My Little Universe II

by EquestrianKirin

Whoever Dares Wins

*beep**beep**beep**be -* *click*

"No up yet," mumbled Spinel, her arm stretching all the way up to Steven's alarm clock, her sleeping down on Steven's couch on the main floor and cuddling a sleepy time buddy (in her case, a cute green smiley mushroom). It was too peaceful to get up now: Steven asleep in his bed with Nora cuddling next to him, Blue sleeping next to the couch nearby and Lion finding a spot over by the front door. This time of quiet tranquility couldn't stay forever though, and with a small grunt Steven got himself awake.

"Good morning everyone. Good morning Spinel," Steven sighed, stretching to get some of his own sores and kinks out of his body.

"Not yet, I wanna sleep. … I like this sleeping thing," Spinel mumbled, cuddling closer to her sleepy time buddy. Steven took a bit to get himself out of bed, though saying he wasn't hurting would … be lying. No other way to put it. Although he kept saying no, Spinel did get him bandaged up to the best of her ability once she found out what toilet paper was. If he let her go any further he'd look like a mummy, but the care was still there. As she laid there though, she began to feel something huff on her, only for her to look and see Lion staring at her.

"Oh. … Uh, hey there big guy … y-you still like me, don't ya? No hard feelings?" Spinel asked, smiling but still worried if Lion was gonna just bite her or something. Lion knew this Spinel was different from the one he was playing "Heart Fairy" with. Lion's main response though did come a little bit, leaving Spinel unsure until Lion gave her a lick to the cheek.

"Is that a yes, or no?" Spinel asked, not sure how to take it. Lion though gave her a nudge and few cat purrs to give his point across. Did Lion know her story? No, and he didn't need to. Steven just chuckled. Him slowly coming down the stairs as the animals in the room started to stir.

"Aww. Looks like Lion likes you, Spinel," Steven said with a grin. Spinel wondered about it a bit, but she smiled herself, giving Lion a hug of her own. It wasn't as forceful as before, but still a hug nonetheless. Lion though only allowed her five seconds before he stood up and moved back, pulling Spinel outta bed and onto the floor.

"Guess nap time's over," Spinel grumbled. She'd love to stay asleep, being so peaceful and all, but the day waits for no one.

"So how was sleeping for the first time, Spinel?"

"It was … nice. Quiet, nothing happening all night. But it's not the same as standing in the Garden, so it's a plus," Spinel said, rubbing the back of her head as she actually tried to think about it.

"That's good. Now, I'll just take my morning shower, and we'll see how the others are doing, okay? I won't be long," Steven decided.

"Oh! Uh yeah, great. You do that, I'll just be waiting here," Spinel said, unsure but thumbs up anyway. Steven wouldn't ditch her again would he? However, as Steven took his time with his shower, Spinel began to feel a little bit more antsy as time went by. It was only ten minutes, but Spinel just had to wonder how long Steven was gonna be gone for. Was he gonna come out of there for her, or was he just gonna stay in there?

She tried standing there. All too familiar to her. Her foot tapped after two minutes. Then she started playing with her fingers at five minutes. Her face became scared at nine, and she was just about to go in when -

"Okay, ready to go! Ah, nothing like a good shower," Steven said, once he got out, fully clothed and drying off his hair a little bit. Spinel looked like she was about to run into the room...

"GREAT." Spinel simply said with a big smile, pretending she wasn't about to charge in and panickily try to find her best friend. Like she would do THAT!

"Were you just about to check on me?" Steven asked.

"PFFT, WHAAAAT? NOOOO, that would just be silly! I was just uh … practicing my greeting pose! Wanna make a good impression for my re-intro," Spinel said, suddenly getting into a more cheery one as if she was on a stage, arms out and jazz hands too even. Steven paused, but just chuckled at Spinel's attempts at covering herself. He couldn't blame her now for being at least a little clingy, but that was a subject for another time.

"Spinel, we just have to talk to them, that's all. You don't need to go into a full introduction for that, let's just go to them, tell them you're sorry, and show them we're all okay."

"... You really sure that'll work?" Spinel asked. Steven placed a hand on her shoulder.

"If it makes you feel better, Spinel, I was a bit nervous too when I tried my re-intro. You're not gonna be alone," Steven said.

"You serious? But you're loved by everyone, you didn't try killin em first, right?" Spinel asked.
Steven paused on that. Spinel didn't mean to, nor would she ever know beforehand, but Steven found himself remembering all that drama all over again. It was gonna be A LONG WHILE before he can get that handled again.

"Wait, did I say the wrong thing? DANG IT, what's with me?"

"No, no, you're fine!" Steven insisted, "I just had to … go through the same thing. ... You know Grogar?"

"I'd better be by now, but yeah I am, what about it?" Spinel asked. Steven looked down to his feet briefly, but that just reminded him that a bit more.

"Well … I had to fight him at one point, and I ended up … well … shattering two of my friends. Because I got too caught up and wouldn't listen to her and maybe got really angry."

… Never had silence been so awkward by that point.

"Huh … Yep that can bust up a friendship pretty good," Spinel admitted. She wasn't gonna lie, and why would she judge him anyway? She was the LAST person to judge him for trying to kill someone anyway, considering she tried killing the whole planet.

"Garnet told me she already loved me, but with her memory wiped …" Steven suddenly realized what he was doing, and quickly shifted gears, "But we can only find out when it happens right? Come on, let's go see them."

"Okay. If you say so, Mr. Universe," Spinel said, taking Steven's hand as they started walking towards the Warp Pad. Spinel followed him the whole way there. Lion, Blue, and Nora followed em along until they got onto the Warp Pad themselves, but before Steven could activate it, Spinel suddenly spoke up again.

"waitwaitwait, before we warp, just clear something up for me: you and the Diamonds … you're cool, right? We're not gonna go back there and find them ready to turn us into puppets or something?" Spinel asked nervously, not willing to get stuck through ALL OF THAT again.

"Trust me, Spinel. Remember: everything's chill," Steven promised.

"Yeah. Chill," Spinel repeated. For an extra boost, Steven even showed Spinel a little old trick he picked up from Twilight from way back when: hand to his chest on inhale, hand outward on exhale. Spinel did the same thing, puffing out her chest on inhale but still the same idea in mind. She was feeling ready to go back and try to work out her amends. These thoughts kept with her as she went off on the Warp Pad with Steven by her side.

"Okay. Chill Spinel … chill," Spinel thought to herself, smiling and ready as they continued through the warpstream. At first it was just the two going through air, but eventually the two felt the ground under their feet. They knew they made it to Little Homeworld, and upon arrival it didn't take them very long at all until they began to see sight of some familiar
Gems and Ponies not too far away. However the only Harmony Gems present with their memories were Jade and Emerald, with everyone else not there or just don't remember - Jasper especially. She looked surprisingly beaten up as she sat there, with scratches and even some hair missing due to some form of fight she had earlier. The only reason that Jasper wasn't ignoring the treatment was that Emerald told her to.

But she wasn't the only one there, a MUCH LARGER titan sitting right next to her on top of Bismuth's forge as if it was a seat, not entirely thrilled either and looking scratched up.

"CHILL CHILL CHILL CHILL!" Spinel thought, freaking out and trying to find somewhere to hide. In the end she simply hid behind Steven, her ponytails visible from behind his head. Steven knew it was gonna be a little difficult, but5 this might be a little bit too rough of a push. He had to ease some tension first.

"Here, I'll be right back. For real, I'll be back," Steven said, before going off to check the situation. Well at least here Spinel can see Steven from the Warp Pad, unlike the bathroom. Spinel though started to feel uneasy about her re-introduction again. Was THIS rugged Gem her first shot?

"If you keep this up, Jasper, you'll become more scars than skin," advised Jade, as she was handling healing to Jasper.

"Oh shut up," Jasper huffed coldly. Jade didn't give her further remark after saying that, but again Jasper didn't go further with her remarks either. As she kept doing this, Steven went over to the four.

"Oh, morning ki - Steven! What the heck happened to you?" Emerald asked, seeing the bandages on him still. Caught up in the moment and Steven forgot he even had those on.

"Oh that, don't worry about it I'm good," Steven insisted (which they found hard to believe), "I got someone to show you. Check it out: Spinel's back!"

"H-hiiiii," Spinel said meekly, hand raised in a small hello.

… Emerald and Jade became alarmed almost immediately, Emerald getting some hexagons up and at the ready in case she started jumping at them. The other two were more indifferent about it, but at least one of them remembered Spinel's earlier attack. Seeing them ready to attack though made Spinel jump, but Steven got in the way.

"Hold it, don't jump at her! She's back to normal, but she's not gonna hurt us. Everything's chill!" Steven insisted, making it quick before anyone could do anything.

"Isn't that the same Spinel that tried to shatter us?" quizzically questioned Yellow Diamond. Spinel gulped, and moved right back to Steven in a single step (which was a good ten feet in one jump).

"Well, yes but she's not gonna hurt anyone, I promise," Steven reassured. Yellow Diamond looked down to Spinel for a big. Spinel then did the only thing she could think of to appease a Diamond, and her hands started to crisscross and stretch.

"My diamonnnnnnd," said Spinel, her hands stretching into not one, but four Diamond insignias. It might not be something they HAD to do, but it was the best she could think of. Yellow Diamond took some mental note on it. She wouldn't do that if she still thought they deserved to die like earlier.

"She turned around fast. … What did you do to her, Steven?" Yellow questioned.

"I didn't "do" anything. Turned out mom left her on a floating Garden in space, and White took her as her experiment."

"You poor thing," Jade gasped. It was a brief re-telling, but still was a scary idea. Spinel shrugged though and smiled.

"Eh, it was only 6,000 years since this thing started. I can do that standing on my head!" Spinel said, flipping onto her hands and clapping her feet, each time making them squeak. And how did they react to this? …

"UuAAAahahahahahahahahahahaha! only 6,000 years! Hahahaha! It's true, that's no-o-thing! Ahahahahahahaha, and that goofy handstand hahahaha! ... I like this Gem."

Well at least Yellow liked her. Either that or just needed a good laugh. Either way, Spinel felt very good about it, and spun back to her feet with a good smile. Any worry about them not liking her disappeared just like that.

"Great! Now uh, sorry for changing the subject, but what happened to you guys?" Steven asked. Yellow did calm down, but Jasper was still a bit of a grump about it. Seemed Jasper wasn't willing to talk about it. She looked over to Emerald, who he simply nodded to her.

"If you have to know, I went out on solo "monster hunt" and found them. They thought it would be fun to see the sights. They saw a monster instead."

"What kind of monster did this?!" Steven exclaimed. The question hung in the air for a bit, the only ones knowing being Rhodonite and Yellow Diamond. At least it looked like it by the look on their faces. Eventually, Rhodonite looked to Spinel and Steven.

"Do you two like stories?" Rhodonite asked, slightly gravely though.

"Uh, yeah? Sure," Steven said.

"We're doing story time now?" Spinel asked, confused and scratching her head. Rhodonite felt a bit uneasy but what could she do now? She made her bed, she has to sleep in it.

"Just my luck. I was hoping you'd say no …"

~~~~~~

Ok, here it goes … we were just at the barn, but since you all weren't around Little Homeworld, Fluroite thought it'll be good for us to keep an eye on the place. You know, until you all get back. I didn't WANT to be guarding (or fighting) but Fluorite said -

"They did so much for us. It's what we can do to repay them," Fluorite said, her tone slow as per usual.
She, Rhodonite, Tiger's Eye, the Rutile Twins, and Padparadscha were out by the Equestrian side of Little Homeworld for the moment. Normally Padparadscha would be on Fluorite's back, but Ruby was back to her job as playing guard since Sapphire didn't seem around, and she wasn't gonna let Fluorite just carry her around.

"B-But guarding? From what, there's nothing here to wreck the place! … Right?" Rhodonite asked, trying to get out of it.

"We don't know, that's the whole point," said left Rutile, placing a hand on Rhodonite's shoulder.

"We don't know if anyone will come, that's why we're here," added right Rutile. Rhodonite didn't feel good about this at all, looking around to the other Off-Colors, but the second she looked to Padparadscha, Ruby got on edge.

"What're you looking at?" Ruby asked.

"Then let's get started," said Fluorite, "I'll take the north."

"We'll take the east," said the Rutile Twins.

"W-Wait do I get a say in this?!" Rhodonite gasped … only for the others to now wait for her to say where she wanted to go. "... Oh, I actually do. Umm … I'll … I'll go guard from in here, excuse me."

…

"Outta the crate, Rhody," Tiger's Eye exclaimed, pulling Rhodonite out from the nearest storage unit.

"I'm not going anywhere unless my Sapphire says so," Ruby stated.

"I can stay with Fluorite," Padparadscha decided, her mind catching up now as she climbed up onto Fluorite.

"Oh. Then I guess we're going with you," Ruby said, also climbing up to join her Sapphire. Rhodonite was dropped by Tiger's Eye soon after that was decided. Fluorite started to move off on her way, and the Rutile Twins mainly did the same, leaving a moment with Tiger's Eye and Rhodonite.

"Tell you what, Rhodonite, if you're gonna be like THAT, then you can just chill out by the Warp Pad. I'll go handle double shift for ya," Tiger's Eye offered.

"Really? Gee thank -" Rhodonite's joy was suddenly changed to confusion. "... Like what?"

"Huh? Oh, THAT," said Tiger's Eye, scratching a little bit, "Y'know, when you end up too scared to do anything again. You do it all the time."

"Now wait a minute, n-no I don't!" Rhodonite retorted. Tiger's Eye stopped cold.

"You don't? … Rhodonite, are you kidding me? You get scared of something every other day. I mean, just last night, we found this new creature in our barn and you wouldn't even come down from the balcony remember?"

"W-Well it's your fault for disturbing it! Who would grab some random creature out from its hiding place and try showing it to everyone? T-Those beady eyes, that flat body, it's so hard you can crack a Gem with it. You don't mess with anything like that!"

Wait … you're saying you found a Turtle in your barn?
… Yes.

Tiger's Eye rolled her eyes at the statement, "Rhodonite, we're not in the Kindergarten anymore. We've been out of one for over a year now, and you still think a Robonoid can jump out of nowhere and zap you."

"You guys said it yourselves, we don't know that! … I'm just being cautious."

"Being a wimp you mean," Tiger's Eye said, getting up to go out.

"Stop that, you!"

"Alright, alright geesh! … You know, I gotta feel sorry for you: you don't enjoy life as much as you should," Tiger's Eye said, pausing as she sat down on a nearby crate like a frog.

"You don't worry as much as you should," Rhodonite said, though mow it was more of a mumble. Tiger's Eye decided then to just tackle it by the throat a bit more.

"You know something, I'm just gonna be honest with ya since I'm your friend and all."

"You haven't already?" Rhodonite thought.

"And the truth is. My friend. …" Tiger's Eye rested a hand on Rhodonite's first shoulder. "... You're annoyingly scared of everything. EVERYTHING! Can't you at least pretend to be brave for once instead of hiding behind the closest tree or wall and cowering like a pebble, or is that something you're incapable of doing?"

"I-I'm getting better …"

Tiger's Eye turned her face away, only to look back to Rhodonite with a sharp-toothed grin, and her irises shrunk into dots for some extra effect. Tiger's Eye didn't even turn her head fast, and Rhodonite still flinched and readied to run. Which by the way, only proved Tiger's Eye right.

"Come on, I didn't even say "boo" yet!" Tiger's Eye said, her face back to normal. "Whatever. I'll see you later."

And with that remark, Tiger's Eye went off on her way to handle her own guarding. Rhodonite simply stood there to contemplate what Tiger's Eye said. She'd be lying if she said it wasn't anything new though, so she just did what she suggested - guarding the Warp Pad.

"I AM getting better, I swear."

So I did the … well, "easy job" of staying by the Warp Pad. But I mean, it's not like Tiger's Eye was wrong, but I know I've been getting better. I thought it would be easy, but WAIT, guess what happens next?!
Grrrr, I remember this part.

*BAM!* *ROAR!*

Rhodonite jumped in place after half an hour's worth of guarding, only to hear the sound of fighting going on not too far away. Shaky, Rhodonite looked off to the direction as something started coming in from nearby, a large barrel being thrown and crashing into the wall by her. Wouldn't you know it, Rhodonite found herself watching a fight between a Slingtail and Jasper, the two combatants rolling out and slamming into another wall close to her, making Rhodonite freak out.
In the fight, Jasper got the Slingtail by the jaws, keeping them from clamping down on her head before she threw it off of her, the creature landing on its back by some crates.

"Bring it, you beast! I can go all day!" Jasper shouted, proud and aggressive with teeth barred in her grin. It was almost primal, but it didn't make the Slingtail back off. In fact, it got its tail under some crates, and used them as projectiles, which Jasper simple smashed with a few good punches and one slam of her head. But while fighting Jasper was a good challenge, the Slingtail then noticed Rhodonite shaking nearby. Jasper could probably guess what the Slingtail was about to do.

"HEY YOU, move out of the way!" Jasper shouted, but as the Slingtail got closer, Rhodonite suddenly found herself stuck, legs shaking. The Slingtail scooped her up anyway.

"W-What you doing?!" Rhodonite yelped, before SHE got flung at Jasper. Jasper didn't get knocked over, but rather than punch or headbutt she just whacked Rhodonite aside. She might not have her memories back, but she always knew a dirty trick when she saw one. The fusion turned around and saw the Slingtail come for Jasper, only for the orange Gem to grab it and finally, with a very powerful swing, sent the beast flying away. Jasper turned to Rhodonite, but -

"You clod, why didn't you move?" demanded Jasper, as Rhodonite got herself back up.

"I … huh? What happened. I blacked out for a second," Rhodonite said, trying to regather herself from being used as a projectile. All that response got Rhodonite though was Jasper looming over her with a scolding look.

"You didn't listen to me, that's what happened," Jasper said, "What're you even doing here anyway, fusion?"

The way she said fusion just made Rhodonite's skin crawl.

"... Guarding?"

"What?" Jasper asked, unamused by the answer. "And who decided to put YOU to do a Quartz's job?"

"I didn't want to do this either, but I got -" Rhodonite stopped yelling when she saw Jasper's face again, making her clam up.

"Well you're doing a lousy job," Jasper scolded, "What kind of guard freezes on the spot when the enemy comes charging at them? And worse - you're A FUSION! Not only is that a pathetic tactic to begin with, but you can't even bring yourself to guard? you're nothing but a mess."

"WHOA she did NOT say that! Did you say that?"
"Do I look like the Gem that would lie about weaklings?"
"Uuuhhh … no."
"W-Well she wasn't WRONG exactly, but it still hurt …"

And hurt it did, Rhodonite looking simply shocked at all of this stuff being shouted at her. She couldn't bring herself to speak right away, clamming up and worried that Jasper would just start slapping her face or something. However, Jasper already got much of her anger out on the Slingtail anyway.

"... I'm not a mess …"

"YES. YOU ARE."

"No I'm not!" Rhodonite yelped.

"Then why do you keep acting like it?! I've been seeing you, and all you've ever done is stand there and scream. Do you do ANYTHING ELSE?" Jasper demanded, unconvinced. Then Rhodonite, still shaky and actually almost ready to crumble, said the thing that would kickstart this adventure of hers.

"I-I'm going out, a-a-a-nd I-I'm gonna prove it," Rhodonite meekly decided. And with that decided, Rhodonite went right over to the Warp Pad, and activated it to get her mission started. If only she knew then what her mission even was.

~~~~~~

By this point they were mostly settled down listening to Rhodonite's story. Although Rhodonite wasn't planning on it, Spinel and Steven got comfy, with Steven sitting on a crate while Spinel was laying on the ground with a pillow resting her shoulders on.

"Huh, so you went out to prove you're not scared. … So what did you do?"

"I'm gonna guess and say you went to Homeworld? I mean, that's how her Diamond got involved, obviously," said Spinel, feeling more casual a bit as she was laying there. Yellow Diamond's simple huff got Spinel to be quiet, but Rhodonite actually had a bit of trouble explaining this part, rubbing the back of her head.

"Welllll … uhh … It's kinda funny, a-actually," Rhodonite explained, trying to choose her words carefully with Yellow Diamond sitting right there. However, before Rhodonite could say anything, the group found themselves hearing the Warp Pad go off not too far away. No doubt someone was going to return to Little Homeworld to re-check some things. In this case, the ponies were both Starlight and Rainbow Dash, accompanied by a Gem of course in the form of Fulgurite. Rainbow Dash however was laughing herself silly … though not meaning to, Fulgurite tickling Rainbow with a sly strand of her hair.

"Hahaha - stop! stop! I give, I give!" Rainbow finally said, only then Fulgurite stopping her assault on her, smug as ever.

"Hey, your rules never said I couldn't," Fulgurite simply said, as the trio walked off the Warp Pad.

… They took one look at Spinel and …

"S-SPINEL!" gasped Starlight, horn already glowing. Spinel sprung up, but lucky Steven got in between them (just before Rainbow Dash slammed into him that is).

"Nobody hurts the - … Steven?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"No fight! Everything's chill!" Steven exclaimed, making it very clear once again on Spinel's current state. Rainbow Dash glanced over to the currently shaky Spinel, arms wrapped around her, standing on one foot - typical freak-out stance.

"Wait, she's … not planning to kill the planet anymore?" Rainbow asked.

"NOPE NOPE NOPE, swearsies, I'm not doing that anymore!" Spinel insisted frantically.

"Yeah, she's good with us now. So can you get off of me, Rainbows?" Steven asked.

"Oh! Right. Sorry," Rainbow Dash said, getting off of him as Starlight and Fulgurite looked over to Spinel. She stood normally, but she was reminded of the whole "do they trust her" problem.

"Heh … so ……. no hard feelings?"

…

"Nuh uh, not from us," Starlight said, "I can safely say we're all good if you're good."

"You sure bout that? I mean I did kinda try to destroy the planet and everyone else," Spinel reminded, playing with her fingers a bit.

"So? Starlight already tried messing with time travel and nearly destroyed the universe, so I don't think you got anything to worry about," Fulgurite said casually. Starlight didn't comment on it, as Fulgurite got an arm around Spinel and added, "Besides, looks like you already learned your lesson, so why should we try to beat ya up now?"

Spinel felt a smile come up on her face, "... Golly. Thanks a lot."

"No problem. Now, anyone wanna tell me why Yellow D looks like she's been in the battle ring?"

Spinel flinched on that response, quickly turning to Yellow Diamond for her reaction which … well, by this point, she didn't care. She did look a bit ruffled up no matter what she said.

"I'm gonna get to it, don't rush me," insisted Rhodonite.

~~~~~~

After teleporting away, Rhodonite got herself far away from Little Homeworld, and instead found herself walking through Beach City, in a more steady yet hasty stroll along the boardwalk, hand over her mouth as she tried to think. At least, one side was trying to think, while the other was freaking out.

"You stupid clod, what were you thinking? "I'm gonna leave and prove it"?! How am I supposed to do that without shattering myself? B-But I can't go back with nothing - Jasper's gonna insult me, Tiger's Eye will make fun of me, I will feel like I want to kill myself! ……. Maybe Lars can help," Rhodonite wondered, one hand playing with her hair as her secondary pair were playing fingers. Lars and Sadie were the only humans nearby to help her out in this mess, and looking ahead she was on her way towards the Big Donut anyhow.

Besides, she could use some comfort food.

The winter times did give the Big Donut some business as Rhodonite walked in, seeing a few Humans, and some Gems and even Ponies in there. Seeing how many of them were ordering a warm hot cocoa with their sweets, it was easy to see why.

"Busy day," Rhodonite said. Guess she had to wait to talk to Lars, even if she could see him alongside another human right at the front counter. She had to wait in line for at good ten minutes, the whole time the fusion having to just stand there and impatiently wait.

I mean, OKAY, maybe I should've gone to someone else, but I figured Lars had enough know-how on something like this. At least that's what I was hoping for. I mean, it was either that or come back to being called some cloddy mistake again, a-and who wants that right? … Well, I knew I didn't.

"Hey there, Rhodonite," said Lars. A bit quicker than she realized, but it was good anyway.

"Huh? Oh, hi Lars! I need some uh … comfort food," Rhodonite said, only just remembering how the term worked.

"You want your usual?" Lars figured. Rhodonite sighed and just nodded. It wasn't the first time she came here.

It took just a minute to get Rhodonite her "usual" (three cinnamon rolls) before the fusion took a seat off nearby. She couldn't ask him up front because it would probably bother everyone else in line, so she tried a different approach.
The art of appearance: she basically was stuffing her face with the treats, scratching her head and basically playing the role she mastered in - being stressed out.

"Is this enough for him to notice me?" Rhodonite thought, glancing over towards the pink-skinned Human off nearby. It'd look TOO desperate if she just straight up asked for his help, though it would be something she'd do if the place wasn't so packed. Lucky for her, Lars did eventually see her stressing as Sadie was coming out from the back.

"Oh, Rhodonite's here?" asked Sadie.

"Yeah, came for her comfort food again," Lars replied, "Looks ruffled up too."

"What're are you talking about, aren't you coming over?!" Rhodonite thought.

"Must be a big one this time. You wanna check in on her, or me?" Sadie offered.

"I got this. Just remember: Jelly-filled, three cinnamon, and the Dewey special," Lars said. Seemed simple enough to remember, Rhodonite, not turning around, then heard someone walk up to her.

"Oh, thank goodness. Listen I -"

Bill Dewey. Not Lars, but apparently Bill took note of her too and was right by her with his own smile.

"Hello, valiant customer! What can I do for ya?" Bill asked.

"... You're not Lars," Rhodonite blurted out, unsure and having an expression that mixed both "who the heck are you?" and "I got the wrong target". Bill Dewey just kinda stood there.

"No, but I'm here making sure every customer's happy. So what's the problem?" Bill asked. Rhodonite clammed up - she didn't come here to talk to Bill Dewey, she came here for Lars! Rhodonite felt herself almost shift in her seat.

"Eeeehhhh …"

"Something on your mind, Rhodonite?" asked Lars, now coming over and catching up to the two. Rhodonite felt a wave of relief come up through her, a *phew* escaping her mouth.

"Thank the stars," Rhodonite thought.

"Well, alright, leave it to the expert then," Bill remarked, though it was more playful really. Lars chuckled but his focus was more towards the fusion. Rhodonite can talk a bit more freely now, as Bill went back to work.

"I don't know what to do, Lars: I just got caught up in the moment, a-and I MIGHT'VE said something I'm gonna regret later, but I DUNNO."

"Well, what is it you exactly said?" Lars asked.

"OK. You know how I've … kinda been trying to be a bit braver, right? Not so freaking out, or so much like that silly-looking farm bird," Rhodonite explained.

"Yeah …?"

Rhodonite took a breath. "I REALLY messed up! One of the Crystal Gems mocked me for being weak, and scared, and ya know being me, and guess what I ended up saying? "I'm gonna leave, and prove it!" And NOW I'm stuck with trying to be brave, and do something that's probably gonna be the end of me!"
And she ended her sentence with a face-plant to the table. It did catch attention from the other customers, but they didn't really bother her.

"Come on, Rhodonite, maybe this isn't that bad. Did you talk to the other Off-Colors before coming out here?"

"EH they're off guarding pony Little Homeworld … and Tiger's Eye is no help as ever," Rhodonite groaned, still remembering that face Tiger's Eye left her with. Lars got to thinking on how to handle this. He'd be lying if he said this was the first time Rhodonite went to him for some sort of advice on stuff like this, or most of her problems come to think of it.

"Ok. So you didn't say WHAT you were going to do, so why not just find something easy and work from there. I think Fishstew Pizza needs someone to take care of some gulls," Lars suggested. Rhodonite shivered on even hearing that name.

"I made a personal vow to never go anywhere near those birds. I didn't forget the incident at Funland!" Rhodonite made perfectly clear.

"OH! Sorry, forgot about that. Geesh, that was a nasty time, uh okay … wait, I know! You guys are always hunting monsters, right? Just go out and -"

"I'm trying NOT to do that!" Rhodonite cut in shakily, "They'll make a necklace out of me. I don't WANT to have to be brave!"

Lars began to feel some bit of reflection when Rhodonite said that, and Lars actually took a seat.

"You know what's funny? Neither did I."

"WHAAAT? No way you were a coward. I'M a coward, you're brave and smart and -"

"Ok ok, I get it," Lars said, not wanting Rhodonite to go on into another rant, "But speaking as someone who had to save my town from being a Warp Zone episode, you don't always have a choice."

"Who'd of thought that he was actually SCARED of anything before? I never did, and he had a point too: I mean, how many adventures did YOU all end up getting stuck into whether you wanted to or not?"
"Hmm … actually, a lot. I don't think there's one adventure that didn't start that way except for that one with the Changelings."
"And guess I added another one to the pile, huh?"
"Eh … yeah."

Rhodonite still felt unsure about the whole thing herself, slumped over in her seat, and finishing up her usual meal of sugary rolls.

"Well you're helpful," Rhodonite grumbled.

"Sorry, what do you want me to say? If you wanna be brave, you gotta, well, do it," Lars shrugged.

"Do WHAT though? It's not like my answer's just gonna walk right through that front door looking for me!"

*ring*

Some things just shouldn't be said. The Humans and Ponies amongst the crowd weren't fazed by the sound of the door, but when the other Gems inside saw who was coming in, they quickly donned their insignias of respect with their hands. Guess which Pearl was coming into the Big Donut today?

Well, a member closest to the Diamond Authority that's for sure, as the Pearl took a look around the establishment -

"Wait, stop the flashback! You're not making any sense: You met up with Yellow Diamond at … the Big Donut? What was she even DOING there?!
"I second that question."
"... Maybe I should explain before this "story" looks too contrived. *ahem* while Rhodonite apparently was there, I was back on Homeworld, trying to handle some unfinished business."
"Trying. … You mean ..."

"You did WHAT? Surely I could've handle this on my own!"

Yep, she mean. Yellow Diamond looked simply furious (or at the least frustrated) once she heard the latest report back in the Diamond palace, looking down at some of her subjects, which at the point looked stunned by the surprisingly negative response.

"I-I just thought that it would … be better?" the meek one-eyed Emerald said, but that didn't really help Yellow Diamond's anger.

"That's all well and good, but if I wanted an Emerald doing a Diamond's job, I would've told you! What am I supposed to do now?" Yellow Diamond demanded. One of the Gems under one-eyed Emerald's couldn't handle the freak out.

"S-Sorry my diamond, w-w-we thought it'll be safer!"

"...SSSSSAFER?" Yellow Diamond hissed through gritted teeth, some sparks jolting out from her. Yellow Pearl, who was standing nearby, had to jump back as some of those sparks were a little close. The one-eyed Emerald glanced to her subordinate briefly before looking back to her diamond.

"What my worker MEANT to say, is that we just figured that s-since you worked so hard already, we can handle the extra work," the Emerald said. "S-Speaking of which, is there anything else you want us to do, my Diamond?"

Yellow Diamond didn't answer at first, and eventually a rough huffed escaped her. She rolled her eyes.

"NO. That will be all," Yellow Diamond simply said, her clap sealing the deal and silencing anymore doubt and questions that would've come her way. The trio of workers went off out of the Diamond palace, a little more briskly than needed but soon it was just Yellow Diamond and Yellow Pearl. Yellow Pearl stood there, quiet and available as she usually was as Yellow Diamond took a seat on her throne. None of the other Diamonds were with her, so she couldn't talk to any of them right now. Speaking of which …

"Pearl."

"Y-Yes, my Diamond?" Yellow Pearl asked, a bit hesitant since Yellow Diamond was so angry.

"Open up the assigned tasks. … Is there ANYTHING available?" Yellow Diamond asked. Normally that was a bit of an odd question, but Yellow Pearl knew the circumstances and context to the request and opened it up on a nearby touch screen.

"As you wish, my Diamond. Hmm let's see … oh there's a rehabilitation - … no, no that's full. Wait, there's some terra - … wait, no -"

"Just let me see it," Yellow Diamond instructed, getting impatient. Yellow Pearl gave the touch screen to her Diamond quick and easy, and Yellow Diamond expanded it to give it a good look. The Diamond looked the list up and down, seeing if there was anything available for her to actually accomplish. But as she kept looking, even seeing working screens of on-site footage, she stopped when she saw BLUE Diamond out in the field, talking to some of the recovering Gems.

"Pearl, what am I looking at?" Yellow Diamond asked, turning the screen so Yellow Pearl could see.

"That would be Blue Diamond at the rejuvenation site, my Diamond," Yellow Pearl said, "she, uh, thought it would help the Gems recovering from … you know who."

Yellow Pearl didn't choose her words carefully enough, and a resounding crack crushed the touch screen. The Diamond tried not to just lose it, though she REALLY looked ready to just blow up for a few seconds until she just gave a long sigh, her head hanging off her shoulders, looking down to the floor.

"I. Can't. Believe this."

"Believe what, my Diamond?" Yellow Pearl asked, jumping up onto her throne's armrest, just for Yellow Diamond to get up and start pacing. The more she did this, the more a particular scene kept replaying through her head over and over again. And it was making her almost trigger-happy …

"... Pearl. Get off the throne," Yellow Diamond instructed.

"Yes, my Diamond," Yellow Pearl said, hopping off the throne, "I-Is something troubling -"

"RAH!" *BAM!*

And the throne was punched back right to the wall. Yellow Pearl yelped, covering herself as debris from the wall was tossed her way, but that was the least of her worries.

"Am I allowed to do ANYTHING ANYMORE?" Yellow Diamond screamed. It'd been long enough since she had gotten her frustration out. Even if it was just punching the daylights out of a chair, it still was enough to let out some steam and NOT make her just go a-wall on the whole palace. Much to her own surprise, she actually started hearing Yellow Pearl start taking a few steps away from her.

"... Pearl."

One word was enough to make Yellow Pearl stop, and turn around. She admired her, of course, but this was one of those times she'd rather not get shattered. Too bad she wasn't allowed to leave yet.

"I'm going to ask you a question, and I want a straight answer. … Do you think I'm …. mmmmm ……. weak?"

"NO, of course not my Diamond!" Pearl exclaimed, appalled on even thinking that, "WHY would you even bring yourself to ask that question?"

"Are you meaning that, or are you saying that because I'm your diamond?" Yellow Diamond asked, eyebrow raised in suspicion. Yellow Pearl's confidence was quickly muddled now.

"Whatever you want it to be," Yellow Pearl said, letting Yellow Diamond work it out for herself. It always worked well before, but Yellow Diamond just gave Yellow Pearl a look. … an uncomfortably long look.

"Go maintain a Ruby squad or something. I want to be alone for a while," Yellow Diamond decided, one hand over her face while the other shooed Yellow Pearl away. In one hand, Yellow Pearl felt relieved and she went off out the nearest door, leaving Yellow Diamond to her lonesome. Brewing.

"Even my own Pearl," Yellow Diamond thought. She went and opened up another touch screen to see what was there to do somewhere else. Clearly Homeworld wouldn't give her much of anything to do, so another planet could give her something to do. Hopefully.
She looked through colony after colony, but the results weren't all that impressive. Either the planet was all booked up or there wasn't a job that would suit Yellow.

"I hope your happy, Grogar, you single-handedly made all of Homeworld think that I can't do a thing on my own," Yellow Diamond thought, "If only I'd actually beaten that pathetic lifeform, none of this would've happened! I'll show them just what I can really do. … Isn't there anything on one of these planets that's dangerous?"

Then Equus flashed on screen briefly. It was brief, but Yellow Diamond stopped it just in time to see the planet Equus up on her screen. It still wasn't classified as a Gem colony by any means, and data of said planet still classified as, and it's quoted "too weird to bother with". She wrote that in herself. The more Yellow Diamond looked to it, the more the gears were turning in her head.

"Didn't Grogar come from Equus? … And there's quite a bit of organic lifeforms there too. … Very strong lifeforms. …"

She looked through some of Equus's files, and when one particular piece of information was brought up, then the idea clicked. After that, she turned off her touch screen and got up off her throne, heading towards the door.

"Pearl, come back! I got a more important mission for you," Yellow Diamond called, opening the door to go look for her Pearl … only to find her crouched right next to said door, ear on the wall.

"... heehh …"

"We'll talk about this later. Right now I got something else for you to do," Yellow Diamond said, ignoring the creeper aspect of Yellow Pearl's eavesdropping.

~~~~~~

"So Rhodonite did this so she can prove she isn't scared, and you did this so you can prove you're not weak," concluded Steven.

"I know I'm strong. … I just needed to remind everyone else," Yellow Diamond said. Spinel and Steven took a minute to take in what they heard so far, both sitting there, still confused but at least getting some context on this story. Steven looked back and forth between both Rhodonite the fusion and Yellow Diamond the, well, Diamond.

"And you're … not disgusted for working with a fusion? E-Er, no offense buddy," said Spinel, quickly correcting herself last second.

"No, no, I'm with you!" insisted Rhodonite. Weird, but okay. "How'd you think I felt when Yellow Pearl was asking ME to come out and see her?"

"I tried to find the Harmony Gems," corrected Yellow Diamond, "But NONE of you were around at the time, so I went with what was available."

"... I want you to think about what you just said. So what happened after she found you, Rhodonite?" Steven asked.

~~~~~~

"Well after going over my paralyzing fear of how out-of-nowhere and terrifying the concept was, I followed her right outside and back to the Temple. And wouldn't you know it -"

"WWWWHHHAAAA?!"

That was the main reaction for seeing Yellow Diamond herself, Yellow Pearl standing off nearby as Rhodonite was left almost paralyzed on the spot all over again. Out of ALL the Diamonds, did it have to be Yellow?

"Don't look like I'm going to shatter you," Yellow Diamond said, rolling her eyes.

"I-I-I-I-I-what'reyoudoinghere?!" Rhodonite asked, too shaky to actually speak properly. All by herself, with a being that essentially was in charge of her own race. Instead of answering Rhodonite though, Yellow Diamond looked over to Yellow Pearl.

"Harmony Gem?"

"I recognized her being with the Harmony Gems, my Diamond," Yellow Pearl said matter-of-factly. Rhodonite though quickly was shaking her head.

"OH no no no no you don't mean me, I-I'm just with a team that happens to be good friends with the Harmony Gems!"

"Close enough," Yellow Diamond sighed. Both fusion and diamond weren't thrilled on the answer, but Yellow Diamond got down on her knee to get a better look at the fusion, all the while her Ruby Button was trying to keep her Lavi Pearl from just going into a panic attack.

"Um … w-what is it you need? MYDIAMOND!" Rhodonite asked in a cold sweat. Yellow Diamond couldn't bring herself to swallow her pride and say it straight, so she worked out another excuse.

"I am here for some maintenance work."

"Maintenance?"

"Given how so much activity is happening back on Homeworld, there isn't any left to actually check in on the planet. And there hasn't been enough updates on this current world, so here I am," Yellow Diamond explained. Seemed like more than enough of a reason to be there, though Rhodonite was still a little unsure about it. Wouldn't she at least send Yellow Pearl to do that for her? She did that before after all.

"Whelp, we got it covered for right now, so you can just head back to Homeworld now," Rhodonite said. Bold, but safer than having her loom around. Yellow Diamond felt beside herself, but quickly got back to it.

"Well clearly something must've been overlooked. Like in Equus perhaps? Preferably by Little Homeworld?" inquired Yellow Diamond. Rhodonite, for a brief moment, dropped her fear and looked confused.

"Equus?"

"W-Well," said Yellow Diamond, realizing her slip, "Little Homeworld's connected to both worlds, so it's natural I'd check that too."

"Wait … did Yellow Diamond … slip up?" Rhodonite thought, but she didn't have a clue what that could be. Yellow Diamond cleared her throat.

"Anyway, since it appears the other Harmony Gems are … out for the moment, and clearly you don't have any idea, so I'll just be going."

"Great! Er - I mean - have a good time, my diamond!" Rhodonite said, both hands making diamond insignias. Rhodonite stood still as Yellow Diamond simply went off on her way. Clearly nothing was gonna get done over here with the fusion. Yellow Diamond started walking away, leaving the fusion feeling a wave of relief come over her.

"PHEW! That was WAY too close for my comfort. Now, what am I going to do about my other problem? ……."
But as Yellow Diamond was walking off further and further away, Rhodonite began to have a little bit of an itching. That kind of itch in her head saying there was something here that could … well … help her? …

You know, I gotta feel sorry for you: you don't enjoy life as much as you should.

You're A FUSION! Not only is that a pathetic tactic to begin with, but you can't even bring yourself to guard? you're nothing but a mess.

Rhodonite ended up with two hands slapping her forehead. "I'm nuts."

...

"YELLOW DIAMOND, WAIT!"
Yellow Diamond stopped herself a good couple of yards away when she turned back and saw Rhodonite getting enough courage to run towards her and not running away from her. Rhodonite only stopped when she was just five feet away from the giant Diamond.

"Now what is it? I have my own schedule to keep."

"I-I … I. I … Rhodonite just say it," Rhodonite told herself. She even had to slap herself first before blurting out "I WANNA GO WITH YOU!"

"...…. Excuse me?"

"J-Just for the day! I'm not gonna bother you, I'll just follow you. Don't even worry about me messing with you, I'm too much of a coward to do that!" Rhodonite insisted, a big smile in spite of how stupid it all sounded. Rhodonite didn't knew at the time, but that only got Yellow Diamond fuming even more. EVEN A COWARD believed she was weak?! The diamond clenched her fist, which made Rhodonite gulp.

"I can handle this by myself. THANK. YOU."

"I know you can, why wouldn't I think that, I just wanna tag along a-and uh ……. hang."

Hang?! No way she'd buy it.

"... Hang? What?" Yellow Diamond asked, legitimately confused by the term. Far as she knew, hanging out meant finding a cliff somewhere and dangle off of it or something, or at the least hang off of her arm. But looking at the fusion, she did NOT look ready to do that.

"I insist you not to hang off my Diamond, fusion. It wouldn't suit her well having someone hold onto her the whole duration of this visit," Yellow Pearl instructed.

"I mean kinda … maybe … stand by her. Like you do all the time! Except not exactly like you," Rhodonite said. Yellow diamond felt a cringe come up on her face, but suddenly an idea came through her head, legitimately thinking about it.

"Hmm ……. Yellow Pearl would just say what I want her to say," Yellow thought, "These two though … they wouldn't lie to their friends. And even for being flighty, they are still Harmony Gems. So they wouldn't just do what I say just because I'm their Diamond. …"

She made up her mind.

"I will allow it. JUST THIS ONCE."

"M-My diamond?!" asked Yellow Pearl, not believing it at first, but Rhodonite took it anyway.

"Thank you! I promise you won't regret it!"

"... Yeah. Sure," Yellow Diamond simply answered, starting to move off again. Rhodonite was still a little uneasy about doing this, but if it could help with her being so anxious, than it'll be worth it. Before Rhodonite could actually start moving, Yellow Pearl finally felt like saying something to her, clearing her throat and saying the following …

"If you are gonna … "hang". I insist you unfuse. You being like you are, It's making My Diamond incredibly uncomfortable," Yellow Pearl advised.

Rhodonite wrapped both arms around herself in a death grip, look of sheer horror on her face.

"Leave the cowering fusion alone, Pearl. They won't bother us anyway," Yellow Diamond ACTUALLY said. It still sounded just as cold though, Rhodonite feeling a shiver run through her body. But it wasn't just a shiver out of fear, or just a shiver from the cold. More like one of keeping together. But Rhodonite still stuck together, and took a breath.

"Keep it together. Keep it together. Stop being scared," Rhodonite told herself, as she began to follow Yellow Diamond.

"From there, with your Rhodonite following me and my Pearl, we ventured out from your planet and onto Equus. You STILL weren't available even while we were going through Little Homeworld, so there was no interruptions there. … Where were you anyway?"
"Oh, well Spinel and I were spending a lot of time in Pink Diamond's Garden, and we spent the rest of the night back at home so Spinel can get used to living with me."
"And we had to follow Flint to a distant forest. We'd come back sooner … well, if a giant fire mammoth didn't find us first, and nearly shattered him. But everything's much better now."
"...…. Anyway. I thought the travel there would've been longer, but lucky for me there wasn't that much haste in reaching my destination."
"So where'd you end up?"

The Warp Pad's workings were complete with little trouble sure, but as Rhodonite, Yellow Pearl, and Yellow Diamond looked around, their main location seemed … a little bit different.

"Wait a minute. Where're we? This doesn't look like Ponyville," Rhodonite questioned, not really comfortable with where they ended up. For that matter, it didn't look like they were even close to Ponyville over here, the main location being some rocky beach somewhere. The cold wind of the sea didn't make it any better, colder than Beach City even. Yellow Diamond stepped off of the Warp Pad, undeterred as she and her Pearl began to look around. Rhodonite gulped before joining Yellow Diamond in looking around for … whatever there was here.

"I never said I'd be going into Ponyville to handle maintenance. Anyway, weren't you just going to "hang" with me, not interfere with me?" Yellow Diamond made clear.

"Oh. … right," Rhodonite simply said. Yellow Diamond just looked to her briefly before checking around the rocky beach.
The three continued along the beach, not speaking a word to eachother as if this was just some casual stroll on the beach, all the while the two were in their own thoughts. Yellow Diamond was starting to get impatient.

"Pearl, go ahead and see if anything's here," Yellow Diamond ordered.

"Of course, my Diamond," Yellow Pearl said, before she sprung off ahead of them, barely even disturbing the sand as she went off ahead to scout the area. Rhodonite just stood there, glancing up towards Yellow Diamond as she crossed her arms, one finger tapping impatiently again.

"There's nothing here? … I should be happy about this, but …" Rhodonite thought.

"Come on, Pearl. There had better be something here, or so help me …" Yellow Diamond thought. She for sure didn't see anything, and neither did Rhodonite. But they both had the exact same thought.

"I can't go back with nothing."

…

"EEEHHHH!" *BLAWRR!*

"W-What was that?" yelped Rhodonite, instinctively hiding behind Yellow Diamond despite what she was there to do. Yellow Diamond looked down to Rhodonite, but strangely felt alright with her doing this.
And then in came back Yellow Pearl, running like mad away from whatever made that noise. The pearl didn't stop until she joined Rhodonite in hiding behind her Diamond.

"I believe we found it, my Diamond," murmured Yellow Pearl.

"Wait, wait, "found it"? Found what?! No one said anything about hunting something," Rhodonite asked.

"I thought you wanted to come with me," figured Yellow Diamond.

"To maintenance, not monster hunt," Rhodonite yelped, bold for a surprising moment before -

*BLAWRR!*

Then the creature that chased Yellow Pearl dragged itself out into view. Regardless if it was Equestrian or Earth-originated, it looked downright disgusting: a large, dragging creature hauling itself along the beach. It had no "legs" exactly, but instead a strong set of arms, a fat body, and a seal-like tail to move along the sand and rocks. The head of this strange creature was probably the thing that made Yellow Pearl freak out the most (and somewhat sick). Forward facing, bulging eyes, and a dangling lower jaw that almost looked unhinged, with two sets of forward-facing tusks. The skin of this creature glistened in the light, almost like it was slimy like a frog.
And it was easily joined by several others, some climbing over the rocks while some moved along the sand to confront the trespassers. Their *blawrr*s echoed all over again, their calls bellowing and somewhat juicy, like their mouths are filled with water. As gross and intimidating as they seem, there was just one small problem. …
They're all small. Well, crocodile-sized yeah, but to Yellow Diamond that was hardly anything.

"No. No, this CAN'T be the threat reported here, this is hardly anything," Yellow Diamond said in disgusted disbelief.

"I don't know, they look threatening to me," Rhodonite said, cowering behind her. Yellow diamond just looked around at all of the creatures, calling and bellowing at her. However, suddenly Rhodonite shook her head.

"Wait, no, what am I doing?! Ok, I gotta do this. I gotta be brave. I gotta be brave. I gotta -" Rhodonite started to gather her courage and move forward towards the creatures, only for one of them to suddenly push itself right over to her, rear back, and bellow right in her face. The bellow itself left Rhodonite frozen, hair blown back and saliva all over her face.

"You know what, another time," Rhodonite said, now feeling disgusted. And to make matters worse -

"PuNY ssLug!" the creature bellowed, before swiping at her, making her stumble back.

"OOOU PHIGHT!" bellowed another creature. Seemed these guys were smart enough to talk. But Yellow Diamond …

"... NO," she simply said, before charging up an electrical attack, and proceeded to blast at the pod of mermaid wannabes. The creatures croaked and roared on the electrocution, being defeated fairly quickly.

"I didn't come here for that, I want a challenge!" Yellow Diamond stated, annoyed. Rhodonite couldn't take it.

"Isn't this enough?" Rhodonite asked.

"NO! If I'm going to waste my schedule in fighting anything, I want it worth while, not just a bunch of organic soil," Yellow Diamond remarked angrily.

*BLAAWRRR!*

"You HAD to ask for it," Rhodonite murmured weakly.
Yellow Pearl, while disgusted by the smaller creatures, didn't get scared off by those things. There was one more coming in from behind the rock wall. Something bigger. MUCH. MUCH. BIGGER. Its skin was red, head more rounded with much larger lower tusks, aimed upwards like an ogre. Forearms flabby and muscular all at the same time, and its body large enough to cover a Ponyville train! The titan of a beast reared back into a standing position, arms spread, and mouth hanging open in a guttural roar.

"You're not thinking of fighting that thing," said Rhodonite meekly. However, seeing Yellow Diamond's face turn from surprise to a smile of righteousness was all the answer Rhodonite unfortunately needed.

"There's my challenge," Yellow Diamond said with a sinister grin. "Pearl, do NOT interfere. And make sure our "friend" doesn't get into trouble."

"Don't worry about it!" Rhodonite exclaimed, but Yellow Pearl kept Rhodonite at bay (not that it'd matter, Rhodonite wouldn't dare), but Yellow Diamond was more than willing to face this beast. THIS was just the thing to prove to Homeworld how strong she was. Yellow's fists clenched, both her and the beast staring eye-to-eye.

"IinSECT! OOFmY BeaCH!" The queen of the big nasty creatures bellowed, the voice barely recognizable from its loose jaws.

"You don't know it yet, but you're about to solve all my Homeworld problems. I'm ready," Yellow Diamond said, her fists sparking with electricity. Just get this defeated creature back home in a cage, and that'll more than prove to everyone how strong she is. The blubbery animal smacked its lips a bit before roaring at her.

"Pearl? PLEASE tell me what she's actually trying to do here," Rhodonite asked Yellow Pearl.

"You ask too many questions, fusion," Yellow Pearl said.

The fight then began.
The first to bring an attack to her opponent was of course Yellow Diamond, rushing forward with good speed and lightning shooting out of her. The blubbery queen roared and met her about a forth of the way, and they both clashed together. The beast felt itself stiffen from the electrocution, but unlike the smaller sea monkeys, this giant wasn't gonna just get knocked out THAT easily, and while it slid back from impact it still kept itself standing (er, not falling over anyway). Both Diamond and giant beast soon got themselves in a wrestling match, both locking grip with eachother and trying to push the other over. Yellow Diamond had her diamond strength, and given this beast didn't have magic for backup or anything to enhance its strength like Grogar did, this beast was being pushed back quite a bit.

"She's actually doing it," gasped Rhodonite.

"Was there ever any doubt?" Yellow Pearl said confidently, as she and the fusion watched Yellow Diamond push the leading beast into the rock wall with a loud thud, stray rocks and snow falling down onto them. While Yellow Diamond had her fight, there was another matter that started to become more apparent: the minions were waking up. Stunned, but able to move, and now ticked off! They saw their leader being pinned on the wall at first, bellowing but not trying to stop the Diamond.

"QUEEEN!" bellowed one of the creatures. So apparently, this was a girl. The queen tried a bite, but Yellow Diamond clamped her mouth shut, pushing her head into the wall.

"Okay, maybe this won't be so bad. Yellow Diamond's got the biggest problem, so maybe I just have to fight just one of these smaller ones. No one said I had to bring back something huge to be brave, right?" Rhodonite thought.

But then one of the beasts saw them. And as the one bellowed a guttural croak, the others of the pod turned and saw Yellow Pearl and Rhodonite.

"Oorr fight the whole group. That's a thing too," Rhodonite thought gravely. They couldn't handle their queen, but they can handle her subjects easily enough. The whole pod started to make their way towards the two Gems, Yellow Pearl and Rhodonite both sharing the same feeling of worry as several of these sluggish brutes crawled towards them, some even hauling themselves over eachother to get them.

"I'm gonna be sick," Yellow Pearl murmured.

"I guess this means we oughta go," Rhodonite said. The two were just about to do that, but three of the animals already were blocking the way. And one in particular flopped down right in front of them, rearing back with a fist raised. Rhodonite readied to run, but while Yellow Pearl was fast enough to bolt out of the way, the beast grabbed Rhodonite by one of her arms, punching her into submission.

"Let go!" Rhodonite pleaded, but the Sea Monkey was not gonna just let her leave. Another one of the creatures found hold of her other arm. These beasts were NOT working together on this, and Rhodonite was stuck in a tug of war. With HER as the rope.

"Ow! OWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!"

"ET GOOO!" one of the beasts demanded, yanking very hard one way.

"U ET GOO!" the other beasts demanded, also pulling very hard the other way. Rhodonite couldn't get herself free, feeling her entire body start to widened, stretch -

*POOF*

And split! She wasn't poofed exactly, but Rhodonite was no longer there anymore, one of the beasts holding onto Lavi Pearl, and the other gripping Button Ruby. Even the beasts themselves were surprised, quickly throwing both Gems to a nearby rock wall. This caused the entire pod to go in an uproar, Button actually starting to freak out and make a run out of the way. Lavi however couldn't move.

"What is she doing?!" Yellow Pearl asked.

"Uh oh. LAVI, WAKE UP!" shouted Button. But Lavi wasn't listening, her focus too fixated on the looming creatures right in front of her, paralyzed in fear. The looming group crawled closer to her, with one of them almost on top of her. A low gurgle rumbled from its hanging jaws, saliva dripping down onto Lavi just before it made a guttural bellow right in her face.
It would've clamped down on her head too if Button didn't blindly bolt in and tackled Lavi away.

"S-Sorry, I forgot this here, I'm just gonna go now," Button quickly said. Button and Lavi didn't have time to fuse again, so Button lifted Lavi over her head and basically made a sonic dash away. The beasts bellowed and tried to catch up to them, but in this mess, they all then heard the bellow coming from their Queen, who herself was still struggling with Yellow Diamond.

"QUEEEN!" they bellowed, this time following her seemingly non-worded command and started for the Diamond. Yellow Diamond did see them coming, and raised her foot to send a thunderous stomp close to the pod.

"Just try it!" Yellow Diamond said with confidence. "I'm not going anywhere until I have my proof!"

"MY DIAMOND!" Yellow Pearl yelped.

The queen had her own dirty tricks. Looking back to the queen pinned, Yellow Diamond saw only the end of her tail, the queen's body looking almost folded in half for a brief moment. In a loud grunt, Yellow Diamond was forced off, the queen straightening her body with the wall as leverage, and sending the once triumphant Diamond off her feet. The smaller creatures scrambled out of the way, though some did end up stuck under the angry diamond. Feeling them squirm like worms under her back made Yellow Diamond herself feel grossed out. All Lavi, Button, and Yellow Pearl did was stand aside, not able to bring themselves to actually move to the fight.

"Get away from me, I don't want to fight you!" Yellow Diamond demanded, grabbing a number of the creatures and throwing them off of her like someone would to a bunch of leeches. But while the little guys were a nuisance, it was the queen who saw her chance, and suddenly Yellow Diamond found herself under tons of blubber. The queen got a good grip on Yellow Diamond's shoulders, biting into her neck, but Yellow Diamond wasn't going to go down like that and found the strength back to her feet.

"I WILL NOT LOSE TO THE LIKES OF YOU!" Yellow Diamond exclaimed, finding her own grip on the giant slug of a queen, and swinging the beast over her head, the queen slamming into the rocky wall of the beachside. The impact shook the entire coastline.

*BRAAAWWWWW*
Shaking off the swing and crash, the queen sprung back to life, throwing off any rocky debris that landed on her. Rather than keep fighting though, the queen seemingly felt she didn't want to keep being pummeled around, and quickly dragged herself off of the beach and into the cold waters of the sea. The Diamond smiled, feeling empowered seeing that happen, more so when she saw the rest of the pod flee away from the beach.

"You did it, my Diamond!" applauded Yellow Pearl.

"Oh thank goodness," Lavi sighed, Button joining the applause. Yellow Diamond smiled.

"MUCH better. Pearl, have a report ready for Homeworld on my victory," Yellow Diamond instructed.

"DAAANG! Sure wish I could've seen that fight go down. You gotta tell me, did you do the surplex or the overthrow?"
"Sounds like an overthrow to me."
"It doesn't matter WHAT I did. For the moment, I only THOUGHT I won. …"

"Huh?" Button tapped Lavi's side, bringing that pearl to the attention of the rest of the pod. With them fleeing, you'd think they'd go into the water, but instead the whole pod was moving inland. Some even stopped just by the edge of the rocky cliffs of the beach, looking down as if anticipating something to happen.

"What're they doing up there?" Button wondered.

"I don't know. They just saw their queen get beaten, why would they stay?" Lavi wondered. Both Gems thought about it for a little bit, but then the same thought suddenly went by both their heads as they both looked out to the water.

"U-Uh … D-Diamond, we better go," said a shivering Lavi.

"Don't tell me you think it'll come back. I defeated her, you all saw it," stated Yellow Diamond.

"Y-Yes, of course we did, and it was brutal yet great," Lavi said quickly, not wanting to get on Yellow Diamond's bad side. However, Button kept her look out to the water, and soon saw a sight that made her shutter. The water was shifting. Fast.

"What's that?" Button asked, pointing towards the water.

By the time Yellow Diamond looked, the queen had made her return from the water in an explosion of waves and splatter. The lunge wasn't even calculated, as the queen made a head-first body slam right into the Diamond, launching both herself and her opponent into the rocky walls in a huge crash! Dust and stone flew everywhere, with Yellow herself now pinned to the wall for a moment. Angry, Yellow Diamond shoved the beast off of her, but as she tried finding her feet, she suddenly found herself staggering …

"OH NO. H-Her Gem cracked! Whatdowedo whatdowedo whatdowedo?" Lavi asked in panic, as the diamond herself glitched slightly. The queen may not have any clue how Gems operate, but she knew enough to see when her opponent's down.

"I can't fall again, not like this!" Yellow Diamond thought, trying to keep together, "Just deal with it. You got this -"
*BAM!* in a sloppy yet harsh swing of the arm, the queen knocked back Yellow Diamond. Normally this hit wouldn't be enough to knock her over, but her glitching made Yellow Diamond a little more unstable, and got her to her knees.

"M-My Diamond?!"

"Don't you DARE INTERRUPT THIS -" Yellow Diamond shouted, only for the queen to bring in another strong hit to the weakened Diamond's side, slamming her into the wall. The smaller subordinates to the queen roared and "cheered" for their queen, the blubbery monster going to town on the Diamond with harsh hits and bellows to the face.

"Okay, this is only ending one way. I'M COMING MY DIAMOND!"

"STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" Yellow shouted. Yellow Pearl got decently close, but the queen moved to the side, her tail whacking Yellow Pearl square and sending her flying. The way she did it though, she didn't even mean to do that. It still got Yellow Pearl stumbling before she landed on her feet … only for her to be grabbed by one of the bloated seals. Yellow Diamond herself didn't even realize what happened just yet, the queen grabbing her by the collar and basically punching her lights out some more.

"Pearl! Diamond!" gasped a worrying Button, Lavi pulling at her hair but not sure what to even do. Yellow Pearl, disgusted and terrified, struggled to pull herself free but the nasty beast kept a strong bite on her arm. She was NOT going anywhere, not by its teeth.
As for the queen, the beast finished off her showdown of the Diamond by simply turning around, and slapping her tail on Yellow's face. The whole pod then basically scrambled out of there, taking Yellow Pearl with them, and going right out to the ocean.

"Get back here, you cowards! We're not done!" Yellow Diamond exclaimed, only to glitch out once again.

~~~~~~

"BUT it was the end," concluded Rhodonite meekly. "Yellow Pearl was taken, and we both … let it happen."

"Speak for yourself," Yellow Diamond huffed. "I could've finished it off. I knew I could've but she HAD to turn tail and just leave us there. … With a cracked Gem. …"

"Sweet Luna," remarked Rainbow Dash, "Guess it wasn't one of your better days, huh?"

Yellow Diamond glared at the mouthy Pegasus, but she didn't bother giving her an answer for satisfaction on Rainbow's end. Out of all of the crowd though, Spinel actually seemed the most surprised.

"C'mon you're joshing," Spinel insisted, smile and shrug, "I mean, this is just some sloppy organic. Eh, no offense Steven, you're a powerhouse Human in my book, but NO WAY you saying that it actually got the better of ya! Right? … Right? …"

Yellow Diamond may be proud, but she was not cowardly, especially since she had a witness to confirm everything did happen that way. The others didn't want to really say the Diamonds "string of defeats" to Spinel just yet, especially with Yellow Diamond standing right there, but all of those memories quickly kept going through their heads as they thought about it. It was at least a lot for a Diamond to deal with anyway.
With all that thought up though, Starlight suddenly gotten her own memory working its gears.

"Wait a minute. What … exactly was it you all fought? Not that "queen of the ugly nasty things" wasn't a good description already," Starlight inquired. Rhodonite shivered.

"W-Well, she was big. REALLY big. She was red, and sort of uh … crawled on the floor?" Rhodonite said.

Starlight wasn't getting a good enough picture, and then looked over towards Yellow Diamond instead.

"Fine. It was a large creature, about my height, with a … Gem-like face. Can't believe I just said that. With one set of upper limbs, and a pair of rather disgusting-looking teeth." Yellow Diamond shivered a little, but Starlight got to thinking, hoof scratching her chin.

"Gem-like face … upper limbs … disgusting looking teeth - oooohhhh MY GOSH It's Leviathan!"

"Levi-who?" Spinel asked.
Starlight, probably caught up in the moment, worked her own magic and summoned up the exact creature in question (well, a hologram. She wasn't dumb enough to do that). Just seeing the hologram of Leviathan made Steven back up. The hologram altered and basically acted out the story Starlight went on to explain.

"Leviathan: according to legends, ponies used to rule all of Equus, both the land and the sea. But thousands of moons ago, Leviathan emerged from the dark abyss to claim the sea as her own. She was so powerful and ruthless that it drove all the Ponies out of the ocean, and onto land. Seaponies, Sirens, you name it, none of them could match her. She would've taken over all of the land as well, but then -"

"WAIT WAIT WAIT, don't tell me: Celestia and Luna right? Somehow they always get involved in these stories," said Emerald. Starlight turned to him with a perplexed look.

"Uh, no. Starswirl the Bearded," said Starlight, as if it was something that was obvious. "Leviathan was so close to taking over, and when she saw Starswirl she thought it wouldn't be anything. But the battle was short, and it was Starswirl's wit and magic that subdued the power-hungry queen. He couldn't put her back in the ocean, but he couldn't keep her on land either. So instead, he simply left her on the beach where she was defeated, keeping her locked deep within a seaside cave, where she remained … until now apparently."

"Something we could've known earlier," growled Yellow Diamond, as Rhodonite nodded. Well, at least hearing this, Yellow didn't feel as pathetic for being beaten by her. … She still felt ticked off though.

"Well Don't feel bad for being beaten, Yellow. It's not like we had the perfect track record either," said Starlight.

"Can we just continue the story before this becomes a emotional wreck?" Jasper asked.

"Oh, yeah of course. So you lost Yellow Pearl, and then what? Did you go back and save her?" Steven asked.

"Not right away," replied Rhodonite.

~~~~~~

"With Yellow hurt, and me split up, we kinda had to stay by the beach for the night. It wasn't like there was anywhere else we could go."
"What about the Temple? Little Homeworld? The Barn? … The Arcade?"
"OK, anywhere else we WANT to go. It was … awkward."

No better word to actually describe the situation Lavi, Button, and Yellow Diamond were in. Still by the rocky beach, the trio remained there as sunset started to end. Yellow Diamond was keeping quiet, huddled up from the embarrassment and not saying a word. She couldn't go back, not without her Pearl and NOT with a crack in her own Gem. She could feel herself glitch again, her hand pressing against her own Gem. Lavi wouldn't dare talk to Yellow Diamond like this, but cautious Button at least stood closer to her. Button gulped.

"...…. M-My Diamond? … Is everything -"

"Don't talk to me."

"Oh ……. thought about how to get Yellow -"

"I said. DON'T. TALK."

Button could see Yellow won't be speaking to anyone anytime soon. So, hands raised, Button backed away to a much safer distance, as Yellow Diamond just sat there. Once far enough away, Button went right back over to Lavi, who was simply sitting by a shallow pit by the rocks.

"She's still silent over there?"

"Yeah. I don't think I've ever heard of her acting like this before," Button replied. Both Gems looked over to Yellow Diamond, who was simply sitting there still, the two unsure if she could hear them or not.

"... Do you think she's gonna be okay when she gets back to Homeworld?" Button asked. Lavi scoffed.

"She's a Diamond, Ruby, I've heard she's got her own healing pool in the palace. … Or was it a sauna? Hmm …"

*CAW*
It was a distant call of a nearby seabird, but with them out alone it still made them both jump a little bit. Lavi moved closer to her Ruby friend for some protection.

"Oohh, I hate staying out at night," Lavi said.

"Me too, Pearl. But all the brave people do it, and if we want to be brave we got to do it."

"Easy for you to say. At least you were made to be a soldier," Lavi remarked, before another seabird distant caw made them both come closer together. With their latest "fight" with Leviathan's minions, who knew what else could be there lurking just beyond the rocks?

"... You know … maybe if we faced something very scary, everything else gets easier," suggested Button.

"Y-You don't say."

"...…. You know what I think? … Maybe if WE faced that queen. You and me. Then after that, we wouldn't be afraid of anything else, ever again."

Did Button REALLY suggest that? Lavi sprung to her feet on that answer, horrified.

"What?! Ruby, she isn't like us, she isn't even like her!" Lavi said, pointing to Yellow Diamond, "She can crush us if she wanted to, w-without even trying!"

"I know, that's the point! If we can be brave against that, how can we be scared of anything else? Besides, Yellow Pearl's stuck with them, someone has to help her so ..." Button pointed out. Lavi still was convinced that it wasn't a good idea, but …

"... Do we dare?" Lavi quietly asked. Button looked back to Yellow Diamond one more time, this time not wanting her to see them in what they're about to do.

"I think we have to. …"

"Sorry to be the blunt stick here, but you do know that makes no sense right?"
"It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"So where're they?"

With Yellow Diamond behind them, Lavi and Button went right back to the beach, going along the same area of coast where they encountered the creatures. Leviathan may be huge but she couldn't move THAT fast. Nothing was around the beach though, at least not from what they could see. All they found was sand, rocks, and water for the most part.

"Let's see. When the fight ended, they all went into the water, so they're either there … or not. Hmm …"

Jump cut to them underwater. They didn't need to breathe since they were Gems, so going underwater was no problem for either Gem to do. They looked around the shallow coast, mainly being sand and water and … well that's it. Lavi did get spooked by a small fish swimming by her face, but that was about it. Calling for Yellow Pearl didn't help either since they … you know. Can't talk underwater.
Cut back to them on land, now soaking wet as Lavi got the saltwater out of her hair.

"Ok, so they're not underwater," Button concluded. They did that for nothing.

"I wish we didn't have to go home to insults," said Lavi, "Where is that Yellow Pearl?"

"Maybe they hid her somewhere. Now if I was a good hiding place, where would I be? …"

*BLAWRR!*

Button and Lavi gasped on hearing Leviathan's guttural grunt from a little too close. Most of their being kept saying to stay away, to go run back home and hide, but the rest of their being was just strong enough to make them go and investigate what the sound actually was.
Lavi and Button, after a quick yet quiet approach, peeked pass some of the rocks and looked onward towards the long stretch of beach. The ENTIRE POD was there, sleeping and lounging in the dim light of dusk. Many of these mini-Leviathans looked passed out on the sand, like a whole pack of sleeping dogs with some even snoring good and loud. It wasn't the best sight they've seen. As they kept looking around, they did find the good sight in this sea of bad: Yellow Pearl herself, standing on top of a very tall pillar of rock just off the coast.

"There she is! Yellow, over - MMRR!"

"Will you be quiet, you're gonna wake them up," Lavi said, keeping Button's mouth shut. Luckily her outburst didn't even come close to wake them up.

"Ruby, I know we wanna be brave, but can we just focus on getting Pearl out of here? … Please?" Lavi asked, hands on Button's shoulders. Button looked back towards Yellow Pearl off the coastline, the Gem actually sitting in the same position her Diamond was. Rescue now, brave later.

"Okay," Button answered.

"Good Gem," Lavi stated.

Then came the task of actually reaching her without waking the entire pod. They were furthest inland, and they had to pass through at least some part of the pod in order to get to the water. The task itself though was far easier said than done, much of the pod sleeping very close to eachother, some even on top of one another as if someone just flopped them there.
It was a delicate dance, and both Gems were being very careful not to wake any of them up. Pearl with her longer legs and slender frame made it look somewhat easier than Button, who had to actually jump once or twice just to keep up with her Pearl friend. If any of them touched and woke up at least one, then the whole pod will follow and they weren't up to facing the entire pod. YET. But things were about to get worse: one of these creatures suddenly yawned and stretched its arms … and wrapped around Button's leg!

"Pearl. PEARL," Button squeaked. Lavi stopped and turned around, almost screaming when she saw Button in her predicament.

"OHSTARS, uh … Ruby. Move. Slowly," Lavi said in a hushed voice. Button looked down to the slightly smaller animal (smaller compared to other members of the pod, anyway), and ever so slowly and gently, Ruby tried pulling her leg free of the animal. As she kept moving though, the young sea monkey actually tighten its grip in a grunt.
It must've been dreaming during this, because after that it began to lick Button's leg like a hungry dog to its favorite bone. And then …

*CHOMP*

"...…. Whatever," Button squeaked, her mouth struggling not to scream from the pain of those teeth. After getting over that, Button tried to get herself free again, but this time Lavi helped her out and got her loose before the animal could get its grip on either of them again. Lavi moved at a more quick haste, and soon she and Button were at the shoreline, the wave rushing against their feet as they looked on to the outcrop. Button and Lavi looked out to the rock.

"Ready?" Button asked, extending a hand to Lavi. Lavi was scared, but they couldn't turn back now.

"Okay. Let's go," Lavi answered, holding Button's hand.
Time to go out to the water. Lavi and Button didn't have to go that far out into the ocean this time, the water being up to Lavi's waist by the time they made it to the rocky outcrop. The only thing they got to do now is climb up the rock itself to reach Yellow Pearl. Button started up first, being more built for this than Lavi was. Even if she would slip on the wet rock, Lavi was right behind her to push her up and keep themselves going.

In no time, they got to the top.

"Pearl!" gasped Button. Yellow Pearl looked like a complete mess when the two found her; her hair scrunched up in several places, looking cold and soaking wet, and basically looking like just finished a bad wrestling match. Yellow Pearl jumped when she heard the two, but immediately she felt overjoyed, finding someone who wasn't gonna be beating her up tonight.

"OH THANK THE DIAMONDS, someone came for me! You don't even wanna know what those horrid things were doing to me! Gnawing at me, keeping me stuck up here like I'm some tool, or jewelry, not letting me - oh who cares? I'm just so glad you're here!" Yellow Pearl said, down on her knees and holding onto Lavi for some support. This was a first - typically they were the ones doing that to someone else, not the other way around.

"It's alright, Pearl, get a hold of yourself, then we'll go back," said Button, holding Yellow Pearl by the hand, and ready to climb back down. While Button and Lavi were more than ready to go, Yellow Pearl suddenly stopped herself when she looked down and realized what they were gonna do. Going back down off of the outcrop, right to the entire pod of beasts.

"I can't."

"You can't?" Button asked. Yellow Pearl got Button to let go of her, and stepped back to the center of the rock, sitting back down and this time staying there.

"Come on, before they wake up," Lavi said, just about ready to jump down.

"Uh, we're a little bit stuck. Any ideas?" Button asked. Lavi knew FAR too well what she meant. Unfortunately, Lavi couldn't think up of what to do now.

"N-No, sorry."

"So, what, we're stuck here? No one else is coming?! W-What about my Diamond, SHE'S coming right?!"

"SSHH! … We don't know, she didn't want to talk and she's huddled up somewhere, so … don't think she's coming," Button admitted. No that didn't help. Yellow Pearl gulped, but again didn't move.

"N-No, no, that's fine. I'm sure my Diamond will know we're all here, and she'll come and save us. YEP. All we gotta do is wait here and maybe she'll save us."

"You said "maybe" that time," said Button. Yellow Pearl turned back to them.

"Well, EXCUUSE ME Ruby if I'm not at least a teeny bit nervous that my Diamond's cracked somewhere, and I'm trapped up here on this outpost with all those disgusting clumps of dirt right there, just waiting for me to mess up and jump down there. I was lucky to even make it up here!"

"QUIET. Wait, they didn't put you up here?"

"Of course not, I had to climb up here. They left me up here," Yellow Pearl answered.

"We can't wait for her, if we're gonna leave, I vote we leave now before they know what's going on. I don't want to fight an entire horde tonight," Lavi said. Yellow Pearl turned to her fellow Pearl.

"I can't leave without my Diamond!" exclaimed Yellow Pearl.

"Why not?!" Lavi retorted, "Do you want to stay here?"
Now Yellow Pearl started to feel insulted, standing up to her fellow Pearl as Button stepped back.

"My duty as a Pearl is to always be with her owner at all times. Yes, I'm not with her now, but that's even more of a reason that I can't leave her without her consent. In other words: I'm not leaving my master to these things!" Yellow Pearl insisted.

"That's stupid! If you don't want to stay here, then just go, you don't have to wait on Yellow," Lavi said. Yellow Pearl then said something that'll change the whole night.

"What do you know?! I'm trapped here and my master's somewhere cracked open, one mistake and I can be shattered - SHE can be shattered! how do you know how that's supposed to feel like? None of you understand the situation I'm in right now!"

That triggered it. Lavi stayed quiet, but her expression turned cold, and she went right up to Yellow Pearl.

"Take that back right now."

"What?"

"You're talking to what could possibly be the most cowardly, and pathetic Pearl made in the entire universe, stuck with a Morganite master who's always forcing her to do everything she didn't want to do. When I met Ruby, I thought I finally found a way to have some security someone to actually understand me, and what do I get? WE GET REPLACED. Next thing I knew, we were stuck in the Supreme Kindergarden, running, hiding, and for a chance of pace we ran some more, trying to stay alive as YOUR robonoids constantly searched for us and tried to kill me and Ruby! Try hiding for six thousand years and THEN talk to me about being scared!"
Lavi was almost crying at that point ...

*HUFF* a HUGE sudden gust of wind blasted by the three in a short burst, the scent of rotten fish now hanging in the air. Lavi, Button, and Yellow Pearl turned towards the sea, only to find the upper face of Leviathan herself staring right at them. snarling a little bit.

"... Oh yeah … we were supposed to be quiet …"

All Leviathan had to do was make a guttural roar that shook the ground, and the sheer force launched all three Gems right off of the rock, landing right into the entire pod. Even if they didn't land on top of some of the sleeping creatures, the roar alone was more than enough to alert the entire pod. Button was bucked off of one of the mini-Leviathans, the Ruby landing outside of whole pod as they started to circle the Pearls, the queen herself circling passed the rocky outcrop and heading inland towards them.

"Cooomb hERe BIrDie," one of the creatures said, closing the gap between it and Yellow Pearl. Lavi stood there in complete fear herself, legs shaky as she kept watching this whole ordeal unfold. Yellow Pearl tried backing away from the beast, just to back right into another one that kept her still. Yellow Pearl wasn't moving.

"Now, I don't know what happened. Maybe she got too freaked out, maybe Yellow Pearl did something. Whatever it was … something in her snapped."

"THIS WAY, YELLOW!"

In a blind dash, Lavi raced forward with all her speed, dodging a few swiping hands and she leaped in between both Yellow Pearl and the oncoming creature. It was just the distraction Yellow Pearl needed, and both Pearls were off running, the entire pod trying to catch them. Yellow Pearl was held onto by Lavi, holding her hand as Lavi bolted left and right to avoid getting caught. Both Pearls were agile in their run, but Lavi was just a little bit more jumpy in movement, making it even harder to catch her. The beasts were either hitting eachother or slamming the ground more than actually reaching them.
It was a gamble, but Lavi and Yellow Pearl got themselves free of the pod and bolted off down the beach, Button joining them as the pod began to give chase. A whole wave of seal monsters sloppily following them and trying to capture them all over again. The three kept themselves ahead of the pod, moving much faster than the pod, but they abruptly stopped once they rounded the corner, slamming into something somehow harder than the rock.

Take a wild guess.

"JASPER?!" gasped Button and Lavi.

"I was wondering when she was going to show up."

"You AGAIN?" Jasper huffed, "What do you want now?"

"Again?" Yellow Pearl asked.

"Wait, but how'd - you were - ok, you know what who cares?! Here, can you take her, we got to go before they find us here!" Lavi said, pushing Yellow Pearl into Jasper, as they heard the distant calls from the oncoming horde. Unfortunately, Jasper pushed them away from her.

"First you're too scared to guard your post as a fusion, NOW you think you can give ME an order. Make up your mind, will you?" Jasper said harshly.

"I would if we had time," Lavi said, just before the horde came into view. Several of the miniature Leviathans "washed" into view, scrambling over eachother and stopping once they saw the more brutish looking Gem in front of them. The queen loomed in on them shortly afterwards, her shadow hovering overhead.

"Do I even ask …?"

"We thought - … or, I thought," explained a shuttering Button, "That if we dared to fight them, we'd never be scared of anything again."

Jasper compared the three Gems to the giant organic and only had one thing to say as she dawned her Gem weapon of choice. …

"There's daring. And then there's DUMB."

And without any further hesitation, Jasper moved them aside, and faced the entire pod head on.

"Not again," thought Button and Lavi.

Jasper's fight went much differently than Yellow Diamond's fight earlier: the first Mer she rushed she did a uppercut with her head to the jaw, knocking its head back before giving it a swift punch to the chest, sending it flying out of the way before she clocked two more in the side of their heads. The left one was knocked out, but the right one still tried hitting her, just to get its arm in a vice-grip, and to be swung like a huge mace. Only one of the creatures actually got her in the face from a sideswipe. It barely was much but Jasper was impressed with how much power was actually in that hit.

"That all you got?" That same mini-Leviathan then got a fist in the mouth. The animal gagged a little before it got swung around, knocking back four more beasts before Jasper swung the unfortunate creature right at the queen's face. The Queen of the Ugly Nasty Creatures wasn't gonna take that laying down.

"IiIinsECT!" the queen bellowed, staggering right towards Jasper. Some of her subjects scrambled aside, as those unfortunate enough to move too slow were whacked aside. Now, the trio saw what it could do to Yellow Diamond already, so what chance did Jasper had compared to this monstrosity? But while Yellow Diamond may be stronger than Jasper, one thing kept Jasper just ahead of this monster.

Speed.

The queen swung her arm down, but Jasper jumped back to let her slam her webbed hand into the ground. The Quartz then got moving, stomping on the queen's hand and possibly cracking a finger before rushing up the beast's arm. The queen tried clamping her wide jaws on Jasper, but only clamped down on her own arm instead. Jasper raced up to the beast's head, which she tried to crush under a fist but again, only struck herself instead like a hammer to the head. The orange Quartz jumped right up to the rocky cliffside above the monster. Jasper started rolling in her sonic-style wrecking ball, and blasted herself straight down. Right down on the queen's head. OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
The queen couldn't connect now, getting struck by this insect at least twenty times in a row before Jasper found her landing off in front of the now dazed Queen.

"mmiSHURble WURM! NOT AGAIN!" the queen bellowed in a daze. Jasper didn't have a clue what she was talking about, but she didn't care. Rolling her eyes, she found a decent-sized boulder along the rocky coast, single-handedly picked it up, and threw it right at the queen's face. In one more groan, the queen collapsed right down onto the beach.

The Queen of the Ugly Nasty Creatures was down.

"It's about time SOMETHING happened on these patrols," Jasper scoffed, giving the queen a small kick before walking away. All of her subordinates quickly bolted away out of sight, not wanting to end up like Leviathan.

"What. Just. Happened?" Button meekly asked, reminding the orange Quartz who else was actually there.

"Work getting done."

~~~~~~

"So we all went back to here, and that's the story of how we ended up like this," finished Rhodonite.

"Woooow," said Spinel.

"Some story," said Steven, "Glad you all got out of that okay though. Well, more or less."

"Yeah, thanks," sighed Yellow Diamond, keeping her gaze away. Steven knew this sign.

"... You care to talk about it?"

"Why, we just finished the whole story for -"

"No, no, not that. You still look like you want to say something," Steven pointed out. Yellow diamond wished it wasn't that obvious, but at this point … well, no point was even left, so why bother hiding anymore? Especially after THAT performance. Button at least tried to talk to her about it already. Upon that, she turned to them all and looked down to everyone like a diamond would usually do.

"I wanna make it clear, I'm not weak," Yellow Diamond made perfectly clear, in spite of her appearance, "I don't care how many times I seemingly have "a bad day", I'm stronger than all of you. Don't forget that. … And promise me you won't breathe a word of this to anyone."

"Oh don't worry, lips are considered zipped," Spinel promised, even zipping her lips herself to be sure. Yellow diamond tried not to laugh again.

"Sure, we'll keep quiet for you," added Starlight.

"Promise," added Rainbow Dash.

"As long as it's helping you out," concluded Steven.
As long as at least THEY didn't actually try and spread the word about this, they should be all good. Yellow didn't want Homeworld to have more reasons to try and keep her from doing things. Rhodonite felt some relief too, even if this promise wasn't focused on her.

"PHEW, okay so now that our silly story is over, we can just go on and forget it even happened," Rhodonite said with a smile.

"Silly story? What're you talking about, we were hooked and you acted like a hero by the end of it," insisted Starlight. Rhodonite immediately flustered, but that opinion was agreed by the others in the crowd.

"ME? No, no, I'm a coward myself. I mean, they didn't even fight, they just ran around," Rhodonite insisted.

"Well maybe you didn't fight, Rhodonite, but surely you can't keep calling yourself a coward after what you did. You saved Yellow Pearl's life," Steven pointed out. Rhodonite again felt a blush coming up, replaying what Lavi did for Yellow Pearl that night with those Leviathans.

"But … Lavi did that without thinking," Rhodonite said. Rhodonite than felt someone wrap their arm around her shoulders, only to see Emerald next to her.

"Give yourself some credit, Rhody: It might not make sense, but HEY, you got the guts to try so that counts for something," Emerald said. "any real coward wouldn't even bother."

"Besides," added Jade, "If you didn't do anything, who knows what would've happen to Yellow Pearl that night. You did a great job, Rhodonite."

"No she didn't," Jasper huffed. Emerald's glare got her to be quiet, but Rhodonite knew what her friends were trying to say.

Standing off nearby, Spinel was finding herself smiling for a bit. It might not be attention to her for the moment, but seeing them act this way despite Rhodonite basically not doing much by the end of the day. The Gem then felt another hand on her shoulder, seeing the one that helped her here in the first place, him having a similar smile.

"You know, once upon a time she would get in big trouble for that. But now …" Spinel said, referring to Rhodonite and her adventure.

"One mistake isn't going to stop their relationship with her, Spinel. They still like her even if she didn't do what she set out to do," Steven said. For a moment, both of them just watched them chat on for a bit, seemingly getting the same idea after a little bit. Spinel spoke first, hands together.

"Steven? I think I'm ready to see your other friends."

"Yeah. Me too."

And the Warp Pad went off. Talk about timing again. Spinel and Steven might've already worked out who was coming back to see them, as the light of the Warp Pad cleared and a few figures could be seen within said Warp Pad. Spinel herself still wondered how quickly they were going to accept her back into the group after what she did to them (and come to think of it, what she did to Flint). Steven though made a silent gesture with a nod and a smile to promise it'll work out, as they saw Bismuth, Flint, and -

"Sapphire. ..." Steven said softly.

"OK, we're back. Sorry it - … Spinel!" said Bismuth. Spinel and Steven could already sense the tension.

"Everything's chill now!" they both said, right at the same time before any weapons could be drawn out.

"Huh? You … remember, by the look of it, but you're not gonna hurt anyone," concluded Flint.

"Cross my Gem, and hope to die! … though I prefer not to. Sorry about my past me bugging you so much, by the way," Spinel said, getting that out of the way before anything else.

"Guys? Is she …" Steven pointed to Sapphire. Bismuth nodded.

"Yep. She's back," Bismuth revealed.

"Steven. …" Sapphire said.

There was a moment of silence between Steven and Sapphire, the blue Gem walking over right to Steven first, even moving her hair aside to see Steven clearly. No injuries anymore, no missing eye, and he looked older and taller than the last time she saw him.
Steven felt his mind start to wander. He still killed her technically back on Homeworld (even if Grogar faked it to torment him more). He still defied her, yelled at her, and took her down just because he wouldn't listen to her or Ruby. He could feel a cold sweat come up, his reassuring expression now gone. Steven took a deep inhale, calming down and ready to talk.

"Okay, I know what you're going to say to me, and you're right: I should've listened to you back on Homeworld. I acted selfish, and destructive, and … I let you down. I'm sorry."

… Sapphire hugged Steven tight.

"You have no idea how much I missed you, Steven. …"

She didn't need to say anything else anymore, and neither did Steven. Steven could feel tears start to come up, but he couldn't leave a hug un-returned, and he gave Sapphire a hug right on back. Steven had been itching to figure out how they would truly react to him, and seeing Sapphire's love come flooding back to him was just the thing he needed. It was only one, but it's a start.
The others could feel some emotion come up too, but Spinel was literally on the verge of just baling, her eyes very watery. But these tears were a good feeling to the Gem.

"H-Hey. Are these emotional moments gonna be a thing?" Spinel asked, smiling. Bismuth rubbed away a tear.

"Yep. And don't worry, you're never gonna get over em," Bismuth replied, giving Spinel a pat on the shoulder.

"... That's good. …"

Author's Note:

Yellow Diamond and Rhodonite double team ……. this is about as opposite as you can get I think. Sorry this took so long, I was trying to get this done before Steven Universe: Future aired, but i guess that didn't happen. Sorry. BTW, had fun seeing the latest episodes of the Epilogue series, go have fun watching them if ya can ^^

I'm HOPING to make one more chapter before December 25th comes, but in case it come up late ... consider this my Christmas episode . Enjoy this chapter. :)

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Is this really the last story in this series?

[Angel Star]

This was a cute and epic chapter! I love how everyone reacted to Spinel being back! It got me everytime! Also, AWWWWwww!!! Rhodonite and her components were so cute and brave! Rescuing Yellow Pearl like that was so cool to see! Speaking of cute, can I just say how adorable Spinel was when she was sleeping with a stuffed toy?! THAT WAS ADORABLE!!!! Finally Steven got to make up with Sapphire. That was so sweet to see! (Now we just need him to make up with Ruby.) Overall, I loved the way this chapter turned out, and I can't wait for more! Keep up the great work!

[EquestrianKirin]

9983011
"My Little Universe II" yes. The last chapter? Not even close

[EquestrianKirin]

9983259
the abords are strong with this one x3

[Shadowshame]

"Of course, my Diamond," Yellow Diamond said, before she sprung off ahead of them, barely even disturbing the sand as she went off ahead to scout the area. Rhodonite just stood there, glancing up towards Yellow Diamond as she crossed her arms, one finger tapping impatiently again.

Shouldn't that be pearl

[EquestrianKirin]

9984999
i'll fix it

[Hexan Tronic]

I noticed, after some thinking, that we haven't seen Amethyst for a while.

[EquestrianKirin]

9989696
Hmm … that's true isn't it? ...

[Hexan Tronic]

9989706
Well, perhaps she is just exploring, or maybe she has gotten up to some mischief.

[EquestrianKirin]

9989710
we'll see. In time