• Published 24th Mar 2018
  • 2,431 Views, 277 Comments

My Little Universe: Season 7 - EquestrianKirin



It's a whole new ballgame for Gem and Pony alike. Saddle up!

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Cup of Sugar

Typically one could say someone wouldn't be too eager for waiting at the Train Station. But in the case of Starlight Glimmer, the unicorn was by far psyched, and she could barely keep still as she went back and forth along the station's grounds. Nopony else was around today, but there was somebody in the form of Pink Diamond, who at the moment was just sitting there by the steps and waiting for the train herself. Not as enthused as Starlight though, who herself was one step away from straight up prancing around the station and back. Well, at least Pink found some entertainment in one of Spike's more "entertaining" pieces of literature. AKA comic strips. As this was going on, Starlight turned over to the ticket taker.

"You know when the noon train from the Crystal Empire will be here?" she asked excitedly.

"Uh … noon?" the pony replied. It WAS in the name after all.

"Oh, right uh, sorry. Hehe, I'm just so excited because my friend sunburst is coming!" Starlight said to the ticket pony …

"He and I knew eachother since, like, forever! We have so much in common, and he's my closest friend after all." she said to one of the luggage ponies …

"We both loves magic, games, jokes, everything really! In fact, there's nopony in ALL of Equestria I have more in common with!" she said to Pink Diamond. Well, technically she was talking to a unicorn sitting nearby, but with her headphones blaring she couldn't hear her. Which was probably lucky.

"YEAH, so when is this big friend Sunburst coming? You promise me we'd finally go to Earth, and I'm tired of waiting for it," Pink said, slamming the comic book shut and tossing it behind her, the book somehow landing perfectly on top of … several others. That's about seven issues, two arcing stories through paper, and Sunburst still hadn't shown up.

"Trust me, we will, but I also wrote in my latest letter to Sunburst I'd have an amazing surprise for him. I can't wait to see his face when he sees you, he'll be so amazed!" Starlight pitter-pattered in place for a bit, so excited for that moment to come around. Pink Diamond felt some bit of her Diamond pride come up, and she began to smile again with some confidence.

"Well, I guess that's true. Can't deprive your friend of seeing me, right?" Pink said, patting Starlight on the head. Not exactly the best way of doing it, but at least the point was across.
Then came the sounds of the Crystal Empire express. Starlight was more than ready to greet her foal-hood friend, and with a smile waited right up front as the doors opened. She and Pink Diamond saw numerous amounts of Crystal Ponies come out of the train: stallions, mares, fillies and colts of the Crystal Empire coming into Ponyville for a visit. They saw numerous colors and variations, and Starlight Glimmer tried her hardest to pick out a piece of the crowd that could be her friend. However, as the crowds moved passed them both, they soon found that Sunburst … well, they didn't see him.
Starlight wanted to make sure nopony was missing, galloping right up to the doors to check it over. she looked up the train, and down the train, but nopony was left inside. She would check the train further, but the doors slammed shut before she could, and the train began to go off on its way. Too bad. And she was so excited too.

"Starlight?"

And just like that, she was back to being a giddy mare again.

"Sunburst!"

Starlight galloped right over to her friend, Sunburst just as happy to see her as well as he levitated some bit of his luggage.

"I'm so glad you could make it."

"Of course! I've been looking forward to this visit for a long time," Sunburst said, putting his luggage inside a nearby wagon. After the reuniting hug between old friends, it was then that Sunburst looked passed Starlight, and then saw the tall being that was Pink Diamond, standing tall and proud as if in front of her own subjects (which she probably thought so). Starlight saw what Sunburst was looking at, and she saw the reaction that she wanted to see.

A mouth agape, and eyes wide as dinner plates. He didn't change this expression as he adjusted his glasses. He may be a bit more aware of some of the magical creatures in Equestria, but none of his ecology studies, racial or animal classifications could be placed on Pink Diamond here.

~~~~~~

"Come on, Pearl. You gonna come out already?"

A few days had passed since the group had come back to full strength. And it was probably for the best, but things had chilled out ever since the Tindalos attack came through. The downtime not only gave Team B time to relax from their trip, but it gave them time to better understand much of the situation they were in. Not having Steven right by the Crystal Temple was a bit to get used to, but what were they to expect for White Diamond taking, well, everything away? They just needed to rework the temple a bit before it could all be back to normal.
Speaking of Steven, he was back over at the carwash, hanging out inside Greg's van as he was holding Pearl's stone in his hands, waiting for her to just come out at any moment. It had been a bit this time though, so her staying within her gemstone was kinda expected. Greg was cleaning up the Barriga's car, handling it fairly easily … though, same thing can't be said for the other cars behind. It was a busy day, no doubt.

"Ok, ok, I'm trying as fast as I can!" Greg called, working with a hose and sponge as best he could. He hadn't had this much work on the carwash in a long time, so keeping up with the demand of it all was a bit crazy to handle.

"Hey, Steven, think you can give your old man a hand here?" Greg asked. Steven took his attention off of Pearl for a minute, setting her inside the car before he jumped out.

"Yeah, coming," Steven said, going right over to him. Steven was given a sponge right away, and both father and son were just about to get back to it. They just got about five minutes in when they were visited by a few others of the Gems: Lapis and Peridot. Lapis flew in with Peridot in her arms, dropping her off.

"Hey, Steven!" Lapis said, before landing.

"Oh, hey girls. What brings you by?" Greg asked.

"Don't mind us, we just came to pick up Steven," Peridot informed, going up to Steven. However, Steven was a bit too busy right now, evident by the sponge in his hand.

"Pick up?"

"Remember Steven? We're gonna go by and visit the Zoomans today, see how they're holding up. You've been wanting to check in, right?" Lapis said. Steven stopped himself cold: the few days had been juggling around with the Zoomans and Pearl, but today he had plum forgot about it.

"Ah! I forgot! Oh, but I'm helping dad clean up cars," Steven said, going back to cleaning up the vehicles. Lapis and Peridot looked off to the line of cars, all of which looked dirty one way or another. Guess their time in getting their homes together didn't give them much time to get their cars washed up. Both green and Blue gem glanced to eachother, and then smirk.

"Greg, Steven, you two might wanna stand back," Lapis said, actually moving them safely over by the van.

"Uh, ok," Steven said, though they were already over by the van when they asked.

"You gonna lend a hand too?" Greg asked. Lapis though simply gave them a wink, and went over to Peridot, who already was readying herself with a few muscle flexes, and stretches to better prepare herself. Greg and Steven glanced to eachother, both unsure what they were gonna do. Though, it was probably easy to take a guess.

"Ready?" Peridot asked.

"Line them up," Lapis instructed. Peridot gave a salute to her before she began to get to work. The cars weren't exactly even, so Peridot made a big focus on each one of the cars lined up. It needed all the strength she could muster, and all the focus she could bring forward, but those in their cars could feel their vehicles being moved so they were precisely lined up with eachother. Spooked, but not the scariest thing ever. Peridot needed to only give a thumbs-up to give Lapis the greenlight.
Lapis went on next, and the hoses nearby suddenly were shooting out all the water they could muster, every drop unmissed in Lapis Lazuli's power. Everyone made sure to roll up the windows in their cars, just before Lapis submerged all of them in one shot keeping the water around each car like a coat.

"Spin cycle," Lapis said, before she started to flow the water in a circular motion, each part keeping the cars still but flowing it around every inch of the car. This kept up for a good twenty seconds before Lapis removed the water, leaving each and every car soaking wet. Greg found it good enough.

"WOW. Well, thanks for the assist, we can -"

"Engage dry cycle!" Peridot said. With some work of her metallic abilities, she got the sign of the carwash placed above her head, floating in mid air with fan blades on it made up of the garage doors to the carwash. With some confident chuckles, Greg and Steven went off for cover as Peridot got the spinning started on the "fan". She rushed up and down the line of cars with the huge fan spinning at such velocity to match a helicopter in hover mode, giving each car a quick air dry. Peridot had to put in some more effort in running up and down the car line AND keeping the blade going, but soon the cars were dried off and ready to go. just like that.

"Clean and ready to go, mam!" Peridot said, giving another salute for fun. Everyone else got out of their cars, and saw their cars were not just clean, but glistening as well. They sure got some applause for that one.

"Thank you, thank you, your transportations should be visibly pleasant now," Peridot said with a smug grin. Lapis looked over to Steven.

"There you go, you got plenty of time - … now."

Peridot didn't count for blowback: the van was completely covered in dust and dirt … AND Greg and Steven covered in dirt. Steven coughed, a tiny dust cloud coming from his mouth, but while dirty they were impressed with the job well done.

"WOOOO!" Steven said, thrilled as ever. Greg got some dust off of him. Good thing Steven closed the back before the dry cycle started.

"Alright, that's that. So what was it you were saying about "Zoomans"?" Greg asked, now having a lot of time to talk with them, as the customers were giving their payment to him.

"They're a decedent of Humans on Earth who'd been bred within the White Diamond Space Station. Recent events had them relocated to an island off within the Atlantic ocean, and the ponies had been lending a hoof in helping them adapt," Peridot explained, working off what she knew. what they exactly were doing was unsaid, which was partially why she wanted to check in herself.

"Oh! … OH, you did mention them before, didn't you Steven. You said none of them had seen Earth before. Sounds like they might be having trouble," Greg said.

"No, I don't think so. The island has multiple features that mirror that of the Zoo's environment … at least that's what Onyx told me," Peridot pondered. She hadn't had the "gift" to see the place in detail herself, unlike Onyx or Flint.

"Hey, why don't you come and see them? You're a human experienced with Earth, maybe you can give them some pointers," Lapis suggested. Yes, indeed he was a Human, and he was from Earth like practically every human on Earth.

"Eh, why not? I got no more customers right now anyway." Greg decided. Time to check up on what he missed. So, Peridot, Lapis, and Greg began to head off on their way, but Steven made sure to pick up Pearl before going off to join them. Poofed or not, Steven wouldn't want Pearl to miss this.

…….

*ba-bump* …. *ba-bump* …. *ba-bump* ….

Garnet simply took a moment within the heart of the Crystal Temple, checking in on how it was holding up. Even with all the time since they got back, the Crystal Heart still wasn't doing so good, giving off a low heart beat every twenty minutes or so. It may not be a true heart like those in any organic, but it still was what powered everything here, and if the Crystal Heart was still holding up so roughly, it's only a matter of when, not if, the Heart will … just stop.
Garnet had been checking on the Crystal Heart time and again, and as such it didn't really seem to be getting any better. The idea was making Garnet a bit nervous …

"Garnet, you in here? We're supposed to be checking on the others today."

Garnet didn't answer straight away, letting one of the Gems come in. She expected Flint to arrive to find her, but actually the Gem that came to find her was Jasper.

"In a minute," Garnet replied. Jasper didn't need too much time to figure out what was the problem here, seeing the severely weakened heart still trying its best to keep the Temple alive.

"You're still worried about the Crystal Heart?" Jasper asked, looking up to it.

"It's hard for me not to. I thought it would heal on it's own overtime, but now … Well, you can see for yourself," Garnet replied. The heart sure looked rather weak altogether. It was probably good that it was Jasper who showed up, as she was more used to bad news like Garnet was (or at the least won't freak out as much). She may not have future vision, but the perfect quartz knew when there was a timer set on something, especially in regards to this Crystal Heart.

"Look, I don't know how deep this place means to you as much as some of the others. … But have you considered "house-hopping" yet?"

"What?" Garnet asked, legitimately confused with the term.

"I heard Greg say that while checking in with him. It's just a "Human" way to say to find a new home."
Garnet looked back up to the Crystal Heart, thinking well about that. On one hand, it was her home for thousands of years since arriving to Earth. Her, and Pearl, and Amethyst, Bismuth too in an extent. And even after their worlds had been met with Equestria, that number extended to a whole lot more, and not even including just Steven.

"Well, whenever you're ready, some of the ponies already got the Zoomans started, so …"

"Uh, yeah. I'll be right with you," Garnet replied. Jasper decided to leave it at that and she began to go off on her own way. The fusion stayed quiet, wondering in her own way on how this could work. Should they even try to continue with the Temple anymore? Should they try for a new home? They may not have to … but it's beginning to look horribly like it.

~~~~~~

"Welcome to Mask Island: the Zoomans home away from the Zoo," Peridot announced.

On their arrival to the Zoomans' current location, Greg, Steven, Lapis, and Peridot started their way off the Warp Pad into the landscape, guided by Lapis herself. Mask Island was a bit of a quick choice on where the Zoomans should be in, but as Peridot had said, and given what Steven remembered about said Human Zoo, this came at a very close second to what the Zoo at least looked like: a tropical paradise. Trees were green and lush all year long, and with it being autumn, it wasn't as hot as it would be, leaving it in a nice warm breeze coming in from the ocean.

"Well, this place looks pretty good for a vacation," said Greg.
Steven took a small glance over towards Lapis Lazuli in the air, who kept her view on trying to find the other Zoomans. A talk about one particular fusion incident off the shores of this island right behind one of those involved may not be the best idea ever. Besides, they already got something more important on their mind.

"Can you see them, Lazuli?" Peridot called. Lapis kept her gaze forward, flying good and high to have a better look around the island.

"I think I see them by the beach," Lapis called.

You can guess where they went off to next. On the word, they went straight off towards the beach. It took little time to get there, the beach having a good amount of the Zoomans enjoying the sun and surf of their new home. The waves were a bit more prominent than the waves back home, and the sun a bit hotter on the island, but other than they, they saw that the Zoomans were enjoying it pretty well. some of them were playing in the water, keeping closer to the shore, as others just relaxed in the sunrays.
Still, they weren't the only ones there as Peridot had already stated. For the moment, the ones involved in this today were Fluttershy, Connie, and Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy was joining some of the younger Zoomans along the shore, as Pinkie Pie was presenting a few fun games they can do while in the water. They saw her happily wave a hoof as she was surfing along some of the waves.

"Hey Fluttershy, Pinkie!" Steven said, coming over to them along with the others. Pinkie quickly got herself back onto shore, her board (really a piece of wood), hitting the sand. She tumbled forward in a roll, but landed on all four hooves right in front of Steven.

"Hi Steven! You're just in time for my Zooman surfing lessons!" Pinkie beamed.

"Surfing? I didn't know you surfed," Lapis noted. not once did she recall the pink mare actually surfing anywhere. Pinkie smiled wide.

"We neither! But it's WAY easy once you get it down pact, and avoid tripping into the sea," Pinkie said, as if it was the norm for her. Considering she was teaching, that wasn't the best thing to hear. Pinkie grabbed her surfboard again, and raced off back to the waves, just as a few more familiar Zoomans saw them coming up.

"Stee-van! Here!" called Y6, who at the moment was sitting over by a few other Zoomans. He was more than eager to see him too.

"Y6! So, how're things going here?"

"The things are special here, Stee-Van. It is just like our old home, only without the little voices … they've been quiet, actually," Y6 said, thinking it over slightly. Seeing him up close, Steven could also note that he no longer had his earrings on, along with every other Zooman present. Made sense: the earrings wouldn't be working anyway so why have them on still?

"Eh, you mind filling me in, Schtu-ball?" Greg asked, probably the most in the dark about this.

"They've been sheltered for a very long time," Steven quietly explained. Before he could continue though, Y6 soon took note of Lapis and Peridot.

"Lapis, Ga-reg, Pear-E. Pinkie has told us stories about you. The bits! The bits!" Y6 said.

"The bits! The bits! The bits!" chanted a few Zoomans nearby. Lapis blushed a little bit, but Peridot was more casual, smiling.

"Yep, that's us. Uh, the bits … and, it's "Peridot"," Peridot said. Guess two-syllable names were easier to work with for them over "Peridot" or "Greg". Steven went over to Connie off nearby, who at the moment was just sitting and admiring what had happened. Steven sat down next to her, setting Pearl down by them.

"Hi, Connie. Enjoying the beach?" Steven asked.

"Oh hi Steven, great to see you. I see Pearl hasn't come back yet," Connie said, looking over to the lonesome gemstone on the ground.

"I don't know when she'll get back. Last time I remember she stayed like this, she stayed in it for weeks. I hope she comes back soon," Steven said, holding the gemstone in his hands again. Oh how long it had been since training for Pearl had such a freak accident in it, and that problem had her stuck in her gemstone for two weeks straight. Who could say how long it'll be now if even half of what torment the others said were accurate or true. but, patience is their virtue, and they just had to deal with it.
Their thoughts on that were interrupted when they began hearing splashing off by the shoreline, seeing some of the kid Zooman diving off into the water. One of them waved to Connie and Steven back on shore, and the two could only smile. They promised to rescue the humans from that Zoo, and here they are.

"You know, Steven, seeing all these humans around here. It makes me feel all good inside," Connie said with a grin.

"Yeah, me too. They won't have to worry about White Diamond from now on," Steven agreed. As they thought about that though, something else was beginning to creep up in the back of their minds. It was Steven who started to bring up the idea first.

"Uh, Connie? … You don't think she'll try to … get them back. Right?"

The thought hung in the air for a minute or two. White Diamond, despite her many resources, still needed subjects and as far as they knew, these Zooman were it. Odds were, if White were to get the Space Station up and running again, she would go and try to regather humans for that Zoo. And more experiments to work on again. Whether or not she'll go after THESE in particular was anyone's guess, but the threat of that idea still hung in the air.

"I didn't think of that. I guess she wouldn't like all of her humans outside of the Zoo, huh?"

"Yeah. Maybe the Crystal Gems can stay here and -" Steven stopped himself almost immediately. "Wait. no, no. They're too busy to be guarding them all the time."

"I guess bringing them to Beach City's out of the question too: White would look there first," Connie added, shooting down her own idea. They might be closer to the Crystal Gems, but then again, they'll be closer to the Crystal Gems … if that makes sense. As they sat there, trying to think -

*caaww**caaww*

"Help! Help!"

One seagull was not too happy with all this commotion, and one overly-curious Zooman had disturbed one coastal mother right by her nest, the bird squawking and pecking at him as he bolted for it. The bird will not tolerate intruders near her chicks, no matter who or what they are. This zooman ran directly up to Steven and Connie, cowering behind them as the bird flew above their heads.

"Hey! Shoo, go away!" Connie shouted, only getting pecked in the head too. This racket quickly got attention of the Gems nearby, Peridot specifically.

"HOAAHH! HIYAA!" Suddenly, the bird found an angry green dorito right in her way. The bird squawked at her, but Peridot then began to show off some fighting moves as a threat: a few kicks, chops and punches as she yelled and made some battle cries. One hit almost struck the bird, and this odd display was just enough to make the bird back off. They were far enough from the nest anyway.

"Yeahahahaha! that's right, fly back to your corner of the island!" Peridot said in triumph. The zooman, grateful for being saved by that monster (they still got a bit to learn about that), hugged Peridot tight, tears of joy down his face.

"Oh, thank you! you saved me from that creature, how can I ever repay you?"

"Not cut me in half with your Pinkie Pie hugs?" Peridot managed to say through the tight grip. For domesticated humans, they still had some bit of muscle in them, at least this one did.

… and up came the lightbulb.

"Peridot, you're a genius!" the kids said.

"Why, thank you. … I don't see for what."

"Steven, you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I see what you're looking at. Peridot, think you and the others can get the humans together for us?"

"Um, sure Steven. what for?"

"You'll see."

…….

"OH MY CELESTIA! I-I know you've been doing a lot lately, but world-traveling? I don't think even Starswirl the Bearded himself did this! How many worlds did you see? Oh, wait, wait, how MUCH of the worlds did you see?! Just imagine the research! The studying, the potential information!"

Off the island, and with some help from some of the Portal Keys, Pink, Starlight and Sunburst had made it from Equestria, and into the first start of Earth's many places. Sunburst could barely contain himself, seeing the many new things all over the place. And now, with this opportunity, Sunburst found himself as giddy as a school filly, looking around the area. Pink Diamond was feeling pretty good with seeing the planet herself, seeing as this is HER planet, and she finally could check it out at her leisure. What better spot to check too than on a tropical island to actually start this off?

"Well, it's been a while," Starlight said bashfully, rubbing the back of her head as they went along.

"I'd thought humans would be more advanced than this. I don't see any humans anywhere!"

"They're somewhere, just give us a second to get to them. Geesh."

"But I want to see them now!" she retorted. Pink Diamond felt that, waiting all day for Sunburst at the train station and dealing with all of Starlight's boasting, the least they could do was properly get her to the humans.

"Pink Diamond, will you just -"

"You're here too."

Garnet and Jasper. They've came a little late, but it was probably a good thing since they could find the trio off on their own way. Jasper kept a bit back when with Pink Diamond there. Or at least, she tried to.

"Oh, Garnet, Jasper, you're here too -"

"OH. MY. STARS. …" Pink Diamond was staring right at Jasper, who in this case, was about the same height as her. Well, she wasn't wasting time with this encounter. Jasper backed up a bit, but then …

"Uh … Hey, my diamond," Jasper said, showing her respect to her by presenting the insignia with her hands.

"... You're … you're …"

"YOU'RE THE MOST PERFECT QUARTZ I'VE EVER SEEN," Pink Diamond stated, hands clasped together, and eyes sparkling. Jasper couldn't help but fluster a little bit, though she tried to keep her pride together. Then her exciting (and bright) gaze shifted over to Starlight and Sunburst. Starlight was actually shielding her eyes.

"This is the best surprise ever! No wonder you wanted to come here first, I LOVE HER!" Pink beamed. Pink Diamond may have been gone for a long time, but it seemed she knew perfection when she saw it. Jasper was even met with a hug from Pink Diamond. Starlight had to count her blessings for avoiding a long argument over when they would see the humans here, though maybe one talking about Jasper's ownership might be a better idea.

"She knows that's not an object, right?" Sunburst asked.

"It's complicated," Starlight replied. She'll have more time to explain later, they had all day to do that.

"Okay, stance wider, body lowered. K, you got it."

"What's that?" Sunburst asked.

And with this arrival, they got just the slightest hint that something else was going on here. The group of five began to follow off the noise off into the island a bit. Garnet expected them to be out by the beach, but then again that was one Future vision she had seen. There was another one she had in mind, and if the noise was this way …

Well, the answer came up pretty quickly when they broke through some of the flora. Within the island there was a good sized clearing in the forest, big enough for much of the Zoomans to hang out in. What actually was going on, however, was a bit more than just some playtime. In fact, one of the Zoomans was seemingly in the middle of a confrontation with another, him armed up with some ice armor courtesy of Lapis Lazuli. It kept him well protected, and cool in the weather. He was holding what looked like a branch, but much of the extra sticks were removed and made it look like a spear or sword. As for who he was "fighting" with? She came back after some bit of grabbing, but without her main sword (you can guess where that went), she too had a sturdy branch modeled in a sword, and the two were stuck in a one-on-one sparring match.
If Pearl could see Stevonnie now, she'd be so proud of her.

"Right foot, left foot. Keep your eyes on me, U12," Stevonnie instructed. The other Humans, Gems, and ponies watched this go on from afar, the Zooman taking mental notes on how this was done. Stevonnie had kept herself more than busy, and her skills had not been weakened at all since they came from the Jungle Moon. At the least, she was more experienced than the Zooman in front of her.
The weapons were dulled down for the sake of safety, but Stevonnie still had to be careful not to hurt the Zooman by mistake. She already gave him some small tips and tricks on what to do for basics, but U12 was still slightly nervous about this, flinching whenever Stevonnie moved forward on the Zooman.

"This is a … different, game," said U12.

"You're doing fine. Now, keep calm and try to take me out," Stevonnie instructed. U12 rallied himself up, his "weapon" pulled back for a forward hit. Stevonnie readied herself for the hit … just for the thrust to become a slow nudge to her face.

"No, no, really get in there."

"Is that how the game works?" U12 asked.

"I promise," Stevonnie reassured, getting ready again. U12 rallied himself up, his "weapon" pulled back for a forward hit. Stevonnie readied herself for the hit … and she ducked fast, the sword rushing from above her. This dodge impressed much of the crowd, including U12, and then Stevonnie got her own weapon right in between the handle, and his own hand. One quick uppercut knocked the weapon out of his hand, but he was far less scared, and more amazed than anything. Same thing could be said for the other Zoomans. After their match was when the others came up.

"Stevonnie?" Garnet stated, showing they were there.

"Oh, hey Garnet," Stevonnie said, though she did pause when seeing Pink Diamond off nearby. Didn't they get told it would be safer for her to stay in Equestria over being on Earth?

"Whoa, are those … humans?" Sunburst asked, amazed by the varying sights of all the humans present. Pink Diamond was psyched to finally get a better look at the humans of her colony, going over with Sunburst to check them out.

"Pink REALLY wanted to come back here," Starlight quietly said. Stevonnie really couldn't blame Pink Diamond for that, being cooped up so much in a world of ponies where her true colony was here. They took a minute to see both Pink Diamond and Sunburst checking out the Zoomans, though while the former was just excited to look at some more humans, the latter was seeing this as a huge step in the studying branch back home. Humans in Equestria was as rare as snow in the desert (the Sahara, anyway).

"Oh, wow! I've heard rumors about humans being discovered, but this is incredible!" Sunburst beamed, his eyes starry as he was checking them out (much to their discomfort). J10 in particular was a victim to them, standing completely still.

"I KNOW! Oh, they look so adorable," Pink Diamond beamed, very excited herself to finally see a full group. Lars was a good start, but that was still just one human. The only gripe was there wasn't any pink humans anywhere in this group, but that was only a minor issue here.

"Um … you're starting to concern me. Is this a game?" J10 asked humbly.

"No, sorry it's just I've never seen humans face-to-face before."

"We are called Zoomans," said J10. Sunburst and Pink Diamond paused, Sunburst looking back and forth between J10 and Greg (a known human according to Starlight). He didn't see many differences in physical appearance (excluding clothes of course), as the anatomy between the two was pretty much the same, if not very similar.

"... Zoomans? Is that another subspecies of Human, adapted to a tropical environment when Humans traveled south to this location?" Sunburst pondered, stroking his beard. It wasn't too far out of the realm of possibilities, but J10 didn't have a clue what he was even talking about.

"W-Wha?" J10 asked. Garnet though gave them a hand, and picked up both Pink Diamond and Sunburst, moving them away before they would make the Zooman freak out any further.

"No need to scare the Zooman on your first day, you two," Garnet advised, placing them over back to the others. Starlight Glimmer was seeing all of this, and admittedly, she didn't really see what the thrill was about. Sure, seeing humans for the first time was a bit different, but not anything too crazy. But apparently Sunburst was a lot more enthusiastic about finding Humans, much like Pink Diamond was. Confusing, but at least Sunburst was excited … She guessed.

"What's going on?" Jasper than asked.

"Well, We've decided that we're going to be putting the Zooman under some training. You know, self-defense. It's probably a good idea since White Diamond's probably going to be looking for them soon," Stevonnie explained.

"Wait, you're going to train them?"

"For a while. They just got here, they're finally free, I don't want any of them to be taken away again," Stevonnie explained. Fair enough. When Garnet heard this, the fellow fusion was smiling pretty wide herself. She was hoping this Future Vision was the right one, it showing that Steven and Connie both were growing up and taking responsibility like this. Jasper though, being a war veteran, had to question one thing about this.

"Shouldn't you be using actual weapons?" Jasper asked, pointing to the branch.

"I'd use the sword, but we're … kinda low on weaponry."

"Oh. White Diamond. Right."

"It's my turn! Can I have a turn? Steve-ony?" asked Y6. Stevonnie can't escape from the accent barrier, and Y6 was already armed up with some of Lapis Lazuli's ice armor.

"Alright, coming! You guys can watch if you want," Stevonnie said. Garnet smiled.

"Good thing I thought ahead," Garnet said. One of her gemstones started to glow, and she then brought out a sign from her own, much smaller storage. It wasn't too fancy, but still plenty of heart in it: "Go Stevonnie!" on a picket sign. The back of the sign says "Go Zooman!" on it, so her support was for both sides.
Stevonnie went on back to Y6, and both sides readied to do.

"Begin!"

…….

~~~~~~

…….

"Huh … I uh ... Huh? ... I-I'm back. … I am back, right?"

It took sometime for her to grasp what had happened to her in the long run. Everything was kinda blurry for quite a while, but now after who knows how long, she was slowly starting to see where she had ended up. The White Diamond Space Station? No, it didn't look like it was dark. The Crystal Temple? … Well, not exactly. Her eyes caught up with her, and she actually found herself over by the carwash. In particular, Greg's van. Not really the first place she would've guessed she would end up, but then again stranger things had happened. Like how she was corrupted last she checked, but now she was back to normal all things considered. … Well, physically anyway. Her mind was still a little foggy, but she didn't feel the need to attack or any of those other "instinctual" thoughts. She was self-aware again, and she slowly started to bring herself out of the van, just to see Greg off nearby, already up from his recliner on seeing the light flashing from the van's windows.

"Oh, Pearl! Welcome back," Greg said.

"Uh … Greg? Oh my." Pearl steadied herself, her body worn out from the corrupted suit and how much it had basically played her. Pearl was exhausted, confused -

*slip* *SPLASH*

And wet.

"Oops, sorry," Greg said, helping Pearl back up to her feet. The leftover water from the hoses did at least give Pearl a much needed wake-up call, now bright-eyed from the flash of cold water.

"I told you to try and dry up those messes," Pearl said, checking her gemstone to make sure it didn't get cracked.

"I know you did. Nevermind that, how're you feeling? You've been out for several days since your friends brought you back," Greg asked. Pearl took a moment to recollect herself, looking around.

"It's nothing new: I've stayed in my gemstone for longer," Pearl replied. She also knew that she'd been out for much longer than that: the last thing she remembered, if anything, was her time on the White Diamond Space Station. and even then she could guess it was months time since it was colder than she remembered it was being "yesterday".

"Where is everyone anyway?" Pearl then asked. Greg thought it over for a bit, hand to chin.

"Beats me. Stevonnie's been training the Zoomans, the Gems had been doing … gem things. They didn't tell me very much about that -"

"Stevonnie? Training others?" Pearl was very hushed in tone, in such a shock at what Greg had said. Stevonnie's courses had been doing pretty well over the last few days, Steven and Connie taking some time out of their schedules (and some requests for Connie's side) to make this work. Pearl looked ready to actually cry, she was so happy.

"Greg, where're they? I have to see this!"

"Ok, ok, keep your pants on. They should be wrapping up right now, and I was gonna stop by to drop off some dinner. You can come with me if you want," Greg offered, showing Pearl his dinner in the form of a Fishstew Pizza box. Not the most appetizing thing for a Gem who hates eating altogether. She kept her gaze away from the box.

"Nice," Pearl simply said, though a bit disgruntle in that response.

"You don't have to eat this, I know you hate eating. Here, hop in, and we'll drive up to the barn and go from there," Greg said, hopping up into the driver's seat. Well, Pearl could probably make it there on her own, but then again, some more proper rest for her body could be a bit better. As she was going along the side of the van though, Greg had given the van a sort of mirror shine. And it was this reflection that Pearl took a good look at herself …
Pearl wore a dress baring resemblance to that of Pink Diamond's. The top half had puffy blue shoulders, an amber colored top with a v neck, a diamond shaped cutout at the bottom, and a light yellow trim along the bottom. The bottom half was a pink skirt with transparent drapes over it and pale blue ballet flats. Blue. Yellow. And Pink.

The time will come.

"K, Pearl, ready to get going? Steven's gonna be so psyched when he … uh, Pearl?" Greg took a peek out from the passenger's side, and all he saw was Pearl just … standing there, staring at herself, hands over her mouth. … Again.

"Eh. Impressed, Pearl? Just waxed her this morning," Greg said, patting the side of his van. But that didn't seem to snap Pearl out of it. Greg eventually got out and went over to her.

"Eh, hey, Earth to Pearl. Anyone in there?" Greg asked. Still nothing. Greg hadn't seen Pearl act like this in, well, ever. The only thing that got her back around. Though, the shutter and jump back may be a bit much.

"H-Huh? Did you say something?"

"Geesh, Pearl, you okay? I know you've been out for a while, but you're looking ready to pass out," Greg said in concern. Pearl glanced at her reflection off on the van, before she got herself back together, looking proper as per usual.

"Well, when a Gem reforms it isn't usually so dynamic. It just caught me off guard, that's all," Pearl said.

"Well, I think it looks good," Greg complimented, winking to her. Pearl cleared her throat again, as Greg went into his van. "K, let's get going. If we hurry up, we can -"

"No!" Pearl didn't mean to say it aloud, but there it was. Greg peeked out from the window again.

"Huh?"

"Uh. I-I mean … I don't think I'd want to just yet. I just got back, and they must be very busy with their, uh, training."

Pearl's skills in lying weren't as good as they used to be. Greg thought about it, and smirked slyly, before going back to the drivers seat.

"Alright, suit yourself. I'll just tell them and they can come by and see you. They were hoping you'd see how far they'd come, but if you don't want to -"

*click*

Whelp, that didn't take much.

"Drive," Pearl said.

…….

"Okay, that's good everyone!" Stevonnie called.

Sunset on Mask Island, just along the shoreline. Another day through this game, and the Zoomans were doing pretty good with themselves. For the Zoomans, this was less of a training session, and more of a fun game, which was probably a better way for them to take it for now. Not too many were hanging out there this time, the ones in particular being Starlight, Sunburst, Garnet, and Pink Diamond. The others had their own time going back and forth, so this wasn't the only crowd stopping by to check on the Zoomans. Admittedly though, Starlight was just trying to keep herself from simply falling over in boredom.

"I haven't had this much fun since yesterday!" beamed Y6.

"Glad you're enjoying yourself. Keep this up and you'll all master it in no time," Stevonnie said, which itself was pretty great to hear. As they were busy with this, Starlight Glimmer went over to Sunburst, poking him in the shoulder.

"Hey, uh, Sunburst? I know you're excited about these humans, but don't you want to do something else?" Starlight asked. Sunburst began to notice how much he'd been caught up with these humans lately.

"Well, we can do something else. Kinda got caught up, huh?"

"Yeah, kinda," Starlight said. "It's going to be so great. Just like old times. You and me doing the stuff we like – games, magic -"

"Antiquing!" Sunburst cut in. … Wait, what?

"Huh?"

"Antiquing! You know I love antiquing."

"You do?" Starlight asked, confused.

"Of course! Historical artifacts, ancient relics! Oh, your friends are so lucky to live in Ponyville - Ponyville's antique central!"

"It is?" Starlight questioned. She hadn't lived in ponyville as long as the next pony, so hearing this was a bit uh … odd. Sunburst was happy though, and Starlight was good for that anyway.

"How have we never talked about this? We are going antiquing, and you are gonna love it!" Sunburst reassured her. Starlight couldn't refuse him, though she was wishing this visit would be a bit better than she thought. It really hadn't been too well for her, especially since that for much of this trip, Sunburst had been more akin to her friends than to herself (Pink Diamond being just one example).

"Riiiight. K, Pink, time to go," Starlight said. Pink diamond was immediately disappointed.

"Already?" Pink groaned.

"It'll be fine, Pink Diamond, let's just get going," Starlight stated. This had been a rather annoying routine for them to go through every time they had to go back. Pink Diamond wanted to keep exploring the place, but she can't do that if she was constantly kept on such a leash all the time. At least, that was how it felt. She was the member of the Diamond Authority, why was she being treated like she was under quarantine or something?

"I can show you some magic and how to use it, if you'd like," Sunburst offered.

Pink then got an idea.

"DEAL!" suddenly, Pink Diamond bolted for the nearest Warp Pad. She raced off so quick, it left Starlight and sunburst in a tailspin, a cloud of dust all that remained where Pink Diamond once stood. Lord forbid if they could ever catch up with her.

"Oh boy. K, see ya later, Stevonnie!" Starlight said, waving a hoof before she and Sunburst galloped off after Pink Diamond.

"See ya!" Stevonnie called. Garnet stuck around to help the Zoomans off to rest, but they didn't really get too far until someone else stopped by, coming up minutes after Starlight, Sunburst, and Pink Diamond had left.

"Pizza delivery!" called Greg. Stevonnie, Garnet, and some of the Zooman stop when they heard the voice, seeing Greg finally arriving with pizza box in hand. Stevonnie, feeling hungry, looked over to Greg as he went over, but there was a bit of trouble to be had: him tripping over a rock hidden in the sand. Garnet moved into the right spot, hands out as the pizza box landed in her arms, safe and intact.

"Safe," Garnet said.

"Hey dad! Er, Mr. Universe. Boy, I dunno what to call you like this," Stevonnie said. Both of those names were technically true, and by this point Greg was a bit used to it, chuckling a little.

"Either one's fine. I thought you'd be hungry, so your old man brought you some dinner," Greg said, referring to the fresh pizza. Stevonnie was more than happy for it. Though Y6 was a little bit curious over this odd kind of fruit. The strange, yet enticing smells just made Y6 even more curious over it.

"... Pi … za …"

"You never had pizza before? Here, give it a try," Greg offered, giving him a slice. Y6 felt the admittedly hot slice in his hand. It had to be edible if Stevonnie and Greg were having it to eat. It was a typical pepperoni pizza, nothing too fancy, but eventually Y6 took one bite of it.
No words can even remotely comprehend just how amazing it tasted. Y6's eyes lit up almost immediately, savoring the amazing flavor of the cheese and pepperoni. No amount of fruit back in the zoo even came close to this kind of food, and Y6 gobbled up his slice fast.

"W-What is this?" Y6 asked, his eyes still starry in bewilderment. It'll take them all a bit to get used to something like this, and some other Zoomans were given a chance to try this themselves, having a similar reaction.

"Easy everyone, there won't be any pizza left at this rate," Greg said, though he was finding it nice to see someone enjoyed Kofi's food as much as they had.

"How did you get this? Does it grow around here?" Y6 wondered.

"Well, some of the stuff you need to make this does. You need some bread, cheese, and you can add whatever toppings you want to it."

"Fruit too?"

"Well, there is pineapple pizza, so I guess you can."
As they dug into the meal, Garnet took a look over where Greg came from, and started to notice something standing just out of normal sight.

"You bring someone with you?" Garnet asked.

"Oh yeah. She just needs a little prompting," Greg said, looking back to his visitor. The figure was a bit humbled, but now that she was brought, Pearl started to come out. She took her sweet time in doing so: a step every five seconds. Odd.

"Pearl!" Stevonnie gasped. She was quick to go up to her on sight, hugging her old friend. Pearl took a minute, but she was happy to see her as well. Stevonnie then took a look to how Pearl looked, seeing quite the difference in her typical outfit. Such vibrant colors and designs made her stand out more than ever.

"I'm digging the new look. You look great," Stevonnie said.

"Welcome back, Pearl," Garnet added, smiling.

"Yes. Thank you. Sooooo, Greg told me you've been … teaching?" Pearl inquired. Stevonnie nodded.

"We've been doing great too," Stevonnie explained, "They're all taking their time in actually fighting, but they're willing to try this."
Pearl took a minute to look out at the group of humans, much of them now resting in the setting sunlight, some swimming in the water. Pearl was feeling very happy about the fact her student was now a teacher to others, something any teacher would love to see, but her mind was kinda muffled still. Pearl still had her mind on other things though, especially when finding herself now in such a … specific appearance modifier.

"Ga-reg!" called J10, "Watch this splash!"
Off by the shoreline, J10 found a good perch right by the beach, out far enough to jump and dive in, but not too tall where she'll be at danger of hurting herself. The others by the shoreline looked on, and J10 dove right into the water, barely causing a splash on the surface. There wasn't even splashing.

"That's the tiniest splash I've ever seen," Garnet said.

"Well, we'll just have to fix that," Stevonnie said, getting an idea in her head. J10 got to the shore as Stevonnie went over to the same jump, where a few Zooman were ready to go themselves.

"Hey, F3. Ever heard of a move called a cannonball?" Stevonnie asked.

"A move? no, can you tell me?"

"I'll show you," Stevonnie said, backing up a little bit. All day of training, it was good to get back to some fun times. So, Stevonnie began running to the cliff, and with a mighty leap …

"CANNONBALL!"

A huge splash was left in Stevonnie's wake, observed by everyone there as the beauty fusion breached the surface, tossing her head back. With the sun right behind her, it was simply a perfect shot for them to see. Especially Pearl. The other Zooman by the jump followed her lead, going in cannonball instead of a dive, enjoying the cool waters of the sea. Stevonnie laughed along with them, and took a look over by the shoreline, swimming on back. Sure felt refreshing to do that, though one detail did catch Stevonnie as a bit confusing.

Where'd Pearl go?

…….

"I can't believe you've been visiting humans so many times and didn't take timer to study any of them," said Sunburst, as he and Starlight went off towards the Warp Pad.

"I've been kinda pre-occupied to do that. Well, so long as you're having fun with it, so am I," Starlight said, though her tone didn't make it that convincing. Sunburst though took it in stride, as they eventually reached the pad itself. Considering both were Unicorns, they weren't gonna be using the Warp Pad to get home (they couldn't use a standard Warp Pad anyway), but Garnet did plan ahead and "propped open" the Portal Key door for them to get home. Planning ahead, that fusion.

"This has been a great visit! Good to see you again, Starlight," Sunburst said. Starlight wished they could've done a bit more with this, but as she said, so long as Sunburst was happy, so was she.

"Yeah. come on, let's catch up to Pink Diamond," Starlight said.
With a nod of the head, both Sunburst and Starlight trotted on through the portal back into Equestria, the portal closing behind them and disappearing. They were sure Pink Diamond would be waiting for them there somewhere if it meant learning some magic.
Normally. Soon as the portal closed -

"Yesssss. They fell for it!" said PINK DIAMOND, who'd been hidden just out of sight until both Unicorns had gone through. Triumphant, Pink Diamond began to stroll along through the jungle, smile of victory on her face.

"NOW I can take a look wherever I want. Time to find out what I've been missing!"

~~~~~~

The sun was just minutes from disappearing on the horizon, and with some time for herself, Pearl began to head out towards a cliffside, this one much higher up, and off by an isolated area of the beach. It was … a bit much for her to handle, seeing Stevonnie like that. Time out here left her space to think over what had been going on as much as she could remember. The fusion sure had been busy with training, and she could imagine settling the Zoomans into their new home outside of the White Diamond Space Station would've been a bit hard to handle. She had no clue as well how much the others had gone through since escaping altogether, so she had to catch them up on that eventually.
But seeing herself like this … appearing like this. … Something was going through her mind, stirring, and given the fact she practically almost got herself killed when stuck in the Space Station, this made her realize a little bit more that the more she waited, the harder it was gonna be to get it out. And the most likely it won't ever be told at all.

"Ok Pearl. Okay. Think. … What're they gonna think of me when they find out …?"

"Found you!" Stevonnie said, coming out from the nearby foliage. Pearl wasn't expecting company so quick (odd as that may sound), but she wasn't so scared of seeing the fusion there. That didn't mean the scream didn't startle Pearl at all.

"Stevonnie!" gasped Pearl.

"Sorry. Taking time to think?" Stevonnie said, walking over to her as she dried up her hair a bit. Pearl grew flustered.

"Eh, well, yes. … So, have you two been fused the whole time?" Pearl asked, trying to act a bit casual.

"Oh. Well, no, I just stay at me during practice. Looks like I might have to unfuse soon," Stevonnie said, looking out to the sun. Pearl had to think a bit further now. The next question though seemed a bit suspicious.

"... Stevonnie. Are you by yourself?"

A pause. Stevonnie glanced behind her, but all she could see was just a bit of the jungle, and no one else. No pony, human, or Gem here.

"I think so. The Zoomans are sleeping right now, and the others went home. I stayed to look for you."

"Good."

Good? Steven and Connie both knew that, in the long run, something like this meant that there was something important going to happen.

"OK Pearl, what's the big thing you wanna talk to me about?" Stevonnie asked, as if it wasn't that big of a deal. To Pearl though, the feeling was drastically different.

"Huh? B-Big deal? What big -"

"Pearl, I know that tone. Besides, you wouldn't ask me - or, us, if we were alone if it wasn't something important. So, what is it?"
Pearl could feel her hand twitching on those words, the Gem feeling conflicted. Well, Stevonnie got the idea down, it was time to get this going. Now, or never.

"Stevonnie, listen I -" and all of a sudden, her hand reacted and went to her mouth. Again. She wasn't as scared of this as before, but more frustrated than anything, as she yanked her hand off her mouth. "Stevonnie -" and on went the hand again.
A rather harsh case of Deja Vu for her, and it was worrying Stevonnie especially. Neither Steven nor Connie had the idea of how hard this was for her, nor the end result when the others tried getting some proper truth out of her, but Stevonnie knew when a friend was struggling with something. Pearl wanted to tell them, she wanted to tell her, but her body just wouldn't let her.

"Pearl, you okay?" Stevonnie asked. Pearl practically tore her hand off of her face again.

"I-I'm sorry. I want to tell you -" and once more, her hand began to move up to her mouth. If she needed to say this, Stevonnie needed to help her first, and before Pearl's hand got to her mouth she placed both of her own hands onto Pearl's.

"Pearl. Pearl, it's okay. I can see whatever this is must be hurting you, but I promise you, you can tell me anything," Stevonnie said, speaking softly and trying not to make this anymore stressful than it was. Pearl froze, her eyes fixated onto Stevonnie's. The fusion could feel Pearl's hands begin to retaliate again, but not as roughly as they had before.

"... I don't know … I-It's very … important. What'll you think of me?" A rather weird question, but that told Stevonnie whatever she had to say it involved her deeply. And perhaps it wasn't the best thing ever.

"Pearl, you've saved Steven and Connie dozens of times. You've trained Connie to become the best knight in Beach City, and you helped Peridot and Steven bubble the Cluster and saved the Earth - again!" Even with these reminders though, Pearl felt a little bit unsure looking down to her feet. Stevonnie then brought Pearl's gaze to her own, a motherly smile on her face. A lot like someone Pearl admired more than anyone else …

"Look at me. You can tell me anything, Pearl. Don't be afraid. Who knows, you might be surprised by the end of it."

"... You sure now? …"

"I know so. … Now, tell us. Tell me."

Pearl was quiet for a bit, and Stevonnie backed up and took a seat on the grass. Pearl found herself with a one-person audience, and she herself was the one with a story to tell. Pearl took a deep breath, and slowly, her hands began to relax.

"... Okay. I'm ready."