you here?" another Ruby asked, this one with her stone on her leg.

"Navy wanted us to get you out of here, so here we are."

"Who's Navy?"

"Uh, oh right. ... Your other Ruby, with the Gem over her navel," Steven corrected, pointing to the spot on his own body for a more visual aid. Doc seemed to get it pretty quickly.

"So she did make it. Where's she now?" Doc asked.

"She's back on our planet. She had a cracked Gem when she showed up, but she's all fixed up now."

"Good, good."

"The other Gems and ponies are on their way. They'll get us outta here," Applejack assured them.

Well, they hope so. ...

~~~~~~

Farther away, along the boarders of the Agate prison hold, the others were just about arriving along the lines. Their arrival may had been tricky, but they managed to work it out, and with their ship hidden away, they got moving. The group was about a mile away from the main spot, hidden away in a indent on the hill. Lucky for them the pods didn't locate them here.

"Well, there it is. The Agate prison hold," said Flint, looking off to the location along with the others.

"I bet there's some evil boss behind it," Rainbow figured, hovering over by Pearl.

"Well, not evil, but surely some headstrong authority figure," Pearl responded.

"Look, whatever the case is, we have to watch ourselves. If they catch us, we'll be as free as a harvest stone. ... Who knows what they're doing in there?"

"They'll be okay, Flint," Garnet said, looking off ahead. There wasn't any sort of sky patrols, guards, or anything like that, but what they did manage to catch was a sort of pathway, just a little bit away. Probably their only way inside.

"Perfect. Rainbow, mind scouting for us?" Garnet asked. Rainbow only replied with her actions, and took flight.

It didn't take very much longer before they all were off and on their way. With Rainbow as their eyes in the sky, they had a clear path right to the prison hold. Twilight joined Rainbow Dash in the flying game as the rest took the traveling on foot, keeping an eye out themselves as they neared the entrance to the hold. It was plenty long, wide enough for them to go in easy. Seemed fair enough, and rather forward.
Up in the air, Twilight and Rainbow had a better layout of the area they were going in: a rocky opening in the hillside border, with the interior of what seemed to be a patrol trail. And a pretty prominent one at that. The path looked pretty clear for their group, but that was quick to change when the Pegasus and Alicorn looked over farther away, around one of the prison buildings, a set of brutish Agate guards marched forward. Both gems didn't even acknowledge the flying horses above, which was lucky for the other two. Twilight and Rainbow Dash quickly zoomed straight down to the others back at the gate.

"Okay, problem: Agate patrols coming right this way," called Rainbow.

"Heh, no problem. Let's just thump them," Bismuth suggested, cracking her knuckles. However, Garnet quickly went in to stop her.

"Bismuth, no. We'll all get into far deeper trouble if you do that, now come on," Garnet warned. They could easily beat a set of Gems, but Bismuth knew by now that Garnet had her decisions pre-planned. The more they waited, the more likely they'll get found out, and the fliers could see both guards closing in on their walk path. They had no choice but to get going, and they started to head back outside the prison hold. Steven was in there, along with the Rubies, and their other friends but they needed to think things over before rushing in.
As they kept going, one of the Gems stopped and looked over to Flint, an idea coming into her head.

"Flint you go on ahead. This may be my one chance to get into Aredox," Bismuth stated, glancing back to the patrol path.

"What? But it's too -"

Flint stopped himself the second he saw Bismuth's face. That look of stubborn determination on her face told Flint right up that she wasn't changing her mind here. And with how strong and strong-willed Bismuth was, Flint couldn't get her talking out of it. Even if he could there was no time.

"... Alright. Take care, Bismuth," Flint said, this stalling making the others stop for a moment.

"Now Twilight will meet you over by that prisoner's building. Tell her then what you're able work out."

"Guys, what's the hold up?!" Called Rainbow, reminding them of the guards.

"She's right, you have to get moving!"

"Ok ok. We'll all be at the ship, tell Twilight what you want us to do."

"What I want you to do is find a way to keep them from following us. NOW GO, before we're all caught!"

With that, the group then went off to leave. Bismuth herself stayed behind from there, and moved on in.
The large Gem knew the guards will be coming onto her at any moment, and with her friends now off out of the way, Bismuth had no reason to worry over anything. Still, Bismuth needed a bit for them to show up, and time to work things out so she quickly made it her own to find somewhere to scope out. In the end all she got was hiding behind a boulder near the path, just big enough to cover herself up. The least she can do.
As the patrol neared her, Bismuth took one look off out to the scene, and she started to notice something else coming in. Just about fifty feet in front of her, two other figures snuck out into view. And they too soon see the Agate patrol guards coming towards them.

"Be careful, Razor," said one of the figures. Razor nodded and began to move in. As the Agates pause for a moment, Razor suddenly moved into their sights. The response was rather immediate, and both Gems give chase. Razor turned away and made a run for it, the Agates hot on his heels. As for the other figure, it hunkered down and waited until both guards moved passed. Once they did, she made a break for it, moving straight for the only exit there was. Razor kept moving, but unfortunately the Agates were far faster, and spun around to see the second figure trying her luck. She nearly got to the exit, but that was as far as she got before the Agates were all over her, beating her into submission.

One step outside not only made the Agates stop, but also got Bismuth well in their sights. She was found out.