My Little Universe II

by EquestrianKirin

Gathering Thoughts

Today ... could've gone better.
For both Discord and White Diamond, they weren't expecting to end up as semi-guards and semi-roommates for this Grogar fella in their barn. With the magic barrier up to keep Grogar inside his prison cell, it was a bit too dangerous anyway for either Diamond or Draconequus to just venture on into the barn, so all they could do was just sit outside of said barrier, doing basically nothing aside from who-knows-what. At least the weather's nice enough for some winter sky-watching.

"So I see ... I believe that's an Earth cauliflower," White Diamond said at one point, completely bored out of her own wit.

"Oh please, that's too easy. Try expanding your horizons, let your imagination run as crazy as it wants! It's more entertaining," Discord encouraged.

"That's easy for you to do, Discord. But since you're so well, why don't you go?" White Diamond insisted. Discord had "gone" for about ten times already, but the Draconequus didn't mind it too much and just looked into the sky anyway.

"I see ... a circus bear dancing elegantly on top of a coconut, balancing on an Elephant's trunk, while the Elephant's tail is having tea time with a cute little Angel Bunny rabbit."

"Where do you even see THAT?" White had to question. She couldn't see even half of what Discord was talking about, and if Discord could he would play around with the clouds again to show what he meant ... but he only had his imagination for that.

"You're right that's a bit too crazy. Angel Bunny's not even CLOSE to being cute bunny. You know, I always wondered why Fluttershy would name that rabbit Angel anyway," Discord remarked. Not that it bothered him any, he can easily handle that squirt with a flick of his tail magic or no.

"Well I don't see what is wrong with calling an Earth rabbit "angel". Fluttershy showed me him just yesterday, and he's such a little sweetheart. You know, for an organic," White Diamond said. Discord knew better though.

"Yes, but THAT my dear is because you are practically the leader of an entire race, and I'm sure any rabbit would love a lifetime of carrots and a hint of planet conquering. Trust me, there's no better friend than a friend with benefits," Discord said with a wink. White could kinda see where he was coming from there - gaining something extra alongside friendship would be beneficial.

"So you believe Fluttershy only became friends with you because of your chaos magic?" White asked, though mostly to tease him of anything but still curious. Discord quickly jumped at her for that.

"NO WAY, Flutters would never do me like that. She is my all-time favorite pony in the entire universe and beyond - by the way i need to return some of her pen pal letters," Discord realized.

"Is THAT what you tell yourself, Discord?"

Here we go again. White and Discord turned back towards the barn, their conversation overheard by its current main resident in the form of Grogar himself. The hornless ram walked out from the interior of the barn to see them. Any attack on the barrier he knew wouldn't do good at all, so he had to keep himself down completely this time.

"Oh, not you again," said White Diamond, rolling her eyes, "we weren't even talking about you. Just ignore him, Discord."

"You didn't have to. Discord, do you truly believe that your so-called friend isn't just taking your powers to her advantage?" Grogar questioned. Discord took some snow and shoved it into his ears.

"Oh nonono, I can already tell from a mile where this is going. Been there, done that," Discord quickly said, turning away from the ram. Grogar wasn't ready to just give up though.

"Don't ignore me just because I'm the one who's talking. I know what I'm talking about when I say you're only fooling yourselves."

"I can read you like an open book," Discord said, "you're just acting all chummy with me just so I can take down this barrier and let "his majesty" out. But you're only wasting your time - my pony friends are the only ones who know how to take that down and surprise surprise: I can't break the fabric of reality to pop your personal prison bubble. So there." and Discord ended that with his tongue sticking out, which White Diamond actually found herself chuckling at. Grogar knew he'd catch onto him too, so he had a more thought-provoking tactic in mind, as he sat down by his prison.

"Here I am, trapped in this bubble, but somehow I'm still free. YOU two aren't in a bubble ... but you're not really free at all, are you?" Grogar questioned.

*RING*RING*

Thank the stars for telephones.

"Just a minute Grogar, you can manipulate us in a second, I gotta take this," Discord said. It wasn't even his own phone they kept, but rather Steven's iPhone (he usually kept it with the others whenever guard duty was needed), and with a swift snatch of it from White Diamond's pocket, making her fluster as the Draconequus took the call.

"Hello, your favorite and only Draconequus speaking," Discord said. White Diamond and Grogar kept hearing some words being chatted on the phone, Discord only nodding and giving a "uhuh" time and again. With a simple "be right there" Discord hung up the phone and tossed it to White Diamond.

"Duty calls," concluded Discord.

"You're just leaving? But what am I gonna do?!" White Diamond asked worriedly.

"I dunno, go watch a movie, get some coffee? Grogar's a bad guy but he's locked up, we don't HAVE to watch him. Besides -" Discord smacked his tail on the magical barrier. "- If he can't bust out of this, then I think we're all good."

"You're absolutely sure about that, Discord. It's ... It's Grogar!"

"Have I ever been wrong before?" Discord said with a smirk. Anyone who knew Discord longer than WD would know THAT answer right off the bat. But since she was White - someone who didn't know Discord for more than a couple months - she kinda took it in face value. ... Besides, she didn't want to stay with the ram longer than she had to.

"W-Well ... oh, alright. Let me get my appearance modifiers put on first," White said.

"Just go. Playing monkey must be fun," Grogar huffed.

He was hoping they were leaving soon. He had an appointment to keep. He laid down on the ground for a bit more, watching as Discord and White Diamond basically left him all alone. If there was one thing one shouldn't do, is leave a undead magical ram to himself unattended. He checked one more time over his shoulder to be sure he was alone before he moved back into the barn. Right to the very back of it.

"....... psst ... Sumu, they're gone. Come out here," whispered Grogar.
Only Sumu could keep herself as secretive as she had been from everyone around her. After being given the word, a vine poked itself out of the ground, in between the cracks of the barn. After growing only about a foot, Sumu's face formed at the tip of it and two leaves sprouted to make up her hands and arms.

"I'm here, s-s-s-sir," said Sumu, shivering from the cold even in the barn.

"Did you talk to the captains yet?"

"Y-Y-Y-Yeah. They're on t-t-t-t-their way now. S-S-S-S-So cold," Sumu managed to sputter out. Grogar smiled for the first time in, well hours (more legitimately this time)

"Well done, lass. This'll teach them NOT to mess with the king like Grogar. You'd better make your first strike a good one, Steven. Tambalon's coming."

.......

"Aaaahhhhh."

With the patient opening her mouth good and wide, Priyanka Maheswaran got to her usual check up, her tongue compressor placed right into her mouth and getting a good look at the back of her throat. It took a bit of handiwork to figure this out, looking intently as the compressor kept the tongue out of the way despite it being a little uncomfortable for her patient. It took a few more seconds before that tongue compressor was moved out of her mouth, spying something that could be the root cause of the problem just along the tongue itself. She tried to talk but all that came out was a gargled mess.

"Okay, this is still a new experience for me, but I think I got just the thing for you. Excuse me for a second," Priyanka said. As her patient say there, seeing her close friends just off outside of the office window, the doctor looking through her medicine cabinet for a little bit before she fished out what looked to be a cylinder of a liquid of some kind. It looked a little familiar to sparkling water, but Priyanka wouldn't keep soft drinks as medicine.

"This water's from the Rose Fountain, so try gargling with this. It should be able to heal your ... condition," Priyanka explained. What did she have to lose? After Priyanka got her a glass, she simply brought it up and got it into her mouth, swishing and gargling it inside her mouth for a bit. Mundane, maybe, yet already she could feel something going on in her mouth. A lack of swelling, a small shimmer in her mouth, and next thing she knew -

"AWW, I can talk again! Thanks doc," said the worker Bismuth. Priyanka was glad it managed to work out, as the Bismuth's other Gem friends came in to see her, happy to see her all better.

"Just remember to not bite your tongue while you're working," advised Priyanka, writing it down onto a nearby clipboard. The Bismuth was pleased with the quick recovery, and the three Gems started off on their way. As soon as they left, Priyanka took the time to check her list of patients over on the wall.
To put it simply, there was a lot. She looked between one list from a few months ago, which strictly had human patients and had quite a bit of them at that, and then compared to the one today, which now included Gems filling it up twice as much. She even had to force in a few names since it overflowed the list at this point! At least dealing with Gem patients wasn't as complicated since they were mainly cracked gemstones.

She was still getting worn out though.

"What an overload. I haven't had this many patients since ... ever," Priyanka sighed, taking a brief moment to take a breather by leaning against the wall. Being a Doctor was always a tough job, overload or regular. Still, as a doctor she had to try and keep up with it so after a breath she checked out the list again.

"Okay, so who's next? ..."

*knock**knock**knock*

Odd. Priyanka looked over to the door, setting the clipboard down for a moment before she could actually see who was up next. Why would any patient just walk up to her door first before anything else? Priyanka walked over to the door, but looking out the window from her office into the hallway she could already see that the patient next wasn't entirely ... human.
Opening the door, and there was her next patient waiting for her: Twilight Sparkle. She only had a few joining her this time, Steven and Connie joining her as promised along with Cadance and Spike. Some support at the least since Luna had more to do in Twilight's stead.

"You do know you have to wait until you're called back here, right?" Priyanka asked.

"We know, but our keys were acting up and we had to use the Portal Keys to get here, and they don't really follow hospital rules," said Spike, shrugging.

It could be worse. Priyanka checked her clipboard and the list one more time. And there was Twilight Sparkle's name right there to be seen.

"Your Portal Keys do know good timing. Twilight, if you may have a seat," Priyanka said, Twilight sitting down on the exam table.

"You're lucky I had a cancellation today, normally patients have to get scheduled in weeks in advance," Priyanka added in. She didn't really need to add how many more patients were added into the list. Twilight still looked a little nervous.

"Don't worry Twilight, my mom's the best doctor in this hospital," Connie reassured.

"And we'll be right here if you need anything. Okay?" Cadance promised. However, Priyanka needed to get a few things out of the way before she could actually do anything, as she was getting out her stethoscope.

"Thank you, Connie, but I'm afraid this isn't gonna be as easy as my usual procedures," Priyanka said.

"How come?" Steven asked. Priyanka had to choose her words carefully here.

"Well ... the main thing is that Twilight ... you're not a Human."

"So?" said Spike.

"So, I'm a Doctor of human patients. I'm not saying I'm not going to try here, but Equestrian or not, she still has the body structure of a horse. ... Even if you do have a horn and wings," Priyanka explained.

"But, you can still see what's wrong with her," said Cadance. Priyanka had to think a little bit again, going into the medicine cabinet to get some doctor gloves again.

"Well I'm gonna try my best. At the least I can see if this condition is anything non-magical or non-Gem related," Priyanka said. This was probably the best answer they were going to get.

"Okay, Twilight, we'll be waiting outside if you need anything. Everything's gonna be A-Okay," said Steven. Twilight just nodded and watched as they began to go out of the office to wait for them outside. Twilight herself saw at least one of them start to pull out a phone, Cadance trying to figure out how it worked. If only it were that simple. She'd gone through the motions with how many doctors already? Ten? Twelve maybe? Either way, she could only hope there were some different results today over what the pony doctors told her over and over again. The only one that stayed around was Spike.

"Spike? I'm going to need you to wait outside too."

"Eh, sorry but ... no. SOMEONE has to talk for Twilight," Spike said.

"Well that's for Twilight's decision not yours. Twilight, is it okay if I discuss your medical records with your friend here?" Priyanka asked. Twilight just didn't say anything. Spike went and sat next to her.

"... Twilight?"

"That's kinda the problem: Twilight can't talk. We tried spells, soup, spells involving soup, even spell soup, but nothing's making her any better," Spike explained. To prove Spike's point, Twilight tried to explain it a bit more herself but all that came out were something more akin to some worn out squeaky toy. They know she could talk, so hearing her sound like this was itself strange. Priyanka needed to question her own ears before she regathered herself.

"Let's get started," Priyanka concluded.

(one hour later)

"You STILL found nothing?" asked Spike to a now tired Priyanka, as she rested her back against the wall and checked what results she could do.

"Nothing's out of the ordinary in terms of functionality. I knew I should've called a vet for this," sighed Priyanka. Nothing was more frustrating than an hour of work with NOTHING to show for it. A bit rude to call a vet on an Equestrian Pony, but still a bit sad to see nothing actually come up after everything. After a long while, the others took a look back inside.

"So how's she doing in here?" asked Cadance.

"Not very good. Priyanka didn't find anything either, just like the ... twelve other doctors," Spike said, trying to think of if he missed anything. Twilight was just sitting there, head hung down in dismay. She had been trying so much to figure this out, but the more this kept happening the more she felt like she'll never make it work. Will she ever get her own voice back? As Twilight was considering how to even live her life without her voice, her sister-in-law went over to her.

"Don't worry. I think I know someone that can point us in the right direction. He should be here any minute," Cadance said. Twilight looked to Cadance with hope, but mostly with confusion. If it was Dr. Horse again, she might as well not even bother because she already tried him just last night. No point in asking another pony doctor to treat her given her track record so far. The others though thought that, at the least, this could give them some more insight if anything at all. Soon as he gets here ...

ANY moment now ...

*THUD*

"Hi Discord," said a sheepish Cadance.
... He's here. The door opened up to find Discord laying on the floor, feeling exhausted. Priyanka wasn't sure how to take this, vaguely remembering all of the chaos magic before, but seeing him look like this just left her more confused if anything at all. Discord was TIRED, literally crawling like a inchworm as he dragged himself into the room. He needed two minutes to even catch his wheezing breath.

"You couldn't even call a cab?" Discord just BARELY managed to say in between his "dying breath". No chaos of magic should ever had to be put under such torture as EXERCISE! Twilight looked like she was gonna die when she saw him show up.

"The barn's not that far away from here," Steven pointed out.

"For anyone who doesn't snap-travel, maybe. OW, I think I got a blister," Discord groaned, taking a minute to sit down and try cracking some of his toes. It's not that Twilight didn't trust him ... well, okay, maybe a little bit, but Twilight got off the exam table and basically tried to go on her way.

"Twilight, I know this isn't exactly what you'd expect, but it can't hurt to just ask him right?" Cadance said. Twilight was only glad that Discord didn't have his chaos magic right now otherwise it probably would hurt to ask him. Twilight, scared mainly, just went right back to the exam table and sat right back down. Maybe this'll go quick.

"Is this okay, mom?" asked Connie. Priyanka really wasn't so sure, never-minding the obvious rule violations this was probably doing. Discord was a lot of things but he was no doctor. Still, the Draconequus got himself all warmed up and looked over to the patient on the exam table.

"Alright, you got me all the way out here, what's the trouble?" Discord asked.

"We were wondering if your um ... special taste in magical knowledge can help Twilight here," explained Cadance. Discord chuckled.

"Let's not be so modest, I know my magic's not a typical cut of bread. And poor princess Twilight is having a bad day?" Discord correctly asked, hopping up next to Twilight as he began to check her out for any signs of sickness. AKA, pulling out her wings and checking em over.

"It's her voice, Discord. She lost it a couple days ago, and no one in Equestria can figure out how to fix it," said Steven, kinda having to roll with the punch at this point. Discord immediately knew where to check for that one.

"Her voice? Well let's just see what we're dealing with here," Discord said. He didn't even hesitate when he made Twilight open her mouth wide open, and peeked right inside himself. Twilight honestly wished she was anywhere else right now, as Discord even tried getting his snout into her mouth, sniffing her breath. THAT point Twilight got her hooves up and pushed Discord away from her, coughing from tasting Draconequus fur.

"Hmm ... crabgrass ... well the answers pretty obvious: she got herself sprayed by some Plunder Vine spores. You breathe that stuff in and it'll keep you quiet as a dormouse," Discord quickly concluded, in a matter-of-fact manor. Too bad they already knew that was a thing, and Twilight wasn't exactly amused by Discord's antics.

"Great, but how do we actually fix it? There IS a way to fix this right Discord?" Spike asked.

"Heck if I know."

... Everyone had that "what did you say?" look on their faces. Well, everyone except Discord of course.

"What? I can't know EVERYTHING."

"YOU created them!" retorted Steven.

"I'm the Spirit of Chaos: Just because I create something doesn't mean I have to understand it. Most creations I make I can just snap away into nothing! ... At least I used to," Discord retorted back, sounding a bit self-righteous. They really had to keep themselves to just slap him on the face.

"Actually it really does. So even YOU don't know if there's anyway to fix this?" Spike said. Discord could see Twilight was looking miserable, so rather than just slap in another joke, he just hopped off the table.

"Now, I never said that," Discord said.

"So there IS a way? What is it?!" asked Cadance.

"Alright, I'll tell you, but I'll only tell you my way," Discord said smugly. It'd been too long since he gave anyone a good mind game. Discord hopped up onto the nearest doctor's wheechair, giving it a quick spin before starting his riddle, the Draconequus clearing his throat.

"To find your voice, comes down to your region of choice. A Scale and hoof is your teaching guide, leading back to -"

"The Kirins!" Connie suddenly realized. Discord immediately clammed up.

"The what?" Priyanka asked. Discord tried to regain himself but the others were already getting sold on the idea.

"The Kirin Empire: Scale and hoof is your teaching guide - that means they might have the answer to Twilight's voice!" Steven said.

Discord slumped in his seat. "Couldn't you all at least pretend to not understand it, just to make me feel smarter than you?"

"Discord, "scale and hoof"? "Region of choice"? It's kind of obvious where you were going with that," Steven said. The Draconequus wasn't sure if he should be proud, sad, or annoyed. But either way, he really needed to get back into the swing of things. He slid onto the floor in defeat.

"I need to get my groove back," Discord grumbled. It just was no fun anymore being normal.

"I think we better go now. Thanks for the help," said Cadance as they began to go on their own way. However Priyanka had to intervene here, mainly for her daughter.

"Wait a minute, young lady, I'm not letting you run off on another adventure again," Priyanka said firmly.

"Can I go home? I'm just going back to watch Pearl, that's all," Connie corrected.

"... Oh. Well, alright, good," Priyanka said.

At least Twilight had a lead now. Better than all the doctor visits she had so far, anyway. Discord just groaned and walked on after them. Maybe he can find something else to make him feel smart today. With this doctor's visit done for Twilight, they would have to come together for the Kirin Empire trip later. Steven had a few more things to handle first ...

~~~~~~

*thud* "Okay, so that's one step handled early. Now what to do about the rest ...?"

From the Hospital to back to the Beach House, Steven Universe was suddenly getting himself a bit more organized since Grogar nearly pummeled him just yesterday. With no one else inside the house for the moment Steven had time to himself thankfully, as he got himself out an open notebook, a ball-point pen, and a mind that at the time was just in a flurry of thoughts. He still had his old list of things to do, but since all of this other stuff kept coming up, he had to do some updating. ... Ok, a lot of updating.
So now, his "Happily Ever After" list looked more like this:

1: Recover Memories (5/9)
2: Make Home 4 Dazzlings FIND Dazzlings
3: Finish building Little Homeworld
4: Discord + White Diamond's magic back
5: Become friends with Hessonite
6: Handle Reform Grogar (hopefully)
7: Handle Grogar's Army
8: Heal injector spot

The list grew a little bit, almost doubling from when this all started. Steven felt a pit in his stomach looking at the list he had and comparing it to the one he used to have. Instead of fixing problems, more just keep coming up on him. All he did was groan a little bit.

"You can do this, Universe. It's not that hard. Just gotta re-work the order that's all," Steven told himself as he pulled out another piece of blank lined paper, writing out the title again and ready to handle this problem again. Using the original as reference next to the notebook, he started off with the bigger problem of recovering memories, though when it came to that list he only had four names: Pink Diamond, Pearl, Amethyst, and Peridot.

"Okay: We got only four left, so obviously they need their missing pieces first. ... wait, Hessonite won't just let them hang out like that would she? ... Alright, befriend Hessonite first, then handle memories, then help finish - wait. Wait, Grogar's army hasn't shown up in a while, so of course they'll be coming in soon. Maybe if we can set up defenses around Little Homeworld? Oh, but Hessonite will make Amethyst do that ... UGH, do-over, gotta try again," frustrated, Steven crumbled up his first list, and tossed it into the nearest trash bin in the kitchen. He got out another piece of paper and tried again.

"Alright, alright ... handle Grogar's Army ... then friends with Hessonite ... ARGH NO, we need everyone if we're gonna take them on. They have to be first! Ok, recover memories, handle army, friend Hessonite - ... no, I forgot Discord and White Diamond's magic. Dang it."
Steven crumbled it up again and tossed it aside.
This pattern kept up at least three more times as Steven tried his hardest to figure out what this perfect checklist would be. This wasn't even counting what other potential problems could pop up at anytime, nor when something would become worse if left alone for too long. Steven got out another paper and was about to try for number six when the sound of the Warp Pad suddenly startled him.

"HEY, look who's back from her Earth Shopping trip!"

Steven quickly got the notes and hid them away as he turned to the Warp Pad to find Spinel standing there. His "little sister" had a few bags she was holding, some hung along her arms while she held two in hand. Steven hardly had time to hide any of his things, so all he did was cover them up with his arm, acting like a casual rest of the elbow.

"Hey there Spinel. Uhh, looks like you got a lot done while you've been out," Steven said, pretending that he wasn't in the middle of working.

"Yep! I got everything you asked me to," Spinel said, pulling the stuff out of the bags and placing them on the counter as she named em off, "I got your dry cleaner stuff, your milk, your flower bouquet, your new shield, and I found this neat lookin' snow globe too."

Steven found himself with his new shield on the floor by his side leaning against the table, the gallon of milk on his left, the dry cleaner on his right, and the snow globe sitting on his head. He got the snow globe off of him before talking again.

"Not bad. You did remember to pay them this time, right?" Steven asked, "You didn't just take what you wanted and walked out on them."

Spinel paused, and looked a little embarrassed. "Eeeehhhh ... Garnet had to give me a reminder. ... Five times. ..."
She was still trying, so that wasn't a problem. What did become a problem though was that while Steven decided to put some of the stuff away, Spinel's curious eyes looked back to the table Steven was working on, and spotted the closed notebook. Caught up in this mess, Steven didn't notice Spinel seeing the thing until -

"What'chu got here Steven?" Spinel asked, just about to open up the notebook. Steven almost dropped the milk he was holding before snatching the notebook away, seconds before Spinel could take a look inside.

"I-It's nothing," Steven quickly said. Spinel was kinda taken aback.

"You ... ok?"

"I'm fine, I just ... I don't want people looking in here yet. It's nothing to worry about anyway," Steven tried to explain, as he sat back down with the notebook. But unfortunately for Steven, Spinel's curiosity was a bit peaked. What was it about this notebook that he wanted to keep hidden away? Spinel started to stretch her neck until her head was behind Steven's shoulder, trying to see it for herself. Steven tried to keep his arms covering the thing as Spinel kept moving around.

"Spinel quit it!" Steven said.

"But let me see. If it's nothing, it wouldn't be a problem," Spinel pointed out, again trying to check it out. This ended up making Steven get up from his seat, holding the notebook away from her.

"I didn't say it was nothing nothing, I said it's nothing to worry about -" Steven just wasn't gonna get his way today, because as he tried backing up he bumped into the shield Spinel brought for him. He ended up stumbling back as the notebook ended up getting out of his hands, and into Spinel's slingshot-launched hand, yoinking it back to her so she can see as Steven sat in the shield. It was a bit too late for Steven to stop her from seeing what the deal was.

"... Happily Ever After?" Spinel asked, "What'chu got going here? Is this one of those diaries or something?"

Steven got back up, a little unsteady since he was standing on a shield but getting up nonetheless.

"It's not a diary! It's my "Happily Ever After" list," Steven revealed, this time getting his notebook back and opening it up for Spinel to see. Spinel saw how much there was on the thing, and the extra details Steven wrote on his latest list.

"Spinel? ... You think you can keep a secret?" Steven asked. Spinel was getting intrigued.

"A secret? ... Um, alright sure," Spinel said. Steven then showed his list in full to her.

"It's just something I've been working on. I mean, we still have so much left to do before we can finally have our "Happily Ever After". There's Grogar's Army, Hessonite, Little Homeworld, not to mention everyone's not even mentally back yet. I'm just trying to work out how to get there without anymore problems," Steven explained, even then trying to work out the details as he was biting the end of his pen, just to spit out the ink he was tasting. Spinel didn't need to be told when this probably all started as she looked over the main list Steven had made so far.

"It looks all good to me."

"It's more on what to do first. We're so close. If only I can do all this right ..." Steven's mind began to wander again, but Spinel's keen hearing caught the "I" in that sentence instead of "we".

"Don't ya mean "If only WE can do all this right"?"

Steven took a deep breath. This was where the secret part really comes in.

"Grogar got to me yesterday, ok?" Steven admitted, for the first time today.

"Well, we all saw he jumped ya, but hey that Rose Fountain worked wonders and look at you now -"

"No, not that. When he said I can't do anything on my own, and I always rely on my friends to do everything for me. He obviously said it just to get to me, but ... I just need to do this myself, okay Spinel? And please don't tell the others about this. I don't want everyone else to get roped into my problem," Steven explained. Steven's eyes looked back to the notebook as he kept trying to work this out, but Spinel just looked to Steven with some more of her child-like confusion.

"You want me to NOT tell em this? But what about that thing you all keep saying? The Truth's always better than -"

"I know, I know. I just feel like this is something I need to do," Steven concluded. Now if only he can work out how. Steven started to sit down and write again with the potential list, as Spinel watched him try to do the work. Spinel waited and waited, watching as Steven kept writing down things, occasionally tossing a crumbled up piece of paper by her towards the trash bin. Steven tossed at least two more by her, hearing her sink one into the trash bin that missed.

"You don't have to stay here if you don't want to," Steven said. Spinel got up immediately.

"Oh, right, of course! I'll ... just be going. See ya later," Spinel said.

"See ya," Steven said. A little to pre-occupied to notice Spinel looked bummed out all over again. But not because she had to go out on her own again, but more because of the secret she had to keep quiet. Can she even do that for Steven, or not?

There was one person that could find that out for her.

.......

Off to Little Homeworld she goes. After a quick jump to there from her Warp Pad, Spinel was off again to the almost completed Little Homeworld city. Strolling on out of the Warp Pad and looking around more. She saw her share of Gems and Ponies and other things going around. With so much of Little Homeworld worked out though, especially since Equestria's side was practically complete, those there were more lax in their line of work. More casual per say.

"Where is she, where is she? It can't be THAT hard to find her around here," Spinel told herself, though a part of her still wished to have some more time to get her words together. Then again, it didn't take more than a minute before she ended up finding her target off along the main road, doing ... something.

"Find your center, your very core. Remember - your body isn't just a projection of light, but also a reflection of your inner soul."

"Aha! There she - ... is?"

Garnet. Though, it wasn't really just finding Garnet that made the jester Gem a little confused, but more over what the fusion was actually doing: she found Garnet standing on her head - literally in her case - staring off ahead as her hands were pressed together.

"Hi, Garnet," said Spinel, standing next to her.

"Hello Spinel," Garnet replied, not looking her way. Spinel had to ask though.

"So ... um ... why're you talking to your cat?" Spinel asked. Garnet wasn't even that far away from her either, just about two to three feet from Nora as the cat was just laying on her back. That didn't deter Garnet at all, and in fact Garnet seemed content with it.

"Practicing for my meditation seminar tomorrow. I've got a big crowd coming, so I want to be ready," Garnet said. Spinel was bummed out again, kicking a stray rock.

"So you're gonna be busy too, huh?"

"Nope. Come join me. It'll be better to practice with someone that talks back," Garnet offered.

"Umm ... okie-dokie."
What other chance would she get? She didn't know how long Garnet was gonna be, so what she can do was at least join her for a minute. Since there was space between Garnet and the wall, Spinel stood over in between them so Spinel could talk to Garnet directly. It felt weird with her right side up, so after some working Spinel got herself upside-down, standing on her own head. She wasn't exactly steady, and didn't have a square head, but she managed thanks to her pigtails keeping her steady. For the heck of it too, Spinel copied Garnet's arm movements, bringing her hands together just like Garnet did.

"Hey Garnet? Mind if I ask for some advice?" Spinel asked, as both she and Garnet then stretched their arms to the side.

"Ask away," Garnet answered. Spinel was about to speak, but remembered she was supposed to keep this secret so she needed to re-work her story. Not too different, but similar just enough to make it work.

"Okay. So, there's this uhh ... friend, that I know. Who also has this other friend she knows who is uh ... pretty popular. Someone she looks up to, and really wants to help."

"Go on," said Garnet.

"So my friend's friend thinks he has to do it by himself, because someone he knows is making him stress out. And I mean, we ALL KNOW how bad stress can be, and he's ... not doing so good. And she's not feeling so good for ... you know ... not doing anything for him. ... So can you help me - ER I mean, her?"
Dang it, so close! Did she just blow a promise to Steven that quickly? ... No? ... No, Garnet didn't look like she reacted any differently from usual. Garnet got to thinking a little bit, still upside-down (Spinel still copying her arm movements best she could). But while Garnet didn't want to say it to keep Spinel from getting all bummed out again, the fusion could easily tell who she was talking about. A bit curious over her "friend", she swung herself around back onto her feet, Spinel doing the same.

"Sounds like whoever talk him into thinking this probably wants him to question himself, and make him REALLY stressed out. Maybe even getting him hurt so whatever he said can stick to him better," Garnet pondered.

"He got hurt REAL BAD," Spinel thought, squirming in her spot a little bit as she thought about it. Garnet got to thinking.

"Have you met your friend's friend, Spinel?"

"Umm ... nnnnoooot really? I only saw him this morning after our shopping spree," Spinel replied, rubbing her arm. Garnet would do what she was gonna do next with her abilities anyway, but decided to play along just a little bit more. She knew who Spinel was talking about, she just needed the kickstarter for step two.

"Well it's hard to say ... unless if you can look into the future," Garnet said. Not the most tactful, but heck the idea still came to Spinel anyway.

"Garnet, your future vision! You can look ahead for Steven - I-I mean uhh, my friend's friend!" Spinel said excitedly, but quickly shooting herself down and added more calmly, "Er wait ... is it okay to use your powers? I wanna help someone I just met."

Garnet smiled. "That's a good enough excuse to use my powers. Let's have a look."

Spinel stood there and waited as Garnet went on to check what the Future could hold for Spinel's "friend's friend". Which future looked most likely, which one looked less, and most of all which one looked the most promising? Garnet could see quite a few options actually, the future really able to go in any direction at this point in time, though there was one in particular that caught her foresight. Now where that would go was still a bit sketchy, it could go good or it could go bad, but to her it seemed good out-weighed it quite a bit if they can do this right.

Plus it looked like a lot of fun. It was enough to make Garnet visibly chuckle.

"Got an idea?" Spinel asked.

"Right. But first, I'm gonna teach you a new game," Garnet said, a smile and a point to Spinel's direction.

"Well, I'm always up for a new game, heh. ... What's we playing?" Spinel asked.

~~~~~~

"Greetings, all my faithful subjects!~ It is so wonderful to see all of you again, It's been far too long. YES, I know my form isn't exactly the same as it used to be, but I can assure you I am still all the Diamond I once was. Era 3 is about acceptance of freedom after all, so if I am to remain as this for all of time, then I'll say this: TAKE IT, or LEAVE IT!"

"Yes, very good, you got me covered in goosebumps," Discord said, applauding White Diamond for her practice performance at the barn house. After her short movie and coffee break (yes she did that), the Draconequus decided to lend the Diamond a helping paw and talon in the form of some confidence.

"Now, think you can try it with a bit more flair? And raise your arms higher, it better flaunts that cape," Discord advised, holding up White Diamond's arms up a bit more.

"Discord, are you sure you know what you're doing?" White asked.

"Oh honey, I was once a tyrannical ruler too ... before I got turned to stone - SO I know what it means to show the world that you mean Business. It's all in the presentation, you know that better than anybody!" Discord explained.

"It's much easier though when all my subjects are much smaller than me. Your Jasper's taller than me now, and that's even including my choice of hair appearance!" White Diamond retorted, her fingers running through her diamond-shaped hair. Discord hardly found it that big of a deal.

"Oh appearances appearances, it's all about the how not the what. If a Pearl can be confident and salty, surely a Diamond like you can! ... White, I said raise your arms," Discord said, bringing her arms up higher again. White yanked her arms away from him, Discord being knocked over.

"Cut that out! I appreciate your help, but I'm a Diamond NOT a mannequin. If you're gonna be rough like that, then do it to an actual human display in one of those modifier shops rather than on me," White Diamond said firmly. Discord was actually pleased. However, White Diamond grew flustered again realizing what she just said.

"THERE YOU GO. Look at all that confidence you just showed! That's exactly what I'm talking about," Discord said and praised.

"I-I'm sorry, that came out wrong. I was merely saying -" White suddenly got her mouth shut when Discord got his talon finger over her lips.

"Discord, I'm not trying to be tyrannical anymore, I'm trying to be better. I just don't want to get laugh off the face of my own planet," White Diamond reminded. Discord began to look huffy.

"Yes, but WHO was put in charge of this, hmm?"

"... You."

"So WHO has to listen to what I say?"

"Oh ... Me," White admitted with a roll of her eyes.

"NO NO, you're flip-flopping again. Start from the top!" Discord instructed, only embarrassing White Diamond even more. Thank the stars her subjects weren't there, otherwise she'd never live this down.
Grogar meanwhile was trying his best not to just laugh at them. To think the greatest Diamond, the ruler of the Diamond Authority and all of Gem kind ... acted like such a timid little kid. Whatever happened to her must've really knocked her down a peg, even more than he could do. It never actually bugged him that White and Discord looked the way they do now. Heck, he preferred it this way - makes it easier to face the Harmony Gems without their strongest bit of ammo. Grogar glanced over their way with a one-eye look.

"Wimp. Sumu you'd better have done your job," Grogar very quietly remarked. He'd LOVE to just get out of there and not listen to these idiots.

"Okay, okay ... now does this look more dignified?" she stands straight up with her arms spread out, flashing the colors off of her cape. "- or this? Be honest with me now," she then got into a more formal pose with her cape wrapped around front and behind her as her hand was over where her heart would be. Well, she said be honest.

"You look like you're just over-thinking it."

"Very funny, now which one?" White asked, not in the mood for his snazzy remarks.

But Discord wasn't planning on giving anymore.

Discord looked behind White Diamond for just a moment, and his expression quickly turned to worry, ears folding back and eyes wide like a scared pup. White didn't get where this was coming from, but when she turned around to see what the deal was, she suddenly got scared too.
It took a short minute before something started to loom just beyond the next hill by the barn. It was a little difficult to make out at first, but as it got closer and closer, they could make out a TON of reinforcements. And a lot of creatures. Coming in like a brewing storm, numerous soldiers were marching in right towards the barn, a wall of muscle and intimidation not hesitating for an instant as they continued their assault forward to the building in front of them. Leading the charge though was Tempest Shadow, the figure they both remembered running into back in Canterlot. Captain Nichrome also followed alongside with his own platoon, with others like Bray and Budgerite following as well.
White and Discord were in no position to fight a threat this big.

"There's the barn. GROGAR, you in there?! We're coming in to get ya!" called Budgerite.

"O-Oh no. The army! What do we do?" whimpered White, getting scared all over again.

"I'll take care of this," Discord said, but he'd be darned if he knew how. NOW Grogar began to stir, raising his head to see the cavalry come for him as he'd hoped. The entire army kept moving in, but they ended up stopping at about five feet from them when they saw exactly who they were dealing with. It was enough to make them actually step back to take this in.

"Is that ... White Diamond?" Nichrome asked ... before he started laughing.

"Be quiet! I'm still above someone like you!" White Diamond demanded shakily. But her being so shaky told em otherwise.

"The great Diamond Authority leader is now flustered by one alien? It isn't easy not having all the power in the world, is it?" Tempest pointed out, letting Nichrome laugh as the remark made White Diamond even more pink in the face. The soldiers behind them started to move in and the Storm Creatures were ready to go in for the ram. Discord though was a bit more forward.

"YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" Discord shouted, grabbing the nearest large fence post to use as a weapon ... just for a Storm Creature to grab it and snap it like a twig.

"... Oh dear," Discord gulped.
In one quick swing, Discord was knocked right into the nearest tree. White Diamond spread out her arms to try in vain to keep them away from Grogar, only for Tempest to go in and shove White Diamond aside. Both the Draconequus and Diamond tried getting up, but the Storm Creature closest to them got them both pinned down. Just another reminder to them how much more pathetic the two had become without their power.

"That was easy. Now time for -" Then they all saw Grogar. If White Diamond's appearance didn't make them hesitate, Grogar's appearance sure did. Their king now without any horns, and looking a bit weaker than he'd usually be. Grogar could take the hint.

"Sir?!"

"W-WHA?! My lord, you're - you're -" Bray couldn't bring himself to say it.

"Not a word from any of you. Just get me out of here," Grogar made perfectly clear. Tempest got the signal and the Storm Creatures began to work their strength on the magic barrier. Some of them tried slashing with their claws while others used their spears to try and chip away at the barrier. It was gonna take them some time to get it all handled and squared away, all the while White and Discord both were trying to get themselves free.

"Wait, stop! You mustn't!" pleaded White Diamond. Nichrome, taking this opportunity, brought his tar hooves onto White Diamond's head and pushed her down to keep her quiet.

"I'm not taking any orders from someone like you, so I suggest you keep quiet," warned Nichrome.

"Don't take her lightly Nichrome," warned Tempest, "She's still a Diamond."
Just that alone was enough to quickly anger Nichrome as the alien turned to the hornless Unicorn.

"SHE'S the one responsible for locking me away, and her kind responsible for the death of my brother, Tempest! Remember that before you run your furry mouth."

"And I'm equal to you in this ranking Captain Nichrome! So you remember that before you run yours," Tempest warned firmly.

"Get over here or I'll kill you both!" Grogar snapped. At least one of them was giving White Diamond some respect, even if she was on the enemy side. Nichrome would continue to try and show his authority over her, but he'd have to do it later on, because with all of their combined strength the Storm Creatures were starting to make their progress on the barrier, actually making dents and cracks into it where Grogar couldn't. Then in one more swing -

It all broke.

"NO!" gasped White. She and Discord could only watch as the shards of magic scattered around the ground, disappearing quickly. Grogar felt free as he marched right across the barrier boundary, no longer contained by that Alicorn magic.

"Not bad. Glad to be out of that barn."

"My lord!" said Bray, happily going over to him.

"The important matter is your free now. Welcome back," Tempest said, bowing before the king. The others behind her did the same thing before Grogar, in spite of his condition and lack of magic. White Diamond was ... admittedly surprised. With how ruthless many of his monsters were, she was sure they would've at least laughed or something when they saw the goat without his horns.

"Thanks. I'd reward you, Tempest, but ..."

"I can afford to wait. Besides, you'd probably wouldn't reward me anyway. The results I promised weren't ... the best," Tempest admitted. Grogar had time for that later, and strangely just brushed it off.

"Oh nevermind that, you can give me that report later. For now, we got work to do: and we're going to finish off those Harmony Gems right now."

"Right now? As in a full-scale attack? All of us marching in and stomping all over em kind of thing?" asked Budgerite.

"No less what they deserve for doing THIS to me!" Grogar said, showing the stubs that remained of his horns to Bray and Budgerite.

"HEE-HAW! THEY did that to you?!" Bray exclaimed in shock.

"They did that, they locked me up in that barn like I'm some barnyard animal. No one. NOTHING. Locks me up and humiliates me and gets away with it," Grogar growled, his hooves cutting the ice-hard earth underneath him as sparks of lightning shot from his stubs, some of which accidentally shock some of the soldiers. Tempest moved over to Grogar.

"We'll make our attack as soon as you say so, but we still have two "guards" to worry about?" Tempest said, pointing out both White Diamond and Discord nearby.

"Still think you can read me like a book?" Grogar said. Despite being pinned, Discord actually smirked.

"Well, I can tell you are a bad example of taking criticism," Discord remarked, "But we don't need to go all full-out war yet. So hot-headed too, you really need to check someone on that before you blow a blood vessel."

"What are you - oh you know what forget it. Throw em in the barn and lock them away!" Grogar demanded, not wanting to hear anymore of their chattering. The Storm creature picked them up and with a good swing threw them both right into the barn house, Discord managing to land on his feet despite rolling in as White Diamond just fell splat on the floor. The Storm Creatures got what they had closest at hand, and the main door was blocked up by numerous hay bales. Their only exit was the upper window, but no way were they going to get out of there in time to do much of anything.

"What the heck happened to those two anyway? I KNOW White Diamond was at least twenty thirty feet tall," Budgerite asked, getting the obvious out of the way.

"I don't know, and as long as they're irrelevant, I don't care. Let's go," Grogar ordered. White Diamond and Discord were left behind in the barn, unable to budge the door or move any hay out of the way in time. This was getting serious, and White couldn't do anything to mend any of this, or even warn them.

"Discord, you blabbering idiot! Why'd you even say that? There's no possible way to warn our friends now that we're trapped in here," White Diamond snapped. Discord though didn't look as worried about it now that they were alone again. In fact, all he did was walk along towards the back wall, whistling a tune as he did so.

"Are you even listening?" White questioned.

"You want a quick answering line AND an answer for Twilight's voicebox, yes?" Discord asked. A random question.

"... Yes, but what does that got to do with anything?" White Diamond questioned. Discord brought up his tail, and knocked right onto the wall.

*knock**knock*

Grogar's quick temper made him forget something important to him. And that something poked out of the cracks of the barn, and grew into the same face flower.

"G-G-G-Grogar, where'd you g-g-g-g-go?" asked Sumu.

"All I can say: You're welcome," said a smug Discord.

~~~~~~

Back with Steven Universe, the trash bin was now half-way full thanks to his crumbled-up papers, the boy in question now with his head laying on the table. This was much harder than Steven really had thought, as there always was something in the way of pretty much every plan he came up with, be it potential threats like Grogar's Army or the Spirit Council, or more immediate problems like Hessonite. Either way, it wasn't getting anywhere for him and the more he kept trying, the more it seemed that he can't plan this out all on his own.

"Why's this so hard?" Steven groaned, mentally tired. He checked his latest list which at this point was just all crumbled up, and covered in ink from scratching out one thing, writing over others, and overall just looked like a bad case of chicken scratch. Steven eventually just got up.

"Maybe a drink can help me think," Steven said. He hadn't had that much since he got started on this little project anyway. As he went to the sink for some tap water, he began hearing the Warp Pad go off again nearby, this time being Lapis Lazuli instead of Spinel.

"Hi, Steven, how're things going?" Lapis asked, flying in as Steven got his cup of water.

"Oh, hi Lapis. Yeah, I'm fine," Steven simply said, having his drink before sitting back down. He also made sure to get it on another blank page just in case Lapis got a little bit nosy. Steven sat back down as Lapis sat down across him.

"Someone's been busy. What're you writing about?" Lapis asked.

"Oh, it's uhh ... my grocery list," Steven answered, not taking his eyes off of the work he was doing. Lapis looked over to his so-called "grocery list".

"I thought you had Spinel do that for you this morning," Lapis stated.

"Huh? Oh, yeah I did! She just didn't get everything, so I'm working out what's left," Steven replied quickly, trying to cover up his tracks. Lapis relaxed a bit on the table.

"We can work that out for you, Steven. You already got plenty on your plate to do. Why not take a little break?" Lapis offered. Steven shook his head however.

"It's fine, Lapis, I can handle it on my own."

"You sure you don't want to play just a little bit? You had a better work/fun balance before, you can try and make it work now," Lapis tried convincing.

"That was then. This is now," Steven replied, writing in the notebook. Lapis did had to admire his devotion to his work, but experience already told her what happens when getting too caught up in a task that someone wouldn't notice a detail or two. Lapis tried to think what to do next, but as she did, a particular sign held up just outside of Steven's bedroom window gave her what she needed.

"Get on with it" read the sign.

Let's see if it works.

"Hey, Steven. You know something we hadn't done in a long time?" Lapis inquired.

"What's that?" Steven asked.

And three. Two. One.

"STEVEN TAG!"

What the heck? Steven jumped back, stumbling over his seat as he suddenly found himself looking up as a deep blue Steven standing there. Lapis wasn't gonna take no for an answer today, for some reason Steven can't understand. What else: Lapis's "Steven" appearance looked slightly different. Sure she was as tall as Steven and looked as old as he was, but she didn't have the jacket on her, going instead with the blue scarf. Gotta look original somehow.

"The heck, Lapis?!"

"Come on, for old time's sake. You know how the rules work: you get tagged, you turn into Steven," Lapis said cheekily.

"But I'm already Steven!" retorted Steven.

"No you're not. Not yet," Lapis said with a sly grin.

"What do you mean not - WHOA!"
Steven had to bolt for it. Lapis, wanting him to relax and play, jumped for him to try and tag her fun buddy. Steven dodged just fast enough to avoid the tackle and tag, making sure to grab his notebook before doing so. It was a mad scramble to get away from her, and Steven found salvation in the closest room he could get: inside his own bathroom. He quickly got the door shut behind him and even did the extra mile by putting a towel down.

"Come on Steven, your Beach Summer Fun Buddy wants to play," Lapis encouraged.

"Lapis, I'm too busy. I'm NOT playing," Steven said firmly, sitting down just behind the door and on the towel. Lapis tried to get herself in there, but with the door locked and the towel blocking the main entrance for her water hands, she unfortunately had to relent.

"Okay, Steven you win, sorry to bother you. The offers still open if you change your mind," Lapis said.

Then it grew kinda quiet soon after that. Steven waited and waited for some sort of sound but he couldn't hear anything from Lapis, or anyone else for that matter. Awfully quiet since Lapis just started playing with him in this game of tag. Steven did hear what sounded like a Warp Pad going off again, but really that was about it. Steven pressed his ear against the door for a short bit just to be sure that no one was outside to bother him.

A small peek out the door to be sure. ... Nothing.

"That was close. Okay, back to work -"

"Heeere kitty, kitty, kitty."

Spinel and Garnet were in the room now, but lucky for him it didn't look like they were wanting to play with him. In fact they looked a bit busy with something else themselves, Spinel using her arm like a car jack to lift up the couch, as Garnet was checking around Steven's bedroom in some of the drawers.

"Hey Garnet, Spinel. What're you doing?" Steven asked.

"It's Nora," explained Garnet, "I can't find her all morning."

"Nope, no cats or kittens under here," said Spinel before she rested the couch back down.

"Huh. Weird," Steven simply said. Nora they all thought was comfortable in the Beach House during winter, so for her to just take off on em like this was ... well, it might be normal for Cats, they are a bit secretive like that. Garnet looked under some of Steven's pillows before tossing em aside.

"Anywhere you guys hadn't checked yet?"

"Steven, you should check the cabinets," Garnet said.

"Umm, okay," Steven replied. Steven walked over to the kitchen cabinets, assuming Garnet and Spinel were still checking the other parts of the Beach House for the household normal pet. ... underline assuming.

"This cabinet?"

"Yep," said Garnet. HOLDING HER CAT.

"Huh - AAHH!"

"GOTCHA!"

So close! Steven dove aside fast as, out of nowhere, Lapis Lazuli launched herself out of the cabinet and right for him! Lapis even had her water wings open and flew out fast as she could, but even that wasn't enough to catch her favorite human. Missing him though, she went for the next best thing: Spinel and Garnet. She got them both in her launch, Nora jumping out of the way as the other two Gems were now on the ground.

"What an unforeseen turn of events," said Garnet.

"You know the rules," said Lapis. Garnet sure did. However, when she turned into Steven, her outlook was somewhat similar to him but the look here still had Garnet's visors on. Spinel, laying face down on the ground, peeked over to Lapis and Garnet.

"Ya sure this is gonna help him?" Spinel quietly asked.

"Eeyup. But either way she tagged you. Now YOU have to turn into Steven. It's the rules," Garnet said.

"In that case. Steven power ON!" Well if Garnet believed so, why wouldn't Spinel? It took a quick change of form, but Spinel did end up getting Steven's outlook down right, and now looked like a dark pink goth Steven with her three-marked mascara on her cheeks.

"Not bad for her first try," complimented Lapis.

*creak*

The three wolves turned fast to find their prey was sneaking away.

"SEE YA!" Steven only had time to glance back once before all three of them tried to go for him again, but while Garnet and Lapis tried to keep to Steven's body to get him, Spinel almost immediately started stretching her arm out to try and get him. Even without his Gem powers Steven proved to be tricky to grab as he kept dodging Spinel's arms, jumping one side to avoid her left, and ducking down fast to dodge her right before bolting away to the bedroom. He just got up the stairs and on his bedroom floor when Spinel hopped up and shot out both arms. Steven jumped up to avoid then but -

*stomp* "YOWCH!"

"Sorry Spinel," Steven said, quickly jumping off Spinel's noodle arms. He hardly had time to check her though as he saw the other two honed in. He only had his blanket to hide under.

For a few seconds.

"Hiding under the covers are we?~"

"AAHH!" Steven got his blanket and had to bolt away again, tumbling down the stairs to get some distance. In this crazy game of Steven Tag, he had to get his act together and quick, otherwise he'd be playing this game forever! ... Then he got an idea. It was a gutsy one, but he had to take the chance.

"Step off!" Steven shouted, throwing his blanket good and high above them.

"Sneak attack!" screamed Spinel. The trio got covered by Steven's trusty blanket, leaving them all blinded a second as Steven ran for it. Just after they got the blanket off of them, they all suddenly started to hear the sound of a particular bathroom door open.

"Nowhere to go. Here we come, Steven!" Lapis said. She, Garnet, and Spinel immediately bolted right into the bathroom ... only to find Steven wasn't there.
In a quick shove, the door behind them closed up tight. He couldn't lock the door from outside, so he went for the next best thing and threw his blanket over there instead of some flimsy towel. Was it gonna be enough? He saw the blanket get nudged a little bit, but that was about it.

*phew* "That should keep em busy for a while. Maybe now I can get some work done in peace," Steven told himself, sitting back down and resting his notebook on it. He had to get something handled here, at least a little bit while the others were stuck behind that door. Speaking of doors, before Steven could even get another word in, he started hearing another door open up just beside him. He jumped and readied to run, but this was the beach door that opened up this time, with Flint standing there with a snow shovel.

"Steven calm down, it's just me. Is everything alright in here?" Flint asked.

"Oh good it's you. It's Garnet, Lapis and Spinel, they're playing Steven Tag to mess with me!"

"Steven Tag? Haven't heard that game in a while," Flint remarked. "Here, mind putting this away for me while I get this snow off?"

"Oh, sure I can -" Steven suddenly stopped himself and looked at Flint suspiciously, "Wait a minute ... this isn't another trick is it? And isn't Fulgurite and Emerald supposed to shovel the snow?"

"Trick what trick? It snowed a lot lately, and I thought of clearing it out that's all. Besides, Fulgurite and Emerald are shoveling Little Homeworld already. But I get it if you don't wanna do it. I'll just set it in my room for later," Flint concluded. Everything seemed to sound legit, and for a moment maybe Flint wasn't in on this game. Or even if he was, he'd probably wouldn't want to play anyway. He wasn't that kind of Gem. Unfortunately for Flint, there was another surprise waiting just behind the Temple door.

Two to be exact. One Jasper Steven, and one Bismuth Steven.

"Wrong door," said Bismuth.

"FLINT, LOOK OUT!" Steven shouted. Lapis must've got them both while he was in the bathroom the first time! Flint gasped and acted fast, using the snow shovel as if it were some sort of shield to block off Jasper and Bismuth's attempts to get him. Steven kept his back by the beach door as he watched this battle go down in his own house, Flint holding up fairly well at first.

"You're not getting me that easy," said Flint.

"Come on, Flint, you can't get outta this! Take it like a Harmony Gem!" said Bismuth smugly.

Spinel finally got the blanket moved and the bathroom door opened that is.

"Steven!" shouted Garnet.

"How'd you get out so fast?!" Steven shouted. However, hearing Flint's fight with Jasper and Bismuth made them temporarily switch targets, and Flint's two turned into five. Flint noticed them coming his way, and reacted fairly quickly with his snow shovel, blocking them as well. It almost seemed like Flint was giving them a hard run for their money, and even used that Shovel to scoop them up and throw them all back towards the Gem door. It always was impressive to see a professional fighter.

"You shouldn't have messed with me," Flint said. But then he made one fatal mistake ... turning his back on them.

"Steven, you ok - GAAHH!"

Spinel got him, right in the back. Shock ran through his face as he felt her hand touch him, the hit enough to bring Flint down to his hands and knees. And then, silence.

"... HA! Joke's on you: Flint doesn't play games!" Steven shouted. He HAD to have got them here. ... He told himself that, at least. But there was more surprises in store today, as Flint's body started to change shape.

"The power of Steven Tag COMPELS ME!"

It was no use, Flint couldn't fight it. Taking it like a Harmony Gem, Flint was suddenly now a Steven! He till had some pride in him to see a bit of the light armor on him, but everything else was still all Steven. Who'd of thought Flint would go and join this silly game? The others sure looked pleased seeing him do this, some even lifting him up off the ground.

"Wow. Good for him," Steven said with a smile.

... Then they all looked daggers at Steven.

...

"Enemies approaching ... RUN!" Steven's mind rang out.

"AAAHHHH!"
Run was all Steven could think now. All of his friends succumb to the tagged side, and Steven had to keep ahead of them. Lapis, Garnet, Spinel, Jasper, Bismuth, EVEN FLINT! They all were dead set on him, charging fast and trying their absolute best to catch Steven. Without any of his powers, Steven had to rely on pure luck to get out of their reach. How the heck could any of this happen?! Throughout their run through the house, the Gems were pulling all the stops to try and touch him, to try and get him involved in their game whether he wanted to or not. Steven tried everything with these Gems, but no matter how many dodges he made they wouldn't stop:
Spinel and Lapis tried jumping for him from the kitchen (Lapis jumping out the fridge and Spinel from the faucet sink) when he tried hiding behind the kitchen counter.
Steven couldn't get the Warp Pad started fast enough to avoid Jasper, Bismuth, and Garnet from almost jumping all over him in the back cave section of the house.
Even Flint kept surprising him here and there and everywhere thanks to his camouflage cloak making him appear as if he was always coming out of nowhere.

Steven did find a very brief moment when he used the shield Spinel got him, blocking off many of them from jumping on him as he slid to the back wall. A short moment, but they all knew it wouldn't last forever.

"You can't hide forever, Steven! Come on over to our side," Bismuth encouraged.

"When I'm not so BUSY!" Steven shouted, getting just enough strength to shove them all back, launching them away from him as they kinda got in a pile across the room.

"I gotta get a headstart. I just need -"

Steven found it.

"AAAAHHHH!"

Right out the window?!?! Rushing out from his bedroom, Steven was a bit desperate to get some distance away from them. Maybe they saw him do it, maybe they didn't, but either way he got his headstart at price of landing hard into the snowy sand below. At least he had his shield to break the fall on the way down, and since he was going down a hill he actually got the shield turned into a sled for sliding down into some snow bank nearby. He got his moment to breathe after he got himself out of the snow.

"They can't keep those forms forever. I'll just have to wait here until they give up ... shouldn't be too hard," Steven told himself.

"Steeeven, come out and plaaay~" called Spinel. Steven looked just passed the shield just to find the numerous Stevens rushing out to try and find him. Steven was out of sight for the moment, but he knew it wouldn't take very long. Still he had a moment to actually think about it.

"Why's everyone freaking out today? Okay, let's run it through: You woke up. You had Spinel go shopping -"

"Good hiding. But gotta work on your sound though."

Steven spoke too loud, and Jasper was the first to find him.

"Seriously quit it! I DON'T WANT TO PLAY!" Steven demanded one more time.

"You don't have a choice!" Jasper replied. Steven had to pull the shield down to keep Jasper off of him. He turned and made a beeline down the beach with shield in hand, knowing launching an orange version of himself was exactly what would catch everyone else's attention. He could hear them starting to run after him just after he got a ten foot head start, still giving Steven a lot of head time to figure out where to even go.

"Gotta keep ahead of them. There's gotta be some way to make em stop," Steven said. Before Steven could figure out what -

"You know Captains get the drinks first, you idiot!"

Nichrome.

No way would that be happening right now. But he knew that voice just a little bit too well. And the voices were just beyond the next bend in the path. Sure enough, just as he looked over down the beach, he found that this part of the beach was being invaded by Grogar's Army! Tempest Shadow, Nichrome, Bray, Budgerite, they all were there along with their numerous soldiers following along behind. And guess who was leading the charge right in front of them all.

"Get your drink later, Nichrome, we got some rocks to finish. They're close ..." Tempest said. This was only making Nichrome more angry with her, as this also meant giving his soldiers a break from him.

"You're doing that on purpose aren't you?" Nichrome said.

Steven ... went for broke. Putting the shield down nearby, and with the Gems closing in behind, Steven ran out in a rush, right in front of the army. Steven wasn't running away from them either, but rather running towards them.

"Grogar!" Steven shouted, getting their attention even though they saw him already.

"HA, look at the hero all brave and alone. Happy to see me?" Grogar mocked, ready to fight him.

"YEAH! Don't go anywhere!"

The awkwardness was way too strong. It only got weirder when Steven raced right up to the ram and got behind him, much to everyone's confusion.

"The heck are you doing? This is a BAD THING for you!" asked Bray, obviously confused as he moved back from this crazy kid.

"No this is great! Now that you're here, they'll HAVE to stop playing with me and take me seriously!" Steven said hopefully. Not ANOTHER mind game! Did he not realize what he was doing, or was he really that desperate to get everyone off his back? That was the main question going through the army's mind, but they weren't gonna miss this moment of stupidity.

"Who am I to argue with luck? NAB HIM!" ordered Nichrome. Steven was immediately tackled down by Nichrome's troops, and with no powers to back him up Steven was quickly pinned to the ground by just one large bull. The large bull snorted in Steven's face, keeping him from getting away with its own hooves forcing down him into the snow. And not a moment too soon, because just moments after getting pinned down, they all began hearing more people coming their way.

Starting with Spinel.

"Yooo-hooo! Steven, you can't hide from - G-GROGAR!!!" Spinel shrieked, at the same time as everyone else came over expecting to just find Steven, only to find the army waiting for them. Their sudden game of fun screeched to a halt, but finding them all there (albeit Steven-ized) was just making it all too easy for Grogar.

"Before we kill eachother, what's with the get-up?" Budgerite asked.

"Does it matter? We got them all here. Prepare to surrender!" Grogar warned one more time.

Now in any typical sense they would get out of their Steven forms, get armed up and start the fight with this army of Grogar's. Steven was hoping they would, and they kinda had to now that a legitimate threat was standing right in front of them, not to mention Steven being stuck on the ground.

"Anytime guys! We have to stop and get them out of here before they hurt everyone!" Steven shouted. He would anyway.

They couldn't believe what was about to happen next. ... And it wasn't what Steven would ever expect.

"Guess we gotta update the game," said Garnet.
The idea of "updating the game" was not what they had in mind. Rather than forming back and fighting them, Garnet instead went over Jasper. With a smirk on her own face, Jasper and Garnet held hands and they both only needed a few good seconds of dancing, before the two of them began to glow their o so familiar flash of light. They all already knew exactly what was coming, and as their size grew beyond everyone there, the fusion stood up before all of them. Her hair tossed back behind her, her colors gleaning in the light, she was ready.

"TO THIS."

"Carnelian?!" Steven gasped. What a sight for sure eyes this fusion, and for most of the army she came pretty much out of nowhere. A bit exccessive, but at first Steven was glad they were gonna at least pause the Steven Tag game for the sake of stopping this invasion. However, Steven quickly realized that Carnelian here looked a little bit different here, now having Steven's overall look but with four arms instead.

"You fused - WHOA!"

Almost immediately, as the other players scattered out of sight, Carnelian rushed forward with all of her strength, tossing a bunch of snow into the air in her powerful stomp, scattering away much of the army AND Steven. The game's kicked back on again, and army or no army they were gonna finish it!

"HEY! That's dangerous!" Steven shouted as he ran off up the beach again. Good thing the shield wasn't too far away. He grabbed that quick and got to using it, but instead as an actual shield he got it on the ground, and basically used it kinda like a sled again, but using his foot to push forward faster.

"W-Where'd that titan come from? She nearly squashed us," said Bray, shivering a bit and it wasn't because of the snow. Tempest though got back onto her hooves and checked the fusion before she went off away. She could see the stars on her body.

"That fusion's one of them!"

"I don't care if they ALL fused! AFTER THEM!" Grogar roared. He wasn't gonna let this golden opportunity slip him by, not today and not ever!
The shield sure was doing a good job sliding on the snow though, giving the army behind him (or what didn't get knocked out by Carnelian's stomp) a bit of a rougher time trying to catch up with him. But as they were rushing along, they were just about to run in a much bigger problem. Someone NONE of them would even expect, even more than Carnelian.

And the fusion was standing just by a snow-covered tree, waiting for them.

"Malachite?!" Steven gasped. Malachite. Jasper and Lapis's less-than-normal Fusion, after years had FINALLY come out to play. AND FOR STEVEN TAG! The fusion was such an old sight to see, but while this did surprise a lot of the army, Steven's smile quickly went away when he realized Malachite looked a bit different. A bit more like him. She had the same hair and colors bit the rest was completely "Steven-ified", even the two sets of back legs put closer together so it looked more like Steven's two legs.

Part of Steven felt so proud of Lapis and Jasper. But on the other hand ...

"I'm still not playing!" Steven called, good and loud.
Unfortunately for him, either Malachite didn't hear him or she were too in the zone to care, because Malachite began to start up a whole new move of her own. With a bit of Lapis's water powers and Jasper's strength, Malachite started to gather a ton of snow off the ground, morphing them into giant snow boulders before tossing them at him! Oh boy.
Steven had to think fast on his pre-made sled, thinking like he was on a skateboard as he rushed left to right to dodge these giant snowballs. As for the army behind him though, they weren't having it so easy, and a lot of Tempest's storm creatures were whacked good and hard like a bunch of bowling pins. Two strikes behind him. The army went from chasing to running away, Steven picking up Bray and Budgerite as the two jumped onto his sled for safety.

Didn't take much longer before all three of them crashed into a pile of snow, getting kicked out of the sled before landing into the snow. What remained of the army started to close in on him, as for some reason Malachite had already disappeared by the time she was done. The Donkey and Bird Gem were quick to get to Steven as he was on the ground, but as they all were busy with him, none of them were aware of yet another player in this game.

With everyone else distracted, yet ANOTHER fusion found their position up on the next rooftop of the Beach House. This fusion of course was a bit smaller than the other two, but that didn't mean they were gonna be out of the game. Standing on the rooftop was yet another Steven-ified fusion, this one a grayish blue tinted color though, and while again mostly looking like Steven, but the third crystalline eye suggested otherwise. Flint and Sapphire's fusion had come out to play this Steven Tag game, and they were bringing the big guns.
Or Ruby to be precise. Bringing out their own Gem weapon (it looked like a bazooka) Ruby actually was put inside the weapon from the front like ammunition. With Flint's accuracy put into the fusion, they looked directly towards the target far down below them.

Angelite has joined the game.

"Target. Acquired," Angelite said. They saw Steven's jacket from a mile away, and with the army still trying to get him, they wasted no time.

Ruby shot out immediately from the bazooka.

"YAAAAAHHHH!" coming in like a fireball, Ruby barreled right into the snow-covered beach, again sending another miniature snow cloud up in the air and a few more soldiers launched back. It was not a good showing for Grogar's Army to keep getting pummeled around like this, fusion or not. But the Gems weren't the only one able to play the speed game, for as the snow began to clear ...

"... A snowman? With Steven's jacket? ... NNNNOOOOOOOO!"

Steven weasel'd his way out of there just long enough to finally keep himself out of harm's way. He only managed to hide away from the others by getting behind another snowbank, this one being closer to the cliff side. He felt chilly without his jacket, tired from all the running, and now he just needed a minute to regather himself. But he can confirm one thing ...

"They'll never stop until they make me play," Steven correctly confirmed. Why, who even knows? But with the Gems on one side and the army on the other, he was basically facing this problem by himself. Steven clenched his fists, ready to go but then he realized something when checking back again. He didn't see the Gems (who knows where they were), and most of Grogar's Army had turned tail and ran much to Grogar's anger. However, while he saw Grogar, Tempest, and Bray with the very dazed Budgerite -

"Hold on. One. Two. Three ... someone's miss - MMPH!"

"Ssssshhhush, shush shush shush," said Nichrome, seconds after doing a good sneak attack on the boy and wrapping his tar-like leg around his mouth to keep him quiet. He wasn't gonna let Steven slip away, and after his humiliation back in the Strawberry Battlefield, he's not screwing up again.

"You're not getting away from me like that, Steven. Now be a good boy, and meet your maker," Nichrome warned, obviously referring to Grogar off outside. Although the Gems were still looming somewhere, Nichrome tried forcing Steven to come out of hiding. Steven though was a more tougher fish than he was last time they messed with eachother, and he started to thrash and get all his strength together, trying to force Nichrome off of him. He did end up getting his mouth free so he can breathe.

"Oh no you don't!" Steven managed to say, getting his foot up and using the cliff side wall, gathered just enough strength to push Nichrome off of him, making the alien roll in the snow before he could find his hooves.

"I don't want to fight, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna hold back," Steven warned. Nichrome shook off the hit.

"Tell that to your rejuvenated gemstone. There's no Gem or Pony here, Steven," Nichrome smirked. Steven was wondering if he was being serious or not, but he didn't have to worry about Nichrome for long.

"YAAAHHHHH!" One jumpscare and Nichrome was freaking out. Leave it to Spinel to pop up literally outta nowhere to scare the daylights out of this alien, eyes a fiery pink with her teeth sharpened and buzzing like chainsaw blades (don't ask), and her clown hands turning into sharp icy claws.

"Keep your distance, buddy! ... Now ... TAG!" Spinel turned and tried one more time to get Steven, but -

"SPINEL STOP! Just stop, okay?! For the last time, I DON'T WANT TO PLAY!" Steven shouted. There was only so much Steven could take before his patience would just quit, and that yelling was indeed enough to make Spinel huddle up into a ball, and change her form back to her normal self. Steven needed a second.

"What's going on with you guys? I enjoy a game as much as the next Universe, but now's not the time! Why're you all so willing to play with me today anyway?" Steven continued, growing frustrated with not just Spinel but for everyone else involved. He didn't even get his list planned out, and the world's jumping all over him all at once - literally at some points! Spinel ... well, she dun goofed.

"I ... uhh ..."

"What did you do?" Steven asked, turning around to face the Gem. Spinel sure looked guilty.

"Eeeehhh ... remember earlier today, when you told me all that ... Happily Ever After stuff?" Spinel said meekly, already expecting the worst. Steven could already tell where Spinel was going with this, and didn't even give her a chance to continue.

"You told them, Spinel?!"

"No! I-I mean, I guess, I did chat with Garnet about it but not anything specific. And heck if I know where the others came from, I just talked to Garnet and she showed me this "Steven Tag" game," Spinel explained. Only to gravely add "... she might've gotten the full picture anyway."

"Ooohhh, Spinel of course she'd gotten the full picture - it's Garnet!" Steven retorted, more frustrated with himself rather than her for just blabbering on about the whole "Happily Ever After" list, "This is tough for me, okay? I-I mean, it feels like no matter how much I try something always keeps getting in the way: Hessonite, Grogar, White Diamond, and now this! I just WANT our Happily Ever After to actually happen, is that too much to ask?"
Spinel really was starting to regret even hearing what Steven had to say, let alone talking to anyone else about it. She looked down to the ground in a bit of shame, but she wasn't the only one who actually heard all of this.

"I'm just trying to be more ready. I don't want to disappoint you guys, but ..."

Steven then began to feel something wrap around his waist. Lucky for him though it wasn't another attack, but instead a soft group hug from not only Spinel, but from the others too. Specifically Lapis, Ruby, and Sapphire. They were planning to jump him, but after hearing all of that, that didn't sound very appropriate right now. Besides, they were feeling a little bit guilty too.

"Please try to forgive us, Steven," said Sapphire.

"We didn't mean to make it harder for you," added Lapis.

"Or hurt your feelings," added Ruby.

"We just wanna help you," finished Spinel.

Steven looked down to them all, each Gem hugging him looking up to him with a bit of a sad face.

"We're sorry," the four said sadly. Steven stayed quiet, but he did eventually smile. How could he stay mad at any of them for wanting to help?

"I wanna help you guys too," Steven said, one hand gently resting on Spinel's head. "and, you know ... it was actually pretty nice to spend time with y-"

Before Steven could finish, they started to hear something start to come up from the ground. It looked small under neath the snow, yet Steven and Spinel still jumped when seeing it emerge from the ground. But a quick shake showed not just a lump of snow, but a small plant poking out of the ground. A little late to the party, but Sumu finally got herself to the beach house. She took a few shakes to get the snow off of her, very cold and shaky from being out in the open like this.

"Hi," said Sumu.

"What the? Who're you?" Steven asked.

"I'm the Plunder Vines. We met a long time ago, Steven, and I'm not late am I?" Sumu said.

"Late for what?"

"Well there's a -" Sumu paused when she kept hearing the sounds of the army looming off just outside of Steven's hiding place. She peeked over the mound they were hiding behind just to see Grogar, Sumu, and Tempest there at attention. She, Spinel, and Steven all looked to them, just to see Nichrome reporting to Grogar where Steven was, albeit a bit shaky thanks to Spinel's scare.

"Oh. I guess you already know," Sumu simply said.

"We got to handle him before he takes his anger out on the town," said Bismuth. Which now that she brought it up, was a surprise that they didn't get noticed in town by now. But as he looked one more time to Grogar waiting off outside, Grogar started to talk.

"The Game's up, Steven! We got you completely surrounded, and if you don't come out now and give yourself up, we'll march right over and tear up your town down to the last board!" Grogar warned.

"I just said that," Bismuth thought.

Even with all this, Steven took a glance over back to the Beach House and got an idea.

"Sumu, how fast are you with fetching things?" Steven asked.

"I can move a Alicorn from the Everfree Forest to the Rose Fountain in just a minute. Why?"

...

Minutes ticked by, and Grogar's army was still waiting outside for them. Like some hungry wild dog, Grogar was pacing back and forth over and over again, waiting for his prey to come out of their little hiding place. Nichrome wouldn't go back in there not with that jumpscare waiting for them, and Tempest was more waiting at attention more than anything.

"You'd think he'd come out by now, what's keeping him? He wouldn't let us stomp all over town would he?" Budgerite asked.

"I don't know, anything can happen with this guy. Moping, killing, messing around -"

"Shut up, Bray. He'll come out if he knows what's good for his friends. Just you watch," Grogar warned. Though as he pained to admit it Bray wasn't wrong. Steven had been kinda all over the place lately, so who knows what would happen now? He could only hope that Steven would come out the way he wanted him to, WITHOUT any catch.
The army though didn't have to wait very long before Steven would come out though. What remained of Grogar's current army looked up towards the Beach House after they all heard a bit of a loud stomp from a distance away. There was Steven Universe, standing over in front of the Beach House door rather than that snow bank. In the time they last saw him though he had gone through an outfit change: a thicket snow coat with a hoodie over his head, and a pair of gloves over his hands They knew it was Steven from his face mainly.

"I didn't want to do this ... but you left me no choice. ... I JOIN THE GAME!!!"

Game on.

"GET HIM!" Grogar shouted. The army started rushing for him, but rather than charge in as expected, Steven apparently backed up until he was back inside the Beach House. It took just moments later for them to rush the door, smashing it into pieces as they went right in. Strangely though, Steven was just standing there near the back of the room, face aimed down to the floor. One of the bulls immediately started charging at him, but Steven didn't budge an inch. In fact, he seemed to smirk, as if he wanted the bull to charge at him. The second the bull made contact with Steven ...

The bull got launched back, RIGHT into the rest of them, launching them all outside! "Steven" himself didn't even move an inch, as if being charged by the bull no longer even fazed him as he walked back outside, cracking his neck and his fists.

"How'd he do that?! He's just a skimpy little Diamond," gasped Bray. But then they all looked over to Steven as he lifted his head, a strangely ... satisfying smirk on "his" grin. Tempest took a closer look from where she was, and saw something entirely different, glistening from the forehead.

That wasn't Steven. That's Garnet!

"That's not the Diamond," Tempest realized, sparks shooting out of her horn. Garnet revealed herself in full after jumping off of the front porch, the gloves suddenly expanding and shredding off to reveal her much larger glove gauntlets. She got them aimed and launched them off in rocket gloves, making the remains of Grogar's army scatter away from the explosion, kicking up a huge snowstorm again, just for them to hear -

"Looking for me?" called Steven. Rather than the beach house, Steven was seemingly standing off over by the cliffside, leaning against a rock and waving hello to them, just before going out of sight behind said beach rock. Of course the army started to head over there, this time being Nichrome's platoon with his beasts in toe, quickly surrounding most of the rock.

"Come out with your hands raised, and we'll let you live," Nichrome said.

"Hands raised? Okay, you mean LIKE THIS?" said a completely different voice from behind the rock, just for Steven to take the giant boulder, and raise it right above his head like it was nothing. Nichrome really wished he was somewhere else after seeing that.
Seeing Jasper's gemstone told this this wasn't Steven either. Jasper had been waiting for a strong fight with Grogar, so she didn't waste anytime with chucking the huge boulder at the group like she would a basketball, hitting at least four more bulls at once as Nichrome raced off. It'd be better to be a live coward than a dead warrior anyday.

"Touchdown," Jasper smugly grinned.

Grogar wasn't about to be shown up like this, so he decided to charge in himself right towards Jasper, head down even though he didn't have any horns to use. All Jasper did when she saw this was lower her head, and summon her own Headshield before meeting the Ram head on. Since he didn't have any horns to cushion the blow, Grogar got knocked back farther than he'd like, skidding on the ground. Grant it, the ram was hard enough to leave a crack in the headshield.

"Not bad," Jasper "complimented".

"It's another dirty trick!" Grogar growled.

"And it's a dirty trick to say you ditched your army isn't it?" Jasper remarked. Though to be fair, she knew he would probably lie to her anyway. Grogar snarled at her, but he had bigger fish to fry than the Orange Quartz. Steven was his target of interest, and he was gonna find him -

"Over here!" called Steven again. They looked around a bit more until they found Steven yet again, only this time he seemed to be standing over near the shoreline, his back facing away from them.

"No more games, you're all -"

"Sir, wait!" Tempest cut in, having the guts to stand between him and "Steven".

"Tempest, move!"

"Sir, the first two were Gems in disguise, the first one Garnet, the second one Jasper. If they're doing that, who do you think THAT is?" Tempest explained. Grogar looked back to Steven by the shoreline, realizing quick what she meant. This moment gave Garnet and Jasper enough time to get to eachother, but Bray and Budgerite were still rushing in at the Steven anyway.

"We got him, sir!" called Bray, galloping in like a mad stallion. In a battle cry, he and Budgerite jumped right at Steven, tackling what they thought was him right to the ground ... only to get covered in snow by the snowman Steven.

"WHAT, AGAIN?!" Budgerite snapped, throwing the coat over her head as Bray shook off the snow. They were catching on quick though, and the Gems knew it.

"Dang it, they catch on fast," Jasper remarked.

"Time to up'n the game," Garnet simply said, her fist clenched as she side-whacked the cliff wall.
What happened next went just too fast for some to realize at first. The winter snow had really piled up on these cliffs, and with all the power struck on the wall it was easily enough to shake off a good avalanche. Garnet and Jasper made a bolt for it away from the scene, as the huge pile suddenly slammed down on the beach. Tempest, Bray, and Budgerite were just out of the way, but Grogar found himself just underneath the oncoming heap of snow.

"GROGAR!"
Grogar suddenly felt someone struck his side, making him skid off a ways just before the heaps of snow could collapse on top of him. It was a rather rough tackle away, and by the time he came back around, he saw Tempest stuck about half way in the snow, her front body free but her back legs caught within the trap. The sturdy unicorn did just manage to pull herself out, but the snow's damage made her just too weak to continue the fight.

"Uhh, sir?" muttered Budgerite.

"Don't ask any questions now!" Grogar demanded.

"But which one is he?!"

Grogar, Bray, and Budgerite found themselves in company of a lot of Stevens, each one looking exactly the same as the other as they all stood in a circle around him. The same pink hoodie, the same gloves covering their hands, the same sort of facing so they couldn't see who was who straight away. None of them looked to be the real one but nothing said otherwise either. Seeing all this made Bray panic on the spot.

"IT'S A STEVEN CULT! Don't let them take me!" Bray pleaded, burying his face in the snow as if that would hide him completely. Budgerite gripped onto Grogar as the Ram tried to figure out which one Steven actually was. Grogar wasn't gonna run though, keeping his firm ground against this Steven group.

"A-Any suggestions? Which one is he?" Bray said, his voice muffled in the snow.

"Well that should be more than easy - they all look exactly alike," Budgerite said, freaking out herself.

"Ok pick one, uhh, uhh, uhh YOU! CHARGE!" Bray randomly picked a random Steven and charged right for it, but the second he did he felt like he ran into a brick wall, tumbling back with him seeing stars. Guess she wasn't Steven, whoever that was. Bray tried the one next to that one, this time kicking to avoid a headache. That just gave his hooves a sore instead.

"Some disguises. I KNOW Steven wouldn't be dumb enough to stand here, so you might as well show yourselves," Grogar made clear. Confident in spite of these odds stacked against him. Looking to one another, one of them nodding, they all started to do just that, taking off the hoodie and gloves and changing back to form. The first one to do this was Lapis.

"Grogar, look, if you surrender now we'll treat you as a prisoner of war," said Lapis.

"To Tartarus with that! The day I surrender to you is the day your sun falls out of the sky. Steven's such an idiot keeping me this close to you," Grogar said, his hoof scraping the ground and ready for another charge.

"Steven risked everything to try and help you, and you know it," Lapis stated firmly.

"I never said he didn't help me: NOW I know you all got those fancy Warp Keys and giving me a look around Ponyville and Beach City. Thanks for the information for my new Tambalon," Grogar scoffed.

"You good-for-nothing - let's knock him off this beach," Spinel said.

"Wait!"

Here we go again. He knew a full on fight now would end badly either way, be it for the Ram or the Gems, so Steven finally got himself out of hiding and got to standing at the front, in between the Gems and Grogar. Again.

"Steven, get out of the way -" Jasper would go in, but Garnet didn't let her this time and raised a hand to keep her back. Grogar couldn't believe this.

"You haven't learned anything. I will have my kingdom whether you like it or not," Grogar huffed. This was almost the same scenario as last time, and Steven won himself a trip to the healing fountains for it. The Ram barred his teeth, and opened his jaws to grab Steven and give him another good thrashing. After all, his main target was him and now he was out in the open. Grogar lunged for him.
Suddenly everything stopped. Rather than get bitten again, Steven actually swung around, and using as much strength as he could, he got both hands around his muzzle and he clamped Grogar's mouth shut. The ram stopped altogether, trying to get his mouth free but Steven was surprisingly sturdy even without his powers, and kept his ground.

"Grogar, wait a minute, think about what you're doing," Steven said.

Grogar forced out of his grip, "Oh no don't you start that. I got a kingdom to make."

"Yeah you do, but how're you gonna maintain it if you're taken out? Look, you're wounded, you're alone, and we all know who's going to win here. They flattened your Army, and they weren't even trying to - they were just trying to get me! Do I even need to mention that your army mostly left you too? For real this time."

"I still have some of my troops with me," Grogar stated defiantly. Jasper pointed to them with a bit of disappointment.

"Don't look at them, they're not gonna help you," Jasper spat. Grogar went over the idea in his head some more, looking back to what remained: Bray and Budgerite were huddled over by the slightly roughly-shaped Tempest Shadow. A hybrid Gem and a mule shivering in fear and a scarred Unicorn in no shape to continue. Weakened, alone, and no one helping him just as Steven and company said.

"... Hey. When you're right," Grogar admitted.

"It's true," muttered Bray, as he cracked the sore muscles in his neck. Moral support was the best they're gonna get, and with all the other factors suddenly stacked against him (or at least pointed out to him), well ...

He turned around.

"... I hate myself. Tempest, on my back. Bray, Budgerite, we're leaving."

"Huh? Going, for what?" asked Bray. Grogar didn't answer him, as he got Tempest up onto his back. He'll have to handle her later, but for now, there were too many odds stacked against him to make this fight end any other way. At least here he can walk away from the field rather than get launched away. It was ... weird. But no one went after him as he started to go away on his own accord, what remained of his troops following behind. Except for little Sumu that is, who looked on with the other Gems.

The Gems looked over to Steven.

"I'm sorry guys. I never should've let him have a second chance. He nearly destroyed everything again," Steven said with a sigh. Still, that didn't mean he didn't have any support, as Garnet placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I love how you believe in everyone. You stuck to your principles, and I'm proud of you. Everyone can change, but not everyone wants to," Garnet explained.

"Yeah. ... but you gotta admit, that went well. I mean, it could've ended a LOT worse," Steven sighed. The Gems were happy still, all the same.

"Steven. We're so proud of the person you've become," said Garnet, giving her hybrid a thumbs up.

"YEAH! That's part of why we wanted to play Steven Tag with you so bad," said Spinel.

"But if you need to go back to your schedule now, we'll understand," finished Flint.

"Steven Tag? What's that?" Sumu asked, confused a little bit.

...

"Well, it kinda goes ... like THIS!" Suddenly before any of them could realize it, Steven was now on top of Sumu, tackling the plant and basically tagging her. Sumu was surprised, Spinel just laughing.

"TAG! Now you have to turn into me and tag the others."

"Oh, that sounds easy. Like this?" Sumu started to pull out a few more of her vines together, keeping her head where it was supposed to be as the vines started to slowly form up a more human-like shape. Soon, Sumu was suddenly steven-ified, even including the jacket and everything.

"Perfect!"

Sumu smiled, as Steven turned to the others.

"You all better run."

"OH NO, SCATTER!" Spinel yelped, laughing all the while as the others got their distance.

The schedule can wait just a few more hours.

Author's Note:

AND finally done with this one. How long has it been since they played a good game of Steven Tag anyway? Even with a army now on the loose it doesn't hurt to unwind every now and then. ... Whether you want to or not apparently X3.

Comments

[Angel Star]

Oh my goodness! That was the funniest and awesomest thing I've EVER read! First, I can't believe that the Gems managed to stop Grogar's army with the POWER of Steven Tag! Second, let's hope that they released Discord and White Diamond from the barn at some point. Third, man, there's still so much left to do according to that list! Let's hope Steven doesn't get too overwhelmed by it all. And lastly, YES!!! We are going to the Kirins again! This is gonna be awesome, I can't wait for that! Awesome chapter as always, EquestrianKirin! Keep up the great work!

[EquestrianKirin]

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The power of the game compels all XD