My Little Universe II

by EquestrianKirin

Once Upon An End

It'd been a while since the Barn had so much activity going on by it, but now in the warmth of the barnhouse there was more than enough of a party going on inside. Since the whole team was back together at last, there was no better time than a get-together party thrown by party pony and party gem themselves. ALL members of the Harmony Gems were present there, all of them having a good time and taking a break from all the work they got for them, not to mention enjoying some sweets Pinkie and Steven got together. The main thing set up inside was a large table with a big cake to share (an ode reminder of the last time old friends visited the barn).

"I reformed with my own Limb Enhancers? I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW I COULD DO THAT!" Peridot gasped, starry eyed and smiling. Even when rejuvenated her abilities always impressed even her.

"Yeah you did, and by the way we need to get a new utensils for the beach house. Metal elixir, my lady?" said Steven, offering Peridot the drink she forgot she absolutely loved for the longest time. Peridot starry eyed happily took the drink, drinking it down. It'd been WAY too long.

"MMMMMM~ My sweet family concoction, how I missed you," Peridot said, huge smile on her face.

"Don't gulp it, you'll choke yourself," Pearl said as Peridot was chugging her drink.

"Can't breathe, don't care," Peridot said point-blankly as she gulped away. It was too good NOT to enjoy a little bit, at least to her (even if it did make a few cringe a little).

"So keep going, what else did we miss out on?" Amethyst asked, enjoying some treats herself in form of some hot coco.

"Okay, okay. So anyway," continued Twilight, "You three kept on acting as if you've never even heard of the Crystal Gems before! I don't think we'd ever could've gotten used to any of that."

"BUT you did get a Crystal Tank outta the deal," added Spinel. THAT definitely got her attention, enough to make Amethyst up to her feet.

"NO WAY! I got myself a tank?!" Amethyst exclaimed.

"Yeah you did: A Stonecruizer 2000," said Bismuth, "Hessonite somehow got a hold of one of those so you can stick to her side. At least that's what I got while pulling the thing out of the Battlefield."

"Dang. The coolest thing I've ever gotten and I don't remember even getting it," Amethyst said, laying back casually in her seat.

"Don't sweat it, the tank's still in good shape. We just had to get it in a better spot than a crater of strawberries," Bismuth said with a wink. Even if Hessonite was the one to give it to them, didn't mean they couldn't still make some use out of it.

"... I'm still allowed to run it, or did you make it off-limits?" Amethyst asked.

"That's up in the air, you nearly flattened us with that thing," Flint answered bluntly.

"Oh ..."

"Yeah, by the way ... we didn't do anything too embarrassing while we were rejuvenated, did we?" Pearl asked humbly with a slight blue blush. Even a Pearl with her memory had trouble with remembering her time brain-wiped. The others kinda needed a moment, the flashes of Pearl's over-pampering, Amethyst's rudeness, and Peridot's experiments going through their heads for a quick five seconds.

"You wanna tell her, or shall I?" asked Twilight.

"I'll go," said Spike. The Dragon then looked right to Pearl.

"Spike?"

"Eh to make it simple: you thought Connie was your master for a bit, you tried pampering her almost non-stop for weeks. And I think you and her mom were rival-ing for a bit. But hey, you made a lot pf pretty good pie," Spike explained. Pearl could feel her face turning blue.

"Wait are we gonna ignore the fact that she cried for days straight?" asked Fulgurite. Which made her even more blue.

"Fulgurite, you promised not to tell her that!" Connie exclaimed.

"AH! Oops."

"No! No, it's fine. I uhh I'm sorry for being so invasive Connie. ... So. I ... didn't make you eat all my pie did I?"

"As persistent as you were, I kept my portions small," Connie said. Pearl could only wonder just how much pie she ended up making for Connie while as her servant, but she decided not to look too much into it. She was embarrassed enough already.

"Yeah, by the way, what's with you and pie? I thought for the longest time you hated food with a passion," Emerald pointed out, hovering nearby her on his hexagon plate as per usual. Pearl took a moment or two to get herself back together from being so blue-faced.

"Consuming food, yes, but making food no. I mean yes, I do hate eating. The idea that you consume something, then it goes through your body and ... UGH," Pearl shuttered a little at the thought of it all, though Amethyst really didn't seem to care about that and simply shrugged as (after Peridot gulped her metal drink) gobbled up the cup.

"Glad to have you back," chuckled Applejack.

"It's SOOO good to be back," Amethyst said after swallowing the cup. Nearby Steven was just smiling.

"It took a few weeks, but everyone's caught up. Finally. ..."

"And since this is for all our friends, and all our good stuff ... this calls for BIG BERTHA!" Pinkie suddenly zoomed away to fetch Big Bertha (whatever the hay that was). She went so quick pass Spinel, it sent her in a 360 spin until she fell back on her rump.
Steven and Twilight couldn't help but feel happy. After everything they've gone through so far, it's something they really should deserve by now. While she was munching on some cake, Spinel ended up tapping his shoulder and he found she had a little something else for him in her hand: a familiar piece of paper and a pencil.

"Oh, my list. Thanks Spinel," Steven said.

"No prob, brah," Spinel said through a stuffed mouth. Steven simply took the pencil and went right to updating the list. Finally, he can cross off "Recover Memories" from that Happily Ever After to-do list. While his smile stayed, he still had a LOT left to do, but with all of his friends finally back together, he felt a lot more secure.
As they were enjoying themselves, Bismuth stood up and tapped her glass with her finger, loud enough to get their attention but controlled enough so she wouldn't smash it.

"I just want to take a moment, and say how proud I am of all of us. I mean, we got all the Corrupted Gems healed, Little Homeworld's all built up, AND we got everyone back together and caught up. We did ourselves proud today, Harmony Gems!"

"You know it. We're doing awesome!" agreed Rainbow Dash. Garnet then stood up for her part of this speech.

"I'd also like to say congratulations to you all. Even when we're split apart, you were there for us. Both old friends, and new ones." Garnet glanced to Spinel who shyly smiled to Garnet before she continued. She was just happy the others forgiven her for what she did to them.

"We still have a little bit more to do before we can get our vacation started," Garnet said, "But I know we can make it. And no that's not just the Future Vision talking."

Some of the others couldn't help but laugh. Garnet simply raised a glass.

"Let's build our best future ever!"

"YEAH!" said everyone else.

*BOOOM!*

"HEEERE'S BERTHA!" Pinkie shouted, standing just outside with the BIGGEST Party Cannon they've ever seen, with the cannon itself big enough to fit a tree inside. Pinkie was all smiles but everyone else was a bit shocked. And covered in confetti and streamers. ... well, Garnet gave a thumbs up, so one of them knew.

"Right on cue, Pinkie. Nice," Garnet said with a smile.

"I've been practicing," Pinkie said with a wink. Unfazed herself by the brief heart attack she caused, Pinkie hopped off of Big Bertha, but she didn't come back with just the giant party cannon. With the object in her muzzle, she went right back over towards the others like a dog would. It turned out to be a scroll of sorts, though not one that seemed too out-of-the-ordinary when the Ponies looked at it.

"What's that you got there, pink?" asked Amethyst. Pinkie spat it out.

"I was on my way to grab Big Bertha from Sugarcube Corner when I found this from my mailbox. So OBVIOUSLY I had to grab it and share it with all of you," Pinkie explained. Not true, but good move as it turned out as Twilight got the scroll unraveled so she could look it over.

"Dear Harmony Gems. I know you all must be very busy right now, but I wish you all can come and talk to me over in Canterlot Castle. Your superior Princess Luna has told me how much you've all done these last few weeks, and given what you've done for me, I want to help. Signed -" Twilight immediately stopped when she read who signed this paper. The name was there but to make sure it was him and not someone else, a picture of a peacock feather was also added.

"Quetzalcoatl? He's in Canterlot?!" Twilight exclaimed.

"We haven't heard a thing out of him since that whole Everstorm thing happened. What's he doing here?" asked Connie, surprised on seeing the news. While Twilight could've gone without another reminder of THAT incident - it was enough to make her shiver again - it still was a good question.

"Read the rest of the letter," Garnet said. So Twilight did.

"... P.S.: mind bringing me some feather ointment with you? My wounds still need healing and the castle ran out using them for me."

"W-Wounds? What happened to him?" gulped Fluttershy.

Then ...

"Poor Q. I thought we gave him enough for what the Council did to him," Star wondered, eyes looking up as she tried to think.

"The who did what-now?" Fulgurite asked.

"Hmm? Oh right: The Spirit Council wanted me, Diopside, and Jade to come back with them before. Dio and Jade were fine, but I ended up stuck in some dark place called the "Catacombs" where they kept Q stuck and arrested. So we three fought Your Great Honor and after helping him out, we asked he'd be free and ... well, here we are."

Everyone kinda just ... stared at the three. Eventually though, without a word, Peridot walked right over to Star, her hands gripping Star Quartz's arms.

"... Star. ... Sweetie. ... Why didn't you say something?" Peridot asked, looking ready to break down any second.

"No one asked me until now. Besides, didn't Garnet tell you?" Star Quartz asked. The attention quickly turned to Garnet now, the fusion quiet at first but then just adjusting her shades. Peridot inhaled SUPER LONG, before she tried calming down.

"You and me really need to communicate more," Peridot said.

"I thought you knew. You saw me go and you were okay with that."

"I was rejuvenated, OF COURSE I would care less!"

"OKAY OKAY, we can talk about this later. First, it sounds like we should check in on Q and see how he's doing," said Twilight, showing the message again as a reminder.

"Do we have to leave the party? It's not easy bringing ol' Bertha," Pinkie asked, pointing to the heart-attack giving cannon.

"Pinkie, we can't always party hard every day, we still have things to do. A party wouldn't be special if we have one every day," Garnet informed. Pinkie felt her mind completely boggle on such a statement, looking as if the idea literally popped in her head like a balloon.

"We'll just catch up on it when we're done getting Q's ointment or whatever. You can work up more ammo for Big Bertha while we do this," Amethyst said, arm around Pinkie's shoulder.

"You know ... you're absolutely right Amethyst! That first blast wasn't even half of what it was gonna be, I better stock up," Pinkie realized. They didn't even want to know what a full blast from that cannon would be like. Pinkie knew what she had to do, and after giving a quick goodbye, she whipped out her Portal Key and got one opened good and quick, diving right in before anyone could say anything else.
Seemed Pinkie was gonna be pre-occupied for a while, but the others had Q to get to.

~~~~~~

Pacing back and forth in her own horseshoes, Princess Luna was under a little bit of stress in her castle. She could hear some activity going on in the next room, a few of the guards feeling a little bit uneasy themselves over who was inside. They were used to having unexpected guests, but the guards weren't so comfortable with having a gigantic feathered snake in the bedroom. They could still hear him moving around in there, a small feather or two slipping out from the bottom of the doorway just to turn into smoke. Princess Cadance was also present, though she was more just standing there than pacing around.

"How's he doing in there? Is he getting any better?" asked Cadance at a point to the guards.

"Umm ... we haven't actually went in there since he started, so we're not sure," one of them answered, taking a sidestep away from the burning feather. Cadance found herself coughing a little from the smoke, the smell like burning garbage.

"Oof. Terrible," she coughed. She needed to clear her throat before answering the guards again.

"Well keep up the good work, be sure to say anything if something else develops," Cadance instructed. The guards saluted her, just for them all to hear a loud wheeze coming from the room, almost like steam letting out of Ponyville's steam engine. They heard a few grunts after that.

"Queztalcoatl? You sure we can't get you anything? We'll be happy to get you some tea, or some magic cough syrup. Just name it, and we'll get it for you," Cadance said.

"... No. ... Just ... let me know when they get here ... I'm enough of a nuisance as it is," Q said through a low breath.

"Q you're not a nuisance. We happily agreed to let you stay here when Star and her friends brought you to us remember? Just stay in there until you recover, I promise everything's fine."

"Well ... if you say so," Q sighed. He was in no condition to fly away anyway, and besides the Spirit council was probably not going to let him come back anytime soon. They all could hear him move around again, probably adjusting himself to get more comfortable in there.
With the two princesses still waiting outside, unsure how to better help him out without any ointment, the two began to hear the familiar sound of a door opening just down the hall. They wouldn't take much attention if the hallway itself didn't already have just the one door. Luna and Cadance turned to the noise, finding the light from the Portal Key door opening up, with the Harmony Gems starting to make their way through it.

"Princess Luna! Princess Cadance! Is everything okay in here?" Twilight asked after coming in.

"Twilight, everyone, good to see you've made it," said Luna, trotting over to them first. Didn't take long before the rest of them got inside.

"We got your message. Where is he?" Garnet asked.

"He isolated himself in that room over there," explained Luna, looking over to the door with the smoke and feathers, "He didn't want any of us to catch his current state, so we gave him his personal room so he can recover."

"How bad is he? If he's a god, something must've been really bad to get him sick like this," Fluttershy asked, looking on in worry.

"Well he's not "sick" per say, but he started shedding feathers since he got here, and he keeps saying it'll cause some problems," Cadance explained.

"Well he said he wanted to see us, so we're going to go in," said Jasper. She was just about to get inside the room when -

*BOOM* "DON'T OPEN THAT DOOR!"

The voice was enough to make Jasper jump, if the slam against the wall didn't, moving back quickly as if she was touching a time bomb ready to blow up. The others behind her also jumped on the bellowing voice. After that came a lower groan mixed with a sigh.

"I'm ... I'm sorry. But ... please, don't come any closer. Not the Gems. ..."

"Why? We're Gems, whatever illness you got, we're unable to catch it," Pearl promised.

"Earth illnesses, yes. But I'm not from your world remember? ... my feathers. They dry up and they have a ... bad effect on Gemstomes. Sentient or otherwise ... so, please don't come in here," Q explained. Only Lapis really remembered what he was talking about, shivering at the reminder of plenty of "liquid Gemstones" in the temple.

"Well can we come in? I'm not entirely a Gem, and I don't think those feathers can effect me. We're not leaving you like this, just so you know," Steven said.

Q was quiet, but he did readjust himself a moment before answering.

"... Only the Humans and Ponies. The rest of you, stay outside," Q finally said.
Seemed simple enough. As the Gems stood back over by the alicorn princesses, the others started to go over towards the door with Steven up front. Steven got his hands on the door, but before he could even get a chance to open it, they all began hearing a wheezing sound again, smoke bellowing out from underneath them.

"....... We're gonna need a few bubble helmets," Steven stated.

"I'm on it," said Garnet.

Few minutes later, and the room beyond those doors finally got itself some light when those same doors were opened up. They had to make it very quick though so the smoke didn't completely shoot out of the room. Good call on Steven's part to use the bubble helmets, because the room was almost completely filled with smoke coming from the coiled up Q.
It took even less time to see the full damage done onto Q. His wings which were once vibrant with feathers now looked more like plucked chicken wings, covered only in down feathers with much of the flying feathers already falling onto the ground. He remained coiled up just enough so the others can come in, but he took up most of the room.
The only other creature within the room besides the large feathered serpent was a small crane standing at attention nearby, not affected by the smoke around them and awaiting for ... something? They weren't sure what yet.

"Q? Is that you? What in the world happened to you?" Steven asked, trying to not step on the feathers.

"What happened to me isn't important. But before anything ... did you bring the ointment?" Q managed to inquire. He had only the slightest of fluster on his face for asking, even if there's nothing embarrassing about it.

"Yes indeed, right here. Got it while getting Ol' Bertha," Pinkie said, pulling out a bottle of the stuff from her mane to give to the giant feathered snake. Q decided not to inquire about Bertha.

"Nice ... just. If you don't mind ..."

"Oh, absolutely Mr. Q," Fluttershy said. Taking the ointment, Fluttershy flew over towards Quetzalcoatl's wings and began to rub the ointment onto them. Q cringed a little from the slight pain, but relaxed as the ointment took effect.

"Oh my, these don't look good at all. What did the gods do to you?" Fluttershy asked.

"Like I said," sighed Q, "What happened to me isn't important."

"You're a god that's gotten almost crippled by something, I think that is at least a little bit, or as important as what you had in mind for us," Steven said. Q felt disgraced looking back at his feathers again. He'd try to keep quiet, but he couldn't let this go any longer.

"It's the Spirit Council. ... Steven, think back. The times when I put myself into your universe. Protecting from Bismuth, your first solo mission. They didn't like that I had to put myself into the story being played out," Q explained.

"What's wrong with trying to help?" Rarity asked. Q recoiled.

"The law of the gods forbids it. And my intervention with Discord and White Diamond's trial was the final straw, so they locked me away," Q finished.
There was a moment of shock that went around the whole group when they all heard this.

"Wait, y-you - WHAT? You mean they locked you up and plucked you just for helping us?" exclaimed Steven.

"No, no! ... My feathers just fell off out of stress. You know how it is," Q said. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash probably knew that kind of issue more than anyone else there with their feathers. Pinkie and Rarity helped clean up the feathers, Pinkie getting them in piles as Rarity just delicately lifted them off the ground with her own hooves (magic and bubble helmets don't mix).

"But they did lock you away," Steven repeated.

"... Yes they did. If it weren't for some of your Gems outside, I wouldn't have been allowed to leave at all," Q explained. Q only paused to cringe a bit as the ointment got to work on healing his wings. Not exactly pain, but uncomfortable at least.

"There, that should grow your feathers in just a few days," said Fluttershy.

"Thank you."

"So, that aside, just what is it you want us for?" Twilight inquired, "You're the one that asked for us to come here."
For a moment or two, it almost looked like Q was having doubts about his own decision. He knew the done a lot, but should he be the one to add the workload or no? Still, he did indeed got them out here, it was the least he could do ...

"....... Let me make this perfectly clear before I say: you don't have to do this."

"Just tell us what it is, Q. We can take it," insisted Connie.

Quetzalcoatl took a small breath before he began to move, slowly recoiling around the spot. They all took a few steps back as he was doing this, Steven wondering if his shield would actually be needed or not (not that it would matter) but the feathered serpent made sure his body didn't slam into any of them. As he kept recoiling, his whole body was now along the walls, showing them all something in the center of the room. Q didn't stop moving until the group and the object got enough space, leaving him almost completely off of the ground.
The object itself was sitting in the center of the room, right where Q was coiled up. The object itself in the center of the room appeared fairly small, and kinda looked like a box. It didn't even look extravagant or even magical, just a case with a handle on it, along with what looked like a few pages laid out on top of it ... all of which were empty.

"And what're these?" Steven asked confused.

"Your supplies. ... Sorry if it's not anything special, but, it's the best I could use for the trial coming up."

"Trial? What -" suddenly the clues began to click in Twilight's head. Q being here, and trial suddenly made it a little too obvious what he wanted them to do. "The Spirit Council! You mean they want us on trial AGAIN?"

"Well not exactly, but listen," explained Q, "You might've proved her wrong before, but the Spirit's foresight sounds eerily unavoidable ... the least I can do is help you prepare."

"But wait, that already happened: Star, Diopside, and Jade already went up there for us, that's why you're even here," pointed out Steven, holding some of the papers. Q shook his head as he slowly began to recoil.

"That isn't the one I meant," Q said, back in his coiled position, "The messenger crane brought me the very message of a third trial upcoming ... that I have to be present for. Even after my wings look horrid like this."

"So to recap: not only did they nearly KILL you, but now they're expecting you to show up for another trial?" asked Twilight in disbelief. All Quetzalcoatl did was nod, a small bit of smoke once again sneaking out of his nostrils. Everyone there looked to one another, imagining just how bad these gods would have to be to treat him like this, AND still be on them even after what they've been doing. With all of their thinking out together, the request was clear.

"You want us to go for you, Q?" asked Pinkie. "That's the big ask you were gonna do, right?"

"Hmm? ... Go for me? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to put that on you. I was mainly going to ask if you're all okay to go to the trial at all."

"Q cut it out, just look at yourself. Clearly you're NOT going anywhere until you're better! They're just trying to humiliate you for actually trying to do something about our worlds instead of just standing by and watch," Connie pointed out.

"If they're willing to do THIS just to get what they want, I think we have to try and make this work," Steven agreed. Q looked around to those remaining around the room before he gave a sigh, everyone getting blown at by a heap of smoke. Thank goodness they had the helmets (though Rarity still tried getting the smoke out of her fur).

"I expected nothing different. You all have the next week before the trial begins, and during that time get as much information and evidence as you can in your documents there."

"Is that what these are?" bluntly asked Pinkie, looking at the blank pages.

"Nothing's more true than experience first-hoof ... er, hand. Anything you locate that you think will help, write it down and bring it to the trial with you."

"Cool, thanks. Also thanks for the case, we're gonna need this -"

"THAT case is a backup. Just in case that whatever evidence you gather doesn't work. Only THEN open that up, and use what's in there. Not before. Understand?" Q explained, a sense of sternness in his voice so the point was brought home. This did get them thinking about what could actually be in there, but if a large snake god told them not to use it straight away, then that was probably for the best. They got a week before they could use it anyway, and only if they had to, so Twilight levitated the case and kept it with her.

"We promise, Q. We'll win this one," promised Twilight.

"I hope so. Discord and White didn't deserve any of this," Q said gravely. Fluttershy then flew over next to his head.

"We know, Q, and you did you're absolute best. Just relax and we'll take care of everything for you," Fluttershy said, gently rubbing his head with her hoof. Quetzalcoatl just hoped it would be enough to help them out now, because he wasn't going to go anywhere like this, let alone back home.

"Let's go guys," said Connie. They all began to go, but Q still had another question lingering in his mind.

"Er, one more thing. How are those two doing? Are they adapting well, or ..."

"Oh, they're doing fine. White Diamond's been spending time inside the castle, and Discord's been ... doing ..." Come to think of it, what has Discord been doing? Ever since failing to guard the barn, they haven't heard that much out of him.

"We'd better check in on him," suggested Rainbow Dash, which was the same thought many of them really had. Q didn't enjoy that answer.

"Get well soon, Quetzalcoatl," Steven said once more, waving goodbye to the feathered serpent.

"Good luck you all," Q simply said. The large serpent rested himself, and everyone else had to get out a little quick so the rest of the castle wouldn't get smoked out. Steven quickly got the door shut and fast, the smoke disappearing seconds after he did that so none of the Gems could end up sick from him, and only then did he simply poke his bubble helmet and popped it off his head.

"Ah, fresh air, much better," Steven said with a smile.

"Sweet Luna, I'm going to need the strongest shampoo to get this smell out," Rarity said, few whiffs of her fur making her cringe a little.

"I might need some of that," added Twilight.

Then came the Gems themselves. They all were standing off nearby, but given that they still had the smoke on them they couldn't go near them. Safety for their sake.

"Everything okay in there, guys?" asked Amethyst, ready to walk over to them but they quickly took a step or two back.

"Eh, just stay where you are. We still have that smoke on us, so ... we don't wanna melt you," Pinkie said.

"Melt us? The heck're you talkin about?" Spinel asked.

"Nothing to worry about, Spinel," promised Garnet. Despite the danger, Garnet started walking towards them, the group trying to move their way back just in case something were to happen, but Steven only needed just one step back before Garnet was standing right in front of him.

"Stay back, Garnet," Steven warned.

"It's okay Steven. Let me see those papers," Garnet said, catching sight of them first. Steven took a glance to them, which at the moment were also levitated by Twilight. All the Alicorn did was levitate them to Garnet, the fusion not even hesitating to grab hold of them.

"How's Quetzalcoatl doing in there?" Cadance asked.

"He's gonna need a few more days to get his wings back," Fluttershy explained, "just make sure to apply the ointment on his wings twice a day."
The fusion meanwhile just took her time checking out each of the blank pieces of paper, moving one paper over the other as if she was seeing something on them the others weren't. One paper was given a look down for about twenty seconds each, until she went through each and every one, lining them up.

"What is it he told you?" Garnet asked.

"Ok. So, it looks like we're called up to that godly place on trial. Again," said a slightly annoyed Applejack. Some groans were heard from the crowd.

"Come on do we have to deal with those freaks again?" Fulgurite asked, fuming at the idea of tangling with the Spirit again.

"I don't think we're gonna get out of this one. We ALL have to be there this time to handle Discord and White Diamond," admitted Rarity, though she wasn't amused either. All of their previous experiences with the Spirit was NOT anything happy, and even those that don't know what they're talking about could sense the dread.

"We should at least try, getting their powers back is apart of our current job isn't it? Let's face it, we left them alone for a little bit long," shrugged Steven.

"I know, I know ... doesn't mean I have to like it," remarked Lapis.

"Hello? Few people who're in the dark here," reminded Amethyst.

"We'll explain on the train ride."

The others turned to Garnet, who at this point was about done with her paper-checking, giving the papers back to Steven.

"You got an idea, Garnet?" asked Twilight. Garnet adjusted her shades, them giving off the O so classic shine to give her answer. Future vision gave her just the thing they need. If they need proof for the trial, Garnet got the way to get it.

"Let's go on a family trip."

.......

Only Pinkie was saddened that her party would have to wait even longer because of this. At least this way she can take some of her party out on the road, as they all were on their way along the traintracks and taking a full ride in the Equestrian express to their destination. The Harmony Gems, for this ride, actually got their own personal train to get there (probably because they filled in a while train car just from their group alone). The ride itself was relaxing for them to take, passing the time exactly how one would expect: watching the world go by outside, small chatting, even some board games curtesy of Pinkie Pie. They got a good round of Serpents and Stables going at this point, an actual audience watching as Pinkie, Spinel and Star were in a all-time race for the final finish line.

"I can feel it. This is it. Come on, baby," Spinel said to herself, overly-serious about a board game, before throwing the dice down. One slam on the floor and ...

"NOOOOO!"

"Hehehehe, I got this," Pinkie chuckled, grabbing the dice as Spinel moved her piece just before the finish line, only to slide down the serpent back twenty places. As for Pinkie ...

"PONYFEATHERS!" Pinkie yelped, suffering the exact same fate.

"Ha ha, karma," Spinel remarked, her mood from sad to salty. Pinkie reluctantly moved her piece right next to Spinel's piece, a raspberry echoing pass her muzzle as her piece slid down the serpent.

"They look like they're having a good time," remarked Bismuth, reclining in one of the train seats (which for her was the entire seat).

"They'll probably not like what'll happen next," Garnet replied.

And as per usual, no doubt she was right: it came Star Quartz's turn. At this point she was a bit far behind the other two, but seeing how it was her turn. Star quietly picked up the dice, and gave it a good shake before tossing it out onto the board. Wouldn't you know it, she didn't get a Serpent but got herself a route to the next Stable ... which happened to be right at the finish line.

"Oh! Did I win?" Star asked. Pinkie and Spinel just didn't answer her.

"... Yeah ... you did. ... I'm just gonna play something else," Spinel decided, sliding over to the nearest window to see if she can find some clouds to stare at or something. Some of the others couldn't help but chuckle on that reaction.

"OOOO, you two just got owned without her even trying! That's the fifth game on the ride," Amethyst said, one of those more into the games. As Star sat there wondering if winning was bad or good (with Peridot's help), some more small talk was going on with Garnet up front with her friends.

"So Garnet, care to share where we're actually going? You've been acting secret again," Twilight asked, nudging Garnet with her wing.

"Somewhere where we'll have everything we need to deal with our Trial problem," Garnet answered, adjusting her shades in her unique fashion.

"And ... where's that? Given how long we've been on this train, we're not in Equestria anymore," concluded Steven, who stopped noticing anything actually "Ponish" at least half an hour ago. Garnet had noticed that too, glancing back outside to see the winterscape of the land going by the window as any passenger would on a train.

"Nope. But our target's not from Equestria either, so it works out. When we're done here, we'll have everything," Garnet said.

"Our target? You're not making a lick of sense," questioned Applejack, not really following what she was even talking about. They left to get evidence, not anything specific.

"You'll all see when we stop in the next ... minute," Garnet replied. She'd rather not spoil her plan just yet, at least not until they would get there.

"You sure you can't talk about it for that next minute so we're more prepared for wherever we're going?" Steven asked one more time. Garnet looked over to Steven, and saw that he really wanted to be ready for whatever was coming. She tried not to get too caught up in the look, but ...

"Oh, I can't say no to that face. Come here you two," Garnet said.

All Garnet did was give Steven and Connie her signature future sight kiss to the forehead. It'd been a while, so Steven had a good shiver when seeing the future sights rush through his head, the number of possibilities going by him at Rainbow Dash speed. But amongst those future visions, Steven saw one in particular with precise detail, namely where they were going to end up on this train ride. And the exact kind of creatures they were gonna end up seeing.

It was enough to give Steven a headache actually, hand to forehead. And pretty much was the same kind of reaction from Connie.

"Aahh ... Garnet ..."

"I know it's rough for you, Steven. You and Connie can wait at the station if you don't want to come with the rest of us," Garnet proposed.

"No, no, I think I can handle it. It mostly just took me by surprise that's all. It's all fine, right Steven?" Connie said, trying not to let that get to her again. She had suffered enough of them with the birds before, she did not need more trouble with past sins again. Steven thought about it for a bit and took a breath. They were NOT the same person. Same species, but not the same person.

"Sure, I can take it if it'll help us. Thanks for the heads up Garnet," Steven said.

*SCREEEECH*
As if right on cue, waiting for them to be done with their conversation, the whole group felt the train screech to a grinding halt, a bit louder than usual thanks to the passengers abroad. Only a couple actually ended up tumbling over in their spots thanks to the abrupt stop, but nothing too serious overall to them or the train.

"We're here," Garnet simply answered.

"Great, G ..." said Spinel ... who was under a pile of her friends and a board game, her arm stretching and giving a thumbsup out of the pile. Not the best pile-up ever. Twilight helped them out of their little jam with some levitation magic as everyone else began to go to the exit to see where this surprise destination was. After being split up, Pinkie spat out one of the game pieces.

"So where'd we end up, chief?" Pinkie asked casually. Garnet was the first to go over to the door, leaning casually against it, but strangely she didn't say anything at first. Just smirking.

"Come on, Garnet, what's the big secret? Just tell us where this big destination is already," said Jasper.

"You only got to wait just five more seconds," said Garnet.

Funny enough, it was just two seconds before the conductor opened the door, and moreover, even if the conductor didn't help, their little tour guide coming up from outside was proof enough where they were. And who happened to be showing up from the train station?
Well appearance wise, it was someone none of them knew: he stood fairly taller now, his hooves sharper yet gently stepping into the train car without cutting. The horns were curved simple as ever, but looked smoother now with a dull tip. Around his neck he had a simple ring of foliage, kind of like a collar of clover. He even had a tuff of fur under his chin now, like any animal his new found age. Even with a different look, there was something ... familiar about him.

"Welcome to Ramicorn, everypony," the ram said.

"Well, hi," said Steven, "You gonna be showing us around?"

The ram was a bit surprised at first but chuckled anyway and replied "Well, someone's a good guesser. I heard we were going to get some new guests, so I decided to come by and give you -"
The ram stopped right away when he realized just who was apart of this tourist group. One in particular. Just one sight of her and the ram started to know who it was, and by extension, Jasper too.

"Jasper! Well, well, well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes!" the ram said.

"Eh, sorry. Do I know you?" Jasper questioned.

"You know me! Think back for a minute," the ram insisted. But while it was itching at the back of her head, Jasper didn't really know who he was talking about.

"K, look, I think you got the wrong Gem. I've never been here before," Jasper said. The ram paused, and suddenly he turned a little red-faced.

"Eehh ... hehe. Oops. Must've got the wrong Jasper," the ram said, rubbing the back of his horns, "Forgot there's more than one Jasper in the world."

"You know what Gems are?" asked Twilight. The ram nodded.

"Sorta. I came across one a few years ago before a nasty storm went through the country. Must've been another one," shrugged the ram. NOW the gears were starting to turn in Jasper's head. However, before the Gem could figure anything out, the group began to head off of the train.

"Alright, come on everyone, outta the train, we got lots to check out," the ram invited, first to hop out of the train as the main guide into town.

"Nasty storm ......."

~~~~~~

So there they were. With their new Ram guide leading the way, the Harmony Gems were off through the main town. It was a scenario they were a bit more used to by now: a new town with a new race in Equestria to follow them and see what they're up to as part of their own mission, but unlike before with the other races, this one was a bit more ... unnerving. At least thanks to involvement of another ram they were stuck with for so long.
The town itself didn't really look too advanced compared to some of the pony towns they were familiar with. In fact, much of the places was mostly farmland with stone walls along the road, which by the way were only there to keep the hill from falling into the road so they were more like detailed fencing than stone walling. They also, of course, saw other rams tending to the land as they so pleased, though many of them they noticed weren't even using farm tools for much of the work: Applejack would've used at least a hoe to turn the dirt but she saw a Ram use his own horns to do that, marching forward with his head near the ground as he went along.

"Well I'll be. Y'all farm this here land with just hoof grease alone?" AJ asked, impressed a bit. The ram nodded.

"Yeah we do. We got the horns, and we got the hooves, so why go with anything else? Besides, it turns up the soil better if you ask me," the ram explained, just as the other ram in question got his horns under some pesky roots and stones, just to toss em aside just like that. AJ usually had trouble with that, speaking from experience.

"Fine job you all got going here. I know hard work when I see it, and that's definitely it," Applejack said.

"Oh, it's not that much," said their humbled guide, "it's typical ram's work for us. Speaking of which, what brings you all here? Is this a business trip or just a tourist thing?"

"Eh yeah, it started off just for the job, but we kinda don't have all the details so it's a family vacation now," Amethyst answered.

"What kind of business are we talking about?" the ram asked, curious as he stopped and turned around, unwittingly chiming the bell on his neck in the sudden swing.

"It's okay, you don't have to -" Twilight tried to say, but one Gem was already talking.

"We're trying to find information on a evil Ram named Grogar," bluntly answered Star Quartz, quickly getting a few of the others to jump at her.

"Star!" snapped a few of the others.

"Sorry, he asked nicely," Star said shrugging. They weren't sure if the ram would be shocked they were looking for info on the guy, or confused they were finding this stuff out in the first place. But the Ram was actually more surprised they were so jumpy at Star than asking about Grogar.

"Gro ... gar ... Grogar, Grogar ..." the Ram needed a moment, hoof tapping the ground, "Hmm ... that's a familiar name, but I can't quite put my hoof on it. ... Are you guys talking about the Lion Ram?"

The what?

"I dunno. Are we?" Steven asked.

"Well, there's only one Grogar I know of, and well, he's definitely the Lion Ram," the Ram explained, confident in his answer despite everyone looking confused. They called Grogar a lot of things: the Demonic Ram, king of Tambalon, but "Lion Ram" wasn't one of them. Still, this information suddenly got Connie to realize something ...

Few know here that I'm actually a hybrid. And like you. I had to try and prove myself. … And here I am. Outcast to ruler. King of Tambalon.

"That's got to be him," Connie realized.

"What's that Connie?" asked Fluttershy.

"Grogar told me he was a hybrid, just like me and you! Who else would the Lion Ram be?" Connie concluded.

"WHOA WHOA wait a minute. You ... met him?" the Ram suddenly asked, his turn to look confused.

"Eh, long story," Pinkie Pie remarked, waving a hand at the thing. "Big war, briefly took over Homeworld, trauma, you know how it goes."

The Ram was silent and blank-faced. "....... Right."

"Do you mind telling us more about your "Lion Ram" Grogar? We're not too familiar with that term," Pearl inquired.

"Oh, I'm not an expert on him but if you'd follow me I can bring you to the library. It's got some things about him that can help you, if you want," the Ram offered, ready to walk on ahead.

"A Ramicorn Library? Perfect!" Twilight said.

Suddenly Spinel stretched out her arms and wrapped them around Pearl "I'm going with Pearl!"

...

"What? I've made up with everyone else for nearly destroying the planet. I wanna do everybody," Spinel explained. Pearl could only pat Spinel on the head. The ram chuckled a little from her reaction.

"Well anypony who wants to come, just follow the road and you'll find the library. I'll wait for you there. The rest of you, have fun checking out the neighborhood," the Ram decided. He can tell it was gonna be a little bit before they work all of this out. The Ram turned and was just about to go on his way when -

"Sonny boy!"

The Ram immediately stopped himself when he heard that noise. It was probably inevitable that they all would start mingling with some of the locals, and then and there the first one took form of a much older looking goat. It as a female goat, looking about the age of any old lady ready for retirement. Even if a girl, her horns looked almost longer than their guide's horns, curved way around almost completely around her head. Her fur was a bit rugged with a slight purple tint to it, some bit of dirt from being out in the fields. A bonnet was worn just around her neck, small enough to fit between her horns and just above her eyes.
The goat herself was just hauling in some wheat from the fields in her stroll. Their guide went right over to her, nudging her head a little

"Grandma, what're you doing out here? I promised i was going to bring in the wheat today," he said.

"I was just strolling by and saw you had some company. Didn't want all em wheat to go to waste, ha! Don't you think I can't haul em in myself," the old goat said. Then her old eyes looked over to the Gems standing off nearby.

"Pleased to meet you, mam," Garnet said.

"He he he he, o Cloven you got a lot working today don't ya?" chuckled the old goat. The Ram immediately flustered at his grandmother's jokes.

"Don't say that, you're giving the wrong idea!" he said frantically.

"Wait. Cloven? ..." Jasper must've said that a little too loud, because soon the older goat saw her right away, lifting up the bonnet to see her with a better view.

"Ooooo. Well it's about time you introduced me to that Jasper of yours, Cloven! She's a lot taller than you kept tellin me she was," she said. Cloven felt more embarrassed, ears folded back.

"Grandma, I thought that too, but she's not the same one," Cloven insisted. However, unlike Cloven, the old goat went a bit closer to Jasper, who herself was trying to better work her memory gears in her head.

"HA HA, you youngsters got a worse memory than I do!"

"What're you talking about?" Amethyst asked.

"Well I remember the day Cloven Hoof was runnin into town, hootin and hollerin about this giant orange Gem hanging out with him during a pesky storm. Nopony in town believed him of course, and he got grumpier than a warty ol' toad," the old goat explained. Cloven and Jasper's gears continued to turn and turn and suddenly ... Lightbulb.

"It really is you!" Jasper realized, "I-I can't believe it! You look so different from that runt of a goat back at the barn!"

Cloven, equally surprised ended up chuckling, "Yeah, you haven't changed a bit either. Literally."

The old goat laughed "THERE IT IS! If you didn't have your horns glued to your head, you'd lose em by the -"

"ANYWAY," Cloven butted in, embarrassed enough, "Let's talk about anything else before we keep falling down THAT hill okay?" He didn't volunteer to be a guide to the Gems just to get humiliated by his grandma.

"Pardon my grandson. He's trying to act mature, but you know how youngen's get when they don't want their pride tickled with," the old goat chuckled, amused and all that. Too bad Cloven wasn't as amused.

"Nothing wrong with that. Again, nice to meet you miss ..." Garnet said.

"Collie. Collie Flower Hoof. I ain't talkin the vegetable either," the goat said with a wink, just to laugh at her own joke. Steven, Pinkie, and Spinel actually felt themselves almost laugh at the joke, but Collie unfortunately wasn't going to get an audience today.

"Great joke, ms. Hoof but we do need to get to the library," reminded Pearl.

"Eehh no time for some humor? Collie Flower's got plenty of time when you all come by the ol' campfire. You gotta skedaddle go and skedaddle," Collie said.

"I don't think we'll be staying that long, but thanks. Come on guys, let's catch up," said Pearl, starting to go off after Cloven Hoof. Collie wasn't insulted by the news, but seemed to know that they probably will be sticking around THAT long. Maybe even longer.

"Hmm ... so at this campfire. Will there be marshmallows?" Spinel asked sternly.

"With the graham crackers and coco bars," Collie answered.

Spinel nodded, "Then we WILL be there."

So the group began to split. Some of them went on with Pearl over to the library, Spinel catching up in just a few bounces. However, before Collie could stroll off with the wagon behind her, one country pony was stopped with a tap to the shoulder by Cloven Hoof.

"Eh, hey ... I know you're all busy but, you think you can do me a little favor?" Cloven asked.

"A favor? What kind of favor?" Applejack asked.

"It's my grandmother, she's ... getting too old for the work."

"What's that you say, sonny?" butted in Collie Flower. Cloven was almost startled out of his own fur.

"N-Nothing, I said you're very uhh, BOLD to be working so much," Cloven said, correcting himself fast before she could catch what he meant.

"Worried about your grandma, huh? I know the feelin, believe me," AJ asked.

"I'm glad you do. I know she acts young, but she's still a senior. She can throw out her back pulling that wagon, or get her horns caught in a root or -"

"OW! Blasted sharp pointy rocks scattered in the road," Collie suddenly shouted, her hoof red after stepping on some bitter rocks. That alone was enough to drive the point home.

"Just make sure she doesn't over-do it, ok?"

"I think we got it, Cloven."

"Thanks. OH, and in case she asks, this conversation never happened," Cloven said with a wink. Clearly he wanted this secret from his relative, and Applejack just winked back at him. Cloven trotted off to catch up to the library team, as Collie had some company on the ride.

"If it isn't too much trouble, you mind if we stuck around with you today? We don't all need to go to the library, and we still have a few days so -" Applejack was cut short when Collie Flower ended up right by her side.

"Honey, you had me at "stuck around", now tag along little ponies and rocks! Work's not gonna work itself," Collie said, starting to go off on her stroll with wagon towed behind her. For those that remain there, they needed a moment before someone made their response.

"I like her," said Garnet with a smile.

~~~~~~

Team 1: Spinel, Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pearl, Flint, Jade, Jasper (surprisingly), Star, and Peridot.

The Ramicorn Library itself wasn't that far away at all, and despite looking primitive elsewhere, the library itself looked actually pretty modern. The building was of two-stories, made up of stone and a hay rooftop, this library had its fare share of literature inside (much to Twilight's enjoyment as she checked out any and all the literature she can get her hooves on). It was a bit of a mixed bag: some were more focused on Grogar's information while some were just there to browse. Try and guess who was doing what ...

"I have to say, you got a good selection going for yourselves," said Twilight, holding one of the many books they had on hoof, "So much history written in these pages."

"Oh, think nothing of it your highness," Cloven Hoof replied as Twilight continued to fond over the books, "Long as it's helping you all out."

"Well it definitely is giving us more information about ram culture. I never knew Rams were so good at plowing fields," Jade said not too far away, holding a book that appeared to be about agriculture for the Rams ... only to put it back and go onto the next book.

"It's not an actual metal plow, but we work with what we have," Cloven said, pointing to his own horns. However, Cloven Hoof then felt a book get bounced off of his head, just to find Spinel rushing through book after book, only to find nothing.

"GAHH!" Spinel yelled, falling on her back as the books flew into the air, "How hard is it to find a stupid book?" Twilight levitated the books away from Spinel as she and Jade sat down on a nearby table with the books in hand.

"Spinel, you're not going to find anything just by randomly grabbing every book you see, just look at the section before you just rush into it," Pearl advised, picking Spinel up off of the floor.

"Define this ... Section," Spinel said.

"The one above your head," Pearl replied. Pearl pointed up, and sure enough Spinel found that she wasn't even in the history section of the library. Or anywhere educational. Especially since the picture just showed a carrot on it.

"Uuuhhh ... carrot ... Cloven! Translate!" Spinel decided, a bit loudly too. Cloven jolted, but he went over to them anyway and looked up at the sign.

"You got a clue what dis means?" Spinel asked, pointing to the sign.

"Oh, that's the culture section," Cloven answered.

"... You mean agriculture?" Pearl questioned quizzically.

"Uh, no, just culture. Agriculture's over there," Cloven said, pointing to another section of the library ... which had a set of horns for a sign. Pearl and Spinel felt a little confused.

"I thought that was battle or something," Spinel remarked. Cloven Hoof decided not to reply to her about that blunt sentence.

"So which one is for history?" Pearl asked. All Cloven did was point over to the next section a few isles away, which turned out to just be a book sign. Not even any particular book, just a picture of a book.

"... I'm so confused," Spinel grumbled.

"Let's just come on," sighed Pearl. Pearl and Spinel went off to the section, leaving Cloven to just stroll back over towards the entrance to the library. Even with so many people in the library after the same thing, it was honestly surprising that they were taking so long to even get somewhere. The only one not really looking though was Jasper, standing right by the door too and really having a bit on her mind.

"Aren't you going to help them, Jasper?" Cloven asked.

"I would, but reading's not my thing," Jasper replied. Cloven was confused to why she was here, but shrugged it off as he had something else to ask.

"So, how's it been? It's been a few years since we last met," Cloven said. Jasper looked to her old acquaintance, giving a casual stretch before resting more of her back on the wall.

"Where do I even begin? Fighting Corrupted Gems and monsters, saving the planet ehh ... three times? Four? Not to mention I'm the first Gem to actually get a Cutie Mark, so that's something cool for me," Jasper said, pointing to her Cutie Mark. Cloven was sure impressed seeing that on her.

"Well look at that. And here I thought only Ponies ever got those," Cloven said. "It's also nice for the information. The Jasper I knew a long time ago wouldn't have wanted anything to do with me."

That response got him Jasper's hand onto his head in a playful fluff.

"Hey, even someone like me can change."

"Ok, ok. ... So, umm, hope it's not too personal, but did you all really ... meet Grogar? Like, in real life?" Cloven asked again.

Jasper sighed, "Yeah we did. He appeared from nowhere and -"
Jasper stopped talking when she saw Cloven's face. The goat was staring right up at her, with starry eyes and ... barely-contained excitement. "... You okay?"

"You all MET the legendary Grogar?! What's he like? How many bells does he really have? Is he REALLY a cloven-hoofed Ram or a Lion with ram horns? Is he really as strong as the stories say he is -"

"HOLD ON!" Jasper bellowed, her voice rattling out the entire library. Cloven was humbled back to his senses.

"U-Uhh. Sorry. I like Grogar," Cloven admitted, red-faced. The ENTIRE group stopped.

"You LIKE him? How, he's a demonic Ram bent on taking over the world," Rainbow Dash said.

"How could I not? Grogar's the most determined, powerful, and brave Ram in all of Equus. There's no creature on the planet that's better than him," Cloven said, almost fanboying over the Ram by his star-eyed look again. None of them knew what he was talking about, imagining the demonic ruler of Tambalon compared to the majestic king in Cloven's head.

"Cloven? ... What the hay are you talking about?" Twilight almost bluntly asked.

"What do you mean "what am I talking about?" Grogar's fought every single monster in Ramicorn, traveled through all the countries of the world, AND knows more magic and spells than any other thing ever," Cloven revealed, though that could just be from his fanboying. Twilight felt almost triggered by what Cloven's saying, so much so that she HAD to say something.

"No he didn't! Starswirl the Bearded did," Twilight suddenly said. Cloven stopped immediately.

"Who?"

"He just so happens to be the most amazing Unicorn in all of Equestria," Twilight said, "He's master any and all spells known in all of Equus, vanquished any threats that he's ever faced, he even was the mentors to the future rulers of Equestria!"

"He can't have done all of that. Grogar did," Cloven said, confused about this Starswirl fella.

"How could HE have done any of that? Starswirl the Bearded has studied and has mastered everything from transfiguration, dimensional calibration, teleportation -"

"Wait ... wait, oh I know who you're talking about now," Cloven suddenly realized. At first Twilight felt like she got it through to him but -
"Grogar met a Unicorn like him before, and beat him with just a single ram of his horns!"

"WHAT?!" Twilight exclaimed, getting right into Cloven's face. "I know THAT'S not true! If he did encounter Grogar he would've beaten him easy!"

"That's not the story I was told," Cloven retorted. Before Twilight and Cloven could go any further, they found themselves a mediator standing in between them, pushing the two back.

"Twilight, Cloven, not now," said Pearl, "Why don't we just agree that every country has it's own form of ultimate hero, and move on before we say something we might regret. Good?"

...

"....... Eh, that's fare," Cloven decided.

"That's fine," added Twilight.

"THANK YOU," everyone else thought. One idea to save them hours of fan war. However, they got one more surprise in store.

"FOUND IT!"

Finally, they got themselves somewhere, as Spinel was holding up a book for them all to see. Cloven Hoof almost seemed to light up when he saw what Spinel had found and tossed onto a nearby table (pushing the other piles of books away) and slamming the thing down hard and wide open.

"Well done, Spinel, what'chu find?" Flint asked.
Spinel licked a finger before starting to go through the pages. The book itself, judging mostly by the pictures seemed to be mostly about ancient rulers of Ramicorn. The kings shown are plentiful at least, most if not all of them regal rams in knight and king attire. If the king of Tambalon was going to be anywhere, it was gonna be in this book. At least in theory.

"You found the hierarchy dictionary? How the hay, I've been trying to find that for weeks," questioned Cloven.

"Irrelevant, must find Grogar info," Spinel said, eyes glued to the book.

"You sure it's in this book, Spinel?" Jade asked.

"Uhh, it's literally called the "Hierarchy dictionary", and last we're informed, Grogar's a king. I fail to see where else it would be," Peridot said, thinking it was obvious. They all simply hoped so. They kept a clean eye on the book, but the more and more they kept going by king after king, the more they were seeing that Grogar ... wasn't there. At all. Some of them were pretty close, but none of them seemed to match Grogar's description by what they know.

"Huh? Wait, Grogar's not in any of these," Spinel realized, rushing through the pages again only to find nothing.

"But how's he not? He's the king of Tambalon, that's something that should be in there," Pearl said, taking the book and trying to find it herself. However, the results were more than clear.

"Well. We're just gonna need to keep looking," Pearl sighed.

"Hey, can I have that book?" Cloven asked. Pearl just gave the ram the book, and he happily trotted off to the checkout table.

"Ok, so it's not in that book. Don't worry, it's still a library, and there's a lot of books still in here, he's got to be here somewhere. Let's keep looking as much as we can," concluded Twilight.

"Absolutely Twilight. Just read the books that could have Grogar in it, and not how they grow their vegetables," remarked Rainbow Dash. Twilight flustered.

"Research," Twilight simply stated. Not the best answer ever.

However, there was one Gem that were still reading not too far away who not until now got their attention from not too far away. All that focus on one book left Star Quartz focusing on another one, sitting down comfortably on the floor reading the book in question by the time the others saw her. All she did to get their attention was a quiet whistle.

"Find anything Star?" asked Peridot, walking over to her.

"I don't know. But did Grogar meet any winged unicorns before?" Star asked.

~~~~~~

Team 2: Garnet, Steven, Connie, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Emerald, and Fulgurite.

The open fields of Ramicorn were just as busy as ever, and with one team at the library, the rest were left handling more of the farms work alongside Collie Flower. Or rather, them trying to. Collie Flower got the main wagon to the destination and emptied by now, but while they were trying their best to lay off the workload for her she still was making her rounds around the fields to harvest.

"So you payin attention youngin? This is first-hoof tips here," Collie said at one point, stopping herself just to look to the others standing nearby the wagon.

"We're listening, we're listening," Steven said, trying to get the crops out of the ground, but not having much luck with it. Especially since it was wheat they were dealing with. Steven had no clue what he was doing, so he was actually just pulling out one wheat stalk after another, each one hard to even get without falling on his back.

"This is harder than I thought," Steven said. "How're you making this so easy?"

"Because you don't pull em outta the ground, Steven, you just chop em at the stem," said Applejack. Steven just sat there in shame as Collie Flower laughed and continued her work. As Collie Flower kept going, cutting the stems in a sideways swing of her horns, the old Ram bent down again, and suddenly her horns struck something good and hard.
And this rock was easily a good 300 pounder.

"OOF! what the - Oh, you rocks. Alright -" before Collie could get her horns into it, the others sprung into action and got in her way.

"Wait, we'll handle it for you," cut in Connie.

"I've moved plenty rocks, I got this," Collie insisted.

"I bet you can, but let us move this one rock for you, okay?" said Steven, rolling up his sleeves before looking right to the rock. Before Collie Flower could say anything else, Steven got his hands underneath the rock, and tried to get it lifted up. Now NORMALLY he can easily bench a ton or two, but now he was actually having some trouble lifting just this by himself.

"Do you need help, Steven?" asked Pinkie.

"No, I got it. I can lift things way heavier ... than ... this ..." Steven was hardly even moving it, let alone lifting it up. He tried and tried, and for the first few seconds it wasn't even working. That WAS, until after exactly seven seconds, when it suddenly became a lot easier to lift. Steven himself looked surprised, but very excited ... just to see Garnet lifting it for him.

"Thanks Garnet," Steven simply said. All Garnet did was nod and toss the boulder to the horizon, far out of sight, and only then did the others leave Collie Flower alone. All Collie did was get right back to work after that, ignoring the fact that boulder was chucked a mile away.

"How long does it take to go through this field again?" Fulgurite asked at a point.

"You hold onto your stones missy, cut one stem the wrong way you spoil the whole bale!" Collie Flower instructed. Fulgurite didn't know what sounded more interesting now; being here or being in books. But as she was looking over the fields -

"Don't even try it," Garnet quickly said.

"Huh? Try what?" Fulgurite questioned.

"You were gonna think about cutting the whole field by yourself just to get it over with. Not a very good idea," Garnet said.

"... No ... But thanks for the tip, G!"

"Fulgurite, I just said -" before Garnet could finish, Fulgurite stretched, readied herself, and soon she was off like a light. All of a sudden, they all were seeing a blur of yellow and tossed up wheat in the air as Fulgurite bolted every which way like a lawn mower on overdrive. All Garnet could do was mentally slap herself for saying that.

"Whoa, what the hay?" said Applejack, the group having to step back as Fulgurite skimmed through the wheat. Steven had to grab Collie Flower and pull her away before Fulgurite could run her over, making him stumble back into Fluttershy and Applejack. The cloud of grain moved up and down the field, dodging what rocks were in the way still, until Fulgurite skidded to a stop right in front of everyone, leaning against a now twenty foot tall pile of wheat, plucked, cut, and ready for whatever the heck they do next.

"Done and done. So, Collie Flower, what do ya think?" Fulgurite asked, expecting at least some admiration or even a thank you.

Just to get clocked in the head.

"YOU WHIP! You think it's just "cut em up and pile em up", huh?! now I gotta go through all them stalks and cut em up right!" Collie snapped, getting right in Fulgurite's face about it.

"How do you cut them wrong?" Fulgurite questioned, just to get bucked aside by Collie Flower before she could cause any more trouble.

"Look at this," she said, holding up several different wheat stalks. The cut stalks had different-sized cuts, some barely even noticeable to the yellow Gem. "Angled cuts every which way? I've seen Beavers cut down trees better than this sloppy mess. This ain't work you're gonna have to rush through, there's a wee something called "patience" that by the looks of it you better start tryin otherwise you're gonna zoom by your life faster than a roadrunner on fire. Get me?"

Fulgurite was ....... speechless.

"....... Yes, mam. Sorry, mam ..."

Fulgurite felt a hand rest on her shoulder, belonging to Garnet. She didn't say anything, but then again she didn't need to. Collie Flower said more than enough.

"Ok, I get what you're saying. Guys, wanna leave her alone now?" Fulgurite asked.

"Y'all can if you want to, I still promised to watch over Collie Flower for Cloven, and I'm gonna keep it," Applejack said, in spite of everything. And to prove her point, Collie Flower was then seen struggling to fix all the cuts that Fulgurite had made, simply because she was having trouble seeing them all while grumbling to herself.

"Fulgurite, you just got owned by an old goat. I am so sorry for you," Emerald said, almost sincerely. Fulgurite knew he was acting like a jerk ... and spoke a little too loud for Collie Flower. A smirk then got onto the goat's muzzle.

"Eeehhh, you know what? You wanna help ol' me with the farm job?"

"If you'll let us, it's okay if you don't," Steven said, "... But yes we wanna help."

"That case ... OI, Green goblin kid! Come over here!" Collie instructed. The mood swiftly changed to trigger as Emerald spun around to face the old goat. Collie Flower simply went back to the wagon and pulled out an extra something from the heap and chucked it right at him. All Emerald did was sit up and hold ... a broomstick.

"You're kidding."

"Kidding round's for kids and not-ticked-off old ladies. Now get that broom workin on your friend's foot work on the field and sweep away, sweeper-ston," Collie Flower instructed.

"What?! but Fulgurite made that mess, why're you giving it to me?" Emerald asked in disbelief.

"Don't over-think it," Collie replied, giving him a headstart by lightly tossing him out to the dirt to get started on Fulgurite's fast dash. All Emerald did was glare at Fulgurite before starting to get to work on sweeping up the footprints and stray piece of wheat. Collie Flower simply chuckled and snickered before turning to the rest.

"Now, you kids wanna help me do some selling of some wheat?"

"We'd love to," Garnet said.

~~~~~~

The day from there seemed to go by like clockwork, as both sides continued doing their own brand of work throughout the rest of the day. Celestia's sun was well down by the time they were all done with everything (for the day) and as Collie Flower had promised and possibly predicted them to do, she got them a good bonfire going out in the open grass fields nearby town. The fire was burning bright and hot for the cool night in Ramicorn, and the team had just enough space to settle down comfortably by said fire, some sitting by it, some standing and chilling out, some laying near it as if watching TV. Regardless they were all together. Best part of all: Collie Flower had smores to give, most of which were gobbled up thanks to Spinel and Amethyst. Much of them still got some marshmallows roasted though mainly for the moment more than food.

They did promise her smores, and they delivered.

"Mmmmmm, chewy! And so sweet," said Spinel with a mouth of marshmallow.

"Hmmm, it's adequate," added Pinkie after a taste test of her sweet tooth. Someone would continue that if they weren't slightly distracted by Emerald sitting there. All that sweeping all over the fields left him completely dirty, his hair no longer spiked and drooped down over his face.

"What happened to you, man? You look like you went through the jungle," Amethyst inquired. Emerald moved some of his hair out of his eyes.

"I don't wanna talk about it," Emerald grumbled.

"Collie Flower got him sweeping the fields for ... why did you make him do that again?" Applejack asked. Collie smirked.

"Because he'd mock your yellow friend all day long if he didn't have somethin else to complain about," Collie said with a wink.

"To be fare, it worked," Fulgurite bluntly admitted. Emerald didn't even respond to that and kept his mouth clamped shut. Peridot didn't though and couldn't help but laugh at him for his mistake. That was, until Collie Flower glanced to her.

"Watch that mouth missy, or I'll ask you to clean up my dishes fer me," Collie Flower said. Peridot stopped talking right there. Collie Flower sure was on the ball with this group. Cloven could only sigh and smile with his grandmother's antics with them, even if it was just a day.

"Aside from that, everything went great. And look, we even made some good bits out of this job too," Steven said, showing the group what looked like a small bag by him, packed tight with coins and bits paid for the wheat. Opening it up, he showed a few of them easily a good fifty, seventy bits for their work today.

"Not bad for your first day as a Ramicorn farmer," Amethyst said, nudging Steven as he was getting his marshmallow in between some graham crackers.

"Eh, we didn't do that much," Steven said bashfully.

"And the Library? Did you find anything more about Grogar?" Garnet then asked.
At first the response was pretty quiet, the others glancing to one another. By the look on their faces, they could tell that they did find something with him, but they were being reluctant on sharing it with the rest, especially the ponies involved here. ESPECIALLY especially Twilight Sparkle herself, who was rubbing her hoof and glancing to the fire. It was an obvious sign.

"Well it took a while but we did find something from him. Just one thing ... in a children's book," admitted Flint.

"A ... children's book?" Connie wondered confusedly. Some gazes then turned over towards Star who, instead of having marshmallows and looking at the fire, she was reading through that same book she found in the library. Looking at the cover of the book, rather than dealing with anything involving a goat or ram, it involved that "winged unicorns" she mentioned to them earlier, circling around a Ram's head.

"Star's been reading that since we found it. It's the closest we've gotten all day," said Pearl.

"You sure that's it?" asked Steven.

"Oh, definitely. For someone who's constantly calling himself the king of Tambalon, he doesn't have that much to go on," Twilight pondered, which did strike as weird for everyone else. They knew he was real, that's for sure, but being a ruler from Ramicorn?

"Let me see the book, Star," said Garnet, sitting down next to her.

"Oh. Okay, here," Star answered, giving Garnet the book.

It only took her a minute to realize just what was inside that book for her to see, more specifically who was in the book. The page that Star was reading had a few simplified drawings in it, similar to those of some of Equestria's books. The picture specifically showed a young ram standing and ready to fight against some giant Cockatrice, using a blindfold over his eyes and some form of sword in his mouth. Garnet kept going through a few more pages with similar results.

"Grogar's got quite a record doesn't he?" Collie Flower cut in.

"Wait, THAT'S Grogar? He looks so cool though," pointed out Spinel. Collie Flower looked back to the fire, watching the flames flicker and dance in front of her.

"Eh, time can do weird things to people. Either that or can make people go stale, whichever," Collie said, "But hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Steven could already feel the chill around him from that statement, but said nothing as she continued.

"Yeah ... Grogar is by far the most defiant little Ram you've ever laid eyes on. He has the pride of a Lion and the stubbornness of a Goat, all rolled up into the most headstrong creature this Equus has ever been stuck with. It's got him from one battle after another, and whatever thing he wanted, he'll stick to it better than honey in a beehive."
As she was explaining, the others were seeing the other pages in the book, imagining what Collie Flower was saying as they were. Garnet flipped to the next page and the young ram was facing a Sea snake on a small boat, the next page showed the slightly older ram surrounded by northern Timberwolves, so on so on. Honestly Garnet didn't seem that surprised how much this ram was fighting, but none of them looked malicious. In fact, Grogar looked ... heroic almost.

"He never gave up," Collie Flower continued, "And anybody tryin to tell him otherwise might as well play staring contest with a wall."

"So I never had a chance to begin with," Steven told himself.

"Hmm?"

"U-Uhh, nothing. Continue," Steven said.

"Nah, nah, what'd you say boy?" Collie insisted. Steven clammed up. He was so used to just have this give him a free pass.

"... I-I said "I never had a chance to begin with". I ... tried reforming him," Steven repeated.

Collie laughed. "Well you're braver than most."

Steven just kept quiet as the old goat continued. Her expression started to frown slightly as she began recalling at few more things involving Grogar. Before she could speak, and just took the book from Garnet, and skimmed through a few pages before reaching the end of the book. This picture showed Grogar, now older, facing off against ... two Alicorns. And a Unicorn.

"That ram. Oof. One day he got old enough and got hoof-to-hoof with those Equestrian rulers over there. He vowed to get them from the very beginning, and he thought he can get em back -"

"From the beginning? When did he meet them?" Twilight cut in, shocked that Celestia, Luna, AND Starswirl the Bearded were even involved in this, let alone just Starswirl. Collie Flower thought a little bit more, her hoof to her chin, but Steven and Connie already had their answer.

"He wanted their help with Peshtihorn," concluded Connie.

"Eerr ... YEAH! How'd you know?" Collie Flower asked.

"We uhh ... figured it out," Connie answered.

"Oh. Anyway, he was REALLY angry with em, and gave em all the runaround at first, heh. But when you're fightin the sun, the moon, and the stars you're kinda in trouble at the start," Collie Flower explained.

Then she turned the page that explained everything: this page showed Starswirl, Celestia, and Luna all together using their magic against him, as Grogar himself was not only magically chained down and locked tight inside of a cage, but also sent off into the rocky crags of what looked like Tartarus.

"The three overpowered him," Collie explained, "And when they were done, they all got him and locked him away to those deep dark crags of Tartarus: someplace only the wickedest of things go. But just before they sealed him up, he shouted -" and she cleared her throat before shouting "- YOU COWARDS! I'll be free again, and when I do, YOU'LL ALL PAY! YOU HEAR ME?! ALL OF YOU!!"

Collie Flower only stopped to cough and wheeze for straining her throat, but the point was more than clear.

"I don't remember that part of the story," gulped Cloven quietly.

"I know. They won't write that for normal kid books," Collie Flower replied, giving the book back to them. Everyone around them was just taking this information all in.

...

Twilight got up.

"This is all Revenge. Grogar lost everything one day, he was sent to Celestia and Luna to get help, but for some reason they won't help him. So all of his fighting was to get back at them, but then they locked him in Tartarus for it! Guys ... I think he's in the right to be mad at the world."

"Oh don't say that," groaned Amethyst.

"Sorry Amethyst. ... Oh, and Sorry Lapis. Connie, Steven. you know, for doubting you two in the first place when you brought Grogar in," Twilight said.

"No, it's cool, we get it. At least we can say we've tried, right Steven?" Lapis said.

Steven was ....... quiet.

"Yeah. Right."

Author's Note:

WHHHYYYY did this take so long?! I'm sorry Sweet luna, I don't know how these things keep happening, and THIS close too. We're almost at the end folks, but for now enjoy some of Ramicorn.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Why'd you start making the chapters so long all of a sudden?

[EquestrianKirin]

10410099
the chapters had been long for quite a while now ^^; it just started happening i guess

[Angel Star]

Oh boy...I have a lot to say about this chapter! First, I see what you did in the beginning there with the whole not getting sick thing! Second, it's great to see Cloven again! I was starting to wonder how he'd been doing this whole time. At least he got to talk to Jasper again, that was nice. Third, so...Grogar is basically like Varien from Tangled the Series, huh? Only difference being that Grogar has done WAAAAAY more harmful things than Varien has! Lastly, we're almost at the end already? I'm going to miss this story when it's over...But this does bring up a big question I have, that being will Red Diamond do anything anytime soon? (Not unless she already has!) I'm quite curious as to what her role in this story is. Though this is obviously a BIG spoilery question that I'm asking, so you don't have to answer this one. I'm just excited is all... Well this has been another awesome chapter EquestrianKirin! Keep up the good work! (Also, sorry this comment of mine is so darn long! )

[N3xmaz1ng]

I really hope that the final battle will be a combination of the final battles of Steven Universe Future, The Steven Universe Movie, AND MLP: The Ending Of The End!!!!!!!

[EquestrianKirin]

10410350
Glad you're enjoying it as always
10410388
Can't say much, but it's gonna be wild ...