In the Forest

3000 years ago...

Homeworld. A massive gem-like planet inhabited by light-based life forms known as Gems. A beautiful planet full of life, stunning crystal landmarks and shimmering cities. All this beauty, ravaged by war. It's capital, once a bustling city, now lays in ruins. Buildings ripped in half, streets cracked and jagged, signboards broken. The streets were littered with the remains of shards of Gems that had been killed, or as they say, shattered, in the clash. A spectrum of color shimmered on the streets. It would have been beautiful if it wasn't the remains of dead Gems.

A crunching sound could be heard as a group of figures made their way through the ruins. Two figures led the group. One wore a black cloak with a red diamond on the back and had jet black hair and orange eyes that flowed like the magma in a volcano. The other was dark grey with a similar red diamond on the back with buzz-cut black hair and gray eyes. Behind them were massive black and gray figures that towered over them by about 2 or 3 feet. Their lower arms and legs were thick and studded and their eyes glowed a deep green. The one in the gray cloak stopped to crunch the shards beneath his feet. "What a mess," he said. "All this Gempower, wasted."

"You know, we could've taken prisoners," said the other.

"Really? Because I remember the order being, ‘Weapons free. Terminate hostiles with extreme prejudice.’ And they were hostile."

"I suppose."

The gray-hooded figure placed a hand on his partner's shoulder. "Look, Obsidian. I know you're not into hurting Gems, but this is a war. If we falter, we lose. And I'm sure none of our superiors take well to loss." Obsidian turned to his fellow soldier. "Have I ever steered you wrong?"

"I suppose not," Obsidian answered. Suddenly, their attention was drawn to a pile of rubble. The rocks shifted and a glow came from underneath it. A figure with pale emerald skin and eyes emerged from the rubble, wearing a long dark green dress and pale green sandals. Her emerald hair flowed behind her as she emerged.

"Well, well."

The figure froze in fear on her hands and knees. "Oh, um, C-Commander Onyx," she said, the fear obvious in her voice. "I um-"

"Don't even," said Onyx. He raised his hand and one of the giants behind him advanced. The girl tried to run, but the giant's arm extended and grabbed her, pulling her back towards it, kicking and screaming for help. "Please, don't. I'm pretty sure you were the only one lucky enough to survive this massacre." Onyx walked towards the struggling figure in the giant's grip. "Tell me, what is your affiliation to the Crystal Gems?"

"The what?" she answered. Onyx groaned and snapped his fingers. At the command, the giant began to squeeze her. She writhed in pain and tried to scream as she was crushed. "I swear! I don't know what you're talking about!"

"You're with the resistance. The Crystal Gems are the resistance. So, you were helping them by fighting alongside them. What can you tell me about them?"

The girl groaned and struggled. "Even if I were to sell them out, I don't know anything. I'm just a medic! All I do is help the injured!"

"Is that so?" Onyx snapped his fingers again and the giant loosened its grip. "Then, I'll offer you this: come fight for Homeworld, those still loyal to your planet, and I will spare you. Refuse, and you can join your fellow rebels. Your choice."

The girl looked up. "I... Will never... Join you psychopaths!"

Onyx shook his head in disappointment. "What a waste." He raised his hand to give the signal. But...

"Wait!" Onyx turned to Obsidian, who approached him. "This one is more useful to us alive than shattered. She just needs a little... convincing." He snapped his fingers and said, "We'll ask you again soon. For now, you'll need some peace and quiet to think." With that, the giant squeezed with all its force. There was a crack before the girl vanished in a puff of smoke and a loud pop. Obsidian walked up the giant as it opened its hand, revealing a hexagonal emerald in its palm. He placed his hand over it and an ash gray bubble formed around it. He tapped the bubble and it vanished. "Give it a few days."

Onyx smiled. "Ever the optimist." As they proceeded, Obsidian blinks and realized something.

"Oh, fragments!"

Onyx blinked, confused. "What?"

"I forgot to ask for a name."

Present Day...
It was another peaceful day in Ponyville. The townspeople we're going about their daily lives and everything seemed to be in order. Even the pink blur streaking through the town like a bolt of lightning. Slow down the image and inside the blur was a girl with blue eyes and fluffy pink hair that looked like cotton candy. She was wearing a pink tank top, blue jean shorts, and pink sneakers. As she ran from store to store, she accumulated a mound of items: streamers, balloons, ribbons, and a bunch of other party supplies. Once she was done, she stopped in front of Sugar Cube Corner, the local bakery. She pushed open the door and flung the supplies into the room. Oddly enough, they all seemed to fall right into place and organize themselves.

"Nailed it!" she said. Pinkie Pie was the town's resident hyperactive party planner and today, she had been tipped off that someone new was moving into town! "This is gonna be awesome! I can't wait to see the look on his face! Or her face! Whoever it is, they're gonna love this!" Pinkie then hid the items, tucking them into cupboards, folding tables and chairs, and, for some reason, trap doors. As she worked, there was a knock on the door.

"Hi, Pinkie." Pinkie turned around and saw a girl wearing a purple shirt, black skirt with black stockings, and purple shoes. Her dark blue hair had purple and lavender highlights and her purple eyes gleamed under the light. There were a pair of purple wings coming out of her back and purple marks under her eyes.

"Hiya, Twilight," Pinkie greeted back, stuffing a large number of balloons into a compartment in the ceiling.

Twilight was tempted to ask, but knowing Pinkie for as long as she had, she new better. "So, um... I see you're all set?"

"Mhm." Pinkie jumped down in front of Twilight. "Once the person walks through that door, BOOM! Shower of Welcomes!"

"No other attendants? I didn't even get your usual invite."

"Well, once they see him, they’ll all start filing in. That'll give me the signal to get ready to drop the party! Literally!"

Twilight smiled. Pinkie may have been a bit... too much, but she had a good heart and generally loved making people happy. "Well, then, I'll be back in time for the celebration. I need to go check on some things first."

"Okie-dokie-lokie," Pinkie said as Twilight left.

Twilight walked back to the library and picked up her phone as she went through the door. "Hi, Rainbow? Did you get my message? Great! I'll meet you and AJ there." She ran upstairs and grabbed a bag and slung it over her shoulder, filling it with all sorts of measuring and scanning apparatus. "Spike," she called out.

"Yeah?" came a reply from somewhere in the castle.

"I'm going out. Once you're done with the chores, you can have the rest of the day to yourself."

"YES!" The cry of joy echoed through the crystal structure. "I mean, uh, thanks, Twi."

Twilight shook her head as she left. She exited the castle and made her way to the Everfree Forest. As she approached, she noticed two figures in the distance. One was wearing a green plaid shirt, blue jeans, and brown boots. She had lightly tanned skin, blonde hair, and green eyes and had on a pair of thick working gloves, in one of which was a shiny red apple. She also wore a Stetson hat and had a series of marks running down her arm. The other had bright cerise eyes and rainbow hair and wore a blue shirt with a rainbow lightning bolt on the front, gray shorts, and blue sneakers. A pair of goggles hung around her neck, around which were marks that seemed to start from her back.

"Twi, over here," called the blonde with a southern drawl.

"About time," said the other. "We've been waiting for almost ten minutes."

"Well Rainbow, you did arrive almost twenty minutes early," said Twilight.

"Point taken," said the girl.

"Applejack, did you bring what I asked for?"

The blonde cowgirl handed her the apple. "Not sure what this has to do with anything, but if it helps..."

"It does," said Twilight, putting the apple in her bag. "Okay, let's go."

As they made their way through the forest, Rainbow Dash got curious. "So, explain to me again: why are we doing this?"

"Well, I was monitoring magical flows in the area from the castle," she said. "Everything was smooth, but for the last 2 weeks, there have been these mysterious spikes in the energy."

"It's the Everfree Forest. Nothing here is normal."

Twilight answered as she used a spectrometer to check the magic in the area as they walked. "Think of an earthquake. There's the first tremor, then there's the aftershock. In this case, there's always a really big burst of energy, then another, slightly smaller one."

"Any idea what it might be?" asked Applejack.

"Not a clue," answered Twilight. "Nothing I know of should be causing those spikes. And everytime I come in to check, there's nothing to find."

"So what makes taday any different?" AJ asked.

"Simple, I saw a pattern. It's always at a particular time in a particular area. Once I pinpointed the location and noted the time, I decided to try and make it over to see if I could find out anything."

"And you called AJ and I because...?" asked Rainbow.

"You are both the most combat proficient, just in case the cause of the fluctuations is not friendly. Also, Pinkie is busy planning the party and Fluttershy and Rarity wouldn't come in here if they could help it." She had a point. Fluttershy was too scared of the forest and Rarity was too scared the forest would ruin her outfit. Twilight never really liked inconveniencing her friends if she could help it.

Suddenly, she stopped. "What's up, Twi?" asked Applejack.

"Here." Twilight moved forward, slowly counting her steps. Soon, the spectrometer was beeping like a car alarm; loud and annoying. Twilight looked around and saw what she had seen every other day she came here: forest. "What? I don't get it." She hit the device several times until it slipped out of her hand. As she walked over to pick it up, she saw something odd and shiny behind a bunch of bushes.

"Twilight? Did ya find somethin'?" asked Applejack, following the girl. As Twilight pulled back the bushes, the three stared in confusion at the odd structure in front of them. It looked like a round platform made of a shiny white crystal of some kind with diamond-shaped crystalline marks on the corners.

Rainbow Dash, like the others, was confused. "What the...?"

"What is that?" Applejack asked. "Never seen anything like it in all of Equestria."

Twilight pointed the device at the platform. The meter was moving up and down continuously. "It looks like some kind of... teleporter."

"Don't think we've got teleporters yet, Twi, especially not in the Everfree Forest."

"We don't," said Twilight. "It's not Equestrian technology. The magic flow is completely different.” As they were about to move forward to get a closer look, the top of the platform began to glow with a bright white light.

"Something's happening," said Rainbow as she and the girls ran behind the bush. They watched as a pillar of light appeared on the platform. An odd shape began to form in the light. Finally, the light disappeared. Standing on the platform were two figures. They couldn't see very clearly, but one was taller than the other. The taller one had long, back-length electric yellow hair with a blue highlight on the left side tied into a ponytail. The other had even longer bright, wilder amber hair with a red highlight on the right.

"Well, still nothing," said the first figure in a feminine voice. "You're getting paranoid."

The second figure raised its left arm and a holographic screen appeared. "Yeah, well I'm not taking any chances," she said. "Nothing in this forest so far has been particularly friendly."

"Can't argue with you there," said the first as they walked off the platform. However, the amber-haired figure stopped. She turned to look at the platform and tapped it lightly. "Something wrong?" asked her companion.

She thought for a while. "No. Never mind." As they continued walking, the three girls slowly came out of the bush.

"Who were those two?" asked Rainbow.

"They don't look like anyone Ah've ever seen," said Applejack. Twilight remained silent as she quietly tailed the two mysterious people. "Whoa, Twi! Wait up!" After walking for several minutes, Twilight stopped, her eyes so wide they threatened to pop. "Why'd ya- Whoa." Applejack was lost for words at what she saw.

3000 Years ago...

"Well, that left me bored," said Onyx. He and Obsidian sat in the bridge of a massive hand-shaped Gem ship as they made their way back to their HQ. "So, Obsidian? You plan on interrogating our witness?"

Obsidian looked up from the screen in front of him. "If I have to," he said. "Honestly, I wish they would all just give up so we could stop this senseless war."

"Wow," said Onyx. "That... was the sappiest thing I've ever heard you say. And you've said a lot of sappy stuff." Then, the monitor in front of them flickered and a familiar face took the place of the data logs.

"Onyx! Obsidian! Where the karat are you?!"

"Peridot? Haven't seen you in a while," said Onyx. "How've you been?"

"How do you think I've been? You were supposed to send me a report on the performance of the golems. I turn on my monitor and what do I find? YOU DISABLED THEIR BEACONS!!!"

"Relax, Peri. We'll give you the report when we get back. We're five minutes away."

Peridot grumbled. "Great. I could've been using that time to do something more productive, you know?" Onyx stared for a moment and smiled. "What?" Peridot asked with a confused look. Her eyes widened as she put it all together. "No! No! Don't even!"

"Peridot, you know she-"

"ABABABABABABABABABA!" Peridot blocked her ears and ignored him. "Just get back here. Double time!" Onyx laughed as the monitor went off.

"I never get tired of seeing that," he said, wiping a tear away.

"You know, Peridot takes that joke pretty lightly. Not sure if she feels the same way," said Obsidian.

"Oh, come on. Can't say- Op! Never mind! We're here." The ship approached a large, arrowhead-shaped vessel. While their ship looked like a cruiser, this thing was a destroyer, several times its size! The docking bay opened and they landed with assistance from a few Gems.

As they disembarked, they were greeted by a Gem with lime-green skin, and pale greenish-yellow hair styled into a tetrahedron. Her green eyes were shielded by a pale visor and she had a green gem shaped like an upside down triangle on her forehead. She wore a sleeveless green V-neck bodysuit with a yellow diamond on her chest, along with yellow diamond-shaped knee pads. She also had a pair of boots and arm bracers, and the fingers of the bracers were detached, hovering close to the appendage. She stood with her hands on her hips, tapping her feet impatiently.

"Don't say a word, you clod," she said raising her finger to silence Onyx before he could start. Four of the fingers on one arm aligned themselves and formed a screen while the last finger went to work. After a while, the golems on board the ship filed out and headed for her lab. "By the way, the tech division wants to see you," she said as she walked away.

Onyx was about to speak, but Obsidian began towards his destination. "Oh, come on! Not you too!" He followed Obsidian over to the other end of the docking bay and tapped the wall. A door appeared and they stepped into the elevator. Within seconds, they had reached their destination. They walked through the light red crystal halls, which were busy with Gem scientists, who were discussing statistics or carrying records. They stopped in front of one of the doors, which had a red X on it. The mark shot a wave of light and scanned the visitors, after which it turned into the outline of a diamond. The door opened and they stepped into the lab, which was filled with all sorts of equipment, from computers and chambers to an interactive simulation projector.

One person stood in the room in front of a large table, working on some odd device. She was average height and had amber skin and was wearing a sleeveless red top with a yellow diamond symbol on the back, light orange trousers, and bright red shoes. Her hair was a very bright shade of amber with a red, flame-like highlight on the right side that reached the small of her back. A pair of orange arm bracers with yellow fingers shaped like half of a teardrop covered her hands and half her lower arms.

As she worked, a spark erupted from the device, followed by an explosion that covered her face in blue soot. "Oh, for the love of crystals!" she yelled. She lowed a pair of goggles off her face and around her neck and saw the two Gems enter. "Oh, you're here!" She wiped the black off and ran over to the screen. "Come here. I wanna show you something." She placed her hand into what looked like a blank keyboard and her eyes looked like static on a TV. The images on the screen kept shifting until it stopped at the image of a golem.

"It's a golem," Obsidian stated obviously.

"Yes. But..." She did something else and one of the walls became transparent. Behind it was another Gem, slightly taller than her, with darkish yellow skin, fitted yellow leggings under a blue bodysuit with open sides around the midriff with yellow diamond symbol on the chest, and large light orange boots, wider than the figure's legs. Her thick hair was electric yellow with a blue, lightning bolt highlight on the left and was tied in a ponytail, but still reached just below her shoulder blades. She was lying down in the middle of the room. "Ful? You're up!"

The Gem heard her and quick to get up. A hole opened in the floor in front of her and a golem popped out, but this one was different. This one was dark gray with red circuit lines running through its lower arms and legs and torso. Its eye was a single diamond in the middle of its dome-shaped face. The Gem inside clicked her heels together and her lower legs began to glow. The boots grew and when she stomped her heels back to the ground, the light vanished with a pop. Her boots were now slightly larger with two small pistons attached to the back at an angle and yellow lightning bolts decorated the sides. She jumped at the golem, an electric spark trailing behind her, and slammed her foot into the golem's chest. She landed and jumped again, this time performing a rapid helicopter kick. The third time, she landed on her hands and spun, building momentum, then kicked out, sending a burst of electricity at the golem, which exploded on contact. However, as when smoke cleared, the golem appeared unscathed. Ful gave a thumbs up.

"So the golem is harder. Big deal," said Onyx. "Most of our current models can withstand that kind of assault already."

"I'm not all that impressed," Obsidian agreed.

"Well, I haven't even gotten to the best parts," said Amber, "emphasis on the plural." She removed her hand from the board and worked on the screen over her bracers. The golem's eye lit up and it raised its hand, producing a circular shield with a red diamond on the front. Amber kept tapping buttons and the golem fired its free hand like a rocket, barely missing Ful, and crashing into the wall on the other side of the test room. The hand returned and reattached itself.

"Okay, now I'm a bit more impressed," Obsidian said, nodding his head.

"How did you do this?" asked Onyx.

"So, remember one of our old colonies? Some planet called Equestria?"

"Yeah," said Onyx.

"And you remember our work with the Crystal City?"

"I was stationed there for a while," said Obsidian.

"Well turns out the crystals there are more useful than we thought. The concentration of magic energy in the area had some... interesting effects on the gemstones that formed there."

"Interesting indeed," Onyx said. "You plan to make more?"

"Wish we could," said Fulgurite as she came out of the room through a door that appeared. "But there is a problem."

"That being?" Obsidian asked.

"We don't have any more."

"So?” questioned Onyx. “Just go back to the planet and get some more. Easy."

"Not that simple," said Amber. "The beacon I placed there? They stopped sending out signals."

Onyx pondered for a moment. "Meaning?"

"Meaning fail safe Protocol C13AR was activated." Onyx stared blankly. "It's not there anymore and we have no way to access it." Onyx stared blankly. "Give someone power for a few years and they make everything go poof!"

"So, what? We've only got this one prototype?"

"Pretty much," said Fulgurite.

Onyx was ready to explode, but Obsidian spoke first. "Is it combat ready?"

Amber shook her head. "We still need to run diagnostics on the material and test its reaction to certain environments. And that could take a while."

Onyx was furious. "So we have a first-class war machine... But we can't use it... So what's the point?!"

Amber placed her hand back in the board and sealed off the chamber. "If there was anything we could do to speed this up, we would."

Onyx cried out in exasperation and stormed out. Obsidian looked between the two. "At least record the tests involving it destroying stuff," he said. “If nothing else, that’ll make the higher-ups happy.”

"I'll see what I can do." As soon as Obsidian left, an alarm went off on the screen. Amber quickly shut it off and checked. A list of data and video logs appeared on the screen. "Okay, Fulgurite," she said as her partner joined her next tot the computer. "Let's see what Homeworld's been hiding."

First Contact

View Online

Onyx and Obsidian stood in front of a large screen, reporting the massacre to their superiors. On the screen were three black figures, side by side on the screen with a different background: one yellow, one blue, and one white. "So, only one survivor?" said the yellow.

"Yes," said Obsidian. "I contained her and transported her to the holding chamber."

"And you're certain that all others were shattered?" asked the yellow.

"Without a doubt," answered Onyx. "We were around for long enough. If any of them were alive, they would've come back out while we were there."

"And if one was just buried under the rubble? Waiting quietly for you to leave?"

"The tech division did a very good job with the golem's scanners."

"Well done, then," said the white one.

"Not yet," said the red. "I'd like you to keep an eye on our tech department."

"Is something wrong?" asked Obsidian.

"No. Not yet. But I expect that if there is something wrong, you two will be on top of it."

The two Gems looked at each other and nodded in compliance. "Absolutely."

As soon as they left, the two began to ponder over the situation. "The tech department?" asked a confused Onyx. "What? Are they playing both sides?"

"I don't know myself," said Obsidian. "But if the higher-ups are suspicious, we should probably keep an eye on them."

Present day...

The girls could hardly believe their eyes. "What the..."

"That doesn't belong here."

"Eenope."

The girls were staring at what looked like a giant arrowhead-shaped shuttle, big enough to be a cruiser, but slightly smaller. It was a light orange color with no visible doors, windows, or anything; it looked like a giant solid structure!

"That... is definitely not Equestrian technology," said Rainbow.

"Equestria's aerospace division has never made anything this aerodynamic," said Twilight, staring in awe at the craft. As she stared at the wonder, the two mystery figures were spotted at the ship. The girls moved forward to get a better view. Now they could see that one had sandy skin while the other's was more pale amber.

"So, you're sure about this?" asked the yellow figure.

"Of course I am," said the orangish figure. She pressed her hand against the side of the ship and an entrance appeared. "Now come on."

"Right behind ya." As the two entered, the girls rushed forward, but missed the entrance by that much.

"Wait, what?" Rainbow asked in confusion, looking for the door. "It was right..."

"What did they do?" asked Applejack, feeling the side of the ship. It was cold, like a stone, but felt like it was... vibrating?

"I think they touched something," said Twilight. It was hard to know what, seeing as the entire ship looked like it was just carved out of a giant gemstone. They felt every inch of the ship around the area they saw the figures.

Finally, Rainbow got lucky. "Got it!" The entrance opened up and the girls looked inside. It was barely visible, with only a few dim orange lights to light the way. They proceeded cautiously through the structure, keeping an eye out for anything... odd. Soon, the hall ended and they arrived at the entrance to a large room that looked like the brig. They looked around and stepped inside. Suddenly, the lights came on, brightening the room. The controls were more advanced than anything they had ever seen before, and Equestria had some fairly complicated stuff itself.

"What in tarnation is this?" Applejack asked, picking up what looked like a blank keyboard.

"Whoa! Check it out!" Rainbow Dash drew their attention to a large screen with a giant hole the size of a beach ball in it.

"Ah don't think Ah even wanna know," said Applejack. They heard a shuffling noise and turned to one of the opened doors. They crept slowly over to the door and kept against the wall. There was a flash of light, followed by an explosion and chunks of orange flying across the room. The girls looked at each other before looking around the corner and saw the two figures enter the room through the hole in the wall. The girls turned the corner and followed them through the hole. Now, they were in a storage room, full of odd-looking capsules and containers. The orange figure was rummaging through a tall box.

"Find it yet?" asked the yellow figure.

"Gimme a sec... Got it!" She jumped out holding a cubical object about half the size of a shoebox. "He's gonna be soooo happy!"

"I'm happy!" said the yellow figure, hugging her companion.

The two began to make their way back out and the girls realized, "They're coming this way!" The three ran back out the way they came and they were almost at the brig when, suddenly...

"Going somewhere?" Standing at the entrance to the brig was a slender girl with sandy yellow skin, electric blue eyes, and back-length yellow hair. She was wearing a yellow long-sleeved crop top with blue and orange accents, electric blue shorts, and yellow boots with blue lightning bolt designs. Two yellow half lightning bolt-shaped gemstones shone on her knees. "Y'know, it's not nice to follow people to their secret spot."

The girls tensed up. "How did you know?" asked Twilight.

"Are you kidding? I could sense you guys the moment we got into the forest." The girl didn't move. She stood at the entrance, not exactly blocking their path, but it was one of those situations. They had seen too much; she wasn't going to just let them leave... Right? Rainbow, however, was not going to wait to find out. She darted for the door at high speed, a rainbow trail behind her. However, as she reached the door, the girl pulled out her leg and tripped Rainbow, sending her careening into the already smashed monitor. "Yeah, nope. Points for effort, though."

"RAINBOW!!!" The others ran over to Rainbow Dash, the girl letting them pass. As they helped Rainbow to her feet, the girl came down into the brig.

"So, mind explaining why you were following us?" asked the girl.

"I think the better question is what you're doing here," said Twilight. "This stuff... This technology... It's not from our world."

"Nope," said another voice. The girls saw another figure walk out. She was slightly shorter than the other girl and had light amber skin, bright yellow eyes, and back-length bright amber hair with pink highlights at the ends tied into a ponytail. She wore an orange sleeveless crop top with a yellow star, a yellow scarf, red trousers, and orange high-top shoes. She also had on a pair of arm bracers that looked like half cylinders and a pair of belts across her waist. On her navel was an orangish gemstone that looked like a flame.

"And you are?" Twilight asked.

"Actually, you were sneaking up on us," she said. "So shouldn't you be explaining who you are?"

"Well, this is kinda close to our home and you're clearly not from around here," reasoned Applejack.

"Doesn't mean you were right to be spying on us."

Applejack sighed. "Point taken. Ah'm Applejack."

"My name is Twilight Sparkle. This is Rainbow Dash," said Twilight. Rainbow only grumbled and glared at the yellow-haired figure.

"My name is Amber. That's my friend, Fulgurite," Amber said, gesturing to the girl at the door, who was now on the other side of the room.

"I've never seen cutie marks like that," Twilight said, pointing to the flame-like stone on Amber's stomach.

"Oh, this isn't a cutie mark. I'm not Equestrian," said Amber.

"Well, that makes a little bit more sense. None of this technology looks like anything on our world."

"Then, what are ya?" Applejack asked.

"Gems," responded Amber.

The three girls stare blankly. "Gems?" asked Applejack is disbelief. "Like gemstones?"

Amber thought for a moment. "Um, well, yes. But no. It's a bit complicated." Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow.

"Well would ya mind uncomplicating it?"

"Not like, "gem" gems you find in the ground and use for jewelry and stuff. In ley terms, we're polymorphic, sentient beings whose gemstone is pretty much the equivalent to a heart and soul of other living things...well, we’re basically what you would call aliens. We’re an extraterrestrial species of sentient Gems who can project and manipulate their physical forms ."

Applejack and Twilight stared with wide eyes, their faces showing a combination of shock, disbelief, confusion, and amazement all at once. Rainbow Dash, however, seemed skeptical.

"Uh-huh.So, you’re talking space rocks." Rainbow Dash was not buying it.

"You don't believe me?"

"You expect me to believe that you guys are some kind of... living rock? Yeah, I'd first believe Pinkie Pie not throwing a Party for every new arrival."

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight said with a disapproving tone.

"What? First, you trip and send me flying into a wall. Then you expect me to buy a story about being ‘sentient rocks’?! Seriously?!"

Amber thought of a way to convince her, but was distracted by an odd whirring noise. She looked around. "Um, you guys didn't step on any cracked panels on your way here, right?"

"Huh?" Twilight looked confused. "Not sure. Why?"

"Because those cracks activate the security system." They turned to the door when they heard footsteps so loud, it sounded more like stomping. From one of the entrances, they could see a red diamond-shaped light drawing closer to the door."

"Wait, security?" Applejack asked, concerned. "But this here's your ship. Can't ya just deactivate it?"

Fulgurite looked sheepishly. "Er, well, about that..." Before she could explain, a massive grey figure with a red diamond-shaped eye stood at the door.

"Gah! What is that?!" asked Twilight.

"A golem," Fulgurite said, clicking her heels together and summoning her boots. She jumped at the golem and kicked, but was blocked by its hand. The pistons on the back pushed forward, throwing the golem back. "Okay. We need to leave."

"No," Amber said. "We need to deal with it. If it gets out, a lot of people are gonna get hurt."

Fulgurite groaned and jumped as the golem's fist slammed into the ground beneath her. She came down with an axe kick, sending the golem crashing through the floor. "I'm sure that should hold it," she said, looking down at the hole.

"Let's just make sure," Amber said. She cupped her hands together and as she drew them apart, a bright yellow orb with an orange center began to form. "Do we need anything else?"

Fulgurite looked up in thought. "Nope. But I'm pretty sure the cargo bay will survive." Amber nodded and tossed the orb down. "Now, shall we?" She darted out, leaving a yellow lightning trail.

"We need to leave," Amber said the the girls. They ran through the corridor and out the entrance, which Amber sealed behind them. "Stay close together," she said. She opened her arms and an orange sphere formed around them.

"Wait, what's this for?" Rainbow's question was answered by the massive explosion of orange smoke, rock, and fire that erupted and shattered the ship. "Whoa!"

Amber let down the bubble and walked over to the debris and stood, like she was waiting for something. Which she was. Soon, the golem erupted from the wreckage, but its time was short as a pointed lock of Amber's hair pierced the creature's chest. It looked down, then up, then made something like a cry before exploding into a cloud. Amber reached down and covered the red stone left behind in a bubble... before compressing the sphere and crushing the rock. She turned to look at the three girls, who had utterly confused expressions. "So, can anyone you know do that?"

"I... But... Wait, what?" Twilight was confused and lost for words.

"Yeah. Look..." Fulgurite said, running around the wreckage. When she stopped, a large electric fence made entirely of arcing lightning surrounded the pieces. "For your own safety, stay away from this area," she continued, walking away. "Oh, and, uh, stop spying on people. It's not nice." She and Amber took off, leaving the other three in a state of absolute confusion.

"Okay, would someone mind explainin' to me what the heck just happened?" asked Applejack.

"I don't think any of us understood, AJ," Twilight said.

Rainbow looked around. “I'm still not buying the whole, ‘sentient rock’ thing."

Questions

View Online

On the outskirts of Ponyville, there was a fairly large house overlooking the town. Not a lot of people noticed, but the house seemed to have been built into a mountain. Only, this wasn't a mountain; it was a Gem Temple!

Inside the house were two figures: one pinkish red skin, long purple hair and blue eyes. His one-piece suit was dark red with pink stars on the knees and elbows. He sat on the kitchen counter, munching on a bag of chips. In the living room opposite and adjoined to the kitchen, sat another figure with ashy fair skin, jet black hair, and bright orange eyes. This one wore a grey one-piece suit with black accents and orange lines running through the armor on his torso like magma flows. On his shoulders and lower arms was black armor with an orange star on the chest and forearms respectively, and he had a black gem in the shape of a diamond on the back of each of his hands. He sat down, cross-legged as he meditated, scented candles around him in a circle of zen.

"So, how long do you intend to do this for?" asked the pinkish figure. The other did not reply. "Dude, we've been playing this game for a pretty long time. You can only ignore me for so long." Still no reply. The figure smiled devilishly as he crumpled the chips pack noisily, folding and unfolding it, making as much noise as possible. The meditating figure was losing patience fast, his eye twitching in annoyance. In one swift motion, he shot out his arm and an orange wave flew towards the source of the noise. The figure dropped the now burning pack sharply so as not to get burned. "Ha! Broke your focus! Now you have to talk! I told you, Obsidian. I'm experienced."

Obsidian sighed. "Tourmaline, you're skill for annoying every living thing that comes your way knows no bounds."

"I know," Tourmaline replied proudly. At that moment, someone walked through the door. He was a young boy of about 11 or 12 with peachy skin and bright pink eyes and red hair. He wore a pair of jeans, a white shirt with a pink eight-point star, a red hooded vest with a similar pattern on the back, and sneakers. On his back was a backpack with the picture of some ponies and a rainbow behind them with the words "FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC" printed beneath them.

"Hi guys," he greeted.

"Hey, Dawn," Tourmaline replied.

"Hello Dawn," replied Obsidian. "How was your day?"

"It was great! There was this super cool girl who threw a party for me just because I came into the town to see a friend!" Dawn Beryl was one of the most excitable kids you could ever meet. Occasionally, it overwhelmed everyone around him, but his heart was always in the right place and everyone loved him for it.

"Interesting."

"Oh, did you bring back some cake for me?" Tourmaline asked. "There was cake, right?"

"Yes," Dawn said, reaching into his bag, "And yes," he said again, pulling out a piece of cake wrapped in foil.

"WOOHOO! Cake!" Tourmaline reached out for the cake and took it from Dawn. As he did, there was a light from the back of the house where it ceased to be wooden floors and walls and was suddenly all solid crystal. The warp pad had been activated. Dawn watched excitedly as the figure materialized in place. It was fairly tall, the tallest in the room, standing at a solid 6'2". It had long back-length white hair which was spiked up five ways in front and pale golden eyes and skin and wore a fitted bodysuit with a pale yellow sleeveless top, red bottoms, and yellow boots. A pair of black fingerless gloves adorned its hands and a large eight-point star was cut into the lower part of the torso, revealing a yellow gemstone shaped like a bullet.

"Pyrite!" Dawn ran towards the massive figure who picked him up effortlessly and spun him around.

"Hello, Dawny," said Pyrite, holding him out. "How was your trip into town?"

"It was great! There was a party!"

Pyrite pulled him him for a bear hug. "So I’m guessing you had fun?"

"I did. In fact," he said as he hopped out of her arms and pulled out a piece of paper from his backpack. "The girl who set everything up even invited me to come back whenever! Look, she drew me a map!" Pyrite took the map and smiled. She was always happy when Dawn was happy.

"Wait, what do you need a map for?" asked Tourmaline. "The town isn't very far from here and you already know the place-" He was silenced by Obsidian stuffing the cake into his mouth.

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself," said Obsidian.

"Speaking of which," Pyrite said, stretching, "I'm heading in. If anyone needs me, I'll be in my room." She walked over to the large door in the wall behind them. Her gem lit up, as did a corresponding light on the door before it opened for her and closed behind her.

"Aw. I wanna go to my room too." Dawn walked over to the door, which did not respond to his presence.

Meanwhile, in Ponyville...

As Twilight and her friends sat in Sugarcube Corner, the former couldn't help but worry about the "Gems" she, Rainbow, and Applejack ran into earlier. Who were they, really? Where did they come from? What were they doing there? How did they have such advanced technology? Her head was swimming with questions.

"I'm still not buying the whole "sentient rock" thing," said Rainbow.

"Ah'm just surprised at how strong they were," said Applejack. "And it looked ta me like one of 'em could control her hair."

"What?!" Pinkie burst out of the kitchen in surprise, holding a variety of kitchen utensils in the curly locks of her cotton-candy hair.

"Er... Never mind." Applejack looked at Twilight. "Before Ah even start tryin' to grasp this, is any of it possible? Livin' rocks?"

"Well, we have golems," said Twilight. "Speaking of which, that golem they fought; it didn’t look like any golem I've ever seen before."

"You mean aside from the weird noise it made and the fact that it turned into dust when the red one beat it?" Rainbow pointed out.

"There are a lot of things wrong." Twilight reached into her pocket and pulled out a round chunk of blue stone. "For one thing, the stone it's made of is... unusual."

"Whoa! Where'd you get that?" Rainbow asked, leaning in to get a closer look. "I thought they took the pieces."

"This isn't from that golem. My guess is there was another one inside the ship when it blew up. The force of the blast must've knocked it out of the yellow girl’s radius when she made the fence." She turned it around in her hand. "The crystalline structure is way more durable than any ordinary stone and there seems to be some kind of unnatural energy flowing through the grains."

"Uh-huh," Rainbow said. "Yeah, I just wanna see it." She reached for it, but Twilight pulled it closer to herself and out of Rainbow's reach.

"No! We don't know anything about this thing!"

"I just want to hold it, Twi, not shoot lightning at it. Sheesh."

Twilight was uncomfortable, but handed the stone over to Rainbow. As she observed the stone, a young woman entered the bakery. She had long purple hair tied into an elegant curl and blue eyes. She wore a white shirt with purple capris and black shoes. "Hello, girls."

"Hiya, Rarity," Applejack greeted.

"Hey Rarity," said Twilight.

"How're you all doing today?" she asked as she sat down with them.

"Well, that depends."

"On what?" As she asked, her attention was drawn to the jewel in Rainbow's hand. "My word! Where on Gaia did you find that marvelous sapphire?"

"Huh?" Rainbow was drawn away from the gem. "Oh, long story." She noticed the look in Rarity's eye. "Don't bother. You can't use it for any of your clothes."

"What? But why not?" Rarity asked.

"Because it could be dangerous," Twilight said, levitating the stone from Rainbow's hand and putting into her bag. "I need to run some tests to see exactly what it is we found."

"Oh, come now," said Rarity. "How dangerous could it be?"

"We got it from a golem from the Everfree Forest with several properties that made it different from any other golem that walks this land."

Rarity backed up. In that single sentence, there were three solid point why she should probably trust Twilight's judgement. "Very well. But if and when it's cleared your tests, I get to use it?"

Twilight groaned. "Fine."

Dawn sat down on his bed, waiting. Amber and Fulgurite had said they were going to get him something he might like the next time they went out. Impatiently, he got up and went down. He saw Tourmaline sleeping on the couch. "I thought Gems don't need sleep," Dawn said, tapping Tourmaline.

"We don't," he responded sleepily. "But it feels nice. Now leave me!" He gently lifted Dawn and moved him over.

Dawn groaned. He was about to head outside when the warp pad started to glow and a white light shot up. Amber and Fulgurite materialized on the platform. "Okay, I'm just saying," Fulgurite said, stepping off the platform, "We don't need to worry. I doubt they'll be going back there. No one in their right minds wou-"

"Ahem." The two Gems saw Dawn tapping his foot, a look of feigned impatience on his face.

"Oh, Dawn. Sorry, we got held up," Amber explained as she stepped of the warp pad, but she slipped on the edge. As she was prepared to hit the ground, she felt something catch her. She opened her eyes and saw Fulgurite standing over her, holding her. The two stared into each other's eyes and laughed.

"Yeesh. Good in a fight, but two left feet every other time," Fulgurite teased as she helped Amber to her feet.

"Hey, get off my back," Amber said. "It's not like I trip over a chips bag every..." Amber realized it. There was an empty chips bag on the warp pad.

Fulgurite's eye twitched. "Are... Are those from my stash?" She turned to stare at a, now awake, Tourmaline, who stared back. Fulgurite's stare became a glare and her hair started to rise as electricity arced around her. "TOURMALINE!!!"

"Whoops! Look at the time," Tourmaline said, looking at his wrist. "I just remembered I have that... thing... back at... the place... BYE!" He bolted out the door as a bolt of lightning flew past him and singed the wall behind the sofa.

Fulgurite walked to the door and called out, "I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE!!!"

"Ful," Amber called. Fulgurite calmed down and walked back. Amber looked back to Dawn. "We got something for you."

Dawn's face stretched into an anxious smile.

Amber reached into her hair for something, but then looked confused. "What the..."

"What?" asked Fulgurite.

"I can't find it."

"What do you mean you can't find it?"

"Hold on." Amber flipped her back-length mop of hair over her face and sifted through it. "Hold on. I think... Nope. Wait... Yes!" She flipped her hair back and revealed a cube in her hand.

"WHOOAAA!!!" Dawn was excited, obviously, even though he had no idea what it was. Which he soon realized. "What is it?!"

Amber handed him the cube. "Press the top and find out," she said. "It's very... special." Dawn had a huge smile on his face as he stared at the cube. He tapped the top of the cube and held his breathe.

Nothing happened. "Huh?" He looked confused, but then smiled. "Is this a prank? Was this supposed to distract me while you got the real "thing" you brought back for me?"

Amber raised an eyebrow. "Huh. That's odd." She leaned in to look at the cube. "Try hitting it harder." He did. Still nothing. He tried hammering it with his fist again. As his hand hit it, several lines appeared on the block. Suddenly, there was a dim flash and a shockwave that blew their hair back.

"Whoa!" Fulgurite stared wide eyed at the box, then sharply snatched it from Dawn's hand. "Okay. That wasn't supposed to happen."

"Wait, what was supposed to happen?" Dawn asked.

"It was supposed to be a video log from..." Amber started, but lost her train of thought. "Don't worry. We'll get you two things next time we go out. Ful, can we talk?" The two made their way to the door. Amber's gem glowed and the door opened for them. Once again, Dawn stood, confused. He heard a creak and looked back to see Tourmaline at the door.

"So, is she gone?"

Back in Ponyville, Twilight sat in her castle study, observing the cryptic blue stone. The formation, the structure, its resonance; it was like nothing she had ever seen, and she'd seen a lot!

"Hmmm." She stared at the stone through a microscope. "Hey, Spike? Could you pass me the tuning fork?"

A young boy of about twelve years of age with green eyes and green hair wearing a purple hoodie and green shorts brought the tuning fork to Twilight. The odd thing about him? His skin was rather scaley and purple.

"I can't believe you're making me do this," he said.

"Spike, I couldn’t let you eat this even if I wanted to," Twilight replied, taking the tuning fork. "We don't know what it is or what it'll do to you if you ate it."

"It's a gem and it'll help get rid of my hunger," he deadpanned. Twilight tapped the stone with the fork and listened in to the sound. "Hear that? That's the sound of ripe aquamarine that should be going into my belly right about now!”

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Spike, this is a sapphire."

"Nope. That's an aquamarine," he insisted. "A hundred years in the ground, treated with some serious sunlight under 5000 feet of seawater. Trust me Twi, I know these things."

Twilight couldn't doubt that. Being a dragon, Spike had an almost encyclopedic knowledge of every gem he has ever seen, tasted, and heard of! She looked for a while, then flipped it over. Her eyes widened in amazement. "SPIKE! YOU'RE RIGHT!"

"I know I am," he said, his proud statement going unnoticed as Twilight scrambled through a book, looking between it and the stone.

"There's an inconsistency in the structure. Almost as if it was forcefully turned into an aquamarine!"

“Wait, how do mean forcefully?”

“It's like the stone was something else, possibly an emerald, but its structure was modified to look like an aquamarine. But why? And how?” Twilight groaned in frustration. Then, she had an idea. “Wait…” She packed up her equipment and grabbed a bag, tossing the stone inside, and headed out.

“Where're you going?” asked Spike.

“To go look for the only people that can give me answers.”

“You wanna WHAT?!” Applejack was not seeing the sense in Twilight’s idea. “Twi, Ah get yer curious ‘n’ all, but they warned us ta stay away. And Ah’m pretty sure they also meant, ‘No snoopin’ around.’”

“Come on, Applejack,” Twilight pleaded. “You're not even a little bit curious?”

“Eenope.”

Twilight sighed. “Fine. You don't have to come, but you're not stopping me from going.” With that, she walked off the farm and towards the forest.

Twilight soon found herself back where she, Rainbow, and Applejack had first met the Gems. She made her way to the odd crystal platform they had used to teleport. “So, how does this work?” she wondered as she stepped onto the platform. “Hm… Take me so the last known location this was used to go to.” She waited, but the platform didn't respond to her command. “Of course it wouldn't be that easy.” She stepped off and looked closely at it. She walked around it, hoping to find something that could give her an idea of how to use it. She took a step back to inspect it from a distance, but suddenly, it activated. Pyrite materialized as the light vanished and looked down to see Twilight.

“Huh? Wait, are you the girl Amber and Fulgurite saw before? What are you doing back here?” she asked.

Twilight stared in awe at the figure. The only other person taller than she was was probably Big Mac; this Gem was actually a bit taller than Applejack. Shaking herself out of her dazed, she said, “Well, I got curious about everything that happened and wanted to come get some answers.”

Pyrite looked at her and sighed. “Look, you seem pretty smart. So you should know that we are not something you want to be involved with. And right now, I'm a bit too busy to explain the million and one reasons why.” With that, she darted of towards the wreckage of the ship. Twilight teleported to the said location and watched as the Gem rummaged through the wreckage. “Where is it? Where is it?!” She tossed a chunk of whatever the ship was made off out of the way, revealing a blue cylinder. She tipped it over and a blank, dark purple scroll that looked like it had been scorched slipped out and into her hand. She ran back to the warp pad, with Twilight in pursuit.

“Wait,” called Twilight, chasing after the Gem.

“Look, I don't have time for this. Just go back home!” The Gem landed on the warp pad and activated it. As the Gem was teleported, Twilight ran towards the portal and jumped, slipping into the stream before it vanished.

“So she ran off back ta the forest,” Applejack finished, explaining to Rainbow Dash and Rarity what Twilight had decided to do.

“Well, that's just great,” said Rainbow. “And she didn't even take Spike?”

“He wasn't with ‘er when she left.”

“Honestly, for someone who seems to plan everything before doing anything, she really didn't think this through, did she?” Rarity said.

“Nope.”

“Wait,” Rainbow said, realizing something. “How is she going to find them? I doubt she can use whatever that teleporter thingy is. Or does she plan on sitting in the bush until one of those… whatever they are, decides to go there again?”

“Ah don't even think that'll work,” said Applejack. “They blew up their ship, remember? Ah doubt there's anything they're goin’ back for there.”

“So, should we follow her?” asked Rainbow.

“Well, we can't just leave her roaming the Everfree Forest by herself, now can we?” Rarity said in response.

“Okay, fine,” Applejack said, begrudgingly agreed.

Twilight had teleported many times, but this was different. It felt more like being thrown across space at lightspeed than actually just zipping from Point A to Point B. As she materialized, she slammed onto the cold, hard surface of the warp pad and groaned.

“Are you kidding me?” Pyrite said in disbelief, seeing the girl next to her.

“What… Where…?” Twilight looked around. They appeared to be in some kind of room… with no walls. The floor and ceiling where made of some kind of pale blue stone and several pillars made of a similar material surrounded the room, supporting the ceiling… Or they would be. One side of the room seemed to have collapsed and a lot of the pillars were either chipped, cracked, broken, or otherwise damaged, some completely broken and not at all supporting the structure. It was a wonder the whole thing was still standing. “Where are we?”

“Somewhere you shouldn't-” Pyrite was cut off by an unnatural shriek. She and Twilight turned and saw two other Gems fighting what looked like a giant mass of smoke. One Gem with pinkish red skin and a dark red bodysuit swung his hammer, knocking the smoke creature back. The other swung the swords attached to the back of his hands and knocked it further back against a pillar. He turned around and spotted his comrade.

“Pyrite! Did you get it?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she called back, holding up the blank scroll. “Can you and Tour lure it over here?”

“Wait, back?” Tourmaline asked. “We've been trying to keep it as far away from the warp pad as possible!”

She looked down at Twilight and sighed. “I'll take you back once this is over. For now, could you hold this?” She handed Twilight the scroll.

Twilight looked for a moment. She could help and hope they thank her by giving her some answers, or… “Sure. IF you agree to answer my questions when this is over.”

Pyrite looked in disbelief. “Are you kidding me?”

“Well, you need my help, right?”

“I just need you to hold this scroll while I-”

“So you do need my help.”

Pyrite groaned. “Good grief, girl. You're worse than… Fine. You get three questions.” Twilight smiled and took the scroll from her and stepping away from the pad.

“WHAT’S TAKING SO LONG?!” Tourmaline cried out, pushing the smoke monster back.

“Okay. It wants to get to the warp pad so much?” She punched her fists together and a light shined over them. It expanded and the light popped, revealing a pair of gauntlets. There were odd semi-cones over the knuckles and a pair coming out the back, the open ends of both pointing away from the glove. A rather small disk sat in the middle, the edges touching the tips of the semi-cones. She punch them together again. “Let him try to get it.”

With that, Obsidian and Tourmaline moved out of the way as the monster charged at Pyrite, who leaned back for a punch. The cones at the back pulled out. Once the monster was right in front of her, she threw her arm forward and the cones collapsed back in like pistons. The force of the blow completely scattered the creature, spreading its cloud form across the area. Twilight covered her eyes and nose, as she had no idea whether or not it was safe to breath.

“Hey! The scroll!” Twilight tossed the scroll over to her. Luckily, Pyrite had a long reach as Twilight was not a good thrower. She caught it and opened it as she took a step forward. As the smoke began to reconstitute, it was sucked into the scroll, painting a picture as it went. Once it was done, the once blank scroll now had the, fairly disturbing, image of a hand and multiple eyes on the layout. Twilight cringed when she saw the image. “Well, that takes care of it,” said Pyrite.

“What took you so long?” asked Obsidian.

“I got… held up.” She looked back to Twilight, drawing the others’ attention to her.

“An intruder?” asked Obsidian.

“More like ‘wanderer passing a restricted and dangerous area and then coming back again’,” Pyrite said.

“Possible spy?” Obsidian got into a fighting stance, the gems on the back of his hands glowed and projected a pair of black blades. Twilight jumped and ran behind a fallen pillar.

“Nah. Like I said, wrong place, wrong time, but still coming back.”

Obsidian narrowed his eyes and gave Twilight a look that said, “I'm watching you.”

“Huh. Where'd you find her?” asked Tourmaline.

“Amber and Fulgurite saw her at the ship yesterday, along with two others. She was back at the same place when I went back to get the scroll.”

“And where are the other two?” asked a still suspicious Obsidian.

“They're not here!” Twilight said. “They didn't come with me.”

“Uh-huh. Likely story.”

“Look, she's just curious,” said Pyrite.

“Curiosity has led to... many problems,” Obsidian replied.

“Obsidian, don't.” Pyrite looked back to Twilight. “Okay, you've got three questions. Choose wisely.”

Twilight pulled out a pen and notepad. “What exactly are you? You're not Equestrian. Your friend told us you were, um… aliens.”

“She's not too far off,” Pyrite replied. “We're from an entirely different planet of sentient creatures whose gemstone is pretty much the equivalent of a soul.”

“Okay. Where did you come from?”

“Homeworld. That's our native planet.”

“Homeworld? That's what it's called?”

“Are you sure that's what you want your last question to be?”

“Wait!” Twilight thought hard. She needed to be careful about what she asked next.It needed to be meaningful. It needed to give her insight on what they were… “Why are you here?”

Pyrite smiled at the question. “To help, of course.”

Twilight frowned. “That’s it, huh?”

“That was your last question, you don’t get another one,” Obsidian said, stepping forward.

“Chill, Obsidian,” Pyrite said, stopping him. She looked back to Twilight. “Look, um…”

“Twilight. Twilight Sparkle.”

“Twilight. Look, I get you're curious and everything, but there are some things that are best left unknown. We're not here to hurt anyone. Trust me.”

Those last words caught Twilight. Despite the innumerable number of questions she had, she somehow felt compelled to trust Pyrite. “O… Kay. Um…”

“Pyrite.”

“Pyrite. Thank you for answering. Now, um… I don't suppose you can give me a lift home, seeing as I have no idea where in the wide land of Equestria we are.”

“This used to be the Lunar Sea Spire,” Pyrite explained.

“Pyrite…” Obsidian said. He was not enjoying this.

“It was an oasis for Gems… Back when it wasn't falling apart.”

“What happened?”

“Long story short, the piece holding the whole place together went missing. It's only a matter of time before the whole thing comes down.”

“And that?” Twilight pointed to the scroll.

“Um… You don't want to know.”

Pyrite, Tourmaline, Obsidian, and Twilight stepped onto the warp pad and it activated. All the while, however, Obsidian glared at Twilight… and at Pyrite.

Night Unleashed

View Online

Obsidian, Tourmaline, and Pyrite warped back to the house. Tourmaline went straight to the fridge, while Pyrite sat down on the couch. She looked around and said, “I guess Dawn isn't back yet.” She felt an unusual heat over her and immediately knew what was happening. “So, what's got you steamed?” she asked, looking at an angry Obsidian.

“You shouldn't have done that,” said Obsidian. “The less these people know about us, the better.”

“What did you expect me to do?” Pyrite responded. “Kill her? Imprison her?”

“You should have at least made it to where she won't come looking for us again. Scare her, intimidate her, threaten her; anything it takes to keep her and the others away.”

“Oh yeah, great idea,” Pyrite mocked. “And when a whole mob of angry Equestrians come looking for the scary Gem monsters who threatened a girl, what do you propose we do?”

“That may happen regardless! Now that you've told her about us, she'll tell others. And how do you expect them to react to learning about powerful aliens living on their planet? You've put all of us at risk, especially Dawn!”

Pyrite processed his last statement, confused. “What are you talking about?”

“If they learn what he is, they'll see him as an abomination. They’ll hunt him. And if that happens, I can't guarantee that I won't tear apart anyone who comes near him.”

“Okay, first off, I doubt Equestrians are the ‘Pure bloods only; no hybrid anything allowed’ type,” Pyrite said.

“It doesn't matter. Amber and Fulgurite said the girls followed them into the ship and saw the golem. One of them just saw us take on a smoke monster that could've possessed anything it came in contact with. What more do you need to conclude that the mysterious people living on your planet are dangerous?”

Pyrite took a deep breath. Obsidian had a point, but Pyrite was never the type to consider negative outcomes. “Look, it's not like I'm going to invite them here and tell them everything about us. What happened was a matter of circumstance. Nothing else. Besides, Dawn seems to get along just fine with the people in the town.”

“Yeah. You need to chill,” Tourmaline said, walking out of the kitchen.

“Tourmaline, please,” Obsidian said. “You're hardly the one to argue in this case.”

“Oh, sure. Maybe I shouldn't be the voice of reason and explain why you're overreacting,” Tourmaline replied sarcastically.

“That sounds nice.”

“GAH! Sarcasm, dude! You've been here over a thousand years and you still don't get it!”

“That's not the point! The point is your nonchalant attitudes are putting us all at risk! It took us decades to find a good place to live without arousing suspicion! You want to compromise all that to satisfy some girl’s curiosity?!”

“Nonchalant?” Pyrite looked shocked and a bit upset. “Excuse me, but who activated this temple and put up the fence? And I remember two other underappreciated Gems worked their gems to cracking point trying to salvage as much as possible from the wreckage and make sure no one stumbled on some dangerous Gem tech.”

“And let's certainly not forget the guy who actually spoke on your behalf to let you join the Crystal Gems in the first place after everything you did,” Tourmaline added. Obsidian’s ears perked up as he heard this and instantly summoned his sword, pointing it at Tourmaline.

“I joined of my own free will,” he said.

“Obsidian, put away the sword,” said Pyrite. Obsidian groaned and complied as he stormed off toward the warp pad.

“You're all crazy. Apparently, I'm the only one that cares about our safety.” He stepped up onto the pad and turned to face his comrades. “I'm going to check out the crash site in case anyone else decided to waltz by.” With that, he teleported.

“The guy can be such a jerk,” said Tourmaline.

“He's just angry at a lot of things,” Pyrite replied.

“We're all angry at something. You don't see me blowing up at everyone.”

Pyrite sighed. Then the door opened and she smiled. “Well, there's at least one major source of positivity in this house.” She turned around and she saw Dawn. Her smile shrank when she saw what he was holding. “H-Hey, Dawn. What's… that?”

Dawn put down the cube he was holding. It looked similar to the cube Amber had accidentally brought back from the ship. “Oh. I found this on my way back,” said Dawn. “It was floating in a pond close by.”

Pyrite and Tourmaline stared at each other. “Ha! Obsidian wouldn't let us hear the end of it if he was still here,” said Tourmaline.

“Where'd he go?” asked Dawn.

“Er… Personal mission,” said Pyrite. “Just checking up on something.”

“Oh, yeah. I went into the forest with some of the other kids in the town today,” said Dawn.

“Really? Dawn! You do know how dangerous that is, right?”

“Well, we followed a pretty empty path. It was like something had cleared out a lot of the trees.” Pyrite almost went pale as Obsidian’s words echoed in her mind. “But don't worry. I didn't tell them anything about us,” he added with a wink.

“Oh, thank heavens.”

“We would NOT hear the end of that for the next century,” added Tourmaline.

Back in her study, Twilight studied the aquamarine she had found earlier. She realized they obviously didn't want to talk to her and probably would've just taken the gemstone without explaining what it was. She fell onto her bed with a groan. She heard a knock on the door and answered to find Applejack and Rarity standing outside. “I told you guys, I'm fine,” she said automatically.

“We know, dear,” Rarity said. “It's just…”

“Did they give you a straight answer on anything?” asked Applejack.

“Well, they're aliens, apparently. So there's that.”

“Anything else?”

“They're hiding something.”

“Ya think?”

“They seemed unwilling to answer any questions. Plus, one of them didn't seem to like me very much.”

“He didn't hurt you did he?” asked a concerned Rarity.

“No. But he didn't like the fact that I was there with them.”

“At the spire place?” asked Applejack.

“Or around in general. Wait, why so curious?”

“Well…” Rarity shuffled through her pocket and pulled out a dark blue stone with curved ends like a cloud. “I found this while looking for gemstones for my new designs.”

“And?”

“And it's…odd. Every time I light it up with my magic, it's like I can see images on the surface.”

Twilight picked it up with her magic and held it close to her eyes. She didn't see it for a moment, but then saw what looked like images moving quickly through the stone. Some looked like things she recognized. Others looked unfamiliar.

“Well, I'll take a look at it,” she said. “And don't start,” she added, noticing Rarity about to do the “pleading face”.

Later that night, Twilight struggled to stay awake, studying the two stones. She had a large mug of coffee on her desk and sipped at it every so often to stay up. “They've got to be connected somehow.” She tapped the dark blue stone with a tuning fork and listened. Her vision began to blur. “Urgh. Maybe I could use a nap,” she concluded. She put her head down on the desk and shut her eyes. As if it were waiting, the gemstone began to vibrate, a dark blue mist seeping from it and flooding the room. Then castle. Then, the town.

Pyrite felt an unusual surge and jolted up from her sitting position on a cloud. She was in her room, which was filled with several golden pillars and orange clouds. She got up and headed for the door, a few clouds away. Once she got out, she used the warp pad to teleport to the Everfree. She gasped in slight terror. “Uh-oh.”

Tourmaline felt himself get thrown across the room and woke up to find himself upside down against the wall. “Hey!”

“Sorry,” said Pyrite. “But I've been shaking you for like five minutes and you didn't wake up.”

“Urgh. What is it? Butts need kicking?”

“Something like that.”

“The Night Stone is active.” They both turned to see Obsidian standing in front of the temple door. “You see? This is what happens when lower intelligence life forms try to meddle with forces they don't understand!”

“Not now, Obsidian. We need to take care of this first.”

“Huh. What's going on?” They looked and saw Dawn standing at the top of the stairs.

“Oh. Sorry for waking you, Dawn. It's nothing. Just a quick errand we need to run.”

“Can I come?”

Pyrite looked hesitant. “Er… Don't worry. We won't be long.”

Dawn nodded and went back to sleep as the Gems teleported to the Everfree and made their way to the town.

“So, how do you intend to fight something you can't hit on the material plane?” asked Obsidian.

“Easy. We just need to get close enough,” Pyrite replied. As they reached the town, its presence got stronger. It was obvious on account that the Gems were starting to feel what most would call sleepy.

“Haven't felt this in a while,” said Tourmaline.

“Wish we didn't have to.” said Pyrite. “First, two transmitters. Then, a Night Stone. Could this day get any more unlucky?”

“I found the source,” Obsidian said, pointing at a crystalline castle not too far from the town.

“Me and my big mouth. So now, we have to break into a princess’s castle?”

“At least it's not Celestia’s,” said Tourmaline.

“Fair point.” Once they got inside, it didn't take long to find a girl asleep at her desk. On the desk were two stones, both of which they recognized. “Another one? She didn't say anything about having any gemstones with her, let alone two.”

“See, this is how it starts.”

“Not now, Obsidian.” As the three approached the desk, they felt a wave of magic wash past them, then, they collapsed.

“Great.” Obsidian now found himself in a pitch black room with no walls and no end. He looked around and saw no one. “It's been a while, Nox. But I can still beat you.”

“That was a millennium ago,” said an ominous voice, which sounded like multiple voices speaking simultaneously. “A lot has changed since then.” As Obsidian was thrown into a light, his eyes shrunk as he saw something; something he wished he would never have to see again.

Pyrite, on the other hand, took the situation quite well. “Okay. First things first. Got to find Nox. Side mission, locate the girl and ask her what in the name of all that is golden was she doing with two dangerous gemstones.” As she ran, it didn't take her long to bump into Tourmaline.

“Hey, Py. Enjoying the scenery?” he said, gesturing to the apparent endless darkness.

“We need to find the girl.” It didn't take long for them to hear the screams of a girl in danger. It's easily distinguishable. They followed the sound to a pin of light, which grew as the came close until they found themselves back at the castle.

“Well, this makes no sense,” said Tourmaline.

Suddenly, the purple-haired girl burst out of one of the doors and hid behind the massive table in the middle of the room. She turned and saw the two Gems standing behind her. “Great. Now I know this is a nightmare,” she said.

“What gave it away?” Tourmaline asked sarcastically.

“The fact that the thing I'm terrified of happens to appear right in my castle out of thin air.”

“Oh. Yeah. That sounds right.”

“Now care to explain why I'm having this nightmare in the first place and why I can't wake up?”

“Well, for starters, maybe you should've brought us the stones instead of experimenting on them,” said Pyrite. “To answer your question, you've been affected by the Night Stone, also called Nox.”

“Okay. What is Nox?”

“An… experiment from our planet. It emits a magic aura that traps its victims in their worst nightmare.”

“That sounds about right.”

“Then feeds on their life force as they sleep,” added Tourmaline.

“WHAT?!” Twilight’s yell got the monster’s attention. They peeked over the table to get a better view.

“So, what is it?” asked Tourmaline. “The golem we fought? A chimera?”

“Worse,” Twilight said, shaking in terror. She looked up and saw the beast. A long, cylindrical beast standing like a cobra. It was a mash of yellow and red and as it roared, splats of red and yellow sprayed across the room.

“Is that…”

“A quesadilla.” Just saying the word sent a shiver up Twilight’s spine.

Pyrite looked confused, as did Tourmaline. “... I… I don't even… This is what you're scared of?” asked Pyrite.

“They're just… so… Cheesy…” Twilight said.

Pyrite sighed as she ran around the table, with Tourmaline going around the other side. Pyrite summoned her gauntlets and punched the creature towards Tourmaline, who brought down his mighty hammer and crushed the dish’s head.

“Okay. Moving on.”

Twilight came out from behind her hiding spot. “So, this is more of your stuff?”

Pyrite could hear Obsidian saying, “I told you so,” right about now. “Better question: why do you have it?” They were distracted by the sound of more cheesy monsters heading their way. “To be continued. For now, we need to leave.”

“How?” Twilight asked. “This is a dream.”

“Hey, someone's gotta learn to resist this thing.” Pyrite closed her eyes in concentration and her gem began to glow. The light got ever brighter until it completely enveloped them.

Twilight jolted awake, magic spiraling around her hand as she prepared herself, just in case the quesadillas somehow followed her out. Instead, she saw Pyrite and Tourmaline standing in front of her.

“O… kay,” Twilight said, still overwhelmed.

“No,” Obsidian groaned as he woke up. “Not okay.”

“What were you doing with these?” Pyrite asked, pointing at the stones. Then she changed her mind. “You know what? I don't care.” She placed both hands over each stone. But nothing happened. “What the… Oh no…” The dark blue stone began to shake, black mist surrounding it. “EVERYONE GET BACK!!!” Pyrite tackled Twilight away from the table as a blast of black was blown from the stone. There was an ominous noise, like a horrifying scream, as the cloud began to take shape around the stone until it looked like a bipedal body of mist. It seemed to be looking at them for a while. Then, finally, it flew around the room, then through the hall, and finally out the window.

Pyrite ran her hands through her hair in panic. “Nononononononononono…”

“Um, Py?” Tourmaline called, trying to wake her from her daze.

“We have to get that thing back,” she said. “We can't afford to let it do any more damage!”

“Twilight?” a familiar voice called in a country drawl.

“Oh no,” said Pyrite, facepalming. “Why now?”

Just as she feared, Rainbow, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy all dashed into the room. They all stopped in their tracks when they saw Twilight pointing her magic-covered hand at the Gems.

“Ah knew they were no good,” said Applejack.

“Okay, can we all calm down and talk about this?” suggested Pyrite.

“I'd like that,” Fluttershy said quietly.

“Give us one good reason why we should even listen to anything you have to say,” said Rainbow, ready to attack.

“How about the fact that we're the only ones who know what's going on here and how to solve it,” Obsidian stated bluntly.

“Sounds like reason enough to me,” said Pinkie.

“Thank you,” said Tourmaline.

“GAH!” Pyrite yelled in frustration. “See! This is why we told you to stay away! You have no idea what this stuff is! But you still thought it was a good idea to run tests on it?”

“If you would have given me a straight answer, we may not have had to deal with this in the first place,” said Twilight. “In fact, we could've helped each other.”

“You?” asked a skeptical Obsidian. “Help us? How?”

“Forget it,” said Pyrite. “We don't have time for this. Let's go.” Before the girls could react, the Gems stormed out of the castle.

“Are you alright, Twilight?” asked Fluttershy.

“They didn't hurt you, did they?” asked Rarity.

“No. I'm fine,” said Twilight.

“Okay, that settles it,” said Rainbow. “They have to go!”

“Now, now, Rainbow Dash,” said Rarity, “I believe we should give them a chance to explain themselves.”

“We've given them plenty of those! It's like they aren't even trying!”

“Well, judging by all the secrecy, mah guess is that they weren't planning on anyone finding out about ‘em and they wanna keep it that way,” said Applejack.

“Well, until we know for sure,” said Twilight, “we all need to keep our eyes peeled.”

“You're leaving?” Dawn sounded like he was ready to break down as Amber and Fulgurite stood next to the warp pad.

“It's only for about a week,” said Amber.

“But we'll try to write… Or something,” added Fulgurite.

“Better yet…” Amber reached into her hair and pulled out a round white crystal about the size of a tennis ball and handed it to Dawn. “This is the thing we meant to bring you before.”

As soon as Dawn touched it, it turned pink. “Cool… Um, what is it?”

“It's a visual and auditory two-way transmission and…” She soon stopped herself when she noticed Dawn’s confused expression.

“It's a communication crystal,” Fulgurite said. “You can see us, talk to us, yadda yadda yadda.”

“Oh. How does it work?” asked Dawn.

Amber leaned towards the crystal and cleared her throat. “Call Fulgurite.”

Immediately, there was a buzzing sound. Fulgurite summoned a similar yellow orb and tapped it. Each of them could see the other’s face in their respective crystals. “Whuddup?”

“Whoa!” Dawn looked at Fulgurite through the crystal.

“Also, if we don't answer, you can record a message and we'll get back to you when we see it,” said Fulgurite.

“I'm gonna miss you guys,” Dawn said as he hugged them, not wanting to let go.

Once they had gone, Dawn packed a bag and headed outside. It didn't take long to reach Ponyville, where he found the people he went there to meet. Three girls sat on a bench next to a flower shop. One had red hair with a pink ribbon in it and wore a yellow shirt and blue jeans. Another had messy purple hair and wore a gray-blue shirt and green shorts. The last one had hair of light purple and pink and wore a white shirt and a purple skirt.

“Hi,” he said to them.

“Heya, Dawn,” the redhead replied. “Glad ya could make it.”

“But let's see if you can handle what we have planned,” said the other.

“Quit it, Scootaloo,” said the last. “The last thing we need is you scaring off someone else! This is the third person we've asked!”

“Relax, Sweetie Belle. I'm just messing with him,” said Scootaloo. “Applebloom, back me up here.”

Applebloom rolled her eyes and looked back at Dawn, who asked, “So, where exactly are we going?”

“Well, as the Cutie Mark Crusaders, we've made it our job to discover our true calling,” Applebloom explained. “This means we go on different quests and try out different things to see what our real destiny is.”

“So, you just try out different thing till you get one of these?” Dawn asked. As he did, he pulled down the neck of his shirt to reveal his cutie mark on the right side of his collarbone: a pentagonal gemstone with a heart in the middle.

The girls gawked. “Wait a minute, you have yours?!” Applebloom asked in surprise.

“Well, yeah,” Dawn replied, fixing his shirt.

“Well… That changes things,” said Scootaloo, earning her an elbow from Sweetie Belle.

“Not to me, it don't,” said Applebloom. “Let's go!”

It didn't take long for the four to get deep into the Everfree Forest. Dawn recognized the place, mostly because of the number of times he'd been in there with the Gems and how many times they had told him never to go in alone.

“So, what're we looking for again?” Dawn asked.

“That,” Scootaloo said as they reached their destination. Just pass the trees ahead was what looked like a massive square platform, big enough to fit ten or more warp pads! But it was chipped and cracked in several places on its metallic blue surface.

“What is it?” asked Dawn.

“We think it may be some kind of secret room.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Because this.” Scootaloo said as she picked up what might have been a piece of the surface and threw it at the platform. Immediately as the stone made contact, a crack appeared in the middle of the cube and opened to reveal an entrance.

“Whoa!”

“We wanted to go in yesterday, but we were... interrupted.”

“And bah that, she means we woulda been busted if anyone knew we were here,” Applebloom said.

“Oh. Well, no one’s here now,” Dawn said, walking towards the entrance with the girls following close behind. The inside was a massive corridor, with markings and symbols on the walls as they passed, which went down a few feet, then straight.

“It's pretty creepy in here,” said Sweetie Belle.

“What, you scared?” teased Scootaloo.

“No! I'm just… pointing something out.”

“Hey, what's that?” Everyone else stopped and saw what Applebloom meant. At the end of the path, there was a door, which led to a large room, which was empty save for the large octagonal console in the middle of the room, which seemed elevated slightly above the surface. The four walked inside and looked around.

“Well… This is underwhelming,” said Sweetie Belle.

“Ah was expecting more stuff,” said Applebloom.

“At least there's something,” said Scootaloo, as she made her way to the platform. As she climbed the stairs, they lit up beneath her feet. Once she got on the platform, the whole thing lit up and an assortment of crystals appeared from the console.

“Uh… I'm not sure we should touch anything,” Dawn said, worried.

“Relax,” said Scootaloo. “Look at this place! It must be a gazillion years old! The lights are probably the only things that work.” She pulled out one of the crystals and a holographic screen appeared in front of them. “Whoa! Never mind! What do the rest do?”

“Move over!” Sweetie Belle said, pushing Scootaloo aside and pulling another crystal. This time, the screen showed static. She pulled another and pushed another down and the static began changing direction, as if trying to form an image.

“Mah turn!” Applebloom jumped at the controls and shifted multiple crystals.

“Uh, guys… girls, I think we should… not touch this stuff anymore and head outside,”Dawn said, even more worried. “I'm pretty sure I saw a wierd looking tree outside.”

“It's the Everfree Forest,” said Scootaloo. “There's a lot of weird looking trees.” Finally, she pressed a button and an image appeared on the screen. It looked like a reference sheet of some kind. On it was the image of what they all recognized as a golem, although Dawn knew that these were the normal golems you found around the Forest. Around the figures were information bubbles linking to different parts of the golem.

“Whoa! Must be some kinda computer,” Applebloom said.

“It must have a lot of info, then,” said Sweetie Belle. “Meaning…”

“IT COULD TELL US HOW WE CAN GET OUR CUTIE MARKS!!!” The combined force of the three voices echoed through the room.

“I doubt that,” mumbled Dawn.

The girls continued to toy around with the console for a few moments, cycling through what seemed to be more golems with different shapes. Finally, they got bored.

“Urgh! Everything’s practically the same,” said Sweetie Belle.

“An’ there’s nothin’ in here that can tell us how we get our cutie marks,” added Applebloom.

“Unless having useless knowledge about the different types of golems in Equestria counts as a talent worthy of a cutie mark,” said Scootaloo. The girls looked around them for the glow that symbolized the appearance of their mark, but found none.

“Grrr! This was a waste of-” Scootaloo suddenly stopped. The others heard it as well; voices.

“Shoot! We are sooooo dead,” said a panicking Sweetie Belle.

“We can make a break for it,” Scootaloo suggested, pointing at the door. That was until she realized that it was also the way someone else was coming in.

“Hold on. Maybe they're friendly,” said Applebloom.

Soon, a shadow appeared on the hallway.

“Nope!” Dawn, in a display of strength, tackled the three girls off the platform. Instantly, every light went off and the screen vanished. Dawn hung onto the edge of the platform holding onto Applebloom with his free hand, who in turn held on to Scootaloo, who held Sweetie Belle.

There was a clanking sound flowing through the corridor. Dawn lowered the group down to the lower level, then jumped down himself as quietly as possible. He had mastered the art of sneaking for many reasons; ranging from escaping Tourmaline’s pranks to… well, that's mostly it.

The four crept up to the stair and looked over it. Coming through the entrance was a fairly tall figure, about six feet, maybe slightly less. It looked fairly normal, save for one thing: it seemed to be made of dark blue smoke with yellow glowing “eyes”. It floated up the stairs and towards the console, completely oblivious to any other presence. As she activated it Dawn and the Crusaders walked around to the front of the stairs, staying low, and peaked over to see the figure. It's “hands” moved fluidly over the crystals, which responded, rising and depressing as her hand moved over them, even without making contact.

“Whoa. Why couldn't we do that?” whispered Scootaloo.

“Maybe it knows what it is,” suggested Sweetie Belle.

As the figure worked the controls, it, which turned out to be a she based on the voice, groaned in frustration.

“I can't even get decent equipment on this lousy planet!” She became more aggressive with the controls, almost as if she were ready to rip them out herself. “Come one you lousy, worthless, sassafrassing, pile of garbage! WORK!” Finally, she swiped angrily over the console and the screen showed what looked like a maze. “Finally!” She worked the controls and soon, the rooms in the maze were being highlighted. “First, you lock me up,” she continued ranting as she worked, “then, when I finally get used to being asleep, you wake me up. THEN you try to imprison me again?!”

“We should probably leave now,” whispered Sweetie Belle.

“Now you’re making sense,” agreed Dawn. The four got up and backed away slowly out of the room. However, they bumped into a problem… literally. They didn't look. “Um…” They felt the solid mass blocking their exit. It was cold and hard, like stone… “Stone…”

Finally, they looked up and saw the upper body of a massive seven foot tall golem. It didn't seem to react, so they sidestepped around it as quietly as possible.

“Well, let's see how they like being trapped,” said the mist figure. Whatever it did, it had caused the room to start moving. The group looked back briefly and saw multiple capsules appear around the platform, leaving only the path of the stairway clear. Behind the figure was a platform Dawn recognized as a warp pad.

Sadly, he didn't have time to do any more than observe as from beneath the lower platform appeared multiple smaller creatures. They were white, and looked like big, short, fat worms with drill-like mouths.

“Great. These things again,” the mist remarked, swiping away the crystal shrimp that attempted to climb onto the console.

Dawn looked in horror as a flood of them appeared; some crawled up the platform, others headed for the exit.

“Okay… Run!” Dawn and the girls ran with all their might, trying to keep a safe distance from the shrimp.

“Wait, why are we running?” Scootaloo asked. “They're pretty small.” She looked back and saw a bunch of shrimp covering the golem. She got the idea when she noticed it was beginning to get shorter, and it wasn't because they were running away from it. As soon as they reached the top, Dawn said, “We have to cover up the entrance!”

“With what?” asked Applebloom.

Dawn looked around and found some more chunks of stone. He picked one up and walked over to the entrance. “You can open the door. Please tell me you can close it.” He dropped the stone onto the entrance. As soon as it reached the threshold, it stopped, suspended. Finally, it began to expand and seal off the exit. One of the shrimp managed to stick it's head out, but was caught by the closing surface.

“NOPE!” Scootaloo said as she stomped it back into the chamber, sealing off the entrance. The whole group was breathing heavily now, but relieved.

“Okay…” Sweetie Belle started. “Is it just me… or… did the Everfree Forest… just get.., wierder?” she said through long breaths.

“Okay. Ah have an idea,” Applebloom said. With the help of the others, she pushed a rather large stone over the entrance to the underground chamber. “Just fer safety.”

“Also for safety,” added Scootaloo, “let's all agree to not tell anyone about this!”

“Mah sister would never let me leave the house again,” said Applebloom.

“My sister would kill me,” said Sweetie Belle.

“I don't have a sister,” added Dawn, “But I'd still be in major trouble.”

“Good, then we all agree that this goes in the Vault,” declared Scootaloo.

“Hey Dawn,” Pyrite said as Dawn walked into the house. “How was your day?”

“It was… fine,” he replied.

Pyrite noticed his tone. “Dawn? What are you hiding?”

“Well…” As he tried to think of a way out, Obsidian teleported in through the warp pad. He glared at Pyrite before silently walking to the temple door. One of the stones glowed black and the door opened for him.

“Did… something happen,” asked Dawn, worried. He knew Obsidian could be moody, but this felt more like he was ready to hack the house in half!

“Don't worry about it, Dawn,” Pyrite replied. Then, she had a thought. “Hey, how'd you like to come with us tomorrow?” She asked. “We're going to see if we can get some more of those large strawberries we found!”

Dawn thought to himself, “No monsters, no smoke monsters, no rock monsters, no shimp monsters. If everything's the same as last time…” He looked up and smiled. “WOOHOO!!! I'm gonna make the biggest strawberry ice cream sundaes ever!!!”

Berries and Battles

View Online

“Woohoo!” Dawn ran through the bushy path with the Gems walking slowly behind him. As far as he could remember, they had told him that this was the site of one of the greatest battles fought between Homeworld and the Crystal Gems. More importantly, it was a battle that was lead by none other than the legendary Rose Quartz!

“Dawn?” Pyrite called out. “Any particular reason we didn't just take the strawberries in the bushes closer to the warp pad?”

“Yeah,” Tourmaline agreed. “Did you have some special one in mind hidden somewhere?”

“You'll see,” Dawn said cryptically. They followed a bit longer, but suddenly, Dawn stopped in front of a bush. “I present to you…” He pulled back the bush, revealing his prize. “... The Mega Strawberry!” The juicy, bright red fruit was massive, at least 11 feet tall and 5 feet wide. It was sitting in what appeared to be a small crater created by its own weight!

“Whoa,” Tourmaline gawked.

“That is a very large fruit,” said Obsidian.

“Yup,” Dawn said, hugging the strawberry. “And I love it!”

“When did you find this?”

“Oh, remember when we came here a few weeks ago to check on the pyramid temple thingie? Well, I got bored staying outside, walked around, and just found it sitting here. Although,” he moved back and looked at the fruit again. “It's much bigger than last time.”

Pyrite walked up the the giant fruit. “Alrighty then.” She planted both hands under the fruit and lifted it, obviously struggling a bit, but managed to hoist it over her head.

“Wait, how is the warp pad going to teleport that?” asked Obsidian.

“I'm pretty sure it's not that wide,” said Pyrite. “Okay, let's head back.” Making their way back to the warp pap, Dawn occasionally stopped to pick up some slightly smaller, but still larger than normal, strawberries from the bushes. By the time they reached the warp pad, his bag wouldn't close and seemed fit to rip at any moment.

Once they warped back into the temple, Dawn wasted no time dropping his backpack on the counter and running outside. As Pyrite followed, she soon realized the problem and put down the strawberry; the door was too small. “We really didn't think this one through, huh?”

“Nope,” Tourmaline said.

“What now? We can't wash this thing in here!”

“Why not?” Tourmaline asked. He went outside for a moment, then returned holding Dawn, who in turn was holding the hose.

“Tourmaline, I don't think-” Pyrite didn't get a chance to finish before getting hit by the splash of the water hitting the strawberry.

Obsidian backed away towards the temple door and opened it. “I'm not involved.”

Twilight had gone through nearly all the books in her castle’s library, but could find anything in the books about a race of “sentient Gems” anywhere in history. She had read everything from the Crystal Empire to Griffinstone history, but got no closer to the answers to the many questions bouncing around in her head.

“Relax, Twilight,” said Spike. “I'm sure they don't mean any harm.”

“Spike, we've only know about them for a week and we've already had a golem, a nightmare-creating, life force-consuming mist, and a smoke monster that was trying to teleport to who-knows-where in Equestria!”

“Well it's not as if Equestria is completely empty of any kind of threat. I mean, we've faced Nightmare Moon, Discord, Changelings, King Sombra, Tirek; it's not like their the cause for all the dangerous people we've met.”

“Maybe. But they're still tied to the unknown threats we've faced, again, in only a week!”

“Wasn't it just over a week between the Changeling attack and Sombra’s return?”

“Two and a half. And that's not the point!” Twilight placed the book she was holding back onto the shelf. “They're too secretive. They're hiding something.”

“What are they supposed to say? ‘Oh hi. We're aliens from outer space. Can we live here with you even though we're fighting things that would probably give you nightmares?’”

Twilight thought for a moment. “Well, when you put it that way… But the least they could do is give us a heads up on what living with them comes with.”

“And would you still let them live right next door?”

As Twilight thought about that, she heard the door open. “Ya in here, Sugarcube?” called a familiar voice.

“I'll be right there, Applejack,” Twilight said, making her way to the throne room. “What's up?” she asked once she saw her friend.

“Well, it's about these... Gems,” Applejack started.

“Don't worry, AJ. I'm working on getting some answers.”

“Well, have ya tried askin’ Princess Celestia?”

“Not yet. What's this about?”

“Well, Twi, Ah don't mean ta tell ya how ta do yer job, but ain't you goin’ about this the wrong way?”

“How so?”

“Well, yer the Princess of Friendship, right?”

“Right…” Twilight wasn't quite sure where this was going.

“So shouldn't your priority be tryin’ to become friends with ‘em?”

Twilight though for a while. She was surprised to hear Applejack say this, but she also knew she was right. “Well, if you have any suggestions, I'm all ears. They don't talk to anyone, they apparently don't want anyone in their business…”

“But they seem ta care when someone is in danger. Ah mean, those two we met in the the forest didn't need ta help us. They could've gone off on their own and left us in there. And, no offense Sugarcube, but ya did kinda bring two possibly dangerous items into the castle.”

“For research,” Twilight said, defensively. Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Okay, maybe I should've told them we found the stones close to the town. But do you have any suggestions on befriending a group of aliens who obviously want nothing to do with us?”

“Maybe. Gimme a while to work out the details.”

“I guess I'll try thinking of something too,” Twilight sighed.

“That's the spirit!”

“SPLAT!” Tourmaline yelled that anytime he smashed a chunk of strawberry with his hammer. Obsidian had successful slashed the strawberry into more manageable slices, but they were still pretty big and wouldn't fit into the blender. So, instead, they covered the entire room with plastic wrap and Tourmaline went to work. “Okay. That's it for this quarter.” He shook the smashed strawberry off himself and stepped out of the kitchen. Pyrite grabbed one corner and walked around, grabbing each off the other corners until she held them all and tied them up into a bag.

“Three down, one to go,” she said. She dropped the bag by the counter, next to the other two bags of squashed fruit. Sitting at the counter was Dawn, who was organizing bowls for his soon-to-be masterpieces.

“Now, we need ice cream,” he said as he walked over to the fridge. He gawked in surprise. “NO ICE CREAM?!” He looked around the fridge. Then he froze. “Tourmaline? Did you eat all the ice cream again?”

“What? No! Yeesh, why am I always the first one called when something goes missing or runs out here?” All the while he spoke, he had a tub of chocolate ice cream in one hand, a spoon in the other. Dawn stared in disbelief. Tourmaline looked down at his hand. “Um… This was here when I got here…” Dawn still stared. “This is my personal ice cream I bought.” Staring continues. “Okay this isn't ice cream… It's frozen milk…” More staring. “Fine! It's frozen yogurt!” Staring intensifies. “Look, I have this medical condition-” Before he could go on, Pyrite bonked him on the head with her fist. “Ow! Okay! I'm sorry! But it's been in there for the past three days and no one was eating it! How was I supposed to know that we were still gonna use it?!”

Pyrite groaned. “Tour, I told you yesterday that we were making ice cream sundaes with Dawn today.”

“... I thought we were using a different ice cream,” he said innocently.

“Ugh.”

“Hey, don't worry about it,” said Dawn. “I can run into town and get some.”

“You sure? Because I'm sure I could get Tour to give up the rest,” Pyrite said, punching her hand. Tourmaline looked at her with fear.

“Nah. It's okay,” he said, as he picked up his bag and skateboard and walked out.

Pyrite looked back at Tourmaline, who was scooping more ice cream into his mouth, with a sinister smile. Tourmaline stopped when he noticed. “Hey, wait, what are you-”

“He said, ‘It's okay,’ meaning I just don't have to. He didn't say I shouldn't.”

“Uh-oh.”

“Mhm.” Knuckles crack.

Lucky for Dawn, he didn't need a push start. The temple was built on a hill, so the slope did most of the work. He arrived in Ponyville in just over five minutes and headed straight for the one place he was sure would have ice cream.

He opened the door and stepped in. Once the bell rang, a voice came from the kitchen saying, “Ooooh! Customers!” From the kitchen burst a fairly tall girl of about 16 or so wearing a blue tank top, pink shorts, and pink boots. Her hair was pink and resembled cotton candy and her eyes were a bright cerulean. She gasped on seeing the boy. “Dawn?!”

“Hi, Pinkie.”

The girl ran over and caught him in her famous bear hugs. “It's good to see you again!”

“You… too…” Dawn gasped as he struggled for air. Once she let him go, he gasped for air as his deprived lungs screamed out to him.

“So, what can I do ya for?”

“Well, I need ice scream for an ice cream sundae and-”

“Say no more!” In a blur, Pinkie zipped into the kitchen. There was a crash, followed by the sound of breaking plates, falling shelves, running water, a moo, a cluck, a meow, and the ping of a oven that just finished baking a cake. Pinkie walked out holding what appeared to be two large buckets. “Lucky day! Applejack just dropped off this week's milk supply this morning!”

“Cool. Thanks!” Dawn took the buckets and waved goodbye as he left.

In an unknown location, somewhere in the Everfree Forest, a familiar mist was floating through what appeared to be a lab. “Ugh. Of all the times to be stuck on this miserable rock!” Nox paused. She looked at a holographic monitor on the wall. There was a timer on it.

4:06:42:23...22...21...

“Grrrr! I can't wait that long! They'll be looking for me!” She looked around the lab, using the console to access capsules from the ground. The capsules held weapons, gadgets, golems and… “Oh?” Nox stopped at one capsule which held a shiny reddish-brown gem with a gold line down the middle and grinned. “Hello.”

“I'm back! Huh?” Dawn entered the house and was greeted by the sight of Pyrite sitting on Tourmaline eating the tub of ice cream.

Pyrite stopped with the spoon still in her mouth. “Oh… Dawn,” she said swallowing the last spoonful. “Did you get the ice cream?”

“Mhm.” He dropped the buckets in the fridge and was about to go up to his room when a rumble nearly caused him to fall off the stairs. “Whoa! W-What was that?!”

“Maybe an earthquake?” Tourmaline suggested, stretching after Pyrite got off of him.

“Not likely,” Pyrite said.

At that moment, Obsidian warped into the temple. “We've got a problem.”

“Oh gee, ya think?”

Another rumble followed and Pyrite and Tourmaline ran over to the warp pad. Dawn ran after them. “Hey,” he cried, “Wait for me!” He jumped onto the pad just as they warped out.

“What in tarnation?!” Applejack looked around for the source of the rumbling. She looked up and saw Twilight and Rainbow Dash flying over to her. “What was that?”

“I don't know,” said Twilight. “But it's coming from the Everfree Forest.”

“Ten Bits says it's those ‘Gems’ again,” said Rainbow Dash.

Applejack sighed. “Ah don't wanna jump ta conclusions but… I'm with Dash on this one.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Twilight said, before they headed for the source of the rumbling.

The Gems warped into the Everfree, swords, hammer, and gauntlets at the ready. “Stay sharp, Gems,” Pyrite said, scouting the area for signs of the disturbance.

“Whatever it is, it must be big” said Tourmaline.

“Look.” Obsidian pointed to a set of paw prints… Large paw prints.

“Whoa!” Dawn hopped off the warp pad and ran over to one of the prints. “It's almost as big as my bag!” He laid his shoulder bag over the print; it was a little over half the size of the creature's paw! “Is it another Gem monster?”

“Possibly,” said Pyrite. “It's close.” They looked around, covering all their angles. Suddenly, from out of the bushes burst a fairly large creature. It had a lion’s head and body with a goat head and back legs, and a snake for a tail.

“Chimera!” Obsidian said as he got into a fighting stance. But the chimera did not try to fight. In fact, it ran away, whining in fear. Even Obsidian was confused. “Um… What?”

“That was amazing,” Dawn said, looking star struck at Obsidian.

“As much as I'd like to take the credit for that, I don't think it was afraid of me.” They all hear a growling sound coming from the shrubs the chimera ran into. The Gems raised their weapons, preparing to face whatever jumped at them. Sadly, they weren't prepared enough as Pyrite was tackled by a massive dark orange blur. The Gems looked behind them and saw Pyrite underneath what looked like a… giant tiger. It was at least 8 feet tall with six legs: four in front, two at the back. It had thick red and black stripes and a long tail with a large, black spiked ball on the end. Pyrite was holding its head, trying to keep it from chomping on her head.

“Hey!” Pyrite yelled from under the tiger. “Feel free… To get in on this… Any... Time!”

“Nah,” Tourmaline said, leaning on his hammer. “You got this.”

“TOUR!”

“Alright, alright. Hang on.” Tourmaline strolled over to the monster and, with one mighty swing, knocked it off Pyrite and through several feet of forest. “What was that?”

“I'll give you two guesses,” Pyrite said, dusting herself off.

“Was it… Tiger Eye?” Dawn joked.

“Hehe. Nice,” said Tourmaline, fist-bumping Dawn.

“Actually, yes,” said Pyrite. Tourmaline and Dawn froze. “Yeah, metaphors are a common occurrence with corrupt Gems.” They suddenly heard a roar and the monster came running back. Now they could see the monstrous fangs and the gemstone that took a spot in the middle of its head… but there were no eyes.

“Can it… see us?” Dawn asked, waving his hand. His question was answered when the creature turned to face him.

“Yep,” Pyrite said as she cracked her knuckles and summoned her gauntlets. The Tiger Eye pounced at Pyrite, but was knocked back by a spray of magma from Obsidian. As the magma hardened, Pyrite threw Tourmaline into the air. He came down, swinging, but missed when Tiger broke free and jumped up to meet him in midair. But Tourmaline managed to get in a swing and sent the monster flying off.

“Yeesh. Only knew it for thirty seconds and it was already annoying,” Tourmaline said. When he landed, he was greeted by the shocked eyes of Pyrite and Obsidian. “What?”

“Did you just knock the Gem away from the area?” asked Pyrite.

“Mhm.”

“In that direction?” Obsidian asked, pointing with one hand and burying his face in the other.

“I think so. Why? Is there a… Oh…”

“Tour,” Pyrite said, “ya dun goofed! Wait… Where's Dawn?”

Dawn ran as fast as he could through the forest. Soon, Sweet Apple Acres came into view. There, he saw Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo carrying baskets of apples to the barn. “Guys!”

The girls looked up to see him. “Um, Dawn, not to get technical, but we're girls,” said Sweetie Belle.

“No time for that! We have to go!”

“What? Why?” asked Applebloom.

“Because… Um… There's…” Dawn wasn't sure what to say. On the one hand, he didn't want to lie to his new friends. On the other, he promised the Gems he'd keep them a secret. On the third hand, it was too late anyway. There was an earthshaking roar that nearly knocked the girls off their feet.

“What was that?!” Applebloom’s question was answered by the appearance of the Tiger Eye running towards the farm. “What is that?!”

“Get down!” Dawn pushed Applebloom out of the way just in time as the tiger pounced on them. “We have to go!” He looked back and saw the monster regain its footing and prepare to lunge.

“Wait, it doesn't even have eyes,” said Scootaloo. “Can it even see us?”

“YES IT CAN!!!” Dawn pushed them behind a stack of barrels.

“Okay, Dawn, what is going on here?” demanded Sweetie Belle.

“Um… Well…” A monstrous roar knocked the barrels away and revealed their location. The four kids turned to see the monster staring at them… kind of. “Okay. Look, maybe I haven't been… Completely honest…”

“Apparently,” said Sweetie Belle. As the Tiger charged at them, Dawn stepped up in front of the girls. “What are you doing?!”

Dawn took a deep breath. The corrupt Gem was approaching at tremendous speed and soon was right on top of them. The CMC put up the arms, hoping it would somehow reduce the impact. But the hit never came. After waiting almost five seconds, Applebloom opened her eyes. She saw Dawn with his arms out to his sides… Then she saw the big, pink bubble shield that was protecting them from the monster clawing at it. Dawn clapped his hands and the bubble popped, blowing the monster and a lot of grass back. The monster, dazed, and apparently rendered partially deaf by the loud sound shook and knocked its head against the ground, roaring in, what one would guess was, frustration. If it had eyes, it would be glaring at the children in front of it with enough rage to cause them to spontaneously combust! Another sonic roar rocketed towards them, but Dawn simply held up his hands. The ripples of the sonic attack seemed to just… hang in front of them, then fade.

The corrupt Gem made another charge, this time zigzagging its way towards its prey. Again, it didn't meet its mark, as it was interrupted by Tourmaline’s hammer slamming it into the ground. Pyrite seemingly teleported right in front of the downed creature and delivered a jaw-breaking uppercut, strengthened by the jets on the gauntlet. While in midair, a black and orange streak cut through the the sky, and the corrupt Gem. As Obsidian landed gracefully on the ground, the beast in the sky exploded with a loud *pop* and a cloud of thick white smoke. He held out his hand and caught the gemstone in an ash gray bubble.

“OH MY GOODNESS! DAWN!!!” Pyrite ran and grabbed Dawn in a bear hug, checking to see if he was okay.

“I'm fine, Pyrite,” he said.

“Dawn… Did you…”

Dawn nodded before she could finish. “It was amazing,” he said, his voice more excited now. “The monster attacked, and I put up a force field, then it attacked again, and I stopped it in midair, and then-”

“Whoa, whoa! Slow down! I'm just glad you're okay!”

“Yeah,” Tourmaline said, ruffling Dawn’s hair. “You gave us quite a scare there when you just vanished.”

“Never run off like that again,” Obsidian added after transporting the gemstone to the temple. “Or you're grounded for a century!”

Dawn laughed. The he turned and saw three astonished/amazed/possibly terrified faces.

“What…”

“The heck…”

“Just happened?”

Dawn looked to the Gems, who in turned looked at each other.

“That's what we'd like to know,” Twilight said as she, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash arrived.

Applejack took it the hardest, seeing the farm messed up, the crates of packed apples smashed, and a huge hole blown through the barn wall. “And y’all better have a darn good explanation.”

Holiday Tension

View Online

200 Years Ago…

“What is it you see in this planet?” Obsidian asked.

The response came from a woman, about a foot or so taller. She had fair, pink-tinted skin. She wore a sleeveless pink top with detached sleeves and a matching, long skirt with a large star on the right side. She looked at him with a bright pink eye, the other hidden by her long red bangs, and said, “You don't see it?” She looked out on the horizon. “It's a beautiful land. One with so much to see. We've been here over a thousand years and we've barely seen a quarter of what it has to offer.”

“Do you really think it has that much?” Obsidian asked in skepticism. “Compared to us, Equestrians might as well still be in their dark ages.”

“That's the beauty of it. They have so much potential, so much they can accomplish. They live in such harmony as I have never seen. It's a refreshing change from the situation with Homeworld.”

“I agree Homeworld is not the most unified planet. But-”

“I know you see them as ‘lower life forms’, Obsidian,” she said, using air quotes, “But think about all we can learn from them.”

Obsidian looked up in thought for a few moments. Then said, “Nope. Can't think of anything.”

Morganite chuckled. “Imagine if Homeworld could be like this. So full of life and joy. So united. So…” As she was lost in thought, a small breeze blew the snow towards them. “Take this snowflake for example.”

“What snowflake?” Obsidian asked, looking at her empty hand. But a few seconds later, Morganite held out her hand and caught a snowflake. “Oh.”

“See, it's different from the others.” She caught another and held the two side-by-side. “It's also much smaller,” she added, as the first flake was about half the size of the second. “But tell me, Obsidian, would you try to make the large one smaller or make the small one bigger?”

Looking between the two, Obsidian thought. “I'd-I'd leave them as they are,” he said. “The way they are is what makes them unique; what makes them so valuable.”

“Exactly,” Morganite said as she released the snowflakes into the wind. She followed them with her eyes to a small town below the hill. “Hearthswarming.”

“What?” Obsidian asked in confusion.

“Hearthswarming. The festival they hold today. It's apparently meant to celebrate the founding of Equestria as a nation.” She looked up. “I kind of wish I was there. I read the stories, but to see how three mere assistants to leaders of their respective races were able to repel such a powerful storm and help their leaders understand harmony…”

“You can't change Homeworld,” Obsidian said. “Besides…” He summoned two bubbles, each holding a set of gem shards. “Not all memories of this day are good ones.”

“Well, change starts from one, then spreads to many,” Morganite said. “You can't expect everyone to change if no one changes. Also...” She held his hands. “If you don't like the memories you have of a day, make better ones in the days to come.”

1 Year Ago…

Dawn sat in his room, waiting for the Gems. He was extremely excited, seeing as today he would be traveling to Canterlot to watch the Hearthswarming reenactment. Amber had read him the story several times when he was much younger, but he couldn't wait to see it for himself.

“Come on! We're going to be late!”

“Hold up,” Tourmaline called out from the kitchen. He was carrying a large bag that was apparently stuffed with food.

“Wait, don't they sell food at the theater?” Dawn asked.

“Yes… Well… Have you seen how expensive that stuff is?!” Tourmaline said in outrage. “Besides, nothing beats Amber's homemade chicken tacos!”

“Yeah, well better leave some for the chef,” Amber said as she and Fulgurite walked out from the temple. “I am not making another batch of those for another month!”

“What?! Why?”

“Because, every time I make them, you eat it all! I am not going through all that effort for just you.”

“But I'm a growing boy!”

“Dawn is a growing boy. Besides, you're not growing anywhere to start with!” Amber turned to see Dawn, dressed up and practically ready to bounce through the roof. “Dawn, you do realize the play doesn't start for another… seven hours… right?” Dawn nodded. “And the train ride takes about an hour.” Another nod. “So relax. I promise we won't be late.”

“And if she fails on that note,” Fulgurite said, “I'll get us there is three seconds flat, four tops!” Amber punched Fulgurite in the shoulder as they left to get the train tickets. Dawn turned to see Obsidian’s meditation mat empty.

“Um… Where's Obsidian?” He asked.

“Who knows,” said Tourmaline. “The dude’s practically a ninja when it comes to not wanting to do stuff.”

“Weird. It's like he vanishes every Hearthswarming. Wonder why.”

“Yeeeaaaahhhh… I'm gonna go get another bag.”

“Wait, Tourmaline! Do you know why?”

Tourmaline froze in his tracks. He didn't know how to respond. “Look… Dawn… Obsidian's had some bad days. Some things are just best left untold.” With that, he vanished into the temple.

But Dawn would not let it go. He walked over to the door and raised his shirt, revealing the gem on his stomach. When there was no response, he rested his head against the door. “I wish I could see Obsidian so I could ask him why he won't come with us.” As if the door heard him, it opened, revealing the room inside. The hall was made of dark stones and rocks, lit by large lava flows and streams. Stalagmites and stalactites decorated the floor and ceiling and there were even places where blobs of magma seemed to just float in midair. Dawn got up and looked around before stepping inside, the door closing behind him.

He followed the path through the corridor until he came to a massive lava pool. Above it were several floating rocks, like tiny islands levitating above the lava. Dawn took a step closer and a set of rocks rose from the lava, creating a path to the center of the pool, where there was a massive land mass with a figure sitting on it. Dawn walked across the platforms, careful not to slip and fall into the lava; he wasn't quite sure if he had the healing capabilities of the Gems, but didn't want to take the chance. As he approached, he heard a voice.

“Turn. Back,” it said.

“O-Obsidian?” Dawn called.

“You shouldn't be here,” Obsidian replied.

“I know. But… I was hoping you could come with us to see the Hearthswarming play. It wouldn't be the same if we weren't all there.” He heard Obsidian mumble something, but couldn't quite make it out. “Obsidian?”

“DAWN!!! I SAID NO!!!” Dawn jumped at the roar of Obsidian's voice as it echoed through the cavernous room. Obsidian realized his reaction and turned to see Dawn, frightened. “I'm… I'm sorry, Dawn. But I can't. I'm just not.., how do you say… ‘Feeling it’.”

“But that's the problem; you’re never feeingl it!” Dawn walked closer to Obsidian as he spoke. “I don't know why you always lock yourself up in the temple during Hearthswarming, and I'm sure you're not going to tell me, but can't you just come out, just this once?” Obsidian did not reply. “It's my first time going to see the play and I wanted it to be the five of us. It's bad enough Pyrite had to go on one of her really long trips right before today. I don't want to have to go without any more of you.”

Obsidian sighed. “That's… sweet of you, Dawn. But… I just can't. I have my reasons.”

“Is it… Is it me?”

Obsidian felt a jolt in his chest. “Wha- NO! Of course not!”

“Then why won't you-”

“Because I just can't.”

At that point, Dawn knew there was no convincing him. He turned and made his way to the temple exit, leaving Obsidian to himself.

“Look, I told you, I thought it was a missile,” Fulgurite said as she walked in, closely followed by Amber, who was trying to catch her. The latter jumped in an attempt to tackle her, but missed and hit the floor instead. Fulgurite poked her head and said, “You're it!”

“No fair,” Amber said, getting up. She rubbed her hurt head and glared at Fulgurite. “You could've stayed back to explain why you had to blow up the stand. Who keeps missiles on display in a shop?!”

“I don't know,” Fulgurite replied. “People do crazy stuff these days.” She walked in and called out, “Hey, Dawn?! We got your ticket.” But there was no reply. “Dawn?”

“Huh? He was here when we left,” Amber said. “Maybe he went out?”

“Nah. His board is still outside. They went up to his room and knocked before going in. “Dawn?” They saw the boy lying down, his face buried in his pillow. “Hey Dawn, wake up.”

“I'm not sleeping,” he said with his voice muffled by the pillow.

“Oh. Well, we got your ticket. Do you want to hold onto it or-”

“I'm not going.”

Silence. Amber took a good ten seconds trying to process what he had said. “Uh… What?”

“I'm. Not. Going.”

Amber and Fulgurite were confused. It was the one thing he was looking forward to more than anything else this year. “Um… Why not? You were super excited going this morning.”

“NO!” Dawn looked up, his face full of tears. “I was super excited about going with all of you this morning,” he said.

“But Dawn, we are all-” Amber was distracted by the sound of Fulgurite facepalming.

“Ugh. He had to do this today,” she said. Noticing Amber's confused look, Fulgurite said, “You know what happened on this day… back then? With… You know…”

Amber took a moment to try to understand Fulgurite’s gestures. When she finally got it, her eyes lit up… Then shrunk. “Oh… Right…” Amber looked back at Dawn. “Look, Dawn… We can still go-”

“Not unless everyone is going,” Dawn said.

Amber sighed. “Come on, Ful.”

Once they left the room, Fulgurite asked, “Okay. So how are we going to get Obsidian out? You know nothing ever makes him leave. I mean, we even tried collapsing his room last year!” Fulgurite noticed a heatwave rippling over Amber's head. “Uh… Amber?”

“I don't care if I have to pop him and carry his gem in a freaking bubble,” Amber said through clenched teeth. “He knew about this for weeks. And if he thinks that his past is going to ruin this whole thing we had planned for Dawn, he better get ready for another war.”

Fulgurite leaned. “Amber… You're burning up again.”

Amber calmed down and the heatwave faded. “Ugh!”

“Teehee! You're cute when you're mad,” she said, resting on Amber.

Amber blushed slightly. “Knock it off.”

“No,” Obsidian said with his back to the Gems.

“Obsidian, come on,” said Fulgurite. “You knew about this for weeks. Couldn't you have, I don't know, ‘prepared your mind’ or something?”

“You try getting into my head and ‘preparing’ it to face one of the most dreaded days in-”

“OH, ZIP IT!” Obsidian turned to face the girls. This time, Amber's hair stood from its ponytail, now resembling a flame. “We planned this day for Dawn. We told him we were all going.”

“Maybe you shouldn't make promises you can't keep,” Obsidian said, turning and walking to the other end of the room. But he was suddenly stopped by a hand grabbing his shoulder. He looked and saw a translucent hand on his shoulder. “Amber. Let go of me.”

“Not until you agree to come,” she said. “Last time I remember, the war ended over five hundred years ago.”

“The war ended, the memories stayed. You wouldn't understand,” Obsidian said, shaking the hand off. “Tell me, are your memories your own, or does your parasitic nature transfer to that as well?”

“Whoa! Dude,” Fulgurite cried. “Uncalled for! And rude! Just because you had a bad time doesn't mean-” Fulgurite stopped when she felt a heat wave irradiate next to her. It was coming from Amber. She was glowing bright orange and her eyes were red with deep orange sclera.

“What… Did you just say?”

Obsidian turned to face her. “Pa-ra-si-” As he spoke, he was caught off guard by a massive fist slamming into him and sending him back.

“Ful? Remember what I said about having to carry him in a bubble?” Amber said, just before she charged at Obsidian, her hands blazing with a fiery orange energy. She whipped forward, spinning like a drill as the flames covered her. Obsidian dodged, but Amber cut the attack off as she landed behind him and kicked, sending a blast of flaming plasma into his back. “You crossed a line!”

“And you didn't?” Obsidian said, summoning his weapons. But before he could attack, a bolt of lightning caught his attention and he blocked it, then noticed Fulgurite, boots at the ready, standing next to Amber. Then they held hands. “Oh, no you don't.” As the girls danced, their gems began to glow and they turned white. But before they could meld, Obsidian got between them and slashed, separating them. “What's wrong? Too weak on your own?”

A furious Amber morphed her hands into a set of claws and clashed with Obsidian, leapfrogging with Fulgurite as they advanced on him. But Obsidian sent out a lava wave that knocked them both back. However, he felt less confident as he watched the lava flow into Amber's now large arm, magma lines running through the appendage. Using said arm, she pinned Obsidian to the wall and approached him. The lines in Obsidian’s armor glowed and the blob holding him melted.

“Why do I have to go?” Obsidian asked again. “It's not as if I really care about it as you know I don't.”

“But Dawn does,” Amber yelled back. “It matters to him and he cares enough to not want to go unless we all go.” She ran and tackled him to the ground. “What is wrong with you?! Why can't you make this one sacrifice for him?!”

Obsidian kicked her away. “Wait, ‘This one sacrifice?’ Do you know how much I've sacrificed already?! DO YOU?!” With a swipe of his hand, the ground beneath them opened and globs of magma spurted out of the cracks. “DON’T TALK TO ME ABOUT SACRIFICE!!!” As if controlling a puppet, Obsidian's movements shaped the magma into a giant tidal wave of molten rock. But before he could drop it-

“STOOOOOOOP!!!” There was near dead silence as the three Gems turned to see Dawn standing at the entrance of Obsidian's room. “I only wanted us to go together because I didn't want to feel like I had left anyone out. It's bad enough that Pyrite had to leave again before this started, so I just…” He looked at Obsidian. “You don't have to go if you don't want to.” He turned to the others. “None of you do. I know the way, so-”

“Whoa, hey,” Fulgurite interrupted. “We're almost late, so I might as well take you. But…” She looked up in thought, “I'll probably be too lazy to run all the way back. So…”

“And I'm bored,” added Amber.

“Guys,” Dawn said, “You don't have to-”

“But we want to,” Amber said. She jumped across the magma-ridden floor over to Dawn, followed closely by Fulgurite. “Come on. We should get going.”

Dawn smiled at them, then at Obsidian, before the three left, closing the door behind them.

At the theater, Dawn, Fulgurite, Amber, and Tourmaline sat together in a middle row with a good view of the stage. They each had a bucket of popcorn… Well, except for Tourmaline, who had three.

“Wow,” Tourmaline said, looking around, “Nice turnout.”

“Apparently, the people acting are supposed to be kind of like heroes here,” Fulgurite explained.

“The Elements of Harmony, if I remember right,” said Amber.

“That's a really cool name,” said Dawn.

“Is it really?” Tourmaline questioned, with a grin.

As the lights dimmed and the curtain fell open, the lights focused on a boy, who, based on his dressing, was supposed to be the narrator. But just before he began-

“Is-Is this spot taken?” Dawn and the Gems turned around in shock at the sound of the familiar voice. None of them could believe it.

“Obsidian!” Dawn nearly shouted, just barely remembering he was in a room full of people and a play was going on. “You came!”

“Well, I just thought…” He looked at Amber, who smiled. “It's your special day. So you're the captain.” He stood at attention and saluted. “What are your orders?”

Dawn looked at him for a while… Before a sweet smile crept across his face. “Your orders are to sit here and enjoy the show with us,” he said.

“Yes, sir!”

Answers

View Online

The Gems, Dawn, and the Elements of Harmony all stood in the Friendship Castle’s throne room. The tension was so thick, even a chainsaw could break trying to cut through it!

“I feel like we did something wrong,” said Dawn. He looked to Pyrite. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No, Dawn,” said Pyrite. “We just need to explain some stuff.”

“I feel like I'm awaiting an execution,” said Tourmaline.

“Except we aren't bound in chains,” Obsidian pointed out. “Not that the chains would do any good.”

“Okay,” Twilight finally decided to speak up. “As the Princess of Friendship-”

“Is that even a thing?” Tourmaline interrupted.

“As I was saying… I have decided to give you one last chance to give a reasonable explanation on who and what you are, where you came from, and what you're doing on Equestria.”

“And right now,” Applejack added, “Y’all ‘re on real thin ice!”

“Is that some kind of threat?” Obsidian asked. “‘Tell us everything we want to know or we'll banish you from our land?’ I've heard gravel make tougher threats than that.”

“Obsidian. Not helping,” said Pyrite.

“Why should we? We did everything in our power to keep them away and they insisted on getting closer. When someone you've never met before tells you to stay away after you witness them fighting a giant monster made of smoke, wouldn't it be wise to heed that warning?”

“Well, we have a tendency of facing danger head on,” said Rainbow Dash. “So that was out of the question.”

“Then you are all-”

“Not too different from most of us.” All stopped to stare at Pyrite. “With your permission, I'd like to retrieve our remaining comrades. Although, I myself, have overstayed my welcome here.”

“Aw. Don't go,” Dawn said, holding Pyrite’s leg.

She patted him on the head and said, “Don't worry. You know I always come back.”

“But it's so much fun when you're around!”

“And I'll give Amber and Fulgurite the list of stuff to do with you. Okay?” Dawn nodded sheepishly and hugged her before she left. She fist-bumped Tourmaline and said, “Don't do any more damage than you already have.” Finally, she turned to Obsidian. “Remember what happened back then. Maybe Morganite was onto something. Cooperate.” Obsidian avoided eye contact, but Pyrite could see compliance in his eyes.

She summoned a bright golden orb and said to it, “Amber. Fulgurite. Mark location. Send Beacon.” The sphere began to pulse with a golden light and just hovered. “They'll be here in a few minutes… Or less.” With a blinding flash of light, she seemingly vanished into the orb.

The girls sat, motionless. “We just gonna let ‘er go?” Applejack asked.

Twilight thought for a moment. “Where did she go?” she asked.

“Probably some other part of the galaxy,” Tourmaline replied. “She's the only one of us capable of traveling through space without using a warp pad. Pretty useful if you don't want to have to look for a working warp pad all the time. Some of ‘em are totally busted.”

“Speaking of which, let's start with that,” said Twilight. “They're teleporters, right? How do they work?”

Tourmaline shrugged. “No clue. Amber's the tech-head. You'll have to ask her when she she gets here.”

“Okay… So… How long have you been here? On Equestria, I mean.”

“Hmmm… About… two thousand years, give or take a few centuries or so.”

The girls all stared blankly at Tourmaline. Dawn looked between their confused faces, trying not to burst into laughter.

“Two… Thousand… Years…” Twilight repeated, trying to process the answer Tourmaline had given. “Two… Two… Thousand… I'm sorry, how old are you again?”

Tourmaline looked up in thought. “Well… On average, we're all somewhere approaching the eight thousand mark.”

Twilight’s jaw dropped. Along with everyone else's. “How…”

“Yeah. We live for a veeeery long time.”

“And we've officially hit Nope Town,” said Rainbow Dash. “Are you kidding me? First you're aliens from another planet who are made from rocks, now you're four thousand years old?!”

“We've been around for a while,” Tourmaline continued.

“I'm not buying it,” said Rainbow. “You don't even look that much older than us, if at all!”

“Well, our physical forms are just projections from our gemstones,” Tourmaline explained. “We can actually change how we look. We can look younger or older.” He then transformed into a younger version of himself with oversized clothes and a baby rattle, then to an older version with a cane. “We can even shape-shift into other stuff.” He then transformed into a wolf, a hose, a teapot, and a baseball bat before turning back into his regular self.

The girls all looked amazed. “Discord’s gonna get a kick out of this,” said Twilight.

“Indeed,” Rarity agreed.

“Discord’s back?” Tourmaline asked, surprised. “Must've missed that one.”

The girls stared in confusion. “Wait… How in Equestria do you know Discord?” asked Rarity

“Hello? two thousand years here? How would we not know the Lord of Chaos? He's the most fun thing around here since the Equestria Games!”

Twilight looked surprised at the display of knowledge. But before she could respond, the orb floating before them began to glow. It pulsed brightly and finally released a bright flash. From it, two familiar figures emerged.

“Wow. Been a while since we needed to do that,” said Amber, stretching.

“We need to tell Py to find an easier way to do this swap,” Fulgurite added. As the light faded around the orb until it turned black, it began to disintegrate and vanish.

“Was that supposed to happen?” Fluttershy asked.

“Hm?” Fulgurite looked back at the fading orb. “Oh yeah. Those things are disposable.”

Amber stepped forward. “So. What are we here for again?”

Twilight took a deep breath. “Despite my instincts telling me you are all too suspicious, I decided to ask for your side of the story.”

“Sounds reasonable.”

“Look. We just want- Wait, what?” Twilight was taken aback by Amber's easy compliance. “Oh. Um. Well, I asked and was told you could explain how your… warp pads work.”

“Quite simple, actually. They use-”

“Hey, Amby? Keep it simple, okay?” Fulgurite said with a smug grin.

Amber rolled her eyes, then continued. “Basically, it uses light particles to accelerate anything on it to near light speed, marking a preset destination, then pretty much… launching the person to said location.”

“And don't bother trying to use it,” Fulgurite continued. “It's specially made so that only Gems can access it. We can take you along, but you can't activate them yourselves.”

The girls all looked between each other. Applejack spoke next. “Alright. But what about them monsters we seen y'all fight? They come along with ya?”

Amber sighed. “Yes and no. Some of them did. Some didn't.” She looked around the room. “Look, we're truly sorry about any damage or worry we may have caused. We kept hidden because we wanted to avoid you all getting involved in the dangers we get into.”

“That's understandable,” said Twilight. “But if you've been around for four thousand years, you've been around recently. Like when we’ve saved Equestria on quite a few occasions.”

“And you should be proud,” Amber said. “But these… monsters... are different. You can't just blast them with the Elements of Harmony and cleanse them or whatever.”

“You know about the Elements?”

“Well… Yeah. It's pretty much the most important thing on your planet.”

“That makes sense,” said Rainbow. “But what are those monster you fight?”

“They vary.” Amber held out her hand and a small, circular screen was projected from the bracer on her arm. The screen was cycling through what looked to be gemstones. “Most of them are
corrupted Gems. They make up the brunt of them.”

“What do you mean by ‘corrupted’?”

Amber sighed. “Well… some Gems tend to be less… stable than others. This makes them prone to being overpowered by negative energy and turning them from this…” The image showed the silhouette of a humanoid Gem figure, “to this.” The figure began to distort in shape until it looked like a giant puffer fish.

“That doesn't look too scary,” said Fluttershy.

“Trust me. When this guy blows your house down, you'll see just how scary he can be.”

“What of the golems?” Twilight asked. “The ones that attacked us on the ship when we first met?”

“Oh… Those are automatons created for various tasks. They act as guards, soldiers, assistants; standard labor.”

“They're not Gems?” asked Rarity.

“No. Depending on the environment where they're assigned and the task they're made for, they can be made from either stone, sand, or clay.”

“So… They're not alive?”

“No. Not technically. They don't really give off any life signs. Heat signatures, electric current, etc.”

Twilight looked around between the girls and asked the one question that was on all their minds: “So, what are you all doing on Equestria?”

Amber took a deep breath. She wasn't entirely sure how to answer that question, but… “We came here to protect your planet.” The girls all stared blankly at Amber as she continued. “Long story short, other Gems from our planet tried to do something… horrible to your world. We fought against our own people to stop them.”

“What do you mean by ‘horrible’?” Fluttershy asked.

“Well… They sorta… Kinda… May have tried to create an army of Gem warriors using the life energy of your planet.” Amber winced slightly as she awaited their reply. But the only reply was six shocked faces. “Look, some of our higher-ranking officials have some serious superiority complexes. What was that expression… ‘You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs’? They practically live by that saying.”

“So… your people… tried to destroy our planet?” Rainbow asked.

“Well, yes and no. Was that their initial intention? No. Did they go ahead with their plan even though they knew what it would do to the planet? Yes. Did they care? Not even.”

“Wait, so how are Gems born?” Fluttershy asked.

Fulgurite stepped up. “Well, when a mommy Gem and a daddy Gem love each other very much, they tend to want to show that love by-”

“GAH! WE GET THE IDEA!” Twilight yelled, a bright blush appearing on their faces. But suddenly, Fulgurite burst into laughter.

“BWAAAAHAHAHAHA!!! I'm sorry! But you should've seen the looks on your faces!” She held her ribs as her laughter died down. “We're Gems. We're made, not born. We're incubated in the ground under various conditions and absorb life energy from the planet.”

Rainbow had to keep herself from laughing. Fulgurite got them good. “So… you were all at least babies at some point, right?” she asked.

“Wrong. The amount of energy we absorb lets us grow to about the size of a full grown person. By state of mind, some would seem younger than others. But we all still need to learn stuff.”

Twilight then looked and saw Dawn and Pinkie Pie playing “Patty Cake”. “And Dawn? What's he to you?”

The Gems all looked between one another. But an unlikely person spoke. “Our brother.” All turned to face Obsidian. “Our responsibility. Left to our care by our leader who passed on to give birth to him.”

“Oh.. I'm… I'm sorry to hear that.” Twilight thought for a moment. “Wait… You were led by an Equestrian?” Twilight asked, confused.

“Of course not. We were led by another Gem; one of the strongest.”

“Wait, but you said, ‘To give birth to him’. You said Gems were made.”

“Dawn is a hybrid,” said Amber. “Half Gem, half Equestrian.” The girls all looked as if someone had just told them that the universe was a lie. “Yeah. We didn't think it was possible. Apparently it is in some cases.”

“Oh… How has he coped?”

“As if you care,” Obsidian spat.

“He understands what happened,” Amber said. “When he was born, his mother passed her gem on to him. Since our gems are the center of our being, they can't both exist at the same time.”

“Wait, can't the gem just split in two or something?” Rainbow asked.

“It doesn't work that way,” Obsidian said in frustration.

Amber placed a hand on his shoulder. “It's a bit more complicated than cell division for Gems.” She sighed. “We kept it a secret because we weren't sure how you'd react to him. We didn't want to risk him being rejected for being... different.”

Slowly, the girls felt more and more sympathy towards the Gems as they began to understand their motives.

“Look, we're really sorry for any damage or worry or whatever else we may have caused,” Amber continued.

“I guess I understand,” said Twilight. “Maybe we sort of jumped to conclusions ourselves a bit.” Twilight got up and approached Amber. “Um… We're sorry too, for treating you with hostility.” She then held out her hand. Amber didn't wait long before shaking it.

“Thank you,” she said. “If it's fine by you, we'd like to help Applejack get her farm back in order.”

Applejack sighed. “Well, shoot. Ah can't stay mad at ya after y'all just explained yerselves.”

“WOOHOO! Conflict resolved!” Tourmaline yelled.

The Elements and the Gems began to mingle, chatting among themselves as the tension seemed to finally subside. As Twilight was about to engage in one of these chats, she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see Obsidian standing behind her.

“Princess,” he said, his face unreadable. “A word.” He led her over to a corner of the throne room out of earshot from the others and turned to face her. “Let me make some things perfectly clear: I don’t like that we’re taking right now. I don’t like that your kind knows anything about us. But there’s nothing I can do about that now. What I can do is this: I can promise you that if you do anything that puts my friends in danger, especially Dawn,” Twilight could feel an unnatural heat overtaking her, making her surroundings suddenly sweltering and causing her to sweat, “I will not rest until you and your friends burn.”

And as suddenly as it appeared, the unnatural heat vanished. But Twilight continued to sweat as Obsidian turned and walked off without a second glance.

It had been a few days since the Gems and the Elements had made peace. Applejack’s farm was back in order and the Gems were actually asked to help them with a few other things here and there. In addition, Dawn had finally got to do something he had always wanted to do.

“Class,” said Miss Cheerilee, addressing her students. “We have a new student joining us today. Dawn? Could you please introduce yourself?”

Dawn got up from his seat right behind Sweetie Belle. “Hi,” he said. “I'm Dawn. It's great to meet you all.” With that, he took his seat.

“Well, welcome to our class, Dawn,” Miss Cheerilee said.

During recess, Dawn sat with Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Applebloom.

“So, they let you come?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Yeah,” Dawn replied. “Took a while, but they all agreed it was fine eventually.” He took a bite out of his turkey sub sandwich, which actually made the girls a bit jealous.

“Wow,” Scootaloo said, her mouth watering. “That looks good.”

“Yeah,” Dawn said in response. “Amber's a really good cook. So is Fulgurite, but she normally makes everything spicy.”

“Wow. You're lucky,” said Sweetie Belle.

At that moment, two girls walked up to the group. “Well, well, well,” said one. She had purple hair with white highlights and wore a purple shirt and skirt combo, pink shoes, and a yellow jacket. “If it isn't the Blanks.” Applebloom groaned.

“Blanks?” Dawn asked, confused.

The girls looked at him. “Obviously, you're new here,” she said.

“Um… Yeah.”

“Well, let me explain. Blanks are what we call people like them,” she said, gesturing to the Crusaders, “who don't have their Cutie Marks yet.”

“Oh. Well… Isn't that kind of mean?”

“It's not being mean if you're telling the truth.”

“Dawn,” Applebloom said, “Meet Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.” Silver Spoon just watched and grinned behind Diamond Tiara.

“That's us,” she said. “And in case you're wondering, we already have our Cutie Marks.” She pulled up her shirt slightly, revealing the tiara mark on the left side of her midriff. Silver Spoon had her namesake mark on the right side of her neck. “It's unfortunate you had to be a part of their little crew. I was hoping the next new student we got would have their mark already.”

“Actually…” Dawn pulled down the neck of his shirt, revealing his mark.

“Oh,” Diamond Tiara said. “Wait… So why are you hanging out with these losers?”

“They're not losers,” Dawn said. “They're my friends. That's why I'm hanging out with them.”

“HA! Someone with their Cutie Mark hanging out with a Blank? Either they're blackmailing you or you don't seem to understand how things work.”

“I don't think it matters,” said Dawn. “I mean, we can still have stuff in common and we can still talk to each other. As far as things go, I don't think having a Cutie Mark determines who you can and can't hang out with.”

“Well then, you're dreaming.” Diamond Tiara signed. “Well it's only a matter of time before you realize that hanging out with Blanks is just pushing yourself further down the ladder. People who have their Cutie Marks are, by definition, better, because they know what their talent is and they know how to use it. This,” she gestured to the Crusaders, “just means they don't even know what their talent is or what they're meant to do. And that, to me, means loser.” With that, the two girls walked away.

“Ugh! Someone explain to me why I can't just punch her in the face?” asked Scootaloo.

“Thanks for sticking up for us, Dawn,” said Sweetie Belle.

“Yeah,” Applebloom agreed. “That was mighty nice of ya.”

“No problem,” Dawn said with a smile.

That night, Dawn couldn't sleep. It was almost midnight and he laid awake, Diamond Tiara’s words echoing in his head: “People who have their Cutie Marks are, by definition, better, because they know what their talent is and they know how to use it.”

“So, what's keeping you up?” Dawn turned on his side and saw Amber standing outside his partially open door.

“Oh, um, it's nothing,” Dawn answered.

“Nope. Try again,” Amber said as she walked in. “I can tell when there's something wrong.” She sat down on the bed next to him. “What is it?”

Dawn sighed and sat up. “It’s just… well…”

“Uh-huh?”

“You know those girls I hang out with? From the town?”

“Yeah. What about them?”

“Well, they don't have their Cutie Marks.”

Amber waited for him to say something else, but he didn't. “Yeah. And?”

“Well… Is there something wrong with me hanging out with them?”

Amber was a bit confused by this question, but answered, “Of course not. Why would you think that?”

“Well, there are these other girls in the class. One of them said that Blanks are losers and that they don't know what their talent is.”

“Blanks?”

“That's what they call people who don't have their Cutie Marks.”

“Ah. I see.”

“So?”

Amber sighed and smiled. “Dawn, did you know that there are some Gems that there are more than one of?”

“Yeah,” he replied. “You said there are many of certain Gems because they're needed for work.”

“And do you know what Ambers are supposed to be?”

Dawn thought about it. He wasn't sure because Amber had so many skills it was hard to actually pick one as her main purpose. “Um… Scientists?” Amber shook her head. “Warriors?” Another shake. “Uh… Maybe… Spies?”

“Well, you’re half right,” Amber said. “Ambers were made for one of two purposes: either to be test subjects in experiments or, if they made the cut for combat, spies. Basically, we were meant to be whatever our superiors wanted; molded into whatever they needed. Sometimes we were used as cannon fodder.” Dawn turned his head in confusion. “It means we were technically used as living shields.”

“Wait, really?!”

“Mhm. See, I was made to choose between being used as a guinea pig or fighting on the front lines as a spy and gathering information on an enemy… Or take hits for the main soldiers. This is because my body is adaptable to different conditions and I have faster regenerative abilities. Plus, you've seen me turn into a liquid state to avoid getting hurt.”

“SLUDGE MODE!!!”

Amber chuckled at the nickname. “Heehee. Yep. .”

“Wait, but you're so good with Gem stuff… And fighting… And cooking… And a whole bunch of other stuff.”

Amber smiled. “Let me tell you a story…”

Gaia, 1341 Years Ago

Amber sat on a hilltop as the summer breeze blew through the air. She still wore her Homeworld uniform, even after joining the Crystal Gems. But this was because of her own dilemma. She looked over the land and saw mostly grass and hills. It was calm, peaceful… Something she was not… Something she needed.

“Amber?” She was awoken from her daydream by the sound of a familiar voice. She turned around to see Morganite standing behind her.

“Oh, Morganite,” Amber said, turning around. “I didn't hear you.”

“Of course you didn't,” Morganite replied. “You were distracted.” She sat next to Amber. “What's on your mind?”

Amber sighed. “What… What am I?” Morganite was a bit confused by this question, so Amber clarified. “I was made to be… a spy… a guinea pig… Whatever they wanted me to be. But, I don't feel like that was me. I chose a path different from what my superiors decided.” She buried half her face in her knees. “I'm just a doll; I'm only there to be what they say I am. But if that doesn't feel right, if what my superiors say isn't right, then… What am I? What is my purpose?”

Morganite chuckled, which confused Amber. She was having a serious dilemma and Morganite thought it was… funny?

“Amber,” she said, “What do you want to do?”

“Huh?”

“What do you think your purpose is?”

“I just said I don't know.”

“Amber, being a particular kind of Gem doesn't mean you're bound to be like all other Gems like you. Having a set purpose doesn't make you any less important or any less alive as a Gem who was solely made for combat or building machinery or operating ships. In fact, not hanging on to a set purpose means you have so much more potential than most.”

“R-Really?”

“Amber, how did Peridots on Homeworld react when they learned you would be working with them?”

“Surprised, upset… Annoying…”

“But you still happened to be just as good, if not better than them?”

“I… I guess…”

“You see, what makes you unique isn't the fact that you have a purpose, it's that you chose your purpose. Whether it's plastered on your forehead or signified by a robe, everyone has their place in the world. For some, it takes longer to find out. Besides, not having a set purpose means you belong anywhere and everywhere; you're not stuck on any one thing, that would be boring. But in the end, what's important is not how others feel about you, but how you feel about yourself. And how do you feel about yourself?”

“I feel…” Amber took a while to think of the right word. “I feel…”

“Well?” Dawn asked, watching Amber stare into space.

Amber snapped back to reality. “Well what?”

“How did you feel?”

Amber smiled. “How do you feel?”

Dawn took a moment to think, then smiled to himself.

“I… feel…”

The next day, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon walked passed Dawn, who was sitting on the bench outside, since school hadn't started yet.

“Hello, Dawn,” she greeted, although with a tone. “So, did you think about what I said yesterday?”

“Actually, yeah,” he replied.

“And you realized that hanging out with Blanks is only going to make you a loser too, right?”

“Nope.”

“Great then we're-” Diamond Tiara stopped when his answer registered. “Wait, what?”

“Cutie Mark or none, it doesn't matter.”

“Wha- Well of course it does! Without a Cutie Mark, you have no place in society!”

“Not having a Cutie Mark doesn't make you any less of a person,” Dawn said. “Everyone eventually finds out where they belong. Until then, having no Cutie Mark… means belonging anywhere and everywhere. You're not stuck on any one thing, because that could be boring. And until you find out what your destiny is, all you can do is enjoy the journey. Besides, it doesn't matter what other people think of you, what matters is how you feel about you,”

The two girls stared at him, a bit confused. Then, Diamond Tiara gagged. “BLEAH! That was the silliest, cheesiest, most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! Of course what other people think matters!”

“Not to me, it doesn't.”

“And not to us.” Dawn and the girls turned at the sound of Applebloom’s voice and saw her, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo walking over to the bench.

Diamond Tiara groaned in annoyance and stormed off with Silver Spoon in tow.

“Thanks for that,” said Sweetie Belle.

“Don't mention it,” Dawn replied.

“But she's kinda right, y’know,” Scootaloo added.

“About what?”

“That speech! Good grief, the sappiness!”

“Yeah,” Dawn said, rubbing the back of his head. “I thought so too.”

Meanwhile, Nox stared at the clock on the screen pacing the room.

1:07:24... 23... 22... 21...

"Almost time," she said to herself. "Finally, they'll pay."

Night Gem

View Online

Nox stared at the clock on the screen as it counted down the final seven minutes. She grinned. “After what felt like forever,” she said, “I can finally begin. First, revenge. Then recharge. Then, get off this miserable rock. Finally, come back for more revenge… Yeah. Sounds good.” As the timer approached zero, a thick dark blue mist began to envelope her. She did some work on the control platform and a capsule appeared from the ground behind her. It opened, and Nox smiled at the contents. “This is gonna be fun.”

The Gems Amber and Tourmaline walked through the Everfree, following the GPS in Amber's bracers. The orange holographic arrow hovering over her arm directed them towards the source of an unusual magic surge.

“I think we're getting closer,” said Amber. The arrow was glowing more brightly and the scanners on her bracers were blinking wildly.

“Okay, anything doing that to a Gem scanner is usually not good,” said Tourmaline, summoning his hammer.

“Would you relax? It's not like… Whoa.”

“What?”

Amber showed him her bracers; they were both deactivated. “They just shut off.”

“Okay, that's definitely not good.” Tourmaline looked around then leaned in to whisper to Amber, “Hey, maybe we should… Y’know… Just to be safe.”

It didn't take Amber long to get what he was saying, and it took even less time for her to think about it. “No.”

“What? Come on!”

“Tourmaline, no. We need subtlety. And besides, that's Ful and I’s special thing.”

Tourmaline frowned and attempted to puppy-dog-eye a yes out of Amber, but she just looked and grinned. “I'm sorry, but who was it that taught you to do that?”

Tourmaline groaned in defeat. Then, Amber's bracers began to spark and multiple lights were going on and off. “Whoa! What is that?” Tourmaline asked in shock.

“I have no idea,” Amber replied. The sparks grew more violent and Amber began feeling a burning sensation. “YEOW!” She cried as she shook the bracers off and tossed them away as they exploded in a plume of red smoke. “Okay… There is something very wrong. Her lower right arm began to glow with an orange-tinted white light with what looked like orange circuit lines running through it.

“Whoa, you’re using it?” Tourmaline asked in surprise.

“Just to be safe.” A rather large, cylindrical cannon that funneled at the end close to her elbow formed over her lower arm. A slightly smaller barrel popped out in front, as did five small stubs arranged in a pentagon format at the ends of the star-shaped design on the top. A pair of prongs popped up like reticle at the edge of the large part of the cannon and three more stubs on the outer side. She pulled back on it, part of the top moving like the railing of a rifle.

The two Gems walked through the forest with caution. Amber's eyes wandered the surrounding area.

“Hey, what's that?” Tourmaline asked.

Amber turned to see what he was pointing to and was surprised at what she saw. “Oh… My… Stars…”

Back in Ponyville, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were giving Fulgurite a tour of the town. So far, she wasn't all too shocked as she had zoomed by this area quite a few times, just no one could see her.

“And this is the town hall,” she said, approaching the building.

“Wow,” Fulgurite said, “Looks way different from about a hundred and fifty years ago.”

“Huh? What did it look like a hundred and fifty years ago?” asked Rainbow.

“Well, for starters, it was much smaller,” Fulgurite said. “Also, the color scheme was different. It used to have more white. Guess it was too hard to maintain. And…” She zoomed towards the building and up the wall in a burst of speed. “And the roof was made of mahogany, not oak.”

“Whoa, really?” Pinkie asked, intrigued. Rainbow on the other hand, was never really into any kind of history… or learning.

“So, what are Gems like?” Rainbow asked.

“Huh?” Fulgurite was a bit confused by the question.

“I mean do you guys have like cities and stuff?”

“Well, yes and no.” Rainbow tilted her head in confusion. “Well, we do have labs and arenas and buildings and spires and all that, but we don't have most of the stuff you have like shops.” Pinkie gasped. “I mean, we don't really need it. We've got Gems that make practically everything we need.”

“And they don't get paid?”

Fulgurite shrugged.

Obsidian, on the other hand, roamed the Friendship Castle with Twilight, Applejack and Fluttershy.

“Well… This is unprecedented,” he said. “Interesting design.” They walked through the corridor, heading towards the library. “I always wondered what that pillar of light that popped up a few weeks ago was.”

“You didn't just try to check it out?” Fluttershy asked.

“We were still keeping out of sight,” Obsidian replied. “Besides, we were dealing with another issue at that time.”

“A corrupt Gem?” asked Twilight. Obsidian did not reply. Finally, they reached the library. “And this is my collection!” She gawked at her own large collection of books, ranging from history to geography, science to magic.

“Meh.” There was a breaking noise in Twilight’s head as Obsidian's lack of awe hit her.

“What?! What do you mean by, ‘Meh’?” Twilight said in surprise.

“I mean, ‘Am I supposed to be impressed?’ It's a giant castle made of crystal. Do you know how many of these Gems have built across the cosmos? And do you realize how much information we've catalogued in just the last one hundred years?”

“Wait, wha-...” Twilight rubbed her temples.

“For example, when you decided to trail Pyrite to the Lunar Sea Spire.” Twilight could hear the disapproval in his voice; he was still annoyed.

“Oh.” Obsidian continued to look around as Twilight pulled over to her friends. “Girls, I think he's still mad.”

“Pfft, don't fret, Twi,” said Applejack. “It's like Amber said, he ain't exactly the life o’ the party. Plus, he was against the whole ‘Gems and Equestrians’ idea. Just give ‘im time.”

“I agree,” said Fluttershy. “maybe we just need to show him how nice it is to live with us.”

Twilight pondered as they left for the throne room. Again, Obsidian was not all impressed. “So, this is it?” he asked. Then he noticed something strange. “Wait, why are there six thrones again?”

“Oh, one for each of us,” said Twilight.

“Each of who?” Obsidian asked. “Counting you, there's only four princesses. I can understand one being for the prince, but-”

“No no,” Twilight interrupted. “I mean for my friends and I. There's six of us.”

Obsidian looked confused. “So… Six of you are princesses? Why don't you all have magic marks and wings?”

“We're not all princesses,” said Twilight.

“She's the princess,” explained Applejack, “and the five of us are her friends. Princess of Friendship ain't one without ‘er friends.” Then she realized, “Wait, you didn't think this whole time that the six of us were all princesses now, did ya?”

“Actually, yes,” Obsidian replied bluntly. “It was odd, but I never bothered bringing it up.”

“Why?”

“I didn't quite care.” He walked around the table in the middle of the chairs. He studied it closely. “This isn't just a table.”

The three looked surprised. “Wait, how can you tell?” asked Twilight.

“The crystal,” he replied. “It's similar to the one used for Gem control platforms. The structure allows light and electric currents to travel through and over it in order to create a touch-sensitive computing system and light-powered projection surface capable of storing vast amounts of information.”

The three gawked in surprise and confusion. Even Twilight only managed to grasp barely half of that. “Oh… Um… Right.”

Obsidian grinned smugly. “You have no idea how it works, do you?”

Twilight smiled sheepishly and shrugged. “Um… Magic?”

“Well, I guess your technology works differently from Gem technology.”

Twilight grinned. “That's the first time we've seen you smile.”

“That wasn’t a smile,” he said, reverting to his original demeanor. “It was a grin.”

As he walked off, Twilight shrugged. “It's a start,” she said.

Amber and Tourmaline approached the odd crystalline structure with caution. It looked like a pillar that had been cut down, barely more than 15 feet tall now.

“I don't believe it,” said Amber. Her eyes glowed. “It's… an elevator.” She walked over to the pillar cautiously, still watching her surroundings, with Tourmaline following. With her free hand, she touched the surface. She jumped back at the warmth. “Someone's been here. Very recently.”

She moved forward and pressed her regular hand against the surface. A circle lit up and spread, revealing the inside of the elevator. “Are we seriously going down there to… wherever?” asked Tourmaline as he approached the pillar.

Before Amber could answer, the pillar lit up in a bright green. “GET DOWN!!!” She tackled Tourmaline out of the way as the elevator exploded in a cloud of thick green smoke. Amber looked up and saw the remains of the pillar and a rather large hole. She approached the hole and looked down. It was pitch black. A visor formed over he eyes and began scanning the area. First a thermal, then X-Ray, then bioelectic. But just before she could switch to the next one, a faint light appeared.

“See anything?” Tourmaline asked, looking down as well.

“I think so,” Amber replied. “Let's get a closer look.” She jumped down, followed by Tourmaline.

Dawn met the Crusaders just outside the Everfree, confused.

“So, what are we doing here?” he asked.

“We're going back,” said Scootaloo. It took a while for Dawn to process, but when it clicked, he mentally began questioning their sanity. “What? We ever found out what… whoever that smoke person is was doing.”

“Do we want to?” Dawn asked. “I mean I'm pretty sure the Gems or your sisters and their friends can deal with it.”

“Do they know about it?” Applebloom asked rhetorically. “We all agreed not to tell anyone because…” Applebloom made a decapitating motion to make her point.

“Right…”

Applebloom leaned in. “You did keep it secret, right?” Dawn nodded hesitantly. He didn't like keeping secrets from the Gems, especially if it had anything to do with Gems. “Great. We can all keep our heads.”

“For now,” Dawn added quietly.

As they made their way to their destination, Dawn asked, “So why are we going back again?”

“Duh,” Scootaloo said. “If we find out who that smoke guy was, we can tell the others. Or better yet, if it's evil, take it down ourselves!”

Dawn just stared. Snapping out of his daze he said, “I highly doubt that anything we do is going to hurt it.”

“Oh yeah? And why is that?”

“Well, for starters, it's made of smoke.”

“Oh… We'll figure something out.”

“I don't think-” Dawn was distracted when they arrived at the same place where the entrance to the underground room was. But something was off. The rock they placed there had been blown clean off and into several pieces. “O… kay… I don't think we should go in there.”

“We're so goin’ in there,” said Applebloom.

The girls wasted no time in going through the entrance with Dawn following close behind. The corridor looked pretty much the same… except for the several crystal shrimp that seemed to have been fossilized into the ground, walls, and ceiling.

“Whoa!” Dawn and the girls were all amazed at the sight. A bit terrified, but amazed. “What did this?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“I’ll give you three guesses,” said Applebloom.

“Hint: it's made of smoke,” Scootaloo added.

A loud sound like a small explosion caught their attention. “What was that?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“It's coming from over here,” said Dawn, taking a right turn. They soon found themselves in another room, devoid of anything, save form the several burn marks and chunks of rock broken off the walls and floor scattered across the room. “Looks like there was a fight.”

They heard more explosions. “And it sounds like it's still going on,” said Scootaloo. They followed the trail of collateral damage and stood against the wall and peeked behind it. The room was lower than where they were standing, a slope leading to the floor of the depressed area. There was silence and more scorch marks. They made their way into the room. However, Scootaloo was a bit too eager and bumped into the others, causing them to tumble and collapse loudly to the ground in a heap and kicking up dust.

The kids coughed and tried to wave the dust away. But Dawn's ears perked up at what sounded like a charging noise. He could see a fairly bright orange light through the dust.

“FREEZE!” said a voice. Dawn knew it all too well. He got a grip on the girls, made a shushing motion, and readied himself to run. “Don't move or so help me I will blast you so far into kingdom come you'll see the curvature of this entire flipping star system!” Dawn began to rethink his initial plan. Took a deep breath and readied himself for judgement.

As the dust lowered, Amber's face came clearer into view. There was a light orange visor over eyes with a target reticle over the right side. Dawn and the girls also noticed the plasma cannon that had taken the place of her right arm. As Dawn came into view, Amber's demeanor changed. It was a mix of relief that it wasn't another crystal shrimp, and then-

“Dawn… DAWN?! WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE COSMOS ARE YOU DOING HERE?!” Her voice was strong enough to create a breeze that nearly knocked the girls off their feet.

“H-Hi, Amber,” Dawn said with a sheepish smile.

Amber leaned to look around him. “And you brought your friends… YOU BROUGHT YOUR-”

“Amber, calm down,” said Tourmaline, placing a hand on her shoulder. He soon realized his mistake as he sharply removed his smoking hand.

Amber calmed down and looked at them. “We'll discuss this later,” she said. “Now, what are you doing down here?” Dawn took a deep breath and explained what he and the girls saw the last time. Once Dawn finished, Amber looked in thought. “So, Nox is here? And she managed to get a control console working?”

Dawn nodded.

“Well, that can't be good,” said Tourmaline.

“Ya think?”

“No, I'm referring to this place. It's not just a temple.” His weapon lit up and vanished. “It's an armor facility.”

“Huh? How'd you figure?”

“When we saw Nox messing around with the computer,” Dawn said, “a bunch of tubes came up. Most of them looked like they had armor, golems, and a bunch of other Gem stuff.”

“Wait, she got into the stock?!” Amber asked in shock. “Where is it?”

Dawn showed them the way back to the room, but they didn't enter. They couldn't. Not with Nox inside.

“There she is,” said Amber.

Nox paced around the console, working on it as a capsule emerged in front of her. “Yes! Almost,” she said in a victorious tone. “Soon, I can begin Phase II.”

“NOT ON MY WATCH!” Amber's cry took Nox by surprise as the misty figure spun a round to see Amber airborne, aiming a plasma cannon at her.

“What?! Nonononononononono! Not you!” As she protested, Amber fired a shot. The orange beam flew with pink spirals swirling around it as it travelled. The beam passed right through Nox, who didn't notice that it had hit the console. “HA! Missed me, you cl-” before she could finish, an explosion rocked the platform as the console was decimated by the beam. Nox reformed and looked up as she saw Amber and Tourmaline land on the platform.

“It's over, Nox!”

“Really? Over a thousand years, through dreams and reality, and goody-two-shoes like you still don't realize that saying dumb stuff like that just makes you automatically wrong.” She grinned and began to float back. It took a while before Amber realized-

“SHE’S GOING FOR THE CAPSULE!” Tourmaline summoned his hammer and slammed the ground with it, the shockwave dispersing Nox. As she reformed, Amber ran through the gap and lunged at the capsule, cannon charged. However, something caught her leg and flung her away. Her shot misfired and hit the ceiling as she was slammed into a wall, sending a ton of stone crashing down. Tourmaline jumped out of the way in time before the rocks collapsed onto the platform. The dust cleared, and there was no sign of Nox or the capsule.

Amber dislodged herself from the wall and jumped down. Her visor glowed as she scanned the debris. The scanners searched in silence and picked up nothing. “Well, that, as they say, is-”

“Not.” Amber almost jumped at the sound of the modulated voice. “Seriously? Did you honestly think it would be that easy?” the voice said as it tried to readjust to the owner’s original voice. “Not... even... close.” Now the voice was back; Nox was still there.

Without warning, a shockwave from inside the rubble sent debris flying everywhere. Amber and Tourmaline jumped down to the lower part of the platform to avoid the makeshift projectiles, while Dawn and the girls hid behind the entrance for the same reason.

Amber and Tourmaline looked up and saw a figure rising from the smoke. It was about six feet tall with a lean, humanoid structure. What looked like a pair of horns on its head, curved down so the point was on either side where nose would be. It's arms were very long, going just past its knees and growing slightly larger from the elbow. The legs were straight as tree trunks, but with the lower leg being larger, fitting like a pair of boots. The eyes opened, glowing dark blue and sinister.

Both Amber and Tourmaline shrank back.

“Uh-oh.”

“We're screwed.”

“Big time.”

Nox smiled. “I'm back, baby!” She stepped out of the smoke. “Now, let's have some fun.”

Obsidian ran outside, followed closely by Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy.

“What is it?” Twilight asked, noticing Obsidian staring into the distance.

He placed his hands on the ground and focused. Then he felt it; a dark, sinister presence.

"She's back," he said.

"Wait, what? Who's back?" Twilight asked with concern.

Obsidian frowned and looked towards the forest. "Nox."

House Guests

View Online

If Nox was anywhere near as powerful in the dream world as she was in the physical plane, then this was one mist they'd rather not go to their heads. The golem she had possessed was a powerful one. It's thick armor could withstand shots from Amber's plasma cannon and hits from Tourmaline’s hammer. Its right hand was a fist that could bust a hole through a Gem warship and the left was a set of claws that could rip through a dragon's scales; and she was using them.

“HA! How d’you like me now?!” she yelled as she swung her claws at Amber's head. Amber ducked, but the massive fist slammed into her chest before she even saw it coming. Tourmaline took the opportunity and took to the air.

“Peekaboo,” he said as he brought down the hammer, “I see you!” However, the hammer stopped just before it landed on her face, stopped by the fist, which had made a u-turn and caught the back of the hammer. Nox grinned as she flung him away with a flick of her wrist.

“Nice try,” she said, “but with a body, I'm even more powerful. No more scattering and having to reconstitute. That was a pain.”

“And so is this.” That was the only warning Amber gave before hitting Nox at point blank range with a massive plasma beam. Nox and the beam crashed into the wall on the far side of the room. “You are NOT leaving this room, Nox.”

“Oh?” Nox grinned and raised her arms. “Did you honestly think that physical strength is all this body had going for it?” The horns on the Nox’s head began to glow slightly with dark blue electricity arcing between them. The energy gathered in the middle in a sphere and began to grow until it was about the size of a small basketball. “Yeah. I can do this too.”

Amber braced herself and put up a force field. “Oh, a force field,” Nox said, feigning disappointment. “Whatever shall I do? Oh, I know! How about THIS!” Nox tilted her head back as she fired. Amber watched in confusion as beam went up. But before she could ask what, the beam hit the ceiling. Chunks of rock crumbled to the ground. Amber and Tourmaline jumped out of the way as pieces of the ceiling began to fall.

Amber looked up and stared in shock at the fairly large hole above them. Then looked back down at a grinning Nox. Then back up. Then down. “No,” she said. Nox shifted. “No,” she repeated. Nox shifted again. “Don't you-” Before she could finish, blue lines on the body Nox possessed lit up and she began to levitate. “I SAID NO!” She pulled up the cannon and fired repeatedly. Multiple shots ripped across the room towards Nox, who weaved through the attacks as she made her way up.

“Sorry, clods,” Nox said, “But there's a lot of land up there I haven't touched. So see ya!” And with that, she vanished into the smoking hole above.

Amber looked up in shock. Her eyes glowed in anger as she turned to face Tourmaline. “Get Dawn and his friends back to a safe place and find Fulgurite. I'm going after Nox. Obsidian will probably be there to intercept her.”

Tourmaline nodded and walked towards the door where Dawn and the Crusaders were hiding. He knew better than to question Amber when she was like… this. “Okay kids,” he said, “Time to leave the war zone.”

“WAR ZONE?!” Applebloom yelled in shock.

“Yes,” Amber replied. “That's what happens when you learn about a psycho, evil, nightmare-inducing monster a week late,” she snapped. She groaned and waved her hand and Tourmaline got the message.

“Okay, come on. Let's go,” said Tourmaline as he escorted them out.

Back at the temple, Amber paced the room impatiently.

“Amber, relax,” said Fulgurite. “You know you don’t always think straight when you’re angry.”

“I’m not angry,” Amber said. “I’m frustrated. There’s a difference.”

“Not that much of a difference,” Obsidian said. Amber glared at him. “Look, our priority right now should be to find out where Nox is. If she was able to take control of a golem that advanced in such little time, she couldn’t have had enough time to get a complete link.”

“Meaning she isn’t at full fighting strength yet,” said Fulgurite.

“Well, if what we saw back there wasn’t full fighting strength, I don’t think we should wait to find out just how strong 100% strength is,” said Amber.

Just then, Tourmaline walked in.

“So, I dropped Dawn’s friends off back in the town,” he said. “Judging by how worried Applejack and Rarity looked, I thought I’d forget to tell them about how they were in the armory when Nox attacked.”

“Well, the less they know, the better,” said Obsidian. “Which is what I’ve been saying for over 1500 years, but somehow, it didn’t make sense until we had an experimental living weapon on the loose.”

“Now’s not the time for this, Obsidian,” said Fulgurite. “Right now, we need to focus on tracking down Nox… Um… Anyone know where to start?”

“Nox would most likely go looking for a power source that can help kickstart her new form,” said Amber. “She only used physical attacks when she fought us; no illusions, no trapping us in dreams.”

“Which means she can’t use her normal powers without leaving her new form exposed,” said Obsidian.

“What makes you think so?”

“When Nox was first field tested, she was given a physical form she could use to interact with the physical plain. Since she was still in her prototype stage, she was never given 100% power, so she could never use her powers without exiting the body, which left it unprotected from enemy attacks.”

“Since she’s practically comprised of dust, even a strong breeze could take her out of the picture,” said Tourmaline. “Actually, if they had vacuum cleaners back then, that would have done the trick… Why did making those take so long?”

“Getting back on point,” said Amber, “Nox should be our top priority.” Suddenly, the ring at the root of her ponytail began blinking. “As soon as we take care of that.”

“What is that?” asked Tourmaline.

“It’s a sensor I set up in one of the Gem ships I salvage scrap from,” Amber explained. She brought her goggles over her eyes as a stream of information ran over the inside of the lens. “Huh. It seems to be coming from inside the Gem ship, but it’s partially buried underground.”

“Okay, so corrupted Gem that looks like a mole?” asked Fulgurite.

“Maybe. Guess we’ll have to find out. Let’s go, Ful.”

“What am I supposed to do?” Tourmaline asked as Amber and Fulgurite headed towards the warp pad.

“Um… just… do what Obsidian is doing,” Fulgurite said, gesturing toward a meditating Obsidian. “Good luck,” she giggled as they were warped to the beacon’s location.

Tourmaline looked carefully at Obsidian. “Something tells me you’re working on a way to find Nox while they’re gone.”

“And you’re going to help me,” Obsidian said.

Tourmaline gasped. “Are… are you asking for my help?” he asked.

Obsidian knew he wasn’t seriously that surprised, though. “Only because Amber and Fulgurite left before I could ask.”

“Yeah right,” Tourmaline said, grinning. “So, what did you have in mind?”

Amber and Fulgurite appeared at their destination, which was around what looked like the deeper parts of the Whitetail Woods. Directly ahead was the remnants of a crashed Gem warship. The massive green structure was shaped like a pyramid with a flat top and had several cracks running along its length.

Amber put her goggles over her eyes and scanned. “Well, something was definitely here,” she said. Through her lenses, she could see the bright red footprints highlighted by the HUD. “Weird.”

“What?” asked Fulgurite.

“The footprints. They don’t look like they belong to a corrupted Gem.” Amber looked around. “Come to think of it, no corrupted Gem I’ve seen is this sneaky. I mean, only tripping an alarm? No smashing? No ransacking? It didn’t even smash the wall to get into the ship.”

“You know, not every corrupt Gem is a raging mass of destruction and chaos,” Fulgurite noted.

“I know, I know. Come on, let’s check it out.” Amber approached the ship and pressed her hand against the surface. A bright white ring appeared on the surface around her hand and a whirring sound was heard. The whirring then changed to a beeping.

“AMBER! MOVE!” Fulgurite tackled Amber to the ground just as the ground beneath the latter exploded. The two got up and stared at the small crater in the ground.

“Okay, what is it with everyone and explosive traps?” Amber grumbled. “This is the third time this week!”

“Someone really doesn’t want us in there,” said Fulgurite.

“A lot of people really don’t want us in a lot of places,” Amber deadpanned. Her body began to glow slightly and morphed into what could only be described as a shapeless blob. In this form, she slipped in between a crack in the hull and opened the “door” for Fulgurite.

Once inside, the hole sealed shut behind them. Amber found a control panel and turned on the lights in the room they were in, which appeared to be some kind of storage. They made their way through the ship, looking around. So far, the ship seemed intact. If anyone was in there, they hadn’t been there for long.

They didn’t have to search long before they heard a shuffling noise, followed by the clanging of something falling against the crystalline surface. The two Gems glanced at each other before getting into their battle stances. Following the echo, they came to one of the rooms in the ship that had been sealed. On the locked entrance was a note: “VITAL DATA STORAGE: DESIGNATED GEMS ONLY!!!”

They made their way inside as Amber began hacking into the ship’s systems. Soon, an opening appeared leading into a room filled with massive blocks of crystal with circuit lines pulsing and pinging. The server room was one of the most important parts of a Gem ship. It was where everything the crew had experienced was recorded: landing sites, recordings, plans; it was more or less a portable data bank for off-world missions. So why would any Gem be in here?

The question was soon answered by a whizzing sound, like electric sparks going off. Fulgurite extended her hair and Amber activated her arm cannon as they stepped around and a figure came into view. It had bright yellow skin and yellow hair with blue highlights at the ends. It wore a red jacket open over a white shirt and black tie, black pants with a black belt, and black shoes. On its back was also a line of about eight small, black spikes running down its spine which were glowing with a faint blue aura. The figure had it’s right hand on the control platform, which was blinking as a holographic screen in front of him rapidly scrolled through information.

“Hey!” Amber’s voice jolted the figure back to reality as its hand left the platform, causing the glow on the spikes to fade and vanish. “Who are you and what are you doing? No one is allowed inside this part of the ship; not even me, and I helped build some of it!”

“Well not no one,” said the figure. “The sign says, ‘Designated Gems,’ doesn’t it?”

“So, you’re a Gem? That explains how you got in here, but what make you think you fall in that category?” Amber asked, taking aim and charging up a shot.

“Well, information is my business. Literally. You of all people should know this, Amber.”

Amber jumped at hearing her name. “Wait, wha- How? You didn’t even see me!”

“No. But the cameras did. And I saw their footage.” Amber looked at the walls and saw a dome-shaped protrusion she could only guess was the camera.

“So you saw us come in?”

“Honestly, I was expecting someone else. Sorry, if the pulse bomb caught you instead,” he said.

“Who did you think was coming?” Asked Fulgurite.

“Well, unlike you, I still have some allegiance to Homeworld.” Amber’s grip on her cannon tightened and electricity arced more violently around Fulgurite. “But, like you both, I’m not really a Diamond fan.”

“That’s not exactly comforting,” Fulgurite said.

“Neither is you pointing a plasma cannon at me.”

“That depends on what end you’re on,” said Amber.

“Okay, look, I’m not a huge fan of violence either. So put the hostility away and let’s talk before one of us does something really stupid.”

“The only stupid thing I’ve already done is not vaporising your diamond-wearing butt the moment we walked in here.” Amber did a scan on her goggles and found something strange; all the ship’s security protocols had been disarmed; no distress beacon, no security drones, not even an alarm was active. Fulgurite was fast, but this had all been done before they were even in the server room! “So, give me reason not to right now. Who are you?”

The figure turned around, his yellow diamond-shaped belt buckle coming into view, as well as the oddly-shaped gem in his right palm. “My name is Bismuth. I’m a friend of one of your friends.”

Dawn lay in his bed back at home. He felt bad for not telling Amber about Nox the day they saw her. Although, in his defense it was either tell Amber he went somewhere he shouldn’t have and get in trouble or not tell her and get in trouble when she finds out. But if he had come clean, Nox wouldn’t have escaped. In short, feeling responsible sucked as much as feeling helpless; getting grounded for it just made it suck worse!

Dawn took his phone out of his pocket, grateful that Amber at least let him keep his phone; probably wouldn’t be so lucky if it was Obsidian. Sadly, Amber, being a tech genius, locked all the games on his phone. She then took away his console, banned him from TV for seven months (one month for each day he neglected to share the information he had) and restricted him from going further than a hundred meters from the temple.

“She said I couldn’t see them, but at least she didn’t say I couldn’t talk to them,” he thought as he typed.

Dawn B: Anyone there?

It didn’t take long to get a response.

AB:Yep.
LeBelle: Yeah.
Scooter_Lover9: Not like there’s anything better to do with my Saturday.
AB: Did you get in trouble?
Dawn B: Like you wouldn’t believe!
Scooter_Lover9: How bad is it?
Dawn B: Well, They’re all mad at me for not telling them, but I can’t blame em. What about you guys?
AB: Grounded 4 a week
LeBelle: 2 weeks. Rarity completely flipped when she found out!
Scooter_Lover9: No practice with Rainbow Dash for a week!
Dawn B: No TV, games, missions, or visiting anyone: 7 months
AB: Whoa
Scooter_Lover9: Is that even physically possible?
LeBelle: Wow. Sry, Dawn.
Scooter_Lover9: Yeah. If I hadn’t pushed you to it, we wouldn’t even be involved in the first place
Dawn B: NP. Thinking about it, if we hadn’t seen it the first time, then gone back, we wouldn’t even know about Nox
AB: So +ve and -ve. Just feel bad you got it harsh.
Dawn B: It’s fine. Maybe when Amber cools down, I can go ask Fulgurite to ask Amber to consider cutting it in half
AB: Hope it works out
Scooter_Lover9: Me 2
LeBelle: Me 3
Dawn B: Thnx. GTG. Don’t want to risk phone!
AB: Gud idea
LeBelle: C ya
Scooter_Lover9: L8trz

Dawn smiled and put the phone back in his pocket. He got up and walked over to the window to watch the wind blow the grass, causing a mesmerizing wave of various shades of green. The coolest thing was how a single patch of grass didn’t seem to change with the waves; it maintained its color. Dawn stared at the odd patch for a while. Then, he saw Obsidian come out of the house and walk toward the field. He stared for a while at the grass. Then, in the blink of an eye, summoned his sword and slash out, a wave of heat cutting through the grass. That was when the patch moved; right out of the way of the attack.

“Who are you?” Obsidian asked, summoning his second sword. The patch began to ripple as a figure faded into view. It stood a little bit taller than Amber with a slim figure. It had green skin and a thin build with green eyes, with slits for pupils much like a reptile. His hair was a bit scruffy and short, an odd ring of hair around his ears, connecting his sideburns to the back of his head. His outfit was a light green sleeveless bodysuit with dark green on its lower legs and upper body. A light green “V” was printed on the front and joined to the one on the back with a gemstone, a hexagonal green stone, sat just above his ribcage, when the point of the “V” was. He also wore a white headband with a "radioactive" symbol on it, and both his arms were bandaged up to the elbows. The figure was also very silent. “I asked a question. Don’t make me ask again.”

The figure looked around. “Huh. It ain’t so different here,” the figure spoke in a rather gruff voice. “Except that magic seems to be pretty common compared to Earth. And they managed to not try to drive themselves to extinction with some of the dumb stuff they create.”

Obsidian’s interest was piqued by that. “You came from Earth? Are you from the Kindergarten?”

The figure walked forward. “I knew there was a temple around here somewhere. And where there’s a temple, there’s a warp pad.”

“You’re going to need permission to use it,” Obsidian said, taking a fighting stance.

The figure raised an eyebrow. “Okay. I’m using your warp pad,” he said, continuing forward. Obsidian used his blade to block the Gem’s path. But the Gem grabbed Obsidian’s arm and flung him into a tree, knocking it down in the process. Dawn gasped at the sight of such a relatively smaller Gem being able to move that fast, let alone fling Obsidian across the field like an old toy.

But Obsidian wasn’t down yet. One of his blade began to heat up and morph until it became a blob of magma attached to the short remnant of the solid blade. The magma crashed down in front of the Gem and surrounded him. Obsidian clenched his fist, hardening the magma into a solid rock dome prison. But it didn’t hold. A scratching sound could be heard inside and soon the whole mass crumbled down around him. The Gem rose from the rubble and on his right hand was a set of three shiny green, serrated claws attached to a white gauntlet on his lower arm. The figure turned to look at Obsidian, his eyes burning with an unnatural fury as he lashed out with his claws, a wave of green energy knocking Obsidian further back.

The Gem turned around in time to see Tourmaline swing his mighty hammer at his head. He ducked under the swing and swept Tourmaline’s feet off the ground before hitting him with another green beam, this one emanating from his Gemstone. The figure walked toward the temple as his weapon vanished.

Again, he was interrupted, this time, by a giant, molten hand grabbing him. He looked down to see Obsidian, the path behind him that was caught in the blast was completely void of anything other than dirt, but the ground beneath him was burned pitch black with the heat he radiated, the magma lines in his armor glowing intensely. Not wasting any time, he pulled back his arm, the magma extention doing the same, and flung the Gem like a tennis ball, his green figure vanishing into a ping of light in the distance. Obsidian sent the arm back into the ground, which was scorched with embers still glowing.

He looked around and surveyed the damage and sighed. “I hate out-of-town house guests.”

Amber and Fulgurite warped into the temple with the third Gem standing behind them.

“You won’t believe all the crazy stuff that’s happened,” Amber said. “Nox is not gonna be easy to track. She doesn’t exactly have a bioelectric signature or life force Fulgurite or I can track.”

“Well, that’s why Homeworld locked her up,” said Bismuth. “But maybe…” Bismuth’s train of thought was disturbed by the sight of a familiar Gem in armor resembling an active volcano sitting cross-legged in the middle of a circle of scented candles.

Amber noticed where he was looking and smiled. “Oh, Obsidian,” she called to get his attention. “We have visitor!”

“I. Hate. House guests,” he grumbled.

“He says he know you~!”

“Who could that possibly-” Obsidian cut himself off at the sight of the yellow Gem.

“Hey, Obsidian,” said Bismuth. “What’s it been?” Obsidian just stared. “What’s it been now? Three thousand years?” He added with a sheepish smile. Obsidian walked over to Bismuth, his eyes caught sight of the diamond-shaped belt buckle as he approached. Then something unusual happened. Now normally, if Obsidian didn’t like something, he made sure he had no part in it. This time was different; this time, he punched Bismuth in the face, knocking him over the warp pad.

Tourmaline walked out of the kitchen with a bag of mini tacos and stumbled into the scene. Then, he made a wise decision: he said, “Nope.” Then turned around and walked away.

Radioactive

View Online

Bismuth sat on the chair in the living room while Amber and Fulgurite sat on the couch. After his… statement, Obsidian had gone into his room and hadn’t come out for the past 30 minutes, which was a really long time, even for an awkward silence.

Fulgurite broke the silence. “So…” she started, “what just happened?”

“I guess you could say I’ve had it coming for three thousand years,” said Bismuth.

“Yeah, but why?” asked Amber. “I mean, is it the diamond? That was enough to set my cannon to full charge.”

“The diamond was a good reason, but it wasn’t in this case.”

“So, what did you do that was so bad that Obsidian would be carrying a punch around for three millennia?” asked Fulgurite.

“Well, I-” Bismuth stopped in mid sentence. “Hold that thought.”

“What is it?” asked Amber.

“Part of the reason I deserved that punch,” he replied. “Would you mind terribly, but I need absolute silence.”

Amber and Fulgurite looked at each other and shrugged, but kept quiet as Bismuth touched one of the spines on his back.

“Hello? … Yes, this is Bismuth… That’s a bit… complicated. … Well, yes and no. I found the ship, but the data logs didn’t have what we were looking for… Of course. Awaiting coordinates.”

He let go of the spine and turned to face the two confused looking Gems behind him.

“So, mind explaining yourself,” Amber said. “Because it just sounded like you were talking to someone. And if your allegiance to Homeworld still stands, there’s no doubt in my mind that that was a Homeworld Gem you were talking to.”

Bismuth sighed. “It was. My allegiance to Homeworld is actually the reason Obsidian lashed out.”

“Mind explaining a bit more?”

“Well, you see, we actually used to be pretty close friends.”

“Yeah, I could tell by the way he fist-bumped your face,” Fulgurite said.

“Long story short, I had to make a choice.”

“You apparently made the wrong one.”

“That depends on the angle you look at it from.”

3000 Years Ago…

“YOU KNEW ABOUT THIS?!”

Obsidian screamed from the ground while Bismuth stood next to the warp pad in the snowy path. Bismuth looked to the ground.

“I… wanted to tell you. But-”

“But what?” Obsidian interrupted. “You were afraid of falling out with the Diamonds? Or just Yellow Diamond in particular?”

“It’s not like that, Obsidian,” Bismuth said.

“I learned about the Kindergarten project from a Gem I barely knew anything about. She risked her life to show me what Homeworld did to the worlds they colonized. But you, the Gem I proudly called my friend, said nothing?”

Obsidian could not comprehend the pain in Bismuth’s chest as he tried to explain himself.

“Obsidian, listen. I-” As he looked up to continue he saw a bright reddish-orange blob fly towards him. He ducked just in time to avoid the ball of magma Obsidian hurled.

“I TRUSTED YOU!” Obsidian was in a state of absolute rage, his armor glowed intensely and his eyes turned black, save for his, now, red pupils. “YOU PROMISED TO SHOW ME EVERYTHING!!!”

“Why do you think I came out here?” Bismuth said, trying to reason with the berserker. “Homeworld keeps an extra close eye on Bismuths because of the information we possess. I couldn’t just tell you without risking everything!”

“So suddenly, the support of the Diamonds is more important than you friendships?” Obsidian asked.

“Of course not.”

“THEN WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME?!”

“I-” But before he could answer, Obsidian tackled him and knocked him into the snow covered ground. The snow around them melted as Obsidian raised his blade. “Obsidian, I-”

“SHUT UP!” Obsidian brought the blade down and buried the sword into the ground next to Bismuth’s right ear. “I never want to see your face ever again,” he said. “If I do, I swear, you’d better pray to the stars that what I learned on Angkor helps me to not utterly destroy everything.” Removing his sword from the ground, Obsidian walked into the blizzard, vanishing into the blanket of white as Bismuth laid in the snow, tears burning his eyes.

“I’m… I’m sorry.”

“Wait a minute, you knew about the Kindergartens?” Amber asked.

“Very few do, and all of them are kept under close watch,” Bismuth replied.

“So what made you change your mind?” asked Fulgurite.

“It took me a while to find out where I could talk that Homeworld’s eyes couldn’t reach. Back then, the data matrix in my back was very easily blocked by particular meteorological events, like the storms. The only other place that could earn me some privacy was temples like this one,” he said.

“Wait, so how did you just contact the Gem you were talking to?”

“Well, for starters, I got an upgrade, so it works at close range, like when we’re on the same planet, but they can’t track me while I’m in here unless I send out a ping. Plus it still doesn’t work with long-range communications, across planets in different galaxies for example.”

A sudden realization hit Amber after processing what Bismuth had said. “Wait, there’s another Homeworld Gem here?!”

“Two, actually,” he said. “One scientist, one bodyguard… not sure why she needs a bodyguard, but…”

“So, two more Homeworld Gems,” Amber repeated. “Pretty sure Obsidian doesn’t want to hear that.”

“And I’m pretty sure the Gem is expecting a report soon. But I’ll be sure to forget the part where I met you… or found a temple… or got punched in the face…”

As he headed for the warp pad, Tourmaline came out of the kitchen and stopped him. “Just wanted to know,” he said, “would any of those Gems happen to be green?”

Bismuth raised an eyebrow. “Um… no. Why do you ask?”

“Just checking,” Tourmaline replied.

Bismuth waved goodbye as he teleported away, leaving the three Gems in the room alone.

“That was an odd and rather specific question, Tour,” Amber noted. “Any reason you decided to ask that?”

“Well…”

Dawn was still up in his room.

“Two new Gems in one day,” he thought. ”But neither of them seem like friends.”

Dawn stayed in bed. He figured they Gems were still mad at him and didn’t want to risk them seeing him and getting angry again, especially Obsidian.

“Dawn!” The boy jumped at the sound of his name, falling off his bed. He walked out towards the stairs and saw Amber, Tourmaline, and Fulgurite standing on the warp pad. “We’re going out to check on a few things. Remember, you’re grounded.”

“How could I forget,” Dawn thought to himself.

“But we’re leaving you in charge of the house,” Amber continued. “Well, at least until Obsidian comes back out.” Dawn nodded in compliance. “Good boy. And when we get back, we’re going to have a serious talk about what went down these past few weeks.” Dawn’s heart skipped a beat; part of him believed she was planning on reducing or even removing his punishment, the other part was trying to be a bit more realistic.

As they teleported off, Dawn’s mind was considering whether actually talking about what happened would yield better results than just taking the punishment as it was. He walked over to the large windows next to the main door and looked outside. It was sunny outside, but he didn’t feel like leaving the house. Also, it was really hot outside, which was made very clear by the very visible heatwave whose ripples constantly distorted the view. Dawn pulled out his phone to check the temperature. He was surprised to see it was only 26°C outside. Last time he checked, that did not warrant a heatwave that intense. He turned to face the temple door and took cautious steps towards the door. He placed his hand on the black jewel on one point of the star and knocked.

“Ob-Obsidian?” he called. It wasn’t out of place for Obsidian’s anger to seep outside the house and even the temple, but Dawn, feeling partly responsible, decided to take a bold, or foolish, depending on the outcome, step.

It didn’t take Obsidian long to respond as the door opened with Obsidian standing on the other side.

“Are… Are you okay?” Dawn asked. “Stupid question,” he thought, mentally kicking himself.

“I’m fine,” Obsidian replied. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, after you saw that other Gem you got mad and disappeared again. Did he do something wrong?”

Obsidian remained silent for a while, but then sighed. “He did the one thing I couldn’t forgive.”

“What?”

Obsidian looked Dawn in the eye as he replied, “He called himself my friend, but he kept a very important secret from me.”

Dawn’s heart jumped. That sounded frighteningly familiar to him, like something that happened with a certain Night Stone; if he were anyone else, he was sure he would’ve been punched in the face too, or worse.

Obsidian bent down and held Dawn’s hands, which the latter had subconsciously planted on his face at the thought. “Don’t worry,” Obsidian said. “It has nothing to do with you.”

“But are you feeling better?”

“Well, I’m still mad at you for not saying anything about Nox when you first saw her.”

“Makes sense.”

“But I’m not as mad.”

“So why is there a heatwave outside? That usually only happens when you’re really mad.”

Obsidian raised an eyebrow before going over to the window. He stepped outside and walked towards the wave. As he felt the ripples, his eyes shot open. He ran back inside and shut the door and windows.

“Dawn, stay away from any openings,” he said.

“Huh? What’s going on?” Dawn asked, confused.

Obsidian didn’t answer. Instead, he summoned a black communication orb with orange lines and said, “Call Amber.”

The lines pulsed for a while, but then Amber’s face appeared on the surface.

“Yo. What’s-”

“We have a serious problem,” he said.

“More serious than the Gem that attacked you and Tourmaline?”

“The two are related,” he said. “Get back here ASAP!”

“Alright, alright! Keep your chestplate on. We’ll be right there.”

He cut the call and sent the orb away.

Dawn was still confused. “Obsidian? What’s going on? If you didn’t cause the heatwave, who did? Another Gem?”

“Yes,” Obsidian replied. Just then, three Gems warped back into the temple. “Amber, I need you to run a scan of the area in front of the temple.”

“Huh? Why?” Amber asked.

“We may have a radiation problem.”

Everyone looked at Obsidian.

“Wait, what?” Amber asked, confused.

“I think our little… guest left us with a ‘farewell’ present that we may not like nor want to keep around.”

Although skeptic, the ring around one of Amber’s wrists glowed and projected a conical screen with a meter and some statistics. She went over to the window, opened it slightly, and pointed her fist out. The meter went from blue to green to yellow… to orange… to red… to blinking red… to flashing “DANGER” in bright bold letters. Amber brought her hand back inside and closed the window, unusually calm.

“So let me get this straight: we have a nuclear Gem on the loose in an inhabited area.” As she breathed in, everyone in the room grabbed on to something that was bolted to the ground or attached to some secure part of the house. Amber’s frustrated screams were less like screams and more like an angry dragon who chipped its scale on a cliffside while throwing a tantrum after waking up to see all it’s treasure had been stolen. The force of the scream sent a ripple through the room and knocked everyone off their feet for about ten seconds.

Once she stopped though and everyone hit the ground, Fulgurite walked over to her and said, “Deep breaths, Amby.”

“This is bad. This is very, very bad,” Amber said.

“I thought Gems were immune to radiation,” said Tourmaline.

“We are, but no organic lifeform we’ve encountered so far on this planet is,” Obsidian said.

“Oh…”

“Okay, new priority,” Amber said as she tapped some buttons on the screen. “Track down whoever this Gem is and get him to fix this mess. Fulgurite, I’ll leave that to you and Obsidian. Apparently, this Gem is a good fighter if he could fling Obsidian.” Obsidian glared at Tourmaline, who was trying to hold in his grin. “We need to find him so he can deal with this.”

“Wait, can’t you just absorb the radiation?” asked Fulgurite.

“Yes, but then I’d become irradiated,” Amber replied. “I take on the most prominent properties of whatever I absorb, remember?”

“Oh.”

“If this Gem can project radiation, he must be able to absorb it.”

“And if he can’t?” Obsidian asked as he and Fulgurite headed toward the warp pad.

“We’ll burn that bridge when we get to it,” Amber said. “But’s let’s hope such a bridge doesn’t exist.”

“I believe the saying is cross, not burn,” Tourmaline said smugly, earning him a glare that literally began burning into his shoulder. “Owowowowow!”

Amber tossed one of her rings over to Fulgurite. “It’s set to track anything emitting a similar radiation signature. Don’t break it.”

Fulgurite grinned. “When have I ever-” She stopped upon seeing Amber’s raised eyebrow. “Don’t say a word, slimeball,” she growled as Amber grinned.

Fulgurite and Obsidian warped into what appeared to be a snowy path. The trees had shed their leaves and had frosted over from the cold. In the distance, they could see a very familiar crystalline castle.

“Don’t tell me…” Obsidian started.

“Nope,” Fulgurite said, bending down. She traced the footprints as they seemed to move away from the nearby city. It wasn’t hard, seeing as the prints were so hot, they melted the snow before it could settle, leaving small puddles instead. “Looks like he was headed back south.”

“Wait, like he was going back to the temple?” Obsidian asked. “Well, he’s determined, I’ll give him that.”

Tracing the footsteps, they saw a cave coming up ahead. Except it wasn’t a cave. Obsidian may not have recognized it, but Fulgurite had seen structures like these on some of the colonies she had the privilege of seeing.

“What is this?” asked Obsidian. “He went into a cave?”

“That’s not a cave,” said Fulgurite. “It’s a warp center.”

“Wait, what?” Obsidian said in disbelief. “That’s impossible. Warp centers were made to connect planets. Why would there be one in the middle of a frozen desert?”

“I don’t know. Why does Homeworld do anything these days?” Fulgurite said, shrugging off the question and proceeding inside. The walls of the cave were unusually smooth and shiny, although the age showed through the many cracks along the surface. Soon, they came to a fork in the path: three different caves leading to who-knows-where.

Fulgurite held up the ring Amber gave her and looked at each path through it. All of them except the one to the right, which looked green, were blue. “Gotcha!” Obsidian summoned his swords, ready to engage the enemy if necessary, which he considered as a strong likelihood.

As they approached the end of the cave, they heard loud thrashing and breaking sounds.

“Well, someone isn’t too happy with what they found,” said Fulgurite, the locks of her hair starting to stand on end. “I’ll get his attention, you grab him.” With that, she darted in, a trail of lightning following her. Zipping into the room, she tackled a surprised, lean green Gem as he raised his hand to smash another warp pad. The force of the tackle sent him crashing into the wall. The moment her hit the ground, hot mounds of magma wrapped themselves around his hands and feet and froze, keeping him in place. His eyes traced the trail back to the blades on Obsidian’s hands.

“I hate asking the same thing twice,” Obsidian said, “but I’m going to anyway: who are you?”

The green Gem grinned. “Ain’t none o’ your business, bub.” From his gem, he fired a green beam at the floor, completely obliterating the ground beneath them, but freeing him from Obsidian’s trap. But as he ran, Fulgurite wrapped locks of her hair around him like tentacles, holding him in place.

“Don’t make me hurt you,” she said.

“I should be saying that,” the Gem said as his body began to glow.

“Ow.. ow… OWOWOWOWOW!!!” Fulgurite yelped as her hair began to smoke. “Knock it off!” She tensed up and an electric shock trailed along her hair and electrified the Gem, bringing him to his knees. “Jeez! Don’t make this more difficult than it needs to be.”

“If you’re taking me,” he said, “I ain’t going down without a- HNNNG!” The Gems stopped suddenly, his eyes shot open in shock as he looked down at the black blade protruding from his chest. Fulgurite looked equally surprised as the Gem popped in an explosion of green smoke. Once the cloud cleared, what was left was a hexagonal green Gem sitting on the floor.

“What… WHAT THE KARAT, OBSIDIAN?!” Fulgurite was somewhere between angry and shocked as she looked between the gemstone and Obsidian as he walked towards it. “What the heck was that?!”

“That just made our job easier,” Obsidian said as he bubbled the Gem and sent it to the temple.

“Wha- I- He- … Oh, forget it.”

Fulgurite and Obsidian warped back into the house and met Tourmaline watching TV alone. Well, less watching, more like randomly and lazily flipping through channels.

“You’re back,” he stated matter-of-factly. “Did you find him?”

“Yes,” Obsidian said. “He’s in the temple.”

“What? How did he get… oh…” It didn’t take a genius to figure out what Obsidian meant and Tourmaline was way ahead of him. “Lemme guess, you had to ask him something twice?”

Before Obsidian could answer, the temple door opened and Amber came out. “Oh. That didn’t take long,” she said, looking around. “Um… where is he?”

“In the temple,” said Obsidian.

“He’s in… WHAT?! I thought the mission was to capture him so he can get rid of the radiation.”

“Well, we caught him,” said Obsidian. “Now we go down, get him, and convince him to get rid of the radiation.”

Amber just glared at him. “Did you even bother to think that he’d be a lot more reluctant to help someone who just popped him and bubbled him?”

“There is more than one way to convince him to help.”

Amber was speechless and looked at Fulgurite, who shrugged and tossed her ring to her. Amber shook herself out of her daze and caught the ring. “It’s fine, it’s fine,” she said as the ring settled in its place, hovering around her wrist. “Luckily, I just finished plan B.”

“Which is?” asked an interested Fulgurite.

Amber reached into her hair and pulled out a pitch black rod with white lines etched along its length. “I actually almost forgot: carbon rods! All I needed to do was make some adjustments to one and transfer the energy I absorb to the rod,” she said, smacking her forehead with her palm. “But we still need to get rid of the rod.”

“I say we should toss it into the ocean,” said Tourmaline.

“Sure. And kill all the sea life. Great plan. We’ll just bubble it and keep it locked up,” Amber said. “Ful, I’m going to need you to suck the radiation into a cyclone to make sure I get all of it.”

“On it,” Fulgurite said as she bolted outside. Amber stood in the middle of the radiation shimmer and gave Fulgurite the go-ahead. The yellow blur picked up speed until she practically became a yellow ring of lightning around Amber. Amber stretched out her hand and a thin, barely visible stream of gamma rays began to flow into her hand. First her hand began to glow with a faint green aura, and eventually, her whole body gave off a green stream. She gripped the carbon rod with both hands and transferred the energy into the rod, which began to glow and give off the heatwave as well. Once the transfer was done, Amber bubbled the rod and sent it into the temple. Fulgurite skidded to a halt, her body shimmering with electricity from the charge she had built up.

Fulgurite took a deep breath. “How I love the smell of radiation-free air in the morning.”

“It’s late afternoon,” Tourmaline pointed out, smugly.

“You’re a late afternoon.”

“So, what should we do about the other Gem?”

“I say we leave him where he is,” said Obsidian. “Clearly we don’t need him anymore and he’s too dangerous to just be left to walk around.”

“What? We can’t just lock him up,” said Amber.

“Why not? He attacked Tourmaline and me, irradiated the area and put several lives at risk, and I’m pretty sure that if any Equestrians found out, we’d be in some serious trouble.”

“Well it’s not like he’s a corrupt Gem or some Homeworld assassin,” Amber said.

“And if he’s a sleeper agent?”

“When was the last time Homeworld ever used sleeper agents?”

“I don’t know. You tell me.” Amber twitched, showing Obsidian he had struck a nerve. “If you won’t make the tough decisions, I will. I don’t care if it makes me the villain, I’m doing this for our own good. If you want a radioactive Gem running around on a planet full of organic life that barely knows the difference between the sea and the sky,” he continued, walking towards Amber, “be my guest. But you’re going to have to take him from me.” Now, he stood right in front of Amber. Standing a head taller, he literally had to look down to make eye contact.

Amber stared back. A part of her was very willing to accept his challenge. But instead, she groaned and waved him off. “Fine. Do what you like,” she said. “But he and everything related to him that happens is your responsibility. So when this all blows up in your face, don’t come crying to me to bail you out.” With that, Amber walked away towards the house, followed by the rest of the Gems, and finally Obsidian.

“Insane, every last one of them,” he muttered.

Late that night, Dawn came downstairs and saw Amber looking out the window at the starry night sky. Her goggles were down and were analyzing the star patterns and trying to identify what constellations were out; she usually did this to clear her head.

“Amber?”

The Gem turned, a bit surprised to see him still awake. “Oh, hello, Dawn,” she said. “Couldn’t sleep?”

“No,” he replied.

“Bad dreams?”

“Not really. I just… feel bad.”

Amber sighed. “Come here,” she said, motioning him to sit next to her, which he did. “So, why didn’t you tell us about Nox?”

Dawn squirmed in his seat. “Well… I… Um…”

“Dawn, tell me the truth.”

“Well… I knew you’d be mad at me for going deep into the Everfree Forest since you told me not to.”

“But you did anyway,” Amber interjected.

“Well, I couldn’t just leave my friends to go there on their own,” he said in defense. “It wouldn’t have felt right.”

Amber smiled. “Sometimes we mean well, but what we do may have unforeseen consequences.” Dawn tilted his head in confusion. “I mean we plan to do good things, but end up doing something wrong along the way.”

“Oh.”

“You wanted to have fun with your friends, and I’m perfectly fine with that. But it brought you very close to danger. But most importantly, you should have told us.”

“Would you have not grounded me if I did?” Dawn asked innocently.

“Oh, no. You’d still be grounded, big time,” Amber said.

“What?!”

“You went into the depths of the Everfree where all the dangerous, mystical creatures live and where we specifically told you not to go. Did you really think you were going to get off without some kind of warning?”

Dawn thought about it for a moment. “I guess you have a point. Are you still mad at me?”

Amber sighed. “I was never mad, just really, really, really worried.”

“I’m… sorry.”

“I know,” Amber said, hugging him. “We all make mistakes. Just promise me,” she added as she looked at him, “next time anything this big happens, you tell us immediately, okay?”

Dawn nodded. “So… does this mean-”

“Nope. You’re still grounded.”

“Dangit!”

Pranking and Pummeling

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Dawn had been counting the days go by. He’d been grounded two weeks now, but at least things were less tense in the house. Amber and Fulgurite seemed to have calmed down and Obsidian wasn’t as mad either, although he was more reserved than usual.

Dawn had also been thinking about Nox and how she’d vanished. Even though the Gems had told him not to feel bad, he couldn’t help feeling somewhat responsible for her being on the loose. The fact that none of the Gems could track her made it all the scarier. Luckily, there were some things that helped take his mind off it.

“Gaia to Dawn? You there?” Sweetie Belle called, poking his head. He just realized he had daydreamed through the last thirty minutes of class and everyone was leaving.

“Jeez, any more spaced out and you’d might as well be in another universe,” said Scootaloo.

Dawn blinked out of his daze. “Sorry. Distracted,” he said.

“Yeah, no kiddin’,” said Applebloom. “What’s up?”

“You still thinking about that weird shadow thing?” asked Scootaloo.

“Yeah,” Dawn answered as he packed his bag and got up. “It’s kinda weird.”

“What is?”

“Well, Nox got what she wanted: a body. So how did she ghost out on us?”

The three looked confused, but Scootaloo spoke first. “Uh, ‘ghost out’?”

“Oh. That’s something Amber and Fulgurite say when they want to say that something vanished,” Dawn explained as they walked out of the school. “I guess I just picked it up.”

“Ooooh,” they three said together.

“Don’t worry about it, Dawn,” said Sweetie Belle. “Between the Gems and my sister and the Elements of Harmony, I’m pretty sure that even if Nox does show up, she won’t be much of a problem!”

Dawn smiled at her optimism. “Yeah. I guess you’re right.”

“You are so wrong!” Fulgurite said. Back at the house, the Gems were working on a way to find and capture Nox. So far, no one seemed to be coming up with anything solid and it didn’t help ease the tension - not one bit. “Nox doesn’t give off an energy signature. She’s a manifestation of an abstract concept with a similar formation as a Gem. Only her ‘gemstone’ doesn’t emit the same magic aura as a regular Gem.”

“Then we tweak the scanners,” said Amber. “Recalibrate them to track down her specific signature, whatever it is.”

“No point,” said Obsidian. “With her power growing, her aura would be in a constant flux. We won’t even be able to get a possible area, let alone an exact location.”

“Look, I say we still split up,” said Tourmaline. “Nox would most likely need some Gem artifacts if she wants to max out her new form’s power. I say we each take the warp pad to different locations and search.”

“That would be a waste of time,” said Amber. “Nox knows we’ll be looking for her. The last thing she’ll do is give us time to even get in her general area! We need to know exactly where she is because last time I checked, shooting in the dark against Nox usually led to being further behind than you started.”

“Well, maybe you shouldn’t have given the crushed remnants of gemstones a consciousness,” said Obsidian.

“You wanna start the blame game, Obsidian?” Amber said, turning to her comrade. “Fine. How about actually blaming the person responsible for Nox’s return!”

“I fully intend to,” he said. “This is one reason among many why I said we shouldn’t get involved with this planet’s species; they’re too similar to humans. They’re both stubborn, brash, reckless, and constantly get involved in dangerous things that don’t concern them.”

“Give it a rest, Obsidian,” Amber groaned, annoyed. “Did you forget that it was interacting with another planet’s inhabitants that made sure you didn’t die a suicidal berserker?”

“Well, maybe if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“Really? You’d rather still be Homeworld’s expendable loose cannon?”

“At least I’d have more peace and quiet in the void of oblivion, and have some respect from the Gems around me.”

“Oh, I’d be happy to help with that first part.” Amber’s gem glowed and moved from her stomach to the base of her neck and the handle of a weapon began to emerge.

“HEY!” Fulgurite got between them as Obsidian summoned his swords. “Knock it off, both of you! We should only be drawing our weapons at actual threats!”

“You sure we aren’t looking at one already?” Obsidian said.

“Oh-ho-ho! You have no idea,” Amber replied, her eyes glowing.

“Amber! Cool it!” Fulgurite looked at her friend, whose hair was rising and giving off a very noticeable heatwave. Fulgurite looked at the door of the house and stared for a while. “Okay, everyone chill out! Dawn’s home!”

With that, Amber sent the weapon back and her Gem stopped glowing, but remained in its new position, a hole around her top matching the gem’s shape now appeared. Obsidian also backed off, putting his weapons away.

Low and behold, Dawn walked in just a few moments later.

“Hey, guys,” Dawn said as he walked in.

“Hey, Dawn,” Fulgurite said. “How’d the day go?”

“Pretty good.”

“Well it’s about to get even better,” Fulgurite said. “You know what day it is?”

“Um… Friday?” Dawn replied, confused.

“Mhm… and…?”

Dawn still didn’t get it. He looked around subconsciously, hoping to find some kind of clue as to what Fulgurite was hinting to. His eyes then fell on the calendar in the living room. He noticed the note on today’s slot and gasped.

“You mean…”

“Yup. You and I…” Fulgurite zipped over to him and picked him up, “are gonna have a lot of fun!” Dawn’s smile was impossibly wide; it almost made Pinkie’s smile look like normal.

“Wait, Ful,” Amber said. “We have work to do.”

“Maybe we should give Tour’s idea a shot,” Fulgurite replied as she placed Dawn on her shoulders. “Why don’t you take the Whitetail Woods, Tour can take the Galloping Gorge, and Obsidian can go to… I don’t remember what it’s called, but I remember it has a volcano.”

Amber knew what Fulgurite was doing. She did need to calm down and where she was going was perfect.

“Okay. We’ll meet back here as soon as we’re done with our respective areas,” Amber said. One by one, they all warped out and Fulgurite sighed in relief.

“Okay, you need to get anything?” she asked.

“Nah,” he said, dropping his bag.

“Alrighty. Hang on tight,” Fulgurite said. She shot off out the door in a burst of speed, leaving a trail of lightning behind her.

Back in Ponyville, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie had been on one of their usual pranking sprees. They had just finished replacing the spa’s supply of scented candles with stink bombs and they had all had a big laugh out of it. Pinkie ticked off another victim from the list in her hand as she bounced out of the spa with Rainbow Dash close behind.

“Never thought they’d actually take it that well,” Rainbow said, rubbing her forehead. Unfortunately for her, she didn’t have the Pinkie Sense to avoid Aloe’s first reaction: throw the candle at the source of the laughter!

“I know, right?” Pinkie said, putting the list back in her cotton candy hair. “Next up: Twilight!”

“You’d think pranking Twilight would get old… it doesn’t. It really doesn’t.”

Just then, a blast of wind hit them, kicking up dust. As the two girls blew the dust away, the cloud cleared to reveal Fulgurite and Dawn standing in front of them.

“Hehe… WOOHOO!!!” Dawn cheered, even though he was currently so dizzy that if he were any more so, his brain might be moving in his head! “Let’s do that again!”

“Uh… yeah. Love ya, Dawn, but Amber told me never to go more than 150mph with you. If she knew how fast I went to get us here, she’d bury me alive… in a dead star!”

“Glad you could make it,” said Pinkie. “We’re off to prank Twilight next.”

“Sweet. Count us in,” Fulgurite said.

“Uh… you sure the squirt’s gonna be alright for this?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking as the, still dizzy, Dawn tried to stay upright and not turn and lean every two seconds.

“He’s survived being in the crossfire of a prank war between Tour and I. He’s picked up a thing or two.”

“Yeah,” Dawn said, a bit more steady. “Amber says they’re a bad influence.”

“Gee. I wonder where she got that idea,” Rainbow remarked, noting Dawn’s messier-than-normal hair. “C’mon! We ain’t got all day! Twilight usually arranges her books about now.”

Thirty minutes later…

“So that’s Twilight, Cheerilee, Big Mac, Applejack, and the Flower sisters!” Pinkie bounced about town, striking names off her list. “Wow. We really did a lot of work today, huh?”

“You did a lot of work?” Fulgurite said, rubbing her back. “I literally took one for the team!”

“Hey, we’ve all been hit by Twilight’s misfired magic blasts at least once!”

“Have any of you been hit with 75lb of concussive force at point-blank range?”

“Nope.”

“I rest my case.”

Rainbow flew over to Dawn and ruffled his hair. “You did good, kid,” she said. “Never met someone who could sneak around Twilight’s library completely unnoticed! Well… maybe except Spike.”

“Thanks,” Dawn said. “Uh… who’s Spike?”

“Wait, you never met Spike?” Dawn halted, seeing Pinkie in his face.

“Uh… no?”

“Oh. He must’ve been in dreamland when you and the Gems were in the castle. He’s Twilight’s little brother.”

“Twilight has a brother?” asked Fulgurite. “I thought Spike was some kind of dragon?”

“Oh, he is,” Pinkie replied. “But Twilight hatched him and took care of him since day one, so technically…”

“Wait, wouldn’t that make her Spike’s mom?”

“I guess so. But they’re not that far apart in age. Twilight hatched him when she was about six, so I guess that makes him about twelve now.”

“Well, Dawn, looks like you may find a new friend,” Fulgurite said, which made Dawn smile.

“Hey,” Rainbow called. “How about we make it an even ten pranks today?”

“I’m down,” said Fulgurite. “Dawn?” He replied with a nod.

“Count me in,” said Pinkie.

“Great, so how about we make it special; we walk a hundred feet and prank the first person we see!”

“That’s… risky,” said Fulgurite. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m usually the more carefree one, but what if we run into a golem or an ursa or a chimera or something else that probably doesn’t take pranks so well?”

“Well… we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

“Except we can’t,” Pinkie said, all eyes now on her. “The cakes put me in charge of a REALLY big order that I absotively have to get done by the end of the day!”

“What? C’mon! Just one?” Rainbow pleaded.

“Sorry, Dashie. These are baked goods we’re talking about. Baked. Goods.” With each word she got closer until she was nose-to-nose with Rainbow, who moved away slowly.

“Alright fine,” said Rainbow. “Look, I’ll help you out just so we can get that ten before night, deal?” Pinkie nodded frantically.

“Take your time,” said Fulgurite. “Dawn and I are going to hit our ten early.”

“What? Can’t wait?”

“Nope. Dawn’s still grounded, so he can’t be out past seven, and I’m pretty sure you’re not going to finish your ‘big order’ in four hours.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“Because from what I heard about Pinkie, every little detail is vital. Plus, I’ve seen what a ‘regular’ order looks like. Jeez, I’m surprised the bakery itself doesn’t take up half of Ponyville and that I haven’t seen any outside the town!”

Rainbow thought about it. “Fair enough. We’ll meet tomorrow and compare to see who’s prank was better, deal?”

“Deal.”

They shook on it and went their separate ways.

“Alrighty, Dawn,” Fulgurite said. “We’ve got a few hours to find someone reasonable to prank.”

“Wait, I thought the plan was to walk a hundred steps then prank the first person we see,” said Dawn.

“Yeah, well if we can do this right, we should be able to find someone easy to prank within those one hundred steps.”

“Isn’t that technically cheating?”

“Dawn, there’s no such thing as cheating in a prank challenge!”

Dawn looked uneasily, but Fulgurite had never steered him wrong before… well not really… except when she did…

“Okay,” Dawn finally agreed.

It barely took thirty minutes before they finally came up with an idea. They stood just in front of a pond planning their next move.

“So, Rarity comes through here to find gemstones for her outfits in rocks just outside of town,” Fulgurite explained. “If we can catch her just at the edge of those trees, you distract her while I dump that bucket-” Fulgurite pointed at the five-foot-tall vat, “-of candy snakes on her!”

“Gotcha,” Dawn said.

“Remember, I need her still for at least ten seconds. I can’t hold the bucket in the tree because the branch can’t hold it. So wait for my signal, then move.”

Dawn nodded as Fulgurite vanished into a tree just as Rarity walked by, pulling a wagon of shiny gemstones. “Good afternoon, Rarity.”

“Oh, hello cutie,” Rarity greeted. “Please, no need to be so formal with me.”

“Oh, okay.” Dawn thought quickly of a way to keep her there long enough. He could see the locks of Fulgurite’s hair reaching for the bucket. “So, um, are those for new outfit designs?”

“Why, yes,” Rarity replied.

“Oh. How do you find them?”

“Well, if you must know, my special talent is being able to find gemstones of all kinds; crystals, diamonds, you name it.”

“Oh. Um… I was wondering if you could-” Before Dawn could finish, snakes rained from the sky, accompanied by Fulgurite’s skillful snake impersonation.

“Hsssss~!!!”

“AAAAHHH!” Rarity yelped and jumped up onto a tree branch with unexpected athleticism, shaking from the fright. “Dawn, dear, don’t you Gems normally run from snakes?”

“Well, according to Amber, snake venom doesn’t really do anything to Gems,” Dawn said, calmly. “But I’m half organic, so we don’t normally take chances.” He picked one off his shoulder… and slurped it down.

“Um… is eating snakes also normal for Gems?” Rarity asked, a bit weirded out.

“Only if they’re made of candy,” he said, tossing one over to Rarity, who caught it with her magic. After close inspection, she realized that she didn’t know of any breed of snake that was blue… and translucent.

“Gotcha.” Rarity jumped at the sudden voice in her ear and slipped off the branch. Luckily, Fulgurite’s hair caught her just in time.

Rarity looked up and grinned. “Haha, very funny. I take it Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie put you up to this?”

“Not exactly. We were going on a bit of a pranking spree, but the planning and all was our idea.” She slowly lowered Rarity back down to the ground, where she stared at the sea of candy snakes on the ground.

“Well, I must say, very well played,” Rarity said, dusting herself off and straightening her hair and clothes.

“You’re not mad?” Dawn asked.

“Dear, it was a harmless prank. After knowing Pinkie and Rainbow Dash for as long as I have, you gain a certain appreciation of these things,” she said with a smile. “Oh, by the way,” she added as she walked off, “if you really are interested in learning my little trick, I’d be happy to try and show you some time.”

Dawn nodded and waved goodbye before getting caught in Fulgurite’s headlock. “Nice going, kiddo,” Fulgurite said, ruffling his hair.

“Thanks.”

“So, how about one more?”

“I thought we were making it an even ten?”

“Yeah, well I want to see the look on their faces when I tell them we got one more in!”

“You sure? It’s getting late and…”

“Alright, alright,” Fulgurite finally agreed. “But tomorrow, we’re getting one in early.” Dawn nodded in agreement.

She stopped suddenly.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“Um… Dawn?” She looked off into the forest behind them. “Start heading back home. I’ll be right behind you.”

Dawn nodded and sat down on a log as Fulgurite went in around a tree.

“I told you it may not work.”

Fulgurite’s ears twitched as she tried to track the new voice. It sounded like it was coming from some kind of radio.

“Look, you told me you could find this thing,” said another voice, which sounded more real, but also feminine. “You’d better not be screwing me over!”

Fulgurite looked around a tree and saw a lone figure talking to… no one. It had pale grey skin, long, wavy silver hair parted down middle that reached middle of it’s torso. She seemed slightly shorter than Fulgurite and wore a green tube top under a black jacket, black pants, and grey boots.

“Listen, it’s over a hundred years old. If anything’s still working, it’s probably jammed, locked, or worn beyond repair. Maybe you should’ve been more careful when you were flying,” said the disembodied voice.

“Locked, huh?” the red figure said, looking at the massive boulder in front of her.

“Yes, locked.” Fulgurite smacked herself; maybe she was hearing things… that just so happened to make sense…

“You know, sealed off so nothing can get in.”

“Huh.” The figure raised her right hand and the gem began to glow. She pulled the weapon out, which turned out to be a rather elaborate crossbow. She pointed it at the rock as an arrow of white light appeared and pulled the trigger. A heavy salvo of projectiles hammered at the side of the rock for almost ten whole seconds! When she finally stopped and the dust cleared, there was a rough opening like a shattered window in the side of the boulder. “That’s what I think of your locked door.”

“Crude… but effective.”

“Heck yeah!” The figure leaded in to look inside. There were what looked like a set of flat crystals. “Jackpot!”

“I take it you found them?”

“Oh yeah.” She reached in and grabbed a handful and stuffed them in the bag over her shoulder. “Ship’s totalled though. Think you can fix it?”

“I couldn’t fix it before you pummeled it with your weapon and smashed through the cockpit. What do you think?”

“Just a question. Yeesh.”

It was then Fulgurite realised that the boulder wasn’t a boulder at all; it was an escape pod! But it must’ve been through some crash landing because it was bashed up enough to be mistaken for a giant rock!

“Must have been a bad driver,” Fulgurite thought.

“Alright. I got everything.”

“Great. Get back here and maybe we can get some work done.”

The mysterious Gem didn’t move. But she did speak.

“I see you.” That warning was enough for Fulgurite to avoid getting hit by the bright arrow that slammed into the tree. “It ain’t nice to sneak up on people, y’know.”

Fulgurite stepped out of her cover. “Well, unless that pod is yours, it isn’t nice to take what doesn’t belong to you either.”

“Oh, it belongs to me alright.” The Gem noticed the star-shaped patterns on Fulgurite’s sleeves. “A Crystal Gem? Huh. Never thought any of you were left here.”

“Well, now you know.”

“And I still don’t care.” The Gem raised her crossbow and fired a rapid barrage of arrows. Fulgurite’s reflexes were just barely saving her from taking the hits as she spun and weaved around the shots. “GAH! I HATE stubborn targets!” The Gem stopped firing to pull back the arrow, which grew bigger and brighter. Once she pulled the trigger, the arrow split into ten rays, spreading out and converging on Fulgurite.

“Crud!” Fulgurite rolled out of the way and grinned. “Missed.”

“If you say so,” the Gem replied.

Fulgurite turned around and saw the arrows had still been going and turned back around. Fulgurite bolted off with the arrows in hot pursuit, weaving through the forest to try to lure each shot into an obstacle. She managed to avoid almost all, but as she ducked under the last one, sending it into another tree, she didn’t notice the arrow that had taken a different path… and was headed straight for her.

Her hair couldn’t shield her fast enough and she took the hit square in the chest, knocking her back and sending her rolling across the ground.

She got up shakily and barely managed to avoid another onslaught.

“Jeez! Just go poof already,” the Gem yelled.

“No thanks,” Fulgurite said. “I kinda like having a body.”

“Why would you like that excuse of a figure?” the Gem mocked.

“Hey! I’ll have you know that Gems have said I look cute!”

“They lied.”

Fulgurite had had enough and went on the offensive. In a burst of speed, she found herself face-to-face with her adversary, the gust from her movement blowing her hair back and revealing all the shock in her dark green eyes. Before she could blink, the Gem found herself getting knocked back several feet from Fulgurite’s kick. She steadied herself and saw her opponent’s boots.

“Nice kicks,” she said.

“Thanks,” Fulgurite replied. “Um… do you mean the actual kick or-”

“I meant the boots,” she said. “But at least the kick wasn’t all sisi.”

“Uh… thanks… I guess…” Fulgurite bolted at her opponent again and aimed her knee at the Gem, but her opponent caught her and flipped her over. Sadly, she had no idea that Fulgurite’s specialty was CQC and had many mental regrets as Fulgurite’s foot slammed into her face. However, she got another shot in on Fulgurite, sending her back as well. “OW! Yeesh! What’s your damage?”

“I told you. I hate being watched,” she replied. “Especially by Gems who don’t got the skill to take me.”

“Yeah, says the Gem who only landed two out of seventy-nine shots,” Fulgurite said with a grin. “Yeah. I was counting.”

“Count again.”

Fulgurite was confused by the smug remark, but soon understood when she felt a heavy, searing pain in her back; she missed one. She was knocked forward, right in front of her opponent’s, not one, but two crossbows… and her grin, before getting blasted back again and into the open cockpit of the escape pod. Her eyes were spinning from the force of the hit she took. She didn’t even know when the second crossbow came out! As her sense slowly returned to her, she felt something grab her shirt and pull her up.

“Asterix,” said the Gem, barely audible to Fulgurite, whose ears were still ringing a bit. “Just want you to remember the name of the Gem who whooped your sorry butt.”

“She said she’d be back half an hour ago,” Amber said, waiting impatiently with Dawn. “Where is she?”

“We were by the lake, but she said she’d be right behind me,” Dawn said.

“I could go out and look for her,” Tourmaline offered. Just as he did, an angry, yellow-skinned female stormed into the room. “Never mind.”

“FUL! Where have you been?” Amber asked worried. “And why do you look like you just rumbled with a class-7 golem?”

“Might as well have,” Fulgurite said, more irritated than anyone was used to as she collapsed onto the couch… in fact, her being irritated was a very rare occurrence. “We have a problem.”

“What?” Amber asked, confused.

“Turns out we may have a bit more to worry about than we thought.” Fulgurite looked around. “Where’s Obsidian?”

“In his room, as usual,” Tourmaline replied.

“Well, good. Because we definitely don’t want him to hear about this.”

Obsidian stood in front of a massive bubble, his face stern as usual.. Inside the dark orange bubble was an irritated green Gem.

“What do you want?” the green Gem asked.

“Last chance. Who are you and why are you here?” Obsidian asked.

“First off, ain’t none o’ your business. Second… ain’t none o’ your business.”

“We’ve been here for millennia and haven’t heard of a single Gem left here,” Obsidian said. “But suddenly, here you are. Out of nowhere.”

“What can I say. I’m good at keeping a low profile,” the Gem replied with a smug grin. “Y’know, I ain’t never met an Obsidian this calm and so far away from a battlefield. Normally, you Gems are a bunch o’ psycho, suicidal war machines on a constant war path! You… you’re way off.”

“This is me asking you questions, not you trying to psychoanalyse me,” Obsidian said, growing impatient.

“Yeah, yeah. Why don’tcha just pop me again. You ain’t gettin’ squat outta me.”

Obsidian cocked his head. “You remind me of quartz Gems. The only difference being that they’re much… much bigger,” he said. The Gem’s eye twitched. “I’m close, aren’t I?” Now, it was Obsidian’s turn to be smug.

But his detainee wasn’t going to make it easy. “Keep tryin’, but try not to give yourself a headache.”

“Hmmm… I read a story about a mysterious green Gem warrior,” Obsidian said, pacing. “He wasn’t common on the battlefield, unlike other quartzes, but when he was there, he was fierce. I also heard he had trouble remembering what side he was on.” Obsidian grinned, seeing the look of mixed anxiety and annoyance. “What was it Bismuth called you again… Emerald Quartz?” It was barely noticeable, but Obsidian picked up his slight shake. “What is it Fulgurite says again? Oh, right. Nailed it!”

“So you got my name,” Emerald Quartz admitted. “You think I’m supposed to be intimidated?”

“It takes time for some,” Obsidian said. “And you and me? We got plenty.”

Emerald Quartz froze in shock as Obsidian ran his blade through his chest again. “When I get outta here,” he said, groaning in pain, “You’re gonna be carbon dust!” He managed a grin just before exploding into a white cloud, leaving only his gemstone behind. Obsidian shrunk the bubble and tapped it away, letting it hover over the room.

“I’ll be waiting.”

Down

View Online

Dawn walked into the house after another exhausting school day. When the Gems were tutoring him, he never remembered having any kind of problem remembering stuff; maybe because they could afford to answer every single one of his questions and explain the same thing ten times if necessary. In a real school, he could feel the pressure.

And being friends with the CMC, he was not very close to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, which just made focusing a lot harder.

“Whassup, Dawn?” Tourmaline greeted. As usual, he was on the couch watching TV with a bag of chips in hand.

“Tired,” Dawn replied, his eyes barely open. “Sleep,” he added as he made his way up the stairs.

Tourmaline looked confused, but shrugged it off. He eventually got bored (which is very normal) and got up and headed for the temple door. He tapped the orange stone on the door and said, “Yo, Amber? You busy?” No response. He knocked again, louder this time, and a loud explosion rocked the house. Looking back, the fact that Dawn hadn’t run down told him the kid was probably knocked out from fatigue. Not too long after, the door opened with smoke pouring out. Amber emerged, coughing and shooing smoke out of her soot-covered face.

“This’d better be good,” Amber said, still coughing. She removed her goggles, showing only her eyes not covered in soot.

“What’re you doing in there?” Tourmaline asked.

“Recalibrating my augments,” she replied, showing him the ring hovering around her wrist. “Well, I was until you started hammering at my door.”

“Hmmm… I see,” Tourmaline said, feigning interest.

“What do you want?”

“Money.”

“Wha- Why?”

“For snacks,” Tourmaline replied. Amber groaned reaching into her hair.

“I swear, I don’t understand why you eat so much,” Amber said, pulling out a sack of coins.

Tourmaline happily took the sack and waltzed out the door as Amber got a zap from her augment ring.

Tourmaline strolled through town as he made his way towards Sugarcube Corner. He waved at some of the residents he passed on the way, who waved back. It had been a while since he found so many friendly people in one place.

He opened the door to the pastry shop, ringing the bell in the process. He had barely taken one step in before-

“Welcome to Sugarcube Corner! How may I help you?” It was rather normal for Pinkie to pop up to welcome customers during her shift, and Dawn had told Tourmaline about how she’d done it every time he went over. So he didn’t really jump, just leaned back a bit as the girl stood face to face with him… somehow.

“Hey there, uh… Pinkie, was it?” Tourmaline hadn’t quite processed how to properly respond.

“That’s me,” Pinkie replied. “And you’re Tourmaline, one of the Crystal Gems.”

“That’s right.” Tourmaline looked behind Pinkie and saw an ice cream cake on the counter. It was three layers of chocolate and vanilla with strawberries topped with whipped cream encircling each layer. It was straight out of the fridge because Tourmaline could still see the frost flowing down the frozen treat. “Ooooh! What’s that?” he asked, pointing at the item of interest.

“Oh. That is the Triple Threat Trinity: Chocolate ice cream, vanilla frosting, and fresh strawberries,” Pinkie said, showcasing the cake like an antique in an auction. “It’s for a very special order.”

“So… there’s no way I can get it?”

“Not unless you put in an order for one,” Pinkie replied.

“Huh… I don’t see it on the menu,” Tourmaline said, looking up at the price board.

“Oh, no. It’s not up there, silly,” Pinkie said, pulling out a menu from her hair, which would be weird if he hadn’t seen Amber do it on a daily basis. “We keep the special orders on the pamphlets.”

Tourmaline looked at the menu and found it. He looked between the menu in his left hand and the small sack in his right; He was certain his math was good enough to judge that the numbers didn’t add up.

“Uh… anyway I can get one without paying cash?”

“Well, if there is, I can’t make the call. It’s one of the Cake’s special recipes.”

“Aw…” Tourmaline whined. “Fine. I’ll just take two dozen assorted cupcake packs.” In a blur of pink, Pinkie bolted behind the counter, grabbed two boxes, and filled each with a twelve random cupcakes from the display. Tourmaline has seen her do this before when he came by to get snacks, but it was still surprising to see. Tourmaline poured some of the coins in the bag onto the counter and picked up the boxes, wasting no time in picking one cupcake and shoving the whole thing into his mouth. “Thanks,” he said, as he walked out.

The moment he stepped outside, something felt amiss. He looked around him, but nothing seemed to be out of place. He shrugged it off; his sixth and seventh sense were getting a bit rusty. He made his way back to the temple. On the way there, he found it hard to shake this weird feeling that he was being followed. The moment he got into the house, he sat by the window, shoving more cupcakes into his mouth.

“Uh… everything okay?” asked Fulgurite, who was watching TV.

“Yeah, if that constant feeling of being watched is normal,” Tourmaline said.

“Uh…” Fulgurite wasn’t sure how else to respond. “Okay… You gonna share those?” Fulgurite asked, pointing at the box of cupcakes in his hands.

Tourmaline tossed one over to Fulgurite. However, the cupcake didn’t reach it’s destination. All Fulgurite saw was an orange blur and no cupcake in her hands. She looked around and saw Amber sitting on the kitchen counter, taking a bite out of it.

“Amber!” Fulgurite walked over to the fiery Gem. “Hand it over,” she demanded, holding out her hand.

Amber looked up in thought as she chewed. She swallowed and replied, “Nope.” Fulgurite tried to grab her, but Amber slipped right through her fingers. Literally.

The orange blob slithered away as Fulgurite yelled, “Get back here with my cupcake!”

“Never!!!” Despite her speed, Fulgurite was having trouble catching something that she couldn’t really grab. Finally, Amber stopped, perched on the couch with more than half the cupcake gone.

“I’m not in the mood for this,” Fulgurite said.

“Why don’t you just ask Tour for another one?” she asked.

“First, because he’s going to want something in return,” Fulgurite replied.

“She’s not wrong,” Tourmaline said from his spot.

“Second, it is MY cupcake!” Fulgurite made one final lunge at Amber, who didn’t move. She didn’t need to. She just calmly ate the cupcake as Fulgurite passed right through the hole she made in her stomach. Fulgurite crashed into the wall with enough force to shake the shelf.

“Correction,” Amber said, throwing the last of the confectionery into her mouth. “It was your cupcake.” But Amber’s smug look soon changed to one of confusion when she noticed the unamused expression on Fulgurite’s upside-down face. “What?”

“Nothing,” Fulgurite said, getting up, but knocking her head against the shelf on the wall. Something fell off, but Amber stretched her arm out to catch it.

“Come on, Ful. I was just messing with you,” Amber said, setting the item which fell, a vase, back on the shelf.

“I know,” Fulgurite said, but Amber was not convinced.

“You’re mad at me, aren’t you?” Amber asked, worried. “I’ll give you mine next time. Better yet, I’ll buy you a whole box to yourself.” But Fulgurite didn’t reply. She just walked towards the temple. Amber was worried and confused at the same time. She looked at Tourmaline. “What did I do? I was just kidding.”

“Bad time,” Tourmaline said. “She’s still not in a good mood after her run-in with that Gem yesterday.”

“I was trying to cheer her up,” Amber said.

“What’s the one thing Ful is proud of?” Tourmaline said.

“Um… her speed?”

“Exactly. And after getting beaten by a Gem that should be much, much slower, she’s not really ready to lose in a game of cat and mouse again, even if it is just a joke.”

That’s when it clicked, and, boy, did Amber feel terrible. It didn’t normally matter if Fulgurite couldn’t catch her because they were close. From what Amber could remember, no other Gem had ever beaten her when it came to speed and maneuverability. It was the one thing she was proud of. She couldn’t take hits as well as Amber or Obsidian, or any quartz ever, but she could easily run circles around any of them! So the sudden reminder that she may not be as fast as she thought was not a good feeling for her.

Amber felt a pain in her chest: guilt. She was supposed to be Fulgurite’s closest friend; she was supposed to know all this. “Oh, jeez.” She walked over to the temple and tapped the gem that looked like a lightning bolt. “Hey, Ful? You there?” No reply. “Can I come in?” Still no reply.

“Maybe give her some space,” Tourmaline said. “You know she doesn’t hold grudges for long.”

Amber sighed. He was right. Fulgurite just needed some space. By tomorrow, she should be easier to talk to. Amber turned to still see Tourmaline looking out the window. “Uh, what have you been looking at for the past ten minutes?” she asked as she walked towards him.

“You ever get that feeling you’re being watched?” he asked.

“Why? You feel like someone’s watching?”

“No. That’s just the problem. Normally, Nox feeds by invading people’s dreams. When she does, the imprint she leaves is a bad dream. I should’ve felt that imprint in the town.”

“But?”

“There was nothing. No one even looked like they were hiding any scary thoughts. It was… weird.”

“It is weird that Nox hasn’t tormented anyone yet, but how is that a bad thing? She obviously has finished powering up her new form. Plus, I’m pretty sure no bad dreams in a town is a good thing.”

“I still feel like something’s off. Nox shouldn’t be this quiet.”

Amber looked back at the temple door. “Well, we could go look for areas with high concentrations of negative energy,” she suggested.

“Sounds like a plan,” Tourmaline said, dropping the box on the table and walking over to the warp pad.

“Dawn, Tour and I are heading out,” Amber called. “There’s cupcakes on the table and you can order a pizza if you’d like if we aren’t back early.”

Dawn looked over the railing of the stairs and gave a thumbs up as the warp pad activated and they vanished in the pillar of light.

Bismuth stood in what appeared to be a tropical rainforest. The lush, green trees hung over him like giant umbrellas to block the sunlight. The sound of running water, rustling leaves, and singing birds formed a natural orchestra of flora and fauna as he stood in the spotlight of sunlight. He looked around, taking in his surroundings, every sight, sound, smell and feeling recorded in his mind.

“Advance, one hundred years,” he said. At those words, time there began to move rapidly, the sun and moon rising and setting rapidly as days went by, then weeks, then months, then years until one hundred years passed in the course of about five seconds.

Bismuth looked around and smiled. The trees were bigger and greener, the air felt more humid, the number of sounds around him had increased noticeably. “World shows much promise,” he said. “Wish I had more time there, though.”

“You can do your wishing while doing your actual work,” said a gruff voice. Bismuth turned to see someone contrasting the scenery. She was tall, at least seven feet, with a thick, muscular build. She wore a bodysuit consisting of a yellow top with a darker shade around the midriff, yellow bottoms, and black boots. She had long yellow hair that faded into a darker shade the way down and bright yellow eyes. “Chief wants your report in ten minutes.”

Bismuth sighed. “You can’t tell me you’re not the least bit interested in the planet,” he said.

“Never even been to that galaxy,” said the other Gem. “So… nope. Can’t really say I care.”

“Of course not,” he said.

“What was it called again?”

“Earth,” Bismuth said as he clapped his hands together. The world around him began to pixelate and vanish, leaving only a large, white, tiled room. “Jeez, Citrine, with the amount of time you spend in my lab, I thought you’d be more interested in this stuff.”

“What gave you that idea?” Citrine asked.

“More wishful thinking, I guess.” He reached behind him and tapped one of the lower spines on his back. The world around him began to materialize. This time, the forest was a lot less tropical. The leaves on some of the trees were turning brown and some of them were an unusual white color. “What am I looking for again?” Bismuth asked.

Citrine shrugged. “How am I supposed to know? The chief just said you should, ‘Do your thing,’ and to report whatever you see.”

Bismuth sighed as he looked around the woods. “What was this place called again?” he asked himself. He thought hard, fidgeting with the spine at the base of his neck. “Uh… ah, now I remember! White Tail!”

“Fascinating,” the Gem said, sarcastically. “Well, I’d love to stay and gawk at… whatever this… White Wail… is, but I think I hear the training center calling.” She walked out, phasing through the background to show she exited the room.

Bismuth looked around and sighed. “What do you want with this world?” he asked himself.

2000 Years Ago

“What do you want with this world?”

Bismuth stood before a massive, diamond-shaped screen, on which the countenance of Yellow Diamond was visible.

“Watch your tone with me, Bismuth” Yellow Diamond said. Even when she didn’t sound angry, her voice could intimidate the toughest quartz!

“Of course, my Diamond,” he said, bowing respectfully. “It’s just… why that world? I understand it was once a promising colony a few millennia ago, but why pick one so far off? The Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxies are much closer and-”

“Are you questioning my orders or my methods?” Yellow Diamond asked.

“Um, neither, my Diamond. It’s just… it’s much easier to work with a world I am familiar with. I’ve only been to this world twice on brief recon missions, but never long enough to understand the world itself.”

“So, are you saying that you’re not up to the task?” asked the Diamond. “I’m sure I can find other Bismuths who are competent enough to-”

“No, no! No need!” Bismuth interrupted, which he soon regretted as Yellow Diamond’s eyes pierced his own.

“Then stop babbling like an incompetent Ruby and prepare to depart. Your schedule will be sent to your enhancements shortly, along with the researcher you will be escorting and the Gems assigned to your security detail. They will be docking on your ship in exactly two hours, twenty-seven minute, and forty-nine seconds.”

Security detail? Why would they need one? This was also the first he heard of going with a scientist. At least there’s another brilliant mind to keep him company.

Bismuth gave the traditional salute - he crossed his arms over his chest and bent his arms back, forming a diamond in front of him - as the screen went blank. Bismuth sighed. At least he had two and a half hours to himself.

Two hours later, he got an alert on his monitor. Tapping the console, the screen gave a view of the outside of his vessel. His biggest surprised was the sheer size of the ship! Now, Bismuth’s ship was more like a Homeworld cruiser, with only a lab and the main bridge. The ship outside, if he remembered clearly, was a Gem warship! The massive hand-shaped vessel was several times the size of Bismuth’s.

An image flickered onto the screen. It was another Gem with white, messy hair with a slight yellow tint, wearing a dark yellow top with a yellow diamond symbol on the chest.

“Is this Mobile Research Vessel RS2183-B12?” asked the Gem.

“Yes,” Bismuth replied. “I take it Yellow Diamond sent you?”

“That’s right. We’ll be docking your ship now.”

That made sense; there was no way they would be docking in Bismuth’s tiny ship. The docking process was more like a hand picking up a marble… and said marble vanishing into the hand. Bismuth headed towards the door to meet his new coworkers and find out just who he would be working with.

“Anyone but Administrator Zircon, anyone but Administrator Zircon…” Bismuth repeated as he opened the door. “Please, for the love of all the stars in the known universe, anyone but Administrator Zircon!”

Once the door opened, a slight mist formed as the ship adjusted to the pressure change. Bismuth stepped out and was greeted by three Gems. One was Citrine, who he recognized as the Gem on the screen. The other looked similar, except everything yellow on Citrine was purple on this one.

“Greetings,” Bismuth said. “I’m Bismuth.”

“Hey. Nice to meet ya. I’m Citrine,” said the yellow one. “My associate over there is Amethyst,” she added, gesturing over to the other large Gem. Both stood a good head and a half, at least, over Bismuth, so they had to look down to see him.

“Pleasure to meet you,” Bismuth said. “It’s not everyday you meet a Quartz with such a calm demeanor.”

“Gimme something to punch, and you’ll see the transformation,” Citrine said with a grin. “The chief’s in the main lab, through the hall, last door at the end.”

Bismuth nodded and made his way through the ship. He past by the holding cells, all of which seemed empty; he couldn’t quite tell with some of them having one-sided screens. The door to the lab opened automatically and Bismuth stepped inside. He gawked at how well stocked it was for a mobile lab; screens, computers, consoles, simulators, and other high-tech equipment could be seen in every corner of the room! Standing in front of one of the consoles in the center was who Bismuth suspected was the scientist he would be working with. The Gem wore a white lab coat with dark gray boots and had very messy silvery white hair with a single pink streak. She also wore a set of limb enhances, but the fingers looked more like claws than the usual cylindrical shape they took.

“Oh, you’re here,” the other Gem said. She turned around, revealing the pink gem shaped like a four-point star. “Welcome aboard. You must be the Bismuth Yellow Diamond was telling me about.”

Bismuth breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank the stars! You’re not Administrator Zircon.”

“What?” the Gem asked, laughing. “Of course not! She could care less about this mission! Me? I see so much potential!”

“Really? Is it the Andromeda Galaxy? Nova Prime? The Epsilon Quadrant?”

“Take a seat. We’ll departing soon,” she said, turning back to the screen, which she moved out of the way for the controls. “I prefer to leave these things as surprises.”

Bismuth took his seat with anticipation. “She’s a lot better than Administrator Zircon,” he thought. “By the way, who are you?” he asked.

“You, my friend, can call me Yttrium.”

Accusations

View Online

Amber sat on the ground outside the door to the temple, waiting. She had hoped Fulgurite would have come out by now, but wishful thinking for three days was really pushing it for her.

Finally, the star on the door glowed and Amber looked up, but was disappointed to see a black glow with an orange outline. Obsidian stood at the door, staring down at Amber.

“Why don’t you just go in and talk to her?” Obsidian asked.

“She needs space,” Amber replied. “Besides, I’m pretty sure she’s still mad at me for being so dumb and ignorant.”

Obsidian sighed. “You always do this. Every time something goes wrong with her, you blame yourself.”

“Who else should I blame? The Gem that beat her? Look,” Amber said, getting up, “I know emotions aside from rage are not something Obsidians usually understand, so my advice is either learn or stop trying to understand.” Amber walked passed him, shifting her gem back over her stomach and opening the temple door back to her room.

Obsidian looked around, confused. “Have you seen Tourmaline?” he asked.

“No, why?”

“Am I the only one who’s noticed he’s been a bit... docile over the last few weeks?”

Amber sighed. “What? You want to blame it on the fact that Equestrians now know we exist?”

“No… but you may be onto something,” Obsidian said. “When Tourmaline is around, it usually isn’t this quiet. Can you locate him?”

Amber was confused at why Obsidian was suddenly so interested in Tourmaline’s whereabouts, but tapped the ring around her wrist, bringing up a screen. She scanned for any familiar Gem presence in the area.

“That’s you, me, Ful, Dawn, and…” Amber stopped, confused. There were only four dots on the map, representing four Gems. “Weird. Maybe he warped somewhere.” The screen changed, showing various warp waypoints she had mapped out. “Huh… really weird. He’s not in any location I’ve uploaded. Maybe it’s a bug from the recent recalibration. I’ll do some tweaking and try again.”

She went into her room, Obsidian going into his just after. He walked down the path to the central platform, where he stood in front of the bubbled Emerald Quartz. He held out his hand and popped the bubble, causing the gemstone to glow and the Quartz to take form. Obsidian quickly bubbled the Gem before his form solidified.

“Finally ready to talk?” Obsidian asked.

Emerald Quartz shook his head, trying to clear it. “I’ve said it a thousand times already, but clearly, you have a short memory span, so I’ll say it again: you destroyed my physical form, trapped me in a bubble, and now, you ask me questions as if we’re chums having a friendly conversation? Get lost!”

“Well, you forgot how you irradiated an area close to an inhabited town, went on a rampage, tried to use our warp pad for… whatever reason-”

“Wait, ‘Whatever reason,’? You serious?”

Obsidian was confused. “Well, you never really explained what you were planning.”

Emerald just stared, but slowly, a smile began to crawl across his face. “You ignorant pebbles! You have no idea, do you?”

“I really hate vague statements,” Obsidian said.

“Oh, this is rich!” He soon stopped as Obsidian’s blade passed through the bubble. “Wait, you think Gems are just randomly popping up? You think we’re here to do bad things to your planet?”

“If something big is happening, you do realize that the Gems in this temple are probably your best shot at surviving,” Obsidian stated. “And what do you mean ‘we’?”

“Just like an Obsidian. You could hear that the world is about to be blown up from the inside out and still keep a straight face!”

“Wait… that’s not-”

“No, no one is trying to blow up your planet… I think… not yet, anyway.”

“Then what?” Obsidian was getting impatient. “Because a Homeworld Gem was at our front door a while ago and what you’re talking about may be related to that.”

“Wait, THEY’RE HERE?!”

Obsidian just stared. “You know them?”

“Not personally, but I sure as shards don’t want to! Why do you think I was looking for a warp pad?”

“Well, why ours?”

Well, for starters, it was the closest one here.”

“How did you find it?”

“I can sense changes in electromagnetic radiation. You guy’s were pinging your warp pad like you were lost! What, did you forget where you lived?”

“Wait, what?” Obsidian asked, confused. “Nobody here pings anything. This was formerly Homeworld-occupied territory. If we pinged anything here then…” When it finally clicked, Obsidian went from confused to concerned. “Wait, how long ago did you find this place?”

“Uh… dunno. About a month now, I guess.”

“One month,” Obsidian thought. “But that’s when… no. It couldn’t have been a coincidence.”

Obsidian’s blade vanished as he turned around and paced.

“So… what do I get for this?” asked the Quartz.

Obsidian just glared. “You get to not have your physical form destroyed,” he said as he walked out of the room. “Enjoy it while you can.”

Late that night. Amber sat on the couch, waiting with Obsidian.

“You know, you could just tell me what this is about while we wait, right?” said Amber.

“I’d rather say this in front of everyone,” Obsidian replied.

“Look, Dawn’s asleep and Ful and Tour are probably going to be a while.”

Obsidian was unmoved. However, in a few moments, Tourmaline arrived on the warp pad.

“Hey, guys!”

“Tourmaline! Where the karat have you been?!” Amber asked. “Your signature didn’t register on my scanners. I couldn’t even get a signal off the warp pads.”

“Oh, I was checking out that old wreck under the ocean,” Tourmaline explained. “Figured Nox would hit anything with a major power source.”

As he explained, Obsidian knocked on the temple door.

“Fulgurite, we need to talk.” There was no response from the other side for a while, but soon enough, the yellow Gem on the door glowed and the door opened. Fulgurite walked out and went straight to the living room without a word.

Obsidian finally begun.

“So, I’ll get right to it,” he started. “I told you so.”

There was silence.

“Wow,” said Tourmaline with all the sarcasm he could muster. “This is a whole new low for you, Sid. Have you gotten so tired of being wrong that you just need to say that for no reason?”

Obsidian raised an eyebrow at the nickname. “I’m not messing around. Emerald Quartz said-”

“Who?” asked Tourmaline.

“Our green guest,” Obsidian explained. “He said he only discovered the temple about a month ago. That’s when we first decided to start interacting with the Equestrians.”

“Yeah, and?” Amber asked, not quite catching what Obsidian was throwing.

“And I don’t believe in coincidence.”

“So, what? You think one of them sent out signals from the warp pad? Organics can’t even use them,” Amber argued.

“They can’t teleport with them, but if their magic is anything like it was two thousand years ago, I’m pretty sure they can do something with them.”

“They’re smart, but operating a warp pad is way outside their skillset.”

“Same way hacking isn’t part of Fulgurite’s, but she’s good at it anyway.”

“Hey!” Fulgurite exclaimed, a bit insulted. “But what makes you think the Equestrians had anything to do with this?”

“It’s common sense,” said Obsidian. “The older ones tampered with the Nightstone, the little ones got Dawn dragged into the whole mess with Nox. See this,” he said, now looking at Amber. “This is what happens when you don’t take my advice.”

All eyes turned to Amber.

“This is not the time, Obsidian.” asked the now glowing Gem. “You really want to go there?”

“I’m simply making a point.”

“That you’re an untrusting jerk?”

“That maybe the actions of someone had unintended consequences. I mean, you say it yourself every other day: accidents happen.”

“Watch it, Obsidian.”

“Okay, guys, cut it out,” Fulgurite said finally. “Obsidian, if an Equestrian really did set off a ping, maybe we should look for whoever is to blame instead of pointing fingers.”

“Oh, but I am looking,” he said, still looking at Amber.

“Obsidian,” Amber growled, a heatwave radiating off her. “You’d better watch who you’re accusing or I swear to the stars, I’ll-”

“You’ll what?” Obsidian asked, stepping forward. Amber got up sharply to face him. The wall she was leaning on was singed. “Go on. Make a move. At least you can’t say I was wrong to be paranoid.”

“Don’t do this, Obsidian,” Fulgurite warned. “Dawn is upstairs.”

“Well, Amber, you take partial blame. You’re job was to monitor all Gem tech anywhere in this atmosphere. And it looks like you’ve been slacking.”

Amber’s eyes flashed. “What?!”

“Take it down a notch, Sid,” said Tourmaline.

“Of course you’d say that,” said Obsidian. “I’d call you out for this too if I hadn’t already accepted what a lazy sandstone you are.”

“Wait, wha- … actually, I’m cool with not being called out.”

“Of course. What else should I expect from you-”

“Enough!” Fulgurite stepped in front of Obsidian. “Obsidian, that’s enough. It’s too late for this and Dawn does not need to be disturbed because your mind is not at rest. When he goes to school tomorrow, we can have this discussion more seriously. Last thing any of us needs is Dawn worried about us. He has his own life to live. If you want to point fingers and shout down Equestrians, you can do that in the morning.”

Obsidian stared right into Fulgurite’s eyes. He wanted to settle this now, but she was right; he didn’t want Dawn to worry about this.

“The moment he leaves, we’re dealing with this,” Obsidian said. He turned around and headed for the temple. Tourmaline followed suit while Fulgurite looked back to calm a, still glowing, Amber.

“Chill, Amber.”

Slowly, the glow faded. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. He pushed you and-”

“Not that! About before, with the cupcake. I know you were still down. I was just playing around. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad I-”

“Hey! It’s not you,” said Fulgurite. “I just really needed some time to come to terms with it. It’s not the first fight I’ve lost, cosmos knows it probably won’t be the last. I was worried you wouldn’t see me the same way again.”

“You? The only person who can actually hit me in me when I’m not solid? Come on!” Amber looked down. “So… you forgive me?”

“Hard to forgive when you’ve done nothing wrong,” Fulgurite said with a smile. That was all Amber wanted to hear.

“Bye, guys!” Dawn waved to the Gems as he and his friends headed off to school.

Amber and Fulgurite waved back while Tourmaline just gave a thumbs up. Dawn figured Obsidian’s dull look was pretty typical.

Once he was out of sight, Obsidian went back in.

“So,” he started, “where were we?”

“You were accusing everyone being the cause of something none of us had any idea was happening,” said Amber, still a bit upset.

“You may not like it, but these are the facts. Someone here is at least partially to blame for what’s happened. Either the Equestrians did this, or a certain Gem did.”

“Obsidian, attack me one more time,” Amber warned.

“You’re the only one who has sufficient knowledge of Gem technology. That makes you a prime suspect.”

“Why would I send out a signal that alerts Gems to the temple?” Amber asked. “In case you forgot, no one here is friends with Homeworld. Why would I make it any kind of easy for them to track us?”

“Past experiences.”

Amber forced herself to remain as calm as possible, but her flaming hair proved it was no easy task.

“Maybe it’s not you,” Obsidian continued. “But you’re the only one of us who really understands the inner workings of the warp pad.”

“Fulgurite saw a Gem with some pretty advanced tech.”

“But they don’t know about the warp pad here.”

“That’s… a pretty good point,” said Tourmaline.

“Tour, can it,” snapped Amber.

“Hey, I’m just saying,” Tourmaline continued, “even if you didn’t send out the pings, it doesn’t stop your tech from being hacked.”

“Excuse me, are you questioning my competence in technology?”

“Hey, it wouldn’t be the first time.”

Amber felt insulted. “Well, with the way you keep smashing them, it’s hard to tell if you didn’t send out a wave for whoever to pick up.”

“Hey don’t drag me into this! I try to stay away from all your crazy inventions!”

“Enough! All of you!” Fulgurite yelled. “Look, let’s stop blaming each other and start looking for a way to deal with this! For all we know, Emerald Quartz could be wrong or is just trying to rile us up.”

“Well, he’s doing a good job at the latter,” said Tourmaline.

“So we’ll do this: Tour, you keep a close eye on any and everything near the temple. Obsidian, you stay back here and check seismic activity. Maybe there’s something around here we’re missing. Amber and I are going to check all Gem tech nearby. When we’ve exhausted all our options, then we can go see the Equestrians. Good?” A thumbs up from Tourmaline and a grumble from Obsidian was all she needed to hear. “Good. Let’s go.”

“Hey, Dawn? You okay?” asked Applebloom. It was hard to not notice the worried expression he wore. “You’ve been lookin’ all gloomy since this mornin’.”

Dawn broke away from his thoughts. “Oh. It’s nothing.”

“Can’t be nothin’ if it’s buggin’ ya this much.”

“Well… the Gems don’t know this, but I heard them arguing last night. And it’s not the first time.”

“They were arguing?” asked Sweetie Belle. “About what?”

“I don’t know, but I heard Amber and Obsidian yelling.”

“I take it that that’s a good thing?” asked Scootaloo.

“Last time they argued, I had to camp outside while they rebuilt the house.”

“Oh…”

“Yeah. I just wish they’d get along, but they’re so… different, I guess.”

“Applejack and Rarity are as different as different gets, but they’re really good friends. I’m sure things will work out for them too.”

“I hope so. It sounded bad.” Dawn looked at his watch. “Well, I need to start going back,” he said.

“Me too,” said Applebloom. “I want to catch my sister at the train station. Apparently, they went to some new town and she said she’d bring me back something.”

“Same here,” said Sweetie Belle.

Dawn waved goodbye as he headed back to the temple. But the thought kept bouncing around in his head.

“What were they fighting about? Was it Nox? Whenever Amber and Obsidian fight, it’s usually something big and important. But I can’t stand to see them fighting, no matter what the reason. But they’ll just tell me to ‘not worry about it’. Ugh! I hate this!”

“Uh! He’s just so… ARGH!”

Amber was still burning from the meeting with Obsidian. Even the calm silence of the plains they were walking through couldn’t put her mind at rest.

“I know you two don’t get along,” said Fulgurite, “but you should know what he’s like. He’s not a psycho warrior, but he’s still a soldier.”

“Doesn’t mean he has to be a jerk too.”

“I know. We there yet?”

Amber looked at her wrist and a holographic map came up. “It’s just up ahead,” Amber said. “Get the key.”

The key, which Fulgurite summoned from her gem, was a blue cylinder the size of a water bottle. In a matter of seconds, they reached a massive yellow dome that looked like a massive, curved honeycomb. Fulgurite let the cylinder float towards one of the cells. It changed shape to fit the cavity as it drew closer.

“So, any reason you decided to come back here of all places?” asked a worried Fulgurite.

“It’s the one place with some of the most advanced tracking equipment left behind after the war. If anything can tell us about any recent signal bursts, it’s the scanners in this spire.”

“I don’t like it here. Bad things happen when this place is involved.” Fulgurites worries were proven when the “key” turned from blue to red and stopped halfway through. Five of the panels popped out, but didn’t land on the ground. Eventually, the three rearranged themselves to form the body and the other two the arms of a very advanced golem that reminded them of a hornet, energy stinger and wings included. A pair of beady black “eyes” popped open and began to scan the trespassers.

“See!” said Fulgurite. “This is what I mean!”

Amber, however, was unfazed as she got into attack position. Her augments glowed and shifted into cannon form and she wasted no time in firing a relentless salvo at the enemy. The golem bobbed and weaved, avoiding every shot before returning fire with a continuous beam from its stinger. Amber shut down the cannons and instead called up a shield to protect Fulgurite and herself.

“Anytime you want to help,” Amber said.

Fulgurite summoned her boots and bolted around the shield. She ran straight for the stone automaton, which failed miserably in its attempts to hit her. She jumped to strike it, but flew through the gap in it’s frame. The golem caught her and flung her back to Amber, who was knocked down by her ally.

“So, still think this was a good idea?” Fulgurite asked as the enemy loomed over them.

“I… may be rethinking my decision,” Amber replied, sheepishly.

Tourmaline sat at the top of the temple on lookout duty, polishing his hammer.

“Lookout duty,” he said to himself. “Who comes here? … Well, except for Mr. Radioactive.” He wasn’t very worried until the ground beneath him began to shake. He shrugged it off, thinking it was one of Amber’s inventions blowing up again. But he got more worried when the structure shook enough to knock him off the edge he was sitting on. Luckily, he landed on his feet.

“Okay… that’s definitely less normal.” He rushed into the house to find out what had happened. He saw Obsidian standing in front of the temple door. “What was that?”

“We’re about to find out,” Obsidian replied. He soon regretted his decision to open the door when he and Tourmaline were both knocked back by a powerful shockwave. Obsidian looked up to see a glowing green figure standing at the threshold.

“You know, you really need to work on your bubbles,” said Emerald Quartz. “They pop way too easily.”

“How-”

“They can only take so much. And considering you weren’t exactly made for defense or self preservation, it didn’t take much to fill up with enough energy to break out.”

Obsidian summoned his swords and got up, running towards the Quartz, who countered his swing with his claws before kicking him back and bolting for the warp pad. Tourmaline swung and missed and took a hit as well.

Obsidian got back up, but Emerald Quartz was already standing on the warp pad.

“If you were any kind of smart,” he said, “you’d bug out of here too. Trust me.” And with that, he warped out.

Furious was not the word used to describe Obsidian; not even close.

“Well, that happened,” said Tourmaline, casually putting his hammer away. Obsidian simply glared at him before heading back into his room to assess the damage. Luckily, the blast was contained, so his room was a mess, but it didn’t seem to have reached the other rooms. Well, that’s what he thought until her heard a shrill shriek.

Tourmaline looked through the door. “Need any help?”

Obsidian didn’t answer. He just summoned his sword and shut the door.

Harmony Gems

by Nova Arc

In the Forest

First Contact

Questions

Night Unleashed

Berries and Battles

Holiday Tension

Answers

Night Gem

House Guests

Radioactive

Pranking and Pummeling

Down

Accusations